Story: Quadranma

Tatewaki Kuno was a troubled boy. Or rather, as of today a troubled man. He had found something truly unique, a beautiful flower who gave her body to him freely and willingly. Yet a contradiction was tearing his soul asunder. Though deep down his heart yearned for the fire and passion of the fair Akane Tendo, though he desired quite intensely to defeat her in combat and earn the right to date her, a new flame had arisen within his heart.

And that flame was even now walking towards him clad in a cheerleader uniform. Ranko Saotome fixed her gaze to his and he suddenly felt flush. Kuno remembered all too well their bodies being one. It had been at the forefront of his thoughts all day, how he had despoiled this radiant flower. Oh, what shame he felt, her innocence was ruined by his wanton lust. The beast had overwhelmed him, and though he barely knew this girl, this Ranko Saotome, the spell her beauty had cast upon him had led them both into sin!

"Hi, Kuno dear!" Ranko waved, and then blew him a kiss. The lovestruck boy caught it and felt a stirring in his loins. She was already ruined for innocence, a devil whispered in his ear. See how she yearns for you? See how her hand remains at her hip, and watch her seductive gait. She wants it. She wants you. She yearns for you as you yearn for her.

But no, he denied these thoughts! This adorable girl, he must take care to avoid forcing himself upon her. His duty was clear as both gentleman and martial artist. He must minimise their time alone wherever possible. Only meet her in public and at school. That way he could be sure, even the beast of lust would be hard pressed to force him to force himself upon her.

"So, I was thinking," Ranko said, she flicked back her hair and pouted at him. "I should move out of the Tendos' place and move in with you. What do you say, dear?"

"Yes," Kuno said without thinking. "I mean, no! My dearest Ranko, I understand that you are bewitched by my beauty." Ranko smiled sweetly at him, her eyes sparkling with something or other. She produced a popsicle from... Somewhere, and began to suck upon it while he talked. "But we... Must take care to... Ferment our relationship." Gosh, his throat felt dry all of a sudden. The popsicle vanished into her mouth, then came out again. Pumping in and out like a piston. In and out of her cute smiling mouth. Occasionally she would kiss the end of it before resuming. Other times she would stick out her tongue and run it from end to end. His favourite times were when she did both.

For some reason it was quite warm in here as well.

"If... If we move too quickly, our flames of passion may burn us whole," he said, gulping and utterly transfixed by the frozen treat. "L-Let us talk of other matters. I see that you are wearing a cheerleader's uniform. Am I to understand you have made the team?"

"She most certainly did, Kuno-baby," said a new voice that made his skin crawl. Nabiki Tendo! So like that shrill, cold woman to intrude upon a tender moment. Kuno turned to glare at her, and found that she too had found a popsicle from places unknown. "I'm sure she will do Furinkan proud. It was quite the show she put on."

"Your sarcasm is..." he trailed off. Now Nabiki was eating the popsicle in a similarly peculiar and distracting way as Ranko, though if anything the ice queen was showing a great deal more enthusiasm about it. The speed she was going about it was also making him question whether or not she was even able to appreciate the taste of that frozen treat. "... Not appreciated in the slightest," Kuno finished after a moment's confusion. Nabiki looked him in the eyes, then bit off the end of the popsicle and crunched on it loudly. For some reason that made him shiver.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Ranko said, stepping by Kuno and plucking the remains of the popsicle out of Nabiki's hand. "That's not how you eat a popsicle. You have to take it nice and slowly. Here, let me show you what I mean."

Ranko held it up horizontally with one hand, and with the other pulled Nabiki's jaw down. Kuno stared in rapt fascination as his girlfriend gently rubbed an iced treat along the lips of the one person outside his own family that he hated the most, then just as gently pushed it inside.

"You've got to take it nice and slow," Ranko said. Her wrist was rotating a little, rubbing it all along the inside of Nabiki's mouth. For reasons that utterly baffled him Kuno was left completely dumbfounded and mesmerised by the sight. "No need to rush things, sh! Take the chance to savour it. Isn't that better?"

Nabiki let out a low, throaty moan, then began to bob her head back and forth as Ranko held the popsicle still in front of her. Both girls fixed Kuno with a gaze that made him feel just a little hot under the collar. Shortly after this Ranko released the popsicle back into Nabiki's hand, where she took her time enjoying her treat, and Ranko returned her full attention towards him.

