It's All In The Reflexes

A Reflections Bonus Volume

A. V. Morgan

 

Author's Note

 

As the story developed, it became apparent that it would easily work as a complete volume on it's own. So, Reflexes will be 15 parts in length, meaning there will be two more parts following this one. The general purpose of Reflexes was to act as a bridge between Ranma Nibunnoichi: Reflections and Ranko Nibunnoichi: Refractions, so once again there will be many things left unresolved at the conclusion of this volume. I hope this won't disappoint of frustrate my readers too much. I do care what you think, and I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read, admire those of you who stick it out through each part--including the inevitable delays between them, and love those of you who post comments or review. I am trying something in this part to deal with the character confusion, so do tell me if it helps. I can go through the other parts and use the same trick to clarify them. It's pretty simple, and should not be too awkward to read through.

 

Example:
In the last part, Ranma's personality took possession of Fa Shen. To cut down on confusion, the character's name would be altered to: Fa Shen-no-Ranma. The first part refers to the specific body, the second refers to the personality in control. It's sort of a take off on the Japanese convention, such as Kuno's nickname for Ranma-chan, Osage-no-Onna. Ne? Well, thanks for reading, just a little more to go, then the REAL story can begin!

 

A.V. Morgan

 

Part Thirteen

 

In the dining area of Cologne's home, following Fa Shen's mysterious exit, Ranma and Ryouga were huddled around one corner discussing the risks and opportunities the lost girl faced now that she was locked in female form. At the opposite corner, Shampoo and Akane were fielding questions and arguments posed by Ukyo as she stared into a pitcher of water in which a packet of Instant Nanniichuan had been dissolved. Three weeks ago, none of them would have ever imagined themselves forming and participating in an impromptu transsexual support group. On this day, however, every person present--and a few not present--were more than qualified to discuss gender bending to the ultimate extreme. Ranma was forced to take deep, calming breaths to maintain his equilibrium in the presence of so many people openly discussing the trials and ordeals of changing sex at the drop of a bucket.

Ironically, the first to cross the line between genders found herself in the odd position of being the last of this group to complete the process. It was almost inevitable that Ukyo would end up in this position, and no one was really surprised to see her methodically preparing to take the final step in her transgender life style. As much as he dreaded and regretted her determination to become a man, as much as her reasons for doing so disturbed him, Ranma understood why she felt forced to. He had tried to discourage her, in vain, so his last hope was that Akane and Shampoo could convince her not to go through with her experiment.

"But we know now that it ISN'T safe," Akane was arguing.

Shampoo nodded emphatically. "Instant Nanniichuan much more dangerous than Shampoo once think. You run risk of permanent change if expose to waterproof soap, or if expose to chisuiiton water and no get curse unlocked in time. You run risk of chi infection, give yourself curse like Akane. Is too, too dangerous."

"You think I didn't think of that?" Ukyo glared back. "It's still safer than anything else I could experiment with. Now that it's looking more and more like I don't have a chance with Ranma, if I have to live the rest of my life as a man, then becoming one is hardly the worst thing that could happen to me. There isn't really a choice. This is a matter of honor."

"It stupid."

"Ukyo, I can't argue with any of that," Akane cut in, flashing a scowl at Shampoo. "It's just... with Herb here, I don't think it's a good idea. Mousse must have told him about you and Ranko, he'd definitely take that as a direct challenge to him. I'm just saying, maybe you should wait a little longer."

"Sugar," Ukyo sighed heavily, strained patience and frustration lacing her voice, "That's precisely WHY I can't wait any longer. Ranko... I can't risk losing her to that beast."

"But, there's no way you can fight him!"

"Akane!" Ranma turned from his conversation with Ryouga in shock. If there was anything anyone could say that would make Ukyo more inclined to back down, that sort of statement was the farthest thing from it. Only an idiot would say something guaranteed to be taken as a direct challenge. Glaring at the tomboy, Ranma sniped, "Don't encourage her like that!"

"Can it, Ranma," Ukyo growled. "I know you all think he's out of my league, but trust me, I’m not as pathetic as you think!"

"Ukyo- Ucchan," Ranma faced the okonomiyaki chef. "I know you have always held back in your fights in Nerima. You use weapons, and like everyone who uses weapons, your real techniques are lethal. If you stopped holding back, I'm sure you'd be deadly. It still wouldn't be enough. Besides, do you really think I'd let you get into a fight to the death with someone like Herb!?"

"Do you really think Herb believes in any other kind of fight?" Ukyo stared back sarcastically. "The thing is, he wouldn't expect me to be a threat. His arrogant, chauvinistic pride won't allow him to take me seriously until it's too late. Besides, Herb has other weaknesses I can exploit." She held up a bottle of water the others had seen her fill at the pool Herb had tainted with the Chisuiiton and waved it suggestively.

"You've really been thinking about this, haven't you?" Ryouga asked with wide eyed surprise. Earlier, Ryouga has been forced to scoot away from Ukyo before the cloud of depression surrounding the other girl triggered the lost girl's pig curse. That was what had prompted Ranma to begin discussing a "training regimen" to help Ryouga quickly master her locked curse.

Ukyo turned to glare at Ryouga, causing her to flinch. "Of course I have, you jackass! What else can I do!? Fight YOU?" There was a moment's pause as the others turned to look at Ryouga's open mouthed shock. As a few eyes flickered back to her, Ukyo growled, "I'm surprised you didn't consider that. My options are pretty limited. Be as ruthless as Herb and grab Ranko's guy half, or kill you to get Ranma, and maybe I can stay a girl--otherwise I better get used to the idea of being a guy."

"K-kill me?" Ryouga blinked.

"Is there any other way to steal Ranma from you? If I get you out of the way I could challenge Ranma. I mean, if Akane can claim Fa Shen for a wife, who around here would doubt my 'qualifications' to marry Ranma? Doesn't that sound like a great plan!?" Ukyo stood and towered over Ranma and Ryouga. Both of them looked horrified. "Yeah, right. So, maybe you two don't want Shampoo and Akane to talk me out of using this?" she picked up the pitcher and shook it for emphasis. Leaning closer to Ryouga, she snarled, "It's not like I really want to be a guy, if I can avoid it. I'll do it if I have to, but if you're not standing between me and Ranma, I won't have to! So, really, I'm just deciding who I have to beat, you or Herb! Either way, I'd be playing for keeps."

"Spatula Girl really do think about this," Shampoo mused.

"Would you really kill to get me?" Ranma challenged plaintively. He shuddered, imagining for an instant being thrust into a relationship with an Ukyo who had slain his--or more accurately "her"--lover. A flicker of hatred entered his voice as he pressed, "Do you think I'd ever forgive you for trying!?"

Ukyo turned to him and frowned. Turning away and sitting down, she huffed, "Probably not. I know I wouldn't." It was a no win proposition.

