p a r t f o r t y |
r e f l e c t i o n s
t u r n a b o u t i s f a i r p l a y
Part Forty: Turnabout Is Fair Play
In the furo, two individuals were completely oblivious to the latest calamity to strike in the Tendo Dojo. That was not all the couple was oblivious to, however, as they stripped off their clothes and sank comfortably onto stools to begin their bath. It actually took them a moment to grasp the absurdity of their situation, when they finished dousing themselves with cold water and proceeded to lather their bodies with soap. It was one of those odd shifts in perspective that made them recognize, in a separated silence, that they had been put falsely at ease by each other's presence. One glimpse of her companion's male physique had instantly lulled Ranma into the familiar routine of bathing with another guy, and Fa Shen been equally disarmed by the sight of his companion. It was not until they turned their attention to themselves that they remembered there was a member of the opposite sex present. No matter how well they might adjust to their adopted sexes, they instinctively imposed their innate gender as part of their self image. The physical activity of cleaning the guest room had been enough of a break from their earlier discussion about sex to cause both of them to retreat from the personal consequences of their planned activities.During an awkward moment, while they collected their wits and struggled with arousal sparked more by contact with their own flesh than thoughts of each other's, they had yet another chance to reflect on how much less intimidating the other was as a prospective partner for each of them than a person of their current sex. As they rinsed and turned toward the furo, their eyes met and they shared a smile at the irony of their situation. They only had to see the look on each other's faces to understand that nothing needed to be said. As incredibly bizarre as the situation was, by pure chance it was the most comfortable one for them. If not for the fact that, deep down, they were the same being, they would be the perfect couple. Any possible friction between them would have very pleasant undertones. It was actually rather frightening, and that spice of danger only made it more seductive.
As they soaked in the heat of the bath, they found themselves staring at each other hungrily. While it was true that the legacy of the reflections had left them with an attraction to each other, it paled beside the true hunger they had for each other's bodies. With a wry smile, Ranma met Fa Shen's eyes and remarked, "I'd trade you in a heartbeat if I could."
Fa Shen blinked. "You'd give up being a girl that easily?"
Ranma sighed. "I'd regret it later, but, yeah."
Fa Shen chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. "Well, you could always get this form unlocked if you really wanted. I am sure you could deal with being stuck like this for a while a lot better than I."
"I dunno," Ranma shrugged. "I've been stuck like this often enough that I just can't get all worked up about it. Somehow, someway, I'll come up with a solution. Why panic?"
"Do you see me panicking?" Fa Shen calmly demanded. Ranma laughed at his stern face and splashed him. Fa Shen sputtered and blinked his eyes clear before lunging across the bath, hands thrusting under the water to attack her most ticklish spots. The bath water churned as the girl writhed and screeched through the provoked laughter. Ranma retaliated, true to form, forcing Fa Shen to overpower her smaller form and pin her down before one of them drowned. Never one to retreat from a challenge, Ranma wrestled against him with enthusiasm. The laughter and smiles turned to fiercer grins of joyful conflict, until their bodies suddenly locked together in a way that took the breath out of both of them. In response to Ranma's shocked gasp, Fa Shen stared into her dilating eyes and mumbled rapidly, "I'msorryI'msorryitwasanaccident!"
Ranma blinked, her arms tensing around his back, making her aware of having embraced him automatically as he pierced her. She was about to brush off the apology when he moved to retreat, sending a bolt of lightening up her spine. "Stop! Stop!" she cried, her fingernails raking across his back, the pain forcing him to arch his back. Ranma grit her teeth as the movement caused him to plunge back into her hard. "Dammit, Fa Shen! Don't move!" she growled.
"Wha- what's wrong?" Fa Shen cried, going completely rigid.
Ranma was fighting for control, ordering her mind to tune out the siren's call of pleasure and lust. Thankfully, Fa Shen remained unmoving, if no less aroused. When she could trust herself to speak, and not say the wrong things, encouraging things, she finally explained. "If you start moving, there's no way we'll be able to stop before it's too late."
Fa Shen frowned. "So?"
"So!!?" Ranma almost punched him off of her. "So!!? Who's not wearing a condom!?" she growled into his face. Unfortunately, he flinched back from the intimidating glare that accompanied it, causing her to twitch and whimper in pleasure. The mad little voices in her head snarled at her efforts to maintain her sanity, pleading with and threatening her to get with the program.
Fa Shen frowned. Ranma had gone on about this earlier, and he had listened in confusion until he grasped that her concern was about the risk of disease and impregnation. Their exposure was too limited for disease to be a concern here. Glancing around, he spotted the foil packets she had brought into the bath, sitting innocently on the wash basin across the room from them. They might as well be in China. Fortunately, amazons had also been concerned about unwanted pregnancy, and in her time had been forced to come up with a more practical solution. Without warning, he placed his hands on her abdomen and summoned his ki. Projecting his aura into her body, flooding her with an electric heat that made her moan, he expertly examined and adjusted her reproductive organs. Recently acquired thoughts and ideas caused him to associate what he was doing with reading a clock and diffusing the bomb attached to it.
When he finished what he was doing, Ranma grabbed him and almost shouted, "What do you think you are doing!!?"
"You don't want to get pregnant, right? I just fixed it so you won't."
