Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ I'm the Mother and the Father? ❯ A Cover Story ( Chapter 5 )

I'm the Father and the Mother?

A Ranma Fanfic by Michael A. Ivins

 

Ranma and friends are owned by Rumiko Takahashi along with her publishers and Viz Video. I make no money off this so please don't sue me.

 

 

Recap of Chapter 4

Ranma told the family that she is pregnant. Akane got mad and was going to mallet Ranma. Nabiki and Nodoka stopped Akane. Any patience Ranma might have had with Akane was exhausted and, at her request, the engagement was changed to Nabiki. Genma criticized Ranma for being a whiney, weepy girl. Ranma pickd up her futon and stormed out of the room, saying she will sleep in the dojo.

 

Chapter 5

A Cover Story

 

When Ranma got the door shut behind her she noticed Nabiki was standing in the door of her room. She asked, “Ranma, are you Ok?”

 

“Sorry about that. I guess we weren't exactly quiet.”

 

“What's the matter?”

 

“Just Pop being a jerk.”

 

Nabiki blinked. “You mean… more than usual?”

 

Ranma gave a snort. “You could say that. I guess mom kicked him out of her bed, so he just naturally has to come and make my life more of a hell than it already is. He couldn't just sleep, he had to harass me.”

 

“Where are you taking that stuff?”

 

“I don't want to stay in the same room with Pop tonight. I'm going to sleep in the dojo.”

 

“You don't have to sleep in the dojo. I have plenty of room here.”

 

“You don't mind? Akane would mallet me for even suggesting it.”

 

“I'm not Akane. Come on, let's not stand here talking in the hall.”

 

Ranma entered the room and started to get her futon ready. Nabiki touched her arm and said quietly, “As you already know, the bed is big enough for two.”

 

Ranma raised one eyebrow and asked, “You are talking about sleeping, aren't you?”

 

“What? Afraid to share a bed with me? I don't bite.”

 

Ranma snickered.

 

“What's so funny?”

 

“'I don't bite.' If I remember from Sunday you do bite. Not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to feel and the way you did it felt good.”

 

Nabiki said with a mock pout, “Ok, I don't bite much!”

 

This was greeted with another laugh and Ranma started pointing various parts of her body. “As I remember it was here, here, here, back here, oh and definitely down here. That was the best.”

 

“But you bit me just as much and in all the same places.”

 

“I'd never done any of that stuff before. I was just imitating you.”

 

“Never? For someone who was learning as you went, you did really good.”

 

Ranma blushed and scratched at the base of her pigtail. “I kinda treated it like martial arts. I can usually learn a new technique from just seeing it (or feeling it in this case). And you know I can't do a new technique without trying to improve it.”

 

“Kami-sama! I am so glad you agreed to be engaged to me. Akane didn't deserve you. We're going to have so much fun!” For a few moments she seemed lost in contemplation of the possibilities.

 

Nabiki shook herself out of her reverie when Ranma touched her arm. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

 

Nabiki continued, “Getting back to your question, I'm just inviting you to sleep for tonight. As much as I'd like to do more, I think we're both too tired. Still…”

 

Ranma suddenly found herself enfolded in a tight yet gentle embrace and lips pressed against hers. She felt Nabiki's tongue pressing against her lips and opened her mouth and began to let her own tongue explore Nabiki's mouth. The kiss seemed to last forever. When it was finally over Ranma recalled hearing someone speak of a kiss that curled their toes. That is what Nabiki's kiss felt like.

 

Ranma asked, “That was nice, but what did I do to deserve it?”

 

Nabiki grinned, “Do I need a special reason to kiss my fiancé?”

 

Ranma giggled and said, “I guess not.”

 

Nabiki raised an eyebrow and asked, “Ranma, did you just… giggle?”

 

Ranma placed her fingers over her mouth for a moment. “I did, didn't I? That's so…” she trailed off.

 

“What?” asked the brown haired girl.

 

Ranma looked thoughtful. “I was going to say `unmanly.'”

 

She continued, “You know why I was hiding from my mom, right?”

