![]() |
|
![]() |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
[FFML] [Ranma 1/2][Fanfic] Quantum Destinies 20 (part 1 of 2)
Hi all, I'm almost done with this chapter, so I thought I would post the first part tonight. Steve *** Earth 0.000,0.000 A soft breeze blew gently from the east across the grassy, sunlit plateau as Shampoo thrust her foot up into the air, the cloth of her pants rustling crisply at her kick. She held that pose for a single moment, her body perfectly poised as she balanced on her other foot, holding her right leg at nearly full extension. The blow would have shattered a ribcage, if there had been a foe at the receiving end. A moment later, she began executing a dazzling series of moves, weaving through punches, elbow strikes, kicks, blocks, parries, and evasions in a flowing blur of motion. Her fists and feet struck outwards all around her with precision and power, mingling linear and circular techniques together into a single, graceful stream of movement, driving her blows without a hint of wasted energy. Finishing the exercise, Shampoo came to a rest, bringing the palms of her hands together as if in prayer, her head slightly bowed. Her own mother had taught her the core movements of the exercise many years ago, back when she had first learned to walk, for it was the way of her people to begin training children how to fight from a young age. Such traditions kept the village strong. Shampoo often used it to find her center whenever she felt troubled by anything. A short distance away, Ensign Shan Pu sat on a smooth boulder, having watched Shampoo go through the exercise. It was identical to one she had once seen used before at a martial arts demonstration given at the Academy by some of the Joketsuzoku Sisterhood, an all-female order of warrior-mystics founded some three thousand years ago, back when the Matriarchy first flowered on her Earth. It saddened her a bit, to see the Joketsuzoku here reduced to little more than a feeble remnant of the Matriarchy's greatness that she remembered, sidelined in favor of a male-dominated paradigm by some cruel vagary of this world's history. "<You are being very quiet,>" Shampoo said suddenly in Chinese, opening her eyes and looking at her uniformed twin. "<I was just thinking.>" "<About what?>" Shampoo began another combat exercise as she spoke, one that brought in techniques from the many styles she had come into contact with through her time in the Arena. She managed to seamlessly flow them together, a sign of how far her skills had improved since leaving her village and learning more about the martial arts than she had ever before imagined was available to learn from the world outside its walls. "<I suppose I'm feeling guilty for stealing your life.>" Ensign Shan looked down at her hands folded in her lap. They were strong hands, a skilled warrior's hands. At the Academy, she had been the very best barehanded fighter in her training class, but she knew in her heart that her skill was barely a quarter of that possessed by her analog. Now those abilities were hers, and she felt like a thief. Shampoo laughed briefly, startling the other girl. "Mirror Girl is too, too silly," she said, briefly shifting to Japanese in her mirth. "<Silly? What do you mean?>" Ensign Shan looked at her other self, startled at the response to her words. Why wasn't she mad? Shampoo paused in her exercise and looked at Ensign Shan, a serious look on her face. "<How could I refuse to help an amazon sister?>" Ensign Shan was surprised again at Shampoo's words. "<But I'm not an amazon. Not really.>" "<You come from a world where women rule over men, and you don't think you're an amazon?>" Shampoo grinned for a moment, and then her face lapsed into a serious look again. "<I forgive you your trespass, my other self.>" Ensign Shan was stunned at the ease of Shampoo's acceptance. It took her a few moments to find her voice again. "<As soon as I can locate the source of the resonator technology on this world, I can contact the Matriarchy and guide them here. They should be able to extract my memories from you and put them back into my original body. It will be like I was never here, except maybe for some random bits and pieces.>" "<Then you are my guest,>" Shampoo replied, nodding in acceptance. She sat down on the boulder in a lotus position. "<Tell me more about this Matriarchy of yours.>" Ensign Shan began to speak. "<Well, according to our best records, it all began some three thousand years ago, when a Solnoid vessel with its crew in cold sleep crash-landed in ancient China...>" ****************************** Shampoo woke to a rolling sound of thunder, hearing rain slashing wetly at the window. For a moment, she thought she was back in the village, and she wondered why her great-grandmother had let her sleep in so late in the morning. Then she blinked quite suddenly and sat up, her silk negligee falling open in front a bit as she turned back her covers and rolled out of her bed into a sitting position on its edge. Her bare feet came to rest on the smooth hardwood floor of her modest apartment, with a view overlooking Tokyo's fabulous Imperial Battledome. It was on a floor far above the dormitory levels where most fighters lived and shared quarters, a courtesy of the Arena for one of her high status in the rankings. She sat there, feeling confused. She wasn't Shampoo, a Joketsuzoku amazon warrior. Or was she? Her awareness seemed oddly split between two parallel points of view, and she struggled to remember if this was normal for a resonator-induced merger of two consciousnesses. As she sat there, the confusion began to ease, memories of two different lives gradually sliding together into a rough semblance of order. For the time being, they settled. Shampoo stood up, shaking her head slightly. She still remembered once being Ensign Shan, but the memories seemed less important to her, less vivid than those of her life here. Her analog's life, she very quickly amended, blinking for a moment as a slight case of vertigo assailed her once again. Merger was always an uncertain process, she recalled from one of Ensign Shan's classes, and the human mind was a very complex instrument. Stripping off her negligee as she headed for the bathroom, Shampoo tossed it into the hamper basket by the door, pausing for a moment next to it to slide off her panties and drop them in as well. Standing up straight, she flipped her long hair back out of her eyes with a hand, thinking to braid it today for a change of pace, especially since she had a match to fight tonight. The crowd loved it for some reason whenever she wore her hair in a braid, since she sometimes used it to taunt her opponents. Stepping into the bathroom, she stopped before the full-length dressing mirror and took a few moments to admire her figure and its shapeliness, from the generously endowed but youthfully firm breasts set high on her chest, down to her trimly muscular, long legs. She smiled coyly as she slowly turned about in place, looking herself over. She experienced another brief flutter of vertigo at the sight and decided that a hot shower would help her put things back into proper perspective. She reached into the shower stall and twisted the knob over to the right, stepping under the steaming stream when it reached the temperature she liked. Shampoo's thoughts briefly drifted to Ryu Kumon while she lathered up her hair and body with a lavender-scented soap, her favorite fragrance. After feeling that initial flare of attraction towards him, she had been disappointed when he hadn't proven himself strong enough to defeat her in battle. After months of hearing Running Deer and some of the other girls that competed in the Arena talk about their boyfriends (or male conquests in certain cases), she felt a bit left out. While she was an amazon, and as fierce a combatant as any other fighter in the Arena, she carried within her the same dreams of finding love that any other girl did. However, the main difference between her dream mate and theirs was that the man she chose had to first prove himself strong enough to be worthy of her love. After all, her own mother had found such a man in her own father, who was acknowledged as the strongest man in their village, earning her mother great honor and respect for having taken such a good husband to father her children. But, unlike almost every other couple in the village, after her parents had wed, her mother had never domesticated her father into being a proper amazon husband, preferring an element of untamed freedom in her chosen man, which was scandalous to the more conservative members of the tribe. Theirs was more or less an equal sort of partnership, and the happiness they shared together had left a deep impression on Shampoo. That was why, when she was still a very young girl, Shampoo had vowed that she too would find a man to marry who was strong like her father, to have a man who could stand at her side instead of behind her, like the typical servile male that most other amazons turned their husbands into. That being said, she hoped she found him soon, so she could finally end her nights of sleeping alone. She had managed to hold off her frustrated sexual desires up until now by maintaining a rigorous training regimen, but it didn't help her peace of mind any to now have Ensign Shan's memories of bedding a comfort male, an