In the darkness of her room, Akane hid under her covers, trying to hide away from the world.
Her life had been more or less that of a regular schoolgirl until Kuno finally pulled his latest bone-headed maneuver.
It had been a normal school morning. The horde of delusional perverts had attacked once again and she had knocked them all down with practiced ease.
Then Kuno came out from behind his stupid tree, the same as always, yet that was where the unexpected happened.
Grinning with an unsettling glint in his eyes, the samurai wanna-be had pulled out a dark purple magatama stone instead of the usual rose. Then the stone began to glow as he made his triumphant announcement, "Today, Akane Tendou, my fierce flower, you shall belong to me!"
The magic had been horrifying, the stuff of schoolgirl gossip and rumors. They had all know about it, how some perverse ritual had been brought from China that turned girls into demonic monsters. That very same magic would often make them the slaves of the one transforming them.
Those that didn't become demonic servants of their new Master became rogue demons, something Akane knew were all to real as Demon Hunters would often stay at her house. She had listened to the stories they told of the monster women and their hunts for mortals.
Instinctually refusing to be Kuno's pet monster, she instead attacked him. Startled, he didn't even have time to bring his bokken to bare against her, so confident was he in his curse upon her.
Then she saw the blood on her hands.
On her claws.
On her fur.
In the two days since then, she had stayed in her room, allowing no one else to enter. Kasumi brought her food twice a day, then meekly left the monster's lair.
In the dead of night she would sneak to the bath.
She knew it wouldn't last though.
She knew the end was there as soon as he stepped into her room without a hint of fear. He was there for her after all.
"Go away! Rwwooorr... Leave me alone damnit!"
For his part, Ranma did his best not to laugh. For a fearsome beast, her growls were pretty pathetic. It didn't help her fearsome image any that she was hiding huddled under her covers on the far corner of her bed.
Stepping near the bed, he gave her a silly smile, mostly because he was still trying not to laugh. "Why hello there. Someone told me there was a fearsome monster in your room. Is it under the bed?"
The huddled mass on the bed turned a glare at the boy from beneath her sheets while hotly accusing him, "I know what you're here for! You're going to make me your little pet, aren't you?"
Nodding in acceptance of her accusation, he replied, "Yes, I am Ranma Saotome, Mystic, Demon Hunter and Keeper. I'm sure you'd make a cute pet, but I'm afraid I'm only here because your family is worried."
Getting no reply, he shrugged and sat on the bed, causing the occupant to bounce and huddle away from him. Sighing morosely, he bemoaned his fate to the world, "Ah, here I am, Ranma Saotome, the best of Demon Hunters called in to deal with a fearsome monster and I all get is a silly schoolgirl."
Indignantly the pile of sheets in the corner huffed, "I am not silly!"
Now chuckling, the young demon hunter realized he would have to wrap this up before he lost it and started laughing. She might be pathetic, but if he was rolling around on the floor laughing at her, she might take offense and beat him silly with a pillow. "Then why are you huddled under your covers?"
Her tone immediately changed to sad and hurt, "It's that pervert Kuno's fault! He turned me into a freak and a monster!"
Nodding sympathetically, the young man suddenly dropped his ruse, crying out, "Ah! a weakness!"
Then as the huddled girl curled up tighter to protect herself from the coming attack, he reached under the sheets and tickled one of her feet. Once his victim was too busy laughing herself silly, he took the opportunity to snatch away her covers.
Relenting from his tickle assault allowed her to catch her breath and try to glare at him, which in turn allowed him to check out her form. If he was anyone to judge, she was taller than her eldest sister and fairly well built. Apparently she was a Tigress type demon-morph, though of the rarer white fur with dark blue stripes variety. While her body was covered completely in fur, her structure was completely human with fairly dainty human style feet. The fact that her face was human in appearance, albeit covered in a thin layer of white fur allowed her to retain completely human expressions except for blushing.
Also judging by how large her breasts were, particularly comparing her against her eldest sister, Ranma had to conclude that the Kuno nut probably was a pervert with a dirty mind.
Nodding to himself, Ranma decided to change tactics now that he'd revealed the 'monster'. Reaching out one hand towards her, he reintroduced himself, "Why hello there. I'm Ranma Saotome. Would you like to be friends?"
To the delight of Kasumi, the nice young man came out of Akane's room unharmed, with her now-furry sister in tow. That her tomboy sister was holding his hand and hiding behind the young man spoke of how scared she had been.
What tension there was broke instantly in the face of an otherwise respectable martial arts sensei bawling like a baby, "Wahhhh! My Baby! Don't worry, daddy will find you a cure!"
Interposing himself between the shy furry girl and her overemotional father, the demon hunter did his best to run damage control. "I think I told ya before, but there ain't no normal way to return her to human. I need to take a look at her aura, but unless he did something funny she should be able to turn human on her own."
This got the timid tigress's attention, "I can? Do you really think so?"
Nodding absently, Ranma tried to keep things calm, "Shouldn't be a problem, after you get a bath I'll take a look at your aura."
Blinking, Akane sniffed herself. "A bath?"
Nodding once more, the demon hunter led her to the stairs, bringing her attention to a girl floating above those stairs, apparently because it was one spot in the house with the most headroom to float in. "I'd like to introduce you ta one of my partners. This is Shan Pu of the Joketsuzoku tribe of women spirit warriors."
