"Worlds over Worlds over Possible"
----
"It is done." Said Ranma, raising a triumphant fist. Before her father could begin, she reverted male as a lure.
Weaving around Genma's charge, Ranma's form projected joy.
"What's done boy?" Asked Genma obliviously as Ranma dodged his sneaky uppercut. That his son might have cured the curse never occurred to him, ruining a prank.
"The Bane of Heirs," shared Ranma while connecting with a punch, knocking Genma back.
"Forgot about that," mused his father. "Wait boy, I'll be back."
Mystified, Ranma watched Genma jump into their room and grab his traveling pack. Rummaging by the dojo entrance, Genma removed his beat up metal drinking cup and scooped out some pond water. Then, reaching deep inside his pack, he reverently removed and unsealed a small envelope, spilling a few powdered grains in the cup.
Fifteen seconds later, the water sparkled exactly like the potion Seruni retrieved from Castle Uka.
Shocked, Ranma didn't move when his father dumped the mixture on him, much like happened in the gathering of kami. It tingled the same way, without a sense of loss.
As Genma was set to finish sparring, Kasumi announced breakfast.
Ranma stood thinking for two whole hours, mentally numb. 'Guess this joke really is on me,' he thought.
--
When he came to, he discovered Azusa Shiatori finishing a little pink heart on his cheek in permanent marker.
His scream of boundless frustration scared her badly, and startled Tsubasa Kurenai, who had been painting his toenails a matching purple shade.
Easily catching the fashion-impaired rats, Ranma lifted their shiatsu paralyzed bodies effortlessly and stared into their terrified faces.
"Alright you!" He growled, "Spill what happened last month with Ukyo."
The story didn't leave him much surprised.
-----
They met at an Osaka love hotel, far from Nerima and the familiar.
"Why are we doing this again?" The boy and the girl spoke at the same time, and turned away embarrassed.
They already knew the answer -- because an ending was coming, and the girl wouldn't consent to doing this with anyone other than the boy. Her morals wouldn't justify it, and even now curiosity warred with disgust.
Locking the door, the boy and girl hesitantly removed their clothing, feeling tense and weird. Proceeding as planned, they had trouble starting, but took hours to finish.
---
Ranma-chan turned and looked at her male aspect. "I still like girls better," she assured herself. "We've done everything we were curious about, now it is time for the future."
-----
The future awaited only a few blocks from the Tendo compound.
"I know why you are here, follow me."
Miyo wore jeans and a white t-shirt with the words 'If you're thinking what I'm thinking, why wait?' printed in kanji. Ranma's glance showed his hostess unchanged from their last meeting; small breasts nice legs, and no muscles. Ranma obeyed the psychic girl's instruction, removing his footwear before entering. The next hours held his lifetime's definition, and who would share it.
With an eerie stare, the girl stopped after two steps, speaking in a voice of bafflement and authority: "My parents won't return for hours, and I don't understand how you will visit seven hundred and two more times before tomorrow."
Miyo led him through her small residence, straight to the bathroom. He noticed a few family pictures and a comfortable looking blue armchair, but nothing in the house yelled 'strangeness!' at a polite visitor. Pausing to examine a photo in which Miyo rolled her eyes at the camera while wearing a creamy yellow sundress, Ranma hesitated.
"What did you expect?" Said his hostess patiently, not turning around. "Foretelling the future is a hobby, like collecting coins or rollerblading. Anybody can do it."
Ranma opened his mouth, but Miyo slid open the door to her family's bathroom, cutting off his question. Both silently donned the 'toilet slippers' used for entering washrooms in a private dwelling.
Stepping inside, Ranma wondered what was going on. At his skeptical glance, Miyo said blandly, "Payment first, then you can possibility surf."
Ranma noted the bathroom was somewhat cramped. The toilet was the hunched over, more hygienic Japanese-style toilet, very unlike the newer western ones in the Tendo home.
Miyo, blushing severely, passed over a note and pointed at black bandanna on the bathroom sink. "Please read this, and I'll get ready." She failed at masking her nervous embarrassment with indifference.
Unfolding the note, and ignoring the rustling sounds in the background, Ranma read: 'This is the deal: I already know you'll do it. No talking. This is very hard for a virgin like me, but I have foreseen, and I Want This. You are going to spend the next twenty-three minutes and fifty seconds giving me an orgasm larger than the Kanto earthquake. A blindfold is provided if you wish. If it goes to twenty-four minutes, I'll die from a brain embolism, so careful with time. Immobilize my legs with shiatsu. Hit three pain clusters in my upper arms before you start. Upon finish, carry me to my bedroom, third door on the left. Crystal ball on the table; will use command word after. Don't forget to flush and turn on the fan.'
Looking up from the note, Ranma saw Miyo had taken off her jeans and underwear, and positioned herself with legs spread over the Japanese-style toilet. Her head, almost at the opposite wall, was pillowed on her folded clothing. Her t-shirt remained on, and her eyes stared at the ceiling. With a cherry red face, she lay with hands demurely covering herself.
Feeling used, Ranma followed the directions.
---
Looking at Miyo's face as he carried the exhausted girl to her room, Ranma noticed she was no longer blushing. Tear streaks lined her face, her nose ran slightly, and her lip bled, from where she had bitten it especially hard.