erotic reminder of what she was missing by not having a mate to call her own. While she rinsed the soap from her body and hair with jets of hot water from the sprayer, Shampoo's hand brushed across the tiny bump of the contraceptive implant on the inside of her upper arm. She had ceased noticing it some time ago, and only noticed it now because of her new awareness of even the smallest aspects of her own life. Such implants were a mandatory birth control method in the Empire for all unmarried persons, starting at the age of thirteen, slowly dissolving away over time and requiring replacement every three years. But her village was so remote that she had not received hers until she had first arrived at Tokyo's Battledome. That she was still a virgin despite its presence was by her own choice, a part of the oath she had sworn to herself when she was younger, to wait and yield up her virginity only to the man who could defeat her, to honor him with it when she claimed him as her husband. With Ensign Shan's memories now mingled with her own, Shampoo now knew better what she had been denying herself. Before, she had only known about the pleasures shared between a man and a woman in an abstract sort of way, through the occasional stories that some of the other girls had told her about what it was like to have intimate relations with a man. Even back home in her village, some of the older girls had bragged about their experiences with the local boys, leaving a younger Shampoo to wonder about what it would feel like to bed one. And while her mother had told her the mechanics of what to expect, hearing about it and feeling it were two entirely different things. Such thoughts of home and her mother caused her mind to drift off into pleasant imaginings of her eventual triumphant return to her village, hopefully with her new husband in tow. In her brief fantasy, he was a handsome trophy of her time spent in the outside world, and every other amazon in the village would be envious of her success in finding such a man, especially her most bitter arch-rival, the pink-haired Peh Fum. Rubbing her triumph in the other girl's face would be one of the best parts of the whole experience, if it ever happened. But that would require a man strong enough to best her, and Shampoo was growing very doubtful that any male near her age could possess such ability. However, even if such a one appeared and somehow managed to defeat her, her return to the village would still have to wait until after she had managed to deal with the Musk agents, wherever they were lurking. Once that matter was concluded, she would seek out the resonator technology that was somewhere on this world, use it to contact the Matriarchy, and then turn it over to them. Once her memories of being Ensign Shan were removed, then she would allow herself to relax and settle back in the village with her hoped for future husband, her duty complete, to live out her dreams. Shampoo sighed happily at the pleasant thought of having children, and of having a strong husband to love her and be loved by her. Every night after they were married would be spent enjoying long hours of sweaty, amorous exertions with him as they each learned how to satisfy the other's every carnal desire. She and her future husband would work hard at that, as many times a night as their stamina lasted, hopefully producing several strong daughters together during their future years with each other. And who knew? Perhaps someday she might even take over her mother's duties as the Enforcer for the Amazon Council, or maybe even someday become a Matriarch herself. As she showered, Shampoo began singing a song she had heard on the radio the other day. "Yap-pap-paa yap-pap-paa 1 shanten..." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Quantum Destinies A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic By Steven Thesken (sthesken@earthlink.net) Ranma 1/2 and its characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. This story is inspired by her works and the stories from some of my fellow fanfic authors. Among these are D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo 1/2", Jim Bader's "A Very Scary Thought -aka- Nabiki 1/2", and John Biles' Elseworlds series. All C&C is welcome. Other chapters of this story may be found at this website, or you can email the author for them: The Quantum Destinies Homepage http://home.earthlink.net/~sthesken/fanfics/qd.html The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter: Earth 0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster) Earth +1.612,+1.509 - The world of Shampoo 1/2 (Shampoo 1/2 cluster) What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you understand what is going on): On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world and has done so for almost a century. A young scientist named Ranma Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself. Ranko has become a girl cut loose in time. Akane learned the secret of Nabiki's engagement to Ranma and plotted her revenge. Genma was reunited with his best friend, promising further complexities on both timelines. His scheme attracted the attention of a few new players, and they have come looking for Ranma's resonator technology, one of them wearing a face very familiar to him. Finally, Ryoko Masaki brought home a guest, as the cast of players drew closer together. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 20 - Of Cats and Women Men always want to be a woman's first love. Women like to be a man's last romance. - Oscar Wilde xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A figure suddenly appeared at the top of one of the walls surrounding the Kuno estate, as rain sluiced down from the skies. A bright flash of lightning briefly illuminated Ranma's face as his gaze studied the grounds. A dark rain slicker he was wearing had kept him mostly dry while he made his way here. It billowed slightly around him as he hopped down from the wall and began making his way to the house. A shadowy personage watched Ranma pass by while remaining well-hidden, one of the Kuno Family's numerous ninja retainers. The hand that had drifted to grasp the hilt of a sword moved back to a neutral posture, when another bright flash of lightning revealed the face of the young intruder to the guard's sight. That face was known to them all, and strict and explicit orders had been given by the young mistress to allow him access to the manor at any hour, day or night. Ranma paused near the guard's position, sensing danger for a moment, but then it seemed to pass, and he continued on his way to the main house. He leaped up to the trees after taking several squelching steps on the muddy ground of the enormous lawns that surrounded the mansion. Leaping from tree to tree, he advanced towards his goal, Kodachi's bedroom. He hoped she wouldn't misinterpret his sudden appearance, remembering her teasing words from the last time he had visited her. But he needed to use the resonator, and he would not have time after school, because of his scheduled date with Nabiki then. The window to Kodachi's bedroom was unlocked and opened easily at his touch, swinging inward quietly. He shed his outer garb and shoes on the small balcony, not wishing to tread mud and water into the finery of Kodachi's bedroom. Gloom cloaked him as he stepped in quietly and looked around, pausing a moment to shut the window behind him, unable to make out very much in the darkness cast by the heavy curtains that covered the windows. He remembered the general layout of the room from his last time visiting, and he slowly made his way to the bed, hoping to wake Kodachi quietly, without waking everyone else in the house as well by startling her. He could not see her as he approached, only the vaguest shape that he knew was the enormous Western-style bed she slept in. Something snapped Kodachi awake from the pleasant dream she had been enjoying, and she opened her eyes into thin slits to behold a menacing figure lurking in the dark shadows of her room. It drew towards her, but she could not make out who it was in the darkness. Rain slashed against her window, and there was a distant rumble of thunder. Fear briefly gripped her, and she pulled the covers up higher over her face. But then Sukeban-Kodachi's bravado awakened within her. Without making a sound, she slipped from her bed, on the far side from the intruder's approach. She would deal with whoever had dared invade her chambers by herself, feeling no need to shout for help. Ranma froze, sensing a sudden danger in the room. His eyes had still not adjusted to the nearly nonexistent levels of light. He scanned the area around him, seeking to penetrate the gloom while he also listened for the faintest scraps of sound, clues that would reveal the location of the danger. A desire to protect Kodachi filled him, as he slowly turned in place, wondering who else was in the room with him and the young noblewoman. As a noble, Kodachi could have made enemies. Ranma had heard stories of the vendettas that occurred between noble houses. Kodachi made her way quietly behind her assailant, her body clothed in nothing more than her silky black negligee. She wondered who had dared to violate the sanctity of her bedchamber like this. It could not have been Ranma. He was too much of a gentleman to show up in her room at such an early hour, even