She blinked in surprise. "You can do that?"
"I am an amazon warrior and a master of ki manipulation!" he snorted. "Of course I can do that!" He noticed her suspicious look. "I'm not joking. Birth control is essential for the freedom of women. If you can't guarantee enough able bodied women are ready to defend the tribe, the tribe can't survive. We didn't have condoms where I grew up. Herbal remedies were too unreliable. We had to come up with other ways of dealing with it."
"Oh," she responded meekly. She shifted her weight, relaxing into a more comfortable position. When her pulse and breathing continued to remain rapid, she suddenly realized that the last thing she could be at the moment was calm. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that they could be interrupted at any moment. Shoving that aside, she took on a determined look. Obviously, they were not going to have any difficulty with doing what they needed to for Ranko. Faced with that necessity, and the absolute assurance that she could not do otherwise at the moment, she grinned and decided to make the most of it. Leaning in, she captured his mouth and began kissing for all she was worth. Her hands began to wander, knowing instinctively how to encourage him. It did not take him long to respond appropriately.
All things considered, it was rather fortunate that everyone else in the compound was profoundly distracted by a different group of people's adventures in gender bending. Everyone, that is, except for Ranko. At the moment the two first connected, she had sat up straight with a startled look on her face and begun looking around herself in confusion. She had initially thought the shock that went through her was a danger signal, but despite the chaos unfolding while Akane confronted Ryouga out in the yard, there was nothing particularly threatening afoot. A few minutes later, the shock had gone through her again, but this time it was like grabbing hold of a live wire and not being able to let go. Without warning, she leapt to her feet and gasped.
She knew this sensation. It was just like when Ranma and Fa Shen had charged her up. The only difference was, where those boosts had been like a sip of water to one dying of thirst, this was like a tsunami turned up to "moon falling into the ocean" levels! Clapping her hands to her mouth and racing for the bathroom, everyone who noticed her instantly read her reaction as "post Akane cooking syndrome" which discouraged all but Kasumi from following. As the eldest Tendo daughter trailed Ranko into the washroom, the sounds emanating from the furo became clear, and she paused thoughtfully. Ignoring Ranko as she burst into the bathing area, Kasumi hummed calmly to herself and proceeded to start doing laundry, casually drenching and throwing a pair of work boots into the dryer before turning it on. The booming clatter of the heavy soles tumbling in the hollow metal drum instantly masked everything short of Armageddon. Starting up an unbalanced load of clothes in the washer, the thumping was joined by almost duck-like "quacking" squeaks. With a prim smile, she hung the occupied sign on the washroom door and returned to the kitchen.
Ranko, on the other hand, stood in the door way to the furo, mouth open and brain completely disengaged. She had grasped the concept of sex conjuring up additional ki, but the impression she had was akin to building up a static charge walking over carpet with socks on. What she was experiencing now was more like strapping herself to a lightening rod during a hurricane. In the past hour, she had figured out how to make herself operate on the fumes of spiritual energy she had from the curing of her curse and two infusions from this couple. She had estimated that it would take a week of almost constant intercourse for Ranma and Fa Shen to restore her to her normal levels of vitality. Instead, the two sharing her soul had come together like a massive circuit, opening a direct line to the limitless potential of a naked absolute.
Ranko's body could hardly absorb the power flowing through her. In the time it took her to slide the shoji closed and take a step toward them, she was overwhelmed, forced to stagger back and slide down the wall into a limp, sitting position. Though her wide eyes drank in the sight of the two making love, she had no real need to look. She could feel everything, as the sensations traveled over the link they had opened to her. Awareness of her own flesh dissolved into the tingle of power crashing through her, her vision washed out as the world suddenly became too bright, and she wondered if her body was fluorescing. It was not hard to picture herself glowing intensely, like a white-hot filament during a power surge. It was no harder to imagine herself exploding like such an abused light bulb. Her consciousness became helplessly trapped in act she was somehow still witnessing, exposed to both sides of the intimate dance.
What substituted for thought passed through her mind, an echo of her claim of being both, male and female, tinted by irony as she got a taste of what that really meant. Just as fleetingly, she recalled the warning from Cologne that had barred the copies from indulging their affection for each other, and some instinct unraveled for her what really would have happened if they had. They would have drained her to the killing level Ranma and Fa Shen had reduced her to on awakening, while at the same time opening a link like this, resurrecting her even as they killed her with their passion.
Ranko's eyes drifted closed as she fell deeper into their communion, apart and yet an intimate part of their exertions. If they noticed her, a third consciousness forming a bridge to open them to each other, it did not distract them. Three individuals fused into one, a primal trinity in which sex, gender and identity ceased to divide them. The heady mix of passion, pain and pleasure coalesced into a steady, ceaseless impulse that transformed two bodies into one beating heart. A heart that strove to find the perfect rhythm to pump life into Ranko. Where before the flood had smashed into her and rendered her numb, now energy poured through proverbial lips only as fast as she could swallow. Drinking in the gift from Ranma and Fa Shen, sensation and clarity returned to her. Sharp senses focused in and added an outside view to the love making for all three to see. In that moment, Ranko perceived the unique identities of her other selves, the two halves that balanced her own duality, and recognized the connection between them.
