Just a Friend
Chapter 2
by Saotendo
The red headed girl trudged wearily through the streets of Nerima. Even though she couldn't see anyone following her, the sense of being watched refused to leave her. She had been feeling irritable ever since she had awakened and now that feeling was threatening to blossom into paranoia. Unseen by her, but not unfelt, a shadow flitted across the rooftops.
At the same time, Soun Tendo was gathering his three daughters together and informing them of the impending arrival of a fiancé for one of them.
Shampoo was careful to keep out of the sight of the young girl. She was so close to completing her mission. She didn't want to spook the girl now. All that was left was for the girl to go to her friends. As long as Shampoo could report to her great grandmother that the girl seemed happy, then she was free to head back to the Amazon village and her friends. All she had to do now was wait and see.
The Tendo household was in an uproar. It seemed none of the girls had any enthusiasm for the engagement. Each daughter had protested in her own way. Then came a ringing of the bell at the front gate. And into the lives of the Tendo family came the person named Ranma Saotome.
Everyone was gathered in the family room waiting for Soun Tendo to awaken. Upon learning that the young girl that had showed up on his doorstep that day was the Ranma Saotome that he was expecting, Soun had promptly fainted. During the wait the girls had gotten better aquainted. Once Soun had revived, Nabiki had started again attacking her father and his choice of a proper fiancé.
Akane had noticed how Ranma was reacting to the words and actions Nabiki was using and felt sorry for her. She decided to spare the girl any more discomfort and to put her at ease so Akane asked, " Hi, I'm Akane. Do you want to spar?"
Ranma looked up with relief in her eyes. She had been feeling cross and slightly angry all day yet she felt unable to do anything about it. She was ready to hit something, anything. Much more of this poking, prodding or other such nonsense and she'd explode.
Upon entering the Dojo Ranma faced the shrine in the corner and bowed. Turning she faced her opponent and bowed again. Then she waited.
Ranma went on the defensive at first and discovered quickly that Akane stood no chance of hitting her as long as she concentrated on dodging her strikes. Once she determined this she began to go on the offensive. Soon she received a nasty surprise as Akane connected with a punch that finished with Ranma knocked back against the wall. Akane was strong! It wasn't very long before Akane connected with another. All at once Ranma realized that Akane was a counter-puncher. Akane was most effective when she was being attacked. While Ranma was able to inflict more hits, Akane was able to get some of her own in. Akane used the attacker's offense against the attacker. Soon as Ranma came to this conclusion she stepped back, held up her hands and said. "I've had enough, how about you? You're pretty good, just need to tune up on some spots."
Akane flushed with the complement. "Yes, but you were better. Still I got in a few good shots." She looked around and sighed. "Why don't you go back in the house, I'm sure Kasumi has a room for you now, I'll be in when I finish cleaning the Dojo."
"Yeah, I think I'll be feeling those punches in the morning." Ranma replied. She didn't feel comfortable in the house yet, and as Akane was the only person who had even acted friendly towards her she wanted to stay near her as long as she could. Thinking hard Ranma asked Akane. "How about I help clean up the Dojo, then we can go back together?"
After cleaning the Dojo, Akane and Ranma returned to the house. Once they had entered, Kasumi caught up with them in the hallway.
"My, you two look like you've had a good session." Kasumi told them.
"Yes, Kasumi, Ranma's very good at martial arts," Akane replied with a smile.
"Well, with a little more training you'd be about as good. You need to remember I've been in training since I was 6. That gives me the edge over you for now." Ranma told them.
"Well, that's nice but now you two need to go and clean up. Akane you go now and I'll send Ranma after I get her settled into her room." Kasumi said with a stern glance.
Ranma trudged up the stairs following Kasumi. While Kasumi chattered on about how nice it was to have some friends, how nice it was to share interests and etc, Ranma was busy thinking.
She had never had a room before, her and Pops had always been on the road too much. Usually they had a tent set up and that was it. Looking around she noticed how big the room was. *Me and Pops could, no don't think about that. It's almost as bad as thinking about being a girl for the rest of your… NO! don't think that also. First lets put our stuff away and just think about that! *
Turning to Kasumi she caught the last few words Kasumi was saying. "I'm sorry the room's so little but it is…"
Ranma interrupted her, "Little? Kasumi, this room is enormous. I think you could fit four or five people in here. It'll do just fine. I, uh, just have one question. Where, ah, can I put my things?"
Kasumi was surprised. *Ranma hadn't been in a house in such a long time that she wasn't familiar with the layout of a room? What else would she need teaching in? Oh my, what about school? She'll need to go of course. * With this in mind Kasumi rapidly showed Ranma where to store her things and hurried downstairs to talk to her father.
*Putting HER things away. It wouldn't take long. Not with all that She had. * Ranma thought bitterly. SHE hadn't had any need for anything before Jusenkyo. And SHE hadn't had any time since then to get anything. She put her small pile of boxers and tee shirts on a shelf. Grabbing a couple of hangers, she hung up her black pants and her Chinese shirts. It was a good thing that the Amazons had given them to her, all her other stuff was either wore out or didn't fit anymore. With that she giggled, *didn't fit anymore. * As she thought about it, her giggles threatened to become a full-blown outburst of maniacal laughter. Then she sobered as she found her father's things. She didn't want to deal with THAT now so she put them to the side and sighed. A depressed feeling settled over her.
