The Spring Of Drowned Thief 11. Violent Mood Swings

Author:

Violent Mood Swings

Ranma sat on the bed rubbing her stinging cheek with an angry look on her face. “Damnit, you guys! I said that I was sorry that I didn’t tell you…”

Akane had her arms crossed looking the other way while Ryouga was glaring at Ranma with an icy stare. “Look guys, I just didn’t want to look like some sort of freak, ok!?”

Akane looked at Ranma with a scowl, “I was scared to death over you, and what were you doing? You were busy playing around in Ryouga’s head! Did you plan the same thing for me too? Were you going to start looking into my personal life!?”

Ryouga really tried to keep his cool here, but was finding it very difficult. “What were you doing in there any ways!? You better not have been spying on my personal life Ranma!”

Ranma decided to give every one here a small white lie that wouldn’t hurt any one. Well, more of a half lie. “I told you already! I wasn’t in there snooping around! Your mind was all disorganized, so I cleaned it up in there so you wouldn’t struggle in school any more…”

“Damnit Ranma! You’re talking like every ones brain is just like a road that you can build. It’s more complicated then that!”

“…No it isn’t…”

Akane smacked Ranma again, “Don’t lie!”

“I’M NOT LYING! AND DON’T HIT ME!”

Ryouga was about to lose it on Ranma. “Don’t treat us like idiots! We KNOW its not like that and you can’t tell us other wise!”

Ranma crossed her arms, “Fine! I’ll prove it to you two! Ryouga! We’re all going into your head!”

Ranma grabbed the two and started yelling a few words. To every ones surprise they watch their bodies hit the floor while they floated up into the air with their astral bodies. The two people holding Ranma’s hands where looking around nervously and completely speechless. Ryouga was the first one to find some thing to say.

“Uhhh…. Is this safe…?”

Ranma waved her hand behind her with her eyes closed in annoyance. “Yeah, yeah! Perfectly safe now put these on you two.” Ranma tossed the two astral figures behind her a couple of hard hats. The two didn’t know what else to do but comply. Ranma gather them up again and shot into Ryouga’s head.

“Oh… It is like a highway… Well I wasn’t expecting this to be going on in my head… Should I be worried that every thing has stopped….?”

Akane started looking around herself. “Yeah. How come there’s no movement?”

Ranma pointed off into a direction. “Oh, no. There’s activity going on in here, it just that when you go to sleep all the workers go to the lounge for a break.”

Both Akane and Ryouga raised an eyebrow and said as one. “Huh?”

“Oh, well workers that help you function need to have a rest too so the night crew guys take over and clean up a bit while occupying your mind with random images and audio feedback that may appeal to you.”

Akane asked a question this time. “What about nightmares?”

“Well… There’s always a company jackass somewhere that thinks all this crap is funny, so they usually switch the normal tapes with a horror flick, or some erotic adult entertainment that may not agree with you… It’s pretty standard stuff actually.”

Ryouga just looked on in amazement. “So, THIS is my brain? I always pictured it more… I don’t know… Meaty…”

“The brain itself is, but this is more the inner consciousness. This is where the REAL action goes on. See before you had things flying everywhere in random directions, not really knowing where to go. So I just set up a filing system and various roads that where easily accessible and easy to follow.”

Ryouga was looking off into the distance. “Question.”

“What?”

“Why are there two noodle joins over there?”

“Well, it always nice to have two so you can say, ‘I don’t really like that one, lets go to the good one over there.’”

Akane looked at Ranma like he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. “That doesn’t make any sense Ranma….”

“Believe me. It helps a lot.”

Ranma saw some one walking off into the distance and recognized him immediately. “Hey Jim! What’s new?”

So-called Jim, turned to see his friend from earlier that day. “Oh, hey man! Love the new lay out! I can get a decent drink now because of you! I’m kinda in a hurry here, I got a toga party to be at and I’m booting for alcohol.”

“I hear you there brother. See ya later man.”

Jim waved behind him and ran off with keg over his shoulder.

