Ranma ½ - Vegas Rules
By Strawberry Charlotte
Part 1 - Exit The Chaos, Stage Left
Chapter 1 - Genesis
Ryouga Hibiki was very lost.
This, in itself, was not unusual. One of his several nicknames (at least one of those not involving pigs or pork products) was 'The Eternally Lost Boy', after all.
What he was currently trying to figure out was the way to the Tendou Dojo so he could see his…
Well, he guessed, friends was the word. Rivals? Friendly enemies? Frenemies? Yeah, 'frenemies' seemed about right. Especially these days. His long training trip had ended and he'd enjoyed spending some time with them.
But he'd gotten really lost this time. Worse than ever before. For quite a long time.
He nabbed a passing person. How odd for Osaka, they weren't Japanese, and were dressed in a waistcoat and trousers. "Excuse me – I'm looking for Nerima, Tokyo, I don't suppose you've-"
["Sir is this a joke?"] The man asked, in English. ["You're aboard the cruise ship Genesis, and we're not long biound from the United Kingdom. Please excuse me."] The man made to leave but couldn't escape Ryouga's grasp.
Ryouga's English these days wasn't too bad, though that could be said for most languages in the places he tended to end up. Had he said the UK? That was way further than he'd been lost in a long time. Maybe he should pick up a souvenir.
["Excuse me, sir?"] The waiter asked again and Ryouga was about to grill him for more answers when a sultry and yet familiar voice almost purred at him. Except purring would probably be as far from this person's mind as possible given the ailurophobia.
["I take care of it, Waiter-san."] The girl's voice came, speaking thickly Japanese-accented English and a shiver ran down Ryouga's spine as the waiter moved away. A woman his own age walked towards him. Well, strutted might be the better word.
Red hair swept back, then hung in curls down from a pinned ornament on the back of her head, right down to the small of her back. Jade earrings dangled from her ears. Clear blue eyes crinkled in warmth and surprise at him, faint freckles lightly dusting her cheeks. And then there was the dress she wore. It was the same jade green as her earrings. A Sleeveless and sheer cheongsam, complete with a thigh slit rather further up than what would normally be considered decent anywhere outside of… wherever he was. Ryouga gulped as he saw she was wearing green heels and tanned stockings. There was a tantalising hint of silken underwear just on the edge of the slit.
He stared at her owlishly, wondering if he should hold his nose before the nosebleed began or if it was too late.
"Oh come on, Ryouga-kun." She batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly and there was recognition in her blue eyes. "Don't you recognise me?" A smile of satisfaction as he stammered a negative out.
"Ranchan, don't play with the poor dear. You know how fragile he is!" Another voice came over the woman's shoulder and she shrugged, turning her head behind her to roll her eyes and speak in far less feminine words.
"Fine, Nabs, jeez. I was only enjoyin' myself. Ya know how much fun it is to mess with a boy's head."
The woman hooked an arm through his and led him, stammering away to sit at the booth where she appeared to be having drinks with… another attractive young woman, this one with bobbed hair and a little black dress. Emphasis on little. Brrr. Ryouga desperately wished for both a tissue and a cold shower. Silver and gold necklaces and bracelets hung around her neck and wrists. His hand went straight to his nose in lieu of the tissue.
"I think you broke him." The one with black hair said and he knew that voice! "Again. Or it was me. This is probably my most provocative one…"
"Wait… N-N-Nabiki?!" He exclaimed. "T-Tendou Nabiki?!" She inclined her head.
"The one and only Ice Queen of Fuurinkan High, pig-boy."
"Wh-which means-" He turned with horror at the girl who'd brought him over, eyes wide and oh so innocent. "Ranma?!" He all but shrieked. For a moment she looked smug and superior at him, and then it melted away into his chief rival's face as she set into a fit of cackling giggles that completely ruined the 'sultry sex kit-puppynowaitthatmakesnoactualsense-' look she'd been going for.
"Oh, Ryouga, you're priceless! Can't believe you didn't recognise me and start yellin' about killin' me!" She picked up a glass and started drinking, then patted the booth seat beside her, snapping her fingers in the air at a nearby waiter.
Ryouga sat down, looking confused as a drink was delivered to sit in front of him. He took a sip and found it was pineapple juice and coconut water, which was refreshing and thankfully non-alcoholic. "You know I-I don't do that so m-much anymore!" He stammered, looking anywhere but at the two girls sharing the booth.
Nabiki grinned at the martial artist next to Ryouga. "Wow, alright, you're definitely the one that broke his precious little boy brain, Ranko. Also, you owe me ten thousand Yen. Pay up."
Ryouga looked between the two of them and took another sip of his drink. There wasn't any alcohol in it but just tasting it made him feel somehow more classy. "Wait… RanKO? Like that dumb name you used to trick your mother?"
