The next morning Ranma felt a bit like he was walking on eggshells. He got up and got dressed as quietly as he could. He could hear his mother downstairs in the kitchen and his father still snoring in bed.
So… how is this gonna go? Ranma wondered, unsure what was going to greet him. He was starving, but… he wasn't sure if he was welcome at the moment. He made sure his backpack was set with everything he might need and looked around his room.
It had supposedly been made for him when the house was rebuilt but he hadn't had any input on it. It was mostly empty, furnished only with a western-style bed, a dresser and a throw rug on the floor. He had only stayed in it a handful of times. The dresser held nothing, save a few clothes. It felt barren and sterile.
He slid his window open and hopped quietly out and onto the roof to leave his pack there. He felt like it would be smart to get it out of the house but he expected his mother would stop him if she saw him carry it with him. Once it was safely stowed he ducked back into his room and closed the window again.
He grabbed his schoolbag, took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. He could hear his mother humming downstairs. She sounded happy.
"Good morning?" he said tentatively as he reached the bottom of the stairs and peeked into the family room.
"Oh, good morning Ranma!" Nodoka said brightly. She was in the kitchenette, making breakfast. "Did you sleep well?"
No? Why is she askin' that after last night!? "Umm… okay I guess?" he answered, not wanting to say anything confrontational.
"Good! You're a growing boy and need your sleep. I was actually considering letting you sleep in and just calling in to the school," she said as she continued to chop at the cutting board and slid the ingredients into the soup pot.
"Uhh… no… I mean… A man amongst men lives up to his obligations and attendin' school is one of 'em, right?" he replied, amending quickly with reasoning he figured she would accept.
Her hands slowed, her preparations became more methodical and she was pensive for a moment. "Ranma… You understand all of this is for your sake, don't you?"
Ranma blinked. "I…"
"You must think me the worst person in the world…" she said softly, putting the knife down. "You must hate me - must think I am just doing all this out of cruelty and that I am just a horrible mother who enjoys seeing her son suffer!"
"What? No, Mom, I…" He stepped forward into the room.
A few tears fell onto the chopping board. "Don't try and deny it. I've seen it in your eyes!" She shuddered. "I keep clinging to the knowledge that one day - when you are older - you will understand all this. Perhaps when you go through this with your own son and he hates you for it too," she sniffed.
"I don't hate you!" Ranma protested, taking a few steps closer.
She shook her head. "You never say 'thank you'. You never appreciate any of the things I've done. You'd rather listen to those Tendo girls and all of the things they say to curry favor with you." She shuddered again, her voice filling with venom. "They're just jealous, you know. Jealous of our family - of how you and your father are so much greater in the Art than they could ever be. That was all that the engagement ever was to them, Ranma. It was the Tendo girls attempting to attach themselves to your greatness. Even Kasumi!"
She huffed angrily though it was somehow almost a relief that it wasn't directed at him this time. "Such a manipulative, angry, deceitful girl she grew up to be! Her mother would be ashamed of what she has become. And at the pitiful state in which she keeps their home!" She looked up at him. "You must promise me that you won't be taken in by their lies, Ranma. It's all just a pretty mask, you know. I know you think they care about you but they're only after their own interests. Your father and I are the only ones who truly have your best interests at heart. We're the only ones who truly love you. You understand that, don't you?"
"Everyone in this world wants something from you, Ranma… You're special. They want to take that specialness for themselves. Dilute it. They fool you to make you care about them just so they can take more from you. You can't let them."
Genma had said something very similar to Ranma. It was a running theme - the justification for why they had to perpetually move on - why no matter how much he liked a place or how well he was doing, they couldn't stay. It was why any friendships he made were doomed to end in disaster. It had never seemed right - never seemed to really fit - until right now.
"She wants to take away our KIDS, Ranma!"
He sucked in a breath, feeling almost like a veil had been lifted and he was seeing his mother for the very first time. He felt ill.
"I'm sorry, you must think me silly," she said. "What would you like for breakfast, dear?"
"Uhh… I'm… not super hungry, Mom," Ranma lied. He suddenly found that he didn't want to be in the house any longer than he needed to be. "I'll just grab something from a stall on the way. I don't wanna be late for school." He turned to go.
"Freeze, Ranma," Nodoka said sternly. Ranma froze.
Nodoka sighed heavily. "Ranma… I wanted to try and spare you more pain but if you are headed to school then it is likely to come up." She rubbed her forehead. "The Tendos are very old and very dear friends of ours, despite how I feel about the actions of Soun's daughters. Evidently he feels quite strongly about our family's obligations to his and he has gone so far as to make them a point of honor." She held up her hands. "I did try and reason with him but he was quite insistent that he expected you to fulfill these obligations, even if you were not to marry into his family. I understand this is an unfair burden on you but for the time being… He is expecting you to help out around the dojo."
Ranma turned slowly, keeping his eyes down to hide the hopeful look he had in them.
She folded her arms sternly. "Now, this is not like your previous stays there. You are not there as a guest - you are there to work. Soun was very upset with how you and your father have freeloaded in the past and this has incurred a problematic debt that interferes with your future prospects. I expect you to work hard for him and to wipe this debt away quickly. You will also need to ensure that Akane is sufficiently trained to protect the Dojo from challengers. You can no longer rely on your father to take up that burden, either. This is the agreement I had to accept in order to secure the freedom to select the best wife for you, so I expect you to work so hard for Soun that he will have no complaints even if I should choose someone other than one of his daughters. I will be dropping by to see if you are working." She looked away. "He has also demanded that you stay in residence during this period. I am not happy about this and, rest assured, I will be discussing this with Soun at length to get this requirement lifted."
"I understand, Mom," Ranma said, trying to muster the solemn tone of one being punished.
"I will drop by from time to time to see how you are doing." She walked up to him and gave him what he expected was supposed to be a reassuring smile. "Don't pack too much. I expect Soun will drop this charade in a few days when he gets tired of it. And don't trust those girls of his! Nabiki and Kasumi especially! They're all out only for their own interests - remember that."
"I will," he repeated, feeling a stab of pain in his heart as the horrible, sick realization about his parents spread.
She came up to him and hugged him. It was an awkward, mechanical thing. He didn't want to hug her right now but he did it. As soon as she released him, he made his way up the stairs, fighting the urge to bound, fighting the urge to show any enthusiasm until he was well out of view. As soon as he was, he sprinted for his room, threw open the window and flipped up onto the roof. He retrieved his pack, leaned over the edge to close his window again, then launched from the rooftop, practically flinging himself away from the house as far as that first leap could carry him.
He hit the ground running - sprinting, really. Part of him knew he was just running from a problem that he was going to have to deal with eventually but, for now, he needed to get away.
Mom says the same things Pops says, he thought as he ran. Different words, but the same things. She calls me things when I don't do what she wants. Different names, but same kinds of things. They're the same… Everything they say is the same, they just use different words! The ideas kept rattling as connections started to form. Too fast and too intense - he almost stumbled a couple of times. Things that had never made sense to him about his father and his parents in general started to slip into place as, at last, he surrendered that final, precious assumption.
What they do… what they do to ME… what they want from me and FOR me… is for themselves. It's something THEY want. When they say they are doing 'what's best for me', it's because it's what's best for THEM.
It comes back to them… Pops and Mom both say bad things about people, even friends… but it describes THEM. Pops calls me lazy, ungrateful, clumsy, stupid… but that's HIM - that's what HE'S always been like. Mom calls the Tendos greedy, scheming, manipulative, false… and… and that's HER.
Everything they say… EVERYTHING… is about them. The idea echoed in his head, rattled around in his brain like dice in a cup. Everything they say about others really describes THEM. Over and over it repeated in his mind, a shout in an echo chamber. Everything they say they want for me, they want for themselves.
He expected he should feel angry - betrayed - hurt. But right now he was just numb, like he couldn't quite yet process the concept. He felt like he had just stepped off a cliff - trapped in that moment between when you first start to fall and the realization that you can't see the bottom nor any way to stop yourself falling - just before the panic sets in.
It pushed him to run faster - harder. He needed to get home.
Despite the intensity of his need he still slowed as the Tendo dojo walls came into view. He wanted to keep running - to vault over the walls and burrow inside and hide - but something held him back. A new fear.
What if they don't want me anymore?
His feet slowed and he finally came to a stop to find himself pinned between two awful feelings - one that was trying to push him forward and the other that was holding him back, crushing him between them.
Nabiki tried to talk to me and I threw it back in her face! I promised to trust her… then I DIDN'T! I…
"So, Saotome, I think you have an answer that you promised me."
He whirled. Nabiki was standing in the adjacent alleyway. He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed her. Her voice was measured and calm - almost cold. Pure Ice Queen. Her arms were folded and she was looking at him with that same expression of cool expectation that she normally used when she was collecting on one of his debts.
He swallowed, feeling that intolerable ache in his chest get worse. "I… I… M-mom said Mr. Tendo made a deal with her…" he stammered. It wasn't what she wanted, he knew, but he couldn't force his mind to dredge up anything else.
Unexpectedly, her mask cracked. Her brow twitched and her eyes dropped. She closed her eyes tightly, her hands dropped to her sides and clenched into fists. "Just here for chores, huh?" she asked softly. Her voice was wavering a little.
Ranma opened his mouth but nothing was coming out.
"Ranma… I… I usually know what to say. I've tried to convince myself that consequences didn't matter - If I made someone mad, I had a million different ways to smooth it over. But right now I don't. I know what I need to say but it's hard because I'm terrified of saying it badly and that you'll jump away somewhere I can't follow." She swallowed hard. "I… keep demanding your trust… but I didn't earn it… and when you really needed me, I wasn't there."
"Nabiki…" Ranma managed.
Nabiki closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. "No! Let me finish!" she shouted. She took a shuddering breath. "You're afraid that we don't need you… that I don't need you... but the truth is I'm… I'm terrified you don't need me… and… and that I'm really just the selfish, cynical Ice Queen everyone sees me as… and that whatever it is you see in me that's more than that… whatever it is you made me believe was there… that you'll stop seeing it." She slumped. "B-but… that's just selfish too, isn't it? I know I'm supposed to say I just want you to be happy, but that's not enough! I want to be the one to make you happy! I want to be the one who shares it with you! And that's just like everyone else who gets so obsessed with you, and I know that I'm not any better… and… and…" Tears started to squeeze out from her tightly closed eyes, running down her cheeks. "... And I don't have the words I need to make you come back!"
She was just opening her mouth to continue when he closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms, hugging her with everything he had.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Over and over.
He felt her arms snap around him as she hugged him back just as tightly, so hard her nails dug into his back. That was okay. It felt good, actually. He wanted her to hold him tight.
"Shhhh…" she soothed him and he realized he had been repeating the words 'I'm sorry' like a mantra. He felt the tears starting to run down his own cheeks and he didn't care. It didn't matter if it was unmanly or if someone might see or judge him.
"I'm the selfish one," he said. "I did this… I didn't know how to handle what I felt… I didn't know how to handle feeling…"
"Shhh…" she soothed him again. "You can be selfish, Ranma. You're allowed."
"I should have trusted you," he said. "I do trust you. I need you. I…" His voice hitched. "I don't know how to win this kinda fight. She… she wants our kids, Nabiki…"
"I know," Nabiki replied softly.
They were quiet for a few minutes. He held her like he was afraid she was going to be taken away… because he was. Gradually the tension and the adrenaline started to fade. He heard the sounds of sniffling and quiet sobs and realized they were his. He relaxed his grip just a little so he could run his fingers through her hair.
"Say it again, please…" she mumbled against his neck.
"... What?"
"... kids…" she mumbled insistently.
"Our kids?" he repeated softly, momentarily confused. Then he realized what he had said. "... Oh."
"S'your fault," she mumbled again. "Kids're bad for the career. Not 'sposed to want 'em. Not s'posed to like the idea." She was quiet another minute or two then added more softly, "... Again."
"Our kids."
She squeezed him gently and leaned back a little to look up at him. He reached up to brush away some of the dampness from her cheek.
"Now… you've got three more girls to say that to," she said, a ghost of her old grin returning. "And we've got a lot of making up to you we wanna do."
Ranma's stomach made a loud, protesting rumble.
"Would… that happen to include breakfast?" Ranma asked sheepishly.
000
Thankfully, Kasumi had anticipated Ranma's hunger.
It had been nearly two days since he'd eaten anything substantial. He could actually feel the first few mouthfuls hitting the bottom of his empty stomach.
"Slow down a little Ranma," Kasumi cautioned him. "There's plenty and it's not going anywhere. You should be careful about eating too fast after fasting for a period."
Ranma dutifully slowed down, forcing himself to pace. Kasumi was right and it wasn't the first time he had gone without food for a while. Eating too fast would just bring it all back up again.
Kasumi smiled at him. "Good. Though maybe you can pace yourself by letting your wives feed you?"
Soun, who was sitting at the head of the table trying to look stoic, harumphed. "Kasumi, I wish you wouldn't be so casual about the whole situation!"