if they were engaged, especially after how he had responded to her teasing the last time he had visited her. It was likely either that perverted Ukyo or one of those thuggish Tendo girls, intending her some mischief. It might even be that treacherous Asuka Saginomiya, finally attempting to exact revenge for the last beating that she had received at Kodachi's hands. But still, what sort of a dishonorable wretch would sneak into someone else's room at night and attack them while they were lying in their own bed? Ranma's first warning of an attack was a faint rustling of cloth. His body bent back sharply to dodge a flying kick as an unseen foe struck at him. Not wanting to scare Kodachi from her sleep by shouting to her, he remained silent even as he prepared to fight back, hoping he could finish off his opponent quickly, without making too much noise and waking her. All but blind in the darkness, he could only rely on his ears and other senses for guidance. Her initial surprise attack having been thwarted, Kodachi shifted her weight and flipped backwards, but her backwards somersault kick was deflected by a block, skillfully executed by her unseen opponent. A wolfish smile lit her face as she leaped back on the offensive with her adversary, wishing she could see their face as she unleashed attack after attack. All she could make out with her eyes was a vague shadow, but her ears were sharp. Her mother had been training her in the skill of blindfighting. A momentary breath or a whisper of cloth moving was all she needed to target her opponent with deadly accuracy. Whoever was attacking him was good, Ranma quickly realized, narrowly dodging aside from another kick. A quick series of side and backflip kicks flashed out at him from the darkness as his adversary maneuvered agilely around him, and he silently cursed at being hindered like this by the dim lighting, even as he evaded and blocked them. His foe seemed much better able to fight in such conditions than he was. He debated using the boost, but held off for now, since it seemed like cheating, now that he knew what it was. Kodachi finally scored, managing to hit her foe across the face with a blow from her fist. She had been keeping her distance by relying more on kicks to maintain her range, but they were proving to be too slow to deliver effectively against her unseen opponent. A quiver of emotion akin to arousal ran through her as she felt her fist striking solidly into flesh, and she could feel something begin to stir in the back of her brain, like a sort of buzzing. It swiftly seemed to fill her whole head, and moments later she abruptly boosted, feeling her muscles tense and a godlike feeling of invincibility enter her. She swiftly moved in close to her suddenly much slower-moving adversary and began delivering several punishing body blows while her opponent was still off-balance, striking hard into the floating ribs and stomach. Ranma revised his adversary's abilities upwards even as he struggled to get the initiative in this fight. Unable to connect with his elusive foe with punches or kicks, he shifted over to grappling maneuvers when his adversary suddenly drew closer and began punching him in a powerful hailstorm of blows. They rained into his torso with enormous force, and one just missed his solar plexus. He managed to get a hold of one of his foe's arms, and he was puzzled when he only felt bare skin. Was his opponent naked? Her arm caught, Kodachi suddenly shifted in and delivered a brutal knee strike low into her foe's gut, narrowly missing the groin area, hoping to free herself. Her ears were rewarded with a sharp gasp of breath, but the off-center blow didn't take as much fight out of her opponent as she had been hoping. Then, before she knew what had happened, her other arm was caught. Pain ached fiercely in his belly as Ranma tried to catch his breath, angry now after nearly losing his manhood. If his unseen foe's last attack had struck much lower, the fight would have been all over at that point, likely leaving him utterly helpless and retching up the contents of his stomach on the floor. No longer caring about fairness, he boosted, and the added speed and strength finally allowed him to catch his adversary's other arm. When his foe abruptly shifted weight to try and shake him loose, both of them ended up tumbling to the floor instead. The two figures immediately began struggling and grappling with each other savagely on the floor, engaging in a brutal contest as they both brought their boosted abilities fully into play, each still unable to tell who they were fighting with in the gloom but now no longer caring. A vicious palm strike struck Ranma across the face, but he quickly recovered and regained his grip on the offending limb that had briefly escaped from his grasp to deliver the blow. During the struggle, Ranma had become aware that his enemy was somewhat smaller than he was, and that there was something familiar about the shape that kept nagging at the back of his mind. But in his current mental mode he was unable to get his thoughts together enough to figure out why, the boost driving him to an aggressive state that precluded other concerns. Eventually, after a fierce struggle, he managed to muscle his adversary down and pinned to the ground, and both of them paused to catch their breath. Ranma felt an intense thrill of excitement coursing through him at his apparent victory, surging past the veil of semi-controlled savagery that he was coming to grow used to, that the boost cast over his thoughts whenever he unleashed it. He savored the sweet feeling for a few brief moments, a visceral sensation that bordered on sexual arousal. Kodachi panted softly for a few moments as her lungs scavenged oxygen from the air, readying herself to renew her assault. Whoever she was fighting with was a bit larger than she was, which ruled out either of the two villainous Tendo girls or even that cross-dressing barbarian, Ukyo. There was something nagging at the back of her mind about the identity of her foe, but it refused to resolve into clarity while her mind was caught up in the boost, briefly contemplating her position and how best to escape it so that she could savage her adversary for this indignity. Her wrists were pinned to the ground by a strong grip and her body was weighted down by her foe's weight resting on her hips. Her legs were spread apart, leaving her unable to work a knee up in between her opponent's legs to deliver a disabling blow to the groin. A quiver of arousal was surging through her at the position she found herself in, and the shock of embarrassment somehow managed to penetrate her awareness, even though it still remained in thrall to the effects of the boost. After all, despite the recent change in her relationship with her mother, and the new candor they were developing with each other, she had been brought up to believe that well-bred young ladies were not supposed to become aroused from wrestling around on the floor, like some kind of plebian tramp. She nibbled guiltily at her lower lip, wondering what her mother would say if she ever found out about this. She tensed her body, preparing to throw her foe off her. A sudden flash of lightning lit the room through a narrow part in the curtains, and each combatant finally saw their opponent clearly for the first time. Two pairs of eyes went wide simultaneously, and both of them suddenly dropped out of boost from sheer surprise. The shock of the moment even dulled the chemical backlash in their bodies as the serums, endorphins, and adrenaline that had been flooding their bloodstreams suddenly began to clear. Ranma's gaze was momentarily filled with the stark image of Kodachi, her nubile body pinned down to the ground underneath him, and his brain froze in sudden sensory overload. Kodachi saw Ranma looming over her in the flash of lightning, and she was immediately caught up in powerful, conflicting emotions, her cheeks blushing more fiercely than ever before, as her brain abruptly locked up. For several moments she could not tell if this was real life or one of the many fantasies she had experienced concerning him. "K-Kodachi," stuttered Ranma after several long moments, finding his voice first. His mind was suddenly filled with memory flashes of two other versions of the girl pinned underneath him: one that had tried to feed him to an alligator, and another one that had tried to feed him to a murderous mutant plant of her own creation. He shook his head and very quickly released his grip on Kodachi's wrists, but ending up still half-laying on her with his hands awkwardly resting flat on the ground. Kodachi's emotions grew even more confused, now that she knew it was Ranma she had been struggling with, grateful that he was unable to see her blush blazing in the darkness surrounding them. She whispered, in a very soft voice, "S-Saotome-kun." What was she supposed to do in this type of situation? She tried to think, but it was difficult with him still lying on top of her like this. The weight of his hips still rested on top of hers, pinning them down and maintaining her arousal. "I-I'm sorry," he continued to stutter. "I d-didn't know it was you." He really should be getting off of her, he absently realized, but his body was sending his brain insistent urges opposing that action right now, confounding him. Their hips had become