Exiting the tattoo parlor, Ranma ground to a halt. “Zero to Hero, Terrors, Mouto’s, and Demios and Corari’s Gag and Prank Outlet. We are still in the mall. Do you think it’ll let us leave now?” Ranma held his forehead with his hand, and a sigh escaped from his lips.
“What? Tired of my company already?” Nabiki stabbed Ranma with her elbow. “Come on, I feel like buying clothes. You’re not going to drag me all the way to a once in a lifetime shopping event and not go clothes shopping, are you? I thought you knew girls better then that, Saotome.” Nabiki smirked at Ranma as she took his hand again. “Come on, let’s just pick a direction and go. Maybe if we want to find a clothes store, we will.” Nabiki, though, had other reasons for finding a clothing shop besides designer fashion. It was the first place she could think of with full length mirrors she could use to check out her new tattoo discreetly. Of course, getting new clothes was just icing on the cake, as far as she was concerned. And the challenge of trying to get Ranma into a dress was an added bonus.
“Drag you? I distinctly remember you tagging along,” Ranma shot back. “And anyways, maybe we should hit another shop, we’re still here after all. OK, since you know what you want, you lead the way.”
Nabiki paused for a moment as she looked around. Pointing in a seemingly random direction, she confidently stated, “That way.” Without looking to see if Ranma was keeping up, she marched off in the complete opposite direction.
“Har, har Nabiki. Trying to get rid of me?” Ranma scolded her, but also winked to take out the sting of his words. He was walking effortlessly besides her, having not fallen for the trick.
Nabiki gave Ranma a wink in return. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t notice that I was going to drag you into a woman’s underwear and lingerie shop.”
Ranma suddenly blushed as he jumped and look around. Sighing in relief, he did not see any underwear shops. But he did find that they walked far enough for more shops. “See anyplace you like?”
“That one, Amberfitch and Crumb. See the nicely dressed mannequins in the window.”
Ranma looked over at the store Nabiki pointed out. “Fine Clothes since 1532. Funny, the clothes don’t look three hundred years old.”
Nabiki groaned. “First, three hundred years ago was the sixteen hundreds. Secondly, that says 1532 BC. So it is a lot older.”
“I don’t get it. BC?” Ranma stood in the street, looking confused.
“Never mind, come on. I’ll even let you buy me something.” Nabiki prodded Ranma.
“Oh? Why would I want to do that?” Ranma played innocent when Nabiki turned to look at him.
Nabiki rolled her eyes. “Come on, I got tattooed for you. Now you can deal with clothes. I’ll even pick something out for you. Well, for Ranma-chan.” Nabiki joked back. She knew, thanks to her piercing, that Ranma wasn’t being serious. Facing front again, Nabiki opened the door and entered the store. She trusted Ranma would follow her in. Entering the store, Nabiki was taken aback with how large it was. Spying the ladies section, she hurried off to look at the racks. She quickly spied a suede skirt, grabbed one in her size, and then picked up a brown crocheted top. Turning around to find Ranma hovering nearby, she told him, “I’m going to go try these on. Be right back.”
In the dressing room, Nabiki started to peel off her clothes. Soon, with her panties down by her ankles, she was looking over her shoulder into the mirror. With a frown, she called out deceptively sweetly, “Oh Ranma-baby, could you give me a hand with this?”
Ranma moved closer to the door. He stammered, “Uh, you sure? All decent in there?”
“Yes, just come on in.”
When Ranma entered the dressing room, he did not even get a chance to notice Nabiki’s state of undress because she grabbed him and pulled him in roughly. “Ranma’s girl? What, you think you own me? Or maybe you want to add to the girls chasing you? What do you think people would say if they ever saw this?”
Ranma cut her rant off. “Oh, you peeked. Why didn’t I think of that.” Acting like nothing was wrong, Ranma stripped off his pants and boxers. Holding his shirt up, he turned to look at his rear in the mirror. “What does mine say?” In the reflection, Ranma could see that his tattoo was a vertical bar of kanji. Framing it, but not touching the letters, were two butterfly wings, and 2 antennae sprouted from the top. The words spelled out, ‘Nabiki’s Friend’. “Aww.” Ranma turned back to face Nabiki and pulled her into a tight hug. “Do you mean it?”
Nabiki was momentarily stunned by Ranma’s reaction. “Huh, what? The tattoo?”
“Yeah,” Ranma affirmed as he released her from his hug. “Do you really think of me as a friend?”
“Er, well ... yes. But I don’t get it, you have plenty of friends.” Nabiki tried to puzzle out Ranma’s behavior.
