A Tale of Ten Yen
A Ranma 1/2 FanFiction
By
D.F. Roeder
-----WARNING-----
This fic contains a LEMON scene, although it isn't necessarily graphic
nor is it gratuitous. In fact, it's largely antiseptic.
-----Acknowledgments---
Many thanks to Vince Seifert for superior prereading. Cheers!
-----Disclaimers-----
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,
Shonen Sunday, Shogagukan, and Kitty TV (Japan), and Viz Communications
(USA).
This work is for free entertainment purposes only - no compensation has
been or will be received from it.
This and other fanfiction can be found at:
http://www.flash.net/~dfroeder/index.html
C&C welcome. Respond to FFML or privately to:
dfroeder@flash.net
====================
====================
This is the story of a coin... a ten yen, to be precise, but then you
knew that from the title. How can one coin change the course of events
in the Ranmaverse? Proceed, then, gentle reader, with a modicum of
caution.
====================
====================
*KNOCK, KNOCK*
Nabiki threw her manga across the room in frustration and shouted,
"WHO'S THERE?!" She winced at the setup.
Her bedroom door softly creaked open, and Ranma stuck his head into the
room. "What's with you?"
"I've had a bad day, all right?!" She crossed her arms under her breasts
and glared at him.
"Oh?" Ranma sauntered in, closed the door, and leaned against the wall,
studying his fiancee's sister. "Not make any money today?"
Ranma could see the gleam in her eyes harden to flint. "I," she
proclaimed, "make money *every* day."
He tilted his head, smiling slightly. "I overheard someone say you
barely broke even on the fight."
Nabiki's eyes flashed, and she cooly said, "Oh, and who told you that?"
<*No* one talks about *my* business without *my* approval!>
"Nobody. Overheard it in the hall. Too many people. Don't know who said
it."
Nabiki slumped a little, and the two of them just watched each other.
They weren't really staring, as such, but just looking the other over
with an oddly tense casualness.
The tableau held for a couple of moments until Nabiki had enough.
"Is there something I can do for you, *Ranma*, or are you just going to
stand there and hold the house up?"
In response, Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten-yen
coin. He tossed it to Nabiki, who caught it deftly. She held it up
between her index and middle fingers.
"This won't buy you much."
Ranma shook his head. "It's not for that. Look at it again."
Nabiki examined the metal disc carefully and then looked up, confused.
"So what? It's just ten yen."
"That's the point." Ranma walked over and gently took it from her hand.
The action surprised Nabiki a little, but she didn't let it show. Ranma
returned to leaning against the wall, twirling the coin between his
fingers in a studied exhibition of dexterity.
"Ranma, you're really starting to cheese me off. *What* is the point of
this little exercise?"
Ranma smirked and held the coin up between his fingers as Nabiki had
done. "How bad do ya want this?"
Nabiki blink-blinked. "Huh? I mean, what do you mean?"
He shrugged. "Do *you* want this ten yen?" He waved the coin back and
forth.
Her eyes tracked the coin as it moved before narrowing. "Sure. Why not?
A yen is a yen is a yen, after all."
Ranma tossed the coin into the air and caught it, his fist hiding it
from view. "Can't just have it. Have to *earn* it."
"WHAT?! Well, then maybe I'll just tell Akane the truth about her little
bedwarmer! How about THAT?!"
He winced. "You really *did* have a bad day, ne? How much?"
"Ten yen," she smirked.
Shrugging, Ranma reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled
out a different ten-yen piece, tossing it to her.
Nabiki caught it not quite as deftly as the other. She looked at the
coin in her hand and then at Ranma's closed fist.
"Why didn't you just give me that one?"
Now Ranma smirked. "Because... ya have ta *earn* this one."
She leaned back against the headboard of her bed. "Okay, you've finally
succumbed to the madness around here - you're making absolutely no
sense."
Ranma just stood there, sweatdropping behind the smirk. Nabiki's facial
expression quickly moved from irritated to annoyed to angry; the day's
events had whittled away a great deal of her cool.
"WELL?!"
"Well what?"
"ARGH! What's so special about *that* ten yen?!"
"Like I said: you can have *that* one, but ya gotta *earn* this one."
"WHAT?! There's no difference! It's just another ten yen!"
Ranma straightened up and flashed the coin between his fingers, waving
it again. "Really?" He opened her door and hastily slipped out of the
room.
Nabiki stared at the open door for a moment, then she looked down at the
second ten yen in her palm. She hefted it.
<Was the other one heavier?>
____________________
Five days earlier...
Ranma and Akane were quietly eating lunch in their classroom when
Hiroshi walked up.
"Hey, Ranma, Akane."
"Hi, Hiroshi."
"Hey," Ranma added after finally swallowing three mouthfuls, polishing
off his Kasumi-made bento.
"Um, Ranma? Can I talk to you for a minute... alone?" Hiroshi was
fidgeting slightly. He knew, as did everyone, that getting Ranma
involved in something carried a certain amount of risk.
Ranma glanced over at Akane, and she cocked her head and smiled cutely.
"Hmmm, sounds like boy-talk to me. Ne, Ranma?"
Ranma's mouth parted slightly, and he stared at his fiancee. <Oh, man,
she can be so *gorgeous* when she does stuff like that!>
Akane blushed under Ranma's frank and open gaze. "Baka! Go talk to
Hiroshi!"
Snapping out of his daze, Ranma got up from his chair and followed
Hiroshi out of the room. He glanced back once before exiting to see
Akane watching him with a strange smile, except her gaze was aimed at
his-- <ACK! She IS a pervert girl!> He started pushing Hiroshi out the
door more quickly as he felt his butt begin to burn, although he found
the sensation surprisingly pleasant.
"Hey!" Hiroshi said, flailing his arms at the speed he was being moved
along.
"Oh... nevermind!"
~~~~~
Back in the classroom, Akane continued to stare at the door until a pair
of giggling girls broke into her fantasy. She whipped around to see her
two best friends in spasms.
"WHAT?"
"For shame, Akane-chan!" Yuka squirreled.
"Yeah, Akane," Sayuri chimed in. "We saw what you were looking at.
Naughty little girl. Who's the pervert?"
Akane was solid red, her mouth working but emitting no sound. She
hunched over her bento and tried to force her hands and chopsticks to
work.
Yuka and Sayuri howled in laughter.
~~~~~
Hiroshi led a surprised Ranma to the roof behind the clock tower. He
then checked all around to make sure they were alone, even going so far
as to reopen the door to the stairwell and then close it completely.
He finally turned to see Ranma, arms crossed and gazing at him with
half-lidded eyes.
"Hiroshi-kun, if you're gonna ask my girl-half out, I'm gonna punt you
to Kobe."
Hiroshi waved his arms and shook his head. "No, no! Nothing like that!
You think I wanna die?"
"Um... okay, then. So what's up?"
Quickly closing the distance between them, Hiroshi clasped his hands
behind his back and closed one eye, peering at his friend through the
other.
"Want to have a little fun with a mutual pain-in-the-ass we have?"
Ranma's arms fell out of their cross. "Eh?!"
Hiroshi produced a *very* thick book from somewhere and held up the
spine for Ranma to read.
"'The Psychology of Obsession'... I'm not reading that!"
Shaking his head, Hiroshi said, "I already have, and it's given me some
ideas." The book disappeared.
