Author's Note
The original version of this part posted to rec arts anime creative (raac) and the Fanfiction Mailing List (FFML) did not fall within, in my judgement, fanfiction dot net's requirements. As such, it has been revised, to reduce that issue.
You will also find that there are a couple new scenes that were not in the original raac posting. I had felt that the other Tendo sisters were a bit neglected in this story, so I have rectified that issue a bit for this chapter. There will also be some revision to part 12 before it is posted.
Part 11: Making Lemonade.
Ranma had been sleeping rather soundly, until he was awakened by eighty-five pounds of female flesh that bounded on to his bed. "Good Morning, Ranma," Akane said.
"Morning, Akane," Ranma said, tossing off the covers. He'd kicked off his boxers in the night, but Akane had already seen everything, so he wasn't worried that she'd start screaming pervert because he had a hard on.
Akane moved to kiss Ranma, and he pulled her closer. His hands slipped under her long t-shirt, raising it. Ranma felt her against his naked body, his hard on touching Akane just below her waist.
He'd had the talk with his father, and he'd told him that his mother had the talk with Akane. He was well aware of what might happen, should he shift Akane a little further up. Akane kissed him on the lips, shifting up his body as she did.
"Oh my!"
Akane jumped away from where she'd been pressing Ranma against the bed. He'd been so close. Ranma felt warmth in his face, and saw that Akane had what he was sure was a blush that matched his own.
They pulled away from each other, embarrassed that they had been caught. Akane pulled down her T-shirt. "We better get ready for school," she said, exiting the room passed a shocked Kasumi.
"Right," Ranma said, closing the door. He was sure he'd be thinking about Akane's wake up call all day. He put on his boxers and school uniform, his mind going back to the feeling of Akane up against him. His history book fell off the table on to his foot, reminding him of the test he had.
Akane had almost finished putting on her school uniform when Kasumi knocked on the door. Since she just had to tie the bow, and whoever it was could help her with that, she said, "Come in."
"Akane, we need to talk," Kasumi said.
"What about," Akane said, turning around. "Could you tie my bow?"
"About what you and Ranma were doing this morning," Kasumi said, neatly tying the bow. "It simply isn't proper."
"And what exactly isn't proper?" Akane asked, with a rather innocent expression.
"You and Ranma shouldn't be getting so close," Kasumi replied.
"He's my fiancee," Akane replied, picking up her book bag. "I'm supposed to be getting closer to him."
"Not that close," Kasumi said.
"Kasumi, sometimes you are just too traditional," Akane said, exiting her room.
Kasumi followed her. "My behavior isn't in question," she said. "You are only thirteen years old, Akane. You're way too young to do that. And what if you get pregnant?"
"Kasumi, you worry too much," Akane said, as they went down the stairs.
"Someone in this house has to," Kasumi remarked.
"Kasumi, I don't know why you've changed," Akane said, heading past the kitchen. "But I want my big sister back."
Kasumi Tendo was her mother's big girl, helping her mother run the household long before she got sick and died. It had been all too easy for her to step into her mother's role in keeping the house. She though, however, that she was still just the big sister to Akane and Nabiki.
She was still a child. Yes, she had taken on her mother's responsibilities, but ... That didn't mean she wasn't their sister. She could still giggle and tease them, couldn't she? She wasn't some old maid. She was still in school, her first year of high school!
Kasumi stopped at the kitchen door. Now her sisters were spotting her loss of sisterhood. Could she ever go back to being just the older sister? Was she still a child? The momentary question hung there for a moment, before the timer she had set before she went to wake up her sisters went off. Then she was too busy finishing breakfast and preparing her sister's lunches to consider it.
Nabiki Tendo was in a state of panic. The mere fact that she had not even noticed that Akane had exited from Ranma's room that morning was merely a small sign. Since her father had delivered Ranma's challenge letter, before she could even get up the courage to tell her father that she didn't want to be the senior student, or even a student of the dojo anymore, she'd been trying to find some way to not humiliate herself. She was fortunate that she had two weeks before the challenge.
Nabiki ignored most of her usual business before school. Instead, she got to her classroom early. There was plenty of space at the front of the class room for her to go through a few katas. Remembering her father's instruction, she closed her eyes, took some deep breaths, and then began.
