Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections
A. V. Morgan
Part Four: The Shadow of Incest
The sound of crickets filled the night, accompanied by an occasional breath of chimes from random, Nerima yards. The night seemed almost shocked by the absence of an elderly voice crowing the delights of his panty fetish. The moon flirted with a sheet of clouds, its luminous body reflected in the koi pond at the Tendo Dojo. A young couple, in love with the idea of being in love, stood in shocked silence as Ranma-chan's parting words rang inside their minds. The forces that shaped and moved them paused in their incessant demand for action and romantic exploration, as circumstances provoked thought. Once begun, a host of unasked and half pondered questions began to surface to fuel this uncommon fire. Unable to master their private thoughts, they inevitably turned to each other with looks of confused trepidation.
Their mouths opened and shut, but words were not forthcoming.
Copy-kun stood there in his undershirt, studying the girl he "loved" and struggling with the ill worded logic of Ranma-chan's accusation. "I don't really know what you are, but you're both made from me, by the same spirit. If you ask me, it don't seem like you've really found someone ELSE to love. It's just… wrong." There was a problem, however. How could he challenge the assertion that she was not "someone else" when he was not entirely sure who he was?
Copy-chan studied him in turn, her mind drifting over the things she had learned the previous week. Being a copy of Ranma had not occurred to her as a reason not to pursue the handsome martial artist. His disinterest and affection for that Akane girl, while both suspect in her mind, had hurt her. The emergence of a copy of him had seemed a perfect solution. The man she desired, motivated by the same desires as herself. In spite of having listened to the old man from the mansion tell the story of the young noblewoman, who haunted the mirror and stole reflections of people to fulfill her life's dream, she had not really identified with that ghost. It was more like she was a new person; awakening from a coma with needs and desires that could not be denied.
"Are we really the same person?" the boy asked her, deferring to her greater experience.
"The same person as who?"
"How should I know?"
"Exactly," she sighed. "I don't feel like a dead noble woman. Do you?"
"Are you kidding? I don't feel like any kind of woman!"
"What do you feel?"
"I dunno. Lonely, I guess. Very, very lonely."
"Desperate."
"Yeah," he shrugged.
"What do you want?"
"I… I want someone to love me. I want someone to care."
"Do you love me?"
"Uh… that is… I… ah…"
"Do you even know what love is?"
"Er. Not really. I like you. I really like you… It's like…"
"It's like we have so much in common, it should be easy to find love," she finished his thought. He nodded and she continued. "I feel the same. I think I love you, but I am not really sure what that means. I dunno what to think, or what to do. I just can't… let anything get in the way."
She frowned for a while, while he moved over to the porch and sat down. Talking to him helped her think things through. Much better than chasing things around in her head. At least, when she could pin down what to say. It was interesting. She had come into the world with a whole lot of feelings, but not a lot of ideas. She blushed at the memory of her first attempts at boy chasing. It had seemed obvious at the time; she wanted love, she set out to find a boy and "make love". Her mind had jumped instantly to forming that strategy, though the ideas that dropped into her thoughts had been rather vague and uninformative. Still, it seemed logical enough that love did not just happen. It was equally rational that you had to find someone and "make" it.
Unfortunately, the "making love" part seemed to be a lot harder than she could have imagined. Ranma had shown her that chasing people tended to make them run away, so you had to sort of lure them in. When she decided to "make love" with Ranma, she stumbled across the notion that she was supposed to take him to bed and sleep with him, but strangely, that had not made him love her even a bit. It was all so frustrating. Because of Akane's interference, she had only chased Ranma for a couple of days, before pretending to back off and planning to abduct him. For a number of reasons, it was necessary to get her "lover" alone to properly make love, but she had little success getting anyone alone.
Now there was another Ranma, just as determined as she to make love, and they were finally alone. Unfortunately, she was still pretty clueless how to proceed. Ranma's friends, Hiroshi and Daisuke, had given her lots of advice and suggestions, like kissing and hugging. Her mind had come up with a notion of what those activities required, but some of their more enthusiastic suggestions had fallen into a gap in her mind. The two boys assured her that when the time was right; her body would know what to do. She was eager to test that theory, but the objections of everyone in the house had disturbed her. Why everyone acted like making love was a bad thing, defied her.
