Nullifier part 3

Ranma 1/2 = (C) of Shogakukan

"Nullifier 122"
by Webdragon

Part Three : A Balm in Nerima
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Morning broke the hold of night on the world, and the first  heralds of the
dawn awaken and sing their birdsong, the melodies drifting on the morning
air.  The sun rose high into the pale blue Saturday sky, casting its molten
rays into the air and warming the day.  Breakfast had been served in the
Tendo household and both families were about to eat.  Nodoka sat next to
Genma on one end of the table, while Soun sat at the other end.  Nabiki and
Kasumi sat together while Akane sat by herself, leaving a space for Ranma.
Ranma pounded down the stairs, seated himself next to Akane and he grabbed a
pair of chopsticks. The table is now fully occupied by all seven people.
Ranma-chan was the only one left out and she stood silently behind Ranma.

"Here, Ranko!  You can sit next to me", offered Akane as she indicated a
spot between her and Ranma.  Ranma-chan cast a grateful look at Akane before
squeezing in.  Her petite size was to her advantage now since there wasn't
much room at the table to begin with.

After breakfast, everyone dispersed, to do whatever they would do.  Akane
found Ranma-chan sitting on a rock by the pond, staring into the waters and
watching the carp swim in their environment.  A cool wind stirred the waters
and the floating cherry blossom petals.  Akane moved to stand next to
Ranma-chan, then she nudged her.

"Hey, Ranma," said Akane.

"What?"  Ranma-chan turned to look up at Akane.

"Are you alright now?  I mean, last night...."

Ranma-chan did not reply as she turned away from Akane, now staring out at
the seemingly endless expanse of blue sky, high above Nerima.  At length,
she stood up.

"I'm okay, now.  I think.  But I don't wanna bring it up, not just yet," she
said in a single breath.  She paused and took in a breath.  Akane touched
Ranma-chan's arm.

"If...you feel you need somebody to talk to, Ranma, there's always me.
Okay?" Akane smiled as best she could, trying to feel the way she looked.
Ranma-chan touched the hand on her arm, brushing her fingers lightly on
Akane's.

"Okay", she replied in a small voice.  Then she smiled uncertainly.  "I
will, Akane."

Ranma-chan pulled herself quickly away from Akane, the red already starting
to color her face with embarrassment, and Akane did likewise.  At that
moment, Ranma popped out of his window and landed before the two girls.  He
was just tucking his shirt in.

"Well, I'm off", he said as walked away.

"Where're you going?" called Akane.  Ranma-chan turned away.

 "Duh, Akane.  Where do I go every Saturday?  To Daisuke's, to hang out with
the guys!  Seeya!"  With that, Ranma turned around and began to leave but he
stopped short - as if he had just realized something.  Ranma turned around
and looked at his female side's glum face, her dejected posture, and knew
the reason why.  He cast a guilty look at Akane, who raised her eyebrows in
a "Why're you looking at me for?" way.

"Hope you enjoy yourself, Ranma," said Ranma-chan in a semi-dull voice.
Ranma winced a bit at that.

"Hey, I can't help it the way things are now...!" pleaded Ranma, nervously
wringing his cap, as if it were a thing alive.

Ranma-chan just gestured in the general direction of Daisuke's house,
without looking at Ranma.

"You go on and have fun.  Don't let me stop you."

"Hey, you can come along if you want!  I'm not stopping you at all!" said
Ranma in protest.

"Nitwit.  After what happened yesterday in the classroom?  It'd be a dream
come true for those guys!"

"Then why're you so mad?" asked Ranma in confusion.

"Just go already, Ranma."  Akane grabs Ranma-chan's hand and leads her away.
Ranma stood there for a moment, silent as anything, then he turned and left.

"Well, I'm going to go shopping!" declared Akane brightly.  She began to
walk upstairs to her room, and Ranma-chan followed close behind.

 "Shopping?" she asked Akane as she ascended the stairs one by one,
following behind the short-haired girl.  She looked as good behind as from
the front, thought Ranma-chan absently...

"Yeah, you know?  Clothing, perfume, hair conditioner..."  Akane paused for
a second and considered Ranma-chan for a moment.  "Bras...dresses..."

"Somehow, I don't like the sound of that," muttered Ranma-chan under her
breath.

"I heard that.  Anyway, wanna come along?  I might need someone to carry my
stuff."

"Why not?  Have nothing else better to do anyways."

"Good."  Akane opened her room, paused in the entrance for a second, then
she opened the door a little wider and she said to Ranma-chan, "C....Come
in."

"What?" exclaimed a surprised Ranma-chan, her eyes wide as she looked from
Akane to the door and back again.

"Just come in.  I need your help for a bit."

Ranma-chan peered about in confusion as Akane shut - and locked - the door
behind them.  Then she walked over to the drawer, opened it and started
rifling through its contents.  Ranma-chan sat down on Akane's floor,
cross-legged.

"Akane...what's this all about?"

"Ah hah!  Here they are!  Well, Ranma?  What do you think?"

 Akane was holding out a white T-shirt and a pair of dark green shorts.
Ranma-chan blinked.  Akane smiled.

"Well?" prodded Akane.

"Well what?"  Ranma-chan had her arms folded across her chest, her head bent
quizzically at Akane.

"Are they alright on me?" said Akane as she modeled in them.

"Why're you asking me for?"

"I need a second opinion, that's all."

"Uhh...they look fine on you.  I guess."

"Good."  Akane turned around and stuffed them back into her drawer.

"Hey!  Didn't I just say they looked fine on you?" protested Ranma-chan, who
had just a hint of annoyance on her face.

"That's why I put them back.  Everybody knows a *guy's* opinion about a
girl's clothes means squat!" said Akane as she began to search her drawer
again, but she was shaking with the effort to contain her laughter.

"Oh...I...but...." stammered Ranma-chan, who was very confused now.  What
was Akane up to?

"Come on.  It was just a joke, Ranma.  Jeez, what Sayuri said was true,
then.  Guys are just *so* dense!"

"Oh...yeaaah?" said Ranma-chan, rising up from Akane's bed with pillow in
her hands, a smile beginning to creep on her face as she realized that Akane
was only playing with her.
 Akane stuck her tongue out at Ranma-chan and a pillow fight ensued.
Ranma-chan whacked Akane with the pillow, and Akane retaliated with a nearby
pillow.  The two girls screamed with laughter as they traded swipes and
smacks.  Ranma-chan pinned Akane to the floor and began to whack her
mercilessly with her pillow in her right hand.  Akane had already lost her
weapon and was just trying to pull the Ranma-chan's weapon away from
her...until she tugged wrong and pulled Ranma-chan down on her, so that
their faces weren't more than an inch apart.

Ranma-chan noted that Akane's breasts weren't *quite* as small as she had
thought them to be, nor was Akane quite as flat-chested as she had made her
out to be.  In the place of a growing realization, Ranma-chan felt something
which she had never before felt - a little tingle of something, like an
electric current, down below...which served to create heat from between her
legs...and not only that, she felt some ...stimulation from the tips of her
breasts...her nipples, she realized, from contact with Akane.

Akane felt Ranma-chan's body on top of hers, the red-head's breasts touching
her own.  Her breath came more quickly now as she looked into Ranma-chan's
face, at her delicate features and less pronounced profiles.  So much unlike
a man's, too much to be mistaken for the male Ranma.  Too stunned to do
anything more than lie beneath Ranma-chan - whose legs were entangled in
Akane's - Akane did nothing, said nothing.

The two lay there for a moment or two, staring into each other's eyes,
before Ranma-chan bounced up and flipped away from Akane, whereupon she
landed and put a hand on her chest, to still her pounding heart.  Oh boy,
was she gonna get it this time!  She prepared for the inevitable
mallet...but it never came.  Akane was just sitting there, a hand on her
chest as well, and looking at Ranma-chan.

"S...sorry, Akane.  I...I should have been more alert.  I mean, I shouldn't
have lost balance like that, and..." began Ranma-chan uncertainly but Akane
just waved her off.
 "No big deal.  Forget about it."  She paused for a second.  "So...what do
you think I should wear, then?"

"Why ask me?  You'd only say that my opinion stinks," said Ranma-chan with
mock sullenness.  Akane managed to look hurt without really meaning it.

"Oh, come on.  I was just joking.  I know, you pick!"  She got up, went
behind Ranma-chan and pushed her over to the drawer.  Ranma-chan dipped her
hand hesitantly into Akane's drawer and looked through the clothing.

At length, she selected a pair of jean shorts and a striped T-shirt with the
words "Solo Mon" on the top and the picture of a surfer at the crest of a
big wave.  Akane ushered Ranma-chan out into the hallway, then she changed.
She and Ranma-chan left the house five minutes later, and they rounded a
corner on their way to the mall just down the street.  There were many other
shoppers heading to and from the mall, an indication of its popularity.  The
sides of the streets were packed with  parked cars; the noise from the
vehicles and crowd were almost deafening.  Akane and Ranma-chan pushed their
way through the crowd  and ran into the mall.

"Hey, Akane!  Over here!" came a call by the fountain inside the mall.  It
was Sayuri and Anemi.

"Hey, you guys!" replied Akane, waving at her two friends making their way
towards her and Ranma-chan.  Ranma-chan turned to Akane in astonishment.

"Your friends are here, too!?" she asked.

"What?  Something wrong?" replied Akane.

 "Akane!  You've brought Ranko-chan!" exclaimed Sayuri in excitement.

"Ni...nice to meet you, Sayuri," greeted Ranma-chan.

"When did you transfer here, Ranko?" Anemi asked.

 Ranma-chan hesitated for a second, glancing at Akane as she did.

"About a week ago...I guess," she replied after a while.  Akane and Sayuri
were chatting it up, leaving Anemi to converse with Ranma-chan.

"Do you like it here, Ranko?"

"Yeah.  I mean, I've visited Nerima...once in a while and I've come to like
this place."

"You're living with Akane, right?  Or are you living with your parents?"

Ranma-chan was at a loss for words.  She *was* living with her parents.
Heck, she was living with herself!  But how could she tell Anemi that?

"Let's go, you guys!  First stop, lingerie!" called Akane as she followed
Sayuri to a nearby store.

"L..lingerie!?"  Ranma-chan felt her cheeks turning red at the thought.

Before they could enter the store a group of boys bumped into the girls.  It
was Hiroshi and two guys whom Ranma-chan did not recognize - they were
probably Hiroshi's other friends, thought Ranma-chan.  But where was Ranma?
She looked around but she couldn't see him.  Maybe he was only hanging out
with Daisuke.  Akane and Sayuri exchanged pleasantries with the guys while
Ranma-chan watched on (she noted that Sayuri said very little to Hiroshi,
but she looked as if she wanted to)...until one of Hiroshi's buddies noticed
her.  He whispered to his friends surreptiously - Ranma-chan pretended not
to notice - and then he hesitantly made his way over to her.  He faltered a
bit, but he seemed to draw upon some reserve of courage and he forged on
until he was standing three feet away from her.
 "Hi...uh....you must be the new student...that Hiroshi was telling me
about.  I'm Kyusaku.  Wh-what's your name?" he asked without looking into
Ranma-chan's face.  He had short hair and his appearance was pleasing, if
not handsome.  Ranma-chan shook her head.  Why should she care if he was
good looking or not?  She mentally slapped herself and took a deep breath
before looking up at the guy.

"Ranko Tendo.  Say, are you Hiroshi's friend?" she asked, careful not to
look into his eyes.  Her left hand crept up and began smoothing out her hair
and playing with the tip of her pigtail.  She was aware that her heart was
beating faster for some reason unknown to her, and she made an effort to
calm herself.  Still, a bit of red - so slight as to be almost pink -
colored her cheeks.

"Yep.  We're just out walking around, hanging out, having fun...you know,
the whole bit."  He paused and Ranma-chan did not pick the thread of
conversation up.

There was silence for a few moments as boy and girl studied each other while
trying to seem as if they weren't.  Ranma-chan's eyes travelled from
Kyusaku's feet, to his waist - she noted that it was quite trim - up to his
chest...and she hesitated for a moment before she glanced up into his eyes.
He too was looking at her and he blushed when he noticed Ranma-chan watching
him.  In the background, Ranma-chan was aware of the three girls and two
guys watching her and Kyusaku, and she reddened.  She should just get this
over with.  <Think of something, anything...>, she thought desperately.

"Did you...see a guy with a pigtail - just like mine...", Ranma-chan turned
to show Kyusaku her pigtail, "but he has black hair and he's wearing Chinese
clothes?"

"Nope.  The only one I have seen wearing Chinese clothes today...is you."
Kyusaku coughed and he seemed to lose his initial front of confidence, "You
know...uh...you look great in Chinese clothes."

 A groan came from the Hiroshi and his friend, who were both watching the
exchange between Kyusaku and Ranma-chan.  The girls made no outward comment.
Ranma-chan felt something like revulsion ..and pride, perverse no doubt, at
Kyusaku's compliment.  She didn't know whether to feel insulted or not, and
that fuelled the next twenty seconds or so of an indecisive wrangling of her
pigtail.  Finally, Ranma-chan flicked her pigtail behind her back.

"T...thanks," she replied at last.  She smoothed out a few wrinkles on her
shirt front - getting gape-mouthed stares from the guys - then she raised
her eyes until they met Kyusaku's own for a moment.  "Well...I..uh...gotta
go now.  Seeya."  With that, she went around Kyusaku, but she miscalculated
and she accidently bumped into his side - with her chest.  Her breasts
rubbed against him - she noted that his body seemed trim enough - then they
dislodged from their `obstacle' and Ranma-chan whirled around, an unnamed
fear settling in her stomach.

"Uh...sorry `bout that.  Wasn't looking where I was going," apologized
Ranma-chan without looking up at Kyusaku.  Her face was flushed crimson with
shame as she met up with the girls.

Sayuri bid goodbye to Hiroshi - him alone - and the female troupe proceeded
uninterrupted to the lingerie store.  Akane dropped back a ways and walked
beside Ranma-chan, who was trying her best to look unconcerned and
unaffected by what had just happened.

"Really, Ranma.  You knew he was trying to hit on you, and I was
half-expecting you to clock him one on the face," she whispered.

"Yeah, but Hiroshi was watching.  Otherwise, I woulda whacked him."  She
didn't sound very convincing and Akane picked up on that.

"Somehow, I don't think you would have."

"Yeah?  Just tr..try me."  Ranma-chan held up a clenched fist.  Akane
snorted.
 "Whatever.  In any case, don't let it affect you.  I mean, they only see a
girl...and they don't know that you're a guy underneath all that and..."
Akane trailed off when she saw Ranma-chan feeling the spot where her chest
had touched Kyusaku's body.  "Uh...Ranma.  What are you doing?"

