BattleMage Series

WARNING:  While there will be no actual ‘Lemon’ content contained herein, adult situations, language, violence and acts of a sexual nature are strongly implied.

Disclaimer:  The rights to ‘Ranma 1/2’ are owned by its creator, Rumiko Takahashi.  The rights to ‘Gold Digger’ are owned by its creator, Fred Perry.  The rights to characters from other sources, which are likely to make cameo appearances, are retained by their respective creators.  This story is for entertainment purposes only and written without expectation of monetary or material profit.

Notes:  While drawing primarily from the original ‘Ranma 1/2’ Manga series, some elements and characters from the ‘Ranma 1/2’ Anime series may also be utilized.  This is BOTH a ‘Continuation’ and an ‘Alternate Universe’ fan-fiction in regards to the characters and events of ‘Ranma 1/2’ and ‘Gold Digger’, meaning:  the characters WILL be ‘Out-of-Character’ to one extent or another and that canon events the reader is familiar with may or may not have been altered to a greater or lesser degree.  This fan-fiction is also a ‘Crossover’, combining elements from the two aforementioned sources.  For most of the story, we will attempt to adhere closely to canon, in regards to Fred Perry’s ‘Gold Digger’ series, but at some point, events will diverge from canon and concessions will have to be made for the intermingling of the two base series.

Furthermore, it is ‘presumed’ that the events of the ‘Ranma 1/2’ Manga series take place over more than one year of time, as there is little, if any, real indication of the passage of time in canon.  Therefore, Ranma and Akane are juniors at the time this story begins, while Nabiki and Kuno are seniors.

Timeframe:  Immediately following the failed wedding attempt at the end of the ‘Ranma 1/2’ Manga series; there are several months remaining until the end of the current school year at Furinkan High…  (’Gold Digger’ timeframe will become apparent when introduced into the story.)

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BATTLEMAGE

By

Ryan Slicer

(original story concept, writing and guidance)

&

Tai Khan

(general story expander, editor and sounding board)

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Book One:  Control

Part Two: Confrontations

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Wednesday…

Akane awoke and  streached out on her bed to remove the kinks from the previous night, she got out of her comfortable bed and went to start the day. She would have to wake her arogant fiance as she couldn’t find him after he finished talking to her sister. ‘He was probably up on the roof watching out for me as always, the jerk. I can take care of myself, and I’ve been doing it before he arrived.’ she thought as she got dressed to for her morning jog.

Once Akane had left the Tendo-ke, had she stayed a bit longer before taking her jog, she would have seen a certian raven-haired man and sister slip into the household from her window and kiss.

-=-=-=-

Ranma only took a few minutes to pick up his bathing supplies before making his way towards the furo. As they both discussed, it would be a good idea to keep up apperances as normal as possible. Of course one would suspect that with Ranma’s new information on the eldest he would try not to think of her in that way. As he reached the last step, he turned and noticed the eldest sister, sitting in the tea room enjoying a blend of tea he never knew she owned, ‘Earl Grey? Must be a tea she reservers for herself.’ This brought thoughts of the device Nabiki brought out during their excursion which caused him to blush a deeper shade of red, ‘Nabiki couldn’t have said that to Kasumi. Could she?’

Kasumi took another sip of her tea as she contemplated the reasons why her younger sister would borrow her favorite toy, after she told her how big her dream Ranma was. Maybe she wanted to feel the same way as some of her fantasies made her feel. Kasumi could never tell what was truely going on in her sister’s mind when she wanted to keep those thoughts to herself. The eldest sister looked up and saw Ranma watching her with a reddened face. Currous she got up and stood in front of the Saotome heir, placing her wrist on his forehead, “Ranma-kun, are you feeling sick?”

Ranma looked at Kasumi and his eyes widened for a moment at how close they were, “Uh.. No Kasumi… I.. I was just about to take a bath.”

“Y…You… How could you suggest that to my sister!” Akane had returned from her jog and opened the door to find Ranma blushing as he suggested that they take a bath, “I can’t believe that you would do that!”

“What are you talking about Tomboy?” Ranma was able to advert his thinking of what the eldest sister did with the pleasure device that Nabiki ‘borrowed’.

“I’m talking about you taking my sister into the bath!” Akane growled as she pulled her fist back, only to see Ranma shaking his head and waving his arms in front of him.

“I didn’t say that!” Ranma started to step away from the youngest sister before she tried to shoot him out the door again without getting ready, “I said I was going to take a bath.”

“He’s right, Imoto-chan, Ranma-kun was just telling me he was headed to the furo.” Kasumi said, hoping that her intervention didn’t disrupt the Wa of the house, “Let him get ready and then take yours. I’ll get breakfast ready.” The eldest sister turned away from the confrentation and in to the kitchen.

While the youngest was busy thinking of a reason why Kasumi would back up the pigtailed martial artist, said individual quickly made his retreat to the outer bath to start on the day.

