TotH webpage (all parts): http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/

The Taming of the Horse

a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Vince Seifert (seifertv@csus.edu)

Ranma 1/2 characters and situations are copyright 1987, 1998
by Takahashi Rumiko.  Publishing rights (Japan) by Shogakukan
Inc.  Publishing rights (North America) by Viz Inc.  This work
is not intended to infringe those rights.

     ~~~~~ Chapter 6: Herding ~~~~~

          Horses are social animals by nature.  A horse in a herd
     exhibits behaviors and attitudes which may be quite
     different from those observed when it is by itself...  when
     a horse is moved from one herd to another, its relationship
     to the herd is almost certain to change, and hence its
     behaviors and attitude should be expected to change.

          -- from Chapter 6

     Kuno Kodachi paused at the door to her father's study,
knocked, and went in.  "Daddy?"

     "Aloha, keiki," Principal Kuno said from his beach chair
under a transplanted palm tree.  Ukuleles played faintly in the
background.

     Kodachi hid her distaste of the sand crunching underfoot and
hung a cute smile on her face.  "Daddy, I have a teensy little
favor to ask you..."

     The principal shrugged.  "Like what?"

     Kodachi took a deep breath.  "It would make me ever so happy
if you could have Saotome Ranma transferred to St. Hebereke's,"
she simpered.

     Kuno's eyebrows appeared over the tops of his sunglasses.
"Ranma?  You lolo?  He one kanaka, and last time I looked, St.
Hebereke's was one school fo' wahines."

     Kodachi gritted her teeth.  "Yes, I know, Daddy, but I found
out he can become a girl, too."  *And you've known it for months,
you deranged excuse for a parent.*  She waved her hand vaguely.
"I'm sure that, in your position, you can clear up any...
irregularities in the paperwork, can't you?"

     Kuno laughed.  "Like, what box is checked for 'sex'?"  He
thought about it.  "Hm.  No promises, keiki, but I'll see what I
can do."

     "Thank you so much, Daddy," Kodachi gushed.  She left
hastily before the urge to strangle her father with his own lei
overcame her.

     Kuno pondered.  A grin slowly spread over his face.  "Haha!
I'll do it!  Dat Ranma, he needs a taste of Catholic discipline!
They make him-- no, HER-- plenty pilikia.  An' dat Ranma, he
hates being a girl."  He paused.  "Heeey... if I transfer Tendo
Akane too, she make him twice as much trouble, and maybe tweak
Kodachi's nose, too.  Crack two coconuts wit' one machete... no,
t'ree!  Hahaha!"

     ~~~~~

     Ranma ran up to the gate of the Tendo Dojo, carefully
angling the umbrella he carried to keep the rain off, and saw
that Akane was already standing outside, carrying her own
umbrella.  Her face was very serious.  *Well, I guess mine is
too.*  He stopped in the shelter of the gate roof and smiled at
her for a moment.  "Hey, Akane."  She half-smiled.

     "We gotta problem."  "Ranma, we have a problem."

     Ranma sighed and gestured for her to go first.

     "Ranma, my father got a letter yesterday," she began.  "I've
been transferred from Furinkan to St. Hebereke's."

     Ranma gaped at her.  "I was gonna tell ya the same thing,"
he said incredulously.  "I've been transferred to St. Hebereke's
too."

     Akane dropped her umbrella, smiled like a sunrise, and threw
her arms around him.  "Oh, that's wonderful!" she exclaimed.

     "Hey!  What's wonderful about it?" Ranma protested, but he
hugged her back anyway.  "It's a girls' school, dammit!"

     Akane let go and pulled back.  "Oops.  I hadn't thought
about that.  I was just worried that I was going to have to go to
another school... without you."

     "It's a girls' school," Ranma repeated.  "I can't go to a
girls' school!"

     Akane studied him.  "I think we'd better talk about this,
Ranma.  Let's go inside."

     "What about school?"

     "This is more important.  Come on."  Akane dragged Ranma
through the gate and to the dojo.   She closed the doors behind
them and turned.  Ranma was still looking stubborn.  The rain
hissed outside, and the unheated dojo was cool and humid.  Akane
knelt on the floor.  After a moment, Ranma sat facing her.  "So,
did your letter say you'd been awarded a martial-arts
scholarship, too?"

     "Yeah," Ranma said.  His mouth quirked.  "I guess their
rhythmic-gymnastics team needed a boost."

     They stared at each other.  "Kodachi!" they accused in
unison.

     "Son of a bitch," Ranma breathed.  "Yeah, it has to be.  Now
that she knows about me and the 'pig-tailed girl', this has to be
a scheme to get me where she wants me.  Well, I'm gonna bust it
up."  He stood.

     "Wait, Ranma," Akane said firmly.  "Think this over."

     Ranma stared at her.  "What's to think over?  I can't go to
a girls' school!"

     "You keep saying that.  Shut up for a minute and listen to
me, Ranma.  St. Hebereke's is a much better school than Furinkan.
Sure, the students have a reputation as oddballs, but it has
better facilities, better teachers, higher standards, better
everything.  Graduating from St. Hebereke's would mean a lot more
than graduating from Furinkan.  It's expensive, too.  There's no
way either of our families could afford to send us there.  I want
to go, and I want you to come with me."