“Sure, you know ... I know people who hang around me for one reason or another. But the last time anytime actually called me a friend I was six, and I thought Ucchan was a boy.” Ranma suddenly found the floor interesting. A sheepish blush blossomed across his cheeks.
“Why do you even hang out with them, then?” Nabiki was curious.
Ranma looked at the floor for a few moments before sighing and seeming to working himself up to answer. “Beggars can’t be choosers, they say,” he admitted.
Nabiki suddenly realized something about Ranma, and maybe the enchanted piercing help her see something she didn’t before or maybe it was because Ranma seemed to open up to her more that day compared to all the previous days she’s known him. Her face softened, “Do you think of me as a friend?”
“Yeah, well ... Today I realized I did. We spent more time today being comfortable around each other than ever before. Walking, talking, shopping, it felt like what friendship should. The only other person I get that feeling from, now and then, is Akane, and they usually don’t last long. The last time I was able to spend a day having fun with someone, I was only six.” Ranma got a far away look to his eyes as he stared off into the distance.
“So the tattoo you designed, it wasn’t just as a joke then?” But Nabiki already knew the answer, having listened to Ranma. “I was afraid you were just trying to be funny, and I had picked one from the heart. Well, I was upset you didn’t take it as seriously as I did. But, that’s not what happened. Is it?” Nabiki asked softly as she held Ranma’s face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eye.
“I may have been flirting ... uh, never really got to do that before. Don’t really know how to. Felt right, today, though. I have not had a day like today in a long time. I never even knew when my birthday was. Pops didn’t think it was important enough to celebrate. When I noticed other kids celebrating birthdays and asked about mine, he would just say that a martial artist never took any time off of training, not even for a birthday. Maybe it’s this odd place we are in, but I really enjoyed myself and enjoyed your company. I was hoping that when today ended, we would still be like this. So, a little flirting, a little hope that what we had today wouldn’t be gone tomorrow, and a reminder of today when, even if just for this little while, we were the only two people in the world and you were the girl by my side.” Ranma blushed as he looked down. “As if any of that even made sense.” Suddenly Ranma blanched before pulling his pants back on and backing away.
“What’s wrong ...” Nabiki looked down and noticed that the two of them were standing pretty close with both of their pants down by their feet.
Ranma began to stutter and stammer. “Suh &ndash suh &ndash sorry Nabs ... I’ll go now.”
“Wait! It’s OK, Ranma. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But if the girls find out ... Oh man, can you imagine what Akane would say?”
“Relax. They are not here right now. And I won’t tell them, and you shouldn’t either.” The wheels in Nabiki’s head began to turn. She knew the girls were distracted with the idea that Ranma went ring shopping. ‘I bet my camera they all assume it is an engagement ring. They’ll be so busy trying to track Ranma down, and out doing the others, I am sure none of them will even buy Ranma a birthday gift. And when they realize it, if they realize it at all, they just grab something in a hurry. Ukyo will make an okonomiyaki, Shampoo will bring drugged ramen, Kodachi will just try giving herself as a gift, and Akane will just find a reason to get mad so no one notices she forgot. The fathers won’t do anything, except maybe call a priest. So, the only people he can expect gifts from is Kasumi and his mom.’ This thought saddened her. ‘He never got a real birthday party before, either. He deserves better. I wasn’t planning on buying Ranma anything big, but I hadn’t thought about it from his view, before. I’ll have to pick something up when he’s not looking.’ When Nabiki noticed Ranma calmed down a bit and nodded his head, she requested, “Wait outside, I’m going to try this on and you can tell me what you think.”
Ranma visibly sagged at the idea of shopping for clothes with a girl. ‘She’ll take forever, and as far as I can tell, she’ll look good in anything she tries on.’ He nodded, glumly, and made to exit the room.
“Ranma, if you want, you can go visit another store and we can meet up later.” Nabiki figured it was a good way to buy Ranma some presents without him noticing. She was surprised when he turned nervous.
Ranma fidgeted for a moment. “I’m not sure if we separate that we’ll find each other again. I’m afraid that as long as we’re here, we’ll be as lost as Ryouga. I’ll just stay here, if it’s alright?”
Nabiki thought about Ranma’s answer. She figured he was being paranoid, but was touch he didn’t want to be parted from her. “You can go look at the men’s clothes, if you want. See if you find something you like.” Ranma sighed and muttered darkly. Nabiki arched her eyebrow before dryly asking, “What was that?”
“Nothing. It’s just ... I can’t wear the things I’d like because of my curse. That’s all.”
“It’s a big store, maybe you can find something that fits both sides of you.” Ranma nodded and left.
