Chapter 4. The Truth Comes Out

Ranma wilted under Akane's stare. He knew that she was confused due to the other boy calling him by name, but for now it looked like he had a fight on his hands. He couldn't afford to let himself be distracted by worrying over what she was thinking. Focusing on the person confronting him, Ranma thought, ‹Who is this guy? What's his problem?›

The other boy shouted, “You won't answer me? Fine then. Take this!” He snapped his umbrella open and threw it.

Ranma watched the umbrella fly through the air toward him like a demented Frisbee. He leaned to the side and let it pass him by. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as it sliced through a sapling, but he kept most of his attention on his opponent. A sense of exhilaration filled him. A challenge! And one that carried no sexual overtones, none of the disturbing imagery which had been preying on his mind for the last two and a half weeks. He felt himself settling into the familiarity of a martial arts combat like slipping on a well-worn glove.

His attacker pulled a couple of bandannas off of his head and snapped them out straight. He threw them, sending them spinning through the air at Ranma who leaped over one, while twisting to duck under the other. He came down on his fingertips, then pushed off of the ground to jump above the umbrella, which was returning to its owner, still flying.

Ranma followed it. As the umbrella reached the boy's hand Ranma kicked it, knocking it away. He followed up immediately with a jab to the stranger's chest, which sent him sprawling. The unknown boy climbed to his feet then paused in astonishment, staring down at a piece of paper that was stuck to his chest. He pulled it off and looked at it.

“Who are you?” it read.

“Do you mock me, Saotome?” the boy shouted. “You ran out on our duel last December! Because of you I've seen hell! I'm here for revenge!” He threw two more bandannas and charged after them.

Daisuke had walked over to the umbrella in curiosity, and bent over to pick it up. He was unable to budge it. “What's with this umbrella?” he asked of no one in particular. “It must weigh a ton!”

Akane came over quickly. She was able to lift it, much to Daisuke's chagrin, but it took enormous effort. “Ranma!” she shouted. “Don't close with him! He has the strength of a monster!”

“Heh, heh!” the boy chuckled nastily. “Looks like you found out ... too late!” He punched several times, but Ranma dodged all of them, insultingly holding his hands behind his back.

When his attacker next kicked, Ranma leaped over him entirely. He pulled out his pad and scribbled hastily, then slapped the paper over his opponent's face when the boy turned. The boy grabbed it off his face, snarling, then looked at it. It just said, “Ryoga?”

Ryoga looked up, still snarling. “Of course I'm Ryoga Hibiki, you fool!” He charged once more, and Ranma jumped over him again. Ryoga smiled as he continued forward toward Akane, where he grabbed his umbrella from her. He looked around rapidly in every direction, except directly behind himself where Ranma was standing. “Curse you, Saotome! You run away again?” He ran out the school gate, calling down imprecations on Ranma's head.

Akane walked up to Ranma. “Um, who was that?”

Ranma started writing, and Akane read over his shoulder. “Ryoga Hibiki. Went to middle school together. Worse sense of direction ever. Walked him from his house to school and back, so he didn't get lost. Supposed to have a duel. Waited three days. He didn't show up.”

Akane exclaimed, “Three days!”

Ranma shrugged. He turned back a page and underlined the words, “Worse sense of direction.”

“Riiiighhhht,” she said. “Now for the big question. Saotome?”

Akane watched his eyes change. He clearly didn't want to answer this, and she saw his tongue come out and lick across his lips. His shoulders drooped. Finally he wrote, “Tell you at home. Others should know.”

Akane nodded. “Fair enough. Let's go.” She looked around for her sister, spotting her off to one side with a number of other students. Money was exchanging hands. Akane shouted, “Nabiki! Family meeting! We won't wait for you!”

Nabiki looked up in annoyance from the enjoyable task of settling bets on the fight which had taken place, or almost taken place. Seeing that the other two were in fact leaving without her, she quickly finished up, then ran after them.

Not much later, they were all seated in the family room at the Tendo home, Soun and Kasumi having joined the other three at Akane's request. As soon as everyone was in place around the table, Akane pounced, “So, is your name really Ranma Saotome?”

Her father reacted visibly, starting and staring at the young man with an expression of astonishment. He hardly dared breathe as he awaited the answer.

Ranma nodded, looking highly embarrassed. He started writing, handing each sheet to Akane as he finished with it. She read them aloud.

“Yes. My father is Genma Saotome. He trained me. Already told you — don't want to see him again. Don't want to be associated with him.”

“Breathe a heavy sigh before the next part.” Akane stopped and looked up. “Cute,” she said, her tone sarcastic. She continued reading. “After my ‘talks’ with Mitaka-sensei, I think I may be acting unfair. About pop, I mean. He does have a lot of faults, though.”

“We both fell in at Jusenkyo. He turns into a panda bear.” Akane stopped again. “Really?” she asked. Ranma nodded. She shook her head in bemusement, then continued reading. “We got back to Japan the day before you met me. I was very angry about the curse.”

“Then he said something which made me much angrier.”

As Akane read this, Ranma was staring right into Soun Tendo's eyes. The girls' father guessed what that something was likely to be. He swallowed nervously at the look in Ranma's eyes, and it began to dawn on him that attempting to force Ranma into marrying one of his daughters right now, particularly so soon after the attack upon the boy, might not be the healthiest decision that he could make.

Akane was still reading. “We fought. I knocked him out. I left a false trail to suggest I went back to China.”

“He had two train tickets for Nerima. I took them. Figured it was the last place he'd look for me. Thought Tokyo would be a big place to lose myself in.”

“I never meant to come to your home. Didn't even know your name, just that pop had an ‘old friend’ in Nerima. Then that damn cat scared me. You know what happened after that.”

Akane looked up as she finished reading. Kasumi asked, “But why didn't you tell us your full name?”

Ranma wrote and handed it over. “I blamed pop for everything. Hated him, really bad. Getting over it, with help from Mitaka-sensei. Also, wasn't sure how your father would react.”

“Our father?” Kasumi questioned. “Why would you be worried about our father's reaction?”

“Er, Kasumi,” Soun cleared his throat. He thought fast. “Since he hated his father at the time, and all he knew of me is that I was supposed to be a friend of his father, is that really so surprising?” He gave a little hollow laugh.

The girls were all regarding their father with open suspicion. “Are you sure there's nothing else, dad?” Nabiki asked him sharply.

They turned as they saw Ranma nod his head. He wrote and handed it to Akane. “Yes, there is something else. Not sure how to say it. Can I have some time? I want to think about it first.” He felt a little cowardly asking for the delay, but he couldn't face dropping that little bombshell at the moment. Besides, his father was a notorious liar. It occurred to Ranma that he should confirm with Soun that the agreement existed before mentioning it to Akane and her sisters.

