Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Beautiful Girl ❯ Part 1: Choices ( Chapter 1 )

Beautiful Girl

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Saberwulfe

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Part 1: The choice I

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Akane looked out over the naked trees. They were beautifuly contrasted by the crimson of the setting sun and the gold of the falling leaves. From her vantage point upon the Tendo family dojo, she could see the natural beauty of Nerima, as fall slowly set in.

The youngest Tendo daughter, in spite of the sweatshirt and sweatpants, shivered.

"He'll be coming back soon." The voice of Nabiki stated quietly beneath her. Akane continued to gaze out at the street in front of the dojo,

"I know."

There was the sound of rushing wind as Nabiki bounded up onto the rooftop. The middle Tendo daughter had begun training in the Art, and found that she was almost as good in it as she was when she dealt with cash-though she wasn't over obessed over it like her sister or-Ranma.

Her mind drifted back to exactly one year before this day, the day that everything changed.

-[FLASHBACK]-

A teenage boy with black hair and red and black chinese clothing, sat on the steps to the Tendo family dojo. He was holding his head in his hands, as he listened to the insanity behind him. He had originaly tried to observe the beautiful colors of fall before him, but to not avail.

"Sorry hun, but Ranma is mine." A girl with black hair stated rather firmly before swinging a bakers' peel.

"OH HO HO HO HO HO! He does not love you! It is because of that evil, red-haired hussy! She is the one that has blinded him to the truth, he cannot see that he is truly in love with me." The lions share of the insanity seemed to be radiating off of the leotard clad loony who was waving her steel-edged ribbon around.

"Shampoo no think so! Ranma love Shampoo! Is Airen, bound by Amazon law!" The deceptively strong, blue haired Amazon brought her longsword up in order to block the ribbon.

"Ranma you baka! Stop them before they ruin the dojo!" A black haired girl in front of him demanded.

Ranma didn't move a muscle, but he seemed to be muttering something.

"...Ranma?" She stopped, and her anger backed off a moment, she strained her hearing, and finaly heard what the martial artist kept whispering over, and over.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up..." He sounded so desperate, he was almost on the verge of tears.

"He's mine!"

"I think not!, Darling Ranma is mine!"

"No! Is Shampoo's!"

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!" The combatants jumped in surprise, and even Akane was shocked at his sudden outburst. Normaly, he was very calm and collected, so this was quite out of character for him.

"I've had it with your constant bickering!" He stood up and whirled around, his gaze was that of tortured anguish, and extreme anger.

"You are going to settle this damn fiancee thing right now!" He paused and took several deep breaths as he struggled to get his anger under control. He finaly opened his eyes and spoke.

"I don't give a damn how you do it. But you are going to settle this stupid thing for once and for all!," He looked over his shoulder, "That goes for you too Akane." Before the youngest daughter could react, Ranma simply looked back at the three stunned girls before him.

"Draw straws, fight, race, I don't care! But you have exactly one hour to decide." Ranma turned back and started walking towards the house when Kodachi called back after him.

"But Ranma dear. What if we can't decide?"

Ranma paused,

"One hour. I will return in one hour." Then he continued to walk towards the house. Akane noticed that he paused at the door while he inspected the angel that Kasumi had put up, before continuing into the house, and out of sight.

The four girls stood silent for a moment, until someone spoke.
"Well, guess we should fight to decide." It was Ukyo who suggested this, but the next observation surprised everyone.

"I highly doubt that such a course of action would be wise." They looked at Kodachi and waited for her to continue,

"Because Ranma darling wants to marry a LIVE fiancee. Not one who is dying."Akane felt anger boil up inside of her.

"What makes you think that any of us would be dying?" She demanded. The black rose shrugged,

"Well, I cannot speak for you, but if we did fight, I would be going all out." A look of dawning washed over Shampoo,

"Shampoo understand. If we go all out, very good chance that we all get hurt, possibly killed."

Kodachi nodded,

"Indeed. As I said, Ranma wants to marry a living fiancee, and I'm not going to take my chances in a no holds barred, free-for-all."

Akane could hardly believe her ears, for once in her life, Kodachi Kuno was actualy making sense.

"Why not? Scared?" Akane could barely believe that she had just said that! What an awful time for her darker side to kick in! But the answer she got was not what she was expecting.

"Wuh....well yes, I am. I am terrified of going up against everyone at once. I'm afraid that I may die," Kodachi admitted, before continuing.

"But enough about that. We must find an alternative route at deciding who is truly fit to marry Ranma."

