Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
*******
"You have ... become *harmless*, which is perhaps the most highly =
evolved state a mortal can achieve," --Belldandy , "Trial by =
Tenderness", Pt. 39
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: Too Much to Resist.txt
Too Much to Resist
By Angie "kitn" Hughes
flamingweasel@freewwweb.com
Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video, and are used
without permission. No profit will be made from this work.
This story is very dark, and contains lemon/rape content. If this
offends you, do not read it.
'Shampoo make SPECIAL mix for violent pervert girl... Then
she go away for sure!'
With that thought, she started adding different spices from
great-grandmother's special spice cabinet to Akane's order.
********
Passion Spice. Lemon Tea Leaves. Insanity berries. Anger spice.
Hate extract. Permanent powder. A few lemon drops and some curry
powder, for seasoning.
********
Halfway across town in a love hotel, two bodies writhed in
passionate ecstasy, worshipping each other's bodies with caresses,
tongues, and various other implements of pleasure. After some time,
a cry rang out into the night...
"-oh, Oh, OH MYyyyyeeeeeee.... Oh, Dr. Tofu... I don't
know how much longer we can keep this secret, but I hope this
lasts forever..."
********
One ancient pervert leapt quietly from a second-story
window cackling about his 'precious,' almost like a hideous
creature with a magical ring. No sign remained of his passage
but empty clotheslines as far as the eye could see.
Two old men crept stealthily out of the Tendo residence for
a long night of heavy drinking and disturbing the peace. After all,
isn't it the right of the elders to enjoy the merits of their lives'
work? And besides, drinking was safe.
"Akane, I need to go visit some business contacts. I won't
be back for the rest of the evening, so you get to be 'alone' with
Ranma tonight. Take care!" With that, Nabiki was out the door.
'It's good that Kasumi's finally taking some initiative with
Dr. Tofu, and telling everybody else that I was going to cook got rid
of them nicely. Now if only Ranma and I can talk for a few minutes
without fighting, maybe we can deal with this fiancee thing.'
"Hey, Akane," the martial artist in question commented, "I
called the Nekohanten for takeout, so you don't have to cook, really!
I even told Shampoo if there were any love potions in it, I'd never
speak to her again!"
"You jerk, you're just trying to get out of eating my cooking.
How am I supposed to get better if you won't let me practice?"
"I don't think I can survive much more of your practicing,
Akane, you---"
*WHAM* *SPLASH* As usual, a wet Ranma-chan pulled herself from
the pond in the back, grumbling about brutish tomboys.
"Nihao, Shampoo bring ramen Airen order!"
"Thanks, Shampoo, just put it on my tab, okay?" Ranma-chan came
back in, towelling herself off.
"Food always free for Airen! Bie Lao!" Shampoo left, thinking
of all the strange things Akane might go through tonight. She didn't
even remember all the spices she put in Akane's ramen!
"This is pretty good, Shampoo out did herself on this beef
ramen!" Akane said, surprised.
"Huh, my shrimp ramen is about the same as always. Maybe she
wants to make friends with you, Akane."
"Nah, she probably just wants to show me how much better she is
at cooking. Not that anyone ever gives me a chance... Jerk."
Ranma-chan was too busy eating to reply. Then she noticed an
extra little envelope with the ramen takeout box.
"Hey, alright, Shampoo sent me another packet of instant
Nannichuan!"
Akane grabbed it, starting an impromptu game of keep-away from
Ranma-chan.
"Give me that!" Ranma-chan grabbed one end and it ripped,
spraying powder all over Akane, who then punched Ranma-chan through the
wall.
"Stupid jerk, now I have to wash this stuff off..." She headed
to the bath. For some reason, she wasn't thinking straight enough to
realize that this would activate the instant Nannichuan. She sat down on
the bath stool, stripped off her dirty clothes, and splashed herself with
water to clean with. The change was almost painful, and suddenly the
cloudiness in her mind jumped to critical mass.
