Maison Ikkoku Fan Fiction / Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction / Love Hina Fan Fiction / Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ 1/2 Saga Volume 1: 1/2 Moon ❯ 1/2 Moon Chapter Four (Revised 12/21/03) ( Chapter 4 )

1/2 Moon: Chapter Four

Rewrite 7 / 29 / 2003

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

With additional material and revisions by Eric Freedman

---Tokyo Haneda Airport---

"Purpose of visit?" The perky-breasted girl chirped from behind the tall Formica counter. "Business or pleasure?"

"Pleasure." The intense young man couldn't have been over fifteen at most with dark hair and an intense set of hazel eyes set in a pinched, withdrawn face. He wore a rumpled khaki trenchcoat and a black silk shirt above a pair of slate slacks and gleaming black leather shoes. A pair of cheap black sunglasses hung from the tip of his nose and the dark recesses of his eyes peeked dangerously from the shadows of his bangs.

"Very well sir, everything seems to be in order, please enjoy your stay!" She bowed slightly and her blue hat slid just a bit to reveal long chestnut hair held tightly in place by three bobby-pins. The boy noticed but discarded the observation as frivolous and unnecessary. The way that her tight, tight blue top stretched across her equally tight white button-down blouse was far more interesting. In fact, the guarded young man made no attempt to disguise his leer until the woman, rightfully angry, slapped him soundly hard enough to throw him back against the next traveler in line for declarations. "Pervert!"

The boy simply scrubbed at his cheek with the palm of his hand and smiled up at her.

Japan was certainly going to be fun!

---Saotome House---

The day was overcast and as such the lights were on in the first floor of the Saotome home. A sallow, pale glow hung over the burnished wood of the furniture and tatami mats. It was drizzling lightly outside and the occasional splash of a car through the street could be heard faintly from the kitchen where Ranma stood preparing breakfast. The air was heavy and smooth, like smoke on water, and the pitter-patter of water in the gutters filtered in and mingled with the soft clatter of his spoon as he stirred a bowl of pudding for later.

Breakfast was already laid out on the low table in the dining room, covered of course to keep it warm against the clammy chill, and he was only waiting on his houseguests before he served the rice and soup. Folding the pudding carefully again and again to ensure the proper volume and texture, he set it in the refrigerator covered with a thin layer of cheesecloth. It would be ready for that night's dinner, hopefully, he wouldn't want to disappoint his guests…

Rei plodded slowly down the stairs, her hair shiny and smooth from its recent brushing, and gave a half-hearted wave from the foyer. Her eyes were sunken deep in her sockets and her face had a wan look.

"Good morning, Rei, did you sleep well?" Ranma arrived dressed in a light blue button-down dress shirt and khaki chinos. He sat down on her left and served her a steaming bowl of rice from the cooker by his side. "Where's Usagi?" The blonde was probably exhausted after the previous night. Things were getting pretty hectic with his new 'enhancement' Madame Gao had sent from China, a series of exercises and stretching combined with a salve made from dehydrated Jusenkyo cursed water that made him more than twice the man in bed. He hadn't heard a complaint yet from Usagi, Rei, Chisato, Yumiko, or Minako about his performance, if anything they were even more thrilled than he was with the development.

"Still sleeping, I guess, since she doesn't have to go to school." The last part was spat out contemptuously. The raven-haired senshi brought a chunk of rice to her lips and began eating. "I'm eating now; school starts in an hour." Juuban Junior High was closed for repairs after a recent daimon attack and due to the short notice no other schools could accommodate the spillover. Thus, Usagi, Makoto, Minako, and Ami were free from school for at least three weeks, perhaps as long as a month!

"It's fine by me, I have a few errands to run this morning anyway, will you lock up for me when you leave?" It amazed Rei at times just how trusting Ranma was, especially with teenage girls he hadn't known for a month!

"Uh…sure."

---Hyatt---

A black Mercedes pulled up to the curb and halted briskly, as if the driver were unused to the car, and idled until an attendant arrived. When said attendant opened the driver's side door he was surprised at the gaijin woman who stared dispassionately at the noisy metropolis, her crystal blue gaze finally settling on a guarded glance in his direction. Under the ice of the woman's eyes he whistled quickly into the lobby and three others appeared to help the visitor's unload the car.

The rest of the entourage was as odd if not odder than the first, an older man wearing a black vest and monocle, and a younger woman wearing an extremely stylized police officer's uniform. Trying desperately to pay them no mind, the attendants seized the three cases and trunk from the car and proceeded up to the rooms. The ride up in the elevators were uncomfortable to say the least as none of the gaijin seemed willing to even utter a word of thanks or look in their direction. Attendant Hirosuke was glad to be out of the older gaijin blonde's imperious stare and was surprised by the sizable tip the old man had palmed him after the suitcases and trunk were settled.

He decided that it was better not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Walter C. Doleneazz, loyal retainer to the Hellsing family since the lifetime of Integra's father, Sir Edward Hellsing, closed the hotel room door and turned the deadbolt. Seras looked anxious and fidgeted in her chair. Integra simply sat with her hands folded in her lap, looking sever with her neck swathed in bandages.

"Well, Integra-sama, it seems that we're a little out of place here in Japan." Walter polished his monocle and replaced it quietly as the drapes slid closed, casting the room into a drab shadow.

