Chapter 2: The Massage of Newfound Love: Akane’s Emotions are an Open Book

In the darkened room, the strange brew simmering in the large black cauldron was the only source of illumination. It cast a strange glow on the face that hovered above it, its expression twisted into a lurid combination of glee and insanity. Hikaru Gosunkugi cackled softly as he lowered the wooden spoon into the cauldron and stirred slowly.

"Finally," he whispered, "I have the perfect means to complete my plan! All my life I have waited for this to fall into my hands, and now..." He raised the spoon from the cauldron and let the thin liquid slosh around in the bowl. "Now, my dream will be realized! Behold, my greatest creation!" He tipped the spoonful of brew into his mouth and rolled it on his tongue before swallowing it. "Needs more salt," he decided.

In the dim glow provided by his dinner, Hikaru grabbed the salt shaker, letting his eyes fall briefly on the package that sat unopened on the counter. The opening of the box would be a sacred act, only to be performed when the time was right – over a full stomach. "Amazing how easily a dream can come true for only two hundred yen plus shipping and handling," marveled Hikaru as he put the finishing touches on his soup. After dinner, he decided. After dinner, it would be time to look for the first time upon the book that would change his life forever.

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Ranma trotted up the walk and let herself into the Tendo home. She could smell dinner cooking as soon as she opened the door. She sniffed carefully. "Kasumi’s cooking tonight," she decided. "The smell’s not bad enough to make my eyes water."

As she proceeded down the hallway to her room, she nearly ran right into Akane, who was on her way out of the dining room. Akane wordlessly handed Ranma a teakettle full of hot water. "Don’t think this means I’ve forgiven you for what happened this afternoon, because I haven’t," she finally said as Ranma changed back into his male form.

"You have no reason to forgive me," said Ranma. "I haven’t done anything to be forgiven for."

"I saw you kissing Kodachi!" yelled Akane.

Ranma shrugged. "For one thing, I wasn’t kissing Kodachi; she was kissing me. But of course you never listen to my side of things, so I’ll go right to my second point, which is this: I can kiss whoever I want, whenever I want. If you want to be my girlfriend, then you might try being a little nicer to me. As of right now, you’re not my only admirer. If other girls want my attention, then they’ll get it. You’ve got serious competition, Akane. And that’s a contest you’re not likely to win the way you’re going."

Akane slammed the teakettle hard on Ranma’s head. "You are so insensitive!" she shouted, storming to her room before anyone could see the tears running down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and cried. No matter how hard she tried to remain calm, she always ended up resorting to violence to vent her fruitless frustrations. Her emotions had become tangled after she had been repeatedly pursued by the entire male population of Furinkan High School, only to discover her inability to express her true feelings to the one she loved except through violence and insults. Why did she always deny those feelings to herself whenever he was nearby? Why did his presence overshadow her burning desire to believe that his many shortcomings were not his fault?

A shadow passed over her, and she turned to face it. Ryoga was leaning against the opposite wall. "You must have had a stressful day," he said. "Perhaps I can be of some assistance. I learned an interesting form of massage therapy today that should help you calm down and get in touch with your feelings."

"That sounds nice," said Akane. "Maybe that’s what I need to help me get over my – stress."

"Then lie down on your stomach and take your shirt off, and let my magic fingers do their work."

"My shirt? But I’m wearing a dress!"

"Then take the dress off. I won’t look, I promise." Ryoga turned his back to Akane. Akane hesitantly lifted her dress off over her head. Even though he was turned away, Ryoga felt the blood rushing to his nose and quickly clamped down on his thoughts.

"Okay, I’m ready," said Akane. She had covered her lower half with the blanket, but not a stitch of clothing now separated her torso from Ryoga’s hands. He quickly wiped the spot of blood from his upper lip, cracked his fingers, and set to work, beginning with a light, simple massage before moving on to Happosai’s Naresome no Shiatsu technique...

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Kasumi looked up from her cooking at the sound of the loud metallic clang. Sighing, she set her utensils aside to help Ranma remove the teakettle from his head. "Honestly, I don’t understand how your head could possibly fit into the tiny opening of the kettle," she said, pulling on the handle with all her might.

"It doesn’t," explained Ranma. "But with enough force, anything is possible."

"She was certainly upset this time, wasn’t she?"

"As usual, Kasumi, you are the master of the understatement." The teakettle finally dislodged itself from Ranma’s head, sending both Ranma and Kasumi flying backwards. Kasumi stared despondently at the misshapen kettle.

"This erratic relationship is not helping our cookware situation," moaned Kasumi. "The manufacturers have added a new liability clause to their warranties, voiding them if the object being covered comes within a hundred yards of this house. Do you think you could try being a little nicer around Akane?"

