Chaotic Waters Act 2, Chapter 3: Unwanted Reveals and Evening's Horizon.
So catch the dusk, let it carry us away,
In the whispers of the evening, love's here to stay.
Underneath the sky, in each other we find,
The secrets of the ocean, entwined in the mind.
Surprise. Confusion. Fear. Betrayal. Anger. Each of these emotions passed across the brunette's face as if the world were moving in slow motion. The girl opened her mouth to scream, whether in fear or anger over what she had just seen Michiru wasn't sure, and was only stopped by the hand of the girl-turned-boy that shot out and covered her lips. "Shhhh!" Michiru hissed, her skin crawling in discomfort. "I promise I'll explain, butpleasejust be quiet long enough for me to have the chance to-" She froze, looking at the door in terror at the sound of her teammate's annoyed voices could be heard, even over the running water. "-Shit!" She grabbed the brunette's arm with the hand that wasn't covering the other girl's mouth and pulled her into the shower with her, closing the door with her foot.
She'd pulled Mayu in just in time as she heard the door to the showers opened and the team walked in."Fuck! Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!"She panicked, reaching behind her to turn the faucet the other direction before shutting it off, feeling a strange sense of relief as she changed back onto a girl.
"I'm telling you, she joined the team just so she could perv on us!" Emi said as she walked inside the room. "We need to do something!"
"And like I told you, my hands are tied!" She heard Ishioka-senpai respond, her own annoyance clear. "Coach won't let me kick her off the team without a valid reason, and despite being a filthy dyke, she hasn't done anything to warrant getting kicked!"
Giving the now slightly soaked Mayu a pleading look, she took her hand off of her mouth and locked the door to her stall as quietly as possible.
The brunette just glared down down at the shorter girl, her expression making it clear that she better give an explanation soon and have a damn good one at that.
"Well that plan of yours didn't work either Kana!" Emi snapped. "Why the hell didn't you offer her the captain's position or something for beating me? Not like she could've after what you had her do."
"Because I didn't want to risk having our team led by her on the off chance shecouldbeat you! You've seen her swim, she's like a fish and never seems to get tired! Hell she wasn't even out of breathe after she swam 100 meters!" She heard her captain growl out before the stall next to hers opened and the shower inside turned on.
"Shit, shit, shit! This isnota good position to be in!"Anxiety gripped her as she heard footsteps walk up to her stall and the door jiggle as Emi tried to open the stall.
"Ugh. Kana! Looks like one of the boys snuck in here and locked one of our stalls again!" The girl called, getting a groan of irritation in response. A few moments later, she heard the door to the other stall next to her open and the shower getting turned on.
"Great, another problem I have to take care of." The captain complained. "I'll let a janitor know."
One by one the stalls opened and the showers turned on by the rest of the team, most of them muttering agreement to what the captain and Emi were saying.
"...hey senpai?" One of the other girls on team, Shizu if she was remembering right, asked hesitantly. "Are we sure Kaioh-san even likes girls? I mean all we have to go off of are a few rumors and, in case I need to remind you,youwere the subject of a similar rumor last year."
"Iwasn't hanging around Sasaki." Ishioka snapped. "We all know what a fucking freak she is."
Wincing, she turned to look at the brunette next to her, who had slumped in resignation. "I'm sorry." She mouthed at the other girl, only for Mayu to shake her head and glare at her in response."You really messed it up this time Ranma."
"Isn't that a bit unfair?" Shizu asked "I mean sure, she's into girls, but she also tutors like a third of the students in my yearandthe first years! Not to mention that she and the student council got your dad to back off on the excessive homework assignments!"
"That doesn't matter!" Ishioka growled. "No matter what she does or has done, she's still a filthy dyke! Are you telling me you're okay with one ofthembeing in the same room as us while we change or use the showers?!"
"I didn't say that. All I'm saying is thatmaybewe should make sure that we actually have a reason to kick our best chance of making it to the nationals off the team before we do it!"
"...Fine." Ishioka grumbled, clearly not happy with her teammate's argument. One by one, her teammates finished washing off and left the showers, leaving the two hiding girls alone.
"What. The. Hell." Mayu growled after she was sure the last one had left. "Explain, now!"
She winced, rubbing the back of her neck. "I...It's..." She sighed. "It's...a thing that happens to me."
The brunette crossed her arms, giving the teal haired girl a unamused look. "A thing. You're going to have to give me a bit more than that."
"I know..." She sighed and glanced at the exit before sighing again in resignation. "Let's grab Haruka and I'll explain it at my apartment, you two deserve to know."