"Why are we here? There are not many trash vampires here; we could have left it to your subsidiary forces." Alucard swung into the room from a puddle of shadow cast by the curtains. His heavy boots thumped sonorously on the short red carpet and his goggles were eerily luminescent in the dark.

"Since the mansion is still under reconstruction and the Round Table will not be meeting in the near future, we have need of a secure location from which to oversee the continuation of our mission." The light blonde woman drew a cigarillo from her jacket pocket and lit up.

Walter coughed quickly to let his distaste at Integra's addiction known. "I have spoken to media control and they are disseminating false information to the Round Table members; to their knowledge we are overseeing our interests in Sweden."

"Um…what exactly am I doing here? It doesn't seem like you'd need me." Seras pointed to herself with a white-gloved hand and looked up at her master.

"You and Alucard are here just in case we need to fulfill our mission here," the head of the Hellsing house turned to look at her retainer, "Walter."

"Yes, Integra-sama." The tall gentleman knelt by the trunk leaning against one of the tables and set it down on the lacquered wood surface. It fell with a loud thump of metal and leather. "I have here replacement weapons for the two of you."

Alucard glided over to the table. "Splendid, I was getting tired of using the Casull. It's too light for me now."

"I have a replacement Jackal for you Alucard-sama, and delayed detonation shells filled with silver nitrate." Walter pulled the gleaming black cannon from the grey foam insulation of the case and presented it to the vampire with a curt nod. "It has been reinforced with titanium mechanisms and is now inlaid with galvanized steel. I have also provided a silencer." The Angel of Death handed a large cylindrical piece of metal to the taller man, the diameter at least five inches wide. "I apologize for the size but due to the concussive power of the Jackal…"

"This is wonderful, Walter, truly wonderful!" Alucard laughed harshly before rolling the silencer into the cavernous barrel of the gun, swinging it to test the weight and finally placing it into his coat.

"And for you Miss Police Girl, a handgun modeled after the Colt Desert Eagle." Walter lifted a shining piece from the drab case and cocked, an echoing clack of polish steel on steel reverberated through the room. "It has a barrel 13.89 inches long with a boxed muzzle two inches wide. It fires explosive or normal tip rounds which you will have to ask me for as the…unique…design of the gun necessitates hand-crafted munitions." He handed it to the stupefied girl and watched as she ran her hands over the brushed steel. "It also weighs 37.65 pounds, sans clip, making it impossible for a human to wield."

"Thanks…er…I think." The neophyte vampiress ran her gloves over the harsh sharp lines of steel running along either side of the weapon. The familiar weight of a gun by her side was reassuring in a land where firearms were rigorously restricted.

"Needless to say, you must keep these weapons concealed unless you are in a combat situation as the Japanese tend to be very wary of munitions." Walter closed the polycarbonite case with a sharp snap and let it drop underneath the table.

"Walter and I shall be gone this evening. I trust that there won't be any theatrics, Alucard?"

"None at all, I think I will simply enjoy being in a city without those maddening implants." The vampire lord phased out into blackness with a feral smile. In short order, Walter and Integra left as well, leaving Seras Victoria alone in their suite.

"I guess I'll just watch our luggage then…" The slight but busty woman collapsed into a plush chair in the main room and prepared for several hours of bizarre television and alcohol consumption.

---Saotome House---

Ranma arrived home at about one in the afternoon, a decent time to start preparing dinner for his guests. Confirmation from the plane in the form of a fax assured him that they would be arriving on time and would be round for dinner. Two paper sacks of groceries were balanced in his arms as he pushed into the house and set his keys down in the foyer table. He could faintly hear the shower running upstairs, undoubtedly Makoto cleaning up from an afternoon workout. Kicking off his shoes, he strolled down to the kitchen and put the groceries away.

"Hey, Ranma, Makoto's upstairs taking a bath. She said you usually let her use the backyard to practice so…"

"Don't worry, Usa-chan, Makoto's as welcome around here as you are…what time did she arrive?"

The blonde put a finger to her chin. "Sometime about ten."

"She's been working out for three hours straight? Hmm…I guess I should see how her training's paying off." Ranma checked the pudding and found it to be the perfect consistency although it was missing a careless scoop off the top. Good thing he had already thought of Usagi's sweet tooth and bought a tiramisu while he was out.

"Have you been training her?" Usagi's mouth was crammed full of cookies so it took Ranma a moment to decode her message. "I mean…she was pretty good to begin with…has she gotten better?" The blonde's eyes followed the taller man as he padded lightly into the den and poured himself a cup of tea.

"She wasn't as good as she could have been, that's the big part of what I've been trying to fix. She's overconfident and her style is better suited to brawling than any form of martial arts." Ranma sat at the table and nibbled on a cookie, reaching out with a big hand to ruffle Usagi's coiled buns. "I'll see how she handles a sparing session tomorrow."

The future ruler of the solar system giggled at the touch and leaned to the side, catching Ranma in the ribs and allowing her body to melt into his. "Be sure to tell me how she does, it's very important."

"Of course, Hime-sama, your wish is my command."

The upstairs shower turned off and both could hear the glass door slid open and closed; both could hear the steady beat of footfalls down the hall and towards the steps.

"Good afternoon, Ranma." Makoto's chestnut hair dappled across her still wet skin as she plodded down into the living room with the wobbling gait of one who has stood under the hot water too long. "I hope you don't mind I used your bathroom."

