Last
time: Instead of ending in a 'blood bath', the fiancées
managed
to reach an agreement about giving up on Ranma..
with
unexpected results. Will they regret what they've done
in
the morning? Will life in Nerema ever be the same? Read on
to
find out..
"WITHOUT
RANMA" Part Three
By
Shikoku and Steel
Akane
awoke slowly the next morning. She blinked in
brightness
of the early morning sunlight that streamed in
through
the windows of Ukyo's restaurant. She stretched,
feeling
deliciously languorous and sated; a smile like a cat
that'd
just eaten a big fat canary spread across her lovely
face.
She moved her arms out to either side in her stretch
and
her knuckles brushed over warm flesh.
She
blinked. What the heck was that? She pulled back a
corner
of a sleeping bag to reveal Ukyo's sleeping form
laying
face up. Akane blinked again. She pulled back the
sleeping
bag a little more and to her shock, found the
brunette
was completely naked!
Clamping
a hand over her mouth to cover her gasp and to keep
from
screaming in surprise, Akane suddenly remembered
EVERYTHING
that had happened the night before. The talking,
the
kissing, the talking some more, the kissing some more,
the
hugging, the touching, and the- She blushed profusely.
Looking
down, she realized that she too, was naked.
Ukyo
shivered in the cold she felt at being uncovered,
mumbled
about being cold, then snuggled up to Akane's side,
her
arm wrapping itself about the short haired girl's waist
in
familiar manner, as thought she'd done it before.
Akane
swallowed. She had no idea WHAT to think. Dozens of
things
were swirling around in her mind and it was nearly
impossible
for her to sort through them all. That and the
fact
that she could feel Ukyo's warm breath across her
collar
bone was incredibly distracting...
"Morning!"
a cheerful voice greeted her. Akane looked up to
see
that Shampoo had entered from the kitchen. The
dark-haired
girl noticed the tray of breakfast that the
amazon
carried, before realizing that Shampoo also wasn't
wearing
anything. Shampoo didn't seem to mind her nakedness
at
all as she set the tray down on one of Ukyo's tables and
grinned
at the shocked girl's stare. "Is good night, yes?"
Shampoo
asked.
Akane
blushed heavily, and to her chagrin, found herself
nodding.
"Come.
Eat. Regain strength." Shampoo said, beckoning Akane
to
the table. "Will need it for later." Her grin
caused
Akane's
blush to deepen.
The
dark haired girl extracted herself from Ukyo and wrapped
one
of sleeping blankets about her slender frame. She walked
over
to the table and inspected breakfast. Once she was
close
enough, Shampoo pulled the sleeping bag away and
tossed
it back to where they'd been sleeping. "It too late
for
that Akane." she said with a sly grin, and kissed the
girl
deeply.
She
has a point. a new part of Akane that had been born
last
night, whispered in her mind. Akane kissed back and was
disappointed
when this time, Shampoo kept it short.
The
amazon smiled at the other girl's obvious
disappointment.
She laughed. "Hiya, Shampoo always thought
Akane
be little dynamo in bed, but out of bed too?" She gave
the
girl a wink.
Akane
blushed again. This openness was a new thing for her
and
it'd probably be a long while before she stopped
blushing.
She had to admit however, that she was enjoying
herself.
She hadn't felt quite so.. happy, and.. free...
since
Ranma first showed up on her doorstep. It was a
feeling
she didn't want to lose.
Shampoo
must have been feeling it too, for ever since last
night,
she had dropped whatever hostility she had for Akane
and
Ukyo. Akane never even imagined how warm the amazon
really
was underneath her ice-cold exterior. It was almost
like
Shampoo was a whole different person, which left Akane
wondering
if Shampoo had always been this way, or if her and
Ukyo's
acceptance had changed her.
Ukyo
stirred from her sleep, missing the feeling of the warm
bodies
beside her that she'd fallen asleep with. She rubbed
her
face into her pillow and opened her eyes. Realizing she
was
alone, she sat up a bit and looked around, half
wondering
if what she remembered had only been a dream. She
spotted
Akane and Shampoo standing by a table that had what
smelled
like breakfast laid out on it.
A
lazy, sleepy smile crossed her face she saw that both were
naked.
Yawning, she stretched, then got up and made her way
over
to them. "MMmm, morning guys." she greeted, slinging
her
arms casually about Akane. Her chin rested on the girl's
shoulder
and she smiled happily.
At
first Akane jumped, still not completely used to that,
but
then she relaxed at the familiarity it held as well.
"Morning.."
she finally said.
Shampoo
nodded her morning as well. "Ukyo sleep good, too?"
The
purple-haired beauty smiled.
Ukyo
yawned hugely and her grin held a hint of left-over
sleepiness
to it. "Yep. Slept great. Best I've had in a long
time."
she answered. And it was true, too, this had been the
first
time since she'd left her father that she hadn't spent
completely
alone. While it could be argued that Konatsu
could
be considered company, Ukyo just couldn't really
RELATE
to him. There was a certain.. closeness that just
wasn't
there. This was the first time in her life that she
actually
felt close to anybody.
Shampoo
smiled. "Is good. Now eat up both of you, we have
busy
day ahead of us." By the evil smile on her face, Ukyo
and
Akane could only guess what Shampoo had in store for
them.