Together, they were her. Divided, she was them. A singular duality.
There were flaws in their trinity: A part of herself that was missing; a possibility in them that was overlooked. The first, she could do nothing about. The second had repaired itself, establishing a path that would exist for as long as they did. It only took a nudge to make it certain, though in the confusion, they might think it was just an orgasm. It did not matter, Ranko grinned. She was full, and as their minds recovered and retreated from this union, they would understand soon enough. With a sigh of ecstasy, Ranko shuddered and then sprawled over on her side, pooling against the wall over the bathroom tiles. In the bath, the lovers went still, melting against each other in exhaustion. In the heat of the moment, time had possessed no meaning, but the chill of the water told a different tale. With a sigh, the couple tried to motivate themselves to clamber out of the water.
As soon as they pulled a bit apart, they stopped and stared at each other. Ranko chuckled, taking a weary delight in their surprise. Cracking open an eye, she watched as Ranma reached out to Fa Shen, pausing the motion to stare at his hand, before continuing to touch her cheek. She stared back at him, then down the length of her body to where they were still joined.
She should not have been surprised. It should have occurred to her, once her perceptions had shifted to include the other perspectives, that it would not be unlikely for her to return to the one she was most familiar with. It disturbed her to have that wall collapse, to have what had been denied to her thrust upon her with no warning. No chance to object to this penetration. With a gentle squeeze, she confirmed her condition, and wondered why she would have objected. It seemed rather silly now. If anything, she dreaded the feeling of being emptied and left alone when he finally moved away. "Is this what it was like, Ranma?" she asked in a soft voice.
He started and looked down. He chuckled. "Hell of a way to wake up, huh?" He leaned forward, gathering her to him while he rolled over. Having been in this awkward situation himself, he felt it appropriate to offer her the initiative, the choice to remain like this until she wished to disengage.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"It's, ah... You'll notice I'm still..."
"Hard?"
He nodded. "Yeah. If I pulled out now... I dunno how to explain it... it's a little like having your heart sucked out. Kind of a shock," he shrugged.
Fa Shen stared at him.
"He would be the one to know," Ranko murmured. Both of them turned to look at her. Neither of them could think of anything to say. The experience had been more than anyone could have expected, and yet it had left very little unexplained. It had merely proven something they had intellectually already known about themselves. For all they appeared to be separate people living separate lives, they were one being. There were probably a whole different set of rules for them, and they had just stumbled onto one of the first. As Fa Shen stirred and gently stroked herself up and down Ranma's manhood, Ranko shuddered. "I wouldn't do that if you wanna stay a girl for a while," she warned.
"Huh!?" they both yelped.
Ranko sighed, "Every curse has it's trigger. Though, it's more the legacy of a curse."
"I don't understand," Ranma pouted.
Fa Shen was a bit quicker on the uptake. "We're interchangeable!?"
Ranko propped herself up and looked at them. "Well, yeah. The mirror's power originally comes from the Chaunshontsuniichaun, right? Well, if you salt that curse and that makes it split a cursed person into cursed and uncursed incarnations, whatever the mirror did to split your bodies off from me, and linked my mind to them, set up a path for your minds to travel. I'm the bridge." She pulled her knees in to her chest and stared at the couple over them. It was sort of funny to listen to herself. She could not say she had learned any of this, but her instincts and intuition left no room for argument. She had glimpsed the design in the chaos, and now she just understood it. "Whenever you two, um... get together, it'll drag me in and that'll cause you to flip. Sorry," she apologized.
Ranma turned his attention back to Fa Shen. "So any time I wanna be a girl..." he began, cautiously.
"...you have to have sex with her first," Fa Shen finished.
"And vice versa," Ranko added with an impish grin.
"Oh, goddess! Like we need a reason to do THIS again!" Fa Shen moaned. Ranma huffed and proceeded to tickle her exposed ribs. "Hey! Stop that! I'm not in any hurry to be a guy again!"
"So we'll have to do it twice," Ranma stuck his tongue out at her.
"Don't tempt me!" she slapped his chest.
"Sheesh. I can already hear Nabiki on this one," Ranko suddenly groaned. Straightening and imitating the middle Tendo sister's voice, she piped, "'That's one hell of a time share you have there, Ranma!'" That set the other two off laughing, which in their present positions was a bit ill advised. Ranko squeaked as the friction on their end sent a spark through her. "Oooooooo! I can still feel that! Do I have to remind you that every time you flip, I'm gonna get sucked into it too!?"
The couple stared at each other, then at Ranko with evil grins. "Oh, that's definitely going to complicate your life! And it's such a fun way to punish you if we have to!" Fa Shen threatened merrily.
Ranko gasped and lunged forward, ready to drag Fa Shen off of Ranma. Fa Shen just smiled at her and then bounced energetically on Ranma's lap. Ranko's eyes got wide and she doubled over in sympathetic reaction to their sensations.
"Wow, she really does feel it," Ranma grinned, catching his breath. Tilting his head to look at Ranko, huddled on the tiles, he wondered aloud, "So, what exactly do you feel? You don't feel BOTH of us, do you?"
