DISCLAIMER: "Ranma ½" and all the characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This is a fan fiction produced for my own enjoyment and for passing on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, R.P.G.s, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic books!). As far as I know, the character, Ryo/Ryo-chan/Ryoko, is my own idea.

A WORD FROM TANGENT: To those of you who have read the previous two chapters (and what good little otaku you are!) this chapter may seem unusually long. Especially since it fills about the same amount of space as the previous two combined. Perhaps I expanded things too much, or condensed things that could have been chapters in their own right. If this bothers you, I apologize for it. I may expand and separate some of the condensed sections later as a chapter 03a extension once I get more of a feel for how they might pan out once fully formed. The sections involving Dr. Tofu could have probably come across better if I had spent more time and had come up with actual conversations for them. Still…I hope you enjoy this installment.

Ryo woke to the sound of combat outside the window. Her brother and father were sparring over the Tendo koi pond, and had apparently decided not to wake her up. As irritating as she found that to be, she supposed she couldn’t blame them. She had spent the night on a futon in Nabiki’s room, and it was likely that they hadn’t wanted to wake up one of their hosts needlessly. Still, it wouldn’t do to miss morning practice. She quickly got dressed in her sparring gi and quietly left the room.

Not that it really mattered how carefully Ryo went about in order to not disturb Nabiki’s rest, for the Tendo girl was already awake and watching her while pretending to still be asleep. Ryo was an enigma to Nabiki. Yesterday, she had assumed that Mr. Saotome had brought up the girl as a boy for some bizarre reason, and that his story was ludicrous on the face of it. Now she wasn’t so sure.

Last night, as the two girls were waiting for sleep to overcome them, they had talked. Nabiki had found Ryo to be much more forthcoming about the places the Saotomes had been to and the events that had occurred during their travels than Ranma had been. Where Ranma had mostly talked about the various forms of martial arts that the Saotomes had encountered (unless dragged to another subject by Nabiki), Ryo talked about the countries they had been to and the people that they met. Nabiki had found this to be much more interesting than Ranma’s preferred topic of choice, and had found herself wishing that Ryo really had been a boy. And then the conversation had taken a really interesting turn as far as she was concerned, although Ryo hadn’t seemed to be aware of the implications.

Last year, for a six-month period, the Saotomes had been back in Japan in a neighboring province. Ryo had been talking about a friend of hers named Ryoga Hibiki, whom she had met while attending an all boys school! Some careful questioning by the suddenly very interested Nabiki revealed some eye opening details that caused her to reevaluate her position on Mr. Saotome’s explanation. Ryo had talked about gym class and swimming with absolutely no qualifiers explaining how no one had noticed that she was a girl. No stories about ‘how Ryo’s father had told her to hide her deformity’ or ‘how she had been excused from gym for reasons that only her father knew’. No, Ryo had talked about her locker room experiences as if she really had been a perfectly ordinary boy, and as if she had actually remembered them.

This had been a revelation that caused Nabiki to start believing that maybe…maybe…Ryo really was a boy under a curse. She found herself hoping that this was indeed the case, and that a cure could be found. Ranma, while attractive in a purely physical sense, had been boring as a conversationalist. His interest was primarily in the Art, and that was what he tended to talk about the most. Ryo, on the other hand, was exciting on the personal level as far as Nabiki was concerned. Sure, she was cute as a girl, but she was really supposed to be Ranma’s brother. Ranma’s identical twin brother!

Nabiki was more than excited at the concept. [To have the body and the personality…just think of it! The perfect dream date! The ideal boyfriend!] If it was at all possible for the story to be true, and if the curse could be cured (or at the very least, brought back to the levels that the Saotomes had said that Jusenkyo curses were normally at), then she had to have him! Even if it meant having Ryo as a girl part of (or even most of) the time, she had to have him! [Oh, Kami-sama, let it be true!]

After the Saotomes were done with their morning practice (which Akane had found enlightening – Ryo had apparently been holding back on her yesterday) and baths, they joined the Tendos for breakfast. Ranma wearing another set of Chinese fighting clothes, just like the set he had worn yesterday (Ranma had picked up a lot of the same outfit while in China – usually, only the color of the shirt changed from time to time), while Ryo had changed into a copy of the fighting clothes she had seen Xian Pu wearing (the Chinese amazon may be trying to kill her, but Ryo liked some of her outfits and had bought similar attire). Genma just put on another gi, seeing nothing wrong with it.