"I’ve tried acting every way I can think of," said Ranma. "Nothing works. I’ve given up trying to please Akane. Nothing I do makes her happy!"

"You might want to apologize to her," offered Kasumi.

"I have no reason to apologize to that ungrateful girl," said Ranma, crossing his arms.

Kasumi draped her arm over his shoulder. "Ranma, Akane’s very angry at you right now. That’s not going to stop, and you know that. But hearing your apology will help her to feel better, whether or not you’ve done anything to deserve this treatment."

Ranma snorted. "If only Nabiki were here, I’d be willing to bet that no amount of apologizing is going to change Akane’s mood. Just watch. IF she even lets me get out an apology, she’ll brain me as soon as I’m done talking."

"Then you are going to apologize?" asked Kasumi.

Ranma shrugged. "What have I got to lose?"

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Akane could feel the tension in her muscles loosen as Ryoga kneaded the sinews with his fingertips and knuckles. She’d never felt so relaxed. "Wow, Ryoga," she said softly in between deep, wonderful breaths. "This technique is really something. I feel great."

"The best part is coming up," said Ryoga, continuing to work the muscles on Akane’s shoulders with one hand while his other hand deftly untied his headband and retied it securely under his nose. His hands slowly worked their way under Akane’s arms toward the special pressure points Happosai had shown him.

Akane turned her head to warn Ryoga to watch where he was putting his hands, but at that moment a warm feeling filled her body, like nothing she had ever experienced before, even during the few times when she’d been close to Ranma while in a good mood. Her breathing grew fast and furious, and her mouth dried out. She tried to resist the force that was driving her, but it was no use. The Naresome no Shiatsu rendered her unable to control herself as she turned over, grabbed Ryoga by the shoulders, and kissed him with more passion than he had expected. Blood quickly soaked his bandana as Akane’s tongue roamed the inside of his mouth. He felt her soft breasts pressing against his chest and had to fight to remain conscious. He’d been waiting all his life for this moment, but he’d never imagined it would be like this...

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryoga saw the door open. On the other side stood a wide-mouthed, wide-eyed Ranma. ‘Great,’ thought Ryoga. ‘Ranma’s gonna kill me!’ He frantically groped at Akane’s chest for the release point, but her chest was pressed so tightly against his that he could barely get his hands on her breasts. He felt her hands grabbing at his waist, pulling his shirt up. "It’s not what you think!" he tried to shout to Ranma, but it came out muffled as Akane’s mouth swallowed his words. The door slowly closed.

Akane leaned back slightly to slide Ryoga’s shirt off over his head. Ryoga seized the opportunity to jam his fingers into her cleavage. Akane’s eyes flew open, and she quickly pushed Ryoga away and grabbed the blanket to cover herself. "Ryoga – what just happened? Why was I –" She couldn’t even bring herself to finish.

Ryoga did his best to look just as surprised and disgusted as Akane was. "I don’t understand! I was just giving you a light massage..."

Akane put her hand on her forehead. "I don’t feel very well... promise me you won’t tell Ranma about this?"

Ryoga thought back to Ranma’s brief intrusion on his private moment. "I promise that Ranma won’t hear about this from me." He slid off the bed and handed Akane’s dress to her. She reached out and grabbed it gratefully, carefully studying Ryoga’s face as she did so.

"Ryoga, why do you have a bloody bandana tied around your nose?"

Ryoga’s hand briefly explored his face and removed the stained headpiece. "I – must have banged my nose while –" He threw the bandana into the trashcan and tied a spare around his head. "I think I need to go take a cold shower." He quickly left the room in search of Ranma.

Akane hastily dressed herself and sat on the bed, contemplating what had just happened. She couldn’t come up with any sort of feasible explanation herself. Perhaps Cologne had somehow used Ranma as an unwitting tool to manipulate her mind... no, that wasn’t her style. Besides, –

Her eyes fell on the desk, where a large book sat. She was positive she hadn’t seen it before, and it certainly hadn’t been there before Ryoga entered the room. She picked up the strange book, snorted at the title, then opened it to a random page and began to read with interest.

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Hikaru Gosunkugi finished off the last of his soup and turned excitedly to his new book. He had already grown impatient enough to tear open the box, and the book now lay on the counter before him, its untold treasures waiting only for his eyes to read them. He opened the cover and read through the table of contents, then turned to the page and began preparations for his greatest voodoo spell ever. This time, it would work. It HAD to work. All his life, he’d never been able to claim a money-back guarantee.

