Asuka 1/2

By: James Lee

Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimer here.

Part 3
Asuka walked down the street, thinking of where to go. Although she had told them that she was heading home, she had no idea where home was. Thus she started looking for someplace she could get her thoughts together. Asuka then stopped when she came to a phone booth. Opening the phone book, Asuka began looking up the name Saotome. She thanked her lucky stars when she found only one listing, Nodoka Saotome.

*Cool! Now all I have to do is find out how to get to this address. This isn't so hard after all.* Asuka looked up as the sky rumbled. She shrugged, seeing no clouds in the sky. Looking at the phone, Asuka consider calling and asking for directions. She decided against it however; she wanted a few minutes to think before she talked to any of this girl's family. Seeing a police officer, Asuka exited the phone booth and walked up to him.

"Excuse me, can you help me?"

The officer looked down at her "Yes?"

"I'm lost. Can you tell me how to get to this address?"

"Why yes, this is in Juuban, it isn't too far from here. Just follow this road....."

*****

A while later, Asuka stood outside a small house. Walking up to the Saotome home, she took a deep breath. All through her walk there, Asuka had been thinking about how she was going to handle this. Would they suspect her? Asuka obviously looked like this Ranma, but she didn't know how to act like her. Should she do this? It was starting to rain. This made up Asuka's mind, if anything she needed shelter now. *Well here goes nothing.* Opening the door, Asuka walked right in and immediately bumped into someone. "Ouf!"

"Who in....Ranko? What are you doing here? You should learn to knock." Asuka looked up to see a women with dark red hair, looking down on here. The woman's face looked like an older version of the face Asuka had seen in the compact mirror.

*Ranko? Must be some pet name.* "Knock? Don't I live here,......Mom?"

The woman looked to Asuka as if she was confused for a moment. "I-I'm not you mother dear and no you don't live here. Why are you here? You're soaked, what happen?

Asuka started to become very nervous. This was not going at all well. She didn't live here and this was the only listing for Saotome. Which meant that she once again had no idea where she lived. Still the woman did recognize her. *What do I tell this woman now? I wish I remembered more about who I'm supposed to be.* That gave her an idea. Asuka decided to tell the truth, sort of.

"I-I don't remember anything. I-I found this place by looking in the phone book. I t-thought my name was Saotome."

"Oh?" said the woman as she walked up and felt Asuka's head. Asuka winced a little when the woman came across a bump. The woman frowned as she lead Asuka to a couch. "Did you hit your head Ranko?"

"I-I think so."

The woman seemed to become concern. "Sit down Ranko, tell me what you remember."

"Umm OK um...Miss?"

"Saotome, Nodoka Saotome. You can call me Auntie."

"Well, Auntie, I remember waking up somewhere on the street in.....Nerima. This girl with short black hair was yelling at me. Then this Chinese girl with purple hair hugged me." The woman raised an eyebrow at that. "I-I didn't know what to do and then the other girl started beating up on me. Anyway, I put her ass down..."

"Ranko, language! And you should know that girls shouldn't brawl in the street."

"Well what was I supposed to do? Let her beat the shi...I mean beat me up? Anyway, I then left and found myself here. That's all I remember."

Nodoka seemed to become more worried. "I-I don't know what to tell you, Ranko." She then remembered that 'Ranko' was still soaked. "Here, let's get you out of those wet clothes and into the bath. I'll see if I can find some clothes that will fit you. I'll also call the Tendo dojo and tell them you're here."

Asuka froze as then remembered something.

"Yeah right, Look at the love notes he's been writing!" Yelled the short haired girl. The teacher grabbed up the note book and looked through it.

"Oh I see, for once in his life Ranma's paying attention and you're disturbing him! Go to the hall Miss TENDO."

"NO no no!" yelped Asuka. "I-I can't go back there!"

"What are you talking about Ranko? They're your family."

"Th-They are? B-but that one with the short hair that was beating me up was a Tendo."

Nodoka blinked. "A-Akane, I know she has a temper but.."

"Please, you don't understand! When sh-she started beating on me something happen. I was so upset, I sort of went nuts on her. I beat her up real badly. They probably want me dead now."

"I seriously doubt that, Ranko."

"Please don't call them."

Nodoka sighed. "OK, we'll talk about this over dinner, all right?" Asuka nodded. "In the meantime why don't you start getting cleaned up. I'll see about finding those clothes."

Asuka nodded and followed to Nodoka to the bathroom. She was sure a nice hot bath would do her good.

*****

Nodoka lead Asuka to the bathroom. Handing Asuka a few towels and some soap, Nodoka turned to leave. "Now you just get cleaned up and I'll see if I can find that change of clothes."

Asuka nodded her head as she started to unbutton her shirt. After she had taken off her wet clothes, Asuka moved to the bath, but stopped when she saw the mirror.

Walking up to the mirror, Asuka decided to get her first real good look at the body she was now occupying. She stretched her back in the sexiest pose she could think of. She winced as a pain shot up her back. *Oww, sore back. Hmm not bad.* The first thing she noticed was that this girl's breasts were larger. Asuka wished that she could find the now twelve year old Misato, and rub it in. The rest of her slender body appeared to be in good shape. Oddly her new body didn't seem much taller then her old one.

She undid the pigtail and let her hair come down. She was surprised at how full it actually was. The red strands cascaded down her shoulders like a river of fire. Asuka was sure that with a new hairdo it would look a very attractive. *Not bad at all.* The face, although not her own, was still very beautiful. "Yep, I could get used to a body like this."