The allotted time seemed to fly by at an incredible speed. Kodachi suggested drawing straws, but no-one liked that idea. They wanted a test of skill, not chance. Ukyou suggested a race, but since she was a ninja, the young okonomiyaki chef had an unfair advantage. Shampoo suggested a game of shogi, or chess, but those two options would take far too long. Akane didn't say anything.

"You still can't decide, can you?" The voice of the young martial artist asked from behind. The four would-be fiancee's stopped arguing, a feeling of dread washing over them all. Then they slowly turned around. There stood Ranma, he shook his head and chuckled.
"I figured this might happen." His voice was full of sadness, like a child whos' favorite toy had been broken and there was no possible way for it to be fixed.

Akane, Ukyo, Kodachi and Shampoo all found themselves in an unwitting staring contest with the teen that they each claimed to love. It was Akane though, who broke the silence.

"So, now what?"

All the fiancee's held their breath, as did the Tendo's and the lone Saotome who stood watching from the house with some kind of morbid interest. Ranma sighed.
"Now I leave. I am going to go on a one-year training mission, Then I'll return," He turned and looked away.

"And then..." Ranma shook his head sadly.

"And then...I will return, and I will ask you a question. A very important question." With that, he leapt up onto the roof of the Tendo hall, picked up a travelling bag, and leapt away.

-[END OF FLASHBACK]-

The four fiancee's hadn't spoken to eachother in a while,

(Big surprise) Nabiki thought, but each had never stopped thinking about that day. Because they each had been too self-centered to see what was really in front of them, everyone in Nerima had lost Ranma's companionship for a whole year. And if they screwed up again, who knows what would happen.

"What do you think he meant?" Akane asked in a quiet voice.

"To be honest little sister, I don't know" Nabiki sighed, then she leapt off of the roof. She had several kata's, as well as some paperwork she wanted to get done before supper. She also figured that Akane would want to be left alone.

"Ranma no baka." Akane whispered as she fought off tears. She longed to be able to say something else, but she had attacked Ranma both physicaly, and verbaly so many times that she couldn't remember being able to say anything else.
"Ranma n-no baka." She burried her head in her arms, then wept."

BEEEEEEEEEP! Nabiki swiftly sat up, grabbed her alarm clock, then hurled towards her door.

"OWWWWWW!!!!!!!!" Naabiki blinked in confusion when she heard the yelp of pain. She looked up from where she was about to surrender back to the wonders of dreamworld, and saw the upper half of Ryoga appear through the doorway. He was rubbing his head with one hand, and holding the alarm clock with the other.

"Oops, sorry Ryoga, didn't see you there."

The lost boy had taken up residence at in the Tendo household, he was using Happosai's old room. He had been offered a room by Akane (After she had cooled down about the whole P-chan thing), and Ryoga gladly accepted. That Christmas, Nabiki had given him a pocket-sized, waterproof global locater, which made Ryoga's life a LOT easier. He now attended Furinken High with the Tendo sisters.

"Well, that's okay. But it is time to get up, it's Friday after all."

Nabiki groaned out an uncomplimentary comment to God about that piece of information.

(And here I thought that I would get to sleep in. Ah well, C'est la vie, that's life.) Nabiki grumbled something inaudible before getting up and stretching. Ryoga had tossed her alarm clock onto her bed and headed downstairs for some breakfast.

The middle tendo daughter then stripped out of her pajama's, had a quick shower then got on her own version of a school 'uniform'. It consisted of a blue and white sailor's uniform and competition style gaunlets. (She didn't use the metal versions, just leather.) The leather gaunlets were one of the only things that gave her an edge during battle, they absorbed most of the blows, then allowed her to deal a considerable amount of damage herself. Nabiki then raced downstairs.
"Hi Oneechan," She cried quickly to Kasumi as she grabbed a bowl of breakfast, then wolfed it down at a speed that made even Genma looked civilized.

"Gotta go." She bolted out of the dojo, with Akane and Ryoga in tow. Leaving Genma Saotome, Soun and Kasumi Tendo to try and figure out what just happened.

Akane was running full tilt along the top of the fence, behind her was Nabiki and Ryoga. Then they heard a puffing beside them-It was Tatewaki Kuno. Ever since Nabiki gave him a well deserved talking too, he had finaly been able to pull himself out of the world that he had been living in, and into reality. He had also laid his 'samurai' act to rest, though it seemed to surface every know and again, where it promptly was pummeled back into hiding by a barrage of jokes.

"Morning Kuno." Nabiki said as he pulled up beside them.

