Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Memoirs of being in the Saddle ❯ Pool Duel: Blow and Counterblow. ( Chapter 26 )

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

=-=-=-=

 

With the ice broken between us and the strange situation we were in, we relaxed for a bit "sunning" under the warm yellow light, before deciding to head into our pool; each settling in and claiming an side, a table, our books, and our respective drinks.

 

Ranma just needed a bit of nudging to get her started. Drinks were for evenings, for difficult conversations, and for advice. Now it needed to be for entertainment. 

The two tables with our respective drinks, the parallel mirroring, that was my next weapon. As were my words.

 

“Not too sweet is it?” I asked her, sipping from my own glass, starting the duel.

 

Ranma tended to more savory snacks as a male, but the female side craved ice cream and other sweets. Both enjoyed the bourbon, but cocktails were new. Had I chosen well?

 

"I smell pineapple." She said at last, grimacing slightly as she swirled it around after her initial sniff.

 

"Don't like pineapple?" If this gets derailed because I couldn't predict a finicky palette...

 

"Had some bad experiences with pineapples." At my look she said two words that explained everything. "Principal Kuno."

 

Ah. Exploding pineapples.

 

"Well," I drawled, "The traditional ingredients of a piña colada are as follows; Non-exploding pineapple juice, Non-exploding coconut cream or milk -cream in this case, and white rum."

 

"What? Not Non-exploding rum?" She teased.

 

"Actually Girl, rum can explode. Rum is a fair bit higher in alcohol than sake, and can ignite in the presence of flame."

 

Though in this case, Rum was the far lesser of alcohols present. But it would the name of my weapon, the now empty bottle of rectified spirit.

 

Mollified, she swirled it again and gave it another sniff. 

 

Still she hesitated. I had to put a little more pressure it seems.

 

I waggled my glass at her. "I got vodka and lemon here if you want some, or, if that isn't to your taste, you can hop out and grab something else from the cabinet."

 

Ah social and societal peer-pressure, Japan had it like no other country. They were my blades in this battle. And my knowledge of all things Ranma guided me to the chinks in her armor.

 

She knew I didn't like sweet snacks, therefore drinks, but she also knew I hated wasting things so I would force myself to drink it if she didn't. Like Kasumi, I could wield empathy like a nunchuk. Nunchucks... accursed autocorrect doesn't have the word. Whatever. This is why I miss my typewriter.

 

Warily, she took a tiny sip. 

She blinked.

"It's good." She sounded surprised.

 

"Your faith in my cocktail skills is flattering." I laid the sarcasm on a bit thick there. "Take it slow at first."

 

She glared at me and slammed the drink back.

 

I'd forgotten that any words of caution towards Ranma had to be double-checked to see if the phrase 'because you're a girl' could be appended to it. 

 

"Careful! That's got more oomph than sake." I had to be slightly concerned here.

 

She realized that fact seconds later when it hit her. Her face went red and she took a deep breath.

 

"Whoa..." she let out in a gasp.

 

"Girl, just because it's a cocktail and not straight liquor doesn't mean it's weak." I pointed out. "The whole point of a cocktail is a drink that's potent and tastes good."

 

She nodded both in understanding and apology and poured a second glass. This she sipped far more carefully.

 

"Most men drink straight booze not because they enjoy the taste, but because it's quick, efficient, and gets the job done." I went on, "Cocktails have been an American creation for at least a hundred and fifty years, as a way for gentlemen and ladies to enjoy something pleasant and alcoholic."

 

She nodded once more, no longer suspicious.

 

"Still," I said, sounding slightly impressed, "You took your first glass of that stuff better than I did." I finished my own diluted drink and started on my second, mirroring her. 

 

Ah, the honeyed words of pride and the soothing balm of respect, I know you too well Ranma.

 

-=-=-=-

 

We then read our respective books, several manga for her and a novel for me. The bath, sorry, the pool was quiet save for the dripping of water over the edge of the furo.

 

After twenty minutes of reading, well pretending to read, and Ranma finishing her third glass, I decided to see how much it affected her.

 

"Break time for me." I announced, finishing my third drink. "Mind helping me to my chair?"

