Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ The Breakout... ( Chapter 62 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

Run! Flee! Hide! These were the thoughts foremost in Nabiki's consciousness as she scampered full-tilt as fast as her four little legs would carry her through the corridors and passageways of the vessel. She had no thought or coherent sense of where she was headed, only that she had to get there, to escape the terrible thing that was waiting for her if she stopped and examined her situation.

In the periphery of what passed for her consciousness of the moment she could hear the horrible noise of small, furry creatures gathered together, mewling about as she was lowered into the dark pit where terrible things waited to happen. She could almost detect the smell of fish sausages as she fought down the memory of the helplessness, the terrible loneliness as her guardian betrayed her to the blackness where a hundred hungry faces all stood ready to greet her with a sound that would have caused her even now to break out in a cold sweat if the body she was currently possessed of were capable of human perspiration.

She had no memories of what happened next during that terrible nightmare, only that they were on her and she was screaming in terror. The horror went on and on and did not seem to stop until she woke up sometime later no longer in the pit and surrounded by a good deal of wreckage that left the impression that a tornado had blown through that sector of town. She only knew that she was in someone's lap, being stroked and comforted by a kindly old lady. Genma showed up a short time later to reclaim her, but the nine-year-old Tendo Nabiki would not understand until much later what had been done to her by her nominal uncle, and when she was fully cognizant she resolved that she would never forgive him.

Nor was it an isolated incident. Genma had promised to make matters right, but his idea of correcting his error was to try the same trick over and over in the hopes that Nabiki would overcome her resulting phobia, but this tactic only made it that much stronger. Of all the terrible ideas he had ever had during his ten years in training her, that one incident would scar her life inalterably and leave Nabiki with the deep determination never to be alone and helpless like that ever again. She would be master of her own destiny and no one's experimental pawn. She would punish Genma in every way that she could ever conceive but would never feel it was enough satisfaction to compensate for the agony he had caused her. The fear remained, and with it the terrible potential inside her to lose it all in the heat of one moment.

Nabiki hated losing control over her life for any reason, but the fact remained that a single meow or cry in the night could cause her to suffer a stark, cold panic that all her powers of reason could not overcome, nor her will, which in all other matters was like iron. If backed into a corner with no place to flee she risked the danger of suffering a terrible relapse into that state she most dreaded. It was not just the fear of what she might do that haunted her night and day…it was the loss of self-control that she feared, and if she could not find some way to flee her condition she was certain to lose herself into the fury that was the Neko.

But how could one ever hope to escape when the thing you most fear is yourself?

It was more than just the change in her body that was threatening her with impending madness…it was that her newly expanded senses and instincts gave her a complete perspective from the point of view of an enemy she could never hope to conquer. That was why she ran, going from one end of the massive ship to the other, avoiding attempts at ensnarement by the people she encountered, both human and elemental.

She was blindly running from chamber to chamber, from compartment to hold and back again, never stopping as she always turned to find the thing she most feared was still with her…the furry shape of her own body as seen from her greatly altered peripheral vision. There were also strange smells and sounds that greeted her at every turn as she sought to go lower in the hopes of finding someplace remote and dark from which to take shelter, hopefully too exhausted to think and perhaps to last out the length of time it would take for her cursed form to leave her. Better by far to be human and naked than be the thing she was at present, and that granted the warmth afforded her by the fur upon her body.

It was with this single thought in mind that she took a wrong turn at last and found herself dropping out of a shaft, losing grip of the floor as she tumbled out over empty air then landed a moment later on something hard and bony…

No, she realized belatedly as she crunched through a layer of stony objects that felt dry and hollow, not just hard and bony…but hardened bones! She was in a pit of some sort, and as she managed to crawl out from midst of a skeleton she came to the conclusion that the bones were a collection of some sort. Given her small size she would have to adjust her perspective to rate them at normal size, and with this in mind she quickly realized that the bones were human.

Human bones. Lots of them, and picked clean of their meat she determined on closer inspection.

It was an odd thing to jolt her out of her Neko phase with this kind of mystery presented to her in such a way, but Nabiki's sanity clung to the observation like a cat literally clinging to a life preserver. It was just the distraction she had needed, and it was alarming enough to draw her out of her aluraphobic stage as she sniffed at the bones, morbidly drawn to them by her curiosity, ignoring the old adage that might well have applied to her situation. Some bones had a very old smell to them, others were far more recent, but all of them had been methodically and carefully stripped clean of everything edible leaving only the cartilage and solid pieces. It was all very disturbing, and a memory surfaced that seemed to clarify everything in a moment of sheer, terrifying inspiration.

