[Ranma/Family Compo][FanFic] Family Ranma - Part 4

indulgence in the matter of this fanfic and all the others I have
perpetrated over the millenia. Family Compo is Tsukasa Hojo's
property, and I similarly beg his indulgence (and wish he would
write and draw more of the story of the Wakanaes, but alas...)

    If you're not familiar with the Family Compo mangas, don't
worry about it. Everything will be revealed. If you *are*
familiar with them, enjoy watching Ranma dig himself deeper and
deeper into trouble with every passing day. Heh heh heh. Comments
to nojay (at) nojay (dot) fsnet (dot) co (dot) uk.

    What has gone before... Ranma has ended up at his mother's
family's home, the Wakanaes, after running away in panic from
Genma after he found out about the marriage plans. He's out
shopping with Aunt Yukari and not enjoying it.

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    Family Ranma -- Day 2

    Part 4: Changing Room

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    "You're not enjoying this, are you?" asked Aunt Yukari with a
sigh.

    "Nope." replied Ranma honestly. "Never really saw the point
of fancy clothes." He looked down at the outfit he was now
wearing, jeans and a button shirt, both with logos prominently
displayed on them advertising companies he had never heard of,
with price tags that had made his eyes bulge. His old outfit was
in the bag by his side.

    "If you were a girl you'd think differently, Ranma." Luckily
she was looking in another shop window as she made the joking
remark and failed to see the look of disgust that flashed across
the boy's face at her words. He took a tighter grip on the
umbrella in his other hand; explaining why he wanted to take it
with them on their shopping expedition - "just in case, you never
know" - on such a bright cloudless day hadn't been easy.

    "Let's go in here, shall we?" Ranma followed her, looking
around again. A road sweeper truck further down the street seemed
to have been following them around the shopping area and Ranma
was worried about the water-spraying system it used to wash the
gutters. He had already seen a couple of people carelessly soaked
by it and he was somewhat relieved to be going inside, but he
made a mental note to check carefully before leaving the store
later. It could be waiting for him...

    Kobashi Yuhoko took another long drag at his illicit
cigarette. His manager on the shoopfloor abhorred smoking so he
had to sneak out here into the store's back hallway to satisy his
cravings when she wasn't looking. He took one final puff and
stubbed it out hurriedly as he heard a door open further along
the concrete-walled corridor. He flicked the butt into a wastebin
and popped a breathmint into his mouth as he turned to go back to
work before anyone noticed he was goofing off. He failed to spot
a faint wisp of smoke rising from the wastebin. On the ceiling
above, a smoke detector waited patiently.

    Ranma stood in the changing room one-legged, pulling off his
new jeans while balancing an armful of other clothing Aunt Yukari
wanted him to try on. She had wandered off towards the ladies
department telling Ranma she'd be back in a few minutes. He had
just gotten down to boxers and T-shirt when a loud bell started
clamouring and the Muzak changed to a polite but insistent voice
requesting that everyone leave the store by the nearest exit
immediately. Ranma sighed and reached for his jeans. He'd better
get dressed before he left the changing room, he thought to
himself. He still had plenty of time to get out of the store
before anything bad could happen.

    On the store's alarm control panel lights were flashing,
indicating a detector in the back hallway was reporting smoke.
Another detector further along the same hallway added its voice
to the discussion and some bad programming, never tested
thoroughly, caused an error. The alarm system panicked, thinking
it was seeing a real widespread fire. Solenoid valves opened and
giant water tanks on the roof five storeys up began to deliver
their cold wet contents to the sprinkler system rigged throughout
the store.

    A hissing noise made Ranma look up, just in time to catch the
first drops of water on his upturned face. "Ah..." she said in
that high-pitched voice she was coming to hate as she changed.
"Shit." The sprinkler spray turned into a flood, soaking the
redhead thoroughly. She grabbed at her boxers to make sure they
wouldn't slip off her hips as she ran out the door. The sudden
movement brought an unwanted physical reminder of her new gender.
A quick glance down revealed her saturated T-shirt was less than
useful at concealing what needed to be concealed and she realised
she needed something to preserve her modesty. Her old outfit! She
looked around and spotted the bag it was in, almost obscured by
the descending sheets of water from the sprinklers. She grabbed
the bag and hurried toward the street exit through the downpour,
one arm across her chest in a protective gesture which did little
to conceal her assets. She managed to snatch Aunt Yukari's
umbrella on the way in a misplaced sense of duty towards her
aunt's property.

