Son Turned Daughter, Chapter 12
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 2002 by fanfiction author Tangent., and his characters Megumi, Yasushi and Ayane have, likewise, been borrowed without permission. 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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Tangent wrote that he gave up on his story (in 20004) because of the angst that was developing around it. I am getting through that. Things take a brighter turn eventually. (Skip to the chapter, Courting Ranma and see,)
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Chapter 12
Six-year-old Kodachi had made six-year-old Akane kiss her. Shampoo had kissed Ranma on the cheek. Ranma had blown Hiroshi a kiss. Ranma had kissed the Burin-kun on the lips, but the pig hadn't returned the kiss. For Ranma and Akane, this was their First – real, mutual – Kiss. This was the Kiss, the kiss that counted.
And they had done it on a platform in front of the whole school. A school at war, boys rebelling against the Lysistrata Rule: No girl dates a boy who gets into fights. The Truce Enforcement Club had seen that the girls hadn't. They had organized the girls to see they were protected from boys who wouldn't take no for an answer. This was how the Hentai Horde was born, battling each other and the few girls not under the club's protection. Akane Tendō was their prime, number one target, the prize date of prize dates. Until the pigtailed redhead had arrived.
And here Akane was, the girl that had become the obsession of all these boys, kissing and being kissed by the boy all the rest wished they were at that moment!
And all the girls, now months without dates themselves, yearned to be in the arms and feel the lips of the boy their battle–fevered minds knew had to be handsome and charming and everything that would make him the prize date of prize dates!
The Lysistrata Rule was over. Their teenage needs could now no longer let it continue!
But how could the girls trust again the boys who had attacked them! How could the boys trust the girls that had defeated their male prides! Something had to happen for the reconciliation to begin.
And that something was before them: Their now idealized couple. Romeo and Juliet, what more romantic figure was there for a girl? But for the boys? What could this total stranger do to convince them he represented them? Was he a guy who could help each sex understand the other? Who was he?
"Who are you to kiss Akane(!)?! Speak or feel my blade!" Kuno cried, leaping onto the platform.
So surprised, then so overwhelmed by the realization of her greatest, oldest fantasy, and on a stage, no less, Akane had returned the kiss before she knew she was. She didn't want reality to return. But it began to when his lips left hers.
"Who am I? Can't you read the shirt? I'm Romeo," the handsome boy said to the delight of the girls. "Romeo Saotome, of the Anything-Goes School." And he looked at his Juliet. "Just like Akane."
"Saotome? Then you are related to Ranma Saotome(!)?"
"She's my sister!" He then made sure Akane was out of harm's way. "You've been botherin' her! Stop it, or you won't just have to answer to her but ME! Me especially!" And he took Kuno's bokken away in a blink.
"My sword! How dare you desecrate the very symbol and substance of my samurai heritage!"
Romeo the peasant warrior glared at the idiot born to be high-and-mighty. He could snap the bokken in one hand.
"Not your samurai whatever. Your male pride. Say it! Say I'm hurtin' your stinkin' male pride!"
Kuno stood there, stonefaced, prideful, representing his ancient lineage. And all of the boys watching who could still sharply feel their near mortally wounded prides.
"Here!" Romeo thrust it back into his hands. "Too freakin' much of everybody's stinkin' pride has been damaged today! Mine especially! And martial arts techniques ain't gonna heal that."
No sooner does he grasp that his sword in his hands, but Kuno attacked. "You must be taught to never touch a man's sword!"
"Akane! Ikuko! The rest of you girls! Get back! –Kuno, I won't let you hurt no girls!"
Kuno was kicked from the platform...he landed in the middle of boys trapped within a wall of girls with weapons, weapons that had once belonged to the boys themselves.
First one girl, then others, gave the sports gear back to the boys.
Some boys found themselves saying, Sorry. Some did not. But they found other ways. The resentments were melting. Lessons were being learned by both sides on the school grounds.
The war could soon be over. And if it were, there would only be one true loser. Vulcan Enterprises would not only be made to give back the betting money it collected, it would have to make good on bets that didn't depend on which side won in this Battle of the Sexes. The worst for Nabiki's company would come from the compulsive gamblers who couldn't pass up the 44–to–1 odds she had given on Gosunkugi winning at Anything. The bully-bait had won by surviving the day unharmed.
