So, first off, I did only once re-read this story to correct it and that was close after writing it, there is not much I can say about without giving a spoiler, but as of Now: To be continued.
I also wanted to mention some flaws I have made throughout my other fanfictions, at this point being "I had a dream I was your hero" and "The seven science; Verity's revelation" (the latter is the better, trust me on this one, if you haven't seen "wicked science" you have been missing out, but even if you know both "Kissxsis" and "wicked science" the latter fanfiction is just the better of the two).
First off I employed alcohol in these stories, it's not because alcohol is such a big part of my life I can't even make a story without it being in it, but rather I know so little about it that I didn't even think about it, when I included it.
Secondly I misspelled "warmth" as "warms" sometimes.
Thirdly, and this really bugs me, in Instagram I do get feedback, even though it's just pictures shot in a second (I'm definitely not a photographer, just in case I offended somebody who puts actual work into that) while my stories take considerably longer to write.
What am I doing wrong?
How am I supposed to use ?
I want to part of something, not 24/7, but it'd be interesting.
And lastly I'm often referencing things nobody knows besides me, even my username is such a thing obviously *g*, but that is just a minor issue and not of any concern for you potential readers.
So I hope you enjoy this little story (hopefully not too much because as of now it's unfinished), although "teenager fantasy" would cut it rather than "romance", if you want actual heartfelt love and empathy with all the agony attached, I'm going to try and write something like that in the future too, but for now this is all you will get.
So all in all this story is really light and probably something recommendable in case you want to rest your mind and just let some easy thoughts be poured over your brain, and if you wish of course to see a whole other side of Ryoga, one of my four favorites in the show.
At this rate the fanfiction didn't turn out the way I planned it initially, some plots just don't make sense, but you only just notice through character development (I tried to keep it authentic and let everyone be like they were originally created), so I kind of had a hard time fitting my story over the Anime I had thought it for.
I just think "Ranma 1/2" really deserved some credit.
As for "apocalypse now", which I will probably be featuring the categorization segment, that will be mostly in the second part, but since "apocalypse now" is not only controversial and passive-aggressive towards the Vietnam-war, it is also a pretty predictable plot.
so yeah, I just took something mindless and copied it and slapped this Anime over it, I promise to of course spice it up a little.
but like I said, patience you must have, young padawan (that's another thing about me, I'm not into star wars at all *g* and still make this reference, which also a prime example for a platitude).
Tl; dr: I made mistakes. nobody ever comments. you'll have to wait for the second chapter.
The Rose Of Darkness
by Tinkersdisciple, 7th April - 18th October 2015
Ryoga had traveled through the woods for a long time already, in search of nothing particular.
He had once again run away from the Tendo Dojo and into the woods, to come up with some new plan to win the heart of Akane.
He had previously trained together with Ranma back at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma had thought if he'd help him out he wouldn't get on his nerves again.
However since Ryoga was a very skilled martial artist at one point during their training Ryoga had landed a successful strike on Ranma. A successful sweet chin music had swept the glorious fighter of his feet and into unconsciousness.
In the dream Ranma had a future with Akane in which they were stuck in friendzone forever and everyone else had taken an aphrodisiac and then gotten arrested.
Ranma felt very sick after waking up from this dream and had sent Ryoga away to recover from the shock of seeing this unfortunate, but luckily unreal, fate.
So once again Ryoga had to train by himself in the woods, usually this meant for Ryoga to wander around until he met another master of martial arts who would teach him a new trick which would help him overpower Ranma, at least until Ranma would learn this trick himself.
However this time Ryoga was less fortunate and found no potential partner for his training, and on top of that he had lost his orientation. He had absolutely no idea how to beat Ranma in the future, and since the idea of beating Ranma was so deeply linked in his head with the idea of winning the heart of Akane his mental block put him in a state close to desperation.
To be fair the idea of winning Akane's heart by beating Ranma was not entirely a thing Ryoga had made up, since Ranma was Akane's fiancé he had to be out of the way if Ryoga and Akane wanted to marry, but since Akane had often disliked it when Ranma had attacked someone for reasons he had left unexplained to her she would hardly approve of Ryoga beating up Ranma, and deep inside Ryoga knew that very well.
But Ryoga was desperate for Akane and had often gone to great length to get her attention. He had spent a lot of time with Akane, mostly in disguise as her pet P-Chan; he still had bruises on his body from her hitting him in her sleep. Today Ryoga had to sleep alone.
When he woke up he saw he was in someone's garden, the garden was surrounded by white brick walls and in the center was a huge building with walls consisting almost entirely of floor-to-ceiling windows, with a vertical separation each meter, and a red roof.
Ryoga's resting place was dangerously close to a large pond, Ryoga took a step back as he saw it, his aversion with cold water was only reasonable.
Ryoga started to make his way around the house, making sure he would always stay in contact to the building with his right hand. He was doing well and didn't leave the garden by accident, then, as he walked along a longer side of the house his hand would suddenly reach into thin air and he stopped walking.
He looked aside and noticed that he had reached an entrance, the facts that there was a gravel trail leading towards this location and that the point he had started from lay only about ten to fifteen meters in front of him got by him unnoticed.
Ryoga entered the estate and saw that the room he was in was incredibly large, since the walls were practically of glass it really looked like the room was endless. Ryoga shouted hello multiple times to attract the owner to his position.
Unnoticed by him he was approached from behind by a girl in a white blouse with a black, knee length skirt and as she stood really close behind him she shouted: "Attention!"
Ryoga jumped up in the air and turned around startled after landing again.
The girl laughed and Ryoga instantly noticed who she was; "Miss Kodachi." Ryoga said in a surprised tone, "I'm sorry to just bump into your house but I got lost on my journey to the Tendo Dojo and just wanted to kindly ask for the direction."
He explained himself further. Kodachi kept her poker face and announced: "I can hardly believe that a man like you really wants to train with the Tendo family, which is foul and unworthy for truly gifted martial artists," and then she smiled mischievously, "unless of course you're just as stubborn as a fighter as that despicable Tendo is."