Tucking the girl in, Ranma watched her grab and gulp down a glass of sportsdrink sitting on her nightstand.
Holding her hand over mouth, she whispered something, and suddenly the crystal ball sitting on the table by Miyo's futon lit up. Hoarsely, she said, "The note by the ball is the operating instructions, I'm sleeping. You have five hours. Use the Way of the Silent Thief if my parents show. Thank you, that was the best I'll ever have."
Energy spent, Miyo curled up in her blankets and slept.
The note by the crystal ball stated 'Think of what you will do, and touch me.'
Ranma focused on a future where he never married anyone. Gently, he touched the ball.
--OOO--
Standing upside down on the asteroid, Ranma Saotome extended his protective energy field. Stars glittered in the background, silent spectators. Feeling no other presences, Ranma the Elder looked into the hungry void, and found it wanting again.
Unfocusing his eyes, he stared through the veil separating time and possibility. Observing his younger self, Ranma the God communicated: "POWER IS USELESS WHEN UNSHARED. MY BIGGEST REGRET IS NEVER TAKING A WIFE."
With a slashing hand motion, the elder being dissolved the vision.
--0--
Shaken, and more than a little frightened at what he had sensed, Ranma scooted his chair back from the crystal ball, and glared at it like Akane served it to him as 'food.'
Innocently, it lay on a small violet cashmere cushion, sitting on a tiny table, doing nothing.
Counting out sixty heartbeats, Ranma flared his aura, wondering about a life with his macho tomboy.
--OOO--
A kaleidoscope of 'What If' began tumbling though his mind, the ball a blur of mist. He narrowed the search, eliminating branches where Akane never learned to cook, control her temper, or was embattled with another fiancée after marriage. He knew solutions for those dilemmas.
Faced with repeating patterns, Ranma noticed his future life was largely based around three major decisions: the fate of the Tendo dojo, whether future-Akane followed her dreams of college and a career (acting usually), and how much time future-Ranma devoted to Musubetsu Kakuto Ryuu.
--0--
Blinking away the cobwebs of what-might-have-been, Ranma stared at Miyo's ceiling for a time, to re-orient himself in Now. He wondered what would have happened if Happosai hadn't infected his blood with traces of a potent magical relic. He found himself viewing parallel worlds.
--OOO--
Regardless of events, which varied depending on the how he concentrated on the possibility lines, Ranma watched in detached horror as his life flew out of control. The behavior of his women soon degraded into treating Ranma as a trophy, with an understudy of quiet desperation that Akane was winning.
Drastic action by Ukyo ended the stalemate in nearly all timelines. She either gave up (quietly or to run off with Konatsu), seduced another fiancée (usually Akane), or in a few extreme cases where her father upped the pressure, committed suicide. His best friend's despair signaled Ranma coming marriage as she eliminated herself, and usually another fiancée, simplifying a complex tangle. In these worlds, Ranma lacked happiness, having married too early without working problems out with his future wife.
Refusing to accept what he had seen coming, Ranma returned his attention to a smaller but inconceivably vast possibility. In this node, Ranma Saotome acted first.
He left to cure his curse, and when he returned years later, in failure or success (very unlikely) everyone else had moved on. If an enterprising fiancée managed to journey with him, Ranma always married her (or them). Amazingly, he tended toward Nabiki here, as she wanted unpredictability and adventure after hitting the Japanese glass ceiling and resigning herself to being an office lady.
---
Nearly unbalancing his chair laughing at mercenary Tendo's future fate, Ranma realized no matter how funny it might be, it was also sad. Returning to the crystal ball, he decided this was fun, like an enrapturing story.
---
He abandoned his family name, and a few times the Amazons were fast enough to drag an honorless wanderer off to China for stud purposes. Usually Ranma fought them off, though Cologne had some pretty sneaky tricks alternate-Ranmas didn't know like that dust thing or the ki-imprisonment. With no son in Saotome family register, Ukyo's family honor was repaired and she returned home, finding her family arranged another engagement after hearing the joyous news.
Even as ronin, if he didn't escape to another prefecture or country, Kodachi was still interested. Depending on how soon he slept with her, he ended up tossed on the street with a few thousand yen, married to Kodachi, or married to her arch-rival Asuka, the White Lily. Tatewaki had also made a try for the pigtailed girl during this time, but Ranma chose not to explore this. Gross.
He ran off with a girl, not always a fiancée; they led a tense life full of close calls and family honor blood feuds, which always ended in tragedy for future generations. The adrenaline filled, possible-death-tomorrow sex was great though. Woot!
She pretended to be a girl, having been clobbered by Akane for something not her fault. Often a bizarre twist of fate made her -really- lose her memories, and Ranko's futures fractured across the globe. The times she regained her memories after marrying a guy were not pleasant. The other branch, where the pretense was only that, Ranko became amazed at how differently everyone treated her. In some worlds she found fulfillment as a teacher in the Amazon tribe, in others with a desperate fiancée who turned to sapphism. Oddly, 'Ranko' tended to get more respect than 'Ranma', no matter how her life-path went.
--0--
Breaking off contact with the crystal ball, Ranma glared at it. How could life be so much better as a woman?
