Prisoner of the Iron Mask

                            * **  ***  ** *

Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi. Her intellectual property is
used without permission, but also without the intent of making money.

Author's Notes:

This is the second chunk of episodes. Thanks to everyone who has
already replied to the first one.


                             * **  ***  ** *

                       Part 9: Akane's New Clothes


Ranma had been up early. After checking in on Akane who was sleeping the
sleep of the just, he had gone back to the Tendo Dojo to get some stuff.
He had managed to escape before either Nabiki, her demon-headed father or
the stupid panda could question him about rescuing Akane.

When he had come back home he had found Akane still asleep and decided to
let sleeping tomboys lie while he prepared his next step a few doors down
the corridor.

The next step would involve working on Akane's temper. Akane had to be
made to realize that getting angry in a fight was a weakness. Telling her
that it made her predictable and careless would be futile. Akane would not
listen, she had to be shown.

That was why Ranma had brought his old training props. Cologne had never
asked to get her harness back. The thing had admittedly gotten a bit
broken during his Soul-Of-Ice training, but Ranma had kept it nonetheless.

Ranma was mostly interested in the cords that contracted when exposed to
hot chi. They would react very well to Akane's hot temper. He had
unraveled one of them to gain some thinner threads and was now sewing
those into the clothes he had made for her.

Telling her that anger was bad would not work, but wearing those clothes
would hopefully drive the point home for Akane that anger equaled being
exposed and vulnerable.

And if she could not stand showing a bit skin every time she failed to
keep her calm, she could always give up and allow Ranma to rescue her.


                             * **  ***  ** *



When Akane had finally woken, she had discovered that she had been moved
to a new cell. It was larger and much more comfortable having an actual
bed, an empty dresser, a chair, a desk and a small window from which she
could see part of the courtyard. There even was a small niche containing
a sink and toilet which was a great improvement over a chamber pot.

Apparently Akane was going up in the world. All that she needed now was
something to wear. Ashes who had been by with her breakfast earlier had
been a bit vague about what had happened to her clothes and when Akane
would get them back, but had assured her that the tailor would come visit
her later.

The sound of the door unlocking send Akane for the cover of her bed
sheets.

"No need to hide from me, child," an old woman with a tape measure and a
notebook informed her as she entered.

"You are the tailor?" Akane asked from the safety of her bed.

"I am Mrs. Brave the Tailor." The woman affirmed. "I have come to take
your measurements."

Mrs. Brave did not look like much of a threat to Akane. A small old woman,
but not quiet as shrunken and old as Cologne. Like the other Lichtenburger
women Akane had seen she was wearing a veil, but thankfully the rest of
her clothes was far more modest. Long robes with several layers of vests
and overcoats hid her body from view.

"Come on child I don't have all day. Come out and step on this chair so I
can measure you." The old woman demanded impatiently.

Akane reluctantly let go of her cover and stepped on the chair. What was
one more Lichtenburger to see her naked at this point?

"I see, you have already made friends with Severa," the old women
commented suggestively when she saw Akane's manacles and collar.

"Those are training aids!" Akane defended her bindings blushing heavily. 

"And what nice 'training aids' they are," the tailor soothed, "You have
every reason to be proud that Severa choose you to be bound with them."

"It is really not like that at all. I am not like that," Akane tried to
explain," Mistress Severa is just my trainer...."

"I am not passing judgement on you, Child. It is really nothing to be
ashamed of. Just make sure that you don't 'train' to hard with your
Mistress," Mrs. Brave told her with a knowing smirk.

Unlike Ranma Akane knew when to stop talking and make matters worse.
Trying to correct the old woman's assumption would be futile now. And what
did it matter what an old women thought about her and mistress Severa,
anyway?

Still blushing heavily she silently stood on the stool as the tailor
measured everything about her that was to measure. Lengths and widths and
heights and circumferences of all of Akane's body parts. Akane really
hoped that not all of these measurements would actually be used in the
making of her new clothes as she could not picture some of them being
useful for anything but really perverted clothes.

Mistress Severa must have been this closely measured to get her skintight
leathers, Akane imagined, while Little Ashes probably only rated a one
size fits all uniform.

