"Class, I would like to introduce to you our new student: Ranma Saotome." Ranma gave a brief bow.

"Nice to meet you," Ranma chanted, having started at a new school too many times for her to remember.

She still couldn’t believe her luck. First, despite her fears, no one apparently noticed that she was supposed to be a guy. Even if they didn’t put that in her records, that she had only attended boy’s schools until now should have given her away. The final straw had been that they didn’t have any old spare uniforms to give or loan to new students, thus she would have had to make due until she could pick some up on her own. Knowing her father and money, that would have been the neigh side of never. But they thought she was a girl. Small wonder that, since right now she was, technically, a girl. Since she had been able to barrow a uniform from the Tendous, she was now obligated to wear this idiotic dress! Now that she had come to school in a uniform, the school would be much less likely to let it slide. ‘GRRRRRRRRR!’ Ranma really wanted to hit something.

"Class, Saotome-chan here has just returned from a year long trip to China. So let’s give a nice Nihao welcome." Ranma winced slightly at the last. "Now if you could please take the seat next to Tendou-chan." Ranma nodded and moved to the indicated seat. The "–chan" honorific was already grating on her nerves.

She looked over at Akane, who was looking between the board and her notebook as she copied everything the teacher wrote. ‘What am I doing,’ Ranma thought to herself. ‘I should just end this right now.’ Akane glanced over at her and tried to give her a reassuring smile that seemed to light up the whole room. Ranma looked down at her skirt and blouse. ‘Okay, maybe I should at least wait until I am out of this dress.’ Ranma looked back up to the board.

For the first time since they had left for China, she felt like she might have a friend. For the rest of the class, she warred over whether it was worth it or not. She didn’t have many friends. She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want them to know she was a freak, either.

=====

Sayuri and Yuka watched in amazement at the eating habits of the new girl. Even though Akane had already seen them the previous night, she was no less amazed.

"This is good!" Ranma said in between bites.

"Where did you learn to eat like that?" Yuka asked.

"Pops," she replied. "Meal time is always a battle. If I want to eat, I have to fight for it," she continued with a smile.

"Oh, how terrible," Sayuri exclaimed.

"What kind of father treats his daughter that way," Yuka followed. Ranma winced.

"Do you miss him?" Akane asked, softly.

"What? Why would I miss that lazy old man," Ranma huffed.

"It’s okay to miss him," Akane tried. ‘Poor Ranma,’ Akane thought. She remembered how much it hurt when her mother was gone. How angry she had been at her father, her sisters, at everyone especially her mother for leaving her. "It’s not his fault."

‘If only you knew how wrong you are,’ Ranma thought mentally.

It wasn’t until after dinner that she had learned of the mistaken impression they had that her father was dead. They hadn’t said anything directly to her so she had missed it at first. Then she had over heard Akane and Kasumi talking about her and her father. She had started to enter the kitchen to set the record straight when she thought of her father. ‘Why hadn’t he said anything yet?’ she had been wondering all day. Knowing her pop, he must’ve somehow decided this was some kind of training exercise. Maybe he was expecting her to explain it. ‘Tendou-san is pop’s friend. He should be the one explaining things!’ Or maybe he finally came to his senses about that engagement promise. After all, there was no way any girl would want to marry a half-man like her.

"Oh how the very heavens did weep this somber morn. Whilst foul trickery ran afoot and conspired to keep you from revealing your glory. Alas, must I to bring forth our apologies for our untimeliness and promise that such lapses shall never again keep thee from your holy quest."

"Great, just what I needed. Get lost Kunou." Akane stood up.

"Worry not, my fierce tigress. Soon you will be able to reveal your love to me for all to see!" Suddenly, Kunou was rapidly flying away, courtesy of one Akane Tendou.

"Really, you’d think he’d learn by now."

"What was that about?" Ranma asked, thoroughly confused. "Do you really like that guy?"

"NO!" Akane shouted in response.