"Of course not, Makoto, feel free to drop by any old time." Ranma flashed one of his winning smiles and the tallest senshi turned into a blushing puddle of mush. "Usagi'll let you know where the spare keys are, she and Rei stop by here all the time."

"Thanks!" There were stars spinning in her eyes.

Ranma finished his tea in a quick gulp and slapped his knees with his callused palms. "However, girls, I'm afraid that you'll have to leave for tonight."

"What! Why?"

"I'm expecting important company, _very_ important company, and I have to start preparing dinner in a few minutes."

"Great! I'll help! Cooking always goes faster with company." Makoto chirped. "You can teach me some of your recipes." The bright smile slashed across her face faded with one look from his stormy blue eyes.

"I'm sorry, Makoto, but no. This is a very personal matter that I have to attend to myself." He had a far-away gaze, as if remembering some long-past event; undoubtedly concerning the guests he was due to have that evening. Usagi noticed her lover's stare and decided that it was probably for the best if Mako-chan and she left in the most expedient manner.

"C'mon, Mako-chan, you can cook with your 'boyfriend' later! We've got to check out the arcade, Motoki told me they were going to have the latest 'Sailor V' game in today!" The shorter blonde clutched her friend's arm and began to drag her upstairs to get dressed. Before Usagi's head passed out of range she could see the thankful expression on Ranma's face; clearly it was for the best.

By the time the two left Ranma's house, Makoto's spirits were higher and by the time they arrived at the Crown Arcade she was giggling with no signs of the depression. The bells and whistles of the arcade assaulted them as the automatic doors opened and they pushed their way in through a throng of younger children all huddled around the new cabinet. Motoki was standing behind the redemption centre desk with a bored expression on his face. All the other machines were empty save the separate pachinko room.

"Hello, Motoki-san, how's business going today?" Makoto was already gravitating towards the crowd, pushing smaller children out of the way to get a better view of the screen. "Slow?"

The taller blonde nodded and began rapping his nails on the glass cases. "It's been like this all day long, ever since they first delivered the new game at five this morning. There were people camped outside, camped outside! I just don't get it! It's just another cheap 'Sailor V' video game, nothing all that amazing…" The rest of his diatribe disintegrated into low mutters and swearing. Usagi laughed at her disgruntled friend and took a seat at the counter. Idly she noted that the seat to Motoki's stool behind the counter was heavily padded. Another smirk lit her face at her own secret knowledge of her friend's relationship.

"Ranma been giving you a tough workout lately?" Usagi reached into the glass counter and pulled out a box of rice candy. The older man had the decency to blush and turn his head away for a moment before turning back and smiling nervously.

"Yeah. Did he show you his new-"

"Yup! Rei and I have been trying it out the past few nights."

"Kami-sama! He has Rei as well?" Not that he had anything against it, Motoki was a firm believer that 'his girls' (Usagi, Rei, Ami, Makoto, and Minako) could make their own decisions regarding their own bodies. Each had proved their own intelligence and maturity time and time again; he trusted them to make the right decisions. "Hmm…should I be giving you a discount now that you're family?"

Usagi swallowed a piece of candy and began to laugh, spinning on her stool. "I don't think we've reached that point yet." The throng on the other side of the counter groaned as another of their number failed to clear the thirteenth level of the Crimson stages.

"Well, at least turn-around on the new game's been swift." Motoki leaned over the counter with his head propped in his hands looking the very picture of boredom.

"I wonder when Makoto will get her turn…"

"Probably not for a long time."

Usagi sighed; this was what she got for trying to help Ranma.

---Ono Clinic---

"I'm sorry to bother you at such a late hour, Ranma, but I thought it necessary…"

"I understand…but it is important that we meet tomorrow…"

"Terrific! I'll see you then…goodbye." Tofu Ono set the headset down with a soft click of cheap plastic on plastic. He sighed as the light grew dark around him. The squeal of his office door opening and an emerald mane of straight hair swinging into view from the hall interrupted his silent musing. Narrow fingers, each nail buffed and polished, curled around the hard grain of the door and pulled the woman's upper torso into view.

"Who was that?"

"It was the young man I was telling you about, Ranma, he had company and couldn't talk for long." Tofu looked around at the few boxes and bags lying around his office, the last of his meager personal possessions, and sighed. "It's going to be difficult to leave this place behind…there are a lot of good memories here."

"Second thoughts? I wouldn't let your mother know if I were you."

"Ha. Don't worry about that my dear nurse, she won't even know I'm gone until next year." Tofu pulled the phone from the wall socket and began to wrap the cord around it tightly. "Now Ranma is very knowledgeable and capable but inexperienced in practical medicine - treatment of patients and the like - so I hope you will be as accommodating as possible."

"Of course."

"Good."

---The next day---

Ranma awoke late the next morning, dressed, and walked out towards the end of the hall. He was not disappointed to find Integral with a white sheet draped loosely around her cream nakedness. She looked back at him as he approached and smiled her secretive smile, her fingers gripping the silk and pulling the thin muslin higher over her breasts. Her skin was pallid white - yet was fresh and as vibrant as just-poured cream still spinning in her mortal urn. She had left her glasses on his side of the bed and in the crisp air of the morning her eyes simply sparkled like cut diamond with amusement as he sat on the timber railing and listened to the birds caw.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Integra smiled thinly and looked away.