The Tendos weren’t really surprised at the lack of table manners displayed by Ranma and Genma, as the Saotomes had spent so much time on the road (where Ryo had picked up table manners was anybody’s guess – basically, she just copied the manners demonstrated by the Tendos). They were, however, startled by the intensity of their activity at the table. Ranma and Genma would fight over pieces of food, steal food from each other’s plates, and generally shout at one another. The only time Ryo got into the act was when Genma had tried to steal some food off of her plate (the vicious backhand that he received to his face temporarily stunned Genma into behaving himself – and Ryo hadn’t even been looking!)

"Remember, Ryo-chan," Akane started, "you’re going to be going to school as ‘Ryoko’ now. It wouldn’t do for you to be using a boy’s name."

"Even though I am a boy?" asked a somewhat irked Ryo (who was still half-asleep from having stayed up talking with Nabiki last night). "And when was this decided?"

"No, you’re a girl now, remember," Akane pointed out. "And we decided yesterday, over dinner."

"Oh yeah…I forgot," responded Ryo, who had suddenly become depressed again.

"Hey, Ryo-baby, cheer up!" Nabiki chided, silently cursing her sister’s thoughtless comments. [She and Ranma deserve eachother.] "I bet Furinkan High will be a whole new experience for you! Not like that all boys school that you and Ranma went to last year." The comment was worth it for Akane’s reaction alone. The youngest Tendo had practically choked once she heard that!

"B…boy’s school!?" Akane sputtered.

"Didn’t they tell you, Akane?" inquired Nabiki with a tone of mock innocence. "Ranma and Ryo went to an all boys school last year."

"Yeah…mmph, gulp…that’s right," responded Ranma between mouthfuls. Genma just nodded, and Ryo looked like she had just caught on to what was happening. Soun paid close attention to what happened next.

"How did she attend a boy’s school!?" asked Akane, suddenly dreading the response she just knew she was going to get.

"Well, she was a boy at the time," explained Genma, who had suddenly found the proof he needed for his friend to believe him. "I can even get a copy of their school records to show you," he continued, talking to Soun excitedly. "Last year, Ryo was just as much of a man as Ranma is! Their school photos and medical records will prove it!"

"RYO, YOU HENTAI!" Shouted an outraged Akane, knocking out the specified Saotome with her patented ‘Mallet O Doom’ ™. "You saw us in the nude, you lech," she ranted, ignoring the fact that Ryo was no longer capable of hearing her.

"Jeeze, Akane, don’t hurt her too much," protested Nabiki. "I’d like to get to know her better, especially if a cure could be found. You may be pounding on your future brother in law."

Akane stopped, startled by what Nabiki had just said, thought about it for a moment…and sat back down, stunned into submission.

Soun thought about this turn of events. [For Nabiki to open up like this…Ryo must have really impressed her. Oh, for the day that my little girl will finally come back to herself! Can it really be this close?] "I’ll approve your engagement to Ryo, Nabiki, but only after I see these records. It wouldn’t do for you to end up engaged to someone who was really a girl after all."

"DAD!" exclaimed Akane in a mix of shock and confusion.

"Why, thank you, Daddy," said Nabiki, surprised that her father had jumped for the chance of engaging her to Ryo, but pleased that she wouldn’t be expected to follow through if Ryo really had been a girl all this time. After all, a curse might be cured (or at least brought under manageable control), but she didn’t think that she could live with a purely lesbian relationship. In the mean time, there was much teasing potential inherent in the situation, which promised to be fun. "I’ll be sure to let ‘Princess Charming’ know as soon as she recovers."

"Na…Nabiki?" stammered Akane, who was approaching her shock limit.

"Very well then. It looks as if Nabiki and Ryo may be getting engaged soon, but still…" mused Mr. Tendo, "Since we don’t know how long the search for a cure may take, I insist that Ranma become engaged to one of my other daughters in order to secure the future of this dojo! Akane would seem the wisest choice." [After all, Kasumi may end up getting engaged to Dr. Tofu.]

"WHAT?" this time from both Akane and Ranma, neither of them liking the idea of being forced into this. "Whatever happened to getting to know them first?" they demanded, still in unison.

"All right then, Tendo, it’s settled! Ranma and Akane are engaged now, and Ryo and Nabiki as soon as you see the records," Genma announced, happily.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO US!?!" Ranma and Akane shouted at their fathers.

"I’m so happy for you!" exclaimed a teary eyed Kasumi to her two sisters. Akane and Ranma facefaulted. "This is all so romantic, just like something out of a fairytale!"

"Is she for real?" inquired Ranma weakly. Akane just nodded.