 

I hadn't worn the foot into the pool and had left it out of reach on my chair, thus I was hopping for a bit till I could get back to it. Hence why I normally keep my leg close by on the table and had a table in the first place. 

 

What a pity that my table was full from drinks and books.

Now I could hop fairly well, I had made it to the 'pool' after all, but a skill learned after disability strikes tends to be resented I've found. And my foot was no longer dry. 

And I'd had a few cups.

 

I was vulnerable, and she knew it. 

But I was also acting like I was letting my guard down around her, and she noticed that as well. The guard going down I mean, not the acting.

 

She nodded, put her drink and manga on the table and stood up, rivulets of water pouring off her curves. In addition to the special fabric, Kumo's special seams were made of two different materials, meaning it pulled together at different rates. This was how we could set up the scenes at different points depending where the problems were.

 

The wet suit now clung along the bottom in several key spots, and was paradoxically a little loose on her sides and at the top down.

It only looked like amateurish stitchery until you remembered the positions the girls often took. 

Leaning forward as they climbed out of the wet pool, being bent over or pulled back in the shower...

 

Then you realized it was genius.

 

And her shoulder straps were opaque once more, as they should be from being submersed.

 

She was both pleasant and interesting to lean against. Just a bit of the side of her tits pressed against me hence the pleasant. But the rest of her... when a martial artist decides to support you, it's not like any other person whose helped me. There is such surety, I had no fear of any misstep. A foundation of stability like a mountain, even with one full leg.

 

"Thanks Girl." I said as I sat down and lightly dried myself off. As I did, instead of heading back to the pool she went and sat in her own chair and joined me. Now, despite being side by side, our chairs faced each other, all so I could casually stare at her without moving. This could have been uncomfortable for Ranma, but I had several things she could use as defense, mostly so I could gauge how she was reacting to all the booze.

 

The towels were such a defense as they were quite large and thick, almost the size of a blanket, all so she could easily keep the towel between us and covering her body as she dried off. She did, but her gaze wasn't really on me.

 

Another would be to hide my gaze each time was in the chair. I had some nice dark sunglasses, large ones, perfect for keeping the sun out on a hot summer day, but also not letting her see where my eyes were focusing on. Eventually I would not need them, but I had to take things carefully. 

 

I relaxed and laid back, and while I doubt that Ranma was feeling as comfortable as I was, and was merely pretending to be for my sake, gradually she lowered her towel and laid back in her own chair and we dried off in silence in the too warm room.

 

And those seams, she couldn't see from where she lay with those tits in the way, but certain things were molded to the suit quite well. 

 

Yes, I had to shut off all four AC units, and I'd have to re-treat my leather couch, but it was well worth it for this.

 

-=-=-=-

 

With the sounds of the waves still playing and the sauna like heat of the air, I almost dozed off where I lay, but a certain sound caught my attention. A sound I'd heard very often thanks to my other job. 

 

The sound of lube being applied to skin.

 

I cracked an eye open to peek. 

 

Ranma was reapplying her "oil", and her actions when she thought I wasn't looking were markedly different from before. Her hands were more casual, her motions more vigorous, and her tits jiggling slightly as she ran her hands up and down her leg. She also wasn't turning away from me as she did it.

 

As much as I wanted to enjoy that, I had to test her limits, so, I yawned and stretched, pretending to just wake up.

 

"Sorry, I almost nodded off there." I removed my sunglasses and blinked at her shiny skin. "Want me to do your back?"

 

Instead of clutching her chair with grim trepidation like the first time, she nodded and spun in the seat to offer her back. 

 

"Sure." Was all she said, flicking her pigtail out of the way.

 

I took a few seconds longer this time, tracing my fingers along the edge of her suit but not under it. "Done."

 

I then offered her my back without a word and waited. She didn't ask me to take my shirt off, and didn't hesitate at all. Her hands were also paradoxically soft and hard, pressing against my skin lightly, but I knew if she wanted to she could push them right through me, Thulsa Doom style. 

 

Temple of Doom. Look it up. Good movie.

 

She didn't rush this time, and ten seconds later I was also done. No fear rushed her hands into a blur, and she didn't say anything or linger when her hands went over my many scars.