A foreign made movie was the source of the vivid imagery of her flashback, an American made horror classic created by the same director who would later do a Spielberg movie about ghosts. Tobe Hooper was his name and the film he had created on a modest budget was one of the most terrifying she had ever witnessed, a true masterpiece to depravity called the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Nabiki had little truck with the horror genre for the most part. She had experienced real encounters with the supernatural and was hardly impressed with the fake kind manufactured with latex and computer graphics. Most Horror movies were just horrible excuses to toss your cookies at the waste and extravagance of Hollywood special effects artists who seemed to have little sense of the occult and were even more clueless about human nature, judging by the inanimate objects disguised as teenagers always getting hacked up in gruesome ways, all except for the token virgin. Nabiki had surprised and offended more than a few friends by busting up laughing in hysterics at the sheer inane implausibility of the monsters and the situations where victims did everything imaginable to insure that they were goners.

But that one scene from the Massacre had frightened her more than anything except the Neko, the scene where the sole surviving heroine stumbled into a room that was filled with bones and spent the next five minutes in horrified contemplation of their significance. The sheer terror of that scene was now replayed before her eyes, and suddenly it gave a newly clarified meaning to that predatory leer she had seen in Madam Lao's eyes, the hungry look of the beast lurking behind the mask of civility and pleasant dementia.

And something else she discovered as she peered closely at the bones with her night-sensitive vision…there were marks on these bones that hinted at what had consumed the soft bits. Bones were cracked as though to get at their marrow and there was very little stench left to betray a messy killer. There was only one branch of Zoology that had land-based predators this cunning and efficient, and if the size of the tooth marks were any indication, then Lao was even more dangerous than Nabiki had suspected!

Or rather her cursed form, which had to be a lot bigger than she was!

An then a new thought startled Nabiki out of her introspection. Lao was at large and probably quite hungry. She had been teasing with Nabiki before, as if playing with her food were a regular sport for this self-indulgent lady pirate. Denied her sport in one area, she had lots of other playthings to choose from, and if she picked any of her friends at a random sample…

Nabiki looked back up the way she had fallen. The walls were made of wood and looked as if they could be climbed, so she was not trapped in this pit and could leave to find the others. Without hesitation she vaulted to the far corner, then using the instincts that came with her body she rushed forward and took a flying leap, bounding half way up the wall with enough momentum left over to permit her to sink her claws into rough wood and grip firmly. Struggling with all the power of her tiny body Nabiki began to climb, her thoughts now focused upon one thing…finding and rescuing her Ranma!

Ranma was presently nursing his strength back for the next attack, grateful that there were others surrounding him who had their own ki attacks to use to keep the elementals at bay. Their assailants were growing wary, giving ground more, and permitting them passage with less issue. Their group had a moment of respite with which to conduct and resume their searches, and with Cologne gladly leading the way they resumed the door-to-door inspection in search of the missing members of their party.

"Man, this place is something else," Ken averred, "I've shot off three Hadouken in succession but I only feel a little tired, not exhausted like I normally would be."

"I hear what you're saying, Ken," Guile agreed, "It's like something in the air is making us a lot stronger than usual, only whatever we shoot off just gets reabsorbed without doing the ship any real damage."

"You are experiencing the strong concentration of Manna that is permeating this vessel," Cologne replied as she placed her hand over yet another door, then shook her head in dismissal, moving on to the next one on the opposite side of the corridor, "This ship is not within the normal confines of time and space as you would understand it and could almost be accounted a pocket realm in its own right. You have seen how huge it appears from within, yet surely you must know that if viewed from the outside it would not seem quite so expansive."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, lady," Bison remarked, "I've been wondering…why is that?"

"Hey, you know how these things are," Honda rumbled jokingly, "Building always look bigger on the inside than the outside. They warp physics, you get it?"

