[Episode 220522] [Episode 220522]Nabiki sat on the park grass with her back to a tree, her crossed legs stretched out in front of her, the late afternoon sun warm on her face, her fingers running through the hair of her favorite redhead lying beside her with her head in her lap and gazing up at her with a contented smile on her face. Nabiki’s gaze wandered down from Ranma’s face to her firm, somewhat oversized breasts with their pink-tipped areolae, and on down to the soft-looking red tuft of hair above and partially framing the cleft between Ranma’s legs. Nabiki felt herself getting warmer than the sun could explain and her mouth began to water ... then she felt Ranma stir uncomfortably and her eyes snapped back to Ranma’s face and with an effort she banished thoughts of the view she’d just been enjoying from her mind. “Sorry about that,” she murmured.
Ranma relaxed again and smiled ruefully up at her friend. “Don’t be sorry, just don’t do it again.” The feeling coming from Nabiki now that she was looking at her face instead of lower down ... Oh, that feels good — like standing in sunshine, or sinking into a warm furo, or ...
Nabiki laughed at hearing her own words from that morning paraphrased back at her, and Ranma added her own chuckles, then sobered. “Ya know, I still don't understand what this Kuno guy is thinking — what he’s doing to Akane isn’t a challenge, it’s an outright attack. Sure, the training she’s getting in crowd fighting is great, but doing it every morning ... not even Pop did something that stupid. Though I'm surprised he didn't think of having us fight back against the shopkeepers instead a’ just running. Maybe ‘cause he wanted to be gone before the cops showed up ...”
“Shopkeepers? Do I really want to know?” Nabiki asked dryly.
Ranma grinned up at her. “Mobs of shopkeepers are almost as good as wolf packs for speed and endurance training.”
Nabiki winced and chuckled ruefully. “Every time I think your father can’t be any more of an idiot ... So are you going to go along with my suggestion at lunch?”
Ranma grimaced. “I dunno — it just doesn’t feel right to run out on Pop like that ...”
“Ranma, what he’s put you through — you may not think it’s as bad as what Akane’s going through, but you’re wrong. And it isn’t just the physical danger, though how you’ve survived till now is beyond me. You, my friend, are almost certainly very poorly socialized.”
“Huh?” a bewildered Ranma queried.
“I mean, you don’t really know how to act around people, do you? Constantly on the move with only your father, of all people, for company, how could you? And I’ll bet you haven’t gotten much schooling, either.”
Hey, I’m a martial artist, I don’t need schooling!”
“Really?” Nabiki quirked an eyebrow. “Didn’t you tell me you want to run a dojo, teach students? Well for that, you need more than just skill in combat. You need to know at least enough math to make sure your students or their parents are paying you properly, figure out the taxes ... and you may need a college degree in physical education to get the license you need, I’ll have to check.”
“License? Ya need a license to teach the Art?”
“I think so, at least if you want to be paid. You should probably also spend some time with more normal teachers, and think back on how your teachers other than your father taught you. You may have survived your father’s teaching, but I don’t think other parents are going to allow their kids to go through what you did. Besides,” Nabiki said, her voice and smile softening, “I’d like to meet my best friend’s other half.”
Ranma sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Things must’a changed since Pop trained. All right, once Pop gets to shore, I’ll find out where he’s planning to go and stick with him ‘til we’re as close to Nerima as we’re going to get, then get away and come here.”
Nabiki sighed in relief and smiled broadly, then frowned when Ranma grimaced and curled up a little. “Ranma, is something wrong?”
“Nah, nothin’ I can’t handle.”
Nabiki stopped stroking Ranma’s hair and rapped her on the forehead. “Ranma, being a tough guy is one thing, being an idiot is something else. We don’t know that much about what you are, and every little bit helps. So, what’s wrong?”
Smiling sheepishly, Ranma answered, “I dunno, I just feel a little ... empty, I guess. Like there’s a hole in me pulling on me, that needs filling or something.”
A hole, filling, what could ... oh, please, no. Nabiki tried to act casual, but Ranma stiffened and sat up at the harsh feel of the fear that began rolling off of her friend.
“Nabiki, what’s wrong?”
“Ranma, that dream the second night, the one that freaked you out — did you feel anything like this then?” Nabiki asked.
Ranma frowned thoughtfully, thinking back. “Yeah, you’re right, I did. What’s it mean?”
Shit, shit, shit! I really didn’t want to tell her this yet ... ah, well, needs must. Nabiki sighed and spread her arms. “Ranma, come here, sit.”
A Ranma made increasingly frightened by the emotions of fear and resignation radiating from Nabiki that she couldn’t recognize but didn’t like the feel of moved over and sat in Nabiki’s lap, and Nabiki enfolded her in an embrace. “Come on, Nabiki, you’re ... you’re makin’ me nervous. What’s wrong?”
