p a r t f i v e |
r e f l e c t i o n s
t h e f u r o f i a s c o
Part Five: The Furo Fiasco
The morning of a typical school day in Nerima saw many waves of activity. First, in the half-light of dawn, the streets and sidewalks were filled by salary men and office ladies trickling from their homes and apartments toward the train station. After the zombie migration, came the college students and local entrepreneurs. Many shops and eateries opened early to draw in the retiree crowd, conditioned to rise with the sun, but no longer forced to migrate to the inner city. The early hours saw a bustle of activity in garden plots throughout the ward. Housewives were busy in their kitchens, preparing meals to start children on their way to school. But none of this really registered on two oblivious youths sprinting headlong through the streets with a good head of steam built up.Ryouga was berating himself, lamenting the cruel whims of fate, and ranting about how Ranma Saotome would be made to pay for tricking him into leaving everything behind and fleeing the Tendo Dojo. With his wandering ways, the absence of his backpack and umbrella were quite disturbing. He was desperately in search of the dojo to retrieve them. Coming around a corner he had time to make out a blur of red hair and fabric, when Copy chan barreled into him blindly.
“Oof!”
“Kyaaa!”
*Thump*
As the world stopped spinning, Ryouga looked down at the girl pinned beneath his body. Without thinking, he grabbed hold of her wrists, and locked his ankles over her knees while straddling her hips to keep her immobilized. One Ranma was a situation he could cope with, and this time he was going to get answers. “Ranma! You have a lot of explaining to do!” he smirked as she struggled to break his grip. “Sorry, Ranma. No running away this time. You have to answer to me once and for all!”
The girl bit her lip and stopped moving. Blinking away the film of tears that had obscured her vision as she fled from Ranma-chan’s revelation, she brought Ryouga’s face into focus. “Oh. It’s you. Ryouga, right? What do you want?”
“Are you crying?” Ryouga asked in surprise, taken off guard.
“What of it?”
“That’s not very manly, Ranma,” he jeered, sensing the advantage.
“I’m not Ranma,” she turned her head away. “Are you in the habit of jumping on top of strange girls you run into in the street?” Her mind was clicking rapidly through: He slept with Ranma. He betrayed me. I am alone... with a boy. “Or did you actually like that kiss?”
Ryouga sprang back, shaking his head and waving his hands frantically as his heart thundered and his breath came in sudden gasps. “N...n.. no! I didn’t… I would never… what are you doing!?” he backpedaled as Copy-chan pulled herself to her feet and stalked toward him with a coy grin.
“I’m not doing anything. What are you all nervous about?”
“I know that look!” Ryouga pointed at her, still backing away. “That is a dangerous look! Ranma looked like that when he was in love with me!”
Copy-chan twitched and pulled back. “Ranma! Ranma! Ranma! Is there anyone in Tokyo who isn’t involved with Ranma!” she shouted in despair.
Ryouga paused. This was an outburst he was quite familiar with. At the same time, his mind was screaming at him to explain his last statement before anyone got the wrong idea! “It was an accident! I never meant to hook him with the koi fishing rod! Why would I want a transsexual freak like that?”
“There’s a ‘fishing rod of love’?” Copy-chan wondered, picking up on the other definition of the word “koi”. Responding to Ryouga, “Why does EVERYONE want a ‘transsexual freak like that’?”
“Huh?”
“I wanted him, that pervert-girl wants him, the old pervert wants him, the pervert-with-the-bokan wants him…! I got a copy of him all to myself, and even the damned copy wanted him! Why!?”
Ryouga was utterly stumped. He simply could not get his head around the topic. He stared at Copy-chan, while his mind wondered aimlessly in search of a familiar thought. Fortunately, the ideas he tripped over piled up in a tangle resembling coherent thought. Having seen three Ranmas, the story of the cursed mirror was suddenly sounding feasible. The distraught girl before him was obviously one of the copies, and… What did she say? Oh yeah, the other copy was… something… with Ranma. His mind flashed over the scenes from the previous night, the two Ranmas making out in the bushes, two Ranmas going into Ranma’s room as a boy and a girl. Ryouga frowned. These were not good thoughts. “Um. I am a little lost, here. Maybe you should tell me what you’re upset about,” he suggested, reaching out a calming hand.
Copy-chan sighed. The handsome boy with the cute fangs was not running away. He was looking concerned for her. She did not want to think about how she had been betrayed, but… Maybe if she shared her story, Ryouga would sympathize with her. He certainly seemed to have a grudge against Ranma. “I… I guess so. First, is it true that Ranma beat a guy up for kissing him?”
