Chapter Text
She didn’t know what it was but something in Japan just called to her. Maybe it was the way the people here operated and how entertaining it was to mess with them that drew her in? She wasn’t really sure, but just as always, whenever she felt bored she just had to come here.
Today’s place of interest was Nerima Ward. Something about this place was unique; among the many other oddities surrounding it a specific, delicious taste of chaos permeated the air, promising her some good fun. She felt giddy just thinking about it.
Fortunately for her - unlike the last time - she didn’t even need to try looking for her target. The magic in the air was thick which made it easy to spot anything she desired. For example, the literal vortex of chaos and magic that was just marching in her direction, mumbling obscenities under her breath with her red pigtail bouncing back and forth like an angry snake, a physical manifestation of its owner’s foul mood. It was perfect.
“...stupid Pop, stupid ‘man among men’ stuff, what does that even mean? I can’t just… ugh…” The redhead said to herself, looking down at her feet. She kicked a pebble with a deep frown on her face, unable to notice a pair of golden eyes looking at her with barely contained amusement.
“You look angry, what happened?” She asked, cocking her head and looking concerned, stopping the cursed girl in her tracks.
Ranma Saotome’s head shot upward while her feet planted onto the sidewalk as she blinked a few times, visibly unsure who the girl before her even was.
Both of them stood like that for a few moments, silently looking at each other. The other girl stifled a chuckle, she liked Ranma; the redhead would be fun to tease, she could tell.
“W-what? O-oh, sorry I didn’t see ya there,” Ranma said when her mind finally decided to start working again. She backs off a few steps and scratches the back of her head, embarrassed. “Don't worry about it, it's just some... stuff my stupid old man can't seem to understand, that's all.”
She could relate with that. Her own ‘father’ was also like that so she could sympathise. She took a few steps forward and patted the girl on her shoulder, making sure to spread a little bit of magic all over. It’s never too bad to have a little bit more control over the situation, right?
“I totally get it, my father is a jackass too,” she said, grimacing at the memory of the last time she’d had a tiff with her own old man. It wasn’t pretty. “They’re rarely reasonable with their expectations, are they?”
She looked into the cursed girl's eyes, and - by magic or a real, genuine connection - they both shared a moment of deep understanding. It was a step too far for her liking. She was here for entertainment, not any touchy feelings. Still, she didn’t break eye contact, keeping a smile on her face the whole time.
Ranma smiled too, shyly and slightly embarrassed.
“Yeah, something like that,” she said, shaking her head slightly.. “I wish he would just let me be myself, not some version of myself he created in his head…” the redhead paused, looking a little uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Um, sorry, forget I said anything.”
She waved her off.
“Nah, I completely understand what you’re saying. In fact…” she said, looking at the kid with a cheshire grin, “If you wish, I think I could help you, Ranma Saotome. If you want, that is.”
That’s not the way she usually started, but she was too excited to just observe. She wanted to see the redhead’s reaction, and from what she was able to see thus far the kid was one of those earnest and innocent ones. She reacts much more to honest, straightforward approaches rather than deceit, a thing that normally would cause the girl a little bit of exasperation, but looking at the myriad of emotions that Ranma was practically wearing on their sleeve she felt excited instead.
It was true what they said, nothing beats field experience.
“Yeah, right. Like some girl out of no-...” the redhead rolled her eyes and was about to leave but something must have clicked in her head, because she paused and looked down suspiciously at the other girl instead. “Wait, how do you know my name?”
She kept the smile on her face, cocking her head to the side while still looking up at the redhead. She wondered how long she could lead her on, especially with just how much of a guard this kid suddenly put up.
“This is Nerima, silly,” she said with a giggle. “Most people around here know your name.”
It wasn’t exactly true though. Sure most people were familiar with both the female and male version of Ranma Saotome, but only a handful of people knew about the curse the kid was under, they probably thought that they were siblings or something.
Still didn’t count as a lie though, so the game was on.
It was a little disappointing that she was the only one who knew about the game, but it was kind of the point. Theoretically she could tell Crow about it, but that wasn’t the same… she really misses having someone to share things like this with.
“But you’re not from Nerima, are you?” The redhead asked again, clearly racking her brain trying to think if she ever saw her around. “I have never seen you before…”
Oops, got distracted again, she thought quickly making sure nothing was out of place. Gotta keep my eyes on the prize, she thought, keeping up her smile under the funny look the cursed girl was giving her. Was she trying to scare her or something? Nah, it was a warning, the redhead was warning her to not do anything stupid.
