Chapter Text
Ranma wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. The last minute of his life had been more chaotic than anything he had experienced, so he decided to count down the things he knew.
One: My old man took me to this dangerous forbidden training ground. Ranma flashed back to his arrival at Jusenkyo. Two: My old man turned into a panda when he fell into that pool. Ranma flashed back to seeing his father pop out of the water transformed into a panda, only to continue the sparring. Three: When that surprised me he ended up knocking me into another pool which turned me into a girl. Ranma flashed back to surfacing, stunned to see that he had breasts, and a far higher voice. Four: When I was panicking, I ended up falling into another pool. Ranma flashed back to him running out of the pool, trying to turn after getting back onto the path, but not taking his new weight distribution into account, and falling into another pool as a result. Five: Each pool turns you into something else. Six: I have way more energy in my body than before falling into this pool. Seven: Holding my breath is a lot harder for some reason. And finally, eight: Despite being under-water, my body feels like someone lit me on fire. Ranma thrashed around in pain as the burning danced across his skin. Between his panic and how much harder he found it to hold his breath, he would have gotten out of the water by now, if it weren’t for one thing. For some reason, whenever a part of him went above water, not only did the burning sensation get stronger, but it went from dancing across his skin to covering all of it that was above water. So, all he could do was flail in pain hoping that whatever it was would end soon. Luckily he didn’t have to wait too long. He felt a cool spot. Somewhere where he didn’t burn. He moved into it and went upward gasping for air when he broke the water’s surface. It was so bright. Everything from outside the shadow cast on him was blindingly bright.
“Very bad! Very bad sir customer! That pool 2nd most cursed in all Jusenkyo!” Ranma looked up to see that a wide cooking pot was being used to cast a shadow over him. “That Xixueguinichuan! The Spring of the Drowned Vampire!” Ranma let the words sink in as he realized what had happened to him. “There is very tragic legend of Vampire who drowned there 900 years ago!” Ranma poked his finger outside of the cooking pot’s shadow, pulling it back immediately in response to the burning pain. “Now whoever falls in that spring take body of vampire!” Ranma looked at his hand horrified.
----------
Akane was quite understandably upset. She had just learned that either she, or one of her sisters, was going to be engaged to a boy that not only had she never met, but her dad didn’t even know anything about. When she saw him she wasn’t that impressed. A black haired blue eyed boy in a red shirt, who for some reason carried around a black umbrella.
“Oh. He’s pretty handsome,” Nabiki said.
“I prefer older men,” Kasumi said.
“Saotome-san,” Akane’s father said. “It’s been too long.”
“Indeed Tendo.”
“This is Ranma-kun I presume.”
“I’m Saotome Ranma. Sorry about this.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Soun asked. “You’re an excellent young man. An amazing fit for any of my daughters.”
“Well uh-” Ranma started.
“About that Tendo. Before we can determine the specifics, there is something we must discuss tonight.”
“Whatever do you mean? I hope there isn’t anything wrong with our agreement.”
“Nothing wrong Tendo. It's just that circumstances have changed, and we need to be more cautious moving forward.” Genma looked at Soun’s daughters. “Just go about your business. Ranma. You should shadow them until tonight to help your decision.”
“Uh. Yeah. Sure.”
----------
Akane felt incredibly uncomfortable.
“How long are you just going to stand there watching me lift weights?”
“Pops said to shadow you.”
“He said to shadow me and my sisters. Can’t you shadow one of them now?”
“Kasumi said she’s only interested in older men.” And it would definitely be too dangerous for her. “And Nabiki has this weird obsession with money that makes me uncomfortable.” It would be too dangerous for me. “So by process of elimination, you’re all that’s left, and you look strong so you’re probably the best option.” Akene felt ticked off at the moment. She was more than just her strength, but more than that there was no way she was going to let herself get engaged to him.
“Well if you care so much about strength how about we have a little spar.” She wanted to work out this anger, even if her therapist told her that feeding her anger only made it worse.
