Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ I'm the Mother and the Father? ❯ Epilogue ( Epilogue )

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.

 

I'll skip the recap this time.

 

Epilogue

 

The beautiful young red haired woman surveyed herself in the full-length mirror in her room. She had her mother's looks and figure but was as tall as her father. Those things plus the athletic build from martial arts training made a stunning package.

 

She winked at her reflection. “Saotome Ranko, you are one hot babe.”

 

Ranko stuck her head out her door and saw a tall, athletic brown haired boy passing. “Hey `Toshi, have you seen dad?”

 

Ranko's brother knew who was being referred to. “Yeah, downstairs, but she's Mom right now.”

 

“What? We have to leave in an hour. Why isn't he getting ready?”

 

The boy shrugged. “You know mom.”

 

“Agh! She'd better not spoil my graduation. I'll never forgive her.”

 

The boy shrugged again and went on to his own room.

 

Ranko turned to go downstairs but found a brown haired woman had just come up. The woman said, “I was just coming to check on you.”

 

“Hi, Mama Nabs. `Toshi said dad, I mean mom, is downstairs.”

 

Nabiki chuckled. “Last I saw she was heading to the kitchen to get a snack.”

 

“She's not getting into the food for the party, is she?”

 

Nabiki shook her head. “She promised she wouldn't.”

 

Before Ranko could squeeze past Nabiki held up a hand. “Just let me look at you for a moment.”

 

After a while the brown haired woman said, “So beautiful. And to think you are graduating college at the age of nineteen. You're the valedictorian of your class as well. You can't imagine how proud of you I am right now.”

 

Ranko drew the older woman into a hug. “Thanks, Mama Nabs. I'm glad you've always been here for me. You're as a much a mom to me as you are to Kayoko and Tenma.”

 

When they separated, Nabiki asked, “Did `Toshi come up here?”

 

“Yeah, he's in his room.”

 

Nabiki gave an indulgent smile. “He may not show it much, but he's really proud of his big sister. Don't worry, he'll be ready on time.”

 

Ranko rolled her eyes and said in the time honored complaint of big sisters everywhere, “Little brothers can be such a pain sometimes.”

 

She went down the stairs with Nabiki following behind her. As she looked in the living room, she had thought about what a strange family she had. She loved them all, but they were odd.

 

Sitting together on the couch were Auntie Kasumi and Auntie Akane. Since right about the time Kasumi's daughter, Yoriko, was born the two women had been living together as a lesbian couple. Yoriko had been born about a month before Ranko's brother Satoshi. Not long after the birth of Ranko's twin brother and sister Kayoko and Tenma Akane had given birth to a son she named Akinobu.

 

People outside their family might find it unbelievable that Akane was the father of Kasumi's child and Kasumi the father of Akane's. Within the family, everybody took it in stride. The fact that the lesbian couple were also sisters was never spoken of to anyone outside of the family.

 

Dad and Mama Nabs got together with Akane and Kasumi once a month. They never told Ranko what they did at their little gatherings, but she had a pretty good idea. The subjects that were avoided in conversation after one of those get-togethers said almost as much as simply stating it directly, at least for someone as smart and perceptive as Ranko.

 

Grandma Nodoka and Grandpa Genma were both there. At least Genma was not a panda right now and was dressed nicely. They were planning to take as many precautions as possible to prevent any water accidents.

 

Grandpa Soun was there with his wife Grandma Hinako. Hinako was one of the few people in the family who got a cure for her problem. She no longer had to drain chi from people and was an adult all of the time. It had actually been a surpise when Hinako had become pregnant and borne two healthy boys.

 

Then there was her own family. Ranma was both Ranko's mother and father. She interchangeably called him/her mom or dad depending what his gender was at the moment. Satoshi's mother was Ranma but Nabiki was the father. For the twins, Kayoko and Tenma, Nabiki was the mom and Ranma was the dad.

 

She saw her little sister and asked, “'Yoko, where's mom?”

