A Different Point of View 1/1
By Agent H
Pairing: Ranma/Ryouga
Warnings: Yaoi! Other than that, this turned out to be such a clean- cut little ficcie…
Summary: A spur-of-the-moment wish comes true and forces Ranma and Ryouga to—you guessed it—see things from a different point of view.
Archive: Yes
Comments: Yes, please! ^_^

This was originally meant to be part of a Lyric Wheel, using the song A Different Point of View by the Pet Shop Boys. This fic, on the other hand, decided to go off and do its own thing…six months later…:P

"Mmm, Akane, this is actually GOOD!" Ranma exclaimed with his mouth full. Everyone else sitting down to the family dinner mumbled their agreement.

Akane beamed with pride. For once, it seemed like her family, the Saotomes, and Ryouga all enjoyed the dinner she had prepared. She munched happily on her piece of fried chicken, proud at the feat she had managed to pull off.

Ironically, her feat had nothing to do with improving her cooking skills, but faking it. Once she had managed to get Kasumi out of the kitchen, pulling the buckets of take-out fried chicken out of hiding and putting them on the family's dishes had been a piece of cake—and so far, no one had discovered her secret. A sly smile turned up the corners of her mouth.

Her smile faded when Ranma and Ryouga both reached for the same piece of chicken at the same time and started to argue over it.

"Hey! That's my breast you're grabbing!" Ranma snarled. Nabiki smirked privately and moved a hand under the table.

Ryouga exhaled a low growl. Ranma was always so selfish, he thought to himself. "Ranma! You've already had two breasts! Quit hogging and take a different piece!" He tugged on the piece they had both grabbed.

Akane rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you two! Ranma, quit fighting and let him have it!"

Ranma ignored her and tugged back, unwilling to let go. By his perspective he had grabbed it first, and he wasn't about to let go. "Who's the one doing the hogging, eh, P-Chan?" Ryouga only returned this comment with a wordless growl.

"Oh my," Kasumi interjected. "Would anyone care for more cole slaw? Akane did such a good job of making it!"

Knowing just how stubborn they could both be, Ranma tried a different strategy. "Hey, Ryouga, there's plenty to go around! Here, have some leg meat! He chucked a couple thigh pieces at the Lost Boy. Ryouga caught them and threw them back. His brows knitted in anger. "Ranma, how dare you make light of me like that! I don't want your thighs, I want your—" He stopped.

Ranma blinked. "What?" Ryouga's eyes went wide and he blushed, turning away from the table. "Never mind. Just keep your damn chicken," he muttered, and stood up, walking away.

"Did I just miss something here?" Ranma asked the room in general. Soun and Genma were still too busy feeding their faces to even pay attention to what was going on, and Akane looked just as baffled, but jumped up to chase after Ryouga before he could run away too far. Kasumi coughed delicately, motioning towards Nabiki.

Nabiki pressed the stop button on the small hand-held tape recorder. "And to think I was so close," she sighed, "just a little more, and that cute dialog of yours could have made quite a bit of money, if used in the right way," she told Ranma.

Ranma blushed hotly when he realized what she was talking about. He and Ryouga had been arguing about…well, without knowing the context someone might think they had been… Ranma shoved this thought out of his mind.

"Nabiki! Why, you little…!" Ranma grabbed the recorder out of her hand and yanked the small tape out, shoving it into his pocket. "Nice try, but you'll just have to live without making a profit off of me and Ryouga." He walked off in the direction Ryouga had headed, hoping to clear up this mess. Ryouga was probably as pissed off as he felt, so they could at least spar with each other for a while to work off the anger.

Nabiki sipped at her tea, unphased. "Guess he still hasn't realized that I already have made a profit off of the two of them," she grinned deviously. She always had good intentions with the money she made from these exchanges, but she also did it for the sheer thrill it gave her.

"Nabiki, you shouldn't use the suggestive innuendos of others for your own advantage," Kasumi chastised her.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud, neechan," she retorted. "Still, you gotta admit it was suggestive, ne?"

After wandering around the outside of the house, Ranma finally went back inside and found Ryouga with Akane in the kitchen. Akane was scraping food off of plates and handing them to Ryouga, who stood at the sink. He silently washed the dishes with his face cast downward as if in fierce concentration.

