[Ranma/AMG][FanFic] Instruments of Change, Part Seventeen
Mike Koos
"He cut Ranma's braid off," Ukyou replied in hushed tones. "And
I said, keep your voice down!" She frowned. There was little chance
people would miss the fact that Ranma's pig-tail was gone, cut by
chance during a would-be fight between Ryouga and Kunou. Everyone
knew Ranma; they'd see her new 'haircut' and be spreading rumors
about possible reasons for her shorter hair by the afternoon. She
hoped no one knew what had happened in the restaurant... the less
everyone else was aware of the truth, the less Ranma would be
embarrassed.
Hopefully.
"What did she do after that?" Yuka lowered her voice. "I bet
she got really mad, huh? She really liked that braid." No one could
determine *why* Ranma had been so fond of her pig-tail. The group
suspected that Akane and Nabiki knew the reason, but Akane denied any
knowledge of Ranma's reasons, and it was common belief that Nabiki
would charge a tremendous sum of money for any such information.
<Nabiki.> Ukyou's frown deepened. Before bringing everything
to a screeching halt at the restaurant, Kunou revealed to all Nabiki
had not only told him that someone was out on a date with his
'pig-tailed goddess,' but Nabiki had also mentioned where Ranma and
her date would be. The only thing preventing Ukyou from telling
Nabiki to mind her own business with a fist or two rather than with
words was that neither Akane nor Ranma would appreciate her beating
up their 'older sister.'
She mentally sighed, hoping that Ranma hadn't missed Kunou's
reference to Nabiki and would deal with her 'sister' herself. <Okay,
so it was her first date,> Ukyou recalled. <I wouldn't blame her if
she was too concerned with other things to notice.>
Ukyou decided to return the focus of her thoughts to Ranma.
There was little point in making plans to teach Nabiki a lesson
unless she could out-think the middle Tendo sister, as opposed to
out-fighting her. Ranma and Akane were in a better position to do
that, at any rate.
But where *was* Akane? Was she off on some sort of Goddess
training journey with Skuld, and possibly Ranmira? Or did Ranma's
earlier paranoia about Akane and the Goddess crew avoiding her have
some merit?
What would be wrong that might cause Akane to avoid everyone?
If the Goddesses had done something to change their world, would
they even be able to see that things had been changed?
Ranma's misfortune, for example, could be attributed to the
strangeness in her life and especially the people she knew. But what
if she was supposed to have led a *different* life?
Ukyou dismissed the idea. <Surely they can't change the Past
like that...... can they?>
An Aa! Megamisama / Ranma 1/2 Crossover
Instruments of Change
Part Seventeen
written by Mike Koos
----------------------
"Isn't that Akane and Skuld over there?" she heard Yuka say.
Sayuri glanced in the direction her sister indicated. "I think
so... Hey, Akane! Skuld!" she called out to the pair crossing the
main path through the school's primary courtyard. "Over here!"
"Where have you guys been?" Yuka asked the approaching Akane
before Ukyou could think to put a question to the Goddess of the
Future and her apprentice. "Is Ranma okay?"
Akane blinked. "Uh... we just got back from a trip to... um..."
"The heavens," offered Skuld.
"...and came straight here. What happened? Is something wrong
with Ranma?"
"No," the girl in question replied from behind Skuld and Akane.
The group started as a whole. "Ranma!?"
<How did she do that?> wondered Skuld. <It doesn't look like
anyone heard or saw her approach, even us...>
Akane, meanwhile, was more concerned with Ranma than wondering
if Ranma did indeed have the skill to sneak up on people without
being detected, or where she'd learned it. She knew Ranma - even
*this* Ranma - too well to accept her 'sister's' word that nothing
was wrong with her. Now, what was it that had troubled Yuka and the
others...?
Then, she noticed it.
Ranma's hair.
Her scarlet hair had been cut short - shorter than Akane's, in
fact, in a style tapered at the back. Ranma's trademarked braided
pigtail was gone; at the moment she unfortunately had no way of
forming another without letting her hair grow out.
"Ranma?" Akane gaped, trying to keep her voice from wavering.
"What... what happened to your hair?"
