[Ranma][FanFic][Lemon] newRanma 15 - Kissing
C. Jones
here without permission.
This story contains some adult material. Reader discretion is
advised.
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newRanma 15: Kissing
by Chris Jones
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In grainy, faded color, the film began to play.
It was shot inside a featureless white room. Around the
room, there were many young children. A good portion of them were
wearing worn-out clothing and none looked too clean, especially in
the poor contrast of the aged eight-millimeter film. There was no
sound to accompany the picture, but Tatewaki Kunou needed no
audio. He could hear the voices almost as clearly if he was there.
The picture panned until it came to rest on a beautiful
woman in a long, flowing kimono. She had short, curly hair and a
loving smile. At her side were two young children, a boy of about
five years old and a girl of three or four. Kunou couldn't help
but notice that they were dressed much better and were probably
cleaner than the other children in the room. They looked much less
comfortable, but most children are uneasy in any sort of formal
clothing.
The beautiful woman with short, curly hair knelt down on
the floor, holding her two children close to her, one loving arm
around each of their shoulders. The camera lingered on the trio
but eventually made its way to the front of the room where it
focused on a middle-aged man who was dressed in an extravagant
tuxdeo. After a few minutes of soundless speech, as recorded on
the old film, he pulled a dove out of his sleeve. Then he began to
produce handkerchiefs from his nose.
The camera panned briefly to the children. The little girl
was howling with laughter and glee, but the little boy stared at
the stage as if in shock. His face was a picture of disbelief.
Back up at the front of the featureless room, the magician
held his hands out, calling for volunteers. Kunou heard the man's
rich, melodious baritone in his mind's ear and felt the gentle
nudge on the back of his arm.
The boy in the film raised his hand, looking back at his
mother to see why she had poked him. The magician pounced upon him
and led him to the front of the room by the hand.
With a little bit of fear on his face, the little boy
watched the magician tie a complicated-looking knot in a piece of
white rope. Then he handed the rope to the little boy and gestured
to the audience.
With his hands on either end of the short rope, the little
boy pulled to demonstrate to the audience that yes, indeed, the
knot was solid.
Then the magician put his hands around the knot and
shouted his magical words. When his hands came away, the knot was
gone and the rope was suddenly slack.
The little boy stared in amazement, examining the rope. He
pulled it again, unbelieving. He couldn't understanding how
something so magical could have happened right in front of his
eyes.
The film continued for some time. Many, but not all of the
children in the audience got to volunteer to take part in the
illusionist's show. Each of the man's stunts were painfully
visible. His tuxedo-jacket was crawling with mice and birds. His
pockets were full of playing cards and foam balls. After the film
ended, Kunou rewound it and started it playing again. As he neared
adulthood, Kunou had no trouble understanding how each and every
one of the magical tricks was performed... except for that
wondrous rope illusion.
Kunou remembered that after the magic show, but not in the
film, the little boy cried into his mother's lap in confusion. She
held him closely, and told him that it was just a trick. Then she
kissed his cheek. For some reason, that motherly token of
affection stood out in his mind.
A single tear coursed down his face.
Kunou tensed as he heard footsteps. He turned around to
see Kodachi standing in the doorway behind him and his projector.
Her normally lustrous, full hair was in disarray and her eyes
lacked the dark makeup with which she usually decorated them.
Kunou's eyes shied away from the fact that the silk negligee she
was wearing was indecently short, and altogether more translucent
than he was comfortable with.
"Have you been watching that forsaken film all night?"
Kodachi asked in irritation.
Kunou wiped his moist eyes. "I... I still cannot
understand how the rope illusion works," he admitted feebly.
"Mother only explained it to you a dozen times," Kodachi
said. "Have you really been up all night?"
"I couldn't sleep," Kunou admitted.
"Dreaming about your pigtailed wench again, no doubt."
Kunou's face darkened, but the usually eloquent young man
had no response to his sister's words.
"She hates you, brother," Kodachi said. "I've heard the
words from her own lips. She's sickened by your twisted
affections. For the sake of God, leave her alone."
* * *
The next few days after the incident at Kasumi's church
were tense for Ranma. Life resumed its normal course, but neither
Ukyou nor Akane wanted anything to do with her. Ranma was grumpy
about it,since she really didn't feel like it was her fault.
Well, mostly not her fault. She may have been kissing back
when Nabiki jumped on her, but Akane and Ukyou had both really
overreacted. At least Ranma thought so.
After several days, both girls finally quit glaring at her
nearly so much. By that Friday, Ukyou was making lunch for her
again, and Akane was speaking to her once more. In Akane's case,
it probably helped that Ranma was avoiding Nabiki so thoroughly.
That weekend Ranma decided to try to smooth things over
with all her friends. She had a really great time the weekend
before when she had been invited to Hiroshi's house for a movie
marathon. Both Ranma's parents and the Tendous' father were still
gone on their respective trips so Ranma had a certain leeway in
planning a similar event. When she suggested having a get together
of some-kind, both Nabiki and Akane agreed that it would be a
great idea.
