Keiko sat in the Nekohanten, practically vibrating with excitement as she slurped up the noodles that Cologne put in front of her. Shampoo was beaming as Keiko recounted the previous evening to her.
"You two make good couple, lots of making out, Shampoo thinks?"
Keiko grinned at her. "Oh yeah. That boy sure can kiss." She slurped up more noodles. "Where's duck boy?"
"Mousse go on long way delivery and probably get lost, so we have time if wants to welcome boyfriend properly." Shampoo's grin widened and Keiko laughed. "Kitchen Destroyer coming too? Shame if Keiko getting smooches but Shampoo not."
Keiko laughed. "She's coming, Xiǎo mèi mèi, don't worry. You get to have your little lesbian moments."
Shampoo laughed and Cologne chuckled. "Ah, that brings me back to my younger, more vigorous days, child."
"I'd really like to enjoy this ramen, Granny." Keiko says, looking a little green. Cologne bonks her over the head with her staff.
"Have respect, my dear not-quite-great-granddaughter, I was making love long, long before you were born."
"Yeah, old-timer, when dinosaurs roamed the earth!" Keiko's cheeky grin was answered with another bonk and a grandmotherly sigh.
"That smart mouth of yours! No wonder you are always in trouble, child." Cologne mused. Shampoo stuck her tongue out at Keiko who did it right back and the three of them laughed fondly at each other.
It was moments like this that had kept Keiko and Akane sane over the past two years. There aren't many places where they can be themselves – where Keiko can sit and be Keiko, not Ranma, and where she can pine – or swoon – over Ryouga as much as she desires. And now make out.
And where Shampoo and Akane can carry out the little thing they have going which Keiko finds impossibly cute. And, she's honest with herself to understand, quite hot, too.
Cologne had taken care her through use of a little-known law the Joketsuzoku had – namely that if someone like Keiko was lucky enough to fall either into the Nyanniichuan or Nanniichuan then they were to be adopted and celebrated as blessed by the springs, since usually curses were malicious or generally ironic.
Xian Pu's kiss on Keiko's cheek had been a welcoming one, but they'd figured that Genma would do something drastic if he found the truth after Keiko had told them about her experiences with the Pit.
Hence them following her to Japan and the stupid pretence she'd kept up. That, however, was probably more due to the idiocy of her family than anything else.
Keiko finished her ramen and patted her stomach, satisfied. "Man, you guys do the best ramen in this whole shitty ward." She said, grinning.
The door opened, Ryouga and Akane both walking in and locking the door behind them.
Keiko just waited, staying sat down and watched Ryouga walk slightly nervously over while Shampoo did one of her patented Amazon glomps on Akane, peppering the short-haired girl's face with kisses and finishing with a somewhat heated kiss at least involving tongue and some hand-wandering.
Keiko grinned at Ryouga and stood, giving him something of a chaste kiss on the lips, then putting her arms about him.
Cologne cleared her throat. "Well, children, now you've all greeted one another, I think it best we get down to business before you get down to busy-ness." She chortles at her pun as the four of them groan at her, but Ryouga sits on a chair, Keiko on his lap and wiggling just enough to make him uncomfortable about standing up. She smirks at him, obviously doing it on purpose.
Shampoo and Akane settled down themselves, the purple-haired amazon planting herself down on Akane's lap with definite intention to cuddle.
Cologne smiled at the group. They all had such potential in such different ways. She just hoped that when the truth came out that there wouldn't be any great repercussions, though it was strange it had lasted so long.
Keiko especially didn't seem to be enjoying it anymore – Akane had more leeway than she did, but it wasn't by a great deal.
So as they discussed what had changed – Ryouga and Keiko finally getting together and telling Ryouga the truth of her and Akane's friendship, and Xian Pu's sisterhood, Cologne prayed to any spirits that might be watching over her wayward grandkids (and both Keiko and Akane were included in that grouping) to protect and help them come what may.
Ryouga was a little shocked to see Shampoo and Akane getting rather handsy with one another, but seeing as Keiko just watched the proceedings with a teasing smile on her face that turned in his direction and became more kisses, he found it easier to take in.
Later that evening, not long before they would have to go, Keiko sighed as Ryouga kissed her neck, and she pushed him away. He kept kissing but her insistent hitting him on the head made him sit up.
"What are we going to do now?" Keiko asked. He looked at her, confused. "I mean, with us, with this whole stupid charade?"
Ryouga shrugged. "What'll be will be, Keiko. I can start making plans, but you know I have to wander off again sometime or your family'll get suspicious."
Keiko huffed. "At least Akane's girlfriend lives in town. My boyfriend just wanders around and goes to his house once in a blue moon."
