Son Turned Daughter, Chapter 59
An unusual disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written back in zz2002 by fanfiction author Tangent. Please see the first two chapters of this series under his pen name. This series has been written for noncommercial use only.
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Events are speeding up again! A whole slew of people, places, things that appear only appear much later in manga and/or anime canon are going to start appearing now! Son Turned Daughter has and will greatly mix and shorten the timeline.
And Ah!/Oh! My Goddess people, places, things are also being added to this mix!
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Chapter 59
Ranma had the demon in the form of a little, old ninja wrapped, right wrist and thumb left ankle and split-sandal toe, left to right. He should have been unable to do anything more. But he knew ninja tricks. The air was displaced as his body fell, lifting the redhead's skirt, which he sucked to him, which he bit into.
The redhead didn't even have the time to reach her skirt before she was head-yanked off the ledge and sent down the cliff with him! "Ranma!" Akane cried.
Ranma was not going to let the pervert get a save off of her using mid-air techniques! It spurred her to attain a speed she never had before to reach around and pulled down the zipper even as other hand was pulled the dress off.
But seeing the cutest of girls in only her lingerie motivated him all the more! And he proved to be a true master of mid-air techniques: Bouncing off a thermal and spitting out the dress, his large tongue licked the feet and toes.
Surprised by the creep, Ranma jerked her ticklish toes away from the pervert but then kicked back at the molester! Her mid-air technique was lost! And she plummeted. Now she had to concentrate on her landing.
Bending like a kicked soccer ball, the little demon met a jagged outcropping of obsidian and flexed, slicing and snapping the binding rope. It then became a race to the bottom of the mountain.
He won: And caught the redhead by a bare thigh and small of her back. "There! I've saved the damsel! I deserve a kiss!"
"This is Japan, otome don't kiss!" Her fist met his bald head! "Especially a chikushō like you!"
He dropped her. "How mean!" he said in a hurt voice. "The young have no respect for their elders any more!" he whined.
On her feet, Ranma yelled, "Earn respect!"
"In Asia?!" his voice turned harsh. "Confucianism says respect is a birthright! You, young woman, need to accede to your betters!"
"Western or Eastern – Make up your mind!"
"Both: Meiji Japan!" he declared as his battle aura around his head grew to giant size!
Ranma felt transfixed. She had to find a way to move, fight back, to–A mouth twice the size of a door engulfed her!
For all of a few seconds. As suddenly as the head had swelled at her, it shrank back, to disappear. "Ptew! Yuck! You have awful taste in lingerie! Not Silky Darlings, at all !"
"These are the fresh bra and panties I put on to be a nurse. I got them from the Doctor and they must still be clinic clean."
"It isn't that: They're unappetizing in their style! To be true silky darlings, the lingerie needs to be lacy, frilly, patterned, sheer…a work of art!"
Ranma flashed onto the lace-trimmed, shiny, emerald green panties Benten had given her. They were the first undies she had worn that had her love being a woman! Now that special feeling was being threatened by this pervert and his fetish!
"RANMA!" Akane cried for help! She had been running down the foothill but had slipped and fallen off its cliff!
Ranma was in time to catch her! Princess style. Akane looked down into the cute face that radiated womanliness. Her lips moved to
"*Choke!* Have all women lost their sense of femininity during my hermitage!? Soun has failed his daughters! Look at her! It isn't deplorable enough that she's wearing a dogi, a stiff, rough attire of canvas and hemp, but its slatternly in being ragged and frayed! Just like her face and exposed skin!"
"Well, excuse me! None of that bothered you while you were manhandling my breasts!"
"A starving man can't be choosy."
"I'll say he's not choosy: He slobbered all over my dirty feet!" Ranma told Akane as she set her down. "He's a dirty dirty, old man, and he wants to kiss me!"
Bystander Pearl-san is heard from, "This is getting tiresome, now. Here, Happy, I have something for you. Here, see? Mpfh, mpfh." She was flicking some vines with heart-shaped leaves at him.
"That isn't…, isn't…," 'Happy' said, backing away from it, afraid.