Ranko glared up at him. "Great, the one part of being a guy I still have, and it works like this!" she snarled. Taking a calming breath, she sat up and made a correction, "I think I can only feel you two when you are touching. We'll have to test some things to see if I am right. For now, I'm sorta tuned to you guys." She shook her head, remembering the blast of power she got when they first started. Shuddering, she smirked, "You know, if I can learn to deal with the feed back, I would have a LOT of power to work with while you guys are going at it. I thought I was going to blow up for a while there!"
Again, the couple looked at each other in amazement.
"I guess Happosai wasn't kidding about what would happen to him if he had sex," Fa Shen mused, getting a very thoughtful look on her face. "We might wanna think very carefully before we do something like this again. I think Ranko could get seriously hurt if we aren't VERY careful."
Ranko shrugged, "I think if there was a serious danger, the worst would have already happened. Now that we've worked out a rhythm, I don't think we're likely to call up more power than we can use." Grimacing, she commanded, "Now, get out of the bath, it's getting cold in there!"
"Man, she really does feel it," Ranma grumbled.
Fa Shen sighed and forced herself to stand. A brief tremor went through Ranko before she sighed in release. Fa Shen smirked and looked down, "Well, looks like we need to clean the bath now. Maybe give ourselves another rinse too. I promise, we'll behave!" she added quickly as Ranko glared at her. With a shooing motion, she dismissed her twin. "Unless you need to wash up, go outside and see if you're really up to full strength, Ranko."
Ranko perked up at that suggestion. Crossing her legs, she thought a bath was in order soon, but she could work up an honest sweat first. With her body practically vibrating with renewed vigor, she could hardly wait to take on the world! Flashing a brief victory salute to her other selves, she raced out of the bathroom. Behind her, Ranma and Fa Shen gave each other a measuring look. It went unsaid that learning that Ranko would be affected by anything they did was a thankful and necessary restraint on their behavior. They both would have agreed earlier that sex was addicting. After what they had just experienced, "addicting" took on a whole new world of meaning.
As Ranko emerged from the bathroom, she returned to confront the aftermath of Akane's little outburst anew. It only took one look at a female Mousse, staring intently at a male Shampoo to remind her of what she had witnessed roughly an hour ago. That suddenly seemed like a lifetime ago. Distracted from her impulse to run outside and rejoice in her restored strength, she searched around for Ryouga, to see how the lost boy was dealing with his transformation. A quick tour of the dojo turned up no sign of him, and Akane, Soun and Genma also proved to be missing. Kasumi was busy in the kitchen preparing snacks with Ukyo's help, which Ranko greedily helped herself to, and Nabiki was stretched out in front of the television. Cologne had been perched on a stool by the phone in the hall, deeply immersed in conversation. From the little bit Ranko listened to, the ancient matriarch had decided to consult the Jusenkyo Guide. After the incident with Pantyhose Taro and the mixed up Saint/Twins water, Nabiki had put his direct number on speed dial. Enough people had brought cursed water to Nerima, and enough people IN Nerima were cursed, that it was just simpler to keep that line of communication open, despite the expense of such calls.Ranko breathed a sigh of relief as she confirmed that no one had twigged to what had happened in the furo, and decided to keep her restoration a secret for the moment, as she sought out Nabiki to find out what had happened to the fathers or Akane and Ryouga. While she approached the mercenary girl, a news flash came on the television, prompting Nabiki to wave Ranko to silence as soon as she opened her mouth to speak. Shrugging, Ranko turned a disinterested eye to the screen, and let her mind wander over stray questions. Something had been nagging at her since Akane splashed the men and turned them all into women. At first, she thought it might have been Ukyo, as she recalled the girl's interruption to find out if she could challenge Ranko as Mousse and "Shun" had. They definitely needed to discuss that soon, but it was not what she seemed to be worrying about. She scratched her head, turning to look at the flipped amazons, and it suddenly struck her that Mousse was looking in her direction, gaze focused idly on the television screen. Ranko's eyes widened as she remembered seeing Mousse reading the back of the Instant Nyanniichaun packet. Then, as now, she was not wearing her glasses.
Before she could bring this as yet unnoticed fact to anyone else's attention, Nabiki let out a frustrated groan and trumped Ranko's surprise with a bigger one. "Damn, the old letch is already on the loose again!" the young financial wizard complained, referring to the news story.
Ranko frowned and tuned in to the part of her mind that had actually been absorbing the sounds and images. The screen had showed a freight shipping yard where a number of familiar looking trucks were parked, as the background for the reporter. In an inset window, there was a little graphic of a package blowing up. Sure enough, the reporter was describing the disruption caused when a parcel waiting to be transferred out of the yard, bound for Ethopia, had unexpectedly exploded. The bizarre event had coincided with a sudden riot as the female workers united to chase off a rampaging, midget that was molesting them. The reporter was concluding his report on these strange, "unrelated" events, "...that happened just hours ago. Investigators are now on the scene, but no comments have been released about the purpose or origin of the bomb. Police have issued a response to the women's' complaints, stating only that this is just the latest in a long string of 'groping sprees' perpetrated by the notorious 'Panty Thief' that has been plaguing the ward of Nerima predominantly this past year."
Turning off the television in disgust, Nabiki got up, snarling, "Great. Hours. With our luck the old letch is already back here."