"Stupid tomboy... She didn't have to hit me so hard." Ranma-chan
dusted herself off and started toward the bath to wash off the powdered
plaster.
Ranma-chan stood in the changing room, taking off the dusty
clothes, looking forward to a nice, long hot soak to restore her
masculinity. Unfortunately, such was not to be.
Ranma-chan stepped into the bath room and stared, as a HUGE man
that she somehow knew was Akane leered at her. He'd obviously been
waiting for her to enter, and certain parts of his anatomy stood up to
greet her.
*WHAM*
Ranma-chan's ears rang and her vision blurred, and when she could
see clearly again, Akane was holding her down on the floor.
"Akane? Wha-"
*SMACK*
"Shut up and listen to me, Ranma, I'm going to show you something."
Ranma nodded, not wanting this obviously crazed Akane to hit her again.
It hurt a lot more than usual, and his grip was FAR stronger than any
Ryoga had so far shown.
"I am stronger than you, Ranma. I am better than you. You will
never insult me again, because you will know your place. Now, I will teach
you to remember that." Ranma gasped in terror as his legs forced hers
apart. Akane wouldn't... He'd never... Would he?
The pain erupted in her mind like dynamite with the first thrust.
Something inside Ranma tore, and she screamed.
*SMACK*
"Shut your mouth and take it like a girl." Akane grunted, forcing
himself into her over and over, aggravating the wound inside her.
"Please, don't... No..."
"This is for insulting me. This is for making fun of my cooking.
This is for being better at martial arts..." Akane punctuated each agonizing
thrust with a reason, which burned itself into Ranma-chan's mind.
Then, she felt it. A strange, not unpleasant but wholly unwanted
feeling inside as he pumped his seed into her. Ranma could do nothing but
cry as all the barriers in her mind came crashing down at once, burying her
in her own blocked feelings. Then, Akane seemed to regain some sense of
himself and looked down at Ranma-chan, lying bleeding on the floor.
He ran.
*****
Ranma woke up to a kind of pain she had never before known. Mental
anguish, as memories returned to her and then more, as she felt things she
had been blocking off since early childhood. Things that her father had
beaten her for saying, things that made Ranma feel worse than the pain
between her legs. Feelings Ranma had thought gone forever, returned by
the falling of all of her walls.
Shampoo would pay. Ranma-chan knew that Akane would never have
acted like that on her own. She knew in the depths of her soul, where she
had hid her love for Akane before this... Shampoo hadn't drugged her
ramen, she had drugged Akane's for some reason.
But first, She had to find Akane, and try to get rid of whatever
drugs were in his system. Changing him back should at least help. But
it was almost morning, where would he have gone?
*****
The path hadn't been hard to follow, random destruction marking it
clearly. She followed Akane to the bridge where they had talked after
Akane gave up Dr. Tofu, and under it.
"Akane? Are you okay?"
"Ranma? I'm glad you're here. I need you to help me..." Akane
held out a tanto taken from the dojo. "Please kill me, it is only fair."
"Akane... I would never do that. I love you."
"What? How can you say that after what I just did?!?! I hate
myself, you should too."
"Akane, I'm used to it. You broke down a lot of barriers in my
mind, I remember things that make me sick to think about, but they're
things I need to deal with. Looking back, now I realize why I made fun of
you, and it all makes sense. after all, calling you a tomboy kept me from
thinking about the fact that I'm FAR more of a tomboy than you ever could
be."
Akane stood up, his hands gripping the tanto, blood dripping from
where one hand gripped the blade.
"What are you talking about?"
"Akane, I once told my pop that I wished I was a girl. Do you know
what he did? He 'showed me what it's like to be a girl.' I was just 6,
and he spent a week beating and raping me. And HE wasn't under the influence
of some of Shampoo's potions."
"Oh my GOD!"
"Yeah. And I was a boy all the time, then, and there was only one
way he could do that to me. Gods, it hurts to remember this..."
"Oh, Ranma..." Akane hugged her, his huge arms enfolding her small
frame as they both shook with sobs.
