In 2 minds... Chapter 1: Schizophrenia

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Author's Note: This chapter describes how the alternate personality appears so it may be a little slow but bear with it, the story will get better! Please review and tell me any ideas you might have for the fic. If there are some good suggestions then they will be incorporated into the story. The story starts a little after Shampoo has returned from China, having decided that she would rather marry Ranma than kill his girl half. There won't be much about Cologne or Happosai I don't think because I feel that those two are just annoying and add little to the series. They may pop up here and there but not a lot. I intend to leave Mousse out altogether `cos I hate him! Sorry all you Mousse lovers! Anyway…time to start the fic!

 

The usual Sunday morning commotion could be heard at the Tendo residence. Crashes and bangs resounded around the house as Akane chased Ranma with a large mallet and shouted at him that he was a pervert. In between swings and dodges Ranma tried in vain to explain that it wasn't his fault (a fair argument since she had walked in on him in the bath) but Akane was her usual stubborn self. Matters did not improve when Ranma called her an uncute tomboy, sending Akane into “spare no-one” mode. As usual it ended with Ranma taking to the skies through the roof, as Akane's fist sent him flying. Akane stalked off, her nose in the air.

Some distance away, a slightly dazed and angry Ranma picked himself up from where he had landed to make his way homeward. As usual he had landed right in the middle of a small fountain in the park and therefore changed into his girl form. As she was about to leave, she saw an old man staring at her with a curious look. Annoyed, Ranma faced the man:

“What?” she exclaimed angry.

“Hmmm…curious…” muttered the old man, more to himself than to Ranma. Then he seemed to come to his senses and noticed that Ranma had addressed him. “Good morning. Pardon me for staring but I was just contemplating your extraordinary alteration. Weren't you male when you landed in that fountain?”

“Yeah” replied Ranma. She proceeded to explain about her Jusenkyo curse to the man.

“And you find this transformation irksome do you?” the old man inquired.

“Irksome?” blurted out Ranma. “It's a nightmare! Every time I touch cold water it happens and ever since I fell in the spring I seem to have a magnetic attraction to cold water. And worst of all, it always happens at the worst possible time!” she finished angrily. Her cheeks were flushed in annoyance.

The old man sat silent for a moment, his chin in his palm, as though he was pondering something. Then he straightened and turned back to Ranma.

“What would you say if I told you I could help you?” he asked.

“I'd want to know how,” replied Ranma skeptically. He had learned over the years to be highly suspicious of any such help since it always seemed to be more trouble than good.

“Well… as you can see I am an old man. In my time I have travelled far and wide. On my travels I once visited Jusenkyo and that is how I know of it. Not long after I met an elderly Amazon woman named Cologne near a village. I was low on food so I offered to help the lady in exchange for shelter and supplies. I mended her roof, swept out the house and fetched water for her for several weeks. At the end of this I decided to move on and, as a parting gift she gave me a pouch, containing a fine powder. It was considered in her culture a symbol of good luck and she told me that it also had special properties. It could revert anyone tranformed or cursed to their original state*. I have no use for it so you can have it. Rub it on your body and in your hair while washing in your girl form.”

“What's the catch?” asked Ranma. He was not at all convinced by the old man and his instinct was telling him that something was not quite right.

“No catch. I see that you are wise boy, or should I say girl? But in all fairness, what have you got to lose?”

Ranma was still uneasy but the old man was right. He didn't have anything to lose from trying it. The old man proffered him a small pouch made of sewn together leaves. Ranma took it and looked it over. She thanked the man and turned in the direction of the dojo. As she walked away, the man whispered under his breath:

“That was so easy.” A smile curled his lips.