“Well, I suppose it's okay, as long as you tell us soon,” Akane told him with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “Real soon. It's not fair for you to keep secrets from us, when we've taken you in like this.”

Ranma nodded to show he understood.

“All right, baka,” she said. “Now, how about we head out to the dojo? I think I've almost got that move down.” The little meeting broke up, each heading in their own direction.

Once Akane and Ranma were in the dojo, and Nabiki was up in her room, Soun joined his remaining daughter in the kitchen. “Kasumi-chan, may I speak with you?”

“Yes, father, of course,” she answered, turning around. “What is it?”

He went on nervously. “It's about what Ranma isn't saying yet. You see, the thing is, Saotome and I, we had, sort of, this little agreement, concerning the future.”

“What sort of agreement, daddy?”

“Er, well, ha ha, you see ...” He blurted out the remaining words. “Ranma is supposed to marry one of my daughters, to unite the Saotome and Tendo schools.”

Kasumi stared at him as the words sank in. Then she put a hand out for support, leaning on the counter, as she struggled against a wave of dizziness. “Oh my! That ... that ... I think that might be a very bad idea, under the circumstances.”

“Yes, so I thought,” Soun admitted. “Especially given what he did to the boys at school that first week. It might be, er, unhealthy, to try to tell him he must do this because of his father's promise. Although ... he and Akane do seem to be getting along fairly well, don't you think?” he asked in a small, wistful voice.

Kasumi reached out and picked up a small wooden mallet she occasionally used in food preparation. She turned back around and tapped her father on the top of the head with it, hard enough to raise a bump. He exclaimed in pain, backing away and furiously rubbing the spot.

“I meant that it might be a bad idea for Akane's and Ranma's sakes,” his daughter told him tartly, “not because of what he might do to you. Ranma-kun has major problems right now with anything remotely connected to sexual matters. You are not going to try to force him into a marriage, do you understand me? Also, Mitaka-sensei is only just starting to help Akane deal with the issues she has with boys. So she's not ready for you to push her into any such thing, either.”

Soun tried to speak, but she rolled right over top of him. “The two of them are slowly developing a friendship, which I think will help them both a lot. If you start talking to them about marriage, you could destroy everything! So help me, if you do any such thing, I ... I ... I'll make you eat Akane's cooking every day from now until she graduates from high school!”

Soun turned white as milk. “But I'm pretty sure Ranma already knows about it!” he protested. “We can't keep it a secret!”

Kasumi considered. Her father was probably right about that, and Akane in particular would be hurt if she discovered this later and found that it had been kept secret from her. But the situation seemed fraught with disastrous consequences. Kasumi took a deep breath, as her thoughts shifted from distress to resolution. Her threat a moment ago had been a spur of the moment reaction, only meant half seriously. Now she made a deliberate decision, for the family's sake, even for her father's sake, to do the one thing she most preferred to avoid. Kasumi took another deep breath, then drew herself up, as she prepared to take a stand against her father.

“I guess, no, you are right. We cannot keep this a secret. But I am going to put my foot down about attempting to carry out any such plans. I want you to swear to me, right now, that you will never attempt to force Akane, or Ranma, or any of us, to marry anyone we do not choose.”

“But Kasumi-chan ...”

She rapped him with the small mallet once again, and he hopped around in pain. “No! I mean this, father. I want your promise, sworn on our mother's memory! Or shall I ask Akane to help with dinner? And perhaps suggest to Ranma-kun that you were the one who talked his father into this idea in the first place.”

Soun broke, trembling visibly and with tears springing to his eyes. “Agreed. I agree. I promise, none of you will marry except by your wish. Only, perhaps we can ... encourage ... Akane to notice Ranma's good points? And vice versa?”

Kasumi crossed her arms over her chest, glaring forbiddingly at him. “No father. I've already told you that they are becoming friends. You had best be satisfied with that. If you try to push them into anything more, you're more likely to push them apart. If it's meant to be, then they'll come to that decision for themselves.”

“I suppose,” Soun ground out, dissatisfied. On the other hand, putting aside his dream, at least temporarily, was easier than facing the prospect of slow death by poisoning. Nor did he wish to risk facing the neko-ken up close and personal. As a member of the town council, he had seen a report on the injuries which had been suffered by the boys at the school.

Kasumi allowed the tension to drain back out of her. “I'll tell Akane and Nabiki about it before dinner, after Akane and Ranma come back in. I think that you might wish to go out for a while. In fact, it might be safer if you eat out tonight. If Akane has any ... outburst of temper, she'll probably be over it by the time you get back. You'll be on your own with Nabiki, however. If she should take it wrong ...”

Her father shivered. His middle daughter could hold a grudge for a long time, smiling at you all the while, and you'd never guess until some fateful day when she finally decided to act. He wished that Saotome were here to share this burden with him. It had all been his idea in the first place, after all, even though it had seemed a good one at the time. Choosing what seemed the safest course, he quietly slipped out of the house.

At that very moment, a panda bear in China shaded its eyes and stared at the Bayankala mountains on the horizon. So far, he hadn't picked up a single rumor of the boy. He was sure, however, that Jusenkyo would bring answers. Whatever his ungrateful son had in mind, he was sure to start by going to Jusenkyo.

When she heard Akane and Ranma come back in from the dojo, Kasumi decided to put off the discussion a little longer, until she could speak privately with her sisters. Once Akane was finished in the furoba, and Ranma was safely ensconced therein, Kasumi asked Akane and Nabiki to join her in the kitchen. The three sisters sat around the table, the two younger looking at Kasumi with curious interest.

“I have had a little talk with daddy,” she announced finally. “It seems that he and Ranma's father had ... an agreement. Concerning our families.”

Nabiki rolled her eyes. “Why do I get the feeling this won't be the smartest plan I ever heard?” She shook her head. “Okay, let's hear it. What sort of agreement did our illustrious father make?”

Kasumi took a deep breath. “First of all, daddy has sworn to me that this agreement will not be enforced. Please try to keep that in mind.” She fixed Akane with a steely gaze. “No one is going to force anyone into anything.”

Girding herself for the potential reactions of her sisters, Kasumi cast her eyes heavenward seeking inspiration. Finding none, she returned her gaze upon them. “You remember Daddy said that he and Saotome-san trained together when they were younger? It seems they decided to join their two schools of martial arts. And they felt that the best way to accomplish this was for Ranma-kun to marry one of us.”

“What!” Akane shouted, rising from her chair.

“Akane! Please control your temper,” Kasumi scolded. “I told you, no one is going to be forced into anything. ...”

Akane interrupted, the volume of her voice scarcely any lower than before. “But for him to come here, knowing that and planning ...”

“Akane, please!” Kasumi's voice was as loud as Akane's, shocking the younger sister into silence. Kasumi took a deep breath and went on in measured tones. “That Ranma is here at all is a tremendous coincidence. You certainly don't believe that Ranma arranged for the attack upon himself, do you? Or that he somehow maneuvered you into being there at just the right moment to help?”