"Well, if that’s the case," began Nabiki, "then maybe this’ll work." With that, she went over to Ryo’s prone form, and kissed the redheaded girl full on the lips. Akane was speechless. Ranma was stunned. The two fathers and Kasumi were happy. And Ryo woke up (but was still a girl).

"Mmph…wh…wow" murmured Ryo, finding herself being kissed passionately by Nabiki. "What’s going on?"

The walk to school was unusual to say the least. Ranma was walking along the top of the fence, with ‘Ryoko’ following along behind him. They were keeping pace with Akane and Nabiki, who were walking on the sidewalk like normal people. Neither Tendo would admit how impressed they were with this casual feat of balance (Akane because she was still angry – Nabiki because she didn’t want to appear to be caught off guard by what was obviously second nature to the two Saotomes). In fact, Ranma and Akane were still complaining about their fathers’ decision to engage them earlier, completely ignoring the difference in altitude between them. It wasn’t that they didn’t like eachother. It was that they didn’t know eachother well enough to tell whether they did or not. Only Ryo-chan had talked to both Tendo girls, and only Nabiki had talked with both of the Saotome twins. Akane and Ranma had yet to really try to talk to eachother, although they had found themselves in complete agreement about their predicament. Neither of them wanted to be forced into any such arrangement before they were ready for it.

Unfortunately, they were taking it out on eachother in the form of verbal abuse.

"Like I really want to get engaged to some tomboy," muttered Ranma. Actually, he thought she was kind of cute, even if her hair was too long for his own taste. Also, according to his ‘sister’, she had a lot of potential in the Art, and was actively interested in realizing that potential. He was just still irritated with his father, and she (being the focus of Genma’s latest ‘stupid idea’) made a convenient target.

This, of course, set Akane off, and she was about to start yelling at him again when Ryo-chan beat her to the punch. Almost literally, in fact, as she had bopped him in the back of the head. Akane paused, nonplused.

"OW! What’d you do that for?" demanded Ranma, rubbing the back of his head.

"Because you two have been sniping at eachother ever since we left for school, and we’re almost there," replied Ryo-chan dryly, imitating the tone often used by Nabiki. "Besides, it’s not eachother you should be mad at. It was…"

"It was you getting engaged to my sister while you’re still a girl, you hentai!" Akane interrupted angrily. "You just couldn’t wait until you were a boy again, could you?"

"Yeah," Ranma agreed, "we were supposed to have some time to get to know them first, but you just had to jump the gun, didn’t you?"

"It’s not like that at all," pointed out Ryo-chan under her breath. She had been unconscious at the time, so was a little unclear as to how this had actually happened. Apparently, it was Nabiki who started this by deciding to become engaged to her for some reason. Ryo-chan didn’t know what to make of this, but had decided not to voice any objections yet. For one thing, she already liked Nabiki (who had refused to treat her as an emotional invalid when everyone else had panicked about her having contemplated suicide), and wanted to see how things went before trying to change the situation one way or the other.

"Well," Nabiki interjected cheerfully, "it’s time for me to run ahead! I’d suggest that you two do the same, or you’ll get caught in Akane’s ‘fan club’." So saying, she trotted off ahead, through the school gates. She slipped through the crowd of gathering boys before realizing that she had done so alone. Looking back, she saw that the twins had stopped, perplexed. [Maybe we should have told them about this. Oh well, it’s early enough that they wont be late if they watch.] She went off to join her friends.

"Ooooh! Don’t they ever get tired of this!?" complained Akane, who started rushing the crowed. "I hate boys, hate boys, hate boys! I really, really, really hate BOYS!" With that heartfelt (and, at the moment, accurate) mantra, she started fighting the whole group at once. The twins just watched, seeing that she could handle herself, and wondered why all of her opponents were declaring their love before trying to hit her. For one thing, as socially inexperienced as they both were, even they saw something wrong with that situation. Besides, shouting their supposed affection for the obviously irate girl was just letting her know where the next attack was coming from. As it was, she had clobbered the entire group in short order without ever taking even a single hit to her own person.

"Honestly," muttered Akane, catching her breath, "you’d think they would all know better by now." She felt better now, having worked off her anger for the moment. She even had a reason to be happy this time. [They let me fight on my own! They’re both so much better than I am, and they let me fight on my own! They don’t think I’m weak or anything! I’m so happy!] Unfortunately, her mood was broken when she sensed an attack from the corner of her vision. It was thrown like a weapon, and she caught it with practiced ease, but it turned out to be a red rose. [Ugh! Kuno!]

