The Togetherness Factor Part 2: Impetuousness by David Eddy Last Updated: Wednesday, 6 January 1999 This story is set in the summer holidays following the events of volume 38 of the Ranma 1/2 manga. Note that the conventions of guest behaviour given herein are purely fictional. I have no idea whether they're correct for Japan of the 90's, although they *are* correct for some cultures and times. Ranma dumped his futon and pack onto the floor of Akane's room. That was it; the sum total of his worldly possessions were in the pack, and the futon of course had been supplied by the Tendos. Akane put his book bag and pillow on her bed, and sat down. A breeze stirred the curtains of her room. "Is that it?" she asked. He nodded. "That's everything." "I... I had no idea..." "That I had so little?" He snorted. "When we were on the road, we had to take everything with us, and here, well..." Here, most of his money went to Nabiki one way or another. Kasumi stuck her head in. "The bath is ready, you two; otousan has just finished. Why don't you bathe now?" "Ano... oneechan?" "Yes, Akane?" "Do you have something we can use for blindfolds, oneechan?" Kasumi frowned. "That's not very safe, Akane. You could slip and fall, or trip over something, or even wander too far away from Ranma. Besides, you've both seen each other before; why make a fuss over it? I don't understand what the problem is." "But, oneechan!" Kasumi replied after it became clear that her sister was not going to continue her objection. "But what, Akane?" Akane scowled at the floor. "Nothing!" Ranma said nothing as they gathered their bathing things and headed down to the bathroom. He carefully avoided looking at Akane as they went down the steps and walked to the bathroom. In the laundry, which was where one disrobed and put one's clothes into the hamper, Akane put out the 'occupied' sign and looked at Ranma, who already had his top off. His head was turned away from her, and that annoyed her although she couldn't quite figure out why. "Ranma." "What is it?" he asked without turning. He did however stop undressing. "I don't want you to look at me! Do you hear me?" Ranma's fists balled. "Like I'd want to look at *you*!" he shot back instinctively. Akane gritted her teeth at the hot anger that filled her at his declaration. Then she noticed Ranma's pose. He just stood there, his fists clenched and the muscles of his shoulders and back tight. "What's got up *your* nose, Ranma?" she asked, barely civil. "Isn't my sworn oath enough for you?" he asked quietly, his voice a little unsteady. "You ought to know I'm very good at keeping them. I swore one to Ryouga, you know, and-- Ah, never mind." He scooped up two long, black cloths from the hamper next to him and held them out to Akane, still not looking. "Here." "Where did you get those?" she asked, the anger draining out of her, the question she had meant to ask forgotten. He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. "They were lying in the hamper." He tied his around his head with quick movements. Akane watched him as he stood there, obviously waiting for her also to don her blindfold. His expression was neutral as he stood, strangely alert. She wondered what was going through his mind even as she wondered if Kasumi had been playing some mind game with them. Kasumi? With a sigh, Akane tied the black silk around her head, thoroughly blocking her eyes. "Okay," she said when she was done, relieved to see that her vision was quite obscured. Ranma was relieved to hear her voice, and finished disrobing quickly. He listened to the rustle of cloth, trying to identify her actions by the various sounds. Finally there came two steps, and a slight clunk as she took up her bath bowl, and he knew she was done. "Are you ready, Ranma?" He grunted. "Sure." Walking carefully and slowly, with deliberately-heavy footsteps, he stepped towards the doorway. "Hang on, Ranma." He stopped immediately and heard Akane step towards the doorway. There was a rattle as something -- her hand, he assumed -- collided with the sliding door, but then there was the sound of the door being slid open. He heard her step inside, and felt the slightly-warmer air of the bathroom wash over his skin, bringing the smell of the hot furo to his nostrils. Then the pain started. "Wait, Akane!" He moved as quickly as he dared in her direction. His shoulder brushed the