“...I'm sorry,” Cologne said. “She has a few minutes, perhaps less.”
Nabiki closed her eyes and sagged slightly. “It was only a matter of time,” she whispered. The escalation of martial contest was doomed to seriously injure someone, eventually. But to skip injury and jump straight to...to someone dying...
Akane gasped. “No,” she whispered. “Isn't there anything you can do for her?”
Ranma looked at the dying girl whose hand he held. Grief was no stranger to him. He lived a hard life. He had lived a lonely life. Ukyo was his first and best friend. Whatever fiancee crap his old man had turned that friendship into, Ranma still valued it. And he knew exactly what lines he'd cross to hold onto it. Before anyone could react he rolled up Ukyo's sleeve and sunk his fangs into her arm.
Every damn line he could.
Cologne just stopped and stared. Nabiki stared. Shampoo stared.
Akane twitched. She gave Ranma time to get his teeth out of Ukyo and then punched him to the floor. “What the hell are you thinking!?”
Ranma groaned and sat up. “Come on, 'Kane. Like I could let her die?”
“That doesn't mean you can make her a thrall!” Akane yelled.
“So she'll be completely devoted to Ranma,” Nabiki muttered. “Think we'll be able to tell the difference?”
Akane glared at Nabiki. “Too soon.”
“Sorry. But I think she'd rather this over being dead.”
Akane growled. That was true. And after a few seconds to let the idea jangle in her brain, she could admit (to herself, barely) that she'd have done the same thing. “But...this...what does this mean?”
Ranma blinked cluelessly. “Um. I hope it means Ucchan's going to live?”
Nabiki sighed. Ranma was being dense and Akane wasn't talking about her feelings well. Again. “You two have a long way to go,” she grumbled. If she had to guess, and she'd known Akane her entire life so guessing was pretty darn easy, Akane was worried that Ranma having Ukyo as a thrall would be a tighter bond than anything he felt for Akane, or at least that they would end up sharing the male werecheetah. That thought would be worrisome to any girl.
“Ran...chan?” Ukyo whispered.
Cologne hopped over to Ukyo's side and examined her discreetly while Ranma spun around and looked into Ukyo's eyes...which were still closed but that really didn't matter much. “Ucchan?”
“Miss Kunonji, do not move,” Cologne said sternly. “You are still very weak. Do you understand?”
Ukyo shifted her head slightly. “Y...yes,” she got out.
“Good,” Cologne said.
Ranma was no medical expert, but he'd seen enough battered bodies to pick up on some good signs. The slight pallor in Ukyo's cheeks was fading to a healthy blush, her breathing wasn't as shallow, and she seemed a bit more peaceful. Although that last was probably him projecting onto her. Not that he had any idea what that meant or that he was doing it.
Cologne checked Ukyo's pulse and hummed seriously. “Strong, steady. Incredible. She's not even hypothermic.”
“I am rather cold,” Ukyo whispered.
“Yes but we iced you down enough that you should be begging us to warm you up,” Cologne said. “And cheetahs are tropical animals.”
“What does that...wait. Are you saying?”
“That Ranma bit you to save your life?” Nabiki asked.
“That you are well on your way to being a werecheetah?” Cologne asked.
“That the baka might have just made you his slave?” Akane grumbled.
Cologne offered Akane a flat look.
Ranma rubbed the back of his head. “Er, yeah. I couldn't just let you die, Ucchan.”
Ukyo sat up slightly, opening her eyes finally and looking into Ranma's feline face. “Thank you. Ranchan.” She offered him a weak smile.
“Oi oi,” Cologne groused. She pushed Ukyo back down with her staff. “What did I just say? You're recovering remarkably quickly, but this transformation isn't exactly easy on your ki. You don't want to overdo it for a few minutes yet.”
Ukyo twitched slightly but lay still. “Could you tell me what Akane was talking about, then?”
“Lycanthropy,” Cologne said simply.
“What, like werewolves?” Ukyo asked.
“The word certainly came from that,” Cologne agreed, “but in this part of the world we have only ever seen werecats.”
“Shouldn't it be felinethropy then?” Ukyo asked.
“Common sense and jargon rarely agree,” Cologne said dryly. “What it's called is less important than what it is.”
“What is it, then?” Ukyo had read up on werewolf legends after Ryoga ran through, so the idea that being bit by Ranma was going to give her a fur coat in the near future was something that she'd thought of. But she wanted to know what the rest of the deal was.
“I have no idea,” Cologne said. “I can only tell you some of what it does.”
