[Episode 137333] [Episode 137333]Ranma had been thinking about his ability to fly. He would have liked to be able to do it while male, or while wearing clothes. Losing your body was strange and disturbing, even after having time to grow accustomed to it. And turning into a girl was possibly the worst curse given the way his father brought him up.
Ranma knew his father wasn't too bright, and that he shouldn't believe the garbage his father had spilled on him his whole life; but it was hard to dismiss beliefs Ranma had absorbed over years.
Luckily no one knew he turned into a girl. It required constant vigilance to hide it, but it was worth it to avoid the ridicule of his father and others. But to be able to fly almost made it all worthwhile.
Meanwhile, Kasumi was thinking of the feeling of freedom she had felt in her dream last night. The ability to do whatever she'd like was a heady drug to the girl who lived a rigidly ordered life, conforming to everyone else's lowest common denominator of propriety.
Kasumi's dream began so high in the air, that she couldn't see the ground below. Clouds hung in the air like cotton, both above and below her in a manner unknown to meteorology, but drawing on children's cartoons and stories.
Kasumi's body had two additional limbs; graceful swan's wings which grew out of her back.
She closed her wings in front of her, and felt the silky feathers through her hands. She didn't need to flap them in order to fly; she floated in the air, unaffected by gravity. She only needed to flap them to change her speed or direction. The other odd condition of her body was that she didn't have a stitch of clothes on. As naked as the day she was born, she floated in a world where no one could disapprove; unfettered by gravity, clothes, modesty, or propriety.
Meanwhile, Ranma found himself among the same clouds. But Ranma was male, and fully clothed. He was able to fly, just like his cursed form, but miles above the ground, there was no one to see. He started to work through a kata he'd modified for freefall. When suddenly, he realized there was something behind him.
Kasumi and Ranma simultaneously looked over their shoulders and saw each other. Ranma had no more than a glimpse of Kasumi's shapely back, bottom and legs before she cried out inarticulately in surprise, and curled into a fetal position, wrapping her wings around her until she looked like a feathered ball topped with Kasumi's blushing face.
Ranma whispered to himself, "Angel" which Kasumi somehow heard, causing her blush to deepen, while a small smile crept onto her lips.
Ranma seemed to be stunned by the situation, until Kasumi asked, "Ah, would you mind if I borrowed some of your clothes?"
Ranma quickly, almost frantically, removed his shirt. He was going to give her his shirt and pants, relying on his undershirt and boxers to maintain his own modesty. But as he handed his shirt to the arm that snaked out of the wings, his shirt, undershirt and pants faded away, leaving him in his boxers, while Kasumi's panties faded on to her.
Now it was Kasumi's turn to be stunned by events. She stared at Ranma's muscular chest, with occasional glances at his cloth-covered crotch. Her eyes would always jump as if burned back to his chest whenever she realized she was looking at his groin.
Ranma somehow knew that his disappearing clothes caused her panties to reappear, even though Kasumi's wings obscured all of Kasumi's body except for her face. Somehow they were left with the same amount of clothes. He smiled and asked "Why would an angel be embarrassed of her breasts?"
"I'm not an angel."
"Of course you're an angel. Besides, I've seen your breasts before. They're very nice."
Unlike the dream the night before, where they were both convinced they were dreaming, tonight they hadn't realized it was a dream. But like a dream, they overlooked discrepancies. Had Kasumi been thinking clearly, she would have realized that unless Ranma had been peeping on her, the only Ranma to see her breasts was the dream-husband Ranma. Assuming he hadn't peeped on her, the only way for Ranma to have seen her breasts was if they had shared the previous dream, or if this was a dream. But because she dismissed the discrepancies, she ignored it.
In reality, of course, all three were true. This was a dream. They had shared the previous dream. And Ranma had seen her breasts in real life whenever he saw her while he was in his cursed form. But to Kasumi's dream-addled mind, the fact that the dream-husband Ranma had seen, and fondled, her breasts, was reason enough that she felt silly for concealing her body.
Kasumi slowly unfolded her body and unfurled her wings, but she held her arms to conceal her bare breasts. She knew there was no need to do so, but she was too embarrassed to just expose herself.
To Ranma, Kasumi, with white wings stretched behind her, looked exactly like what he would imagine an angel would look like. Ranma involuntarily muttered "Beautiful." and became embarrassed as Kasumi had obviously heard him if her sudden deepening blush was any indication.
Ranma was at a complete loss as to what he was supposed to do in this situation. His father and his nomadic life left him unprepared to deal with girls in a normal environment.