"I wanted to see what I looked like with short hair, so Kasumi
took me to get my hair cut last night," Ranma answered in a tone that
sounded both hollow and dismissive.
Akane blinked once more. Something was undoubtedly bothering
Ranma. Her hair? Perhaps. Ranma had considered the pig-tail
important even as a boy... the mess with the dragon's hair aside.
How would this Ranma regard her hair? Would she have cringed at the
thought of having her hair cut short, as Akane once had?
That couldn't be the entire story, of course. The others had
been talking about Ranma's 'problem' *before* Ranma arrived, which
meant that there was likely more to this than Kasumi taking Ranma to
have her hair cut. But what could it be?
She doubted she would get much more information from Ranma -
Ranma, who seemed depressed and intent on making her new hairstyle
seem like nothing at all.
"I'm going to class now," announced Ranma.
Akane withdrew her breath in a quiet gasp as Ranma began to walk
away. "Ranma, wait! We'll go with you!"
"No," the girl said, forcing a weak smile. "I just... well, I
want to be alone for a little while. See you in class."
After Ranma was well on her way into the school's main building,
Akane and Skuld turned their attention back to the rest of the group.
"Okay, I'm guessing you guys know what's going on here. What really
happened?" Akane put the question to them, folding her arms in a
no-nonsense manner.
"Well..." Shampoo took a second to clear her throat.
"Everything started when we talked Ranma into going out with Ryouga
on a date, yesterday."
"A date......?" asked Akane in disbelief.
"A date - with *Ryouga*!?" Skuld blurted almost at the same
time, loud enough to draw glances from others sitting near them in
the yard.
Ukyou restrained herself from the urge to pound Skuld with her
combat spatula. Skuld was a Goddess, after all, and Ukyou did not
feel like risking the wrath of a Goddess or Kami-sama over a simple
matter such as keeping one's voice down. She settled for shushing
Skuld, instead. "We're *trying* to keep the details a secret as much
as possible."
"Yeah," Sayuri agreed. "Ranma's in the public eye. You know
how quickly they'll be gossiping about her."
Beside her, her sister muttered under her breath, "You should
know..."
Sayuri turned a glare on her. "What?"
"Er, nothing!" Yuka waved her hands before her as if to
distract Sayuri from the issue. "Nothing!"
"*Anyway*..." Akane impatiently tried to prod Ukyou or Shampoo
into resuming their story. Had Ryouga been responsible for cutting
Ranma's hair short? she wondered. In her 'original' reality, Akane
knew, Ryouga had been primarily to blame for doing just that to *her*
hair... could Ryouga have done that intentionally, in either case?
"Well, you know how Ryouga acts around Ranma and how she never
notices it?" That much was true; Ranma was unfortunately rather
naive whenever matters of love were involved. Even when Akane had
thought to confront Ranma with the possibility that Ryouga might have
developed feelings for her, Ranma had trouble believing that of the
boy.
For her part, Akane was still having difficulty viewing Ranma as
a girl who had her own life, one somewhat different than that of the
Ranma she had come to know. "Yeah," she muttered, feeling slighly
numb.
Ranma was in her seat by the time Akane and Skuld joined her in
their homeroom class, staring rather absently at the chalkboard at
the front of the room. She didn't seem to recognize that they had
entered the room, though Akane wondered if her 'sister's' senses had
detected the two of them *without* having to look at them. If this
Ranma was better than her original self in some aspects of the
martial arts, who could tell what she was capable of doing?
Well... except for the Goddesses, anyway.
Ukyou had told them the true story of the result of what was
officially Ranma's first date. Despite how they both regarded Hibiki
Ryouga at the moment, they knew he wasn't entirely to blame for what
had happened to Ranma. For some reason, Nabiki had informed Kunou
that Ryouga was going out on a date with Ranma, and where to find
them.
Kunou had behaved predictably enough - believing that none but
him were worthy of even being near Ranma, much less dating her, he'd
clearly set out to 'punish' Ryouga.
For a moment Akane wondered how the Kunou of this reality
compared with the Kunou of her true reality, without someone like the
male Ranma to consistently put his full skills to the test? It was
hardly a secret that Kunou held back when fighting a female
opponent...
Why had Nabiki found it necessary to ruin Ranma's date? Why had
she sent Kunou after Ryouga?
