WILD HORSES RUN
First move
Duds
Two of Spade
Let's put a nice disclaimer here. Though I don't know how you make a disclaimer nice… doesn't think roses and flowers will do much good to a disclaimer would they? Right… let's assume we've got a nice disclaimer, right? Beautiful, let's commence: All characters used in this story are copyrighted by our goddess Rumiko Takahishi, and all those firms who won a lot of bucks with it. Also the starting idea for this story came from a Belgium comic, called Ravian, time and space agent (alright, maybe the name sounds a little cliché, but it's a very good comic). Title of the comic (the idea came from a particular comic of those series) "De Vale schepper" , drawn by J.C. Mezieres and written by P. Christin. Now, on with the story.
Ranma looked around and noticed a door next to him. He had to be sure he was alone though. Them surprising him could be fatal. But they wouldn't get him; he would run, always run. It was not for nothing the ultimate Saotome technique. He would run, come back, and defeat them all. But for now, run, don't look back and always keep running. He pulled the doorknob, and gave the door a small push. With a nervous sound, the door slowly opened. Ranma waited 5 seconds, 10 seconds. 60 seconds. He crouched, and slowly peered into the room. He noticed no one. But that didn't mean anything. They could make themselves almost invisible. He crouched a little farther into the room. "Bang", Ranma ducked, and felt the bullet missing him by just an inch.
"Nope, no entrance."
He looked around, and heard people coming from the stairs opposite to the just opened door. Frantically Ranma looked around for some way out of the hall.
"Door… no, just opened that, man inside… stairs, nope, I can hear them descending… wall… wall, DAMN IT"… Suddenly, another bullet flew Ranma's way. Again Ranma ducked; again just in time… the bullet went straight for the wall …
"CRASH"… and would bore itself into it if it wasn't for the…
'Crash…?' closely followed by the crash; a sound of a window shattering. 'Glass breaking…jump now!!' Without thinking another thought, he jumped backwards, through the broken window.
'7th floor, damn Hadn't noticed I was ascending that much' Ranma spun a little in the air, as he descended rapidly. 'Nothing a little martial artist can overcome though' he looked down, and noticed with much rejoice that he would land in some deserted alley, just next to the skyscraper.
'Sorry people, need to get a little earlier out of your beds to catch Saotome Ranma' he grinned. As he came closer to the ground he noticed his very uncomfortable landing place. 'Shit, Trash'. He tried to spin, and adjust his course, but it didn't help. With a heavy thud, he landed right in the middle of the trash.
"Ranma… please wake up Ranma" The soft sweet voice of Akane drowned his present thoughts "Oh Akane, I'll wake up".
"Yes Ranma, please wake up, so we may enjoy this sweet day together"
Her voice was so gentle to his ears. However, the angelic voice was soon interrupted by dreadful images. Images of Akane, flashes of memory that he'd rather forget, would even die to forget. But they were there, and he could do nothing about them. She was so cruelly taken away from him. one gunshot "BANG" right through her stomach, another "BANG", this time her heart was the target and a last time "BANG" right through the bridge of her nose. Soon the rest of her family and his dad followed. Dad, Tendo, Nabiki, Kasumi, all were shot down, merciless. He wanted revenge, and entered their base, not thinking about "HOW". After 30 minutes or so, he noticed his problem when they started shooting at him. They had guns, he hadn't. Dodging the bullets as he searched for an escape; he entered the first best door, and climbed the stairs behind that door.
Ranma Jerked up. "No time to recall memories. Gotta get away". He pulled himself up, and stood in seconds straight up. Looking at the entrance of the alley, and noticing no one, he ran for it, ran for freedom.
'Hah, those guys in their nice suits, and their nice guns… so slow, can't catch me, guys?' an arrogant grin plastered all over his face
Ranma left the alley ran over the road, trying to reach the crowd.
''50 meter'' 'Almost in the crowd, no way they can find me there' "30 meter" 'Almost'
An arm, belonging to a man in a business suit lifted his arm. "20 meter, gonna make it"
In his hand, he held a cold metal object with a trigger and a barrel "10 meter, bye bye suckers"
Suddenly, he pulled the trigger.
"And I'm… I…" "BANG". Ranma suddenly felt something piercing his stomach. A dull pain in his back made clear something or someone had hit him. Ranma, slowed down by the sudden impact of that something that had hit him, ignored it.
"I'm…"
Again, the finger pulled the trigger. "BANG". Ranma jerked as he again felt something piercing through him. This time though, it wasn't the dull pain he felt when the first 'something' had hit him, this time the pain was more direct, as if something actually pierced him. Almost falling to the ground Ranma still continued. Blood was dripping from his nose and mouth, but he held on, he had to make it. He had to… and for the last time, the finger pulled the trigger "BANG".
Ranma stopped. He stood straight, unmoving. Somehow, he felt blood, blood on his face. 'But, how…? I always win, don't I. and… and I gotta avenge Akane. How can I avenge her when… when…I'm dead…?'
He tried to move his arm toward his face, but found that his arm… or better, that he didn't found his arm. He couldn't move, not even feel his arm. But that wasn't necessary. Soon, the blood he thought he felt, dripped in his eyes.
"I have to avenge…"
With a hard thud, he landed on his knees, with a back straight as a plank.
"Gotta avenge…"
Saying this sentence, he fell down on the cold stone road, 3 meters away from the crowd. While bathing in his expending bath of blood, he softly murmured the name "Akane…" before stopping to breathe.
"Ack" commented a female voice intelligently.
"Yeah, that was indeed disgusting" answered a blunt young man
"Aren't those downright intelligent words coming from your mouth" the female voice commented idly, as if noticing something that isn't worth any attention
"Hey… no one said you can't be perfect and have a nice vocabulary at the same time"
"Wow, again… such an expensive word "vocabulary", you know what it means?"
"sigh do we really need to go through this? We've got other things to do anyway." The male voice was weary, and gave the impression of wanting a bed more then anything else.
"aw, come on, don't be such a baby"
"Hey… I'm a baby when I damn well wanna be a baby"
"Hmmmz" The female voice commented, clearly already not listening,
"Hey, are you listening to me…?"
"Hmmm'' Answered the female voice back
'Hmmm, indeed' thought the owner of the male voice.
