Private Bet Lucky #7
by Shade
Disclaimer: The creator of Tenchi is an etchi. It's true!
Just look at all that fanservice in GXP!
Seriously: TSR, Takahashi & AIC properties used in non-profit ways here.
I would like to thank to Corwin, Brian, Dracos, Rez,
and the gang at Soulriders for their support, corrections,
ideas and help in going after that idiot who plagerized this particular fic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter San: Princesses, Promises and Pain (lots and lots of Pain!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryoko awoke to find herself upside down and in yet another predicament.
{Oh crap.}
This seemed par for the course lately.
"Ah, I see you're finally awake."
Just great, of all the people in the galaxy, she had to be captured
by a spoiled little princess. Well she'd be damned before letting
Miss Prissy think she'd been beaten yet.
"Kinky! I never knew you royal types swung this way."
Ayeka's features changed from pleased and self-satisfied to outraged
and pissed as hell. She'd inherited her parents' tempers, and it showed.
"You...you...low-bred pirate monster woman!"
Okay, so her vocabulary needed work.
"Is this the part where you pull out the bull whip and reveal
your shiny black leather outfit?
"Ye-No!"
Sensing a weakness in her opponent's suddenly flustered composure,
the wicked pirate grinned evilly as she closed for the kill.
"You should know that I'm quite the screamer."
"Really? Does that mean-Never mind that!! Tell me where Yosho is!!"
"Yoyo?"
"Yosho!"
"Oujo?"(1)
"Well, maybe lat-er-stop that!! Show me Yosho!!"
"Shoyu Yoda?"
"Arrrgghh! Guardians!!"
Azaka and Kamidake obliged by upping the voltage of the barrier holding Ryoko.
Unfortunately for Ayeka, Ryoko had a rather 'unique' physique.
"Oooo! Ahhhh! Yes! Yes!! Yeeeesssss!!!"
Electrical essence, just for space pirates. And it did wonders for the hair too.
Blushing furiously, her royal highness averted her eyes from the spectacle
of her wanton adversary going through a full body orgasm right in front of her.
Azaka and Kamidake's lightning barrage quickly ceased.
The soft erotic moans took a bit longer to stop.
Ryoko lazily blew a puff of pale smoke past her lips.
"Was it good for you too?"
"AAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma stared hard at the bars of his prison.
They appeared at first glance to be nothing more then simple tree branches
with a deceptively fragile slenderness.
But during his first attempt to escape, those same weak looking bars had
instantly acquired a rubber flexibility and a density that rivaled that
of solid steel.
Obviously the frontal approach wasn't going to work here.
He looked down.
The floor? Perhaps that Breaking Point trick his grandfather had shown him?
Solid wood greeted his eyes. No luck there.
And upon further reflection, probably not a good idea anyway.
Since he was probably still in space, breaking through any floors,
walls, or ceilings might result in something *very* bad happening.
So Ranma pondered on his dilemma.
"How to get out? How to get out...."
A search of his pockets turned up some lint and an old piece of rice candy
he'd somehow forgotten about. Not that he was tempted to eat it now,
even as hungry as he was at the moment.
"Damn it!"
If only it were a conventional prison he could have busted out, no problem.
There wasn't even a guard around that he could complain to!
"This SUCKS!!"
*giggle*
A quickly stifled laugh caught his attention.
There was somebody else out there after all.
The young man looked outside of his cell as best he could from where he was.
It was a jungle out there. Literally.
Nothing but green as far as the eye could see.
*gurgle**gurgle*
His stomach growled.
"Hahahaha!!"
That laughter sounded like a...girl.
{Oh no...please no! Anything but that!}
Slowly, inevitably, the petrified young man began to turn toward his doom.
"Hi! I'm Sasami! Nice to meet you!"
And promptly facefaulted when he realized that she was a *young* girl
and not a scary woman who would try to smother him in her ample bosom.
"*Giggle*, you're a funny person!!"
Still, she was pretty cute with that long blue hair that was arranged
in twin ponytails and those expressive pink eyes. In a non-threatening
kid-sister sort of way, fortunately.
"Er, nice to meet you. I'm Ranma. Um, I don't suppose you could get me out of here?"
"Hmmm...well...."
He could already tell that a "but" was coming.
"I'll do you a favor if you do one for me!"
Suddenly he had a *very* bad feeling about this.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The princess was not in a good mood.
Damn that Ryoko woman for making fun of her!
And double damn those mini-robotic servants that her own mother had forced on her!!
If not for them, she would have used the royal key's protective field
to extract the information about her dear older brother/fiance.
Past her bedtime indeed! She was *not* a little child to babied around like that!!
But if "Mommy" found out that she hadn't listened to those little wooden pests....
Ayeka shivered, her face blue with fear.
Tomorrow was another day. A petty criminal like Ryoko wasn't worth
her mother's wrath.
She finished combing her long lustrous hair and prepared for bed.
But sleep did not come so easily to her.
"Oh Yosho, why didn't you ever come back for me?"
What was wrong with her?
She had the delicate skin, the noble bone structure, the ample bos-um-okay,
maybe not that. But two out of three wasn't bad!
Perhaps she hadn't been forceful enough at the beginning of their relationship?
Yosho had never even given her a real kiss on the lips before he left.
Had she made a mistake in not taking charge of him right away?
Maybe her mother was right after all.
Hugging her prized bullwhip to her chest like a cuddly stuffed animal,
the troubled princess finally dozed off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma was in heaven.
Food! Glorious food!! Food piled as high as his arms could reach!!
He didn't recognize any of it, but whatever this was, the stuff tasted good
and there was plenty of it. That was all he needed to know.
Sasami had led him to the ship's pantry right after she'd let him out of his cell.
It hadn't taken much on his part to convince her. His growling stomach had been
all the argument needed.
Now she could only watch in amazement as the released prisoner polished off dish
after dish of gourmet delicacies from a dozen other worlds.
"Are you always this hungry?"
Ranma swallowed what he had in his mouth and washed it down with something
that looked and tasted like fruit juice, but glowed a bright pink in the cup.
He wisely decided not to ask about that, since he probably would have regretted
finding out what it really was.
"Nope, just missed lunch and dinner and so I was *really* hungry."
"Well, if you're ready?"
Ranma sopped up a last bit of gravy with a piece of what looked like a giant mushroom,
but had the consistancy of fine wheat bread. Popping that last tidbit into his mouth
and swallowing, he nodded.
"Yeah. I'm good."
The young man followed the little princess out to the walkway.
"So what did you want me to do anyway?"
Sasami smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How do I get myself into these situations...."
Ranma groaned softly as he snuck his way into Ayeka's chambers.
How the heck had that sweet little girl convinced him to do this?!
"Just steal her headpiece...I must be out of my mind...."
His grumblings drew to a halt as he noted the movement on the bed.
*Giku*
The young man froze as he remembered another room,
where the girls had tried to....
{No, no, no, no! Not going there! Not thinking about it! Not gonna remember!!}
The sleeping princess rolled off some of her blankets, seeking the soothing caress
of the cool night air. And exposing an eye widening amount of naked skin
in the process. While unable to match Ryoko's "assets", it was quite obvious
that Ayeka was no "little" girl either.
