Son Turned Daughter, Chapter 14
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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Chapter 14
"Waitress, bring the divine Ranma more of the same. And place the banquet on my account, once more," Kuno said from the next table.
"I'm good,' the redhead in lingerie said, dropping her spoon and fork on the last of the pile of plates that somehow managed to have stayed on the small table.
"Are you sure?" the long-haired girl, also in lingerie, asked. In the, what, four days (has it only been that long) Akane had known Ranma, she had come to expect her (and him, she mustn't forget her Romeo) as always eating as much as she could get away with. What with everything Ranma had shown she was capable of as a martial artist, she needed a lot of food energy to turn the ki reservoir tap, both off and on, less or more.
"Yeah, I'm good," Ranma patted her belly beneath the camisole. "I'm ready to face what I gotta do next on this date.
I got my underwear. What's next? –Oh, that's right. I know what's next."
She jumped off the chair and did a little, skippy dance over to Kuno. "Next is to, Thank you~, Kuno-sweetie!" And she kissed him on the cheek.
Megumi growled! On her feet, suddenly, she leaned over, grabbed Kuno's head, and planted a big, wet kiss on his lips.
Kuno remained stunned until her tongue entered his mouth. He pulled away and was on his feet in one motion, his hand automatically on his bokken. "That is uncalled for, woman!"
"See? Kuno–sweetie doesn't like aggressive women. You met his sister, Kodachi!" the redhead said in the cutest voice she could muster.
"Then why aren't you being that way?" Akane said in a low voice.
"I ain't gonna risk bein' sexy unless I hafta," whispered Ranma, returning to an even more masculine – and ungrammatical – form of Japanese she usually used. Sexy would mean going back into the Purities – Female, girl, womanly purities! She hadn't gone there, yet, and no freaking way would she without a freaking good cause! "Right now, I'm goin' with the impulses my girl brain is givin' me." And, seeing that all other eyes were paying attention to the other couple, she grimaced, "It's part of my girl–practice."
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Next were the clothes that went over the lingerie, of course. They started out with the ones the Furinkan Date Management Club had chosen for their three client girls.
"No offense, but you, Akane and Megumi, have terrible tastes in clothes,' Akiko told them.
"Hey! What about Ranma(!)?!" Akane demanded to know. And so did Megumi.
"Ranma has no taste in clothes. She told us she was raised as a boy. She's never worn girl clothes before moving here to Nerima," Ikuko said. "Right, Ranma?"
"That's right. I ain't, I mean, I have worn nothin', anything, a boy wouldn't wear.
Anything!" She managed to make it sound like a tragedy.
"You poor thing!" Akiko said, a tear almost coming to her eye.
"You two, on the other hand." And Ikuko pulled Akane over to stand in front of one of the shop's full-length mirrors, while Akiko, more carefully, did the same with Megumi, putting her in front of her own mirror.
"We've grown up together, Akane, I know what you wear when you're not in the school uniform."
"And that is tasteless, too!" Akiko reminded them all.
"Think to your armoire, Akane, do you have any in that wardrobe closet that isn't kitsch?"
"And, you, Megumi. Anything not tacky?!" Akiko said to her client.
"Kitsch?" Ranma asked. There was a word she hadn't heard. "Tacky?"
"My clothes Aren't kitsch!"
"I like my clothes. They say who I am!"
"Maybe kitsch is overstating it, but they look like clothes a mom picks out for her still–little girl."
"Those Are the kind of clothes my mom liked me to wear!" Her dead mom. They were a way to keep her memory alive.
"But you're a big girl, now. On a big-girl date! It's time to grow up, Akane!"
"And you're on a date, Megumi, not on a call."
"What did you just call me(!)?!"
"I'm a martial artist, too!" Akiko reminded her as they both got into the Stance.
"Oh, don't fight! Don't fight!" Ranma said all girly. "It's only for this one date. All we brought are our tasteless uniforms straight from school. And, remember, Kuno is paying!"
Kuno was the magic word for Megumi and she left the defend/offend Stance. "I guess he doesn't like what I wear," she grumbled. "He would've noticed me like the other guys do."
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Akane agreed to wear the style chosen for her, sleekish dress but with an accordion side panel. It was somewhat hobbling, but not much. Ikuko and Akiko knew she would want something that allowed the martial artist to kick in if she had to. They also saw that the top had a simple but bold pattern, to compensate for her hips being wider than her bust.