"Your what?" Ryouga asked, startled, but a smile on his face. Keiko looked up at him and played with her fingers.
"My… boyfriend. If you'll have me." She said, looking unsure. "I know you like all the kissing and the cuddling and shit, but I dunno if you…"
He shut her up by kissing her thoroughly and she arched her back as he managed to find the exact spots to touch on her hips that sent shivers running through her.
"That answer you?" Ryouga asked, and she grinned at him.
"Sure does." She said. A thought occurred to her and she looked over to where Shampoo and Akane were sat, simply cuddling. "Hey 'Kane?"
"Mmm?" Akane asked blearily, looking over. "Yeah, Keiko?"
"I'm goin' on a night's trainin' trip. Gotta talk with Ryouga here about stuff, we've really not cleared the air."
"That's what happens when you spend the time smooching when you should be talking instead." Akane said, though she sounded more amused than annoyed. "I'll tell the family you got sent into orbit or lost a fight with Ryouga or something."
"Thanks 'Kane. Maybe stop off somewhere dark to have a makeout session with my Xiǎo mèi mèi there."
"Will do." Akane waved her off.
Keiko stood up from Ryouga's lap and smiled as he did so. Cologne let them out and the two just walked along the road.
"So where are we going?" He asked.
"Your place, dummy. Can't believe I never thought of it before. We can cuddle and everything, and we do need to talk."
Ryouga smiled. "…I'm glad you know the way. Surprised you remember though, it's been years."
"We walked there what, three hundred times? Gets pretty ingrained after that."
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Ryouga unlocked the door and walked in through the genkan to his home, followed by a happily grinning Keiko. She took her shoes off and locked the door behind her while Ryouga walked further into the house after changing his shoes too.
"Watch out, Keiko. Mom and Dad have the same problems with direction that I have, and Mom likes to put traps every-" There was a shriek and a whump as Keiko went flying into the air, legs tied together with a rope.
She hung upside down and struggled a little. "Ryouga, you sure your mom ain't insane?" She asked sarcastically, reaching up to try to untie herself and failing. She dangled a little and grinned at him. "Or at least repressed, these're pretty good knots." Ryouga blushed as she waggled her eyebrows at him. "Hey, I always wanted to try that thing from that dumb Spider-Man film. Give me a kiss."
Ryouga rolled his eyes and wandered over, kneeling and gripping her face, then kissing her. It stretched on for a while until they parted, and Keiko 'hmm'ed to herself.
"Nah, not my thing. Not so much the tying up because last night was hot as fuck when you held me down, but bein' upside down ain't doin' it for me."
Ryouga smiled at her. "I could leave you there all night." He said, leering evilly. Keiko laughed and poked him in the face.
"Not if you wanna get more kisses ya won't." She drawled. He laughed and let her down with an 'oof' from her. She rubbed her head. "Coulda treated me more gently, ya pig."
He twitched and she stopped rubbing as something occurred to her. "Hey, Ryouga?"
He stopped scowling at her tone and looked over. "Yeah?" He asked, leaning down to pull his girlfriend up. She smiled her thanks and tilted her head to one side.
"I don't remember knockin' ya into a Jusenkyo pool. Matter'a fact, I don't 'member seein' ya anywhere near the place."
Ryouga sighed. "Let me get some tea put on first."
Keiko nodded and she went about the house more carefully, disarming traps while Ryouga made tea. After managing to clear to the bathroom, she wandered back down and sat on the couch in the family room. Ryouga brought the tea in and she took her cup, sipping at it happily, though careful not to splash herself and turn back. Ranma wasn't needed now.
She turned to him as he sat down with an 'oof' and sipped his own tea.
"So…" She said.
"I did it to myself." He said quietly.
"The FUCK?!" Keiko yelled. "You got yourself cursed on purpose?!"
Ryouga looked down and nodded.
"Why the ever-loving fuck would ya do that ya fuckin' oaf?! I got lucky, you coulda been… Well you are, ya turn into a shitty little piglet!"
"Because I needed a reason to chase you." He said, interrupting what was likely to become a full-on tirade. Keiko pulled up short.
"What?"
"I needed a reason to chase you that wasn't just me being worried. I know what your dad's like. He's an asshole and if he got whiff that we were friends, or even that you were who you told me you were, I knew he'd either take you away or do worse. So, when I managed to catch up, I saw you two fighting by the pools and saw him get cursed."
Keiko could only stare at him, jaw working as she processed it. He sounded almost ashamed of what he'd done, fiddling with his cup.