"Precisely," Cologne observed, causing Honda to loose his grin as she continued, "Normal buildings collect their dimensions inwardly to a very minor yet noticeable aspect, yet some structures gain a life of their own and draw their power from their ability to focus their force-lines inwardly, becoming themselves like enormous focal points of energy. This is in some ways the same as the principle behind the Teserect. In fact, a very good friend I once knew used to travel around in a mobile device shaped like a police call box and…"

"That's really very interesting, lady," Guile hastily interjected before the impending science lecture was fully underway, "But we really do need to find the missing members of our team, and I want to know what that…lady has done with my daughter."

"I am endeavoring to solve that mystery even as we speak…" Cologne replied, then stood away from the door with a mild expression of surprise, "As a matter of fact, I believe we have just, as you say, hit the jackpot. Behind this door is one of your missing team members. Ryoga?"

The lost boy stepped forward and cried, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" as she shattered the wood with a single touch of one finger.

"Handy trick that," Bison remarked, "I really gotta learn that from one someday, kid."

"Sure," Ranma snorted, "You just need a head like a rock."

"Keep it up, Ranma," Ryoga glared, "I know something else worth breaking…"

"Enough with it you two," Guile snapped as he took a step forward, "Honestly you sound like Chun-Li and Cammy…gak!"

"Huh?" Ken tried to look past Guile's broad shoulder and just made out the naked form tied down on the bed, which prompted him to gasp, "Nani???"

"What is it?" Honda asked, "Let me see!"

"Yeah," Bison agreed, "What's the big mystery, Guile? Move your butt and let the rest of us…in?"

His tone fell away as Guile obligingly moved to one side. The green-skinned form held down with heavy chains looked up in yellow-eyed panic and cried out, "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!!"

"Oboy," Ken murmured, staring not only at the naked Ogre-like Blanka but the semi-nude girls flanking him with very annoyed expressions, not to mention some hot candle wax and a great deal of leather, very little of it covering their bodies.

"Oh man," Bison groaned, "I think I'm gonna go blind!"

"What the hell have they been doing to you, Blanka ol' buddy?" Honda asked, not averting his gaze like his dark skinned companion.

"I think we'd better get him out of that," Ranma suggested, also trying not to look directly at anything that was not strictly PG, "He can't be too comfy."

"Do you people mind?" one of the three girls complained in annoyance, "We were just having a little fun with your friend here."

"Yeah," a second girl added, "Couldn't you, like, go away for a few more minutes and let us finish up here?"

"Yeah," the third girl chimed in a Kawaii voice, "He's so cute! And he's so adorable when we…"

"We get the picture," Guile said matter of factly, stepping around these protesting girls as he sought to find some way of liberating his team mate, "I don't know how you get yourself into these situations, Charlie, but this is another one you owe me."

"Just get me out of here, please?" Blanka pleaded, "I mean, no offense to you ladies, but…"

One of the girls just sighed, "The cute ones always get away."

"Yeah," the Kawaii girl said, "It's just not fair."

"They don't build men like him all that often," the third said with a sardonic expression.

"Never mind all that," Cologne said in a testy voice as she stabbed out with her staff and shattered the chains binding Blanka's ankles to the bed. A second blow to shatter the other chains encasing his wrists and soon Blanka was able to sit upright, giving the Amazon Elder a toothy mile of gratitude.

"Thanks Grandmother. Don't know what I'd do without somebody sensible around here."

Cologne gave him a pleasant smile that would have frightened a vampire, "You're not so bad yourself, sonny-boy. Looks like you're a popular one with the ladies."

"Uh, yeah, well," Blanka hastily covered his privates.

"Man, would you put something on already?" Bison asked, "Now that we've found your sorry ass, where's Chun and Cammy at?"

"Next room," Blanka replied, "That Lao lady was doing something with those two in there. Haven't exactly been able to get up and investigate, but…uh…you might want to knock first before entering."

"One side," Honda smiled as he moved over to the adjoining side-door, "My turn to knock."

He thrust both meaty hands out and the door splintered as if struck by a battering ram. Ken smiled as he looked at the former Sumo wrestler and said, "Not bad…pretty subtle."

"Mom always said I knew how to make an entrance," Honda grinned as he stepped through the ruins of the door-frame, froze in mid-step, then backed away and leaned against the wall with a very pale expression, "Oboy!"

"What's the matter?" Bison asked, "There's not another naked guy in there?"

"No," Honda said, "Much worse."

"We don't have time for these antics," Guile snarled as he stepped past Honda and entered the room, only to freeze in his tracks and exclaim a harsh, "WHAT…THE…HELL!?!"

