Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ One-Half a Wing and a Prayer ❯ Of Cats and Corsets ( Chapter 24 )

Author’s Note: The NWC and the situations they found themselves in were the work of Rumiko Takahashi and were distributed by Kitty and Viz. I use them without permission, but with humble respect for those before me, and I write this with no intent to profit from the efforts of others. There is sex, there is violence, and some foul language. If any of these offend or you are a minor, be gone with ye, tis not for you.
P.S.: by now you know I do this for Janice.


Ranma worked his way through another kata as Nabiki and Akane watched him move in his dance like patterns. Nabiki watched because she liked her boyfriend’s muscles and the way they moved under the tank top he wore. Akane was simply trying to figure out the movements so she could duplicate his style. As she stumbled through another set, she continued the conversation with her sister.

“Are you really thinking about moving out?”

Nabiki shrugged from where she leaned against the dojo wall, “I don’t think Daddy can handle the whole willing love triangle thing Shampoo, Ranma and I have going. Besides, I graduate next year, and I’ll be going to college anyway, I may as well get a head start on the living free and easy thing.”

Akane frowned as she punched into the air, “You’re still in high school though. What are people going to say about you living with someone like that?”

“They can say whatever they want,” Nabiki scoffed, “I could care less. Besides, Cologne is thinking about starting a business in town, and working there as manager is going to look good on the old resume.”

Akane grunted, “I thought you were a martial artist now? Why are you still all worked up over money?”

“Little Sis, do you have any clue as to how much money it takes to run a place like this?”

Under his breath Ranma muttered, “Oh lord, here we go.”

“What was that,” Akane growled at the boy.

Ranma stopped his kata and smirked, “I asked the same thing while we were in China. She was worried about some investments or something while we were away and I opened my big mouth.”

Nabiki nodded, “See all the holes you’ve punched in the walls over the years?” Akane looked around and noted the number, ranging from the ones near the floor when she was only starting to the ones that had accumulated over the last year of dealing with her frustrations.

Nabiki continued, “And how many cinder blocks do you go through in a week?” Akane thought about this, and was quite proud of how much progress she had made in her strength training.

“Throw in all the damage we have to fix when some nut challenges the dojo,” Nabiki added and threw her hands up in exasperation, “It’s a wonder we haven’t had to sell the damn house to pay off all the bills you so called artists rack up.”

Akane blinked at that, “But I thought that was all part of training.”

“Of course she’s that clueless,” Nabiki grumbled. She then looked at her little sister and yelled, “GET A JOB ALREADY!”

Ranma chuckled, until Nabiki locked her eyes on him, “I’ve already lined one up for you, lover boy.”

“Um…gulp?”


One Half a Wing and a Prayer
By Seth

Chapter 24
Of Cats and Corsets


It isn’t quite a nightmare, Ranma thought, but its damn close.

The redhead stood behind the counter of the very same store she had bought a rather provocative ensemble of leather from almost two months ago. The sales clerk she had met then, Yuki, was beside her and explaining the computerized cash register to the confused looking demoness in hiding. Ranma mentally cursed Nabiki for her sense of humor.

“You had such good taste last time we were there that I talked Yuki into giving you a try,” Nabiki had said, “It’s only part time after school, and only three times a week, so no complaining about it.”

Time wasn’t what Ranma wanted to complain about, but Nabiki had put her foot down, and Shampoo just found the whole thing ‘too too funny’. What Ranma wanted to complain about was that she really didn’t want to stand around all day with lingerie staring back at her. Granted, she was a girl at the moment, and she was more or less comfortable with that, but the idea of actually selling the sometimes downright skimpy clothing was embarrassing Ranma to no end.

“How do you manage doing this,” she asked Yuki.

The other girl chuckled and patted Ranma on the shoulder, “I know how you feel. The first few weeks I worked here, I was mortified anytime someone I knew came in. Then I realized that I’m doing this because of two things. I like helping people, especially couples trying to be romantic, or even a little naughty. I guess I’m a romantic myself, and also a little naughty.”

“And the other reason,” Ranma asked, trying not to be disturbed by the gleam in the older girl’s eye.

Yuki laughed, “The money is good here.”

Ranma sighed, but couldn’t argue with that. She would be working two weekday afternoons and Saturday, and even with so few hours she would bring home a comfortable paycheck, at least as far as she understood it. Ranma had never had much money, especially since she would spend most of it bailing her father out of jail. And what little money she had after that, Genma would usually confiscate to get drunk and lament his son’s inability to keep him out of jail.

