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As night fell on the Tendo Dojo, most of the household’s occupants were fast asleep. Akane, however, was too mad about the day’s events to even think about sleeping.
First, her dad reveals that either her or one of her sisters would be engaged to a friend’s son none of them had even met yet. Then, just when it seemed like the deal was off due to him actually having a daughter, it turns out she was a boy who was just cursed to turn into a girl. And to top it all off, she ended up being the one forced into the engagement. Suffice to say, today had given her a lot to grumble about.
Suddenly, her angry thoughts would be interrupted by a noise. It sounded like footsteps, as if someone had broken into the house.
When the sound appeared again, however, it seemed to be coming from something that wasn’t human. She could hear the sound of claws tapping against the floor, and what sounded like a tail occasionally thumping against the walls.
The way it seemed to be moving still seemed to be somewhat humanoid, though. Whatever the noise was coming from, it must have been some kind of monster.
Eventually, the sound from doors creaking open joined the creature’s. Things briefly went quiet, indicating it had seemingly left. Soon after, however, the sounds of footsteps against roof tiles took their place before stopping. The beast was on their roof, and it seemed to be staying there.
A more fearful part of her wanted to stay hidden in her room until the monster left. However, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep unless it was dealt with. Plus, if she saved everyone from a beast by herself, it might even prove to Dad that she was worthy of inheriting the dojo without some dumb engagement.
And so, armed with a flashlight, she sneaked out of the room to find the monster. As she walked through the dark dojo halls, she looked for any signs of a disturbance.
She soon noticed that the guest room, where the Saotomes had its door ajar. Peeking into the room, she saw that while Genma was still there snoring, Ranma’s futon was empty.
She initially assumed the monster had got him, but upon closer inspection, his exit was seemingly intentional. He must have heard the monster as well, and gone to face it himself.
Now she really wanted to take this beast down. She wasn’t about to let that idiot steal her credit. Plus, if the beast did end up killing him, both of their parents would probably blame her for letting her “fiancé” die.
Her search brought her to the door to the dojo, which had been left open. Peeking inside, she saw the door to the outside was also open. As she stepped outside, she turned the flashlight off to keep the monster from spotting her.
Her plan of attack was simple: once she was on the roof, she’d briefly shine her light on the monster so she could see what she was dealing with, and then turn it off just as quickly to keep the monster from seeing her. With it confused by the sudden light, she’d use the opportunity to land the first attack.
Admittedly, it wasn’t the best plan. If the creature had night vision, enhanced hearing, or some other way of tracking her in the dark, she was probably doomed. But with no reference for what she’d be facing, she had to work with what she had.
As she made it onto the roof, she was able to make out a bit of the monster’s silhouette, though it mostly still cloaked in the night’s darkness. Summoning the courage within her, she shined the flashlight at the shadow to reveal… Ranma?
The clothes were definitely theirs, and the hair, currently in the redder shade of their female form, was still in the braid both forms wore it in.
Much of the rest of her looked very different, however. Most notably, reddish-brown fur covered most of her body, with darker brown patches around her eyes, feet and hands. Speaking of her hands, while they were still mostly human-looking, had paw-pads on the palms and small claws at the tips instead of nails. Her feet, meanwhile, had fully become paws. Part of her face also appeared to extend outwards as a muzzle.
Perhaps the most noticeable additions, besides the fur, were a pair of round, dark brown ears on the top of her head instead of her normal ones and a short, reddish-brown tail with a dark brown tip. Combined with the mask around the eyes, there was only one thing she could be: a tanuki.
In her shock, Akane had forgotten to turn the flashlight off. Ranma soon turned to see where the light was coming from and was shocked upon seeing Akane standing there.
“Akane, what are you doing up so late?” the tanuki girl nervously asked.
Akane eyed her suspiciously. “How do I know you’re actually Ranma and not a tanuki pretending to be him?”
“If I was, I’d probably be making more of an effort to hide or excuse my appearance right now.”
She supposed Ranma had a point there. That still left a big question, though. “So what’s the deal with all this?”
“It’s a bit of a long story to tell this late.”
“I’m not all that tired, I can stick around.” Akane replied, sitting down next to her.
Seeing that Akane wouldn’t be leaving without answers, Ranma started. “It happened a few years ago…”
With angry tears in his eyes, a thirteen-year old Ranma stormed off into the forest after yet another argument with his father.
It was far from the first time he’d done something like this, especially with the fights getting more heated as he’d gotten older. At this point, Pops just waited for him to calm down and return instead of trying to hunt him down.
Once he reached a clearing deep in the forest, he rested on a rock to let himself stew in his anger. Usually, he’d stay like this until nature calmed him down. This time, however, something different interrupted his rage.
“You look rather troubled, young one.”
Startled by the sudden unfamiliar voice, he started looking around the clearing for its source. The only creature he was seeing, however, was a tanuki sitting on a nearby stump.
Just as he was about to chalk it up to his imagination, the voice appeared again. “I’m right here.”
With the voice now clearly coming from the tanuki, Ranma jumped back in panic. He’d heard enough stories about the tanukis of myth to know what tricks it might pull.
Realizing they’d unintentionally scared him, the tanuki quickly did their best to calm his nerves. “Please don’t be alarmed, young one, I have no intentions of pulling tricks. I merely overheard your angry grumbles and figured you needed someone to lend you an ear about your plight.”
