Akane Tendo returned to her room with her head held high and a triumphant swagger in her walk. She’d done it again. She’d kicked Ranma’s butt without breaking a sweat! It was a flaw they both shared, pride in their ability, pride in themselves. It was part of why they argued so much, though obviously not the only reason.
She walked up the steps, smug and satisfied. The enchanted dogi fitting around her snugly, tightly seemed to emphasise her victory with every step she took. She gently tugged on the handle on the door to her room, strode inside, closed the door. Then, with a long and deep breath she let out out a rather excited sound that was rather similar to a train whistle.
“That was so cool!” she called, cartwheeling around the room, which it must be said is rather the opposite of ‘cool’ behaviour. Still pretty impressive given that it wasn’t exactly full of space for her to do this in, but that can hardly be helped. She flopped onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling.
“We sure showed him!” she said, not to herself but the dogi. “Always insulting my figure and my martial arts and my cooking.” She absently trailed a finger down the side of her neck, down her chest where the dogi obliged by splitting apart just enough to allow her finger to remain in contact with her bare skin. “He wants me,” she said, licking her lips. “And if he doesn’t want me, he will soon.”
Liberated. She felt completely liberated. It was as though all of the weights in the world were lifted from her shoulders, and all of a sudden she could think and breathe and feel all the things she wanted to but was too afraid to approach. And yet… Still not enough.
She wanted more. The dogi sent tiny ripples all over her body, making Akane sigh for reasons she didn’t understand nor even consider worth understanding. It was so strange. She had been liberated, passed out of one prison and struck another. It felt like she was stretching her wings for the first time, but she somehow understood that she could stretch them further still.
What was the best way to do that? What else? She would prove to Ranma and to herself that she was bubbling over with sex appeal. That way he wouldn’t be able to insult her anymore. It would shut him up for good, and make him take her seriously.
Which led her into her next line of thinking: Strategy. Now, it’s important to note that Akane Tendo is a martial artist by nature. For her, when she thinks in terms of strategy it is a tendency to think in terms of a martial artist. The best ways to attack and defend oneself, employ physical strategies suited for combat. It was this very reason that made her a lousy cook and (somehow, the mathematics should make this impossible but we double checked the results) an even worse swimmer. She was thinking in terms of the martial artist when these very tasks aren’t well suited for those kinds of things. When she had vegetables on the chopping board, she went at them with the same righteous fury as she might a roundhouse kick. When she dove into the water, she attacked the water in the same way as she might uppercut a straw dummy. In the case of the former, it meant that her vegetables came out with terrible presentation and of such different sizes that some would burn while others would be practically raw. In the case of the latter, she was not moving the water efficiently behind herself.
And now she was applying that same kind of mindset towards developing seduction tactics. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear! Fortunately this particular area has a little more in common with martial arts than one might expect. Both are very physical, there is a particular opponent to overcome, and it is an absolute necessity to understand the weaknesses of yourself and your opponent in order to “win”. So maybe things would turn out okay? After all, Akane was pretty enough to turn heads without meaning to. Now that it was her intention, no trouble. Right?
Wrong. Because if we were to summarise Akane Tendo’s martial arts style in a single word, it would be “aggressive”. If we were to use more words, it would be “defend only when necessary, strike like a hurricane made of <i>pain</i>.” Generally it worked pretty well for her, at least until Ranma showed up and overcame it with his style of “haha, you can’t catch me!”
So, on the one hand this could go very well and smoothly for her. On the other hand, given both Ranma and Akane’s respective histories, how likely does that sound? After all, if either of them were that lucky then they’d have <i>gotten</i> lucky with each other a long, long time before this.
“He probably doesn’t have the balls to show up,” Akane sighed, reflecting on her invitation. “I doubt getting his butt kicked is all that much of a turn on for someone like Ranma… Maybe I should be more like Shampoo and tackle him whenever I see him? Drag him off into a dark room and throw myself at him? Or…”
No. None of these were quite right for her “style of fighting.” Aggressive, yes. Not aggressive enough. She was going to go on the attack with her sex appeal but in a very different way. Unlike the other girls that wanted him, she lived in the same building as him which afforded numerous opportunities to flaunt her stuff. She would shove her sex appeal right into his stupid handsome face until he couldn’t take it anymore. Every time they fought or sparred, every time they talked she would remind him of how sexy she was, and that all he had to do was show up in her room and say “please”.
She slid off the bed and strode over towards her mirror. “Off!” she commanded, and the dogi complied. It was a funny thing, but as it came undone of its own accord her skin felt weirdly tingly. Like all the hairs on her body were standing on end in anticipation, like every nerve ending was being whispered sweet, gentle nothings. This might be why she was breathing a little heavier than normal by the time she was naked in front of the mirror.
“If I’m going to shut him up,” Akane began. “Then first I need to get the right… Equipment. This is a battle of seduction, and I should dress appropriately. Right, Do-chan?”