"They're not my…" Ranma started then trailed off, looking to his left as Shampoo sidled up to him with a pair of chopsticks, then to his right as Akane took that side. Then he felt a pair of arms slip around his neck, soft brown hair momentarily obscuring his vision. A soft pair of lips brushed his ear, as an even softer pair of something else pressed against his back.
"Wode airen, Ranchan," Ukyou murmured in his ear, her breath tickling the tiny hairs on his neck.
Suddenly, food didn't seem quite as urgent anymore.
Shampoo and Akane grinned at each other and started picking out morsels to feed him.
"Good wives know how to pacify stubborn husband," Shampoo said, popping a bit of rice in his mouth.
"We'll just have to make sure to keep this up until we're sure you're eating properly," Akane purred, following up the rice with a morsel of pickled vegetable.
"I… *munch*... can… *chew*... feed myself, y'know…" Ranma protested weakly.
"Let us have our fun, Ranchan," Ukyou murmured in his ear. Something about her tone and the way she was pressed up against him caused him to lock up again, allowing Shampoo and Akane to continue feeding him.
"U-ucchan… you're… you're not wearing your bindings today, are you?" Ranma managed to whisper hoarsely.
"You're welcome to check, Ranchan," she replied and lightly kissed his cheek.
"Hrrk…"
Nabiki was watching the entire thing from the opposite side of the table, cheek resting on her hand and wearing an expression of fond amusement. "You three are going to end up killing him. You know that, right?"
Soun was trying very hard to pretend that nothing existed in his house past the newspaper he was holding up in front of him.
Ranma glanced around a moment. That awful, hollow, sickly feeling in his stomach was gone and it wasn't because of the food. He closed his eyes and relaxed a bit. He could feel the warmth of the three girls around him. Suddenly the awkwardness and tension felt a little silly. He sighed, snaking an arm each around Shampoo and Akane. Both of them made soft noises of surprise at the unprompted gesture of affection.
"Thank you," he said softly and sincerely. "I'm… I'm gonna earn this somehow. I promise."
Akane gave him one of those painfully adorable smiles and leaned against him. "You already have, baka," she replied fondly.
"Airen not need try so hard. Just need be here," Shampoo added.
He felt Ukyou's arms tighten around him as she pressed closer to his back. Which… caused some very interesting sensations and reminded him that maybe not all of the tension was gone - or necessarily bad.
He felt something poke his thigh and realized Nabiki had stretched out her leg to touch him with her foot, just to have that little bit of physical contact.
He suddenly didn't really want to go to school.
"Did you want to change before you head off to school, Ranma?" Kasumi asked. "Your uniform is washed and pressed for you and hanging up in your room."
"Can't we stay home? Just for today?" Akane asked, voicing Ranma's own thoughts.
"Now now, Akane, while I appreciate you wanting to spend time with your fiance…" Soun started to say.
"Fiancees," Akane corrected him with a very Nabiki-esque smirk. She shifted her arm to curl around Ukyou's waist.
Soun twitched hard enough for it to be mistaken for a seizure. "... I would rather you not compromise your education…" he continued in a very strained, squeaky voice. He cleared his throat. "There will be ample time for such things…"
"... When you're not present and therefore don't have to be confronted with the fact that your daughters are participating in a hedonistic and morally questionable relationship that you're afraid you might be partially responsible for?" Nabiki asked sweetly.
"... Yes," Soun finished with a cough.
"Awww, Papa Tendo, don't you love us?" Ukyou asked in the sweetest, most innocent tone she could muster.
Soun twitched again hard. "I think… I will finish my breakfast in my room. I'm… not feeling well," he said, getting shakily to his feet. As he walked away, soft sobs could be heard.
"Oh father, father, father," Kasumi said, shaking her head. She set another tray down and knelt at his place at the table. "Don't mind him. I know he's quite fond of all of you and supports you in this. He's just… having some trouble adjusting."
"He does have a point, though," Nabiki noted. "Ranma has to keep in the good books at school or the Principal could still pull him from the volleyball team."
"Also… we'd probably better go back to me changin' at Tofu's or the Nekohanten rather than here," Ranma added. "Mom said she'd drop in from time to time to make sure I'm not slackin' off."
Kasumi's eyes narrowed, a flicker of uncharacteristic annoyance crossing her usually serene face. "... Is she now?"
"Kasumi, you've got my mobile number," Nabiki said. "If Auntie Saotome drops by while we're at school or are otherwise out, just give me a ring." She glanced at Ranma. "We should probably get you a phone too, Ranma. Best way to keep you informed."
"Do I gotta?" Ranma asked pensively. "Aren't those things s'posed to give you brain cancer or something?"
"You are such a Luddite, Ranma," Nabiki sighed and gave him a tired look. "Who told you that?"
"Pops di… Ah, good point," Ranma admitted sheepishly. "Still… how'm I gonna pay for it?"
"I'll divert some of the betting fund." Nabiki said. "It'll just be a cheap prepaid one. It'll only have so many minutes on it so you should only use it in emergencies."
"Right," Ranma replied, pretending he understood any of that beyond the 'only use it in emergencies' part.
"Also… for the time being, until we iron out all our relationship bumps, I think we need to make sure nobody gets left out on their own," Nabiki added. "Means three and two at all times."
"I'm… look, you don't need t'do that for me, Nabs," Ranma protested.
"It's not just for you, Ranma," Nabiki replied, holding up a finger as she settled into lecture-mode. "We need to… well… be around each other until we're sick of each other. To live in each other's bathrooms, closets and underwear drawers. We each need to figure out what we do that annoys the others and figure out what each other's boundaries are early on so we can hash out how this is going to work long-term."
"I'd think we have a pretty good head start on that," Ukyou replied. "We kind of figured out all of that first, before we got past it enough to… y'know…" She blushed a little.
Nabiki shrugged. "For you, Shampoo, and Akane? Maybe. Ranma, Akane and me too, for sure, but not all of us together." She sighed. "Cologne's requirement that I stay at the Nekohanten complicates things…"
"We'll shuffle around," Ukyou said. "And maybe we can convince Cologne to give you weekends off or something."
"You're welcome to spend the weekends here," Kasumi said brightly, punctuated by a loud sob from the direction of Soun's room.
"Maybe should also get time with Airen?" Shampoo asked cautiously.
Nabiki nodded. "In fact, Ranma should take each of us on a date this week. One-on-one, while the remaining three occupy themselves with something fun or productive together."
"Really!?" Ukyou and Shampoo lit up.
"Uhhh…." Ranma hunched over a bit. "I'm… not really good with the whole 'dating' thing…"
"You've been on dates with pretty much all of us before," Nabiki replied. "Just relax and be yourself. It's not like you need to impress us or play it like you're with a girl you don't know that well. It's just like hanging out with your friends except more making out in movie theaters." She glanced at Shampoo and Ukyou in turn. "In fairness to the fact that me and Akane have had pretty much unrestricted access to Ranma for so long, you two get the first two dates. Shampoo gets to pick since she dealt with the omiai stuff yesterday."
Ukyou and Shampoo shared a glance.
"Any chance you could take tonight?" Ukyou asked sheepishly. "I need time to get Konatsu set up if he's gonna run the shop solo for a night."
Shampoo grinned. "Shampoo hoping you say something like that."
"Hold on, we have a problem," Akane interrupted. "If Nabiki has to be at the Nekohanten for the dinner rush and Ukyou has to be at Ucchan's, someone is going to be on their own."
Nabiki sighed. "No battle plan survives the first engagement…"
"Perhaps any 'rules' you have will need to be 'As much as possible', rather than absolutes?" Kasumi suggested gently. "I get the feeling this arrangement of yours will require a great deal of flexibility."
"I can handle the dinner rush. Not like I'm not used to doing it with just me and Konatsu," Ukyou said. "Akane can help Nabiki at the Nekohanten and maybe see if we can get Cologne to agree to loan me Nabiki in return one night. I can meet up with you two after the dinner rush." She grinned. "Maybe we'll even get to learn a neat Amazon technique or two."
"Don't hold your breath," Nabiki groused. "But that's a good idea. And a good point, Kasumi. Thank you, sis."
"Don't mention it," Kasumi said. Then she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. "I mean that literally. I think Father is distraught enough about this without knowing I'm helping you."
"Gentle Girl's help appreciated," Shampoo said, smiling.
"How do you feel about all of this, sis?" Akane asked, a little timidly. She unconsciously pulled in closer against Ranma's side as if she were worried about the answer.
Kasumi smiled and closed her eyes with a sigh as she pondered the question. "I… have a weakness for good love stories," she said at last. She opened her eyes and looked at each of them in turn. "There is something very compelling about defying the 'conventional wisdom' of those who insist you can't possibly succeed, even if I don't have the courage to do such a thing myself." She looked a little sad for a moment. "Everyone dreams of a love worth fighting for, no matter how much is arrayed against it. If you are to succeed or fail, I want it to be on your own merits - not because of some selfish person who neither understands nor cares to."
They shared a quiet a moment as they all considered that. Akane's attention was focused mostly on her sister, though.
"Then we should get going. Sayuri and the rest will be here soon," Nabiki said, getting up. "Thanks for breakfast, Kasumi!"
As most of them filed out to gather their things for school, Akane hung back, looking at her sister. Kasumi noticed but didn't say anything.
"You sounded almost envious, Kasumi," Akane said finally.
"Not of your situation, no," Kasumi admitted as she took a sip of her tea. "But… part of me has always dreamed of someone who would come along and sweep me off my feet - a knight in shining armor - but one who needed me to save him in turn - someone to whom I wasn't just a plain housewife-to-be." She looked away sadly. "Everything in my life has been practical. Everything I have striven for has been to find joy in the simple things… because those are all I have. I've learned to accept that I will never be strong or fast or clever and that I'm the one in the background of people that are - like you and your sister and most of those around you. And that's not a bad thing. Someone must be in the background and I do it well, I think. But… some silly part of my heart has never been able to let go of that dream entirely - that somewhere out there is that knight who needs me."
"Not many of those left today, sis," Akane said soberly. Her tone grew tentative. "Is that… is that why you and Doctor Tofu…?"
"Doctor Tofu is a sweet man. He's kind and funny and brilliant," Kasumi said, smiling wistfully. "And I would have to be blind not to see how he feels about me. He would be a good husband; a good provider; a loving father; a sensible choice. And… he doesn't need me - not in the way I wish he might." She sighed. "Maybe… I'll outgrow this last silly dream someday soon."
Akane looked down. She felt irrationally guilty. For all of the compromises and strife and struggle, she had found the thing Kasumi had evidently most wanted. Worse, she hadn't even valued it properly until recently. She reached out and gently touched her sister's hand. "Don't give up just yet, sis."
000
The day passed in relatively uneventful fashion by Nerima standards.
Doctor Tofu had barely taken notice of them when they dropped by to allow Ranma to change. He seemed unusually distracted, but not in the way he was when Kasumi was around. Piles of old books and scrolls covered his desk and was scribbling feverishly on his notes.
Once they'd gotten to school, Shampoo had trouble focusing in class - in part because the teacher was boring perpetually getting the material wrong (and got snarky when she tried to offer helpful corrections) but mostly because she was busy trying to decide where to go with her Airen for their date.
She caught the nub of chalk when was thrown at her head by reflex. She blinked, examined it in surprise, then looked up to see the teacher who stood, frozen, still poised as if in mid throw and staring at her.
"Teacher lose grip on chalk again?" Shampoo asked innocently.
The teacher composed himself quickly and cleared his throat. *Ahem* yes, well… Perhaps I'd keep a better grip if I wasn't so flustered from noticing certain students weren't paying attention." He crossed his arms and held himself up to his full five-foot-nil height, glaring at her.
"Noticed chalk. Means paying attention, yes?" Shampoo asked sweetly, tossing it back to him.
He fumbled to catch it and stumbled a bit before dropping it on the floor. He bent over to pick it up, a little red in the face once he was done recovering it. "Yes… perhaps you should look like it more often, please Ms. Shampoo! I don't know how they teach in China…"
"In China, teacher throw blades," Shampoo replied with a bit of a smirk.
He blanched at that then coughed again to cover the sudden flutter. "I see... well… *ahem* where were we?" He turned back to the board to resume his butchery of Ancient History.
Shampoo felt a nudge against her foot. She glanced over her shoulder to see Nabiki giving her a bemused look.
She smiled back and went back to her textbook with a sigh as she tried to at least act like she was paying attention to the teacher's mangling of the already terrible textbook material. It always seemed to amuse her pintou how she put the teachers off balance. She supposed it was difficult for them to assert their authority over someone they knew could casually smash through walls.
Males here aren't so different from the village, she thought. Most are still weak. They just waste all of their effort on trying to pretend they're NOT, rather than doing something productive. Such as LEARNING THE MATERIAL THEY'RE TRYING TO TEACH! She glared at the back of the teacher's head and he shivered reflexively.
The rest of the class passed relatively quickly, at least. The teacher engaged in his usual passive-aggressive power play by holding the class for a minute or so after the bell had rung in order to assert his dominance or some such childishness before sending them on their way. Shampoo had learned to temper her exuberance at being freed from the monotony lest she draw even more petty ire from the man.
