Watermelon Girl

by Chaos Orchid ← Ron Dow75

11.1 The Third Kami

"Sakura! " Akane screamed the name! "This is because of her 'Love Potion'! My room is destroyed! My things are destroyed! My LIFE is destroyed!" The girl in the green blouse stepped into an orange skirt. "I can't stay here and look at this!" And she stomped to her bedroom door, challenging anybody to try and stop her!

Nabiki and not even Ukyō challenged her; they backed into the hall to let her pass. They didn't have the chance to move back; Akane stomped back in and – after a brief scan – found a pair of panties. Snatching the yellow thing up in her fist, she stomped out again.

Unclothed and upset, Ranma slammed the door in their faces!

"Silly, Ranma. We'll just eavesdrop out here," Nabiki said.

Akane, though, had headed for the stairs. The only ones downstairs were the two dads. They were men, though, so she had to put on the panties! Even if they didn't know she wasn't wearing any, she would know!

But every time she became stressed and unable to physically vent, she became clumsy! She couldn't even stand on one leg now and get the other in the panties' leg opening!

She kicked the panties away and looked back at the two girls hovering near her bedroom door! She would teach them! She stormed into the guestroom. "This is my bedroom, now!" And she stated throwing Ukyō's things to the back. (She wasn't vengeful. She was a little more careful with breakable things. And she had sense enough to stay away from the urn with the awful smelling Okonomiyaki Secret Sauce!)

"My stuff!" Ukyō cried, rushing to protect them.

Nabiki smiled, "Now I can sell her what I overhear."

The door opened and Kasumi said, "What would you like for takeout?"

Nabiki got the message, "And I'd have to pay for it with my own money(?) You win, Big Sis." No loss; her recorder was picking up the sounds through the wall next door.

Only when she got to her room, she found that whatever had made Akane's room a disaster zone had jarred the reels, leaving a tangle of useless tapes! "I have to invest in new tech."

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Guilt interfered with Ranma thinking about the training s/he would have to put into this latest ability. S/he wanted to leave the room s/he had ruined – Akane's room! But the surprise energy blast had shredded her clothes. Being seen nude now would seem like s/he wasn't ashamed of what had happened. Making it worse, s/he knew her Old Man and Mr. Tendō would want to celebrate.

"Would you like to sit down, Ranma?" Kasumi gestured to the desk chair.

"I can't just sit!" the the redhead said. S/he kicked the litter out of the way to make a path for her. It seemed the least s/he could do for the mother-substitute. Until s/he realized it was. S/he squatted down and moved things about, treating Akane's things with more respect.

Kasumi always tried to project a sense of calm. If there was a time she needed that ability, it was now. She sat. It put the tall woman was now closer to Ranma-kun's cursed size. "As I said, I called the Shinto priestess, Sakura. I told her about how overly strict the kami of the omamori were being."

" 'Strict'!(?) We're bein' made into puppets!" S/he stood up just so s/he could hit the charm above her womb.

"Sakura did admit kami without independent personalities can be quite literal. Those in an omamori only exist to fulfill the one wish written on it. A shrine is where the essences of nature can be concentrated into their embodiments. What understanding kami have come through their shrine. But shrines are…," and she sighed, "...oh, my…parts of their community."

The pigtailed girl made a path to the closet. "That means the watermelon town where I got pregnant, don't it?!"

"I'm afraid so, Ranma-kun. The way to have a 'Safe Birth' to your kami is the way the town wishes it to be. It is not only a conservative town, it was traumatized by an epidemic of pregnancies years ago." Kasumi shook her head sadly, "You would think that would make them less dogmatic."

"But it didn't?" the redhead got the sour idea. "They're like my Old Man. Show him he's wrong and he'll just be more stubborn and try and make it work!"

"Sakura understood that. That's why she made the third omamori." Kasumi took hold of the ribbon lanyard around her neck and pulled her charm out from under her blouse. It read, [ Peculiar Serious-one ].