"That water's not too hot for ya, is it, P-Chan?" Ranma teased as he raised the cloth partition and strolled into the kitchen. Ryouga stopped in mid-scrub. Akane threw him a dangerous look. Ryouga resumed his scrubbing without even looking up.

Uh-oh, Ranma thought to himself. It couldn't be good if Ryouga wasn't even going to fight him back.

"Shut up, Ranma! Haven't you done enough already?" Akane chirped.

"Why, what did I do?" Ranma retorted, shrugging his arms in innocence. "I, uh, just came to see if I could help out." He picked up a dirty plate and opened the trash can to dump the small pile of chicken bones. "Whoa, where did all these paper buckets come from?"

Akane's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Ranma, Ryouga and I have got it covered, so if you could just leave us—"

"Hey, P-Chan, need a hand?" Ranma interrupted, dodging Akane and moving over to the sink. He peered over Ryouga's shoulder.

"My name is not P-Chan," Ryouga answered tersely, moving so that Ranma couldn't see his face. "It's Ryouga."

Ranma bit the inside of his lip, barely enough so it wouldn't show. "Ryouga, do you need a hand?" he asked again, more gently this time. Ryouga slowed down his movements. Akane's jaw dropped ever-so- slightly.

"Ranma, don't you think there's something you should say to Ryouga?" Akane prompted, hands on her hips.

Ranma raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What?"

Ryouga turned and faced him. His expression was a mixture of put- upon fierceness and something else—something Ranma couldn't identify. It almost seemed regretful. Ranma held his breath for a short moment.

"Okay, okay, Ryouga, I'm sorry, all right?" Ranma held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Next time, take all the chicken you want. Is that what you want me to say?"

Ryouga sighed. Akane, who needed to go back to the dining table to pick up the rest of the dishes, saw this as a sign that there wouldn't be a fight and she would have time to run out and back in before anything major could happen. After she left, Ryouga's gaze wandered out the kitchen window.

"It's not just about the food, Ranma," he told him in a weary voice.

"Then what? If it's about Nabiki, I took her tape so you don'—"

"You just don't get it, do you?" Ryouga cut him off, still focusing his attention out the window. Ranma looked at him in surprise. "No, I don't suppose you ever could," Ryouga continued.

"If you'd just tell me, I could try," Ranma answered in a small, hurt voice that surprised himself. He was not used to hearing Ryouga talk this way.

Ryouga must have been surprised too, for he turned his eyes back to Ranma's and gave him a serious look that once again, Ranma couldn't identify.

"I—" Ryouga stopped himself just as Akane re-entered the kitchen with her hands full of dishes. Akane set her burden down, happy to find that the boys weren't in the middle of a fight.

"Now see how easy that was?" Akane chimed, thinking they were completely over their differences for at least a minute. "Thanks for all your help, Ryouga—I think I can handle the rest of this by myself," she told him, "But before you go, I have an idea that might help seal your friendship with Ranma."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Oh man, just what have you been smoking, Akane?"

Akane deftly pounded him with her instant mallet technique and held up a wishbone. Ranma and Ryouga both looked at her in confusion. "I learned about this from my new American friend at school," she explained. "Ryouga, you hold one end, and Ranma, you hold the other." She waited for them to each grab the wishbone, ignoring Ranma's dubious looks. "Now, each of you make a wish." Ranma looked at Ryouga, wondering what the Lost Boy was thinking about. He just couldn't get that mysterious expression on Ryouga's face out of his mind. Ryouga thought for a moment, then nodded, letting Akane know that he was ready.

"Okay? Then you have to pull it apart. Whoever gets the larger piece, gets his wish," Akane explained.

They tugged, and Ryouga was left with the larger half of the wishbone. Outside, the wind blew through the trees in a loud, ominous way that made them all shiver for one brief moment.

"Hey, what did ya wish for, anyway?" Ranma asked.

"Ranma, if he tells us, then the wish won't come true!" Akane retorted.

"Fine, maybe I don't wanna know anyway," Ranma threw his hands behind his head and tried not to look so much like he was sulking.