She spotted Nabiki as soon as she got out of the classroom and fell in step beside her.
"You're going to give Mr. Fujikawa a nervous breakdown one of these days, kitten," Nabiki said, smirking at her.
"Man who not keep Assyrian and Syrian straight deserve breakage of some kind," Shampoo snorted.
"Well, to be fair, he was right this time. You weren't paying attention," Nabiki noted. "You that excited about your date with Ranma?"
Shampoo ducked her head, suddenly feeling a bit sheepish. Her hand went instinctively to the collar around her neck. "Pintou not jealous?"
"I was the one who suggested it, kitten," Nabiki replied, arching an eyebrow.
"Arranging date rational planning. Feelings not rational. And Pintou not very good at keeping track of own feelings," Shampoo poked her shoulder.
Nabiki seemed to consider a moment. She glanced around a bit then grabbed Shampoo's wrist and pulled her into the nearby girl's washroom. Shampo squeaked in surprise but didn't resist.
As soon as the door closed behind them Nabiki pulled her into a hug, leaning back against the door to make sure no one came in after them. "Trust me kitten, if it was anyone else other than Ranma, I'd be twitchy as anything." Nabiki looked into her eyes, their faces inches apart.
Shampoo could see the glint in Nabiki's eye and smirked herself. "Pintou okay with it being Ranma because she have naughty plans," she surmised as she slid her arms around the other girl's neck. She sighed as she relaxed against Nabiki.
"Well, you are going to bring him home to the Nekohanten, right?" Nabiki asked and leaned in just a little closer, her voice low.
"Not sure. Could go back to Dojo…" Shampoo replied playfully.
"Shampoo…"
"Anything for pintou…" Shampoo amended with a wink. "Why drag into bathroom, though?"
"The faculty get uptight about public displays of affection," Nabiki replied.
"Even hugging?" Shampoo asked.
"Afraid so," Nabiki nodded.
"Seems shame to go to all this trouble for privacy just for hug…" Shampoo's voice dipped into a sultry purr.
"Oh my god, I am trying to POOP! Could you take it to a janitor's closet or something!?" an unfamiliar but extremely annoyed female voice called from one of the stalls.
000
Ranma was pacing outside, chewing nervously on her finger and muttering to herself.
"You're going to wear a trough into the asphalt," Ryouga said dryly. He, Hiroshi and Daisuke were all leaning against the wall outside of the school. Their class had let out early after their math teacher had managed to annoy Ms. Hinako in the hall and gotten himself drained.
"Shut up, this is important!" Ranma growled at him. "I gotta think this through so it goes perfect!"
"Ranma, this isn't the first date you've ever been on," Hiroshi said.
"This isn't even your first date with Shampoo," Daisuke added.
"Yeah, but those were all to try and get instant nannichuan or spy on Ryouga makin' moves on Akane or something... Sorry, Ryouga," she added sheepishly as she noticed his glare. "I've never gone on a date just to go on a date before! I always had an end goal planned! What end goal could you possibly have for just going on a date?!"
All three boys stared at her flatly.
Her eyes widened and she blushed, getting flustered. "B-besides that! Perverts…"
"Ranma, that's pretty much the point of dating," Hiroshi said.
"I mean, you're doing it backwards, of course," Daisuke added. "You date someone to start a romantic relationship."
"Oh, I dunno, my parents go on dates now and then," Hiroshi countered.
"And then?"
"They spend the night at the motel… Yeah, point made."
"Ranma, you've been on dates with Nabiki, haven't you?" Ryouga asked, exasperated. "How is this different?"
"Nabiki knows I don't know what I'm doing!" Ranma ranted. "She's the one who I was counting on to teach me this stuff!"
Ryouga sighed and clapped his hand over his eyes. "Ranma, she just wants to spend time with you! Just spend time with her."
"I've spent the last year learning how to do the exact opposite!" Ranma whirled on him.
"Whyyyyy?" Daisuke asked.
"Yeah, that's always confused us," Hiroshi admitted.
Ranma pinched the bridge of her nose. "What do you figure would happen if I spent a lot of time with Shampoo?"
Hiroshi and Daisuke glanced at each other then at Ranma.
"Motel," they answered in unison.
Ranma rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you guys are perverts! I mean once the other three girls found out."
Hiroshi and Daisuke blinked, glanced at each other again then back at her.
"Morgue," they answered, again in unison.
"Exactly!" Ranma threw her hands up in the air. "All I know how to do is blow Shampoo off without making her too mad! I never actually spent a lot of time with her without someone else around or some catastrophe happening to distract us!"
"If you think you're gonna get through a whole date without some sort of catastrophe happening, you're expectations are way too high, Ranma," Ryouga said with a smirk.
"I know! But this is really important to her and I've been a jerk to her and all the girls for the past year, and I wanna make this special to make up for it but I don't know how!" She came up to him with tears in her eyes, fist held to her chest as she pleaded. "Please, Ryouga! You have to help me!"
Ryouga's eyes widened as the schadenfreude he was feeling at Ranma's romantic panic was immediately obliterated by the sight of a very cute girl crying and pleading with him. This set off a number of hardwired responses in his brain that shut down all common sense and survival instinct responses and overwrote them with a single, overriding imperative: Must Protect.
"I-I-I… O-of course!" He put on a confident face and thumped his chest. "Leave it to me, Ranma!" Naturally he hadn't the faintest clue how to go about doing that, but Cute Crying Girl Protection Mode had zero allowances for such trivialities.
Hiroshi and Daisuke exchanged a glance, recognizing the signs of bad decision making in progress. Hiroshi pulled a packet of rice crackers from his bag, opened it and offered some to Daisuke as they settled in to watch.
Thankfully, Ranma had some wonderful terrible ideas. "I know! Since you seem to know how this goes, you pretend you're me and I'll pretend I'm Shampoo. We'll act out what you think would be a good date and that should help me figure it out from there!"
Some small part of Ryouga's brain that hadn't been totally overridden was screaming into a megaphone that this was a terrible idea and was inevitably going to end badly. He could hear it quite clearly and he knew, without a doubt, that it was, as it always was, entirely correct. But he hadn't gotten to where he was in life by listening to it in the past and he wasn't about to start now!
"That sounds good. Gimme a minute to think of something," Ryouga replied, closing his eyes. Okay, now what? I don't know where Ranma should take Shampoo on a date!
There was that Waterpark…
He winced. Yeah, genius. A waterpark is EXACTLY where a couple of Jusenkyo sufferers should have a date!
A small, mean part of his brain pointed out that, given Shampoo's curse and Ranma's fear of cats, it would be hilarious.
He shook his head. NO! Ranma's sincerely counting on me this time and I'm not gonna let her down! Okay… Keep it simple. Dinner and a movie. "All right, I've got it." He opened his eyes.
A petite redhead abruptly attached herself to him with an excellent facsimile of the traditional Amazon glomp technique, arms and legs wrapping around him.
"Nihao!" Ranma chirped in a remarkably good impression of Shampoo's bubbly tone and accent. "Airen take Shampoo to date?" She smiled cutely a disturbingly convincing simulation of Shampoo's normal enthusiastically adoring expression whenever she managed to catch her Airen.
The sound of Ryouga's brain shutting down was nearly audible, the cacophony of a smoothly running machine suddenly suffering catastrophic metal fatigue failure in every major moving part at the exact same moment.
"... Guh."
"We're gonna need more crackers, dude," Daisuke said.
"Airen home?" Ranma asked, waving her hand in front of Ryouga's face. "... Ryouga? Are you okay?"
"Ranma, you're a cute girl who's wrapped herself around him like a boa constrictor and calling him 'lover' over and over," Yuka said, walking up to the group. "I'm pretty sure you've broken him."
"Ack!" Ranma scrambled a bit trying to untangle herself, but her glomping dismounts were still imperfect and she toppled into a clumsy heap on the ground.
Yuka walked over to Hiroshi and Daisuke and snagged a rice cracker from Hiroshi's bag. "So, what's the idiocy of the day?"
"Ranma's nervous about her date with Shampoo, so she's trying to get dating tips from Ryouga," Hiroshi replied, then paused. "... Y'know, that's even stupider than it sounded in my head."
"I think I can manage without the comments from the peanut gallery!" Ranma growled, picking herself up off the ground.
Ryouga shook his head to clear it. "S-sorry, don't know what came over me."
"Puberty," Yuka said, snaffling another cracker.
"Please don't help, Yuka," Ranma implored her. "This is important!" She looked at Ryouga. "Look, maybe you should start? You be me, and… uhh.. I dunno, say the stuff you would say if you were me?"
"Right!" Ryouga said, then immediately ran into a problem; He had no idea what Ranma would say. Dialogue wasn't his strong suit, after all. He had often accused Ranma of being a casanova, but he was forced to admit that he didn't really have any examples of it.
Ranma just wings stuff, right? So… I'll just wing it! he decided. He closed his eyes, put his hand to his chest, and began. "Shampoo! I, Ranma Saotome have come to take you on a date! I, Ranma Saotome, have a night of dinner, entertainment and dancing planned for us! Come, and I, Ranma Saotome, shall sweep you into my arms and carry you off for a night full of bliss and wonder!"
He opened his eyes to see how his performance had been received. He was confronted with a quartet of blank stares.
"... What the hell was that?" Ranma asked, stunned.
Yuka, Hiroshi and Daisuke all abruptly doubled over in laughter.
"What?" Ryouga rubbed the back of his head. Granted, he might have been a bit over dramatic, but he thought he remembered Ranma saying those sorts of things the last time he had tried to win Shampoo's affection over that reversal jewel.
"I don't sound anything like that!" Ranma shouted at him, stamping her foot angrily.
This provoked a renewed fit of laughing from the peanut gallery.
"N-no… *gasp*... No it's perfect!" Yuka managed before collapsing into a fit of giggles again.
"C-can't… can't tell the difference!" Daisuke was not much better off.
"Give him a pigtail and he might as well be the real deal!" Hiroshi added.
"I hate all of you right now," Ranma groused, folding her arms tightly and pouting. "So much."
Ryouga's Cute Crying Girl Protection Mode kicked him hard in the ass again. "I-I'm sorry!" He stammered. "I wasn't trying to make fun, honest Ranma, I'm… I'm just bad at this!"
"Hence why you're the perfect choice to get dating advice from," Yuka added with a shake of her head. "I understand now!"
"Oh shut up, Yuka," Ranma growled at her. She gave Ryouga a skeptical look. "Look, let's forget about pretending to be people we aren't. Just be yourself taking a girl out and we'll go from there, okay?"
"Got any more snacks, Hiroshi?" Daisuke asked.
"I've got some Pocky," Yuka said, digging a box of it out of her bag.
"That'll do. Gimme," Daisuke made a swipe for the box but she jerked it away and glanced at Hiroshi. "Hiroshi, would you like some?"
"Yes, please."
She smirked at Daisuke as she held the box towards Hiroshi. "See? Hiroshi gets some first because he knows how to treat a lady."
"Oh yeah," Hiroshi said as he pulled a couple of the chocolate-covered sticks from the box. "If it gets me Pocky, I can fake all sorts of stuff."
"Hey!" Yuka jerked the box away while Hiroshi and Daisuke exchanged a high five behind her back.
Ranma heaved a sigh and massaged her forehead. "Aim… to not be them, okay Ryo?"
Ryouga grunted and nodded. Okay, forget the roleplay. Just figure out where RANMA might want to go on a date and that should make Shampoo happy too, right? He couldn't think of a major way for that reasoning to backfire on him. He closed his eyes again and considered. "Okay, so… keep it simple. Dinner and a movie."
"I don't got a lot of money…" Ranma said sheepishly.
"Doesn't have to be expensive - just go for something you don't normally have," Ryouga said, pondering options. One of the few benefits of his travels was that he had gotten the chance to sample a lot of different foods.
"Italian, maybe?" Ranma suggested.
"That's a lot of pasta, kinda feel like that's gonna be old with all of the ramen… how about Greek?" Ryouga opened his eyes and thumped his palm with his fist in triumph.
"Never had Greek," Ranma said curiously.
"You'd like it, I think. I found a good gyro place downtown once… but I'm not 100% sure if it was downtown Tokyo." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"If you ever figure it out, maybe you can take me there," Ranma said, smiling. "I'm always up for a food adventure!"
"See? That's the spirit!" Ryouga nodded, getting into it now. He could almost visualize it, actually. "Movie would be good next."
"Ugh, do I gotta go watch something sappy?" Ranma sighed, with a resigned expression.
Ryouga shook his head, pondering. "Nah. You both like martial arts, right? Besides, movies are just uncomfortable if the other person isn't enjoying it." Ryouga winced a bit as he remembered some of his cluelessness around Akane. It was so painfully obvious she wasn't interested in him now, why couldn't he see it then? He closed his eyes again and tried to focus. "A lot of guys pick horror movies to try and get the girl to cling to them…" He thought back to the Cave of Lost Love and shuddered. "... but that can backfire really badly."
"Not like that's a problem with Shampoo anyway," Ranma said wryly.