Even with that attempt at reassurance, Ranma still didn’t fully trust the tanuki. Still, he supposed there wouldn't be much harm in venting to them.
As such, he began going over the frustrations he’d been having. Whether it was constantly having to move around, being forced to leave town because Pops made another deal he didn’t intend to fulfill his end of, the torturous “lessons” he was forced to do, or any of the other regular annoyances of his life, he let his all his gripes with them out. Meanwhile, the tanuki simply sat and listened.
In truth, they’d already seen the boy’s father while keeping watch of the forest and the area surrounding it, and they could tell the man wasn’t the best role model. Being part of a species known for mischief makes it easy to spot a trickster, and that man matched many of the signs just from a quick glance. Hearing the boy explain his plights just confirmed what they’d expected.
“And to be honest,” Ranma added as he finished, “I don’t even want to be some kind of “man among men”. Maybe I did as a kid when this whole training trip started, but I sure don’t want to now!”
“Well, what do you want to do?” the tanuki asked.
“I dunno,” Ranma sighed. “Haven’t exactly had much of a chance to figure that out.”
“Maybe I could help you with that.”
“What do you mean?” Ranma asked nervously. He was starting to worry about what the tanuki was planning again.
“There’s a spell I know that might be useful to you. It should only take a moment, just follow me and I’ll show you.”
Ranma’s instincts were telling him to run, or at least make an attempt to. But he also knew that if the tanuki truly had bad intentions, they’d probably use some kind of magic to keep him from leaving.
Besides, they’d been willing to sit through him venting about his life. He could at least give them a bit of the benefit of the doubt on this.
And so, he cautiously started following the tanuki through the forest. Eventually, they reached a small spring by a shrine, which led into a small pond.
“Wait here,” the tanuki told Ranma as it walked towards the shrine, “I’ll need to assume my true form for this.”
As Ranma sat on a stump and waited for them to return, he took his surroundings. He had to admit, this was probably the one of the most calm and serene places he’d been.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, young one,” said the tanuki as they returned. Their form was now more humanoid, with a robe now covering their body.
“So, what’s this spell that you wanted to try?”
“There’s a spell that, if done successfully, can transform a person into a tanuki. I figured that with the illusion powers, you could explore the many options life has to offer, while your father is none the wiser.”
“That is, of course, if you wish to go through with the transformation. I would understand if undergoing such a change seems frightening.”
Ranma considered the tanuki’s proposition. They were certainly right about the idea of no longer being human seeming a bit scary. Still,the potential benefits did seem worth taking the chance. He’d also be easily able to take human form again with illusions.
“I’m willing to give it a try,” Ranma finally responded. “Is there anything you need me to do?”
“I just need you to focus your chi.”
That seemed easy enough. Ranma closed his eyes and did his best to tap into his chi, letting the sounds of the spring bring him to a calm state.
Meanwhile, the tanuki began casting the spell. Soon, a spectral leaf appeared on top of the boy’s head.
After they removed the leaf, a puff of smoke appeared around Ranma. Once it dissipated, he had successfully been transformed into a tanuki.
“Did it work?” Ranma asked as he opened his eyes.
“Yes, though that doesn’t seem to have been the only change,” the tanuki responded, looking slightly perplexed. “You may want to look at yourself.”
Ranma turned to the pond to look at their reflection. Sure enough, they were now covered in fur bearing the markings of a tanuki, with the ears and tail to match. What was also noticeable, however, was that his body was also more feminine than before.
“Am I a girl?”
“That does appear to be the case,” the tanuki answered. “Changes like this don’t usually happen when the spell is cast. Perhaps something about your chi had an influence on the transformation.”
Ranma turned back to her reflection, taking in what she was seeing. Though the change in gender was unexpected, she weirdly didn’t hate it. If anything, seeing herself like this gave her a pleasant feeling.
“If you want to change your appearance, simply focus on the form you want to take.”
Following the tanuki’s instructions, she focused her mind on her original form. AS quickly as the initial transformation had occurred, she poofed back to her previous species and gender.
“You’re a quick learner, I see. Unfortunately, given you’ll need to return to your father soon, I won’t be able to give you a full overview of abilities. I trust that you’ll be able to learn through practice, though.”
“Ever since then,” Ranma continued, “I’ve been spending the daytime in human form, and at night, I return to my tanuki girl form and sneak out to have some me time. That usually involves going into to explore potential interests, training my illusion skills, and occasionally trying to fix the messes Pops got us in.”
“Does your dad know about this?” Akane asked.
“Nope, you’re the first person I’ve told about any of this,” she answered. “And knowing him, it’s probably for the best that he doesn’t. If he was aware I had these abilities, he’d definitely make me use them for wrongdoing.”
“Speaking of which, could you keep this a secret? I really only told you because you caught me like this.”
“I won’t tell a soul,” Akane promised. “Especially not Nabiki. I can only imagine the schemes she’d come up with if she knew.”
With that, a silence emerged as the two sat together on the roof. Despite how late it was, neither of them had sleep on their minds after what had just happened.
Ranma suddenly felt something behind one of her ears. Looking towards Akane, she saw the girl had started giving her scratches.
“Sorry,” she apologized, quickly putting her hands on her lap as she blushed.
“I didn’t say you had to stop,” she replied, a playful smile on her face.
As she resumed the ear scratches, Akane couldn’t help but smile as well. If it meant getting a cute tanuki girl as a girlfriend, maybe this engagement business wouldn’t be so bad after all.