"Let's not exchange such banal pleasantries, Ranma, that act drew thin back in Hong Kong. Walter will be picking me up in about an hour."

"How long will you be in Japan?" Ranma wrapped his arm around her shoulders and was gratified when she melted into his arms. He could almost swear that someone was laughing far away…probably a neighbor. "I'd love to see you again before you go."

Integral smirked again and pulled her other hand, the one hidden from view until that point, up to her mouth and puffed luxuriously from the handmade cigarillo clamped between her fingers. She exhaled through her nose, sending twin dragons of smoke screaming high into the sky. "Maybe next time you should come to England?"

"Now that's a thought…but now you're avoiding the question, when will you be leaving?" Ranma folded her hands over one knee and squeezed the cigarillo from her slim digits. She shot him one annoyed glance before resuming her comfortable position in his lap. She felt the spongy shaft of his cock under her tush and craned her neck back so that her long blonde hair fell and lay softly on his shoulder. "I'd love to see you again."

"Tomorrow. It would have been today but I couldn't visit without seeing you."

"Oh? I wonder what that is?"

"Don't be coy, Ranma, it ill becomes you. I had to see you for your _cock_, I needed a vacation and three days is stretching the limits of the organization's needs." The older woman wrapped the sheet closer around her as a chill gust of wind blew past and was happy when Ranma enclosed her in a tight embrace and pulled her back into the house.

"Why don't you got take a shower and I'll make you some breakfast."

"That does sound good. I'll be down in fifteen minutes." Integral padded softly down to the master bedroom as Ranma began to walk down the stairs.

"I find this situation intensely amusing."

Ranma halted mid-step with his hand on the railing. "Hello, Alucard. I thought I felt your gaze on us when I started taking her from behind."

"Well, I must keep a close eye on my master at all times." The No-Life King's voice was literally dripping with amusement as his shadow dripped from the ceiling and puddled at the pig-tailed man's feet. "Besides, I don't get to see my master so…liberated that often."

"You are one sick son-of-a-bitch, Alucard." Ranma continued on into the kitchen with the black pool sliding quickly behind him.

"Ha! If your interplay with Integra weren't so funny I would kill you now. Luckily for you this is bringing me more entertainment than I've had in fifty years." Alucard vomited up from the floor and brushed imaginary dust from his cuffs. "I almost laughed out loud when you began to frig her out the window, the look on the neighbor's face was enough to amuse me for the next week." Ranma could feel the undead's gloved hand fall on his shoulder, the grip under the thin veil of flesh pulsating and churning like insects. "If her interests in you fade over time, you can be assured we will meet again…"

Ranma ignored the rush of displace air caused by Alucard's passing and began to prepare eggs, toast, and tea. By the time the eggs were popping and the toast was finished, Integra stepped purposefully into the kitchen in a rumpled and bestained olive suit with a wrinkled white shirt and wide blue tie.

Little was spoken during their meal, Ranma was sure she had seen or heard Alucard's little threat, and they retired into the sitting room for more tea and to wait for Walter. The day was going to be a long one for Integra, she had at least twenty appointments set for the day before her flight back to England early the next morning.

"I won't be able to stop by before we leave."

"I understand, I'll try to stop over in England next month, maybe earlier." Ranma reached over and grasped her gloved hands, giving them a brief squeeze and a reassuring smile.

"I'd like that. You could stay at the mansion."

"I could stay as long as you like, you know…"

Integral pulled her hands away at the sounding of the doorbell. "You should probably only stay a week at most, any longer than that and it might start interfering with my duties."

Her lover responded with a flat-eye stare. "Yes, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

"I don't want to start this argument again…you know my responsibilities."

"I know that you're a workaholic, that's what I know; you can't even see how much _you_ need a vacation!"

"I will not have you raising your voice to me, Ranma!" Integral Wingates van Hellsing stood abruptly and slammed her hands on the table. "I can't discuss this any longer, Walter has been left waiting out there long enough." She nodded in his general direction and stiffly walked out, slamming the door in her wake.

"I suppose that could've gone better…" The pigtailed physician cleared the table and washed the dishes quickly, because if he knew Makoto, and he liked to think that he knew her very well, Mako-chan would arrive any minute for their sparring session.

"Sempai!? Are you here?" Makoto opened the door and shut it tightly behind her. She was wearing a light green gi and a headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes during the match.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Ranma was just drying the dishes and placing them in the drainer when she parted the curtains and poked her head into the room. He didn't need to see her to be able to tell she was smiling as she walked up behind him and embraced him from behind. He was used to her physicality, she was a very tactilely needy person and as such was forever holding his hands or hugging his neck or arms. Not that he minded the sensation of her pert little breasts pressing into him or the burning warmth of the few times she'd wrapped her legs around him. "Good morning, Makoto, are you ready for our spar?"

"All set!" She smiled and scrubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "Who was that man that just left?"

"That was actually a woman, Makoto, and she was my guest last night." Ranma draped the dishcloth over the kitchen faucet and turned around in her grip. "She's the head of a very important organization in England."

"Wow, how did you ever meet her, sempai?"

"We met while I was living in Hong Kong. She was there on business and needed someone to help her with certain things, I was all but happy to oblige." Ranma remembered the respect Madame Gao had for the young Integra, something about the Madame's brother becoming a vampire. He dried his hands and took off his apron. "Are you ready?"

"Sure!"