“Mikado Sanzenin? I remember that. Yeah, Ranma totally lost it. He could have taken Mikado out in one blow, but he was so pissed it took five-hundred and eighteen!” Ryouga laughed, remembering his rival’s humiliation. Then he shivered, “Of course, he almost killed me for using the koi rod on him. And that was an accident!” Ryouga sagged. There were aspects of Ranma’s curse that were truly heinous, though he would only admit that to himself. Looking at the girl, and guessing the reason she had asked, “So, what did the other copy do to Ranma?”
Copy-chan looked down and hugged herself. “He slept with Ranma.”
Ryouga felt his body turn to ice in shock. “N… no way!”
“Ranma admitted it.”
“I.. impossible!” Ryouga could not believe it. “Ranma would never let a guy do that! Not in a million years!”
“Idiot! He did it while Ranma was sleeping,” she interrupted, remembering the fight with Ranma-chan:
“What were you two doing last night!?”
“I’m not gonna talk about it!”
“I’ll make you!”
“A girl like you!? Don’t make me laugh!”
“Ha, ha! I am a girl like you!”
Not a bright move, on Copy-chan’s part, since that seemed to rouse Ranma-chan’s anger to new heights. She went on the defensive, but continued to push her for an answer. Perhaps she was falling into Ranma’s strategy of inciting her opponent, her questions and challenges barbed with insults. Unfortunately, her aim could not be achieved with her fists, so she was not really taking advantage of the openings Ranma’s temper was giving her.
“You could have had me! I was willing! So what!? Do you prefer guys!?”
“It’s not like that!”
“Ah? So! Tell me what it’s like! Did you kiss him!?”
“Shut up!”
“Did you hug him!?”
Ranma-chan twitched and her guard fell open.
“You hugged him!!!?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Something sure happened!”
“It wasn’t me! It was him! The bastard!”
“What did he do to you?”
“He slept with me, alright!? You happy now?”
Copy-chan staggered and then charged in raging, “You bitch!”
“I told you it wasn’t me! I was asleep, dammit!”
Copy-chan reeled back at Ranma-chan’s final words, “What!? You mean he… you… Damn him!” Unable to control her feelings, she flew off out of the yard in a blind rage.
Copy-chan bit her lip. Even now, she could hardly imagine what her other half could have done, but the fact that he had tried with Ranma-chan stabbed her to the core. Shaking her head, she continued her explanation for Ryouga, “All Ranma could do was beat him up for it later. If I had not jumped in, he might have done worse.”Ryouga was completely flabbergasted. It was simply unreal. “Does Akane know about this?” he asked in a small voice. As P-chan, Ryouga had a unique glimpse into Akane’s private life, and as much as it hurt him, he was well aware that Akane had been deceived into having some feelings for Ranma. Such a revelation would hit her hard. Harder than anything Ranma had ever done. Worse, because Ranma was not really at fault if this… thing… had happened against his will.
Copy-chan shrugged. “I dunno. Certainly not when I left.”
Ryouga sighed with relief. He had time to get to her side before she found out. “Ran… uh… Pig-tai… uh…”
“Copy-chan. That’s what they’ve been calling me.”
“Copy-chan. You have to take me to the Tendo Dojo!”
“Huh? I don’t really want to go back there…”
“Please! I’ll never find it in time!”
“I don’t get it,” she looked at him in confusion.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, Akane needs me!”
Copy-chan narrowed her eyes. She had noticed as Ryouga’s concern multiplied enormously once Akane’s name came up. “Don’t tell me you like that fat chick too!”
“How dare you insult Akane like that!” Ryouga was instantly enraged.
Copy-chan did not even blink as Ryouga roared into her face. She simply kneed him in the groin. “Bastard. Coming on to me like that, and then mooning over that macho chick!” Copy-chan stood there, feet apart in a wide stance, staring down at a writhing Ryouga. Strangely, she felt much better after dropping him like that. She thought she would feel positively wonderful after doing the same to her two-timing “boyfriend”. Grabbing Ryouga by the heel, she dragged him along as she returned to the dojo.
Fortunately for Ryouga, that was only two blocks away.
