Ten of Two

by Togashi Gaijin

Ten of Two: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Damn it, I forgot Mom was coming over after breakfast." Ranma tried not to smirk; if Genma had any hair left, all of it would be sticking straight out at the moment. "Serves the jerk right, but I'd better get Mom out of here before she sees Pop change. Hope the lazy bastard appreciates the save."

"Uncle Genma's always doing that, Auntie," Ranma volunteered. "He's always callin' me 'boy' and Ranma 'girl', tryin' to get both of us all riled up. It's part o' the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Maken Dökoku Ha special technique."

Nodoka glided over to the middle of the room where "Ranko" was seated with a slight frown on her face. Ranma stood up as she approached.

"Ranko-chan, did I hear that correctly? My husband is teaching you the Saotome School of Anything Goes?"

"Well, yeah ..." Ranma replied. She wasn't quite sure of what the expression on her mother's face meant.

Nodoka bobbed her head once, slowly. She gave Ranma a warm smile and caressed the side of Ranma's cheek briefly with a soft touch. "That explains so much, dear. I was beginning to worry about you, you know."

"Huh?"

"Later, dear." Nodoka turned towards her husband, her expression hardening almost instantly. "Husband! We will discuss what you have been teaching Ranko-chan after I return, and you will remain here to await my return. Is that understood?"

Genma quailed at the look Nodoka was giving him. His eyes rapidly found the floor. "Yes, dear."

Nodoka nodded sharply. She looked over towards the broken doorframe, a smile quickly replacing the glower she had been bestowing on her wayward husband. "Kasumi-chan?"

"Yes, Auntie Saotome?"

"I trust that Clan Tendo can ensure my husband will not decide to suddenly embark on another training trip for the next day or two, can I not?"

The eldest Tendo daughter looked back with wide eyes. "Yes, Auntie."

"I'll go get the rope ... again," Nabiki quipped with an obvious smirk.

"Nabiki!" Soun said with a huff.

The right edge of Kasumi's lips twitched. She nodded. "Please do, Nabiki-chan."

Soun's head swiveled so quickly he nearly developed a case of whiplash. "Kasumi!"

"Thank you, Kasumi-chan," Nodoka replied with a brilliant smile. She turned back to face Ranma again. "Ranko-chan, will you please accompany me back to my house for tea?"

"Umm, right now?"

"Yes, please. I know I promised you and Akane-chan that we would go out shopping together when I got here, but I must ask for your understanding and patience for a few hours first."

Ranma sighed to herself. Well, it did get them out of the house - but she had a bad feeling about whatever it was her mother wanted to talk about. She forced herself to give her mother one of her "sparkling Ranko" smiles. "Sure, Auntie." A brief tap on the back of her leg reminded her about her new companion.

"Akane-chan, please accept my apologies for the unexpected change in plans," Nodoka said to the youngest Tendo. "If you still wish to go out shopping later today, ..."

"Oh, what an adorable little fox," Kasumi interrupted. The normally placid homemaker virtually teleported over to Ranma's side, who was cradling Bendis in the crook of her left arm. Kasumi immediately dropped down to her knees in front of the redhead.

"Aren't you the most precious little thing," Kasumi continued rapidly, reaching out to scratch the fox's fur just underneath the chin. "And so well mannered, too. I do hope you will stay a while for a visit Mister Fox I just know you will enjoy your stay here at Tendo-ke I can make up a nice comfortable little nest for you and oh my I'll have to look up what you like to eat but don't worry it won't be ..."

"Umm, Kasumi?" Ranma inquired, staring bug-eyed at the elder Tendo.

"... any trouble at all but you'll have to watch out for Mr. Saotome he tends to steal food from everyone else at the table and be careful around Ranma-kun's and Ranko-chan's friends they ..."

"Kasumi?" Ranma tried again.

"... tend to be a bit exuberant when they come over to play and we wouldn't want you getting hurt now would we but I can't imagine how anyone could even think of ..."

"Kasumi?"

"... hurting such a beautiful fox like yourself with such a cute little mark but don't you worry we'll make sure that nothing like that ever happens around EEEK!" she shrieked when the object of her attention suddenly disappeared from her view.

"Kasumi," Ranma said, eyes still wide. The redhead now cradled the fox in her other arm. "Sorry, but Mo... Auntie Saotome wanted me to go over to her place, and I promised I'd take care of Bendis personally or I'd leave her with you today."

Kasumi stood up and smiled. "Of course, Ranko-chan." She suddenly snapped her fingers. "One moment, I have just the thing for you two." Kasumi ran out of the room. Several seconds of silence followed this unexpected event.

"Ummmm, yeah. Right," Ranma said, finally breaking the stunned silence. She took a deep breath - that had been ... well ...

