Paragon

"Please, come in." Akane turned her key in the lock, stepping into the tiny apartment she shared with her fiancee and holding the door open for Ranko's mother, with Ranko following behind. As Akane closed the door, Ranko shot her a terrified glance, and Akane rubbed her forearm reassuringly.Ranko motioned to the couch. "Please, Mrs. Saotome, have a seat?" Trust me, lady, you're gonna wanna be sitting down for this.The elder woman sat on the couch, resting her cloth-wrapped katana against the end table. She looked around the small apartment, searching for photos, men's clothing, anything that would indicate the presence of one Ranma Saotome."May I get you some tea or anything, ma'am?" Ranko smiled saccharinely, desperate to hide her nervousness."I'm sorry," Nodoka said. "I appreciate your hospitality, but I would really like to skip the formalities. I just want to know when I can see my son."About two years ago, Ranko thought with a soft sigh.Akane sat on their battered old secondhand couch opposite Ranko's mother, and Ranko pulled a wooden chair from the dining table into the middle of the living room, sitting on it facing the couch. The positioning made her feel somewhat like an item in an auction house that was being put on show and evaluated, but she supposed that wasn't entirely untrue.Akane closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly as she folded her hands in the lap of her green skirt. "Mrs. Saotome, this is kind of a long story, and some of it is gonna be pretty hard to wrap your head around at first. But I swear to you, everything Ranko and I are going to tell you is one hundred percent true."Nodoka's glance followed between the two of them, the curiosity in her eyes starting to give way to urgency. "Okay, girls, you're starting to worry me a little bit. Do you know where Ranma is, or don't you?"Ranko bit her lip, her eyes glossed over a bit. She needed to stay focused on the conversation, but her mind kept wanting to wander back into her past. I haven't even thought about it in so long."So, your husband, as you know, took Ranma all over, visiting as many schools and training grounds as he could to try to gather new martial arts techniques," Akane began. "That included a few outside of Japan, mostly in China. Ranma became every bit the martial arts master your husband wanted him to be. By the time he was sixteen, he was virtually unbeatable."Nodoka nodded. "I should hope so, if Genma made him spend his entire childhood doing it."Ranko nodded. "It was really hard for… him. And then, a little over four years ago, they went to this training ground in China called Jusenkyo." Just saying the word made her a little sick to her stomach. "The training ground isn't like normal dojos. It's basically just this big field of different pools of water, and each one has a different curse on it.""A curse? Oh, come, now. Girls, I don't have time to play these games with you. Where is Ranma?" Nodoka sat up on the couch, and Ranko stiffened, her eyes locking on the katana leaning against the unfinished pine end table.Akane lifted her hand gently. "As we promised, everything we're saying is true. I know it's a lot. If I were sitting where you are, I probably wouldn't believe it either. But please, listen to us."As her biological mother settled on the couch, Ranko took a deep breath and continued. "The thing about these cursed springs is, all of 'em have had some sort of creature drown in them at one point or another. And the way the curse works is, if someone else falls in the spring, they… turn into… whatever drowned there. And, well, both Ranma and his father fell into one.""Oh, don't be absurd, girl. I just saw my husband a few weeks ago, and he looks every bit the balding fool he did fifteen years ago. He didn't turn into anything at all." Nodoka glared. "I've had about enough of this nonsense."Akane sighed, not allowing the woman's exasperation to derail the explanation even as Ranko seemed to be getting more anxious with each rejection of the truth. "By the time Mr. Saotome and Ranma came to my house, both of them had already been cursed. The way Jusenkyo works is, if you get wet with cold water, you… change… into whatever drowned in the individual spring you fell into. Hot water reverses it back to normal. That's why Mr. Saotome is still able to look normal, but if you splash him with a little cold water, you'll find a big-ass panda bear standing where he used to be.""And my Ranma? You say he got one of these… curses, too?" Nodoka looked up at Akane, terror flashing across her eyes. "Assuming I believed you - and I don't - what does he…"Ranko looked down in chagrin. Me, mom. He