Ranko looked up from her seat on the couch with a nervous smile, hearing a key in the lock. She hugged Starlight close to her chest, waiting for her lover to enter their little shoebox of an apartment.

“Hey, babe. Didn’t expect you to be here tonight. Don’t you have a show?” Akane set her bag down on the floor by the front door, kicking off her shoes.

“Yeah, the band was… unavailable, so we canceled.” Ranko sighed, setting her stuffed unicorn on the couch next to her and sitting up.

Akane looked over with concern. She rarely found Ranko sitting idle; if she wasn’t doing housework or cooking or working on homework, she’d at least have the TV or her Walkman on. “Hey, is everything okay?”

Ranko shook her head. “No. I… Can I talk to you about something?” She looked down, a shame in her eyes that worried Akane greatly. The elder girl closed the gap and sat on the couch to Ranko’s left, turning at the waist to face her.

“Of course, love. What’s going on?” Akane put her arm over Ranko’s shoulder.

“Well, Akane, it’s like… you promise you won’t get mad?” The redhead sighed heavily, clutching at her unicorn again as if she were trying to hide behind it.

The black-haired girl leaned forward, kissing Ranko on the forehead. “Whatever’s going on, it’s better for us both if we talk about it. I promise, I’ve got your back, baby. Always.”

Ranko nodded, managing a smile. “I know, Akane. You always do. Even when it’s hard. I never should have doubted it.” She looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her ring even as her arms were still wrapped around the white stuffed animal in her hands.

Akane tried not to smile; she knew whatever was bothering Ranko was serious business. Still, she couldn’t help a certain level of amusement and contentment at the sight of the person who was once a lump of emotionless iron called Ranma Saotome, sitting on the couch in a yellow sundress with a matching ribbon in her hair, cuddling a stuffed unicorn for comfort. Even when she’s sad, she’s adorable.

“So, it’s like this. I told you I had to go down to Yokai the other day for the Sneak video storyboards, right? Well… they want me to… do things. Things I’m not comfortable with.”

Akane sat up, her concern becoming much more focused. “Did you talk to the director about it, like you did with Rise? I’m sure he’d listen.”

“It’s not that, Akane. It’s… I mean, you know what Sneak is about, and well, they want to…” She pulled up her knees to her chest, sandwiching her stuffed companion between her knees and her breasts. “... they want me to let a boy… touch me. Like, a lot.”

Akane’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean like the thing with Tashima, right?”

Ranko shook her head. “No, it’s for the video. They hired an actor. And like, I get it, it’s all an act, a performance. And like, almost the whole song is about sexy stuff. But, Akane… it’s a guy. I don’t even know his name, and they want me to sit in a bed with him, wearing damn near nothing, and he’s gonna put his hands on me, and… What if I… react? You know, with the Cat’s Tongue? I won’t be able to help myself. And it’s gonna be in front of everybody, and the cameras, and…”

Akane wrapped her arms around the redhead tightly. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

Ranko squeezed back, smooshing Starlight between their four breasts. “I knew I should never have given them that fucking song. All it’s ever done is ruin our lives.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“And there’s no way out of it?”

Ranko shook her head. “It’s just too much of the song. It’s like the point of the song. But when I wrote it, I was talking about feeling that way with you, not with some… boy! I wanted to tell the Yokai people all about you, Akane, I swear I did. I wanted to stand up and show them my ring and tell them I’m yours and nobody else gets to come near me. I promise I did. But the guys in the band won’t let me. They say it’s not marketable for me to be…” She swallowed hard at the thought of using a word that felt strangely inappropriate to describe her relationship with a woman. “... gay. I think Mei and Shin might have broken up over it today. She hit him. He was being really cruel.”

Akane sighed. “That’s a tough one, Ranko. I mean, you could always refuse. But I don’t know what that would mean, either.” She took her fiancee’s hand, squeezing it tight.

“There’s another option, but I would never consider it without your blessing.” Ranko looked up to her, even more shame in her eyes than before. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it were with someone I at least knew. Someone I trust.”

Sighing, Akane let go of Ranko’s hand, her shoulders drooping. “You’re talking about Crash.”

Ranko nodded. “He’s my best friend, and I feel safe around him. But I know it would make it even weirder for you.”

Akane let herself fall back into the couch, exhaling heavily. “Ranko, honey… are you sure that’s a good thing to do with Crash? Given, you know, how he feels?”

With a deep blush, Ranko shook her head. “Oh, Crash hasn’t been into me like that for months. Not since he kissed me that time and I told him to stop.”

“Ranko… baby, what are we going to do with you?” Akane shook her head, laughing a bit. “You are just the most clueless little thing sometimes, aren’t you? That boy’s got it bad for you still. Maybe even worse than before. Anyone can see it, and the only thing keeping him from making a move on you is these.” She lifted her hand, jiggling the ring on her finger that was the twin of Ranko’s.

Ranko sat back, a stunned look on her face. “No. It couldn’t be. Not after all this time. He’s just my friend. I swear, Akane! He’s just my friend.”

Ranko’s fiancee nodded, still smiling weakly with amusement. “Oh, I know he is. But I promise you, he wishes he wasn’t.”

The songstress slumped defeatedly, scooping her unicorn back up off the floor where it had fallen. “Then you won’t want me to ask him, I guess.”

Akane bit her lip, reading the fear in her lover’s eyes. I can tell her to go get groped by a stranger, or I can let the guy that’s been carrying a torch for her for over a year have free rein and feed his ambitions. There’s no way to win this one.

“And you couldn’t ask one of the other guys in the band?”

Ranko shook her head. “I don’t feel as close or as safe with any of them, especially Shin. I thought about it, but it just made me sick to my stomach.” Maybe Ken? No way. He’d never agree to it. He’s too shy for his own shadow.

“Damn.” Akane furrowed her brow, stroking her temple. “If we only knew a gay guy we could ask. Maybe it wouldn’t feel so invasive if you knew there was no chance they meant anything.”

Ranko averted her eyes immediately, swallowing hard. Oh, we do. But… I couldn’t. Not after everything. I can’t get involved with Eiji again. And even if I did, I’d have to tell her, and she’d never forgive me for what I did with him. It was worth it, but… no, I can’t. Besides, he’s a shit actor.

Hell, maybe Ukyo could… nah, no way. Akane would never be comfortable with her touching me like that, even if she could pull it off. Besides, I’d have to tell Akane I saw her again, and that would just upset her.

“Akane, I don’t know what to do. I’m really scared.”

Wrapping her arms tight around her lover and pulling her over into her lap, Akane sighed, kissing Ranko’s bare shoulder from behind. “I don’t know, baby. I’ve got to think about this one. But we’ll come up with something together, I promise.”