Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Nodoka's Lessons ❯ Beginnings and Endings ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: mykon1

Nodoka's Lessons - A Ranma One Half Fanfic

By Michael A. Ivins

Ranma, along with his family and friends are the property of Rumiko Takahishi and I use them without permission. I am creating this story mainly for my own amusement and hopefully the entertainment of others. I'm doing it for fun and make no money off it, so please don't sue me.

WARNING: This chapter has LEMON content. It contains explicit descriptions of sexual acts and incest. If you are under the legal age where your community allows you to read this kind of thing, Stop Reading. Likewise stop if you find such material offensive.

Chapter 3

Beginnings and Endings

Agent Torugowa Akemi was headed to her boss' office. She worked for the Office of Paranormal Investigations, artifact recovery division. She walked up to the Director's desk and said, “Did you have an assignment for me sir?”

“Agent Torugawa, one of our data watchers found that a computer at a public library was used to search for information on the Love Stones.”

Akemi thought for a moment. “Aren't those the carvings that act like a magic aphrodisiac?”

“A bit simplistic, but essentially correct. However, that is not the only effect. It decreases inhibitions.”

The agent considered that. “So they make you horny and more willing to act on it than you would be otherwise. Doesn't sound dangerous.”

The director nodded. “Normally I would agree with you but I did some research. Those stones have been the cause of several people committing suicide.”

“Why would they have that effect?”

“It has to do with the specific inhibitions suppressed. It also has to do with the fact that if the influence of the stone is stopped after less than a month the victim goes back to the way they were before.”

The agent shrugged. “It still sounds fairly harmless.”

“Imagine that a man came back to his normal self and realized he's been having sex with another man or his mother. Then imagine that these are things that he is horrified about without the influence of the Stone. He might feel so shamed that killing himself is the only option he can see.”

Akemi finally appreciated the seriousness of the situation. Her expression became attentive.

The chief said, “If it weren't for the suicide aspect of it we'd classify them has harmless and maybe even fun. Because death has been the result of the mishandling of these artifacts the terms of our charter require that if we find one or more of the stones we are to retrieve them and put them where they won't cause trouble for people.”

The agent said, “I'll start canvassing antique and curio shops in the area near the library.”

The next day the agent ignored the tinkling bell as she approached the proprietor of the twentieth curio shop she had visited so far today. This was the part of the job she really hated. It was just plain boring.

The shopkeeper said, “Welcome to my shop. Was there anything specific you were looking for?”

After showing her credentials Akemi pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. On it was a print out from the Office's database. It showed three artist drawings of statues of nude couples in an embrace. She handed the sheet to the shopkeeper and asked, “Have you seen any of these objects?”

The shopkeeper gasped on looking at the picture. The agent hid a smirk. “I'll take that as a `yes.' Which one was it?”

“This one,” he indicated.

She identified the indicated picture; it was The Family Stone. She asked, “Do you have this in your shop now?”

“No, I gave it to a woman and her son. The story I heard about the stone was that it could bring great joy to a family. It could maybe encourage sexual love between members of a family.”

Now puzzled, she asked “Do you believe that is a good thing?”

“You should have seen them. The woman was beautiful, the boy a handsome martial artist. They had been reunited after a decade long separation, yet I could see the love in their eyes. Two such beautiful people deserve to get together.”

The agent shook her head. “I'm not interested in how you want to morally justify it. You were right, if handled right it can bring joy to people. However, if handled wrong it could cause terrible tragedy. Did you get a name and address for this woman?”

“She paid in cash. I didn't get her name. She said she had just moved back into her house. The old one had to be torn down and a new one built on the old site. Maybe you could use that to find her.”

Akemi considered that. “I could check with the city for recent building permits.”

As Akemi went looking through the records of building permits she reflected on how her job sucked sometimes. Recovering magical artifacts was supposed to be dangerous and exciting. Some of those items could summon demons, enslave minds or kill. Some of them were defended by sword-wielding cultists. What did she get assigned to find - a stone that makes people horny.

She took a file folder and went to the desk she was borrowing. She looked at the copies of building permits. Hmm, this one was for a garage. Nope, it had to be a house. Would an addition to a house count? Probably not. She hadn't known one had to have a permit just to remodel a house.

Permit to build a new house on an old foundation? That sounded like it might be what she was looking for. She set that one aside then continued looking. After an hour she had a pile of 20 building permits to check. It was unfortunate that the permits didn't say if the building was finished or not. That would have helped a lot.

The next step was to call construction companies. After she had done that she had reduced the 20 possibilities down to just 4. From those she copied the addresses into her notebook and put the file back where she'd gotten it. Now she would have to visit each. The interview was not something that could be done over the phone.

The Sunday before school was to resume Ranma arrived at the Tendo dojo in the afternoon. The response was not what he might have hoped. Akane was out with her friends, Nabiki just commented, “So you're back finally,” then went back to reading her magazine. Soun looked up from his newspaper and gave a hearty sounding greeting, but Ranma could tell the elder Tendo wasn't sincere. Genma hadn't returned from his trip yet.

Only Kasumi treated him to a warm welcome. She even gave him some cookies she had baked in anticipation of his return. Ranma smiled gratefully at her.

When he got to the guest room he and his father shared he saw that everything was exactly as he had left it. Apparently the room had remained vacant for the whole month. He set down his backpack and went to the loose floorboard he had discovered. With little trouble he dislodged it and lifted up. In the space revealed there were two 50 yen coins right where he left them.

From his pack Ranma took out some clothes and beneath them lay the carving called the Family Stone. He looked at the door to be sure nobody had it cracked enough to look in. When he was sure nobody was watching he slipped the carving into the space in the floor and pushed the boards back in place. Operation Parental Seduction was now ready to begin.

Later Genma arrived and pronounced, “Let's see how badly you slacked off while you were gone.” Both father and son went out to the yard to spar. If Genma had been truly expecting a decrease in skill or speed, he was disappointed.

He did notice something. “You're holding back, boy! That's not how I taught you to fight.”

