It was just another day for Akane Tendo when everything changed. Much the day she was forcibly affianced to a certain sex-changing martial artist, there hadn’t seemed to be anything remotely spectacular about the day right up until the point it all hit the fan.
Right now, she’d been out with her friends Yuka and Sayuri. Nothing odd happened. They hung out, engaged in idle gossip. No martial arts challenges, no kidnapping attempts, no magically-inclined items appearing out of nowhere, no Ranma and above all else, none of those pesky pests -
“Nihao!”
- Like the purple-headed bimbo riding a bike right towards her. The words “too good to last” seemed appropriate.
“Hello, Shampoo,” Akane said, forcing herself to be polite to a girl that had placed an inhibitor on her memory, lied to her, manipulated her and those around her for personal amusement, made fun of her at every chance she got and would probably kill Akane if the opportunity to shift the blame ever properly arose.
“On your way to another delivery?” she asked. “How has business been?”
“Business good!” Shampoo declared, beaming with pride. “We make top quality ramen dish! Too much better than any effort kitchen destroyer make.”
Akane didn’t shout. She didn’t yell. She didn’t storm off in a huff. She just stood there and smiled. No, sir. She was in a good mood today, and it would take much more than that to set her off.
“Where airen?” Shampoo enquired, doing a much better job of looking the curious innocent than she needed to.
“He’s away training for the day,” Akane replied. “Don’t ask me where.” He’d probably be back home for dinner. Shampoo didn’t particularly need to know that.
“Is shame,” Shampoo sighed, and gestured to the box she was carrying. “Shampoo want share dinner with airen. Is new delicious recipe! It much better than dumb curry!”
Like water off Mousse’s back, she kept on smiling. Which was a mistake, as Shampoo was not the sort to back down from a -
“Much less fat, too!”
- Challenge.
“Excuse me?” Akane twitched slightly. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Shampoo not mean anything,” she replied, idly inspecting her nails. “But maybe eat less curry, have better figure?”
“There’s nothing wrong with my figure!”
Shampoo smiled the same sort of smile as a shark when there was blood in the water, and pounced every bit as quickly and ferociously.
“Of course not!” she said. “But maybe airen be more interested and fight less with Akane if she have better chest?”
“My chest has nothing to do with anything!” Akane yelled.
“No? Shampoo swear she hear argument over how girl Ranma better built! Ah! Shampoo have to return home! Sexless girl have fun stuff bra! Bye bye!”
Akane threw a nearby rock at the pest as Shampoo rode off laughing on a bicycle. At the last moment the bike swerved slightly to the right, causing the stone to clatter harmlessly against the ground and providing Shampoo a final effort to turn around and taunt her with a cheeky tongue out of the mouth.
“Ooh, I hate that Shampoo!” Akane fumed. “I was in such a good mood as well! Can’t she just leave us alone?”
“Interesting you should say 'us',” an unfamiliar voice said. “I take it that you are not the only one she annoys, hm? Trying to steal your boyfriend, perhaps?”
Akane turned around, surprised she hadn’t notice the stranger approach. It was a woman, a little taller than herself. Curly blonde hair, green eyes that sparkled with intelligence and a smile so cheeky she could give Ranma pointers. She was wearing a tight white shirt that didn’t quite cover her navel, and a pair of cutoff jeans that hugged her legs. A fashion choice that Akane quite disapproved of.
Ah, but who could forget her most prominent feature? After all, they were quite impossible to ignore. On a cold day she probably put out an eye or three just walking down the street. Whoever she was, it would be best if she left Furinkan before Happosai noticed and decided to follow her around like the sick puppy he was.
“I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” Akane said, wondering what this woman wanted while simultaneously looking for a polite way to disengage from the conversation as quickly as possible.
“My name isn’t important,” the woman responded with a movement Akane took to be a shrug. But it wasn’t. “What does matter is that you seem like a girl with next to no control over your life, and I know what that’s like. If you do as I say, then maybe I can help you get that control!”
Akane opened her mouth to respond, except that the mystery woman finished her actually-not-a-shrug gesture and whipped the bottom of her shirt over the top of her breasts and left it there, uncaring that her bare chest was exposed for all the world to see. A variety of rants filled Akane’s mind in that moment: How perverted! How indecent! Anyone can see, doesn’t she have any shame?!
But nothing came out of her mouth save exhalation. All she could do was stare in shock at those big and round and beautiful naked breasts while that lewd woman spoke to her in a slow and even tone. The world around her faded away and before long she forgot her worries, forgot her annoyance at this woman’s lack of shame. The only thing that she could even perceive any more were those breasts and the voice. Telling her to relax. Urging her to trust this woman, and do as she asked…
“What is your name?” the woman said, her voice still adopting that same slow tone.
“Akane Tendo,” came a slightly sleepy response.
“That other girl is trying to steal your boyfriend, wasn’t she?”
“No,” Akane replied. “She is trying to steal my fiance.”
“How positively wicked of her,” the woman responded. She pressed her breasts together and Akane shuddered. “How would you like to shut her up? Gain a little control over your life, and ensure your man stays yours?”
“Yesssssh,” Akane slurred.
The woman shrugged a rucksack off her back and extracted a book from it while Akane stood there staring in hypnotic reverie at the woman’s bare breasts.
“Take this book,” the woman said. “Head home with it. Show it to nobody, let none know you have it. Read it, use it as you see fit.”
Akane nodded and clutched it to herself. Then remained in place. Stock still. Staring.
The woman sighed and covered up her chest. “Go on, you’d better get going,” she said.
“Wait… What did you just…”
“Read the book and you’ll understand,” the woman smirked and turned to walk away.
Akane stared at it, and gawped at the title of the book just long enough for the woman to turn a corner. By the time she caught up, the mysterious benefactor was… gone. Disappeared as though into thin air! She should throw it away. Burn it. Tear it up. Except…
Somehow that woman had put a compulsion in her to read it. Akane bit her lip and hugged the book tightly to herself. She didn’t want to read it but she couldn’t help it. She had to read it, but surely it wouldn’t go any further than that. Right? Just… read it. What had the instructions been again? Read it and use it as she saw fit. Right. In which case she would head home, read the book cover to cover and then have herself a nice bonfire, or tear it up or something she’d decide on after reading it.
Because there was absolutely no way she’d use anything from a book titled “The Secrets of Titnosis”. Right? That was impossible!
Akane hurried off home, worried over the realisation that these days she usually saw three impossible things before breakfast.
Sun Sep 23 16:49:58 2012
9 comments Last updated: Mon Sep 24 21:28:01 2012