 

This was Ranma, unafraid to touch and be touched. Not the shy, precise, hesitant girl who hurriedly applied oil to my back in under a quarter second. 

 

Three drinks to pull Ranma out of her inhibited state and into near normality. 

 

What would three more do?

 

-=-=-=-

 

Quite a bit as it turns out. 

 

Back in the pool, as the jug passed the halfway mark Ranma got tipsy, and quite chatty.

 

"Wow, you weren't kidding about this rum stuff being potent." She said, examining her now empty glass. "I'm starting ta feel it."

 

"Girl, you've put enough away to get three regular women drunk and you're barely swaying." I gruffed. "Rum is the drink of Pirates after all. Stupid martial artists and their super tough guts."

 

She preened. "While I am awesome, this time it's not just that..."

 

Saotome Special Technique: Liver Wall was a pressure point Genma had picked up from some ninja clan somewhere, or at least that's what Ranma was told. Apparently it's hits a nerve that slows down how the liver processes anything. In theory it was used to help save people who have been poisoned, but in actuality it was the key technique Genma used to get all the deals he did when he sold his son, not that Ranma had put that facet together. 

 

Brilliant really. Get friendly, match them drink for drink, hell, drink more than them, and then make the offer, all the while sober and looking out for number one. Get it signed and stamped, then get drunk in victory.

 

Genma Saotome was a piece of shit on a good day, but he was a damn smooth one.

 

And Ranma was feeling tipsy with that much alcohol in her system. That meant half a jug would get her sloshed normally. That doesn't sound like much but it's still easily five or six times what I could handle. Rectified Spirit is nothing to take lightly.

 

Very very good to know.

 

-=-=-=-

 

After a few more minutes, and half a glass being finished off -her seventh and mine- the mood started to change. 

 

Maybe the pressure point was fading, or maybe the fact that Ranma had put away enough alcohol for an entire football team, I'm not quite sure.

 

Because she was asking questions she'd never have the guts to otherwise.

 

"I honestly don't get it," she said, voice a bit slurred. "Why don't you have me just doing things without a shirt on? That's what I honestly expected insteada' all this... exploration."

 

"Do you want to?" I asked, honestly curious.

 

"It'd be simpler." She pointed out as she refilled her glass again, more to keep from looking at me directly.

 

"It'd be simpler still to punch a hole in Nabiki's torso, and bury her body in the woods." I countered. "Doesn't mean it's a better one."

 

That earned me a chuckle from the tipsy girl. "True, I have given that some thought from time to time."

 

"You also didn't answer," I pointed out. "Do you actually want to?"

 

I watched her swirl the milky white drink in her glass for a moment. "I owe you."

 

She still hadn't answered and knew it. "What about you?" She countered. "Why don't you wanna?"

 

"Girl, look at how you flinched when I first put oil on your back." I pointed out. "You were covered up, you know and trust me, and yet I can see the dents you put in the chair from here."

 

"It's not the looking, it was the touching." She said, face serious. "It reminded me of something bad."

 

I suspected the shower, but it wasn't just that. 

Her guard came down, the bravado, the bluster. And she told me.

 

This story I'd heard of. A bit of the rumor mills, and a bit of the tapes I had of the Tendo household.

 

Principal Kuno, wackaloon that he was, decided that all the students had to pass canoing of all things before they could go onto the next grade. 

Yeah, canoing. 

 

Long story short, it lead them onto an uninhabited island, and then there was the "Aloha" disease, which caused all the men, if I can call those teenage boys that, to act like tourists on their honeymoons in Hawaii.

I've never heard of the disease, you've never heard of it, and I suspect that disease will never exist beyond that island, thank god.

 

The Principal had the cure, and all the boys were chasing Akane, Ukyo, and Ranma thinking that they were their wives. Ranma chased the Principal, fell on a banana peel of all things, and ended up piled on by the boys, all of them thinking they were her husband.

 

Now, I'd heard about all this, when Akane had told Kasumi and Nabiki, that there was a bit of suntan oil applied, and then Ranma kicked them away.

 

It turns out Ranma lied to Akane, who passed it on as truth.