Ryouga could have needled Ranma for that bit of arrogance but he let it slide for now. He folded his arms to refocus on the mental image of being on a date with a girl, but it wasn't Shampoo he was visualizing. "Something interesting but low-key I think… you don't wanna be more interested in the movie than in her, right?"
Ranma chuckled softly and closed her own eyes in an attempt to visualize the scene as well. "Yeah… that'd piss me off if someone did that to me..."
"You want a theater that's mostly empty. Pick a movie that's been running a while," Ryouga said, envisioning a cool, dark theater. He had thought about this so many times while planning to ask Akane out, to ensure that the date would be so perfect that she couldn't help but love him. "Keep the popcorn in your lap so she has to lean against you to get some."
"Sneaky," Ranma murmured, though he could hear a grin in her voice. "The armrests flip up on those seats too and the theaters are kept pretty cool. Betcha that's all on purpose."
Ryouga sighed. The mental picture was very clear now. Well-worn, something he had visualized a thousand times as he lay in his tent lost in the middle of nowhere, or slogged along on some miserable trek far from anyone who knew him or cared if he existed. It, and other little fantasies like it, had been what had kept him going. The smell of fresh popcorn, the slightly cool air of the theatre and the feeling of contentment as he shared something enjoyable with a warm presence next to him, arm around her with a casual, easy affection that he could never muster in reality. Naturally, partway through the film, there'd be a slow part and they'd become more away of how close they were. He'd glance down at her to find a pair of blue eyes looking back into his, and a question… a challenge glinting in them. And this time… this time he'd have the courage to…
His eyes opened, but for a minute he was confused, as he was still seeing those blue eyes, just as they opened and looked at him as if she were waking up from her own dream. It took half a second for him to snap back to reality and realize that he was staring into Ranma's eyes.
He jerked back a little, startled to find that they had gotten surprisingly close to each other. At the same moment, she did the same, by reflex. He saw her eyes widen and a little color brighten her cheeks. Again there was that moment of confusion on his part, the feeling like he hadn't fully woken up from the daydream. After a second he realized why.
I was imagining being at the movie with Ranma, he thought. Not Akane or Akari… RANMA. I was… I was imagining being about to… to...
The notion caused a sickening twist of panic in his gut, but not the surge of revulsion he normally felt when one of Ranma's disguises fell away. This was more like a hole getting punched through the comfortable but fragile new layers of denial he had been carefully constructing around his feelings for the redhead.
"No, no, don't stop now," Yuka said, her mouth full of popcorn. "It was just getting good! I believe you were about to get to the part where you kiss?"
"I dOn'T kNoW wHaT yOu'Re TaLkInG aBoUt…" Ryouga squeaked.
"Would you guys stop interrupting?!" Ranma said, exasperated. "I'm tryin' t'figure this out and Ryo is the only one who's actually helping me. And where did you get popcorn!?"
Ryouga sighed in relief. Whatever madness had possessed his brain, Ranma hadn't seen it. He was clear and he could safely tuck this little slip back under the rug just so long as she didn't…
"C'mon Ryouga, let's go find somewhere with less running commentary." She reached out and grabbed his hand before he could stop her.
"Ackgh…" Ryouga made a slightly strangled noise as he felt the Link spark to life the instant her hand touched his and shone a spotlight on all of the inconvenient feelings he was in the middle of trying to stuff back into their cages.
She was already pulling on his hand, her momentum having carried her weight forward before the deluge of information through the link hit her. She froze.
He wanted to find himself a nice, deep hole to crawl into.
Slowly her head turned. He wanted to pull his hand back but, when he tugged, her grip just tightened. He had expected to see recrimination or disgust or horror in her eyes… all the things his gut told him he should be seeing. But instead there was just… questioning. He tried to block out what he was seeing from her through the link, but at this point he might as well have tried to will his eyes to stop working. He still couldn't parse a lot of what he was getting, but there was… curiosity? Something else… concern?
"Come on," she tugged his hand again. She gave Yuka, Hiroshi and Daisuke a dirty look, then started to drag Ryouga off.
"Wait, wha…?!" he yelped as he was pulled off balance and given no choice but to follow. Why is she still…?!
She dragged him around to the far side of the school, where there were some benches along the edge of the soccer field. She let go of his hand and sat down on them but she did not meet his eyes.
"Ummm… look, Ranma…"
"Sit."
He blinked. "I…"
She glared at him. "Would you stop being weird? Sit!"
He timidly sat down next to her, leaving a person's worth of space between them.
"Okay, so… keep going," she said once he was settled.
"Keep going…?" he replied, confused.
"About the date," she clarified.
He groaned, slumping over a bit. "Ranma, I'd rather not…"
"When you were imaginin' the date, you were thinking about going on a date with me, weren't you," she said - a statement rather than a question. "That's why there was that whole surge of embarrassment, right?"
"You know, I really miss the days when I had some privacy in my own head…" Ryouga muttered.
Ranma scooted a few inches closer and poked him on the shoulder. "Yes or no?"
"Yes, okay?" he growled dejectedly. "Happy? You've got me so thoroughly confused now that I'm daydreaming about you. I am fully aware that you're not a real girl, that I'm basically no better than Kuno right now, that all of this is just a side-effect of the link mixed with my own loneliness, and that it's turned into a running gag. Satisfied?"
He glared at her. He expected to see her preparing to taunt him or, even worse, pity him. Instead there was just that same curiosity.
"So… finish the story then," she said evenly.
"wHaT?!" he croaked, eyes widening as he pulled away from her.
She sighed and folded her hands on her lap, unconsciously mimicking Kasumi. "I'm tryin' something new. You're confused?" she scoffed. "You should try livin' in my head. Lately I've been… sloshin' from side to side, like water in a washtub that's gettin' rocked back and forth. But the worst part of it was always that I was scared of it. Fightin' it - because I was supposed to - because I was always s'posed to be a 'man amongst men'. Sometimes I could, though I was holdin' on by my fingernails. But sometimes… lately anyway… I lose it. But… it was always worse when I was fightin' than when I lost. It's kind of… a relief when I finally let go. I've just been a big ball o' Yin an' Yang fightin' it out and not gettin' anywhere. I've been so concerned about what I should be feelin' that half the time I don't have a clue what I actually was feelin'. So…" She swallowed and glanced at him, uncharacteristically timid. "... So right now I'm jus' lettin' myself be Yin instead o' Yang, an' tryin' to figure out what I actually feel about this, rather than decide what I should feel. Ever since this link thing started, you've been…" she trailed off, "... you've been supporting me. And… and there's nothing in it for you. If I was gonna date a guy… really date one, not just do it as a caper or to get somethin' out of 'em… You're pretty much the only guy I could imagine doing it with. So… I wanna hear the rest of the story. I… wanna know how I feel about that."
Ryouga gaped at her silently.
"I-if that's okay," she blushed, hunching a little as the awkward silence stretched out.
Ryouga looked down thoughtfully. After another moment of thought he closed his eyes. "All right." He took a breath and tried to recapture the daydream.
"... Whadaya mean 'All right'? You gonna tell the story or not?" she asked petulantly.
"Give me a minute, would you?" he huffed. "I spent a lot of time planning this stuff out. I need to regain my train of thought."
"It's not that sort of date, is it?"
"What? No! I was imagining the date I'd take Akane on once I finally got up the nerve to ask her!"
"Point stands."
"I would never…!"
"Liar."
Ryouga grit his teeth then relaxed with a sigh. "... Not on the first date."
He felt the bench shift a bit as she scooted closer, until she was close enough that he could feel the heat of her body next to him. "So… what would you do? What comes after the movie?"
Ryouga sighed. "I'm not sure how I feel about you using this to impress Shampoo…"
"I'm gonna do something different with her. This is our date."
Ryouga seized up again for a second at that assertion. He opened his eyes and looked at her.
She had her eyes closed, her hands folded and a look of concentration on her face, as if she were trying to visualize the movie theatre he had been describing.
His expression softened a bit. He looked back down at his hands in his lap, then closed his eyes. What the hell. If Ranma can be fearless, so can I!
"We'd either duck out of the movie early or wait until the credits finished, depending if the movie was bad or not," he began softly. "That way we'd avoid fighting through any crowds on our way out. Then… probably start off just walking. Talk about the movie, probably."
"What if the movie was bad?"
He chuckled. "Then we'd talk about how bad it was," He was starting to get back into the daydream, imagining walking out into the night air. "It'd be dark out by then."
"Stars would be out," Ranma said softly. "We could go see them. Find a hill or a high place."
Ryouga smiled. "Yeah, that'd be nice. A grassy hill would be best."
Quietly they continued to talk. At some point she scooted closer, leaning against him lightly as they worked through the story of the date with each other.
000
Himura leaned back into the padded leather as the limo pulled away from the school.
"You seem exhausted, Ma'am," Ms. Sasaki said a little timidly.
Himura gave the woman a tired look. Normally she would have demanded the woman muzzle herself, or replaced her ages ago as she did with all her staff. However, after the attendant had found several minor flaws in Himura's reasoning when she had indulged her, Himura had elected to let her stay. Surrounding oneself with mutes and yes-men tended to lead to poor perspective, after all.
That did not mean she was overly fond of explaining the obvious.
"Yes, I am. A nonstop flight to China, a long helicopter ride, a tense negotiation and then the same trip in reverse without so much as an overnight stay at a hotel tends to do that," she said, rubbing her forehead. She could feel a migraine coming on.
Ms. Sasaki opened a small compartment, took out a bottle of painkillers and handed them to her. "I-I was merely voicing a concern, Ma'am. You could have taken the day off."
This was another reason for keeping the woman around. She was quite good at anticipating Himura's needs. And she was about as assertive as a wet tissue, which suited Himura perfectly. She took the bottle, tapped a few capsules into her hand and swallowed them dry. "I could, but I'd rather not take my finger off the pulse of Furinkan for that long," she sighed. "Timetables are getting rather cramped."
"There are still four more games to play before the match with Ms. Saotome's team can even be scheduled," Ms. Sasaki said meekly.
"If I've timed all of this right, the matter will never get that far," Himura sighed. "Which is for the best. Tatewaki won't stay in the hospital forever and I really don't want to have to deal with the bother of an election to take the position of Student Council President for myself officially. I haven't the time and it serves little purpose once Ranma is secured." She stretched. "Petty children playing at politics. Amusing but, as of now, I have better things to do."
"Do you feel these 'Amazons' will be that useful?"
Himura chuckled. "I expect they will make themselves that useful. They've been pushed into a corner by the modern world. I'm not only offering them an 'out', but a path to be rulers. It's just a matter of showing them that I can deliver on my promises."
"Y-yes ma'am," Ms. Sasaki said uncertainly. "A-are you certain your plan will…"
Himura rolled her eyes. "Ambition is a universal human trait. There's a power struggle waiting to happen in the Council of Elders, that much is plain. I imagine having a political opponent who has been around for 300 years and shows no signs of dying or retiring any time soon can cause that. Lo Shan needs an ally among the Outsiders to counter all the friends Khu Long and her great granddaughter are making; I just happened to be someone who can offer more than just a few tricks of fancy footwork. The Elder just needs assurances that what I have to offer will be enough to counter a 'Godslayer'."
"But… is all this necessary to win your Grandfather's challenge?"
Himura laughed. She leaned over and opened up the minibar. She was slightly annoyed to find her grandfather had stripped it of anything alcoholic. She poured herself a lemonade from the decanter in the fridge. "To win? No, not at all. I've already done that, Nabiki Tendo just doesn't know it yet. All of this is just distraction to keep the players busy while I tend to a much more important game." She took a sip and sighed, leaning back again. "I had originally planned to take a more… leisurely pace with things. But this will not be the last 'test' Grandfather devises and I will not meekly be his puppet as he meddles in my affairs… not like my father was. It is time to establish my own power base. Just in case he decides to threaten my inheritance again."
"Then… you don't actually want Ranma Saotome?"
Himura rolled her eyes. "Ranma was a game. Something to make this dull senior year pass a little faster. Who'd have thought it would have led me to uncover so many fascinating secrets? But there is also a matter of pride involved." She cocked her head. "I'm sure I'll manage to find a use for her."
000
"Mine!"
Ranma dove for the ball, digging it out and popping it up into the air for Riko to set. She scrambled back to her feet as the other girl got under the ball, ran for the far side of the net and jumped for the spike. She drove it down over the net, the ball just ghosting by Rin's fingers as she leapt for it.
"Yes!" She pumped her fist in victory, grinning.
"Well, someone seems to be back on her game!" Sayuri walked over, grinning. "Good to see you back in form, Ranma."
Ranma winked and grinned, flexing her bicep. "You had doubts? Ranma Saotome always wins in the end!"
Sayuri smirked. "Yes, well, just as long as we win on Wednesday. I think that's enough practise for today."
Ranma wiped the sweat from her brow and grinned. So, I guess I just hadda get a few weird dreams out of my system. On some level she realized that it was more than that but… she felt balanced again.