Nabiki occasionally seemed to have her own agenda, Akane knew,
and wasn't beyond involving members of her family in her plans - even
a family member who wasn't related to her by blood.
Had Nabiki hurt Ranma out of spite? Perhaps. But would she
risk destroying her 'younger sister's' first date and more merely to
spite her?
If Nabiki had wanted to make Ranma feel terrible, she had
seemingly done just that. As the morning proceeded, the
crimson-haired girl did little more than stare off into space, her
thoughts no doubt on something else. Akane felt a touch of sympathy
surge within her. She believed she knew what Ranma was feeling, if
only in part, and assumed the rest.
She wanted to tell Ranma that everything would be fine, soon.
<I'm sorry, Ranma. If I'd been here, this would NOT have happened.
If those bugs hadn't screwed up our reality... I'll fix it, you'll
see. We'll set everything back the way it had been, you'll see.>
Akane breathed a quiet, depressed sigh. <I'm sorry...>
She noticed Ranma sighing as well. Ranma wasn't taking this
whole affair that well, was she? Being manuevered into a date with
Ryouga, only to have her hair cut when Kunou made an appearance to
break everything up, courtesy of Nabiki. Not paying attention during
class and daydreaming was more or less how the 'original' Ranma
behaved, but this Ranma was different.
It wasn't until lunch break that Akane had the chance - and had
gathered enough nerve - to confront Ranma about the entire mess at
her desk. "Are you *really* okay, Ranma?" she asked.
Ranma hesitated. "I'm fine... you don't need to worry about me,
Akane."
"Right." Akane folded her arms. "I know you too well.
*Anyone* can tell when there's something bothering you. You've
always been miserable at keeping it hidden."
No response. Time to try attacking the problem from a slightly
different angle. "If you're upset because your hair got cut,
remember, the same thing basically happened to me a while back."
Ranma stared at her for a moment. "This... doesn't really have
anything to do with my hair."
"It doesn't? But..."
"Well... okay, I was a bit upset about that at first, but then I
started thinking about something else and... it doesn't seem as
important anymore."
Unsure where Ranma was taking this discussion, Akane decided to
keep silent.
"I think you may have been right, Akane. I think Ryouga might
be in love with me."
Akane's eyes widened. <What? She's noticed? But that
means...> "Oh, my," she withdrew her breath slightly. "Are you...
How do you feel?"
She felt foolish for blurting out questions without taking the
time to determine the 'right' thing to ask.
In response, Ranma reached a hand into her bookbag, which rested
against one of the legs of her desk. When she brought her hand back
into Akane's line of sight, Akane could see that Ranma held the
halved remains of a gold bracelet within it. "Ryouga was giving this
to me when Kunou showed up," explained Ranma. "U-chan brought it by
last night when she came to check up on me."
Akane carefully studied the bracelet, asking herself why Ukyou
and Shampoo hadn't included the bracelet or the fact that Ryouga had
given it to Ranma in their story.
Was the bracelet real? There had to be ways to determine that -
she could ask Yggdrasil for the bracelet's composition, for example.
But to do that here and now wouldn't be a good idea, and risked
damaging her current friendship with Ranma... as Nabiki had done.
In any case, the bracelet had been a gift from Ryouga to Ranma,
and trying to establish its true worth wouldn't help matters much -
besides which, any attempts would probably be in poor taste.
"...I began to wonder if I should reconsider what I said, you
know?" Ranma was saying. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a
boyfriend, after all..."
Akane nearly swallowed her breath. "What?" she spluttered.
"But... you said... you said you were too much of a tomboy to even
think about having a relationship, at least not for another few
years!"
Ranma shrugged. "C'mon, Akane, you know I only say things like
that so I don't have to think about it. But that date last night
proved to me that I have to make a decision *right* *now*. If I
don't, I'll just have that idiot Kunou chasing after me forever and
beating up any boy who tries to talk to me. People will keep
wondering whether or not Hikaru-kun really is my boyfriend, and I'll
always wonder how Ryouga truly feels about me."
Realizing she had left her mouth hanging open for some time,
Akane shut it. "So, what have you... decided?" she managed, her
mouth strangely and abruptly dry.
