I suppose this chapter gets a slight 'lime' warning... although, there is 
nothing graphic.  It's mostly allusions and the fact  that something sexual 
does happen... but I try to keep things as classy as possible.  I'm no hentai!

Anyhoo, on with the fic.
I shall omit the disclaimer because I think we all know that Ranma and crew, 
as much as we love them, are not our property.



-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: incubus2.txt

Ranma felt himself hurrying;  why was he so eager to see if
Kuno would show and listen to his story? 
"This has been my secret for my entire life, so why should
I feel a need to share the burden, and with Kuno of all
people?" he asked himself as he leapt the perimeter fence
without even a second thought to it.  "Could it be, that he
is the only honorable man I know who I could trust with
this?  What about Ryoga?  No... I don't think he would
understand... he would surely tell Akane or do something
foolish with the knowledge.  Anyway, he has his own love
interest now, so it wouldn't be fair of me to put this upon
him.  Kuno is a broken man, and he is the only person I know
that has loved both Akane and myself..."  Ranma shuddered a
bit when the image of Kuno and his female self 'together'
crossed his mind's eye -- but he let the image linger.
"I need to know that someone will be able to pick up the
pieces."

"How can I possibly accept these terms?" Kuno muttered,
pacing back and forth outside the shed, which was still
damaged from the day before, still dressed in his Kendo
attire, for he had even left practice early to come and
hear Saotome's story.  "What, in all of the world could
cause him to make me vow such things?  But I saw him, so
deadly... I had no defense at all... and he changed forms
without water...  I have felt a feeling of darkness from
him for a while now; when we fight, his face is so
emotionless.  What has happened to him?"
"So, you came."
Kuno instinctively spun on his heel, startled, and was face
to face with Saotome, wearng an emotionless mask, the same
look that Kuno had taken note of in their more recent
fights.  Kuno straightened himself up and  crossed his arms.
"Yes..."
"And the terms?  Do you accept them?"
"I --  Leaving my clan, it is something that I have never
even fathomed.  It is simply against everything that I have
been raised with -- it is contrary to my traditional
values.  My name has given me wealth and notoriety... but
those things are meaningless when that name brings
dysfunctionality and an inability to love.  My father is
psychotic, my sister is not much better than he -- she
embraces the Kuno way of pursuit, and my mother... she, in
an early death from the family -- she is the lucky one.
"My heart has been wanting something real, but I have known
of no other way.  Part of me, that dutiful son, that carrier
of the Kuno name, hates and cannot accept the terms that you
ask of me."  
"All right, I'll be on my wa--" Ranma began to turn and
walk away.
"But," Kuno went on, Ranma stopping in his tracks but not
turning back to face Kuno again, to see the conflict and
confusion in the man's face, to see his hands clutched to
whiteness, "After revealing all of the folly and pathos of
the life that I have lead under the guidance of my clan, I
want to start making steps to restore my honor and my
future.  In taking my life into my own hands, I defy my
clan, and therefore, I *must* leave it,"  he trailed off,
his face forced into a stern frown.  Ranma faced him again
and approached.
"Fine.  And the rest?"
"I do not understand that.  While it is in my own interest
to become my own man, to force me to vow to be your friend
and to be protector of your unborn-- unconcieved children
leaves me dubious.  As the way things stand right now, I
still do not consider you a friend, but the possibility is
fathomable, yet... it simply makes no sense to me," he told
Ranma, lifting his hands up.  Ranma's blank expression gave
way momentary to a sideways smirk.
"That... that is something that is in your benefit, which
will be revealed to you in good time.  You will just have
to trust me."
Kuno cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged his shoulders in a
rather 'Ranma-esque' way.  
"I shall take your word upon that, and so you shall have
mine.  I swear," Kuno began, raising his hand palm-out,
"upon my honor as the clanless Tatewaki, that I take upon
me the terms that you, Saotome Ranma has put forth in
return for sharing with me an intimate secret."
Ranma nodded, and walked inside of the shed, beckoning the
former Kuno to follow him.  They both sat on the floor
cross-legged and stared at the other for a few moments. 
Ranma let out an uneasy breath as he began.
"I'm sure that you are questioning whether I am, in fact
the Saotome Ranma you met nearly two years ago, and I
sometimes wonder that myself... but yes, I am Saotome
Ranma, but I have become my full... 'self' over the past
few months."
"What do you mean?" Tatewaki interjected when Ranma took a
moment to choose his words.
"I'm getting to that, if you'll let me continue," Ranma
said, impatiently.  The other man crossed his arms, but
complied.  "From the time that I was a child, I always knew
that there were two parts to me: the part that was me,
Saotome Ranma, martial artist, son of Saotome Genma and
Nodoka, the part that spoke with others and controlled my
body, and thoughts that were separate from my own; a mind
much older than my young brain, and always... sad.
"It always encouraged me, however, through hard times, such
as whenever my parents seemed distant from each other, or
