Rite of Passage

Akane walked into her apartment, dropping her school bag by the door and kicking off her shoes with a sigh. She was glad it was the weekend; her first round of exams had been this week and she was desperate for a break from studying.The sink was still full of the dishes from breakfast, and the empty box from the bagels she'd bought a few days ago still lay on the kitchen counter. Normally, Ranko would take care of those kinds of things when she got home from school, and while Akane wasn't necessarily upset that they hadn't been done, she was a little surprised. With a smirk, she wondered if Ranko was trying to reproduce the conditions Akane had found her in a few days prior, the first time they had made love. She certainly wouldn't blame her for trying. It had been a pretty awesome night.Not finding her live-in girlfriend in the living room or kitchen, she poked her head into the bedroom. "Ran-chan, you in here?" A quiet groan came from the direction of the bed."Ranko?" Akane entered the bedroom cautiously, finding her beloved curled up atop the sheets on the unmade bed in an almost fetal position, still in the yellow nightshirt she'd slept in the night before. "Hey, are you okay?" She sat on the side of the bed, softly stroking the flame-red shock of hair splayed haphazardly atop her lover's head."Hey, Akane. I don't feel so good," Ranko whimpered.Akane frowned, resting the back of her hand on Ranko's forehead to test for a fever and detecting none. "What does it feel like? Do we need to call a doctor?""Remember that time at your dad's where you made potstickers and made me eat 'em all? It feels like that." She tightened her knees against her chest, cringing.Sighing, Akane stroked her love's cheek comfortingly. She'd really hoped for an inexpensive date night to celebrate the news about the Rise single, but it didn't seem as if her partner would be feeling up to it. She had to admit, as much as she didn't want Ranko to ever feel poorly, somehow, her being a little bit pathetic when she wasn't feeling well just reinforced how unlike the show-no-weakness facade she had worn as Ranma she had become. Moments like this, when Ranko allowed people to see her struggle and ask for help, were among the times Akane was the proudest of her."Did you eat something that disagreed with you? I mean, we ate together, and I feel fine."Ranko sat up a little, grimacing. "I don't think so, and it's not like, exactly the same. It's like, it hurts like that, but it's in the wrong place, and it comes and goes. It's weird."Akane nodded, a small smile forming in the corners of her mouth. There's no way, is there? If it were any other girl, no question, but Ranko? "Show me?"Ranko placed her hand on her lower abdomen, just below her navel. "Here, mostly. It's been like this all day. I had to call out of school."Akane's eyes widened and she blushed, trying not to let Ranko see it. "I see." She sat on the bed, wrapping the smaller girl in her arms gently. "I know, baby. You're gonna be okay, I promise. I love you.""I've tried every stomach medicine in the cabinet, and nothing is touching it." Ranko sighed. "I'm really sorry. I just haven't been able to move. Maybe we'd better go ahead and call a doctor before the weekend."Akane kissed her girlfriend's forehead, fighting her overwhelming urge to laugh at the poor girl's naivety. "I don't think that's necessary, sweetheart."Ranko curled up closer, laying on her side and resting her head in her lover's lap, whimpering pitifully. "How you figure, Akane? I feel like I'm gonna die here."Akane blushed, stroking Ranko's red hair soothingly. She couldn't believe it was going to fall to her to have to explain this to her former fiancee. "Well, Ranko…" She swallowed hard. She knew what she was about to say would probably terrify the woman she loved more than a terminal diagnosis, and she wanted to approach it as gently as possible. "I suspect this is perfectly normal, but maybe not for you. At least, not before now.""I don't get how you could possibly think this is normal. It almost feels like what Izumi describes when she…" Ranko stopped mid-sentence, her jaw falling open as if she'd just witnessed a train crash in her bedroom. A pallor of shock and dread fell over her face as she sat up. "Wait, you don't think…"Akane leaned over to her, wrapping her arms around Ranko's shoulders gently and kissing her slightly clammy forehead again. She smiled as sincerely and reassuringly as possible, nodding her head slowly. "Welcome to womanhood, my love."Ranko pulled away a little and shook her head vigorously in denial. "But… that doesn't happen to me…" She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Akane or herself, but she almost sounded defensive, as if she could talk her way out of it if she tried hard enough.With a shrug, Akane sighed a bit. "It starts at different times for all girls, and that's before you take into account that you're not a typical girl, at least physically. Even if there was a normal for people with the Jusenkyo thing, almost none of them have stayed in one form as long as you have, I'll bet. So, the usual rules are kind of out the window here.""Oh. So, it's different 'cause I'm weird, huh?" Ranko sighed.With a smile, Akane playfully nudged her girlfriend's shoulder with her fist. "I prefer to think of you as magical.""That settles it, then. Go start the kettle, quick, before this shit kills me." Ranko managed a weak smile, flushing. She'd honestly almost forgotten that reverting to her masculine form was even an option, so long had it been since she'd seriously considered doing it.Shaking her head no, Akane gave her a gentle poke on the nose and grinned. She really hoped to make the development feel positive, even though she knew from first-hand experience how overwhelming it could be, especially for someone to whom femininity itself was still a fairly new and imposing concept."Not a chance. You wanted to be a