Megumi had the opposite figure problem, so her pattern accentuated her hips. And she wanted fully sleek and nearly tight. But the word "tacky" talked her out of it. Her skirt had hidden pleats.
Akane wanted red (because red had been the color of her Juliet costume) and Megumi wasn't going to let her get away with that! She wanted red, too!
"But you're more of a Winter!"
"You're insulting me, again!"
"White would be good on her," Ikuko said.
"Off-white."
Megumi and Akiko were able to deliver a couple of blows before Ranma could stop them. By the little woman's strength and the feel of her ki, they knew they were out–matched.
In the end, Megumi got a jewel–tone purple. They were done arguing with her.
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Now it was the turn of the raised-boy, Ranma. "I want pants!" But Kuno would probably like her in pants. "Maybe a skirt. Maybe." She didn't want to wear a dress! It was still bad enough she had to wear a school dress. She was still enough of a guy in her memories that her body-awareness was below the surface, where her muscles, tendons, and ligaments were. But she had been becoming more and more aware that girls cared about what was showing. And they cared more about showing to other girls, less to guys, unless…. She was still figuring out the list of the times and reasons girls wanted and did not want guys to notice their bodies. Being a girl was complicated!
Akiko looked at Ikuko. Her leader sighed and gave in. They knew it could come to this. "Culottes"
Luckily for them (not that Ranma thought it was lucky for her), this upscale shop had a very wide selection of female (male-to-female crossdresser) apparel. Almost.
"You'll have to wait while we get them from our warehouse," their saleswoman told them.
"We don't have time for that!" Ikuko said. "They're on a date, here!"
"Our warehouse is in our basement. With our system, we can get them to you in minutes. But you have to look through the catalog and tell us the number of the item you'd like."
So, Ranma got a good idea of what kind of skirt-like dresses – and even quite boyish pants – she could have if and when she had the money. Probably not from this store, though. Too expensive!
"No, Ranma!" Ikuko put her foot down. "This is a date! You're going to have to wear some that look like a skirt – A skirt with style!"
"But Kuno–" Oh, that's right! Kuno didn't like girls with style. What kind of style was Kodachi's? Aaa! She didn't know! She didn't even know what style was!
Hey, wait! "You girls know his sister!"
"Unfortunately, yes. We all grew up together." In fact, it turned out, they were part of the first–grade class that saw Akane kiss Kodachi and whose memory of it helped propel Akane towards her tomboy ways. Every time they heard about some other girl Kodachi conquered, they wondered why Akane hadn't been or when she would be. Akane was Kodachi's 'first love, giggle'.
"I want what she wears!"
"No!" both Ikuko and Akiko and Akane and Megumi told her.
Megumi still didn't understand Kuno hated his sister. She was afraid it was just the opposite. Ranma was trying to get her hooks into Her man by reminding him of the sexy and stylish example Kodachi set. Which she exaggerated in her mind, just as she exaggerated things about Kuno. All, strangely, positive.
Akane didn't want to be reminded of the girl who had scarred her for life. (Well, maybe, not for life. Not now that she had Romeo for her Romeo.)
But it was Ikuko and Akiko that explained, "You're too cute!" , "Too well built!" – "Like a brick house," growled Megumi – "And too petite on top of all that!"
"Ranma, a big part of style is what goes best with the body you have," Akane said.
"What goes best with this body wouldn't go best with my, uh, a guy's body?" She saw the nods. "It's a good thing I don't care about style!" she smiled.
"You have to care!" Ikuko told her. "This is a date!"
"And don't you care what other girls think of what you wear?!" Akiko told her.
"Oh, style is about what girls like to see." That made sense. Guys would rather see a girl naked. "Okay! I do care what girls think of me. I'll wear what you give me – But pants, only!"
"Culottes!" she was reminded, "Divided skirt!" , "Long shorts!"
"Nabiki wears pants," Ranma grumbled. "And long ones, too."
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Ranma tested them out in the shop and was satisfied she could kick in her "half-pants". Of course, she could: To her, they felt just about as loose around her legs as that Furinkan skirt she had to put up with. "Why do Akane and her get to wear dresses that are closer to the legs!" she protested.
Again, style was brought in. Something about having to draw attention away from her boobs. Why would she want that!? That was one of the tactical advantages this body gave her!
"Yeah. They do make her hips look bigger," Megumi smirked.