The twins approached Akane, choosing to ignore the overly dramatic individual who was spouting badly quoted poetry (Ranma thought it was a poor attempt at samurai epic dialogue, while Ryo-chan could have sworn that it was actually horribly mangled Shakespeare). Kuno, for his part, hadn’t really noticed them yet, having eyes only for Akane. This would change soon.

"Man, you sure are popular with the guys!" commented Ranma as he drew alongside Akane.

"Yeah," agreed Ryo-chan, impressed. "Does this happen every morning?"

"Yes, it does," confirmed Akane in a resigned tone, "and I’m getting really tired of it."

"How did it…" began a concerned Ranma, before Kuno interrupted him (having finally noticed that no one was paying any attention to him).

"Hold!" demanded Kuno, arrogantly. "Who are you, to be so familiar with the fair Akane Tendo?" He ignored the redheaded girl as irrelevant for the moment (this would also change soon), choosing to address his potential rival instead.

"I’m Ra…" began Ranma confidently, before being interrupted again by Kuno.

"Wait, is it not the custom to give one’s own name first? Fine then, mine I will give. It is I, the rising star of the kendo club, often called the ‘Blue Thunder’ of Furinken High, who stands before you. Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen."

"Did he just call himself ‘Blue Thunder’?" inquired one of Nabiki’s friends.

"First I’ve heard of it," commented Nabiki in her usual dry manner.

"Last I heard," started another of her friends, "he was still calling himself ‘The Shooting of the Stars’."

"I’m…ah…er…staying at the Tendo’s!" blurted Ranma, flustered at Kuno’s interruption to the point of having lost his concentration for the moment.

"Staying under the same roof as Akane Tendo?!" Kuno cried, incredulous. "I’ll not have it!" so saying, he rushed forward to attack Ranma with his boken. Ranma dodged up and back in a back flip.

"I’m Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts," he stated with the confidence returning to his voice. Kuno’s attack had placed him back in familiar territory, and he could feel the adrenaline flowing once again. He was going to enjoy this! "Here, hold my bag for a sec’," he said, tossing the bag towards Akane and Ryo-chan before he touched the ground once more (Akane caught it). "I accept your challenge!" The two opponents rushed to attack eachother, only to be stopped by Ryo-chan. She stiff-armed Kuno in the gut, and followed up with a backhanded blow to her brother’s face (with the same arm). Kuno was floored, instantly winded, and Ranma was stunned.

"Fight after school!" shouted an annoyed Ryo-chan. "You’re making us late!" With that, she took her brother’s arm and dragged him off towards the entrance of the school.

Kuno took a moment to recover before getting up. [She is formidable! Who is she?] He gazed after her as she dragged his protesting rival away. He readily admitted to himself (for now) that this Ranma Saotome seemed to be a skilled opponent, but the girl had stopped the fight easily. True, she had effectively blind-sided both combatants, but she was obviously very skilled. He had to learn who she was.

Ryo-chan would come to regret having interrupted the duel later, but for now she was oblivious to having earned Kuno’s attention. As it was, she was more concerned at the moment about making a good impression by arriving on time for their first day at a new school. She had already figured that it was bad enough that neither of them had proper school uniforms yet, but that could be excused due to the rush in which they were registered. Being late was another matter entirely, and she wasn’t about to let her brother start them off on the wrong foot.

Once in his classroom, Kuno pondered at his newfound obsession, the pigtailed girl. She was a fiery beauty who had suddenly taken place alongside Akane Tendo in his heart, but he didn’t know who she was. She seemed to know both Akane and this Ranma person, whom he remembered as having said that he was staying at the Tendo's (Oh yeah, he remembered that all right). Perhaps, if he asked Nabiki Tendo, answers would be forthcoming.

"The pigtailed girl?" asked Nabiki, responding to Kuno’s query. "Short, with red hair? Looks kind of like Ranma?" Kuno nodded, although he hadn’t noticed this before (in the back of his mind, Ranma was switched from ‘Wretched Churl’ to ‘Dashing Rouge’, lest he besmirch the image of his new goddess by the comparison – of course, this made him more of a threat to his perceived relationship with Akane). Nabiki, seeing the nod, continued. "She’s Ryoko Saotome, Ranma’s twin sister." (Definitely ‘Dashing Rouge’). "They are staying with us because our fathers have arranged for our families to be joined." Kuno was suddenly very concerned!

"By joined, you mean…" he prompted.