Ranma turned back towards the two and said, “Well, I guess we should get out of here.” Ranma said a few words and soon the three woke up in their respected bodies. Ryouga rubbed his head and looked at Ranma. “Who was that guy in my head!? What was he doing IN my head!?”

“Oh, that was Jim.”

“Jim?”

“Yeah, he’s your directional advisor. He kinda always shows up for work with a hang over and a bottle of some thing Russian.”

“…”

“What?”

“TAKE ME BACK! I GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH HIM!”

Akane shook her head and rubbed her temples. “I’m not here… I must be dreaming…”

“Sorry Ryouga. I can’t take you back. You might cause some damage if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I FULLY PLAN TO KILL JIM! I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING!”

“Believe me. If you can’t find your way down the road then I’m pretty sure that Jim has all the power to stay well hidden, especially if you’re going after him. It’s pointless.”

Ryouga grumbled and griped for a bit but eventually let it go and stomped out of the room… And into the closet… Which he thought was a forest… Where he was stuck in for 28 mins…. Screaming Jim’s name the entire time.

After some silence in the room and the Ryouga floor show being over Akane looked over to Ranma and put her forehead in her hand. “What were you planning for me Ranma?”

“…”

“Tell me Ranma. I thought we had trust and that we could tell each other the truth. Don’t we have these?”

Ranma scratched her head and started going shifty eyed. “Well I guess I did kinda break the trust thing, but I never lied. I simply withheld information that could potentially come back to assault me at a later time in the horrible form of a mallet.”

“How about you stop withholding that information before I make that very mallet, very present.”

“…”

“My patients is growing thin Ranma and I’m going to find out one way or another from you.”

“You don’t have to be violent about it…”

“Tell me now. Why were you going to go inside my head and go through all my personal thoughts?

“Promise you won’t hit me?”

“Sure.”

“Cooking….”

“Cooking?”

“Cooking.”

“What’s wrong with my cooking?”

“Well, every thing really.”

“WHAT!?”

“Look, you’ve managed to take alchemy to a whole new level and you are producing golden toxic waste at an alarming rate. I wanted to go in a see what was distracting you from reading ingredients and remedy that problem.”

“WHY? You think I can’t learn on my own or some thing!?”

“No… it’s not that…”

“Why are you doing this then!?”

“You haven’t been able to do any thing for a long time. You just come home, eat and then go to sleep. I heard that you were being worked to death by your boss and what not…”

Akane crossed her arms catching some thing in Ranma’s voice. “What else?”

Ranma turned a little red and looked away. “I just wanted to help…”

“You’re not telling me some thing. Spit it out! There’s another reason you wanted to go in there. Tell me!”

“….You really don’t know…?”

“No. What is it?”

“Damnit Akane…. I hate it when I’m in a position like this… I never know how to word it out properly…”

“Then say it as simply as possible.”

Ranma twiddled her fingers and searched for words. “…Err…Well… You know… I love you…”

Akane’s face lost all its feel of anger and became a face of wonder. “Y-you love me?”

Ranma bowed her head low and tried to think of more then three basic words. “I thought you already knew… But yeah… That’s the reason right there. I’m in love with you…”

Akane went silent again and started going deep into thought “How long have you felt this way…?”

“Since that night in the park… I didn’t say any thing because, well… I’m just plain bad at this, but I was hoping you felt the same way and saw me as more then friend…”

Akane put a hand on Ranma’s shoulder and tilter Ranma’s head up with the other. “Ranma…. I… I love you too… I thought we were just really good friends… I saw you as a friend until we kissed that night, but I thought you were just helping me over come my fears…”

Ranma looked off to the side, turned a shade of red and wrapped her arms around her stomach. “You have to understand me Akane… I hate being touched in any way by any one. It’s just a natural fear I’ve developed… But you’re the first person that I never minded being touched by. In fact, I absolutely love it when we’re close… You become my sanctuary with out even trying and I love you for it…”

Akane couldn’t help it any more. She tried her best to stay lady like, but she broke. Akane brought Ranma’s face close to hers and slowly started kissing. The kisses were returned and soon they were rolling on the ground, causing racket and playing one of the greatest games on trap-the-tongue ever seen. Ryouga found this opportune time find his way out of the closet, which he thought to be the wilderness, and stumble across a great site. When he opened the door he saw two girls, which he found incredibly beautiful, wrestling on the ground feeling each other up and kissing violently. If there was ever a time to salute Jim, it was now, for Ryouga had to endure these sites as he tried to find his way out of the room once again. Once in the hallway, he noticed his clothes completely soaked from a massive nosebleed he had endured during the sightseeing trip.