-=-=-=-

After breakfast, with the youngest sister keeping her promise until Ranma spoke out of line once more, which thankfully was outside of the Tendo-ke so that the damage wasn’t more than what had all ready occured at the wedding.

A knock on the oldest sister’s door caused her to pause in her cleaning before opening it. Standing there with the sexual device that she borrowed last night was Nabiki with her legs slightly more apart than usual.

“Imoto-chan, thank you for returning that.” Kasumi took the device from her sister as she let her in. Once the door was shut, she set the device back in her drawer where it belonged, “Did you clean it up after you were finished?”

Nabiki just gave her sister a smirk as she walked slowly around her sister’s room to her bed, “Didn’t have a need to use it.”

“Then what did you use?” Kasumi responed before her sister stood back up and walked towards her door.

“That.. is a secret.” Nabiki smiled as she held her finger against her lips, she opened the door and left her sister, watching her walk with a bowlegged gait that made the eldest sister wonder what happened last night.

-=-=-=-

School had occured and finished just like every day, causing the pigtailed martial artist to be hit from the grounds of Furinkan close to the Tendo-ke. Briefly Ranma wondered if the youngest daughter was taking up golf to assist in her swings. That didn’t matter as before he could wonder what time she would have to spend at the golf range he landed in the koi pond, changing him to his female self.  Ranma-chan stood up from the pond and shook out the excess water from her hair.

“Ranma-chan.” the voice of the middle daughter made the redhead look up and see that Nabiki was calling her from the Saotome guest room, “I need to talk to you for a minute about your abrupt arrivals again.”

“Don’t blame me for that. It’s your tomboy of a sister that’s doing it.” the redhead growled before stepping getting out of the koi pond and wringing out some of the water from her soaked clothing. She proceeded in to the house and up to her room, which she would have headed there anyway to pick up a pair of dry clothing. As she entered the room, the door slid shut before she was pounced upon by the sexually frustrated Tendo.

With her arms around the smaller girl’s waist, while her hands roamed around under the redhead’s shirt, Nabiki wanted another night like last night to occur, “I couldn’t stop thinking about last night. It was more than what I expected of you, Saotome.”

This caused the redhead to blush as she felt the wandering hands start to make her feel the same as before, “You don’t go around the world without noticing things.”

“And before last night? I could have sworn that you didn’t know what to do to please any woman”

“Lets just say that before the curse I probably wouldn’t have any idea how to do so.” Ranma-chan moaned, turning herself around in the middle sister’s arms and started to grope her, “Tonight?”

“Of course. You’ve been on my mind for a while.”

“Where?” Ranma-chan’s urges were coming to the forefront as she wiggled her own top like Nabiki did earlier that week, elicting a moan from the middle sister.

“Shinjuku, same hotel. All ready reserved.”

“Disguises?”

“Yes. Except you’ll be the man of the relationship.” Nabiki smiled as she pulled away from the grasp of the redhead, “After dinner.” and with that, plus a quick kiss to the redhead’s lips, the middle sister left Ranma-chan wondering what she had planned for that evening and a very frustrated redhead standing in her room.

-=-=-=-

-X-X-X-

Thursday…

Ranma ended his latest kata, wiping the sweat from his brow, and easily slid into another that he used to cool down, ensuring that his muscles wouldn’t cramp and remain limber.  As he went through the slow, relaxing motions, he took the time to admire Nabiki’s form, as she lay stretched out near the dojo entrance, going over the various course offerings of Todai.  In the last two nights, he’d become very familiar with the middle Tendo daughter’s body, intimately so, and he could feel his body responding to the memories of those encounters.

His eyes trailed upwards from her slender feet, past her supple calves, and along her well-toned thighs to her shapely, firm bottom, presently clad in loose silk shorts, which had ridden up slightly to reveal a tantalizing amount of cheek.  His hands involuntarily clenched, recalling the feel of fondling and kneading that particular physical asset, which they’d both seemed to enjoy more than either had thought they would.  In Ranma’s opinion, at least, Nabiki’s bottom was one of her more attractive physical traits, being set a bit higher and rounder than was the norm for most Asian girls.  Of course, this was not to detract from her other physical attractions, he silently chastised himself, as his gaze continued onward up her body to her halter-top clad breasts.  Nabiki’s breasts may not have been overly large, certainly not as large as Shampoo’s impressive endowments, or even as large as his own girl-form’s their respective heights taken into consideration, but they had proven to be remarkably firm, rounded, and more than adequate to fill his hands comfortably with a bit to spare.  Finally, his gaze fell upon her face.  It was unlikely that Nabiki would ever be accused of having a ‘cute’ face, but it was unmistakably feminine with delicate features and highly expressive dark eyes.  No, Nabiki would never be called ‘cute’.  Beautiful, sexy, seductive, alluring, provocative, mischievous… those were the words that better described Nabiki.