 

Nabiki nodded. “The contract your dad had with your mom. He would bring you back `a man among men' or you and he would have to commit seppuku.”

 

“Yeah. I realize now why he was always so down on girls. He was always after me to be manly. That is the manly thing to do, this other was unmanly. I must always take pride in my manhood and be a man in all things. If I did something he thought was unmanly, then I was acting like a girl. That was one of his worst insults.”

 

Nabiki asked, “Where are you going with this?”

 

“Think about it. Part of why I act like a jerk, especially toward girls, is all that crap my pop taught me.”

 

The other nodded, “I'm following you so far.”

 

“Think about my situation now. I'm pregnant. I'm going to be giving birth to a kid. That's gotta be the most female thing any human being can do. Because of it I'm going to be stuck being a girl for most of a year.”

 

Again Nabiki nodded. “Ok, I get that too. But what's the point you're trying to make?”

 

“Ok, my mind and all of my training are telling me I'm a guy and I have to be manly. My body is telling me I'm a woman and all that goes with it. What it amounts to is my mind is saying `manly' and fighting with my body, which is saying `girly.' I think that may be part of what has been making me so crazy the last few days.”

 

Nabiki asked, “What are you going to do?”

 

“I think that for now and to keep from going completely crazy, I'm going to have to do what my body wants. If that means acting girly, then I'm not going to fight it. I just hope I can remember how to be manly after I get my male body back.”

 

“Not to be offensive, but you could stand to dial back on the manliness a little.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You said it yourself, you act like jerk sometimes. Part of that comes from all that `manliness' crap your dad drilled into you.”

 

“I guess I shouldn't use my Pop as an example of good behavior.”

 

“No, you shouldn't”

 

During this conversation they had been standing with their arms loosely around each other. They now moved to the bed and sat down. Ranma reached her arms around Nabiki and gave her a squeeze.

 

Nabiki quirked an eyebrow enquiringly. Ranma smiled and said, “I like hugging you.”

 

“Thank you. I like hugging you too (and kissing and other stuff.) Oh, before you fall asleep. You told Dr. Tofu you'd make an appointment to see my gynecologist. I figured that you'd forget with all the other stuff going on so I made the appointment. You need to go there tomorrow at 3:30.”

 

“I'll be there. And with that goes a little bit more of my masculinity.”

 

“You worry too much. I think you need this. They might be able to prescribe some medicine to help you be calmer, at least until your hormones settle down.”

 

“That brings us to another problem.”

 

“What problem?”

 

“What to tell them about the father. I can't tell them I'm the father and if I tell them my male side is my brother and he's the father, I'm likely to get arrested as soon I show my face as a guy.”

 

“Oh, I hadn't thought of that.”

 

“I think I have a story that might work as long as nobody looks at it too closely. I'll say that my dad had a brother who got married and had a kid. For this story I'll say they got killed shortly after the kid was born and he was adopted and raised by some other family. Last week my cousin showed up here looking to get acquainted with his birth family.”

 

Nabiki got a speculative expression. “I think I see it. Your cousin was a handsome guy who seduced you then ran off when your dad threatened him. It wasn't until after he left that you found out that you were pregnant. Was that what you had in mind?”

 

“Yeah. I was thinking he would be Saotome Shinji. (He took back his family name.) I'm hoping that would be close enough family to meet the requirements of the DNA test.”

 

“For it to work we'll need to have everybody go along with the story, especially your Mom and dad. I could say he made a pass at me too. Maybe we could make him out to be a real sleaze who made passes at every female in the house, including your mom.”

 

Ranma nodded enthusiastically. “That would work. Mom's pretty enough to get that kind of attention.”

 

“She should be, she looks like you.”

 

“Shouldn't that be I look like her? Thanks for the compliment anyway.”

 

“We can get everybody together to work out the details in the morning. Let's get some sleep.” She turned off the bedside lamp and lay down. Ranma snuggled up next to Nabiki and thought that sharing a bed to sleep in was actually kind of nice. She didn't have time for any further thoughts as she fell asleep almost immediately.