 

The problem was the tan. That takes time to get, and Ranma could have in theory caught the Principal having only lost a minute of time at best. Akane never caught on to this fact.

 

Rather than hurt some seriously sick people who were practically delirious zombies, she let them sun lotion her up, not saying a word as their hands lingered in places, or squeezed others. 

 

When that wasn't enough to keep the mob obedient, she marched into the middle of them, laid face down on the sand, and took off her top.

As she suspected, she had their complete attention then. When she called her "hubby to lie down and relax with her", they all obeyed. 

 

A long while later, and having to turn face up midway through to keep the more aggressive pacified, she left as they dozed, thoroughly tanned. Having given an entire class of horny boys a free show and a bit of a feel.

 

Can you imagine it? A single girl surrounded and fondled like that?

 

Thankfully, they didn't remember any of it in their fever soaked dreams.

 

-=-=-=-

 

After that story, we returned to our respective chairs, her helping me without a word. I was leaning on her more than before, feeling the side of that soft breast press against my shirt, making me wish briefly that I hadn't worn the thing, before brutal pragmatism beat that thought into oblivion.

 

Back at our chairs the conversation was shelved in place for drying off and eating food. She toweled off again, this time without covering herself, and I did the same, not reaching for my sunglasses just yet. 

 

Then we ate, me needing the solid food to soak up the booze that was trickling in, Ranma wanting an excuse not to talk for a bit. I needed my control absolute, we were getting into the endgame. 

 

After we finished I got my foot on and circled behind Ranma's chair to flip the cassette for more ocean sounds. While doing so, I was noting how well my fingers were working with the amount of booze I'd taken in, only to freeze mid-return to a stirring sight. Ranma had shifted in her seat to reach behind the beach chair to lower it down.

 

Our eyes met. 

 

She didn't blink, and as she adjusted her chair, I noticed how she was leaning over, accidentally giving me a clear view down her cleavage.

 

With every ounce of willpower and learned ability to distance myself, I imagined I was looking at her through a camera on a porn shoot.

 

Hey, don't laugh, it worked. 

 

I kept eye contact even as her chair went down a notch with a click, making her tits jiggle. 

Then again. 

And again.

Only when her chair was flat did she finally break eye contact with me.

 

A point for me, but a hard fought one.

And we weren't done.

 

Sitting up, she reached for the bottle of lube once more just as I sat back down.

 

Once again her gaze was locked in mine, watching my eyes, even as she reached down and started coating her legs, bending almost in half as she did.

 

First one leg, then the other was languidly done, before she sat up with a bounce -a bounce I barely stopped from following- and she started on her arms, then her neck, then the top part of her chest.

 

All while staring at me challengingly, not saying a word.

 

Unlike her initial attempts at this she was bolder, more confident, almost daring me to look.

 

And I endured, thanking whatever weird crap was lurking in Nerima that I hadn't popped a boner like a teenager at her antics.

 

When that didn't work, she pushed a little bit further.

 

"Do my back?"

 

I nodded, but only after I put my sunglasses on again. There was no way I was going to be able to avoid my eyes roaming when I was that close.

 

I turned to retrieve them, put them on, and found my breath frozen in my lungs. Thankfully, they were large enough to hide them widening in shock.

 

Ranma had turned away and offered her back, but her straps had slid, just a tiny bit, to the sides. How someone with tits like that could relax their shoulders enough to cause them to "accidentally" slide down like that would have to be chalked up to some sort of Martial Arts trick. Perhaps a trained Yogi had taught her, though if any Yogi looked like Ranma did right now, they'd have no problem getting students.

 

"Do my neck as well?" She didn't turn, but I heard the challenge in her voice, just like it had been in her gaze.

 

"S-sure." My voice did not squeak, but it did stumble, just a little bit.

 

I admit, despite my efforts to be resolute, my hands lingered just a little bit too long on her creamy back. And she noticed. 

 

I countered by grabbing her loose straps and drawing them back up where they should be. This close, I saw her surprise at my action.

 

And with that I turned and returned to my seat without a word.

 

I kept the bag of chips in my lap though.

