Disclaimer: There are two kinds of people in this world; those who own
the characters in the following story, and those who don't. Count me in
among those who don't.
Warning: Prolonged exposure to pop music may result in loss of
manliness.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 13
by Jose Argao
"Good evening, Nabiki. Dinner isn't ready yet, so why don't
you wait in your room until I call you?"
Kasumi continued stirring the soup she was cooking, humming a
simple tune while she watched the ingredients slowly cooking. Nabiki
wondered to herself for the millionth time what it was about cooking
that other girls found so fascinating. She had taken the time to learn
how to cook a few dishes, of course, but the activity always bored her
to tears. Kasumi, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content to spend
hour after hour preparing food. She did not come here to learn how to
appreciate cooking, however, so she let the thought go. She walked up
to the side of the stove and watched Kasumi stir the soup while she
came up with a suitable way to bring Ranma up in conversation.
"Ranma used to do the same thing, you know."
Nabiki was startled out of her thoughts by Kasumi's words. She
raised an inquiring eyebrow at her older sister and crossed her arms in
front of herself.
"What do you mean, Kasumi?"
Kasumi smiled as she kept stirring. The smell of the soup was
starting to make Nabiki's mouth water.
"He used to stand right there and watch me while I cooked
dinner. Sometimes, he'd even help me with it. He'd tell me about his
day, and I would tell him about mine. It was very enjoyable. I kind
of miss him, actually. It's a good thing you came here to see me."
Nabiki frowned while she listened to her older sister's words.
She had known about Ranma's frequent visits to the kitchen, of course,
but she had no idea how he spent his time there. She had assumed that
he just gorged himself on whatever food Kasumi had already finished
cooking. She would have to look into this new development later. For
now, she had more pressing matters to attend to. Kasumi had done her
a favor by bringing Ranma up. Now was her chance to execute her plan.
She smacked her fist against her palm, as though she had just thought
of something important.
"You know, maybe you should go down to Juuban and try to bring
Ranma back to us! That way, you wouldn't be so lonely anymore. Akane's
been missing him a lot anyway. You saw how she looked when she said
she'd be spending the night at Yuka's place. Don't you think it's a
great idea?"
Nabiki smiled hopefully at Kasumi, confident that her plan
was going to work. Ranma would never be able to deny a request from
Kasumi.
"Actually, I think it's a horrible idea. Ranma rarely gets a
chance to concentrate on his studies. We shouldn't deny him this
opportunity for our own selfish reasons."
Nabiki's jaw fell open upon hearing Kasumi's statement. She
had not expected this. She scrambled to come up with a reply.
"Selfish reasons? Kasumi, I only had Ranma's own interests in
mind when I... that is, I only wanted to...."
Kasumi shot her a dirty look, causing Nabiki to trail off
until she had completely stopped talking.
"Don't think I don't know what you're up to, Nabiki. I know
you've been relying on Ranma to make a little bit of extra money,
but you really should consider his well being instead of yours."
Nabiki shook her head as she listened. Her sister was proving
to be much more difficult to manipulate than she expected.
"Kasumi, I don't think you're looking at this the right way.
Ranma is--"
"Ranma is the only heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes
Martial Arts. If his engagement to Akane doesn't work out, I will have
to marry him myself. To tell you the truth, Nabiki, I'd rather marry a
man who actually managed to finish high school."
Nabiki breathed deeply and mentally counted from one to ten.
After opening her eyes, she noted that she was still as annoyed as
when she started. Kasumi was acting very differently from what she had
expected, and that fact annoyed her more than anything else.
"That's why you need to bring Ranma back here! If he stays in
Juuban then his relationship with Akane is doomed. If you can bring him
back to Nerima, you won't have to marry him at all."
It was Kasumi's turn to shake her head this time. She turned
off the stove's flame and reached for a bowl to put the soup in while
she replied to her sister.
"Akane is a nice girl, but she's a violent maniac. She needs a
man who likes being beaten half to death. Ranma wants a girl who'll
stay at home to do the chores and take care of the children while he
goes off doing men's work. Their relationship was doomed before it
even began."
Nabiki took another deep breath to calm herself. She would not
lose this argument. Too much was on the line. Kasumi may have shown a
lot more intelligence than she planned for, but she was still Nabiki
Tendo. Nabiki Tendo did not lose arguments.
"Even if Ranma and Akane were to split up, what makes you so
sure _you'll_ be the one to marry him? He's free to choose from the two
of us, you know."
Kasumi just looked at her and smiled. "Do you really believe
Ranma will pick you over me, Nabiki-chan?"
*****
"Good night, Hotaru. Sweet dreams."
Haruka smiled warmly at the young girl on whom she had just
spent more money on than she'd care to think of and thanked her lucky
stars that it was finally over. Her bank account would be feeling the
effects of the past afternoon for many months to come.
After tucking Hotaru into bed and checking to make sure that
the windows were all closed, Haruka quietly crept out of the room and
closed the door. She made her way over to the bedroom she shared with
Michiru and pushed the door open with a little more force than she
normally used. The lights were turned off, but she could still see
her lover's silhouette as Michiru sat in front of the dresser, removing
the makeup she had worn during the day. She crossed her arms in front
of her and leaned against the door frame while she started talking.
"You did something to her, didn't you?"
Michiru continued wiping off her makeup as she replied to
Haruka's question. "What do you mean?"
Haruka snorted loudly at Michiru's response. "Don't play
games with me. Hotaru never used to behaved the way she did at the
mall this afternoon. All my spare cash is gone, and I've almost
maxxed out my credit card! I was planning to buy a new set of tires
for the car!"
Michiru chuckled. "You could have just said no to her. No one
forced you to buy all those clothes. Hotaru-chan only needed a couple
of new bras and some dresses. You deserved it, anyway, disturbing us
while we were having an important talk."
Haruka rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. I had something
important to say! Besides, even if I _did_ barge in on your little
talk, you didn't have to teach Hotaru how to give the me the _look_.
That was a dirty trick!"
Michiru shook her head. "It's not my fault that you have a
weakness for cute little girls in school uniforms who bat their eyes
at you."
Haruka sat on the side of the bed and started taking off her
clothes. It was no use trying to argue with Michiru about these things.
Besides, there were more important things they needed to discuss.
"Fine, whatever. In any case, you should keep what I said about
Setsuna in mind. It's not safe to be around her anymore. She's gone off
the deep end."
Michiru grinned and turned to face her lover. "You know, if I
didn't know any better, I'd say you just don't want to share."
Haruka finished taking off her shirt and started working on
her pants. "Stop joking around, Michiru. I'm serious about this. She
kept babbling about one of her old boyfriends and generally acting
out of character."
Michiru lay down on the bed next to Haruka. "Fine, I'll keep
my distance from Setsuna for a while. I still think you're making too
much of a big deal out of this, though. She was probably just taking
a trip down memory lane or something. I'm more surprised to know that
she actually used to have a boyfriend than anything else.
Haruka couldn't help but laugh a little at Michiru's remark.
She finished pulling off her pants and lay down on the bed beside
Michiru.
"Yeah, I know. Who would've thought she actually had it in
her, eh?"
A few moments later, Haruka found herself pushed out of the bed
and lying on the floor. She rubbed her head where the ground broke her
fall and shouted angrily at Michiru. "What was _that_ for?"
Michiru didn't even turn to Haruka as she spoke. "Either you
go take a shower before getting back into bed, or you're sleeping on
the couch."
Haruka grumbled loudly as she moved to comply.
*****
"That all Shampoo have to report, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo
can go take bath now, yes?"
Cologne stifled a groan before rolling her eyes at Shampoo's
question. Strictly speaking, if you went by the book, an Amazon warrior
was supposed put all her concentration into accomplishing a task given
to her by an elder. In practice, however, it was generally accepted
that a warrior would take care of things like answering the call of
nature or personal hygiene if the situation allowed it. She wished that
Shampoo would learn to see things like that for herself.
"Very well, Shampoo, you may take a bath. I believe that
there is a public bath not too far from your location that remains open
twenty-four hours a day. Do not take too long, however."
Shampoo took a whiff of her clothing, quite dirty from the
fact that she spent a lot of her time going through alleys to avoid
detection, and made a sour face. She mumbled a quick goodbye to her
great-grandmother and started walking away from Ranma's apartment
building. She did not really want to leave him alone, especially since
he had come into the building accompanied by that tall girl with the
ponytail, but she definitely could use a bath. It wouldn't take her
very long to clean up, anyway. What could possibly happen to him while
she was gone?
*****
"It's you! It's really you! You're that bat-chick from my
dreams! What are you doing here?"
Morrigan plopped herself down on Ranma's lap and wrapped her
slender arms around him before replying to his question.