Later that night, Ranma finished his homework and got ready for bed, still wondering what was up with Ryouga. Akane hadn't been able to convince him to stay at the Tendo's that night, and P-Chan didn't show up either, so Ryouga had to be wandering around God-knows- where. Ranma sighed. There was so much that he wanted to know about Ryouga, so much he wanted to understand…maybe someday. Someday, maybe they could have a better chance at being friends, without Akane, or his dad, or any of the others to get in the way. He curled up in his futon, these thoughts still swirling around in his head as he fell asleep.

Ranma woke up with a chill, and sleepily reached to pull the covers back over himself. His arms fumbled, and it took him almost a minute to realize that he was tangled up in something. His eyes opened a little wider and he looked around to see what was in his way. Apparently, he was wrapped up in a sleeping bag. That's funny, he thought to himself as he unzipped the bag and sat up. He was also in a tent.

"Pop?" He called out, starting to wonder if maybe his dad had dragged him out somewhere in the middle of the night. He peeked his head out of the tent and looked around. He couldn't see any signs of civilization—or his dad—but just trees and wilderness.

"Pop?" He called a little louder this time. "POP!" He heard no response, but just a gentle breeze blowing through the trees.

This began to worry him. It wouldn't surprise him if his dad had suddenly pulled him away from the Tendo's for a training trip, or if he and Soun had had a fight, but he wouldn't have left the camp very far without at least letting Ranma know what was going on. He suddenly felt very much alone.

"Pop, this isn't funny," he muttered, as if complaining would make his father appear. Then he looked down and realized something: he was wearing Ryouga's clothes.

"Ryouga?" he tried calling, but there was no answer from the Lost Boy. Something inside him left him feeling funny. It was faint, but just a small, indescribable uneasiness. Besides waking up in a strange place and wearing Ryouga's clothes, something just didn't feel right, and he struggled in vain to put his finger on what was wrong.

"Ooh, if this is someone's idea of a practical joke, they're gonna pay," he muttered to himself. He turned back into the tent and looked at the backpack that was sitting in the corner. It was Ryouga's backpack. Somehow, he couldn't believe that Ryouga would do something like this as a joke. And if he did, how would the Lost Boy find his way back to wherever?

Ranma dismissed this idea and pushed his thoughts towards figuring out where to go. He had no idea where he was. He began to pack up the camp—Ryouga's stuff—and hefted everything onto his back. Somehow, the weight didn't feel as heavy as he remembered from when he had carried it for P-Chan. Still, he sighed and set out in a random direction, hoping he would find a city soon so he could figure out his way home.

Ryouga rolled over in bed and woke up. He didn't immediately recognize his surroundings, and that put him into a defensive mood. He looked around. He was in a room somewhere, in a strange bed. He could hear the sounds of snoring next to him.

He turned his head to look and saw a panda sleeping in the futon next to his. He blinked and sat up, examining the surroundings more closely.

The panda had to be Mr. Saotome—how many pandas slept in beds, anyway? Now that Ryouga thought about it, he could start to remember

being in this room before, when he had been invited to spend the night at the Tendo's. He expected to see Ranma in this room too, but the Pigtailed Boy was nowhere in sight.

He silently stood up and looked around for his backpack. That was missing, too. Maybe Kasumi's washing my clothes, he wondered. This still boggled his mind because he couldn't remember deciding to stay at the Tendo's. Every ounce of his memory told him that he had left and camped somewhere in the woods. He shouldn't be here.

He began to wonder if maybe he had wandered back to the Tendo's as P- Chan in his sleep and changed back. That might explain why he seemed to be wearing Ranma's underwear. On the other hand, he couldn't figure out why he wouldn't have stayed as P-Chan and slept with Akane. Without knowing what else to do, he went to the only dresser in the room and rummaged around until he found some of Ranma's clothes. He pulled on a shirt and pants, then crept out the door to the bathroom. Surprisingly enough, he found the bathroom on his first try. That was enough to give him a small sense of satisfaction in this strange situation. However, his satisfaction vanished when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror.