Ranma was suddenly very glad she hadn’t seen her father in over a month.

The rest of the afternoon went by uneventfully as Ranma learned how the store was run. She and Yuki hit it off rather well, and during slow moments they talked about their respective relationships. Ranma did not tell the girl about her gender changing issues, and Yuki seemed to have no real problem with Ranma being a lesbian, though she did get a bit of a giggle from the idea of the blushing redhead in a three way relationship.

As for Yuki, the girl seemed like a tornado of dating. In the last six months she had been through three boyfriends and one girlfriend, “Just to see if that would have worked better,” she explained. The sales girl longed for a Mister Right to come along and sweep her off her feet, and so far all she had found were Mister So-sos.

“I know I may have high standards, but I want to be happy damn it,” she groused while hanging thongs. “All my friends, even you and Nabiki, seem to click nicely with their partners. Is it so wrong for me to want someone like that, boy or girl?”

Ranma shrugged and continued to reset the bras hanging from the wall nearby, “I guess that kind of thing takes a lot of work for most people, I just got incredibly lucky. If Shampoo hadn’t…well lets just say it was a close thing and she almost wound up pledging to chase me across the earth until she killed me.” Yuki blinked at this, but Ranma didn’t notice and continued, “And Nabiki had the advantage of knowing a lot about me before we really got too deeply involved. By the first time she dragged me in here, I was really in love with her.”

Suddenly Ranma felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, and turned to see a pouting Yuki holding a hanger she had just bopped Ranma with, “What ya do that for?”

“I am so jealous of you I could scream,” Yuki pouted comically before snorting a laugh at the embarrassed and apologetic look her coworker gave her. Unable to hold the laugh in, Yuki let loose, and soon Ranma found herself caught up in the infectious merriment. The new friends finished work in high spirits, and Yuki gave the smaller girl a big grin as the redhead left to head home.

“See you Thursday, Ranma. And try to dress a little better, maybe something to show off that killer figure of yours.”

Ranma looked down at her traditional red top and black pants and shrugged, “I’ll think about it. And then Nabiki and Shampoo will probably put me in something nice anyway. I swear I’m a big dress up doll for those two sometimes.”

Yuki laughed again, “Maybe, but Barbie never looked that good in leather.”

Ranma blushed again, and waved bye to her coworker and new friend. God, I need friends like her, Ranma thought. Outside of the Tendos and Amazons, I don’t know if I really have any.

When she returned to the Tendos, Ranma called out, “I’m home.” A bouncing Amazon rushed down the hall and gave her a glomp tackle that almost knocked her back out the door, but Ranma maintained her balance and hugged Shampoo back.

“How first day of work go?” the blue haired girl asked, and Ranma sighed.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Nabiki was trying to punish me for something.”

Nabiki poked her head around the corner and smirked around a Popsicle stick, “Oh, come on, it couldn’t have been that bad, lover girl.”

Ranma half carried her Amazon wife into the living room and sat next to her fiancé, “I swear I was almost dead from embarrassment when some customer asked me if I prefer front or back clasp bras.”

Shampoo cupped one of Ranma’s breasts through her top and asked, “She not know you no wear bra?”

Akane walked past to sit down at the table as well and sighed, “Perverts, the lot of you.”

“You bet, little sis,” Nabiki said with a smile, “and proud of it.”

“Now now, everyone,” Soun Tendo said as he joined the teenagers, “let’s not fight at the table.” He looked over and saw that Shampoo was still cupping Ranma’s breast, her hand moving slowly, and the redhead wore a big goofy grin with glazed over eyes.

“Ms Shampoo,” he said after quickly turning away, “I would greatly appreciate it if you were not that affectionate with Ranma at the dinner table.” He composed himself and looked back to see if she had complied.

She only smiled, “Then we go upstairs and do nice things to each other.”

Nabiki gave the demoness a hug as well, cupping her other breast and laughed, “Sounds like fun. I need my daily dose of vitamin Ranma.”

Soun was passed out on the floor before she finished the sentence.

A red faced Akane pounded her fist on the table and yelled, “Don’t you three ever let up?! Do you like tormenting Daddy like that? Or maybe you just hate not being the center of attention.”

“She’s right,” Ranma managed to get out around the pleasant sensations coming from her chest, “It feels great and all, but don’t you think we get a little carried away?”

Nabiki let go of the demoness and grumbled, “When did a sex fiend get morals and modesty?”

Shampoo also let go, and Ranma found her voice, “I just think it’s wrong to tease like that. Look, I know that you two like doing stuff like that, but it makes people around us uncomfortable. Akane is trying like hell not to react to it, but it has to be driving her up the wall.”

“Got that right,” the youngest Tendo snapped.

Ranma shrugged, “It’s just that the more uncomfortable people are around me, the less comfortable I am. Please try to understand.”

Shampoo nodded, but Ranma saw that it was reluctant. The Amazon had never bothered to hide her affection for either of Ranma’s forms, and the last month in China had often involved her running down a half naked Ranma through the village for more together time. By the standards of the Amazons, Japan was downright prudish, and Shampoo just couldn’t understand it.

As for Nabiki, she tried a different approach. Mentally she looked past the words Ranma spoke and looked into the thoughts behind them. She found there that Ranma’s demon nature was fighting hard to overpower the transformed boy’s actions. Images of Yuki pushed down on the counter of the lingerie store and ravaged by the sexual beast passed through her mind, as well as acts upon herself, Shampoo, Kasumi, Kodachi, even Akane and very briefly a simple generic male form. She also felt Ranma’s powerful will beating these impulses into submission.

“You feel less human every time someone calls you on our little displays, don’t you,” Nabiki said softly as understanding lit her eyes.

Ranma flinched and spoke, “I know I’m human. It’s just…I get uncomfortable with the whole thing every now and then.”

“Sorry, Airen,” Shampoo said softly. Ranma leaned over and kissed the girl lightly, letting the warrior know that there was nothing to be sorry about. Then Ranma turned back to Nabiki and kissed her as well.

“I promise,” Nabiki said after the kiss, “I’ll try and ease off a little. Just don’t expect me to end all my lecherous ways with you.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Ranma sighed as Kasumi and Kodachi came out with dinner.

The next morning at school, Ranma found himself to be more energetic than usual. His two lovers had simply slept cuddled up to him last night with no demands for erotic encounters. He felt a little guilty for making them feel down, but he was beginning to develop a plan for remedying the situation.

As he exchanged his worn slippers for a pair of inside shoes from his locker, a folded paper fell out. Picking it up, he read it quickly, his face becoming puzzled. Turning to Akane who was standing next to him at her locker, feeling a little smug for taking him down a peg last night, he asked a simple question.

“Nabiki walked in with us, right?”

Akane gave him a sideways look, “Duh. I thought we were going to be late because you two insisted on walking Shampoo to her grandmother’s hotel.”

“And we saw her about a minute ago heading upstairs, right?”

Akane finally looked at him with a frown, “Are you more clueless then usual this morning?”

“Maybe not me,” Ranma shrugged and handed the note to Akane. He then sent out what he and his lovers were beginning to call a mental ring to see if Nabiki was all right. The quick psychic response from his fiancé assured him that there was no trouble.

Out loud, Akane read, “Dear Ranma, I have been captured by evil bandits that wish to do me bodily harm. Please come and rescue me from these henchmen of villiany at the high school gym. Signed, Nabiki Tendo.” She paused for a moment and summed it up, “What the hell?”

“Nabiki is fine and in her class, but I think we should investigate this anyway,” Ranma said, turning and leaning against the lockers.

“Oh come on,” Akane groaned, “This has got to be the dumbest trap ever, and you want to go waltzing in?”

“It’s probably Kuno,” Ranma said resignedly, “At least it sounds like the way he talks. If I don’t go, he’ll just try something dumber, and sooner rather that later. Do you really want him barging in during class and starting a fight? I’d rather stand in the hall for being a little late then get detention for fighting during class.”

“God, I hate when you make sense,” Akane said and turned to head for the gym.

Soon the two teens arrived to find ‘Nabiki’ bound at the far end of the gym on the stage. Ranma almost started laughing right then and there at the pale, underfed, and obviously male imposter. Whoever he was, the Furinkan uniform jumper fit him badly, and Ranma prayed with all his heart and soul that this poor slob didn’t get carried away and put the right underwear on as well.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” was all Akane felt like adding.

“Of thank goodness that you’ve come to rescue me,” the boy said in a falsetto that ranked up in the fingernails on chalkboard range.