Ranma leaned back against the clock tower. "What's going on, Hi? Who put
a hair up your ass?"
"Nabiki."
"URK!" Ranma came out of his warding posture with a serious look. "Man,
don't go messin' with her!"
Grinning evilly, Hiroshi said, "So who's messing with her? Think of it
as a little experiment."
"I don't know, Hi," Ranma dithered. "I know she's been suckin' you dry
lately, but ANY-thing with Nabiki always backfires in MY face."
"Not to worry, Ranma-kun. This is simple and straight-line. There's no
plots or complicated plans you have to remember."
"Well... I'm listenin', but no promises. What is it?"
Hiroshi leaned a little further forward and slyly said, "Show her
something she can't have."
____________________
The evening meal was a strained affair, everyone trying to figure out
why Nabiki was gazing intently and speculatively at Ranma and, perhaps
more unsettling, why Ranma seemed unaffected by it.
Finishing his food in true Saotome fashion, he rose from the table.
"Say, Akane, feel like sparrin' a little?"
Akane had been in mid-swallow, and she choked. Ranma rapped her on the
back a couple of times.
"Are you okay?" Ranma asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
She coughed a couple of times and then looked up at her fiance. "Are
*you* feeling all right?"
He blinked at her. "What?"
"You're being nice."
Ranma shrugged nonchalantly.
"You'll *really* spar with me? Not just dodge?"
He considered that and remembered Hiroshi's words. <"Take any
opportunity to show that someone else can have it, but *she* can't.">
Ranma then reached into his pocket, pulling out the notorious ten yen.
He held it out for Akane, and she hesitantly took it.
"If I don't, then ya get ta keep *thaaat* ten yen."
Confusion ran rampant across Akane's face. "Wha-what? What's that got to
do with it?"
"It's important. If I don't really spar with ya, it's yours."
Soun burst into tears. All he could see was the two actually sort-of
getting along. Genma just kept eating. Kasumi smiled at them both.
Soun's tears stopped and everyone turned when Nabiki's chopsticks
snapped. She looked at her hand in surprise, but Ranma paid it no mind.
"See ya in the dojo, Akane," he said and walked out of the dining room.
Akane scratched her head, looking down at the coin. "Ooo-kaaay.
Whatever." She slipped the coin into her skirt pocket and proceeded to
finish her meal, occasionally sneaking glances at Nabiki across from
her.
~~~~~
Ranma was going through his warm-up kata when he heard the shoji doors
open and close. He turned and saw Nabiki regarding him steadily. Nodding
once, he picked up where he'd left off in his exercise.
"Somethin' I can do for ya, Nabiki?"
"What are you playing at, Ranma?" she asked coldly. "This is some kind
of payback for my dates with Kasha-ou Kinnosuke, isn't it?"
He almost faltered in his routine, so he stopped. "Gee, I hadn't thought
of him in ages."
"Okay, so what *is* your game?"
"Game? ... No game."
"Bull."
Ranma crossed his arms. "Fine, you tell *me*. What's the game?"
Nabiki didn't have an immediate answer, but after a moment, she said,
"How is it that Akane can have it, but I can't?"
Sighing, Ranma said, "I already told ya! YOU have ta EARN it!"
Nabiki found herself in an unusual position: not holding all the cards.
<What is so damn special about *that* ten yen?! Just play along, girl.
You'll figure it out.>
"Fine, Saotome. What do I have to do?"
"Ah, yeah." Ranma walked over to her and produced a photograph. He held
it out, and she took it, looking down her nose at the image of
onna-Ranma wearing only her boxer-shorts and stretching her arms above
her head. All in all, a very fetching and nosebleed-quality photo.
<One of my best,> Nabiki thought. <Oh, ho! I see what he wants.>
"I'm not buying all these back *or* destroying the negatives. Nice try,
Ranma-kun," she smirked.
Smirking back, he said, "Don't have to."
"Eh?!" Nabiki's cool persona was getting a thorough workout this day.
Ranma laughed. "No, that's not it at all. See the pose?"
Dumbly, Nabiki nodded.
"For *that* ten yen, I get ta take a photo of you like that, except in
panties, not boxers." <Kamisama, Hiroshi! I hope ya know what you're
doin'!>
Nabiki face-faulted. She eased back to her feet with the biggest smirk
Ranma had ever seen. "Really, Ranma, if you want to get me naked, all
you have to do is ask."
"URK!"
Nabiki stepped up to the cringing martial artist and ran her hands down
his front. "I mean, a big, hunky guy like you? Why, I'd be the envy of
every girl in school." She locked her hands behind his neck and gazed
hotly into his bulging eyes. "Ne? ... Ranma-kun?"
Ranma finally found his voice, "GAAAH!!" and slipped out from under her
arms. "THAT'S NOT IT!! YUCK!!!"
"I should be insulted," Nabiki sniffed, "but for ten yen, I'll forget
the whole thing."
Running on automatic reflex, Ranma reached into his pocket for the
money. Fortunately, he'd already given it to Akane, and he remembered
that as his hand groped an empty pocket. He winced and straightened.
"Gah. Almost got away with that, Nabiki. Anyways, I told ya what ya had
ta do for that ten yen. So?"
Nabiki stuck her face in his, looking in one eye and then the other.
Ranma bigsweated.
"What's your GAME, Ranma? Tell me, or life WILL be hell."
Ranma pulled at his pigtail. "What do I have ta do ta get through to
ya?!"
"You're SERIOUS?!"
Lowering his arm, he nodded slowly. "Un."
"You thought I'd go for THAT, Saotome?!"
Ranma scratched his head. "Uh... didn't ya just say all I had ta do was
ask?"
Nabiki almost face-faulted again. "Fine, fine, fine, FINE! If you won't
*tell* me what I want to know, I have other ways!" She spun on her heel
and stalked out of the dojo, passing Akane along the way and almost
knocking her down.
Ranma shrugged and went back to his kata, but he was hardly calm. <"It
won't take at first,"> Hiroshi had said, <"but give it time...">
Akane walked up. "What's going on?"
"Who can tell with Nabiki? Ready?"
____________________
The next morning, Akane and Ranma made their usual way to school: Akane
on the ground and Ranma taking the high road. However, Ranma kept
stealing worried glances at his fiance.
"Um, uh, how ya feelin', Akane?"
Akane stopped and clenched her fists, arms straight down. She whipped
her head around, and Ranma winced at the sight of the shiner blackening
almost half of her face.
"Will you STOP IT?! If you ask me that ONE MORE TIME, OOO, I'LL... I'm a
martial artist, too, and I'm *supposed* to take my lumps! I'M NOT MADE
OF GLASS!! I'm DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY TO HAVE THIS BLACK EYE!!!"
Ranma hung his head and shuffled on down the fence toward school.
Having expected an insult in response to her tirade, Ranma's meek
demeanor caused her anger to abruptly sputter out. "Ranma, would you
come down here, please?"
He swung his head her way, and she could see his eyes peering out from
under the mop of hair over his forehead. He stepped off the fence and
landed lightly.
Akane walked up and regarded him seriously; she could see his horror at
her bruise and at the fact that he'd done it. "Ranma, we were sparring.
You didn't really hurt me, you know. Would it have bothered you so much
if it'd just been a bruise on my leg?"
He didn't say anything, but hesitantly shook his head once.
