Ranma and his friends belong to Rumiko Takahashi. They're used
here without permission.
This story contains some adult material. Reader discretion is
advised.
------------------------------
The door slid open. Stirred by the cool air from outside the
room, the misty fog dissipated.
Ranma was standing in the doorway, a towel hanging around his
waist. His mouth worked up and down soundlessly as he stared at the
two girls.
Taiyoko's entire body blushed. Nabiki started to glare.
"Do you mind?" the dark-haired girl finally said. "Or are you
going to stare at us all night?
Ranma turned and fled.
------------------------------
newRanma 18: Screaming
by Chris Jones
------------------------------
The image burned Ranma's mind.
Nabiki and Taiyoko were sitting in the furo together, their
lips locked together in a passionate kiss. The dark-haired girl
gently cradled the light-haired girl. Nabiki's hands played over
Taiyoko's body, caressing every inch. One hand worked lower, under
the surface of the water, sending ripples spreading away from
Taiyoko's mid-section. Ranma couldn't help but think that Nabiki was
doing to Taiyoko what Ranma planned to do for himself.
What the two girls were doing could only be called 'sex'.
The image burned Ranma's body.
He had already been aroused, both from a combination of the
time he spent earlier in the evening with Taiyoko and the time he
just spent wondering what actually making love to the young woman
would feel like.
Now he was shaking and stumbling against the wall as he
staggered back to his room. His hands seemed palsied as he tried to
open the door. His knees were weak and didn't seem to want to support
his weight.
Once inside, he collapsed on his futon. His eyes were
clenched shut, but that didn't stop the image from looping over and
over in his mind. Every sound Ranma heard was permanently etched into
his mind. Every square inch of Nabiki's and Taiyoko's bodies were
indelibly engraved onto his retina. He couldn't not see them, even if
he wanted to.
Hours passed for Ranma as he lay on his futon, unable and
unwilling to forget what he had seen. Even sleep wasn't an option.
All the half-clues and hints finally fell into place in his mind. He
thought he had seen the entire puzzle before, but the secret was more
vast and maddening than he thought possible.
How could he have missed it? How could he have been so blind?
Taiyoko even tried to tell him, but he had shushed her, assuring her
that he already knew!
As the minutes ticked by, however, one thought began to stand
out from the rest. One thought brought him to his knees and
eventually put him on his feet. That same thought sent him staggering
back down the stairs and into the bathroom, which had been vacant for
quite some time. The thought sent him back up the stairs, where he
opened the door to Nabiki's room without knocking, and stormed
inside.
There they were, laying side by side on Nabiki's bed.
Taiyoko's face was turned away from Ranma and the steady, gentle rise
and fall of her chest indicated that she had been asleep for some
time. Nabiki was facing Ranma but she wasn't asleep. Her eyes were
open and it looked as if she wasn't particularly surprised that Ranma
had stormed in.
Those eyes boring into him, Ranma finally gave voice to the
thought that plagued him.
"Why wasn't it me?!" he demanded in a tone so full of emotion
that he couldn't believe it came from his mouth.
Nabiki stirred, and slowly set up in bed.
Why wasn't it me, he had asked her. She had known that the
question was coming. It was evident in his hot, probing eyes when he
had first seen her and Taiyoko together. It was evident in his
stance. It was even evident in his hurt, needing expression. She
could see that as far as Ranma was concerned, it should have been him
there in the furo, holding one... or even both of the girls.
Why wasn't it him?
Nabiki asked herself that same question over and over again
to try to prepare for this moment. She had answered the question a
dozen ways in her own mind, but still wasn't satisfied with the
answer. The words that came out of her mouth surprised her.
"What? You think you can turn me down over and over again,
and then call me back whenever you want me?"
She realized after she said it that there was no helping what
was going to happen next. Ranma's expression shattered. She could see
the wave of pain and betrayal cross Ranma's features like wind in
tall grass.
"It doesn't work like that, Saotome," she hissed. "You can't
just toy with a girl's affections and expect her to follow you around
like a puppy. Oh wait, I forgot... every other girl follows you
around like that, so why shouldn't I?"
"Toy with *your* affections?" Ranma shouted incredulously,
ignoring Nabiki's hurtful barb. "What about you? You think I asked
for any of the things you did to me?"
"Keep your voice down," Nabiki commanded, but it was already
too late.
"Nabiki?" Taiyoko asked in a quiet, sleepy voice. "What's
wrong?"
Ranma was no less aroused, but was now quite angry. He felt
it earlier, when he confronted Taiyoko's parents, but now there
seemed to be no outlet for his dark feelings.
"How could you treat me like that?" Ranma finally demanded.
"Did you think that I didn't want to? Did you think that I didn't
like what you were doing to me?"
"You had your chance, Ranma!" Nabiki growled. "Now go away
before you cause even more problems."
"What are you talking about, Nabiki?" Taiyoko asked in a
worried tone, sitting up in bed next to the girl and pulling the
comforter up under her chin.
"Yeah, I had my chance... so long as Akane, Ukyou, or Kodachi
didn't walk in on us," Ranma snapped back. "I thought--"
"You thought what, Ranma?" Nabiki demanded. "You thought you
could have me, and keep all your other girlfriends just hanging on?
God, how could I have even been so stupid to think that you really
had become a woman?"
"B-b-become a--" Ranma stammered, finally... totally
understanding.
"That's right, Ranma," Nabiki said. "I mean... you had me
fooled, and that's not easy. I'd like to think I'm too intelligent
for that but apparently I was blind."
"You wanted me to be a..."
Unshed tears were standing in the corners of Nabiki's eyes,
but her expression refused to soften.
"You think I broke your heart," Nabiki accused, "but you
deceived me and treated me just like every *other* girl who's fallen
in love with you. It was worse, because you made me believe that I
was different!"
Ranma was speechless. His mouth worked up and down
soundlessly at Nabiki's admittance.
"For a few days there, I was convinced that I could have it
all, and then you told me that it was the other girls standing in our
way. I don't see how I could have ever thought you'd be happy without
your harem."
"You... thought that I had become... a girl... in my mind,"
Ranma finally uttered.
"What was I supposed to think?!" Nabiki screeched. "You only
showed every sign that you weren't a guy anymore! Gee, stupid
Nabiki," she said in a tone that mocked herself as much as Ranma,
"falling for something that looks like a girl but is really a guy."
"Nabiki..." Taiyoko murmured in a disbelieving tone. "It's...
t-this is t-t-true?"
The girl's admission hurt, Ranma admitted to himself. Nabiki
thought that he-- Ranma-- had become a girl in both mind and body.
How close was that to the truth? Didn't Ranma's body *want*
guys to touch her. Didn't she become aroused when she spent too much
time with Kunou, Hiroshi, or Daisuke? Didn't she dream about it every
night for almost a month? Wasn't she guilty of doing all the girly
things? How many times had she been caught watching soap operas or
wearing dresses or...
"You let me think you were a woman! Worse, you used me to get
off," Nabiki continued, "but then when it looked like I might want a
little bit of commitment, you used the excuse closest to hand to shut
me out. Nabiki Tendou doesn't play that game Ranma. You had your
chance, and now it's gone."
She rather forcibly grabbed Taiyoko's hand. The blonde girl's
expression was confused and more than a little hurt.
"I used you... I used you?!" Ranma asked in anger. "You can
sit there and say that? You came on to me like an animal in heat, and
say that I used *you*?!"
"Well what else do you call it?"
"I didn't even understand what the hell was going on," Ranma
admitted loudly. "Here's a cute girl, and she's hanging all over me.
I didn't even know why it turned me on at first let alone if I liked
it or not. How the hell was I supposed to react?"
"Ranma... Nabiki... please don't fight," Taiyoko interjected
quietly.
"And her... did you just start hanging all over Taiyoko too?"
Ranma asked accusingly.
"Please--"
"Did you touch her like you touched me?!" Ranma demanded.
"Well, obviously. I've seen that for myself."
"You t-t-t-t-ouched--"
"Shut up, Ranma!" Nabiki yelled, holding Taiyoko close to her
chest.
"You told me that I made you think I was a girl," Ranma
retorted, "But you made me think that it didn't matter one way or the
other! I thought you cared about me..."
"Get it through your thick skull, Ranma. You're a man! Even
when you're a girl, you're still a man. I could never love a man!"
The worst part of it was the shame. Shame at not realizing
what Nabiki was... or what she was after. Shame at the way he had
been duped. Shame at his arousal, which was still the foremost
thought in his mind. He felt shame because he still wanted the both
of them, even after everything that had been said.
There was even shame at not being what Nabiki or Taiyoko
wanted.
"Is that enough for you, Ranma?!" Nabiki cried.
"Fine!" Ranma shouted angrily. He realized that there were
tears standing in his own eyes. "That's just fine! See if I care! See
if it matters to me at all!"
He turned to storm back out of Nabiki's room, only to run
face-first into Akane.
Ranma blinked. She had been standing right outside the door
for who knew how long. She was shaking. Her features were contorted
with rage and hurt. Her fists were clenched.
"With my own sister..." she growled, despite the fact that
tears were flowing down her cheeks. "You... you... you... And you!"
she whirled on Nabiki. "How could you?!"
"Well, I'm not any more," Nabiki assured her flippantly.
"He's all yours, Akane, if you can ever get him away from the other
girls."
Akane didn't even hear her. "You're sleeping WITH ANOTHER
GIRL!!"
"Why don't you yell it a little louder, Akane?" Nabiki
responded. "I'm not sure the whole neighborhood has heard you yet."
"Perverted!" Akane yelled, almost irrational with rage. "My
own sister! You're a monster, Nabiki!"
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Says the girl with a sex-changing
fiancee."
"I AM NOT A PERVERT!" Akane yelled, lunging across the room
at her older sister. Before Ranma could think, he was moving, but not
fast enough to keep Akane from belting Nabiki in the face.
Nabiki rocked back with the punch, clutching at her face.
"NO!" Taiyoko screamed. "Don't hurt her!"
"This is all your fault," Akane accused the blonde girl. "If
you hadn't come here and started confusing everyone, we wouldn't have
this problem. Die, whore!" Akane yelled, cocking her fist.
Taiyoko cowered back away from her.
Akane swung, but her fist never connected. It impacted
against Ranma's open hand with a meaty smack. Before she could react,
Ranma had his arms around her shoulders, and was pulling her off of
the other two girls.
"Let me go!" she screamed angrily, flailing and kicking for
all she was worth.
"This isn't any of your business," Ranma told her coldly,
trying to drag her across the room without hurting her.
"Akane's right," a new voice said. "What Nabiki and Taiyoko
are doing is wrong!"
It was Kasumi, standing in the hallway outside Nabiki's door.
"That's still no excuse to hit your sister, Akane," she
scolded.
"God, ain't this messed up enough without you butting in
too?" Ranma yelled in exasperation.
Nabiki was sitting upright in her bed, poking at her rapidly
swelling eye. "Why don't both of you just stay the hell out of this?"
she demanded.
"I can't!" Kasumi declared. "I won't let you do this horrible
thing, Nabiki. It's just not right!"
"I'll take care of that right now," Akane added. "Come here
so I can kill you, you freak!" she yelled at Taiyoko.
The blonde girl was bawling, her face buried against Nabiki's
arm.
"Keep your hands off her, Akane!" Ranma blinked. He hadn't
even realized that he had said it until it came out of his mouth.
"You're sleeping with her too, aren't you?" Akane shouted in
accusation.
Ranma surprised himself again. He roughly shoved Akane away
from himself, sending her stumbling out into the hall. Kasumi caught
her, just before she plowed into the wall."
"That's not very nice at all, Ranma!" Kasumi scolded.
"And beating on one of my best friends is?" the martial
artist retorted. "You're acting as fucked-up as she is."
"Watch your mouth when you talk to my sister," Akane
threatened, closing ranks with Kasumi.
"You're just making things worse. The both of you just need
to go away," Ranma said, feeling just how out of control the
situation was becoming. He tried to usher them back down the hallway,
but just managed to get himself backed up against Akane's doorway.
"Maybe you should never have brought that pervert into our
house, Ranma!" Akane said. "It's your fault that everything is so
crazy around here now."
"Ranma, you're a guest here," Kasumi said. "You need to
follow the rules and--"
"Shut up!" Ranma yelled. "Neither of you is making any sense!
If there's anything wrong here, it's with the two of you!"
Akane answered him with a slap across the face.