"…So when you'd chased him after I heard you celebrate, I thought revenge would be a great reason to follow you around, and jumped in the first one I could." Ryouga grimaced. "Turns out it was the piglet spring." He looked up at a noise and saw that Keiko had put her cup down and was taking his away as well. Her face was blank as she stared,
"You… did that." She said, her voice sounding choked and small. "You did it… for me? Because you were worried for me?"
"Well, yeah." Ryouga said. "I liked you then, I don't know if it was a crush or anything but you were kind of my only friend and I knew I was yours. Of course I was worried, idiot, especially after what you'd told me about being Keiko."
"But you… It's a horrible curse!" She said loudly, sniffling, and he saw tears standing out in those blue, blue eyes.
"Hey, no tears." He said, reaching over and wiping them away with his thumb. She put her small hand over his large one on her face.
"You… you goddamn wonderful idiot." She said, and he heard all kinds of emotions in the words. Love and respect and pride and exasperation and guilt, so much guilt.
She rushed at him and wrapped her arms around him, shuddering as she cried. He put his own arms about her and held her.
When she surfaced from the crying, she wiped her face, and then she was peppering his face with kisses, on the forehead, on the lips, on the cheek, trailing them down his neck, eliciting cute little gasps and moans she'd never heard from him, hands running across his chest and stirring up fire wherever they went as they moved under his tunic. His hands when to her hips and he reciprocated before she pulled back from the passion a moment.
"We." She said, planting a kiss on his lips to punctuate every word. "Are." Kiss. "Getting." Kiss. "You." Kiss. "Cured."
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Keiko pulled the broken bike and netting from the river and sighed as she set it down to carry away later. She clapped her hands twice and bowed to the river.
Keiko liked water. Water, she felt, had been good to her. Cold water had given her her true form and hot water at least let her pretend to be something she wasn't so she wouldn't have to go to the pit again.
She knew she shouldn't be afraid of it at her age, and it shamed her to be so. But at night when she had nightmares of clawing, yowling demons, she remembered the horror all over again.
When she'd found the river, a year or so ago, it had had garbage in it from some careless person dumping and that offended her for some reason. She wasn't a great believer in the kami but after all she'd seen she felt it best not to annoy something that might potentially exist.
And water had been good to her.
So, she'd cleaned out the banks, brought all the garbage to the dump and tried to tidy up the foliage. Then she'd paid her respects and walked off, strangely satisfied.
She returned at least once a week. The river was a ways out of her usual haunts and not often populated, so she took to talking to the water about her problems while she worked on keeping it clean. It felt freeing to talk to something that didn't talk back, that didn't judge her for being who she was deep down.
She figured it might be nice, if the kami for this river existed and was listening, to have someone talk to it.
Over the months she grew quite proud of the change she'd made to the lonely little river. Clean banks, clear waters and every time there was rubbish, she cleared it away.
One time she'd caught someone dumping trash and put a deep, deep fear into him of ever doing so again. After that people were more respectful of the 'no littering' signs. Somehow, with a thrill, she'd realised she was almost (though probably also far from) some kind of miko for the river, even though there wasn't a shrine.
The work was relaxing in the same way a kata could be, and she found herself longing to continue maintaining the river, talking to it as she tried desperately to sort the issues in her own head out.
Because she was tired of the subterfuge. She was tired of their overly successful pretence and the hell it had trapped her and her friends in. She wanted out, to be able to love Ryouga openly.
More than anything she wanted a break from the madness of the normal world.
This morning, after realising how close it was to his house, she told it about Ryouga. How he'd come back, how he'd understood what she wanted and stepped up to make sure that she got it. She talked and talked and probably gave the poor spirit just a little too much information on exactly the things she wanted to do with the eternally lost boy.
As she tidied up some of the foliage on the banks, shoes out of the mud and wading into the water, she told it about Akane finding them and his adorable (if stupid) reaction.
She told the river of last night, and her determination to cure him. Because if she was blessed by water, he was definitely cursed.
"Do you often talk to yourself while swimming?" A voice asked, and Keiko jumped and turned around guiltily. There was a girl her age, maybe a couple of years younger, standing there grinning.
"Uh…"
"It's alright, sounded like you needed to rant about your boyfriend." The girl laughed and sat on a nearby bench. "Aren't you the girl who's always cleaning this place up?"
Keiko nodded, finishing with the pruning and hopping up onto the bank. "Yeah. I'm Keiko."
"I guess you can call me Kawako then." The girl said. Keiko looked at her and she grinned. She was short, though slightly taller than Keiko's petite frame. Not as well-endowed as Keiko and was wearing a sky blue kimono with a red obi. Her feet were bare however and glistened as if she had been wading. The skirts of her kimono were wet and dragons snarled around the kimono. Her black hair was in a bun and pinned with an ornament.