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But the storm had not passed. The Headmaster dropped onto the stage on a pogo stick!(?)!
He was no longer dressed like an Indian Maharaja, now it was an American Cowboy, complete with boots, jeans, chaps, fringed shirt, vest and, in his outstretched hand, a Stetson. "YeeHaw! This bronc is bucking something fierce today!" It was almost a minute before he could get off the pogo stick. He would've fallen if he didn't then use it as a staff.
"You're spoiling a mood, here!" Akane screamed attacking the total, great, insane idiot!
Or would have, if Ranma hadn't lifted her up in his arms by her thighs and back. It was a mighty struggle of balances as he adjusted and readjusted for every violent kick and thrash Akane did to break free and bash Kuno's dad!
"Hey, 'Romeo', I still have my hands free! Do you want me to hit you, too(!)?!"
"Do it, then. But we need to hear this, I think."
"You dogies better be sure and hear what your Wrangler has to say! As the Headmaster, yesterday, I lassoed the Truce Enforcement Club! I am corralling you all into detention for mavericking in unauthorized activities!"
Ikuko in her geisha haircut stood up to the man who had given it to her. "This school activity isn't being conducted by the Truce Enforcement Club! That club has been disbanded. There is no further need for it. The Lysistrata Rule is over!"
Kuno, Sr. looked at her in wonder. Had he actually won at something? No, he wouldn't believe it! "Tell me, then, filly, who is taking the brand for this here shindig?"
"The Date Management Club!"
"Date Management?!" the said the crowd that made it a roar.
"The Headmaster now disbands the Date Management Club!"
"Without dates, there are going to be no "dogies" for the Headmaster to wrangle," Ikuko said.
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It took several minutes to get some sense into the oldest Kuno's head. Maybe they had said something he had misunderstood and, so, made sense to him. In the end, at last, he agreed that the club could continue.
Happy to be defeated, the Headmaster Wrangler pogoed off into...well, it was still noon. But no longer High Noon.
The Showdown was over. The school had won.
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Ikuko Kuonji spoke to all the students gathered on the main sports field. "The Date Management Club chaperones without chaperoning! We will ensure that every girl is treated right! In return for the cooperation of the boys, we will help in any way we can to see that their dates go smoothly. Counselling will be available, including how your date wants to be treated. Questionnaires will be made available. Sometime. Soon.
"But first! We have the very first, inaugural dates the club will manage! It is time for the raffle to see who will date Akane Tendō and Ranma Saotome!"
Her arm outstretched she turned in a flourish. Her wide Emcee's grin fell when she saw Romeo holding both hands of his Juliet. "I'm sorry," she quietly said.
Romeo stepped away, his hands clinging to hers as long as he could. "You gave your word of honor. I gave my word of honor. It's only one date." And then he leaped and was gone.
The romantics in the audience were greatly touched. Some were overwhelmed by sentiment. But, then, they didn't know the real Saotome.
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The red-haired Ranma hurried out of the auditorium in her school dress. The only way anybody would know she was wearing bloomers was when she had to leap or kick, she would no longer go without panties again! Well, not unless there was a freaking good tactical reason!
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"AAAA! NO! This is my nightmare!" Akane screamed at the top of her lungs.
Ranma screeched to a halt centimeters, inches away from leaping onto the platform, her hands in warding signs. It didn't sound like her friend liked who had won a date with her.
"I'm sorry, Akane. But the winner won fair and square. We cannot change the rules on the very first date under the Date Management Club. As I said – Listen, everybody in school! – we'll do our best to see that the date goes smoothly! And remember, Akane did not choose this date! Or Ranma. (Oh, please, let at least her winner be a winner.)
'Now, has anybody seen Ranma Saotome? Is she with her brother, Romeo?"
"I, I'm here!" Ranma announced, landing on shaking legs."Bring it on! I'm ready for the worst!" It had to be Kuno! She still owed him a debt. The Something wouldn't leave her alone until she gave him a kiss. Or maybe she had to give him more, as interest for not paying off the debt when she first had the chance to.