Ken eased past the team leader then did a double take of his own as he gasped, "Chun-Li? Oh my…"

"What's got you cats rattled?" Bison took advantage of his size to glance over Guile's broad shoulder, and then he, too, went rigid, "I…I don't believe it…"

"How interesting," Cologne remarked as she hopped in and past their legs to get a better view from a lower level, "I take it, then, that this is not the usual behavior for these two?"

"No," Ken slowly replied, "You definitely could say that…"

"Oh man," Bison groaned, "I wish I had a camera…"

Ranma and Ryoga exchanged puzzled looks, then for once overcame their own mutual aversion to exposing themselves to matters involving the fair sex. The situation was beginning to desensitize them a little, so they risked a peek from around the wall of muscle in their way and saw the two women called Chun-Li Zahn and Cammy White in a situation that--at the most polite of terms--could best be described as compromising.

To be less delicate about it, one of them was on her back while the other was on top and each had their mouths pressed firmly about the genitalia of the other in what was classically known as a '69 position. The sound of wet, slippery tongue-action and ensuing groans filled the silence of the chamber. A third semi-clad leather-sporting woman was standing over them with a velvet flail in hand and a look of annoyance turned towards the intruders that silently voiced her own brand of disapproval.

"You know, of course," Honda called out from where he was still reclining against the wall, "If they catch us looking at them like this, they're gonna kill us."

"Don't be such a wet blanket, old buddy," Bison grinned in amusement, "They probably don't even know that we're here. Man, this is just so perfect…for once those two aren't chewing each other out and exchanging name-calling and violence. Wish it was usually this easy, right Guile? Guile?"

Very softly they heard the big blond man growl, "I'm going to kill that Madam Lao. First Keiko, and now this!"

Ranma decided he had more than enough of playing the voyeur and started to ease away when he heard a sound that caused him to turn completely around, and before he knew what was happening a furry shape came hurtling into his arms, crying out a sound of feline delight.

"Hah!?" Ranma startled before reflexively gathering the bundle up into his grasp, grateful that the cat had not used her claws to gain better purchase, "Perfume? What are you doing here? Wh-where's Ucchan?"

"She must want us to go with her," Ryoga reasoned, "She came looking for us to tell us where the others are…"

"Mreow!" the cat made a sound as if protesting against this.

"You don't know where they are?" Ranma asked before taking a moment to wonder at how he had known that this was what the cat was saying, "Perfume…you're a natural tracker, you can…"

"Mreow!"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked again, "What do you mean you're not…Perfume?"

He was looking at her more closely this time, and there was something about the Cat's eyes that looked…different. Granted he did not spend as much time around the Amazon as Ukyo, but he had a pretty good idea of what color her eyes were in either of her two forms. These eyes looked more like a normal tawny brown, almost exactly like…

"Nabiki?" Ranma gasped, again wondering at how it was possible for him to know this as the cat immediately nodded her confirmation.

"Eh?" Cologne took serious notice of the cat in question, "Miss Tendo? If that is you…then how could Lao have…unless…"

"What?" Ranma asked as he held Nabiki up in his arms and stared at his transformed iinazuke, "How could she do something like this to Nab-chan?"

"She does look a lot like Perfume," Ryoga frowned, "It's almost like they exchanged curses…"

"Yes," Cologne said quickly, "That is exactly like it. In fact, if Lao has the ability to warp Jusenkyo curses, then she has means at her disposal even greater than I dared imagine. This is very bad news indeed, and one that we must rectify at once."

"Okay," Ranma said, "Like how?"

"First," Cologne remarked, "We must find some hot water to change her back to her human form."

"Excuse me," Blanka said as he came up to them, having just created a loin cloth for himself out of torn bedsheets. He held up a pitcher of water and said, "If it's hot water you need, I think I can do that."

He placed one huge hand under the pitcher and brought the other over the top then concentrated. A moment later his body began to glow as sparks of electricity seemed to flow from one hand to the other, and then he dampened the charge and extended the now hot pitcher.

"Hope I got the temperature just right," he said apologetically, "I normally do this to heat coffee."

"Man, that's some ki trick," Ranma remarked as he set Nabiki down on the floor then tested the water on the palm of one hand before satisfied to use it.

A moment later a slightly soggy but very human Nabiki straightened up and threw her arms around his neck, crying out, "Ranchan!"