“You're pushing the wise old sensei thing a bit far, ol' ghoul,” Ranma grumbled, earning himself a thwack from said wise old ghoul's staff. “Look, the way Gina said it, lycanthropy is the thing that lets a werecat bite a guy an' turn 'em into another werecat. An' the new werecat's gotta do whatever the guy that bit him says.”
“They're called thralls,” Akane added. “But Ranma, Ryoga, and me all have something different about our lycanthropy.”
“What's different?” Ukyo asked. Well, if she had to listen to Ranma for the rest of her life...that wasn't too bad. She'd pretty much do whatever he wanted anyway.
“We don't know,” Akane said. “You're the first person either of us bit.”
Cologne sighed. “Well, I suppose we need to test it. Ranma?”
“Huh?” Ranma asked.
“Give her an order,” Cologne said patiently.
“What?” Ukyo asked, unnerved. Ranma asked the same question in nearly the same tone.
“You heard me,” Cologne said calmly. “Nothing big, just something that can tell us, right now, if she's your thrall.”
“Oh,” Ranma said. He thought that over. “Ukyo, I want you to tell me what the recipe for that secret sauce of yours is.”
“What!?” Ukyo yelped. “The secret Kunonji recipe!? You know I can't tell anyone that! Even you, Ranchan!”
“Doesn't sound like a thrall to me,” Nabiki said wryly.
“Indeed,” Cologne said, sounding mysterious and pleased at once. “You can get up now. You're clearly strong enough.”
Ukyo rolled off the table and onto her feet. “Thanks. That wasn't exactly comfortable. So...other than being alive and not a slave, anything I should know about?”
Ranma looked down at Ukyo from his seven foot tall perspective. “You're turning blonde at the roots.”
“I'm what?” Ukyo asked, hand going to her hair. “Um. So I guess...I really am turning into a werewhatever?”
“Cheetah,” Akane supplied. “Looks like it.”
“Sorry about that,” Ranma said quietly.
Shampoo, who had been silent for a very long time, suddenly got up and left. She didn't say a word, she just headed to the stairs and up to her room on the second floor.
Cologne sighed at the sound of slamming doors as her heir tried to barricade hurtful truths from herself. “She's taking this well,” she said.
Ukyo had a good idea what was going on in the Amazon's head. She felt a little thrill at being able to share this new adventure with Ranma. She turned to Nabiki. “What are the odds that she'll ask Ranma to bite her? I'd like to place a few bets.”
Nabiki started considering how to handle that when Akane cut her off. “Don't even think it, Nabiki. Ukyo wasn't here for the first part.”
“What first part?” Ukyo asked.
“If Ranma bites her, the Amazons will banish her,” Akane said.
“Not exactly, but sadly close enough,” Cologne corrected.
Ukyo stared for a moment. “Damn. No wonder she looks like she could give Ryoga depression lessons. So what's with the sorta-banishment?”
“The Amazon laws say that we aren't human,” Ranma said calmly.
“Eh?” Ukyo asked. “I still look human.”
“We don't,” Akane pointed out, gesturing to her hybrid form. “And in a few days, this is going to feel more like the 'real you' than the body you're in now does.”
Ukyo frowned and looked over her friend/rival. Akane towered over everyone except Ranma. Her figure, and Ukyo knew Akane's figure had always been good under those clothes, was much improved by the toned, lithe muscles. Although she didn't think there was any reason a cat should have breasts that big. Still, the face was recognizable. “Well no, but you're still...um...uh...”
“We had a week to get over that hurdle,” Akane said with some amusement. She shifted to her human form and took the now-taller Ukyo's arm. “Come on, sit down. Cologne, would it be too much to ask for an order? I'll pay, of course.”
Cologne smiled slightly. “I'll get the range going. You too, Mr. Part Time.”
“Quack,” Mousse grumbled.
“Hey, where's Konatsu?” Ranma asked suddenly. “I mean, you'll hafta tell her about all this later, right? Er, him?”
“I had customers at Ucchan's when he told me you were coming here,” Ukyo said. “I finished up their orders and had him stick around to see to them and clean up.”
“You trust him to do all that?” Ranma asked, remembering the last catastrophe.
“Yeah,” Ukyo said brightly. “He can handle pretty much everything but cooking and pricing, now. Anyway, he'll probably be along shortly.”
“What kind of ramen do you want, anyway?” Cologne shouted from the back.
“Tuna!” Ranma and Akane shouted at once.
“Eh?” Ukyo wondered. Actually, that did sound...unusually good.
(Posted Sat, 24 Mar 2012 01:17)
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