Ranko sighed, rubbing a suddenly aching head, "Well, at least there's a new group of 'girls' around to distract him. Maybe that'll give us the edge we need to kill the old bastard."
"Yeah, well, three of those 'girls' have already ditched us," Nabiki sighed, measuring Ranko with a sharp eye and wishing once more that the girl was back in top form. Seeing the curious look on her face, Nabiki responded to the obvious question. "No, that's not unexpected where Ryouga's concerned, but it was actually Akane that dragged 'her' off. Our dads, however, took one second to think about Auntie Nodoka coming home and suddenly decided they needed to take a 'training trip' to make up for the 'weakness' of their new forms. We probably won't see them back until those curses have worn off."
"Ah, Man! I was really lookin' forward to a little payback for all the crap Pops has given me over the past year!" Ranko groaned in lament, clenching a fist. An aura of intense frustration sprung up around her, causing Nabiki to raise an eyebrow.
"I am sure that had something to do with his abrupt departure."
With a sigh, Ranko idly pulled out one of the packets of Instant Nyanniichaun she had snagged when Ryouga dropped the pile. "Ah, well. I can always get him later if the stuff really wears off," she comforted herself.
Nabiki was surprised at that. "Aren't you even a little worried about messing up his curse or getting him stuck as a woman?" she pressed.
"Are you kidding? It'd serve the old man right if he got stuck as a girl. Hell, it'd be even better if he turned into a girl panda. Maybe if he gets splashed enough times, he'll end up as both!" Ranko exclaimed in sudden vehemence.
"Isn't that a little extreme for just getting you cursed? I mean, you wouldn't even really exist if not for the curse, right?"
"It's not that," Ranko tried to explain. "I'm happy to be a girl, but I'm still chokin' on all that crap he's always spoutin' about how 'weak and worthless' girls are! Do you have any idea how hard it was wakin' up with all that trash cluttering my mind. Even if I don't really believe it, you can't hear somethin' over and over like that and not get caught up in thinkin' that way!"
Nabiki pursed her lips, "Oh, so you never meant any of that macho crap you spewed on Akane since you got here?"
"What!? I didn't know that's not the way guys really talked and acted. I sure as hell saw enough of 'em that did!" Ranko protested. Seeing Nabiki looking unconvinced, Ranko sighed and went on, "Come on, Nabiki! I never thought it really meant anything. Guys insult each other all the time an' nobody really gets all that bent out of shape about it. It shows you're a good sport. I didn't know how much it hurt until I stopped tryin' to be Ranma!"
Nabiki crossed her arms, "That's not really the point, Ranko. Don't you think there might be a lesson in all of this? Maybe something you'd want to share with Ranma before he gets back his prized 'manhood'?"
Ranko blinked, and barely kept herself from mentioning that had already happened. Focusing on Nabiki's criticism, she tried to figure out what the other girl was getting at. She could not understand what Nabiki was so upset about. It was not like she had intentionally done anything wrong as Ranma. She had inherited his outlook on life and things, and that was just how he had been brought up, how he had been taught to think and act. Before she got too caught up in thinking how unreasonable it was to hold her responsible for things that happened before she even existed as herself, she got a sudden flash of insight. Nabiki was a smart girl, she did not need to be told why Ranma acted like such an ass. It was kind of obvious, in that light, that what Ranma had been taught was wrong. If there was a mistake that Ranko had committed, it was never questioning what she was taught, never bothering to learn what was right. But, how was she supposed to do that?
Nabiki watched as the red-head scowled in intense thought. She smiled, it took a bit to get a Saotome started, but once one of them actually tried to think it was safe to assume she, or he, would eventually figure something out. "Don't strain yourself, just... keep it in mind, okay?"
Ranko absently nodded, wandering over to the table to sit down while the gears ground in her head. She hardly noticed as Ukyo crept up and joined her. That did not mean that Ranko was insensitive to the weight of attention on her as Ukyo stared at her longingly. It took a while for this to make Ranko uncomfortable enough to take notice of the other girl, and put her deliberations on hold. When she was Ranma, it normally took prolonged exposure to the okonomiyaki chef in one of her more aggressive modes of pursuit to make Ranko feel uncomfortable around her old friend. The biggest part of that had been the ingrained habit of perceiving the girl as a guy. It did not help to know she had always been a girl. Discovering that had done a lot to increase the bond of friendship for Ranma, because to his mind, she too had been "turned" into a girl, remaining a guy at heart. Whenever Ukyo had acted like a girl, it had freaked Ranma out. Ranko was suddenly forced to recognize that Ranma's problem with Ukyo worked quite the opposite for her.
Ranko frowned, as she caught her own reaction to Ukyo. Contrary to the sudden realization that she could take her old friend seriously as a suitor, where Ranma never could have-at least until Ryouga obliterated the notion that the manly martial artist could never truly love another guy-Ranko forced herself to realize it was a dangerous trap. Ranko had predicted what would happen to the relationship between the two boys once Ranma realized he did not have to be a girl. The reasons for that prediction still held true and spelled nothing but misery for Ranma and Ryouga as their love conflicted with their own identities. The same misery lay in store for Ranko and Ukyo, if the two allowed themselves to become involved in a relationship. It did not matter that Ukyo was willing to consider becoming male to be with Ranko. Ranko was certainly more in tune with her masculinity, and knew she could happily live with an alternate male form. It did not change the fact that she was a girl in her own mind, and that would always be more important to her.