Ranma-chan had wasted little time stripping down and entering the furo. The tub was empty when she went in, so she opened the tap to let it fill, adjusting the temperature of the flow until it was as hot as she could stand. Sitting on a stool, and sluicing her body down with cold water, she started to wash herself off. Taking her time, as her thoughts wandered over recent events, she did not notice as someone entered the laundry room and began to undress. Scrubbing feverishly, she tried to understand why everyone was so horrified by what she had said. It was true that Ranma was somewhat innocent by comparison to her peers. Part of that was because living on the road with just Genma for company had kept her sheltered from most boys her age. Most of it was in response to the curse.Ranma, as a boy, had reached the age where his reaction to girls had begun to change, and on the few occasions when he interacted with boys, he had been exposed to a predictable amount of dirty talk and innuendo. He never got to know anyone well enough to let his guard down and ask anyone to explain certain words and feelings. As a “man among men” he had been forced to pretend that he understood for the most part. Once he had the curse, he had found himself in an… uncomfortable situation. Anything a boy wanted to know about a girl was literally right at his fingertips. Unfortunately, learning about womanhood through personal experience threatened to totally undermine his manhood. Against his will, he was coming to understand what it was to be a girl, and that made thinking about what it was to do things with a girl… disturbing. To put it lightly. It had proven much safer to just not think about such things. To block certain subjects from his mind entirely.
It never helped that Akane was utterly convinced that he was a complete pervert. He never understood most of the things that triggered her temper. He did not dare. It was bad enough he could not avoid learning some things about girls that no boy wanted or needed to know. Little things, like using public restrooms and baths, became major issues. Why was it a girl could appear in a men’s bathroom and spark only a mild confusion, but a boy in a girl’s room was in danger of being beaten within an inch of his life?
Why was it that only the most warped of individuals would imagine anything improper about two men huddling under a blanket to keep warm in winter, but a boy and a girl in the same position were, in the eyes of even the most rational minded, committing some sin?
Turning into a girl was not the curse really; it was how the world suddenly stopped making sense that was really ruining his life.
Ranma-chan kept scrubbing until her skin felt raw, and she did not even know why she felt so dirty. It had disturbed her that being held by a boy in her sleep could feel so comfortable. It was upsetting because she did not want to feel comfortable as a girl. Ranma-chan was too practical by nature. Being a girl had made scrounging for food ridiculously easy, allowed her to enjoy treats that no male could savor without being called a sissy, but good food was good food. She simply could not resist the temptation. Sometimes, it was good to be a girl, and that was the whole problem. Feeling warm and safe in her sleep was new and unusual, and it had been wonderful. For a half an hour, it just did not matter that she was a girl in a boy’s arms.
She might have come to terms with the dichotomy of her existence, but thanks to her father’s stupid promise to her mother, she could never let her guard down. Girls were comfortable with what they were, and it showed in how they acted. But if Ranma allowed herself to be comfortable with herself, and began acting like a girl, she would be honor bound to kill herself. That had been underscored a short while ago, when her mother caught Ranma in male form wearing clothes she had bought for Ranko. At first she had no idea it was Ranma, but it did not help that she thought he was a pervert who got off on attacking girls and stealing their clothes to wear. Worse, Happosai interfered just when Ranma thought it was safe to confront his mother and Nodoka caught him wearing a schoolgirl’s uniform. She had started the ceremony for Seppuku on the spot and Ranma narrowly escaped from the knife by pretending to peep on Akane in the bath.
Too narrow an escape, since she almost witnessed the transformation first hand. Happosai had lobbed a Happodaikarin at Ranma, right there in the bath, and Nodoka had immediately tried to put the fuse out with a spray of cold water. Her father had batted her out the window, but the word “boy” had transferred from where he had hit “Ranma” on the head, with one of his signs, to “Ranko’s” forehead. If Nodoka had not figured it out then, it was because she had not wanted to. She was too close to figuring it out. Ranma-chan did not know what she was more afraid of now, that her mother would figure it out, or show up again and try to make “Ranko” more feminine again. Even the horror of shopping for underwear and cute outfits had been… nice… because any time spent with her mother was special. Being complimented, even for cleaning up nice as a girl, touched Ranma to the depths of her soul.
Ranma-chan sighed. She had been so distracted by her thoughts, she had not taken any notice of the naked boy who slipped into the bathroom and began washing her back. It had actually been nice to let her hands relax and allow other hands take over scrubbing her down and shampooing her hair. The strong, gentle hands soothed her into a semi-drowsing state. Her mind just wandered off to struggle with her fears and concerns as the touching turned to caressing. Her body responded automatically, slipping her arms around his neck as he pulled her into his lap and hugged her. The pleasant ache that accompanied the kisses that crawled along her shoulder, over her collarbone and up her neck washed away all the tension in her body. When those lips closed on hers, she could not help but return the kiss, opening her mouth to taste the warmth and sweetness of his.
Ranma-chan’s eyes snapped open.
Copy-kun sensed her body going rigid in his arms and pulled back to look in her eyes in concern. He realized that he had become quite aroused during his ministrations. The source of that hot, throbbing sensation was painfully pressed between their bodies.