"But there will be boys *and* girls here, Ranma!" Kasumi
said in exasperation when she heard about the plan. "You mustn't!
You remember what we talked about, don't you?"
"Sure I do. You'll be here, though. You can chaperone,
right?"
"Ranma..."
"Please, Kasumi?" Ranma pleaded, putting on her best 'cute
as a thousand kittens' look.
"Oh, come on, Kasumi," Nabiki chided her sister from
across the room. "Don't be a such a stick in the mud. Live a
little."
"It will be fun!" Akane said. The last of her grudge
against Ranma seemed to have faded with the red-head's suggestion.
"Well..."
"If you're worried about... *consequences*," Nabiki said
in a naughty tone, "I can always stop by the junior college clinic
and pick up some condoms."
"Nabiki!" Kasumi gasped, her hands going to her mouth in
horror.
"They give them away free to students," Nabiki explained.
"Absolutely not!" Kasumi screeched. Ranma had never heard
her use quite that same tone before.
"She's just kidding, Kasumi!" Ranma assured her. Well, she
hoped Nabiki was just kidding. It was hard to tell with Nabiki any
more. "I don't think anything like that will happen if you're
here."
It took some time, but eventually the three girls
persuaded Kasumi that there would be no 'misbehavior' of any kind
at any party they threw.
Saturday was a half-day at school, so Ranma took the
opportunity to tell all her friends to come over. Hiroshi and
Daisuke both agreed readily. Ukyou was hesitant, since she would
be losing her Saturday-night business, but agreed to come anyway.
Akane told her that she had invited Sayuri and Yuka. Ranma nodded
happily. Everything was coming together!
After classes let out for lunch, Ranma sprinted upstairs
to Nabiki's classroom.
"Do you mind if Taiyoko comes?" Nabiki asked.
"No, that would be great. I was going to invite Kunou,
but..." she trailed off, glancing at his empty seat.
"He called in sick today. You can probably still get him
at home, but are you sure you want to do that?"
"I'm still trying to decide, honestly. I'd rather not have
him act like he has for the last couple weeks, but if he acts like
he's going to start pawing me again, I'd rather not deal with him
at all."
* * *
Kunou didn't look very sick. A little sleepy, perhaps, but
scarily competent and alert as he sliced a practice dummy into
fine ribbons.
Ranma was perched high in a tree behind the Kunou mansion
watching the kendoist practice. She was going to jump down and
tell him about the event she had planned, but watching his kendo
forms melt into more chaotic, destructive attacks was almost
hypnotizing. He had improved in the weeks since Ranma's surgery.
She had to admit that much.
Suddenly, a large rock, about head-sized, came whizzing
out of the brush at Kunou's unprotected back. Ranma was about to
yell out to the kendoist, but he turned and batted the stone aside
with his bokken. Ranma had to duck as pieces of the stone came
whizzing up through the foliage toward her tree.
Wordlessly, Kunou advanced on the shrubbery that had
attacked him. She slashed viciously at it, dislodging his sister.
Kodachi lashed out at Kunou with her ribbon and followed with a
barrage of gymnastics clubs, each of which he knocked aside or cut
into pieces with his lightning-fast bokken.
Ranma watched the two spar for some time. Their attacks
were brutal and deadly, but she sensed that they really were just
sparring and not dueling to the death.
Kodachi pressed her brother hard, using most of the dirty
tricks in the book. Worse, Kunou fell for most of them, leaving
himself almost entirely open to her tricks. Only his endurance for
punishment saved him, eventually allowing him to overpower his
sister.
In what Ranma thought was a rare move for him, he swung
low, feinting at Kodachi's legs. The gymnast leapt automatically,
taking advantage of Kunou's apparent lack of defense.
The Kendoist soaked up the blows she dealt out with her
clubs, but was already in process of swinging one extended leg
across her trajectory. He swept her feet out from under her just
before she landed, knocking her on her ass. With a whip-like
motion, he brought his bokken to bear, lifting her chin with it.
Kodachi froze, apparently unsure of how to proceed.
"Do you yield?" Kunou asked, his breath coming quickly.
There was no answer from Kodachi but the girl instead
directed a fleeting glance towards Ranma's tree. "Did you enjoy
our show, pigtailed-girl?" she called out. "Did our antics amuse
you?"
"The pigtailed girl?" Kunou said, lowering his weapon and
looking around him. "Where?"
Still lying on her back, Kodachi took advantage of her
brother's distraction and swept his legs out from underneath him.
He fell with a grunt, and rolled.
Ranma rolled her eyes and leapt down from the tree.
"Hey..."
"It is most... *wheeze*.... kind of you to visit me,
Pigtailed-girl," Kunou greeted her, staggering to his feet.
"You two do that all the time?" she asked.
"Attack each other for no reason whatsoever?" Kodachi
replied. "I sometimes get bored in this horrible house. It keeps
my idiot brother on his toes if nothing else."