A while later when they both settled down some, Ranma offerred
Akane a set of Ryoga's old clothes she had brought with her. "Akane,
this is not your fault. You don't still want to commit suicide, do
you?"
"No..." Akane put the tanto back in it's sheath and washed
the blood off of her hand. "But Shampoo is definitely going to get a
visit..."
The next morning, at the Nekohanten, Shampoo sensed something
was wrong in the restaraunt. Dropping her broom, she turned to face
Ranma-chan, and some man she'd never seen before.
"Nihao, Airen! Who is large friend?"
"Shampoo, we need to talk," said Ranma, but Akane jumped at
her, snarling.
"You bitch! I'll kill you!"
Ranma-chan grabbed his arm and was dragged along like a rag
doll. Shampoo pulled a pair of war maces from under the counter and
faced Akane.
"You insult Amazon warrior, now, you die!"
"STOP!!!!!" Ranma chan stood between the two, her tiny hands
blocking a mace and one of Akane's huge fists. Damn it hurt to block
that huge fist!
"Akane! Sit down, we are going to talk about this. We will
then decide what to do about this, and not a second sooner. Shampoo,
sit down and put those away. You will not kill Akane, or hurt her in
any way, ever again, or it will be me giving you the kiss of death."
Both of them sat at a table, recently vacated by fleeing
customers. They were alone in the place, and Ranma-chan walked to
the door and calmly took down the restaraunt's open sign and
curtain, then locked the door.
Shampoo commented to Akane, "Violent pervert girl look
better as boy! You use Airen's Instant Nannichuan? Maybe you
stay that way, and find new fiancee?"
Then Ranma returned to the table and sat down. "Now, Shampoo,
what did you put in Akane's food?" Ranma faced Shampoo, and Shampoo
found herself shaking at the look in her eyes.
"Airen, Shampoo not know what you-"
*SMACK* Ranma moved faster than could be seen, and an
angry red handprint appeared on Shampoo's face.
"No lies. What did you put in Akane's beef ramen?"
"Shampoo not remember for sure..." her eyes shimmered with
tears as she realized that Ranma-chan was VERY serious, "but shampoo
think... ummm..."
Shampoo hopped up and ran to the special spice cabinet and
returned with various bottles and shakers.
"Shampoo think this all of them."
"What do they all do?" Akane asked, unable to read the
Chinese labels.
"Ummm, this one passion Spice, this one Hate Extract, this
one anger juice... and... Lemon Tea Leaves?"
"What's so special about tea leaves?" Akane asked, trying
to talk this out first like Ranma asked.
"It... it make person want to... make babies."
Akane jumped across the table and slammed a ham-shaped fist
into Shampoo's jaw, knocking her to the floor.
"You fucking Amazon bimbo, that shit made me rape Ranma! I
hate you, you bit--" He slumped as Ranma poked a spot on his back.
Shampoo stood up, ready to fight, then Akane's words reached
her.
"Violent pervert girl really force Airen?" she asked, rubbing
a bruise on her jaw.
"Yes. And thanks to your Instant Nannichuan, she was a boy
when she did."
"Violent girl die now!" Shampoo grabbed the maces and started
to swing a strike that would crush the unconscious boy's head.
With two swift kicks, the mace was sliced in half and the
Amazon doubled over, clutching her stomach.
"I said no fighting. Akane never would have done what she did,
but there were 'special' spices in her. Ones you put there. As far
as I'm concerned, YOU raped me. Akane was just your puppet."
"Airen, Shampoo never mean to--"
"Shut up. Don't tell me what you 'meant to,' I don't care
right now. I should hate you. What you caused took down a lot of the
barriers on who I am, and violated me in a way I can never forget.
But I don't hate you. I don't like you, I will never love you, but I
can't hate you. Because those barriers also kept me from remembering
who I am, and while it hurts to remember, I needed to."
"What Airen mean?"