Nabiki sat in her room going over the surveillance cameras that evening and stopped on camera c-19. She watched for a few seconds… She quickly popped in a tape to record and she sat on her bed with a bag of popcorn enjoying the show. ‘I wonder how much Kuno would pay for THIS?’

The two rolled on the ground taking in each other’s sights and sounds. Ranma had found salvation between Akane’s breasts, while Akane lightly touched Ranma’s face and kissed her red hair. Soon they both started moaning and Ranma found herself with out a shirt on for all to see. Akane followed suit and soon they were groping each other again. Ranma stayed discreet with simple kisses and a hand at the base of Akane’s spine. Akane was going for the big prize as she gave Ranma’s ass a squeeze as well and a gentle brush along her breasts. Akane started kissing Ranma’s lips again, but this time she started working her way down. Ranma felt Akane sliding down her body leaving trails of soft kisses in her wake. It started at her mouth and worked its way down her neck. The kissed trailed down between Ranma’s breasts and were soon covering her bare stomach. The draw sting on her pants was being undone and that’s when she gathered herself and grabbed Akane’s hand. “A-Akane…! I’m… err…”

Akane shook her head and started sitting up properly with a bright red face. “I’m sorry Ranma! I-I don’t know what came over me…”

“No… err… It’s just that I’m not sure…”

“Not sure about what?”

“You know… Doing this… In THIS body… I’m not sure how I feel about it…”

Akane let a sad look cross her face but accepted. “Ok Ranma… We can stop… I don’t want to push you into any thing you don’t want to do…”

Ranma fought an internal battle in her head with opposing forces on two ends telling her two different things at once. Akane started putting her shirt back on and Ranma made a gut decision right then and there. She reached out and grabbed Akane’s hand to stop her. “No… You aren’t pushing me into any thing… I… err…. I want this… It’s just hard for me to wrap my mind around it…”

Akane looked into Ranma’s eyes and asked. “Are you sure? You really don’t have to do any thing if you don’t want to… I was just being… well…”

Ranma stopped her words with a kiss and started leaning her back. “Damnit… How many times do I have to say I love you?”

Ranma started copying what Akane did to her just a few moments ago. “I just want to lead, so I can wrap my head around it.”

Akane nodded and soon sensation was filling her body as Ranma explored it, one gentle kiss at a time.

Downstairs Kasumi was making as much noise in the kitchen as possible to block out the two screaming girls up stairs. As it turned out both Ranma and Akane were screamers, so lots of pots and pans were needed. Soun was confused with Kasumi’s actions, but never heard the racket up stairs, so mission complete on Kasumi’s end. Ryouga was sitting on the couch downstairs in silence, while Nabiki was making calls for potential buyers.

Ranma and Akane laid in each other’s arms in silence, both exhausted and breathing hard. Ranma lay on her back staring up at the ceiling, while Akane was on her side draped over her. Every so often Akane would give Ranma a kiss and provoke her, but nothing ever seemed to be returned. Akane crept up towards Ranma’s ear and asked. “What’s wrong?”

Ranma just kept staring at the ceiling and moved her mouth a few times, but couldn’t find a response. Akane shot up into a sitting position and looked Ranma in the eyes. “I told you not to force yourself because of me! Are you ok!?”

Ranma waved a hand and put it on her forehead. “It’s not like that Akane… I’m just having a dilemma here.”

Akane settled down and curled up to Ranma. “What kind of dilemma? It wasn’t bad was it?”

Ranma laughed a little and held Akane closer. “No. It wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was absolutely amazing…”

“So, what’s wrong?”

“I’m a guy Akane. No mater what body I’m in, when it comes down to it, I’m a guy.”

Akane grabbed Ranma’s hand and placed it on her breast. “And I’m a girl, or haven’t you noticed?” She asked playfully.

“Yeah, I know that, but that’s not my dilemma.”

“So what is it?”

“I’m a guy and I just enjoyed some things that a normal guy shouldn’t enjoy.”

Akane looked over at the discarded strap-on and looked down and away with a blush. “Well, you didn’t have to go THAT far, but at least we enjoyed it.”

Ranma shook her head again. “Look, I’m procrastinating here. What I’m trying to say is that I might like being with, ummm… well, guys too…”

Akane let that comment sink in for a bit and broke the silence. “Well, do you?”

Ranma found that interesting spot up on the ceiling again and started talking. “I don’t know. It never crossed my mind till few days ago. I’ve never really thought about it as a possibility especially after my incident way back when. This is actually the first time in a long time I’ve started thinking sexually again.”

Akane got a sly smile on her face and started licking Ranma’s ear while whispering into it. “So, whom do you think about?”

Ranma went into a complete defensive at this point. “I’m not thinking about any one! Just wondering about myself that’s all.”

Akane went back to buttering up Ranma with a few playful tickles. “C’mon. Some thing, or some one must have crossed your mind. It’s alright to be curious.”

Ranma tried to hold back the smiles and giggles to keep her serious front. “I said it’s no one! S-stop that!”

“Hmm… Sounds like some one important if you say it’s no one. By chance, does his name start with and R?” Akane continued her relentless assault on Ranma’s giggle points as she went on with the interrogation.

“NO! NO, IT DOES NOT START WITH AN R!”

Akane was smiling madly at this point. “So, you ARE thinking of some one!”

“Damnit! Stop tickling me! And that’s not what I meant!”

“So what did you mean?”

“Err… Uhh…. ARGH! HOW WOULD YOU LIKED TO BE TICKLED!?”

The two started their death match at who would give up first in the battle of wills. “Heheheh! Stop that Ranma, and tell me who it is!”

“NO!”

“HA! You proved me right again! Now confess!”

“NEVER!”

“It’s Ryouga isn’t it!?”

“NO!”

“That’s why you kissed him when you met!”

“NO!”

“You have a crush on him, don’t you!?”

“NOOOOO!”

Akane lunged forward and took Ranma off guard and pinned her arms to the bed, putting an end to the tickle fight. It was hard for Ranma to say some thing in defense when she had Akane’s cute smile in her sights. Akane pulled away and put a hand on Ranma’s. “I’m right aren’t I?”

Ranma bowed her head in shame and turned around slowly. “……yes…..”

Akane turned Ranma around and kissed her on the cheek. “Now was that so hard to say?”

“Yes…”

“Why?”

Ranma started slipping under the covers until only her eyes and hair could be seen. “Do we really have to be talking about this…?”

Akane laid herself on her side and rested her hand against the side of her head. “Of coarse. You helped me, so now it’s my turn to return the favor.”

Ranma blinked a few times and stayed silent for a few moments. “Really Akane. I am VERY uncomfortable talking about this.”

“Yeah, well so was I. I didn’t have the easiest time dealing with my feelings either, but I did even though I was scared. You helped me with that remember?”

Ranma started looking away and eventually submerged into the covers. “Err… Well… I’m more of a ‘do as I say, and not as I do’ type of person. I can dish out the advice, I’m just not good at taking it.”

Akane let her eye twitch a few times before answering again. “Ranma! You’re being childish. Come out from under there and face your problems head on.”

Ranma’s muffled voice came into play. “Oh, sure. That sound like a great idea. I’ll go tell my best friend, who happens to be the same sex as I am, that I think he’s got a nice ass and that the thought of shacking it up with has crossed my mind more then once. Some how, I don’t think we’ll be good friends after that. It’s just hard for me to proclaimed my love for another guy, that’s all.”

