I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi or Steve Jackson Games.
Warning: the first half of the chapter is very much NSFW!
Rose1948: And here we see the beginnings of how deep the "night soil" is going to get! Just the beginnings, though, it's going to be awhile before they reach the bottom...
Lukkai: You're right, it wasn't so much the baby shower that cemented Toshiko's decision as the time capsule, and the photos included in it—she really wanted to include the others she considered her only real friends. Though to an extent, it simply crystallized a yearning to revisit her first home. As for Akane and Nabiki, that's next chapter.
Three weeks later:
Toshiko slowly eased into wakefulness, content, warm, and happy under their blankets. She lay on her side, spooned up against her husband, one of his hands again cupping her nightshirt-covered breast as his warm breath gusted equally softly against her neck. She rolled her shoulders a little and the hand cupping her breast gently squeezed, and suddenly she wasn't just content though still happy.
Win had been working longer shifts as the tensions between China and the SEATO nations had increased. She didn't pretend to understand why the rise in tensions (counterpoint to her own easing tension, as the weeks passed and it became clear that she hadn't been discovered during her trip to Nerima). Though Sergeant Baker ("Anushka!" the voice of Mercedes' mother in her head insisted) had tried to explain the geopolitics to her, Toshiko got the impression that Anushka didn't really understand it, herself. But whether she could understand it or not, she could see the impact in the tight expressions of the people she saw while shopping at the commissary and the forced cheerfulness of her acquaintances at school.
For her, though, the impact she most cared about was that with his longer shifts, Win had less time and energy for their evening showers. Oh, the shared showers were still happening, but the fun that so often had come with them wasn't. So maybe, they could settle for some morning fun instead. It would mean changing the sheets and doing laundry when she got home from school, but she could live with that.
Then the hand slid down from her breast along her ever-growing baby bump toward the hem of her nightshirt. Yeah, I can definitely live with doing laundry tonight.
Twisting onto her back, she sat up on the bed, pushed away the blankets, and pulled her nightshirt up and over her head, leaving her in just her panties. She grinned at the way a bare-chested Win leaned up on one elbow, eyes fixed on the jiggling of her freed breasts. Tossing aside the shirt, she rolled off the bed, then as her husband's face fell pushed her panties down her legs and stepped out of them to reveal a cleft already moistening at the thought of what was coming. She kicked the panties over to her shirt and knelt back onto the bed. Leaning down, she kissed him thoroughly for a long moment (ignoring his morning breath), luxuriating in the soft touch of her baby bump against his taut abdomen—she still got a little queasy if she thought too long about the fact that she was pregnant, with all that entailed, but she loved the way his eyes would somehow both soften and light up now when he saw her ... with obvious biological secondary effects.
Like now. Her giggle (chuckle! ... okay, it was a giggle) vibrated through their joined lips at the feel of his sword stiffening and stretching inside his pajama bottoms against her thigh, and she pulled back to grin down at him from a few inches away. She murmured, "As much as I'd love to make a proper production of this, I'm meeting Mercedes at her apartment so we can discuss a class project on the way to school. So, are you 'up' for a quickie?"
Win's only response was a growl as he pulled her down against him and rolled over, pinning her beneath him (careful not to put too much weight on her baby bump). He leaned down to kiss her, and she interposed her hand between their mouths. "Mouthwash first." She giggled again when he pouted before rolling off the bed to his feet and dashing to the bathroom. The sound of running water and brushing teeth counterpointed her own sigh as she ran fingers along the dampening lips of her cleft.
She didn't have long to wait, though, within minutes he was out of the bathroom. He'd left his pajama bottoms behind, and she giggled yet again at the way his hurry set his still-stiff cock to bobbing. She spread her legs wider in invitation. During those of his days off when they used the bed for more than just sleep they were trying out the various positions in the book Stacy had gifted her—most of which Win already knew of thanks to his first wife—but they didn't have time this morning. He eagerly climbed onto the bed and crawled into the opened space, and reached down to guide himself between her nether lips and into her sheath. Toshiko had to fight back a hiss as she clenched the sheets—in their haste they hadn't taken the time she needed to be really ready, but it wasn't as painful as their first time, and no more than the other handful of times they'd been in a little too much of a hurry ... the pain would go away quickly enough. It certainly didn't keep her from clamping her legs around his back and urging him on.
Besides, she was beginning to think that, like a little spice in food, just a hint of temporary pain might actually add something to the experience. Sometimes, at least.