Akane flushed. “Well, no ...,” she admitted, grudgingly.

“I am telling you this,” Kasumi went on, “because it would be wrong to keep it secret from you any longer. But it is no longer of consequence, since daddy has agreed not to insist on it. No one is going to tell Ranma he must marry one of us. No one is going to tell you, or Nabiki, or me, that any of us has to marry Ranma.”

“Are you sure he won't change his mind again?” Nabiki drawled. “That the day won't come when daddy will want to see the arrangement fulfilled?”

Kasumi sent her a quelling look. “He swore this to me, Nabiki. I believe we have enough troubles in the present, without borrowing trouble concerning the future. Besides, you, Akane and Ranma, at least, are too young to be thinking about marriage and I ...” She stopped, hesitated a moment, then started over. “Who knows how the situation may change two or three years from now?”

Akane sat there glaring. How could he have kept this from her? She thought of all those nights he, she, he had slept beside her. All that time he knew that her father might want the two of them to get married. Had he been thinking about that? Had he been using it as an opportunity to see what it would be like if they were forced to marry? Had it been some sort of test to him, where he'd finally tell them the truth if she passed?

Kasumi regarded her youngest sister warily. “Akane. Do you blame Ranma for all of this?”

The younger girl looked into her older sister's worried eyes. She slowly stopped hyperventilating, taking several deep, calming breaths. “About the arranged marriage, I ... guess not. But he should have told us. Told us the truth. How could he keep something like that from us?”

Nabiki shook her head, hiding her smirk. Her younger sister was always so forthright about everything, always plowing through things instead of going around. She didn't understand secrets, or the careful parceling of information. However, Nabiki forbore to comment, allowing Kasumi to handle the situation.

Kasumi attempted to do so, speaking calmly and rationally. “I think we'll need to ask Ranma instead of trying to guess what was going through his mind. Still, after what happened to him, I imagine the idea that he might have been forced into a marriage must have been rather frightening. He couldn't know that father would agree to call it off.”

Nabiki gazed at Akane. “Yeah, after he met you, I bet he was terrified he'd be forced into it,” she said teasingly. Kasumi gave her a hard glance with pinched lips, but the middle Tendo sister smiled unrepentantly and lifted one shoulder negligently.

Akane's scowl barely diminished after Kasumi's words, and Nabiki's addendum was certainly of no help. “Hmmph!” was her only response.

Kasumi turned to look out the door into the hallway, and sighed. “I believe Ranma has finished his bath. I had hoped ... well, I suppose we had better get it over with.”

As Ranma walked down the hall past the kitchen door, he stopped at the sound of a throat being cleared. Looking around, he swallowed heavily at the sight of three pairs of eyes pinning him in place. Kasumi crooked a finger, motioning for him to join them. With extreme reluctance, Ranma entered the room and sat in the chair Nabiki pulled out.

Kasumi opened with. “We've just been discussing something our father told me while you and Akane were training. Ranma-kun, would I be correct if I guessed the other thing you wanted to tell us concerns the agreement between our father and yours?”

Ranma's shoulders slumped, knowing now why they had all been looking at him like that. A few seconds passed while he wrote, then he tore the sheet off and handed it to Kasumi. She read aloud, “Yes. Wasn't sure how to tell you. Never meant to come here in the first place.”

He was writing more while she read. “I ran away when I found out. You can't imagine how surprised I was when I discovered whose home I was in.”

He handed her another sheet, grinning. Kasumi read, “Shocked speechless, you might say.”

Nabiki snorted at the lame joke. Kasumi smiled gently, then told him, “I imagine it will please you to know that father has agreed to ... set aside this dream — fantasy — of his. You will not be forced to marry one of us.”

None of the sisters missed the look of dawning hope in Ranma's eyes. Kasumi gave him a small smile and a wink. Akane was regarding him in puzzlement. Did he expect them to believe that he hadn't been thinking about it? Forcing her, one of them, to marry him, once he decided whether she measured up?

Shaking herself free from these thoughts, Akane came back to his initial decision to keep it all a secret. She bit out the word, “So,” and waited for him to turn his full attention on her. Akane then inquired accusingly, “Why didn't you tell me ... us? Who you are?”

Ranma bent over his pad and wrote for a couple of minutes. While he did so, he felt a sudden revelation, that there was an advantage to his muteness. It forced him to take the time to think over his words, rather than just saying the first thing that popped into his mouth, usually without consulting his brain first.

Akane took the sheet he handed her, reading aloud. “I honestly didn't think it mattered. I didn't come here to marry you, I never expected to come here at all. I didn't think your dad would guess who I was. Besides, I knew that no girl would ever want to marry me, with this curse. Didn't think it would ever come up.”

“Well guess what, baka?” Akane sneered. “It did.” She settled back in her chair, arms crossed, looking cross.

Ranma wrote some more, then handed the sheet to Akane. She blushed as she looked it over, and refused to read it aloud. The words he wrote were, “I didn't come here to marry you. But I'm not sorry you showed up in the alley that night. You were the most wonderful sight I had ever seen.”

“Any other secrets we should know about, Ranma-kun?” Nabiki asked, a trace of amusement in her voice, wondering what he had written to her little sister.

Ranma appeared to think about it for a bit, then wrote. “Lots of things in my life I haven't told you yet. Nothing that involves you, I think. Of course, with my pop, who can say? If there is anything, it's a secret from me, too. Your dad might have a better idea than me.”

Nabiki looked briefly stunned. “You know, I believe you may have something there, Ranma-kun. I think I may just make a point of grilling daddy on what else he and your father may have got up to in their carefree youth. I'd rather not have any more surprises.”

Dinner that night was a tense affair, with Akane eating her meal in total silence, clearly deep in thought. Ranma also seemed withdrawn. As the girls' father had disappeared, the only conversation was between Nabiki and Kasumi.

After the meal was finished, Ranma went up to his room to work on an assignment. A few minutes later Akane walked in, to stand beside his desk with her arms crossed. The look she gave him was an unhappy one, and the boy found himself biting his lower lip nervously for a moment until he realized what he was doing. He cocked his head to one side questioningly, inviting her to speak.

Akane sighed. “It's about tonight. Where you'll sleep.” Ranma looked uneasy. Akane continued, sounding cross. “I'm still bothered, a lot, that you didn't tell me about this marriage business. When I think about you lying beside me all those nights, when you knew that our fathers expected you to marry one of us ...”

She looked down at the floor for a moment, fists clenched. When she lifted her face again, she was back to looking sad, and hurt. “You should have told me,” she whispered. “I can't stop picturing you lying in my bed, thinking about it.”