when I had to leave my mother to go and train.  As I grew
older, this second voice in my head began to become one
with my own thoughts.  We were merging, not one side
overcoming another.  I thought it was natural, something
that all people had and it was just sign of growing up,
although I remember it discouraging me from asking other
children what their 'second voice' told them.
"As we, or I, grew together, my coordination and strength
and proficiency with martial arts grew, as if I were
becoming an old master in the matter of a few years. 
Another side effect of this was an incredible increase in
my attractiveness to women.  I remember, when I was nine, I
had a female teacher who would always give me kisses on my
forehead and tell me that I was such a handsome boy, and
that she couldn't wait to see me grown... a repeated action
which spurred my parents to put me in a boys' school the
following year, right before pop took me on that training
trip...
"Yet, I still never thought anything of it; I thought that
it was just who I was.  Then came the curse... Turning into
an incredibly sexy girl shocked me enough, but it scared me
that... that a part of me felt it natural and comfortable
to switch genders.  I wondered if I were going yaoi, but I
still felt attracted to girls, as I did to Akane within the
first week of living with the Tendo family, so I wanted to
be rid of the curse all the more to eliminate the strange
feelings that came with it.
"Anyway...  the last small phase of this self-completion
came by the calming of myself around Akane.  The outward me
had never really understood the right way to deal with women
-- I was learning, but the other me possessed knowledge of
pleasing women... in many ways..."
"You didn't--?" Tatewaki choked, his face turning red.
"No, no.  I would never seduce Akane.  But I learned how to
express my love to her and allow her to open up to me on her
own terms.  This was the beginning of the school session
this past fall, a good two months after the botched
wedding.  For a couple of months thereafter, I felt like I
was not growing anymore, but that I was still incomplete --
like the parts of me had just stopped coming together close
to completion.  Again, I wrote it off as something else,
this time just a sign that I needed Akane to complete me or
something flowery like that.
"Nine months to the day of my eighteenth birthday, it
happened.  We, I, became one.  I was in the middle of my
morning Katas, when I was suddenly surrounded by the black
and red aura that I expressed when I was attacking you, and
the knowledge returned, or rather, was known to me fully....
"...I am an Incubus."  
He let the declaration ring for a moment and looked up to
see the incredulous Tatewaki blinking his wide eyes at
him.  Ranma smiled a twisted grin and looked down again as
he went on.
"I remembered being a servant of a Dark Lord of Hell for
millennia after being born from the souls of love-starved
men and women who had committed suicide in their pain.  I
was originally genderless, a Succubus in female form,
Incubus in male, but over the centuries, as I became more
defined as a being, I chose the male form as my baseline
form.  You know already what Succubi and Incubi do ... they
descend upon sleeping humans, most often those who are
starved for love and affection, have a night of torrid
relations while in the process stealing the soul away from
the person to Hell.  I can still see the face of each man
and woman I pleasured before I ripped their soul from them
in the climax of our meeting.
"Most yokai find their only joy in doing what evil they
were made to do... but some of us find the ability to
grow;  change our minds.  I first showed growth when I
decided define myself as an Incubus, a choice made after I
found that I preferred to descend upon women.  But as time
went on, that preference grew to a respect.  I used to
choose the women that I visited, the ones that had the
worst circumstances-- with an abusive or uncaring husband,
a forced chastity, the loss of a never touched lover -- and
I would grant them the most tender and unforgettable
night... before I took their souls away.  As this went on,
I would continually visit some of the women that I was more
intrigued with, keeping them around by pulling out of the
act before she climaxed.  But eventually, I would have to
do my job.  And very rarely did I find a woman willing to
let her soul go to Hell.
"I grew more and more weary of damning the souls of women,
and the occasional man, to torments in Hell merely for my
nature taking advantage of their denied or wronged nature;
my 'growth' as a being had taken the ignorant, wanton joy
out of what I was created to do.  It was my job, under the
hand of my Dark Lord to bring him souls, so there seemed no
escape, save a few rumors that floated around from time to
time of dissatisfied yokai finding a way out of their
illicit duties.  And then, eighteen years ago, I wandered
into the bedchamber of Saotome Nodoka.
"Such a beautiful woman, but so lost, so unfulfilled -- her
marriage had been arranged long before she was old enough to
know what being a wife requred of her; her husband had only
used her enough to make sure that he had planted his seed
and then ignored her.  He did not love her, and she could
not love a man who forced himself on her for a quick fix
and disregarded her afterwards.  I drifted over her, as I
normally did, and stroked her soft skin and silky hair, and
kissed her beautiful face.
"I had not expected her to wake up from a mere caress, but
she did, and by intuition, or maybe expectance, knew
exactly what I was...