"And how, pray tell am I supposed to do that?" Mayu asked, gesturing to her wet clothes.
"I have a spare outfit in my bag, you can use that."
"...fine, but I'm not letting you leave my sight until I get an explanation."
-Later, at Michiru's apartment-
Hot water was poured over her head for the seventh time that evening as Haruka once more tested out her curse. "How...?" The blonde asked her eyes still wide from the first time Michiru had demonstrated it.
"Like I said." Michiru began, squirming in discomfort. "It's a curse, I got it in China thanks to my pops."
"Some curse." The blonde muttered, a little annoyed by the fact that the teal haired girl kept referring to the change as such, she'd give up being able to fly if she could do that!
...well, when she finally got flying down that is.
"Probably shouldn't mention that it was only sheer dumb luck that both of us didn't plummet to our deaths when I jumped off of the building to save her."The Senshi of Uranus mused.
"What I want to know is how you shrink. Also, don't think I didn't notice the fact that your guy form isidenticalto your brother that I met." Mayu growled, glaring at the shorter girl.
"She doesn't have a brother." Haruka said absently, once more dumping cold water over the teal haired girl's head. "Least she didn't when we were kids." She didn't even notice as the brunette threw her hands in the air.
"Of course she doesn't!"
"I definitely messed this up."She thought with a wince as she grabbed a towel and began drying off her hair. "I'm sorry about that...most people don't react well to the curse. They...well they either think I'm a pervert, a freak, or they want to..." She flushed, looking away from her two friends. "...you know, sleep with me."
"Ah." That would certainly explain it. "Still, I can't imagine having a curse that turns me into a guy with a little hot water, it must make taking a bath really awkward." Mayu mused.
"Well...that's notexactlyhow it works." She admitted, a bead of sweat slowly trailing down her face.
The other two girls seemed confused for a moment before Haruka's eyes widened. "Oh! That uh...that explains things." A slight redness formed on the blonde's cheeks."That's right...she did say something about borrowing supplies back when she spent the night at my place."The blonde cleared her throat, gesturing awkwardly with her hand.
"I uh...it doesn't turn me into a guy. It turns mebackinto a guy." She explained, looking anywhere but at the brunette.
Silence.
A pin could have ben heard hitting the floor as the dark haired girl processed what she'd just heard. Her eyes went wide, her face turning as red as a tomato, whether from anger or embarrassment she couldn't tell, but neither boded well for the teal haired girl. "Are you telling me, that the curse...that you get turned into a girl and not the other way around? Because if you are..." She stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing, her voice strained in an attempt to keep it level. "...then I would very much like an explanation as to why you are enrolled in our schoolas a girl!
Heat burned on her face like she'd spend too long in the sun. "I...it uhm..." She looked away, fiddling with the towel in her hands. "The...people in the ward I used to live in, they wouldn't...they would never look for me in a school, let alone as a..." She gestured awkwardly at the brunette. "you know. I was just trying to get away for a while, to maybe figure something out."
"So you enroll yourself in our school as a girl and join the swim team of all things?! It's a miracle you haven't been found out already considering all that needs to happen for you to change back is getting splashed with a little hot water! What if it hadn't been me who saw you change? What if it had been any of your teammates or worse, like Nishikawa?" Mayu asked, waving her finger at the cursed girl as if she were scolding a child. "Not to mention all the dysphoria you've got to be putting yourself through, are youtryingto give yourself a mental breakdown?!"
"Why would you think I was putting myself through dysphoria?" That wouldn't make sense, "Michiru" was just a disguise after all.
"Are you telling me, that in the entire time you've been going to our school you haven't felt dysphoric once?" The class president asked incredulously. "That doesn't even make sense, you're constantly being called and having to dress like a girl! The only way that you not getting dysphoric is if-!" She stopped, her eyes widening. "Oh."
"Oh? Oh what?"
"Uh...how...how do you feel about your curse?" Mayu asked, glancing at Haruka as the blonde shot her a questioning look. "Like...how does it make you feel?"
"It's a curse, it sucks." She replied blandly, giving the class president a deadpan look. "Imagine the worst possible place and time to have your gender changed and add the most ridiculous way to get splashed by hot or cold water, that's what it's like."
"Yes but how does it make youfeel, like do you feel different as a girl as apposed to a guy?" The brunette stressed, clearly trying to get something across to the dense tealette.
"Fine? I mean the curse does make me feel gross when I change back into a guy, but it's just trying to keep me in my cursed form." She explained, shrugging her shoulders.
