Chapter Text
The child in her arms cried until his tears dried out, until his erratic breathing evened out. It wasn’t the first time he cried himself to sleep in her arms like this, but it was the first time he didn’t call for his father even from the embrace of sleep.
Her own hug only tightened around him, fearing his nightmares would catch up to him once again.
Then and there she made two promises to herself, first to castrate the man that left his child on his own like this, and to love said child like her own.
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Six years later.
He was running around the place like usual, making sure all the rooms were clean, all the halls tidied up and all of the laundry taken care of. Ranma thought it was pretty annoying that all the bed sheets needed washing after each night, or that the bedside tables always needed to be resupplied, but he was hardly the one to voice his complaints. Not as long as his sisters and aunties depended on him.
‘’MaMa-chan!’’ called one of the older women, one of those that lived in the place. It was normal for some of his many siblings to spend the night or two, to escape their daily lives, to hide away from uncomfortable situations, but some simply had no other place to go. Just like him. ‘’Lunch is ready!’’ the loud voice reached him again, and he wasted no time with his current task of dusting the ground floor hallways, before sprinting up towards the attic. Skipping steps three or four at a time into the second floor, nearly knocking down one of his sisters, and jumping up the narrower set of wooden stairs behind the last of the usable rooms. Landing right in the middle of the living quarters of the brothel he called home for as long as he could remember.
Rushing further in, along the few lived in rooms that were there, passing his own as well, right into the open doors to the fairly spacious dining room, which was basically just a big kitchen with a huge table pushed against one of the side walls. A wide smile already played on his face as Nenepi came into view. ‘’Oh MaMa-chan, there you are, I heard you whispering with the other girls that you craved some of my spicy beef gyoza just yesterday, so of course, i had to make some.’’ he was already bound for the dining table to dig into his favorite dish from his favorite sister, but her touch on his shoulder stopped him, as a smaller plate got pushed into his hands. ‘’Made an extra spicy batch just for you.’’ She giggled and kissed his forehead.
‘’You didn’t have to sis!’’ he said before burying his head into her shoulder in a one arm embrace. Her hugs were definitely his favorite. Right after Mom’s of course. Letting go of her, he finally made it to his favorite chair, he’d usually stuff his face until his plate was completely clean, but he just couldn’t but nibble thru this meal in particular, he knew how much of a hassle gyoza was, so he didn’t dare to ask for it that often, because he knew Nenepi could never say no to anyone from her family.
‘’Don’t forget the dipping sauce, squirt.’’ said a voice behind him, a hand with a small dish appearing above him nearly getting him drenched in the dark liquid. Sayuri was one of the newer sisters to join the Amaterasu’s Rest, he still liked her, but her teasing sure got on his nerves fast.
‘’I didn’t forget! I was just reaching-’’
The dipping dish got tipped by one of the twins accidentally anyways. ‘’Whoops! Whatcha doin standin’ there sis?’’ Iruka grinned and her twin brother, Same, immediately took a different dish and spilled the oily sauce onto Sayuri’s head as well.
‘’Now ya two match at least!’’ that got a good laugh from both the twins and Ranma.
‘’Ohh, black would fit ya more than the blond mellier, ya know?’’ he grinned at her, picking an especially large piece of garlic from her hair. She turned away with a huff and walked away towards her own spot.
Last to join from the current permanent residents was Mom, her auburn hair tied into a messy bun and her casual clothing, that she picked up upon Ranma’s unplanned adoption, as changing kimonos after every time the child cried in her arms got quite bothersome, never broke that air of… Power? Nobility? Maternity? Ranma wasn’t really sure what it was about her, he wasn’t sure he could really ever name it, but he was sure something made her special no matter what clothes she wore, or how she made her hair. And that just made him like her more than anyone he ever got to meet.
Even saying that to himself, he was sure that he wasn’t the only one that got babied or taken care of by her in the same way he was, but he still thought he was special to her in some kind of way. And that only made his smile ever brighter.
‘’Good evening.’’ she said, voice soft despite the volume in which she spoke. ‘’I’m sure you all know why I asked you to show up today, even if it isn’t really your shift today.’’ her hands hidden behind her back. Ranma tried swaying on his chair to catch a glimpse of whatever she could be hiding, but to no avail. Only when his seat steadied he noticed that basically all of his sisters and aunties were here, even the ones he rarely saw because they preferred to do their job out there. Mom walked closer to Ranma, standing just behind him, making him stretch his neck back to look at her. That rewarded him with a very sweet smile. ‘’It’s because our little darling is celebrating his eighteenths today!’’