Ryoga grinned in response, simply expressing disbelief and answered: "Would you introduce me to one of your Dojo's fighters so I can proof what kind of martial artist I am if you don't believe me."
Ryoga made a pause and added: "You'll still not believe it when I'm done, hehe."
Kodachi felt like attacking Ryoga on an instant, but just as she was about Ryoga interrupted her and said: "As a gentleman I cannot allow me to hurt a lady, I need a competitor that is a man too."
Kodachi sighed and called her brother over and quickly briefed him to the situation. Her brother introduced himself as a proud warrior: "I'm Tatewaki Kuno, I go by the name "blue thunder of Furinkan High" now proof yourself in the face of a grandmaster that stands before you."
Ryoga didn't think twice and quickly engaged into combat with Kuno.
After mere seconds Kuno flew through the air and landed on his face after travelling many meters in midair.
Ryoga smiled smug and patted his hands, Kodachi spent a moment of thinking, and then she smiled: "You are a true martial artist, why don't you stay in my Dojo, I could use a good trainer; there is this redheaded girl at the Tendo Dojo that interferes with every of my actions and I want to keep her from doing so."
"A redheaded girl…" Ryoga thought for a moment, "O.K. I will teach you, I myself despise this redheaded girl, but as a Gentleman I can't get to her."
He didn't mention that he was just not strong enough to win against the redheaded girl and had already tried to attack her multiple times since the Gentleman's rules don't count for girl-type Ranma, because he saw an opportunity in teaming up with her.
Ryoga and Kodachi went inside to start the training. Kodachi removed her blouse and skirt like a sim and revealed that she wore a green leotard underneath it, much to Ryoga's surprise.
He hadn't really had a chance to see her in it before, but now he indeed liked what he saw.
"O.K." Ryoga announced, "Now show me what you already know about fighting."
Kodachi produced a red ribbon and swung it around laughing and emitting black rose leaves from the center of the spiraling ribbon.
Ryoga used his red umbrella to block the leaves and shouted: "stop!" Kodachi let the ribbon fall and looked at her trainer.
"You're doing it wrong, martial arts is not about "spin-to-win", there's still is a lot for you to learn, young padawan." Ryoga said very determined, at the same point he was still somehow unsure if he was really determined enough to train someone, especially her.
However she did stop using the ribbon and focused on what Ryoga would teach her.
He showed of various fighting movies during this first lesson, which Kodachi would imitate to become familiar with the movement.
They trained all day long and Ryoga was happy with their progress.
Kodachi prepared dinner for them, it tasted excellent but it also made Ryoga unnaturally sleepy.
When Ryoga came to again he felt weak, Kodachi lay besides him and smiled seductively.
Ryoga was mind- and maybe literally fucked.
Then Kodachi got up and started laughing as Ryoga began to see that he was not where he fell asleep in the evening.
He was on the rooftop of the Tendo Dojo in the predawn hours and Kodachi had brought him here to prematurely attack Ranma. Ryoga tried to move but couldn't do so, Kodachi laughed shortly and jokingly asked: "How were you gonna fight this way?"
Ryoga was now really mad at her, but just before he could speak again she jumped off the roof and Ryoga could do nothing to stop her anymore.
He felt like he was in a mix of "summer wine" and "livin' la Vida loca". Ryoga now too jumped off the roof and in the Tendo garden, he had a pretty painful landing as his legs were still a little limp from the poison.
He rubbed his ankle and sighed in pain but got up very quickly again.
He witnessed Kodachi using her newly learned moves on Ranma who, in his usual fashion, dodged every single hit by jumping backwards and tried to reason with Kodachi while doing so, but became further more taunting in the process.
Suddenly Ryoga got tipped on his shoulder and turned around to see Akane in her Pajamas, she looked really sleepy.
"What is this rumble so early in the morning about again?" she asked, as her eyes were hardly open she did not see Ranma and Kodachi fighting.
"Everything is fine, just go back to bed." Ryoga tried to convince her in order to prevent her from noticing the assault, as she would disdain it if Ryoga tried to attack the Tendo dojo.
Just after Ryoga had said that Ranma and Kodachi jumped at them and threw them over in the process.
They all four lay on the floor now, Kodachi on Ranma and Ryoga on Akane.
To prevent any unnecessary troubles Ryoga quickly grabbed Kodachi by her arm and pulled her up, then he continued escorting her by carrying her like a bride.
Now Ryoga just had to hope that Kodachi would play along, or else Akane would notice that he had teamed up with Kodachi.
Just as Kodachi was about to say something that would surely have caused Ryoga's plan to fail, Akane cut her word off by yelling: "Ryoga, you silly boy, you're taking the wrong direction."
"Oh right." Ryoga answered, faking a smile while he put his hand over Kodachi's mouth.
He could feel her hair as it fell over his arm now, it was soft and would sure feel good if one stroke through with one's fingers.
Ryoga would probably carry Kodachi back to her home like this, he didn't mind her weight as this was really an easy mark for a guy as strong as him, but it sure was nice carrying her like that.
Ryoga imagined doing that with Akane on their potential wedding day.
Unfortunately just as Ryoga was out of sight Kodachi quickly reacted and rammed a poison dart in his upper arm, Ryoga collapsed almost instantly.
He awoke back at the Kuno dojo and saw Kodachi sitting on her knees besides him and angrily looking down to him.
She instantly began talking to him, more like complaining at him, as he opened his eyes.
Ryoga was still dizzy from the poison and didn't really listen to what she said. From the angle Ryoga's head lay on the floor he could look up Kodachi's skirt and he saw that she was wearing regular white panties and not the notorious leotard.
In his state of absence from reality he just kept staring between her legs until he finally heard Kodachi say: "…And when she said you were walking in the wrong direction you didn't even bother turning."
Ryoga just laughed and turned on his back, Kodachi sighed and gave up talking to him while he was still under the effect of the poison.