"Tell me something else. How am I supposed to get better if you won't
spar with me seriously?" She searched his clouded eyes.
"I... don't know," he finally said.
"How would you like it if nobody took you seriously as a fighter? Can
you imagine the shame and humiliation?"
He kicked at the ground, reluctant to let any ground go, but Akane just
waited, not backing off. Finally, painfully, he nodded quickly.
Akane sighed and said, "Do you want to shame *me*, make *me* feel
humiliated?"
"...nooo..."
"That's what happens every time you just dodge," she said tiredly. "It
shames and humiliates me, like I'm not worth the trouble."
She crossed her arms. "Do you think I'm not worth the trouble? Not worth
your time or any real effort?"
Not waiting for an answer, Akane started to walk away, but she stopped
and stepped back up to him. She grabbed his hand and turned it palm up,
placing the ten yen he'd given her the night before into it.
"One other thing: you can't distract me from what's important with your
little games. Think about *that*." And she walked off, leaving him to
follow behind.
~~~~~
As Ranma entered the stone gates of Furinkan after Akane, watchful eyes
peered down from a third-story window.
<Jeez, what'd she do to him?> Nabiki wondered. <He looks like a whipped
puppy.> The image of a ten-yen coin held between two masculine fingers
danced in her mind. She shook it loose and returned to her current
business dealings.
____________________
Nabiki joined Akane and Ranma for lunch, a rare enough occurrence these
days to warrant strange looks from her sister and her sister's fiance.
It had also caught Hiroshi's attention, but he was content to watch from
a distance.
"What?" Nabiki asked, nonplussed.
"Nothing, Oneechan. It's just... you're usually busy taking money."
Nabiki sat down in an empty desk and picked at the string tying her
bento. "Not much happening today," she muttered.
"Oh, well... sit down, then." Akane smiled at her sister. Ranma had been
unusually solicitous all morning, and Akane's mood had improved, in
spite of fielding a thousand questions about her black eye.
They ate quietly for a while, but Akane and Nabiki soon found themselves
chatting about this, that, and the other. It was very calm and peaceful
for both of them, until Ranma finished his lunch and started amusing
himself with a coin, flipping it over the tops of his fingers.
Nabiki grew a little tense and maintained her end of the conversation
with Akane with obvious difficulty. Akane, wondering what was suddenly
wrong, looked over at Ranma, but couldn't figure out what, if anything,
was making Nabiki tense.
"What are you doing?" Akane asked.
"Huh? Oh... nothin'. Just passin' the time."
Akane watched the flash of the metal as it smoothly flowed back and
forth over his hand.
"Where'd you learn that?"
"Saw some magic guy on TV. Looked like good trainin'." He batted the
coin into the air and caught it between thumb and forefinger, holding it
out. "Ya want it?"
"Is that one magic?"
"Naw. Just the same ol' ten yen."
"Hmph! You know how I feel about that!" She turned her head away.
Ranma sighed dejectedly. "Sure. Just wanted ya ta know you could have
it, if ya wanted."
With half-lidded eyes, she looked over her shoulder and said frostily,
"You're so weird, Ranma."
Slumping, he returned to flipping the coin at a slower pace.
Both were surprised when Nabiki shut her bento, got up, tossed her meal
into the trash, and left.
"What's bitin' her?" Ranma asked.
Akane shook her head. "Like you said last night, who knows with her?"
Ranma was about to put the coin away, when he detected an island of
stillness in the sea of casual motion surrounding him. He locked eyes
with Hiroshi, and Hiroshi grinned and turned back to his meal.
____________________
Over the next few weeks, Ranma continued to exhibit the coin whenever he
could do so and not look like a total idiot. Once or twice, he asked
Ukyou to hold it for him; she, of course, was ecstatic to do anything he
asked, within bounds of severely limited reason. And of course, Akane
wouldn't speak to him for a couple of days afterward. Tiring of that
scenario, he began employing Kasumi as a holder for the ten yen whenever
Nabiki was around, and it usually went something like this:
"Say, Kasumi."
"Why, hello, Ranma-kun! What can I do for you?" She would always have a
smile, and Ranma loved that about her.
"Could ya hold on ta somethin' for me?"
"Again?" she would ask, bewildered.
"Yeah, I just need ya ta hang on ta this coin for me."
"Again?" she might ask, looking even more bewildered.
"Sure. Just for a day, ya know?"
Shaking her head, she would take the proffered money and slip it into
her apron pocket. "Is it a rare coin, Ranma?"
"Naw. Just a ten yen. And if ya do need ta spend it, that's okay, too."
"Anou... whatever you say, Ranma-kun."
"Thanks, Kasumi. You're the best!" And he would saunter out of the
kitchen.
Kasumi would almost invariably stop whatever she was doing and take the
coin out of her pocket, turning it over and over, trying to determine
what made it so special to Ranma. Finally, she would shrug and slip it
back into her pocket, putting it down to martial artists and their ways,
although she'd thought she was already familiar with most of their
quirks.
Wherever Nabiki happened to be, she would almost invariably mutter to
herself, "That jerk. What does he think he's trying to prove? Jerk,
jerk, jerk..."
____________________
It came to pass in about the fourth week of ten-yen torture that Nabiki
decided she'd had enough. She started upping her extortion on Ranma,
catching him in all sorts of compromising positions. To her rising
frustration, however, he would either not care if she circulated her
photos or if he paid, she would never see that damn ten yen coin among
the payment.
After two more weeks of increased activity on the part of the middle
Tendou, Ranma was also becoming weary of the experiment; having Nabiki
continually on one's case was enough to try anyone's endurance. Ranma
just knew that if he didn't draw this matter to a close, he'd end up
paying through the nose for it somehow, and since the 'experiment' had
been someone else's brainchild, he went to see the source.
~~~~~
"WHAT?!?!?!"
Hiroshi laughed. "Look, old man, *you're* the one who wants to give her
a fair shot, and that's my solution."
"You really ARE a pervert!"
"What can I say? Can *you* think of a better way to test her resolve?"
Ranma shuddered. "Trust YOU to come up with somethin' like THIS!"
"Got a better idea? I'm game."
He shuddered again.
"Man, I don't see what your problem is, Ranma. If I had a curse like
that, I'd take advantage of it with more than just cadging the
occasional free eats. Kamisama! Every day, you can live out the
fantasies half the male population of the world have, and here you are,
balking at a simple test of your future sister-in-law's will. Go home.
You're bothering me."
"I think I will. I KNOW I can come up with somethin' better than THAT!"
Ranma headed for the door.
Hiroshi was sadly shaking his head over his friend's hangups, when he
remembered a certain personality quirk Ranma had in spades.
"Well, do what you want, but I think you're just chicken."
Jerking to a halt in front of the door, Ranma ground out, "What - did -
you - say?"
"I don't think you can handle it, that's what!" Hiroshi gulped and
silently said a few prayers to Kamisama.
Ranma slowly turned around, his eyes burning. Sweating, Hiroshi decided
to cast his fate to the winds and turned up the heat; he didn't think
he'd get another chance at something like this.
"I'll even put it in terms you can't possibly deny: Saotome Ranma, I
challenge you to pull this off and make Nabiki think you're enjoying it!
You are, of course, free to ignore this challenge at any time," he
appended nervously.
Ranma clenched his eyes shut and shook, at war with himself over the
need to accept any challenge and the desire to run like hell from it.