Ranma-chan could feel him pressing into her hip. Some strange instinct was hinting that there was a better way for her body to accommodate this intrusion between them, while another set of instincts were screaming in an effort to drown the notion out. Blinking in confusion, Ranma-chan stared into those familiar blue eyes. A face she saw in the mirror almost every day, but the mirror that cast this particular reflection was an hour away by train.
“You!” she suddenly gasped. “What. Do. You. Think. You. ARE DOING!?”
“C… Copy-chan,” he stammered.
“COPY-CHAN!!!” Ranma-chan roared, levitating to her feet.
The boy swallowed hard and tried again. “R… Ranma?”
“I’m gonna KILL you!”
Copy-kun twisted on the tiles, trying to find purchase with fingers and toes to scrabble away as Ranma-chan descended with two fingers primed for a killing strike. Slipping on a bar of soap, Copy-kun went down, smashing his chin on the tiles. Ranma-chan’s fingers whistled by his ear and her hand sank up to her wrist in the shattered floor. In desperation, Copy-kun braced on one hand and swept his legs under Ranma-chan, spilling her over onto her back. He lunged forward, shooting up between her legs to catch her wrists in his hands and pin her down. As his hips rode up on her pelvis, the two of them both gasped in astonishment. If his ego had not deflated in fear of death, that thrust would have punched him right into her, Copy-kun realized. As it was, the most sensitive portion of his anatomy was grinding against that of hers. He had an instant to wonder why boys and girls might be made in such a way that one could literally plug into the other.
The door to the furo slid open to reveal Soun and Genma, the Tendo daughters twisting and straining to look around them at the commotion. They had been summoned by the sound of shouting and shattering tile. Taking one look at Copy-kun, grinding his hips down to keep Ranma-chan from writhing out of his grip, they all flinched back. Genma slammed the door closed, and the sounds of four people trying to subdue Akane commenced.
Ranma-chan snaked her legs in under Copy-kun’s arms and used the strength of her whole body to catapult him through the air and into the bath. While the boy struggled to right himself in the scalding water, Ranma-chan darted in with a flying kick.
*KHThock!* *Splash!*
“Die!” Ranma-kun caught his double around the neck, in an arm lock, and shoved his head back under water. His body might have turned to stone for all the good Copy-kun’s struggling mattered. In the adjoining laundry, Soun and Genma could be heard wailing in pain, as Kasumi and Nabiki retreated from Akane’s wrath. Two new voices entered the fray, drawn from the genkan.
“Akane! What’s wrong” Ryouga shouted in concern.
“Where’s Copy-kun!?” Copy-chan demanded.
The furo door swept open again as the three teens stormed in to see Ranma-kun busy drowning his clone. Seeing almost no expression on Ranma’s face, the three advanced with sudden caution.
“Ranma?” Akane opened, timidly.
“I think he’s trying to kill him,” Copy-chan gasped.
“I think he IS killing him,” Ryouga strode forward into the hot water.
“What are you doing?” the girls asked in surprise.
“We have to stop him. Ranma will never forgive himself for murder.”
Ranma did not even respond to the lost boy’s presence. The pervert in his arms was still moving, and nothing else mattered until he stopped. Ryouga grabbed his rival and strained to pry him away from his victim, with little success. Ranma casually backhanded Ryouga into the wall. Akane picked up the sprayer and pointed it in Ranma’s face. Ryouga took one look at the threat of cold water and dove under water with a gasp. Copy-chan climbed into the bath and onto Ranma’s back, trying to pull him up by his neck. Akane shot a stream of cold water directly into Ranma’s face.
Ranma screamed. Drenched with cold water, while immersed to his waist in hot water, his body flickered insanely fast between forms, trying to respond to the combined triggers of his curse. An agony, not unlike being struck by lightening, caused Ranma’s muscles to spasm. Since his only leverage was through his feet, the convulsions shot him out of the bath. Akane kept tracking with the cold water, forcing Ranma to stop shifting in female form. She shut off the water just as Ryouga reared up, gasping for air, holding an unconscious Copy-kun in his arms. Akane and Copy-chan rushed over to Ranma-chan’s side.
Ranma had curled up into a quivering ball as soon as the pain stopped.
Ranma was sitting at the table, shoveling food into his mouth when the others came downstairs to join him. They had just finished interrogating Copy-kun upstairs, with the threat of unleashing Ranma on him again to ensure they got every detail of the truth. It seemed strange that so much could happen in one morning. Copy-kun was hardly more articulate than Ranma, but with Nabiki asking the questions, and the boy answering yes or no, it was quickly determined that far less had happened than expected. The fight in the bathroom had come the closest to realizing everyone’s fears. Ranma was fortunate that it was not in his nature to be turned on by violence, or…It did not bear thinking on.
