Story: Demon's Test

Nabiki Tendo was having the time of her life. She wasn't sure about her little sister or her fiance, but you'd better believe that Nabiki was enjoying herself. Seeing those two shy idiots so blatantly want each other without understanding how to act on it, a pair of normally confident martial artists suddenly finding their bodies responding in ways they weren't used to...

"W-watch where you're touching dummy!" Akane huffed, pulling out of Ranma's grip with a great deal of reluctance and frustration.

"Gee, is that the way you thank someone for saving your life?"

"Saving my life? That was just an excuse to hold onto me! I mean..." Nervous glance towards Nabiki, who waved at her. "Thank you Ranma, that was very kind of you."

"Ah... th-that's okay, anyone would do the same."

Sublime. Utterly sublime. It was actually making Nabiki a little bit wet watching them barely refrain from falling back into arguing with each other, then forcing themselves to play nice. Then go a little too deep, get frightened of what they were feeling and the cycle repeats.

The pair nervously sat back in their seats, looking over at Nabiki. Who pretended to take notes. Actually, all she was drawing was a meticulously detailed rendition of a threesome between Ranma, his girl side, and Akane. A shame this wasn't possible in reality.

<font color = blue> Well, maybe that's something I can arrange... Oh, shoot is this thing on?</font>

Nabiki blinked and looked around. Huh? That was weird. Well anyway, the waitress was approaching them now with the bill. "I'm glad you enjoyed it so much," she said, sweetly and politely while sliding the bill onto the table. "Here you go."

Neither Ranma or Akane moved for a little bit. Nor did they look at the bill. Or one another. Eventually Akane broke the silence.

"Go ahead then, pay the bill."

"Eh?" Ranma grunted. "I thought we were gonna split it."

“Isn’t is usually the boy who pays for dates?” Akane asked, pushing the bill towards Ranma.

Ranma, having been raised by the cheapskate Genma Saotome, pushed it back to the middle. "Well, no. You pay for what you had. That's the way it oughta be."

Nabiki coughed into her fist right about then. This had pretty much the desired and expected result.

"Then again! This is supposed to be a date!" Ranma insisted, tugging the bill towards himself. Ahahaha! Pride turned against them! So satisfying!

<font color = green> Lean on the table. That'll show that cute sexy chick who the man is around here!</font>

"Oh no, you were right we should split it," Akane said. She pulled it back into the middle while Ranma stood up. "After all, it's a little backwards to expect the man to pay for everything in this modern day world."

<font color = red> Hey now, don't let that handsome jerk tower over you. Get on his level. His sexy, sexy level.</font>

Oh man this was rich. With a single wordless noise Nabiki had gotten them arguing about giving the other what they want. The two leaning closer as they smiled sweetly trying to concede, and thus win. Was this the form that martial arts dating would take? How <i>frightening</i>. Nabiki wet her lips. How <i>arousing</i>.

"Well, some traditions aren't all that bad. It's the polite thing for a man to do, offering to pay the bill!"

<font color = green> Closer...</green>

"Now, now! Having you pay for my meal would be extremely selfish of me."

<font color = red>Closer...</red>

"I insist. I should pay."

"No, no. That's really not necessary."

"It really is!"

"It really is... Is..."

Right about here was when the pair of chuckleheads noticed. While they had been pulling the bill across the table, they had unconsciously risen to their feet and started leaning across the table. Drawing closer and closer to one another under the influence of a certain lust demon. Now their faces were inches apart, the two of them staring into each other's eyes. If not for the fact their noses had touched just now, neither one of them would have noticed and they may well have exchanged their first real kiss with each other.

That realisation left them both paralysed. Frozen in place. Neither of these two were looking for a romantic partner right about now, and their pride was compelling them to stay apart. Neither of them had any experience in so blatantly lusting after another person. Neither of them had felt this electricity, this energy like a magnetic pull before meeting the other.

At this moment when they were both vulnerable and unsure, Nalidiel made his move. He whispered in Ranma's ear: <font color = green> Man, up close she's really pretty. </font>

Then in Akane's ear <font color = red> There wouldn't be anything wrong with sharing a kiss with my fiance, right? </font>

But before either of them could move in to seal the deal, they heard a sound in between them. Nabiki had put down some money on top of the bill.

"For the entertainment," she said, eyes sparkling with mischief. "For me... and everyone else." Both Ranma and Akane became rather keenly aware that they were the centre of attention in the cafe.

"Uwaaaa... So cute!" a girl cooed, staring at them over the back of her seat, resting her cheeks in her hands. "Mommy, when I grow up I hope I meet a nice boy like him!"

Oh, it looked like there was even an encore! Both of these two idiots turned scarlet and jumped away from one another - failing to notice that while pushing the bill across the table their hands had intertwined. Akane then dragged Ranma from the cafe with great haste, to the sound of thunderous applause.