Ranma looked angry for a moment, but that was only an automatic reaction to her accusation. In truth he'd been feeling guilty, worried about how she was taking it. Her opinion meant everything to him. His features shifted until he was looking as sad as the girl standing over him. Ranma slowly pulled out his pad and wrote. “I didn't think about it. Didn't plan to ever tell who I was. Figured one day your dad would tell me it was time to move on.”

The next sheet he handed her read, “What would you have done if I had told you?”

Akane pulled at her long hair, grimacing. “I don't know!” She thought about it. Reluctantly, she admitted, “If you had told me right away, before I got to know you better, I probably would have assumed you were up to something coming here. It would have been a lot harder to trust you.”

She paused again before adding, “But finding out like this, finding out you were keeping a secret like that ... that makes it hard to trust you too.”

Ranma wrote for a minute then handed her another sheet. “Doesn't sound like I could win. If I had any clue you'd find out, I hope I'd have told you. But I thought I was just passing through. Expected to leave after I got better.”

Akane snorted. “At least you're honest enough to admit you're not sure you would have told us.” She hesitated, then went on in a rush. “I just don't think I'd be comfortable with you sleeping in my bed tonight. I think you should sleep here, in the guest room. Okay?”

Akane felt a lump form in her throat at the sad look in his eyes, the smile which was clearly pasted on for her benefit. He nodded his head, then turned back to his homework, unable to bear the pain in her eyes any more. She watched him for a few moments more, indecisive, before she turned and left the room.

For the rest of that evening Akane worried over her decision. She had done the right thing. She was sure of it. Hadn't she? Conversations with Mitaka-sensei kept drifting through her head, troubling her thoughts. She went out to the dojo for a while to break some bricks, but it didn't seem to help.

When Akane finally lay down in her bed that night, a bed which felt unaccountably empty, she couldn't stop thinking about Ranma by himself down the hall. She felt guilty, like she was being unfair to him, even though she told herself that he was the one who had been unfair.

She decided that she felt guilty in part because he still had nightmares. They were less frequent and severe these days, but what if that were so due to her presence? What if he had one tonight? He'd be in pain that she could have prevented. Did she want that? After all, in all honesty, this mess had been caused by their fathers, not Ranma. And as Ranma had pointed out, very rightly she had to admit, no matter what he had decided to do, she would have had a hard time dealing with it.

Akane grumbled and blamed Mitaka-sensei for her restlessness. Together they had been examining her feelings, talking about why she felt the way she did about things. Now look at the result! Here she was worrying about whether she was being fair to Ranma, instead of just rolling over and getting a good night's sleep!

She found herself trying to see things from another person's point of view, an unfamiliar sensation for her. What would she have done, in Ranma's place, knowing what he knew? It was disconcerting in the extreme to come to the conclusion that she might have done exactly the same thing.

Okay, according to Kasumi their father had promised not to force them to go through with that stupid agreement. She certainly wasn't thinking about marrying Ranma. Did she really think that Ranma might have some secret plan to try to go through with the marriage? No, despite what she had said, and thought, in the heat of the moment, she was sure she knew him well enough by now to say with certainty he had no such plans. Frankly, he was pretty poor at hiding his emotions.

Given all that ... perhaps she'd been a bit hasty forcing him to sleep on his own tonight? Maybe if there were other reasons for it ... but it really was rather unfair for the reasons she had given, wasn't it? He still needed her, right? He'd be lonely, right? He might have trouble falling asleep, and might even be more likely to have a nightmare just because she wasn't there. And it would all be her fault.

Having achieved this rationalization, Akane climbed back out of bed, jaw set with determination. She stopped in the bathroom to get a glass of water for gender changing purposes. As the glass filled, she caught sight of her own face in the mirror.

“What's he going to think?” she asked herself. She snorted. “Probably ‘That crazy girl can't make up her mind.’ He might be right.” She sighed. “I want to trust him. He didn't do anything so bad, did he? I wouldn't have wanted to bring up an arranged marriage either. He expected Daddy to kick him out someday.” She gave herself a tortured grin. “So you kicked him out instead. Way to go. That must've been a great boost to his self confidence.”

Shaking her head at the thought, Akane turned off the water which was now overflowing the glass. She padded down the hall, knocked lightly at the door of the guest room and slipped inside. Ranma sat up, looking at her with wary curiosity, obviously still wide awake.

Akane put down the glass and knelt beside Ranma's futon, touching her fingertips together nervously. “I've, uh, I've been doing some more thinking,” she began. Taking a deep breath, she went on, “Actually, I, uh, had a long talk with myself and ... I know I said I didn't trust you, but ... well, maybe I trust you more than I thought. There's part of me that says I ought to be really angry with you over this. I don't know ... the rest of me seems to be having trouble giving in to that sort of righteous fury.”

The girl shook her head from side to side and lifted one corner of her mouth crookedly in what might have been an attempt at a smile. “Between the morning attacks ending, our work in the dojo, and my talks with Mitaka-sensei, I seem to have more trouble staying angry these days.” For a brief moment the smile became real, giving her an impish look. “Who'd have thought it?” Her expression turned serious again. “Look the truth is ... I guess I'm not as bothered as I felt I ought to be. About you sleeping in my bed. I'm not sure you're ready to be by yourself at night yet. I've decided that maybe I ... overreacted. Just a little.”

Akane lifted the glass and held it out. “So what do you say? Will you come back to my room with me?”

Ranma hunted around for a moment before locating his pad. Truthfully, he'd been feeling nervous lying in the room in the dark by himself. Also a bit lonely. At the same time he'd been trying to tell himself to be a man about it. Part of him wanted to prove he didn't need someone else with him while he slept, while another part of him was worried that he might not be ready yet. On the whole he felt very relieved at Akane's offer. Still ... he scribbled quickly and held the pad out. “Are you sure? You're not still mad?”

Akane nodded seriously. “I thought about it a lot before coming to get you. Yes, I'm sure.” She bit her lip. “How about you? Aren't you mad at me for kicking you out?”

The boy cocked his head, studying her face. He wrote, “No, not mad. Upset maybe. Sad. Never had a right to sleep in your bed. Letting me was a huge gift.”

The next sheet read, “You have the right to say no if you're not comfortable. Are you really sure?”

She gave him one of her patented smiles. “Come on baka. Let's go get to sleep.” She tilted the glass from side to side, drawing his eye to it.

Without further hesitation, Ranma took her up on the offer, his heart feeling considerably eased. He accepted the glass and quickly changed to female. The two then went back down the hall and climbed into the bed. Akane turned off the light.

Several minutes later, as they were lying there in the dark, Akane asked, “Ranma, do you have any idea why Hibiki-san tracked you down to fight with you?”