It all seemed to hinge on this notion that Copy-kun and herself were somehow the same person. Asking herself if it was wrong for a person to love herself, she got the strong feeling that it was not. In fact, her intuition told her that a person was supposed to love herself. Thus, if he was some part of her, she ought to love him. She quickly explained her thoughts to him.
He considered them for a moment. "So, we might be the same person. We ought to love each other if we are the same person, but it's not the same as if weren't the same person, cuz we still wouldn't have anyone who loved us," he summarized. "I still don't see why everyone is acting all weird about this, though. I mean, since we're not sure what love is, we have to figure out how to make it to find out. It'd be a lot easier to learn how to make love if we help each other, if we're the same person or not."
"Right, cuz once we know how to make love, we can make love with anyone and never have to be alone," Copy-chan nodded. If there had been anyone awake to hear this conversation, they would have been peeling themselves out of a face-plant at this point and foaming at the mouth. Copy-chan joined her counterpart on the porch and sat down thoughtfully. After a moment, she snapped her fingers. "That's it!"
"What?" he turned to look at her expectantly
"I think I know why they're all so upset."
"Go on," he scooted around and knelt facing her.
"Well, they all think we're the same person, but everyone else is just… well… half, y'know? Even Ranma, who is a guy and a girl, can only be one at a time. So, people who want to make love always have to find someone else. But we have each other!"
"So?"
"So, they're jealous!"
"Do you think so?" he looked thoughtful.
"Yeah! I mean, because it would be so much easier for us."
"What do you mean, easier?"
"When I was alone here, it was really hard to get a guy alone. I mean, if you go after them, they get scared and run away, or they want some other girl instead of you… er me. Obviously, you're not a girl! You're a hunk!"
"And you're a babe!"
"But the point is," she continued, as he took her hands in his, "I bet they don't know any more about making love than we do. It's gotta rub 'em the wrong way to have to figure it out the hard way, and see the two of us can figure it all out on our own!"
"And that's why they keep interfering!" light dawned behind his eyes.
"Yep!"
They considered this for a moment. In quiet voices they discussed how to proceed, now that they knew what the problem was. They quickly boiled down the little they knew about making love; get partner alone, kiss them and hug them, take them to bed, sleep with them, and their bodies would know what to do next. It did not explain why trying this before made them both feel funny inside and so incredibly nervous. Considering what they had discovered, they would not be able to ask anyone to explain the strange reactions. In fact, just talking about it was making them both feel somewhat flustered.
"Maybe we're just trying too hard," Copy-chan suggested.
Copy-kun released her sweating hands from his and scooted back. He had been struggling for several moments to even suggest that they go out to the dojo and begin practicing. Having a hard time just putting the idea in words, he could not help but agree with her. He was having to try too hard.
"Maybe you're right. If we're not really thinking about it, it's easy. But all these interruptions, and… stuff… got me all stressed out."
"We've got a whole week to figure this out," Copy-chan reminded. "Let's not push it. We don't have to master this tonight. It might be a good idea to… wait for things to happen on their own. Besides," she shrugged, "if we're not constantly trying to make love, the others might relax their guard a bit."
"Sure." Copy-kun nodded. If everyone else backed off, there would be a lot less tension. "It's kinda late, anyway. I sure could use the sleep." With that said, the couple got up and went inside the house. Since they agreed to be discrete, even if the word never occurred to them, it seemed best to return to separate rooms and pretend nothing happened. For the most part, nothing had. In the upstairs hall, they hugged each other goodnight, and went separate ways.
There was a little commotion as P-chan threw a fit over Copy-chan sneaking into Akane's room. Ranma-chan collided with Copy-kun as she rushed out to see what the noise was about.
"What the hell are you two doin' now?" she complained, recovering her wits.
"Goin' to bed. What's with that pig?"
"Bweee!"
"Yaaaaaa! It bit me!"
"Stop teasing P-chan!"
"Ryouga!" Ranma-chan burst into Akane's room, ready to pound the piglet.
Copy-kun followed her in and stared at the sight of the little pig bounding around the room, Copy-chan in hot pursuit. Akane was standing in the middle of the room yelling at "Ranma" until Ranma-chan tapped her on the shoulder.
"Can you please stop that pig before the whole house wakes up?"
"Why are you all barging into my room in the middle of the night!?"
"Cuz I am supposed to be sleeping in here," Copy-chan complained, giving up the chase. "I wouldn't have made a sound if that baka pig hadn't tried to bite my arm off!"
"What did you do to him!?"
Copy-chan stared at Akane in disbelief. Holding out her wounded forearm, she deadpanned, "I bled on him a little in retaliation."
Copy-kun took one look at the blood trickling down his better half's arm and clenched his fist. "I'll kill him!"
"Stop that!" Copy-chan commanded, as the room temperature dropped noticeably. "It's just a stupid animal. I'm all right. But I'm not gonna sleep in here if that thing is gonna to be on the loose," she turned a wounded glare on Akane.
It finally penetrated Akane's righteous anger that her sweet pet had struck out at an "innocent" party. Blushing and stammering she turned to the girl, "I… I'm so sorry. I told you P-chan hates Ranma. He obviously can't tell the difference between you. I should have penned him in the wash room or something, I just… didn't think you'd be back tonight."
Ranma-chan looked at the clones and rubbed her head, "I guess I am with Akane on that one. What are you two doin' up here? I though you were gonna sleep in the dojo."
The clones looked at each other and sighed. Copy-chan spoke for them, "We sorta decided… we don't wanna cause so much trouble. We need some time to think about who we are and what this all means, so…" She shrugged. "For now, it's better to just follow the rules, separate beds and all that, y'know?"
Akane and Ranma stood bug-eyed.
"Ah, sure," Ranma-chan finally said.
P-chan had stopped bounding around, as the tone in the room turned serious, staring from one Ranma to another in abject confusion. While everyone was too stunned to pay attention to him, he slipped out of the room; desperate to escape the cruel fates that allowed three Ranma's to exist in the same world. Everyone shuffled to their respective beds as the pig trotted dejectedly down the stairs and into the washroom. His intention had been to leave the house altogether, but he took advantage of a source of hot water while it was present. Ryouga then slipped into a spare set of clothes Kasumi had fished out of the pond and washed for him, after an earlier visit. For most of the night, he wandered through the house, seeking a door leading outside.
The chill morning air had a bite to it as Ranma-chan waded out of the koi pond, lugging Ryouga's heavy pack and abandoned clothes. In spite of the fact that she would sleep through the day if given half a chance, she was accustomed to early mornings. How her old man ever managed to wake early enough to stage predawn ambushes and training sessions was beyond comprehension. Ranma believed her father was a closet morning person, faking at being a heavy sleeper when it was convenient, but always able to start trouble before breakfast if it suited him. Not that such was a case this morning. Neither the cold water nor the stunning glory of the world resurrected under a crystal blue sky was enough to shake the memory of her awakening.
It was her own fault for going back to bed in girl form. At the time, she had just been too tired to think about it. Also, it had been cold sleeping in a blanket on the bare floor, so it was not that surprising that the warm body next to her had not awakened her. On many a training trip, cuddling up to whatever warm body was available meant surviving the night. Only this time it wasn't her father. No amount of excuses would make her forget how nice it had felt to wake up in that warm embrace; her body snuggled perfectly into Copy-kun's larger form. No amount of disgust would change the fact that she had lain there for almost half an hour, drowsing comfortably beside him, before realization hit.
Shivering at the remembered horror, she stalked inside, depositing the damp items in the washroom. She turned reluctantly away from the bathroom door. Because of her explosion, Genma and Copy-kun had woken up in the garden, after being hurtled out the window. Genma had frowned and announced that, since they were all awake, they might as well start the day with a training session. Hence, bathing had to wait.