"I’m to be engaged to Ranma’s brother, Ryo," stated Nabiki, not lying, but not elaborating on the curse either. Kuno was relieved. "But since it may be awhile before he’s available, our fathers have decided to engage Akane and Ranma, just in case." The hammer fell.

"WHAT!?!" shouted Kuno, shocked.

"Kuno!" reprimanded the teacher, who had just thrown a piece of chalk at Kuno, hitting him in the forehead. "Go stand in the hall!"

"Yes, Sensei," muttered the suddenly crestfallen Kuno.

Over in the twin’s new classroom, things were going fairly smoothly. They had been introduced to the class as just having returned from an extensive training journey, and had been made welcome. Seeing that they were staying at the Tendo’s, the teacher assigned them seats near Akane, Ranma beside Akane, and ‘Ryoko’ in front of her (so the two girls wouldn’t try to gossip during class – Akane was usually good about such things, but the new girl’s habits weren’t known yet). Ranma’s expression ranged between confused and bored, sometimes at the same time. These expressions would follow him throughout the school day, with only a few exceptions.

Ryo-chan, on the other hand, was properly attentive, even if she had this disconcerting habit of sitting on her chair with her legs crossed Indian style and with her hands usually resting on her ankles. She was more comfortable sitting for long periods of time in this manner, and had automatically adopted the position. The teacher discretely informed her that it would be inappropriate for her to do that while wearing any sort of skirt or dress, such as the school uniform (earning him a blank look from Ryo-chan).

Class was really starting to get underway (Ranma was particularly confused, and Ryo-chan was taking notes), when Kuno burst into the room.

"Saotome, you fiend!" challenged the outraged kendoist, waving his boken at Ranma as he approached. "How dare you engage the beauteous Akane Tend…" WHAM!

"Sop disrupting the class!" demanded Ryo-chan, placing her desk back on the floor before her. Although she didn’t know it, her action just then had stopped what would have been an instant mini-riot (as the girls wanted to know all about the engagement, and the boys wanted to shout at Ranma). No one wanted to get on the bad side of the girl who floored Kuno twice (within the same hour, let alone the same day)!

Ranma was more than a little surprised. Before the Jusenkyo curse, Ryo had never been this temperamental about school. Sure, his brother had never liked disruptions in their admittedly limited formal education, but he hadn’t been so violent about them before. Since the curse, his ‘sister’ had been very moody, mostly oscillating between anger and depression until yesterday. Since her laughter the day before, Ranma thought Ryo-chan had started to return to the calm, composed person she generally had been before. He could see now that this was far from the case. His ‘sister’s’ inner turmoil had just sublimated itself, and was apparently lurking about, ready to strike without warning at any time. This was not a comforting thought.

Kuno was dragged off to the school nurse, where he was later informed that his little stunt had earned him detention after school that day.

The rest of the school day went by pretty smoothly for Ranma, except for gym and lunch, during which he was pestered by boys who were either demanding to know how he had gotten engaged to Akane, or wanted to ask his sister out on a date. [Oh, Ryo-chan is just going to love that!] He told them that the engagement was their father’s decision and that, no, his ‘sister’ wasn’t interested in dating guys at the moment. But they could ask her if they felt like getting hit. They declined, having at least heard about her feats with Kuno earlier (some of them were just waiting to get up the nerve to risk it – after all, Akane had a temper too!). Others weren’t sure whether Ranma meant hit by Ryoko or by him (or possibly both), but decided not to ask.

Ryo-chan experienced a more mixed day of it. Most of the classes were at least interesting, and some of them were even captivating. She had even started making friends (she found it intriguing to make female friends without it being assumed that she was trying to ask them out on a date). She had two low points, however, one concerning gym class and the other involving Home Economics.

Gym itself hadn’t been so bad (it had been running and stretching today), but the locker room had been very unnerving both times (she was certain that Akane would clobber her again at any moment). The gym teacher thought the new girl to be unusually shy in the locker room, especially for someone who didn’t wear a bra. Ryo-chan had given her a blank look when she asked why the girl didn’t wear a sports bra (she later found out that Ryoko had apparently been raised on the road as a boy, and only had a vague idea as to what a bra was, let alone how to wear one). Cleaning up afterwards had been even more nerve-wracking than getting changed before gym. Ryo-chan had carefully avoided looking directly at anyone, stepped into the shower area, and promptly feinted.