     "Akane."  Ranma breathed deeply.  "It's.  A.  GIRLS'.
School."

     "You can be a girl if you want to be."

     Ranma's face appeared to collapse.  He sat down again with a
thump and stared at Akane in horror.  "No.  Not you too."

     Akane reached out and took Ranma's hand.  It was cold and
trembling.  "Your mother and her 'daughter' thing?"  Ranma nodded
mutely.  "Ranma, please listen to me.  I won't... I won't make
you do anything you don't want to, but please, at least give me
the chance to talk you into it.  If I can't, well, we'll do it
your way, I promise.  I said I wanted to go with you wherever you
go, and that means to school, too."

     Ranma brightened a little at that.  He squeezed her hand and
waited.

     Akane marshaled her thoughts and began.  "Ranma, I've been
thinking about this for a long time.  I only have a vague idea of
what your curse is like for you, but you might want to know how I
feel about it.  You have to understand, I've never known you
without it, so for me, it's just the way you are.  No, let me
finish!  Ranma... I love you the way you are.  Curse and all.  I
could wish that your girl form wasn't quite so cute and busty,
'cause it makes me envious sometimes, but I really don't mind it.

     "Some ways I actually like it.  I know you understand a
little of what it's like to be a girl.  You're like a girl-friend
and a boyfriend in one.  You can spar with me as a girl.
Maybe... maybe, when the time comes, you'll be able to teach
women's classes in the dojo better as a woman yourself.  Now, you
can come to a girls' school with me, if you want to.

     "But it hurts me two ways to see you hating to be a girl.
First, because it sort of says that you think being a girl is
somehow worse than being a boy, and you know how I get about
that.  But mostly..."  She sniffled.  "Mostly because you ARE a
boy who's a girl sometimes, and you're not happy about it, and I
really, really want you to be happy, Ranma, and it hurts me so...
so much when you're not."  Two tears tracked down her cheeks, but
she kept her eyes steady on Ranma's.

     Ranma sighed and lowered his gaze, but kept her hand.  "You
done?"  he said after a while.

     "For now.  Your turn."

     "Akane, I don't know if I can explain about manhood."  He
laughed without humor.  "I don't know if I can explain it to
myself.  It's a confidence thing.  I guess some people would call
it an arrogance thing.  But it's what I was taught, by my father
and my mother, and it's not something I can let go of easy.
Especially...  especially since I'm a... I'm a... dammit."  His
face worked, becoming almost angry.  "I'm... afraid... that if I
let myself get used to being a girl, that I'll lose being a man."
He paused, then continued at a lower volume.  "If that happens,
then I could lose the Art, I could lose my family, and I could...
I could lose you."

     Akane shook her head, but did not speak.

     Ranma looked at her, and continued.  "I've been locked in
girl form now twice.  Both times, it could have been forever if
things had gone wrong.  In between there's the fear that if I be
a girl too much, the curse will take over and lock on its own.
Going to school as a girl would be..."  He shrugged.  "And if I
stay a girl, they'll cancel the engagement and take me away from
you.  If I get a girl's mind, they'll do that even if I look like
a man."

     "And you'd let them?"  Akane hissed.  "You think I'd let
them?!"

     Ranma shrugged resignedly.

     Slap!

     The sound echoed in the dojo, and Ranma looked at Akane, his
eyes wide.  "Akane..."

     "That was for thinking like a quitter," Akane informed him
tightly.  "And for insulting me."  She leaned forward.  "And
this... this is for caring about losing me."  She kissed him,
carefully and thoroughly, then settled back on her shins.

     "I'm never gonna understand girls," Ranma muttered, touching
his cheek and wincing.

     Akane smiled.  "Another reason for spending time as one,
ne?"  She sobered.  "You might want to confirm this with Kasumi;
she has books about it.  But... you know about yin and yang,
right?"

     Ranma shrugged.  "Sure.  Who doesn't?"

     "Well, consider this.  Every person has yin nature and yang
nature, man or woman.  Women average more yin than yang, men more
yang than yin.  But everyone has both.  If they don't have both,
they're crippled, out of balance.  I... I'm a tomboy because I
have more yang than most women, or at least more than women are
supposed to.  Your yin and yang are struggling now because of
your curse, and you're unhappy because you can't find a balance.
But I think there are two ways you can be happy, and only one of
them is to cure the curse.  The other is to find a new balance
rather than struggling to keep your old one.

     "The thing about Kasumi's books is that they say that
biologically, brains and minds are like that too, that there's no
real difference between a man's brain and a woman's brain except,
um, hormone levels and... um... cultural sex-role training, I
guess.  Ranma, you win a lot of your battles by changing the
rules-- can't you win this one the same way?"

     Ranma stared at her.  "Jeez, Akane, you HAVE been thinking
about this."  His tone was admiring.

     Akane felt her face grow warm.  "Well, sure," she said.  "It
matters to me.  You know why."

     Ranma looked down and twiddled his fingers.  "What about,
uh, sex?"

     "Um... what about it?"