 

Ranma woke and felt her stomach give a lurch. She sat up and groaned.

 

This awakened Nabiki to asked in concern, “What's wrong?”

 

“I don't feel good. I think this is morning sickness.”

 

“You'd better get to the bathroom.” In a mock serious tone she warned, “If you throw-up in my bed, you'll have to find another place to sleep.”

 

As she came down the stairs she noticed Kasumi was already up. The eldest Tendo daughter saw Ranma's pained expression and pale skin and asked, “Are you alright?”

 

Ranma just said, “Morning sickness,” and continued on her way. Kasumi nodded with a sad expression on her face, then turned back to her breakfast preparations.

 

When she got to her destination, Ranma sat down. While she felt nauseous, she didn't feel that she was in imminent danger of losing the remains of last evening's dinner. Since she had to wait until she either emptied hers stomach or felt better she decided to try a meditation technique she had learned.

 

For some reason she couldn't understand it was very easy to enter the meditative state. This allowed her distance herself from the sensations of her body and she started to feel a little better. While meditating she found herself more aware of her chi than usual.

 

In the past she had been able to channel her chi to speed the healing of wounds. She wondered if that would work on morning sickness. She cast her senses around her body. The first thing she noticed was the small concentration of chi that she knew had to be Ranko. She examined the chi signature and then her own and found the common factor of gender. So that is what Cologne meant, the baby really was a girl.

 

Probing further into her own body she found places where the chi energy flow was unbalanced or… constricted. She focused her will on those places and restored balance and opened the constrictions. All of the chi flows seemed so much clearer to her than ever before. When she was done she examined everything and was pleased with the result. All of her chi flows seemed smooth, strong and healthy and the little bundle of chi that was her baby also seemed strong and healthy.

 

When Ranma turned her attention back to the world she was feeling great. Not only was her nausea gone, but she also felt calm and at peace. She also felt strong and completely energized. That meditation technique had never worked that well before. Maybe the pregnancy was helping her in unexpected ways.

 

As she walked back toward the stairs Kasumi looked out of the kitchen. She asked, “Are you feeling alright?”

 

“Yeah, I'm fine now. I used a meditation exercise that's supposed to channel chi for healing. It seemed to work unusually well for me today. Not only did I get rid of the morning sickness but I think I have the excess hormone problem licked too.”

 

The eldest Tendo daughter said, “Are you sure morning sickness is what you really had? I think it's pretty early in your pregnancy for that. It's wonderful that you cured yourself though. Maybe you could teach other women how to do that.”

 

Ranma looked doubtful. “I don't know, Kasumi. It's pretty advanced chi manipulation. If it's not done right the technique can do more harm than good.”

 

The tall girl seemed disappointed but asked, “Could you do that for someone else?”

 

“Maybe, but I've never tried. I'd hate to hurt someone through ignorance. Maybe I could ask Cologne. I'm sure she must know more about it than I do.”

 

That seemed to satisfy Kasumi.

 

Ranma went back to her room. Her father had left and she was able to change into her gi without any disturbance. She went out to the dojo and began the warmup for her regular daily exercises.

 

Before she could get very far into her routine, she was interrupted by Akane entering the dojo. The black haired girl was wearing her jogging clothes so Ranma assumed she had just come back from her usual morning run.

 

“Ranma, could we talk?” asked Akane.

 

The redhead eyed the other warily. “Sure, let's talk.”

 

“I heard you and Nabiki in the bathroom last night.”

 

At that Ranma backed up a step and cringed. A look of great sadness came to the black haired girl's face.

 

“You can relax, Ranma. I'm not going to hit you.”

 

Ranma didn't look convinced. She stood in a loosely ready stance so she could jump away at any moment in any direction.

 

Akane noted the stance and felt even more depressed. She's afraid of me. She said, “Maybe I started in the wrong place. I… I'm sorry Ranma.” Tears began to roll down her face.

 

“A… Akane?”

 

“I've treated you terribly. I wish I could say I didn't know what I was doing, but I'd be lying. When I hit you with the mallet I believed your behavior justified it. That doesn't excuse what I did.”