"I just thought I'd give you a chance to hand yourself over to
me of your own free will, Ranchan."
Ranma frowned. "Of my own free will? What do you mean? Who are
you? How did you get here?"
The woman giggled before replying. "My my, Ranchan, aren't
we full of questions today? Very well, I shall answer you. My name is
Morrigan, and I am a succubus. I have come here to offer you the
pleasure of becoming my lover. As for how I got here, one of my powers
is the ability to enter the dreams of any mortal man."
Ranma's jaw fell open. It took him about ten seconds to gather
his wits again and continue questioning her. "What's a succubus? And
what do you mean you can enter people's dreams? Does that mean I'm
dreaming right now?"
Morrigan shook her head. "A succubus is a female supernatural
being that survives by feeding on the sexual energy of her lovers, or
lover, in this case. In answer to your other question: no, not exactly.
This is a realm that exists somewhere between the real world and the
world of dreams. It is a transition point that every person must pass
through in order to dream."
Ranma started looking around him. "So where are they? The
other people, I mean. Shouldn't they be crawling all over here, trying
to get to their dreams or whatever? And why does it look like Makoto's
apartment?"
Morrigan sighed at Ranma's question and patted his head, as if
she had just spent a good deal of time explaining something to a child
who just could not get it.
"You're not thinking about it correctly, Ranchan. This isn't
a place per se, it's more like a state. It's a state that every person
must pass through in order to be able to dream. It looks like Makoto's
apartment because that's where you fell asleep. It's not actually the
real world, but it retains characteristics from it. In a manner of
speaking, this is the real world as it exists in your mind."
Ranma stared at Morrigan, a blank expression on his face. She
took a deep breath and started talking again. "Look, let me put it this
way; every human being's brain can be divided into the conscious and
subconscious. The conscious part of one's brain is most active while
the human is awake, while the subconscious is most active while he is
asleep and dreaming. This world exists in your brain, right where your
conscious and subconscious thoughts meet. It's your mental snapshot of
the real world's state right before you fell asleep."
Ranma blinked twice, then opened his mouth to ask yet another
question. "So how is this place different from a dream, exactly?"
Morrigan smiled broadly at him, revealing a set of sharp
looking fangs. "Well, for starters, you're much stronger and smarter
in this world than in a dream. You have access to both your conscious
and subconscious thoughts, and that makes you very powerful in a
mentally created plane like this one. I can't even manipulate your
thoughts while we're in here, which I could if you were dreaming."
Ranma nodded slowly. "So this is basically like a place that
exists between the real world and my dreams, right?"
Morrigan nodded in return. "That's right. You normally would
have passed right through it and went straight to your dreams, but I'm
using my powers to keep you here. I came here to... Is something wrong?
You look like you just saw a ghost."
Ranma's opened his eyes to look at Morrigan, having closed
them after being hit with a sudden realization. He took several deep
breaths to calm himself before speaking.
"I'm an arrogant, insensitive jerk! I'm tactless, homophobic,
irrational, insecure, afraid of commitment, disrespectful, and the
clothes I wear went out of style decades ago! I've been leading Ukyo
and Shampoo on to stroke my own ego, I've been running from all my
responsibilities, and I should've chosen Kasumi to be my fiancee when
I had the chance!"
Morrigan shrugged, causing her breasts to jiggle enticingly
and distract Ranma from his misery for a moment. "It's your increased
intelligence in this world that allowed you to realize those things.
Don't worry about it. Once you leave this realm and go back to thinking
consciously, they won't seem important anymore. For now, I'll just
use some of my powers to calm your nerves. Of course, it has a couple
of trivial side-effects to it like making you extremely agreeable.
You don't mind, do you?"
Ranma heaved a sigh of relief. "No, I don't mind at all. Um...
what were you talking about before?"
Morrigan rolled her eyes at Ranma's quick recovery. "As I said,
I came here to offer you the chance to willingly submit yourself to me
as my lover. Do you accept?"
Ranma eyed Morrigan suspiciously. "If you're so strong in the
dream world, why are you even bothering to ask me? Couldn't you just
wave your hand and make me want you?"
Morrigan frowned, somehow looking both menacing and adorable
while doing so. "I tried doing that, but as you remember, we kept
getting interrupted in the middle of things. Your body cannot respond
to outside stimulus while you're here, however, so that won't be a
problem now."
Ranma raised his eyebrows. "What if I don't want to be your
lover? What if I don't want to have my energy sucked out of me? What if
I already have someone else that I like?"
Morrigan laughed heartily, squirming in Ranma's lap and sending
delightful sensations straight to his brain as she did so. "Don't be
silly, Ranchan. Of course you want to be my lover. Who wouldn't?
Besides, I don't intend to keep our relationship exclusive. You can
have as many girlfriends as you want. You can even marry some of
them. I won't mind. And stop worrying about your energy. Your body
generates more than fifty times the energy a normal human does. That's
more than enough for me to feed on, with plenty left over for you to
share with your other women. It's why I chose you to be my exclusive
lover from now on. Think about it, Ranma, you have me when you sleep
and you get to keep the fiancees you already have. It's like having
your cake and eati--"
Before Morrigan was able to finish her sentence, a large ball
of fire burst into existence right above Ranma. The ball spun quickly
around its axis, tendrils of flame whipping about it as it did so.
Finally, after a second or so, a large form hurtled from within the
fiery sphere to land on the couch beside Ranma and Morrigan. The ball
of fire then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Ranma and
Morrigan stared at the burning form that had come from it. The flames
slowly died down until they could see that the form was actually that
of a young girl. After the fire had completely gone from her body,
they found that the couch wasn't even singed. The girl was also quite
conscious, staring at them as she rolled to sit down, having fallen
upside-down on the couch. It took a few seconds before Ranma found
his voice and spoke.
"Rei? What are you doing here?"
*****
"I am Sailor Venus, the soldier of love and beauty. In the name
of Venus, I will bring the punishment of love!"
Minako Aino twirled around after delivering her lines, smiled
brightly towards her bed, then struck a brand new heroic pose that she
had come up with earlier that day. Artemis eyed her posture critically
from the bed, nodding silently to himself as he watched her. After
holding her pose for a few seconds, she sat down beside her feline
companion and picked him up, dropping him onto her lap to discuss her
performance.
"What do you think? Am I gonna knock 'em dead, or what?"
Artemis frowned a bit before he answered her. "Well, your eyes
could stand to sparkle a bit more... and you weren't quite perky enough
to really strike fear into the hearts of your enemies... still, you
should be good enough to intimidate a bunch of schoolgirls. Why are you
working so hard at this anyway? It's not like the fate of the world
hangs in the balance or anything."
Minako picked Artemis up and brought him face to face with her.
"Listen, we're going to Nerima to save Ranma from his fiancees and
there's a good chance that he'll be there to see us. I want him to be
so impressed with me that he won't even notice the others. The last
thing we need is to save him from one group of obsessed girls only to
drop him into the lap of another. He needs to have someone at the ready
when he becomes available again so that he won't fall prey to some
random female wandering around or whatever."
Artemis rolled his eyes. "Someone like you, right?"
Minako grinned. "Exactly. Someone like me."
*****
"Look, all I'm saying is that we should take the time to think
this whole thing over. I _know_ the plan will work, but I'm not sure
if it's the right thing to do."
Usagi sighed at her friend's words as they talked on the
telephone. Ami had chosen a very bad time indeed to be indecisive. She
had already worked out the details of their little mission to Nerima,
and at the moment, she really didn't need someone nagging her about the
righteousness of their cause.
"Look, we're the warriors of love and justice, right? How could
we be expected to protect the love of others if we can't even defend
our own love? We've been engaged to Ranma thousands of years before
those girls were even born. We've got dibs on him! They can't just
waltz right in and take him away just because they're engaged to him
too. Besides, Ranma's already ruined for all other women. How could
he possibly settle for some Chinese waitress after experiencing the
love of a senshi? His other fiancees would never be able to keep him
satisfied. They've bitten off more than they could chew by getting
engaged to him. We'd be doing them a favor by separating them from
Ranma."
Ami mulled Usagi's words over in her mind. Normally, she would
have noticed right away that they sounded more like excuses to justify
stealing Ranma away from his fiancees more than anything else. She
also would have pointed out that Ranma had no recollection of his time
with them, and would probably have no problems with spending his life
alongside a pretty young girl like Shampoo. Finally, she would have
said that no matter how they looked at it, they were still stealing
a man from another woman... or women, in this case. However, she was
anything but normal at the moment. During the past twenty four hours,
her love for Ranma had grown exponentially. It was certainly a strange
experience for her, falling deeper and deeper in love with a man she
hardly knew. There was nothing she could do about it, however. She
could no more resist her love for Ranma than she could forget all the
memories that seem to have been crammed into her head. She soaked
up Usagi's words like a sponge and came up with its own set of
rationalizations for what they were about to do. She breathed a sigh
of relief after convincing her conscience that they were working for
the greater good. Her face lit up with a smile as she felt the weight
of guilt being lifted from her shoulders.
"You're absolutely right, Usagi. I don't know why I ever
thought that we might be doing something wrong. I'll just make a
couple of last-minute preparations tonight and we'll be able to
go on our mission as early as tomorrow."
Usagi grinned after listening to her friend's reply. "That's
great, Ami. I knew I could count on you to see things the right way."
*****
"What're you making? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Makoto whirled around from the stove to find Ranma standing by
the door to the kitchen, looking straight at her. How long had he been
standing there anyway? She hadn't heard a thing! She raised her hand
to her heart as she took deep breaths to calm her nerves.
"You startled me, Ranma. I thought you were still in the
living room. I was thinking about preparing some oysters for dinner.
You're not allergic to them or anything, are you?"
Ranma started walking quickly towards Makoto from his position,
and he was right in front of her in an instant. He continued walking
slowly, backing her up until her back was pressing against the stove.
He leaned towards her until their faces were only an inch apart, then
he began talking in a low whisper.
"Mako-chan, did you know that a lot of people consider oysters
as potent aphrodisiacs? They say that shellfish are very useful for
setting the mood, if you know what I mean."
Makoto's heart started beating at twice its normal pace, and
her breathing became shallow and labored. She had wanted to take her
relationship with Ranma to the next level, but he seemed to be moving
way too fast for her. She found herself wishing that she had worn her
thick sweater, instead of the sleeveless green blouse she had on. She
turned away from Ranma's gaze, trying to think of a way to diffuse the
situation.
"Aphrodisiacs? Setting the mood? I'm not sure I get what you
mean, Ranma."
Ranma chuckled softly at Makoto's words, raising his left hand
to start stroking Makoto's shoulder. She shivered at his touch, and he
dropped his right hand to grasp her back. He pulled her body against
his own, whispering straight into her ear.
"I'm sure you know exactly what I mean, Mako-chan. Say, why
don't we just skip dinner and get right to the good part? Where's
your bedroom, Mako-chan?"
Makoto felt a wave of renewed energy overcome her at Ranma's
touch, and she pushed him away from her with all of her might. She
turned away from him as he fell onto the floor.
"I like you a lot, Ranma, but you have to understand... I'm...
I'm not that kind of girl!"
Ranma shook his head at Makoto's words. He stood up and calmly
straightened his clothes as he started walking towards Makoto again.
"Don't be silly, Mako-chan. We both know you want it. Why run
from your desires? There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm going to make
you feel soooooo good."
Makoto recoiled from Ranma upon hearing his words. This wasn't
what she wanted at all. Ranma was acting very strangely. What was wrong
with him? She ran out of the kitchen and headed towards the living
room. After arriving, she was greeted by the sight of Ranma, sleeping
on the couch with a magazine draped over his face.
"Ranma? What are you doing here? I left you back at the
kitchen!"
The sound of footsteps coming from behind her caused Makoto to
turn quickly around and come face to face with....
"Ranma?"
The newly arrived Ranma giggled at the look of confusion on
Makoto's face. His face twisted itself into a cruel smile as he
advanced towards her.
"You weren't supposed to see that, Mako-chan. I guess I'm just
not used to seducing women yet. Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to
restrain you until we're done with Ranma over there. I have to say that
it would have been much better for both of us if you hadn't gone and
run away like that."
Makoto grit her teeth and dropped into a ready stance as she
faced the Ranma impostor. Her transformation pen was lying in her purse
in her room, so she couldn't transform. Nonetheless, she tried to put
on a brave front. There was always the off chance that she could bluff
her way out of this, after all.
"Whoever you are, you'd better get out of my apartment or
you're going to regret messing with me!"
The impostor laughed as his body started to glow and change.
He gradually became shorter, and feminine curves appeared to replace
Ranma's muscular physique. Two small bat wings sprouted from the
impostor's head, followed by a matching pair at the small of her back.
Her hair color changed from black to purple, and her clothes morphed
into a skintight leather ensemble that left little to the imagination.
She pointed a dainty finger at Makoto as the light around her body
dissipated.
"My name is Lilith, and I'm afraid I don't intend to leave
your apartment anytime soon. I sincerely doubt that I'm going to regret
anything, however."
Makoto swore under her breath and whispered a prayer for good
luck as she charged at her mysterious opponent.
*****
"You can see me? But that's impossible! You're just a vision!
Visions aren't supposed to be able to... who are _you_?"
Morrigan extended her hand to Rei in a gesture of greeting.
"My name is Morrigan. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rei."
Rei looked at Morrigan, then at Ranma, then at the way Morrigan
was sitting on Ranma's lap. A large vein appeared on her forehead.
"Just what do you think you two are doing?"
Morrigan smiled at her. "Well, actually, Ranma and I were in
the middle of an important discussion when you interrupted us. You see,
he was about to agree to be my lover."
Rei turned to Ranma. "Her lover? Is this true?"
Ranma stared at the confused young girl in front of him, trying
to think of a way to calm her down. "I'm not really sure what's going
on, actually. How did you get here anyway?"
Rei frowned as she thought about what had happened to her. "I
was just doing a fire reading on you, but the vision started pulling
me into it for some reason. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't... wait
a minute, it's not important how I got here! You should put that woman
down right now! What you're doing, it's not decent!"
Morrigan rolled her eyes. "I don't think you're in any position
to talk about decency right now. You are, after all, the only person in
this room who isn't wearing anything."
Rei stopped glaring at Morrigan and slowly lowered her head to
look at herself. Having confirmed that she was indeed naked she raised
her head to turn towards Ranma.
"Have I been naked since I got here?"
Ranma nodded his head. "Yeah, pretty much."
Rei sighed. "I see."
*****
"Are you insinuating that I don't make an attractive wife?"
Kasumi shook her head as she made a couple of last minute
checks on the food to ensure that nothing was amiss.
"I'm not saying anything of the sort, Nabiki. You're one of
the most attractive women I know and there isn't a man in Nerima who
wouldn't give his left arm to be your husband. All I'm saying is that
for all your good points, a guy would have to be insane not to pick
me over you."
Nabiki slammed her fist against the table. "I don't suppose
you'd care to explain that last thing you said?"
Kasumi continued looking the food over as she replied. "Well,
you're almost as pretty as I am and a bit younger as well, which I
suppose is a plus for you. Still, you're not exactly as well-versed
as I am in the skills needed to be a _really_ good wife."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "And these so-called 'skills' would
be?"
Kasumi dipped her finger into the cream topping of a pastry
she had prepared for dessert then closed her lips about the dainty
digit. She closed her eyes as she sampled the taste.
"Mmmm, that's about right. Could you repeat that last thing
you said, Nabiki-chan?"
Kasumi turned back toward where Nabiki had been, a smile
adorning her face as always. Nabiki was no longer there, however. She
shrugged, started humming a tune, then began setting the table.
*****
"Kiyaaa!"
Makoto lunged at Lilith, her arm extending to strike at her
opponent's face. She braced her arm for the impact as she closed the
distance between them. However, she found herself punching thin air
as Lilith suddenly disappeared at the last minute. The momentum of
her attack caused her to lose her balance, and she scrambled to
right herself without losing her footing. She heard a the sound of
a giggle coming from behind her.
"Stop struggling, Mako-chan. There's no way you could possibly
beat me, you know. I didn't come here to hurt you or anything. If you'd
just agree to wait until my sister's done with Ranma, we'll give him
back to you and be on our way. We can even get it on if you want."
Makoto dashed at Lilith once more. "Shut up! There's no way I'm
going to let you get your hands on Ranma. Whatever you're doing to him,
I'm going to put a stop to it!"
Lilith sighed as she dodged Makoto's attacks with ease. It
was a real shame, since Makoto was such a pretty girl, but she had no
choice. She would have to beat the poor girl up. Her wings started to
move and change shape as she called upon her shape shifting abilities
to aid her in battle. She smiled prettily as she began her offensive.
"Shining Blade!"
*****
"Rei, stop hiding behind the chair. I got a really good look at
you while we were talking and you have nothing to be embarrassed about.
Besides, I'm already used to seeing naked women. It doesn't bother me
at all!"
Rei kept herself behind the chair. "Are you insane? Of _course_
I have something to be embarrassed about! I'm naked in a room with a
guy who has a half-dressed woman sitting on his lap! If someone came in
here right now I'd never live it down!"
Morrigan shook her head. "No one is going to come in here, Rei.
