Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and it's characters are the product and property of rumiko takahashi and viz video.
A Bengal Tale
Part Twelve
By Michael Fetter
The sun was slowly rising over the awakening city. Light shown like sparkles of snow, glittering upon the rise and fall of each morning breath. Distant sounds, closer breathing, rustling sheets, and the warm feel of a body nearby were clung to, banishing thoughts she had been blocking since the first day.
Ranma was waking, feeling herself become whole again, tangible yet it slipped through her fingers if she focused too hard. She watched Akane resting on the bed beside her instead. The top sheets rose and fell with every other moment, day highlighting her profile, angelic in the most spectacular way. She followed the light, pouring over the curves, intensity that was not entirely visual. It continued for long moments like that, Akane, lips slightly parted, her breast lifting with each intake of breath, her long hair a blue-black wave of silk spilling over her pillow.
The light, Ranma wished to banish it, before the moment Akane was woken, to remain in this instant, closeness almost complete.
Akane's mouth opened to yawn, her arms brushed along Ranma's side as she stretched. It remained there, her fingers running lightly along Ranma's back, fine pressure against her skin.
Others had woken long ago, starting the new day with chores or any other routine they developed. Breakfast had smelled wonderful, lingering for a long time until it drifted away like a memory. Ranma had stayed here, watching, remembering.
Her original body was that of a man, young, sixteen, and strong. She remembered the training; body toughening would have been terrible on her new form. Things about her old self, the size, a whole head taller, could stand up higher than Akane . . Akane . .
The other hand was at her eyes, rubbing away the sleep. She still slept on her back, Ranma liked to snuggle up, rest her head on Akane's breast and listen to the steady beat of her heart.
"Pussycat?"
That name. Ranma would have hated that name before, complained until he was blue in the face then take a breath and keep on going.
She crawled in closer to her lover, answering the call of her pet name. It didn't matter what the title so long as it was Akane who called her. The other girl had remained by her side all this time, like she promised. There was honor at stake with that bond, but she knew Akane would've stayed anyway.
"Hey there." Akane closed her hand over Ranma's head, stroking the red hair between her fingers. She settled her head close to Ranma's, almost nuzzling as if they were tigers now. It was instinctual almost, these motions and the low purrs they produced. Akane still blinked in surprise sometimes when she did that, not expecting her experience as a tiger to carry over so much.
"I love you." Ranma could speak, better than the week before. Her thoughts were clearing, but her powerful senses remained. Other words sprung to mind, but those three seemed all that was important at the moment.
Smiling, her eyes closed, hand drifting along Ranma's pigtail, Akane applied just the slightest amount of pressure to pull her lover in closer. The muscles were far too sore from yesterday to do much else.
Almost a week had passed since the encounter with Oni-Ryouga. Akane had been adamant on their need to train while they awaited the response to Ranma's challenge. Ukyou came by in the mornings, ready to help however she could.
"I love you too." Akane rolled herself over slowly, her larger frame covering Ranma's in a full embrace. "I could think of some fun ways to prove it."
Ranma sighed contentedly, legs and arms already wrapped about Akane's body. "Just stay here like this. So good to feel you close." She purred, eyes shut in almost blissful sleep. Within her hold, Akane curled in slightly, molding herself between Ranma's legs, head resting on the smaller shoulder.
Moments like these, Ranma wished they could last a lifetime. An embrace between lovers, so pure and unquestionable, felt like thick fur blankets, softer than a breeze over meadows, and warm. These moments she wanted to lock away in her memories, to be played over and over again, before they too drifted away like the smell of breakfast in the mornings.
~
Ukyou came over to the dojo early again. Since it was the weekend, she had to spend some time on her own in practice while Ranma and Akane finished waking up. Kasumi let her into the dojo, used to her presence after the week of training. She liked the oldest sister, cheerful and quiet, something her life was not.
There was a low moan to be heard occasionally, not even the distance the backyard put between the dojo and the house could hold off. It had come from an upstairs bedroom before, now she heard it again in the furo.
Ukyou had strange thoughts of who and how these sounds were being made. Some made her blush, others made her sick.
It was certainly a strange experience knowing such a relationship existed. She thought of the time in her restaurant. Hopefully neither of her friends took offense to her profuse denial of lesbianism.
Akane had a violent temper, Ukyou discovered. Sometimes it was to Pussycat, but mainly for anyone who looked at the redhead wrong. The tantrums didn't happen often, but Ukyou'd seen the mallet Akane could pull from nowhere and decided then and there to do her best not to get the girl upset. Other than the occasional outburst, Akane was a great friend, her first in a long time.