Ranma made no audible comment but thought, “I just wanted to make it last a little longer. But if you want it full force, you got it.” Seconds later an unconscious panda was floating in the koi pond. Since he was floating face-up, Ranma left him there.

Things at the Tendo dojo seemed to fall right back into the normal routines. Ranma sparred with his father the first Monday morning. With everything Ranma had been through he could easily kick his father's butt, but he wanted to test something so he let himself be knocked into the pond.

Did her father's eyes linger a little on looking at her shirt plastered wetly to her chest? It did sort of look like he did. Alright! It was a little early for there to be much effect from the Family Stone, but Nodoka had mentioned a change on the very first day.

After the sparring session the teenaged martial artist got some hot water and changed back to male to eat. The usual battle for food happened and Ranma was able to use his superior speed to ensure that he got everything Kasumi had served him. It wasn't obvious but he didn't really try to steal from his father.

Although the meal was up to Kasumi's usual standards he just contented himself with saying, “Great as always, Kasumi.” He knew that Akane sometimes took excessive praise for Kasumi's cooking to be a complaint against her own. He was trying to avoid that.

In addition to trying to keep the peace between himself and Akane he was observing the other members of the household. Kasumi was sweet as always but he noticed that she hugged her father. When Nabiki was saying something to Akane about school she was resting a hand on her shoulder. Not a big change but certainly more affectionate than in the past.

He suppressed a desire to smile.

Kasumi asked, “What did you do while you were at your mother's house last month?”

He had discussed with his mom what he would tell everyone. He gave the agreed upon story. “We went out shopping together, I helped her cook while in girl form. She taught me some stuff about cooking. She also taught me to speak better so I don't sound so dumb all the time. We talked a lot.”

Genma had frowned when Ranma mentioned cooking when in girl form. Kasumi asked, “What did you talk about?”

“She wanted to hear about the training trip. She wanted every detail. Uh… Pop, she's kind of mad at you about the Nekoken.”

A look of fear came to the elder Saotome's face. “You told her about that?”

“I tried to skip over it, but she could tell I was leaving something out. She insisted.”

“How… how did she… take it?”

“When I finished talking about it her first words were, `I'll kill him!' She calmed down when I told her you had left on a trip and didn't tell anyone where you were going. I made her promise she wouldn't kill you, but she does want to talk to you about it.”

“”Just `talk'?”

“As far as I know. Look, I know you meant well. You just wanted to make me a better martial artist. You've got to remember to read all of the instructions before trying a martial arts technique.”

“You… forgive me?”

“I know you weren't trying to hurt me deliberately. I've not forgiven you for being such a big idiot that you didn't read the warning at the end of the book. I will be reminded of that every time I see one of those little furry monsters. I'm still thinking about how you can make it up to me. Don't worry, it won't be anything painful.” He thought to himself, “If we do it right, you should enjoy it a lot.”

“Um… Right.”

Shortly they finished eating and the teens headed to school. Ranma passed up opportunities for insults. He was going to do what he could to see that the word “uncute” never passed his lips again. He would only speak the word “tomboy” if he could say it as a term of endearment.

Akane was getting confused. Ranma hadn't said one bad thing to her this morning. What was he up to?

The walk to school was progressing quietly. Ranma was on the fence as usual and Akane on the sidewalk. She tried to get more details out of him about the month he was away. He answered every question but Akane still had the feeling he wasn't telling everything. He was also acting distracted.

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of a bike bell. With that sound Ranma vaulted from the fence to land a distance away. Shampoo's bike missed him by a wide margin. Ranma dropped into a defensive stance as the bubbly Chinese girl jumped from the bike and shouted, “Nihao! Airen want go on date?”

Both the girls present were very surprised when Ranma shouted, “SHAMPOO, STOP!”

The purple haired girl stood with mouth hanging open. Ranma didn't give her time to adjust. Now that he had the girl's attention he told her in a low dangerous tone, “This has to stop.”

“What Airen mean?”

“Every day when I go to school you do or try to do this same thing. You crash you bike into my head and smash my face into the dirt. Then you ask if I want to go on a date. When I think about the kind of abuse Mousse lets you deal out to him I wonder if maybe Amazon boys like to be treated like that. Well, this Japanese boy doesn't like it.”

“But, Airen…”

“You ask if I want to go on a date. As long as you keep attacking me every day, the answer is no. Right now I don't even want to talk to you at all. I will also give you this warning. If you try crashing your bike into me again, I will take it as an attack and I will defend myself. Since I don't like hitting girls, I might destroy the bike instead.”

“But Airen…” She took a step toward Ranma.

“Shampoo, BACK OFF!”

“Airen… Shampoo love you.” She took another step.

“Moku Takabisha!” A ki blast slammed into the ground at the Amazon girl's feet, gouging a hole and kicking up al cloud of dust.

The expression on Shampoo's face was one of total shock. Ranma told her, “I'm leaving now. The next time I see you the first words I hear from you had better be `Sorry Ranma,' and a promise to stop hitting me with your bike.”

Dropping to her knees the purple haired girl started crying. “Shampoo sorry.”

He turned and told her, “No! I'm not accepting it! Not now. You have to take some time to think about it first. Before the end of the day today I will not listen to anything you have to say and I will not talk to you either. Is that clear?”

“Clear.”

Ranma turned and walked away. Akane glanced over her shoulder at the kneeling Amazon girl and asked, “Why did you have to be such a jerk to her?”

“”I thought you'd be happy I didn't let her glomp me. This approach seems to be the only way to actually get her to listen. If I didn't take a strong posture she'd just ignore me and do what she wants.”

Akane nodded absently, thinking about what he'd said to Shampoo. She couldn't help but make a comparison between Ranma getting hit by a bike and her mallet. She had to ask herself, if she really did love Ranma like she thought she did, why was she still hitting him with the mallet? Didn't she hit him because he was a jerk? But he hadn't been a jerk today. She was so confused and she didn't like the feeling.

As usual Kuno was waiting by the gate. He made his usual declaration of love for Akane and his usual demands that Ranma release the pigtailed goddess from her slavery.