"Shouldn't it read, 'Substitute Guardian'?" That's what Ranma assumed the Kasumi would be to her kid. After all, the only way s/he could legally keep it was to marry a guy over eighteen. That wasn't going to happen!

'Peculiar Serious-one' is correct. This is an original wish the watermelon community has no preconceived ideas about. That makes it peculiar. And Sakura en-chanted the charm first, so your kami and Akane's would recognize mine as the elder, respected relative. The serious one. The priestess gave it to me, because she divined I may have the sense they lacked." Kasumi sighed. "Such responsibility."

The redhead groaned. "No offense, Kasumi, but you haven't brought much sense to your family. Especially, Akane!"

"I know. Sorry," she bowed her head. She kept it low, "But now I will have little choice but take on that duty. My call to Sakura acknowledged what I thought, that the other kami have to be brought under moderating control. I, in effect, volunteered. My kami will reinforce my understanding of what 'peculiar seriousness' means. Forgive me!" Arms on thighs, Kasumi's bow was deeper and more formal.

"Aw, man!" The redhead fell against the closet door. "Your kami is gonna wanna make us like you!"

"Oh, I hope not. My understanding is just that the kami should be more lenient.

"However, I don't know what Sakura's is, yet."

"Sakura!" The pregnant pigtailed girl made a fist.

Kasumi apologetically bowed again, "The priestess made the original wish. And she's a more peculiar serious-person than I am."

11.2 A Sundress at Night

" 'Peculiar Serious-one'. Hhmph, that sounds ungrammatical, even to me," Ranma frowned. "Shouldn't it be something like 'peculiarly serious-one'? No, that don't sound like a role title."

Kasumi rose off the chair, "There's one more thing I must mention from my phone call with Sakura. She'll be coming here as soon as she can get away from her duties at her shrine."

"Man! Isn't that something to look forward to," the naked redhead said, opening Akane's wall closet.

"Akane won't like seeing you wearing her things, Ranma. She's already accused you of having ruined her things. I told you on your first day with us Akane was a sweet girl but is as violent as a gorilla. Those traits are stronger, now."

The omamori charm 'nodded' up and down below the pigtailed girl's belly button. S/he, of course, hit it. But s/he knew the kami in it was responding to Kasumi's kami. If s/he ignored big sister's advice, her own kami would be free to try to take control of her accursed body again.

"Yeah; you're right. And I didn't like wearin' her things. Her bust's too tight against these boobs. I'm gonna get something from Nabiki's storage. I know she's got things my size in here; she's had me model in them too often enough." The short girl pushed the clothes on hangers against the chest of drawers to the right as s/he went left. S/he found the latch that went through the wall-door.

Kasumi remained outside, not wanting to know for sure what kinds of things her scheming sister had in there. Though she could well guess. "Don't wear any of the fetish costumes, please." She remembered that a few days after the 'fiance's' arrival, Nabiki and her had (shamefully, she saw now) pressured the pigtailed 'girl' to wear girl clothes. Akane's. That was when Ranma had discovered the hidden half of little sister's closet. In a twisted revenge against them, the redhead had ran – and been chased – about the house in the most outrageously female costumes no guy could wear. Kasumi wished to consider them cosplay costumes for Nabiki's gravure photo shoots. (She favored the more polite term 'gravure' over 'soft porn'.)

"I won't," s/he answered from deeper inside the wall. "I got some of my disguises from here.

"Like this sundress!" There was a smile in her voice. It wasn't long before the pigtailed girl came out wearing a white, maxi dress. "Remind me again, why Akane is okay with Nabiki using this extra closet space."

"Because Nabiki tricked her into signing a lease. Akane has a right to the rent money, but she's still in denial that she was tricked. She doesn't want to believe Nabiki hired a carpenter to finish the unused space while the rest of us were on a holiday."

