Am I Pretty Again Ranma�s Declaration of Womanhood

Nothing much surprised Mousse in Nerima, the place was where they sent rest of Japan's crazy people was his theory. So he wasn't even surprised when a female Ranma dropped out of the stratosphere to rest at his feet. He was tempted to just let his unconscious enemy lie like a dog in the dirt or give him a kick, but simply couldn't. She opened her vivid blue eyes and stared up at him. "Ranma are you okay?" Mousse asked her.

"It that my name?" she asked in a voice that he'd never heard her use before; it could have rivaled sugar for sweetness and won.

"Yes", Mousse said in confusion and held out his hand to her "are you able to stand?" he asked becoming slightly concerned.

She extended her own tiny hand and he helped her up, she swayed slightly and he reflexively put an arm around her to steady her. She looked dazed and put her arms around him "are you my husband?" she asked after noticing that she was a female.

Mousse blushed bright red at this and hastily said "no, I'm Mousse, I'm your.....friend. Don't you remember me?" he asked.

"No I don't remember anything" she said in that same gentle sweet voice and to his horror, her eyes filled with tears. She looked hopelessly lost and woebegone.

"It's okay Ranma, we'll get you help. Please don't cry" Mousse practically begged, not able to stand seeing Ranma acting like the helpless girl. He thought for a second that she was faking losing her memory, but her act was too good and she clearly wasn't herself.

"Who am I?" she asked.

"Your name is Ranma Saotome, you live here in Nerima, Tokyo with your fiancée, her family and your father in a house a few blocks from here" Mousse explained.

"Ranma, isn't that a man's name? Oh I'm engaged, wait did you say her? Am I gay?" she asked alarmed at the idea, it was so perverted!

Mousse blew out a breath and wondered how he got sucked into these things "you're actually a man" he explained.

Her eyes grew wide with shock; she looked at herself and then tentatively touched her breasts, then blushed when she realized that Mousse had seen her acting so brazen. "So I'm some sort of pervert?" she asked in a panic.

"No you become a female when splashed with cold water and turn back to a male when you are doused with warm. It's called a Jusenkyo curse. I've got one too, I become a duck. You were born a man, we'll get you changed back in no time" Mousse assured her.

"But what if I don't want to?" she asked, her innocent blue eyes filling with tears at the idea.

Mousse started placating her "no one's going to make you, you can stay a girl as long as you want" he promised. "But we should go to Dr. Tofu's clinic to get you examined as to why you can't remember anything. He's a really nice man" he assured her.

"I trust him if you recommended him" she said, Mousse thought this statement a little weird. He led her to the clinic, only to find that she was swaying on her feet. Carefully he boosted her onto his back and did the one thing he never thought he'd do for Ranma; he piggybacked her to the clinic. He marveled at how tiny she actually was and how little she weighed as she clung to him so trustingly.

If Dr. Tofu was surprised to see two sworn enemies together, he didn't show it. He just ushered them in so that he could get both their stories. He checked her head and found a huge lump on it. "So tell me what you remember?" he asked her.

"Nothing until I woke up and this dear, sweet man took care of me" she explained in her honeyed tone of voice. Dr. Tofu looked startled and Mousse's eyebrows shot up to hear Ranma describing him that way.

"Ranma, or would you rather be called Ranko? You appear to be suffering from amnesia" Dr. Tofu explained.

"Would you call me Ranko? It's such a pretty name" she said and clasped her hands happily together. This caused the males to be shocked again.

"S-sure Ranko, I would be happy to" Mousse stammered.

"I have a theory, Ranko, do you mind if we run a test? It won't hurt you" Dr. Tofu said.

"Sure" she said happily and picked up a teddy bear that one of his young patient's had accidently left out. Mousse's jaw dropped when she hugged it and kissed its nose. "Hello Mr. Bear" she said in a bright, happy tone of voice. 'This can't be Ranma' Mousse thought.

Dr. Tofu came in with a kettle and a pitch of cold water, stood her before a full length mirror and said "Ranko what do you see?" he asked.

She giggled and studied herself from all angles "me I guess, but why aren't I wearing a pretty dress?" she said with a frown at her baggy Chinese clothes. Dr. Tofu poured the kettle over her head and she morphed into her male form, she stared at herself for a second in shock and then began to wail in an extremely gay tone of voice. "What have you done to me, I'm hideous! Change me back!" she cried and then flung herself into an extremely surprised Mousse's arms. His eyes went wide and he sweat dropped to be suddenly holding a sobbing male Ranma. Sensing Mousse's discomfort, Dr. Tofu hastily dumped the cold water over the sobbing male, so that it was a damp girl that Mousse held instead. It made him feel slightly better, but if anyone had asked Mousse's opinion which half of Ranma he would rather hug, Mousse would have chosen neither.

"It's okay now" he found himself saying in a soothing voice. She leaned back and turned innocent blue eyes on him.

"You promised I wouldn't have to become like that!" she accused him.

"Dr. Tofu had to assess the situation, it won't happen again" Mousse said and reminded himself that this was his worst enemy that he was comforting.

"I'm sorry Ranko, would you mind getting us some tea?" Dr. Tofu asked her.

"I forgive you, of course I will" she said giving them a sunny smile and skipping off to boil the water.

"I have a theory. This isn't the first time that this has happened to her, one time a blow on the head from a skillet caused her to become like she is now. As far as I can tell she's the female side of Ranma that he represses. She's pretty much the opposite of what he is, she's sweet, naive, peaceful and just loves being a girl and all things feminine" Dr. Tofu explained.

"So she becomes Kasumi?" Mousse summed up.