Kasumi ran back into the room carrying a small black backpack. "Here you are, Ranko-chan. I put a nice comfy pillow inside for Bendis-chan and there's room in the side pockets for a little food and a small water bottle on the right side in case she gets thirsty and it's made of nylon so you don't have to worry about Bendis-chan getting wet or falling out when you roof-hop or the backpack getting ripped when your friends play too rough and you wouldn't let anything like that happen to her anyway now would you of course you wouldn't enjoy your tea-time with Auntie and your shopping with Akane-chan and I'll have everything fixed up for Bendis-chan before dinner tonight so don't worry and enjoy yourself today okay?" Kasumi gave Ranma a big smile and handed the backpack over to the redhead.

Ranma nodded in silence, almost afraid to speak lest she set Kasumi off on another hyperactive episode. She carefully placed Bendis in the backpack with Kasumi's assistance before slipping it over one shoulder. She then accompanied her mother out of the room, leaving behind one unexpectedly enthusiastic animal-lover and a small group of very bewildered family members.


"Please make yourself comfortable, dear, while I make some tea."

"Sure thing, Auntie." Ranma sat down at the main table with some trepidation. The walk over to Saotome-ke had been done in relative silence, and she had become increasingly nervous the closer they had gotten to her mother's house. She barely suppressed a startled shriek when Bendis quietly flowed into her lap. However, the fox's presence did help ... the feel of silky fur under her hands actually calmed her down noticeably, and the ten minutes she spent waiting for her mother to return seemed to pass noticeably faster when she had a lap full of fluffy fox.

Nodoka sat down at the table to the left of Ranma, placing the tea service down in front of them both. The first cup of tea was partaken in silence. The sound of Nodoka's teacup gently settling on its saucer was horrendously loud to the redhead's ears.

"Ranko-chan, dear," Nodoka began, her eyes unusually intense. "There are a great number of things which have been uncertain over the past nine months and have only now become clear to me. Why my husband seems to have forgotten where he lives. Why my husband and son have always just 'left on another training trip' whenever I arrive at Tendo-ke. Why you and the other Tendos are always so nervous each time I visit. Why, when I finally have solid proof that my family has in fact returned, I find you and not my son in the company of my husband and the Tendos. And most importantly, why such a beautiful and vibrant young lady, whose true lineage is painfully apparent to anyone concerned, would so mysteriously appear one day in the household of our family's oldest allies at the very same time my husband and son have supposedly finished their long journey of exploring the Art."

Nodoka stopped, appalled. Ranko's face had rapidly lost all its color and it was obvious she was trying very hard not to tremble. Her eyes ... kami-sama, the poor dear's utterly terrified. Nodoka's stomach suddenly roiled - she had long suspected the Tendos had been helping the girl keep some deep, dark secret, but the only thing the Saotome matriarch could think of which would cause this strong of reaction was ...

No.

Oh dear kami, please, no!

Nodoka's watched Ranko's eyes briefly flitter about like those of a caged animal. Her heart threatened to stop completely when the youngster's gaze quickly settled on the Saotome honor blade resting on its stand in the tokonoma alcove.

If she had any doubts before, Ranko's actions had just confirmed them in the worst possible way.

Nodoka sagged in her seat. The demands of Honor were painfully clear, yet at the same time could she punish this girl who so clearly exhibited the virtues of Courage, Honor, and Loyalty by ignoring Benevolence? Would that not also cause her to fail in Rectitude as well? One must always strive to balance all seven virtues, and what act would be considered the more virtuous: raising Honor above all else, or ...

Yes. There was really only one way to achieve true balance.


A single thought blazed its way through Ranma's mind over and over again - "She knows." It was the culmination of Ranma's darkest fears; her mother had finally figured everything out before she had found a chance to set everything straight. She stared fixedly at the family katana resting on its stand and another thought rapidly forced its way into her internal mantra - "I'm gonna die."

"She knows she knows she knows she knows ..."
"I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die ..."
"She knows she knows I'm gonna die I'm gonna die ..."
"She knows I'm gonna die she knows I'm gonna die she knows I'm gonna die ..."

Ranma's internal spiral halted with a shriek. Her head snapped over to her mother and to the elegant hand which was now covering both of hers on the table's surface.

"Ranko-chan, I want you to tell me the truth. It's important that you answer my questions truthfully - can you promise me that?"

Ranma hesitated, then nodded with an uneven jerk. She couldn't have answered verbally even if she had wanted to - nothing would have emerged except a small squeak if she had tried.

Nodoka closed her eyes for a moment and took a slow breath to center herself. She would get this right.

"Ranko-chan, please listen to me." She reached over to place a hand along side the younger girl's face. "On my ancestor's honor, I swear to you as head of Clan Saotome that nothing, absolutely nothing you tell me here today will result in harm to any you hold dear."

Ranma's brain locked - she couldn't have heard that right. "Bu ... bu ..."