nestled together during their struggle, and now that intimate positioning was suddenly arousing him even further, even as he futilely struggled to will his manhood from responding, to hold himself back from doing what his body was now screaming at him to do. It was all he could seem to manage to keep himself from groping Kodachi as he awkwardly held himself above her. Timidly, Kodachi broke the deadlock first as she slowly reached up, allowing her fingers to gently brush against Ranma's face in the darkness. "I-I didn't know it was you either, Saotome-kun," she said softly. Her body was feeding her brain too many sensations to catalog at the moment, so she was content to remain exactly as they were and simply enjoy them. She knew she was being brazen, but she also didn't really care at that moment. Another flash of lightning illuminated the room, and Ranma could not manage to identify the odd expression that had appeared on Kodachi's face. "I- I-" he managed to babble, and then his brain abruptly seized up on him again as his hormones went wild within him. She didn't look angry with him. Instead, there was an oddly needy expression on her face, from what he had seen of her face in that brief moment of illumination. "It's all right, Saotome-kun," Kodachi whispered, her voice taking on more coaxing tones as instinct seemed to take control of her. Her arms slowly went up around him, where her fingers briefly toyed with the length of his pigtail, and her questing hands felt the tensed muscles in his shoulders and back as they trembled slightly from his holding himself above her. She began to gently tug on him, urging him closer to her. He resisted at first, but his resistance began faltering as she alternated her gentle tugs with slow movements of her hands on his back and neck, her fingers tenderly caressing him and playing with his pigtail some more. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Ranma slowly lowered his face to Kodachi's as she continued gradually entwining herself around him in a loving embrace. He could hear her gentle breathing in the darkness, a soft susurration that was awakening rather erotic urges within him. "Kodachi," he whispered. Their faces moved inexorably closer together, and their lips were about to touch in a tender kiss. Closing her eyes, Kodachi parted her lips slightly, feeling powerful emotions welling up within her. Time seemed to slow to a stop for her as she anticipated the gentle touch of Ranma's lips against hers. She wrapped her arms ever more tightly around him, enjoying the feel of his muscular body as he slid his own arms around her, embracing her warmly in reply, his face drawing nearer to hers. When their lips touched, the kiss was filled with a tender sort of passion that caught both of them by surprise. Ranma felt an almost electric shock go through his body at the moment of contact, and he was a little frightened by the sheer intensity of the feelings that so suddenly awoke within him. Kodachi gave off a gentle sigh in the midst of it, and she held him closely to her as she finally expressed the ardor for Ranma she had held within her for so long. The kiss lingered between them for several moments, deepening a bit towards the end, and then it was over. Ranma reluctantly drew himself back, his heartbeat racing within his chest, certain that he was about to cross a line with Kodachi he wasn't sure he was ready for if the kiss had continued on for much longer. As he held Kodachi tenderly in the gloom, he could smell her gentle perfume tickling at his nostrils. His body yearned for more of her touch; to feel more of her warmth; to become one with hers. Bright light from the hallway suddenly spilled across them both as the door was flung open with a loud crash, and Ranma glanced over at the doorway, startled and momentarily blinded. "Vile wretch," Kuno snarled, taking in the scene in an instant. His sister was held in helpless thrall before the degenerate depredations of the scoundrel Saotome, the brutish beast obviously about to ravage Kodachi of her tender innocence against her will. That explained the fierce struggle he had heard through the wall, awakening him from his slumber. He gestured with his bokken, pointing the end of his weapon right at Ranma's face. "At last I see that you have revealed yourself for what you truly are, Ranma Saotome. Fear not, my beloved sister! I shall smite this villainous animal and deliver you from his bestial lusts!" "Hey! Waitasec!" Ranma cried out, still caught up with Kodachi for the moment. He dodged as best he could, somehow avoiding Kuno's attacks, even as he struggled to quickly work his way free of her grasp. She was still holding on to him in her own startlement at the situation, making a rapid escape rather difficult. "Unhand my innocent sister and accept divine justice, Saotome!" Kuno raged, lashing out at his foe, several of his slashes scoring deeply into the floor tiling. "Taste the righteous vengeance of heaven!" "B-brother dear!" Kodachi cried, finally releasing her hold on Ranma, quite dismayed at her brother's interruption of the romantic moment she had been enjoying with her fiancé, after sharing a wonderful first kiss with him. Perhaps it might have even become something more pleasurably intimate, if they had not been interrupted. "Stop! Please! You don't understand!" "I understand quite well, dear sister," Kuno snarled, taking another vicious swipe at Ranma. "This foul, iniquitous beast shall feel my righteous wrath for attempting to prey upon your tender innocence to slake his brutish cravings for your maidenly charms." Finally springing free, Ranma planted one foot on the floor for support and drove the other one hard into Kuno's face. That slowed the older boy down long enough for him to spring back on his hands and backflip, bringing his right foot up under Kuno's jaw, staggering him. When his adversary did not immediately drop, Ranma followed that up with a rapid series of punches, absently wishing he was fast enough to perform the Chestnut Fist at that moment, since Kuno was proving to be annoyingly resistant to being knocked out at the moment. "I- Fight- On." Kuno took a single step forward, enunciating each word slowly, a moment before his eyes abruptly rolled back into his head. He fell with a dull thud at Ranma's feet. "Man, I wish I didn't have to do that every time I see him." Ranma glanced over at Kodachi, and his brain abruptly stuttered to a halt again when he realized that apparently she wasn't wearing anything underneath her thin silk negligee, which was still in disarray from their grappling. His gaze seemed to fixate upon the swell of her breasts of its own accord, and he could not quite bring himself to avert his eyes from marveling at the sight. Quickly realizing what he was looking at, Kodachi demurely and speedily covered her bosom as best she could with one arm and sidled over to grab up her robe from off the bed. Her face practically glowed red in the light coming in from the hallway, and she cursed herself for acting so shamelessly earlier with him. She had kissed him so brazenly, and things could have gone even farther. What must he think of her now? "Uh." Now freed of the mesmerizing display of Kodachi's bust, Ranma's brain stuttered back into activity. He put his hand behind his head and chuckled nervously. He was frightened about the intensity of his feelings during the kiss, so he chose to change the subject into something safer. "I-I just came over to use the resonator. I really need to talk to my father." Kodachi abruptly froze in the midst of tying the belt on her robe, and the expression on her face fell. "Oh, I see." Calmly, she stepped right over her brother's fallen form, walking over to stop and stand before Ranma. But her emotional state was not nearly as placid as her outward appearance. How stupid she had been to think he could have been here to see her, she mused sadly. While she was happy to help him rescue his father, Saotome-kun had made no secret of the fact that he cared more for his work than he did about her. She left her gaze downcast, feeling depressed over the kiss. Apparently, he was uncomfortable about it, which did not make her happy. But it wasn't the first thing he had done that had distressed her. For example, it displeased her that he chose to spend time with that horrible Nabiki Tendo or those two mannish, cross-dressing freaks, Ukyo Kuonji and Utena Tenjou, when she was obviously a far superior choice for him to spend time with instead of three such unworthy girls. But at least that brutal Akane Tendo creature had finally ceased to bother Saotome-kun after she changed schools to Furinkan Military Academy, where she would likely fit right in with the other grunting savages that populated its ranks. Kodachi wondered what sort of a horrible mother could have produced two such villainous offspring like Akane and Nabiki Tendo. Turning her thoughts away from the utterly unpleasant matter of her rivals, she mused that it would serve Saotome-kun right that she had decided to accept the invitation from Kaoru-kun to the dance at Ohtori. An evening spent in the pleasant company of her childhood friend would be a most welcome tonic to her ego. She found herself looking forward to speaking with him again. She wondered, yet again, why Ranma could not be more like her old friend, instead of the insensitive