Nabiki at least had enough of a sense of showmanship to bow for the audience before hurrying after them. Where she found that it was raining and that Akane's date was now a girl.

"Alright, I think we can call it there," Nabiki said. The two of them noticed that they were holding hands and let go. Nabiki tweaked an eyebrow, and then added a nipple to Ranma's girl form chest in her doodle.

<font color = green>Ah! Letting go was a bad idea! We should hold hands all the way home or Nabiki will make Akane the winner!</font>

Ranma held out her hand again. Akane looked at it like she had been offered a week long dead snake. Nabiki tutted and shook her head, then added a touch of shading in between Akane's thighs in her doodle.

<font color = red>Oh, that's what he's up to. Ranma's trying to gain points by making it look like Idon't want to be seen holding hands with a girl! Well, <i>she</I> has another thing coming!</font>

Which is how the two of them wound up holding hands the entire way home, nervously looking back towards Nabiki all the way. Of course, Nalidiel nudged them into standing a little closer to each other. Including making Akane shudder a bit from the rain, causing Ranma to shift into a much warmer embrace.

Well, to be more precise Nalidiel suggested it would score some points from Nabiki. It was amazing how much they were listening to that voice in their head now. Though the lust demon wasn't quite willing to push it too far yet, otherwise they'd have been blatantly groping one another on top of everything else.

"And that's us back home," Akane said. "So sis? Which of us wins?"

"Hrm... It's a little too early to say the date is over yet," Nabiki said, clicking her pen a couple of times while staring up at the sky. "I mean, where's the good night kiss?"

Good night kiss. If you ever wanted to see a pair of deer caught in headlights, then never mind you could look at these two right now instead. It was a perfect substitute. Wide eyed terror like this was well worth the price of paying their bill in the cafe, never mind the show that came before!

"B-But I'm a -"

"But Ranma's a -"

"I mean, a date ending without a good night kiss... could you even call that a date?" Nabiki asked. "If the boy didn't even move to kiss me, I'd be pretty upset..."

<font color = green> Go for it. It's just a kiss. No big deal! Except it kind of is a big deal - but you don't want Akane gloating over how she won, do you?</font>

Ranma gulped, turned and looked up at Akane. They were still holding hands.She closed her eyes and tilted her head up, inviting Akane in for the kiss.

"And if the girl took an obvious clue that the boy would like a kiss and turned down even a chaste peck on the lips... well, that would leave the boy feeling pretty awkward."

<font color = red>If I don't go for this, then Ranma's going to win. That loudmouth will never shut up about it. I can't turn back now...</font>

And so, the two of them succumbed to the sunk cost fallacy, leaning in to one another for their very first kiss. Nalidiel watched the moment with bated breath. They'd never gone so far in the series! No duct tape, no cat fist. A real actual honest to goodness kiss!

Contact was made. Then ended a moment later.

... Huh. That was deeply unsatisfying. Still, it was better progress than they'd had throughout the entire series. Before Shampoo even got here! Alright. So it was a good start. Now all he had to do was continue working on it and in a couple of weeks the two of them would be -

Suddenly Akane pounced at Ranma, pushing her up against the wall. Her hands grabbed for Ranma's breasts, while her lips made a beeline back for Ranma's. Nabiki let out a low whistle while Nalidiel gaped.

"I think I see tongue..." Nabiki mumbled to herself. In front of them, Ranma trailed her hands down Akane's waist, grabbed her butt and then reversed their positions. "Yep, definitely tongue."

Woah... Woah! They were this into each other already? Nalidiel could hardly believe it. This was like a dam bursting! Both of them holding back their mutual lust for so long that when the wall came down, it was a flood.

<i>"I'm gonna win this stupid contest no matter what!"</i> Akane was thinking.

<i>"If this tomboy thinks she's acting all cute and sexy because of this, and that it's gonna make me lose, she's got another thing coming!"</i> Ranma thought.

Oh. They were both still thinking about the contest. Well, there were a couple of thoughts about how nice this experience felt and that it wasn't nearly as bad as they were thinking it would be, but primarily they were still trying to win the contest.

As such they parted lips a minute later and breathlessly stared at Nabiki.

"Who won?" they asked as one.

Nabiki's answer was obvious. It had been obvious since the start of the night. "It's a tie," she shrugged. "You're both equally good dates. You'll need to go on another to have a definitive winner."

Nabiki tucked her clipboard away and walked up to the front gate. Then, just before entering she gave them both some advice. "Before your next date, I suggest you practise your goodnight kiss," she said. "You're both pretty sloppy right now. Definite need for improvement."

1. Nalidiel decides to check in on Kasumi.
2. Ranma and Akane take Nabiki's advice and practise their goodnight kiss. With each other.
3. The next day, Ryoga shows up.
4. Nabiki comes up with her own perverted schemes.
5. Something else