Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections
A. V. Morgan
Author's Note: For some reason Fanfiction.Net will no longer accept the same .htm template formatted document I've used since the beginning. Also, there are no decent formatting tricks for .txt documents that the document handler did not strip out or screw up. Please forgive the poor quality of this post, but in the interest of getting the chapter out, I am going with what works.
Part Thirty-Seven: It's More Than Just Sex?
Even though many would scoff at the idea that Ranma Saotome was an intellectual genius, anyone who had watched him master a new and difficult martial arts technique in record time would concede that the necessary brilliance resided in his keen, analytical mind. The simple fact was, few things really prompted him to think. Following the bomb his mother had dropped on him, the boy in a girl's birthday suit was at an even greater disadvantage than normal as his entire brain seized up. At first, the only thing he comprehended was that the choice he faced, even before Nodoka made it official, hurt. Ranma had realized, even before coming out of the mirror trap, that his heart was torn between his unnatural love for Ryouga-built more on the understanding reached between them at dinner the previous night and the confidence that those feelings were returned in full-and a very difficult and uncertain love for Akane. When she stood up for him and denounced all the arguments for why Ranma had to be a girl, she had revealed that she actually cared for the person cast adrift between genders. There were so few people in Ranma's life who had ever stood up for him that he responded to those people with an unyielding love.
Ranma was a creature of simple, uncomplicated passions. For the way they had reached out to him, Ryouga and Akane had claimed his heart. Unfortunately, that love was as honest and uncomplicated as he was, and was a far cry from the romantic kind of love that existed between lovers. His awakening experience had proven what Cologne had tried to explain to Copy-kun, that sex was not a prerequisite for love. Sex had almost instantly been associated with martial arts in Ranma's mind, as a way of expressing himself physically, and that was what the prodigal son was best at. "Ranko" had made love to Ryouga to express feelings that words were inadequate to express. Direct and desperate, she gave herself to him to say goodbye. It was pure irony that the same act had allowed Ranma to say hello. The experience had been an epiphany to Ranma, the true meaning of friendship demonstrated in laying back naked and vulnerable, penetrated by pleasure so intense he could not even think coherently. What rivalry could survive such a perfect surrender?
Sex with Ryouga had healed their friendship, and yes, it had made them more than friends. In hindsight, the worst possible thing that could happen to the boy Ranma had been, because of the curse, had been the best possible thing that could happen to the girl Ranma had become. Where Ranko had been burdened with Ranma's personality and the resulting aversion to the curse, Ranma first confronted womanhood with total abandon and discovered it gave him an advantage over most men. Because it was such a common taboo that it was wrong for men to embrace each other in love, they were doomed to embrace each other in war. By sacrificing his manhood, Ranma had ended a long, bitter and stupid conflict that could one day have claimed one or both their lives. If not for all the other complications in his life, the female young man would have thought himself in the best of both worlds. Instead, the belief that it would be fatal for Ranma to confront his mother in his present form had prompted his father to restore his manhood, and the desire to be a man once more had caused Ranma to spurn his new lover.
Ryouga had hated him for it immediately, and Ranma could hardly blame him. Ranma could not understand how Ryouga managed to forgive him enough to answer Nodoka's challenge without hesitation-at least once he was focused enough to hear what she was asking. Ranma doubted the lost boy had heard Ranma admit to his mother that he did love Ryouga, so he had feared the boy's response. When Ryouga hugged him and declared his love, Ranma had felt such intense relief he could not hide it. He had melted into that protective embrace without any shame. In fact, it was a guilty pleasure, since Ranma was painfully aware of the shock and rage consuming Akane after seeing Ryouga's secret exposed. It was the worst time and the worst way for Akane to discover that betrayal of friendship. Ranma had no intention of resisting her wrath, and did not expect Ryouga to either. Ranma could not forgive either of them for keeping this secret from Akane. Only the fact that P-Chan had avoided Akane in the mirror trap convinced Ranma that Ryouga was sincere about not using that form to take advantage of Akane any more, but, of course, the damage had long since been done. Ranma was not going to make excuses for his silence, either by pointing out the promise or the fact that Ranko had made it for him. However, Nodoka had pulled the rug out from under Akane's wrath.
Not surprisingly, Ranma had been so shocked and enraged by his mother's declaration that he had forgotten Akane, and everything else, as his mind seized up. First, there was the surprise that some how Happosai had convinced Nodoka that Ranma needed the curse, the ability to be male, in order to remain sane as well as to help heal Ranko. It was good that Nodoka had vowed not to interfere in that before she continued and made it clear that she could only recognize Ranma as a son or a daughter. Not both. This meant that Ranma did not have to worry about that as he focused on the really damning part of Nodoka's statement. As far as she was concerned, Ranma had to be a boy or a girl entirely. This, because if Ranma chose to be a boy, he had no honor as a girl and would be married to Akane, but if he chose to be a girl, he had no honor as a boy and would be married to Ryouga. Ranma loved his mother desperately, but with those words, he had realized he hated her too. It was a no win situation, an uncompromising, unforgiving insult to one of the two people Ranma truly loved.
For a long time, Ranma simply refused to accept it. He was free to assume the nanniichaun curse, to be-what a year of inherited experiences had done to redefine as "normal" for him-more than a man. He could be better than a man and his mother would not accept it. He could only be a man by rejecting Ryouga and trying to hide the shame of what was now his true form from his mother's eyes. Unless Ranma was completely wrong, only Akane raving about how Ranma was "hers" and the need to satisfy the honor of the Saotome and Tendo clans through their marriage compelled Nodoka to even consider recognizing Ranma as her son again. Ranma could only refuse that honor by shaming his male side beyond his mother's ability to recognize him, but if he did honor the arrangement, he shamed his girl side just as bad. It was horrifying, but worse, the implication that there was no way to win struck him as a grave insult. With complete detachment, Ranma had sunk into a sea of anger and resentment over this.
He just could not accept it. For one thing, he was still too much a man in his own mind. True, he was a girl in all other respects, and whatever the circumstances responsible for that, what the curse and Ryouga had done to him had made it possible for him to accept being female. With the opposite curse, and the belief that Ryouga would feel the same about Ranma, male or female, and felt it strongly enough to consider becoming as much a girl, Ranma knew he could live with marrying him. Ryouga was not going to deny Ranma's need to be a man. Akane had already endorsed Ranma's manhood, though she had admitted, when Genma challenged her, that she had also defended his choice to be female when the Togenkyo transformation had been discussed in his absence. The problem was Nodoka's strict beliefs. Yes, it was obvious that Ranma could not be with both Akane and Ryouga, but was it necessary for her to rub it in all their faces? Now that the man-among-men contract was invalidated, did she think it was necessary to find some other way to hang the sword of honor over Ranma's head? It was not as if Ryouga had gotten Ranma pregnant, and it was necessary for them to get married for the sake of the child. At least, that was the risk she had implied when she thought Ranma was "Ranko Tendo" and she was trying to discourage the girl from engaging in unprotected sex.
Ranma frowned inwardly. Maybe that was it. Ranko Tendo was a very different prospect from Ranma Saotome. That was obvious when Nodoka insisted that marrying Ryouga was necessary to protect "her daughter's" honor. Even though it was not Ranma's fault, Nodoka was ashamed of the fact that "she" had sex with Ryouga. Why was she more compassionate and understanding of "Ranko's" feelings than she was of her own child's? As a girl, Ranma was not in the least ashamed of what she had done. As a boy, it did not occur to him to be ashamed until the girl's memories put the act in perspective, and he realized how unnatural and perverse it would seem to a normal person. But, before waking up and embracing the memories, he had been a normal boy, as far as sex and gender went. He experienced sex as a girl before finding out what sex was supposed to be and mean. Without knowing what people thought, he had no reason to think sex was demeaning, and having been a girl at the time, everything he had done was appropriate to his form. As a martial artist, he was a strong believer in "form follows function" so being a girl, you had to have sex like a girl, and if that was the defining difference between male and female, proud, manly Ranma saw no reason to deny that he was a girl.
Ranma's fist tightened, crushing the black silk wad in his hand. 'My hand,' he thought. 'A girl's hand. I am a girl. I've had sex with a boy, and I liked it.' She took a deep breath and relaxed her grip. 'I love him. I don't see anything about that I need to be ashamed of. After all, wasn't I supposed to be a girl to begin with? Shouldn't I be more ashamed of the fact that everyone, including me, tried so hard to make me something I wasn't in the first place?' She smiled faintly. Then she thought of Ranko. Ranko was a lot more of a girl than she was. Ranma, even as the projection of Ranko, had needed Ryouga to make her understand being a girl. If Ranma chose Ryouga, and became Nodoka's daughter, what would happen to Ranko? Would she be forced to marry Akane and live as a boy? A man? If Ranko slept with a guy she liked, would Nodoka force her to marry him or disown her? Was that, any of that, fair to Ranko? Ranma scowled. The idea of Ranko being treated the way she was being treated brought her anger back to the surface. It was not fair. It was not honorable. Or, to be more precise, it was an insult to her honor made to repair a perceived insult to Nodoka's. Happosai was right. Nodoka's mind was too rigid, her sense of honor exaggerated and fragile.