Ranma's arousal had been stretched the very limits. He had
only been learning how to control it for a few weeks. It was still
burning inside him, fueling his frustration. Akane was acting
irrationally, just like she always did, some small part of Ranma's
mind told him. She never listened. She never tried to understand. It
was almost impossible to bear. His anger at her was fiery and out of
control.
He returned her slap, leaving a red mark across her cheek.
Akane's eyes opened wide in shock as she clutched at her
stinging face.
Kasumi looked on in horror. She didn't believe what had just
happened. She didn't want to believe. It was undeniable. There Ranma
stood, his hand raised in the air at the end of the ringing blow.
"Ranma..." Akane muttered in disbelief. "You... you... YOU
CREEP!"
Ranma never saw the punch coming.
It was, by any account, one of the wildest, most anger-fueled
blows that had ever come from Akane, even as bad as her temper really
was. It caught Ranma across the chin, lifting him into the air and
sending him flying back into Akane's room.
Shocked by the blow, Ranma was too stunned to try to recover.
He landed hard against Akane's bed. His head whipped back. He heard
something crack.
Akane gasped out loud, hearing the sharp crack and seeing
Ranma go limp as he hit the side of her bed. For just a second, it
seemed like she had gone back in time a few months, and was watching
Ranma slip on eggs she had thrown at him.
Then Akane's bed collapsed. It's steel frame had been the
source of the crack, bending and snapping at a welded joint under the
force of the impact. The weight of Ranma's body tipped the bed,
sending Akane's mattress sliding off into the floor.
Recovering from his shock, Ranma tried to right himself,
clawing at anything he could in order to get back up. He only
succeeded in further dislodging the mattress. He slipped and fell
over, laying face up in front of the remnants of Akane's bed.
A magazine slid off of the exposed surface of the tilted
boxspring, and landed across Ranma's face.
He blinked, and slowly pulled the magazine off his face.
It was his naughty Utena doujinshi. Why did Akane have it?
A few more magazines were sliding off the bed and landing on
him or the mattress. One had a cover he had seen before. It took him
a few seconds to recognize it, but remembered that Hiroshi had shown
him the same issue several weeks ago. It was a Sailor Moon doujinshi
entitled 'Lunatic Syndrome'. The front cover was a picture of Sailor
Jupiter and Sailor Mercury in an undressed state and entwined in a
deep kiss.
One magazine that landed in his lap also seemed to be
familiar. It showed a picture of a large-busted model in a seductive
pose. She was wearing only a brassier, gloves, and thigh-high
stockings. Ranma suddenly remembered that he had seen this before--
and that Akane had been practicing the same pose in her mirror. The
memory was hazy, as if from a dream, but it was far too certain to be
deja vu. Curiously, he turned the page. The next image was a full
two-page spread of the same model running her gloved fingers across
another model's exposed vulva.
He stood in shock, confused by what he was seeing. All around
him lie dozens of magazines and books. Some were doujinshi that
seemed similar in tone to the Utena or Sailor Moon magazine. Some
looked more like novels. One that had fallen off the boxspring and
landed next to his hand was entitled 'A Different Love Affair', and
had a painted picture of two scantily-clad women dancing together on
its front cover. Others were glossy magazines. Those that had fallen
open seemed to cover a great range, from the barely erotic to the
obscenely pornographic. One image that caught Ranma's eye was of a
woman in a school uniform similar to that of Furinkan High. She was
bound at the hands and feet and tied into a chair, while another
woman, clad from head to toe in a skin-tight latex body-suit, suckled
at her exposed breasts.
Without exception, every image that Ranma could see was of
female flesh.
"Oh-ho-ho..." Nabiki chuckled. "I see!" While Ranma was
distracted, she had wormed her way into the room past Akane and
Kasumi and had knelt down next to Ranma. She picked up one magazine
and began to page through it, looking intently with the eye that was
not rapidly swelling shut.
"Get out..." Akane yelled.
"Akane," Kasumi asked in confusion. "What is this? Why are
these things in your room?"
"Now I should think that's *perfectly* obvious, Kasumi,"
Nabiki said.
"Get out of my room!" Akane screamed, her fists still
clenched and shaking. Her face was red, but not from anger.
Ranma blinked, still trying to get to his feet. He slipped on
another magazine, this one displaying two young women doing
interesting things to each other with phallic vibrators.
"'Hot Lesbo Sluts'," Nabiki read. "You really don't have any
taste at all, do you, Akane? Here's a good one. 'Tails of Passion'.
You know that most of this stuff is made for guys don't you?" Nabiki
laughed out loud.
"I don't understand," Ranma said.
"That's not a big change," Nabiki said. "Let me spell it out
for you, Ranma. Your fiancee is a dyke!"
"Akane, no!" Kasumi yelled.
This time, Ranma was ready. He caught Akane before she could
tear into her sister. She was screaming incoherently and thrashing
around desperately, but couldn't escape from Ranma's grasp.
"It's not even that big a surprise if you think about it.
Birds of a feather, after all."
"That's enough, Nabiki," Soun's voice rang out over his
youngest daughter's screams. He was standing in the hallway next to
Kasumi, clad only in a pair of boxer shorts.
"Pot calling the kettle black, don't you think, Akane?"
Nabiki pressed.
"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!" Akane screamed, still trying to get
free.
"I think the lady doth protest too much," Nabiki noted,
laying the magazine she had been holding down. "That makes twice that
I've been fooled."
"I said that was enough, Nabiki," Soun commanded. "Go
downstairs. Please take Taiyoko with you."
"Why?" Ranma asked Akane, tears beginning to flow down his
face.
Akane either didn't hear or was ignoring him in her mad
struggles to get free.
"I HATE YOU, RANMA!" Akane screamed. "LET GO OF ME!"
Once Nabiki had fled, Ranma let go of Akane, who collapsed
sobbing in the middle of the floor.
"I HATE YOU!" she cried again. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! IT'S
ALL YOUR FAULT! GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!"
"Akane's right. You should leave, Ranma," Kasumi said. "At
least until everyone has calmed down and come to their senses."
His eyes wide and staring, Ranma rushed past Kasumi and her
father and back into his own room.
"Ranma, wait!" Soun yelled after him, running down the
hallway. It was too late by the time he reached Ranma's room. The
window was open, and Soun could see Ranma's dark shape vaulting the
fence outside in the moonlight.
* * *
Ranma had grabbed his red Chinese shirt and a pair of pants
before he left the Tendou's house, so he stopped behind some
shrubbery to pull them on over his boxers and under-shirt.
He ran at random, as fast as he could. His only goal was to
get away from the Tendou's house and the betrayal he found there.
Betrayal wasn't the right word, but Ranma didn't know how
else to think about what he was feeling.
First there was Nabiki. Ranma admitted to himself that he was
attracted to her and wanted her body. Worse, he wanted her to want or
need him in return. Before tonight he thought she did.
"Do I love her?" he asked himself under his breath as he ran.
Ranma didn't know, but a vicious, selfish little voice inside
his mind kept screaming "Mine! Mine!" as loudly as it could.
Nabiki didn't want Ranma, or at least she claimed, simply
because of his masculinity. Was he that different a person when was a
girl?
Then there was Akane, who appeared to share her sister's
proclivities, at least to some degree. Ranma couldn't think of any
other reason for what he had seen in her room. Was it true? Did Akane
like girls? Was she attracted to women?
If so, why had she pushed Ranma away a few weeks earlier,
when she had almost begged Akane for physical affection? At the time,
Akane had seemed almost accepting, and almost... interested.
"Well, I'm not interested in kissing girls," Akane had
admitted that day in the girls' showers. "But... kissing my
fiancee..."
What had happened between then and now? Why was Akane so
hostile as to be irrational? If Akane liked girls, why couldn't she
have shown Ranma what they both seemed so interested in? Even one
kiss...
Even one kiss would have saved Ranma from falling for Nabiki.
Now, neither of them wanted Ranma, and he really wasn't sure
why, or where it had all gone wrong. Nabiki had hinted that Ranma
lost any chance with her as soon as she realized that Ranma was still
a boy... specifically when Ranma indicated that they would get in
trouble if Akane, Ukyou, or Kodachi walked in on them in the
bathroom. She called them his 'harem'.
Akane's disposition had changed... changed radically in the
last few months. Before, she seemed almost tolerant. Now, despite the
fact that it seemed Akane was indeed interested in 'kissing girls',
she was violently irrational about the concept, enough so that she
attacked her sister.
Now that neither one was interested in him any more, what
could he do?
As the cloudy sky above began to grow light, Ranma found
himself near the bridge. Not wanting to deal with anyone who might be
up, he walked down the banks of the canal and sat down just
underneath the overhang of the concrete structure.
Did he love Nabiki? Did he love Akane? Even if he did, was
there any chance that either of them would ever want to be with him?
Would Nabiki ever love him? Would Akane?
Would he still be forced to marry Akane, upholding their
family's engagement, even if the girl did not love him? Would Ranma
want the marriage, even if Akane didn't love him? What if she didn't?
What if their marriage was loveless and sexless? What if...
The dawn was obscured by thick, scudding clouds. As all of
the possibilities were crashing down on Ranma, it began to rain. He
scurried further up underneath the bridge, hoping to avoid the water,
but the shower was soon accompanied by a healthy breeze. Ranma was
soon covered in a fine spray of freezing mist.
Ranma found herself wet, cold, female and utterly alone.
"Pigtailed girl," a voice called out in the rain.
Ranma glanced up to see two shapes approaching her.
"Ranma," the voice said again. It was Kunou, carrying an open
umbrella to ward off the rain. Next to him was Kodachi, also carrying
an umbrella. She carried a spare in one hand. Wordlessly, she reached
out and handed it to Ranma.
"I would never speak ill of the community," Kunou said, "but
privately, I detest the weather in this city. Is it so much to ask
for the sky to stay sunny all day at least once or twice a week?"
"Come, Ranma-sama," Kodachi urged the pigtailed girl. "I
understand it has not been that long since you recovered from a cold.
It just wouldn't do for you to get another so soon. Come with me...
and I will keep you warm and dry."
* * *
It was raining quite hard by the time Soun managed to get all
three of his daughters assembled around the main table. He had to
shout Akane and Kasumi down several times after Ranma left. It wasn't
something he was very good at. By the time he sat down in front of
them, he was shaking visibly. He was also chain-smoking, something
his daughters hadn't seen him do since right after their mother's
funeral. The tobacco didn't noticeably calm him.
Taiyoko tried to excuse herself, but Soun shook his head.
"No, you stay right here. This probably concerns you as much
as it does my daughters."
Trembling, Taiyoko nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
After taking a few deep breaths, he looked at each of his
daughters gravely. He opened his mouth once, paused, and said, "All I
ever really wanted out of life were two simple things. I want my
daughters to be happy, and I want my dojo to survive after I'm gone."
Kasumi nodded. All three girls had heard that before.
"If all of you understand that, can anyone tell me why all of
my daughters are hell bent on denying me those two simple things?" he
asked in a calm voice.
"Father?" Kasumi asked. "What's the matter? Why are you so
upset?"
Soun's eyes flashed darkly. He glared at the oldest girl,
sending her scrambling back away from him.
Akane and Nabiki gasped in shock. They had *never* seen their
father get angry at Kasumi before.
"I'm apparently not much of a father," Soun said, "but I
thought that I raised you better than to be judgmental, Kasumi,
especially of your sisters."
"Father?" Kasumi pleaded, tears standing in her eyes.
"Despite the fact that I've been doing my damndest to push
Ranma and Akane together for the last *year*, you've been blocking me
at every turn!"
"But... but... but... Akane... It's just not right. She could
get pregnant," Kasumi replied meekly.
"THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL!" Soun bellowed. "Why else do you
think Genma and I engaged them?! And you--" he turned to Akane.
"You've been doing even more to block us. We've given you an entire
year to decide, but you still keep stringing the entire family along
the entire time. And now you've thrown your fiancee out?! How long do
you think it will take him to settle in with one of his other
girlfriends, Akane?"
"That's not fair!" Akane yelled in protest.
"What's not fair is that you have as little regards for your
fiancee's feelings as you do the rest of us, Akane," Soun countered.
"I can't claim to understand the depth of Ranma's injury, but I
genuinely believed he loved you, even before his surgery. I had hoped
that one day the two of you would put aside your childish bickering
and pointless romances and admit your feelings for each other. Now I
see that I was wrong-- horribly wrong."
Akane's face was contorted in rage and fury. Her fists were
balled into tight lumps.