Ranma had never really understood the suffering that went with Ukyo's forced existence as a boy, but Ranko was painfully aware of it. There was no question her best friend really was a girl at heart, and that her masquerade had deeply hurt her. However well either of them might be able to live with a male form, and however much that made a physical relationship entirely feasible, it did not change the fact that both of them were men in the other's eyes. Therein lay the whole problem. As she felt herself respond to the attention of a boy she genuinely loved, recognized that she actually wanted him, wanted to be "in love" with him, there was a jarring realization that "he" did not really exist. She was imposing her own desires on her friend. What kind of hell would it be to be in a relationship where they were both constantly, subtly pressuring each other to be men? How long would it take for that to fuel resentment over the demand to be something they were not?
Ranko gulped as all this flashed through her mind. If she had not already been worrying about this for Ranma's sake, and if the situation were not so similar between couples and the individuals that made them up, she doubted she would have really seen this. It was so easy to give in to the temptation that Ukyo offered, to make up for the one regret she had as Ranma, and make her old friend happy by returning the affection she had lavished on him. On the surface it seemed such a perfect solution, but like any wondrous pipe dream embraced by her father, it was rotten at the core.
Ukyo, who had been spell bound watching Ranko's expression shift from intense thought to amorous regard for herself, now tensed as the other girl's face fell into dejection. Alarmed, she finally spoke, "What's wrong, Ran-chan?"
Rather than try to put her immediate thoughts into words, Ranko collected her wits and looked for a way to introduce Ukyo to her concerns. Clearing her throat, she responded tightly, "I can't believe you'd seriously think of turning yourself into a guy so you could challenge me, Ukyo."
While Ranko had not put any strong disapproval into her voice, the use of the okonomiyaki chef's given name stressed that she was not pleased. Ukyo frowned in irritation, unwittingly repeating familiar old phrases of devotion. "It's the least I would do to be with the man I love!" she instantly retorted. "You don't seriously think I'd just lie down and let Mousse or Shampoo get their greedy paws on you, do you?"
Ranko glared, "Do I look like a man to you!? If it's a man you love, you better take another look at Ranma, because it's not really me you love!"
Ukyo flinched and looked hurt, "Ranko... I... Please, I'm not just... this isn't just about the engagement. Besides, neither one of you is a man at the moment! It was just an expression. Can't you believe that my feelings are real, and that they are for you? And, it is so wrong to call you a man? Can you seriously tell me you don't want to be one, that you won't be right beside Ranma getting a nanniichaun curse just as soon as you can?"
Ranko took a calming breath. "You don't understand. Being male is not the same thing as being a man, Ukyo. I'm used to being male, I am used to having a different body, different strengths and weaknesses, and it hurts not having it anymore. It's like part of me has been amputated, and I can't live with the idea of being crippled like that!" Ranko stormed with growing intensity. Shaking her head, trying to keep from losing her temper, she toned herself down a notch and continued. "I'm not tryin' to say you don't feel love, it's just... no matter what I look like, I'm not going to be a man. I'm not going to be what you want me to be. It's bad enough that's gotta hurt you, but that's nothing compared to the suffering you'll get if you try to become a man for me!"
Ukyo gripped the edge of the table and grit her teeth, straining to deal with the pain of those words. "How else am I supposed to show you that I really do love you!?" she demanded with a clenched jaw. "Do you think I never thought about what it would be like to marry you with the curse!? Do you think all I care about is what body you have!? If all that mattered to me was what I THOUGHT you were, don't you think I would have switched to the copy-Ranma? Don't you think I'd be chasing THAT Ranma!?" she demanded pointing to Fa Shen as she and Ranma wandered out of the bath along the engawa.
Ranma paused and looked at Ranko. "Didn't you tell her?"
Ranko waved the couple off with a meaningful look, urging them to make themselves scarce, and indirectly to keep their mouths shut about that for the moment. Shrugging, the pair moved on and Ranko turned back to Ukyo. "What I think," she responded, as the girl waited, "is that it would be a terrible mistake for you to go and get yourself cursed! You won't like it, Ukyo! Take a look at Mousse, or Sha... Shun! Take it from me! You'll never be normal again! You'll be a freak, an outcast! You will never be free of it! Hell, I got cured, but I'm still not free of it!"
"But if I am with you, that won't matter!"
"Yeah, well, I can't promise I can be with you!" Ranko pointed out. "I've also got Mousse, Shun... or Shampoo... and maybe Ryouga makin' the same claims you wanna make! I've got so many people tryin' to marry me my head is spinning! Besides, it's just not worth it for you to play by the amazon's rules! Their way, it's the one who can defeat or kill all the others and defeat me that gets to be my husband! Are you willing to do all that, and convince the amazons that you're really a man, just for the chance to be with me even if we can't love each other!?"
"I'll do whatever it takes," Ukyo promised. At the same time, she was getting that Ranko was actually concerned for her, for what the curse would do to her. With a heavy sigh, she gestured to herself, "Look at me. I know it's got to be pretty devastating to live with changing sexes back and forth, but can you honestly think of another girl, besides yourself, who is more prepared than me to actually become a man? I've been living as a boy for most of my life. Legally, I AM a boy!"