"Greeting oh fair Tendo Nabiki. I am honored that thou hath graced me with thine presence. Why, the very Gods would rejoice at the sight of thee on such a fine day."

Nabiki smirked.

"Well, they wouldn't be rejoicing after the cursing I gave 'em after I realized that I might be late."

Kuno chuckled and shook his head in sympathy.

"That bad huh?" He asked as he dropped the 'Honorable Samurai' act.

"Well, I guess it could be worse." Nabiki looked confused at this statement, but understood when he motioned towards Akane.

She hadn't been quite the same since Ranma left, in fact none of his fiancee's had. Akane acted as if nothing was wrong, but she cried herself to sleep every night. Ukyo had also tried to get on with her life, but without Ranma dropping in every now and again, Nerima just seemed empty, Kodachi had been yanked out of her dream world as well. It was a rude wake-up call, but a very necessary one. Someone might say that Ranma leaving was the best thing that could've happened to her-in some strange way. But Shampoo had taken it almost as bad as Akane, she always went up onto the Nekohanten right after it closed, and early in the morning.

Finaly, it was, of all people, Tatewaki who finaly snapped them out of their deep-blue funk.

"Damnitt Akane!," He suddenly shouted, almost causing her to fall off of the fence, "Ranma isn't dead, he's just gone! He'll be back soon."

They rounded a corner, where the three martial artists joined their companion on the ground for the final stretch.

"I know, it just...scares me that he won't be the same when he comes home." Ryoga looked up, then groaned in annoyance. There they were. The infamous hentai brigade of Furinken high, in spite of the fact that Tatewaki had called them off, they still charged the four friends every morning. Nabiki grinned at her friends,

"Well, you ready for your morning workout?"

Kasumi was humming a tune as Genma and Soun played Shogi in the living room. The eldest Tendo daughter looked out from her kitchen and in time to see Genma gather a small amount of ki, then throw it at a piece. It wasn't enough to blow the board to smithereens, but it was enough to shift one of the pieces to a more favorible position. As usual, Soun either didn't see, or was annoyed that he didn't think of it first. But either way, he didn't say anything. Genma was looking pleased with himself, that is until Soun made a move that countered.

Kasumi sighed, it figures, they were always trying to think of imaginative ways to cheat. Then there was a knock at the doorframe which caused the Kasumi to jump in surprise, her big brown eyes displaying at first shock, then joy.

"Ranma? Is that you?" Upon saying this, the two elders looked up from their game, and got up, but not before Soun snatched a playing piece.

"R-R-Ranma?" Genma sputtered in joy. He stopped, there he was. His son, but he didn't look how he remembered.

"Ranma? Has something changed?" Genma was genuinely concerned.

Ranma had indeed changed, his hair was much longer, hanging down a little past his shoulders in an unruly, tangled mess. His eyes were glazed slightly, and he was thinner, (Probably from a lack of a healthy diet, or from very little diet anyway.) Kasumi thought.

"Uh...Yeah...Father." Instantly everyone present knew that something was wrong. Ranma never, ever, EVER called the elder Saotome 'Father'. It was usualy, 'old man', 'pop' and even on occasion, 'Jackass'.

"Okay Ranma, what's going on?" Soun tried to sound in control, but failed miserably.

Ranma shook his head,

"I think we should sit down, before I tell you." He replied weakly, it was obvious that his lack of nutrition was getting to him.

"Okay," Kasumi spoke rather firmly, "But first, you are going to have something to eat." Ranma nodded gratefuly.

After Ranma finished speaking, he was glad that they were sitting down, or else Soun would've fallen down. Genma on the other hand, was uncharacteristically calm.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" The elder Saotome broke the defeaning silence.

Ranma looked surprised, while Soun looked mortified.

"Yes Father, I'm sure that I want to do this. It would be the best thing for everyone."

"SAOTOME! DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU ARE ACTUALY GOING TO LET HIM DO THIS?!?" He wailed.

"Father, shut up." Kasumi spoke in her usual pleasant demeanor.

Soun attempt to sputter something, but a sharp look from his daughter was daring him to even try it.

"Yes Soun, I am. I have screwed up Ranma's life enough. If he really wants to do this, then I would like to be there to help him every step of the way," He faced his son before continuing, "That is, if you'll let me."

Ranma felt tears coming to his eyes, then he threw his arms around his Father.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He whispered.

Genma was a little shocked at the sudden show of emotion, but then hugged his son back.

"Thankyou."