“That might not be-” Ranma thought for a moment. If she can beat me normally, maybe she can handle herself if I lose control. “Actually no, that’s a great idea.”
----------
This is a test to see if she can handle me if I lose control. Hitting a girl is wrong, but it’s not something I can hold back with right now. Ranma and Akane bowed to each other.
I’ll kick his ass. Once his ego is bruised there’s no way he’ll consider me. Ranma immediately charged, throwing a flurry of blows at his opponent. Akane had no choice but to block. She threw a punch out, but Ranma effortlessly jumped over, hitting Akane with a mid-air roundhouse from behind. Akane went flying across the ground. God damn it that was too easy for him! Akane got back up.
“Akane. I’m sorry I-”
“Get away from me!” Akane walked out of the dojo.
She can't. She’s nowhere near fast enough to deal with me.
----------
Akane broke more concrete blocks. She had been at it for hours at this point. She took a deep breath. Okay, I got angry. Really angry, but I realized I got angry. Good job me. You realized you got angry. Akane looked at herself. She was sweaty. She should probably take a bath. She walked into the house and went to the furo. She took off her clothes and put them with the dirty clothes. She grabbed a towel, opened the sliding door and… In front of Akane in the shower stood a girl with red hair and eyes of the same shade. She was very beautiful. Akane felt herself feeling a bit smitten. They stared at each other for a moment. The mysterious girl was clearly nervous. “Um… Sorry.” Akane closed the door. She put her clothes back on and left. She went into the living room. “Uh! Does anyone know who the red haired girl in the furo is!?” She yelled. Kasumi came out of the kitchen.
“I’m sorry Akane-chan, what did you say?” She asked gently.
“In the furo. There’s a girl with red hair and eyes. Do you know who she is?”
“I don’t know anyone like that,” Nabiki said as she walked into the room.
“How strange,” Kasumi said. “The only person who should be in the furo is Ranma-kun.”
“Now that I think about it she did kind of look like Ranma.”
“Does Ranma have a sister we for some reason weren’t told about?” Nabiki asked.
“She was really cute,” Akane said.
“Not sure why that’s relevant,” Nabiki responded.
“I’ll go tell father about it.” Kasumi left the room. She walked in on her father and Genma playing Shogi.
“Father? Do you know who the girl Akane-chan saw in the furo is?” Genma tensed up.
“I’m not sure can you describe her to me?”
“Akane-chan said she had red hair and eyes.” Genma tensed up even more. Soun stood up.
“I’m afraid I don’t know who she is.” He headed towards the furo to see Ranma coming out of it. “Oh Ranma-kun.” Ranma looked startled.
“Oh. Um hey.”
“Ranma-kun,” Kasumi started. “By any chance did you see a red haired girl in there?”
“N-no why?” Akane ran up.
“I saw a girl in there,” She said as she ran up.
“I didn’t see anyone,” Ranma said.
“I’m sure I saw someone in there and it sure as hell wasn’t you,” Akane said harshly.
“Don’t worry Akane,” Soun said. “You must have just imagined it.”
“I know what I-, whatever I’m gonna take a bath.” Akane went back and closed the door behind her. She changed out of her clothes, grabbed a towel and went in. I know what I saw. There was a girl with red hair showering. She turned on the shower to rinse herself off, when she saw something. She turned and saw a strand of red hair next to the drain. She picked it up and examined it. “I knew it!” She set the red hair on the counter. Once she finished drying off. She changed and grabbed the hair.
“Akane-chan!” Kasumi yelled. “It’s time for dinner!”
“Kasumi Onee-chan!” Akane ran forward and collided with Kasumi, spilling the tea she was carrying.
“Akane-chan! Don’t run inside the house!”
“Kasumi Onee-chan! Look, a red hair! I told you!” Akane held up the hair she found.
“Akane-chan. This hair is black.” Akane looked at the hair. It was indeed black.
“What? No, I swear it was red.”
“Akane-chan. You’ve been so stressed today. You should relax.”
