Chapter Text
Walking in from the dojo, toweling off sweat from his workout, Tendo Akahiko noticed his sisters and father sitting in the living room locked in a conversation that looked rather intense. It also did not seem to be going well, based on the way his sisters were glaring at his father.
While taking in the scene, he also noticed that his father was holding a postcard. Who sent a postcard anymore? There was texting or LINE or... email, if you wanted to be a bit old fashioned.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Daddy apparently engaged us to a boy he’s never met,” Nabiki said, her voice holding an acidic sharpness. “He doesn’t even know if the guy’s cute...”
“It does seem rather poorly thought out,” Kasumi added. “To say nothing of how old fashioned it is.”
“It’s... it’s for the sake of the future of the dojo and Tendo school,” Soun replied, his lips quivering. “I promised his father we’d unite the schools and his boy would inherit the dojo...”
Turning to his father, Akahiko’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah!” Nabiki added. “Are you saying you’re not properly recognising Akahiko as your heir?”
“Hasn’t he proven his position as your son, father?” Kasumi asked.
“Uhh... well, Saotome and I promised we’d have our children marry and unite the two schools of Anything Goes before any of you were born. It’s nothing about Akahiko’s gender identity or... or...” their father stammered.
As he struggled to find words to defend himself there was a commotion at the front entrance. Declaring it must be the Saotomes, his father scrambled out of the living room and towards the genkan. The three Tendo children hurried after him, only to stumble into his back.
“B-b-bear,” he muttered as Akahiko and his sisters peaked around their father.
The three siblings discovered that he was telling the truth, as absurd as it sounded. There was indeed a bear in the genkan. Though, to the relief of all, they soon realised it was a panda. Simply an oddly gigantic panda.
Oh, and it was carrying someone on its shoulder, who was shouting about how the large beast was scaring everyone. Still utterly baffled, the Tendos watched in silence as the panda placed the small redhead between it and them.
“Are... are you...?” Akahiko’s father asked.
“Saotome Ranma... sorry ‘bout this,” the redhead said, fiddling with a small pigtail.
“Joyous day!” Soun announced, rushing forwards to hug Ranma.
Only to freeze up, squeeze Ranma once more, and then all but jump away. “That... you...”
Nabiki, ever the nosey sibling, leaned in to give this Ranma person a once over. Then, to Akahiko’s horror, she reached out and poked Ranma in the chest. Multiple times.
“With boobs like that out for the world and the makeup on your eyes, I’m going to guess there’s been a mix up somewhere about your gender,” she said.
Face turning scarlet, Ranma’s mouth stammered through unformed words for a few moments before nodding. “Y-yeah. Definitely.”
As soon as Ranma said it two things happened: his father let out a furious ‘growf’ and Mr. Tendo’s eyes went a bit unfocused, the tall man wavering slightly before seeming to faint. Thankfully one of his kids caught him, while the girl who was definitely the eldest gave him a few small slaps to wake him back up.
“Saotome swore he had a sooooon,” Mr. Tendo complained as the blue haired kid of his led him off to the living room.
Ranma had been briefly thrown off by the fact the blue haired Tendo kid was taller than the handsy brunette, but he was now pretty sure that was a guy and that he was just a bit younger than his sisters. That or kind of baby faced.
Before Ranma could think about that any further he realised his father had rushed off towards the kitchen. Thankfully his stubby panda fingers struggled to operate the electric kettle. That bought enough time for the eldest Tendo girl to rush over and maneuver what she believed was a panda rampaging through her kitchen.
Hopefully she would buy Ranma some time to set up enough misinformation to escape his dad’s nonsense engagement. If this Tendo guy already had a son he’d probably be less gung-ho about getting a son-in-law. If anything it would just lead to confusion about inheritance and all that junk.
After taking a few moments of joy watching his father be shooed out into the yard by the eldest daughter wielding a broom, Ranma then headed over to the living room where the other three already were. A moment’s thought led to him sitting beside the blue haired boy as protection from the grabby sister. Being groped was not fun, even if he was a guy.