 

Akane continued, misery in her voice, “I believed I loved you. Now I'm just confused about what I was really feeling. You were right when you said I was treating you as if I hated you. I treated casual acquaintences better than I treated you. I'm going to try and get professional help.”

 

She was sobbing now and forcing words out between the sobs. “You probably… hate me now… I… don't know… if you could… find it… in your heart… to forgive me… I'll… understand… if you need… time.”

 

With that she turned and ran out of the dojo. A moment later Nabiki came running in. “I saw Akane run out of here. Are you alright, Ranma?”

 

The redhead sounded confused, “She didn't hurt me. She came to apologize. She wasn't making a lot of sense, but she did say she was going to try and get professional help.”

 

Nabiki sighed in relief. “She needs it. I'll start looking for a doctor to do an evaluation on her to see exactly what kind of treatment she needs.”

 

Ranma sounded miserable now as she said, “Akane thinks I hate her. I don't love her and I'm scared of her hurting Ranko by attacking me, but I don't hate her. She said she heard us in the bathroom last night but when I flinched away from her she didn't finish. I don't know if she's mad about it, sad or what. I think we'd better wait until she calms down before asking about it.”

 

“She heard us?”

 

“I don't think we did anything bad. We washed each other's backs, joked around and had a tickle fight. We didn't do anything to be ashamed of.”

 

Nabiki looked at Ranma's face carefully, searching for any lingering trace of the morning's nausea. “Are you feeling Ok?”

 

“Actually I'm feeling pretty good now. I used a special meditation technique that uses chi to promote healing. To be honest I feel better than I have since this whole pregnancy thing started.”

 

Her head suddenly snapped around and she looked at the door of the dojo. A purple haired head could be seen peeking in. “Airen?”

 

Ranma looked up at the ceiling of the dojo and muttered, “Do you hate me up there or am I just a toy to you?”

 

Although Ranma had spoken softly, Nabiki had heard. Just as softly the brown haired girl asked, “Uh, Ranma, who are you talking to?”

 

The redhead said, “I'm talking to Kami-sama. He just loves to mess up my life.”

 

Nabiki chuckled and answered, “It sure does look that way sometimes.”

 

Ranma put on her best fake smile and said, “Shampoo, come on it. (Please don't destroy the door.)” That last part was softly spoken.

 

Nabiki tried her best to hide her snicker.

 

The Amazon girl came in (without damaging the door) and walked up to Ranma. She looked puzzled as she looked Ranma over with an unnervingly close scrutiny. Finally she said, “Shampoo confused.”

 

Already annoyed by the examination, Ranma said in an irritated tone, “Look, Shampoo, I know you think the `Amazon barbarian' act makes you sound cute and it does make enemies underestimate how smart you really are. Still, I know you're smarter than you pretend to be. I'm sure you can speak better Japanese than this.”

 

The purple haired girl first looked surprised then looked down at the floor for a moment. Finally she looked up again. “Will you promise not to tell anyone else?”

 

Ranma nodded. Nabiki looked on in shock. She had suspected that Shampoo wasn't just an air-headed bimbo, but to have it proved was something she had not been expecting.

 

Shampoo said, “My great grandmother told me you aren't dying. She did say you have some kind of female problem but she would tell me what. All she would say was, `You'll have to ask son-in-law.'” The last was spoken with a credible imitation of Cologne's voice.

 

“Ok, I'll tell you part of it. You'll find out eventually anyway when I start to show.”

 

“'Start to…' Wait, you're not saying you're…”

 

Ranma nodded. “Yes, Shampoo. My `female problem' is that I'm pregnant.”

 

The Amazon looked stunned. “That's… amazing news.”

 

In a sarcastic tone the redhead responded, “Yeah, amazing.”

 

Shampoo's expression brightened, “Oh! I'll bet it was the stupid pig boy!”

 

If it had been the previous day, Ranma might have screamed. As it was she just sighed. “I really don't know what's wrong with people. First it was Cologne, then it was Akane, now you. I say `I'm pregnant' and you say `Ryoga must be the father.' Maybe I'm just dumb. I don't see it.”