Rubbing her fingers over the soft, slippery silk of her panties, Ranma paused thoughtfully. Nodoka's honor reminded her of a certain boy's ego. Ryouga had done an excellent job of puncturing that boy's ego. Maybe it was time someone did Nodoka the same favor. To begin with, she intended to reject the notion that Ryouga had dishonored her. Ranma had not dishonored herself, in spite of her own confusion. She had done a good job coming to terms with a situation that nothing she had ever experienced as a boy could have prepared her for. She could not take responsibility for the sex, which she refused to regret, but she could take responsibility for the first conscious decision she had made afterwards. She turned her hand over under Ryouga's and pressed the panties into his grasp. She had decided to let him keep his little trophy, hiding the flush of pleasure his demand to keep them had aroused, so it was appropriate to return them to him. That done, she proceeded to seriously ask herself if her mother was justified in judging her by the actions of others. Her consent to having sex had been usurped by "Ranko". Ryouga had done his best to resist her temptation, and eventually crumbled, so he was hardly at fault. He'd remembered to use protection, so even there he had done the honorable thing. Nodoka certainly had no right to impose her little declaration on him!
Further thought was interrupted by a burst of motion at the corner of her eye, and a sharp shrill of danger ringing in her skull. Ranma blinked, reflexes springing her into action, as her cognitive mind refused to let go of its train of thought. Without thinking, Ranma surged forward, her fingers threading through Akane's clawed hands. Unprepared for the murderous strength in Akane's arms, Ranma's arms were spread wide, her wrists bent painfully backwards, as her body was painfully sandwiched between Akane and Ryouga. All three toppled over, with Ryouga pinned on his back, his arms trapped between Akane and Ranma. Akane rested with her nose centimeters from Ranma's, when the red-head blurted out the last thought to cross her mind.
"What if he raped me?" she challenged.
Akane, already primed to kill, did not grasp the argument behind the words, and took them literally. "WHAT!!!? H-he RAPED you!?" she shrieked, rearing back and staring into Ryouga's eyes, over Ranma's head. "You disgusting PIG! How DARE YOU!?"
"Wh-what...?" Ryouga stammered in cold disbelief.
"NO!" Ranma shouted, straining to keep Akane's hands locked in her grip, as the other girl strained to reach for Ryouga's throat. Wrapping her legs around Akane's hips and applying pressure to the other girl's lower spine, she tried to keep her immobilized long enough to listen. "I said 'what if?'. Ryouga tried to say no, but 'Ranko' wouldn't have it. She wanted it, and Ryouga couldn't resist. He was a complete gentleman and used a condom and everything. By the time I woke up, everything felt so good I couldn't even think! The point is, I didn't have a say in it!" she yelled into Akane's face.
Hearing this was not exactly calming Akane down, but the shock and embarrassment did choke off anything she might have said, or yelled, in response. Ryouga had to ask the question for her.
"What are you talking about, Ranma?"
"I'm sayin' 'Why do I hav'ta marry you just because we had sex?' How can it be a stain on my honor when it wasn't even my fault!? It's like, I was asleep when you started. Don't you remember, Akane, there was that guy who slept with a girl at a party after she fell asleep? That's rape, right? Isn't that sort of what happened to me?" Ranma pointed out, bringing up a rumor that circulated when a certain couple stopped coming to school. "So, I'm askin' would Mom want me to marry a guy who raped me?" Ranma was fishing, trying out ideas she had never fully understood. Rape was something guys talked about in relation to sex, sort of the dark side of sex. She knew rape was a crime, and in some countries it was considered as bad, or worse than murder. "Does that sound like a way a girl can keep her honor?" Ranma challenged, when neither of them spoke.
Akane could not speak.
"Ohgod. Ohgodohgodohgod," Ryouga babbled. The way Ranma had put it, it suddenly felt like he HAD raped Ranma. Yes, Ranko had said yes. She had demanded they have sex. Ranma, however, had not even understood what was happening when he woke up. It took a long time after it was over for Ranma to even be able to think, by that time, the memories had flooded his mind, and he had clung to the female personality they came with. Ranma could remember saying yes, but the truth was, she had never been given a choice. "I am so sorry, Ranma. So, so sorry," he twisted, dumping the girls off to the side, and proceeded to run out the open shoji, carelessly closing the yukata around his naked body.
"Ryouga!" Ranma tried to untangle herself from Akane. "Wait!"
Akane, still overwhelmed with anger, stunned by Ranma's words and the weird logic that said she had been raped at the same time they tried to say she had not. Ryouga's retreat, his parting words, made it obvious that he had reached a similar conclusion, but the horror, the shame and guilt, did not belong in a man who had so maliciously betrayed Ranma and Akane. "Damn you, Ryouga! Hurry! Run! Don't EVER come back!" she shouted, trying to keep Ranma from following. Akane wanted to chase the boy, hit him, hurt him, break him into tiny pieces and... she was so glad he was going away. Away from her, away from Ranma. She was grateful that Ranma had intercepted her before she could complete her attack. Grateful that the girl had been too preoccupied to realize that Akane would have torn through her to get her claws into Ryouga. She was grateful that it was easier to hold onto Ranma for all she was worth than give in to the urge to chase Ryouga.
"Let me go, Akane!" Ranma struggled, but this was not a stand up fight, this was a contest of muscle and leverage, and Akane was both bigger and stronger than her, or her longer limbs gave her the leverage to foil Ranma's uncanny strength. "Please, Akane!? He'll get lost!"
Akane ignored the pleading, "Good. That's the best thing he could do right now; get lost."
"No! Akane! Why are you doin' this!?"
"Don't you understand? Don't you know why he left?"
"What are you talking about!?"
"He... he realized that he did," Akane exhaled into Ranma's ear, half hugging the red-head while keeping her arms pinned behind her back, fingers still twined through hers. Ranma was not following. "Ranma... he... he thinks he raped you." And why did that upset him, unless...? Akane scowled. She did not want to see a good side to him at the moment. Ranma had gone stiff in Akane's arms.
"No. No, I'm not going to believe that," Ranma moaned in a dead voice.
"You pointed it out yourself! You said you didn't have a choice! That IS rape, stupid!" Akane shouted, the tide of anger swiftly shifting to sorrow as Ranma became a victim in her mind. Someone who had been betrayed even more deeply than she had by Ryouga.
Ranma found the strength to throw Akane off at that. "NO! Ranma Saotome is NO ONE'S victim! It was an ACCIDENT! Yeah, so I got in the middle of somethin' I didn't understand, but I wasn't hurt! You're sayin' Ryouga tried to hurt me!"
"How can you say you weren't hurt, Ranma?" Akane sat up in disbelief, brushing tears form her cheeks. "Maybe it wasn't just Ryouga, maybe it's the other Ranko's fault too, but can you honestly say you would have wanted this to happen? You were a boy, Ranma! Could you have even thought about having sex with another boy if you had a choice? Don't you see what this has done to you?"
Ranma had been about to sprint out of the room as soon as Akane was off of her, but first she had tried to defend Ryouga, and then Akane had said things she could not ignore. She rose to her feet and approached the other girl, staring down with anger and hurt, "Change hurts, Akane. It makes everything different, and sometimes the pain makes it hard to see if things have been set wrong or right. Before I woke up, I didn't even know what sex was, so I could not have even made a choice. I'm glad I didn't have to chose, because if I'd been given the chance, the decision would probably have been made by someone for me, like always. If I'd made the right decision for a man, I'd have made the wrong decision for me," Ranma declared.
"Are you saying you want to be a girl? That you want Ryouga?"
Ranma looked out over the yard. "I am a girl, Akane. I am a girl and that doesn't make me any less of a man. I want to go find my friend and make sure he's okay. I don't like losing my friends."
"What about me?" Akane asked in a voice growing smaller by the moment. She looked up, waiting to see if Ranma would look at her. "Do you want me?"
Ranma turned and studied her. "Well, that's the problem isn't it?"
"What?"
"I should be asking you the same question," Ranma gave her a sad look and then raced out of the house, across the yard, and bounded over the wall in search of Ryouga. Akane blinked in confusion for a moment, before she understood what Ranma meant. With sudden determination, she jumped to her feet and raced out of the house, out through the genkan and the front gates, then down the streets in search of Ranma and Ryouga.
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Kodachi Kuno slipped out from behind a tree in the Tendo yard. She had been in a bad mood since she confronted Akane Tendo the night before. After returning to the park and finding her lackey, Hikaru Gosenkugi laying unconscious at the base of the tree they had hidden in to ambush Akane and Ranma, she had returned home to contemplate the fight. There was no way to deny she had been defeated, since her intention had been to capture her lover and Akane had succeeded in thwarting her. It was a little harder to consider that she had failed because Akane had beaten her in combat. Being hammered over the horizon did not really count as a defeat in Kodachi's mind, since the only real damage had been to her pride. However great her pride, she was well acquainted with the way her brother denied Ranma regular triumphs over him, and did not wish to be considered as delusional as Tatewaki. The only salve to her bruised ego was seeing him return empty handed as well. Neither spoke of their failure before retiring for the night. Neither slept very well either.