He paused for a second. ‘’Wait am i?’’ the raven haired boy asked before a wave of confetti walled off his vision and loud congratulations dulled his hearing. He felt Mom’s presence recede as she stepped away from him, seconds before a pile of bodies enveloped him in a group hug. All of his siblings and sorta parental figures wanted a share of the birthday boy. More than a dozen kisses landed on his cheeks and forehead. All the ‘I love you’s made his cheeks warm.
And when all of the warmth withdrew, Mom finally stepped back and put her arms around his shoulders. ‘’Happy birthday, Ranma.’’ Giving him a kiss on the cheek of her own and setting a small cake right in front of him. It wasn’t more than a glorified muffin, but that was still more than what he expected each and every year.
He spun around on his chair, returning both the hug and the kiss. ‘’THANK YOU!’’ he shouted near her ear. She barely flinched, already prepared from the previous years. ‘’I love you the most Mom!’’ he said, a little less volume this time, but with no less vigor. Before whipping around again and blowing out the single candle on his birthday cake.
His wish, the most innocent of all. For his family to stay happy… and a quiet, completely silly and mostly ignored part of his brain, just wished for him to be happy and pretty like his sisters one day as well…
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A few days later he walked into the sort of office his Mom occupied most days, where she dealt with paperwork, counted money, or just made phone calls he didn’t understand the meaning of.
For once, he brushed out his hair, tied them up in a high ponytail, with a cute ribbon he stole from Same, and wore that nice red dress shirt and black jeans his sisters got together to buy him as his birthday present. He even used some sort of perfume Iruka lent him. He tapped his feet and adjusted and re-adjusted the sleeves and collar of his shirt multiple times before Mom stopped talking on the phone.
‘’Is this about what I think this is?’’ she asked, resting her face on her palm.
‘’Umm…’’ Ranma inspected the fluffy carpet he helped her choose some time ago.
‘’So it is… you know full well I'd rather you don’t, why don’t you find a normal job? I have few contacts, and many of your sisters could, and very much would love to, take you with them to their day jobs… so why?’’ she asked, calmly. Yet again.
He didn’t really know. Like with many things in his life. ‘’Because I want to help around even more!’’ That surely was a good enough reason!
‘’Ranma, darling, you are already our one man cleaning army, you are doing enough as is, i was offering you outside jobs just because you yourself think you don’t do enough for me.’’ She sighed and rubbed at her cheek. She’d have to call a dentist soon.
‘’B-but now i’m old enough! So i can!’’ completely ignoring her words, like always, he latched onto the easiest and most straight forward way towards his goal. ‘’And… and!’’ his voice quieted down. ‘’I c-can’t just abandon all the teaching my aunties and sisters gave me, I can't really use that knowledge outside the Amaterasu…’’ he mumbled, his cheeks tinted rose as he thought about all the ‘secrets of the craft’ the girls taught him over the years.
Mom was left with her jaw on the floor. Because, for once, something Ranma said was complete news for her. She nodded a few times, biting her upper lip, before making clicking noise with her mouth. ‘’I will have to talk to your sisters and teach them what’s appropriate for a teenager to know…’’ his face like a tomato now, she nodded a few more times, her eyes searching the ceiling. ‘’Fine, but I am choosing who can pay for your time and who can’t, at least until you ‘prove’ yourself… or whatever.’’ she shook her head in defeat. The ‘not old enough’ was one of her strongest cards against the very hardheaded child of hers. She knew that if she told him stern ‘no’ he’d listen, for like a week, and then come to her office to ask again. And again, and again, until he got exactly what he wanted. So all she could do with such requests was to moderate them. She wondered if he got that from his biological parents.
She took a look through her calendar, trying to pick a day with the best of her girls on shift. She needed them here to support Ranma after his first client, as it could always go bad, and at worst, to help defend him if things went truly south. And wouldn’t you know it…
‘’Your first will be today then, be ready by the usual opening hours, I will talk with the girls about the details and then let you know hour before we open, before then just do what you normally do, but don’t tire yourself out.’’ she wrote a few lines into the calendar, before closing it, and looking up. Only to jump back in her chair as she was met with Ranma’s face millimeters from hers.