It had been a long day for Ranma. She was tired, sore, and she had missed her lunch. She knew that a long soak in the furo would be good for her. It would take away the ache in her muscles and a good meal would fix the cramps she was feeling. Then a good night's sleep and she'd be back to what had passed for normal, well, normal for her lately.
Picking up a towel that Kasumi had left her, she started off for the bathroom.
As Ranma entered the bathroom she noticed some clothes off to the side. Not wanting to intrude she called out, "Hello, is anyone in here?"
Akane answered her. "Come on in, I'm in the middle of my soak."
"Uh, that's alright, I'll wait till later." Ranma said.
"What's the matter Ranma? After all we're both girls. Are you shy?" Akane replied.
Ranma thought for a moment. "Uh, kind of. I like to bathe by myself."
"Well, I'm just about finished. Why don't you go ahead and scrub up and I should be done by then and you can have the furo all to yourself. All right?" Akane asked.
Nervous, Ranma replied. "I guess."
Ranma turned her back to Akane and stripped. Picking up the bucket which held her bath articles she turned and sat down on a small stool facing the wall.
Akane watched the red head as she kept her back to Akane and started to wash off. Akane smirked. *Ranma's really shy about her body. She acts like she never been undressed in front of anyone before. But since she's been alone training with her dad for the last ten years, I guess she hasn't. *
Her thoughts were disrupted by a quickly rising moan coming from Ranma.
"OH NO, WHAT'S WRONG? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO ME? AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Ranma screamed at the end.
Akane got out of the tub and ran over to Ranma. Ranma was scrubbing at her pelvic region with an intense single mindedness. Akane grabbed Ranma around her shoulders to hold her still so that the red head wouldn't hurt herself and tried to get a look at what was wrong. Just then Kasumi and Nabiki entered the room as Ranma began to sob in desperation.
Akane quickly filled her sisters in on what had happened and they concentrated on getting Ranma calmed down and finding out what was wrong. After a short time they discovered that Ranma was bleeding.
Nabiki blurted out, "Ranma for goodness sakes, it's just your period. Heck, the way your acting anyone would think you'd never had…" Nabiki's eyes got big. "That's it. You've never had this happen before have you?"
Ranma shook her head no. "This will happen again? When does it stop? Why does this happen?"
"Uh, your mother never… No, you've not seen your mother in ten years have you? And your father wouldn't have said anything or did he?" Akane asked
"No, I don't even know if my mother is alive or anything. And as for my dad telling me about this," Ranma said as she gestured at the room in general. "He never needed to tell me about it."
In unison the two younger Tendo sisters said, "Well, Kasumi is the best one to talk to about this. After all, she told us." And with that Akane and Nabiki turned and quickly left the room.
Kasumi took a little time to tell Ranma about what her body was doing. The quiet night air was often interrupted by shrieks from Ranma, as Kasumi would explain about her problem. After Kasumi finished, she left to go to the kitchen to make some tea. She felt it would do Ranma some good for after Ranma finished her cleanup.
A pale faced, mind numbed Ranma finished her cleanup using the bucket she had brought. She didn't, couldn't contaminate the water in the furo so she just rinsed off using the cold water in her bucket. Besides, after what had happened to her recently, she felt a sense of dread around water anymore. Not that she was scared of it, just if she didn't need to get wet, then she wouldn't. Arising from the small stool, she took the napkin Kasumi had told her about, the panties Akane had brought for her and got dressed. Wanting to be alone she went to her new room. Laying on her futon, she tried to sleep. Tossing and turning in an attempt to get comfortable; she found herself starting to think about what this evening's event meant to her. Baby. Mother. She didn't want to consider what this meant to her and her future, so she got up, dressed, and went back outside to the Dojo. Deciding that a kata would take her mind off her problems, she started doing a moderately difficult one.
She soon discovered that even this exercise proved to be more than she could do. Her concentration failed as she continued to think about what she had just learned. The idea of going through this every month frightened her. She was going to have to wear panties. Heck, she was wearing them now. Then she started thinking about the last few months and what had happened to her. This frightened her. Then she started thinking about being a girl for the rest of her life. This led to thinking about her father's death and what she had recently gone through. The images started to flash through her mind. One after the other in a continuous loop. Faster and faster they went. Soon it seemed almost a blur to her. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. She fell to the floor of the Dojo. Tears started streaking down her cheeks as she buried her face in her hands. Immense, body-shaking sobs began to burst from between her lips as she slid to the floor. Once there she curled up into a fetal position and cried.
Shampoo was overhead in the rafters. She watched as the girl collapsed. She didn't think this was a good sign. It looked like she wasn't going back to her village as quick as she thought. In fact if things were as bad as they looked, great-grandmother might have to come here. As she left the Dojo, Shampoo started composing a message to her great-grandmother in her mind.
A RanmaFan
(Leader of the worshippers of the pig tailed goddess)
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Chapter Three
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