Kasumi had put a pot of water on to heat while Ranma-chan fetched Ryouga's things. Naturally, the eldest Tendo daughter had been awake already. Ranma-chan carried a towel into the dinning room, picked up the kettle, and stepped outside to douse herself. The hot water was pleasant after wading in the pond, and he toweled himself off quickly before the liquid could cool. Genma and Copy-kun were out in the grass sparring. Genma wanted to evaluate the clone's abilities personally, before pitting the two boys against each other. As Ranma-kun watched, an eerie sensation came over him. The sensation of watching himself, as it were, did not displace his intense desire to pound the other boy into a coma for "cuddling" with him through the night.
It did not help that Genma spoke and acted the same as he would with Ranma. "You're too slow, Boy! Ha Ha Haaa! What'samatter, Boy? Don't think you can keep up with the old man?"
"What kinda move is that!? Hell's Cradle? That's just sick!"
"You will never defeat me, Boy!"
"Defeat you? You're psychotic! I should commit you!"
"Empty words, Boy! Oooff!"
*Splash!*
"Growff!"
"Is that all you've got, Panda-Man?"
"Grf rowf ra ruffa fouf!"
"Yeah! Back at you, Old man!"
Ranma stood and tossed the kettle to his father, as Genma waved a sign in his direction. [Okay, Son. Your turn!]
Ranma hopped out onto the grass and went through a series of limbering moves, as he squared off with his duplicate. Copy-kun was already warmed up and feeling aggressive after sparring with Genma. Ranma let him take the offensive, warming up as the battle progressed. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Copy-chan slipping out onto the porch to watch the fight. After facing off against his clone the night before, Ranma had been giving some serious thought to how to deal with himself as an opponent. In this one respect, the Cursed Mirror had done him a favor. He might never find a more even match than this, an opponent who could match him move for move perfectly. With one exception; Copy-kun had no curse, no fear of water. With this reminder, the temper he had choked down since awakening boiled up inside him. As Ranma warmed up, and began to take the offensive, amagurikan met amagurikan, chi attacks passed through each other and splashed harmlessly against their targets, and two boys wove and twisted in a dance of astonishing precision.
As would be expected, the fight was fought as much in the air as on the ground, crisscrossing over the pond, up along the roof, up and down the compound walls. It was a battle of wit and control, as each boy restrained his attacks to sure hits, clean kicks, and bulls-eye mokotakabishas. Neither one could set up the other for a Hiryu Shoten Ha, since the instant one went cold with the soul-of-ice technique, the other would chill out in response. The moment one opened up to attack, the other penetrated the hole created with a counter attack. Genma had forbidden them from using his secret techniques, so the dojo would not suffer the consequences of their use, but even without the Umisen-ken and the Yamasen-ken, the conflict was stunning.
It gradually became clear that Ranma was coming out ahead of his double. He was taking hard blows just for the opportunity to deliver punishment to Copy-kun. Akane wandered out and sat beside Copy-chan, stunned by the sight of Ranma going at it so hard.
"Wow. I haven't seen him like this since Mikado kissed him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Copy-chan asked.
"I guess it means he's going to win. I wonder what the pervert did to him?"
"What do you mean?"
"Ranma's pissed off. Can't you see that?"
"Oh crap! We've gotta stop them!"
"Good luck!"
Ranma was at that moment risking a kick in the gut to deliver a kick to his double's crotch. Copy-kun had to take it on his thigh, whipping his own strike out of line to avoid it. Ranma closed for a series of kidney punches, taking an elbow in the ribs in exchange. He accepted a solid blow to his jaw to get in a shot at Copy-kun's throat. In each exchange, delivering just a hair more punishment than he received, but his opponent had to take the shots he offered, or whirl around in the mad dance just to keep out of Ranma's reach. He wasn't losing this battle of attrition because Ranma was better, however. He simply did not have the fury to match him. The best he could do was lure him closer to the pond. Unfortunately, Ranma did not care if he changed into a girl in the fight.
As Copy-kun positioned them for a mid-air pass over the pond, he offered Ranma the perfect opening. Ranma obligingly soared into the other boy's kick, with a cross-counter kick to the jaw and an elbow into his groin. The double blow killed their combined momentum. Copy-kun's low hand block had taken the brunt of the elbow strike, so he was not gasping in gut wrenching agony as the two plummeted into the pond.
