Whatever Happened to Claire

What Ever Happened to Claire

Chapter 4

My name is Akane Tendo. I’m seventeen, and the youngest of three sisters. And at one point in time, I was really asking some serious questions about myself. But before I get there, I might as well tell my story.
Life was just peachy, then Ranma came and it all went to hell from there. Ranma had been cursed after his visit to China, and if he is dunked with cold water, he turns into a girl. When he’s dunked with warm or hot water, he turns back into a guy. Needless to say our water bills went through the roof until we could get him to wear a skirt in his girl form. But the mayham was only beginning.
Ranma had instantly made an enemy out of Kuno, which was probably understandable. Unfortunately, Ryoga, and the amazons claiming to be his wives to be weren’t so normal. We had all sorts of crazed adventures.
Oh, but it only began here. My older sister Kasumi, who was about nineteen at the time, had found true love. And much to my father’s dismay, she had found it in a red-headed woman about her age named Claire. Kasumi had started going to college, but father refused to let her stay in a dorm; especially after the stories he had heard. Claire was one of the girls that attended the college Kasumi was going to, and seemed pretty friendly. She and Kasumi were pretty good friends, which didn’t bother dad in the least.
However, Kasumi would surprise everyone a few days later. She had invited Claire over to our house once again, but this time, she didn’t seem as talkative. She only spoke when spoken to, and even then didn’t give a very good response. Finally, dad asked her what was wrong. At that moment, she came out of the closet, and admitted to all of us that she was a lesbian!
The announcement was so shocking, even Ranma had nothing to say! However, Nabiki had to make her secret bet with Ranma public when she announced he owed her three hundred yen. Right after dinner, she stepped outside, and stayed out there for quite a while. Meanwhile, uncle Saotome and father talked over the issue.
“She has disgraced the Tendo name.” Uncle Saotome said. “You got to disown her.”
“I can’t do that!” Father protested. “She’s my daughter; my first born!”
“Yes, well that first born daughter of yours as dishonored your family name. And you’re just going to let her get away with it?”
“Yes but…”
“It’s your decision. Either let her stay, and soil your reputation; not to mention the possibility of influencing her sisters. Either that, or you can get rid of her, and we won’t have…”
Claire instantly rose from where she stood. Uncle Saotome didn’t do anything to keep her from doing so. Yet at the same time, he didn’t back down.
“Let me tell you something.” She said. Her tone of voice was calm, but even I could tell she was resisting the urge to smack him into next month. “Your friend’s daughter made a choice. It took every bit of courage just for her to tell you she loves me, and hear you are, planning on kicking her out, keeping her from her own family because you think her decision’s going to effect those two. If lesbians tried to convert other women to their ways, then why haven’t I done that to your daughters yet?”
“Well… Uh…”
“You don’t know, do you? People like you make me sick.”
Uncle Saotome rose his fists in anger; ready to strike. “Okay lady,” he said, “you may be the man in your little love affair with Kasumi, but let’s see if…”
Without warning, Claire shot forward, and kicked him in the lower extremities with extreme force! It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if Uncle Saotome coughed up his testicles seconds after that kick. However, Claire wasn’t finished.
“Well well.” She said, fanning herself off rather arrogantly. “It appears big bad Saotome fell mercy to a lesbian. I’m sure you’ll never be able to live it down. I guess I better go before I wear out my welcome any further.”
She left, and the room remained silent.

It took father about an hour or two to decide on Kasumi’s fate. But despite Uncle Saotome’s objections, he decided to let Kasumi stay. That was the good news. The bad news was that he never got the chance to tell her she and Claire were still welcome. By the time tomorrow came, Kasumi moved out! She only left the stuff in her room, an apron, and some fond memories. Though our water bill had gone down after Ranma started getting used to wearing a skirt in his girl form, our take out bill made up for it. Honestly, my cooking isn’t THAT bad, is it?
Never the less, the mayham wasn’t quite over. Not just yet. For we ended up learning a little more about the cursed springs of China. Apparently, when dunked in water below zero degrees, not only are you cursed, but the curse doesn’t go away with hot water anymore! Therefore, Ranma Saotome was gone, and in his place was Ranko. Ranko was the name he used in his girl form.
Dr. Tofu had given us the news of Ranma’s permanent womanhood. Safe to say he… Uh… She wasn’t very happy.
“I can’t believe this!” She shouted. “I’m stuck like this for life! This is embarrassing!”
“Embarrassing?” I asked.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be a boy all your life, then instantly be stuck as a girl for the rest of it! I feel like a transsexual!”
I could’ve sworn I saw a tear starting to form in her eye at that very moment. But like Uncle Saotome’s definition of a man, she tried to keep it out of sight.

As if this weren’t bad enough for her, we got home, and found that Uncle Saotome had moved out. It was stupid of him to abandone his only child in his… Uh… Her darkest hour, but with the madness that went on in our everyday lives, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he moved out a long time ago.
Ranko hated her father, and believe me, a lot of people seemed to. Ryoga, a few of the amazons, heck, Claire didn’t even like him! And she was the only normal one! Well, okay, about as normal as someone with her preferences usually gets. But for some reason, it had a major effect on Ranko. One that was just too painful for me to watch. It was one thing to be sad enough to shed a tear, but to try and keep your emotions hidden like that was just too much for one to watch.
I found it difficult to sleep ever since. The thought of Ranko’s defenselessness plagued me constantly. And yet I couldn’t help but wonder why. Why I was even bothering to think about it. I never wanted to be engaged to Ranma back when he could alternate between Ranko and Ranma. Now that he was a girl, the marrage was called off. So why was I still thinking about it?
Could it be, I thought. Oh my god. Of all the times I could’ve realized I love Ranma was when he was stuck as Ranko!

At first, I thought the feelings I had discovered were nothing more than a form of sympathy. You only love her because you feel sorry for her and wish you could help, that sort of thing. But a couple of weeks went by, and though Ranko was able to act like her usual self again, I still wanted her in the worst way imaginable.
However, that day right there would be a lucky one for me. We had gone off to school like usual, and went through the normal day. Beating up Conehead (the nickname Ranko gave Kuno), sleeping through math class, the usual day for us. However, once we got home, we found a surprise waiting for us.
On the sofa lie a familiar woman with short red hair, a dark red tanktop, and black sweat pants. Her hair wasn’t like guy’s haircut kind of short, but fairly short compared to mine or Nabiki’s. She seemed to be fast asleep, judging by the way she didn’t even budge once we walked in. However, she was only half the surprise. For sitting in the chair to the left of the sofa was none other than…
“Kasumi?!” All three of us exclaimed in perfect stereo.
“Well yeah,” Nabiki exclaimed, “I didn’t think we’d ever see you after you announced your… Uh… Way of life.”
“It took dad a while, but he managed to find Claire’s phone number in the yellow pages. He gave us both a call, and we were welcome to come back.”
“You’ll probably feel a lot more welcomed now.” Ranko said. “Dad moved out, and left me behind.”
About that moment, Kasumi realized Ranma was Ranko.
“Hey Ranma,” she greeted, “Got dunked I see. Well, I can get some warm water and…”
“Uh, Kasumi?” I interrupted. “That’s not going to work anymore.” She looked at me like she didn’t understand what I was saying. “Look. We learned that with cold water that is below zero degrees, not only does a cursed person become their cursed form, they’re stuck in that form for the rest of their lives. And unfortunately, that happened to Ranma.”
She was speechless, and frankly, I didn’t blame her. The news was pretty shocking to us as well. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She said.
“Ah, it’s all right.” Ranko said. “The curse was sort of a gradual process. I got used to wearing the clothes back when the curse was reversible.”
“So,” Nabiki asked, “What’s with her?”
Kasumi looked over at Claire, who Nabiki was obviously referring to, then looked back at us.
“Oh her?” She said. “Oh she’s just a little tired. She spent the whole night drinking tequila. I told her all that alcahol would go to her head, but no, she had to celebrate turning twenty-one last night. I’d leave her alone if I were you. She’s not exactly a morning person.”
She went on to explain that she wanted to see us after a year of being separated. Apparently, she found out a lot more had changed than she suspected. Uncle Saotome was gone, Ranma was stuck as a girl, and the amazons left seeing as how they were more interested in men. Okay, the last one was a change for the better, but it was a change nevertheless.
This visit benefited both Kasumi and myself. On one hand, she could help me out with this Ranko issue. In the meantime, we could spend some quality time together.

