Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The dragon amongst wolves ❯ An answer to a question ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 9   An Answer to a question   AN (can any one pickup on what BDQ was thinking about when she helped rewrite this chapter?)  

Continuing the Continuation of the Continuing Flash Back that Continues to Continue now Continues to Continue (…please…)

It took Kai and three more burly orderlies to manage to manhandle Hajime into Dr. Ikari’s office, poor Umi who had finally returned from the horrors of the cafeteria line was suddenly sent back down again, this time for a bottle of water for the unconscious man.

“Honestly,” Kai muttered as he started lightly slapping Hajime’s cheek. “Sometimes I wonder if I retired as head of the clan too early.”

Umi soon returned and thanking the girl, Kai to a quick swig of the water before dumping it right over Hajime’s head.

“What- What the hell?” Hajime jumped up, sputtering water as he whipped the liquid from his eyes.

Kai raised an eyebrow. “Are we awake?” he asked handing Umi the now empty bottle and sending her for another.

Hajime simply looked down at himself. “Well, we’re defiantly wet.”

“Ah, good,” Kai smiled. “So you’re not delusional.”

Hajime sighed as he slumped into his chair. “That I’m not so sure about. I could have sworn that Dr. Ikari said that Ranma is now-”

“A hermaphrodite?” Kai interrupted. “You’re no more delusional that normal.

Hajime jerked upright at Kai’s confirmation. “So she did say that?” he asked incredulously.

Kai nodded again and Hajime once more slumped into his seat.

Well, I feel like I’ve been sucked into a crazy parallel dimension,” Hajime confessed and Kai shot him a concerned look.

Kai shook his head. “Really too early,” he muttered.

It was ten minutes later that Dr. Ikari finally entered the office and marched strait to her leather high back chair behind her desk. “Alright old man,” she growled. “I want some answers and I want them right now!”

Kai nodded in agreement and settled himself more comfortably in his chair. The other occupants of the room held their breath as they waited for the answers they just knew he could provide.

“When I was young” Kai began, “my grandfather talked about a place in China. The place was called the pools of sorrow. Each pool holds a curse. Those that went to the cursed training grounds and fought generally ended tragically.”

“Great,” Dr. Ikari muttered under her breath. “Magical mumbo jumbo.”

Hajime, however was enthralled by the story and had wandered over to where Ranma lay. “You’re saying that Ranma went to these ‘pools of sorrow’?” he asked.

Kai nodded somberly. “It is a famous training ground for martial artists.”

“What does that have to do with the price of bread?” Dr. Ikari snapped. Kai glared at her momentarily and Dr. Ikari settled somewhat.

 “Oh,” Hajime nodded in understanding. If it were a famous traning ground then there was no doubt that Ranma’s insane  father had probably dragger her there when they were in China.

“Each pool,” Kai continued, “holds the form of the creature that first drowned there. Anyone else there after who fell into the pools were cursed with the form of what ever had drown in the pool they fell in.” Kai explained. “Those unfortunate enough to fall into the pools are usually taken to the Amazon tribe that lives nearby. If the cursed one is male they are generally provoked into fighting one of the maidens, if they knock her out they are then considered her husband. These men have no rights and are second class citizens no matter how good a fighter they are. If the cursed one was female they are generally killed after they fight one of the Amazon’s. We shall have tread lightly for a little while. If Ranma is cursed like I think he is than an Amazon is sure to be following him. They are not know for there generosity and are quite hard to get rid of.” Kai said.

Hajime nodded. “Shirou had said that Ranma and her father are wanted in connection to some broken Amazon law in China and that there was a family of Chinese Amazons currently running a restaurant where Ranma was frequently seen. Apparently the granddaughter is listed as one of Ranma-kun’s fiancée’s.”

“Well, that proves it,” Kai said with conviction. “Ranma must be one of the poor martial artist who are trapped by the curse.”

“Is there a cure?” Hajime asked hopefully.

Kai shrugged. “At the time I was told the story, no one knew of a cure. It is possible that there has been one discovered since his time but I highly doubt it. As far as my grandfather knew, the curses have no cure and are in fact intermixable of one another.”