"It doesn't!" Akiko was ready to fight, again, over the insult to her taste.
"It has a straight line off the hips," Ikuko explained. "And even tappers some, going down.
The pleats allow for greater give when it's needed."
"It's okay, Ranma," Akane assured her. "At least the blouse matches the skirt and the blue isn't too far from what a boy would wear."
"This ain't a guy color?!" Ranma said, looking down on it. "Geez! I can't tell the difference. How many colors can a girl see?" Oh, wait…now that she was paying attention to color…
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The shop even had a shoe department. They only had samples, though. The rest were in their warehouse. The saleswoman assured them that footwear and bags composed the majority of its space. "And we have a three-story basement."
Megumi grumbled over being too tall to wear high heels. Akane grumbled that she may be made to wear high heels. Ranma told everybody that she would only wear heelless or low-heeled shoes!
"But you're short! You need to put some height on!" Akiko told her.
"I don't like bein' short! But how am I gonna kick in the!? You have to have a solid foot on the ground! And I can't see me landin' from one a my leaps in them!"
"Ranma's right!" Akane said, eager to find an excuse not to wear them herself.
"Style!" Akiko reminded them. "Compromise," Ikuko reminded her.
In the end, they both wore platform shoes, 7.6 cm, 3" for Akane and, 10 cm, 4" for Ranma.
"I think she could handle the challenge of even higher heels!" Akiko said.
All it took was for Ranma to hear that one word, "I can handle any challenge!" Geez! Man! What was she saying!? It was taking real effort to get used to these heels! Girls must like being on their "toes"; she saw girls wearing stupid heels all the time.
"These will be fine," Ikuko said. "And you only have to wear them to the end of the date." Then she went to selling her problem martial artists on what the Date Management Club had selected for them. "There are no ankles straps. Everything is held on by the counter and vamp. There are not even toes. You can get them off in a fight's hurry!"
"And they allow you to show your pedicure, Megumi said, wiggling her toes. She was not happy. Besides having to wear flats, she had opted for them being pink because that was what she already had on her toes.
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Ikuko and Akiko couldn't convince Ranma that pantyhose were too long to be panties but long enough to be pants. Akane didn't help; she seldom wore them herself. And Megumi wouldn't if her rivals didn't. She was pretty damned sure they were only pretending not to be interested in her Kuno. (As if any girl with any sense could be interested in Hiroshi.)
"Only two more stops to go, and you're free of us!" Ikuko said.
"Unless you want us to hang around!" Akiko laughed.
"Yes! I do want you to go with us!" Ranma eagerly said.
"That's right," Akane understood. "Ranma was raised as a boy. She needs all the help she can get on what to do on a date." And there would be more help keeping the boys behaving, Kuno, Hiroshi and whoever else might want to break in.
"You and Megumi are here for Ranma."
Shamefaced, Akane admitted, "Uh, I really haven't been on a date, either. Not a real date. With boys."
"Well, Megumi has…" the other two remembered the kind of dates her reputation said Megumi had.
"If it's okay with your dates, we'll stay by your sides," Ikuko said.
"I thought the Date Management Club were "chaperones without chaperoning," Akiko said.
"This is the first date we're managing: It has to go well!" And her eyes pointed to Megumi.
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And the other two, last stops before the date?
"No, I'm not gonna wear any jewelry! Nope, not gonna happen."
"Ranma, I know you were raised like you were a boy, but boys can wear jewelry, even earrings!"
"They're something your opponent can grab onto in a fight."
"So is long hair!" , "Pigtails!"
"I hafta have a pigtail! Never! Ever am I gettin' rid of it! I'll fight everybody until I'm bloody and broken before that happens!"
Akane cringed. She was glad Megumi had delayed them by retreating to the (ladies' room) trap. That girl would cut off her rival's pigtail!
"Okay! Okay! But earrings–"
"Are a hassle! What if I'm out on a trainin' trip and have to decamp in a hurry!? What, Im gonna take the time to hunt for my favorite thingamawhatis if I can't find it!? And if I leave it in all the time, then…"
"Okay! No earring! No jewelry! Calm down!"
"That just leaves the beauty parlor," Ikuko, then, sighed, "and you have a problem with that, too, don't you, Ranma?"
"I can guess of what might go on in them, but I don't know. I never been in one. Never wanted to."
"A beauty parlor styles your hair!" Akiko said, again using one of her new favorite words.
"They have ribbons and hair ornaments?"
"Oh, we did forget those, didn't we," Akiko said, looking at Ikuko.
"That'd be one more struggle," Ikuko told her. So, the answer was: Forget it!
"Ranma, they trim your hair," Akane smiled, making scissoring motions of fingers across Ranma's bangs. "You are getting shaggy."
Ranma drew back. "I cut them myself." When she gets around to it. She liked her bangs. Besides being one of the few concessions she did to her vanity, there was her pop. Before she had had to wear a pigtail because of the Dragon Whisker, she, as a he, had thought the more hair he had the more it rubbed salt into the Old Man's wound of being bald. And if he, as his son, was going to be bald one day, too, he was going to enjoy having as much hair as he could as long as it wasn't too long. (Why were there so many fighters who were stupid enough to wear long hair!? Unlike her, there were plenty of opponents who would play dirty with that too long hair.)
But, in this body, Ranma had another reason to want bangs, "Look!" she frowned, pushing it above her forehead.
"Look how freakin' high it is! I seen babies with foreheads like this! At least babies don't got bangs!"
"Then, just a trim and a shampoo," Ikuko said.
"Shampoo!..." She looked around, apprehensive. But – Stupid! – she was talking about having her hair washed. Washed!? That was worse than the amazon who was out to kill her. "No! No! That means losing my pigtail!" She suddenly became afraid – Very afraid! "And hot water!"
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"Come on, Ranma!" Ikuko followed Ranma as she headed back to where they had left Kuno (and Hiroshi). "I know you wear makeup! Everybody can see your eyeshadow!"
"It ain't eyeshadow!" she told them bluntly. "The blue on my eyelids ain't there because I want it there."
"It isn't?"
"It isn't?" Akane, being her BFF, could take her by the arm and get her to stop long enough for her and the other two to look. "You're right! I hadn't noticed before. The eyeshadow is a tattoo."
The redhead scowled, "They came with the body."
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Ranma almost gave into the lipstick. Lipstick was something she thought girls wore when girls were being girls. And her girl brain wanted to be girl when she was with born-girls being girls. But…
Akane understood, "You really would have to be the Romeo we saw today for a man explain that much lipstick on his lips." And draw in a lot from Reservoir.
"Does Romeo wear lipstick, too?" Akiko asked.
"No!" his 'sister' told her. "And there's a reason he has to wear underwear like you seen him in!"
"Skin condition!" Akane rushed in. "He has sensitive skin!"
"Yeah~ahh…. A man like Romeo would be sensitive," Akiko sighed.
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If Megumi had gone to the ladies room, she hadn't had to go much, for they found she was back with Kuno before them. Ranma didn't leap but bounded to the samurai paying for everything.
"Oh, thank you, Thank You, Kuno! You're such a sweetie! Yeah! Do you like the way I look?" And she turned this way and that, making sure her culottes looked like a skirt. "Am I pretty?!"
"You are, indeed, uh, pretty."
"Yeah! I'm pretty! I'm pretty!"
"And doing a pretty cute act," Akane said under her breath.
The little redhead bounced up high enough to hang onto the tall boy by his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek she hadn't kissed earlier.
"Stop kissing him!" Megumi screamed. Ranma gladly let her yank her off of him.
But when she went to rattle Her samurai's teeth, his wooden sword was in the way. Her frustration was mounting. It wouldn't take much more before her inhibitions towards him shattered and she would battle him, force him, make him kiss her! Fully! French! And then onto the good stuff!
Meanwhile, Akane had pulled Ranma aside and whispered, "You're not really planning on actually kissing him?"
"Of course, not!" she whispered back. "I'm payin' off the debt the Somethin' says I owe the jerk a little at a time. In installments."
Something? Was there something else her friend hadn't told her about? "You hope. You're playing with fire."
"Naw! Kuno don't like sexy, or girly girls! He likes tomboys."
"Hey!" Akane was no longer whispering.
Meanwhile, still, Hiroshi was asking Ikuko and Akiko, "Just how bisexual is Ranma?"
"Look at which Kuno gets which kind of kiss."
All three of them nodded in understanding. "Ranma is that kind of bisexual."
"And she's my date!" Hiroshi wanted to cry.
"The Date Management Club can help you!" Ikuko told him.
"You have to have style!" Akiko told him.
"I'm not going to dress in lady's clothes like Romeo."
"That's not what she means."
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With the ladies in their new apparel and the gentlemen in tuxedos, Kuno in a formal white and Hiroshi in a casual baby–blue, they left the store and re–entered the din of Shibuya.
"Sasuke!"
"Over here, Master!" the little ninja waved from the roof of the limo.
"Well!? Why are you waiting!? Bring the vehicle here!"
"I can't, Master. The radiator was damaged by the purse of one teenager named Miss Kotobuki! She said the limo was illegally parked. Now it's permanently parked. At least until the tow truck arrives."
"She sounds like my wayward sister. What right has she to enforce the law!?"
"Her brother is the local police officer. Here's the ticket I received from him, see?"
"We must, then, find other modes of travel."
"I'm goin' up and see what I can find!" Ranma said, leaping and leaping again, finding whatever place her platform heels could land on. Geez! It was hard to do when there was something hard between the bottoms of your feet and what you're on. And when the bottoms of her feet were more on the balls of her feet than not.
At least she was further away from the noise down below.
There were taxis below, but they were moving slowly because of how crowded it was. It'd be faster to walk, she thought.
She did see something interesting.
Coming down as carefully as she went up, her platform shoes finally landed before the others. (At least they weren't crap. They seemed to be holding up good enough. At those prices, she thought they oughta.) "What sort of thing do you do when you date?"
Megumi hit Hiroshi in the gut before he could answer. And she wasn't the only girl ready to do it.
"You've already eaten," Ikuko said, her, and Akiko's, stomachs growling.
"But not the main course! What we had were merely appetizers," Kuno assured them. "I have reserved tables at one of the finest of restaurants for dinner."
"And we've gotten everybody dressed in their date clothes," Akiko said.
"The movie!" Akane said. Yes! Hours of not having to hear or look at these two male jerks. Or the female jerk, Megumi!
"I don't want a movie! That's boring! I want to do something! I like action!"
"We can see an action movie," Hiroshi said. His look told those ready to hit him, See? I don't always have to say pervy things.
"That's not action action! My whole life's been about action! I don't have to do martial arts! I get plenty of that! But I want to do somethin' – And Something different!"
"So, my energetic Venus desires to dance?!" Kuno said, smiling at seeing her as she was acting less like a girl and more like a boy, now.
"Geez, no! I wanna do something I'd like! Only, I don't know if I'm gonna like what I wanna try! I never tried it!"
"Have you ever tried dancing?" Hiroshi, her date, asked. "You might like that!"
She ignored him. "I want somethin' challengin'!" Something that would take her mind off being all dolled up and on a date with guys.
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Meiji Jingu Ice Skating Rink, in the center of Shibuya. And as luck would have it (Ranma's luck), it was open to the public that day. It was not currently to used for a hockey game or ice show. Or was there?
"Geez! Look what the girls have to wear. I thought the tights of that Romeo outfit was bad."
"I think they're having tryouts and these girls are practicing," Akane said. "We can wear what we have on. Though it is chilly in here!" she said, hugging herself. How did she get talked into a neckline that exposed her entire upper chest? Though covered by her dress and bra, her nipples were responding to the cold.
"I shall rectify that matter. Sasuke!"
Yes, Master! This time I have thought ahead and bought these!" From where? He had no problem going where only ladies were supposed to go. As long as he blindfolded himself.
"Long underwear!?" Ranma said.
"They are thermal bodysuits! Though, they are meant to be worn under the clothes."
"They're nude!" Akane cried.
"Clothes can be naked?" Ranma asked.
"It's the color! See how they match your skin!"
"Oh, yeah! Like that bra and panties you wouldn't let me get."
"The only tactics here is staying warm!" Akane told him, remembering how Ranma want to use that lingerie to flash for her opponents. "They don't have to be nude!"
"That's a strategy, not a tactic," Ikuko reminded her.
"The tactic is style!" Akiko told her.
"The tactic is getting noticed by the guys," Megumi said. "I think I'll wear just the…." She saw the glares coming from all the girls except Ranma. "Okay, I won't."
"Just my luck," Hiroshi said.
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They went to the rink's women's locker room to sort out which nude bodysuit would fit who and to get out of their clothes so they could get back into them.
"Oh, little Azusa does not like not being in her cute, little, 29 ft, 9 m, dressing room RV! It's like Azusa's second bedroom: All filled with Azusa's cute, adorable things! And just because Azusa released the emergency brake and had it roll over the mean Mikado! He shouldn't have tried to take Azusa's traffic light away from her!"