"Are you sure about that? I mean with what happened earlier when you were in the shower, it doesn't seem like it's trying to keep you in any particular form..."
"Well, no..." She admitted with a frown. "Water seems to find me no matter what, but it's a curse, it's not supposed to be easy to deal with!"
"I hate to point this out." Haruka interrupted, looking at Michiru. "But back when we were kids, you always hated being called a boy."
"I already told you I'm not her, not anymore." She couldn't be Kasumi again, not after the neko-ken, no, not after what her pops had done to her. "I barely remember anything from back then, just enough for me to know that I don't want to remember the rest! It didn't exactly end well." She snapped.
"Howdidyou forget?" Mayu asked, getting a wince from the teal haired girl. "That bad?"
"Worse." She growled, folding her arms and gripping them tightly.
"I'd like to know as well." Haruka said softly, giving her a gentle look. "But if you don't want to tell us you don't have to."
The cursed girl silently stared at them both, becoming more and more tense as the seconds ticked by before slumping in resignation. "You remember the last time we saw each other, before I forgot?" She asked, looking at the blonde racer, gripping her arms tighter. "What happened before I left?"
Haruka frowned in confusion before nodding her head, not sure where the other girl was going with this. "Yeah...you kissed me on the cheek and I got grossed out, because of cooties or something like that."
"What're cooties?" Mayu muttered, her eyes twitching at the thought of Haruka getting a kiss from her crush.
"Well, my old man saw, and he's...less than accepting when it comes to people who are...different." She hedged. "On top of that, I was wearing that dress you gave me..."
"Please don't tell me you're saying what I think you're saying." Haruka grit her teeth, her hands tightening into fists.
"...is there something I'm missing?" Mayu asked before the gears clicked into place. "Wait...you said that your curse turns youbackinto a boy, that means..."
"'Fraid so." She said grimly. "Pops saw his son kissing a boy and freaked out. He waited until I was in our apartment before beating me black and bloody. Then he proceeded to do that every day for weeks before..." She froze, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood in an effort to keep herself from saying anything about the neko-ken.
Both of the other girls flinched in surprise, holding out a hand to her almost in synch before she waved them off, taking a few deep breaths, her arms trembling. "...let's just say he made sure I wouldn't do it again." She finished, wiping the blood away with the back of her hand.
"I'm gonna kill him." Haruka growled, eyes flashing in fury.
"Not if I get to him first."
"Neither of you are getting anywhere near him!" She snapped, glaring at the other two. "You have no idea what he's capable of, hell I'm onlyjustfiguring out some of the things he's done. I've already lost one close friend because of that bastard, I don't want to lose you two as well."
"You lost a-" May started before getting cut off.
"-She died three years ago, lung cancer. I only remembered her the night before last."
"...fuck. That's...fuck." Running her hand through her hair Mayu sighed. "How are you handling the news?"
"Trying not to think about it to be honest." The cursed girl muttered, standing up from the puddle caused from her many transformations over the last hour. "For now, I'm going to take a shower and get changed, you two mind waiting in the other room?" Getting a nod from the other two she walked past them both, grabbing a fresh set of clothes before walking back into the bathroom. Seeing that Haruka and Mayu had indeed vacated the bathroom she sighed in relief, her shoulders falling."Why did I tell them all that? I'm tryingnotto get them involved."
One by one she peeled off her wet clothes, turning on the shower and stepping in.
As usual, the water was freezing for a moment before warming up to change her into her birth form and once more the feeling of discomfort hit her as she washed herself down."I wonder why that keeps happening."She mused, reaching for the shampoo.
Oh well, it was probably nothing important.
"So...egg?" Haruka asked jerking her thumb behind them at the room where the teal haired girl was taking her shower.
"Oh thank fuck, I thought I was the only one who could see it!" Mayu exclaimed. "Is she just oblivious?"
"Do you really have room to talk miss "totally isn't a lesbian"?"
"...shut up." Grumbling, the brunette flopped down onto Michiru's couch, rubbing her temples. "Fuuuuuck...seriously, what even is that girl's life?"
"...You know, you're pretty different compared to how you are at school." The racer commented, looking down at the other girl.
"At school I have to be the class president remember? Screw doing that out here." Mayu remarked, looking up at the blonde in annoyance. "Not to mention, considering everything that's happened today, I think you can forgive me for acting a bit out of character."
"Itwaskind of your own fault. What were you thinking, opening the shower door when she was using it?!" Now it appeared to be Haruka's turn to scold someone as she stared down the brunette until she winced and looked away.