If Ryo-chan was having any thought about assigning the locker room the honor of being the worst part of her first day at Furinken High, it was quickly dispelled by what had happened in Home Economics. Today the class had been working on knitting projects. Ryo-chan had to be shown what to do, having never knitted before, and was willing to give it a shot. Unfortunately, she was proving to be exceptionally inept at it. No, scratch that, she was extraordinarily inept at knitting. As in not being able to go five minutes without having to ask someone to cut her fingers loose from her project. And she tried so hard too!

She was determined to master this new skill, but no matter how carefully she tried, she kept getting entangled so badly in her project that someone had to cut her loose. She had even managed to tie herself up completely after a particularly rigorous attempt. By the end of class, the poor girl was in tears. Not one of her projects had survived, and she couldn’t understand how she could be so bad at it.

Akane actually felt sorry for Ryo-chan, and decided to forgive her for yesterday [After all, she had insisted that she had been a guy under a curse all along. It’s not her fault that we refused to believe her]. Of course, part of the reason that Akane was so willing to forgive Ryo-chan may have been that the girl had just demonstrated that she was actually worse than Akane at something…much worse. Although Akane would be the first to admit that she wasn’t very good at knitting (the off-center neck, and the different length arms on the sweater she was making showed that), Ryo-chan’s lack of any talent at all for knitting was truly abysmal.

Akane, Nabiki, and the twins met up after school and headed out to shop (for school uniforms mostly, but they could browse for other stuff while waiting for their scheduled physicals later). Ryo-chan was still upset about her experience with knitting.

"How could hands which are so deft at sewing be so bad at knitting" she sniffled.

"Ryo-chan," pointed out Ranma, "you can’t sew, either."

"I can so!" she retorted. "Nice, neat, sturdy stitches too!"

"That just happen to include unrelated items? Such as a table cloth? Or your pant leg?"

"Those were just flukes!"

"But you do something like that every single time!"

"Do not!"

"Yes, you do! Why do you think pop had me take over the repair work for our clothing while we traveled?"

"I thought it was because we divided the chores," Ryo-chan said in a small, weak voice.

"No, it wasn’t," confirmed Ranma, tiredly. And then he stopped. Ryo-chan was sniffling again [Oh no! Me and my big mouth! I know she’s not stable right now and I go and upset her anyway!]

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! I’m no good at anything!" Ryo-chan sobbed. "You hate me! You all hate me! WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Ranma and the Tendo sisters spent the next several minutes dissuading her of that notion!

The shopping went surprisingly well. While neither Saotome was happy about having to get school uniforms (Ranma because he hadn’t liked wearing a uniform last year, and didn’t expect to this year either – Ryo-chan because she had to wear a girl’s uniform, which included a skirt), they had gotten them without making a fuss about it. They even picked up some extra day to day apparel. The only real difficulty had come when Ryo-chan had tried to get some of those sports bras her gym teacher had mentioned. For one thing, she didn’t know her cup size, which turned out to be embarrassing when the sales lady asked her. For another thing, she couldn’t figure out how she was supposed to get the stupid things on.

It was at one point, while trying to attach the strap behind her back while trying on one of the ensembles she was thinking about getting, that Ryo-chan lost her balance. She fell through the changing room curtain wearing only the plain panties she preferred as the sports bra snapped across the room, landing on some poor guy’s head (he was promptly attacked by his girlfriend for being a hentai). Ranma averted his gaze, while Akane stared. Nabiki thought it was funny, even if her sister didn’t.

"You know, Ryo-chan," Nabiki quipped, "you shouldn’t give away free peeks like that."

"That’s right," put in Akane. "What will people think?"

"Um…sorry about this," Ryo-chan apologized meekly, very embarrassed.

"Yeah, you should charge money first." Nabiki teased, causing the Saotome twins to facefault.

"NABIKI!" Shouted Akane, outraged at her sister’s jibe, and oblivious to the attention she was attracting to their situation. After hearing a few thuds, they looked around to see several onlookers, among which were some boys who had passed out from hormonal overload.

"Eeep!" exclaimed the now extremely embarrassed Ryo-chan, who dashed back into the changing room.

While the group shopped, Soun and Genma stopped in at Dr. Tofu’s clinic. They had indeed gone to check out the twins’ school and medical records while they were in school, and had decided to get authorized copies to show Dr. Tofu. Soun had thought it would be a good idea for the doctor to know about the curse on the off chance that he might know of a cure. Besides, having raised three daughters by himself, Soun knew what a physical entailed for a girl, and had wanted to prevent a violent misunderstanding on Ryo’s part. Especially since Ryo had been a girl for nearly a month now.