Nabiki thought for a moment, then said, “Ranma, I have something to tell you, something I’ve known since that morning after the dream. I didn’t tell you then or since because I didn’t know enough, still don’t really, and I was half-hoping that I was wrong. Ranma, your problem right now is that you are hungry, and what you need to satisfy that hunger is sex.”
Ranma stiffened. “No. No, ya must be wrong, I can’t need that, I can’t ...”
Nabiki tightened her embrace, pulling Ranma harder against her. “I’m afraid so. That day you didn’t eat very much while with your father, did you?”
“Well, no ...”
“I didn’t think so. The food you eat when in human form must transfer across when you turn into a spirit, keeping you from needing to feed as a spirit. But you didn’t eat that day and transformed hungry, then went to bed with me ... and your new instincts kicked in. And now it’s been at least a day since you last ate ... when did you last eat?”
“Yesterday noon,” a slightly confused Ranma replied. She hadn’t understood everything Nabiki had said, but she’d gotten the gist of it and ... she started to curl into a ball.
“Yesterday noon, right,” Nabiki echoed. “Over a day and a quarter. You definitely need to eat, and that means sex.”
“No!” Ranma shouted. “Listen, I’ll just get some hot water and —”
“— and end up right back here,” Nabiki finished. “Or will your father have finished his little swim by now?”
Ranma deflated. “No, he’ll still be out there. I’d just end up in the water and ... yeah, yer right. But that doesn’t mean I hafta ... feed ... I can just wait, it won’t be more than another couple’a days ‘fore he’s here an’ I can eat then.”
Nabiki shook her head. “No, Ranma, we can’t wait. We don’t know what your spirit body can handle, you could starve to death before then. I’m not losing the only friend I have out of ignorance!”
Ranma was shaking like a leaf. “No, there’s gotta be another way! I can’t ... I’m not ...”
“Ranma, why does the idea of sex terrify you so badly?” a now deeply concerned Nabiki asked. “Did ... something ... happen to you when you were younger?”
“Huh?” Nabiki’s question and rising fear startled Ranma out of his own rising panic. “What’re ya talkin’ about?”
“Ranma, has anyone ... has anyone had sex with you before?” Nabiki got out through the lump in her throat.
“Huh? No!” a now thoroughly confused Ranma shouted.
Now Nabiki was the relieved but confused one. “So why are you so afraid of sex?”
“I’m not afraid a nothin’,” Ranma insisted. “I’m not! It’s just ... Nabiki, I’m a guy! What if ... what if I like it more as a girl? I can’t start ... start ...”
A light went off in the back of Nabiki’s mind. “Oh damn, this has to be the worst possible case of gender dysfunction imaginable.”
“H-Huh? W-What?” Ranma stuttered.
A concerned Nabiki sighed and freed one hand to stroke Ranma’s hair. Ranma slowly stopped shaking and relaxed at the feeling, along with the emotions radiating from Nabiki, warm and soft on one hand and warm and ... sharp? ... on the other. “Never mind,” Nabiki sighed. “Listen, Ranma, you probably will enjoy it more as a ... nature spirit ... than as a human. But that isn’t because you’re a girl as a nature spirit and a guy as a human, it’s because it’s your nature as a ... a sex spirit.”
Seeing that Ranma hadn’t understood a word she’d said, Nabiki tried again. “Ranma, if you turned into a wolf instead of a nature spirit, would you be surprised if when you were a wolf you enjoyed chasing down and killing and eating rabbits?” Ranma shook her head. “And would you be surprised if you enjoyed hunting rabbits more as a wolf than as a human?” Ranma shook her head again. “It’s the same thing here. Your type of nature spirit is supposed to feed off of sex, of course you’re going to enjoy it more as a nature spirit. Is that so bad?”
Ranma was beginning to shake again. “Please, Nabiki, I know yer smarter than me. There’s gotta be a way ...”
Nabiki stopped stroking Ranma’s hair and pulled the red-topped head against her shoulder and stared thoughtfully into space, thinking back to the dream, the sequence of events, what she’d done, what Ranma had done .... and slowly nodded. “Okay, I think I know a way. You aren’t going to like it much, but it’ll be better than having sex you don’t want or starving.” Gathering the petite, and weightless, redhead into her arms, she stood up, then paused as she looked out across the park — the occupied park. Damn, no way I can carry her home, it would just look too weird. “Come on, Ranma, we need to get home for this and I can’t carry you.”
Ranma slowly uncurled, then when Nabiki let her go floated out beside her and the two started back toward the dojo.
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(Posted Sun, 10 May 2009 04:54)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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