AHAH. Bet you all thought I'd gone into hibernation or something, don't you? Nope. Actually I've just been reallyyy caught up with farewells (203'04 you rock T-T miss you guys!), performances (we performed at the durian! –swoon-) and camps (psb'05 rocks. Ahahah). And. The rest of the hols promise to be more hectic, so I'm sorry for not updating quickly.
Back to the story. Haha. Like the cliffie? Anyway, on with it.
Mellow
Chapter 5
His eyes widened. "What?" he released faintly, shock seeping into his voice. Akane dropped her face into her hands, her voice cracking over the sobs that tore from her throat.
Outside, the winds stirred restlessly. There was a crack of thunder, and rain fell softly over Nerima.
-
The sun was setting, deep rays of red and vermilion shooting out sharply across the sky. The winds were kind that evening, thoughtfully sending soft light breezes across the town, but she did not notice, or even bother to stop and enjoy the scenery before her that rushed past madly. No, she continued on, eyes hard and angry, her young smooth face pulled into a deep scowl.
She heard the gasps of shock from passersby as they watched her leap over the rooftops with remarkable ease. She saw the looks of astonishment, blurred as they were, and perhaps, the looks of admiration for her lean lithe body clan in a tight form-fitting leotard. But she did not care.
Kunou Kodachi tossed her head, eyes sharp and furious. Let the hussies look! She did not care. It was expected that lesser beings like themselves would be filled with admiration and envy for one as purebred as herself. Let them look, she thought grandly. It would do them good to learn from her boundless grace and beauty.
Not to mention the fact that she secretly loved the attention. Besides, she was most comfortable in a leotard, and traveling on rooftops was so much more convenient than taking the conventional route on the streets. More exciting, too.
Whatever it was, Kodachi was clearly in a rush. An angry rush. Suddenly, she leapt down from the roof and landed, right in front of the Nekohanten.
"Amazon!" she screamed, watching contemptuously as the customers jerked violently from the shock. "Amazon hussy!"
The blind one named Mousse was before her in an instant, and she almost cringed from the raw anger that she felt from him. Surprisingly, he seemed to view her with crystal clear vision as he glared down at her. "How dare you speak that way of Shampoo?" he demanded fiercely. Kodachi ignored him; a woman of her status did not have to deal with one of his caliber.
Shampoo appeared then, eyes heated. She pushed Mousse out of the way carelessly, ignoring the crushed look in his eyes. "Mousse no interfere," she ordered, flicking a lock of lush lavender hair out of her face. "Go tend customers, Shampoo take this outside." Mousse obeyed, albeit unwillingly and Shampoo firmly motioned Kodachi out the door.
Cologne watched. There was something funny about this. She never did like Kodachi very much anyway. Still, the old woman nodded to herself, Shampoo had done the right thing in not arousing the customers' unease. Setting the matter aside, she returned to her cooking. Shampoo would tell her the details later, that she was sure of.
Outside, Shampoo was wary. She looked at Kodachi, eyes bright with suspicion. "What crazy girl want?" the Amazon questioned, hands planted on hips.
Kodachi's eyes glimmered with a powerful thirst. Leaning forward, she dropped her voice. "I require your… assistance, Amazon." Seeing the dubious look on the other girl's face, she narrowed her eyes and launched into a long angry tale.
-
Akane had fallen. She didn't know when her knees had given out, but they had, and now she was on the cold wooden floor, crying hard into her hands and curling up in a helpless ball. Ranma had said nothing. He hadn't even moved.
She wrenched out a particularly hard sob of grief. When had it become so cold? She thought, the sound of rain registering faintly.
-
Early that morning she had seen something, Kodachi explained, eyes hard. She had been out, ready to prepare herself for a long day of training, when she had caught sight of a familiar pigtail. Her heart had soared; was it her Ranma-sama? She had run forward then, preparing to land in front of her Ranma-sama and fill him with joy at her appearance. Yet when she neared, she had realized Ranma was not alone. At his side was the hussy Akane, and they were jogging in mutual silence.