Ranma frowned and studied her more carefully. He could see in Ukyo's eyes that she had already understood how much Ranma would hate her if she ever tried to come between him and Ryouga. That, more than anything, underscored her point. There was nothing left for Ukyo to gain by remaining as she was. There was a world of difference between fighting with Ryouga over Ranma and fighting with Herb over Ranko. The latter offered a slim chance for Ukyo to come out as the good guy--at the cost of actually becoming a guy; to be fighting FOR Ranko, protecting her from a marriage she truly did not want.

Even that was not certain, though. Ukyo was still stinging from the harsh words Ranko had lashed her with that morning. Ukyo had pondered the very thing Ranko accused her of, claiming the male Ranko for herself. It was such an obvious solution to the problem, and yet it just proved that Ukyo had almost no options that did not somehow make her the bad guy. If she questioned or ignored the sincerity and depth of her feelings, her principle reason for pursuing Ranko was identical to Herb's. Her father commanded it. Ukyo pulled the nanniichuan water closer to her, peering through the glass. Her heart longed for the man Ranko had been, and remained bound to the girl she now seemed to be. Her own girlish hopes and dreams had long since died of a broken promise.

Ukyo leaned back, raising the pitcher over her head, and declared, "I guess I'll just have to be a man about it." In a blink, the table was cleared around her, no one eager to brave the whims of even a temporary curse. Thus, no one got a close look at the changes Ukyo underwent.

For a moment, the consensus was that nothing had happened. The somewhat ambiguous claim that an instant curse would work on a chisuiiton locked form seemed to be disproved, then Ukyo ripped open her shirt, fingers scrabbling to loosen the bindings that restrained her breasts. Snatching one of her small spatulas, she sliced through the elastic cloth and took a deep, anguished breath as the material fell away to expose a somewhat broader, and unquestionably masculine chest. "Oh, damn that hurt!"

Ukyo started. His voice sounded almost the same. It was close to the same range, but there was a richness, a resonant timber. That was not the only "surprise" he quickly realized, as an unfamiliar pinching and pressure assailing the newest and most tender portion of his anatomy pierced through the haze of shock clouding his thoughts. 

"U-Uc-Ucchan?" Ranma gulped.

"Welcome to the club," Akane heaved a bitter sigh.

"Uh, excuse me, guys," Ukyo suddenly flushed and bounded from his seat. He cursed his stupidity as he raced for the stairs. For all Ukyo was known for "her" preference for male clothing, one specific article of clothing had always been exempt from her cross dressing habit.

"Panties," the group said sympathetically, once he was out of earshot.

A moment later, Shampoo and Akane rose from the table and followed after Ukyo. Deliberate or not, Ukyo's decision was bound to be difficult and he might need the advice that two girls who had been boys could offer. As soon as they also cleared the room, Ryouga turned to Ranma.

"So," she drawled.

"Um. Right," Ranma scratched his head thoughtfully. Shrugging, he resumed where he interrupted himself, "As I was saying, we shouldn't waste any time. Now that it's locked, and we know how to reverse your pig curse, this is the best time to focus on mastering your girl curse."

"I'm not arguing that, Ranma. I just don't understand how what you were saying is supposed to help," Ryouga complained, trying to dismiss the anxiety she had felt as Ukyo seemed on the verge of declaring war over Ranma. Unfortunately, that forced her to face the anxiety caused by what Ranma had been explaining before Ukyo's dilemma distracted them.

"Like I told you, I think sex was some kind of short cut for me and Fa Shen," Ranma picked up the thread of his explanation. He failed to notice how those words made Ryouga squirm uncomfortably.

"Ah. I don't... that is... well..."

"Are you blushing?" Ranma asked ingenuously. "Oh, yeah. I forgot, you're a total pervert! I can't even mention sex in passing without your mind slipping into the gutter, huh? Whoa, watch it, P-Chan, you're gonna burst a vessel!" Ryouga's face had grown darker with each word, until she punctuated the last one by pounding Ranma square in the middle of the face.

"Who's the pervert, Ranma! At least you had some time to get used to the idea of being the girl before... before... Aaaarrrrgh!" she shuddered in emotional turmoil, torn between outrage, embarrassment and mild but growing arousal. "I'm not in THAT much of a hurry to be a guy again!"

Ranma rubbed his face, suppressing a moan as his hands brushed over a tenderized nose, then stared through his fingers at the neo-girl. "What are you talking about!?"

"What do you mean, what am I talking about!?" Ryouga flared up. "I don't care if sex IS a short cut, I don't even care if I OWE you a shot at being the guy! I'm just not ready for that! I still get freaked out taking a piss, you jerk!" she huffed in growing embarrassment.

"What? Who said anything about that!?" Ranma reared up to meet the lost girl eye to eye. "Geez, Ryouga! I wouldn't-" was all he got out before he was interrupted by a suddenly timid voice.

"You don't want to have sex with me?" Ryouga blinked in surprise.

"Well, yeah... I DO... but," Ranma blushed and suddenly looked away. Gulping at the aura of outrage she suddenly produced, Ranma whipped back, waving his hands between them, "Wait! I- I don't mean RIGHT NOW! No way you can handle bein' the girl yet!"

"What!? You take that back! I can handle anything! I'll be the best girl you EVER had!" Ryouga challenged, puffing up her chest and snarling.

"Oh, stop posing and just listen for a second!" Ranma pushed her back.

"Do you or do you not want to have sex!?" Ryouga refused to back down on that. As uneasy as she had been about the inevitable role reversal that would result from being in a relationship with Ranma, Ryouga had been struggling to work up the nerve to do it when the time came.

"Ryouga," Ranma suddenly became subdued. Looking the lost girl in the eye again, he asked, "Do you really want to rush into things for our first time like that?" Ryouga hesitated for a moment before shyly shaking her head. "I didn't think so. It's gonna happen eventually. I really do hope so. If I wasn't afraid you'd blow a gasket, I'da told you by now what a cute girl you are. But, I know how scary it is to have a guy say something like that to you. Even if the guy is me, it's gotta weird you out."

Ryouga sighed, almost disappointed to discover Ranma was too decent to take advantage of the situation. Timidly, she met his serious gaze to ask, "Then, if we're not talking about us having sex, how is sex supposed to be a short cut to mastering my curse?"

Ranma regarded her thoughtfully. Taking a deep breath, he shifted into female form. "Ryouga... I've seen you... ah... exploring your body. Enough to know you're at least... comfortable... with yourself." Ranma smiled nervously while both of them turned bright red. Comfortable was hardly the word to describe the state Ryouga had been in when Ranma tracked the sounds of panting and moaning to a linen closet the night they arrived at Cologne's home. Grinning to herself, she still wondered how long Ryouga had been lost in that tiny room before exploiting the privacy to satisfy either curiosity or previously discovered appetites. "I think that meets the 'acceptance of the curse' part of the Shokei Fist training. The only other thing is getting you to overcome the lock. I think that, because you're normally a guy, and you've had sex with me, I should be able to help you break the lock being like this," Ranma opened her collar and flashed a bit of cleavage.

Ryouga's eyebrows shot up.

Ranma arched her back, lifting her arms up over her head in a sexy pose, "That's how it worked for me and Fa Shen. A sexy girl like me oughta bring out the man in anyone, don't you think?"