The next time Ryoga awoke he was surprised to see Kodachi sitting before him with a tea kettle in her hand, it was late in the afternoon. Ryoga sat up and Kodachi poured him some tea, as she bend forward to do so her hair blocked Ryoga's sightline to the cup, he pushed her hair out of the way; he would not stand another dose of poison.
Kodachi looked up at him as he still held the hair out of her face; now the two were really close to each other and they both looked deeply in each other's eyes while Ryoga felt a strange flush of sudden warms accompanied by an increasing heartbeat.
Ryoga tried to unravel these new emotions, desperately waiting for Kodachi to make a move.
And indeed Kodachi made a move, but just entirely not the way Ryoga had expected; she spilled the tea!
It was cold on Ryoga's leg and he knew what this meant.
Within seconds Ryoga transformed into a small, black pig, Kodachi screamed at this frightening event.
"Why? Damn it why?" Ryoga thought, "Why does she put ice tea in a kettle!?"
He hated it when he was left in false security, not that he was naïve and would fall for something like that all the time, it was just that it was the douchiest thing people could do.
Ryoga ran away from the screaming Kodachi, trying to find a source of hot water to transform back to normal in.
He made his way through a long corridor while Kodachi was still after him, with poison, of course.
For once in his life Ryoga actually found what he wanted to find; the hot bath of the Kuno estate.
He jumped in the warm water and Kodachi followed him into it, just as he was about to transform back to normal, Kodachi gave him a dose of poison.
Luckily he transformed, or else the poison would have been so overdosed for the small pig body that he would have died.
Kodachi, who never really got this transformation thing, was very surprised to suddenly see Ryoga, who was now quite angry at her and removed the needle from his skin and poked it into Kodachi's arm while yelling: "No more of that poison, ever again!"
The poison worked very fast on both of them and they were now in actual danger, which none of them had calculated before. They made their way to the side of the bath in order to get out of the water before they would faint and drown.
Eventually Kodachi reached the side faster and pulled Ryoga behind her as he was already almost unconscious.
She could only make it so far as to lay on the side of the pool with her head lying on a stone outside of the water in a position she would not slip back in the water again. Ryoga simply fell on top of her like a bag of sand.
On the next day Ryoga awoke before Kodachi; he had had a nice sleep that night, it had been pretty comfortable in the warm water and now he found himself laying directly on Kodachi, face on face, chest on chest.
It was very soft as he lay on her like that and Ryoga was quite tempted to stay this way a little longer, not only because he was still a bit sleepy.
He just lay there with his cheek on her cheek and was suddenly very oblivious; the past day, with all its unfortunate happenings, seemed far gone from Ryoga now.
He felt her skin on his and the proportions of her body as he lay on her.
Ryoga was tempted. Tempted to let happen what there was to happen.
He turned his face slowly towards Kodachi's, on which it had been laying on before.
It was a perfect moment and He didn't hesitate to use his chance due to the still sleepy stage in which he was.
He kissed her on the cheek and it felt great, Ryoga didn't know why, technically he was still deeply in love with Akane.
Ryoga kissed Kodachi some more, he gave her many small kisses by removing his lips from her cheek close after skin contact but still staying in the distance of mere centimeters from her face.
He didn't even want to stop doing so, the moment was so surreal and yet so perfect.
But nothing lasts forever.
Kodachi woke up and Ryoga noticed it just before it had actually happened and pretended to be still asleep.
Kodachi fell for it, but instead of showing empathy and helping Ryoga out of the water she simply pushed him of herself and got up to leave the pool.
Of course Ryoga instantly emerged from the water and coughed long and loudly while Kodachi just looked at him.
As he was done coughing he started an argument with Kodachi about the ongoing intoxication, his tongue was still a bit limb so he referred to himself as "intoscipated" rather than "intoxicated".
Kodachi agreed to no longer use poison on him and Ryoga smiled, exposing his pointy, vampire-like teeth; maybe, so he thought, girls would fall for vampires especially when they're not cruel nor limited to be awake during the night like they were in the legends.
In the afternoon Kodachi and Ryoga had another training session together.
As Kodachi entered Ryoga was shocked to see her in her green leotard, he remembered what he had done in the morning; he had been greedy for what was now directly exposed to him.
He turned his head and quickly looked away, he had to tell Kodachi that she could not wear her favorite outfit during the training anymore. But he could also foresee that upon forbidding the famous Leo-
tard rage had to be expected.
Kodachi came closer to Ryoga, giving him an even better view at her body as he already had, soon she stood right before him and he could feel again what he would consider his biggest weakness.
"You can't wear that leotard during the training, it's still too much into the whole rhythmic gymnastics scheme." Ryoga said very determined, "If you want to adapt to my fighting style and skill-level you will have to dress appropriately."
Kodachi took it well and asked: "What should I wear, are my normal clothes o.k.?"
Ryoga was relieved that she took it lightly and patted her shoulder laughing and said: "That is just what I meant, you're a quick learner."
Sasuke watched them from a far and could only shake his head over so much stupidity, he had seen this through since the start and that without having witnessed the pool-scene.
Ryoga and Kodachi were really not the smartest though, but by far not the dumbest guys, that had to be said.
Kodachi returned in her classic outfit, the one with the white blouse and the black, knee length skirt.
She still looked very fine, Ryoga thought.
She placed herself right before him and smiled a broad smile, Ryoga was irritated and pleased by that and was about to give her permission to fight.
Just before he did so he foolishly lifted up Kodachi's skirt to check if she might still wore the leotard underneath it, she grimaced as he did.
She did not, instead she wore a pair of pale blue panties.
Kodachi yelled at Ryoga and punched him in the face for doing that and his cheeks turned bright red, but after explaining himself Kodachi gave him some half-assed forgiveness and they began their training.
While training Ryoga thought on about Kodachi, he liked her physical appearance and he had some sort of power over her and he wanted to exploit that.
He had tasted her skin and seen her panties, and could not get his mind off that.
Also he never really had this sort of control over a person, he wondered how far he could push her and the thought of it let him forget mostly all of his gentleman rules he would usually live by.
Chivalry was dead, but a true king's reign is forever.