At this point, Kodachi glanced at Shampoo. The Chinese girl's face, already lined with annoyance at Kodachi's simpering reference to her Ranma-sama, grew stealthily darker. "Continue," she urged.
She was about to leap forward to save her beloved Ranma-sama from the clutches of the evil Akane, when all of a sudden, Akane tripped and landed clumsily on the ground with a loud "oof!" Kodachi had snorted at first. Serve her right! But it horrified her then, when Ranma stopped abruptly and reached out a hand to pull her up. "Ya okay?" he asked, and Kodachi felt displeasure bubbling to the surface at the concern in his voice.
Akane smiled weakly. "I guess. I think I might have twisted my ankle, though." She tested the injured limb, wincing at the pain. "Ouch," the girl complained, blinking furiously all of a sudden. "Maybe I'm gonna have to see Dr. Tofu about it…"
Ranma reached out to steady her. "Aw man," he spoke suddenly, face melting in concern and pleading. "Aw come on Akane, don't cry. It ain't much… look I'll carry you okay?"
She laughed suddenly, and Kodachi blinked at this uncharacteristic display by Akane. Shaking her head, Akane grinned up at Ranma through the few tears that had welled up. "Scared of a girl's tears, are you, Ranma?" she teased. "I don't mind you carrying me, though…"
His eyes had grown tender, his smile softer, and Kodachi had only watched in horror as her Ranma-sama tilted Akane's chin up and kissed her.
Kissed her. Kissed her!
As if the gods were mocking her, a spray of water from a nearby gardener tending to the park's bushes accidentally landed all over Ranma, and Kodachi watched in more horror as her beloved Ranma-sama changed and shape shifted into a girl right before her eyes. A redheaded pigtailed hussy!
"Oh Ranma," she heard Akane address the redhead. "Water is really attracted to you, isn't it?"
Ranma shook her head exasperatedly. "Must be part of the Jusenkyou curse." She reached out to Akane. "Come on let's get you back. I want some hot water. Prefer being a male you know. Besides, this undershirt ain't doing wonders for my chest," she chuckled.
Kodachi watched, horrified and stunned into silence by the double whammy, as Akane and the one named Ranma walked off towards the Tendou Dojo.
-
Ranma moved then. He looked at her. Looked long and hard at her and she felt as though he could see right through her.
Ranma… Ranma, don't…
-
Shampoo clutched her fists tightly. Her face was lined with anger as she glared out hatefully in the direction of the Tendou residence. Akane… Akane…Akane would pay for this! She sucked in a deep breath, but it did nothing to cool her raging anger and hurt. She knew they were getting closer, but she had no idea they were already that close! She hadn't dared to interrupt them, hadn't dared to anger Ranma, not since the failed wedding. Ranma, she recalled fearfully, had been surprisingly cool towards the rest of Nerima after the wedding, and she had gotten the feeling that anyone who threatened the safety or happiness of Akane would receive due punishment from Ranma.
But this! This was too much. Shampoo didn't really like fighting over a man. Sure, she could go to great lengths to protect what belonged rightfully to her, but she had come to feel genuine affection for Ranma, and perhaps, that was what made her hesitant to hurt Akane's feelings.
The Amazons emphasized on the woman's power. The woman's strength. And at the same time the woman's emotions.
As a woman, she loved Ranma too. So did Akane. That Shampoo understood.
No matter now. She had to defend her rightful property. Ranma was hers. The laws dictated so.
She turned to the still babbling Kodachi and in a moment of anger, screamed at her. "Shut up!" she yelled. "Shut up!" Kodachi did shut up, staring at her in a mix of shock and indignation. Shampoo continued, too consumed with rage. "Stupid crazy girl no understand pigtailed girl isRanma! Pigtailed girl and Ranma same person! Stupid crazy girl! Stupid!"
Kodachi sprang back. "You are mad," she snapped. "My Ranma-sama is under the spell of that hussy!"