door as he passed into the bathroom, and he took a moment to slide the door firmly closed. "Where are you?" "Over here, Ranma. I'm in the middle of the room." "This is dangerous, Akane. We could easily get separated too far. It nearly happened a moment ago." There was a moment's silence, then Akane sighed. "I know. What are we going to do?" "Turn your back to me. I'm coming over, and I'll try and touch your shoulders." "Then why should I turn around?" "In case I miss." Ranma was more than a little surprised to hear a giggle come from Akane's direction, but he smiled himself in reaction and followed the noise, his arm outstretched but held softly so he couldn't hurt her. Carefully he walked towards where he last heard her. Then he felt the briefest sensation of warmth in his fingertips, and then there was the slightest of tingles as he made contact with her warm skin. He stopped immediately. "What am I touching?" he asked nervously. "It's all right, Ranma," she replied with a smile in her voice. "You're touching my right shoulder blade." "I'll grab your shoulder, then let's find the taps, shall we?" "Okay. They're right over there." He felt her shoulder move as she pointed, and he shook his head silently as he stepped closer to her and simultaneously ran his hand up her soft skin until it rested on top of her shoulder. "Lead the way," he said. Akane led him the few steps to the shower, and he felt her dip as she knelt down. He followed suit, moving beside her. "I'm sorry, I can't find the stool," she said. "Be careful." He nodded unconsciously. "Sure," he said as he carefully laid out his bath items. Water ran briefly as Akane filled her bucket. "Pass me your bucket," she said. "Here you are," he replied as he carefully held out the small plastic bucket. There was a thump against it as Akane's hand ran into it, then it was pulled from his grasp. Water ran again, and it was thrust back into his hand. Cold water sloshed across his wrist. "That's cold water, Akane," he complained as he took the bucket. The sound of a washcloth being dunked and wrung came. "So? I've got cold water too." "But... oh, never mind." He doused himself with the cold water, feeling the change wash through his body, and suddenly he was a she. With a sigh, he began to soap his very female body. They soaped and scrubbed in companionable silence, the sound of water echoing through the room. Ranma leaned forward to fill his bucket again to rinse himself off, but instead of a cold wall he was expecting his reaching hand encountered warm, soapy, softly- yielding flesh. He snatched his hand back as though from a fire. "Gyaaaaa!" yelled Akane. Her bucket hit him square on the head, and clattered away to finish in a corner somewhere. "Keep your hands to yourself, pervert!" "But Akane, I was just trying to--" "Trying to cop a free feel! I know! Why you--!" Her protests stopped suddenly as she bumped into his rather female chest. A bolt of pain shot through Ranma at the heavy contact, and he jerked backwards. "Ow! What where you're goin'!" But his skin burned where her shoulder had bumped him, and he was finding it difficult to be angry at her. The feel of her still burned on his fingertips, too. What had he touched? There wasn't much soft, yielding flesh on Akane, so that meant.... His thought was derailed by the the sound of Akane's voice as she spoke again. "Pass me your bucket," she said in a neutral voice. "I'll fill it for you." Ranma nodded, then remembered that Akane wouldn't be able to see it. "Thanks," he said, holding out his bucket. After a long moment, he felt Akane's hand grip his outstretched arm then run down it to grab his bucket. The contact tingled, confusing him. Running water sounded, a bucket filling, and after a long moment of silence Akane found Ranma's arm again and pushed his hand into the cold water. "We're going to have to learn to depend on each other, Ranma," she said. Water splashed again, and Ranma gasped as cold water sprayed him. "*And*, we have to learn to allow for each other's weaknesses," she continued, her voice challenging. Ranma responded by flinging the contents of his bucket in the direction Akane's voice had come from, and was rewarded with a female gasp. From a different direction, Akane yelled, "Who's there?!" *click*brrrrrrt* Neurons fired as Ranma rapidly eliminated possible suspects. Who else would bring a camera