Kodachi took a more constructive approach to dealing with her disappointment, going to her lab to cook up some additions to her arsenal to improve her chances of successfully capturing Ranma and the Pig-Tailed-Girl. The work always served to calm her nerves and allow her to think. Thus, she was able to admit that Akane had defeated her in the technical sense. It was a vindication of her long practice of confronting her opponents outside of competition. The strategy itself made it obvious that she did respect the ability of those lower than herself, who made up for their low birth by training their bodies and minds with a desperate devotion beneath one of her natural ability. It had been a long time since she risked facing opposition when something she valued was at stake, and now she saw how her strategy for assured success had failed her. By controlling the situation so that she always won when she wanted to, she had led herself to believe she would always win when she desired. She had forgotten that the competition for Ranma's heart was very different from her Rhythmic Gymnastic Martial Arts. There were no written rules, no judges, and the entire world was the arena of battle.
This meant, her opponents were primed to fight at any time, never dropping their guards and assuming they were safe until the day of the match. Oh no, the girls Kodachi was fighting understood it was a war and they lived it. Her ambush had failed because she never truly held the element of surprise. Expecting Akane to be caught of guard, Kodachi had unwittingly relaxed her own and was surprised when Akane went all out, saving nothing for some future contest. Well, Kodachi understood the rules of the game now, and she had armed herself appropriately. Assured of success in her next venture, she slipped easily to sleep. When she awoke, there was a message from Gosunkugi waiting for her. Before letting him go home the night before, she instructed him to watch the school and report on the actions of her various targets. When the boy's message revealed that none of them had come to school, including the mannish Ukyo and the mercenary Nabiki, she knew where to seek out her prey.
With the time necessary to bathe, dress and arm herself, Kodachi estimated she would arrive at the Tendo compound just before lunch time. When she arrived, she had spotted two of her enemies sitting in the Tea Room apparently deep in thought. She had concealed herself, settling in to observe as the others assembled for the midday meal, gathering intelligence before planning her eventual attack. From the way the boy, Ryouga, was holding the Pig-Tailed-Girl, it was obvious that her brother had been rather soundly defeated in the war for her heart. It had pleased Kodachi as well, since her straying affections would certainly diminish her chances with Ranma-Sama. It had pleased her far more that Akane sat alone. In spite of her date with him, the Tendo girl had apparently not succeeded in her coarse efforts to seduce him. No doubt the girl had repulsed him with her cooking or driven him away with her abuse once more. When Akane had suddenly attacked the red haired girl, Kodachi had been rather surprised. Then, when Akane shrieked in disbelief and accusation, Kodachi had almost fallen out from behind the tree!
She could hardly believe it, but Akane had clearly accused the boy of raping the red-haired girl. Quite obviously, there had been much more going on than Kodachi observed, while the trio sat motionlessly. In retrospect, Akane had been trying to get through the girl who called herself Ranma to attack the boy, and "Ranma" was trying to defend him. Even after the boy fled, and the red-haired girl chased after him moments later, Kodachi was asking herself what kind of girl defended the boy that raped her! Only when Akane fled from sight did Kodachi emerge from hiding.
"How peculiar," she commented, sneaking towards the house. She was a girl, and she had felt instant sympathy for her former rival at the word "rape". It was the only part of the exchange she had heard clearly. The aura of rage that had enshrouded Akane attested to her depth of feeling and conviction in attacking, so there was no question that Akane believed her own accusation. Maybe the other girl defended the boy and protected him in the interests of keeping the matter a secret. Given the general indifference of Japanese authorities to the crime of rape, it certainly was more to her disadvantage to reveal the truth. Accusing the boy would just stain her honor, while he would most likely never face prosecution or imprisonment. The best she could hope for was for her men folk to track him down and beat him to death, if she could not do it herself. Of course, that was a crime the authorities would not ignore, and it would not repair her honor. It was more likely, if the crime had not been brutal, if it had been just date rape, for the families in question to settle the matter with a rushed wedding.
"Perhaps I showed up after the 'engagement'?" Kodachi slipped into the house on silent feet. She was quite unsettled by the overheard accusation, and the actions that made it seem more believable. Only the guilty run, she reminded herself. No honorable man would tolerate an accusation like that, and the last thing he would do was run from it. Kodachi snarled. Akane was a rival, so Kodachi had made the effort to learn about the girl. Kodachi had known of the girl's reputation as a champion of the weak even before their first confrontation. Akane was no doubt determined to punish the boy, despite whatever arrangement "Ranma's" family had made. An ill feeling was forming in Kodachi's gut, as she felt herself believing in the crime. For a long time, she had dreamed of putting the red-headed rival in her place, savoring the shame she would endure when Kodachi stood victorious over her with Ranma-Sama on her arm. But rape was too much. An insult, a horror Kodachi would never wish on her enemies. She choked with unwanted sympathy for her rival, even as she noted that the shame would certainly end the girl's hopes with Ranma-Sama.
Her own plans for revenge had to wait until she confirmed the accusation, she realized. Thus, she pressed into the house, seeking the person in whose ears all dirty secrets eventually spilled, Nabiki Tendo. It was hardly surprising that she was standing just outside the door to the Tea Room, positioned to listen to those who had raced out of the house, and the shock on her face told it's own story. Nabiki stared at Kodachi for a moment, before blinking and focusing on her face.
"How long have you been here?" Nabiki instantly demanded.
"Long enough to hear the foulest accusation," Kodachi answered grimly.
"It would be best if you forgot you heard that," Nabiki warned.
Kodachi stared at the mercenary girl. "I believe it is best to clarify some things before making any promises. Before you speak, I do not find this a matter over which money should change hands. Simply tell me, is there any truth to the accusation? Am I correct in assuming that the matter is to be covered up by an engagement between my rival and that... that... despicable boy?"
Nabiki, who had heard the entire exchange quite clearly, having been drawn by the first sound of movement from where she had been in the kitchen, paused in thought. She might have simply refused to speak, no matter how dangerous Kodachi could be. However, her declaration that she would neither buy, nor did she condone the selling of, this kind of information, it seemed possible that the deranged girl did understand the need for discretion. Hardening her gaze, knowing that Kodachi already overheard the most dangerous part of the exchange, she spelled out, very carefully, "There is reasonable suspicion that Ryouga did not have Ranma's full consent to engage in sex during their date. To my knowledge, she does not bear him any resentment, and they claim to be in love. However, her mother did insist she must marry him to retain her honor. For other reasons, Akane feels Ryouga has betrayed her trust, and that this arrangement could threaten her own engagement. I am sure she wants to beat the hell out of him right now, but that would only make things worse for everyone concerned."
"This will not please my brother," Kodachi commented, faintly relieved by the implication that the "rape" was more technical than literal.
"Kodachi, you don't want to repeat this, believe me," Nabiki warned.
"As a woman, you should not think that I would seek to take advantage of this," Kodachi sneered disdainfully, insulted by Nabiki's assumption and unvoiced threat. "However, I believe it would be best for my brother to learn the simple fact of this conquest from me. It is sure enough he would assume rape of any man who managed to seduce the object of his obsession. If he is the first to scream it out loud, certainly no one else will listen thenceforth."
"And then Kuno'll spend the rest of his life trying to kill Ryouga and rescue his 'Pig-Tailed-Girl' from his clutches," an angry, familiar voice intruded. "Forget it, Kodachi. Until the wedding itself happens, and there's still a chance it won't, no one outside the family is going to know about the engagement."
Kodachi looked over Nabiki's shoulder to see Fa Shen and Ukyo marching toward them from the stairs at the end of the hall. Kodachi blinked, surprised to see the red-haired girl had returned home, changed into appropriate feminine clothing and let her hair free of it's pig-tail. That was all she needed to see, to believe that the girl had finally given up on her Ranma. "You look nice like that," Kodachi smiled. "It's about time you stopped pretending to be my beloved Ranma-Sama."
Fa Shen growled, clenching her fists in annoyance as the gymnast tried to change the subject. "Did you hear me, Kodachi!? I said, you aren't going to tell anyone about this!"
Kodachi sneered, "Even though we were rivals, what has happened to you strikes pity into my heart. I was actually trying to protect your reputation, you ignorant little slut! I know the ways of gossip in and out, for I have grown up attending girl's schools. You should trust me when I say, the truth from my brother's mouth is the best kept secret in Nerima."
"It's not a bad idea," Nabiki tried to interject, but Fa Shen was simply unequipped to trust Kodachi in the slightest. Seeing the amazon smirk and tense, while Ukyo took a step back and unharnessed her giant spatula, Nabiki dodged into the kitchen to get out of the way. "No one ever appreciates free advice," she complained, as Fa Shen rocketed down the corridor, foot extended in a kick.
Kodachi sighed, back-peddling and producing one of her new weapons. Naturally, it looked like one of her usual paralysis bombs, and the effects would include partial paralysis. The big difference was obvious as she chucked it right in to Fa Shen's face when she was too close to effectively dodge it. As expected, Fa Shen took a deep breath and held it, before the bomb hit her and exploded, but instead of a cloud of gas, she was doused in a body drenching fluid, the paralytic/hallucinogenic drug almost instantly soaking into her bloodstream through her skin. "I can see I am not welcome here anymore," Kodachi smiled, as the girl stumbled and collapsed to the floor. As she turned on her heel and fled, Ukyo chased after her, making note to be VERY careful of anything Kodachi threw at her.
"D-dammit!" Fa Shen mumbled, straining to pick herself up.