It made them blush.
Both
girls nodded and they all sat down together at the
table
to eat the great breakfast Shampoo had so
thoughtfully
prepared.
That
became the start of a weekend ritual among the three
girls.
Time
soon passed by, each day bringing about changes for
Akane,
Ukyo and Shampoo. Some of these changes were obvious,
but
others were very subtle.
They
never did tell anyone about what had happened on that
day.
Nor did any of them officially renounce their
engagement
to Ranma. Still none of them spent any time
chasing
him either. They were only engaged to him by name,
and
that was merely a cover to hide who they were really
attached
to..
One
of the obvious changes for Akane was that she had
decided
to change her wardrobe. She now wore a gray
sleeveless
shirt that looked like a jerkin, but was made out
of
a t-shirt like material and had a t-shirt style collar. A
black
belt gathered it at her waist. Under the overhang of
her
shirt that stuck out under her belt, was a pair of
kung-fu
pants like the ones Ranma wore, that matched her
hair
color. She had black slipper-shoes on her feet. There
were
black bracers on her forearms and under her short hair
was
a yellow headband.
When
asked why the change from her family and even Ranma
(who
actually seemed to like the look) Akane had said that
she
was just tired of wearing skirts and dresses. Which in a
way,
was true..
Ukyo
had also changed her wardrobe. She wore a white jersey
t-shirt
with blue sleeves that was cut at midriff and showed
part
of her abs and blue jean, cut-off shorts that hung low
and
hugged her hips. She had taken to wearing high-top
sneakers
and a blue baseball cap that she wore with her hair
in
a pony-tail out the hole in the back. However, she still
wore
her battle spat on her back..
Shampoo
had the least extreme wardrobe change. She just went
back
to wearing Chinese mini-skirt dresses that showed off
her
long legs and was tight around her breasts, as if
certain
someones had told her that she had great of both..
Which they had, and she REALLY did.
Besides
appearance, the three girls also spent their time
differently
than they used to.. Akane now simply ignored
Ranma,
and spent a lot of time at Ucchans, where the
brunette
helped her with her cooking (among other things)
and
at the Neko Hanten, where the amazon worked with her
martial
arts skills (among other things). Slowly but surely,
Akane
got better at both, and at, well, other things..
Ukyo
gladly helped Akane with the cooking, but she quickly
came
to realize that the girl could just NOT be left alone
for
even a SECOND. Poor though her martial arts skills
maybe,
that girl was DAMN quick when came to reaching for
the
WRONG ingredients. By the third lesson Ukyo discovered
that
they ONLY way for Akane to reach for the wrong stuff,
was
to simply not have it nearby. So whenever Akane came by
for
a cooking lesson (and other things) Ukyo would have the
WHOLE
kitchen cleared of everything BUT the proper
ingredients.
How
Ukyo dealt with Akane's habits to over use (or under use
as
the case may be) ingredients, was that before they began
cooking,
she and Akane would go over the recipe and
PREMEASURE
everything into small bowls. She'd managed to
convince
Akane that that was a good idea by showing her some
American
shows where the professionals did the same thing.
And
where Ranma was concerned Ukyo had just stopped actively
pursuing
him. At school she now spent all her time either
studying
or with Akane. When Ranma came over for a free
meal,
Ukyo actually made him PAY for it instead of letting
him
mooch off her. (She'd talked to Nabiki and discovered
she'd
been losing WAY too much money by letting him do
that.)
And when he groused about something Akane had done,
Ukyo
would DEFEND her to him. Something he found
completely
astonishing..
He
also found it suspicious when Shampoo stopped crashing
into
the Tendo Dojo asking him for a date or sneaking into
his
bed at night. In fact, Ranma hardly saw the amazon
anymore,
unless she ran into him while on a delivery, which
she
literally did by racing her bicycle over him.
Instead
of wasting her time trying to win Ranma over to
marry
her, Shampoo spent it waitressing at the Cat Cafe,
secretly
saving up her money for the future, rejecting
Mousse
each time he made an attempt to ask her out, and
working
on her martial arts. She had decided that it wasn't
fair
that her great-grandmother had taught Ranma and even
Ryoga
a few of the amazon's special techniques, but never
had
taught her, a true amazon. So Shampoo had decided to
teach
herself. She had already roughly perfected the
Chestnut
Fist, and was getting ready to start her training
on
the Breaking Point..
Meanwhile,
she also spent a lot of time practicing with
Akane,
where she did something Ranma never dared to do,
ACTUALLY
SPARRED with her. Neither girls actually liked
bashing
on each other, but they knew it was essential to
getting
better.. Besides they always made up for it
afterwards..
Sometimes even Ukyo came to a practice, then
things
got really interesting..
Shampoo
also spent a lot of her extra free time at Ucchans
where
she waitressed for the brunette and attracted some
more
(male) customers. The amazon didn't ask for any money
for
her work, but she WAS paid well after work.. in various
highly
pleasant ways thought up by her favorite bosslady..
So
after three months of this, Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo had
found
quite a niche for themselves. However, Ranma, though
brain-dead
as he is, (when not fighting somebody) was
starting
to wonder what was going on with his fiancées...
To Be Continued...