Alex V Morgan
21st January 2003, 01:15 AM
Ranma Nibunnoichi : Reflections
By: A. V. Morgan (avmorgan27@attbi.com)
A continuation of the Two Ranmas manga story arc (V35 P1-4). Sexual
humor and innuendo, nudity and violence. Consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors
to whom she has given official rights. This work, in no way intends to
infringe upon those rights. The ideas explored are those of the author,
and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of
the creator or associated agencies.
BOLD Emphasis
~Italics~ Thought/Flashback
*SoundFX* ^_^;
[Sign] O.O [Arrrrgh! Panda's can't TALK!]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Thirty-Eight: What Sex Changes?
------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortly after Ranko arrived downstairs, Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse
arrived with enough food to feed an army. While the Cat Café traded
on the local fame of its ramen, the menu also included a wide range
of Chinese entrees to appeal to all tastes. Sadly, despite the
volume and variety of this repast, Ranma and Genma were not present
to enjoy it and Ranko was forced to eat slowly by her condition. In
addition to this handicap, Ranko was further distracted by the
hungry look she was receiving from Shampoo from the moment she
arrived. With hairs rising on her neck, Ranko knew the girl was up
to something, and she hid it poorly with enthusiastic chatter.
Thankfully, Nabiki fielded the amazon's questions about the
whereabouts of Ranma, Ryouga, Akane and Ukyo. She also explained
that Fa Shen was recovering from exposure to drugs Kodachi had used
during her recent visit. It was at this point that people noticed
that Ranko had ceased eating in favor of staring at the pretty
patterns dancing in the wood grain of the table.
"Ranko? Hey, are you okay?" Nabiki prodded.
"Huh? Oh, sure, I'm just fine," Ranko looked up, a silly grin
plastered on her face. Nabiki stared at her with narrowing eyes,
resisting the urge to weave drunkenly in imitation of the younger
girl.
"By any chance did you touch Fa Shen when she went upstairs?"
"Oooohhh yeeeaaaaah!" Ranko giggled, unconsciously rubbing her lips
and squirming. Oddly, she could almost feel the kissing and
caressing she had endured when Fa Shen pinned her to the futon.
After her earlier lack of response, she was savoring the mild
arousal that had crept up on her. "You could definitely say that!"
Nabiki sighed. "Great. Looks like some of the drugs rubbed off on
you. In your condition, it probably didn't take much for them to
effect you," Nabiki suggested, rising from the table with
exaggerated sufferance. "Excuse me, folks, while I put Miss Trippy
here to bed," she excused them, coming around to pull Ranko to her
feet. Ignoring the smug look from Shampoo, Nabiki shouldered most of
Ranko's weight and escorted her out of the room. Nabiki was quick to
note that her passenger was moving even more stiffly and lazily than
before. She quickly probed to find out what the effects of the drugs
were, and when Ranko explained what Fa Shen had said--and done--she
quickly agreed that it was best to stick the girl in a different
room. Nabiki dragged Ranko past the guest bedroom and into the
middle daughter's own room. After tucking her into the bed, Nabiki
made silent prayer that the drug would not transfer again now that
the fluid carrying it had dried and evaporated. Just to be safe, she
made a mental note to have the bed clothes changed before she went
to sleep that night. As an extra precaution, she locked the door to
her room before returning down stairs. She and Kasumi had a key, and
Ranko would be able to unlock it from inside if she needed to.
Shortly after Nabiki rejoined the others at the table, Soun and
Genma arrived home and settled down to eat. As if she possessed a
special sense to detect when her father approached food, Ranma came
running into the house from the yard, hugging a familiar black
piglet to her chest. It was almost eerie how she managed to whisk
the large dish Genma heaped with food right out of his hands before
he could take a bite.
"Thanks, Pop!" she grinned, shoveling food into her mouth as the
last word came out. The plate was half empty by the time Akane
stumbled in from the front door, chest heaving mightily as she
gasped for air.
"Ran... ma...!" she tried to growl while panting.
Ranma slapped her chopsticks on the table and glared at the girl. "I
said we'll talk about it later!" She leveled a steely eye on the
other girl; a meaningful look that made Nabiki ache to know what
words had passed between them during their search for Ryouga.
"I see you found him," Nabiki commented.
"Can you believe the idiot tried to jump off a bridge and drown
himself in the canal!?" Akane snapped, glaring at the pig.
Ranma snorted, "Says what you know, klutz! He was just standin'
there thinkin' when you stomped up! If somebody yelled at me like
that all of a sudden, I'da jumped too!" The pig snorted faintly in
agreement.
"I take it none of you thought to bring back the yukata?" Nabiki
coughed. As they turned to her, she pulled out her notebook and made
a note to bill Ryouga for the lost article of clothing. "You'd think
you'd all realize by now that these things cost money..." she clucked,
shaking her head.
P-Chan hung his head in dismay. It was bad enough that he'd gotten
lost so quickly and ended up doubling back towards the dojo, setting
himself up to be caught. Then, while he was distracted, staring at
the sky and moaning at the unfairness of it all, Akane spooked him
into the water; his transformation making it impossible for him to
speak or escape. Ranma had snatched him out of the water, and
proceeded to crush the life out of him. For a moment, he thought she
was trying to kill him. Then she stopped hugging him to turn him
around to face her while she yelled at him for running away from her
like that. When Akane tried to snag him out of Ranma's grip, Ranma
darted away and started running back to the dojo, with Akane
shouting at both of them as she took chase. Ryouga could not help
but wonder what Ranma had said to her to get Akane to go on about
how much she wanted Ranma, and even make her promise to listen to
her and Ryouga if they wanted to explain themselves. That had been
two kinds of agony, since the old familiar jealousy over Akane was
crossed with a new jealousy over Ranma.
It was ridiculous! Ryouga had given up on Akane ever caring for him,
but it seemed he still cared for her. How pathetic was that? But, he
had felt a stab to his heart every time she repeated her desire for
Ranma, and the blade twisted deeper as the same words roused fears
of losing Ranma to her. In a bitter gloom, he wondered if this was
just how she had decided to take revenge on him. Spurning him while
at the same time coming between him and the one who had returned his
love. It did not help that Ranma refused to talk to her, refused to
talk about the "rape" until "later". Ryouga had hardly had time to
think about the consequences of his actions, what they meant for
Ranma, but it was sheer torture to be in his cursed form unable to
do anything BUT think. He did not look forward to the confrontations
ahead, especially the ones he could expect from Akane, and now
Nabiki.
Before Ranma and Akane could resume arguing, Shampoo cleared her
throat for attention. "Shampoo have good good news!" she beamed at
Ranma, from across the table. When everyone shut up and looked at
her, she reached inside her blouse and smiled, "When Shampoo go
home, get special present for Ranma and Fa Shen!" She then pulled
out a handful of Instant Nanniichaun packets and presented them to
Ranma. "Now, Ranma and Fa Shen can use, have sex and cure Ranko!"
she cheered. When Ranma snatched the packets greedily from her hand,
the amazon bounced up and announced over her shoulder, as she ran
for the stairs, "Shampoo go tell Fa Shen good good news! You wait
here!"
Everyone sat there with their mouths hanging open in shock.
Ranma stared at the packets in her hand almost reverently. It was a
far cry from a permanent solution, and it made her burn to the roots
of her hair that Shampoo had been so blunt in phrasing what it
allowed, but it was a welcome twist. A glorious taste of manhood
waited just a splash away, and Ranko could be healed now, instead of
after a long, arduous journey to Jusenkyo. Mousse also stared
intently at the packets, trying to decide if it was worse to try and
snatch them away, and get slaughtered by the angry mob that would
provoke, or accept the fact that Ranko would be ready to face his
challenge in a matter of days, instead of weeks. Before anyone could
speak, Shampoo walked back into the room frowning.
"Aiyaa. Shampoo check all upstairs. Look like Fa Shen take off. Is
only Ranko upstairs," she declared. She strained to contain her glee
at this good luck. The hardest part of her plan had been finding a
way to arrange for privacy, and the perfect excuse had dropped into
her lap!
Nabiki turned a surprised look at the purple haired girl, noticing
the wheels turning in her not-so-lighter-than-air head. She
carefully composed her features, deliberately not asking the
question that was obvious to her, waiting to see what came next.
"Maybe best everyone go look for her, yes?"
"Didn't you say that Fa Shen was drugged by Kodachi?" Cologne turned
to ask Nabiki. The middle Tendo daughter nodded. "Well, I would say
Shampoo is right. She is probably in no condition to be wandering
the streets. Quickly, everyone!" Cologne hopped up onto her staff
and organized everyone into search parties. Ranma rushed into the
furo with P-Chan and returned with a slightly damp and quickly
dressed Ryouga. It took a little arm twisting to motivate the two
adult males to rouse themselves and join the search, which had the
unexpected effect of encouraging even Kasumi to help out, explaining
that she was the most familiar with the markets in the area. In
short order, the house was emptied as people took off to scour the
ward. Nabiki was the last to "leave" remembering at the last minute
something she "needed" from the house. She raced quickly upstairs
and confirmed that both Ranko and Fa Shen were still sleeping in
separate rooms. Since Shampoo had been one of the first to leave,
she was in no position to notice the canny mercenary had slipped
into the house. Not intending to confront her, Nabiki found a place
to hide and waited.
It did not take long for Shampoo to return to the house and sneak
upstairs with a towel and a bucket of water. Once the girl had
slipped into the guest room where Fa Shen was sleeping, and closed
the screen, Nabiki crept out of hiding and spied on the pair through
a tiny hole in the shoji. She watched as Shampoo opened a paper
packet and poured the contents into the bucket of water, and smirked
to herself. She was not at all surprised when Shampoo rolled Fa Shen
off the futon and undressed her before carefully poured the water
over her naked flesh, and toweled the resulting male form dry.
Nabiki knew exactly what the purple haired girl was up to, and could
hardly keep from laughing over the fact that Shampoo had no idea how
her plan had gone awry. Considering what Ranko had told her about
the drug's effects, she doubted Fa Shen would be in the mood to kill
Shampoo for this little stunt--at least not immediately. Nabiki
retreated to her room and activated the surveillance cameras she had
rigged in the guest room to capture the occasional indiscretions the
former cursed boy indulged in on occasion. The theft of the bathing
tape she made shortly after Ranma arrived had taught her to keep
future blackmail material much better hidden, and this would make a
fabulous addition. She hesitated only a moment to wonder if this was
fair to Fa Shen, but considering that Ranma had already bedded
Ryouga, and they planned to work together to heal Ranko, she decided
the experience would be good for her.
As the picture came up on her monitor, Shampoo was putting an empty
bottle away and finishing the process of toweling the boy off.
Nabiki made a note to find out later what exotic love potion the
girl had just used, and settled down to watch the show. Ranko, laid
out in the bed nearby, snored gently in oblivion, unlikely to wake
if the house blew up around her. Depending on what happened next,
there was a chance that theory might be tested. Quickly calculating
the odds, Nabiki got up to make a few calls to her factors.
Satisfied that the search parties would now be on a long, wild goose
chase, Nabiki returned silently to her room with the remainder of
her meal and focused on the screen.
