The Journey is the Destination Chapter 4 By poetheather Finally the day comes to an end, but another day looms. So many people are confused and wanting answers but what can Ranma and Akane do?

The two girls were in their respective beds, both looking at the ceiling rather than sleeping. Too much had happened that day and they really weren’t able to fall asleep at the moment. “Akane?”

“Yes Ranma?” Akane shifted some in the bed so that she could see the redhead on the floor on the futon.

“Today has been really nice. No fights, nothing crazy, just the day. Well, there were all the dumb questions, but that was fine and expected. Thank you for helping me have today, even if it doesn’t last.” Ranma’s voice was soft and it was clear by the tone alone just how thankful Ranma was.

“You’re welcome. And I kind of liked today as well. It… it… was rea… really nice to spar with you and then the tickle fight.” Akane’s voice trailed off and both of them blushed slightly with the memory. In a way, Akane could still feel the press of Ranma’s breasts against her or what Ranma’s thigh was rubbing against nicely. She was truly happy that Ranma could not see her as she would have been mortified having to explain herself.

“I… I wish we could have been like this since the beginning. I mean, I was really shy when I met you, because I was embarrassed about my curse, and before I could tell you the truth about me you came in to the bath. That whole situation kind of ruined our start.” said Ranma. “You know, I never thought you were uncute but you are a tomboy.”

Akane chuckled. “Yeah. I know I am a tomboy but it kind of hurt when you rubbed it in all the time. I mean, I tried so hard to be a girly girl for Dr. Tofu, to be like Kasumi but it never really seemed to work.”

“You know, I just can’t really see that as the real you. It limits you too much.” Ranma was a bit embarrassed to state that even though it was the truth. He was still getting used to being nice to her. “I like you as a tomboy.”

Akane grew warm from the comment. “Thank you.”

Now it was Ranma’s turn to blush and look away from her bed. “You’re welcome. Uhm… so… do we want to go see my mother tomorrow? Since it’s Saturday it’s only a half day and that would give us the time we need and gets us away from everyone else for a while.”

“That sounds good. We can also get some ice cream while we’re out. Would you like that?” replied Akane.

Ranma sat up in her bed, wide eyed, clearly excited. “Really?”

Akane chuckled a little and then yawned, sleepiness beginning to wash over her. “Oh… time for sleep I guess. And yes Ranma, we will go get some ice cream after class tomorrow.”

Ranma beamed happily and snuggled into her blankets. Soon both girls’ breathing deepened and grew more even and they were fast asleep.

* * * * *

Genma was unsure about what to do right now. He was supposed to start morning training by attacking Ranma, right? However, Ranma was in Akane’s room and he didn’t want to be hit by the mallet. He was in a conundrum.

He wasn’t sure what his plan was going to bewhen he heard girls’ voices from downstairs. He came downstairs where Ranma and Akane were chatting, drinking poccari sweat, and it looked like they had just come in from a run, as both were a bit sweaty and in running clothes. Genma frowned at the sight. “Boy, come on. It’s time for your training.”

“Pops, stop calling me a boy. I’m a girl, remember?” Ranma rolled her eyes, clearly frustrated with her father already. “Honestly, how can you keep forgetting I’m your daughter?”

At a loss for words, Genma just came up to them and tossed the redhead outside, where he proceeded to attack her. Ranma had twisted in mid-air to right herself and landed lightly in her fighting stance. Her father threw himself at her, using his usual array of punches and kicks and Ranma did just fine avoiding them rather than counterattacking. This frustrated him to no end, as how could the boy train if he just dodged and Genma redoubled his efforts and still Ranma dodged.

Akane called out from the porch. “Ranma, I’ll get your clothes ready. Want to wear the overalls today? You look really cute in them.”

Ranma did have a lot of focus on her father, to make sure he didn’t catch her unawares, but there was enough attention left to get what Akane had said clearly. “Sure. That’d be fine. Thanks ‘kane!”