young man that he kept acting like. "You could have waited until a more civilized hour, Saotome-kun," she said in cross tones. Grabbing up the key from her nightstand, she thrust it at him. "Here. Take it. You know the way, I'm sure." Ranma noted her angry posture, and he was at a loss at what to do, not knowing if he should even mention their kiss together. He reached out and accepted the proffered key. "I-I'm sorry, Kodachi," he babbled. "I do not wish to hear your apologies right now," she replied, a bit brusquely, feeling angry with him now over his cowardice. Apparently he couldn't even bring himself to talk to her about the kiss. That was fine with her, she mused, taking him by the arm and escorting him to her door. "Go and do what you came here to do, and leave me alone to attend to my fallen brother." Before Ranma could stutter a reply, she pushed him firmly out into the hall and slammed the door in his face. Standing with her back to the door as she stood in the quiet darkness, Kodachi leaned heavily against it. Why did he have to make things so difficult between them? Why did he not see how strongly she felt about him? He had not even asked her out on a date yet, even though he knew they were engaged to be married. A quavering worry assailed her, that he was more interested in spending time with any of those lower-class harridans infesting his life than with her. Well, she would show Saotome-kun. She would get all dressed up in a beautiful new gown and accompany her oldest and dearest friend from her childhood to Ohtori Academy's dance and enjoy herself. It was going to be a perfect evening, and she swore she would not let herself even think about a certain pigtailed boy while she was there. Then, if Kaoru-kun happened to ask her out again afterwards, not only would she accept but she would also make very sure to let her reluctant fiancé know about it. That would show him that Kodachi Kuno's feelings were not to be trifled with, and that there were other boys she could be spending her valuable time with. It helped assuage her conscience that she was certain she could trust Kaoru-kun to not take advantage of the situation, since they had been such close friends as children. Despite the strong feelings for Miki that she had been discovering within herself lately, she kept telling herself that she was only doing this to teach Ranma a lesson. But Sukeban-Kodachi's vivid memories of many pleasurable couplings with his analog on her own world kept rising unbidden in her mind, flustering her a bit at their erotic vividness. Kodachi flipped on the light switch by the door and turned to gaze at her brother, sighing. She stepped away from the door and went to tend to him, all the while thinking about Ranma, Miki, and how powerfully both boys affected her emotional states. The faltering beginnings of her relationship with Ranma had certainly proven to be star-crossed so far, to her extreme disappointment. And while she fully intended to keep things on a strictly platonic level with Miki, despite the urges to the contrary she felt in his presence, she really was looking forward to spending more time with him and rediscovering the close friendship they had once shared as children. As she helped her brother, Kodachi began to wonder what had possessed her during her fight with Ranma. She had become stronger, faster, and a wildness, a sheer lust for battle, had possessed her. She nibbled on her lower lip as she thought about it. Could she bring it forth again? Could she use it against Nabiki or her other rivals for Ranma? While under its spell, she had felt invincible, even godlike. It had felt so wonderful and powerful. A smile slowly lit Kodachi's lips. Whatever it had been, she wanted to experience it again. But for now, until she could learn to control its release on demand, she would retain it as her little secret. Even now, she imagined she could hear it whispering to her from those primitive clusters of nerve cells in the base of her brain, calling to her to use it against her enemies. Her smile gradually turned more predatory in appearance. Soon her enemies would come to fear her newfound power, and she rather liked the thought of that. Out in the hallway, Ranma leaned his forehead against the heavy door, thinking. His aches and bruises were relatively mild concerns compared to the sudden heaviness he felt in his heart over Kodachi's abrupt brush-off towards him, since the boost seemed to accelerate his body's natural healing ability. Why did he feel so bad? If this was one of those other worlds, he would have been overjoyed to have her treating him like this. But not here. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't happy that she had chosen to spend time with that Miki guy from Ohtori when they had all gone over together for his rematch against Utena. But he also felt rather uncomfortable that his gut response to that was to beat Miki up, for daring to invade his 'territory.' Admittedly, the guy had looked down his nose at him, not to mention being far too friendly with Kodachi, but he did seem to be Utena's friend as well as Kodachi's. So, as tempting as it was, beating him up should probably be held as a last resort. Unless Miki was dumb enough to start something with him, he would try and be nice, for Kodachi and Utena's sake. Nabiki seemed to be attracting attention as well. It was odd, since many of her other selves that he was familiar with did not appear to have much of a romantic life, probably due to their money-grubbing natures. But here, Nabiki was beginning to acquire admirers, and rich ones at that. Even so, he discounted Kuno and Mikado immediately as being little threat in that regard, since Nabiki had seemed to be clearly repulsed by Mikado, and Kuno was an idiot. Touga, on the other hand, troubled him far more. The other boy had spent far too much time ingratiating himself with Nabiki for Ranma's tastes when they had been at Ohtori. He was obviously a smooth talker with girls, and he was a noble with a lot of money to burn. What was he going to do if Touga started giving Nabiki expensive gifts, or even asked her out on a date? His hand tightened into a fist at his side. Fortunately, unlike with Miki, beating up Touga remained a very viable option, one that he might even find somewhat enjoyable. Thinking about Nabiki reminded him of Akane. She had been a bane to him ever since he had first arrived at the Academy, singling him out for abuse and bullying him mercilessly for weeks. Seeing analogs of the Tendo girl in his other lives, as his fiancée of all things, had been a profound shock. But then, after the accidental memory download through the resonator had left him suddenly able to fight back, even skilled enough to defeat her, their relationship had taken a rather disturbing twist. Akane seemed strongly enamored with him now, as if she was suddenly seeing him as something other than an object for her aggressions. What was worse, this Akane, even as brutal as her nature appeared, possessed a sense of true self-confidence that many of her other analogs lacked. This version of the Tendo girl did not care that she was not skilled in traditionally feminine skills, for she obviously saw herself first and foremost as a warrior. It made for a rather profound difference in personality from her other selves, and that bravado was even somewhat attractive, now that he thought about it. Ranma shook his head suddenly. He could not believe that he was even thinking about Akane Tendo like this, even if she was cute. No, she was _not_ cute. She was not his fiancée in this world. She was not a girl he should feel any sort of desire for. This Akane Tendo was nothing more than a vicious thug, and he was most decidedly _not_ interested in her. That decided, he moved on to the other remaining girls in his life, ignoring the qualms that thoughts of Akane were still causing him and stubbornly refused to vanish. At least with Ukyo and Utena, things were simpler, although he would not call those situations simple either. Ukyo seemed so much like her analogs that it had been easy to fall back into buddy mode with her, but with the added dimension of physical attraction he felt towards her. In one reality he had visited, she had been his wife, and theirs had been a wonderful and loving relationship. And, unlike how it was with Kodachi and Nabiki, there did not appear to be any other boys in the picture, so that was another mark in Ukyo's favor. His relationship with Utena had the same sort of easy feel to it as the one he had with Ukyo did. He was really looking forward to exploring a friendship with Utena, maybe even something more. He could confess to himself that he found her to be pretty pleasing to his eyes, especially the sight of her long, coltish legs. She had a gently tomboyish manner to her that made it seem practically effortless for him to get along with her. And she had kissed him on the cheek as well, which was a pretty good indication to him that she was interested in something more than a friendship. Wait. What the hell was he thinking? Ranma stepped away from Kodachi's door with a sigh. Dealing with girls was a far more complex problem than any sort of scientific conundrum that he had ever come up against. But, at least for now, he needed to try and keep the situation stabilized and under control until he could rescue his father. Then he could start dealing with the girls. Then the problems in his life that the resonator had caused would finally be behind him. ****************************** Herb moved through smoke, hearing the sparking of shattered consoles. He was dressed in the uniform of a junior officer, and the outfit was charred and ripped in several places. He vaguely remembered being in the lavatory of all places when the facility had been bombarded by a Matriarchy vessel. The attack had been as brutal as it had been swift, leaving him to move frantically through the wreckage when it was over. As he walked past a wall console, the crazed plastic reflected a small multitude of both male and female versions of himself, but he did not notice. "<Sage!