Holding her combat spatula firmly with both hands, Ukyou twirled it blindly, knowing by repetition how it should feel. Sliced air made zipping sounds as she passed through her kata, working over each of the basic and not so basic strikes. A last tumble into the air brought her into a deep stance, the flat of her spatula in a superior striking position.
She held off the surprise of Akane's voice from the door while mentally checking over her form. "Not bad. I still think you should train unarmed a little more though."
"I suppose it would be good." She jumped suddenly. Pussycat was in the room, standing right behind her. The redhead never made a sound as she walked, always catching her off guard. "You could say something at least." Ukyou glared at the cursed martial artist and picked her spatula off the ground.
Pussycat shrugged and moved to the center of the room, her body flowing into some of the highest forms of the Saotome ryuu.
"What's with her?" Ukyou jerked her thumb in Pussycat's direction.
Akane watched her lover for a moment. "What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Ukyou started helping Akane with her stretches. "I don't know, she just seems distant or something lately."
"Well the fight is coming up." Akane thought out loud. "Maybe she's worried."
Shake of her head. "I doubt it, sugar. Pussycat's been training with us every morning and she never seemed to care before. There's something else, I think."
In the silence that followed, Ukyou and Akane watched Pussycat complete her form and move smoothly with the transition to the next. Kicks and punches cut through the air, much as her spatula did, snapping cloth with the speed and power of each strike.
Pussycat finished her last kata and stopped, holding her last position, right fist held to the invisible opponents eye level. She was there a moment, looking at her fist and where it ended, as if she wasn't quite certain how it had all happened. Dropping the stance, Pussycat stood up straight and looked at her clenched fist, looking very sad for the way it had ended up.
"Is something wrong, Pussycat?" she heard Akane ask. Ukyou had been ready to ask herself, almost thought she had until Pussycat looked at Akane.
Pussycat looked at Akane for a long moment, sadness clearly evident in her eyes, then to Ukyou, the same disturbed look. Rolling her head and cracking her knuckles, she waited for them to join her on the tatami, ready for her sparring match.
It was decided long ago that Pussycat was simply too good to face off against Akane or herself alone. Even that would result with them bouncing off the floor as Pussycat skipped in between them for battle. Ukyou had easier times of hitting her shadow than the red blur.
Pussycat couldn't be worried about the fight with the demon or its Amazon slaves; she was far too proficient a fighter.
~
"Master." Sasuke, the Kuno family ninja servant knelt at the threshold of Tatewaki's room, a shrine to his two loves, Akane and the Pussycat. "I come bearing news of Akane Tendou and uh, Pussycat." He didn't much like the pigtailed girl's name.
Tatewaki turned from his large wall posters of his two loves. Nodding regally, he told Sasuke to continue with his report.
"I overheard Akane Tendou remarking upon a challenge she and Pussycat will be facing soon. She said it was a demon controlling an entire tribe of Amazon warriors."
"Hmm." Tatewaki considered this for a long time. Sasuke knew that he would prepare himself to face this friend with his 'beloveds'. The family katana was already out of the shrine and on his bed where Sasuke placed it a moment before. "I hope my absence has not driven them to unspeakable acts to hold off their desires for me."
Sasuke big sweated and was glad he hadn't told his master where they were when discussing the fight.
~
"Ah, Sasuke. What news do you bring me of the pig-tailed girl?" Kodachi asked as the little ninja knelt at her feet.
"She plans to face a powerful enemy on the morn of the next day, Mistress. It came by challenge attached to an arrow." He answered in the manner she appreciated most.
Kodachi thought on this a moment. "I cannot allow such a valuable asset to my experiments becoming injured. Fetch my weapons. I too shall fight this enemy and when it is finished," she clasped her hands in front of her, smiling giddily, "we shall return to continue all those lovely drug tests on her!"
Shivering, Sasuke nodded and left hastily before Kodachi had him go through any more preliminary experiments. He was still fighting off the effects of the last time.
~
When they returned, Akane and she were mingled with sweat. The bit of dampness made Akane's little blue dress cling to her like a second skin. It had been a long night and she was thoroughly exhausted.
Ranma smiled, closing the door behind them, the woof of the mattress signaling her lover's collapse onto the bed. She'd planned for this day after issuing the challenge. So far things were going according to plan. There was the slight depression this morning, but the time spent in the dojo with Akane and Ukyou helped clear much of that up.