 

Ranma turned, “Nabiki.”

 

The brown haired girl was surprised at being addressed. “What is it, Ranma?”

 

“Help me out here. If you were just hearing I'm pregnant for the first time, would you pick Ryoga as the probable father? “

 

Nabiki thought a moment. “Well… yeah.”

 

Ranma shook her head. “I must be missing something that everyone else is seeing. Can you explain your reasoning?”

 

“I don't know if I can explain it. It's not exactly a reasoned out conclusion. It's more like an impression based on feelings.”

 

“Please try. I want to understand this.”

“Give me some time to think about this.” She turned away and began to go over it in her mind. She thought of things she'd seen and what she had heard said.

 

Finally she turned back. She held out a hand palm down and rocked it back and forth. “I've always had the feeling that there is this love/hate thing going between the two of you. It just seems that when you are in the love part of the cycle, Ryoga's in the hate part and the other way around. The only times you've ever been in the love part of the cycle at the same time you were a guy and then you two act like best buddies. I've just had the feeling that if you were both in the love part when you were a girl and you could get past the whole macho `I'm a guy' thing there was the potential for some really hot romance.”

 

Ranma's eyes were wide as she took that in. After thinking on it for a moment she turned back to the Amazon and asked, “Is that how you see it, Shampoo?”

 

The purple haired girl nodded thoughtfully. “I never heard it put into words like that, but I agree.”

 

Ranma tone was one of wonder as she said, “I never imagined…” She trailed off in thought. Suddenly she exclaimed, “Oh, yuck!”

 

Nabiki asked, “What's wrong?”

 

“Thanks for putting ideas in my head. I just flashed on this image of me and Ryoga kissing.”

 

Nabiki couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice as she said, “Oh, so you can imagine it.”

 

“Oh, just drop it Nabs.”

 

The brown haired girl was surprised at the use of the pet name, but nodded and fell silent.

 

Shampoo wouldn't be put off. “So if Ryoga isn't the father, who is?”

 

“Will you promise not to tell anyone, not even Mousse?”

 

Now Shampoo was intrigued. “Ok, I promise.”

 

“The story we're going to tell the public is that over the weekend a cousin of mine showed up and he seduced me and left me pregnant before he ran off. That's not true. The real truth sounds completely impossible so we had to come up with a cover story.”

 

Shampoo was starting to feel exasperated. “Are you trying to build up the drama? Who's the father?”

 

“My male side is. And don't ask me to explain how that's possible.”

 

“But that's…”

 

“Impossible,” Ramna completed.

 

“You didn't get split into two people, did you?”

 

“Nope, and that's all I'm going to say about it.”

 

“But…”

 

“No, it's too private and personal. I've already told more people than I'm comfortable with. I'd tell you to ask Cologne but she already promised me she wouldn't tell.”

 

Shampoo had a look of anger and frustration on her face. Ranma placed a gentle hand on her arm and asked, “Please, Shampoo. Let me keep this secret. Don't pry.”

 

Disappointment was evident on the Amazon's face but she reluctantly agreed, “Alright, I won't pry. But do you really expect anyone to believe that story of your cousin seducing you?”

 

“Did I mention that he's a really handsome and sexy cousin?”

 

The purple haired girl continued to look skeptical.

 

“Ok. He already made passes at every other female in the house, including my mom and they all turned him down. When he saw me fall in the pond and change he turned the charm on me and finally convinced me with a `don't knock it if you haven't tried it' argument.”

 

“He was willing to have sex with you even though he knew you're really a boy?”

 

“You were willing to believe Ryoga would have sex with me and he knows.”

 

That stopped her. She couldn't think of a good argument to counter that.

 

Ranma said, “My cousin is just one of those guys that is so shallow that he only cares what the girl looks like and not what she's like inside. I've played the `cute girl' enough to know how I affect guys like that.”

 

Shampoo looked confused, “Cute girl?”