He sighted, and sagged into a chair. Wheeling a bit, enjoying the wind in his face as he accelerated the turning of the chair, he thought about things. He knew why she wasn't all that happy, and also knew perfectly well that because of that, their dialoques were sometimes unpredictable, mostly rather unpleasantly unpredictable. She didn't like this situation, and sure as hell didn't like the things he had to go through. Well, it wasn't actually him going through it, but still. It was a copy of him dying there, sometimes messy, sometimes gory, other times cruel, but most of the time clean and fast. Yeah, Saotome Ranma could imagine why Akane was so pissed. He himself wouldn't like it if he constantly saw Akane dying. Even with the knowledge it was just a stupid copy.
Ranma stopped spinning. It was the real him. Those "copies" of him were as real as he was. Like him, they had a heart, lungs, bones and flesh. Every single one of them was an exact copy of him. Even their Ki's were the same, and because of the Ki being the same, this mission was possible. The Ki those copies possessed, interacted with his Ki. This was because: while the body was a complete entity on its own, the Ki those copies had were created by him, and thus were connected to him.
He wheeled the chair 180 degrees, getting a view of the desk with sheets, papers, and more sheets. All of them required for inventorying the gained wisdom from his sessions.
He grabbed a pencil, and a blank sheet.
"Right…what'd happened?" Ranma asked to no one in particular. Just a message to say he was going to start writing the stuff they needed.
"You died… that's all I need to know" The voice was not strangely filled with some sort of a bitter edge.
"come on… you've already seen it a couple of times"
Akane sniffed "Yeah… that's a couple of times too much" Ranma grinned. He loved to hear her proclaiming her love for him, even indirect.
"Anyway… I'm going to sle… I'm going to try sleeping…" and as she said that, stood up, and left for bed. Ranma watched her go 'indeed… trying to sleep…' Ranma sighed, turned back to his sheets, and began writing his story
"guns… lots of guns…"
'Damn… why won't the sleep come' Akane grumbled for the sixth time. Every time she was drifting away, Ranma would enter her dreams, being dead, bleeding to death, or running into a dead end. It made sleeping a tough job, also a job she'd rather skip if possible. But she needed her sleep. The situation required a fresh mind, and a lot of concentration.
Ow, how she hated to concentrate on those horrible sessions. But if they wanted to get rid of this "in more then one way 'hell'" as fast as possible, they had to think clear.
At first she thought that she'd get used to it. After the first time though, she resented that thought. No matter how many times Ranma would be dying, no matter how much it was a copy of the real Ranma, it was still Ranma, or at least a part of Ranma. And she didn't want to lose anything of him, not even those copied parts. Every part of him was hers. She grinned at that thought.
She stood up, and walked to the mirror. It'd only taken her three steps to reach the mirror. The room itself was only 4 steps wide and 7 steps long, just large enough for a table, a small bed, and a mirror. It was, though small, a very cosy room. The wall, almost completely blood red, had all sorts of golden flowers painted on it. The floor was some sort of red carpet. She didn't know exactly what it was, she never was that good with carpets, but she did know it felt great to walk over it with bare feet. The ceiling had a nice comforting cream like colour. The table, a much adorned wooden and golden table, stood in the corner, opposite to the bed. And next to the table, also opposite to the bed, stood the mirror, where she presently was looking into.
She had changed through the years. She would've changed more, wasn't it for certain things that happened to her. All in all, it wasn't all that special. Just another weird Ranma-ish adventure, where she was involved in for a change. Only this adventure had some strange consequences for both herself and Ranma. They still had no idea what actually changed, but they both knew well enough that for two 19 year olds, they look particularly young, as if their ageing was screwed up, which eventually wasn't also the term they were looking for.
Not that she complained, not at all. But, they didn't know if their ageing was the only thing altered. Oh well, she didn't really care for that right now.
In those months, the only things that changed were, to her great delight, the size of her breasts, and some other peculiar body changes. She still couldn't compete with Shampoo when it came to breast size, but Ranma said they were perfect, that's all she actually cared for. Further more had her hair changed from an unsaturated blue to a contrasted bluish – black. She didn't know what to think of it, but Ranma really liked it, so she didn't worry about it too much.
She cupped her breasts, and looked at herself from the rear in the mirror. 'Not a woman, age 19, or a girl age 16. Not a mix, nor something in the middle. Just a nice body, if I may quote some pervert'. She grinned at her reflection
And now, she was here, wasting her time seeing her fiancé die a hundred horrible deaths, and was expected to act as if nothing was out of ordinary. Well, they could eat their shoes for all she cared. If it wasn't for Ranma, the original Ranma that is, she'd without doubt jump after one of those copies to protect him.
Oh well, if she'd just imagined that it was all some stupid computer game, which coincidentally had a main character that looked a bit like Ranma, all was bearable. 'Bearable', only so she could cope with it, she still had a hard time being cheery about it. But then writing those reports…
Akane shivered before her mirror. Always writing stupidly detailed reports on how Ranma got himself killed this time. She hated it, almost hated it as much as looking at it. But it was said that it's necessary. And it indeed was.
Aaah well, she'd live. As long as Ranma kept her company, she'd be able to move the world if necessary.
'Now that I think about him, is he still busy writing those reports?'
She grabbed a towel from the tiny golden bed, draped it over her midsection, and left the room. The hallway she entered was a very small hallway, ornamented with all sorts of things. It was about 2 steps wide and 10 steps long. Light was provided by two small golden chandeliers. The ceiling, from which they hang, was like their room, adorned with a cream like colour, with all sorts of profiles in it. Halfway the wall, was painted with red, with golden dots on it, the other half (the part connected to the ceiling) was something between white and golden, very beautiful. The floor had the same red carpet as in their room.
The hallway had three doors. One door to a small, but nice and peculiarly modern kitchen (which actually was almost only permissible by Ranma, that kitchen was lethal when used wrong), a door to their tiny room, and a door to some area that she still hadn't figured out. The latter was now occupied by her fiancé.
Softly, she opened the door, and indeed saw Ranma still working on the report. Seeing him there, busy writing everything down, she felt a twinge of regret for him. On second thought, make that a boulder of regret. Sure, she had troubles sleeping, but Ranma couldn't sleep at all. The only way he could sleep, was when he was so exhausted that whatever came to confront him, would be ignored. There was also the way of just knocking him unconscious. But then that required much knocking from her side, and pain from his side, neither one of them she liked. Besides, it was much more fun to exhaust him to sleep. And she still didn't get it how he was able to be so… ehm… what was the word? Enthusiastic, merry, licentiousness, while near unconsciousness. She had to find that out first, before she would use other… err, measures
She held her hand before her lips, as a giggle left her throat. 'get a grip girl, this is not the time to be giggling like some school girl.'