-------------------------
The most logical place to begin a search for Fa Shen was Dr. Tofu's
clinic. It was the only place in Nerima Fa Shen was familiar with
and a reasonable place to go if one happened to be concerned about
her health. Unfortunately, Kasumi had suggested it first, offering
to stop at the clinic on her way out to the market. Akane and Ranma
had instantly jumped up an insisted on checking it out themselves,
claiming they also needed to speak to the doctor. Naturally, Genma
and Soun, casting brief glares at Ryouga, agreed that the two had to
go together. They also insisted that Ryouga accompany Kasumi for
protection, in case Fa Shen was dangerous in her present condition.
With the slim hope of uniting the families offered by Nodoka's
declaration, the fathers had instantly united in a conspiracy to
undermine Ryouga and support Akane in the battle for Ranma's heart.
Ranma saw through this instantly, but before she could say anything,
Ryouga surprised her by cheerfully agreeing to accompany Kasumi. He
knew he could not search on his own and hope to return to the dojo
any time the same week. More importantly, he was still choked with
shame over his "betrayals" of Ranma and Akane, and simply dreaded
confronting either of them at the moment. It was enough to make him
suppress his fear of what could happen if the two were alone
together. Besides, if it was possible for Akane to steal Ranma from
him with one conversation, it was best to find that out now, rather
than a month down the road.
So, Akane and Ranma found themselves walking the familiar route to
the clinic together. As they walked, they glanced occasionally in
each other's direction, each being careful about not letting the
other notice her interest. Nagging questions about the other's
behavior occupied their minds, as the silence stretched between
them. It was no mystery for either of them how the engagement
continued to entangle them, but it went without saying that they
both knew their present feelings about it ought to be attributed to
Ranko. There was a question in that, and Ranma could not ignore it.
"Why me? Why not her?" Ranma finally broke the silence.
Akane stopped and turned to look at her. Her confusion was obvious.
Ranma frowned and stopped as well. Without looking at Akane, she
elaborated. "I didn't think it really meant anything when you
challenged Ryouga. I mean, we've both... damn, the memories... I keep
thinkin' that was me." Ranma took a deep breath while she decided
how to deal with Ranko's memories. "It's sort of a matter of honor,
defending the engagement. Even if we don't want it. So, I suppose it
was just habit to say that 'I belong to you' when you were angry.
But," she waved Akane off, as she tried to interrupt. "It's not the
same thing, though, when you asked me if I wanted you."
Akane looked down and kicked a rock, holding her breath.
"Do you know, if it wasn't for Ryouga, I woulda automatically said
no? Do you know how much it scares me that I wasn't, like, all
'Who'd want a stupid tomboy like you!?'?" Ranma flicked her eyes
over to Akane. Turning her back, she walked over to the chain link
fence and stared down into the canal before she continued. "Do you
wanna know how much it hurt to tell Ryouga that I wasn't the girl he
loved? To tell her she died when I woke up?"
Akane jerked in surprise, "What? What are you talking about!?"
Ranma scowled, as the question distracted her. She shot a narrow
look at Akane, who sheepishly resumed studying the ground. In an
effort to clarify her thoughts, she observed, "I'm really good at
usin' words to mess with people's heads in a fight, to make 'em
angry and distract 'em. My Pop's been doin' it to me all my life.
It's easier than breathin', but somewhere along the way, I forgot
why it makes 'em angry. I mean, I learned not to let on when I've
been hurt. I'd just focus my anger into determination, fight harder,
win. That was supposed to be all that mattered." She paused for
several breaths. Raising her hands, she clawed at the open mesh of
the fence and continued on her original track, "As soon as I said
it, I knew I'd hurt him. I'd hurt him worse than anything I'd ever
done to him, including causing his curse."
Akane's head snapped up at that.
Without turning, Ranma explained, "The curse was an accident, but,
it was still my fault. I was outta control and didn't even notice
I'd knocked him off the cliff. I ruined his life, and I almost did
it again last night, and for the same stupid reason." With this, she
turned around and looked at Akane. "I was scared, Akane. The first
time, I was scared because I thought I would spend the rest of my
life as a girl. The second time, I was scared because I thought I
HAD to be a guy again. I was afraid that I couldn't be a guy and
feel the things I did, so I tried to break it all off."
Akane was wide eyed at this point. "You..." she frowned, not sure what
to say. What to ask. She wanted to ask what those unmanly feeling
were, but she did not really want to know.
Ranma already knew what she was going to ask. "...Love him," she
finished for Akane. She crossed her arms and maintained a level
gaze. "And it scares the hell out of me," she admitted. "I just
don't understand it. I can't believe how bad it hurt him when I did
that; how much I hated myself for doin' it. I don't ever wanna do
that again. I like to win, Akane, but I don't like hurting people.
Not like that." Ranma looked down, a look of agony and self
condemnation hidden behind her bangs.
Akane was still reeling from the shock of hearing her calmly declare
her love for Ryouga. She felt so light, so hollow, as if someone had
slit her open and scooped out her insides, and she struggled to
breathe, waiting for the pain to consume her.
"What my Mom did was bad enough," Ranma went on, trying not to see
the look of devastation on Akane's face. "The whole stupid
engagement thing is a problem that just won't die. I wouldn't blame
you if you said that stuff just to hurt Ryouga, after findin' out
his secret like that, and it sucks that Mom would use that to keep
the engagement going, but..." She bit her lip. Taking a deep breath
she reached out and grabbed Akane's hand. "It was kinda obvious that
you cared about me, when you've been fighting to tell people I need
to have a say in who and what I am. That was enough to know you were
special, a good person inside. I just didn't think it was me. I
didn't think it was for me. I mean, you always speak up for the
underdog, you know? You always fight because it's the right thing to
do." With her other hand, she gently cupped Akane's chin and tilted
her head up to look into her eyes.
Akane's heart had resumed beating, and sped up as Ranma's words
about her spilled out. Now she looked into her eyes with guarded
hope and apprehension.
"I didn't know you really liked me," Ranma confessed openly. "I
didn't know you had any special feelings for me. So, I really meant
it when I said I should be asking if YOU wanted ME. I wasn't tryin'
to force you to admit your feelings," she emphasized. "I've only
just realized how much I hurt people with the stuff I say. I wasn't
askin' to feel better about myself. I just... I don't understand why
you would care about me, LOVE me, when it's really Ranko you've been
through all of this engagement crap with."
Akane stared into Ranma's eyes for a long moment. She looked hurt
and troubled. She looked afraid. Not, she suspected, because she
thought Akane was lying about her feelings, but because they might
be real. "Why do you need to know?" Akane challenged, unable to
begin explaining her feelings. She was too unsure of them herself.
"Come on, Akane!" Ranma hardened her features, just shy of angry.
"One thing I do know is that you were never like the other girls,
chasin' after 'Ranma' like some trophy! It's bad enough that I
have'ta choose you if I want my Mom to see me as a guy! It's bad
enough I could ruin both our lives, and destroy Ryouga, just because
I'd do almost anything to be a guy again! Now I have to worry that,
no matter what I do, it's gonna hurt someone I care about really
really bad."
Akane blinked. By now, her heart was pounding from the effect of
Ranma's words. She carefully collected her thoughts and timidly
asked, "Are... are you saying you care about me?"
"Don't be stupid, Akane! Of course I care about you! You're my
friend!"
"Is... is that it? Is that all I am? A friend?"
Ranma let go of the girl's chin and stomped away from her. "Don't do
this! Don't ask me to give you a reason to love me! I'm not askin'
for that. Not from you, not from Ryouga, and sure as hell not from
any of the others!" she shouted, beginning to lose her composure.
After storming around in a wide circle around a very nervous Akane,
she returned to face her. "Ryouga dropped everything and chased me
all the way to China because he didn't get to say good bye to me
when Pops and I moved on. Because he became afraid I never even
cared for him as a friend, he worked himself up to tryin' to kill
me! Do you think I don't know what it'll do to him if I dumped him!?
You think you're stubborn! I'm the best thing that ever happened to
him! He'll tear down the world to keep me! He would not stop while
there was the slightest hope of having me, and the only way to stop
him is to destroy that hope, and pray you're not in the same country
what that destroys him!"
Akane gulped. She only recently discovered how little she had really
known Ryouga, but she knew him well enough to know Ranma was right.
However, her own stubbornness was ready to assert itself. "What does
that have to do with what I feel?"
Ranma stared at her with bulging eyes. Coughing and clearing her
throat, she grinned lopsidedly, "No offense, Akane, but the only
person I know with a worse temper than Ryouga is you."
"What!?" Akane roared in instant indignation.
"Case in point," Ranma hastily backpedaled as Akane's aura flared up
and filled the street. She discretely pointed out the manifestation
of the other girl's anger. "If you could control and channel that,
it'd rival Ryouga's Perfect Shishihokodan."
Akane finally noticed her aura, not quite aware that the storm of
emotions seething inside her since the beginning of the week had fed
into it, filling it out and awaiting release through her one
emotional outlet. Violence. As she twitched and choked in disbelief,
the miasma dissipated.
Seeing her calm, Ranma returned to the point. "Why me, Akane? I
mean, it almost makes sense that you'd have feelings for Ranko after
all you've been through. I ask the same thing about Ryouga. At least
with him, we were friends before Jusenkyo, and I took over the part
of Ranko he finally opened up to. I was there in his arms when I
woke up. It's confusing as hell, but I can see why he'd be hung up
on me. I can't see that with you," she confessed.
Akane bit her lip and looked away.
"Do you love Ranko?" Ranma pressed.
Akane nodded, hesitantly.
"Do you... do you think it won't work because she's a girl?"
"No," Akane heaved a heavy sigh and looked back, pain open on her
face. "It's not Ranko. I mean, yeah, she says she's both male and
female, but I think she's fine just the way she is. I don't mind
that she's a girl in her own mind, and I wouldn't expect her to be a
man just for me. The problem is... I don't think I could be a man for
her. I don't think I can be what she needs," Akane cried, fighting
sudden tears.
Ranma blinked and sagged a little in understanding. "So, you want me
because I'm really a guy inside. You don't think I would need that,"
she concluded sadly. Akane nodded. Ranma stood looking at her for a
moment. "Akane... I don't know how to say this, but... you're wrong. I
mean, come on... I've been with Ryouga and I'm not exactly running in
terror from him."
Akane glanced over, caught the look on her face and erupted into
laughter. When she calmed down from the nervous outburst, she shook
her head, "I can't believe I didn't think of that." Becoming more
serious, she crossed her arms and thought. Swallowing, she reviewed
her thoughts and feelings, remembering her comment to the other
girls about taking a curse to be worthy of chasing Ranma or Ranko.
"I guess I didn't make myself very clear," she resumed, hesitantly.
"I did not mean, I would not take a curse for her. I'd do that for
either of you. I just don't think I can be the man in a
relationship. Do you understand what I mean?"
Ranma gaped, and shook her head, "Oh, no. Not you too!"
"What?"
"Ryouga said the same exact thing!" Ranma growled, then started
waving her hands, "I mean, about getting cursed, not about being the
man in the relationship. Sheesh, once you start talking about bein'
cursed, it's hard to say there is a man in the relationship. Once
you start flippin' back and forth, it's just two people, and it's
just love. Nothin' else can work."
Akane pondered that. "Ryouga offered to get a girl curse?"
"Yes."
"Is that why... is that why you want him... instead of me?"
"You're doin' it again!"
"What!?"
"You're makin' assumptions about what I feel about you!"