into a bathroom except... "NABIKI!" "Nabiki-oneechan! How *dare* you!!" "You should *check* to make sure the bathroom's empty, you two," she called in a taunting voice. The sound of the door to the laundry opening then closing with a slap punctuated her remark. "Why you...!" Akane slammed into Ranma as she started to chase Nabiki. Ranma grabbed her by grabbing her shoulders. "Let go of me you pervert!!" "Not until you calm down! Whadda you think you're doing?!" "I'm going to get that film off her and...." "Aren't ya forgetting somethin', you stupid tomboy?!" Akane jerked herself out of his hands. "What did you call me?!" "What's gonna happen if you go stormin' off like that?!" There was a long silence, broken only by Akane's breathing which slowed and quietened as she thought the matter through. Eventually Ranma broke the silence. "Akane, I know that you think I'm a jerk and an idiot; you call me that often enough. But you've gotta control yourself. Besides, I dunno about you but I'm still soapy and I could really use a soak in the furo about now." The hot water of the large bath soaked into Akane's body as she lay submerged up to her neck in the furo. She could almost imagine that she was in there alone, but somehow she could sense Ranma's presence off to her right, facing her across the bath. She knew without having to feel that his feet were only a foot from her hip. His presence stirred both resentment and a surprising warmth in her thoughts. Thoughts of Ranma brought to mind her latest performance. She frowned at Nabiki's blatant betrayal of trust. But also making her frown was her memory of her own impetuousness. She sighed, swallowed and drew breath to speak. "Ranma... I've be thinking. I'm sorry. For earlier." Water rippled as Ranma shrugged. "It doesn't matter. As long as you control yourself." "You're hardly one to talk." Water rippled again, but Ranma remained silent. "What can we do about Nabiki, Ranma?" she asked eventually. Another silence, then a sigh. "I dunno, Akane. She's been taking and selling pictures of me ever since I came here." Akane heard an undertone of disgust in his voice. Her curiosity made her turn her head towards Ranma's voice. "So why haven't you stopped her?" "I'm a guest here." Akane frowned for a long moment before Ranma's meaning became clear to her. A guest could not act against his or her hosts... and a guest was entitled to protection and honour from his - or her - hosts. A scene from their first day at school flashed in her memory... Ranma had just defeated Kunou and had presented Akane with some photos the kendoist has dropped. Nabiki had smiled and waved and said, 'Just making some pocket money.' "I'm sorry about Nabiki-oneechan," she said at last. "This time she's gone too far." "Whatever. You wanna get that picture back from her?" Water heaved as Ranma stood up. Akane stood as well. "Yeah. Let's get dressed and go get it." "Kasumi-oneechan, where's Nabiki-oneechan?" Akane and Ranma, now dressed in fresh clothes and free of their blindfolds, braced Kasumi in the kitchen as she washed dishes. "Oh, she went out. She said she had something to do, that she'd be eating out, and she'd be back by ten." Akane frowned, then looked to Ranma who just shrugged in an 'I-told-you-so' kind of way. They turned and after some brief discussion made their way out into the garden, ignoring the two shogi players sitting on the engawa. * * * At some time since the second world war, the Tendou home had been extended upwards to cater for the demands of family living. This could be seen in the difference in construction methods used: Modern integrated lights hung upstairs; and ring flourescents with a pull cord suspended from the old wooden slat ceilings in the centre of each room downstairs. The presence of an extension was not atypical of homes in the area, but being of modern construction, most such extensions were bare of ornament, the Tendou home being no exception to this. Tonight, however, two dark shapes perched on one end of the gabled roof of the second storey, at the end of the house closest to the small street that passed the front of the property. But they were not gargoyles, dragons, or any other form of decoration. They were two teenagers who waited quietly, lying in wait for their prey. Ranma and Akane, waiting for Akane's elder sister, Nabiki. The waiting was not unpleasent for the