Ranma Aqua-Isekai'd, by Chaos Orchid
Chapter 12: Ranma Overheated
Cologne smiled as she saw Ranma raise the chopsticks to her lips. As in martial arts, timing was everything. "Oh, how could I forget! Seating arrangement should be girl-boy, girl-boy!"
The beautiful young woman put the move on Tsukiko and he and her had swapped chairs almost before he knew it had happened.
Ranma gave them both an annoyed look as she shoveled the stir fry into herself. When Cologne kicked him under the table and Tsukiko had to stifle a yelp of pain. Ranma's look became even more annoyed and held itself on him, daring the power-thief from making her any more pissed off at him. And that's when the effects of the two Instant Changes hit the redhead.
Ranma suddenly felt like she was melting. And the only obvious reason was it was because she was looking at the handsome man. Those eyebrows of his gave him character. And he was Japanese, too! That was a big plus. What excuse could she think of to keep looking at him? "Uh, um, you say you're interested in martial arts? I am, too, of course."
But it was still an open wound from all those she had suffered in the past. "It's my martial arts you're usin', you know!"
"I know. But all, uh, women who're a Woman Hero has to be defend the tribe and protect the secrets of Jusenkyo with whatever ability they have."
"Yeah, I understand," Ranma grumbled. "But I won't let you get away with usin' them without you havin' to go through what I hada to get mine."
"He is now your student, Ranchan," Cologne told her (and her grin widened as she saw that the redhead couldn't take her eyes off of the guy closest to her). "You're his sensei and can train him anyway you wish."
"Sensei?" 'Sensei' made her think of her own sensei, of course, her Old Man. He had had no real desire to be like him. He saw his future as an honest hero, renting his abilities out to those who needed them. Run a dojo? Ha! She should turn down the opportunity to train and touch and grapple and come into full body contact with this…fascinating guy!
Her temperature had risen so much, now, she could swear she was leaking. And she was having the strangest of strange thoughts. If she should become his superior, what would he think of her?(!) He had to think less of her when she was better than him at something. Especially something so important as martial arts! It's the guy who was supposed to be important! He should be her(!) sensei.
But there was only a period with that last thought. Her ego wouldn't allow an exclamation mark! She had to change what they talk about. She didn't want her internal conflicts to get between her and, sigh, him! "Uh, um, we shouldn't be thinkin' about sensei and kohai on a date."
"Victory," Cologne quietly gloated. "Come with me, Hairdo. It's time to take inventory in the shop."
"But what about my date with Red?!"
"She's forgotten you. And you'll forget her, once your mind is on something else. So come!"
It was Hairdo's turn to grumble. "Yes, Elder Cologne."
After pushing him ahead of her, Cologne took one last look at the awkward couple. "They need a push to get the ball rolling.
"Ranchan, why not ask Tsukiko about how he became cursed?"
"Yeah! That's something I can do!" And she placed her head in her hands and stared at the wonderful guy with a smile on her face. "So, tell me."
Tsukiko felt flattered. He knew Ranma was like him (cursed to change into a girl, almost the same redhead, in fact) and really a guy, but his instincts were triggered by the sight of this cute girl paying him attention. It had never happened to him before in his entire life! What sent it over the top was how the glutton he was coming to think Ranma was was now ignoring her food so she could put all of her attention on him! "I became cursed because my dad wanted an audition tape so he could be hired by one of those around-the-world documentary shows you see on Japanese TV."
"You dad was in show business?" Ranma hadn't seen much TV and celebrities that weren't martial artists-real martial artists, not fakes!-meant nothing to him. But now, "Wow!"
"He was a behind-the-scenes assistant producer. That meant he usually wasn't anywhere near a camera. But that was where he wanted to be: In front of the camera, a star.
"Part of his job was helping in research and that's how he came across rumors about the Cursed Training Ground of Jusenkyo."
"Hearing it was a place true martial artists went to, me and Kaguya pestered dad to take us along on his trip to China."
"Kaguya?"
"Tint. The Women Heroes like to give Chinese names to people. The real name of my oldest sister isn't Powder. It's Yue."
"Yue," Ranma repeated. He wasn't very good at remembering names, but she was feeling she should get to know the names and whatnot of the family of the guy she wanted to get to know very well. How well? She would cross that line when she got to it. But she was hot to reach it.
"We convinced him that that we didn't get to see him enough and knew more about our nanny than we did about him. Guilt tripped, he flew us all to China, Yue included.
"But there are no direct flights to Qinghai. Dad had to charter several different planes and even then, none of them would take us direct to Jusenkyo. We ended up having to hike the last leg of our journey. Me and Kaguya treated it as an adventure. Yue didn't.
"Yeah, that's what me and Pop hada do." Ranma reminded herself not to say anything about hiking clear across China or swimming from Japan. He might think she was trying to brag. (Which, of course, he would have been.) "But this is about you! What happened when you got to the cursin' springs?"
Tsukiko's mood began to darken as still vivid memories crowded in on him. "Dad wanted the tape to be as professional as we could manage. Kaguya had the camera; I was on sound; Yue was lighting. Dad had already filmed in front of several of the springs when he noticed a cave. He hadn't been recording at the time, so I had been free to do some exploring on my own. When I saw that he was now, I hurried to get the sound equipment over to him.
