Ranma ½ Red, Violet and Black

Chapter 6

It was early morning in Nerima. The sun was just beginning to rise and everything was quiet. Even at the Tendo Dojo everything was calm and peaceful. In the guestroom Ranma Saotome, heir turned heiress of the Saotome clan, was still sleeping soundly. At least until her father Gnema grabbed her by the shirt and yelled loudly: "All right boy, time for your training. Wake up!"

The redhead did just that and was about to give her father a piece of her mind, only to suddenly feel herself sent flying as Genma unceremoniously tossed her out the window. With a startled yelp and a loud splash, the Saotome girl landed in the Koi Pond. Furiously she reemerged from the water and shouted at her father, who by now had landed on the lawn close to the pond: "What the hell was that for pops?"

"I figured that would wake your lazy ass up Ranma. Plus, throwing you in that pond never gets old." Retorted Genma with a smug smile.

Growling in annoyance Ranma shot back: "How does it not get old? I mean, it doesn't even do anything anymore since I'm a girl all the time now."

Her father nodded sagely and answered: "I too feared that that would make it less entertaining. However, I am glad to say that even without you turning from boy to girl, throwing you into the pond has lost almost nothing of its comedic value." With a cry of rage Ranma launched herself at the elder Saotome and an intense sparring session broke out between the two martial artists.

From her window Akane, who had been woken by the clamor, rolled her eyes at the spectacle. "Ugh, some things apparently never change."

...

Sometime later Ranma and Akane were walking their usual way to school. Kasumi had originally protested that Ranma go to school already, however Genma had insisted that his son turned daughter shouldn't hide like some coward. And the young Saotome naturally took this as a challenge and insisted on going as a result. Not that the reluctant Saotome girl was especially looking forward to school, but it was probably preferable to go there instead of hanging around her father and hearing him nag about what a cowardly disgrace she was. Which, coming from a man, whose various secret techniques often included running away or submissively begging for mercy, was quite rich.

Nonetheless Ranma was now gloomily walking on top of the fence while Akane was walking on the sidewalk as usual. To be fair though, Ranma did feel better about herself again today. Mostly because the morning had been spent in a way that was (for Tendo household standards) completely normal and that normality had restored some of her severely damaged self-esteem. After a few minutes of awkward silence, the youngest Tendo hesitantly spoke up: "So Ranma, what exactly are we going to tell everyone at school? About why you are... uhm... attending as girl now?"

That visibly darkened the redhead's mood again and she dejectedly sighed: "I have no idea. No way am I going to share the real details. All those gossiping jerks will probably get them eventually anyways from Nabiki. But at least then I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that one of them had to pay her exorbitant prices."

Akane realized that maybe bringing that up wasn't the best way to start a conversation and retorted: "Alright. I guess we can just say that you are stuck as girl again without giving any details whatsoever."

"Sounds good enough for now." Confirmed her former fiancée with an unenthusiastic shrug.

"Maybe I can convince Nabiki to not go and spread the whole story around all of Nerima either." Akane further tried to be helpful: "I mean I wouldn't want it to be public knowledge if anything like that happened to me."

Ranma shot the blue haired teen a grateful look and glumly answered: "Thanks Akane, honestly. But I'm not holding my breath here. If something can be used to make money Nabiki will use it to make money. And me falling for some obvious drugging attempt like a complete idiot and being permanently locked as girl as a result is too good a story for your sister to not make people pay to hear it."