It only makes her want to tease the kid even more.
“I used to come here often,” she replied, clasping her hands behind her back. “I've heard about you a few times and decided to say hello. I really came here to help you,” she paused, giving the redhead a pouty stare, “but this look you’re giving me is hurting my feelings, you know?”
“Mhm, right. So… who are you?”
You’re sharp, aren’t you? Must be because of all those other weirdos I saw when I came here to look around…
“Can’t be helped huh? Well, if you insist… Nice to meet you, Ranma Saotome. I’m L-”
“RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!”
A sudden shout cut her introduction short, followed by a loud bang of the sidewalk being destroyed filling the whole area they were just standing on with rubble and dust.
“Is that guy stupid?” She asked herself dangling her feet in the air while sitting on top of the wall. “I mean… who just barges into a private conversation like that and starts destroying stuff? Normally it would be very dangerous, not to mention rude…” she paused to take a long sip of her drink. “At least this new boba tea drink is delicious, a good choice as always.”
“I’m happy you like it,” said Crow, her familiar, who - outside of the small beak and even smaller wings - looked more like a black, round blob than an actual crow. He was sitting right next to his master, looking down at the park below.
“He could be stupid or maybe he’s just that single minded? It looked like this human can only see his opponent and nothing else. He probably didn’t even notice that you were there.”
The girl nodded slowly, while her eyes were still glued to the two people throwing punches and kicks with no regard for the world around them, tearing the ground, the trees and stones as if they were nothing.
“But that's even worse, isn’t it?”
She took another sip, she was irritated. Scratch that, she was very irritated. When was the last time a human ignored her like that? She came here to have some fun, not to get her prize stolen from her by some wild boar on two legs. That ignorant fool will pay for that, for sure. She only needs to think about the right way to do it.
That said, she couldn’t say she didn’t enjoy the show. She wasn’t sure how the redhead who practically glided between the human boar’s fists and kicks could be so graceful and brutish at the same time but somehow they managed it the whole time the two of them were fighting with each other. Amidst the sounds of their limbs clashing and the environmental destruction she could hear both of them banter with each other with each step.
“Where the hell have you been, P-chan! With all this time you spent chasing Akane, I almost thought you had forgotten about me!” She teased, jumping off of the boy’s outstretched fist and doing a spin in the air.
The girl was actually impressed by the acrobatic show, but - for some reason - the boar boy was enraged by it instead, roaring angrily and trying to catch the redhead multiple times with no success.
“Shut up, Ranma!” He yelled, sending a sudden barrage of strangely sharp bandanas after his opponent, shredding most of the surrounding trees and bushes around her in a mad rage. “There’s no way I could forget about you and what you did! I’ve seen hell because of you!”
She smiled fondly at the scene unfolding just below, it felt really familiar. She watched scenes like these a long time ago, even if she wasn't supposed to. She often snuck around to see many interesting things… a lot of naughty things too.
Watching those two really took her back, even if the amount of damage they caused wasn’t even close to what she remembered from the past. The overall scene was almost identical though, and it put a very amused smile on her face just thinking about it.
“Hey Crow,” she started, poking the black bird-like blob with her finger. “Don’t you think that they’re flirting? It doesn’t sound like insults to me, especially with the way this Ranma-kid is smiling the whole time…”
She wasn’t serious of course. She’d only said it because it felt somewhat nostalgic and was pretty fun to watch. Her familiar, however, started overreacting as always, taking her silly question seriously, fidgeting badly while trying to find the right words to use.
“Umm… I’m not sure…” he started, but whatever he was trying to say was cut off by another explosion of dirt and stone.
“That was pretty good pork butt, but still not enough!” Ranma chuckled, once again jumping on the boar-man’s still outstretched arms and tapping him on a nose playfully. “You need to try a little bit more!”
The girl’s smile widened at the sight, they looked sooo cute together… to the point that the gears inside her head started to move a little. There were so many possibilities to screw with them like this…
She really had been pissed off just a second ago, but it couldn’t be helped, right? Those two lovebirds clearly didn’t see the world outside of each other but they did seem to have trouble communicating their feelings… thank the gods that she was there to… help them. Right?
“Yeah, that’s definitely it,” she said with a cheshire grin stretching out from ear to ear, already formulating a plan that would surely make it the most entertaining. “And even if they aren’t, that’s even better. I was wondering how to get back at both of them for ignoring me, and now… now I have just the idea.”