At first her movements were not smooth, and recalling the transitions took time. She had some time though. Nabiki had arrived a full hour early to school. Position to position, breath by breath, the memory firmed, and so did her kata. She lost herself into them, something that she hadn't done since she had found out that her mother was dying. It hadn't felt right to use those katas that her mother had taught her as much as her father had to escape the sorrow.
By the time she finished and opened her eyes, the panic was gone, and Nabiki's confidence had returned.
"I did not know you still practiced." Nabiki turned quickly, bringing herself into a ready stance, a stance she had thought she had forgotten. It was Kuno. He was a respectable distance away, going through his own kata.
"I've been challenged by my future brother-in-law," Nabiki said, starting on another kata, this time with her eyes open, and facing Kuno. "And I am so screwed."
"How so?" Kuno said, keeping his forms crisp. Nabiki had to admire Kuno's form. He may have chosen an armed martial art, to her unarmed, but Nabiki could respect that, and admitted that he was good. He'd even improved his stance. "I assume you are speaking of Saotome?"
"Yes. Ranma's spent the last seven years on the road training," Nabiki said. "This morning is the first morning I've done my kata in seven months."
"It does not show," Kuno said.
"That's just because you don't know the kata like I do," Nabiki shot back. I am doomed."
"Perhaps not," Kuno said as the teacher arrived. Both of them ended their kata. "Tendo, may I offer my services as a sparing partner? My sensei has suggested that I improve my unarmed skills with a proficient unarmed practitioner my age. I believe you are quite qualified in the matter, and it appears that it would be to our mutual benefit."
Ranma waited for his mother after school outside the Gym Office. He hoped she wouldn't spend too much time talking with Sensei Ogawa. There she was, finally. He'd heard his dad comment that his mom shouldn't be out working. Dad had some strange ideas. Mom was good with her sword, and as Sensei Ogawa said, it was the duty of an artist to pass on their talents.
Nodoka walked beside her son on their way to the Tendos. He looked like he had some question to ask her, but every time he looked up ready to speak, he looked down again at his feet. "Something on you mind, Ranma?"
Ranma looked back up, and blurted out, "I want to get Akane a ring."
"I see, and what brought this up?"
Ranma looked down at his feet as they continued to walk. "We're engaged and they say she should get one from me."
"Hiroshi and Daisuke?" Nodoka asked. Ranma nodded. "Well, it is a western tradition, but if you'd like to get Akane a ring, I'll help you buy it. However, if you do, I want you two to set a date. Kasumi told me what you almost did this morning. If you are going to be doing that, you are going to have to be married before you continue your training trip."
"Why?"
"Because you might make Akane have a baby," Nodoka said. Seeing Ranma's expression of disbelief, she continued. "Hasn't your father told you about how babies are made?" Ranma shook his head as they entered the Tendo walls "Then perhaps I should..."
Ranma was awake when Akane snuck into his room. Her figure was shown rather nicely in the moonlight as she dropped her robe before climbing into his bed. Her nude form snuggled up against his unclothed body. No words had been exchanged to set this up, but both had known that it was going to happen.
They began the intimate dance of mating, knowing that both of them wanted it. The dance went on, it's audible cries escaping the room. It concluded with their sweaty bodies still joined under the tangled covers as they drifted off to sleep.
Before dawn the next morning, Akane sneaked out of Ranma's room, preferring not to advertise her new status with Ranma. If she hadn't made so much noise the previous night, nor more when she and Ranma had done it again just minutes before, she might have succeeded. Instead, Nabiki stood by the door. It appeared that she'd been waiting all night, judging from the pillow in the hallway.
"So, do you want to tell me what it felt like, or should I tell Dad that Ranma has made his youngest daughter a woman?" Nabiki asked.
"You wouldn't?" Akane replied, walking a little gingerly towards her room.
"Akane, you know better than to ask that question," Nabiki said, pursuing her sister.
Akane opened the door to her room, and gestured for Nabiki to enter before her. "What do you want to know," Akane said. "And what ever I tell you doesn't leave this room."
"Ah, you're no fun," Nabiki replied.
"I mean it," Akane said, sitting on her bed. "It could really ruin my reputation. If I hear that anything I tell you gets out, it will mean both me and Ranma 'train' you."
"Okay," Nabiki said, turning Akane's desk chair around and sitting in it, propping her head up on it's back.
"Where to start..." Akane began.