     "Suppose I get... gack.  Suppose I, er, my girl form, gets,
uh, interested in, uh... guys?"

     Akane thought frantically, then decided to go with her
initial impulse.  "Then I hit you.  A lot.  Hard.  With many
large, heavy, hard, painful objects.  The same way I will if it
looks like you're interested in another girl.  Until you aren't
interested in guys any more."

     Ranma started laughing.  After a moment, Akane joined in.
"Thanks, tomboy," Ranma said finally.  "That makes me feel a lot
better."

     "You really are a pervert," Akane said fondly.  She
retrieved his hand and squeezed it.

     "Since you mention it," Ranma said reluctantly, "what about,
you know, bathrooms and locker rooms and things?"

     Akane looked crestfallen.  "That, I haven't thought about,"
she admitted.  "Could you just keep your eyes shut or something?"

     Ranma shook his head ruefully.  "Not practical," he said.
His eyes glinted at her.  "Besides, you're talkin' about me
tryin' to really be a girl when I'm in girl form.  Work that
out."

     "Well, no one else at St. Hebereke's will know you're not a
girl except me and Kodachi," Akane thought aloud.  "What they
don't know won't bother them... you'll just have to avoid hot
water."

     "It should be easier than avoidin' cold water, at least,"
Ranma said.

     Akane nodded.  "So... can you control yourself when faced
with a roomful of undressed girls?"

     Ranma shrugged.  "Done it before," he said.  "Public baths,
onsens... you kicked me out of the girl's locker room at Furinkan
a few times, and as I recall, it was 'cause you was afraid I
would molest someone, not because I was molestin' someone.  I'm
not Happosai."

     "Point," Akane admitted reluctantly.  *He's thinking about
it!*

     "So," Ranma said, eyeing her speculatively.  "What about
you?"

     "Me?" Akane asked, but her heart sank.  She knew where he
was going.  Ranma's eyes told her he knew she knew.  "Um..."  She
steeled herself.  "Only one way to find out."  She stood up,
keeping Ranma's hand.  Ranma's eyes opened wide as she dragged
him to his feet and out the dojo doors.  She stopped on the
veranda.  "Become a girl," she told Ranma firmly.

     "You are serious about this, aren't you," Ranma said
wonderingly.  He stepped out into the rain.  Akane watched him
shorten and curve.  Ranma stepped back up onto the veranda and
shivered a little.  Akane took her hand again before either of
them could lose their nerve and led her into the house.

     "Akane?" Kasumi said as they passed her in the hall.  "Oh,
hello, Ranma-kun.  Aren't you supposed to be at school?  Akane,
what are you doing here?"

     "Taking a bath," Akane shot back over her shoulder.  Ranma
smiled helplessly at Kasumi as she was pulled into the bathroom.

     Kasumi put her hand to her mouth.  "Oh, my goodness!"

     Akane stopped in the changing room and locked gazes with
Ranma.  *You're in charge here,* Ranma's eyes said, and the
message quelled some of Akane's nervousness.

     "We undress," she told Ranma.  "Just like two girls in a
locker room.  You don't stare at me, but you don't make a point
of looking away, either.  Don't men do the same thing in public
baths?"

     "Yeah," Ranma said.  She turned half away and started
undoing the buttons on her shirt.  Her peripheral vision told her
Akane was removing her jumper.  She concentrated on her own
disrobing.  She finished and stood still, cheeks pink, shivering
a little.

     "All right,"  Akane said finally.  Ranma turned.  She kept
her eyes firmly on Akane's face, which was blushing furiously,
but her excellent peripheral vision could see that Akane was
trying not to cover her sensitive bits with her arms and hands,
and not completely succeeding.

     Ranma exerted control, and found that it came rather easily.
*Easier'n a Hiryu Shoten Ha.*  She relaxed, moved over to the
water taps, fiddled with them, and decided she really didn't want
to be any colder than she was.  "How ya doin?" she asked over her
shoulder.
     
     "Not so good."
     
     Ranma nodded.  "Control it the same way you control anger,"
she told her student, still not looking at her.  "You're in
charge.  I won't look unless you tell me you're ready.  Think of
this as training.  Remember the soul-of-ice training Pops put me
through?"
     
     "Hai, Sensei."  Ranma heard a hint of giggle in her voice
and sensed her calming down a bit.  Ranma turned around and
looked, still keeping her gaze above Akane's neck.  Akane was
blushing less, but still looked nervous.
     
     "How do I look?" Ranma asked, turning around once and
stopping with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head.
*Get her mind off her own body...*
     
     Akane's gaze traced down Ranma's body.  Ranma noticed the
faint frown that appeared when Akane looked at her breasts, and
smirked a little.  "You look great," Akane said finally.
"Dammit.  You really do have no feminine modesty at all."

     Ranma shrugged, producing interesting secondary motions.
"Nope.  Didn't start out with one, and after ya flash your tits
in battle a few times, it ain't really an option."  She frowned
and put her hands on her hips.  "What the hell is the matter with
you?  You're naked with other girls all the time, and it doesn't
bug ya."  Her voice took on an I-told-ya-so tone.  "Guess ya know
there's really a guy in here, after all, hey?"