"It's because we are so much more sensitive and feeling than men." Commented Miyo as she scratched an itch on her right nipple. Noting his irritated expression, she added, "You said that aloud, you know."
A brace of ribald insults flashed into Ranma's mind; most of them from observing alternate-Nabikis. Instead, he softly told the precognitive girl, "Go back to sleep."
Maneuvering herself so her very sore inner regions were comfortable and consequently visible, the fortune teller did, with minimal complaints. Ranma turned back to the crystal ball; while this was only a hundred days in, he overflowed with questions.
Exactly how could he end up alone anyway? His 'loves' were relentless; nothing but murder could make them give up.
--OOO--
A scenario he hadn't considered tumbled into his mind's eye. Ranma saw himself standing at one end of the Tendo Dojo and making an announcement to his stunned betrotheds:
"I promise to marry any two of you who sleep with each other!"
After being sent flying away courtesy of female outrage, an oddly chaotic chain of events followed, revealed in discrete scenes by his other-wordly window.
Kodachi attacked the Tendo sisters during Ranma's birthday party (so everyone was there) using a bizarre pheromone concoction. Her intent was eliminating any rivalry from the primary engagement. One vial became shattered by a swing of her brother's bokken, leading to the eventually happy marriage of Kuno and Nabiki.
Ranma looked beyond the veil of years and saw a very pregnant Nabiki, getting three million yen from her husband Kuno for granting permission to use call girls. Being in love meant she accepted his inability to totally commit to any one woman. Blinking away a murky picture of twenty-three grown children mourning over their parent's joint gravestone (which read Nabs and K-baby forever), Ranma returned his perceptions to the earlier scene.
Konatsu deflected Kodachi's second vial, aimed at Ukyo, into the non-combatant's betting section, where Daisuke and Hiroshi grabbed and fought for it until they spilled it over themselves and Kasumi.
Averting his extended perceptions, Ranma merely noted it took two normal men to sate the eldest Tendo daughter's repressed sexuality, and that the three shared a very close common law poly-amorous relationship.
Finally Akane tackled the gymnast and managed to spill the rest of her concoction. While they would heatedly debate who was 'Top Girl' Akane and Kodachi lived happy and fulfilling lives as demon slayers, especially after leaning some special techniques from the Mido clan.
This left Ukyo and Shampoo, who managed to successfully douse each other's birthday cake with magical love potions (Amazonian Woo Hoo Juice and Koi Cupid Caviar respectively), and ended up in a tempestuously and ultimately tragic union. (Ukyo's crazy father, who still thought she was really a boy and reconciled with her post-marriage, couldn't stand cats, except as a lunch entrée.)
Seeing himself preside as Master of Ceremonies over a tri-Tendo wedding with an official Shinto preaching license from Fushiminaari, Ranma mentally staggered. His concentration broke.
--0--
Laughing softly while holding the back of his neck, Ranma Saotome whispered in the slightly pungent air of Miyo's bedroom, "That couldn't possibly happen." The insecure desperation in his voice went uncommented upon.
Reflecting he had kept his word about 'marrying fiancées,' Ranma returned his attention to the depths of the crystal ball.
--
Curious, Ranma asked a more generalized question: What would have happened if he had used the Shimmer Void in his battle with the Goddess?
--OOO--
After the Crouch of the Wild Tiger succeeded, Ranma pressed his advantage by entrapping the Seruni in a spiritual containment field.
While weak, he could tell this moved surprised her.
Flashing in, more Saotomes transferred life and power into the primary Ranma holding the Goddess contained. Gradually her prison turned into a cube, and aura thorns of malignant darkness sprouted inside.
Shortly, the atmosphere changed, as the anti-thesis of life arrived: Annihilation.
As each overlapping incarnation of Ranma Saotome passed ki-power for the Shimmer Void, they stepped to the side. Exhausted beyond human tolerances, the zombies might have a role.
When finished, one hundred days stood represented in a circle around the hovering, entrapped Goddess, barely able to stand. Shocked from his observation of this possibility, Ranma noted their ki had been totally replaced by seeds of darkness.
Proving herself powerful beyond mortal limitations, Seruni broke free, in a tremendous shockwave of fate and holy might.
As one, the circle of undead malevolently reached into their weaponspaces, each producing a copy of the experimental solenoid laser gun. As one, they fired, aiming directly at the whirling crystals that were her eyes.
"Abonimations!" Screamed the blinded godling, who didn't need eyes to perceive.
As her aura refracted the beams away, Seruni melded the life flows around her, drawing the fighting spirit shed over the ages upon the Plains of Pain.
The Goddess of Ki inside Life commanded it to her.
A blade of vacuum and annihilation made of Shimmer Void cut off one of her ears and most of her hair as she dodged sluggishly, reeling from insanity and handling immense power.
Seruni-kami called ki outwards. One hundred days collapsed, as death met life.
Glowing with light of virtue, she reached through the aura of sharp void-spikes surrounding the main abomination, and employed her powers through the blood dripping from her now mutilated hand.
Ranma Saotome melted away, leaving only a handful of sand.
Gasping, Seruni-Kami restored her flesh, but her eyes no longer whirled. They had been corrupted and cracked by the power of the Shimmer Void.