>" he called, coughing from the smoke as he paused to shoulder aside a fallen support beam as flames roared up in the hallway behind him. The muscles in his back screamed with pain as the massive weight grudgingly moved aside from blocking the door to the laboratory. Then, with a loud crash, it fell to one side, and he scalded his hands as he frantically pulled on the battered metal. When he got inside, more wreckage greeted his eyes. Sage had been in the midst of testing his equipment, utilizing a radical new method of resonator technology when the Matriarchy vessel had struck the research facility. Herb could not see him in the gloom, but he heard a female voice speaking in fits and starts. "<...uploading...error...uploading...error...> " Herb remembered teasing Sage about programming the computer to speak with a woman's voice during the tests. Please let my brother be all right! That phrase repeated like a mantra as he searched frantically for Sage. "<...uploading...error...uploading...error...> " When he reached the center of the room, Herb could only stare in horror at the headless form lying there on the high-backed, cushioned chair, a sheet of blood-spattered metal embedded in the concrete to one side as mute testament to what must have happened here during the attack. "<...uploading...error...up-load-ing...err-err-or...>" Averting his eyes from the scene, Herb stared at the console display, seeing what looked like a report of an interrupted upload sequence for a moment before the screen abruptly flickered and died. He wailed in rage when unseen figures appeared behind him to drag him away from the scene. He reached out for Sage's body, and one of its arms flopped down, the hand appearing to beckon to him. "<Sage!>" ****************************** Herb started awake suddenly from the nightmare, one that had appeared off and on for a little over two years now, ever since Sage's death at the hands of the Solnoid Matriarchy's forces. Up until recently, that time had been spent fruitlessly searching for the timeline Sage must have contacted at the moment of his death. Her former self had called in every single scrap of political favor he owned to obtain a ship, a crew, and a brevet rank sufficient to command them, all to find him. Exploring well over a hundred alternate timelines in that quest, her former self had driven his crew relentlessly for some sign of Sage, even while maintaining the cover that they were looking for new worlds for the Musk to exploit in their war against the Matriarchy, even as they moved further and further away from the front lines. Herb was certain that Sage was still alive, trapped somewhere across unexplored timelines in an analog of himself, carrying the knowledge of the precious advance in resonator technology that would finally allow the Musk to break the deadlock with the Matriarchy, the knowledge that had been destroyed with his lab. Confusion quickly transformed into a dull anger when she recalled where she was, and who she was now. Self-loathing roiled through her mind. Rolling over on her side, she grimaced at her predicament, a prisoner now in more ways than one. In the dim light, Herb stared at the feminine hand she held up before her eyes, briefly closing it into a tight fist, feeling the muscles and tendons in her forearm bunching and tightening. The short nails dug hard into her palm, coming near to cutting into the flesh there, and a strange feeling began to fill her eyes. She blinked away the sudden tears. They were an unacceptable reaction, a betrayal of the strength of her Musk forebears, conquerors one and all, who had built a dynasty that was inexorably fated to grow to rule all possible timelines, once the Matriarchy and its allies were finally crushed into dust. Getting out of bed, Herb quickly walked the short distance to the small sink in her cell and turned on the tap, cupping the clear, cold water in her hands for a moment before splashing it on her face. When she looked up, the small mirror mocked her angry gaze, showing a head of close-cropped white hair framing femininely beautiful features, instead of the masculine good looks she had once been so proud of. The urge to shatter the mirror rose and died quickly before she could even lift her hand. What would be the point? Driven by a sudden, almost masochistic impulse to see herself as she was now, trapped in a body she had never expected to have, Herb began stripping off her clothing and tossing each item aside after it was removed. When she was finally naked, save for the thin collar of metal around her throat, she studied herself in the mirror, noting with a clinical eye that she was quite beautiful. She gazed at her reflection in the mirror as she slowly turned about. After a time, Herb realized the sight was turning her on and quickly turned away from the mirror, suddenly feeling perverse. Sleep had proven to be of limited comfort, offering up a confusing and troubling melange of images, both from her old life as a man as well as this unwanted new existence she now had as a woman. Life for this analog had been a fairly simple affair repeated in an endless cycle of sleeping, eating, and exercising, with occasional breaks for bathing and taking care of life's other biological necessities. This analog's mind had been oddly content with such a dull routine, and one devoid of any significant memories prior to three years ago, apparently from some kind of amnesia. It was a quiet, sheep-like existence, and it offered annoyingly little usable information on this world and what it was like beyond the walls of this place, seemingly a cross between some kind of a hospital and a prison. Yesterday, guards had solemnly escorted her to a communal hall where she had eaten bland food, where Lime and Mint had been the only other prisoners she had seen. She had been kept separate from them, but she had watched them out of the corner of her eye as they spoke in whispers to each other, occasionally glancing over at her in apparent confusion. After her meal was done, she was taken for several hours of rigorous exercise, left alone with only a pair of solemn guards in plain black uniforms to watch her efforts, before being allowed to bathe, use the facilities, and then return to her cell to retire for the evening. There had been one benefit of such an existence though, at least as far as Herb's own needs were concerned. Beneath the enticingly feminine curves of this body were sleek, tautly powerful muscles, the result of countless hours spent in rigorous conditioning and weight training, for reasons this analog did not know or even seem to care about. However, combining this body's surprisingly capable physique with the well-honed martial arts skills of a battle-trained Musk warrior should enable her to escape from this place, wherever it was. Then she could pursue her quest to find the source of the resonator technology on this world wherever it led her, and, hopefully, to at last find Sage. Herb closed her right hand into a tight fist again, feeling her sense of purpose renew itself. Being forced to endure such trials, even the horrifying indignity of a female body, would be repaid in full when she found what she had sought for so long. And whether by force or by guile, it would be hers, although force was her definite preference at the moment. Then the Musk's forces could incinerate this world from pole to pole for all she cared. Stalking over to the bed, Herb lay back down. She still felt somewhat aroused by the memory of her own reflection and idly touched one of her breasts in curiosity, then cupping it gently, feeling the swell of its fullness filling her hand. The resulting sensations were pleasant, so she began to gently stroke and caress herself, varying her motions and experimenting a little. That felt extremely good, so she continued, feeling her arousal growing as she brought her other hand into play upon her other breast as well. She closed her eyes as her breathing began deepening. Her nipples stiffened from her gentle ministrations to them, feeling like miniature erections, and they responded to her stroking them with intense feelings of eroticism. She kept at it, almost unable to stop, and then reached down between her legs with one hand, doing to herself what she wanted to do to herself. Herb imagined herself, her old self, here with this beautiful girl, first working her up into a fever pitch with his touch upon her body, and then penetrating, thrusting. Herb became lost in the erotic sensations now filling her mind as she continued playing with herself, a pleasurable tension building up within her. Then, suddenly, she experienced an orgasmic explosion that rocked her entire body, causing her to gasp and moan with pleasure as she writhed about on the bed, her hips pumping involuntarily. It felt so good that she kept at it, accomplishing it several more times, crying out and loudly moaning each time as the force of the erotic feelings briefly overpowered her senses. A sudden concern that her cries had been overheard brought Herb down from her sexual high, and she stopped, catching her breath. Male and female orgasms were certainly related experiences, but they were also decidedly different, she realized. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the small window to her cell was open, allowing some light in from the hallway, and the young guard that was normally on duty in the mornings was watching her. Seeing him gave her a sudden idea. "I'm lonely," she said coquetishly, attempting what she hoped was a seductive smile. She rolled over on her side and reached out with one hand, crooking her finger suggestively. Inside, Herb doubted any male would really be stupid enough to fall prey to such an obvious ploy, but she felt it was worth a try. Surprisingly, the guard unlocked and opened the door, and she closed her eyes slightly. Even as she smiled with apparent warmth at the young man, inwardly she noted with distaste the obvious lust in his gaze as it traversed her body and mentally sneered at his weakness. Her escape was apparently going to be far easier than she had first thought. "Come closer," she purred, sitting up slightly, her gaze glancing at the keys on his belt. Her smile grew more subtly predatory. "I want to show you something." ****************************** At Kashuoh Manor, the servants maintaining the grounds, various models of samaels and liliths (male and female replicants), paused in their labors and looked up as a long limousine passed by them in the heavy rain, heading for the main house. A few of them continued to watch for several moments longer, as the car came to a stop and parked, but the rest went back to their labors immediately, showing no interest in anything beyond the scope of their duties. Those few that were still watching saw the driver's door open, and a Puma-class lilith nearly two meters tall with dark blue hair got out and snapped open an umbrella to shield herself from the rain. She was dressed in a Western-style, dark gray chauffeur's outfit made of armorcloth, with a white silk blouse worn under the jacket and a very short skirt and black silk stockings instead of long pants. Her official designation in Genom's database of active units was serial number 9815-PS2-1138, but her name was Nana. Quickly reaching into the car, Nana pulled out a chauffeur's hat and set it at a jaunty angle on her head between her two catlike ears, before smoothing her clothing and briefly adjusting the shoulder holster she wore, which carried within it a Kuno Militech 12mm heavy automatic pistol. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she stepped over to the rear door and opened it. She offered a hand to the occupant inside and held her umbrella to cover them both from the rain. "I can still walk fine on my own, Nana," came the slightly amused voice of Kado Kashuoh, the elderly patriarch of the Kashouh Family and the current CEO of Genom. He stepped out of the car, a withered old man in a Western-style overcoat, wielding a cane with a solid gold handle. He patted Nana's rump fondly after he stood up, and he left his hand there as he looked about. "I may be old, but I'm not feeble, as you well know." He then cackled slightly and gave her rump a friendly squeeze. "Even so, you should be careful about exerting yourself unnecessarily, Kashuoh-san," Nana replied with a professional smile, but her ears twitched in amusement as she closed the car door. They began walking towards the house, Kado's hand remaining firmly on her behind. "It will be nice to see your grandson again, Kashuoh-san." "Yes." Kado tapped his cane on the ground as he made his way up the steps to the front door. "It will be interesting to see what the boy's been up to while we've been gone." Nana nodded in agreement, moving the umbrella aside and folding it back up when the pair were finally underneath the font eaves of the house. She removed a set of keys from a pocket and unlocked the massive front doors before pushing one of them open easily. She set the umbrella in the stand by the door after the pair entered the house. "Welcome home, Kashuoh-san," said several of the house servants that had observed their entry, almost in stereo, bowing to him. Each of them was dressed in traditional Japanese clothing and wore the same vacuous smile. "May we be of any assistance to you?" "Where is my grandson?" Kado inquired of the nearest one, a beautiful, Nordic-looking young woman, as he let Nana help him with removing his overcoat, leaving him dressed in more traditional Japanese clothing that was suitable for a man of his station. "The young master is in the main dining hall, Kashuoh-san," she replied with another bow. "Come, Nana," he commanded mildly. "Let's go see how the boy is." He looked at the other waiting servants. "The rest of you, return to your assigned duties." In the dining hall, Kinnosuke was in good spirits. Today was going to be the day when he finally laid claim to Nabiki Tendo, as well as giving a demonstration of his physical superiority to Ranma Saotome, by crushing his unknowing rival for the middle Tendo daughter. Arrayed around him at their usual places, the trio of catgirls quietly ate their own meals, but each of them would occasionally glance lovingly at him and smile wistfully. All four looked up in surprise when Nana and Kinnosuke's grandfather suddenly swept into the room. "Grandfather," said Kinnosuke, quickly rising from his place. "And Nana. If I'd known you were returning today, I would have prepared a proper welcome for you. How was Europe?" "Cold, wet, and filled with a generally unfriendly people," said Kado with a slight grimace, remembering the experience. "Especially the French. I had a much better time in the North American prefectures. You should visit Angel City sometime, boy. I think I may retire there someday to enjoy the warm weather, since I don't think it rained more than twice in the entire month I was there." Kinnosuke walked over to speak with his grandfather, and Nana moved over to stand with the other three catgirls. She nodded to each of them in turn and spoke to them quietly, noting their modified Security cadet uniforms with mild interest. "Tiger. Lynx. Panther. How has everything been around here? I trust that Kinnosuke-san has been receiving proper care from you all." Tiger calmly replied, with a slight edge of disdain in her voice, "We have given Kinnosuke-sama the very best of care, Nana." Who did this outdated lilith model think she was, to question their capabilities? Her ears folded back slightly in annoyance. "We have served his needs most excellently, in every capacity that he has ever required of us. I am certain that Kinnosuke-sama has no complaints about our performance in any area of our service." "Tiger is correct, Nana," said Lynx quietly, but also with a certain professional pride in her voice, stepping forward to take up station at Tiger's left shoulder. "We have taken care of all of his needs as a man." She then frowned demurely, and her ears were slightly folded back as well, a sign of her aggravation at even being questioned on this. Panther nodded, stepping forward a single pace to stand at Tiger's right, her fists on her hips and her carriage erect with indignation. "That's right. We have satisfied him in all aspects." She then smirked, but her ears were folded back like Lynx's and Tiger's were. "Especially in the bedroom." Her tone was kept soft as well, but she was still somewhat naturally louder-voiced than either Lynx or Tiger. Nana studied the trio, meeting their gazes levelly, and her hands began to curl into fists at her sides, her own catlike ears folding back at the silent challenges they were each giving her. Just who did these three little prototypes think they were impressing? She had been with her young charge for years, loved him, protected him, and taken care of him as he grew into manhood. She was as much his mother as his genetic parents ever were, and she was not about to be crowded out of his life by these three young upstarts. After a moment, with a hint of a growl in her voice, she said, "That is good. His well-being should always be your highest priority." "It is!" all three young catgirls snapped, in stereo. Kinnosuke, who had been making small talk with his grandfather during this exchange, glanced over. "Nana? Is there a problem?" "No, Kinnosuke-san," she said pleasantly, her ears perking up and her hands relaxing back open, immediately turning to face him. "I was simply asking them how things were going around here. The girls were just being a bit overly-enthusiastic in telling me." Tiger, Lynx, and Panther quickly nodded, following Nana's lead. All four of them then smiled innocently at Kinnosuke. "Anyway," said Kado, tapping his grandson on the shin gently with the tip of his cane. "Tell me how you're getting along at the Academy. I trust things have been going well." Kinnosuke smiled. "Quite well, Grandfather. Alongside my studies, I have been quietly working on accumulating influence over my