We're in--"
Rei quickly interrupted her. "Shut up! If I wasn't naked right
now I'd go over there and open up a can of whoopass on you!"
Ranma tried a different approach. "It's not so bad, Rei. The
fuku you wear when you're a super heroine isn't much worse, anyway."
Rei was not pacified by Ranma's reasoning. "That's different.
At least I was weari... you know about my being Sailor Mars?"
Ranma realized that he had let the cat out of the bag, but
decided that it wasn't important anymore. "Well, yeah. I remember--"
Rei found herself overcome with joy. Ranma remembered! He knew
all about being Athan and everything! Now she didn't have to worry
about how to break the news to him anymore.
"That's wonderful, Ranma! I can't believe you actually remember
everything! Now the two of us can get married as soon as we get rid of
your other fiancees!"
An uncomfortable silence settled on the three occupants of the
room for a few seconds. Ranma was the first to break it.
"Um... Rei... we're not... engaged or anything, are we?"
A confused look formed on Rei's face. "Of course we are, Ranma.
I thought you said you remembered!"
Ranma sighed. "I was going to say that I remembered meeting you
back at the park, when I beat that demon who was attacking everyone.
If my dad made a deal with your dad when we were young about us being
engaged or something, I probably never knew about it. I'm still not
sure how I'm going to settle all of my engagements. You're kinda lucky
though, since Kasumi has already come up with a system to keep track
of all my fiancees. If you'll send a copy of your name, contact number,
a recent photo, the date of our engagement, and the circumstances
surrounding it to the Tendo Dojo in Nerima, you'll be notified in case
something comes up."
Rei's mouth fell open. "You don't remember how we got engaged,
do you?"
Ranma shrugged, grinned, and scratched the back of his head.
"No, not really. It's not your fault, though. There was just too many
girls and I couldn't possibly--"
"Enough!" Morrigan glared daggers at the chair Rei was hiding
behind and tightened her hold on Ranma. "I came here to take Ranma as
my own, not to listen to you argue about some long-forgotten engagement
to him. I was here before you, so why don't you just go away and talk
to Ranma when I'm done with him?"
Rei responded with a shout. "I'm not letting you get your hands
on Ranma!"
Morrigan laughed at her. "Oh really? How are you going to stop
me? In case you haven't noticed, I already have my hands on him."
"I may have lost my clothes, but I've still got _this_!"
Rei stood up from behind the chair she was using as a hiding
place and raised her transformation pen into the air.
"Mars power, make up!"
*****
"Attractive wife my ass! I'll show her attractive!"
Nabiki continued stuffing clothes into her suitcase as she
formulated a plan to get to Juuban as soon as possible and bring Ranma
back to Nerima. She did not really want to go through all the trouble
it would entail, but she had something to prove.
"Just you wait, Kasumi. When I bring Ranma back here he's gonna
be wrapped so tightly around my finger that you're gonna need a crowbar
to pry him off!"
Nabiki slammed her suitcase closed, checked to make sure that
she had plenty of money in her wallet, then went out of the house
through her bedroom window.
"Juuban, here I come!"
*****
"Soul Flash!"
Makoto slammed against one of her apartment's walls at the
force of Lilith's attack. They hadn't been fighting for very long
but she was almost ready to pass out. Lilith's diminutive size
belied the incredible strength she possessed, and Makoto knew she
wouldn't be able to fight for much longer.
Her situation wasn't completely hopeless, however. She still
had an ace up her sleeve. Lilith's attack had sent her right beside the
door to her bedroom, and she dashed into it as fast as her injured legs
would allow her. Lilith followed her, walking at a slow and leisurely
pace.
"It's no use running from me, Mako-chan. Why don't you just
stop fighting? My sister's almost done with Ranma anyway."
When Lilith finally got to the door to Makoto's room, she found
the brown-haired teenager pulling a long, elongated object from her
purse.
"What have you got there, Makoto? Surely you don't think a can
of mace can stop me. It doesn't matter what you have in your purse.
Nothing can help you now. Or is that a toy for us to play with? My
offer still stands, you know. I promise we'll both enjoy it."
Makoto didn't waste any time. She raised her transformation
pen into the air and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Jupiter
power, make up!"
*****
"If you don't get up from Ranma's lap and promise to leave
him alone from now on, I'm going to make you regret it!"
Morrigan stood up from Ranma's lap and looked at Rei's new
form. "So the pen was some sort of magical artifact to transform you
into a super heroine? Very interesting. I like your style of clothing,
by the way. Very suggestive."
Rei angrily pointed an accusing finger at Morrigan. "Who are
you anyway? Ranma never told us about you so you can't be all that
important to him! Just leave him alone and I won't hurt you!"
Morrigan wagged her finger at Rei. "It's not nice to threaten
other people, little girl, especially when you don't know what they're
capable of. In any case, I would like to know where you kept the pen
all this time. I'm sure I didn't see you holding it when you first
arrived."
Rei blushed bright red at Morrigan's question. "That's not
important! Do you promise to leave Ranma alone or don't you?"
Morrigan smiled. "No, I do not."
Ranma leapt between the two women, trying to prevent the
impending battle from taking place.
"Girls, please! Can't we just sit down and talk this over like
civilized people?"
Both women glared daggers at him, and he sank back onto his
chair. He prepared himself to intervene in case things got out of hand,
but decided that he would not interfere with their battle unless it was
absolutely necessary. This was a woman-to-woman fight, and he'd best
not get involved if he could help it. Both Rei and Morrigan seemed to
have considerable fighting skill anyway. If he was lucky, neither of
them would be able to seriously injure the other.
Rei clasped her hands together as sparks started to form
on her fingers. She quickly extended her arms towards Morrigan as
she began her attack.
"Fire Soul!"
*****
The phone in Usagi's room rang as she prepared to place a
slice of pickle on top of her right eye. Another slice was already
on her left eye, and her face was covered in a slimy cream she had
bought earlier that week. She reached her hand out to pick up the
phone and held the receiver against her ear.
"Tsukino residence, this is Usagi speaking."
Ami's voice quickly started spewing from the handset's
earpiece. "Usagi, we have to get to Makoto's apartment right now!"
Usagi glanced at her mirror and noticed that the pickle on
her left eye was starting to fall off. She adjusted its position with
her free hand while she replied. "Right now? I'm kind of in the middle
of something important, Ami-chan."
Ami quickly replied, her voice showing signs of worry. "It's
very important, Usagi! My computer is getting readings that show Makoto
has just used her pen to transform into Sailor Jupiter. There are also
large amounts of dark energy floating around inside her apartment. I
think she's being attacked! I've already called Minako and she's going
there right now!"
Usagi dropped the pickle she was holding in her left hand and
immediately stood up from her chair. "Mako-chan is being attacked? Why
didn't you say so sooner? I'm on my way right now!"
Usagi slammed the phone into its receiver and grabbed her
transformation brooch from her dresser. She raised it into the air
and shouted. "Moon crystal power, make up!"
*****
"Let's all toast to the impending success of my mission!"
The large crowd at the bar all cheered at Urd's declaration,
though none of them had the foggiest idea what the heck she was talking
about. She was buying all the drinks, however, so they could care less
why she was being so generous.
Men lurked all around, waiting for her to get drunk so they
could make their move and try their luck at taking home the most
beautiful female they had ever laid eyes on. Some of them were
already thinking of giving up, however, because she had been
drinking since that afternoon and was still showing no signs of
inebriation. She raised her bottle of sake into the air and drank
deeply from it to the cheers of the crowd. She called out to the
bartender, who rushed to her side.
"Get me another bottle of sake, and another round of drinks
for everyone!"
Urd smiled to herself as she waited for her order. She had
succeeded in bringing Ranma from Nerima to Juuban, and it was only a
matter of time before her plan would become a complete success. Once
the higher-ups heard of her work, she would be promoted to goddess
first-class for sure! Right now, for her at least, life was very
good.
*****
Author's Notes
Well, here's the much-awaited chapter thirteen. Chester will
be happy to note that plot resolutions are forthcoming, and Seaver
will be happy to see all the fanservice. For those of you who were
expecting a great storyline with exciting plot development, you'll
be greatly disappointed.
I would like to thank Ditta, Hibiki, Meia, Jura, Barnette, the
smile brigade, and whomever wrote that _wonderful_ Vandread dojin I
read for being some of the biggest reasons this chapter took so long
to write. I would also like to thank my thesis adviser, whomever
invented katakana and made so many of the characters look the same,
and the anime vendor who sold me a defective copy of Dual episode
twelve for being the other big reasons it took so long.
I would also like to thank Groo, Chester, Shade, Tracy Poff,
Farmer, Griever, Egan Mandreck, Tonyloco, Fred Voeltner, Sebastian
Rynders, Kevin Henry, and Vex for all the help they have given me
for this chapter.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.
the characters in the following story, and those who don't. Count me in
among those who don't.
