Ryoga's further planning was derailed, however, when opportunity fell into his lap.
Late one night as the group slowly made their way back to Nerima, the Hibiki boy heard someone approach.
"Ryoga?" an all-too-familiar voice called out. "Can't sleep either, huh?"
"A- Akane! Yeah, I just have some things on my mind…hehehe," he replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "But what about you? How are you feeling?"
Akane hesitated a moment before answering. "I'm…fine, I guess. I feel okay physically, but I'm…really tired, you know?"
"You should go back in the tent and rest, then!" Ryoga insisted.
"No, no…not that kind of tired," she sighed. "I'm just tired of dealing with all this. I, I…don't think I'm cut out for one life-or-death crisis after another. Sometimes, I just want things to be simple again."
"Damn it, it's all Ranma's fault! If it weren't for him, you wouldn't always be in danger. That bastard…"
"Ryoga, no. It's not his fault. Well, I guess some of it is. But it's really all the nonsense that follows Ranma around…all the crazy people. Oh! I'm sorry, Ryoga, I didn't mean-"
"No, it's fine, Akane. I understand. You want some peace, right? What if I told you I have something that just might help?" the fang-toothed boy asked, reaching for something in a hidden pocket.
"Really?" Akane asked, her eyes wide and hopeful. "What-"
Before the Tendo girl could even react, Ryoga had struck. An egg quickly engulfed her. A paranoid Ryoga quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied, he chose to wait for the egg to hatch. However, he soon became impatient and shattered the eggshell with his fist. As the shell fragments fell to the ground, he found Akane curled up inside with her eyes closed.
"Akane," the Hibiki boy prodded.
With that, the short-haired girl opened her eyes to see Ryoga standing before her. For whatever reason, he seemed to have her undivided attention.
"Ryoga? What happened?" she asked, confused.
"Nothing important. You just dozed off for a moment or two. That's all." he explained.
"Oh. Okay," Akane accepted without question.
"Now, Akane…" Ryoga began, "I have some important things to talk to you about. You'll listen closely and answer all my questions, won't you?"
"Of course," she answered, nodding enthusiastically.
"Very good. First, let's talk about Ranma. Are you in love with him, Akane?"
"I…" she hesitated briefly, "yes. I am. I do love him. More than anything."
Ryoga winced, guilt growing over what he was about to do. However, he simply pushed those feelings down and continued. "Are you sure about that? Because I've been watching you for a long time, and I've learned how you really feel about Ranma. Would you like to know?"
"Yes, please. I really would," Akane answered.
"Great. Now, as I've watched you-"
"You've watched me?" Akane asked.
"Yes, of course I have. But you don't mind that, do you? In fact, it makes you happy to know I care enough to watch over you and look out for you, doesn't it?"
"Oh…yes, it really does," she said with a smile, her cheeks taking on a faint pink hue.
"Good girl. As I was saying, I've learned a lot from watching over you. For example I've learned that you do love Ranma…but as family. He's like the little brother you never had, isn't he? He's definitely not someone you could ever see yourself marrying, is he? You aren't in love with him, after all. And you certainly aren't attracted to him! That would just be gross, wouldn't it? He may be handsome…or cute, when he's a girl…but it's not like you've ever wanted to kiss him or anything. You care about him and want to protect him, but it's the sort of concern a responsible big sister has for her embarrassing, perverted younger brother. You've felt this way all along, but you've been worried about how the families would react if you told them. Isn't that right?"
"Wow…amazing!" Akane exclaimed. "How did you ever figure it out? I've never told anyone that!"
"I told you, Akane. I've been watching over you. So of course I can tell! Besides, you know that I'm much smarter than most people.You can trust anything I say to be the absolute truth. That's why you always believe me completely, right?"
"Ohhh, right. I knew that! Yes, I do trust you…totally," she answered, looking him right in the eye.
"Thank you for having faith in me, Akane. Now I have another question for you. How do you feel about me?"
"You're one of my dearest friends. I'm so glad to know you. Akari's a lucky girl…I'm a little envious of her," the blushing Tendo girl explained, unable to look at Ryoga directly.
"Y- you…? En- envious of Akari?" Ryoga stammered.