Ryouga swallowed hard and nodded, instantly entranced by Ranma's glorious feminine physique. "That's all it takes?" she aired somewhat breathlessly, unable to believe the secret to mastering any kind of technique could be so deliciously pleasant.

"Trust me, Ryo-chan." Ranma slithered forward, wrapping her arms around her lover, and purred into Ryouga's ear, "It's all in the reflexes."



As Ranma and Ryouga raced upstairs to the privacy of Mousse and Ryouga's room in the matriarch's manor, Cologne and the recently dubbed "Mirror" were running into Fa Shen, Cinnamon and Nodoka as they emerged from the vault and headed toward the house to draw the twice cursed dragon a hot bath. Mother and "son" instantly recognized the female form of Mousse and closed in on the pair of amazons to find out what had happened. Cinnamon simply stopped, remaining aloof as the pair rushed forward to meet the elder. Fa Shen, back to his senses if not his native sex, was not the least surprised to hear that Mousse had pulled a Ryouga while learning chi attacks under the instruction of Herb and the supervision of Lime and Mint. At the same time, the recent transformation of Cinnamon was explained to Cologne while Mousse wandered ahead and inadvertently distracted the new made man from the conversation between the matriarch and her adopted daughter and granddaughter.

"Somehow, I am not surprised," Cologne responded to the description of how Fa Shen-no-Ranma managed to curse the dragon. "While I admit it was an oversight on my part to leave the casks in the vault, I am curious about one thing. Why did you wish to destroy the cask?" the old woman asked Fa Shen.

"It wasn't my idea!" Fa Shen retorted defensively. At the same time, he was not certain he wanted to explain what had summoned his alter ego to the fore and provoked him. "Ranma did it."

Cologne blinked and looked at the boy closer. "The personality might have been his, but the mind is yours. I strongly suspect you know very well what was on 'his' mind, Child," Cologne reprimanded.

"Ah, well..." Fa Shen dithered. In truth, he was aware of his personality shifts, and while his perspective changed totally, he remained conscious of his thoughts and actions in either persona. "Let's just say, the rotten old panda did not deserve such an easy cure."

Cologne shrugged, "No argument there. I thought it was a waste to acquire the water for him in the first place. Unfortunately, the damage is done. I hope for your sake the dragon is in a forgiving mood."

"Why do you say that?" Nodoka interrupted.

"Cinnamon killed the last person who cursed, er... him," Cologne reminded them astringently with a nod in Cinnamon's direction. Shaking her head, she directed her attention at Mousse. "For the moment, however, I need you to run in the house, Fa Shen, and warn the others about 'Mirror' over there. I am sure you and your siblings are quite wroth with Mousse for interfering, but should any of you reveal Mirror's true identity, I doubt I could prevent the council from executing her."

"Even though it was an accident?" Fa Shen challenged.

"Too many accidents have happened of late. The council is running out of patience for all of these radical changes. Curses have traditionally been meant to serve as punishments, not promotions." Cologne held the red-headed boy's eye until he nodded in understanding. With a swat of her cane, she commanded, "Enough dawdling. Go tell the others and then you should join our honored guest in the bath."

"What?" Fa Shen was surprised. Communal bathing was not that common in the village. The practice was usually limited to the hot springs.

"Spare me the shocked innocence, Child. Quite possibly you have offended one of the most powerful entities to ever be invited into our village. This would be a good time to see if that infamous Saotome charm is enough to sooth a grumpy dragon's ire."

"You've got to be kidding!" Fa Shen blushed.

"Perhaps a little," Cologne chuckled. "What you do with Cinnamon is entirely up to you, but I would appreciate someone keeping a close eye on him, and you could use a bath."

Fa Shen's brow wrinkled, but he resisted the urge to take whiff of himself. He had missed his morning bath, courtesy of a quick exit via Air Akane, fought two brief battles and taken a plunge in a river. A bath did sound nice.

Cologne approached Mirror and Cinnamon, Nodoka in tow, as Fa Shen sprinted into the house. With the end of her walking stick, she prodded Mirror into accompanying Fa Shen. "Fa Shen is going in to draw you a bath, Honored Dragon," she inclined her head respectfully.

Cinnamon returned a nod.

"Have you completed your examination of Nodoka?"

"Yes. I am not, however, ready to share my conclusions." The dragon gave Nodoka a meaningful look. He did not really need to warn her that most of what the dragon revealed to her was exclusively for her benefit. There was no guessing how people would take the news of Nodoka's true identity and the nature of her and her children.

Cologne bowed, "As you please, oh noble dragon. May I inquire, though, will you be returning with the Musk to their camp this evening, or were you anticipating the hospitality of the Amazons?"

"In truth, I expected my new curse to discourage an invitation from either. Spice and Herb in particular will be rather put out to learn of it. A curse such as this makes me unsuitable for a bride, more so as it is so complementary to that of the prince," Cinnamon pointed out.

"Not at all," Cologne laughed. "In fact, one might easily be led to think that sex changing curses are in season, to judge by the current trend. While you might qualify for induction into the tribe by virtue of your first curse, the fact that you are not now an amazon protects you from any condemnation over your second. Please consider yourself welcome in my home."

Cinnamon bowed to the diminutive elder. "I am honored to accept your invitation. Perhaps it is fortunate I did not heed Pa Shen's suggestion to seek sanctuary in the village upon my escape from the Musk so long ago. Even though..." Cinnamon trailed off abruptly, flashing a secretive smile and waving the rest of his comment off.

Cologne quirked an eyebrow, and led the way into the house.

"Even though, what?" Nodoka asked gamely.

"I do not wish to offend," the dragon evaded.

"Nonsense! If anything you've the right after what happened," Nodoka encouraged, breezing in through the door after Cologne and Cinnamon.

"Very well. You may have noticed, I made no attempt to hide my interest in Fa Shen," Cinnamon prefaced. He filed into the dining area after Cologne and took a seat at the table at a gesture from her. Nodoka took a seat across from him with an expectant look, while Cinnamon continued. "In fact, I have dreamed of a day when she might be sprung from her grave. So, it should come as little surprise if I tell you that I am inclined to challenge her. More so now than ever before," he confided, gesturing to his new male form. Taking a distant expression, he smiled, "I am quite fascinated by her plurality, yet I was disappointed to learn there is some kind of claim upon all of her incarnations.

"Were I an amazon," he refocused on Nodoka to point out the specific thought he had cut off, "I would still have the right to challenge Fa Shen, or Ranma despite their marriages to outsiders." 

"Oh!" Nodoka fought to contain her reaction.

Cinnamon chuckled. He saw no reason not to confide, "As a man, I may issue a challenge to Ranko--as an outsider myself; though I must then compete with Herb to win her. "

"You wish to marry Ranko?" Nodoka asked, wide eyed. She could hardly believe it. Except for being a little older in appearance, Cinnamon was physically the same person as Ranko, or Nodoka herself--given what she had just learned.

