Story tags and Seeds: [Minor Alternate Universe: Nodoka's bloodline] [Minor crossover: Elements from Masquerade and potential cameos] [Continuation] [Lime to Lemonade flavored(erotic mischief)]
Seed: It's the perfect plot for a hentai, except no one informed Ranma! With all the female trauma Ranma has suffered, could the girls of Ranma 1/2 bed Ranma to save his life?
Rated PG-13 for semi-serious plot, adult situations, brief nudity, mischief, and bouts of occasional violence. In other words, pretty much like the manga.
Contact info: email valorphoenix@yahoo.com ICQ # 1685995. If you're using ICQ, please be semi-polite and to the point. I'm generally happy to discuss things but not much for chit-chat.
Author's notes: I can't really believe this is the first thing I'm publishing on Fanfiction.net, since I have older stories that have progressed further plot wise with more time invested in them. This bit of story practically wrote itself one night. It reached a good stopping point though, so I'm publishing it, even though it's something silly I wrote on a whim. For those wondering about characters acting weird, then please note that Nodoka was operating on false assumptions, and the characters of Ranma 1/2 do pull together in the face of stuff like death, plus the girls generally behave in front of Nodoka. Hopefully you get that from the body of the story. What's going on may be slightly confusing since a paragraph's viewpoint is tainted by the character speaking/thinking in that paragraph.
Burning Eyes: Chapter 1
Nodoka sighed as she helped Akane into her wedding dress and helped her soon to be daughter in law look just perfect for today. Unlike how most people thought, Nodoka was a bit sad that her son was being tied down so early in life. Still though, he seemed to have plenty of mistresses, so she doubted that Akane would collapse from exhaustion because of her son. Still though, if what she had heard about the battles in China was correct, it seemed that Ranma had chosen, though Nodoka could understand all to well that he would be unwilling to be tied down so soon.
Her musing on this was cut short as the window of the guest room at the Tendou's where Ranma slept was blown outward by Genma and Soun's bodies suddenly flying through it. They were followed by Ranma, the golden glowing martial artist seemed to be genuinely pissed at them as he landed in the yard in a predatory crouch.
Akane grumpily made her way to her window before throwing it open to shout at Ranma and throw a barbell at him, "Leave my father alone you jerk and go get ready!"
Ranma turned around to face Akane, absently swatting the barbell out of the air and embedding it into the ground.
Nodoka gasped as she saw his scowling eyes, which were glowing golden with small slits, while a golden eye symbol was glowing on his forehead.
Ranma's scowl at his upset fiancée flickered for a moment, before he bounded over the wall and out into the city, while the grass he was standing on stayed flattened but stopping smoldering.
Nodoka turned panicked eyes to Akane and her sisters, pleading to them, "How long have his eyes been glowing like that?"
Akane let out a huff while turning to her soon to be mother in law, "Well they were like that during his fight with Saffron, but what's the big deal?"
Nodoka looked like she was in shock, "but, it has to take longer than that." Nodoka seemed to have some trouble formulating her words to speak clearly, but it was obvious she was very troubled.
Kasumi tried soothing her 'Aunty Nodoka' by telling her what she knew, "Oh, I've seen Ranma's eyes glow occasionally when he's looking at me and no one else is around, but then he goes off and trains or plays with one of his friends."
Nodoka looked like she was going to collapse, "but. . Genma said Ranma wasn't being affected by the curse yet. My poor baby boy."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow at Nodoka and asked, "What do you mean about his curse affecting him? What would turning into a girl have to do with his eyes glowing?"
The Saotome matriarch stared at Nabiki in light confusion, "Surely Genma explained about my family's curse as why Ranma has to have so many mistresses, or having to sleep with Akane before marriage?"
Akane turned moderately red in outrage as she shouted at Nodoka with her arms straight by her sides, "What?! I'm not sleeping with the perverted freak!"
Nodoka stared between the three girls, lost between confusion and shock, "but . . Genma said" Then she suddenly blinked as all of the lies Genma had been telling her came together, "Genma has been lying to me. Alright, who has Ranma been sleeping with and how often?"
Nabiki shook her head and decided to answer quickly so she could find out what was going on and delay Akane's explosion, "Ranma hasn't even kissed a girl aunty. Of course with him marrying Akane now, we don't have to worry about you killing him for not being manly."
Nodoka developed a serious nervous twitch at that point, "He. . . hasn't. . . kissed . . a girl?" The twitch calmed down and Nodoka gave the girls a deathly serious look that was unnerving in it's sudden calm, "You thought I would kill Ranma for being unmanly? That was so Genma would keep to his promises." Nodoka turned to the window as the nervous twitch returned and her right eye started glowing while the pupil contracted into a slit.