Shampoo growled dangerously. She turned and stalked into the Nekohanten. Within seconds she appeared with a jug of cold water in one hand, and hot water in the other. "Ranma cursed with Jusenkyou curse," she spoke slowly, as though Kodachi was a complete idiot, which she could be at times. "Shampoo also cursed." Before the Japanese girl could retort, she set the hot water down and overturned the cold water on herself.
The jug clattered onto the floor. Kodachi stared, speechless, as the purple cat shook itself vehemently, spraying water over her. Hissing, the cat knocked over the hot water, spilling it onto itself, and in seconds, Shampoo stood before her.
"This is… this is sorcery…" Kodachi stammered. This was impossible…
Shampoo sniffed. "Crazy girl believe what she like. This is Jusenkyou curse. Shampoo become cat. Ranma become girl." Picking up the jugs, Shampoo turned to leave. "Shampoo go reclaim husband. Crazy girl leave now."
Kodachi straightened suddenly. "Wait."
-
"Akane…"
She looked up, wary at the darkness and turmoil in Ranma's voice.
"How did Yasuo die?"
She fought over how she should tell him this. Did he deserve to know? Not really. "I…" it hurt to say this, but she had to, to protect her baby's memories. "I had an abortion."
There was a loud crash of thunder outside, and for a split second, Akane imagined Ranma looked anguished.
-
"I will call out to him," Kodachi declared.
Shampoo narrowed her eyes. "Shampoo think not. Ranma Shampoo husband."
The plan was to get Ranma's attention away from Akane. Kodachi had accepted, albeit unwillingly, Ranma's curse, and Shampoo had agreed to a joint plan. Producing a pale pink powder, Shampoo explained it was some sort of aphrodisiac. Once devoured, the first person to call out to the eater would earn the eater's attentions.
Is potent, Shampoo had hissed strongly. Too too potent!
Kodachi snorted. There was an antidote prepared anyway, just in case. And should all else fail… Kodachi patted the leather bag of powder in her pocket. She could always rely on her own creations if Shampoo's idea failed.
To make matters worst, however, Ukyou had stumbled upon them arguing about who to call out to Ranma. Of course, she had found out quickly about what happened, and argued equally strongly about being the one to call out to Ranma.
In the end, it was decided that Ukyou would put the aphrodisiac into her okonomiyaki (Ranma and Akane were due to pick up some that very evening). Besides, being a friend of Ranma, it just seemed more likely that he would trust her, though on the other hand Ranma was a sucker as long as it involved food. Akane, for one, definitely showed more trust towards Ukyou than the other two girls.
The afternoon passed, and the sun was just beginning to set when Ranma and Akane strode into Ukyou's shop, calling out a cheerful greeting. Shampoo and Kodachi, peering down silently from the top of the stairs, noted that the two were carrying some grocery bags. Apparently, they had been out running errands, probably for Kasumi.
'Ooh! Forcing my Ranma-sama to partake in the mundane chores of a commoner!' was Kodachi's immediate reaction.
Shampoo, however, was bitterer. In her village, the males always did the chores for the females out of sheer admiration and respect. In couples, however, the male would follow the female in a show of love and loyalty. Her fingers tightened into a small fist. She… she never got such attention from Ranma. Actually she never even got such attention before. In her village, Mousse's sheer exuberance for her had very well scared away other potential suitors, yet he was always too blind to follow her on errands. The last time he tried, he had ended up tailing after a wild boar and showering it with endearments, before crashing into a ditch.
Oh, jealousy was an ugly thing.
"Ranchan! I've got a new okonomiyaki to sell. Want to be my tester?" Ukyou's voice floated up the stairs from the counter, falsely cheerful.
"I dunno… Kasumi's cooked already, ya know…" he replied, but it was obvious greed was creeping stealthily into his voice. Akane gave an exasperated sigh and slapped him lightly on the arm.
"You might as well go ahead and eat it, Ranma," she spoke. "When it comes to food, your stomach is bottomless." Ukyou gave a nervous chuckle then, earning her a strange look from the pair.