As the drum spun, she suddenly realized it wasn't going to be Kuno! The rules said, Only those who hadn't fought Akane could enter! She was saved!
"And the winning ticket is…?" Ikuko turned to Akiko who shared the ticket stub with Umeko and Emiko as well. Finally, they had to tell the waiting audience, "We're having trouble reading this handwriting. It may be, uh, "Good Fang"?"?
"We did it! All the other clubs are losers! The Alpha Male Club gets a date with Ranma!"
"No, you don't! You fought Akane! You don't qualify!" the redhead screamed. Akane was right! This WAS turning into a nightmare!
"But the guy we bought the ticket for hasn't! You have to give your date to Ryōga!"
"Ryōga!? The guy who tried to~" Suddenly eerie, icy creeps ran up and down her soft, jiggly body. The Something was back – with a vengeance! This had to be her punishment for not kissing Kuno!
The Date Management Club members who were not Akane and Ranma looked at each other, quickly conferencing with their eyes and gestures. Ikuko finally gave in.
"Okay. Where is Ryōga?! Is he here somewhere?! Alpha Males, do
you know where he is?"
"No," Taichi said. "He disappeared after he defeated us."
"I defeated you!" Ranma yelled. But nobody was really paying attention to that, then.
"We can't wait! These two dates are the two most important ones this club will probably ever have! Somebody must win and go on a date Today! We're spinning the drum and draw out another raffle ticket!"
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After the drawings, Sayuri and Yuka and Makoto and Shikako came up to the prizes to give their condolences. "We're so sorry for you!" , "It had to be fixed!" , "Yeah, there's no way the two most worst dates…" , "Other than Kuno!" , "...could have been chosen!" , "Don't do it!" , "Yeah! What's your honor compared to the loss of your self–respect!" , "Everybody will understand when you say, No!" , …
But finally, the time came when Akane and Ranma had to step out of their circle of friends and face their harsh reality.
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"Uh, hi, Ranma. I guess I'm the lucky guy. The luckiest guy!" Hiroshi said.
"Remember the magic star in our classroom this morning said I was okay."
"You remember I'm a martial artist – The best!"
"No! No, I'd never forget that! The magic star said I don't fight girls!" And then he made one of his stupid jokes, "I don't want to fight girls. I can't fight that I like girls."
Stupid, no-good Something. Just for blowing him a kiss? It wasn't fair.
And Akane's date? "I don't like it, either, Akane."
"Then why did you buy a raffle ticket(!)?!"
"To show I was supporting the other girls! The boys had stopped buying them! We had to make sure there would be a raffle even if the boys didn't like it! Especially if the boys didn't like it!"
"You don't want to go on a date with me! Don't! You don't haven't given your word of honor!"
"I'm not going on the date to be with you!I Get real! I'm going on this date to be with Kuno!" Megumi said.
"KUNO(!)?!" cried both prizes, Akane and Ranma.
"He ain't comin'! He can't! He's fought Akane!"
"And I've always beaten him up!"
"He is! Remember the PE basketball game he interrupted(!)?! He told everybody you, Ranma, said you'd go on a date with him if he went to Akane's house and asked your pop for a date! He said he did, and you do owe him a date!"
Ranma screamed, clutching her head as the eerie, icy creeps swept up and down her body again. The only "comfort", if she could call it "comfort", was that they were less intense than those telling her she had a great, big, huge debt owed to this Ryōga guy she didn't know!
"Ranma's not going on a date with Kuno! Or with any…." Akane had to stop herself when she remembered Hiroshi was there with them. "He really doesn't count as a guy."
"Ow, that hurts, Akane."
"I have to, Akane. I don't want it! I hate it! But I have to, Akane."
"Ranma?" Akane was confused and felt so sorry for her friend. "You'll explain it to me later?"
The pigtailed girl hung her head and nodded. "There's another truth about me you should know."
"Whatever," Megumi rolled her eyes. "This is MY chance to be on a date with Kuno! It only happens if Ranma dates Kuno Today!"
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"Is your brother, that knave, and sneak-attacker, Romeo Saotome, coming, Ranma?" Kuno met them outside the school gate, his bokken ready to meet the varlet.