With the floating girl waving impishly at her, Akane found herself becoming a bit envious of her. While obviously not human, the girl certainly wasn't a freak of nature. Other than her long pointed ears that stuck out from her head and her inhuman figure, the girl was gorgeous. Even worse the inhuman figure was delicately slender with hips and breasts as big as they could be without ruining the delicate lines of her figure.
In short, she might have been an inhuman floating elf-babe, but the majority of her inhuman features was a body models and porn stars would wish for. The silk Chinese dress she was wearing only accentuated that.
While depressing, it was a bit encouraging to see a fellow demon girl. When the floating girl reached out one of her hands to the tigress, Akane hesitantly reached out as well. Seeing sparks fly from Shan Pu's finger, Akane's eyes opened in surprise as she felt a tingle go through her body as most of her fur stood on end.
After a moment of quiet, both girls giggled.
A merry giggle hummed through the air, dulled only by two thin doors leading to the bath, "Oh Akane-chan! Your fur is so soft and thick! Isn't it wonderful? Oh it must feel so silky and soft. Oh and your hair, I've never seen a head of hair so thick."
Nabiki had been slightly worried about Kasumi, their dear naive older sister hadn't taken Akane hiding in her room well. After all of that fretting, Nabiki was surprised to find Kasumi's drifting voice from the bathroom held actual interest and glee. She had half expected to hear a weary false encouragement, but they did after all say that 'still waters run deep'.
Her guests on the other hand were a bit more amusing.
The boy had an athletic build and a rather simple long braid that spoke of some exercise and practicality. On the other hand his Chinese themed clothes were a bit too nice and his attitude a bit to cheerful to fit into her image of a Demon Hunter. Being a fashionable girl, she noticed his outfit, which was a pair of loose black pants, a white top with a strip of fabric hanging to his knees and an open black vest. More interesting were the detailed designs in gold silk embroidery, at the trim of each clothing piece and the few artistic Chinese symbols decorating his top and vest.
The three girls that were with him didn't help his image of a Demon Hunting warrior at all, particularly as they seemed to act like a cross between bodyguards and servant girls.
Two were seated to the left of him, a dark-skinned exotic elf-girl type with purple hair sitting closest to him so she could serve tea from a central location. Most puzzling was she went for the Japanese Princess look by wearing an elaborate kimono and kept her hair pinned up with a jewelry box worth of hair ornaments. While none of his companions would be mistaken for Japanese with their colorations and features, she was farthest from the black-haired pale-skinned beauty archetype. Of course, that dichotomy did lend her an air of exotic beauty.
The other seated girl was no less strange, despite being the other girl's opposite. She definitely had beautiful pale skin, but from the pink hair and eyes, Nabiki had to guess the girl was albino. All the rest of her visible features were human, but apparently the girl wasn't content with wearing sunglasses to protect her eyes.
Instead she apparently liked to walk around wearing a white and black leather blindfold with a number of ornamental straps. For casual conversation around a table it had been pushed back over her forehead like some kind of strange hair-band. Her outfit was the most normal of them all, a type of black and white military dress cut with the lines of a short skirted school girl outfit. Of course she ruined even that semblance of normalcy by carrying a red katana at her side.
The third girl that greeted her sister seemed perfectly content to stick out like a sore thumb. She wasn't sitting by his side because she seemed determined to float in such a manner that she could rest her breasts on the boy's head while keeping her arms loosely wrapped around his neck. She was also dressed the most seductively of the trio with a custom-fitted curve hugging red silk cheongsam with pink brocade. While it technically had an ankle length skirt, it was slit up both legs past the panty-line, which combined with the lack of visible panty-bands through those slits made it more erotic than a mere mini-dress would have been.
Of course, what Nabiki was most jealous of, besides her having the legs to showcase them, were the pristine high heels she was wearing. More to the point she was jealous of the fact that the girl never had to take a step in the things, yet could still pose seductively in them with a degree of freedom of movement Nabiki would never have.
So, it was perhaps forgivable if the fashion hungry girl who prided herself on her looks as much as her sharp mind was a bit grouchy. "Are you really a Demon Hunter?"
The boy across from her might be a little too cheerful, but he was at least witty. That he proved by taking a sip of tea then raising his eyebrows before responding, "What? My scarf here isn't proof enough?"
Nabiki mentally gave him a point, three supernatural exotic beauties did mean he wasn't an average boy making boasts. Of course, he could have just been a rich boy playing around with three servants on his payroll, but she couldn't see a motive there. If that had been the case he likely wouldn't have handled Akane at all, let alone so well. That didn't mean she was done with him however, instead making her own point, "Perhaps, but we get a regular Demon Hunter visitor and he's an old gruff guy that's smelly from traveling on the road too much."
Attempting to act like a mature man with the wisdom of many harsh years, Soun butted into their conversation, "Of course, My dear friend Genma is an excellent Demon Hunter. Unfortunately he's away helping another village out of the goodness of his heart, so he was unable to help my baby girl."
This got the young man's attention quickly, something Nabiki noted as he inquired, "Really? Genma? A fat man would likes to wear an old gi, wears a bandanna to hide is baldness, wears glasses and has weaselly kinda eyes?"
To this Soun laughed heartily, seemingly pleased with himself, "Ah yes, you know him, but of course you do, I'm sure every Demon Hunter knows the great Genma!"
Frowning thoughtfully the young man replied, "Unfortunately..."
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(Posted Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:57)
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