"You're actually looking pretty good!" Ryouga said, walking up from the sidelines. Ranma felt a little heat rise to her cheeks when she realized he had been watching her play though she wasn't entirely sure why. He tossed her a towel which she caught deftly.
"I thought you were gonna head home with Ucchan so you didn't have to wait around?" Ranma said. She was trying to get her mind off the 'story' she and Ryouga had worked out over lunch. She still hadn't managed to work out how she felt about… whatever it was that was happening between them and, although she had resolved to stop being afraid of it, it wasn't something she wanted to be dwelling on during her date with Shampoo.
"I was but then I started thinking about Sayuri's trick serve. I wanted to try something, but it'll need both of us," Ryouga said. He scooped one of the spare volleyballs off the ground and walked over to her while the rest of the team watched.
"Sayuri, c'mere," Ranma said, beckoning the team captain to join them.
Ryouga handed her the ball. "Okay… I got this idea from the Link so… uhh… we'll have to use that, too," he said sheepishly. "You'll need to spin the ball on your finger, and then use your Soul of Ice, but… combo it with the Iron Cloth to project it into the ball."
Ranma blinked. "What good would that do? Other than freeze the ball, I mean? Besides, Iron Cloth is your trick. I don't know how to do it."
"I think… I think I can show you," he said. He motioned for her to start spinning the ball and then, once she had, he reached out and cupped the hand supporting the ball with his own.
She felt the link open immediately. It was definitely getting stronger. She wasn't sure if that was something that should concern her or not but she could tell right away that he was feeling guilty and trying not to 'look'. She smiled a little. Ryo's still trying to protect my privacy. Not like he hasn't seen all of it.
"All right, now… just try and follow what I'm doing here," Ryouga said.
She could feel his ki flow through his hand - and then through hers - along her finger and up into the ball. This wouldn't normally even be possible, but the link bypassed the normal tendency of her ki and Ryouga's to repel each other.
Martial artists of their level all learned to use Ki on some level. They used it to reinforce themselves - to strengthen their blows or lighten their bodies. This felt similar, but rather than strengthening his own limbs, he was threading it up into the ball, and rather than spreading it evenly, he was lacing it like a spiderweb through the ball's structure.
"Oooooh…!" Ranma said, eyes widening. "I think I'm starting to get it! You spiderweb it like that so you can exert force on the structure… manipulate it, make it sharp, make it strong, stuff like that!"
"Yeah… and, once you get good, you can keep a thread connected to sustain the effect even when you throw it," Ryouga replied.
"Pops never taught this kinda stuff. Said weapon users were just using crutches," Ranma said as she started to consider possibilities.
Ryouga chuckled. "You'll probably come up with some crazy way to kick my ass with it in a few days. But for now, just use that to project your soul of ice into the ball - into the center of it - and hold it there. Keep it contained."
"All right… dunno what this is gonna do but make the ball cold…" Ranma said, concentrating.
Ryouga nodded and felt the chill of her ki entering the ball, using his own as a conduit. "Good… Okay, now…" He used his free hand and spun the ball faster.
Ranma's eyes widened. She could feel the heat of his ki as his hand brushed the ball. She stared at the ball, then at him, then back at the ball incredulously. "You're kidding…!"
"I think that's how it goes, right?" Ryouga asked. "This one is your technique, after all."
Ranma could immediately grasp what he was trying to do. She focused and put her free hand over his hand as it brushed the ball, using her ki to guide his more precisely. She felt the buildup of energy within the ball but held the 'Soul of Ice' in check while Ryouga did the same with his 'hot' ki - preventing them from mixing. Once there was enough, she withdrew her hand.
"Okay, give it a try," Ryouga said, nodding to her.
Ranma concentrated. If she just released all of the cold ki at once, the spiral would rip the ball apart. She let it 'bleed', just a little, and could see the ball's spin accelerating as a result. She exchanged a glance with him, her intent clear through the link, and together they tossed the ball into the air. Both of them held that thread of ki that kept it all in control, just long enough for Ranma to strike the ball.
The ki threads snapped and the dragon was loose. They both watched as the ball suddenly deformed then accelerated explosively, firing up and away into the distance at a fantastic rate until it was out of sight.
"Woooooooowwwww…" Rin said, her expression one of wonder. "Even I can't do that!"
Ranma took a deep breath. "That's hard!"
"Yeah, but… it makes sense, right?" Ryouga said. "She's seen all those techniques before."
"Yeah, but seeing and doing are two different things!" Ranma protested, though part of her knew that the lost boy had a point. They both turned their gaze to Sayuri.
"... What?" Sayuri said, suddenly feeling nervous.
"If I'm right, she's actively maintaining and controlling two different types of ki at once without having had any training," Ryouga said. "If she's got that kind of innate ability, then who says she couldn't pick this up just from seeing it?"
"That's a lot of assumptions," Ranma said. "That'd be an inherent level of skill likes of which I've never seen before."
"Ranma, you're talking about me like I'm not here and it's worrying me," Sayuri said, scowling and crossing her arms.
"It'd kind of have to be able to use ki like this without any training," Ryouga answered, ignoring Sayuri. "And because she hasn't been given any foundation to build on…"
"... She's been doing it unconsciously… by instinct," Ranma's eyes widened. "Maybe she's been doing this since that first time we fought here at the school but she hasn't even realized it! It's just now that she's finally reaching the point where…"
"HEY!"
Ranma and Ryouga both turned to look at Sayuri, blinking.
Sayuri put her hands on her hips and scowled at them both. "Any chance I might be let in on this really fascinating conversation about me? You know, since I'm standing here and all?"
"Aheh…" Ranma rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Actually, Sayuri… Until Ryo and I figure this out, it's probably best we don't confuse you with a lot of guesswork."
"Y'know how sometimes you overthink stuff and suddenly it gets way harder?" Ryouga added.
"Yeah! Like that one story where some guy asked a centipede how he coordinated all his feet and, once he thought about it, he couldn't walk anymore?" Ranma agreed.
Sayuri sighed in exasperation. "So, now that you have an idea of what I'm doing when I do these bizarre serves, you're saying it's better I don't know?!"
Ryouga waved his hands in a mollifying gesture. "Just until we figure it out enough to actually know how to help train you to use it!"
"Yeah," Ranma said. She put a hand on Sayuri's shoulder. "Sayuri, this is prodigy level stuff. You got any martial artists in your family?"
"Or… dragons?" Ryouga asked, getting a dirty look from Ranma.
Sayuri shook her head. "Ranma… No, I don't, and I swear I'm sure you two are way overthinking this. It can't be that big a deal…" Her confident expression cracked a little. "... Right?"
"Well… it's more like… Remember that one kid we had in our class last year - before he got bumped up? Shi… Shun? Shinichi! That's it! Anyway, remember how crazy it was what he could do with math? The teacher put up that problem on the board and there was this big long way to solve it…"
"Quadratics, right," Sayuri said. "But he came up and solved it in like three steps."
"Yeah! And he was always doing those math puzzles and stuff. It was like he could just kinda… see stuff with math without even tryin'?" Ranma said. "And he could never really explain how he did it. There were always people who spent days trying to figure out what he did?"
"I didn't think you ever paid attention," Sayuri said archly.
"Hey!... Well… Akane useta try an' figure those out, an' it useta make her grumpy, so… I sorta had a reason to remember," Ranma said sheepishly. "But I remember when he did try an' explain it, it messed him up an' confused him until someone figured out a way to explain it for everyone else. You're kinda doin' the same thing - doin' stuff that's tough to figure out without havin' t'think about it. So I don't wanna mess you up until Ryo an' I can explain it to you. Y'know?"
Sayuri looked skeptical. "No, not really… All I want is to just figure out how to do it when I want to. But… You guys are the experts, so I'll trust your judgement," she sighed. "I'll just work on my non freaky martial arts voodoo serves until then."
"We'll figure it out. We're close. I promise," Ryouga said resolutely.
Ranma glanced up at Ryouga. "I should get you home. I still gotta change and get a shower in at least."
They bid farewell to the team, though Ranma had to intentionally overlook Yuka's meaningful smirk or Rin's obvious fangirling as she and Ryouga walked off together.
Why do they gotta be so weird about this? Ranma thought with a sigh. She snuck a glance at Ryouga while they walked. He was looking around, not really paying attention, but at least he seemed to be following her without getting lost.
Actually, it was more a case of them not being weird about it. Ranma was fully aware that she didn't have a single relationship that wasn't weird or strange in some way. She was on a more unsteady footing with Ryouga simply because things kept slipping into territory where she had never expected to go. She was used to pushing against judgement, scorn and ridicule to help her figure out boundaries, even if she had to go past them to accomplish her goals. Likewise, when she was pushed too hard in a certain direction, she knew to push back. Doing things that way usually seemed to balance out in the long run. She wasn't used to people simply… accepting what she was doing without trying to wrench the wheel away from her.
Still, it wasn't like she didn't know there would be push back. Her Father and Mother would be horrified… and even Akane was suspicious and jealous about it.
Why AM I doing this? she thought, sneaking a longer look at Ryouga. I mean… what am I hoping to accomplish? Even if I AM… I mean… even if he… If… if WE… She closed her eyes and sighed, her mind still shying away from the thoughts of that nature.
He hand twitched and she had the sudden impulse to take his hand in hers to get that insight through the link. She rubbed her palm with the thumb of her other hand instead.
"Hey… Ryouga?" she asked. "Does… does it bug you?"
"Does what bug me?" Ryouga asked, turning his attention to her.
"When my friends act all sly like that, like they think they've figured out we're in some secret relationship or something." She kept her eyes on the ground expecting an explosive denial.
Ryouga was quiet for a moment. "I guess I hadn't noticed."
She gave him an incredulous look. "Didn't notice…?! Yuka was practically demanding we kiss!"
He immediately blushed and looked away. "I mean, I noticed that, but…" He shrugged. "I've never thought much about what others think or do. Y'know, unless they were important to me."
Ranma gave him a skeptical look. "What are you talking about? You've always been on my case about what I think or do, even back in Middle School!"
Ryouga cleared his throat but did not look at her. "... Yeah."
Ranma felt a sudden rush of warmth to her cheeks and looked away quickly herself. She had walked directly into that. Auugh! I'm making it worse! WHY AM I MAKING IT WORSE?! Just… just shut up Ranma. Just don't say anything. Don't say ANYTHING, especially that thing you were GOING to ask.
Ever try really hard not to think about pink elephants?
"... So what's the second date?"
"... What?" Ryouga stared at her, confused.
Ranma felt the blush deepen and squirmed. Why am I so stupid?! No… If I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna ask! "You had that first date planned out forever for when you finally asked Akane out, right? So… what did you have planned for the second date?"
Ryouga studied her for a moment, as if trying to figure out if she were making fun of him. The skepticism faded gradually when her own internal struggle became plain. His fingers twitched and he jammed his hands into his pockets as he looked away. "I… never really thought that far ahead."
"Why?" Ranma looked up, taking her turn to study him.
"The first date was never going to happen. Even if I did go on a date with Akane, or Akari, or anyone else, I couldn't be the guy I imagined myself to be when I planned that out. The fake date with Akane at the Waterpark sealed the deal on that." He sighed. "I get nervous or anxious or lost… and I panic and do something stupid... or… or desperate. I sorta always knew that I'd screw it up."
"Well… that's kinda defeatist, isn't it?" Ranma chided him.
Ryouga gave her a sour look. "It's not like it's a problem you ever have, so I don't expect you to understand," He started walking faster.
"Don't be like that!" Ranma sighed and jogged a bit to catch up. "Look… I never even thought about planning out a date like that. Dates for me were always… well, they were chores that I hadda do. Because Pops and Mr. Tendo demanded I take Akane out or because I had gotten in trouble with one of the girls or to get something I needed…"
"You're not helping your whole argument about not being a chauvinist jerk, Saotome," Ryouga growled.
Ranma huffed and put on a little more speed to get in front of him then walked backwards so she could face him. "Look, I know that sounds bad but it wasn't 'cuz anything was wrong with any of the girls or nuthin'. I just didn't get it until Nabiki showed me that it should be… something you do with someone you wanna be with… to spend time with 'em and get to know 'em…" She paused a little uncertainly. "... Right?"
Ryouga slowed his pace, the hard set of his jaw relaxing. "... Yeah, pretty much."
"You 'n me are kinda the same. We didn't spend a lot of time with other people. But you still figured out what dating is, an' I didn't, so… I never really thought about it much. Dates were just somethin' that happened. But…" She took a breath, color rising in her cheeks again. "... there's somethin' nice about imaginin' a perfect date. How that might go an' stuff. But I don't know how to do that. So I liked piggybacking on yours. You've got an idea how this is supposed to go. I've always just winged it or tried usin' some stupid old scroll I got from Pops. So…" She dropped her gaze and fidgeted. "... So I was hopin' you could count that first date as done, so… so you could show me what you'd think up for the second."
Ryouga cocked his head. "Even though… I mean… we were talking it out like it was the two of us on a date."
"So?" Ranma said, though her voice didn't carry the confidence of her words. "I-I mean… it was just a story, right? A-and… if it helps me sort out some of the stuff going on in my head and it helps you get to be that guy on a date you always wanted to be… there's nothin' wrong with that… right?"