"No!" Megumi was the first to speak to him. (Not that the others wanted to speak to Kuno.) "When me and my girls were at Akane's house, Ranma told us her pop keeps them separated from each other!"
Akane and Ranma looked at each other, silently knowing what the other was thinking. Ranma had been trying to tell the truth about her curse without having to explain how the curse worked. This was the result. She now had a "brother" that wasn't allowed to be seen with her. Actually, that might work out okay, after all. It could be their excuse for why Ranma and Romeo were never seen with each other.
Wait a minute! Wasn't there something else to the story that got added? The gossip Ayane came up with the idea Ranma and Akane both had a love interest in a guy they wouldn't name but was now named Romeo! Akane and Ranma and Romeo were in a friendly, even bisexual, love triangle! Or that was the speculation going about.
"I called me – He, Romeo, called me his Sister!" (And in her mind she again heard the Alpha Male Club asking, "She's not only bisexual?")
"He isn't?"
"No, he isn't!" Akane rushed to save Ranma from adding yet more dirt to her reputation. "They're, uh, half – No, that would still be…. That's right! They steps! They're not related! Only by marriage – Not their marriage! By their parents' marriage! Ranma's dad doesn't like Romeo because, uh: He doesn't like the man his wife was married to before him!" Whew! That sounded like something Nabiki could make up!
"My mom was married before?" Ranma was a little slow on the uptake. She wondered what her mom – if she was still alive – would think of that.
Kuno smiled and placed his wooden sword debonairly on his shoulder. "Then I am head and shoulders above your step-sibling, Ranma. For I have the approval of this Pop creature of yours, as Romeo does not. He has no standing in this match."
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"Though it be uncharacteristic of a Kuno, I am left with no choice. For the sake of the finest and most memorable of dates that will leave you most worthy and fairest of Ladies-in-waiting pining for yet more of the same from your heartthrob, the Blue Thunder, I call, Sasuke!" and he snapped his fingers.
A white stretch limo with gold trim slowly approached them. But as the rich boy reached out for the door to let his date and her companions enter, it kept going on.
"Sasuke! Return! You have overshot your mark!"
The limo was, even more slowly, backed up and came within a foot of Kuno's waiting hand.
"Sorry!" the little ninja said, bowing out of the open driver's window he was barely able to see through. "I do have my driver's license, but I'm more of what you would call a paper driver. I don't have much experience in actually driving."
"We're risking our lives with him?" Hiroshi was not pleased.
"We're martial artists. We risk our lives all the time," Ranma said. Akane reluctantly agreed with Ranma. And Megumi insisted on showing how brave she could be. She was the first one to go into the limo.
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Of course, Megumi ended up sitting next to Akane who had to be next to Hiroshi who was by Ranma and you can guess who sat on the other side of the redhead. At least there was enough room on the long, curved seat that no one's legs were forced to be touching. Not unless Sasuke took some turns too sharply and inertia did the rest. Kuno was playing gracious, gentlemanly host and not a molester trying to take advantage of the women. So far.
The farthest the better, as far as Ranma was concerned. It would take another miracle for her not to have to pay the debt the Something said she owed Kuno.
"Uh, um, which restaurant are we going to?" Ranma hoped to at least get a good meal out of all this. Yeah, like the condemned man gets the best when it's his one last meal.
"What movie are we going to see?!" Akane asked, hoping it was long and would take up most of the date. Kuno would, for once, have to keep his mouth shut while they were at the theater.
"Let's see the big game! You can afford the scalpers, Kuno!" Hiroshi suggested.
"Le, let's, um, do, uh, karaoke," Megumi said forcefully, but it came out as a weak suggestion. She was again the tough girl with the tied tongue.
"I have the itinerary all mapped out like a campaign," Kuno said as suavely as he could. "And as the general, I know that to best impress the ladies it is best they be surprised. Pleasantly, of course.
"Now," he said, opening the wet bar before them. "What would my guests like? Tea? Chai? Espresso? I have a fine selection of vintage fruit juices."
"Don't you have anything stronger?" Hiroshi asked.
"We are under age! We will not be indulging in alcohol on this date. Or any date, I should hope, until after we are 20 years of age!"
The way Hiroshi looked at Ranma, she knew he was thinking about the rumor of her being a boozer. Especially if men were paying for it.