"Who are you?" she asked, but, with an odd smile on her
face, went on, "oh... I know you, yokai Incubus."
"You know me so easily?" he said, still floating above her,
still stroking her face, her eyes closing and her face
turning into his hand.  "You've caught me, so I have no
influence over you;  you'll soon tell me to be gone," he
looked into her eyes; he had seen so many women's eyes, but
hers... hers looked like they wanted something, wanted...
"I've always heard tales of Incubus coming for poor women
like me... pathetic, sad women.  I lie here, the seed of a
husband I cannot love who will not love me inside me,
growing.  I cannot bring myself to take my own life and my
child's... I am a coward.  So I hoped that you would come,
to take me away ... after showing me more love than I could
ever hope to have in this life or after it, after whispering
in my ear, 'come with me' as you love me.  Incubus, do you
have a name?" she asked him, her sad voice sounding almost
excited at the prospect of finding both love and escape, no
matter how twisted the package.
Taken aback, the Incubus lowered himself down onto the bed
next to her, and went along with her request. 
"I was created only as a yokai Incubus, but I came to be
known as Ranma, the wild horse," he said, brushing back his
flowing black hair.
"Ranma... a good name.  If you wouldn't mind, yokai Ranma,
would you just stay with me to talk for the night?" she
asked with the boldness of the hopeless, "At least, before
you do what you came to do."
"Where is your husband?  Is this a trick to get me
exorcized?  The Dark Lord would punish me for a century for
that."
"I did not know that you would be answering to a master...
but, no, I had no intention of getting you in trouble. 
I... it has been so long since anyone has talked to me..."
she said earnestly.  
The yokai was strangely touched by her, and began to feel a
strange attachment and camaraderie with this woman.
"Then let us talk."

"Nodoka told me about her life, the unhappy circumstances
of her marriage, her sorry excuse for a husband.  She had
to explain to me things about human emotion that I simply
did not understand, although these things were what
attracted me to my victims, and even the emotions that had
created my kind:  sadness, lonliness, unfulfillment,
despair.  The more she talked, the more questions I had,
and the more she intrigued me; never before had a human
ever spent time with me in such a way, even when I allowed
it.  The hours went on, and morning was coming near, yet I
still wanted to hear more, and she still wished to talk...."

"The light approaches...  I cannot stay much longer," the
Incubus told his intended victim of the night, although she
had been the one to do the capturing.  "I suppose," he said,
not the least bit angry, "if this is how you intended to
avoid me, you have succeeded, Nodoka.  I cannot return to
you..." he felt her spirit react: come back.  "... unless
you permit me.  You have impressed me beyond any other
woman in all of my centuries; I will not... I cannot steal
you by use of sorcery."
"I..." she looked out the window at the rising sun; she
knew that her husband would return, drunk, from his
'training' misson and sleep half the day away.  He wouldn't
say anything to her except 'Make me my meal', and 'Be quiet,
woman.'  She looked at the dangerous, horribly beautiful
creature before her that in one night had become more
important to her, even in his malevolent intent, than the
family that had given her to her husband, and the husband
that she was devoted to by honor.
"I will think about it.  Come to my balcony at your hour,
and if I wish, I shall let you in again... so that you may
do what you came to do," she told him, a hidden smile
almost betraying her face.  The Incubus nodded to her, and
floated out of her room with the long morning shadows.

"And so I came back, with the audacity to think that she
would let me in a second time... but to my great suprise, I
found her waiting outiside for me.  This lovely woman
captivated me once again as I sat in the shadows, watching
her; the way the silk of her kimono caressed every curve on
her delicate body.  I had come upon women as beautiful and
even more so than she, yet to me there had never been a
creature as exquisite as Saotome Nodoka in the light of the
moon.
"We started off talking again, and as the night progressed,
I became more engrossed in learning about the woman than
doing my duty.  I let another night go by without taking
her, and I let hope leak from my voice when I asked her to
let me come another night.  This time, she consented right
away and said she would wait for me again, on the balcony.  
"She was there, as she said, and things continued in the
same way... this progressed for a total of seven nights...
a week.  By that time, I knew that I was pressing my luck
of another suspicious yokai under my lord's dominion would
find out what I was -- or rather, was not doing -- and
report me.  I would be reprimanded and replaced for the job
by an incubus that I knew would force itself upon my lovely
Nodoka."