‘’ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou-’’
‘’Okay, i get it, breath MaMa-chan, breath.’’ she patted his back, because she could barely breath herself from the super tight hug he gave her. And before she could say more, he was gone. Probably to break the news to others. She picked the phone line again and called out the inhouse number that connected her to the kitchen.
‘’Nenepi-chan, could you find Asumi-san and Nadeshiko, and could you all come to my office, I got a first night to plan for Ranma.’’
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He could barely contain his excitement, bouncing on his feet inside the twin’s room, sharing the news with them first, and when they could barely hold their excitement they barreled their way through the living quarters into Sayuri’s room and spilled the tea to her as well.
‘’So, let me just say it again, you refused multitude of normal jobs, to be a prostitute?’’ she said slowly, pronouncing each word as properly as she could, so that, hopefully, he’d see where she sees the error of his ways.
But, Ranma could only nod in excitement.
‘’You’re unbelievable.’’ she breathed out, before she moved in to hug him as well. ‘’Well congrats i guess?’’ she smiled, for him, she thought that his happiness was contagious to some degree… until her eyes landed on twins, and their make up set. Then she just dreaded the reality that they will talk her into lending Ranma her best clothes… again.
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The girl shivered, but not thanks to the crisp early winter night, as she stepped inside the imposing hotel. It took her an hour of talking to herself to even breach the doors, and now she was too stunned to speak to the lady behind the register. She looked non-threatening, at least her t-shirt with english text and a picture of grinning sun with sunglasses, and her messy reddish hair would definitely suggest so. But her sharp eyes burrowed into her, judging her every little move, every little breath she took. Judging her for ever daring to step into this forbidden place.
But she had things to prove, she couldn’t back down now. Letting the anger from the earlier day’s fight fuel her resolve. And so she took measured steps, and avoided eye contact, as she made her way towards the open window of the registry.
‘’Hello young lady, how can I help you?’’
And her resolve once again bristled away. The fires of wrath, no more than mere embers on a winter night now. ‘’I-i…’’ her eyes sliding down onto the plaque of pricing for hours spent in the hotel. She gulped down, she did want to spend the entire night so that there would be no doubt about her in her friend’s eyes ever again. ‘’I-i would like t-to pay for your s-special services.’’ she stuttered, like she tried brushing the stuffing out of a fluffy blanket.
With a satisfied grin, the well fit woman pulled out a set of portraits of different women from underneath her counter. ‘’These are all on shift right now, choose one and tell me how long would you like to spend with them.’’ she said, matter of factly. Her intense gaze finally easing out.
The girl brushed her dark, almost bluish, bangs out of her eyes before taking the photographs with trembling fingers. She stifled through them, an older woman with sharp features and blond, greying thru, hair, a girl about her oldest sister’s age with messy black hair and freckles, a girl her age with… weird hair colour job?... she picked through until her eyes finally met the shining blue pearls hidden under dark bangs of a boy that possibly could be her age, if not a year or two younger.
She pushed the pictures back into the waiting hands of the copper haired woman, with the boy’s face on top. ‘’T-this one, p-please, f-for the wh-wh…’’ she gulped. Is she really going to do it… that long? Shaking her head violently to set her thoughts straight. She had to be 100% sure. ‘’F-for the whole n-night please.’’
The older woman nodded appraisingly, her grin growing into a wide smile. ‘’That one’s new to the business, so take it easy.’’ Her laughter hearty and full, echoing out into the night, before she winked at the young girl in front of her. She told her the price, accepted the money and gave her the room number. ‘’Your company is in the sky suit, up on second floor, door number 6, enjoy your night.’’ Mom waved and picked the phone to give Ranma, and the rest of the girls, a heads up.
Meanwhile the young martial artist struggled her way up the stairs. Her feet made of lead and her insides full of acid. Her palms sweaty, her back drenched. She felt like fainting. But somehow, by a miracle, she made it in front of the sky blue coloured door. There were few clouds painted on it, which should have eased her nerves, but it sure didn’t. She raised her hand, and… almost knocked. She pulled her fist away at the very last second. Her doubts once again told her to turn and run. But her empty pockets screamed at her not to waste money like that. ‘’There’s no running away once you place your bets.’’ voice of her older sister ringed in her mind. Bouncing around her skull like a mantra that she really needed right now.