“O-one minute. I’ll be right back down for dinner.” Akane went up stairs and into her room and examined the hair. There were two people in the house with black hair. Her dad, and that boy Ranma. One of them was supposedly in the bath at the same time as that girl. Ranma has something to do with all this. She put the hair on her desk and went back down for dinner.
----------
After dinner and the sun had set Genma took a deep breath in.
“It’s time to tell all of you something important. While Ranma and I were traveling in China, we were cursed at a dangerous training ground.”
“What?” Soun said shocked. “Saotome-san. Are you and Ranma-kun alright?”
“The curse is triggered by cold water, so as long as we aren’t exposed it’s fine. However, Ranma’s curse is far worse.”
“What does your curse do, Oji-sama,” Kasumi asked.
“I cannot say. But if Ranma’s curse were to activate, he’d put those around him in danger.”
“Pops, you’re not going to tell them?”
“We can’t, Ranma. A man mustn't expose their weaknesses.” Ranma looked down.
“Alright.”
“Now, being aware of our curses, we can now choose your fiancée with it in mind.”
“About that, Saotome-san. Considering what you’ve just told me, I can’t in good conscious honor our agreement just yet. Is there any potential cure?”
“Not until May at the very earliest.”
“I cannot put my daughters in danger. I will let you and Ranma-kun stay the night, but I expect you to leave tomorrow, and not come back until you both are cured.” Genma bowed before his friend.
“I understand Tendo. We’ll leave after breakfast tomorrow. We’ll settle in the guest room for tonight.”
----------
Akane examined the black hair on her desk.
Ranma has some connection to the red haired girl. For some reason I had a red hair that was replaced with this black hair. Ranma has a curse that triggers with cold water. Akane picked up her water bottle. She poured some of it onto the hair, and she watched as it turned red. Ranma is the red haired girl! Akane stood up. Let's get some answers. Akane exited her room. She went downstairs to figure out who was where. Soun and Genma were playing shogi again. Perfect. This meant that Ranma was probably alone. Akane went back upstairs and knocked on the door of the guest room.
“Hello?” Ranma asked from inside the room.
“It’s Akane. Can I come in?”
“Uh. Yeah sure.” Akane opened the door, entered, and closed the door behind her. Ranma was sitting down reading some manga.
“Thought you would be training.”
“With my curse, getting stronger just puts people in more danger. Pops wanted me to meditate, but I’ve never been good at it. I’ve just never been able to relax very easily.”
“So you’re reading manga?” Akane looked at the cover. “Miriam?”
“Um. Yeah. I’m not great at reading, and Pops wouldn’t be happy about me reading it since it's shojo, but I’ve been interested in this kind of stuff for a while and since I figured I wasn’t training, I picked it up.”
Huh. I guess that proving he’s the red haired girl can wait a minute. “Do you like romance?”
“Yeah. I’ve really only read this, but I’m really liking it.”
“Have you always been interested in shojo manga?”
“Yeah. I was never allowed to read it though. Or any manga really. He always said it was a distraction from training, but for some reason I got even more interested after I got my curse.” Akane looked at Ranma with a bit more sympathy.
Maybe I should do this more gently. “Hey Ranma?”
“What is it?”
“When I was in the furo. I found this.” Akane held up the red hair. Ranma’s eyes went wide. “I know you’re the red haired girl. It's your curse isn’t it?” Ranma started breathing heavily. “I won’t tell anyone. I just want you to answer my questions, okay?” Ranma nodded nervously. “Alright. First question. Is your curse really dangerous?” Ranma took a deep breath.
“I don’t just turn into a girl. When I turn into a girl I also turn into… something else.” Ranma took a deep breath. “I turn into a vampire.” Akane looked at Ranma with a significant amount of doubt.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Akane held up a water bottle.
“Prove it.”
“What? I can’t do that. I could lose control.” Ranma looked slightly panicked.
“You saw me naked earlier and seemed pretty in control. Have you ever lost control?”