fellow cadets, as a sort of hobby. Now only a few last obstacles remain to be overcome, and then I will have solidified my control. I've also found a girl that interests me, one of the subjects of Project Phoenix. I intend to make her my bride." "What?" Kado sputtered, taken by surprise. "You should have no need to involve yourself with one of them. Trust me on this, boy. Why bother to involve yourself with a human woman, with all of her petty needs and abstinence, when a lilith can provide you with all the companionship, loyalty, and love you could ever want?" Kinnosuke looked uncertainly at his grandfather. "But where's the satisfaction of conquest in that, to have a girl programmed to love me? Besides, this one is perfect for me. I've been watching her for the past few months. She's cold, calculating, ruthless, and quite probably without a single moral qualm in her being. A worthy woman to be at my side, even if she is genetically inferior to me." "Even worse," Kado remarked sourly. "The absolute last thing you need is a woman with her own agenda. Try again." "Well, a lilith can't breed with a human, Grandfather. They're all sterile. How can I ever have children without involving a human woman? I know lilith's have been used as host mothers, such as for noblewomen who don't want to ruin their figures with childbearing, but it still requires a viable ovum. I want to father my children on a woman without any need for a test tube." Kado raised a finger and waved it from side to side. "Ah, but Genom has finally cracked that flaw, boy, and that's where those three come into play." Kado pointed proudly at the trio of young catgirls. "Each of them is designed to be as naturally fertile as any mere human woman, but the ovums they produce can only combine with human sperm to form human male children, thereby ensuring Genom remains as the only source for future liliths. Think about it, boy! Our market share will grow to crush that of all of our competitors, now that we can provide any man who can afford one with his own beautiful, perfectly loyal and loving, tailor-made lilith, who can now even give him human sons. No, mankind no longer needs women, now that Genom can provide an improved alternative." Kinnosuke was a bit stunned. The whole idea sounded both appealing and perverse. He looked at the trio of catgirls, who smiled warmly back at him. He turned to face his grandfather. "But I've been with each of them on a pretty regular basis since wintertime, and none of them has gotten pregnant yet." "Well, they were each given a four-month contraception implant before they were decanted," Kado replied with a smile, then lightly elbowed the boy in his ribs in a conspiratorial manner. "That was so you could enjoy your 'honeymoon' with them without any unexpected surprises. But they've been fully capable of getting pregnant for at least a few weeks now. Its possible that your own contraception implant hasn't fully dissolved yet. But it will, given time. That's why I didn't have you renew it." "Why didn't you tell me?" Kinnosuke asked. "Why use me as the guinea pig in this?" Kado sighed and laid a gentle hand on Kinnosuke's shoulder. "Because I wanted you to be happy, boy. A young man your age needs an outlet for all those sexual urges and adolescent hormones percolating through your body. They were designed to be the ultimate sexual companions." His gaze grew hooded as he studied his grandson. "Besides, you share some things in common with them, even if the basis of your entire genetic code originally comes from my son." "But my father, my mother..." A horrible thought was occurring to him. "Your father died when he was a teenager, Kinnosuke," Kado said sadly. "But I saved enough viable genetic samples from him to create you. As for your mother, she was simply a donor, but she was a woman of good genetic stock. I had the portraits and pictures made up to give you a sense of family while growing up." Kinnosuke stared at his grandfather in sudden horror, feeling his world crumbling all around him. "I'm a replicant," he said hollowly. "You created me in one of those damned tanks." "No!" Kado snapped, feeling his grandson beginning to tremble. His voice softened. "No. Not at all, boy. While some aspects of Genom's genetic technology was used in your creation, to craft the penultimate human by resequencing your DNA, you were born like any other man, to a woman who loves you. She nursed you at her own breast, protected you from harm, and she raised you into a fine young man all these years." He nodded once to Nana, who came over and put her arms around Kinnosuke as Kado stepped back and let her comfort the boy, but he shook his head when the other three started to approach as well. "Shhh, Kinnosuke-kun," Nana said softly, taking him gently into her arms as he began to tremble and sob, holding him to her bosom. "There there. It's all right." She patted him on his back, resting her chin on top of his head as she enfolded him in the warmth of a motherly embrace. "Nana is here to take care of you. Shhh...." Inside, Kinnosuke's mind whirled with the sudden knowledge that his entire life had been built on lies. His emotional reserve suddenly shattered, and he found himself clutching tightly to Nana, mournful sobs escaping his lips, just as he had done when he was much younger and something had hurt him. He felt her hands patting and rubbing his back like a real mother would, and he was reeling with the knowledge that Nana was his birth mother. Despite his grandfather's words, he wondered if he was really a human being, and that doubt was terrifying him on a primal level. But Nana's warmth and her familiar smell was calming him as he sobbed out his pain, and as his thoughts gained clarity, he felt disgusted with himself for showing such weakness. Off to the side, Tiger, Lynx, and Panther ached to rush over to their beloved master's aid, to comfort his emotional wound as Nana was now doing, and their ears were flat on their head from their unhappiness. Kado slowly approached them. "Kashuoh-san," said Tiger mournfully. "Will Kinnosuke-sama be all right?" "He'll be fine, girls," Kado replied, patting Tiger on the hand. "My grandson has just had a shock. But he's strong. He'll recover." All three catgirls breathed a quick sigh of relief. After several minutes, Kinnosuke's sobs gradually eased, and he pulled himself away from Nana and looked up into her face, looking at the face of his birth mother. She smiled at him, drew him close to her again, and then she gently kissed him on the forehead. He pulled her back into a hug, feeling a sense of contentment that he had found a mother, offsetting the emotional pain of having lost so much else. Then he thought about Nabiki and Ranma, and his thoughts darkened. Pulling back from Nana once again, he turned from her, looked over at the three catgirls, and then he nodded at them. "Come with me, you three. We have preparations to finish before class today." He looked back at his grandfather, and his expression became unreadable. "Thank you for telling me the truth." "Are you all right, Kinnosuke?" Kado asked, studying the boy with some concern. "I'm fine, Grandfather," the boy replied. He stepped away from Nana and gave her an inscrutable look before turning back again to face his grandsire again. "Certain things have just become much clearer to me now." With that, Kinnosuke turned and left the room, and the trio of catgirls filed out behind him, following closely on his flanks. Nabiki's face filled his thoughts, as well as Ranma's. Despite what his grandfather had said, he still desired Nabiki, still lusted with all of his being to possess her. And his jealousy against Ranma, the only obstacle he saw in his path to obtain her, flared up to new heights of hatred. His fellow Science cadets spoke of his pigtailed nemesis's abilities with varying degrees of admiration, but Kinnosuke had never shown them his true abilities, never made it any sort of real contest between them. Well, today that would all change. He would demonstrate who was truly the superior being between them, and he would begin by beating Ranma Saotome to within an inch of his life. "Tiger," he said over his shoulder. "Yes, Kinnosuke-sama?" "I have given the matter some more thought," he said calmly, his look neutral. "You may... indulge yourself where Nabiki Tendo is concerned, while I am dealing with Saotome. But take great care that she is left alive and without any permanent damage done to her." He turned to look at the other two catgirls. "Lynx. Panther. That order goes for you two as well. Break her spirit a bit, and then you can bring Nabiki before me to finish her indoctrination. But be quick. My business with Ranma Saotome should not take me very long." A cold sort of smirk suddenly crossed his features as he turned away from them and began walking. He muttered grimly, "After all, he is only human." "Yes, Kinnosuke-sama," said all three catgirls, feeling a new spring entering their step as they happily trailed along behind him, looking forward to committing some mayhem upon the one they hated above all others in the world: Nabiki Tendo. ****************************** (to be continued in part 2 of 2) .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----. | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com | | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----' |