"Now my hopes of passing the dojo down to the two of you have
died. To top it all off, you have the unmitigated gall to attack your
sister?" Soun grabbed one of the magazines that had fallen on the
floor and held it up, displaying its pornographic cover. "Do you know
what the word 'hypocrisy' means, Akane?"
Akane's face turned red. She turned, unable to look her
father in the eyes. She stared at the floor, shame beginning to
replace rage on her face.
"And you," he turned to Nabiki. "Is the dishonesty ever going
to stop, Nabiki?"
His middle daughter's face paled.
"We've had this discussion before, Nabiki-- many times.
Still, you lied to me, you lied to your sisters, and if what I heard
is correct, you deceived Ranma as well. You used him just like you
try to use everyone else. You're so intent on controlling everything
and everyone around you that you lie and keep secrets to spite
yourself. How else do you end up with situations like this?" he
gestured around himself.
"You knew," Nabiki accused.
"Of course I knew," Soun said mildly. "Do you think I haven't
been watching you for the last seventeen years? Please, Kasumi," he
said, holding up a hand to his eldest daughter. "Don't interrupt."
The oldest girl closed her mouth. She was still visibly
upset.
Soun finished his cigarette and lit another one.
"There is a reason that I haven't made a point of it up until
now. The main reason is that I wanted to avoid a confrontation like
this one. I didn't want to decloset you in front of your sisters. Now
it's too late for that." He took a long drag off his cigarette.
"Father, what Nabiki is doing is unnatural," Kasumi said
calmly.
"That may be," Soun said. "But that's for her to decide. Even
if you think it's wrong, I will not have my daughters be uncivil to
each other. I hope I've made myself clear. Akane?"
"Yes, Father," Akane mumbled.
"Nabiki, I can't begin tell you the amount of suffering
you've opened yourself up to. The path you've chosen is
extraordinarily difficult and painful, and there's only so much help
I can give you. If your sisters are this antagonistic, can you
imagine how you will be treated by people who *don't* care about
you?"
"I understand that, Daddy," Nabiki said. "But--"
Soun cut her off, saying, "Do you remember your dear,
departed aunt Noriko?"
Nabiki nodded.
"And do you remember your Aunt's maid, Yayoi-san?"
Again, Nabiki nodded, comprehension beginning to dawn in her
eyes. She vaguely remembered the pair from her youth. She always
thought that Yayoi was very pretty, remembering the bright red
lipstick the girl always wore.
"Of course if our parents ever found out about my sister's
preferences, Noriko would have been disowned. That's why Yayoi was
her 'maid'."
Kasumi gasped, her hands going to her mouth.
"But then Yayoi got sick," Soun said. "If I remember
correctly, it was because she had a weak heart. They wouldn't even
let my poor sister visit her in the hospital. She was never even able
to say goodbye."
Nabiki winced, suddenly remembering the trouble she had
helped Ranma with a few weeks ago.
He paused, wiping a tear from his eye. "While my parents
still don't know, I'm afraid Yayoi's parents found out at some point.
They forbade Noriko from attending the funeral. How would you feel,
Nabiki, if you weren't able to attend the funeral of someone you
promised to spend the rest of your life with? It killed Noriko. She
got a severe cold later that year, and just didn't fight it off like
anyone else would have. Her heart was so full of grief that she
didn't even try to recover."
Taiyoko gulped out loud at Soun's statement. Nabiki knew her
parents well enough to know exactly how they would act in such a
situation. Still, the dark-haired girl's face hardened.
"I love Taiyoko," she said out loud after some deliberation.
It was a difficult statement to make. "Nothing else matters."
"You don't know what love is, Nabiki," Soun said flatly.
"You've known Taiyoko for a few weeks. What you have-- the both of
you have-- is infatuation. It will be months or even years before you
even begin to understand what it means to truly love someone."
Distastefully, he rubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray. More
calmly, he addressed his daughter. "What you have may one day grow
into love. It's something you should strive for. You had better show
Taiyoko more honesty and kindness than you have the rest of your
family," Soun warned, "or your relationship won't last that long."
Nabiki nodded. She glanced guiltily at Taiyoko once, but then
turned back to her father, doing her best to keep a resolute
expression.
"I don't suppose you're a martial artist, are you, dear?"
Soun asked Taiyoko.
The blonde girl shook her head, her face full of worry and
concern, but at the same time, a joyful glee at Nabiki's admission
and Soun's seeming acceptance.
"Ah, well, I suppose it was too much to hope for. I
understand that you've already gotten off to a bad start with your
parents."
Taiyoko nodded sadly. "I just don't know what else we could
have done. The things Ranma said last night are all true. It was more
and more like a nightmare up until I left."
"You really are starting off with both feet in the gutter,"
Soun noted in exasperation. "Well, I've never turned away anyone else
away. I don't see why I should start now. You're welcome to stay here
for as long as you need to."
"I've probably lost my job at my mother's catering company,"
Taiyoko noted, "But Nabiki said that the ramen shop nearby is looking
for waitresses. I can contribute just as soon as I get another part-
time job."
"That's very responsible of you and makes a very good point.
If you and Nabiki plan to pursue an adult relationship under my roof,
I expect at least some adult responsibility out of you. That means
helping with the bills rather than extorting your poor father at
every opportunity, Nabiki. It also means an end to the dishonesty."
Nabiki nodded seriously. She didn't resist when Taiyoko
placed her hand in Nabiki's. Both girls blushed.
Tears streaming down her face, Kasumi ran from the room. She
felt alone and betrayed. Worse, she felt like her very presence was
hurting the rest of her family.
Soun sighed at length. "You might even think about helping
with the housework," he suggested quietly. "It might upset Kasumi
more than it helps, but the sooner she grows accustomed to this
arrangement, the better. Now, if you will, I want to talk to Akane
alone."
Both girls nodded, and quickly left.
Akane couldn't meet her father's lingering gaze.
Finally, the man picked up the magazine he had been holding
before and set it down in front of her.
"You know," he said after several minutes, "I never thought
I'd have to have this conversation since I didn't have any sons."
Akane gulped.
Soun took a deep breath and gestured to the pornographic
magazine.
"You know, it's not abnormal to be interested in that sort of
thing," he said. "I know I certainly was at your age. Of course, I
had very poor role models when I was your age. If Genma or I ever
came across anything like this, we either destroyed it or hid it,
because the master *would* confiscate it."
Akane shuddered, thinking how horrible it would have been to
try to grow up under such oppressive conditions.
"Of course, it's... problematic... if you're interested in
the same kinds of things your sister is."
"I'm not!" Akane fiercely declared.
"Apparently, you're still undecided," Soun said. "Regardless,
I need you to try to make up your mind as soon as you can, Akane. If
there is *any* chance for a future between you and Ranma, I want our
family to try to salvage it. If not, I need to start making other
arrangements."
He sighed at great length, stood and sat back down next to
his daughter. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her
close to him.
"It's very difficult, isn't it, not knowing?" he asked her.
Akane's resolve finally cracked. Tears began to spill down
her face, washing away all the anger. She buried her face in her
father's side and began to wail like a lost child.
"You may never know as surely as Nabiki or Kasumi seem to,"
he told her after allowing her to cry for several minutes. "When your
aunt was growing up, she seemed just as interested in young men as
she did young women. Of course you have Ranma's curse to complicate
things for you."
He sat for several more seconds, considering wether or not he
wanted another cigarette. Finally, he leaned over and kissed the
crown of his crying daughter's head. "Akane, you're probably going to
have a very difficult time. I wish I could make it easier for you,
but I really can't. Even if I could make your decisions for you,
you've proven to me over and over again that you don't want me to. I
don't think this is any different." He took a deep breath and cleared
his throat. "Even if you are interested... in certain things... Ranma
may not be. I honestly don't know. Depending on what you feel, maybe
its for the best to let him go."
Akane's crying intensified, but she couldn't let go of her
father.
Privately, Soun began to wonder how difficult it would be to
adopt Ukyou. He knew how badly that would hurt his daughter, so he
kept his mouth shut on the matter.
Finally, after Akane's tears seemed to have passed, he
gestured once more to the magazine.
"I know that you've been experimenting," he said, "and that
you will probably continue to do so, but I'd like you to consider
something before you buy anything else like this," he said. "Do you
know what you're paying for here?"
Teary-eyed, Akane shook her head. "I thought I was just
buying a magazine," she admitted in a quiet voice.
"And why do you think these girls do this sort of thing?" he
asked.
The answer was very easy, but Akane had never thought about
it before. "Money," she guessed.
Soun nodded. "I'm certain some of them are doing it for a
thrill or for some other reason, but I think that most of them do
this for the money. What do you think girls like this do with that
kind of money?"
Akane was silent.
"I bet that a few of them are just living a very high
lifestyle with nice clothes and fancy electronics." Soun said. "I
understand that it pays fairly well. I'm certain others are taking
advantage of their bodies in order to pay for tuition, rent, or debt.
There may even be a few who are using it to support their families. I
think that there are quite a few girls who do that because its the
only way they can support their habits, Akane."
The girl gulped at the statement.
"Of course I don't know for certain. I've never been involved
in that sort of thing," Soun admitted, "even as many times as the
master tried to convince me of how wonderful it would be. I
understand that its a very exploitive business and that its very easy
to become part of a dark, dark world. I imagine that at least some of
the people who are involved in producing this sort of thing can be
very unscrupulous and misleading.
"I know from experience that its very easy to get someone to
do something they don't want to do if you promise enough of something
they do want," Soun continued. "In my case, mastery of the martial
arts came at a price that I wished I never had to pay. For a long
time, I even thought that I managed to leave it behind me, but it
still came back to haunt me. How many of these girls do you think
will feel the same way when they're a little bit older?"
Soun sighed once more and stood, facing his daughter. He
smiled as warmly as he could. "I won't tell you what is right or
wrong, Akane. You're a big girl, and there's nothing I can do to
persuade you one way or the other. Just think carefully about the
decisions you're making right now because they're a lot more
important than you might think."
* * *
"So, you were listening in," Ranma guessed as she was
escorted into the depths of the Kunou mansion.
Kodachi had the good grace to blush. "A bad habit, I
suppose," she admitted weakly. "It comes of surviving in such a
political environment as a girl's school."
The Kunous had escorted Ranma out from underneath the bridge
and into a waiting limousine. There had been a short, silent car-ride
to the Kunou's estate, while Kodachi stripped the water off of
Ranma's body with dry towels.
Tatewaki made a brief, nearly unintelligible statement about
'hot water', and led both Ranma and his sister into the house. He was
being particularly close-lipped.
"You must understand that the proper behavior when dealing
with intrigue is to slowly gather information and then act upon it,"
Kodachi continued.
"So you acted..."
Kodachi coughed uncomfortably. "I saw a situation that
required intervention, so I acted... even though I was not sure of
the proper course of action."
"Well... thanks. Even if you were spying on me," Ranma said
graciously.
They arrived in front of an ornate door, which Kunou held
open for Ranma. It was foggy and steamy inside. Ranma couldn't help
but be reminded of the scene he saw in the Tendou's furo."
"This is the guest bath," Tatewaki said, a little more
clearly, but nervously nonetheless. "Inside is everything one would
need for... for a bath. Do you... *ahem* require anything special?
Special chemicals? A thermometer?"
Ranma sighed and shook her head. "No, just so long as there's
hot water in there, I'll be okay."
Both Kunous seemed to be more than a little unsure of how to
behave in this situation. Ranma was thankful enough that they seemed
to finally have gotten it through their thick heads that she settled
for simply closing the door behind her as she entered the bath rather
than chasing them off.
The 'bath' was more like a private indoor pool filled with
hot water. There were sculptures and mosaics on the walls, and what
looked like stone beach-chairs placed at regular intervals around the
'tub'. After Ranma scrubbed off, she was literally able to dive into
the deep basin, letting her problems float away on the surface of the
water.
The change felt good. It felt like everything that happened
since the night before could simply be washed away. In fact, after
diving in, Ranma decided not to resurface. It was easier to
concentrate on holding his breath as he lay at the bottom of the pool
than it was to try to understand what had happened.
After almost two minutes, Ranma finally broke the water's
surface after white spots began to dance in front of his eyes. He
went down again, holding his breath longer. He went down a third time
and a fourth.
Finally, Ranma was so dizzy he leaned over the side of the
warm pool and allowed his face to rest against the cold tile floor.
Then, holding his head in his hands, he wept.