When the training was over Ryoga's head was full of ideas but nothing seemed to satisfy.
Kodachi made dinner for the two and they drank tea and talked for a long time afterwards.
None of them had an exact plan on how to beat Ranma which is why they eventually started talking about unrelated topics, after all they were teenagers.
The smell of chamomile tea was in the air, Kodachi had just made it freshly and as they talked Ryoga began to like her more and more.
They laughed a lot during this evening and Ryoga became more self-confident on his power over Kodachi and also really willing to prove this to himself.
Once more Ryoga took a deep breath of the chamomile smell and finally announced: "Kodachi, would you do me a favor?"
Kodachi lay her head on the side and asked back: "O.K. what favor."
Ryoga was getting a little nervous now, but overall he was still pretty relaxed.
He laughed, leaned back and said: "No I can't tell, besides it's not that important."
Kodachi smiled and made an offer. "Just whisper it in my ear."
Ryoga took her offer and came closer to her while keeping his sitting position mostly.
He was now sitting directly in front of her and it felt like he could even feel her breath on his skin.
He leaned to the side and came closer to Kodachi's cheek.
He pushed her hair out of the way and came even closer, Kodachi giggled.
Ryoga was now so close to Kodachi and he felt warmer when he was near her, it was as if she had built a tent around him, separating him from the outer world so he could only focus on her.
Ryoga whispered: "I can't tell."
Kodachi whispered back: "what? I couldn't hear you."
Ryoga was more confident to tell her now, but as he inhaled another breeze of chamomile he also wanted to kiss her.
Just as he was about in the distance he had to choose in between kiss and tell he was pulled back by Kuno.
"Do not touch my sister, wretch!" Kuno shouted, as he hit Ryoga from behind.
Ryoga felt treated unfair, but was ashamed at the same time and thus set the revenge plans that crossed his mind further into the future, for now he would just take Kuno's advice and call it a day.
Kuno stood guard until Kodachi and Ryoga had fallen asleep.
The training on this next day would be harder, Ryoga had figured.
The way Kodachi had smiled when her brother had removed him from her, so much glee and mischief, this too could not go unanswered.
Ryoga was really gonna torture Kodachi today.
She entered the room for training today and was surprised to see Ryoga as ambitious as never before.
He made forceful strikes into thin air, demonstrating strength and shouted to enhance the effect.
"Ah Kodachi, today is the most important day of our training, the Stamina training!" Ryoga announced, Stamina was his greatest strength.
Ryoga was one of the most endured martial artists in all japan and the entire world, in fact he could have traveled the whole world on foot, that was how endured he was.
"Ready your breakfast and eat hearty for today you will do Push-ups." Ryoga explained proudly.
And he wasn't lying, Kodachi had to do many, many push-ups while Ryoga observed.
But he wasn't quite happy with it.
Kodachi gave it all she got and had drunken a lot of Chamomile tea in the process and was now starting to get out of Breath.
Ryoga kneeled down besides Kodachi and observed her closely, she was good looking, but she looked by far too focused and forced for Ryoga's taste, there had to be a way to change that.
Ryoga kept staring at Kodachi and she noticed eventually, feeling uneasy then.
That was a site Ryoga liked much better, an intimidated Kodachi.
Kodachi gave up: "How 'bout we'll call this a day and train again tomorrow?"
Ryoga didn't quite wanna let her off the hook just now, this whole scheme still lacked something, but Ryoga couldn't figure out in particular what that was.
He denied her request and instead did just the exact opposite of what she had asked for.
He sat on Kodachi's back now, forcing her to do even harder push-ups.
Kodachi couldn't bear all that weight and soon came to lay flat on her stomach on the floor with Ryoga still on top of her.
Now she could really feel all the tea she had drunken add up and asked Ryoga once more: "Can't we make a break at least? I feel like I need to go."
She didn't have to tell Ryoga twice, he knew now what was there to do for him.
"What you need is relaxation." Ryoga said and began to position himself more comfortably on Kodachi, doing so by moving himself more and more from sitting to lying position.
"You just have to let go of the stress for a minute." He said almost seductively.
Now he lay exactly on top of her, and since she was exhausted she couldn't shake him off even now.
It was an unpleasant feeling for Kodachi being trapped like this and very uncomfortable in addition to a full bladder.
"Just let go." Ryoga whispered directly in her ear, he was so close that she could feel his warm breath against her cheek and even his pounding heart.
"Let go." He repeated it once more and Kodachi knew there was no other way.
Ryoga grabbed her hand and could feel it starting to tremble as she let go of what had stored up during the afternoon.
Ryoga was sure that she was probably soaking her panties and skirt-front by now and out of reflex, or maybe he could just not suppress it at the moment, gave her a passionate kiss on the cheek.
It was an unpleasant sticky warmth that spread beneath Kodachi's lap and a likewise unpleasant, sticky, warm kiss on her cheek.
Ryoga was happy, but it wouldn't last long.
It just so happened that Kuno and Sasuke showed up and saw Ryoga lying on Kodachi and the wet floor beneath the two.
Instantly Ryoga was pulled up and yelled at, then Sasuke escorted him outside the Dojo while Kuno helped his crying sister.
Ryoga was on his own again and felt quite guilty now and was ashamed of what he had just done; how could he ever justify that?
He wandered through the woods for many days until he finally regained the courage to go back to the village.
Ryoga wandered breathlessly in the unmerciful heat of the Japanese summer through the woods.
Or at least that was what Ryoga believed where he was.
Truly there was a jungle around him and he was in one of the worst places of Asia.
He carried on, almost succumbing to the heat thinking back to the encounter with Kodachi.
"The horror. . . the horror." He thought.
Finally back before the furinkan high school, Ryoga still wasn't sure what to do next, the only certain thing he knew was that he had to evade Kodachi by all means if he didn't want to die of shame, or more likely of poison.
After only a few minutes more Ryoga had made it to the Tendo dojo, in his effort not to run into Kodachi he had walked right to her house and from there on directly to the Tendos.