"I would wish to marry all of them, if I could," Cinnamon admitted candidly, swelling to his full height. "Though I will settle for Ranko, once she defeats the Musk Prince."

"I suspect Ranko might not be as enthusiastic," Cologne laughed.

"I am sure she gets that from Fa Shen," the dragon replied dryly.

"Oh, dear," Nodoka looked down. The logistical problem of another suitor for Ranko was instantly overridden by alarms screaming that such a union was unquestionably incestuous, genetically. The faint tolerance Nodoka had for the children's sexual encounters came from the knowledge that Fa Shen taught them how to protect themselves from impregnation, but children were the point of marriage as far as Nodoka was concerned. Unfortunately, what she knew of amazon eugenics, such a mating would be allowed--on the grounds that defective children would be euthanized. Nodoka leaned close to Cologne and whispered, "I don't think it would be proper!"

Cologne glanced at her and burst out in wild cackles. Nodoka's logic was easy to unravel. For all the difficulties Cinnamon's admission promised, though, the very notion of Ranko bringing a DRAGON into the tribe was nigh intoxicating. It was certainly a more pleasing prospect than a union that would unite the amazons with the Musk. Since Herb had thrown his own challenge into question by sabotaging Ranko's ability to fight, it would be easy to encourage things in the dragon's favor. Only the fact that a fight right now could render Ranko permanently split, prevented Cologne from revealing Herb's gaffe to Cinnamon. At least until some solution to Ranko's division could be found. For now, she would have to be satisfied by the amusement the situation offered.

"I am not sure what to think..." Nodoka murmured, flustered.

"Beyond the fact that apparently none of them can draw breath without attracting new suitors right out of the woodwork?" Cologne challenged, hooting with glee. "I've never seen the beat of them for it, that's for sure!" she cackled.

While the matriarch recovered from her outburst of hilarity, and Nodoka fretted about the ever growing complexities of her off-springs' love lives, Fa Shen entered the room to announce that the bath was ready.



Upstairs, in the room Ukyo had been sharing with Akane, the original fiancée brigade continued to stare at the girl Fa Shen had just reintroduced them all to. Without the glasses, and dressed in the clothes of a Musk prince, it was almost possible to picture the former Mousse as the long-lost sister Cologne had invented. Fa Shen's quick explanation of the master of hidden weapon's transformation, and very grudging endorsement of the deception necessary to protect the neo-girl's life, had been given before Fa Shen excused herself to draw a bath. It had not been necessary for her to ask the others to keep a sharp eye on the traitor, as Shampoo, Akane and Ukyo took Mirror into custody with menacing grins and the promise of tremendous bodily mayhem if she dared to step out of line. Gritting her teeth, Mirror simply nodded, before announcing, "I deserve no less, I suppose. As it stands, you all hold my life in your hands. It would only take one tiny slip from any of you to betray me to the elders. I have no reason to expect you not to, so all I can do is implore you. Do not expose me before I've had a chance to punish Herb for this!" Mirror entreated, gesturing angrily at herself.

"If you want to fight Herb, you're going to have to stand in line, Sugar," Ukyo growled, disturbed by his physical response to the new Mousse. Pawing impatiently through his pack, he snapped, "Dammit! I know I packed some boxers for this trip!"

Akane blushed, clearing her throat with a meek, apologetic expression. "Uh. I'mwearingthem. I'msorryUkyo," she rattled off breathlessly in profound mortification.

"What?" Ukyo turned to stare at the tomboy.

"I said," Akane looked up, speaking a bit more defiantly, "I am wearing them! I was a boy this morning, remember! I took a bath this morning and then remembered that I threw away all the boy's underwear I brought with me when I thought I was cured at Jusenkyo." Akane hastily reined in her emotions before they could trigger a transformation. Unvoiced was her uncertainty about remaining female, her reason for continuing to wear boys' clothing. She was painfully conscious that she could become male again at any moment. That was the only reason she succeeded in controlling her emotions this time.

Ukyo shook his head in dismay. "Right. I guess I'll just borrow some from Ranko," he announced, storming out of the room and bursting through the door across the hall. "Hey, Ranchan! I need... to..." Ukyo stopped short.

A charged atmosphere filled the room The nude forms of Ranko, boy and girl, lay tentatively entwined, spoon fashion, upon a futon. In the wake of Ranma and Fa Shen's exit, they had playfully explored each other until they fell naturally into a relaxed and contemplative pose, her back pressed perfectly into the contours of his muscular front. Her arms were pulled in, folded demurely over her bosom while his were wrapped over hers securely. As one they looked up at the intruder and cried out, "Gyaaah!"

The girls turned and gasped as Ukyo stumbled back frantically and slammed the door he just opened shut. From inside the room, the male and female voices of Ranko shouted out in obvious indignation, "Doesn't anybody know how to knock!?"

"Ukyo? What was...?" Akane pushed forward, intent on checking in on the couple, elite pervert detection senses crackling online. Ukyo's arm swept out to intercept her and propel her back into the girls' room. "Hey!"

"Trust me, Akane. You don't want to go in there," Ukyo was blushing furiously, the image of the split twins naked bodies tangled on the futon burned into his retinas. The earlier mystery of Fa Shen's announcement, that Ranko's problem had been solved, quickly unraveled as Ukyo's mind put assorted facts together in light of the scene he just witnessed. He quashed the impulse to race back in there and punish them for "cheating" on him like that. To himself, he muttered, "Over an hour, and they're still on foreplay!?"

"What was that?" Akane squinted in suspicion, pulling against his grip in stubborn determination to find out what the perverts were doing to make Ukyo blush so intensely, yet defend them at the same time. Shocking and provocative images suddenly filled her head, flashes of seeing Fa Shen and Ranma spilling out of the compact in coital union coming back to haunt her. For perhaps the first time, Akane had leapt to the correct conclusion. "What is that pervert up to!?" Akane cried, straining to reach the door.

"Let it go, Akane!" Ukyo shook the girl hard, drawing an angry glare from her. Restraining Akane firmed Ukyo's resolve and brought to mind the way Cologne had put Akane on the spot over her reaction to Ranma and Fa Shen's indiscretions. Ukyo did not hesitate to put his rival in her place with a blunt reminder, "I mean it, Akane. What Ranko does with him or her self is nobody else's business. Shampoo, would you grab her for a sex...  er, sec?"

Shampoo's eyes widened at the slip, but she nudged Mirror and the two of them seized Akane in iron grips. "What you do now?" she asked.

"I still need a pair of underwear," he answered crisply. Ukyo had no intention of making the same mistake Akane had. This was his chance to prove himself and be the one who ultimately won Ranko's heart. That meant walking back in, taking the shock in stride, and showing trust and acceptance of the person he loved. Ukyo rapped on Ranko's door and let himself back in. The couple had darted under a blanket, clearly expecting the entire household to come storming into the room now that they had been discovered, waiting with expressions of frustration, arousal and anxiety. "Sorry, ah, Ranko. I needed to borrow some boxers," Ukyo parted his shirt to reveal the flat chest to them, giving both of them a shock.