Ranko groused and handed the bills over, ignoring Ryouga's outburst. "Ugh, fine, you win this time, Nabs. At least The Plan can go ahead now. Took him long enough, but I told you he'd turn up!" She paused. "Yanno, eventually. Just didn't know when." She deflated. "Coulda done with maybe a week or two more with the food here…"
Nabiki counted the money and grinned. "Easy to spot the patterns in pig-boy's movements when you stick a GPS sensor into his backpack."
"Hey, that's cheating!" Ranko grumbled.
"Um…" Ryouga held his hand up.
"You're only saying it's cheating because you didn't think of it!" Nabiki crowed, stuffing the money into her purse and looking remarkably pleased with herself.
"Er…" Ryouga tried again.
"Well, yeah! Ain't nothin' to it when you do that!" Ranko shot back. Ryouga flinched at the tone of her voice but she was grinning, not angry. Like it was a game the two of them played. When did Ranma become such good friends with Nabiki?
Nabiki snorted. "Speak nicely, Ranko. What would your mother think?" She asked, eyebrow raised.
"Excuse…" Ryouga held his hand up higher. They carried on speaking as if he wasn't there.
"Mom- Excuse me," Ranko sat up primly from the slouch she'd affected, "Mother would probably call me most uncouth." The two giggled conspiratorially. "But she also did tell me to have a blast and do whatever I wanted so sometimes I am uncouth just 'cause I wanna be!"
"EXCUSE ME!" Ryouga all but yelled, and the two girls turned to him in surprise.
"Oh, yeah, you're still here. What's up?" Nabiki asked. Ryouga blushed as she leaned forwards and he tried (and failed) to keep his gaze around her eyes. He settled for looking at Ranko, though that wasn't much better. At least her dress didn't have so much cl-cl-flesh on display. Except those thighs, that little peek of – looking right away now!
"First of all, what's going on?" He asked a little plaintively, "And what's with Ranko?"
Ranko eyed him and took a sip of her own drink. It looked like a non-alcoholic daiquiri. "Why 'Ranko', Ryouga-kun? Maybe because it's my name."
Ryouga, for all of his dumbassery throughout life and ability to jump to frankly ludicrous conclusions had spent a long time schooling his instinctive reactions to Ranma's tomfoolery, which was usually to yell he was lying or doing something to trick or hurt Akane. Instead he took a deep breath, counted to ten and controlled that urge. "Ranko is a girl's name." He said, folding his arms.
"Yeah, well, does this look like a guy to you?" Ranko indicated herself, slipping one leg to cross over the other exactly where the thigh slit was and making Ryouga forget himself for a moment. Nabiki snickered as she saw what Ranko was doing.
"B-buh… b-but you're a-a-a-"
Ranko's eyes narrowed. "I… wouldn't finish that thought, Ryouga." She said, in a low voice. "Not as loudly as you like to proclaim sometimes, at least." She saw him quiver and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh for- fine, just… get it outta ya system. But quietly." He caught Nabiki nodding at him with a menacing gleam in her eyes.
"-A boy." He whispered, lamely. Nabiki rolled her eyes.
"Ryouga, you've not seen me in what, a year and a bit now?" Ranko asked. Ryouga nodded, looking shocked a moment. It'd been that long? "A lot can happen in a year, believe me. All that crap that happened with the fiancées and the amazons and Saffron and stuff seemed to happen over like nine months, if that."
Ryouga's brain performed an emergency course correct to deal with the overload of information.
"W-wait, hang on! You're here with Nabiki – Ranma, how dare you do this to Ak-" He stopped his rising voice when Ranko's finger landed on his lips, a dangerous look in her eyes to match the one Nabiki was giving him. He looked down. The nails were painted green and were longer than he'd ever seen Ranma's grown. He turned his eyes back to hers. Now that he looked, she had light makeup on. Eyeliner, eyeshadow mascara. Lipstick.
"Ranko." She said. "My name is not Ranma. It's Ranko. Kanji for 'Orchid', then 'Child' if you have to write it down. Got it?" She asked, some of her old belligerence coming to the fore. She picked up her drink in her free hand and finishing it. "Are you going to behave? Talk nice and quiet and not skydive to conclusions like you normally do? Hear me out?"
Ryouga nodded at the look, eyes wide. "Y-yes," He swallowed, "R-ranko-san."
She smiled at him. "Good. Thank you, Ryouga-kun. Now as for why I'm here with Nabiki, and not, say, her no-doubt lovely younger sister is a long, complicated story. Also, me and Nabs ain't engaged."
"I think you mean 'Nabiki and I aren't engaged'." Ranko rolled her eyes. "We've got time for the story though, now he's here." Nabiki quipped. "You can leave any time, provided he agrees. Even take that couple of extra days."