Dr. Tofu repressed all natural tendencies when her name was mentioned to make Mousse understand how grave the situation was "in a nut shell yes, but the twist is the last time she didn't lose her memory, just her male personality. That she recognized neither of us concerns me" he said with a frown.

"It doesn't surprise me, it's not like I was even friend to him, er her" Mousse pointed out.

"Did she remember anything when you questioned her on finding her?" Dr. Tofu asked.

"No she seemed to think I was her husband" Mousse replied with a blush.

"Its as I feared, you need to take her home and explain the situation to her father and the Tendos'" Dr. Tofu said.

"Why me? It's not like I even like her" Mousse protested.

"I have other patients and if I call the house they're going to send Kasumi to come get her and then I'll be useless to all" Dr. Tofu explained. "Besides, it looks like you make her feel safe"

"Oh, that does make sense" Mousse agreed faintly, getting that sucked in feeling that he used to get when his youngest sister presented him with a flowery hat and apron to attend her tea party in.

"The tea's ready" announced Ranko giving them a sweet smile. They both turned in surprise to see the prettiest tray of tea that they'd ever seen. She'd chosen the pale pink English tea set with matching cups, folded each napkin into origami swans and arranged cherry topped cookies into a smiley face on the plate with a white doily behind it. "I hope you don't mind, your nurse told me where to find your usual tea pot, but this one was so much prettier" she explained. Somehow she had managed to acquire a white ruffled apron and a red gerbera daisy was tucked behind one ear. The effect was charming, sweet and entirely unlike the Ranma the both knew. Now sweat drops appeared on the back of both of their heads.

Dr. Tofu just looked at Mousse and he conceded "I'll make sure she gets home okay" he replied.

Ranma stood peering at the holes in the fair sized house "this is where I live?" she asked dubiously. "Why does it have all those holes in it?" she asked nervously.

Mousse opened his mouth to explain that they were caused mainly by his male side, when the door flew open and Akane marched out demanding "Ranma where the hell have you been?"

This caused the female Ranma to get startled and hide behind Mousse. Akane blinked in confusion at the scene "who's that?" Ranko asked in a frightened voice.

"This is Akane, she's your fiancée" Mousse answered.

"She's seems so violent" Ranko simpered.

Akane put her hands on her hips and snapped "what are you playing at now Ranma?"

"Calm down Akane, I have things to tell you about Ranma......" Mousse said and was invited in and explained it to all of them and then they all introduced themselves to the confused girl.

"Again?" Nabiki said.

"Oh my" Kasumi added.

"Ranma snap out of it!" Akane demanded "we can't go through this again!"

Mousse noticed how she flinched from this "perhaps you shouldn't yell at her right now?" he suggested. "She's confused about who you are and doesn't know her own identity"

"He's right" Kasumi said "Ranma do you remember who hit you?"

"Please call me Ranko" she implored. "No all I remember was waking up and seeing Mousse-kun"

"Of course" Kasumi said with an encouraging smile.

'Mousse-kun?' Mousse himself thought, not used to hearing himself addressed so loftily by anyone.

"We'll all help you get through this, just like the last time" Kasumi assured her.

"I say we spare ourselves the trouble and brain him now" his father grumped, utterly disgusted by his son's sweet, cloying ways, Soun Tendo nodded solemnly in agreement.

"What was that?" Kasumi said with an edge in her voice.

"Nothing Kasumi" they said playing innocent.

"Well, it looks like my job here is done" Mousse said rising, happy to wash his hands of the entire thing and get back to doing what he loved best, pursuing Shampoo. He rubbed his hands together in glee when he realized that Ranma was out of commission for now. "Ranko, I wish you a complete recovery" he said while his brain added 'a long slow one'. "Thank you for the tea, I'll be going now" he said with a respectful bow. He was about to turn leave and when a blur of red streaked towards him and then suddenly Ranko had her legs wrapped around his waist and she was clinging to his robe like a monkey.

"You can't leave, I don't know these people!" she cried.

He pushed at her, she didn't budge an inch, he could only marvel at her thigh muscles. "You don't know me either, these people as you call them, are your family and they'll take care of you" he said trying to pry her off of him to no avail.

"But I feel safe with you" she said with her eyes filling with tears.

"You'll be fine" he said. "I only live a couple of blocks over and will give you a phone number to reach me at"

"You mean it?" she said and allowed herself to be lowered to the ground.

"Of course, you can ask anyone here. I live above the Nekohanten, that's a Chinese restaurant, with a......couple of friends" he said, not wanting Ranma to remember Shampoo anytime soon.

"It's true Ranko, I'll show you where it is" Kasumi offered.

"Oh, okay" Ranko said accepting the number from him and allowing Mousse to leave. He was relieved to get away from the bizarrely cute, charming Ranma. He hoped that he wasn't becoming like Ryoga, who would latch onto any girl that gave him the time of day. Then dismissed that thought, there was only one girl for him. He pushed open the door to the restaurant and she looked at him. Just that simple look was enough to make his heart race and his head feel light. "Hello Shampoo" he said in the high, rushed voice that he could never help using around her, even though it embarrassed him by how desperate he sounded.

His head felt even lighter when it received a solid clunk from a wooden staff and a gruff voice demanded "boy where have you been. I sent you out to get soya sauce over an hour ago?"

He lay there with his head reeling while the old ghoul stood on his chest and Shampoo laughed along with all of the customers. He hated that his only role in Shampoo's life seemed to be for comic relief. He thought about telling them about his strange encounter with Ranma, but then pictured Shampoo dashing off to take care of him and replied "I must have lost track of time"