[Ranma][Fanfic] Final Attempt Aside: Kodachi (R/K/U, Ko)

[St. Suika Roberts]

I've sat on this one long enough, I think.

As usual, comments, criticism, flames, praise, complaints or MSTs are
all greatly appreciated.

Suika, (fic after .sig)
--
s...@nmfiber.com wrob...@tvi.cc.nm.us
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it
tried on him personally. -- A. Lincoln
<a href="http://w3.tvi.cc.nm.us/~wroberts/">Suika no homepage</a>

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#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt
Aside: Kodachi

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia
Based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko, without the permission of anyone.

*

``What is this I hear about my Ranma?''
``She got married. To me. Would you like to talk to her?'' Ukyou's
voice is chill.

*Kanojo desu tte?* ``Yes, please.''

``You need to promise a cessation of violence until after you've heard
the complete explanation.''

*Why ever for?* ``Of course.''

``Ranchan, you can come out now.'' _She_ slinks out, and I tense,
waiting for an attack. I start at the sound of a hand on my shoulder, ``Calm
down. We won't hurt you.'' Only the sincerity in her voice keeps me from
bristling at her words.

``Kodachi-chan, please, follow me, I've got to show you something.''
She waits for me to start towards her, then leads the way into the kitchen,
Ukyou at my back.

She fills two glasses, then waves me over to her, taking my hand.

``This will feel a little weird, but you need to understand this,'' she
looks up into my eyes and pours some water over her head. I stare as her eyes
darken to a steel grey, and she gets taller, features coarsening, her hand
enlarging, ``I can't let you go on like you have been,'' even her voice has
changed, ``There is only one Saotome Ranma. Me.'' I try to pull away, but
she, no, he, pulls me close and hugs me tightly, like I'd always wished he
would. His wife hugging us both wasn't in the fantasy, though.

``Kodachi-chan, you and Ranchan need some time to work out what we are
going to do about this mess, OK?'' Ukyou's voice is muffled by her position.

A couple *clink* noises sound from beside me, and Ranma shrinks in my
arms.

``Ukyou and I went to see _Ponpoko_ last night, so you might want to do
that.'' Another set of arms wrap about us. I open my eyes and look up into
Kasumi's face.

``Dou?'' Ranma loosens her grip slightly, and the other two let go as
well.

``Ii wa.'' Kasumi and Ukyou giggle, and I suddenly realize what tone I
used.

``We'll leave you two alone for a while to plot. Yell if you need
us,'' Ukyou says as she draws Kasumi from the room.

``Why are they doing this if they love you?'' the question pops out
before I can edit it for tact.

``Because you seem to need it and they trust me. I promised them that
nothing beyond flirting and _maybe_ a little necking would happen without their
foreknowledge and approval.''

I soak that in for a moment. ``Then why are you a girl? You doubt
your ability to control yourself as a guy?''

``No, it's just easier to stay a girl, people read my actions
differently when I'm female, Utchan doesn't mind, and 'Sumi-chan prefers it.''
she snorts, ``I'm apparently less threatening as a girl, so `macho bad
attitude' gets read as `cute' so long as I refrain from breaking anyone's
face.

``The next showing of _Ponpoko_ is at three. Is that agreeable?''

``Fine.'' I look down at that oh so pretty face. *kuaa! This is like
a door opened. Why did it take finding out Kasumi is attracted to women to
realize such a thing is possible?* I bolster my almost non-existant courage
and lean forward, kiss her soundly on the lips. She tenses instantly, and I
almost lose my nerve and break the kiss, then she responds, spreading her lips
under mine.

She gently breaks the kiss after a few moments. ``Kodachi-chan, if you
want to become part of this you need to realize that you will start out as the
fourth member of a triad, and there is a fairly big possiblity that you will
never get beyond that.

``I don't want you to get hurt that way. Think about this at the
theater, please.'' I smile and nod, appalled at the vision she presented, torn
between fear and the hope that I might have my Ranma-sama, if only for a little
while.

``I will.'' I promise.

``Good, if we're gonna get there on time we gotta hussle.'' she lets go
of me all the way, than starts toward the door. I follow her into the
restraunt proper, let the situation carry me forward and kiss both Ukyou and
Kasumi on the way out the door.

***

We drop to the ground in an alley a block or so from the theater, and I
find myself captivated by the sight of Ranma's bosom heaving.

``Oh dear, caught myself another one.'' Ranma's sardonic tone breaks
the spell, and I look up into her grin. My face heats as I realize what I was
doing.

``Anou . . .'' I sputter for a moment.

``Don't worry 'bout it. Most people I catch staring aren't nearly as
pretty.'' She wraps an arm about my waist and drags me toward the theater.
She pays for us both without batting an eye, then asks if I have any preference
where to sit. This is so strange to me that I can't deal with it, and just
wave towards a row. She finds us seats, and a very short while later I notice
that she's leaned over out of her seat onto me.

At the end of the movie I am surprised to find my companion actually in
tears.

``Bloody sledgehammer movie,'' she sniffs, ``About as heavy-handed as
Ghibli gets, and that last line is probably overkill.''

I continue to stare at her, bewildered.

``Would you like to go look for tanuki?'' I ask, desperate for a way to
make her stop crying.