But as eager as her husband had been to get that piece of steel into her sheath, now that he was there he decided to take it slower than usual. He leaned down and braced himself on his elbows, his back bowed slightly for the baby bump, his lips capturing hers again for a long moment, and began to gently roll and dip his hips. Toshiko whimpered into his mouth at the sensation of his sword shifting around inside her sheath but not actually thrusting all that hard or fast, his pubic hairs brushing across her slightly fuzzy mound (she needed to shave again) and clit beginning to peek out from under its hood. The twinges of pain became no more than a hint, then vanished under the timeless, slowly rising tide of pleasure, like the time they had tried it with her practically sitting in his lap, facing him. Like then, when she finally came it was like a gentle wave sweeping through and over her—leaving her almost energized instead of her more typical limp, gasping exhaustion.
As gentle as it had been, though, Win had still felt her sheath spasmodically clamp down around his sword. With a self-satisfied grin he paused for a moment until her orgasm eased, then picked up his pace, settled into his more typical pounding rhythm, and within a few minutes she felt his seed erupt into her depths. He thrust a few more times then flopped to the bed, his cock slipping free as he twisted to lie beside her on his side. Breathing heavily, glistening with sweat, he smiled at her and gently ran a hand up over her baby bump to one breast, his attentions there making her breath hitch. "Now that is a nice way to greet the day."
Toshiko's own breathing was deeper than normal, if not up to panting, and she felt damp with a fine sheen of sweat to match her husband's, could feel his seed oozing down along her butt crack—she was definitely going to be doing laundry tonight. Still ... "Yeah, too bad we can't do that every—" Her eyes found the clock on the wall past his head, and she yelped and rolled off the bed ... the sex had only seemed timeless. "I'm gonna be late!" she wailed as she dashed for the shower, leaving Win laughing behind her on the bed.
/oOo\
"So just what had you so late you roof-hopped to my apartment?" Mercedes asked Toshiko—in Japanese this time, the pair tended to alternate which language they used now—as they stepped out the door after calling their farewells to her mother and headed toward the school. The American paused for a moment to take a deep breath, enjoying the clean scent of air washed by the early morning rain. "I know how much the guards hate it when you do that, and so do you. Makes them trigger-happy."
"Uh ..." Toshiko shrugged nonchalantly. "Took awhile ta roll outa bed this morning."
"Overslept, did you?" Mercedes glanced at her and grinned. "Or maybe not?" Toshiko could feel her cheeks heating up, and her friend laughed. "Definitely not. Good for you, that's a proper way to greet the day."
"Better than just you and your fingers?" Toshiko riposted. She ignored how her blush continued to mount and grinned as Mercedes' own cheeks heated to match hers.
But Mercedes ignored her own cheeks and returned the grin. "You're getting better at poking back. And I'm afraid I wouldn't know, I've never woken up next to someone that would help me find out." Her soft laughter started again when Toshiko's own blush grew even hotter.
"Come on, Mercy, we're supposed to be talking about the project," Toshiko mock-grumped, fighting down a smile as they turned to take their usual route through a parking lot behind a long office building, walking alongside the rows of cars. They weren't really supposed to use that route, stick to the sidewalk around the front of the building and leave the parking lot to any cars, but it cut a block off the distance and no one was going to think a couple of teenage girls they saw most every day were up to some kind of espionage.
"Right, right," Mercedes agreed, fighting her laughter down to giggles. "So what do you think about—" Her phone rang, and she sighed. "Hold on." Slinging around her backpack, she pulled out her phone (another reason Toshiko liked jeans like the ones she was wearing—if not for too much longer—she could keep her phone in her pocket instead of her pack) and switched to English. "Hey, mom, what did you forget?" ... "Because I know I didn't forget anything. So what's up?" ... "Right, I'm sure me and Toshiko can come up with something to do to take advantage of your absence, thanks for letting me know we'd have the chance." She grinned and winked at Toshiko. "Sure. Love you, bye." She ended the call, and—
Ki signature, big one, right above them and falling fast! Toshiko grabbed Mercedes' arm and slung her toward the building, her friend's phone flying ahead of her into the line of bushes between building and parking lot, then dove the opposite way. Even after over a year she recognized that ki, and she—
A massive paw slammed down onto the back of her head and hammered her forehead into the parking lot and the world went dark.