Now, however, Nabiki’s expression appeared a little troubled as she looked over the pamphlets and brochures lying before her.  This was a facet of Nabiki that Ranma had discovered recently, that despite her usual air of confidence and certainty… she was often plagued with the same uncertainties and doubts in her own abilities that everyone else in the world suffered from.  She’d already received confirmation that she would be receiving a full scholarship to any college or university of her choice, but… the entrance exam results had yet to be posted and it would be those that would actually determine where her education would be continued.  She desperately wanted to attend Todai, but had doubts that her scores would be high enough.

“Still thinking about that business degree?” he finally asked, ending the kata and walking over to sit beside her, grabbing the nearby towel to wipe away the sweat he’d worked up.

Nabiki looked up from her reading material to look at him, a soft smile appearing on her face as she nodded, “You betcha!  Did you forget what I told you last night?”  Her grin grew as she recalled the events of the previous evening.  She swore that if Ranma hadn’t given her a full-body massage afterwards she wouldn’t have been able to move, let alone walk, today.  Their first night together had been expectedly awkward for both of them and neither had been very eager to ‘experiment’, but last night… anything goes, indeed, and Ranma’s endowment was nearly twice the norm for an Asian male, which had caused no small amount of trepidation on her part at some of the things they’d ‘experimented’ with.  She’d been more than a little surprised at some of the things she’d actually found herself enjoying.  “Or do you need reminding again of what to do and say?” she asked, sitting up and pulling his arm about her shoulders so she could lean into his side more comfortably as she wrapped her own arm about his waist..

Ranma tensed up slightly at Nabiki’s open show of affection while still within the Tendo-ke and he looked around quickly for any evidence of the imminent arrival of any potentially violent fiancées or rivals, only to have his rapidly swiveling head caught by a delicate hand and pulled into a deep kiss, before being gently urged down onto his back, whereupon Nabiki draped herself atop him.  For quite some time, both forgot about the rest of the world and any concerns they may have had of being discovered as they kissed and hands roamed over the other’s bodies.  However, they did eventually break apart for some much needed air.

“I think I remember now, Nabs,” he chuckled, fondling her bottom as she squirmed atop him.  Still, he could sense that Nabiki’s mind wasn’t totally upon their current activities.  Even though they had only grown closer a few days ago, he could tell that something was troubling her.  “What’s wrong?”

Nabiki looked down at the boy… no, young man, beneath her and wondered how he’d come to know her so well in such a short time as to spot when something was preoccupying her thoughts.  She was truly growing quite fond of him and not just because of the sex, which had proven to be far better than she’d ever imagined… and she’d always had an exceptionally good imagination.  She took a moment to admire his handsome features as she considered how to respond.

“The test,” she finally sighed.  “I’m worried about how I did on it.”  Of course, the results wouldn’t be posted for another day yet and she was hoping that she’d done well enough on it that she wouldn’t have to retake it in an effort to attain a better score.  “I wasn’t at my best when I took it… thanks to you holding onto my panties after the party and why you had them in the first place.”  Nabiki spoke the last teasingly, wiggling her hips and rubbing herself against a rigid portion of Ranma’s anatomy.

“I’m sure you did well on the test, Nabs,” Ranma said, before arching an eyebrow at the middle Tendo’s increasing efforts.  “Planning something for later?” he asked looking into her eyes.  “I know that look in your eyes, Tendo.”

“Moi?  Planning something?” Nabiki asked coyly, slipping a slender hand between their bodies to fondle his member more directly.  “The only plans I have for later this evening is to spend some ‘quality’ time with my favorite horse and to take a good long ride.  Care to bet on how long he can last at a full gallop this time?”

Before Ranma could respond, they were interrupted by Kasumi calling them both in for dinner.  Curiously, though, she’d sounded as if she were a lot closer than calling out from inside the house.

-=-=-=-

That evening, after dinner…

Kasumi stood in the doorway of her bedroom, listening intently.  Nabiki’s bedroom door was slightly ajar and Kasumi could just make out some of the conversation that Nabiki was having with someone over her cell phone, something about reserving a room for an entire night in exchange for a favor owed or something to that effect.  Finally, the conversation ceased and Kasumi distinctly heard the barely audible clack of the cell phone’s cover being flipped closed.  ‘Now or never,’ Kasumi thought as she stepped into the hallway and walked over to her sister’s room and knocked on the door.  “Nabiki-chan?  It’s Kasumi.  May I come in?”

“Sure, Oneechan,” Nabiki called back.  Kasumi eased the door the rest of the way open, stepping into the room, and closed it as she saw Nabiki putting a slip of paper into her purse, possibly having written notes of what she intended for the night.

“Nabiki… are you going out tonight?”