Just his luck; this would have been a whole lot easier if she was.
"She would have to bring that thing to bed with her."
Mustering his courage, the would-be thief snuck across the room towards
the oversized bed dominating the center.
But as he reached out to snag the ornament, Ayeka chose that particular
moment to turn over to face the other side of the bed.
{Damnit!}
Ranma moved to the other side and reached out again.
The princess turned back over.
{...}
It was going to be one of *those* days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sasami watched in amusement from her position on the hill overlooking
her sister's quarters. This Ranma person was so silly. She couldn't wait
to see the look on Ayeka's face when she realized there was a boy
in her bedchamber.
Her older sister really needed to learn to lighten up a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a difficult position he was currently in.
{Just remember, don't look down!}
The young woman's constant tossing and turning had finally settled down.
But in order to be able to reach her headpiece he had been forced to actually
get on the bed itself and bend over the princess as he attempted to remove
the ornament. A task made more difficult by the need to keep his head faced
in any direction except straight down. The trembling of his hands every time
the young man thought about how close he was to her didn't help matters either.
And then Ranma did something incredibly stupid.
He looked down.
Right into Ayeka's cleavage.
His head immediately started to swim.
He was too close to her! Women were scary!!
And then he saw the sword.
Clutched tightly to the princess's chest.
That snapped him out of his wooziness.
{Headpiece or sword. Sword, headpiece, sword,
headpiece...damnit! I must have them both!!}
~~~~~~~~~~~
She was again at that fateful day when her brother had left to fight the dreadful
space pirate Ryoko, the time she had ever seen his handsome features.
"Yosho! Don't leave me!!"
The princess was once more 10 years old, struggling to chase after the older half-brother
who had been pledged as her fiance.
Like every time she had this dream, she stumbled and fell.
But this time, the slowly fading image of the young man hesitated, pausing for a moment
at the very edge of her reach.
She didn't question why now of all times this dream was playing out differently.
She didn't care, all she knew was that this was her only chance to catch him.
This time he was hers.
"Brother!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma's surprise was complete as the sleeping Ayeka suddenly pulled him down into a deep kiss.
He'd never suspected that those delicate looking arms possessed such steely strength.
And she had picked the worst possible moment to catch him to boot!
One hand was now trapped against her chest, still clutching the sword hilt.
The other hand that was holding the headpiece squirmed frantically but was
equally helpless as the press of her embrace forced his arm out into the air.
Of course when the young woman hooked her legs around his waist and began
pressing herself up against him that was when he *REALLY* started to panic.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ayeka was in heaven.
At last, she had him!
She kissed him with the desperate longing that 700 years of waiting had done nothing
to diminish.
The princess simply couldn't get enough of him. She felt that if she did let go that
he would vanish like he always had before.
It might only be a dream, but she hoped it would never end. The sensation of warm muscle
under her hands and legs made her feel all those naughty things that proper young women
of nobility were not supposed to admit to.
Well propriety could go hang itself out to dry for once!
She moaned into her beloved's mouth, tasting the spicy flavor of braised Yub-yub.
Wait...Yub-yub?
Hold on a minute, hadn't Yosho always *hated* Yub-yubs?
But if that was the case then who...
Her eyes shot open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything started to go black as memory and reality blurred.
Ranma was again a lad of fourteen, trapped under the women hired by his father
to make him a man. He felt their clawing hands, the over-perfumed breasts
smothering his face, the hungry looks that saw him as a 'thing' for pleasure,
not a person with feelings of his own.
He managed to free his mouth at the same moment that Ayeka opened her eyes.
Two screams shook the night.
And then Ranma was airborne, propelled by the young woman's knee.
"PERVERT!!!"
The martial artist landed on his back, still clutching the sword and headpiece.
"AZAKA! KAMIDAKE!!"
The two floating logs from before materialized on either side of the furious princess.
No fool when it came to staying alive, Ranma took off with all due haste.
Ayeka blinked, her anger briefly distracted by surprise at the young man's speed.
"My, how quickly he moves."
At least until she noticed what was hanging from one of his hands.
Her royal headpiece.
"Get that intruder and put him to death!!"
"Right away!"
"Right away!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma's years of training under his grandfather were now put to good use
as he utilized the venerable Masaki technique, "Dodge If You Want To Live!"
Thin beams of blue light repeatedly flashed on either side of his sprinting form,
resulting in dozens of large craters in the ground.
"Here we come! Here we come!"
A quick glance behind confirmed his fears, those two pieces of wood were flying
after him, the crystal eyes mounted in their centers the source of the destructive
rain of energy.
"Why is this happening to me?!"
Ahead of him Sasami clapped her hands together with glee, the little girl obviously
delighted by all the excitement.
"That looks like fun!"
Ranma scooped the little girl up in his arms as he ran past.
"Wheeee!"
He shot the cheerful blue haired princess an annoyed look.
"I got what you wanted, so how do you stop those things?!"
She gave him an innocent smile.
"They're my sister's Guardians. There's nothing I can do."
Ranma winced. It figured.
"This way!"
Left with no other choice then to follow her directions, he ran straight toward
the dead end cubby in the tree trunk up ahead.
But when he entered the small chamber, the martial artist discovered that the floor
underneath him vanished once he set foot on it.
"Aaaaaaa!!"
Down they went.
Azaka and Kamidake paused in their pursuit.
Princess Ayeka would need to be informed that the intruder was descending into
the detention area.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryoko sat dejectedly on the floor of her cell.
That damn Juraian technology easily neutralized her weakened powers in here.
If only she'd had all her gems she could have blasted her way out easily.
But she didn't have them so she was stuck here.
"I wonder how Ranma's doing?"
Her question was answered a moment later as Ranma came tumbling out of the transport system
with a cute little girl in his arms.
The space pirate raised an eyebrow at the unusual sight.
Then she grinned.
Time to play the damsel in distress.
"Yoo hoo!"
After gently setting his passenger down, the young man stepped up to the bars of her prison.
"Ryoko! Am I glad to see you! Are you alright?"
And he was. She could see it in his eyes.
It was...unexpected.
Ryoko knew that they hadn't gotten off to the best of introductions.
She'd planned to bed Ranma shortly after their second meeting,
believing that hot and steamy sex would be the first step towards
stealing his heart and developing a romantic relationship.
But now she saw the concern in his eyes, concern for her.
Such a little thing.
And yet at the same time it was not.
Not once in all her 700 years could the space pirate remember anyone ever caring
about her wellbeing. She'd fallen in love with the brave and adorable child that
had spent his summers near her cave. And yet her lack of experience with those
same feelings had forced Ryoko to fall back on old habits of getting what she wanted,
taking them by force.
Perhaps there was another way to get Ranma to love her?
"So let me out already."
It was something she would have to think about later.
"I would if I knew how these things worked!"
Ranma turned back towards Sasami to ask about the releasing the bars.
Unnoticed by all of them, the sword hilt in his hands pulsed with a soft light
in response to Ranma's subconscious wish.
With a faint hiss of protest the thick branches slid aside far enough for Ryoko
to make an exit.
She did so with all due haste.
"Awk!"
Ranma pried frantically at her arms as his ribs creaked under the incredible
pressure of her excited embrace.
