Alternatives - Chapter 3 ************** On their way to school the next morning, Ranma asked Akane if she wanted her first lesson. "You want to spar with me on the way to school? Ranma are you nuts?" Akane said aghast. "I didn't say nothing about sparring. I asked you if you wanted your first lesson." Ranma replied. [Geez, Does she think I'm stupid or something?] "Oh, sorry. Yes, I would like my first lesson, Ranma. What do I need to do?" Akane said apologetically. [What do you know, she actually listened to me.] "Okay, Akane jump onto this fence. When you get your balance, walk along it ahead of me. Don't worry about falling or nothing, I'll catch you. I don't want you to get hurt." "I don't want to get hurt, either. Are you sure about this?" She asked nervously. "You want to get better don't you? This will teach you better balance and coordination. If you know that you can walk along a fence, you can trust your body when you need to." He explained. "Okay, if you say so." Akane said doubtfully. She jumped onto the fence. Overbalanced and about to fall off, Akane felt strong hands straighten her up. [I can do this.] Akane told herself grimly. She began walking along the fence. [I can do this!] Akane gleefully thought. "You're doing great, Akane. Walking is the most difficult skill. OK, now start running. You'll find it's easier to run than to walk on the fence." Ranma encouraged her. [If you think I can do it, I know I can.] Akane began to jog. After a block, she sped up. Finally, they were sprinting. When they arrived at Furinkan High, they both jumped off of the fence. "Akane, that was spectacular! It took me months to be able to do that. I am proud of you." Ranma said. [Brain to Mouth -- Don't tell her that I was seven when I learned to run on a fence.] "Thank you, Ranma." Akane beamed. [He actually praised me!] She then reached over and pulled him into a hug. As they entered the gates of the school, they noticed that many of the students were looking in their direction. "Akane was running on the fence?" "They're not arguing?" "She hugged him?" "Darn, I bet that they would never hug in public this year. I should learn never to bet against Nabiki." "He gave her a compliment?" "Who are these people and where are the real Ranma and Akane?" Kuno had been awaiting Akane's arrival. As he saw Akane and Ranma enter the gate, he moved away from the tree he stood under. He met them and began, "Oh, How I sorrow that the bud that is Akane Tendo is being starved in the light of Ranma Saotome. I see you strive each day to bloom for him. What does he do? Does he shine any warmth or light onto you? No. The dog dishonors both himself and you with his treatment of you. Oh, Akane, come bask in the warmth that is my sunlight. Come and grow strong in the love that I will shower upon you. Oh ... URK" Akane calmly malleted him. "Kuno, For your information, Ranma and I are in love. Right, Ranma.?" "Uh, Right, Akane." Ranma stammered embarrassedly. "I l-l-love you. You l-l-love me. ..." [Oh man, I don't like saying this stuff in front of people.] "Ranma, if you start singing the Barney song, I'll mallet you, too." Akane teased Ranma as she hugged him again. [I could get used to hugging him like this.] [I could get used to being hugged like this.] Clap ... Clap ... Clap They turned and saw Nabiki walking toward them. She was applauding their show of affection. "I have to hand it to you, Sis. When you and Ranma admit you love each other, you sure announce it romantically." Nabiki said sarcastically, but with a smile. "I didn't know you could do it, Ranma." [Akane, that was truly a stupid thing to do. Ranma hasn't made any decisions yet. Now, his other three fiancees will be breathing down your necks.] "Uh, well, I didn't either. Heh. Heh." Ranma put his hand behind his head. "Oh, by the way, here are your clothes for your week together. Have fun you two." Nabiki laughed as she went to her class. [I've got to get to Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi. If they hear about this little scene, they might get violent.] As the student body face-faulted around them, Akane and Ranma blushed red. "Let's get to class, before this gets worse. OK, Ranma?" Akane whispered to Ranma. "Yeah." ************** At his desk, Ranma soon lost himself in his thoughts. [Man, I wish this could be solved with a fight. That would be easy. How to start? I don't know. Pop would just go on another training trip and never come back. I can't do that. Mr. Tendo would have an emotional breakdown. I won't do that and besides nothing would be solved. Akane would want to bash the problems. She and I are the same that way. Heh. Nabiki, how would she look at my problems? She'd probably create a list of positives and negatives for each decision and choose the one with the most positives and least negatives. She's always working on some list or another. ... That wouldn't be a bad idea. OK, here goes.] At this point in his thoughts, Ranma puled out a notebook and began writing in it. The teacher was very surprised. [Ranma has never shown this much interest in geography before. He is really beginning to take notes.] Ranma begins writing: -----Option 1 --- Live With The Curse Positive - There would be only one of me. Positive - I could still search for a non-Jusenkyo based cure. Negative - I