Heaving a sigh or concern, Nabiki dressed up in the skirt and top. Looking into the mirror, she liked the way the skirt flowed and draped. The top was form fitting and looked very nice with the skirt. It seemed lacy as the crochet pattern had many open holes. A skin toned silk liner protected her modesty and gave the shirt a sense of daring. Nabiki quickly redressed into her clothes before stepping out of the dressing room, where she was surprised to find Ranma waiting.
“I thought you were going to go look at some stuff?” Nabiki wanted Ranma to at least try to have some fun.
“You did ask me to wait out here. Why aren’t you wearing the stuff? I thought you wanted me to look at it?”
“Oh! Well, I like it, but honestly I just grabbed some stuff so I could go to a dressing room quickly to use the mirror. I was really curious at what was painted on me. But while we are here, shall we browse?” Nabiki took Ranma by his arm and pulled him to walk along with her.
“Well ... it is one of those shops. You sure you want to buy something here?” Ranma was looking warily at the racks, like he expected the clothes to attack at any moment.
“Do you think we have to spend all of our money before we get released? ... Hey, are those togas? I bet that would look good on both of your forms, Ranma. And look, Scottish kilts. Too bad you’re not Scottish, or all of your dressing problems would be solved.” Nabiki teased Ranma, trying to get him to have more fun. “Or, you could become a nudist. A birthday suit would look good on you as a guy or a girl.” Nabiki winked saucily at Ranma, who turned red.
Ranma turned to Nabiki with an evil glint to his eye, and a smirk on his lips. “I’ll take off mine if you take off yours.”
“Why, Saotome, are you flirting with me? What would your many girlfriends say?” Nabiki was sure of it this time. ‘He is flirting with me, and he even admitted to it awhile ago.’
“I believe, Miss Tendo, that you started it.” Ranma gave her a wink.
Sidling up close to Ranma, Nabiki leaned over to whisper into his ear. “I’ll let you pick out some sexy bras and underwear for me if you let me pick out some lingerie for you. Something lacy, feminine, and sexy for your girl side.”
Ranma shivered as a look of disgust crossed his face. “Ugh! No thanks.”
“Too bad,” Nabiki sighed in mock disappointment, “I was going to let you see me wear them later, after all.”
“Pfft,” Ranma expressed with a touch of annoyance. “Like that would go over well. There’s no way we could get away with that at the dojo without someone walking in on us. If I was in your room, Akane would walk in on us, think I was trying to peep on you or something, and beat me down. If you were in my room, Akane would choose then to walk in, think I was up to something, and you can imagine what that would be like. And it would only be worse if it was one of the other girls who caught us. You know I never get a moment of privacy as it is.” Ranma then smirked at her. “And why does everyone get angry. For once, can’t Kasumi walk in on you naked in my room and decide to join in on the fun.”
Nabiki mock scowled. “Oh, Kasumi is it? No wonder you don’t want to marry Akane, you got eyes for Kasumi. What tattoo did you buy for her?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you.” Ranma played along with Nabiki, enjoying the banter. “However, if you ever get a chance to bathe with her, check out her inner thigh.”
Nabiki was amused at guessing at what Ranma was thinking. “Oh? And what would I see?”
“An 8 inch bar that says anyone shorter then this is not allowed on the ride ... of course”
Nabiki unsuccessfully tried to hide her giggles at the thought of Kasumi having such a tattoo. “Of course. Silly me, to not have figured that one out.”
Ranma nodded sagely. “And what a ride it is.” He ended his statement with a wink.
“Have you ever, you know ... thought about yourself and Kasumi like that?” Nabiki grew serious for a moment.
Ranma, with his eyes twinkling, answered, “In my bedroom, in your bedroom, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the pantry, in the dojo, and in the koi pond, where you, Akane, and the ladle lady joins us.”
Nabiki jabbed him hard with her elbow. “Jerk!” However, the twitching of the corners of her lips showed she was not serious. “Come on,” she said before checking her watch, “I don’t want to spend too much time in this store but we should look at what they got. I am kinda hoping to find a nice dress, if it is not too expensive.”
Ranma sighed. “OK, I guess there is no harm in looking. We could always dress the other up.”
Nabiki grinned in excitement. “Oh, is there something you really want to see on me? Besides you, that is.”
“When did we start flirting shamelessly?” Ranma wondered.
“I think,” Nabiki began to say before pausing to think, “it started when we both accepted that we were friends. We feel safe enough with the other to be tattooed in each other’s presence and we feel safe enough to flirt knowing it’s just for some fun. I think flirting is our way of showing we care. Ooh, look at that! Will you try that on, please? And while you get dressed, I’ll go find some water and an evening gown for you.”
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See other episodes by Errol Peregrinus
(Posted Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:42)
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