Scattering the ashes of the Nanban Mirror across nine universes, the Goddess wept silent tears for what might have been.
In this possibility, Ranma Saotome was truly dead.
'I knew sealing that evil thing was correct.' Thought Ranma, vindicated as he watched himself lose to the Goddess over and over again. He wondered was there even a way to beat the brat? How long did it take?
--
"Inventive, but ultimately not powerful enough." Said the Goddess in disdain, having endured the nine chained attacks that had taken twenty years to create.
-
"What a workout!" Complemented the small girl, as she permanently deactivated the Mol-diver Unit it had taken fifty years and millions of dimensions to find.
-
"A hundred more years and you might have me!" Laughed Seruni-Kami, shattering the Sword of Kamui.
-
". . . . . .So you were training in another Universe when this Majin Buu kicked everyone's asses, and now you want me to do that dorky looking fusion technique with you?" Five-year old Ranma-chan nodded, having swallowed an age reducing mushroom twenty minutes ago. "Bwa ahahaha! OK, just admit defeat at my hands and I'll help." Offered the Willow Tree Child generously.
--0--
Appalled at his own stubborn futility, Ranma had inadvertently discovered a way to master new techniques. Already, he'd learned dozens of medium to advanced level ki attacks, and an efficient chaining method from his alternate selves. His Art had always come before his loves before; why should this be different?
---- Days Fade Into Each Other ----
Sighing, Ranma admitted defeat. Four hours of possibility sifting showed no technique or refinement he cared to learn. Time to finish his task and look for happy endings.
---OOO---
"How could I choose Ukyo as my wife above all others? That is what you want to understand before finally giving up on me, right?"
The un-ki-shackled part of the crowd nodded.
"Firstly, I am the best martial artist on this planet. I plan on constantly improving, and the rest of you who would be my 'beloved' would hold me back."
She let the crowd yell denials for ten minutes, until they offered nothing new. With a negligent thunderclap of ki, Ranma silenced them.
"It's like this, OK? Ucchan won't give up on me, no matter what happens. . . . she's obsessed with me, chased me for ten years over a betrayal until one silly comment reminded her how much she loved me. None of you have that kind of psychotic mentality. . . . . Akane doesn't understand how to correctly approach problems, and thus would make my life miserable with unrealistic demands. Shampoo is defined by her culture, and this would forever restrict avenues of my growth. Kodachi has her own responsibilities, and cannot abandon them without becoming a person I would hate. The rest of you aren't martial artists, or have agendas involving the violation of my free will."
"So you're throwing over Akane for a girl you admit is a psychotic manipulative bitch?" Nabiki's acerbic question broke the sudden silence after Ranma's speech.
"My friend recognizes a kindred spirit! To answer brings my second point. . . . Ukyo is obsessed with me, and she freely admits it. She accepts herself. There is no depth she wouldn't sink into or peak she would not surmount in order to achieve her stated goal: me. However, she also understands good and evil like any human being. . . . observe."
Ranma turned to his chosen fiancée and removed her ki-enforced earplugs. Then he untied her gag, using it to gently brush away a tear.
Conversationally turning back to the crowd, Ranma informed: "Ukyo here has no idea what I'm about to ask, but please know she has had no coaching. In fact, she didn't know I would choose her; I told her I bound her to stop her from committing suicide at my choice."
Ranma's chosen wife looked utterly shocked: "You Jusenkyo-damned jackass! I'm gonna hurt you real, real bad before we get married!"
Listening the string of expletives insulting his ancestry, intelligence, and ego, Ranma sighed and interrupted his chosen.
"Ucchan, if it meant you would marry me, and be with me the rest of your life, would you accept a Jusenkyo curse?"
"Yes." An obvious expression of distaste, but no hesitation. She continued the tirade, until she noticed Nodoka's disapproving glare, and then it died off.
"Would you shave all body hair, renounce your family name, and join a reclusive order of monks with me, on the off chance they might have once martial arts technique I might not know?"
"Ah, the Order of Brambles and Knives over in Kyuushu! Too bad we couldn't enlist, but only so many places to visit in ten years!" Genma's hearty approval surprised no one, and Ranma wondered what his old man hadn't done for a change.
"Yes; but dammit Ran-chan, that isn't a honeymoon!" Ukyo trembled with a dozen emotions, and her voice wasn't steady.
"Would you kill for me?"
Akane and Shampoo flinched, remembering Saffron, as Ukyo slowly nodded her head, then added: "I'd only do it to save your life."
"Would you care if I took my mistress with me?" Ranma pointed looked at Kasumi, who blushed in surprise.
"Not if it meant spending my life with you."
"Would you forgive me if I slept with another woman before we married, because of a promise I made?" Ukyo followed his gaze to Kodachi's face.
"Yes, but I wouldn't like it. You know there is nothing I wouldn't do to marry you; stop torturing me like this!" The chef's voice broke, raising the sound of her last word two octaves.
Ranma looked troubled, and turned his attention back to his Ucchan.
"One last question, and then you can rest: If we found you alone couldn't sexually satisfy me after marriage, would you actively help in finding me other women, and love me none the less for it?"
Crying openly, Ukyo nodded her head, then defiantly said "As long you'll do the same for me with men!" while looking at Konatsu.