"Where the hell am I now?!" Ranma huffed in frustration. He had been wandering, and wandering, and wandering, and instead of eventually finding something resembling civilization he only seemed to get more and more lost in the woods. He was really showing his worry by now, as he felt so completely alone and helpless. The sky overhead didn't seem very promising either, and he tried to hurry before it could rain. He didn't have any hot water in Ryouga's pack, and he didn't relish the idea of carrying the hefty load in his girl form.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, the first few drops inevitably began to fall. He sighed tiredly and started to pull out the umbrella. The raindrops came down faster, before he had time to open it, and he found himself changing.

"Aw, sh—" he started, "….", then, "…bwee??!"

It wasn't his reflection. It was Ranma's. Ryouga leaned in close to the mirror and poked his finger into his cheek. Then he reached behind his head and felt for the pigtail. Sure enough, there it was. He could feel everything and the reflection mirrored everything he did.

This has to be a dream, he decided. He rubbed his eyes and then banged his head into the bathroom wall. Unsurprisingly, it hurt— though he had been careful enough not to damage the wall.

"Oh my! Ranma, is everything all right in there?"

Ryouga froze, hearing Kasumi's voice in the hallway. How could he explain this?! He didn't even understand what was going on himself! "Ranma? That is you, isn't it?" Kasumi's gentle voice came through the door as barely louder than a whisper. Everyone else must still have been asleep.

Ryouga tried to think fast. If he looked like Ranma, maybe other people would assume that he was Ranma. Then, maybe if he just pretended to be Ranma, no one might figure out what was going on. He slowly cracked the door open and peeked his—Ranma's—head outside. Kasumi looked at him with motherly concern.

"Hi, uh…I'm fine…everything's okay…thanks, Kasumi! Aheheheheh!!" He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Kasumi stared at him blankly for a short moment, then her face resumed its normal serene smile.

"Good. You should be more careful next time, okay, Ranma?" She turned and continued to walk down the hall. Ryouga closed the door and sighed in relief.

Now what? So he looked like Ranma. What was he supposed to do like this? Then an idea struck him. He filled a bucket with cold water, and then with slow, careful deliberation, dumped it over his head. "Ack!" The newly-female Ryouga-in-Ranma-chan's body exclaimed in shock and alarm. She was quick to lower her voice, remembering that she didn't want anyone else to "discover" "her".

"This is so weird," she muttered under her breath, reaching a hand into her shirt to confirm what could already be seen in the mirror. Then she froze, reminding herself that this wasn't supposed to be her body—this was Ranma's!

She quickly pulled the hand away, blushing with embarrassment. But if Ryouga was trapped inside Ranma's body, where was Ranma? A stark realization arose in Ryouga's mind. The Wish! How else could he explain this? But I never thought it would happen this way! And since when do wishes come true, anyway?! Ryouga stepped into the furo and released a long, drawn-out sigh as he changed back into his boy form. Given, it was still Ranma's boy form, but definitely better than the alternative. He sat and thought for a minute. If the wish had actually come true, then Ranma had to be…

Ranma sat naked next to a small campfire, his hand still gripping the handle of Ryouga's tea kettle. This definitely…sucked. He had walked in the pouring rain for almost two kilometers—as P-Chan, no less—dragging the backpack behind him. After the rain had finally stopped, it took him a maddening number of tries before he was finally able to start a fire without dry matches or opposable thumbs. On top of things, he still had no idea where he was. During his walk he had had plenty of time to do some thinking, however. One thing he had figured out was that somehow, he had switched bodies with Ryouga. How else could he change into P-Chan? Even without a mirror, he could tell that his pigtail was gone, and there were other, smaller differences that clued him in that he was not experiencing things in his own body. What he couldn't figure out was how or why—or whether or not he had also developed Ryouga's sense for getting lost. In his mind, he felt that he should have found something in his search by this time.

One thing was for certain: he had to find Ryouga. And even if it meant that he would have to keep on going for weeks on end, he wouldn't rest until he did.