The giggling soon dyed on her lips, as she again concentrated on the slumped form of Saotome Ranma. Since those copies where connected to him, in an energetically sort of way, he remembered parts of their dead experience. If that was the only thing, he'd probably sleep a lot more. However, the main reason for his inability to sleep was because he felt guilty. No matter how much those creatures were copies of him, for him they were brothers. All of them were exact copies of him, and still, none of them were the same. All were connected to each other. Ranma had explained it roughly, but didn't like to go in detail, because it might worry her. Hah, he hadn't had to worry about that. She was worried without him explaining it in detail anyway. But, from what he had told her, the connection they had through his ki, made that he felt, what all his 'brothers' felt. Not directly, only the knowledge. He knew when his 'brothers' were scared, angry, anxious, happy…She couldn't begin to imagine how it would feel to know perfectly well how a relative would feel, just before he would die, or feel when he thought he had escaped, but in the end dyed anyway. She couldn't and was very grateful for that. However, Ranma had to bear that burden. And, thus, to get rid of it as soon as possible, he worked as long as his brains would allow him. That much, he had told her, though she had heard another version in the rare times he slept. He was mumbling something about 'not suffering any more Akane', and 'I'll make my dead as fast as possible. Don't wanna see ya hurt'. She had wept at those moments.
Not feeling like pondering anymore, she slowly entered the room. Walking carefully towards Ranma, she made sure he wouldn't hear her. It took her no effort in reaching Ranma without being noticed. He was so deep in thoughts, so exhausted, plus, she was walking on carpet, that it was nearly impossible for him to hear her coming. Then again, Ranma had this strange ability to let impossible things seem easy to do. But luckily for her, Ranma didn't tense a mussel.
She was now standing behind Ranma, and still he hadn't noticed her, or had chosen not to let her notice, he'd noticed her.
She jerked up, and embraced him from behind. She noticed with a glint of satisfaction that he indeed looked genuinely surprised. She tightened her embrace around his neck, and hugged him. After some time, she released her embrace, turned his chair to her, and made herself comfortable on his lap. All the while, with naked breasts which were now bouncing happily right in front of Ranma's eyes.
"Can't sleep dear?" he asked with a hint of coming perversity. Oh, how she loved this macho, chauvinistic, rude, blunt, insensitive jerk.
"Not really no," a sudden voluptuous smile crept its way on Akane's face
"You kept me awake" she said with a … smile. Ranma recognised that smile. 'hah, she must be thinking that I'm in need of sleep' Ranma caressed his chin, with still no facial hair growth on it, fancying. 'Maybe I'm in need of sleep'. His eyes drifted away from Akane's eyes, to Akane's bosom, that seemed intended on poking his eyes out.
Ranma's moving eyes didn't go unnoticed by Akane.
"You naughty naughty boy. How dare you look at a woman's bosom like that", she said quasi-angry. She began giving him a soft slap on the cheek, that ended in a soft, sweet caresses. "You naughty naughty…" her breath was heavy, and warm. It alone all made him so 'sleepy'. Akane saw the lustful look in Ranma's eyes, and took his faces between her soft hands, and let her warm breath caress his skin. "boy…" her voice increased in volume when Ranma cupped both of her breast, and caressed them oh so softly.
"aaaah…" Akane tried to say between moans "you naughty…" a bit on her right nipple made he squeal in pleasure "… … boy" she finally got through her teeth. Ranma reached behind her back, and caressed her back, while licking her neck. "You…" she breathed in Ranma's ear. "Are all mine tonight".
'One thing I've got to admit about this place' Akane thought wearily, 'you sure got a lot of privacy'. This was of course for the better. That was the other "way" this was a 'hell'. Well, hell… if what the stories told, and those angels and people in heaven were all very chaste, then she guessed that she and Ranma made this place indeed in some way a 'hell'.
Their room was small, but cosy. However, when getting Ranma to bed, size could be very efficient, so they always used that 'other room', when getting him to bed. It was big in comparison to the other rooms, and had a soft carpet, red as the rest of the little house, excluded the kitchen and bathroom which had very sweet green tiles placed on the floor and wall.
She watched Ranma as he slept soundlessly, a satisfied grin on his face. Yep, she really loved to put him in bed. And, as time passed, he seemed more zealous to put himself to bed also.
She let her hand softly caress his cheek. His grin widened, which resulted in her smiling softly, sighting in happiness. She looked intensely at his eyes. They were closed now, but it being the centre of his face, made it the most interesting part. While looking at them, she saw his entire face. His soft cheeks, his straight jaw line, his sharp, bright, but for the moment closed, blue eyes, and the handsome symmetry. She giggled lightly as she felt the house sized butterflies rummaging in her stomach. Still stroking his cheek, she remembered their previous adventure which made them so much closer.
It was a strange adventure, one of which she didn't understand much of even now. It was over before they realised it, and it had begun before they knew the problem existed. It left her and Ranma perplexed. Not just because they didn't understood a thing about their situation. But moreso because of what happened afterwards. Sure, they realised they loved each other, but that happened while they were adventuring. The things happening to them when they presumed that their adventure was over were… strange in ever aspect of the word.
Akane was never that fixated on biology, but even she knew that changing from a normal 19 year old girl, to a normal girl of unidentifiable age, was not something that should happen. Sure, strange things happen around Ranma, but not…well… not things like this. The only thing she knew of, that resembled this, was Ranma's gender changing ability. And that only affected Ranma. Never ever has something that resulted from those adventures, affected her in any way.
Oh well, she didn't mind it all that much. How many girls had the luck of actually looking like a 17 year old girl, while having a body of a 19 year old. And how many girls could say they married a beautiful stud like Ranma.
She giggled, and again studied Ranma's face intense. Oh yeah, a beautiful stud he certainly was. And it had only improved after that one adventure. His jaw line was more defined, his eyes more…more… damn, she couldn't find the right word for it. They looked so soft, so mature, and so immature at the same time. But they certainly looked like Ranma's eyes. Sharp, yet soft, gentle yet full of fire (if they wished to be gentle that is). His body… his body stayed somewhat the same, besides having grown in places. Akane suddenly blushed 'oh my, if I may quote Kasumi' . yep, he certainly had grown. For example, his arms were longer, his legs, his torso. He just had grown. Like her, he looked now like a 19 year old, but at the same time, you could see a 16, 17 year old boy. Not the 16 year old Ranma, mind you. No, his 'new body' had something resembling a 16 year old, but at the same time, clearly were not 16 at all.