     "No!"  Akane turned away quickly, hunching her shoulders.
"It's not that!  It's you!"  Ranma saw her shudder.  "Boy or
girl, you're engaged to me... you've seen me before, by accident,
but I don't... I didn't want to... to... to display myself to you
until our wedding night!"  Akane spun back.  "And now you stand
there, and you're gorgeous, and you just have NO trouble at ALL
keeping your eyes off me, and... you just have NO idea how
HUMILIATING that is, DO YOU?!  YOU'RE NOT UGLY!!!"  She turned
her back on Ranma again and covered her face with her hands.

     Ranma stood there, slumped, and she listened to the weeping
noises echoing in Akane's corner of the room, and she thought
about all the times she'd violently denied wanting to look at
Akane's body, and she could only think of one thing to do.
"Akane."

     "WHAT?!"

     "Hit me."

     "...What?"

     "What part of 'hit me' didn'tcha understand?  Hit me.  I
deserve it.  Neither of us is gonna feel better until ya do."

     Akane turned, and looked into Ranma's sad eyes, and raised
her hand reluctantly.

     Slap!  Ranma rode it out, and waited.  Slap!  Slap!  Slap!

     "You done?" Ranma asked through cheeks that were reddened
and beginning to swell.

     "I think so."  Akane giggled suddenly.  "At least you're not
so cute any more..."

     Ranma rolled her eyes.  "You know how good my control is,
Akane."  She twiddled her thumbs.  "I, uh, wanna look at ya, but
I tol' ya I wasn't gonna until ya said I could, so I didn't."

     "Oh."  Akane thought about that.  "Ranma... you can look at
me... if you want to..."

     Ranma looked.  She smiled shyly.  Akane began to feel quite
warm.  "Well?" she said when Ranma's eyes returned to her face.

     "Ya look fine ta me,"  Ranma said, shrugging helplessly.  "I
ain't no poet.  Akane..."  She gulped.  "I, uh, I always wanted
ta look at ya.  Ever since that first time, when ya walked in on
me in here, thinkin' I was another girl.  I did.  I just couldn't
say it, 'cause... uh..."

     "... because if you did, you would have been a husband
before you knew it, or I would have gotten angry and beaten you
into a pulp, or both," Akane completed, looking a lot happier.

     "Both,"  Ranma confirmed.  Her eyes thanked Akane for saying
what she couldn't.

     Akane shook her head.  "I've been an idiot."

     Ranma turned away.  "Uh, me too."  She felt Akane's small,
hard hand pat her bare shoulder, and jumped a little.

     "Sorry, partner.  About a lot of things."  Akane started
putting her clothes back on.  Ranma followed suit.  "So, what
about St. Hebereke's?"

     Ranma sighed.  "Since it's you askin', I'll give it a try.
You better cover for me, though."

     "Don't I always, when it really matters?  Thanks, Ranma."
She opened the door to the hall, saw Kasumi standing right there,
and jumped back.

     "Is everything all right?" Kasumi said, not smiling at all.

     Akane recovered and nodded.  "Now it is.  We, um, had some
issues to work out."  She felt her face get warm and cursed her
own capillaries.  "What are you doing here?"

     Kasumi let her smile return.  "Oh, just guarding.  Father
wanted to use the bathroom, and I felt that that would be...
disastrous."  *Someone needed to make sure things didn't get out
of hand inside, either.*

     "Um.  How much did you hear?" Akane asked cautiously.

     "All of the louder parts, and some of the rest," Kasumi
said.  She turned her regard to Ranma.  "Ranma-kun... hmm.  Would
you like me to call you Ranma-chan when you're a girl?"

     "Uh, no, Ranma-kun is fine either way," Ranma managed.  "I
get more'n enough 'Ranma-chan' from Momma."

     "Oh, yes, of course.  Well, Ranma-kun, I just wanted to say
that I'm very proud of you.  You're a fine young man, and I'm
sure you'll do well at St. Hebereke's.  Bring honor to our
families."  *And don't forget to keep your hands off of Akane
unless she asks for it,* she didn't say.

     Ranma got both messages loud and clear, and straightened.
"I will, Kasumi-san.  Thank you."  She bowed slightly and
followed Akane out.

     ~~~~~

     "Stop fidgeting!"  Akane hissed to Ranma as they approached
the gates of St. Hebereke's for the first time two days later.

     "I can't help it, dammit," Ranma said, trying to reach the
middle of her back.  "Bad enough I gotta wear a girl's uniform,
but Momma made me wear this damn bra, and it itches!"

     Akane suppressed a smile.  "Well, the uniform looks good on
you, at least."

     Ranma stopped trying to scratch and perked up a little.
"Really?"  She looked at Akane, also wearing the dark skirt and
tunic with a wide white collar that was their new school uniform.
"Uh, yours does too...  uh, it's less cute."

     Akane frowned.  "'Less cute'?!"  Her hand twitched on the
handle of her bag.

     "Argh!  That's not what I meant!  It, uh, makes you look
less like a girl-- no, no, wait!  More like a young lady!  Yeah,
that's it!"  Ranma sagged in relief and wiped her forehead.

