[Ranma][FanFic] Her Own

[pch...@unm.edu]

By Kathryn Grover

***

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in Ranma 1/2. You'd be wasting
your time and money suing this poor little amusement park employee.

***

Couple notes:

I know I usually write comedy. However, this is NOT a comedy. It's not
dark or anything, it's just not funny, and not meant to
be..............unless of course somebody does the MST3K thing. :)

And speaking of which, I will allow no Mistings of this fic UNLESS you
use the real MST3K characters. That's right! You MUST use Mike and the
bots as the commentators! (Did I spell that right?)

This fic takes place in the japanese book 36, just after the cliff
scene. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then this fic contains
either spoilers or total confusion. If you don't read japanese, or
don't want to wait 10 years for viz to get to that book, please read
the comic at ranmascan.dhs.org before attempting to read this fic.

And remember kids, when viz DOES come out with the comics, BUY THEM!

***

Sometimes we need to tell the truth about something. But it gets so
hard when you don't know what the reaction will be. It doesn't mean
that you lie to the other person, you just avoid the issue, until it
grows to the point that you feel it will drive you insane. You keep
thinking of ways to tell this person, then every time you try, you
screw up, or chicken out, and things only get worse. The more you avoid
it, the harder it is to say.

You start talking to other people on how to tackle the issue. Even
gathering information from other people, so that you can feel more
confident. You plan ahead. But then the fear of rejection makes you
refuse to act. Maybe the information itself is too scary or too
contreversial...........or maybe just too disturbing. Or maybe you just
want to tell somebody your true feelings about them, but can't. You
keep trying to find the right moment, and it never comes. This can be
applied to so many types of situations.

I am currently dealing with a similar situation with one of my best
friends. I hope that someday, I can save her life, and sanity, while at
the same time, overcoming the fear of rejection, and saving my own
emotional health.

For everyone who is dealing with a situation like this, no matter how
seroius the situation, this fic, and the comic it was based on, are for
you.

And now, our feature presentation.........

***

The first thing he noticed while coming into consciousness was pain.
There were distant sounds of talking. Sounds that were like chatting at
a dinner table.

He groaned and opened his eyelids. The world tilted and spun for a bit
before finally sliding into focus. He was back in the hotel room, lying
on a mattress on the floor. The blinds on the windows were closed. An
ice bag was on his head. His head.......it hurt so much. He couldn't
move it without the dizziness returning.

Ranma strained to remember how he had ended up this way. It hurt too
much to think. Maybe if he listened in on whatever conversation was
happening outside.

"Mr. Saotome really went too far this time with that family heirloom.
What are you going to do Auntie?"

That was Nabiki's voice.

"I could care less what's in that box. I'm just glad to finally see
Ranma again after all these years. I just hope he's okay."

Okay, that was his Mom's voice.

"Yeah, he hit that rock pretty hard, didn't he? I'm sure he'll be fine,
but he's never been out for this long before."

That was Akane's voice. Rock? Maybe that's why his head hurt so much.

"I'm sure he's fine, Akane. This is Ranma, after all."

"Yes, but he's not completely invincible. Even though he seems to think
he is."

Nadoka laughed. Nabiki spoke again.

"Yeah, but I'll bet ya 2000 yen he's back on his feet in two days."

It was starting to come back to him now. He was with his mom standing
on the sword hilt. He'd jammed it into the rock to stop her from
falling. But what happened after that? Had there been a ledge below?

A figure moved across the dark room and sat beside him. Kasumi leaned
over him, making eye contact, before moving away towards the door. It
slid open, and a beam of light came through. Ranma squinted at the
sudden change. The light made him dizzy.

"He's awake," Kasumi said in her ever-gentle voice.

The noise level suddenly grew to various excited voices, from Akane's
worried questions to Soun's melodramatics. It was too much for him. He
slowly drifted off into sleep as a new figure, blurred in the light,
sat to watch over him.

***

Pain returned as he opened his eyes a second time. Someone was
replacing the ice bag on his head. He closed his eyes again, hoping for
sleep to return. After a few moments, he gave up. It hurt too much to
try sleeping.

He opened his eyes again. He smiled a bit as he saw his own mother
watching over him. The smile faded as he noticed the obvious concern in
her eyes.

"Mom, what's wrong? I............." Then he noticed his own voice. He
was a she. And his mom knew. He suddenly remembered falling into the
ocean before hitting his head.

"Ranma? Are you alright?"

Ranma freaked. As far as he was concerned, he was dead. He scrambled
off the mattress and tried to crawl away. Any chance of escape was
neccessary. But as soon as he lifted his head, dizziness overcame him.
He couldn't even tell which way was up. He curled up into a ball in the
corner of the room, frightened, just before passing out.

When he woke up again, his mother was there, holding his head in her
lap. Remembering his futile escape attempt earlier, he just closed his
eyes, waiting for whatever fate was in store for him.

"Ranma. Are you awake?"

No escape.

"Yes, Mom."

"Just relax. You'll be okay. I'm here."

She set his head back down on the pillow, and the ice bag was on his
head again.

"Ranma, why did you hide from me? Why were you afraid?"

Ranma didn't know what to say. He closed his eyes to think. He heard
crying.

"Stupid Genma...." she said. "Now my own child is afraid of me. What
did you do to him?"

"Mom?" Ranma opened his eyes again. "Are you okay?"

"Ranma, did you really think I'd kill you over something as silly as a
curse?"

"Well......um........"

"I think it's a good thing. You can see a lot from a woman's point of
view. That's something that a lot of men can't do."

"I guess so."

"I wish you'd have told me. I honestly think the unmanliest thing
you've done was hiding from me. And that's mostly Genma's fault."

"I always wanted to see you........but I was afraid. Every time I tried
to tell you, something went wrong. And then everything was just worse
than before. Every time I tried to hint at something, It came out
wrong. Then I didn't know what to do."

"Why was it so hard? Couldn't you just tell me?"

"I thought you'd hate me. I mean, Pop made that promise.........and you
sounded so serious......You always had these daydreams about me, about
how I was. And felt like I couldn't make that a reality........with
this body."

Nadoka noticed him crying. He was stressed out. Probably more than he
had ever been in his entire life.

"Shhhhhhh. It's okay. It's all okay now........."

"Mom........."

"No more words. Get some rest............."

***

It took a lot to keep Ranma off his feet for more than a day. Two days
later he was back on the beach, challenging Akane to a sand castle
contest. And then Kuno came and stomped on them both, and was promptly
kicked away.

What Kuno was doing there is a mystery.

The interest in the sand soon dwindled, and our heroes got into a hot
game of volleyball.

Nadoka watched them happily, then her hands rummaged through her purse
to a small photo album. She fingered through the pages, which showed
pictures of a gorgeous man. A former gym teacher from Furinkan High, he
was Genma's rival for her affections. He had died in a car accident
only a week after their marraige, and in her grief, she had married
Genma. Soon, too soon. after that, Ranma was born.

Maybe someday she'd have the guts to tell both of them.
Someday.......when the time was right.

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