Oh well, she had pained her head more then once trying to figure him out, she wasn't about to ruin the moment by putting an age on him. However, the most striking change was Ranma's hair colour. Instead of the copper, grey tinted black hair, it was now pitch black hair, with a hint of red. She did kind of miss the grey/ black hair; but that missing was seriously outweighed by the exotic beauty it gave Ranma. She was kind of jealous. She wished that those changes had made her hair also somewhat more exotic, instead of going from bleu- black to pitch black with a bluish tint. It probably had something to do with the hair-colour of his female counterpart, she reasoned.
Before the urge was getting too strong to wake Ranma, she stepped out of their bed, and, as many times before, walked to the mirror. Since it was a third of their room, she used it frequently. Also, she still had to get used to the changes of her body. And well…what could she say… She just loved to see her new improved hot body.
She stepped in front of the mirror, and observed herself. She saw a tall curved girl, with fine breasts, a perfect stomach. She spent a little more attention at her belly, and stroked it softly, musing dreamily. 'giggle Ranma sure likes my belly. Always kissing it, and generally giving it all his attention'. Her gaze went down, and she saw what probably was the one thing that got most of his caring. Even that… even that was perfect, she thought. She hadn't seen much of those things on other females, but she thought hers was not bad, and Ranma liked hers as well, so no problem. And like the rest of her symmetric and curved body, it fitted perfectly.
Then her long smooth legs. She had looked dreamily at magazine girls, and models, hoping that she once would have half as beautiful legs as theirs. Now she could outmatch all those girls easily. She had smooth legs, without having to suffer from anorexia nervosa. And sometimes they served great when experimenting with… with… well, it was fun to experiment with them.
Her face was like Ranma changed, but not only in physical matter, also in expressions. This was an indirect consequence of the adventure she guessed. The first days after their admitted love, she had just dreamily gazed in front of her, always mumbling answers to any voice which wasn't Ranma's. Of course, Ranma, gazing right back, didn't say all that much either. But after those moments, her expressions changed.
One would expect her to still maintain those angry glares, because that was her, but one would expect wrong. Not anymore, nope, she had changed. She had grown. Maybe not normally, but grown she had. Not glaring anymore, she didn't always have a perfect smile plastered on her face. Sometimes, she had a wicked smile, sometimes a dreamily smile, sometimes even a challenging smile (that she thought was Ranma's fault, teaching her his bad manners), and well, she indeed sometimes had an angry glare. But that glare wasn't the same as some months ago. It was controlled, and with humour. And in the end, she indeed still had those irritated expressions. Then, much like in her younger days, she just looked bored and very irritated. She didn't like them, but sometimes things do indeed irritate her immensely. However, lately, those irritated glares would be directed at something, or someone besides Ranma.
In the days after that strange adventure, she had learned to coop with Ranma blunt character. It wasn't all that hard actually. He tried his best to keep them at a minimum. And now they were in love, they sounded more like a joke then anything else.
So, all in all, her face was satisfying to both her and Ranma.
She ran her hand through her hair, feeling the thick hair caressing her hands.
She made herself comfortable on the table, stretched, and admired her round firm breasts that now reflected in the mirror in full ornate. Yep, except missing her family somewhat, and the horrible, she shivered, episodes Ranma had to get through, this was relaxing and comforting.
She closed her eyes, leaned back, and enjoyed the pleasant thoughts she had, when suddenly, she felt two arms encircling her, and cupping her breasts. She didn't open her eyes, but instead shivered in ecstasy. In no time, the cupping, and stroking resumed in kneading, and softly pinching. Oh yeah, she really liked her time here. She turned around to look at the man she loved.
'Alright, I think I got it'. It was hard work; it was work that required a clear mind, a concentrated mind, a mind that wouldn't wander to irrelevant things, and a mind that could see things that weren't right. Summarised, a mind he had a hard time summoning. Hard working, alright, while probably not his best ability, he could work hard for something if he wanted to. He didn't really wanted to, but at the same time, really wanted to get out of this place, so; hard working wasn't a problem. A clear mind, that was trickier, but not impossible. Or the horrible thoughts about his "brothers" would come to haunt him, or Akane would walk into the room, and just sit there, making him ho… lose his focus. But, generally, if Akane was busy doing something herself, and he himself was concentrated on his work, both could be reduced to a minimal.
A mind that wouldn't wander to irrelevant things. Hmmz… well, irrelevant things usually didn't get his attention at all, but there were some relevant things that always had his concentration.
"Can I have that rubber dear?", he suddenly heard his heart pump into his throat. Now? At this moment? But he wasn't tired. Not that he minded, in the contrary. But he did want to leave as soon as possible, and leaving as soon as possible meant working hard.
And with a rubber? Why? They had never used one before, why would she want to use a rubber so suddenly? She used her pills to make sure they wouldn't get babies. Was he co… no that couldn't be it. He blushed. He was pretty sure that wasn't why. But why a rubber? And why now…? Why not? He turned around, and placed himself reversed on his chair, so that the back of the chair was pushing in his stomach.
"Lille Akane-chan wants a rubber? Why would Akane want a rubber?" he smiled wickedly at her. He knew she liked that, and he knew he liked it. It was something he never knew he would do, much less like it. But doing naughty things, and being somewhat naughty about it had a certain attraction that he could not ignore.
Ranma stopped speaking and watching lustfully at Akane when he noticed she started blankly at him. She pointed at her paper, and awkwardly said she made a mistake with her pencil, and that she lost her rubber. Ranma face faulted, eventually threw his eraser at her, and went back to work somewhat disappointed. Oh well, he had to get this done anyway.
So yes, some relevant things did always have his attention. He cleared his throat, and went back to work. Akane looked at him weirdly, before resuming her erasing, which she found strangely exciting, suddenly realising what that name also meant. She giggled, and blushed. 'Keep your thoughts on one track miss Saotome Akane, now is time for working' .
'Must keep my concentration in check. Heavenly giggles… work… must work, not listen to cruel siren giggling. Why had she changed from clumsy cute Akane, into somewhat looking less clumsy but sexy and cute as hell Akane?' He had no idea, he knew he loved it… loved it so much, but why….? What he did know though was that he had to get back to work, right now. Yes, he had to have a mind to see things that weren't right, and he had just found it.