"Well, you're not telling me what you feel!"
"I can't!"
"Why not!?"
"Because you don't know what your feelings about me are! I'm not
going to make the same mistake with you I did with Ukyo!" Ranma
almost shouted.
Akane stiffened. "You don't want me to fall in love with you?"
"Why? So I can agonize over whose heart I'm gonna have to rip out!?"
That finally stopped Akane.
Ranma looked at her with the look of a tortured soul.
Akane's eyes narrowed. "If I don't love you, you're going to remain
a girl," she suddenly declared. Ranma winced and looked around
wildly, trying to find something to focus on too late to avoid
meeting Akane's eyes. Akane advanced slowly on the smaller girl.
"I'm right, aren't I? You're not choosing between the ones you love.
You're trying to make sure you don't hurt one of them. You love both
of us!" she smiled in triumph and joy.
Ranma dropped to the ground as if she had been hammered right over
the head, and just as abruptly. Fighting to avoid an emotional
collapse as well, she raged, "But you don't love me, Akane! You love
Ranko! It doesn't matter what I feel! Don't you understand! You
CAN'T love me!"
"Why are you saying that!?" Akane fumed, dropping to her knees in
front of Ranma, instant agony lacing her voice. "How can you say
that?" she added, in a smaller voice. "Are you the only person in
the world that can love two people!?"
"Do you think that's a good thing!" Ranma snapped.
"How can loving someone be a bad thing!" Akane retorted.
"When you can't be with them!!!" Ranma roared, grabbing the other
girl roughly by the arms and shaking her. "Don't you remember in the
bath? Don't you remember the way I went off on you!?" Ranma
demanded, bringing up the moment when, as 'Ranko', she had accepted
she would never be with Akane. A look of realization blossomed on
Akane's face. "It's the same thing I did to Ryouga, but that was
just cutting out my own heart. I can't do that to you! I can't do
that to me again!"
"But... don't you understand...?" Akane whimpered, gazing back into
Ranma's eyes. "That's what I'm trying to prevent. Do you have any
idea what it was like for me, watching 'Ranma' be destroyed by the
mirror? Ranko was never really you, but I never knew that. I had to
watch 'Ranma' die before I could meet Ranko... and yes, I did fall in
love with her, but that's because I was already in love with you!"
Ranma gasped in pain. "No!" she breathed. "Stop it, Akane! Please,
stop it!" Shaking her head, she shoved the other girl away and tried
to lurch to her feet.
Akane reeled back, but since she was kneeling, she easily absorbed
the force and launched herself back at Ranma, tackling her to the
ground. The two scuffled on the sidewalk for a moment, until Akane
managed to pin her. That would not have even been possible if the
other girl had not been emotionally devastated. "Ranma! What the
hell is wrong with you!"
Ranma was muttering to herself, ignoring the other girl entirely.
"There's no way to win. There isn't even a way to win by losing. I
can't protect anyone!"
Akane slapped her across the face. The sharp, stinging pain brought
Ranma back into focus. "Are you a complete idiot!?" Akane shouted
from centimeters away. Ranma twitched, and reddened as emotional
agony bled into contained rage. "This isn't some martial arts
competition! It's not about winning! It's about living! Life is mean
and nasty and ugly, and there's nothing you can do to keep other's
from getting hurt!" Akane roared on. "Do you think it's your fault
that Ryouga or I can get hurt!? Is it your fault we love you!?"
Ranma battled her rage, fighting the old urge to retort, to fling
the pain another's words caused back at them. One small part of her
mind was in awe of the fact that Akane was openly declaring her
love. Challenging her with it, in fact. "How can you say that?" she
asked in a small voice. "How can you suddenly say you love me, like
you've never doubted it a minute?"
Akane reared back. Unwanted though it was, that was a good question.
One what was screaming at her from the back of her own mind. Over
the past few months, nothing had frightened her more than allowing
herself to even hint that she had feelings for the jerk, even to
herself. Instantly, she corrected herself. Until this morning,
nothing had frightened her more. Since this morning, she had been
more afraid that it was already to late to admit it. That fear had
sent her racing after her, shouting that she wanted her. That fear
had made her throw all her arguments and self justifications at
Ranma, trying to answer her challenge that she did not love her.
Now, looking down into those big, blue eyes, she understood her
fear. "I can't say I didn't deny it. I was afraid to admit it to
myself. I was afraid of what would happen if I did. Now, I am more
afraid of what will happen if I don't," she sighed.
Ranma watched the emotions play across Akane's face, testifying to
the truth of her words. It was easy to read, because she was
familiar with all of those feelings. Fear, shame, guilt,
uncertainty, inadequacy, loneliness, desire, hope, but above all,
love.
Akane noticed something had spilled out of Ranma's shirt, and picked
it up. Recognizing the packet for what it was, she held it up in
front of Ranma's eyes and declared, "If you really want me to prove
it, well, one of us is going to need this."
Ranma focused on the packet of Instant Nanniichaun and gulped.
-------------------------
Fa Shen had not been entirely asleep when Shampoo snuck into the
room with her. She had not been entirely awake either. The combined
effect of the drugs Kodachi had doused her with had left her
extremely detached from her body, the partial paralysis and arousal
producing a delightful lethargy akin to sleep. The hallucinations
brought on by the psychotropic added to the illusion by giving her
consciousness a very dream like quality. Put simply, she was wide
awake and thought she was dreaming. She had turned, slowly and
weakly, and stared at Shampoo when she entered, then relaxed into
her comfortable imitation of sleep. She had been too preoccupied
trying to make sense of the images that formed behind her eyelids,
blending fantasy and memory into a mysterious and alluring tapestry.
Not too surprisingly, her mind had wandered eagerly through the
intimate moments Copy-kun had experienced with Copy-chan and Ranma-
chan and then elaborated on them. When Shampoo laid hands on her to
roll her off the futon and undress her, Fa Shen pictured those hands
as belonging to Ranko, and smiled in eager anticipation. When the
girl poured cool water over her, and a distantly familiar tingle
passed through her body, Fa Shen opened her eyes. With only mild
surprise, she noticed she had become male, and decided she really
was dreaming.
Blinking, she... he looked up into the eager eyes of Shampoo. Fa
Shen's mind again tried to superimpose Ranko's image, but gave up
after a moment. He was used to his dreaming mind confronting him
with bizarre substitutions for the things he wanted to see. He
decided his inherited brain was having some difficulty confronting
him with his female image, and replaced it with Shampoo. She was
certainly the one person who had made the greatest erotic impact on
the masculine aspect Fa Shen inherited from Ranko. Fa Shen smirked
as he noticed his reaction to being toweled off by Shampoo. The
aphrodisiac that had aroused him as a girl was now reinforced by the
powerful male libido that had shocked him upon awakening the night
before. This was going to be a wonderful dream.
Shampoo found herself relaxing and smiling. When she arrived in the
room, she had a faint dread of mistaking Fa Shen for Ranko, but
seeing the languid way this girl had moved, she had been confident
it was Ranko. By the time she was undressed, Shampoo felt no need to
hesitate before turning her into a boy. He had remained surprisingly
calm and composed through the transformation. Apparently the drugs
that had rubbed off on Ranko had put her into a mild trance state.
As she pulled the cork on the bottle of chisuiiton water, she felt a
moment of regret. She knew Ranko considered herself more of a girl,
but that would leave her vulnerable to Mousse's challenge. As a boy,
she had a much better chance of defeating him. If she locked the
instant curse, it would be necessary to visit the Musk before she
could go to Jusenkyo for the real curse, but Ranko had been prepared
for that necessity last night anyway. When she realized that Shampoo
had only done it to protect her, she would surely forgive her. With
that justification, Shampoo poured the contents of the bottle over
the temporary male form, making it permanent.
Fa Shen laughed as he was splashed again. "What's with the sponge
bath, Shampoo?"
Shampoo paused, nibbling on her lower lip. She knew that what she
was doing could not go the way she wanted things to, ideally, and it
was likely that Ranko would object to her intentions if he realized
they were consummating the marriage. On the other hand, he seemed to
be in a highly suggestible state. Somewhere inside, the girl-turned-
boy was waking up to memories of being Fa Shen. How hard would it be
to draw out that side of him? "Shampoo thought it be fun if Fa Shen
pretend to be Airen with Shampoo. See what it like to be man with
woman. Since Fa Shen reborn as man, is okay to turn into man for fun
time with Shampoo," Shampoo smirked, again drying the boy off very
carefully with the towel. She did not want to come into contact with
any of the magical water she had just used.
Fa Shen gave her a confused look, remaining silent until the girl
was done rubbing him down. Was it possible this was more than a
dream? He blinked and rubbed his hands over his stomach and chest.
It certainly felt real enough, and Shampoo seemed to be aware of who
she really was. He knew that, in his former life, it was not
uncommon for amazon girls to joke about using the nanniichaun as a
way to experiment with sex without the complication of getting
involved with boys. Under normal circumstances, that would never be
allowed, but on the off chance that a girl did get such a curse, it
took time before she could replace that curse with one that was not
condemned and in that time things could happen. There was one
problem, however. "But, I don't have a curse. How can I be a boy
again!?"
Shampoo picked up the packet from next to the bucket. "Is Instant
Nanniichaun," she explained, letting the confused boy read the
information on the packet.
"So, I'm not dreaming?" Fa Shen asked.
"No is dreaming. Is just drugs," Shampoo pointed out. As she began
to undress, she looked at him earnestly, "Is okay with you we do
this?"
Fa Shen looked up from the packet, realizing that Shampoo had given
him a way to heal Ranko, and an opportunity to experiment before
trying anything with Ranma. Fa Shen smiled, "Sure. I mean, it's not
like I'll be married to you if we do. That would only happen if I
was Ranko."
Shampoo smiled in satisfaction. It had worked, she had tricked him
into thinking he was Fa Shen. "Shampoo know. If Shampoo sleep with
Ranko even one time, marriage is sealed. So, must go to amazon
sister for just good time," Shampoo pointed out daringly. "But, you
Fa Shen, so you no worry, yes?"
Fa Shen laughed nervously, while nodding. Now that he was more
familiar with the situation, through the memories he had inherited,
it was easy to see how much the girl was in love with the person who
had become Ranko. She had probably been ready to take the final step
in her marriage from the moment she was defeated, and the long
months since had worked her into a frenzy. While the marriage hung
in limbo, she was free to indulge in purely physical affairs, but
the only amazon male around was the last one she could risk that
kind of intimacy with. Casual sex did not work with someone who was
hopelessly obsessed. Of course, that was a fair description of any
amazon male an amazon girl happened to take notice of, so it was
more common for the girls to turn to each other to relieve their
tensions.
Shampoo finished undressing and they faced each other, naked. It
occurred to Fa Shen that he was hardly in his right mind. He knew
that his one night as a boy had aroused a strong curiosity in him,
and that the lustier part of Copy-kun/Ranma's memories, combined
with Ranma's proposal that morning, had been an overwhelming
temptation. How Shampoo knew she could take advantage of that was a
mystery, but not as great as the mystery of why he was not freaked
out and disgusted by being in a male body. After all, Fa Shen had
ignored the chance to discover his full potential when he learned he
would have to be cursed with a male body to attain it. His mind was
still having difficulty coping with the strongly male perspective of
the memories he gained from Copy-Ranma. He felt a bit lost and out
of control, driven by male hormones and instincts he did not
understand. His body was eager and excited, flooding his mind with
impulses to act, seducing him with the promise of pleasure. It was
overwhelming and left him completely uncertain if this was what he
wanted, or if he simply lacked the will to resist.
