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Ranma 1/2 - Redefined

A fanfic by Baka-ken (#Fanfic nickname)

Disclaimer: Yeah, all Ranma 1/2 characters are Rumiko Takahashi's.
Everything new is mine, all mine!

C&C profusely welcome to gibbering_geoff@hotmail.com

Part 1: Cure?

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~Hmm...~    denotes thoughts

-What?!-    denotes emphasis

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Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock droned on as time slowly worked its way towards eight o'clock.

"Any minute now," whispered Akane. She was standing in the centre of the
dojo, watching Ranma as he anxiously paced back and forth. He hadn't
even touched Kasumi's dinner, an unthinkable deed for the young martial
artist.

The rest of the household sat at either end of the dojo; Genma and
Nodoka Saotome at one end, with Soun, Nabiki and Kasumi Tendo at the
other. Nobody said a word. Everyone's mind contained only the news that
Ranma had announced to them the previous night - there was a cure.

==========

"Ranma!"

That voice sent shivers down Ranma's spine. Resigning himself to his
fate, he turned. Just as he'd suspected, a purple blur was cannoning
towards him. Wincing at the impact, he found himself in a fierce embrace
with Shampoo. Unfortunately, a few moments later, he felt another
impact. This time it was Akane's fist connecting with his face.

"Get your hands off her! Pervert!" she yelled, her face a picture of
rage. "Every opportunity you get!"

"Why pervert girl hit Shampoo's husband? Leave alone," the Chinese
Amazon countered, hands on hips, glaring at Akane. The youngest Tendo
crossed her arms in front of her, matching the malevolent glare. Ranma
felt the tension in the air, and backed off slowly from the face-off.

"Whaddya want, Shampoo?" he asked. "We gotta get to school," he added by
way of explanation. Something had to be done before this degenerated
into a full-scale war. Shampoo turned to face him, all smiles again.

"Great-grandmother want see Ranma in Nekohanten after school. Very
important!" she chirped, beaming at Ranma.

"Alright. I'll be there," he replied, motioning for Akane to follow him
as he set of for Furinkan again.

"Wo ai ni!" Shampoo called after him as they headed from sight. Ranma
winced. Yet another thing for Akane to get mad at him about....

==========

Ranma's feet padded softly against the mat laid on the centre of the
dojo. His eyes followed them, engrossed in every detail, trying to
remove the worries, fears, and doubts from his mind. All the millions of
things that could go wrong paraded in his mind's eye, taunting him with
all the terrible outcomes that could as easily be the future as could
Ranma Saotome being free of his curse.

Akane watched him disconcertedly. He was really on edge. This wasn't
something that his strength and skill could take care of. This one was
down to Cologne and whatever magic she had found that could banish
Ranma's other form.

==========

Time wound inexorably towards the end of school. Ranma almost snapped
his pencil in apprehension. Maybe it was just another reason Cologne had
come up with for him to marry Shampoo, but he wasn't sure. There was
something about the way Shampoo had been acting. It had to be something
else - but what else could Cologne want to talk to him about?

Eventually the end of school came, and Ranma sped out across the school
grounds towards the exit. He passed Akane on the way, waved, and carried
on speeding past.

"Where are you going?" shouted Akane. "That's not the way home!" Ranma
turned to face her, jogging backwards.

"The Nekohanten, remember?" he called back to her. "What?" he asked,
looking quizzically at her. She and her friends, Sayuri and Yuka, were
glaring at him, but he ignored her allies.

"Going to see that Chinese bimbo, are you?" she accused, her mouth tight
with anger.

"No! I'm going to talk to Cologne, remember?" denied Ranma, thinking
himself exonerated. But logic was no defence from an angry girl.

"I'd better come along to make sure your hands aren't all over Shampoo."

"Fine."

They set off for the Nekohanten, after Akane waved goodbye to Sayuri and
Yuka. Ranma didn't really know them apart from their names, but they
were Akane's best friends. He hadn't really spoken to them very often.
He began to wonder what they were like....