In a flash, she was suddenly out the window and holding Genma against the compound wall with enough force to crack the wall. Instead of grabbing him by the neck, she was holding her sheathed katana with both hands and pinning him to the wall by pressing it against his chest. So instead of having his neck crushed like Nodoka was starting to fantasize about, instead he was having trouble breathing with the pressure on his ribcage. Slowly and dangerously, Nodoka growled out to her captive husband, "What was this I heard about Ranma not sleeping with any women?"
Low on oxygen and being scared silly by the glowing eye his wife was glaring at him with, Genma almost became one with his scared inner panda. I life of lying and pushing away responsibility though came to the for and helped him form words while the rest of his mind was gibbering in terror. "Gah! . . It doesn't matter, I trained the boy to ignore those urges because they're wrong. See, no problem, right No-chan?"
Nodoka glared at Genma while shouting, "What?! the sight of his wife's glaring golden eye becoming a pure golden glow, Genma did become one with his inner panda and retreated into a gibbering ball terrified of the glowing woman before him. Nodoka stood there for a moment, trying vainly to restrain herself, before she simply shoved Genma through the wall.
With that act of stress relief finished, Nodoka turned around and straightened out her kimono before leaping back into Akane's room through the open window. Even though Nodoka had calmed down to a dimly glowing eye and a slight tick in her cheek, the girls were fairly scared considering the violence she just displayed and the way she was still clutching her katana. "Alright girls, I want to know everything. Kasumi, when did you first see Ranma's eyes glow, and was it one eye or two?"
Kasumi tilted her head to one side in a contemplative gesture, "Well aunty, I first noticed it about a month after he arrived. It was just one eye that glowed then. I think both started glowing during that time when Herb cursed Ranma to be locked as a girl. He looked most upset then before heading out. I haven't seen it since he got back from China though, because he's been a bit stressed and asked me to keep his friends away for a bit."
Nodoka heaved out a slow sigh, the irritation, and glowing eye leaving finally, "I see then. It's worse than I thought. Thank you dear, that was most informative."
Nabiki gave the older woman a flat stare, finding this change in pace to be discomforting, "Excuse me Aunty, but what's the deal with glowing eyes and Ranma?"
Nodoka heaved another sigh and turned to look out the window, "My husba. . . Genma. . did he tell you anything about my family's curse?"
"No, this was the first time we've heard of it, though we shoudn't be surprised concerning Ranma." Nabiki smirked.
The humorous note was lost on a solemn and sad Nodoka, who continued staring out the window at where her son might be, "My side of the family has had the 'Curse of the Golden Eyes' since recorded time. As the men and women come of age and sexual maturity, the curse comes to bear. It increases our strength, but eats away at our life. It's an animalistic power that pushes us to mate or kill. It was my hope for Ranma to grow up and have several women to satisfy his urges so the curse didn't eat him away. Instead it seems my poor boy is almost dead already."
All three of the Tendou girls were shocked at that, but Nodoka continued when they didn't speak up, "I'm afraid this marriage was based on deception. I was under the impression that Ranma would have plenty of mistresses so he could peacefully satisfy those urges without hurting any of you girls. It seems that stupid panda brought my worst fears to bear though. There's not telling what my son thinks of these urges and how you girls really treat him. I don't even know if anything can be done for him this late."
Akane was in a confused state of shock. Part of her was angry that Ranma would be sleeping with other girls, while a conflicting part was in shock that Ranma could be dying right now.
Nabiki was concerned with how this revelation would fit into the workings going on around here. There was also the consideration that things generally weren't taken at face value, though she couldn't figure out another explanation or interpretation for what she had just heard.
Kasumi was of course, concerned, though this time she was actually concerned for Ranma. "Isn't there some way to save him Aunty? How could he be dying, he seems so lively."
Nodoka shook her head sadly and turned to give Kasumi a wan smile, "Our curse makes us burn like fires. The brighter we burn, the faster we die out. I never had that freedom when I was young, but managed to restrict myself to a few boys, and only one at a time. It just happened to be Genma that got me pregnant, which caused my curse to mellow out. My hope for Ranma was that he could live like one of those playboys, and have enough women to satisfy him so he could live to be thirty."
Nodoka turned her gave to Akane, being curious now, "Akane dear, did you say earlier that you wouldn't sleep with Ranma?"
Akane gave out a huff and frowned at Nodoka, though she didn't want to be disrespectful, this was a touchy subject, "Of course not, I'm not a pervert."
Nodoka gave the girl in the wedding dress a slightly questioning look, "Then why dear were you willing to marry my son?"