Hiroshi sighed. "Whatever, Ranma. I just don't wanna hear any more about
the oh-so-grand Saotome honor."
"Fiiine," Ranma eventually hissed. "I hope you're happy, Hi."
"Hey, man, I'm not the one who's going to be feeling good over this,
ne?"
"Grrr!"
"By the way, Ranma-kun, I could come along as witness--"
*BONK!*
Hiroshi was laid out on the floor, little spirals for eyes.
"Freak of Nature," Ranma huffed as he jogged for home. <Oh, maaannn!
What have I gotten myself into now?!> "C'mon, Saotome, you're a MAN and
don't back down for nothin'! ...Oh, maaannn! What am I gonna do?!"
____________________
In a loose tank-top and short-shorts, Nabiki sat at her computer, trying
to keep her mind on her financial books. She'd already gotten rid of her
custom screensaver that showed various coined denominations of yen
floating by.
*KNOCK, KNOCK*
She knew the owner of that particular sound. "What do you want, Ranma?"
Onna-Ranma slipped into the room and quietly shut the door, leaning back
against it, her hands behind her back, and doing her best impression of
a smoky gaze. She was wearing a sheer halter-top and a pair of boxers.
What wasn't obvious was that she was also wearing panties, <Damn
things,> for a certain reason that would shortly be obvious.
"Hey, Nabiki-chan," she squeaked. The cold metal of the ten yen was
generating all sorts of strange sensations.
<Oh, brother,> Nabiki thought. <What now?> She merely arched an eyebrow
at her visitor.
Ranma licked her lips and said, "I, uh, thought I'd give you a second
chance at that ten yen."
Despite her best efforts, Nabiki's blood pressure went up and her
heartbeat accelerated. <Finally!>
Outwardly calm, she said, "Fine. How?"
"Heh," Ranma bigsweated, "I've, uh, hidden it somewhere in-- ERRR, on my
*cough-cough* body. You, ah, can have it if ya can find iiit." Her voice
cracked and squealed on the last word, but it went unnoticed because
Nabiki had completely lost her cool and face-faulted.
"You've *got* to be kidding," she moaned from the floor.
"Errr, no, not really."
Nabiki climbed to her feet and regarded Ranma incredulously. "What IS
your game with that ten yen, Ranma?"
"No game, Nabiki, uh, chan. It's just as simple as pie, ya know? Heh,
the panty picture or hide-and-seek, a-heh."
Crossing her arms, Nabiki said, "Do you have any idea how many dirty
hands that coin has passed through?"
Ranma beamed. "No prob. I washed it first."
Nabiki almost hit the floor again, but she barely managed to stay
upright. She then began to bite her lip. Ranma had been torturing her
with that ten yen for what seemed like forever. She wanted to end this
little drama so she could get back to what passed for normal around the
Tendou Dojo.
"You think I won't do it, don't you?"
Ranma shrugged, doing interesting things to her unbound breasts. "Really
don't know. Maybe ya don't have the guts. Just thought I'd give ya a
choice."
However, Nabiki was not the daughter of a martial arts family for
nothing. "Hmph! Prepare yourself."
"EEP!" Ranma spread herself against the wall, her arms out and elbows
bent at ninety-degrees, but she did keep her legs together.
Nabiki stepped up and ran her hands through Ranma's hair. Easy enough,
and it didn't do much for either, other than relaxing Ranma a little.
Convinced it wasn't there, she felt around the neck, shoulders, and
arms. Ranma squirmed a little, but it wasn't that bad, or so she
thought. Nabiki turned her attention to Ranma's front and was about to
feel around Ranma's breasts, when she noticed that Ranma's nipples had
hardened, so she stopped; it wasn't difficult at all to see through the
material of the halter-top.
"Oh, for the love of..."
Steeling herself, she felt around the bottom of the breasts, ran her
hands up the sides, over the swell at the top, through the cleavage,
back around the sides nearer the front, and finally over the peaks.
"Ah! Ah!"
"Can it!"
"Go-go-gomen."
Snorting, Nabiki ran her hands down Ranma's sides, up her back, and she
started to run back down Ranma's front again, but she jerked her hands
away. Shuddering, she felt along Ranma's stomach, back and forth, not
quite making it to the bottom of her torso.
"Mmblgrrrm," Ranma moaned. She blinked as she felt a wet warmth start to
collect in her panties. <Oh, no!>
Sighing, Nabiki could already see most of Ranma's legs; no ten yen. She
stared at Ranma's boxers.
"You didn't. TELL me you didn't."
"Heeeee," Ranma squealed, which was supposed to have been 'heh'.
Nabiki shuddered, then knelt, grasped Ranma's boxers, and yanked them
down.
"AAH!" Ranma yelled, surprise getting the better of her discretion.
"Shhh! You want the whole house up here?!"
"N-N-No. But not so rough!"
"Grrr... Oh, Kamisama, you're wearing panties," Nabiki looked down, "AND
boxers?!"
"Well, didn't want it fallin' out!"
Nabiki put her face in her hands. "Tell me you didn't."
"Uh, um, I did?"
"How far in?" she mumbled.
"Uh, uh, not far... I think. How far is far?"
Shaking her head, Nabiki looked straight at Ranma's panties and finally
took note of the musky scent and the apparent moisture. She stared up at
Ranma with disgust.
"This is turning you on, isn't it?"
Ranma multiple sweatdropped. "Anou... er, um, well... you *are* a girl,
heh."
"Glad you noticed," she said icily, "but do you know how this makes ME
feel?"
Blinking, Ranma said, "Not really."
Nabiki clonked herself on the head. "Of course you don't. You're just a
dumb jock."
"HEY!"
"Shhhh!"
"Okay, okay."
Nabiki teetered on the edge of indecision. She REALLY wanted that ten
yen, but THIS! <Gad!>
Ranma, sadly - or not, depending on your point of view - was growing
hotter and hotter because a *woman* was kneeling before her and staring
at her, her... place! Every few seconds, her legs would tremble. <Gah!
Women! Can't make up their minds about nothin'!> The fact that she fell
into that category at the moment escaped her notice.
"We-well?" Ranma finally asked.
"Um..."
"Fine." Ranma reached down to pull up her boxers, but Nabiki stopped
her.
"Damn you, Saotome!"
"..."
"Fine, great." With a determination and steel nerves born of many a
business deal, Nabiki hooked her fingers into Ranma's panties and yanked
them down to her ankles, bringing the boxers along for the ride.
"AAAAHHH!!" The sensation of soaked panties peeling and pulling away
from tender bits had Ranma slapping the wall with the flat of her hand.
"RANMA! WHAT are you DOING?! BE QUIET!!" Nabiki hissed fiercely.
"EEK!! So-sorry... again."
"You're going to get us both killed! Now be quiet and let me work."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry--"
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up, already."
Nabiki brought her hand forward and then stopped. "Uh, spread, *HACK*
your legs."
Ranma tried to oblige, but couldn't. "Um... my, oh man, panties are--"
"Well, step out of them!"
"Oh." And she did, subsequently spreading her legs to about
one-and-one-half shoulder widths.
Nabiki shook herself and brought her hand forward, only to stop when she
was finally forced to make recognition of onna-Ranma's natural hair
color. Nabiki felt an odd warmth begin in the depths of her belly.