     Akane shook her head.  "Baka," she said fondly.  "Thanks,
Ranma."  She looked at the gate.  "Well, here we go..."  They
stepped through the gate.  Other students swarmed by; some looked
at them curiously, but most ignored them.

     "Ranma-sama!  Let me be the first to welcome you!"  Kodachi
strode imperiously through the crowd of students.  "Oh, it will
be so marvellous to have you here with me!  When--"  She noticed
Akane and stopped.  "What on earth are you doing here, Tendo?"

     "I was also transferred to St. Hebereke's, Kodachi,"  Akane
said evenly.  "Ranma and I both got scholarships."  She smiled a
smile that didn't reach her eyes.  "I'm looking forward to trying
out for the gymnastics team."

     Kodachi turned white.  "You-- Oh, Daddy, you'll regret
this," she vowed to the sky.  She lowered her gaze to Ranma,
ignoring Akane.  "Well.  We might as well make the best of it, I
suppose.  Come, dear Ranma, I'll show you to the office."  She
took Ranma's arm, gingerly at first, then more confidently, and
started off.  Ranma grimaced and flicked an apologetic glance at
Akane.  Akane fell into step beside Ranma, shifted her bag to her
off hand, and took Ranma's other arm.

     *I hope they don't make a wish,* Ranma thought.

     ~~~~~

     Akane walked into the locker room and looked around.  "Wow.
It's nice."  It was: tall and airy, with rows of lockers and
polished wooden benches, and lit by clerestory windows.  Best of
all, it smelled clean, not like sweat or disinfectant.  "Look,
here's ours, all labeled already and everything!"

     Ranma nodded.  "Not bad."  She opened her locker, inspected
the interior, nodded again, and began to unbutton her tunic,
ignoring the other girls changing.

     Akane gulped a bit but started undressing.  *I guess I'm
glad we had that, um, practice.  He sure looks relaxed...*

     Ranma adjusted her leotard slightly.  "Hurry up, slowpoke."
She waited impatiently for Akane to finish changing.  "Right.
Now let's go show them some Unrestricted Gymnastics."

     Akane smiled with teeth and slapped Ranma's upraised palm.
"Hai, sensei."

     The gymnasium was the same large room Ranma had fought
Kodachi in last year, with a large floor area surrounded by
bleachers, but the ring was pushed over to one end.  Other girls
were positioning gymnastic equipment at the other end of the
room, and a large square of floor mat had been unrolled in the
middle.  Ranma stared at the trampoline and grinned.  "I just
gotta try that," she muttered, moving.

     "Wait, Ranma!" Akane called, but Ranma was already vaulting
over the padded rim.  Boing!  Boing!  Boing--

     Other girls gasped as Ranma didn't complete her third
bounce.  Akane shaded her eyes with her hand and stared up into
the maze of roof girders above the glaring lights, and thought
she saw motion there.  "Yuck," Ranma's voice came faintly.  "They
don't dust up here."  Ranma dropped out of the glare on an arc
that would carry her clear of the trampoline.  Akane ignored the
gasps.  Ranma landed lightly and wiped ineffectually at a smudge
of grime on her thigh.  "Guess I got carried away a bit," she
admitted.
     
     Akane handed her her towel.  "I was going to warn you, but
you were too fast," she accused.

     "Yeah, well..."  Ranma stopped.  Akane looked where she was
looking and saw Kodachi, doing a routine with a ball on the floor
mat.  She looked back at Ranma, noticed the intentness of Ranma's
stare, and glared at her.  "Shh," Ranma said.  "Watch and learn.
It's a kata, sorta."

     Akane was taken aback.  She turned her gaze back to Kodachi
and watched... and learned.  She had always counted Kodachi's
martial skill lightly, because of the gymnast's dependence on
tools, tricks, and drugs, but now she saw Kodachi's grace,
agility, and sense of timing.  The ball ran from one of Kodachi's
hands to the other, looped as she spun, arched into the air and
returned to be caught by her foot and flicked into the air again.

     Suddenly the ball was flying at Ranma.  Ranma caught it
spinning on a fingertip.  Kodachi walked off the mat.  "Now,
Ranma-sama, let us see your skill," she said.  Ranma glanced at
Akane, flung the ball on a high arc across the mat, and took off
on a rapid series of flips to meet it.  She poised for a moment,
then began the same routine Kodachi had been doing, but where
Kodachi was studied grace and elegance, Ranma was flowing energy
and casual precision.  Akane watched and learned.  She knew what
was next.

     Akane caught the ball Ranma tossed and stepped onto the mat,
feeling self-conscious and inept, but determined to try.  She
recalled the routines Kodachi and Ranma had done and began.  She
tossed the ball, rolled, caught it, spun, but she felt mechanical
rather than graceful.  She was about halfway through when the
ball just wasn't where she thought it was going to be, and there
was no way for her to recover it.  It fell to the floor and
rolled away.  Kodachi laughed scornfully.

     "Hey,"  Ranma said quietly, walking up.

     Akane turned on her.  "What?!"

