Disclaimer: I don't own Negima or Ranma 1/2.
Rise of Prodigies
Chapter Seventy-One: Epilogue - Swordswoman, Actress, and Vampire's Happy Ends
A couple weeks after their dramatic return from Mundus Magicus and the final defeat of Cosmo Entelecheia, Ukyo was escorting boyfriend, Ryōga-kun, - Squee! I have a boyfriend! - back to the Tendo Dojo in the Nerima ward of Tokyo. Ryōga-kun would've headed home sooner but had taken his time due to a combination of not really liking where he lived and a need to wait for Eva-san to build him a new artifact to contain the power of his curse which left him getting lost, often insanely so, at every turn. Hiko Seijūrō XV, master of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, could commiserate with the former reason, the Tendos sounded like awful people. As for the latter consideration, with all the preoccupation with the ritual to properly anchor Mundus Magicus to reality, something which Eva-san had helped Ranchan and Negi-sensei with, the building of said artifact had been very much a secondary priority for the vampire and thus had taken her some time to deliver on.
Now though, armed with a compass device provided by the Dark Evangel and further enchanted by Ranchan's Outsider power that would stop his curse from teleporting him away the moment he turned a corner, Ryōga-kun was finally able to return to the Tendos. Thus, early in the night, Ukyo was walking beside her boyfriend as they headed towards the traditional Japanese property that was theTendo home and dojo.
"You know you don't actually have to go back to the Tendos, right?" Ukyo asked her boyfriend leadingly for one last time as they walked their last stretch towards their destination. "I'm sure if you said so, we could arrange somewhere in Mahora for you to stay and send some movers to get your stuff."
"I know." Ryōga-kun said with an apologetic grin. "But I made a commitment to train under Happosai-sensei and I intend to live up to it. Besides, that man might be a super pervert, but when it comes to martial arts he's the real deal."
"Yeah, but you don't need to live at the Tendos to study under him, do you?"
"No, but he lives there, so it's convenient." Ryōga-kun countered. "And more importantly, it's what I agreed to when I became his student. And I am a man of my word."
Ukyo sighed in disappointment. "You are so stubbornly honorable, you know that right, Ryōga-kun?"
"I am." The bandana wearing martial artist said with a smirk. "But you love that about me."
"True." The young master of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū admitted with a blush.
"See," Ryōga-kun said with a self-satisfied laugh even as he glanced skyward in the general direction of the Tendo property.
"Don't get too proud." Ukyo countered as she glanced out of the corner of her eye to see what had caught her boyfriend's attention.
"Oh? Why shouldn't I?"
"'Cos one thing alone is hardly enough for me to love you."
"But you do, don't you?" Ryōga-kun asked confidently.
Blushing even harder, Ukyo nodded. "I do."
"Then would you be willing to show it?" Ryōga-kun asked with a grin as he leaned in for a kiss.
Now, normally, Ukyo would hardly be opposed to kissing her boyfriend. It was not exactly the first time. However, not right now. Not under current circumstances. So instead of letting their lips meet, she placed a hand against Ryōga-kun's and stopped him from closing the remaining distance whilst pointing up into the sky directly above them.
Pulling away with a frown, Ryōga-kun looked up in the direction of the DJI Phantom quadcopter drone flying above them, with its underslung camera zeroed in on them. Seeing that he had understood what had prompted her refusal, Ukyo proceeded to explain.
"I'm not against kissing." Ukyo said, offering Ryōga-kun an apologetic smile. "Not even public displays of affection, but not for the entertainment of others. And not when they might be recording. I would rather not have us kissing being uploaded to the internet or otherwise shared with others for the titillation of strangers."
"I get it." Her boyfriend nodded understandingly even as he blushed brilliantly. "I wouldn't want that either."
No sooner had he said that did, with a bob in the air that somehow conveyed disappointment, the drone retreated back behind the walls of the Tendo property.
"Now that it's gone~!" Ukyo said teasingly before she quickly leaned forward and pecked Ryōga-kun on his cheek.
"Is that all?" Her boyfriend asked with a pout.
"For today," The swordswoman said with a coy smile. "It's late. So why don't you head in? I'll see you soon."
Ryōga-kun's pout deepened but nodded. "Okay. Bye, Ukyo-chan. See you soon."
"Bye, Ryōga-kun!" Ukyo returned, offering her boyfriend a wave as he began making his way towards the front door of the Tendo dojo.
He waved back and soon disappeared into the traditional Japanese home that was his current residence. Only for him to begin shouting angrily at his housemates.