When told Akane wordlessly knelt down so that Mrs. Brave could reach the
rest of her for measuring. Her blush increased as the tailor frankly
appraised Akane's built and the suitability of her hips for childbearing
or gave her words of comfort about still growing and late blooming when
measuring her bust.

Finally after the tailor had scribbled several pages of her notebook full
with throughout measurements of the various dimensions of Akane's body she
was finished.

"That would be all for now," Mrs. Brave told her upon leaving, "your
clothes will be ready later today."

And with that she closed and locked the door and Akane was again alone in
her cell.


                             * **  ***  ** *



Ranma was working herself ragged. She was trying to be too many people at
once. Changing in and out of costumes all the time, it was a wonder she
had not slipped up yet. Ashes as Akanes main contact was an easy enough
roll to get into. The costume came on and off with just a few moves. The
mistress Severa costume took a lot longer to get into. An entire body
worth of skintight leather being harder to dress in than just a few loose
wraps of sheer cloth.

The tailor had been overdoing it. 'Old Women' might be one of the easiest
rolls to play, and the character had allowed Ranma to needle Akane in ways
that Little Ashes never could have, but it had taken a long time to dress
and undress. Ranma likely would not use Mrs. Brave again after Akane had
her clothes.

Going back to Akane as Ashes and asking if she perhaps wanted to write a
letter to her family had been a stupid waste of time. Ranma's hopes that
Akane might use the opportunity to call for help had been dashed. The
tomboy had been too stubborn to write much more than that she was fine
and that her family should not worry. Nothing at all in the letter that
could be interpreted as a plea to be rescued by Ranma or anyone else. If
Akane had not been still naked while she was writing the letter, Ranma
would not have stayed and watched.

And while Little Ashes had patiently waited for Akane to finish her
letter, nobody had cooked lunch.

Ranma had thought that she could save time, by not changing again and
simply shrugged of her Ashes costume and cooked in the nude.

One hot grease splatter had taught Ranma the error of her ways and the
importance of wearing aprons. Unfortunately while Ranma was having her
'learning experience' -- jumping naked around the kitchen in pain -- the
meal had burned.

So much for cooking a genuine European meal for Akane. It had been time
to call for takeout.

Finding a place that would deliver the right sort of food had been a bit
difficult. Tokyo was a large City and you could get almost any kind of
ethnic food delivered anwhere within the city. The trick was knowing who
to call. Halfway through the Tokyo business listings Ranma had found no
less than fifteen different places that included kosher locust on their
menu, but not a single one that advertised itself as making Lichtenburger
food. Ranma had been almost ready to give up when she had come across the
small entry of Light-Castle Restaurant that billed itself as serving
traditional fatty Lichtenburgian cuisine.

After she had placed an order by phone Ranma had to bring Akane her new
clothes.

Ranma was so far behind on her schedule there was no way that she would
dress as the tailor again. Ashes would have to do. She picked up her
costume and the package for Akane and hurried off.

Running while she put on her clothes and veil Ranma made for Akane's cell.


                             * **  ***  ** *


Akane was startled when a haggard looking Ashes burst into her cell. The
poor dear looked out of breath and slightly panicked. It was hard to tell
with her clothing, but it looked like she had the bottom of her uniform on
inside out. And was that red spot on her left breast a bruise?

"I am sorry mistress Akane I am late with your clothes," the maid offered
her a parcel of cloth as she said this, "You have to get dressed fast or
you will be late for your meal with the prince."

Akane took the proffered item and unrolled it. There certainly was more of
it than she had feared and it was not nearly as sheer and see-through as
the maid's clothes. With the help of Ashes she put it on.

Akane observed herself in the mirror with relief. Her clothes were modest,
loose, non-transparent and not nearly as perverted as those of Ashes or
mistress Severa. Really not much worse than her school uniform.  A skirt
that reached to her knees and a loose sleeveless top that covered her
upper body down to her navel Even the color of light yellow appealed her
as it reminded her of her gi.

Of course there was no underwear included in the outfit, but unlike with
Ashes sheer or Mistress Severa's too tight clothing nobody would notice
this fact unless she did a handstand or something similar revealing. The
manacles she still wore were jarring the picture somewhat, but there was
little that could be done about this. What should Akane do; ask her
trainer to take the magic training devices of her because they looked
unfashionable?