     Ranma regarded her evenly, and she began to regret snapping.
"This isn't a battle, or a match, or even a tryout," Ranma said,
still keeping her voice down.  "This is just practice.  If ya
don't make mistakes in practice, it's 'cause you're not pushin'
yourself."

     "You didn't make a mistake,"  Akane muttered.

     Ranma smirked.  "I wasn't pushin'."  She paused and looked
at Akane speculatively.  "Am I makin' a mistake now?"

     Akane sighed.  "I hope not."

     "Good.  Want to know what you were doin' wrong?"  Ranma
waited for Akane's nod.  "You were thinkin' again.  I keep
tellin' you, stop thinkin' and just do it," Ranma said.  "And
don't take it so serious-like.  If this isn't fun, you're doin'
it wrong."

     "Hai, Sensei."  The familiar words calmed Akane.  She
watched Ranma demonstrate the move that had eluded her, then toss
her the ball and move clear.  Akane found her center and began.
This time, the ball arced neatly down her back and up the curve
of her leg to be flipped into the air, and she continued.  This
time, it felt right.  This time, she finished the routine without
bobbles.

     Akane had only a moment to stand and feel proud of herself
before she saw something flying at her.  She snatched the haft of
a ribbon-baton out of the air.  Ranma was standing on one foot
five yards away, twirling another ribbon and holding four clubs
in the other hand.  Her hand snapped and two of the clubs spun
across to Akane.  Akane caught them easily in her other hand and
set the ribbon twirling.  Ranma's eyes sparkled with mirth.  "Try
not ta tie yourself up this time," she said, and attacked.

     Kodachi watched Akane and Ranma sparring for a while, then
looked around.  Many of the other girls in the gymnasium had also
stopped to watch, talking among themselves.  Kodachi frowned.
"Now, ladies, I'm sure you have things to do!" she called.  She
clapped her hands, and the others scattered to the equipment.
Kodachi watched Ranma show Akane a club parry, then sniffed,
tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and headed for the parallel
bars.

     ~~~~~

     Ranma eyed the showers warily.  Clouds of steam were rising
from where the other girls were showering.  "Uh..."

     Akane took in the situation.  "Take the one on the end,
Ranma," she said, pointing, "and I'll take the next one, and I'll
make sure you don't get splashed."

     "Yeah, that'll work."  They waited for the spots to become
vacant, then moved in.  Ranma double-checked that she had her
hand on the cold-water tap and twisted it.  "Brr!"  Akane smiled
to herself and set her shower for luke-warm, just in case.

     Akane looked around for Kodachi as they returned to the
lockers, but saw no sign of her.  *Ha.  Kodachi stayed out the
whole time we were in here.  Guess she doesn't really want to
show Ranma her goodies after all...*  Akane opened her locker and
pulled a package out of her bag.  "Ranma?  I, um, got you
something..."

     Ranma turned, trying not to look at Akane while trying not
to look like she was trying not to look at Akane.  "Hm?" she said
casually.  Akane was holding out a thing that looked a bit like a
very short tank-top.  Ranma took it and examined it curiously.
"What's this?"

     "It's called a sports bra," Akane said.  "I saw it in a
store when Nabiki and I were shopping for school stuff.  It might
work better for you than..."  Ranma was already pulling it over
her head.  "If you, you know, run into hot water, it might not
look as silly, too," Akane said quietly.

     Ranma adjusted the garment and jumped up and down a little.
"Hey.  This is great," she said in a surprised tone.  She looked
at Akane.  "Thanks... partner."  Akane felt herself grinning like
a maniac at the look in Ranma's eyes, and had to suppress the
urge to throw her arms around Ranma and kiss... her?  Ranma was
too busy putting her uniform back on to notice that Akane had
gone pale and silent.

     ~~~~~

     "Hey, look at those two babes there," one of the guys
loitering around the gate of St. Hebereke's as school ended said
to his buddy, pointing.  "Let's pick them up..."

     "Tendo Akane!  Pig-tailed girl!"  Ranma and Akane looked in
the direction of the shout and saw Kuno Tatewaki running towards
them with two bouquets in his hands and a look of brainless joy
on his face.  They sighed in unison, glanced at each other and
nodded slightly.  "Furinkan has suffered dearly by the loss of
your great beauty, but I am here to woo-- urk!"  Kuno doubled
over as two fists slammed into his belly, jerked straight as two
elbows hit the nerve plexi in his shoulders, and fell face-down
on the pavement, out cold from two carefully controlled strikes
to his head.

     Akane and Ranma slapped palms and kept walking.

     "...or maybe not," the buddy said, wincing.

     "So, what do you think?" Akane asked, glancing at Ranma.

     "About St. Hebereke's?"  Ranma considered.  "All right so
far, I guess," she said finally.  "Uh... was it just my
imagination, or do girls really act different when there's no
guys around?"

     Akane looked at Ranma in surprise.  "Sure we do.  I thought
you knew that."

     "Uh, yeah, right.  Sure I did."  Ranma shut up.

     Akane smiled.  "You did fine today," she told Ranma.  "No
trouble with water, no ogling in the locker room--"

     "Hey!"