Dr. Tofu had taken this at face value, deciding to check out the situation himself. Living and working in Nerima had exposed him to many strange things over the years, including a few cursed or magically inclined individuals, so the story didn’t seem so outrageous to him. It might be true and it might not, but since the father was asking about a cure, it was probably the former. He did advise Genma that corrective surgery was expensive, and not likely to have any lasting effect anyway if this was indeed a curse. In fact, because of that, any medical means of changing the girl back into a boy was likely to cause more harm than good if they couldn’t take the mystic element into account.

Genma had been disappointed about that, but gave his permission for the doctor to take charge of the case, explaining the promise that he had made to his wife, Nadoka. He had promised to raise the boys to be men among men, and was afraid that she would force him to commit seppuku should she find out about the curse before a cure was found. Soun and Dr. Tofu were both shocked at that bit of nonsense (although Soun thought he should have expected as much from his longtime friend – wise decisions were not Genma’s strong suit). Both the doctor and Soun advised him that Nadoka should be notified. She had been kept away from her children for far too long already, thanks to their prolonged training journey. But they agreed to hold off for a short while, so they could try to figure out a way to break the news without anyone having to die.

Soun left the clinic alone and returned home. Genma was making arrangements to work as an assistant to Dr. Tofu in order to help defray the costs of his staying on as the Tendo’s guest with his sons. Soun had seen the look of determination in his friend’s face before, even if only rarely. His friend wasn’t ready to run yet. He would pull through somehow, if only for the sake of his family.

After discussing the arrangements with Dr. Tofu, Genma excused himself and went for a walk. After all the years of filling his sons’ heads with macho nonsense about how real men behaved, he found it hard to be honest with himself if anyone else was around. He would have to discuss this with his friend later (Soun had warned him years ago that this would happen, but he hadn’t believed it at the time), but for now he needed some time to himself.

Genma thought furiously. If he couldn’t figure out a way to explain the situation to his wife within the next month or so, he would probably have to leave again. This time without his sons, for he agreed that they had been kept from their mother too long. If only he had come home with them sooner! He had the chance to do so last year, but had decided to polish the edges of their training instead. [Curse me for a fool! Nodoka, I miss you so much it hurts, especially since I had been so close to bringing the boys home. I feel that I have failed you and our children. Especially Ryo…most especially Ryo!]

The shopping party decided to stop for a snack after sending their purchases on ahead via delivery service. The twins’ appointments were soon, but they still had some time to kill. An ice-cream parlor seemed to be just the thing. As they waited for their orders, they began to talk.

"So," started Ranma, "What’s the deal with the boys that attacked you this morning?"

"Yeah…and why were they all declaring their love for you?" asked Ryo-chan, wanting to know.

"Kuno made this stupid announcement last year, and now my little sister has to put up with a bunch of guys who are trying to beat her up so that they can go on a date with her," explained Nabiki.

"What? You can’t be serious!" exclaimed Ryo-chan in disbelief.

"What could he have possibly have said to make that happen?" asked Ranma. So Akane told them about how, unable to get a date with her, Kuno had made this stupid speech before the whole school stating that no one could go out with her unless they could defeat her in combat. Those few boys who had ignored his stipulation were soundly thrashed by Kuno when he later found out their advances. Ever since then, no boy had tried to ask her out without trying to beat her up first. By mutual agreement among them, they attacked as a group so that they would have witnesses that they had held to Kuno’s requirements.

"That jerk!" snapped Ranma.

"Doesn’t he care about what you have to say about this?" asked a concerned Ryo-chan.

"I’ll mop the floor with him! That’s just wrong!" continued Ranma, obviously irate.

"Please, don’t put yourselves out for my account," said Akane, who was surprised at the twins’ empathetic reaction.

"Oh, it wont be any trouble," growled Ranma. "It’s jerks like him that give guys a bad name! For what he put you through, I’d gladly put him through the wringer!"

"I agree," Ryo-chan put in angrily. "He should have to account for his actions!"

"But I beat them every morning," Akane pointed out. "Kuno included."

"You shouldn’t have to!" countered Ranma.

"No wonder you hate boys so much." Ryo-chan commented sadly.

"I don’t, really," corrected Akane morosely. "It’s just that they are either always trying to beat me up, or are too afraid of Kuno to ask me out."

"Then allow me the honor, Akane," Ranma said, calming down. "I know neither of us are happy to be forced into this engagement, but I would like to get to know you better. I have to warn you though; I can be a little thoughtless and insensitive at times. Just ask Ryo-chan."

"You got that right," his ‘sister’ agreed dryly.

