Life
Author:
Ranma left the film studio after a hard day of work. Being the personal trainer to an up and coming martial arts movie star was tough work, especially with the crew he was working with; however, it was what awaited him after work that dragged him through the day. His work as a special trainer and key grip for the central office was paying off big time; he entertained the idea of a vacation next year. He walked alone through the downtown train station, brushing the stray snowflakes from his jacket and wiping the ice crystals from his glasses before boarding a train, settling into a seat next to a rather good-looking young woman. The woman paid him no mind. As the train lurched and the passengers were jostled by the starting engine putts, he brushed up against the young girl and allowed himself a more thorough examination.
She was proportioned perfectly, a beautiful face and bright vibrant blue eyes framed by locks of emerald hair. The tight shirt and jacket pushed out her flat chest and a mini-skirt attenuated her round hips. She had a short haircut that barely brushed the back of her neck and a hint of rose lipstick; he breathed in deeply to smell the salty tang of her sweat in the heat of the city. He sidled closer to her and, after meeting no rejection, moved until his hand rested underneath her plump ass. He could feel an erection blooming in his pants and eyed the dark recesses between her legs.
"I tripped on my way out, you know. Scratched up my arm pretty badly and almost got hit by a truck." The girl grasped his wrist. "I was hoping you'd come and save me…but you never did."
"I'm sorry…I had something really important to do. If I knew I'd have come and helped you." Ranma pushed his hand further under until the tips of his fingers brushed her panty crotch. She moaned appreciatively as he pulled her onto his lap, the gesture unseen through the din of the train, and he opened the thin nylon of her jacket and began to caress her flat chest. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
She could feel her nipples pointing out of her shirt and the feel of his manhood jutting between her legs. "What were you doing? What was so important?"
"Nothing…nothing at all, just some business." The train conductor's voice announced their station. A mumbling, mewling mass of chattering people broke from the herd, Ranma and the girl among them, then pushed their way into the screaming metropolis. She ducked her head low as she walked by his side; his bemused smile forcing a blush to slowly creep over her cheeks. He gently rested a hand upon the small of her back, forcefully urging her forward.
As the denizens of the sprawling district swarmed by their eyes, the duo reached a modest apartment building and went up to their flat. As they entered he threw down his valise and kicked off his shoes, setting them aside her pumps. Melted snow formed four puddles underneath.
"Have you eaten yet?" She moved towards the kitchenette, swaying her round ass at him, grinning all the way.
"No." Ranma hung his jacket up over the shoe-rack. He could feel the urge rising in his body at the sight of her body.
"Then why don't _I_ fix us some dinner? Huh?" She winked at him before turning into the kitchenette. "How does ramen sound to you?" He smiled at her plump ass and methodically crept behind her.
"I think I know something even better…" He couldn't help but smile as she thrust out her hips while stretching to reach a pot, it was the perfect opportunity! He pulled off his glasses and pocketed them carefully. "Pussy!" He tore away her skirt and pounced on her exposed sex, the moist juices already running down her milk-white legs. Ranma began to devour her sweet flower, lapping at the exposed petals, making all kinds of delicious slurping sounds as she screamed in the throes of climax. "Don't tell me you were this wet on the train!" She looked down at him, his face smeared with her juices, embarrassed.
"…hai…" Her face, already rosy with the intensity of her cum, blushed anew as he simply lay there examining her cunt. "W-when you sat down next to me in the café this afternoon all I could think about was…sex."
That piqued his interest. "'Sex?' or 'Fucking?'" A thick finger wiggled in-between her clit and vagina, tracing the outer contours of her sex.
"…f-fucking…" She swatted his hands away from her cunt and pulled him up to her mouth, grinning blissfully as she wrapped her tongue in his. She gave a delightful gasp as his body fell atop her, the weight pressing her - pinning her - to the cold floor. "Dirty, hard, deep fucking! C'mon, give it to me! Make love to me…right here…DEEP!!!" She spread her legs wide, her wiry pubic hair matted with cum looking like a moist green gem, and felt his hands roam all over her body, exploring all the tiny pleasurable crevices. He freed his cock, giving himself a few preliminary jerks before pressing it against her mons. Ranma grinned evilly as he pushed just the tip inside, then pulled out and whipped around her lips. "D-don't tease me…FUCK ME!!!"
Ranma lunged forward and drove himself into her to the hilt, his thick penis stabbing into the darkness of her inner recesses. She screamed as she came again, spurting cream over his stomach, and pulled him back down, pushing his ass to thrust harder. He used his hips to thrust and pinned her arms with his own, lovingly kissing and nipping at the flesh around her collarbone. Fluids sprayed and spit from her cunt as it spasmed uncontrollably with his manhood rubbing her canal. "Now! I'm…gonna…CUM!!!!!!" That was all the warning he got before she shot straight up off the floor and came violently all over the floor, thick slit sauce dripping all over the floor.
"Hey! I wasn't finished yet!" Ranma cried in indignation as she came down from her high.
"Don't worry Honey, why don't I kiss it and make it all better?" She knelt before his tool and slathered it with her tongue, taking his balls into her mouth one at a time, and slurping up his shaft. The vieny muscle throbbed with a barely restrained burst of cum, the jizz churning in his balls as she slowly messaged them. "Oh…does this bad little boy want to spurt? Spurt all over my face?" She licked delicately around the crown before swirling her mouth back down his shaft. "Well does he?"
"You bet! C'mere and get it." Ranma sat down on her couch as she followed him in from the kitchen on her hands and knees. As soon as she was in position he began to wank off double time, a fine shower of pre-cum spattering her breasts. "Here it CUMS!" She grasped the cock out of his hands and tickled his balls, feeling his muscles tense in preparation for that heavenly launch of sweet milk. She clamped her mouth shut around his head, and felt the dam break as gallons of cum poured from his body. He jerked himself off all over her face, watching in fascination as she eagerly gathered his seed and swallowed the milky sperm down.
"Hmm…a bit fast today huh? Yum!" She suckled him until he grew flaccid then snuggled next to him on the couch, the fabric already stained with juices from the last time. "Sigh! That was great, nothing like a little fucking to take your mind off everything huh?"
"Yeah." Swearing to himself over the now notorious lack of control, he quietly pondered the possibility of learned nymphomania as she tried to bury herself under his arm. Ranma smiled and lay back, cradling her in his arms, smelling the scent of her strawberry shampoo. "Do you ever get jealous?" He stroked her hair and traced a line down her spine.
"No, 'cause I know you'll always be there for me. It fells like every time we do this I get a bigger piece of you, pretty soon I'll have all of you!" She giggled and playfully batted his chest. It seemed like every time they made love he gave her a part of himself…the parts held tight in her heart. But then why did she feel so empty at times? She gave him part of herself as well, yet he hadn't realized it. She snuggled closer and laid a soft hand on his cock, playfully drawing back the foreskin and wiping the last slime of his ejaculation from underneath his crown. He smiled at her coy entreaty and brought her face up to look into his eyes.
"Ready again so soon?"
"I'm always ready for you Honey!" She stopped her ministrations. "What took you so long back at the studio?"
"I told you-"
"No you didn't! You just said it was 'work,' and if you think I'll believe that you've got another thing coming!" She squeezed a testicle painfully. "Tell me."
Ranma grimaced because he already knew what kind of effect the information was liable to have.
"My wife."
---Title---
Life
A Ranma Lemon Fanfic
With shades of the 'Sexcapades' Eros comic series
By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton
Original premise and draft by Eric Freedman
---Later---
"Honey? Why can't you stay longer?" She didn't like him leaving, it was the worst part of his frequent visits. "If you stay I'll give you a blowjob!"
Ranma shrugged on his coat, adjusted his glasses, and grabbed his valise from beside the shoe rack. Checking the buckles and snapping the bag shut, he sat on the stoop to tie his shoes, her whines resting just over his right ear. "The offer's pretty tempting but if I don't see my wife and kid every few days they'll start getting suspicious. I spend too much time here anyway. You need some privacy too."
"Don't you give me that 'I'm doing it for your good' crap, Ranma Saotome! I don't need privacy from you and you know I want you to think of our flat as 'home'! Oooh you men! Always thinking of a way out!" She stamped her foot and dumped a vase of water on him. "There!"
"Thanks." Ranma glared at her then brushed the droplets of water from his jacket. "But I'm not staying so you can dry my clothes…I've gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow!"
"But I don't wanna wait! I want it now!" She dropped to her stomach and spread her legs, her mound pressed tight to the wood floorboards, leaving a trickle of her excitement across the floor. "C'mon big boy! Give it to me again! Show me what a man you are!" He sighed.
"I showed you twelve times already tonight," he took a cursory glance at his watch, "Listen I've gotta go. Tomorrow in the basement, okay?"
"You promise?" She slipped a hand between her legs and spread open her cunt to show him the dark secrets inside. "Promise on your honor?"
"On my honor." He sketched a hasty bow then left her apartment, immediately flipping open his cellular phone and dialing home. The cold wind cut right through his jacket, chilling him to the bone. Ever since they moved these rendezvous with her were easier, but then again he was running out of explanations to his wife. "Hello? I'll be just a little late, dear." A pause. "Yes, yes I know…they're really pilling on the work okay? Yeah, yeah, I'll be home in a while. Yeah, I love you too…bye." Ranma sighed in exasperation, thankful his lies were still mollifying her. He looked back at her apartment, thinking about how easy it would be to go back up and enjoy himself for just a few minutes more, before waving goodbye and heading home. If he stayed just one minute more he'd end up spending the night.
Too many things had changed. Who would have ever thought he'd be an important movie personality choreographing martial arts movies! He smiled faintly as he remembered a time when the blasted curse would have changed him after her last stunt with the vase, ah well. The streets stretched on forever in his eyes, the scant few blocks from her flat to his a wasteland of warm bodies strolling down the sidewalk. Still, he was glad those days were over. The lights were still on in his apartment, apparently she was waiting for him…probably was feeling a bit frisky tonight. Steeling himself, he turned his key and opened the door…
Only to find a cute, cherubic face grinning at him from the couch.
"Welcome home Daddy! I've been waiting for you, Momma said I could stay up late tonight!" His daughter, Hotaru, was a bundle of energy at five years old with brown hair and blue eyes. She jumped down and ran over to him, hugging his legs before Ranma picked her up and settled her on his shoulders. "Yay! I'm gonna get a piggyback ride!"
"Yup! Little Hotaru-chan is taking a trip on Daddy airlines!" He ducked and wove through the living room, enjoying her delighted giggles when she touched the ceiling. Her smile became even more endearing now that her permanent teeth were growing in.
"You should be glad she still knows what you look like." His wife of seven years spoke from her seat in the kitchen, smoking a cigarette and nursing a cup of hot coffee. "Still, can't say I complain as long as you keep bringing in those big bucks and treating our daughter right." He fixed her with a strange look. Did she know? No…just his imagination…
"Mommy took me to the studio today, Daddy. Mommy says I can be a movies star too someday!" Hotaru allowed herself to be placed back on the floor and ran to her mother, grasping the leg of her pants and tugging affectionately at get her attention.
Her mother patted her on the head, smiling at her youthful exuberance. "The real reason she wanted to go was to see you, but you were at lunch." Ranma grimaced.
"Yeah…well I'm sure you'll do great Hotaru-chan! Your Daddy'll be right there with you, okay?"
"Uh huh." Hotaru looked at her father with a carefree smile. "Can you take me to works tomorrow?"
"Sure! Mommy, would you like to come too?" Ranma set down his valise and took the seat across from his wife, accepting the cup of coffee she handed him. Thin tendrils of smoky heat rose from the brim as he began to sip.
"Why not, I'm sure you'll be busy tomorrow and I don't want to leave Hotaru alone." She finished her coffee then picked up their daughter. "Why don't you go to sleep, huh Hotaru? We've got a busy day tomorrow!" She sneaked a covert glance at her husband.
"'Kay Mommy, g'night Mommy, g'night Daddy!" The little bundle of joy sped from the room and shut her door. As soon as the sound echoed in the apartment she was on him, tearing his clothes off and kissing him with fervor.
"God! I want it so bad…we haven't fucked for two weeks! I need you now," she whispered into his ear. Ranma leaned back and felt his wife's comfortable weight settle on his legs, the burning heat of her loins soiling his pants. She twirled a finger on his chest and licked the edge of his chin. "Please?"
Ranma took a long look at his wife. With her lush frame and long mane of dark silky hair, Ikuko Saotome was very much a beautiful woman. At the age of thirty-one she still possessed the youthful look and air of a twenty-year old about her, her breasts firm and large, as were her hips and she hadn't gained any unsightly weight. Her purple eyes stared at him with equal parts of lust and admiration, even after nine years. What was it that was driving him to another woman? Here he had the prime specimen of woman, tall, voluptuous, willing and smart. Why was he led astray? He kissed her and wrapped his strong arms around her, peeking around the corner to make sure their daughter was still in bed. Ranma lifted his wife over his shoulder, her trilling laughter pressed tightly to his ear, and carried her into their bedroom.
"What do you plan to do, husband?" Ikuko narrowed her eyes seductively as he pulled off his pants and shirt, licking her lips as his manhood sprang into view. "Are you going to make your poor wife suck that hose?" She crawled towards him on the bed on her stomach, eyeing his erection with obvious interest. Warm lips covered his cock with velvet kisses, her moist tongue fluttering underneath the head and lapping up the pre-cum dribbling from the crown. Ranma picked her up under the armpits and moved her down the bed as he knelt on the sheets, urging his wife to fellate him.
As a child and through the beginning of her career, Ikuko had received whatever she wished. As a young actress the camera adored her, the films and shows she starred in wrapping themselves around her beauty and personality, and she got whatever contracts she wished. Ranma, then just an up and coming intern at the studio albeit a handsome one, was the grip for one of her later films; she took a liking to him almost immediately. And whatever she wanted eventually came to her. Ranma was no different. He still remembered with nostalgia their first date, their first kiss, their first fuck; all in the same night. Their love was quick and repetitive for the next two years, eventually they began a serious relationship which ended up causing all manner of problems for them at work. There was talk of sexual favors for his latest promotion, of favoritism from one of Ranma's friends who just happened to be an investor - all those factors led to his resignation as key grip and subsequent employment as martial arts advisor for the studio's latest action flick. Lately, though, he was moonlighting more and more as key grip as the essential staff dwindled. The pay was good and things settled down for awhile, enough for the two to marry, but then the inevitable occurred…Ikuko was pregnant.
The news crushed her. Her entire career was destroyed in less than a week by the announcement, she was black listed as 'damaged goods' by all the neighboring studios and she stopped working, it was left to Ranma to earn the money for his new daughter. Ikuko was fine it seemed, just a little depressed. He thought the newfound freedom was good to her but then her rages started.
Ikuko would fly off the handle and curse the child, wishing that they had decided on abortion, blaming him for her pregnancy and finally accusing him of ruining her life. The fights grew more and more frequent, her demeanor drawing back to his violent relationship with Akane, until Hotaru was born. They stopped after that…she just seemed to accept it and their relationship straightened out again; that was what was on the surface. Underneath there grew an invisible wall between them, the sex was still good, and they both loved Hotaru, but slowly but surely they grew apart. Ranma realized that was part of the reason for his affair, he also realized that Ikuko's eyes still reflected love for him and that frightened him.
There were times when she would be watching the news, usually something about a new up-and-coming actress, and the ghost of anger would pass over her features. Then she would look at him, staring hard at his face, and the anger would melt. Perhaps she did still love him…?
He was shaken back to the present by the flood of semen bubbling up his cock, Ikuko's face already slathered with the sticky paste as he erupted all over her and in her mouth. "I've forgotten what your cum tastes like…delicious! Fuck me now, Ranma! I need it real bad!" She turned her ass to him, snaking a hand between her legs to open her tight little cunt. "Fuck me right up my cunt! Let's fuck like we did before, hard and deep!" Fluid trickled down her legs from the bubbling font of her honeypot. Ranma inserted a thick finger and wiggled the digit around her insides. She looked down at his bespectacled visage and brought a hand to his cheek. "Take those stupid things off your face and fuck me already! Oh Kami-sama, HURRY!"
Ranma smirked confidently and threw his glasses on the nightstand, they were only for reading anyway. He licked her a few times to rejuvenate his erection before shoving forcefully into her, the harsh cry of ecstasy sounding from her mouth rattling the walls. In the next room Hotaru slept like her father and never awoke despite the loud screams of pleasure from her parents' room. In the kitchen, Ranma's black valise lay open on the kitchen table - spilling a mountain of scripts and possible martial moves onto the floor. Atop that pile of creamy white paper lay a rose pink envelope, inside of which rested a simple invitation. It read:
"The Tendo family cordially invites the Saotome family to a Christmas party at the Tendo Dojo. Monday, December 24th 20XX @ 6:00 p.m."
---The next morning---
The next morning found Ranma and family at his Studio office. Hotaru was excited because today was her first scene on camera, she was going to be in a children's program with a fat panda bear. As his daughter sat in the director's chair giggling as they dabbed makeup on her rosy cheeks, his wife was sternly watching him from the sound room on the second floor. Since he had no practices for stunts today, Ranma was free to watch his daughter from behind the camera, taking the opportunity to bond with his child. Ikuko looked at him with a disparaging glance, then joined him down below.
"Lookit, Daddy! I get to wear makeup like Mommy in the movies! Look, Mommy!" Hotaru bounced up and down after the techs finished applying her scant makeup. "I'm gonna be a great actress like Mommy was!" Ranma glanced at Ikuko and recognized the telltale signs of her anger, the clenching of her jaw, the twitching of her eyebrow. She turned to him and stared at him with anger…it seemed like he'd have to screw her again tonight to make up for 'ruining her life.' "Ne?"
"Sure, Honey, sure. My little Hotaru-chan is going to be a great actress someday! Here comes the writer!" Ranma beckoned to the woman who had just appeared in the studio. Short green hair, bright blue eyes and a slim frame walked over to the trio. "Hotaru-chan, this is Airu Kaneko. She writes all the scripts for the show." The woman bent down and shook Hotaru's little hand.
"Nice to meetcha!" Hotaru smiled at the young woman, not noticing Airu's smile slip for just a moment.
"N-nice to meet you too. Are you Ranma's daughter?"
"Yup! My Daddy's the best!" Airu smirked at that, reading a double-entendre into the statement.
"He sure is!" She was standing face to face with a part of Ranma, a part she could never have for herself. She wasn't barren or anything, it was just that she would never do that to him, get him involved in a(nother) scandal. Still, as she gazed into Hotaru's big chocolate brown eyes she desperately wished for a child of her own, of _their_ own. Airu glanced up at the woman standing next to her 'Honey.' Comparing herself to her unknowing rival, it was clear why Ranma married her: full breasts, good looks, sparkling personality, the works. Now facing her greatest challenge, Airu couldn't help but hear a slight whisper in the back of her mind, a whisper telling her that he was just using her for her youthful body. Shaking her head the thoughts were banished. She wouldn't believe them!
Unfortunately it was at that moment that Ikuko wrapped her arm around Ranma's waist and kissed him full on the lips, the bitch! Ranma noticed the fire burning in Airu's eyes fast enough to break the kiss and press a finger to his wife's lips, an unspoken command to wait. The twenty-five year old children's show writer then remembered that it was _her_ that he was cheating, who cares about big tits? He had left her large-bosomed embrace for her! Ranma watched as Airu gave Ikuko a superior smirk then strolled off to the stage.
He smiled nervously and brushed a dribble of sweat off his forehead. "So what do you get to do in the show, Honey?"
"I getta dance around with Panda-san and sing with my friends!"
"Well isn't that great, Hotaru-chan! You're gonna be a great star!" Ranma lifted her up and sat her on his shoulder, relishing her giggles as her legs flailed wildly in the air.
"Now don't get her too excited, dear, or you'll smudge her makeup." Ikuko took little Hotaru from Ranma's arms and put her back on the floor, ruffling her hair and pinching her cheeks. "Go on now, honey and practice with the other kids." She smiled as her daughter bounded off to a group of similarly aged children practicing the jumping-jacks 'Panda-san' was going to teach them during the show. "Sometimes I think you spoil her."
"C'mon, Ikuko-chan! I just want my little girl to be happy, is that a crime?" Ranma took her hand and led her off the stage as the bright lights came on; the show was about to begin.
"No, I suppose it's not…" She looked worriedly at his face when they sat down on a bench towards the back, Ranma could almost feel Airu's glare boring into the top of his head. "What are you going to do about the invitation?"
"What do you mean?"
She sighed in exasperation. "What do you mean, 'what do you mean?' We haven't gone to one of their Christmas parties in the seven years we've been together, and you haven't gone to one in twenty years! I think we should attend this year."
"No," he growled out. "I never want to see them again!"
Ikuko's eyes softened. She laid a warm hand on his arm, messaging the muscle. "You can't run away forever, people change. I don't think I have to lecture you on that!" She spared a short chuckle at his expense. "I'm sure they're not the people you knew anymore, give them another chance. Please?" She leaned closer in, resting her head on his shoulder and draping her legs over his lap. "For me?"
Ranma was in a quandary. Here was his loving wife whom he was currently cheating on, begging him to give his staunchest enemies another chance. And the worst part was he couldn't find fault in her logic! The memories of that time were painful but with her there he might be able… He held her closer to him and finally said, "Alright." He kinda did want to see them again, find out what happened to all his friends and enemies from back then, what happened to Ryoga? Shampoo? Kasumi? Nabiki? (Well, that he did kinda know already) Akane? (Actually he could care less) Mousse? Cologne? Ukyo? The questions had been eating away at him for six years. He discovered that saying yes wasn't so hard after all. Husband and wife kissed.
Feeling righteous anger swell within her, Airu looked away and suddenly realized she was the bad guy in all this, she was the one who stole him away from his loving wife. But then again…she wouldn't have it any other way. After the director was finished ranting at her for stepping on the set, she turned to walk up to the sound room but found a distinct weight on one of her legs.
"You're wearing Daddy's shirt!" Ranma's daughter was tugging at her pants.
"What!?" She suddenly realized that she was indeed wearing one of Ranma's spare shirts. "W-what makes you say that, dear?"
"My Daddy has a shirt just like that one…you even smell like my Daddy!"
Airu let out a relieved breath. The smell could be easily explained away, that was the reason they both used the same brand shampoo and conditioner. "Well, Hotaru-chan, lots of people have shirts like your Daddy's. I got this one at a store, maybe the same store as your Daddy!"
"Okay!" The bubbling little girl jumped off to rejoin her friends, completely oblivious to the mental anguish she placed on Airu. The woman shuffled out of the studio and down the long hallway to her office, intent on drinking herself into a lovely stupor.
"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't want you to see that." Ranma was sitting at her desk, legs calmly crossed and hands fingering her bottle of sake. "This what you were looking for?"
"No, why would I need to get drunk when you're out there necking with your wife!"
"Now calm down! I didn't want her to come but she wanted to keep an eye on Hotaru, what was I gonna do? Say no?" Ranma replaced the bottle back in the drawer and walked towards her. "Besides, how can we fool around today if my little girl was following me around?" He flashed her a dashing smile.
Understanding dawned on her face, then set into a submissive glance. "I see now. Well, in that case I guess it's alright, but no screwing your wife in the studio, okay?" She waggled a finger at him.
"Promise." She leapt into his arms, locking the door behind her, and nuzzled his chest. He sat back, pulling her down with him and eased up her legs so she was sitting on his lap. "Is this what you wanted?" She nodded as her body settled onto his legs, it reminded her of the first few times they'd done it, afterwards they'd just lay there in bed sometimes talking, most times sharing warmth. Ranma let her relax knowing what a strain meeting his family must have been. It was strange, he thought, but he felt the same with Airu in his arms as he did when Ikuko used to occupy the same space. They both were his loves, he chuckled lightly at the thought of becoming like Kuno, but it was true, both resided in his heart. He didn't know what he'd do without one of them, in a way they balanced each other. "Better than sake, huh?"
"Mm hmm…much better…Ranma?"
"What?"
"Make love to me, right now."
"No."
"Great! Just let me get out of these-what?" Airu let out a yelp as she landed on her ass. "Why not?"
"I don't feel like it now…tonight." He helped her up before leaving. "Sorry about this but I'll see you later." The door slammed shut after him, leaving her alone in her office, hot, horny and mad as hell.
The rest of the day passed on quite regularly, Ranma carefully avoiding Airu and herding his family around her office, not wanting to expose their relationship. Hotaru finished her segment and Ikuko took her back home, Ranma having told her that he was needed for another production later that day. Ikuko reluctantly left and Ranma breathed a heavy sigh of relief at her passing. He watched his wife and daughter depart down towards the train station, Ikuko's dark hair buffeted against the strong winds and light brushing of snow falling from the heavens. Still he couldn't quite shake the feeling of completeness her presence gave him as if by some ironic twist of fate Ranma, Ikuko and Airu were three parts of a whole. Speaking of whom, his wayward mistress hadn't appeared all day and by this time he was getting worried.
As he walked further and further into the heart of the production studio, a joint TV / movie / radio, he heard a sharp yelp of pain and Airu's voice muffled through the walls. Fear leaping at his heart, Ranma took off at a fever pace for her office.
She was trapped and helpless, held down by three strong actors drunk with power and alcohol. After Ranma left that morning she had settled back into writing but then the men appeared at her door, the three were part of a martial arts troupe under training for a new film. She knew this only because Ranma had introduced the three.
"What are you doing! Let me go!" A hand silenced her mouth. A haymaker knocked the wind out of her, leaving her to crash to the floor unable to breathe.
"Shut up bitsh, we're gonna git our bonush now…Ranma'sh little whore! Hold her down guysh!" The three tore her clothes away and pulled out their hardened cocks. "Sho you likesh what we got, huh?" The leader's cock was covered in a fine layer of fuzz and grime, the putrid phallus emitting a malodorous stench. He straddled her thighs and stuck his cock between the slight mounds of her breasts, the filthy organ letting out a strong stink. Another began to play with her pussy, licking her clit as she thrashed and tore at the final man's arm. Said beast simply shoved his own turgid member down her throat. "You like that bitsh!?" She vainly tried to break free, escape, but the man pinned her down and the cock in her mouth was hurting her throat.
"Hey bossh, I wanna fuck 'er, let'sh double team 'er shorry assh!" The leader nodded and grabbed her thighs, lifted her up until his unsanitary prick grazed the outer lips of her tight cunt. "Let'sh shee how you like a real man!" The man gave her an insane smirk. Tears welled up in her eyes as his member lightly dipped into her vagina, then streamed down her face as the other began to ejaculate all over her chest and face. Her tears didn't matter at all. The man leaned down…
Then flew over her body and hit the wall with a wet splat as his shoulder exploded off the concrete wall. "Is that right?" The other two stopped their violation of Airu and scampered to the far corners as Ranma strode into the office, battle aura blazing around him so hot as to melt the steel door to slag. "Is that right?" He leapt from the doorway and pounced on one of the trio, the leader gibbering over his broken shoulder in the corner. Ranma shoved the man forcefully onto the floor and stomped on the man's groin with an ki-enhanced foot, Airu could hear the loud crack of the man's fractured pubic bone, a growing wet spot of urine flowing over the floor.
"What the hell is this shit!?!" The studio manager stampeded down the corridor as the last attacker flew down the hall. "What the hell is this?!?" The last rapist barreled past him, bare-ass naked. Ranma came out of the office, aura blazing around him as he looked up and down the long hall.
"Where did the fucker go!?" Hashimoto pressed his girth against a wall before gathering his wits and turning to the burning martial artist. "WHERE!?!?!?!?"
"W-what did Genji do, Ranma?" The overweight man sweat bullets underneath the hardened gaze of his top martial arts trainer. "W-what h-happened to make you so…so a-angry?" The last came out as a whisper.
"THE SHITHEADED FUCKERS JUST TRIED TO RAPE AIRU KANEKO!!! I'LL MAKE THEM PAY!!!!!!!!" He smashed his fist into a wall and crumbled the concrete to pebbles. "I'LL…MAKE…THEM…PAY!!!!!!" Ranma started to move forward.
"Now…uh…Ranma. I can't let you kill him…just let the police handle everything."" Hashimoto heard the cries of pain from Airu's office. "I think letting one go won't make a difference, you got Kubo didn't you?" The aura began to die down just a little but Ranma's eyes continued to blaze blue. "Now just calm down. Go back and help Ms. Kaneko and I'll call the police…just don't go killing anybody!" Hashimoto ran back down to his office, eager to be away from Ranma's destruction.
"…ranma?" Airu awoke from her traumatic situation hanging in Ranma's arms, his gray suit-jacket wrapped around her nudity. "What happened? I remember-"
"Don't think about it, I took care of those three. Let's get you home." He lifted her against his black T-shirt and carried her to his office, where he kept a spare set of clothes just in case he needed to sleep at the studio. Airu was unsurprisingly silent as he dressed her, angst written clearly across his face as he washed away the semen from her chest and hair, she was shell-shocked by the experience (rightly so) and gave no more than non-committal grunts to his questions. "Come on. Hang on to me." She weakly laced her arms around his chest. "Okay?"
"…okay…" He coiled his legs beneath their combined weight and sprang to the rooftops, his leather-soled shoes nearly slipping once or twice on an outcropping of snow. Sure it was dangerous but he needed to get her home soon as possible.
They reached her apartment building as Ranma pulled out his set of keys, hastily shoving open the door and setting her down in the bathroom. He stripped the clothes off his comatose lover and did the same to himself, grabbing a pair of towels from the closet, before they both entered the bath. He scrubbed her clean, Airu barely making a move to assist, simply staring out into space until his sponge drifted low enough to graze the hair above her sex. Her hands stopped his descent.
"Don't! It's okay, Ranma. I'm alright now…I can take care of myself." She took the soapy sponge from his hands and washed herself, waiting until he was finished washing before stepping in the furo. Finally, with hot water up to their necks, the couple exchanged whole phrases.
"How do you feel? Did those shitheads hurt you?"
"No, not really. Maybe my pride." Airu lifted a wet leg from the water and draped it over his shoulders. "They never got around to doing it…you came in just in the nick of time."
"Hey, I'm your hero! I'm supposed to!" He grasped her ankle and lightly kissed the tips of her toes. "But seriously…what's bothering you?" His hand clasped hers underneath the water. "Something must be."
"I really don't feel anything…I suppose I should. I was almost raped by three drunk guys and I don't feel any fear or pain, nothing!" She glanced at his face. "Maybe it's because I know with _you_ around I don't have to worry!" Her other leg curled underneath his armpit and urged him towards her. "C'mon, make love to me."
"What! N-now?"
"Yeah, now! I want you to touch me, tease me, fuck me. I want your touch to wipe away theirs, you're gonna cleanse me." He scooted forward and wrapped her in an embrace, the hot rod of his penis throbbing against her pussy. The water began to thicken around them from the predominance of their leaking fluids. "But first let's dry off."
Moments later she was lying atop her bed, their bed, with her knight in shining armor looming over her. Airu spread her legs and urged him forward, relishing the swift entrance of his cock into her molten depths. Ranma clasped her to him and thrust with his hips, making their session not simple fucking but lovemaking as they kissed and writhed against one another in passion. Airu delighted in the feel of his tumescent member balloon inside her before climax, feel of his dam about to break.
"C-can I…come inside you?" Ranma strained his voice as her vaginal muscles rippled once more and sucked the sensitive flesh of his manhood. He had her pushed against the headboard with a few pillows to cushion her back against the hard metal. "Is it alright?"
"C-come inside me…yes, I can feel the heat!" Ranma cried out as thick floods of semen flew out of his crown and splattered against the walls of her cunt, the semen drawn upwards into her womb, the rest pulled out of her by sheer force of gravity. Still his prick rammed into her, as if pounding his seed the furthest inside her it would go, filling her womb full of the thick fluid. She could feel the warmth spread in her loins and the emptiness his penis left as he withdrew. Even after the pulsing warmth of his organ departed she was left with the warm trickling of his seed deep inside her. Images of Hotaru's smiling face flashed through her mind. I'm sorry Hotaru-chan…Ikuko…but I love him. I truly love him, want him in my life more than anything. I can't live without him, she thought as he pulled her close to him and patted down her hair.
They lay in bed for about an hour afterwards, talking nonsense and sharing warmth. At eight he left to take his shower and Airu made him coffee as he got dressed. She knew that if he wasn't home by ten every night Ikuko would become suspicious. Ranma never told her where he would be the next day, for both their past lives had painful memories they'd like to not share. In some way it kept them both some distance apart.
They wouldn't have it any other way.
---The next morning---
Ranma awoke to the dawn. Ikuko slept in satiated contentment beside him, her long wavy hair brushing lightly against his chest as she wiggled closer to her husband's warmth. He grimaced as the events of last night came back through the morning haze. Ikuko had made him promise he would never leave her behind. He, like the fool he was, agreed and they spent the rest of the night in orgasmic ecstasy. In the end he had stripped off the condom sheathing his dagger from the hidden prize of her womb and ejaculated up and into her clenching insides. God only knew what he'd do if she became pregnant again…probably kill himself.
Today was the big day, the day he would finally face the ghosts of his past. With that thought of imminent doom, Ranma curled around Ikuko's warmth and licked the lobe of her ear as his hands slid down her body to the melting pot of her sex. As he expected, her lips were wet with arousal and the cavern within dribbling sweet honey. He crawled down the bed with a smile and opened her slim legs, her pink little crevice staining the sheets. Ranma grasped the outer lips and pried them apart, a mixture of his own semen and her juices literally squirting out of her cunt. Deciding that he wasn't going to eat her out now, he replaced her genitals and turned out of bed, roughly shoving his glasses onto their perch. The stark sunlight illuminated his lithe form as he stretched, cracking his vertebrae as he padded towards the bathroom. As he passed he took a quick look in Hotaru's room, watching her for a while as she slept the sleep of the innocent, before a pair of lithe arms wrapped around his neck and Ikuko's wet crotch wrapped around his thigh.
"What're you doing, anata?" She kissed her way down his neck, running her hands over his firm chest still rippling with muscle after forty long years. He still excited her, there were no hints of gray in his hair or the stiffening of limbs normally associated with middle adulthood, he was still randy as a teenager so either way it worked for her. "Why don't we go back to bed, I still have some issues to 'discuss' with you."
He smiled at her and looped his hands behind her back as they faced each other in the hall. "I have a better idea. Why don't you take your bath and I'll make breakfast. We have to wake up Hotaru soon anyway to get ready." She fixed him with a puzzled expression. "I know the invitation says six, but the Tendos are usually in full swing by noon, or at least the last time I was there." He gently pushed her nude body towards the bathroom and pushed open the door to Hotaru's bedroom, letting the soft glow of light fill his daughter's sleep-filled head.
"It's going to be a busy day."
---Nerima---
"Hello? Oh! Ranma! How nice to hear from you again! Will you be coming today?" Kasumi Tendo answered the phone in her normal dulcet tones, age bringing with it the warm rich tone of middle age to her voice. She was dressed in a thick woolen robe as she did the chores, she had chosen to air out the house before the party so icy gusts of wind blew through the halls. "Akane is doing well, she and Shinnosuke are expecting their second child soon….yes, we'll see you later!" Kasumi replaced the receiver and smiled at Tofu as he sat in the tearoom.
"Who was that, Kasumi-chan?" Tofu looked up from the newspaper and took a slow sip from his teacup.
"It was Ranma! He said that he would be joining us this year!" She flashed one of her winning smiles and sat beside him, delicately picking hairs off her sleeve. Tofu smiled warmly and embraced his wife's arm, pulling her closer.
"It'll be nice to see Ranma again, it's been too long. The last time we saw him…"
"…Was at Akane and Shinnosuke's wedding twenty years ago." Kasumi felt the temperature in the room drop significantly, not just because of the snow drifting in from the porch.
"A sad memory." Tofu took another sip from his cup. Both of them remembered the wedding and how Ranma had taken seeing Akane wed another man. He still got shivers thinking of how dead Ranma's eyes had looked as Shinnosuke fumbled for the ring. "I wonder how he's lived these twenty years…that long a time can change a man."
Kasumi snuggled closer to her husband, resting her head on his shoulder. "It hasn't changed you anata, you're still the same as you were back then."
"I'd like to think I've changed. I think we all have, look at you…a registered nurse! I don't know how Ranma will take the change." He patted his wife softly on the arm and shooed her back into the kitchen; Kozue was raising a dust cloud in the kitchen.
[How have you changed Ranma…for good or ill?]
"I think he'll be able to manage it, it has been so long a time. The old wounds are still there, they just don't sting anymore." Akane walked into the room and sat down at the table, picking up her cup of tea and sipping delicately.
Tofu raised an eyebrow. "And how are you dealing with it? Don't you have any feelings for the man?" After nearly two decades, could Akane still be holding the grudge of their youth? "You were the one who hurt him, Akane, are you ready to face him?" She looked down into her empty cup.
"I don't know. I have to tell Shinnosuke when he comes back with Akira, we both have to be ready." She stood up and walked out past the koi pond to the old Dojo, Tofu snorted in disgust and started up at the cloudy sky, faint pinpricks of snow already beginning to fall.
"You still can't let go, Akane…"
---The Saotome Household---
Ranma swung around the corner and sat at the table next to his daughter; watching little Hotaru try to use a western knife and fork on her breakfast. Ikuko was standing at the cooking range, ladling out a bowl of soup for him, knowing that her husband would be hungry from his…exertions. She was feeling very refreshed after her bath and was gratified to see that Ranma was true to his word, breakfast was already made and warm on the stove. "Good morning Hotaru-chan, how's daddy's little girl feeling this morning?"
Hotaru snorted as the fork slid out of her grasp and clattered on the thin china plate. "I'm okay daddy, I slept really good!" She smiled at him, her gap-toothed grin endearing as she switched to chopsticks and ate her breakfast ravenously.
"That's good 'cause you and daddy and mommy are going to visit some of daddy's friends today for a party." Ikuko smiled back at him. Ranma smiled as well, knowing that he'd just said Hotaru's favorite word. Little Hotaru's eyes lit up like New Year's sparklers.
"A party!? Yay!!" The little girl jumped out of her seat and ran around the table, as energetic as her father, giggling and happy in her innocence. "Mommy! Mommy! Daddy's gonna take me to a party!" She pulled on her mother's skirt and smiled widely, her face brimming with youthful exuberance.
