The Journey is the Destination Chapter 2 By poetheather The plan continues and Ranma and Akane have to deal with the other students of Furinken seeing the changes. Will they be able to handle the plan in the face of an upset Ukyo?

Standing a bit away from the school the two had stopped and were observing Furinken High School. Since they had made an early start there weren’t a lot of students there and that was good as far as the red head was concerned. Ranma took a few deep breaths to clear his head and steel himself for what was coming up. “Okay. I am ready for this. Are you?”

Akane looked at him and smiled weakly. Her stomach was rolling and she would rather have not done this. This plan was insane and she was worried about Ranma. He was so stressed and upset that she had agreed to her part in this and it wasn’t going to be easy for either of them. She let out a sigh as well and said, “Pretty much.”

The two girls walked to the school sedately, hoping that the confusion of seeing Ranma dressed like he was would throw Kuno and hopefully anyone else who was there. The plan for getting into school relied on it as a matter of fact. Apparently, the way Ranma was dressed and the casual way the red head and Akane were chatting did, as there was no showing of the Blue Blunder that morning and nobody crowded around them. This let Ranma and Akane get to the classroom early for a change. Once at their desks, they both looked at each other, breathed a sigh of relief and then started giggling over the whole situation. This did catch a few people’s attention and left them confused, more so than normal. Ranma and Akane were actually not fighting. Ranma in a girl’s uniform with her hair down? What was going on? Several people ran to Nabiki, already pulling money free.

When Akane’s friends arrived as short while later, Yuka and Sayuri instantly realized that something was wrong when they came in. Just seeing the redhead sitting at the desk was a dead give away and the fact that Ranma was dressed as a girl and even had a bow in her hair was really throwing them. Their world felt like it had become skewed. Sayuri asked, “Akane, what’s going on?”

Much as it pained Akane to do this, the plan needed her to hold up her end of the bargain, even if it meant sort of lying to her friends. “What do you mean?”

“Ranma here. What’s going on?” continued Sayuri, obviously irritated by Ranma.

“Sayuri, what do you mean?” Akane used all of her acting skills to try and make Sayuri and Yuka believe what she was saying. If they bought it and spread things around the school there was a good chance that the others would follow suit.

“Why is Ranma dressed as a girl?” asked Yuka in a much less confrontational manner. She was simply curious as opposed to being angry about all of this. After all it was only Ranma.

Ranma looked at the girls, blinked a few times in confusion, and replied questioningly, “What do you mean? What should I be wearing?”

This stopped the two girls cold, as they read all sorts of things into what had just been said by Ranma. Sayuri looked between Akane and Ranma for a few moments and then shook her head. “It’s too early to deal with this.”

Hiroshi and Daisuke were staring at Ranma as well and looked utterly confused, as they couldn’t figure out what was going on. Was this some sort of new plot by Ranma? But if it was, what was it to accomplish? They would have to talk to him at lunch to get an answer. Ukyo came in and sort of froze in the doorway, stunned by the sight of her beloved Ranchan in a girl’s uniform. Before the chef was able to do anything, their teacher came on in, still child sized, which meant no one had gotten troublesome in front of Miss Hinako.

The teacher called roll and sort of paused when Ranma called out ‘Here’ in a girl’s voice. She shook her head, not even wanting to know and got back to taking the roll.

The day passed fairly uneventfully until lunch time, with people a bit too confused by the change in events to start bothering them too much. Once the teacher left the class when it was lunch, Ranma and Akane headed outside to eat, which was unusual for them to do together and from there everything sort of went downhill. The two girls had just gotten comfortable on the ground when Yuka and Sayuri came hustling up and plopped down with them. While Yuka unpacked her own bento, Sayuri huffed and then asked, “Okay, spill. Why is Ranma in a dress?”

Akane sighed and looked at her friend. She wondered how long this part of the plan would take. “What are you talking about? What else would she wear Sayuri?”

Sayuri gritted her teeth in frustration and growled. This wasn’t going the way she had wanted it to. Was Akane being purposefully obtuse? “Ranma would wear guy’s clothes because he is a guy.”

Ranma and Akane looked at each other and chuckled, clearly thinking what the girl had said to be a joke. Akane, still chuckling, replied, “That’s a good one Sayuri. Next you’ll be telling me that Nabiki is a saint.”

That got Yuka giggling, which didn’t help issues and earned her a glare from Sayuri. Yuka turned back to her bento.

Sayuri closed her eyes and then took a deep breath, clutching her hot tea tightly. This had to be resolved once and for all. There really was only one way left to do this. “Ranma… is… a… boy!”

The tea hit the redhead in the face and nothing happened. The redhead didn’t change at all. Sayuri and Yuka both started at that, clearly not expecting that possibility.

Ranma picked up the cloth her bento had been wrapped in and wiped her face off, looking at Sayuri like she was bewildered, her eyes tearing up slightly. “Sayuri, why did you throw that tea in my face? I know I haven’t been mean to you lately. This isn’t funny.”

Sayuri was stunned; surely the tea would do something. Was it not hot enough? Was Ranma really a girl? This didn’t make any sense and it made her head spin in confusion. She bowed when she said, “I… I… I’m sorry Ranma.”

“That’s okay. It’s just that sometimes I don’t understand you.” Ranma went back to her bento, eating at visible speeds, holding her chopsticks in an almost dainty fashion. This threw Yuka and Sayuri as well. They were much more used to the insane speed at which Ranma usually ate, devouring everything in sight. Ranma was eating at almost the same speed that Akane was. This wasn’t the way the world worked and that was disturbing.

As they were all eating, Yuka noticed something that struck her as odd. That Ranma’s hands were shaking slightly. She wondered why that could be. Was Ranma getting sick? She wasn’t sure if she should say anything, but maybe she should?