 

“In the kitchen.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Ranko got into the kitchen to find Ranma in female form munching a sandwich she had made. She was wearing sweatpants and a blue silk shirt. During the nearly two years that Ranma had been locked in girl form she had actually grown a little. She was still short but no longer qualified as tiny. She looked like a reduced sized copy of her daughter.

 

Ranko demanded, “Mom! What are you doing?”

 

The older woman looked at the mostly eaten sandwich in her hand and said, “I got hungry.”

 

Ranko rolled her eyes. “When are you ever not hungry?”

 

“Right after a meal? Really, I'm not hungry about as often as you are.”

 

“That's not fair, Mom, and you know it.”

Ranma just shrugged.

 

“Mom, you know I love you no matter whether you are male or female, but we have to leave in less than an hour. I need you to be my dad for my graduation ceremony. I'm the valedictorian. This is a big deal for me. I don't want to explain to people about how my dad is also my mom.”

 

Ranma finished off the last bite of her sandwich. She reached into the cupboard and took out a glass. Into this she ran some warm water from the tap which she immediately threw into her face.

 

In male form Ranma was taller than his daughter. Ranko handed her father a towel. The daughter said, “That's a good start, Dad. Now I need you to go get dressed in your nice suit like you promised.”

 

“Don't worry so much, darling. I've got the suit laid out on the bed. It will take me five minutes, ten at the most to get changed. You know getting ready for something like this is easier when I'm a guy. There's no makeup, no jewelry, the clothes are easier to get into. I can just put my hair in a pigtail instead of getting it fancied up.”

 

“Yes, Dad, I know. It's just like you tell me, there's advantages on both sides.”

 

“When you were first born I was worried you might inherit the curse since you got magic on both mom and dad sides.”

 

“But I didn't. Unless there's some trigger for it that I haven't experienced yet, it looks like I'll be female for the rest of my life.

 

“I'm glad you didn't have to go through the kind of weirdness I did.”

 

“No, I had the weirdness of being the child prodigy. I'm graduating college at the age when most kids are graduating high school. Even when I was in the advanced classes I was smarter than the other kids. Different kind of weirdness but still weird just the same.”

 

The girl admonished her father, “Enough chatter, go. Change your clothes.”

 

As Ranma left the kitchen the girl shook her head while smiling. She thought to herself, “Sometimes I swear he acts more mature when he's a girl.”

 

She looked around the kitchen and wondered again why Mama Nabs and dad didn't move to a bigger house. Mama Nabs' was a major big investment banker and they could certainly afford it. Just because it was the house where Ranko had lived all but a couple months of her life was no reason to hang onto the old place.

 

Dad was a professor of mathmatics at the local college and sensei for the college's martial arts team. They were champs in their division.

 

Her parents sometimes called Ranko their “magical daughter” or just “magical girl.” She wasn't a superhero like the magical girls in the animes. She was smart, good at martial arts had enormous amounts of ki. When she found out she could use her ki to heal, she gravitated toward medicine. From the college where she was now graduating, she would next go to medical school and might even go on to medical research.

 

In spite of the weirdness in her life, she still felt blessed with two loving parents. It didn't matter to her that Mama Nabs was her adopted mom, she loved the woman as much as if she was her real mom. Then there was her dad who was also her mom. Ranma was a truly unique person and the one she most wanted to make proud of her.

 

While she was in the kitchen, Ranko was tempted to get a snack of her own. Dad was right, she was hungry almost as often as he was. It came from the intense martial practice she put in every day. She burned a lot of calories and her ki manipulation did as well. No, she would wait for the party later.

 

Ranko got out to the living room just as her father was coming down the stairs. In his good suit he looked incredibly handsome. She walked up to him and gave him a hug. “You look great! You do know that half of my girlfriends say they have fantasies about you.”

 

Ranma gave her a teasing grin, “Only half?”

 

She smiled back, “Only half will admit it. I think some of the rest are afraid they'll offend me if they say anything. I've got two friends who are hot for your girl form.”