"Hmmm.....oh!  I...I was just trying to get the feeling off.  I..I can still
feel my...you know...", she indicated her breasts, "...and, like I said, I
can still feel it touching him."  There was another reason, but she took
care not to tell Akane.  When she had brushed against Kyusaku like that, she
had felt a tingle of pleasure that seemed to be a part of her, yet not, at
the same time.  And she had determined that the source of her pleasure had
been her nipples.  Even now, they were starting to harden and stand out, so
Ranma-chan loosened her shirt a little to allow some slack for the changes
in her body.

"Sure.  Don't do it in public...girls don't do stuff like that...I
mean...you're a girl now, and you don't want people looking funny at you, do
you?"  With that, Akane moved further up until she was on par with Anemi.
Sayuri dropped back a bit, to talk with Ranma-chan.

"So...Ranko...how do you like the guys around here?" she asked.  Ranma-chan
thought she could detect another motive for Sayuri's question totally
unrelated to that of idle chit-chat, but she couldn't decipher it.

"They're...uh...good looking, yeah.  Good looking.  Especially that Ranma,
but he wasn't here.  Too bad," she said, feeling some pride when Sayuri
nodded in agreement.

"What did you think of that Kyusaku guy?" she asked Ranma-chan, who was
starting to get into the mood of things now.  If there was one thing she
knew how to do well, that was how to act like a girl - and she had plenty of
experience doing so.

 "He's...cute.....but I think Hiroshi, the guy with the light brown hair in
our class, is better looking, by far," said Ranma-chan, watching Sayuri's
reaction carefully.  She was not disappointed.  Sayuri seemed to be thinking
and she said nothing to Ranma-chan for a while.  A sneaking suspicion
entered her head and she considered it for a moment.  Could it be that
Sayuri liked Hiroshi?  The way she looked at him, but never seemed to talk
with him...how was it she never noticed it before the Nullifier change?

"Then you like Hiroshi, right Ranko?" asked Sayuri in a carefully neutral
tone.

"I never said that.  I just think he's...uh...cuter, that's all."
Ranma-chan gritted her teeth at her words mainly because she had never
spoken like that before.  <This is just to keep up appearances>, she told
herself deep down, <Whatever I say will mean nothing when I get a hold of a
cure!>

"I see.  So you're saying you'd rather go out with Kyusaku than Hiroshi?"

"I never said that either.  I mean...I don't really know who I'd rather go
out with....but Ranma takes the cake anytime.  Too bad Akane watches him
like a hawk."

"Yeah, that she does," replied Sayuri, seeming mollified now.

The four girls went into the first feminine clothing store they saw.  Akane
strolled about the aisles for quite a while, and she looked at various
negligee, lingerie and anything that sounded French.  She stopped to examine
a particularly frilly-looking bra when there was a little commotion in the
change booth and Sayuri popped out of the change room, and waved to Akane
and Anemi.

"Oh, Akane!  Anemi!  Come look!" she called while trying to pull someone out
of the change room.

 "No!  Don't look!" came Ranma-chan's voice from inside.  Sayuri tugged
harder but Ranma-chan resisted.

"Where, where?!" cried Anemi.

Ranma-chan was finally pushed out of the dressing room by Sayuri and Akane's
jaw dropped open.  Ranma-chan was topless except for a frilly bra that
barely covered her bosom.  She tried desperately to get back in the dressing
room but Sayuri blocked the way.  Anemi and Akane felt twinges of jealousy
looking at Ranma-chan's generously endowed attributes, but they pushed those
feelings away.

"Why didn't you have a bra underneath, Ranko?" asked Sayuri from behind
Ranma-chan.

"I...uh...must have forgot mine at home.  Oops."  Ranma-chan blushed and
crossed her hands over her chest.

"That looks good on you, you know?" commented Akane, who received a sharp
glare from Ranma-chan in reply.

"No, really, Ranko!  It does...uh..suit you.  The style, I mean.  Now, the
size is another matter...." added Sayuri.

Ranma-chan shrank back into the change room, and she looked at herself in
the mirror.  Then she slowly removed her hands from her chest, sliding them
down her smooth stomach until they lay by her sides.  Sayuri was right.  The
bra was about a size too small and she could practically see her breasts but
for the nipples.

"Ha..hand me the next size up, willya?" called Ranma-chan from the change
room.  Sayuri handed her the correct size and Ranma-chan shut the curtain on
the three girls without.

 She fumbled a bit with the strap on her back, then the bra just popped off
and she was left completely topless.  She took a moment to admire her body
in the mirror, noting with wonder how well-formed her breasts were, how
smooth yet firm her skin was - before she took the larger size bra and
placed each cup over her breasts.

They felt restrictive at first, but she could see the benefits almost
immediately.  For one, her nipples wouldn't be visible under her shirt.  And
they would keep her breasts from bouncing about too much when she walked or
ran.  And, because they were padded, they made her seem bigger than she
really was.  Not that it really mattered to her of course, she decided
quickly, she certainly wasn't out to get any guys!  But she couldn't
suppress an almost-perverse thought, one that whispered to her that she
could get any guy she wanted even without looking bigger than she was....

"Ranko!  Are you nearly finished in there?"

"Y..yeah!  Coming!" she called as she quickly unhooked the bra, pulled her
shirt on and left the change room.

With some money lent by Sayuri, Ranma-chan bought that bra and then the four
of them headed from store to store.  Purchases mounted, as if some demon had
gotten on all of the girls' backs, exhorting them to buy, buy and buy, and
soon Ranma-chan was carrying an armload of Akane's stuff.  Even she wasn't
exempt from the influence of the shopping bug - as a two bags of clothing
attested to in her left hand, containing her bra, three pairs of panties, a
pair of shorts and - of all things - a mini-skirt.  The last item had been
bought under pressure from the other girls, no doubt to see how well she
looked in that mini-skirt before the other girls would consider buying the
same thing.

Tired from an hour of shopping, not to mention hungry, the girls head to the
food court and set their purchases down by a table.  Sayuri and Anemi head
off to buy their food.

"Akane, I'm gonna go and order something to eat now, okay?" said Ranma-chan
to Akane.

"Sure, Ranko."

"Be right back!"

Ranma-chan wandered from store to store, looking for a special   food item
that would catch her fancy.  Her stomach growled angrily at her, berating
her for taking so long to decide what to eat.  Surprised at this, Ranma-chan
stopped for a second.  She had been starting to feel more and more hungry
the last two nights, as if her body had been burning the calories like crazy
every time she went to sleep.  And she felt a little bit more changed each
morning she woke to.  <Strange, I've never eaten this much, even when I had
been a girl half the time>, she thought.  Her stomach snarled and she
clenched her stomach muscles tightly, to stop the sound.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around.  Ukyo stood there,
dressed in a miniskirt, white sweater and tights , with a little white
ribbon in her long, brown hair.  She looked stunningly cute, an improvement
over her usual appearance in her normal attire.  Ranma-chan felt a twinge
of....jealousy?  Impossible!  Why would she feel jealous of Ucchan?  She
tried to dismiss it as a figment of her imagination, but it wouldn't go away
no matter how much she tried.  She found herself looking at Ukyo's  breasts
and comparing them with her own.  Unconsciously, she also started checking
her figure against Ukyo's.

"Ranma, what are you looking at?" asked Ukyo quizzically.

"Huh?  Oh!  Nothing!  Nothing!"  She forced her eyes upwards.

"O-okay.  What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm here with Akane, 'cuz she wanted me to carry some stuff for her while
she shopped.  And now I'm looking for something good to eat."  As if to make
the point, her stomach growled.

"To....eat?  Hey, why not drop over my restaurant at noon?  I'll  treat you
to a free okonomiyaki or two, to make up for the one you missed last night."
Ukyo looked hopeful.

"Well...," began Ranma-chan but she trailed off when she remembered how much
yen she had - just enough to buy that tank-top Sayuri was talking about.  "I
don't want to sound rude, but you sure you can manage to prepare my
okonomiyaki?  I mean, Saturday is such a busy day for you."

"Sure I can.  You just watch, Ranchan."  Ukyo smiled.

"Well...alright.  So what brings you here?"  Ranma-chan began walking with
Ukyo out of the food court.

"Well, it's like half past eleven right now and I open shop at noon.  I'm
just here to...I guess, shop...and have fun.  My work schedule's so busy
that I try to relax whenever I can, you know."

"Yeah, I understand."

The two friends did not say anything more until they stood at the entrance
to the food court.

"Well, I'll be seeing you later then, Ranchan!"  With that, Ukyo smiled and
waved goodbye to Ranma-chan, who waved back.  Then she headed back to the
table.  Akane looked up from tapping the table impatiently with her fingers.
Sayuri and Anemi were still out ordering their food.

"What took you so long, Ranma?  And where's your food?" she asked with some
annoyance.

"I was talking to Ukyo, Akane, and she offered to give me some free food
later on.  If I dropped by her restaurant."

"Ukyo?  What did you and her talk about?"  Akane leaned forward in interest.

"Like I said, she wanted me to drop by and have some food on her.  I said
yes.  Besides, I don't have alot of money left from what you and Sayuri lent
me."  She did not disclose to Akane exactly what she was saving the money
for.

"Okay.  If you say so.  I'm gonna go and get some food, so you  stay and
watch the shopping bags, alright?"

"Okay."

Within minutes, after Akane had wandered off in search of food, Sayuri and
Anemi return to the table with their trays of food.  Sayuri had a plate of
fried rice and Anemi had two hamburgers and some fries.

"Ranko!  Finished already?" exclaimed Anemi in surprise.

"I'm gonna go to a restaurant later on," replied Ranma-chan.

"Which one?"

"Ucchan's Okonomiyaki."

"You're going to Ukyo's restaurant?  She can cook, that's for
sure."

Ranma-chan's stomach growled a bit at that and she looked up with an
embarrassed smile at the two girls.

"I'm getting hungry just thinking about it..." she offered by way of an
explanation.

 "If you're hungry, just take a fry or two," offered Anemi.  Ranma-chan
smiled gratefully and took Anemi up on her offer.

"Hey, you guys!  You don't mind if I bring a friend to sit with
us, do you?"  It was Akane, from behind Ranma-chan.

"Who?" asked Sayuri, peering behind Ranma-chan.

"It's that Ryoga guy," whispered Anemi back.

"Ryoga?!"  Ranma-chan whipped her head about, to see Ryoga being lead to the
table by Akane.

"Ranm...I mean, Ranko!?" blurted Ryoga in surprise.  Akane sat Ryoga down
and began to talk to him in a friendly manner, drawing his attention back to
Akane.

"Oooh, they *do* know each other!" whispered Sayuri to Anemi in obvious
delight.

"Wonder how far they have gone?" whispered Anemi back.

"Not very far at all," said Ranma-chan.

"How do you know?"  That was Sayuri.

"Well, have you ever seen Ryoga and Akane out on a date before?"

"We weren't talking about him and Akane, Ranko.  We were talking about you."

"What?!"  Ranma-chan flushed scarlet, the waves of red quickly expanding
from her cheeks to include nearly her entire face and her neck.

 "So, how far have *you* gone?" said Sayuri slyly as she poked Ranma-chan's
arm with a finger.

"N-Not far!!  Cut it out, you guys!" protested Ranma-chan, embarrassed as
anything.

"Then you'll just have to try harder, Ranko," advised Sayuri, "You see, some
guys are just naturally harder to get through to...and..."

"Stop!  Time out!  It's not like that at all!" cried Ranma-chan, getting
strange looks from diners in their immediate vicinity.  Her chest heaving a
bit from her embarrassment, she settled back in her seat again.

"Then why is he blushing like that?  For that matter, why are *you*
blushing?" prodded Sayuri.

"I am?" Ranma-chan felt her face.

"Yeah.  Anyways, why don't you go over and sit next to him?  Real close,
okay?"  Sayuri smiled mischeviously, which set Anemi to giggling and
embarrassed Ranma-chan even further.

"It's obvious that he likes you....so you have the advantage.  We  girls
always do."

Ranma-chan glanced over at Ryoga, who seemed to be on the verge of saying
something profound to Akane.  She made that assumption because Ryoga's face
was red, he wasn't even looking at Akane, and his hands fiddling with each
other.  Or perhaps it was intuition that told her that Ryoga was about to
tell Akane how he really felt about her.  In any case, even though it
wouldn't *directly* affect her if Ryoga declared his love for Akane,
Ranma-chan still felt an obligation to disrupt any of Ryoga's attempts - for
the male Ranma, if not for herself.

 Making sure that Ryoga was looking skyward, unnoticing of anybody or
anything but the ceiling and his thoughts, Ranma-chan silently relocated
until she was sitting right next to him.  She glanced at Akane, whose pupils
were starting to dilate into dangerously small dots and eyebrows beginning
to `v' up, and she looked over at Sayuri and Anemi - both of whom were
watching intently - before she made her mind up and laid a hand on Ryoga's.

"Oh....*Ryoga*....." cooed Ranma-chan in a voice that resembled Akane's, but
with as much sexiness and promise she could project into it.  The idea was
to get Ryoga to do something stupid, then reveal herself to Ryoga and get
him all angry.  Then he would lose sight of his goal of declaring his love
for Akane as he would be fighting with Ranma-chan...

Akane began to stand up but Sayuri and Anemi pulled her down, and whispered
to her.  Then the unexpected happened.  Ryoga's arm came down on her
shoulders and pulled her close to him.  She practically collided into him
face first with a whump that took some of her breath away and left both her
hands pressed up against his body.  At first, at the unfamiliar contact,
Ranma-chan tried to pull away but her efforts were weak and uncertain.  She
had begun to ask herself the question of whether she really wanted to pull
away from Ryoga, because she was feeling things she had never felt before.

 And this time it was not just sexual excitement, like the previous contact
with Akane or Kyusaku...she too felt comforted, protected by her `embrace'
with Ryoga.  His arm felt like a ton of bricks but while it was heavy, it
was also warm and practically covered much of her upper back.  And, his
smell was nice too - she didn't know how to describe it.  It was
just...good.  He smelt good.  His shirt, which was right up to her nose, had
that same smell to it that made her feel relaxed, and good at the same time.
And his body...her hand, hidden from view by her body, slid off his hand and
touched the hard muscle of his leg, and experimentally made its way up his
side, touching his abs briefly, and....she jerked it back with a muttered
curse.  WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE DOING!?!?

"Ran..ko.  What are you doing?" asked Akane, one eyebrow twitching
dangerously, her eyes closed as if to keep her gorgon-like gaze from turning
Ranma-chan to stone with the anger she felt boiling within herself.  Why
couldn't she leave poor Ryoga alone?!

