The wizard held out two loose necklaces, both of silver and jade. With one, the jade was fashioned in the form of a ring; with the other, a small obelisk roughly an inch in length. “Have her wear her choice of these. Either one will solve her problem with the ‘feminine arts’.”
Ranma frowned. “Do I have to take both?”
The wizard shrugged. “They’re a matching set. It’s a requirement that they stay together.” He grinned. “They’re usually meant for couples, to be honest, to show them their proper place in the relationship.” Never mind that that place might not be what they had before. “Only three thousand yen for the pair.”
Ranma fished in his pockets and pulled out six 500-yen coins. “Here you are.”
The old man nodded as he put the necklaces into jewelry boxes, then put the boxes in a shopping bag. “There are directions about how to use each one inside. I recommend you read them and follow them to the letter before using either of them.” Not that you’re going to read them before it’s too late... “Thank you for your business.”
Ranma grinned. “Thanks. See ya!” He ran quickly out of the store, narrowly avoiding a pair of ruby slippers on the way out, and made his way to Furries 4 U.
He walked right in - and screamed. A calico catgirl sat at the reception desk, her splotches of darker fur in all the right places. Ranma closed his eyes quickly and turned away; maybe if he forgot what he saw, she wouldn’t be a cat, right?
“Um... is.... is Akane here?”
He shuddered as he heard a subtle purr from the receptionist. “Just a moment. We’ll bring her right out.” He forced his mind on other things at the padding of her feet across the floor.
The sounds after that got distinctively... odd. The jangle of keys and the whine of poorly-oiled hinges indicated the opening of a cage; the sets of padding confused him, as it seemed far more than two. He felt a leash thrust in his hand, waited a moment, then opened his eyes.
“Um... Akane?” Akane was human - at least, she looked it - but some things were definitely off. Her ears were higher along the side of her head, and were further extended, forming points at the end. Her nose and mouth had extended out just slightly; her canines, clearly visible as she wagged her tongue, had extended. A sparse coat of fur was just beginning to grow on the skin; it looked like she had five o’clock shadow all over her body.
Akane’s response to Ranma’s call was to bark happily.
A voice came from behind Ranma - the receptionist, most likely. “Okay. She’ll continue to grow into her new body over the course of the next few days. She’ll be hungry with the changes; feed her several times a day and keep her water bowl full. Recommend you don’t give her magic of any kind; combining magic like this tends to lead to problems, and may stop the process altogether.” Another purr; Ranma whimpered. “Oh, you’ll have a lovely bitch, won’t you?”
Ranma swallowed. This was not good. “Um... can you speak?”
Akane yelped happily, and waved what looked like were the beginnings of a tail.
Ranma frowned. “I mean normally.”
Akane blinked. “Yes, Ranma.”
Ranma sighed. At least she still had some of herself left. “I thought this was supposed to fix your problem.”
Akane nodded from her floor position. “It did. I’ll never be a bad girl again, Ranma...”
Ranma sighed. “Could you get some clothes on?”
“Why?” Clothing felt so... unnatural to her. The look on Ranma’s face, however, convinced her. “Yes, Ranma...” She hung her proto-tail between her legs as she walked back to her cage, to where her clothes sat.
“She won’t need those for much longer, sir,” the voice screeched behind him. “Give the coat time to grow, and she’ll never need clothes again.”
Ranma remained silent. The Tendos would never stand for this; they’d probably ‘fix’ him for allowing it to happen.
Then again... did it have to happen? He clutched his hand around the bag holding the necklaces; if they were magic, then...
Akane came back out, having put on her gi, and sat before Ranma; she still wore her leash around her neck. “Where to now?”
“Stand,” Ranma sighed. Akane stood. Ranma grabbed Akane’s leash and walked out the door.
He’d gotten a few blocks, far enough that the magic stores were out of sight, then turned back around.
“Akane, I’m going to take off your collar for a moment. There’s a present I want to give you.”
“Present?” Akane beamed. Maybe Ranma had bought her a nice chew toy or some Milk-bones! She exposed her neck to Ranma so he could take off her collar.
Ranma swallowed as he took it off. Akane’s coat was growing; within a few hours, she really wouldn’t need her clothes. He took the collar off, then pulled one of the boxes out of the bag.
See other episodes by Nightelf
(Posted Sat, 19 Oct 2002 06:02)
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