"Would that I could send you away, or that you would board
at that forsaken school of yours," Kunou said. "Then I could
concentrate fully on my studies... and winning the heart of my
love."
"Would that my Ranma-sama finally put you out of my
misery, Brother."
"Please, please, please, let's not go there today, Kunou,"
Ranma groaned. Then she thought up another tactic. "You don't want
to me to be upset again, do you?" she asked in a threatening tone.
Kunou paled while Kodachi snickered into her hand.
"Seriously," Ranma said. "I was planning to get all my
friends together tonight and watch movies or something. You two
can come if you won't attack the other guests."
"I would be honored to come!" Kunou said, dropping to his
knees, but not grabbing Ranma's hands.
"You keep your hands to yourself, then," Ranma warned.
"And you," she gestured to Kodachi, "You can leave all your
powders and sleep gas and stuff at home."
After Ranma left, Kodachi put a finger to her chin in
thought. "The pigtailed girl considers me a friend?"
* * *
People started showing up around four in the afternoon.
Ranma had already discussed the situation with Hiroshi, and found
that the boy's parents had given him a new DVD player upon their
return from their trip. Together, the two rented several movies
they thought the people Ranma invited would enjoy. They started an
action-comedy movie playing on the Tendou's TV. Daisuke also
brought over a few of his own discs.
He also brought over Saya, the girl he had met when he
stayed the weekend at Hiroshi's house. According to Hiroshi, the
two had spent quite a bit of time together of the last week. The
girl was nervous, apparently having been informed about the
violent things that tended to happen around Ranma and his friends.
She kept a tight grip on Daisuke's hand.
Daisuke kept a firm grip on her shoulder with his other
hand. Occasionally, it became a firm grip on her waist, or even
her hip, at least up until Kasumi started to scowl darkly at the
both of them.
Akane's friends, Sayuri and Yuka, both came with snacks.
So did Ukyou, who also had her portable grill strapped to her
back. Ranma's mouth watered at the thought of so much Okonomiyaki.
Taiyoko showed up, nervous as always, and stammered at Daisuke for
almost a minute before Ranma took her by the hand and led her
inside the house. She greeted the Tendou girls warmly. Finally,
Kunou and Kodachi both arrived, obviously a little unsure of how
to behave.
Ranma was ready for this, however, and set them down near
the television with sodas and paper plates full of snacks. It was
something that would keep Ranma occupied, so she reasoned it had a
fairly good chance of distracting the siblings as well.
After the first movie ended, Daisuke pulled out a copy of
a sci-fi action-adventure film that had been very popular a few
years ago. Ranma hadn't seen it before, and was really impressed
with the martial arts choreography. The acting was a little
wooden, but the quick-paced story and computer-aided special
effects more than made up for it. Ranma wasn't the only one who
was enthralled with it, since she noted that both Akane's and
Kodachi's fists started to clench up every time the female lead in
the movie started to fight. Kunou also started to shout
encouragements to the protagonist.
Ukyou was busy whipping out custom okonomiyaki the whole
time. She seemed only marginally interested in the movie, but was
watching it out of the corner of her eye while she cooked.
After the climax played and the credits started to roll,
Sayuri pulled a disc out of her bag. "Okay! It's our turn now,
guys!" The disc she had produced contained a syrupy romance anime.
After just a few minutes into the show, Hiroshi and Daisuke had
filtered out of the main room, out into the back yard. They took
up positions near the Tendou's koi pond.
Kunou followed them after just a few seconds. Ranma gave
up on getting into the slow-moving show after not much longer, and
decided to join them.
"So, Ranma," Hiroshi asked. "Do you think our dear, dear
friend Daisuke is going to get his ass kicked for dating a junior-
high school girl?"
"She's fifteen!" Daisuke protested. "And she'll be
transferring to Furinkan next year anyway."
"Well, it's only about two year's difference," Ranma said.
"Is it truly a problem of magnitude?" Kunou asked. "My
father and mother were wed with almost a decade of difference in
their ages."
"And how old was your mom when they got married, Kunou-
sempai?"
"Seventeen years."
"Well, we knew the principal was a pervert," Daisuke said.
"It was an arranged marriage," Kunou noted, but not really
in any kind of defense. "She did seem to truly love him, but love
does blind people some people."
"Don't even talk to me about arranged marriages," Ranma
said. "Sometimes I think that my pops and Akane's dad were on
drugs when they decided we should get married."
Kunou looked at her with a troubled expression, but held
his tongue.
"Well, Saya-chan hasn't told her parents yet, but I think
they'll be okay with it."
"Oh, she's 'Saya-chan' now,' Hiroshi observed.
"So what do Saya-chan's parents do," Ranma asked
curiously.
"Her mom teaches first grade, and her dad's a cop."
Hiroshi almost doubled over with laughter. "Not only is
Daisuke going to get his ass whipped, he's going to get arrested
afterwards!"
"Cut it out, dammit!"
"In all seriousness," Kunou advised him, "your age
difference will probably not cause problems for the two of you. It
is only when the difference is extreme or one of the parties
involved is still not considered an adult that problems start to
arise."