Ranma re-focused on her father. The dodging wasn’t helping end this and was really close to actual fighting. Wasn’t this what she wanted to avoid? Her mind was clear as she moved; avoiding punches and kicks with seeming ease, as she was a good bit more skilled than her father was. Ranma admitted to herself that she did love the Art just not all the fights she got into with other people so maybe she should actually use some of her combat skills. Since her father was so frustrated with her and his inability to hit her, a number of openings had opened up in his defense, so Ranma just reached out and used a wrist lock to toss him into the koi pond where he landed with a huge splash.

The panda came up out of the water, ready to continue the battle but Ranma was nowhere in sight. He narrowed his eyes in irritation. What was wrong with the boy lately? His form was fine, using his greater speed and flexibility to good advantage but why hadn’t he been on the offense? Genma was getting even more irritated the more he thought about it. He needed to do something about this situation.

Maybe he needed to attack the boy in the bath? The more he thought about that plan the more he decided against it. Kasumi would kill him, skin him and use him as a rug, smiling cheerfully the whole time. No, he needed to jump the boy when he was not at the house, the element of surprise giving him a better chance of defeating Ranma. That would be a great plan. The boy was getting soft, just like a girl and that needed to be dealt with.

That thought gave him pause. Could all of this soft living finally have gotten to the boy, so much so that he had turned into a girl? The blood drained from Genma’s furry face, not that anyone could really tell. Was their stay here the cause? The boy was all about turning back to China, getting rid of the curse and such before they came here. Now he was content, wanted to stay and wearing skirts. What was he going to do? Was his and Soun’s plan to join the schools the cause of his son’s girly-ness? This troubled him and he sat down on the porch and pondered it.

When the hot water suddenly poured on him, he spluttered in surprise. Kasumi was standing there holding a kettle and smiling down at him. “Is that better Mr. Saotome?”

“It needent be so hot next time.”

She just smiled at him, her usual smile and turned to leave. Genma called out, “Kasumi.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any idea what is bothering Ranma?”

“Well, she is a little worried about some of her schoolwork but outside of that I can’t think of anything.”

Genma blinked. Kasumi said she? Did she honestly believe that Ranma was a girl? “Kasumi, you do know that Ranma is a man, right?”

Kasumi tittered and covered her mouth with a hand. “Mr. Saotome, you are so funny sometimes.”

She turned and left before Genma could ask any more questions.

Breakfast was again a bit surreal, as Ranma was sitting there again in her school uniform, eating daintily and it sent a cold shudder up Genma’s spine to watch. There was surely something wrong and it was clear that half the people in the room thought that this was normal. Nabiki looked conflicted and Soun didn’t know what to think but did seem worried.

The girl’s left the house right after breakfast, with Nabiki in the lead, to see if she could get anything that resembled information about what was going on and to get some extra cash from Kuno from some of the pictures she had taken of Ranma yesterday. Ranma in a girl’s uniform was sure to bring in some money.

When Nabiki had gotten sufficiently ahead of the two girls so that she couldn’t listen in on them, Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad she’s gone. Trying to keep fooling her isn’t easy. Nabiki pays attention to details far to much.”

“Well, having Kasumi on our side is a big help and if we can get your mother with us than it will make it even better. Poor Nabiki won’t know if we are coming or going after that. She might even begin to believe that you have always been a girl.” Akane giggled at the idea of her usually calm and cool sister looking flustered and confused. There was something the appealed to her.

“You know, I am really nervous about this?” admitted Ranma.

“I know, and that is okay. I would be nervous too in this situation. Now that we have Kasumi on our side, we might be able to do this.”

They neared the gates for the school and they saw Kuno standing there, waiting for them. Both girls rolled their eyes and muttered to each other, “Great.”

When he spotted them both, he grinned and called out to them, “My loves, you come to me, I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furiken High am here to battle my twin loves for your right to date with me.”’