Genma, having observed intently, raised his eyebrows when the pair surfaced. While noting that Ranma-chan took instant advantage of her superior speed and agility to thrash the boy, fighting entirely within Copy-kun's guard, Genma focused most of his attention on the fact that her opponent was still a boy. His thoughts turned inward as he waved to Copy-chan, "Your turn, Girl. The boy has earned a break."
Akane blinked, wide eyed, as the other red-head entered the fray. Ranma had beaten the boy to the ground, dropped down to straddle his hips and pound his head into the grass. She did not dare ask herself what could have upset Ranma-chan that much. Whatever the answer was, she was certain she did not want to know it.
Copy-chan ploughed into Ranma-chan, setting the pummeled boy free. Akane stood and went out to drag him out of the yard. From the look on Copy-chan's face, she had entered the fight with as much of a temper as Ranma-chan. Akane realized she probably should not have mentioned what could set Ranma off. The two girls fought a slightly faster, more agile version of the fight just finished, with Ranma-chan on the receiving end of controlled rage.
"What were you two doing last night!?"
"I'm not gonna talk about it!"
"I'll make you!"
"A girl like you!? Don't make me laugh!"
"Ha, ha! I am a girl like you!"
Not a bright move, on Copy-chan's part, since that seemed to rouse Ranma-chan's anger to new heights. Akane sighed, and shook her head in wonder. Normally, Ranma was pretty consistent about not fighting girls, but with Copy-chan, he never seemed to hold back. Akane remembered the bizarre sight of Ranma-chan malleting Copy-chan in her room, the first time she saw them together. Technically, that had been three impossible things at once. Only in Nerima could reality survive such an event.
Akane realized she had not been following the argument, when Copy-chan reeled back from something Ranma-chan said, and then flew off out of the yard in a blind rage. Ranma-chan stared off after her, and then walked into the house without a word. Akane got up to follow her, while Genma slipped inside to join Soun and Nabiki at the table.
"Ranma? What happened? Why did she take off like that?"
"I told her what she wanted to know."
"What did she want to know?" Akane dreaded the answer.
Ranma did not reply. She did not know how. She was getting over being cuddled in her sleep, and had even relented and told Copy-chan to make her shut up. The girl's reaction disturbed her. She wished she could remember what she had said exactly, because she was afraid she might have given the other girl the wrong idea. Why did she swallow her rage? Why did she run off? What did she think happened?
"I don't think she understood me, Akane," Ranma-chan ventured hesitantly.
"Ranma! What did you say to her?" Akane was beginning to steam.
"Akane. I did not do anything. I can't tell you if you're going to get upset."
Ranma looked too worried for Akane to maintain her temper. Kasumi paused while setting the breakfast, looking up in instant maternal concern at the sound of distress in the part-time girl's voice. Akane took a deep breath, carefully locking her temper away. She remembered Nabiki's warning about letting Copy-kun sleep in the same room as Ranma. She had seen for herself how the boy reacted to Ranma-chan, last night in the kitchen. In a low, shaking voice, she dared to ask, "What did he do to you, Ranma?"
"He… he… slept with me," she responded in a small voice.
If the back of Akane's head could have blown out from sheer horror, it would have. The expression on her face alone was enough to alarm Ranma. She began to wave her hands.
"Akane? Hello? It's not like he hurt me, or anything. It wasn't as bad as with Pops. I mean, he always ends up crushing me an' all, and I only really got hurt the first… time…" Ranma-chan faltered as other faces turned toward them from the table, shock equal to Akane's on their faces. Soun had his hands around Genma's throat, and Genma seemed to be turning purple, waving a sign frantically, even though he was not in panda form.
[It's all lies!!! I never! How could you stab your old man like this, Ranma!?]
Akane's face had progressed to a leer of unspeakable horror. Kasumi, for whom "sheer and utter horror" consisted of a concerned, worried expression, was walking up to Ranma-chan, wringing a towel in her hand.
"Oh, Ranma-kun! Your own father…" she began.
"No, no, no! Stop right there," Ranma backpedaled. "Whatever you're all thinking, you have it totally wrong!" Once again, the people around her had turned into virtual aliens with heads full of incomprehensible thoughts. "Pops never actually cuddled with me! It was only with Copy-kun!"