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Kuno insisted on playing host by regaling those daters he was treating with tales of his noble and heroic exploits. Of course, they knew most of them already, having seen samurai epics and a sci-fi movie here and there. They did not know Kuno had once had animal companions like Momotaro – in fact, he had had the same mascots! Only Ranma and Akane knew that the reason he was relating this was because he had met Ranma's Pop in panda form. Thinking on all the folktales where the protagonist had intelligent animals to assist them, he "naturally" assumed Ranma was a modern-day reincarnation of one of those legendary figures. Which, of course, made him want Ranma as his own even more! Wife or concubine, it did not matter.
It was just before certain parts of Kuno's narratives that Sasuke's lack of driving skills was most evident. As if, perhaps, planned? "And there I was, facing the most fearsome of European dragons. Not the kind and benevolent dragons of the East, but those of the degenerate West! It was a dragon that would put St. George himself to the test! So intimidated was the damsel, she threw herself–"
A sharp turn and a bump and Ranma found herself – for the third time since she met him– on Kuno. This time on his lap.
"A curse, my damsel?" Kuno smiled.
"A what?" Hiroshi asked, jealous.
"It is a private gesture of love between these two secret amoureux."
"It's no secret that I don't want you!" Ranma jumped off Kuno's lap and used the limo door to propel herself to the other side of Megumi, furthest away from the samurai idiot. Or that was her plan.
The limo took another turn and the door was moving away before she could push herself off it properly. Her boobs fell between Hiroshi's thighs.
"This is a curse?" he smiled. "I'll take it! So, Ranma, is this our private gesture of love, too?"
"Move these legs together and you'll regret it, man!"
This and a couple of other incidents convinced Ranma she was fated to sit between two of the guys she most disliked.
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It wasn't long before they had left the narrow streets of Nerima and were out into the greater part of Greater Tokyo. The traveling was faster. It wouldn't be soon before they were out of the limo and no longer trapped with Kuno. They hoped.
It wasn't long, miles, kilometers, before they had left the place traditionally best known in Japan for its daikon radishes and arrived at the place best known for the shops that catered to teens, Shibuya, It was more crowded than Ranma, or the others, were used to in the bedroom community of Nerima. Ranma did not like it. But there was one good thing about it. And she decided to take the opportunity.
Kuno, being an idiot, had not locked his limo door. Ranma opened it and leaped over Kuno's lap and to the outside.
The car was still moving, but so slowly even Hiroshi might have been able to do it.
But he didn't have to. Kuno ordered Sasuke to stop and let everybody else out.
"Man, it's noisy! There's too many people talkin', screamin' and yellin' – What screamin' and yellin'!?"
There was a man running with a woman's purse. Great! the schoolgirl redhead thought, a chance to stretch her legs after being cramped up in the limo.
But some teen girl with red–orange hair was getting to him first. "Stop in the name of my acrylic nails! Super GAL Ran Kotobuki will stop you!" And she did, hitting him with a heavy handbag that was, for all Ranma knew, filled with rocks. Beyond this, all the true redhead could think of was how she was dressed. Too trendy. Not that she understood the concept of "trendy", but she knew from her travels what girls and women usually wore. If she was to dress like a girl, she wanted clothes that didn't make her stand out from the born-girls. For her, it was fit in to be in with the girls. As it was pointed out, Ranma did not understand the concept of "trendy".
"We should indeed go to a place more serene," Kuno said. "Surely there are small, intimate shops even in this beating heart of the mega-stores that have some soundproofing! Sasuke!"
"Yes, Master?!" CRASH!
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There were people, mostly women, but not a crowd in the small shop they discovered off the main boulevard of Shibuya. And it did attempt to present an otherworldly quality by its soundproofing, isolating it from the din outside. Included in its ambiance were small tables that allowed only the seating of two – or three, with a little more difficulty if Kuno insisted on sitting with the daters. Waitresses in maid's uniforms joined the saleswomen modeling samples of what the shop had to sell joined the in serving the shop's customers, offering a café–style menu. Which more than pleased all of the daters and Kuno, as they hadn't had lunch!
The daters also discovered two others willing to serve them. "Ikuko? Akiko? What are you doing here?!" Akane said rushing to them when she saw them.
