Disclaimer: errrr, Hi, Ranko Habiki here and if you don't already
know that these characters aren't mine, then I don't know what
ta tell ya.
Ranma 1/2
More than one
by: Ranko Habiki
This story is dedicated to Tendo Ranko, a friend of mine. *grins*
Say Hi to 'sweetie' for me.......
Part 1: Let there be light
The last thing that Ranma Saotome remembered was the whooshing sound and
then the burst of pain and flash of light as Akane's mallet once again
attempted to make pudding of his skull. Now all was darkness. Ranma
felt himself drifting as if afloat in a great sea. He frowned.
he thought.
He opened his eyes slowly and found that he was in fact floating. He
cast a panicked look around, but all around him was empty darkness.
He looked down at himself and let out a startled yelp when he saw he
was completely naked. It took him a few moments to get himself
together, then began to try to figure out just what was going on.
he thought.
Ranma looked around him at the nothingness, and suddenly got a feeling
of deja'vu.
he thought. He pondered it
for a moment, then he narrowed his eyes and growled.
"All right, lets get this over with," he said out loud. As if in response
the darkness began to swirl and take shape before him.
"RANMA SAOTOME," came a booming female voice. The darkness took the
shape of a woman of titanic proportions. She had long, blue hair,
and a body that looked as if it had been patterned after a hundred
fantasies. She loomed over Ranma, exuding an aura of power, as she
stared down at him with her violet eyes.
"RANMA SAOTOME," she said, "YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO FUFILL A GREAT
DESTINY. LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR YOUR COMING. COME WARRIOR, TAKE UP
THE MANTLE, AND IN SO DOING TAKE YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY. WHAT SAY
YOU, WARRIOR, WILL YOU TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE."
Ranma gaped at the woman before him, unable to speak.
"COME NOW, TELL ME YOUR ANSWER."
"I-I," Ranma opened his mouth to speak but couldn't.
"YES?" the woman asked moving closer to him.
"I-I never realized," Ranma said, his face beginning to turn red.
"NEVER REALIZED?" The woman prompted.
"I never realized that blue was your natural hair color, Junko," Ranma
said.
"J-JUNKO," the entity said. "W-WHO'S THIS JUNKO PERSON?"
Then what he had said hit her. She looked down at her naked body
and let out a squeal as she tried to cover herself with her hands.
"PERVERT," she screamed. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE LOOKING AT!"
She swung at him with her fist.
"Wha?" Ranma asked as her fist hit him and sent him cartwheeling
through the air.
"Hey, no fair!" Ranma said. The blow hadn't really hurt, but the
spinning was starting to make him sick.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT, YOU JERK!"
"Hey, it's you're own fault for *ulp* showing up without any clothes
on. *ulp* Oh man I think I'm gonna be sick. And besides I ain't
to thrilled about being naked either, *ulp*, you know."
"THAT STILL DOES NOT EXCUSE YOUR COMMENT."
"Yeah, I'm *ulp* sorry, all right. Can you PLEASE *ulp* help me, now."
"YEAH, YEAH," she said and reached out and stopped Ranma's cartwheeling.
"Thanks," Ranma said, and took a deep breath to try and calm his
stomach. "Now how about some clothes?"
The woman nodded, and soon Ranma was dressed in his trademark chinese
clothes, while the woman was clad in a long blue dress.
"Okay, Junko," Ranma said. "I thought I told you last time not to
do this anymore."
"JUNKO?" the woman said, sweatdropping. "I don't see any Junko's here.
Heh, heh, ahh man."
With a sigh the woman began to shrink, until she stood a few inches
shorter than Ranma, then hung her head.
"Heh, heh, you got to admit, Saotome, this was my best plan yet," she
said giving Ranma a sheepish smile. He frowned at her.
"Junko, how many times do I have to tell you 'no' before it finally
sinks in?" Ranma said exasperated. "I ain't gonna do it."
"Aw, PLEEEEEASSSSE," Junko said looking at Ranma with pleading puppy dog
eyes. "You know it's all I ever wanted in the whole wide world.
And you don't want it, so why won't you just give it to me. Pretty
please."
"You tried the sugary sweat bit twice already," Ranma replied crossing
his arms in front of his chest. Junko grimaced.
"You're just being stubborn and mean," Junko said.