Mercedes had been caught completely by surprise by Toshiko slinging her across the parking lot, and her foot caught on the curb. But the hours training with Toshiko kicked in and she ditched her backpack and turned her fall into a roll stopped by the bushes lining the office building. She scrambled to her feet, eyes wide as her friend was slammed face first into the pavement by a Giant Panda wearing a gi?! From Toshiko's stories (as hard as they'd been to believe, even for a Guardian in training) this could be only one person, here for only one reason, and without any preparation completely out of her league. As Genma bounded toward her she thrust out an arm toward him, but he was on her too quickly and before she could call the fire the same massive paw that had taken down her friend slammed into her temple, spinning her around into darkness.
/oOo\
Ku Lon looked up as she abruptly sensed a wave of familiar chi, her heir standing beside her on her staff stiffening at the same moment. The pair saw an equally familiar Giant Panda appear out of nowhere at the edge of the empty, weed-ridden parking lot of the boarded-up business building. He was walking toward them, each tread heavy with his own weight plus two bodies. The red hair on the body cradled in his arms was obviously Ranma, but where had the brunette slung over his shoulder come from?
Her business suit-clad handler, Peng Mi-gwo (she had finally gotten a name, though she assumed it was a cover identity), finally noticed the approaching Panda. His eyes widened, presumably at the same sight of two limp bodies that had surprised Ku Lon, but he simply lifted his phone to his mouth and said "he's here" before slipping it into his pocket and bending down to pick up the thermos at his feet with a gloved hand. He twisted open the cap, and when the Panda reached them he poured the still-steaming water over his head. The Panda shrank into the stout, balding man that Ku Lon detested.
Genma ignored the Amazon elder balanced on her staff and the purple-haired glowering teenager hefting her usual pair of chúi. He just dropped Ranma onto the pavement, shrugged the unknown girl off his shoulders to fall across Ranma's legs, adjusted his filthy, tattered gi, and sneered. "Here you are, one Ranma as promised. The other girl is her lover, she might be useful keeping Ranma in line."
Peng gazed down at the pair for a moment, before shifting his gaze over to Ku Lon. "The chains?" Ku Lon nodded to Shan Pu, and her heir hastened to bind Ranma in the chi-dampening chains they'd brought with them from the village. Normally those chains were reserved for husband hunts, but the Council had agreed that they were needed this time. When Shan Pu was done Peng knelt and searched Ranma's pockets, pulling out a cell phone. Still frowning, he looked up at Genma. "Only one phone?"
Genma shrugged. "The other girl had just finished a call when I struck, it ended up in the bushes. I didn't bother to look for it, just tossed their backpacks after it." Wise, since in his Panda form he might not have been able to pick it up. But since this was Genma, more likely just lazy and careless and it actually worked for him this time.
"And you weren't observed?"
"Not by cameras, not at that location. And there wasn't anyone else outside where I could see them. Someone might have looked out an office window at that moment, but there wasn't any noise to speak of. Ranma's lover actually tried to fight me instead of screaming, not that either would have done her much good."
Peng gazed at him for a long moment, then nodded and raised his hand. A split second later, Genma's truculent expression vanished in an explosion of blood, brains, and bone fragments as the shot fired by the sniper that had crept onto the roof of the closed business after Genma's arrival took him in the back of the head. The impact hurled the corpse sideways to land with a thud, its legs sprawled across the girls he'd kidnapped.
Ku Lon gazed down at the corpse's shattered head. What a waste, both of life and of knowledge. For a man, Genma's innate capabilities had been immense, almost as great as his son's ... daughter's ... child's. And the techniques he must have developed! She would have given an arm—well, a few fingers off of one hand—for the one he had just demonstrated, hiding himself both from sight and from chi-sense. All gone, now, with the brains splattered across the parking lot's weeds and pavement.
Such a waste.
Peng tossed Ranma's phone onto Genma's corpse then ignored it, instead staring down at the extra girl, frowning thoughtfully. Ku Lon asked, "So we leave the other girl here, let them know where to find her once we're clear?"
"We don't need to alert them, they'll track the phone," Peng replied absentmindedly. He hesitated, then finally nodded. "Genma was a thug and a fool, but he wasn't entirely wrong. We may need extra leverage, and we've already promised you the baby once it's born. We'll take them both."
Ku Lon thought that was one more stupid decision in an uninterrupted string of them (starting with buying Ranma in the first place), but she simply nodded to her heir. She ignored the muttering under Shan Pu's breath as the girl hooked her pair of chúi to each side of her belt and slung the unconscious girl onto her shoulders before scooping up Ranma to carry to the vans hidden in the abandoned business's warehouse area. Ku Lon doubted Peng understood a word Shan Pu was saying, and it wasn't like the teenager was expressing any sentiments Ku Lon didn't agree with.