"Are you okay?" Nabiki squatted down, not sure if it was safe to touch the damp girl. Fa Shen struggled to her feet, blinking hard and shaking her head. Nabiki sighed in relief to see her moving, but decided not to touch her when she saw how weak and disoriented Fa Shen looked. "Kodachi's crazy, and uses drugs, but she's not stupid enough to try anything lethal. At least not in front of witnesses. If you can make up upstairs, you might want to sleep off whatever she hit you with."
"Sure. Great. Good thing too," Fa Shen mumbled, supporting herself on the wall and heading back toward the stairs. "Since she used drugs, it doesn't count as a defeat."
"What?" Nabiki's eyes widened.
"I hate giving the Kiss of Death," Fa Shen explained.
Nabiki made a quick note to spread the word, high and wide, not to attack any of the triplets. Thanks to Fa Shen, Ranma and Ranko were bound by amazon law, and Nabiki did not want to find out if they were going to take those laws seriously. Things just were not getting any better.
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When Akane started screaming at Ryouga downstairs, Fa Shen and Ukyo had traded a look before springing to their feet. No one in the house could fail to hear her accuse Ryouga of raping Ranma. Obviously, she had just figured out what the two had done on their date, and instantly assumed the worst. Though the two girls acted in haste, they did not move fast enough to keep Ranko from grabbing hold of them and clinging as they raced from the room. This was the first time that Fa Shen and Ukyo realized that, while Ranko's spirit was weak, her body was still strong. She told her hands to hold on, and they obeyed that command to the fullest. As with most of her impulsive moves, it left her without the energy to send further commands, which she tried to explain as Fa Shen and Ukyo tried to break her death grip and leave the injured girl upstairs in relative safety. Fa Shen was surprised to note that pressure points did not work, since they manipulated the underlying ki of the body, and everything Ranko had to spare was locked up in the muscles maintaining her grip. It did not take long for the ki to drain out of her arms, since it was needed elsewhere, and her fingers relaxed on their own. With that, the girls were able to make their delayed exit.
Ranko had been deposited on her futon, carefully positioned sitting upright, grumbling at herself in irritation. If she just took it slow, she could control herself pretty good now. She could stand and walk even, as long as she took her time. She had more than enough control to keep her balance, and that was the hardest part of walking. With just a little support, she could move about the house freely. It was trying to bound about in her normal fashion that locked her up and paralyzed her until her ki settled back in her center.
"This really sucks!" she griped.
She closed her eyes and meditated, trying to will herself to regenerate ki at a faster rate. The frustration she felt quickly derailed her focus, and she found herself hoping that Ranma and Ryouga decided to indulge themselves again soon... and often. She was blushing and chewing herself out for thinking such a selfish thing, and trying to convince herself she was not actually jealous of Ranma, when Fa Shen stumbled to a halt at the door.
"What happened to you? You look as bad as me!"
"Kodachi," Fa Shen moaned, slipping into the room, cautiously, a few slow, carefully balanced steps enabling her to cross the open space until she could collapse safely onto the futon beside Ranko. "She doped me with one of her ball bombs. Ukyo's chasin' her off."
Ranko examined her, noticing the damp blouse. "Not her usual gas attack, huh? What'd she hit you with?"
"A mild paralytic, a hallucinogenic and no doubt an erotic stimulant," Fa Shen tabulated with a drunken smirk.
"How do you know that?" Ranko wondered, faintly impressed.
"Well, mostly experience. Ergot tried everything on me at least twice. I'm just glad that, well, a fate worse than death awaits a man who takes an amazon warrior in an, ah, 'unsportsman like' way," she grimaced. Seeing Ranko stare at her in faint incomprehension, Fa Shen decided to short cut her memory search. "The Kiss of Marriage is only given to a victor in hand to hand or armed combat. Drugs aren't exactly forbidden, nor are poisons, but they have to be used openly. Using them to prevent or end combat, especially by surprise, is considered disengagement, withdrawal from combat. So, you use drugs, you can't claim victory. If a man 'took' his bride that way, she's free to kill him," Fa Shen pointed out. With a more vicious grin, she added, "She's encouraged to take as long as she pleases."
Ranko shuddered slightly. "So, ah, you probably didn't much like Akane screaming that Ryouga raped Ranma," she guessed.
"It's not good for a man's health to suggest an amazon's been raped where other amazons might hear. He could find himself missing a lot of important bits before he could convince anyone that he was innocent," Fa Shen sighed. "See, the only thing we could imagine that would keep the girl he wronged from taking her own revenge is if he did something so terrible to her she was unable to face him."
Ranko blanched. The only fear she could compare that to was her fear of cats. She did not want to think what a man would have to do to inspire that kind of mindless panic. She was about to try and change the subject when she noticed that Fa Shen was on her hands and knees, facing her from quickly diminishing centimeters away. "Fa Shen? What are you... mmmmph!" she was cut off as Fa Shen's mouth closed on her own. With widening eyes, she realized that Fa Shen had not been joking about the aphrodisiac effects of Kodachi's drugs. The pressure of the kiss quickly overcame Ranko's precarious balance and she tipped over backwards with a faint squawk as their mouths parted. "Waaah! F-Fa Shen! Wai..."
Fa Shen simply kept crawling forward, her hands and knees sliding up the futon on either side of Ranko as she leaned forward to recapture her mouth. Ranko struggled limply, feverishly reminding herself if she did anything too abruptly, she would be paralyzed entirely before this amorous assault. She braced her hands against Fa Shen's shoulders and slowly tried to push her off, but she almost lost control when the other girl's hand slipped inside her pants, and the urge to throw her off with all her strength hit. Somehow, she ignored the impulse, and continued applying gradual pressure, building up the strength. It helped that after the initial shock, the probing hand and tongue provoked no particular response.
It took Fa Shen a moment longer, straining against the mounting resistance of the girl under her, to notice she was getting no response to the kiss and no signs of arousal anywhere else. With a frown, she pulled back and looked into the other girl's eyes, surprised to see the alarm there. "What's wrong?" she asked, shaken out of her erotic mood.
"What's wrong!? Get offa me! Do you even realize what you're doin'?"
Fa Shen blinked and sat back on Ranko's thighs. She reached out and pinched her nipple, tweaking it expertly and stroking her other hand between her legs in a way she KNEW should get a response. Ranko flushed and complained about being pinched and 'tickled' but fell silent as she noticed the perplexed look on Fa Shen's face. Ranko lay back for a moment, straining her patience as the girl tried to get a rise out of her. Then it struck her, Fa Shen was really trying. She was familiar enough with her own body to know it should have been doing something, but sure enough, it was not.
"Uh, I think somethin's wrong with me," Ranko finally commented.
Fa Shen stared at her, ceasing her movements. Through the haze of drugs, she struggled to figure out why her attentions were having no effect on Ranko. It was like her whole body was numb, but if she could not feel, she would not have complained about the tickling. Then it hit her, Ranko was not feeling any pleasure. Sensation, but no thrill, nothing erotic. She blinked. "Oh, I'm such an idiot!" she almost yelled. "If sex generates ki, you can't have sex without it. You have to have ki to spare."
"Oh, I suppose that makes sense," Ranko made to sit up. She paused and frowned, "Wait, I do have ki. How much ki do you have to have for sex?"
Fa Shen smiled at her and purred, "Do you want to find out?"
Ranko gulped and glared, "Down, girl! I was just thinkin'... maybe there's somethin' else. I mean, I'm so drained that I'm not getting worked up, but if I put my mind to it, I can do things at full strength. If I go slow, I have full control. I think, if I worked at it, I could get aroused, and that would make it possible to have sex, right?" Fa Shen nodded eagerly, liking where this was going. "Stop drooling, I'm still just thinkin' here! What I'm wondering is, it takes some energy to get aroused, but, once I'm having sex, I might be able to generate new ki. I might be able to regenerate ki on my own, er, well, with just me and uh..."
"Uh huh! Go on!" Fa Shen beamed.
"Well, I assume there's have to be a boy, and..." Ranko did not want to finish. Rather than continue this discussion, since Fa Shen was in rather the wrong frame of mind for it, she carefully straightened her clothes. "I guess I need to give this more thought. Like, after lunch," Ranko suggested hopefully. That was one thing she still had an appetite for, and if she was lucky someone would be up soon to bring her down to eat. "So, ah, if you don't mind letting me up..."
Fa Shen sighed. Rolling off of Ranko, she tried to pull her head together. Through the haze of drugs, she was conscious of what she had been doing, and hated it. The attraction was a legacy of her awakening, and the drugs weakened her to the point where she was acting on it. There was no question she was worked up, and eager, but if Ranko could not enjoy it, if she did not want it too, it was not worth indulging in. "I'm sorry, Ranko. I couldn't stop myself," she apologized, looking away.
Ranko sighed, "I know how you feel. We're going to have to do something about this, but... not like this, okay?"
"That's fair," Fa Shen breathed. "Could you... can you go, please?"
"Sure. Sorry..." Ranko got on her hands and knees and crawled out of the room. The whole time, Fa Shen held herself tight and tried not to look at her. Ranko slid the shoji closed after she passed through the door, and made it to the top of the stairs before Kasumi appeared at the bottom.
"Oh, Ranko, wait, let me help you," she rushed up and offered the girl her arm. Ranko took it thankfully and asked if lunch was ready. "Cologne just called and said they were headed over with food. They'll be here in a little while."
"Good, I am starved!" Ranko smiled and Kasumi smiled back.