Ranma heaved a mighty sigh. “I don't suppose this will do any more good than it has in the past, but I'll give it a try since we've had a month for you to hopefully wise up. I have a Chinese curse that causes me to change into a girl when I get splashed with cold water. I really am the pigtailed girl when I change. I am not interested in dating you and never have been. Even when I'm a girl I don't find you attractive.”

The kendoist predictably wouldn't listen. “What a preposterous story. The very idea that one such as you could transform into such a vision of loveliness is repugnant in the extreme. Release the pigtailed goddess from her vile enslavement!”

Ranma just sighed and turned toward the school building. “Don't you turn your back on me!” The upperclassman shouted. He charged forward and shouted, “I strike!”

Under his breath Ranma muttered, “Thanks for the warning.” He whirled and slapped the blade aside, stepping forward. He struck a blow with the heel of his hand to his attacker's sternum. The force of the blow was enough to send Kuno slamming into the wall around the school. Over the summer break all of the old Kuno-shaped indentations had been repaired, so this was the first one on the pristine surface.

The tall boy stated weakly, “That didn't hurt,” before falling on his face, unconscious. Ranma, not looking the least angry, said in a weary tone, “This is getting to be just sad. I really wish this guy would get some therapy or maybe find some other girls to obsess over.”

Akane replied, “I wouldn't wish him on anyone else.”

The pigtailed boy nodded. “It's just that I get so tired of this. He never learns. It might be fun if he was a challenge, but he's not even that. If he keeps doing this all the time there's the chance that I might really hurt him regardless of how tough he is. I'd hate to have that on my conscience.”

The black haired girl wondered if Ranma was actually growing up. Ranma picked Kuno up and slung him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. When Akane asked what he was doing the pigtailed boy told her, “I'm going to drop him off at the Nurse.” Akane thought this was also more responsible of Ranma. He used to just leave Kuno where he fell.

Naturally this made them late and they had to stand in the hall, holding buckets. Ranma took this with stoic acceptance. Once again Akane wondered what happened to him in that month at his mother's house.

That afternoon after school let out Akane was not sure how to feel about Ranma. Maybe staying with his mom had been good for him. The thing Akane noticed the most was that Ranma's mouth was amazingly foot-free. He wasn't insulting Akane. The black haired girl was feeling it was almost spooky. Experimentally she tried to use some verbal barbs on him that would normally get him to shout or come back with an insult. While he did seem to struggle with himself, he had enough control of himself to refrain from insults.

After they gotten about halfway home Akane had reached her limit. She stopped and faced her fiancé, demanding, “Why are you being so nice? Are you trying to get something by me, maybe to do something really mean to me later?”

Genuinely shocked Ranma asked, “Why would you think I'd do that? Mom was pointing out that I was hurting your feelings and that if we ever were going to get married I'd have to change. I was trying to start small. You know, I was just not insulting you. I wanted to see how you took that. If you were Ok with that for maybe a week or so, I'd try giving you compliments.”

His face fell as he considered it. “Damn! I can't even do it right being nice.”

Shocked, Akane told him, “You've gotten off to a good start. It's just that I'm not used to you acting this way. I thought you were trying to get something out of me or get me to do something.”

“If I was doing that I wouldn't just stop insulting you. I'd be doing something like eating your cooking and telling you it was delicious, like Ryoga does.” He noticed Akane's eyebrow twitching and exclaimed, “Damn, I doing it again! I'm sorry, Akane.”

Although she had been about to summon her mallet, the apology stopped her. Ranma continued on, “I don't know what I can say on the subject that isn't going to make you mad. I know you always try really hard when you cook.” He paused and somewhat timidly offered, “Maybe part of the problem is you're trying too hard.”

Her anger momentarily forgotten, Akane asked, “What do you mean?”

“I've seen you go into the kitchen with an expression of determination on your face. It's like you go into it telling yourself, `This time I'm going to do it! This time it's going to be delicious'!”

The expression on her face confirmed his guess better than words could. He nodded. “You can't expect to go straight from being an inexperienced cook to producing four star cuisine. Maybe you should just try for `a little better than last time' instead. If you do that and listen to Kasumi when she tells you what to do next, you might have better luck.”

Akane stared, not sure how to react. What the hell happened to Ranma during the month he spent with his mother? He was offering helpful suggestions about her cooking instead of just insulting and mocking? Who was this boy and what had he done with the real Ranma?

Ranma was feeling uncomfortable and started walking down the sidewalk again. Akane followed.

After they had gone another block, Ranma said, “Mom finally got off that manliness obsession she had. She told me she really wanted to have a daughter as well as a son but can't have any more kids. Me having the curse was like getting that daughter in addition to her son.”

Akane nodded, not sure where Ranma was going with this.

“Right now you could say she's done a complete turnaround. She says that when I'm in girl form I should `embrace my femininity.' I'm not sure if I even have any femininity to embrace, but to keep her happy, I'm going to be spending more time as a girl. She wanted me to spend all of my time as a girl for a couple weeks, but I managed to talk her out of that. I'll go to school as a guy and spend most of the rest of my time in girl form, for a while at least.”

“Why would she ask that of you?”

“You could ask her when we get home. She said she was coming over tonight. We're supposed to go out tonight and do a little shopping. She said it wasn't going to be like that stuff she got me before, but some simple basics like plain skirts and blouses with bras and panties. The stuff she got me when I was pretending to be `Tendo Ranko' were much more frilly and girlish.”

Akane couldn't help thinking about Ranma's behavior. He seemed really sincere in his wish to be nicer. She came to a decision. If Ranma could make an effort to be nicer, Akane could do that too. She resolved that for as long as Ranma refrained from insults, so would Akane. If he didn't act perverted, she wouldn't hit him with her mallet. She didn't know that Ranma now understood what being perverted meant and what kind of behavior to avoid.

When the teens got home they found Nodoka at the Tendo dojo waiting for them. She said, “Akane, I hope you don't mind, but I need to talk to Ranma about something. I also wanted to go by the Nekohanten to thank Shampoo and Cologne for living up the agreement to stay away from Ranma last month.”