Warning: Prolonged exposure to pop music may result in loss of
manliness.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 13
by Jose Argao
"Good evening, Nabiki. Dinner isn't ready yet, so why don't
you wait in your room until I call you?"
Kasumi continued stirring the soup she was cooking, humming a
simple tune while she watched the ingredients slowly cooking. Nabiki
wondered to herself for the millionth time what it was about cooking
that other girls found so fascinating. She had taken the time to learn
how to cook a few dishes, of course, but the activity always bored her
to tears. Kasumi, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content to spend
hour after hour preparing food. She did not come here to learn how to
appreciate cooking, however, so she let the thought go. She walked up
to the side of the stove and watched Kasumi stir the soup while she
came up with a suitable way to bring Ranma up in conversation.
"Ranma used to do the same thing, you know."
Nabiki was startled out of her thoughts by Kasumi's words. She
raised an inquiring eyebrow at her older sister and crossed her arms in
front of herself.
"What do you mean, Kasumi?"
Kasumi smiled as she kept stirring. The smell of the soup was
starting to make Nabiki's mouth water.
"He used to stand right there and watch me while I cooked
dinner. Sometimes, he'd even help me with it. He'd tell me about his
day, and I would tell him about mine. It was very enjoyable. I kind
of miss him, actually. It's a good thing you came here to see me."
Nabiki frowned while she listened to her older sister's words.
She had known about Ranma's frequent visits to the kitchen, of course,
but she had no idea how he spent his time there. She had assumed that
he just gorged himself on whatever food Kasumi had already finished
cooking. She would have to look into this new development later. For
now, she had more pressing matters to attend to. Kasumi had done her
a favor by bringing Ranma up. Now was her chance to execute her plan.
She smacked her fist against her palm, as though she had just thought
of something important.
"You know, maybe you should go down to Juuban and try to bring
Ranma back to us! That way, you wouldn't be so lonely anymore. Akane's
been missing him a lot anyway. You saw how she looked when she said
she'd be spending the night at Yuka's place. Don't you think it's a
great idea?"
Nabiki smiled hopefully at Kasumi, confident that her plan
was going to work. Ranma would never be able to deny a request from
Kasumi.
"Actually, I think it's a horrible idea. Ranma rarely gets a
chance to concentrate on his studies. We shouldn't deny him this
opportunity for our own selfish reasons."
Nabiki's jaw fell open upon hearing Kasumi's statement. She
had not expected this. She scrambled to come up with a reply.
"Selfish reasons? Kasumi, I only had Ranma's own interests in
mind when I... that is, I only wanted to...."
Kasumi shot her a dirty look, causing Nabiki to trail off
until she had completely stopped talking.
"Don't think I don't know what you're up to, Nabiki. I know
you've been relying on Ranma to make a little bit of extra money,
but you really should consider his well being instead of yours."
Nabiki shook her head as she listened. Her sister was proving
to be much more difficult to manipulate than she expected.
"Kasumi, I don't think you're looking at this the right way.
Ranma is--"
"Ranma is the only heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes
Martial Arts. If his engagement to Akane doesn't work out, I will have
to marry him myself. To tell you the truth, Nabiki, I'd rather marry a
man who actually managed to finish high school."
Nabiki breathed deeply and mentally counted from one to ten.
After opening her eyes, she noted that she was still as annoyed as
when she started. Kasumi was acting very differently from what she had
expected, and that fact annoyed her more than anything else.
"That's why you need to bring Ranma back here! If he stays in
Juuban then his relationship with Akane is doomed. If you can bring him
back to Nerima, you won't have to marry him at all."
It was Kasumi's turn to shake her head this time. She turned
off the stove's flame and reached for a bowl to put the soup in while
she replied to her sister.
"Akane is a nice girl, but she's a violent maniac. She needs a
man who likes being beaten half to death. Ranma wants a girl who'll
stay at home to do the chores and take care of the children while he
goes off doing men's work. Their relationship was doomed before it
even began."
Nabiki took another deep breath to calm herself. She would not
lose this argument. Too much was on the line. Kasumi may have shown a
lot more intelligence than she planned for, but she was still Nabiki
Tendo. Nabiki Tendo did not lose arguments.
"Even if Ranma and Akane were to split up, what makes you so
sure _you'll_ be the one to marry him? He's free to choose from the two
of us, you know."
Kasumi just looked at her and smiled. "Do you really believe
Ranma will pick you over me, Nabiki-chan?"
*****
"Good night, Hotaru. Sweet dreams."
Haruka smiled warmly at the young girl on whom she had just
spent more money on than she'd care to think of and thanked her lucky
stars that it was finally over. Her bank account would be feeling the
effects of the past afternoon for many months to come.
After tucking Hotaru into bed and checking to make sure that
the windows were all closed, Haruka quietly crept out of the room and
closed the door. She made her way over to the bedroom she shared with
Michiru and pushed the door open with a little more force than she
normally used. The lights were turned off, but she could still see
her lover's silhouette as Michiru sat in front of the dresser, removing
the makeup she had worn during the day. She crossed her arms in front
of her and leaned against the door frame while she started talking.
"You did something to her, didn't you?"
Michiru continued wiping off her makeup as she replied to
Haruka's question. "What do you mean?"
Haruka snorted loudly at Michiru's response. "Don't play
games with me. Hotaru never used to behaved the way she did at the
mall this afternoon. All my spare cash is gone, and I've almost
maxxed out my credit card! I was planning to buy a new set of tires
for the car!"
Michiru chuckled. "You could have just said no to her. No one
forced you to buy all those clothes. Hotaru-chan only needed a couple
of new bras and some dresses. You deserved it, anyway, disturbing us
while we were having an important talk."
Haruka rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. I had something
important to say! Besides, even if I _did_ barge in on your little
talk, you didn't have to teach Hotaru how to give the me the _look_.
That was a dirty trick!"
Michiru shook her head. "It's not my fault that you have a
weakness for cute little girls in school uniforms who bat their eyes
at you."
Haruka sat on the side of the bed and started taking off her
clothes. It was no use trying to argue with Michiru about these things.
Besides, there were more important things they needed to discuss.
"Fine, whatever. In any case, you should keep what I said about
Setsuna in mind. It's not safe to be around her anymore. She's gone off
the deep end."
Michiru grinned and turned to face her lover. "You know, if I
didn't know any better, I'd say you just don't want to share."
Haruka finished taking off her shirt and started working on
her pants. "Stop joking around, Michiru. I'm serious about this. She
kept babbling about one of her old boyfriends and generally acting
out of character."
Michiru lay down on the bed next to Haruka. "Fine, I'll keep
my distance from Setsuna for a while. I still think you're making too
much of a big deal out of this, though. She was probably just taking
a trip down memory lane or something. I'm more surprised to know that
she actually used to have a boyfriend than anything else.
Haruka couldn't help but laugh a little at Michiru's remark.
She finished pulling off her pants and lay down on the bed beside
Michiru.
"Yeah, I know. Who would've thought she actually had it in
her, eh?"
A few moments later, Haruka found herself pushed out of the bed
and lying on the floor. She rubbed her head where the ground broke her
fall and shouted angrily at Michiru. "What was _that_ for?"
Michiru didn't even turn to Haruka as she spoke. "Either you
go take a shower before getting back into bed, or you're sleeping on
the couch."
Haruka grumbled loudly as she moved to comply.
*****
"That all Shampoo have to report, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo
can go take bath now, yes?"
Cologne stifled a groan before rolling her eyes at Shampoo's
question. Strictly speaking, if you went by the book, an Amazon warrior
was supposed put all her concentration into accomplishing a task given
to her by an elder. In practice, however, it was generally accepted
that a warrior would take care of things like answering the call of
nature or personal hygiene if the situation allowed it. She wished that
Shampoo would learn to see things like that for herself.
"Very well, Shampoo, you may take a bath. I believe that
there is a public bath not too far from your location that remains open
twenty-four hours a day. Do not take too long, however."
Shampoo took a whiff of her clothing, quite dirty from the
fact that she spent a lot of her time going through alleys to avoid
detection, and made a sour face. She mumbled a quick goodbye to her
great-grandmother and started walking away from Ranma's apartment
building. She did not really want to leave him alone, especially since
he had come into the building accompanied by that tall girl with the
ponytail, but she definitely could use a bath. It wouldn't take her
very long to clean up, anyway. What could possibly happen to him while
she was gone?
*****
"It's you! It's really you! You're that bat-chick from my
dreams! What are you doing here?"
Morrigan plopped herself down on Ranma's lap and wrapped her
slender arms around him before replying to his question.
"I just thought I'd give you a chance to hand yourself over to
me of your own free will, Ranchan."