"I haven't come to a decision yet," admitted Ranma. "I guess
you can say that's what's been bugging me. What do you think, Akane?
I can't keep avoiding the issue forever. It's not fair to me,
Hikaru, Ryouga, or anyone else."
"I... don't know," Akane answered, truthfully. As much as she
didn't want to think about the Ranma of this reality having
relationships and going on dates with anyone else, Ranma *did* have a
point - the longer she and the 'original' Ranma neglected to address
their relationship, the longer their lives would continue to be
plagued by the nonsense revolving around that relationship. Her
father and Mr. Saotome were forever forcing the two of them together,
and countless others believed they could claim Ranma or Akane for
their own, to date or marry. "I have to think about it."
Ranma nodded. "That's what I've been saying. But I haven't
been able to decide anything for sure."
<You shouldn't have to make that decision,> Akane thought,
pursing her lips. <I mean, whether or not you should have a
boyfriend. You're supposed to be a boy! But we'll fix that, soon...>
"Ranma!" they heard a voice call from the classroom's door,
where a girl whom Akane couldn't recognize stood.
"Hiromi-chan," Ranma said, blinking.
"C'mon out in the hall, Ranma," Hiromi motioned with a finger.
"I want to talk to you for a little bit. You don't mind, do you,
Akane-chan?"
Akane shook her head. "No."
After Ranma had excused herself and left the classroom, Akane
returned to her desk and sat down, burying her face in her arms.
She was certainly grateful to have the ability to check
Yggdrasil for information on this reality whenever she felt it
necessary. The only drawback to the checks - aside from the fact
that any Goddess could sense whenever she made her requests, if they
were close enough to her - was that her facial markings glowed
brightly with the transfer of information and power, a glow that was
difficult for others not to notice. Akane hoped that hiding her face
within her folded arms would prevent everyone from detecting that
glow.
Fortunately, she was merely making a simple information request
of the computer that helped control the whole of reality. Were she
to cast a spell or otherwise attempt to use herself as a conduit for
Yggdrasil's power, the changes in atmosphere around her, among other
indications, would be markedly more difficult to conceal than the
glow of her markings alone.
The thought of facing this 'new' reality without a guide
frightened Akane. Bugs had invaded the Yggdrasil system and caused
one or two changes to Ranma's files, changing Ranma into a girl from
birth, without a curse.
Others' lives had been changed. Ranma was regarded as a sister
by Nabiki and Kasumi. She had several friends, including Shampoo,
who was going so far as to sever or mask most of the links to the
person she had been. The cheerleaders looked up to Ranma as their
second-in-command.
Akane knew this wasn't her proper reality, and that everything
was due to be reset, soon. So *why* did this altered reality and the
Ranma who belonged to it trouble her? Would it have been so terrible
if the Ranma that had come to live with her family had truly been a
girl?
She'd been relieved, after they met, that Ranma was a girl and
not a boy. Ranma was someone who possibly shared her interests and
could relate to the problems of being a martial artist whose 'family
honor' rested largely on her shoulders.
Discovering the truth had brought about the first of way too
many changes to her life to count. Briefly, Akane wondered how much
influence the Goddess of Change had had in those events, then shelved
the thought for later.
Akane had gone from learning that there really was such a power
or force as 'magic' in the world - in the form of curses that changed
their victims' forms - to discovering that she was the daughter of a
Goddess and becoming a Goddess-candidate whose original Mortal mother
was being given a chance to resume her life.
For some reason she couldn't determine, a temporarily-altered
reality was upsetting her more than anything she had experienced
after meeting Ranma.
Yggdrasil passed her the information she had requested.
Nakao Hiromi was the captain of the cheer team, and one of
Ranma's friends. Aside from that fact, however, there wasn't much in
Hiromi's profile that stood out - at least as far as Akane was
concerned.
A sudden thought came to her. Would Hiromi think to demote
Ranma as a member or the team or dismiss her because her hair had
been cut, or because Ranma had seemingly been acting depressed and
withdrawn the entire day thus far?
<You're being paranoid,> Akane admonished herself. Surely,
Hiromi wouldn't do anything of the sort to Ranma. But if she *did*
resort to such extremes...