"Kunou's right," Hiroshi said. "We're messin' around with
you and all, but you're pretty lucky to have snatched a girl that
cute. You better hope Ranma doesn't steal her!"
"You wouldn't, would you, Ranma?"
Again, there a pained look from Kunou, as if he believed
everyone around him was making a fool out of themselves.
"I have more woman problems than I can possibly deal
with," Ranma noted sadly. "Just tell her to avoid pigtailed
martial artists and you should be okay."
The boys went back inside when they heard a knock at the
door.
Ranma was still halfway expecting Shampoo to show up and
thought she smelled ramen. When she and Kasumi opened the door,
however, she was disappointed to see that it was a different
Chinese girl waiting for them. She was wearing a Nekohanten tee-
shirt and short silk pants. She was slender, but had the casual
grace of a warrior. Ranma realized that she was probably another
Joketsuzoku girl.
"Nihao! This Saotome House?" she asked in atrocious
Japanese.
"It's the Tendou house, but I'm Ranma Saotome."
"You Ranma? Goodgood! Shampoo-sister give!" The girl
handed the tray of ramen take-out she was carrying over to Ranma.
Ranma staggered, trying to keep her balance, and walked the tray
inside to set it down in the kitchen. When she made it back to the
front door, the delivery girl was already a dust-cloud a hundred
meters down the street.
"She left this for you," Kasumi said, handing over a plain
envelope.
Ranma opened it and peeked inside.
"Ranma," the short letter read, "I really wanted to be
with you tonight, but I just couldn't get away from my
responsibilities. I hope you enjoy the ramen I sent. Love always,
Shampoo."
Shampoo had responsibilities? Responsibilities that were
more important that being with Ranma?
Ranma was surprised and more than a little hurt. Still,
there were several dozen bowls of ramen to be considered. She
tried not to let it get to her.
The shoujo anime was just ending, so she and the rest of
her friends ate ramen while 'Drunken Monkey Master 5' played.
There were compliments on the ramen all around, and even a few
indications that it was a shame that Shampoo couldn't have come.
About halfway into the movie, Ranma and Taiyoko started to
chat.
"You havin' fun?"
"Oh, yes!" Taiyoko answered, tearing her attention away
from the movie. "I was really happy when Nabiki asked me to come."
"Really? I figured your parents would have been really
tense about it."
Taiyoko blushed slightly. "Well... actually, t-they seemed
to think going to a boy-girl party was a good idea."
"Ah..."
After the movie, Nabiki suggested getting the Monopoly
board out again. It was one of her favorite games after all.
"That sounds like fun," Taiyoko said.
"Ohnononononono!" Ranma shouted. "Let's not get into that
again."
Everyone stared at her with curiosity or worry.
"What?"
"What about Charades?" Akane suggested.
Everyone glared at her darkly.
"That's never a good idea, Akane," Ranma said.
"I brought a trivia game," Ukyou announced. "Is anyone
interested?"
The trivia game was a good compromise. Ranma did
miserably, but not a lot worse than most of the other players.
Kodachi did well in 'Arts and Entertainment' questions and Hiroshi
did particularly well in sports trivia. Kasumi, Nabiki, and Kunou
led the game. Surprisingly, Kunou was in first place, simply on
the merit of the sheer number of history questions he answered
correctly.
"So that's what you keep up there," Nabiki kidded the
kendoist.
Ranma smiled. Despite her almost definite last-place
finish, she was having a great deal of fun.
Kunou was about to win when Sayuri decided to try to stump
him with an "Arts and Entertainment" question. She pulled the card
out of the deck and began to read. "Which action veteran directed
'Run, Tiger, Run', 'Hard Boiled', and 'Broken Arrow'."
Kunou pondered the question for several seconds. "John
Woo," he announced.
Ranma blinked. She wasn't sure, but she had seen 'Hard
Boiled' at Hiroshi's house and thought that Kunou might have been
right.
Sayuri nodded, a look of shock on her face. "He's right.
Kunou-sempai wins."
"'Twas but a lucky guess," he admitted. "John Woo is the
only action director whose name I know."
Since Kunou won, they let him pick the next movie. He
chose what Ranma thought was a boring movie upon first inspection,
but turned out to be a political thriller with a large amount of
action involved. The plot was convoluted, and sometimes hard to
follow, but the actions scenes were fluid and well directed. Her
attention wandered, however, when Kunou started to shift his seat
so that he was sitting directly behind her.
Grimacing, Ranma announced that she was going to fetch
some more snacks. When she came back in, she made sure to give
Kunou a wide berth.
It was getting pretty late by this point. Ranma noticed
that Taiyoko had dozed off, her head leaning against Nabiki's
shoulder. Kasumi was also starting to doze. She started awake
every few seconds, but was not paying very good attention to
anything around her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ranma saw Daisuke gesture
towards his new girlfriend. He winked, and pointed out the open
shoji to the darkened area of the yard towards the back of the
dojo.