would have to marry a man AND have a baby to have a chance of getting rid of it. Negative - Mom said that everyone who has gotten married and had a baby, then decided to stay that way. Negative - My fiancee's would probably want to kill me if I married a man. Ugh! I would rather commit seppuku. -----Option 2 --- Jump into the Nannichhuan anyway Positive - I wouldn't be a girl in cursed form Negative - I don't know what I'd end up. I might end up with a body with no sex. I might end up with a body with both sexes. Negative - No cure after second plunge, according to guide. Negative - Doesn't solve my fiancee problems. If I marry Akane, the others might still try to attack her. -----Option 3 --- Jump into the Spring of Drowned Twins Positive - There would be two of me. Positive - I'd always have a good sparring partner. Positive - One of me would be a man, forever. Positive - Never have to worry about water again. Negative - One of me would be a girl, forever. Negative - Shampoo might decide to try and kill the new girl Ranma. Negative - Doesn't solve my fiancee problems. If I marry Akane, the others might still try to attack her. -----Option 4 --- Jump into the Spring of Drowned Twins Multiple Times Positive - There would be one of me for each fiancee Positive - I'd always have a good sparring partner. Positive - The others would be men, forever. Positive - Never have to worry about water again. Positive - Solves my fiancee problems. Positive - I could have a me without a fiancee. That me could be normal. Negative - One of me would be a girl, forever. Negative - Shampoo might decide to try and kill the new girl Ranma. Negative - Mousse would try to kill me. Like he has a shot. Hah! Negative - Kuno would go after the me as a girl. He does that now! Negative - Could I handle seeing Akane married to another me? Negative - Could I handle being married to Ukyo, Shampoo or dating Kodachi while still loving Akane. I would have to for honor's sake. Negative - Dating Kodachi, How would I make sure that there are no potions or poisons in the food? Negative - Would I be a second class citizen of the Amazon tribe married to Shampoo? ************** "Since you've been taking such good notes this morning, would you care to answer the question, Mr. Saotome?" His teacher asked. "Huh?" Ranma said brightly. [What are we studying? Geography.] "Hiroshima, sensei?" The room erupted in laughter. Akane just looked at him and shook her head. The teacher looked at Ranma and said, "Interesting answer, Mr. Saotome. However, I don't believe that the capitol of Vietnam is Hiroshima." "Uh, I meant to say" Ranma thought furiously. He looked at Akane for help. She looked a little annoyed. [That's it!] "Hanoi, sensei." [Thanks, Akane!] "That's much better, Mr. Saotome." [I guess he wasn't paying as much attention as I thought.] ************** [ All right, where was I? Oh, yeah. I can't think of any other positives or negatives. I think I will go over each option and think about each of its' drawbacks and advantages.] Ranma turned to a new page in his notebook and began writing. ************** Option 1. Live with it. If I live with it, there will be only one Ranma Saotome. I wouldn't have to worry about anyone getting me mixed up with another me. Though, with only one of me, there's not always enough of me to go around. I could still search for cures not based on Jusenkyo waters. I'm sure that I will find it, eventually. If I continue to live with my curse, the curse will continue acting on me. I might start to find men attractive all of the time. I might find girls attractive only as friends. The only known cure is to get married to a man and then have a baby. He stopped writing. He pondered getting married to a man. His mind came up with a picture of Kuno in a western style tuxedo an himself in a wedding kimono. He then big-sweated. [NO WAY!!!!! I WILL NOT EVER GET MARRIED TO A MAN.] There would be no easy resolution to my fiancee problem. At the least, my honor would be destroyed. Option one is out. I will not live with this curse. ************** Ranma stopped writing. [Whew. This isn't very easy. I'm having to think as hard as I do during a fight. Well, nothing big is ever easy.] He then flipped to a new page and began again. ************** Option 2. Jump into the Nannichuan anyway If I do this, I would no longer be a girl when splashed with cold water. Why didn't the Jusenkyo Guide ever tell us that it would not be a cure? Mr. Tendo even ordered Nannichaun from him as a wedding gift. I guess I'm glad that Happosai did drink it. I wonder what my cursed form would be. I might end up with a body that has no sex. A body that's neither boy or girl. Yuck. Of course, I might end up with a very girly looking body with male parts. Then again, I might end up looking just like I usually do except with a vagina. I might end up with both organs. According to what Mom told us, there would be no chance for any other type of cure. It might make changing to my cursed form a little less embarrassing. I would still have fiancee problems to resolve. I don’t want to use this option either. It’s too risky. If all else fails, I could use it as a last resort. ************** Ranma paused as he saw it was time for lunch. He looked towards Akane. She had been immediately set upon by her friends. They