At the Dojo Ryoga spotted someone, likely Kodachi, and since he didn't want to be seen he jumped through the first window he saw.
The next moment he found himself with Ranma in the bathtub.
Ranma yelled at the unpleasant surprise of finding Ryoga in his tub, who tried to quickly explain the situation, not caring about Ranma being naked at all.
"Oh Ranma did you know I had an unpleasant encounter with Kodachi? It was terrible, you must help me, please do something, and quick!"
Ryoga shouted, wanting to shift his own problems onto Ranma as everyone else in their neighborhood would.
Ranma stood up and shouted back: "Do you not notice that I want to take my bath in private!?"
"This is serious business Ranma! I really need your help." Ryoga retorted.
Ranma and Ryoga argued on, while they screamed at each other Ryoga too took his clothes off to join Ranma while bathing, their dispute would surely take it's time.
Ryoga's clothes were put where towels would usually be placed, to dry.
They sat in the tub both in the lotus-seat, knee against knee, and their argument started to come down and reasonable talk set in.
Ryoga had to explain.
He told the whole long awkward story to Ranma, on whose face a grin had formed over the progress.
Ranma had enjoyed himself quite a bit during the story Ryoga had told him and now laughed at him; much to Ryoga's shame, but he had seen it coming.
Completely out of the blue Happosai appeared, he would always hide in the bathroom while Ranma bathes in case he turns into female form.
Happosai was over-joyous, he laughed while jumping on Ryoga's back, he hung onto Ryoga and complemented him for what he had done to Kodachi; the only thing he didn't appreciate was that Ryoga hadn't brought him a souvenir.
"I'm gonna have to tell that to everyone, they need a shining example for what a student of mine should be like, haha!" With that Happosai ran out of the bathroom.
Ryoga jumped out of the tub and quickly put on his boxers, he still wore the bandana, and ran after Happosai; Akane and her relatives were the least people on earth he wanted to have to know what he had done to Kodachi.
The two raced through the whole Dojo multiple times, breaking ridiculous amounts of Japanese paraphernalia in the process, until Happosai ran around a corner and got kicked by Ranma.
Happosai's efforts to tell everyone of Ryoga's misfortunate encounter with Kodachi were in vain, this time, but he demanded Ryoga to stay longer in the Dojo and become his student, blackmailing him with telling everyone the truth.
Ryoga obviously took the opportunity of free training gladly, to him this was a win/win-situation.
Ryoga got to sleep in a room in the Tendo Dojo which he had to share with Ranma, usually Ranma's father Genma would have slept in this room but until Ryoga's stay was over he would have to spend the night in one room with his best friend Soun Tendo.
It was something of a sleepover party for the two fathers.
Ranma and Ryoga talked until late into the night; there was no point in arguing now, they were forced to be together and might as well share their experiences.
They were still both victims of the Jusenkyo curse originating from a spring, which had been existing for centuries on end and had proven to have been a true deathtrap for many, many creatures throughout these years.
The guard, who was a N°1 example of taxpayer's money at work, would usually come up with a short story about the drowning of a person or animal multiple hundred years ago, which would explain that everyone who has fallen into one of these ponds would transform into the drowned creature.
There was one detail, which was the most terrifying detail about the Jusenkyo curse, that the guard would not explain to the (un)lucky travelers.
It was the one thing that bugged the victims of the curse more than any misfortunate outcome that may come up after their transformation.
Ranma and Ryoga had both never talked about this topic, but now as they lay in the quite of the Japanese night Ryoga began to ask questions.
"You know Ranma, about the curse, when you transform, can you see it too?"
Ranma was hesitant to answer at, recalling the experience in his mind.
"Do you mean you can feel it too?" He whispered back, "I thought I was the only one, my father had never said anything."
"It is horrible, isn't it? The moment you relive the drowning seconds of your other form?"
Ranma nodded slowly, Ryoga could just make out the move, his eyes had already gotten used to the darkness.
"But the transformation back is the true horror." Ranma said slowly.
They talked on about their experiences with transforming for a pretty long time, they even remembered what Happosai had told them some time ago, that there was also a pond of a drowned teenage boy which would, in their case, negate most of the curses effects.
"You know what?" Ranma had an idea, "If you're so hot for Kodachi why don't you just get along with her? From her money we could easily afford a trip to Jusenkyo."
"It was a one-time mistake!" Ryoga defended himself stubbornly.
"You don't get it Ryoga, this is our ticket to Jusenkyo!" Ranma was so used to being the one who everyone loads their problems on that this time he wanted to be the one who can lay back and watch someone else do all the work.
Like father, like son.
The two decided to call it a day and went to sleep.
The next morning they all enjoyed a great breakfast, Soun always glanced over to Genma as if he was nervous.
After breakfast Ryoga, Genma and Soun had a training session with Happosai.
Happosai divided them into groups, he would fight Genma while Ryoga had to fight Soun.
During their battle when Ryoga and Soun stood close to each other in hand-to-hand combat Soun started to strike up a whispered conversation with Ryoga.
"Psst, Ryoga, I need your help, it's important and there is nobody else I can tell this too."
Ryoga nodded as they pushed each other multiple meters back just to jump back to the center and duel on.
"It's about Genma," Soun proposed, "I think I'm in love; what should I do!?"
Ryoga was confused at first, but after the training he had thought the whole thing through and pulled Soun over.
"You need to confess to him and have a talk with him, how it makes him feel and what it does to him, but you can't just ask him while everybody is around the house, but don't worry, I'll figure out a way you two can be alone."
Ryoga said reassuring as he patted Soun's shoulder.
After the training Ryoga returned to Ranma.
"Everybody's troubles are piling up on me." He said bewildered.
"Join the Club." Came the short answer to his complain.
Ryoga was surprised by this reaction: "Are you not gonna help me out with this."
Ranma shook his head: "you can't just pile your things up on me and besides, Pile-sharing is a no-go."
Ryoga had thought about his peculiar situation for quite a while now, it had become evening and he sat in his room alone tonight, Ranma was off to a new adventure of some sort at this hour.