Akane intentionally shifted her thoughts to a different subject,
to avoid thinking about what Hiromi might be discussing with Ranma.
The others.
Shampoo was in a different homeroom than the rest of the group;
Ukyou had left the room to debate where their booths were going to be
located at an upcoming festival. Yuka and her sister were part of
the crew preparing the school's auditorium for an academic contest
later in the week.
"What are you thinking about, Akane - as if I didn't know?"
That left Skuld, who - as luck would have it - was presently
assigned to the desk immediately behind hers.
Akane pivoted in her seat to study the Goddess' face. Skuld
hadn't been reading her thoughts, had she?
Skuld's eyebrows rose. "No, I'm not reading your thoughts,
Akane. Admit it - you really haven't been thinking about much else
since we integrated ourselves into this reality."
It had appeared rather obvious to the Goddess of the Future
since meeting both Ranma and Akane that the two did care for, and
perhaps love, each other. Getting either of them to admit that fact
to themselves, much less each other, had proven to be a long, uphill
battle.
Oh, if only she knew what her older sister, Ranmira, did about
Ranma... Having been a part of Ranma, so to speak, Ranmira was fully
aware of the 'original' Ranma's feelings for Akane - and might have
been in a position to indirectly recognize Akane's feelings as well.
Procedure dictated that Ranmira couldn't reveal that information
to anyone else, save Kami-sama, which frustrated Skuld. The more she
understood her apprentice, the better she could work with Akane,
rather than work at second-guessing what Akane might do.
Considering that Akane exhibited a lot of power, even largely
dampened as her powers currently were, Skuld regarded allowing Akane
to go through her lessons without as much supervision and control as
possible a bad idea.
What kind of Goddess would Akane make, if she did get herself
promoted to the status of a full Goddess? Her power levels alone
guaranteed her an interesting range of choices for her field - not
all of which required her to fight. Akane's temper did pose a
problem in that regard, however.
Skuld wondered what field Akane would be assigned - or pick, if
she was given the choice. She'd seen and heard signs that Kami-sama
had a plan for Akane...
Ranma's return to the room cut Skuld's musings short. "Ranma?"
Akane asked, sliding out of her seat. The expression Ranma wore was
hardly different from the nearly emotionless expressions she'd worn
throughout the day. "Are you all right? Did anything happen?"
Ranma shook her head. "Nah. Hiromi-chan only wanted to ask me
if I was okay. You don't have to worry about me, Akane... I'll be
fine."
A thought came to Akane's mind. She forced a smile. "You know
I'm going to worry anyway, huh?"
"If you want," Ranma shrugged.
** ** **
That evening, Skuld sat with her back against the dojo wall,
watching Ranma spar with Akane. <Where is she?> she asked herself.
Ranmira was now almost half an hour late for her weeknight training
session with Ranma.
Ranma, in the meantime, was trying to get Akane to tell her why
the other girl wasn't taking their practice match seriously... almost
as if Akane were worried about striking her for some reason.
Skuld slouched in her seat. Her charge seemed to have a
considerable problem with knowing when she should be subtle - or how
to be subtle in the first place. <If we don't have Ranma and Nabiki
really, really suspicious of us by now, I'll be amazed.>
The Goddess of Change chose that moment to walk into the dojo.
"I apologize for being late," she said, tightening the belt of her
gi. "However, I had to go to the Goddess Relief Administrative
offices... they informed me that they have finally ended their
investigation and come to a decision."
Skuld drew herself to her feet, concerned. "Oneesama?"
Ranmira offered her sister a faint smile. "There is nothing to
worry about, Skuld. I am simply being placed on leave for a time.
Other than that, everything is fine."
"Oh, oneesama - I'm so sorry..." Skuld hugged her sister.
"Does this mean you're going to stay with us at the temple?"
Pause. "I don't have anywhere else to stay at the moment, save
for our home in the heavens... though I would be rather lonely if I
remained there."
Skuld took a step back, her expression becoming serious. "Will
you and Urd start talking to each other again?"
"I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about," the older
Goddess stated, folding her arms.
"You know, Urd. Your eldest sister," Akane thought to say.
"Yeah. Our sister. Urd," concluded Skuld. "The Urd who went
to the heavens to argue your case for you."