Akane replied, “Uh, sure. No problem.” Silently she sulked, “You had him for a whole month. He's just starting to get nice enough to for me to want to spend more time with him and you take him away again.”

As Mother and Son walked away Nodoka asked Ranma, “Am I imagining it or was Akane acting jealous of me?”

Ranma looked over his shoulder for a moment. “Maybe she is. I took your advice and I've stopped insulting her.”

The mother grinned mischievously. “How did she take that?”

The pigtailed boy chuckled, “It confused the hell out of her. She confronted me about it and asked if I was trying to pull something.”

“Pull something?”

“She thought maybe I was being nice to cover up something mean I was going to do to her later.”

The mother looked shocked. “I've known you could sometimes be thoughtless and rude, but I've never known you to be deliberately mean.”

“I think she understands that now.”

He paused then looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You didn't need me along to thank the Amazons. What's the real reason?”

“I have a friend who has a home in this part of town. She contacted me this morning and told me she had to leave town on business. She asked that I stop in every other day or so to water her plants and feed her fish. Since we'd have the place to ourselves, I was thinking we could find something to do with the privacy.”

He took a quick look around to make sure no one was in range to hear. He told her, “I swear Mom, you're insatiable.”

She laughed. “I can't help it if my libido was magically enhanced. I need the kind of relief you are best at giving.”

Ranma leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He said, “I know what you mean. If you hadn't come and got me I was going to have to sneak off somewhere to try to give myself some relief. I'm not sure how I got through school.”

She nodded. “I'm grateful that the Stone brought us closer, but the increased libido can be… distracting at times.”

Ranma wanted to put his arm around her waist, but knew that it wasn't a good idea for a teenager to be showing that much affection for his mother in public. People might notice and figure things out.

After a little thought, “Did you really want to go to the Nekohanten or was that just an excuse?”

“Mostly an excuse to get you alone, but I did want to thank Cologne. If we hadn't had that time alone, we would never have gotten the Stone and would never have found what we now have.”

He reached out to give her hand a squeeze then released it, wary about being too public in his affections for his mother.

When they walked through the door of the Nekohanten, Shampoo greeted them with a somewhat subdued, “Nihao. Welcome Ranma and mother of Ranma. You come for dinner?”

“It might be nice if we could get some ramen to go. We may not have time to cook.”

As this was going on Cologne was watching from the back. There was something about the postures of the mother and son that was sounding alarm signals in her mind. Not just the postures but their closeness and the way they were moving toward each other.

Being a naturally nosy old woman anyway, something told her she needed to take a closer look at those two. She tuned her ki senses and focused them on the couple. It was when she studied them that she realized that they truly were a couple.

The indications were there in their auras. They were looking and acting like lovers. A closer look and she almost gasped. Cologne put a hand over her mouth. They'd had sex as recently as the morning of the previous day. What she saw in their ki made it evident that it hadn't been the first time.

She decided she needed to talk to them. Getting on top of her walking stick, she hopped out to greet the visitors. “Saotome-San, son-in-law, what brings you to our humble establishment this day?”

“We were on our way to help out a friend of mine. While she's out of town I'm watering her plants and feeding her fish. I asked Ranma if he'd come along with me. I just wanted to stop by to thank you for helping me get to know my son better.”

“I see.” She could easily guess what the woman would do with Ranma when they were alone in that house. “Could I talk to the both of you in my office?”

When the three were settled in chairs around a small desk the Amazon elder paused to think. This was a delicate subject. How best to approach it? Finally she said, “Being an Amazon tribal elder and more than 300 years old I've had to become a keen observer of human beings and their behavior.”

Both mother and son felt they knew where this was going. Nodoka asked, “What do you conclude from your `observations?'”

The elder sat back in her chair. “I conclude… That you and your son got to know each other a bit better than is approved of in society.”

Nodoka wryly commented, “I thank you for the delicacy you used in phrasing that. How did you figure it out?”

“I read your ki signatures. To one who knows what they are doing, it was fairly obvious. What happened to you two in that month?”

Nodoka was about to speak but Cologne held up a hand to silence her. “Just a moment.” She moved to the door then yanked it open, Mousse and Shampoo almost falling into the room.

“Get back to work!” The elder commanded. “If I catch you listening in on my private conversations again, you will spend the night in your cursed forms in a cage.”

The two teens scrambled to get back to work.

When Cologne was back in her chair, Nodoka began, “On the Saturday after Ranma and I got into the new house we went shopping…” She made the emphasis of the story the Family Stone. She went into some detail about what she had learned in her research. As for the actual relationship between herself and her son, she mainly aluded to it without speaking of it directly.

After Nodoka finished the Elder took a few moments to gather her thoughts. “I doubt it was on your minds when you began this relationship, but this effectively ends Ranma's marriage to Shampoo.”

“What?”

“You could never join the tribe now. This is another one of those laws of ours, specifically one regarding incest. I'm afraid that the laws of our tribe employ something of a double standard.”

The two Saotomes just sat and listened.

“When a woman of our tribe indulges in incest with her daughter it is looked on as morally wrong and both parent and child are ostracized. In essence what that means is that no one will talk to them other than the bare minimum needed to live in the village.”

“If a mother and son of our tribe are involved it is judged a crime where the son could be put to death and the mother banished from the village. In your case I think they would be lenient since you were under the influence of magic that you were not aware of at the time.”

Curious, Ranma asked, “What's the penalty for that.”

The elder thought about it. “The Council would have to debate it. I would guess banishment from the tribe for both parent and child. Since you already live in Japan that means neither of you would be welcome to ever visit our village. If you tried you would be escorted out and if you refused to go you would be carried and thrown out.”

“And the `marriage'?”

“Since there was no consummation of the union, it would simply be annulled. Otherwise it would be a forced divorce. If this became widely known I would likely be forbidden from even talking to you. We will return to the village. I will not tell Shampoo the reasons, but we will leave within the week, maybe sooner. The council would doubtless order me to leave anyway.”

Ranma looked puzzled, “This seems kind of sudden.”