Akane looked thoughtful for a few moments with a finger on her lips. “Is it the same type of love we have for each other?”

Akane watched the covers move as Ranma shook her head. “I’m not sure really… It feels different I guess… ARGH! THIS IS TEARING ME APART!”

Akane leaned over and rubbed Ranma’s back. “Don’t worry so much about it. Maybe it’s just a crush. Have you ever thought of that?”

“…Yeah… But I’m still not sure. I’m not exactly the grandmaster at the love game. I guess it could be a crush, but I’ve never felt this way for another guy… Dr. Tofu said it might have some thing to do with my curse though.”

“What about your curse?”

“When I’m a guy my body makes male hormones and as a girl it makes female hormones. He said that I also had different blood types, but that’s not my concern right now.”

Akane watched as Ranma started poking out from under the covers and asked. “So, what do you need to know then?”

Ranma sighed for a second and thought about how to word it. “Well… I just want to know if these are my actual feelings for the guy or if its just some thing that came with the curse.”

“What’s the difference if it’s one or the other?”

Ranma sighed again. “If these are my actual feelings then I won’t mind so much and I’d eventually accept that as who I am. If it came with the curse then I’m worried about slowly becoming another person. Some one I’m not.”

There was a bit of silence after that and neither spoke for almost a minute. Ranma broke it with a question. “How does that make you feel?”

Akane looked puzzled for a moment. “Pardon?”

“How does it make you feel to know that I might change one day? That I might become some thing so different that you wouldn’t see me again? How does it feel to know that I might love Ryouga or some other guy instead of you? I know that these questions are buzzing through my head right now.”

Akane gave it quite a bit of thought before she answered Ranma. “I think I would accept it. I don’t have the power to change you, so I’d probably have to accept it.”

Ranma shook her head and looked away. “You still haven’t answered my question though. How does this make you feel? I’m talking to you about some one else I might be in love with and you’re brushing it off like its nothing new.”

Akane bowed her head and gave her real answer this time. “….I’d get mad… I’d get jealous… I’d probably want to scream, or cry… I don’t want to think about you leaving me for some one else…”

Ranma rolled over gave Akane a hug. “I’d never leave you. Not for any thing or any one. I’m just afraid that the person you know now might vanish one day and that I wouldn’t even care…”

The two held each other in silence as tears started making their way into their eyes. “It more then just a thing that I have for Ryouga right now. Its not knowing what the hell my own body is doing that’s worrying me. Some times I think I need serious help…” Akane lent her ear to listening, not because she wanted to, but because she didn’t know what to say. That is until Ranma asked her a certain question. “Do you think it would be better if I just got it over with and died?”

Akane felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees. Her voice came out with a chill and a bit of faintness t it. “What are you saying Ranma…?”

The sun was starting to set behind the horizon, like trying to escape the answer it knew was coming. “I’m a thief. A liar. I have no family left and the small bits of it I do have, would disown me for what I’ve done. I’m a parasite to your family and the general populous. I hate myself. I hurt people around me with my actions. In short, I have nothing to offer to this world, so why bother going on?”

Akane sat up and pulled Ranma up with her. She looked her hard in the eyes and then a scowl crossed her face. Ranma watched as Akane raised her hand and let it fly. There was a smack that sent a shockwave through the house which left a deafly silence in its wake. Akane pulled her hand away and didn’t even blink an eye as Ranma lifted her hand to sooth her burning cheek. Ranma looked into Akane’s piercing gaze and shook a little. Too scared to say any thing she just stayed silent under Akane’s gaze. “You know what the point in going on is? It’s because I love you.” Akane let the silence fill the room again but broke it once more. “I don’t care what you’ve done. I don’t care what you do. I don’t care what you think of yourself.” Akane’s voice started to become a squeak as her scowl was replaced with tears and a look of shear sadness. “I love you… a… and I don’t want any thing to happen to you…” Her nose started going runny and her voice sounded sick with anguish. “W-we said we’d work through this… and we are. Aren’t we…? I don’t want you to give up… I want you to fight… Fight for yourself… Stand up to any problem that comes to you… How can you even say things like that…? Don’t you know what’ll happen to you…? To me…? Don’t you care…?”