It wasn’t the question itself that caused Nabiki to pause in her walk towards her closet, but the way it was asked.  Almost as if…  Nabiki shook her head, banishing the thought that Kasumi could be disapproving of her going out for some reason.  “I am.  I’ve got a business meeting that’s going to take most of the evening.  And since I won’t be getting back until late tonight, I’ll be taking Ranma along, so you don’t have to worry about my safety.”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Kasumi sighed.  “I meant, are you going out with Ranma-kun tonight… aside from your ‘business’ meeting?”

Just from the way the question was stated, Nabiki knew that the jig was up and that Kasumi, at least, strongly suspected that she and Ranma were going to be engaging in some form of ‘business’ of their own.  Question was, how much did Kasumi know or suspect?  “Um…  What do you mean, exactly, Kasumi?”

“You were going to spend some ‘quality’ time with your favorite horse and take ‘a good long ride’?”

Nabiki paled as she remembered saying almost those exact words to Ranma earlier that afternoon.  “K-Kasumi!” she hissed out quietly, moving past her sister to ensure that her bedroom door was locked.  “Where did you hear about my… um… interest in horses?”

“While you and Ranma-kun were in the dojo this afternoon,” Kasumi replied matter-of-factly, although she had lowered the volume of her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, while wearing a disapproving frown that made her look cute.  “Are you and Ranma-kun doing something… improper, Nabiki-chan?”

“Well… that would depend on your definition of ‘improper’, Sis,” Nabiki responded, pulling her elder sister towards her bed and away from the door.

“Spit it out, Nabiki,” Kasumi said, being uncharacteristically blunt.  “We’re sisters; we don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Nabiki arched an eyebrow at that comment and after some thought of the possible consequences of revealing what she knew, simply said, “Sensei Davidson, the showers, your senior year at Furinkan before he took that teaching position in America.”

Kasumi paled.  She’d been absolutely certain that no one had ever known about her… indiscretion.

“You read my diary?!”

“NO!  Not yours,” Nabiki quickly interrupted.  “I wouldn’t invade ‘your’ privacy like that.  Although… I’m sure it would be interesting reading.  The gym coach, Mrs. Takashi, kept one and, apparently, left it behind when she retired and I later found it.  She was rather detailed in her recounting of what she’d seen taking place in the showers one day, between the school’s star female athlete and the distinguished ‘much older’ English teacher.”

“She never did know when to mind her own damn business,” Kasumi muttered under her breath.  “Nosey old battle-axe.”

“I’ve never told anyone else about finding it, Sis,” Nabiki said.  Then added, “And I also destroyed it, to ensure that no one else would ever read about your ‘indiscretion’ with a talented gaijin instructor that was nearly old enough to be your grandfather.  Still, after reading that secondhand account, I’ve always wanted to ask…  Was he as good as Mrs. Takashi wrote he was?”

“Oh, yes,” Kasumi sighed as fond memories filled her head.  “He wasn’t greatly endowed, at least no more so than any other man, but ohhh did he know how to make a girl feel like a real woman…”

“Hmmm… size doesn’t matter if you know what you’re doing, huh?” Nabiki asked, giving her sister a lecherous grin.

“Humph, ain’t that the truth!” Kasumi snorted.  “I dated a few boys that firmly believed that just because they had big… endowments, that they would be good in bed.  Pure rubbish.  Not one of them could do more than paw clumsily at a girl for a minute or two, before attempting to hammer her through the floor, wall, or whatever for another minute or two.  And once they got off, that was it, game over and ‘Maybe we can do this again tomorrow, Sweetie.’  As if any girl would WANT to see them again after being treated as nothing more than a substitute for their own hand!”

“And if the boy in question were ‘talented’ AND ‘well-endowed’?” Nabiki questioned.  Being the ‘middle’ sister of three, Nabiki was well accustomed to the necessity of ’sharing’, and she had little doubt that Ranma would be able to keep more than a single girl quite content sexually.  Besides, Kasumi obviously knew that she and Ranma were closer than they wanted the others to know about and possibly suspected that they were even having sex together.  And if anyone deserved to be treated to a good long night of passionate sex with someone that cared about her, it was Kasumi.  Of course, the fact that if Kasumi began taking ‘riding lessons’ with the ‘Wild Horse’ as well would all but guarantee her continued silence about Nabiki’s own involvement with Ranma was just an added bonus.

Nabiki’s comment had certainly gotten Kasumi’s attention.  ‘Just how far have Nabiki and Ranma gone?’ Kasumi wondered.  “Details.  Now!”

Nabiki gave her sister a knowing grin as she began to give details of the last night she had with Ranma, including some of the more different ‘riding’ positions that she was thinking of doing. During the discussion, Kasumi’s cheeks burst from their perfection to a rosy tint of color, wondering herself if she could have her own fun with Ranma. Nabiki then looked over at her alarm clock and noticed the time before scrambling to pick her dress that she was going to wear for that night and shooed her sister out of her room.

