Marital Arts
Episode 1 - Part 4

Nodoka quietly opened the door to Akane's room and smiled at the 
two sleeping lovers.  Akane had snuggled against Ranma during the 
night and Ranma had placed his arm around her in a familiar 
embrace.  Nodoka clicked off the light (they had not bothered to turn 
it off) and gently shook them awake.  Both of them woke with a 
start, blushing and trying to pull the blankets around their bodies 
while simultaneously sitting up.  Nodoka smiled and kissed the two 
of them on their heads as she left some bathrobes on the bed.

Nodoka:  "I've prepared the bath, so the two of you go wash 
        yourselves off.  Breakfast will be ready soon."

Nodoka left the room and headed to the kitchen.  Ranma slipped an 
arm around Akane's waist and they both fell back onto the bed.  
Akane reluctantly pushed herself onto her arms and looked down at 
Ranma.

Akane:  "Your mother's right, Ranma.  There's no way we can 
        continue the day like this."
Ranma:  "Why get up at all?"

Ranma lightly ran a hand down the side of Akane's body, but after a 
quick kiss allowed her to lift herself out of bed.  Akane blushed 
when she saw Ranma's body as he pulled on his bathrobe, 
remembering the pleasure they had found in each other the night 
before, then looked up at his eyes and smiling face.  He reached out 
his hand; Akane took it in her own and they made their way to the 
bath.

***************

Akane and Ranma rinsed themselves off with cold water and 
prepared to lather each other up.  They started to trace soapy paths 
across each other (with Akane now having the added difference of 
Ranma's female body).  Still, their ministrations were sometimes a 
hard scrub and sometimes a lingering caress, but neither protested 
either.

Both seemed almost oblivious to where their hands were moving.  
The washtowels approached the triangles of the other's sex, both of 
them moaned with passion as they traveled across it, gasping when 
they both used their finger to separate the outer lips.  With their free 
hands they touched each other's face and brought their lips close.

As they kissed, Akane rinsed the soap off by pouring a bucketful of 
cold water on them.  She started to kiss her way down Ranma's 
front.  She took a nipple into her mouth and started to suck on it.  
Ranma looked down while holding the back of Akane's head.

Ranma:  "Akane, you don't have to, I mean..."

Akane looked up with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, 
remembering how she had reacted when Ranma traced the same 
path with her the night before.  She returned to kiss Ranma on the 
lips, then lay his now female body onto the wet bathroom tiles.  Like 
he did last night, she kissed a path down past the stomach into the 
red hair, which tickled her nose.

Remembering how she had reacted, Akane gently opened the outer 
lips for further exploration and found that Ranma's form had no 
hymen.  Akane didn't stop to wonder about it as she used her fingers 
and tongue as best she could; it was the first time she had done this.  
Ranma certainly wasn't complaining as his torso kept twisting in her 
grasp and his ass kept splashing water as it repeatedly impacted the 
floor.  In spite of the physical evidence to the contrary, she still 
considered Ranma a man - a man she wanted to give pleasure to.

Ranma's body stiffened in her grasp as Ranma gasped.  Ranma's 
womanhood let forth a gush of honey that Akane eagerly lapped up 
with her tongue; she felt the constriction of Ranma's inner muscles 
around her penetrating fingers.  When the spasms had passed, 
Akane kissed her way back up Ranma's body.

As she reached Ranma's head he grabbed her in a hug and kissed 
her.  Akane pushed herself away from Ranma.

Akane:  "I'm going to make sure the door is locked... and when I get 
        back you better be a man!"

Ranma smiled at her and watched her leave the room.  He quickly 
dumped a bucket of hot water and changed back to his male form, 
hungrily reaching out for her when she returned, but she was 
quickly followed by Nodoka, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ranko.

Akane:  [whispering and blushing]  "They were watching us."

Nodoka smiled at everyone's embarrassment.

Nodoka:  "When I planned for us to take a bath together, this is not 
        exactly what I had in mind."

Nodoka tried to look stern, but failed.

***************

Ranma and Akane sat in the bath while the others washed 
themselves.  Ranma tried to keep his eyes off of everyone else's 
bodies by keeping his attention on Akane, which mostly worked.  
Nodoka sighed to herself when she lowered her body into the hot 
water.