"I…I don’t know what to say…" Akane stammered, not knowing whether to be shocked or pleased.

"Then don’t say anything," said Ranma gently. "Just think about it. It’s not like we don’t have time."

"Wow," Ryo-chan wondered at her brother. "That was halfway romantic. What brought that on?"

"I’d say more than halfway," pointed out Nabiki, surprised. She hadn’t thought the boy had had it in him, nor had she expected her sister to be responding to it. But then, unlike Kuno, what Ranma had said had the ring of sincerity in it. He didn’t want Akane’s body, nor did he want her devotion. He just wanted a chance to get to know her better.

"I think he likes her!" said Ryo-chan, grinning from ear to ear.

"I…err…ah…Shut up and eat your ice-cream!" stammered Ranma who was blushing furiously, and was grateful at the arrival of their orders. Akane was blushing as well, which was not lost on Nabiki. Ryoko just smiled, took a bight of her ice-cream…and froze.

[This… this…is…Delicious! Wonderful! Fantastic!] Ryo-chan was in a kind of shock. While she had had ice-cream before, it had been back when she was a guy. She hadn’t realized how much better some things would taste as a girl. She entered a kind of blank euphoria as she finished her ice-cream. Then she finished Ranma’s. She probably would have continued on to Akane’s and Nabiki’s, but Ranma smacked her on the back of her head, bringing her back to her senses. "Oh…sorry…"

Once they were done with their ice-cream, the group headed for Dr. Tofu’s clinic for the twins’ physicals. They were a bit surprised to learn that he already knew about Ryo-chan’s curse, but they supposed that it did make sense for their fathers to tell him (which the twins maintained was what made it all the more surprising – Genma had rarely demonstrated good sense when they could see it). Dr. Tofu took the opportunity to go over the events of the day with them since they were here as a group. This gives the doctor something to think about.

During Ranma’s physical, Dr. Tofu carefully inquires about what Ryo was like before and after the curse. Ranma tells him about the calm and collected person Ryo used to be, and about the troubled and moody spirit his brother has become. He is particularly alarmed to hear Ranma confirm what Mr. Tendo told him about Kasumi finding the tanto (Genma had thus far refused to acknowledge the incident), and resolves to talk to Akane and Nabiki as well.

After Ranma’s physical, Dr. Tofu set Ryo-chan to waiting as he took Akane and Nabiki aside to get their part of what happened yesterday evening. He was somewhat heartened to hear about Ryo-chan’s behavior in the furo, for laughter and tears had a cathartic effect that probably relieved some of the emotional turmoil that had been brewing for nearly a month now. Before he returned to his patient (who, unlike Ranma, actually was patient…usually), he warned them that Ryo might be experiencing even more massive mood shifts as she fully entered her period for the first time. For Ryo was definitely showing signs that indicated that PMS was already under way. Either that or the effects of the trauma caused by nearly drowning and becoming a girl were still manifesting. Or quite possibly both.

Returning to Ryo-chan, Dr. Tofu takes great care to fully explain each part of the physical, and why a girl’s physical is done the way it is. Thus, Ryo-chan is only extremely embarrassed by the mammary and gynecological exams, instead of outraged by them. At other times during the physical, Dr. Tofu casually interrogated Ryo-chan about how she was coping with her changes. While a bit surprised to hear her readily admit to having considered Seppuku without his having to carefully lead the conversation to the subject, he is glad that she acknowledges having done so. It makes it easier for him to suggest for her to start visiting a psychiatrist. He recommends a good one he knows, and asks for Ryo-chan’s permission for the two to exchange information.

Ryo-chan agrees, seeing the sense of it, but isn’t particularly happy about it either. While the day wasn’t a complete bust, she had been acting weird, and having an appointment to see a shrink wasn’t helping her self image any. [My life is hell.]

How little she knew what the next day would bring.

END CHAPTER THREE

In Home Economics class, the students are presenting their knitting projects to the teacher. She goes over the various shawls, scarves, and sweaters (even Akane’s mutant sweater with the third arm), noting how well each of the girls did. Then she realizes that someone is missing.

"Where is Ryoko?" inquires the teacher, almost dreading the response she was likely to get. The girls just look to the back corner of the classroom. There, suspended between the floor and ceiling amidst a crazy web of tangled yarn, is what appears to be a yarn cocoon. From this cocoon, an occasional appendage can be seen sticking out.

"Somebody…help…please?" pleads Ryoko, muted by her woolly prison. "I…can’t…get…out!" The class collectively sweatdrops, then each girl pulls out a pair of scissors…

END