While Akane was admiring herself, Ashes came up behind her with a small
extra cloth, some leather belts and some ribbons in the same light yellow
color. When she put the small cloth over Akane's face and tied it behind
her ears it turned out to be a veil like the other Lichtenburger women she
had seen had worn. It was light and almost transparent. Akane had no
trouble breathing through it and it even looked good on her in an exotic
sort of way. But Ashes was not yet done.

With deft movements Ashes slipped a yellow leather belt though the loops
of her skirt and matching smaller leather garters around Akane's upper
arms and thighs.

"Mrs. Brave said that you were so proud of your bindings that she decided
to incorporate them into your dress for you." Ashes explained.

Then she took the ribbons and used them to connect Akane's shackles to the
leather bands on her arms and legs and the rest of her outfit. There
seemed to be a compilicated sytem to it and Akane payed attention and
tried to memorize it so that she would be able to correctly dress herself
later Ashes started out in the small of her back and threaded one ribbon
from the back of her belt to the wrist-manacles. From there the ribbon
went up her arms and  through loops on the leather garters on her upper
arms. Both ends of the ribbon finally met agin when Ashes secured at the
half-ring on the back of her collar. The other shorter ribbon was
similarly secured on her ankle manacle and ran up the outside of her leg
underneath her skirt were it was threaded through a loop in the garter on
her upper thigh. From the garter it was connected to the side of her belt
on the inside of the skirt an run around her back only to be threaded back
down her other leg the way it had come.

Akane watched herself in the mirror. having the maid fasten the ribbon
inside her skirt had been a bit embarrassing, but now that she was
finished Akane could not believe the effect that a few ribbons of colored
cloth had. They had transformed her manacles from bondage devices to
fashion accessories. Akane almost looked like a magical girl with them.
Akane would have to thank the tailor when she next saw her.

But Ashes was less satisfied instead of admiring Akane's new outfit she
was uncomfortably shifting from one foot to the other. Before Akane had
time to adequately admire herself, Ashes took her hand and led her from
her cell. She seemed to be in a hurry. In a big room that Akane thought
might be some kind of banquet hall Ashes finally stopped.

Ashes told her to wait for the prince and or food and gave her a strange
warning about keeping her calm around the prince. Then she left her alone
in the empty room.


                             * **  ***  ** *

                     Part 10:  Controlling Anger


Ranma was running from the banquet hall where she had left Akane. Having
already shrugged of her costume she streaked along the top of the castle
wall to the room where she had left her Prince Wildpferd costume.

With haste and a glass of warm water Ranma changed into the role of the
arrogant prince. Only when he was about to put on his mask did he notice
that he still wore Little Ashes veil. He quickly stuffed it into a pocket.

At that point Ranma glanced out the window to see the elevator doors
opening up on the lawn in front of the castle. He cursed himself. He had
planned to intercept the delivery boy in the lobby.

Running again through stairs and corridors this time Ranma managed to
reach the youth as he arrived at the open drawbridge.

The youth was wearing a Light Castle t-shirt and a stunned expression on
his face. His jaw was hanging open as he tried to come to grips with the
idea of finding a medieval European Castle inside a modern Tokyo office
building.If you ignored the occasional girder, column or elevator shaft
that was left of insides of the original building it looked very much
like somebody had built a big glass house around the castle. It must have
looked very impressive to someone not used to such extraordinary sights.

Ranma quickly divested the boy of the food containers he was carrying and
ushered him back to the elevator that would return him to the lobby and
out of the building. The delivery boy gave little resistance and did not
even notice that Ranma instead of tipping him with real Yen just gave him
some of the strange play-money the previous owners of the castle had left
behind.

Only after the elevator doors closed behind the stunned boy did Ranma
realize that he had worn his mask the entire time, something that probably
had not helped lessen the shock for the Light Castle employee.



                             * **  ***  ** *



Meanwhile Akane was waiting in the banquette hall, she had considered an
escape attempt, but there were probably guards outside and as long as she
wore her weakening manacles she would be no match for them, besides now
that she was again wearing clothing her captivity no longer seemed like
such a bad thing. She was even getting trained by mistress Severa.
Wouldn't Ranma be surprised how much she had improved once she had
trained up, properly beaten the arrogant prince and returned home?