"That's right. If you weren't seeing her, I think I'd want to ask you out," she admitted, her feelings for Ranma truly forgotten.
"I…see. Thank you for telling me. But you didn't tell me everything, did you? I can tell what your true feelings are. You've been deeply, madly in love with me from the moment we met. I'm everything you've ever dreamed of in a man, aren't I? I'm the strongest person you know…I'm very smart…I treat you right…and I'm so handsome. You couldn't help but fall for me…hard. Right?" he asked, smiling.
Akane gasped, her face burning. Too embarrassed to answer verbally, she simply nodded shyly.
Ryoga continued. "In fact, hardly a moment goes by when you aren't thinking about me. And when you think of me, you think of how much you want me. No one else…"
He hesitated, blushing furiously. Taking a breath, Ryoga reminded himself of the script he'd formulated in his head. He had to stick with it. As far as he was concerned, there was no turning back now.
"No one else has ever turned you on like I do. You know I'm right, don't you? Just the thought of me arouses you. My voice makes you wet. My scent makes your nipples hard. When you're near me, it takes all your willpower just to keep yourself from jumping me on the spot and begging me to make love to you. And I know that the only reason you haven't told me how you feel is because you're afraid I would reject you. Did I get anything wrong?" he asked gently.
The beet-red Akane shook her head, eyes fixed firmly toward the ground even as breathing sped up, her nipples jutted out against her shirt, and she began to sweat. "N…no. Nothing," she whispered. "At first, I was afraid you'd think I was some kind of, of…loose woman or something. Here I was, engaged to another boy, and wanting to throw myself at you! I couldn't bear the thought that you would turn me away. And then when you started seeing Akari, I realized I'd missed my chance."
Ryoga was shocked by what he was hearing. The girl was filling in the gaps in her memory on her own! Luckily, the explanation she'd crafted for herself dovetailed nicely with his plans.
"Akane," he began, "you don't have to worry about Akari. I'm totally capable of being with both of you. And you know I'm too much of a man for any one girl, right? If any guy deserves two loving, sexy girlfriends, it's me. Right?" A part of the Hibiki boy rebelled at that statement, but he was sure it was for the best. He couldn't stand to hurt either of them, so why not just let all three of them live happily together? Of course it would require egging Akari as well, but he'd prepared for that. And just to ensure that things went smoothly, he added one more detail.
"In fact, I've noticed something else in watching you," Ryoga noted. "You actually love the idea of sharing me with Akari, don't you? You know it would make me happy, and you've fantasized many times about the two of you making love to me at the same time. But on top of that, you'd…you'd like to sleep with her too. You're attracted to her, and you've been worried that she and I would be disgusted by that, haven't you?"
"Yes! I'm sorry!" she cried, tears threatening to spill over.
"Shh…it's okay, Akane. You have nothing to feel ashamed about. We won't reject you or think less of you. Your attraction is perfectly natural."
"It, it is?" the Tendo girl asked, sniffling.
"That's right. If anything, you should be happy that you feel that way about Akari. It just means the three of us will make a perfect relationship together, right? It's more than you'd ever hoped for…like we were meant to be," the fang-toothed boy explained.
"Perfect…meant to be…Yes…how wonderful…" Akane murmured in awe, her tears of shame replaced by those of joy.
"That's right, Akane. It'll be wonderful," Ryoga agreed. "Now I have one more thing to talk to you about, okay? Then you'll be able to go back and sleep soundly for the rest of the night. Okay?"
"Of course…I'll always be happy to talk to you about anything."
"Good, good. I know you have another secret Akane. You don't think I realize it, but I've known all along. You've known since you first met your beloved P-chan that he was no simple pig. You could tell right away that he was really a man…and that his pig form was simply a Jusenkyo curse."
"He- he is?" Akane stuttered, clearly confused on how to process this newest revelation. "Of, of course he is. But I…I felt so sorry for him that I wanted to keep him safe as my pet. Right? I, I think that's why I took care of him…"
"No, Akane, that's not quite right. You did feel sympathy for his plight, but that's not the real reason you took him in. You made him your pet because you realized that P-chan…was me. I'm cursed to turn into a pig, and you took care of me in order to be near me as much as possible—even if I had to be an animal at the time. And you didn't tell me you knew my secret, because you knew I didn't want you pitying me…and you were afraid I'd think you were weird for wanting to sleep and snuggle with me as a pig."