"Ukyo! What did you do!?" they shouted, nearly leaping out of bed at him. At first glance, they had not been able to tell Ukyo had changed. As a he, Ukyo possessed the same androgynous quality that made "her" capable of passing for a boy.

"Don't freak out, Ranchan, it's just the Instant. I put this little experiment off too long already," Ukyo explained, stifling the bitterness that wanted to voice itself. As the couple studied his transformation, his eyes strayed longingly over the pair. The impulse to strip down and join them was so tempting, though he was brought up short by his body's reaction to the idea. Ukyo swallowed hard, trying to ignore his awakening manhood. The silence was becoming strained when Ukyo remembered his excuse and huffed, "So, can I get some shorts or what?"

The couple in bed exchanged looks and the boy shrugged, "Sure, Ucchan. The pack's in the closet over there." It was not hard to read what was in Ukyo's eyes as he looked at them. They were relieved that their reaction to Ukyo had not been on their faces when the glanced at each other. It was shocking how little the curse changed him.

As Ukyo turned to retrieve Ranko's pack, the girl half developed an evil grin. That little flash of chest was in no way innocent. Regardless of what Ukyo said, his main interest in being a man was catch Ranko. Unfortunately, just because Ranko knew that did not mean it could not work. Which was reason enough to strike at the opening Ukyo unwittingly offered. "You realize this makes Ukyo the first person to get into our shorts," she quipped to her other half, folding her arms saucily.

"Urk!" Ukyo nearly planted his face in the floor. "Ranko!"

"Gotcha!" the girl smirked. After deflecting the glare he shot at her, Ranko hugged herself nervously. "Um, about this..." she began.

"...I can explain..." her counterpart picked up.

Ukyo laughed softly, "Don't sweat, I think I know what you're up to."

"You do?" the couple echoed, eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Just a guess, but... I take it this is supposed to help you pull yourself back together?" Ukyo tested, slipping a pair of boxers from the pack into his pocket, without taking his eyes off the couple. He smiled wolfishly as the pair nodded. He could not resist getting in a jab of his own, "Ah, well... If you're in that much of a hurry, why are you two taking so long!?"

The couple blushed deeply, and the girl squeaked, "Well, the first time should be special, right?"

"Oh, come on. You... you're both the same person! Surely it doesn't count..." Ukyo flushed, nearly losing her composure to a surge of jealousy.

"Ah, er... if you want to be technical... but, come on, Ukyo! This certainly ain't no dildo!" she grabbed her boy half and shook him emphatically. He turned to face her with narrowed eyes, before giving Ukyo an innocent look.

"And, they sure don't make blow-up dolls like this," he pulled his girl half close and squeezed her right breast demonstratively. She yelped softly in surprise before turning to slap him upside the head.

"Behave!" she growled and turned back to Ukyo. "The point is, I'm not going to be a virgin after this. Can you blame me for wanting to savor the moment? If you were in my place, wouldn't you?"

"I'm not gonna even touch that one, Sugar. Still, you know you're going to have a hard time living this one down, Ranchan." Ukyo swallowed the urge to laugh, in part for fear it would sound hysterical, and edged back toward the door. He could hardly believe he had managed to keep his cool through the whole exchange. When he first walked in on the couple, Ukyo had felt like a giant fist had punched through his chest and ripped his heart out. He had instantly understood Akane's reaction to a similar surprise with Ranma and Fa Shen. Even with his mind made up to be supportive and understanding, though, it was difficult to keep from screaming and trying to tear the couple apart. They stretched the definition of masturbation past the point of credibility. It was not just that it was sex, it was the implication that Ranko did not need anyone else to be whole. Ukyo needed to leave before they became comfortable enough with him to resume what they had been doing. He simply could not take that. But, just when he thought he would make a clean exit, they stopped him.

"Ucchan?" Ranko queried, in stereo.

"Yeah, Sugar?" Ukyo paused, ready to turn and run.

"Are you... mad at me?" The timid note was back in their voices.

Ukyo took a deep breath and let it out. He shook his head and forced a reassuring smile to his lips. "You're not mad at me."

Onna and Otoko-Ranko blinked. They had become so self conscious as the discussion shifted to what they were in bed for, Ukyo's transformation had slipped their minds. The way Ukyo brought it back to their attention caused a little pang of hurt. Ukyo had genuinely been afraid of how Ranko would react to Ukyo making good on his "threat" to become a man for them--or in spite of them. "Mad? You expected me to be mad?" Onna-Ranko asked sadly.

Ukyo averted his eyes, rather than responding. Ranko looked to herself for the answer. She was not mad, as it happened. But maybe, under different circumstances, Ranko would have been angry at Ukyo for taking any chances with Jusenkyo magic. Instead, Ranko had been in no position to be critical of anyone else, when Ukyo revealed his transformation. Ranko was too distracted by a mortal dread of getting pounded to worry about the danger Ukyo had placed himself in. "I told you what I thought about it, what the risks were. The choice was never up to me, though," Onna-Ranko confided. "I'm worried for you, Ucchan. It makes me angry, but I'm not really angry with you."

"Feeling's mutual, Ranchan," Ukyo turned and opened the door. "By the way, for all the good it might do with our crowd... You still ought to try locking the door when you're going to be... playing with yourself."

As Ukyo slipped out of the room, Ranko and Ranko slumped against each other in relief and chagrin. Unavoidably, this brought their attention back to each other. Their bodies still ached and sang with arousal, despite the shock of Ukyo interrupting their mutual seduction. "So much for Ranma and Fa Shen watching our backs!" they muttered darkly.

Onna-Ranko sighed and reflexively ran her hand across Otoko-

Ranko's chest. Once again, she was struck by the wonder of touching him. It was so strange, how different it was to touch him, to see him through her eyes. To be on the outside of that body, rather than living within it. Even more awesome, was the effect of his touch upon her. Nothing she had ever experienced made her feel so connected to her body, so conscious of every fiber of her flesh. Never had she felt so delighted to be female. Unfortunately, she gained that at the cost of her own manhood. When his hand came up to brush her bangs out of her face, to give himself a clear view of her eyes, she ached to know what it was like to see herself through his.

Tilting her head back, she met his searching gaze. Like her, he was trying to bridge the gap, striving to make contact with the thoughts and feelings inside her. To span the gulf that deepened with every caress and confirm that they remained the same person at the core.

An unexpected benefit of their exploration, however, had been the chance for each of them to meet the person everyone else knew as Ranko. It had been a subtle shift in perspective, reminiscent of how Ranko had come to view Ranma and Fa Shen as people in their own right. Ranko had not wanted to devolve into male-type and female-type versions of the original, but the intimacy required to satisfy the teen's curiosity about sex forced Ranko to perceive that, where he or she was but half the physical reality of Ranko, both possessed the mind of the original.