two. The warmth of the day had given way to a slight coolness as a wind from the south-east brought cooling breezes from the sea. There was no cloud overhead, and so the night was dark, with even some of the brighter stars shining weakly through against the light of the city. A figure walked quietly down the street, passing under the pool of light from a street lamp. Ranma and Akane took note of this, and looked more carefully as the person walked noislessly against the background hubbub of the city through the light from another street lamp. It was Nabiki. Akane noted that her sister was wearing a day pack, a small back pack designed to carry supplies for a short to medium walk. She wondered what could be inside it. "Ready?" murmured Ranma in her ear. She nodded, and felt Ranma's powerful arms lift her up before he leapt for the ground. For a long moment weightlessness lifted her stomach and then Ranma touched down with a grunt. She, too, grunted as the hard deceleration of landing forced the air from her lungs. Nabiki stopped suddenly as someone landed heavily in front of her as she passed between pools of light. Fear briefly filled her as the dark shape quickly broke into two people, each with a distinctive outline. She relaxed as she recognised them. "Ranma, Akane," she said, "Going out?" Her voice was controlled and calm, she was glad to see. But deep down inside her, a small fear had started up again. Akane stepped forward a pace. "Give me the film please, oneechan," she said. Nabiki smirked, even though she knew they probably couldn't see her expression. "What film?" "The film with that shot you took of us tonight." Nabiki thought about this for a bit, then decided she could brazen it out. They wouldn't do anything to her. "Why should I? What's wrong with me earning a little pocket money if you two don't pay attention?" She pushed past the pair, heading for the dojo gate. They glanced at each other and watched her go. A train passed in the distance. "Well *that* worked well," observed Ranma at last. "Shut up." * * * The television was showing a silly movie about a female ramen- seller and her search for how to make the perfect ramen. Ranma and Akane sat companionably side-by-side watching it, cups of barley tea sitting forgotten on the table in front of them. Nabiki, too, was sitting at the table watching the TV. She was absorbed, fascinated by the lengthy, emotive description of the *perfect* ramen noodle issuing from the lips of an actor playing, of all things, a butler. She ignored the other two, concentrating on a movie. Ranma just found it made him hungry, and wondered at Nabiki's intense interest. Akane suddenly turned her head. "P-chan! Where have you been? I've been worried about you!" Ranma turned away from the TV to see Akane reaching for the little black pig. "Probably been to China, knowing him," muttered Ranma darkly. Akane reflexively hugged the small black pig to her chest. "He's not Ryouga, Ranma! You're always so mean my poor little P- chan. Why can't you be nice to him." Ranma gave P-chan a hard look for a moment. Turning back to the TV and crossing his arms, he said, "Fine by me. Just tell him to leave me alone." He pretended an intense interest in the movie, where the good guy and the bad guy where indulging in adolescent fisticuffs in a field by a highway. "I'm sure P-chan will be a good boy if you don't provoke him," said Akane contentedly. "Not!" retorted Ranma without taking his attention from the screen. On screen, the two men were shaking hands, contusions colouring their faces interestingly. The scene cut to a shot of the men discussing their plans for renovating the rather dingy interior of the ramen-ya. Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma was fascinated to see that Nabiki was now taking notes. Shaking his head slightly, he propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand, wondering at the ways of women in general and Nabiki in particular. He noticed P-chan staring at him. "What's your problem, pig?" he asked with a slight taunt in his voice. Suddenly, pain shot through his forearm. "Ow!" he said as P- chan hung off his forearm like a giant tick, piggy teeth clamping down. Automatically Ranma flicked his arm, sending the pig flying across the room and out through the open shoji to land with a splash in the koi pond. Frowning, he examined the scrapes left on his