"I can't believe I'm considering this," Fa Shen breathed.
"Shampoo know. Is scary! But, Shampoo need this!" she responded,
slinking forward with feline grace.
With some difficulty, Fa Shen crawled back onto the futon, and
Shampoo followed him. Fa Shen felt his body responding to her
proximity, and reminded himself that this was an experiment. How
could he know if he wanted this until he had some idea what it was?
He had ached to know if sex would make a difference, if it would
affect him the way Ranma had been affected. He had regretted not
having the chance to find out before his womanhood was restored. "I
guess I kinda need it too," Fa Shen sighed, laying back and watching
Shampoo crawl up the length of his body, her hands gently caressing
the hard muscles as she advanced. Fa Shen allowed himself to become
absorbed in her exploration, learning as much as she did from her
probing touch. He knew where this was going, but it was going to
take a little while to get there. They both had too much curiosity
about this body they wanted to satisfy.
Conversation ceased in favor of this wordless communication.
Already highly aroused, the patient touching, teasing, tickling
torture of her fingers, lips and tongue sent Fa Shen into the throes
of passion. He began to respond in kind, learning her body through
gentle probing caresses, diving toward the one universal intimacy
that was the kiss. This was something he did have some experience
with, through Copy-kun, and he delighted in it. With that welcoming
kiss, Shampoo melted, losing all thought of what she was doing, or
why, and rejoicing in the long awaited response to all her advances.
The first time they parted for breath, they were both more than
ready for intercourse, but they continued kissing with a mindless
passion.
While his tongue probed the soft, silken warmth of her mouth, his
hands slithered over her body with an unerring certainty. With
Shampoo straddling his waist, hunched close over his torso to drink
in his kiss, he was able to reach almost every part of her, from the
crown of her head to the tips of her toes. His fingers combed
through her glorious mane, danced down her spine, over her buttocks
and along the outside of her thigh. He slid them back up the top of
her thigh, thumb trailing along the sensitive inner side, gripping
her hips, then cupping her waist before brushing over her ribs to
caress her breasts. Wherever his hands roamed, he knew where to find
the little spots that made her moan and squeak with pleasure.
Shampoo was forced to stretch out over his head and grip the top
edge of the futon as he kneaded and massaged the pliant flesh, but
this just brought those breasts within reach of his mouth. Kissing
and licking one nipple, before sucking it into his mouth, he freed a
hand to wander down her belly. With delicate, feather light strokes,
he caressed her abdomen, quickly finding spots so sensitive she
shuddered and twitched in ecstasy, while everything inside her
churned into a hot, molten mass of aching desire.
Fa Shen grinned in delight at her response, amazed at how deeply her
reactions affected him. Every gasp and moan he evoked from her sent
a pleasant ache through his body. He felt the twitch of every muscle
in her body under his hands, causing part of his mind to delve into
the mystery of her anatomy, as if by touching her he somehow brought
her into himself. It was not unlike the way the beauty of nature
could pierce the soul. By touching her on the surface, she touched
him somewhere deep within. So, what then if he sought out her
depths? His hand strayed down, over a tiny field of purple curls,
following the curve to the mouth of a spring that flowed hot and wet
over delicate folds of flesh.
Shampoo gasped and cried out as his fingers slid over and through
petals of pink, pulling them gently, causing them to slide over a
nugget of mind jarring pleasure. Gentle fingertips slipped and
pressed through the outer layers of her sex, a ceaseless circular
flow of feeling that stabbed into the depths of her brain and body,
waking up a desperate hunger. Just when it seemed impossible to
endure, those slender digits probed deeper, finding the throat of
her womanhood and feeding themselves into it.
Fa Shen freed his other hand and slid it down to Shampoo's waist,
reaching around to press at the small of her back, while the first
hand covered her vulva. His two middle fingers had slipped inside
her, brushing against the hot velvet walls. The heel of that hand
pressed down on her clitoris mercilessly as he strained to plunge
those fingers inside her in long, slow strokes.
As much as this consumed her attention, Shampoo felt a deeper need
and pushed herself back. One hand snaked down his front seeking out
the part of him she truly wanted to invade her. Finding the hardened
shaft, she straddled his hips and guided it to her center as she
descended. Lost in the intense pleasure of his manipulations, the
sharp pain that ripped through her as she impaled herself was
quickly lost to a flood of ecstasy. She straightened and arched her
back, savoring the moan Fa Shen released as she engulfed him down to
the root. This whole adventure had started with him at a high level
of arousal, and Shampoo had goaded him even higher with her kisses
and caresses, but nothing compared to the sensation of that first
thrust. Through the sensitive organ he had a keen awareness of being
inside of her. His hands automatically converged on her hips and
abdomen, exploring the wonder of a part of him becoming hers.
Shampoo recovered from that first thrust after a few breaths, and
then began to roll her hips, savoring the feel of him shifting
slightly within her, before tensing her thighs and raising herself
up slowly. Fa Shen tensed and gasped at the sensation of her tight
vagina sliding up around the hard column of his penis. Reaching the
end of his shaft, she slowly descended, engulfing him again. It took
several long strokes, gradually increasing the pace, for both of
them to steel themselves to the faster rhythm their bodies cried out
for. Naturally, the perfect tempo was set by the beat of their
hearts, strong and steady from years of physical conditioning, but
gradually speeding as they exerted themselves. As they hit their
stride, panting and moaning, they were consumed by pleasure intense
enough to seem like pain. It eclipsed all thoughts, and drove all
feelings to passion, luring them on to a promise of something
wonderful and almost unattainable.
As girls, both had long known how to stimulate themselves to orgasm,
but Fa Shen, suddenly a stranger in his body, had only masturbated
once as a boy. He endured the agonizing pleasure with no idea how to
surrender to it, unwittingly prolonging the engagement. Shampoo,
also a virgin, blindly sought release around the profound and
unfamiliar experience of penetration. Thus, they suffered what many
would deem the most pleasant part of intercourse far longer than a
first, fumbling, foray into sexuality typically permitted. They had
time to pause, when Shampoo limply lay forward, drawn hungrily to a
lingering kiss, Fa Shen's member fully sheathed inside her. But the
kissing would urge them on to renewed efforts. So it went, time
passing unheeded as they tried new ways to please each other with
their hands and mouths or their interlocked genitals. Shampoo was
the first to find release, crying out in ecstasy. Only as she was
coming down did Fa Shen unlock the mystery of his adopted sex,
climaxing in a hot surge and a peak of sensitivity that made the
slightest movement a shuddering, agonizing pleasure.
Sore, sweating and mildly disgusted at the mess, they wrinkled their
noses and clung to each other in a tired embrace. Stunned at the
sheer physical intensity, and their complete loss of control over
themselves, they shared weary laughter but could not think of any
words to speak. Neither had realized that sex was such an ordeal, a
thing that could so drastically impact their hearts and minds, a
bonding experience. The intimacy made them conscious of how little
they knew each other, intimidating them. So, they did not speak.
They just held on.
In another room, Nabiki decided they were through for the moment and
leaned back from her computer and stretched. As she arched back, she
noticed Ranko was standing behind her, her eyes wide and glued to
the images on the screen. Nabiki realized she had been so absorbed
in the action she had not noticed when Ranko dragged herself out of
bed and staggered over to see what she was watching.
"Uh, Ranko?"
Ranko blinked and came out of her shock. With an angry look, she
pointed at the screen where multiple windows had shown the action
from several different angles. "What is this!?" she demanded.
"Modern technology," Nabiki quipped, straightening and turning the
chair to face the girl.
"You have cameras in my room!" Ranko shouted.
"Shhh! Do you want them to hear you?"
"Why do you have cameras in my room!?" Ranko dropped her voice.
Nabiki sighed, and waved a hand at the computer. "In case something
like this happened," she stated very calmly.
Ranko began to shake with fury. "What. Else. Have. You. Watched?"
she clipped off each word, a faint aura rolling over the surface of
her exposed skin. Nabiki held her breath. Considering how little ki
the girl had, that was an impressive display of rage.
"No point hiding it now. Let's just say, the answer to the question
you didn't ask is, 'Yes'," Nabiki cut to the chase. Ranko slowly
raised her arm, hand held flat and vertical. Nabiki stared at her
levelly, refusing to take the gesture as a threat. To her surprise,
the hand snapped across her face, leaving a stinging red hand print
on Nabiki's cheek, before the red-head seized up and toppled over at
the end of the motion.
Nabiki raised a stunned hand to her cheek and looked down at Ranko.
She lay on her side, awkwardly, having obviously expended her energy
with that one blow. From the look in her eyes, as they gazed up, she
was painfully aware that she had left herself open to any
retaliation Nabiki pleased.
"So, I guess you had some feminine modesty after all," Nabiki
smirked, deciding she deserved the slap. She got up and collected
Ranko off the floor and moved her to the bed, where she began to
recover. Glancing at the computer to see the couple were still
wrapped up on Ranko's futon, she commented, "When you've got
yourself back together, do you want to come with me? I believe we
should catch them now to make sure Shampoo realizes that isn't you
in there."
Ranko blinked, suddenly understanding what would happen if Shampoo
were allowed to claim she had sex with her. "Let's not wait," she
declared, struggling with slow, trembling limbs to sit up. Nabiki
sighed and took her hands, pulling her up and dragging one of the
girl's arms over her shoulder to support her.
The two of them shuffled out the door to Nabiki's room and down the
hall to the guest room. Checking to make sure she had a good grip on
Ranko, Nabiki used her other hand to sweep the shoji open. As the
naked, exhausted couple jerked around to look at them, Ranko stared
at Fa Shen, "First Ranma, now you. What were you thinking, Fa Shen?"
The boy blushed to his roots, his hands scrabbling around in
desperate search of a blanket or something to cover Shampoo and
himself up with.
Nabiki looked down in appreciation and smirked. "Well, at least
you're still a natural red head, Fa Shen. I guess Cologne was right
about the Togenkyo taint." Ranko blinked and took a second glance.
Sure enough, the girl turned boy had the same shade of crimson hair
she did. Apart from that, he looked like the boy she had been--at
least part of the time.
"Why you call Ranko Fa Shen?" Shampoo demanded, stretching
unselfconsciously. It was pretty evident that peculiar lavender
purple was her natural hair color too.
"No one's callin' me Fa Shen," Ranko scowled.
Shampoo stiffened. She slowly turned to the boy beside her. She
whipped her head back to Ranko and wailed, "YOU'RE Ranko!!?" When
the red-headed girl nodded, Shampoo collapsed into tears, mumbling
to herself.
At this, Fa Shen got really nervous. "I thought you knew who I was.
Didn't you say..."
"Shampoo so SO sorry!" she bawled grabbing the boy around the neck
and weeping onto his broad chest. When everyone stared at her in
confusion, Shampoo let go of Fa Shen and scrabbled around until she
found the empty bottle. She handed it to Fa Shen and proceeded to
wail like it was the end of the world. Fa Shen turned the bottle
over and read the label, which was hand written in Chinese. He paled
and raced out of the room and down the stairs. Before anyone could
catch up with him, his scream shook the house.