"Now, as I was saying," Ranko flicked her hair and skipped towards Kuno. "I'm living with you from now on."

"I... Think that would be unwise." Kuno's voice was barely above a squeaky whisper.

Suddenly and quite without warning Ranko lifted her left leg and hooked it around Kuno's waist. His entire body was pulled forward suddenly, until it was pressed up quite firmly against Ranko's. It was at this moment that Kuno knew he was mistaken. Even if he were in public with this divine being, he would be reduced to naught but a demon of lust in minutes. His right hand carelessly wandered along her left leg even as his left hand caressed her hip, but dearly wished to explore other areas.

"Funny," she said, or rather hissed seductively. "That sounds like me not getting what I want. Might I advise rethinking that position?"

Kuno thought this over for a moment. "I'll set up a guest room," he said. Behind Ranko, Nabiki raised her hand into the air, and mimed cracking a whip. Kuno gave her his very best death glare. Normally he would not use such a thing on a non-martial artist, never mind a girl, but Nabiki Tendo was in a league of her own.

Speaking of leagues of their own, Ranko's hands gripped the back of Kuno's head with the strength of steel and the tenderness of a pillow, turning him down to stare into her eyes. It was like staring into the sun. Yet like Icarus, he felt himself climbing higher and higher for a better look.

"No," Ranko said. "Your room will do fine." She ground her hips suggestively into his. "And, of course, it won't be free board either. I have a few treats in mind that I think you'll like."

Treats? What kind of treats might she mean? His mind betrayed him: Perhaps she would serve him breakfast while wearing naught but an apron. Perhaps she would awaken him every morning by way of sexual favours. Perhaps she might serve up her own body, naked save a thin layer of chocolate or honey or some other sweet concoction. The mind boggled. Though he rationally felt secure that she meant no lustful intention, Kuno's imagination served him nothing but!

"D-Deal," he said.

"Wuh-Psssh!" Nabiki... Onomatopoeia-ed? "Oh well, what a pity," Nabiki sighed. "And here I was, coming along to sell you pictures of my sister. I guess you won't be needing those anymore."

"W-Won't need them?" Kuno said. Actually, he would very much like them!

"Well, of course not," Nabiki continued. She fanned herself down with the envelope that almost certainly contained them. "The very idea. Lusting after your girlfriend's brother's fiancee. Tsk, tsk. How shameful that would be for a warrior of such high standing."

Why, that miserable little troublemaker! "I have not yet accepted -"

"Tee hee!" Ranko tittered. "I think my brother and Akane make such a cute couple! Maybe I should buy them instead, give them to Ranma as a gift."

But he wanted them! He really wanted to have those pictures! Even though it was true that her brother Ranma had sullied Akane as surely as he had Ranma's sister - Oh, but his honour and integrity was being pulled at the seams! He truly did not wish to surrender the fair Akane so readily to an unknown quantity, and yet nor could he resist the siren's song of this fair redhead!

"In fact, while I'm getting all my stuff ready to move into your room... You could create a little extra space by giving me all of your pictures of Akane," Ranko said. She suddenly cinched around his hips a little tighter, forcing her ample bosom up against his chest. While they were both fully clothed, the memory of what this same thing felt like when they were not lingered at the forefront of Kuno's mind. "You can do that for me, can't you? Kuno dearest?"

"Y-Yes," he answered.

"Oh, and I'm a little short on cash as well," Ranko continued. "Please pay Nabiki for me."

No reason not to. He'd already intended to give her the money and under the circumstances it was only the right thing to do. For his live-in girlfriend. Nabiki stood aloof, with her palm upturned and the folder of photos tucked underarm. Her other hand having its nails casually inspected. She didn't even give him any kind of eye contact, so little respect had she for him.

"Pleasure doing business with you," she said, and passed the folder over to Ranko, who snatched it away and tucked the folder into the hem of her skirt. "See you later, Kuno-baby."

And off the two girls went, arm in arm. Kuno watched them leave, unable to tear his eyes away from the not so gentle swishing and swaying of Ranko's tiny pleated skirt. It was strange. He was left with the feeling he ought to be ripped off, but the more he stared at her legs, at her waistline and at her radiant red hair, the more he felt like he'd struck the bargain of a lifetime.