A. V. Morgan
Author's Note: For some reason Fanfiction.Net will no longer accept the same .htm template formatted document I've used since the beginning. Also, there are no decent formatting tricks for .txt documents that the document handler did not strip out or screw up. Please forgive the poor quality of this post, but in the interest of getting the chapter out, I am going with what works.
Part Thirty-Seven: It's More Than Just Sex?
Even though many would scoff at the idea that Ranma Saotome was an intellectual genius, anyone who had watched him master a new and difficult martial arts technique in record time would concede that the necessary brilliance resided in his keen, analytical mind. The simple fact was, few things really prompted him to think. Following the bomb his mother had dropped on him, the boy in a girl's birthday suit was at an even greater disadvantage than normal as his entire brain seized up. At first, the only thing he comprehended was that the choice he faced, even before Nodoka made it official, hurt. Ranma had realized, even before coming out of the mirror trap, that his heart was torn between his unnatural love for Ryouga-built more on the understanding reached between them at dinner the previous night and the confidence that those feelings were returned in full-and a very difficult and uncertain love for Akane. When she stood up for him and denounced all the arguments for why Ranma had to be a girl, she had revealed that she actually cared for the person cast adrift between genders. There were so few people in Ranma's life who had ever stood up for him that he responded to those people with an unyielding love.
Ranma was a creature of simple, uncomplicated passions. For the way they had reached out to him, Ryouga and Akane had claimed his heart. Unfortunately, that love was as honest and uncomplicated as he was, and was a far cry from the romantic kind of love that existed between lovers. His awakening experience had proven what Cologne had tried to explain to Copy-kun, that sex was not a prerequisite for love. Sex had almost instantly been associated with martial arts in Ranma's mind, as a way of expressing himself physically, and that was what the prodigal son was best at. "Ranko" had made love to Ryouga to express feelings that words were inadequate to express. Direct and desperate, she gave herself to him to say goodbye. It was pure irony that the same act had allowed Ranma to say hello. The experience had been an epiphany to Ranma, the true meaning of friendship demonstrated in laying back naked and vulnerable, penetrated by pleasure so intense he could not even think coherently. What rivalry could survive such a perfect surrender?
Sex with Ryouga had healed their friendship, and yes, it had made them more than friends. In hindsight, the worst possible thing that could happen to the boy Ranma had been, because of the curse, had been the best possible thing that could happen to the girl Ranma had become. Where Ranko had been burdened with Ranma's personality and the resulting aversion to the curse, Ranma first confronted womanhood with total abandon and discovered it gave him an advantage over most men. Because it was such a common taboo that it was wrong for men to embrace each other in love, they were doomed to embrace each other in war. By sacrificing his manhood, Ranma had ended a long, bitter and stupid conflict that could one day have claimed one or both their lives. If not for all the other complications in his life, the female young man would have thought himself in the best of both worlds. Instead, the belief that it would be fatal for Ranma to confront his mother in his present form had prompted his father to restore his manhood, and the desire to be a man once more had caused Ranma to spurn his new lover.
Ryouga had hated him for it immediately, and Ranma could hardly blame him. Ranma could not understand how Ryouga managed to forgive him enough to answer Nodoka's challenge without hesitation-at least once he was focused enough to hear what she was asking. Ranma doubted the lost boy had heard Ranma admit to his mother that he did love Ryouga, so he had feared the boy's response. When Ryouga hugged him and declared his love, Ranma had felt such intense relief he could not hide it. He had melted into that protective embrace without any shame. In fact, it was a guilty pleasure, since Ranma was painfully aware of the shock and rage consuming Akane after seeing Ryouga's secret exposed. It was the worst time and the worst way for Akane to discover that betrayal of friendship. Ranma had no intention of resisting her wrath, and did not expect Ryouga to either. Ranma could not forgive either of them for keeping this secret from Akane. Only the fact that P-Chan had avoided Akane in the mirror trap convinced Ranma that Ryouga was sincere about not using that form to take advantage of Akane any more, but, of course, the damage had long since been done. Ranma was not going to make excuses for his silence, either by pointing out the promise or the fact that Ranko had made it for him. However, Nodoka had pulled the rug out from under Akane's wrath.
Not surprisingly, Ranma had been so shocked and enraged by his mother's declaration that he had forgotten Akane, and everything else, as his mind seized up. First, there was the surprise that some how Happosai had convinced Nodoka that Ranma needed the curse, the ability to be male, in order to remain sane as well as to help heal Ranko. It was good that Nodoka had vowed not to interfere in that before she continued and made it clear that she could only recognize Ranma as a son or a daughter. Not both. This meant that Ranma did not have to worry about that as he focused on the really damning part of Nodoka's statement. As far as she was concerned, Ranma had to be a boy or a girl entirely. This, because if Ranma chose to be a boy, he had no honor as a girl and would be married to Akane, but if he chose to be a girl, he had no honor as a boy and would be married to Ryouga. Ranma loved his mother desperately, but with those words, he had realized he hated her too. It was a no win situation, an uncompromising, unforgiving insult to one of the two people Ranma truly loved.
For a long time, Ranma simply refused to accept it. He was free to assume the nanniichaun curse, to be-what a year of inherited experiences had done to redefine as "normal" for him-more than a man. He could be better than a man and his mother would not accept it. He could only be a man by rejecting Ryouga and trying to hide the shame of what was now his true form from his mother's eyes. Unless Ranma was completely wrong, only Akane raving about how Ranma was "hers" and the need to satisfy the honor of the Saotome and Tendo clans through their marriage compelled Nodoka to even consider recognizing Ranma as her son again. Ranma could only refuse that honor by shaming his male side beyond his mother's ability to recognize him, but if he did honor the arrangement, he shamed his girl side just as bad. It was horrifying, but worse, the implication that there was no way to win struck him as a grave insult. With complete detachment, Ranma had sunk into a sea of anger and resentment over this.
He just could not accept it. For one thing, he was still too much a man in his own mind. True, he was a girl in all other respects, and whatever the circumstances responsible for that, what the curse and Ryouga had done to him had made it possible for him to accept being female. With the opposite curse, and the belief that Ryouga would feel the same about Ranma, male or female, and felt it strongly enough to consider becoming as much a girl, Ranma knew he could live with marrying him. Ryouga was not going to deny Ranma's need to be a man. Akane had already endorsed Ranma's manhood, though she had admitted, when Genma challenged her, that she had also defended his choice to be female when the Togenkyo transformation had been discussed in his absence. The problem was Nodoka's strict beliefs. Yes, it was obvious that Ranma could not be with both Akane and Ryouga, but was it necessary for her to rub it in all their faces? Now that the man-among-men contract was invalidated, did she think it was necessary to find some other way to hang the sword of honor over Ranma's head? It was not as if Ryouga had gotten Ranma pregnant, and it was necessary for them to get married for the sake of the child. At least, that was the risk she had implied when she thought Ranma was "Ranko Tendo" and she was trying to discourage the girl from engaging in unprotected sex.
Ranma frowned inwardly. Maybe that was it. Ranko Tendo was a very different prospect from Ranma Saotome. That was obvious when Nodoka insisted that marrying Ryouga was necessary to protect "her daughter's" honor. Even though it was not Ranma's fault, Nodoka was ashamed of the fact that "she" had sex with Ryouga. Why was she more compassionate and understanding of "Ranko's" feelings than she was of her own child's? As a girl, Ranma was not in the least ashamed of what she had done. As a boy, it did not occur to him to be ashamed until the girl's memories put the act in perspective, and he realized how unnatural and perverse it would seem to a normal person. But, before waking up and embracing the memories, he had been a normal boy, as far as sex and gender went. He experienced sex as a girl before finding out what sex was supposed to be and mean. Without knowing what people thought, he had no reason to think sex was demeaning, and having been a girl at the time, everything he had done was appropriate to his form. As a martial artist, he was a strong believer in "form follows function" so being a girl, you had to have sex like a girl, and if that was the defining difference between male and female, proud, manly Ranma saw no reason to deny that he was a girl.
Ranma's fist tightened, crushing the black silk wad in his hand. 'My hand,' he thought. 'A girl's hand. I am a girl. I've had sex with a boy, and I liked it.' She took a deep breath and relaxed her grip. 'I love him. I don't see anything about that I need to be ashamed of. After all, wasn't I supposed to be a girl to begin with? Shouldn't I be more ashamed of the fact that everyone, including me, tried so hard to make me something I wasn't in the first place?' She smiled faintly. Then she thought of Ranko. Ranko was a lot more of a girl than she was. Ranma, even as the projection of Ranko, had needed Ryouga to make her understand being a girl. If Ranma chose Ryouga, and became Nodoka's daughter, what would happen to Ranko? Would she be forced to marry Akane and live as a boy? A man? If Ranko slept with a guy she liked, would Nodoka force her to marry him or disown her? Was that, any of that, fair to Ranko? Ranma scowled. The idea of Ranko being treated the way she was being treated brought her anger back to the surface. It was not fair. It was not honorable. Or, to be more precise, it was an insult to her honor made to repair a perceived insult to Nodoka's. Happosai was right. Nodoka's mind was too rigid, her sense of honor exaggerated and fragile.
