Ranma ½ © Rumiko Takahashi/Viz Media/Respective Japanese companies that I cannot remember the names of. My apologies.

Come Back To Me

"Ranma!"

Daisuke ran as fast as he could down the dark street, undeterred by the rain. He had to hurry. He had to! Ranma was in trouble. He had to save his best friend.

The van was getting away, with Ranma in the back, drugged and bound. The Yakuza had him. And nobody knew why.

One Year Ago

Sat. May 17

Woke up with a blinding hagover. And as a girl, which was weird. I normally sleep as a guy, but I must have gone to bed as a girl last night. I can't remember a thing, either. What did we do last night? I'm going to call Daisuke, see if he can remember.

Ranma closed her diary/journal and sat back in her chair. Gently, she massaged her temples, trying to ease the headache from hell into nothingness. Giving up, she headed downstairs to get an aspirin and some breakfast.

As Ranma headed down the staircase after a detour to the bathroom, the scent of his mothers cooking wafted up and made the headache slightly worse. Gripping the banister with an iron grip, Ranma carried on down, stumbling into the kitchen, heading straight for the medicine cabinet.

"Hello, Ranma." came the flat voice from the cooker. Nodoka Saotome stood with her arms crossed and that look in her eye that let you know that you were in some seriously deep shit, her tapping foot beating out a rhythm to a stern telling off that she was reciting in her head.

"Hey, Mum..." Ranma replied wearily. Taking an aspirin out of the foil tray, he placed it in his mouth before washing it down with some water.

"Do you know what time you came back last night, son?" Nodoka asked, an edge in her voice not normally there. Ranma winced. How could he remember what time he got back if he couldn't even remember what he had done?

"You came back at a quarter to three, Ranma!" Nodoka said suddenly. The sound was like a dagger through his skull. "I was worried sick, at 2:45 in the morning, and you stumble in blind drunk, as a girl, singing at the top of your voice! Not only were you defenceless, but as a GIRL, Ranma! You were a perverts dream come true!"

Ranma winced again. Had he really come back as a girl? That'd explain why he was one when he woke up this morning. Sparing a glance at the clock, he winced yet again. 11:30.

"I let you sleep in this morning, let the alcohol pass from your system." Nodoka said, turning back towards the cooker. "You're lucky there's no school today, otherwise you'd be up and out that door at normal time. Your breakfast will be ready soon. I suggest you wash up."

Ranma stumbled out of the kictchen wordlessly, heading towards the phone. Dialling in the number, he waited for the phone to be picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" came a familiar voice.

"Hey, Dai," said Ranma. "Do you remember what we did last night?"

"Sure I do, Ranma." Daisuke said tiredly. He'd clearly just woken up, like Ranma. "I got a call just before you called from Yuka. She said that her, Sayuri and Akane saw me, you and Hiroshi in the park surrounded by bottles. Then apparently we'd invited them over for something to drink. Apparently, you were a girl and were lacking a lot of clothing."

Ranma winced. "Shit," he said. "How bad was it, do you know?"

"Ranma, if I knew, I'd be telling you now and for the rest of our lives. You have a hot bod in your girl form and any memory I had should have stayed in my mind for the rest of eternity! Jeez, I can't believe I got that drunk..."

"I can't believe I got so drunk as for that to happen in the first place," Ranma said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't expect it to happen again, either. Pervert."

"Aww, but Ranma," Daisuke whinged. "You know I don't mean it! I mean, I'm only human. It's only natural for me to find that sorta thing interesting. I mean, don't you?"

Here we go again, thought Ranma. "No, pervert!" he said back down the line. "Just because I have breasts doesn't mean I spend all day touching them! And don't even think about suggesting anything else!"

"..." said Daisuke.

"Anyway," sighed Ranma. "I'll see you later. Say five at Hideki's?"

"You got it. See you later. Bye, Ranma."

"Bye."

Ranma put the reciever down and headed back into the kitchen just in time to see his food be served onto his plate.

Later that day, Ranma headed towards Hideki's Manga store that was commonly used as a meeting place for him and his friends. He was a little early upon arrival, so he headed inside to look for the latest issue of his favourite series.