They were in the dojo soon enough, stretching and preparing for the match. Makoto was already limber from her run to his house and Ranma was already limber from his lovemaking earlier so they only spent a few minutes before facing each other.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, Mako-chan."

"That's how I like it, sempai, give me your all!" Makoto sprang into action, leaping at her opponent with a kick and trying an elbow jab when he countered. Ranma was playing on the defensive, backing away from her wild flurry of attacks, each seamlessly weaved from the last until he felt the cold wood of the wall at his back. He smiled for a moment.

He's smiling, she thought, he's smiling at how well I've done. She relented against his defenses and ceased her assault for a moment, just long enough for Ranma to blur forward and execute a firm palm strike between her breasts. The impact threw her two meters back and she rolled as she hit the mat to avoid his leaping kick. His knee landed scant centimeters from her head. She rose in a defensive position and blocked two quick jabs to her face.

"You're getting better, Makoto, last week you couldn't even block one of my strikes!" Ranma's arms seemed to melt into one as she felt a flurry of blows rain down on her torso, each one hitting a vital spot, and fell down on her knees under the intense barrage. She was vaguely aware of his foot coming up in a toe-jab at her face and crossed her arms in front of herself, catching his leg at the shin, but was nonetheless thrown by the force of his attack across the dojo.

Makoto landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her lungs by the heavy impact on the round hump of muscle and fatty tissue under her shoulder blades. She desperately tried to suck oxygen into her lungs before he could attack but failed, ending with his body straddling her stomach, effectively pining her to the floor. She struggled against his weight until he grasped her wrists and forced them upwards with one hand, the other gently and lovingly brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes.

"Do you concede?" His breath was warm and fresh against her face. She was acutely aware of the warmth his groin was generating as it pressed against her diaphragm. Under such a physical and emotional attack she was powerless; Makoto reluctantly blushed and nodded her acceptance. "You're definitely getting better, Mako-chan, in a few months we'll have you kicking ass for real." His face was down close to hers, her chocolate eyes locked onto his cerulean as if constrained by the impenetrable laws of gravity, her existence orbiting his own.

"Th-thank you, sempai." She turned away from him as he rose and pulled her up. She suddenly felt naked under his gaze, as if the gi was nothing more than air against her skin and his eyes slide over her body like fragrant oil. She covered her breasts with her hands as they walked back into the house, very much aware of the growing wet stain on the crotch of her gi bottoms. She just hoped he didn't follow her upstairs.

He didn't, instead opting to let her use the bath while he changed. Ranma ducked into his room, out of the range of Makoto's scent, and stripped down. The girl really needed to screw, she was liable to go insane with lust before the month was through, especially if he was going to be teaching her personally. He buttoned up his shirt and tucked the tails into his slacks. He had an appointment to keep with Tofu and he needed to catch the next train.

---Later---

Ranma landed by the small ice-cream parlor around the corner from Dr. Tofu's and brushed a few stray leaves from his clothing. Roof-hopping was an expedient mode of transport but perhaps not the cleanest. The dash from the nearest train terminal to Tofu's practice wasn't a particularly long one nor was it strenuous to his body, it simply was littered with trees beginning to molt for winter. The tall raven-haired man decided that he should just walk the rest of the way before he ended up plastered with bark and leaves.

The neighborhood seemed nice enough, quaint in its tranquil state and bustling with homemakers and home-wreckers alike. Ranma liked to see the broad diversity on the streets, the elegant dichotomy between the pure and chaste and the whores and milkgirls looking for a good time. The very fact that the street women and broke/horny teens walked among the mature and married spoke of Nerima's open-mindedness. If the town allowed such elements free reign than his own capacity for sexual deviance and corruption would be easily overlooked.

Now it was not that Ranma himself thought of his relationships and seductions as deviance or corruption; indeed, he found nothing wrong with his almost casual sexual relations with everyone he met. To Ranma, sex was almost like a handshake but more emotional. This was not to say that he had sex with every person he met, far from it, but Ranma loved sex - loved pleasing his partner more than anything. In fact, he was incapable of ejaculation unless he was emotionally involved with his partner, a fact proven time and time again in China when he serviced the burlesque women looking for a quick orgasm. Usually in that sort of situation he simply lay on his back and let they mount him - that was all they wanted after all, just a warm cock to hump instead of plastic or rubber. That kind of client only wanted him because then they could brag to all their friends that they were serviced by 'Ranma', otherwise they could have purchased release from one of the lower-level males. Ranma specialized in women with strict requirements.

Take the female marital arts master for instance, she had a sinewy beauty, long luscious hair, the most perfect blue eyes he had ever seen, and a broken heart. From what he had been able to ascertain, her previous lover had left her to go on a quest many years before and was never heard from again. A cliché, correct? Well, in order to fill the void of his passing she came to Madame Gao and Ranma, as he was the most physically fit, was chosen as her partner. Their first time was nothing more than the venting of her sexual frustrations, a frenzied series of fucking and foreplay, which wound down after nearly a week. After paying Gao and thanking him, the martial artist set out into the wilderness again.

It wasn't for another six months that she returned but when she arrived in Hong Kong Madame Gao was her first stop. The first time she stipulated the male with the strongest endurance, the second time she requested a fighter. The Madame, always open to her customer's requests, once again summoned him.