Slowly, and with much reluctance to get any closer to the cross dressed bait, the two teens walked up to the stage and stood before the jumper wearing boy.

“For the love of god,” Ranma deadpanned, “Have a little dignity, man.”

Akane simply grabbed the transvestite by the collar and hauled him up to his feet, “How about I just punch his lights out and get this over with?”

After flushing for a moment, the boy chuckled, “I guess I should thank you, Saotome, for walking so easily into my trap. I now have you right where I want you.” With that, he reached out and tugged on a stage rope, opening a trap door in the stage.

A trap door that he and Akane promptly fell through.

Ranma leaned over the edge of the opening and called down, “Hey, Akane, you all right?”

“Of course I’m all right,” Akane shouted back up, “but this idiot knocked his head on landing.” She was about to yank the cross dresser to his feet when there was a small click. She looked down and saw that the boy was somewhat lucid and had activated a remote control of some kind.

Above, Ranma was about to jump down after Akane when the trap door snapped shut. Behind him he also heard the gym doors closing with a loud crash. Jumping down from the stage, Ranma looked around, his senses alert and ready for an attack.

From the stage, a fanfare blared and the curtains opened to reveal Kuno flanked by two large cloth covered shapes. The hairs on the back of Ranma’s neck jumped straight out, and the warrior eyed the shapes warily.

“What is it this time, Kuno,” Ranma growled out.

The kendoist smiled, “An odd tone to take with your better, worm. The magus Hikaru Gosuinkugi has informed me of your vulnerability, and I have come today to finally defeat you and release your otherworldly servant into my caring arms. Already, the fair Akane Tendo has seen you for what you are and abandoned you.”

“Dude, she fell down a hole,” Ranma deadpanned.

“Enough,” Kuno yelled, “See the form of your demise!” Kuno tossed an object at Ranma, who easily caught it and held it up to examine. It looked, and smelled, like a large fish.

“Am I supposed to smack you with this or something?”

Kuno then pulled off the tarp on his left, and Ranma felt the world drop out from under him as a stack of cages flew open. Furred forms bounded off the stage and charged for Ranma each letting out a low sound that echoed in the pit of Ranma’s stomach.

“Meow!”

Cats, and dozens of them, were bounding their way across the gym floor towards Ranma. He quickly tossed the fish away, but its juice had already covered his arm. Half the small furry creatures broke off to capture the seafood while the others closed in on the panicking martial artist. Kuno watched Ranma’s face grow manic, and knew that his victory would be assured.

“Oh Saotome, to see you brought low by such base tactics,” the kendoist held his hand up, placing his fingertips to his brow and smiling dramatically, “It is only fair of me to end your suffering now rather then let you live on in shame like this.” Drawing his shinai, he prepared to attack in a classic jumping strike that would make him seem the true samurai legend that he was.

He stumbled at the edge of the stage when Ranma began laughing…a little hysterically.

“You idiot,” Ranma yelled, “Do you really think a bunch of c…c…C…felines are going to scare me?! Bwahahahahahehehe…” Ranma’s mouth was wide, but his laughter was slowly dying down into a high pitched whine as the cats began climbing up his pants, searching for the origin of the delicious smell. He shivered each time one of the small animals used its claws to get higher, but he fought with all his will to show no fear.

Shampoo is a cat, he thought to himself, I’ve got no reason to be afraid. Do I?

“I see,” Kuno said thoughtfully from the stage, “Perhaps that boar, Gosuinkugi, misinterpreted the results of his casting. Very well, then I shall use my ultimate weapon.” Throwing off the remaining cover, Kuno revealed a large tiger, pacing slowly in its cage. “This shall truly be your undoing, wretch!”

The kendoist threw open the cage, yelling, “Attack the fool who opposes me!” The tiger slowly exited the cage, and Ranma forgot his facade of bravery as he looked into the eyes of the jungle predator. He felt a moment of relief when the tiger looked sideways at Kuno, who was impatient for the tiger to smite and crush and all that, was poking it with his shinai to encourage the beast to attack.

With a casual swipe of its paw, the tiger knocked him twenty feet into the wall, shredding his wooden sword and breaking a few ribs all in one strike. Kuno was out like a light, and the tiger turned its attention back to Ranma who was stuck flat footed, quivering in fear to the massive killing machine.