If Ranma had come close to killing over a near miss, no one wanted to know his response to a bulls-eye. Ranma had not uttered a word or even opened her eyes until the others had removed Copy-kun from the bathroom. Once they had, she had simply splashed herself with hot water, gotten dressed and walked out in search of breakfast. He did not acknowledge anyone as they came to the table. They ate their late meal in silence, not daring to speak first.
Ranma put down his bowl and turned to Kasumi. “That was delicious, Kasumi! Thank you!” Everyone stopped eating and turned to him. He looked around the table, seeing Akane, Nabiki, Soun, Ryouga, Copy-chan and Genma looking more timid than he had ever seen them. “Where is he?”
“Upstairs,” Nabiki answered, crossing her arms.
“Would someone get him? I have something to say, and he should hear it.”
Akane quickly went up to get the boy clone.
When Copy-kun joined them all at the table, looking deathly pale, Ranma cleared his throat. “I’m not good with words, so I’ll keep this simple.” Looking his double in the eye, he continued, “You and I owe Ryouga and Akane a debt of gratitude. You, because they saved your life, and me, because they stopped me from committing murder.
“I have never been so angry in my life. This I am ashamed of,” he looked down and the mask of formality slipped to reveal the emotion that had haunted him since the scene in the bath. Coughing, he looked up, allowing his shame to remain on his face, “I can’t blame you for something you did in your sleep. I can’t blame you for mistaking me for someone else, even if she is my copy. If I had been payin’ attention, and not daydreaming in there, none of that would have happened. I failed as a martial artist to be on guard. That humiliation is part of my punishment.” Ranma lapsed into silence. Forcing himself to speak formally, as an adult was taxing.
Copy-kun, recently enlightened somewhat by Nabiki’s pointed questions, sat there in a daze. One of the mysteries of “making love” had been revealed, but his shame at having almost performed it with Ranma was choking him.
Ranma saw his embarrassment and continued. “What happened this morning will NEVER happen again. I don’t care what you have to do to make sure of it, but know this. If this, or anything like this, happens again, I will kill you,” he turned to include Copy-chan in his declaration. “Both of you.”
“Why me?” Copy-chan asked in a small voice.
“Because, despite what you two said last night, you obviously intended to keep doin’ the same thing behind our backs. This morning would not have happened if you had meant what you said.” Ranma watched her bow her head. She made no attempt to deny it. “Since I can’t trust you two, I have to do something I really didn’t wanna do.”
Akane looked at Ranma curiously. She had seen the serious side of Ranma before, but not like this. This was sort of frightening. “What are you going to do, Ranma?” she asked hesitantly.
“Originally, I was gonna have these two stay out of sight until we could take them back to Mirror Mansion. I see now that won’t work. So, I have to take them to school with me. Everyone already knows about Copy-chan, so it won’t be hard to explain another copy. I don’t like it, but at least this way I can keep an eye on them.”
“I’ll help then,” Akane announced.
“That’s not necessary.”
“Yes it is. If you really want to keep them from getting into trouble, you have to split them up. I’ll take Copy-kun and keep an eye on him. I really don’t think it’s a good idea for you and him to be together more than necessary,” she insisted. Ryouga nodded in agreement. He had little love for his rival, but the last thing he wanted to see was Ranma become a killer.
“Fine. Just be careful, he’s as good as I am,” Ranma reminded her.
Akane produced her mallet and grinned, as if to say it was hardly a challenge. Strangely enough, that brought a smile to Ranma’s face. “Now, with that settled, I want to clear up this other misunderstanding.”
Everyone looked at Ranma curiously.
“I don’t know what everyone was thinking this morning, when I tried to explain why I beat Copy-kun up, but it’s not what you think!”
Nabiki cleared her throat, “Don’t worry about that, Ranma-kun. I got the story from Copy-kun. I’ll try to explain it to Daddy and Saotome-ojisan so they don’t have an aneurysm.” Ranma sighed in relief. He still did not understand how he had been so misunderstood, but hopefully Nabiki would not extort too much to set the record straight.
Ranma stood up and held out his hand to Copy-chan, “Come on. We’ll be late for school.” She hesitated, looking at Copy-kun and assuring herself that whatever he had done, it had been intended for her benefit. He screwed up seriously, but she was still the one in his heart. She had not been betrayed. Taking Ranma’s hand, she accompanied him out to the street. Akane followed with Copy-kun, and Ryouga shouldered his backpack and set out in search of Akari.