arm by P-chan's teeth. "Ranma! What did you do that for?! I told you to leave him alone!" Akane's fist impacted with his head, and then he, too, was heading for the koi pond. "No! Akaneeaaaaagh!" *splosh* Akane screamed in pain, even as the waters of the koi pond closed over Ranma. She shrieked in torment and agony, like a lost soul. Nabiki sat there, stunned, unable to move. Kasumi sprinted from the kitchen and grabbed Akane in passing on her way to the koi pond. At the pond, she dropped Akane and hooked out Ranma, whose red-headed female body was now floating face-down in the pond. Urgently she dragged him over to Akane and dropped him on top of her. Instantly the screaming stopped, and Ranma began to cough uncontrollably. Kasumi gently pulled him off Akane again and began to thump him on the back. "Nabiki?" she called as Akane slowly pushed herself off the ground. "Would you call Tofuu-sensei please? I'm afraid Ranma has swallowed some water." "Are you all right, Ranma?" she asked, concerned. Ranma was racked by coughs, but when they finished he didn't look up. "Stupid uncute tomboy. Fucking moron! No I'm not all right!" He began to cough again. "What the hell'd you hit me for, anyway?" "You bashed P-chan out of the room and into the pond!" More hard but feminine coughs were Ranma's reply, but he was shaking his red-haired head. Finally he looked up at Akane, blue eyes challenging, but after a long moment he looked down again. "Aw, what the hell. Believe what you like; you sure as hell won't believe me." He tried a deep breath, but that just set off the coughing again. Nabiki watched the scene unfold, feeling guilty about having been frozen to her seat and done nothing while the whole scene had played itself out. To put the ledger right, she decided to help Ranma out. "Um, Akane... he threw P-chan outside because your pig bit him on the arm." "He probably provoked dear little P-chan, then." "You know he didn't." Nabiki sighed. "Besides, how would he provoke a pig? It's not like a pig is going to understand Japanese. If I said something to a pig and it bit me, wouldn't it be reasonable if I got angry at the pig? And tried to hit it or something?" "Don't hit my P-chan!" "If he bit me I think I'd feel entitled to." Akane looked wordlessly at Nabiki, unable to refute her argument. But her expression was stubborn. The gate bell rang. "Gomen kudsasi!" called Tofuu as he opened the gate and entered the yard. Kasumi looked up at the sound of the bell, and smiled as she saw Tofuu enter the yard. "Welcome, Tofuu-sensei. Ranma's over here." "Ka-ka-Kasumi! Fancy meeting you here!" The good doctor's glasses instantly fogged over. "D-do you come here often?" "Isn't he funny?" she asked of Nabiki as she watched Tofuu dance with the battered cherry tree by the dojo. "Oneechan, why don't you go and make us some tea? I'm sure Tofuu-sensei would like some." "What a good idea." With a last look at Tofuu, she rose gracefully and went inside. * * * "Here, Ranma-kun, drink this. And try not to breathe any more water." He took the cup in one shapely, feminine hand and drank the evil-looking liquid down, trying not to gag at the taste. "Man, why do they all have to taste so awful?" he muttered under his breath. Something tight seemed to snap in Ranma's chest, and moments later he was able to breathe normally without coughing. "Thanks, doc," he said at last. "That's great." "So how on earth did this happen to you, Ranma? You've never inhaled water before when Akane's hit you into the pond." Akane and Ranma related the story of the day while Nabiki went inside to get the tea kettle. Returning outside just as the two were finishing, she poured hot water over Ranma's head. Ranma sighed in relief as his normal, male body was restored. Toufuu's original pleasant expression had been replaced by a frown. At its end, he examined both Ranma and Akane, eventually separating the two by some five feet, at which point the pain was just really starting to take hold, and re-examining them. Ranma's heart tore at the sound of Akane's laboured breathing and occasional soft whimpers even as he bore the pain stoically. Eventually Toufuu finished, and Akane practically ran to Ranma's side. Toufuu watched as she brushed his cheek with one hand, and both seemed to slump at the sudden cessation of pain. "This is very odd," he said. "I'll have to conduct some