Akane broke into his thoughts with a call.

"Ranma!"

"What?!" he rounded on her, on the defensive as a reflex.

"We just passed the Nekohanten."

"Oh." He went the same colour as his shirt, doubling back and opening
the door for Akane. She didn't acknowledge the simple kindness, but he
didn't expect it, given their track record with noticing the other's
good point.

As soon as Ranma entered, Shampoo giggled happily and launched herself
at him, landing with her arms wrapped around him in an unbreakable
embrace. Unbreakable, that is, until Akane's book bag connected with his
face. He collapsed to the floor while Shampoo stared daggers at the
youngest Tendo daughter. As a barely visible glow of a battle aura rose
around the two women, Ranma got to his feet, trying to stand between the
two to defuse the situation.

"Uhm... we're here to see Cologne..." he said, looking Shampoo in the
eyes.

"Ok, husband!" she chirped happily, dashing off towards the back of the
restaurant. Ranma realised people were staring at them, and motioned for
Akane to sit at a table, taking a seat himself opposite her. He avoided
looking at her, but she continued to stare daggers at him.

"You had to start feeling her up, didn't you?" she muttered in a hoarse
whisper. "Can't keep your hands away from that bimbo!"

"It's not like that!"

"How is it then? I saw the way she was clinging to you, and you did
nothing to keep her off!"

"Akane-" he began, but was saved by Cologne's arrival, the Amazon
matriarch bouncing in on her stick and sitting on the table by Ranma and
Akane.

"I'm glad you came, son-in-law. I have a matter of great importance to
discuss with you," she began. "Shall we take this to the back room?"

Ranma and Akane followed her, wondering what she couldn't talk about in
front of the rest of the cafe. Before they could worry about it too
much, Cologne filled a glass with water, and called for Shampoo. The
Amazon warrior stepped forward, grinning inanely. Cologne glanced at
Ranma.

"Watch," she said simply, hurling the water at Shampoo. Ranma flinched,
expecting to see an object of terror. He blinked. Rubbed his eyes. His
jaw dropped.

Standing before him was a dripping, but still very human, Shampoo.

==========

There was a cure. And Cologne had it. And she was going to use it on
him. It had already worked on Shampoo. With that he banished the visions
of doom before him. When it had already worked, what could go wrong? But
Ranma Saotome had far more enemies than Shampoo...

The cure had to have a price. If ever Ranma Saotome was going to be
offered a way out of the hell Jusenkyo had caused him, there would be a
price. And generally, it was far too high.

Ranma looked up from his pacing, to his parents. They were positively
glowing, knowing that their son would soon be free of the last obstacle
for him being a true "man among men". That before the night was done,
their son would have a true chance at happiness. Of course, in their
opinion, this chance at happiness would involve Akane no longer having
an objection to marrying him when she no longer had a reason to call him
perverted.

Ranma was glad his mother was here for this. Too long had she been
absent in his life. He just wished he'd been honest with her earlier,
the way it had turned out.

He began to resume his pacing, when he heard a hoarse whisper from his
father.

"Make sure you ask her to cure certain -other- people!"

Ranma nodded, grinning, at his father, then walked back to the centre of
the dojo, glancing at Akane, at the apprehension in her eyes.

"She'll be here," she said.

"I hope so," he replied simply. There was nothing else to be said.

"Your lack of faith isn't very gratifying, son-in-law," admonished
Cologne as she entered the dojo. All eyes turned to face her. "Well?
This is between Ranma and me. Out! All of you!"

They complied, with various complaints and muttering various curses, but
they recognised the power behind Cologne's words. Any failure to obey
her could mean the end of any chance Ranma had to be cured. Then only
Cologne, Ranma and Akane were left in the dojo.

"Akane. Leave," said Cologne. "Don't make me do something we'd all
regret."