"Gag."
"We-well, don't, the-then."
"Shut up."
Gritting her teeth, Nabiki reached forward and then slowly slid two
fingers in and then up.
"WOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
"SHUT-UP!! ... Ah! I felt it!"
"So-so-so did I... and ya just, ah!, pushed it, AH-AH!, farther
innnnnnoooohhhmygoooodddd!"
"Oh, super. This just keeps getting better and better."
Knowing full well what the result would be, Nabiki scissored her fingers
open and pushed a little further in.
Ranma was biting her palm and silently screaming into it.
Nabiki felt the coin slide along the inside of one finger.
"Almost got... it..."
And, of course, that's when all hell broke loose: Ranma's body started
convulsing; Nabiki lost her tenuous grip on the ten yen and,
incidentally, shoved it further in; Ranma proceeded to screech without
benefit of a muffler; and last, but definitely not least, Nabiki's door
slapped open to reveal Akane, P-chan comfortably nestled against her
bosom.
"WHAT THE HELL... is..."
Nabiki's hand came out with a squelchy pop, and she presented that
deer-in-headlights look to her little sister. Ranma jerked and screeched
once more as Nabiki's hand departed, and she then promptly passed out,
dying the little death, and falling face-first against Nabiki's thighs,
somehow managing to present her damp derriere for Akane's inspection.
Akane gawked for two seconds and then wilted to the floor, a little
whisp of steam rising from the back of her head. P-chan went down with
her, two jets of blood arcing from his snout.
Nabiki smacked herself on the forehead and only then realized what she
had a handful of.
"Oh, GROSS!" Her hand came away, trailing fluid in a string.
"Is everything all ri--" Kasumi stood in the doorway, staring and trying
to make sense of what she was seeing: Nabiki wiping a mess off of her
hands and face; Ranma with her butt in the air and... leaking; Akane
face-down on the floor and unmoving; and P-chan squirting blood from his
snout. Without blinking, Kasumi turned around and staggered down the
stairs.
"Fa-Father," she called. "I th-think we have a small p-problem."
____________________
Tendou Soun presided at the gathering around the dining-room table.
Kasumi was quietly pouring tea, and if it happened not to be up to its
usual standards, no one felt obliged to comment upon it.
Ranma was still in girl-form, having failed to retrieve a certain piece
of currency from its present location. Fortunately, the metal had long
since warmed to body temperature, and Ranma was thankfully unaware of it
by means other than movement caused by the occasional jostling of her
body.
"Now, Son," Soun began, feeling a little odd as he always did when
addressing Ranma's cursed form, "please tell us why you've chosen Nabiki
over Akane in the joining of the schools."
"ACK!" Ranma presented warding signs. "I DIDN'T!!"
Akane was seething, but Nabiki spoke first. "Daddy, it wasn't what it
looked like." She then paused, realizing that was usually Ranma's line.
"Um... um..."
"Nabiki, dear, Ranma has taken your virtue. It seems that--"
Ranma shot to her feet. "HEY! SHE had HER hand up *MY*... uh... Well, I
didn't take nobody's virtue!" She slumped back into her place, stewing
and embarrassed at the same time.
Soun blinked. "Is this true, Nabiki?"
"Yes, Daddy," she said quietly.
Soun was trying very hard not to dissolve into tears before he got to
the bottom of this matter, but cracks were starting to appear in the
veneer.
"I... I... *sniffle* I don't understand! What could be so important
*sob* that you had to put the joining of the schools in jeopardy? For
what?! Answer me, Ranma-kun!"
Genma performed his stoic act. "Tell him, boy! Don't shame yourself!"
"For whaaat?!" Soun wailed.
"Anou... ... ten yen?" Ranma squeaked.
Everyone but Ranma and Nabiki face-faulted. Soun was shortly in
full-blown wail #1002: 'My daughter's a prostitute! Or is Ranma a
prostitute?! I'm so confused! And for very little money!!'
Akane was shouting at Ranma. "What IS it with you and TEN YEN?!"
Ranma sweat-dropped and twiddled her thumbs. "Heh."
"Actually, I'd like to know that, too," Nabiki drawled.
Ranma whipped her head around, but everyone, including Kasumi, was
waiting for her explanation. Seeing no way out, she hung her head.
"It was just, er, a joke."
"A JOKE?!" Nabiki and Akane screeched.
"You tried to seduce my SISTER... JUST FOR A JOKE?!?!" Akane shouted.
"NO, DUMMY! THAT WASN'T *MY* IDEA!!"
Akane and Ranma glared at each other.
"Well... whose idea was it?" Kasumi innocently asked.
Deflating, Ranma slumped back into her seat. "I can't tell ya. I
promised."
"Son," Genma intoned, "honor demands that you tell--"
"Fat lot you know about it, Oyaji!" Ranma spat. "So just SHUT UP about
your stupid honor!!"
"BOY!! I'm your FATHER! DON'T--"
Genma's tirade was cut off before it really began by a soft voice. "Why,
Ranma? I thought... I... We..." Akane trailed off as she began to cry.
"Akane! I... I... Aw, don't cry! It just got outta hand. I... I'm
sorry."
She looked at him sadly through her tears. "That's just not enough
anymore, Ranma."
"Akane!" Ranma pleaded. "Please, I--"
"No. You've ruined it, Ranma. If she'll have you, you can be engaged to
Nabiki." She wiped away the moisture on her face. "I don't know you. I
don't have a fiance." Her face set in stone, she walked out of the room.
"Akane..." Stunned, Ranma held out her hand to the retreating figure.
"I'm so ashamed!" Genma wailed, tearing at the bandanna covering his
head in lieu of hair. "My son is a degenerate! My CHILD is a REDHEADED
SLUT!!"
Ranma whirled on her father. "WHAT?!?! STUPID OLD MAN! WHY, I OUGHTA--"
A different shoji into the room slid open, and a voice said, "Did
someone call Ranko what I thought I heard?" Saotome Nodoka peered into
the room, seeing onna-Ranma first. "Ranko! Did you do something
naughty?! How many times have I told you to be more lady... like..." She
blinked. "GENMA!"
Not quite fast enough, Genma's bucket of water was only beginning to
empty onto his head when his wife spotted him. Transfixed by her stare,
Genma's eyes were wide and his mouth open, all of his teeth showing.
This posture remained as he became a panda. With staring eyes and no
change of expression, he rolled onto his back and clutched his trademark
beachball. One paw held up a sign.
<"Hello, Someone Else's Wife."> Flip. <"I'm just a cute panda.">
Nodoka crumpled to the ground.
In a flash, Genma was on his bear feet, his pack on his back and waving
a different sign. <"C'mon, boy! Training trip!">
"Stuff it, Oyaji," Ranma said tiredly. "I ain't goin' nowhere." She
slumped down and watched as Soun and Kasumi tended to her mother.
Genma whacked her on the head with another sign. <"WHAT ABOUT THE
PROMISE?!">
"If you wanna run, go ahead. I'm stayin'."
Genma proceeded to repeatedly beat his son-now-daughter over the head,
hoping to induce unconsciousness. Ranma was having none of it. Several
nasty kicks and punches later, an unconscious *panda* lay in the Tendou
backyard.
Ranma padded in and settled next to her mother, almost looking forward
to an end to it all.
