Watermelon Girl

by Chaos Orchid ← Ron Dow75

4.1 Mother and Father Bikinis

This was a village far off the main routes; tab credits were a part of its economy. Ranma and Akane were the outsiders who had 'won' the 1992 "Great Watermelon Contest". They didn't have to immediately pay for their purchases. The pigtailed girl now carried out his* kung fu silks in the shop's bag; Akane's held her selection.

"A bikini, Ranma?!(?)" Akane still hadn't gotten over seeing the redhead in skimpy green set with its black stripes accenting all the wrong areas. As she saw it, the only good thing about it was that it wasn't a thong. The girl buttcrack was covered. Though there was some bottom cleavage. "What happened to that cut-out one-piece with the watermelon rind pattern?"

"Don't spoil my mood. That was what I was wearin' on Watermelon Island when Kunō and his amnesia turned into a dangerous stalker."

"I understand.

"But you could have waited until we had reached the beach."

"Why bother? This is a beach town, and we're the tourists that fell into their trap. If they want to argue about it, I'll argue them back!" And s/he raised a fist.

"No feminine modesty," Akane said only to herself. She, on the other hand, seemed to have all that Ranma should have added to her own. At the moment she was blushing enough for others to think she might have a sunburn.

It made sense that a shop that sold swimwear should be close to the beach. The voluptuous teen paused to see who would see be seeing so much of her.

S/he was mostly disappointed. Though only kilometers away from a resort town, this village didn't attract many outsiders and the insiders were working. Except for a few grandparently types, there were a handful of women in their one-pieces or bikinis with their kids. Very young kids.

Ranma's butt dropped onto the boardwalk, only her feet in the sand. They had had to wait more than two hours for the "Beach and More" shop to open. During that time, s/he had seen tens of school age kids going to school. According to the elderly couple that were more than willing to talk to the local news, most of those kids were nine-years old and born days apart from one another. They were putting a strain on the village's expenses. They were the result of the first time in memory that the Great Watermelon Kunitsu-kami had attacked the villagers themselves. Instead of the stupid outsiders like herself they used as 'offerings'. These preschool kids on the beach were only the result of mother nature.

Her hand went to her exposed belly. S/he wasn't sure where s/he should be feeling, but included the bellybutton because that seemed important when thinking about babies. A baby. Her*–

"A bikini?" Nabiki smiled hurrying from behind her. Her deep purple one-piece went completely up to her neck. But she called it a tan-through, and she was starting to show one that could rival a gyaru's.

Ranma brightened when s/he saw the camera. S/he jumped meters away and landed in one of the favorite poses the photog liked her to be in. It emphasized all her curves.

Nabiki lowered the camera, suspicious. "I don't have to blackmail, con or haggle you into posing?"

"Nope! Go ahead." And s/he put her hands against the back of her head and pushed her chest out. S/he used her martial arts ability to control her blood flow to inflate her boobs, making them firmer. Bigger. Perfect hemispheres.

The answer to Nabiki's "What's the catch?" was a big, wide smile.

It was Akane who answered, "We signed your name on the bill for the swimsuit."

Japanese doesn't require the plural be marked, but Nabiki only had to glance at Akane's shopping bag to understand there were at least two.

She made a quick recovery, "You know you're going to have to pose the way I'll be having Ranma pose(?)"

Akane's blush came back(!) "I knew I shouldn't have let you talk me into getting a bikini, too, Ranma!"

[] [] []

After Ranma had coaxed, flattered and challenged Akane and Nabiki had blackmailed, conned and haggled, the beachside, bikini photo shoot was ready to begin.

"You really like polka dots," the redhead smiled. "The first time I ever saw your panties, they had dots."

"Why you pervert!" But Akane didn't hit him, because she was covering her top with an arm and the front of her bottom with a hand.

Nabiki was smiling, too, "I find that trivia can give me references that at least I can find amusing. There was an oldie, American, novelty song that went, "She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"." And she had a brief, but genuine laugh. "And that's exactly what you chose on your own, Little Sister!"

"I chose it, because I didn't have the nerve to put it on even in the shop and grabbed the first one I saw! If I knew how little it covered–"

She flinched when the short redhead put an arm around her naked waist. "If you went with what I wanted to see you wear, you'd be wearin' more."

"It looked like swim trunks! I know they were for women, but they looked like they were for men!"

Ranma turned her smile toward Nabiki, "And the bra top was smaller than the one I'm wearin'!"

Nabiki understood, now, "So, modest little sister would want to cover it up, right? Say…with a towel?"

The redhead became nostalgic, "You got it! Wouldn't that have brought back memories!"

"What? What!? Tell me! Why are you making fun of me?!"

Nabiki inquired, "Are you going to tell daddy, mommy?"

Ranma hugged Akane closer to her, and nodded towards the young mothers in their own bikinis, "I won't be able to wear a bikini soon. Not without my big, ol' belly hangin' out. I wanted photos of what I looked like before I get stretch marks."

S/he laid her head against Akane's shoulder, "You won't be gettin' any until I'm old enough to marry you. You can't marry me as a girl. But I would like photos with the man I hope to be again."

Akane still looked a little confused. Nabiki told her, "It's a role. Ranma wanted you to look like what he, guy-half Ranma, looked like in boxers and a towel around his shoulders."

Akane began to understand, "The towel was for if cold water got on him."

Ranma sighed. "I won't have to worry about cold water for months." Then s/he tried to smile, "I did get to enjoy a hot shower take last night."

[] [] []

4.2 The Divined Kasumi

Besides a few of the local grandparents, mothers and their preschool-aged children on the sandy beach, there were only the six tourists.