Taking his cue, Saya yawned and stretched. "Wow, I'm
sleepy. I need some fresh air."
"I'll come with you," Daisuke said in a tone that was
almost entirely unbelievable. He glanced once at Kasumi to make
sure she was still out of it. He had already gotten in trouble a
few times, and didn't want to repeat the experience. He and Saya
got up and wandered out into the darkness. They disappeared behind
the dojo.
"Wow," Ranma whispered under her breath. "Kasumi was
right!"
Kunou was also starting to wear down as the movie built to
its climax. He stretched and rolled his head from side to side,
yawning deeply.
He put his arms back down, but accidentally reached far
enough to hit Ranma's soda. He sent it spinning, dumping most of
its contents in her lap.
"Wonderful." Ranma stood, trying to estimate the damage.
She sighed. The wet splotches on her pants made it look like she
had wet herself.
"By the gods, Pigtailed-girl! I'm dreadfully sorry!" Kunou
stood, and approached her, as if to help, but paused at the last
second. His expression was uncertain, and he looked up at Ranma
with a mixture of concern, embarrassment, and fear. Ranma realized
that he was still afraid to touch her.
It was irritating, but at the same time, she really didn't
want him touching her.
"It's okay, Kunou. Don't worry about it. I'll go rinse off
and get changed. Sheesh, you think being stuck as a girl for three
months would mean I wasn't nearly such a water magnet, but no...."
Ranma rolled her eyes and ran upstairs to get some spare clothes.
She went back down to the furo and started to strip.
She was down to her panties when the door opened behind
her.
"Dammit, Kunou! Are you trying to convince me to start
kicking your ass again?"
"Why, Ranma, what a thing to say to me!" It was Nabiki and
she was wearing only slightly more than Ranma was.
The redhead gulped, seeing the brown-haired girl advance
on her in only her bra and a pair of panties.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"You looked so uncomfortable," Nabiki noted. "I thought
I'd help you change."
Ranma was frozen once again. Part of her mind was
calculating how to get out of the room without making it evident
that she and Nabiki were so close together in such a flagrant
state. A much larger part of her mind was locked very firmly on
the firm swell of Nabiki's breasts and the way they seemed to fill
the girl's brassiere so perfectly.
"Eeep..."
"You like?" Nabiki asked.
As the girl's bra hit the floor, Ranma hastily amended her
thoughts to focus on how bouncy and pert Nabiki's naked breasts
were, and how firm and erect her nipples appeared to be.
"Oh man... oh man... Kasumi was right. We shouldn't--"
"Shouldn't do what, Ranma?" the girl asked. "Surely my
prudish older sister isn't making a big deal out of a close
friendship between two girls, is she?"
"How close?" Ranma asked, her teeth beginning to chatter.
Nabiki closed the distance between them, and put her hands
on the wall on either side of Ranma, trapping her. Slowly...
almost painfully slowly, Nabiki leaned against Ranma, pressing her
breasts against the redhead's. Ranma could feel the hard points of
Nabiki's nipples dragging across her own naked flesh.
"Close enough," Nabiki answered.
"Nabiki... we really shouldn't--"
"Shut up, Ranma. Less talk, more action."
With that, Nabiki leaned her head in close to Ranma's.
Ranma didn't resist. In fact, she responded, eagerly opening her
mouth to accept Nabiki's. Once again, the girl's tongue began to
probe against her own.
Ranma's cares and worries quickly began to evaporate. Her
world turned the same rosy pink shade it had the last time Nabiki
kissed her.
She felt Nabiki's flesh under her fingertips, and realized
that her own arms had wrapped around the taller girl's waist. The
palms of her hands were against Nabiki's back. One was so low that
Ranma could feel the top of her satin panties.
"Heavens, Ranma," Nabiki noted in a quiet, husky voice.
"Your panties are soaked straight through."
"Kunou spilled soda on me," Ranma explained lamely. She
was fairly certain that everyone in the room who was still awake
had seen that.
She gasped out loud when Nabiki hooked her thumbs into the
elastic band of Ranma's cotton panties and pulled them down over
her hips. Her whole body was shaking but she didn't make any move
to stop Nabiki from sliding the panties down over her thighs. They
fell limply around her ankles.
"Much better," Nabiki noted. She leaned up against Ranma,
pressing the redhead's naked back against the cold tile wall.
Forcefully, Nabiki ground her hips into Ranma's. She could feel
the brown-haired girl's satin panties crushing up against her
thin, red delta, compressing the hair against her skin. Her entire
front side was incredibly warm. The other side was cold from being
pressed against the wall. Ranma did her best to keep from groaning
at the powerful sensation. It was easier once Nabiki began to suck
on her lips once again.
Her left hand slid sinuously up Ranma's side. With
feather-light touches, she began to toy with the sensitive surface
of Ranma's breast. Her fingertips orbited around the lower swell
of Ranma's breast, sending a cascade of lightning down the
pigtailed-girl's spine.