Kodachi was waiting outside the bath with clean, dry clothes
by the time he finally got out and dried off. He noted that she
seemed surprised that it was indeed him that came out of the bathroom
and not the pigtailed girl.
"Lunch will be ready in about an hour, Ranma-sama," she said.
"In the mean time, there are many diversions we have to offer. If you
would like, my brother has an extensive video library, or there is a
covered training facility in the back."
Actually, training didn't sound like a bad idea. He followed
Kodachi's directions and made his way out into the covered garden. It
was cold, and a little misty, but it wasn't so wet that Ranma was
uncomfortable.
After a few minutes, he realized that Kunou was going through
kendo forms at the other end of the garden.
Quietly, Ranma walked up behind the swordsman and watched.
Tatewaki finished the form he was on and turned to Ranma. He
bowed perfunctorily, and then he attacked.
Grinning, Ranma blocked the first of the blows, and dodged
the next.
The two sparred for better than an hour with nothing but
their grunts of exertion to break the silence. By the time it was
over, Ranma's muscles were burning and sore. Kunou had improved a
little since the last time they fought, but Ranma still hadn't had
much opportunity to regain any of the shape he had lost during his
period of forced inactivity. Much to Ranma's chagrin, Kunou managed
to get several ringing hits in, mostly around the ribs.
Exhausted, but still silent, the two young men sat against
either side of a large rock in the center of the garden.
Finally, Ranma rose to his feet.
"That was a good workout, Kunou-sempai," he offered.
"Truly. I see that I must further sharpen my skills if I am
to defeat you."
"What's the point?" Ranma asked. "Other than just fighting
for the sake of fighting like we did just now. You seem to know who
your 'pigtailed girl' really is. Are you still trying to get Akane?"
Kunou was silent for several minutes before he answered.
"Perhaps it is that I wish to fight just for the sake of fighting. Is
that not the truest form of the art? And perhaps I still do have
designs on Akane Tendou."
"Man, if you're willing to put up with the grief she'll give
you, you can have her."
Kunou didn't answer.
After lunch, since he really hadn't gotten any sleep the
night before, Ranma found a spare bedroom and simply collapsed.
* * *
It was dark when he awoke. The rain clouds seemed to have
vanished for the most part, leaving a starry sky, streaked with an
occasional cloud visible through the window.
There was a quiet rustling in the room. Ranma sat up in bed,
trying to pierce the darkness with his eyes.
A candle flared to life on a table next to the bed. He could
see Kodachi behind it. She lit another candle before shaking out the
match she used to light them. She crossed in front of the bed to the
empty dresser and lit two more, illuminating them in small circle of
flickering, golden light.
At first, Ranma thought Kodachi had changed out of the long,
conservative dress she had been wearing earlier in the day into her
leotard. Now that she was more thoroughly illuminated, he could see
that he was wrong.
Silently, Ranma noted that the gymnast was wearing a form-
fitting lace bustier that left her full, pert breasts partially
exposed. The bustier ended in garter belts that reached down over
Kodachi's midsection and held the thigh-high stockings the girl was
wearing into place.
What Ranma was most aware of was the fact that Kodachi's more
salient features were exposed by the costume. Her nipples protruded
from the top of the bustier, and she was wearing no panties to cover
her bottom or her delta. As a matter of fact, Ranma noted that
Kodachi's exposed vulva wasn't even covered with the thin layer of
hair that most girls seemed to have.
He felt his heart begin to pound and his breathing
quickening.
"Do you like what you see, Ranma-sama?" the girl asked in a
suggestive tone, gesturing demurely to herself.
Ranma didn't trust himself to answer.
She sat down next to him on the bed, placing one hand on his
thigh. Upon closer inspection, he could see that her face was
elaborately made up and that her hair had been immaculately styled.
He could smell her light, spicy perfume. More than that, however, he
could smell *her*, the mild, almost undetectable scent of her body.
He realized that she was trembling somewhat as she reached
past him and took a freshly-poured glass of champagne. She sipped
lightly from the glass, and then tilted it against Ranma's lips. He
let a bit of the fluid pour down his throat without tasting it, not
caring if the girl had spiked it or not.
Ranma suddenly felt the pressure of a serious decision
looming before him. It was obvious what Kodachi wanted, and what she
was prepared to offer in return. She was indeed lovely, he noted
somewhat distantly. He tried to think about the consequences of what
could happen, but found that he just really didn't want to.
"I... ah... noticed that you don't have any--"
"I noticed you noticing," she said in a husky voice, cutting
him off. She giggled, letting her long-nailed fingers brush against
Ranma's cheek. "I hope you don't mind. There are certain reasons for
gymnasts to stay hairless in certain areas. It just seems more
efficient to me to do away with the problem altogether rather than
deal with it piecemeal. I understand that some men consider it more
attractive this way. Do you consider it attractive, Ranma-sama?"
Ranma gulped.
"Perhaps you haven't seen enough to come to a decision yet,"
she said, breathing in his ear. "Tell me if you would like to see
more, Ranma," she urged him.
For the first time, Ranma noticed that quiet music was
playing in the room. He tracked it to a small portable stereo that
Kodachi had apparently brought in with her. The music was very
distracting. It was all very distracting. Ranma couldn't even seem to
concentrate on what was bothering him earlier.
Did he want to see more?
A vision of short, dark hair and liquid brown eyes played
before his eyes for a few moments. For a second, it was Nabiki, who
had assured him that he could never have her. Then it was Akane,
whose screams of hatred and rage still echoed in Ranma's ears.
Who did Ranma want to be with? Did it matter? He couldn't
decide.
Finally, he thought, to hell with Nabiki. To hell with Akane.
"Yeah," he spoke aloud, his voice whisper-quiet. "I want to
see more. Show me more."
Kodachi smiled a wicked, predatory grin. She leaned in close
to Ranma until her body was resting against his. He could feel her
heart beating. He could feel her breath on his lips.
Impulsively, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against
hers.
She returned the kiss, invading his mouth with her tongue.
Ranma could faintly taste champagne.
Stop this, some small part of his mind cried out. What about
Nabiki or Akane?
Shut up, Ranma thought. I want this!
In defiance, Ranma deepened the kiss and wrapped his arm
around Kodachi's waist. His fingers trailed down her naked hip.
"So forceful," Kodachi noted mischievously when their lips
parted.
"You're one to talk," Ranma accused, tightening his grip on
her waist.
"Indeed. I admit that I prefer... straightforward...
solutions."
Ranma only realized how aroused his body was when Kodachi
shifted her position in order to straddle Ranma's waist. They kissed
again. Ranma began let his hands roam across the gymnast's body in
the way he wanted and the way he thought she wanted. Indeed, she
seemed to respond to his movements. Her hands began to snake up
underneath his shirt. She paused briefly to undo the frog ties that
fastened his shirt, but raked her fingernails softly against his
chest once she had it open.
Stop! What about responsibility? What about honor? Ranma
shook head slightly, trying to will those thoughts away. He thought
back on his brief experience with Taiyoko and how messed up it was.
No, *this* was what it was supposed to be like!
Seeing and feeling that Kodachi was willing, Ranma stepped up
his exploration of her body. His hands sought out her breasts. They
sprung freely from the bustier, each seeming to fill his hand
perfectly. She shuddered and groaned as he let his fingers brush
across her nipples.
It was nothing like what had happened the night before!
Taiyoko had been too afraid and disgusted with what was happening to
move, but Kodachi returned each of his touches with interest. Ranma
felt like the two of them were a rising bonfire.
Rising to what? Sex?
It was a possibility... more than a possibility. Ranma could
feel the gymnast rubbing her mound against his waist. He could feel
the muscles in her legs tensing and contracting. If they didn't stop
soon, it would be sex. Did Ranma want to stop?
Would any of other girls be barging in at the least
appropriate moment? Probably not. Would Ranma care if they did?
Ranma released Kodachi's breasts and let his hands drift
lower, even as she was placing a series of delicate, sensual bites up
his shoulder and onto his neck. Greedily, he enveloped one of her
nipples with his mouth and began to suck gently.
Kodachi stifled a squeal, biting the palm of her hand.
"Oh, Ranma-sama..." she groaned.
Ranma wasn't done yet. His hands darted lower, across her
bare delta. He kneaded the tender, soft flesh, marvelling at its
smoothness. He darted even lower, letting his fingers brush across
Kodachi's dewy petals.
Indeed, they were moist and wet, just like Ranma's got when
he was a girl. Grinning, Ranma realized what an advantage he must
have over other guys. Not one of them knew what it *really* felt
like!
His hands sought out the places on Kodachi's body where his
girl body longed to be touched. He let his fingers slowly, gently
slide in between her folds, brushing so lightly against the sensitive
nub in between that it seemed almost accidental.
Kodachi cried out nonetheless. "Ranma-sama!"
"Do you want me to stop?" Ranma asked, already knowing the
answer. If he was a girl, he wouldn't want him to stop. He nudged her
again gently, letting her moisture lubricate his fingers. He slid
them back and forth gently at first, but then more firmly. He worked
against Kodachi's folds as well, stimulating every part of her,
thrilling to the noises he was eliciting from her.
Even more thrilling was the fact that she now was pulling at
the waistband of his pants, trying to get her hands inside. Ranma
almost faltered when she slid one hand down under the waist of his
boxers, and make a quiet groan of pleasure as she gripped his erect
member. Her other hand rested across his chest as she clumsily began
to stimulate him in return.
In surprise, he realized that he was more experienced with a
woman's body than she was with a man's body despite her seeming
confidence and provocative behavior.
Ranma was suddenly very curious. He shifted the focus of his
gentle ministrations, letting his fingers dart lower and lower as the
rubbed against her. He was soon taking long strokes that started at
her inner lips and drifted up over her sensitive clitoris.
Gently, slowly, he began to probe between them.
"Ah! Ranma-sama, stop!" Kodachi squeaked out.
Indeed, Ranma couldn't push any further. Kodachi's hymen was
intact. She was a virgin. The idea surprised him, but confirmed what
he suspected. Despite her sexy costume and willing demeanor, Kodachi
had no more knowledge of what was happening than Ranma did... and
perhaps even less.
"Not like this," she pleaded. "Ranma-sama, the other way,
please..."
She wanted him to continue, but with his...
Ranma gulped. This was it. The point of no return. This was
where he made all his choices.
For the life of him, he could only see one possible choice,
and it involved him taking his pants off.
Kodachi nodded, her lips roaming all over his face. Her hand
continued to move around inside Ranma's pants, touching... exploring.
Ranma didn't try to resist as she leaned forward, lowering
the both of them to the mattress. He continued to gently stroke her,
savoring the feel of her trembling body. Soon, he knew, that body
would belong as much to him as her.
Then there was the clink of glass, and the sudden sensation
of wetness as a cold, sticky sensation washed down Ranma's face and
back.
He had knocked over the champagne! She... had knocked over
the champagne, Ranma noted in irritation.
Kodachi's eyes went wide as the two collapsed together on the
bed. Ranma could feel the gymnast's hand stiffen inside her shorts.
She wasn't surprised. Instead of the member that Kodachi had been
gently caressing, her fingers had slid limply up against Ranma's
delta. Her other hand twitched, squeezing Ranma's breast slightly.
"I'm sorry," Ranma whispered, realizing that her own slender
hands were still engaged in a rather intimate fashion. "Let me get
some hot water and--"
Kodachi jerked, tearing her hands away from Ranma. She
scrambled to her knees, and rolled off the bed. Ranma tried to keep a
grip on her, but the gymnast twisted out of her grasp.
"Kodachi, wait..." Ranma pleaded.
Staring in horror, Kodachi backed up until she hit the table,
knocking both the candles over. Extinguished by their fall, they both
went out, dimming the room slightly.
"Kodachi, please. I'll get some hot water and we'll pick
up--"
The half-naked girl turned and ran, fumbling with the
doorknob on her way out of the room.
Ranma collapsed on the bed, feeling tears beginning to gather
at the corners of her eyes.
"Dammit."
* * *
"I see, Tendou," Genma noted sadly. "It was bad, then."
"You have no idea, Saotome. You saw Nabiki's eye when you
came in. Akane was even more upset at Ranma. I'm just not sure
there's a way any more."
Genma sighed at length. "Well, as much as I hate to suggest
it, there are other ways to protect the dojo. Hopefully, it won't
come to that. Maybe they just need some time apart."
"Maybe, but it may be too late for that. What do you have in
mind?"
"While we were out last night," Genma explained in a
whispered tone, "Nodoka and I happened across an opportunity that may
just be too good to pass up..."