Rubbing her fingers over the soft, slippery silk of her panties, Ranma paused thoughtfully. Nodoka's honor reminded her of a certain boy's ego. Ryouga had done an excellent job of puncturing that boy's ego. Maybe it was time someone did Nodoka the same favor. To begin with, she intended to reject the notion that Ryouga had dishonored her. Ranma had not dishonored herself, in spite of her own confusion. She had done a good job coming to terms with a situation that nothing she had ever experienced as a boy could have prepared her for. She could not take responsibility for the sex, which she refused to regret, but she could take responsibility for the first conscious decision she had made afterwards. She turned her hand over under Ryouga's and pressed the panties into his grasp. She had decided to let him keep his little trophy, hiding the flush of pleasure his demand to keep them had aroused, so it was appropriate to return them to him. That done, she proceeded to seriously ask herself if her mother was justified in judging her by the actions of others. Her consent to having sex had been usurped by "Ranko". Ryouga had done his best to resist her temptation, and eventually crumbled, so he was hardly at fault. He'd remembered to use protection, so even there he had done the honorable thing. Nodoka certainly had no right to impose her little declaration on him!
Further thought was interrupted by a burst of motion at the corner of her eye, and a sharp shrill of danger ringing in her skull. Ranma blinked, reflexes springing her into action, as her cognitive mind refused to let go of its train of thought. Without thinking, Ranma surged forward, her fingers threading through Akane's clawed hands. Unprepared for the murderous strength in Akane's arms, Ranma's arms were spread wide, her wrists bent painfully backwards, as her body was painfully sandwiched between Akane and Ryouga. All three toppled over, with Ryouga pinned on his back, his arms trapped between Akane and Ranma. Akane rested with her nose centimeters from Ranma's, when the red-head blurted out the last thought to cross her mind.
"What if he raped me?" she challenged.
Akane, already primed to kill, did not grasp the argument behind the words, and took them literally. "WHAT!!!? H-he RAPED you!?" she shrieked, rearing back and staring into Ryouga's eyes, over Ranma's head. "You disgusting PIG! How DARE YOU!?"
"Wh-what...?" Ryouga stammered in cold disbelief.
"NO!" Ranma shouted, straining to keep Akane's hands locked in her grip, as the other girl strained to reach for Ryouga's throat. Wrapping her legs around Akane's hips and applying pressure to the other girl's lower spine, she tried to keep her immobilized long enough to listen. "I said 'what if?'. Ryouga tried to say no, but 'Ranko' wouldn't have it. She wanted it, and Ryouga couldn't resist. He was a complete gentleman and used a condom and everything. By the time I woke up, everything felt so good I couldn't even think! The point is, I didn't have a say in it!" she yelled into Akane's face.
Hearing this was not exactly calming Akane down, but the shock and embarrassment did choke off anything she might have said, or yelled, in response. Ryouga had to ask the question for her.
"What are you talking about, Ranma?"
"I'm sayin' 'Why do I hav'ta marry you just because we had sex?' How can it be a stain on my honor when it wasn't even my fault!? It's like, I was asleep when you started. Don't you remember, Akane, there was that guy who slept with a girl at a party after she fell asleep? That's rape, right? Isn't that sort of what happened to me?" Ranma pointed out, bringing up a rumor that circulated when a certain couple stopped coming to school. "So, I'm askin' would Mom want me to marry a guy who raped me?" Ranma was fishing, trying out ideas she had never fully understood. Rape was something guys talked about in relation to sex, sort of the dark side of sex. She knew rape was a crime, and in some countries it was considered as bad, or worse than murder. "Does that sound like a way a girl can keep her honor?" Ranma challenged, when neither of them spoke.
Akane could not speak.
"Ohgod. Ohgodohgodohgod," Ryouga babbled. The way Ranma had put it, it suddenly felt like he HAD raped Ranma. Yes, Ranko had said yes. She had demanded they have sex. Ranma, however, had not even understood what was happening when he woke up. It took a long time after it was over for Ranma to even be able to think, by that time, the memories had flooded his mind, and he had clung to the female personality they came with. Ranma could remember saying yes, but the truth was, she had never been given a choice. "I am so sorry, Ranma. So, so sorry," he twisted, dumping the girls off to the side, and proceeded to run out the open shoji, carelessly closing the yukata around his naked body.
"Ryouga!" Ranma tried to untangle herself from Akane. "Wait!"
Akane, still overwhelmed with anger, stunned by Ranma's words and the weird logic that said she had been raped at the same time they tried to say she had not. Ryouga's retreat, his parting words, made it obvious that he had reached a similar conclusion, but the horror, the shame and guilt, did not belong in a man who had so maliciously betrayed Ranma and Akane. "Damn you, Ryouga! Hurry! Run! Don't EVER come back!" she shouted, trying to keep Ranma from following. Akane wanted to chase the boy, hit him, hurt him, break him into tiny pieces and... she was so glad he was going away. Away from her, away from Ranma. She was grateful that Ranma had intercepted her before she could complete her attack. Grateful that the girl had been too preoccupied to realize that Akane would have torn through her to get her claws into Ryouga. She was grateful that it was easier to hold onto Ranma for all she was worth than give in to the urge to chase Ryouga.
"Let me go, Akane!" Ranma struggled, but this was not a stand up fight, this was a contest of muscle and leverage, and Akane was both bigger and stronger than her, or her longer limbs gave her the leverage to foil Ranma's uncanny strength. "Please, Akane!? He'll get lost!"
Akane ignored the pleading, "Good. That's the best thing he could do right now; get lost."
"No! Akane! Why are you doin' this!?"
"Don't you understand? Don't you know why he left?"
"What are you talking about!?"
"He... he realized that he did," Akane exhaled into Ranma's ear, half hugging the red-head while keeping her arms pinned behind her back, fingers still twined through hers. Ranma was not following. "Ranma... he... he thinks he raped you." And why did that upset him, unless...? Akane scowled. She did not want to see a good side to him at the moment. Ranma had gone stiff in Akane's arms.
"No. No, I'm not going to believe that," Ranma moaned in a dead voice.
"You pointed it out yourself! You said you didn't have a choice! That IS rape, stupid!" Akane shouted, the tide of anger swiftly shifting to sorrow as Ranma became a victim in her mind. Someone who had been betrayed even more deeply than she had by Ryouga.
Ranma found the strength to throw Akane off at that. "NO! Ranma Saotome is NO ONE'S victim! It was an ACCIDENT! Yeah, so I got in the middle of somethin' I didn't understand, but I wasn't hurt! You're sayin' Ryouga tried to hurt me!"
"How can you say you weren't hurt, Ranma?" Akane sat up in disbelief, brushing tears form her cheeks. "Maybe it wasn't just Ryouga, maybe it's the other Ranko's fault too, but can you honestly say you would have wanted this to happen? You were a boy, Ranma! Could you have even thought about having sex with another boy if you had a choice? Don't you see what this has done to you?"
Ranma had been about to sprint out of the room as soon as Akane was off of her, but first she had tried to defend Ryouga, and then Akane had said things she could not ignore. She rose to her feet and approached the other girl, staring down with anger and hurt, "Change hurts, Akane. It makes everything different, and sometimes the pain makes it hard to see if things have been set wrong or right. Before I woke up, I didn't even know what sex was, so I could not have even made a choice. I'm glad I didn't have to chose, because if I'd been given the chance, the decision would probably have been made by someone for me, like always. If I'd made the right decision for a man, I'd have made the wrong decision for me," Ranma declared.
"Are you saying you want to be a girl? That you want Ryouga?"
Ranma looked out over the yard. "I am a girl, Akane. I am a girl and that doesn't make me any less of a man. I want to go find my friend and make sure he's okay. I don't like losing my friends."
"What about me?" Akane asked in a voice growing smaller by the moment. She looked up, waiting to see if Ranma would look at her. "Do you want me?"
Ranma turned and studied her. "Well, that's the problem isn't it?"
"What?"
"I should be asking you the same question," Ranma gave her a sad look and then raced out of the house, across the yard, and bounded over the wall in search of Ryouga. Akane blinked in confusion for a moment, before she understood what Ranma meant. With sudden determination, she jumped to her feet and raced out of the house, out through the genkan and the front gates, then down the streets in search of Ranma and Ryouga.
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Kodachi Kuno slipped out from behind a tree in the Tendo yard. She had been in a bad mood since she confronted Akane Tendo the night before. After returning to the park and finding her lackey, Hikaru Gosenkugi laying unconscious at the base of the tree they had hidden in to ambush Akane and Ranma, she had returned home to contemplate the fight. There was no way to deny she had been defeated, since her intention had been to capture her lover and Akane had succeeded in thwarting her. It was a little harder to consider that she had failed because Akane had beaten her in combat. Being hammered over the horizon did not really count as a defeat in Kodachi's mind, since the only real damage had been to her pride. However great her pride, she was well acquainted with the way her brother denied Ranma regular triumphs over him, and did not wish to be considered as delusional as Tatewaki. The only salve to her bruised ego was seeing him return empty handed as well. Neither spoke of their failure before retiring for the night. Neither slept very well either.