Ranma frowned. "Of my own free will? What do you mean? Who are
you? How did you get here?"
The woman giggled before replying. "My my, Ranchan, aren't
we full of questions today? Very well, I shall answer you. My name is
Morrigan, and I am a succubus. I have come here to offer you the
pleasure of becoming my lover. As for how I got here, one of my powers
is the ability to enter the dreams of any mortal man."
Ranma's jaw fell open. It took him about ten seconds to gather
his wits again and continue questioning her. "What's a succubus? And
what do you mean you can enter people's dreams? Does that mean I'm
dreaming right now?"
Morrigan shook her head. "A succubus is a female supernatural
being that survives by feeding on the sexual energy of her lovers, or
lover, in this case. In answer to your other question: no, not exactly.
This is a realm that exists somewhere between the real world and the
world of dreams. It is a transition point that every person must pass
through in order to dream."
Ranma started looking around him. "So where are they? The
other people, I mean. Shouldn't they be crawling all over here, trying
to get to their dreams or whatever? And why does it look like Makoto's
apartment?"
Morrigan sighed at Ranma's question and patted his head, as if
she had just spent a good deal of time explaining something to a child
who just could not get it.
"You're not thinking about it correctly, Ranchan. This isn't
a place per se, it's more like a state. It's a state that every person
must pass through in order to be able to dream. It looks like Makoto's
apartment because that's where you fell asleep. It's not actually the
real world, but it retains characteristics from it. In a manner of
speaking, this is the real world as it exists in your mind."
Ranma stared at Morrigan, a blank expression on his face. She
took a deep breath and started talking again. "Look, let me put it this
way; every human being's brain can be divided into the conscious and
subconscious. The conscious part of one's brain is most active while
the human is awake, while the subconscious is most active while he is
asleep and dreaming. This world exists in your brain, right where your
conscious and subconscious thoughts meet. It's your mental snapshot of
the real world's state right before you fell asleep."
Ranma blinked twice, then opened his mouth to ask yet another
question. "So how is this place different from a dream, exactly?"
Morrigan smiled broadly at him, revealing a set of sharp
looking fangs. "Well, for starters, you're much stronger and smarter
in this world than in a dream. You have access to both your conscious
and subconscious thoughts, and that makes you very powerful in a
mentally created plane like this one. I can't even manipulate your
thoughts while we're in here, which I could if you were dreaming."
Ranma nodded slowly. "So this is basically like a place that
exists between the real world and my dreams, right?"
Morrigan nodded in return. "That's right. You normally would
have passed right through it and went straight to your dreams, but I'm
using my powers to keep you here. I came here to... Is something wrong?
You look like you just saw a ghost."
Ranma's opened his eyes to look at Morrigan, having closed
them after being hit with a sudden realization. He took several deep
breaths to calm himself before speaking.
"I'm an arrogant, insensitive jerk! I'm tactless, homophobic,
irrational, insecure, afraid of commitment, disrespectful, and the
clothes I wear went out of style decades ago! I've been leading Ukyo
and Shampoo on to stroke my own ego, I've been running from all my
responsibilities, and I should've chosen Kasumi to be my fiancee when
I had the chance!"
Morrigan shrugged, causing her breasts to jiggle enticingly
and distract Ranma from his misery for a moment. "It's your increased
intelligence in this world that allowed you to realize those things.
Don't worry about it. Once you leave this realm and go back to thinking
consciously, they won't seem important anymore. For now, I'll just
use some of my powers to calm your nerves. Of course, it has a couple
of trivial side-effects to it like making you extremely agreeable.
You don't mind, do you?"
Ranma heaved a sigh of relief. "No, I don't mind at all. Um...
what were you talking about before?"
Morrigan rolled her eyes at Ranma's quick recovery. "As I said,
I came here to offer you the chance to willingly submit yourself to me
as my lover. Do you accept?"
Ranma eyed Morrigan suspiciously. "If you're so strong in the
dream world, why are you even bothering to ask me? Couldn't you just
wave your hand and make me want you?"
Morrigan frowned, somehow looking both menacing and adorable
while doing so. "I tried doing that, but as you remember, we kept
getting interrupted in the middle of things. Your body cannot respond
to outside stimulus while you're here, however, so that won't be a
problem now."
Ranma raised his eyebrows. "What if I don't want to be your
lover? What if I don't want to have my energy sucked out of me? What if
I already have someone else that I like?"
Morrigan laughed heartily, squirming in Ranma's lap and sending
delightful sensations straight to his brain as she did so. "Don't be
silly, Ranchan. Of course you want to be my lover. Who wouldn't?
Besides, I don't intend to keep our relationship exclusive. You can
have as many girlfriends as you want. You can even marry some of
them. I won't mind. And stop worrying about your energy. Your body
generates more than fifty times the energy a normal human does. That's
more than enough for me to feed on, with plenty left over for you to
share with your other women. It's why I chose you to be my exclusive
lover from now on. Think about it, Ranma, you have me when you sleep
and you get to keep the fiancees you already have. It's like having
your cake and eati--"
Before Morrigan was able to finish her sentence, a large ball
of fire burst into existence right above Ranma. The ball spun quickly
around its axis, tendrils of flame whipping about it as it did so.
Finally, after a second or so, a large form hurtled from within the
fiery sphere to land on the couch beside Ranma and Morrigan. The ball
of fire then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Ranma and
Morrigan stared at the burning form that had come from it. The flames
slowly died down until they could see that the form was actually that
of a young girl. After the fire had completely gone from her body,
they found that the couch wasn't even singed. The girl was also quite
conscious, staring at them as she rolled to sit down, having fallen
upside-down on the couch. It took a few seconds before Ranma found
his voice and spoke.
"Rei? What are you doing here?"
*****
"I am Sailor Venus, the soldier of love and beauty. In the name
of Venus, I will bring the punishment of love!"
Minako Aino twirled around after delivering her lines, smiled
brightly towards her bed, then struck a brand new heroic pose that she
had come up with earlier that day. Artemis eyed her posture critically
from the bed, nodding silently to himself as he watched her. After
holding her pose for a few seconds, she sat down beside her feline
companion and picked him up, dropping him onto her lap to discuss her
performance.
"What do you think? Am I gonna knock 'em dead, or what?"
Artemis frowned a bit before he answered her. "Well, your eyes
could stand to sparkle a bit more... and you weren't quite perky enough
to really strike fear into the hearts of your enemies... still, you
should be good enough to intimidate a bunch of schoolgirls. Why are you
working so hard at this anyway? It's not like the fate of the world
hangs in the balance or anything."
Minako picked Artemis up and brought him face to face with her.
"Listen, we're going to Nerima to save Ranma from his fiancees and
there's a good chance that he'll be there to see us. I want him to be
so impressed with me that he won't even notice the others. The last
thing we need is to save him from one group of obsessed girls only to
drop him into the lap of another. He needs to have someone at the ready
when he becomes available again so that he won't fall prey to some
random female wandering around or whatever."
Artemis rolled his eyes. "Someone like you, right?"
Minako grinned. "Exactly. Someone like me."
*****
"Look, all I'm saying is that we should take the time to think
this whole thing over. I _know_ the plan will work, but I'm not sure
if it's the right thing to do."
Usagi sighed at her friend's words as they talked on the
telephone. Ami had chosen a very bad time indeed to be indecisive. She
had already worked out the details of their little mission to Nerima,
and at the moment, she really didn't need someone nagging her about the
righteousness of their cause.
"Look, we're the warriors of love and justice, right? How could
we be expected to protect the love of others if we can't even defend
our own love? We've been engaged to Ranma thousands of years before
those girls were even born. We've got dibs on him! They can't just
waltz right in and take him away just because they're engaged to him
too. Besides, Ranma's already ruined for all other women. How could
he possibly settle for some Chinese waitress after experiencing the
love of a senshi? His other fiancees would never be able to keep him
satisfied. They've bitten off more than they could chew by getting
engaged to him. We'd be doing them a favor by separating them from
Ranma."
Ami mulled Usagi's words over in her mind. Normally, she would
have noticed right away that they sounded more like excuses to justify
stealing Ranma away from his fiancees more than anything else. She
also would have pointed out that Ranma had no recollection of his time
with them, and would probably have no problems with spending his life
alongside a pretty young girl like Shampoo. Finally, she would have
said that no matter how they looked at it, they were still stealing
a man from another woman... or women, in this case. However, she was
anything but normal at the moment. During the past twenty four hours,
her love for Ranma had grown exponentially. It was certainly a strange
experience for her, falling deeper and deeper in love with a man she
hardly knew. There was nothing she could do about it, however. She
could no more resist her love for Ranma than she could forget all the
memories that seem to have been crammed into her head. She soaked
up Usagi's words like a sponge and came up with its own set of
rationalizations for what they were about to do. She breathed a sigh
of relief after convincing her conscience that they were working for
the greater good. Her face lit up with a smile as she felt the weight
of guilt being lifted from her shoulders.