Ranma moaned into Nabiki's mouth, but the taller girl did
not break the kiss. Instead, her fingers began to play across
Ranma's erect nipple. The sensations were intense. Ranma found
herself suddenly grounding her hips back against Nabiki's.
As Ranma's bucking intensified, Nabiki's right hand slid
down Ranma's other side and in between them.
Ranma's eyes opened wide as Nabiki began to gently probe
at her folds.
It apparently took a few seconds before the girl holding
her so closely was sure of what she was doing, but when she was
sure, she began to gently slide her finger between Ranma's folds.
The touch was like lightning. It felt more intense than
when Ranma touched herself. It was almost more than she could
stand.
Ranma realized that she was quite damp between the legs,
and that Nabiki's motions were doing nothing to stop that. Really,
she didn't care. She just wanted to make sure that Nabiki never,
ever stopped touching her. Ranma bucked harder, trying to
encourage her.
Nabiki broke their passionate kiss. "Take my panties off,"
she commanded.
Ranma glanced down, her fingers already sliding into the
waist of Nabiki's panties...
Polka-dot panties.
The pattern of the satin fabric hadn't really registered
in Ranma's mind before. For some reason, it stood out very clearly
all the sudden.
Ranma remembered one of the very first times she, he at
the time, had fought Kunou. Ranma rolled with one of Kunou's
blows, landing on the ground in front of Akane. He could clearly
see up the girl's skirt, and made a rude, stupid comment about her
polka-dot panties... panties that looked almost, but not exactly
like the ones Ranma was about to pull down over Nabiki's hips.
She was shaking like an off-balanced washing machine now,
but suddenly she couldn't help but think how close Akane was to
where she was. The girl could walk in at any second to see what
was keeping Ranma. So, for that matter, could Ukyou, Kodachi, or
even Kasumi. There would be no shrugging off or eventual
forgiveness for what Ranma was engaged in.
Ranma suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she
pulled off Nabiki's panties that they were going to have sex. Not
that they weren't doing something pretty close to that already,
but it would be... irreversible. She would have tossed her
engagements to the wind. She would have completely and irrevocably
abandoned Akane and Ukyou both, not to mention Shampoo and
Kodachi.
She would lose her virginity.
As a girl.
Still shaking, Ranma pulled her hands back up to her chest
and pushed Nabiki away from her.
"What?!" Nabiki demanded in surprise and growing outrage.
"Just... I can't do this..."
"Why not?" Nabiki asked angrily. "Don't you want--"
"Of course I want to!" Ranma said. "More than anything
else in the world right now. I want to keep on doing exactly what
we were doing."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because if I do... then everything will happen at once,"
Ranma said. She was having a hard time trying to keep from crying
in frustration. "I'll lose everything!"
"But you'll be getting me," Nabiki protested, leaning
against Ranma again, and trying to caress the shorter girl's face.
"Please... please don't do this to me, Nabiki."
Nabiki's eyes narrowed, her fury growing.
Not able to face the young woman, Ranma pushed her way
free and ran out of the bathroom.
She grabbed her spare clothes, and vaulted onto the
stairway so that no one could see her nakedness. Ranma ran into
her room and quickly pulled her clothes on. She tried to will the
shaking to stop, but it just wouldn't.
By the time she made it back downstairs, Nabiki was gone
from the bathroom. She was nowhere to be seen.
She walked back into the main room to see that most
everyone was dozing in one manner or another. She happened to
glance at Kunou, who had fallen asleep in front of the television.
His sister was curled up in front of him, her face nuzzled into
his chest. It was an incredible contrast to their antagonism
earlier in the day, but the odd appearance of intimacy between the
two only made the feelings churning inside Ranma's body worse.
Kasumi set up in her chair, her eyes wide and staring, but
apparently not seeing anything.
"Oh my! It's almost one," she said in a sleepy, dreamy
voice. "I can't stay awake any longer. Everyone has to leave now,"
she cooed in a sing-song tone.
Ranma noticed that Daisuke and Saya were still nowhere to
be seen.
"Mmm..." Hiroshi seconded. "Yeah, I better get home. Let
me unplug the video player..."
Ukyou started to stir. She looked up and smiled broadly.
"I shouldn't have stayed up this late anyway. I have to open the
shop early."
Ranma suddenly remembered what happened the last time, and
turned away from Ukyou. She wiped at her lips with her sleeve and
came away with Nabiki's lipstick. Luckily, Ukyou and everyone else
was still too asleep to notice.
Nabiki suddenly came down the stairs, dressed very nicely.
She was wearing a short dress and heeled pumps. Ranma wondered if
she was still wearing polka-dot panties. She stopped wondering
when she saw the killing glare Nabiki directed at her.
"I'll walk Taiyoko home. She has a long trip and doesn't
need to make it alone this late at night," she announced.
"Thank you, Nabiki-san!" Taiyoko said, getting to her
feet.
"Verily, 'twas nothing fair maiden," Kunou said sleepily
as he sat up, apparently trying to include himself in the
conversation. "Only the house Kunou has such lemon drops to sakura
gasoline. Can I see the rope trick again, Mother?"