-----
~to be continued...
here without permission.
This story contains some adult material. Reader discretion is
advised.
------------------------------
The door slid open. Stirred by the cool air from outside the
room, the misty fog dissipated.
Ranma was standing in the doorway, a towel hanging around his
waist. His mouth worked up and down soundlessly as he stared at the
two girls.
Taiyoko's entire body blushed. Nabiki started to glare.
"Do you mind?" the dark-haired girl finally said. "Or are you
going to stare at us all night?
Ranma turned and fled.
------------------------------
newRanma 18: Screaming
by Chris Jones
------------------------------
The image burned Ranma's mind.
Nabiki and Taiyoko were sitting in the furo together, their
lips locked together in a passionate kiss. The dark-haired girl
gently cradled the light-haired girl. Nabiki's hands played over
Taiyoko's body, caressing every inch. One hand worked lower, under
the surface of the water, sending ripples spreading away from
Taiyoko's mid-section. Ranma couldn't help but think that Nabiki was
doing to Taiyoko what Ranma planned to do for himself.
What the two girls were doing could only be called 'sex'.
The image burned Ranma's body.
He had already been aroused, both from a combination of the
time he spent earlier in the evening with Taiyoko and the time he
just spent wondering what actually making love to the young woman
would feel like.
Now he was shaking and stumbling against the wall as he
staggered back to his room. His hands seemed palsied as he tried to
open the door. His knees were weak and didn't seem to want to support
his weight.
Once inside, he collapsed on his futon. His eyes were
clenched shut, but that didn't stop the image from looping over and
over in his mind. Every sound Ranma heard was permanently etched into
his mind. Every square inch of Nabiki's and Taiyoko's bodies were
indelibly engraved onto his retina. He couldn't not see them, even if
he wanted to.
Hours passed for Ranma as he lay on his futon, unable and
unwilling to forget what he had seen. Even sleep wasn't an option.
All the half-clues and hints finally fell into place in his mind. He
thought he had seen the entire puzzle before, but the secret was more
vast and maddening than he thought possible.
How could he have missed it? How could he have been so blind?
Taiyoko even tried to tell him, but he had shushed her, assuring her
that he already knew!
As the minutes ticked by, however, one thought began to stand
out from the rest. One thought brought him to his knees and
eventually put him on his feet. That same thought sent him staggering
back down the stairs and into the bathroom, which had been vacant for
quite some time. The thought sent him back up the stairs, where he
opened the door to Nabiki's room without knocking, and stormed
inside.
There they were, laying side by side on Nabiki's bed.
Taiyoko's face was turned away from Ranma and the steady, gentle rise
and fall of her chest indicated that she had been asleep for some
time. Nabiki was facing Ranma but she wasn't asleep. Her eyes were
open and it looked as if she wasn't particularly surprised that Ranma
had stormed in.
Those eyes boring into him, Ranma finally gave voice to the
thought that plagued him.
"Why wasn't it me?!" he demanded in a tone so full of emotion
that he couldn't believe it came from his mouth.
Nabiki stirred, and slowly set up in bed.
Why wasn't it me, he had asked her. She had known that the
question was coming. It was evident in his hot, probing eyes when he
had first seen her and Taiyoko together. It was evident in his
stance. It was even evident in his hurt, needing expression. She
could see that as far as Ranma was concerned, it should have been him
there in the furo, holding one... or even both of the girls.
Why wasn't it him?
Nabiki asked herself that same question over and over again
to try to prepare for this moment. She had answered the question a
dozen ways in her own mind, but still wasn't satisfied with the
answer. The words that came out of her mouth surprised her.
"What? You think you can turn me down over and over again,
and then call me back whenever you want me?"
She realized after she said it that there was no helping what
was going to happen next. Ranma's expression shattered. She could see
the wave of pain and betrayal cross Ranma's features like wind in
tall grass.
"It doesn't work like that, Saotome," she hissed. "You can't
just toy with a girl's affections and expect her to follow you around
like a puppy. Oh wait, I forgot... every other girl follows you
around like that, so why shouldn't I?"
"Toy with *your* affections?" Ranma shouted incredulously,
ignoring Nabiki's hurtful barb. "What about you? You think I asked
for any of the things you did to me?"
"Keep your voice down," Nabiki commanded, but it was already
too late.
"Nabiki?" Taiyoko asked in a quiet, sleepy voice. "What's
wrong?"
Ranma was no less aroused, but was now quite angry. He felt
it earlier, when he confronted Taiyoko's parents, but now there
seemed to be no outlet for his dark feelings.
"How could you treat me like that?" Ranma finally demanded.
"Did you think that I didn't want to? Did you think that I didn't
like what you were doing to me?"
"You had your chance, Ranma!" Nabiki growled. "Now go away
before you cause even more problems."
"What are you talking about, Nabiki?" Taiyoko asked in a
worried tone, sitting up in bed next to the girl and pulling the
comforter up under her chin.
"Yeah, I had my chance... so long as Akane, Ukyou, or Kodachi
didn't walk in on us," Ranma snapped back. "I thought--"
"You thought what, Ranma?" Nabiki demanded. "You thought you
could have me, and keep all your other girlfriends just hanging on?
God, how could I have even been so stupid to think that you really
had become a woman?"
"B-b-become a--" Ranma stammered, finally... totally
understanding.
"That's right, Ranma," Nabiki said. "I mean... you had me
fooled, and that's not easy. I'd like to think I'm too intelligent
for that but apparently I was blind."
"You wanted me to be a..."
Unshed tears were standing in the corners of Nabiki's eyes,
but her expression refused to soften.
"You think I broke your heart," Nabiki accused, "but you
deceived me and treated me just like every *other* girl who's fallen
in love with you. It was worse, because you made me believe that I
was different!"
Ranma was speechless. His mouth worked up and down
soundlessly at Nabiki's admittance.
"For a few days there, I was convinced that I could have it
all, and then you told me that it was the other girls standing in our
way. I don't see how I could have ever thought you'd be happy without
your harem."
"You... thought that I had become... a girl... in my mind,"
Ranma finally uttered.
"What was I supposed to think?!" Nabiki screeched. "You only
showed every sign that you weren't a guy anymore! Gee, stupid
Nabiki," she said in a tone that mocked herself as much as Ranma,
"falling for something that looks like a girl but is really a guy."
"Nabiki..." Taiyoko murmured in a disbelieving tone. "It's...
t-this is t-t-true?"
The girl's admission hurt, Ranma admitted to himself. Nabiki
thought that he-- Ranma-- had become a girl in both mind and body.
How close was that to the truth? Didn't Ranma's body *want*
guys to touch her. Didn't she become aroused when she spent too much
time with Kunou, Hiroshi, or Daisuke? Didn't she dream about it every
night for almost a month? Wasn't she guilty of doing all the girly
things? How many times had she been caught watching soap operas or
wearing dresses or...
"You let me think you were a woman! Worse, you used me to get
off," Nabiki continued, "but then when it looked like I might want a
little bit of commitment, you used the excuse closest to hand to shut
me out. Nabiki Tendou doesn't play that game Ranma. You had your
chance, and now it's gone."
She rather forcibly grabbed Taiyoko's hand. The blonde girl's
expression was confused and more than a little hurt.
"I used you... I used you?!" Ranma asked in anger. "You can
sit there and say that? You came on to me like an animal in heat, and
say that I used *you*?!"
"Well what else do you call it?"
"I didn't even understand what the hell was going on," Ranma
admitted loudly. "Here's a cute girl, and she's hanging all over me.
I didn't even know why it turned me on at first let alone if I liked
it or not. How the hell was I supposed to react?"
"Ranma... Nabiki... please don't fight," Taiyoko interjected
quietly.
"And her... did you just start hanging all over Taiyoko too?"
Ranma asked accusingly.
"Please--"
"Did you touch her like you touched me?!" Ranma demanded.
"Well, obviously. I've seen that for myself."
"You t-t-t-t-ouched--"
"Shut up, Ranma!" Nabiki yelled, holding Taiyoko close to her
chest.
"You told me that I made you think I was a girl," Ranma
retorted, "But you made me think that it didn't matter one way or the
other! I thought you cared about me..."
"Get it through your thick skull, Ranma. You're a man! Even
when you're a girl, you're still a man. I could never love a man!"
The worst part of it was the shame. Shame at not realizing
what Nabiki was... or what she was after. Shame at the way he had
been duped. Shame at his arousal, which was still the foremost
thought in his mind. He felt shame because he still wanted the both
of them, even after everything that had been said.
There was even shame at not being what Nabiki or Taiyoko
wanted.
"Is that enough for you, Ranma?!" Nabiki cried.
"Fine!" Ranma shouted angrily. He realized that there were
tears standing in his own eyes. "That's just fine! See if I care! See
if it matters to me at all!"
He turned to storm back out of Nabiki's room, only to run
face-first into Akane.
Ranma blinked. She had been standing right outside the door
for who knew how long. She was shaking. Her features were contorted
with rage and hurt. Her fists were clenched.
"With my own sister..." she growled, despite the fact that
tears were flowing down her cheeks. "You... you... you... And you!"
she whirled on Nabiki. "How could you?!"
"Well, I'm not any more," Nabiki assured her flippantly.
"He's all yours, Akane, if you can ever get him away from the other
girls."
Akane didn't even hear her. "You're sleeping WITH ANOTHER
GIRL!!"
"Why don't you yell it a little louder, Akane?" Nabiki
responded. "I'm not sure the whole neighborhood has heard you yet."
"Perverted!" Akane yelled, almost irrational with rage. "My
own sister! You're a monster, Nabiki!"
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Says the girl with a sex-changing
fiancee."
"I AM NOT A PERVERT!" Akane yelled, lunging across the room
at her older sister. Before Ranma could think, he was moving, but not
fast enough to keep Akane from belting Nabiki in the face.
Nabiki rocked back with the punch, clutching at her face.
"NO!" Taiyoko screamed. "Don't hurt her!"
"This is all your fault," Akane accused the blonde girl. "If
you hadn't come here and started confusing everyone, we wouldn't have
this problem. Die, whore!" Akane yelled, cocking her fist.
Taiyoko cowered back away from her.
Akane swung, but her fist never connected. It impacted
against Ranma's open hand with a meaty smack. Before she could react,
Ranma had his arms around her shoulders, and was pulling her off of
the other two girls.
"Let me go!" she screamed angrily, flailing and kicking for
all she was worth.
"This isn't any of your business," Ranma told her coldly,
trying to drag her across the room without hurting her.
"Akane's right," a new voice said. "What Nabiki and Taiyoko
are doing is wrong!"
It was Kasumi, standing in the hallway outside Nabiki's door.
"That's still no excuse to hit your sister, Akane," she
scolded.
"God, ain't this messed up enough without you butting in
too?" Ranma yelled in exasperation.
Nabiki was sitting upright in her bed, poking at her rapidly
swelling eye. "Why don't both of you just stay the hell out of this?"
she demanded.
"I can't!" Kasumi declared. "I won't let you do this horrible
thing, Nabiki. It's just not right!"
"I'll take care of that right now," Akane added. "Come here
so I can kill you, you freak!" she yelled at Taiyoko.
The blonde girl was bawling, her face buried against Nabiki's
arm.
"Keep your hands off her, Akane!" Ranma blinked. He hadn't
even realized that he had said it until it came out of his mouth.
"You're sleeping with her too, aren't you?" Akane shouted in
accusation.
Ranma surprised himself again. He roughly shoved Akane away
from himself, sending her stumbling out into the hall. Kasumi caught
her, just before she plowed into the wall."
"That's not very nice at all, Ranma!" Kasumi scolded.
"And beating on one of my best friends is?" the martial
artist retorted. "You're acting as fucked-up as she is."
"Watch your mouth when you talk to my sister," Akane
threatened, closing ranks with Kasumi.
"You're just making things worse. The both of you just need
to go away," Ranma said, feeling just how out of control the
situation was becoming. He tried to usher them back down the hallway,
but just managed to get himself backed up against Akane's doorway.
"Maybe you should never have brought that pervert into our
house, Ranma!" Akane said. "It's your fault that everything is so
crazy around here now."
"Ranma, you're a guest here," Kasumi said. "You need to
follow the rules and--"
"Shut up!" Ranma yelled. "Neither of you is making any sense!
If there's anything wrong here, it's with the two of you!"
Akane answered him with a slap across the face.