-=-=-=-

-X-X-X-

Friday…

Akane’s eye twitched as she opened the front door of the Tendo-ke to greet whoever had been knocking.  They’d sounded polite enough before she’d opened the door, as not enough people bothered to knock before entering her home in her opinion, and now she wished that she hadn’t bothered to open it.

“Excuse me, is there a Ranma Saotome living here?” spoke the tall voluptuous blonde-haired woman in a strong French accent, reminding Akane of that Chardin freak and the rest of his family.  The fact that the woman was dressed like the proverbial French streetwalker, with black fishnet stockings, black mini-skirt, red-and-white striped off-the-shoulder blouse that displayed FAR more cleavage than was decent in Akane’s opinion, and the whole image topped off with a bright cherry-red beret, didn’t improve Akane’s impression of the woman in the slightest.  Then came the clincher. “I need to speak with him concerning an arrangement between our families and it is most urgent.”

*SLAM!*

New problem temporarily solved, as far as she was concerned, Akane spun about on her heel and stomped away from the front door, intending to pound on her errant fiancé if he gave her the slightest excuse.  Finding him sitting at the table in the main room of the house, Akane stomped over to plop down across from him and commenced to glare at him, silently urging him to say something so could vent.  It wouldn’t matter in the least WHAT he said, or even if he actually said anything, all she would need for an excuse was for him to open his mouth.

Ranma had heard Akane call out in response to someone knocking at the front door, heard someone talking, although he hadn’t been able to discern what was said, and heard the slamming of the front door in response, followed by Akane stomping, loudly, in his direction to end up sitting across him.  He didn’t even have to look up from the travel magazine he’d been reading to know that Akane was glaring at him, he could almost feel it, and he also knew that she was now looking for an excuse to vent her frustrations… on him.  Unfortunately, for Akane, Ranma decided to skip a beating for once and therefore did NOT look up, did NOT open his mouth, and in fact did nothing to set her off.  As far as he was concerned, it was her problem, whatever it was, and she could vent her frustrations in some other manner than using him as a punching bag.

“Ranma-kun, someone is here to see you,” Kasumi said, having herself gone to investigate the slamming of the front door and now leading someone into the main room of the house.

Ranma looked up just as Kasumi stepped aside to allow their guest into the room and knew immediately why Akane was upset.  Not only was the woman stunningly attractive, but she had an expansive bust that put even Shampoo’s to shame.  And since she didn’t look to be much older than himself that meant she was a possible fiancée.

“Ranma Saotome?” the woman asked, looking him up and down.  Then added softly, seemingly speaking her thoughts aloud unintentionally, “He looks to be quite a man indeed.”

“And then some,” Kasumi responded, earning startled looks from both Ranma and Akane, before she turned and headed back into her kitchen.  Ranma wondered just what Nabiki had been telling her eldest sister, while Akane… fumed.  First Nabiki was getting all chummy with the baka, having long talks with him in the privacy of her room, which neither would tell her what they had talked about, and now Kasumi seemed to be indicating an interest in him.  Her teeth ground together as her gaze shifted repeatedly between the gaijin hussy who was obviously yet another fiancée out to snag HER property and said property himself.

Ranma rose from the table to bow politely to the woman, who returned it after a moment accompanied by an audible growl from Akane as the action exposed more of the woman’s cleavage, before straightening and extending his right hand in the Western form of greeting.  “Yes, I’m Ranma Saotome,” he said, shaking the woman’s hand before indicating for her to sit at the end of the table and allowing her to do so before resuming his own seat.  He had been paying attention to Kasumi’s lessons on how to properly treat guests, after all.  “Would you care for something to drink?  Tea, perhaps, Miss…?”

“Cousteau.  Lisette Cousteau,” she responded.  “And thank you, no, I don’t wish to put you to any trouble.  I am only going to be here a short time, before I have to return to Paris, and it took most of the time I had available to find where you were staying.  I apologize if I appear to be impolite, but I wish to speak with you about an important matter between our two families.  In private, if that is possible?”

Akane slammed her hands down on the table, drawing their attention, before grabbing a convenient glass of iced-tea and hurling it into Ranma’s face, changing him into a girl.  “Go ahead and ‘talk’ with her in ‘private’, Ranma,” she growled.  “Just be sure to tell her what kind of perverted baka she’s been engaged to!”  And with that said, Akane rose from the table and proceeded to storm out of the room, but paused just before getting out of sight to turn and add, “Oh yes!  Don’t forget to tell her about all your OTHER fiancées and your BOYFRIENDS, too!”

“I… I can explain this,” Ranma-chan stuttered out, noting Lisette’s wide-eyed stare.  Not unexpectedly, she noted Lisette’s hand rising towards her chest.  ‘Why do they always want to poke my breasts?’ she asked herself, only to blink in surprise when, instead of poking one of her breasts, Lisette palmed one, seemed to weigh it in her hand, gently squeezed it, and flicked her thumb over her rapidly stiffening nipple a few times.  Ranma-chan shivered at the sensations that caused and blushed, before stuttering out, “C-could you… p-please not do that?”