"You're absolutely right, Usagi. I don't know why I ever
thought that we might be doing something wrong. I'll just make a
couple of last-minute preparations tonight and we'll be able to
go on our mission as early as tomorrow."
Usagi grinned after listening to her friend's reply. "That's
great, Ami. I knew I could count on you to see things the right way."
*****
"What're you making? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Makoto whirled around from the stove to find Ranma standing by
the door to the kitchen, looking straight at her. How long had he been
standing there anyway? She hadn't heard a thing! She raised her hand
to her heart as she took deep breaths to calm her nerves.
"You startled me, Ranma. I thought you were still in the
living room. I was thinking about preparing some oysters for dinner.
You're not allergic to them or anything, are you?"
Ranma started walking quickly towards Makoto from his position,
and he was right in front of her in an instant. He continued walking
slowly, backing her up until her back was pressing against the stove.
He leaned towards her until their faces were only an inch apart, then
he began talking in a low whisper.
"Mako-chan, did you know that a lot of people consider oysters
as potent aphrodisiacs? They say that shellfish are very useful for
setting the mood, if you know what I mean."
Makoto's heart started beating at twice its normal pace, and
her breathing became shallow and labored. She had wanted to take her
relationship with Ranma to the next level, but he seemed to be moving
way too fast for her. She found herself wishing that she had worn her
thick sweater, instead of the sleeveless green blouse she had on. She
turned away from Ranma's gaze, trying to think of a way to diffuse the
situation.
"Aphrodisiacs? Setting the mood? I'm not sure I get what you
mean, Ranma."
Ranma chuckled softly at Makoto's words, raising his left hand
to start stroking Makoto's shoulder. She shivered at his touch, and he
dropped his right hand to grasp her back. He pulled her body against
his own, whispering straight into her ear.
"I'm sure you know exactly what I mean, Mako-chan. Say, why
don't we just skip dinner and get right to the good part? Where's
your bedroom, Mako-chan?"
Makoto felt a wave of renewed energy overcome her at Ranma's
touch, and she pushed him away from her with all of her might. She
turned away from him as he fell onto the floor.
"I like you a lot, Ranma, but you have to understand... I'm...
I'm not that kind of girl!"
Ranma shook his head at Makoto's words. He stood up and calmly
straightened his clothes as he started walking towards Makoto again.
"Don't be silly, Mako-chan. We both know you want it. Why run
from your desires? There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm going to make
you feel soooooo good."
Makoto recoiled from Ranma upon hearing his words. This wasn't
what she wanted at all. Ranma was acting very strangely. What was wrong
with him? She ran out of the kitchen and headed towards the living
room. After arriving, she was greeted by the sight of Ranma, sleeping
on the couch with a magazine draped over his face.
"Ranma? What are you doing here? I left you back at the
kitchen!"
The sound of footsteps coming from behind her caused Makoto to
turn quickly around and come face to face with....
"Ranma?"
The newly arrived Ranma giggled at the look of confusion on
Makoto's face. His face twisted itself into a cruel smile as he
advanced towards her.
"You weren't supposed to see that, Mako-chan. I guess I'm just
not used to seducing women yet. Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to
restrain you until we're done with Ranma over there. I have to say that
it would have been much better for both of us if you hadn't gone and
run away like that."
Makoto grit her teeth and dropped into a ready stance as she
faced the Ranma impostor. Her transformation pen was lying in her purse
in her room, so she couldn't transform. Nonetheless, she tried to put
on a brave front. There was always the off chance that she could bluff
her way out of this, after all.
"Whoever you are, you'd better get out of my apartment or
you're going to regret messing with me!"
The impostor laughed as his body started to glow and change.
He gradually became shorter, and feminine curves appeared to replace
Ranma's muscular physique. Two small bat wings sprouted from the
impostor's head, followed by a matching pair at the small of her back.
Her hair color changed from black to purple, and her clothes morphed
into a skintight leather ensemble that left little to the imagination.
She pointed a dainty finger at Makoto as the light around her body
dissipated.
"My name is Lilith, and I'm afraid I don't intend to leave
your apartment anytime soon. I sincerely doubt that I'm going to regret
anything, however."
Makoto swore under her breath and whispered a prayer for good
luck as she charged at her mysterious opponent.
*****
"You can see me? But that's impossible! You're just a vision!
Visions aren't supposed to be able to... who are _you_?"
Morrigan extended her hand to Rei in a gesture of greeting.
"My name is Morrigan. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rei."
Rei looked at Morrigan, then at Ranma, then at the way Morrigan
was sitting on Ranma's lap. A large vein appeared on her forehead.
"Just what do you think you two are doing?"
Morrigan smiled at her. "Well, actually, Ranma and I were in
the middle of an important discussion when you interrupted us. You see,
he was about to agree to be my lover."
Rei turned to Ranma. "Her lover? Is this true?"
Ranma stared at the confused young girl in front of him, trying
to think of a way to calm her down. "I'm not really sure what's going
on, actually. How did you get here anyway?"
Rei frowned as she thought about what had happened to her. "I
was just doing a fire reading on you, but the vision started pulling
me into it for some reason. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't... wait
a minute, it's not important how I got here! You should put that woman
down right now! What you're doing, it's not decent!"
Morrigan rolled her eyes. "I don't think you're in any position
to talk about decency right now. You are, after all, the only person in
this room who isn't wearing anything."
Rei stopped glaring at Morrigan and slowly lowered her head to
look at herself. Having confirmed that she was indeed naked she raised
her head to turn towards Ranma.
"Have I been naked since I got here?"
Ranma nodded his head. "Yeah, pretty much."
Rei sighed. "I see."
*****
"Are you insinuating that I don't make an attractive wife?"
Kasumi shook her head as she made a couple of last minute
checks on the food to ensure that nothing was amiss.
"I'm not saying anything of the sort, Nabiki. You're one of
the most attractive women I know and there isn't a man in Nerima who
wouldn't give his left arm to be your husband. All I'm saying is that
for all your good points, a guy would have to be insane not to pick
me over you."
Nabiki slammed her fist against the table. "I don't suppose
you'd care to explain that last thing you said?"
Kasumi continued looking the food over as she replied. "Well,
you're almost as pretty as I am and a bit younger as well, which I
suppose is a plus for you. Still, you're not exactly as well-versed
as I am in the skills needed to be a _really_ good wife."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "And these so-called 'skills' would
be?"
Kasumi dipped her finger into the cream topping of a pastry
she had prepared for dessert then closed her lips about the dainty
digit. She closed her eyes as she sampled the taste.
"Mmmm, that's about right. Could you repeat that last thing
you said, Nabiki-chan?"
Kasumi turned back toward where Nabiki had been, a smile
adorning her face as always. Nabiki was no longer there, however. She
shrugged, started humming a tune, then began setting the table.
*****
"Kiyaaa!"
Makoto lunged at Lilith, her arm extending to strike at her
opponent's face. She braced her arm for the impact as she closed the
distance between them. However, she found herself punching thin air
as Lilith suddenly disappeared at the last minute. The momentum of
her attack caused her to lose her balance, and she scrambled to
right herself without losing her footing. She heard a the sound of
a giggle coming from behind her.
"Stop struggling, Mako-chan. There's no way you could possibly
beat me, you know. I didn't come here to hurt you or anything. If you'd
just agree to wait until my sister's done with Ranma, we'll give him
back to you and be on our way. We can even get it on if you want."
Makoto dashed at Lilith once more. "Shut up! There's no way I'm
going to let you get your hands on Ranma. Whatever you're doing to him,
I'm going to put a stop to it!"
Lilith sighed as she dodged Makoto's attacks with ease. It
was a real shame, since Makoto was such a pretty girl, but she had no
choice. She would have to beat the poor girl up. Her wings started to
move and change shape as she called upon her shape shifting abilities
to aid her in battle. She smiled prettily as she began her offensive.
"Shining Blade!"
*****
"Rei, stop hiding behind the chair. I got a really good look at
you while we were talking and you have nothing to be embarrassed about.
Besides, I'm already used to seeing naked women. It doesn't bother me
at all!"
Rei kept herself behind the chair. "Are you insane? Of _course_
I have something to be embarrassed about! I'm naked in a room with a
guy who has a half-dressed woman sitting on his lap! If someone came in
here right now I'd never live it down!"
Morrigan shook her head. "No one is going to come in here, Rei.
We're in--"
Rei quickly interrupted her. "Shut up! If I wasn't naked right
now I'd go over there and open up a can of whoopass on you!"