"You know what it is. I've pranked you often enough, back in the day," she grinned at the memory. "It is the reason you stayed away from Nerima and even your student's, Soun Tendō's house."
"He, he really is my dad's master?" The thought unnerved Akane.
"And Genma Saotome's," the old woman nodded to Ranma.
"And here I thought I couldn't think any worse about my Old Man!' the redhead glowered.
"Not just their master," his prided dared him to step forward, "but the Founder of the School of Indiscriminate Grappling!" .
"Indiscriminate Groping!" Ranma glared at him.
"Our dads belong to the Schools of Anything-Goes!" Akane still defended her dad's honorable reputation.
"As the children of my heirs, you two qualify to be my latest students!" he announced, happily. "Of course, as girls, you'll be learning the womanly versions."
"In your dreams–No! Not even then!" Ranma turned her back on the old man and went to the old woman. "So, this limp plant is his weakness?"
"I'd advise you to stay away from it, youngster!" Pearl-san warned. "It is a danger to anybody who knows the Neko-ken!"
"The Cat Fist?" Akane repeated.
But too offended by the thought of the pervert having fun off of the womanhood that had become sacred to her, Ranma couldn't listen. She reached to grab it. The martial artist's reflexes were quicker than the aged priestess's.
The plant's smell was slightly minty, spicy, lemony or even skunky. And wonderful! Ranma didn't want to stop breathing it in. No, being the walking appetite she was, she wanted to eat it, it smelled so go!
Akane was swift at tearing away what appeared above her friend's hand! "It's like catnip!" she warned. But the redhead wasn't listening; she opened her hand and brought the crushed remains into her mouth. But Akane slapped her back with so much force, she spit it out.
The pigtailed girl swung her head around. Her upset didn't last. A sloppy, happy smile came upon her face. She licked her face and neck and…
"She should be licking men! And I'm the only one here!" 'Happy' protested.
…her upper chest, her–she made a lunge for what Akane was holding!
Akane dropped the intoxicating plant and stomped on it. "No! Bad Ranma, bad Ranma!"
Ranma looked sadly at it…and dropped to roll in it, purring.
"It's matatabi, silver vine, and is stronger than catnip," Pearl-san told Akane. "It grows wild in these mountains."
Ranma's ears perked up.
"Is she an addict?" Akane had to ask while keeping a close eye on her. "Why is it effecting her when she hasn't been triggered by her fear of cats?!"
"Association on a subconscious level. Like Happosai was when he was in the throes of his neko-ken mania, people would try to calm him down with one of the mints cats respond to."
"Yes! Ranma told me the story of how, when she was a little boy, an old lady would use catnip to get him to come to her so she could pet him." When was that? Akane had to wonder if that was around the time Ranma met Ukyo. Hey! She couldn't have been living in the Saotome neighborhood, not after Ranma had been traumatized by his dad: Nodoka hadn't known and would never have forgiven him! Genma would already be dead by seppuku!
"Heh, heh!" Happosai laughed evilly. "A catnip can make a neko frisky! Just what I need to recharge my battery!"
"Do you have to be so cliche a villain, telling us your plan?" Pearl-san said.
"Of course I do! It's like a martial artist announcing he's doing Happō Goensatsu or Happo Daikarin, it clears the clutter from your mind! –And I'm not a villain!"
"I won't let you molest Ranma any more!" Akane declared, placing herself between the pervert and….
"Ranma!" Her friend had run off. Did she smell catnip or silver vine or whatever!?
Happosai laughed as he leaped after the pigtailed girl! He paused only to get a boost by hopping on Akane's shoulder and copping a feel.
"I said I won't let you!" Akane screamed, racing after him.
"Wait! Here's more silver vine!" Pearl-san told her.
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She found a patch of plants with a smell that reminded her to her human senses of the intoxicating whatever that old woman had had. But when she sniffed them against her nose, they did not give her the happiness high she was seeking. Memories untied to her human consciousness came to her. The almost relived warmth and kindness of the old woman was enough to have her pretend to be on her lap again. She was a wild, an outdoor cat, but if she ever were going to consider anybody her owner, it would have been that human. Who was she? Names were only important to humans.