"Shampoo, I don't have the time or the energy to explain it to
you. And I don't really want to anyways. The point is, you will
never again harm or drug any member of the Tendo or Saotome families,
and if you do, I will hate you. Then, I will kill you."
Shampoo looked into his eyes and saw only truth. Not anger,
not jokes, not fear. Only the simple, undeniable truth.
Cologne chose that moment to enter. She took a look at the
three at the table, the sleeping male Akane, the shaking with fear
Shampoo, and Ranma with an aura of seriousness she had never seen the
girl show before, as well as...
"Son-in-law! What has happened???"
"Ask your great-granddaughter."
"Surely she did not get you with child." Comprehension dawned
as Cologne returned her gaze to the sleeping Akane, and the spices
arrayed on the table.
"Shampoo, we must talk. Ranma, leave now and take... him...
with you."
Ranma-chan carried Akane's large form with only a small strain,
and ran for Dr. Tofu's clinic. 'I wonder what she meant? Surely
not...'
As she entered the clinic, Dr. Tofu looked up from a medical
journal in surprise. "Ranma? Who is that?"
"Doc, it's Akane. I had to use a knockout accupressure point
on him."
"Okay, he'll wake up in time. You start some water heating up
and explain what happened."
Setting the kettle on a small hot plate, Ranma started the
long story.
*****
"--So, then the old ghoul came in and... Oh, the water's
ready." Ranma-chan stood up and retrieved the whistling kettle. She
then poured some of it on Akane, who returned to her original form,
leaving the spare set of Ryoga's clothes much more loose on her.
Then Ranma poured the water over her own head... and nothing
happened. She looked at herself and tried again. Nothing.
"Dr. Tofu..."
"I'm already checking, Ranma. I don't know what would cause
you not to change. Oh, I need a blood sample."
"Sure thing, Doc, just fix whatever's wrong with my curse..."
Both already had a sneaking suspicion that neither wanted to
believe. A few minutes later, the doctor returned with a small plastic
object and an upset look on his face.
"Ranma, you're pregnant."
Ranma joined Akane in the bliss of oblivion.
*****
"Ah, I see you've decided to join us again." Akane looked down
at the bleary-eyed Ranma-chan.
"Man, Akane, I had the worst nightmare..."
"Welcome to reality, Ranma. Another consequence of Shampoo's
potions."
"You mean..."
"Yes, I got you pregnant." Akane stared at the floor in shame.
Ranma started up from the bed, and would have left to go
exact a terrible revenge on the occupants of the Nekohanten, but Dr.
Tofu held her back.
"Ranma, stop. You're a little too upset to go trying to
find answers from Shampoo. You have to stay right here and we'll
talk for a while. Do you know what it means to be pregnant?"
"It means that I'm gonna have a baby. Damnit, I'm a...
I'm..." Wracking sobs burst from her, and she fell to the floor in a
fetal position.
Dr. Tofu gently picked her up and set her on the bed again,
and Akane held her while she let out a little more of the frustration
and pain kept inside for too many years. Dr. Tofu left the two alone.
"Akane..." Ranma started when the tears subsided, "Am I
really... I mean, am I a girl now? Boys can't have babies, so I kinda
have to be a girl, right?"
"Ranma... How am I supposed to answer that?"
"Well... do you... l-l-love me?"
Akane blushed and stayed silent.
"I need to know, Akane. Look at me, I'm fucking pregnant!
In a few months, I'm gonna balloon out and then a baby will come
out of me. I can't handle that on my own, I need an answer. Do
you love me?"
Akane sat beside her and held her hand for several minutes
before answering, "Yes, Ranma, I do love you."
"I'm glad... I l... love you, too, Akane. I'm so scared.
Two days ago I would never admit that, but I am. I don't know how to
be a mother."
"Ranma... You don't have to work everything out right now,
you know. I'm scared, too... I'm the father of the child you are
carrying, and I'm a girl! It's really wierd."
"You get used to it. Only you won't have to, since it was
just Instant Nannichuan."
