But this could not last as soon as they reached the school people would see and she would have to tell them what it meant. She looked forward to this with a curious mixture of dread and anticipation. Thinking of her new status as Ranma's slave made her think of the night before, when Ranma had made her scream that she was his over and over again.
What she saw when they turned around the corner of the school's entrance put a damper on her feelings. Kunou! The upperclassman was waiting for them at the gate.
They stopped in front of him and Akane let his flowery speech full of delusions and insults wash over her. It was only fair to let him finish sprouting his idiocy before she bashed him into the pavement. Well, before Ranma bashed him she guessed. They had had an informal and unspoken agreement about taking turns pummeling the kendoist before, but since she was Ranma's slave now Ranma would likely want to bash Kunou all the time.
Kunou finished whatever he had been saying and she waited. Ranma turned to her and looked at her expectantly. What was he waiting for?
"Akane?" Ranma prompted.
Did he mean her to hit Kunou or did he expect her to do something else? Suddenly realization dawned on her. He couldn't mean to.... obviously he did. Ranma's rules included that she had to inform everyone she met that she was Ranma's slave.
This would be so humiliating, but resolutely she took half a step forward and addressed the deluded kendoist.
"Upperclassman Kunou," she told him, "you see this collar. It means that I am a slave now. It marks me as the property of my master, Ranma Saotome."
The effect was spectacular. All the students in hearing range stopped talking and looked at her in disbelief. In the center of the expanding area of silence Kunou stood still. The color drained from his face as his brain slowly processed what his ears just had heard. He opened his mouth as if to speak but did not appear to find the words. Color shifted again from white to blue until he remembered to inhale again. Than he turned slowly red.
Finally Ranma had had enough and pushed against Kunou's forehead with his index finger. The upperclassman toppled over with the rigidity of a wooden pole.
Satisfied that the way was cleared of obstacles Ranma continued his way directly over the fallen kendoist and since he was still holding Akane's hand she had to follow his path.
Kunou must still have been somewhat conscious because he made a gurgling sound when Akane stepped over his head. Akane wondered if Ranma had meant Kunou to see that his slave did not wear any underwear beneath her school-uniform? That would be almost cruel of him. A look behind her showed the upperclassman lying on his back in a pool of his own nose-blood staring blankly at the sky.
As they made their way across the school yard everyone was staring at them and talking about them. She spied Yuka and Sayuri waving at her in the distance. Wanting to talk to them, she turned to her master.
"We hurried so much that we are a bit early can I go and join my friends for a bit before class starts?" Akane asked as per her instructions to always get his permission if she wanted to go anywhere.
Ranma looked reluctant to let her go but finally relented he hugged her, kissed her on her forehead and sent her on her way with an admonishment to stay within sight.
When she reached her friends a gaggle of excited girls immediately encircled them. All of the were talking at once asking variations of the questions "Is it true?", "Why?", "How could you?" and "In public?".
Akane held up her hand and then when they had realized that they would have to let her talk to receive an answer and fallen into an attentive silence she repeated her earlier announcement.
"Yes it is true," she said, "I am a slave now and my master Ranma has taken me as his property."
The verbal bombardment started up again now mostly along the lines of Ranma being evil, asking if he had no shame forcing her to this and how she could allow Ranma to do this to her.
Akane again interrupted, "It was my idea. This is what I wanted and my master kindly decided to accept my offering. And now I am officially my master's property. Nabiki helped with the paperwork registering my new status with the government to make it all legally binding."
That silenced them for a while.
"So it isn't just some kinky game or a lost bet or silly challenge?" Yoshiko one of the girls in Akane's class realized in wonder.
"I did not know that slavery was actually legal in Japan," observed another girl.
"That is quite a commitment, you have mad there then," decided Sayuri. "But if you really love him and it makes you both happy...."
There was supportive agreement all around with these sentiments.
"It is very bold of you," admired Yuka, "what with every one telling young girls that they have to be modern and emancipated and that they shouldn't depend on men. It takes great courage to go against the mainstream like that and go for what you really want."
"I don't think I could have done that," Sayuri agreed a touch of wistfulness in her voice.
"Who would you have done it with? You would need somebody real special and mature to go into such an unconventional relationship. Not everyone has a boyfriend as devoted as Akane's new master in her pockets," Masami demanded unhappily.
"Yeah, it is not exactly like you could trust one of the other boys at our school with something like this," Yuka admitted regretfully.
As one they all looked over to where Ranma was being mobbed by a group of their male schoolmates. He was currently addressing Hiroshi and Daisuke and telling them quite loudly that they were perverts and that his Akane was 'not like that'. Akane's friends gave a collective sigh at the sad view.
"Never mind us," Sayuri told her, "we are just some jealous girls. We should be happy for you. Not only have you found somebody you could trust yourself completely to. But he also has an intimate understanding of what it feels like to be a girl. Tell us, does Ranma know how to make a girl feel good."
Akane blushed deeply as the interrogation began. Had their 'perverted' male classmates been able to overhear they would have been astonished and mortified by the explicitness and frankness of the subsequent discussion.
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(Posted Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:10)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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