They met in the dojo, both dressed in off-white dogi, and faced each other as martial artists. They began to spar in a flurry of kicks and flips, the master's discipline seemed centered around the legs, and continued for many hours. Even Gao left them to their match after a two hours, content that the woman would be well taken care of with Ranma at her beck and call. Fortunately, Ranma's unique siphoning ability and ki knowledge allowed him to keep on an even keel although he was technically outmatched. Finally she landed a surprise blow to his stomach and he was propelled through the air only to land hard on his back. She was on his in an instant, kicking and screaming at him; his ribs broken, his shoulders dislocated, Ranma could do nothing except ignore the pain. Her barrage continued until she fell on her knees sobbing and buried her face in the bloodied front of his gi. He felt the stubbed edges of her fingers entwine themselves in the tattered remains of his dress and her hot tears dripping down his bruised flanks.

He began to say something but quickly reconsidered when she went deadly still. The tears had stopped, her hands had ceased their trembling, and she looked up from his stomach straight into his eyes. No sooner had he closed his mouth, than the hands wrapped in his outfit tore the cloth apart. He was naked and bleeding underneath the very woman who had worked him over so thoroughly. It was only when she fondled him to erection and mounted the phallus that the last vestiges of his fear disappeared. She desperately humped his injured body until she came then efficiently stroked his cock until he too came - his seed slightly tinted red as it coated her body.

And so it continued, her visits every two of three months, her beating, their love-making; until four years ago when she had abruptly stopped her patronage. He often wondered about her: her tears, her desperate need to humiliate and dominate the ghost of her lost lover, her secret sadness held behind the crystal glass of her eyes. Sometimes he wondered if she stopped coming because he finally managed to beat her that final time.

Over the years he knew her, their trysts helped develop his impervious skin and bones, gave him a few scars, and helped his martial arts abilities immensely. Eventually his abilities superceded those of his teacher and he beat her to a standstill, ending their match with a kiss. He distinctly remembered the surprised look on her face when he helped her up from the mats, his own height nearly matching her own at that point, and led her down the halls to his rooms. There they enjoyed each other's company for many hours, years of aggression and competitiveness melting into an orgasmic frenzy that lasted two days. He couldn't recall how many times he had spent himself inside her taut body, each ejaculation punctuated by her fervent cries and enthusiastic pleas for more. By the end of their last time his entire bed was encrusted with seed and mucus. What had happened to his ice maiden? His connection in the Chinese Intelligence Agency pointed to kidnapping due to her relationship to a Shadowloo operative.

"…Hello? Are you lost?" Ranma body spasmed in surprise and his companion fell to the grey concrete sidewalk with the 'whump' of female flesh and the crackle of egg shells. He turned to the origin of the voice and saw a pretty young woman starting to pick herself up off the sidewalk.

He was immediately helping her to her feet, his hands grasping the sinuous muscles of her upper arms as he lifted her up by the armpits. "I'm sorry for knocking you over like that, are you hurt?"

"Oh no, I'm fine. I should be the sorry one, I startled you." The homemaker brushed her fingertips through the hair by her ear and straightened her housedress. It was then that the heel of her shoe ground a fragment of eggshell into the pitted concrete. "Oh my! The eggs!"

Ranma knelt and picked up the large wicker basket capsized over the street and made a cursory inspection. It appeared that only a few eggs had rolled from their carton, still, she appeared to be cooking for a whole family - he was sure those few eggs would make all the difference.

"Would you just wait right here for one moment?" Ranma handed the basket back and took off at a breakneck pace down the street. The girl, still disoriented by her tumble accepted the basket back without question and watched her assailant run down the street. After a few minutes passed with no sign of the man, the girl looked carefully around herself, just in case the man was on his way back, before starting off towards home.

"Hold on, miss! Wait!" Ranma landed from the rooftops in front of her, nearly causing her to drop her basket a second time, and flashed a winning smile and a new carton of eggs. "Sorry to startle you again but I thought you'd need all your eggs so I replaced them." Ranma handed the paper carton to the girl and bowed low, pulling out an ornately wrapped box of chocolates from behind his back.

"Why thank you, Mr. Stranger!" The pretty young one accepted the box of cherry cordials and slipped it into her basket. "How very thoughtful of you."

"It was the least I could do for you, miss, are you sure you're not hurt?" He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. The young woman blushed and looked away, avoiding his eyes and physical scrutiny. "Do you want to go to Dr. Tofu?"

"Oh my, no. I'm just fine, thank you for asking. I really should be going now - it's almost time to start dinner." She bowed relatively low and smiled as she passed, still blushing like mad. "Thank you again for the eggs!"

"My pleasure!" Ranma waved back as she turned a corner and disappeared. Idly thinking on what an odd girl she was, he continued down the street in the opposite direction towards the clinic.

Tofu was waiting for him in front of the doors, a few boxes and bags littered around him. When he saw Ranma turning the corner he called inside the building before lifting the two suitcases by his feet. A dirty old gold Honda was parked outside the office, the trunk open. Ranma stopped in front of the building next to the clinic and felt a growing emptiness in the pit of his stomach. The feeling became more pronounced when Tofu approached him and shook his hand.

"Ranma, glad to see you made it, you're usually so punctual." Tofu slid a satchel to the crook of one arm and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Well, come along, I have a lot of things to tall you."

"You going on vacation, Tofu?" Ranma took one of the bags and threw it into the backseat of Tofu's Honda. "What's with all the boxes?"