"Kunou's out of it," Ranma noted as her friends began to
leave.
"I really don't want to carry this lump home," Kodachi
complained.
"I'll walk the two of you back to your place," Ranma
offered. She helped the still-dreaming Kunou to his feet.
"Come right back," Kasumi commanded as she drifted towards
the stairs.
"And don't forget to lock up when you come in," Akane said
after she had seen her friends out the door.
Ranma felt a fresh stab of guilt looking at her fiancee.
Still, it would feel good to get out into the cool night air and
let her hot feelings loose on the wind.
With one of them holding either of Kunou's hands, Ranma
and Kodachi managed to lead the Kendoist back across the
neighborhood at a fairly rapid pace. It was just after they passed
Furinkan high that Kodachi spoke.
"Really, was it necessary not to let me see my Ranma-sama
all evening? I really did expect to see him at least once."
"Kodachi, how many times do I have to say it?" Ranma
asked, her mood dark and angry because of what she had been
through. "Why won't you admit it?"
"Whatever could you mean?"
"You know damn well what I mean. I *am* Ranma Saotome.
I've always been Ranma Saotome. I know that the both of you--" she
nudged Kunou roughly in the ribs, "--have seen me change before.
Why can't you just accept it?"
"You act as if you believe your own lies," Kodachi said,
refusing to face Ranma.
"And you act like you believe whatever story you told
yourself to explain how this damned curse works," Ranma snapped
back.
"Prestidigitation. Illusion. Magic... It's all a sham. I
might as well believe in Santa Claus. Maybe my brother is right,"
the gymnast said sickly. "Maybe Ranma does get some perverse
thrill out of forcing you to assume his identity."
"You're a fucking moron, Kodachi. You know that, right?"
No further words passed between the two. Ranma left them
both at the gate of the Kunou mansion and ran back home.
She knew that no matter how quickly she made it home that
sleep would not come easily that night.
* * *
Ranma woke the next morning feeling cranky and irritable.
She didn't particularly feel like spending any time with the
Tendou girls, so she got dressed in her room and walked down
stairs to make her way from the house, hopefully unnoticed. Maybe
she'd go see what was up with Shampoo and why the Chinese girl
hadn't come over the night before.
Her plans flew out the window when she opened the door up,
just before Nabiki was about to let herself in from the other
side.
"Oh, hello," Nabiki said in surprise. Ranma noted that she
was wearing the same clothes which she had worn to walk Taiyoko
home.
Ranma really wasn't sure what to say to her. What do you
tell a girl after you've refused to take her panties off?
"Oh, did you spend the night at Taiyoko-chan's house?"
Kasumi asked, poking her head into the hallway.
Nabiki nodded. "It was almost two when we got there."
"Her parents must have loved that," Ranma commented dryly,
remembering how paranoid and easily-angered her friend's parents
were. They usually didn't want her to have anything to do with
other girls at all.
"You should have let Taiyoko-chan stay here," Kasumi said.
"I don't even think they noticed I was there," Nabiki
explained. "They were asleep when we got in and hadn't got up by
the time I left."
"Well, that's something at least," Ranma said. She walked
past Nabiki, not looking back at the girl.
As she walked towards the Nekohanten, Ranma couldn't
decide if she was more angry, disappointed, or turned on. It was
probably some miserable mix of the three. How could Nabiki be so
thoughtless as to try to get her in trouble with *all* her
fiancees?
She put the thought out of her head when she entered the
Nekohanten. Business appeared to be slow, but steady. Ranma began
looking around for Shampoo, but was distracted by a shout.
"Nihao! Welcome to Nekohanten!" It was the delivery girl
from the night before. This time, she was wearing a short, Chinese
mini-dress similar to the kind Shampoo preferred. "Is Ranma!" she
shouted back towards the kitchen.
"Uh yeah. Is Shampoo around?"
The girl shook her head. "Shampoo? Shampoo no here." She
gestured to herself and the two other Chinese girls who just
emerged from the kitchen. "Soda, Cola, and Tea here! Ranma want
too-too good spicy-pork ramen?"
"Uh... well..."
"On house for free!" The girl encouraged.
"Well..." Ranma was always a sucker for free food. In
seconds, the three Chinese girls had ushered her into a booth and
had a bowl of ramen in front of her.
"This is really good!"
"Ranma have good hungry!" Tea, the delivery girl Ranma met
the evening before said.
"I haven't had breakfast yet," Ranma explained, eagerly
consuming her meal.
Soda or Cola, Ranma wasn't sure which, made a quick
comment in Mandarin. The Chinese girl blushed, and all three girls
started to giggle naughtily. Ranma thought that it was probably
something fairly scandalous.
"What?"
"Forgive, Ranma. No speak Japanese good yet," Tea
explained. "Soda say very pretty. Pretty as Amazon."
"Oh..." Ranma said. Perhaps she was like Taiyoko in that
respect?