------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Part Thirty-Eight
------------------------------------------------------------------
By: A. V. Morgan (avmorgan27@attbi.com)
A continuation of the Two Ranmas manga story arc (V35 P1-4). Sexual
humor and innuendo, nudity and violence. Consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors
to whom she has given official rights. This work, in no way intends to
infringe upon those rights. The ideas explored are those of the author,
and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of
the creator or associated agencies.
BOLD Emphasis
~Italics~ Thought/Flashback
*SoundFX* ^_^;
[Sign] O.O [Arrrrgh! Panda's can't TALK!]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Thirty-Eight: What Sex Changes?
------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortly after Ranko arrived downstairs, Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse
arrived with enough food to feed an army. While the Cat Café traded
on the local fame of its ramen, the menu also included a wide range
of Chinese entrees to appeal to all tastes. Sadly, despite the
volume and variety of this repast, Ranma and Genma were not present
to enjoy it and Ranko was forced to eat slowly by her condition. In
addition to this handicap, Ranko was further distracted by the
hungry look she was receiving from Shampoo from the moment she
arrived. With hairs rising on her neck, Ranko knew the girl was up
to something, and she hid it poorly with enthusiastic chatter.
Thankfully, Nabiki fielded the amazon's questions about the
whereabouts of Ranma, Ryouga, Akane and Ukyo. She also explained
that Fa Shen was recovering from exposure to drugs Kodachi had used
during her recent visit. It was at this point that people noticed
that Ranko had ceased eating in favor of staring at the pretty
patterns dancing in the wood grain of the table.
"Ranko? Hey, are you okay?" Nabiki prodded.
"Huh? Oh, sure, I'm just fine," Ranko looked up, a silly grin
plastered on her face. Nabiki stared at her with narrowing eyes,
resisting the urge to weave drunkenly in imitation of the younger
girl.
"By any chance did you touch Fa Shen when she went upstairs?"
"Oooohhh yeeeaaaaah!" Ranko giggled, unconsciously rubbing her lips
and squirming. Oddly, she could almost feel the kissing and
caressing she had endured when Fa Shen pinned her to the futon.
After her earlier lack of response, she was savoring the mild
arousal that had crept up on her. "You could definitely say that!"
Nabiki sighed. "Great. Looks like some of the drugs rubbed off on
you. In your condition, it probably didn't take much for them to
effect you," Nabiki suggested, rising from the table with
exaggerated sufferance. "Excuse me, folks, while I put Miss Trippy
here to bed," she excused them, coming around to pull Ranko to her
feet. Ignoring the smug look from Shampoo, Nabiki shouldered most of
Ranko's weight and escorted her out of the room. Nabiki was quick to
note that her passenger was moving even more stiffly and lazily than
before. She quickly probed to find out what the effects of the drugs
were, and when Ranko explained what Fa Shen had said--and done--she
quickly agreed that it was best to stick the girl in a different
room. Nabiki dragged Ranko past the guest bedroom and into the
middle daughter's own room. After tucking her into the bed, Nabiki
made silent prayer that the drug would not transfer again now that
the fluid carrying it had dried and evaporated. Just to be safe, she
made a mental note to have the bed clothes changed before she went
to sleep that night. As an extra precaution, she locked the door to
her room before returning down stairs. She and Kasumi had a key, and
Ranko would be able to unlock it from inside if she needed to.
Shortly after Nabiki rejoined the others at the table, Soun and
Genma arrived home and settled down to eat. As if she possessed a
special sense to detect when her father approached food, Ranma came
running into the house from the yard, hugging a familiar black
piglet to her chest. It was almost eerie how she managed to whisk
the large dish Genma heaped with food right out of his hands before
he could take a bite.
"Thanks, Pop!" she grinned, shoveling food into her mouth as the
last word came out. The plate was half empty by the time Akane
stumbled in from the front door, chest heaving mightily as she
gasped for air.
"Ran... ma...!" she tried to growl while panting.
Ranma slapped her chopsticks on the table and glared at the girl. "I
said we'll talk about it later!" She leveled a steely eye on the
other girl; a meaningful look that made Nabiki ache to know what
words had passed between them during their search for Ryouga.
"I see you found him," Nabiki commented.
"Can you believe the idiot tried to jump off a bridge and drown
himself in the canal!?" Akane snapped, glaring at the pig.
Ranma snorted, "Says what you know, klutz! He was just standin'
there thinkin' when you stomped up! If somebody yelled at me like
that all of a sudden, I'da jumped too!" The pig snorted faintly in
agreement.
"I take it none of you thought to bring back the yukata?" Nabiki
coughed. As they turned to her, she pulled out her notebook and made
a note to bill Ryouga for the lost article of clothing. "You'd think
you'd all realize by now that these things cost money..." she clucked,
shaking her head.
P-Chan hung his head in dismay. It was bad enough that he'd gotten
lost so quickly and ended up doubling back towards the dojo, setting
himself up to be caught. Then, while he was distracted, staring at
the sky and moaning at the unfairness of it all, Akane spooked him
into the water; his transformation making it impossible for him to
speak or escape. Ranma had snatched him out of the water, and
proceeded to crush the life out of him. For a moment, he thought she
was trying to kill him. Then she stopped hugging him to turn him
around to face her while she yelled at him for running away from her
like that. When Akane tried to snag him out of Ranma's grip, Ranma
darted away and started running back to the dojo, with Akane
shouting at both of them as she took chase. Ryouga could not help
but wonder what Ranma had said to her to get Akane to go on about
how much she wanted Ranma, and even make her promise to listen to
her and Ryouga if they wanted to explain themselves. That had been
two kinds of agony, since the old familiar jealousy over Akane was
crossed with a new jealousy over Ranma.
It was ridiculous! Ryouga had given up on Akane ever caring for him,
but it seemed he still cared for her. How pathetic was that? But, he
had felt a stab to his heart every time she repeated her desire for
Ranma, and the blade twisted deeper as the same words roused fears
of losing Ranma to her. In a bitter gloom, he wondered if this was
just how she had decided to take revenge on him. Spurning him while
at the same time coming between him and the one who had returned his
love. It did not help that Ranma refused to talk to her, refused to
talk about the "rape" until "later". Ryouga had hardly had time to
think about the consequences of his actions, what they meant for
Ranma, but it was sheer torture to be in his cursed form unable to
do anything BUT think. He did not look forward to the confrontations
ahead, especially the ones he could expect from Akane, and now
Nabiki.
Before Ranma and Akane could resume arguing, Shampoo cleared her
throat for attention. "Shampoo have good good news!" she beamed at
Ranma, from across the table. When everyone shut up and looked at
her, she reached inside her blouse and smiled, "When Shampoo go
home, get special present for Ranma and Fa Shen!" She then pulled
out a handful of Instant Nanniichaun packets and presented them to
Ranma. "Now, Ranma and Fa Shen can use, have sex and cure Ranko!"
she cheered. When Ranma snatched the packets greedily from her hand,
the amazon bounced up and announced over her shoulder, as she ran
for the stairs, "Shampoo go tell Fa Shen good good news! You wait
here!"
Everyone sat there with their mouths hanging open in shock.
Ranma stared at the packets in her hand almost reverently. It was a
far cry from a permanent solution, and it made her burn to the roots
of her hair that Shampoo had been so blunt in phrasing what it
allowed, but it was a welcome twist. A glorious taste of manhood
waited just a splash away, and Ranko could be healed now, instead of
after a long, arduous journey to Jusenkyo. Mousse also stared
intently at the packets, trying to decide if it was worse to try and
snatch them away, and get slaughtered by the angry mob that would
provoke, or accept the fact that Ranko would be ready to face his
challenge in a matter of days, instead of weeks. Before anyone could
speak, Shampoo walked back into the room frowning.
"Aiyaa. Shampoo check all upstairs. Look like Fa Shen take off. Is
only Ranko upstairs," she declared. She strained to contain her glee
at this good luck. The hardest part of her plan had been finding a
way to arrange for privacy, and the perfect excuse had dropped into
her lap!
Nabiki turned a surprised look at the purple haired girl, noticing
the wheels turning in her not-so-lighter-than-air head. She
carefully composed her features, deliberately not asking the
question that was obvious to her, waiting to see what came next.
"Maybe best everyone go look for her, yes?"
"Didn't you say that Fa Shen was drugged by Kodachi?" Cologne turned
to ask Nabiki. The middle Tendo daughter nodded. "Well, I would say
Shampoo is right. She is probably in no condition to be wandering
the streets. Quickly, everyone!" Cologne hopped up onto her staff
and organized everyone into search parties. Ranma rushed into the
furo with P-Chan and returned with a slightly damp and quickly
dressed Ryouga. It took a little arm twisting to motivate the two
adult males to rouse themselves and join the search, which had the
unexpected effect of encouraging even Kasumi to help out, explaining
that she was the most familiar with the markets in the area. In
short order, the house was emptied as people took off to scour the
ward. Nabiki was the last to "leave" remembering at the last minute
something she "needed" from the house. She raced quickly upstairs
and confirmed that both Ranko and Fa Shen were still sleeping in
separate rooms. Since Shampoo had been one of the first to leave,
she was in no position to notice the canny mercenary had slipped
into the house. Not intending to confront her, Nabiki found a place
to hide and waited.
It did not take long for Shampoo to return to the house and sneak
upstairs with a towel and a bucket of water. Once the girl had
slipped into the guest room where Fa Shen was sleeping, and closed
the screen, Nabiki crept out of hiding and spied on the pair through
a tiny hole in the shoji. She watched as Shampoo opened a paper
packet and poured the contents into the bucket of water, and smirked
to herself. She was not at all surprised when Shampoo rolled Fa Shen
off the futon and undressed her before carefully poured the water
over her naked flesh, and toweled the resulting male form dry.
Nabiki knew exactly what the purple haired girl was up to, and could
hardly keep from laughing over the fact that Shampoo had no idea how
her plan had gone awry. Considering what Ranko had told her about
the drug's effects, she doubted Fa Shen would be in the mood to kill
Shampoo for this little stunt--at least not immediately. Nabiki
retreated to her room and activated the surveillance cameras she had
rigged in the guest room to capture the occasional indiscretions the
former cursed boy indulged in on occasion. The theft of the bathing
tape she made shortly after Ranma arrived had taught her to keep
future blackmail material much better hidden, and this would make a
fabulous addition. She hesitated only a moment to wonder if this was
fair to Fa Shen, but considering that Ranma had already bedded
Ryouga, and they planned to work together to heal Ranko, she decided
the experience would be good for her.
As the picture came up on her monitor, Shampoo was putting an empty
bottle away and finishing the process of toweling the boy off.
Nabiki made a note to find out later what exotic love potion the
girl had just used, and settled down to watch the show. Ranko, laid
out in the bed nearby, snored gently in oblivion, unlikely to wake
if the house blew up around her. Depending on what happened next,
there was a chance that theory might be tested. Quickly calculating
the odds, Nabiki got up to make a few calls to her factors.
Satisfied that the search parties would now be on a long, wild goose
chase, Nabiki returned silently to her room with the remainder of
her meal and focused on the screen.