     "-- no one running around screaming 'Saotome-san's really a
guy!'  But you were still Ranma.  I knew you could do it if you
wanted to."

     Ranma looked uncomfortable.  "Still not sure I want to," she
said.  "But I said I'd give it a try.  Right now, I want some hot
water."

     "So do I," Akane said demurely.  Ranma eyed her uncertainly,
then started running, swerving to head directly for the Tendo
Dojo rather than following the street.  Akane muttered a bad word
under her breath but leapt onto the rooftops anyway, following
Ranma and trying to keep up.

     ~~~~~

     "Tendo Akane, please report to the main office."

     Ranma looked up at the PA speaker in the hall, irritated.
"Shit, it's lunchtime!" she said.

     "Language, Ranma," Akane chided.  "It's probably just
paperwork.  I'll be back in a minute."  She started down the
hall.

     "Wait, you got my lunch--" Ranma began.

     Akane turned and smiled mischievously.  "Well, this way
you'll have to wait for me, won't you?" she said while walking
backward.

     "Look--"

     "Saotome Ranma, please report to room 318," the PA speaker
interrupted.

     Ranma looked thwarted.  "Damn!"  She caught up to Akane.
"Say, where is room 318, anyway?"

     "I don't know, but I imagine it's on the third floor, baka,"
Akane said, as though to a small child.  "We're on the second
floor, so you find a stairwell, you go up--"

     "Yeah, yeah, I get it," Ranma muttered.  She stalked away.
"Stairwell... hm?" Taped to the wall by the stairwell was a piece
of paper lettered with "Room 318" and an arrow pointing up the
stairs.  Ranma shrugged and started up the stairs, three at a
time.  At the third floor was another sign, with the arrow
pointing down the hall.  Ranma followed the arrow.  More signs
led her to a door with half a dozen signs of varying sizes
pointing to it, all reading "Room 318".

     "I guess this is room 318."  Ranma tried the handle.  It
turned.  The door opened.  Ranma walked in.  At the far end of
the room, under large windows, a table was spread with an array
of food.  Ranma's stomach, neglected since breakfast, issued
orders to her legs, bypassing her brain.  Ranma went for the
buffet.
     
     Click.
     
     Ranma spun around.  "Kodachi!"
     
     "I'm so glad you could make it, Ranma-sama," Kodachi purred,
stepping away from the now-locked door.  She tugged gently on a
rope dangling from above.  Ranma looked up just in time to catch
a bucketful of hot water in the face.
     
     Splash!  PoingpoingpoingpoingpoingSNAPri-i-ip!  Buttons flew
as Ranma suddenly became the wrong size and shape for his
clothing.  He looked down in horror.  "Argh!  My uniform's
ruined!"  He carefully peeled the tunic off his arms, looked at
it, and discarded it.  Then he saw his skirt.  "Wah!  Momma's
gonna kill me!"  He glared at Kodachi.  "Why, you--"
     
     Kodachi was staring at his torso with her hands clasped
together beside her face.  "Oh, Ranma-sama, how handsome you
are!"
     
     Ranma could almost see the little hearts in her eyes.  He
looked down.  *I guess she's ignorin' the sports bra.  Good thing
I wore boxer shorts...*
     
     "Now, dear Ranma-sama, let us have a nice, cozy noontime
repast together," Kodachi suggested, in a tone which did not
admit the possibility that he would not wish to do so.
     
     "No way.  I'm outa here."  Ranma sprang past Kodachi to the
door and seized the handle.  It was locked, unfortunately for the
hardware.  Metal shrieked and snapped.  The door opened, and
Ranma was gone.
     
     Kodachi put one hand on her hip,  looked at her other hand,
and started folding down fingers.  "One... two..."
     
     "Eeek!"  "A guy!"  "AAAA!"  "Perrrverrrt!"  "Hey, he's
cute!"  "I saw him first!"
     
     Ranma burst back through the door, wearing a tightly
stretched sports bra, a damaged skirt, and a terrified
expression.  He slammed the door behind him and leaned on it.
"...three," Kodachi completed, and looked at Ranma with
satisfaction.  "It's so nice to see you again, Ranma-sama."

     "Hell!" Ranma moaned.  "Cold water... no, I need a new
uniform first..."  His eyes fixed on Kodachi's chest.  "Kodachi.
YOU'VE got a uniform.  You wrecked mine.  Gimme."

     Kodachi frowned.  "No, Ranma-sama, that's not how it goes.
You're supposed to say something like, 'Those drab rags do not
suit your divine figure!  I must free you from their tyranny!'
Then you tear my clothes off, I collapse into your strong arms,
and you shower my upturned, panting lips with feverish kisses."

     Ranma's jaw dropped.  He collected himself.  "I ain't got
time for this."  He took three rapid steps forward and his hands
blurred.

     Kodachi felt a draft and looked down at her lacy black bra.
She looked back at Ranma, who was holding her suddenly unoccupied
uniform top, and put her hands to her blushing cheeks.  "Oh,
Ranma-sama, how forward you are!"  Her eyes glinted suddenly.
"You realize, of course, what will happen to you if I scream?"
Ranma paled.  Kodachi took a graceful step forward and draped her
arms around his neck.  "However, if you're... nice... to me, I'll
keep quiet."
     