"Can't...breathe!"
"Oops! Sorry!"
She promptly let him go, leaving the young man gasping for air on the ground.
Sasami was at his side almost immediately.
"Are you okay? Did that old lady hurt you?"
Ryoko's eyes twitched dangerously.
{Old?! OLD?!! Who are you calling OLD, you little brat!}
Ranma took a few experimental deep breaths and was relieved to find everything
still relatively intact.
"Yeah, just give me a second to catch my breath."
Neither of them noticed Ryoko as she rapidly went from simply upset
to boiling outrage at the sight of her Ranma so close to this pretty child.
But when Ranma patted Sasami on the head and smiled at the girl her anger
died away, leaving a painful and unfamiliar feeling in Ryoko's chest.
Two sparkling tears welled up at the corners of the proud pirate's golden eyes.
"Ranma..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sasami! What do you think you're doing?!"
Ayeka, her two guardians trailing behind, picked that moment to interrupt.
A guilty look appeared on the young princess's face.
"Ayeka. Um, I can explain this...."
The tiara clutched in her small hands didn't exactly help matters either.
"My headpiece! Sasami, how could you?"
The little girl scuffed the grass with one of her sandals and looked down
at the ground rather then meet her sister's gaze.
"I was bored. It was only a little fun."
"Never mind that! Hurry and get away from that molester!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Molester?!
He was not going to take this sitting down!
"Who are you calling a molester?! Lady, you're the one who grabbed a hold of me!"
"Its different when a girl takes a man in hand-er, I mean never mind that!!"
The furiously blushing princess would not meet his eyes.
That little fact did not go unnoticed by Ryoko.
"Oh ho! So you're a switch-hitter!"
"I am not!"
Ayeka's face was now literally steaming with embarrassment.
"Oh! I'm hurt, after all those whispered promises you mean to tell me that you
only wanted me for my body?"
"Yes! No! I mean yes-no-yes-no...what am I doing?! Azaka, Kamidake GET THEM!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two Guardians began to comply, moving forward for a clear line of fire.
But Ryoko was quicker.
Teleporting right behind the little princess, the pirate summoned her energy blade
in one hand while seizing her new hostage with the other. Sasami dropped her sister's
tiara in the grass as she was pulled into Ryoko's clutches.
"Back off!"
Ayeka glowered at the depths that Ryoko was sinking to.
"You still fight dirty, even at the very end."
"Yeah, well what are you going to do about it, Miss Prissypants?"
The princess's amethyst eyes flared with raw elemental anger.
On the ground her the central gem in her headpiece glowed as it responded to its owner's
furious emotions.
It flew into her waiting hands, allowing Ayeka once again to full access
of her Juraian powers. Including the one that allowed her to command her
ship's security at will.
Green vines erupted from the tree prison that had been holding Ryoko,
seizing her arms and legs before she even realized what was going on.
Her sword fizzled out of existance as she was yanked up into the air, locked tight
in the organic coils that thwarted her belated efforts to teleport out of them.
Sasami waved up at her.
"Bye bye, strange old lady."
Ryoko twisted around as best she could until her head was able to look straight at Ayeka.
"You cheated!!"
"I prefer to call it 'victory through superior tactics.'"
"And you have the nerve to call *me* a pirate?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"No, Azaka! Kamidake!! You can't!!"
Sasami moved in front of Ranma, spreading out her arms like a human shield.
"Please move aside, Princess."
The guardians began to split up, trying to approach Ranma from either side.
The young man clutched his sword hilt nervously, trying to back away from them both
without losing sight of either giant floating log. He wasn't afraid of normal opponents,
but these talking blocks of wood were about as far from normal as you could get.
He remembered how well he'd fared against them last time,
and that was when they *hadn't* been trying to kill him!
And if a demon like Ryoko couldn't beat them, what chance did he have?
He swallowed audibly.
"Help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Master Key sensed its wielder's panic.
As per Yosho's programming, the automatic defense program kicked in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This time Ranma wasn't quite as surprised when the light azure blue blade
emerged from the warm wooden hilt. He only hoped it would work the same magic
it had demonstrated in his previous fight against Ryoko.
"No! This can't be! It's not possible!"
Ayeka's distraught cry of utter disbelief was followed by the princess
collapsing to her knees. What she was seeing simply could not be real.
The Master Key was activating for this primitive savage? But how could that be?
Only a member of the royal family could even touch it without injury.
And only a direct descendent from her own house of Jurai with the proper genetic markers
could possibly awaken the Key's slumbering power.
Who was this young man?
BUt as she opened her mouth to forstall her Guardians' attack,
Azaka and Kamidake opened fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bright gem set in the heart of the Master Key pulsed once.
And in a sudden blur of arms and legs, the young martial artist moved.
The storm of sea blue beams were parried one after another to either side.
A lethal dance of light and fury that created smoking burnmarks on the handsome
wooden walls of the interior of the ship.
In the middle of this spectacle, Ranma began to realize he wasn't dead yet.
More, this time he recognized the patterns his body was moving in.
They were the same ones his grandfather had constantly forced him
to practice during their kendo training together. During all those
sessions he'd never imagined that they would be used to do a credible
imitation of Star Wars.
Of course, he'd also thought that getting kidnapped by demons and perverted princesses
was impossible too.
Even though he knew it was the sword's doing Ranma was amazed
by how easily his body fell into the rhythm of intercepting each blast,
pivoting smoothly on the balls of his feet to get into position for each
defensive parry.
But when the two giant logs started charging toward him, the memory
of being swallowed up inside one of those things reared its ugly head.
"Not again!"
Arms crossed in front of his face in an instinctual defensive response,
Ranma shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the inevitable.
He waited. And waited.
"Princess, we appear to be incapacitated."
That voice was coming from...over there?!
The tree that had been holding Ryoko now had some new guests. Both Guardians struggled
in vain against the vines entangling their wooden forms.
"Why is the Master Key protecting you? Who are you anyway?! Tell me!"
Small logs began materializing in midair all around Ayeka and Ranma.
He was starting to wonder, did these people have a wood fetish or something?
"Ranma! Get out of the way," Ryoko cried out in warning.
"Out of the way of what?"
*BOOM*
One of Ryo-ohki's top crystal extensions punched up through the floor.
"Oh."
Ranma coughed from where he was sprawled out on his back as the dust started to settle.
From her position sitting on top of the young man's chest, Sasami clapped her hands in delight.
"Wow! Do that again!"
"You okay?"
The pigtailed princess smiled down on her human lap cushion.
"Yes. That was fun!"
Ranma blew off a large itchy splinter dangling on the tip of his nose with a resigned sigh.
"Well, I'm glad that at least one of us found that near-death experience enjoyable."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finding herself shaken loose from the clutches of that grabby tree thanks to her partner's
impromptu entrance through the floor, Ryoko's game plan was grab Ranma and get while
the getting was good.
Of course, that all went out the window when an infuriated Ayeka exploded out
from a large pile of debris directly between the pirate and Ryo-ohki. Especially
since the Juraian was in full battle costume, complete with the face markings
and fluffy pom-pom style decorations.
Oh yes, you could always tell those stuck up snobs were serious
when they were wearing the Fluffy Pom-Poms of DOOM for all to see.