"We're the Date Management Club, now, remember? We're here to see that your dates go as smoothly as we can help it to! This is our first test! We have to have your dates work out as an example to all our future daters!" Ikuko said.
"We were riding up front with Sasuke," Akiko smiled, though there were signs of relief that they were no longer had to see up-close what kind of a driver the little ninja was.
"That's right!" Akane said. There was only a closed sliding panel between them and the driver's compartment.
"The first thing the successful dating girl needs is the right kind of clothes. You should be wearing real –" , " – Special!– " , "clothes!" , "Not your school uniforms!" , "And let's face it, the Furinkan uniform ranks near the bottom in style and class!" , "At least it's not an old–fashioned fuku middy uniform!" , "Like the kind that went out of style with Urusei Yatsura!"
The two girls looked at each other as they realized something and then had to giggle.
"What's so funny? Why do you even remember that show?" Akane was leary of the answer.
"Was the show funny?" Ranma asked. "I wouldn't know. I hardly ever got to see any TV."
They tried to explain – but burst into laughter when they tried. Finally, they took Ranma's arm and escorted her, and the others who followed. "Come on, Ryuunosuke, let's get you into real girls clothes!" , "Yeah. I remember you
saying you were raised as a boy." , "You don't have a dress or even slacks and blouses, do you?" Ranma could only shake her head, no, she didn't.
"How is the club going to pay for these clothes?" Akane asked. "You could not have gotten that much money from the raffle!"
"The backer of a play or an extravaganza of a production is called an "angel". I, Tatewaki Kuno, am your angel, your guardian angel, on this date! And I insist you ladies are most properly attired for your dates."
No! No! No! Ranma screamed inside. She was becoming more and more indebted to Kuno, of all freaking people! She was doomed! The miracle to save her was becoming less and less likely. At this rate, she would become his concubine by the end of the day. At night. Before bedtime. Then the nightmare would absolutely come true!
"Look! Girls dressing rooms!" Hiroshi smiled rushing to grab a good table across from them. "The first thing a girl has to wear is her bra and panties, right?"
"Get lost!" Megumi growled at him. She was as tall as him and was definitely stronger.
"Shouldn't you be getting into a suit? You're wearing just your Furinkan pants and dress shirt." Akane said the same thing as Megumi, but in a more polite manner.
"I shall have my manservant Sasuke –"
"Yes, Master?" The little ninja appeared almost from nowhere. Everybody had seen him dropping down from the ceiling. Well, it was more like falling.
"Be away to the nearest tuxedo emporium and purchase a pair, one for me and one…" Kuno managed to look down his high-born nose at Hiroshi while being magnanimous, "him."
"Yes, Master! I already know your sizes. I shall find a tape measure and find his and then be off to do my master's bidding!"
"Hey! I don't want you two here! I don't want any guy seeing me try on lingerie!" Akane threatened to do more than just threaten. She was upset to have even said "lingerie" in front of boys.
"Then, Don't!" Megumi told her. "Me, I'm going to do it!" This was a chance for her to let Kuno see her body! If her tongue couldn't speak to him, her body had to! She had practice at speaking boy-girl body language!
"Be a cheap bimbo!"
"Cheap? Look at the prices of these clothes! This is one of the highest of high-end fashion shops! It doesn't even have to cater to teens in the middle of Shibuya!"
"Whatever! Ranma, come! Let's leave!" But her redheaded friend did not make any move to follow. "Ranma?"
Ranma was quaking, shivering in absolute terror. She could not move. "I, I…." Suddenly she grabbed her best and maybe, she thought, her only real friend and pulled her into the nearest dressing room.
"What is it, Ranma?(!) Are you sick?(!)"
"I'm sick alright. I'm ready to puke my guts out!" Ranma managed to say in a low voice, hoping to keep their conversation as private as she could. "I'd run, leap onto these skyscrapers around here and rooftop jump from one to the next if I could! But I can't! Please – please! – Akane, please, understand! I can't understand it, but I have to do this. At least I got Megumi here, too. It won't just be me. I can handle it, survive, I think, if I ain't alone doing this, this, unmanly thing."