Ranma sighed internally, wondering why she was bringing this up now, when they'd finally settled down. However, he decided not to risk her anger by pretending to be asleep or anything. Instead he just motioned for his pad. Akane chided herself for not thinking. She rolled over, turned on the light, picked up the pad from the edge of her desk, and handed it to him. He rolled over onto his stomach, pulling the pillow down to his lower chest to provide support and began to write. Akane lay on her stomach beside him, reading as he wrote.

“I spent time today thinking about it. Don't see any good reason. Last time I saw him was just before the duel we didn't have.”

“What was the duel about?” Akane asked.

“Bread,” Ranma wrote. “It was stupid. Middle school. Things got kind of vicious in the cafeteria. Everyone fought for the good bread.”

“I thought we were friends. I walked him to and from school. Okay, he challenged me to a duel over the bread. But it was a friendly match. I thought.”

“Only guess I have — he showed up late for the duel. Embarrassed because he got lost. Got pissed since I had already left.”

“Seems kind of weak though, doesn't it?” He gave her an apologetic smile as he finished writing that line.

“Yes,” Akane admitted. “It hardly seems like a reason to track you down months later, yelling ‘Prepare to die!’”

Ranma shrugged and wrote. “If there's another reason, I can't think of it.”

“Okay. I suppose we'll find out if he comes back,” Akane concluded. “You know, I think this is the time when I wish the most you could get your voice back. It would be kind of nice to talk a little bit after we go to bed, but before we fall asleep.”

Ranma nodded and shrugged. He wrote, “Maybe someday.” He paused, then wrote some more. “Thanks again for letting me stay with you all these nights. It means a lot to me.”

Akane reached over and stroked a hand through his red hair, putting aside the fears for which she had tried to push him away earlier. “It's okay, Ranma. Yeah, I was a little nervous at first, and finding out about daddy's plans today bothered me a lot, but ... I'm not worried that you'll try anything.” She bit her lower lip and turned her face down to her lap, not looking at him, as she confessed, “It's helped me too, you know. You've taught me that it's possible to trust a boy to behave himself. I never would have believed that was possible before I met you.”

Cheeks faintly rosy, she decided that she had said enough. “Here, give me your pad, and let's get to sleep.” She put the pad back on the desk, and turned the light off once more. Although they tended to sleep on their own sides of the bed as often as not lately, tonight Akane put her arms around the girl beside her and pulled Ranma close, his back to her front. As they drifted off to sleep, Akane wondered what it would feel like to hold Ranma like this if he were male. Maybe even lying the other way, with his arms around her.

It was probably just as well that Akane didn't remember these last sleep-filled thoughts the next morning. They would no doubt have made her very uncomfortable.

As soon as they got home from school Friday afternoon, Kasumi handed Ranma a letter which had arrived in the mail. The postmark showed that it had been posted yesterday, in Nerima. He opened it to find that it was a challenge from Ryoga, to be met on the field at the high school.

Akane was reading over his shoulder. “The challenge is for today, at two thirty.” She looked at the clock. “It's already past that now. What are you going to do?”

Ranma shrugged. Still looking over his shoulder, Akane read as he wrote, “He's always lost, remember? I'll start waiting for him next week.”

Akane gave a grunt of acknowledgment. She had in fact forgotten that Ryoga had apparently taken more than three days to show up for the last duel he had with Ranma. They both hurried off to change so they could have a quick workout before it was time to leave for their appointment.

Later Ranma had to explain the whole arranged marriage business to Mitaka-sensei, how he had found out about it, why he ran away, his decision to keep it secret, and how he felt about it now. In a similar manner, the counselor had Akane explore her feelings about the agreement between their fathers, Ranma's decision not to tell them about it, and how it affected her relationship with Ranma. In the end, Akane felt a little more reconciled, and Ranma was relieved that Mitaka did not tell him he had been wrong to hide the truth from the Tendos. On the other hand, he did feel ashamed when the counselor pointed out that he could have told her all about this from the beginning, since she had promised to keep his confidences, and doing so would have allowed her to advise him on the matter.

On Saturday they celebrated the successful completion of Ranma's first week in school with a family trip to Ginza. They went shopping, saw the sights, and attended a show at the Kabukiza theater. The one flaw in the outing was the unplanned wide detour they had to make around the fish market, when at the last moment Nabiki remembered and mentioned its feline population.

The Monday morning after that outing, Ranma sat in English class trying not to doze off. The period was supposed to have ended two minutes ago, he thought irritably, yet the teacher was still trying to make some final points. Tedious, nitpicking points. Ranma stifled a yawn, his eyes squeezing shut automatically, and he felt himself start nodding again. Resolutely, he jerked his head back up. From the back of the room, he heard the classroom door squeak as it opened and shut again. The half asleep boy wondered what brave soul had dared to sneak out.

He'd barely formed the thought when a veritable flood of water came crashing down over his head. Before the excess water could even splash on the floor, Ranma was on his feet, facing the other way. Tatewaki Kuno was standing behind his desk, face adorned with a triumphant look, holding an empty pail in the arm which wasn't in a cast. Ranma's fists clenched, wishing he could yell at the older boy and frustrated that he had to settle for a furious glare instead.

“Behold!” Kuno declaimed. “This entity, who calls himself Ranma, is clearly a shape-changing demon! Join me, that we may drive it forth from these halls of learning! Let its evil be vanquished by our righteousness!”

Ranma wanted to pound Kuno into paste but hesitated, his honor nagging at him, since the other boy's broken bones were still healing. After all, Kuno was not violating his promise concerning Akane, nor had he launched a physical attack against Ranma. The idiot had just soaked him thoroughly. That deserved retribution, the only question was, of what kind?

Before his fury found a means of expression, Ranma finally became aware of how everyone in the classroom was staring at him. At the same time he realized that the white shirt of the school uniform, when sopping wet and worn without a bra, made quite a display for female assets. The girls were all twittering with combined surprise and embarrassment, averting their eyes, but the boys ...

With a sudden rising nausea, Ranma recognized the boys' expressions as lust, and his desire to do damage to Kuno vanished completely under the weight of their regard. He could see it in their eyes. They wanted to ... do things to him. Tear off his clothes. Pin him down. Worse. His mouth opened in a silent cry of grief and he ran from the room.

The other students watched him run off in bewilderment. True, the boys had openly stared at a view they had found enticing, but their desires were nowhere near the images which Ranma's subconscious had called up and forced upon him. Kuno declared, “You see how easily we defeat him! Come, let us make sure that he leaves this place entirely!”

Akane had jumped up to run after Ranma. On hearing these words from the pompous ass, she hauled her arm back and slapped Kuno across the face so hard that he spun through two full rotations before falling to the floor. She ran out, hoping that she could find Ranma quickly.

The teacher sighed with regret, and considered how to pick up the pieces. Several students were standing, talking together loudly about what they'd seen, or thought they'd seen. A few of the more bold were even peeking out the door in the hopes that there was more to be seen.