And that meant it was time for this little pirate to show that she meant business too.
Ryoko's outer garments disintegrated in a shower of auburn sparks,
to be replaced by a sinister skintight bodysuit. On her right side,
blood red marked its presence right down to the little outline
of her nipple in the scandalous outfit. Her left side was a dark mirror,
the ebon material actually made her look more naked then if she'd simply
stripped herself bare.
Ryoko was gratified to see Ranma blush deeply when he looked at her.
It was nice to see that he had *some* hormones to speak of.
Of course, Ayeka's exclaimations of outrage had to spoil her fun.
"What in Tsunami's name are you wearing now?! I've seen bathing suits with more material!"
"What, this little number? I call it 'Flaunting the difference between a real *woman* and
*little* girls.'"
She could almost see the smoke rising from the boiling princess's puritan ears.
Ryoko's cold smile was full of teeth.
Payback time!
A sentiment that Ayeka herself seemed to be in complete agreement with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma had a *BAD* feeling about this.
His temple training wasn't even close to complete yet, but even a novice
like himself could feel the bad vibes being shot off by princess and pirate alike.
Timidly, he still tried to intervene with the voice of sanity.
"Um...is it just me or does this ship seem to be falling?"
"Just a minute, Ranma. This won't take long. I'm just going to feed Her Royal Snobbiness
a little humble pie."
"You and what army, Space Trash?"
"Space Trash?!"
"Snobbiness?!"
"Why you-"
"I'm gonna-"
He could swear the air was starting to actually turn blue around the clashing duo.
"Uh...this really isn't the time for-"
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!!"
The combined roar and terrifying faces finally convinced the young man that reason was
a lost cause here.
At least with those two.
So the sweating Masaki turned to the only other sane person other then himself on board.
"Sasami, are there any escape pods on this thing?"
"Of course! There's one right over there."
The little princess pointed off to the side. Ranma was glad to see
it was well away from the building clash between Ryoko and Ayeka.
"Why don't you come along and show me how it works?"
"Okay!"
As they walked off, the explosions started up behind them as the mother-in-law
of all cat fights got under way.
~~~~~~~~
Drifting down comfortably to Earth with Sasami in a cozy little wooden escape capsule,
Ranma had time to reflect on the night's events so far.
In retrospect, perhaps it *had* been a little cruel to abandon Ryoko
and that perverted princess back on that crashing spaceship.
But in his defense, he *had* tried to warn them.
And there had been Sasami's safety to consider.
And to be honest, having already seen several examples of Ryoko's durability,
Ranma had no doubt that even a crash landing from orbit would do little more
then annoy her.
After all, according to legend she'd already experienced something similar
seven hundred years ago.
He was more concerned about Ayeka, unsure of how much punishment that pervert
was able to take.
Sasami had been quick to reassure him that the interior quarters of the ship
were the most heavily protected and shielded area. The housing unit was designed
to survive and protect its occupants from just about anything short of a supernova.
Even so, he still felt a niggling little sense of guilt.
But Ranma had no illusions as to his chances of personal survival
had he stayed on the same ship as Ryoko and Ayeka. *They* might
be able to take that kind of punishment, but *he* certainly wasn't!
And so he watched as the wooden Ryuu-O, locked in a tangled embrace
with Ryoko's Ryo-ohki, plunged down into the atmosphere.
It was heading straight for....
Ranma's eyes widened. Then he clapped a hand over his face and groaned in horror.
He'd thought that valley looked familar.
Grandpa was gonna be so pissed!
"Is something wrong, Ranma?"
An anxious Sasami peered up at him.
"Nothing that running away to Antarctica for a few decades won't solve."
Maybe he would have been better off crashing with the ship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They landed in the woods surrounding the valley with little fanfare.
Even with the added weight of a sleepy Sasami on his back, it only took Ranma a
little over half an hour to hike his way up to the shrine.
Katsuhito was waiting for him there.
"So what do you have to say for yourself this time, Ranma?"
"Um, would you believe this isn't my fault?"
The old priest arched an eyebrow in response.
"You went into the cave, didn't you?"
Ranma gulped.
"Yeah."
Katsuhito nodded at this confirmation of his suspicions.
It appeared his grandson had jumped the gun a little, but in the end everything
seemed to have worked out relatively well. The presence of Ayeka and Sasami
complicated things a bit, but as long as the Ryuu-O agreed to keep its silence,
his secret would be safe enough.
"Why don't you put that child to bed inside the shrine and then go see
to your friends in the valley's new lake?"
Too thankful that he'd escaped punishment for the moment, Ranma didn't even wonder
why his grandfather seemed to know what was going on already.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end things somehow managed to work themselves out.
Ayeka and Ryoko were both a bit singed from the crash, but otherwise unhurt
and still ready to continue from where they'd left off.
Both spaceships were a complete loss. Ryo-ohki had taken the worst of the impact,
but enough of the Ryuu-O's body had broken off as to make any further space travel
inadvisable.
The few witnesses to the brief chase between Ryuu-O and Ryo-ohki were dismissed
as delusional drunkards.
Ranma's house had survived, as had his father.
Neither seemed any worse for the wear after their unexpected trip as a placemat.
But now the house was located right next to the newly created valley lake.
Getting to school was going to be a headache.
And of course, that would probably turn out to be the *least* of his problems
for the forseeable future.
"More soy sauce please!"
A bleary eyed Ranma reached over the boxes of Chinese takeout and passed the glass bottle
to his father.
"Well look on the bright side, son! At least our guests are all cute girls!"
"Thank you very much for letting me and my sister stay here, Mr. Masaki."
"Oh don't mention it! I'm just so happy that my son is finally becoming a man!"
"Don't worry, Pops. I'll take care of that little shyness problem he has in no time
at all. We'll just pick up where we left off last night."
A cheery Ryoko floated over Ranma's shoulder, winking suggestively at him.
"Oh, I'm so moved! And here all this time I was worried that he might be gay!"
It was a testament to his own exhaustion that Ranma didn't simply deck his father
for that remark.
"Will you sneak into Ayeka's room again tonight too?"
Sasami still hadn't given up on her quest to get her older sister to loosen up a bit.
Of course, Noboyuki interpreted it slightly differently.
"My Son! Two girls in one night, you are truly a man among men!
Your mother would've been so proud of you!!"
Ranma's eyes twitched.
"Say, where is that other girl anyway?"
"She's off by the lake, trying to salvage that termite infested piece of sawdust
she calls a ship."
A loud feminine wail of complete misery came from the direction of the lake.
Ranma bowed his head.
"Ah, nothing like a nice cup of tea in the morning."
Katsuhito ignored the stunned expressions of the others at his sudden appearance
at the breakfast table as he sipped his tall cup of steaming hot tea.
"Oh by the way, Ranma. I've decided on your punishment for releasing Ryoko.
You'll have to repair the stone steps leading up to the shrine that were damaged
by the crash. All seven hundred and seventy seven of them."
Ranma sniffled for a moment and then finally broke down crying.
"There there, Big Brother Ranma."
Sasami patted the weeping young man on the head like a child.
"Don't worry! Tonight we can all play together again."
When Ranma heard that he started crying even harder.
