Greenery Day, Day 2

Awareness of a new day slowly filtered in. Ranma Saotome, teenage martial artist, awoke slowly as was his custom. Eyes still closed to fend off the moment of arising as long as possible, he found himself remembering the previous day with considerable annoyance. Damn his pop anyway! Just who did his old man think he was, figuring he had the right to tell him who to marry? And then making him swear on his honor not to run off on his own?

Then there was that tomboy, Akane Tendo, they were trying to tell him to marry. As if! What kind of girl whacks a guy over the head with a table, just for pointing out the obvious fact that his cursed form had a bigger chest? And damn it! She had gotten just as good a look at him as he got at her, when she walked in on him in the bathing room. He hadn't said anything more than the truth!

Ranma paused at that, the mental image recalled when the girl had walked in on him, wearing nothing more than her skin and carrying a small towel. He ran his tongue over suddenly dry lips, aware of morning wood that he couldn't explain away as the usual reason. Well, okay, he'd admit to himself that this Akane was pretty damned cute, not that he would ever admit it to her. But that sure as hell wasn't any reason to make him agree to marry her!

"Come on, boy, wake up! Today's the day when you meet my old friend, Tendo-kun!"

Ranma's eyes snapped open involuntarily at that. What the hell was his pop talking about? He'd met the Tendos yesterday.

His eyes widened. They were surrounded by trees, the same park where they'd slept night before last. He was in his sleeping bag, and his pack was on the ground beside him. What the hell was going on? He'd gone to sleep last night on a futon in the Tendos spare room. How'd he get out here?

Ranma slowly pulled himself out of the bag and rolled it up automatically, while his brain wrestled with the problem. What was going on? Why were they back out here? And why was his pop acting like they hadn't met the Tendos yet? Finally, unable to decipher any answers for himself, he unbent enough to ask.

"Pop, what the hell's going on? Why are we back out here?"

"What are you talking about, fool boy? This is where we went to sleep last night. Now hurry up. We're out of food, you know, so we're not gonna have any breakfast till we get there."

Ranma's face scrunched up in even more puzzlement. He was sure those were the exact words the old fool had used yesterday morning. Except for that bit about where they slept last night. He lifted his pack absently. If his old man continued repeating himself, the next words would be ...

"Now I need to tell you some good news. Something I haven't told you yet. You see, there's a reason we're going to meet my old friend. It's because the two of us made a promise long ago, a promise to unite our families. You see, Tendo-kun has three daughters. And you're going to marry one of them, and inherit Tendo's dojo!" Genma Saotome beamed at his son.

Ranma stared, jaw dropping. Had he hit his pop in the head, without remembering? Had his father somehow completely forgotten the last twenty-four hours? Because this was identical to yesterday. Absolutely identical! Well, except that yesterday he'd exploded in anger on hearing this announcement, and tried to knock his crazy father's head off his shoulders. Today he was too confused to do anything except stand there and stare.

"Well, come on boy." Genma hefted his own pack onto his shoulder. "Let's go meet your fiancee."

Ranma followed his father quietly, while he tried to work out what he should do. At the top of the list was dragging his father to a doctor, to get the man's head examined. Something was clearly wrong. Very badly wrong. And as much of an idiot as the old man was, Ranma still cared about him, in a way. Simply put, the whole situation was damned worrying.

Then the clouds above them opened up, pummeling them with heavy raindrops. Exactly as it had yesterday, during their fight over the whole engagement business. Genma's form expanded, practically exploding out of his worn and stained gi, as he transformed into a large panda bear. Ranma felt his own form shrink, while his chest pushed outward against his shirt. With a snarl, she realized that she was a girl yet again. Then the snarl died as she looked up, worrying over yet another similarity to the previous day, and this one clearly having nothing to do with her father.

They turned down a busy street lined with shops, and people turned to stare at the panda bear walking with the red-haired girl. Ranma knew they were steadily getting closer to the Tendo home, and was wondering if he should wait until they got there before deciding what to do next. Maybe he could ask Tendo-san what he thought they should do about pop.

The rain was slowing down, leaving the street wet and filled with puddles. Ranma shuffled along, indecisively, then stopped so abruptly it was as if she'd been nailed to the sidewalk. She was standing beside a newspaper stand, and she could clearly see a headline which mentioned Greenery Day. But that was yesterday! With glacial slowness, Ranma bent closer, trying to ignore the tiny cold feet scampering along her spine. She swallowed hard when she saw that the date on the paper was in fact yesterday's date. Unable to stop herself, she grabbed the sleeve of a man walking by, jerking him to a stop.

"Err, excuse me sir. Could you tell me what day this is?"

The man turned his head, at first looking annoyed, but his features quickly melted into a smile on seeing the cute redhead. "Why, it's May fourth. You know, Greenery Day."

Ranma licked her lips. "Oh. Ah, um, yeah. Of course it is."

The man walked on. Ranma turned slowly, feeling the very unusual sensation of being off balance. The bear in front of her growled loudly. Looking up, she saw it holding a sign which read, "Hurry up, boy!" Then the bear turned and lumbered off.

In a daze, Ranma followed. She looked around herself wildly, but everything seemed normal. Everyone was going about their business, as if there was nothing at all unusual. Had she dreamed yesterday? But how could she have, if her pop had only just told her about the engagement this morning? What in the hell was going on?

It occurred to Ranma that if yesterday hadn't happened, if it was just a dream, then it was only in a dream that she had sworn an oath not to run off. Her eyes widened once more. Did that mean she was free to head back to China after all? Assuming she could get away from the old man of course.

Ranma gritted her teeth, feeling determination filling her. She could do it, she was sure she could. Avoid the whole engagement mess, head back to China, find a cure for this goddamned curse. Come back once she was a guy full time again. Or maybe not come back at all. Ranma scowled as that last thought made her feel a little hollow, then shook herself. She could decide about that later.

As they approached a street corner, Ranma eyed a stop sign, and a grin slowly lifted the corners of her mouth. As she walked past, the young martial artist lashed out with her foot, breaking the metal post at its base with a dull clang. Grabbing the sign before it fell, she weighed it in her hand, testing the balance. A manic grin had settled on her face.

The panda never knew what hit him.

---

Late that night, Ranma unrolled his sleeping bag on the ground, far to the west of Tokyo. He'd reach the western shore before noon, then there would be another long, weary swim. Still, he was sure he was well ahead of his pop. No way the old man was going to catch up to him short of the Bayankala Mountains.

He settled down into the sleeping bag, ignoring the grumbling in his stomach. At least he'd managed to beg a big meal that afternoon. It seemed there were some uses to that female body after all.

His last thought before sleep claimed him was that soon he'd have his cure.

---

Ranma awoke slowly. Blearily he opened his eyes, trying to remember where he was. It seemed to be a park.

"Come on, boy, wake up! Today's the day when you meet my old friend, Tendo-kun!"

---

Author's note: If I keep this up, there will be lemon bits to come.