Ranma arrived at the dojo several minutes later. The meeting had unnerved her and she didn't know why. She was normally very hard to put off-balance but something about the man had given her an odd vibe. This was not helped by the fact that when she had turned to look back on her way out of the park, he had gone. She wandered ponderingly into the house and stomped up the stairs to the bathroom. Once there she striped off her clothes, washed herself down under the shower with cold water and was about to take a bath when she remembered the pouch. Taking it from the pocket of her pants, she opened it carefully at the top and looked inside. There was a small heap of fine, red powder in the middle. Shrugging she cupped some in her hands and then added some water and rubbed it all over her body. Then she proceeded to spread liberal amounts in her hair. It had an odd scent which she couldn't place but it was soft on her skin. Finally she rinsed it off. Nothing seemed to happen. Growling about fakes and frauds she returned to the bath, filled it with hot water and stepped in.

A fully clothed Ranma went downstairs a while later. By this time it was nearly lunch time so Ranma decided to go to the dojo and do some light training. Inside the dojo was Akane, smashing cement blocks with her hands. She looked up then “hmph” ed when she saw who it was. Ranma groaned inwardly.

“Are you still mad Akane?” he asked timidly. She ignored him and returned to her block bashing. Giving a frustrated sigh Ranma turned away and began his routine warm-up. Something in his sigh must have affected Akane because she stood up and said:

“How about a quick spar then?” Ranma smiled. He would have laughed but he knew that that would have infuriated Akane and he didn't think that he could handle another rampage that morning. Besides he thought that the occasional spar with him was good for Akane, helping to improve her technique. It also kept him on his toes. When she didn't let her anger cloud her perception (in other words almost never) she was quiet good. Not on his level but not as far as he usually made out. So he had to be ready.

As usual Akane rushed in with a punch and he effortlessly flipped over her and landed the other side. She swung her leg round at him and he ducked it. This enraged her and she started swinging madly. In an attempt to keep her in a better mood, he blocked the blows rather than avoiding them. However, as always, he had to put his foot in it.

“Come on Akane. You'll have to do better than that if you ever want to be any good!” he jested. At once he knew he'd made a mistake. Akane reddened and balled her fists.

“You…JERK!” she shouted and whacked him in the jaw. He went flying into the pond with a large splash. Almost instantly a soaking wet female Ranma leaped out of it.

“Hey! What d'you do that for?” she complained. “All I….” Then she stopped. She went rigid and her eyes rolled up into her head. Then she flopped over onto the ground.

“Ranma!” cried Akane and ran over to the prone girl. She dragged her into the house and called for Kasumi.

Everyone was sitting around the futon in the dining room on which Ranma was lying, a flanel on her forehead. Her eyes fluttered and she moaned and stirred.

“I think she's coming round” said Kasumi brightly and quite unnecessarily, seeing as no-one in the house was either deaf or blind. Ranma moaned again and tentatively sat up, allowing the flanel to slide to the floor and put a hand to her forehead.

“Oh! My head!” she moaned. “I've got the worst headache ever! My brain feels like it's about to split in half!”

“Ranma! You're alright!” cried Akane rather hoarsely. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked pale. Ranma looked up at her quizzically and opened her mouth to say something when a thought seemed to strike her and she looked down at her own body…

“What am I WEARING?!!!!” she almost screamed and almost instantly leaped up and shot from the room like a bolt of lightning.

“Ranma…wait!” called Kasumi. “Don't you think you should take it easy for a while?” There was no response. Ranma was already upstairs. The others glanced at each other with stunned expressions. There was a lot of banging and crashing from Ranma's room and then a high pitched shriek.

“What is that jerk doing?!” exclaimed Akane and stormed after Ranma to see what was going on. The others followed somewhat timidly.

Akane reached Ranma's room and looked in then gasped at what she saw. The wardrobe doors and its drawers had been thrown open and all Ranma's clothes were in a heap on the floor. A tear stained Ranma was sitting forlornly next to them. Looking up she saw Akane and her lip quivered.

“Akane! I haven't anything to wear but these horrid boys clothes.” A tear rolled down her cheek. Non-plused, Akane took a step backwards.