Nodoka:  "I've decided that it would be best if your fathers didn't 
        find out about our school.  I'm not sure that they'd entirely 
        understand.  So when they come back tomorrow, we'll go 
        on our own 'training trip' for a month or so, and you should 
        have gotten most of the techniques by then."
Ranko:  "Where will we go, mom?"
Nodoka:  "Back to our house.  That should be good enough."

Akane looked back and forth between Ranma and Ranko.

Akane:  "Ranma, if you both fell into opposite pools, why didn't you 
        cure yourselves by jumping into the pool that the other fell 
        in?"
Ranma:  "We tried.  But the guide said that only one curse from a 
        pool is permanent at a time.  One of us would have to die 
        before the other can be cured."
Akane:  "Does that mean that anyone else who's cursed is going to 
        come after you?"
Ranma:  "I doubt it, not everyone is as stupid as pops."
Nodoka:  "Now, Ranma... don't go insulting your father like that.  
        Even if he does deserve it in this case for taking you to 
        China without speaking Chinese."
Ranma:  "Sorry, mom."

***************

Akane and Ranma went upstairs to get dressed and returned to join 
everyone at the breakfast table.  Akane could tell everyone wanted to 
ask her about the night before, but they kept quiet for the time being.

Nodoka:  "Are you ready to make the pledge?"
Ranma:  "I'm ready."

Ranma looked at Akane as she hesitated.  Akane could feel the eyes 
of everyone else on her.  Especially Ranko, who seemed to 
wordlessly implore her not to make the pledge.

Akane:  "I... I can't."

Ranma looked at Akane in disbelief.  

Ranma:  "What?"
Akane:  "Ranma... I..."

Ranma stood up and started to walk out of the room.

Nodoka:  "Ranma!  Where are you going?"
Ranma:  "Out."
Nodoka:  "Ranma!  Sit back down!"
Ranma:  "No!"
Kasumi:  "Oh, what about breakfast?"
Ranma:  "I'm not hungry."

Ranma left the room and everyone could hear him heading upstairs.  
Nodoka sighed.  She knew how Ranma was feeling, so she didn't 
take offense at his tone or actions.  When Ranma had thought things 
through, he would be back to his normal self and apologize; she had 
raised him too well for him not to reach that point eventually.

Akane got up and followed Ranma upstairs, softly calling his name.

***************

Shampoo followed Ryoga as they walked off the ship.  Since there 
was only one way to move she figured it was safe to follow him for 
the time being.  She wondered if it had been a mistake to join up 
with him; but her japanese wasn't yet good enough to get by on her 
own.

The boy was obviously retarded or something.  Despite the obvious 
physical attributes, the boy insisted that Ranma was a boy and 
Ranko was a girl.  Shampoo didn't much care.  Ranma was 
obviously a girl and she would have her revenge, then return to the 
village with her honor restored.  He could fight Ranko if he wanted 
to.

A small rain shower passed over them and the boy immediately took 
out his umbrella.  Another strike against him for even being 
bothered by such a trifle.  Her Great-Grandmother had told her to 
take a good look at both this boy and Ranko as potential husband 
material.  If both Ryoga and Ranko were as good as Ranma then 
they should be able to beat her in combat.  Shampoo shuddered 
angrily at the thought that anyone was better than her, but she was 
also excited that she might actually get a strong husband instead of 
one of the weaklings around the village.

Shampoo watched as Ryoga asked a passerby for the way to 
Furinkan High School.  The man pointed to the east and said 
"Tokyo".  Ryoga started to run westward, but Shampoo threw one of 
her bonbori at his head, knocking him out cold.

Shampoo sighed and asked herself again if she would be better off 
without him.

***************

Akane continued to softly call out Ranma's name as she climbed the 
stairs.  She checked in her room but Ranma wasn't there.  She went 
to the room that he shared with Ranko and opened the door.  He was 
lying on his futon, his back to her.

Akane:  "Ranma?"
Ranma:  "Go away, Akane."
Akane:  "No.  You're my fiancee."

Akane entered the room and slipped under the covers behind 
Ranma.  He refused to look at her.  She slipped an arm over  his 
body in a loose embrace.  They lay in silence for awhile, then 
Ranma covered her hand with his own.