Ranma looked over at Akane, who smirked and said, “Want me to take him?”

The redhead smiled and replied softly, “Please. I don’t think that attacking someone is something I should do.”

Akane nodded, tossed her bag to the girl, and jumped into an attack at the bokken wielding idiot.

Akane moved with grace and power and Ranma just stared happily at her and marveled at how she avoided the attacks in order to close with her opponent. She nailed Kuno with a very powerful uppercut that sent him flying and she smiled. Ranma walked up and handed her back her bag. “Nice job. You got some good distance on that one.”

“Thanks. It certainly felt good to whack that idiot.”

“I know. There is a certain pleasure in defeating that moron, despite how easy it is. You just feel good doing it.” commented Ranma as the walked in to switch out their shoes for their school slippers.

Their classmates were still looking at them a bit dazed, as Ranma was again in girl’s clothing and with a bow in her hair. It was not something that they were used to and the dissonance caused by that kept them from saying anything. Yuka and Sayuri did come up to them before classes and it was clear that they wanted to talk to them.

Sayuri started things off, sort of dismissing Ranma. “So Akane, want to go get some ice cream after school?”

“That would be great. Ranma and I were planning on going after school as well and the more the merrier.” Akane grinned at her friend.

“I just wanted to go with the three of us.” complained Sayuri, not wanting to drag the sex changing freak with them.

Ranma looked at her funny for a moment and then asked, “You mean without Yuka?”

Sayuri started some and stared at Ranma, her eyes narrowing with irritation. “I just meant I wanted it to be girls only.”

Akane spoke gently, as if talking to a crazy person, “Sayuri, Ranma is a girl.”

As Sayuri was building herself into a huff, Yuka just paid attention to Ranma. Neither hand was shaking now and he or maybe it was she, looked mostly calm. There was some tension around the eyes that she noted and she was trying to make all the pieces fit, but they wouldn’t. This was a puzzle that she needed to figure out.

“Look I just don’t want to go out for ice cream with you and the freak, okay?” Sayuri raised her voice some, her annoyance showing.

The room went quiet and everyone stared at Sayuri. Akane narrowed her eyes angrily. Ranma had started, as if slapped, clearly not expecting to be called that. With a growl, Akane said, “Ranma is not a freak!”

“Look I don’t care if the freak comes to school in a dress or not, that doesn’t make him a girl!” Sayuri was letting her frustration run free and taking her mouth with it.

Yuka could tell that this was getting dangerous from both Akane’s and Ranma’s body language. They were getting more and more ready to do something. She laid a hand on Sayuri’s arm to try to calm her down.

Akane stood up from her desk and faced Sayuri, her eyes ablaze. There was a threat of violence in her voice. “Ranma is a girl and not a freak.”

“Pffftt, whatever.” Sayuri flipped a hand up dismissively.

What happened next was too fast for anyone but Ranma to follow. Akane has moved forward, grabbed Sayuri by the throat, and slammed her against a wall. Akane’s face was right in front of the other girl’s, things happening too suddenly for Sayuri to have any response except a frightened squeak. “Do not talk about my best friend that way. She is not a freak.”

Sayuri swallowed heavily, as Akane wasn’t holding her throat too tightly and the slamming into the wall hadn’t been particularly hard. She bowed her head as best she could while she said, “I… uh… I… I’m sorry.”

Akane relaxed her grip, letting the girl down and stepped back. Ranma had a rather sad look on her face and Akane understood why. Akane wasn’t happy either as she hadn’t wanted to do that to her friend but she had been given no other real option. Yuka stepped forward, between the two girls. “Akane, how about Sayuri and I buy you both sundaes as an apology?”

Akane nodded her head. “Okay. Thank you.”

Ranma rested her head on the desk and sighed. She hated the fact that Akane’s friendships were suffering because of his stupid plan. She pounded her head on the desk in frustration.