Done with the mirror, Asuka started to scrub herself down. She looking forward to a nice long soak in the hot water. Bathing cleanses the mind and the soul, as Misato had put it and Asuka couldn't agree more. The Japanese bath was one of the few things Asuka had come to enjoy about Japan.

After she had finished scrubbing herself down, Asuka rinsed herself with a bucket of cold water. She then walked up to the tub. *This is going to feel so good.* Slipping into the furo, Asuka felt the hot water surround her, then everything went black.

"W-What the hell!?" Blurted Ranma as he suddenly came to. Looking around, Ranma found himself sitting in the tub of an unfamiliar bathroom. *Aw man, not again!* This was the second time he had blacked out only to wake up finding himself somewhere else. The first time he had found himself in the girls locker room with Akane and the other girls beating the shit out of him. *I bet this is Happosai's doing.* Ranma then heard a voice that stopped him cold.

"Ranko, I found some clothes for you."

"M-M-Mom." Ranma jumped out of the fero and grabbed the wash bucket. Putting the bucket under the faucet, Ranma started filling it with cold water. "Come on, come on!"

Hearing his mother opening the door, Ranma poured the cold water onto his head. He prayed that his mother didn't notice the transformation. As the cold water hit him every thing went black.

Asuka gasped as the cold water rained down on her. Then it was dark again. For moment she thought she had blacked out again, then realized it was the wash bucket. Apparently she had been holding it over her head; when she woke up she had let go of it and it had fallen onto her head like an oversize hat. Asuka took the bucket off her head and looked up just in time to see Mrs. Saotome enter the bathroom.

"Are you finished with your bath Ranko?"

Asuka looked nervously at the furo. "Umm yeah...I-I think so."

"Well I'm afraid that this kimono was all I could find. There are some other clothes in the attic, but they'll have to be washed. Is that alright?"

"These will be fine, thank you, Auntie." Asuka took the clothes and turned around to get dressed. She then heard Nodoka gasp. She turned around to see that the woman looked slightly pale. "W-What? Is there something wrong?"

"R-Ranko where did you get those bruises?"

"B-Bruises?" Asuka turn her head over her shoulder and looked into the mirror. Sure enough, she could see several faded bruises covering her back. *So that's why my back's sore.* "I-I don't know."

"Well get dressed. I'll see about dinner." With that said, Nodoka left the room. Nodoka was so deep in thought that she didn't even remember to complement Ranko for wearing such feminine clothing.

After Nodoka was gone, Asuka started thinking about what had just happened. Somehow she had magically teleported three feet. She looked back at the steaming fero. She then realized she may have found the trigger. *Hot water! It has to be it.* Asuka finished dressing. She decide she would try to contact her other half tonight.

*****

As Asuka got dressed, Nodoka went to the kitchen to make dinner. As she worked on making the night's meal, she thought about what she had seen just a moment ago. Nodoka thought of Ranko. She had long believed that Ranko was adopted. She looked nothing like any of the other Tendo girls and her relationship with them didn't seem very close. But, could it be that Ranko was being abused by the Tendos?

"No! That's ridiculous, I've known the Tendos for years." But, she had heard of many child abuse stories were the abuser was someone you wouldn't expect. Someone like a respected teacher, doctor, or even a police officer. Nodoka shook her head. *No! Impossible, those bruises are probably from training. Yes, that's it, training.*

However, the wheels in Nodoka's head were turning now and the more she thought about it the more certain mysteries about Ranko started to make sense. Whenever Nodoka visited, Ranko had always seemed sad, depressed, and lonely. Nodoka had always thought it was because the girl had no mother. But, could it be that there was another reason that she was sad and depressed. Ranko had also seemed on edge and nervous around Nodoka. Like there was something she desperately wanted to tell Nodoka, but couldn't. Like Ranko was afraid to tell her. Could it be that Ranko was afraid of being 'punished'?

The phone rang, jarring Nodoka out of her thoughts. Picking up the receiver, Nodoka answered the phone. "Moshi-moshi, Nodoka Saotome speaking."

[Mrs. Saotome, this is Soun. Have you seen Ranko?] Nodoka gulped, Mr. Tendo didn't sound happy. She was about to blurt out that Ranko was there, but remembered her promise to talk with Ranko before calling.

"N-no she isn't here. Is there something wrong?"

[She's run off. If you see her, could you send her home? She has much to answer for....Also if you see Ranma, tell him we needed to talk to him. We just need his...help to find Ranko.]

"OK I will Soun."

[Thank you, good day Mrs. Saotome.]

"Good-bye."

"So who's on the phone?" Nodoka jumped and turned around to see Ranko. "Sorry, I was just curious."

"I-It was nothing dear. Dinner is almost ready, why don't you set the table."

"Alright."

*****

The two sat down at dinner. Nodoka had made a simple rice dish that Asuka found to be good. As they ate, Nodoka threw out various names and places that Ranko might recognized, in hopes of getting her memory back.

"Kasumi?"

Asuka shook her head. "Noo."

"Soun?"

"Nope, doesn't ring any bells."

"Furinken High School?"

"Isn't that where I go to school?"

"Do you know what year it is?"

"Umm...1997?"

"How do you know?"

"I saw it written down somewhere."

"Oh, Do know who the emperor is?"

"No."

Nodoka finished her meal and started gathering up the plates. "Ranko, I've decided not to call the Tendos. You can stay here tonight. Tomorrow however, I'd like to take you to a doctor to see about that bump on your head. Maybe they can help you gain your memory back."

Asuka sighed in relief and nodded her head. She didn't know how much good a doctor would do, but at least she had a place to stay for now. She decided she'd wait for Nodoka to go to sleep, then sneak into the bath room and try to contact Ranma. "Thank you, Mrs. Saotome."

To be continued.