Nodoka beamed at her manly son, why even she wouldn't have done -that- for Genma!
--
"Did you pack your morning necessities Kasumi?"
"Yes, with plenty of extra batteries. Ranma-sensei."
"My restaurant, my beautiful restaurant!" It didn't really sound like Ukyo's heart remained in the hysterics.
"Ucchan, stop being a manipulative bitch." Ranma rubbed her love's behind to make her feel better.
Learning up into the pressure, Ukyo smiled and nodded.
"And stop making Konatsu carry everything!" Slapping her ass, Ranma sent Ukyo stumbling in her retainer's direction, where she grumblingly shared the load.
Noticing everything at the ready, he drew upon the magical Nanban dust that had become a part of his bloodstream, and opened a silvery portal.
"See you again everyone!"
The portal flared, and at last, the moment ended.
"Stop being needless climactic jackass!" Said his love. "We'll be back in a week."
---0---
Well he was definitely happy in that one, but not everyone was. Akane died young after becoming an inadvertent murderess in college, and Shampoo was disowned by the Amazons and ended up settling for Mousse, who joined her exile doing magic shows in Las Vegas.
He searched for the best future with Akane's wild success.
---OOO---
After knocking the panda silly, he waited until everyone had gathered for breakfast, before boldly slapping the table and focusing attention towards himself.
"I have an announcement!"
Genma continued eating, and Soun ruffled the morning paper, while all other eyes watched him.
"I've decided to throw over Akane and switch the engagement to Nabiki because she's so great in bed!"
"You bitch!" Screamed Akane, as she saw scarlet and tried to kick her sister's ass after employing a huge mallet on Ranma.
Kasumi fainted, while Nodoka inquired when the children would be coming. Meanwhile, Akane stiffened and fell comatose on the floor from an invisible ki-strike to her sleep point. The 'off switch' would last a few minutes.
Soun snapped out of his daze and gave his blessing.
-
As expected, Nabiki confronted him after breakfast. Whatever cutting remark she planned on using died on her lips as Ranma yelled, "You want sex again! You're insatiable!"
Berserk Akane appeared on schedule. Eventually, Akane would give up and become an extremely successful actress with a tragic past, like she'd always wanted.
--
"Look Nabiki," Ranma explained, "it's clear to me that you have feelings for me, otherwise you wouldn't have broken up my wedding a few days ago. The only thing I don't have is money, and I'll have that by end of the day if you mobilize your network and follow my orders."
"If I don't?" Retorted the mercenary angrily, as she felt the striking fear of total helplessness and loss of control.
"I won't protect you." Replied Ranma simply.
Tearing up, the middle Tendo summoned what always worked before and waited for Ranma to crack like he always did. Damage control might be difficult, but not impossible.
Ranma-chan hugged her back and cried with her, rubbing her bottom with a low wandering hand. Nabiki found herself enjoying the touches. "This is for our own good biki-tiki-tavi, just go with the flow." Whispered the fakely comforting girl, though some of Nabiki's tears were real.
"How did you know I liked Kipling?" Asked the disorientated mercenary.
"Here's the bet, listen carefully." Abruptly changing the topic sobered his chosen wife emotionally. Business was business.
"If I make us rich today from carte blanche with your resources, you marry me and never look back. If I don't, then you own my life and choices for the next ten years; you say who I marry, you say what jobs I take. . . . . I'm your willing slave, my word as a martial artist on my grandmother's grave."
Collecting herself, Nabiki tried to think it over, but Ranma stopped her.
"You in Little Mongoose? The is the chance of a lifetime, and you've never lost when it mattered before." The unspoken 'neither have I' was acknowledged by both high stakes risk takers.
Prodded, Nabiki simply said: "I'm in."
"You won't regret it -- now grab the 400,000 yen you have, and your bank account numbers."
Using all speed techniques he possessed, Ranma swiftly prepared a legible list while she fetched the required items.
--
"You have the next half hour to make calls. Here are the space-time locations of several billion yen worth of pachinko jackpots. Use your business associates and the petty cash on hand to score these."
In his grand scheme, 400,000 yen was nothing. Nabiki began calling, not knowing she would be collecting petty cash.
During this time, Ranma vanished briefly, and returned with a watch accurate down the millisecond adorning his wrist.
With ten minutes to go, he left to dress carefully in business attire.
-
Ranma looked at his watch; 8am, the markets opened. He had no time.
"Be right back," he told his mercenary as she yelled at Kimiko-san to follow her orders.
Vanishing in a puff of Nanban will, he appeared in the office of Japan's Minister of Finance. While he didn't know the man's name, he did know exactly where the pre-signed forms were for daily visitor badges. Swiftly he grabbed one and filled it out with Martial Arts Calligraphy.
Reappearing at the Tendos three seconds later thanks to Nanban time travel, Ranma grasped Nabiki and teleported them to the floor of the Nippon Stock Exchange.
"Boss, boss, where are you?" inquired Kimiko-san on the phone.
-
After a half-hour of smooth talking he was on the floor for the day with Nabiki as his guest.
Wow, were her eyes full of shining stars.
Time to start; he had the pittance that was Nabiki's bank account under his personal control. Ranma approached a computer used to directly trade stocks with on the exchange. Looking at the time carefully, he began typing with the Amaguriken, having already memorized the interface.
