All Ranma characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi, first published
by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North America by Viz
Communications.
Addicted to Love: Chapter3: Ranma no Video
Insert standard fanfic disclaimer of your choice here.
WARNING: There are Lime moments ahead. No actual descriptions of sexual
acts occur, but they ARE referred to.
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Kasumi blinked and gasped. Akane held her hands over her eyes,
occasionally peeking, then shuddering. Nabiki looked a little pale
herself, the "Ice Queen" facade having crumpled during the first few
minutes. Ukyo swore. Shampoo merely had a sick look on her face. Ranma
fainted.
They were, of course, watching a poorly edited and obviously
homemade videotape of events that were largely unremembered at least on
a conscious level. "Aiyaaaaaa... no wonder great grandma-ma was telling
me to use ancient amazon extra strength mouthwash...." <shudder> "...and
brush and floss."
"I can't believe that... I... he... we..." Ukyo began to swear,
quietly, but with all the attention to fine detail as a sailor from
Kobe.
"Damn... I knew I was limber, but..." Nabiki's voice trailed off and
she stared at the unconscious Ranma. She had a new appreciation for the
finely toned body of a martial artist.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my." Kasumi held one hand in front of her mouth,
and just stared. "Oh dear."
Akane noticed that Ranma was escaping having to sit through this by
means of his faint. "PERVERT!" < WHAM! >
Ranma woke up, glanced towards the television, and didn't blink for
several minutes.
Cologne popped her head into the room. "Oh, so you're finally
watching that thing." She noted that absolutely no one had paid her any
attention, and further, it was unlikely that anything short of
WWIII would have caused the small group to notice anything besides the
events on the tape.
After another half-hour, the tape finally ended. Cologne noted the
shell-shocked look several of them were manifesting.
"Uhm, I'm sorry. I'm really, really, really, sorry." Ranma managed
to say though he was addressing a section of the floor.
Kasumi, currently an interesting shade of scarlet, nodded absently.
"Great grandma-ma, you know what happen yet?"
"Yes, child. I have two bits of news for you all." Cologne waited a
bit, knowing that the scenes they had just viewed were going to put them
back into shock for a little bit.
"News?" Nabiki finally got her mind out of neutral.
"Yes. Tell me, child, any odd dreams lately? Cravings? Odd feelings
or sensations?"
Nabiki nodded. She noticed everyone else was doing the same thing
and getting rather nervous looking as they did so.
"The song, as you recall, was 'Addicted To Love.'" Cologne had never
heard the song before herself, but with a chorus like that what else
would it be titled? She didn't listen to much music herself.
"What music?"
"Shampoo hear what sound like music playing at beginning of tape..."
"Hmmm, let me see it." Cologne inspected the tape as Ukyo brought it
over.
"Interesting. This is a copy of a copy. Happosai apparently made the
original, now someone else has gotten into the act and started their own
distributorship."
Nabiki made a little noise in the back of her throat as she caught a
good look at the labels. "Made in Hong Kong?"
The little group looked at each other, knowing that tape pirates in
areas like Hong Kong usually made copies of 10,000 minimum. Adding
international distributorship to the equation...
Kasumi's usual air of ignoring everything unpleasant was gone. Of
them all, she was the most shattered by the shame involved here. "How
can I face anyone ever again?"
"Kasumi," Ranma gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "Kasumi, be
strong. It wasn't your fault. We'll survive this..."
"Sis," Nabiki hugged her sister briefly.
"Well, it seems the second hand copies have some scenes cut."
Cologne sighed. "Before I go any further, please be seated and do not
interrupt me. I have a lot of information to impart."
Cologne waited until everyone had sat and quieted down. She nodded
once, they were strong and therefore worthy additions to the tribe.
"You were drugged all right, and quite thoroughly. Happosai may have
done all this, though Mousse is certainly an accomplice. Those samples
of the dinner that you brought me, Nabiki, contained several drugs known
to the Amazons, though Happosai may have learned of them
during his long life without any involvement of the Nichieju.
"Posthypnotic mushrooms, by themselves, would have worn off by now.