But Ryoga too would get to experience an adventure tonight, he just didn't know it yet, and that would make it all the more adventurous.
He lay in bed, his mind slowly drifting apart, preparing him for sleeping phase and some interesting dreams, as he noticed a movement in the corner of the room.
As the martial artist he is his senses all became alarmed immediately, then there was the quiet again; that the trespasser had stopped would only decrease its chances to attack, as Ryoga's eyes could now adjust to the darkness and focus the intruder by its next move.
There was no next move.
It must have been a shadow in the shallow moonlight, but just to make sure Ryoga got up to check on the house, especially to ensure Akane was safe.
Half an hour later Ryoga had finally found Akane, she was in the kitchen pouring some water, he told her that he suspected an intruder in the house.
"Oh no, Ryoga, i remember the first time we had someone in our house, are you really sure it had happened again?" Akane asked worried and frightened.
"Not for certain." Ryoga admitted, "But i don't think this intruder will claim to be your fiancée anyway." He smiled, Akane smiled back, she was so sweet and innocent in her pajamas and not a tomboy as Ranma would have said.
They made their way to the living room, Ryoga following Akane, and sat down at the table.
"It was nice of you to warn me about the possible intruder anyway, Ranma would have not even woken up if there was an intruder right next to him."
Akane smiled and then added: "Now that I'm warned if there is an intruder he's gonna have a hard time getting past us!"
Ryoga made a face like he had never known Akane was like this.
Akane began to speak again and that with a voice of happy excitement this time: "What if it's only P-Chan who had come to visit me again!"
Akane's expression shifted again: "You didn't step on P-Chan by accident while searching the intruder, did you?"
Ryoga laughed it off, waved to Akane and went back to bed with a grin on his face and a pounding heart.
An hour later Ryoga returned, after his long march through the Tendo Dojo he had become pretty sure that it had just been a shadow.
He saw Ranma had already returned to his bed, covered by his sheets and lay himself beside him.
Before he fell asleep again he recalled the conversation with Akane; he had been alone with her, in his true form, and it had been a nice conversation between them and Akane had even complimented him of some sort.
The evening couldn't have gotten any better for him.
He had never been this far from the truth.
But he wouldn't have to worry about that for the time being, as he had just fallen asleep.
Soon enough Ryoga had woken up again, the room door was wide open and there was light coming from the hallway.
He turned around, Ranma was gone, but presumably through the window, as it was open again and Ranma was no big fan of using the stairs.
He turned his way back to the hallway, who could have turned the light on, probably Akane though.
He had dreamt of this scenario various times, Akane sneaking up to his bed just to kiss him in the middle of the night when nobody would notice.
Maybe even kissing him awake and then just whispering: "ssshhhh." shortly before leaving him again.
But he knew this was just a dream, a fantasy, too good to be true; by the next second he would see Ranma's shadow in the light of the hallway on his way back to his bed.
And indeed the shadow came and Ryoga instantly gave up on his dreams for this night.
But as the person stood in the doorway Ryoga's hope got replenished, it was a girl, and smaller then girl-type Ranma, but too backlit to be recognized.
Ryoga waited motionless in anticipation, He knew in the last second, when he would finally be able to see if it was really Akane or just one of her sister playing a prank on him, he would have to close his eyes to not scare Akane away if it was really her and she was trying to kiss him.
Now the girl was close to Ryoga, his heart raced at the speed of sound, she began to lean down to him, he had to close his eyes.
It was the moment of truth; would he be kissed by the love of his life or smothered by an intruder who was out to kill him.
It came as a surprise greater than thousand surprise birthday parties.
He felt the breath of the girl right before his face, hesitating before the point of no return.
She did not change her mind, it felt so good on Ryoga's lips when his dream finally came true, so warm and so determined to give love.
He couldn't have imagined it better in the many fantasies he used to have.
He would have really wanted to open his eyes and reply to the kissing, but he stayed silent, his heart was beating at a speed it had never beaten before and he felt so incredibly warm, as warm as one can feel before it would get to warm to still be enjoyable.
The girl removed her lips, but the kiss stayed, at least in Ryoga's memory.
He was so excited and the thoughts in his head were running wild; he didn't even notice the girl leaving through the window.
He would spent the whole rest of the night and every following night thinking back to what had just happened to him.
On the next day Ranma reminded Ryoga again that he had to talk to Kodachi again in order to seduce her and get to her money.
"But why me?!" Ryoga asked once again, "Haven't i told you how royally i screwed it up last time, do you seriously think she still likes me?"
"You are the only one who likes her, like really likes her," He added with a smile, "and i can't risk to get my ass beat by that tomboy which is Akane."
"I'm not in love with Kodachi." Ryoga whispered calmly, but determined, "I did what i did in a misguided error, what would i personally benefit from Kodachi. . . you-know-what."
Ranma smiled gleefully and loudly said: "hahaha, i think you like it that way, maybe i should tell akane about your little preference for wet panties, i bet she likes it too."
Ryoga blushed and got angry, exposing his vampire-like teeth and yelling at Ranma.
Then they had to train with Happosai again.
On the following evenings of nearly the entire week Ryoga got to bed hoping.
And awoke with his wishes unsatisfied.
One of these nights however Ryoga had a strange dream of some sort.
He was in his room, there was a small black fan on a table before him, standing next to a computer, which was supposedly connected to cameras hidden each in on room of the dojo in the upper corner.
Indeed over the camera he could really easily spot an intruder.
Just as he saw one though, the computer froze and he had to reset the camera.
He could see more movements, but it was not clearly visible who the intruder was.
This happened a lot of times throughout the dream but never could Ryoga identify the person.
The hours went by in his dream and suddenly it turned 6 am, Ryoga heard bells and the screaming of happy children.
That was when his dream ended and he got up for another day of fight training with Happosai.
After this hard day of training Ryoga couldn't wait to get to bed.
No, tired he was not, anticipating was more like it.
The encounter he had a few nights ago was still a cozy plaze in his memory, a memory which he wanted to relive.