“What am I supposed to do now?” Mr. Tendo was muttering.
“Use this as a learning opportunity, maybe?” the grabby girl said. “I was at least hoping he’d be cute... and not a girl.”
She then reached across, ready to take another grab of Ranma’s chest until her brother blocked her.
“Nabiki, she’s a guest.”
“Yeah, whatever, Akahiko. You don’t have a reason to care about this,” Nabiki muttered.
“I can still want to see her treated like a human being,” Akahiko muttered.
“Well, either way... I’m a girl,” Ranma declared with a hopefully convincing laugh, “which means there’s no way I can marry any of your daughters. So, I should just be on my way.”
“It’s still raining out there, dear,” the eldest Tendo sister said, returning from closing the engawa doors. “We can’t just send you out into that without dinner...”
The promise of free food ruined all of Ranma’s higher brain functions as he found himself nodding. “W-well, I suppose I could say for a little while. Until the rain clears up.”
“Excellent, I shall go start on dinner,” the eldest sister said.
“Thank you, Kasumi,” Akahiko replied, the rest of them all stumbling to add their thanks after him.
“Well, I’ve got no reason to stay down here... you two jocks can chat until dinner,” Nabiki said as she stood up and left.
“Jocks?” Ranma found himself saying in rough unison with Akahiko.
“Yes, yes,” Soun muttered. “Akahiko has proven himself as my heir as a martial artist... and I told your sisters that Ranma had just returned from studying martial arts in China. Assuming that that was true, at least.”
“You went all the way to China to study?” Akahiko asked, sounding surprised.
“My old man had heard about some temples and trainin’ grounds to check out,” Ranma replied, trying not to shiver as he thought about the way Jusenkyo had thrown his whole life upside down.
“Wait,” Mr. Tendo said, turning to look between Ranma and Akahiko.
There were gears turning in his head that surely were not a good sign. At least assuming Mr. Tendo was anything like Ranma’s old man. Seeing as how he and Genma were apparently old friends that seemed like a reasonable risk.
“You’re both martial artists,” he said with a small nod. “And Akahiko is a boy...”
Blinking, Ranma felt a new shiver run through him as he realised what that meant.
“I--ain’t he a bit... young?” Ranma asked, taking another look at the guy he was sitting behind. “Like, you’re tall for your age, but you’re, what, like... 13?”
“I’m 16,” Akahiko replied, a little annoyance slipping into his voice. “I just... wait, are you planning to make me marry her, dad?”
“Why not? You’re a young man now. This is an excellent means of shaking off any doubts from people at school,” Mr. Tendo replied, sounding quite happy about the idea.
To Ranma’s horror the other boy seemed to be genuinely debating it. At least for a moment, before shaking his head.
“No. No. I’m not going for an arranged marriage with a girl I just met!” Akahiko shouted, standing up to glare down at his father. “I’m not that hopeless!”
“What’s that supposed ta mean? Why am I the ‘hopeless’ option?” Ranma said, not liking the idea of being dismissed out of hand.
He was cute. His figure was amazing. If someone didn’t know he was really a guy, which this Akahiko guy obviously didn’t, then they should be thrilled about the possibility of marrying him.
“Ah, see. She’s fallen for you already,” Mr. Tendo said with a grin. “It’s decided. The schools can still be united.”
“Hey, wait!” Ranma then shouted, not wanting to be misunderstood.
“Who even does an arranged marriage in the Reiwa era?” Akahiko protested.
Their shouts drew the attention of both Tendo sisters, Nabiki having brought a bag of chips she was sharing with Kasumi. Though Ranma only vaguely noticed while trying to find a way to argue that he couldn’t marry a boy without revealing that he was a boy himself.
It wasn’t going well.
At least Akahiko was mostly on his side. Even if some of it felt like it was rubbing Ranma’s self confidence the wrong way. Despite all of that, Mr. Tendo seemed to simply be chuckling to himself about their protests.
And then Genma burst in from the engawa with a bathroom bucket full of hot water that was then dumped on Ranma’s head while he was distracted with arguing.