"C… cu… cuddled?" Akane stammered.
Ranma-chan began pulling at her hair. She had told them everything, the truth, but somehow that only made everything worse. What else could she say to make them understand? "It's not that bad! I sorta overreacted! Really. I mean, it was actually kind of nice. I just lay there and enjoyed it for a half an hour before I realized we were both really guys!" Around the room, people's hands had clapped to their faces while their mouths and eyes gaped in unconscious imitation of "The Scream". Even Nabiki was gawking in sheer disbelief.
"Half an hour?" Nabiki blinked, "I would have thought only fifteen minutes, tops," she felt genuinely disturbed. That bad an estimate could cost her a fortune in a betting pool!
"I wasn't TRYING to wait that long!" Ranma-chan continued to throw protests and explanations into a conversation that had long since taken off without her. "It's just, well, I was a girl, you know? And the way our bodies fit together and all, made me feel so good I couldn't think clearly. I'da killed him if he'd tried to do that when I was a guy!"
Akane finally could not take it. The shock gave way to a flood of rage. "I'm gonna kill him! Both of them!"
Ranma flinched. Genma, by this point, was gasping for breath and edging toward the open door. Soun had released him to grasp his own face. The Tendo patriarch, like the rest of his family, stared in disbelief at how relatively calmly Ranma-chan delivered this series of Earth-shattering revelations. Ranma-chan reached out to stop Akane from advancing on Genma without thinking, struggling to comprehend how everyone could be so shocked at hearing that a couple of people had huddled under the covers with her for warmth on cold nights.
Akane stared at Ranma-chan, looking up from the restraining hand to meet her worried blue eyes. Ranma was clearly afraid that Akane was going to carry out her threat. She looked ready to stop Akane from trying. Why? After all that had happened, why? "Do… do you love them? Your father, I mean… and your… copy?" Akane bit her lip.
"If I say no, you'll kill them? I don't think so," Ranma-chan put some steel in her voice. "That's my father, Akane. Of course I love him. Yeah, he's used and abused me from time to time, but he also raised me. As for Copy-kun," she shrugged, "okay, maybe I don't love him. But he's still a part of me, sort of. Yeah, he's obsessed with my girl side, and he's free of my curse. You don't need to kill him, though. I mean I already punished him. Besides, I gave him the opportunity, so it's partly my own fault. It's not that big a deal. Just forget it."
"WHAT!?" Akane almost lost it at that. Gave him the opportunity!!! her mind raged. Unfortunately, there was no arrogance in Ranma at making this statement. No pride. Instead there was shock, shame and a startling vulnerability. Her desire to hand out punishment ached for release, but Ranma-chan was utterly open and defenseless. Lost and confused. "You let him do this to you? How could you do that?"
"I didn't ask for it!" Ranma-chan spit, looking disgusted. "What I meant was, my guard was down. I never imagined he'd do that… I mean, I don't think of myself as a girl, and sometimes I don't notice what form I am in, until something happens to remind me. This time I just… didn't remember until it was too late," Ranma sank into herself. She could not believe it. She had made it a point never to talk about her curse, how it affected her mind and feelings. She clamped her mouth shut. If she did not stop, right now, things might come out that she had not even dared say to herself. "Please, just let it go."
"You want to go on as if this never happened?"
"Nothin' happened!"
"I can't forget that easily!"
"Geez, rub it in my face then! Does that make you happy?"
Akane stared at her, unable to let this just blow over.
"Can I please just go and take a bath and talk about all this later? I'm still dirty from last night, then all of this stuff this morning. Can you wait that long before killing anyone?"
After several long moments, Akane nodded.
As Ranma sighed and stalked off to the furo, Akane and the others gathered around the table in stunned silence. Genma had stopped retreating from the room when Ranma spoke up to defend him, and he had been so touched that Akane had more than enough time to collar him and push him to his seat at the table. One look in her eyes, and Genma had slumped down. His future daughter-in-law was ready to kill him, as soon as she had permission. Until then, she was on him like white on rice. Everyone was so focused on their inner most thoughts, no one noticed as Copy-kun regained consciousness and slipped off towards the furo as well.