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Ranma sat on the park bench and thought long and hard about his situation. He was definitely acting strangely toward Akane lately. What had his exact words been? ‘I’ll kiss whoever I want, whenever I want...’ Something like that, anyway. Certainly not something he would say to the girl he cared about so much. Sure, he wouldn’t come straight out and tell her his true feelings, but...

But what, asked the other side of his brain. Hadn’t he just demanded that she do exactly the same thing? And she had slapped him and run off to kiss Ryoga. They seemed to be doing a lot more than just kissing, of course... but was she just doing it to get revenge on him? He wouldn’t put it past her, the uncute tomboy. She probably even enjoyed it.

Ranma laid his head in his hands and groaned. Had he pushed Akane too far this time and lost her completely? It wasn’t right. He had to find some way to apologize...

"Forget it," said Ranma, not even aware that his thoughts were making their outlet through his voice box. "I already tried to apologize, and she was – occupied. I’m going to let her be the one to apologize first this time. If – IF – she apologizes, then I’ll think about making an apology of my own."

Having made his decision, Ranma stood up and headed for home. The red glow of the setting sun cast a heavy weight over Ranma’s heart as he traveled, recalling the times he’d walked with Akane through this very park in the light of so many similar sunsets. He hadn’t gotten far, however, before an approaching figure brought him up short. He stiffened and raised his hands, preparing to defend himself if necessary.

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Ryoga ran through Tokyo and several surrounding cities, in heavy contemplation. Surprisingly, as his mind wandered, his body managed to stay nearly on course... at least, compared to his usual tracklessness. Still, he had plenty of time to wonder what had gone wrong with the massage. Happosai had promised him that it would make Akane fall in love with him. That was what the name meant. Naresome no Shiatsu: The Massage of Newfound Love.

No, that wasn’t exactly what the old man had said. He’d said it would bring Ryoga the love of any woman he desired... Ryoga mentally beat himself in the head. Happosai’s definition of love was just as perverted as the man himself. It wasn’t a technique that induced romantic interest... it just made girls horny. His nose wrinkled at the prospect. No wonder Akane had jumped on him like that! He’d know better than to trust Happosai again.

Meanwhile, he had to square things with Ranma. Their rivalry had always kept them apart, but this time Ryoga had a feeling he’d stepped over the bounds. All thanks to that book... Ryoga’s hand went to his pocket, and he silently cursed himself. He’d left the book in Akane’s room! He had to go back before she found it... well, no chance of finding his way back by then. His only hope now was to find Ranma and explain what had happened – or, failing that, convince Ranma to choose one of his other fiancées and forget about Akane. His fists flexed. From what he’d heard from the Tendo family, Ranma had been rather violent recently. If Ranma’s jealousy provoked him to attack, Ryoga was more than prepared to defend himself.

As the sun began to set in the western sky, Ryoga found himself in a familiar park in the Nerima district. "Finally, I’ve managed to –" he began, but stopped short. Ranma was just crossing the park now, coming toward Ryoga. Their eyes would meet any second. And when they did, Ryoga would see whether he was coming face to face with his worst enemy – or just an enemy... Their eyes met. Ranma brought his fists to bear as he continued to advance on Ryoga. Ryoga raised his own fists in defense.

"Ryoga." Ranma’s greeting was cold but cordial, unforgiving but not vengeful.

"Ranma." Ryoga returned the greeting in kind.

"You have some explaining to do." A simple declaration.

"That I do." Calm, calculating; Ryoga wasn’t about to say more than he needed to.

"So? Let’s hear it." Ranma crossed his arms.

Ryoga sighed. "I’m sure you know that I, too, have a romantic interest in Akane."

Ranma snorted. "You haven’t exactly kept it a secret."

"Recently a book came into my possession that has changed my life forever. It convinced me that if I am ever to accomplish my goals in life, I must make my intentions known to everyone who might stand in my way. I realized then that Akane saw me as a friend but not as any more than that."

"So you seduced her and raped her?" Ranma’s ki began to flare.

"No!" shouted Ryoga, throwing his hands up in defense. "I was just giving her a massage to work out her stress from the dressing-down you gave her!" Oops – that was definitely the wrong thing to say.

"Are you saying this is my fault?" shouted Ranma. In a flash, he had grabbed Ryoga’s collar and hoisted him into the air.

"No! Wait! You’ve got it all wrong!" protested Ryoga, but his protest was cut short as Ranma sent him flying through the air to land in the fountain halfway across the square. He surfaced as P-chan, choking on a pig-sized lungful of water. He barely had time to start swimming for the shore when Ranma scooped him out of the fountain. Ryoga oinked a quick prayer and looked up into a pair of blazing eyes.