Nodoka sighed and took up Ranko's hand with both of her own once more. "Dear, there comes a time when one must properly balance all of the virtues together. No matter what agreements may have been made between myself, my husband, and my son, using those agreements to deprive an innocent young girl of her true birthright would destroy the very honor we were trying to uphold." The elder Saotome's grip on the redhead's hand became painfully tight. "Please, Ranko-chan, I must know. My son, Ranma - does he yet live?"

"WHA????" Ranma stared at her mother. "But ... I ... you ... how ca... well, of course he does, Auntie!"

Nodoka looked deep into her eyes for several long seconds before sighing in relief. The girl was telling the truth - maybe things weren't quite as dire as she had originally feared. She put one hand over her own heart and smiled. "Thank the kami; I had been so sure ..."

Nodoka watched as bewilderment replaced the stark terror which had inhabited those gloriously expressive cerulean eyes just seconds before. This puzzled her as well - what could possibly have elicited such the response if it hadn't been centered on her son's well being? If not Ranma, then what, or more properly who, had Ranko been so concerned for? Herself?  Or possibly ...

If it were that simple, she would certainly have more than simply ... words ... to discuss with her husband in the very near future. First, however, she had a very precious girl to reclaim.

"Ranko-chan, I know this must be very difficult for you, but please be assured I am not going to take your father away from you." Nodoka suppressed a growl. "He will, however, know just exactly how displeased I am with him by the time I'm through."

"Huh?" Ranma was now thoroughly confused. Her mother evidently didn't know about the curse, and yet she sounded like she did. What the heck was going on?

"Dear, it's painfully obvious you are not a Tendo; your heritage is blazoned across your features for all to see. How old are you, in truth?"

"Ummmmm. Sixteen, Auntie."

"The same age as Ranma," Nodoka said with a nod. "I can only assume Genma must have encountered one of my distant cousins right after we ... yes, that would fit ... the month he went missing during my second trimester ..."

"Auntie?"

"Ranko-chan, dear," Nodoka replied, taking both of Ranma's hands in her own. "Are you a Saotome? Is Genma Saotome your real father?"

"Erk!"

Ranma almost couldn't believe ... well, considering her life recently ... okay, so maybe this wasn't really any stranger than normal, come to think of it. Her mother thought that "she" was ... and she said she wouldn't ... and she'd be able to see her mother as Ranma soon enough ... and the intense yearning in her mother's eyes was just too painful to bear ...

Ranma slowly nodded her head in agreement, and the smile her mother gave in response was blinding.

"Daughter."

"M.mom?" Ranma blinked once. The second blink was interrupted by a nearly bone-crushing embrace.

"Daughter!"

At least Bendis had been quick enough to jump out of Ranma's lap first.


Twenty minutes elapsed before mother and daughter were once more seated at the table sipping their cups of tea. Twenty minutes filled with more love, warmth, and caring than Ranma had ever known before in her life. Twenty minutes of being held in her mother's arms with no worries of shape-shifting curses, no fears of seppuku, no stupid 'Sudden Surprise Attacks', no being yelled at or malleted or blackmailed or attacked or glommed for simply expressing emotions ...

Twenty minutes of being normal. Twenty minutes Ranma wouldn't trade away for anything else in the entire world.

She looked over at her mother and could literally feel the happiness and joy radiating out from the older woman. Ranma had always hated "playing Ranko" before, but that was because she had never been given the choice. Because of her pop's stupidity, "playing Ranko" had been the only way she had been able to spend any time with her mother at all, and with the curse she could never relax her vigilance for even a second. A moment's inattention could literally spell the difference between life and death and the whole stupid situation had prevented her from being able to enjoy her mother's visits in the slightest.

Now that the curse was no longer going to be a factor, playing Ranko wasn't quite as big a deal. She'd finally see her mother as Ranma soon enough, and being able to give her mom a daughter as well as returning her son to her was a gift she thought she'd never be able to give.

And somehow, fussing about things which had bugged her no end in the past - such as her mother's ideas on "proper clothing" or "proper behavior" - just didn't seem that important any more. Not compared to how happy she had just made her mom feel. Ranma had a lot to make up for all the time they'd been either on the road or actively hiding from her because of the curse - and if that meant being both son and daughter for a while then that's exactly what she was going to do.

For once it seemed as if the kami were working with her instead of against her.

"Ranko-chan?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

Ranma didn't think it was possible for her mother's smile to get any brighter, but somehow she managed it anyway.

"You said you were sixteen years old, correct?"

"Yeah." Ranma thought for a moment before frowning. "At least, I'm pretty sure I am."

"Pretty sure?" Nodoka replied, her eyebrows furrowing momentarily. "How can you not ... daughter, just when is your birthday?"

"Don't know."

"You ... don't ... know ..."

"Nah," Ranma said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Wasn't that important, and Pops never celebrated them anyway."