“Everyone back to your seats and be quiet,” he demanded, in tones which made it clear that refusal would earn hours of extra homework. Those who were standing quickly found their seats again.

Tatewaki was just climbing to his feet, feeling his jaw as if fearing it might have been dislocated. The teacher now addressed him. “Kuno-kun, return to your own classroom. Do as you please before or after school, or in fact anywhere else, but if you ever dare to disrupt my class like this in the future, I will see to it that you are removed from your position as captain of the kendo club.”

“But ...”

“Leave, Kuno-kun.”

Thoroughly confused, wondering why no one had joined his quest to rid the school of the demon, Kuno left the room.

The teacher next pinned Hiroshi with his eyes, who was one of those who had been standing near the door and speaking loudest. “Yanaka-kun, please get a mop and clean up that mess.” Making sure to keep his grumbles inaudible, Hiroshi left to get a mop from the closet down the hall.

Sitting back on his desktop with a sigh, the teacher said, “Now I am sure that all of you are wondering what just happened. I will try to explain.”

The man paused to gather his thoughts. As he began to speak, Hiroshi reentered the room with a clatter of bucket and mop, earning himself a glare. The teacher then began speaking.

“Ranma-kun, although an unfortunate young man, is certainly not some sort of demon. Obviously Kuno-kun is confused. And mistaken. Ranma-kun suffers from a curse, which he says he received in China. Now this may not seem very rational, but ... all of you just saw it with your own eyes. When exposed to cold water, Ranma-kun's body undergoes a transformation and becomes female. Hot water restores his original body. It is as simple as that. Assuming that he did not leave school entirely, I imagine that he will make use of some hot water before he returns to class.

“He did plan to tell all of you about this, but we, he and we teachers as well, had hoped to wait longer before doing so. If you got to know him first, it would be easier for you to accept him as a person, less chance that someone would regard him as monstrous or something. Also, Ranma-kun is rather sensitive about being treated as a boy. He wanted to be firmly established in everyone's minds as male before he revealed his problem.

“His inability to speak is a separate matter. It has nothing to do with his curse. If you have any further questions, I suggest that you wait and ask him in person.”

The next teacher entered the room to begin his class just as this explanation was completed. The English teacher took a moment to brief his colleague on what had just happened, then left. Needless to say, the students in the room had trouble focusing on the literature class which followed.

Ranma wasn't in the hallway when Akane ran out of the classroom. She was pretty sure even he wouldn't have had enough time to reach the stairs at the end of the hall, which meant he either had jumped out of a window, or was hiding in one of the rooms before her. Most of the doors along this hallway opened onto classrooms, all of which were occupied at this hour. She was certain he wouldn't be in those. That left the supply closet and two restrooms.

All three of these choices offered hot water, which made them ideal for a certain cursed individual who would wish to become male again as quickly as possible. Hesitating to enter the boys' restroom, Akane checked the supply closet first, then, rather hopelessly, the girls' restroom. There was no one in either room.

Standing in front of the door to the boys' restroom, Akane had to pause to gather her courage. She almost turned around. Slowly pushing the door open a crack, she called softly, “Ranma?” Hearing no answer she braced herself, then stepped inside, fully expecting to be confronted by filth, unpleasant smells and pornographic graffiti. To her surprise the room appeared to be fairly clean, although she averted her eyes from the urinals and what appeared to be some scrawls on the walls in the stalls.

Her attention was immediately diverted from such distractions, ignoring them, when her eyes focused on Ranma. He was indeed a boy once more, with a puddle on the floor under a sink showing where he had splashed himself. He was sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up to his face, and his arms wrapped around those knees.

She walked over and knelt down beside him. Putting a hand on his shoulder, Akane whispered his name. “Ranma?”

The boy looked up. He did not appear to have been crying, for which Akane was very thankful, but his eyes did have a haunted appearance.

Akane put her arms around him and hugged him. He held on to her tightly, but still didn't break down. He was breathing a little hard, but not hyperventilating or anything. She pulled back and regarded him seriously. “You're handling it better than I thought you'd be,” she told him.

Ranma shrugged. He wanted to tell her that she was both right and wrong. He hadn't fallen apart, as he himself had been afraid he might. On the other hand, he felt more shaky on the inside than he appeared from the outside. He wished it were possible to whisper how he was feeling, but he couldn't, and he didn't want to let go just to write it down.

They stayed there until nearly the end of the following class period. Lunch was next, and Akane suggested that perhaps they should leave the restroom before boys came looking to use it. She asked Ranma if he wanted to go home or return to class, leaving it up to him. He considered both options, but signaled that they should return to the classroom. They stood out in the hall and waited until the bell rang before walking back in.

Their classmates stared at the two of them, bursting immediately into rapid questions. Akane loudly announced, in tones which would brook no argument, that she and Ranma were going to eat lunch before answering anything. Without discussing the matter, all of their classmates decided that they would eat lunch in the classroom as well. Those who had to buy their meals hurried to do so, glad they would be able to get back in time to hear what would be said.

Eventually Akane finished eating, long after Ranma had inhaled his food. She turned to the boy and quietly asked if he wanted her to field all the questions, receiving a willing nod in reply. She stood up and everyone else immediately quieted down.

“I suppose I should start by giving you some background,” Akane began.

Yuka spoke up. “We already heard that it's some sort of curse. That he's really a guy, that cold water changes him into a girl, and that hot water turns him back into a boy again. Oh, and Hikari-sensei also said that it has nothing to do with Ranma-kun being mute.”

Akane considered where to go from there, thinking back over all of the little things he'd told her during many conversations. “Okay, that's the basics. He received the curse in China. He and his father were training there, and went to some remote valley way up in the mountains, called ... Jusenkyo, is that right?” She turned to Ranma, who nodded.

“Apparently this valley has a lot of pools of water, and anyone who falls into one of the pools ends up with a curse like this. Cold water changes them into the cursed form, and hot water changes them back. The pool that Ranma fell into causes him to change into a girl. Ranma told us that his father is cursed to change into a panda bear.”

Several people looked unsure of whether to believe this, despite having seen Ranma change. Akane waited for the murmurs to die down before continuing. Since she definitely didn't want to mention arranged marriages, she adjusted the facts slightly. “Ranma was understandably upset with his father over this. They've gone their separate ways, and for the time being we don't know where Genma Saotome is, although we think he might have gone back to China.

“Ranma is hoping to raise the money to make a return trip himself someday, to try to find a cure. He hopes there is one, but he has no proof that a cure exists. He got into a fight after leaving his father, during which he suffered a concussion. This has left him unable to speak. Temporarily, we hope. My father offered to let him stay with us while he is being treated for this, and possibly for longer, while Ranma tries to decide what he is going to do now that he is on his own.