And her new clothing really was not that bad. True it lacked underwear,
but that was a minor thing. The skirt reached her knees and her top came
down to her waste making it look far more modest than what Ashes the maid
or Severa her trainer wore. Not even the veil that was part of the outfit
and covered the lower part of her face spoiled the look.

The skirt was wide enough to allow Akane to do martial arts she found out
as she did a few experimental kicks. Although she probably should not do
any too extravagant maneuvers on account of her lack of panties.

The ribbons that the tailor had added as decorations were not restricting
her in any way. The small strips of cloth running down the outside of her
legs were short enough, so that Akane did not have to fear about stumbling
over them. They were connecting her ankle shackles with her belt and
fastened to her thighs with garters. There was just enough slack in them
to allow Akane to move her legs however he wanted, but not much more than
that so they would not easily catch on furniture and the like.

The ribbons running from her wrist-shackles to her collar were similarly
fastened to her upper arms with garters, while the ones connecting her
wrists to the back of her belt were loose. Akane thought that she would
have to look out not to get caught on door handles with them. They did
look fashionable though and allowed Akane her full range of movements.

Just as Akane was getting ready to try some jumps to see if her skirt
might billow up during aerial martial arts maneuvers, the door opened and
Prince Wildpferd entered with a small cart full of food.

"I regret having to keep you waiting, my bride to be," The prince excused
himself, "but the stupid little maid had an accident in the kitchen and
delayed our meal."

"Little Ashes?" Akane wondered; she did not like the prince calling her
that even if she had done the same in the privacy of her own thoughts.

"Yes, Little Ashes," Prince Wildpferd confirmed," the girl has already
been thought the error of her ways and will not make the same mistake
again in a hurry."

Akane was beginning to get angry on the maid's behalf. What did the prince
mean? Had he punished her? The girl had seemed a bit out of it when she
had come to fetch her earlier. Was that from having been chastised for her
oversight or dread for her upcoming punishment?

As she sat down Akane remembered Ashes warning and tried to calm down. --
Was she imagining things or was her skirt getting shorter?

During the meal Akane tried to keep calm and enjoy the food. She had to
keep her head bowed towards the prince so that her veil would hang down
far enough from her mouth to allow her to eat. She was sure that this
arrangement was by design and was sorely tempted to push the offending
cloth to the side or take it off entirely, but did not want to breach what
probably was Lichtenburgian etiquette. The Prince showed no such regard
for table manners, but for all she knew you did eat all that greasy stuff
with your bare hands. At least he was better than Ranma the way he was
eating. Than again the hinged jaw on his mask just might be the only thing
to slow him down in stuffing his face.

The noble still managed to finish his far larger portion before Akane was
done with hers. He began some small-talk. Well 'small' for him on anyone
less arrogant it would have qualified as grandiose.

Akane tried to ignore him and concentrate on her food, but her limit was
reached when he came to talk on her future place in his harem.

"Don't be so sure about that, you might have won the last time, but with
mistress Severa's help I am getting better and will have you beat in no
time," Akane told him.

It was getting a bit drafty she absentmindedly noticed.

"Severa won't help you as much as you think. She is not a martial artist
after all, just a girl who likes to play in the dungeons with other girls
instead of properly submitting herself to a male," the prince explained.

Akane really did not like the way he was talking about her trainer. So
what if she was a bit -- well perverted Akane guessed -- there was really
nothing much wrong with that was there?

"Of course," Prince Wildpferd continued condensingly, "the girl has her
uses. She can for example help get your strength and endurance up to a
level where you might actually be ready to receive some proper
instructions in the art. Perhaps I might even lower myself to personally
give you some lessons, once you are capable of actually benefiting from
them."

Akane tried to keep her calm as she listened to the prince. She continued
eating and did not give him the satisfaction of hurling her plate at him
in response to his arrogance. As she tried to reach for a salt shaker she
found that she had to slightly bend forward as her ribbons did not allow
her to stretch out her arm entirely. Akane could have sworn that it had
been longer when she had sat down.