(Thankyou God for giving me a second chance. I swear I'll do anything to make my child happy, cause I'll be damned if I'm gonna screw up again!) Genma swore to himself.

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Part 2: The choice II

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Kodachi Kuno opened her eyes from her nap before calling out for her servant.

"Umm....Sasuke?" In a blink of an eye the little ninja was front and center.

"Yes mistress?" He inquired. She fixed him with a dissaproving look.

"What have I said about calling me 'Mistress'?"

Sasuke looked a little embarassed,

"Sorry mis," He looked at her again before quickly correcting himself, "Miss Kuno."

He smiled when he heard her laugh, not a psychotic cackle, but a genuine laugh of amusement.

"Oh Sasuke, you still crack me up." She giggled before continuing, "Anyways, will you fetch the mail for me?"

Sasuke nodded eagerly,

"Of course Miss Kuno." Then he walked out the door, making sure to close it behind himself. Ever since young master Ranma had disappeared, both Kuno's seemed to receive a mental wake-up call. They actualy began acting normaly! This was one heck of a surprise, a pleasant surprise, but a surprise none the less. Sasuke actualy found himself enjoying his work, for once in his life, he was actualy was enjoying working for the Kuno's.

Sasuke gathered up the mail then dashed back to Kodachi's bedroom. He knocked on her door and waited for her permission to enter.

"Come in." Sasuke quickly opened the door, and his jaw hit sea-level. Kodachi was standing there, clad in a light blue dress, and without a drop of black makeup on! It was then that Sasuke realized that Kodachi was beautiful, no not beautiful, gorgeous!

Kodachi realized why he was staring, and blushed.

"It's quite a change, isn't it?"

Sasuke nodded, then quickly collected himself, and the mail, and handed it to her.

"Here you go Miss Kuno." Kodachi accepted the mail, then quickly seperated it into two piles, then stopped when she reached a letter.

Sasuke noticed her hands, as well as her chin were quivering.

"Miss Kuno? Are you alright?" Kodachi swallowed, then managed a fake smile at her faithful servant.

"Yes Sasuke. I'm fine." Sasuke gave her a worried look, then shrugged.

"Okay Miss Kuno, I'll be in the kitchen."

Kodachi nodded,

"Alright, I'll call if I need your assistance."

After he had left, Kodachi looked back at the letter, it was from the Tendo dojo. She swallowed, then opened it. It read:

Dear Kodachi Kuno,

I would like you to come to the Tendo family dojo this evening. Please do not bring any weapons of any sort. As well, Shampoo, Cologne, Ukyo and Akane will be there.

Sincerely

Ranma Saotome

Kodachi swallowed, she knew this day was going to come, sooner or later. But she still wasn't prepared for it. And she knew the question that he was going to ask.

"Sasuke?" She called, a few seconds later he appeared.

"Yes Miss Kuno?" He asked. He saw her falter for a moment, but then she came back, her eyes showed determination that forced her fear to the farthest corners of her mind.

"Could you please get the car ready? I need to go correct a dreadful error that I made a long time ago."

Meanwhile, across Nerima, two other girls received similar letters, and cried. They weren't sure if their tears were ones of sadness and guilt, or happiness and joy. But they did know that they would show up at the dojo, and this time they would be ready to answer Ranma. Not answers tainted by their own selfish desires, but truthful answers.

"Hello! We're home!" Nabiki yelled as she walked in with Akane close behind. Both girls stopped dead when they entered the dining room.

"Hello Nabiki. Hello Akane." Ranma stood up and bowed to the two girls. He was milldly surprised at seeing Nabiki clad like a martial artist, but his attention was focused more on Akane.

Anger, sadness, guilt resided in her eyes, but he could also see hints of hope and relief.

"R-Ranma." Akane managed. How long had she imagined this moment? How much time had she wasted imagining what she would do when she finaly met him. Originaly she planned to beat him into the floorboards, but she found herself hesitating-no, stopping altogether.

"I've missed you all quite a bit, especially you." Akane thought she was going to faint. Had he just said that?

"I..I missed you too Ranma." The two looked at eachother for the longest time, then Ranma spoke.

"I will be asking my question tonight. You don't have to worry about me walking away if I don't like your answers though, I'm not going anywere. But I hope that you will answer honestly." She finaly managed a nod.and joined the rest of her family at supper.