After five minutes their money doubled, and Nabiki looked thunderstuck. This action would force a law through the Diet that limited trading of a certain stock to once per ten minutes per shareholder, but for now, that law did not exist.
At 1.5 million dollars, Nabiki leaned down and whispered in his ear, "I just had an orgasm and you didn't even touch me."
Knowing how stocks would fluctuate down to the second, Ranma Saotome started with several thousand dollars and ended the stock session with about thirty seven million dollars. He carefully never invested in a high enough percentage of any one company to directly provide a chaotic trigger stimulus signaling a deviation from the results he expected. In other words, no one really noticed what he did in the trillions of dollars traded that day.
He finished with half the money liquidated, and the other half invested in a biotech company that would make a major breakthrough at their labs that night, easily tripling in value by the end of the year.
--
He slept with Nabiki that night. Both forms. If you can think of it, they probably did it. His wife of choice had an open and devious mind along with a limber body.
And they lived happily ever after on their ill-gotten gains, and Ranma made sure the other fiancées would be satisfied.
He did that tomorrow though, since too many moments of this special day needed to be exactly right, and exhaustion had settled in.
-
What she did last on this day was to kiss her betrothed gently while tracing a silvery Nanban outline in the air in the shape of a dollar sign. It flashed decisively with an ending.
"What was that?" Nabiki asked curiously, luxuriating in being rich, wanted and in the most expensive suite money could buy in Tokyo.
"Insurance that this day of money moments will last forever in our minds." Whispered Ranma beatifically.
"Oooh, Ranma-baby, speak more finance to me!"
---0---
Back in Miyo's lair, Ranma sighed.
Both he and Akane were happy, and no one died in the next ten years, but he abdicated his responsibilities to the other girls. Could he pick Akane and have everything work?
---OOO---
The serene aura gushed out of Ranma's body, working its revelations upon each of the observers in the early morning.
"Akane-chan," he asked, "why are you crying?"
"I don't like myself that much," she said between sobs.
Ranma smiled, "Don't worry, you'll get better."
Her tears dried, and she smiled back hesitantly, making his heart jump. This time, her life would be transfigured.
"R-Really?" She stuttered out.
He nodded, and used the furo afterwards, slowly walking her to school.
"Um Akane, about yesterday. . . ."
"Yes," she said somewhat icily, thinking 'Tell me how you feel!'
"I'd like to talk tonight, but away from our parents. If that's Ok with you?" Akane found she liked the confident tone.
"It's Ok." She said, expectant.
"Then it's a date." He finished their conversation, and she blushed and proceeded to take poor notes during school.
--
At lunchtime behind Furinken, he released the limiter upon his sex drive, and was immediately suffused with a year of unreleased lust. Changing to female, and releasing the bounds on her outward aura, Ranma observed Happosai's nigh instantaneous arrival.
"I challenge you for the grandmastership of Musubetsu Kakuto Ryuu right here, right now old man. You'll need this to put up a decent fight. Take it -- I don't want it anymore!"
A thin beam of sexually charged female ki, a year's worth of total repression, slammed into Happosai, who smiled in bliss.
"Very well, I accept."
The combatants bowed and Ranma became male.
Preparing chain reaction ki-shots number one and three while Kissing the Face of Life as hard as he could, Ranma watched Happosai master his turbo-charged power state.
The little guy was inches away when the first shot released, and the air pressure from Happi's redirected charge left a deep cut in Ranma's arm. After such a boost, Ranma knew the speed of his opponent would be absolutely unmatched. Speed, however, didn't help one's thoughts.
Then the reaction shots began to unravel, and Ranma gathered power.
The gnome employed "I Am the Void and the Void is Me," blocked the debris from the Breaking Points, and held his breath during the periods of vacuum. The Mark of the Devil from Martial Art's Calligraphy hurt his concentration, but the diminutive master easily broke the design with an unusual body contortion. However while this distracted his attention, he was blasted in about a dozen different ways by an assorted variety of higher ki-attacks: The 'Strangling Vines' from Martial Arts Gardening, the '20,000 Volt Special' from Martial Arts Wiring, the shiatsu based 'Perfect Arrangement' from Martial Arts Floristry, a simplified version of the grayish cutting ki vortex known as 'Akane No Baka!,' and 'The Cat in Heat's Cradle' from Martial Arts Weaving.
None of them were attacks to casually shrug off, and Happosai found his boost had nearly vanished as the ki-dregs from the chained shots dispersed.
As the little perv gathered himself, Ranma finished his strongest (and most embarrassing) attack: "Kami-Hime-HA!"
Wide eyed, the Grand Master could only watch in shock. The tidal wave of pink Ki from the Fist of the God Princess crashed into Happosai, dragging the old man along as it attempted to pulverize him.
Running as fast as he could, Ranma entered his own attack with an identical emotional state, (he'd made it deliberately slow-moving, like a juggernaut) and pummeled Happosai, forcing him to drop his ki-shield.
Then it was over, as an insurgence of power smothered the little troll, who could barely blink afterwards.
Swearing Happi to secrecy over his power level and new title, Ranma finished his lunch and called Cologne using the school's pay phone. The challenge was set for immediately after school.