“Yes… but… not with this.”
“I’m going to ask questions about that later, but for now, I’m going to take a closer look.”
“Wait-” Akane poured the water onto Ranma as he transformed in front of her. “Are you crazy?”
“Calm down and let me get a closer look.” Ranma held still. No pointed ears or anything. “Can you open your mouth?” Ranma obliged, revealing large fangs. “Those definitely look like fangs.”
“Why isn’t this freaking you out more,” Ranma asked.
“Probably because I don’t really believe you. Next question. Do you need to drink blood?”
“I’m fine unless I spend too much time as a vampire.”
“How much time is too much?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I craved it a bit after a whole night of being a vampire. Even if I get to that point, I’m fine if I spend enough time as a human.”
“Have you ever drank blood?”
“Ever since I got the curse I haven’t even sucked on my finger if I cut it. I haven’t drank a drop and I plan to keep it that way.”
“Okay, last question.”
“What is it?”
“Have you considered the possibility that your dad is just embarrassed that you turn into a girl, and is using you turning into a vampire as an excuse? I mean if you’ve never lost control, and you don’t need to drink blood, and haven’t drank blood at all, then what’s the danger?” Ranma thought for a minute.
“I mean. When I turned into a vampire I was just so panicked. I didn’t question it. It wouldn’t surprise me.”
“So… what do you want to do now?”
“Really I just want to be cured but like Pops said, that’s not possible until May at the earliest.”
“That’s in May. What about now?” Ranma thought.
“I’ve… never actually thought about that. I’m not sure. I guess resume my training journey, but not traveling for a bit sounds nice.”
“Well if you want to stick around, you should probably call out your dad on his bullshit in front of everyone, and you should keep in mind that you’d end up engaged to either me or one of my sisters.”
“Um well, Kasumi said she prefers older men, and Nabiki puts me on edge so by process of elimination that would be…” Ranma pointed at Akane. Akane’s eyes went wide.
“Absolutely not! Look here. I will never fall in love with a man!”
“If you’re going to yell, can you get some hot water for me to turn back first?” Akane was about to yell again but she caught herself.
You caught yourself, and you did it faster than earlier today. Way to go. “I’ll be right back.” Akane scooped some hot water from the furo into a cup and came back pouring it and Ranma, turning them back. “As I was saying there’s absolutely no way I’m ever going to fall in love with a man.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m always a man.”
“Just because your body changes doesn’t mean you change. You’re still a man on the inside.” Ranma wasn’t sure why but hearing that hurt. “Besides. It's not like you can spend all your time as a girl unless you want to start drinking blood.”
“Then we’ll just push it off until we’re 20 and tell our parents no.”
“That’ll work. Is sunlight dangerous for you?”
“I wouldn’t carry around that super expensive umbrella if it wasn’t.”
“Okay, that way’s east,” Akane pointed eastward. “So you should be fine if you change tomorrow morning.”
“Could you close the doors though since the sunlight wouldn’t touch me I’ll be fine physically, but when I’m a vampire all my senses are turned up to 11 and it really hurts my eyes.”
“Yeah sure. You can go back to your manga. I’ll give you a heads up when your dad’s coming back up.” Akane got up and started walking out. Before she left she turned around. “Oh, I still don’t really believe you’re really a vampire, but if you ever get to the point where you absolutely need to drink blood, you can have mine.”
“Well, if you still don’t believe me there’s something you can do to prove it.”
----------
Akane woke up to the sound of her alarm. She got up, turned it off and started getting dressed for her morning jog. Once dressed she was about to leave the door.
I feel like I’m forgetting something. She looked around her room before spotting the red hair. Right. She grabbed the red hair and left her room. Moments later she held the hair in front of her before the border between inside the house, and exposure to the sunlight. Alright, let's see what happens. Akane held the hair into the sunlight and watched as the hair instantly turned into charcoal and fell apart. She looked at where she once held a red hair in disbelief. He really does turn into a vampire.