Ranmira lost her composure. "She *what*?"
"She even considered having Ranma pretend to be you for a little
while so that Ranma could talk to the Relief Office administrators in
your place, but oneesama and I talked her out of it."
Ranma blinked. "Me? How would anyone be convinced I'm her?
Even if I still had my braid and dressed like her, surely I wouldn't
be able to fool any God, Goddess or demon who looked at me."
"You'd be surprised what could be done," Skuld smirked.
"She..." Ranmira cleared her throat. "She really went to the
Offices to argue my case for me?"
Skuld nodded. "Uh-huh. I think she did it to apologize for
getting you upset, because you haven't talked to her since then."
Ranmira's cheeks colored for a brief second. Akane knew exactly
what had happened between Ranmira and Urd - well aware how Urd and
Skuld behaved in regard to each other, Akane had opted to ask
Belldandy for an unbiased version of Ranmira's 'argument' with Urd.
Ranmira had been somewhat distressed, then, and had reacted
unexpectedly to Urd's offhand advice... misinterpreting the
suggestion that she not take her problems so seriously as an
observation that she needed to change who she was.
After that, Ranmira refused to speak to her eldest sister and
fell short of denying Urd's existence, much as Akane had denied her
connection to Peorth and Ranma was presently angry with Nabiki over
what Nabiki had done in order to ruin Ranma's date with Ryouga.
<Well, at least that last one'll be easy to fix,> Akane quietly
snorted a laugh to herself. <When we fix reality, history will be
reset and Ranma will never have gone on that date in the first place.>
"I... suppose we had better get this training session started.
Akane, when we're done here, they're waiting for us in the Yggdrasil
Primary Data Transfer Center," Ranmira told Akane in an obvious
effort to change the subject. "The interface is ready for you."
Ranma gave them both a look of slight puzzlement. "Interface?
What's this all about, Akane?" Okay, so she wasn't to be privy to
the secrets of the heavens as Akane was, but living in the same house
as Nabiki had taught her a few things about the art of latching onto
whatever information others let slip, if she remembered that she
needed to pay close attention.
Ranmira smiled. "It's nothing to worry about. We're merely
hoping to resolve a few things in the system by having Akane directly
interface with Yggdrasil."
Now, if only she'd learned how to better gauge how much of the
truth was in others' words. Thank goodness Ranmira wasn't one to lie
to her...
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it," Ranma said at
last. She walked across the dojo floor to her accustomed starting
spot. "If you're in a hurry, we'll try to get this session done with
as soon as we can."
"We aren't really in any sort of hurry, Ranma."
Ranma laughed. "Actually, I figured we weren't gonna get too
much done in tonight's session. Ranmira, I believe you're ready to
start practicing the more advanced moves and techniques."
"Sensei?"
The idea that a Goddess would be addressing *her* as 'sensei'
still amazed Ranma. "We'll only be touching on a handful of those
moves tonight. Later, we'll start practicing each move one at a
time."
Having assumed her own start position on the dojo floor opposite
Ranma, Ranmira responded with a bow. "Thank you, sensei."
** ** **
"Are you completely sure you're ready?" Skuld asked as she and
Ranmira escorted Akane through the incredibly vast corridors within
Yggdrasil.
Akane wondered for a second why Skuld would ask that question.
<I think she knows how I feel about restoring everything to how it
should be. She *told* me that we're supposed to be keeping our
reality from accidentally being changed. Maybe it's just a
procedure, or maybe... what if I'm making some kind of mistake?>
An image of Ranma, her hair cut short, appeared in Akane's mind
next to an image of the 'original' male Ranma. *That* Ranma would
insist on having things restored to the way they had been - and had
insisted, in fact, before she became the Ranma of this reality.
It wasn't right to leave Ranma in a reality in which he refused
to live. Given the opportunity, Ranma himself would fix everything.
Akane steeled herself. "Yes. I'm ready."
They paused before the doorway leading into the Data Transfer
Center, the warm, bright light filtering from the chamber causing the
three to blink as their eyes readjusted. "Akane." Ranmira met
Akane's gaze. "There is one final issue to resolve before we enter."
<Uh-oh.>
"How do you truthfully feel toward Ranma? Do you love him?"