As the pigtailed boy looked at the titles on the shelves, he didn't notice the person behind him - at least, not until the water pistol in their hand squirted a jet of cold water at his neck. Ranma jumped, his hair turning red before landing as a girl.

"Uwaaaah!" Ranma screamed, turning around. "Who the hell do you think you a-- Akane?"

Akane grinned. Her hair long and tied back with a plain white ribbon giving her a picturesque schoolgirl look that went completely against her lifestyle. Akane was a martial artist, recognised as the best in the area. She was also Ranma's friend when it came to the aquatransexual needing help with... girl issues.

"Hey there, stranger," Akane said "Long time no talk. What's up, Ranma?"

"Oh, not a lot, I guess. Why do you have a water pistol?" Ranma replied.

"To get you with. It's funny." Akane held it up, looking through the clear green plastic. The water inside sloshed around in time to her movements. Ranma looked as well, and noticed something through the plastic.

"Hey, Hiroshi!" Ranma shouted. Akane turned too, grinning at the look on the boys face as he looked through the glass at the two girls. Two teenaged girls that were extremely beautiful, if the talk in the Mens locker room at school was anything to go by. Not when Ranma was there, though.

As Ranma and Akane left the Manga shop, Daisuke turned up and stood next to Hiroshi.

"Hey Ranma, Akane," he said to the girls. "Hey, Hiroshi."

Hiroshi didn't answer, opting to keep looking at the two girls. Akane laughed and put her hand on her hip. Hiroshi's mouth slipped open, a small bit of drool creeping its way out. Ranma took the water pistol from Akane and squirted the staring boy.

"Snap out of it, fool!" the redhead laughed. It was no secret that Hiroshi was an appreciator of the opposite sex. It's just he didn't really know the best way of going around it.

"What an idiot," Daisuke muttered to himself. "Anyway, Akane, what're you doing here? Are we meeting you as well?"

"Nope." Akane said, smiling. "I was just around and saw Ranma go into Hideki's, so I thought I'd play a prank, hence the water pistol. What're you three doing?"

"Well, I want to know what you two can remember from last night." Ranma said, her hands unconciously going to her hips as she gave the two boys a stare that many men would recognise as meaning trouble.

Daisuke held his hands up. "Ranma, I told you what I can remember from last night - nothing. You're safe here."

Hiroshi, on the other hand, was grinning blankly, his eyes unfocused as another sliver of drool crept between his lips. Akane slapped him. "Baka! Ranma's standing in front of you! At least try and be subtle!"

"Akane?" Ranma asked, mildly suprised.

"I saw you three last night, in the park. Ranma, you may as well have been in a top-shelf magazine. You really weren't wearing a lot." Akane said, slapping Hiroshi for a second time as the drool started up again.

"How little...?" Ranma asked, her face white.

"Boxers, nothing else." Akane replied. "Also, where did you get them? I didn't know you could get underwear with your initials all over them." Ranma blushed.

Daisuke was laughing. He tried to stop, but couldn't. "That, I can remember!" he said, between fits of laughter. "I want some with the letter D on!"

Ranma slapped him for his troubles. "Come on, jerks, Akane. I want some hot water." She said before walking away.

Akane grinned. "Why, don't you want any ice-cream?" Ranma stopped in her tracks, turning to Akane.

"My treat, Ran-kun."

"Yea!" Ranma shouted, grabbing the boys' wrists and dragging them along. "Icecreamicecreamicecream!"

Authors Notes

Hey Ranma Fanfiction Lovers. I'm sorry I've been absent for so long, but I needed to sort my life out a little. However, in that time, a lot of crazy, zany story ideas came to me, including this one, which came in a dream where I woke up as a girl and thought "Not again..."

Which led me to write this, the first chapter to a story that may be short, long, full of tension of all kinds or full of none and a sort of wacky collection of hijinks that invariably ends up having a serious ending. Which there will be, I garuantee that much.

There's a reference to a famous anime in this chapter, by the way. If you can tell me what anime, what the reference is and even which episode, you'll win nothing except maybe my respect for Knowing Your Shit.

Oh, wow, some Love Hina music I didn't know I had just came on. I'm rambling now. Sleep is needed.