"Urk!" Ranma staggered back, a little too aware of Nabiki's presently unclothed state as she pressed her body against the thin separation afforded by his clothing.

"Well," Ryoga growled, "It's nice that we've got you back, Nab-chan, but there is your sister?"

Nabiki was called back from her flood of relief to once again be reunited with the man she loved and turned a worried look to Ryoga, then Cologne, "Akane? You haven't found her yet?"

"Not so far," Cologne replied, "Nor have we as yet found Perfume and Kuonji. We have only just stumbled upon the missing members of Colonel Guile's team, two of whom I suspect have been treated to a form of Xi Fang Xiao to make them behave in a way rather atypical for those two."

"Huh?" Nabiki looked past the gap separating the huge men and saw two naked forms still entwined in each other's bodies. She turned a slow glare towards Ranma and growled, "Ranchan…?"

"We weren't spying on them or nothing!" Ranma hastily protested, sensing the rise in Nabiki's battle aura, "We were just trying to figure a way of breaking them out of their trance…"

"I'll just bet you wanted to help them," Nabiki glowered, but her battle aura began to fade as a very different look crossed her face and she turned to snatch another glance at the writhing pair, "On the other hand, if that's the kind of show you'd like to watch, Shampoo and I'll be happy to put on a demonstration for you when we get home…"

"Urk!" Ranma blanched, sensing a trap from the cunning look Nabiki gave him.

"We don't have time for this!" Ryoga shouted, his body trembling with rage, "Akane needs our help!"

"Not as much as you think, but I do appreciate the sentiment, Ryoga-kun."

Ryoga's eyes got very wide and he ceased trembling as he murmured, "Akane?"

The others turned to watch the approaching trio with Akane leading the way, garbed in a very strange ensemble formed almost entirely of leather bits, ornaments and chains that hardly constituted a decent standard for clothing but served the task of concealing those parts that might be covered by a very tiny bikini. The whole effect was so Arabian Knights Harem-like that it gave her the appearance of a royal Princess, and that was not even taking into consideration the contrast to the way Kodachi and Keiko were decked out. The redhead had jewels in her hair, over her breasts and around her waist while Kodachi had even more outlandish-yet-stylish bits to flaunt her charms as much as conceal them.

To a normal human libido the effect was like a mental hammer whacking one over the head, and even Ranma gasped in disbelief as he said, "Akane?"

"Kei-chan?" Nabiki gasped in equal astonishment, then the two of them exchanged hasty looks before Ranma and Nabiki forced themselves to look elsewhere.

"Keiko?" Guile moved past the door, then took two steps forward as the redhead rushed up to embrace him in a fierce hug that actually rocked his massive frame and threatened to topple him backwards.

"Father!" she cried in equal delight.

"God, I was so worried about you," Guild groaned as he held onto her tight in a very rare display of fatherly emotion.

"That makes two of us," Keiko said before forcing herself slightly back within the protective circle of his embrace, "I know what Lao's capable of if she gets crossed, and you guys have been making a lot of noise on this end of the ship. We came as soon as we could find something to wear and slip past the sentries guarding our room…um…sorry that there wasn't a lot more we could wear besides this…"

"I'll speak with you about modesty later," Guile replied, "I'm just glad you're still alive and weren't…uh…never mind."

"Ah…Dad?" Keiko hesitated, sensing Kodachi's silent approach, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you…this doesn't seem like a very good time, but…"

"It can wait until later," said Cologne as she came hopping back into the chamber, followed by a shaken Cammy White and Chun-Li, "For now we must quickly gather up the rest of our forces and make a stand against Lao before she has the chance to call in her big guns. It is good to see you again, Daughter-in-law, and with you here we are considerably strengthened. We need but find Kuonji and Perfume to be at full strength, and then we will confront Lao once again, only this time as a force that will not be denied by lowly minions."

"I'm all game to take her down a peg," Nabiki agreed as she partially surrendered her hold upon Ranma, heedless of her unclothed state as she immediately took charge of the situation, "I've seen a side to this Lao Kung that I never hoped I'd ever see this side of the grave. She must be stopped and stopped hard, and we're the ones to do it. No more sulking around and doing this by pieces, we go head on and brace the Tiger in her lair. Are you with me?"

"Hai!" cried the other members of her posse, except for Ryoga who was still staring at Akane and--miracle of all miracles--his nose was not bleeding.