"WHAT?!?"

"Huh?" Ranma was surprised to see how quickly her mother's mood had changed. "Don't worry 'bout it, Mom. Not that big a deal - really."

"Ranko, oh you poor poor dear," Nodoka's expression suddenly softened. "Tell me, dear ... your father, he's been teaching you Anything Goes along with your brother, right?"

"Umm ..." Ranma stopped for a second. Well, technically ... "Yeah."

"This isn't something recent, is it? Were you out on the training trip with them?"

"Well, yeah ..." Ranma was looking forward to spending a lot more time with her mom. Hopefully she'd eventually learn how her mom thought; she had no idea where this was headed. And just what was the big deal about birthdays anyway?

"Ranko-chan," Nodoka asked in a quiet tone of voice. "Just how long were you out on that trip with your father and brother?"

"Well, pretty much since the very start, Mom."

"Oh."

"Mom?"

"Ranko-chan," Nodoka began, taking both of Ranma's hands in her own - an act Ranma was now starting to associate with Unpleasant Questions. "It is very important to the clan that you know exactly when your birthday is. Do you think your father knows?"

"He might ... if he hasn't forgotten by now," Ranma replied with another shrug. "Don't think the subject ever came up before."

"What about your brother?  Would he know?"

"Doubt it. He don't know his any more 'n I know mine."

"I ... see ..." Nodoka released her daughter's hands and sat totally still for a good fifteen seconds. The silence started to get to the youngster, especially when she felt her mother's ki levels begin rising fairly rapidly.

"Mom?"

"Daughter, I find myself in a bit of a quandary," Nodoka said in a tightly controlled voice. "I find your father's behavior totally inexcusable, and yet I swore to you on my honor that I would take no action as the result of today's conversation. I am having difficulty in resolving this conflict."

"You want to go pound on Pops for a while?" Ranma asked. She caught the flashing in her mother's eyes. Yup, she's mad all right. "Heh - I got no problem with that. Long as you don't go killin' or maimin' him, feel free to pound him all you like. Me and Ranma do it all the time - it's fun."

"Thank you, dear."

Ranma cheered to herself when she saw the gratitude in her mom's eyes. She finally got something right for once.


Nodoka found herself in yet another quandary. She had left her daughter ...

her ... daughter ...

Kami, she could scarcely believe it had all turned out this way, even though she had been so sure ... and thank the kami she had been wrong about her son ...

She took a deep breath to calm herself. She couldn't afford another crying fit right now, not with her ... daughter ... waiting for her downstairs.

At least she now knew why Ranko-chan acted the way she did. She wasn't a tomboy, not in the usual sense. No, it was far worse than that, since it was now painfully obvious to her that her ... IDIOT ... of a husband had raised Ranko up in exactly the same manner as he had with Ranma.

As a boy.

This was not something that could be corrected by buying her a new dress or hair-bow or giving her gentle reminders on what constituted "lady-like behavior" every time she saw her.

This was damage that would take her years to overcome. If ever.

It was also apparent that weaning her daughter from the practice of Anything Goes to the more appropriate arts of the real Saotome family school would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The girl obviously worshipped her brother to the point of trying to look and sound exactly like him as best she could. Nodoka finally understood why the clothes her daughter wore always looked like they were three or four sizes too large for her, and why she could never get the girl to wear proper support underneath. Ranko-chan wasn't just dressing up like her brother, she was actually dressing in her brother's clothes.

Nodoka was absolutely certain that when she was finally reunited with her son, she'd find his hair tied up in a pigtail as well.

She readjusted both of her hairpins and looped a stray lock of hair behind her left ear. A quick glance in the mirror returned an image of an almost impeccably dressed woman of indeterminate age in a traditional and obviously expensive kimono.

An image that was rapidly becoming a lie - and hence her quandary.

Now that she knew the scope of the task in front of her, helping her daughter overcome her upbringing was going to take significant resources - resources she no longer possessed. It would require that her family live - together - as a single unit once more, and the sooner that occurred the better it would be for her daughter in the long run.

Nodoka had no illusions on just how quickly the estate would become destitute under those conditions. And given the current state of the trust, she'd be fortunate to afford one full meal a day just for herself until the next disbursement occurred, let alone for the rest of her family. Certain ... sacrifices ... were going to have to be made, and made soon.

The Saotome matriarch briefly closed her eyes and fought for her center. Her daughter's life had already been filled with far too much sacrifice - she simply could not afford to add her own troubles on top of it. It just wasn't fair to her daughter - not fair at all, especially considering how much of the clan's future already rode unknowingly on her shoulders.

A minute later, Saotome Nodoka walked out of her room and down the stairs, smiling and apparently serene. She had all afternoon to spoil and pamper her daughter and her son's fiancée, and she was determined to do a thoroughly professional job of it in the process.