Below the stage, Hikaru Gosuinkugi had gotten rid of his disguise, a whim of his less then brilliant partner, and had led Akane out through the service entrance.

“I really didn’t want to involve you in this, Ms. Akane,” Hikaru said as he walked her out, “I thought that Ranma would come alone.”

Akane glared at the boy, “The note claimed my sister was in trouble, how could I not come?”

Hikaru winced, “Please understand. Someone like Saotome is too dangerous to let run around without some kind of limits. He could easily give in to the curse that’s upon him, and death would come to those nearby. I’m trying to do this to protect you and your sisters.”

“How do you know about Ranma’s curse anyway?”

“I found out some time ago, and offered to help him control it,” Hikaru said soothingly, “but he refused. It was almost like he wanted the demon to take control. Please head out now, I have to finish the preparations to stop the position of Ranma before he hurts himself or anyone else.”

“But…”

Hikaru took hold of the fire door, holding it open and giving her a gentle shove out, “For his own sake, please trust me.”

Shooing a confused Akane out of the basement area, Hikaru moved back in and pulled out a sheet of silk that was already inscribed with a magic circle and several wards.

If what my divinations say is correct, he thought, then Ranma will be stripped of his intelligence and reduced to the willpower of a weak little cat. Then I can forcibly summon the demon inside him and bind her to my will!

Gosuinkugi walked over to the wall and pulled a simple red lever, tripping the gym’s sprinkler system and chuckled. He then waited for the signs from above that his plan was working.

Back in the gym, Ranma’s fear was slowly clouding his mind as the tiger stalked closer. The other cats were digging into him, trying to put him between themselves and the larger feline, and this only added to the sense of danger. The addition of the sprinklers did little to soothe the boy as he changed, and one of the cats shifted position to latch on to her breasts.

The water also seemed to piss off the tiger, who growled low at the redhead.

Slowly, as the tiger came closer, Ranma began to slump, falling into a loose stance. When it was less then ten feet from her, she suffered a full body spasm and her head hung low. With a loud roar, the tiger pounced, but the demoness rolled away, coming up on all fours after shaking off the other cats and glaring at the tiger.

Out of her mouth came a loud yowl and her eye’s gleamed with inhuman light.

Inside the school, Nabiki suddenly shot up out of her seat, grabbing her head in pain as visions of claws and fangs in a dark pit ripped into her mind.

A few blocks away, Shampoo felt the echo from Nabiki and sped away from the building that she and her grandmother were looking at, heading for Furinkan High as fast as she could.

Beneath the gym stage, Gosuinkugi heard the cry and began chanting.

Ranma sprinted across the gym floor, her arms and legs moving in conjunction as she galloped towards the suddenly confused tiger. She bounded into the air, and it reached up to swipe at her with its claws extended, but her body twisted out of the way, and the growling demoness landed on the larger animal’s back. With a savage shout the redhead dug into the tiger and bit down on its neck. Rolling, the big cat tried to dislodge the small girl, but Ranma held on with savage strength.

Growing frustrated, the tiger rolled, for a moment pinning the girl, and continued on to a position where it was able to use its hind legs to swipe at the legs of its unwanted passenger. Ranma was forced to let go, and spit a small clump of orange fur out of her mouth as she danced back, still on all fours, and eyed her opponent, ready to strike again. The tiger eyed her back and crouched low to pounce yet again, but as it raised its hackles to intimidate its prey, Ranma let out her own form of intimidation.

A blazing red aura sprung up around the demoness as her pony tail stood out straight and she loosed a long, bestial roar. The tiger fell back as the raw, intense sensation of dominance washed from the small redhead. It instinctively recognized the power it faced, and knew that challenging it would lead to a swift defeat.

The law of the jungle was that the strong survive, and it faced the strongest cat it had ever sensed. It showed animal wisdom by backing away, its paws closed in as a show of submission. Once it was sufficiently cowed, Ranma let out another roar to insure her position and settled down. Hopping up on the stage the feline mind of Ranma took in her domain, noting that the smaller cats had quickly fallen into line and were clustered around the big tiger.

As she looked out over the gym, she saw that one door had opened, and gave a challenging roar to whomever trespassed on her territory, but she stopped as Nabiki came into sight. Recognizing her as a mate, the redhead bounded over, but before she could reach the girl, whose warm thoughts seemed to be flowing in her mind, the cat queen suddenly froze as a tugging sensation drew at her core.