"Soda say if handsome man as pretty girl... want to see
man Ranma!" Tea finished. All three girls dissolved into giggles
again. Ranma sighed. It just figured that all the Amazons knew
about her curse.
After a little while she thanked her hosts for the meal,
saying that she was going to try to find Shampoo. She decided to
take the train ride to Minato ward and see if she could get any
information out of the embassy.
She stopped in front of the guards on duty in front of the
embassy and asked if she could see Shampoo or Soap. The guards
apparently recognized her, because they called the embassy via
two-way radio. After a few minutes, Ranma was escorted up the
landscaped path and into the building.
She was taken into a sitting room where Cologne and Soap
were apparently having morning tea.
"Hello, Ranma," Soap greeted her. "I was just speaking
with my grandmother about you."
"Oh?"
"We were discussing something that concerned you rather
personally. Here it is," Cologne said, reaching down beside the
deep chair she was sitting in.
Ranma's jaw tightened when she the old woman presented the
Kaisufu, the magical kettle that would unlock Ranma's curse and
allow her to change back into a boy once her medical restrictions
had expired.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't forget," Ranma said.
"Yes," Cologne noted with a wicked smile. "But can you
defeat me to get it?"
Ranma's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Her fists clenched,
and her shoulders bunched, ready for battle. Doctor's orders be
damned! If Cologne meant to keep the kettle away from her then--
"Just kidding!" the old crone laughed. "You've had quite
enough punishment, I think." She handed the kettle to Ranma. "I
would rather you not take it home with you," she suggested. "I
don't think it can be damaged, but I've witnessed the kinds of
things that happen at the Tendou Dojo. I'd rather not take the
risk."
Staring deeply into the ancient surface of the artifact,
Ranma nodded. She wondered how far she could get if she decided to
run from the two. Maybe she could find a bathroom with running hot
water?
"Since it is a cultural treasure originally belonging to
our nation," Soap informed Ranma, 'I'll keep it here in the
embassy. I'll bring it back to the Nekohanten when you're ready to
change back."
Ranma nodded sadly, and handed it over to the ambassador.
Soon, she thought. Only two more weeks.
There was a polite cough behind Ranma. The red-head
turned, suddenly remembering the reason she had come to the
embassy.
It was Shampoo. She had come in through the sitting-room
was wearing a conservative dress suit and subtle make-up. She
looked really incredible. There was, however, a look of
apprehension on her face.
"We had a good time last night," Ranma said. "It was too
bad that you couldn't come. We all really liked the ramen."
"I'm sorry," Shampoo apologized, "but this is a very busy
time for me right now. I'm about to leave for China again."
"What?"
"I may have a chance to save Mousse from his own
stupidity," Shampoo explained. "There is going to be a hearing on
his actions. If he goes by himself, then he will almost certainly
be dealt with in a harsh manner. If I go with him, the presence of
the ambassador's daughter may soften the resolve of whatever
tribunal gets hold of him."
Ranma couldn't help but wonder at how much Shampoo's
Japanese had improved. She was also stunned by how responsible the
Chinese girl suddenly seemed.
"Do you think you can get him off?" Ranma asked seriously.
"Probably not entirely." Shampoo sighed. "I can almost
certainly save him from a long sentence. I may even be able to
keep him from condemning himself with his short temper." She
paused for a few seconds. "I may be gone for some time. Months.
Maybe as long as a year."
Ranma was stunned by Shampoo's announcement, but smiled at
her friend. "Do a good job, Shampoo. I'll see you..." There was a
tone of finalness in her words. Ranma realized that she was saying
good-bye.
"I'll do my best," Shampoo replied, her voice catching a
little bit. She leaned over to Ranma and wrapped her arms around
the girl. Ranma could feel Shampoo's tears against her face.
Shampoo pulled back and gently caressed Ranma's cheek. She
kissed Ranma lovingly, once on the lips.
"Was that the Kiss of Death, or the Kiss of Marriage,
Shampoo?" Soap asked seriously.
"Ranma has made it clear that she wants to be my friend,
mother," Shampoo said. "So that was a kiss of friendship." She
paused for a second, and turned back to Ranma. "It could have been
wonderful," she whispered.
Ranma closed her eyes, not wanting to see Shampoo's smile
breaking into a grimace of pain and grief or the tears that were
coursing down her face. After a few seconds, the light pressure
from Shampoo's hand was gone from her face. She could hear
Shampoo's slow, clicking footsteps receding down the hallway.
"Goodbye, Shampoo," Ranma whispered, her voice catching in
the throat.
Then the tears came. Ranma didn't try to stop them this
time. She let them run down her face. She turned away from Soap
and Cologne, and slowly walked out of the embassy for the very
last time.
-----
~to be continued...
--
* * *
C. Jones - gui...@furinkan.net - http://www.furinkan.net
Public Key: http://www.furinkan.net/key.txt
Everybody in the room stared at Mihoshi. The policewoman
began to cry."I didn't mean to infect the world! I'm so
sorry!!!! WAHHHAHHHHHHH!!!!"
- From 'The Virus'