seemed to be discussing what happened that morning. He looked toward Ukyo. She was angrily marching toward him. He thought, [I really don’t want to tell her anything right now. She’d be really hurt that I’ve told Akane that I love her. I’m not sure enough about my choices to talk to her about them yet either. She’ d tell me to use either the 3rd or 4th options. The 3rd option as long as I married her and not Akane.] "Hi, Ukyo!" He began nervously, "I'm sorry, I can't talk right now. I'm a little busy." Having said that, he grabbed his stuff and jumped out the window onto the school yard. "RANCHAN!!!" Ukyo yelled after him. "You'd better have a good explanation for this!" He jumped onto the roof from the yard. [Maybe she won't find me here.] He hoped. He then opened his notebook to the next new page and began writing. ************** Option 3. Jump into the Spring of Drowned Twins Once. The really cool thing about this would be that there would be two of me. I’ d never have to worry about finding a sparring partner at my level. Also, I ’d have a sister! Wait a minute ... I’d be my own sister. ... Both of me would be cured. The male Ranma would always be male and the girl Ranma would always be a girl. It would be a challenge to be a girl. I’ve beaten every challenge I’ve ever had! Mom, Akane, Kasumi and all of my other friends would help me to adjust, I’m sure. I don’t think I would like all of the rules a girl has to live with. Don’t walk with a long stride. Always eat after the men have taken their portions. I can get a lot of free stuff by being cute, though. I wonder if Shampoo would try to kill my girl side? How would I break out of the neko-ken as a girl. What name would I use? Ranko has too many bad memories. I’d want a name that’s not associated with hiding and lying from my mother. I wonder what I would’ve been called had I been born a girl? My girl side would be forever chased by Kuno. At least, he would probably not bother my male half as much. I could still only marry one fiancee. I would end up hurting three others. Two others, if Ukyo or Kodachi jumped into the Nannichuan. I don’t even want to think about Shampoo as a half-cat guy. Overall this option isn’t too bad. I could handle it. The challenge of being a girl full-time would be a difficult one. I haved lived through being stuck as a girl. I have seen that there are benefits to being a girl as well as problems. ************** He stopped. Looking around, he saw that the lunch period was over. [I’ll just stay up here and finish. If I go back to class, Sensei will send me to the hall with buckets. Man, I’m stiff.] He stood up and went through a basic kata to stretch and relax. Finished, he sat back down and started writing again. ************** Option 4. Jump into the Spring of Drowned Twins Multiple Times. I would have a lot of brothers and one sister. That would be different. We ’d have to come up with names for all of us. Only one of us could be called Ranma. That would be a fight. Winner gets to be called Ranma. I really would be a man among men. Ha. I would be men among men. Just like with Option 3, I’d never have to hunt for sparring partners. I would have to remember to always spar all out with my sister. Man, I would hate it if I was the girl and found out that my “brother” had been holding back. All of my girl problems would be solved. That would allow family honor to be maintained. It would also mean that I don’t have to hurt any of them. Akane will have me. Shampoo could have one of me. That would release her pledge to either kill or marry me. Ukyo could have one of me. I like her a lot. I think I may even love her, just not as much as I do Akane. Even Kodachi could have one of me to prove herself with. I could even have a me that could just be free. My girl side would get to find her own path. Maybe even live with Mom. It wouldn’t all be roses. I would have to at least date Kodachi. Could I survive her potions and drugs? I’ve survived evrything Shampoo and the old ghoul have thrown against me. Mousse would not be ducky with this arrangement. Ryoga won’t like it either. If their cures rested on dealing with it, could they? Would I be able to be Shampoo’s or Ukyo’s husband and see myself with Akane? I would satisfy honor. Could I be happy? Would they? Will Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi be okay with this? Will they all want the “Real” Ranma and want the others to have one of the copies? I don’t like this option as much as I do the third option. However, family honor and obligations would be totally satisfied. If I am to be a man of honor, this is the path I must take. Kami forgive me. ************** Ranma slowly closed his notebook. He leaned back and stretched. [Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. I’ll have to ask Mom and Akane to help come up with names for all of my other selves.] He looked out onto the school grounds and saw that school was still in session. [I’ll wait up here and run through my katas until school is over. Then I’ll find Akane and we can go to Mom’s house. I’ll tell Mom and Akane then. We can then figure out how to tell Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi.] ************** Okay, guys what do you think? Am I developing things too slowly? I look forward to getting your C&C. Ja ne, Mike