Cologne heaved a huge sigh. “You don't understand. What the two of you have done is considered at best a terrible sin, at worst a crime in our society.” She paused and looked back and forth between the mother and son. “I have the feeling that the influence of that magic stone leaves you feeling no remorse over your actions.”

Mother and son exchanged a glance. Nodoka shook her head. “No remorse. I'm sorry we couldn't have started sooner. I do wonder if the stone increased our libido a little too much. It takes a lot to satisfy me now.”

Cologne held up a hand. “I think that it a little more information than I needed.”

Ranma stood up and stuck out his hand. “You have been a pain in the butt, but I have learned a lot from you. You'd be a good person to have at my back in a fight. I think I'll miss you. I won't miss Shampoo and Mousse so much.”

Cologne took the proffered hand and said, “You too would be a good ally. I'm sorry that Amazon laws would now forbid us from staying in touch. Even if it were caused by magic the argument would be made that the magic only gave you the urges. You were the ones to act on them.”

Nodoka said, “Not much point arguing about it now. The deed is done and there can be no going back. If you will excuse us, I'm getting a little anxious to do the deed again.”

As the mother and son got up and headed out of the office the old woman shook her head. She sighed once before bouncing out to the dining room. She called Shampoo over and told her, “Lock the doors and put up the `Closed' sign. Finish serving the people who are here and let them out when they are done. After you have finished cleaning up, start packing.”

“We are leaving?”

Switching to Mandarin she said, “I just found out something about Ranma that makes your marriage to him impossible. We must go back to the village.”

“Why can't we take him with us? The law says he's my husband.”

“I know the law better than you, child. Something has happened. The law would forbid a marriage with Ranma now. It would also forbid any of our village from talking to him, visiting him or having anything to do with him in any way. We might be allowed to write him letters, but not likely more than that.”

Shampoo demanded, “What happened?”

The elder replied, “I will say no more about it.”

“But…”

“NO MORE!” The elder shouted. In a quieter voice she said, “Get to work and prepare to leave. “

Shampoo glanced at Mousse. The boy had his glasses on for a change so he could see the look. Being able to see didn't mean he had any more idea of what was going on than Shampoo did. He just shrugged.

The Saotome mother and son arrived at the house and she used the key her friend had given her to unlock the door. After they ate the take-out food they had brought from the Nekohanten, Nodoka set about doing the small chores her friend had asked of her. It was hard to concentrate because Ranma kept coming up behind her and kissing her neck while wrapping his arms around her waist. When she finally finished up with watering the plants and feeding the fish they adjourned to the bedroom.

Nodoka found she enjoyed having Ranma slowly strip her. She reciprocated by undoing the buttons of his shirt then opening it and pulling it off. She undid the drawstring then pulled down his pants. Eventually they were both naked and spent some time just holding each other.

They moved to the bed and Ranma started things off by caressing her body in all of the sensitive places he had learned of. “Oh Ranma, I so terribly missed not having you there to do this to me last night.”

“I missed it too.” He didn't say more as he pushed his face into her pussy and started to lick. While doing that he reached a hand up to begin manipulating one of her breasts. He continued his ministrations until she cried out in her first orgasm of the night. Only after she had her first did he move between her legs to insert his cock into her pussy.

He continued to pump her cunt through two more orgasms for her until he blew a load of cum deep into her. With a little rest his erection perked up and they went to 2 two more orgasms for her and another cum for Ranma.

When they finished, Nodoka got up from the bed and from the closet she pulled a familiar bag. It was the bag from the store where they had bought the dildos. From it she pulled an item Ranma hadn't seen before. It was a rubber cock of the same size as the one Nodoka had told him was as big as Genma's cock. This one came with a harness that let the mother strap it to her body so it was positioned on her like a real cock would be.

Nodoka then pulled from the bag a small child's water pistol and squirted Ranma, changing him into a girl. She asked her mother, “What do you have in mind to do with that?”

Nodoka grinned. “We got so wrapped up in the fucking we never bothered to finish all of the lessons I had in mind. Tonight I wanted to try a double penetration or `DP.' The real thing would be when one man fucks you in the cunt while another one does your ass. I'm going to lubricate this dong before I put it in your ass.”

“That is important when doing any kind of ass fucking. The man should always be lubricated. That lubrication could be just spit from the woman licking him or it could be pussy juices from fucking in front first. These lubes you get from the store are probably best. What I'm using right now is a lube designed specially for use with dildos. It makes the rubber slide easier without damaging it. Lube that is best for real skin can damage the dildo if used on it too often.”

Nodoka flipped up the top of the cap on a plastic bottle and poured a thick-looking clear liquid onto her hand. When she thought she had enough she applied it to the dildo. The action of doing this somewhat resembled a man masturbating.

“We've done regular fucking with a dildo before but we were holding them in our hands or used the double dong. Let's try it this way and see how you like it.”

With that Nodoka got between her daughter's legs and positioned herself. Raman reached down and grasped the rubber cock and placed the head at the lips of her cunt. As Nodoka thrust in she commented, “I wish I could actually feel this.”

Ranma breathlessly replied, “There might be a way to do that.”

Now moving her hips to pump the dildo in and out, Nodoka asked, “What was that?”

Ranma couldn't really focus enough to answer the question. She waved a hand and said, “I'll tell you later, just keep doing that.”

The mother gave an amused snort and kept pumping her hips. They kept at it until Ranma climaxed. After Ranma came down from her orgasm Nodoka pulled out and handed the other dildo to her. Ranma inserted the fake cock into her cunt then rolled over as planned. Ranma reached her hands behind her and pulled her ass cheeks apart to give Nodoka a better shot at her ass.

As the mother positioned the head of the imitation cock at the opening of her daughter's ass she said, “I'm going to start pushing it in. If it feels painful or just too weird let me know and we can stop.”

In an effort to ease the process, Ranma tried to concentrate on relaxing the muscles in her rear passage. It must have helped because the lubed shaft slid with little need of force. When it was buried to the hilt Nodoka asked, “How does it feel?”