"What did she say(!)?" Akiko said.
"I don't want to know, Akane said.
"And you girls say I'm warped," Megumi said.
"Oh, look! So cu~te!" the girl her own height came up to Ranma. "Red hair, blue eyes! And an adorable braid!"
"It's a pigtail."
"Braid! Braid! Azusa must have Lolita!" and she grabbed it and tried to pull it out by its roots.
"Hey! Stop that you nutbar!" Ranma pulled her pigtail out of her grasp.
"Give Azusa back her Lolita! Give back Lolita!" She cried, beating on Ranma with her fists and then her Ranma's platforms and then–
"Ranma, get back!" Akane yelled. Her mallet met Azusa's mallet with a loud wooden ka–dungk!
"You're interfering with Azusa and her Lolita!"
"I'm interfering more'n Akane – That's My pigtail!"
Azusa ignored the redhead and talked directly to Akane. "Azusa challenges you to see who owns little Lolita!
"I own it!"
"Does it have to do with ice skating?" Akane said. "Fine! I accept!"
"Akane!" Ikuko and Akiko cried.
"When Azusa and Mikado finish practicing, then! Ooh, look at the clock! Bye, Bye! Azusa is off to be Beauty on Ice!"
And she picked up her skates and left.
"Akane!" her friends said again.
"Hey, you know me! I'm the best skater in Nerima!"
"But this isn't Nerima!" , "What do you know about Azusa?!"
"Uh, the same thing as you?"
"Maybe," Ikuko said , "I think I've heard those names before, Azusa...Mikado…?" Akiko said.
"You'd better be the best! That's my pigtail the kawaii thief wants!"
"I know I've heard those names before. It'll come to me."
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They were out of the locker room and ready to go out onto the ice.
Well, one wasn't. "It's all about keepin' your balance, right, Akane?!"
"There's more to it than that, Ranma. There's also inertia and momentum."
"Yes, Sensei!" her friend said. And Akane was absolutely thrilled. Ranma was her teacher in martial arts, but it she who would be her teacher in skating!
"Momentum, she says! A lot of momentum," Akiko said, rubbing her butt before she had even stepped out into the rink.
"If Akane can do it, I can, too!" Megumi said, looking around for, and finding, "Kuno!" She waved and pushed off from the rink's sideboards.
And Ranma studied her, but only because she thought she might get some clues on how skating was done. Balance and then propel, either off the short fence or with the sides of the blades after you've turned your ankles the correct way. More of the body was involved, but the rest of adjusted around what the ankles, feet, and blades were doing.
"She's not so good," Akane critiqued under a heavy brow. "She's taking small steps. And she raises her arms out more than she really needs to."
"Oh!..." Ranma thought she was coming towards an understanding.
Megumi surprised them all with a spin, one leg back while her back was arched, and her eyes – as long as the spin allowed at any one time – on Kuno.
"The attitude spin, of course," Akane really frowned this time. "It's just like her to know flash before she has the fundamentals down."
"Oh, yeah!" Ranma hit the palm of her hand. "You can do more than just go forward."
"Or fall!" Akiko said.
There was a guy, a guy, in fact, who looked a lot like Ranma when she was a he, who was with what looked like his girlfriend. The bob-haired girl at least knew how to stay on her feet.
"Man! I'd hate to be a guy, now. Where's his male pride? Give it up and take lessons, first, man!" But she was a girl, now, and hadn't developed much female pride. If she fell, there would be much loss of face. And her butt was more padded.
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"Bwee! Bwee~ee!"
"Charlotte! Charlotte! Come back, little Charlotte!" It was that over-aged brat, again, and she was skating after a little, black pig.
Little, black pig? And with the same yellow bandana around its neck! "Burin-kun!" Ranma cried, dashing out onto the ice.
And slipping, and almost falling, and slipping, and almost falling...
"Ranma!" Akane cried, coming to her rescue.
And she did! The smaller girl was able to hold onto somebody more steady on her skates and steady her.
But she didn't take the time to thank her, "You can fling me, right?"
"Fling?"
"Aim me at the pig! I'll explain later! Besides, that wacko Azusa wants him!"
"Okay!" And Akane did!
Using her hands and arms a lot, the light redhead was able to stay on her feet, though her ankles wanted to turn.
She would've thought at least her landings would have given her stronger ones. She almost lost it and had to bend over low.