The youngest Tendou fidgeted with the hem of her beautiful dress, before dropping it lest she damage it, "Father said he would give Ranma the Spring of Drown man water the guide sent if I did."
Nodoka developed another nervous twitch at hearing that Soun was keeping the cure from her son, but gave the girl a polite nod, "Alright Akane, I'm sorry I didn't know what the situation really was. Your engagement with Ranma is dismissed. If you will excuse me, I need to have a talk with your father about keeping my son's cure like that."
As Nodoka left the room to beat the cure out of Soun if she had too, Akane collapsed to the floor, staring blankly at the doorway. Just like that, her whole relationship with Ranma had been ended. If Ranma was dying, the rest didn't seem so important anymore.
Nabiki stared at her youngest sister in a small amount on shock. If Nodoka was willing to dismiss the engagement like that, then the woman was dead serious. Nodoka's odd ideas of manliness suddenly made sense in their own twisted way.
Kasumi fretted with her apron. Too much was going for her to take in at the moment, so she settled for kneeling by Akane and offering a hand on her shoulder. Even if her little sister and Ranma had their problems, there was still something between them.
Nabiki looked out the window just as today's floorshow began. As Nodoka was berating Soun for keeping the water to cure Ranma away from him, the people Nabiki had invited for the wedding showed up. Ukyou and Shampoo stopped outside of the compound, confused as to what was going on when there was supposed to be a wedding to stop. Ranma's mother was apparently attacking Mr. Tendou, angry about Ranma's cure water. Ukyou and Shampoo both looked at each other and grinned at the thought of Ranma getting cured finally.
Of course, that was when Ryouga and Mousse made their appearance, by going after the water. Before Nodoka could do anything to intervene, the two bickering boys had managed to break the newly revealed cask of water.
Nodoka tried successfully to control her anger at this development, and glared at Soun, "You had no right to take that water, hide it, and hold it from my son." Finished with the blubbering man for now, Nodoka turned to the two boys and gave them a withering glare. Even though Mousse couldn't see it, he could feel it, and both boys starts babbling apologies for whatever had pissed the scary woman off before leaving the Tendou yard by hopping over the walls.
The Tendou sisters arrived at the back porch, Akane now wearing a sundress. Stunned, Akane stared at the broken cask, "Ranma's cure." She could understand Mousse fighting over it, but why would Ryouga do it. Was he trying to save it for Ranma?
Tatewaki Kuno and his sister Kodachi arrived then. Kuno was wielding a katana and shouting about some sorcerer, flower petals, and other drivel that Nodoka and those present ignored.
Kodachi was harder to ignore in her black wedding dress as she shrilly laughed while proclaiming, "Oh, never fear Ranma-sama, I'm here to free you so you may marry me."
The entire yard became still as an irate Nodoka finally drew her katana and address the Kuno girl, "Young girl, no one will be marrying my son. I will see to it that his last days are as pleasant as I can make them."
The young Kuno girl hopped down from her perch on the wall, landing on Kuno and ebedding his head in the ground then landing before Nodoka to address her with surprising concern, though everyone knew that was fleeting, "What is wrong with Ranma-sama? Is he unwell?"
The coppery haired woman in the kimono sheathed her sword and gave a tired sigh, "No, he's not unwell. He'll be as healthy as usual until he burns out. Hopefully he has a month left, though it's certainly less than a year with how far our blood curse has progressed."
Kodachi raised a hand to her mouth in polite shock, "A bloodcurse? Is there anything that can be done for him? A temple monk or perhaps a potion?"
Nodoka shook her head sadly, "Our blood is descended from a Tiger God. Passion and power burns in our veins, though it only truly affects the males of our family." Nodoka frowned and looked at Kodachi, noting the girl was obviously interested in her son. "Excuse me miss, but you have an obvious interest in my son. Even if his father filled his head with silly ideas against sex, how could he hold his passion against a girl such as yourself? It's obvious you desire him."
Kodachi sighed melodramatically at that, "That is certainly true. Ranma-sama is certainly a man of great passion, but seems most shy of expressing that with me. Despite whatever I do, I can't seem to overcome his shyness."
Nodoka mused thoughtfully at this, "mhmm, Perhaps you were a bit to forward. If you're to forward he might see you as a rival instead of a mate. . . but then Genma seems to have ruined it otherwise. Curse that wretched man." Sighing deeply, Nodoka made her way over to the porch and sat down wearily, "So, Genma has somehow gotten my son to be wary of sex with girls. Instead of friendly competition for Ranma's attention, you girls have been fighting with each other and not treating him right. That explains why Ranma is so nervous when I talk to him as well, that boy never could lie convincingly. Damn that fool Genma again for that agreement."
Nodoka sighed and looked up, turning to the three Tendou girls, though the other three fiancées of Ranma had gathered close to hear Nodoka. Quietly Nodoka asked, "Does that sound right girls? And please don't lie to me anymore."
All of the girls looked in between each other, but understandably, it was Nabiki that spoke up. "That sounds about right Miss Saotome. Ranma has never been able to deal with girls, and has avoided anything sexual like the plague. Considering what I know, Genma probably convinced him it would be like rape if he did anything with a girl. Ranma wasn't so much worried about dying as he was worried about you not liking him. Everything else has just compounded it I guess."
Sighing, Nodoka turned her gaze to the confused and lost looking Ukyou and Shampoo before speaking to them, "So you're his other fiancées. I thought you girls were sleeping with my son and going to be his mistresses." Tiredly Nodoka let out a sigh, "So are you two set on marrying my son instead of just sleeping with him?"
Shampoo was a bit quicker to answer than Ukyou, "Shampoo must marry Ranma."
Ukyou nodded her head, "Genma took my dowry, so Ranma-honey is mine."
Nodoka sighed and shook her head, "Well, when Ranma dies soon, you girls won't have to worry about honor any longer." Nodoka turned a somewhat hopeful smile to Kodachi, "Miss Kuno is it? Should I be able to explain things to Ranma, will you be his first? Just make things clear though, you won't be the only girl then, I don't know how many it will take to satisfy him at this stage."
Kodachi smiled, "I would be honored, but..." Kodachi suddenly frowned in thought as she contemplated the rest of what Nodoka had said. She had given up on having Ranma to herself long ago, and just wanted a piece of him, but his mother was implying that he would have the stamina to wear out several women, perhaps because of this tiger god blood. Curious Kodachi asked, "How would he be in bed? I believe you mentioned something about tiger god blood making him passionate?"
Nodoka smiled slightly at getting one girl's agreement at least, "I'll have to see Ranma personally to tell, I wasn't aware until today that he was already in the grip of the blood curse since he's been hiding it so well. I expect he may be far enough long that he could be insatiable. We don't really have records of what such a massive build up of stress would lead to. No man in our family has ever gone this far without going into a berserk rage and ravaging entire regions."
Kodachi nodded thoughtfully, appearing startling lucid, "I see, dear Ranma-sama is being consumed by a great inner beast he was taught to fear letting out. I will sacrifice my life if need be to sate this beast that torments him."
Kodachi then broke the moment by laughing, before sketching a quick bow and leaping away along the rooftops, "I shall prepare myself for Ranma-sama and return soon!"
Nodoka stared blankly at Kodachi's retreating form, murmuring, "Well, she is certainly enthusiastic at least"
The remaining girls could only gape at Nodoka as she was apparently in favor of Kodachi of all people now. Ukyou was the first girl to timidly speak up, "Uhm, Miss Saotome, what's going on with Ranchan?"
Nodoka gave Ukyou and Shampoo a rather empty look before speaking, "Ranma won't have much longer to live, so he's not a concern for either of you anymore. All I'm interested in now is finding girls willing to simply sleep with him since that's the only thing that will prolong his life any and relieve his stress."
Having had most of her energy drained out from the emotional rollercoaster ride and manifesting her power, Nodoka turned to Kasumi, "Could I lay down for a while here, until Ranma returns?"
Kasumi nodded and put on an encouraging smile, "Of course Aunty, how about Ranma's futon?"
The tired older woman gave the eldest Tendou girl a weak smile, "Thank you dear, that's thoughtful of you."
As Kasumi helped the Saotome Matriarch to lay down on Ranma's bedroll, she couldn't help but reconsider the looks Ranma had given her. Those golden eyed stares had been intense, but then Ranma would wince internally and go off to train and relieve some stress. Did Ranma desire her? Why would he stare at her instead of Akane? The continued fretting with the hem of her skirt got Nodoka's attention.
Softly Nodoka asked, "Kasumi dear, is something bothering you?"
Kasumi blushed a faint pink and found the hem of her dress more interesting, "Well, Aunty. . . I was wondering why Ranma looked at me like he does sometimes. When his eyes are glowing I mean. Why not Akane or some other girl?"
Nodoka patted the girls hands to calm her down some before she damaged her skirt while giving her a tired smile, "Akane with her temper probably confuses him dear. Can you tell me how things have been between you and Ranma?"
Kasumi's blush deepened a bit more at the thought of her having a relationship with Ranma, "Well, the first day Nabiki and I forced him on Akane because the curses scared us. After that we really didn't spend any time together except when I fixed him food, or sewed up the holes in his favorite shirts, or bandaged him up after one of his scuffles."
Nodoka blinked at the shy young woman in shock before muttering, "Compared to what I've seen from the other girls, it's no wonder he wants to ravish you until you pass out." Nodoka gave a grin at Kasumi's blush "You're utterly adorable dear. Thank you for making my son's life a little more pleasant at least."
Blushing horribly from embarrassment and the improper thoughts she was having, Kasumi quietly and politely fled from the room to calm herself down.
Nodoka gave an unnervingly naughty grin as she recalled her past. She had avoided a label as a slut with her libido by developing a taste for other girls, otherwise she wouldn't have known who Ranma's father was. Her son certainly had taste in girls at least, even though Genma had apparently screwed up the possibility of him acting on it. Sighing, Nodoka settled down to get some rest so she would have enough energy for when Ranma came back from cooling down. Hopefully he would come back, because for all she knew he had succumbed to a blood riot or passed away already.
Ranma returned to the Tendou household a bit before noon. Landing on the porch, he expected to find Kasumi getting lunch ready, not to find all of his fiancées and the Tendou sisters sitting there apparently having a peaceful talk. As a verified sign of the apocalypse, Ranma began sweating nervously even before the trouble erupted.
Instead of shouting though, as a group the assembled girls gave him an odd look. He was unfamiliar with it, but it might be concern. Nabiki spoke up, but instead of sarcasm or teasing, she seemed to be asking in a normal maybe even concerned voice, "Where have you been Ranma? We've been worried about you."
Ranma's finely honed sense of the weird pegged, telling him this was a dangerous situation with multiple hidden dangers. Ranma however was a brave and fearless soul(mainly because he didn't know any better), and trudged forward without missing a step, "Uhm, are you pod people, or what? You're not phoenix people pulling that stunt again are you?"
To say Ranma was suspicious of cooperation and kindness from the girls in his life would be an understatement.
While the other girls were inwardly boiling that Ranma couldn't believe they were being a little nice when he was dying, Kasumi spoke up, "Your mother told us about your problem. She's resting upstairs and would like to talk to you."
Ranma blinked as he mentally switched gears. A problem with his mother could probably get the girls to pull together a bit so they could make themselves look good.
Nodding thanks to Kasumi, Ranma dashed up the stairs and quickly looked through the rooms for his mother, surprisingly finding her in the room he was staying in. Cautiously he knelt down beside her and shook her shoulder.
Nodoka slowly came awake and stretched lightly, before looking at her son and hugging him tightly before he could squirm away, "Oh Ranma, you're alright."
Ranma of course squirmed uncomfortably in the face of motherly affection, "Uh yeah mom, of course."
Nodoka frowned sadly and held Ranma at arms length to stare him in the eyes, "Ranma, answer me, how long have you been affected by the golden eyes curse?"
Ranma swallowed and nervously evaded the question, "Uh, golden eyes? Nope, already got enough curses. hehehe"
Nodoka shook her head sadly at the behavior ingrained in her son, "No Ranma, I saw it this morning when you knocked your father and Mr. Tendou out of your room. I need to know Ranma so I can tell how bad it is."
Ranma nervously fidgeted for a bit, trying to think of some way to deny it and whether he should he even try since his mother seemed to know more about it than he did. "Uh, since I was fourteen I guess, but it didn't really happen much until around when Ryouga showed up again trying to kill me."
"How have you been withstanding the urge?" Hearing his mother's emotion laden voice, he looked up at her to see she was on the verge of crying, which of course caused an angsty panic in Ranma.
Ranma nervously stared at his mother, wondering what to say to make her feel better, but until a miracle happened and he figured women out, he decided to answer her question, "Uh, well, I just do, 'cause I gotta you know." Ranma lost focus for a second as the stress got to him for a moment, "It's been kinda hard since Saffron though. Since I used it in that fight it's been hard to ignore."
Smiling sadly to herself, Nodoka stroked his hair until he feel asleep, which didn't take to long since controlling his urge forcibly tended to drain him. Nodoka turned to the doorway crowded with girls and nodded them in. Nodoka gave an honest smile at seeing all of the girls showing concern for her son. Gently she laid him down on his own bed to let him get some rest to recuperate his strength.
Akane, being the most familiar with Nodoka besides Kasumi was the first to ask her, "Aunty, how is he?"
The copper haired woman shook her head sadly while staring at her sleeping child, "It's worse than I thought. I don't really know what to do for him. He probably won't have enough time to do anything about his lust, so all that's left is trying to keep him happy and keeping those boys away so he doesn't get upset."
"I'll see to brother dearest. He has troubled Ranma-sama long enough." Stated an abnormally solemn Kodachi.
Shampoo nodded her head, "Mousse behave or he be duck special. Shampoo keep stickboy away too."
Ukyou stared at her hands, not quite as upset about no longer being engaged as she used to be in the face of Ranma's imminent death. Quietly she spoke up, offering her support, "Konatsu can guard Ranma. He still respects Ranma a lot, so he'll be happy to."
Akane for her part quietly stared down at Ranma, to confused by current events to really pitch in. Unsure of what to do, she just kept to herself for the moment.
Nabiki gave a look the her younger sister, knowing she wouldn't stay quiet for long, before adding her bit, "Well, I can help deal with Kuno, and Akane can handle Ryouga. I'll just help out when something comes up, okay?"
Kasumi smiled happily since everyone was getting along. Kasumi smiled and gathered Ukyou and Shampoo with her gaze, "Why don't we go fix everyone lunch, and then we can start on a special dinner for Ranma, alright?" Almost as an afterthought to domestic bliss, Kasumi turned around in the doorway to face her little sister, "Akane, you and Kodachi stay here and keep Ranma company if he wakes up? Aunty will be with you, so it will be alright."
Akane blinked at the odd request and looked over at Kodachi, wondering how waking up to Kodachi would be comforting at all to Ranma.
Eventually the quiet got to be a bit to much for Akane, as she fearfully asked Nodoka a question she was afraid to hear the answer of, "Uhm, Aunty. Is it true Ranma would be okay right now if he had been a pervert and slept with other girls?"
Nodoka shook her head a bit at the poor phrasing of Akane's question, "Well you need not say it like that dear. It's just there are only two ways for Ranma to safely vent his urges, and that's through destroying his rivals, or sating his lust with a few girls. Obviously maiming and killing people isn't acceptable, certainly not in this day and age."
Akane stared at her hands in her lap as she twisted her fingers together, before hesitantly apologizing, "I'm sorry Aunty." Nodoka gaze the girl a questioning glance, prompting her to continue. Hesitantly Akane did continue, "I wasn't as nice to Ranma as I should have been I guess."
Nodoka nodded at Akane for a minute, but kept her eyes on Ranma as she spoke, "That's alright Akane. We all make mistakes in life. Hopefully I'll have enough time with Ranma to correct some of mine. That's all the really matters."
A morose silence filled the air, until Ranma shifted and moaned out, "mhmm. . strawberries. . "
The two younger girls blushed in different shades at the suggestive nature of that. Nodoka merely smiled in fondly at her son, happy that at least his dreams were pleasant. Nabiki just grinned at her younger sister's reaction. Maybe all of this would help Akane mature some.
"Kasumi. . how did you get Nabiki covered in chocolate like that? . . . . and how did you make caramel sticky enough to hold Shampoo? I have to lick it off? . . . . why does Akane have an apple in her mouth? . . . "
Nabiki joined the other two girls in blushing, while Nodoka laughed heartily. Apparently a severely repressed huge libido coupled with his only enjoyable passion of food made for very odd dreams.
"Wow I bet Kodachi didn't know you could tie a ribbon like that. . . Ukyou gave you that sauce? I have to lick that off too? . . why is it so important that I lick everything Kasumi? Good with my tongue, what do you mean?"
When mortally embarrassed, time passes really fast the three girls found out. Time passed even quicker for Nodoka, as she enjoyed the spectacle of the girls blushing over her son's delirious dream.
As Kasumi, Shampoo and Ukyou brought a late lunch up, it was obvious by their blushes that they had overheard Ranma before he quieted down again.
Lunch passed in an embarrassed silence for the girls, and Ukyou Shampoo and Kasumi left once again. Ukyou to go get Konatsu, Shampoo to inform her great grandmother, and Kasumi to see to the house.
Ranma slowly blinked awake, and immediately regretted waking up again today as he saw Kodachi kneeling by his side. Letting out a panicked "Gah!", he looked to his side and spotted Akane and eeped while bringing his arms up to guard his head while exclaiming, "I didn't do it!"
After a moment Ranma cautiously peaked through his arms, expected Akane to have already exploded at him already. Instead Akane seemed to be giving him a sad frown while Kodachi was giving him an odd look. He also noted Nabiki was beside Akane and giving him one of her usual unreadable looks.
"Is something wrong Ranma-sama?" Oddly enough it was Kodachi who spoke up first, with what sounded like genuine sane concern. Ranma's eyes quickly flickered back and forth between Akane and Kodachi, trying to figure out what odd thing had happened that he would have to deal with at great personal pain and suffering.
Akane gave a half hearted huff and frowned at the pig tailed boy, "Honestly Ranma, what are you expecting me to be upset about?"
Ranma began looking seriously confused and weirded out. Eventually he managed to formulate a hesitant reply as his problem solving logic centers were still failing to figure out this situation, "Uh, because Kodachi is here?"
Akane frowned at the distrust in Ranma's voice, as he apparently expected her to get upset over something as trivial as Kodachi being here. "What's wrong with that Ranma?"
Ranma looked really confused at that point as he had never actually had to explain before as arguing and violence concluded things before he could try. Now that he could, he realized he was fairly clueless as to why Akane would be upset with him, but ventured an answer anyways, "Uh, because she's a girl?"
Akane stared down sadly at her lap, unable to look at Ranma right now, "No Ranma, I'm not going to get upset. I won't get upset with you anymore. If you want something, just ask, okay?"
Ranma stared at Akane for a good long moment, completely unable to decipher what was going on here. While Akane was acting seriously weird, she apparently wasn't an immediate threat, so Ranma was able to recognize the next nearest immediate threat, which was Kodachi. Ranma's eyes slowly slid over to the green haired 'noble' girl of the Kuno family.
Cautiously, and very much dreading finding out the truth, Ranma carefully asked her, "Uhm, did you do something to Akane? Ya know mind control drugs?" His only response from her was her shaking her head with a sad expression on her face surprisingly similar to Akane's. "Uh, kidnapping me again?" Once again Kodachi shook her head, though this time with a wistful smile, those times had been fun after all.
Ranma was feeling seriously weirded out by Kodachi smiling at him fondly like what he heard normal girls were like. Ranma decided to venture another guess, "Uh, you're trying to kill me again?" Ranma knew he was a guy at the moment, but right now nothing was making sense.
Kodachi looked offended and hurt at that accusation, and it showed in her voice, "Ranma-sama, I would never hurt you."
Ranma didn't look convinced a bit, but Nabiki decided it was time to intervene before Ranma made the girls feel any worse by bringing up their past actions. First she addressed Kodachi, "Kodachi, there's something you should know. Ranma is under a curse from China. There are springs there where you take the body of whatever drowned there when splashed with cold water. Hot water will turn Ranma back into a boy."
Kodachi stared at Nabiki in rapt attention, having a sinking feeling this was leading somewhere.
"You wouldn't happen to know any red headed girls also named Ranma Saotome that you've tried to kill every time you see her?", Nabiki continued for Kodachi's benefit, "The same girl that dresses exactly like Ranma, claims to be Ranma, and you never see with the male Ranma, who fights exactly like Ranma?"
Kodachi by this point had found the scuffed floor of the guestroom where Ranma stayed to be very interesting as she paled in realization. Eventually she spoke up very quietly, "So the first time I met you was as the female Ranma? But even after that you saved me from falling off of the roof?"
Ranma put one hand on his pigtail while chuckling in a nervous bashful manner, "Eh well, even if you were picking on those girls, it wouldn't be right to let you get hurt."
Kodachi blushed in response to how cute Ranma looked when he was nervous like that, along with the rather touching admission to saving her. She was beginning to understand Ranma a bit better, and despite how he had understandably tried to avoid spending time with her, he still treated her far and above nicer than any other person she knew. Somewhat huskily she whispered, "I'm sorry for my. . poorly chosen attempts at showing my. . appreciation for your kindness before. If you want, you can take me and tie me up anytime Ranma-sama" Kodachi ducked her head to bashfully hide her blush.
Ranma stared blankly at Kodachi for a moment, overcome with shock. Then he glanced over at Akane and Nabiki. Then his logic centers finally made a successful reboot and gave him a solution. Calmly he pinched himself and noted it was painful. After a moment he turned a serious gaze to Nabiki, "Alright, what happened to me?"
Nabiki raised a curious eyebrow at Ranma, "What are you talking about Saotome?"
Ranma looked at her for a second, getting what he wanted to say right in his head, "Well, uh, how much are you charging for this?"
Nabiki gave Ranma one of her nicer smirks, but still one that worried people, "What Ranma, can't I be nice?"
Ranma just nodded to himself, having accepted his fate with a stoic calm now, "Yep, third sign of the apocalypse there. Akane is being nice to me, Kodachi is being nice, Nabiki is being nice and not charging me. So either I've contracted some strange horrible condition that will kill me soon, or the world is about to end."
None of the girls liked the implication that Ranma thought they would be nice to him only if he was dying(which he was) or if the world was ending. Partially because it was apparently true. Akane and Kodachi winced, while Nabiki gave a wry chuckle, "I guess I deserved that Saotome. But really, only three signs of the apocalypse? I thought there were at least four so you couldn't have a false alarm."
Ranma shared her laughter, feeling a lot more relieved now that he knew he was going to die soon and the pain wouldn't last to long. "Heh yeah, well the other signs would be Shampoo and Ukyou trading cooking tips, being friends and forming an alliance with Akane and Kodachi so they wouldn't have to fight over me. Then to seal it off, Kasumi would." Ranma paused and did a credible impersonation of an embarrassed Kasumi, "Oh no, I've been having improper thoughts about Ranma, I'm such a bad girl." Ranma gave off a half insane laugh, "Then she'd ask me to spank her for being bad."
Before anyone could answer to that, Ukyou and Shampoo walked in, stopping their chat about cooking to take up seats on each side of Ranma while playfully prodding Akane and Kodachi to make room, as Ukyou said, "C'mon girls, you've had him to yourselves all this time, you could share a little."
Ranma let out a strangled squeak of shock.
Then Kasumi appeared in the doorway, blushing and finding her apron suddenly interesting on seeing Ranma.
Nodoka couldn't help herself. She had quietly listened in on Ranma and the girls, and during everything he hadn't noticed his own mother behind him. She just couldn't help but ask though, "Kasumi dear, are you having naughty thoughts about Ranma?"
Kasumi blushed a bright red before trying to stammer out a reply, and after a moment of indistinct murmuring managing to get out an "I'm sorry, I've been a bad girl."
Ranma fainted back into his mother's waiting lap, finally finding escape.
Kodachi and Akane joined him in unconscious slumber a second later.
Shampoo and Ukyou looked on in confusion as Nabiki busted a gut laughing and rolling around on the floor while Nodoka developed an uncontrollable case of the giggles, though she did her best not to disturb Ranma.
Kasumi continued to blush in embarrassment, still unable to get Nodoka's suggestion of Ranma ravishing her until she passed out and what he said in his sleep out of her mind. Almost hopefully she wondered if anyone would punish her for having such improper thoughts.
Omake! Omake! (Extra material that didn't really happen, but it would be funny if it did)~
Nabiki stared at the screen with a blank stare as the news showed something she wasn't expecting.
A frantic male reporter on screen in a brown suit was screaming into the camera, acting properly horrified, "I repeat, An hour ago, a golden glowing man showed up and destroyed the youma the sailor senshi were fighting with hardly any effort. But then the glowing man turned on the senshi, viscously ravishing them!" The view of the camera slowly panned around, showing various girls in what was remaining of their short skirted colorful uniforms on the ground, most of them indecent, sweaty, and dazed.
The brown haired Sailor Jupiter rushed up to the camera and shoved the reporter away, while grabbing the microphone. In a panicked rush she pleaded, "Please come back, you didn't leave your number. We didn't even get your name. It can't end like this!"
A caped man in the background was shaking a disheveled girl with two long blond ponytails, "Sailor Moon! Wake up! Speak to me!"
The blond continued her unfocused stare and licked the drool off of her chin before mumbling, "Mhmm, beefy!"
The only scout who still had her uniform in one piece was the twelve year old Sailor Saturn. Instead she was hugging the large teddy bear the nice man pulled out of no where to give her, while remembering the nice kiss he gave her. Hearing Haruka's grumbling, she turned to look at her 'Uranus-papa' and 'Neptune-mama'.
The aqua haired Sailor Neptune was supporting her blond haired lover, Sailor Uranus, who seemed to be walking funny in a very stiff way. Tired of Haruka's mumbling, Michiru chastised her lover, "Really dear, you shouldn't have taunted him like that."
A black cat with a grating female voice turned to a white cat who didn't look nearly as constipated as the black one, "Oh this is horrible! What about the future? What about Crystal Tokyo? That man must be hunted down and stopped!"
Artemis, the white cat, gave Luna the black cat a funny look and point with his paw, "Well, take a look at Miss future over there for your answer."
Luna turned around with a sense of dread to see Sailor Pluto sprawled indecently across the ground, with a seemingly permanent goofy grin on her face. The glazed eyes and nose bleed detracted somewhat from the look of afterglow about her though.
Nabiki turned to her catatonic younger sister as the news piece ended, "I guess Aunty wasn't exaggerating about Ranma, huh? Well now we know where he's been at least." Getting no response, Nabiki turned and poked Akane, then watched as her younger sister fell over and remained stiff with shock. Sighing melodramatically, Nabiki rolled her eyes at her little sister's antics, "Honestly sis, get over it already."
Well that's the end of this piece.
ValorPhoenix, February 2003, Valorphoenix@yahoo.com