In his bed he lay awake for a long time, just listening to Ranma's snoring.
He had almost fallen asleep as he heard as he heard a low noise and then saw the familiar shadow of the unknown person appear.
He closed his eyes and waited in longing anticipation.
And yet again he felt her approaching, this time she kneeled over him, but without touching him.
And once again he felt the hair stroking him, the breath on his face and then the kiss on his lips.
Softer than shadows and quicker than flies, but still given with so much love; a secret all so secret that the wish could only be fulfilled in the middle of night.
The intruder probably had her reasons for that.
As she kissed he could also feel her body, with that all the anticipation, suppressed longings and most prominently some sort of excitement.
He hoped that she wouldn't feel the same in him.
She lifted her head again, her deed was done and she crawled of Ryoga backwards.
He grabbed her knee just as she tried to move her leg back.
It was only a short move, but she lost her balance.
She fell right on Ryoga.
Fuck, there was no way he was still asleep.
She was right, Ryoga was awake as never before.
It was soft, he could feel her fine form on his body.
A warmth so faith inducing.
He had caught her off-guard and now could practically feel her surprise and shame, so he faked his awakening.
There it was, this funny feeling again, she had even shrieked, nonetheless Ranma had luckily not woken up.
Ryoga was at the edge, he liked to inflict shame in girls, he had just never realized.
He opened his eyes.
He himself could see nothing, his eyes hadn't adjusted, but she could see, she kissed him again, not for pleasure but to minimize his view on her.
Ryoga felt something intense.
After the kiss she quickly got up and clumsily ran out of the room, kicking Ranma in the process.
A perfect night for Ryoga.
"Now who was that kissing you good night, heartbreaker?" Ranma said with a devilish smile.
Ryoga blushed, now he was the one to be caught redhanded.
But the momentary shock didn't last long: "I thought this was you." Ryoga answered with an undertone that could not have been more ironic.
He had signaled Ranma this way that they should just simply turn their backs to each other and sleep, what they did.
Ranma had long grown out of actually seeing Ryoga as a rival, he just liked to tease him.
This was because Ranma had one day come to the realization that Ryoga was probably his only friend who had no interest in a marriage with him, besides the guy who considered drinking tea a sport.
But that guy was still a bigger idiot than Ryoga, and besides if you do not do anything other than drinking tea you could only make a lame innuendo on watersports if you wanted to draw the line in the direction of sport.
On this day Ryoga would have to talk to Kodachi, he wasn't looking forward to it, really not.
But Ranma had set it all up and they had tricked Kodachi into a romantic dinner, but had left out the part with who she would have to dine.
At the Kuno estate: "Miss Kodachi, there is a letter for you." Sasuke announced.
He produced a pink envelope full of heart-shaped stamps and with cheap perfume on and held it directly under Kodachi's nose.
She grabbed the letter hastily and started talking in a fast, excited fashion.
"It just must be from Ranma" she said it and pressed the letter against herself, "he is finally confessing his love to me."
Kuno and Sasuke looked at her with bewildered faces.
She was already overly happy even before she had opened the envelope.
But she would not get to open it.
Kuno grabbed the envelope just as she was about to open it.
"I cannot let you open what comes from that despicable Ranma, what if it's just another of his dirty tricks to get back on me and he has a bomb placed in the envelope."
With these words he opened the envelope.
And nothing happened.
Kodachi ripped the letter out of his hands and read it to herself.
It was Ranma confessing his love, as she had thought, her lips, which had been quietly moving while she read stopped as she came to this point of the letter.
Below the love confession there was an invitation to a secret dinner at the Tendo Dojo alongside the most impressive description of the way to find the Tendo dojo she had ever seen.
The day passed and Kodachi prepared herself for the evening with Ranma, she wore a white kimono and strolled through her garden humming in anticipation of her date.
The evening came, Kodachi walked through the orange, already turning purple, evening light along the canal and thought back to the letter: "Oh Ranma silly."
She smiled, the evening air was warm and the day couldn't have been any better for her.
a beautiful charming small-town they all lived in.
She arrived at the tendo dojo and was gladly greeted by Genma, who had already been standing in the doorway, smiling broadly, showing off two rows of teeth in shiny white.
She was led in, it was dark in the dining room, candles were lit near the walls, backlighting whoever was in the centre of the room, sitting by the table, which would soon be her and Ranma.
Kodachi sat down by the table and smiled a small smile as Kasumi came with the tray.
She would have given so much for this moment to come, but now that it was there it felt so anticlimactic to her.
Just as if you're moving in with your idol, she felt so small and vulnerable in this moment, it felt just all wrong and out of place, having to dine with Ranma had become a chore.
"whatch out, you might get what you're after," such a fitting quote.
The food was good, but Kodachi chewed long on every bite, she still felt like being whatched, as if this was only some favor Ranma would do her because she had begged with him.
But Ranma must have felt the same, he did not talk either and seemed to eat slowly too, as far as could be seen in the moody light.
When dinner was over Kodachi still didn't feel better but she had to say something, if not she would have wasted the possibly best chance with Ranma she might get.
"So Ranma, what have you been up to?" It didn't really interest her, but it would hint on the question what they were up to now.
"Training" came as the short answer. "Too bad," Kodachi thought, "this is never gonna get anywhere."
A few more questions with short answers, often just a "mmh" as if they were maincast to a chocoblade-commercial later Kodachi had to reconsider and try something else to get to Ranma.
"Hmmm. . ." she thought, "If i was the one to write this dialogue, how would i have to begin to get Ranma to talk?" she asked herself.
She smiled, "now i've got it," and asked Ranma to show her the restroom.
This was the moment where Ryoga cursed himself that he wasn't the first one to open his mouth, now he could not anymore ask her to invite him and half of the dojo staff on a boat trip to Yusenkio.
He was perfectly disguised as Ranma, and had barely spoken to not break the illusion.
In fact he had even found a store in which he had found an exact replica of Ranma's outfit, strangely though, as the shopkeeper had told him there is a flouriscating market for dressing like a japanese person you have never met and then expecting that some guy's leftover teenagerfantasy would become reality to you.