"I wasn't thinking okay?! I freaked out when I heard that you'd kissed her, you have to know how I feel about her sinceapparentlyI'm about as subtle as a meteor!" She sighed and looked at her lap. "And I acted like a jealous ex when we haven't even had a date, no, I acted like one of the people from the ward she came from which is even worse!"
The blonde raised her...his eyebrow, glancing at the other room when the sound of the shower cut off before turning his gaze back to the brunette. "So you made a mistake, what are you going to do about it?"
"Beg forgiveness and pray she accepts it." Was Mayu's blunt reply, as she lifted her head to stare at the ceiling, ignoring the blond's pointed gaze.
"You should tell her how you feel."
The racer's words jolted the girl to her feet as she gaped at her classmate. "Wha...are you insane?! You two have already kissed and she clearly has feelings for you!"
"...and?" Haruka asked, waving off the brunette's concerns. "Even if me and Michiru do end up together, I have no issue with her dating other people or all of us dating each other."
"Uh, I have a problem with that! I like girls, you're a boy!"
"At the moment I am." Haruka said with a shrug. "But I was a girl until just a moment ago."
"What are you-do you have a curse too?!"
Rolling her eyes, Haruka shook her head in exasperation. "No you idiot, I'm genderfluid."
"Oooohhh...huh I wouldn't have figured that."
Wincing, the blond sat on the other end of the couch, a light groan escaping his lips. "My mom's idea, she signed me up as a boy for my first race and told me that if I want to keep racing I have to go to school as one too."
"...Your mom sucks."
"You have no idea."
"Still...even with you being genderfluid, that doesn't really change things." Mayu began, rubbing her temples. "It's not like I have anything against polyamory or polygamy either, but she might not feel the same."
"Only one way to find out." Haruka argued.
"Find out what?" Michiru asked as she came back into the living room in a pair of grey sleep shorts and a loose black tank top.
"You look comfy." The blond said, snickering when Mayu's face flushed red.
"I don't have work today, might as well get comfortable." She shrugged, wasn't like she needed to stay in her school uniform especially since it was now soaked."Gonna need to throw that in the dryer."She mused as she sat between the other two, filling the empty space on her couch. "What are you two trying to find out?"
"It's nothi-" Mayu started to say.
"-Oh just what your thoughts on dating us would be." Haruka cut her off with a devious smirk, snickering as both girl's faces burned crimson at the suggestion. "And I do mean "us" as in Mayu and me at the same time." He clarified, getting a confused squeak from the tealette.
The tealette who was conspicuously still female despite haven taken a hot shower.
"I, I uh..." She stuttered, licking her suddenlyverydry lips. "Is...Isn't that cheating?"
"Not if everyone agrees to it." Haruka said with a shrug before donning a serious expression. "Let me be clear, neither of us are trying to pressure you in any way." She pointed to Mayu and then herself as if to illustrate who exactly she was talking about. "We just want to know what youthinkof the idea, you don't have to do it if you don't want that."
"But Idowant that."She found herself thinking before her thoughts ground to a halt.
Dating the two of them, the three of them being together? Why was that thought so appealing, why did she want that? Why did she want to call them "her Mayu, her Haruka", why did she want them to call her "our Michiru"...Michiru? Why not Ran- a feeling of revulsion cut through her at the thought of her old name.
No...not that name, never again. Ranma had been the result of a child being hurt until she couldn't take it anymore. Maybe her other name, Takeo?
She wrinkled her nose, that didn't sound right either. She supposed she could just keep calling herself "Michiru" until she found another name, though she did like the way it sounded...
"So, just to make sure I understand, I'd be you two's...?" She started, trailing off as her eyes drifted to the other two.
"Whatever you want to be called." Haruka said, an odd glint appearing in his eyes. "Just as an example, we could say "Michiru is our boyfriend" or "Michiru is our partner"."
Once more the teal haired girl's face fell into a frown. "Boyfriend" was just...wrong somehow, and "Partner" didn't feel right either, but what else-
"Or," Mayu began softly, her blush slowly fading away and being replaced with a glimmer of hope. "We could say "Michiru is our girlfriend"."
.
A thrill ran through her body, as tears filled her eyes. Why did that sound so right? She was a boy so...so why did being called that word, being called their girlfriend feel sogood?!
"I...but I'm not..." Gods what was wrong with her? She shouldn't be like this, she was a guy! She shouldn't like being called their...that! She needed to get away, to leave to...to leave?
