"So tell me this, Tiger."
"Hmm?"
Nabiki sat on her bed with her girlfriend's head and most of her upper body in her lap, slowly combing her fingers through the fluffy mass of red hair, unbound by any braid or ponytail. If Ranma had her cat ears, she'd twitch them in vague cranial pleasure.
"How come you were so quick to take your top off? I mean, you did basically almost get... you know?"
"Yeah, I know. I guess I just wanted ta reassert my... what's the word?" She tapped her fingers on Nabiki's leg in mild annoyance. "Y'know, like it's my shirt, I get ta decide when I take it off?"
"Agency?"
"Thank you!" Ranma reached up and grabbed Nabiki's head, pulled her down a bit and kissed her remarkably softly on the lips.
"I guess I can understand why you'd do that, then. It just struck me more as something you'd sooner do in cat form."
"Hey, with all this squirmin' in your lap, it's already pretty much off again already." Ranma indicated her shirt, which had indeed run up to reveal her midriff and the bottom of her breasts.
"And it can stay like that for a bit longer," Nabiki stated as she ran her fingers across Ranma's toned yet somewhat soft stomach. Ranma giggled and squirmed some more.
With her other hand, Nabiki reached for a glass of water. "Y'know what, Tiger? I wanna check something," she said, carefully pouring the contents over her lover's head and watching as one set of ears disappeared in Ranma's voluminous tresses and another appeared on top. She didn't see it happen, but Nabiki heard her bedsheets shift as a tail pushed them away.
Ranma licked up some water that had flowed down her face. "What's that?"
"I read once that kitties don't actually like it much when they get their bellies rubbed," Nabiki explained as she held her hand above the catgirl's stomach, ready to strike.
"Well that's for dumb, regular kitties. Ryouga and me, we've got human smarts, Biki."
"You're also a boastful little shit so let's see if that holds up in practice."
With that, the mercenary struck. The Sounds her lover produced were much the same as before, though Nabiki could swear she heard something unexpected.
"What was that, Tiger?"
"...nuffin'?"
"That wasn't nothing, Tiger. You mewled!" Nabiki smirked.
Ranma pouted. "I did not. I told ya, I don't meow."
Nabiki softly stroked Ranma's exposed belly. "I'm pretty sure you did, Tiger. And y'know what? It Sounded really nice."
Ranma would've protested if she wasn't fighting back an honest-to-god purr. When Nabiki started lightly scratching her stomach, she really couldn't help herself.
"Oh my god, isn't that just precious?"
Ranma feebly shook her head, now almost as red as her hair, while still purring like a kitten. "Not meowing... this ain't a meew..."
"That almost was one right there. But you know, Tiger... I have ways to make you meow..."
"You mean my ta--"
"I don't mean your tail, kitty."
"Then what?" Ranma asked curiously.
Nabiki reached over and pulled a little packet from underneath her pillow. "What do you say we take a quick stop in the bathroom?"
"Is that what I think it is? Cos I think I recognize that kanji." Ranma pointed at a big neko kanji on the packet, though technically since it was a Chinese product, it was mao. "I don't think I'd wanna be a little kitty again."
Nabiki patted Ranma on the head. "Relax, Tiger. You know this stuff doesn't last. We'll just go down to the bathroom, horribly abuse the rinsing bucket, and see what we get. And when we're done, you know how to change back and you'll never have to walk on all fours again."
"Eh, whatever."
"So I told him, if he wanted to spend even one day without any bandages anywhere on his body, he'd reconsider trying to force himself on me or Ranma."
"Oh my, Akane. You told him that with those exact words?"
"Pretty much... I may have been a little more uncouth, maybe?"
"I'd scold you, but that Kuno boy deserves it." Kasumi placed down the tea kettle just when Nabiki returned from the bathroom. "Nabiki, where'd you put Ranma?"
"Right over there, sis," Nabiki replied. She pointed somewhere behind her, but her sisters couldn't see anyone there. "Lower, ladies."
A little cat, pinkish-white with red accents, padded into the room. It turned around and looked up at Nabiki, holding out its forelegs, but made no Sound.
"Oh my, is that...?"
"Yup. That's Ranma. I did buy those packets from Shampoo after all." Nabiki looked down at the little cat gesturing at her. "What's that, Tiger? I can't hear you," she teasingly sang.
"I think she wants you to pick her up, sis," Akane guessed.
"I know she does. I just want to hear her meow."
Akane made a mildly surprised face. "Meow?"
"Yeah, you know, like 'meow'?" Nabiki confirmed, holding one hand up beside her head like one of those beckoning cat statues. The cat at her feet retched. "But yeah, even without speech she insists that--" She shifted her stance to approximate the smaller girl's usual pose. "Ranma Saotome don't meow... bitch."
"Somehow I'm glad Ryouga isn't here," Kasumi muttered as she poured herself a cup of tea.
"Why's that, sis?" Akane asked as she watched Ranma fruitlessly 'ask' for upsies.
"Nothing. Have some tea."
Fuck this, Ranma thought as she lowered her arms -- no, they were called forelegs in this form. I'll just ask Kasumi. She loves carryin' small animals around!
"Could you imagine, though?" Akane started as she took the kettle. "Two cats with human minds in one room? They could, I dunno, plot our collective downfall, and have the means to execute it too!"
You keep jokin' around like that, I just might track down Ryouga and do it, Ranma scoffed as she jumped into Kasumi lap. Holy crap is it me or does Kas' lap feel great?
"Ah, look at that. I think she likes you, sis!"
Kasumi carefully stroked the temporary-cat's head with her thumb. When she started softly scratching behind Ranma's ears, the purring started.
"See, that's about as far as I've gotten. She simply won't meow for me! Me!" Nabiki mock-complained as she took a cup of tea for herself.
"Maybe you're not doing quite the right thing, Nabiki," Kasumi offered.
God this is heavenly! I'd use up all a' those packets yesterday if I knew it would feel this nice to get scritches...
At Nabiki's questioning expression, Kasumi raised her free hand, index finger raised... and stopped petting Ranma.
"Hey, what's the big deal," Ranma would've said if she could. But she was unable to speak like a human, for she was a cat. The only Sound that did come out of her kitty mouth was a single inquisitive meow. Ranma shut her mouth immediately and covered it with her paws. Aw, fuck me that was a dirty trick!
"Tadah."
"How'd you figure that'd work?" Akane asked.
"It's like you said. She's a cat with a human mind. So instead of doing things that would make a cat 'speak', I did something that would make a human speak," Kasumi explained, then finished her tea.
An embarrassed Ranma padded off, back to the bathroom. Felt nice though.
Author's Notes
Did you know that I'd been sitting on the idea for this chapter since a day before I published Good and Pure? I came up with it, let it stew and develop, and a day later we came up with this other fic idea. Well, Ranmya shall languish no longer I tell ya hwat.
Question is, what do I put in the next chapter? Anyone?
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