-------------------------
The most logical place to begin a search for Fa Shen was Dr. Tofu's
clinic. It was the only place in Nerima Fa Shen was familiar with
and a reasonable place to go if one happened to be concerned about
her health. Unfortunately, Kasumi had suggested it first, offering
to stop at the clinic on her way out to the market. Akane and Ranma
had instantly jumped up an insisted on checking it out themselves,
claiming they also needed to speak to the doctor. Naturally, Genma
and Soun, casting brief glares at Ryouga, agreed that the two had to
go together. They also insisted that Ryouga accompany Kasumi for
protection, in case Fa Shen was dangerous in her present condition.
With the slim hope of uniting the families offered by Nodoka's
declaration, the fathers had instantly united in a conspiracy to
undermine Ryouga and support Akane in the battle for Ranma's heart.
Ranma saw through this instantly, but before she could say anything,
Ryouga surprised her by cheerfully agreeing to accompany Kasumi. He
knew he could not search on his own and hope to return to the dojo
any time the same week. More importantly, he was still choked with
shame over his "betrayals" of Ranma and Akane, and simply dreaded
confronting either of them at the moment. It was enough to make him
suppress his fear of what could happen if the two were alone
together. Besides, if it was possible for Akane to steal Ranma from
him with one conversation, it was best to find that out now, rather
than a month down the road.
So, Akane and Ranma found themselves walking the familiar route to
the clinic together. As they walked, they glanced occasionally in
each other's direction, each being careful about not letting the
other notice her interest. Nagging questions about the other's
behavior occupied their minds, as the silence stretched between
them. It was no mystery for either of them how the engagement
continued to entangle them, but it went without saying that they
both knew their present feelings about it ought to be attributed to
Ranko. There was a question in that, and Ranma could not ignore it.
"Why me? Why not her?" Ranma finally broke the silence.
Akane stopped and turned to look at her. Her confusion was obvious.
Ranma frowned and stopped as well. Without looking at Akane, she
elaborated. "I didn't think it really meant anything when you
challenged Ryouga. I mean, we've both... damn, the memories... I keep
thinkin' that was me." Ranma took a deep breath while she decided
how to deal with Ranko's memories. "It's sort of a matter of honor,
defending the engagement. Even if we don't want it. So, I suppose it
was just habit to say that 'I belong to you' when you were angry.
But," she waved Akane off, as she tried to interrupt. "It's not the
same thing, though, when you asked me if I wanted you."
Akane looked down and kicked a rock, holding her breath.
"Do you know, if it wasn't for Ryouga, I woulda automatically said
no? Do you know how much it scares me that I wasn't, like, all
'Who'd want a stupid tomboy like you!?'?" Ranma flicked her eyes
over to Akane. Turning her back, she walked over to the chain link
fence and stared down into the canal before she continued. "Do you
wanna know how much it hurt to tell Ryouga that I wasn't the girl he
loved? To tell her she died when I woke up?"
Akane jerked in surprise, "What? What are you talking about!?"
Ranma scowled, as the question distracted her. She shot a narrow
look at Akane, who sheepishly resumed studying the ground. In an
effort to clarify her thoughts, she observed, "I'm really good at
usin' words to mess with people's heads in a fight, to make 'em
angry and distract 'em. My Pop's been doin' it to me all my life.
It's easier than breathin', but somewhere along the way, I forgot
why it makes 'em angry. I mean, I learned not to let on when I've
been hurt. I'd just focus my anger into determination, fight harder,
win. That was supposed to be all that mattered." She paused for
several breaths. Raising her hands, she clawed at the open mesh of
the fence and continued on her original track, "As soon as I said
it, I knew I'd hurt him. I'd hurt him worse than anything I'd ever
done to him, including causing his curse."
Akane's head snapped up at that.
Without turning, Ranma explained, "The curse was an accident, but,
it was still my fault. I was outta control and didn't even notice
I'd knocked him off the cliff. I ruined his life, and I almost did
it again last night, and for the same stupid reason." With this, she
turned around and looked at Akane. "I was scared, Akane. The first
time, I was scared because I thought I would spend the rest of my
life as a girl. The second time, I was scared because I thought I
HAD to be a guy again. I was afraid that I couldn't be a guy and
feel the things I did, so I tried to break it all off."
Akane was wide eyed at this point. "You..." she frowned, not sure what
to say. What to ask. She wanted to ask what those unmanly feeling
were, but she did not really want to know.
Ranma already knew what she was going to ask. "...Love him," she
finished for Akane. She crossed her arms and maintained a level
gaze. "And it scares the hell out of me," she admitted. "I just
don't understand it. I can't believe how bad it hurt him when I did
that; how much I hated myself for doin' it. I don't ever wanna do
that again. I like to win, Akane, but I don't like hurting people.
Not like that." Ranma looked down, a look of agony and self
condemnation hidden behind her bangs.
Akane was still reeling from the shock of hearing her calmly declare
her love for Ryouga. She felt so light, so hollow, as if someone had
slit her open and scooped out her insides, and she struggled to
breathe, waiting for the pain to consume her.
"What my Mom did was bad enough," Ranma went on, trying not to see
the look of devastation on Akane's face. "The whole stupid
engagement thing is a problem that just won't die. I wouldn't blame
you if you said that stuff just to hurt Ryouga, after findin' out
his secret like that, and it sucks that Mom would use that to keep
the engagement going, but..." She bit her lip. Taking a deep breath
she reached out and grabbed Akane's hand. "It was kinda obvious that
you cared about me, when you've been fighting to tell people I need
to have a say in who and what I am. That was enough to know you were
special, a good person inside. I just didn't think it was me. I
didn't think it was for me. I mean, you always speak up for the
underdog, you know? You always fight because it's the right thing to
do." With her other hand, she gently cupped Akane's chin and tilted
her head up to look into her eyes.
Akane's heart had resumed beating, and sped up as Ranma's words
about her spilled out. Now she looked into her eyes with guarded
hope and apprehension.
"I didn't know you really liked me," Ranma confessed openly. "I
didn't know you had any special feelings for me. So, I really meant
it when I said I should be asking if YOU wanted ME. I wasn't tryin'
to force you to admit your feelings," she emphasized. "I've only
just realized how much I hurt people with the stuff I say. I wasn't
askin' to feel better about myself. I just... I don't understand why
you would care about me, LOVE me, when it's really Ranko you've been
through all of this engagement crap with."
Akane stared into Ranma's eyes for a long moment. She looked hurt
and troubled. She looked afraid. Not, she suspected, because she
thought Akane was lying about her feelings, but because they might
be real. "Why do you need to know?" Akane challenged, unable to
begin explaining her feelings. She was too unsure of them herself.
"Come on, Akane!" Ranma hardened her features, just shy of angry.
"One thing I do know is that you were never like the other girls,
chasin' after 'Ranma' like some trophy! It's bad enough that I
have'ta choose you if I want my Mom to see me as a guy! It's bad
enough I could ruin both our lives, and destroy Ryouga, just because
I'd do almost anything to be a guy again! Now I have to worry that,
no matter what I do, it's gonna hurt someone I care about really
really bad."
Akane blinked. By now, her heart was pounding from the effect of
Ranma's words. She carefully collected her thoughts and timidly
asked, "Are... are you saying you care about me?"
"Don't be stupid, Akane! Of course I care about you! You're my
friend!"
"Is... is that it? Is that all I am? A friend?"
Ranma let go of the girl's chin and stomped away from her. "Don't do
this! Don't ask me to give you a reason to love me! I'm not askin'
for that. Not from you, not from Ryouga, and sure as hell not from
any of the others!" she shouted, beginning to lose her composure.
After storming around in a wide circle around a very nervous Akane,
she returned to face her. "Ryouga dropped everything and chased me
all the way to China because he didn't get to say good bye to me
when Pops and I moved on. Because he became afraid I never even
cared for him as a friend, he worked himself up to tryin' to kill
me! Do you think I don't know what it'll do to him if I dumped him!?
You think you're stubborn! I'm the best thing that ever happened to
him! He'll tear down the world to keep me! He would not stop while
there was the slightest hope of having me, and the only way to stop
him is to destroy that hope, and pray you're not in the same country
what that destroys him!"
Akane gulped. She only recently discovered how little she had really
known Ryouga, but she knew him well enough to know Ranma was right.
However, her own stubbornness was ready to assert itself. "What does
that have to do with what I feel?"
Ranma stared at her with bulging eyes. Coughing and clearing her
throat, she grinned lopsidedly, "No offense, Akane, but the only
person I know with a worse temper than Ryouga is you."
"What!?" Akane roared in instant indignation.
"Case in point," Ranma hastily backpedaled as Akane's aura flared up
and filled the street. She discretely pointed out the manifestation
of the other girl's anger. "If you could control and channel that,
it'd rival Ryouga's Perfect Shishihokodan."
Akane finally noticed her aura, not quite aware that the storm of
emotions seething inside her since the beginning of the week had fed
into it, filling it out and awaiting release through her one
emotional outlet. Violence. As she twitched and choked in disbelief,
the miasma dissipated.
Seeing her calm, Ranma returned to the point. "Why me, Akane? I
mean, it almost makes sense that you'd have feelings for Ranko after
all you've been through. I ask the same thing about Ryouga. At least
with him, we were friends before Jusenkyo, and I took over the part
of Ranko he finally opened up to. I was there in his arms when I
woke up. It's confusing as hell, but I can see why he'd be hung up
on me. I can't see that with you," she confessed.
Akane bit her lip and looked away.
"Do you love Ranko?" Ranma pressed.
Akane nodded, hesitantly.
"Do you... do you think it won't work because she's a girl?"
"No," Akane heaved a heavy sigh and looked back, pain open on her
face. "It's not Ranko. I mean, yeah, she says she's both male and
female, but I think she's fine just the way she is. I don't mind
that she's a girl in her own mind, and I wouldn't expect her to be a
man just for me. The problem is... I don't think I could be a man for
her. I don't think I can be what she needs," Akane cried, fighting
sudden tears.
Ranma blinked and sagged a little in understanding. "So, you want me
because I'm really a guy inside. You don't think I would need that,"
she concluded sadly. Akane nodded. Ranma stood looking at her for a
moment. "Akane... I don't know how to say this, but... you're wrong. I
mean, come on... I've been with Ryouga and I'm not exactly running in
terror from him."
Akane glanced over, caught the look on her face and erupted into
laughter. When she calmed down from the nervous outburst, she shook
her head, "I can't believe I didn't think of that." Becoming more
serious, she crossed her arms and thought. Swallowing, she reviewed
her thoughts and feelings, remembering her comment to the other
girls about taking a curse to be worthy of chasing Ranma or Ranko.
"I guess I didn't make myself very clear," she resumed, hesitantly.
"I did not mean, I would not take a curse for her. I'd do that for
either of you. I just don't think I can be the man in a
relationship. Do you understand what I mean?"
Ranma gaped, and shook her head, "Oh, no. Not you too!"
"What?"
"Ryouga said the same exact thing!" Ranma growled, then started
waving her hands, "I mean, about getting cursed, not about being the
man in the relationship. Sheesh, once you start talking about bein'
cursed, it's hard to say there is a man in the relationship. Once
you start flippin' back and forth, it's just two people, and it's
just love. Nothin' else can work."
Akane pondered that. "Ryouga offered to get a girl curse?"
"Yes."
"Is that why... is that why you want him... instead of me?"
"You're doin' it again!"
"What!?"
"You're makin' assumptions about what I feel about you!"
"Well, you're not telling me what you feel!"
"I can't!"