"But before that," The prince kept talking as Akane wondered over the
mystery of her suddenly restricted reach, "in addition to building up your
strength and endurance you need to learn discipline and control. And since
I know that Severa enjoys her work far to much to teach you the last two
quickly I have asked Mrs. Brave to include some learning aids into your
new clothes. You might have noticed that they react to your emotional
state."

That cleared it up! The prince was responsible for Akane's problem she got
up from her chair to tell him just what she thought of people who would
use a girls wardrobe against her.

She almost stumbled when she tried to stand. The ribbons that connected
her thighs to her ankles had gotten shorter, so that she now had to
slightly bend her knees to stand. Her outfit, that had been so modest was
now only barley decent. Her skirt had become a mini that threatened to
uncover vital parts of her anatomy with every step she made and her top
only barely reached to the bottom of her breasts. And the ribbons on her
arms severely restricted her movements.

That must have been what Ashes had warned her about when she told her to
keep calm. The dirty pervert had somehow manipulated her wonderful
clothing to turn into this. She stalked towards him as best as she could
to give the prince a piece of her mind.

When she got close enough she noticed a piece of cloth hanging out of
Prince Wildpferd pocket. A familiar piece of cloth.

The prince had Little Ashes veil stuffed in the pocket of his pants!

Akane jumped to the only logical conclusion.

Ashes never took of her veil! Not even in when the two of them had been in
the showers together. It must be very important to the girl. Akane doubted
that she would take it of in the presence of somebody else without being
forced.

Ashes had looked haggard and slightly panicked when she fetched Akane to
the meal.

The prince had called her stupid little maid and said that she had been
taught the error of her ways.

He must have ripped the veil of her and done terrible things to her Akane
concluded her mind rapidly clouding with anger.

"I suggest that you calm down," the prince broke into her thoughts, "not
that I mind seeing a willful girl exposed and bound in kneeling in front
of me, but..."

Akane's imagination supplied the image of a naked and bound Ashes kneeling
in front of the prince begging for forgiveness.

Akane saw red and could not hold herself any longer. With a scream of
inarticulated rage she launched herself towards the prince.

Her charge was cut short and her scream suddenly muffled as her clothes
further changed.

With every step she did the ribbons along her legs contracted further
forcing her to bend her knees more and more until her heels were touching
her buttocks and she was forced to rob along on her knees and toes.

When the prince was finally within reach she tried to hit him, but found
that her arms would not move forward. Instead they were slowly forced by
the contracting ribbons onto her back. Her wrists crossed in the small of
her back as they were drawn towards her belt and her elbows were drawn to
the back of her collar and almost touching behind her back.

When she tried to bite him instead she found that not only did the bondage
she was in keep her from leaning forward, but also that her veil, that had
just hung loosely over her face before somehow had changed and contracted
into a very effective gag.

The prince stood before her, mocking Akane's immobilized form: "Don't say
you were not warned. You still have a lot to learn about controlling your
emotions. But you don't have to hurry on my account I am certain that I
will enjoy the view your lack of self control will offer me."

Akane suddenly realized that her skirt and top had also further shrunk.
Her breast where now totally uncovered as her top had become bunched up
on her sternum and her skirt was now no broader than her belt as it had
contracted around her waist.

The realization that she was not only bound, but also naked in front of
this pervert caused Akane to heat up further in anger, embarrassment and
emotions she did not want to identify.

Her bindings reacted to her shame and contracted one last time. She could
not move her heels and haunches closer together so she had no choice but
to spread her thighs as the ribbons on the outside of her legs further
contracted towards the back of her belt. Her elbows where also forced
together since they were the only place where she had still slack to give
to her bindings.

Akane could only imagine how she must look to the prince. Kneeling in
front of him bound, gagged and naked. Her legs obscenely spread to expose
her most private of places and the arms behind her back pushing out her
breasts towards him.

Against her will she was made to submit and offer herself to him. And
neither the heat she was feeling nor the tightness of her bindings showed
any sign of weakening.

"I suggest,"The prince told her, "that you use this moment to reflect on
your position and the usefulness of your temper. The maid will escort you
back to your cell once you have calmed down a bit."