He suddenly sighed wearily. Solving such a puzzle was always somewhat of a victory, but it also meant that he had to go back creating a "brother", who would die again for him. Thinking that really puts that euphoria in a trunk, beaten and shot three times in the head. He tried to shrug it off, telling himself that they were only imitations, copies of him, that they weren't real. But if he could feel their despair, their fear, their anxiously, their vengefulness, how easy was it then to think they where not real, that they were "things" coming from him, that you use like… like a chair. It wasn't, it was tough, it was hard, and he didn't like it one bit. But, as many things, he had to get through it if he wanted to get out of here.
He looked at Akane, and at the room they were in. Well, he was sure that in time, Akane would start missing her family, as he would, but being alone with her certainly wasn't something he particularly minded. He thought of last night, and the morning.
Akane looked at her creation. 'Well, I think it's finished. I hope Ranma likes it'. She looked at her bird. She turned her paper till she thought she had it right. The head was a little awkward though, or was that her tail? She turned her paper again 90 degrees, and finally decided that, that brown spot was indeed the tail. She proudly picked the drawing up, and held it before her. As she looked at it in complete bliss, she forgot what the tail was, and what the head was. 'Aaah, heck, like that even matters. Those details are only important for art critics'
She turned over, smiling, wanting to let Ranma see her little piece of art. As she turned, she saw him already looking at her, with a look she could recognise from miles.
'Well, isn't he enjoying the sight' she grinned to herself, as she remembered the previous night, and the wonderful morning. She plastered her own mischievous "smile" on her face that could easily rival Ranma's. Then she saw Ranma, she blinked with her eyes, she saw him acting like he was enjoying something very much. She blinked again as she saw him close his eyes, cock his head a bit, and opened his mouth, as moaning over something very pleasant, while being perfectly soundless.
At first, she felt a ting of anger that he was enjoying something or someone that wasn't hers. Yep, even though it must be months now, she still felt twinges of anger when she saw things that seemed to offend her. But those moments were rare, and when they showed, they were quickly put away in the darkest corners of her mind, and caged for good measure. So now she found herself answering Ranma's acting with her own acting, going only a little further. She touched her breasts, looked at it in genuine enjoyment, and moaned without making a sound.
Ranma, who had his eyes open, smiled as he saw Akane answering his excitement. He was still a little amazed that he did something like that. It was so, so totally not him. Well, then again, he had never found himself in situation like this before. So he wouldn't know how he'd normally react when in a small house with a woman he loved so much it hurt. But it sure was something else then stuttering, hesitating and generally screwing up whenever he was in anything close to a romantic encounter with Akane.
'Must be because of my… eg… my ability to adapt' he reasoned. Then again it probably had something to do with him feeling really unsure when in such romantic situations, were he was normally very sure of himself. Now there was no longer any need to be unsure, he changed it in what he normally was, extremely, obsessive sure of himself. And well, he decided that at the moment, it may show a little.
He placed his right hand on his right temple, and stroked it softly, just that tad more intense then Akane, making sure he was the most perverted of the two.
Akane smiled at her fiancée, feeling warmth suddenly welling up in her belly. 'I think I'm going to enjoy this'. She let her hand go down her belly, and placed it between her legs. Her other hand, still on her breast, kneaded it softly. She closed her eyes, and moaned silently in pleasure.
She reopened her eyes, and saw that Ranma, just unbuttoned his Chinese red shirt, and stroked his own flesh. 'grmlbl. He knows damn well that I'm the only one allowed there' she thought wickedly, grinning in the progress.
And so they continued. Every time one of them went a little farther into perversion then the other. Akane squealed in pleasure, and laughed in complete disbelief. Some months ago, she would have likely hammered him continuously a week for that. Now she was enjoying the sight, and even participating. She had no idea what was to become of her, but whatever it would be, it would be together with Ranma.
She unbuttoned her dress, and touched the top of her breast, through her bra. She herself hadn't found the need to use a bra, they're alone here anyway, but Ranma found it "stimulating", so she kept it on. And actually, she felt a more beautiful, while wearing a bra anyway.
She looked at Ranma again, and saw that he had answered her movement. She smiled, lifted her chin, and looked at Ranma through her whimpers. She then closed her eyes, again moaned silently. Now instead placing her hand between her legs she placed it in her pants. She could almost hear Ranma gulping, staring at the course of her hand intensely. She opened her eyes slightly, and saw indeed through her whimpers Ranma gazing at her hand, or actually, where her hand was positioned. He couldn't actually see her hand right now.
This went on for some time, till she became to heated, and sensually strode to Ranma, once reaching him she snuggled herself on his lap. Ranma looked at her, curiosity showing in his eyes. She was, heated yes, but surprisingly, she felt more for just simple affection then getting intimate. Like, hugging, and staring, and wondering, that sort of stuff. And that's exactly what she was doing now; she had the back of her head resting on Ranma's biceps, her arms around his warm body, and her legs curled on his lap. While she indeed had grown, Ranma was still taller, so curling her legs on his laps wasn't a problem. Ranma, lately being very understandable when she required sweet affection, and not the other sweet affection, gently rocked her, enjoying the warmth and present she was providing.
After ten minutes or so, she spoke, calm, soothing. "So, how's the puzzle solving going?" she still had her eyes closed.
Ranma looked at her, smiling at the indubitable; very content face. "Not bad, think I got the problem" he said, strangely soft for Ranma's doing. Something she had yet to get used to. It always made her feel fuzzy in two ways. One: Ranma really felt something for the relation they had, and wanted her to enjoy it as much as possible, with him trying to talk warm and soothingly, two: speaking like that always made her feel so … pleasantly drowsy. Like she was flying, like everything was hers, and there wasn't anything she needed.
"Hmmm, you know, I never noticed before, but speaking so…" she took a deep warm breath, enjoying Ranma's soft caress of her side. "…warm, really…" she moaned softly, and snuggled deeper in Ranma's shoulder, not being able to end her sentence.
"Really…?" Ranma asked still using his warm cosy voice. Akane clutched tighter to Ranma, not wanting to let him go forever.
"Just, how you talk so warm, so softly, and still be you". He indeed spoke softly, soothing, but the content always stayed the same. Speaking softly slang, well, Ranma slang. She giggled. She loved that, as many things, about Ranma. How he did things he thought she'd like, and always end up doing a Revised Version of his own. Now with talking soothingly. But also other times, when for example he was massaging her. He remembered from a movie, how a male character massaged his girlfriends shoulders. So he tried that on her. But instead doing it very softly, always staying on the same place, his hand never stood still. 2 seconds her shoulders, then 4 seconds her side, then back to her shoulders. It was; special to say in the least.