And so, she finally knocked.
‘’Enter!’’ called a far higher voice than she expected.
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He was looking up at the painted ceiling, enjoying the view through the cloud like skies of the bed when suddenly he heard a faint knocking… that nearly gave him a heart attack. He adjusted his pose on the bed, making sure his curves were on full display… even if they were mostly fake, and called out, in a higher voice than he wanted.
‘’Enter!’’
The doors opened, briefly letting him see the outside hallway, and how nicely he tidied it up, before they snapped close and in front of them-
His heart skipped a beat.
His mouth refused to collaborate as the blue haired girl tried staring holes into him.
Somehow missing the threatening gaze, he waved, and smiled as sweetly as his sisters taught him. Waving his fingers instead of his whole hand, like he saw in those old timey movies Mom liked to watch so much.
He nearly spoke, nearly made a sound, nearly welcomed her and made his way to her to begin their night…
When suddenly an ear splitting scream stunned him. ‘’YOU ARE A GIRL?!’’ the girl’s anger emanated off her in waves of palpable heat. Before suddenly, it was gone, and she slid down the doors, balling up on the threshold. Her sobbing nearly as loud as her earlier shriek. Instincts he didn’t understand instantly overriding his survival ones as he hurried off the bed to kneel down next to the wailing girl.
‘’What happened?’’ he asked softly, patting her shoulder gently. ‘’C'mon you are a big girl aren’t ya? Speak to me.’’ his brain threw all the caution into the wind. The girl needed him to be more than just a call girl right now, even if she looked like someone who could really hurt him, he could barely think of anything other than a way to calm her down.
She responded by pulling her legs closer to her chest,and crying louder. The floodgates were unrelenting. She gasped for air, only to cough out more tears. Her entire body shaking from the power of her weeping.
He stayed there, in the uncomfortable position, in the uncomfortably tight dress, with his bra stuffed, and his hips padded, slowly caressing the girl's hair, and whispering nothings into her cries.
‘’I-i-i!’’ she lifted her head briefly, her brown eyes already red rimmed and puffy. She forced her head into hiding again, sniffling out more tears. ‘’I-i was supposed to p-prove that i-i’m not a- not a…’’ she shook her head, her long hair flying around, few of them freeing themselves from the bow that held them together. She took a shaky breath. ‘’t-that i’m not a p-perver!’’ she finished with a shout. She shot up, holding Ranma by the straps of his dress, lifting him slightly off the ground. ‘’I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROVE I’M NOT A DYKE! BUT YOU- b-but you-’’ the tears returned and she dropped him on the ground again. ‘’b-but you’re a girl, i-i wasted all m-my money on a g-girl…’’ she hid her face again, not before Ranma could notice the blush that coloured her face.
‘’Hey, it’s okay, we don’t have to do anything…’’ he looked back towards the bed, tenderly guiding her towards it, sitting her down, and pointing towards the phone. ‘’I can probably phone down and tell them to return you your money, that this was just a misunderstanding, what do you say?’’ he said, employing the most motherly smile he copied from Nenepi.
But she shook her head vigorously again. ‘’I-i can’t!’’ she looked up at him, snot running down from her nose. ‘’I-i’m a T-tendo! W-we don’t back down from a c-challange!’’ she declared, like her life depended on it. Her face grew crimson and she hid her face from him again.
He took a deep breath. ‘’Okay,’’ he shrugged and pulled her into a side hug. ‘’Then we’re gonna talk, until your time runs out, what about that?’’ he smiled brightly at her.
After a second he barely noticed a small nod of hers.
‘’Okay, so, let’s start off easy, what’s your name, darling?’’ he asked, using the sweet nickname Mom always used with him.
Which only coloured the girls cheeks even brighter. ‘’T-tendo A-akane… a-and yours?’’
Somehow, THAT short circuited his brain… he forgot that conversations were normally double sided. And so, in his struggle to not give his real name, he quickly went through all the books he’d ever read to pick and choose the prettiest of names. One that would make it believable that he was one of the girls… But his mind got stuck on the first story his mind rant into. For some reason, it made him smile, stealing the name of his favorite character like this.
Using his softest tone, he gave voice to his new name nonetheless. ‘’Utena, darling, pleased to meet you.’’