With that he turned around and left the room not even bothering to further
stare at Akane's exposed body.


                             * **  ***  ** *
                         Part 11: Tips and Symbols


"I tell you, I know what I saw," insisted Ichiro Ryo unappreciated
delivery boy and son of the proprietor of the Light Castle Restaurant.

His father did not even brother to answer to that as he continued to work
in the kitchen, but his older sister -- bless her cynical heart -- at
least saw it fit not to let his tale go completely unremarked: "You went
though a magic portal and saw a European castle in downtown Tokyo? Sure we
belive you. It happens all the time. If it didn't, where would the people
who make all those anime get their ideas?"

"Not a magic portal -- like a magic portal, I said," Ichiro corrected her
exasperatedly.

Why would no one belive him or at least pay proper attention while they
disbelieved him?

"I was delivering to this office building in Nerima and there was no one
there," he began his tale from the beginning again, "so I went up the
elevator. The first few stops where empty or it would not open, but then
on the fourth floor the elevator doors opened and it was *like* stepping
through a magic portal. I was still in the building. But someone had
removed all the walls and floors above the fourth floor to make room for
this big castle."

His family looked at him doubtfully, but he continued on: "It was just
like in the old pictures that Grandpa always shows us. There were guards
in royal uniform standing to attention all over the place. And there were
the flags and banners and everything."

Ichiro picked up a small Lichtenburgian flag that was part of the
restaurant's decoration from the wall and waved it to underscore his
point.

"And there also was that naked girl running along the battlements," his
sister added showing that she had at least paid attention to that part of
his story.

"Yes! But she isn't important." Ichiro tried to move beyond the question
of him seeing naked girls under incredible circumstances.

Although he had to admit that seeing her sprint over the parapets wearing
nothing but a veil had taken up a considerable portion of his attention at
the time.

"What is important is who came next," he explained.

"Louis XIV's twin-brother," offered his sister irrelevantly.

"No," he corrected, "It was this guy and he was wearing an iron mask. And
he was wearing a cape with the Lichtenburgian crest and dressed gilded
armor and everything. And he was just looking at me without talking. Like
he was measuring me up or something. I must have passed because after a
few moments he led me back to the elevators and send me away."

"And what about that makes you think that you passed his test?" Ichiro's
sister asked contemptuously, unwilling to belive that her brother had
managed to actually impress anyone, even a character that she did not
even believe existed outside his imagination.

"This!" Ichiro exclaimed triumphantly.

He had been waiting for that question and now he showed his family the
token he had received.

"A coin," his sister dismissed his prize, "and it's not even real Yen.
It's an Euro or something. That's not worth much more then a hundered
Yen."

With a flipped the coin around in his hand and promptly earned a gasps not
just from his sister but also from his mother and father who had come
closer to take a look at their son's treasure.

"A Lichtenbugian coin," his father recognized, "there are not supposed to
be many of them outside the old country on account of all these
collectors."

But his mother was the first to recognized the true significance of the
coin. "That is the royal crest of Lichtenburg -- a  rearing horse of war
at its center."

"Exactly like the one on the cape he wore. A horse gules forcene on a
sable shield on sanguine ground. Not just anybody would dare to wear
that."

"And he gave you this coin as a symbol." His father was slowly catching on
in wonder.

Ichiro smiled.

"...I mean we have always hoped that one day... ever since the pretender
took the throne... us loyalist have kept hoping, but I just can't belive
it." His father was still trying to come grips with this new development.

"And this guy choose *you* to make contact?" his sister still wasn't
convinced, "how do you know that he is who he says anyway?"

"Well he wore a mask, that means his face must be pretty recognizable to
anyone who had seen pictures of the old Prince. If he did not look like
him he would not have to hide his face," Ichiro reasoned.

"We have to contact the others... No, first we have to make sure who in
the exile community we can trust. Children we are going to visit your
grandparents tomorrow."

"Do I have to come? Grandma is going to make me wear a veil again and
everything. She can be so caught up in tradition." Ichiro's sister whined.

"Hush," mother told her, "Traditions are important, especially now that it
looks like the true heir might finally have appeared."

                                                              )  )" <
                                                             tsu zu ku

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