“So you mean if you fell into two different pools that you would be a combination of the pools that you fell into?” Hajime asked the elder.

“Yes, young one.” Kai answered. “I would have to guess that poor Ranma here fell into a pool where a young girl drowned. I am unsure if she can switch between the two forms now.”

Hajime’s jaw dropped in shock as he looked down at the still figure when a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Wait, does this mean that the male Ranma and the Female Ranma are one in the same?”

 “Based on your story and young Shirou’s report about young Ranma, I would have to say so,” Kai shrugged.

“Just how did the curse work?” Hajime asked.

“According to my grandfather, cold water activated the curse while hot water subdued it. However, judging from the way she looks now, I think I would have to guess that a mixture of both of Ranma's halves that was formed due to her injuries and the weaning of the drugs. They seem to have made Ranma’s original body and his cursed half to merge creating a merger of male and female. He glanced at the doctor who until this time had been sitting very still. “Well doctor? Am I correct in my assumption?”

Ikari scowled but nodded the affirmative. “Well, I can tell you right now that Ranma is a merger of both male and female on the outside. We’ll have to wait for the x-rays and the sonogram before I can tell you more however.”

The two nodded as Kai stared at the woman with a searching look on his face. “I must say that you’ve taken this explanation far better that I would suspect a person of science would have.”

Dr. Ikari sighed as her posture dropped out of the ridget position she had it in. “Well I must confess I did a bit of my own investigative work after speaking to Hajime-san and his friends.” She took a pen off her desk and started to fiddle with it. “I had a friend of mine find out about the East Nermia District and some of the stories he reported back to me just seemed too incredible to believe! If I did not know that Ranma had been located in Nermia I would definitely tell you that you are two screws loose of a full bolt but I have to say after hearing the rumors about Nermia I will have to give you the benefit of a doubt.”

Kai smiled. “Thank you, doctor for giving us the benefit of a doubt I know not many would. I fear that the merge may have caused more injuries to Ranma unfortunately.”

Dr. Ikari nodded, “that is my fear as well.” She reached for her phone and spoke to receving end briefly. “I got them to put a rush on the x-rays but the sonogram is coming.”

After a few silent moments where each was lost in their thoughts, there was a knock on the door and they all turned as a different doctor with x-rays in his hands and enter the room.

Thanking the man, Ikari moved towards the light machine on her wall and shoved the x-rays into the holder, opening the manila envelope and perusing the contents written within, once in a while glancing at the x-ray to confirm something.

“Well,” she finally said as she moved back to her desk. “I can definitely tell you now that Ranma is a complete merger between boy and girl.

Kai slumped slightly at that announcement. “This poses a problem,” he said.

Dr. Ikari and Hajime glanced at the man. “How so?” Hajime asked.

“If it were just a curse, then Ranma always had hope of finding a cure but now…”

“Now he is a fully functioning hermaphrodite with no curse to cure,” Dr. Ikari finished nodding gravely.

Hajime felt a deep surge of sorrow well within his chest for the girl… boy…

Dr. Ikari cleared her throat and continued reading from the charts. “It seems as if he has both sets of genitals and they are both full functional. Unfortunately when the merger happened it shifted the pins in Ranma’s legs and opened some internal wounds that we were already worried about and Ranma is being preparing for surgery again.”

She dropped the file onto her desk with a resounding thud. “Unfortunaltly the original pins are now too small for her,” Dr. Ikari blinked. “his? Hell, which is the real Ranma?”

“Ranma is probably a boy judging from the reports we have prior to his trip to China,” Kai explained.

“Well, whatever. They found a different set of pins to put in Ranma’s leg that’s a different form of synthetic that should give more and allow Ranma to heal faster. That’s all I can tell you for now.” She stood from her seat and nodded to the group. “I’m sorry gentlemen I have a surgery to perform if you excuse me.”

Hajime and Kai slumped back into their seats to once more wait for the report from Dr. Ikari, Kai finally opening his melon bread and offering some to Hajime who declined.

There was another knock at the door and Umi entered the room, immediately bombarded with the somber atmosphere. She blinked in surprise and glanced at the two leaders of her clan. Her voice was shaking with anxiety when she finally dared break the silence. “Did I miss something?”