Akane smiled at him when he returned for their afternoon classes.
--
In tears, Shampoo bowed her head as her great-grand mother lost. The Amazons would return to China tomorrow.
Silently Ranma grieved with them, but he knew Akane's sexually insecurity was exacerbated by Shampoo.
Before his date he made two calls at the Nekohaten, while the Amazons packed. One to the Fushimiinari Shrine in Kyoto to let the monks know what to expect, and one to Kodachi with instructions to date him there.
That stupid demon was in for a surprise.
--
"Wow! I can't believe I didn't think of this solution sooner!" Gloated Ranma-chan.
After swiftly knocking the poetry-spouting moron out, she had employed a variation of Xi Fang Gao Shiatsu, tampering with his limited intelligence.
As usual, the male scion of house Kuno bounced back from a beating within seconds. Tatewaki regained his feet and saw his beloved red-haired girl.
"Ah, my favorite cousin, who I would pursue with unwavering amorous interest if only you weren't really a hermaphrodite! Permit me to offer you the run of our humble household as I ruminate upon my twin loves: my spunky groundhog Mariko Konjo and my crafty owl Nabiki Tendo!"
Figuring he could also make Kuno think he was a snail if this didn't take, Ranma left.
--
"I'm sorry Ucchan, but I'm here to break it off between us." Ranma said blandly without remorse after walking up to the counter of her restaurant.
"So you've finally chosen Akane!" Accused the chef with a sob.
"Quit the hysterics; I know you and Konatsu have gotten to second base. You'll be happy together, once you get over me completely in six months. We can still be good friends afterwards. I'll find you in a year. I promise."
Quietly, he walked out of his best friend's life for a time. It wouldn't be as wild as the times if she hooked with him, but Ukyo would have a good life, and they could always engage their children. In this path, she pursued cooking more than femininity, never looking back.
--
"Yes, Mr. Mayor, tell that idiot with the bandanna I've finally agreed to make Akane's dreams come true. He should be at the Cave of the Ghost Boar in an hour or so. Tell him, 'He can be the best man at the wedding, and if that's not enough for him we can always use another delicious pork dish!' Ok. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Goodbye.
Hanging up from the call to Shikoku, Ranma expected Ryouga in about a week. They could have a conclusive final battle in which the 'P-Chan' problem would be solved. Leaning the control of hot and cold ki to activate a curse was much simpler than a Hi Ryu Shoten Ha, and even a stubborn moron like Ryouga could learn it with the world's premier martial artist as a teacher!
--
The dim lanterns illuminated the shrine to the kami, as Ranma used the Perfect Scarlet Dewdrop technique to ask Akane to marry him.
"Yes." She said, overwhelmed.
Noticing the moment's perfection, he drew upon the magical Nanban dust that had become a part of his bloodstream, and swiped the air in front of him with a variation on the Neko-ken.
Silvery streams of power illuminated the air, and Ranma felt his perfect day's final end.
Akane exclaimed at what seemed like a twinkling star.
He'd chosen the one he'd fallen in love with first. The road would be hard as he prodded Akane to grow into his ideal woman, but Ranma knew the journey would be worth it.
Whistling softly in the torchlight, he turned and walked his future wife home.
'Yap-papaa-Yap pa-paa...' He'd finally make her wild like him.
---0---
Ranma winced at the effort it took after their storybook ending, just to make Akane into a half decent wife. They needed psychiatric counseling, and the sex was terrible.
Disappointed, he remembered his past behaviors. Maybe he should discharge his responsibility and pick Shampoo, the one he'd gotten himself. This was the toughest possibility surfing yet, as Ranma conceived and abandoned approaches, searching for optimum happiness.
---O---
Lightly ki-balling the attacking panda, Ranma Saotome stood up in the waters of the koi, and then stepped on top of them with a great deal of concentration.
Genma did not notice or did not care about the remarkable feat, and rushed in again.
"Buzzing Cage." Announced the balanced martial artist calmly, as a weaving of air-ki surrounded and entrapped her father, effectively ending their morning sparring.
With a grimace, Ranma switched into male, causing the panda to 'growph' with amazement, and also attracting the attention of Kasumi, who had learned to translate panda sounds over a year of co-occupation.
"Shut up and stand down, and I may even teach you." Nodding frantically, the panda did it's best to assume the 'Crouch of the Wild Tiger' while hovering immobilized in the air.
With an internal smirk, the Buzzing Cage faded out in a splash, allowing Ranma more access to his remaining ki, which had been badly depleted by the demonstration.
"Here's another trick; watch carefully now, I won't show this off again for a while." Assuming the lotus position near the waters of the koi, Ranma Kissed the Face of Life, radiating calm and inner peace. The nearby waters rippled and gently receded, adding an other-worldly aura to the pond.
"How?" Whispered Kasumi, awed.
"I have found enlightenment." Said Ranma.
Before Kasumi could even formulate her next question, Ranma said benevolently, "I accept you as my disciple Kasumi Tendo, the Misty Way of Heaven. Your first task will last five months, and it is to help Akane get over her broken heart without being sent to a cemetery or murder trial."