"Sure is a take-charge kind of lady," Bison nodded, giving Nabiki a firm lookover, "I think I'm in love."

"Just don't let her boyfriend hear you say that," Ken remarked, "He's got a pretty wicked ki attack, and you're still just mastering the basics."

Cammy looked shaken as she exchanged an uncertain look with Chun-Li. The two of them averted their stares, then Cammy hesitantly asked, "Were we…just now…?"

"Don't," Chun-Li replied with a note of desperation in her tone, "I don't want to think about it. You?"

"Course not," Cammy hastily replied, giving the other girl a sidelong glance before adding, "Bet you're hoping Guile caught a good look at you…"

"I do not!" Chun-Li protested, then turned crimson as she looked anywhere but at the naked blond beside her, "Besides, who'd want to look at a cold-blooded killer like you, Assassin?"

"Ball-buster."

"Harlot."

"Bitch."

"All right," Guile growled, "Nice to see you two are back to normal, now get something on or I'll take the both of you across my knee."

"Ooh, I think I'd enjoy that," Cammy leered.

"You would," Chun-Li snorted.

"I think I liked them better tied up," Bison murmured to Honda, right before the two girls rounded on him and almost punched his lights out.

"Yep, back to normal all right," Ken replied sardonically, then made a warding gesture with his hands as he said, "Sorry ladies, I'm spoken for, remember?"

"How could we forget?" Chun-Li smirked knowingly, "Watch yourself or I'll tell 'Liza."

"Something about this almost seems familiar," Kodachi mused sardonically before turning to Nabiki with a surprisingly clear-eyed expression, "Sorry we didn't bring anything for you to wear, but it seems Madam Lao prefers her women in a state of undress. There is a storeroom not far from here where you can find enough scraps to at least spare your iinazuke from a serious nosebleed. I suggest we act quickly, however, as Madam Lao will no doubt be rallying her forces to our recapture."

"Right," Nabiki nodded, "But I think modesty's the least of my problems at the moment. All right Posse, move out. Ranma and Ryoga, take the point, Akane and Kodachi in the center, Keiko, you're with me. The rest of you…do what comes natural. I expect no less of you, Elder."

Cologne hid a smile as she sagely nodded, "As you say, Daughter."

"Colonel?" Honda asked as he and Blanka gave Guile a questioning look.

"Do as the lady says," Guile nodded, "She has a plan, I'm willing to play her way."

"Thanks, Dad," Keiko smiled, "You won't be sorry you put your faith in Nab-chan."

"Nab-chan?" Guile frowned, giving his daughter a very puzzled expression.

"Oops," Keiko softly amended as Kodachi fetched her a look of pure mischief.

"We'll take point," Ranma nodded, giving Nabiki a hard look that had nothing to do with avoiding looking at her bosoms, "Any other words of wisdom, Nab-chan?"

"Just one," Nabiki gave Kodachi and Keiko a meaningful look, "Whatever you do, don't get wet. We need everybody to stay in the shape they are until we get through this crisis."

"What do you have to worry about?" Kodachi grinned, "Your other self has ample…advantages."

Nabiki took only half a second to process this, seeing the knowing smirk in the Black Rose's expression, and then she said, "Trust me on this…this is one time I'd rather not take any chances…"

"You ready now, Airen?" Perfume asked Ukyo as the two finished using whatever was on hand to fashion makeshift apparel.

Ukyo smiled at the man who was her husband by Amazon oath and said, "Ready enough if you are. I have to say, you sure can move fast when you have to."

Perfume smiled back, "I improvise. Modified training is good, help Airen past crisis, now we go take care of other matters."

"Sure thing," Ukyo smirked, "If you think you've still got the strength for a fight."

"Hah!" Perfume grinned, "Take you on any day. This body no like other one…much stronger because of size, but Perfume still Amazon, still know how to draw strength to replace what is used. I teach you that some when we train together."

"It's a date," Ukyo said, then reached out a hand to touch the arm of her husband, "What I said before…about it not mattering whether you're a man or a woman?"

"Yes?" Perfume raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I lied," Ukyo smiled back, "I like you either way, but this body definitely has some advantages. We may never get a chance to do it this way again, so I just wanted you to know…this one time was enough to convince me that I really do…love you the way you are, Per-chan," she smiled shyly, "I'm just glad we had the chance to do it this way this one time. After this, I'm going to have memories that I'm always going to cherish."