Lisette yanked her hand back as if burned, blushing herself.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t…  I apologize!  I was just surprised… uhm… You said you could explain?”

“Since you said you were in a hurry, I’ll give you the short version.  It’s magic.  Jusenkyo curse.  Picked it up in China.  With cold water, I become this hot little number. Hot water,” she explained, and dumped the remainder of his tea over his head, changing back into his male-form, “changes me back.  And before you ask, I was born male, and even when I’m a girl I still like girls, not boys.”

“So, a heterosexual male and homosexual female, all rolled into one,” Lisette said with the beginnings of a smile.  “You’re going to make some girl VERY happy!  If I met you a year ago, it could have been me.  Ah, such is life!  As it is not the reverse, Louis will be SO disappointed.”  Then, at Ranma’s questioning look, she said, “Can we talk privately here, or would you prefer another place?”

“This way,” Ranma said standing and helping her to her feet, before leading her out to the dojo.  Once inside, with the doors closed and a quick check to insure that they were indeed alone, Ranma took a moment to gather his thoughts, before speaking.  “What is it that you wish to talk about, Cousteau-san?”

“As you have likely guessed, based on the way that other girl talked and what she said, I was a fiancée to be given to you,” Lisette said.  Ranma froze, having discerned her use of the past tense when referring to herself as his fiancée. “However, I can not marry you, so I have come to make what reparations I can so that honor is not lost for either of our families.”

Ranma tilted his head slightly as he looked at her.  Lately, Nabiki had been trying to hammer some negotiation skills into his head and one of the things she continually harped on was:  Before going into ANY kind of negotiations gather all of the information you can first.  Continue gathering information even as you negotiate and never commit to anything until you are certain that you’ve gotten all the information you can.  “What do you mean, ‘you can’t'?”

Lisette looked at the young man before her and a soft, gentle, warm smile appeared on her face.  “Because I am to be a mother soon.  I am pregnant and the father of the child I now carry, Jean Paul, has asked for my hand in marriage.  I could not ask for a better man to love and be the father of my children.  I love him so much.”  She turned about, hugging herself, looking around the dojo interior.  “I also had no wish for you to try and seek me out for marriage, so I thought it best to find you first and put an end to this silly arrangement before it caused either of us dishonor or pain.”

Lisette became very confused as the Saotome heir began to chuckle, then escalated to outright laughter, which soon had him rolling on the dojo floor holding his sides in apparent pain.  “What is it that you find so funny, Monsieur Saotome?” Lisette asked in a slightly irritated tone.  She certainly didn’t find anything humorous about the situation.

Ranma just grinned up at her as he struggled to bring his laughter under control and to get his breath back.  Yep, another of his old man’s schemes had appeared to complicate his son’s life, BUT she had come to make certain that HE didn’t seek HER out for marriage.  Now that was a new twist!

“Well… heh… ya see, uhm, Cousteau-san… heheheh… You’re the first of my fiancées to… HAHAHAHAA… heh… to look for me to tell me they DON’T want to marry me…” Ranma managed to get out before sinking into a paroxysm of snickers and giggles.

“That other girl mentioned more fiancées…” Lisette said slowly, “and ‘boyfriends’?”

“NO!” Ranma yelped, the comment managing to snap him out of his laughing fit.  “Stupid uncute tomboy!  I DO NOT have any ‘boyfriends’!  Just ONE insane idiot that can’t get a clue that my girl-side and guy-side are one-and-the-same person and neither one wants anything to do with him!”

“And the ‘fiancées’?  How many?”

“Officially, and that I know about?  Counting you, let’s see… five, I think,” Ranma responded.  “Akane Tendo, that’s the uncute tomboy you met earlier.  Ukyo Kuonji, a childhood friend, she started out looking to kill me because Pop stole her dowry.  Shampoo… Well, Shampoo’s actually my ‘wife’ under her tribe’s screwy laws, but since those laws aren’t recognized anywhere else but in her village, she’s just considered another fiancée.  Kaori Daikoku, but she relinquished her engagement after she lost that race.  And you, of course.  But I’m sure there’s more of them out there, somewhere.  Sometimes I think Pop engaged me to at least one girl in every town or village we ever passed through on that damned training trip.”

“So, that leaves you with three actively seeking to marry you?” Lisette asked, a little stunned.  Was she passing up something worthwhile, she silently wondered, before berating herself?  She had Jean Paul, after all, the father of the child she now carried.

“At the moment,” Ranma responded.  “An hour from now… Who knows?  Anyway, what exactly was the arrangement and how did it happen?”