"Yeah, and you're being obnoxious, so what else is new," Ranma replied.
Junko scowled.
"Saotome, how long have I been pestering you about this now?"
"About a year," Ranma said wearily.
"You know I'm going to keep at it until you finally give in, so why
don't you just give up now? Or do you want us to keep having these
conversations everytime you get knocked out."
"Just as long as you don't try coming into my dreams again," Ranma
grumbled. "Its bad enough when Akane gets jealous and pounds me
in real life."
"Hey, I apologized for that," Junko said turning slightly red.
"And Dream Akane beat me up too after she was done with you."
They both shivered and murmured "Stupid tomboy."
"Ranma," Junko said sadly. "You have no idea what it's like
being a disembodied soul. I've floated around lonely in this limbo
for seventeen years, SEVENTEEN YEARS, my body died before my soul
could even entered it and I was stranded here. Do you have any
idea what it was like? The only contact with other beings I've had
has been the occasional lost chaos spirit, or when I accidentally
wondered into someone's dream. Hell, Ranma, YOU'RE the closest thing
to a friend I've ever had, and you have the means to help me, so
why won't you?"
Tears were starting to come to her eyes. Ranma winced.
"Junko if I could help you, I would, but I can't," he said.
"But why?" Junko said beginning to sob. "Haven't I *sniff* suffered
*sob* enough?"
"Ah, jeez, don't cry," Ranma said looking nervously at Junko. The girl
continued to cry.
"Are you really so heartless that you won't help a *sob*
poor tortured soul?" she said turning her large, tear filled eyes at
him. Ranma could only stare at her like a deer caught in the headlights
of an on coming truck.
"Ah, don't say that," Ranma said. He tried to put his hands on her
shoulders to comfort her, but she jerked away and continued to sob.
Ranma looked at her helplessly for a moment, then sighed in defeat.
"All right I'll do it," he said quietly. Junko looked up at him and
wiped her eyes.
"What *sniff* did you say," she asked.
"I said I'll do it," Ranma grumbled.
"Oh, thank you!" Junko said and lept on Ranma and throw her arms
around him. "Thank you, thank you, you-you don't...know...how *sob* much
this means to me."
She then started crying again.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong now?" Ranma asked looking down at the crying
girl in his arms.
"It-it's just that I'm so *sob* happy," she said, then started to bawl.
Ranma shook his head.
he thought.
"I'm sorry, I'm okay now," Junko said, letting go of Ranma and wiping
her eyes. She smiled at him. "I promise you won't regret this, Ranma."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ranma said glumly. "So what do I have to do."
"Well you've already agreed to do it, so there's only two things left
to do," Junko said. "The first is for us to have unifying contact. The
second will be for you to stay a girl from midnight tonight to midnight
tomorrow."
Ranma frowned.
"Ookayyy," he said. "I can do that, I guess, but just what the heck
is 'unifying contact'?"
Junko smiled mischievously.
"This," she said, and stepped up to Ranma and kissed him on
the lips. Before Ranma could react, they were both engulfed in
a blinding light.
Part 2
_________________
Kasumi was applying a cold clothe to Ranma's head, when he groaned and
slowly opened his eyes.
"Oh, you're awake," Kasumi said cheerfully. "How do you feel Ranma?"
"My head's killin' me," Ranma said. He winced and sat up slowly. "Man,
I had the strangest dream..."
He put his hand to his head and touched the lump.
^Ouch, hey don't do that, it hurts enough already^
Ranma froze. He looked first to Kasumi.
"Did you just say something Kasumi?" he asked.
Kasumi blinked.
"No," she said then looked at him conserned. "Is something wrong, Ranma?"
"Nothin' just I could have sworn I heard somebody say somethin'," Ranma
replied.
^Wow! So this is the real world? Cool!^
Ranma's eyes widened and he gulped.
he thought.
^What's wrong Ranma?^
^Of course, silly. Who else would it be?^
"What are you doin' in my head?" he asked. Kasumi blinked.
"Is there something wrong, Ranma," she asked and put her hand on his
forehead. "Maybe you should lay back down for a while."
Ranma blushed beet red and stared at the older girl nervously. He heard
a feminine giggle inside his head.
"Err, I'm fine Kasumi," he said.
"Are you sure," she asked looking at him worriedly.