Ranko clammed up at that.
"As for having to fight everyone else to fight for you, if I could get you or Ranma, or even Fa Shen, to train me, I could beat Shampoo and Mousse. I might never be able to beat you, but... would it kill you to lose to someone you actually wanted to marry?" she demanded plaintively. Then it occurred to her who she was arguing with, and a piercing dread shot through her. Clutching her throat, she asked, "Is... are you... would it be so hard to love me, Ranko?"
Ranko watched the tears form in her old friend's eyes, and her heart wrenched. This was something she was simply not equipped to deal with. She meant to talk some sense into her friend, not hurt her like this. Reaching out and putting on a cheerful smile, she soothed, "Hey, hey! Don't cry! It... it's not that, Ucchan! I'm just trying to keep you from getting hurt! Don't you understand? I'm so used to thinking you're a guy that if you got cursed... I... it would be really hard not to treat you like a guy! It wouldn't be fair to you! I don't want you trying to be something you're not for me!"
That blasted through Ukyo's grief like a burst of sunlight, banishing the storm to reveal paradise. Lunging forward, she swept the smaller girl into a tight embrace, "Oh! Ran-chan! You really do care!" Crushing Ranko in her arms, holding onto the one she loved for all she was worth, Ukyo lost herself in the renewal of her hope, shrugging off the fear and despair that had been growing through this conversation. After a moment, Ranko's madly waving arms began to grow limp and the brunette finally realized what Ranko was croaking.
"A-air... c-can't b-br-breathe...!"
Relaxing her grip, she held Ranko at arms length and looked into her eyes. "Oh, Ranko! I understand what you are saying, and I want you to know I love YOU! Boy, girl, it doesn't really matter as long as I can be with you! I'd be happy to be a guy for you if that's what you really want!"
Ranko sagged, "But that's just it. I want you to be happy, and you won't be if you're forced to be a man. You can't argue with me, 'cuz I've already been there! You're a girl, Ucchan, no matter how hard that is for me to really believe." Taking a deep breath, she pushed on, "The only way we could be together without destroying each other is if neither of us gets cursed. It's the only way to avoid living a lie."
Ukyo paused, hugging the girl close again as her words echoed through her. She asked herself what that would be like, being with Ranko, but never being with a man. There would be no marriage, no husband, no father of and for her children, just two individuals who had given up almost everything to be together. Friends and lovers. Ukyo closed her eyes and tried to tell herself that would be enough. Just having Ranko would be enough. It would certainly be a good beginning! It was not like Jusenkyo was going anywhere! There was always the chance that they would mature, get over their fears and move on to building a family!
Ukyo tightened her hands into fists. It had not taken her a minute to begin fantasizing about them trying to be men for each other. It was obviously something they would need to feel whole and happy. But did it have to be a disaster? Ukyo had no real desire to force Ranko into something she did not want. She might fight to keep from losing her, but she could not bear thinking she had given Ranko no choice. It hurt to think Ranko, like Ranma, could never choose her, but the sacrifice Ranko was trying to save Ukyo from making would not even be a sacrifice if not for the impulse she, as Ranma, had given Ukyo, to reclaim her womanhood. If she had not tracked down the Saotomes, she would still be living as a man, and if she had discovered the nanniichaun, she would have jumped into it eagerly to cement the life she had chosen when she renounced her sex.
"What if it's not all a lie?" Ukyo asked quietly. "Except as Ranma's wife, I will never be allowed to return to being a woman. Otherwise, I remain my father's son, bound to avenge the insult brought on my family by yours. It might not be perfect, but I'd rather be your husband, the father of your children and a man in my own right than a bitter assassin with no true place in the world but to see that you and all you hold dear are reduced to smoldering ashes. Our marriage could at least win peace for our families."
Ranko sighed. "You have no idea, Ukyo. It's so much more than a change of clothes and attitude. You already know what it's like to be seen by the world as a man, I can't tell you anything new about that, but you don't know what it's like on the inside, when your soul doesn't fit your body."
Ukyo shook her head. "I'd never go so far as to lock myself in that form. I would always have the freedom to get away from it for a while. If you were cursed too, neither of us would have to truly suffer. All you are really asking is for us to love each other for who we are, to never look just at the surface, or take each other for granted. I would ask no less in return."
Ranko pulled back, studying her friend intently. If there was ever a true rival for the feelings she felt for Akane and Ryouga, it was Ukyo. Even Ranma would bow to those feelings, once the constraints of gender were removed. It was so incredibly tempting, and her conscience labored to sustain it's protests. What good would it do her to deny her own feelings if she could not protect Ukyo from the sacrifice she wanted to make. Rather than speak, she looked away into the yard where Ranma and Fa Shen were warming up to begin sparring. Ranko let her mind idle, resisting the urge to rush out and join them, as she let her concerns for Ukyo take precedence.
Before she could make much progress, she noticed Mousse storm through the yard, pursued by a nagging Shun. Ranko frowned, noticing the raised tones, as Shun insisted they had to fight to determine who would face Ranko first in challenge. Ranko felt a thrill go up her spine as Mousse whipped around and fixed the former Shampoo with a sharp glare. For whatever reason, there was no problem with Mousse's eyesight in this form, and apparently Shun was too preoccupied to have noticed. Ranko frowned, sensing where this was about to go, and noticing the diminutive form of Cologne marching out onto the engawa to see what was happening.
