Nabiki walked into her and Ranma’s bedroom with a roll of paper as long as she was under her arm, closing the door behind her. Her lover, still dressed in his school uniform, looked up nervously from his yawn-inducing biology textbook, from where he was sitting cross-legged on their bed. “Akane’s home?” he asked, then sighed when his fiancée nodded.
“Yes, her school club got out a little early. Ranma, if you really don’t want to do this —” Nabiki started, worried about the wave of discomfort coming from her fiancé, only to break off when Ranma shook his head.
“No, you’re right, we need ta do somethin’ about how nervous Akane’s been around me — it’s affectin’ her training.” Closing the textbook (and reflecting ironically that he’d finally found something he wanted to do less than schoolwork — or at least biology), he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. “So, we doin’ it here?”
“Yes, less chance of the fathers walking in on us. Akane’s getting changed right now,” Nabiki added as she took the roll of paper out from under her arm and held it horizontally. “Why don’t you help me get the circle rolled out?”
“Sounds good,” Ranma agreed, stepping over to carefully take one end of the roll of paper.
School uniform exchanged for shorts and a t-shirt, Akane knocked on her sister’s bedroom door, then pushed it open and stepped inside. She found most of the floor covered with one of Nabiki’s large sheets of paper with a complex circle of various shades of chalk pasted on, the four corners held down by schoolbooks. The Tendo Initiate was on her knees at one edge, glancing between the circle and a sheet of paper in one hand as red sand trickled down from her other hand to form a fresh line. Ranma glanced over at his student from where he stood to the side, and after a few moments carefully cleared his throat to get the attention of the apparently oblivious kneeling girl. “Nabs, Akane’s here, are ya about ready?”
“Almost done,” Nabiki mumbled without lifting her eyes from her work, carefully moving around the circle to add more thin lines of the colored sand. A few minutes later, she leaned back and dumped the remaining sand in her hand into an open jar by her bed. “Okay, that does it,” she said with a satisfied sigh, and looked up at her sister and her lover. “So, Ranma, does this circle look familiar?”
Ranma’s brow furrowed, his hand rising to scratch his neck underneath where his hair had been tied into a tail as he looked over the patterns at his feet. He could hardly claim to be an expert, considering that it had been less than two months since his — or rather her — accidental summoning after Jusenkyo. But he hadn’t seen very many of Nabiki’s creations, either, and he cast his mind back over the few occasions that he had. “It looks kinda like the circle ya used ta summon me, only more complicated,” he finally said.
“Got it in one!” Nabiki agreed, smiling as she stood up. “This is simple enough. You switch forms, I summon you into the circle, and the extra touches I’ve added ought to allow Sleepers outside the circle to see you.”
“Sleepers?” Akane asked, face tightening as she fought to keep her nervousness from exploding into anger.
“Uh ... yes, that’s the term the mystic community uses to describe the unAwakened,” Nabiki explained, glancing nervously at her younger sister, then hurriedly continued as she motioned toward the empty glass next to the pitcher of water on her desk. “Ranma, get changed and let’s get started.”
Ranma nodded and walked over, filled the glass, and offered it to Akane. “No reason to risk breakin’ a glass,” he explained.
Akane nodded nervously, took the glass from her sometimes-sensei, and dumped it over the raven-haired boy’s head. In spite of the number of times she’d seen the effect cold water had on Ranma, she still couldn’t avoid gasping slightly as he vanished from sight and his empty clothes dropped to the floor.
Nabiki pointed to a spot next to her on the floor. “Akane, you stand here, facing the circle,” she ordered. Akane walked around the circle-covered paper to join her, and Nabiki started chanting. Her voice started out low but quickly crescendoed, and suddenly floating in the middle of the circle facing the two Tendos was a teenage girl: loose red hair floating around her shoulders; slightly shorter than Akane; too cute for words; and very naked, her hands covering her breasts and crotch.
Akane stared, wide-eyed. “Ranma, is that you?” she gasped.
“Who else would it be?”
“But you’re shorter, and your hair’s red, and your naked!”
“Mom says I look just like she did when she was a girl — and a’ course I’m naked! Ya think I whip up new clothes outta thin air when I get splashed and whatever I’m wearin’ falls through me?”