turns into me. For the first time in over a year, she was forced to confront the circumstances that had made her what she was. For the first time in over a year, she felt true shame at the thought of the woman she was. "A human girl.""So my son can become… a girl? Come now, that's ridiculous." Nodoka shook her head.Akane balled her hands up into fists in her lap. "I promise, it's not. I've seen it myself, more times than I can count."Nodoka scoffed. "Even if it were true, you said hot water will just undo it. So, I don't understand the need for all the secrecy."Akane shook her head. "First, it's important that you know, Mr. Saotome told Ranma for years that if you ever found out about his curse, you would…" She motioned nervously to the bundled sword propped up next to the couch. "He said that Ranma had to become, in your words, a man among men, and that anything other than that would result in both of their deaths. So, once Ranma was stuck spending part of his time as a girl, they didn't think they'd ever satisfy that condition in your eyes. So, every time you got close to finding them, they ran, until they came to my father's house, where Ranma and I were engaged to be married by our fathers with the hopes that it would merge the Saotome and Tendo schools of Anything-Goes Martial Arts."Nodoka gasped quietly. "So, it was you that was going to marry him. Your sister wouldn't give me the details."And I still am, Akane thought with a smile up at her fiancee. Just not even close to the way you think."Yes. And for the better part of a year, Ranma and I were engaged, and he dealt with the curse as best he could. It was… awkward, to say the least. Ranma didn't really have a lot of social experience growing up. He never even got to finish school. He wasn't a very nice boy." She'd already had to catch herself two or three times to remind herself to refer to the woman sitting across the living room from her as a boy named Ranma, and not spill the beans before they were ready."Akane," Nodoka said, scooting closer to her on the couch, and putting her hand out. "I'm begging you. Please, I need to know why Ranma isn't the one telling me all of this. And why you keep referring to him in the past tense."Ranko bit her lip. I could just tell her that he died. It might be easier. But it's not the truth, and Pop would just undercut me first chance he got anyway."He's afraid to, because of the agreement you and his father made. Because you'll think of him as less of a man, and… punish him." A lot less of a man. Like, one hundred percent less, she thought as she nervously fiddled with one of the beribboned pigtails she still wore from her interrupted rehearsal of Right Where I Wanna Be. Right now, at this moment, where she wanted to be was just about anywhere else.Nodoka rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "My expectation was that my son would become a paragon. Someone who stood head and shoulders above his peers. Who was strong and capable, and commanded the respect of everyone. If he sometimes has to take a hot shower to do that, I can probably learn to live with that. Now, will you take me to him? Please, I just want to see him. It's been so long." Nodoka looked up at Ranko pleadingly."I… I can't." Ranko sighed. "So…" She mentally recited the condensed version of the truth that she and Akane had agreed to, in order to not introduce possibilities that they weren't willing to accept."About two years ago, Ranma was… attacked by a Chinese… well, I guess you could call her a witch, or maybe just a martial artist and shaman, I'm not sure. It happened because his father dragged him all over China with training, and it ended up that Ranma's hand in marriage got promised to an Amazon woman in addition to Akane here, and a few other people his father all but sold him to. In any case, this Amazon witch did something to Ranma, that… broke his curse. Just, not how you'd think."Ranko swallowed hard, watching Nodoka's breath hang on her every word. She couldn't decide whether to lock her eyes on her mother's face or the Saotome family sword. "And after that, the next time Ranma changed into his girl form…"Ranko looked down at her shaking hands, biting her lip as she searched for the strength to continue, but Akane spared her. "There was no viable way of going back."Nodoka rocked back on the couch, her eyes wide. "So you mean to tell me that my Ranma, my only son…"Akane nodded gently, resting her hand on Nodoka's in an effort to comfort the reeling woman and finishing her sentence for her. "... has been living as a woman full-time for the last two years."Ranko looked away, shame in her eyes. She's making me feel grosser about this than I have in ages. I'm so much better now than I ever was then. Why can't you accept that? Why can't you accept me?Nodoka rocked back in her seat. It took her a moment to breathe normally again. "It… It can't be. It's impossible. This is all crazy talk! Enough of this nonsense. You girls are wasting my time!" She stood, turning on Akane with a furious glare and reaching behind her with her left hand for her sword. "Where is my son?!"Akane took the elder woman's right hand in both of hers, trying to be comforting even as both girls' eyes were locked on the weapon in her hand. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Saotome. The boy you knew doesn't exist anymore. Not like he was, anyway. I know it's a shock. Please, take a moment."Ranko looked away, a tear running down her cheek. I'm sorry I'm not what you wanted, mom. I didn't ask for this. I just made the best of the hand I was dealt. Please don't hold it against me."It… can't be true. It just can't! I don't understand why you would say these things to torment a desperate mother," Nodoka cried disconsolately as she sat back on the center seat of the threadbare gray couch."It is, Mrs. Saotome. I know it sounds beyond impossible and crazy, and I know how nuts we must look telling you this. But every word of it is true. I know it's not what you want to hear, and I'm sorry I can't introduce you to your son, but the best thing I can say is that your daughter is…" Ranko bit her lip, looking up at Akane and forcing a smile through her gentle tears. "Your daughter's life is everything she ever dared to dream, and so much more.""If this is all true, why wouldn't Genma tell me these things?" Nodoka's brow furrowed until her eyebrows almost touched."He's afraid of you. Of that sword. And…" Ranko looked away, but continued speaking. "He all but abandoned Ranma after the curse was permanent. Long before, really, but, the only time he's seen her in the last year and a half, he ambushed her and beat her bloody. He's all but dead to her now.""So…" Nodoka took back her hand, covering her mouth with both of her hands and rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingertips, exhaling heavily, trying to come to terms with all she'd been told. "You're telling me that my Ranma is a woman, and… even as a woman, you say Ranma is… okay?"Ranko steeled herself, standing and walking the four steps to the couch, kneeling in front of her mother on the floor. "She's so much better than okay. I swear to you on my life, Mrs. Saotome. Your child is happier than she has ever been. She found a family that took her in and loves her. She's going back to school. She didn't ask for any of this, but she's worked her heart out to try to learn what it is to be a woman, and to try to find a way to be at peace with it all. She's come so far. You have no idea how hard it's been for her, but she's learning to love the person she is now. She's becoming successful, doing what she loves. For the first time in her life, she's got a life she's proud of. A life she's always hoped deep down you could be proud of one day, too."She is wanted, she has worth, and she has people who care about her.Ranko looked up with a smile, not at Nodoka, but to the young woman on her right. "She is madly in love with someone who treasures and protects her, who treats her like gold, and who knows the truth of her past and doesn't judge her for it. Who always has her back, even when it's dangerous to. Who makes her feel whole, after so long spent feeling like half a person."Nodoka looked Ranko over, missing Akane's furious blushing, and the expression on her face changed, as if she had just noticed something she'd missed before. She reached out, cupping Ranko's tear-slicked cheek in her right hand, looking piercingly into the eyes of the redheaded girl in the pigtails and the pleated miniskirt that knelt at her feet. A hopeful recognition cracked her steel countenance."It… it's you, isn't it?"Ranko smiled in tentative relief, nodding softly. "Yes." Ranko wiped her eyes, reaching a hand out to her mother with wet fingertips. "Hi. My name's Ranko Tendo. It's good to finally meet you."Nodoka took her child's hand gently, looking her over in thoughtful evaluation. She blushed, swooping a stray strand of Ranko's hair out of her face with her fingers. "Gods, you're so pretty."Ranko blushed deeply, but couldn't help but smile again through her sniffles. "Well, if I had to get stuck being a girl, at least I'm lucky I got to be a cute one, I guess."Ranko's mother took both of her child's hands in her own, looking her over like she was evaluating her purchase at a cattle auction. She blinked