 

Ranma raised an eyebrow. “Why be hot for my old bod when they could lust for a girl who looks like a taller version of me and is much younger?”

 

“I asked them. They said they were looking for a woman with experience.”

 

Nabiki laughed. “That surely means you, dear.”

 

Ranma laughed as well. “Tell your friends that I'm flattered but not interested in girls that much younger than me.”

 

Ranko joined in the laughter. “They'll be terribly disappointed.”

 

It was all good natured teasing.

 

Nabiki said, “The limos are on the way.”

 

Ranko got a slightly pained expression. “Mama Nabs, this is just the kind of thing I was talking about the other day. You can afford limos to get to the ceremony but you insist in staying in this old house. You know how hard it is to retrofit a house this old with all the modern data utilities.”

 

Nabiki sighed. “I like this house. Besides, I don't own the limos, the company does. The data service we have now meets our needs.”

 

Ranko rolled her eyes. “The data service is barely adequate. We can afford better.”

 

Nabiki gently reproved, “That is something to discuss another time.” There was the sound of a car horn honking from outside. “The limos are here. Is everybody ready?”

 

Satoshi came from the stairs looking better dressed than usual. Kayoko decided she needed to visit the toilet before they left. Finally everybody got into the two limos. Even with two of them it was a bit crowded.

 

When the reached the college auditorium the rest went to the reserved seats but Ranma escorted his daughter backstage. Ranko had been rehearsing her speech while they had ridden in the limo.

 

Ranma hugged his daughter and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “I don't know why you're nervous. At your high school graduation, your stage plays and every other public appearance you've always performed brilliantly. I've never known you to do anything less than brilliantly.”

 

“I'm valedictorian. I've never been such a big part of the ceremony.”

 

Ranma put his hand on her shoulder, “You're my magical girl. You don't know how to screw up.”

 

Ranko giggled and kissed Ranma on the cheek. “Thanks, Daddy. I needed that.”

 

Ranma told her, “I've got to go sit with the family. Always remember Nabs and I could never be more proud of you.”

 

As her father left, Ranko thought of how he could always lift her spirits. He was a very special person.

 

She sneaked to where she could look out at the auditorium. She found her family and checked them over. Everyone was still in their original form, that was good. She had already checked to be sure there were no water pipes other than the fire sprinklers. She just hoped there was no fire or people would be getting more of a show than they expected.

 

While she looked she spotted Ryoga and his wife Akari out a bit further back that her immediate family. She was glad he could make it. She thought of him as an uncle.

 

She also noticed purple hair. Shampoo had come! After being dragged off to China after Mama Nabs had shot down the legality of Shampoo's supposed marriage to her dad, the Amazon warrior had come back to Japan, because she really liked it better. She had finally married Mousse and they now had two children, both of whom were being raised in the traditions of the Joketsuzoku Amazon tribe. Ranko felt a little sorry for those poor kids.

 

After she got over her fixation on Ranma, Shampoo still came over to visit. She had tried as much as she could to turn Ranko into a warrior fit to be an Amazon but finally gave up when Ranko decided to be a healer. The girl genius thought her Auntie Shampoo a little crazy, but nice.

 

Finally she received her cue and proceeded out to the podium. She'd never needed to be taught, she walked as if the very embodiment of style and grace. When someone had commented on it she said it was a side effect of her martial arts training. As she walked she reflected that even with her sometimes crazy life it had been wonderful so far and was likely to keep getting better.

 

She got to the podium and with a bow, launched into her speech

 

 

Author's Note: This has been fun to do. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Fan art I'd like to see (if anyone is interested in drawing it - I have no talent for drawing) would be Ranma-chan and Ranko together. I'd also like a family portrait of Ranma-kun with Nabiki and Ranko.

 

Coming Up - Come on, people! This is the end. Seriously though, if anyone thinks parts of this story need to be expanded, let me know where and I might consider doing a revision. Before I even start on something like that I have another fic I want to get finished.