In a puff of sulfuric smoke, Nabiki watched Ranma once more disappear into thin air. Quickly reaching out to the animal like mind of her lover she found that the crazed demon girl had not traveled far, and was in fact in the basement of the gym, almost under her feet. She was about to look for a way down, but the large tiger grabbed her attention.

“Um, nice kitty,” she mumbled, reaching for the door behind her as the big cat fixed on her as a target. Shampoo better get here quick, she added in her head.

Below, the feline mind of Ranma found itself looking into the eyes of someone new. He had a familiar and distasteful scent, and the cat wanted nothing more than to be away from him.

“Now then,” Gosuinkugi said to the demon girl, “like last time, you can’t break out of that seal. And this time you can’t trick me into letting you go. Just a few words and I’ll have my very own demon plaything. Just think about it, no more bullies, no more putting up with Kuno, all that power at my beck and call. And best of all, you’ll be bound to serve me so I’ll never have to worry about being rejected by a girl again! We’ll have so much fun, won’t we Saotome.”

Ranma, even in her current state, somehow knew that the scheming mage meant trouble and let out a long, spitting hiss. She attempted to pounce at the laughing boy, but found the invisible barrier repelled her and kept her pinned inside a simple circle on the silk covered floor. Adjusting her attack slightly, the redhead poured strength into her hands, and soon flaming red claws of energy could be seen protruding from between her curled fingers.

With a roar that was ignored by the laughing mad magician, Ranma let loose with a series of swipes at the shield surrounding her. Each slash in the air left a red mark on the otherwise invisible curved wall around the demoness, and in seconds a cracking noise could be heard echoing in the basement.

Looking at the barrier, Hikaru gasped, “That’s not possible. Only high demons are supposed to be able to power their way out of a ward like that!” But before he could react further, the shield cracked loudly and shattered, shards fading to nonexistence as the glowing eyes of Ranma locked onto the now panicking boy. She leaped into the air and struck, sending Gosuinkugi flying across the room, but before he impacted with the wall, she was ahead of him and batted him upwards through the ceiling and back into the main gym.

The tiger was drawing close to Nabiki when the big cat suddenly emitted a blast of air as the head of one dazed sorcerer impacted with its chest, sending the predator a few feet into the air. The mage and tiger lay stunned on the floor as a redheaded blur bounced up out of the new hole in the floor and charged at the two of them, a fire trailing in her wake.

Before Ranma could reach the stunned boy and cat however, a voice called out, reinforced by a mental soothing that ran like cool water down Ranma’s spine.

“Here, kitty kitty kitty.”

The demoness screeched to a halt, the flames around her dying out as she happily bounded over to Nabiki, who kneeled on the floor with her arms out. Shampoo was behind her and trying hard to hide her amazement at the damage her husband had done in her deranged state.

“You not kidding when you call me,” Shampoo told her friend. She leaned down and scratched Ranma’s head as the girl cuddled up awkwardly in Nabiki’s lap, letting out a low purr.

Nabiki chuckled, “Amen, sister. The power coming off our little kitten here felt like a bomb went off in my head. If she had really cut loose…well, I don’t think the cat or the two dorks over there would be breathing.”

“Can fix that problem,” Shampoo said grimly.

“No,” Nabiki told her, “there are laws that we have to obey. I won’t have Ranma get into trouble just because it would be easier to off those punks. Besides, I have a better idea. You take the big cat here while I go to work.”

Nabiki shifted Ranma to Shampoo’s lap, and while the feline female protested, the soothing petting of Shampoo and the cooing of her mate calmed the redhead quickly. Nabiki stood and marched over to the downed forms of Kuno, Gosuinkugi and the tiger. She started with the easy one, and the tiger fell asleep quickly with a simple mental command from the psychic.

For Kuno, she dove into his mind with trepidation, not really wanting to visit the inner workings of the disturbed young man. Finding how the scheme had come to pass, she erased all the events that lead up to today from his memory and placed a simple command in his mind that he would be compelled to announce himself any time he was approaching Ranma, Nabiki, Shampoo, and as an afterthought, Akane.

Knowing his larger part in the plan to capture Ranma, Nabiki approached Gosuinkugi’s mind with delicacy. The mage had plans for Ranma’s demon half all right, most of them involved taking power for himself or using her sexually. No real big surprise there. There were also the images of herself and Akane forced to serve at the mad mage’s feet, and Nabiki felt the greasy imaginings of Hikaru could not pass unpunished.