"You bastards!? Why were you spying on me!? Do you know what you did!?" Ukyo heard her incensed boyfriend demand furiously.
Shaking her head and chuckling at the turn of events, Ukyo turned around to walk back to the train station to head back home to Mahora. All whilst thinking of how nice it was to have a boyfriend and walking with a skip in her step.
"You're heading out?" Kotarō heard Natsumi-nee ask as she eyed him slipping on his sneakers.
"Yup."
"Huh? But why?" Natsumi-nee asked with a frown. "I mean Chizu-nee and Iincho are out too, so why are you going too and leaving me all alone in the dorm?"
Because it's all part of the plan that I dreamed up with the help of Chizu-nee and Ayaka-nee. Kotarō thought but did not say. Instead, he just offered his Minstra a playful smirk.
"You could come with me if you want." The Inu hanyō offered. "But it's not like I'm going anywhere interesting."
"So where exactly are you going?" Natsumi-nee pressed.
Kotarō just shrugged. "It's a surprise."
Natsumi-nee pouted at this and tapped her chin consideringly for a long moment as she seemingly debated on whether she should accept his offer to join him. Kotarō waited patiently for her to make her decision and was fortunate to not have to wait long.
"Okay. I'll join you." Natsumi-nee said with a nod as she made her decision and she began hastily slipping on her shoes.
"'Kay. I'll wait for you."
"Grocery shopping?" Natsumi-nee asked as Kotarō made his selection of what he needed from the supermarket's wares.
"Yeah." Kotarō nodded as he finished his selection and put his picks into the basket he was carrying. "I did say that I wasn't going anywhere interesting."
"You did." Natsumi-nee said with a sigh. "But why are you buying groceries? I mean, it's not like we're running out of anything."
"It's a surprise." Kotarō said, continuing to play coy.
"You mentioned you were working on a surprise already but what exactly are you working on?"
Kotarō just shook his head. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, would it?"
Natsumi-nee just pouted.
"Okay, so what you bought from the supermarket were ingredients you could use to cook something?" Natsumi-nee asked as she watched Kotarō using the groceries he'd bought to cook his planned surprise.
"Yup."
"What are you cooking though? And why are you cooking anyway?"
Kotarō just smirked. "Like I'm going to ruin the surprise at this point? Just go sit down already and wait. You'll see soon enough."
Pouting adorably, something she was doing a lot today, she nodded and retreated out of the kitchen.
"Here!" Kotarō said to Natsumi-nee as he served lunch at the table that functioned as their dorm's dining table. Lunch that took the form of plates of Japanese chicken curry rice for both of them.
"What's this for?" Natsumi-nee asked, looking at the meal curiously.
Kotarō scratched his cheek. "It's just my way of saying thanks, ya know? For putting up with all the insanity that knowing me put you through. You know, for all the crazy stuff you dealt with in Mundus Magicus?"
Natsumi-nee shot him a look of disbelief.
"Look, Chizu-nee and Ayaka suggested it when I asked them for advice to thank you for all the help." Kotarō added hastily.
Natsumi-nee nodded, offering him a smile which made him give one right back. "Well, you may be a brat at times-"
"Oi."
"-But, if it's you? I-I think I'd happily put up with it, forever." She blushed and probed the meal.
Kotarō felt his own blush rise up, his dog ears standing on end as he picked up on the, presumably, unintended implication in her words. F-Forever?! Is that!? Does she mean-?!
Natsumi-nee must have realized it too as her face went atomic red, and she began stuttering nonsense as she tried to say something to correct herself. However, she seemed unable to find the words and soon fell silent.
They thus just stared at each other in awkward silence, the meal nearly forgotten as the world around them was all but forgotten as their attention was entirely focused on each other.
A silence was broken only moments later when the theater girl cleared her throat and said, "W-W-Well! We should e-eat before the food gets c-cold!"
She began to dig in, stuffing her face as she did.
Nodding in agreement, not trusting his own voice, Kotarō wolfed his own meal down too. Yet, he couldn't stop smiling as Natsumi-ne… Natsumi-chan did not correct her statement.
Within the homely cottage of her Eva-chan, Ranma and her beloved mate sat in the middle of the living room. Dressed in Chinese style pajamas decorated with pretty embroidered patterns as she sat on a comfortable rug, Ranma was focusing her reality warping of her nature of her power to dispel the curse that bound her vampiric love to Mahora and sealed away her magic.