Each of them encompassed the whole of Ranko, mentally. Divided, Ranko was much closer to being a "normal" person than s-he had ever been before. It was sort of a given, if s-he was equally capable of being a boy or a girl, Ranko could just as easily be both. Separated from each other, they were better adapted for world they lived in, but being exclusively male or female filled Ranko with a hollow ache. The couple was feeling it keenly as they held each other, one making the other painfully conscious of what he or she was not. It was worse by far than the distress of being a "freak" who flipped back and forth, never being entirely male or female. It was a pain that could only be salved in mutual embrace. Just holding each other was enough to ease that pain somewhat, but ultimately it was a trap.

The core of Ranko's identity was the fusion of male and female, the blending of Ranma and Fa Shen. On the surface, Ranko benefited from being both a boy and a girl at the same time. But not if that boy and girl existed as separate entities. Not if their intimacy reinforced their perception of each other as distinctly male and female individuals. It would be too easy to lose sight of the fact that they were the same person inside. They could easily cease to be the same person, while at the same time falling in love with a boy or girl who was, for obvious reasons, his or her perfect lover.

Neither of them had mentioned this to the other. They had both become conscious of it, however. As they had sensed the threat, and temptation, their foreplay had become muted, contemplative. Ranko was not one to run away from a challenge, so it did not even occur to the boy and girl to simply stop and give up on the idea of satisfying their curiosity about sex. There might have been other ways to burn off the temporary curse, but quite frankly, they wanted to do it this way. If worse came to worse, and their plan to reverse the twins curse failed, it was inevitable they would become a couple anyway. What difference would it make if the attempt caused them to fall in love then? If they did succeed, the lovers would be fused back into their original state. Ranko could certainly cope with the feelings that lingered; who could it hurt if Ranko loved herself a bit more passionately than the next person?

All things considered, the risks were acceptable. They did not even have to agonize over the possibility that their judgment had been impaired by their lust. Ukyo's interruption had given them a chance to collect themselves, to recover their wits and remember the point of this exercise.

As they studied each other, they reached a silent understanding. It was unlikely that they would choose being a couple over being the singular Ranko. In the heat of arousal, they brought out the boy and girl in each other, but outside of each other's arms, they would revert back to normal. Ranko would never fully adapt to a single gender. Besides, it might become a moot point. There was a very good chance that the act of intercourse would initiate the circuit, bridging their minds during the most intimate moments. That would shatter the illusion of being a couple. So ultimately, having sex together was just a means to an end, and not an end in itself. It was enough that events had offered them this unusual opportunity to satisfy their curiosity. It was something to enjoy, and then move on. She conveyed her understanding of this with a wry smile. He sensed the change in her and gently took her chin in one hand, bending close to kiss her. This was not one of the soft, succulent kisses they had lingered in before, but a hard, hungry probing of each other's deeper passions.

In moments they were lost to each other. Their hands reached out instinctively to caress each other exactly where and how their bodies most desired to be touched and manipulated. Every stroke was exquisite, every longing anticipated. It was entrancing. It was magic. It was a primal dance executed to perfection; thought and action woven into a seamless flow where awareness stood crisp and naked, bathed in pure pleasure.

After wandering boldly across the silky surfaces of each other's bodies, depositing an intricate pattern of licks and kisses, their mouths returned to each other. Cradling each other's faces, they poured themselves passionately into probing osculation. Drinking in the taste of each other, savoring the sensation of their lips rubbing together while their tongues fenced in delightful mischief, the couple surged to the peak of arousal. But before they could position themselves to take the final step in consummating their union, the trance shattered.

Something within their minds snapped and their thoughts and emotions abruptly surged forth and overlapped. For a terrifying moment they hovered on the verge of oblivion as their consciousness threatened to spill through the cracks of reality into an unimaginable abyss. Ranko fought through the burst of panic, stubbornly fighting to regain coherent thought and perception. The sense of falling, or twisting around some impossible corner, terminated as Ranko's mind swiftly refocused only to find itself in full possession of both bodies.

A sudden, stark sense of isolation gripped Ranko, as s-he broke off the "couple's" last kiss. Physically "they" remained tangled in intimate embrace, yet it seemed as if the person each had held had evaporated, leaving Ranko holding onto nothing. The couple's intimate pose was rendered a mockery of the communion from which Ranko had been coldly ejected, leaving the teen's soul uncertain as to where its consciousness was seated.

/ "What am I?"

\ "Where am I?"

The uncertainty escaped in whispers that blew across each other. It shocked Ranko to be able to simultaneously utter two different permutations of a single, incoherent thought. Neither form occupied Ranko's mind less than the other. Neither body commanded Ranko's full attention. The bodies Ranko inhabited suddenly seeming like the extremities of an otherwise invisible or intangible entity, the mind adapted instinctively to the dimensions of being split and twinned, sorting out the male side and the female side as automatically as it would left side and right side. Ranko slid his hand over her body, delighting the softness of her skin, and Ranko felt the thrill of his caress within her abdomen. The quality of that experience was no different than what any person might feel while touching themselves. Without reversing the twins' curse, the wedge dividing Ranko had spontaneously removed itself.

Ranko pushed herself back to regard her counterpart. The action seemed to shift the focus of Ranko's attention into her female incarnation. She did not grow less aware of being him, but rather, regained a sense of being seated within that body, instead of hovering about it. Blinking to adjust to that observation, she studied the young man in bed with her as if she had never seen him before. It was like looking in a mirror; she could feel herself looking back through his eyes. Focusing on the image in "his" mind's eye, she was suddenly in his skin looking at her.

He closed his eyes at the same time she did. This was a serious development. One Ranko needed to pause for a moment to sort out. For all the times Ranko had been either male or female, that first instant of being both had been a shock. Fortunately, previous experience with the circuit had given Ranko the experience to adapt to being in more than one place at the same time. It merely required a certain amount of thought to adjust to the disconcerting "out of body" quality caused by the perceptual overlap of both perspectives. Before confronting the problem this premature rapport presented, Ranko noted that, whatever had just happened, it only affected her/him. It had not bridged the gap normally separating Ranko from Ranma and Fa Shen.

Ranko took a couple of deep breaths. "Is this a good thing?" she asked herself. Now that she had adjusted to it, she could see the advantages of remaining like this. Split bodily and fused mentally, Ranko could be a boy and a girl full time, and not suffer over the sacrifice of one for the other.

"That depends on how permanent it is," he pointed out.

She smirked at having "him" answer her question. Obviously, "they" still retained a level of independence, in thought and action. Both brains worked on the question in silence before reaching a consensus. Somehow, it seemed unlikely this rapport would dissolve. The connection formed during the circuit faded as soon as Ranma and Fa Shen disengaged from each other. If the bridging of Ranko's minds was dependant on intimacy, then it should have ceased when the couple pulled apart. Of course it would take time to test that theory properly.

"I don't think I want to wait it out," she sighed.

"Well, if the original plan works, we will always be able to split like this once we've merged back together," he reminded her optimistically.