"I'm moving , Ranma, to the United States. There's been an offering in San Diego and I accepted." Tofu was trying to pack as much stuff as possible into his car. "The keys to the clinic are on my desk inside, the patient files shouldn't be much of a problem since I had only three regulars which I told about you, and don't forget to remind her to turn off the lights when she leaves for the night." The short-haired brunette man opened the driver's side door to the Civic and turned, giving one final look at his clinic, before getting in and starting the engine. "Goodbye, Ranma, I'll be in touch!"

And with a final wave out his window, Tofu drove off in a dusty cloud, leaving Ranma with his mouth agape standing dumbfounded in the street.

Ranma looked in both directions when he regained his senses but could see neither hide nor hair of the good doctor. He kept looking back and forth for a few minutes longer, his mind unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"Oh do shut your mouth." A sultry baritone voice, obviously female, erupted from inside the clinic before a statuesque woman exited the building, her long emerald hair coiled into a tight bun over the white collar of her uniform. "The explanation is quite simple: Tofu has left for America to get away from his mother and her arranged marriages and left you in charge of his practice."

Ranma shook his head free of cobwebs and turned to the woman. "And who are you? The 'she' he was talking about?"

"I have a name you know."

"Well you haven't given it so how should I know what it is?"

The woman pulled out the comb keeping her locks entangled and a shimmering soft mane of hair cascaded to the bottom of her ass. "I was Tofu's nurse, accountant, and secretary, my name is Setsuna Meiou. Pleased to meet you Ranma." She offered her hand.

"Ranma Saotome." He grasped her hand and they shook. "Forgive me, this is all so sudden."

"Tell me about it; Tofu only told me he was leaving a week ago - it took me that long to get all the paperwork drawn-up and notarized." Setsuna tossed her hair back and gestured inside the clinic. "Come in then, this is your clinic now."

Ranma walked inside, Setsuna following, and watched as she locked the doors behind her. "So Tofu left me his practice, this building, and _you_?"

"Trust me, I feel really special at the moment. Would you like tea?"

"Please. But how could he do this? I'm not a doctor!" Ranma sat down in the warn, cramped couch in front of the main windows and rested his head in his hands. "What the hell am I going to do now?"

"You do have certification in China, right?"

"Well of course!"

"Then you should have no problems. This is mainly a chiropractic and herbal medicine clinic anyway, your patients aren't expecting you to perform surgery, they just want balms and poultices." Setsuna re-entered the room with a thin lacquered wood tray carrying the teapot and two cups.

"So he's known about this for at least a week and he only calls me here yesterday? What is he playing at leaving me his practice?"

"He obviously felt you were skilled enough to replace him." The nurse set the tray down on a rickety old coffee table festooned with year-old magazines and set out the cups. "I, personally, don't think you're up to this but I have been wrong in the past."

Ranma accepted the cup of tea and leaned back, his head leaning into the wide swath of golden rays streaming in through the windows behind him. Setsuna pulled down her white smock-shirt and sat in a chair across from her new employer. "So what's with this paperwork the doctor was talking about?"

"You just need to go down to city hall tomorrow and sign the ownership papers." She paused to sip at her cup. "Tofu has been debt free as long as I have known him - no mortgage, no leans that I know of - so you won't need to deal with all that crap."

"And how much are you paid?"

"However much I deserve, we can work out the details later."

"How did he keep the clinic open all theses years? If he only had three patients how could he afford supplies, gas, telephone, and electricity?" Ranma set his cup down and refilled it, his reluctant assistant's intent gaze giving him a bad feeling.

"Oh, he had his ways…"

---Tendo dojo---

"Hey, Sis, have you noticed anything strange about Dr. Tofu lately?" Nabiki was munching on a rice cracker and figuring out the finances with her trusty abacus. It was shaping up to be another lazy Sunday at the Tendo Dojo.

Kasumi looked into the house from her laundry. The wind was just right for drying clothes. "No I haven't, Nabiki, why?" The Doctor was always so nice to let her borrow his medical texts, although he was very silly.

"Just asking, he's been walking around Nerima every day for the past few weeks. I don't know, it just seems as if he's saying goodbye." The long stares he'd given the locales around Nerima had been weird enough but now it seemed he was locking himself in the clinic for the last two days. Something was up and she'd find out or her name wasn't Nabiki Tendo!

"Oh my! I hope he doesn't leave!" Nabiki face-faulted. Did that mean Kasumi really did have feelings for the good doctor?

"Why not, Sis?"

"I still haven't returned that book he loaned me last week!" Nabiki's face once again met hard wood. It figured…how could dear oblivious Kasumi realize the doctor had a thing for her? Such things just didn't happen, it would be like a man that turned into a panda, absurd! "Do you think I should return it today?"

"No, I don't think he's leaving that early otherwise there'd be moving trucks in front of the clinic."

Kasumi shook out another one of Akane's school shirts, stained with blood (not Akane's of course), and pinned it to the line. "I suppose you're right, Nabiki."

---China---

"Visitor for you, Japanese-thieving scum!" The guard stepped back and shoved the fat inmate into the cramped cubicle. The disheveled man bashed his bald skull against the stained opaque Plexiglass and pushed his glasses up with the wrists of his bound hands. No sooner had he sat then the guard left, cursing in Mandarin at the obese mound of fat.

"Wh-who are you…what do you want?" The grimy man asked through the glass, shifting uncomfortably on the stool.