"Y- yes. Yes! That's right! I always knew it was you. And I could tell how scared and vulnerable you were in that form, and I just wanted to take care of you and protect you…plus, you were just so cute!" she giggled. "But most of all, I just wanted to have you with me. The boy I l- love…the one I…desire. But I didn't want you to think I was a pervert or anything…and I was sure you must be sensitive about your curse…so that's why I never said anything."
"Yes, that's right. Thank you for admitting it to me. But now that we both know the truth, you can finally be honest, right? When I'm P-chan, you can kiss me and play with me and snuggle me against your breasts as much as you want without fear. In fact, when you take me to bed with you as a pig, you know you don't need to bother wearing anything at all…that way, you can be as close to me as possible. It'll give you a chance to prepare for the time when you can sleep with me as a human. Doesn't that sound lovely?" he asked with a grin.
"Oh…my," Akane breathed, "it does. It really does."
"I bet you've always wondered how I ended up cursed, haven't you?"
"Yes, I have. Did you get lost and end up in Jusenkyo?"
"Something like that. It's actually Ranma's fault I got cursed. But what's new? He's such an exasperating little brother, isn't he? I know you love him, but he's always causing trouble for someone…usually me," he noted, smirking.
Akane sighed. "I'm so sorry, Ryoga. I know he means well…mostly…but he can be such a brat. He never takes responsibility for anything! And he's always picking on you…ooh, that boy! If I don't teach him how to behave, who will?" she grumbled.
"I know you do your best with him, Akane," Ryoga soothed. "You're a good big sister. He's lucky to have someone like you looking out for him."
"Heh…he really is, isn't he?" the Tendo girl chuckled, shaking her head.
Satisfied beyond his wildest dreams by how well everything had gone, Ryoga decided it was finally time to wrap things up. "Akane, I want to tell you how much I appreciate you discussing all of this with me at last. When you go back to sleep tonight, you'll forget that we had this conversation. But everything we've talked about will remain true. You will love and desire me, you will want to be with me and Akari, you will think of Ranma as your little brother, you will know that I'm P-chan, and so on. You just won't remember ever talking about any of it with me. But if you ever hear me say the words 'uncute tomboy,' you'll remember everything we discussed until I tell you otherwise. Do you understand?"
"Yes…I think so," Akane answered, somewhat hesitantly.
"Good girl. And you'll still always answer all of my questions honestly and follow all of my instructions exactly, without question. You'll always believe me and agree with me. Right?"
"Oh, of course," she smiled.
"You've done such a great job tonight, Akane. One last thing to tell you, okay? When we get back to Nerima, you'll look for a chance to have some time alone with me. When it's just you and me, you'll finally confess all of your feelings to me. Got it?"
"Yes, Ryoga."
"Excellent, Akane. Now it's time for you to go to sleep, okay? Sleep well, and we'll talk again after you're home safe, okay? Good night, Akane," he said quietly, taking Akane's hand and bringing it to his lips.
The short-haired girl could barely breathe, she was so excited. The sweet, intimate touch was too much for her. "Y- yes. G- good night, Ryoga," Akane mumbled, trembling slightly as she slowly turned and moved towards her tent.
Once she was safely inside, the Hibiki boy threw his fist in the air in a silent cheer. Success! Exactly as planned! Flawless victory! A thousand exclamations ran through his head. Finally, at long last, one of his plans had come together perfectly. He'd defeated Ranma, wholly and utterly! He wanted to run and shout it from the hilltops, but he realized it was far too early to celebrate. All his work could still be undone. He would have to proceed with utmost caution, a rare thing for him indeed. Besides, if he ran off in celebration, he almost certainly wouldn't find his way back to camp. Ryoga couldn't afford to let that happen…not this time.
"We'll be together soon, Akane," he whispered, pulling out one of the hypnotic eggs. "I just need to flatten out a few more bumps in the road."
Thu Feb 16 03:41:23 2012
8 comments Last updated: Fri Sep 7 10:13:01 2012