Ryouga eyed them. "Agrees to what?" He asked cautiously through Ranma's finger. Ranma shrugged and removed the finger.
"We'll tell you later – and I mean that. We will." Ranko grinned. "We've got a great plan. Drink up, buddy boy, you're escorting two hot ladies around to a place we can talk in earnest." She made a face as she downed the remains of her daiquiri. "Well, we'll escort you. Knowing you you'd get lost just standin' up."
Ryouga was about to argue, but another look from Ranko silenced him. "Come on, Ryouga." She said, offering her arm. He tentatively took it, embarrassed that she was right regarding his directional capabilities.
The whole time he was following meekly (Meekly! Him! Ryouga Hibiki!), Ranma's arm in his was a distraction.
How the hell had Ranma 'man amongst men', macho jerk to end all macho jerks, decided to be… this. Sure he could still see Ranma in there. He'd always moved with grace and there was never any denying his skill in the art.
But Ranko moved with feminine beauty that quite frankly made him a bit too hot and bothered to function properly, and wouldn't have been possible for Ranma at all.
There's gotta be some trick! He tried to reason. It's always a trick with Ranma. But he'd promised to hear her out first, and even though he really wanted to just make the universe go back to normal and yell what he recognised as a catchphrase, he wanted to keep his promise.
A waiter moved past, caught his foot on a carpet and a cup of tea splashed onto Ranko's (thankfully bare) arm. Ryouga felt like yelling 'Watch out' but it was too late. He was about to see that dress rip as her muscles grew and...
...And nothing happened. He stared as she turned and winked at him. "Locking Ladle, Ryouga-kun." She said softly. "I meant it when I said I knew who I was. No more curse. They owed me for Saffron and that… that bullshit wedding."
Ryouga tried to focus on Ranko as she guided him through the twisting corridors of the ship. It was easier when someone led him like this. Focusing on a person nearby helped him keep going in the right direction.
Though… focusing on Ranko gave him other problems. Hot, bothered problems, and he knew she was aware of it because she kept turning her eyes to him and smiling a soft smile and oh god did she have to enjoy this teasing so much?
They entered another large bar, though it took Ranko some fast talking to get Ryouga in, given he wasn't dressed up like they were. There were far fewer people here and definitely of a more… upper crust variety. How on earth had these two been able to access?
"VIP Lounge." Ranko shrugged. Nabiki grinned at him.
"Helps to know the right people, pig boy." She said, correctly guessing his train of thought.
"Pig…" Ryouga's face drained of colour. "You know." he whispered. Ranko eyed him. Oh kami, they know.
"Yeah, she does. I told her." His head whipped to her, betrayal in his eyes and he was about to yell when her arm around his tightened painfully. "Calm down." She said, icily. "Of course I told her. Why would I honour a promise that harms another girl?"
Another girl. He sighed. Akane probably knew, so there was no way he was welcome at the Tendou Dojo anymore. "O-oh." Ryouga swallowed and Nabiki glared.
"Oh, we'll talk about that later, pig boy, believe it. But you should be thanking your companion there. I was going to make yakiton outta you. She convinced me otherwise."
"Cost me enough yen…" Ranko muttered to herself and Ryouga swallowed again as they sat down at a table.
Nabiki disappeared and returned after a minute or two's uncomfortable silence with a pitcher of some fruity drink.
Ranma poured herself a glass and drank some down. Ryouga hesitated and then did so too. It was good. Probably fresh juice given how upper class this whole place was.
"So… uh…" He rubbed the back of his head now he had a free hand. "H-how did you get… where are we?"
"Cruise ship, currently en route out from the United Kingdom." Nabiki replied coolly.
"It's a long story." Ranko said, looking at the table. She looked up at him and smiled, the smile somehow wistful. "And it actually starts because of you."
"M-me?" Ryouga asked.
"Yeah." Ranko said, laughing. Ryouga flushed. It wasn't a belly laugh, or one of Ranma's cruel, pointing laughs, but a feminine giggle that did little to help Ryouga's discomfort. "You remember during that first fight in Nerima you told me you'd 'take away my happiness'?"
Ryouga swallowed and looked a little shamefaced. "Y-yeah. I'm… I'm sorry 'bout that." He said. Ranko waved him away.
"It's fine, Ryouga. I know you're good people. Trust me, I wouldn'ta brought you to this lounge with me and Nabs if I didn't wanna see you." Nabiki nodded, but looked bored, like she'd heard this before.
Ranko took a long sip of her drink and leaned back on the stool she sat on, looking up at the ceiling as the chandelier swayed very gently with the ship's motion. "Yeah. You said that and I asked Akane 'Am I happy?' as a kind of shitty joke 'cause life had just got real complicated." She laughed that laugh again and his stomach flipped the same knots it always did when a pretty girl laughed, "Turns out it was deeper than I thought."