All through the day, Ryouga had been on pins and needles, wondering when someone would discover his secret. Luckily, before school he had managed to find Ranma's class schedule, and shockingly enough had been able to find all of the classrooms without hardly any effort. However, understanding what was going on in class was a different story. He had to figure out what assignments Ranma was in the middle of for each class, and on top of that he was beginning to realize just how far behind he was because of how long it had been since he had been in school. It was all he could do to pretend he was Ranma and try to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

With most people, this wasn't as difficult as he had guessed. A couple of Ranma's friends had approached him and asked what was up, and he just replied that he was busy thinking about things. It probably wasn't the best response, but it was all he could come up with on the spur of the moment, and spending time alone was a lot easier than risking being caught.

Lunch had been a problem, though. Shampoo had broken through the wall to bring him some ramen, and as she glomped all over him both Akane and Ukyou got mad: Akane hammered him with a mallet, and Ukyou challenged Shampoo to a fight. He tried to stop them, but then Kunou showed up and started attacking him. He was able to defend himself easily until Mousse and Kodachi arrived and got in the way. After lunchtime had become one massive, lawless brawl, all Ryouga wanted to do was run away and hide. He wasn't used to dealing with so many people all at once, and they all wanted a piece of him. He began to wonder how Ranma put up with this sort of thing.

Of course, when the school security did catch up with them, it was "Ranma" who was found at fault, and Ryouga had to serve a detention after school that afternoon. He should have been upset about that, but he was grateful that the extra time would help him to avoid any more entanglements after school.

When he finished his detention and started to walk home, he found Akane waiting for him.

"Rough day, huh?" she asked, a little uneasily.

"Umm, yeah." Ryouga shoved his hands into his pockets and looked away, nervously hoping she wouldn't think something was wrong. Akane looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She could tell that something was wrong, but getting Ranma to open up and talk about whatever was bugging him was next to impossible. Still, all day Ranma had seemed to be in some sort of funk. He was quiet even when she malleted him earlier, which should have been enough to pull him into a verbal fight. She decided to try a different approach. "I wonder where Ryouga is right now," she began. Ryouga froze for a second, holding his breath. He forced himself to keep on walking as though nothing was wrong. "He left in such a hurry last night," Akane continued, "I hope nothing's wrong."

Ryouga was silent for a moment. If he was going to make her believe that he was really Ranma, he would have to think up some kind of response that would sound like the kind of thing Ranma would say. This was difficult for him—when he wondered what Ranma must think of him, it was hard not to get depressed.

"Oh, you know Ryouga," he put his hands on his hips and let out a laugh that was meant to be tough but instead sounded more melancholy than he had anticipated. "He's always doing stupid stuff like that. He's such a moron, it'll probably take him weeks before we see him again. I don't know why he even bothers trying to find us in the first place."

Akane stopped. She turned to face him, her face reddening, her lips forming into a hard, stiff line. With all the strength she had, she raised her hand back and slapped him for all he was worth.

Ryouga took a step back and held a hand to his face in shock.

"How DARE you!" Akane hissed at him. "I don't care what kind of bad mood you're in, but you NEVER talk about Ryouga that way!" She reached out and tugged on his ear, pulling it close so only he could hear her. "And I know that you're worried about him, so you can drop this stupid bullshit right NOW!!!"

With that, she gave him a finishing belt to the stomach and stormed off, leaving him behind to cradle his cheek in frozen stupefaction.

Days passed. Ranma had lost track of how many. No training he had had with his dad had ever prepared him for the tests of sheer endurance he encountered all the time. Once or twice he had made his way back into inhabited towns and cities, only to get lost again. No matter how many times he asked for directions or studied a map, nothing helped. He felt so…lost, not just in the physical sense but also emotionally and spiritually. Being alone so much made him realize just how dependent he was on other people for shelter, food, support, and love.

On top of everything, Ryouga was just as far away now as he had ever been, only this time Ranma had a good idea where Ryouga was, but he himself couldn't get there. It was so frustrating, he felt like he was losing his mind. Once he even caught himself talking to a large rock just to have someone listen to him. He had never felt so entirely abandoned. Was this how Ryouga felt all the time? Ranma decided that if he ever did find Ryouga again, he would never let him out of his sight—he chuckled to himself, thinking about tying them together with a plastic leash, like mothers did with small children. Ryouga shouldn't have to deal with this. Not only was it lonely, it was dangerous. Just the day before, he had narrowly escaped the hungry fangs of a kodomo dragon—as P-Chan, he made an easy target for both wild animals and hunters. By the time he had finally escaped one possibly fatal trap after another, it was all he could do to just crawl into an empty log and collapse. He had cried; he couldn't help it. He hated himself for it because he knew it wasn't right for him to cry, but the stress had been too overwhelming.