    Outside a group of people were standing around, soaked to the
skin and talking animatedly. Ranma stood there, her face starting
to turn as red as her hair as various pairs of eyes fell on her
semi-naked form. She was turning to go back into the building
when Aunt Yukari stepped forward from the crowd.

    "You poor thing. Here." He pulled off her jacket and draped
it across Ranma's shoulders.

    "Thanks, Auntie." she said as the jacket concealed her
endowments from the watching crowd. Aunt Yukari smiled at the
young girl in the shorts who had called her Auntie.

    "Those are yours?" She pointed at the bag by Ranma's side.

    "Yeah, of..." Ranma suddenly realised that Aunt Yukari
wouldn't know who she was, who *he* really was, and stopped. "Uh,
yes." Before Ranma could stop her she picked up the bag and began
rummaging through it. *Oh shit! She'll recognise the shirt
and...*

    "Well, you've got enough in here to get changed with at
least." she said as she pulled out various items of feminine
underwear and apparel. Ranma goggled, then her eyes fell on the
bag, which was the same colour as the one she had carried into
the store but which was definitely not the same bag. He had
grabbed the wrong...

    Aunt Yukari lifted the umbrella, then looked worriedly at the
store's entrance again. "Ranma!"

    Ranma turned reflexively at the sound of her name. "What's
up?"

    "My nephew, Ranma! He hasn't come out of the store. Maybe
he's trapped!" She turned to Ranma. "Where did you get this
umbrella?"

    Ranma thought fast. "A boy, black-haired, a pigtail, yes?" At
Aunt Yukari's nod, she continued. "He was heading over to the
other side of the store and he dropped this. I picked it up and
came out this door." She could see Aunt Yukari was getting ready
to go back into the store to look for her "missing" nephew and
Ranma couldn't think of a way to stop her.

    Sirens blared down the street and all eyes turned to see
three fire appliances hurtling down on them, lightbars blazing.
As the trucks screeched to a halt, firemen bailed out of the
cabs. Some headed stright for the store's door while others
busied themselves with the firehoses. One of the firemen started
ushering people away from the doors.

    "But my nephew's still in there!" cried Aunt Yukari. Ranma
tugged at her sleeve. "Uh, no. I... I saw him get out the door on
the other side of the building. He's safe."

    Aaunt Yukari looked relieved. "You sure?"

    Ranma nodded. "I'm sure he got out safe."

    "Thank you, uh..." she raised an eyebrow at the small
redheaded girl at her side.

    "I'm, uh," *Not 'ore', you idiot! Use 'atashi' instead.* "My
name is Ranko." she finished. Aunt Yukari stayed silent and Ranma
realised she was waiting to hear Ranma's family name. She
couldn't use Saotome, but who could she... "Tendou Ranko." she
finished desperately.

    Aunt Yukari gave her a slight nod. "My name is Wakanae
Yukari, Ranko, but you can call me Auntie if you want to."

    "Pleased to meet you... Auntie." Aunt Yukari smiled, then
took Ranma's arm in a motherly way. "Let's get out of here and go
somewhere you can get changed, shall we? Then we'll have a nice
cup of tea. Does that sound good to you?"

    Hai, Auntie." she said despondently.

    As Aunt Yukari led the way down the street, Ranma spared a
last backward glance at the store where her only male clothing
was trapped, surrounded by fire engines and soaked with water.
She looked down at the rolled-up umbrella she still clutched and
laughed once. Much good it had done her in the end. Aunt Yukari
looked down at the damp girl by her side and smiled. Ranko seemed
to have gotten over her shock at the store. Good. A small part of
her mind wondered where Ranma had gotten to, and an even smaller
part of her mind wondered if Ranma and Ranko were the sort who
would get on well together. Perhaps time would tell, she thought
to herself smugly. Perhaps.