She was just about to mention it when Hiroki and Daisuke came up. Daisuke looked down at the seated redhead and asked, “Ranma, what’s up with the girl’s clothes?”

“Yeah man, that’s a bit odd.” replied Hiroki, scratching his head.

Ranma huffed, put down he chopsticks, crossed her arms under her breasts and turned to look at Akane. “What is it today with people asking me that? You said that the bow would look cute?”

“It does look cute Ranma and I don’t know what their problem is either. I don’t think you look like a guy at all.” Akane rolled her eyes. Why had she agreed to this stupid plan? She had to admit that things were going a little better than she had hoped but Akane could see the strain that Ranma was under, his hands were trembling and he was starting to get a little wide eyed and panicked. She had no idea if he was going to be able to make it through the day and she had to think of something to help her fiancé.

While Akane was trying to think up a reason, any reason to get Ranma out of there, Ukyo came up to the group, looking really irritated. There was probably no question in anyone’s head what this was going to be about. She stormed up to the six of them and grabbed her battle spatula free, looking down at Ranma threateningly. “Ranchan… why are you dressed like that? Did Akane make you do it? Did you eat any of Shampoo’s crazy ramen?”

Ranma screamed as she leapt to her feet glowering angrily at all of them. “For the last time, what else would I wear? I’m a girl! What part of that are you missing? Kami-sama, honestly, you are all idiots. I just… AAAAaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!!! Akane… I’m going home.”

“I’m coming with you.” Akane grabbed their bentos and stood. The two of them stormed off themselves, their ki radiating their anger clearly. The others were left standing there confounded and just watched them leave the school grounds. They had no idea what was going on. Why was Ranma so upset? And why was he saying that he was a girl?

Meanwhile, the person in question had fled from the school, knowing Akane was hot on her heels and didn’t mind that. She didn’t head for home but rather for the canal where she could sit under the bridge and think things over. When Akane caught up with Ranma, she was sitting there on some masonry under the bridge, holding her knees to his chest and seemed almost near tears. The dark haired girl came next to him and waited patiently, not wanting to intrude too much. She knew that Ranma would talk when he wa ready.

After a short while Ranma said, “Do you remember back in China Akane, after I defeated Saffron and all that, standing by the Guide’s hut what I said, that I thought that my girl side wasn’t a curse, that it had been a part of me all along?”

She remembered that clearly. She had almost died a dehydrated doll but Ranma had fought with everything in him to save her and defeat Saffron, to save them all. The events of that trip were practically etched into her soul. Akane’s voice was soft and gentle when she replied, “I do.”

“You know, sitting on the roof I realized the other day that maybe my girl side isn’t a curse at all but rather a blessing. I hadn’t realized it at first because everything my dad taught me about women. But he was wrong about women and I don’t want to be like him. This is my chance to start again, to have a new life if I can only figure out how to do it. I… I… I… I don’t know if I can keep doing this ‘kane. This is so hard and it hurts to do this. I didn’t think it would be this difficult.” Ranma trembled, obviously frustrated to the point of tears.

“Ranma, don’t try so hard to be a girl. I think that is what’s bothering you. If you just relax into this, we can do this. You need to just be you, but a girl. I mean, are you going to give up on a challenge?” Akane knew all of his buttons now and wanted to use them to help her fiancé. If he thought of this as a challenge than there was no way he would fail.

Ranma growled, irritated by what she had said. “I’m not giving up Akane. Ranma don’t quit. I just didn’t realize how hard this was going to be, that’s all.”

“Well, if it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be worth it.” stated Akane, remembering something her dad had taught her.

That brought Ranma up short and he sort of froze. Was the final destination of all of this, his happiness, worth all of this pain and fear and grief? Absolutely. He had no doubts about that. It was worth it and despite it being hard, he would continue. Ranma stood and hugged Akane tightly. “Thank you Akane. I can always count on you.”

Akane blushed some and fought within herself to keep from her usual response to embarrassment, which was pounding Ranma. This was too important to her to ruin it that way. “I will always be there for you Ranma.”

Ranma leaned back a little, to get a better view of her face and his hand came up and rested gently against Akane’s cheek. Ranma smile was gentle, he gazed lovingly at her, eyes still wet from his unshed tears. “I know. That’s one of the reasons why I love you.”

Ranma rose up on his tiptoes to better reach Akane, as his girl form was shorter than she was, and he leaned forward to kiss his fiancé.

It started out fairly chaste, however something inside of both of them finally seemed to click and the kiss deepened in passion. The kiss wasn’t very long but it was intense and the heat of it burned inside each of them, as their mouths opened to each other. When they finished they backed up and looked at each other, stunned and pleased at the same time. There was something different in their eyes now, something that they felt for each other was now visible, and it had a profound effect on the two teenagers.

Ranma blushed brightly, all the way to his ears and looked down, while Akane looked off to the side, blushing as well. Ranma stuttered out, “I… I’m sorry that I kissed you while I’m a girl.”

Akane sighed, rolled her eyes, and looked over at Ranma. His head was still down so she reached up a hand to raise his head, so they were looking into each other’s eyes. He gaze was firm, confident, and quite sure of what she was saying. “Ranma, don’t be an idiot. I don’t care about which body you have at any time, I love you, the person inside who doesn’t change with water, who has always cared for me and protected me. That’s who I love and I don’t care what form you’re in.”

Akane leaned forward and kissed the redheaded girl on the lips softly. It was a kiss the held promises in it.

Ranma seemed to quiver for a second and then a mischievous glint got into his eye as he looked up at her. “Akane Tendo, airen, wo ai ni!”

Akane rolled her eyes, groaned at his Shampoo impression and bopped a fist onto his head lightly, almost lovingly. “Baka!”