“I guess that pretty much covers it. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Hiroshi piped up. “Are you and Ranma ...”

He didn't get any further. Ranma stood up, glaring and surrounded by a red aura. His lips were drawn back in a snarl and his fists were clenched. Hiroshi wisely slammed his lips shut.

Akane spoke serenely. “Ranma and I are training together. He's showing me some of the martial arts he has learned. We're ... friends.” Her tone was thoughtful, and she glanced at Ranma, who smiled and nodded his head slightly. She gave a small smile of her own. “But that's all. We're not dating. Nothing is going on between us. I'd suggest, as a matter of personal safety, that no one else ask any questions like that.”

“Does it hurt?” one of the girls asked.

Recalling Ranma's words on this subject, Akane replied, “He says that the feeling is in between a tingle, and the feeling of water running over your skin. So no, it doesn't hurt. It can be a little inconvenient. The everyday clothing Ranma likes to wear fits either body fairly well. When he's been hit by water on the way to or from school, he has to stop to make adjustments, since his school uniform is less forgiving.”

“Does this happen to him often?” another girl asked.

Ranma grimaced. Akane suppressed a chuckle. “Way too often, in his opinion. The curse seems almost to attract water. He's actually already been hit several times at school, but we managed to cover it up before anyone noticed. And of course he changes whenever he's outside and it rains, or whenever he bathes.”

One of the guys wanted to know, “Are you, like, really a girl when it happens? I mean, completely?”

Akane looked over at Ranma, who closed his eyes, his face losing all expression. She answered, “Yes. His body is completely female when it happens. He doesn't like that, of course. If for no other reason, because he's a martial artist, and doesn't like finding himself in a body other than the one he has trained all his life. The body whose responses he is intimately familiar with.”

One of the other boys, with a bit of a leer in his eye, asked, “Does Ranma think like a girl when he changes? You know, does she want to wear dresses, and make up, and have the guys pay attention to her?”

Akane, and several other girls, muttered “jerk” while Ranma stood up and walked over to the unlucky boy. He cringed backward, but Ranma grabbed him by his shirt front and lifted him up. With his other hand, Ranma pointed two fingers at the boys eyes, then made a throwing motion downward. Throwing the fool back into his seat, Ranma marched back to his own desk and sat down again.

Akane said, “I believe what Ranma is trying to tell you is that if he ever catches you ogling his girl form, he will rip out both of your eyes.” Ranma nodded, and several boys paled. “Ranma's mind doesn't change. From his point of view, he is a boy at all times, even when his body is not in agreement. He prefers that you use masculine pronouns when referring to him, whichever body he is in.”

“Is this curse why Ranma doesn't take gym with us?” Daisuke inquired.

Akane thought about how to answer this. She came up with, “Not exactly, although it was probably for the best until now, as he would have had trouble hiding the curse in a locker room. No, that goes back to the fight that left him mute. The doctor who is still treating Ranma is being extremely cautious about giving permission for him to resume such activities. Ranma hopes he won't have to sit on the sidelines for much longer.”

One of the bolder girls, and not one whom Akane liked very much, came up with, “Does he have periods?” The girl was smirking as she asked the question. Several of the other girls looked curious, and many of the boys turned faintly green.

Akane was stumped. The question had never been raised before. She turned to Ranma and held her hands out to the side, venting an interrogative “uh ...?”

Ranma wrote on his pad, “Didn't understand the question.”

Akane turned back and responded, “He isn't sure yet. And it's a private matter for which he sees no reason to let people know the answer. Even after he finds out what the answer is.”

One of the boys started to ask something, but then shut his mouth. Akane raised an eyebrow, but he shook his head. She turned away again, assuming he was thinking something perverted, but had thought better of asking about it.

Hiroshi tried again. “Does he shave his legs and armpits as a girl?”

Ranma looked pained. Akane looked disgusted and said, “None of your business. Next?”

Akane's friend Yuka asked, “It looked like Ranma was shorter as a girl? Was he?”

Akane nodded. “Yes. He's a good ten centimeters shorter after the change, not to mention many kilograms lighter. I have no idea what happens to the extra mass. Luckily his foot size is only a little smaller, so his shoes still fit pretty well.”

A girl who got top marks in science classes wanted to know, “Are any of his senses different as a girl? Sight, hearing, smell? Anything he's noticed?”

Akane shrugged, and looked at Ranma helplessly. He wrote something down and handed it up to her. She read it and announced, “Ranma says that some things seem to smell or taste a little different. There's a brand of tea he likes in his female form, that he doesn't care for as a boy. He says that chocolate tastes a lot better as a girl.”

“Doesn't surprise me,” one of the girls remarked, and several others nodded.

Daisuke took another turn. “He's stronger as a guy, isn't he?”

Akane agreed that he was. “During training, Ranma has mentioned to me that he is stronger as a boy, but seems to be faster as a girl. Faster in his reactions and movements, that is. For something other than reactions, like running, he's faster over a short distance when he's male, but has more endurance when he's female. Also, his training has taught him to endure pain, but he says he's able to handle pain even better when he's female.”

“That's 'cause guys don't have to give birth,” one of the girls declared caustically, eyeing some of the boys sitting near her. One of them responded by sticking out his tongue.

Akane looked around the room. Several of the boys looked like they were biting their tongues, withholding questions they didn't dare ask. Not hearing any others spoken aloud, and as it was almost time for the next class, Akane left to get a drink of water. She came back a minute later and took her seat once more.

After school, Ranma wrote to Akane that he had to hang around for a little while, in case Ryoga found his way back for the challenge. Akane chose to accompany him and suggested that they spend the time sparring. Ranma pointed out two problems with this. First, she was wearing her school uniform, which was not the most appropriate outfit imaginable for a heavy sparring session. Second, he had to meet Ryoga as male, and therefore could not change to female to spar with her.

Akane considered both of these points carefully, particularly the second. She even paced back and forth a little while thinking about it. Finally she turned to him, breathed out heavily, and said, “Ranma, I think I'm ready to face you as a boy. I've gotten to know you pretty well, and I won't react to you like I did to the boys who attacked me before. It's just sparring. I can handle it.”

Ranma wrote, “You sure? I'm stronger as a guy. I'll have to hold back more. Don't want to break any bones.”

Akane snorted. “I don't want you breaking any of my bones, either. Okay, I'm not happy about you holding back, but I already know you do it even as a girl. I can deal with it.”

“What about the uniform?” he wrote.

“If you can wait a few minutes,” she told him, “I'll run back inside and change. I'm sure I can find a sweat suit. That'll do to spar in.”

Akane ran back inside and, as predicted, ran back out a few minutes later wearing a sweat suit. That it was a shocking pink in color was a bit of a surprise, but probably didn't matter. Akane saw the look in his eyes, looked down at the color, and grimaced. “Sayuri was the first one I asked who had one in her locker. I had to take what I could get.”