Akane scowled, turning to Ranma. She paused uncomfortably, unsure of how
to say what she wanted to. In the end she squeezed his hand hard,
looking into his eyes before she left.

"Well," said Ranma, turning to the old ghoul. "What do I do?"

"Sit," ordered Cologne, pulling a jar out of her robe and placing it on
the ground between them. "Here it is. This is the essence of the cure."

==========

Ranma and Akane's jaws had carefully been removed from the floor, and
Shampoo had retreated into the bowels of the Nekohanten to dry and
change.

To change.

She hadn't changed when the water had hit her. Ranma was still
struggling with the concept of Shampoo -not- turning into a cat. It was
impossible. There wasn't anything that could remove a Jusenkyo curse.
But there was. Shampoo was living proof, right before his eyes. As he
wrestled with what he had just seen, he realised that Cologne was
speaking.

"...and so, I found it. In the exact same tome I've consulted almost
every day for as long as I can remember. But I'd always ignored that
recipe for some reason. I always suspected that it was useless," she
finished.

"Isn't it great, Ranma?" Akane chimed in. "You can be cured!" But Ranma
was silent. This was it? As simple as that, he'd be free of the demon on
his back? Demoness, really... Everything he'd gone through, and the old
ghoul could have saved him all those damn transformations if she'd only
looked at her recipe book? He nodded, slowly.

"I need time to prepare the cure, however, son-in-law. I'll meet you
tomorrow night at the Tendo dojo," Cologne declared. "Now, I'm sure
you're wondering what I want you to do for me," the ancient Amazon said,
reading his mind.

"You could say that," acknowledged Ranma. "So, out with it, ghoul. What
do I gotta do? I'm not marrying Shampoo right away for no cure."

"Nothing as drastic as that, son-in-law. I just wish you to spend time
with Shampoo. Maybe help her to improve her Japanese. God knows I've
tried, to little result. You might do better. All I ask is that you get
to know Shampoo before making a rash decision on who you will marry."

Akane's blood was visibly boiling at Cologne's demands, but she stayed
quiet. As they thanked Cologne and turned to go, Ranma faced her again
and asked:

"How come you ignored the recipe all that time anyway, Cologne?"

"Well, there's nothing particularly magical about the ingredients. They
could all be found in the Tendo family kitchen,"

"Yeah," added Shampoo, appearing again. "Shampoo go fetch them now."

"That should be 'I'm going to fetch them now', Shampoo."

Everyone spun to face Akane, who turned away, going a fierce scarlet.

==========

Ranma let a smile creep across his face remembering the coy smile and
blush on Akane's features, and her rapid admission of wanting Ranma
cured as much as Shampoo did. She could be cute when she wanted...

"Wake up, son-in-law!"

Cologne's voice startled him from his reverie. He focused his eyes on
her instead of the point in the distance they had been on. With a sigh,
he rubbed the back of his head absentmindedly.

"So, what now?" he asked.

"Now, we start to cure you, son-in-law," replied the ancient ghoul. With
that, she opened the jar and hurled it's contents at Ranma, beginning to
mutter in Chinese. The collection of herbs stopped just in front of
Ranma in a diffuse wall, and then began to spread around him, a circle
surrounding him. Then the walls shot forth, blocking his sight. The dust
now covered him from head to toe.

He slowly opened his eyes, his body protesting all the way about the
pain it caused. The rest of his body was a rock. Unable to move, unable
to speak, he watched helplessly as Cologne moved her hands in arcane
patterns, chanting, bringing forth strange and incomprehensible powers.
This was it. He was going to be cured. What could get in his way now?

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small shape speeding
towards them. At the same moment, he felt goosepimples on his skin when
a bucketful of cold water soaked him to the skin. Strangely, however,
the dust remained on him as his body began to go through those too-
familiar changes.