"So," she shrugged, brushing a finger along his forearm, marveling at the sensations that caused. She was grateful that being present in both halves did not neutralize the chemistry between "her" and "him". "They" should experience no difficulty with resuming where they left off, even with the lines between them erased. Of course, the habit of regarding another body as another person was difficult to break. It actually made it easier for Ranko to deal with him and her, if they assumed exclusive personas as Ranko-the-boy and Ranko-the-girl. Having "met" them both, it was not a difficult piece of mental gymnastics. The worst that might happen would be for Ranko to develop a habit of talking to herself. If she had not already, she smiled, while addressing her other self. "We should probably finish what we started. It's not like we didn't expect something like this to happen."

He smiled. No other response was necessary.

"Okay, that's just eerie," she murmured, as his hands resumed foraging for her most delicate and sensitive spots. She returned the favor, eager to regain the momentum of their seduction. Both had to make adjustments as they rekindled the fires within themselves. Only the fact that "they" had two gender opposed bodies to "work with" kept the experience of their masculine and feminine instincts operating simultaneously--cueing off of each other--from completely unnerving them. On the bright side, it left no doubt that Ranko would be able to experience sex--first hand, for the first time--from both perspectives. The boy in her would not be denied his feelings, nor the girl in him, hers. There would be no risk of creating a permanent rift between the divided embodiments. About the only thing left to be concerned about was, if the usual circuit did form, the whole experience would also be shared by Ranma and Fa Shen.

While Ranko would not wish to deny either, in fact, after the previous circuits, Ranko practically owed them for the times s-he had vicariously experienced their liaisons. There remained the other effects, the manner in which the experience would brand each of them with the experiences of the others. After the trauma Ranma and Fa Shen went through the day before, to sort themselves out after all the confusion caused by apparently trading places when they had sex, Ranko might well subject them to another round of identity crisis. The last union, Ranko felt, was probably directly responsible for causing the turmoil Ranma and Fa Shen endured the day before.

Ranko would hate to precipitate another crisis for his/her siblings.

Unfortunately, even the most prolonged foreplay inevitably left them no choice but to consummate their passion fully, as the pair of them became too worked up, too aroused, for further, coherent, rational thought. Their fears and concerns eventually dissolved into the heat of ardor, their bodies moving instinctively into position to engage in coitus. As happened the first time, when Fa Shen penetrated Ranma, the doors of consciousness and perception were blown off their hinges by the raw power unleashed as Otoko-Ranko seated himself within Onna-Ranko.

As always, that first thrust hit Ranko like a lightening bolt. Then there was a moment's pause as power flooded through them and a surge of new sensations flooded into Ranko's mind. Unfortunately, there was yet one more thing Ranko had failed to account for, which s-he discovered when the very next stroke caused another paradigm shift. Expecting to be overwhelmed by the enhanced sensations of intercourse, Ranko was profoundly shocked to regain his clarity of mind and find himself looking out of Fa Shen's eyes at the naked masculinity of Cinnamon moving to lower himself into the bath. The context of the scene, as well as Fa Shen's memories of everything since the last circuit, filtered into Ranko's mind between one blink and the next, revealing how the dragon became a man, and what the dragon had revealed to Nodoka and Fa Shen. But even as hot water restored the older female form Ranko recognized from her meeting with Cinnamon, she was recovering from the shock of finding herself standing naked before a shy Onna-Ryouga in Ranma's body, shuddering with the wave of pleasure and power that Ranko had unleashed through the circuit.

For a moment, Ranko struggled to find herself, disturbed that in the moment of truth she had somehow taken possession of her siblings bodies. Ranko was much too upset to wonder why, with a total of two male and two female bodies, her gestalt mind chose to default to the female gender as it sorted itself out.

"What... where..." her stuttered confusion spilled form the lips of all four incarnations, as her mind cast about for the personalities of Ranma and Fa Shen. "Why am I in all of us?"

Cinnamon blinked and turned to look at the boy perched on a wash stool behind him. "Fa Shen?" he asked, instinctively focusing ki senses on Fa Shen-no-Ranko. He reeled back as the raw power emanating from that body slammed into his open mind. "What the...!?" he yelped, stumbling back and tripping into the hot bath. Reverted to female form, Cinnamon surged up from the bottom of the tub, spewing water, "What is going on here?"

At the same time, upstairs in the boys' bedroom, Ryouga was cocking her head, "Ranma? What kind of aura is that?" She reached out a hand, extending less refined senses than Cinnamon possessed, and found her body responding automatically to the sexual nature of the energy spilling off her lover's form. "Oh... wow..." she gasped, feeling her insides twist hungrily.

"Ryouga!" Ranma-no-Ranko gasped, as the lost girl surged forward to seize her in an amorous grip. "Wait! Stop!"

"If I'm here..." Fa Shen-no-Ranko continued to ponder, rising to his feet and making for the bathroom door, "...would they have shifted..."

"...to here?" Onna-Ranko completed the thought, staring into Otoko-Ranko's eyes searchingly. She gasped as he continued to thrust into her, amazed to note that the alarm and confusion racing through the circuit barely disturbed the split twins' love making.

"No," the boy half grunted. "I'm here too. I'm everywhere."

"What happened to Ranma and Fa Shen?" the girl half moaned.

"I think Ranma's still in here," Ranma-no-Ranko announced, oblivious to the confused look Ryouga gave her as she looked inward. She shook her head ruefully. Having a conversation with oneself was one thing, but doing so while "she" was in three separate rooms was truly absurd, not even counting what two of them were up to at the time. Ignoring that, though, she focused on the mystery of what happened to Ranma and Fa Shen. Scrunching her face in concentration, she touched upon the core of Ranma's personality and found it struggling to cope with the overwhelming surge of power Ranko had unleashed.

"Oh, crap!" Fa Shen-no-Ranko blurted, pausing at the bathroom door to wrap a towel around his waist, oblivious to Cinnamon rearing up out of the bath and moving to intercept him. Ranma-no-Ranko's discovery was quickly confirmed, and he suddenly realized their oversight.

"You are making no sense! Who are you talking to, and WHAT is with this display of power?" Cinnamon demanded.

"Ranma and Fa Shen never had to deal with the power!" Fa Shen-no-Ranko declared, still ignoring the dragon and her questions. His words echoed in the gestalt mind bridging the Saotome teens throughout the house. "Since I was always the one who dealt with that, the reflection of me in them stepped forward to handle it!" he hypothesized. Combined with the other effects of the circuit, the personality shifts ensured that Ranko dominated the gestalt completely.

"I didn't think of that," the split Ranko echoed together. As one they moved to disengage, and break the circuit. Unfortunately, the pleasurable friction proved more than the lovers brains were used to coping with. At the cusp of pulling out, rational thought abandoned the core couple and instinct took hold, driving him back into her.

Even in Ranma and Fa Shen's bodies the satellite Rankos were almost swept up by the passionate demands of the split incarnation. Ranma-no-Ranko found herself beginning to respond to Ryouga's questing fingers and roaming mouth. Fa Shen-no-Ranko found himself melting as Cinnamon stepped up behind him and locked a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. In his case, as Cinnamon wore Fa Shen's natural form, he nearly tripped her and proceeded to molest her. Fortunately, Cinnamon was not inclined to submit to such amorous attention, even if the man in question was putting off a raging "fuck me" vibe.