When it came to being half-naked, thousands of feet above the ground, while talking to an angel that looked like one of the girls he was somewhat engaged to; well, he could be excused for being out of his depth.
Kasumi, on the other hand was dealing with conflicting influences. Habit dictated that she cover up immediately, or get away from Ranma's gaze. Dream logic argued that there was no reason to hide her body, at least all of her body that wasn't covered by the panties she wore. The bare-chested eye candy before her insisted she stop and enjoy it. And her emotions were a rolling mess of guilty pleasure, freedom, naughtiness, and pride.
So it fell to Ranma to break the stalemate by tentatively reaching out to touch Kasumi, and with a grin, he called out "Tag! You're it!"
By beating her wings, Kasumi could accelerate well beyond Ranma's maximum speed. In a straight sprint, Kasumi would easily overtake Ranma, and fly faster and faster. But Ranma didn't fly in a straight line. He zigzagged all over the place, often rotating around his center of gravity in ways Kasumi would have guessed were impossible.
Soon the two of them were giggling and laughing aloud as Kasumi repeatedly overshot. Ranma was the first to realize that he could evade Kasumi indefinitely due to his skill at reading an opponent, his skill at anything goes, and his ability to fly in one direction while facing backwards to watch his pursuers.
Before Kasumi realized she'd never catch the slippery boy, Ranma slipped behind her as she passed, and segued from tag to a tickle-fight. Kasumi had more ticklish points than Ranma, but she also had two advantages of her own over Ranma.
First off, she had been in many tickle fights when she was younger, making her more skilled, and better at resisting the need to laugh. Ranma's life had been largely devoid of non-violent physical contact. The other advantage was that Kasumi was the only one with feathers.
While Ranma was outmatched, he gave a good showing, making the most use of the freefall environment to avoid Kasumi's questing fingers and pinion feathers. Eventually they were face to face where Kasumi's longer arms and still longer wings were ravaging Ranma's small ribs with near impunity.
In an effort to get within her reach, where her wings would be useless, Ranma slipped into a hug, with his arms slipping under her arms to her back. His hands reached up, and stroked her shoulder blades where her wings emerged from her back. The touch of his hands raised goose bumps down her arms, and across her back.
While this might have been an ideal time to kiss a girlfriend, Ranma didn't realize it due to his inexperience. Instead he rested his head on her shoulder, inadvertently smelling her hair and the nape of her neck, while she shivered from his hot breath on the side of her throat.
Kasumi stroked Ranma's hair while she held him in a loose hug. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time. I don't think I've played like that since I graduated school."
While their skin contact gave Ranma some idea what Kasumi wanted him to do, Kasumi, herself, didn't really know. Ranma's playfulness reminded her of a friend or a sibling. His stroking her back was quite pleasurable, but not sexual, while their bare chests pressed together was pleasurable and sexual. And his resting his head on her shoulder and her stroking his hair made her feel maternal. His hot breath on her neck also quickened her pulse.
If she signaled him that she wanted something sexual, he would have kissed her, and entwined their legs, while letting his hands roam. Instead he felt her pleasure and confusion.
Not knowing what to do, he jumped on the first idea that occurred to him. "Hey, let's fly down and have fun in the city."
"But we're not dressed!"
"It doesn't matter. They can't see us; we're invisible." Ranma said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And as soon as he said it, it became the most obvious thing to Kasumi.
So, holding hands to fly at the same rate, the two of them flew down. While they were playing tag there had been no indication that there was any ground beneath them. But with a dream segue, they were suddenly flying in a park near the Nerima marketplace where Kasumi usually shopped.
They flew past a lot of people, most of them obviously dating couples, without anyone seeing them. Then, to Kasumi's horror, a little seven year old girl pointed up, right at her, and shouted in a high clear voice, "Look, Mommy! An Angel!"
But even though the girl's finger and eyes tracked Kasumi perfectly, the girl's mother stared past Kasumi, unseeing. "Yes, dear. That cloud does look like an angel."
Ranma and Kasumi flew away as the girl objected. "She wasn't a cloud! She was a real angel!"
The explanation occurred to Ranma, and he passed it on to Kasumi. "I forgot. Saints and very young children can see us. Anyone who's heart is too innocent to care if we're dressed or not. That's why animals can see us; they wouldn't care if we're nude. Look! There’s a baby carriage."
The two of them were completely ignored by the mother, while they pulled faces, and played with the baby. The baby had no problem seeing them, as shown by its gurgling laughter.
(Posted Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:39)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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