Ryouga continued to just look at her. A series of emotions flickered across his face, too quickly for her to identify. Finally, he sighed and seemed to deflate a little.
"All right, Ranma. I'll try and think of something tomorrow," he said, looking a little sheepish.
"Yes! Thank you Ryo!" Ranma wasn't entirely sure why she was so happy that he'd say yes, but… it was a victory of a sort, right? And victory was always good.
000
Ranma was still in a good mood when she reached the Nekohanten. The dinner rush was just starting, so she slipped in quietly and waited to get waved to the back.
Shampoo was waitressing as usual, as was Nabiki and, to her surprise, Akane.
"Top Ramen, order up, new girl," Cologne's croak came from the back. A full bowl of ramen came spinning out of the service window like a frisbee, but somehow it didn't spray its contents all over the little restaurant.
Akane - who was in the middle of taking an order - spun, caught the bowl and set it down at the correct table then smoothly resumed taking the order. She flashed Cologne a smug grin over her shoulder.
Ranma winced. That was a MISTAKE, 'Kane…
"Deluxe Ramen, five bowls, order up, new girl!"
Akane's eyes widened. "Wait, what?!"
Five bowls of piping hot soup and ramen came whizzing out of of the order window. Akane scrambled and managed to catch four of the bowls on her outstretched arms and balance the fifth on her head, though she was teetering precariously.
"... And an order of pot stickers," A final plate came sailing out, hitting Akane squarely in the forehead and causing her to topple over and all of the dishes to come crashing to the floor.
NEVER get cocky with the Old Ghoul, Ranma thought sympathetically. Though, on the upside, Akane was rather cute in the waitressing outfit.
She glanced over to see Nabiki, also in a waitressing outfit, looking rather haggard. She only had three bowls but was struggling to balance them. She had a determined look on her face as she carefully delivered them to their table.
"Step it up, Ms. Part-time! And don't spill a drop or you'll have to do it all over again!""
"Yes, Great-grandmother Dearest," Nabiki growled through clenched teeth. She noticed Ranma and straightened a little, a smile spreading across her face. "Ranma!"
That was apparently the magic word. A lavender blur exploded through the kitchen door, glomping Ranma hard enough to pin her back against the wall next to the door.
"Ranma!" Shampoo said excitedly. "You come take Shampoo to date?"
Ranma wheezed, needing a minute to get her wind back. "That… *gasp*... was… *wheeze*... why I came…"
Shampoo leaned in a little closer. "Say, please? Shampoo wait for so long for Airen to say."
Ranma chuckled a little, though it came out a bit more like a cough. "Okay, okay… Shampoo, would you like to go on a da-mmmmphh?!"
She was unable to complete the sentence as the Amazon smothered her lips in a passionate kiss. Ranma knew better than to try and resist at this point so she simply relaxed into it and slid her arms around Shampoo to kiss her back. Though, mindful that Akane and Nabiki were there, she restrained herself from getting too far into it. It was not easy.
"I… uhh… should take a shower and get changed," Ranma said sheepishly, aware that pretty much the whole restaurant was watching them now.
"Can come wash back," Shampoo purred suggestively.
"I think if I let you do that we'd never actually leave on our date…" Ranma said, her face flushed scarlet, though the idea was painfully tempting. She glanced to her left and spotted a soup-drenched Akane glowering at them. "... Aaaand Akane would kill us."
"Yes, Akane would kill you!" Akane growled.
"Order up new girl!"
Akane whimpered. "Why am I even doing this? I'm not your trainee!"
"For moral support because you love your sister?" Nabiki said tightly as she struggled to balance four bowls.
"I don't love you that much, Nabiki!"
"We… should go get ready…" Ranma said quietly, not wanting to attract any more attention.
000
Shampoo paced nervously at the bottom of the stairs.
It wasn't that Ranma had been upstairs very long, but… this was something she had been anticipating for such a very long time, and she couldn't shake the nagging fear that something was going to come along and snatch it all away.
She did a quick scan to make sure everything was perfect, checking herself in the mirror. Ranma had suggested casual attire so she had gone with a modest red cheongsam. With Nabiki's permission, she had changed out the plain braided fabric collar for a somewhat more stylish black leather choker (Though she kept the tags) and she had brushed her hair until it shone.
Perfume, light, not overpowering, check… stud earrings, not too flashy, check… purse with money in case Airen broke, check…
There was an outraged quacking from the nearby kitchen and the rattling of cage bars.
… Stupid Mousse in a cage so he can't ruin things, check…
"Hey Shampoo… Ready?"
She whirled to see him on the stairs. He was just wearing one of his long-sleeved red silk shirts and black pants but, in her eyes, he sparkled.
The best part, though, was his expression. In the past he had always been distant, aloof and distracted… Indeed, it had always seemed that he wanted to be anywhere but with her. That had hurt. Though she had brushed it off, it had fueled her desperation and fear.
But now... he looked nervous... sheepish… perhaps even a little awkward… everything Ranma typically was not. And it was because of her.
It wasn't much, but it was a start.
"Always ready," she said, bouncing over to him and taking his arm, hugging it tight. He didn't flinch like he normally did though she still felt him stiffen a little. Better, this time she could feel him start to relax after a moment.
He still needs time to be comfortable, she thought and hugged a little tighter. But… it's so much better than it was!
"Where we go, Airen?" she asked brightly, looking up at him. She expected something cliche like a movie, but… it didn't matter. Just spending time with him… even if he was just doing it to be 'fair'...
But he surprised her.
"Actually," he rubbed the back of his head. "This kinda sounds like a cop-out now, but… I'm sorta realizin' I don't know a whole lot about what stuff you're into - aside from martial arts, anyway - so I was hopin'... maybe you could show me?" He smiled hopefully.
She blinked at him, stunned. It took a couple of tries to find her voice. "A-Airen serious?"
"Yeah…" He blushed a little and looked away. "It kinda sucks that we're supposed to get married and… I realize I don't know a whole lot about you like I do Akane or Nabiki. That's… that's kinda on me, so… I know it's selfish of me to ask…"
She shook her head violently. "No! Shampoo… Shampoo happy to show Airen!" She beamed, hugging his arm tighter. "... Sure, though? Airen might find boring."
He shook his head. "If you're into it, there's gotta be somethin' to it, right?"
She nodded then tugged his arm. She already knew exactly where she wanted to go. "Then… hurry! Must get going or museum will close!"
He let himself get dragged along but there was already a note of worry in his voice... "Museum?"
000
The Museum was a large, imposing stone and brick building. It was an older building in a distinctly western style which had a pair of greco-roman columns framing the entrance.
"Are… you sure we're allowed in a place like this?" Ranma asked uncertainly.
"Ranma never be to museum before?" Shampoo asked.
He shook his head, looking a little self-conscious. "Pops didn't see much point. You?"
"Twice in China. Parents think it important to know history of outside world, and Great-grandmother want show where Joketsuzoku came from." She gently coaxed him by the arm, leading him in as she spoke. "Joketsuzoku have roots in Ancient Greece. Not much of Greek culture remain, but good to know roots. Is why wanted to come: Exhibit on Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology this week!" She paused to pay the entry fee for the both of them.
"Would you like to take our audio tour?" The attendant asked.
Shampoo brightened, hopeful at the prospect of having someone who was more articulate than she was to explain things. "Please!"
The attendant brought out a small black box, a proprietary digital player of some kind. "Here, this is set to explain each of the showpieces in the exhibit as you approach them. This button here will pause it. Humm… "She fished around a little. "Seems I only have the one… wait, don't worry! I have a solution!" She rummaged around and produced two headphones and a splitter cord. "I'm so sorry but we've got an elementary school group in today and we've run a bit short. You and your boyfriend don't mind sharing, do you?"
Ranma ducked his head but didn't protest the label, which was encouraging. Shampoo let him take the box as he had a belt to clip it to whereas she did not. She hoped the box wasn't too complex, as she hadn't used anything like it before.
She took his arm and led him inside with a happy sigh. It didn't really matter if Ranma ended up sharing her enthusiasm or not - just the fact he had been interested in finding out about it was more than Shampoo could have hoped for!
They walked into a large hall with a high ceiling. All along the walls were various alcoves and displays and in the center was an absolutely massive, highly detailed diorama representing what she decided must have been the fall of Troy.
As they approached the exhibit, the voice started. Much to Shampoo's surprise, the narrator introduced himself as Odysseus and begane talking about the battle from his own perspective, complete with sound effects and the cries of battle in the background.
Ranma's eyes widened a bit and he walked closer to the central display, frowning as he followed Odysseus' recounting of the ten year long war.
"So… if this is mythology, why is it here in a museum?" Ranma asked, glancing at Shampoo.
"Troy real place. Trojan War actually happen, city get razed," Shampoo said. "Maybe not like in myth, but archeologist find city in 19th century. Myth important because is only real story of what happen. But wars like this happen all over region. Caused Greek culture to scatter and spread, some from conquest, some from survivors fleeing, some from soldiers lost after war finding new lands to settle when unable to find way home. Is same sort of thing that cause Shampoo's ancestors to travel all the way to China."
"Is that in a display here somewhere?" Ranma looked around curiously.
Shampoo scowled, huffing. "No. Stupid archeologists not listen to Joketsuzoku. Say claim is 'far fetched'. Hmph! Stupid Outsiders trying to tell Shampoo own village history! Wonder if Inuit feel same way when stupid Outsiders tell them they no meet Vikings…"
"... Who?" Ranma blinked, confused.
Shampoo sighed and waved her hand, not wanting to overload him. "Different history. Canadian. More stupid Outsiders thinking they know better until they finding out they don't."
"Okay," Ranma rubbed the back of his head. "So… the Greeks were pissed at the Trojans, sent a huge fleet and spent ten years tryin' t'take the city… why?"
Shampoo giggled, overjoyed that she had sparked curiosity in him. "Airen should be able to sympathize. Come, Shampoo show. It start with three very vain Goddesses and one troublemaker."
"That already sounds like my life," Ranma said glumly.
000
In the end they did the full circuit, listening to remarkably well-done audio clips as each of the characters from the Homeric epic told their parts of the tale. Any other historical exhibit likely would have had Ranma chafing at the bit to go home, but the tale of Gods and Heroes, told against the backdrop of a war of such a grand scope captured his attention.
"So alla this was started over an apple?" Ranma said incredulously as they looked at the diorama depicting Paris judging which of the three Goddesses would receive the Golden Apple.
"Greek Gods incredibly vain and petty," Shampoo said.
"No kidding." He shook his head. "I feel bad for Helen, though. I've been through the whole magically induced love thing. It sucks when it wears off."
Shampoo felt a pang of guilt at that. "Sometimes lonely and desperate make bad choices," she said quietly.
There were shrieks of laughter as as group of schoolchildren started running down the aisle, ignoring their harried teacher's best attempts to corral them. Shampoo's attention turned to them and a slight smile crossed her face while Ranma focused on the narration for the next display.
So when she spotted the janitor's bucket in the path of one of the children, she had a second or two more warning than Ranma.
The child tripped over the bucket, toppling it and sending the contents spraying in a wide arc as he crashed to the floor. For once, the water magnet effect did not kick in. Ranma yelped and stepped to one side as a cascade of water hit the floor next to him, spattering slightly, but not enough to trigger his curse.
Shampoo was not so lucky.
She felt herself shrink as she and her clothes tumbled to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs and wet fabric. She yowled and struggled to get free before she finally managed to push her head out through the neckhole of her dress.
"Kitty!" One of the kids cried gleefully, looming over her. The other children converged on her rapidly, reaching out with their grabby hands. Experience had taught her to be wary of unknown children and there were entirely too many of them here. She looked around for salvation and her eyes landed at last on Ranma.
The look of sheer terror on his face broke her heart.
She had always known his fear of cats ran deep; beyond reason or willpower. It was a fault line in his psyche that overrode everything else. It was number one on her list of reasons for wanting a Panda skin rug for a wedding present. But still, to see him looking at her with such unfiltered fear and horror… to know that she wore the form that haunted his nightmares and to have her nose rubbed in that certainty…
Now of all times?
She shook her head, pulled herself free and scampered away from the grasping hands of the children, her claws clicking on the tile floor as she ran. It's not your fault, Ranma… It's not… please forgive me… Please…!
000
In the end, it had taken quite a bit to evade all those trying to catch her. Getting outside wasn't possible and the security guards were doing their best to try and flush her out.
She had managed to get up into the crawl space above the ceiling. There were catwalks hung all along where lights and rigging could be adjusted without needing to remove sections of the ceiling. It was only a matter of time before they found her here… or animal control did… but at least she was safe for the moment.
She curled up into a miserable ball at the end of the catwalk. She had always regretted her curse, from the moment she discovered how abhorrent the form was to her beloved. She had used it to punish him when she felt particularly neglected, but she had always regretted it afterwards - and regretted how much he had feared her.