"Snap out of it!" Cinnamon slapped Fa Shen-no-Ranko smartly across the face. "What kind of game are you playing?"

"Oh, this is no game," Fa Shen-no-Ranko winced, raising a hand to his cheek. "I'm... this is... Grrr! How can I explain this to you!? I don't have TIME to explain this to you!"

"Just tell me what is going on."

"I don't know. This isn't what normally happens with Ranma and Fa Shen!" he shouted, trying to shake her grip. "I need to get up there and pull my selves apart."

"You seem to be coming apart pretty fine right here," the dragon quipped, giving him a little shake. She narrowed her eyes trying to diagnose the patterns of his ki through the blinding intensity. "Wait... Your selves? Ah, I see, you formed a rapport with your siblings! That's who you're talking to, isn't it? And this ki flow! Even a human could feel the way your incarnations are connected right now."

"That's it! That's exactly it! We're all connected, so we're all me..." Fa Shen-no-Ranko exclaimed, relieved that the dragon seemed to have caught on. "Only, I never had to deal with the sex first hand, and they never had to deal with the power. I think that's why Fa Shen and Ranma switched to being me, and why the real me... er, us...?" Fa Shen-no-Ranko frowned. "Why we can't help ourselves! We can't stop ourselves!" he cried, frustrated with the attempt to put the couple's state of mind into words. "Oh, crap! Not you too!" he suddenly growled. Upstairs, Ryouga's attentions were starting to overcome Ranma-no-Ranko's resistance. "I have to drag Ryouga off of the other me now too! Would you please let me go?"

"I will come with you," Cinnamon offered, barely hesitating as she tried to put things together in her head. "I'm still not entirely sure what you're going on about. Are you fully conscious of your other selves right now?" she asked, opening the door and marching Fa Shen-no-Ranko down the hall toward the stairs without releasing her grip on him.

He nodded. "I’m here, I'm also in Ryouga's room with her, and... together with me in my room. I'm trying to make myself stop, but it's just so gooooood," he moaned. The split Ranko was not entirely incoherent, but the physical bliss was overwhelming. The knowledge of self and the vicarious experience with sex that Ranko started this whole indulgence with, made for a pair of lovers who were doing everything with exquisite perfection. In a few more moments, there was going to be screaming as the couple really cut loose, then everyone in the village would know what was going on. "I've got to hurry!"

Cinnamon released his arm and nodded compliance, rubbing her hand absently, amazed to note it was nearly burnt from being in contact with Fa Shen-no-Ranko's skin. As the two raced up the stairs, Ryouga was lurching back from Ranma-no-Ranko. The night Ryouga made love to Ranma, he'd considered her "too hot to handle" but now Ryouga was discovering that could literally be true. Fanning herself she looked up and was startled to see the other girl surrounded by a blazing corona of chi. "What the..." the lost girl muttered, fighting the urge to resume molesting her lover.

The brief respite from Ryouga, combined with the urgency from Fa Shen-no-Ranko ringing in her skull, allowed Ranma-no-Ranko to attempt to collect her wits. "It's the circuit, Ryouga! I've got to stop myself!" She jumped to her feet as her twin and Cinnamon burst through the door. Their shared thought was confirmed with a glance, and Fa Shen-no-Ranko reached out to grab Ranma-no-Ranko and speed with her down the hall to the room the Saotome siblings had been sharing.

Cinnamon, trailed by a frustrated and confused Ryouga, followed. As they passed the girls' room, the heads of Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and Mirror poked out of the doorway and they instantly joined the parade of naked bodies to Ranko's room.

"What is going on?" Mirror and Ukyo demanded.

"Doesn't anyone ever bother to get dressed before running around the house anymore?" Akane growled.

"Aiyaa! It look like room on fire!" Shampoo blurted as they closed on the door. She flinched as the twins burst through the door, expecting a wall of flame to shoot out and engulf them.

Akane, recognizing the peculiar aura that had engulfed Ranko the other morning at the amazon training ground, gasped and nearly swallowed her fist as she realized what was happening. "They're really doing it!" she squeaked in dismay and disbelief.

Cinnamon paused at the door with Ryouga, staring at the two glowing bodies entwined in passion before them. Even as she watched, the duplicates of the lovers also seemed to ignite with some kind of inner fire, fluorescing as the power being released by Ranko began to exceed what their bodies could handle. All four of them were glowing like fire-brands, but the aura of ecstasy blasting through them seemed to make them immune to whatever pain this consuming blaze was causing. "The... this is incredible. Look at the amount of ki they're shedding!"

"Oh, god! Someone make them stop!" Ukyo gasped, getting a glimpse past Ryouga.

"We're trying!" shouted Ranma-no-Ranko. She squatted down next to the lovers, and directed her twin, "You grab him, and we'll pull them apart!"

Fa Shen-no-Ranko nodded, reaching out to grasp the boy Ranko by the shoulders. From the look, and feel, of things, the couple were fast approaching climax. The rush of energy that would release might well be more than any of them could handle. He turned to stare at Cinnamon, "Get everyone out of here! This whole place is gonna blow!"

Cinnamon did not need to hear any more. She reached out and grabbed Ryouga and Ukyo, dragging them away from the door while pushing the others back, "You heard him! Run!"

As the group jumped to obey, Ranma-no-Ranko and Fa Shen-no-Ranko braced to move, each of them with their arms wrapped around their counterpart, girl to girl, boy to boy, hoping to cancel out any advantage of speed or strength their duplicate possessed. Unfortunately, they failed to account for the fact that the massive power flow vastly accelerated the decay of the temporary curse, or the fact that the ecstatic aura surrounding them was now charged with the magic to reverse a chuanshontsuniichuan curse. Nor did they realize that an orgasm was the natural trigger for such an erotic aura. Thus, they were not prepared for the shock they all experienced as the split twin reached climax.

The screaming of ecstasy the lovers could no longer restrain was joined by the voices of Ranma-no-Ranko and Fa Shen-no-Ranko, as the magic rushed through all of them. Magic that lacked anything resembling intelligence or will, yet was capable of recognizing the taint of the Chuanshontsuniichuan lingering on the mirror twins as no different than the touch of the instant twins curse, marking all four as being divided from the same source. In a blinding burst, the two couples merged into one, singular, shocked and exhausted Ranko. It happened so fast, amidst a flare of gold laced, pure white chi, that the details of the merge would have been impossible to make out. Courtesy of the endorphins streaming through the erotically charged bodies, the unbearable agony of this fusion was translated into an orgasm of unimaginable pleasure.

The explosion resulting from the dispersal of all the power summoned up by Ranko's activities blew the roof off of that wing of the manor. For several moments there was the random clatter of debris settling. Just as the cloud of smoke and dust was clearing, Ranko sat up shaking her head. Taking in the devastation, and discovering that she was in fact alone, she grabbed her head and moaned, "Oww...." Then she imagined Cologne's reaction and mournfully cried out, "Fuck me!"