``II to omou.'' I lead her outside, then she leads the way toward the
old Kitamachi `New Town' development. [I'm basing distances on Kitamachi New
Town being in Kita-ku, which would place it only about six kilometers from
Nerima-eki (from which, I admit, I have no idea of the distance to Tendoke)
(this is all based on my measurement of 8 kilometers from Nerima-eki to
Toukyou-eki. That measurement threw me for such a loop that I had to check it
three times . . . ) --S]

``We,'' she tosses over her shoulder at me, ``should check the reports,
see how much of that was fictionalized. I've a bad feeling much of it
wasn't.'' The rest of the trip passes in silence, I, at least, too winded for
conversation.

She buys takoyaki at a small yatai, and hands me one wordlessly before
starting off towards the local golf-course. I eat the takoyaki as we walk;
start when Ranma suddenly squeaks.

``What's wrong?''

``Need to call and tell 'em where I am. Help me find a phone.'' We
wander around for a little while before we find one, thoughtfully hidden in a
bank of vending machines. She feeds it a 50 yen coin and dials.

``Yeah, Ukyou, we went off to Kitamachi. We should be back in about
three hours. Yeah. Umm Hmm, will do. See ya soon, love you, bai-bai.''

``Hora, Kodachi-chan, would you like to have dinner with us? Kasumi is
going to be out a little while longer, so we'll be back in time.'' She picks
the bag of takoyaki off the top of the phone while I think about it, and buys a
Coke from one of the machines. She has a drink before passing it to me, and I
stare at it for a moment.

``Go on, it isn't nearly as sweet as Pepsi, and the cinnamon gives it a
nice taste.'' I give her a funny look, but take a sip anyway. She's right
that it isn't as sweet as Pepsi, and the cinnamon makes the stuff fairly
palatable. I take a larger drink and hand it back; she waves in the direction
we had been going. She takes the fence in a single bound, landing lightly and
taking another drink of the Coke. I can not resist the chance to show off, so
I leap the fence as well, with a single somersault at the top, and manage to
stick the landing. She hands me the Coke, and I finish it off, crush the can
one-handed as I'd seen him do it once. She smiles at me and giggles softly,
hugs me one-armed.

``Tanuki-san, tanuki-san, asobou janai ka?'' No one answers her call.

``Tanuki-san, tanuki-san, asoubou janai ka?'' This time I call with
her.

``Ima shokuji ni sagasuchuu,''(right now we're searching for food)
comes the reply.

``Takoyaki tabetai ka?'' Ranma replies in cadence, and a tanuki sticks
her face out of the brush. Ranma holds one of the takoyaki out to her. She
looks at us both with suspicion, staying put. I kneel down beside Ranma, and
moments later she comes a bit closer, then rushes forward and snags the
proffered takoyaki, just missing Ranma's fingers with her ever so sharp-looking
teeth.

``Enjoy,'' she runs off at Ranma's word. ``Dare mo inai no?'' a
couple more tanuki faces poke out, and Ranma holds out another takoyaki. The
tanuki seem to converse together, and I tap Ranma on the shoulder, hold out my
hand for a takoyaki. She hands me one, and another tanuki snags the one in her
fingers. Two tanuki are watching me, watching the takoyaki in my fingers, from
about a meter away. I could catch them easily, if I wanted to, so it's not as
if they need to hide. . . I force the anger down, suddenly sure that it would
be the wrong thing. I drop, sitting down and crossing my legs like Ranma. It
feels really strange, but one of the tanuki comes a little bit closer. I
remember to breathe, and the other tanuki comes up to me, stopping about ten
centimeters away and leaning forward to gently take the takoyaki from my
fingers. I wait for her to back off while I ponder the feeling, then flop onto
my back in shock, distract myself with the very pretty sunset. Suddenly there
is a weight on my belly and Ranma's face in mine.

``What're ya thinking about?''

``How nice this little date of ours has been. It wasn't at all like I
expected.''

``What did you expect?''

``My fantasy dates with you were all a lot less fun, you come pick me
up, we go out to eat at some fancy restraunt, and the whole thing ends with you
kissing me.''

``How boring! I can't say that I fantasized about this, but I had
nightmares,'' I interupt her by giggling, motion for her to continue before
wrapping my hands about her waist, ``That feels nice . . . Where you come by,
stick a bunch of poisoned flowers in my face, drag me off, and then proceed to
have your wicked way with me.''

``As a man or a woman?''

``It would depend on if I was male or female at the time. As a girl it
was generally a lot less scary.''

``Why, weren't you born male?''

``Yeah.'' She sags against me, her head dropping to my shoulder, ``Sex
as a male isn't something I want. I don't find males attractive, including
myself, which, coupled with how Oyaji handled things when I was younger, just
doesn't make it desirable. Heck, I have this half baked lurking fear that
anyone who finds males attractive can't have their head on straight.''

aiyaiyai.

``If youda latched onto me as a girl and dragged me off without
poisoning me youda probably caught me.'' hun.

``I seem to have you right now.''

``Do you?'' she mumbles into my shoulder.

``Yeah, so long as I don't scare you or your spice away.''

``Tabun.'' She peels herself up, ``If you want to keep that last from
happening, we'd better go.''

I wait a few moments while she gets ready to go, then tap her on the
shoulder.

``You're the oni.'' She looks at me oddly for a moment, then starts to
move. I had been waiting, and take off towards Utchan.

I think she goes easy on me, 'cause she grabs me right at the door, not
even winded. She leads me in and seats me, and I finally get my breathing
under control.

``Ran-chan, what did you do to Kodachi-chan?''

``Not much, 'Sumi-chan. She challenged me to a game of tag.''

``So, did you have fun, Kodachi-san?''

``Un, tottemo tanoshikatta.''

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1998 Nov 10: spelling fix. log added
1990 Apr 04: title block added.