"Ranma, honestly! This is the first time you've managed to work around your overprotective parents to let us spend time together and this is what you want to do?" Eva-chan asked as she sat crossed legged across from Ranma in her own puffy pajamas. A long sleeved vintage style pajama with plenty of lace in a matching pink to Ranma's own sleepwear that made Eva-chan look delectably adorable.
Much to Ranma's annoyance, she was currently being grounded by her parents. Worse! After their public makeout session after the ritual to anchor Mundus Magicus to reality, Ranma's initial grounding for what she'd done since in their absence after they were kidnapped - Which was wholly unfair! Yes, she'd committed genocide, but she'd resurrected everyone she killed and wanted to be revived didn't she!? - had been extended! Fortunately for her though, her parents did not realize that among the many, many things she could do as an Outsider now, that included being in more than one place at once. So even as one instance of herself served out her grounding in her dorm under Haruna's watchful eye, another was happily able to be here with her mate enjoying Eva-chan's company and doing what needed to be done.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind the curse being gone and all, but Nagi's here in Mahora. Make the fop take care of it. It's the least he can do."
"Yes, he could, but he got possessed and forgot about you. So I'm not going to take any risks of him somehow messing up. Again." Ranma said firmly. "I refuse to let you suffer this curse a moment longer."
Thanks to the Infernus Scholasticus (School Hell) curse that Nagi-san had placed on Eva-chan as punishment for her stalking him, Ranma's mate had been trapped to attend Mahora Girls' Junior High for fifteen years. Considering she was a centuries old vampire and had no need to attend any school in the first place, that was fifteen years too many in Ranma's opinion. And all thanks to Nagi-san ending up getting possessed by the Mage of the Beginning and thus in no position to release him after she'd finished a stint as a junior high schooler like he'd promised.
And now that the distraction of making Mundus Magicus real was out of the way, there was no reason to delay getting rid of it. The only reason she had waited as long as she had was because of the pressure to deal with the latter issue which was supposedly more important from her parents, Ala Alba, Ala Rubra, and almost literally everyone. That said, now that the so-called more pressing issue was dealt with, Ranma decided that there was no further reason to delay. The real reason she had delayed at all was because Eva-chan had previously communicated to her the desire to complete the school year as her classmate and thus there was really no rush. That said…
The time for delay is over! Ranma thought with determination.
"You're determined to go ahead then?"
"Absolutely." Ranma confirmed with a nod.
"If that's the case then…" Her love said as her icy blue eyes shimmered with mischief as she crawled forward to the crossed legged Ranma and pushed herself into the Outsider's lap. "I have a titillating idea~ Instead of just getting rid of Nagi's stupid curse, why not put a new curse on me? One of your design?"
Ranma raised an eyebrow at her mate, who had by now maneuvered herself so that they were nose to nose now. Ah, Eva-chan smelled nice as always. It made her just want to gobble her up. In fact…
"Ranma, stop! I'm being serious!" Her mate said with a laugh as she batted away Ranma's playful attempt to bite her.
"Like what?" The Mage of the Abyss asked as she dutifully pulled away but not before one last exaggerated clamping of her teeth that had Eva-chan giggling with amusement.
"Oh, one that binds me to you." The vampire said as she calmed, smoothly transitioning from laughter to sporting a minx-like smile on her soft pink lips that was very distracting.
"Um, Eva-chan, we already have a mating bond, so-"
Eva-chan waved her hand dismissively like a queen. Which she was. Ranma's Queen at least. "Yes, yes, I know that. Sadly, due to your parents' prohibition on us having raw, passionate hardcore sex until you turn eighteen? We can't complete it for years! So I want some reassurances."
"Besides," The vampire continued even as she suddenly looked away shyly, her pale cheeks taking on a pink hue and a delightful yet lustful smile spread across her face. "It's a little kinky to have you holding my leash~"
The Outsider pondered on this. It wasn't too outrageous. She could understand her mate's desire for some reassurance in their relationship considering their lack of a proper mating bond. Whilst she had no intention of doing so, it was not unheard of for prospective mates to abandon their partners during the interim period between the initial formation of the bond and its completion during sexual consummation of their relationship. Most of the time that was because they were killed but sometimes it involved them just walking away. Add in that as an Outsider, Ranma could easily dispel the nascent bond between them, Eva-chan must be feeling terribly anxious and insecure about their relationship.
Taking that into account, Ranma offered her mate a reassuring smile. "Well, if you insist-"
"Which I do!"
"-then I'm okay with it. What exactly do you want the curse to do?"