There were quite a number of students still milling around the schoolyard, and they gathered to watch while Akane and Ranma faced off against one another on a soccer field. What followed was too fast and intense for most of the untrained spectators to follow. A few members of the former horde who did have some training realized that they didn't dare try to take Akane on again. She was at least twenty percent better already, just from having had her forms straightened out, adjusting them for her growth during the years of neglect.

Tatewaki Kuno came out after a brief administrative meeting concerning upcoming meets for the kendo club, and heard the murmur of a crowd. He wandered over to see what was happening, only to spy Akane Tendo locked in combat with the fiend Ranma. He brandished his bokken and prepared to charge into the fray.

Nabiki got into his face first. “Are you a complete idiot, Kuno-chan? How much fighting do you think you can do with one arm in a cast, and several fractured ribs? Besides, if you'll take the time to look, you'll see that they're just sparring.”

Kuno grumbled a good bit, but had to allow that the mercenary wench made a good point about his readiness to do battle. Vowing to bring down the vengeance of heaven upon the head of the foul demon as soon as he was fit, Kuno left rather than watch the action.

Akane and Ranma kept up their exercise until three thirty, when they decided that Ryoga probably wasn't going to show up that day. Akane wore the sweat suit home, promising Sayuri that she'd wash it before she gave it back. She also made plans to bring something of her own the next day, in case Ryoga still didn't appear.

Just before getting in bed that night, Ranma tried to ask Akane what the girl in class had meant by “periods.” Akane blushed heavily, told him it was a female thing, and suggested strongly that he talk to his therapist about it.

The next morning, Kuno challenged Ranma at the school gate, vowing not to allow the demon to enter the school. Ranma treated him more gently than he deserved, being careful not to further damage Kuno's healing bones. Afterward, Ranma lay the kendoist's crumpled and unconscious body on a bench to sleep it off. He cracked his knuckles with a smile, happy to have been given a chance of revenge for the previous day's encounter.

A much larger group of students gathered to watch Akane and Ranma spar that afternoon. Many were shocked at how seriously the pair went about it, wincing at some of the blows Akane took. The two teenagers did get yelled at by the soccer coach, however, who wasn't terribly pleased by the effect they were having on the field. They left immediately after the dressing down, to keep their appointment with Mitaka-sensei.

Ranma informed his counselor how his curse had been revealed at school, and they discussed his reactions to the event. He also took Akane's suggestion and asked about periods. The rest of his session was occupied by an impromptu sex education lecture, covering those aspects of the subject beyond the basic acts he already knew about. Ranma prayed, silently and very hard, that his curse would not subject him to this new and unexpected possibility.

Ranma also asked her if it would be okay for him to start taking gym class, now that the curse had been revealed. Mitaka told him that they could wait and discuss that again on Friday, after they had a few more days to gauge his classmate's reactions to the curse. She warned him however that she still had her doubts whether he was ready, and not to get his hopes up.

After Akane's turn, Mitaka called Ranma back into the room and had him take her seat while she pulled her chair out from behind the desk and sat in it. “I'd like to discuss something related to your inability to speak, Ranma-san,” she began. He and Akane both gave her their full attention.

“I will not hide from you,” she went on, “that I had hoped you would begin to recover some speech by now.” Ranma looked crestfallen, provoking her to respond with a joking pretense of severity. “Now, none of that, young man! I still feel confident that you will be able to talk again, some day. I think that the problem is that there are deeper issues tied to it which we haven't uncovered yet. It just means it might take a lot longer.”

“How much longer, Mitaka-san?” Akane asked.

“I'm afraid I can't answer that, Tendo-san,” the older woman replied. “It depends on how long it takes us to find the root problems. Now I know that it is frustrating for you,” she was looking at Ranma again, “to have to do all of your communicating by writing.”

Ranma nodded at this. He took the time to write, “Very frustrating.”

Mitaka smiled. “I'm sure. I have a suggestion to make. Many people who cannot speak, most of whom are deaf, learn to communicate using sign language. Of course, they can only communicate with others who know it as well. I happen to be proficient myself. Let me give you a small sample.”

Her hands went through some rapid motions, accompanied by a few exaggerated facial expressions. “Now what I just said was, ‘You can learn sign language. It only takes time and practice.’”

Akane asked the question that was on Ranma's mind. “Are you suggesting that part of Ranma's sessions with you be spent learning sign language?”

The counselor shook her head. “No. I'm not certified to teach it, and my time with Ranma should be spent on other matters. However, I know of a class which is going to start up this Saturday. It will meet once per week, for three hours on each Saturday. I think it would be a good idea if both of you were to sign up.”

“What? Me too?” Akane squeaked.

“Certainly. Why not?” was the response. “After all, there isn't much point of Ranma-san going to the trouble if he has no one to talk to. I mean, it would hardly be worth it for the little bit of time he spends with me each week. For that matter, his sessions with me need a degree of understanding which will continue to require a lot of writing on his part, unless a time comes when he is extremely fluent at sign language.”

Ranma scribbled, and showed his pad to Akane. “Please? It would be easier if I didn't have to write everything when we talk.”

“Besides,” Mitaka pressed, looking at Akane, “you'll have it easier than Ranma-san. You only have to become fluent at reading the signs. You'll have no need to sign back, since he can hear you perfectly well.”

Akane felt embarrassed about having protested. She wasn't really unwilling, she'd just been caught by surprise. “Um, sure, what do we have to do?”

Mitaka handed Ranma a piece of paper. “Just call the number on there, tell them you'd like to join the class, and show up at the address at the bottom, on Saturday at one o'clock.”

“Thank you, Mitaka-san. I promise, we will,” Akane answered for both of them.

Akane and Ranma both stood and bowed, then departed. Mitaka collapsed back into her chair and looked heavenward, remembering the talk she had just given about the facts of life. “I swear, if I ever get my hands on that Genma Saotome ...”

Akane mentioned the sign language classes that night at dinner. Kasumi expressed an interest in joining them as well. Soun ignored the subject, and Nabiki pronounced herself as having much more important things to do. The middle sister was thinking that she could communicate perfectly well with Ranma via pen and paper and therefore saw no point to putting in the time and effort of learning a new language. After dinner, Kasumi called the phone number from the advertisement, and registered the three of them for the class.

Wednesday passed without incident. Ranma had to subdue Kuno again, and tried to suggest to the upperclassman that he wait until he healed before challenging his betters. Unfortunately, Kuno was in no mood to take and read the notes Ranma wrote. Akane and Ranma sparred after school again, this time upsetting the baseball coach.

On Thursday, the students emerged from the building at the end of the school day to see an angry, frustrated, Ryoga Hibiki standing and waiting. When Ranma came out, Ryoga called loudly, “So, Ranma, you finally had the guts to show up!”