"Well, here it is then!" the brunette announced, pulling out a still hot okonomiyaki from under the counter. She passed it over to Ranma, crossing her fingers behind her back. Somehow, he didn't seem to notice the odd pale pink powder scattered liberally over the food. Ranma thanked her happily, and without another word, began to tuck in.
Ukyou sucked in a deep breath. This better work… she had seen how Ranma and Akane had grown closer in the past few months, ever since the wrecked wedding. She would do nearly anything, anything, to get Ranma's attentions away from Akane. Of course, it would be a bonus if they were focused on her instead…
She wasn't really a mean person. She just liked Ranma a lot. A lot indeed. She watched as he swallowed. Watched for some unearthly spark in his eyes that would signal the start of the aphrodisiac's effects. Or maybe a sudden dulling of his senses. Or something like that. Yet Ranma seemed to be unaffected. In fact, he actually turned and smiled at Akane like nothing was wrong, and asked her if she wanted to try it, saying it tasted pretty darn good.
Ukyou's breath caught. In a moment of panic, she forgot her promise to leave the calling of Ranma's name up to Shampoo and Kodachi. Hands stretching out half in desperation, Ukyou grabbed Ranma. "Ranchan!" she yelled.
And everything happened all at once.
"That not his name! That his nickname!" Shampoo had shrieked immediately, horrified. She rushed forward then, clutching the antidote in one hand and hoping to undo any damage. The aphrodisiac she had stolen from Cologne's stores was potent, very much potent, but worse, it was terribly unsteady. Any breaking of the rules could result in disastrous effects, and this was something she had not told the rest for fear of them chickening out. That she would use it without her grandmother's guidance showed how desperate she was…but in any case, before she could even reach Ranma, Kodachi had already taken a flying leap forward, waving a leather bag.
"Ranma-sama!" she shrieked suddenly, flinging the bag's contents all over the young man. Shampoo froze, watching as a shiny sooty-black dust landed on Ranma. He started coughing violently, loud hacking coughs that sent fear spiraling down into the center of the Chinese Amazon. As though on cue, Ranma toppled over from the chair, collapsing on the ground and still coughing. Yet now, the effects appeared to have extended to beyond coughing, and he was clawing wildly at his skin and clothes.
"Ranma!" she heard Akane cry out in horror. The dark-haired girl fell to her knees. "Ranma, what's wrong?" Ukyou appeared right beside him, eyes wide with fear.
"Shampoo!" she called out, her voice quaking. "What's wrong with Ranchan?" Only Kodachi stood at the side, eyes wide and unblinking.
"I brought the wrong drug…" Kodachi muttered suddenly. "I took the wrong drug."
Shampoo shook violently. She didn't know what was happening to Ranma, and she didn't like feeling that way. She did know, however, that Cologne had warned her that if the aphrodisiac was mixed with other drugs, some combinations had been known to cause death and blindness.
But she said nothing, frightened of her own thoughts.
Akane reached out then, lightly shaking Ranma. To their horror, Ranma shied away, screaming. "Get away!" he yelled, and Shampoo flinched at the wild hoarse quality of his voice. "It hurts!"
Akane raised frightened and accusing eyes to Shampoo. "What's going on?" she shot. "What did you do to him?"
"Shampoo don't know what happening now," the purple-haired girl said truthfully. "Bring Ranma to Hiba-chan?"
"I guess, but he wont even let himself be touched, how are we going to move him there?" Akane shot back, and Shampoo wished she didn't have to see the worry and fear etched clearly on the other girl's face.
Unfortunately, Ukyou didn't seem to hear this. Reaching out to Ranma, she shook him. "Ranchan, snap out of it!" the young woman cried. Instead of responding, he leapt up abruptly, screaming what sounded very much like a war cry. Shampoo's head snapped towards them.
"Stop Ranma!" she yelled, watching as he made a fierce rush for the exit.
-
Akane watched, somewhat detachedly, as Ranma raised a fist.