Just then, Dr. Tofu walked back in with a washbasin and some
cool washcloths. He set it next to Ranma-chan and handed her a cold
damp cloth.
"Here, the air conditioning is broken, and it's going to get
hot soon." So saying he turned to hand one to Akane, and accidentally
knocked the basin over. Akane took it full in the face, and gained
about nine inches in height, as well as about one hundred pounds of
muscle.
"Hey, shouldn't you still be a girl?" Ranma asked Akane, who
promptly retaliated with a fist. She was surprised when the fist was
blocked by Tofu, only inches from her face.
"Akane, you can't hit Ranma anymore. She's pregnant, and you
could put both her and the baby's life in danger."
"Hey Doc, how did you do that? Akane's the strongest
person I've ever met, in her boy form." So saying, she glanced at
Akane who was glowing with rage. "Akane, you okay?"
"This is Shampoo's fault too! One of those bottles of spice
must have had something that made this Instant Nannichuan last longer!"
"Akane, calm down. We've already talked to her, and much as I
want to go hurt her for making me get pregnant, I'd rather she spend
her time trying to FIX the problems she created. Though, I have to
admit I have no choice about the baby."
"What do you mean?" Akane had settled down some, but still
showed a blue tint around the edges.
"I'm a martial artist. I HAVE to protect the weak and
innocent. And people don't get more weak and innocent than a baby."
Dr. Tofu looked at Ranma with a healthy dose of newfound
respect. "Ranma, you seem to have matured a lot in the past day."
"Well, I really just remembered a lot of stuff I didn't
want to remember, and it's changed the way I see things."
"Oh, how so?"
"Well, I don't really feel comfortable talking about it..."
"That's okay, Ranma, I think I can understand. But
remember, if you ever need to talk, you're always welcome here."
"Thanks, Doc, now I think Akane and I should go home."
"All right, see you both later!"
*****
Ranma and Akane (in girl form) returned to the Tendo home,
stopping at the dojo to replace the borrowed tanto before it was
noticed missing.
"Akane, I'm going to my room, I'll talk to you later. If
the old men ask where I am, tell them I'm sick or something."
"Ranma, are you... alright?"
"Yeah, I just need to think."
Ranma lay on her futon staring at the ceiling. The
square ceiling tile pattern was one she knew well from past times
contemplating, but never over anything of this magnitude. She
was going to have a baby. A tiny boy or girl entirely dependent
upon her, a life created by her body. A body she had once
considered a curse.
But now, with all her mental walls torn down, she
welcomed her female form with open arms. A chance to create life
from her own body... A reason to continue living. Looking back,
her past macho attitude was the exact opposite of who she really
felt she was, a person created entirely to appease her father.
And her father's rage at learning how she truly felt had
been absolute. An entire week of pain and terror, as a father
tried to prove to her why life as a girl was wrong, with daily
rapings and beatings that had left the small child barely alive.
Then, it was all gone. For ten years, the terror, the
pain, the utter shame, all ceased to be. Ranma's father had
simply gone on as if the event had never occurred, and Ranma had
blocked it out and become her father's perfect son.
Now it was all back, and she felt it again.
"Boy, you break your father's heart, loafing around
when you should be taking your fiance on a Sunday stroll through
the park!" Her father said from the door, as she locked up.
Remembered fear flooded her, and she screamed, leaping out
the window.
"What's got into that boy?" Genma said, lying down for
an afternoon nap.
Akane, having heard the scream, jumped up and started
running. Unfortunately, Kasumi chose that moment to offer her
some iced tea.
*SPLASH*
"Oh, my! Akane, what happened to you?"
Akane just ran by, not noticing in his sudden rush of
worry for Ranma. He found her huddled in the dojo in a corner,
holding up her arms as if to ward someone away.
"No, daddy, n-not again... Aaah!" She yelped and
crumpled to the floor like a puppet with it's strings cut.
"Ranma, what happened?" Akane knelt beside her, holding
the slight girl's head in his lap while she cried softly.