The yokai sat across from the young woman on the bed,
engrossed one again in all that she had to tell him, to
ask, to wonder.  His heart was heavy; he knew what he was
going to have to do tonight -- it was for her own good, and
his.  Better that he do the deed, he who appreciated her,
who found no other to be lovlier than she.  She stopped
talking, and silence fell between them.  The yokai looked
into the woman's eyes, his sadness barely hidden beneath
the exotic visage that he kept smiling towards her.
"Nodoka-chan, I have one more thing to ask you..." he
began, breaking the silence.
"This is the night, isn't it?" she said calmly, "the night
that you finish what you came to do." 
The incubus' smile melted when he heard her say this, but
he nodded.  "Yes."
"I knew... somehow, when you came in that this would be our
last night together.  Anyhow... please, ask your question."
He froze momentarily, caught off-guard by the woman's
reaction.  Wasn't she afriad, in the least, of dying?
"Well..." he stammered, "I have often heard humans,
especially in this age, refer to sex as 'making love'. 
>From what I understand, sex happens whether or not love is
between the partners, and love is usually there before the
act is committed... what is this, is love actually made? 
Is it a metaphor for making a baby, or is it something that
only humans know about?"
Nodoka smiled at the naievte of the ancient being.  "It is
not something that I have ever experienced, but here is
what I think it is:  making love is the act of sex between
two people who's love for each other is pure, and in that
physical act of that pure love, it is intensified... made
almost perfect for a moment in time.  The two have together
made their love greater.  This is simply my understanding of
the term; it is usually thrown around in popular usage as a
nicer-sounding synonym for the act of sex."
"I like your definition much more..." he trailed off,
thinking of what that would be like.  "I would want
something like that.  Do you think that a yokai could ever
experience that kind of love?"
"I... I don't know.  I don't know if the dark nature of a
yokai would taint the love, or if a pure love would purge
the darkness from it.  Maybe it happens.  It's not
something that would be heard about in the world of humans."
"Nor in the world of spirits.  As long as we are doing our
tasks, what we do in the mean time is generally ignored, at
least for those of us in service to a lord.  No one keeps
tabs on free spirits, and reports we have of unusual
activity from them are regarded as rumor."
"Ah," she said, her gaze drifted off into the distance. 
Absently, she untied the sash from her kimono, and then let
the silken cloth slide down her perfectly formed shoulders,
exposing the porcelain skin of her torso to  the incubus
next to her.  Turning her head over her shoulder, her eyes
spoke of longing, and bade him, 'come now, I am ready.'
Needing no other cue, the incubus inched his way over to
her, the robes that he wore melting away from him into a
wispy mist, then dispersing all together. He wrapped his
muscular arms around her waist and began to kiss her neck
and her ear, his face buried in her long brown hair.    His
moves were subtle and smooth; engulfed in the touch of his
hands and his warm, soft lips that explored her face, neck
and upper torso, she didn't even notice that he had lain
her on her back and had positioned himself over her.  She
opened her eyes to see his face above her; he wore an
expression of sadness.
He began.
She remained silent, save a few involuntary, soft moans. 
At this point, he was so amplified in his demonic prowess
that he could hear her thoughts beneath her controlled
exterior.
'i need it... i want it... thank you... thank you... this
is what it feels like....'
He knew how to extend every moment, every motion; millennia
of women, of practice had taught him how to make the most of
his short time spent coupled with his prey.  At the smallest
incriments, he began to speed up the pace at which he moved.
'love me... love me...'
Faster.
'more more more.... I need love... more...'
Faster.
Faster.
'thank you.. thank you... thank you...'
Faster.
"So beautiful..."
'a-a-ah-h-h-h...!!!'
Fastest.
Her body rocked in time with his, and he felt her reaching
the point -- the top of her feelings, the greatest of the
animal passion that a human could feel.  The feeling that
took over her body, making her human soul less attatched in
the utmost of physical sensation.  He began to feel her
entering him.
"No... you can't die..."
'thank you... thank... you.... ' her thoughts whispered as
they were drowning in him. Half of her soul had already
been drawn up into him.
"Not another one..."
'i'll pay... the price...'
"NO NO NO!!!"
The yokai's thoughts screamed and reached out for every
possible alternative; he was killing the first woman that
he had ever... loved.  Reaching, reaching... and found a
way.  Another soul, a small, unformed soul.  The child in
her womb.  
"The only way..." his last thoughts whispered.  Without
wasting another moment, the incubus' form dissipated,
leaving Nodoka's soul to return to her body.  Exhausted,
she lay heaving, atop her bed, an absent hand covering her
belly.  Souls merged and the mind of an incubus went into
dormancy beneath the forming infant's own.
"Thank you...." she whispered, falling into a deep sleep,
"Ranma."


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