     "Uh... how nice?"
     
     "Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?"  Kodachi began to
draw Ranma closer.
     
     "KE-!"  BAM!  Ranma and Kodachi both snapped their faces
toward the door in time to see Akane's worried look, bucket of
water, and kicking foot.  The door, which had offered no
resistance to Akane's assault, rebounded off the wall. Akane's
expression changed to saucer-eyes just before the door slammed
shut again.  Akane shoved the door open, charged in like an
avenging angel, and slammed it behind her.  "RANMA!" she roared.
     
     Ranma suddenly realized what he looked like, and worse, what
Kodachi looked like, and worse still, what they looked like
together.  "You got it all wrong!" he began, without much hope.
     
     Akane hit him over the head with the bucket of water.
Ranma's yelp of pain changed pitch halfway through as the change
occurred.  Akane ignored it.  "You pervert, I leave you alone for
five minutes and you're half undressed!  And she's... she's..."
     
     "Deshabillee?" Kodachi suggested.
     
     "You keep out of this!" Akane stormed.
     
     Kodachi eyed her haughtily.  "Speaking of keeping out, Ranma-
sama and I were about to enjoy a pleasant little interlude before
you intruded, Tendo.  Why don't you just accept that Ranma-sama
would rather be with me than with you, and begone?"

     "Uh, Kodachi?"  Ranma said while Akane's mouth opened and
closed soundlessly.

     Kodachi's expression changed as she turned back to Ranma.
"Yes, Ranma-sama?"

     "Sorry about this--"  Pow!  Ranma caught Kodachi as the
taller girl folded neatly, and lowered her to the floor.

     Akane's eyes were saucers again.  "You hit her!"

     "Oops.  I guess I did."  Ranma examined her hand as though
she'd never seen it before, then glanced sheepishly at Akane.
"Uh, I ran outa things to say?"

     "But... you HIT her!"  Akane seemed to be torn between
horror and admiration, giving astonishment a clear lead.

     "Hey, I'm a girl, right?  Besides, if YOU'D hit 'er, I
wouldn'ta had ta!"  Ranma had a long fuse, but most of it was
already burned by this time.
     
     Akane blinked.  "But... her top..."

     "Well, look what she did to mine!" Ranma complained,
scooping the sodden mass up from the floor and displaying its
buttonlessness.  "And my skirt!"

     Akane looked stunned.  The abused door started to edge open.
She kicked it closed again without looking.  Pained sounds were
heard from the hallway.  Ranma hastily readjusted her sports bra
and shrugged into Kodachi's tunic.  "Damn," she remarked,
inspecting her waistband.

     Akane shook her head hard and regained her priorities.  "Um,
hang on, I think I have a safety pin," she said, rummaging in her
clothing.  "Here..."  She jury-rigged Ranma's waistband.

     "Is that a girl thing?" Ranma asked interestedly.

     "What?  Safety pins?  I guess so.  We can mend it when we
get home.  Help me find your buttons."  She glanced at Ranma
while they poked around on the floor.  "You really weren't,
um...?"

     Ranma looked disgusted.  "Of course not.  Jeez.  If I was
gonna smooch someone, it'd be--"  Ranma shut up suddenly, but
Akane saw her blush and matched it.  "Uh, got 'em all.  Let's get
outa here."  They left quickly.

     Kodachi twitched, then sat up groggily.  "Oh... I must have
fainted when Ranma-sama kissed me..."  She noticed the absence of
her top.  *He must have torn my clothes off... and showered my
upturned, panting lips with feverish kisses!*  "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-
ho!"

     The door was opened cautiously.  "Captain Kodachi?  Are you
all right?"

     Kodachi's laugh cut off abruptly.  "Oh, I'm far better than
all right," she said dreamily.  Her voice changed.  "Fetch me
another uniform, at once."  She picked a carrot stick off the
tray and nibbled on it meditatively.  "Now, how shall I enter
this in my diary?"

     ~~~~~

     "Saotome-san."

     Ranma stopped whispering to Akane and straightened up
hastily.  "Hai, sensei."

     "Do you have something to share with the class?"

     Ranma shook her head.  "No, sensei."

     The teacher sighed and came up the aisle between the desks.
"Hold out your hand."  Ranma obeyed.  She knew what was coming;
she'd seen this happen to other students.  She felt the ki, just
a little, as the teacher raised the ruler...

     Crack!

     The teacher stared at half a ruler.  Ranma sat there like a
pig-tailed statue, her hand still held out, unmarked.  "Don't
chat in class," the teacher said finally, and returned to the
front of the room.

     Ranma lowered her arm and glanced sideways at Akane.  Akane
was struggling silently to keep a straight face, and barely
succeeding.  *I think maybe I will like it here, after all.*

     ~~~~~ end Herding ~~~~~

Next: Four confrontations-- or is it five? No, it's not a lemon!
in Chapter 7: Mating
to be posted tomorrow.

Vince Seifert    Network Analyst     seifertv@csus.edu
http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/  updated 1998Jun04
CSUS hired me to build their network, not to speak for the university.