“I ... well ... I didn’t ...” a furiously blushing Akane sputtered, and Nabiki laughed.
“Didn’t think, little sis?” she jibed, and reached out a foot to break up one of the lines of sand on the paper. Instantly, Ranma vanished from Akane’s sight.
“Now ya know why I wanted ya ta think that ‘Ranko’ was a different person,” came “Ranko’s” voice from apparently empty air. “Big, tough, manly Ranma, and with a splash a’ cold water I turn inta ... this. A’ course, it does have its good side,” Ranma continued, and Nabiki flushed as, invisible to her younger sister, Ranma struck a “come and sex me” pose. Ranma giggled at the sudden rush of lust from her fiancée, then her voice turned serious. “I’m sorry we lied ta ya about it, but ...”
Her voice trailed off, and Akane stared thoughtfully at the empty space where she’d last seen the redheaded cutie. Suddenly, an image flashed into her mind of herself in that spot, breasts gone, new equipment between her legs (rather hazy, that — the only naked male she’d seen was Ranma the night he’d arrived, and then only briefly), naked to the world, unable to even touch clothes — she blanched, swaying slightly, lightheaded, the world suddenly gone hazy and surreal. Beside her, her sister grabbed her by the shoulder even as she heard an “Owww!!” from the circle.
“Akane, what’s wrong?” Nabiki asked, a note of concern in her voice that warmed Akane’s heart even as she tried to force her mind away from the thought of herself in Ranma’s place.
Shuddering, the youngest Tendo drew a deep breath. “I’m fine,” she asserted, trying to make herself believe it. “Is Ranma all right?” she asked, half concerned, half looking for a distraction.
“She’s fine, just forgot she was inside a circle and tried to grab you when you almost fainted,” Nabiki replied. “Hold on a moment while I reverse the summoning.” Akane glanced over at her sister to see the pageboy-haired girl face the circle. “Begone!” she ordered forcefully.
Akane shivered as she felt a faint hint of something wash over her. A moment later she felt a soft hand touch the shoulder that her sister wasn’t holding, and she shivered again as she realized that she was feeling it, warm skin against warm skin through her t-shirt. “Akane, you all right?” Ranma asked, concern in her voice.
Akane nodded, impulsively reaching up to cover the hands on her shoulders with her own. “I’m fine,” she said again, then straightened, steeling herself. “Ranma?”
“Yeah?” the invisible nature spirit replied, voice suddenly wary.
“I ... I’m ... I’m sorry,” Akane managed to force out.
“Sorry? For what?”
“For ... for everything. For what happened to you, for hitting you with a table, not trusting you — everything.”
For a moment there was only silence, then Ranma said, “Hey, don’t worry about it, everyone screws up sooner or later — ‘cept Nabs, a’ course, she’s perfect. Just ask her.” As Akane snorted, glancing over to see her sister rolling her eyes, Ranma continued, “An’ don’t be feeling sorry for me. Sure, there are parts a’ this I don’t like — a lot — but I hate ta think of what would a’ happened if Nabs hadn’t summoned me by accident that first time. If not gettin’ the curse would mean not havin’ Nabiki, I’ll take the curse.”
Nabiki brightened, her eyes suspiciously shiny, but before she could say anything there was a knock on the door. “Ranma? Nabiki?” Kasumi said hesitantly. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but dinner will be ready soon. Have either of you seen Akane?”
“She’s here, too,” Nabiki replied, her voice a little husky. “We’ll be right down.”
As they heard Kasumi’s acknowledgement and retreating footsteps, the middle Tendo looked over the circle on the floor. “Screw it, I’ll clean up tonight,” she muttered. Then in a louder voice said, “After dinner, why don’t we go to the park? I can do the homework I’ve been ignoring all afternoon, and you two can get your evening spar in then do your own studying.”
“Sure, sounds good,” came Ranma’s voice. “I’ve been wantin’ ta get in some trainin’ fer Akane in an area that’s not just an empty space.”
Akane grinned at the thought, almost feeling like she could float like the nature spirit she had seen in the circle, with the weight of her nervousness and distrust gone. “Yeah,” she agreed, “that sounds like fun.” And for the first time in too long, it really did.
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(Posted Fri, 05 Nov 2010 05:46)
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