"Yeah, but I think'll I'll lie down anyway," he said, laying back on his
futon.
"I think that may be best," Kasumi said. "You missed dinner, so I'll
bring something up for you."
"Thanks Kasumi."
Kasumi smiled, then stood and left. Ranma watched her leave, then frowned.
he thought.
^What do you mean?^
^Wha? Don't you remember? You promised to help me.^
^You don't like having me here with you?^
^*sniff*^
^You, you don't like me?^
Ranma imagined what it would be like with Junko controling his girl body,
wearing a dress and doing all sorts of girlie things, while he watched
helplessly form inside her mind. He shivered as the thought of her
going out on a date with some guy flashed through his mind.
Junko was silent. Ranma fumed as he waited for her to answer.
He could slightly feel her emotions and was further annoyed at the
sense of amusement he was getting form her.
^Oh don't worry about that, Ranma,^ she answered at last. ^This is just
the Unifiying Contact. After it's over we'll be of two separate minds.
Of course there will still be a link between us, so if we try really hard
we can still have conversations like this. Don't worry though, you won't
have to watch me on my dates, I'll just give you all the detail after its
over.^
Junko giggled.
^It's not like I want to watch you smooching all over one of your fiancees
either,^ Junko said teasingly.
^Reaallly? Then exactly what were you and Dream Akane doing when I
interuped the two of you.>
<.....>
^And what about that one where dream Ukyo was wearing that little, red
silk nightie....^
Junko giggled again. Ranma growled.
Part 3
_______________
Ranma Saotome stood looking at himself in the mirror sadly.
he thought.
Silence.
^Hun, wha? Wha is s'it.^
^I'm just sleepy. I never realized how tiring it was in the real world.
*Yawn*. Ranma, I can't tell you how much this means to me. That you'd
be willing to make such a sacrifies for someone who's been nothing but a
pain to you, I-I don't know if I really deserve it.^
^No...its just that, well, I'm scared. I didn't get the chance to be born
last time, and tomorrow is basically going to be my birthday.^
^Don't worry about it, Ranma. I'll take care of that when the time comes.
I owe you that at the very least. Its almost midnight. Are you ready,
Saotome?^
<*sigh* As ready as I'll ever be I guess.>
Ranma picked up the glass of water and splashed himself with it, then
turned back to look at her reflection.
^That's what I'm going to look like.^ Junko said quietly.
^Ranma, take a deep breath.^
^Just do it, PLEASE. Good now lean back.^
Ranma did as instructed.
^Heh, heh. Look at that chest. I tell you the boys are in real
trouble.^
Ranma let out the breath with a violent cough, causing Junko to giggle.
^Carefull,^ she teased. ^Don't want you hurting my new body.^
^Heh, heh, It's to late to back out now, Ranma.^
^Now we go to sleep. I don't know about you but I'm pooped.^
_________
Akane Tendo looked over at her fiancee as they walked to school and
frowned. Ranma was acting stranger than normal. First he had come
downstairs as a girl, looking for all the world as if he hadn't slept
at all and at breakfast, his father had managed to steal most of
Ranma's food. When Kasumi had asked him if she wanted some hot water
to turn back into a boy before they left for school, Ranma had grimaced
and said no thanks. If that had not been weird enough, Ranma was
actually walking on the ground beside Akane instead of along the fence.
"Ranma is there something wrong?" Akane asked. The shorter girl didn't
respond, and in fact didn't appear to have even heard her. "Hey,
dummy, I'm talking to you."
"Huh," Ranma blinked and looked at Akane. In her mind, she could hear
Junko still snoring. How a disembodied spirit could snore Ranma had
no idea. All the red-head knew was that Junko snored, snored very loudly
and had been snoring all night. To say that Ranma had found the whole
thing disturbing would be an understatment. She had also found that
trying to wake Junko was, ironically enough, like trying to wake the
dead.
"You look terrible, Ranma," Akane said.
^*SNORE*^
"I didn't get much sleep," Ranma said tiredly.
^*SNORE*....grumble....cookies...*SNORE*^
"Man, if I have to listen to this much more I'm gonna go nuts," Ranma
grumbled. Unfortunatly, she said it a little to loud.
"Well excuss me for being worried," Akane said angrily. Ranma looked
up just in time to see Akane stalking away.
"Huh? Akane wait!" Ranma sped up to try and catch up with Akane.