Blinking, Akahiko struggled to process what he’d just seen. The redheaded girl had just shot up at least 15cm, her hair had turned black, and, well, lacking a better wording, she’d turned into a guy.
Also, he had no idea who the guy was that had just dumped a bucket of steaming hot water on her head. Maybe he was Mr. Saotome?
“Darn it, Pops! I had nearly gotten out of this stupid scheme of yours!” Ranma shouted in a now rather deeper voice.
“That was the problem, you ungrateful little... what do you think I’ve been training you for, but to inherit this dojo?” Mr. Saotome shouted back.
“Um... what just happened? How did--” Akahiko asked, trying to understand the split second transition he’d just observed.
“And where did you come from?” Nabiki added.
“Yes, Saotome... I think we need an explanation of what’s going on,” Akahiko’s father said.
The bespectacled man nodded, sitting down at the table beside the now male Ranma. With a knowledgeable nod the man then began to tell a tale of Chinese curses that left Akahiko’s mind spinning. It wasn’t that he didn’t know magic existed. Kuno was always talking about artifacts he wanted and junk like that... But something that would answer his own desires so perfectly? That was amazing.
Assuming the reverse of Ranma’s apparent curse actually existed.
“And it really just works with cold water?” Kasumi asked, pouring a glass onto Ranma’s head.
As they’d been told, Ranma shrank back to female form. On top of actually shrinking, Ranma’s shouler’s sank with a clear feeling of defeat. That was something Akahiko would understand, considering how he’d feel to have such a masculine form wiped away so easily.
“Ahah, well, then... this isn’t so bad,” Akahiko’s father announced, slipping around the table to place a hand on Ranma’s shoulder. “You’re still a guy half the time, which means you can marry one of my girls.”
“He’s much too young for me,” Kasumi said.
“I’m not taking Akahiko’s dojo from him, daddy,” Nabiki added. “Especially not marrying a guy who’d actually want to keep it as a dojo.”
With that she grimaced, clearly horrified of the idea of doing anything with the dojo other than selling it.
Feeling smug that the inheritance he’d worked so hard to prove he deserved was secure he let out a sigh of relief.
“Well... I suppose you’re also a girl half the time, so you can also marry my boy Akahiko,” Soun said with a nod.
“What!?” the two teens shouted.
“Tendo, you must be joking...” Mr. Saotome protested.
“The schools would still be united,” Akahiko’s father replied. “And they’re an excellent match, all things considered.”
“Pfft,” Nabiki said. “I suppose they are.”
Both Saotomes were visibly baffled by the comment, exchanging confused looks. That was reassuring to Akahiko, considering he was only on blockers at the moment. At least until Ranma opened his mouth again.
“How are we--just ‘cause he’s a bit of a pretty boy don’t mean--”
“Don’t call me ‘pretty’,” Akahiko hissed.
Sure, transitioning had somewhat helped with his temper, but it wasn’t gone entirely. Being a little sensitive about his masculinity at this stage was probably still fair anyway. Anyone who had to deal with the idiots he had to deal with at school would be high strung.
“Oh, he doesn’t wanna be called ‘pretty’ even though I’m supposed to end up the wife in this stupid scheme,” Ranma countered.
“I’ve got my reasons, alright!?” Akahiko shouted, not wanting to have to out himself in front of a stranger he now hoped would be kicked out of the house by the end of the evening.
There was no way he was marrying another guy. He was straight. He’d told his dad that. Many many times.
It didn’t matter if the guy sometimes looked like a girl. That just meant he was kind of sort of trans too sometimes. Maybe that could be grounds for a friendship if they’d gotten off on a better foot, but that was utterly irrelevant to the matter at hand.
“Really, Tendo... we can’t marry two boys,” Genma protested.
“But think of it, Saotome, with them both having the martial arts training of men, any children they have would surely be even stronger,” Soun declared.
“Woah, kids!?” both teens protested, only to watch in horror as it seemed Saotome Genma was convinced by that new show of sexism.
“It’s a little mad, but it makes sense, Tendo...” Genma said with a few nods.