Kodachi took a more constructive approach to dealing with her disappointment, going to her lab to cook up some additions to her arsenal to improve her chances of successfully capturing Ranma and the Pig-Tailed-Girl. The work always served to calm her nerves and allow her to think. Thus, she was able to admit that Akane had defeated her in the technical sense. It was a vindication of her long practice of confronting her opponents outside of competition. The strategy itself made it obvious that she did respect the ability of those lower than herself, who made up for their low birth by training their bodies and minds with a desperate devotion beneath one of her natural ability. It had been a long time since she risked facing opposition when something she valued was at stake, and now she saw how her strategy for assured success had failed her. By controlling the situation so that she always won when she wanted to, she had led herself to believe she would always win when she desired. She had forgotten that the competition for Ranma's heart was very different from her Rhythmic Gymnastic Martial Arts. There were no written rules, no judges, and the entire world was the arena of battle.
This meant, her opponents were primed to fight at any time, never dropping their guards and assuming they were safe until the day of the match. Oh no, the girls Kodachi was fighting understood it was a war and they lived it. Her ambush had failed because she never truly held the element of surprise. Expecting Akane to be caught of guard, Kodachi had unwittingly relaxed her own and was surprised when Akane went all out, saving nothing for some future contest. Well, Kodachi understood the rules of the game now, and she had armed herself appropriately. Assured of success in her next venture, she slipped easily to sleep. When she awoke, there was a message from Gosunkugi waiting for her. Before letting him go home the night before, she instructed him to watch the school and report on the actions of her various targets. When the boy's message revealed that none of them had come to school, including the mannish Ukyo and the mercenary Nabiki, she knew where to seek out her prey.
With the time necessary to bathe, dress and arm herself, Kodachi estimated she would arrive at the Tendo compound just before lunch time. When she arrived, she had spotted two of her enemies sitting in the Tea Room apparently deep in thought. She had concealed herself, settling in to observe as the others assembled for the midday meal, gathering intelligence before planning her eventual attack. From the way the boy, Ryouga, was holding the Pig-Tailed-Girl, it was obvious that her brother had been rather soundly defeated in the war for her heart. It had pleased Kodachi as well, since her straying affections would certainly diminish her chances with Ranma-Sama. It had pleased her far more that Akane sat alone. In spite of her date with him, the Tendo girl had apparently not succeeded in her coarse efforts to seduce him. No doubt the girl had repulsed him with her cooking or driven him away with her abuse once more. When Akane had suddenly attacked the red haired girl, Kodachi had been rather surprised. Then, when Akane shrieked in disbelief and accusation, Kodachi had almost fallen out from behind the tree!
She could hardly believe it, but Akane had clearly accused the boy of raping the red-haired girl. Quite obviously, there had been much more going on than Kodachi observed, while the trio sat motionlessly. In retrospect, Akane had been trying to get through the girl who called herself Ranma to attack the boy, and "Ranma" was trying to defend him. Even after the boy fled, and the red-haired girl chased after him moments later, Kodachi was asking herself what kind of girl defended the boy that raped her! Only when Akane fled from sight did Kodachi emerge from hiding.
"How peculiar," she commented, sneaking towards the house. She was a girl, and she had felt instant sympathy for her former rival at the word "rape". It was the only part of the exchange she had heard clearly. The aura of rage that had enshrouded Akane attested to her depth of feeling and conviction in attacking, so there was no question that Akane believed her own accusation. Maybe the other girl defended the boy and protected him in the interests of keeping the matter a secret. Given the general indifference of Japanese authorities to the crime of rape, it certainly was more to her disadvantage to reveal the truth. Accusing the boy would just stain her honor, while he would most likely never face prosecution or imprisonment. The best she could hope for was for her men folk to track him down and beat him to death, if she could not do it herself. Of course, that was a crime the authorities would not ignore, and it would not repair her honor. It was more likely, if the crime had not been brutal, if it had been just date rape, for the families in question to settle the matter with a rushed wedding.
"Perhaps I showed up after the 'engagement'?" Kodachi slipped into the house on silent feet. She was quite unsettled by the overheard accusation, and the actions that made it seem more believable. Only the guilty run, she reminded herself. No honorable man would tolerate an accusation like that, and the last thing he would do was run from it. Kodachi snarled. Akane was a rival, so Kodachi had made the effort to learn about the girl. Kodachi had known of the girl's reputation as a champion of the weak even before their first confrontation. Akane was no doubt determined to punish the boy, despite whatever arrangement "Ranma's" family had made. An ill feeling was forming in Kodachi's gut, as she felt herself believing in the crime. For a long time, she had dreamed of putting the red-headed rival in her place, savoring the shame she would endure when Kodachi stood victorious over her with Ranma-Sama on her arm. But rape was too much. An insult, a horror Kodachi would never wish on her enemies. She choked with unwanted sympathy for her rival, even as she noted that the shame would certainly end the girl's hopes with Ranma-Sama.
Her own plans for revenge had to wait until she confirmed the accusation, she realized. Thus, she pressed into the house, seeking the person in whose ears all dirty secrets eventually spilled, Nabiki Tendo. It was hardly surprising that she was standing just outside the door to the Tea Room, positioned to listen to those who had raced out of the house, and the shock on her face told it's own story. Nabiki stared at Kodachi for a moment, before blinking and focusing on her face.
"How long have you been here?" Nabiki instantly demanded.
"Long enough to hear the foulest accusation," Kodachi answered grimly.
"It would be best if you forgot you heard that," Nabiki warned.
Kodachi stared at the mercenary girl. "I believe it is best to clarify some things before making any promises. Before you speak, I do not find this a matter over which money should change hands. Simply tell me, is there any truth to the accusation? Am I correct in assuming that the matter is to be covered up by an engagement between my rival and that... that... despicable boy?"
Nabiki, who had heard the entire exchange quite clearly, having been drawn by the first sound of movement from where she had been in the kitchen, paused in thought. She might have simply refused to speak, no matter how dangerous Kodachi could be. However, her declaration that she would neither buy, nor did she condone the selling of, this kind of information, it seemed possible that the deranged girl did understand the need for discretion. Hardening her gaze, knowing that Kodachi already overheard the most dangerous part of the exchange, she spelled out, very carefully, "There is reasonable suspicion that Ryouga did not have Ranma's full consent to engage in sex during their date. To my knowledge, she does not bear him any resentment, and they claim to be in love. However, her mother did insist she must marry him to retain her honor. For other reasons, Akane feels Ryouga has betrayed her trust, and that this arrangement could threaten her own engagement. I am sure she wants to beat the hell out of him right now, but that would only make things worse for everyone concerned."
"This will not please my brother," Kodachi commented, faintly relieved by the implication that the "rape" was more technical than literal.
"Kodachi, you don't want to repeat this, believe me," Nabiki warned.
"As a woman, you should not think that I would seek to take advantage of this," Kodachi sneered disdainfully, insulted by Nabiki's assumption and unvoiced threat. "However, I believe it would be best for my brother to learn the simple fact of this conquest from me. It is sure enough he would assume rape of any man who managed to seduce the object of his obsession. If he is the first to scream it out loud, certainly no one else will listen thenceforth."
"And then Kuno'll spend the rest of his life trying to kill Ryouga and rescue his 'Pig-Tailed-Girl' from his clutches," an angry, familiar voice intruded. "Forget it, Kodachi. Until the wedding itself happens, and there's still a chance it won't, no one outside the family is going to know about the engagement."
Kodachi looked over Nabiki's shoulder to see Fa Shen and Ukyo marching toward them from the stairs at the end of the hall. Kodachi blinked, surprised to see the red-haired girl had returned home, changed into appropriate feminine clothing and let her hair free of it's pig-tail. That was all she needed to see, to believe that the girl had finally given up on her Ranma. "You look nice like that," Kodachi smiled. "It's about time you stopped pretending to be my beloved Ranma-Sama."
Fa Shen growled, clenching her fists in annoyance as the gymnast tried to change the subject. "Did you hear me, Kodachi!? I said, you aren't going to tell anyone about this!"
Kodachi sneered, "Even though we were rivals, what has happened to you strikes pity into my heart. I was actually trying to protect your reputation, you ignorant little slut! I know the ways of gossip in and out, for I have grown up attending girl's schools. You should trust me when I say, the truth from my brother's mouth is the best kept secret in Nerima."
"It's not a bad idea," Nabiki tried to interject, but Fa Shen was simply unequipped to trust Kodachi in the slightest. Seeing the amazon smirk and tense, while Ukyo took a step back and unharnessed her giant spatula, Nabiki dodged into the kitchen to get out of the way. "No one ever appreciates free advice," she complained, as Fa Shen rocketed down the corridor, foot extended in a kick.
Kodachi sighed, back-peddling and producing one of her new weapons. Naturally, it looked like one of her usual paralysis bombs, and the effects would include partial paralysis. The big difference was obvious as she chucked it right in to Fa Shen's face when she was too close to effectively dodge it. As expected, Fa Shen took a deep breath and held it, before the bomb hit her and exploded, but instead of a cloud of gas, she was doused in a body drenching fluid, the paralytic/hallucinogenic drug almost instantly soaking into her bloodstream through her skin. "I can see I am not welcome here anymore," Kodachi smiled, as the girl stumbled and collapsed to the floor. As she turned on her heel and fled, Ukyo chased after her, making note to be VERY careful of anything Kodachi threw at her.
"D-dammit!" Fa Shen mumbled, straining to pick herself up.
"Are you okay?" Nabiki squatted down, not sure if it was safe to touch the damp girl. Fa Shen struggled to her feet, blinking hard and shaking her head. Nabiki sighed in relief to see her moving, but decided not to touch her when she saw how weak and disoriented Fa Shen looked. "Kodachi's crazy, and uses drugs, but she's not stupid enough to try anything lethal. At least not in front of witnesses. If you can make up upstairs, you might want to sleep off whatever she hit you with."
"Sure. Great. Good thing too," Fa Shen mumbled, supporting herself on the wall and heading back toward the stairs. "Since she used drugs, it doesn't count as a defeat."
"What?" Nabiki's eyes widened.
"I hate giving the Kiss of Death," Fa Shen explained.
Nabiki made a quick note to spread the word, high and wide, not to attack any of the triplets. Thanks to Fa Shen, Ranma and Ranko were bound by amazon law, and Nabiki did not want to find out if they were going to take those laws seriously. Things just were not getting any better.
-------------------------
When Akane started screaming at Ryouga downstairs, Fa Shen and Ukyo had traded a look before springing to their feet. No one in the house could fail to hear her accuse Ryouga of raping Ranma. Obviously, she had just figured out what the two had done on their date, and instantly assumed the worst. Though the two girls acted in haste, they did not move fast enough to keep Ranko from grabbing hold of them and clinging as they raced from the room. This was the first time that Fa Shen and Ukyo realized that, while Ranko's spirit was weak, her body was still strong. She told her hands to hold on, and they obeyed that command to the fullest. As with most of her impulsive moves, it left her without the energy to send further commands, which she tried to explain as Fa Shen and Ukyo tried to break her death grip and leave the injured girl upstairs in relative safety. Fa Shen was surprised to note that pressure points did not work, since they manipulated the underlying ki of the body, and everything Ranko had to spare was locked up in the muscles maintaining her grip. It did not take long for the ki to drain out of her arms, since it was needed elsewhere, and her fingers relaxed on their own. With that, the girls were able to make their delayed exit.
Ranko had been deposited on her futon, carefully positioned sitting upright, grumbling at herself in irritation. If she just took it slow, she could control herself pretty good now. She could stand and walk even, as long as she took her time. She had more than enough control to keep her balance, and that was the hardest part of walking. With just a little support, she could move about the house freely. It was trying to bound about in her normal fashion that locked her up and paralyzed her until her ki settled back in her center.
"This really sucks!" she griped.
She closed her eyes and meditated, trying to will herself to regenerate ki at a faster rate. The frustration she felt quickly derailed her focus, and she found herself hoping that Ranma and Ryouga decided to indulge themselves again soon... and often. She was blushing and chewing herself out for thinking such a selfish thing, and trying to convince herself she was not actually jealous of Ranma, when Fa Shen stumbled to a halt at the door.
"What happened to you? You look as bad as me!"
"Kodachi," Fa Shen moaned, slipping into the room, cautiously, a few slow, carefully balanced steps enabling her to cross the open space until she could collapse safely onto the futon beside Ranko. "She doped me with one of her ball bombs. Ukyo's chasin' her off."
Ranko examined her, noticing the damp blouse. "Not her usual gas attack, huh? What'd she hit you with?"
"A mild paralytic, a hallucinogenic and no doubt an erotic stimulant," Fa Shen tabulated with a drunken smirk.
"How do you know that?" Ranko wondered, faintly impressed.
"Well, mostly experience. Ergot tried everything on me at least twice. I'm just glad that, well, a fate worse than death awaits a man who takes an amazon warrior in an, ah, 'unsportsman like' way," she grimaced. Seeing Ranko stare at her in faint incomprehension, Fa Shen decided to short cut her memory search. "The Kiss of Marriage is only given to a victor in hand to hand or armed combat. Drugs aren't exactly forbidden, nor are poisons, but they have to be used openly. Using them to prevent or end combat, especially by surprise, is considered disengagement, withdrawal from combat. So, you use drugs, you can't claim victory. If a man 'took' his bride that way, she's free to kill him," Fa Shen pointed out. With a more vicious grin, she added, "She's encouraged to take as long as she pleases."
Ranko shuddered slightly. "So, ah, you probably didn't much like Akane screaming that Ryouga raped Ranma," she guessed.
"It's not good for a man's health to suggest an amazon's been raped where other amazons might hear. He could find himself missing a lot of important bits before he could convince anyone that he was innocent," Fa Shen sighed. "See, the only thing we could imagine that would keep the girl he wronged from taking her own revenge is if he did something so terrible to her she was unable to face him."
Ranko blanched. The only fear she could compare that to was her fear of cats. She did not want to think what a man would have to do to inspire that kind of mindless panic. She was about to try and change the subject when she noticed that Fa Shen was on her hands and knees, facing her from quickly diminishing centimeters away. "Fa Shen? What are you... mmmmph!" she was cut off as Fa Shen's mouth closed on her own. With widening eyes, she realized that Fa Shen had not been joking about the aphrodisiac effects of Kodachi's drugs. The pressure of the kiss quickly overcame Ranko's precarious balance and she tipped over backwards with a faint squawk as their mouths parted. "Waaah! F-Fa Shen! Wai..."
Fa Shen simply kept crawling forward, her hands and knees sliding up the futon on either side of Ranko as she leaned forward to recapture her mouth. Ranko struggled limply, feverishly reminding herself if she did anything too abruptly, she would be paralyzed entirely before this amorous assault. She braced her hands against Fa Shen's shoulders and slowly tried to push her off, but she almost lost control when the other girl's hand slipped inside her pants, and the urge to throw her off with all her strength hit. Somehow, she ignored the impulse, and continued applying gradual pressure, building up the strength. It helped that after the initial shock, the probing hand and tongue provoked no particular response.
It took Fa Shen a moment longer, straining against the mounting resistance of the girl under her, to notice she was getting no response to the kiss and no signs of arousal anywhere else. With a frown, she pulled back and looked into the other girl's eyes, surprised to see the alarm there. "What's wrong?" she asked, shaken out of her erotic mood.
"What's wrong!? Get offa me! Do you even realize what you're doin'?"
Fa Shen blinked and sat back on Ranko's thighs. She reached out and pinched her nipple, tweaking it expertly and stroking her other hand between her legs in a way she KNEW should get a response. Ranko flushed and complained about being pinched and 'tickled' but fell silent as she noticed the perplexed look on Fa Shen's face. Ranko lay back for a moment, straining her patience as the girl tried to get a rise out of her. Then it struck her, Fa Shen was really trying. She was familiar enough with her own body to know it should have been doing something, but sure enough, it was not.
"Uh, I think somethin's wrong with me," Ranko finally commented.
Fa Shen stared at her, ceasing her movements. Through the haze of drugs, she struggled to figure out why her attentions were having no effect on Ranko. It was like her whole body was numb, but if she could not feel, she would not have complained about the tickling. Then it hit her, Ranko was not feeling any pleasure. Sensation, but no thrill, nothing erotic. She blinked. "Oh, I'm such an idiot!" she almost yelled. "If sex generates ki, you can't have sex without it. You have to have ki to spare."
"Oh, I suppose that makes sense," Ranko made to sit up. She paused and frowned, "Wait, I do have ki. How much ki do you have to have for sex?"
Fa Shen smiled at her and purred, "Do you want to find out?"
Ranko gulped and glared, "Down, girl! I was just thinkin'... maybe there's somethin' else. I mean, I'm so drained that I'm not getting worked up, but if I put my mind to it, I can do things at full strength. If I go slow, I have full control. I think, if I worked at it, I could get aroused, and that would make it possible to have sex, right?" Fa Shen nodded eagerly, liking where this was going. "Stop drooling, I'm still just thinkin' here! What I'm wondering is, it takes some energy to get aroused, but, once I'm having sex, I might be able to generate new ki. I might be able to regenerate ki on my own, er, well, with just me and uh..."
"Uh huh! Go on!" Fa Shen beamed.
"Well, I assume there's have to be a boy, and..." Ranko did not want to finish. Rather than continue this discussion, since Fa Shen was in rather the wrong frame of mind for it, she carefully straightened her clothes. "I guess I need to give this more thought. Like, after lunch," Ranko suggested hopefully. That was one thing she still had an appetite for, and if she was lucky someone would be up soon to bring her down to eat. "So, ah, if you don't mind letting me up..."
Fa Shen sighed. Rolling off of Ranko, she tried to pull her head together. Through the haze of drugs, she was conscious of what she had been doing, and hated it. The attraction was a legacy of her awakening, and the drugs weakened her to the point where she was acting on it. There was no question she was worked up, and eager, but if Ranko could not enjoy it, if she did not want it too, it was not worth indulging in. "I'm sorry, Ranko. I couldn't stop myself," she apologized, looking away.
Ranko sighed, "I know how you feel. We're going to have to do something about this, but... not like this, okay?"
"That's fair," Fa Shen breathed. "Could you... can you go, please?"
"Sure. Sorry..." Ranko got on her hands and knees and crawled out of the room. The whole time, Fa Shen held herself tight and tried not to look at her. Ranko slid the shoji closed after she passed through the door, and made it to the top of the stairs before Kasumi appeared at the bottom.
"Oh, Ranko, wait, let me help you," she rushed up and offered the girl her arm. Ranko took it thankfully and asked if lunch was ready. "Cologne just called and said they were headed over with food. They'll be here in a little while."
"Good, I am starved!" Ranko smiled and Kasumi smiled back.