Even before the curses, Ranma hadn't had a lot of friends. Most of the time he and his father were travelling over Japan and China so there wasn't really the chance for any real relationships. Ukyou had been the first of two.
They met a long time ago, Ranma had thought her a boy, and he left with his father not too long afterwards. Her friendship had made a great impact on his life, more than anyone knew. The long periods when he wouldn't talk, Ranma was lost in thought, remembering all the good times with his best friend Ucchan.
His father took advantage of these times to get in a sucker punch and tell him he needed more training. It made Ranma mad, but he never forgot his best friend.
"Tell me what's wrong, Pussycat." Akane had pleaded with her on the stroll to downtown Nerima. She had sighed and resisted for a long time until Akane did this cute pouty face routine. It was too ridiculous and made Ranma laugh. When they settled down again, Ranma had agreed, directing Akane to a seat on a park bench.
Ryouga had been her only other friend, she told Akane. For a time Ranma had gone to an all boy's school and during the lunch period the cafeteria lady would hold up the last bread over a mob of starving students. Until his arrival, Ryouga was able to snag this bread. It made Ryouga so mad he challenged Ranma to a duel. After waiting for three days in the designated area, a lot behind Ryouga's house, Ranma left.
Akane didn't understand how Pussycat could think of Ryouga as a friend. "Sounds like a jerk to me." She added.
Shrugging Ranma said he was used to fighting for a living with his father so it had meant something to him. Akane said she didn't get it. Not that it mattered, Akane added, so long as you thought of him as a friend. Ranma nodded.
"I don't know how I would feel about fighting one of my only friends, but I'm sure it'd make me upset too." Akane understood the basis of Ranma's depression at least.
This night out had been for as much a distraction to Ranma's mind as it was for Akane's enjoyment. If she didn't have to think about the fight too much, maybe it would make fighting easier.
They had dinner with Ukyou at her restaurant since they were meeting her, Pink Lace, and Panda Bear there before heading out for the movie, a sappy romance film Pussycat was forced to suffer through. The movie was chosen because it would let out at about the right time for the nightclubs to open up. That had been a lot of fun.
Pink Lace and Panda Bear met some guys and seemed to enjoy themselves. Pussycat's recognized the boys as students from Furinkan High; the names escaped her.
Much to her chagrin, some tawny, platinum haired beauty that called herself Urd picked up Ukyou. She had suffered through the girl's attentions through the whole night, but still refused to wear anything less masculine when Akane teased her about it. They each gave Ukyou strange looks when she continued to claim herself heterosexual.
Akane herself was radiating sexual attraction on the dance floor. She moved like a siren, moving her body just so to tease the senses. The men were drooling as they watched her dance, swaying her hips and rustling the fabric of her short dress. Some choked as they watched how Akane clung onto Ranma during certain parts of the dance.
Ranma didn't know much about dancing, but it was easy enough to follow Akane's movements. She still took a more masculine role, but let herself go just a bit towards the end.
The small standing ovation seemed a little overboard, but the men hooted and hollered after each number, staring mainly at them.
"I had a great time." Akane smiled, lying lazily across her bed, dress falling half-hazardly around her waist. "Come here, my little Pussycat."
"Seems like a lot of work." Ranma joked and pulled off her shirt.
"Not at all." Akane promised, following Ranma's motions with her eyes, wantonly. "You just lie down and let momma cat give her Pussycat a good licking."
Ranma stared at Akane for a moment, not quite believing what she just heard, but her lover purred and licked her lips suggestively and there was no doubt to what she meant.
~
In the early morning, Ranma woke again, slipping carefully out of the bed she shared with Akane. Her clothes had been left out the night before and she pulled them on now, tying the yellow ribbon into her long pigtail.
Finished she walked around the bed to crouch at Akane's side. The short haircut kept the bangs from falling into Akane's eyes, but Ranma slipped her fingers through the hair anyway, setting it to one side. Looking at the beauty before her, Ranma smiled and leaned forward, placing a light kiss on the girl's forehead.
The window opened silently and she stepped up onto the sill, taking one last glance back into the room. A sense of duty and devotion filled her, rationalizing it was better this way. Ranma leapt from the window, a slight breeze rolling into the bedroom on her leave.
Akane opened her eyes as she felt Ranma jump. In her hand, a crumpled piece of paper with the demon's signature. "Still trying to protect me, Pussycat."
End Chapter Twelve
* * *
This was a short one because of more practical reasons. Most of the story here was sort of just filler to the upcoming battle, getting people in the right state of mind.
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Ja ne.