Ranma's arousal had been stretched the very limits. He had
only been learning how to control it for a few weeks. It was still
burning inside him, fueling his frustration. Akane was acting
irrationally, just like she always did, some small part of Ranma's
mind told him. She never listened. She never tried to understand. It
was almost impossible to bear. His anger at her was fiery and out of
control.
He returned her slap, leaving a red mark across her cheek.
Akane's eyes opened wide in shock as she clutched at her
stinging face.
Kasumi looked on in horror. She didn't believe what had just
happened. She didn't want to believe. It was undeniable. There Ranma
stood, his hand raised in the air at the end of the ringing blow.
"Ranma..." Akane muttered in disbelief. "You... you... YOU
CREEP!"
Ranma never saw the punch coming.
It was, by any account, one of the wildest, most anger-fueled
blows that had ever come from Akane, even as bad as her temper really
was. It caught Ranma across the chin, lifting him into the air and
sending him flying back into Akane's room.
Shocked by the blow, Ranma was too stunned to try to recover.
He landed hard against Akane's bed. His head whipped back. He heard
something crack.
Akane gasped out loud, hearing the sharp crack and seeing
Ranma go limp as he hit the side of her bed. For just a second, it
seemed like she had gone back in time a few months, and was watching
Ranma slip on eggs she had thrown at him.
Then Akane's bed collapsed. It's steel frame had been the
source of the crack, bending and snapping at a welded joint under the
force of the impact. The weight of Ranma's body tipped the bed,
sending Akane's mattress sliding off into the floor.
Recovering from his shock, Ranma tried to right himself,
clawing at anything he could in order to get back up. He only
succeeded in further dislodging the mattress. He slipped and fell
over, laying face up in front of the remnants of Akane's bed.
A magazine slid off of the exposed surface of the tilted
boxspring, and landed across Ranma's face.
He blinked, and slowly pulled the magazine off his face.
It was his naughty Utena doujinshi. Why did Akane have it?
A few more magazines were sliding off the bed and landing on
him or the mattress. One had a cover he had seen before. It took him
a few seconds to recognize it, but remembered that Hiroshi had shown
him the same issue several weeks ago. It was a Sailor Moon doujinshi
entitled 'Lunatic Syndrome'. The front cover was a picture of Sailor
Jupiter and Sailor Mercury in an undressed state and entwined in a
deep kiss.
One magazine that landed in his lap also seemed to be
familiar. It showed a picture of a large-busted model in a seductive
pose. She was wearing only a brassier, gloves, and thigh-high
stockings. Ranma suddenly remembered that he had seen this before--
and that Akane had been practicing the same pose in her mirror. The
memory was hazy, as if from a dream, but it was far too certain to be
deja vu. Curiously, he turned the page. The next image was a full
two-page spread of the same model running her gloved fingers across
another model's exposed vulva.
He stood in shock, confused by what he was seeing. All around
him lie dozens of magazines and books. Some were doujinshi that
seemed similar in tone to the Utena or Sailor Moon magazine. Some
looked more like novels. One that had fallen off the boxspring and
landed next to his hand was entitled 'A Different Love Affair', and
had a painted picture of two scantily-clad women dancing together on
its front cover. Others were glossy magazines. Those that had fallen
open seemed to cover a great range, from the barely erotic to the
obscenely pornographic. One image that caught Ranma's eye was of a
woman in a school uniform similar to that of Furinkan High. She was
bound at the hands and feet and tied into a chair, while another
woman, clad from head to toe in a skin-tight latex body-suit, suckled
at her exposed breasts.
Without exception, every image that Ranma could see was of
female flesh.
"Oh-ho-ho..." Nabiki chuckled. "I see!" While Ranma was
distracted, she had wormed her way into the room past Akane and
Kasumi and had knelt down next to Ranma. She picked up one magazine
and began to page through it, looking intently with the eye that was
not rapidly swelling shut.
"Get out..." Akane yelled.
"Akane," Kasumi asked in confusion. "What is this? Why are
these things in your room?"
"Now I should think that's *perfectly* obvious, Kasumi,"
Nabiki said.
"Get out of my room!" Akane screamed, her fists still
clenched and shaking. Her face was red, but not from anger.
Ranma blinked, still trying to get to his feet. He slipped on
another magazine, this one displaying two young women doing
interesting things to each other with phallic vibrators.
"'Hot Lesbo Sluts'," Nabiki read. "You really don't have any
taste at all, do you, Akane? Here's a good one. 'Tails of Passion'.
You know that most of this stuff is made for guys don't you?" Nabiki
laughed out loud.
"I don't understand," Ranma said.
"That's not a big change," Nabiki said. "Let me spell it out
for you, Ranma. Your fiancee is a dyke!"
"Akane, no!" Kasumi yelled.
This time, Ranma was ready. He caught Akane before she could
tear into her sister. She was screaming incoherently and thrashing
around desperately, but couldn't escape from Ranma's grasp.
"It's not even that big a surprise if you think about it.
Birds of a feather, after all."
"That's enough, Nabiki," Soun's voice rang out over his
youngest daughter's screams. He was standing in the hallway next to
Kasumi, clad only in a pair of boxer shorts.
"Pot calling the kettle black, don't you think, Akane?"
Nabiki pressed.
"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!" Akane screamed, still trying to get
free.
"I think the lady doth protest too much," Nabiki noted,
laying the magazine she had been holding down. "That makes twice that
I've been fooled."
"I said that was enough, Nabiki," Soun commanded. "Go
downstairs. Please take Taiyoko with you."
"Why?" Ranma asked Akane, tears beginning to flow down his
face.
Akane either didn't hear or was ignoring him in her mad
struggles to get free.
"I HATE YOU, RANMA!" Akane screamed. "LET GO OF ME!"
Once Nabiki had fled, Ranma let go of Akane, who collapsed
sobbing in the middle of the floor.
"I HATE YOU!" she cried again. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! IT'S
ALL YOUR FAULT! GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!"
"Akane's right. You should leave, Ranma," Kasumi said. "At
least until everyone has calmed down and come to their senses."
His eyes wide and staring, Ranma rushed past Kasumi and her
father and back into his own room.
"Ranma, wait!" Soun yelled after him, running down the
hallway. It was too late by the time he reached Ranma's room. The
window was open, and Soun could see Ranma's dark shape vaulting the
fence outside in the moonlight.
* * *
Ranma had grabbed his red Chinese shirt and a pair of pants
before he left the Tendou's house, so he stopped behind some
shrubbery to pull them on over his boxers and under-shirt.
He ran at random, as fast as he could. His only goal was to
get away from the Tendou's house and the betrayal he found there.
Betrayal wasn't the right word, but Ranma didn't know how
else to think about what he was feeling.
First there was Nabiki. Ranma admitted to himself that he was
attracted to her and wanted her body. Worse, he wanted her to want or
need him in return. Before tonight he thought she did.
"Do I love her?" he asked himself under his breath as he ran.
Ranma didn't know, but a vicious, selfish little voice inside
his mind kept screaming "Mine! Mine!" as loudly as it could.
Nabiki didn't want Ranma, or at least she claimed, simply
because of his masculinity. Was he that different a person when was a
girl?
Then there was Akane, who appeared to share her sister's
proclivities, at least to some degree. Ranma couldn't think of any
other reason for what he had seen in her room. Was it true? Did Akane
like girls? Was she attracted to women?
If so, why had she pushed Ranma away a few weeks earlier,
when she had almost begged Akane for physical affection? At the time,
Akane had seemed almost accepting, and almost... interested.
"Well, I'm not interested in kissing girls," Akane had
admitted that day in the girls' showers. "But... kissing my
fiancee..."
What had happened between then and now? Why was Akane so
hostile as to be irrational? If Akane liked girls, why couldn't she
have shown Ranma what they both seemed so interested in? Even one
kiss...
Even one kiss would have saved Ranma from falling for Nabiki.
Now, neither of them wanted Ranma, and he really wasn't sure
why, or where it had all gone wrong. Nabiki had hinted that Ranma
lost any chance with her as soon as she realized that Ranma was still
a boy... specifically when Ranma indicated that they would get in
trouble if Akane, Ukyou, or Kodachi walked in on them in the
bathroom. She called them his 'harem'.
Akane's disposition had changed... changed radically in the
last few months. Before, she seemed almost tolerant. Now, despite the
fact that it seemed Akane was indeed interested in 'kissing girls',
she was violently irrational about the concept, enough so that she
attacked her sister.
Now that neither one was interested in him any more, what
could he do?
As the cloudy sky above began to grow light, Ranma found
himself near the bridge. Not wanting to deal with anyone who might be
up, he walked down the banks of the canal and sat down just
underneath the overhang of the concrete structure.
Did he love Nabiki? Did he love Akane? Even if he did, was
there any chance that either of them would ever want to be with him?
Would Nabiki ever love him? Would Akane?
Would he still be forced to marry Akane, upholding their
family's engagement, even if the girl did not love him? Would Ranma
want the marriage, even if Akane didn't love him? What if she didn't?
What if their marriage was loveless and sexless? What if...
The dawn was obscured by thick, scudding clouds. As all of
the possibilities were crashing down on Ranma, it began to rain. He
scurried further up underneath the bridge, hoping to avoid the water,
but the shower was soon accompanied by a healthy breeze. Ranma was
soon covered in a fine spray of freezing mist.
Ranma found herself wet, cold, female and utterly alone.
"Pigtailed girl," a voice called out in the rain.
Ranma glanced up to see two shapes approaching her.
"Ranma," the voice said again. It was Kunou, carrying an open
umbrella to ward off the rain. Next to him was Kodachi, also carrying
an umbrella. She carried a spare in one hand. Wordlessly, she reached
out and handed it to Ranma.
"I would never speak ill of the community," Kunou said, "but
privately, I detest the weather in this city. Is it so much to ask
for the sky to stay sunny all day at least once or twice a week?"
"Come, Ranma-sama," Kodachi urged the pigtailed girl. "I
understand it has not been that long since you recovered from a cold.
It just wouldn't do for you to get another so soon. Come with me...
and I will keep you warm and dry."
* * *
It was raining quite hard by the time Soun managed to get all
three of his daughters assembled around the main table. He had to
shout Akane and Kasumi down several times after Ranma left. It wasn't
something he was very good at. By the time he sat down in front of
them, he was shaking visibly. He was also chain-smoking, something
his daughters hadn't seen him do since right after their mother's
funeral. The tobacco didn't noticeably calm him.
Taiyoko tried to excuse herself, but Soun shook his head.
"No, you stay right here. This probably concerns you as much
as it does my daughters."
Trembling, Taiyoko nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
After taking a few deep breaths, he looked at each of his
daughters gravely. He opened his mouth once, paused, and said, "All I
ever really wanted out of life were two simple things. I want my
daughters to be happy, and I want my dojo to survive after I'm gone."
Kasumi nodded. All three girls had heard that before.
"If all of you understand that, can anyone tell me why all of
my daughters are hell bent on denying me those two simple things?" he
asked in a calm voice.
"Father?" Kasumi asked. "What's the matter? Why are you so
upset?"
Soun's eyes flashed darkly. He glared at the oldest girl,
sending her scrambling back away from him.
Akane and Nabiki gasped in shock. They had *never* seen their
father get angry at Kasumi before.
"I'm apparently not much of a father," Soun said, "but I
thought that I raised you better than to be judgmental, Kasumi,
especially of your sisters."
"Father?" Kasumi pleaded, tears standing in her eyes.
"Despite the fact that I've been doing my damndest to push
Ranma and Akane together for the last *year*, you've been blocking me
at every turn!"
"But... but... but... Akane... It's just not right. She could
get pregnant," Kasumi replied meekly.
"THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL!" Soun bellowed. "Why else do you
think Genma and I engaged them?! And you--" he turned to Akane.
"You've been doing even more to block us. We've given you an entire
year to decide, but you still keep stringing the entire family along
the entire time. And now you've thrown your fiancee out?! How long do
you think it will take him to settle in with one of his other
girlfriends, Akane?"
"That's not fair!" Akane yelled in protest.
"What's not fair is that you have as little regards for your
fiancee's feelings as you do the rest of us, Akane," Soun countered.
"I can't claim to understand the depth of Ranma's injury, but I
genuinely believed he loved you, even before his surgery. I had hoped
that one day the two of you would put aside your childish bickering
and pointless romances and admit your feelings for each other. Now I
see that I was wrong-- horribly wrong."
Akane's face was contorted in rage and fury. Her fists were
balled into tight lumps.