=====

Ranma fought off the urge to make use of the Saotome Ultimate Technique. She had faced off against thieves, bandits, raiders, and other unscrupulous characters. She could stare death in the face without flinching. They were all nothing compared to the horror she now faced.

"You don’t know your sizes?" Yuka asked incredulously. Ranma, to her growing embarrassment, only nodded. Akane had mentioned to her friends that Ranma needed to go pick up uniform supplies; to which, they had happily volunteered to come and help. Ranma had tried the ‘I can’t afford this’ tactic to no avail.

"Don’t worry, just come back here and we can measure you," the sales assistant supplied helpfully.

"We?" Ranma almost squeaked. the sales lady nodded with a cheerful smile. Ranma looked to Akane for salvation. "Do I have to?"

"What’s the big deal? You need something to wear tomorrow and you don’t want to miss gym again do you?" Akane watched as Ranma took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and looked at the back room like a man going to his death. "Want me to come with you?" Akane asked.

"Uh," Ranma hesitated. "Would you?"

"Sure, come on." Ranma almost feinted right there at the warm smile Akane gave her. "I’ll be back here if you need me," Akane called out to Yuka and Sayuri.

"Okay, if you could strip." The sales lady walked over to one of the drawers to get her tape measure. Ranma paled.

"S-strip?"

"Of course, baka. She needs to get your size right or nothing will fit." Ranma didn’t move. "Are you okay?" Ranma blinked. Akane bit her lip, remembering the girl’s reaction in the furo last night. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh nothing," Ranma squeaked several octaves higher than normal.

"Can we have a minute?" Akane said to sales lady.

"Of course," she replied, puzzled by the smaller girls reactions, but not wanting to push anything.

"What’s wrong?" Akane asked again once they were alone.

"N-n-nothings wrong. W-w-what makes ya think some things wrong?" Ranma replied.

Akane took a deep breath, wishing that her older sister was here. She would know what to do. Akane looked into her new friends eyes, searching. "What are you afraid of?"

"I ain’t afraid o’ nothin’," Ranma replied reflexively. Akane stepped back from the sudden outburst.

"Then why don’t you want your measurements taken?"

"Uh, well…" Ranma looked down at the floor and absentmindedly started to play with her pigtail.

"Does this have anything to do with why you ran out of the furo last night?"

"Ah." Ranma looked up at her and froze like a deer caught in head lights.

"Did something happen to you?"

"Oh no, no," Ranma shot out quickly. "It’s just…" she trailed off. ‘How do I explain this,’ she thought to herself.

"Would it make you feel better if I was the one to take your measurements?" Akane asked, noticing that the tape measure had been left out. "Rather than someone you don’t know?"

"Uh." Ranma was trapped. Once again, it was either come clean now, or face this like a man. She blinked at that thought. She looked down at herself. ‘Sure I don’t look much like a man now, but if girls can do this, so can I,’ she decided. "Sure." Ranma remembered her father’s favorite lesson, ‘A true martial artist can find training in everything.’ This was a challenge, and Ranma Saotome never backed down from a challenge.

Akane watched as a fierce and determined look came over Ranma’s face. She almost looked like she was preparing for battle. Akane grabbed the tape measure as Ranma began disrobing.

"You’re not wearing a bra?" Akane announced before she could stop herself.

"Of course not!" Ranma replied just as quickly. They both held back any further comments, not wanting to embarrass themselves any further. Although Akane had to bite her tongue when she saw that Ranma was wearing boxers under her skirt.

=====

"Here you go." The man behind the counter said as he handed Ranma a large ice cream dish, complete with an extra scoop.

"Gee, thanks!" she replied cutely. Akane and the rest only shook their heads.

Ranma wasted no time claiming a seat at the table and digging into the dessert. Anything was better than thinking about earlier. The cold plastic against her skin. Akane’s warm soft touch as she straightened out the tape measure. That she had stripped completely in front of a girl. That the girl was Akane. ‘Her friend,’ she had to reminder her self. ‘We’re just friends.’