“A little weird. I can sort of feel like there's a skin between that part and my pussy and I can feel the two dildos bumping against each other through that skin. I can't say I've felt anything like that before, but it's not a bad feeling. I think I'm going to like it when you start moving it in there.”

Taking that as her cue, Nodoka moved her hips to pull the dildo partly out then shoved it back in. After giving Ranma a few more strokes, her mom stopped and said, “How is that?”

“For Kami's sake don't stop! I like it. Keep going.”

Nodoka laughed and resumed her movements. She was a little surprised when Ranma actually climaxed from having her ass fucked. After that the mother pulled out and lay beside her daughter for a while. Ranma had rolled over and was lying on her back.

As the two women idly toyed with each other's breasts, Nodoka said, “Ah… I needed that. Masturbation just isn't the same.”

“I know. I think masturbation as a girl is better because I can have a lot more orgasms that way.”

Ranma paused and then said, “On another subject: I told Akane that you want me to embrace my femininity and for me to spend more time in girl form. I guess she thinks you're crazy, but she bought it.”

The mother said, “Good. I think your seduction of your father will go better if you can spend all of your time around him in girl form.”

The redhead nodded, then said, “I didn't expect the problem with Shampoo to be solved so easily. I mean, just like that and she's out of my life. I suspect that Ukyo will be a bit harder to deal with.”

“How do you think she would react if you told her about us?”

Ranma frowned. “That's a tough call. I never really found out her attitudes about sex since I knew so little about it myself until recently. I don't even know how she would feel about girl-on-girl sex with me in girl form.”

“Maybe it's something you should talk to her about.”

Thinking about it, she said, “I could put it to her that if she and I were to get married, she should be prepared to have sex both ways. If she says she's not willing to do that, then I could tell her that a marriage between us could never work out and can we still be friends.”

“So if she responds that way you never tell her about you and me?”

“Right.”

“What if she is willing to `swing both ways'?”

Smiling, she said, “I'll ask her if she's willing to share with Akane. If she says she's willing to do that then (and only then) I will tell her about you and me and that she'd have to share me with you as well as Akane. I'm not completely sure about Akane, though.”

Thoughtfully Nodoka said, “Ukyo has been a cross dresser for so long, I wonder if she would be more open to that sort of thing than most people.”

“I guess the only way to find out would be to ask her. I'll have to be careful how I approach the subject, but it should be possible.”

She went quiet for a while. “Mom, I need to tell you something. Spending the night without you near made me realize something.”

“What's that dear?”

Ranma turned her face toward her mother. “I love you, Mom.”

“Well, of course you do. I love you too, Ranma.”

Ranma's tone was serious serious. “You don't understand what I mean. I'll try to make this clear. The way I love you is not in the usual mother/son kind of way. It's not just the love of one person for their sex partner.”

Nodoka felt her heart leap. Could Ranma be saying that she felt about her the way she had come to feel about him… her?

Taking hold of her mother's hands, Ranma told her “I love you in the full, romantic sense of the word. If it were legal, I would ask you to marry me. If you were still able to have kids I would ask you if you would do me the honor of bearing my children.”

Nodoka gasped at the intensity of the feelings expressed and the sincerity in her lover's eyes and voice. “I didn't want to say anything in case you didn't feel the same way. I do feel that kind of love for you too. I feel it more strongly than I ever felt it for Genma. Oh, Kami what can we do?”

“We can't be legally married but we can have a union of minds as well as bodies. I promise to stand with you in all things. I will stay with you, defend you, love you until death parts us. If that means you playing the part of my mistress, then so be it.”

Her voice thick with emotion, Nodoka replied, “Then I will make the same promise. I will stay with you, defend you, help you and love you for the rest of my life. Maybe I could change my name to be your mistress.”

“We can work out the details later.”

“All right. What about your father?”

“I'd still like to experience fucking with a live man. It was good with the dildos, but I'm betting it will be better if the cocks are real.”

“Likely it will. How do you feel about your father?”

“I don't love him like I do you. After all the crap he's put me through I'm not sure I even like him. I'd be willing to have sex with him but that's more out of curiosity than for any real feeling I have. I don't know, maybe once we start to have a sexual relationship, I might develop real feelings for him. Still, with our history, I feel doubtful of that.”

“What about the honor agreement for you to marry Akane? I thought you loved her.”

“I thought so too. I thought she loved me. Then I learned that during the marriage Akane knew about the cask of Naniichuan water and didn't tell me. From what Cologne told you I know that it probably wouldn't have made a difference about not getting a cure. I didn't know that at the time and neither did she. Since I thought she wanted to be rid of my girl side I just can't understand her acting like that.”

She paused a moment before continuing. “After the wedding fell through we just seemed to fall back into our old habits. We went back to insulting each other and she went back to hitting me with the mallet over things that weren't my fault. I didn't even know why she was hitting me for some of it because I didn't really understand what she was accusing me of when she called me a pervert.”

“Did she hit you today?”

“Not today.”

Nodoka told her daughter, “Although I would prefer to have you to myself, I cannot be so selfish. There is the matter of the honor agreement between the Saotome and Tendo families. Besides, if you could rekindle some of the love you did have and married it might be a better situation for us.”

“How do you mean?”

“People might think it odd for a young man like you to live with his mother. If a mother were to live with her married son and daughter-in-law it would likely not be thought worthy of comment. We could say that I was there to help to care for the children you would plan on having.”

Ranma had to laugh at that. “You are still keen on having grandchildren, aren't you?”

The mother smiled. “Yes, but it would still benefit you and me and our relationship.”

Ranma nodded. “We'll have to see how things develop between Akane and me. After the way she's been since the wedding attempt I don't know if she's even still willing. Besides that I won't commit to a marriage with her until she puts away the mallet and promises never to use it on me again.”

“But the honor agreement between our families…”

“No buts, mom. If she keeps bashing me as bad as she was I can see one of two things happening. Either she kills me by beating me death or I get mad enough to overcome my reluctance to hit a girl. If I get that mad I could end up hurting her badly or maybe even killing her. Either way it has to stop. Today went well, so I feel a tiny bit of hope that things can get better between us.”