"R...Ranko?" murmured Ryoga, coming out of his delirious daze now.

"Yoo hoo....!" cooed Ranma-chan.

"Yoo...hoo?"  Ryoga looked down at Ranma-chan - the female form cuddled
right next to him and smiling cutely, "YOU!!  Why I ought to....oof!"

Ranma-chan removed her elbow from Ryoga's midsection and said, "You ought to
what?"

"I see.  This isn't their first time fighting," commented Sayuri to Anemi.

"And they made such a beautiful couple together, too," said Anemi back to
Sayuri.

"But why did Ryoga get angry?"

"No idea."

Both girls watched Akane and Ryoga glare at Ranma-chan, who managed to
ignore both of them while stealing a fry or two from Akane's tray.  At
length, Akane sighed and turned to Ryoga.

"Thanks for stopping a moment, Ryoga.  Lucky I managed to get a hold of you,
otherwise you'd have walked right by me," said Akane with a smile.
 "Y-yeah.  I thought this place looked familiar, but then again I have seen
many places like this one.  If I had know earlier, I would have stopped by
to...to visit you."

<Liar>, thought Ranma-chan, remembering that she had only been holding
P-chan yesterday.  Akane and Ryoga exchange some more goodbyes, and good
wishes, then Ryoga shoulders his pack - rising powerfully to his feet even
with his heavy umbrella and laden backpack - and he began to wander off in
the general direction of the mall's exit.

"Seeya, Ryoga!" called Ranma-chan after him.  Ryoga didn't even look back.

"Ranko?  Come with me here a sec, okay?" Akane got up and started to move
off.

"Where to, Akane?"

"Just come with me."

"O-okay," said Ranma-chan while scratching her head, perplexed.

The two girls head to the washroom.  Akane looked about inside  the washroom
and made sure that they were alone.  Then, after   Ranma-chan had entered
the washroom, Akane locked the door, rushed Ranma-chan and slammed her
against the wall, pinning her by the shirt.
"WHAT were you doing to poor Ryoga?!?" snarled Akane.

"Hey, hey!  Take it easy, Akane!!" cried Ranma-chan, holding her hands up in
defense.

"Take it easy?!  You torment my friend ceaselessly and you tell me to take
it easy??!  I've had it up to here," Akane puts a hand above her head, "with
your vendetta against Ryoga!  Why can't you just make up to him?"

  	"Make up to him?  But..."

"No more excuses, RanKO!!" The extra emphasis on the `ko' made Ranma-chan
flinch a bit, "I bet you enjoyed staying so close to him, eh?"

She knows!

"I couldn't help it, Akane!  Really, I couldn't!" protested Ranma-chan.

"Couldn't help what?!"

"I couldn't pull away from him!  He...."

"Oh, sure.  And next you're going to tell me that you actually did like him
hugging you!"  Akane's voice was full of sarcasm.

"Yes."

A few seconds crept by in silence.

"Come again?" asked Akane.

"I said yes.  I didn't feel sick or anything, if that's what you're gonna
ask..."

Akane dropped Ranma-chan, who slumped against the wall but kept looking at
Akane, who didn't look at Ranma-chan at all.  There was a tentative rap-rap
on the door right at that moment, and Akane
opened it up.  Two girls, the same age as Akane, stood there.

"Are you two finished yet?" asked the one with the long hair.  Her companion
had a hat on.

 "Eeeep.  How long were...were you two out here?" said Akane in a small
voice.

"Ever since we heard a loud thump against the wall," said the one with the
hat.

"Yeah, sounded like somebody hitting the wall, or something.  You know, you
should take her advice and go make up to your boyfriend.  But...why were you
mad because she," the girl pointed at Ranma-chan, "hugged your friend?  I
thought he was her boyfriend...?"

"None of your business.  Come on, Ranko.  Let's go back to the others before
we attract more attention."  Akane leads Ranma-chan back to the table.
Akane finished her food in big helpings, punctuated by a glance at
Ranma-chan now and then, who was carefully examining her hands.  Ranma-chan
shrank under Akane's scrutiny and she fidgeted, always doing something,
anything, to avoid looking at Akane.  Gradually, the tension eased between
the two as Akane gets caught up in chatting with her friends.  Finally their
food was finished and the four girls headed off for more shopping.

Ranma-chan selected two pairs of jean shorts and a T-shirt, with the words
"Wet 'n Wild" printed on its front.  Sayuri and Anemi headed off to a
different section of the store, while Akane pulled Ranma-chan into the
swimsuit section.  Ranma-chan looked over the swimsuit section's selections,
and picked out a one piece swimsuit colored a dark blue with the words "Body
Glove" emblazoned on the bust.  It was cut so that the entire back was
exposed except for a tiny strip of material running from one side of her
breast, around her back, and to the other breast.  It had a zipper running
from the navel to the middle of the bust.  Ranma-chan went into the dressing
room and comes out in a little while, wearing the swimsuit.  She struck a
pose, both hands with fingers entwining above her head, bending backwards
slightly and tilting her head.  She peeked over at Akane.

 "H..how's it look, Akane?" she asked in a small, uncertain voice.
"Well....", said Akane as she circled Ranma-chan once, noting the amount of
skin exposed with a critical eye, "don't you think it's a little too
*open*?"

"I've worn less to the beach before, Akane.  I just wanted to know if
it's....you know, good looking."

"Why?  Planning on catching some guys with it?" asked Akane teasingly.

"NO!  It's just that if I have to, you know, wear a swimsuit, I might as
well look good wearing it, you know?  It's kinda hard to explain."
Ranma-chan dropped her pose and walked back into the change room.  She drew
the curtain shut and turned the light on inside.  "Are you gonna try
something on, Akane?" she asked as she stripped.

"No, I already have eight swimsuits at home."

With a gentle tug the swimsuit came off her bust and she rolled it down her
body, bending over in the process and feeling the unfamiliar, but strangely
pleasurable sensation of her breasts hanging down and swaying slightly with
her efforts.  It came off and she straightened up.  She reached for her
boxers but she hesitated a bit.  Now would be a good time to try on those
panties for real...so Ranma-chan walked up to the curtain and pulled it back
just enough so that only her face was visible.

"Hey, Akane..." she called to Akane, who had wandered off a little ways with
both their bags.  Akane turned around.

"Yes?"

"Can you...er...hand me a pair of....you...you know."

"Know what?"
 "P...panties", whispered Ranma-chan loud enough for Akane to hear, but not
for anybody else.

"What was that, Ranma?  Say again?" said Akane, cocking a ear towards
Ranma-chan, who blushed as red as the curtain that covered her naked body
from view.

"C-can you pass me my bag of s-stuff, Akane?" she asked in as steady a voice
as she could manage.

"Sure, but pass me the swimsuit or the saleslady might think that you're
stealing it, or something."

Ranma-chan nodded, picked up the swimsuit and handed it out to Akane.
Unfortunately, she was leaning too hard on the curtain and three of the
supporting rings holding the curtain up on the metal rod broke.  Ranma-chan
stumbled forward and managed to catch herself by grabbing onto the curtain
and hanging on for dear life.

"Ra..Ranko!  Get back in there!!" cried a horrified Akane as she jumped in
front of Ranma-chan and any other shoppers that might be about, for
Ranma-chan was half out of the changeroom - totally naked.

"S...sorry!  The curtain broke, and..."

"Will you get back behind the curtain already?!  What if someone came along
right at this moment?!"

"Right, right."  Ranma-chan ducked behind the curtain again and
quickly put on a pair of panties, and her new bra.  Then she pulled her
shirt and pants back on, put on her shoes and stuffed her boxers into her
shopping bag.  Then she tapped Akane on the shoulder and both girls went off
to the cashier's, to pay for Ranma-chan's purchase.

 Smiling to herself in satisfaction, Ranma-chan placed her new swimsuit
alongside her mini-skirt (now why did she even buy that mini-skirt in the
first place?) and all four girls left the store.  Now that they had
exhausted their supply of cash, they merely wandered from store to store,
window shopping.  Anemi plastered herself against the glass of a women's
store, her eyes fixed on a white and sky-blue cheongsam in the store
display, until Sayuri peeled her off and tugged her along their trek around
the mall.

Finally their enthusiasm ran out and their tired legs told them that it was
time to go home, to mull over the day's purchases, to contemplate the
meaning of spent money.  Sayuri and Anemi promised to call Akane and have a
"three-phone" conversation, with Sayuri's new telephone service that her
dad - a businessman - had gotten, which allowed threeway conversations,
simultaneously.

Ranma-chan and Akane stepped out of the mall, and they immediately wilted
under the sweltering heat and smell of burning car oil, and smoke.  They had
no idea that it was so hot outside the mall!  Of course, the mall was
air-conditioned and they had spent the better part of four hours inside of
it.  The sun still rode high in the sky and a giant, digital clock above a
bank told the two of them that it was only two p.m.

"Akane, if you want to you can go on home.  I'm going to Ucchan's for some
food," said Ranma-chan as she wiped her forehead with her hand.  <Man, it's
hot!>

"I'm coming along too."

"You're still hungry?  I thought you had eaten enough to last you a week
back in the food court," joked Ranma-chan.

"I'm not a pig like you, Ranma.  But her okonomiyaki *are* delicious, I'll
admit that."

 "And what won't you admit?  That you don't like Ukyo?" asked Ranma-chan
defensively.  Akane had no right to attack Ukyo like that...!

Akane cast Ranma-chan a slightly hurt look.  "It's *Shampoo* I don't
like...Ukyo is a much nicer person than that bimbo."

"Oh.  So you like Ukyo, then?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you implied it."

"I still didn't say that I liked Ukyo.  After all, she's always acting like
she owns you, and she doesn't seem to realize that I...I mean...forget it."
Akane shut her mouth, hoping Ranma-chan hadn't caught too much.  What made
her slip up and tell Ranma-chan things she would not even *dare* mention to
Ranma!?

"As long as you and Ucchan get along fine, I'll be happy..." said
Ranma-chan, trailing off a little bit at the end of her sentence.

"Oh, of course!  We get along just fine, me and Ukyo...it's just that when
she tries to get Ra...I mean...never mind."  There she went again!  Talking
to Ranma-chan as if she were not Ranma, but Ranko!  She really must watch
herself there.

"Okay."  Ranma-chan smiled at Akane, happy that she had managed to find this
one common ground upon which the two of them could agree upon.  Ukyo was her
friend, and perhaps Akane's, and Ranma-chan was glad.

Pushing aside the blue drapes of the Ucchan, the two girls embraced the
succulent smell of sizzling okonomiyaki, and their mouths began to water -
especially Ranma-chan's, since she hadn't eaten at all.
 The place was packed with people, but two seats remained conspicuously
empty by the counter - almost as if Ukyo had been anticipating Ranma-chan
and Akane's arrival at her restaurant.  Speaking of which, Ukyo looked up
from frying a large batch of okonomiyaki.

Her hair, which was undone the last time Ranma-chan saw it, was now pulled
back into a ponytail and fastened with a white headband.  She wore her usual
chef's shirt, and her black tights, and she sported a bandolier filled with
her throwing spatulas.  Her fighting spatula was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Ranchan!  Akane!  I've been waiting for the two of you!" called Ukyo
as she fried the food and sprinkled ingredients all over the okonomiyaki.

"Sorry to take so long, but all four of us wanted to window shop some more,"
replied Ranma-chan.

"That's alright, Ranchan.  Pull up a seat and I'll just be a second."  Ukyo
glanced over at Akane, and broke into a smile.  "You too, Akane."

"Thanks, Ukyo."  Akane sat beside Ranma-chan, who leaned over with a grin on
her face.

"Now, what was it that you're saying about liking Ukyo, Akane?" she prodded
slyly in a whisper.

"Come on, Ranma.  One okonomiyaki is not going to solve everything...!"
whispered Akane back.

"How about two?  Or three?"

"You know that's not the point."  Akane turned away from Ranma-chan and
adjusted herself on her seat.  "Food is not going to buy my friendship,
Ranma.  You should know that by now."

"So, Ukyo treating you to some free okonomiyaki doesn't mean a lot to you?"
 "I don't even know if it's going to be free.  Even if it was free...yes, it
does mean something, but...she can't expect to solve all of her problems
with a little food.  I mean, between us and Ukyo, not...you know...between
you and Ukyo."

Ranma-chan could have sworn Ukyo flinched a bit at that, but she wasn't sure
whether it had happened or not - or, if it did, exactly why.  Akane picked
up a chopstick and began fiddling with it.  Ukyo finished that batch of food
and came over to the two girls, her spatula and batter bowl at the ready.

"Okay!  Now, I'll cook that deluxe okonomiyaki for you, Ranchan.  Akane,
which one was it you wanted...?" asked Ukyo with a smile.

"Oh...I...just an okonomiyaki.  The cheapest one on the menu, I guess."
Akane began to search the menu for the cheapest.  Figures.  Ukyo wasn't
going to give her free food after all, not this time.

"Nonsense, Akane.  Since this is free, you might as well get something
worthwhile eating.  I know, I'll give you the Seafood Delight special."

"Free?  I...thanks, Ukyo.  Sure."

"Nothing to it."  Ukyo began to pour the batter for the two okonomiyaki.
"So, how was your shopping, Akane?" she asked.

"It was great!  Me, Sayuri, Anemi and Ranma here went shopping for four
hours."

"What did you get?"  Ukyo swiped a little more cooking oil on the grill.

"Just a dress, and a pair of jeans, and some other stuff.  Ranma here
got..."

 "Hey!  Keep it down, willya?" shushed Ranma-chan.  Ukyo stopped frying and
leaned over the counter at Ranma-chan.

"What *did* you buy?" asked Ukyo with a small smile on her face.  Ranma-chan
blushed in embarrassment and clamped her legs tight on the shopping bag
beneath the counter, on the floor.

"J...just a few things.  Nothing important," she stammered in reply.

"Did you have fun, too?  I mean, going around and looking at stuff?"  Ukyo
resumed cooking.

"Depends," said Ranma-chan evasively, her face reddening even more.  She did
have fun, but it would be the last thing for her to admit right here, right
before Akane and Ukyo.

"On what?"

"Nothing.  It wasn't fun carrying those shopping bags for Akane.  I thought
she had bought an elephant, or something.  My arms were hurting when we
walked out of the mall!"  To emphasize that, Ranma-chan rolled her left
sleeve back and felt her arm with her right hand.

"I wouldn't say the same thing if I were you, Ranma.  Remember that
Bodyglove swimsuit, and your...," Akane's voice dropped to a whisper,
"panties and your bra?"

"Keep it down, stupid!" whispered Ranma-chan fiercely.

"Then don't go saying that I bought so much stuff when I really didn't,"
replied Akane evenly, "It's not like I'm rich or anything.  Besides, Sayuri
bought more than I did."

 "Well...I see that the two of you bought something, at least.  Sure wish I
had the time to walk from store to store, the way you two did."  Ukyo
sounded a bit wistful.

"Why?  Just take a day off and go."  Ranma-chan traced circles in the
hardwood counter with her finger.

"With whom?  It's no fun going by yourself, and if it's not going to be fun,
then I'd rather be back here earning my living."

"Just go with Akane, or some of your other friends at school.  You hang out
with Sayuri, don't you?"

Ukyo shook her head.  Ranma-chan, surprised, turned to Akane.

"Akane...Sayuri doesn't hang out with Ucchan?" asked Ranma-chan.

"No.  They just...you know, know each other.  That's all."

"Then who do you hang out with, Ucchan?" asked Ranma-chan in curiosity.

Ukyo was quiet for a few seconds, then she shook her head and quickly
flipped two okonomiyaki onto two plates and handed the first one to
Ranma-chan, then the Seafood Delight to Akane.

"Here, you two.  Enjoy.  Excuse me, but I've got to take care of some
customers up front."  Ukyo whirled, to face the customers.  The paying ones,
that was.  Ranma-chan turned to Akane.

"Akane...I know you don't hang around with her, but do you know who does?"
Ranma-chan took a big bite out of her okonomiyaki.

"The thing is...Ranma...nobody.  She only sees me when she comes over to see
you.  Other than that, I don't think she has any...I mean...I don't know."
Akane stared down at her okonomiyaki guiltily,
 her appetite suddenly diminished.  Ranma-chan, on the other hand, was
shamelessly wolfing down her XL okonomiyaki - at least, it seemed that way
to Akane.  Akane poked Ranma-chan on the shoulder and the red-haired girl
turned to her, still munching on a mouthful.

"What?" she managed after a few moments of chewing.

"Do you think Ukyo's mad at me?" whispered Akane.


Ranma-chan glanced at Ukyo.  She seemed fine enough, and looked at
everyone - including Akane - enough times to convince Ranma-chan that she
was not angry at all.  <Heck, she's even smiling!>

"Naw.  I don't think so.  Come on, eat up."

"Okay.  If you say so...."

"Stop being a worry-wart and eat, already.  Ukyo's not like that, to get mad
over something that is not really your fault!"

Ukyo was aware that Ranma-chan and Akane were talking about her, and Ukyo
cast her thoughts back to what Akane had said.  <She's right.  Giving free
food is not going to solve my problems>, thought Ukyo.  To think she had
assumed that female Ranma would suddenly be reunited with male Ranma, and
that Akane would recognize that this was Ukyo's way of trying to be friends
with her - all with the wave of a spatula - coupled with free food.  Ukyo
sighed inwardly.  The demands of her business had eaten into her social
life, and now she could only count the two Ranmas, and perhaps Akane, as her
friends in Nerima.

 Then again, since Ranma wasn't a friend in the platonic sense, and her
relationship with Akane was doubtful at times, it remained to see that Ukyo
had no friends at all.  Sure she knew the schoolgirls in her class, but did
they hang around her at lunchtime?  They gravitated to their friends, most
notably Akane, but Ukyo was always left alone.  They hadn't noticed Ukyo
standing alone, by herself, so caught up were they in gossip and
whatnot...or perhaps they would have seen Ukyo attempting to make some
friendly conversation with the guys - and of course, *they* took it the
wrong way.  One boy had even asked her out on a date.  She had declined
politely, citing her busy work schedule.

And now, as she watched Ranma-chan and Akane talk about their trip in the
mall, about what they had bought respectively, and about Sayuri and Anemi
and a host of other girls, Ukyo was reminded of what she had given up in
order to establish her business, her livelihood.  Truly it is said that
business has no space allotted for emotions.

She hugged herself inwardly for a moment, gathering strength, then she
turned back to the two girls.  Akane was slowly finishing her food, and
Ranma-chan was trying to sneak a piece or two from Akane's plate, getting
smacks on the wrist for her efforts.

"Stop it, Ranma!  Get your own okonomiyaki!"

"But, the way you're eating it we'll never get out of this restaurant!"

"You sound as if you're anxious to leave."  Akane munched on her
okonomiyaki, savouring its taste and Ranma-chan's obvious impatience.

"No, I'm not...I didn't mean it that way."

Ukyo watched the two girls playfully arguing back and forth, her heart
warmed by that sight, and she almost joined in but a customer rang the bell
by the counter and she moved to serve him.  After she was done, she turned
back but her opportunity was lost.  Akane was finishing the last piece and
Ranma-chan had stopped fidgeting.  By all looks, they were ready to leave.

"Leaving now, Ranchan?" asked Ukyo.  Ranma-chan nodded and she stood up.
 "Thanks, Ucchan!  That was great cooking, as usual."  Ranma-chan hesitated
for a second, then she said, "Well...see you later, Ucchan, and take care!"

"See you, Ranchan."  Ukyo watched Ranma-chan walk out the door of the
Ucchan.  Akane wiped her hands on the napkin, thanked Ukyo and began to
leave.

"Umm, Akane?"

"Yes, Ukyo?" replied Akane, turning around.

"I was wondering...when are you going shopping next?  Because I'd like to
come along then."

"I...uh...I'm not.  Not for a while, anyhow, until my Dad gives me more
money.  Sorry."  Akane stood still, very still, and tried not to stare at
Ukyo.

"I see.  Well, keep me in mind when you go next, okay?"  Ukyo felt crushing
disappointment entering her heart and she let out a sigh.  Too bad.  Ukyo
had feared that Akane would still be closed to subtle hints of friendship,
and this rebuttal, though quite plausible, came as a sting to Ukyo's heart.

"Okay."  Akane began to leave once more, but she turned back again.  "Ukyo?"

"Yes?"

"I'll see you some time."  Akane smiled.  "Bye."

And Akane left.  Ukyo stood there for a moment, then she threw herself into
her work and time lost its meaning in the scrape of her spatula and the hiss
of frying okonomiyaki.

 By the time Ranma-chan and Akane reached home, it was three o'clock and
sundown was still quite a ways off.  Ranma was home, and reading a book on
martial arts techniques while lying on the floor with a glass of icecream
near the book.  The panda played shogi with Soun and Kasumi was helping
Nabiki with her laundry.

Ranma-chan pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt in the privacy of her
room, then she headed downstairs.  Her gaze came to rest on Ranma, lying
prostrate on the ground with his hands supporting his head, reading his
book - and she suddenly felt a little hot.  She admired his body from the
vantage of the stairs, feeling her nipples harden under her bra, and she
began to walk down the stairs.  Feeling somebody watching him, Ranma turned
around and peered up at Ranma-chan.

"Hey, come have a look at this book I found at the bookstore!" he called to
Ranma-chan.

"Okay."  Ranma-chan got down on her hands and knees and pretended to peer at
the book.  Ranma, who was in front of her, was pointing out various stances
and blocks, but Ranma-chan wasn't listening.  Every instinct in her body
told her that she was enjoying the sight of Ranma's muscled back and defined
arms, but her mind was screaming bloody murder.  Still, unable to pull away,
Ranma-chan remained where she was, giving only a token gesture to
acknowledge that Ranma was speaking while letting her eyes roam, and roam.

She blew a small puff of air into his face, hoping to get him to look at
her, and he glanced up involuntarily - right into her loose T-shirt.  He was
speechless for a moment then he got to a sitting position.  Ranma-chan
leaned back on her legs and put both hands on her knees.

"You're...you're wearing a bra" he stammered, pointing a finger at her
chest.  Ranma-chan grinned.

 "You like it?  It cost me 850 yen, and it feels just fine."  She patted her
chest and her breasts bounced enticingly.  Ranma gulped and wiped some sweat
from his forehead.

"No, that's not the way I meant it!  I mean, why're you wearing a bra?"

"Well, duh!  I gotta...you know...wear something underneath?  It's like
underwear, but we call it lingerie."

"That's still not what I meant!  Stop jumping around the question and give
me a straight answer."

"Well, you see...since I'm gonna be a girl until we get the cure, I might as
well observe feminine decency.  I mean, I can't go around without a
bra...Mom would only take me out bra-shopping again.  This way I get it over
with."

Ranma-chan seemed to hesitate, playing with her pigtail as she did, then she
cast her gaze downwards, as if repentant.  Her hands crept to the base of
her shirt and her slim fingers took hold of it.

"But...if you're so concerned...."  Then Ranma-chan slowly pulled her shirt
up and off her, so that she was topless save for the bra.  Ranma's eyes went
wide.

"Put your shirt back on!" he whispered fiercely.

"Well, since you don't want me to wear a bra, I...guess I'd better take it
off now."  She rolled her eyes and reached ever-so-slowly to her back to
undo the bra, thrusting her chest out in the motion.  Ranma grabbed her
hands and pulled them forward.  Then he grabbed her shirt and began to try
and pull it on Ranma-chan.

"Hey, leggo of me!  I was just joking!  I wasn't really gonna take it all
off!" she cried in muffled tones under her shirt, her face hidden from view.

 "Yeah?  Well what's all this talk about feminine decency after all, huh?"
said Ranma as he finally succeeded in putting the shirt back on Ranma-chan.
She pouted and began to tuck her shirt in.

"I was just playing with you, that's all.  No need to attack me like that."

Ranma grumbled something back, then he settled down to read the book again.
Ranma-chan crawled over to Ranma's side and curled up  beside him, but
without their bodies touching.  Ranma seemed to take no notice.  <All the
better>, she thought as she began to sneak peeks at him again, feeling
erotic pleasure once more.

It had been said that similar minds thought alike.  Ranma could feel
Ranma-chan's body next to his, even though they weren't physically touching.
He turned to relieve the pressure put on one elbow and took a good, long
look at the female next to him.  Ranma-chan's legs were curled up and away
from him, and her petite body excited him in a way that made him shift his
position in order to make himself more...comfortable.  His eyes lingered on
her curves, and travelled all over her body to rest on her tight shorts and
her smooth, exposed legs.  He peeked up and admired the way her slim arms,
and shoulders seemed to complement her breasts and the soft skin of her
neck.  Her hair looked especially silky up close, especially against her
peach-soft skin, and Ranma restrained his impulse to reach over and touch
it.

As time progressed, Ranma found his mind straying off the martial arts book
more and more.  Ranma-chan edged closer to him and Ranma tried to blot out
perverted daydreams concerning him and Ranma-chan.  At that moment, looking
at Ranma-chan, he wondered how she would feel if he leaned over and put his
arms around her, then one thought lead to another and soon - in the privacy
of his mind - he was fantasizing about sex.  He looked at Ranma-chan, at her
breasts underneath a T-shirt that was almost sheer, but not quite.  For some
reason she looked more sexy with her bra on, than off...

 A fantasy flitted through his mind and he imagined Ranma-chan without any
clothing on, and in the bath with him.  She was right next to him, and her
hands were flitting almost playfully under the water, near his legs...With
an effort he banished the fantasy before it could develop any further.  His
gaze lingered on her for a moment longer before he forced himself to look at
her face.  Ranma-chan looked up at that moment, apparently also lost in
thought over something.

Ranma-chan snapped her gaze up the moment Ranma looked up, her face flushed
red in embarrassment.  How is it that she felt so...hot near Ranma?  A
flicker of a daydream had entered her mind, a little thingy concerning
herself and Ranma.  The both of them had been naked and lying on a bed.  She
had been lying on her back and Ranma had been rubbing warm oil all over her
while straddling her with both legs on either side of her, his hands
lingering on her breasts  and tickling the tips of her nipples.

"What're you guys doing?"

Both Ranma and Ranma-chan looked up in surprise, to see Akane standing over
them.  She was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top, the latter article
of clothing getting a wide-eyed look from Ranma and a slightly-jealous
glance from Ranma-chan.

"Uh...just reading a book.  What's it look like?" asked Ranma-chan
petulantly.

"Yeah, what's it look like, Akane?" piped in Ranma.  Ranma-chan got to her
feet and folded her arms across her chest.  Ranma did not get up at all,
actually turning his body so that the lower portion was facing away from
Akane.

"Oh, just asking, that's all."  With that, Akane walked away and both of
them heaved sighs of relief.  Then Ranma-chan squatted before Ranma and
tapped him on the head.  Ranma looked up.

 "Yeah?"

"Since it's so hot today, let's go to the ice cream shop and have something.
I still have a bit of money in my room."

"That's *my* money."

"Which makes it mine as well.  What's yours...is mine."  Ranma-chan got up
and walked upstairs, to her room.  Ranma followed close behind, the book
forgotten on the floor as he followed the petite, pig-tailed girl.  As he
walked behind her, he was struck by how sexy she looked from behind while
walking up the stairs.  He stared at her butt all the way up, and he tripped
on the top step as a result.  He windmilled his arms but still fell right on
Ranma-chan, knocking her to the ground as a result.

"Oooof!" Ranma and Ranma-chan exclaimed at the same moment, Ranma on top of
Ranma-chan.  He, and the fall, had knocked the wind out of her.

"S..sorry!  I tripped...and I guess I fell on you," said Ranma by way of
apology.

"That's okay.  It was just an accident," mumbled Ranma-chan from under
Ranma.  Ranma liked the feeling of his body on top of Ranma-chan's,
especially the way her butt was...

"Would you get offa me already?  You're heavy, you know!" protested
Ranma-chan and Ranma quickly rolled off.  She got to her feet, cast Ranma a
glance, then opened her room door and got her money.  The two of them told
Kasumi where they were going, then they walked to the ice-cream store.

 Ranma trailed behind Ranma-chan, the urge to admire her curvaceous body
making him slow his pace deliberately in order to remain behind her.  Her
shorts reached about halfway down her thighs and she was wearing sandals, so
quite a bit of leg was exposed to  see.  She looked so different wearing
clothing other than what she usually wore, decided Ranma, and so much sexier
too.  Especially the way she walked, the way her arms swung, and her pigtail
swinging as she looked from side to side, but her most attractive quality -
looking from the back - were her hips.  Inside he knew he should not be
looking at the female version of himself, but the compulsion to was almost
addictive in itself.  Ranma-chan suddenly stopped, but did not turn around.
Ranma stopped too.

"What's wrong?" he asked quizzically.

"Is something wrong with the way I'm dressed, or something?" she asked
without looking at him.  Ranma felt his face color in spite of himself and
he looked away from Ranma-chan.

"No...actually, you're dressed fine," he managed to get out.  His ears were
burning and he fought to calm his pounding heart.  Ranma-chan turned around
and stepped close to Ranma.

"Then why have you been looking at me all this time?" she asked softly,
peering up into his eyes with her own.

"Well...uh...that's because...ah heck.  That's because I like the way you
look, okay?!" shot back Ranma defensively.  He was never good at lying
anyways.

"So you're saying I look...great?" asked Ranma-chan, her hand stealing to
her pigtail and smoothing it out behind her.

"Y-yeah.  I guess.  Look, I'm sorry already for staring at you..."

"Oh, don't worry about it!  If you really wanna know, I've also...uh..."

 "Also what?"  Now Ranma was getting suspicious and he folded his arms
across his chest.  Ranma-chan blushed and turned to keep walking, but Ranma
reached out and pulled her back.  "Don't you run away on me now.  You've
also....?"

Ranma-chan swallowed nervously and glanced around, as if to make sure that
they were alone.  Then she leaned up on her tiptoes, placed her hands on his
left shoulder to support herself, and put her lips close to his ear.

"I've been getting these...feelings lately, whenever I look at you.  They're
not bad or anything, or painful, but...it's kinda hard to explain," she
whispered.

"What kind of feelings?" he pressed, now determined to know.

"Exciting ones."  Ranma-chan shrugged as she dropped back on her heels.  She
had never realized how much taller her male side was over herself.  Taller,
broader and tougher.

"Gee, that tells me much.  Come on, you've got to give me more to work on."

Ranma-chan, who was less than a foot from Ranma, tried her hardest to keep
looking at his face and not at the rest of his body.

"Okay...I...I don't feel the same like I used to be.  You know, before the
Nullifier, even when I...we were in cursed form, I know we never had those
feelings before, the ones that I'm feeling whenever I look at.....at...you,"
finished Ranma-chan lamely.

"Just tell me what those feelings are already, okay?"

"Alright.  You know how you feel when you see a really hot chick walking
by?"

"Yeah.  Oh no.  You don't mean to say that...you...."
 "Yup.  And not just you, but other guys," Ranma-chan paused for a second
then resumed, "I don't even know why I'm telling you this stuff.  You
probably think I'm weird or something by now, right?"

"But don't you....I mean....don't you feel sick, or wrong, when you get
those feelings you're talking about?"

"At first, I do.  I think to myself `okay, I shouldn't be doing this', but a
few moments later I find myself enjoying it.  I try to look away, but I
don't because...it just felt natural to me.  I mean, looking at guys.  Like
you."  On impulse Ranma-chan stepped right up to Ranma and wrapped her arms
around him.

"Wha...what're you doing?" whispered Ranma in a hoarse voice.

"Indulging myself.  Humor me, okay?"  Ranma-chan could smell Ranma that
close up, with her face resting on his chest and her breasts pressing on his
stomach.  She slowly reached an arm up to his head, to pull his head closer
to hers.  Strangely, he did not resist - rather, he went along with the
motion.

Their faces were inches apart, hot breath threatening to obscure their
vision - even though they didn't wear glasses - then Ranma-chan tilted her
head and slowly, tentatively put her lips on his.  Then they kissed - for
just a moment - and Ranma-chan broke it almost immediately.  That felt good!
It was almost like an electric current had run from his lips to hers, and
that current had stimulated her body.  Even now her nipples were hard and
pushed a little into her bra.  And between her legs she began to get hot,
and she rubbed her legs together to help ease the feeling.  She glanced down
and she saw a telltale sign that Ranma was as aroused as she was, and she
blushed.  It had been pressing on her loins through the material of Ranma's
pants when she had kissed him, and she hadn't even known it.

 "Uh...I don't think I should indulge you any further.  I mean, what you're
doing...is wrong!  And...." protested Ranma as he tried weakly to push
Ranma-chan off of him.  Ranma-chan touched her lips, then she licked them.
Strange how she could still feel his kiss.  Ranma-chan reached up and gently
pulled Ranma's head down again, so that his cheek was caressing her own.
Then she pulled back a little, and went in for another kiss, but Ranma
jerked his head away and disengaged himself from Ranma-chan.  She stumbled
back a bit but caught her balance.

"I'm sorry," she said after a while, "I got carried away, I guess.  I mean,
this is all so new to me...and it wasn't so bad after all.  And something
tells me you kinda enjoyed it, too.

"I did not!"  But it was a lie and Ranma knew it.  He had liked having that
female body right against his own, with Ranma-chan's soft, yet firm curves
melting into him, becoming a part of him it had seemed.  But most
importantly, the kiss was something in its own category.  How to describe
those luscious lips on his own, kissing ever-so-gently and passionately?
What words could capture the feeling, the rapture of sharing an intimate act
with her?

"Whatever.  Come on, let's go get our icecream before people start staring
at us."  Ranma-chan whirled, pigtail flying, and jogged off to the icecream
store.  Ranma followed.

Ranma and Ranma-chan took a seat in the store and a waitress came up to
serve them shortly.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"One strawberry sundae, and a banana split," said Ranma-chan.

"Thank you, it'll be just a moment."

 It came to no surprise to Ranma that Ranma-chan had known exactly what he
had wanted, for obvious reasons.  The shrill ring of a bicycle bell, the
sound of air rushing past a falling object, and the screech of tires on
concrete were the only warning sounds that trouble had arrived.  Without
even bothering to lock her bicycle a certain cutie with lavender hair ducked
under the canvas awning.  Counting a wad of bills in her hands, Shampoo
walked into the shop.

<Finally!  Payday at last.  Benefits follow hard work like sunshine after
rain, as great-great-grandmother says.  Now...I think I'll have something
nice and cold to eat, to treat myself to>, thought Shampoo, in her native
tongue of course.  Thinking in Japanese was supposed to help her learn the
language better, faster, but what better way to ensure a facade of stupidity
than a limited knowledge of the main language in this country?  At least she
did not have to fake her accent.  Great-great-grandmother had taught her
that trick.

She scanned the restaurant for a booth all to herself - and caught  sight of
Ranma-chan guzzling a banana-split.  One could almost hear the targeting
beeps and see the crosshairs as the Amazon weaved her way around tables to
Ranma-chan.  Ranma was hidden from view by the booth's high-backed seats.
With an extra bounce in her step, she walked over to Ranma-chan's table.
What a pleasant surprise, to see her husband-to-be here!

"Ni Hao!!  Ranma, you want to date with Shampoo!"  Shampoo made it sound
like a fact, not a request.

"Oh...no.  Shampoo."  It was all Ranma-chan managed to get out between
mouthfuls of icecream and banana.

"Oh well.  I suppose she was going to find out sooner or later, if Cologne
didn't tell her," said Ranma in resignation.

Shampoo reached the booth, and saw the two Ranmas.  The wad of bills drop
and scatter all over the floor from nerveless fingers, and Shampoo's eyes
were wide with astonishment.

 "No, I suppose she didn't tell her," quipped Ranma-chan to Ranma.

"Ni men liang ke ren...Shampoo mean, why there two of you?  Is Shampoo
dreaming?"

"Shampoo, your money!"

"Oh!"  Shampoo bent down and gathered all of the bills back up into one wad.
Then she sat down heavily, beside Ranma, and looked at him questioningly,
before staring over at Ranma-chan.  Ranma took this opportunity to fill her
in on the situation.

"Shampoo no mind so much.  Shampoo only ask for boy-type Ranma!"  With that,
Shampoo latched onto Ranma and began to cuddle him.  Ranma-chan couldn't
help but feel a twinge of disappointment at Shampoo's behaviour - Shampoo
was usually very devoted to him, even when he was a girl, but now that the
curse was practically lifted from Ranma....Ranma-chan quickly finished her
icecream up.

"Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds together..." she said in an offhand tone
and got up to leave, her hands in her pockets.

"Wait!  Don't go!" cried Ranma with the urgency of a swimmer with a cramp.

"Wo ai ni!"  Shampoo tightened her grip on Ranma and began to grow a little
more aggressive in her cuddling, knocking Ranma onto his back in a tangle of
limbs and tablecloth.  Patrons began to lean over, to see what was the
matter.

"Your dish, sir," said the waitress as she placed a strawberry sundae by the
window ledge, where it would be safe from the `action'.

"Shampoo!  Shampoo!"

 Ranma-chan leaned out of her booth and saw a robed figure silhouetted
against the bright street.  It had sounded like Mousse, and Ranma-chan's
suspicions were confirmed when the figure got out of the glare and was
revealed for who he was.  Mousse pushed his glasses onto his head and
smoothed his long hair back, his robes fluttering with the wind blowing into
the store.  He peered out at the bicycle parked outside the store.

"Her bike's here, so she must be inside!  Shampoo!" called Mousse again as
he walked further into the store.

"Hi ya, Mousse!  Shampoo's down there!" said Ranma-chan in greeting, while
pointing down at a furiously blushing Ranma and a slightly miffed Shampoo.

"Saotome!!  What are you doing with my Shampoo?!" cried Mousse, pointing
accusingly at Ranma-chan.

"I ain't doing nothing.  Why don't you ask Ranma down there, not me?" said
Ranma-chan, crossing her hands behind her back.  Shampoo snorted in
derision.

"Is true, stupid Mousse.  Ranma taking Shampoo on date.  We just having fun
*before* date," Shampoo said before hugging Ranma anew, amidst gasps of
surprise from all nearby patrons, who were now *really* trying to lean close
and peer inside the booth.

"It's not that way!!!" cried Ranma to a couple in the next booth, who were
peeking around.

Mousse looked long and hard at both Ranma-chan and Ranma.

"So...you aren't....I mean....what are YOU doing to Shampoo, but if you're
there...then...." he said without making much sense.

"Time to get new glasses, Mousse.  You're seeing double!" said Ranma-chan
with a smile.

"Maybe you're right..." said Mousse as he removed his glasses and put his
hands into his sleeves, "...but you're still taking advantage of my Shampoo!
Prepare to die, Saotome!!"

Mousse threw his arms out wide.  Six blades shot out of his left sleeve and
a wickedly curved sword appeared from his right.  Shouting a battlecry,
Mousse leapt to strike...and proceeded to mangle a nearby plant.

"Idiot," said Ranma-chan to herself as she made her exit, glad to leave the
chaos behind her.  Glad, but sad in a way because while nothing had changed
for Ranma, it seemed that everything had changed for her.  She strolled out
of the restaurant, went down the street, turned a corner and bumped into
somebody, and she stumbled back a few feet.

"Oompff!  Sorry 'bout that, guy.  Are you alrigh...K..Kuno?!"  Ranma-chan
began to back away.  But it was too late.  Kuno threw himself on Ranma-chan
and began to nuzzle her head with his chin.

"Oh, pig-tailed goddess!  What strange turn of fate doth draw us together,
like the heavenly spheres in symphonic harmony!" he cried, accompanied with
a paroxysm of cuddling and dramatic weeping.

"Let *go* of me, you freak!!" shrieked Ranma-chan from within Kuno's
embrace.  She struggled ineffectually but couldn't free herself.

"How can I let you go now, my love!!  How can one such as I possess the
strength of will to let the one, true love of my life go?"

"Like this!!!"

*CRACK*

 The business end of a mallet was introduced to Upperclassman Kuno's head
and said individual released Ranma-chan and slid off of her, to lie on the
ground with eyes crossed and limbs akimbo, like a dead frog.  A growing bump
on his head and a small groan were the only indications that Akane's mallet
had only knocked him out.  A pity.

"Honestly!  Are you all right, Ranma?" asked Akane, the mallet still in her
hands and at the ready should Kuno come back to consciousness.

"I...guess so.  Nothing broken here."  Ranma-chan laughed at her own joke.
Akane was not so amused.

"Where's Ranma?  I thought I saw the two of you walk out together, to go
somewhere...?"

"Being nosey today, aren't we Akane?  He's back in the icecream shop, being
pawed over by Sham...I mean...he's just having a...uh...friendly talk
with....a friend."

"Don't lie to me, Ranma!  Shampoo's here, isn't she?!"

She hefted her mallet and stomped off towards the ice cream shop.
Ranma-chan tried to hold her back but Akane hardly noticed Ranma-chan's
feeble attempts to prevent bloodshed.  Through the window of the ice cream
shop, Akane and Ranma-chan could see Shampoo still clinging onto Ranma, who
was valiantly trying to finish his sundae. Mousse was berating the two,
waving his weapons threateningly over the couple in the next booth over.
Ranma saw Akane and Ranma-chan, and more importantly, the infamous mallet.
His eyes went wide with fear and he tried to pry Shampoo off him.

"RANMAAAA!!!!" yelled Akane as she stomped into the ice cream store, to loom
over Ranma and Shampoo, her left eye twitching dangerously.

"Akane!  What you do here?" cried Shampoo, looking up at her arch rival, her
hands still resting on Ranma's chest.

"That's a question I ought to ask you!  What are *you* doing here?!"  With
that Akane grunted, lifted her mallet over head, and brought it swinging
down on Shampoo.  Shampoo cried out as she whipped out a concealed bonbori
and blocked the strike.

"This is not the place for a fight, you guys!!" cried Ranma-chan, waving her
hands desperately.

"Yeah, yeah!  Quit it already!!!" Ranma yelled from beneath Shampoo.  He saw
both Akane and Shampoo doing their blue aura thing and he cringed.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" yelled Akane to Shampoo.

"AKANE DIE!!!" snarled Shampoo as she sought to land a blow with her
bonbori.

"DIE, RANMA!!!" roared an angry Mousse at a table.

There was general bedlam for a few minutes as Akane traded swipes from her
mallet with Shampoo's bonbori.  Ranma-chan pulled Ranma out from the fight
and the two make a *very* quick exit.  Mousse was still stabbing the table
with a spear when Akane and Shampoo noticed that the person they had been
fighting over had run away.  They turned as one and burned out the door in a
madcap chase after both Ranmas.

"Why me?!  Why does it always have to be me?!"  Ranma was running for all he
was worth down the street, beside Ranma-chan.

"Because it's you, I guess!" replied Ranma-chan.

"Well you don't have to rub it in just because you don't have to
worry about stuff like this, now!"

 "What do you mean by that?"  Ranma-chan had a little frown on her face.

"I mean, you're a girl.....oh, leap up here."

In one smooth motion both Ranma and Ranma-chan leapt gracefully over the top
of a nearby store, to land on its roof.  Then they quickly hid themselves
behind an air-intake.  Ranma-chan turned to Ranma, who was less than a foot
from her.

"Say what?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied evasively, his eyes darting furtively here and there
as if he expected the Akane and Shampoo to loom out of mid air.

"No, tell me!" cried Ranma-chan, who grabbed Ranma's arm and shook it.

"Are...are you sure?"  Ranma looked at his female half closely,
involuntarily noticing the light play of the wind on her hair, the
highlights and features like his own...yet so very different, as a girl.
There was nothing said for a few moments.

"Very," Ranma-chan replied at last.  She had been lost in the azure gaze of
her male half, instinctively reacting to his manly features, and absently
noting how broad his shoulders were in comparison to hers.

"Okay.  If you say so, but don't tell me that I didn't warn you.  I was
gonna say that..now that you're a girl, you don't have psycho chicks chasing
after you anymore."

"Yeah, that's true."  Ranma-chan turned away from Ranma and folded her arms
across her chest.

 "Did I say something wrong?" he asked in a worried tone.  Ranma-chan paused
for a moment, then she let a grin appear on her face unbeknownst to Ranma.

"Not really.  You know, the reason why they're chasing after you is because
you're handsome."

"Thank you."

"No, really."  Ranma-chan turned back to Ranma and inched a little closer to
him, "You *are* handsome."

"So...you're trying to say that because I'm handsome, girls like Shampoo,
Kodachi, and Ukyo chase after me."  Ranma puffs his chest out a little and
preens himself.

"That's right.  But...there is one thing I feel I have to tell you."

"What?"

Ranma-chan traced circles in the roof, then she looked up at Ranma.

"You know about what I said about having those weird feelings?  You know,
looking at guys and stuff like that?" said Ranma-chan.  Ranma looked sick.

"Yeah.  And your point is?"

"Point is I feel those feelings to be a part of me, you know, just like how
you feel certain stirrings, or urges, when you see cute girls."

"But, you've already told me that, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it seems to be a part of me.  It's...it's so hard to explain.
It's like my body is causing it, but my mind does not really accept it.
Yet."  Ranma-chan had her hands clasped together and she was wrangling her
fingers.
 "What do you mean by `yet'?"

"I mean, right now I'm sorta fifty-fifty on this thing, but later I might be
one hundred percent."

"I don't get you," replied Ranma with a blank look on his face.

"Then...why don't you get this?"

Without another word Ranma-chan slowly slid herself on Ranma and pushed him
ever-so-slowly on his back, on the roof.  Ranma stared up in speechless
surprise as Ranma-chan ran hands up his sides, to his face, and dipped her
head close to his.  The tip of her pigtail hung over her shoulder and
tickled his ear, but all he could see...and feel was Ranma-chan's face a
mere inch away from his own, their noses almost touching.  Such eyes, and
eyelashes as could only belong to an angel yet were present on
Ranma-chan....her bangs hung straight down and mingled with his own, red
against black, fire and dark mystery.  Her body seemed to melt into his.
Then she kissed him lightly on the lips, still looking into his eyes.  Ranma
broke the kiss.

"Ranma...what are...what are you doing?" he whispered to the female lying on
him, very acutely aware of her breasts squishing on his chest.  Already he
felt himself reacting to her body and Ranma-chan smiled as her leg brushed
against his growing manhood.

"Indulging myself again.  Sort of like a treat after my dessert, you know?"
she said in a sultry tone, batting her eyelashes at Ranma.  She pulled
herself up to a straddling position, her hands on Ranma's chest.  Ranma
could feel a heat radiating from where Ranma-chan was sitting on him, his
stomach. "I...I feel like I'm riding a horse, or something, sitting on you
like this."

 "Well...our names mean `horse', so what's so strange about that?"  Ranma
found himself enjoying the feel of Ranma-chan's body on his own, and her
fingers on his chest, but....  Her left hand began to trace nameless
patterns on his chest and she flipped her pigtail over to her other side;
that was when Ranma rolled out from under Ranma-chan and got to his feet.
Ranma-chan rose as well, a surprised look on her face.

"I...I think they're gone by now.  Come on, let's go home already," said
Ranma in an uncertain voice.

"What?  We're....we're not going to....go any further?  Even just a little?"
asked Ranma-chan, her hands clutching Ranma's left arm tightly.  Ranma did
not answer as he gently shook Ranma-chan's hands off of his arm and leapt
off in the direction of the Tendo Dojo.  Ranma-chan followed close behind.

It was fast approaching dark in Nerima Ward and both the Tendo and  Saotome
families were about to have their supper.  A night breeze
brushed the wind chimes and the tinkling noise resembled that of a bird's
song.  A carp leapt out of the water and caught an insect. The night was
quiet and there were no automobile sounds to ruin the sacredness of the
evening.  Kasumi stepped out from the kitchen.

"Supper is ready, everybody!" she called.

"Yes, come and eat!" called Nodoka from the kitchen.  She was wearing her
sword-shaped bundle on her back.

Within minutes the entirety of both families were seated around the table,
their rice bowls and chopsticks at the ready.  Akane jockeyed with
Ranma-chan for space, because Ranma took up quite a bit of space by himself.
Nodoka put a rice cooker by the side of the table.  After a moment's pause,
she turned to Ranma-chan with a rice ladle in her hands.

"Ranko, could you please help me hand out the rice?" she asked Ranma-chan,
holding out the rice ladle.  Ranma-chan blinked, then she got to her feet.

 "Uh...s-sure, I guess."

"You are such a sweet girl, Ranko!" Nodoka exclaimed with a smile on her
face.

Ranma-chan filled the rice bowls and flipped them to everybody in a
flourishing move.  Nodoka calmly put the food on the table even as spinning
bowls landed all about her in precise order. The two families settled and
began to eat. Ranma-chan, just as hungry as Ranma, who was wolfing down his
food, began to do the same as her male counterpart.

"Ranko...it is unseemly for a girl to eat like that," admonished Nodoka in a
motherly tone.

"Mmmff?" said Ranma-chan intelligently as she stuffed more sukiyaki beef
into her mouth, wolfed it down and swilled a glass of pop immediately after.

"Ranko, please be more ladylike."

"Alright..." mumbled Ranma-chan in a sullen and miffed tone.

"This food is great!  More please!" cried Ranma as he held out his rice bowl
to his mom.  The rice cooker was closest to Ranma-chan.

"Ranko, I don't mean to impose on you but will you please fill up the rice
bowl for Ranma?" Nodoka said nicely.

Ranma-chan's chopsticks, reaching for a carrot, suddenly impaled the
vegetable in one swift move.

"What?!" she cried.

"Please, Ranko?  You're closest to the rice cooker...and it's only proper
for the man to sit."

"She is ever the traditionalist, eh Saotome?" whispered Soun to Genma.

"Sometimes I still think she is living in the past," Genma said back in a
hush-hush voice.

Ranma-chan simmered a bit, glaring at Ranma angrily for a moment before
snatching the rice bowl from Ranma's fingers and filling it up with rice
until it was overflowing.  Then she held it with two hands and presented it
to Ranma.

"Would you like a manicure with that, Ranma?  Or a backrub while you eat?"
she asked solemnly, with a straight face as she practically shoved the rice
bowl in his face.  Akane stifled a giggle and Ranma turned red.

"Thanks, err...Ranko.  I think."  He looked up at Ranma-chan with an
apologetic look on his face.

"Anytime."  That had been delivered practically in a snarl and Ranma-chan
plopped back on her cushion, squirming her way between Akane and Ranma
again.

"Does anybody know where Mr. Panda is?  I have a whole
bagful of peelings and trash that I'm sure Mr. Panda would eat," said Nodoka
after a while.  There is a noticeable shudder from Genma's end of the table.
"After all, it must be very hard to feed a panda his size, wouldn't you
agree?"

"I'm afraid Mr. Panda is not here at the moment, Auntie Saotome. He probably
won't return for a long time, I think," said Akane, glancing at Mr. Saotome
for a moment then back at Nodoka.

"Oh, is that right?  I'm so sorry, you all must miss him.  He was a nice
pet, though."
 Ranma and Ranma-chan glared at Genma, who hid his face behind his bowl.

"Ranma, why don't you tell me about your trip to Jusenkyo?  Did
you train very hard there?" Nodoka asked as she reached for a shrimp
fritter, then she looked around the table.  "Is it just me, or did everybody
suddenly go quiet?"

"N-no, Auntie Saotome...just remembering some stories Ranma...and his father
told us!" stammered Akane.

"Mom....didn't I tell you about my training trip already?" pleaded Ranma.

"Yes you did, but you did not elaborate.  Tell your mother, will you?  It's
been ten years since I had seen you, and you have grown tall and strong.
You are my son, and you are all I can ask for.  Please."  Nodoka smiled at
Ranma, the smile of a mother made happy by reunion with her son - bridging
the gap of a decade and attempting to fill up the years in between, as it
were.

Ranma-chan found she had suddenly lost much of her appetite.  Her chopsticks
clattered by her bowl and she began to half-heartedly drink her bowl of hot
soup.

"Me...and Dad had this really intense swim over to China...then we hired a
guide to take us to the Cur...I mean...to Jusenkyo training grounds."  Ranma
paused for a moment.

"Go on, please."  Nodoka smiled encouragingly.

"Sure..we trained some and I...almost hit Dad into the Spring
of Drowned Panda."

Genma stiffened and Ranma suddenly realized his mistake.

 	"Spring of Drowned.....Panda?" asked Nodoka wonderingly, tapping her
chopsticks thoughtfully on her bowl.

"Sure, you know...like there is a curse that changes those who
fall into the springs into whatever had drowned there a long time ago when
they're splashed with cold water, and then they turn back to human form when
splashed with hot water, and I've heard it is not so bad being a panda, and
you can change back to normal by jumping into either the Spring of..."

"So, there must be alot of springs there?"  Nodoka asked again.

"Lots of springs.  Yeah."  Ranma wiped a sweat drop from his forehead.

"All kinds of drowned animals?  Even people?"

"Maybe.  I'm...I'm not sure."

"Imagine if you had fallen into a spring, my son!  Oh, the
horror of my only, manly, son being cursed with a cursed body!  It
would be my duty as a mother to help such an inflicted son in the only
way that I can."  Nodoka grimly unshouldered her bundle and placed it by her
side, patting it once.  Ranma, Ranma-chan and Genma paled simultaneously.

"It.....would be a very terrible tragedy indeed, dear," whispered Genma,
staring at the bundle by his wife's side.  <Enough for THREE tragedies, in
fact!> he thought unhappily.

 "Yes, dear.  A very terrible tragedy indeed.  Imagine if my son had fallen
into a spring, dear, because of you.  Bad enough that he would be some sort
of animal half the time.  Imagine if he had fallen into a spring where some
poor girl had drowned a long time ago!  The humiliation of having a son, who
was not a son!!  The Saotome line would have to end there, to save our
family honor."  Nodoka patted the bundle again, a determined look on her
face.

Ranma shot to his feet and wiped his mouth.

"I'm done!  That was great, mom, Kasumi, and now I think I'm gonna go do
some homework, then watch TV, then something, I think.  See ya!!"  Ranma
makes a very quick exit.

Ranma-chan wolfed down the last bit of sukiyaki beef and got up.

"Well...I'm full.  I gotta go...uh...do some homework.  Yeah, that's it.
See ya later!!"  She follows Ranma out as quickly as she could on a full
stomach.  Nodoka looked after Ranma-chan for a few moments.

"Sometimes I think Ranko picks up too many bad habits from
Ranma.  To think Akane's cousin would spend more time with my boy
than with Akane.  She is unlady-like some of the times, but she's a good
girl," said Nodoka at last, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Auntie Saotome.  She may be strange sometimes, but then
she was brought up in the country, you know," replied Akane.

"Ah, yes!  Thank you, Akane.  I forgot that little detail.  I suppose a
country upbringing can influence the way a lady should act.  Tell me, Akane,
does Ranko have a boyfriend?"

"Ummm....no."

"She is pretty enough to get one easily enough, don't you think?"

"Right."

The two families continued to eat in silence for about ten minutes,
 then Nodoka looked up and said, "A stray thought had just crossed my mind.
Isn't it strange, though, how Ranko looks so much like Ranma?"
This was definitely not Genma's best dinner to date, with constant and
heartpounding shocks such as his wife's uncannily accurate observations.

"Strange, isn't it?" he managed to force out.

"They dress the same, have the same pigtail and they even look a little
similar!  Of course, Ranko is a girl and Ranma is a boy.  Ranko should dress
more femininely though.  She should also let her hair down, but she still
looks beautiful even with her pigtail."

"Oh...uh...Auntie Saotome?"

"What is it, Akane?"

"Ranko IS dressing more femininely, or will be.  She had just bought some
new clothes today at the mall - for girls."

"Did she?  Well...I'll go ask her later to let me have a look at her
clothes.  Girls shouldn't wear anything too racy, or boys might get ideas.
Well...if everybody is finished eating...just leave the bowls and chopsticks
where they are, and leave everything to me and Kasumi."

Akane took some time to bring all the dishes into the kitchen, then she went
outside - in the direction Ranma and Ranma-chan went to.  She looked around
but she saw nobody and was about to head back inside when she glanced up at
the roof.  There were two figures silhouetted against the moon, just above
her room.  Ranma and Ranma-chan.  Akane ran back inside, upstairs to her
room and slowly pushed her window open.

"...never been so scared in my life!  I thought, for sure, she
was gonna find out that I had really fallen into a spring!"

That was Ranma, and Akane stayed as quiet as she could.

"*I* left before she could draw any conclusions from the way
that we look alike, dress alike, talk alike, and everything."

"Everything?" Ranma-chan replied.  Akane folded her arms.

"Except for...you know."

"Oh, right."

There was a long pause.  Akane narrowed her eyes slightly and
tried to crane her head out of the window - to see what the two are
doing.

"Still, anyways, let's be more careful around her, okay?  I'm
gonna go and catch up on my homework, like I said I would.  I dunno about
you."

"I'm already done.  You've really got to be more responsible for school
work, you know."

There is the sound of rustling clothes as Ranma-chan leapt off the roof.
Ranma left similarly after a short while.  Akane closed her window and fell
on her bed, deep in thought.

Ranma-chan fell onto the couch and turned the TV on.  She surfed the
channels, looking for something exciting.  A football game came on  and she
watches it for some time, before changing to an action movie.  Bored of the
action movie, she randomly picked a channel and changed  to it.

**And now, the first annual fishing tournament, right here on this channel!!
Watch as Mr. Takayama begins the exciting process of waiting for an
unsuspecting fish to take a bite!!  See the equipment, worth thousands of
dollars, that he uses in order to outsmart his fishy prey!!  Witness
the...**
 Ranma-chan hit the power button on the remote and dropped it beside the
couch.  Then she lay down on the couch and curled up on one side, her feet
hanging slightly over the edge.  Questions circulated around in her
thoughts, demanding answers - such as what she should be doing about her
current condition.  She knew she should really be trying to find a cure, to
merge herself and Ranma back into one person...but that raised yet another
question - if she did, then whose personality would be dominant?  What would
happen to the other, discarded personality?  Would everything be the same as
ever?

Deep down inside herself, so far that she nearly did not admit it even to
herself, she found she had little or no problem living as a girl, the way
things were.  Apart from Kuno, she had no problems getting along as a girl
in Nerima.  Throughout her sortie in the mall she knew she had been getting
looks of envy and looks of admiration from girls and guys, respectively, and
the funny thing was...she did not mind it at all.  Rather, she exulted in
the knowledge that she was beautiful enough to warrant those emotions from
other people.

Since there was nothing else to do, she decided to head upstairs and go to
bed.  There was school tomorrow and Ranma-chan did not feel like running to
school in the morning in an effort to beat the bell.
Yawning slightly, she rolled off the couch and headed upstairs.  She opened
her door and shut it behind her.  Then she slowly stripped off her shirt and
flung it over her shoulder.  She would pick it up in the morning.  Her hands
behind her back absently undoing her bra, she cast about the room for her
nightclothes.  Her gaze travelled from corner to corner, to the dressing
table, to Ranma sitting at the desk gaping at her, to the clothes pegs on
the wall, to....she did a double-take and whirled.

"Ranma!?  What are you...oh.  I..forgot."  Ranma-chan blushed in shame and
quickly turned to present her back to Ranma.

"That's okay.  At least I was treated to a show."

 "You pig!  Is that all you ever think about?" cried Ranma-chan, craning her
head over her shoulder.

"Why don't you ask yourself the same question?  After all, you
are me, right?"

"Now it's different!  I'm a girl and you're a guy!"

"What's the big deal?  It's not like I haven't seen your...I mean, our
female body in the mirror plenty of times.  Naked."

"Pig."  Ranma-chan held her shirt against her chest and began to hunt around
for her nightclothes.

"Whatever."

Ranma went back to scribbling in his notebook, albeit with much less
enthusiasm, if that was possible.  Ranma-chan found her nightclothes and put
the shirt on.  Then, with a quick glance at Ranma, she pulled her pants off
and pulled her PJs on.  It was red in color, and it had little patterns of
star-shaped fishcake slices, the ones with the pink swirl in their middle.
Satisfied that everything was in place, she looked over at Ranma's hunched
form.

"Well, I don't know whether I should apologize or whether I should wait for
you to thank me..if you know what I mean."

"Thank you," Ranma replied dryly.

"Pervert."

Ranma turned around, a frown on his face.

"Now, how is that being perverted?  I mean, a guy watching a girl take her
top off..." he began.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean to take my shirt off in front of you!"

"So you're saying that if I *asked* you to strip for me, would you do it?"

"Are you nuts?!"

Ranma just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his homework.
Ranma-chan smoothed her hair and checked her pigtail with her fingers. The
scribbling of Ranma's pencil on the paper was the only sound in the room.
Ranma-chan started to pace about the room, wondering whether she should go
to bed without a bath first.  She stopped pacing the room and walked over to
Ranma at his desk.  She peeked over his shoulder,  letting her pigtail fall
over her shoulder and in front of his face.  Ranma swatted at her pigtail as
Ranma-chan looked at the incomprehensible lettering in his notebook.

"Doing your English assignment?" she asked.

"Yup.  Tonight sure is boring as hell."

"Boring is only what you make of it.  I...I know a way to get rid of that
boredom."  Ranma-chan let an evil smile creep on her face and leaned closer.
Ranma flicked at her pigtail again. The atmosphere in this room was
so...so...sexy.  Her closeness to Ranma was beginning to arouse her.  She
started to think of little `assignments' that she and Ranma could help each
other with. She dipped her head close and allowed her face to lightly caress
his neck.  Ranma suddenly went stock still.

"Ran...Ranma.  What are you doing?" whispered Ranma at last.

"Do you need to ask?  This ought to take your mind off of your
assignment..." she whispered huskily.

 Delicate fingers crept their way onto his shoulder, and massaged the muscle
there, then they made their way down his neck to his chest and began to
caress his pectorals.  Her lips touched his right earlobe, then she began to
nibble on it.  When Ranma winced involuntarily, Ranma-chan turned Ranma
around in his chair and gently tugged him from his seat, falling back on the
futon behind her as she did.  Ranma did not resist as he got up half-way off
his chair, and Ranma-chan began to lower herself down on the futon, her eyes
lowered seductively.  Her chest rose up and down slightly, her nipples quite
visible through the material of her nightshirt.

"No," said Ranma, half-heartedly attempting to get Ranma-chan to release
him.  Ranma-chan stopped for a moment.

"What do you mean, `no'?"

"Is this even right?  I mean, we're the same person, right?  Even though
I...I feel good right now, I don't..."

"Don't think.  Just do...okay?"

"But..."  Already Ranma's resolve was weakening under the charm of the
female before him, halfway to the futon beneath her.

"Shhh.  Don't say another word.  Third time's the charm...so indulge me once
more."

She put her hands on Ranma's shoulders again and pulled the both of them
down on the futon, Ranma falling onto Ranma-chan but breaking the fall with
his hands on either side of her.  Then Ranma felt gossamer-soft lips on his
own, and he suddenly found himself kissing Ranma-chan with passion; yet his
passion was not really born of his lust for Ranma-chan.  His kisses, so long
held in check, were not meant for Ranma-chan.  He might try to deny it but
Ranma-chan was but a conduit through which his emotions may be channelled
through.  That thought was momentarily perished as the curvaceous female
beneath him ripped her night shirt open and squirmed out of it.

 Her luscious, peach-soft skin glowed in the light of the lamp on
Ranma's desk.  Her body rippled with pleasure, and undulated in a
fascinating manner, rubbing her taut breasts on Ranma's chest and his
well-defined abs.  Ranma noticed that shadows hid in all of the most
interesting places on Ranma-chan.  She started to unbuttton Ranma's shirt
with one hand, while the other pulled Ranma closer to her by the small of
his back.  The lust of the moment almost overwhelmed Ranma as he
unconsciously began to help pull Ranma-chan's pants off of her, but a female
face leapt to the forefront of his mind's eye.

She had short hair...was it black?..and her name..it is so hard to
remember!  Ranma-chan began exploring the inside of his mouth with
her tongue. Oh the sheer pleasure!!  His shirt was already completely
unbuttoned and her hands traced their way on paths of rumpled clothing
to his pants.  Ranma's hands continued to slowly pull Ranma-chan's
pants further below her hips - until she was dressed only in a tiny pair of
sheer panties and nothing else.  She wriggled in ecstacy, her panties
beginning to come off from contact with her butt and the futon, and the
temperature in the room seemed to suddenly shoot up.  Ranma-chan rolled over
and straddled Ranma, her legs spread apart and she was on
her knees.

 Ranma's legs were stretched out and in between her legs.  Their loins were
touching and only three layers of clothing separated their naked skin.
Through the sheer material of Ranma-chan's panties, Ranma could almost see
her pubic hairs.  His hands clapped on her flanks and began to stroke her
skin; Ranma-chan moaned and placed her hands on his chest and began to
massage.  Ranma felt himself reacting, and Ranma-chan gasped as her groin
came in contact with Ranma's.  In a single motion, Ranma pulled Ranma-chan's
panties down - exposing her in her full nakedness.  Curving legs, womanly
figure, well formed breasts and slim arms - she was a girl, no, a woman that
no male in his right mind could resist.  Shyly, certainly, Ranma-chan pulled
her panties off of her legs.  A flurry of hands later and Ranma's pants were
pulled down to his kneecaps - until he was only wearing a pair of boxers,
tent-shaped in his groin area.  Ranma-chan smiled and restraddled Ranma
again.  She dipped her head close to his, and began to kiss him again, with
more vigor and passion than before, then she broke it - mainly for air - and
sat back up and looked down at him, her head tilted to one side and letting
Ranma's eyes travel all over her smooth throat down to her
breasts, sliding over her arms and firm belly in a way that made Ranma-chan
thrill with pleasure, before stopping for a long moment in the region
between her legs.

As Ranma-chan flipped her pig-tail back over her shoulder, and put her hands
on Ranma's boxers to pull it off and leave him naked as well, the face from
before appeared again in Ranma's mind.  He knew he shouldn't be doing this
with Ranma-chan, because...because of this female.  Somehow, he knew
her...and knew that continuing further with Ranma-chan would only hurt her,
if she should find out.  <She won't find out!> cried a voice triumphantly in
his mind, <As long as both of us keep our mouths shut...!>.  His boxers came
off and he heard Ranma-chan gasp, then he felt her fingers wrap around his
manhood and began to direct it into herself.  Her pubic hairs brushed the
tip of his penis and his breath quickened.  His hands seemed to move of
their own accord, moving up her sides to clasp her breasts and to squeeze
them gently.  Ranma-chan sighed in pleasure, her eyes closed.

But there was something else.  A nameless concept beyond words impressed
itself on his mind and his feverish brain registered the short haired
female's face.  He began to surge back to a recollection.  Her
name....was....it was....

"Akane!!" Ranma cried out.

 "What?!  Where?!"  Ranma-chan looked about in fear, her hands still
gripping Ranma's manhood.  Not seeing Akane anywhere, she turned back to
Ranma with a questioning look in her eyes.  When Ranma did not answer
Ranma-chan released him and rolled off, to lie beside him on the futon.  Her
hands were clenched into little fists, and she was gritting her teeth even
as tears began to roll down her cheeks.  Ranma sat up, remembering to pull
his boxers back up to his waist, and he hugged his knees to his chest.

"Why?" whispered Ranma-chan.

"Because I cannot.  I..I mean...I will not.  Not with you, and neither
should you with me.  It's...just not right."  Ranma cast around for
Ranma-chan's clothing, as she was still naked, but he didn't see it.

"Why is it `just not right'?  I didn't feel sick, or think it was
wrong...and from the looks of it, neither did you."  Ranma-chan felt her
left breast, where Ranma's fingermarks were still evident.

"You're a guy too, in case you've forg..."

"I am NOT a guy!  Look at me!  LOOK!"  Ranma-chan had shot to her feet and
was cupping her breasts with both hands and glaring down at Ranma, who was
desperately looking for Ranma-chan's nightclothes with one eye, while the
other was glued to Ranma-chan's naked figure.

"You are me, and that is one of the reasons why I stopped going any
further!"

"LIAR!  You enjoyed it...no...you were PAWING all over me!"

"Shhh!  Keep it down or else everyone will come upstairs to see what the
matter is!" whispered Ranma fiercely, his hands reaching out and pulling
Ranma-chan down to his level, his hands firmly clasped on her hips -
entirely by accident.  Ranma-chan covered her breasts with both hands and
she knelt down, her head turned to one side.  Even now, Ranma could feel
himself getting aroused and he too turned to face away from Ranma-chan.

 "So.  I see.  I thought that you, of all people, would understand the stuff
I'm going through...but you don't.  You're just like the others, going on
with your life while I am left behind," said Ranma-chan at length, in a
calmer voice.

"That's not it!  In any case, what does that have to do with why I stopped
going any further?!"

"Nobody has enough consideration to accommodate me!  Look at Ukyo,
and...A-Akane!  Think *they* are willing to have *me* when they have you?!"
Ranma-chan began to search around for her clothes, still on her knees and
`walking' around on them.

"What we were about to do wasn't love at all!  It was just...I don't
know...sexual stuff!"

"Would you even begin to go all the way with somebody you don't love?" asked
Ranma-chan as she turned her head around to look at Ranma.

"Of course not...but..." said Ranma, wondering where she was leading to.

"Then WHY did you even go along with me in the first place?    I thought I
really had something going there, and that you loved me enough to do it with
me and..."

"Like I said...having sex has nothing to do with love!  I hate to bring this
up but prostitutes have sex and they don't love the man they have sex with!"
Ranma began to pull his shirt on.

"OH!  So you're saying that I'm a prostitute, huh?!  First you reject me,
then you insult me!  I...I don't even want to look at you for the rest of my
life!" cried Ranma-chan as she quickly pulled her nightclothes on and began
to leave the room, but Ranma dashed over to her and put his hand on her
shoulder to stop her.

"I didn't call you a prostitute at all, so calm down and just listen to me
for once!"
 Ranma-chan shrugged Ranma's hand off her shoulder but he slapped his other
hand on her left shoulder.  Growling, Ranma-chan twisted around and tried to
kick Ranma's legs out from under him but Ranma blocked the strike and
trapped her legs with his own.  Lowering himself quickly to the futon he
subsequently held her hands immobile with his own, using his greater
strength and weight to keep her pinned to the futon.

"Let me go right now or I'll scream and bring everybody running!!" she
snarled in his face.

"Listen to me for once, willya?!" cried Ranma, but Ranma-chan began to take
in a breath - to scream bloody murder and to bring the entire household down
on his fool head.  There was no time to think, only that split-second of
decision making - culminating with Ranma plastering his lips on Ranma-chan's
and kissing her.

Her eyes registered shock, then fury, but quickly changed to a mollified
look followed by obvious pleasure.  She struggled to free herself, in order
to better act as a participant than a spectator, but Ranma was not about to
let her go...so she settled for the kiss, and she was just about to get into
it when Ranma broke it and pulled his head up out of reach.

"Why'd you stop?" asked Ranma-chan.

"Because...even though I really want to go on, I don't want to."

"You're not making much sense...and will you let me go already?"  Ranma-chan
wiggled from side to side, but she couldn't squirm her way out.  In fact,
she rather liked having Ranma on top of her - it was just that she couldn't
do anything more than lying on the futon or struggling to get free of him.
She began to wonder if this was a prelude to whatever they had just left
off, a sort of macho-type sexual thrill for Ranma to have Ranma-chan under
his control.  She decided she didn't like it for that aspect, if it was like
what she suspected it to be.
 "If I let you go, will you promise to sit down and listen to me for a
little while?  Please?"

Ranma-chan considered his request, then she nodded and Ranma immediately
released her.

"Okay....now talk," Ranma-chan demanded.

"Look...even right now you look so beautiful...and sexy and all that, and I
really wanted to go further with you...but I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?  You were all over me, and you were liking it
too!"  Ranma-chan pointed at Ranma's manhood, which was making its presence
known under his boxers.  He flushed red and pulled a blanket over himself.

"So I liked it, but I couldn't help it!" he protested.

"So why did you stop?  We were doing so well, and I finally thought I had
found somebody who understood me..."

"I understand you, but I - don't - love - you!  I mean, not in the way
I....not in that way!"

"Well-l-l...excuse *me* for exposing myself to you...you must probably be so
sick that you want to throw up."  Ranma-chan folded her arms across her
chest and sulked there.  Ranma moved over to Ranma-chan and put his arms
around her, and shook her once but Ranma-chan did not change her expression
and only turned away from Ranma.

"Look...I might as well come out with it.  I love Akane, you know that don't
you?  And I love her enough to hold myself back, not to go any
further...because if I didn't I'd be betraying her."  Ranma spoke softly,
with feeling and emotion.

 Ranma-chan was silent and she was holding the front of her nightshirt with
both hands, keeping it closed protectively over herself.  Her hair, silky
smooth, waved over her forehead and danced around her eyebrows and the tips
of her ears from the breeze coming in from the open window.  Ranma halted
for a moment, then he continued.

"Look...let's get this all straightened out, okay?  You are me, and we both
know we love Akane, and we wouldn't consider doing a thing like this with
another...person because that would betray our...you know...with Akane."
Ranma-chan turned to look at him, then she nodded in reply.  Ranma
continued, "So why are you doing this in the first place at all?"

"Maybe...maybe I'm not you any longer.  You ever think about that?  Maybe
I'm not the Ranma I used to be...and I'm beginning to change
into....somebody different," Ranma-chan whispered softly, feeling her
pigtail with her right hand and smoothing out her hair at the same time.

"That's like saying that you don't love Akane any longer, because if you did
you wouldn't have even tried to seduce...I mean...tried to...err..kiss me
and all that."

"Yeah...well, so what if I wanted to *seduce* you?  There you are again,
thinking that I'm still the same as you are.  Fact is, I'm not the same any
longer and you'd better get used to it."  Ranma-chan got up and walked over
to the window, looking out into the Nerimean night, watching the
streetlights flicker and cut bright swathes through the darkness to
illuminate the ground in defined boundaries of light.

"What are you saying here?" Ranma had moved to stand behind Ranma-chan.
"Are you saying that...that you don't love Akane any longer?"

 Ranma-chan did not reply and when Ranma laid a hand on her shoulder she
shook it off and began to walk away quickly.  She wrenched the door open and
shut it firmly behind her, leaving Ranma to stare after her.  Then he bent
down and began to rearrange the futon, for it had been seriously messed up
by their short-lived, but well-remembered caper.

The bathroom door shut and Ranma-chan began to strip, pulling her clothes
off in a business-like manner, taking no time to feel that tingle of erotic
pleasure as her fingers held her panties by the sides and pulled them down
her long, smooth legs - and neither did she let herself enjoy the sensation
of bending over to pull her panties off, or the feeling of her breasts
dangling before her.  She straightened, and undid her pigtail before the
mirror.  Her hair slowly untwirled behind her to become a wave of vibrant,
beautiful red hair that cascaded past her shoulders.  She placed a hand on
the mirror and touched the image of herself, wondering at how different she
looked now with her pigtail undone.  More like a real girl now.

She turned away and began to fill the bathtub with hot water, the steam
rising off it first in slender tendrils that became billowing clouds which
quickly filled the entire bathroom with mist, fogging up the mirrors until
she couldn't see herself.  She pulled out a long bathstool and sat on one
corner, and she began to fill up a bucket with cold water.  A bar of soap
made its way out of its plastic case and Ranma-chan dumped the bucket over
herself, thrilling in the sudden shock of cold water on her skin, already
feeling the goosebumps rising up.

As Ranma-chan turned away and bent over to fill up another bucket with cold
water, she heard the door open and somebody step inside the bathing area.
Before she could say anything, the sliding door to the bathtub opened and
Akane stepped inside, wrapped only in the briefest of towels.  There was
silence for a few moments of surprise and indecision before Akane made her
way to where Ranma-chan was on her knees beside a bucket of cold water,
which was overflowing constantly because Ranma-chan had forgotten all about
the tap.

 "You should turn that tap off, you know.  You don't want to waste water, do
you?" said Akane as she pointed at the cold water tap.  Ranma-chan turned it
off with one hand, her other arm covering her breasts.

"Akane...I...I'll go wait outside until you're finished," was all Ranma-chan
could get out before she got up and began to walk outside, her arm still
held tightly over herself.

"Don't be stupid...it's not like I haven't seen a naked girl before, you
know."  With that Akane undid her towel and pulled it off of herself.  "And
it's not like *you* haven't seen naked girls before...like that first time
in the bathroom when we met."

Ranma-chan gulped as Akane sat down beside her on the stool and poured the
cold water over herself from Ranma-chan's bucket.  Then she opened her own
plastic soapholder case and began to soap herself down, using a bathsponge
to help.  Ranma-chan stared at Akane, more with extreme surprise rather than
a voyeuristic eye, watching as Akane stroked the sponge over her arms and
belly and breasts.  Akane glanced over at Ranma-chan.

"What's wrong?  Don't have soap of your own?  You can use mine, if you want
to," said Akane.

"N-n-n-no...that's alright...I..I've got some soap of my own."  Ranma-chan
hastily grabbed her soap and began to soap herself up quickly, but in her
haste her soap kept slipping out of her hand and she kept constantly having
to chase after it as it ran around the bathroom floor like it had a mind of
its own.

"Ranma...calm down already.  It doesn't matter since we're both girls!  Now
if the other Ranma were here, it'd be a different story, ne?  We'd beat the
lust out of him with our trusty, dusty wooden buckets!" joked Akane as she
lifted her wooden bucket up and waved it threateningly.

 Ranma-chan got an intense look in her face then she settled down and began
to soap herself again, but more calmly this time and more deliberately.  She
began to look around for a back scrub but there was none.

"Do you want me to wash your back?  I'll do it if you'll do mine in return."
Akane turned around.  Her body had little patches of soap bubbles here and
there in certain spots, her skin was wet and slick with water and soap, and
she made no effort to cover herself from Ranma-chan.

"Yeah, sure.  I'll scrub your back if you'll scrub mine."  Ranma-chan
hesitated for a moment then she turned around on her bathstool and bent
over.  Moments later she felt Akane's silky smooth fingers run all over her
back, spreading soap wherever they went.

"So...how'd you like your first shopping trip?" Akane asked as she gathered
Ranma-chan's hair up and moved it over her shoulder, then slowly rubbed her
neck and shoulders with soap.

"It was good.  Thanks for taking me along, Akane.  All the clothes I bought
fit me perfectly and look very well on me, I think."

"No problem.  Next time, we're bringing Ukyo along too, okay?"  Akane's
fingers had moved to Ranma-chan's slim shoulder blades.

"Akane...what do you think Ukyo thinks of me?" asked Ranma-chan after a
little while.  Akane stopped for a second, then she resumed, this time
moving lower down Ranma-chan's back.

"Why do you ask?"  Akane paused to rub her hands with more soap.

"I...I just want to know, that's all."

 "Well...I think she still considers you as her fiance, and..I..I still
think she loves you."  Akane fell silent, and she began work on the small of
Ranma-chan's back, albeit slower this time, her fingers moving absently as
if she were deep in thought.

"I see.  You really think so, then?" Ranma-chan's voice had a note of
suspicion, and that put Akane on the defensive.

"Why don't you go...go ask her yourself?  Only she knows her true feelings
for you, not me."

"So you really think Ukyo...uh...goes both ways, then?" asked Ranma-chan.

Akane dug her fingers into Ranma-chan's back, getting a yelp of pain from
the latter.

"Akane....that hurt!" protested Ranma-chan, reaching back to grab Akane's
hands.

"*WHAT* makes you think I even said that?!" Akane cried as she slapped
Ranma-chan's hands away and resumed soaping her back.

"Well, you said she still loves me and everything, so she must also still
love Ranma...the other one, that is, so that just lead me to that
conclu...yow!"

Akane had dug her fingers again and Ranma-chan whirled around, long hair
flying, to face Akane.

"Look, Akane...if you're gonna wash my back you don't have to use me as your
scratching post while you're at it!" complained Ranma-chan, rubbing her back
with her hands.

"You're the one suggesting I'm a sicko by saying that I suggest that Ukyo
went both ways!  You've seen the way she looks at the other Ranma
and...oh..." Akane trailed off when she looked into Ranma-chan's face.
 "Yeah.  I guess so.  She's a girl, and can't help herself for preferring
the male Ranma over me, right?" said Ranma-chan bitterly, picking up the
bucket and washing the soap from her body.  Then she motioned for Akane to
turn around.

"But...but she still thinks you're a guy underneath...I just know it,
Ranma!" said Akane as she turned around on the bathstool and leaned forward
a bit, to let Ranma-chan soap her back.

"And how do you know that, Akane?"

"Well...I...I just do.  Call it intuition."

"Female intuition?  She can still kiss me and not be sick, right?"
Ranma-chan's hands stroked Akane's back.

"I'm not about to speak for her, Ranma, and you shouldn't either.  Look, I
have this feeling that she loves you just as much as the male Ranma...I know
it just like I know you're really a guy.  Believe me."

"If you know I'm really a guy, then why are you letting me soap your back?"
asked Ranma-chan, now working on Akane's shoulder blades.  When Akane did
not answer, Ranma-chan said, "Or is it that you consider me a girl already?"

"That's not true!  You're still a guy, and I know it.  It's just that
you're...you're a girl.  Right now, I mean, and it doesn't matter if we have
a bath together because....because..." Akane trailed off as Ranma-chan
turned Akane around, and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"If you still think I'm a guy, then kiss me," said Ranma-chan, looking down
at Akane.

 Akane's breath quickened from panic because her range of vision was filled
with Ranma-chan's slim shoulders, lean arms and breasts; she looked up, but
it did nothing to quell the sick feeling in her gut because *she* was asking
*her* to kiss *her* and Akane did not know what to do, for Ranma-chan was
actually Ranma and she was serious about this and this was almost what she
had been hoping for...but....but....!

Ranma-chan knelt down to Akane's level, hands still holding her shoulders,
and she began to move closer to Akane.  Akane did not twitch a muscle as the
redhaired female came closer, and closer, until the tips of their breasts
were just touching.  Then Ranma-chan pressed herself close to Akane, their
breasts now embracing and sending feelings of revulsion throughout Akane's
body.  Ranma-chan's delicate features dipped close to Akane's face, and lips
like silk brushed against Akane's own.

"NO!!"

Akane shoved both hands on Ranma-chan's chest, pushing the other girl off
her and onto the floor as the last vestiges of her shout dissipated into the
steamy atmosphere.  Ranma-chan had struck the hard and unforgiving floor of
the bath area, and she rolled over to one side with one hand supporting her,
the other hand feeling her bruised bottom.
"That is *the* most disgusting thing you have *ever* done, Ranma!!  You're
really a pervert, aren't you?!" Akane cried.

"Did you think I was really gonna go any further than that?  I just wanted
to see what you would do, that's all.  Guess I was right."

"That...that's different!  I'm a girl, and you're one too!  That's why I
didn't like it at all!" Akane protested.

"You're just like Ranma.  Going on with your lives while you leave me
behind.  What if I was male right now, instead of female?  What then?"

 Akane delayed her answer as she washed the soap off her body and climbed
into the hot tub with Ranma-chan, then she turned her back on the other
girl.

"I'd...I'd probably enjoy it.  Still, what you did was disgusting...and
revolting...and I don't want you to EVER do it again, or else!  You got
that, Ranma?"

"I just wanted to kiss you, that's all.  Guess I know where I stand with
you, and all that."  Ranma-chan rested her arms on the edge of the bathtub
and sighed.  Both girls were quiet for another five minutes, then Akane
spoke.

"Ranma....I'm sorry if I overreacted...but that sort of thing has never
happened to me before."

"It's alright."

There was surprised silence for the span of five full seconds.

"Come again?" asked Akane.

"I said, it's alright.  If even you cannot stand to kiss me, much less
tolerate my touch, then I...I definitely don't think Ukyo can, either."
Ranma-chan turned around and looked into Akane's eyes, showing her the
seriousness of her words and impressing the gravity of the situation upon
her.

Akane digested that, and she saw what Ranma-chan was trying to imply.  She
reached out and tentatively took hold of Ranma-chan's left hand, and held it
with her own and squeezed it gently.

"Ranma...I'm sorry, I really am, but I can't bring myself to...I mean, I can
but I won't enjoy it.  I won't like it at all."  Akane was feeling quite
ashamed of herself, taking Ranma for granted while ignoring not taking
Ranma-chan into account all this while.

   "That's okay, Akane.  I won't ask you or make you do something that I
know you wouldn't like...from now on.  I only...only want the best for you,
Akane.  It's alright now."

"What do you mean it's alright?  You're a guy trapped in a girl's
body...right now and only the antidote to the Nullifier can return you to
normal!  What about....." Akane trailed off, unwilling to say the words.

"About what?" asked Ranma-chan.  When Akane did not reply, Ranma-chan said,
"Let me tell you something, Akane.  When I held you to myself just now, and
I was about to kiss you, it was the hardest thing for me to do in my life.
I was using every bit of concentration not to...to feel sick and turn away
from you."

"You mean....you mean you felt the same way I did?"

"Yeah.  But it's alright, Akane.  I'll find a way to fix everything, you
just wait and see.  I always do, don't I?"  Ranma-chan squeezed Akane's hand
back and smiled encouragingly.

Akane and Ranma-chan finished their baths and dried themselves off.  Then
Ranma-chan said goodnight to Akane and headed back to Ranma's room, feeling
a strange sense of contentedness for the first time since the split two days
ago.  For the first time, she felt somewhat at peace with herself, as if she
found a path to travel and was taking the first steps on it down to her
destiny.  She left her hair undone and free.

She opened her room door and shut it behind her.  The only light in the room
was from the desk lamp and the open window where moonlight streamed in.
Ranma was lying on his futon, and he was still  wearing only his shirt and
boxers.  His form, illuminated slightly by the desk lamp, rose up and down
in rhythm, snores punctuating each fall of his chest.  She placed her futon
next to his, flopped down on it and let herself fall ever-so-gradually into
a state of semi-sleepiness.  Then her eyes shut and she was asleep.

 Male and female, two of one, their rhythmic snores seemed to complement
each other, blending into a mixture of deep snores and delicate snores -
punctuated by a snort now and then from Ranma.  It was truly the sleep of
the contented, at least for Ranma-chan.  Outside a storm began to brew in
the skies.  Dark clouds, darker than the night, covered the starry skies and
gathered over the entirety of Nerima Ward.  A distant rumble of thunder
growled in the distance as lightning bolts flashed from the heavens and lit
up the world for a brief second.  Then rain started to fall, first in tiny
droplets, then a light drizzle, followed by a deluge of rain hammering the
Tendo residence and stirring up the carp pond.  Kasumi sat by the table near
the porch and mused over a cup of hot tea as she waited for the adult
members of the two families to return home.

--------------------

	-WD
VISIT THE LAIR AT:
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members.tripod.com/~WebDragon/index.html

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WORK IN PROGRESS : Nullifier 122, Part 6