(To be continued)
*~*~*~*~*~*
1) (SM) Queen
by Shade
Disclaimer: The creator of Tenchi is an etchi. It's true!
Just look at all that fanservice in GXP!
Seriously: TSR, Takahashi & AIC properties used in non-profit ways here.
I would like to thank to Corwin, Brian, Dracos, Rez,
and the gang at Soulriders for their support, corrections,
ideas and help in going after that idiot who plagerized this particular fic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter San: Princesses, Promises and Pain (lots and lots of Pain!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryoko awoke to find herself upside down and in yet another predicament.
{Oh crap.}
This seemed par for the course lately.
"Ah, I see you're finally awake."
Just great, of all the people in the galaxy, she had to be captured
by a spoiled little princess. Well she'd be damned before letting
Miss Prissy think she'd been beaten yet.
"Kinky! I never knew you royal types swung this way."
Ayeka's features changed from pleased and self-satisfied to outraged
and pissed as hell. She'd inherited her parents' tempers, and it showed.
"You...you...low-bred pirate monster woman!"
Okay, so her vocabulary needed work.
"Is this the part where you pull out the bull whip and reveal
your shiny black leather outfit?
"Ye-No!"
Sensing a weakness in her opponent's suddenly flustered composure,
the wicked pirate grinned evilly as she closed for the kill.
"You should know that I'm quite the screamer."
"Really? Does that mean-Never mind that!! Tell me where Yosho is!!"
"Yoyo?"
"Yosho!"
"Oujo?"(1)
"Well, maybe lat-er-stop that!! Show me Yosho!!"
"Shoyu Yoda?"
"Arrrgghh! Guardians!!"
Azaka and Kamidake obliged by upping the voltage of the barrier holding Ryoko.
Unfortunately for Ayeka, Ryoko had a rather 'unique' physique.
"Oooo! Ahhhh! Yes! Yes!! Yeeeesssss!!!"
Electrical essence, just for space pirates. And it did wonders for the hair too.
Blushing furiously, her royal highness averted her eyes from the spectacle
of her wanton adversary going through a full body orgasm right in front of her.
Azaka and Kamidake's lightning barrage quickly ceased.
The soft erotic moans took a bit longer to stop.
Ryoko lazily blew a puff of pale smoke past her lips.
"Was it good for you too?"
"AAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma stared hard at the bars of his prison.
They appeared at first glance to be nothing more then simple tree branches
with a deceptively fragile slenderness.
But during his first attempt to escape, those same weak looking bars had
instantly acquired a rubber flexibility and a density that rivaled that
of solid steel.
Obviously the frontal approach wasn't going to work here.
He looked down.
The floor? Perhaps that Breaking Point trick his grandfather had shown him?
Solid wood greeted his eyes. No luck there.
And upon further reflection, probably not a good idea anyway.
Since he was probably still in space, breaking through any floors,
walls, or ceilings might result in something *very* bad happening.
So Ranma pondered on his dilemma.
"How to get out? How to get out...."
A search of his pockets turned up some lint and an old piece of rice candy
he'd somehow forgotten about. Not that he was tempted to eat it now,
even as hungry as he was at the moment.
"Damn it!"
If only it were a conventional prison he could have busted out, no problem.
There wasn't even a guard around that he could complain to!
"This SUCKS!!"
*giggle*
A quickly stifled laugh caught his attention.
There was somebody else out there after all.
The young man looked outside of his cell as best he could from where he was.
It was a jungle out there. Literally.
Nothing but green as far as the eye could see.
*gurgle**gurgle*
His stomach growled.
"Hahahaha!!"
That laughter sounded like a...girl.
{Oh no...please no! Anything but that!}
Slowly, inevitably, the petrified young man began to turn toward his doom.
"Hi! I'm Sasami! Nice to meet you!"
And promptly facefaulted when he realized that she was a *young* girl
and not a scary woman who would try to smother him in her ample bosom.
"*Giggle*, you're a funny person!!"
Still, she was pretty cute with that long blue hair that was arranged
in twin ponytails and those expressive pink eyes. In a non-threatening
kid-sister sort of way, fortunately.
"Er, nice to meet you. I'm Ranma. Um, I don't suppose you could get me out of here?"
"Hmmm...well...."
He could already tell that a "but" was coming.
"I'll do you a favor if you do one for me!"
Suddenly he had a *very* bad feeling about this.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The princess was not in a good mood.
Damn that Ryoko woman for making fun of her!
And double damn those mini-robotic servants that her own mother had forced on her!!
If not for them, she would have used the royal key's protective field
to extract the information about her dear older brother/fiance.
Past her bedtime indeed! She was *not* a little child to babied around like that!!
But if "Mommy" found out that she hadn't listened to those little wooden pests....
Ayeka shivered, her face blue with fear.
Tomorrow was another day. A petty criminal like Ryoko wasn't worth
her mother's wrath.
She finished combing her long lustrous hair and prepared for bed.
But sleep did not come so easily to her.
"Oh Yosho, why didn't you ever come back for me?"
What was wrong with her?
She had the delicate skin, the noble bone structure, the ample bos-um-okay,
maybe not that. But two out of three wasn't bad!
Perhaps she hadn't been forceful enough at the beginning of their relationship?
Yosho had never even given her a real kiss on the lips before he left.
Had she made a mistake in not taking charge of him right away?
Maybe her mother was right after all.
Hugging her prized bullwhip to her chest like a cuddly stuffed animal,
the troubled princess finally dozed off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma was in heaven.
Food! Glorious food!! Food piled as high as his arms could reach!!
He didn't recognize any of it, but whatever this was, the stuff tasted good
and there was plenty of it. That was all he needed to know.
Sasami had led him to the ship's pantry right after she'd let him out of his cell.
It hadn't taken much on his part to convince her. His growling stomach had been
all the argument needed.
Now she could only watch in amazement as the released prisoner polished off dish
after dish of gourmet delicacies from a dozen other worlds.
"Are you always this hungry?"
Ranma swallowed what he had in his mouth and washed it down with something
that looked and tasted like fruit juice, but glowed a bright pink in the cup.
He wisely decided not to ask about that, since he probably would have regretted
finding out what it really was.
"Nope, just missed lunch and dinner and so I was *really* hungry."
"Well, if you're ready?"
Ranma sopped up a last bit of gravy with a piece of what looked like a giant mushroom,
but had the consistancy of fine wheat bread. Popping that last tidbit into his mouth
and swallowing, he nodded.
"Yeah. I'm good."
The young man followed the little princess out to the walkway.
"So what did you want me to do anyway?"
Sasami smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How do I get myself into these situations...."
Ranma groaned softly as he snuck his way into Ayeka's chambers.
How the heck had that sweet little girl convinced him to do this?!
"Just steal her headpiece...I must be out of my mind...."
His grumblings drew to a halt as he noted the movement on the bed.
*Giku*
The young man froze as he remembered another room,
where the girls had tried to....
{No, no, no, no! Not going there! Not thinking about it! Not gonna remember!!}
The sleeping princess rolled off some of her blankets, seeking the soothing caress
of the cool night air. And exposing an eye widening amount of naked skin
in the process. While unable to match Ryoko's "assets", it was quite obvious
that Ayeka was no "little" girl either.