Akane could only stand there for a long moment. "Your male pride is really suffering, isn't it, Ranma? No…" and she put her hand on hers, "Romeo. I'm here for you."
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Having Akane with her, and having no choice, anyway, allowed Ranma's competitive nature to come out. She welcomed it as a short-term release and cover-up of her true feelings. So, it was her against Megumi! She knew how to copy moves, even the sexy poses of her rival, and improvise and improve on them! That came from her martial arts training. So, once she began to imitate Megumi and try to outdo her, she had to turn it into a martial arts competition. Besides, she was a natural show-off.
But she had to win the Martial Arts Lingerie Match on points, as Akane, Ikuko and Akiko made sure Ranma didn't wear the same kind Megumi was. Akane was given warm colors, yellows, and oranges. She was attracted to a red bra that reminded her of her Juliet costume. Ranma was given cool colors, mostly greens, and blue-greens. She was attracted to peach colored girl's underwear that matched her skin complexion and might make those she fought against think she was naked.
Megumi insisted on getting the sexiest, most "secret" of "Victoria's Secret" lingerie the shop had to offer. They were black or jewel tone with black lace or patterns. Disappointingly for her, none revealed her nipples or groin.
And it was a good thing for Hiroshi none did. As it was, he was rapidly going through a whole fancy dispenser of napkins trying to staunch his nosebleeds. No sooner had he thought he had one under control, another nosebleed arrived with a new set of sexy lingerie.
Kuno was made of sterner stuff. He sat there, silently, unmoving, rigid, looking almost as if rigor mortis had set in. He was that determined to prove to Ranma and Akane he could be the most gentlemanly of gentlemen, worthy of being their husband to his wife, and master to his concubine. With the strain it was putting on his nervous system and heart, Ranma's miracle seemed possible. Before he collected on the debt Ranma's Something required her to pay, he could have been very well dead of a stroke, heart attack or both.
In other words, Ranma's effort was basically wasted. The two males did not appreciate the poise, style, and verve that added up to the panache that was the petite yet curvaceous redhead.
Well, it was wasted on the boys. Both waitresses and saleswomen halted in their jobs to observe. This encouraged Ranma even more. This was better than winning her battle with Megumi to get the guy's attention. She was winning in the way that really mattered: The girls', the women's appreciation! Once again she was reminded of her first day at Furinkan as a girl – less than a week ago – had it only been three days?! The girls in classroom 1-F had looked at her with all sorts of negative emotions – envy, fear, anger, disgust, and more – but underneath they could appreciate her body as much as the guys' could. Only, she thought, hopefully, it wasn't with any hopes of getting any sex out of her. And knowing that allowed, ironically, Ranma to be her sexiest! Her male pride was forgotten. Her girl brain was full alive and in charge! She Was Woman!
The cute, little redhead applied and adapted the moves she had witnessed just this morning during her run through the halls of Furinkan, when she was on the lookout for girls to rescue she was also taking in the tactical moves and poses the girls did as girls, moves and poses she knew, from the depths of her male pride, no guy could, would or should do!
She wiggled her ass, noticed the frowns on the women, and toned it down. She made a running motion and saw what having one knee bent out did for her audience. Fraction of an inch by a millimeter, she adjusted how much she should push out one hip until she knew this was the definition of sexy because of the look in the women's eyes She brought up a hand behind her head to scratch it as she wondered what to do next. That, too, turned out to be a sexy thing to do. She just had to learn how to hold herself so her boobs didn't become too flattened by the action. And so it went. Her ingrained desire for new techniques would not allow her to stop until she had perfected them all...or until her audience had to go back to doing their jobs of serving other customers.
And Akane? She, too, managed to put on a bra and panties, and even a garter, that Ikuko and Akiko had helped the saleswomen pick out for her. She was able to leave the dressing room, reluctantly, slowly, self–consciously, then retreating before trying all over again. With great effort and devastation to her modesty, she did, at last, present herself to the outside world. There, that wasn't so bad, right? After all, it wasn't like she was the only girl doing it.
Then she looked at the other two confident, sexy, beautiful versus cute girls in only their underwear and lost it!
It was true! It had always been true! She was an uncute tomboy! It would be better for her if she were cursed at Jusenkyo! She should be a boy.