Stabilizer herbs make the timing a bit trickier. Powdered phoenix
shell... now we're getting into some real problems. There is one more
drug that may have been used, but I'm hoping it was not."
"They haven't worn off...." Nabiki rubbed her forehead. She knew a
headache was arriving soon.
"Not quite, child. While you likely aren't going to repeat the
events on the tape whenever someone snaps their fingers, you haven't
left the presence of the others for very long have you? What's the most
you've been separated, maybe six hours?"
Everyone started thinking about that. Cologne wasn't nearly done
yet.
"Then there were the other commands. Quite obviously these were NOT
the work of Mousse. No, I'd say Happosai used Mousse pretty thoroughly
in this little event, and sought revenge in this manner for any number
of slights.
"By turning a profit on this whole sordid mess, he is thumbing his
nose at Nabiki. The public shame may not have been entirely his plan, as
he had originally just sold the tapes to Furinkan students and
apparently put a few 'freebies' out to people who knew you. The shame
was his strike against Akane and Ukyo. Having to share her husband is
his blow against Shampoo. The knife in Ranma's ribs
is that people he cares about are hurt and will continue to be hurt
through his actions, however little control he might have had about
them at the time.
"Or at least, that's how I see it."
"Why me?" Kasumi had a quaver in her voice.
"Mainly to hurt son-in-law, I think. You, of everyone else here,
have offered Ranma the least hurt. It will also devastate your father."
Cologne watched them. They were not terribly receptive now, but some
things could not be put off any further. That she'd gotten this far off
the subject indicated how upset she was herself. "In any case, that is
not as important as this is."
"Not important?" Ukyo squeaked.
"There are some long term effects." Cologne shook her head. "The
other commands, which combined with the words of that damned song, are
going to take months to work out of your system even if I used Formula
113 shampoo on each of you."
"< Great grandma-ma, they are amazons now. If it is as I suspect,
they deserve to know. >"
"Yes child. The drug I alluded earlier is one of our village
secrets. Its name would translate most literally as 'Constancy' or
'Faithfulness' in Japanese. It would be unthinkable for Mousse to use
it, as it is well known that for a male even to knowingly carry the
material is an immediate death sentence.
"Have you never wondered, son-in-law, about the laws? How an
outsider male defeating an amazon must be brought within the tribe? How
would we control such males if they have already proven capable of
defeating their wives in combat? Peer pressure, strength in numbers,
yes, these and similar factors are the ones most employed. As you may
now realize, such is not ALWAYS the case."
"Why do I have a feeling this is going to be unpleasant?"
Cologne nodded. "Happosai using the drug on Shampoo, even if he
merely placed it in and then had Mousse deliver it, has placed himself
under Edict. He will be slain with no more ceremony than a
rabid dog should he step anywhere near the village. The effect of
'Faithfulness' is simple. The wife has some, then has her husband
fulfill his duties after a few hours for the drug to work its way
through her system. The husband is then 'addicted' to the wife."
"So Ranma's addicted to at least one of us," Akane narrowed her gaze
towards Ranma. If the tape had been accurate then...
"No, child." Cologne sighed and shrugged while looking at Nabiki.
"The reason that it is so forbidden for a male to possess the drug is
that it works the other way as well."
"What's the cure?" Nabiki glared at Ranma, though she didn't seem to
beable to put any feeling in it. After all, he was in a bad situation
himself. Injuries carried over when he switched forms so drugs would
likely do so as well.
A new voice came from the foyer. "Enough, Cologne. I haven't seen a
mess THIS screwed up since Pin Ya and Ko Lada went after the legendary
Mambo Jack. My goodness, that must have been about..."
"It was in '38, Lilac." Cologne nodded. "Oh yes, the second Elder
needed to officiate at this little event has arrived."
Lilac, a three-foot tall, not nearly as gnarled or old as Cologne,
amazon stepped forward. In her hands was a staff identical to Cologne's.
"My goodness, so this is the young boy who's caused all
the fuss. My, my. I expected you to be... taller, sonny boy. With
muscles rippling like some Japanese Adonis. I am SO disappointed."