She looked down like a hawk, observing the two puppets she was about to spin around, still locked in a spar, forgetting about the world around them. Perfect.
“I just need to spice things up a little…” she muttered to herself, raising her hand and making a few gestures while the magic started doing its thing. “There, it’s perfect.”
She couldn’t help but giggle, seeing just how quickly those two started going from reading punches to… a little different kind of spar. She nodded, quite pleased with what she was seeing and proud of herself for stepping in as their wingwoman. They would surely thank her later, and if they didn’t, well…the faces they would make the moment the spell fades will surely be hilarious to look at.
“Now the only thing left is to enjoy the show.”
Ryoga stirred a bit in his sleep, begrudgingly noticing his senses gradually returning, making him more and more aware of the fact that he was - in fact - not sleeping anymore. A fact that was especially depressing, since he was still able to remember everything that was happening in the incredibly vivid dream he’d just had.
Every moment of the dream was incredible, he just couldn’t believe how loving, passionate but also strangely caring the girl he was with was to him. The only thing he didn’t remember was her face, although if he could judge by the previous - although rare - dreams he had it was probably Akane. He felt himself blushing slightly as he remembered specific things he did in the dream… his hand moved, wrapping itself around the warm and soft - although surprisingly muscular - tummy of the girl he was spooning.
Wow, this dream must have been really great, he thought, snuggling closer to the surprisingly warm body laying right next to him. Or maybe I’m still dreaming? There’s no way anyone really spent a night with me… especially Akane…
He could feel his eyes flutter, although a part of him desperately wanted to hold on to the last remaining sensation of his dream, knowing that the moment he finally awoke for real he would once again need to face the sad, lonely reality of his life. He wrapped himself around the girl of his dreams even tighter, trying to savor the sensation of another person’s body heat. Smelling the strange but familiar scent of chocolate, cream puffs, okonomiyaki, ramen mixed with grass and sweat… Ryoga was pretty sure he met someone who smelled like that not so long ago, but his half-awake mind was having trouble pinning this very peculiar smell to the name. When it finally did, though, the shock was so great it woke him up almost instantly.
The Lost Boy’s whole body tensed up and she finally realized that it was not a dream at all. He felt a cold dread going down his spine as he opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was that he somehow was laying in his tent, and the second… that most of his vision was taken up by a great amount of reddish-pink hair.
What’s worse, the girl’s body he was still holding for some reason stirred too, groaning with a clear discomfort. She shivered slightly and moved closer to Ryoga, who - without thinking - moved away as if she was burning.
“What the hell, man, it’s freezing out here…” the voice - Ranma’s voice - murmured with indignation all the while the boy’s mind was going into overdrive, trying to convince himself that what he was seeing wasn’t real. She leaned on her arm and lifted herself upward, looking grogily to the side and blinked a few times, looking straight into Ryoga’s eyes.
He tried to swallow, realizing that his throat had suddenly become terribly dry. He was trying really hard, but he couldn’t help but notice that the supposed girl he was sleeping with was completely naked.
He was too scared to look down but after a sudden chill ran through his body, he was sure that he too, was completely naked.
Ryoga watched in silence as Ranma blinked a few more times, gaining clarity as she finally began to wake up for real. He saw it in her eyes, the same thoughts that just a second ago were going through his mind as well. She was staring at him with a look of absolute horror when she finally reached the same conclusions he did.
“H-Hi, Ranma,” he said, feeling every muscle on his face twitching, trying not to show just how awkward and terrified he felt at that very moment. “W-why are you h-here?”
The shriek the redhead let out could probably wake the dead.
“I can’t believe this fucking asshole, fuck, fuck, fuck…” Ranma muttered furiously as she walked away Ryoga's tent, leaving the knocked out cold body of the Lost Boy in there wishing that he was dead.
She was just finishing fixing her clothes and was about to start roof hopping back to the Tendo Dojo when she realized that she was too freaking sore to do that. The redhead refused to think about why her body was in such a state and started walking as fast as she could, cursing under her breath. She tried as hard as she could to forget everything that happened but was unable to stop the sudden flood of memories pouring into her mind, making her face match her hair color more and more with each step.
It was all that pig’s fault, if only he hadn’t woken me up with his… thing poking me I wouldn’t need to deal with this shit, she thought, shaking her head to try to focus just on walking, but instead her hand idly caressed her midsection, still vividly remembering Ryoga’s arm wrapping itself around her. Why had she felt so safe back there? Was that because she was still half-asleep? She didn’t know.