The two fathers having apparently agreed now, Akahiko found himself being glared at by the redhead. Though, at least, he decided to turn his rage to his father, throwing a punch at the man. The pair then began to fight ferociously, ending up back in the rain in the yard.
Akahiko decided to wish his unwanted fiancé(e?) the best of luck in his rebellion, but he knew his own father wasn’t about to change his mind. As such, he simply let out a sigh and headed to get a bath. The warm water would at least provide a little bit of reprieve from the stress of the evening.
Laying in the muddy grass after a second attempt at killing his father in about as many months (the previous time being at Jusenkyo), Ranma reluctantly accepted his father wasn’t about to rethink things. There might be future escape options, but he knew from experience that his father was good at tracking him down any time he’d tried to run off.
The best he could hope for was that his old man would come to his senses at some point and they’d leave together.
In the meantime, Ranma wanted to clean the mud off of him. It took him a few moments to find his way to the bathroom, where he yanked his clothes off. Having stripped, he then realised there was a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door to the furo proper.
Pausing a moment, he realised he’d seen Mr. Tendo in the living room, having some sort of celebratory drink. The handsy girl Nabiki had been watching tv too. Plus, he’d heard Kasumi cooking in the kitchen. Which meant the only person who might be in the furo was his supposed ‘fiancé’ Akahiko.
Flashing his reflection a grin (with the delightfully spunky girl in the mirror flashing one back), he decided it was time to mess with the pretty boy. Let him see everything there was to see of the smoking redhead and then run him through all the stages of sexuality confusion as Ranma gave him a full view of everything changing.
The plan then fell apart as soon as Ranma opened the door, finding Akahiko in the process of toweling off and giving Ranma a seriously confusing view.
Akahiko froze, both teens taking the appearance of the other in for a few moments. At least until the most pressing matter couldn’t be ignored by Ranma any longer.
“Where’s your--why d--how d’you have a... one a’... well, these?” Ranma asked, gesturing to his own groin.
That drew a blush from Akahiko before other lad wrapped the towel around himself. “Close the door first!”
Briefly wondering if there was anything bad that could happen from agreeing, Ranma nodded and slid it shut. Letting out a sigh of relief the other teen then nodded.
“I’m... I’m trans, alright?” Akahiko said with obvious reluctance.
“What?” Ranma replied with a tilt of his head, having no idea what that meant.
“You don’t... you’ve got that curse and you don’t know what being transgender means?” Akahiko asked.
The full word hit some sort of memory point somewhere in the plinko-machine of Ranma’s hippocampus, though it didn’t leave him much to go on. “So yer... one a’ them okama types? But you said you were straight? And... and if you already got yer bits off then why--”
“Woah! Woah! Firstly, that’s not a good thing to call anyone, Saotome,” Akahiko said, straightening up to his full height to stare down at Ranma. “Secondly, I’m going the other way. I’m only on puberty blockers right now, which saved me having to grow any breast tissue... I’ll be starting testosterone some time next year, once I’ve grown a bit more. Then I should start squaring up and getting some facial hair and all that.”
Ranma took a moment to work out what the words he’d just heard meant, but they sorted themselves out in his brain in what he thought was a reasonable amount of time for how little he knew about any of that.
“So... you’re a girl that’s becoming a guy?”
“A guy that was assigned female at birth... but never actually a girl,” Akahiko corrected him. “It took me a lot of years to convince my dad, but I eventually got through to him and he accepted me as his heir. But I guess he still didn’t think I’d have any luck finding a girlfriend on my own, which is why he was so happy to push me into this engagement.”
“Well, I... I don’t really know what ta say,” Ranma found himself muttering. “I guess we do have somethin’ sort of in common, but... I still don’t want to marry another guy. Heck, I don’t want to marry a girl yet. I ain’t old enough for that sort of life commitment.”
“Agree to have each other’s backs in fighting against our dads?” Akahiko offered, extending a hand.
“... Yeah. I’ll agree to that,” Ranma replied, shaking it.
What Ranma didn’t realise at the time was just how much he was going to need Akahiko’s support in the coming days.