"Genma! Genma my dear what happened to you?" Nodoka Saotome pressed her face against the barrier to get a better view of her estranged partner. "And where's Ranma? It's been nineteen years, what have you been doing!?" Her red hair began spilling from the tightly bound bun at the back of her neck. "Where is our son?"

"Ranma's gone, he wandered off somewhere. Nodoka you have to get me out of here! Quickly, call the Japanese Embassy, get me a lawyer, anything!" Genma bashed his considerable bulk against the glass and screamed like a girl as the guard returned and beat him with his truncheon. "Nodoka they beat me in here, they make me do things in the show- well they do things to me!" She probably wouldn't consider _that_ manly… "And they don't feed me three times a day!"

Nodoka's eyebrow twitched as Genma hollered like a woman as the guard kicked him in the crotch.

"Nodoka! Help me! I'm your husband! Get them off me, get them off me!!!!!"

"Shut up Japanese fat ass! If you no calm down I have you 'bounce-bounce' with cell block again!" Genma's protests stopped and he stopped struggling. "Good, now get in cell like good boy, yes?"

"Shall I have the extra large shower room prepared, sir?" The guard on Nodoka's side of the glass asked in Chinese.

"Yes," the other replied, "this trash needs to learn his lesson, maybe he'll beg us again!"

Nodoka's eye twitched again, the twitch descending to her hand.

Unfortunately for Genma, Nodoka learned Chinese in the fifteen years he'd been gone.

"He begged you to do it again?" She asked in Mandarin, already knowing the answer. Genma always did like anal sex…

The guard laughed. "The only reason the bastard's keeping quiet is because he doesn't want the biggest inmate in his ass! He couldn't sit down for months after last time, let alone get some from his cellmate!" He laughed again remembering the fat Japanese fool's cries. He didn't notice Nodoka whip her katana from nowhere, scream out something about 'manliness' in Japanese and lunge through the barrier at the prisoner.

"DIE GENMA!!!!!" The sword slashed through the Plexiglass like paper and cut the elder Saotome's handcuffs, leaving him free to ward her off and open the door before running out like a loon.

"Nodoka I can explain!" Genma pushed past the guards and dashed down the hall, his clothing shredded to tatters. The inmates whistled in appreciation as a curvaceous Japanese woman ran after him in a kimono, brandishing a sharp sword and divine vengeance. The guards didn't particularly care if Genma was killed, they weren't paid enough to run after the duo. Then the betting started.

"I got thirty 'gainst the fat guy!"

"Sixty for the chick!"

"Twenty for Genma!" Roommates had to stick together, didn't they?

"You have sex with men for pleasure, you bend over for the guards, you steal and lie and cheat! AAAAAAAND YOU KILLED OUR SON!!!!!!!!" Nodoka sliced wildly at her husband, scoring shallow scratches on his back and legs.

Awhile later she caught up with him. A bloodcurdling scream echoed off the concrete walls of the prison. No one was going to be getting Genma's 'special technique' up their ass again…ever. His roommate blew a kiss at the guy in the next cell. If Genma couldn't 'beat' it, he'd have to 'join' them.

---Tendo Dojo---

"Something is definitely going on with Dr. Tofu." Nabiki was back in the livingroom with her books, this time going over the week's take. She was still in the black but just barely after Kuno managed to score a hit on Akane yesterday.

"Oh? What is it this time?" Kasumi had already taken in the laundry and was working on her father's gi. A wide tear down the side flapped open on her lap as her supple fingers threaded a needle; honesty, why did father insist on joining the neighborhood watch? All he and the others did was jump to wild conclusions in the dark and attack inanimate objects.

"I just have this feeling like something's happening and I don't know about it!"

"I wouldn't let it worry you, Nabiki, the doctor would tell us if something was going on, you know that." She bit off the thread and examined her handiwork, stretching the cloth to test her stitches.

"I suppose so…" Nabiki rolled her eyes at Kasumi's carefree ignorance, Tofu wouldn't say anything to them because he was so deathly in love with the eldest Tendo, if he was going to leave or move he wouldn't want to hurt them…dumb sap that he was. "But doesn't it bother you just a little bit?"

"What?" Kasumi looked up at her sister with her needle between her teeth, the darned stitch was crooked.

"That fact that Tofu could be leaving."

"Leaving? I certainly hope not, where will we take Akane when she injures herself?" Nabiki rolled her eyes again, she really did have to break her sister out of that naïve shell.

"What would you say if I told you that Tofu had feelings for you, Sis?" Nabiki decided to be blunt, with Kasumi that was the only way to get it through her thick skull.

"Tofu always says the funniest things!" Kasumi began to giggle. Nabiki's eye began to twitch. "He's so silly, I don't see how you can take him so seriously, Nabiki, he's such a kidder!" Nabiki's pencil snapped in her grip. "Besides, who told you he was leaving?"

"I can't name names." Under the floorboards of the Kuno Estate, Hikaru Gosankugi sneezed. "Suffice it to say the information is reliable. I just don't know when it's going to happen."

"I wonder if a market will go in where the clinic is? That would be so convenient!" Kasumi smiled with the grin of the ignorant and looked back down into her lap. For the third time that day, Nabiki Tendo's face was imprinted in the wood of their tea table.

"Oh my! Are you feeling well, Nabiki?"

---To be continued---