And then I even went and snuggled back to him, what was I even doing back there… screeching like… like some pathetic girl…
“Aaargh!” Ranma scowled into the sky, hiding her face in her hands wanting to be buried at least ten feet under the ground so no one could see her, she was this close from dying of embarrassment and shame.
“How did that even happen? There was no way that I would… and especially not with… I’m not gay!” The redhead muttered to herself trying - and failing - to find an answer to her questions and going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole all while walking on auto-pilot through Nerima and hoping - desperately - that there was nothing that would let anyone she passed by know what she was doing the day before. Especially…
…Especially the Tendos. She would need to think of a way of explaining her absence to them, they would surely ask questions. Even more so since she didn’t let them know that she wouldn’t be back that night. Great, she thought with a grimace. And now I will have to lie…
…But seriously, how could that even happen? She kept wondering over and over again not seeing any sense in it. It was more or less a normal day for Ranma. The same routine, the same morning banter with her pops, the same ladle lady who - of course - somehow was always able to splash her without fail… and then there was Ryoga, attacking her like always. There was nothing novel about it, even his attacks were nothing new to her. So why, when he was finally able to grab onto her and refused to let her go, bringing her closer to his face… a-and…
…Nope, I won’t think about it. The redhead shook her head in panic, looking down at her feet as if that would somehow make them walk even a little bit faster. Let’s just… forget that that thing even happened. And if I ever meet that fucking Pork Chop again and he asks about it I’ll just beat him up until he doesn’t remember any of it either. Yeah, let’s do that… no one needs to know about this…
“Oh hi Ranma-chan!” A sudden and vaguely familiar voice cut through her musing and made her heart stop for a moment, “how did it go?”
Ranma’s whole body froze except for her head which shot forward violently, praying to whatever Kami was currently watching to not see any of her fiancés or schoolmates.
What the…? she thought looking at the same strange girl she’d met yesterday. She didn't look Asian, probably an exchange student or something like that. She was small, a few inches smaller than the redhead, with blond hair put into two low ponytails and wearing a one piece baby blue dress with a black bird-like purse. Ranma wanted to wave her off but one looked into those strange golden snake-like eyes and a smile that practically screamed ‘gotcha!’ made her stop.
“W-what?” She asked the girl, getting more anxious by the minute. “W-what are you t-talking about?”
Ranma wasn’t really sure what this girl’s deal was, other than the fact that she certainly wanted something from her. What it was, she didn’t know but she wasn’t stupid… that was part of the reason she didn’t want to have anything to do with her in the first place, and that’s why she was so thankful when Ryoga suddenly showed up, giving her an excuse to ditch her in the dirt…
…from where she was able to watch everything that happened after the fighting started.
“About you and that guy yesterday, silly,” she said, suddenly cocking her head to the side and making an overtly amused expression which made the redhead sweat bullets. “Is he your boyfriend? I’ve got to say I was a little startled when he just appeared out of nowhere, but after seeing how you hopped on him and…” she paused and looked around in this very clearly theatrical way before she leaned forward as if she wanted to whisper a dark secret to the redhead.
“You two look very cute by the way,” she said with a wink that somehow completely shut down any coherent thought that Ranma could come up with, turning her into a complete mess of panic and embarrassment.
“T-the… there’s n-… a b-boyfriend!? No! Nothing like that! N-nothing happened! I-... I’m sorry I’ve gotta go…” she stuttered before darting to the side and in a split second decided that - at least this time - it was a perfect time to use one of the most powerful and frequently used techniques in the Saotome Ryu… and simply ran away.
She ran as fast as she could, not paying attention to anything that the blonde haired pipsqueak was saying after her, fully committed to her previous plan of pretending that nothing that transpired yesterday ever happened. Ranma doesn't know who this girl is, doesn't know her name, and has definitely never met her before.
Hopefully it would be the last time they ever saw each other. The redhead will have enough trouble with making sure that Ryoga keeps his mouth shut. She didn’t need yet another person making her life even more complicated.
She could feel a strange sensation going through her entire body, but she didn’t think much of it, too focused on trying to think about an excuse that was good enough for her absence that night.
Please, just give me a break already, she thought, cursing under her breath, feeling absolutely fed up with the fact that her life simply refused to be normal even for a day.