research-- Kasumi! Fancy meeting you here! Do you come here often?" Kasumi had picked that moment to bring in tea, complete with little slices of cake delicately arranged on a tray. A delightful presentation, but her intended audience had suddenly gone off with the fairies and wouldn't have noticed if Akane's cooking had been substituted. She giggled as she set down the tray, saying, "But I live here, Toufuu-sensei." The three children shared a look even as Nodoka came out of the kitchen with the remainder of the tea items, smiling benignly at the demonstration of True Love playing itself out in front of her. * * * A gentle breeze wafted in through Akane's open window, the cool air a pleasant reminder of the unseasonally-cool weather also forecast for tomorrow. She looked up from her bed, out the window, and wondered about the latest visscitudes of life that today had delivered. This morning all had been normal... well, as normal as things ever got around here. Then Ranma had come up with that plate of cookies - in retrospect, Akane realised with a smile, Kasumi must have press-ganged Ranma into bringing them up in her usual gentle way. Since then, she'd been forced to suffer the indignity of bathing with Ranma, and agonies of the damned had been visited upon her on at least three occasions today... and the last one, when she had hit Ranma into the koi pond, had been so bad she had thought she'd die. At least the pervert hadn't tried to peep at her, even though her sister had. Her *own* *sister*. Taking photographs of her in the bath, presumably for sale to that prat Kunou Tatewaki. Although with a nude photo, she knew that other males would be desperate to get their hands on it too. One fist smacked into the mattress at her side in frustration. It was all just *so* embarrassing. "What's wrong, Akane?" she heard Ranma ask. His voice seemed gentle. A low scrape, of a glass being dragged across something, interrupted Akane before she could answer. Her temper flashed into being and she slid out of bed and stomped her way to her door, which she whisked aside. She was not surprised to find Nabiki, Souun, and Genma-panda there with glasses against their ears, now leaning against nothing, but the presence of Nodoka and Kasumi she found dismaying in the extreme. "Go away!!" she screamed at the surprised eavesdroppers. "Why can't you all just leave us *alone*?!" A handy barbell thrown at warp speed punctuated her remark, zipping past a frozen Nabiki to bounce with a dull *clank* off Genma's animal skull. She slammed the door closed again and locked it before stomping back to bed. She threw the covers over herself and struggled to hold back tears. Ranma lay in his futon feeling sympathetic for Akane as she struggled to hold back sobs. Wrestling with his own feelings, he eventually gave in and knelt up. He reached out towards Akane but hesitated to touch her, eventually pulling back. "A-Akane? Are you okay?" "Leave me alone! This is all your fault!" Stung, Ranma almost responded but managed to keep his silence. Instead he swallowed and moved to lay down again. "Well excuse me," he said, annoyed. "I was just--" "Shut up! It's bad enough that you're sharing my room and I've got to bathe with you! So just shut up, go to sleep, and *leave* *me* *alone*!" The sound of Akane crying tore at Ranma, but he was unable to force himself to attempt to comfort her again. Instead he lay back, seeking elusive sleep as he wondered why a lump formed in his throat and his eyes felt hot. Closing his eyes, he tried to ignore the sudden warm track that worked its way down one cheek. Author's Notes: Well, it's been a really long time but I hope you enjoyed the revised part 2 of The Togetherness Factor. Some of you will no doubt be wondering at the drastic darkening of this chapter compared to its earlier incarnation and whether I plan to make this a darkfic or Waffic or what? I ain't tellin'. Ain't I a bastard? A little vocab: -ya means "seller", either a person or a shop, so "ramen-ya" above refers to a ramen shop. By the way, the movie the kids were watching is real. It's called "Tampopo" and I highly recommend it if you can track down a copy. (I taped it from TV.) It's a scream. I'm not sure if it was made as a serious movie, a parody, or just plain camp, but I really liked it when I saw it. Hopefully Part 3 will come out... eventually. Ah, I have such plans....