Arms wrapped around her chest, Akane became aware of the silence filling the dojo. Everyone was staring at her in a mixture of surprise and worry.
Kasumi looked to be worried, nearly crushing her costume bag against her chest.
Ranma was doing his best to look away, but his nervous glances revealed that he was worried.
Fortunately no one was rushing to her aid, though that might happen if she looked like she might start to cry. Ironically the nudity that had resulted from the strip-poker game was pushing everyone to give her more space, something she was thankful for.
Wanting to keep her dignity for the moment, she placed the blank cardboard into the empty bag and made her way over to the barrel. Stripping her panties down one leg with her free hand, she hastily stepped out of the small garment and stuffed it into the barrel, idly flicking the excess pudding from her fingers back into the barrel.
Sitting down in her spot at the circle, the youngest Tendou deflected their concerns by immediately speaking up. "Well, let's get back to the game."
No where near satisfied with what was going on, Kasumi hesitantly spoke up, "Akane-chan, are you all right? Is there something the matter with your costume?"
A small lop-sided grin on her face, Akane folded the bag flat, showing that there was nothing in it other than a flat piece of cardboard. "I'm okay, it just broke I guess. That's all."
Helping to ease up the tension, Nabiki broke in with an amused air. "Gee sis, you really are something. If you wanted to go nude you could have just turned it down. I would have gladly taken it."
Grateful to have the pressure off herself, Akane stuck out her tongue at her older sister, showing that no harm was done. Going nude might be a bit strange but it was worth it if she could get everyone to back off so she could bury the images her costume had shown her for now. Spurring the game on, she put on a cheerful front. "C'mon already, after all of this I at least wanna see how it turns out."
Seeing that everyone was staring again, just not quite at her, Akane looked up to see Nabiki handing her a familiar red shirt.
Seeing Akane was hesitant to accept it, Nabiki grinning and pointed back behind her at the pig-tailed boy that was still trying to look away from the card game. "C'mon, you know the big lug isn't going to let anyone suffer. Why he'd even give you the shirt off his back."
Amused by the pun, Akane accepted the shirt, clutching it to her chest more from affection than any attempt at modesty.
Smirking she turned back towards Ukyou, ready to get things moving before emotions started running touchy again. "C'mon, I have something to put on now, let's get on with it."
Shrugging, the chef-turning-kunoichi idly shuffled the deck before dealing the next hand. As most everyone at this point was looking forward to completing the game and getting dressed, the hand went smoothly.
In the end, only Shampoo had something to show, a pair of kings, with everyone else losing to her.
Pouting, Shampoo watched as the others got dressed, bringing them one step closer to losing and being with Ranma before her.
Kodachi pulled on the separate sleeves of her rose kimono, securing them by tightening the ribbons around her biceps that would hold them in place on her arms.
Ukyou in turn got to put on the fishnet stockings that came with her outfit, giving her a naughty look that made her acutely embarrassed. There were sandals with shin guards that went with them, which she added afterwards, giving her costume a slight look of functionality.
Kasumi for her part was grateful that she could put on the top of her outfit, a cloth breast-wrap similar to that of Shampoo's costume. Hers however had decorative green triangular stripes which gave it a sense of motion.
Seeing that the other girls were now decent, Akane slipping into Ranma's shirt, idly doing up the buttons to give her some modesty.
Currently making Ranma uncomfortable by rubbing her hands across his bare chest and then whispering in his ear to calm him down, Nabiki was fairly content. The costume fiasco with Akane had been disappointing, as the maid outfit would have helped her quite a bit with developing her soft feminine side. Of course there was still one other costume that would be fun to watch in effect.
That's was of course Kasumi's costume. It was generally called the 'genie' outfit due to the basic nature of the costume. Like a genie Kasumi would develop magical powers which could help others and most importantly Ranma. Unlike a genie though, her costume didn't have any sort of device she was contained in.
Instead the last part of her costume would be giving a token to Ranma, not putting something on. The effect of the token was quite simple, as it would transmit his feelings and desires to Kasumi. While that might not sound so amusing, when combined with Kasumi's kind nature it was devastating. The only way she'd not helped Ranma and been nicer to him was because she went out of her way to ignore him lest she interfere with Akane's engagement.
Once the token was in place and the bond forged, Kasumi would be well aware of Ranma's feelings, needs and desires. Nabiki was curious to see just how much Kasumi would be able to resist being nice to Ranma once she became unable to ignore him.
Akane dealt the next round, seemingly quite comfortable wearing only a silk shirt that was large on her frame. Unfortunately everyone but Kodachi was disappointed with how the hand turned out. Shampoo, Kasumi and Ukyou all came up with pairs, while Kodachi and Akane had nothing to show.
Smiling triumphantly, Kodachi let her pony-tail down in preparation for the last part of her costume. Taking the ceremonial white ribbon of a full-fledged miko, she tied her hair low along her neck into a loose pony-tail.
The action was simple, but the results were simply magical.
Suffuse with light, her hair grew longer, reaching to her rear even as it it stayed within the proper loose pony-tail, retaining the bound hair required of a miko. Silhouetted by the glow of her own light, her form visibly thinned and became more delicate as her ears grew outwards from her head into delicately tapered expressive forms.
As the glow faded, her drastic change in coloration became apparent as her hair was a light silvery color with a hint of delicate sakura petal pink in the sheen. Her skin by contrast had considerably darkened to a rich milk chocolate color. The finishing touch was the red eyeliner and lipstick adorning her face, giving her look a slight touch of that of a geisha. That she wore an indecently loose kimono instead of a plain white kimono with red hakama spoke further of her being as much geisha as she was miko.
Rising gracefully from the floor, the new Kodachi showed humility and grace, which instilled instant pangs of jealousy in her rivals. Gracefully she made her way before Ranma, stopping at a polite distance before him.
Then as Nabiki prepared to induct her into Ranma's 'harem', she stopped in surprise, mid-speech as Kodachi knelt low on the floor before Ranma.
Speaking softly the dark elf announced her intentions. "I belong to my Lord Ranma-sama. I shall serve faithfully and with ardent devotion."
Rising from her bow to merely kneeling, she coyly glanced upwards at the man standing before her. "Does this new form please you Ranma-sama?"
More than a bit off-balance, he blurted out, "Ah sure, so far at least.", before turning partially towards Nabiki and asking, "Ah, are you sure about the costumes not controlling her mind or something?".
With adroit timing and tone, Kodachi seamlessly answered, not allowing Nabiki a chance to answer. "Fear not for me my Lord. I merely use the skills thou have gifted me with, as befitting such a graceful form, it would be unseemly for me to act otherwise. If the Tendou girl Akane were to be gifted with my gymnastic skill, so surely would she choose to then move gracefully as well."
Wanting to get in her two cents to maintain the superiority required to maintain authority over the bunch she was dealing with, Nabiki filled in what she could for Ranma. "Apparently she got the skills of a geisha, so you'll have to check and see if she actually got any miko abilities."
Looking down at the elf girl as she idly rubbed the bare upper portion of her left breast tantalizingly, Ranma suddenly realized with a gulp that an extra sexy elegant Kodachi might be a bit more trouble.
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(Posted Sat, 01 Jul 2006 01:48)
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