Ranma tried a different approach. "It's not so bad, Rei. The
fuku you wear when you're a super heroine isn't much worse, anyway."
Rei was not pacified by Ranma's reasoning. "That's different.
At least I was weari... you know about my being Sailor Mars?"
Ranma realized that he had let the cat out of the bag, but
decided that it wasn't important anymore. "Well, yeah. I remember--"
Rei found herself overcome with joy. Ranma remembered! He knew
all about being Athan and everything! Now she didn't have to worry
about how to break the news to him anymore.
"That's wonderful, Ranma! I can't believe you actually remember
everything! Now the two of us can get married as soon as we get rid of
your other fiancees!"
An uncomfortable silence settled on the three occupants of the
room for a few seconds. Ranma was the first to break it.
"Um... Rei... we're not... engaged or anything, are we?"
A confused look formed on Rei's face. "Of course we are, Ranma.
I thought you said you remembered!"
Ranma sighed. "I was going to say that I remembered meeting you
back at the park, when I beat that demon who was attacking everyone.
If my dad made a deal with your dad when we were young about us being
engaged or something, I probably never knew about it. I'm still not
sure how I'm going to settle all of my engagements. You're kinda lucky
though, since Kasumi has already come up with a system to keep track
of all my fiancees. If you'll send a copy of your name, contact number,
a recent photo, the date of our engagement, and the circumstances
surrounding it to the Tendo Dojo in Nerima, you'll be notified in case
something comes up."
Rei's mouth fell open. "You don't remember how we got engaged,
do you?"
Ranma shrugged, grinned, and scratched the back of his head.
"No, not really. It's not your fault, though. There was just too many
girls and I couldn't possibly--"
"Enough!" Morrigan glared daggers at the chair Rei was hiding
behind and tightened her hold on Ranma. "I came here to take Ranma as
my own, not to listen to you argue about some long-forgotten engagement
to him. I was here before you, so why don't you just go away and talk
to Ranma when I'm done with him?"
Rei responded with a shout. "I'm not letting you get your hands
on Ranma!"
Morrigan laughed at her. "Oh really? How are you going to stop
me? In case you haven't noticed, I already have my hands on him."
"I may have lost my clothes, but I've still got _this_!"
Rei stood up from behind the chair she was using as a hiding
place and raised her transformation pen into the air.
"Mars power, make up!"
*****
"Attractive wife my ass! I'll show her attractive!"
Nabiki continued stuffing clothes into her suitcase as she
formulated a plan to get to Juuban as soon as possible and bring Ranma
back to Nerima. She did not really want to go through all the trouble
it would entail, but she had something to prove.
"Just you wait, Kasumi. When I bring Ranma back here he's gonna
be wrapped so tightly around my finger that you're gonna need a crowbar
to pry him off!"
Nabiki slammed her suitcase closed, checked to make sure that
she had plenty of money in her wallet, then went out of the house
through her bedroom window.
"Juuban, here I come!"
*****
"Soul Flash!"
Makoto slammed against one of her apartment's walls at the
force of Lilith's attack. They hadn't been fighting for very long
but she was almost ready to pass out. Lilith's diminutive size
belied the incredible strength she possessed, and Makoto knew she
wouldn't be able to fight for much longer.
Her situation wasn't completely hopeless, however. She still
had an ace up her sleeve. Lilith's attack had sent her right beside the
door to her bedroom, and she dashed into it as fast as her injured legs
would allow her. Lilith followed her, walking at a slow and leisurely
pace.
"It's no use running from me, Mako-chan. Why don't you just
stop fighting? My sister's almost done with Ranma anyway."
When Lilith finally got to the door to Makoto's room, she found
the brown-haired teenager pulling a long, elongated object from her
purse.
"What have you got there, Makoto? Surely you don't think a can
of mace can stop me. It doesn't matter what you have in your purse.
Nothing can help you now. Or is that a toy for us to play with? My
offer still stands, you know. I promise we'll both enjoy it."
Makoto didn't waste any time. She raised her transformation
pen into the air and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Jupiter
power, make up!"
*****
"If you don't get up from Ranma's lap and promise to leave
him alone from now on, I'm going to make you regret it!"
Morrigan stood up from Ranma's lap and looked at Rei's new
form. "So the pen was some sort of magical artifact to transform you
into a super heroine? Very interesting. I like your style of clothing,
by the way. Very suggestive."
Rei angrily pointed an accusing finger at Morrigan. "Who are
you anyway? Ranma never told us about you so you can't be all that
important to him! Just leave him alone and I won't hurt you!"
Morrigan wagged her finger at Rei. "It's not nice to threaten
other people, little girl, especially when you don't know what they're
capable of. In any case, I would like to know where you kept the pen
all this time. I'm sure I didn't see you holding it when you first
arrived."
Rei blushed bright red at Morrigan's question. "That's not
important! Do you promise to leave Ranma alone or don't you?"
Morrigan smiled. "No, I do not."
Ranma leapt between the two women, trying to prevent the
impending battle from taking place.
"Girls, please! Can't we just sit down and talk this over like
civilized people?"
Both women glared daggers at him, and he sank back onto his
chair. He prepared himself to intervene in case things got out of hand,
but decided that he would not interfere with their battle unless it was
absolutely necessary. This was a woman-to-woman fight, and he'd best
not get involved if he could help it. Both Rei and Morrigan seemed to
have considerable fighting skill anyway. If he was lucky, neither of
them would be able to seriously injure the other.
Rei clasped her hands together as sparks started to form
on her fingers. She quickly extended her arms towards Morrigan as
she began her attack.
"Fire Soul!"
*****
The phone in Usagi's room rang as she prepared to place a
slice of pickle on top of her right eye. Another slice was already
on her left eye, and her face was covered in a slimy cream she had
bought earlier that week. She reached her hand out to pick up the
phone and held the receiver against her ear.
"Tsukino residence, this is Usagi speaking."
Ami's voice quickly started spewing from the handset's
earpiece. "Usagi, we have to get to Makoto's apartment right now!"
Usagi glanced at her mirror and noticed that the pickle on
her left eye was starting to fall off. She adjusted its position with
her free hand while she replied. "Right now? I'm kind of in the middle
of something important, Ami-chan."
Ami quickly replied, her voice showing signs of worry. "It's
very important, Usagi! My computer is getting readings that show Makoto
has just used her pen to transform into Sailor Jupiter. There are also
large amounts of dark energy floating around inside her apartment. I
think she's being attacked! I've already called Minako and she's going
there right now!"
Usagi dropped the pickle she was holding in her left hand and
immediately stood up from her chair. "Mako-chan is being attacked? Why
didn't you say so sooner? I'm on my way right now!"
Usagi slammed the phone into its receiver and grabbed her
transformation brooch from her dresser. She raised it into the air
and shouted. "Moon crystal power, make up!"
*****
"Let's all toast to the impending success of my mission!"
The large crowd at the bar all cheered at Urd's declaration,
though none of them had the foggiest idea what the heck she was talking
about. She was buying all the drinks, however, so they could care less
why she was being so generous.
Men lurked all around, waiting for her to get drunk so they
could make their move and try their luck at taking home the most
beautiful female they had ever laid eyes on. Some of them were
already thinking of giving up, however, because she had been
drinking since that afternoon and was still showing no signs of
inebriation. She raised her bottle of sake into the air and drank
deeply from it to the cheers of the crowd. She called out to the
bartender, who rushed to her side.
"Get me another bottle of sake, and another round of drinks
for everyone!"
Urd smiled to herself as she waited for her order. She had
succeeded in bringing Ranma from Nerima to Juuban, and it was only a
matter of time before her plan would become a complete success. Once
the higher-ups heard of her work, she would be promoted to goddess
first-class for sure! Right now, for her at least, life was very
good.
*****
Author's Notes
Well, here's the much-awaited chapter thirteen. Chester will
be happy to note that plot resolutions are forthcoming, and Seaver
will be happy to see all the fanservice. For those of you who were
expecting a great storyline with exciting plot development, you'll
be greatly disappointed.
I would like to thank Ditta, Hibiki, Meia, Jura, Barnette, the
smile brigade, and whomever wrote that _wonderful_ Vandread dojin I
read for being some of the biggest reasons this chapter took so long
to write. I would also like to thank my thesis adviser, whomever
invented katakana and made so many of the characters look the same,
and the anime vendor who sold me a defective copy of Dual episode
twelve for being the other big reasons it took so long.
I would also like to thank Groo, Chester, Shade, Tracy Poff,
Farmer, Griever, Egan Mandreck, Tonyloco, Fred Voeltner, Sebastian
Rynders, Kevin Henry, and Vex for all the help they have given me
for this chapter.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.