<Akane...>
~~~~~
Ranma fidgeted, feeling a little off in her lower abdomen.
"Ranko?"
She jumped and looked down to see her mother gazing up at her. "Uh, hi."
She smiled weakly.
"Ranko-chan, was... was I dreaming or did Genma turn into...
Panda-chan?"
"Uh... uh..." Ranma squinched her eyes shut. "Yeah." *sigh* "He did."
"How... how is that possible?" Nodoka sat up and knelt next to Ranma.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ranma could see Soun, Kasumi, and Nabiki
peeking around the edge of the shoji.
"Well, ya see, Mo-- uh, Obasama, there's these cursed springs in China.
During the train'--"
"Ranko-chan, watch your speech. Young ladies don't speak roughly,"
Nodoka admonished.
"Um..." <Oh, man!> "Right. Sure. Like I was say-*ing*, Pops, errr,
Saotome-ojiisan and Ranma were train-*ing*, and they fell into a cursed
spring. Saotome-ojiisan turns into a panda when splashed with cold
water."
"Oh, my! And did you say Ranma fell into it, too?" Nodoka put her hand
up to her mouth. "He's a panda, also?!"
Ranma was really starting to sweat. "Uh, no. He, ah, fell into a
different spring."
Her mother breathed out in relief. "My goodness, that was quite a
fright! I'm glad to hear he's all right."
"Uh..."
"He *is* all right?" Nodoka surreptitiously looked around for her
katana, but it didn't seem to be present.
"Uh... well. He doesn't, ah, turn into a panda, that's for sure, heh."
Ranma scratched the back of her head, and Nodoka finally took a good
look at the girl.
"Ranko! You're not wearing a bra! Why, you can almost see EVERY-thing!!"
Ranma whipped her arms around and in front of her chest. "Uh..."
"And did I hear someone calling you a... RANKO! YOU DIDN'T!!"
Ranma blinked. "Didn't what?"
"Did a man take your virtue?!"
"ACK!!"
"Oh, my! Well, people have gotten married for worse reasons, I suppose.
What's his name, dear?"
Waving her hands in front of her mother's face, she screeched, "NO, NO,
NO!! It weren't no man! It was Nabiki!! GACK!!!" She realized what she'd
said just as Nodoka fell back over in a faint.
Ranma bent over and lightly slapped her cheeks. "Mom?! Mom?!" She
grabbed a convenient glass of water and splashed her on the face.
"Ah!" Nodoka blinked awake.
"Don't SCARE me like that!" Ranma said, patting her jiggling chest,
which happened to be right over her mother's face.
"Ranko, please! Don't flaunt your... assets so!"
Shrinking in on herself, Ranma backed away.
"Now," Nodoka said, taking a deep breath and letting it out, "am I to
understand that you and... Nabiki are... um, *that* way?"
Ranma blink-blinked. "Um, what way?"
"Anou, two girls instead of a boy and a girl."
Putting a finger in her mouth, Ranma worked that one over, but she did
finally get it. "GAH!! No way!! With NABIKI?!?!"
They both heard a soft snort come from around the door, but they ignored
it.
"Well, then, what's going on?"
"Gah! I was just tryin' to let her have that DAMN ten yen!" Ranma wrung
her hands.
"What ten yen?"
"The one that's still in my..." She was pointing at her crotch when
Nodoka fainted again.
<This is really gettin' old.> "Kasumi, can you come here a sec, please?"
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Kasumi said, "Yes, Ranma... chan?"
Ranma winced. "Have ya got any kitchen tongs?"
"Why, yes, I do. What do... you... ... Oh, my!"
"Got it in one."
____________________
Akane wouldn't have left her room, but the call of nature really
couldn't be ignored any longer. She shuffled out, down the stairs, and
to the bathroom. She slid the door open, and her eyes bulged out and her
mouth gaped.
"AWWW, MAAANNN!! AKANEEEEE!!! GO A-WAAAY!"
Akane quietly shut the door and leaned against it, still showing
dinner-plate eyes. She gave passing thought to a scream, but the range
of possible subjects to scream about tied her tongue. She stumbled away,
desperately trying to erase the image of Ranma with two metal handles
sticking out of her... place.
____________________
Nabiki's door swung open without a knock, a delicate, female hand
reached in, and a coin flew across the room. Nabiki caught it, and then
wished she hadn't; the coin dropped to the desk with a moist clink.
"There's your damn ten yen."
"You didn't wash this."
"Nope."
The door clicked shut.
____________________
Ranma was trying to sneak out of the house, when:
"Ranko-chan."
"Eep!"
Nodoka took her by the hand and led her back into the tearoom. She sat
her down and knelt down beside her.
"About Ranma..."
A statue sat next to the Saotome matriarch, bits of stone flaking off to
litter the floor.
"You mentioned that he fell into a different spring. What would that be,
dear?" At some point Nodoka had retrieved her katana, and she was now
clutching it to her.
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah--"
"What's wrong?" She glanced down. "Oh! I see you haven't found a bra,
yet. Well, we can fix that later. Please answer my question. If Ranma
fell into a spring, what does he turn into?"
"O-- O-- O--" a rigid Ranma sputtered.
"O?! What do you mean, 'O'?"
Ranma shivered. "On-- On-- On-na."
"Onna... a girl... I see," she said, her voice growing abruptly stern.
"And where might this 'girl' be found?"
"Ah!! Ah!! Ah!! A--"
"RANMA!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!"
The closed shoji to the backyard crashed in to reveal Ryouga brandishing
his umbrella.
"THERE YOU ARE!! HOW DARE YOU JILT AKANE AND DO... AND DO... *THAT* WITH
NABIKI?!?!"
Ranma went into overload and fell over backwards, eyes spiraling and
hands in their warding poses. Her move caused Ryouga to miss and break
the table in half.
Nodoka was upset at the intrusion. "YOUNG MAN!! What is the meaning of
this?! And WHERE do you see RANMA?!"
"ARE YOU AS BLIND AS MOUSSE, LADY?! HE'S RIGHT THERE!!"
Nodoka followed the line of the umbrella as it pointed down at Ranko,
and she noticed that one of Ranko's breasts had fallen out of the
halter-top.
"WHAT?!"
"Uh... Just who are you, anyways?" Ryouga had a feeling that he'd
goofed, but he couldn't quite pin it down.
"I'm... I'm... Ranma's... mother..."
"URK!!" He'd done it now! Very aware of the seppuku pact hinging on
Ranma's manliness and VERY aware of who'd accidentally divulged whose
weakness, Ryouga spun in place and crashed out of the house. <Time to
REALLY get lost!> He tried several times to do just that, and he finally
succeeded on the eleventh bash through the wall surrounding the Tendou
compound.
Nodoka was in shock. <Ranko?! Is RANMA?!?!> The Saotome honor blade
slipped from her grasp, and the scabbarded sword clattered on the floor.
The noise, after the brief period of silence, jolted Ranma out of her
daze and she snapped to her feet.
"RYOUGA!" She saw the destroyed shoji, but Ryouga was conspicuously
absent. "Where did he--"
"Ra-- Ranma?"
"GAAAH!!!" Ranma pulled one leg up, both arms pointing away with hands
angled up and palms flat, and gaped.
Nodoka tentatively reached out a hand. "Is... is it you... Ranma?"