Clearing her throat, Ranko asked nervously, "Um, Hey, Cologne? Is Mousse considered a guy or a girl right now? You know, as far as the tribe is concerned?"
Cologne looked over her shoulder at Ranko and frowned. "I would think you should know that the distinction is more spiritual than physical, Ranko. If this form becomes permanent, and he chooses to accept that, in spirit, he becomes a woman and is recognized by the tribe as such."
Ranko frowned more deeply, her eyes still focused on Mousse going into a defensive posture, awaiting Shun's attack. "Uh, that's sort of what I thought. So, if he thinks he's trapped that way right now, and finds a way to come to terms with it, that'd make him a girl until he discovered he could change back, right?"
"Oh, no doubt, child. But I would not worry, if he's ready to fight Shun over his claim to you, I am sure he's thinking very much as a man at the moment," Cologne judged, as the flipped amazons began their fight.
Ranko pulled herself out of Ukyo's arms and hurried to the engawa. "Aren't you missin' something, old woman?" she challenged taking a good look at the expression on Mousse's face. It was a fighting grimace, but it burned with a kind of joy too profound for mere combat. "I mean, he is fighting the person he loves, and sh... ah, he is fighting in the spirit of a man."
Cologne turned once more from the yard to stare at Ranko. Gasping and whipping around to stare at Mousse, she challenged. "He wouldn't..." To all appearances, Mousse was fighting to her full ability, admirably compensating for the change in anatomy and stature, losing nothing to diminished reach thanks to her style of combat. It was an impressive performance, goading Shun to equal heights of skill and proficiency. No one could claim Mousse intended to take a fall. Not that it mattered. Shampoo had obviously paid close attention to Mousse's fights with Ranma, and Shun was putting that experience to work. Shampoo had always been an agile and powerful fighter, and the man who replaced her lost nothing of the former and gained a great deal of the latter through his transformation. Whirling and bashing his way through Mousse's arsenal, Shun pressed the girl hard.
"So, you aren't gonna try and stop them?" Ranko probed casually.
"It is a challenge fight. No one may interfere," Cologne said sadly. She strained to believe that Mousse would not snatch victory from defeat, but even if she did not intend to lose, she had never been in the habit of fighting Shampoo, much less winning. With the roles reversed, the natural advantage the master of hidden weapons held over his beloved had suddenly been overturned. In his present form, it was all too likely she could not succeed.
With a growing smirk, Ranko found herself silently cheering Shun on.
In a burst of fury, Shun closed, casually deflecting or shrugging off Mousse's attacks with the confidence of certain victory. At close range, Shun smashed the girl's defenses, and crashed over her in a devastating series of kicks. Mousse gritted her teeth, valiantly blocking the hard strikes, but inevitably, one foot lashed up under her chin, sending her flying over the compound wall. Shun launched herself after, prompting the witnesses to bound across the yard and perch atop the perimeter wall to watch as Shun descended, planting a knee square in the girl's solar plexus. The air rushed from her lungs in a loud huff, and her eyes rolled back in her head.
Shun picked himself up and stared down at her with a smug look of success. He kept his eyes on her until he was satisfied she was truly out of the fight. "Stupid Mousse. Should know no can win against Sha... Shun." Flipping his hair out of the way, he turned and looked up at the watchers. Spotting Ranko, he smiled and prepared to announce the primacy of his challenge when Mousse dragged herself to her feet and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Shun whipped around, ready to resume the battle, but paused at the sight of blood flowing copiously out of her mouth and down her chin. "Mousse! You no keep fighting! You badly hurt!" he cried in sudden concern, catching her in his arms as she collapsed against him.
Mousse nodded, gasping for breath and spitting blood to the side. Meeting Shun's eyes, Mousse sighed and announced, "You win." Without warning, though by this point several people expected it, she adhered her body to his in a classic amazon glomp and pressed her mouth over his. Shun stiffened in shock, brain suddenly overwhelmed by the realization of what had just happened. Ranma, who had been as surprised as Shun, fell off the top of the wall into the street next to the switched couple. Shun was still transfixed when Mousse pulled back and looked into his eyes adoringly and said, "Wo Ai Ni, Airen."
Fa Shen turned to Ranko and smiled, "Well, I guess that takes care of the challenges from those two. Go get the bride before her husband kills her. I'll speak to Kasumi about the wedding feast." Ranko stared at her a moment, but caught sight of Shun about to wrap his hands around Mousse's throat and jumped in to separate them. Ranma bounced up and helped by restraining Shun, dragging him off to "sympathize" with him over the shock of "winning" an amazon bride. Ranko suppressed her giggles, wishing she could pay more attention to Ranma's little revenge on Shampoo, and took a good look at Mousse. She quickly determined that the bleeding was not from internal injuries. That last kick to the chin had caused Mousse to bite deeply into her tongue. Picking her up and taking to the roofs, Ranko carried her towards Tofu's clinic, deciding a professional should determine if that was the worst of her injuries. Besides, she was grateful for an excuse to really stretch her legs!