"That's when I saw the Phoenix bird-people flying towards us! They attacked us! I was avoiding arrows when I fell into one of the springs.
"And I came up inside the Great Hot Spring of the Jusenkyo Onsen. Minutes later, my sisters also came up out of the water." There was a long pause as he fought to hold back grief. "...we never did find out what happened to dad. But…." He fought back tears. Men don't cry. "First Mom died and then, maybe, Dad. And if he isn't? Unless he gets cursed, too, we will never see him again."
Ranma felt something he had seldom felt, compassion. She wanted to hug him and ease his pain. Whatever happened afterward would be because of mercy.
Tsukiko drew in a deep breath and got on with it. "The Phoenixites must have killed us, our other halves. That's what we were told. That's why water makes us change. Cold makes us have our cursed bodies, hot our own bodies."
His cursed body? Oh, that was right. He could look a lot like Ranma did now. Ranma's sympathy turned to jealousy. She(!) wanted to be the only one with body as cute and curvy as this one. But, hey, maybe she almost could! She would be if she could could convince him to stay away from cold water and always have hot water ready! It would be a challenge if when he was a like her he also felt like how she felt right now. But the Saotome School was all about challenges!
Only it was the Saotome School of Martial(!) Arts! How did she apply that trained knowledge to him seeing her as the better girl?! She had been developing her flirty skills earlier. But looking back on his reactions to her then, his defenses were too high to let those throw him off balance! She would have to come up with new techniques! But what?! What did she know of girl techniques?!
Kissing! Of course, kissing! Everybody, even her, knew that guys and girls kiss to show they liked each other. Kissing was First Base! Then came Second Base! Wait! Did she want him to get to second base with her?!
What would that be like? Could she imagine it? Her own slim, silky hand slid down the side of her neck and to just above her breasts. The problem was that it was her(!) hand. There was no added thrill or need. What if her hand went further down and cupped….
! She saw him looking as she was preparing to grope herself! She was hot before, but now her face was overwhelmed with prickly heat! She was burning and not in a good way. So embarrassing!
She quickly took her hand far away from all the parts a girl shouldn't be seen touching in public!
No, not Second Base! She wasn't ready for second Base!
And, yet, if he went to first base and tried to steal second, then, maybe, possibly…
"Why aren't you tryin' to kiss me, Stupid!?"
"What!? Kiss you? I can't kiss you!"
"Why not!? I ain't cute enough for you!? You like the other redhead better 'n me!? You know you gotta keep me happy, 'cuz I'm your sensei! You got any idea how much hell a sensei can put a student through!? I know! I know all the ways to do it!" Even Ranma was flabbergasted by her own sudden 180-degree mood swing! At least when all of the other sensei his pop had taken him to went mental, it was supposed to be for some arcane reason he was supposed to understand only after he had learned the lesson behind it. This time, there didn't seem to be any! All she knew was that there was a small puddle growing on her seat.
"Ranma, you're not being yourself! I should've told you! I will tell you! Cologne-"
Ranma grabbed him by the neck and forced his lips to come towards hers. This felt better! She felt more like the old Ranma-Taking the initiative! Being aggressive!
Tsukiko countered with a hand between their lips. And Ranma only kiss his palm.
Right in front of his eyes were eyes that were no longer blue, but steel gray. And the lips were less full. The face was no longer soft. And it was as big as a…guy's.
"Aaa! You're a guy again!" So close!
And the minidress had been destroyed by his sudden growth spurt. Ranma was sitting on the chair naked. And as soon as it registered with him that he was, he yanked the table over his lap.
And took his face away from Tsukiko's hand. He had come so close! Too close! Too close?
The ponytailed boy grabbed his hair and gave a cry of agony! He still had girl feelings! But his guy ones were stronger and were wanting to punish him for their betrayal! The weak, simpering, goo goo-eyed softy he had been was utterly fresh in his memory! And what was almost as bad was when she was forcing herself on him! Girls should be passive and let the guy take the lead! That was the traditional way they were supposed to-meant to-be! Modern ways were not for the Saotomes, especially for women! And he had been a woman! A woman! Being a girl physically was bad enough-But where was the man-among-men attitude he had believed he had achieved!? "I'm gonna puke."
Tsukiko gave a sympathetic, man-to-man pat on his bare shoulder. "I know exactly how you feel. And I have bad news for you. You never really overcome it."
"What?..."
"You can sort of get used to it, like you can get used to a constant ache. But you always know you weren't born a girl. You weren't meant to be a girl. You wish you can remain a guy."
"Then why-"
Tsukiko put his hand over Ranma's mouth again. "But being a girl is magic."
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NOTES:
What Cologne wanted Ranma to experience happened. The redhead went from being a self-centered girl who got off in teasing (a form of bragging) to a girl boyfriend-centered. And the girl was conflicted over how far or even whether she should get intimate with him. It can be Wham-Bam-Thank You Ma'am for the guy, but not for the girl. Even if she takes birth control pills, there can be consequences that the guy doesn't really have to deal with. The Instant Nyannichuan wakened that part of Ranma's female brain that wrestled with them.
The Saotomes heard Shampoo going on a rampage, using her chuis to destroy any place she thought the foreign redhead who had defeated her may be hiding. It had seemed a good idea to douse the campfire. And, of course, cold water got splashed on the until then male Ranma.