 

-=-=-=-

 

After another bout of sunning, one in which Ranma certainly wasn't hiding anything behind a towel, it was time to return to the water. 

 

This much drink in me, I needed help back to the pool, and Ranma, being slightly slippery this time, needed both hands under my armpits to make sure I didn't fall. 

 

I certainly didn't mind, with her behind me I was feeling both soft breasts press against my back.

 

Once I'd hopped to my side of the pool, and both of us were submerged, we both reached for our drinks in eerie synchronicity.

 

Two rounds down, and if this was a title fight on a movie, this would be when the music would start for the scrappy challenger.

 

And Ranma, reigning champion, began swinging.

 

"So, why don't you wanna?" she asked again, after a minute of us soaking in silence. 

 

The conversation had resumed right where it left off.

 

I think it was the eighth glass she was working on. My own jug should hold a dozen cups and I had been trying to match her glass for glass. With my own having a mix of one part vodka to three parts water still meant I was reaching my limits at complete control of my facilities. After this line, I might start making mistakes.

 

"Girl, look, you're drunk, and you've been hurt by friends before over something similar." I pointed out sternly. "Until you know for sure, it's best not to risk it."

 

Notice how I worded that, notice that I didn't say no. 

 

"I dunno," she thought about it for a moment before putting her nearly empty glass down. "Wanna help me find out?"

 

Her fingers started toying with her shoulder straps.

 

"Girl, if your top comes down, this ends." I said sternly. While I dearly wanted her to, I had to be firm on this. 

 

A quick flash she could brush off as nothing but a test or a tease, or a tactic.

She'd done it to win before against me, and against others. 

I had to appear that I was made of stronger stuff than Happosai or Kuno. 

 

She would have to take it even further to win this time.

 

And I dearly wanted to watch her pull it down. 

Have you any idea, how hard it was to look a beautiful girl in the eye and tell her to keep her top on? 

When looking her in the eye is hard enough?

Likely you don't. 

 

As you can imagine, she didn't take it well. 

"What?!? Why?" Ego and alcohol were pushing her hard.

 

"Because I gave you something to wear, and you wear all of it, remember how this goes." Perhaps I came across harsher than I should have, I had been drinking a fair bit. 

 

She scowled and tossed her drink back. "Fine." She snapped, and climbed out of the tub a bit wobbly. "Break time for me."

 

A petty but obvious tactic, barely a few minutes in the pool, and depriving me of the sight of her, which in her mind was the whole point of this. And her move away from me meant I had to ask her for help if I wanted out safely, or risk hopping while having a fair amount of Vodka in me. 

 

I could endure though, and actually read the chapter I'd been flipping through instead of pursuing her to my own chair. 

I couldn't appear too helpless, or Ranma might interpret her actions towards me as compassionate. That simply wouldn't do. 

 

Sadly, that meant I couldn't watch her, my chair was in the way at this angle, so what happened next is my best guess from ear, and my knowledge about what happened after the fact.

 

-=-=-=-

 

She was grumbling almost under her breath as she toweled off. Probably, things like 'How dare I turn her down' and such. 

 

Once dry she went for the "oil". Her motions were audible from where I was "reading", and none too subtle. A shame I couldn't watch.

 

I'm not sure when exactly, but at some point she finally noticed.

Maybe a finger swept under a gap in the leg and she could see it as the blue turned translucent, maybe she swept across her stomach by accident and saw that her navel showed through the white, I'm not sure. 

 

All I do know is that she stopped abruptly, then announced that she was hitting the WC. At the time, I honestly thought she needed to pee after drinking two-thirds of the jug. 

 

I didn't notice she took the "oil" with her when she did. 

 

Now, on hindsight I know she did, but at the time I didn't.

 

The bathroom door closed and I was alone in the pool.

 

I heard the toilet flush after a little bit, maybe she used it, maybe she wanted me to think she had. 

 

A minute later the bathroom door opened.

 

I'm just glad I had put my book away as soon as she'd left and was sipping on my drink instead.

 

It was much easier to fish the glass and lemon bits out of the pool without looking when I dropped it in shock.

 

"Hey." Was all she said. All that needed to be said.

 

Ranma glistened from the waist up.