Phoenix
Book Two: Embers
Akane groaned, sitting up in bed with a yawn and a huge stretch. Looking around at her surroundings, at the purple comforter she was covered with, and the borrowed nightshirt she was wearing, it took her a moment to remember where she was. She looked down at the floor, spying Ranko’s old bedroll. It had a crumpled-up bedsheet off to one side, and one of the pillows from the bed.
She couldn’t help but shake her head and smile. Ranko had insisted that she take the bed, even though it was her space. She wondered if Ranko had done so to be polite to a guest, as some remnant of chivalry from her time as a guy, or… she blushed, able to think of only one other reason for such kindness.
The bathroom door opened, and Akane turned to see her once-fiance come through it into the main room of the apartment. “Oh, hey, Akane. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
Akane smiled and shook her head. “What time is it?”
Ranko smiled, smoothing out the simple yellow nightdress she wore. “About 10:30. It’s easy to sleep in when you live on bar hours.” She bent down, picking up her sheet and pillow. She tossed the pillow on the bed at Akane’s feet and the sheet into her laundry hamper before kneeling to roll up her mat.
Akane cringed a little at the time. “I should be getting home.”
“Sure, if you want. But it was already pretty late when you called your dad and told him you’d be staying the night with friends, so he’s probably not expecting you home super early. You hungry?” Ranko opened the closet, tossing her bedroll on the top shelf. Akane was surprised to see the number of dresses that hung in the closet. Apparently last night’s outfit wasn’t a one-time thing.
Akane blushed a little, nodding. “What did you have in mind?” Before she finished her sentence, Ranko’s head was buried in her little refrigerator. She emerged momentarily with a handful of eggs, setting them gently on the counter of her little kitchenette.
“Wait, you…” Akane gestured to the kitchen. Since when does she know how to cook? Did she actually pay attention to that ridiculous training Kasumi put her through?
Ranko looked over her shoulder with a grin. “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s new.” She filled a small rice cooker with a few scoops of dry rice and water, closing it and turning it on. This little thing had been a lifesaver, as getting too close to boiling water with a Full-Body Cat Tongue and a masculine body waiting to burst out of her nightdress at the slightest splash was not especially her favorite thing of late. She poured a small quantity of sesame oil into a small skillet, turning the burner on and taking a step back while it heated. Normally, she’d be doing this with the window open to help keep the radiant heat at bay, but it looked awfully chilly outside, and she didn’t want to make Akane uncomfortable.
“You sleep okay?”
Akane nodded, though Ranko didn’t see it while facing the stove. “Yeah. This is a really cute little apartment.”
Ranko bobbed her head in reply, blushing. “Yeah, it’s been great. Hana invited me to stay here after my first day at the bar.”
Akane frowned a bit, not expecting to like the answer to her next question. “Where were you staying before that?”
Ranko cracked an egg carefully into the skillet, the sizzle of the oil masking the sound of her sigh. “Oh, wherever I felt like crashing. Having all your stuff in one backpack does have its advantages.” She tried to make it sound like an adventure, and not like the prolonged nightmare it had been, but Akane knew the red-headed girl too well for that.
“Ran…” Akane sighed and self-corrected. Her new name was going to take some getting used to. “I’m sorry you had to go through that for so long.”
Ranko shook her head dismissively, nudging the egg in the skillet with a spatula to see if it was close to being ready before turning to face Akane. “You don’t need to be sorry for nothin’, Akane. It was my choice to leave. I’m the dummy who ran off without a plan in the middle of the night. Yeah, it wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I ended up where I am, even if I had to take the long way to get here.” The rice cooker played a few cheerful digitized notes as she finished her sentence, and she turned back to the counter.
Akane stood from the bed, pulling the blankets back up and straightening the pillows. “Have you thought about what comes next?”
Ranko cocked her head as she scooped half the rice from the rice cooker into a bowl and splashed it with soy sauce. “Whaddya mean?”
