PLAYFAIR
by Scott K. Jamison
(Note: Ranma 1/2 and its characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. No
infringement intended.)
Part 2
"You're not Akane!"
"Yes I am. Just not the one you know. Y'see--" a bell rang.
"Ohmigosh, we have to get to school!"
They made it to the schoolyard in time, only to find Kunou
waiting, bokken in hand.
"Akane Tendou! Today I will defeat you, so that I may date with
Ranma Saotome and the tomboy, who you selfishly monopolize!"
Tomboy? thought Akane. Oh, he means me. "Upperclassman Kunou,
I'm not in the mood today, all right? Just let us through."
"U-upperclassman? But you never respect me! This is some kind
of coward's trick! Have at thee!" Kunou started swinging viciously, and
Akane ducked his wild thrusts. Seeing an opening, she grasped the wooden
sword, wrenched it from the kendoist's hands, and broke it across his
head. This male form's strength is kind of nice, she thought.
"Honorless cur! This isn't over! Fetch another sword, Sasuke!"
"I've got a better idea. Sasuke, bring some hot water back with
you. Ranma, bring that bucket over here."
Four transformations later, Kunou had a rather glazed expression
on his face. "Akane Tendou and the tomboy are--one and the SAME?"
"You finally got it, Upperclassman Kunou? Good. Let's get to
class."
But it was too late, and a rather large number of students found
themselves standing out in the hall. Akane took the opportunity to
explain what she thought was going on to this world's Ranma.
"One thing bothers me though. Isn't Akane a girl's name?"
"Not especially, though it is kind of effeminate. Why do you ask?"
The school was abuzz for the rest of the day, and Akane found
herself involuntarily demonstrating the transformation several more
times. At first she pounded the offendors, but even her temper ran down
eventually, so she resigned herself to the fact that it wouldn't stop
until everyone in the school had seen the change.
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" asked Ranma, squeezing
overspill from her skirt.
"If your Akane is as big a jerk as my Ranma, he deserves it.
How's Kunou doing, by the way?"
"He got hysterical and the nurse had to give him a sedative.
Maybe he'll finally get the psychiatric help he's needed."
On the way home, Akane heard a faint "bwee". She looked to the
side of the road, and there was P-chan! She bent down to pick up the
cute piglet, who promptly bit her! It leapt into Ranma's arms and she
snuggled it close.
"P-chan! Don't you recognize me?" The pig snarled at her, just
as it would at Ranma back home.
"Akane, what's wrong? You look like you'd seen a ghost."
"P-chan is *my* pet. I cuddle him and feed him and he sleeps in
my bed." The piglet looked puzzled and a bit disgusted, but that was
impossible.
"Oh, I see. P-chan, Akane's changed today. He won't hurt you,
right, Akane?" There was a touch of menace in her voice.
"Right, Ranma. Here, P-chan, friends, okay?"
The piglet shivered nervously, and seemed suspicious of Akane,
even after she scratched it in its favorite spot behind the left ear.
"Y'know, Akane, I kind of like you this way."
"You're kind of cute when you smile, Ranma."
"You heard that, P-chan? He called me cute!"
The pig squealed in protest, and squirmed back over to Ranma.
They laughed.
After supper, which was mostly quiet as Akane and Ranma avoided
questions, Akane went to here, well his actually, room and tried to study.
Now that she knew what was going on, it was easy to spot the
subtle differences. A different poster here, more trophies, a different
look to old photographs. All very Ultra-Qish.
Suddenly, Ryouga burst into the room. "AKANE! What the hell
were you babbling about!?"
"Ryouga? What are you talking about?"
"You know, about P-chan being your pet! You're trying to confuse
Ranma, aren't you? You always hurt Ranma!"
"Why would you care about P-chan? And how'd you hear that
anyways? You were nowhere around."
"Akane you idiot! You know perfectly well *I'm* P-chan!"
Akane felt her brain tilt, and a twitching at one eyelid.
Suddenly it all made sense. All those unexplained absences, the
innuedos, the coincidences. The odd expressions for a pig now came
flooding back to her in a horrifying torrent.
"You're... P-chan. And I've been letting you sleep in my bed,
and..." She felt the red tide of anger rising, but beat it back down.
She'd been so stupid, she didn't have the right to be angry. "no, this
you's been sleeping with Ranma. A ha ha hahahahah!"
"Akane?" Ryouga looked at her quizzically. "Are you all right?"
"No, Ryouga, I'm not the Akane you think I am. I may never be
all right again. No more explanations tonight, no more fights. Go back
to Ranma, let her enjoy her P-chan one more time."
Ryouga looked dubious, but backed out of the room. After two
tries, he got the right door.
There was a slight thump on the window sill. When Akane went to
look, there was a throwing blade with a note attached to it buried in the
wood.
"Dear Akane Tendou," it read, "you have insulted Shampoo for the
last time. I will kill you at dawn. Love, Mousse."
Just what she needed. Well, sufficient to tomorrow were the
evils thereof, to mimic Kunou. Akane closed the window, tossed the note
in a wastebasket, and went to sleep.
When she awoke in the dark, she heard breathing in her room. She
carefully turned her head. It was P-chan, her own P-chan. And the room
was hers again, everything where it should be, with her wonderful dresses
and panties and everything!
"It was all a dream! Just a dream!" She scooped up P-chan and
hugged it extra-hard, waking the piglet.
"But just to make sure..." she rushed to the bathroom, ran hot
water, and plunged in. Her body was a girl's again, no transformation!
Her giggles and splashing had woken the house, and Akane
scrambled back into her pajamas before opening the door.
"Daddy! I'm so glad to see you!" She hugged her father, no
panda here, and pecked him on the cheek. "I had the strangest dream last
night! I was a boy and Ranma was a girl all the time and P-chan turned
into Ryouga and--"
"Uh, Akane?" interrupted Ranma. "That wasn't a dream. You
switched minds with a parallel-dimension Akane yesterday. Lord knows how
it happened."
"Then it was all real?" P-chan fell from her suddenly nerveless
fingers. There was a splash, and Akane knew she did not want to look at
the tub...
THE END
For those who didn't know, a "Playfair" is a substitution cipher.
This was the first Ranma story I wrote. There's a side story
I'll post sometime.
Please send C&C.
SKJAM!
"How many of you would like to see my Saint Seiya story?"
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