[Episode 117076] [Episode 117076]Kuno stood up, he lifted the passive girl in his arms into the furo, robe and all. As he turned toward the outer room to get tweezers and bandages Ranma’s second curse took effect.
For the first time the collar and the slave girl persona found themselves at odds with eachother. Taro had been mistaken when he thought the spring water would make Ranma his slave; the curse wasn’t that specific, but the collar was. Ranma knew Kuno desired her body and the slave-girl persona needed to submit to his desires. However the collar gave her to Taro and anyone he offered her to. Happosai had specified that Ranma was only to sleep with men of their choosing. The collar over-rode Ranma’s personal desires regardless of the persona in charge of his body but it didn’t stop her from having them.
Ranma’s true self was shattered by the things Taro and Happosai had forced her to do, but she did have the basic ability to cope with mutually exclusive demands. After all Ranma had been dealing with having three fiancées, none of whom she wanted to hurt, all of whom she was honor-bound to marry for months. She didn’t feel the need to tear herself apart over things outside of her control. She simply went with the tide and hoped that the whole mess would somehow sort itself out someday.
The slave-girl persona wasn’t bothered by the rape but she didn’t possess a hint of ability to deal with conflicting demands. All she knew was that she needed to follow both directives and the inability to do so was like being put on a rack and slowly ripped apart.
Kuno returned to find her kneeling on the floor, head tilted downward, shaking violently. “What’s wrong?” Even Kuno thought it was a supremely stupid question given what had happened but something had changed in the few seconds he’d left her alone.
Not answering never crossed her mind. “I know you want me but…” Ranma’s hand fluttered up to gesture to the collar, she never raised her gaze from the floor.
“I don’t want to hurt you. There is nothing you owe me for my assistance. Pigtailed-Girl… Ranma, I just want you to be happy again.” Kuno tilted her head up so she could see the sincerity in his eyes.
Ranma stared at him with a look of wonder. Her happiness was the last thing anyone concerned themselves with. She smiled tentatively as his words freed her from the horns of dilemma. Ranma felt a warm glow in the center of her chest, he wanted her to be happy!
The slave-girl curse twisted Ranma’s personality so that she needed to submit to another’s will and derived pleasure from it. The slave-girl persona got off on being used by Taro, but that was just a physical response, it had nothing on the warmth Tatewaki’s concern was generating.
Kuno returned her smile. He reached out and ruffled her hair. “You seem to be feeling better Angelic One.”
Ranma nodded, her smile brightened as the feedback between the curse, Kuno’s desire for her happiness and his smiled worked on her emotional state.
Kuno held up the first aid kit. “I… you… your wounds need treatment.”
Ranma froze; was she supposed to chose? What did Tatewaki want? Why didn’t he tell her? She considered what she knew about Tatewaki and the location of her wounds. She glanced up at him through her bangs. “Would you?” she asked coyly.
Kuno nodded. He gently took her hand and began picking out the bits of glass and stone embedded in it. Once he was done he tilted her face to the light, his fingers rested along her jaw as he worked. Ranma stared up at him, her lips parted slightly. Kuno studied her face then lost himself in her eyes, he leaned down and kissed her. Her lips were soft and yielding. Kuno gulped and stepped back. “I think you had better take care of the rest,” he said unsteadily.
Ranma followed the instructions without question. Kuno waited in the hall the led her to a guest room. The next morning when Ranma woke-up, went to the bathroom and rinsed off with cold water.
Ranma blinked her form didn’t change but everything else did. After a few moments her memories filled in the blanks. She shivered. Ranma hated being so helpless, but Kuno hadn’t taken advantage of her. She still loathed having to depend on someone else’s decency for her safety.
“Miss Ranma?” Sasuke called through the door. Ranma leapt halfway across the room. “Master Kuno thought you might need clothing. I left a collection in the outer chamber.”
Ranma spent several moments forcing her heartbeat and breathing to calm themselves, and giving Sasuke time to leave before going to look for the clothes. The slight redhead picked through the piles of clothing, most of it was either Kuno’s or Kodachi’s. Without thinking Ranma picked out a lacy black bra and one of Kuno’s school shirts.
“From now on you will dress with the sole intent of appealing to men. You will mostly dress sluttily. You will often wear short skirts with no panties. You will always wear a sexy bra when it is appropriate. You may dress otherwise if we tell you to.” Happosai’s orders when Ranma first put on the collar. Ranma had been away from anyone with the power to use the collar against her for almost fourteen hours. IT had been hard to leave Taro’s side when a casual comment suggested that he wanted her to stay but when she fainted Kuno had taken her way and out of sight, out of mind… but unlike Taro’s orders, Happosai’s had been worded to keep working “From now on…”
Angrily Ranma tugged at the collar. She gritted her teeth and forced her fingers under the tightly fitted band despite the wounds she was inflicting on her throat but she could make herself pull it apart, Happosai had forbidden removing it. “I gotta get rid of this thing,” Ranma muttered.
Kuno met her at the gates. “Pig-tailed – Ranma, you don’t have to leave.” He stopped and swallowed, hard. The petite redhead was wearing his shirt, the black bra was clearly visible through the white material, the shirt barely fell to her mid-thigh. “Y… you really should wear more,” he suggested as he reminded himself that she’d been raped just the day before and the last thing she needed was to realize the effect she was having on him.
“I can’t!” Ranma snarled. She reached for the collar again. “They won’t let me! They’re not even here and they still have more control over my body than I do! I gotta get this thing off me, I just gotta. I don’t know, maybe Cologne, she always knows about this sort of stuff. But why would she help me? Shampoo can’t marry me like this. Why would any of the girls want me after what They did to me? No one’s gonna help me, I’m all alone.”
“Not alone fair one. Where you go I follow… As long as you want me.”
“Or there’s always Mom,” Ranma continued thoughtfully. “I bet she could have everything set up for me to commit seppuku in five minutes. That’d solve everything.”
“Let me try to take it off,” Kuno offered. “Or stay, I’ll keep you safe until you think of path forward. You don’t really want to kill yourself.”
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(Posted Fri, 17 Mar 2006 07:36)
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