Ryouga… No matter what, he couldn't get Ryouga out of his mind. It was sheer torture, feeling so close to Ryouga's body but yet so utterly alone without the soul to go with it. Sometimes when he camped at night and these thoughts refused to let him sleep, he found his hands beginning to wander without thinking about it. But then he was reminded that Ryouga really wasn't there and once again he felt cold and alone.

He his the realization that it wasn't Ryouga's body he was obsessed with, but Ryouga's soul.

Ryouga had managed to get through the rest of the week without too many other entanglements. Occasionally Genma would throw him a suspicious look, but he had felt that he had been able to pass himself off as Ranma. That is, until the night before.

"Aren't you going to practice tonight, Ryouga?" Akane asked after she finished a kata in the dojo, wiping the sweat off her brow with a towel.

"Wh-wh-what?" he returned in a small voice, frozen to the spot.

"The jig is up, Ryouga. I can tell you're not Ranma," she told him, "I don't know what you two have gotten yourselves into this time, but I can tell the difference."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on—besides the fact that you keep calling me `Akane-san', or that you haven't insulted me once in over a week, or the fact that I caught you trying to use the Bakusai Tenketsu technique—" Ryouga winced— "there are all the little differences. Did you think that I wouldn't be able to tell? Like how you turned down that chance to enter the martial arts juggling on unicycles competition—Ranma never turns away the opportunity to show off in martial arts, no matter how stupid!" She sighed and folded her arms over her chest. "Ryouga, tell me what's really going on."

And so he told her. At last, now there was someone he could talk to about it. He felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. And surprisingly enough, Akane seemed to react calmly and rationally. Still, he kept wondering when Ranma would come back. The suspense ate away at him, not knowing where Ranma was, but just that he was out there, somewhere. He was thinking about this the next day as he walked home from school with Ukyou.

"Ranma, have you listened to a word I've said?" Ukyou asked with a slight note of irritation in her voice.

And just as suddenly, as they turned a corner, Ryouga found himself face to face with himself—no, Ranma. His breath caught in his throat. He had been waiting for this for over a week, but now that it was happening he had no idea what to do or say. Even though it was Ranma, seeing the image of himself from outside of his body was nothing short of spooky.

Ranma was apparently caught off guard too, finally finding Ryouga but having to stare back at the image of himself. There was so much he wanted to say; however, the fact that Ukyou was there made it impossible to bring it up. Then an amusing thought occurred to him.

"Oh, hi, Ryouga, fancy bumping into—" Ukyou began, but then stopped as the Lost Boy started to chuckle lowly under his breath.

"RANMA!" he bellowed, "I've been through hell because of you! And now you're cheating on Akane?! PREPARE TO DIE!!!" With that, he launched himself at Ryouga.

Ryouga grinned. He could play along with this. He dodged the blow and landed a series of punches into Ranma's stomach. Ranma took a step back.

"Heh. That didn't hurt a bit, Piggy," he teased.

Ryouga's eyes widened. He looked at Ukyou, who was getting rapidly more and more pissed off. Ranma stopped, catching his blunder.

"Um, I mean, you're such a pervert, Ranma! You deserve—"

"Do you MIND?!" Suddenly Ranma had a face full of Ukyou's giant spatula.

Ranma took the blow, but ignored Ukyou, charging back at Ryouga instead. "Why don't you fight your own fight, you coward!"
"Oh yeah? Look who's talkin', pork-butt!"
"Pervert!"
"Directionless idiot!"
"Jerk!"
"Bacon breath!"
"Uncute tomboy!"
"Huh?"
They launched at each other, hurtling blows by trying to imitate each other's techniques. However, since they really hadn't mastered the other's techniques the fight was on a rather small scale, and no one was really convinced that either had any intention of effectively attacking the other.