She looked oddly traditional until you saw her face which was mischievous. She also had sea-green eyes, which made her more unusual than even Keiko's blue in Japan.
"River child?" Ranko laughed. "Tell me your real name."
"Only if you tell me yours." The girl stuck her tongue out.
"Keiko is my real name." Keiko said angrily. "Not my fault people don't get the memo and call me 'Ranma'."
Kawako laughed. "Fine, fine. But I do see you here a lot. I live around here, you see."
Keiko shrugged. "Cool."
"I just wanted to ask you why."
"Why what?"
"Why do you look after this little river? I mean it's not like it'll thank you or anything."
Keiko shrugged. "Water's always been good to me and even if it don't, it's the right way to go about it. Besides, what if it has a spirit?"
"That's a good point, but a tiny river like this?"
Keiko shrugged again. "Still worth doin'. No one else was."
Kawako laughed, her mirth making Keiko smile too. "Good, very good."
"You're the river spirit." Keiko said, and Kawako smiled as she took a fan out and opened it, hiding half her face.
"Maybe."
"I ain't stupid, no matter how my language goes south when I get excited." Keiko said, looking annoyed.
"Alright, yeah. I'm the spirit of this river." Kawako smiled at Keiko. "Thank you for your care."
"S'alright. S'the right thing to do." Keiko shrugged. "Wasn't doin' it for thanks or anythin'."
Kawako nodded. "Yeah, I know that. Still, thanks. You're a good person, Saotome Keiko."
Keiko laughed. "Wish everyone thought that. And I've been tricking them."
"I know. You've quite taken to pouring your little heart out to me." Kawako smiled softly. "That's how I know you're a good person. I'm pleased you and your love found one another. Though perhaps a little less detail on the things beyond smooching. I'm only a young dragon after all."
Keiko chuckled. "Lemme guess, you're only a few hundred?"
"Yep. So you can imagine, still a blushing child for my people."
"You're really a dragon?"
"Kinda? I'm a dragon, the river, the place, this." Kawako indicated her human form. "All three at once. It's complicated."
"Sounds it." Keiko agreed. "So why are you talkin' to me?" She asked. "I mean you didn't have to."
"Eh, wanted to say thanks and… I heard your comment about your boyfriend's curse. Drowned Pig Jusenkyo curse, right?"
Keiko sighed and looked down. "Yeah. S'my fault, too. Even if it was his decision, s'my fault and I feel real guilty."
Kawako smiled and patted Keiko's arm. "There are ways to cure it. I'd like to meet this Ryouga of yours. I think I know him from around here."
"He… ain't exactly a fan of water like I am. I got blessed at Jusenkyo by gettin' my real body." Keiko held her small arms out. "He got cursed."
"My waters will never transform him." Kawako promised. She held out her little finger. "I promise."
Keiko looked at the finger. "Uh… you sure 'bout doin' that. Sounds like a big agreement for somethin' like you."
Kawako smiled. "Least I can do for my unofficial miko." Keiko took the little finger in her own and something passed between them. "So it is agreed." She said. "There you go. You can have all the water-based fun in me you want now."
Keiko looked uncomfortable. "…I ain't doin' it in public. More to the point we ain't even got ta the heavy pettin' stage yet."
"Don't I just know it, you whinged for an hour earlier about that."
"Sometimes a gal just wants to be touched." Keiko retorted hotly. "The heavens above know I have a hard enough time keepin' a lid on the dysphoria when I'm forced inta guy mode for days on end without bein' denied what I want as a woman."
Kawako put a hand on Keiko's shoulder and a cool feeling washed over her. "Peace, Keiko. I know. I know you're blessed, and you've told me all about your life." Her face darkened. "I'd just love for you to bring your father or mother to me. I've got words to have with them. Also some minor drowning."
Keiko stared a moment. "Uh…" She floundered. "I mean they're still my Mom and Pop…"
Kawako shrugged. "Don't get that much with dragons but hey. Still… I might know a few things to get you out of the mess you and your friend have made yourselves, mainly through your family's idiocy." She grinned at Keiko. "But it's pretty complex and you'll need your boyfriend and your co-conspirator here for me to explain, so you'll need to bring them sometime, alright?"
Keiko nodded, a flare of hope in her heart. "…Thanks, Kawako." She said. "You ain't what I expected of a river spirit."
Kawako grabbed Keiko and nuzzled at her happily, cuddling the redhead a moment and making her clothes damp. "Ah, my darling miko, I love you enough to shower you with gifts, poor little spirit though I am!" She said, then laughed. "Besides, being clean is a nice change."