However there was one thing Ranma, the actual Ranma, had what Ryoga didn't have; he knew where the bathroom was. believe it or not, but during his entire stay Ryoga had just kneeled on the windowsill and pissed outside the building like he was some kind of seventies teenager at a party.
Now he had to go and walk through the dojo with Kodachi by his side, hoping she would spot the toilet when they passed by.
He took her hand without thinking, only as he felt the warmth and the moment of hesitation in Kodachi's hand he noticed what he had just done, but at that point he had to press on.
And it was to be their romantic dinner anyway.
In Kodachi's plan everything had worked well as planned.
Ranma was already holding hands with her.
now she would just have to try and lead him out of the house and back to her own dojo.
but first she really had to visit their bathroom, all the green tea she had drunken for her upset stomache came into play now.
They moved through the dojo for some time, but as it wasn't that big they found the bathroom after, for Ryoga's standards, short time.
But it was occupied, at least that came shouting through the door in unison by Genma and Soun.
Kodachi and "Ranma" looked at each other in disbelieve, but then he just smiled and made a very Ranma-like comment: "maybe they're just trying to figure out why girls always go to the bathroom in pairs."
Kodachi bend over and whispered a few short sentences in his ear.
His eyes widened and he laughed in amazement: "Wow, i have really never viewed it from that point!"
But this little revelation that Ryoga had just received would, unfortunately, not solve their toiletproblem.
Now it was Kodachi's turn again: "We could hurry to my place, I think we can make it in time."
Kodachi was gonna take the shortcut over the rooftops to get back home quickly, but then she remembered she couldn't be holding hands with Ranma and if they don't, Ranma may just drop her off at her door.
she had to take the slow way, walking along the canal with it's water flowing mercilessly.
Ranma, relaxed as ever, asked Kodachi for the letter he had written her, to go by his map.
She gave him the letter, now that it was dark and she wasn't on the rooftop she really didn't know where they were to go.
She gave the letter one last look as she returned it back to sender, and inhaled sharply in horror, it would be a long way home.
Ryoga walked confidently, his eyes almost never leaving the map in his hand, Kodachi would pull him towards her if he was heading for a lamppost.
he followed a long straight line, which would at some undefined point just sharply make a turn to the right and lead into a ball of wool of some sort.
Of course this long line led along the canal with the metal fence on which the actual Ranma would have walked.
luckily Ryoga was holding Kodachi's hand and therefore had not to perform this dangerous stunt again.
He had done that once in advance of the date to be prepared, and had landed very inconveniently on the metal fence after slipping off with his feet.
Today the only person that would feel inconvenient by the metal fence was Kodachi.
The river was trickling on, and they were holding hands on a summer evening, it could be so romantic if it wasn't for Kodachi's bladder.
Of course if one was Ryoga this could be considered a derivate of romantic, she grimly thought to herself. She still had not fully forgiven him that.
"Did you know Ryoga can be a real pig sometimes." she exclaimed.
"Ranma" stared at her with his every sences alarmed. "Oh fuck, how could she ever know!"
he thought, then calmed down and asked Kodachi, as unsuspicious as he could, why she thought so.
she looked down and lingered with her reply, then she whispered: "He's an asshole for the better knowing."
Ryoga smiled awkwardly as he heard that, but he had to admit, it came as no real surprise.
Just after Kodachi had said that, she threw herself at him, now supporting herself somehow against his side, with his arm laid around her.
she looked very sweet this way, but why was she trying that right now?
she had said she'd have to go and now she was all flirty.
Ryoga was, also he really didn't wanna spoil Kodachi's good mood, really, really curious what she would answer if being asked about why Ryoga is so bad in her opinion.
Her expression changed at an instant and she was like she had been before she had thrown herself against him.
"He was being naughty and i don't want to talk about that anymore." That sounded like she was comparing him to Happosai.
"He was being naughty, isn't that normally what Happosai is like?" Ryoga asked bluntly.
Kodachi sighed and gave him an angry look: "can we just move on please," she said and then changed from annoyed to pleading, "I gotta go, or else I might just won't have to anymore!"
a broad smile came across Ryoga's face, in this moment he had been triggered against his will.
Images came to his mind, thighs and panties, things that were now concealed by a kimono.
tight fabric, so perfectly soft as if woven directly around her hips.
How she would struggle and dance around to prevent what there was to happen.
Then the clenching of said thighs followed by a small stream from her panties steadily rushing down these elegant legs.
Tender age in bloom.
She would probably not even bring out a single word, hot as fever and red in the face.
And he himself would be most pleased but not entirely satisfied.
It would only be the beginning of something wonderful, he reminded himself that it had theoretically already begun.
And that could only mean now was the time to go on.
Just as he was at the end of this thought, he was pulled away by Kodachi, who was running to her house now, which they must have somehow been walking towards it without him noticing.
Kodachi rushed in and they finally let loose of each other's hand and while Kodachi went to the bathroom Ryoga waited for her inside the giant parlor.
She came back and lead him to her room.
In the room they waited around, now that Kodachi had Ranma where she wanted she ran out of ideas and suddenly it all felt so insecure as it had felt at the start of this evening.
They sat down, Kodachi was full of grim about herself now.
Suddenly she had a hand on her shoulder, she looked up and saw the faithful eyes of Ranma focused on her.
"I know what it's like," he said with a warm voice, "I've been observing the evening quite well now and I feel just the same, it's all too short, we should take it slow."
Kodachi was comforted, she could only smile in Ranma's warm eyes.
As if reading her mind he continued: "But you can't narrow my dojo, because of that tomboyish watchdog, but I know something you and her don't know."
Kodachi was still puzzled, and so "Ranma" explained a little more, he talked about the cursed springs and Ryoga's attempts to win over the heart of Akane.
He played Kodachi well, not only making her accept to set up a boat for a trip to Jusenkyo, but also pushing her into further helping Ryoga with Akane when on the boat.
He smiled, the first act was done.
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