"Why not!?"
"Because you don't know what your feelings about me are! I'm not
going to make the same mistake with you I did with Ukyo!" Ranma
almost shouted.
Akane stiffened. "You don't want me to fall in love with you?"
"Why? So I can agonize over whose heart I'm gonna have to rip out!?"
That finally stopped Akane.
Ranma looked at her with the look of a tortured soul.
Akane's eyes narrowed. "If I don't love you, you're going to remain
a girl," she suddenly declared. Ranma winced and looked around
wildly, trying to find something to focus on too late to avoid
meeting Akane's eyes. Akane advanced slowly on the smaller girl.
"I'm right, aren't I? You're not choosing between the ones you love.
You're trying to make sure you don't hurt one of them. You love both
of us!" she smiled in triumph and joy.
Ranma dropped to the ground as if she had been hammered right over
the head, and just as abruptly. Fighting to avoid an emotional
collapse as well, she raged, "But you don't love me, Akane! You love
Ranko! It doesn't matter what I feel! Don't you understand! You
CAN'T love me!"
"Why are you saying that!?" Akane fumed, dropping to her knees in
front of Ranma, instant agony lacing her voice. "How can you say
that?" she added, in a smaller voice. "Are you the only person in
the world that can love two people!?"
"Do you think that's a good thing!" Ranma snapped.
"How can loving someone be a bad thing!" Akane retorted.
"When you can't be with them!!!" Ranma roared, grabbing the other
girl roughly by the arms and shaking her. "Don't you remember in the
bath? Don't you remember the way I went off on you!?" Ranma
demanded, bringing up the moment when, as 'Ranko', she had accepted
she would never be with Akane. A look of realization blossomed on
Akane's face. "It's the same thing I did to Ryouga, but that was
just cutting out my own heart. I can't do that to you! I can't do
that to me again!"
"But... don't you understand...?" Akane whimpered, gazing back into
Ranma's eyes. "That's what I'm trying to prevent. Do you have any
idea what it was like for me, watching 'Ranma' be destroyed by the
mirror? Ranko was never really you, but I never knew that. I had to
watch 'Ranma' die before I could meet Ranko... and yes, I did fall in
love with her, but that's because I was already in love with you!"
Ranma gasped in pain. "No!" she breathed. "Stop it, Akane! Please,
stop it!" Shaking her head, she shoved the other girl away and tried
to lurch to her feet.
Akane reeled back, but since she was kneeling, she easily absorbed
the force and launched herself back at Ranma, tackling her to the
ground. The two scuffled on the sidewalk for a moment, until Akane
managed to pin her. That would not have even been possible if the
other girl had not been emotionally devastated. "Ranma! What the
hell is wrong with you!"
Ranma was muttering to herself, ignoring the other girl entirely.
"There's no way to win. There isn't even a way to win by losing. I
can't protect anyone!"
Akane slapped her across the face. The sharp, stinging pain brought
Ranma back into focus. "Are you a complete idiot!?" Akane shouted
from centimeters away. Ranma twitched, and reddened as emotional
agony bled into contained rage. "This isn't some martial arts
competition! It's not about winning! It's about living! Life is mean
and nasty and ugly, and there's nothing you can do to keep other's
from getting hurt!" Akane roared on. "Do you think it's your fault
that Ryouga or I can get hurt!? Is it your fault we love you!?"
Ranma battled her rage, fighting the old urge to retort, to fling
the pain another's words caused back at them. One small part of her
mind was in awe of the fact that Akane was openly declaring her
love. Challenging her with it, in fact. "How can you say that?" she
asked in a small voice. "How can you suddenly say you love me, like
you've never doubted it a minute?"
Akane reared back. Unwanted though it was, that was a good question.
One what was screaming at her from the back of her own mind. Over
the past few months, nothing had frightened her more than allowing
herself to even hint that she had feelings for the jerk, even to
herself. Instantly, she corrected herself. Until this morning,
nothing had frightened her more. Since this morning, she had been
more afraid that it was already to late to admit it. That fear had
sent her racing after her, shouting that she wanted her. That fear
had made her throw all her arguments and self justifications at
Ranma, trying to answer her challenge that she did not love her.
Now, looking down into those big, blue eyes, she understood her
fear. "I can't say I didn't deny it. I was afraid to admit it to
myself. I was afraid of what would happen if I did. Now, I am more
afraid of what will happen if I don't," she sighed.
Ranma watched the emotions play across Akane's face, testifying to
the truth of her words. It was easy to read, because she was
familiar with all of those feelings. Fear, shame, guilt,
uncertainty, inadequacy, loneliness, desire, hope, but above all,
love.
Akane noticed something had spilled out of Ranma's shirt, and picked
it up. Recognizing the packet for what it was, she held it up in
front of Ranma's eyes and declared, "If you really want me to prove
it, well, one of us is going to need this."
Ranma focused on the packet of Instant Nanniichaun and gulped.
-------------------------
Fa Shen had not been entirely asleep when Shampoo snuck into the
room with her. She had not been entirely awake either. The combined
effect of the drugs Kodachi had doused her with had left her
extremely detached from her body, the partial paralysis and arousal
producing a delightful lethargy akin to sleep. The hallucinations
brought on by the psychotropic added to the illusion by giving her
consciousness a very dream like quality. Put simply, she was wide
awake and thought she was dreaming. She had turned, slowly and
weakly, and stared at Shampoo when she entered, then relaxed into
her comfortable imitation of sleep. She had been too preoccupied
trying to make sense of the images that formed behind her eyelids,
blending fantasy and memory into a mysterious and alluring tapestry.
Not too surprisingly, her mind had wandered eagerly through the
intimate moments Copy-kun had experienced with Copy-chan and Ranma-
chan and then elaborated on them. When Shampoo laid hands on her to
roll her off the futon and undress her, Fa Shen pictured those hands
as belonging to Ranko, and smiled in eager anticipation. When the
girl poured cool water over her, and a distantly familiar tingle
passed through her body, Fa Shen opened her eyes. With only mild
surprise, she noticed she had become male, and decided she really
was dreaming.
Blinking, she... he looked up into the eager eyes of Shampoo. Fa
Shen's mind again tried to superimpose Ranko's image, but gave up
after a moment. He was used to his dreaming mind confronting him
with bizarre substitutions for the things he wanted to see. He
decided his inherited brain was having some difficulty confronting
him with his female image, and replaced it with Shampoo. She was
certainly the one person who had made the greatest erotic impact on
the masculine aspect Fa Shen inherited from Ranko. Fa Shen smirked
as he noticed his reaction to being toweled off by Shampoo. The
aphrodisiac that had aroused him as a girl was now reinforced by the
powerful male libido that had shocked him upon awakening the night
before. This was going to be a wonderful dream.
Shampoo found herself relaxing and smiling. When she arrived in the
room, she had a faint dread of mistaking Fa Shen for Ranko, but
seeing the languid way this girl had moved, she had been confident
it was Ranko. By the time she was undressed, Shampoo felt no need to
hesitate before turning her into a boy. He had remained surprisingly
calm and composed through the transformation. Apparently the drugs
that had rubbed off on Ranko had put her into a mild trance state.
As she pulled the cork on the bottle of chisuiiton water, she felt a
moment of regret. She knew Ranko considered herself more of a girl,
but that would leave her vulnerable to Mousse's challenge. As a boy,
she had a much better chance of defeating him. If she locked the
instant curse, it would be necessary to visit the Musk before she
could go to Jusenkyo for the real curse, but Ranko had been prepared
for that necessity last night anyway. When she realized that Shampoo
had only done it to protect her, she would surely forgive her. With
that justification, Shampoo poured the contents of the bottle over
the temporary male form, making it permanent.
Fa Shen laughed as he was splashed again. "What's with the sponge
bath, Shampoo?"
Shampoo paused, nibbling on her lower lip. She knew that what she
was doing could not go the way she wanted things to, ideally, and it
was likely that Ranko would object to her intentions if he realized
they were consummating the marriage. On the other hand, he seemed to
be in a highly suggestible state. Somewhere inside, the girl-turned-
boy was waking up to memories of being Fa Shen. How hard would it be
to draw out that side of him? "Shampoo thought it be fun if Fa Shen
pretend to be Airen with Shampoo. See what it like to be man with
woman. Since Fa Shen reborn as man, is okay to turn into man for fun
time with Shampoo," Shampoo smirked, again drying the boy off very
carefully with the towel. She did not want to come into contact with
any of the magical water she had just used.
Fa Shen gave her a confused look, remaining silent until the girl
was done rubbing him down. Was it possible this was more than a
dream? He blinked and rubbed his hands over his stomach and chest.
It certainly felt real enough, and Shampoo seemed to be aware of who
she really was. He knew that, in his former life, it was not
uncommon for amazon girls to joke about using the nanniichaun as a
way to experiment with sex without the complication of getting
involved with boys. Under normal circumstances, that would never be
allowed, but on the off chance that a girl did get such a curse, it
took time before she could replace that curse with one that was not
condemned and in that time things could happen. There was one
problem, however. "But, I don't have a curse. How can I be a boy
again!?"
Shampoo picked up the packet from next to the bucket. "Is Instant
Nanniichaun," she explained, letting the confused boy read the
information on the packet.
"So, I'm not dreaming?" Fa Shen asked.
"No is dreaming. Is just drugs," Shampoo pointed out. As she began
to undress, she looked at him earnestly, "Is okay with you we do
this?"
Fa Shen looked up from the packet, realizing that Shampoo had given
him a way to heal Ranko, and an opportunity to experiment before
trying anything with Ranma. Fa Shen smiled, "Sure. I mean, it's not
like I'll be married to you if we do. That would only happen if I
was Ranko."
Shampoo smiled in satisfaction. It had worked, she had tricked him
into thinking he was Fa Shen. "Shampoo know. If Shampoo sleep with
Ranko even one time, marriage is sealed. So, must go to amazon
sister for just good time," Shampoo pointed out daringly. "But, you
Fa Shen, so you no worry, yes?"
Fa Shen laughed nervously, while nodding. Now that he was more
familiar with the situation, through the memories he had inherited,
it was easy to see how much the girl was in love with the person who
had become Ranko. She had probably been ready to take the final step
in her marriage from the moment she was defeated, and the long
months since had worked her into a frenzy. While the marriage hung
in limbo, she was free to indulge in purely physical affairs, but
the only amazon male around was the last one she could risk that
kind of intimacy with. Casual sex did not work with someone who was
hopelessly obsessed. Of course, that was a fair description of any
amazon male an amazon girl happened to take notice of, so it was
more common for the girls to turn to each other to relieve their
tensions.
Shampoo finished undressing and they faced each other, naked. It
occurred to Fa Shen that he was hardly in his right mind. He knew
that his one night as a boy had aroused a strong curiosity in him,
and that the lustier part of Copy-kun/Ranma's memories, combined
with Ranma's proposal that morning, had been an overwhelming
temptation. How Shampoo knew she could take advantage of that was a
mystery, but not as great as the mystery of why he was not freaked
out and disgusted by being in a male body. After all, Fa Shen had
ignored the chance to discover his full potential when he learned he
would have to be cursed with a male body to attain it. His mind was
still having difficulty coping with the strongly male perspective of
the memories he gained from Copy-Ranma. He felt a bit lost and out
of control, driven by male hormones and instincts he did not
understand. His body was eager and excited, flooding his mind with
impulses to act, seducing him with the promise of pleasure. It was
overwhelming and left him completely uncertain if this was what he
wanted, or if he simply lacked the will to resist.