in surprise as she turned the redhead's left hand over to inspect what she felt poking her fingers. "Wait, is that… an engagement ring?"Blushing, Ranko nodded. "Yeah, it is.""So… this curse made you… interested in men, too?" Nodoka looked at her with an air of disgust.Akane stood, walking behind Ranko and putting her hand on her lover's shoulder. Ranko reached up, resting her hand on Akane's. "Not exactly," Akane said. It was her turn to blush.The Saotome matriarch blinked, taking a moment to put things together. "So, you two are…"Ranko smiled, nodding, her face afire. "Yeah. Pop and Mr. Tendo put us together, with the whole arranged marriage thing. We hated it for a while, but well, I guess we grew on each other. I know, we can't get married officially like this, but…" She shrugged. "Akane makes me happy. She takes care of me. She understands how hard things are for me. She's had my back more than anyone will ever know, and I love her more than all the stars in the sky. And all I want is to be with her forever." Ranko leaned into her lover's hand with her cheek. "I'm excited that I get to be her wife."And that, I won't apologize for. Not ever."I…" Nodoka sighed, letting Ranko's hand go. "I'm not sure how to feel about all this. On one hand, I want my son, and on the other hand…"Ranko shook her head softly. "I'm sorry," the singer said, ever so demurely, "... for everything. For what happened to me, for hiding from you, for all of it. The last thing I ever wanted was to disappoint you. I'm sorry I'm not… everything you want me to be. I didn't ask for any of this. I'm just trying to make the best out of the situation. I didn't get a choice in whether or not to be a girl. The only choice I got was whether to spend the rest of my life being pissed and miserable about it, or try to figure out how to be the best girl I could. A normal girl. A happy girl. I know I'm not what you want me to be, but I'm working really hard to be everything I want to be, and I hope that counts for something.""I see." Nodoka stood, walking around her kneeling child to pace in the empty space between the couch and the cheap particle board shelving unit that held their little television set. "Tell me, then, Ranma. How are you a paragon? In what ways are you a… woman among women?"Ranko winced at the use of her former name, swallowing hard. I'm not. I'm just a girl.Akane stepped behind Ranko as she turned on her knees to face Nodoka, leaning forward over her with a closed fist of warning. Akane came off a bit more aggressively than Ranko would have liked. Ranko assumed it was in large part because she still felt so guilty about the way Genma had beaten her when her fiancee wasn't there to help. Ranko didn't want to introduce any more tension into the room, but she didn't necessarily hate the idea of Akane being so protective of her, especially as scared as she was."You have no idea how incredible your daughter is, Mrs. Saotome! You couldn't possibly! She's kind, and talented, and beautiful, and…"Nodoka sighed, cutting Akane off with a raised palm. "My child is a woman now." The sentence left a bad taste in her mouth. "If I am to accept that, I am going to need to see that she is the most perfect woman possible. You're going to need to impress me, Ranma."The redhead mumbled something under her breath.Nodoka perked up. "What was that?"Ranko rose from her knees, rocking back a bit to brace herself against Akane for support. "I said, please don't call me that."The elder woman scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Child, I gave you that name.""No. You didn't." Ranko stood, steeling her spine despite knowing that Akane's comforting hand on the small of her back was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. "You gave that name to a boy who died two years ago. A boy who wouldn't have passed your dumb test in a million years even without the curse. He was dumb, and brash, and cruel, and arrogant, and mean. He was a great fighter, but a terrible person. He was going nowhere in his life, and couldn't wait to get there. He was everything his father made him, and I'm ashamed he used to be me. You didn't know him, so you don't get to judge me when I tell you how happy I am to be rid of him!"At least he stands up for himself. That's something. "I suppose you expect me to call you Ranko, then?"Ranko crossed her arms, digging her fingernails into her palms to give her something to focus on besides her desire to scream. "If you expect me to answer, yes."Nodoka nodded, walking past the women to the end table and strapping the Saotome family katana back around her shoulder. "Very well, Ranko. Your evaluation starts now."