"You were saying?" began Ranma. Ryoga struggled to escape, but Ranma’s grip on his bandana was too firm, and his feet weren’t nearly dexterous enough to untie the strangling strip of cloth. "I thought you were going to say something... ‘Oink’ just doesn’t meet your usual standards. Although, it does make an interesting last word..." Ryoga gave up his struggles and waited for the end. Whether Ranma killed him now or left him to endlessly wander in search of the Tendo house in his pig form, it would end the same way. Pork chops.

For several minutes, Ryoga dangled helplessly while Ranma appeared to be fighting some kind of internal conflict. Suddenly, Ranma’s arm closed around him, but it was far gentler than the stranglehold that he’d expected. "I guess I’d better take you home and get you turned back into a human so you can finish your story." A tear fell from Ranma’s eye. "I don’t know what’s gotten into me recently, Ryoga. My temper’s out of control sometimes, but at other times I can't get mad at anything. I think Cologne had something to do with it, but... the things I say are exactly what I’ve been thinking all along and just kept to myself. Can I really pass all of the blame on to Cologne?"

Ryoga did his best to pat Ranma with his stubby legs and reassure him, but his own emotions were in turmoil. He knew that at least part of the blame fell on him; after all, it had been his own two hands that had administered the Naresome no Shiatsu. The fact that he hadn’t known about its full effect in advance didn’t excuse him – did it? Ranma’s overreaction to the situation could have cost Ryoga his life. What would have happened if Akane and not Ryoga had been the one to face Ranma’s untempered wrath? Maybe Ranma had been a loose cannon all along, and it had taken a disaster like this one to demonstrate the danger before someone had gotten seriously hurt or killed because of it.

"You’re awfully quiet," noted Ranma.

"Bwee," replied Ryoga, setting his course in his mind. It probably wasn’t fair to try to force Akane to love him – not if he cared at all about Akane’s feelings. But he would do his best to remind Akane that, if Ranma turned out to be a less than ideal fiancé, there was always another hopeful guy out there by the name of Ryoga... And this time, he’d choose his source of dating advice a little more carefully.

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Kodachi threw the book onto her desk in disgust. "Some book." She snorted. "Change my life for the better? I’ll be getting MY money back, that’s for sure." She seated herself in front of her vanity and began to remove her layers of makeup with a moistened facial wipe. "Nobody rejects the Black Rose and gets away with it!"

A rustling noise interrupted her. She turned to see the petals of the black roses that covered the walls and ceiling of her room moving as if blown by a mysterious breeze. "Just like that brother of mine to come in here and leave the window open." She stood up to close the window, then stopped as she realized that it was, in fact, closed. "That’s odd..." She turned back to the roses, which had fallen still.

"Hmmm... must have been my imagination." She resumed her self-examination, scowling at the still-visible red mark on her face in the shape of the bottom of Ranma’s shoe. She grabbed a handful of rose petals, tossed them into a handy mortar, and ground them into a fine paste. With a cattail frond, she daubed the paste onto her face, smiling as the rose petal essence masked away the unsightly bruise.

Having made her face sufficiently beautiful, Kodachi shifted her attention to her long black hair, combing it into long curly tresses before tying it into a single ponytail. She studied herself in the mirror and frowned. "Perhaps Ranma has grown weary of this hairstyle. After all, he himself wears a ponytail... I must try something new to make myself appeal to him." She reached for a pair of small rose-adorned hair clips and secured her hair into a pair of side ponytails. "Maybe he thinks I look too old. This style makes me look years younger." She paused to admire herself from all angles. "Then again, what if he’s more attracted to older women?" She removed the clips and grabbed a long hairpin, securing her hair into a bun. "This will add a few months of maturity and womanly grace." She took another pause to reflect on her reflection. "I must say, like a fine wine, I certainly age well."

The rustling noise that she had heard a few minutes before tugged at her ear again. She was at first inclined to ignore it, but a movement in the mirror convinced her to turn around to look once again – and gasp in horror. The roses that normally covered the walls of her room had collected into one small spot and arranged themselves in the shape of a human body. As she watched, the arms began to move, stretching toward her as if to grab her. Frozen in terror, all she could do was scream as the roses wrapped themselves around her, choking the air from her lungs with their petals.

Seconds later, the door opened and Tatewaki Kuno burst into the room to find the entire floor ankle-deep in Kodachi’s black roses, the curtains flapping in the breeze from the open window, and his sister nowhere to be seen. He rushed to the open window just in time to see a young man wearing a red gi, with his black hair tied into a ponytail, walking across the lawn in the near-darkness of the night. As Tatewaki climbed onto the windowsill in preparation to leap out after the figure, the man looked up at him. For a split second, their eyes met. Then, the figure vanished as if it had never been there.