Coming slowly out of her pose, Ranma stared at her mother for a moment
and then hung her head and closed her eyes. "Hai," she whispered. What
she wasn't expecting was to be crushed in an emphatic hug.
"Oh, my child! My CHILD!!" Nodoka was crying and squeezing the life out
of the petite redhead. She eventually let go and sat back down, pulling
a handkerchief out of her kimono sleeve and drying her eyes.
The kerchief disappeared, and Nodoka grabbed Ranma's hands, pulling her
down to the table.
"Oh, Ranma! I... I... ... You're a girl," she said flatly.
Ranma scratched the back of her head. "Uh... yeah."
Nodoka's attention was suddenly on the free breast hanging out of the
halter-top. "Ranma! Cover yourself up! That's not very lady-like!!"
"ACK!" Ranma hastily slipped the errant piece of anatomy back inside the
top and looked up to see that her mother had put her hand over her mouth
and her eyes had gone wide.
"What am I saying?!"
"Uh..."
"Ranma-chan, I have to know. Are you a girl or a boy?"
"I'm a guy," she sighed wearily.
"Why have you been hiding from your own mother?" Nodoka was starting to
tear again.
"When ya first came to visit, Pops told me about the, uh, promise about
me bein' a man and all, and he made me hide." She wrung her hands in
shame. "I didn't want ta, but..."
"I'm guessing he made me out to be some monster, ne?"
Ranma looked out from under her brows. "Kinda... yeah."
Nodoka shook her head and stared down at the ring on her left hand. "Oh,
Genma. That sounds just like something you would do." She sat there, not
blinking or looking up.
"Um, Mom?"
"Yes, dear?" She managed to smile for her child.
"About the promise?" Ranma's fingers clenched.
"Your... curse is a problem. However, you did try to seduce your
fiancee's sister, even while a girl, so I suppose I can overlook it."
She rubbed her forehead. "I have a daughter now instead of a son, even
if she acts manly. We'll have to work on that. No daughter of mine will
go around--"
"Mom?"
"What?"
"All I need is some hot water, and then I'm a guy again."
Nodoka blinked. "What?!"
"Yeah, it only lasts until I can find some hot water. 'Course, there's a
lotta cold water out there, so-- URK!!"
Another crushing embrace, but it was more quickly released. Nodoka's
eyes shone. "Oh, show me, dear!"
"Uh, yeah, okay-- Ack!" Ranma waved her arms in surprise.
Kasumi had appeared out of nowhere, again, and was pouring a kettle of
hot water onto Ranma's head. Nodoka watched in stupefied amazement as
Ranma enlarged, lost a couple of prominent parts (gaining one other, she
supposed), and shifted from red hair to black. And then, she just stared
at his chest.
Ranma looked down to see what she was staring at and saw that he was
still wearing the halter-top.
"GAH!!"
*RIIIP!*
Nodoka beamed and gathered her son into her arms. "Oh, Ranma. It's so
good to have you back!"
~~~~~
It should be mentioned that Panda-chan had disappeared, presumably
keeping some hitherto unknown appointment with a lady panda... maybe...
or not.
~~~~~
Taking a break so he could towel off and get into some decent clothing,
Ranma found himself in front of, and gazing longingly at, Akane's
bedroom door. He raised his hand and hesitantly knocked.
"GO AWAY, RANMA!"
"Akane, lemme explain!"
"I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU!"
"A-Akane! I... I WANT... I want..." Ranma's head thumped against the
door. <I'm sorry... I lo-lo-lo... I lo-love you.>
The door jerked open, and Ranma almost fell into the room.
"WHAT can you WANT?! Can't you get it from NABIKI, NOW?!?!"
"It wasn't like that! Honest!!"
"HONEST?!?! If I hadn't walked in, were you going to tell me about it?!"
Ranma opened his mouth and then shut it with a click. Akane saw it as an
admission of guilt.
"I don't want to have to say this again, so listen this time. You've
ruined it. You took something away from me, something that can't be
returned."
"I... I don't understand. What did I--"
"Ranma, you are so stupid! *Nabiki* got what belonged to *me*. ME! Now
go away. I don't know you."
She shut the door in his face and locked it.
Ranma wiped at his eyes and shuffled away, defeated and lost.
~~~~~
"Now, Son, what are we going to do about this mess with Nabiki and your
fiancee?"
Ranma grimly said nothing.
"Oh, dear. I suppose I will have to talk to Soun about Nabiki's, ah,
sexual preference."
*THUMP!*
Nabiki had face-faulted from the position in which she'd been listening,
and her head and shoulders were visible through the open shoji.
Nodoka beamed at Ranma. "I think she likes you."
Ranma turned green, and Nabiki moaned from the floor.
"Well, at any rate, she can still be your mistress whenever you're a
girl."
Ranma hacked, and Nabiki jumped up and ran off, her hand over her mouth.
"Mom, really, Nabiki ain't like that."
"No? Then I'm confused. Weren't you two, ah..."
"Uh, no, heh. Ya see, she was, er, helpin' me out with, ah, a problem."
Ranma was as scarlet as his girl-form's hair.
"Oh. The ten yen?"
"Heh, uh... yeah." Perhaps a little redder yet.
"How in the world do you get it stuck in there?"
He was beginning to feel a little queasy. "Long story, Mom. Let's not
hash it out, right now."
"Well, all right, dear." She paused, then decided to file it away for
future investigation. "How are you and Akane getting along? Should we be
planning a wedding soon?" she asked brightly.
Ranma went pale and then slumped.
"Ranma?" his mother asked in concern.
"Akane... she didn't like what she saw with me an' Nabiki. I think she
might've ended the engagement... for good." Ranma couldn't slump any
lower than he already was.
"Just over a stuck ten yen?"
"Gack! No, no! She, uh, er... well? Anou..."
"Exactly what did she say, Ranma?"
"I just don't understand it. She kept sayin' that I ruined it, that
Nabiki got somethin' that belonged ta her. And then--"
"Oh, dear!" Nodoka exclaimed.
Ranma brought his face in front of hers. "What?! What?!"
Nodoka sighed and gazed out at the koi pond sadly. "Genma really didn't
teach you much other than the Art, did he?"
"Um, there's more?"
"Yes, dear, a great deal more. I just hope for your and Akane's sakes
that you're not too late in learning it."
"If... if..."
Nodoka merely watched him.
"If Akane don't wa-want me, then I do-don't know what I'll do."
"I *might* have an idea about how to fix this, but I think we'll both
find it more than a little uncomfortable. First, however, I have to know
something, Ranma."
"Sure."
"Do you love Akane?"
"WHAT?! I DON'T... well... ... ... ... I guess... I do."
"Yes or no. No 'I guess'," Nodoka said firmly.
Beet red, Ranma said, "... Yes."
Nodding, she took his hand and led him to the front door. "There are too
many ears here. Let's take a walk."
____________________
Frustrated that Nodoka had taken Ranma out of the perimeter of the
household, Nabiki went to her room. She cursed the luck: Nodoka was
obviously sharper than Nabiki had expected.
As she walked in, she spied the infamous ten yen sitting on her desk
where it had fallen out of her hand. She casually tried to pick it up,
but it had dried and stuck fast to the wood veneer on her desktop. She
finally managed to lever it off, but the little flakes of dried fluid
disgusted her and she dropped it back where it was, determined to wash
it off later. After all, she'd worked hard for that money. Throwing
herself on her bed, she picked up the manga she'd been reading and
resumed from where she'd left off.
