Here's a little something for the holiday... Spooky, what?

Previous parts available on my Ranma ff page: 

http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma/fanfiction.html

------------------------------
The Clan - Chapter 8:

Side Effects

by Chris Jones
------------------------------

	Nabiki woke to a chill breeze blowing across her legs. She sat up, not
really remembering where she was. After a few seconds, it all came back to
her...
	Akuji was a monster, A Ravener like Kasumi and Auntie Nodoka had fought.
Unlike the first ravener's mindless brutality and hunger, however, Akuji
had a most dreadful intelligence. He had stabbed her and very nearly raped
her. She had...
	Nabiki couldn't help but chuckle. She had torn the disgusting 'probe' off
Akuji's body. Hopefully, he'd die from the wound.
	Still, Auntie Saotome must be made aware of his presence. If there was
one, there must be others.
	Looking around her, she wondered where she was. She was wearing a yellow
tunic, and surprisingly, she felt fairly clean. There was no blood caked on
her like before. 
	She recognized the tunic as Ryouga's.
	Nabiki sniffed the air. She could smell him nearby. It was much easier now
that she had...
	"Oh my God..." Nabiki muttered. "I drank Ryouga's blood," she realized.
	"Hmm?"
	She looked behind her to see Ryouga tending a fire. He was looking up at
her with a sheepish expression. 
	"I hope you don't mind... Your... dress was ruined. I..."
Nabiki saw the lost boy blush furiously. 
	"I took it off you, and tried to scrub you up as best I could. I didn't
look at you or anything! I promise!"
	Nabiki raised one eyebrow in speculation. Ryouga had actually managed to
wash her body without a nosebleed? It was a fairly gruesome scene, she
realized. 
	Turning away from the wanderer, she pulled the tunic up to see that the
wound had almost completely healed. There was only a pinkish-white scar
where the skin was thickening over the break.
	"No. It's okay," Nabiki answered. "Do you have any idea where we are?"
	"Not really," Ryouga admitted. "I wouldn't swear to it, but I think we're
still in Tokyo."
	"That's good." Nabiki let her gaze rest on the young man's face. Sure
enough, there were still dark black bruises on either side of his neck. And
a smell... a smell of...
	Nabiki's train of thought derailed as Ryouga's blush intensified at her
gaze. She smiled weakly, adjusting the tunic, which was about thigh length
on her.
	"Let me look at those," Nabiki commanded, scooting her weakened body next
to the boy.
	"Um, no! It's okay, really! You don't have to--"
	Nabiki cut him off, placing a finger on one of the bruises. "I made them,
moron. Do they hurt?"
	Ryouga shook his head. Nabiki wasn't sure if that would always be the
case, however, since the boy seemed mostly immune to pain anyway.
	As she got closer to him, however, a familiar, insistent feeling started
to burn in her body.
	"Mmm..." she hummed quietly, remembering Kasumi's problem with their
'gift'. It was apparently Nabiki's problem as well. Not that she minded,
but... Ryouga?
	"I appreciate you helping me," she thanked him. "I don't think I would
have survived without you."
	"'S no problem, really."
	"So I bet you've got a few questions right now..."
	"Yeah... Is... Is Akane a vampire, too?"
	Nabiki raised her eyebrows in surprise. For some reason, it infuriated her
that Ryouga should mention her sister at such a time.
	"No. She's thinking about it, but hasn't decided yet," Nabiki informed
him. "Are you a vampire hunter?"
	"No! I mean... of course not. You're not... *evil* are you?" Ryouga asked
seriously.
	"No, not evil. The guy who stabbed me was, though."
	Ryouga nodded. 
	"Can I ask you something," Nabiki continued.
	"Yeah?" Ryouga answered meekly.
	Nabiki let her finger rest on Ryouga's naked shoulder next to the strap of
his thin, black undershirt. The burning intensified.
	"Did it turn you on for me to drink your blood?" she asked, putting a purr
into her voice.
	"What?!?!" Ryouga's blush, if anything, became more intense. She could
clearly see how pink his ears were becoming. "W-w-why w-w-would a-anything
l-like t-that h-happen?!?" Ryogua asked nervously, cringing away from her.	
	*I can't believe I said that,* Nabiki thought to herself.  No wonder
Akane's never seriously considered him.
	Still shocked at her own behavior, Nabiki found herself drawing closer to
the boy.
	"It's okay... I'm... It's a side effect, I think. Drinking blood...
excites us," Nabiki explained, clutching at her head. She couldn't believe
she was telling Ryouga all this, but she felt indebted to him. Nabiki hated
being in debt. "I'm just a little wound up."
	Ryouga gulped and nodded. He sat back down, careful to leave several more
inches in between them.
	"It's just that... I just can't get it out of my head how badly I want
you," Nabiki rambled, not noticing the effect it was having on the boy next
to her.
	"I mean.. I've just been near-fatally stabbed, and I can't think of
anything else but your... body and... Ohhh... your arms around me."
	Ryouga twitched.
	Nabiki could barely help herself. It was all she could do to keep from
reaching in between her legs to quench what she was feeling.
	Ryouga, nervously backing away from her, stumbled and fell on his ass.
	Starting at the noise, Nabiki turned to see the young man. The look of
fear in his eyes only intensified her desire.
	"I really can't understand why Akane doesn't just eat you up..." Nabiki
breathed. "Would you like that? To be eaten, I mean?"
	Ryouga's eyes narrowed to terrified little dots, and, losing the battle he
had been waging all night, a tiny trickle of blood ran down his face.
	Nabiki crawled over to him on all fours. "Maybe I should just take you
away from Akane... Hmm?"
	Ryouga just eeeped, and tried to scramble away. He couldn't tear his eyes
away from Nabiki's though. It was like he was a dear, frozen in a pair of
glowing brown headlights.
	"I want you, Ryouga," Nabiki murmured, leaning in close to Ryouga. Her
face near his, she leaned in and licked the blood off his lips. "Nnn..."
	"Gya-gya-gya-" Ryouga mumbled incoherently.
	"Mmmm... You saved my life tonight, Ryouga-kun. How can I ever repay you?"
	Ryouga moaned in terror. Nabiki moaned in desire. She wrapped her arms
around him and pressed her lips to his.
	He was frozen in that instant, but he could feel Nabiki passionately
kissing him. Her tongue forced his lips apart and darted inside his mouth.
	His eyes open in shock, Ryouga could do little to resist.
	Her body was pressed into his, her breasts squeezing up against his chest.
He very dimly realized that she was wrapping her legs around his back.
	Ryouga realized that this was only really the second time he had been
kissed by a girl who wasn't his mother. The first time was when Akane
kissed P-chan of course, but that was chaste... innocent, even when
compared to what Nabiki was doing.
	He couldn't really believe that there was a girl in his lap, sucking on
his tongue, with her legs wrapped around him.
	It was rather a shock to him, then, when she collapsed against him and
started shaking.
	"Gyah," Ryouga mumbled, trying to regain his senses.

* * *

	"Where is it!?!?" Ryouga shouted angrily, adjusting the unconscious girl
in his arms again.
	"What'cha lookin' for Pig-bo-- Oh shit."
	Ryouga looked up to see Ranma in his undershirt and boxers sitting on a
stone wall in the darkness. 
	"Is that Nabiki? What happened."
	"Ranma!" Ryouga shouted. "You have to help me! Nabiki's a vampire and she
got hurt and she bled a lot and I think she's dying again and we have to go
to the Tendou Dojo right now!"
	"Whoa, slow down, P-chan." Ranma leapt down from the wall and placed two
fingers against Nabiki's throat. "Damnitt... I knew somethin' like this was
gonna happen. C'mon, let's get her inside. My mom prob'ly needs to see this."
	He took Nabiki from Ryouga's arms, and leapt the wall. Ryouga followed
him, finding that they were now inside the Tendou's yard. They ran up to
the house, and inside.
	Ranma laid Nabiki down on the tatami and pushed a pillow under her head.
	"Mom! Akane, Kasumi!" He shouted, running his hands over the girl's body,
looking for obvious injury. "What happened, Ryouga?" he asked angrily.
	"She's a vampire," Ryouga stated in a panicked tone.
	"I know she's a vampire, moron! How did she get hurt?"
	"S-she... I didn't see who hurt her. Someone stabbed her, all the way
through. She was running from them and ran into me. It was outside a hotel,
I think. She drank some of my blood, but then she tried to make me kiss her
and then--"
	"Calm down, pig boy... She drank your blood and then--"
	Ryouga shook his head in worry and bafflement. "She was healing, but then
she had some kind of seizure. I don't know what happened."
	The other two Tendou girls as well as Nodoka happened down the stairs at
this point. Soun and Genma weren't far behind.
	"MY LITTLE GIRL!!!!" Soun screamed. 
	"She's a vampire, Tendou-san!" Ryouga informed him.
	"WHAAAT?!?!" Soun yelled, sprouting a full blown Anything-goes Demon Head
at the boy.
	"Soun, calm down!" Nodoka commanded. "What happened, here, Son?"
	"Someone attacked her," Ranma clarified. "We don't know who, yet, but she
was pretty badly hurt. She drank some of Ryouga's blood to try to heal, but
somethin' went wrong. She had a seizure or somthin'."
	Nodoka grimaced as Genma quietly explained the situation to his friend.
Soun's eyes widened in horrified shock as his training partner pointed to
Nodoka and his eldest daughter in turn. 
	Nodoka pulled up the tunic, to see the circular wound on Nabiki's lower
abdomen. "How much blood did she lose?" Nodoka demanded.
	"Most of it... I think," Ryouga replied sheepishly. "She bled a lot before
I saw her, and a whole lot more while we were running.
	Nodoka shook her head and bit her lip. "How much of your blood did she
drink?"
	Ryouga shook his head and shrugged. He just didn't know.
	"It looks as if she's gone into a kind of shock," Nodoka explained,
holding her head to Nabiki's chest. "I've seen it before. Losing a lot of
blood... was she active after she drank yours?"
	Ryouga blushed and nodded again. "She was asleep for an hour, but when she
came to, she was movin' around and stuff."
	"It's very simple," Nodoka stated. "She's gone into shock like anyone else
would after losing a massive amount of blood. Drinking Ryouga's blood
helped her to heal, and gave her a boost of energy, but with her blood
pressure so horribly low, she won't survive without more."
	"She needs a transfusion?" Soun suggested.
	"She needs blood," Nodoka clarified. "About five pints. Neither mine nor
Kasumi's will work, either." Nodoka produced a knife from the sleeve of her
night-gown and fixed Soun and Genma with hard stares. "She'll die without
it. Any volunteers?"
	Soun stepped forward. "Anything. Anything for my girls."
	Nodoka nodded, and took his hand. "Kneel over her," she commanded.
	Soun nodded and kneeled next to his daughter. Nodoka cleanly slashed his
wrist and pressed her own lips to it. She then forced Nabiki's jaw open,
and let Soun's blood trickle into her open mouth.
	Interminably, his arm continued to bleed, and he grew very slightly paler.
Finally, Nabiki's eyes fluttered open.
	"Daddy?" she asked weakly.
	"Shh... Daddy's here." Soun whispered. He placed his free hand on her jaw,
holding it open. Placing the wound directly in her mouth, Soun smiled
briefly once.
	"This was the 'secret' Kimiko was keeping for you?" he asked quietly. 
	Nodoka nodded. 
	Soun shook his head as his daughter began to suck at his wrist. "I never
imagined. My daughters..."
	"Your girl wouldn't be alive tonight if not for the 'secret'" Genma
countered.
	Soun nodded thoughtfully. "I guess not."
	After a few more minutes, Nodoka pulled the man's arm away from his
daughter's bloody lips. Soun's eyes widened slightly as Nodoka licked the
slash, and began to bandage it.
	"The saliva will close the cut," Genma explained. "It doesn't work unless
she drinks some of the blood as well. I've never seen anything like it.
	
(Maybe cut the bit with the licking...) 

	"Husband?" Nodoka prompted. 
	Genma nodded, loosening the front of his gi. He kneeled next to Nabiki,
who was struggling to sit up.
	"Lay down, girl," he prompted.
	Nodoka shook her head. "It's better if she can draw the blood herself,"
she stated.
	Genma nodded again, wrapping his arms around Nabiki's slim shoulders, and
helping her upright. He tilted his head to one side, letting Nabiki's head
rest on his shoulder.
	After a few seconds, Nabiki weakly managed to close her mouth on the older
man's neck.
	Several minutes passed in silence as Genma held Nabiki up as she continued
to feed. Finally, she let go Genma's throat and lay back down on the floor.
	Nodoka, her eyes holding a a guarded expression, fixed her son with a firm
expression. 
	"Ryouga has already given of his blood this evening, Ranma. Will you?"
	Ranma's eyes widened in shock. He had been watching the proceedings with
something very akin to disgust, but had not turned away.
	It galled him, though, for his mother to compare him to Ryouga.
	"Yeah..." Ranma capitulated. "Just because she's hurt, though. It's a
martial artist's duty."
	Nodoka exhaled heavily, as Kasumi began to clean Genma's neck with a clean
cloth.
	Not really knowing what to do, Ranma picked Nabiki up by the shoulders
like he had seen his father do. He lay her head on his shoulder, and
nervously began to wait.
	"You don't have to, Ranma" Nabiki whispered. "It's okay if you don't."
	"Just do it and get it over with," Ranma snapped irritatedly. He looked
down to see a weak, fanged, smile on the girl's lips.
	"Thank-you, Ranma. Remember it, 'cause you'll probably never here me say
it again."
	Ranma rolled his eyes as he cocked his head to one side.
	He could feel Nabiki gingerly probing his neck with her teeth. When she
actually bit him, it only stung for a second, like a scratch. The only
indication that he could feel that he was bleeding was a slight wetness
around her lips.
	It was, he had to admit, very pleasant. An aura of peace and calm seemed
to spread out from the girl through him. After a minute or two, he realized
that he was gently caressing Nabiki's back as she drew his blood. For just
a few seconds, Nabiki was the center of his world.
	After what was either an eternity, or just a second, Nabiki pulled away,
trying to sit up under her own power. Quietly, calmly, he laid Nabiki back
down.
	"She's probably allright now," Nodoka informed the group, but I'd like for
her to get a little more, just to be safe. Akane?"
	The girl jumped as Nodoka said her name, pointing to her own nose.
	"It doesn't hurt, daughter," Soun said quietly. 
	"I just..." Akane looked at Ranma, who had turned away from the scene and
was staring out at the darkness through the open shoji. He was rubbing
absently at the growing black mark on his neck.
	Akane tilted her head to one side, and clenched her eyes shut.
	Nodoka suppressed a chuckled, and helped Nabiki over to her sister.
	"Not too much," Kasumi warned, now cleaning Ranma's neck. "Remember how
much smaller she is than the men."
	After several more minutes, Nabiki let go her sister's throat and lowered
herself back to the ground on her side.
	She lay there for several seconds, feeling the blood begin to rush around
her body.
	The smell... It was undeniable. Akane, who was now allowing Kasumi to
towel off her neck as well, had that same pork smell that Ryouga did.
	The only pork Akane was ever around, though, was P-chan.
	Her mind was currently in confused state. It whirled with memories of
Akuji and the pain in her belly, burning desire from all the wonderful
blood she had just drunk, and light lightheadedness from the wound. As her
eyes opened again, to see her concerned family members looking down on her,
a jumble of half-said clues and taunts finally came together in her mind.	
	Her eyes sought out Ryouga.
	"She needs rest," Nodoka stated. "I think our questions can wait until
tomorrow."
	Soun nodded, and started to scoop his daughter up.
	"Nn-uh," Nabiki complained drowsily. "I want Ryouga-kun to tuck me in."
	"What?" Soun demanded, staring at the uncertain youth with undisguised
animosity.
	"He saved my life, Daddy," Nabiki explained. "There are some things that I
need to say."
	Soun grimaced, but gestured to Ryouga. "You heard her, boy."
	Ryouga nodded and nervously lifted the girl off the floor.
	She made a quiet sound of appreciation and snuggled closer to the confused
young man.
	Nodoka and Genma's expression's both widened in surprise, and Soun grit
his teeth. 
	"I trust you will be a gentleman, *alone* with my daughter, in her
*room*," he threatened. 
	Ryouga 'eeped' and nodded desperately. He started to run towards the kitchen.
	"Wrong way," Nabiki corrected. "Up the stairs."
	Ryouga turned and jogged up the stairs, careful not to jostle the girl. At
her instruction, he opened a door, and laid her down on the bed inside.
Gingerly, he pulled the covers up to her chin.
	"Close the door," Nabiki commanded.
	Ryouga ran over and shut the door. He stood right next to it, a terrified
expression still plastered on his face.
	Nabiki giggled, and motioned him closer. "Come here, Ryouga-kun,"
	"W-what do you want to say?" Ryouga asked.
	Nabiki grinned. 
	Ryouga's eyes widened in terror. It wasn't a nice grin. It wasn't even a
sexy grin. It was a very, *very* evil grin. It had fangs in it.
	"I know you've been lying to my sister, P-chan."
	Ryouga froze in shock.	"You... know."
	"Jusenkyou, right? Like Ranma and Uncle Saotome." Nabiki pushed the covers
away from her. "It can't go on," she informed him.
	"B-but... I'm.... I... l..." Ryouga began to twiddle his fingers in
embarrassment.
	"In love with my sister?" Nabiki guessed, keeping her evil grin up the
whole time. "I rather doubt it. It's an infatuation and you know it."
	"It... No!"
	"If you want me to keep your secret, you'll have to stop sleeping in her
bed," Nabiki informed him.
	"But..."
	"I'm not finished. You *owe* me," Nabiki said happily. "And I expect
payment."
	"What-what do you want?!?!"
	Nabiki sat up in bed and grinned wickedly. "You're mine, Ryouga-kun! All
mine..."

* * *

	Ranma sat alone on the balustrade outside the shoji and stared up at the
star-lit sky, one hand across his knees and the other on his neck where
Nabiki had taken his blood.
	"I'm very proud of you, son," his mother's voice came from behind him. "I
know how hard this is being for you."
	"I didn't do it because I like the situation any better," Ranma replied
angrily. "I did it because Nabiki was hurt, and that's it."
	There was an injured silence behind him. 
	"Ranma... I love you, son, and I wish you would talk to me."
	Nodoka's plea was answered with silence.
	"There's another one of those monsters out there, isn't there?" Ranma
finally asked.
	"Yes, there is,"
	"And we're... You. You and Kasumi and Nabiki are gonna have to take it
down to keep it from killin' and rapin' and makin' more of 'em."
	"Yes, we are."
	"And there ain't a damn thing I can do about it, is there?"
_ _ _

* * *
Chris Jones - hamster@arn.net 

The Ranma 1/2 Gallery: http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma