Nodoka in a motherly tone. "Mmmff?" said Ranma-chan intelligently as she stuffed more sukiyaki beef into her mouth, wolfed it down and swilled a glass of pop immediately after. "Ranko, please be more ladylike." "Alright..." mumbled Ranma-chan in a sullen and miffed tone. "This food is great! More please!" cried Ranma as he held out his rice bowl to his mom. The rice cooker was closest to Ranma-chan. "Ranko, I don't mean to impose on you but will you please fill up the rice bowl for Ranma?" Nodoka said nicely. Ranma-chan's chopsticks, reaching for a carrot, suddenly impaled the vegetable in one swift move. "What?!" she cried. "Please, Ranko? You're closest to the rice cooker...and it's only proper for the man to sit." "She is ever the traditionalist, eh Saotome?" whispered Soun to Genma. "Sometimes I still think she is living in the past," Genma said back in a hush-hush voice. Ranma-chan simmered a bit, glaring at Ranma angrily for a moment before snatching the rice bowl from Ranma's fingers and filling it up with rice until it was overflowing. Then she held it with two hands and presented it to Ranma. "Would you like a manicure with that, Ranma? Or a backrub while you eat?" she asked solemnly, with a straight face as she practically shoved the rice bowl in his face. Akane stifled a giggle and Ranma turned red. "Thanks, err...Ranko. I think." He looked up at Ranma-chan with an apologetic look on his face. "Anytime." That had been delivered practically in a snarl and Ranma-chan plopped back on her cushion, squirming her way between Akane and Ranma again. "Does anybody know where Mr. Panda is? I have a whole bagful of peelings and trash that I'm sure Mr. Panda would eat," said Nodoka after a while. There is a noticeable shudder from Genma's end of the table. "After all, it must be very hard to feed a panda his size, wouldn't you agree?" "I'm afraid Mr. Panda is not here at the moment, Auntie Saotome. He probably won't return for a long time, I think," said Akane, glancing at Mr. Saotome for a moment then back at Nodoka. "Oh, is that right? I'm so sorry, you all must miss him. He was a nice pet, though." Ranma and Ranma-chan glared at Genma, who hid his face behind his bowl. "Ranma, why don't you tell me about your trip to Jusenkyo? Did you train very hard there?" Nodoka asked as she reached for a shrimp fritter, then she looked around the table. "Is it just me, or did everybody suddenly go quiet?" "N-no, Auntie Saotome...just remembering some stories Ranma...and his father told us!" stammered Akane. "Mom....didn't I tell you about my training trip already?" pleaded Ranma. "Yes you did, but you did not elaborate. Tell your mother, will you? It's been ten years since I had seen you, and you have grown tall and strong. You are my son, and you are all I can ask for. Please." Nodoka smiled at Ranma, the smile of a mother made happy by reunion with her son - bridging the gap of a decade and attempting to fill up the years in between, as it were. Ranma-chan found she had suddenly lost much of her appetite. Her chopsticks clattered by her bowl and she began to half-heartedly drink her bowl of hot soup. "Me...and Dad had this really intense swim over to China...then we hired a guide to take us to the Cur...I mean...to Jusenkyo training grounds." Ranma paused for a moment. "Go on, please." Nodoka smiled encouragingly. "Sure..we trained some and I...almost hit Dad into the Spring of Drowned Panda." Genma stiffened and Ranma suddenly realized his mistake. "Spring of Drowned.....Panda?" asked Nodoka wonderingly, tapping her chopsticks thoughtfully on her bowl. "Sure, you know...like there is a curse that changes those who fall into the springs into whatever had drowned there a long time ago when they're splashed with cold water, and then they turn back to human form when splashed with hot water, and I've heard it is not so bad being a panda, and you can change back to normal by jumping into either the Spring of..." "So, there must be alot of springs there?" Nodoka asked again. "Lots of springs. Yeah." Ranma wiped a sweat drop from his forehead. "All kinds of drowned animals? Even people?" "Maybe. I'm...I'm not sure." "Imagine if you had fallen into a spring, my son! Oh, the horror of my only, manly, son being cursed with a cursed body! It would be my duty as a mother to help such an inflicted son in the only way that I can." Nodoka grimly unshouldered her bundle and placed it by her side, patting it once. Ranma, Ranma-chan and Genma pale simultaneously. "It.....would be a very terrible tragedy indeed, dear," whispered Genma, staring at the bundle by his wife's side. "Yes, dear. A very terrible tragedy indeed. Imagine if my son had fallen into a spring, dear, because of you. Bad enough that he would be some sort of animal half the time. Imagine if he had fallen into a spring where some poor girl had drowned a long time ago! The humiliation of having a son, who was not a son!! The Saotome line would have to end there, to save our family honor." Nodoka patted the bundle again, a determined look on her face. Ranma shot to his feet and wiped his mouth. "I'm done! That was great, mom, Kasumi, and now I think I'm gonna go do some homework, then watch TV, then something, I think. See ya!!" Ranma makes a very quick exit. Ranma-chan wolfed down the last bit of sukiyaki beef and got up. "Well...I'm full. I gotta go...uh...do some homework. Yeah, that's it. See ya later!!" She follows Ranma out as quickly as she could on a full stomach. Nodoka looked after Ranma-chan for a few moments. "Sometimes I think Ranko picks up too many bad habits from Ranma. To think Akane's cousin would spend more time with my boy than with Akane. She is unlady-like some of the times, but she's a good girl," said Nodoka at last, breaking the silence. "Yes, Auntie Saotome. She may be strange sometimes, but then she was brought up in the country, you know," replied Akane. "Ah, yes! Thank you, Akane. I forgot that little detail. I suppose a country upbringing can influence the way a lady should act. Tell me, Akane, does Ranko have a boyfriend?" "Ummm....no." "She is pretty enough to get one easily enough, don't you think?" "Right." The two families continued to eat in silence for about ten minutes, then Nodoka looked up and said, "A stray thought had just crossed my mind. Isn't it strange, though, how Ranko looks so much like Ranma?" This was definitely not Genma's best dinner to date, with constant and heartpounding shocks such as his wife's uncannily accurate observations. "Strange, isn't it?" he managed to force out. "They dress the same, have the same pigtail and they even look a little similar! Of course, Ranko is a girl and Ranma is a boy. Ranko should dress more femininely though. She should also let her hair down, but she still looks beautiful even with her pigtail." "Oh...uh...Auntie Saotome?" "What is it, Akane?" "Ranko IS dressing more femininely, or will be. She had just bought some new clothes today at the mall - for girls." "Did she? Well...I'll go ask her later to let me have a look at her clothes. Girls shouldn't wear anything too racy, or boys might get ideas. Well...if everybody is finished eating...just leave the bowls and chopsticks where they are, and leave everything to me and Kasumi." Akane took some time to bring all the dishes into the kitchen, then she went outside - in the direction Ranma and Ranma-chan went to. She looked around but she saw nobody and was about to head back inside when she glanced up at the roof. There were two figures silhouetted against the moon, just above her room. Ranma and Ranma-chan. Akane ran back inside, upstairs to her room and slowly pushed her window open. "...never been so scared in my life! I thought, for sure, she was gonna find out that I had really fallen into a spring!" That was Ranma, and Akane stayed as quiet as she could. "*I* left before she could draw any conclusions from the way that we look alike, dress alike, talk alike, and everything." "Everything?" Ranma-chan replied. Akane folded her arms. "Except for...you know." "Oh, right." There was a long pause. Akane narrowed her eyes slightly and tried to crane her head out of the window - to see what the two are doing. "Still, anyways, let's be more careful around her, okay? I'm gonna go and catch up on my homework, like I said I would. I dunno about you." "I'm already done. You've really got to be more responsible for school work, you know." There is the sound of rustling clothes as Ranma-chan leapt off the roof. Ranma left similarly after a short while. Akane closed her window and fell on her bed, deep in thought. Ranma-chan fell onto the couch and turned the TV on. She surfed the channels, looking for something exciting. A football game came on and she watches it for some time, before changing to an action movie. Bored of the action movie, she randomly picked a channel and changed to it. **And now, the first annual fishing tournament, right here on this channel!! Watch as Mr. Takayama begins the exciting process of waiting for an unsuspecting fish to take a bite!! See the thousands of dollars of equipment he uses in order to outsmart his prey!! Witness the...** Ranma-chan hit the power button on the remote and dropped it beside the couch. Then she lay down on the couch and curled up on one side, her feet hanging slightly over the edge. Questions circulated around in her thoughts, demanding answers - such as what she should be doing about her current condition. She knew she should really be trying to find a cure, to merge herself and Ranma back into one person...but that raised yet another question - if she did, then whose personality would be dominant? What would happen to the other, discarded personality? Would everything be the same as ever? Deep down inside herself, so far that she nearly did not admit it even to herself, she found she had little or no problem living as a girl, the way things were. Apart from Kuno, she had no problems getting along as a girl in Nerima. Throughout her sortie in the mall she knew she had been getting looks of envy and looks of admiration from girls and guys, respectively, and the funny thing was...she did not mind it at all. Rather, she exulted in the knowledge that she was beautiful enough to warrant those emotions from other people. Since there was nothing else to do, she decided to head upstairs and go to bed. There was school tomorrow and Ranma-chan did not feel like running to school in the morning in an effort to beat the bell. Yawning slightly, she rolled off the couch and headed upstairs. She opened her door and shut it behind her. Then she slowly stripped off her shirt and flung it over her shoulder. She would pick it up in the morning. Her hands behind her back absently undoing her bra, she cast about the room for her nightclothes. Her gaze travelled from corner to corner, to the dressing table, to Ranma sitting at the desk gaping at her, to the clothes pegs on the wall, to....she did a double-take and whirled. "Ranma!? What are you...oh. I..forgot." Ranma-chan blushed in shame and quickly turned to present her back to Ranma. "That's okay. At least I was treated to a show." "You pig! Is that all you ever think about?" cried Ranma-chan, craning her head over her shoulder. "Why don't you ask yourself the same question? After all, you are me, right?" "Now it's different! I'm a girl and you're a guy!" "What's the big deal? It's not like I haven't seen your...I mean, our female body in the mirror plenty of times. Naked." "Pig." Ranma-chan held her shirt against her chest and began to hunt around for her nightclothes. "Whatever." Ranma went back to scribbling in his notebook, albeit with much less enthusiasm, if that was possible. Ranma-chan found her nightclothes and put the shirt on. Then, with a quick glance at Ranma, she pulled her pants off and pulled her PJs on. It was red in color, and it had little patterns of star-shaped fishcake slices, the ones with the pink swirl in their middle. Satisfied that everything was in place, she looked over at Ranma's hunched form. "Well, I don't know whether I should apologize or whether I should wait for you to thank me..if you know what I mean." "Thank you," Ranma replied dryly. "Pervert." Ranma turned around, a frown on his face. "Now, how is that being perverted? I mean, a guy watching a girl take her top off..." he began. "Yeah, but I didn't mean to take my shirt off in front of you!" "So you're saying that if I *asked* you to strip for me, would you do it?" "Are you nuts?!" Ranma just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his homework. Ranma-chan smoothed her hair and checked her pigtail with her fingers. The scribbling of Ranma's pencil on the paper was the only sound in the room. Ranma-chan started to pace about the room, wondering whether she should go to bed without a bath first. She stopped pacing the room and walked over to Ranma at his desk. She peeked over his shoulder, letting her pigtail fall over her shoulder and in front of his face. Ranma swatted at her pigtail as Ranma-chan looked at the incomprehensible lettering in his notebook. "Doing your English assignment?" she asked. "Yup. Tonight sure is boring as hell." "Boring is only what you make of it. I...I know a way to get rid of that boredom." Ranma-chan let an evil smile creep on her face and leaned closer. Ranma flicked at her pigtail again. The atmosphere in this room was so...so...sexy. Her closeness to Ranma was beginning to arouse her. She started to think of little `assignments' that she and Ranma could help each other with. She dipped her head close and allowed her face to lightly caress his neck. Ranma suddenly went stock still. "Ran...Ranma. What are you doing?" whispered Ranma at last. "Do you need to ask? This ought to take your mind off of your assignment..." she whispered huskily. Delicate fingers crept their way onto his shoulder, and massaged the muscle there, then they made their way down his neck to his chest and began to caress his pectorals. Her lips touched his right earlobe, then she began to nibble on it. When Ranma winced involuntarily, Ranma-chan turned Ranma around in his chair and gently tugged him from his seat, falling back on the futon behind her as she did. Ranma did not resist as he got up half-way off his chair, and Ranma-chan began to lower herself down on the futon, her eyes lowered seductively. Her chest rose up and down slightly, her nipples quite visible through the material of her nightshirt. "No," said Ranma, half-heartedly attempting to get Ranma-chan to release him. Ranma-chan stopped for a moment. "What do you mean, `no'?" "Is this even right? I mean, we're the same person, right? Even though I...I feel good right now, I don't..." "Don't think. Just do...okay?" "But..." Already Ranma's resolve was weakening under the charm of the female before him, halfway to the futon beneath her. "Shhh. Don't say another word. Third time's the charm...so indulge me once more." She put her hands on Ranma's shoulders again and pulled the both of them down on the futon, Ranma falling onto Ranma-chan but breaking the fall with his hands on either side of her. Then Ranma felt gossamer-soft lips on his own, and he suddenly found himself kissing Ranma-chan with passion; yet his passion was not really born of his lust for Ranma-chan. His kisses, so long held in check, were not meant for Ranma-chan. He might try to deny it but Ranma-chan was but a conduit through which his emotions may be channelled through. That thought was momentarily perished as the curvaceous female beneath him ripped her night shirt open and squirmed out of it. Her luscious, peach-soft skin glowed in the light of the lamp on Ranma's desk. Her body rippled with pleasure, and undulated in a fascinating manner, rubbing her taut breasts on Ranma's chest and his well-defined abs. Ranma noticed that shadows hid in all of the most interesting places on Ranma-chan. She started to unbuttton Ranma's shirt with one hand, while the other pulled Ranma closer to her by the small of his back. The lust of the moment almost overwhelmed Ranma as he unconsciously began to help pull Ranma-chan's pants off of her, but a female face leapt to the forefront of his mind's eye. She had short hair...was it black?..and her name..it is so hard to remember! Ranma-chan began exploring the inside of his mouth with her tongue. Oh the sheer pleasure!! His shirt was already completely unbuttoned and her hands traced their way on paths of rumpled clothing to his pants. Ranma's hands continued to slowly pull Ranma-chan's pants further below her hips - until she was dressed only in a tiny pair of sheer panties and nothing else. She wriggled in ecstacy, her panties beginning to come off from contact with her butt and the futon, and the temperature in the room seemed to suddenly shoot up. Ranma-chan rolled over and straddled Ranma, her legs spread apart and she was on her knees. Ranma's legs were stretched out and in between her legs. Their loins were touching and only three layers of clothing separated their naked skin. Through the sheer material of Ranma-chan's panties, Ranma could almost see her pubic hairs. His hands clapped on her flanks and began to stroke her skin; Ranma-chan moaned and placed her hands on his chest and began to massage. Ranma felt himself reacting, and Ranma-chan gasped as her groin came in contact with Ranma's. In a single motion, Ranma pulled Ranma-chan's panties down - exposing her in her full nakedness. Curving legs, womanly figure, well formed breasts and slim arms - she was a girl, no, a woman that no male in his right mind could resist. Shyly, certainly, Ranma-chan pulled her panties off of her legs. A flurry of hands later and Ranma's pants were pulled down to his kneecaps - until he was only wearing a pair of boxers, tent- shaped in his groin area. Ranma-chan smiled and restraddled Ranma again. She dipped her head close to his, and began to kiss him again, with more vigor and passion than before, then she broke it - mainly for air - and sat back up and looked down at him, her head tilted to one side and letting Ranma's eyes travel all over her smooth throat down to her breasts, sliding over her arms and firm belly in a way that made Ranma- chan thrill with pleasure, before stopping for a long moment in the region between her legs. As Ranma-chan flipped her pig-tail back over her shoulder, and put her hands on Ranma's boxers to pull it off and leave him naked as well, the face from before appeared again in Ranma's mind. He knew he shouldn't be doing this with Ranma-chan, because...because of this female. Somehow, he knew her...and knew that continuing further with Ranma-chan would only hurt her, if she should find out. cried a voice triumphantly in his mind, . His boxers came off and he heard Ranma-chan gasp, then he felt her fingers wrap around his manhood and began to direct it into herself. Her pubic hairs brushed the tip of his penis and his breath quickened. His hands seemed to move of their own accord, moving up her sides to clasp her breasts and to squeeze them gently. Ranma-chan sighed in pleasure, her eyes closed. But there was something else. A nameless concept beyond words impressed itself on his mind and his feverish brain registered the short haired female's face. He began to surge back to a recollection. Her name....was....it was.... "Akane!!" Ranma cried out. "What?! Where?!" Ranma-chan looked about in fear, her hands still gripping Ranma's manhood. Not seeing Akane anywhere, she turned back to Ranma with a questioning look in her eyes. When Ranma did not answer Ranma-chan released him and rolled off, to lie beside him on the futon. Her hands were clenched into little fists, and she was gritting her teeth even as tears began to roll down her cheeks. Ranma sat up, remembering to pull his boxers back up to his waist, and he hugged his knees to his chest. "Why?" whispered Ranma-chan. "Because I cannot. I..I mean...I will not. Not with you, and neither should you with me. It's...just not right." Ranma cast around for Ranma-chan's clothing, as she was still naked, but he didn't see it. "Why is it `just not right'? I didn't feel sick, or think it was wrong...and from the looks of it, neither did you." Ranma-chan felt her left breast, where Ranma's fingermarks were still evident. "You're a guy too, in case you've forg..." "I am NOT a guy! Look at me! LOOK!" Ranma-chan had shot to her feet and was cupping her breasts with both hands and glaring down at Ranma, who was desperately looking for Ranma-chan's nightclothes with one eye, while the other was glued to Ranma-chan's naked figure. "You are me, and that is one of the reasons why I stopped going any further!" "LIAR! You enjoyed it...no...you were PAWING all over me!" "Shhh! Keep it down or else everyone will come upstairs to see what the matter is!" whispered Ranma fiercely, his hands reaching out and pulling Ranma-chan down to his level, his hands firmly clasped on her hips - entirely by accident. Ranma-chan covered her breasts with both hands and she knelt down, her head turned to one side. Even now, Ranma could feel himself getting aroused and he too turned to face away from Ranma-chan. "So. I see. I thought that you, of all people, would understand the stuff I'm going through...but you don't. You're just like the others, going on with your life while I am left behind," said Ranma-chan at length, in a calmer voice. "That's not it! In any case, what does that have to do with why I stopped going any further?!" "Nobody has enough consideration to accommodate me! Look at Ukyo, and...A-Akane! Think *they* are willing to have *me* when they have you?!" Ranma-chan began to search around for her clothes, still on her knees and `walking' around on them. "What we were about to do wasn't love at all! It was just...I don't know...sexual stuff!" "Would you even begin to go all the way with somebody you don't love?" asked Ranma-chan as she turned her head around to look at Ranma. "Of course not...but..." said Ranma, wondering where she was leading to. "Then WHY did you even go along with me in the first place? I thought I really had something going there, and that you loved me enough to do it with me and..." "Like I said...having sex has nothing to do with love! I hate to bring this up but prostitutes have sex and they don't love the man they have sex with!" Ranma began to pull his shirt on. "OH! So you're saying that I'm a prostitute, huh?! First you reject me, then you insult me! I...I don't even want to look at you for the rest of my life!" cried Ranma-chan as she quickly pulled her nightclothes on and began to leave the room, but Ranma dashed over to her and put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I didn't call you a prostitute at all, so calm down and just listen to me for once!" Ranma-chan shrugged Ranma's hand off her shoulder but he slapped his other hand on her left shoulder. Growling, Ranma-chan twisted around and tried to kick Ranma's legs out from under him but Ranma blocked the strike and trapped her legs with his own. Lowering himself quickly to the futon he subsequently held her hands immobile with his own, using his greater strength and weight to keep her pinned to the futon. "Let me go right now or I'll scream and bring everybody running!!" she snarled in his face. "Listen to me for once, willya?!" cried Ranma, but Ranma-chan began to take in a breath - to scream bloody murder and to bring the entire household down on his fool head. There was no time to think, only that split-second of decision making - culminating with Ranma plastering his lips on Ranma-chan's and kissing her. Her eyes registered shock, then fury, but quickly changed to a mollified look followed by obvious pleasure. She struggled to free herself, in order to better act as a participant than a spectator, but Ranma was not about to let her go...so she settled for the kiss, and she was just about to get into it when Ranma broke it and pulled his head up out of reach. "Why'd you stop?" asked Ranma-chan. "Because...even though I really want to go on, I don't want to." "You're not making much sense...and will you let me go already?" Ranma-chan wiggled from side to side, but she couldn't squirm her way out. In fact, she rather liked having Ranma on top of her - it was just that she couldn't do anything more than lying on the futon or struggling to get free of him. She began to wonder if this was a prelude to whatever they had just left off, a sort of macho-type sexual thrill for Ranma to have Ranma-chan under his control. She decided she didn't like it for that aspect, if it was like what she suspected it to be. "If I let you go, will you promise to sit down and listen to me for a little while? Please?" Ranma-chan considered his request, then she nodded and Ranma immediately released her. "Okay....now talk," Ranma-chan demanded. "Look...even right now you look so beautiful...and sexy and all that, and I really wanted to go further with you...but I can't." "What do you mean you can't? You were all over me, and you were liking it too!" Ranma-chan pointed at Ranma's manhood, which was making its presence known under his boxers. He flushed red and pulled a blanket over himself. "So I liked it, but I couldn't help it!" he protested. "So why did you stop? We were doing so well, and I finally thought I had found somebody who understood me..." "I understand you, but I - don't - love - you! I mean, not in the way I....not in that way!" "Well-l-l...excuse *me* for exposing myself to you...you must probably be so sick that you want to throw up." Ranma-chan folded her arms across her chest and sulked there. Ranma moved over to Ranma- chan and put his arms around her, and shook her once but Ranma-chan did not change her expression and only turned away from Ranma. "Look...I might as well come out with it. I love Akane, you know that don't you? And I love her enough to hold myself back, not to go any further...because if I didn't I'd be betraying her." Ranma spoke softly, with feeling and emotion. Ranma-chan was silent and she was holding the front of her nightshirt with both hands, keeping it closed protectively over herself. Her hair, silky smooth, waved over her forehead and danced around her eyebrows and the tips of her ears from the breeze coming in from the open window. Ranma halted for a moment, then he continued. "Look...let's get this all straightened out, okay? You are me, and we both know we love Akane, and we wouldn't consider doing a thing like this with another...person because that would betray our...you know...with Akane." Ranma-chan turned to look at him, then she nodded in reply. Ranma continued, "So why are you doing this in the first place at all?" "Maybe...maybe I'm not you any longer. You ever think about that? Maybe I'm not the Ranma I used to be...and I'm beginning to change into....somebody different," Ranma-chan whispered softly, feeling her pigtail with her right hand and smoothing out her hair at the same time. "That's like saying that you don't love Akane any longer, because if you did you wouldn't have even tried to seduce...I mean...tried to...err..kiss me and all that." "Yeah...well, so what if I wanted to *seduce* you? There you are again, thinking that I'm still the same as you are. Fact is, I'm not the same any longer and you'd better get used to it." Ranma-chan got up and walked over to the window, looking out into the Nerimean night, watching the streetlights flicker and cut bright swathes through the darkness to illuminate the ground in defined boundaries of light. "What are you saying here?" Ranma had moved to stand behind Ranma-chan. "Are you saying that...that you don't love Akane any longer?" Ranma-chan did not reply and when Ranma laid a hand on her shoulder she shook it off and began to walk away quickly. She wrenched the door open and shut it firmly behind her, leaving Ranma to stare after her. Then he bent down and began to rearrange the futon, for it had been seriously messed up by their short-lived, but well- remembered caper. The bathroom door shut and Ranma-chan began to strip, pulling her clothes off in a business-like manner, taking no time to feel that tingle of erotic pleasure as her fingers held her panties by the sides and pulled them down her long, smooth legs - and neither did she let herself enjoy the sensation of bending over to pull her panties off, or the feeling of her breasts dangling before her. She straightened, and undid her pigtail before the mirror. Her hair slowly untwirled behind her to become a wave of vibrant, beautiful red hair that cascaded past her shoulders. She placed a hand on the mirror and touched the image of herself, wondering at how different she looked now with her pigtail undone. More like a real girl now. She turned away and began to fill the bathtub with hot water, the steam rising off it first in slender tendrils that became billowing clouds which quickly filled the entire bathroom with mist, fogging up the mirrors until she couldn't see herself. She pulled out a long bathstool and sat on one corner, and she began to fill up a bucket with cold water. A bar of soap made its way out of its plastic case and Ranma-chan dumped the bucket over herself, thrilling in the sudden shock of cold water on her skin, already feeling the goosebumps rising up. As Ranma-chan turned away and bent over to fill up another bucket with cold water, she heard the door open and somebody step inside the bathing area. Before she could say anything, the sliding door to the bathtub opened and Akane stepped inside, wrapped only in the briefest of towels. There was silence for a few moments of surprise and indecision before Akane made her way to where Ranma-chan was on her knees beside a bucket of cold water, which was overflowing constantly because Ranma-chan had forgotten all about the tap. "You should turn that tap off, you know. You don't want to waste water, do you?" said Akane as she pointed at the cold water tap. Ranma-chan turned it off with one hand, her other arm covering her breasts. "Akane...I...I'll go wait outside until you're finished," was all Ranma-chan could get out before she got up and began to walk outside, her arm still held tightly over herself. "Don't be stupid...it's not like I haven't seen a naked girl before, you know." With that Akane undid her towel and pulled it off of herself. "And it's not like *you* haven't seen naked girls before...like that first time in the bathroom when we met." Ranma-chan gulped as Akane sat down beside her on the stool and poured the cold water over herself from Ranma-chan's bucket. Then she opened her own plastic soapholder case and began to soap herself down, using a bathsponge to help. Ranma-chan stared at Akane, more with extreme surprise rather than a voyeuristic eye, watching as Akane stroked the sponge over her arms and belly and breasts. Akane glanced over at Ranma-chan. "What's wrong? Don't have soap of your own? You can use mine, if you want to," said Akane. "N-n-n-no...that's alright...I..I've got some soap of my own." Ranma-chan hastily grabbed her soap and began to soap herself up quickly, but in her haste her soap kept slipping out of her hand and she kept constantly having to chase after it as it ran around the bathroom floor like it had a mind of its own. "Ranma...calm down already. It doesn't matter since we're both girls! Now if the other Ranma were here, it'd be a different story, ne? We'd beat the lust out of him with our trusty, dusty wooden buckets!" joked Akane as she lifted her wooden bucket up and waved it threateningly. Ranma-chan got an intense look in her face then she settled down and began to soap herself again, but more calmly this time and more deliberately. She began to look around for a back scrub but there was none. "Do you want me to wash your back? I'll do it if you'll do mine in return." Akane turned around. Her body had little patches of soap bubbles here and there in certain spots, her skin was wet and slick with water and soap, and she made no effort to cover herself from Ranma- chan. "Yeah, sure. I'll scrub your back if you'll scrub mine." Ranma- chan hesitated for a moment then she turned around on her bathstool and bent over. Moments later she felt Akane's silky smooth fingers run all over her back, spreading soap wherever they went. "So...how'd you like your first shopping trip?" Akane asked as she gathered Ranma-chan's hair up and moved it over her shoulder, then slowly rubbed her neck and shoulders with soap. "It was good. Thanks for taking me along, Akane. All the clothes I bought fit me perfectly and look very well on me, I think." "No problem. Next time, we're bringing Ukyo along too, okay?" Akane's fingers had moved to Ranma-chan's slim shoulder blades. "Akane...what do you think Ukyo thinks of me?" asked Ranma- chan after a little while. Akane stopped for a second, then she resumed, this time moving lower down Ranma-chan's back. "Why do you ask?" Akane paused to rub her hands with more soap. "I...I just want to know, that's all." "Well...I think she still considers you as her fiance, and..I..I still think she loves you." Akane fell silent, and she began work on the small of Ranma-chan's back, albeit slower this time, her fingers moving absently as if she were deep in thought. "I see. You really think so, then?" Ranma-chan's voice had a note of suspicion, and that put Akane on the defensive. "Why don't you go...go ask her yourself? Only she knows her true feelings for you, not me." "So you really think Ukyo...uh...goes both ways, then?" asked Ranma-chan. Akane dug her fingers into Ranma-chan's back, getting a yelp of pain from the latter. "Akane....that hurt!" protested Ranma-chan, reaching back to grab Akane's hands. "*WHAT* makes you think I even said that?!" Akane cried as she slapped Ranma-chan's hands away and resumed soaping her back. "Well, you said she still loves me and everything, so she must also still love Ranma...the other one, that is, so that just lead me to that conclu...yow!" Akane had dug her fingers again and Ranma-chan whirled around, long hair flying, to face Akane. "Look, Akane...if you're gonna wash my back you don't have to use me as your scratching post while you're at it!" complained Ranma- chan, rubbing her back with her hands. "You're the one suggesting I'm a sicko by saying that I suggest that Ukyo went both ways! You've see the way she looks at the other Ranma and...oh..." Akane trailed off when she looked into Ranma- chan's face. "Yeah. I guess so. She's a girl, and can't help herself for preferring the male Ranma over me, right?" said Ranma-chan bitterly, picking up the bucket and washing the soap from her body. Then she motioned for Akane to turn around. "But...but she still thinks you're a guy underneath...I just know it, Ranma!" said Akane as she turned around on the bathstool and leaned forward a bit, to let Ranma-chan soap her back. "And how do you know that, Akane?" "Well...I...I just do. Call it intuition." "Female intuition? She can still kiss me and not be sick, right?" Ranma-chan's hands stroked Akane's back. "I'm not about to speak for her, Ranma, and you shouldn't either. Look, I have this feeling that she loves you just as much as the male Ranma...I know it just like I know you're really a guy. Believe me." "If you know I'm really a guy, then why are you letting me soap your back?" asked Ranma-chan, now working on Akane's shoulder blades. When Akane did not answer, Ranma-chan said, "Or is it that you consider me a girl already?" "That's not true! You're still a guy, and I know it. It's just that you're...you're a girl. Right now, I mean, and it doesn't matter if we have a bath together because....because..." Akane trailed off as Ranma- chan turned Akane around, and placed her hands on her shoulders. "If you still think I'm a guy, then kiss me," said Ranma-chan, looking down at Akane. Akane's breath quickened from panic because her range of vision was filled with Ranma-chan's slim shoulders, lean arms and breasts; she looked up, but it did nothing to quell the sick feeling in her gut because *she* was asking *her* to kiss *her* and Akane did not know what to do, for Ranma-chan was actually Ranma and she was serious about this and this was almost what she had been hoping for...but....but....! Ranma-chan knelt down to Akane's level, hands still holding her shoulders, and she began to move closer to Akane. Akane did not twitch a muscle as the redhaired female came closer, and closer, until the tips of their breasts were just touching. Then Ranma-chan pressed herself close to Akane, their breasts now embracing and sending feelings of revulsion throughout Akane's body. Ranma-chan's delicate features dipped close to Akane's face, and lips like silk brushed against Akane's own. "NO!!" Akane shoved both hands on Ranma-chan's chest, pushing the other girl off her and onto the floor as the last vestiges of her shout dissipated into the steamy atmosphere. Ranma-chan had struck the hard and unforgiving floor of the bath area, and she rolled over to one side with one hand supporting her, the other hand feeling her bruised bottom. "That is *the* most disgusting thing you have *ever* done, Ranma!! You're really a pervert, aren't you?!" Akane cried. "Did you think I was really gonna go any further than that? I just wanted to see what you would do, that's all. Guess I was right." "That...that's different! I'm a girl, and you're one too! That's why I didn't like it at all!" Akane protested. "You're just like Ranma. Going on with your lives while you leave me behind. What if I was male right now, instead of female? What then?" Akane delayed her answer as she washed the soap off her body and climbed into the hot tub with Ranma-chan, then she turned her back on the other girl. "I'd...I'd probably enjoy it. Still, what you did was disgusting...and revolting...and I don't want you to EVER do it again, or else! You got that, Ranma?" "I just wanted to kiss you, that's all. Guess I know where I stand with you, and all that." Ranma-chan rested her arms on the edge of the bathtub and sighed. Both girls were quiet for another five minutes, then Akane spoke. "Ranma....I'm sorry if I overreacted...but that sort of thing has never happened to me before." "It's alright." There was surprised silence for the span of five full seconds. "Come again?" asked Akane. "I said, it's alright. If even you cannot stand to kiss me, much less tolerate my touch, then I...I definitely don't think Ukyo can, either." Ranma-chan turned around and looked into Akane's eyes, showing her the seriousness of her words and impressing the gravity of the situation upon her. Akane digested that, and she saw what Ranma-chan was trying to imply. She reached out and tentatively took hold of Ranma-chan's left hand, and held it with her own and squeezed it gently. "Ranma...I'm sorry, I really am, but I can't bring myself to...I mean, I can but I won't enjoy it. I won't like it at all." Akane was feeling quite ashamed of herself, taking Ranma for granted while ignoring not taking Ranma-chan into account all this while. "That's okay, Akane. I won't ask you or make you do something that I know you wouldn't like...from now on. I only...only want the best for you, Akane. It's alright now." "What do you mean it's alright? You're a guy trapped in a girl's body...right now and only the antidote to the Nullifier can return you to normal! What about....." Akane trailed off, unwilling to say the words. "About what?" asked Ranma-chan. When Akane did not reply, Ranma-chan said, "Let me tell you something, Akane. When I held you to myself just now, and I was about to kiss you, it was the hardest thing for me to do in my life. I was using every bit of concentration not to...to feel sick and turn away from you." "You mean....you mean you felt the same way I did?" "Yeah. But it's alright, Akane. I'll find a way to fix everything, you just wait and see. I always do, don't I?" Ranma-chan squeezed Akane's hand back and smiled encouragingly. Akane and Ranma-chan finished their baths and dried themselves off. Then Ranma-chan said goodnight to Akane and headed back to Ranma's room, feeling a strange sense of contentedness for the first time since the split two days ago. For the first time, she felt somewhat at peace with herself, as if she found a path to travel and was taking the first steps on it down to her destiny. She left her hair undone and free. She opened her room door and shut it behind her. The only light in the room was from the desk lamp and the open window where moonlight streamed in. Ranma was lying on his futon, and he was still wearing only his shirt and boxers. His form, illuminated slightly by the desk lamp, rose up and down in rhythm, snores punctuating each fall of his chest. She placed her futon next to his, flopped down on it and let herself fall ever-so-gradually into a state of semi-sleepiness. Then her eyes shut and she was asleep. Male and female, two of one, their rhythmic snores seemed to complement each other, blending into a mixture of deep snores and delicate snores - punctuated by a snort now and then from Ranma. It was truly the sleep of the contented, at least for Ranma-chan. Outside a storm began to brew in the skies. Dark clouds, darker than the night, covered the starry skies and gathered over the entirety of Nerima Ward. A distant rumble of thunder growled in the distance as lightning bolts flashed from the heavens and lit up the world for a brief second. Then rain started to fall, first in tiny droplets, then a light drizzle, followed by a deluge of rain hammering the Tendo residence and stirring up the carp pond. Kasumi sat by the table near the porch and mused over a cup of hot tea as she waited for the adult members of the two families to return home. -------------------- *Finally*! Only two more to go, then part six will be taken off the backburner.... - WD