Construction that day was extremely active, and of the females, only Nabiki and Setsuna weren't surprised at the pace set. Within an hour, a ton of wood was delivered to the property, followed by about fifteen geeky looking high school students. By noon, the residential area was in almost perfect condition, and the techies had it outfitted with the latest wifi Internet system.
Hotaru had taken to assisting Ranma in small tasks, like holding pieces of wood still for Ranma to nail in and holding some of his tools for him. As the young girl tired out, they were aided by Makoto, leaving Minako and Rei to take care of lunch and Usagi.
Nabiki, who was supervising and setting up an ad for new residents, felt slightly uncomfortable about it. Ranma had taken his shirt off before he started, making both girls blush at the sight of his abs.
However, that was offset by the fact that Ranma had taken to hammering the nails in with his fists, using the exact amount of force necessary to slam the nails into the wood without leaving a dent.
Makoto had taken to drooling over that skill, begging Ranma for a sparring match later. Haruka, who had noticed this feat, immediately requested the same, while Hotaru pouted until Ranma promised to teach the girl some of his art.
Nabiki at this point saw what Setsuna had meant about Ranma being a good big brother; though she did make a point to keep an eye on Makoto, who was really starting to make Ranma really nervous.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
After lunch, Nabiki joined Ranma on top of the roof, where he was retiling the old, broken structure. "So what's up, Ranma-kun?"
During lunch, Ranma had asked her to come up and talk shop with him. He tried to make it sound like it was a construction issue, but both Nabiki and Setsuna could sense a thread of nervousness in his voice.
Setsuna made a point to distract the other girls, telling the cunning Tendo that the older woman knew what was going on.
"Setsuna reminded me of how my curse tends to act up at the worst times, so I was... Well...
Nabiki blinked, and then slapped herself, "Knew I forgot something..."
Ranma's jusenkyo curse was something Nabiki was already used to. In fact, most of Nerima was already used to it. These people, however, were already nervous about Ranma, and it wouldn't take much to set them off.
Nabiki took a closer look at Ranma, and noticed that he was looking at her as well. A memory flashed through her mind, and she had to force herself not to wince.
A wet redhead girl, just carried in by a crazed panda. A look of dejection, of nervous fear, but also of hope, hope for acceptance...
It took everything in her power to keep from shivering in regret from that image. Forcing herself back from her memories, she asked, "did Setsuna give any advise on this?
Ranma flushed, remembering the odd romance based love he had been giving, before nodding awkwardly, "she said that we should probably tell Haruka, Usagi, and Hotaru about it first, and they'd help keep the others from freaking out."
The mercenary Tendo nodded, "Haruka and Hotaru I can understand, but I'm not quite sure about Usagi. Still, I get the feeling Setsuna knows more than I do about the girl, so I'll see if I can arrange something before dinner. Anything else, Ranma-kun?"
"Well, I was wondering if you'd show me how to handle the books and stuff, for when I own my own dojo. I don't really know much about it, but I sure as Hell don't want pops handling them for me! Could you..."
Nabiki smiled, sensing a certain green haired resident's hand in this, but having no problem with it. "Sure, Ranma-kun, I'll pencil you in for some tutoring later. Pick it up fast enough, and I may not charge you for it!"
The aqua-transexual blinked at this, then smirked, "You got a deal!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"So what can we do for you, Tendo-san?" Haruka was normally pretty easy going, but Nabiki just gave her a feeling. Had she thought about it, it would have reminded her of the owner of her favorite autoshop store, who knew just what you needed and what the best parts were.
The guy irritated her, but damned if he didn't know what the highest quality parts were.
Nabiki stood at the center of the room, in front of Ranma, who was giving off a nervous vibe. Hotaru had sat right next to him, while Usagi was sprawled out on the sofa nearby.
Nabiki smirked, "Do any of you believe in magic?"
This got Usagi's attention, while Haruka just narrowed her eyes, "What's this about?" Hotaru just looked at the girl nervously.
"I think we can all agree that Saotome Genma is an idiot. He's dragged Ranma to so many different training grounds, many of them cursed, that it's a wonder that he only picked up the one. For the record, I believe Setsuna knows about it, which is why she advised us to let you three know before the others."
The three girls turned their gazes to Ranma, who eeped and ducked his head. Nabiki, however, managed to draw their attention back to her, "The Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo is one such training grounds. Many have drowned there, each cursing a spring with either their shape or their personality. From the moment a person falls into one of these springs, they are cursed to take on the form or personality of what fell in the spring first whenever cold water is applied. Warm water resets the curse, but the curse seems to draw water to its victims like a magnet, activating and deactivating it at the most awkward of times."
Haruka just stared at the girl, “Who the hell would make such a weird curse?”
The mercenary Tendo shrugged, “Not my thing, but it’s real. Genma, the idiot, got thrown into the Spring of Drowned Panda, and can usually be found lazing around our house. Ranma on the other hand…”
Ranma grimaced, noticing his cue, and picked up a cup of water that was left on the table next to him. Dumping it over his head, she looked down, not wanting to look anyone in the face.
Usagi gasped, “Sugoi!” Hotaru blinked at the redheaded girl beside her, before poking her tentatively on the breast.
Haruka, however, whistled, “Damn, no wonder you were worried about this…”
Ranma blinked, looking at her cousin, “What, so you aren’t mad about this or something?”
No, why would we be?” Usagi asked, genuinely surprised, “I mean, I’ve got Mamo-chan, but you’d be the perfect boyfriend! You wouldn’t complain about going shopping, or going boy watching, or…”
Nabiki jumped in before Ranma could scream out in horror, “Whoa, I don’t think it works like that. Most you could probably do is get Ranma interested in buying some tomboyish clothes for each other, and Ranma is strictly into girls last time I checked.”
“So maybe I can talk her into a threesome with me and Michiru then?” Haruka leered, causing Hotaru to shriek and Ranma… to sputter, squawk, and then collapse into a dead faint.
Hotaru snapped, “Haruka-papa!” while Usagi frowned at the short haired blonde, but both were stopped by Nabiki’s chuckling.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” she asked.
Haruka shrugged, “Well, I know what most of the guys I know would do with that kind of curse, so I thought I’d see how he’d react. To be honest, I was kind of expecting him to just give me a clueless look or something, not…”
“Blame Kodachi, a crazy girl who wants to date him. Thought the best way about it was to get him into a threesome a few months ago. She almost succeeded, and she and her henchgirl had him strapped down to a bed. They had already finished stripping and were working on him when he woke up, freaked out, and broke out, dragging part of the headboard along with him. I was at the house by myself when he came roaring in, muttering about two girls and still in shock. I asked him if he was talking about a threesome, and he took off to his room! I got the full story from Sasuke, one of Kodachi’s hired hands, later. I also had to explain to him what a lesbian was when Akane got some perverted questions from some of her friends and started freaking out about them.”
Haruka could only blink at this, “Damn…”
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(Posted Sat, 05 Feb 2011 02:30)
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