"Have you no shame?" Akane teased as she sat down across from Ranma. Ranma’s blush deepened even more. Akane was still puzzling over Ranma’s reactions today. She had prepared herself when Ranma stripped the first time to try not to react to anything she might see. Remembering how Ranma had stood facing away from her in the furo, she thought that maybe Ranma had some huge ugly scar that she was ashamed of. Not the problem. She didn’t have a single blemish or scar that she could see. Her skin seemed so perfect that Akane was actually more than a little jealous. That, however, was tempered by Ranma’s extreme shyness. She didn’t seem to really know just how beautiful she really was.

As the other two girls quickly joined them, they continued where they had left off when they came in. Ranma tried once again to focus her attention completely on the dessert before her. After they had picked up a few uniforms, appropriate gym clothes, and other things she would need they had dragged her to several other stores to pick out some nice clothes to wear out of school. Yuka and Sayuri had each picked up a couple of nice outfits. Akane had picked up a nice skirt that just seemed to belong on her.

Ranma shook her head. She had tried not to get anything, but they just didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer. She couldn’t really afford anything, and didn’t want to free load off of her new friends. Not that she wanted girl’s clothes either. Finally, with the insistence that she would some how pay them back later, she relented. She gained a couple of Chinese styled slacks and blouses, like her other stuff but fit to her girl size and, much to her protest, one sleeveless red Chinese style dress with a golden dragon emblazoned across the front. Some kind of Karmic punishment for her lying, she supposed. At least after the second time of having to ask Akane for her own measurements, she was finally able remembered them herself. Though she still couldn’t stop blushing every time she had to give them out.

‘Speaking of punishments,’ Ranma-chan thought as she rolled her shoulder again. The bra, she decided, was definitely one of the most insidious devices of torture ever created. She didn’t know what she had done to earn such a punishment, but it must have been real bad. Never mind that the three real girls at the table were also wearing them. She had been on the edge of shouting out that he was a guy all throughout their shopping trip. Only the knowledge that if she did that, she would lose what friends she might have held her tongue. Akane and her friends had been so nice to her. She didn’t want to loose that.

=====

Nabiki’s finger continued to tap against the open page of the shoujo manga she had started earlier. Despite being several pages into the story, she hadn’t yet read a word.

Instead, her thoughts kept returning to their new guest. Between their investments and the government stipend for not teaching any students at the dojo, she wasn’t too concerned about the added cost. Although the panda may have to go. She knew that if worst came to worst, there were several options open to aid them.

‘No, it was something else about her that just didn’t seem right.’ However, for the life of her, she couldn’t figure it out, yet. She knew she should have paid more attention when they were getting her enrolled. ‘It might be nothing,’ she thought. ‘Maybe if I ask about her at her previous school?’ She shook her head. She was getting paranoid. She just couldn’t shake the feeling she was missing something obvious.

Across the living room from Nabiki, a panda held up a sign with one paw that read: "Hey, what’s that!" and an arrow pointing away.

"Huh?" Tendou turned to look the way the sign indicated. When he turned back, the sign was gone while the panda was looking away innocently. Looking over the board, Tendou tried to figure out just how he got into the position he was now in.

=====

Dinner was beginning to become an ordeal that her pops had never come up with. This time, Tendou-san was reading his paper. Nabiki seemed to be studying her even more than yesterday. Even Kasumi and Akane seemed to be looking at her strangely.

At least she could finally look at Akane without blushing out of control. She needed to workout. There was no way she should have reacted the way she did today. She needed to work on her self-control in this form, obviously.

Nabiki, for her part, was still trying to puzzle out just what was out of place with Ranma.

Akane was busy worrying about how Ranma had been acting all day and why.

Kasumi was thinking how best to try to correct Ranma’s table manners.