She had dreamed on occasions that Ranma would just be like those men in the movies, sweet gentle, caring. And that she would be the sensitive woman, in dire need of affection. And then, he would come up to her, to safe her from the vile shampoo, and when the fight was over. He would take her in his arms, and then his lips would descend on hers, and they would kiss. Hmm, how often hadn't she dreamt such dreams? But she should have known back then, that something like that would probably be never hers. For starters, she wasn't a sensitive woman from the movies, or any general woman for that matter. She was Akane, and that meant a lot. She didn't think she would be satisfied by just being picked up and kissed. She also didn't expect Ranma to do that either. And indeed, when there was a comparable situation, he did something comparable, but slightly more Ranma. He didn't gently lift her in his arms; he just grabbed her, and gave her a ride by Ranma-air. He had tried to be romantic and grab her in his two arms, but he soon found out that she didn't mind him holding her with just one arm. And so he gave her a 10 minute ride in the air, jumping from roof to roof. She enjoyed then the wind through her hair, the sleek muscles that hold her, and the soft warmth that he gave her, he enjoying her presence.
He smirked at that. She didn't think he'd ever lose that, she hoped he'd never lose that. "really… does that mean I'm sensitive?" he smirked. She looked up, and saw his sly smile. She gave him a peck on the nose. "Of course not, just that you can talk sensitive"
"So, how can I be sensitive then?" he asked her genuinely wondering. She was thinking about that for some seconds.
"Well…you just ehm… be sensitive", she answered, not really knowing what to tell.
"Aaah… now I understand. Just 'be' sensitive. No prob, nothing Saotome Ranma can't do" he lifted the right corner of his mouth, forming an arrogant smile. She looked up, and gave him another peck.
"You just be your arrogant Ranma-self " she smiled
"No problem. Me being perfect and all. Gives me a hard time not being arrogant. Really, the trouble I've gotta do to keep my arrogance in check…" Akane stopped him by kissing him full on the lips. She had clasped her hands together behind his neck, sat straight up on his lap (her knees painfully pressing in his upper legs), and firmly pressed her lips on his.
A minute later. 'This is good… even delicious' Ranma thought straight minded.
2 minutes later 'I always love kissing… actually; I can't imagine an activity I like better, except err…'
2.5 minutes later 'but… breathing ain't bad either… inhaling through my nose is alright… but…' Akane hefted herself up, so she could press her lips harder against Ranma's. Also placed her hands on his jawbone, so she was sure he wouldn't move away. Ranma winced slightly when she straightened herself up on his lap, she still driving her knees in his upper legs. The pain was easily ignored thought, with the kissing and all.
3 minutes later 'yep… breathe always loved breath. Gotta love oxygen, but… kissing also nice'
4 minutes later 'if it wasn't for this awkward position, I might have an easier time inhaling through my nose. But as it is, I guess I'll have to wait. This kissing is way too… good'
4.2 minutes later. Akane straightened herself up even farther, pulling Ranma's face with hers, and making it even harder to breath. Not to mention that her knees were still painfully obeying the laws of gravity.
5 minutes later. 'I love kissing, but I think I love living even more. Also, while this kiss is delicious, the pain, and breathing problem is kinda outweighing the marvelousness of the kiss. Didn't knew that was possible'
A second later. "Uuh… moan " Ranma inhaled rapidly, trying to regain his breath. "I… breath I love ki… breath kissing" Ranma fell off his chair, grabbed the side of the table, and inhaled deeply. "But breathing is breath nice… so nice"
Akane directly jumped off him, the moment he began zealously inhaling.
"Oow, Ranma, you alright?" Akane asked worried, clasping him on the back, hard.
"Ok… I'm okay. Besides nearly dying from a shortage of oxygen, and torment… I'm okay, really don't worry". Akane sighed her worries out. If he could make stupid jokes, then he's okay. He tiled himself up, gaining support from the table. He bent over, holding his stomach with his hand. After a second or 5, he took one deep breath, and unceremoniously dropped himself in the chair. He wheeled a bit, pouting a little.
Akane looked as he made drowsy eyes, and pulled his lips up, trying to look very sad. She covered her eyes and shook her head in silent disbelief over Ranma's childlike behaviour. 'why, oh god why didn't he grew up.'. She leaned against the table, folded her hands before, her and saw Ranma now grinning, sitting on one leg, and spinning the chair lightly with his other leg. Again she shook her head, grinned and looked at her feet 'oh god, I love him, damn I love him so'
Suddenly, she saw Ranma's face instead of her feet. She looked at what he was doing, and saw that he had his feet locked behind the chair's supports, and bent backwards, so that his face came under hers.
"What'cha grinning for" he asked with a smile.
"You…", she said, smiling giggly "…I love you"
"Good… I'd have a word with faith if the… well… if… aah hell" he answered her smile with one of his one obsessively confident smiles.
"Guess you won't speak with faith ever then" she pecked him lightly on the nose. The soft push though, was enough for earth's gravity to finally have a grip on the stubborn martial artist, and pull him down, together with the chair.
"That's 1 – 0 for the chair, love" Akane grinned, looking down at her fiancée.
"No fair… the chair cheated", Ranma stated, pouting in the progress.
"Aha and how did the chair cheated?" Akane asked, now leaning with her elbow on the table, looking through her whimpers at, the still struggling Ranma.
"Hmmm…" Ranma stopped trying to disentangle his legs from the chair's legs, for a second. "Well… they ganged up on me" he said sturdy. Then resumed his fight with the chair.
Akane looked a split second aghast, not knowing how to answer that. "How…" she scratched her head "how do you figure that…?"
Finally having vanquished the chair, he got up, and wiped the dust from his clothes. "Well… both gravity and the chair attacked me, when I was in a very inconvenient state." He stuck his finger in the air "that's low, both the gravity, and the chair"
Akane stared in awe at Ranma. 'That was… that was brilliant reasoning' she wide eyed Ranma, still in disbelief what she just heard. 'Well… for Ranma's doing anyway'. She stopped staring, and wondered for a second. 'It is pretty mean of me thinking such things. Ranma ain't stupid after all, just selectively perceptive…' Akane wondered some more '…well, not when he doesn't feel like being anyway'.
Akane startled her reverie, and looked up at Ranma, who was now sitting on the table, his feet on the somewhat dishevelled chair. He had some papers in his hand, which seemingly had his intense interest.
"What is that?" she asked, actually already knowing the answer.