Perfume cupped Ukyo's chin and bent her head up so that their faces were almost touching, "Who say this only time? Maybe next time it you who be man to Perfume-woman. Is good that you admit this, wife…" he smiled, and then they kissed, then Perfume parted again as he added, "But you no give up on Perfume when she be weak girl again?"

"Weak?" Ukyo chuckled, amused at the absurdity of it all as she hugged him close to her and said, "You're one of the strongest people I've ever known, Per-chan. I could never think of you as weak…in either of your forms."

"Except when cat," Perfume reminded.

"Right," Ukyo said, "Then you only give me claw and teeth marks. Well, now that we're ready to get out of here, I hope you've figured out a way to get past those wards."

"Perfume have plan," Perfume smiled as he released his wife and turned to regard the door with a thoughtful expression, "Door is protected by spell so no can find breaking point weak-spot, so I think maybe we no use door, we make own exit."

He walked over to the nearest wall and studied it, then smiled and touched his earrings, then extended his hands as a pair of axes manifested in either fist.

Ukyo reacted with a gasp, "How did…? Where did those…? I thought you dropped them in the water…"

"Lose axes Perfume normally use," Perfume replied as he held up the double-bladed weapons in preparation, "These magical kind I call up when needed. Special charm in earrings store blades in pocket space for when most useful. Other axes probably on bottom of ocean, but these do trick…Steel Storm Amaguriken!"

Perfume became a blur of action as he attacked the wall with a speed and strength that was utterly superhuman. Chips of wood went flying everywhere as Ukyo stood back with her hands raised defensively, and while she could see a corona of energy begin to form where the axes were flying it was plain that the defensive barriers were failing to hold, and in a matter of seconds Perfume cut through to the other side, then stepped in through the gap, pausing to glance over his shoulder before saying, "Is all clear on this side, Ucchan. Think maybe we in store room and not other bed chamber."

"Storage chamber?" Ukyo asked as she stepped in through the newly created doorway and looked around, "Wonder what kind of goods this Madam Lao keeps in supply here?"

Perfume passed one axe into the other hand and used his free arm to pick an object off a shelf which turned out to be a specially made phallus with lots of bumps and ridges. To this the Amazon raised both eyebrows with a look of speculation.

"Ugh," Ukyo winced as she spotted other objects of bondage apparel laid out in neat rows and display kits, "Forget I asked. This looks like it was supplied by the Marquis de Sade novelty shop and…what the heck are these things for?" she held up a chain connected to a pair of nipple-clips with a dubious expression.

Perfume smiled and was about to say something about that when his senses caught up with an object resting in one corner that did not go with the rest of the devices and implements of sexual torture that dominated the room. Taking two strides to reach it he touched the metal haft of the object and felt a slight tingle pass through his body.

Perfume gasped as he felt the transformation hit him without warning, causing his body to collapse in on itself until a moment later he was restored into SHE status and felt her makeshift clothing suddenly hanging loose around her body.

"Uh oh," Ukyo winced, "Guess whatever it was finally wore off, huh? What a pity. Still…it's nice to have the old you back, Per-chan."

Perfume sighed, feeling more than slightly deflated, although she had to agree that she much preferred being a woman to having the permanent status of a man. She completed the act of picking up the object and turning to Ukyo with a smile upon her face, presenting same to the astonished chef as though making a love-offering.

Ukyo reached out for and gratefully received her baker's peel, surprised beyond words to find that it had been rescued from the ocean. She held it up, feeling its familiar weight in her hands and almost felt like crying. It had been a gift from her father, one of the few he had ever bestowed in token admission of fatherly pride and it meant more to her than all of her other possessions. To have it restored to her now made her feel whole again, and with an affection that might have seemed strange towards the inanimate she clutched it to her bosom then smiled in gratitude to Perfume, who smiled back, sharing the moment.

"Thank you," Ukyo said with eyes that were shining with emotion, then she rested the heavy part of the spatula on the floor and gave Perfume a meaningful look as she added, "Now Lao will really know what kind of a fight she's in for. Bring them all on and I'll show them how I make an okonomiyaki."

Perfume nodded her understanding and said, "Now we go find others, and no one stand against Perfume and her Airen."

"They'd better not try," Ukyo agreed, and together they took their leave of the chamber…

Continued

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