She had just caught up to Akane and was about to grab her arm when there
was a fimilar ringing sound and Ranma suddenly found herself being
crushed by bicycle.
"Niho Ranma, you take Shampoo on date now yes?"
Shampoo moved from off of the redhead girl and with a groan, Ranma got
to her feet rubbing the back of her head.
"Hello, Shampoo and no I ain't taking you on no date."
^...where cookies...*SNORE*^
Ranma blinked.
"Come on, Akane, lets get to school," Ranma said taking Akane's arm
and started walking towards the school.
"Ranma, you forget about violent-pervert girl and change into a boy and
take Shampoo on date," Shampoo said ignoring the fact that she was being
ignored. From out of nowhere, she produced a kettle of hot water and attempted
to poured it over Ranma's head.
"Gwahhh," Ranma said as she dodged the steaming liquid. "Hey watch it!"
Shampoo and Akane both blinked.
"Why Ranma dodge hot water?" Shampoo asked, then looked at Akane suspiciously.
"What pervert girl do to husband?"
"Who are you calling a pervert girl?" Akane growled at Shampoo and took a step
towards her. Shampoo smirked and set down the kettle and took up a fighting
stance. Akane also took up a stance.
Ranma thought looking from one girl to
the other.
"What's going on, surgar?" a familar voice asked. Ranma looked over her shoulder
and saw Ukyo standing just behind her. Ukyo was looking at Shampoo and Akane
curiously.
Ranma thought.
^*snore*...need...more...*snore*...sprinkles^ Junko responded. Ranma suddenly had
the urge to bang his head against a wall. Instead, she stepped forward between
Akane and Shampoo to try and head off any further trouble. Ukyo, meanwhile, noticed
the kettle sitting on the ground and walked over and picked it up. She looked over
to where Ranma was now engaged in a three way argument with Akane and Shampoo and
shrugged.
she thought,
Ranma was to busiy argueeing to noice Ukyo coming up behind him.
"And just what do you think you're doin' anyway, Akane?" Ranma asked. "You
know a slow poke like you can't beat Shampoo."
"What did you just say?!" Akane asked fuming.
"Shampoo knew Ranma like her best!" Shampoo squealed and threw here arms
around Ranma. It was in the split second after Shampoo gloomped him and
Akane was about to bo serious bodily harm to him that Ukyo poured the
kettle. Ranma screamed, and to everyone's surprise, expecally Shampoo's
as she was still clinging to him, Ranma lept into the air and landed in
the nearby canal.
"What the HELL did you do that for?!" the now female again Ranma yelled
angrily at Ukyo. Ukyo blinked.
"I thought you'd want to be turned back into a boy," Ukyo said confused.
"Well next time ask first," Ranma said hotly. Her heart was pounding in her
chest. she called out in her mind.
^want more *snore* sprinkles now...baka...*snore*^
Ranma gave a sigh of relief then turned back to glare at Akane and Ukyo....wait.
she thought,
It was then that Ranma became aware of the wet furball clinging to her arm.
"C-A-TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" Ranma shrieked, and lept out of the water, flailing her arms
like a windmill. She landed on Akane and Ukyo, the three girls and one feline ending
up in a pile on the ground. Ranma was the first to get clear and was instantly on her
feet and running down the street as if all the demons in hell were on her heels.
"What was that all about?" Akane asked getting to her feet.
"I have no clue, sugar," Ukyo replied shaking her head.
"Meow," Shampoo added sagely.
________
Ranma came to a panting stop and leaned against the sign in front of her school.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a deep breath.
^*Yawn* Oh, my. Good morning Ranma,^ came Junko's sleepy voice. ^I must have over
slept. Did I miss anything interesting?^
Ranma thought back sarcasticly, then straitened up and headed
through the gates.
^That's good,^ Junko replied.
There was silence for a moment.
^Err, Ranma?^ Junko asked breaking the silence.
^I feel kind of funny. Are you sure nothing happened?^
Ranma thought back nervously.
^Hmmm must be nerves then...hey, can you explain something to me?^
^Well I was having this weird dream and, well, just what the heck is a
cookie anyway?^
<...>
^They're like money and you use them to buy things, right?^
^Well you see...^
^Okay, Saotome if you say so. I just don't know all that much about the
real world.^
^Deal.^
_______