Ranma swayed so very slightly for a few seconds and started rushing thoughts through her head. Her eyes went back and forth if she were reading an invisible book in front of her. Her breath became short, quick and harsh. Her hands started shaking as she focused on them and watched them dance in slight hysteria. She brought her eyes up and into Akane’s. Her mouth bobbed open as she came up with words. “….I…. I need you to do some thing for me…. Something that has needed to be done for a while.”

Akane wiped her tears away as best she could and listened through a burning face. “W-what do you want me to do…?”

Ranma stopped her shaking the best she could and did her best to find courage within herself. She put her hands on Akane’s shoulders and tried to stay calm. “I…. I need you to put me away for a while. I can’t do it myself, I need some one else to do it for me.”

Akane shook her head. “What do you mean? Put you where?”

Ranma’s eye twitched a little, but she let it out. “An institute. A place where I’ll be safe until I figure out what’s wrong with me.”

Akane almost shrieked and gabbed Ranma around shoulders. “I… I-I can’t do that! I won’t do that! We’ll get through this together!”

Ranma returned the hug and spoke softly into Akane’s ear. “I know why you don’t sleep at night… I know why you’re always tired… You keep worrying about me. I don’t need to see your thoughts to know this now… I love you too much to see you this way… I need to let you sleep. You need to sleep. If I’m put away for a while, I’ll get better…”

“I don’t care if I don’t sleep. I can live with it.”

“I can’t.”

‘They won’t help you. Only you can help yourself.”

“I’ll have time to think.”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“I don’t want to leave either.”

“I won’t let you…”

“You’re going to have too…”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You know why… And you know it’s for the best.”

“I don’t think like you…”

“Akane…. I’m becoming numb… I put up a front that says I’m having a good time, but in truth it’s not like that. It’s just a great war in my head that I can’t explain. I need to fight it with out any thing else on my mind. Even if it means that I have to sit in a cell and slowly rot, it’s where I belong right now.”

Akane started sniffling again. “No you don’t… You belong right here…”

“Right here is where I want to be, but I have to destroy my demons before I can live peacefully. Please understand me… I won’t call them myself… I’m too afraid… I need you to do it… I need you to be strong for me, but just this once. I’ll crawl over broken glass if I have to, if that’s what I need to do to be here again, but for now, I can’t be here. I need somewhere else to be for now. Somewhere where I won’t be hurting people all the time.”

“You don’t hurt people…”

“I’m hurting you, Akane!”

“I won’t call them…”

“Then I’ll have Nabiki call them.”

“Stop it…”

“Not until you do what’s right.”

“This isn’t right…”

“Don’t let your emotions blind you. It only hurts people in the end.”

“I don’t want to hurt you…”

“You can’t hurt me.”

“Why though! Why can’t I help you?”

“It’s complicated, but if you don’t then I’ll go insane for sure.”

“Why so sudden? Is it my fault?”

“It’ll never be your fault. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, it’s just hard for me to do it alone.”

“…Can we lay here for a while…?”

“Are you scared of what might happen to me?”

“A little…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine… I just want you to sleep.”

“I can’t help but worry…”

“It’s just an institute. They’re there to help. I need you to do this, because if I do it myself, then I’m allowed to leave whenever I want. I need a place to be trapped in for a while. Do you understand?”

“No…”

The two lay there slowly passing out. Their only witnesses were Nabiki and a little black piglet in her lap watching the monitor for the camera. They both looked at each other and soon Ryouga was tearing up. Nabiki was rubbing her head trying to think of ways out of this for Ranma, but this was too big for her. Ryouga couldn’t think. He had heard so much, that he didn’t know, and his confused feelings were at a dead lock in his mind. The only thing certain to him was that he was about to lose his best friend. Maybe for a while. Maybe forever.