Akane turned her back to Ranko, pulling the nightshirt off over her head and placing it in the hamper before reaching for the white shirt of her school uniform. “I mean, you can’t be a waitress in a bar forever, can you? All of your plans have changed – do you know what you want long-term?” She pulled her white uniform shirt from the hanger and slid it on over her head.
Ranko added a small pat of butter to the bowl and then carefully lifted the fried egg from the skillet, placing it atop the butter to help it melt. She chuckled as she scooped some chopped scallions from the cutting board on the counter into the bowl. She wished she had some nori to add, but she hadn’t been shopping as she wasn’t expecting company. “I’m still trying to figure out what I want tomorrow. All of this is still so new to me.”
Ranko picked up the bowl and laid a pair of chopsticks over it, placing it on the little dining room table, and Akane made her way over to it and sat down. Ranko continued as she cracked another egg into the skillet, closing the rice cooker to keep its contents warm. “I honestly am shocked by the way all of this feels. I never thought I could be okay like this, and it’s still hard. But I think it helps that Hana and the girls don’t know about… everything.” She gestured to her body. “So, they don’t treat me like a guy in a girl’s body, they just treat me normal, and I think it’s helping me get used to it, too.”
Akane nodded as Ranko filled the electric tea kettle with water and turned it on. “Are you ever going to tell them?”
Ranko turned, looking a little saddened by the thought. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to, and part of me doesn’t. I feel like I’m being dishonest by not telling them everything, but it feels so good to not be the weirdo for a change. And I…”
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She sighed, and Akane nodded in understanding. “You’re afraid they’ll think less of you if they find out, aren’t you?”
Ranko nodded slowly. She turned to check her egg, and heard the scrape of a wooden chair on the floor, followed by the feel of Akane’s hand on her shoulder.
“Hey. It’s going to be okay. They seem to really care about you.”
Ranko sighed softly. “I hope so.” She turned her head, forcing herself to smile. “C’mon, your breakfast’s gonna get cold.”
Akane smiled brightly, catching the hint. “Right! It smells great!” Ranko finished composing her own bowl as Akane sat, and she carried her breakfast and the whistling tea kettle to the table.
Akane felt a momentarily twinge of jealousy with the first bite of her breakfast. How dare she, having basically never cooked before a year ago, be so much better at it than me?! Akane did her best to swallow both, and smiled. “It’s really good! Thanks!”
Ranko blushed. “I’m glad, because I almost made chickens go extinct with all the eggs I burned before I got it right.”
The elder girl giggled, pouring the hot water from the kettle into the waiting teapot. Ranko smiled in appreciation; handling boiling water was not exactly one of her favorite activities of late.
Akane couldn’t help but notice the subtle changes in her companion, for instance, that she no longer ate like she feared someone was going to take the bowl from her. “When do you start work?”
Ranko swallowed, making a just a second gesture with her chopsticks. “Noon, usually, but I let the girls know I might be down a little later today since you’re here.”
Akane shook her head. “Oh, don’t be late because of me. I can find my way to the bus station on my own.”
Ranko nodded. “If you’re sure.” She had to admit, there was a part of her that wished Akane could stay, but her old and new worlds continuing to collide had tremendous potential for disaster. Still, is this what it was like, being a couple? Waking up, making breakfast, talking about your plans for the day? Nobody fighting over the last rice ball, nobody getting tossed in the pond, nobody getting cracked over the head with the dining table? It felt normal. It felt nice. At least, until she realized she was allowing herself to think of herself and Akane as a couple, and then she blushed furiously and changed the subject of her thoughts before she gave herself away.
Ranko set her empty bowl down with a contented sigh, and Akane stood, picking up both bowls and teacups. “I can get that, Akane. You’re a guest.”
Akane waved the redhead off as she set the items in the sink and turned the water on. “Oh, come on. You cooked, I can do this. Besides, you still gotta get dressed.”