“Ra…ran…m…ma?…” she stammered. “What are you talking about?” Ranma stared up at her with a sad expression.

“Look! Nothing. Not a single dress or anything!”

“Ranma? What's wrong with you? You're a boy remember. You've always hated girl's clothes.

“I'm a boy? What do you mean?” cried Ranma. “Look at me! I'm a girl. He's the one who's a boy! And stop calling me that!”

“Wh…wha…?” stammered Akane. “Who? Where?”

“What do you mean where? Here! You know perfectly well who I mean! RANMA!” Ranma almost shouted the name. Akane just stood and gibbered.

“B…b..b…but…y…you're R…Ra…Ranma” she quivered.

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” yelled (Ranma?). “MY NAME IS REENA! RANMA'S THE BOY!” Akane's mouth fell open in shock.

“Hello?…” said (Reena?), then a little more timidly: “sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that! I…er…I just…lost my temper.” Akane's jaw was opening and closing, seemingly of its own accord. Akane was staring at (Reena?) without seeing her. Suddenly she seemed to come to her senses, blinked and shook her head forcefully.

“Oh Kami! I must have hit you really hard this time!” she groaned. “Ranma! Snap out of it!” She clicked her fingers in front of (Ranma?) and waved hands in her face.

“Please stop calling me that!” said the girl exasperatedly. “I told you. My name is Reena. Ranma is the boy! I'm a girl, see!” With the last she ripped open her shirt, exposing her breasts to Akane's view. Akane's mouth fell open again, not so much at the sight as much as the idea of Ranma being so open about his feminity. With their usual perfect timing, everyone else arrived at this point, seeing Ranma showing her breasts to Akane.

“What is going on here?!” exclaimed Soun Tendo. “What is the meaning of this Ranma? I'm all in favour of you getting…er…closer…to Akane, but not as a female! Explain yourself!”

“Foolish boy! Where is your pride? What do you think you're doing? Think of your honour, your manhood!” Genma yelled, going red in the face. Looking rather annoyed the red-head in question (it is unclear at this point exactly who it is!) turned to face the fathers with a very sour expression.

“Will you stop calling me Ranma!!! I am Reena. Ranma is the boy half of us. We are two separate minds in a single cursed body! Get it?! I am NOT Ranma!” she finished, her face flushed in her anger. The two men stood thunderstruck, both mumbling unintelligibly. Akane was still standing stock still, mouth flopping open, staring at Ranma's / Reena's breasts. Nabiki seemed to be lost in thought. Kasumi, however, seemed to be, as always, totally unaffected by this strange turn of events.

“Well Reena. I thought I heard you say something about dresses earlier. I'm sure I can find you some spare clothes in your size.”

“Really?!” Reena's eyes lit up. “That would be great!” Reena followed Kasumi out of the bedroom. Every one else except Nabiki just continued to stand rigid, staring into space. Nabiki raised her eyebrows and scratched her chin in thought.

“Hmmm…This could be interesting” she murmured to herself and pursued Reena and Kasumi down the hall.

*As you will discover the man is not being entirely truthful. There is something that he is not revealing which may be explored later in the fic. This meeting ocurred long before Cologne became the Matriarch.

Author's Note: The first chapter of my first big, non-lemon fanfic complete! Phew! The next chapter will explain more about what's going on. I would like to make clear at this early stage that Reena's character will not be a female version of Ranma. I intend to make her substancially different in her attitude to life, her dress sense, her opinions etc. although there will be similarities to Ranma since his mind is the base that hers has appeared from. For all you Ranma loving/sympathizing readers - don't worry. Ranma has not disappeared. It's just that when he becomes a girl Reena's mind takes over. It reverses when she changes into a guy. This will be examined in the next chapter. Bear with this if you're here because it said hentai in the description. The lemons will appear fairly frequently but not for a few chapters because I have to build on Reena's character and how she relates to everyone else. Please review!