It might've been an hour or an hour-and-a-half later when her reading
was interrupted by the third instance in that one day of Ranma opening
her door. However, in this case, there was a tenseness and urgency about
him that hadn't been present the previous times.
They locked eyes for an instant, and then Ranma snapped his gaze over to
her desk and to the ten yen still sitting there.
<Damn!>
They both sprang into action, but Ranma's decade-plus of martial arts
training gave him the advantage. He had snatched the coin by a wide
margin, leaving a fuming Nabiki to slap her palm where it had lain.
"That's MINE!" she yelled.
He shook his head once. "Nabiki, gomen ne, but I just figured out that
it really belongs ta someone else. Do whatever ya want ta me, but I'm
takin' the yen." And with that, he darted out of the room and out of the
way of the objects being thrown at him.
Running out of handy projectiles, Nabiki started to stalk out of the
room but was stopped by Nodoka.
"Obasama?!"
Nodoka took her not-so-gently by the arm. "Let's have a little talk,
Nabiki-chan, about your, ah, interest in the, er, fairer sex."
"URK!!" But struggle and protest as she might, she couldn't break the
grip of the Saotome matriarch.
<Take your time, Ranma,> Nodoka thought. <I'll manage the house spy.>
____________________
Yet another door in the Tendou household opened and closed without a
preparatory knock. Akane rolled over in her bed to see a blushing
onna-Ranma leaning against the wall with her head slightly down. Akane
rolled back over, and her pillows muffled her speech.
"Whoever you are, go away. I don't know you."
Ranma winced down to her core, but she hardened her resolve to at least
see this thing through and hope that Akane might understand.
"It, ah... Um, I thought ya oughta know that Nabiki, er, never got that
ten yen that's stuck in my... that's stuck. I wanted *you* ta know that
it's still there... if someone else might want it. Ya know, just so ya
know. It, ah, ain't been claimed."
Ranma's heart began to sink as she got no sign from her fiancee. She was
about to quietly leave the room when she heard muted crying from the
bed.
"A-Akane?" Ranma wasn't quite ready to approach her; she didn't know if
she'd be allowed to.
During the next minute or so, the noises from Akane's bed slowly
diminished, and she could be seen wiping her face.
"How do you do it?" Akane's voice was soft, but it thundered in Ranma's
ears.
"Anou..."
"Baka! You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you?"
"Ah, no. Gomen."
Akane rolled over and looked at her with puffy eyes. "What am I going to
do with you?"
Ranma scuffed her feet on the floor. "Um, take me back?"
Akane sighed long and loud, and the sound made Ranma profoundly nervous.
"If you're sure that's what you want..." Ranma nodded in the pause,
"then there's only one way, one thing for you to do."
"Um... what?"
"Tell me how you feel about me."
"URK!" Ranma presented warding signs.
Akane flopped back over on her bed. "Fine," she said brokenly, "then go
away. I don't want anything to do with you."
Ranma hung her head in defeat. She'd admitted it to her mother, but
admitting it to Akane meant setting all kinds of other problems in
motion: Ukyou, Shampoo... Kodachi. *SHUDDER* But she also knew that none
of it really mattered without the one who meant everything to her, even
if she could only barely admit it to herself. Now the time had come to
lay her cards on the table.
Shyly, she approached Akane's bed. Reaching the side, she gently sat
down on the edge, and Akane tensed.
"A-Akane? I, I... I lo... lo-lo-lo... I lo--"
"That's pretty sad, Saotome-san. Go away. I don't want strange men in my
room."
"Aw, Akane! That's not fair!"
A blue aura sprang up around the youngest Tendou. "FAIR?!"
*POW!!!*
Ranma slid down the wall, upside down.
"NOT... FAIR?! Fair? F... air..."
Her face fell back into the set of stone she'd had earlier in the
tearoom. "I'm not going to say this ever again: go - a - way. I never
want to see you again."
Akane stood up and steadily walked to the door, intending to leave and
forever ignore Saotome Ranma's presence.
<Do or die, Saotome.> "NO!!"
Akane jumped as Ranma suddenly appeared in front of her, the redhead
blazing with her own aura, the swirl of colors gradually settling into
the hue Akane knew was confidence.
"No! I won't let it end like this! Akane," she grasped her hands, "I...
You're..." <DAMN IT!!> "I... lo-lo-lo... I--"
Akane tried to jerk her hands out of Ranma's, but the redhead increased
her grip almost painfully.
"Iloveyou!"
Some of the tension went out of Akane's arms, but the battle was far
from over.
"Say it again," she said stonily.
"Um, I lo-love yo-yo--"
"Again, without stuttering."
"I lo-lo--"
"No. Again."
"I love y-y--"
"No."
<GRRR! She ENJOYS torturin' me! I'll fix her!> "I - LOVE - YOU!!!"
She smiled faintly. "Well, I didn't think you had it in you. Now, do you
mean it?"
"WHAT?!"
"Don't 'WHAT' me! Answer the question!"
"OF COURSE!"
"'Of course' what?"
"OF COURSE I LOVE YOU!! HAPPY?!?!-- ACK!!!"
Akane had hold of her pigtail and was putting considerable pressure on
her scalp.
"If you EVER do anything like that again, I'll tell Shampoo and Ukyou
AND Kodachi how much you like sticking things up inside! GOT IT?!"
Ranma nodded vigorously. "Yeahyeahyeahyeah!!!"
"Okay, then." She grabbed Ranma's arm in a rough hold that pinched.
"OW! HEY! What're ya doin'?!"
Akane tossed her through the air and onto the bed. "There's still that
damn ten yen, Ranma, and I mean to have it!"
"URK!!!"
And she did.
____________________
Nabiki was practically in tears as Nodoka continued to harangue her
about the ten yen incident and how Nabiki felt about girls. What made it
worse was the missed opportunity that expressed itself in cries of
passion echoing from upstairs.
____________________
[ Epilogue - Seven Weeks Later ]
"What's with that, Akane-chan?" Ukyou flipped a Deluxe Special
okonomiyaki off of her portable grill and into Ranma's mouth. She poured
batter for her own lunch, eyeing Akane's unusual choice in jewelry.
"Hmmm? This?" Akane fingered a coin hanging from her neck, mounted in
undecorated silver and hanging by an inexpensive silver chain. A soft
and secretive smile crept onto her mouth.
"Yeah. A ten yen? You act like it's special or somethin'."
Akane smiled broadly in response to Ranma's burning cheeks.
"It *is* special... in a way. Ne, Ranma?"
Ranma spewed rice all over the student in front of him, who happened to
be Hiroshi. "Uh, sorry, Hi."
Hiroshi glared at Ranma and then sighed, brushing the masticated grains
off the back of his uniform. "No problem... Ranma."
Ukyou stared at Akane and Ranma and then shook her head. "You're both
weird." It was only later that Ukyou would realize she'd lumped the two
together in her mind, earning herself a self-inflicted smack to the
forehead.
Still rubbing the medallion between her thumb and forefinger, Akane took
great satisfaction in Ranma's embarrassment and that he had a silly grin
on his face in spite of it.
Akane looked Ukyou straight in the eye and said, "It's special because
it belongs to *me*... ... both sides."
____________________
END A TALE OF TEN YEN