Akane watched her family as they enjoyed the sun on the beach. Kasumi staying under a beach umbrella, reading her book; Nabiki sunbathing; her dad out in the ocean itself with an inflatable duck floaty.

And then there were the Saotomes. Ranma had tossed water on his* dad and was now taunting the panda, "Ha! Ha! You can't hit me, 'cuz I'm pregnant! And it's all your fault!" And s/he attacked the panda with all her might, minus special attacks!

The pigtailed girl was mistaken – The giant animal body gave as good as it got! Its only concession was it didn't land any blow to the belly or left breast.

It certainly was trying to kick its son's cursed sex!

Until s/he hit its. "You started it; I ended it, Animal!"

The little kids cried at seeing a panda hurt! And the mothers yelled at the redhead for making their children cry! Until the grandmothers reminded them that she was the Watermelon Girl of the 1992. Women who had already experienced what the young women faced gave her their sympathies and encouragement and some even offered advice on what to expect while she was expecting.

Tender, swollen breasts; morning sickness; more peeing; tiredness; …

Ranma lost the ability to listen to them, and was only able to respond with a weak, "Haha". Haha was one of the words for mom.

Things like that together weren't supposed to happen to guys! Her* natural role, if he* had taken it seriously before, should be that of father.

And Akane knew her natural role was to be a mother. Perhaps with Ranma the rightful father(?) Even if, she was not at deep peace with any variation of any parenthood role.

Still, she had been so embarrassed by the yellow, polka dot bikini she was now wearing the maternity cover-up with the watermelon over the belly. "Ranma, are you ready to talk with big sister Kasumi, now?"

"Why spoil her vacation," s/he grumbled. "This isn't the type of place to learn motherin'. It should be in a house."

Akane frowned and was tempted to become angry, "Because that's where mothers belong?!"

The redhead's frown was from her grumbling mood, "What?(!) Where's a mother to keep their baby? In a school 24/7?(!)"

[] [] []

The photos taken of "Ranma Before Stretch Marks" and her flaunting her bikini before the panda which had cursed her more than once done with, s/he was ready to get back into his* normal and baggy clothes. S/he paused when dressed and pulled the silk shirt out at the belly. They would be less baggy in a few months.

Akane was in the inn room they shared, but she wouldn't change until after Ranma had left. She still have on the maternity cover-up of a bikini skimpier than any of her lingerie.

She screamed– and even Ranma all but screamed herself –when a man burst into the room! "We have a solution! A solution!" Soun Tendō cried! "It's so simple!"

"Simple!?(!) Whose idea was it, pop's?!" the redhead yelled back.

"No, not at all! Genma and I went to Sakura-sensei!"

"Already, I don't like it!" s/he told him, ready to stubborn up.

"The Shintō priestess performed a divination! It was the kami of her shrine who answered with, "The Journey of a Thousand Kilometers Begins From the Mist!"

"Talk about hazy forecasts." Akane was not impressed.

"But don't you see!? 'Mist' is Kasumi! Ka, 'blossom, flower' and Sumi, 'pure, clear'!"

"Stupid metaphors!" the redhead grumbled. It was something only an East Asian would understand and even then Ranma barely did.

Akane thought she understood, "Uh, maybe the fortuneteller was right, Ranma. We were going to ask big sister for help with your, uh, problem."

"We did." But that wasn't enough. Ranma knew how things were never easy in his* life. Think you have found a cure? Think again. "We don't tell Kasumi about none of this before we talk to Nabiki!"

"Nabiki?" Akane asked. "Nabiki wants to get money from Kunō for helping him marry you!"

"And she told us that! It don't make good tactics! Unless she's bein' an honest broker, a nakōdo. She don't wanna get too much blow back from me and you and the families! She knows it has to be our honest agreement!" Well, that was Ranma's hope, anyway.

"Yes, yes! She is Akane's sister and loyalty is a mark of a true samurai!" Soun told them.

"Nabiki, loyal?" Akane snorted. And since when was their samurai ancestry brought in? In iffy situations like this. Loyalty, honor, honesty, courage, and so on were ideals. And they contrasted with the Pure Land, Shin Buddhism. That would be Nabiki's religion if she were ever to be religious. She just hadn't began the chanting, yet. Then she, who had lived a 'prodigal son's' life, would receive the greater blessing for 'reforming'.

[] [] []

"Are you ready for the hard truth?" Nabiki said.

It had cost the unmarried, unhappy couple, Akane and Ranma a future favor. The condition, of course, was that it would not involve Kunō in any way. And some snacks. Jira, cumin soda, went well on a hot, beach day.

"You were right, Ranma. It is not a simple solution. First of all, you have to get the wedded couple-to-be to agree to be actually be a wedded couple. Now, you might be able to coerce Kasumi, but who is she going to marry? The Doctor? Ōno Tōfū loses his sanctity around our dear, big sis. What happens to him afterwards? Does he regain his sanity? What if he doesn't? He, the doctor, is vital to the town. You surely found that out when he went away on his research sabbatical.

"Ask yourself if there is anybody else available who might be a better husband for your surrogate mother?"

"As far as your problem, Ranma, Akane: under Japanese law, you do have more rights over the child than the married couple who adopt them. Only, you, Ranma, do not legally exist as a girl. (Note: see the Kunō solution.)

"Of course, you could give up your claim on the child and let Kasumi pretend to be its birth mother.

"However…"

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

NOTE:

Urusei Yatsura S01E40 was broadcast Aug. 1982, almost ten to the day this story begins with. So, the children born from the first attack of the Watermelon Kunitsu-kami were born nine months later, in April.

Shintoism stems from a form of shamanism and divination has been a part of it.

And, yes, I have a clear idea what will fulfill "The Journey of a Thousand Kilometers Begins From the Mist!"