Humans. Was she human? Maybe. She wasn't fully as cat as felt she should be. And she wasn't like she had been before. She was now female. Like the woman. She wanted to be like that woman. She would give the boy okonomiyaki….
"Pigtailed kitty!" announced the human that reminded her of a tom...cat(?)
She tore up fists full of the plants and held them in front of her!
The ugly human stopped his pounce in mid-air and dropped to the ground, far enough away from his weakness, he judged. "Are those really what you want me to think they are?" His face was calculating.
To 'prove' they were, she ate a handful.
"Ha, HA!" he laughed. "Catnip makes a cat act differently when eaten! It makes a cat more mellow; easier to approach!" And he did.
Association. The plants around her sort of smelled like what made her feel happy, and she was in a situation that threatened to make her unhappy! Maybe she should just…
He was cautious in his advancing, enjoying the male sense of power, dominance…
"Ranma!" Akane called out as she surprised herself at the adrenaline leap that put her between them. "HERE! But Pearl-san says don't eat them!"
She took in all of the aroma that the bouquet had to offer one sniff!
Holding his breath, Happosai knocked the silver vines out of Akane's hand, scattering them far from him. And the redhead. "Catnip can make a cat more ready to mate!"
"WHAT!?" Were the plants another of Pearl-san's pranks!?
Ranma saw the old tomcat in a new light. He was interesting. She welcomed his approach.
Almost.
Akane almost turned away from the sight of the happily meowing redhead biting, scratching and clawing the pervert–hyperactively! It was Neko-ken that wasn't attacking! Ranma actually was keeping her target close to her! Playing very roughly. This was the way some cats reacted to catnip?!
Finally, the runt of a man escaped being the cat's toy, to stagger and fall backwards to the ground. Deeply punctured and cut, he moaned, "What a way to collect yin energy."
Pearl-san caught up with them. "This is why it's not advised to use the Catnip Technique on Happosai unless you know what you're doing. He could be the one biting and scratching. Worse, he could be like a tomcat on the prowl, attacking males and females at the drop of a hat."
"But you…"
"...had failures with him," Pearl-san told Akane. "But they were pranks!" she said, justifying them. "Of course, I did use him to prank others," she chuckled gleefully.
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She finally came to to her name: Ranma. Ranma Saotome. Of the Indiscrim–
No, she was Ranma Saotome, of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts! Female.
She looked for the dirty, old man…and found him with Pearl-san and Akane. "What are you looking at?"
"A bug," he said.
"I still don't see it!" a frustrated Akane said.
Pearl-san said, "Now that he's told you, I'll tell you that it is there: Caught in the circle that surrounds the Gobōsei, the Onmyo symbol of the Five Phases of Chinese Metaphysics and Medicine."
"I see the pentagram," Ranma said, "but I don't see why you have a those things at its points." All except the alarm clock where a pocket-sized version of a Chinese astrological chart, a calendar, a Western astrological chart, and a sundial.
"They're what closes the trap on the time-bug!" Pearl-san said, proudly. She had set out on the camping trip to discover if she could trap one of those long-eared, fuzzy aliens. She had used the gobōsei to divine how.
"And what happens if it escapes?"
"Time travel! When, I cannot say. Perhaps the one of us with the strongest–"
Happosai jumped in and kicked the sundial away!
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Yes, Pearl-san had originally intended to prank Ranma with the silver vine she found. No, she didn't know Happosai had been trapped in a cave.
The catnip threat was one of the reasons the Tendō sisters never met their father's master when they were children. What kept Happosai away from Pearl-san and her silver vines 10½ years ago was his pride. That is one of his main motivators. He didn't like the idea of him acting less than a master of all he did. Afterwards his appearance in the famous version of the Ranma-verse, World of Elegance warned Pearl-san to not to interfere too greatly in the Jusenkyo curse which made everyday a training ground for Ranma. He/she became stronger battling Happosai. (Note, Things only shown later to have catches is very Rumiko Takahashi.)
Pearl-san first got the notion to trap rather than hit the Yggdrasil system bugs in Chapter 53, White Snake.
The time bug became trapped and stopped effecting local time about the time that Ranma discovered her nurturing side while waiting for Akane to return to the campsite.