"A... Akane?" She seemed to be coming back to reality.
"Ranma... What happened? You looked so scared, and
when you screamed..."
Ranma suddenly clung to him fiercely, the thin arms
nearly crushing the wind from his lungs. "Akane... It was like
it was happening again... Pop was... was..."
Akane rocked the terrified girl in what he hoped was a
soothing manner. "Shhh, Ranma, it's okay, it didn't happen, I'm
right here..."
"But it did happen... I was only six years old, damnit!
That bastard old man just forced my face down and... And it
hurt so much!"
Akane just held her, not saying anything, but simply
offering a strong shoulder to cry on and feel protected by.
Nabiki, in her room, dropped a pair of headphones with
a dazed and terrified look on her face. What kind of man was
this friend of her father's? This man who slept two doors
down the hall from her own? Nabiki Tendo was going to find
out, for her family's sake...
*****
Nabiki looked into the dojo and saw Ranma in her girl
form practicing with Akane. This in and of itself was odd
enough to prompt a looking into, but the two girls seemed to be
practicing dance moves, almost. Ranma would perform a kata
slowly, with exaggerated grace, and Akane would do the same
move just as slowly and carefully, and was managing far more
grace than normal for her.
"You should do these in your guy form, too, Akane,
there's no telling how long it will last since it hasn't gone
away yet."
Akane had a curse too, now? Nabiki, girl, you're
losing your edge...
"Hey, you're the one we're doing these tai chi forms
for anyway, Ranma. You have to slow down, now that you have
to watch for the baby you're carrying, too..."
Nabiki started back at that, a baby? She looked in,
but saw no evidence of a child in Ranma's arms.
"Yeah, but your guy form put it there, and I'm
starting to think he's going to stay for good. I saw
something on one of Shampoo's spices that had a character
I recognize in Chinese... It said 'Permanent.'"
*THUD*
"Akane, did you hear something at the door just now?"
Nabiki ran faster than she had ever run in her life.
*****
"Hello?"
"Hello, Atsuki? I need you to start digging. I
have some REALLY profitable information I need verified."
"Come on Nabiki, give it up. You know I wont go
over your head and sell without you, but you sound WAY too
excited."
"Atsuki, you'd never believe it anyway. I need you
to dig on Ranma and Akane, find out what's been going on for
the past week. And the Nekohanten HAS to be staked out,
priority one."
"Sure thing, boss... This one has to be good..."
*CLICK*
*****
Nabiki stepped into the Nekohanten and stared. The
place had been wrecked, the door stood on one hinge, and
Shampoo was nowhere in evidence.
"So, they sent you."
"Good afternoon to you, too, Cologne. It seems
you and your great-granddaughter have a problem."
"And you must be here to offer your advice, for a
fee, of course. But do you have all the facts, and the
proof to support them?"
"Heh. My reputation speaks for me in that regard.
My question is, why did Shampoo curse Akane permanently in
the first place. There's no profit in it, the resulting
damage to the store must be expensive."
"So, the permanent berries were potent after
all..."
"No matter, I think the authorities would like to
hear about this. They're fairly quick to deport Chinese
nationals lately..."
"And what is your assurance you'll remember
anything when you leave this restaraunt?"
Nabiki held out a radio transmitting device.
"Friends are always watching over me. And they have all
the records necessary to make your deportment likely."
"Heh heh heh... You're a sharp one. What is
your price?"
"A cure for Akane, to start. No one messes with
family."
"You don't know what you ask, girl. Jusenkyo
holds its victims in an unbreakable grip. There truly
is no cure. Not even a dip in another spring, the curses
would simply mix, and in the case of gender changing
springs, make your sister a hermaphrodite."
"Surely you know some sort of cure."
"Only temporary ones. Waterproof soap, instant
nannnichuan, and a few others even less effective than
that. I do know several ways to lock one in their
cursed form, but the reverse has never worked in the
entire three thousand years of Amazon history."