“Oh.  Well, as it was explained to my brother and I, your father and his friend were passing through Paris with their Sensei, when they stopped at our mother’s bordello and…”

Ranma pretty much zoned out after the word ‘bordello’, but caught enough of what Lisette was saying to know that all three masters of Anything-Goes had made extensive use of the services her mother’s ‘house’ had been providing.  Then, of course, Happosai had skipped out and left his disciples to pay off the huge debt that they had accumulated.  And, of course, said disciples had been unable to do so and turned to bartering away the futures of their, as yet, unborn children.  Although, if Ranma had the approximate times right, Kasumi had been born around that time.  The gist of the final arrangements… marriage to the Madam’s offspring, or five years of service in her bordello would await the offspring of Soun and Genma when they were of suitable age.  Apparently though, and most fortunately, Lisette’s mother was no longer running said bordello, or wanted anything to do with that business, having married a favored and wealthy former patron since then.

“…So, as you already have a multitude of fiancées, and Monsieur Tendo only has daughters,” Lisette wound up, “I see no reason to pursue the matter further.”

“Uhm… You said you had a brother?” Ranma asked.

“Yes, Louis,” Lisette responded.

“Well, isn’t he going to try and marry one of old man Tendo’s daughters?”

“Goodness, no!” Lisette laughed.  “Louis, while he can pleasure a woman with the best of men, prefers the boys.  That was why I said that he would be disappointed to hear of your curse and your preference for women.  If you had liked men in both forms, you would have been perfect for him.”

Ranma paled slightly at hearing that, before beginning to move towards the exit.  He didn’t hear the sound of quiet footsteps rapidly moving away from the door.  “Well, Cousteau-san, I have no plans to marry anyone, at any time in the immediate future, and I think we can assume that our business is concluded.  Are you certain that you would not like something to drink or snack on, before you leave?”

“Well, there is one bit of unfinished business…” Lisette responded, causing Ranma to pause by the door.

“Yes?”

“For this, I would like you to be in your girl form, please,” Lisette stated in a businesslike tone.  “It can not be conducted with you as a man.”

Ranma looked at her quizzically for a moment, before shrugging and stepping over to a nearby water bucket.  Picking it up he poured a bit of the cool water over his head activating his curse and becoming a girl.  Setting the bucket back down, she shook out the excess water from her hair and began turning back to Lisette.  “What unfinished bus–” Ranma’s question was cut off as she suddenly found her face smashed into Lisette’s generous cleavage.  And as she lifted her hands to push herself away, Ranma-chan found them caught and slapped onto Lisette’s breasts as well.

“I always pay my debts, mon ami,” Lisette giggled.  “With interest.  I touched you, so now, you touch me!  I also promised Jean Paul that I would allow no man to touch me, as he is a very jealous lover, and rightly so.  But, he has no cares, or worries, if I should share pleasure with another woman.  In fact, he enjoys joining my girlfriends and me on occasion.  Before I take my leave of you, however, I would like a taste of what I have passed up.  Feel free to do as much as I, Cheri.”

Ranma-chan then found herself lifted off the dojo floor and into an intense and VERY stimulating kiss, as Lisette’s hands alternated between supporting her and fondling her.  Almost against her will, Ranma-chan found herself responding in kind, her own hands beginning to roam a bit.

To Ranma-chan’s relief, and frustration, however, Lisette didn’t take things past more than a few minutes of mutual groping and that one LONG kiss, before setting her back onto the floor, on somewhat unsteady legs.

“I thank you for the offer of food and drink, Cheri, but I have a plane back to Paris to catch.  I can see myself out, adieu Cheri.”

Ranma-chan just remained standing there for several minutes after Lisette was gone, trying to get her thoughts back together and struggling with the near overwhelming urge to seek out Nabiki to help put out the fire in her loins that Lisette had set ablaze.

-X-X-X-

Ranma sat in his room, having finished packing the things he would need for his trip.  Once she’d managed to regain enough control not to embarrass herself, Ranma-chan had gone in search of Nabiki, but she still hadn’t returned home from wherever she’d gone that day.  So, Ranma-chan had been forced to… handle things, herself, in the furo.  On his way back from the furo, feeling a great deal less stressed out, Kasumi had handed him an envelope, which Lisette had left for him.  It was an invitation to her upcoming wedding, including of all things… a round-trip plane ticket to Paris, France, which was good up until the day before the wedding.

Ranma had been planning a ’surprise’ training trip for some time now, ever since the night of that party he’d escorted Nabiki to, in fact.  Everything that had occurred since the day he’d come to Nerima had been slowly leading up to this trip, with the party, Saffron and the failed wedding just making it all that much more imperative that he get this trip started and over with.  The one major hurdle he’d faced, however, had been getting out of Japan without any of the others being able to track him.  Lisette’s ticket to Paris was the answer as there was no way anyone in Nerima would believe that he could afford to FLY out of Japan, so they would never bother to even check.