Keiko smiled, even if she shook her now soaked hair. "Well, you gave me an excuse to get home in my true form, so thanks." She stood up. "Nice to actually meet you."
Kawako inclined her head and laughed behind her fan. "Nice to actually talk to you, dear child."
Keiko walked off, hands in her pockets and Kawako watched her go, a fond smile on her face. "Well, well. Perhaps we can fix this, and it's been a long time since I saw someone blessed by those springs. Their spirit is such a curmudgeon."
She shrugged and stood up, walking back into the water and lying down to float, before dissipating back into the moving water with a sigh.
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Keiko walked into the genkan of the Tendou house with a call of "Tadaima!"
Kasumi came around and frowned. "It hasn't rained again, has it Ranma-kun?"
Keiko shook her head. "Nah, fell in the river." She laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "Was showin' off for some kids and the fence wasn't up properly. Went backside over teakettle, but it entertained the brats."
Kasumi smiled sunnily at her. "I'll put some hot water on, or would you prefer the furo?"
"Aw shucks, Kas, I'll jus' have a bath later, no need to go out your way." Keiko smiled at the genteel eldest sister.
Kasumi nodded, beaming at the thoughtfulness of the redhead in front of her. "And where were you last night?"
Keiko winced, rubbing her head again as Akane came around the corner to join her sister, glaring.
"Yeah, I'd like to know that. Bet the pervert was out with one of the other girls, not that I care. Hmph!" She tossed her short hair.
Keiko winced theatrically and for the millionth time wondered how the ever-loving hell they'd kept this going so long. She'd expected them to cotton onto everything years ago and yet…
Keiko sighed. "Got into a fight with Ryouga." She said. Over the last couple of years she and Akane had come up with a few code words. "Ended up in a crater after he did that dumb shi shi hokodan thing. Woke up this mornin' to the birds singin' and kids laughin' at me." She looked over at Akane. "Damn boy was relentless last night."
Akane blushed slightly while Kasumi tutted. "Well, perhaps he'll stop by and apologise."
"Oh there ain't no apologisin' for what he did ta me." Keiko said, crackling her knuckles. "I'll get hittin' him pretty soon anyway."
Akane sighed. "Only you, Ranma." She said, and Keiko followed her and Kasumi in.
That night, on the roof, Keiko was sat looking at the stars, still thankfully in her true form, when Akane showed up and sat next to her. "Everyone's asleep. Spill the beans, sister."
Keiko shrugged. "Not much to tell. Kissin' an' cuddlin' and that's it." She smiled. "Was good kissin' though."
Akane smiled happily. "Why were you so late this morning?"
"Went to my river to think." Keiko shrugged. "Met its kami."
Akane's eyes went wide. "Really?"
"Yeah. She was nice, called herself Kawako. Stupidly obvious name, even if I hadn't sensed her literally appear there." Keiko laughed. "Y'have a good makeout sesh on the way home?"
Akane blushed. "…Yeah."
Keiko grabbed Akane in a side hug and the taller girl cuddled up to her. Neither of them was attracted to one another, but after the last two years they were so, so close. "That's my beautiful little lesbian sister." Keiko whispered, planting a kiss on her cheek.
Akane laughed. "Pervert."
Keiko snickered. "Not yet. Wish Ryouga'd take the hint."
"He is extraordinarily dense. I can't believe it took you literally telling him to kiss you to get him to understand how you feel." Akane sighed. "Good thing you're moron-sexual."
She dodged Keiko's swat and they spent a companionable few minutes stargazing.
"Hey 'Kane?" Keiko asked in a low voice.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sick of this."
"Sorry my company's so terrible."
Keiko swatted her again. "Not what I meant, idiot."
Akane grinned impudently at her a moment, then turned serious.
"I'm sick of it too. I can't believe it's gone on so long."
"The river spirit said she might help."
"Why would she?" Akane asked, curious.
"I dunno, maybe she thinks she owes me. I dunno why, it ain't much what I do, and I don't do it to get favours or anything."
Akane shrugged. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth then. We'll go see her."
"Did you know Ryouga got cursed for me?" Keiko blurted out suddenly.
Akane raised her eyebrows. "No?"
"He did. That… idiot. He did it for me." Keiko's eyes were filled with tears again. "That noble, stupid, sweet idiot did that to himself for me!" Akane put her arms around Keiko, making soothing noises.
Akane sighed and held Keiko close. "Then we'd better make sure he gets cured, huh?"
"Yeah." Keiko said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "Damn straight."