normal girl. Be careful what you wish for, baby." Besides, however badly Ranko was hurting now, she knew the Full Body Cat's Tongue would make her transition back to her old male form probably hurt far worse than the cramps did, and that was before the psychological effect it would have on them both.Ranko groaned. She hated it when Akane was right. "But, why now? After all this time? It's been over a year!"Akane blushed deeply, averting her eyes a little. "Uh, that part might be my fault. Sorry.""How? Is this that weird girls sync up thing Mei is always talking about?" Ranko seemed genuinely confused. She had always considered what her body was now purported to be doing to be a dark magic at least as terrifying and unknowable as the curse that had given her this form in the first place. Akane didn't answer for a moment, searching for a delicate way to answer her question. Ranko's eyes widened suddenly with a thought, and Akane suspected she'd figured it out on her own."Wait, do you think it's because we…" Ranko's face looked like it had been steamed, it flushed so quickly. Here she was, a once-invincible martial artist, who had survived a drug overdose, multiple fights and a thrill ride collapsing on her head in the last ten months alone, and in the end, she'd been laid low by her girlfriend's tongue."I'm not sure, but maybe." Akane shrugged. "You hadn't really done anything like that before, right?" Ranko shook her head emphatically.If she were honest with herself, Akane's own world was rocked a little bit by the whole thing, too. Akane really hadn't been sure if Ranko's feminine body, unnaturally created as it had been, would ever function normally. She had admittedly been a little jealous for some time about the fact that Ranko didn't experience certain drawbacks of womanhood, but Akane felt awful for her now that she did.Not only was it an inconvenience that she'd sincerely hoped her lover would be spared, but it meant that Ranko was also capable of other things that she decided it best not to even think about. Ranko was the bravest girl she'd ever known, and she had come farther than anyone could have dreamed as a woman. Akane had no doubt that the moment Ranko should come to terms with the fact that it was now demonstrably physically possible for her to become pregnant, though, her girlfriend would hide under the covers and not come out for a month."Has there been… anything else?" Akane wasn't sure whether she was doing Ranko a disservice by speaking vaguely, as she would need to understand what to expect in fairly short order, but at the moment, she decided that Ranko needed comfort more than she needed information. She had no doubt that Ranko understood what she meant, though, because her girlfriend's face shifted in color from red to almost green as she shook her head in the negative."It'll probably start tomorrow, then. It's normal for this part to come a day or so before.""What do I do, Akane?" Ranko sounded genuinely afraid. She had dreaded this day for years, and she felt no more prepared for it than she had the first time she'd considered it.Akane smiled disarmingly, tucking Ranko's hair behind her ear. She searched her memory for the night that Kasumi first had this conversation with her, six years ago, when she had somehow made everything sound like everything was going to be okay. Especially when Akane was younger, Kasumi somehow had a way to take the fear out of everything with her gentle reassurance. It was like a superpower for her eldest sister. From the way Ranko had described their conversations, Hana had done similarly for her many times over the last year, and Akane was grateful for it. She had been through so much, most of it almost entirely alone, and Ranko deserved a mother as much as any other girl did."Don't worry, baby. I'll show you everything you need to know. It's a pain in the ass, don't get me wrong, but it's not especially complicated. I've got plenty of supplies, so you'll be okay there, too. You might want to eventually try a few different things to see what's most comfortable for you; every girl is different that way. But there's no rush on that, and I'll help you when you're ready. You're not in this alone, Ranko. I've got you."Akane leaned forward, taking her girlfriend gingerly in her arms. "I mean it, Ranko. I know it's scary, especially for you. But you're gonna be okay, I promise. I'll make sure of it."Ranko nuzzled into Akane's shoulder. "I love you."Akane kissed her slightly-damp forehead. "I love you too, silly girl."The redhead cringed as she felt Akane's lips touch her sweat-slick skin. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I know I'm gross. I need to take a shower something terrible, I just didn't want it bad enough to get up to do it."Akane put her fingers under her girlfriend's chin, lifting her face until their eyes met. "You're not gross, Ranko. You're beautiful. And you're all mine."Ranko melted into her arms a bit more, despite tensing briefly as another wave of discomfort passed. "Forever."Akane held her for a moment longer. "So, why don't you go ahead and take that shower, and while you do, I'm going to call Hana and tell her you're not going to be in today. After that, you and I are going to do the most important part of the sacred becoming-a-woman ceremony."Ranko blinked, backing out of the hug and looking up at her with a befuddled expression. She'd never heard of such a thing, but she half-expected that these types of things were done in secret covens that met in the woods under a full moon or something. Guys weren't meant to understand it, or maybe the girls just quietly disposed of the ones who stumbled onto their secrets."Does that involve taking me out back and putting me out of my misery," Ranko asked almost hopefully.Akane giggled, playfully poking her love in the nose with her right index finger. "No, silly girl. But it does involve all the chocolate fudge ice cream you can eat."