The Saotome's, Hibiki and Tendo's, minus Kasumi, who was directing their guests were to go, were all sitting in the dojo. Finaly, the last fiancee, Shampoo with Cologne following via pogo, made her way into the dojo. Ranma took a deep breath, this wasn't going to be easy, but it had to be done. He turned to face his fiancee's, they all had the same fear riding through them. No-one except the three who had been present during Ranma's initial decleration, had no idea what was going on. Ryoga finaly broke the ice with a little humour.

"I see, so your going to decide to who to marry by having a staring contest. Very innovative Ranma."

This brought a nervous chuckle from the group, it had helped loosen some of the tension.

"No Ryoga, good idea though," Ranma smiled at the fiancee's but he wasn't fooling anyone. Fear was residing in his eyes,

"I asked you all here because I want to know something incredibly importent before I reveal my plan."

Ranma swallowed then steeled himself.

(Enough stalling Saotome! Be a man! At least, while you still can...)

"I need to know, do you love me? As in romantically?"

Ukyo Kuonji let her breath out, there. He had said it, she was privately cheering him on because she knew what he had just did was not easy at all. Now it was her turn.

"Ranma, I do love you. But I love you as a friend, as Ucchan, but as a lover," She swallowed, the words were going to sting herself more than him, but she had to say it.

"No. I don't love you as a possible husband."

Shampoo nodded, Ukyo had shown that she was very brave. The young Amazon dared a look at her great-grandmother. The ancient matriarch nodded, her eyes full of compassion.
"Ranma, Shampoo can only think of you as friend. Not as Airen." Shampoo didn't see Cologne give her a small smile, the girl was doing the right thing-for once.

"I...I sorry."

Now it was Kodachi's turn. Ukyo shot her an annoyed look. (I suppose I deserve that though, I haven't really given them much of a reason to trust me. But this could be a start...)

"At first I thought I loved you...but," She swallowed, this was the hardest thing she'd ever done, "But I don't. I only lusted for you. But I do hope that we can be friends." She gave them a hopeful smile, to which Ranma only nodded in a noncommital way.

(I guess it's my turn.) Akane decided that it would only be fair if she go last. After all, she probably did the most damage and would take longer.

"Well Ranma, needless to say, we've had a rocky relationship. I know that we've treated each other pretty bad, and I was probably the start of it. I...I really do love you Ranma, I honestly love you. But...but I know that I'm far to late for that. But if you could love me as a brother, or a sister, then I would be honored."

Ranma could feel the tears once again coming to his eyes, he struggled mightily

against them. He'd gone too far to turn back, so it was now or never.

"T-thank-you all. Especially you, Akane. Y-your right, I don't think that I could marry

you, and truly be happy." He wiped a tear from his eye.

"I guess I should reveal my plan now. I...I," he gave a bitter laugh, "Oh God this is hard."

"Take slowly, one word at time." Shampoo tried to sooth her friend. Ranma nodded

gratefully before continuing.

"I'm, I'm going to become a girl...for the rest of my life." The whole group was silent, it

was becoming painfully obvious why he had asked if they loved him romantically in the

first place. He wanted to make sure that he had people he could count on when he did

make the big switch.

"Your probably wondering why, and the answer is because I'm sick of ending up in no-win situations. I'm sick of waking up every morning and wondering if I'm going to meet

another fiancee, or worrying that one of you is dead, or is going to die because of me. I-I

don't want any of you to die, I don't care what you have done! I hold you all in high

esteem and I couldn't choose who I was going to marry because I didn't want to hurt any

of you."

Kodachi felt her heart jump into her throat, (He thinks of me as a friend, in spite

of the fact that I've hurt him so much.)

Shampoo was also feeling awful, (Oh Ranma, I don't deserve this. I don't deserve your

friendship, I don't even deserve to be your enemy. I don't deserve to be related to you in

any way at all)

Ranma seemed to read their thoughts,

"I don't care what you've done, you all did it with the best of intentions in mind. So I

figure that if 'Ranma Saotome' disappears, then no-one will be hurt. I thought of many

other solutions, but this one had the least drawbacks, "

(Unless you count Ranma sacrificing himself to keep us from killing each other.) Akane

thought miserably,

Cologne on the other hand was shaking her head miserably. (When did this get out of hand? At what point did it stop being some stupid game?)

"At least this way...this way I will be able to keep those I count among friends, as my

friends, and not fiancee's or corpses," Then a twisted, sort of amusing thought came to

mind.

"I guess...I guess you'll all still be my girlfriends." The joke didn't have the desired

results. Ukyo had turned pale, Shampoo tried to hide her shock, not that he blamed her

though. Akane wasn't even trying to hide her guilt and Kodachi was slumped over.