 

“When I act cute to get guys to buy me ice cream.”

 

“Oh, that.”

 

“Some guys wouldn't care if a girl was really a demon from the deepest pits of hell. As long as she looked cute, they'd go to bed with her.”

 

Nabiki commented, “I'd have to agree.” She paused then continued, “You, know Ranma, for someone who was only a part time girl until just recently, you have a remarkable insight into this.”

 

“Hey, I've had to put up with guys hitting on me just like you have.”

 

Nabiki couldn't think of anything to say to that.

 

Ranma was debating with herself. Finally she said, “Shampoo, I've got something else I need to tell you.”

 

“What's that?”

 

“Akane and I aren't engaged any more.”

 

“What! What happened there?”

 

“You could say I got tired of her hitting me with a mallet.”

 

Nabiki put in, “It was more like she went into a fit of screaming hysterics when she thought Akane might hurt the baby with the mallet.”

 

Ranma blushed and said, “Maybe I did. But that wasn't all there was to it. Months of frustration came to a boil and I told Akane I didn't want to be engaged to her anymore. My mom agreed.”

 

Shampoo showed unusual insight when she asked, “Where does that leave you with the honor agreement between your family and the Tendos?”

 

Nabiki took Ranma's hand and said, “I'm Ranma's fiancé now.”

 

Ranma got a fierce expression on her face, “I don't want to hear any of that `obstacles are for killing' crap from you. I'll make you a promise - if you hurt Nabiki, you will regret it.”

 

Shampoo eyed Nabiki speculatively. This could be a more formidable opponent in the battle for Ranma's heart. She was actually prettier than her younger sister. Even though Shampoo was smarter than she pretended to be she knew that Nabiki was smarter still. There was something else there as well.

 

Shampoo looked closer at the way the two were holding hands and finally identified it. When looking at the red haired girl the brown haired one showed a smoldering sexuality that the Amazon had never noticed before. It was nothing blatant but if one knew what to look for it was there in the way she stood, the look in her eyes, the smile on her face.

 

Shampoo had known that with Akane it would have only been a matter of time before Ranma tired of her and her violent temper. Nabiki would be much more of a challenge.

 

After thinking on this, Shampoo bowed to her new rival. “By Amazon law, Ranma already is my husband.”

 

Ranma said, “That's an old argument, Shampoo. Give it a rest.”

 

Shampoo smirked. “You have given me much to think about. I'll see you later.”

 

As the purple haired girl walked out, Ranma commented, “I will never understand that girl.”

 

Nabiki agreed, “You're right about that.” She thought a moment, “Are you going to tell Ukyo about the pregnancy and the change in engagement?”

 

“Well, like we've been saying about lots of other people, she's going to find out eventually anyway. I guess it'll be best to get it over quickly.”

 

“Ucchan's is only a few blocks from the gynecologist. Why don't we get okonomiyaki for lunch then go to your appointment after?”

 

“With the appointment at 3:30 isn't that a long wait?”

 

“We could make it a late lunch.”

 

Ranma was hesitant to suggest her idea. “Uh, Nabiki?”

 

“What Ranma?”

 

“If we don't make it too late, would we have time to do some shopping before my appointment?”

 

“You want to go shopping?”

 

“I need to buy stuff too sometimes.”

 

“What did you want to buy?”

 

“I was thinking maybe while I'm stuck as a girl I should wear pajamas to sleep in instead of my usual boxers and tank top. I also kind of wanted to take a look at maternity clothes. I know I won't be needing them for a few months but I'd kind of like to see what's available.”

 

Nabiki thought a moment. “Yeah, I know of a couple of shops in the area where they have what you want.”

 

“Ok, thanks.” Ranma took around the dojo. “Now, if there are no more interruptions, I need to do some training. I'm sure even pregnant women need to exercise.”

 

 

Author's Note: I'm new at this so I'm still getting the hang of posting chapters. I should have all the formatting fixed so this is readable.

 

Coming up - Ranma dresses girly. Ukyo gets the news. Mousse gives the newly engaged couple a most unusual gift.