"Now my hopes of passing the dojo down to the two of you have
died. To top it all off, you have the unmitigated gall to attack your
sister?" Soun grabbed one of the magazines that had fallen on the
floor and held it up, displaying its pornographic cover. "Do you know
what the word 'hypocrisy' means, Akane?"
Akane's face turned red. She turned, unable to look her
father in the eyes. She stared at the floor, shame beginning to
replace rage on her face.
"And you," he turned to Nabiki. "Is the dishonesty ever going
to stop, Nabiki?"
His middle daughter's face paled.
"We've had this discussion before, Nabiki-- many times.
Still, you lied to me, you lied to your sisters, and if what I heard
is correct, you deceived Ranma as well. You used him just like you
try to use everyone else. You're so intent on controlling everything
and everyone around you that you lie and keep secrets to spite
yourself. How else do you end up with situations like this?" he
gestured around himself.
"You knew," Nabiki accused.
"Of course I knew," Soun said mildly. "Do you think I haven't
been watching you for the last seventeen years? Please, Kasumi," he
said, holding up a hand to his eldest daughter. "Don't interrupt."
The oldest girl closed her mouth. She was still visibly
upset.
Soun finished his cigarette and lit another one.
"There is a reason that I haven't made a point of it up until
now. The main reason is that I wanted to avoid a confrontation like
this one. I didn't want to decloset you in front of your sisters. Now
it's too late for that." He took a long drag off his cigarette.
"Father, what Nabiki is doing is unnatural," Kasumi said
calmly.
"That may be," Soun said. "But that's for her to decide. Even
if you think it's wrong, I will not have my daughters be uncivil to
each other. I hope I've made myself clear. Akane?"
"Yes, Father," Akane mumbled.
"Nabiki, I can't begin tell you the amount of suffering
you've opened yourself up to. The path you've chosen is
extraordinarily difficult and painful, and there's only so much help
I can give you. If your sisters are this antagonistic, can you
imagine how you will be treated by people who *don't* care about
you?"
"I understand that, Daddy," Nabiki said. "But--"
Soun cut her off, saying, "Do you remember your dear,
departed aunt Noriko?"
Nabiki nodded.
"And do you remember your Aunt's maid, Yayoi-san?"
Again, Nabiki nodded, comprehension beginning to dawn in her
eyes. She vaguely remembered the pair from her youth. She always
thought that Yayoi was very pretty, remembering the bright red
lipstick the girl always wore.
"Of course if our parents ever found out about my sister's
preferences, Noriko would have been disowned. That's why Yayoi was
her 'maid'."
Kasumi gasped, her hands going to her mouth.
"But then Yayoi got sick," Soun said. "If I remember
correctly, it was because she had a weak heart. They wouldn't even
let my poor sister visit her in the hospital. She was never even able
to say goodbye."
Nabiki winced, suddenly remembering the trouble she had
helped Ranma with a few weeks ago.
He paused, wiping a tear from his eye. "While my parents
still don't know, I'm afraid Yayoi's parents found out at some point.
They forbade Noriko from attending the funeral. How would you feel,
Nabiki, if you weren't able to attend the funeral of someone you
promised to spend the rest of your life with? It killed Noriko. She
got a severe cold later that year, and just didn't fight it off like
anyone else would have. Her heart was so full of grief that she
didn't even try to recover."
Taiyoko gulped out loud at Soun's statement. Nabiki knew her
parents well enough to know exactly how they would act in such a
situation. Still, the dark-haired girl's face hardened.
"I love Taiyoko," she said out loud after some deliberation.
It was a difficult statement to make. "Nothing else matters."
"You don't know what love is, Nabiki," Soun said flatly.
"You've known Taiyoko for a few weeks. What you have-- the both of
you have-- is infatuation. It will be months or even years before you
even begin to understand what it means to truly love someone."
Distastefully, he rubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray. More
calmly, he addressed his daughter. "What you have may one day grow
into love. It's something you should strive for. You had better show
Taiyoko more honesty and kindness than you have the rest of your
family," Soun warned, "or your relationship won't last that long."
Nabiki nodded. She glanced guiltily at Taiyoko once, but then
turned back to her father, doing her best to keep a resolute
expression.
"I don't suppose you're a martial artist, are you, dear?"
Soun asked Taiyoko.
The blonde girl shook her head, her face full of worry and
concern, but at the same time, a joyful glee at Nabiki's admission
and Soun's seeming acceptance.
"Ah, well, I suppose it was too much to hope for. I
understand that you've already gotten off to a bad start with your
parents."
Taiyoko nodded sadly. "I just don't know what else we could
have done. The things Ranma said last night are all true. It was more
and more like a nightmare up until I left."
"You really are starting off with both feet in the gutter,"
Soun noted in exasperation. "Well, I've never turned away anyone else
away. I don't see why I should start now. You're welcome to stay here
for as long as you need to."
"I've probably lost my job at my mother's catering company,"
Taiyoko noted, "But Nabiki said that the ramen shop nearby is looking
for waitresses. I can contribute just as soon as I get another part-
time job."
"That's very responsible of you and makes a very good point.
If you and Nabiki plan to pursue an adult relationship under my roof,
I expect at least some adult responsibility out of you. That means
helping with the bills rather than extorting your poor father at
every opportunity, Nabiki. It also means an end to the dishonesty."
Nabiki nodded seriously. She didn't resist when Taiyoko
placed her hand in Nabiki's. Both girls blushed.
Tears streaming down her face, Kasumi ran from the room. She
felt alone and betrayed. Worse, she felt like her very presence was
hurting the rest of her family.
Soun sighed at length. "You might even think about helping
with the housework," he suggested quietly. "It might upset Kasumi
more than it helps, but the sooner she grows accustomed to this
arrangement, the better. Now, if you will, I want to talk to Akane
alone."
Both girls nodded, and quickly left.
Akane couldn't meet her father's lingering gaze.
Finally, the man picked up the magazine he had been holding
before and set it down in front of her.
"You know," he said after several minutes, "I never thought
I'd have to have this conversation since I didn't have any sons."
Akane gulped.
Soun took a deep breath and gestured to the pornographic
magazine.
"You know, it's not abnormal to be interested in that sort of
thing," he said. "I know I certainly was at your age. Of course, I
had very poor role models when I was your age. If Genma or I ever
came across anything like this, we either destroyed it or hid it,
because the master *would* confiscate it."
Akane shuddered, thinking how horrible it would have been to
try to grow up under such oppressive conditions.
"Of course, it's... problematic... if you're interested in
the same kinds of things your sister is."
"I'm not!" Akane fiercely declared.
"Apparently, you're still undecided," Soun said. "Regardless,
I need you to try to make up your mind as soon as you can, Akane. If
there is *any* chance for a future between you and Ranma, I want our
family to try to salvage it. If not, I need to start making other
arrangements."
He sighed at great length, stood and sat back down next to
his daughter. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her
close to him.
"It's very difficult, isn't it, not knowing?" he asked her.
Akane's resolve finally cracked. Tears began to spill down
her face, washing away all the anger. She buried her face in her
father's side and began to wail like a lost child.
"You may never know as surely as Nabiki or Kasumi seem to,"
he told her after allowing her to cry for several minutes. "When your
aunt was growing up, she seemed just as interested in young men as
she did young women. Of course you have Ranma's curse to complicate
things for you."
He sat for several more seconds, considering wether or not he
wanted another cigarette. Finally, he leaned over and kissed the
crown of his crying daughter's head. "Akane, you're probably going to
have a very difficult time. I wish I could make it easier for you,
but I really can't. Even if I could make your decisions for you,
you've proven to me over and over again that you don't want me to. I
don't think this is any different." He took a deep breath and cleared
his throat. "Even if you are interested... in certain things... Ranma
may not be. I honestly don't know. Depending on what you feel, maybe
its for the best to let him go."
Akane's crying intensified, but she couldn't let go of her
father.
Privately, Soun began to wonder how difficult it would be to
adopt Ukyou. He knew how badly that would hurt his daughter, so he
kept his mouth shut on the matter.
Finally, after Akane's tears seemed to have passed, he
gestured once more to the magazine.
"I know that you've been experimenting," he said, "and that
you will probably continue to do so, but I'd like you to consider
something before you buy anything else like this," he said. "Do you
know what you're paying for here?"
Teary-eyed, Akane shook her head. "I thought I was just
buying a magazine," she admitted in a quiet voice.
"And why do you think these girls do this sort of thing?" he
asked.
The answer was very easy, but Akane had never thought about
it before. "Money," she guessed.
Soun nodded. "I'm certain some of them are doing it for a
thrill or for some other reason, but I think that most of them do
this for the money. What do you think girls like this do with that
kind of money?"
Akane was silent.
"I bet that a few of them are just living a very high
lifestyle with nice clothes and fancy electronics." Soun said. "I
understand that it pays fairly well. I'm certain others are taking
advantage of their bodies in order to pay for tuition, rent, or debt.
There may even be a few who are using it to support their families. I
think that there are quite a few girls who do that because its the
only way they can support their habits, Akane."
The girl gulped at the statement.
"Of course I don't know for certain. I've never been involved
in that sort of thing," Soun admitted, "even as many times as the
master tried to convince me of how wonderful it would be. I
understand that its a very exploitive business and that its very easy
to become part of a dark, dark world. I imagine that at least some of
the people who are involved in producing this sort of thing can be
very unscrupulous and misleading.
"I know from experience that its very easy to get someone to
do something they don't want to do if you promise enough of something
they do want," Soun continued. "In my case, mastery of the martial
arts came at a price that I wished I never had to pay. For a long
time, I even thought that I managed to leave it behind me, but it
still came back to haunt me. How many of these girls do you think
will feel the same way when they're a little bit older?"
Soun sighed once more and stood, facing his daughter. He
smiled as warmly as he could. "I won't tell you what is right or
wrong, Akane. You're a big girl, and there's nothing I can do to
persuade you one way or the other. Just think carefully about the
decisions you're making right now because they're a lot more
important than you might think."
* * *
"So, you were listening in," Ranma guessed as she was
escorted into the depths of the Kunou mansion.
Kodachi had the good grace to blush. "A bad habit, I
suppose," she admitted weakly. "It comes of surviving in such a
political environment as a girl's school."
The Kunous had escorted Ranma out from underneath the bridge
and into a waiting limousine. There had been a short, silent car-ride
to the Kunou's estate, while Kodachi stripped the water off of
Ranma's body with dry towels.
Tatewaki made a brief, nearly unintelligible statement about
'hot water', and led both Ranma and his sister into the house. He was
being particularly close-lipped.
"You must understand that the proper behavior when dealing
with intrigue is to slowly gather information and then act upon it,"
Kodachi continued.
"So you acted..."
Kodachi coughed uncomfortably. "I saw a situation that
required intervention, so I acted... even though I was not sure of
the proper course of action."
"Well... thanks. Even if you were spying on me," Ranma said
graciously.
They arrived in front of an ornate door, which Kunou held
open for Ranma. It was foggy and steamy inside. Ranma couldn't help
but be reminded of the scene he saw in the Tendou's furo."
"This is the guest bath," Tatewaki said, a little more
clearly, but nervously nonetheless. "Inside is everything one would
need for... for a bath. Do you... *ahem* require anything special?
Special chemicals? A thermometer?"
Ranma sighed and shook her head. "No, just so long as there's
hot water in there, I'll be okay."
Both Kunous seemed to be more than a little unsure of how to
behave in this situation. Ranma was thankful enough that they seemed
to finally have gotten it through their thick heads that she settled
for simply closing the door behind her as she entered the bath rather
than chasing them off.
The 'bath' was more like a private indoor pool filled with
hot water. There were sculptures and mosaics on the walls, and what
looked like stone beach-chairs placed at regular intervals around the
'tub'. After Ranma scrubbed off, she was literally able to dive into
the deep basin, letting her problems float away on the surface of the
water.
The change felt good. It felt like everything that happened
since the night before could simply be washed away. In fact, after
diving in, Ranma decided not to resurface. It was easier to
concentrate on holding his breath as he lay at the bottom of the pool
than it was to try to understand what had happened.
After almost two minutes, Ranma finally broke the water's
surface after white spots began to dance in front of his eyes. He
went down again, holding his breath longer. He went down a third time
and a fourth.
Finally, Ranma was so dizzy he leaned over the side of the
warm pool and allowed his face to rest against the cold tile floor.
Then, holding his head in his hands, he wept.
Kodachi was waiting outside the bath with clean, dry clothes
by the time he finally got out and dried off. He noted that she
seemed surprised that it was indeed him that came out of the bathroom
and not the pigtailed girl.