Akane bit her lower lip. There was no dodging the issue this
time; she had to decide if the jumble of emotions she felt toward
Ranma did mean that she had fallen in love with him. Could she
imagine living the rest of her life without the gender-switching,
too-overconfident-for-his-own-good baka - regardless of whether or
not she became a Goddess?
She quickly ran through the life she had lived after meeting
Ranma. Before that day, her life had been rather average, in her
opinion. Now, anything could happen, at any time. She faced true
challenges and risked her life for any of a number of reasons.
Nearly all of those events happened to her because she was Saotome
Ranma's iinazuke, and he was hers.
There was the way her adrenaline raced and her head felt light
whenever she was on an adventure involving the two of them...
<Sheesh, I *am* in love with the jerk, aren't I?>
Akane fought to keep the blood from rushing to her cheeks.
"Yes," she said. "I guess... I guess I do. Er, love him. I guess."
Ranmira nodded, motioning Akane to the door. "If you are
absolutely sure, follow us into the light."
<Ranma...> Akane watched Ranmira and Skuld enter the room.
After hesitating for a handful of seconds, she urged her body to
carry her into the light. <If only you could remember what it was
like to truly be a girl, in both mind and body, after we fix
everything. Maybe then you'd understand me better...>
** ** **
Kasumi added the last empty dish remaining on the table to the
stack of dishes she carried in her arms. She chuckled quietly to
herself. <I still don't know how Mr. Saotome and Ranma can eat that
much.>
The evening meal, as usual, hadn't lasted much more than fifteen
minutes between the combined efforts of the Saotome and Tendo
families. Akane had yet to return home from wherever she and the
Goddesses had gone... though Mrs. Saotome had occupied her seat,
subduing Ranma's behavior at dinner as a result.
A bright flash of golden light from the direction of the koi
pond outside caught her attention. "Ara... Akane must be here," she
murmured, setting the stack of dishes on the table for the moment.
"Kasumi-oneechan!" Akane greeted her, making her way from the
outdoor garden into the house. "Is Ranma here?"
Kasumi blinked. "I believe he's in his room, Akane-chan. Is
something the matter?"
"Not really," Akane tried to make herself appear calm. "I just
want to see if everything's the way it's supposed to be." She
sprinted into the hall and up the stairs before Kasumi could ask her
to clarify what she had said.
Kasumi turned her attention to Ranmira and Skuld. "What did she
mean by that?"
"Well..."
Akane knocked on the door to Ranma's bedroom. "Ranma? Are you
in there?"
Silence.
<Hmmm...> She warily edged the door open.
Ranma lay draped at a strange angle across his bed, only a few
steps from snoring, Akane guessed. <I... it looks like it worked.
But I've gotta be sure.>
She extended a hand to nudge Ranma's shoulder, shivering as a
momentary feeling of deja vu struck her; she'd had to wake Ranma in a
similar manner to tell him... *her* that a large portion of reality
had been changed. "C'mon, Ranma - wake up."
Ranma's eyes opened with a start. "...Huh? What?" He looked
up to see Akane watching him. "Akane? What's going on?"
He drew himself up to sit on the side of the bed... then froze.
"What's wrong?" inquired Akane.
"I feel...... Something's wrong." Slowly, Ranma brought his
hands up and pulled his shirt off.
Akane saw his eyes go wide as he stared at his chest.
"Wh-wh-what is this?"
"Ranma?"
"I'm a *boy*, aren't I?" he shrieked, grabbing Akane by her
arms. "What did you and those Goddesses do to me!?"
<...to be continued...>
------------
Credits:
Written by: Mike Koos
Prereaders: Richard Beaubien, Kevin D. Hammel, Jonathan Ng,
Andrew Norris, Shadowmane, Tom Williams
With apologies to Takahashi Rumiko and Fujishima Kosuke...
All parts of this series are available at the RAAC archives at
ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ah-My-Goddess/
Instruments-of-Change/
or from my WWW pages at http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~makoto/
Comments and questions welcome.
*****************************
* Mike ('Kino Makoto') Koos * "I can do nothing to stop you.
*---------------------------* Your background music is too
* email: mak...@mother.com * strong for me."
***************************** - Whose Line is it Anyway?
http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~makoto/