"The solution… well, not the solution, the error, that… ah heck, you know what I mean". He moved a bit, making place for her. She accepted his proposal, and made herself comfortable on the table. He handed over the documents, which supposedly contained the solution… well, the error, that eventually was the solution to another error, and… Akane stopped the mental subject, not quite feeling up to a serious head ache.
'First things first', she said herself. 'Let's decipher Ranma's writings'. She looked intensely at the papers, trying to read the scribbles.
Ranma saw Akane looking at his solution. He was actually very proud at his discovery. It took him some time, and some serious thinking, but eventually he had found it. Heh, maybe he had to lose. But if losing meant winning in the end, then he'd readily lose. And he would certainly win in the end. Saotome Ranma always wins. And that was also the key to solving this "thing". Ranma still hadn't found a proper name for their problem. He looked around the strange big room. It was very nice, warm, cosy, decorated with things looking really expensive. But what was the use for such stuff when they were locked here. The only supposed way to escape this place is by "outsmarting" it. 'How do you outsmart a place?' This place was their problem. So he could call their problem "this place". But that was a rather stupid name for their problem, so he quickly threw it away.
Ranma shifted his position, positioning his chin on his hand, making a very pensive impression.
'Now what would be a good name for their problem?' he hadn't really spent any time finding a name for it before, but now he had the time, he tried to come up with one. '"The locked up problem", ack no… "No escape possible problem", doesn't sound bad, but at the same time…it sucks. The "where the hell are we, problem"… that will do for now' Ranma looked at the strange green device planted in the middle of one of the room's walls. That was meant to help them, getting out.
He still didn't understand the idea completely, but it was said that it would work, and since they had nothing else to go on, they believed it. Well, believed it, they accepted it, lacking an alternative. They didn't really have any other choice anyway.
He looked besides him, seeing Akane still staring at the same place on his paperwork. 'She trying to glare a hole in the paper?' he wondered idly. "And…? Are the letters changing colour?"
Akane looked up, absent minded, and intelligently commented "huh…? What was that?"
Ranma sighed "I asked if you're having any success with those papers"
"Actually, I can't read a letter from it", Ranma face faulted next to her. 'Groan, why didn't she said so from the beginning'.He rudely grabbed his papers, and looked at it. 'Hmmm'.
Akane watched Ranma in perspective, looking intensely at his papers. She'd expect a burst of an explanation any moment. Pointing and reflecting on his papers as he went. But, he seemingly had to check something on his papers before explaining.
3 minutes later; her eyes had wondered to the far wall, opposite to the table, when suddenly Ranma threw his papers away with a jerk.
"Right, we don't need those papers anyway" she looked beside her, and saw Ranma grinning weakly. 'He couldn't read his own handwriting…?' she groaned placing her hands on her forehead. 'Stupid'.
Ranma looked genuinely hurt. "Hey… you try writing in perfect calligraphy when you hadn't slept for 30 hours"
Akane smiled, comforting Ranma, and leaned on his shoulder. "Forget those papers, and tell me what you found" she said, directly, but sweetly.
Ranma, still a little shocked at her unpredicted change of action, began explaining his solution, well, the error that brought the solution, to another err… Ranma told Akane what he knew.
"Well… err" Ranma scratched his head, not knowing where to start. All in all, it was fairly simple, but it had taken him an awfully long time finding it, and he didn't feel like telling his answer in 3 seconds, were he spent 3 hours trying to find it
"I started looking for…" Akane looked at Ranma, as he began his speech. She knew from previous experience that this could take a while. She loved to hear his voice, but not telling her in intense detail how he got himself murdered, well, how the copy got itself murdered. Correction, how the copy got himself murdered. Ranma hated when the copies were spoken to as "it". She leaned a little farther on his shoulder, and closed her eyes a bit, believing that Ranma would probably get excited when reaching the end, and waking her. She was still sleepy from their, good night sleep, as it was.
"… and now here it comes…" Akane jerked up, 'where… where am I?' with drowsy eyes, she scanned the room. 'Oh yeah, the room, Ranma telling his story…' she looked up at Ranma, and grinned widely 'hmmz, such a nice dream' she leaned a little closer on Ranma. 'Such a very nice dream indeed'. She made herself comfortable on his shoulder again, and listened carefully to Ranma.
"I exactly counted the amount of stairs I climbed. I made sure I made no mistake in this. Every stair I ascended, I linked to an action that happened there. I counted 5 floors. Safe one floor. When I jumped out of the window, I saw that I jumped from floor seven." He looked at Akane, seeing of she still was following. She nudged him to go on.
"So, that's where the error is. While I ascended only floor 5, maybe 6, I descended from floor 7"
He looked at her funny. Did she just hear one word I said?
"Such a nice soft shoulder, such a nice warm voice to sleep with… hmm" she urged her head comfortable on his shoulder. He looked at her curious. What was he to do? She's probably heard him, he reasoned, otherwise she wouldn't have nudged him to go on.
He sat there a minute or two, his hands between his knees, not knowing what to do. Maybe I should do something, instead of admiring this 302182 times already admired room. He looked again at his shoulder, and couldn't hold the content smile that demanded entrance on his face. What was she beautiful, and with the change, she'd only got better. His eyes went unwittingly to her breast. Oh yes, the change really did well. He suddenly got a stern look on his face.
Hmph, it was certainly not because of the change that he loved Akane. He had loved her since… well, since a very long time. Yeah… It was not because she suddenly got breasts that easily rivalled Shampoo's. He shifted his gaze , and looked down again, and quickly looked at her face. She was still asleep. Good. Sure, she didn't hit him anymore for looking at her bre… ehm… for looking at her, but habits were hard to unlearn. Well… breasts that were hard rivalled by shampoo's. well… it was certainly not because of that, that he loved her. It was just, nice, to squeeze, to gently stroke to…
Ranma's gaze went distant and stared into nothing, seemingly dreaming, murmuring something about 'so nice, so soft'. He suddenly shook his head wild. No time to think such thoughts Saotome Ranma, well… yeah, always time to think those, but… just not now. Being a pervert is one thing, being a nymphomaniac is another. Right where was I? Ow yeah, I love Akane because of what she is, and not her body. Got to have my priorities straight. But hmmm. This 'openness' certainly ain't undesired.