"Lunch will be ready in about an hour, Ranma-sama," she said.
"In the mean time, there are many diversions we have to offer. If you
would like, my brother has an extensive video library, or there is a
covered training facility in the back."
Actually, training didn't sound like a bad idea. He followed
Kodachi's directions and made his way out into the covered garden. It
was cold, and a little misty, but it wasn't so wet that Ranma was
uncomfortable.
After a few minutes, he realized that Kunou was going through
kendo forms at the other end of the garden.
Quietly, Ranma walked up behind the swordsman and watched.
Tatewaki finished the form he was on and turned to Ranma. He
bowed perfunctorily, and then he attacked.
Grinning, Ranma blocked the first of the blows, and dodged
the next.
The two sparred for better than an hour with nothing but
their grunts of exertion to break the silence. By the time it was
over, Ranma's muscles were burning and sore. Kunou had improved a
little since the last time they fought, but Ranma still hadn't had
much opportunity to regain any of the shape he had lost during his
period of forced inactivity. Much to Ranma's chagrin, Kunou managed
to get several ringing hits in, mostly around the ribs.
Exhausted, but still silent, the two young men sat against
either side of a large rock in the center of the garden.
Finally, Ranma rose to his feet.
"That was a good workout, Kunou-sempai," he offered.
"Truly. I see that I must further sharpen my skills if I am
to defeat you."
"What's the point?" Ranma asked. "Other than just fighting
for the sake of fighting like we did just now. You seem to know who
your 'pigtailed girl' really is. Are you still trying to get Akane?"
Kunou was silent for several minutes before he answered.
"Perhaps it is that I wish to fight just for the sake of fighting. Is
that not the truest form of the art? And perhaps I still do have
designs on Akane Tendou."
"Man, if you're willing to put up with the grief she'll give
you, you can have her."
Kunou didn't answer.
After lunch, since he really hadn't gotten any sleep the
night before, Ranma found a spare bedroom and simply collapsed.
* * *
It was dark when he awoke. The rain clouds seemed to have
vanished for the most part, leaving a starry sky, streaked with an
occasional cloud visible through the window.
There was a quiet rustling in the room. Ranma sat up in bed,
trying to pierce the darkness with his eyes.
A candle flared to life on a table next to the bed. He could
see Kodachi behind it. She lit another candle before shaking out the
match she used to light them. She crossed in front of the bed to the
empty dresser and lit two more, illuminating them in small circle of
flickering, golden light.
At first, Ranma thought Kodachi had changed out of the long,
conservative dress she had been wearing earlier in the day into her
leotard. Now that she was more thoroughly illuminated, he could see
that he was wrong.
Silently, Ranma noted that the gymnast was wearing a form-
fitting lace bustier that left her full, pert breasts partially
exposed. The bustier ended in garter belts that reached down over
Kodachi's midsection and held the thigh-high stockings the girl was
wearing into place.
What Ranma was most aware of was the fact that Kodachi's more
salient features were exposed by the costume. Her nipples protruded
from the top of the bustier, and she was wearing no panties to cover
her bottom or her delta. As a matter of fact, Ranma noted that
Kodachi's exposed vulva wasn't even covered with the thin layer of
hair that most girls seemed to have.
He felt his heart begin to pound and his breathing
quickening.
"Do you like what you see, Ranma-sama?" the girl asked in a
suggestive tone, gesturing demurely to herself.
Ranma didn't trust himself to answer.
She sat down next to him on the bed, placing one hand on his
thigh. Upon closer inspection, he could see that her face was
elaborately made up and that her hair had been immaculately styled.
He could smell her light, spicy perfume. More than that, however, he
could smell *her*, the mild, almost undetectable scent of her body.
He realized that she was trembling somewhat as she reached
past him and took a freshly-poured glass of champagne. She sipped
lightly from the glass, and then tilted it against Ranma's lips. He
let a bit of the fluid pour down his throat without tasting it, not
caring if the girl had spiked it or not.
Ranma suddenly felt the pressure of a serious decision
looming before him. It was obvious what Kodachi wanted, and what she
was prepared to offer in return. She was indeed lovely, he noted
somewhat distantly. He tried to think about the consequences of what
could happen, but found that he just really didn't want to.
"I... ah... noticed that you don't have any--"
"I noticed you noticing," she said in a husky voice, cutting
him off. She giggled, letting her long-nailed fingers brush against
Ranma's cheek. "I hope you don't mind. There are certain reasons for
gymnasts to stay hairless in certain areas. It just seems more
efficient to me to do away with the problem altogether rather than
deal with it piecemeal. I understand that some men consider it more
attractive this way. Do you consider it attractive, Ranma-sama?"
Ranma gulped.
"Perhaps you haven't seen enough to come to a decision yet,"
she said, breathing in his ear. "Tell me if you would like to see
more, Ranma," she urged him.
For the first time, Ranma noticed that quiet music was
playing in the room. He tracked it to a small portable stereo that
Kodachi had apparently brought in with her. The music was very
distracting. It was all very distracting. Ranma couldn't even seem to
concentrate on what was bothering him earlier.
Did he want to see more?
A vision of short, dark hair and liquid brown eyes played
before his eyes for a few moments. For a second, it was Nabiki, who
had assured him that he could never have her. Then it was Akane,
whose screams of hatred and rage still echoed in Ranma's ears.
Who did Ranma want to be with? Did it matter? He couldn't
decide.
Finally, he thought, to hell with Nabiki. To hell with Akane.
"Yeah," he spoke aloud, his voice whisper-quiet. "I want to
see more. Show me more."
Kodachi smiled a wicked, predatory grin. She leaned in close
to Ranma until her body was resting against his. He could feel her
heart beating. He could feel her breath on his lips.
Impulsively, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against
hers.
She returned the kiss, invading his mouth with her tongue.
Ranma could faintly taste champagne.
Stop this, some small part of his mind cried out. What about
Nabiki or Akane?
Shut up, Ranma thought. I want this!
In defiance, Ranma deepened the kiss and wrapped his arm
around Kodachi's waist. His fingers trailed down her naked hip.
"So forceful," Kodachi noted mischievously when their lips
parted.
"You're one to talk," Ranma accused, tightening his grip on
her waist.
"Indeed. I admit that I prefer... straightforward...
solutions."
Ranma only realized how aroused his body was when Kodachi
shifted her position in order to straddle Ranma's waist. They kissed
again. Ranma began let his hands roam across the gymnast's body in
the way he wanted and the way he thought she wanted. Indeed, she
seemed to respond to his movements. Her hands began to snake up
underneath his shirt. She paused briefly to undo the frog ties that
fastened his shirt, but raked her fingernails softly against his
chest once she had it open.
Stop! What about responsibility? What about honor? Ranma
shook head slightly, trying to will those thoughts away. He thought
back on his brief experience with Taiyoko and how messed up it was.
No, *this* was what it was supposed to be like!
Seeing and feeling that Kodachi was willing, Ranma stepped up
his exploration of her body. His hands sought out her breasts. They
sprung freely from the bustier, each seeming to fill his hand
perfectly. She shuddered and groaned as he let his fingers brush
across her nipples.
It was nothing like what had happened the night before!
Taiyoko had been too afraid and disgusted with what was happening to
move, but Kodachi returned each of his touches with interest. Ranma
felt like the two of them were a rising bonfire.
Rising to what? Sex?
It was a possibility... more than a possibility. Ranma could
feel the gymnast rubbing her mound against his waist. He could feel
the muscles in her legs tensing and contracting. If they didn't stop
soon, it would be sex. Did Ranma want to stop?
Would any of other girls be barging in at the least
appropriate moment? Probably not. Would Ranma care if they did?
Ranma released Kodachi's breasts and let his hands drift
lower, even as she was placing a series of delicate, sensual bites up
his shoulder and onto his neck. Greedily, he enveloped one of her
nipples with his mouth and began to suck gently.
Kodachi stifled a squeal, biting the palm of her hand.
"Oh, Ranma-sama..." she groaned.
Ranma wasn't done yet. His hands darted lower, across her
bare delta. He kneaded the tender, soft flesh, marvelling at its
smoothness. He darted even lower, letting his fingers brush across
Kodachi's dewy petals.
Indeed, they were moist and wet, just like Ranma's got when
he was a girl. Grinning, Ranma realized what an advantage he must
have over other guys. Not one of them knew what it *really* felt
like!
His hands sought out the places on Kodachi's body where his
girl body longed to be touched. He let his fingers slowly, gently
slide in between her folds, brushing so lightly against the sensitive
nub in between that it seemed almost accidental.
Kodachi cried out nonetheless. "Ranma-sama!"
"Do you want me to stop?" Ranma asked, already knowing the
answer. If he was a girl, he wouldn't want him to stop. He nudged her
again gently, letting her moisture lubricate his fingers. He slid
them back and forth gently at first, but then more firmly. He worked
against Kodachi's folds as well, stimulating every part of her,
thrilling to the noises he was eliciting from her.
Even more thrilling was the fact that she now was pulling at
the waistband of his pants, trying to get her hands inside. Ranma
almost faltered when she slid one hand down under the waist of his
boxers, and make a quiet groan of pleasure as she gripped his erect
member. Her other hand rested across his chest as she clumsily began
to stimulate him in return.
In surprise, he realized that he was more experienced with a
woman's body than she was with a man's body despite her seeming
confidence and provocative behavior.
Ranma was suddenly very curious. He shifted the focus of his
gentle ministrations, letting his fingers dart lower and lower as the
rubbed against her. He was soon taking long strokes that started at
her inner lips and drifted up over her sensitive clitoris.
Gently, slowly, he began to probe between them.
"Ah! Ranma-sama, stop!" Kodachi squeaked out.
Indeed, Ranma couldn't push any further. Kodachi's hymen was
intact. She was a virgin. The idea surprised him, but confirmed what
he suspected. Despite her sexy costume and willing demeanor, Kodachi
had no more knowledge of what was happening than Ranma did... and
perhaps even less.
"Not like this," she pleaded. "Ranma-sama, the other way,
please..."
She wanted him to continue, but with his...
Ranma gulped. This was it. The point of no return. This was
where he made all his choices.
For the life of him, he could only see one possible choice,
and it involved him taking his pants off.
Kodachi nodded, her lips roaming all over his face. Her hand
continued to move around inside Ranma's pants, touching... exploring.
Ranma didn't try to resist as she leaned forward, lowering
the both of them to the mattress. He continued to gently stroke her,
savoring the feel of her trembling body. Soon, he knew, that body
would belong as much to him as her.
Then there was the clink of glass, and the sudden sensation
of wetness as a cold, sticky sensation washed down Ranma's face and
back.
He had knocked over the champagne! She... had knocked over
the champagne, Ranma noted in irritation.
Kodachi's eyes went wide as the two collapsed together on the
bed. Ranma could feel the gymnast's hand stiffen inside her shorts.
She wasn't surprised. Instead of the member that Kodachi had been
gently caressing, her fingers had slid limply up against Ranma's
delta. Her other hand twitched, squeezing Ranma's breast slightly.
"I'm sorry," Ranma whispered, realizing that her own slender
hands were still engaged in a rather intimate fashion. "Let me get
some hot water and--"
Kodachi jerked, tearing her hands away from Ranma. She
scrambled to her knees, and rolled off the bed. Ranma tried to keep a
grip on her, but the gymnast twisted out of her grasp.
"Kodachi, wait..." Ranma pleaded.
Staring in horror, Kodachi backed up until she hit the table,
knocking both the candles over. Extinguished by their fall, they both
went out, dimming the room slightly.
"Kodachi, please. I'll get some hot water and we'll pick
up--"
The half-naked girl turned and ran, fumbling with the
doorknob on her way out of the room.
Ranma collapsed on the bed, feeling tears beginning to gather
at the corners of her eyes.
"Dammit."
* * *
"I see, Tendou," Genma noted sadly. "It was bad, then."
"You have no idea, Saotome. You saw Nabiki's eye when you
came in. Akane was even more upset at Ranma. I'm just not sure
there's a way any more."
Genma sighed at length. "Well, as much as I hate to suggest
it, there are other ways to protect the dojo. Hopefully, it won't
come to that. Maybe they just need some time apart."
"Maybe, but it may be too late for that. What do you have in
mind?"
"While we were out last night," Genma explained in a
whispered tone, "Nodoka and I happened across an opportunity that may
just be too good to pass up..."
-----
~to be continued...