As the world went white, Ranma saw the figure knock Cologne to the
ground and turn to face Ranma herself. Ranma's teeth clenched, and her
face discoloured underneath the mask of Cologne's cure.

Happosai was here.

==========

Crouching in a corner of the rafters, Happosai watched the Tendo
household with interest. Something was going to happen, he could feel
it. And at the centre of it was sure to be...

"We're back!" called Akane as she and Ranma wandered inside. The silly
grins on their faces were unmistakable. And they were home late from
school...

"What's up with you two?" asked Nabiki, cutting to the point as always.

"N-Nothing," stammered Ranma, conscious of his father's presence.

"There's a cure!" exclaimed Akane gleefully, almost bounding into the
centre of the living room.

"What?!" yelled Genma, knocking over the shogi table at which he and
Soun Tendo were playing their game, each cheating as much as the other,
in his mad dash to get to Ranma. He grabbed his son roughly by the
shoulders, shaking him. "Is this true, Ranma? Tell your father, is there
a cure?!" he roared, shaking Ranma hard again, his eyes betraying his
hope. But Ranma was silent, calmly grabbing his father by the gi and
hurling him out of the open door into the Tendo's koi pond. He brushed
off his red shirt casually, turning back to everyone else.

"Thanks for ruining the surprise Akane. Knew I couldn't trust an uncute
tomboy like you to keep her mouth shut." Akane's hands curled up into
fists at this, and Ranma quickly followed his father out of the door.
Smashing into the rising panda, they both fell back into the pond.

Happosai turned away from the scene. Ranma could be cured? This was not
good. The wizened old lecher definitely did not want to lose a certain
beautiful redhead...

Cackling, Happosai fled the rafters to plot his greatest achievement to
date.

==========

Cologne felt the blow throw against the dojo wall with a sickening thud,
knocking the breath out of her. The Amazon rose slowly to her feet, her
aged body protesting at every movement, and tried to make out what
Happosai was doing from her blurred vision. She hadn't been prepared for
that attack, absorbed in her work with Ranma. That work was now being
taken, twisted and put to a new use by Happosai's powers. Realising the
aim of the magic's new configuration, she felt a lump in her throat.
Launching herself with all her power, she began to fight to save her son
in law from that fate.

She saw the lecher's battle aura flare and Ranma contort in pain.
Focusing her own aura, Cologne picked up her staff from where she had
abandoned it to work on Ranma, attacking Happosai for all she was worth.

=========

Ranma tried to scream as pure agony rippled through her body, causing
her rage to flare higher than the battle auras she could see before her.
Through the flashes of pain she could make out two figures in what
seemed to be a standoff. They weren't fighting any more. What was
happening?

She examined the auras before her, trying to make sense of the rainbow
haze surrounding the combatants. She felt the raw power flowing in the
air between the two ancient martial artists, realising that it was
flowing towards her. She was the battle ground, the contest, and the
prize.

Suddenly, Cologne's aura flew together, accumulating into two solid
white balls around her hands. Happosai's quickly followed suit, and
Ranma screeched in agony as the power flew into her body, the air around
her glowing white hot.

==========

Cologne watched on as the white spheres congealed and expanded, covering
Ranma's whole body. She wasn't sure who had won, yet. Ranma dropped out
of the ball, black pigtail scorched. Turning to Happosai in victory,
Cologne heard a dull thud and a feminine whimper.

Looking back at the spot Ranma had landed just in time to see the ball
of power dissolve into the air. Lying on top of Ranma was... Ranma, her
red hair frayed and charred, and her lip dripping blood where she had
bitten it to escape the pain.

She saw the female Ranma stir, open her eyes, and come face to face with
her double.

The scream pierced her ears, bringing the Tendo and Saotome families
running.

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Author's notes:

First of all, thanks to TannimFodder for prereading this :D

Well, it finally got done... I posted this to the list a while back, but
realised that as it was the opening to my fic was a bit boring... So
here it is, and hopefully it's less boring now ^_^


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