Just his luck; this would have been a whole lot easier if she was.
"She would have to bring that thing to bed with her."
Mustering his courage, the would-be thief snuck across the room towards
the oversized bed dominating the center.
But as he reached out to snag the ornament, Ayeka chose that particular
moment to turn over to face the other side of the bed.
{Damnit!}
Ranma moved to the other side and reached out again.
The princess turned back over.
{...}
It was going to be one of *those* days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sasami watched in amusement from her position on the hill overlooking
her sister's quarters. This Ranma person was so silly. She couldn't wait
to see the look on Ayeka's face when she realized there was a boy
in her bedchamber.
Her older sister really needed to learn to lighten up a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a difficult position he was currently in.
{Just remember, don't look down!}
The young woman's constant tossing and turning had finally settled down.
But in order to be able to reach her headpiece he had been forced to actually
get on the bed itself and bend over the princess as he attempted to remove
the ornament. A task made more difficult by the need to keep his head faced
in any direction except straight down. The trembling of his hands every time
the young man thought about how close he was to her didn't help matters either.
And then Ranma did something incredibly stupid.
He looked down.
Right into Ayeka's cleavage.
His head immediately started to swim.
He was too close to her! Women were scary!!
And then he saw the sword.
Clutched tightly to the princess's chest.
That snapped him out of his wooziness.
{Headpiece or sword. Sword, headpiece, sword,
headpiece...damnit! I must have them both!!}
~~~~~~~~~~~
She was again at that fateful day when her brother had left to fight the dreadful
space pirate Ryoko, the time she had ever seen his handsome features.
"Yosho! Don't leave me!!"
The princess was once more 10 years old, struggling to chase after the older half-brother
who had been pledged as her fiance.
Like every time she had this dream, she stumbled and fell.
But this time, the slowly fading image of the young man hesitated, pausing for a moment
at the very edge of her reach.
She didn't question why now of all times this dream was playing out differently.
She didn't care, all she knew was that this was her only chance to catch him.
This time he was hers.
"Brother!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma's surprise was complete as the sleeping Ayeka suddenly pulled him down into a deep kiss.
He'd never suspected that those delicate looking arms possessed such steely strength.
And she had picked the worst possible moment to catch him to boot!
One hand was now trapped against her chest, still clutching the sword hilt.
The other hand that was holding the headpiece squirmed frantically but was
equally helpless as the press of her embrace forced his arm out into the air.
Of course when the young woman hooked her legs around his waist and began
pressing herself up against him that was when he *REALLY* started to panic.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ayeka was in heaven.
At last, she had him!
She kissed him with the desperate longing that 700 years of waiting had done nothing
to diminish.
The princess simply couldn't get enough of him. She felt that if she did let go that
he would vanish like he always had before.
It might only be a dream, but she hoped it would never end. The sensation of warm muscle
under her hands and legs made her feel all those naughty things that proper young women
of nobility were not supposed to admit to.
Well propriety could go hang itself out to dry for once!
She moaned into her beloved's mouth, tasting the spicy flavor of braised Yub-yub.
Wait...Yub-yub?
Hold on a minute, hadn't Yosho always *hated* Yub-yubs?
But if that was the case then who...
Her eyes shot open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything started to go black as memory and reality blurred.
Ranma was again a lad of fourteen, trapped under the women hired by his father
to make him a man. He felt their clawing hands, the over-perfumed breasts
smothering his face, the hungry looks that saw him as a 'thing' for pleasure,
not a person with feelings of his own.
He managed to free his mouth at the same moment that Ayeka opened her eyes.
Two screams shook the night.
And then Ranma was airborne, propelled by the young woman's knee.
"PERVERT!!!"
The martial artist landed on his back, still clutching the sword and headpiece.
"AZAKA! KAMIDAKE!!"
The two floating logs from before materialized on either side of the furious princess.
No fool when it came to staying alive, Ranma took off with all due haste.
Ayeka blinked, her anger briefly distracted by surprise at the young man's speed.
"My, how quickly he moves."
At least until she noticed what was hanging from one of his hands.
Her royal headpiece.
"Get that intruder and put him to death!!"
"Right away!"
"Right away!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma's years of training under his grandfather were now put to good use
as he utilized the venerable Masaki technique, "Dodge If You Want To Live!"
Thin beams of blue light repeatedly flashed on either side of his sprinting form,
resulting in dozens of large craters in the ground.
"Here we come! Here we come!"
A quick glance behind confirmed his fears, those two pieces of wood were flying
after him, the crystal eyes mounted in their centers the source of the destructive
rain of energy.
"Why is this happening to me?!"
Ahead of him Sasami clapped her hands together with glee, the little girl obviously
delighted by all the excitement.
"That looks like fun!"
Ranma scooped the little girl up in his arms as he ran past.
"Wheeee!"
He shot the cheerful blue haired princess an annoyed look.
"I got what you wanted, so how do you stop those things?!"
She gave him an innocent smile.
"They're my sister's Guardians. There's nothing I can do."
Ranma winced. It figured.
"This way!"
Left with no other choice then to follow her directions, he ran straight toward
the dead end cubby in the tree trunk up ahead.
But when he entered the small chamber, the martial artist discovered that the floor
underneath him vanished once he set foot on it.
"Aaaaaaa!!"
Down they went.
Azaka and Kamidake paused in their pursuit.
Princess Ayeka would need to be informed that the intruder was descending into
the detention area.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryoko sat dejectedly on the floor of her cell.
That damn Juraian technology easily neutralized her weakened powers in here.
If only she'd had all her gems she could have blasted her way out easily.
But she didn't have them so she was stuck here.
"I wonder how Ranma's doing?"
Her question was answered a moment later as Ranma came tumbling out of the transport system
with a cute little girl in his arms.
The space pirate raised an eyebrow at the unusual sight.
Then she grinned.
Time to play the damsel in distress.
"Yoo hoo!"
After gently setting his passenger down, the young man stepped up to the bars of her prison.
"Ryoko! Am I glad to see you! Are you alright?"
And he was. She could see it in his eyes.
It was...unexpected.
Ryoko knew that they hadn't gotten off to the best of introductions.
She'd planned to bed Ranma shortly after their second meeting,
believing that hot and steamy sex would be the first step towards
stealing his heart and developing a romantic relationship.
But now she saw the concern in his eyes, concern for her.
Such a little thing.
And yet at the same time it was not.
Not once in all her 700 years could the space pirate remember anyone ever caring
about her wellbeing. She'd fallen in love with the brave and adorable child that
had spent his summers near her cave. And yet her lack of experience with those
same feelings had forced Ryoko to fall back on old habits of getting what she wanted,
taking them by force.
Perhaps there was another way to get Ranma to love her?
"So let me out already."
It was something she would have to think about later.
"I would if I knew how these things worked!"
Ranma turned back towards Sasami to ask about the releasing the bars.
Unnoticed by all of them, the sword hilt in his hands pulsed with a soft light
in response to Ranma's subconscious wish.
With a faint hiss of protest the thick branches slid aside far enough for Ryoko
to make an exit.
She did so with all due haste.
"Awk!"
Ranma pried frantically at her arms as his ribs creaked under the incredible
pressure of her excited embrace.
"Can't...breathe!"