“Saotome?”  Nabiki slid the door open and, after seeing him within the room, stepped inside.  She arched an eyebrow at seeing his backpack leaning against the wall, apparently ready for use at a moment’s notice, but refrained from asking about it.  “How are you feeling?  I heard that you had another fiancée show up today.”

Ranma looked to the middle sister and casually patted the spot next to him before responding.  “Her name was Lisette Cousteau.  And yeah, she WAS another fiancée.  You might be interested to know, however, that I wasn’t the only one promised to marry a member of her family.”

“Do tell,” Nabiki said, making herself comfortable beside him and leaning a bit into his side.  When he didn’t respond immediately to her action, she reached back and pulled his arm behind her, placing his hand firmly on one butt-cheek.  “Our fathers are out drinking, Akane’s gone to a movie with her friends and Kasumi would knock first.  Now tell!”

Giving out a heartfelt sigh and affectionately squeezing her bottom, before beginning to rub it, Ranma related everything that had occurred with Miss Cousteau.  Naturally, Nabiki was more than a little upset that her own father had all but sold one of his daughters, if not all three, into prostitution before they’d even been born.  And she was greatly relieved to learn that there was no longer any danger of that particular problem rearing it’s ugly head.  But she wasn’t about to forget about it, either.  Then Ranma told her about the condition Lisette had left Ranma-chan in when she left.

“You mean I missed it!?” Nabiki asked, appalled. “You were hot and bothered in girl-form and I wasn’t here to take advantage of it!?  Damn it!”

“Better luck next time,” Ranma chuckled.

“Yeah, right!” Nabiki snorted.  “As if.  You guard your girl-form’s virtue closer than a Catholic nun!”

Ranma sighed, heavily.  “I’m going to have to do it, as a girl, at some point, I guess.  I’d like it to be with someone I care about!”  Then, as Nabiki began to move as if to get up, he quickly added, “But not tonight!  After everything that happened today, I just want to get to bed early and get some sleep.”

“You owe me, Saotome!” Nabiki growled, glaring at him sternly.  “And I fully intend to collect!”  Then her expression softened.  “But okay, not tonight.  Later though…  So, how ARE you feeling?”

“Confused really,” he replied, sounding tired.  “And more than a little stressed out.  Is this stuff going to keep happening for the rest of my life?  Are my parents going to dictate every move I make, question every choice I make?  If they even give me a choice?”  He sighed again.  “Not even a full week after the wedding fiasco and already yet another fiancée shows up.  Will that continue until I’m dead?”

“I can’t answer that, Ranma.  From what I’ve been able to find out, there are still a lot of problems out there that could come looking for you, including a few more possible fiancées… and, at least, one or two of those are boys, Ranma,” Nabiki forced out, feeling Ranma tense up beside her.  She turned slightly to wrap her arms about him and give him a hug.  “You know I’m here to talk with anytime you need to, right?”

“Right,” he said with a heavy sigh, his body relaxing again.  “The usual fee, of course, right, Nabs?”  Which made them both chuckle.

“But of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way, Ranma,” Nabiki got out, giving him a saucy wink before placing a kiss on his cheek and climbing back up to her feet.  “You help me relieve the stress of my life, and I help you.  And on that note, I’ll let you turn in to get some sleep.  Goodnight, Ranma.”

“G’night, Nabiki,” he responded, turning about and making as if he was about to get ready for bed.  Once the door closed and he couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore, he quietly slipped out of the guest room through the window, his large pack on his back.  He had a plane to catch and things to do.

Only a few seconds after Ranma jumped through the window, the door to his room re-opened to reveal a somewhat misty-eyed Nabiki.  As soon as she’d seen his fully-laden backpack, Nabiki had known he was about to take off to somewhere, but hadn’t questioned him about it or even gave an indication that she knew what he was planning.

Moving over to the open window, Nabiki gazed out into the night, unable to even see his departing form in the darkness.  “Hurry back, Ranma,” she softly whispered.  “We need you… I need you…”

-X-X-X-

A month later…

A raven-haired young man jumped out of an old and dilapidated DC-3 that had just landed in one of the hottest, driest climates he’d ever been to.  His bangs waved in front of his eyes before an irritated hand pushed them aside.  Breathing deeply, Ranma Saotome shouldered the backpack that had been a constant for most of his life and began the long walk to the terminal in order to clear Customs.  From there…

“I hope that the location I was given has what I’m looking for,” Ranma softly mumbled, as he pulled a long length of cloth from a side-pocket on his pack and began fashioning it into a turban on his head.  Once he cleared Customs, he’d be stepping out into Cairo, Egypt.  First order of business, as always, was supplies and in this climate, as much water as he could carry.  Then, transportation in the direction he needed to go and perhaps a native guide, if one could found at a reasonable price, although money wasn’t as big a problem as it had been initially.  The underground fighting circuit, although risky, often paid well as long as you were very careful.