Tears left streaks down her face at just the thought of leaving. How could she do that when this was the happiest she had ever been? "I..." She croaked as she pulled her knees to her chest, the other two calling her name before wrapping their arms around her. In a voice so quiet it might as well have been a whisper, she croaked. "Could you...could you c, call me that again?" Why were those the words that had come out of her mouth? She'd meant to ask themnotto call her that again, that she was aguy!
Briefly Mayu and Haruka sent each other knowing glances before looking back at the girl in their arms. "Ourgirlfriend." They said in unison, emphasizing the "girl" in the word, their voices drawing a small whimper from the teal haired girl before she burst into tears.
Girlfriend...why did that feel so right?
-Nerima, Nekohanten-
"Okay...so how royally frosted am I?"She wondered."Least that old woman made it so I don't feel like I've been run through a blender. Still...she said this was the Nekohanten? I know Aunt Michiru said it used to be located in Nerima before Crystal Tokyo was built, but I didn't expect an old mummy to be the owner."
Let it be known she wasn't above insulting people who were younger than her but looked much older.
"I need to get out of here and find mom's silver crystal, they said they used to keep it in their transformation broach before they became queen."Really, what had they been thinking? That was just asking for it to be stolen."It was nice to see Aunt Xian Pu, haven't had a chance to visit her in a while."She mused thinking about how her currently teenage aunt had helped her back into the bed while grumbling in mandarin."Weird seeing her with all her limbs though."
-Juban, Michiru's Apartment-
"S, sorry." Michiru said some time later after her tears stopped falling and her sobs quieted down.
"You don't need to apologize, believe me I get it." Haruka said softly, rubbing the girl's back gently.
"So do I. Trust me, my lesbian realization wasnotpretty." Mayu joked, wiping away a tear on teal haired girl's cheek with her thumb.
"..." She mumbled, her cheeks turning red as she refused to look up from the drawstrings of her shorts.
"What was that?" The brunette asked, having not heard what Michiru had said.
"...'said wouldn' mind."
Mayu frowned, not understanding. "Wouldn't mind? What do you mean by-" A strangled sound left her throat as the meaning became clear to her. "You mean...you know, yes? To the three of us...?"
She pressed her face into her legs, hiding it from the other two as she nodded. Why was this so hard? Why did she feel like she was in danger, like she was going to get hurt? Haruka and Mayu wouldn't hurt her...so why was there a sliver of fear telling her that they were going to? Why did it feel like their arms were a vice around her, keeping her in place before the pain began.
Trembles wracked her body as she clenched her eyes shut. She couldn't do this, it was too much, too risky! If anything happened to them she wouldn't be able to handle it, and if they hurt her...
If they hurt her she knew she'd never recover.
She needed to call this off, to say she'd been mistaken before she got hurt, before anyone from Nerima found out about this!
She pushed her legs away and parted her lips to do just that when Haruka pulled her close and kissed her.
The blond's soft lips took her words away, as that strange fire resurfaced, leaving her breathless."Don't stop."Her mind unhelpfully pleaded the blond, her hands opening and closing, almost like paws kneading carpet.
"Seriously? You've kissed her twice now, let me have a turn." Mayu jokingly complained.
"Three times." She said in a daze after Haruka's lips left hers, her eyes going wide in realization of what she had just admitted. She turned to face the brunette. "No, wai-"
"Oh really?" Mayu growled dangerously.
In a flash the other girl had her fingers wrapped around the straps of both her tank top and her bra and jerked her forward, crashing their lips together.
If Haruka's kiss brought forth a fire within, than Mayu's stoked it into a raging inferno. While the blond's kiss had been gentle and soft, Mayu's could only be described as rough and territorial, almost possessive in nature. She had thought that after Nerima, anything that even remotely felt possessive would just turn her away.
Oh how she'd been wrong.
"MORE!"Something inside of her bellowed as she felt herself being burned away by the relentless inferno these two had brought out in her.
And then Mayu reached behind her head and gripped her hair tightly with one of her hands.
Her vision exploded into spots of light as she released a moan into the other girls mouth. She shuddered and went limp, it felt like all her bones had turned to jelly!
Vaguely, she heard Haruka mutter an impressed "Daaamn" from behind her before Mayu released her with a smirk.
"There's one...just two more and then Haruka and I will be even." Mayu purred, her eyes alight with a hunger that did nothing to help the inferno within her.
The last thing she thought before Mayu took her thoughts away with another kiss was "I am so fucked".