"Oh, decisions, decisions~" Eva-chan purred like a fat cat given cream and proceeded to nestle into Ranma's arms and press their svelte bodies together.
"First, I want it so we can only be a certain distance apart, thus we cannot be separated. Say, ten kilometers to be safe? If I get further than that? I instantly teleport to your side!"
"Alright, makes sense, but I will make it so the curse won't take hold if you are near one of my instances."
"Agreeable." Eva-chan nodded and gave a cheeky smile. "The curse can also make me subordinate to you~"
This time Ranma rolled her eyes. Even making some eye stocks to give her an additional five eye rolls. "I'm not making a clause that makes you into my submissive little slave, Eva-chan. No matter how kinky you think it would be."
Her girlfriend pouted. "Fine! I still have my kinks to be sated though!"
"Okay, I know that, but there's no need to work them into something like a binding curse. We can sate all your fetishes in a safe yet mundane manner."
"Ugh, how utterly droll! You're lucky you're so cute, my dear."
"But I am and you love me for it." Ranma said shamelessly, perfectly confident in her beloved's affections for her.
"That I am." Eva-chan said with a sigh. "Which is why I'm letting you get away with making this new curse so boring even though it's the perfect chance to have some fun."
Ignoring her mate's attempt to nudge her into doing something they'd both regret, Ranma instead offered the vampire something she'd truly appreciate.
"How about I make the curse give us the elements of a completed mating bond that we can't do yet?"
Nuzzling into her neck, Eva-chan hummed against her skin, sending pleasant vibrations down Ranma's spine. "I would like that. Being able to share my thoughts and emotions with my ever so delectable mate sounds wonderful."
"Good and I'll make it two-way."
Eva-chan gave her a raunchy smirk at that.
"So what happens after we finish cementing our mate bond in the future?"
Ranma paused and gave a hum of thought, organizing her thoughts. "We can revisit the matter when it becomes relevant, but for now? We should just settle with the curse."
"Very well, my love. Now!" Eva-chan declared, booping Ranma's nose, "Proceed with casting the curse!"
"Yes yes, my evil and twisted mistress of the night." Ranma obeyed with amusement as she did just that.
With a flex of her will, a magic circle appeared below the two that glowed an acidic green and was covered in runes from the dead world from which the prisoners who had first populated her Abyssal Labyrinth originated as Ranma began to exercise her power. Now, the straightforward way of doing things would be to dispel the Infernus Scholasticus currently binding Eva-chan and then casting the new curse, but the newly fully ascended Outsider wanted to test her powers a little. So she instead went with a slightly more complicated approach and instead reconfigured the Infernus Scholasticus to suit her purposes instead. Considering it had sunk its roots deep into her mate over the last fifteen years, doing things this way even served to strengthen the foundations of the new curse even more.
The distance component… Set. Pseudo-bond… Set. Ranma thought, running through a mental checklist of what needed to be done. And the placement?
Well, technically there was no need for a site to serve as an anchor for the curse. Ranma could just bind it directly to Eva-chan's existence. However, feeling cheeky she created a slime pseudopod and had it coil around the vampire's neck before having it detach from her body and transform into a snug fitting black choker.
Said choker being a cursed item that only Ranma could remove. If Eva-chan wanted to be kinky, well… the Outsider was more than happy to give into her wanton desires. After all, she wanted a leash, so why not give her a collar that it was attached to?
Eva-chan made a noise of surprise, but felt her neck and soon found the addition that Ranma had added to it. Something that prompted her to grin widely at Ranma, lust dancing in her eyes. "Oh you naughty thing."
"I try." Ranma giggled as the magic circle faded away.
And then Eva-chan pounced on her and pulled her into a passionate kiss. The first of many, many, many kisses they shared that afternoon.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And there we have it! Eva has been freed! And I guess Kotarō and Natsumi are getting along. But hey, I'm an Eva-chan fan so you go girl! And of course Ukyo got some good things for her too. Happy endings (not those kinds!) all around!
Nameless: Hooray for Eva! And yay for Kotarō and Natsumi getting on the way towards their canon happy end! As for Ukyo and Ryōga, it was nice to show their relationship is still going well. As for the Tendos spying on them… Tell me that even the canon!Tendos, Nabiki if no one else, wouldn't do it.
And yes, Eva is a little… repressed so she has a lot of kinks to catch up on. Puppets only go so far for her. XP
Nameless: She definitely is. If you want to have an idea just how badly repressed she is, look forward to an omake/special chapter (based on length considerations) we have planned for the end of the epilogue arc.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!