“What will you do about the Kuno siblings?”

Shaking her head, Ranma said, “If there were some way to get them to accept that I can change sexes, it would likely get them to back off. With his stupid macho pride, Tatewaki wouldn't be able to deal with the fact that he's in love with another man. Kodachi is harder to call. She's likely just as crazy, but smarter than her brother.”

“Have you tried demonstrating the curse for them?”

Ranma snorted, “Many times. Once Tatewaki was hugging my girl form while Nabiki poured hot water on me. I changed right in his arms and he still blamed it on evil magic and said I was a `foul sorcerer.' He says my girl form is another person who I've made my slave through evil magic. I've used some kind of mind control on her so she claims she's really me.”

Nodoka considered that for a time. “Normally I don't approve of lying, but maybe that is what is called for.”

Ranma's eyebrows went up. “What did you have in mind?”

“Do you think he might accept the story that `Ranko' is your twin sister?”

With a hand on her chin, Ranma speculated, “He might. Still, he might insist on seeing us together before he will believe it.”

With inspiration, Nodoka offered, “People are always saying how much your girl side looks like me. Maybe I could dye my hair back to its original color and put it in a pigtail.”

Musingly, Ranma said, “That might work. We can work on a plan.”

“What were you saying about a way I could feel the act of pushing a dildo into you?”

“Not a dildo. There's a temporary version of both the girl and boy curses - `Instant Naniichuan and Nyaniichuan powders. You mix one of them with water then douse yourself to get a curse that lasts a day or until you get splashed with hot water. With that you could turn yourself into a man for a few hours and experience exactly what a man feels when he fucks a woman.”

“You mean I could change into a man the way you can change back and forth?”

Ranma nodded. “The main difference is that it's temporary.”

“That would certainly add variety to a couple's sex life. Part of me feels repulsed by the idea of changing into a man, but I think an even larger part is excited by the idea. I will need to think about that. Still, it is like there is this nagging little voice at the back of my mind that says I shouldn't reject it before I've tried it.”

Nodoka prodded Ranma in the ribs and said, “Come on, get dressed. If we're going to buy you some clothes like we said we were, we'd better get going.”

They hurried to the stores. Thus it was that the next day a pretty red haired girl walked into Ucchan's. The girl was wearing a knee-length navy blue skirt with a pastel yellow short-sleeved blouse. She was wearing her hair loose instead of in a pigtail. She also was wearing a simple gold chain around her neck and clip on earrings. Even with no makeup she looked adorable.

Konatsu looked at the girl and said, “Is that you, Ranma-san?”

Looking glum the redhead answered, “Yeah, it's me. Is Ucchan free to talk for a while?”

“I believe she is. I'll go see.” Before leaving the male kunioichi paused, as if studying the girl.

“What?” Ranma demanded.

“Is this a disguise?”

With a neutral expression she answered, “No.”

When no further explanation was forthcoming, Konatsu went off to the kitchen. When the chef walked out of the kitchen in her cook's clothing she looked Ranma up and down. Finally she said, “Konatsu already told me you're not dressed like that as a disguise. So what is it? Did you lose a bet?”

“No, I didn't lose a bet. If you have some time would you sit and talk with me?”

Before she would agree, Ukyo gestured at the clothing.

Ranma rolled her eyes and said, “It was my mom's idea.”

“Mrs. `my son is so manly?' Oh, I've gotta hear this.” They sat at one of the tables.

“When I started the month at her house she was still doing the whole manly thing. When I offered to help her cook dinner she said she wasn't sure it was a very manly thing to do. I offered to change to a girl if it would make her more comfortable. I guess that got her thinking.”

She paused to gather her thoughts. “Part of us getting to know each other was each telling the other what we were doing during the time I was away. She wanted to kill Pop when she heard about the Nekoken.”

Ukyo spoke up, “She's not the only one.”

“She also asked me if I'd had sex with any of my fiancés.”

“Ranchan! She really asked that?”

“Yeah, she wanted to get an idea of how manly I really was. I did kind of wonder how this was different from my perverted friend who always ask if I've `done it' with any of you girls. But this was my mom, so I told her none of them. In that discussion it came out that my Pop had never given me `the talk.'”

“What, never?”

“Never. When I started to get old enough notice things like the shape a woman's butt or how her breasts jiggled, I would ask him about it. I wondered at the feelings it made me feel. He told me such things were a distraction from the art. He said it was a waste of time thinking about them.”

“Your father is a worse idiot than I thought he was and that's saying something.”

“Yeah, but he really does mean well. He's always trying to make me a better martial artist. I'm finally getting clued into the fact that he was too focused on the Art. Some of the stuff he didn't teach me outside of the Art is coming back to bite me on the butt now.”

Ukyo had a thought, “So does this mean that all the times Akane accused you of being a pervert and malleted you…?”

“I mostly didn't even know what she was talking about. I knew is must be bad or she wouldn't hit me for it. At least I understood it when she hit me for being a jerk. I didn't really know how to be a pervert.”

“So what did your mom decide to do about it?”

Ranma blushed. “She decided that Pop had failed in his duty as a parent. Since he hadn't done the job, she would have to do it. Since she had no experience giving the boy's side of it she went to the library and got books and stuff. She gave me the full talk about sex with pictures and everything.” That was true but fell far short of the full scope of the teachings on the subject.

Ukyo had to laugh at the mental image this brought up in her mind. “That had to be embarrassing for you to be talking about that stuff with your mother when you were a guy.”

“You have no idea. But she also had another idea.”

“What idea?”

“Well, it sort of comes from something Cologne told her. I'm likely going to be stuck changing from guy to girl and back again for the rest of my life. The curse fights against being cured. It will let me get close but never let me actually be cured. Basically a cure is possible but with the curse fighting it, it is unlikely. Or as she said, not something to build a life on.”

“Do you believe her? Cologne's lied to you about other stuff before.”

“This time I think I do believe her. The main reason I think so is that she has nothing to gain by telling my mom that. If I still thought a cure were possible, she could try to blackmail me into going back to the village. No, by letting me know a cure is unlikely she lost a bargaining chip. I believe her. (Not that it makes any difference now.)”