"I can't believe I'm considering this," Fa Shen breathed.
"Shampoo know. Is scary! But, Shampoo need this!" she responded,
slinking forward with feline grace.
With some difficulty, Fa Shen crawled back onto the futon, and
Shampoo followed him. Fa Shen felt his body responding to her
proximity, and reminded himself that this was an experiment. How
could he know if he wanted this until he had some idea what it was?
He had ached to know if sex would make a difference, if it would
affect him the way Ranma had been affected. He had regretted not
having the chance to find out before his womanhood was restored. "I
guess I kinda need it too," Fa Shen sighed, laying back and watching
Shampoo crawl up the length of his body, her hands gently caressing
the hard muscles as she advanced. Fa Shen allowed himself to become
absorbed in her exploration, learning as much as she did from her
probing touch. He knew where this was going, but it was going to
take a little while to get there. They both had too much curiosity
about this body they wanted to satisfy.
Conversation ceased in favor of this wordless communication.
Already highly aroused, the patient touching, teasing, tickling
torture of her fingers, lips and tongue sent Fa Shen into the throes
of passion. He began to respond in kind, learning her body through
gentle probing caresses, diving toward the one universal intimacy
that was the kiss. This was something he did have some experience
with, through Copy-kun, and he delighted in it. With that welcoming
kiss, Shampoo melted, losing all thought of what she was doing, or
why, and rejoicing in the long awaited response to all her advances.
The first time they parted for breath, they were both more than
ready for intercourse, but they continued kissing with a mindless
passion.
While his tongue probed the soft, silken warmth of her mouth, his
hands slithered over her body with an unerring certainty. With
Shampoo straddling his waist, hunched close over his torso to drink
in his kiss, he was able to reach almost every part of her, from the
crown of her head to the tips of her toes. His fingers combed
through her glorious mane, danced down her spine, over her buttocks
and along the outside of her thigh. He slid them back up the top of
her thigh, thumb trailing along the sensitive inner side, gripping
her hips, then cupping her waist before brushing over her ribs to
caress her breasts. Wherever his hands roamed, he knew where to find
the little spots that made her moan and squeak with pleasure.
Shampoo was forced to stretch out over his head and grip the top
edge of the futon as he kneaded and massaged the pliant flesh, but
this just brought those breasts within reach of his mouth. Kissing
and licking one nipple, before sucking it into his mouth, he freed a
hand to wander down her belly. With delicate, feather light strokes,
he caressed her abdomen, quickly finding spots so sensitive she
shuddered and twitched in ecstasy, while everything inside her
churned into a hot, molten mass of aching desire.
Fa Shen grinned in delight at her response, amazed at how deeply her
reactions affected him. Every gasp and moan he evoked from her sent
a pleasant ache through his body. He felt the twitch of every muscle
in her body under his hands, causing part of his mind to delve into
the mystery of her anatomy, as if by touching her he somehow brought
her into himself. It was not unlike the way the beauty of nature
could pierce the soul. By touching her on the surface, she touched
him somewhere deep within. So, what then if he sought out her
depths? His hand strayed down, over a tiny field of purple curls,
following the curve to the mouth of a spring that flowed hot and wet
over delicate folds of flesh.
Shampoo gasped and cried out as his fingers slid over and through
petals of pink, pulling them gently, causing them to slide over a
nugget of mind jarring pleasure. Gentle fingertips slipped and
pressed through the outer layers of her sex, a ceaseless circular
flow of feeling that stabbed into the depths of her brain and body,
waking up a desperate hunger. Just when it seemed impossible to
endure, those slender digits probed deeper, finding the throat of
her womanhood and feeding themselves into it.
Fa Shen freed his other hand and slid it down to Shampoo's waist,
reaching around to press at the small of her back, while the first
hand covered her vulva. His two middle fingers had slipped inside
her, brushing against the hot velvet walls. The heel of that hand
pressed down on her clitoris mercilessly as he strained to plunge
those fingers inside her in long, slow strokes.
As much as this consumed her attention, Shampoo felt a deeper need
and pushed herself back. One hand snaked down his front seeking out
the part of him she truly wanted to invade her. Finding the hardened
shaft, she straddled his hips and guided it to her center as she
descended. Lost in the intense pleasure of his manipulations, the
sharp pain that ripped through her as she impaled herself was
quickly lost to a flood of ecstasy. She straightened and arched her
back, savoring the moan Fa Shen released as she engulfed him down to
the root. This whole adventure had started with him at a high level
of arousal, and Shampoo had goaded him even higher with her kisses
and caresses, but nothing compared to the sensation of that first
thrust. Through the sensitive organ he had a keen awareness of being
inside of her. His hands automatically converged on her hips and
abdomen, exploring the wonder of a part of him becoming hers.
Shampoo recovered from that first thrust after a few breaths, and
then began to roll her hips, savoring the feel of him shifting
slightly within her, before tensing her thighs and raising herself
up slowly. Fa Shen tensed and gasped at the sensation of her tight
vagina sliding up around the hard column of his penis. Reaching the
end of his shaft, she slowly descended, engulfing him again. It took
several long strokes, gradually increasing the pace, for both of
them to steel themselves to the faster rhythm their bodies cried out
for. Naturally, the perfect tempo was set by the beat of their
hearts, strong and steady from years of physical conditioning, but
gradually speeding as they exerted themselves. As they hit their
stride, panting and moaning, they were consumed by pleasure intense
enough to seem like pain. It eclipsed all thoughts, and drove all
feelings to passion, luring them on to a promise of something
wonderful and almost unattainable.
As girls, both had long known how to stimulate themselves to orgasm,
but Fa Shen, suddenly a stranger in his body, had only masturbated
once as a boy. He endured the agonizing pleasure with no idea how to
surrender to it, unwittingly prolonging the engagement. Shampoo,
also a virgin, blindly sought release around the profound and
unfamiliar experience of penetration. Thus, they suffered what many
would deem the most pleasant part of intercourse far longer than a
first, fumbling, foray into sexuality typically permitted. They had
time to pause, when Shampoo limply lay forward, drawn hungrily to a
lingering kiss, Fa Shen's member fully sheathed inside her. But the
kissing would urge them on to renewed efforts. So it went, time
passing unheeded as they tried new ways to please each other with
their hands and mouths or their interlocked genitals. Shampoo was
the first to find release, crying out in ecstasy. Only as she was
coming down did Fa Shen unlock the mystery of his adopted sex,
climaxing in a hot surge and a peak of sensitivity that made the
slightest movement a shuddering, agonizing pleasure.
Sore, sweating and mildly disgusted at the mess, they wrinkled their
noses and clung to each other in a tired embrace. Stunned at the
sheer physical intensity, and their complete loss of control over
themselves, they shared weary laughter but could not think of any
words to speak. Neither had realized that sex was such an ordeal, a
thing that could so drastically impact their hearts and minds, a
bonding experience. The intimacy made them conscious of how little
they knew each other, intimidating them. So, they did not speak.
They just held on.
In another room, Nabiki decided they were through for the moment and
leaned back from her computer and stretched. As she arched back, she
noticed Ranko was standing behind her, her eyes wide and glued to
the images on the screen. Nabiki realized she had been so absorbed
in the action she had not noticed when Ranko dragged herself out of
bed and staggered over to see what she was watching.
"Uh, Ranko?"
Ranko blinked and came out of her shock. With an angry look, she
pointed at the screen where multiple windows had shown the action
from several different angles. "What is this!?" she demanded.
"Modern technology," Nabiki quipped, straightening and turning the
chair to face the girl.
"You have cameras in my room!" Ranko shouted.
"Shhh! Do you want them to hear you?"
"Why do you have cameras in my room!?" Ranko dropped her voice.
Nabiki sighed, and waved a hand at the computer. "In case something
like this happened," she stated very calmly.
Ranko began to shake with fury. "What. Else. Have. You. Watched?"
she clipped off each word, a faint aura rolling over the surface of
her exposed skin. Nabiki held her breath. Considering how little ki
the girl had, that was an impressive display of rage.
"No point hiding it now. Let's just say, the answer to the question
you didn't ask is, 'Yes'," Nabiki cut to the chase. Ranko slowly
raised her arm, hand held flat and vertical. Nabiki stared at her
levelly, refusing to take the gesture as a threat. To her surprise,
the hand snapped across her face, leaving a stinging red hand print
on Nabiki's cheek, before the red-head seized up and toppled over at
the end of the motion.
Nabiki raised a stunned hand to her cheek and looked down at Ranko.
She lay on her side, awkwardly, having obviously expended her energy
with that one blow. From the look in her eyes, as they gazed up, she
was painfully aware that she had left herself open to any
retaliation Nabiki pleased.
"So, I guess you had some feminine modesty after all," Nabiki
smirked, deciding she deserved the slap. She got up and collected
Ranko off the floor and moved her to the bed, where she began to
recover. Glancing at the computer to see the couple were still
wrapped up on Ranko's futon, she commented, "When you've got
yourself back together, do you want to come with me? I believe we
should catch them now to make sure Shampoo realizes that isn't you
in there."
Ranko blinked, suddenly understanding what would happen if Shampoo
were allowed to claim she had sex with her. "Let's not wait," she
declared, struggling with slow, trembling limbs to sit up. Nabiki
sighed and took her hands, pulling her up and dragging one of the
girl's arms over her shoulder to support her.
The two of them shuffled out the door to Nabiki's room and down the
hall to the guest room. Checking to make sure she had a good grip on
Ranko, Nabiki used her other hand to sweep the shoji open. As the
naked, exhausted couple jerked around to look at them, Ranko stared
at Fa Shen, "First Ranma, now you. What were you thinking, Fa Shen?"
The boy blushed to his roots, his hands scrabbling around in
desperate search of a blanket or something to cover Shampoo and
himself up with.
Nabiki looked down in appreciation and smirked. "Well, at least
you're still a natural red head, Fa Shen. I guess Cologne was right
about the Togenkyo taint." Ranko blinked and took a second glance.
Sure enough, the girl turned boy had the same shade of crimson hair
she did. Apart from that, he looked like the boy she had been--at
least part of the time.
"Why you call Ranko Fa Shen?" Shampoo demanded, stretching
unselfconsciously. It was pretty evident that peculiar lavender
purple was her natural hair color too.
"No one's callin' me Fa Shen," Ranko scowled.
Shampoo stiffened. She slowly turned to the boy beside her. She
whipped her head back to Ranko and wailed, "YOU'RE Ranko!!?" When
the red-headed girl nodded, Shampoo collapsed into tears, mumbling
to herself.
At this, Fa Shen got really nervous. "I thought you knew who I was.
Didn't you say..."
"Shampoo so SO sorry!" she bawled grabbing the boy around the neck
and weeping onto his broad chest. When everyone stared at her in
confusion, Shampoo let go of Fa Shen and scrabbled around until she
found the empty bottle. She handed it to Fa Shen and proceeded to
wail like it was the end of the world. Fa Shen turned the bottle
over and read the label, which was hand written in Chinese. He paled
and raced out of the room and down the stairs. Before anyone could
catch up with him, his scream shook the house.
------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Part Thirty-Eight
------------------------------------------------------------------