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Chapter 4

Now that Nodoka had named the fang-toothed boy, Ranma felt a little more confidence in herself. There was a problem with her being herself, she wasn't himself. If that made any sense, it was simply because she didn't want to be a woman right now that she felt a little nervous now. Ryoga seemed attracted to her as a woman, whereas he just seemed to respect Ranma's male side.

The pigtailed girl sat down on the porch and contemplated a few things, all while Ryoga was to her side; rubbing himself against her side. "Hey, mom... when's dinner ready?" Ranma asked, turning in the direction of their small house.

"It should be soon, we don't have much food!" Nodoka exclaimed, stirring all the broth she had for whatever they could eat. It wasn't water nor tea, so, it shouldn't have any effect on changing Ranma back to normal. She hoped that Genma would return with some water, then maybe they could use that to change Ranma back into a boy.

Ranma considered possibly training this little piglet/cursed human, there was just so many things to go with. There was teaching him out to talk, teaching him to walk on all fours and to learn proper manners. Then there was one more thing, did his cursed form allow him to use the brain of a human? There was only one way to find out and that was to make the actual effort and try and teach him. Ranma crossed her arms and pondered how learning process of humans, first they were babies. That much she knew, then they first learned how to walk before they can talk. Or she assumed walking would be a key element to a developed mind.

"Maybe we outta' ask a mom..." turned to the kitchen Nodoka was currently working in. "Hey, mom! What's the first thing a baby learns?"

Nodoka while stirring raised her index finger to her bottom lip. "I think it's learning how to talk and then teaching them how to walk, why the sudden interest?" she asked, hoping Ranma wasn't into starting a family with a man.

"I gotta' teach Ryoga how to be human," Ranma replied, looking down at the still snuggling against her boy. Thank goodness she had gotten used to his affection or this would have just continued to be plain awkward.

Nodoka sighed contently and remembered she had something, "Oh! Then I suggest you get the teaching cards me and your father got for you," she said, then looked to the side. Remembering that it was only her who bought the teaching cards, Genma just happened to suggest they buy it so they could try and use him for a profit. Why he ever thought having a cute baby speak would get him money was beyond her. That of course failed and it was just used to get Ranma to read and speak earlier than most.

The red headed girl's eyes widened and she ran into the house, startling Ryoga as she did so. From there she reached her parent's room, which consisted of one huge futon, makeup, sake bottles and one closet. The pigtailed girl went over to the closet and opened it; revealing purple kimonos and her father's trademark white gi outfits he loved to wear so much. Shuffling through everything in the closest was an easy task, especially when she came across what appeared to be an old and dusty box. Ranma opened the top part of the box and blew some more dust off of it. He saw that the teaching cards were there, this was going to be a breeze.

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Ryoga had followed Ranma into the room and ran over to her, crying as he rubbed the side of his head to Ranma's leg.

Ranma's eyes widened and she felt her spine tingle. That had come as a surprise, "Come on... you can't like me that much!" Ranma exclaimed, then sighed and shook her head. "I wish I had some warm water right about now..."

With that she walked out of the room; Ryoga in tow. "Let's teach ya' how to talk..."

"Bwee!" he replied, shaking his head from side to side, in a rather cheerful and excited manner.

The next few minutes were spent with Ranma showing Ryoga the alphabet and then trying to teach Ryoga how to pronounce them. It, of course, wasn't as easy since it seemed that Ryoga didn't want to say anything other than the line he's known well for.

Ranma sighed and lowered her head in defeat, this wasn't getting her anywhere. "Come on, Ryoga!" Ranma shouted, pleading with him. "You gotta' try!"

Ryoga looked to the side and wasn't sure what Ranma, in fact, wanted from him. All he could make out was that Ranma was saying something he could no clear idea about, maybe, just maybe, Ranma wanted him to mimic her. Ryoga remembered some of the things. "Wan..." Ryoga squeaked out and found his eyes blinking. When he actually made the effort he could make different sounds.

"What?" Ranma asked, head perking up and meeting Ryoga's eyes.

"Wan... ma?" Ryoga asked, blinking. He grabbed his throat and blushed, noticing his different tone. His human vocal cords attempting to make the sound humans made.

Ranma placed her hand to her chin and smiled, snapping her fingers. "Ran-ma!" pointed to herself.

"Won-ka?" Ryoga tried to repeat.

Ranma narrowed her eyes, wasn't that some sort of foreign candy from America or something? She shook her head and pointed to herself once more. "Ran..." she paused, seeing Ryoga stare at her. "ma."

"Ran..." Ryoga gulped and forced his brain to respond correctly. "ma!" he exclaimed. Ryoga's eyes widened as he felt something in his head start to jolt, such as a surge traveling to his brain. "Argh..." he grunted.

Ranma smiled and pumped her fist into the air, "Ha!" she exclaimed, "This is gonna' be easy!"

Ryoga shook his head and noticed at the corner of his eye that Ranma was smiling, he took that as his permission to get a reward. So, he once again saw this as an opportunity to get close to his master. "Ranma!" Ryoga exclaimed, tackling the red head and causing her to fall back.

"Wha!" Ranma screamed, seeing Ryoga lean in for more licking. Ranma struggled but it seemed to be in vain, she noticed that her body was weaker in this state than her male form. This time, Ryoga was determined to show Ranma his affection. "Come on, g-get off!" she blushed, groaning in annoyance as she found herself in another awkward position.

Ryoga leaned in and found Ranma's lips. He closed his eyes with a delighted smile and pressed his tongue to Ranma's lips. Ranma stopped cold, had she just been kissed by a boy? Ranma's eye twitched as she laid there, trying to stop a strange feeling dwelling within her.

"Eh..." Ranma squeaked.

Ryoga pulled back and continued to smile, that was until he saw the expression on Ranma's look and saw that she didn't seem so pleased. "Ran?" Ryoga seemed to question in an odd fashion as if he knew that he was asking a question.

"Bwaa!" a large panda shouted from a distance. Ranma shook off the fact that she had been kissed when she turned around to see a panda pulling out a marker and writing on it. Was that right? Ranma wondered.

The panda held out the sign. "Ranma! It's me your father! How could you kiss a boy! Have you no shame!"

Ranma gasped, "M-mom... Dad's a panda."

Nodoka stepped out of the kitchen and out onto the porch. "Ranma, I know your father is outta' shape but you shouldn't-" she stopped, gasping as she read the sign from the strange literal panda.

"Oh, my..." she said, noticing that the panda seemed downtrodden when it looked down to its stomach.