"Be-before you do this...Ranchan, I would like to apologize. I think I speak for us

all when I say 'I'm sorry'. Though I know that mere words cannot convey our guilt or our

sorrow for making your life a living hell, it is a start."

The others nodded, then Ryoga spoke up, his voice was surprisingly calm.

"I too have to apologize. I blamed you for everything wrong in my life, but...but I know

now that it wasn't your fault. I only wish that it didn't have to come to this for me to realize it. I-I'm also to blame for forcing you into this decision. But for what it's worth, I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry."

"I guess, I didn't help either, eh Ranma?," Nabiki stated rather sullenly, "I took

advantage of you at every turn. I too am sorry, for I am as guilty as the rest."

"I guess we're all to blame," This time Kasumi had spoken up, "I mean, I could have been

more supportive, instead of just ignoring what was going on around me. Daddy could

have tried and helped you solve your problems, instead of just wallowing in self pity."

"And I could've been the man that I kept trying to force you to be. So, I'll come

out and say it." Genma Saotome stood up, then spoke, his voice full of sad confidence.

"I am responsible for this mess. Not Soun, not Akane, not Shampoo or Cologne, not

Ukyo, not Ryoga, not Kasumi, not Nabiki, not Kodachi, and certainly not Ranma, me. I am to blame,

I should be the one doing this, not Ranma. But it's a case of too little, too late. If it were anyone else, they would've kicked me out of their life, or maybe even killed me. But not you, you stayed with me, in spite of what I've done. I-I'm honored that you still want me to be your father." Then

the elder Saotome, sat back down, and cried. He cried because he realized that he had killed his son, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

(I'll face Nodoka alone, I may not be able to pay for what I did now, but when she shows

up next, then I'll tell her everything.) Genma thought in grim determination.

Ranma waited for any other confessions of guilt,

there was none.

Ranma reached into his pocket, then pulled out a small, clear glass vial. A clear

liquid was inside,

"This is water from the spring of drowned girl," as he named the spring his voice

changed so that it mimicked a certain bald tour guide. He chuckled bitterly, who would've thought that he would willingly destroy his male form? But stranger things have happened, maybe...

"If I drink this, it'll...it'll...erase my male form." He was beginning to doubt his own

reasoning, he knew it would work but did he really want to do this?

But his second thoughts were suddenly forced away by the images of his four fiancee's

attacking one another. In spite of the fact that they claimed that they did not love him,

that did not mean that anyone else that might show up wouldn't make claims to the same

undying affections. Ranma looked up at the people who had become his friends,

"Goodbye." He whispered then he popped off the stopper of the vial and swallowed the

contents.

Nothing happened at first, then Ranma let out a tortured moan of pain, this wasn't

like his usual transformations. This time, there was no unpleasant tingling, but there was

unspeakable agony. Ranma felt himself yanked into a dimension of pain that he didn't

even knew existed, he could feel his very soul being torn at, his memories, oh God his

memories were being pulled from him! Ranma felt helpless as the experiences of the last

two years were pulled away from him, he was infinitely grateful when he finally

collapsed to the ground, darkness over taking him.

The change was almost complete, Ranma's friends watched in horrified silence as Ranma twisted and thrashed on the ground. Splotches appeared on his body, and slowly engulfed him, changing Ranma into his female form for the last time. Finally Ranma stopped

thrashing and groaning, she just lay there, her chest rising and falling.

"We just killed Ranma Saotome," Soun said to all present, "May God forgive us, because I know I will never be able to." Then with that, they picked Ranma up, and carried her to her room.

"We'll have to come up with a new name for her, since Ranma Saotome is no more." Kasumi said to no-one imparticular. The group set the red-head down on her futon, then covered her with a blanket. She looked like a little angel, so beautiful and calm.

"Ranko, let's call her Ranko." Genma suggested, but if anything happens to me, then please take her in. I don't want her to have to face the wrath of my wife, that's a cross I'll have to bear all on my own."

Soun didn't have any objections, and no-one else did either.

The sad group of martial artists soon left, except for the Hibiki, Tendos and Saotomes, of course.

"I don't suppose we'll be getting much sleep tonight." Nabiki commented as she watched the martial artists walk into the night.

"Why's that Nabiki?" Kasumi inquired, the middle daughter shrugged.

"Well, there are people to phone, and things to arrange. After all, it won't be Ranma Saotome that will be attending school, whenever she wakes up, it'll be Ranko Saotome." Akane nodded, it was going to be a long night indeed.

END OF PART 1