"Oops! Sorry!"
She promptly let him go, leaving the young man gasping for air on the ground.
Sasami was at his side almost immediately.
"Are you okay? Did that old lady hurt you?"
Ryoko's eyes twitched dangerously.
{Old?! OLD?!! Who are you calling OLD, you little brat!}
Ranma took a few experimental deep breaths and was relieved to find everything
still relatively intact.
"Yeah, just give me a second to catch my breath."
Neither of them noticed Ryoko as she rapidly went from simply upset
to boiling outrage at the sight of her Ranma so close to this pretty child.
But when Ranma patted Sasami on the head and smiled at the girl her anger
died away, leaving a painful and unfamiliar feeling in Ryoko's chest.
Two sparkling tears welled up at the corners of the proud pirate's golden eyes.
"Ranma..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sasami! What do you think you're doing?!"
Ayeka, her two guardians trailing behind, picked that moment to interrupt.
A guilty look appeared on the young princess's face.
"Ayeka. Um, I can explain this...."
The tiara clutched in her small hands didn't exactly help matters either.
"My headpiece! Sasami, how could you?"
The little girl scuffed the grass with one of her sandals and looked down
at the ground rather then meet her sister's gaze.
"I was bored. It was only a little fun."
"Never mind that! Hurry and get away from that molester!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Molester?!
He was not going to take this sitting down!
"Who are you calling a molester?! Lady, you're the one who grabbed a hold of me!"
"Its different when a girl takes a man in hand-er, I mean never mind that!!"
The furiously blushing princess would not meet his eyes.
That little fact did not go unnoticed by Ryoko.
"Oh ho! So you're a switch-hitter!"
"I am not!"
Ayeka's face was now literally steaming with embarrassment.
"Oh! I'm hurt, after all those whispered promises you mean to tell me that you
only wanted me for my body?"
"Yes! No! I mean yes-no-yes-no...what am I doing?! Azaka, Kamidake GET THEM!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two Guardians began to comply, moving forward for a clear line of fire.
But Ryoko was quicker.
Teleporting right behind the little princess, the pirate summoned her energy blade
in one hand while seizing her new hostage with the other. Sasami dropped her sister's
tiara in the grass as she was pulled into Ryoko's clutches.
"Back off!"
Ayeka glowered at the depths that Ryoko was sinking to.
"You still fight dirty, even at the very end."
"Yeah, well what are you going to do about it, Miss Prissypants?"
The princess's amethyst eyes flared with raw elemental anger.
On the ground her the central gem in her headpiece glowed as it responded to its owner's
furious emotions.
It flew into her waiting hands, allowing Ayeka once again to full access
of her Juraian powers. Including the one that allowed her to command her
ship's security at will.
Green vines erupted from the tree prison that had been holding Ryoko,
seizing her arms and legs before she even realized what was going on.
Her sword fizzled out of existance as she was yanked up into the air, locked tight
in the organic coils that thwarted her belated efforts to teleport out of them.
Sasami waved up at her.
"Bye bye, strange old lady."
Ryoko twisted around as best she could until her head was able to look straight at Ayeka.
"You cheated!!"
"I prefer to call it 'victory through superior tactics.'"
"And you have the nerve to call *me* a pirate?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"No, Azaka! Kamidake!! You can't!!"
Sasami moved in front of Ranma, spreading out her arms like a human shield.
"Please move aside, Princess."
The guardians began to split up, trying to approach Ranma from either side.
The young man clutched his sword hilt nervously, trying to back away from them both
without losing sight of either giant floating log. He wasn't afraid of normal opponents,
but these talking blocks of wood were about as far from normal as you could get.
He remembered how well he'd fared against them last time,
and that was when they *hadn't* been trying to kill him!
And if a demon like Ryoko couldn't beat them, what chance did he have?
He swallowed audibly.
"Help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Master Key sensed its wielder's panic.
As per Yosho's programming, the automatic defense program kicked in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This time Ranma wasn't quite as surprised when the light azure blue blade
emerged from the warm wooden hilt. He only hoped it would work the same magic
it had demonstrated in his previous fight against Ryoko.
"No! This can't be! It's not possible!"
Ayeka's distraught cry of utter disbelief was followed by the princess
collapsing to her knees. What she was seeing simply could not be real.
The Master Key was activating for this primitive savage? But how could that be?
Only a member of the royal family could even touch it without injury.
And only a direct descendent from her own house of Jurai with the proper genetic markers
could possibly awaken the Key's slumbering power.
Who was this young man?
BUt as she opened her mouth to forstall her Guardians' attack,
Azaka and Kamidake opened fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bright gem set in the heart of the Master Key pulsed once.
And in a sudden blur of arms and legs, the young martial artist moved.
The storm of sea blue beams were parried one after another to either side.
A lethal dance of light and fury that created smoking burnmarks on the handsome
wooden walls of the interior of the ship.
In the middle of this spectacle, Ranma began to realize he wasn't dead yet.
More, this time he recognized the patterns his body was moving in.
They were the same ones his grandfather had constantly forced him
to practice during their kendo training together. During all those
sessions he'd never imagined that they would be used to do a credible
imitation of Star Wars.
Of course, he'd also thought that getting kidnapped by demons and perverted princesses
was impossible too.
Even though he knew it was the sword's doing Ranma was amazed
by how easily his body fell into the rhythm of intercepting each blast,
pivoting smoothly on the balls of his feet to get into position for each
defensive parry.
But when the two giant logs started charging toward him, the memory
of being swallowed up inside one of those things reared its ugly head.
"Not again!"
Arms crossed in front of his face in an instinctual defensive response,
Ranma shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the inevitable.
He waited. And waited.
"Princess, we appear to be incapacitated."
That voice was coming from...over there?!
The tree that had been holding Ryoko now had some new guests. Both Guardians struggled
in vain against the vines entangling their wooden forms.
"Why is the Master Key protecting you? Who are you anyway?! Tell me!"
Small logs began materializing in midair all around Ayeka and Ranma.
He was starting to wonder, did these people have a wood fetish or something?
"Ranma! Get out of the way," Ryoko cried out in warning.
"Out of the way of what?"
*BOOM*
One of Ryo-ohki's top crystal extensions punched up through the floor.
"Oh."
Ranma coughed from where he was sprawled out on his back as the dust started to settle.
From her position sitting on top of the young man's chest, Sasami clapped her hands in delight.
"Wow! Do that again!"
"You okay?"
The pigtailed princess smiled down on her human lap cushion.
"Yes. That was fun!"
Ranma blew off a large itchy splinter dangling on the tip of his nose with a resigned sigh.
"Well, I'm glad that at least one of us found that near-death experience enjoyable."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finding herself shaken loose from the clutches of that grabby tree thanks to her partner's
impromptu entrance through the floor, Ryoko's game plan was grab Ranma and get while
the getting was good.
Of course, that all went out the window when an infuriated Ayeka exploded out
from a large pile of debris directly between the pirate and Ryo-ohki. Especially
since the Juraian was in full battle costume, complete with the face markings
and fluffy pom-pom style decorations.
Oh yes, you could always tell those stuck up snobs were serious
when they were wearing the Fluffy Pom-Poms of DOOM for all to see.
And that meant it was time for this little pirate to show that she meant business too.
Ryoko's outer garments disintegrated in a shower of auburn sparks,
to be replaced by a sinister skintight bodysuit. On her right side,
blood red marked its presence right down to the little outline
of her nipple in the scandalous outfit. Her left side was a dark mirror,
the ebon material actually made her look more naked then if she'd simply
stripped herself bare.
Ryoko was gratified to see Ranma blush deeply when he looked at her.
It was nice to see that he had *some* hormones to speak of.
Of course, Ayeka's exclaimations of outrage had to spoil her fun.
"What in Tsunami's name are you wearing now?! I've seen bathing suits with more material!"
"What, this little number? I call it 'Flaunting the difference between a real *woman* and
*little* girls.'"
She could almost see the smoke rising from the boiling princess's puritan ears.
Ryoko's cold smile was full of teeth.
Payback time!
A sentiment that Ayeka herself seemed to be in complete agreement with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma had a *BAD* feeling about this.
His temple training wasn't even close to complete yet, but even a novice
like himself could feel the bad vibes being shot off by princess and pirate alike.
Timidly, he still tried to intervene with the voice of sanity.
"Um...is it just me or does this ship seem to be falling?"
"Just a minute, Ranma. This won't take long. I'm just going to feed Her Royal Snobbiness
a little humble pie."
"You and what army, Space Trash?"
"Space Trash?!"
"Snobbiness?!"
"Why you-"
"I'm gonna-"
He could swear the air was starting to actually turn blue around the clashing duo.
"Uh...this really isn't the time for-"
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!!"
The combined roar and terrifying faces finally convinced the young man that reason was
a lost cause here.
At least with those two.
So the sweating Masaki turned to the only other sane person other then himself on board.
"Sasami, are there any escape pods on this thing?"
"Of course! There's one right over there."
The little princess pointed off to the side. Ranma was glad to see
it was well away from the building clash between Ryoko and Ayeka.
"Why don't you come along and show me how it works?"
"Okay!"
As they walked off, the explosions started up behind them as the mother-in-law
of all cat fights got under way.
~~~~~~~~
Drifting down comfortably to Earth with Sasami in a cozy little wooden escape capsule,
Ranma had time to reflect on the night's events so far.
In retrospect, perhaps it *had* been a little cruel to abandon Ryoko
and that perverted princess back on that crashing spaceship.
But in his defense, he *had* tried to warn them.
And there had been Sasami's safety to consider.
And to be honest, having already seen several examples of Ryoko's durability,
Ranma had no doubt that even a crash landing from orbit would do little more
then annoy her.
After all, according to legend she'd already experienced something similar
seven hundred years ago.
He was more concerned about Ayeka, unsure of how much punishment that pervert
was able to take.
Sasami had been quick to reassure him that the interior quarters of the ship
were the most heavily protected and shielded area. The housing unit was designed
to survive and protect its occupants from just about anything short of a supernova.
Even so, he still felt a niggling little sense of guilt.
But Ranma had no illusions as to his chances of personal survival
had he stayed on the same ship as Ryoko and Ayeka. *They* might
be able to take that kind of punishment, but *he* certainly wasn't!
And so he watched as the wooden Ryuu-O, locked in a tangled embrace
with Ryoko's Ryo-ohki, plunged down into the atmosphere.
It was heading straight for....
Ranma's eyes widened. Then he clapped a hand over his face and groaned in horror.
He'd thought that valley looked familar.
Grandpa was gonna be so pissed!
"Is something wrong, Ranma?"
An anxious Sasami peered up at him.
"Nothing that running away to Antarctica for a few decades won't solve."
Maybe he would have been better off crashing with the ship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They landed in the woods surrounding the valley with little fanfare.
Even with the added weight of a sleepy Sasami on his back, it only took Ranma a
little over half an hour to hike his way up to the shrine.
Katsuhito was waiting for him there.
"So what do you have to say for yourself this time, Ranma?"
"Um, would you believe this isn't my fault?"
The old priest arched an eyebrow in response.
"You went into the cave, didn't you?"
Ranma gulped.
"Yeah."
Katsuhito nodded at this confirmation of his suspicions.
It appeared his grandson had jumped the gun a little, but in the end everything
seemed to have worked out relatively well. The presence of Ayeka and Sasami
complicated things a bit, but as long as the Ryuu-O agreed to keep its silence,
his secret would be safe enough.
"Why don't you put that child to bed inside the shrine and then go see
to your friends in the valley's new lake?"
Too thankful that he'd escaped punishment for the moment, Ranma didn't even wonder
why his grandfather seemed to know what was going on already.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end things somehow managed to work themselves out.
Ayeka and Ryoko were both a bit singed from the crash, but otherwise unhurt
and still ready to continue from where they'd left off.
Both spaceships were a complete loss. Ryo-ohki had taken the worst of the impact,
but enough of the Ryuu-O's body had broken off as to make any further space travel
inadvisable.
The few witnesses to the brief chase between Ryuu-O and Ryo-ohki were dismissed
as delusional drunkards.
Ranma's house had survived, as had his father.
Neither seemed any worse for the wear after their unexpected trip as a placemat.
But now the house was located right next to the newly created valley lake.
Getting to school was going to be a headache.
And of course, that would probably turn out to be the *least* of his problems
for the forseeable future.
"More soy sauce please!"
A bleary eyed Ranma reached over the boxes of Chinese takeout and passed the glass bottle
to his father.
"Well look on the bright side, son! At least our guests are all cute girls!"
"Thank you very much for letting me and my sister stay here, Mr. Masaki."
"Oh don't mention it! I'm just so happy that my son is finally becoming a man!"
"Don't worry, Pops. I'll take care of that little shyness problem he has in no time
at all. We'll just pick up where we left off last night."
A cheery Ryoko floated over Ranma's shoulder, winking suggestively at him.
"Oh, I'm so moved! And here all this time I was worried that he might be gay!"
It was a testament to his own exhaustion that Ranma didn't simply deck his father
for that remark.
"Will you sneak into Ayeka's room again tonight too?"
Sasami still hadn't given up on her quest to get her older sister to loosen up a bit.
Of course, Noboyuki interpreted it slightly differently.
"My Son! Two girls in one night, you are truly a man among men!
Your mother would've been so proud of you!!"
Ranma's eyes twitched.
"Say, where is that other girl anyway?"
"She's off by the lake, trying to salvage that termite infested piece of sawdust
she calls a ship."
A loud feminine wail of complete misery came from the direction of the lake.
Ranma bowed his head.
"Ah, nothing like a nice cup of tea in the morning."
Katsuhito ignored the stunned expressions of the others at his sudden appearance
at the breakfast table as he sipped his tall cup of steaming hot tea.
"Oh by the way, Ranma. I've decided on your punishment for releasing Ryoko.
You'll have to repair the stone steps leading up to the shrine that were damaged
by the crash. All seven hundred and seventy seven of them."
Ranma sniffled for a moment and then finally broke down crying.
"There there, Big Brother Ranma."
Sasami patted the weeping young man on the head like a child.
"Don't worry! Tonight we can all play together again."
When Ranma heard that he started crying even harder.
(To be continued)
*~*~*~*~*~*
1) (SM) Queen