Ranko looked down at herself, blushing. She’d almost forgotten what she was wearing. She was getting used to dressing more femininely, but around Akane, she felt some of the old embarrassment creeping in. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.” She stood, opening the closet and searching for one of her more androgynous outfits.
Akane looked over her shoulder as she placed a teacup in the plastic rack to dry. “I like the white one.”
Ranko blushed, looking up at the floral dress she had worn the day Izumi took her shopping. That was not exactly what she’d had in mind. “Yeah?” Her voice crept up an octave as she spoke.
Akane nodded. “Yeah! It’s cute!”
Ranko pulled it out of the closet tentatively. “If you think so.” Either Akane was issuing a challenge to see how comfortable she really was in feminine attire, or she really did just like it. Either way, the decision was made. She turned her back to the kitchenette, tossing her nightdress into the hamper and reaching for her white bra.
Akane turned to say something but stopped mid-inhale once she saw Ranko was changing, snapping her head back to the sink. She swore to herself that she hadn’t intended to peek, but since she had peeked nonetheless, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling a little amused at the fact that Ranko was wearing bras of her own volition now.
Ranko slipped the dress on and slid the zipper up her side. “There, how’s that?”
Akane put the last bowl in the dish drainer, turning. Her eyes and smile both widened at the sight of the redhead. “Wow. That really is pretty on you.”
The redhead’s face instantly felt warm enough to boil another kettle of water. She didn’t know if Akane calling her pretty made her want to smile with pride, or hide under the bed. Maybe a little of both. “Thanks,” Ranko squeaked nervously. It was still so weird to her how much people paid attention to what girls wore. As a guy, she’d worn the same shirt and pants almost every day and no one seemed to care, but when she dressed like a girl, it was like she was always on a judging stand to be rated by everybody. She was starting to enjoy the compliments when she got them, but the whole practice felt a little invasive to her. Still, getting any sort of affirmation from Akane was a treat, and she appreciated it. She began to brush her hair, unable to keep from smiling up at Akane as she did.
Akane blushed, too. Back at home, when Ranma had dressed up as a girl, it always used to infuriate her. In her mind, he was making a mockery of their engagement – and of her – and Ranma’s constant reminders that his feminine form was better built than Akane’s didn’t help matters much. She’d never given Ranma the satisfaction of admitting that she thought he was the cuter-looking girl, too. But now, the sight of the beaming redhead in the white floral dress brought a legitimate smile to her lips. For a split second, she imagined what it would be like to see Ranko in a wedding dress, before the blood flow to her face flushed the thought from her mind as quickly as it had come.
Ranko scooped her hair back over her ear and fastened it with the white bow clip Izumi had given her when she last wore this dress. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Izumi had given her a small makeup kit, but she hadn’t yet felt brave enough to dig into it, and she certainly wasn’t going to take it for its maiden voyage in front of Akane. “There. Presentable enough, I guess.”
Akane laughed loudly. “I’ll say. You, uh, about ready to head downstairs?” She looked around at the room for the thermostat; she hadn’t seen Ranko adjust it, but it definitely felt warmer in the apartment.
Ranko nodded with a smile and reached for the little purse hanging from the closet doorknob. “Do you need cash for the bus or anything?”
The raven-haired girl shook her head. “I’m fine, but thanks.”
Ranko opened the door, beginning to make her way down the steps with Akane following behind. They emerged into the bar kitchen, and Ranko led her into the main bar area, where Yui was already slicing oranges for the night’s service. “Oi! Morning, Ranko! Akane, good to see you.” She wore an absolutely devious grin that made both of the younger girls blush.
“Hey, Yui,” Ranko replied flatly, and Akane could only wave.
Ranko smiled warmly as Akane made for the door. “It really was good to see you, Akane. Thank you for coming. And, you know, not killing me.”
Akane chuckled, shaking her head. “You’re welcome. It was nice to see you, too. I’ll come back again soon?”
Ranko nodded with a bright smile. “I’d really like that.”
Akane waved as she pushed through the door into the street, and Ranko turned to the interior of the bar with a happy sigh.