She knew that he couldn't help it. He couldn't fight it. It didn't make it hurt less. And it didn't make her feel any less alone, knowing that there was no one to help her now, even though he'd been right there with her. All it had taken was a cupful of cold water to break them apart.
"Shampoo…?"
Her head snapped up, ears swivelling towards the sound in the gloom. It COULDN'T be!
She could hear his ragged breathing and the sounds his footfalls made on the catwalk. She knew it was too dark for him to see her. Of course that would just make his fear worse. For him to have come to such a dark place knowing that there was a cat in it…!
"Mew…?" she squeaked plaintively. She didn't dare to hope…
She heard him freeze up. He made an almost sobbing gasp. Then, his footfalls resumed, slow and deliberate. He was forcing himself forward, she knew. "O-okay… okay you're here. G-good… good… j-just keep makin' noise, okay? Lemme know where you are…"
"Mew!" She did her best to sound as non threatening as possible, though she knew that had never helped. He paused again, and then once more resumed his slow march along the catwalk towards her.
"O-okay… okay I see your eyes…" he said. His breathing was growing more ragged but he still managed a few more steps. "I-I got some hot water… J-just stay put and…" She could see him now, gritting his teeth. His muscles tensing as he struggled with his urge to flee, either physically or into whatever abyss claimed him in the throes of the Neko-ken.
He got within ten feet before he stopped. He squeezed his eyes shut as he knelt to set a coffee cup down on the catwalk. "Y-you're gonna… gonna have to do the rest… I'm sorry…" he said. His voice was… ashamed. Exhausted. She could feel the tension around him as he fought for every inch, extending the cup as far as he could.
She got up and bolted. She knew it might startle him, but she wasn't going to wait anymore. She flipped the cup over with her paw, dousing herself with the steaming contents.
The change had never felt so good.
The instant the cat was gone Ranma relaxed, some instinct uncoiling as the object of his terror was replaced by something far less unbearable. He had all of a second of blessed relief for the tension to bleed away before he had to catch an armful of very naked, very affectionate Amazon.
"S-Shampoo, I - mmmmph…" He quite foolishly tried to say something, but she quickly made certain that his mouth was otherwise occupied.
Part of her still expected him to struggle, to push her away, to run… but he didn't. His arms slid around her and tightened. His lips pressed back against hers. He accepted her. He held her. He wanted her. It was a beautiful moment - the crystallization of everything she had ever wanted from him.
She finally ended the kiss and took a shuddering breath. He had actually outlasted her this time. She could feel the wetness on her own cheeks and her breathing came in half-sobs.
"You're crying…" he said, wiping away a tear. "I'm… I'm sorry, Shampoo, I didn't know it was that bad… I…!"
She put a finger to his lips, beaming at him. "Happy tears," she said softly, looking into his eyes. She could see confusion there, but wonder too. They were the eyes that were seeing her, with that same wonderful, confused look he had worn when she had first called him 'Airen'. Before she had become the nuisance - the complication.
"I… uh… I brought your clothes…" He held them up, and she realized he had draped them over his arm. "They're still kinda damp, uh… so…" he quickly disentangled himself from her and hung her clothes over the catwalk railing, then pulled off his shirt and handed it to her. He blushed and looked away modestly. "J-just until it dries a bit."
Shampoo giggled. She didn't have the same hangups about nudity that he did, but she accepted his need to make the gesture. She slipped the shirt on, drawing it around herself. It was soft, well worn, and smelled like him, suffused with his warmth.
"Wanna sit for a bit, until your things dry?" he asked sheepishly. "Fightin' off the Neko-ken takes a lot outta me…"
She led him over to the spot where she'd been hiding and sat down next to him.
"Oh, hey, the box is pickin' up the display below us." Ranma pulled the headphones from where he had hooked them on his belt. He handed hers over. "Somethin' to listen to while we wait, right?"
She nodded and smiled, slipping them on. She leaned against his shoulder as he closed his eyes and listened to Odysseus recount the scheme of the Trojan Horse and the sacking of Troy. She closed her eyes as well, head pillowed on his shoulder as her hand found his and their fingers twined together.
000
Ranma stared down at the golden apple in his hands.
"Well, Paris? Who will it be?"
He looked up. Three goddesses wearing flowing robes smiled back at him. Akane, Ukyou and Shampoo. Each was radiant and beautiful, lovely beyond measure.
"You can choose any one you like!" Soun said, for some reason dressed as a greek philosopher.
"I can… just choose?" Ranma asked.
"Yes!" Soun replied. "Then the others will take offense - a great war will start and your city and all you care about will be destroyed!"
"What!?" He nearly dropped the apple. "Why would I do that?!"
Akane stepped forward. He realised that she was dressed as the Goddess Hera. "Don't you want us, Paris?" she asked throatily. Her eyes shone, causing his breath to hitch in his throat.
"We love you more than life itself, Paris," Ukyou stepped forward next to her, garbed as the Goddess Athena. "We will wage war for you and die for you."
"You need choose just one of us," Shampoo stepped forward last, playing the part of Aphrodite. She reached up to caress his cheek. "Are we not worth tragedy? Doom one of us to the tragedy of love."
"Doom the rest of us to the tragedy of wrath," Akane finished.
"I-I… don't want to doom any of you…" Ranma/Paris said, backing away. "C-can't you pick someone else?"
"They can," another voice said. Ryouga stepped forward, dressed as Odysseus.
Next to him stood Mousse as Ajax. "Once you choose, we are the ones who will sack and burn your city to reclaim her."
Kuno stepped forward filling the role of Achilles. "We will fight and return with our Goddesses, or upon our shields!"
"What?! No! I don't wanna fight you guys!" Ranma/Paris said, shaking his head.
A small hand scooped the apple from his. Bright blue eyes and red hair,it was his own girl side presented as the Lady Penelope of Ithaca. "Shall we keep it for ourselves then?" she asked. "Lock it away tight behind citadel walls, dangle the promise of it to fend off the Goddesses? Shall we play Goddess ourselves to fend off their suitors?" She skipped over to Kuno/Achilles, smiled at him and caressed his cheek, then spun away from him as he reached for her. She paused in front of Ryouga/Odysseus. "Perhaps… we might even forget ourselves in the role?" She started to hold the apple out to him.
Ranma/Paris snatched it back from her. "No! That's not who I am!"
"Are you sure?" Akane/Hera asked, walking up to the redhead and pulling her into an embrace as she looked at him. Ranma/Penelope sank into the embrace, buried her face in Akane/Hera's neck and looked back at him with pleading blue eyes.
Suddenly, she was the redhead. She could feel Akane's arms around her - her warmth - her scent - all so close and so real. She closed her eyes and tightened her own arms around the goddess. "I would be this for you…" she whispered to Akane/Hera.
"No way, I'm a guy! A real man! A man among men!" Ranma/Paris said, clutching the apple tightly.
Ranma/Helen looked up from Akane/Hera's shoulder and glared at him, feeling anger welling up within her. She felt… betrayed. She slipped from Akane/Hera's arms to approach Ranma/Paris, intent on taking the apple away. "And what about me?! I didn't have a choice in any of this! What about what I want!? I could be happy… we could be happy if you'd just stop fighting me!"
"I…" He stared at her. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense!"
Another hand plucked the apple from his grasp. This time it was Nabiki, dressed as the Goddess Eris. "You've gotten yourself into quite the predicament, haven't you Saotome?" she said.
Abruptly he was male Ranma again. He watched as Nabiki/Eris walked over to a table, pulled out a knife and cut the apple into six pieces. She placed them on a plate and walked over to him with a seductive look in her eye. She held out the plate and Akane/Hera, Shampoo/Aphrodite and Ukyou/Athena each took a slice. She took one for herself then held out the plate to him and his girl side with the last two slices.
"There's no way to prevent the war, Paris," she said softly. "But perhaps this way we can change who wins."
His girl side took the second to last slice and looked at it thoughtfully.
Shampoo/Aphrodite placed her slice of apple in her mouth, then took the last slice and stepped in close, slid one arm around his neck and slipped the last piece into his mouth. As one, they began to chew and then she kissed him, the sweet ambrosia of the fruit mixing in their mouths. The other Goddesses gathered around him to take their turns.
He turned his head a bit to see what the Suitors would say. Kuno/Achilles was laid across his shield, battered and broken. Mousse/Ajax was staring out towards the sunset over the sea, distracted by the golden hue.
And his Ranma/Penelope was just offering her slice to Ryouga/Odysseus.
At that point, a gigantic Panda made of wood erupted through the wall of the dream and split open to spill forth thousands of Happousais dressed as Spartan warriors.
000
Ranma started awake, and batted the headphones away with a shudder.
"Ranma okay?" Shampoo asked, sitting next to him. "Bad dream?"
He closed his eyes let himself relax. "Yeah… yeah… just… education is a helluva drug…"
She tittered. "Clothes should be dry now. She stretched. The shirt was still open and it was only keeping her decent in the most technical sense. The curve of her breasts was visible, decency only maintained by the angle and fortuitous positioning of her leg and the fall of shadow. He swallowed, remembering the image of her as Aphrodite.
She noticed his reaction and smiled, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "Maybe wear shirt for Airen later, yes?"
He nodded before he could catch himself. He looked away self-consciously as she got up and walked towards her own clothes on the railing.
His shirt hit him in the face. He pulled it down, but she was already dressed, having mastered the technique for fast-changing long since.
"Should go before museum close," she said, winking at him. "Still want get dinner before we go home, yes?" She beckoned him to follow and started making her way along the catwalk.
He struggled to his feet, pausing for a moment to slip his shirt back on. It was still warm from her body and there was a hint of her perfume clinging to it. He did it up quickly then trotted after her, hoping they could avoid running afoul of security on the way out.
000
They were fortunate - they managed to skirt uncomfortable questions and ducked out just as they were locking the doors. The knowing look they got from one of the security guards suggested that they weren't the only young couple to have snuck off to find a quiet corner, though Ranma imagined their reasons were different from what the guard was imagining.
The memory of Shampoo all but falling out of his shirt flitted across his mind's eye making him wonder if maybe the guard wasn't too far off the mark after all.
"Where did you want to go eat?" he asked as they walked along the street. The night air was already crisp and getting a bit colder. She stepped closer to him and, unconsciously, he put his arm around her shoulders.
She snuggled into his side and grinned up at him. "Shampoo know a good place." She started to guide him gently, though their pace remained leisurely.
Ranma spent a moment marvelling at how easy this had gotten... to just have his arm around her like this and walk like… like a normal couple.
Shampoo lead him to a back alley where there was a small cafe. The outside and inside were adorned with hanging plants, vibrant and lush and obviously expertly cared for. The inside was rather plain, the decor well worn and homey, if a little dated. There were pictures on the walls - some black and white while others were color pictures that had the blurry look and slightly oversaturated tones common to older color film. There were a few customers sitting at tables - mostly older people.
"Ya Ya?" Shampoo called into the cafe, peering past the large counter.
There was a bustling in the back and some chatter in a language Ranma assumed was Greek. A stocky older woman with steel grey hair and clad in various shades of black came out from the kitchen and, upon spotting Shampoo, bustled over immediately to give her a hug as if she were old family. "Xian Pu!"
Shampo returned the hug happily. The older woman cupped Shampoo's face and said a few things in Greek to which Shampoo responded in kind, earning a merry laugh from the woman.
"Ya Ya, this is Ranma," Shampoo said, gesturing towards Ranma.
The woman identified as 'Ya Ya' frowned at him and said something else in Greek.
Shampoo sighed. "No, Ya Ya. Is not Greek boy. No Greek boys in Tokyo! Please speak Japanese so he can understand?"
The older woman huffed. "Hmph! Such a shame, I'm sure I could have found you a nice boy in the old country." She looked Ranma over with a critical eye. "Well… he's not as scrawny as the other Japanese boys at least."
"You like him. He's a big eater," Shampoo said with a knowing smirk.
"Oh is he now?" The older woman said. She smiled and patted him on the cheek. "Well, you look famished. Come, come, sit and I'll bring you out some spanakopita."
"Uhhh… thanks?" Ranma said uncertainly as Shampoo led him to a table. "But… shouldn't we order first?"
"Feh!" the older woman said as she headed into the kitchen. "Never order food on an empty stomach! You order after spanakopita." She bustled into the back. "Pappou! Pappou your granddaughter is here, come bring them some tea and be sociable!"
"Did… I miss something?" Ranma asked, glancing at Shampoo.
Shampoo blushed a little. "Ya Ya and Pappou… not have any family. Lost them all in Hurricane in America," she started. "Son was going to move to Japan for work - bring them with. Paperwork already all done, so… they come alone, get away from memories. Open cafe like one they had in America. Shampoo find place when doing deliveries one day. Speak Greek, so talk to them in own language. Tell them story of village, origin of Chinese Amazons." She smiled fondly. "Decide Shampoo family then and there. Tell everyone Shampoo is granddaughter."
"That would probably need some explaining," Ranma noted playfully. "This isn't exactly what I expected."
Shampoo shrugged. "Both strangers here. Maybe this not like home…" She looked around. "But… spend many hours here, hearing stories of Greece. Hear echos of where Joketsuzoku come from." She smiled. "Want to visit Greece someday."
An older man - tall, wiry and balding a little - stepped out of the kitchen carrying a tray with two tall glasses, fending off a few swats from Ya Ya as he went. "Yes, yes, I'm going!" he grumbled. He wound his way deftly past the counter and walked over to the table.
"Pappou!" Shampoo cried with glee, reaching out to hug the man as he set the tray down.
"Ooof, you have the grip of a wrestler, Kopelia mou," he said chuckling. He set glasses of iced coffee in front of them. "Ya Ya, she say 'Pappou, turn off the TV, your girl is outside and she bring home a boy!'" He smiled at Ranma. "All bent out of shape is she! 'Our girl should be with a nice Greek boy!' she say. Feh! A Greek boy! In Japan! Ya Ya dreams too much I think."
There were some complaints - in Greek - from Ya Ya in the kitchen, to which he responded in kind.
"We joke, we joke," he laughed, patting Ranma on the back. "Ya Ya likes you. Already, she cooks for you! I come back with spanakopita, and we talk, yes? Tell us all about this boy you bring home, Kopelia."
"Yes, Pappou," Shampoo said, beaming as he ambled back towards the kitchen.
"You didn't tell me you were bringin' me home to meet your secret Greek family…" Ranma said with an eyebrow raised.
Shampoo blushed. "No tell Great-grandmother? Not want her to think Shampoo replacing her!"
Ranma snorted. "No worries. I get the whole jealousy thing."
000
"... so, my father, he comes back from the War. I was three years old by this point. Never have I met Papa. He comes into the house to greet my mother and he steps on my cat!" Pappou's hands were animated as he talked, smiling.
Ya Ya slapped him on the back as she got up to clear some dishes. "Such a liar, Pappou! You didn't have a cat!"
"Yes I did!" he replied, sounding wounded. "It was an invisible cat! Always it was underfoot! I would tell Mama 'watch out for the cat!' or 'Do not step there, you will step on the cat!'."
"Your Pappou, he has an imaginary cat, and this is his father's fault," Ya Ya said before heading back towards the kitchen.
"Feh! You are ruining my story, Ya Ya! Anyway… he stepped on my cat. Well… that would not stand. So… I pretended he did not exist! For a whole week I would not talk to nor look at my Papa!" Pappou finished, thumping the table with his fist
"And you pooped in his boots!" Ya Ya added from the kitchen.
"... And I pooped in his boots," Pappou said, thumping the table again.
Ranma laughed. There was something about the exuberance and energy with which the story was told that was infectious. The whole pretense of the cafe had quickly been dropped and it had turned into dinner with the friendly couple. It was a very different experience for Ranma from mealtimes at home or with the Tendos.
Ya Ya came back out of the kitchen and settled back into her seat across from them as she put down platter of a dessert pastry that was cut into rough wedges. "Come, come, fresh baklava." She produced two smaller plates, placed one of the sticky looking wedges on each, and put them in front of Shampoo and Ranma.
Ranma leaned back, eying the flaky confection suspiciously. Not that it didn't look anything but delicious, but… he was suffering from a profoundly unfamiliar condition.
He was full.
Stuffed, in fact. Food had been brought out from the kitchen all night in a steady stream, and it had finally overwhelmed even Ranma's considerably capacity.
"No more… please…" Ranma whimpered, holding up a hand in surrender.
"Two bites," she insisted. "You are skin and bones! You can forgive an old grandmother for wanting to feed all these poor starving children here. Is why we started this cafe, Pappou and I." She sighed at his continued reluctance and took the plates back. "Very well, I wrap it up for you when you go. Take some for your friends. Tell them about us so I can feed them too!" She got up again and headed once more into the kitchen.
Shampoo smirked. "Ya Ya not know what she accomplish. Fill bottomless pit!" She nudged Ranma's side.
"Oof, easy, I'm liable to pop…" Ranma grunted, though he smiled at her.
Pappou got a shifty look on his face. He glanced toward the kitchen, then reached behind him and pulled out a large clear bottle and two shot glasses.
"Ya Ya, she does not think you are old enough, but a little ouzo never hurt anyone," he said with a chuckle. "Come, come, you are a man now, you should have a man's drink!"
Shampoo held up her hand and shook her head with the expression of someone who had been through this experience before. "Shampoo think this should be Airen's experience, yes?"
Pappou poured the two glasses, handing one to Ranma. The liquid was clear and chilled to the point that ice crystals were forming on the surface.
Ranma sniffed the liquor and immediately regretted it. It smelled strongly of black licorice and burned his eyes. He blinked and jerked his head back as Pappou laughed merrily.
Not willing to surrender, Ranma took a deep breath. I've downed the worst cooking Akane could throw at me... this is nothing. He looked at the shot glass one last time, held it up in mock salute and then downed it in one gulp.
It very nearly came right back up.
He doubled over coughing. Pappou laughed harder and clapped him on the back as he tried to recover.
"Pappou!" Ya Ya huffed as she came out of the kitchen. "You and your ouzo!"
"Better than sake!" he shot back. "No bite, like watered down vinegar!"
"Duì bu qi, Airen," Shampoo said sheepishly, rubbing Ranma's back.
"Nah… *cough* it's… it's actually not that bad…" Ranma wheezed hoarsely. "... I've had worse."
"There, you see?" Pappou said. "He likes it!" He clapped Ranma on the back. "You come back next time, we drink more ouzo. Make a proper man of you for our Kopelia!"
"Oh leave him alone, Pappou!" Ya Ya admonished him, swatting him on the back. She held out a large tupperware container to Shampoo. "I taped my spanakopita recipe to the lid. Easy, easy recipe! Your friends will say it is the best in all of Japan, you'll see!" She made a sour face. "Not that there's much competition!"
Shampoo bowed as she accepted it. "Thank you, Ya Ya."
"Oh pish, always with the bowing," Ya Ya scoffed. "Too formal!" She reached out and pinched Shampoo's cheek. "You come back soon, bring Ranma, and I'll have more for you."
000
The walk home was quiet contentment, the chill of the night air offset by their shared warmth and the residual fire of the ouzo. Ranma carried the tupperware container under his arm as Shampoo leaned against his other side.
"You have the coolest Greek Grandparents, Shampoo," he said finally.
She giggled and sighed. "Good. Now whole family meet Ranma, approve of Airen."
"It's weird how different families are," Ranma said softly as they walked. "You're gonna hafta tell Cologne about them sooner or later."
"Shampoo know," Shampoo said. "Always a little nervous, though. Shampoo know how much her visits mean to Pappou and Ya Ya, but afraid Great grandmother not approve. Not Greek Amazons, after all."
"If Cologne can put up with me, I doubt Pappou and his ouzo will faze her," Ranma said with a wink.
She giggled again. "Think maybe ouzo go to Airen's head?" She rested her head on his shoulder. "Not mind, though. Nice to see Airen relaxed."
They reached the Nekohanten. The restaurant was closed and Cologne was sitting outside on a stool, smoking her pipe.
"Have a nice night out, kids?" she asked, a smile stretching the wrinkled skin of her face.
"Best night," Shampoo sighed happily.
Cologne chuckled. "I'll believe that when I hear about the first of my great great grandchildren!" She waved her pipe towards the restaurant. "Nabiki is upstairs, licking her wounds after her training. You should go give her some encouragement, you two."
"I…" Ranma suddenly became nervous. Something told him that this was the point where things would stop being simple. If he went inside... "M-maybe I should head back to the dojo…"
Shampoo tightened her grip on his arm. "Airen not be silly. Planned to stay over, yes? Nabiki be upset if you leave now." She started dragging him into the restaurant.
He didn't resist but he was getting increasingly uncomfortable as that sensation of approaching a point of no return increased. She lead him up the stairs to the apartment above the restaurant and towards her room.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Stop being paranoid, Ranma. It's not even like you haven't slept in the same bed with Nabiki before, much less the same room! This isn't gonna be any different. He reached out and opened the door himself, then stepped into the room. "Hey, Nabiki, heard you had a rough day…"
Three things happened all at once.
First, he heard the door close with a very deliberate click and Shampoo released his arm to slip behind him and plant herself between him and the door.
Second, he realized what Nabiki was wearing (what little there was of it) and that she was strategically positioned in front of the window - which was closed and undoubtedly locked.
Thirdly, he realized that yes… yes it was going to be different this time.
Nabiki was wearing a black lace bra and panties with a sheer, negligee overtop. The light from the lamp behind her outlined perfectly the curves of her body through the translucent fabric and gave the impression that she was wearing nothing at all under it. She had that smile on her face, too - the one he had become acquainted with during that beach weekend - the one that elicited certain expectations.
"Nabiki! Hi!" he said nervously. He took a step back but bumped immediately into Shampoo.
"Airen not run this time," she purred softly in his ear. She wrapped her arms around his waist in a gentle but firm hug that promised to quickly become inescapable if he tried to bolt.
His eyes widened in fear as Nabiki stood smoothly and sauntered gracefully towards him.
It wasn't that he didn't find the situation arousing. In fact he had never wanted so much to just give up at any point in his life! But… this had always gone badly in the past. It was always too good to be true, or had strings attached that he simply couldn't cope with. It would change things! He squeezed his eyes shut and looked away. "Idon'tthinkI'mreadyforthis!"
"Ranma…" Nabiki said softly. "Open your eyes."
He did, then immediately closed them again even more tightly. She had let the nightie slip from her shoulders and she was so very close... He could feel Shampoo pressed up against his back, and the image that haunted him was of her wearing his shirt and nothing else and giving him the same look that Nabiki now wore. He would have run for it already but he couldn't figure out how to get away without hurting one or both of them.
A hand brushed his cheek gently. He gasped, eyes snapping open again.
"Ranma, calm down," Nabiki smiled warmly at him and this time it was a gentler smile one of understanding. Her look had softened. "It's just us, Ranma. We're not going to do anything bad. We just want to be with you tonight."
"That is bad though!" Ranma said, taking a shuddering breath. "It-it'll change things!"
"Yeah… it will," Nabiki said softly. She slid her arms around his neck, her body pressing up against him. Shampoo tightened her hold on him from behind and he whimpered through gritted teeth.
"Things change all the time, Ranma. It's not a bad thing," Nabiki all but whispered. "I know you're afraid… because you've had it driven home that this is something that will change your whole life forever, right? You're afraid that if you do this, you'll lose control."
He took another shuddering breath and nodded.
Nabiki chuckled warmly. He couldn't look away from her eyes now - luminous brown pools that held him trapped in their depths. "And here I thought that if you had a random weekend fling with a stranger it would solve all your problems," she said ruefully. She started to toy gently with his pigtail. "Ranma… it's us."
"Airen have reason to be afraid," Shampoo said softly, hooking her chin over his shoulder. "Shampoo betray trust, over and over. Magic potion, hypnotic mushrooms, magic string…" She hugged a little tighter.
"N-no, that's not…" Ranma said, though he felt a stab of guilt as he realized that she was right, and that it was part of it. "L-look, I just…" He closed his eyes. "I… I know you're expecting something from me… a-and… I… I want to…" He struggled a bit as he forced himself to face an old fear. "B-but… I don't… I don't know what to do. I don't know how it works. I don't…"
"You're afraid you'll disappoint us?" Nabiki asked quietly.
He let out the breath he had been holding. His shameful secret was out in the open. "How pathetic is that, huh? I'm half girl, and I still don't know how… how to…" he closed his eyes, "... how to be a man… you know?"
"Ranma… no one knows this stuff their first time," Nabiki said gently. "Nobody."
"Y-yeah, but…" he protested weakly.
Through some unspoken communication, Nabiki relaxed her hold on him as Shampoo took hold of his shoulders and turned him to face her. She reached up to cup his face in her hands.
"Ranma…" she asked softly. "Do you love us?"
Ranma's eyes widened a bit. The question still scared him, because it was another of those things that would Change Everything. But his resistance to this one had already been worn down by considerably more. He swallowed and looked into her eyes. "Wo ai ni," he whispered, finally saying the words.
She smiled. "We love you. We just want to be with you," She stroked his cheek. "Want to show you how… say that with your body, not just words. Not have to do more."
"Think of it like learning a new kata for the first time," Nabiki murmured in his ear.
He chuckled weakly. "Somehow I don't think most people's first time is a threesome… Kind of an advanced kata for a beginner, right?"
Nabiki took his right hand and Shampoo took his left. The girls turned him once more towards the bed and led him to it.
"You learn fast," Nabiki said and pulled him down with her.
000 (Chapter 20 end)
Where did the popcorn come from? It was the most cynical thing I could imagine Yuka eating at that moment. Therefore she MUST have some. Because she is Yuka. It's one of those Quantum Physics things.
Some people have noted Ryouga hasn't seen Ranma as a male since this whole mess began. This will be a long term plot point. I am QUITE aware of the double standard that currently exists in Ranma's relationships, and I plan to address it.
duì bu qi - I'm sorry
Kopelia or Kopelia mou - (Girl, or My girl) Affectionate term used by adults to address a younger female, even ones who are themselves adults.