Akane:  "Ranma... you are the only man for me."
Ranma:  "Then why wouldn't you..."
Akane:  "I can't be the only woman for you.  Not yet."
Ranma:  "That's bullshit."
Akane:  "Its not..."

They both fell silent again.

Akane:  "Our sisters..."
Ranma:  "Mom said she didn't need me."
Akane:  "Its not the same, Ranma.  What I felt last night..."
Ranma:  "That was between us."

Akane crawled over Ranma's body.  He fell onto his back and she 
lay on top of him, her arms lifting her body up so that her face 
hovered above Ranma's.

Akane:  "That's not what I'm talking about.  Its just... you licking the 
        sweat off my body, or..."

Akane lowered herself to whisper in Ranma's ear.

Akane:  "You inside me... nothing can replace that..."

Akane's scent and the contact of their bodies caused his erection to 
grow.  Akane smiled as she felt the bulge in Ranma's pants.  She 
kissed Ranma, then sat up on his torso.

Akane:  "I love you, Ranma Saotome.  And weren't we interrupted 
        this morning?"

Akane lifted the sweater off her body and threw it on the side, 
exposing her now naked top.  Ranma pulled his chinese shirt off.

Ranma:  "I don't love them."
Akane:  "I know..."
Ranko:  "You don't love us?"

Ranma and Akane pulled the blanket up around them as they looked 
at the door.  Ranko was framed in the doorway, holding a tray of 
food.

Ranko:  "I volunteered to bring this up.  Mom and the others are 
        watching a videotape of the two of you from last night and 
        evaluating your performance."

Ranma and Akane blush.  Ranko sets the tray to one side when they 
make no movement for it.  She lifted the chinese shirt off her body.  
Ranma and Akane look at her wide-eyed.

Ranko:  "I watched the two of you last night while hanging upside-
        down outside the window.  I have to admit I was a little 
        jealous.  When I saw Akane making love to my body this 
        morning I understood."

Ranko slipped under the covers and pressed close to the other two.  
With one hand she touched Ranma's arm, the other she ran across 
Akane's bare back.

Ranko:  "I mean, I thought it was just me.  I came back to this room 
        and... you know.  I saw myself making love to both of you 
        when I closed my eyes.  I thought I was a pervert or 
        something, no matter what mom had said."

Ranko's hand reached and cupped Akane's breast from across her 
body.  Her other hand had taken Ranma's and placed it on her own 
breast.  She looked at the two of them with a slightly scared 
expression that Ranma had never seen on her face before.

Ranko:  "I thought I'd beat Nabiki and Kasumi here.  Just ask me to 
        leave and I will."

Ranko slowly moved her head closer so that her lips were next to 
Ranma's.  Then she was suddenly kissing her brother for the first 
time.  She broke off the kiss and smiled as she felt Akane's hand run 
across her bare back, then moving her head closer to Akane, who 
also accepted her kiss.  All three were surprised at how natural it 
seemed.

The three of them rolled over so that Ranko lay with her back on the 
floor.  Ranko gasped as her nipples were suddenly kissed by the 
other two and she found her womanhood touched by a pair of hands.

***************

Kasumi walked quickly to Dr. Tofu's clinic, determined to ask him 
about his feelings for her.  The images of Akane and Ranma's night 
together replayed itself in her head; she was definitely ready to make 
love to him if he said he loved her.

On the way to the clinic the old fears had started to reassert 
themselves and she ended up taking an hour to get there, 
backpedaling every few steps.  This wasn't some minor date.  This 
was about love.  She reached the entrance to the clinic and stopped.  
When they saw her coming, everyone had suddenly left the area.  
Kasumi thought to herself that perhaps he was in love with her; 
everyone certainly seemed willing to grant them some private time 
together.  She took a few deep breaths to steady herself and entered 
the clinic.

It was Sunday, but that never prevented Dr. Tofu from taking 
patients.  He was examining one when she walked in.  Both of them 
gasped her name; Dr. Tofu's back stiffened while the patient 
suddenly ran out the door, saying that he'd be back tomorrow.

Dr. Tofu:  "Kasumi!  What brings you here?"
Kasumi:  "I wanted to... to..."
Dr. Tofu:  "Are you feeling all right?  Would you like some tea?"

Dr. Tofu walked out the door.