Ukyou sighed in annoyance. "This is stupid," she muttered.

Just then, Akane appeared from around the corner. "Oh, hello Ukyou, what's going—oh!" she exclaimed, as she saw the `fight' in progress. Ranma was poking at Ryouga with the bamboo umbrella. Ryouga dodged some of the attacks.

"Kanchu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ryouga yelled, flailing at Ranma wildly. Ranma couldn't help laughing. He used the opportunity to latch a pair of handcuffs to Ryouga's wrist and his own. His laugh dissipated into a low chuckle.

"Now you can't run away from me any more, `Ranma'." Ryouga stared at Ranma in surprise. "You…Ra-Ryouga…I lost the keys to these handcuffs three months ago."

Ranma's smirk faded abruptly. "What?"

"Whaaaaat?!" Ukyou yelled in shock. While the boys had been fighting, Akane had told her what she knew about Ranma and Ryouga.

"Then Ranma now available," Shampoo announced, leaping over the fence on her bicycle. She landed right on top of Ryouga's head, flattening him to the ground and bringing Ranma to his knees because of the handcuffs.

"Shampoo!" Akane gasped. "Where did you come from? Were you eavesdropping?"

"What Shampoo hear in public place, not is eavesdropping," she retorted in her characteristically broken dialect. She hopped off of her bike and sauntered next to Ranma's side, helping him back to his feet. The fact that this act dragged Ryouga in Ranma's body across the sidewalk under her bicycle somehow failed to reach her attention. "Shampoo hear Ranma now Ryouga and vice versa. If Akane must marry Ranma, then Ryouga-in-Ranma's-body can marry her and Shampoo marry Ranma-in-Ryouga's-body." She studied the latter. "Hmm, not bad-looking, she decided, "is Ranma. Will do."

Ranma and Ryouga looked at her in confusion. Ryouga stood up again and rubbed the top of his head. "What are you talking ab—"

"Hey, that's right!" Ukyou exclaimed. She jumped beside them and grabbed Ranma by his free wrist. "Ranma, now that you're free of Akane, we can get married!"

"What?!" It was Akane's turn to look surprised now.

"Shampoo claim him first!" She grabbed his other wrist, pushing Ryouga behind her.

"No you don't, sugar!"

"Oh man, I can't believe this," Ranma sighed.

Ryouga was beyond annoyed at this point. He had waited so long to see Ranma again, and even now his fiancées were getting in the way! Even when he looked like Ryouga!

Ranma looked over Shampoo's shoulder at Ryouga. He looked like he might blow up into a real fight soon…and now was not the time or the place.

"Hey! Quit getting' in the way of a man-to-man fight!" he shouted, then dashed over the fence and down the street, pulling Ryouga by the handcuffs and leaving the three fiancées behind.

Ukyou huffed, put away her spatula and crossed her arms over her bound chest. "Well, what now…?"

"Ranma! Wait up!" Ryouga cried, trying to keep up with Ranma as he jerked erratically on the handcuffs that linked them together by the wrist. "Where are we going, anyway—HEY! Watch where you're dragging me, stupid!" he called out, his voice getting higher.

Ranma stopped and turned around when they reached an isolated spot in the nearby park, only to see a wet, newly-feminine Ryouga.

"Moron!" Ryouga bapped him over the head.

"Hey, cut that out, you masochist!" Ranma rubbed the top of his— Ryouga's—head. He frowned at Ryouga. "Besides, I dodged that old lady with the water bucket—"

"Which dragged me right into the way!" Ryouga finished. She started to cross her arms in a pout, then realized that one arm was still attached to Ranma and gave up, looking up at him with a sore expression on her face.

"Okay, okay, sheesh, I'm sorry already!" Ranma held up his hand in a gesture of surrender. "You should be thanking me that you didn't turn into a pig, at least!"

"Yeah, but being a pig doesn't feel nearly as squishy as—hey, what are you looking at?" Ryouga looked over her shoulder. Ranma had started to look down at something behind her, a frown spreading across his face. She turned, and Ranma turned too, following her in a small circle until he stopped, holding her shoulder.

"What?" Ryouga asked with a faint note of irritation in her face.

"Is my butt really that big?" Ranma asked in wonder.

Ryouga facevaulted. She fell over backwards, dragging Ranma with her. They collapsed on the ground, and Ryouga burst into giggles. It was a rare moment—Ranma hardly ever got to see Ryouga smile, let alone laugh so lightheartedly. The effect forced him to crack his expression into a grin, until he too could not help giggling.

He rolled across the grass and propped himself up on his elbow, his hand brushing against Ryouga's. He looked down at her with an affectionate smile on his face. Ryouga looked up at him, her eyes shining, captivating Ranma.

"I—I forget why I brought you here," he breathed, unable to take his eyes away.

Ryouga grinned. Nothing else seemed to matter any more; Ranma was finally back and the week of anxious waiting and keeping their secret was over at last.

"Duh, Ranma. Isn't it obvious?"

"It is?" He felt lightheaded. All week he had thought of nothing but Ryouga, and now that they were alone… "Oh yeah," he finally answered, his memory returning.

He sat up, took off Ryouga's backpack (he had not taken it off the entire time) and pulled out a small flask of hot water. He twisted off the cap and poured it over Ryouga's head.

Ryouga sat up and shook the excess water out of his bangs, sighing with relief to return to the masculine body. Ranma put the flask away and turned his eyes to him, his expression serious.

"Ryouga," he asked, "what did you wish for when we split that wishbone?"

The mirth left Ryouga's features and he turned his gaze to a patch of sky beyond Ranma's shoulder. He shrugged. "I just wanted you to know what it felt like to be me for a change," he explained. He lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would actually happen—"

He stopped as he felt Ranma's arm embrace him. Ranma buried his face in Ryouga's shoulder, breathing in a scent that was all too familiar. "R-Ranma!" Ryouga exclaimed softly, his arm returning the embrace even though the touch felt like a shock to his system.

"I just wanted you to be near me," Ranma confessed, "It was like you were there, but it wasn't you! I never knew how alone you must have been." Ryouga felt a wetness on his shoulder, and Ranma's hot, choked breath.

Ryouga lifted Ranma's head, and his fingers wiped away the tears that had formed there. His expression softened into a wistful smile. "I missed you," he admitted. He looked down at where their wrists were joined by the handcuffs. Slowly, as though he was waiting for an adverse reaction, he reached for Ranma's hand, intertwining their fingers. He looked back at Ranma, still smiling, his eyes falling into the depths that awaited him there.

Ranma returned the smile faintly at first, squeezing Ryouga's hand lightly. And then the gap that separated them lessened until there was no gap left at all, both feeling the warm breath on each other's faces and the enchanted stillness when their lips touched, tentatively at first, and then more firmly as instincts took over.

When they finally pulled away, Ryouga looked at Ranma's face, knowing that he would remember this moment as the most magical of his life. Ranma held his eyes closed for a minute longer, then opened them to look at Ryouga, his expression warm and full of happiness, relief and love.

"Ryouga," he breathed, still feeling dizzy from their first kiss. His eyes focused, and he realized something: he was looking at Ryouga's face.

"Ryouga! It's—you're you again!"

"Huh?" Ryouga looked at him in confusion, not wanting to break the spell they had created. Then he saw what Ranma was talking about. It was true—somehow, they had returned to their own bodies.

"We're cured," he spoke in amazement.

"Are we?" Ranma wondered, and leaned in to steal another kiss. Ryouga responded eagerly, still squeezing Ranma's hand. When they broke apart, he grinned.

"Oh good," he said, "I was beginning to worry that you were more narcissistic than I thought."

Ranma made a face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Ryouga replied, looking into his eyes. The gap between them closed again, and it seemed like nothing in the outside world could affect them any longer, until…

"So how are we supposed to get these handcuffs off, anyway?"

~The End~

Whew! Finally, this came to an ending, sort of. Hopefully the names weren't too confusing when they had each other's bodies—generally I called them by the name of the person inside the body, rather than the body other people would recognize them for.

--Agent H
now, to get to work on all those other unfinished fics…^_~