“What was that last?”

“It doesn't make a difference now. The Amazons are leaving. They may already be gone.”

“Shampoo has given up on you?”

“She wasn't the one deciding. Cologne didn't really explain her reasons. She said that they were leaving and Mom and I would never be welcome in their village. She also said that none of the people of her tribe would be allowed to speak to us although they might be allowed to write us letters.”

The chef considered that. “That sounds kind of harsh. Are you sure you didn't do something to break one of their crazy laws?”

“Maybe I did. She wouldn't talk about it directly. And I don't really care. I really don't like Shampoo, but I let her get away with stuff because I didn't want to hurt her feelings. I'm glad she's leaving. Cologne has been a good sensei and I think I will miss her even if she does have some weird ideas from living in that tribe.”

The chef pulled her mind back to the subject. “So, anyway, your mom doesn't think you're going to get a cure now or at least are unlikely to get one.”

The redhead nodded, “She decided that she needed to give me the girls' `talk' as well as the one for boys.”

The other girl's eyes bulged out. Ranma nodded. “That was sort of my reaction too. I was saying, `I'm a guy. Why do I need to know that stuff?'”

“What did she say?”

“If I'm going to spending half my time with a girl's body I need to understand it and how it works.”

“Wow,” exclaimed Ukyo. “That actually makes sense.”

“Yeah, that's why I agreed to let her teach me about it. It was when she was telling me about some of the emotional effects that female hormones have on the body that she had an epi… epi…”

“Do you mean an epiphany?”

“Yeah, one of those.”

Frowning, Ukyo asked, “What was her epiphany?”

“She figured that maybe she was hurting me by insisting on manly behavior even when I was in girl form. She said my male mind was giving me one set of messages while my female body was giving me a different ones. She worried that this might confuse me and cause me emotional problems.”

“So is that why you're dressed as a girl right now?”

Looking glum, Ranma said, “Yep! Now she's convinced that to be properly in emotional balance I need to embrace my femininity when I'm in this form.”

Looking skeptical Ukyo asked, “Ranchan, honey, do you even have any femininity to embrace?”

“I don't know. That's what I'm supposed to find out. All of my time outside of school for the next few weeks I'm to dress like a girl complete with female undergarments. As much as I can I'm supposed to act like a girl (or try to).”

“If that's what she wants then why not go to school that way too?”

“Too difficult to do with me registered as a guy. I might be able to get away with going as a girl sometimes but Mom was worried that if we got the registration changed, we might not be able to change it back later. Then there's the restroom and locker room problem.”

“Oh, right. You wouldn't want to be a girl in the men's locker room.”

“Yeah, I've tried it and didn't like it. They'd ogle and try to grope me. If I tried using the girls locker room the girls would probably just beat the crap out of me.”

Ukyo nodded. “What about accidents with hot water?”

“I'll start carrying a bottle of water to douse myself. I really hope I don't change when wearing these clothes. They'd be really tight on my male body, tight enough to hurt.”

“As interesting as all of this is, I get the feeling that isn't what you came by for today or at least not all of it.”

Ranma looked embarrassed. Finally she asked, “Ucchan how do you feel about my curse?”

“I'm not sure what you mean.”

Ranma signed, “When you think about your ideal for what life would be like with you and me together, how do you picture it?”

“Huh, Ranchan, why are you asking this?”

“I have a reason. Do you see us as man and wife with me as the man and you the wife?”

“Well, of course. How else would I see it?”

“Does my being a woman half the time figure into it at all?”

“But…”

“You told me that during the time you were pretending to be a guy you actually went on a few dates with some girls.”

“That was just to maintain the illusion. It kept gay guys from making passes at me.”

“Were you the least bit attracted to any of the girls you dated?”

“NO! I am not a lesbian!”

“I hope not. That would be just as bad for me as if you are totally straight.”

“Huh? What do you mean `bad?' Are you saying my being straight would be a bad thing?”

Ranma explained, “For me it would be. A totally straight woman would only like my male side and I'd have push my female side into the background. A lesbian woman would only be interested in my girl side and wouldn't want to have anything to do with my male self. I may be stuck with my curse for the rest of my life. I'm finally getting to where I can accept the curse. I don't want to cut myself off from a part of me for the sake of a marriage.”

“So…”

“My ideal spouse, life-partner or whatever you want to call it would be someone bisexual - who likes both men and women.”

“What do you mean you are accepting the curse?”

“Maybe I am starting to embrace my femininity already and didn't realize it. I found myself thinking that you really did make a cute looking guy. I've even caught myself having hentai thoughts about some of my friends at school. Right now I'm not comfortable with the thought of having that kind of relationship with a man but I'm not disgusted like I used to be. If my attitudes keep changing I may come to actually like the idea someday.”

“Why are you talking about these things now?”

With another sigh, Ranma explained, “Let me sum it up this way. Because of my curse I think I would need to get together with a spouse (partner) who `swings both ways.' If the thought of getting together girl-on-girl repulses you, then maybe we'd be better off not getting married.”

“But Ranchan, are you saying we can never be together?”

“No. I'm saying you need to think about how you feel. If you can't accept me in both my male and female forms then maybe it would be better if we were just friends. I'm going to leave now and let you think about this.” She got up and went toward the door.

Before Ranma got to the door Ukyo called out, “Ranchan!”

The redhead turned and said, “Think about it.” She continued to the exit from the building. Ukyo couldn't shake the feeling that Ranma was walking out of her life and not just out of the restaurant.

The End of Chapter 3

Author's Note: Well, that's the Amazon's gone and Ukyo possibly sidelined. Is Akane still a contender in the battle for Ranma's heart? Ranma has declared his/her love for Nodoka. Is there room in that relationship for another person? Will Ranma and Nodoka try the Sister Scam on the Kunos? Will Ranma succeed in seducing her father? Have you ever known Ranma to give up on a challenge? Watch for Chapter 4.

To Ghdr: Thanks for the suggestions. I've used one of them and may use more in a later chapter.