It was perfect timing for she was in the right position to gather up Burin–kun in her arms – just as Azusa's mallet whizzed over her head!
"Give Azusa back her Charlotte! Give back Lolita!"
Again it was the battle of the hammers! This time, both were sent against the sideboards on the opposite sides of the rink. At least Akane (and Azusa) didn't crash into them.
"Don'tchyou worry, Burin-kun, I got you!" All Ranma had to do was let her momentum carry her to a sideboard and then turn and push off for the gate off of the rink.
Still confused, Burin–kun looked up at who had it this time – And saw the red hair and pigtail! (barely, her boobs being mostly in the way).
It growled and opened its mouth to use its teeth–
But before it could bite, Ranma Saotome was stopped and held solidly on the ice by another guy.
"I see you have not perfected the Art of Skating as yet," the overly handsome guy said."Let me assist you."
"No, Mikado!" cried more than one girl whose voices Ranma did not recognize. Ranma did recognize their costumes.
They were the colorful one-pieces of the girls who she was glad she didn't have to change into.
"We hear you and Azusa are breaking up!" , "We're here to audition for you!" , "We're can replace Azusa!" , "Especially if you train us, Mikado."
"Ladies, as much as I would wish otherwise, the Golden Pair will always be together. Forever, I'm afraid." Then a sudden gleam appeared in his eyes. "Of course, if Azusa should no longer be able to compete."
"Mikado! Mikado! Is that you! It is you! You dyed your hair blonde, again. Azusa does not like you in blonde hair! Azusa already has Barbie!¨
¨Get away from my hair, Wrench! I do not want you to do what you did with my hair that last time you chopped it off and called in Barbie!
"Is she related to Headmaster Kuno?" Ranma had to ask. It'd make sense. They were both insane!
And speaking of insane, the younger male Kuno was running over, and not on the ice, either. "Unhand the fair Venus, Ranma, you cad!"
Kuno's problem was that he had to stretch his sword out over the sideboards, and his wooden sword was still inches away from this Mikado character.
Charlotte finally asked itself why it was paying attention to all this chaos. It shook its head, and Burin–kun was ready to bite the hand that held it.
"Charlotte! Give Azusa back her Charlotte!"
But before she could take it from Ranma, one of the audition girls snatched it first. "If you want it, you have to come and get it, Azusa!" she taunted, skating off with it.
"Give Azusa back her Charlotte!" And she skated off after her.
Then them. All the audition girls were teaming up against the annoying brat. As soon as she came close to grabbing the pig, it would be tossed to another girl and so on in Keep–away on Ice!
Azusa only played their game for so long. Then she – and they – made sure it was no longer a game. A leg would trip one girl, sending her sliding belly and boobs down across the ice. She would spin in a blur and get a solid hit against the next girl's torso and send her skating pell-mell into the sideboards. A jump and a kick to the gut is what a third girl received.
But there were a few girls she really didn't like. "Uncute! Uncute! Your costumes are uncute!" And she slashed them to ribbons with the razor-sharp blades of her skates. And not just the costumes, either. Real skin was showing behind the cuts to their thermal bodysuits.
"UNCUTE!" Akane over-reacted at just hearing the word! She skated full force at her!
Azusa spun in time to see her: But her leg was still up. And her blade severed the head from the handle of Akane's mallet. "Oh, look what you did to Sartre!" she accused.
"Akane! Burin–kun! Hey, you! Miki–"
"Mikado, lovely–"
"Whatever! Fling me over to them!"
"And my reward?"
"Forget it!" She told him, shoving herself off of him and making it to the nearest sideboard.
"Venus! You have come to me!" Kuno reached out for her.
He was too slow. Man, did she have to get back to acting girly!
Ranma put a blade up onto the sideboard and pushed herself off – into the air! "Yeah! Mid-air! This I can do!
"What?!" Looking down, she saw that Mikado skated faster than she could rise and fall.
He was between Akane and Azusa when he caught her.
And he also took the pig away from the unfortunate girl that still held it. "Yours?" He asked Ranma.
"Charlotte is Azusa's!"
But Lolita would be easier to take. All she had to do was cut it off the redhead with a blade of her skates.
"And, now, for my reward. 899."
"Eight hundred what?" Ranma asked.
"You will be my 899th kiss."
"Like –Ow!" At just the wrong moment her mouth was open because the swine had bit her.