Was he actually going to hit her? She wouldn't be afraid if he wanted to. She would let him, in fact. At least it proved he still cared for something.
But he didn't hit her. He just pulled his fist back and sent it crashing into a wall.
-
Ranma pulled his fist back and sent it crashing savagely into Konatsu who had leapt in front of him, intending to block him. With a groan, Konatsu all but flew out the okonomiyaki shop, leaving the girls to stare in shock as Ranma took off.Ukyou ran after her injured assistant, and Kodachi still stood in a corner, stunned into silence for the first time. Akane had taken off after Ranma, but there was no way she would be able to catch up to him. Even if she did, she couldn't stop him, could she?
Shampoo shut her eyes and murmured a fervent prayer for strength and good luck. Picking up a glass of cold water on the counter, she overturned it onto herself, effectively reverting to her cursed form and in the process, increasing her speed. Kodachi recoiled at the sight of her transformation, muttering about curses and wizardry.
Shampoo hissed. Stupid crazy girl. Bounding out the door, she chased after Ranma.
When she found him, she hadn't the foggiest idea of what she would do. Originally, the idea was to steer and trap Ranma into the Nekohanten, where hopefully Cologne might be able to do something, but now they were so far away she seriously doubted they could get there. So she did the first thing that popped into her mind.
She leapt onto him, and clung on.
In retrospect, that was possibly one of the stupidest things Shampoo had ever done. It all but screamed at her senses, and went against everything she had been taught back in her village about thinking clearly before she acted. But there was only so much a girl could take before she became desperate, and Shampoo had very well reached her limits.
He fought her, of course, so strongly that she half-feared she would be flung off into the distance. This was not good, Shampoo thought, for once frightened.
His yells and screams for her to get away seemed to vibrate through her, and Shampoo mewed pitifully, gripping tightly onto his shirt. It seemed to last forever, and she was willing to bet she must have held on for at least five minutes. Abruptly, Ranma gave a frightening shudder, and his yells, once human sounding, seemed to blend and disintegrate into something more… primal. More… feline.
'Aiyah. Is not good.' Were her only thoughts before she was forcibly ripped from Neko-Ranma and flung into some fence. Ranma hissed threateningly, baring his teeth. Without a backward glance, he bounded off, leaving Shampoo lying haplessly.
Aiyah, the girl-turned-cat thought dismally. What Shampoo done?
-
Akane hardly flinched when splinters of wood speckled down lightly on her. She, however, did flinch when Ranma withdrew his fist and turned away wordlessly, stalking off towards the door.
"I cannot believe you killed an innocent child," he spoke suddenly as he passed through the exit. Akane looked down, watching the floor blur through fresh tears. Damn it. Didn't she ever stop crying?
"You disappoint me, Akane." His tone was soft, dangerous even, but unmistakably pained.
This time she did feel her tears spilling over her cheeks even before he disappeared towards the house.
-
Akane stumbled towards her house, her eyes red from crying and her face raw from scrubbing. Yet, she still hadn't found Ranma, and in his state, who knew what kind of trouble he could get into. As she neared, she heard a distrustful meow that stopped her right in her tracks.
She ran forward, suddenly afraid of being too hopeful. "Ranma?" she called out haltingly.
Then she saw him. Unable to help it, Akane sank to her knees, eyes widened at the numerous scratches on her face and arms. Her clothes were torn, and Akane faintly make out specks of dried blood. She held out her hand to the now female Ranma, yet she shied away suspiciously, sending Akane's mood spiraling down the drain.
She used to be the only one he would trust when he entered the Nekoken, yet now he feared her just as much as he did the rest. It hurt, for some inexplicable reason, and Akane's eyes grew unusually bright suddenly. Holding out her arms, she stared pleadingly at Ranma, who merely looked back in a mix of curiosity and wariness.
"Ranma," she forced out softly, hearing her voice break. "Oh Ranma, what have they done to you?"
-
Nope, you still know nothing about Yasuo. But you will sooooon! –sniggers- Review! (: