Man in the Mirror, Part 3
by Leloi
Ranma took a deep breath as he adjusted his black
robes and entered the dojo. "No one is going to stop
me this time," he thought as he crossed over to his
place. His parents beamed at him from their
respectful places. This was going to be a very
interesting ceremony. Very few people were invited to
ensure that the event would take place without
incident. The ceremony itself was to be an eclectic
mix of ritual.
As Ranma waited for his bride, his heart did
flip-flops.
Finally Tendo-san walked down the aisle with a
beautiful woman in a wedding kimono. He helped his
daughter sit beside her groom.
"Ranma and Akane� You have been through a lot to get
here today�" Tendo-san began.
There came a steady pounding on the dojo door.
"Hurry, Daddy� They're here to stop the wedding,"
Nabiki said.
Soun paled. He passed the sake to Ranma. "Here�
Drink of this wedding toast to seal your vow to each
other."
Ranma drank and passed Akane the sake.
"Bless you, children," Genma said as he watched the
dojo doors bulge under the onslaught of many enraged
ex-suitors.
"Bless you both," Soun concluded as the doors burst
off their hinges.
"Ranma� How could you do this to us?!" many female
voices chorused.
"Tendo Akane� Step away from this unworthy man!" Kuno
demanded.
"Will all of you please stop this?!" Ranma demanded.
Shocked silence answered him.
"It's my wedding day," he said simply as he rose and
helped his bride do the same. "I already explained to
you all that this is what I wanted� And no one ever
listens. Akane is my wife now. So either stay and
celebrate with us or leave," he said as he glared at
the group, daring someone to challenge him.
Ryouga took a deep breath and stepped forward. "No
matter who she ends up with�" he whispered to Ranma as
he shook the other man's hand. "If you ever hurt
her�" he left the threat hanging as Ranma embraced
him.
"My friend!" Ranma laughed. "Thank you, Ryouga."
"Get off of me!" Ryouga shrugged away Ranma's hug and
gave him a little smile.
"This is unacceptable," Kuno stated. "At least hand
over the redhead so that I may have her."
"Kuno�" Ranma sighed. "I'm the redhead."
"You lie!"
Ranma shook his head. "Please leave. I don't want to
deal with this today. I promised Akane a normal
wedding."
"You can't have a normal wedding because you don't
have the right bride," Ukyo snapped.
"And you marry to me first!" Shampoo added.
"This isn't a real wedding anyway. It doesn't have
enough glamour," Kodachi commented.
"I thought you were my friends," Ranma said quietly as
he turned away from them. He and Akane retreated to
change out of their robes.
Later Ranma tapped on Akane's door. "Are you ready,
Saotome-san?" He got a little thrill out of using the
name to address her.
Akane opened the door and smiled at her groom. "I'm
ready," she said as she ran her hands down the red
silk Chinese gown.
Ranma blushed a deep crimson to match his shirt. "You
wore it�"
"And you wore the matching shirt. That means we'll
have a long, happy life together," Akane smiled.
"It's not just that. The last time I saw you in this
dress we�" Ranma smiled and leaned forward to kiss his
bride. "Let's just stay up here and forget about the
party."
"Cool it, Romeo," Akane laughed as she passed Ranma to
descend the staircase. "Save some of that for the
honeymoon. Are you coming?"
"Not yet�" Ranma whispered as he stood in the doorway
and stared longingly at the bed. The dress brought
back so many happy memories and he regretted nothing.
The nights they spent perfecting their love making
techniques were sacred to him. He turned to stare at
his bride who waited for him at the top of the stairs.
"I love you, Akane," he said.
Akane smiled. "I know," she said simply.
He joined her and offered his arm. "Promise that as
soon as this party is over we go back in there and I
help you out of this dress."
Akane blushed. "Pervert�" she mumbled.
"Tomboy," Ranma replied.
"Love�"
"Love," Ranma agreed.
They entered the living room and were greeted by
cheering� some more excited than others were.
"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Saotome!"
Three girls stared ruefully at the bride.
* * *
Their first time� their first time was so quick. A
little too quick for everything that built up to it.
The years of name-calling and fights were melted away
by one tender moment. He knew he would never hurt her
again after that one moment. His decision was now
sealed by honor.
Of course she had never said "yes" like he had wished.
One moment he had asked her to be his wife and the
next she was seducing him on the floor of her room.
One quick movement and he was inside of her. His
orgasm washed over him so quickly. Hers did too� only
a few seconds after his. She collapsed and fell
asleep. He picked her up and carried her to the bed.
He didn't have the heart to wake her or finish
undressing her. He lay, halfway dressed, beside her
and watched her sleep, thinking. "I took her
virginity� her honor," echoed in his mind. "What if
she wakes up and hates me?" He cringed and watched
her in sadness. "No matter what happens, she is my
first and only. I promise that I'll be celibate for
the rest of my life if she ever chose to leave me. My
honor demands it�"
After a half an hour she stirred. "Ranma?" she
whispered.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Did we just�?" She looked uncertainly at him.
"Yes."
"Oh," she whispered.
His heart ached for her. She didn't sound too
thrilled. Had she really wanted it to happen? "You
never answered my question," he said quietly, hoping
to draw her out.
She frowned in response. "What question?"
"I asked you if you would be my wife."
She closed her eyes and smiled. "Baka," she breathed.
"What do you think?"
"I think Mom will make me commit seppuku for the way I
acted� if you say no."
"You don't have to commit seppuku, Ranma."
"Then you say yes?"
"Only if you tell me how you feel about me," Akane
replied.
He wrapped his arms around her and cradled her head
against his chest. "I love you," he whispered,
calmly. "Now please say that you will be my wife."
"I'll be your wife," she snuggled against him. "Hmm�
Your heart just sped up."
He laughed under his breath as he leaned forward to
kiss her. Limbs tangled as they helped each other to
undress.
Their second time was a lot slower than their first.
* * *
Ranma stood at the foot of the staircase, nervously
fidgeting with the collar of the formal red silk
Chinese shirt. His fingers traced the embroidered
dragon on his chest. A sound at the top of the
staircase brought his attention up to a breathless
sight. Gods... She was beautiful. There was no way
he could deny it. She wore a red silk Chinese dress
to match his shirt. Her embroidered dragon mirrored
his own. He pried his eyes away from the flash of leg
she gave him as she descended the staircase. "You
look..." he whispered.
"I'm sorry that I kept you waiting," Akane said with a
smile.
"No problem," Ranma said with a grin as his heart
raced. He held out a box. "Here... wear this..."
Akane's eyes flashed at the sight of the box. "Will
you put it on me?"
Ranma fumbled with the box and managed to extract the
wrist corsage it held. He clumsily slipped it on over
her glove.
"It's beautiful... It even matches my dress."
"Mom picked it out..." Ranma said carelessly. The
saddened look on Akane's face made him wish that he
hadn't. "But I chose the roses," he amended.
Akane brightened. "They are lovely... Oh, I wish
someone was here to take our picture."
Ranma smiled, "They all got roped into chaperoning.
They didn't look too thrilled with the dress code."
"At least we don't have to wear those horrible muumuus
or loud Hawaiian shirts the principal is making
everyone else wear. I hear the dress shops are full
of ugly flower prints. We're lucky that your mother
had these clothes."
"Yeah... Lucky..." Ranma said with a small smile as he
offered his arm. "Shall we go challenge the dance to
Anything Goes Martial Arts Fashion?"
"Alright."
They made their way silently to the school. As they
neared Furinkan they crossed paths with many a couple
were cursed with obnoxiously bold flower motifs for
dress. They gazed enviously at the pair of red
dragons.
The prom was to be held in the principal's office so
he could insist on a luau theme. Everyone who entered
the door got leid. Akane's flowers were simple
orchids. Somehow Ranma got puffy, pink carnations.
He rolled his eyes and Akane laughed.
There was a dance floor and a few badly dressed
couples occupied it. Most sat at their tables,
playing with the balloons and wishing they had bought
better clothes before the principal picked the theme
and threatened the dress shop merchants. There was a
bouffet for food and drink. A little booth was set up
to sell extra leis.
As soon as Ranma and Akane entered the jungle room all
eyes turned to them. The most apparent reason was
because they were not doomed to Hawaiian Tourist
Fashion. Another reason was because three girls who
held most of the lei booth inventory in their arms
came running up to Ranma and covered him with flowers.
"Wear my leis, Ran-chan," Ukyo insisted.
"No� Wear mine," Shampoo said.
"Ranma, darling, you must wear mine," Kodachi begged.
"I ain't wearing a bunch of flowers," Ranma said as he
struggled out of the towering lei pile. "I can barely
move."
"But Ran-chan� They are a present," Ukyo pouted.
"I can't do anything with a tower of leis around my
neck," Ranma insisted.
"You wear at least one?" Shampoo asked.
Ranma frowned. "Alright."
All three girls threw their biggest leis on him.
Ranma wore four puffy, pink carnation leis. He sighed
in frustration.
"We each get a dance, don't forget," Shampoo said.
"Nabiki Tendo promised." The three girls stared at
Ranma expectantly.
"Leave me alone. Go dance with your dates. I'll
dance with Akane first," Ranma said.
The others pulled back, leaving Ranma alone for once.
He pulled off one of the leis and gave it to Akane.
"Here. You can wear mine."
Akane accepted it hesitantly. "I hope this isn't
Kodachi's� She may have drugged it."
Ranma paled and took off all the leis. He made a neat
pink pile of them on a nearby table. Unfortunately
Daisuke and his date were sitting at the table. After
a few minutes they passed out.
Ranma led Akane to the dance floor and began a slow
dance.
Three angry women descended on the couple. "Why
aren't you wearing our leis?!" they demanded.
"Kodachi drugged hers and since they all look alike�"
Ranma began.
"Oh ladies�" Nabiki saddled up to the group on the
dance floor. "One at a time. Now off with you before
I tell the DJ to only play fast music for the rest of
the night."
The three shied away and sat at a nearby table to
stare ruefully at Akane.
Nabiki leaned closer to the couple. "So how much will
you pay me to get you out of here?"
"Nabiki!" Akane cried.
"Hey� Just kidding. It's free and I have my
connections." She showed them a set of keys. "I know
a great secret passageway."
Ranma glanced at the three nervously. "Show us."
"Alright, but we'll need a diversion." Nabiki smiled
and waved at the DJ who promptly spun "Time Warp."
Being a strange American song with an interesting
beat, everyone ran to the dance floor and tried to
guess at the English lyrics. Nabiki anonymously
pulled the two away from the mob. She led them to the
principal's tree hut office.
"Everyone knows about this place since that coconut
incident last year," Ranma said.
"You are wrong, my dear Ranma. The office isn't the
escape� the trapdoor is." Nabiki smiled and pulled
the mat off the floor. A trapdoor lay underneath.
"Only the principal and I know about this door and
have a key for it," Nabiki said as she unlocked and
opened the door. The passage was dark and near
vertical. "It's kind of like a slide made from the
hollowed out trunk of the tree. Just watch out for
splinters." Nabiki smiled.
"I'll go first and make sure it's safe," Ranma
announced.
"Don't bother� There are many possible exits. You
will get separated."
Ranma stared at Nabiki. He lifted Akane off her feet.
"Ok� together."
"Just watch out. The first ten feet are free fall.
Good luck." Nabiki shook Ranma's right hand and left
something in it. "This one's on me," she said with a
wink.
Ranma nodded and stepped into air. As they fell he
pulled Akane closer to his body. One wall began to
angle forward as the other angled back. It slopped
suddenly and caught him on the side. He rolled to
keep it at his back and Akane on his front. He
wrapped his legs around hers so they could descend as
one body. A wall rose to one side and they were
pushed the other way. They hit a wall that was rising
on the other side and bounced back. Suddenly there
was light and the bottom gave out of the slide. They
free fell for a second and landed on a soft pile.
Ranma had the wind knocked out of him for a second.
"Akane, are you alright?" he gasped.
"Yes� Are you?" she asked as she rolled off of him.
"Yeah� Hey! We're in the PE shed," Ranma said,
looking around.
"Ranma, why did you leave the dance with me?"
"You were my date. A man always leaves with his date.
That's what Mom says." Ranma smiled.
"But it wasn't about me. The others were chasing
you."
"Maybe I didn't want to dance�" Ranma stopped. How
could he explain? He wanted to tell her that she was
the only prom date he wanted tonight.
"You were dancing with me."
"Wanted to dance with you�"
"You did?"
"Yeah," he said as he self-consciously scratched the
back of his neck.
"Why?" she asked with her eyes trembling.
"Akane�" he whispered as he leaned forward. He
expected something to stop him� a jealous suitor, a
panda falling from the sky, a terrorist group
demanding pork buns and a lifetime supply of bubble
gum, an earthquake or a flood� but nothing did. His
lips touched hers for the first time and he pulled
away in shock. He stared at Akane in confusion. How
did he just do that when it always got messed up
before? Could he do it again? He leaned forward and
expected the four horsemen to arrive for the coming
apocalypse. Instead he felt the warmth of her lips
against his. He waited, pressed against her, for
something to happen. Externally nothing interrupted.
Internally his heart was doing back flips and he felt
tingly. Something wet brushed his lips and it took
him a moment to understand what she had done. He
tried licking her lips but she opened her mouth.
Pleasure washed over him from head to toe. He felt
her wrap her arms around him and his body responded
with fire. Usually he fought off the sensation by
freezing� but she� but she� was exploring his mouth
with her tongue. He wrapped his arms around her. She
moaned into his mouth and his manhood began to ache.
He needed her. He had always needed her� she
completed him� but he wasn't complete to begin with�
No!
He pushed her away and stared, gasping in shock. He
could see the passion in her eyes melt into sadness.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Don't you want me?"
"Yes�" he whimpered and crouched in grief. "But I
can't� I can't�" he sobbed.
"Why?" Akane demanded. "What's wrong?"
"My curse. Don't you care? I turn into a� a�"
"Girl?"
"I can't be a man for you yet. I have to be a
complete man first. I have to go back to Jusenkyo and
get rid of this� I can't share myself with you
knowing�"
"I like you the way you are." Akane's eyes sparkled
with emotion.
"But Akane... I..."
"No buts, Ranma. You don't have to change for me.
Got that? I don't care about your curse."
Ranma's eyes dropped to Akane's lap. He marveled at
the way the dragon's tail curled on her hip. The slit
up to her thigh was nice too. The dress opened
perfectly to reveal her knee when she sat back on her
heels. So many little things caught his eye. Each
one convinced him over and over that she was the right
one... She was the one who didn't pressure him. She
made no demands... only asked that he be himself and
expected nothing in return.
Now, if only he didn't have this damn curse. He could
show her everything and not have to worry that he
couldn't perform correctly as a girl. He gazed
longingly into her eyes. He was surprised to see hurt
there. "You hurt her when you rejected her," he
informed himself.
He had to see her smile. "Um..." he said aloud. "You
know that dress was my mother's."
Akane looked startled. "I know."
"She wore it for her wedding reception."
"She did?"
"Yeah... Pop was supposed to wear the shirt I'm
wearing now. You know... A newlywed thing."
Akane nodded.
"But he was too drunk to change out of his robes."
"How do you know?"
"I've seen the pictures... And Mom mentioned that this
would be the first time the clothes would be worn
together."
"Oh."
"She said that it will bring the wearers a long, happy
life together."
Akane stared at him with her huge brown eyes.
"You look nice in that dress." Ranma gave a little
smile.
"I wasn't sure why your mother insisted on me wearing
this dress. You mean, you knew all along about the
dress and shirt? You wore�" Akane broke off her
thought and smiled.
The smile... He was defenseless against both her
smiles and her tears. He leaned forward and kissed
her again... Now that he knew the world wouldn't end,
it felt easier. He was again surprised to feel the
warm wetness of her tongue against his lips.
Something inside his head screamed, "The curse! The
curse!" but he shushed his inner voice and wrapped his
arms around her in defiance. He could feel her arms
wrap around his back and for a moment he froze to
quell his pleasure, but then he reminded himself of
what he really wanted. Her fingers traced his spine
and he thought he was going to die in her arms. For a
brief instant he feared that the others would barge in
and want to kill him. "Let them come. Let them see,"
he told himself. With a sudden boldness at the
thought of death he leaned back and pulled Akane on
top of him. "Let them see how much I want her," he
thought with each kiss.
"Wait..." Akane said, pulling away from him.
"What?" Ranma asked breathlessly.
"Let's go someplace else."
"Why?"
She took his right hand and opened it to reveal the
thing Nabiki had passed him and he had forgotten
about. It was a crumpled foil pouch. He looked at it
in interest and finally realized what it was. He
dropped it.
"You could try to be a little less obvious about what
you had in mind for tonight," Akane said teasingly.
"I didn't... Nabiki gave it... I forgot that I�"
He was silenced by Akane's lips on his own. She
pulled away from the kiss. "I wanted this to be a
little more romantic than the PE shed. Take me
somewhere else."
Ranma blinked in shock. "OK," he finally said as he
picked her up and carried her out the door, forgetting
the little foil pouch marked "condom."
He stumbled back to the dojo. His mind raced with
thoughts of her. Usually when he thought of her he
left himself wide open for an attack� But not this
time. He fumbled with the door and Akane laughed at
him. "I can walk, you know," she said.
"No� I can carry you," Ranma replied as he finally
opened the door. He ran up the stairs and took them
three at a time. He paused before crossing the
threshold of her room as if remembering something. "I
wanted to wait until my bride was ready," he
whispered. "My honor as Nodoka's son demands it." He
carefully placed Akane's feet on the floor so she
could stand. "It would be wrong to push you�
especially if you didn't want to be my bride."
"How would you know what I want? You haven't asked
me," Akane said with a pout.
Ranma fell to his knees. "Akane� Forget about our
parents and what they want. Forget about all the
other girls that chase me. I just want to know� if
you will be my� wife."
She leaned forward and kissed him passionately with
enough force to knock him over. He didn't respond,
only stared at her in shocked confusion. "Is that a
yes or no?" he asked in a little voice.
Akane laughed at him and pulled him into her room.
"You idiot� What do you think?"
He blushed. "I'm not too sure. You either want to
seduce me or leave me with a nasty case of blue
balls."
"Pervert!" Akane laughed.
"Tomboy!" Ranma responded.
"Would a tomboy do this?" Akane asked as she kicked
her door closed and straddled Ranma's hips. She
carefully began to unbutton his shirt.
"Probably not," Ranma said with a smile as he ran his
hands up her thighs. "Hey! You aren't wearing any
panties!"
* * *
(To be concluded... eventually)
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