It was simple really. Take a response he already had, and adjust the reaction slightly. It was the deepest into a mind she had ever been aside from Ranma, and knew that it was an experience she did not wish to repeat with anyone else but her lovers. When it was done, she retreated from his mind, shuddering at the dirty feeling she got from him and stood, kicking him in the groin for good measure.

The results were simple, and perfect in her opinion. Any time Gosuinkugi felt himself aroused he would pee his pants instead of getting an erection.

Nabiki gave a low chuckle that would make the Doctor Evil green with envy.

She returned to Shampoo, with a purring Ranma in her lap and contemplated the current situation, “So lover girl is stuck in the Neko-ken. Got any idea how to shake her out of it?”

“Not really,” Shampoo mused, “Maybe grandmother knows how. She at building we look at near here. We go and ask?” Nabiki nodded, and helped Shampoo get the happy mind altered redhead up and off her.

With Ranma trotting on all fours between them, the two girls walked to the building Cologne was still standing in front of. As she saw the girls approach, she let out a chuckle at the antics of Ranma as she lopped along. She had taken to watching Shampoo’s long hair sway back and forth, giving the blue mane an occasional swipe. The redhead was also distracted by the bell like ornaments Shampoo wore in her hair, and jumped up to give her head a nudge every few steps to make the small bells ring.

If it weren’t for the fact that Shampoo was becoming slightly irritated with the actions, she would have thought the feline Ranma was being cute.

“Grandmother, help,” the Amazon almost begged as Ranma finally knocked her on her butt in front of the elder and reclaimed Shampoo’s lap, nuzzling her breasts lightly. Nabiki couldn’t hold in her laughter at the exasperated look on her sister-wife’s face and squatted down to scratch the redhead’s head once more.

Miles away from the mental recovery of Ranma, her father was sitting on top of a cliffside on the northern most edge of Japan. For a week after the ignoble defeat he had suffered at the hands of his son, Genma had sulked.

Forget that, he had power sulked.

Every bar in the greater Tokyo area had thrown the man out at one point or another over those seven days, and the bills he had run up under his son’s name were staggering. But all the alcohol, all the food, even the night he had bought from a call girl in Shinjuku did nothing to sooth his shattered ego.

Ranma had taken out all the stops, not only demonstrating a great deal of improvement in Anything Goes, but also that he had moved beyond the teachings drilled into him by Genma and had begun to develop a style of his own. Normally, a father and teacher would be proud of Ranma for doing such great things and still showing the potential and drive to go further. But the further Ranma went in his Art, the further he drifted from Genma’s designs for him.

After the ninth day of debauchery, Genma was so blitzed drunk he had almost stumbled home by accident. Not the Tendo’s home, but his own. It was three in the morning, and seeing the small house again had almost completely snapped him out of his stupor. He saw that even after ten years, the front light was still on, a hope from a mother that her son would return. But that was not to be, it was not part of the plan Genma had for Ranma.

It had reminded him of the years leading up to the start of the plan however, during his initial training with Soun. He had learned a great deal then, and the most important lesson was that anything could be used as a tool to gain one’s desire, as long as you were strong and smart enough. As he walked away from the home where Ranma had been born, he developed a gleam in his eye and started north.

For the next two weeks he slowly worked his way to the cliff where he now sat. The trip was filled with doubts concerning this course of action, but in the end he found that his ultimate dream was important enough to take this risk.

In a choice between the demon and the devil, he found that the devil won every time.

Over the last five days he had begun his work, dismantling wards, removing seals, and clearing boulders. He found the work to be bothersome, but there was no one around for miles that could be persuaded into doing it for him. In the end, five hundred sanctified strips of paper and rope bonds lay on the ground next to a pile of almost three tons of rock and rubble.

All of it to guard a simple keg with ‘Guinness’ stamped on the side.

Picking up a crowbar he had stolen from a garage two days ago, Genma moved to open the keg and said softly, “I have a special gift for you, Master.”


To be continued.

Endnote: I’m of two minds as to what is going to happen next, and they are currently going at it with Nerf guns in the living room. Nothing else really to add this time, but a continued Thank You to everyone who reads and reviews my stories. Next time…Happi, nuf’ said.