"Yeah, that sounds like Akane. Once she gets an idea in her head, she won't let anything change it." Like s/he was a pervert and P-chan wasn't Ryōga.

"Next time you go into Nabiki's storage closet, will you use the downstairs entrance near the toilet?"

"Aw, the clothes are up here. But, okay, I can use the ladder."

"Thank you. And I think you should avoid coming near Akane's bedroom for a while. Again, it could agitate her violent tendencies. Probably more than usual."

"I will. I hate what happened to her room and things, but I hadda do it! Look!" And s/he hit the 'mamori charm attached to her once more. "It don't control me no more!"

"I don't know, but I think it's because the kami is under the impression your energy outbursts may injure the embryo you're carrying. We'll know more about that once Sakura examines you. The Shinto priestess and exorcist is also a nurse practitioner."

"Aw, geez! Man! I can't even train in my new ki technique?! Bein' knocked up stinks! What else can't I do I can do as a guy!?"

"I'll study on that, Ranma. But as I told you earlier, up to 80% of miscarriages occur in the first three months. Let's see what Sakura has to say."

The 'mamori tightened on her belly, warning her. Ranma grumbled.

"It is late, Ranma. It's time for everybody to go to bed."

The redhead looked at Akane's bed and felt her guilt increase. "Where is Akane gonna sleep?"

"Why, in your room, of course," Kasumi's old smile came back.

"In my room?(!)" S/he couldn't bring herself to protest. "Okay. That's fair. I'll go and get my things and find some place else to sleep."

"Oh, my, no, that mustn't happen. Ukyō is also staying with us in the guestroom. I'm afraid you have to share the room with her and Akane to keep the peace."

"Kasumi, they'll be fightin' over me!"

"Isn't better they attack you than each other? You are a martial artist sworn to lay down your life if necessary."

"My life, not my sanity!" But the kami under her dress was already urging her towards the door. Ranma glared down, then tried to glare at the one who had her own kami to respond to, Kasumi. S/he couldn't. She was Kasumi, and people couldn't get mad at her.

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When Ranma came to the end of the sisters' hall and the beginning of the stairway hall, s/he saw Ukyō leaving the guestroom. She was wearing a magenta, (unisex) samue pj, but what got her notice was what her friend had on her back and dragging behind her. It was Ranma's own traveling pack and a duffle bag jammed full of things.

S/he ran to get between her and the stairs.

"Ranchan!" Ukyō smiled.

"What are you doin' with my stuff!"

"I'm saving them from Akane, for one. She wanted to do your stuff what she says you did to hers."

"An eye for an eye! Justice!" Akane yelled from inside the guestroom. The redhead winced with guilt.

"I didn't do anything to your stuff! Leave my stuff alone!" Ukyō yelled back over her shoulder, before returned to Ranma. "Here! Arrange your stuff in the alcove by the stairs so you can get to what you want when you want it."

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NOTES to Section 11.1:

In this universe, the different essences of nature can be collected and anchored in physical objects by any being, humans included. These kami only gain a personality once enough of a force of nature has been collected and made stable by worshipers. They are then minor gods. They become fully conscious when enough of the different forces are collected, creating dichotomies. Then they count as major gods and have less need for worshipers.

NOTES to Section 11.2:

Ranma in a series of 'fetish' costumes being chased by both Akane and Nabiki was in the same anime episode where they introduced Ryōga, S1E7, "Enter Ryoga! The Eternal 'Lost Boy'".

Manga Chapters 173-179, Ranma Engaged to Nabiki arc and S5E23, "Nabiki, Ranma's New Fiancée!": Akane's break-up with her 'fiance' began when she discovered that Nabiki had entered her room and 'barrowed' most of the clothes she found she liked in Nabiki's room.

The at the end of the alcove beside the stairway is the closet where Akane discovered her mother's recipe book in OAV 3, "Akane vs. Ranma! I'll Be the One to Inherit Mother's Recipes!"