The Panda held up a sign asking 'What about the engagement?' Ranma replied to the unspoken question: "Kasumi may join me in China in seven months, and if she wishes to fulfill the engagement, she might be able to convince Xian Pu to share."
Akane didn't take the news well. With a resounding slap, which he caught easily, and vilely hateful invective, Akane Tendo walked out Ranma Saotome's life and went into her room for a long hard cry.
--
"Hinako-chan, I've got a present for you!" Exclaimed Ranma gleefully as he entered his empty classroom alone.
"Candy! Cookies! Ice Cream?" Begged the chibi-teacher jumping up and down madly, like any excited little girl. Ranma was briefly reminded of Seruni-Kami.
"No sweets for you. Guess again shrimp." He put exactly the right amount of challenge into his sneer, too much more and she'd run off crying.
Sniffling, the insulted educator pulled out a coin, righteously announcing, "Ranma Saotome it is improper to toy with a young girl's heart or be exceeding familiar with your supervising educator. Happo-Go-En-Satsu!"
Embracing the Face of Life, Ranma allowed Hinako to drain as much ki as she safely hold, before he cut the technique off by changing aura polarity.
Surprised that her attack was foiled, the newly adult educator did nothing as Ranma Nanban-teleported behind her, and grabbed both her breasts, hitting the pressure points correctly while channeling enough ki to rewrite her spiritual pathways.
"I feel different and dizzy? What did you just do to me Ranma-kun?" Hinako-sensei looked at Ranma, who had safely removed himself to the window at the edge of the classroom, which he proceeded to open.
"You're cured sensei; thanks for teaching me well, even if you don't remember. Now go marry Soun Tendo; you'll help him find emotional stability."
Watching as her student jumped off the windowsill, angling away from the swimming pool, Hinako decided to try his advice, as Ranma knew she would.
--
The Kuno mansion was his next stop. Sneaking into Kodachi's room while she was still asleep, he proceeded to exorcise the Sanity Drinker himself. Having watched and participated in the ritual at the Fushimiinari Shrine exhaustively in preparation for this moment, the procedure went off brilliantly. With a small spiritual/psychic displacement, the demon returned in full to its own aspect.
Hitting Kodachi's sleep point before she was fully conscious, Ranma leaned down and kissed the Black Rose softly on her lips. Rolling his eyes, the gymnast's savior then proceeded to feel her up intimately, causing the sleeping girl to moan ecstatically.
Knowing she would want her goodbye to include something like that, Ranma walked out of the Devil Hunter's life. In two months she'd find another boyfriend.
-
Tatewaki embraced the red-haired girl crushingly as she interrupted him during his daily kendo practice.
The Kendoist found himself paralyzed as she touched him familiarly on the shoulders, and then happily begged: "Oh my fiery one, if you are into domination, who am I to argue!"
Pausing to spit in disgust to remove evil thoughts from her mind, Ranma continued to massage Kuno's memory points. She sang her suggestions liltingly, if somewhat off-key.
"The red-haired girl has broken the sorcerer Saotome's spells and returned to China in triumph with her Amazon sisters. Having been vanquished, Saotome has slunk back into the same peasant obscurity from which he appeared. Akane Tendo is free now, but must be treated delicately. The tree-bourne kettle girl instructed you to comfort Akane Tendo, and is really Mariko Konjo's second cousin. To seek her now, try beseeching Mariko for some old fashioned loving in her place."
"Yes mistress." Said Tatewaki flatly, clearly hypnotized.
"Remember this as a divine vision inspired by the emperor. Wake up whenever you intended to finish practicing." Remarked Ranma on her way out.
"Yes mistress." Said Tatewaki flatly, hypnotized and slightly drooling.
--
Flying off to China in an airplane later that night, Ranma reflected he might never marry an Amazon, but he could certainly have sex with them. Xian Pu thought they were married anyway.
Joining the mile high club, he used a small silvery Nanban punch to end his day with a pleasurable future.
---0---
Ranma Saotome finished examining possibilities. He'd found multitudes of endings, but all of them lacked something.
"So what did you discover?" Asked Miyo.
"That life isn't about honor, power, responsibility, or obligations........... It is really about happiness."
"Idiot," retorted the seer. "Of course its about happiness, but happiness from applying oneself! You might as well generalize martial arts as 'not getting hurt.' "
"That's only the early goal of people starting to study martial arts!" said Ranma smugly, who certainly knew more about that subject than a slightly overweight naked girl. It didn't account for the obvious paradox of getting hurt so as not to make later mistakes. It didn't cover that sometimes to protect others, a martial artist sustained injuries.
"Exactly," nodded Miyu. "As your next training exercise, generalize martial arts to life in that respect, and think. You are merely beginning to study the meanings of life."
"You know you aren't wearing clothes, right?" Ranma asked Miyo.
Blushing, she said, "You've seen me already."
Intensely glaring at Miyo's crotch until she turned red and wincingly covered herself, Ranma thought his mother would be proud.
Now too embarrassed to speak a warning about helping people against their will, Miyo wondered if Ranma would abuse the insights he had been given. In a way, she had already made him abuse his power. Knowing he had finished looking forward, Miyo hoped Ranma would avoid a major change of heroic proportions. The future punished mortals who would be gods.
---
end "Worlds over Worlds over Possible"
---
Next: "Moment's End"