<hr>
Nabiki had heard of a little thing called 'bromance' that sometimes happened among boys. You know how it was. Two perfectly straight boys who got along so well that even though there was nothing romantic going on between them, you almost couldn't tell the difference?

Nabiki was perfectly straight. She had no interest in girls. And yet, if push came to shove, she might actually make an exception for Ranko Saotome. Normally all she really cared about was herself, her own interests and having fun at the expense of others.

So, was this what it felt like to have a real, genuine friendship?

"That popsicle bit was genius," Ranko said out of nowhere. "The look on his face was mmph, even yummier than the popsicle."

"I don't get what you see in him," Nabiki admitted. "But he is rather fun to play with."

"You're not upset that I've stolen your favourite cash cow?"

No, actually. She wasn't quite as annoyed about that as she was expecting. Selling pictures of Akane to Kuno wouldn't be possible anymore, but there were plenty of other buyers where he came from. Besides which...

"You've changed the avenue I'll be milking him from, that's all," Nabiki said.

"In that case, I'm going to have to ask for half of whatever you make off me," Ranko insisted. Blast. She'd been afraid of that. "I'll let you take whatever pictures you want, and I'll help you with your schemes, but it's only fair that I get a cut. Or..."

"Or?" Nabiki asked. She recognised the tactic, of course. She was haggling. Setting a price she knew Nabiki would never go for, when her real goal was something else. Nabiki kept it casual. Unlike others Ranko wasn't the sort that would fall for blackmail, only bribery... Or being convinced that something would be fun.

"You could always join the cheerleader team," Ranko said. She broke away from their mutual arm-in-arm link and swanned off ahead of Nabiki. "I can see it now. The pair of us strutting to school in these tiny skirts and making all the boys drool, and all the girls jealous. Imagine it."

Nabiki's initial gut reaction was to roll her eyes and dismiss the possibility out of hand. However... She could see sense in this. Though the team was currently defunct it would open up several doors for her. Aside from Kuno her main income was stupid boys thinking they could ask her out and earning themselves a spot of blackmail. If she joined the cheerleading team, it would give her an amazing amount of influence over the athletic boys. She  could use them as bodyguards. Take them out on dates. Drain their wallets and send them home with a smile on their face, even if they did little more than hold hands.

"You drive a hard bargain," Nabiki said, employing another common negotiating tool: Make the other side think they forced you into doing something you didn't really want to do. "Alright. Are you going to want some help moving your things to Kuno's place?"

"That would be helpful, yes."

"Five hundred yen," Nabiki demanded without even hesitating slightly.

The cheerleader in front of her stopped in her tracks and whirled around, cutely clasping her hands behind her back. She peered up at Nabiki with a naughty twinkle in her eye. "You are incorrigible," she said, suddenly striding towards her, backing Nabiki up against a wall before she even knew what was happening. Her hand reached up and brushed Nabiki's cheek and she moved in close. "I suppose that's why we have such a strong connection."

"Are you offering me something better than money?" Nabiki asked.

"Maybe," Ranko whispered. "That depends on you, doesn't it?"

The two girls stared each other in the eyes, and slowly tipped their heads forward. They were blatantly moving their lips towards each other, and every male for a mile around suddenly bobbed their heads up in keen, keen interest with not a single one of them knowing why yet also dearly wishing that they did. The two of them moved closer, inch by inch by inch -

Until Ranko suddenly ducked away. "Dammit! How are you so good at gay chicken?"

Nabiki coyly pecked her on the cheeks and continued off down the street. "There's a reason they call me the ice queen. As per our arrangement, you now owe me a thousand yen to have me help move."

Yep, no question of it. This was the girl equivalent of a bromance. It felt so nice having a real and genuine friend, nothing remotely sexual about it. How could there be when Nabiki was straight?

Then again, looking back at that redhead in a tight-fitting cheerleader uniform, Nabiki had to admit. Boy or girl, straight or not, if you felt nothing looking at that cutie you didn't even have a pulse to start with. Nabiki might be cold, but there was still blood pumping through her veins.

1. Back at the Tendo household, what's being done with the Ukyos?
2. Ranko and Nabiki arrive mid-discussion, find out what's going on and make a quick alteration to their plans. Step 1: Popcorn.
3. Ranko and Nabiki encounter Akihito and Shampoo on their way back home.
4. Kuno hurriedly sets about creating living accommodations for Ranko, much to his sister's irritation.
5. Something else