I waited till about eight in the evening before I confronted Kasumi. Nabiki was in her room, most likely counting the money she made from selling photos of Ranko. God only knew where Ranko was, and Claire was most likely relaxing in the living room complaining about her headache. I’d have to remember not to overdo it when I have my first drinking spree. Anyway, this was good, because I wanted to talk with Kasumi: no one else, and with absolute privacy.
“Something up?” She asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
“Look,” I said, “This isn’t really easy for me to say, and I’d feel better if we were the only ones here right now.”
“Oh. Okay, what’s up?”
I sighed. “I think I’m in love.” I explained. “And I don’t know what to do, or how to tell this person I love them.”
“Really. Whose the lucky guy?”
“Uh… It’s a girl.”
She looked shocked. I didn’t see why, she was a lesbian after all. If anything, she’d be used to the thought of two women in love.
“You don’t want that.” She said.
“What?”
“Look, Ranma and his dad created quite a bit of chaos when they were here, but I think my declaration of lesbianism was the icing on the cake. From what you and Nabiki tell me, things have calmed down quite a bit. Besides, dad was easy on me. He knew I was old enough to make my own decisions, and he knew he couldn’t change my mind. I doubt he’ll be as easy on you. You’re not a legal adult yet, and…”
“Oh, so in other words, your telling me what I want yet again, right?”
“What? Akane, I…”
“Come on. You of all people know me. I never wanted to be engaged to Ranma in the first place, but everyone else did! You people even tried to convince me I wanted it. And now I know who I truly love, and you’re going to tell me I don’t want it? Is that it?!”
I stopped myself before my emotions got too out of hand. But the tears already made themselves present. Kasumi looked as if she had seen a ghost. Like she never even noticed all that was going on!
Instantly, she put an arm around me, and patted me on the back.
“It’s okay.” She said. “I’ve been there before.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Before the announcement, before I met Claire, maybe even before Ranma and his dad showed up, I had been asking myself questions like these. Except in my case, I was the only one who was convincing myself lesbianism wasn’t what I wanted. But then I saw Claire, and how she let it go like it wasn’t a big deal. It was a real inspiration, and I’m glad I made the decision to step out of the closet.”
She let go of me, and sat down on her bed.
So,” Kasumi asked, “What can i…?”
Before she could finish, however, the door slammed open, and an aggravated and slightly groggy Claire walked into the room.
“Could you please keep it down?!” She shouted. “Some of us have a hangover you know, and that headache remedy you’re father recommended only made mine worse.” About that time, she noticed the rather serious look on Kasumi’s face, and noticed I was in the room. “Oh, uh, am I interrupting something?”
“Actually, Akane just wanted some advice.” She explained.”She apparently has a crush on a girl.”
“Crush? On a girl? Sheesh, I can’t help but feel responsible for turning papa tendo’s girls into gays.”
“Well, if it helps, Nabiki’s still straight.”
“I’m more of a bisexual anyway.” I added to Kasumi’s comment.
“Come with me.” Claire instructed. “I know everything you need to know about picking up chicks.”

After Claire’s little lecture on how to “pick up chicks”(which seemed rather X-rated now that I think about it), I walked into Ranko’s room with my hopes up high. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there. In fact, it was pitch black in there now that I think about it. Not a single sign of life!
Minor setback, I thought. I decided to wait for her. After all, how much longer could she be gone? I lie down on her bed, and looked up at the ceiling; recalling the words of X-rated wisdom Claire had left me with.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and a familiar red-head walked in. And no, it wasn’t Claire.
“Oh, uh, hey.” She greeted nervously, not quite sure what to think. “Uh, Is there a reason you’re in my room?”
“Yeah,” I said, “I was waiting for you.” She seemed a little anxious, but I wasn’t sure why. “Well don’t just stand there, come on in. It’s your room after all.”
She hesitated at first, then walked in. With a simple hand motion, I beckoned her to come lie down next to me. Once again, she hesitated, but did so.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Ranko asked.
“Oh nothing.” I replied. “I was just wondering.”
“Wondering? Wondering what?”
“Back when your curse was recent, did you ever… You know. Experiment?”
“Uh… Well, I looked at my girl form naked in a mirror a couple of times, but that was about it.”
That was a shocker. Ranko (back when she was Ranma) struck me as the type to take advantage of being a girl. Check out how self pleasure as a girl was different compared to that of a guy. Then again, Ranma never struck me as the type of guy to do that; even out of curiosity.
“Have you ever been kissed?” I asked.
“Uh… Not counting the one Shampoo gave me.”
Instantly, I wrapped an arm around her, and slowly moved in on her. Our lips met in a tender, but quick kiss that made me all tingly inside. It was something I had never felt before, but the feeling I got was a good one nevertheless. Our lips parted, and Ranko simply looked at me as if I were insane.
“That was interesting.” She said.
We both waited a while before anything else could happen. Then, Ranko spoke up.
“Have YOU ever been kissed?” She asked.
“If I have, I sure don’t remember it.”
Without warning, Ranko planted a kiss of her own on me! It was a quick one, but it felt equally satisfying, and though it was only for a second or so, it felt much longer.
“Why Ranko!” I said with a laugh. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were coming on to me.”
Before she could say anything, I ran my fingers down her shoulder, and onto one of her breasts. I wasn’t sure whether she liked the feeling of being touched more than I liked toying with her nipple, but either way, we were both interested now. I mimicked the motion with my other hand. I was now caressing both of her beautiful globes as she slowly pushed her chest forward in an attempt to get more contact on her body. But as she did this, I let go of her.
“Hold on a second.” I said, getting up as I spoke. “I got to take care of something. In the meantime, get naked.”
“N-n-naked?” She asked nervously
“Well, I’d let you just go to your underwear, but I have a feeling you won’t be needing them.”
I closed the door, and turned off the light as I heard the sound of Ranko slipping out of her clothing. Before I joined her, I did the same. So far, Claire’s advice was paying off, but now would come the big test.
What happened next was basically a whole lot of kissing in places I would never have kissed another girl before. Not to mention licking, and touching, and what not. But before I could finish her off for good, I went to my knees, and looked over the lovely body of Ranko Saotome. She was such a beautiful girl: silky smooth skin with no sign of a farmer tan, a well developed wrack, and a fit figure that anyone who desired women would ask for. Looking over every curve of her beautiful figure only increased my arousal.
“Why’d you stop?” Ranko insisted.. “I was starting to like it.”
“Oh, just admiring the view.” I said.
Before she could say or do anything else, I placed my palms on her knees, and spread her legs. Next thing you know, I practically dove face first into her Kroch, and began to lick her in the one area I never even thought of touching on my own body. It didn’t take her long to submit to the pleasure and cum, but I still enjoyed the moments before then.
She was too tired to go for a second round, or for that matter, try it on me, which was fine by me. I simply held her in my arms, and eventually drifted off to sleep. It was funny really. Ranko was such a tomboy, and seemed to get into countless fights with Conehead no matter what. And yet here she was in my embrace, so innocent and defenseless. She felt so light, it wasn’t even funny!
But before I could drift off to sleep completely, I heard the door open! I feared it was father, but it was actually just Claire. I pretended I was asleep, so she wouldn’t suspect anything, and she fell for it.
“Another satisfied customer.” Claire commented.
It was safe to say she had gotten over her hangover. Either that, or it was so mild, it had little or no effect on her. Either way, she was up and about, and looking at us as if she had no faith in her own advice whatsoever, and needed to see for herself it actually worked.
But after she got the proof she needed, she walked out the door, and closed it behind her; leaving the two of us to rest. It was a night I’ll never forget, and one I doubt Ranko will either. For we would have plenty of experiences similar to this one afterward. But the fingering, licking, and kisses were only bells and whistles that sugar coded what we truly had. A romance that would never be broken!