"Urk." Ranma managed to get out that much, but it was obvious that
he had gone further and further into shock. Kasumi looked so completely
out of it that she'd probably not have noticed if Cologne were to
announce her upcoming wedding to Mister Ed.
"My and such a charming conversationalist." Lilac looked over at
Cologne and raised an eyebrow. "You know, Cologne, the tales of this boy
doing such martial arts maneuvers and learning all those
techniques didn't impress me nearly so much as that videotape. Any man
that manages to satisfy five women, even with frequent naps and an
interesting pharmacology in him, has got some qualities
we DEFINITELY want to add to the amazons. I remember my Douglas..."
"Don't start on that now," Cologne said with a scowl.
"You see," Lilac hobbled over to Kasumi and gave her a nudge and a
wink, "we don't always just need warriors added to the gene pool. Oh
my, no."
"Must you, Lilac?"
"My Douglas, for example. Well, the village needed an outside expert
in some VERY delicate matters. So, back in '09, I sought out this
dashing young fellow and deliberately lost to him in an 'accident'
thereby bringing his knowledge to the Nichieju. Very valuable catch he
turned out to be, eh, Cologne?"
"What was he, a doctor? An engineer?" Kasumi licked her lips and
found herself watching Ranma. He was a strong warrior, which was
something they wanted now.
"Oh heavens, no. My Douglas was VERY good with his hands, he was."
Lilac cackled, which caused Kasumi to blush.
"He was a PLUMBER, all right." Cologne glared at Lilac. "We got
someone who understood sewage systems, water purification, dam building,
and basic modern construction techniques. What we got out of all this
was indoor plumbing, simple water purification, and a small dam that
supplies electricity to the village. Which merely proves that SOME
people play fast and loose with the rules
and if it benefits the village in the long run, then in the long run it
is overlooked. Which is the point my esteemed colleague is trying to
make."
Lilac smiled at Kasumi. "Come on, dear. I know you and your sister
over there aren't exactly top-notch warriors. That doesn't mean you're
defenseless, does it? Even if you decide not to lose in battle against
the young man currently twitching over there that doesn't mean you can't
exercise some choices. The only choice you don't have right now, is the
one to wait around."
"There are suitors coming?" Cologne followed her question with an
ancient swearword peculiar to the amazons. It involved the male gender
denoted which head was being used to think with, and that said male
wasn't particularly good with either of the two in any capacity. It
also referred to something you make french fries out of. "Oh yes, yes.
I figure within three days the first two will get here. I may be old,
but I can travel pretty damn fast when I need to." Lilac shuddered. "You
know the culprits, that monstrously obese child and his brother."
"Sponge and Rag?" Shampoo seemed to flinch and shudder at the same
time, managing to look thoroughly revolted. "We hurry before they get
here. If they beat merc... Nabiki and Kasumi, it very bad. Would not
even wish that on crazy psycho nutcase girl."
"They're that bad?" Nabiki blinked at Lilac's nod.
"They could NEVER get brides within the village. You've no doubt
heard that the village isn't very big, and the gene pool is therefore
not that large itself? Well those two are living proof."
"So," Cologne looked at each of the women in turn. "Tomorrow we
schedule the match. You have until then to secure a more suitable
candidate, otherwise Ranma shall have to fight you with the others.
Nabiki, we might be able to postpone your fight for the remainder of
your pregnancy, but those two are not terribly clever and may endanger
your child by some 'accident.' While such a crime would
result in the two being punished, it would still be best to remove
yourself from their consideration."
"DO try, Nabiki dear. I hear you're quite the businesswoman, and not
all battles are resolved in hand-to-hand combat, eh?" Lilac smiled for
a moment. "And as for you, young lady, I've heard you've an inclination
for the healing arts, for cooking, and for space management. All quite
valuable skills even if it doesn't make you the front line fighter. I
would hate to see either of you trapped into
a marriage to those two utter wastes."
"Tomorrow then, at noon, I think. To delay further involves further
risk." Cologne looked at the clock. Early evening. "Time to get busy.
You can go comfortably numb after you've resolved the problem."
End Addicted: Chapter 3
You can find previous chapters at this page:
http://home.datawest.net/firethorn/