He always thought that having a relation was…. He actually had no idea what he expected, having a relation with a girl. His father hardly had ever given him any sexual education. Sure, he had seen a lot, and, beauty coming natural to him, girls had asked him strange things before. But at that time, he was far too busy with his art to really care about such trivial things. Maybe it was because of this, that he was so… well, enthusiastic, that he really liked interacting with Akane. He never heard anything about sex, didn't knew it was part of a relationship, not to mention an important part. So, he never guessed a feeling like that existed. So maybe… when he found out, he needed more of it. And maybe, because of this…he was, he grinned, always ready to err…
Well… anyway, the lack of sexual education was rapidly fixed. Damn, was he happy that Akane never had enough of him. Sure, she was dead tired afterwards, but well… she never asked to stop, on the contrary, sometimes she just asked for more. Ranma grinned wickedly. Ow, and then she would get her "more". So, although he had no idea what maintaining a relation was, he liked it so far. He knew well enough that the relationship they had wasn't normal.
For one, most starting relationships, were not placed into a cosy, warm, comfortable house, that had no doorway. Second, most relationships didn't had a male that was probably, if he may say so himself, one of the strongest martial artist of his generation, and a female that was also a martial artist, and a damn special one. Not just special for him, but special in many ways. She was stubborn, she was a natural tom-boy and still feminine as hell, she was headstrong, she was cute, she was so much. He sighted. And he knew that their relationship would never be normal, and he loved it. Stupid things always had followed him, for as long as he can remember. He didn't see a reason for them to stop occurring. And well, boredom wasn't promised, and they could, interact in so many different situations. Ow yeah, he liked life.
Ow, there was always the thought, that this strangeness of life could once end in death. But he always put that thought in the back of his brain, put it somewhere in a closet, and blew it up with nitro-glycerine. If she died, then he would simply commit suicide. It wasn't a question, he would do it, without hesitation. Well, after the Romeo and Julia screw up, he had, once in a secluded area, read the script well. So, whenever something like that happened, he would make sure that she was indeed dead. But, heck, something like that won't happen anyway, so why worrying over a fact that doesn't even exist.
Ranma looked at his shoulder, and smiled. Must be tired of last evening. He lifted his left arm, and slowly brushed her hair. He liked her hair, liked it very much. It was so soft in his hands. From her hair, he went to her belly, slowly painting scribbles on her smooth belly with the top of his finger, watching her face, not wanting to wake her. He smiled once again, slowly lifted her head from his shoulder, and let it continue sleeping on the desk. He went for their bedroom to get a cushion and a blanket, willing to make sure she was sleeping comfortable. When he was done, he looked at his work. She was sleeping peacefully on his desk. Their teachers would probably comment on this, but that didn't really matter at the moment.
Ranma Saotome had things to do. Things he disgusted, and really disliked, but they had to be done. He looked one more time at Akane before going to the hated room.
He didn't have to walk far, 5 steps were enough. It was after all in this chamber that the entrance to the hated chamber was set. He looked at the double door, clothed with a sort of green carpet. Very soft on the hands, and actually very beautiful. But no matter how beautiful the door was, no matter how magnificent, and glorious the room behind it was(and it was, he never had seen a room that, on the onset, gave him such a grand magnificent and majestic feeling). He'd never feel anything but hate for a room, where he had to see someone he was stupidly close too, die.
Ranma turned the doorknob, and with building dread walked into the room.
"Yawn" Akane stretched herself, as if there were a wall stopping her arms, she would simply crush them. Actually, that wasn't an "as", there was a big chance she indeed would crush them. Still drowsy from her well slept day on Ranma's study table, she daydreamed a bit.
She and Ranma were sitting in a car. A very expensive car. One of those where you could only sit with two in. It was also night, and they were the only living beings on the road. There was no one they crossed, or no one who passed them. The only thing accompanying them were the plants, trees and bushes around them, the forest animals, and the romantic feeling between them. It was dark outside, as it was in the inside of their car. The only thing that made 'looking' possible were the headlights that carved themselves a way into the dark, making the road free for them to ride on. However, the headlights where shining on the road, and not into the car, thus the inside of the car was complete dark, but for the glow-in-the-dark buttons that were necessary to drive a car safely. Also, those buttons strengthened to Romantic air in the car, as they made all the more clear that they were alone, riding in a car, in the dark.
And she would look outside her window, and admire the night, the mystic power that it held over the forest, and its inhabitants. She would feel happy, delighted, content, she would feel so much in love, and so excited. There would be no stopping her excitement, her love for everything around her, the mood, the car, the headlights, and the little glow-in-the-dark lights that give the car so much more feeling. And of course, that what gave all those things a meaning, the reason that all this was so obsessively exciting, intoxicating and addictive. Her love, her life, her everything and more, her husband to be, her fiancée, Saotome Ranma.
Yes, and then he would startle her from her intense looking outside. She would be wearing a short leather skirt, a daring black leather top, with a leather jacket around her shoulders. He would put his hand on her left knee, gently stroking it. She would feel the warmth surging from his hand though her legs, ending in her heart. She would breathe warm, warmer, and put her own hand on his, as making sure that his hand would be staying there. And she wouldn't knock him senseless for doing something perverted. Because it simply wasn't perverted. They are perverted in their room, when it's much more a point of pure lust then anything romantic. And then, and then she would turn her face to his, and he would do the same, and they would look at each other, and know it's time to make a stop, and then, then she would allow him to be perverted. And aaah yes
Akane suddenly started. Where am I, who what where?. She looked around, and saw the room where she had dozed off. She noticed with a little wickedness her left hand resting between her legs. Hmm, maybe her dream was ruddily interrupted, but waking up from a dream, into another dream made it all that more pleasant. There just was no stopping this dream. And soon, very soon, they would have their car, and they would drive alone, on a lonely road in complete darkness. And he would put his hand on her knees, and she would be heated up by that one move, and then she'd want him to pull over, and then they would do, what they were doing so much here.
'so perfect' Akane reasoned. It took her a while before realising something was amiss. Where's Ranma?. She scanned the room, looking for a sign of life, if acceptable, a sign of Ranma, but she couldn't find one. She hopped off the table, and started searching. After a minute or two, she sighed not having succeeded in finding him she concluded that he's probably back in that one chamber, that despite its overwhelming and magnificent nature, has a disgusting use. Namely: enabling Ranma to create a "brother" of him, and sending him off to that imaginary world.
She sighed heavily, her good mood completely ruined now.
"ow well, guess I'll be alone for some time then." She grinned, which was a mean feat, considering the situation. "well… since no one is guarding the kitchen now, let's take a peek inside." She dashed of to the kitchen, intended on making Ranma something delicious when he returned.
next:Wild Horse's Run
First move
Duds
Three of spades