Lust (One Part)
by David Houghton



Once again, I wake, viewing photos of the two loveliest creatures on
earth:  the tigress Akane and, then, the pigtailed goddess.  Oh, how
beauteous they are.  A ribbon curls round me and pulls me to the 
breakfast table.  Then, arcing down, comes a razor hitting my pillow. 
Sometimes, I wonder what I have done to offend the gods, or more like the
demons.  Saotome will not get away with summoning my demon father back to
haunt me.

"Thank you, dear sister, for saving me from a fate worse than death," I
say - after all, it's only polite.  Then, it slowly filters through:  my
twisted sister is cooking.  However, the great and powerful Kuno can
easily fight off ill effects, such as these.

I depart my abode through the western egress.  Once again, I must wait
for that Coward Saotome.  I will be victorious today.  These talismans
Gosunkugi provided... THUNNK.

What vision of loveliness is this?  Ah, images of my two loves.

'3000 yen for five, Kuno-chan,' goes a voice.

'I despise you,' I whisper.

The deal is struck while the iron is hot, or, at least, that's what the
saleswoman thinks, and she is most skilled at this.  English class next.
Do we have to learn from a toddler?

"Today, for English, we'll be studying 'As You Like It'."

I sit down and peruse it.  I only hope that the day will not get more
stormy.  It does.  My twisted sister has, once again, escaped boundaries
and come for that foul sorcerer Saotome.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!"

You would swear you could hear the extra exclamation marks.  It is while
I am listening to my sister's rant.  Then, my very essence is drained,
leaving me naught but a wraith.  The Curse of Ranma is efficacious as
ever, and lasts for eternity.  He will feel my righteous wrath yet!  But
first, I must find my pigtailed goddess.  Or maybe, the beauteous Akane.
I wonder what it is.

"Kuno, I advise you to pay attention this week.  We are studying As You
Like It.  You might find the Ganymede scenes pertinent to your
situation."

I wonder why the class sniggers... did Saotome put a laughter spell on
them?  Nabiki looks worried, or as worried as she ever gets.  I wonder
why she could be so worried.

I peruse the text.  It tells of a girl who disguises herself as a boy to
escape the clutches of a false noble who wants to marry her.  Then, she
meets up with her true love, who slowly falls in love with him.
Eventually, the formerly dishonoured noble and she marry.  In their true
sexes.  A noble wants to marry a girl who is love with someone else, but
the noble doesn't listen and clings.

"Kuno, you be the villain."

Something is filtering through.  Nabiki's words can be.  Ranma, whose
detestation of me is palpable.  Slowly, the realization drifts in. 
Little grains of sand, then a tide.  Things fit together.  The pigtail.
The fact that the osage-no-onna's body and soul are Ranma's is changed.
My sister's insistence that the osage-no-onna is keeping Ranma prisoner.
And my belief that Ranma holds osage-no-onna prisoner.  Then, the
vanishing of Ranma at the beginning.  The anger of her when I said Ranma
was no man.  For, at the moment, he was not.  My consciousness slips away
at the realisation.

When I finally raise myself from the blissful state of dreamless sleep, I
scream.  Osage-no-onna is a man.  The pigtailed goddess is the sorcerer
Saotome.  The Gordian knot has been cut by Hinako.

It is time to cut my ties to the mercenary, maybe a dig.  Then, she will
no longer be my puppeteer.  But first, I will adjust my bedroom.