"I know, Hotaru-chan, isn't it exciting?" Ikuko stopped trying to talk as Hotaru continued to bounce off the walls, literally. "You've been teaching her some of your Anything-Goes, haven't you?" She shot her husband a dirty glare. He put up his hands and shrugged but didn't convince her, his smile was a mile long.
"I can't help it if it's in my blood!" He grinned and stood up, swiftly moving to his wife, pressing his knee between her legs. "Besides," he whispered in her ear, "I didn't hear any complaints last night." She shuddered as he licked the lobe of her ear, his warm hands cupping her breasts.
"No. No I guess not." She turned her head and kissed him, her arm snaked around his head, pushing their faces together. "If that's what you do to keep in shape…I'll never complain again." They separated as Hotaru bounded back in, sitting back in her chair like a good girl and finishing her breakfast, still smiling even with food stuck between her teeth. "Did you say anything to the Tendos about Hotaru or I?"
"Nope. I'm gonna make it a surprise." Ikuko didn't say anything, knowing already the sordid details of what when on between her husband and the Tendos…particularly one Tendo with a short temper. It was really kind of funny, she thought, Soichiro was about forty when he married Kyoko and he didn't act half as young as Ranma. Some people just age gracefully.
"All finished!" The little girl jumped across the table into her father's lap, jumpy and excited to be going to a party that day. Ranma didn't mind it but was glad when Ikuko called their daughter and told her to get washed up. But no sooner had one burden left his lap than another, this time heavier, package was pressed to his crotch.
"Will there be any other children there?"
"Yeah, I think Hotaru'll have plenty of friends to play with…one less problem for me."
"You're really worried aren't you?" Ranma sighed and pulled his wife closer, taking a sip from his tepid cup of coffee. "About the Tendos."
"Yeah, can't say I'm not. But I'll at least be able to show them how well I've done without their insanity. I can't wait for Kuno to see the hot little lady I bagged!" He lifted her legs so she was cradled in his lap.
"What am I? A trophy wife? If anything you should be a trophy husband." She playfully batted his pigtail. Ranma just laughed and held her closer. "Don't forget who was the big star around here!" For the first time in the five years since Hotaru was born, Ranma didn't see the twinge of anger or resentment in her eyes as she spoke.
He lifted her up and let one hand slip down to her ass. "How could I ever forget the beautiful woman I married?"
"Are you saying I'm not beautiful now?"
"Of course not! I'd thought that last night would have proven that you're just as beautiful now as you were then, if not more so." He set her down on the floor and stepped up to her, cupping her face in his hands. She had tears in her eyes as she spoke.
"You'll never leave me behind…will you, anata?" He melted under her eyes and leaned down to kiss her, feeling her thin arms wrap around his torso.
"Never, Ikuko-chan, I won't leave you."
---Nerima ---
"Oh, is he really now? I never would have thought he…no, don't worry, Tachi isn't here with me…yes, I understand that we have to…no, just…hold on! I'll be there in a few minutes and we can talk then, okay?" She jammed her finger on the 'end' button and threw the cell-phone back into her attaché case, disgusted and intrigued by the latest developments. Small toes wiggled encased in shiny black leather pumps through the sheer nylons she habitually wore. At first it had just been good appearance for business but as time wore on and her hand was no longer directly needed she still wore them, it gave her a vicarious thrill to be 'dressed for success'. She knew she still possessed very toned and slim legs, lithe and long as she always considered women's legs had to be, shaved and waxed to a highly smooth sheen, and was all to happy to show them off for any hormonally-driven interns she may come across.
Life with fame, wealth, and prestige wasn't as fulfilling as she had originally thought. After a meteoric rise to prominence in the first five years of her career (helped along by blackmail and slander) she was a millionaire at age twenty-seven; now, at age forty-one, almost forty-two, she would freely admit that money wasn't everything.
The limousine was spacious and luxurious, fully stocked with enough booze to knock a rhino unconscious, but it felt empty. She sat alone in the back while her driver/bodyguard/secretary drove her back towards the old ancestral home. She felt frail, so very weak in the face of the past. Kasumi had only said one word and a contraction but it was all that was needed to hurtle her iron-trap of a brain into overload.
'He's coming.'
He was going to be there for the first time in nearly twenty years. What would she say to him? How would he react to seeing her for that matter? She had no way of predicting emotional responses, give her the market values of yesterday and a detailed listing of patents and/or announcements and she could call market value shifts within a percentage. Ask her how someone was going to act, however, and she would conservatively predict her projections to be correct thirteen-percent of the time. She'd misjudged Tachi's reaction to Kodachi's skiing accident by a mile…
Her prim, immaculate hands ran over the soft leather of the seats next to her, at once feeling the oddest sensation that something was going to happen, something she could never hope to guess, a random aberration of logic and Murphy's law. She sighed and brushed both hands through her short brown hair quickly, a nervous habit. Nothing was going to change, at least nothing permanent.
She wished Tachi was here with her, riding along beside her with his stoic mask affixed and looking impassively out the windows, at least then she could draw some measure of strength and reassurance from her husband. On second thought, perhaps it was better that Tachi hadn't come along, he was meeting with the board of directors of Kuno-Fiduciary to discuss a recent buy-out bid, he would have proved unwieldy and inflexible to the changing situation.
The woman sighed, brushing her bangs from her eyes and picking up a high-ball glass of Jack-and-Coke from the holder by her hand. She never would have expected that he would return tonight although it did make sense, twenty-years ago today was when he left; there was a kind of finality, of temporal punctuation to the whole affair. Still, she would have to see what kind of man he'd grown into in the twenty-years he'd been away. Sure she'd been helping him from the shadows, her company now owned the station and studio he worked for, but aside from seeing his name in the credits of movies she had no idea what he was like.
It still hurt her deep inside. It festered like an old wound one no longer feels, just smells the stench of rot and decay every once in a while, she clutched her white blouse and felt her hands soak the material in sweat. There were several crinkling snaps as her perfect teeth ground together.
Asao, watching her physical reactions in the rear-view mirror knew full well what she was agonizing over, it was always the same. Still, he knew his employer too well, she would get through this brief attack and rise stronger.
If Nabiki Tendo was anything, it was strong.
---Tendo Dojo---
"Akira you have to take a bath!"
"No way! I ain't gonna!" A short older woman in her late-thirties-earlier-forties wrestled with her rambunctious seven-year old, pulling him back towards the bathroom. "Let go of me Mom!"
"No way, young man, we're going to be having guests today and I don't want my son smelling like he's been rolling around in mud!"
"But I have been rolling around in mud!"
"I know, that's the point!" Akane dragged her reluctant child into the bathing area, pulled his frantic arms out of his gi and sprayed him down with warm water. She was dressed in a drab purple kimono with the sleeves tied up; she had been helping Kasumi clean up before her forgetful husband had returned. Honestly, how could a man forget about a once-a-year party? Thankfully Shinnosuke had already taken his bath and was already helping her father, Tofu, and Kozue hang the decorations in the dojo. "Now, do I have to stay in here to make sure you scrub up properly or can I trust you to wash behind your ears?"
"Fine, fine, you can trust me Mom…"
"Good boy. I've left out your clothes, go and help your father in the dojo when you're finished."
Sometimes raising a little boy was more work than it was worth, little Akira rarely wanted to be around her anymore, it was rather sad. Still, she smiled and rubbed her growing belly. A little girl, just what she always wanted…
"Akane?"
"Uh yes?" She turned around to find Nodoka wringing her hands nervously. "What is it Auntie Saotome?"
The mother of Ranma had aged rather gracefully, her hair still in its customary bun but solid silver and she moved with the pained grace of an older woman. Her eyes still showed the youth that had since left her frame but the flame had been sputtering ever since Ranma left, almost extinguished. Akane could clearly see that the Saotome Matriarch was far more animated than usual, she could already guess what she wanted to know.
"Kasumi-chan told me that my son called earlier today…is it true that he will be here today?" Akane looked up into the older woman's eyes and saw that if her last hope proved false something eternal would shatter inside. "It is not that I think Kasumi-chan would lie to me or that I think she is mistaken, I simply wish to hear it from you as well."
"He will be here today, obasan." Blue color seemed to flood Nodoka's eyes and her mirth and cheer were restored.
"Oh my goodness! Why I have to prepare something special for him when he arrives, oh my son, I've missed him so much!" Akane smiled painfully and left the woman to her planning. The implications of His arrival eating away at her good cheer, it was bad enough that Kasumi dredged up her memories of those times every year when they sent the invitations, but now that he had accepted, what would she do? A part of her, a part that she hated and wanted to impale, wished that he would come back and whisk her away from this (almost) loveless marriage and take her and Akira to some far off isle where they would live a peaceful life. She squashed those feelings, the warm and pleasant ideas quickly soured by the black oil of rage and anger boiling within her breast. There had been a reason she married Shinnosuke, she remembered.
Ranma would arrive, single, and she would gloat at her life, her security, her _family_ she wanted to rub his nose in the fact that she was HAPPY while he was tortured by his failure to be true to her all those years ago. He would beg and grovel at her feet for forgiveness and she would kick him in the ribs, casting him away for the crimes he committed oh so many years ago. She wanted to cut off his manhood and make him watch as she-
"Mom!"
"Huh? Uh, What is it?" Akira slid the bathroom door closed and tugged at his mother's arm.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm just fine, Akira-chan, Mommy was just thinking about some things…"
---The Dojo---
"So what do you think of this development, Saotome-kun?" Tendo was sitting on the egawa of the dojo playing shogi with his best friend. "What do you think the boy wants here after so long?"
"The useless boy probably wants forgiveness." Genma moved one of his players forwards and grimaced. No sooner had the words left his mouth than a bucket of ice cold water cascaded down his back, leaving the portly martial artist a fat panda with glasses. Said beast quickly pulled a signed out of nowhere. HELLO WIFE, was all it read.
"If Ranma has come back for forgiveness, you will gladly give it, Genma." Nodoka brandished her steel and looked about ready to prove that wives in their fifties were still capable of beating their husbands within an inch of their lives. "My son has been away for far too long and you _will_ welcome him back with open arms."
YES WIFE, Genma's scribbled sign read as he flailed it in warding to her katana.
"Good."
---Later---
Kasumi left the soup to simmer and wondered briefly at the decline in guests over the years. It figured that the Tendo Christmas Parties' attendance had declined since Ranma's departure, each year dwindling even more until it became more of a get together rather than a full-fledged party. Ryoga and Akari, Ukyo, and Konatsu had stopped attending after a few years, each too wrapped up in their new lives after Ranma left to bother remembering the past. Tatewaki, Sasuke, Shinnosuke, the Saotomes, all had become part of their extended family. It was unfortunate that Shinnosuke's grandfather, Kin Ono and Kodachi had all left the world before having many Christmas parties under their belts but Kasumi supposed that they were all too aware of their own mortality given the lifestyles they enjoyed in life.
Akane was outside rounding up Akira and Kozue from the backyard and bringing them back inside. Shinnosuke and Tofu were just putting the final touches on the roof decorations before it got dark. It was already three in the afternoon and night would soon descend on the quiet streets.
All throughout the day her little sister had been avoiding the subject of their latest party addition, carefully skirting around the issue with Nabiki when the middle Tendo arrived and refusing to talk to Nodoka about her wayward son. Nabiki was sitting in the Dojo with Akemi and Ryonami, two of her high school friends. Truth be told, Kasumi didn't know what to make of her sister's behavior, the mask was too perfect, even she couldn't see where Nabiki's true emotions lay. She certainly hoped that she wouldn't cause another disaster like the one twenty-
No. It was best not to think of that, it was the past and should be forgotten. The eldest Tendo daughter considered herself the pillar of the household and it was true to an extent, Akane could not be trusted with the housework or the cooking. Thus even as both families lived under the same roof, one wife was forever relegated to the task of cooking and cleaning, the other the task of placating and taking care of the children. It was not that she resented Akane's lack of finesse and subsequent abandonment of duty (although she did feel that way occasionally), it was just that it seemed that she was doing everything. She did sincerely wish that Akane would take more responsibility for the house and family. After working with Tofu all day the last thing he wanted to come home to was a pile of take-out cartons and indifference.
Kasumi was broken from her revelry by Yuka and Sayuri, two of Akane's oldest friends, who quickly swept into the kitchen and helped her bring out the platters of food. Knowing in advance that Ranma was coming she had tripled all her recipes, ensuring that there would be enough food for everyone. Kozue and Akira were safely inside the dojo and the crowd was beginning to grow impatient for the first round of appetizers. Dutifully she doled out platter after platter of delicious snacks designed to enhance their hunger rather than alleviate it, a carefully planned tactic she'd been using for the past few years.
The dojo itself had changed much over the twenty-years since it last had a practitioner. After Ranma's departure, Akane had quit martial arts altogether, stating that the motions brought back bad memories, and since Tofu's art could easily be practiced in the backyard the family had agreed that the dojo should be converted into a common living room. Now, connected to the main house by a long, open hallway, it was bright and warm with carpets and couches. A fifty-two inch screen television sat in the corner, a Christmas present from Nabiki to their father several years before. Now as she walked through the open doorway (the door having been disposed of years ago) Kasumi was overcome with an intense sense of loss seeing her family heritage reduced to a common party room but dismissed the urge as an idle observation.
Nabiki watched her elder sister suppress a grimace and place the platters of sushi and meats on the tables. She swirled the saucer of sake in her hand and washed it down quickly, oblivious to the stares she was receiving from her old friends who had never seen Nabiki drink. It was a recent thing, a particular taste she hadn't acquired until earlier that year when Tachi had taken a turn for the worse. Her roving eye missed the sight of Akira ducking out the dojo window.
Suddenly, from amongst the din of the family talking and eating, three loud raps on the wooden gate of the compound echoed in the night air, effectively silencing everyone. Akane looked about ready to cry, Nodoka was glancing about in expectation, Kasumi looked torn, and Nabiki simply sat back and poured herself another cup of sake. Finally, it was Kasumi who left to answer the door.
---Outside---
"Are you sure they're home, anata?" Ikuko held Hotaru in front of her, both dressed in thick winter coats and hats, as Ranma rapped hard on the thick oak of the perimeter gate.
"Positive, I can hear them singing from the back. The whole family's in the dojo." Ranma pushed his glasses up his nose and focused more ki into his knuckles, the next time his hand met the wood it parted suddenly and a little boy about Hotaru's age, maybe a little older, leapt from the house.
"Whoa!" Akira Tendo swerved on his heel and tried to dodge the tall man but failed miserably, bowling them both over onto the sidewalk. Ikuko watched on in bemusement while Hotaru barked out a surprised laugh. "Sorry…"
"Don't worry about it, and who might you be?" Ranma brushed the grit from the seat of his pants and helped the short young boy off the stones, grinning madly as his blue/black hair and bishonen looks gave his lineage away fairly quickly. "I'm Ranma."
The little boy looked shyly at the ground for a moment before a wave of anger and annoyance passed across his face. He looked up Ranma and pride dripped from his words. "I'm Akira Tendo of the Tendo school of Anything-Goes Martial Arts!" Saotome could see the same defiant streak in his eyes as he remembered in Akane's; the same stubborn belief that they were the best.
"An impressive title, little guy." He fixed the young son with the same infuriating smirk he used to favor his mother, the furrowed brow and guttural growl compromising the otherwise cheerful exterior of the child. "Are your mother and father home?"
"Sure, what do you want with them?"
"I just want to talk." He motioned for Ikuko and Hotaru to come over. "Ikuko, Hotaru-chan, this is Akira." Ikuko demurely placed a hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle while Hotaru's eye lit up as she took a few eager steps forward to catch her newest playmate in a hug. As Akira began cringing and trying to wrench the little girl away, leading them both to the soft grass around the entryway, Kasumi opened the front door.
"Oh my!" Kasumi brought her hands to her mouth, quite obviously surprised at seeing Hotaru and Ikuko. The shock quickly wore off and she offered a curt bow to the couple, smiling serenely as she invited them inside. Her smooth chocolate eyes swept over Ranma's changed form and appearance, stopping briefly on the worn, tan casual sportscoat and his reading glasses. He certainly didn't look forty-one!
"Merry Christmas, Kasumi-san." Ranma smiled nervously and returned her bow. "I'm sorry it's been so long." The eldest Tendo sister noticed the gorgeous brunette clasping hands with him reassuringly. She didn't even need to notice the wedding bands they both wore to realize they were married.
"Nonsense, Ranma-kun, what's important is that you're here now." The group began heading towards the dojo, Akira dragging a clasping Hotaru behind him, struggling to wrench free of her hands as they went. "Your mother and father are here as well…"
"Th-they are…?" He glanced back at his wife and felt her give his hand another squeeze.
"Mmm-hmm…everyone's waiting inside for you." Kasumi gestured towards the brightly lit addition to the egawa leading to the dojo. Ranma grasped Ikuko's hand tightly before spinning her on her toe so that she stood under his right arm. She gently placed a reassuring hand on his and together they walked through the open doorway.
---Inside---
Nabiki was finishing her fourth helping of sake when Kasumi entered and ushered in the new arrivals.
Akane was wiping a stray piece of food from Shinnosuke's face when the errant couple stepped into the wooden structure.
Nodoka almost jumped for joy at the sight of her prodigal son, his looks virtually unchanged since the last time they spoke, Ikuko, and most importantly, Hotaru.
"Merry Christmas everyone." Ranma idly scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit he'd never quite broken from since his youth. "It's…it's good to see you all again."
"MY SON!" Nodoka leapt at her flesh and blood, embracing the couple and crying into their shoulders. Ranma quite obviously had no idea what to do when faced by his weeping mother, while Ikuko simply hugged the older woman. "Oh Ranma, it's been so long!"
"I'm sorry Momma." The pigtailed man unlaced his arm from Ikuko's and hugged his mother tenderly. "I guess we've got a lot of catching up to do, huh?" A sharp rap on the head was his only answer.
"You know how badly I've wanted grandchildren and you don't let me know I have a granddaughter?" It was apparent to all that Nodoka's reprimands were playful as she beat him a few more times just for good measure. After thrashing her son properly, she knelt by Hotaru and took her by the shoulders, coincidentally giving Akira enough time to escape the five-year old's surprisingly strong grip. "And who is this little angel?"
"Ahem…Hotaru-chan? This is your grandmother, Nodoka." The grey-haired matriarch smiled down at her first grandchild with tears in her eyes. "Momma, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Hotaru."
"Hi, Nodoka-obasan…" The short girl's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, she just wanted to run and hide behind her mother.
"Hello, Hotaru-chan!" Nodoka boosted the child up into her arms and smiled sweetly. "How would you like some cake?" The saccharine smile was answer enough. "Well, let's see what we can get you."
While Nodoka was doting on her daughter, Ikuko stood possessively by Ranma's side, their hands entwined again. Tofu stood up from his seat by Soun and rushed over to greet them, shaking Ranma's hand profusely before turning to Ikuko.
"It's good to see you again after so many years, Ranma."
"It's nice to see you again, Doctor. Allow me to introduce my wife, Ikuko Otonashi." The long-haired brunette bowed to the greying chiropractor who graciously took her proffered hand, giving it three firm shakes, grinning all the while.
"A pleasure."
"Oh no, Doctor, the pleasure is all mine, Ranma has always spoken very highly of you and your skills." Tofu pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, chuckling, and took Kasumi's hand. "As well as the kindness of your wife."
"You flatter me, Ikuko-san."
"Don't try to be modest with me, Doc, you're probably the only person in Japan that's dealt with some of the things that happened when we were younger. I don't know what I'd have done without you." Ranma shook the man's hand and grinned in admiration. The two men looked into each other's eyes and each probed the other, ki clashing with ki for the briefest of instants. Satisfied, the two shared a laugh and moved towards the others, leaving Ikuko and Kasumi by the food table.
Nabiki snorted at the men's laughter, gulping down another bottle of sake. She was just heading into a pleasant buzz when there came another knock on the outside door. Knowing full well who it was, the brunette finished the bottle and sat back with her arms crossed tightly under her chest, a frown marring the otherwise elegant porcelain of her face. The demure RN politely excused herself from Ikuko's company, leaving the statuesque actress adrift among strangers. The middle Tendo daughter fancied she could hear Tachi's pompous drawl already; she decided that enough was enough.
As the effects of the five bottles of sake she'd consumed over the course of the evening began to register, Nabiki was tottering uneasily when she reached Ikuko. At the last moment, she tripped on her pumps and collided with her target, spilling both women onto the floor. Dazed for the briefest of instants, she was suddenly taken off her feet by warm hands.
"Are you two alright?" Ranma hefted Nabiki off his wife and set her on her feet although it was painfully obvious she was drunk by the circling wobble in her knees. He pulled Ikuko up one handed by the wrist, a quick glance conveying his nervousness over the Tendo woman.
"Thank you Ranma!" Nabiki responded in abrasive sing-song.
"Nabiki." He looked her up and down coolly, distaste evident on his ageless face.
"Oh Ranma, you wound me!" She had enough sobriety to wince in manufactured pain. "Is that anyway to treat moi? The girl you gave your virginity to?" Enough of her intelligence pierced the swimmy veil of alcohol to recognize the tell-tale signs of shock on Otonashi's face. "Oh I'm so sorry, I guess I shouldn't have let the cat out of the bag."
"Stop it Nabiki! I never told Ikuko about this!" Ranma put himself between the two brunettes.
"So why don't you forget all about her and let us finish what we started twenty years ago?' She fixed him with a toothy, sultry grin and seemed to adhere to his skin, her hands and legs wrapping themselves neatly around his body. She looked deeply into his eyes, imagining a spark of what they once had behind his cerulean orbs when in reality it was only panic and pain. With a quick, impulsive jerk of her head their lips met and her tongue wormed its way into his mouth, clashing with his own limp muscle; if she noticed his lack of involvement she gave no sign. One stockinged leg curled around his thigh, bringing the steamy pot of her sex to grind against the crotch of his slacks, while her hands brought his to her ass, manually stroking her tight, well-maintained physique. She began to moan into his mouth.
"Saotome you cur! Prepare to taste the divine wrath of Heaven!" Tatewaki Kuno was lead into the dojo by the demure and noble Kasumi Ono only to find his most hated enemy molesting his wife! With a harsh cry of rage he drew his katana from the scabbard he habitually wore by his side and lunged, attempting to behead his opponent in one swift movement.
Unfortunately for Kuno, and fortunately for Ranma and Nabiki, the pig-tailed man bounded to the ceiling and threw Nabiki back onto the couch, narrowly avoiding the razor's edge.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing Kuno!? You could've killed Nabiki!" Ranma landed before the Kuno heir and the rest of the family parted to allow the combatants a wide berth for the presumed bloodbath about to occur. Even Akane, normally the most aggressive of the individuals present, especially at Tatewaki's treatment of her sister, kept her mouth shut and her arms at her sides.
"The ruthless little back-stabbing harlot would no longer be a stain on my noble name if only it were so," Kuno spat. His blade glimmered blue with a focused crust of icy ki. "To think that mine own prodigious genitalia have touched what the black Saotome's befouled!"
Ikuko turned to Akane. "What is he talking about?"
"Nabiki and Ranma were…together…and Kuno didn't know about it until last year."
"When was this? It would have been around twenty years ago!"
"Kuno has a very long memory…" The short-haired woman reached for Shinnosuke's hand.
"What the hell are you talking about Kuno!?" Tatewaki slashed the air with his blade and closed his eyes in barely held restraint.
"I need not explain it to such a base and vulgar lecher! You have known my wife, Saotome, to think that I Tatewaki Kuno, Scion of the House of Kuno have been reduced to a mere cuckold!" He dashed forward and began thrusting quickly, his sword leaving ghostly blue after-images to confuse his opponent.
Ranma, however, was going to have none of Kuno's cheap ki tricks. To punish him was one thing, but to punish one's own wife because of a botched tryst with him…well, Ranma wasn't going to let anyone suffer for his crimes any longer. Dodging to the right, he ricocheted off the far wall above Yuka and Sayuri's heads and shot towards the kendoist's unprotected back with a hand raging with angry red ki. He screamed out at the last minute and was gratified to see Kuno turn around at the last moment, too late to do anything to protect himself, yet allowing the superior martial artist a perfect attack on the Kuno's front.
The results were explosive to say the least. A corona of burning flame erupted from the unawares swordsman and even Sasuke winced at the scream of agony rolling after the blow. Kasumi and Tofu watched the aftermath critically since they were doctors and more likely than not would have to treat the deranged man's injuries. Akane squeezed Shinnosuke's hand hard enough to dislocate the cartilage in his thumb. Nabiki was insensate on the couch. Ikuko's mouth was open in shock at what her husband of seven years was capable of as she had never been given a proper demonstration of his abilities. Finally, Nodoka was talking to Hotaru and Akira, trying to divert their attention from the bloody spectacle in the centre of the room.
Ranma's hand had been formed into a knife and his fingers were embedded into Kuno's sternum up to the first knuckle. A deathly serene look was on his face as he pulled his bloody fingers out of the crazed Kuno. Tatewaki for his part had turned a milky, pallid white, and his sword lay by his feet, dropped in fear at the last minute. Both men stood staring into each other's eyes until Ranma stood up straight from the knees-bent stance he'd adopted to keep Kuno on his feet. With his source of balance retracted, the older man fell backwards in a faint and hit the wood hard, compounding his serious external damage with a light concussion.
Silence reigned.
Wordlessly, Tofu and Kasumi swept past Ranma and gathered Kuno onto a stretcher with Sasuke's help. The bloody reminder of exactly why he was called 'the best' not withstanding, none in the room doubted his strength of character any longer. He had not only defended Nabiki's honor but defended it after she tried to ruin his marriage. The younger Saotome looked towards his mother and quirked his head in the direction of the house. An understanding nod greeted his entreaty. The grey matriarch of the Saotome family let Akira free to run back to Akane and collected Hotaru in her arms again, walking briskly out the door and into the house by way of the door the Onos had left open.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion." Ranma bowed low to the crowd and followed his mother, Ikuko by his side.
---Outside the Tendo compound---
"That could have gone better, son." Nodoka was bundled against the cold in a long russet coat and hand-knit mittens. Hotaru was tethered to her hand and looked around the curious new district with undisguised wonder. Ranma and Ikuko walked hand-in-hand next to her in the lonely streets.
"I know, Momma…I know." The stunt coordinator-cum-grip-cum-personal trainer looked down at the dirty streets as they plodded slowly back towards the train station. "It was just that…well, making Nabiki suffer for my mistakes just got me so mad!" His brow furrowed in anger and he began shaking with renewed rage. His wife's hand on his shoulder defused his wrath.
Nodoka shifted her eyes to the unspoken interplay between her son and his wife. To her experienced eyes it was obvious that they shared a deep bond with each other and acted as a balance for the other's emotions…yet there was something off. If she could only put her finger on it…
"This wasn't quite what I had in mind for your reunion, anata," Ikuko giggled. It was a lilting, trilling soprano that buoyed his spirits, his arms immediately went around her and pulled her body close. "Still, it's nice to know that after so long you can still stun people speechless." Suddenly her visage shifted and her slim fingers pinched her husband's ear painfully. "Don't think that you're off the hook yet, though, 'dear', I expect a full explanation of this whole 'Nabiki' business when we get home!"
"Yes dear…"
Nodoka chuckled and heard Hotaru giggle by her side. A granddaughter! Her son finally shows himself after twenty long years and he brings her a granddaughter. The older woman smiled so widely that it threatened to split her face and clutched her darling kin's hand in hers for fear of the dream disappearing. Now she had a daughter as well, a charming, beautiful woman who was obviously making her son very happy in their kisses meant anything. Speaking of which, it had been thirty seconds and the couple hadn't come up for air from their last 'brief' kiss.
"Ahem! I think you youngsters will have enough time for that later on, right now, I'd like to get your address so I can start visiting." Ranma and Ikuko disengaged themselves and had the good grace to look embarrassed.
---The next morning---
Ranma awoke sandwiched between his naked wife and a lightly snoring 'jammied' daughter. Smiling as Hotaru clutched his arm tighter as she rose toward the cusp of sleep and waking life, he ruffled her hair and kissed her on the forehead. Lifting her gently from the sheets, he carried her across the hall into her room and tucked her in, kissing her brown locks once more before leaving her to sleep off their long night. When he lay back under the blankets, he was startled when a warm hand grasped his penis, the soft digits massaging him to full erection in only a few seconds.
"I thought you were asleep."
"I was," she responded with her eyes still closed, "until you got up to put Hotaru back in her room."
"When did she sneak in?"
"Around three." He could feel semen bubbling in his testicles as her manual manipulation began to focus on his spongy crown. Ikuko tossed the quilts off her nakedness and spread her legs, her eyes still closed. Ranma didn't need to be told twice and quickly mounted his wife, pushing his turgid member past the oily tightness of her cunt lips until she whimpered in anticipation, her legs wrapping around his waist and pushing his backside. "Do me slow, anata." Last night had been passionate but quick, lacking their usual prolonged pleasuring, as a result, and all they got for the trouble was sweaty.
He buried himself into her to the root, their pubic hairs entwining as he began to rock back and forth, grinding their bodies together as the hot, dripping nectar of her sex smeared his stomach and thighs. She began to yip loudly as his strokes came faster and faster, each thrust causing a mini-orgasm to ripple through her vaginal muscles, effectively becoming a warm, moist sucking mouth on his rod as he penetrated her. He considered it a particularly interesting talent of hers and kept himself embedded in her fragrant snatch as her muscles contracted around him. Her eyes were pressed closed in frustration as he stubbornly refused to move, content for the moment to enjoy her vaginal abilities. No amount of embracing or urging him with her heels proved useful in jumpstarting his rhythm until she kissed him. That was all that was needed.
He began to thrust again, slowly, deliberately, nearly pulling out before thrusting fully inside, his flaring crown driving her mad with pleasure. She writhed and moaned, barked out in unexpected pleasure as he twisted his pelvis one way, or gasped as his fingers pinched her swollen clitoris, the nub of nerves and pink hyper sensitive to his rough, callused fingertips.
She finally came nearly an hour later, her body trembling from the power of her orgasm. Her body went completely limp as every iota of energy was expended on her cunt as it bit down on his cock, her muscles clenching him tightly, trying desperately to draw the smallest drop of semen from his purple head. Ranma pulled out of her cunt with a satisfying sucking pop of displaced air and straddled her waist, his endowment bobbing enticingly before her eyes. Ikuko licked her suddenly dry lips, she hadn't craved cock like this for so long, yet Ranma's prick seemed to be the Holy Grail of its kind and attached to a proper user to boot! She closed her eyes again and opened her mouth wide.
Soon enough the head entered her mouth, the sour taste of her own pussy mixed with the distinctive musky taste of his precum. Ikuko sucked greedily on his tool, wanting him to spray her entire body with sperm, to cover her in milky semen and make her lick off every once of the salty con-'cock'-tion. She began to swallow, her throat constricting and wrapping neatly around his penis as she deep-throated him to the best of her ability, the thick head rubbing her epiglottis.
"I'm gonna cum soon!" Ranma threw his head back and moaned loudly as he pulled out of her throat, not wanting to drown her in his orgasm, and felt her hands encircle the shaft. She began to jerk him quickly, his moist rod already covered with saliva and honey making deliciously slippery sucking noises as she pulled and tugged at his foreskin.
"Give it to me, anata, give me all your seed!" She opened her mouth and delicately licked the trembling crown, gratified when he came at last, a thick rope of semen flying from the tip and into her mouth. She screamed in pleasure as she continued to frig him, thick streams of white flying over her face and hair, splashing harmlessly on the floor around their futon and coating her neck and chest. Ranma cried out after the preliminaries were finished and bucked his hips forward as a steady stream of sperm rushed out his hose, the flow showing no signs of abating even after five seconds of ejaculation. Ikuko's hair was plastered to her eyes and her face was dripping with seed as she sat up and took his spasming cock into her mouth. Like a child drinking from a garden hose, she swallowed the forceful gush of thick paste and came hard, the mere presence of his semen in her body enough to trigger her climax.
After drinking what seemed to be gallons of sticky, thick cream, he finally collapsed by her side and laughed softly at the picture she made.
She resembled a bukkake girl, covered to her waist in semen, her head and hair liberally coated with the opaque fluid as she gathered the steaming mask in her hands and licked them clean.
"Should I get you a beaker or one of those funnels?" He pulled a towel from the side of the pallet, they always had one nearby just in case they decided to make love, and started to wipe the slimy coating from her body.
"Very funny…" She slurped a final handful of sperm from her chest and took the proffered towel, wiping the residue from under her breasts and wringing it from her hair. "Are you sure you never participated in any of those bukkake AV movies they produce downstairs at the station?"
"What would ever give you that idea?"
"You know a little too much about how they work." He chuckled and wiped off her back.
"Well, if I had you know I'd be pretty recognizable." He gestured to his flaccid member and testicles. "If I showed up on screen, you and all my other girlfriends would be on my case in an instant."
"Other girlfriends? Cheating on me already?" Ranma sweatdropped but laughed it off, playing the uncomfortable situation as a joke.
"Well, there are all the interns at the station, and all the secretaries on the top floor, oh, and I can't forget about all the auditioning actresses." Ikuko laughed and swatted him over the head.
"Get away!" She was laughing as they both stood up and rolled the soiled bedding to be washed later. "Ranma, we should probably take a bath now and get Hotaru up, Yusaku'll be waiting." She opened the window and let a gust of frigid air into the room, causing them both to hold one another against the cold. "I'll get the furo warmed up."
---Nerima---
Seeing Godai was always nice, Ranma thought as he and his family walked through Nerima after visiting Ikuko's Aunt Kyoko and niece Miyabi. They usually visited them on Christmas Eve but for obvious reasons were forced to postpone until Christmas Day. Kyoko had aged well, her face showing no signs of the forty-seven years she had lived although she was getting a bit plump but even that seemed pleasantly motherly. At times Ranma thought of her as an elder even though the difference between their age was negligible.
Miyabi on the other hand was, as Yusaku and Kyoko described her, exactly like Ikuko at that age, a tart and disarmingly honest person. It was safe to say that Ranma liked her from the start. The chilly, crisp afternoon air blew past them as they walked hand in hand. The trees rustled in the breeze, and Ranma shivered lightly, pulling his arm tighter around her shoulders as they walked past the train station. His mother was waiting for them at the new Saotome homestead, hopefully with a fresh, hot pot of tea.
Sure enough, as they entered through the gates, a strong smell of cooking food and coffee wafted through the air. Ranma could see a cloud of warm air rising lazily from the open kitchen window. No doubt Genma was salivating in anticipation of a superb meal.
"It looks like your mother remembers you very well," Ikuko intoned dryly from his side.
"C'mon, I don't eat _that_ much do I?"
"Daddy, you eat more than Uncle Godai and Aunt Kyoko combined!" Ranma knelt by his daughter and put on a sad-looking face.
"Are you betraying me too?"
"I'm sorry."
The quaint family shenanigans came to an end when Nodoka slid open the front door. She was resplendent in silver and gold, her kimono a dark purple. Happiness was all but written on her face as the couple walked up and ushered Hotaru inside. The older woman embraced the couple and cried freely into their shoulders.
"Welcome home, son."
---January 5th---
"How was your Christmas Mrs. Tendo?" Nabiki's personal assistant, Yuriko Ryuzaki greeted her when she entered her office. It wasn't really an office per se, rather a medium sized room with her desk and an enormous picture window behind.
"Just wonderful." Nabiki threw her briefcase on her desk, sat at her high-backed black leather chair and lay her face in her hands. Yuriko giggled just a tad and brought a hand over her mouth. Nabiki pulled her face from her hands slowly, letting her digits rub over skin, before folding her hands and sitting up straight in her chair. "My husband…my _ex_-husband, I'm sorry, was rushed to the hospital because a friend of mine stabbed through his sternum with three fingers. I was divorced the next day. Tachi was fucked by his own pre-nuptial agreement I'm happy to add."
"He never deserved you, ma'am, if you don't mind my saying so." The black-haired woman was in her late twenties with almond eyes of crystal blue and straight hair falling to her skirt. She was pouring her employer a drink as was her wont the last few months.
"Hell, Yuriko-chan, even I knew that! I only needed him for financial security to get this corporation off the ground. Thank the Kami I paid his money back years ago." She leaned back and took the thick glass tumbler from her assistant. "Thank you. You know, it's really quite odd, I spent the last fifteen years of my life manipulating and funding the study of enhanced healing and meditation and yesterday probably scared me more than anyone else."
"What do you mean, ma'am, if you don't mind my asking?"
"No, Yuriko, I don't 'mind you asking' about anything. You've been my personal assistant for what, three years? I told you before, you can be perfectly frank with me at all times." She gulped down the bourbon in two swallows and lay the glass back on her desk before she continued. "You know the DNA and genetic materials, the video tapes and data this corporation was founded on?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, it all came from one person."
"Really? Who?"
"Did you and your boyfriend ever watch that movie I told you about?"
"The one with Jackie Chan and the other guy?"
"That's the one."
"Yeah, it was great! And the action sequences were really very well done." It had been a year or so ago and Yuriko's boyfriend at the time wanted to watch an action flick. Due to an offhand comment Nabiki had suggesting renting "Sorcerer's Fists of Justice". The special effects were really well done for the time as well as Jackie Chan's partner, the martial arts sorcerer, was able to throw balls of energy at his foes. She secretly thought Nabiki had some hand in the film since the abilities and special effects were so close to the data videos and abilities the corporation housed and analyzed.
"He's the guy."
"Who? Jackie Chan?"
"No, his partner, Ranma Saotome."
"You mean that Ranma really was able to do all that stuff? That he's the guy in all of the grainy films you showed the investors?" Nabiki _loved_ to boast about her first pitch to her group of investors and about how all their jaws dropped at the original and authentic footage that started the business.
NT Biological Innovations, Inc. started out as a developer of training regimens and vitamin supplements for the JSDF when Nabiki first got out of college. The footage, medical reports and other data created the basis for all their work, starting with basic genetic decryption and analysis of the 'ki' phenomena shown in her tapes. It worked, and NTBI was _the_ supplier of vitamins and physical training supplements to the military. In the past ten years, however, NTBI branched out into medicine, using their data to create products that greatly sped-up healing and the regeneration of previously dead tissue. If the documents Yuriko had seen earlier that months were correct, they might have an Alzheimer's drug on the market next fall.
"That and more, my dear, that and more."
"So why doesn't he work for you; why didn't you marry him?"
"In response to the former question: he works in movies. As for the second: the details are far too personal and hurtful to detail in full." Nabiki sighed and rested back in her chair. "He works in television and movies as a martial arts coach, I think that 'Sorcerer's Fists of Justice' might be his only feature film…hmm…he works in movies…"
"Uh…Ma'am? Are you alright?" Yuriko watched as Nabiki suddenly went quite still, her carefully plucked eyebrow furrowing in thought as another lengthy scheme formed in her mind. "Do you want me to get you anything?"
"No, no, Yuriko, I'm alright…I think." The brunette scanned the awards and plaques that had been given to her over the years and smirked like a feral tiger. If what she had in mind was right on the money, she would have very little to worry her in the future. A gentle giggling began in her throat and erupted in a crazed laugh of inspiration, inspiration that in turn bred schemes and scenarios. "Yuriko-chan, would you do me one favor?"
"Of course, ma'am, what would you like?"
"Would you cancel all my appointments today and reschedule all my arrangements for the next few days?" Nabiki was already gathering her things hurriedly as her assistant frantically called up her appointments on her palm pilot. "That's a dear…I'll see you on Monday." The middle Tendo daughter gripped her briefcase and signaled Asao to get the car running, her heeled pumps tapping imperiously on the marble floor of her office.
"But, ma'am! Today is Wednesday!"
"Then cancel everything for the next week, I need some time!" Yuriko bowed as her superior passed and was left with an empty office and a lot of juggling to do before her day was over. Still, it was a job…
---Later---
Airu found herself on her head with her body held up by two leather sawhorses lashed together, her bare bottom glistening with passion and saliva above, and couldn't help but laugh in the face of her dominator.
"What's so funny?" Ranma unzipped the slave mask he was wearing and pulled off the aviator's goggles. He was naked save for two strands of black leather holding aloft his manhood by a studded ring affixed around the crown. "I wouldn't be laughing if I were you…"
"I'm sorry, it's just that you look ridiculous in that get-up." She felt his hands caress her ass, his well-oiled fingers juicing up her lower lips. "Mmm, now that's the stuff…"
"Just you wait until I start using the 'Anal Bead Adventures Volume 3' props, then we'll see who's laughing." Ranma knelt before Airu and buried his face in her crotch, his nose slipping between her labia major and nestling in a pool of her excitement. "I could drown like this you know."
"There are worse ways to go." Airu thrust her pelvis up to meet his face and felt his fingers sliding between her lips and grazing her hooded clitoris; electric jolts of pleasure exploded when his questing fingers lightly pinched it while pulling away the thin flap of skin covering the dimpled head. Her canal was flooded with her juices, open as it was, and they both knew it would only take one decisive thrust to drive her off the edge - her passion flying high into the air of the claustrophobic storage room in a fountain of fluids.
He knew what she liked after such long bouts of foreplay, they had been licking and stroking each other for the past hour, and that was quick and dirty fucking until she came her brains out. To help quiet their activities he affixed a ball-gag to her mouth, knowing well that Airu was likely to go ballistic when she came.
---Upstairs---
She strutted down the hallways with the practiced sashay of a trained professional, her hips swaying back and forth to the beat of a sensuous drum, the plump tightness of her ass stretching and straining against the itchy nylon short skirt she wore. Her hair was brushed and shimmering, thick coils of wavy locks gently tossed by the wind of her passing. Narrow, lightly tanned legs rubbed together with the susurrus of her dark stockings as she pumped quickly to Takeshi Hashimoto's office.
Just walking down the green linoleum floors of the studio was enough to jog pleasant memories in her head, the times of love and carefree fun before the movie cameras. Hashimoto had been her manager since she was eighteen and had fought the board when it came time for her dismissal, his stand proved futile when she first began to show. Still, she never forgot his insistence that she call after the birth to figure out some way to save her career.
Ikuko stopped before the plain gunship-grey door with 'Hashimoto - Manager' emblazoned in white. She was clutching her handbag in shaking hands, unsure of what she should do and unwilling to accept whatever he was going to offer. Afterall, she had Hotaru to think about…
She knocked.
"Come in!" His heavy baritone was muffled by the door but she already knew he'd gained weight in the five years, probably from drink, and was probably even balder than he had been before her departure.
Taking a deep breath that filled her lungs to bursting with oxygen and renewed courage, Ikuko grasped the oily metal doorknob and swept inside the studio manager's office.
---Downstairs---
"Would Ranma Saotome please come to the visitor's lounge; Ranma Saotome to the visitor's lounge." Machiko's nasal soprano echoed off the thick concrete walls of the basement.
"Shit! Who could this be?" Ranma pulled out and spewed cum down Airu's front. They had been finished anyway but the interruption…
Airu disentangled herself from the bondage vise and pulled out the drooling ball-gag. "It doesn't matter, just go! It could be your wife." His semen was warm and comforting on her body and she smeared it all over the black leather corset and gloves she wore, idly wondering how many women had tasted the delicious bounty of her love's testicles and never known. Her boots, flared out at the top as they were, squished noisily with the sticky fluids of her cunt. Whenever they made love she could dribble like a leaky spigot and gush like a waterfall; and after nearly two hours of foreplay and sex, the walls and floor were well coated with the residue of her orgasms.
Ranma was already wiping himself off with a towel and stepping into his boxers. Airu grinned and took a moment to enjoy the view. "Don't just stare at my ass all day, Airu-chan, would you hand me my pants?" The brunette looked to her right and saw a pair of brown slacks folded neatly over one of the sawhorses. "Thanks. I'll see you at six, then?"
"Definitely!" The short-haired woman nodded energetically and stood up, dripping semen and mucus as she rose. "See you when you get home, luv!"
Ranma was already at the door.
He walked briskly through corridor after corridor, his penis still dripping sum down the leg of his shorts and his crotch stiff with Airu's drying fluids. When he passed by the Studio Manager's office he was surprised when Hashimoto smiled and gave him a reassuring thumbs up. Ranma was unsure what was reassuring about the gesture but waved back on his way towards the main lobby. Sure enough, Machiko was just on the cusp of paging him again when the long-haired blonde noticed his arrival and pointed to the visitor's lounge.
Needless to say it was a shock when his unexpected guest turned out to be his wife. Ranma closed the thin metal door and locked it behind him.
"What are you doing here, Ikuko-chan? You should have called and I would have met you at the door." He was hoping his jizz stain on the crotch of his pants wasn't all that visible. "Is something wrong? Is Hotaru hurt?" A terror-tinged tone of panic rose in his throat and he felt icy claws dig into his heart. "Oh my God! Is she dead? Where is she?"
"Don't worry anata, Hotaru's fine. Everything's fine." She grabbed his hands and squeezed, everything that Ranma was envisioning disappeared in a rush of physical contact. "Everything's _more_ than fine!" Without any provocation save that she was his wife, Ikuko leapt into his arms, embracing his neck and giggling like an excited schoolgirl.
"Whoa there! What's so terrific?" Ranma was smiling too, lacing his arms under his wife's derriere and boosting her higher so her lips met his. One they did he was forced to let go as her hands pinned his head and her lips roamed all over his face, her nipples poking from her silk blouse and her seat growing warm with passion. They fell onto the floor, the cold linoleum tiles freshly waxed, and wrestled with each other's clothing, their shoes kicked off and their eyes closed to anything but their lover's faces.
Ranma roughly pushed up her skirt and rolled it tightly over her waist. Next he unbuttoned her blouse at Amaguriken speed and freed her bouncing, heaving assets from their smooth silk prison. No sooner were they freed than he began to suckle, his lips encircling the areola as his teeth and tongue nibbled and caressed her nipple. He knew how much she loved to be suckled, occasionally they would spend a whole night simply lying in each other's arms as he fondled, milked, and sucked at her breasts. He also knew for a fact that she used to sum hard when she breast-fed Hotaru.
Ikuko threw her head back as the first flashes of orgasm exploded in her tits and hit her head hard on the floor. Pain was quickly steamrolled under all the other emotions she felt at that minute - chief among them lust. She cooed softly and ran her fingers through his hair as he suckled. Her purple lace panties were already uncomfortably wet with her arousal so she decided to instigate their next step.
Thin fingers, the fingers of a piano player or harpist, reached down and undid the clasp on his belt, unbuttoned the waist, and pushed the pants as far down as they could manage. Ranma's cock sprang into view, erect and slimy with what Ikuko perceived to be pre-cum. Ranma's hands left her breasts and slithered down her flanks to her stockings and garter belt. His thick fingers wiggled between the narrow waist pant of her panties and the springy clasps of her garter, pulling the lacy confections down over one foot so that they dangled around an ankle.
Ikuko looked down at her husband's grinning face and was suddenly reminded of her first-love, and of how alike Yusaku and Ranma were in their personalities. True, both had been shy at first, both awkward with the dramatic age difference but in the end she had bagged both. Yusaku she had given away, recognizing the true love he felt for Kyoko and realizing that the love was reciprocated, but only after losing her virginity. She wasn't sure if Kyoko knew, the older woman probably did but if so was unwilling to confront her. Really what did it matter anyway? Yusaku and Kyoko hadn't been an item at the time and Yusaku had wanted it just as much as she had.
She exploded back to reality as an earth-shattering orgasm burned her body and rationality away. Ranma had just thrust inside, his member pulsing within her dripping sheath, and was laying over her body, his hands spaced on either side of her head. She screamed out loud as he burst into her womb, his humping creating an erotic slapping of wet flesh on flesh. Streams of clear ooze bubbled and dripped from around his shaft, her sealing lips flaccid as her body went limp with the intensity of her orgasms. He embraced her neck as she embraced his torso and began to vigorously, violently fuck her as their bodies slid on the slippery floor. So powerful were his thrusts that he fucked them both across the floor and into a wall. She mewed in pleasure as he lifted her up off the floor, thick strands of mucus stretching from her ass to the floor, and humped her hard against the wall.
Finally it happened as it always did when they fucked like mad rabbits - the distinct curvature of Ranma's phallus slid against the rough roof of Ikuko's cunt and touched that bundle of nerves lovingly refereed to as the G-spot. As his turgid head lowed into the nervous core of her sex, Ikuko howled out in rapture, spurting gallons of her fluids spraying out from where Ranma had her plugged, drenching his bare legs and her thighs. Her husband held up through her clenching for only so long before he gave in to the sucking warmth of her pussy and spewed his thick seed deep inside her. He fell upon her and they lay in post-coital bliss for the next fifteen minutes, the only sound aside from the ambient noise of the lobby next door being the frenzied gulps of breath they inhaled.
"So, are you going to tell me this good news of will I have to fuck it out of you?" Ranma pulled out, her cunt filled to the brim with swimming warmth, sand wiped his crotch and legs dry with his handkerchief.
"I'll tell you now but you'll have to fuck it out of me later," she replied with an impish grin. She was laying spread-eagle on her back, her hair a mess, her clothes disheveled, and her entire body red with perspiration and lust.
"So what is it?"
Ikuko took a deep breath and wiped sweat from her forehead. "Hashimoto called me a few hours ago, Ranma, he wants me to be in the new version of 'Rasen' the studio's making!" Ranma pulled her up off the floor and smoothed out her hair.
"That's great!"
"Oh! I'm going to be working again, it's a dream come true!" She kissed him frantically. "I'm getting paid twice what I used to make since this is such a popular franchise!"
"This is terrific, I always knew you would come back, the cameras love you."
"And I love you!" She kissed him quickly on the lips and began to gather her clothes back to where they belonged. "Hashimoto told me you were asking him to reinstate me for the past three years."
"Well, maybe I had _something_ to do with it, but I never dreamed they would give you such a high-profile project! We should have a party; I have to tell Yusaku and Kyoko!" Ranma pulled up his pants and helped her clean off her thighs. "When do you start?"
"Tomorrow, he wants filming to begin as soon as possible." He hugged her tight and pressed her tightly to his body.
"I'm so proud of you!"
"I know."
Soon enough, Ikuko was dressed and ready, with Ranma's kerchief stuffed down the crotch of her panties so she wouldn't leak on the floor, and they stepped outside.
And everyone was staring at them. Ranma thought he heard Machiko comment that they were 'so sweet' but they both were more interested in the blushes, stares, and knowing glances of the people in the lobby. Both of them had the decency to blush.
Suddenly Machiko burst through the silence with her typical tact. "I always thought you had stamina, you stud!" After which was a roaring sea of laughter. Finally, Ranma and Ikuko broke down and laughed at their own stupidity.
---A few days later---
Ranma was whistling while Airu sucked him off. The past few days had been paradise - free of restrained hostility at home, Ikuko's fear of self-worth, and filled with sex. His wife's new job and reinstatement proved to be a powerful aphrodisiac and she was becoming a tiger in bed. On the other hand, his sexual relations with Airu had become slower, smoother, and more sensual. When he and Airu fucked he could feel her love, her passion, her infatuation, and her desire. She wanted to love him, she wanted to have him, and beyond all - she wanted to marry him.
The signs were clear. She took particular pleasure in orally pleasing him, even going so far as to cum from simply swallowing his spunk, and would do whatever he asked. She desperately wanted to please him, like a classical Japanese beauty she sought his approval. Each time they made love, they made love, each orgasm he gave her was like a gift to be treasured; he would have to be stupid not to see the adoration in her eyes.
He gasped as he came, his scrotum tightening as another deposit of sperm sluiced through his penis and spurted out onto her tongue like whipped cream. She smiled and gobbled the pearly fluid down with relish, smacking her lips. He pulled her up off the floor and brought her to his lap, where she promptly wrapped her thin legs around his waist and kidded her. Their tongues dueled and she came with a started cry. He could taste the salty residue of seed on her lips.
"I love you, you know that, don't you?" Airu wiped her mouth and huddled in his arms.
"Of course I do, and you know I love you too." Ranma brushed back her bangs and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"More than you love Ikuko?" By the sudden stillness of his arms, Airu knew she shouldn't have asked. "I'm sorry."
"Airu-chan, you know I love you but I also love Ikuko. I love you both in the same way, please don't make me choose."
"Don't you worry, I'll always be by your side." Airu slid back down to her knees and lay her head in her lap, closing her eyes and drifting into a peaceful sleep. Ranma gently lifted her onto the soft pink sheers of her bed and covered her nudity with a blanket, satisfied that she would sleep through the night. It was only seven-thirty at night.
He showered and dressed before he realized he had a page from Hashimoto. Dialing the number he was worried that something may have happened to Ikuko but in the end he needn't have worried.
He would have bugger things to worry about.
"Hello, Hashimoto? It's Ranma, you paged me?"
"Yes, you have a very important visitor waiting for you at the station. Ranma, it's the biggest investor we have!"
"And they want to talk to me?"
"Uh-huh, they'll be waiting in your office, don't keep them waiting long!" Hashimoto hung up, leaving Ranma holding Airu's Hello Kitty phone with dead air. He quickly gathered the rest of his things and swept out the door, deciding that roof-hopping was the most expedient mode of transport.
He arrived at the studio in ten minutes, leaping down from the apartment building across from the main entrance and smoothing out his clothing. Machiko was gone from the information kiosk, her shift ended at five if he recalled correctly, and a burly older woman grunted apathetically at him as he passed. The halls were dark with only a skeleton crew of cleaning people waxing the floors and vacuuming the carpets. No one paid him any mind as he burst through set after set of double doors on his way to his personal office.
Fifteen minutes had passed since Hashimoto called before Ranma finally opened the door to his office only to find hollow darkness within; a pale moon shone through his open blinds, the white fatness of it casting the clouds into highlight and the city in silver. Bewildered by the lack of light and company, Ranma ducked his head back into the hallway, checking to see if anyone else was wandering around in the complex.
"Good evening, Ranma." A smoky feminine voice called out from the dark patch of shadows near his desk. He could just catch the vaguest outline of shapely legs set up on his desk; his mysterious visitor was sitting in his chair. A lilting laugh followed the woman's statement and the clink of ice in her glass.
"Good evening, who are you?" Already irritated, Ranma flicked the light switch on and cast the room in the harsh tones of the fluorescent bulbs overhead.
Nabiki Tendo sat in his chair drinking a glass of scotch and smoking a thin cigarette. She was dressed in a deep brown business suit with the jacket draped over the back of his chair. Her legs were crossed and lay over the surface of his desk, exposing her black lace undergarments through the triangular opening of her skirt. When Ranma's eyes dipped low to gander at her panties she smiled seductively and slowly crossed her legs. She stubbed out her cigarette on the grey metal of his desk and propped herself straight, her legs crossed to the left and her hands folded in her lap.
"Tsk, tsk, Ranma, I thought you would have a better memory than that."
"I know who you are, Nabiki, now why are you here?"
"Can't I just meet an old, dear friend?"
"No, and we aren't friends." Ranma shut the door and crossed his arms over his chest. His brow was furrowed in a mixture of confusion and anger.
"Oh my, Ranma, you wound me! I am simply here trying to fix our relationship." She placed a hand over her breast in mock dismay and took another sip from her glass.
"Spare me, Nabiki, and we don't have a relationship."
"I think we do have a relationship, Ranma. A business relationship." Nabiki boosted herself out of his chair and slithered over to him with a drunken sashay of her hips, her skirt pulling tightly over her firm body. No control-top pantyhose for the middle Tendo, she had been the willing guinea pig for most of NT Bio Innovations' revitalization experiments. Her skin was tight over her body like a twenty-year old, her hair was still as vibrant as it was fifteen years ago, and her body showed no signs of her forty-plus age. She looked no older than thirty, with no crow's feet, no sagging, and no wrinkles.
"What kind of business relationship?"
"Nothin like what you're thinking. My company is now the largest shareholder in this studio; I am now the chief investor. Do you know what this means?" Nabiki brought the glass drunkenly to her lips and spilled a little liquor down the front of her silk blouse. "It means that whatever I say does, Ranma." She looked up at him with the glass still at her lips, her pitiful sucking of the fluid through her teeth grating on his nerves, and tried to look seductive. The fact that she was very soused diminished the effect in Ranma's opinion.
"Then I'll quit the studio." Ranma tore his eyes away from the embarrassing, pathetic display and looked out the window at the skyline. It had begun to snow.
"Then what will Ikuko do? You know I think it would just be a shame if her new chance at a career was destroyed by her husband's own selfish nature." She smirked in victory and wobbled a bit on her feet.
"That's low, Nabiki, even for you."
"That's the cost of doing business Ranma. I got her a new lease on fame, all you have to do to see that she keeps it is do whatever I say." She was leaning against his filing cabinet. Ranma fixed her with a contemptible, disgusted gaze.
"Don't be like that Ranma!" The older woman took one step forwards and tripped on her high heels, sending her glass sailing into the air and sending her falling into Ranma.
The pigtailed man reacted quickly and took a step froward, catching the brunette in his outstretched hands, her head colliding solidly on his solar plexus. He looked down at Nabiki's confused expression and noticed for the first time her drunken vulnerability. "Are you alright?" Her fingers curled into the woolen sleeves of his jacket and he could feel the curved sharpness of her nails dig into his arm.
"Don't be so coy, you know exactly what I feel." Nabiki pulled him down on top of her, the two landing with the sigh of expelled air. She was pinned between the short, rough material of the carpet and the exquisite weight of Ranma's body. Her hands grasped his and pulled them to her heart, a sensual sigh escaping her lips. "Do you feel that? Every beat for the past twenty years has been for you."
"Stop it Nabiki; don't try to manipulate me again."
"This isn't a lie, Ranma!" She grasped his arms in her hands and pulled his face down until their noses touched. He looked deep into her eyes and saw truth in the flood of depression and abuse, a faint and weak light amidst the turmoil of her soul. "Look at me, Ranma, I could have anyone in the world! I could have princes, I could have presidents, I could have kings; I am one of the wealthiest people on the planet but I don't want any of that! I only want you, Ranma, I've wanted you since we met."
Ranma pulled himself up off her and backed away from the emotionally unstable woman. "Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."
"You'd better. Why do you think I gave myself to you? If I wanted money I would have just married Kuno right then and there, but I gave my virtue to you because _you_ were the one _I_ wanted to have it!" Nabiki sat up crying, her tears luminescent in the moonlight, her fingers digging futilely into the carpet. "I love you Ranma!"
"Don't say that, you don't know what that means!" Ranma turned to her in anger, his own guilt coming to the surface.
"And neither do you, fucking that little writing friend of yours!" She was on her feet in an instant, pushing him against the wall. "You two think no one notices your little screwing sessions in the storage rooms? Guess again, Ranma, everyone in the studio knows about your little affair!" Her hands leapt to his throat, her sweaty palms sliding over his flesh, and she began to scream as she strangled him. "You have a pretty, talented wife, you fuck around with a twenty-year old little slut, and you wouldn't give me love! What the hell's wrong with you! You're nothing but a two-timing son-of-a-bitch! You'd deny me a kiss!? An embrace!? You fucking self-righteous prick!"
She was right. Ranma knew it and so did she. Her fingers were digging painfully into his throat but he did nothing to stop her; he deserved it afterall…
Tears were pouring from her eyes as she choked him, her feet freed from her heels sliding against the carpet as she tried to get more leverage against him. She continued muttering 'prick' as she tightened her grip.
"I gave you up all those years ago, I married Kuno and started my business but it's never enough! Never! Nothing ever works out my way! And now you waltz back into my life, mister perfect himself, except you're not perfect! You're just as fucked up as I am, you're cheating on your wife! Why can't you just cheat with me!?" Ranma was starting to feel faint, black spots were swimming in and out of his vision.
Nabiki felt his body go slack under her hands. She could no longer feel the burning race of his pulse against her palms. She released his neck in shock, unwilling to believe what she had done, that the grotesque, horrible creature of envy and lust had overtaken her mind and body. She screamed as loud as she could, a bellowing howl that tore the soft membranes of her throat and caused blood to well up behind her tongue. Her fingers tore into her hair as she continued her cry, pulling out strands in her frustration and denial.
He couldn't be dead! Ranma Saotome wouldn't just die like that, strangled by an errant lover, gods hadn't even been able to kill him! Nabiki scrabbled on the floor as she continued to scream, screaming until she could scream no more, hacking up thick clots of blood onto the carpeted floor. It wasn't fair! Everything was taken from her, everything! Ranma, gods how she loved him, Ranma was dead. She strangled him, wrung the life from his neck in her fit of jealous rage, and now she had nothing expect the empty love of money.
Nabiki stood on wobbling legs, no longer screaming, and looked down at Ranma's corpse. Tears falling from her cerulean urns mingled with the blood trickling from her mouth and fell onto the floor. She would not accept such a fate. She was Nabiki Tendo and everything went her way, she always got her way, she would not be denied!
She knelt and lifted his body under the armpits, propping the boneless flesh against a wall while she turned around. She lifted him on her back piggy-back style and stumbled to the windows with a queer grin on her face. She was calm and serene for perhaps the first time in her life. Everything was clear in the world, all the 'why's were answered, she was privy to the flow of the universe in that instant of rational thought. The moon was the face of the gods, all of them hidden by masks of light and material, she could see that what she was doing was right; the gods would look after them both…
By the time she reached the windows Ranma's body had become very heavy and unwieldy for her to heft but she persevered. It wouldn't be long now. They were three stories up, not a high elevation but combined with the steady traffic on the street below it was acceptable.
"Come on, Ranma, let's go."
She was aware of very little save the rush of wind against her body and the distant tinkle of broken glass. Ranma's body she held tight to her breast, they would be together forever.
"Nabiki, hold my hand." Ranma opened his eyes and she felt his rough palms grab her own, time slowing as they fell towards the concrete. She gripped his hands and looked in his face.
"Is this going to hurt?"
"No. This is freedom, Nabiki-chan, this is life." He smiled reassuringly and they both turned their heads up to look at the approaching street. "Get ready, Nabiki-chan."
"Nabiki-chan…I've waited twenty years for you to call me that." She was crying, her tears creating ripples of space and time as they flew behind. "I'm ready."
"Good. Here we go." He embraced her then, her body melting into his, their souls entwining in rapture and fulfillment, she was a part of him and he was a part of her and neither had to be alone again.
Eyewitnesses to the incident gave inconsistent reports of what actually happened. Many said that they heard the breaking of glass above and watched as two bodies fell to the street. Others said that the female figure seemed to be dragging the male, whose body was limp before it hit the street. Still others claimed that the two falling bodies had embraced like lovers, facing the street before they hit. The deaths were ruled as accidental.
Ikuko and Airu met at Ranma's funeral. Ikuko accepted Ranma's infidelity, she had known about it for a long time. Airu was the most shaken by his death, her world shattered, and Ikuko took her in until she could accept Ranma's death. The time they spent stretched into months, then years, until Airu moved in permanently with the actress to help raise Hotaru.
Hotaru, like so many children her age, accepted and forgot her blessed father after many years.
Still, for years after the accident, witnesses at the studio spread tales of the lover's tryst that had occurred before it had happened. Perhaps they had been involved for years, perhaps she wanted him to get a divorce, perhaps he wanted to break it off; whatever the reason it became an urban legend in time. Whispers about the trainer and the investor were rampant among the new workers, each telling embellishing some aspect of the tale. Sometimes it was the illicitness of their love, other times it was conjecture on who pulled who, and rarely enough it was talk of the eyewitnesses who claimed the two embraced before meeting their doom. Stories began of ghosts and spiritual residue, of two lovers seen walking along the sidewalk where they fell late at night.
Still, Ikuko and Airu continued to work at the studio; each day laying two white roses on the sidewalk where their love had died.