"Then you and Shampoo will search for ways to fix
all of this. Ranma is pregnant, and I want you to tell
me everything you know about how and why. And find out
what Ranma's father did to him... I need to know more
about the child abuser that lives in my home, and I'm
sure you'd be interested in hearing what the old panda
put Ranma through. It puts the Neko-ken training to
shame."
"Very well, then, girl. I would have done
these things without your prompting. You should know,
as of now Ranma Saotome is off limits by our laws.
We are a matriarchal society, and we do not harm
mothers for any reason."
"Then you will not return to the Tendo Dojo
again?"
"Not unless invited. Ranma and all of you are
safe by our laws now. Shampoo will not bother Ranma or
your sister again."
Weirder and weirder... First the old hag just
gives up, then vouches for Shampoo, and now she tells me
my own sister raped Ranma as a man and got her pregnant!
Nabiki girl, you have got to keep better tabs on things.
Nabiki returned to the Tendo home and prepared
to confront her sister and Ranma. Who to visit first?
Stopping by the kitchen, Nabiki popped her head
in. "Kasumi, have you seen Ranma or Akane recently?"
"They are in Akane's room right now, Nabiki.
I think Ranma is telling her what to expect, since
Akane changes too now."
"Thanks, sis!"
"Ranma, what do we do about our fathers?"
"I already thought of some of it, but we won't
be able to hide it forever. I'm gonna get big..."
"Oh Ranma, I'm so sorry--"
"Stop it, Akane, it's not your fault, and it's
not all bad. After all, it give me an excuse to do
something I always wanted to do. When I said to Pop
that I wanted to be a girl, I meant it. I wanted
to be a girl, get married, have babies... But I was
born with a boy's body. I love this 'curse.'"
"Ranma... But, you were always so... macho.
You always fought so hard to never be called a girl!
What are you saying?"
"Akane, I buried this part of me. Then I
created the macho personality to appease the old man.
This is the real me. The one I hid even from myself
before everything was brought back to me."
"But... Are you the same? You're still
Ranma right?"
"Yes, Akane. And some of the past ten years
still affects me, even knowing it was all a lie.
I don't think I could ever be comfortable being with
a real guy. Besides, I... still love you."
"But... you're not a guy then?"
"Not really..."
"But... I mean, I'm not... gay."
"Neither am I. But would that label really
fit either of us anyway? After all, we both change
sexes with water now."
"I don't know... Are you still the Ranma I
told that I loved this morning?"
"I think so, Akane. Would it change whether
or not you love me, just because I'm a girl inside?"
"I don't know, Ranma. But I guess I'm
willing to try."
A few minutes later, Nabiki tapped at the
door. "Hey, you two, can I come in?"
Akane opened the door to her bedroom and
waved Nabiki in.
"What's up, sis? Is something wrong?"
"Nabiki, what could be wrong? We're fine!
Really, there's nothing going on."
"Ranma, you couldn't lie to save your life.
Okay, Nabiki, spill it, how much do you know, and
how much will it cost us?"
"Akane, Ranma," Nabiki closed the door, "I
know everything. You two are lucky our dads didn't
walk in while you were practicing in the dojo.
I got the whole story from Cologne. You might be
interested to know Shampoo is no longer a threat to
your... relationship. It seems they cannot interfere
with our new mother-to-be."
"I wouldn't have let them anyway, the whole
thing is their fault in the first place!" Akane
stood up, but Ranma placed a hand on her arm and
she sat back down.
"Well, our fathers aren't going to take
this well. Especially Ranma's father." Here she
gave Ranma a glance of sympathy, telling Ranma
she knew about her past.
"So you know."
"Oh yes, and I think he'll be making an
extended trip to the zoo. No one deserves what
he did to you, and his presence places my FAMILY
in danger. NO ONE hurts my family."
Akane looked on in shock as Ranma nodded.
Ranma didn't seem too surprised, but this was more
real emotion than Akane had seen from her sister
in years.