The dogi made a motion as if to nod its collar, prompting Akane to pat it cutely in the middle of that very collar. Such a cute piece of sentient enchanted clothing, yes you are! She returned her attention to the wardrobe and began flinging clothes aside, while behind her the dogi watched and, if it were possible to judge the body language of a dogi with nobody inside of it, then its posture suddenly became just a touch more sad.
<hr>
A young man was pacing back and forth impatiently inside of a certain training hall, facing his greatest foe to date. He had confronted two elderly martial artists several times his own ability, masters of arcane abilities he still didn’t understand. He had defeated Herb, Prince (occasionally Princess, but don’t dare say that in his/her presence) of the Musk, a genuinely superior martial artist to him in every measurable way and on top of that a descendant of a dragon. He’d also faced an actual giant, multi-headed dragon. He had faced a boy a little older than himself that was cursed to transform into a huge, ridiculous flying monster and had recently gotten into the middle of a fight between that monster and Asura! Each time he’d come out winning. Hurting like hell more often than not, but winning. But this… This challenge scared him more than any other he’d confronted to date.
“Akane, I like you,” he attempted. “You’re super cute, fun to hang out with and I just want to return things to how they used to be. Please get rid of the dogi so we can be together.”
He stopped and clocked himself in the side of the head. “Even <i>I</i> don’t buy it! Dammit!”
It was a funny thing, but acting was not exactly Ranma’s specialty. For all the times he’d tricked Ryoga, Kuno or Mousse he could never quite seem to pull the wool over Akane’s eyes. She’d see through it in a second, whether he was “Ryoga’s sister” or “Ryoga’s fiancee” or - Well, any kind of trick he might pull, really.
On top of that he had to be romantic. With Akane of all people. Akane! Just the thought of it made butterflies somersault in his guts. Not because he liked her or anything. It was because - This was Akane he was trying to “confess” to! Of course he was only doing it to get rid of the dogi. Of course. Because he’d never try something like this normally, what are you, crazy?
“I like you,” he tried. Still sounded hollow. “I like you a lot!” Better! “I love you!”
“Oh, Ranma-baby! I had no idea.”
And that just killed the mood stone-cold dead. It was amazing. He could usually sense danger coming from miles away, but somehow Nabiki was always able to conceal her own special brand of “murderous intent” right up until the moment it was far too late to notice she was around. In this case he hadn’t even noticed her until right now, where she was leaning against the doorframe with her hand covering her mouth in shock.
“W-wait!” he stammered. “It’s not -”
“I know,” Nabiki rolled her eyes and strolled inside the training hall. “You’re finally confessing to Akane, are you? I’m not stupid, Saotome. Unlike the rest of you, I’m the kind of person that checks both ends of the stick before grabbing hold. Let me guess. You’re either trying to trick her into giving up her new toy <u>or</u> you’ve suddenly realised something everyone that knows you two figured out months ago.”
“Huh?” Ranma replied, scratching the back of his head in genuine confusion. “What do you mean by that second one?”
“So it’s the first one,” Nabiki sighed. “Can’t say I’m surprised or disappointed, but I do hope you’re ready for the full-body cast she’ll put you in after she finds out you manipulated her feelings like that. Still, well done on coming over to the side of the heartless and soulless. I knew you had it in you. Unless there’s something else you’re not telling me?”
“Y-yeah,” Ranma replied. “This is gonna sound silly but -”
“A few months back, Tatewaki Kuno barged into our house. His entire body had turned into a tree except his head. And then things got <i>really</i> weird.”
Okay, that was a point he was more than willing to concede. At this point Ranma wasn’t sure he should be surprised if a giant dolphin arrived to try sell encyclopedia.
“Have you noticed anything odd about Akane recently?” Ranma began. “You know, acting weird?”
“Aside from periodically kicking your ass?” Nabiki replied. “Yes. Now that you mention it, she’s been a little bit more flirtatious recently than normal. I assumed it was renewed confidence after stomping the fiance that insults her all the time. I take it you have a different theory?”
“It’s the dogi. It’s messing with her head, and she doesn’t even know it.”
“I see. And since you can’t beat it in a fight, you instead intend to charm the shirt off Akane’s back? She still won’t thank you for playing with her feelings, but then again maybe you shouldn’t be playing at all? What’s your plan?”
What indeed? He hadn’t been thinking about afterwards. The only thought he’d had was getting rid of the dogi. Akane could hate him for it, but the thought of her being changed against her will into something she wasn’t didn’t sit well with him. Still…
Still, if he could bring Nabiki on team then she’d be an invaluable asset. If anyone could help him figure out how to make Akane love him, it would have to be her. Sure, it felt like signing a deal with the devil. But is there any better tactic for the devil to employ than to offer you the chance to save someone you cared for? Not that he, you know, loved the tomboy or anything don’t be silly.
- Nabiki immediately betrays Ranma to a horny, ready Akane
- Ranma and Nabiki work out a "battle plan".
- Before anything else can happen, Shampoo/Kodachi attacks Akane!
- Another side effect of the dogi makes itself known.
- Something else
I kind of like 2 or 3.
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