Phoenix: Reignited Edition

Ranko blinked the shampoo from her eyes, shivering as she turned off the shower head. Normally, she hated being compelled by fear of pain to take ice-cold showers every day, but she hadn't slept much the night before, and she was grateful for the shock to her system to help her wake up. Cold water was very uncomfortable to her, thanks to the Full-Body Cat's Tongue, but she knew from past experience that even lukewarm water was unbearably painful. Besides, warm enough water ran the risk of triggering her curse and reverting her to her masculine form, and she dreaded having to face it in the mirror again. She was doing her best to stop thinking about her time as a guy - both the parts she missed, and the parts that embarrassed her - and she worried that seeing a boy in the mirror for the first time in six months, even if only for a moment, would be enough to cost her all the progress she'd made. 

After the flashback she experienced while playing with Akane the night before, she'd been forced to tell her new girlfriend everything about Mei, Mikado, and the fight in the alley just before Christmas. She was furious with herself for breaking down and freezing up like that in front of Akane. To her great credit, Akane had listened and supported her through the entire ordeal, even if she had asked some questions Ranko would have preferred not to answer.

Afterward, they hadn't much felt like sleeping, so they went downstairs in their sleeping attire - Akane in the yellow nightdress she now kept in Ranko's closet for the nights she stayed over - and cuddled in a booth watching old movies on one of the televisions on the west wall. Ranko had woken up in bed, but didn't remember climbing the stairs. Either she'd been half-asleep by then, or she'd fallen asleep downstairs and Akane carried her to bed. She blushed at the idea of being basket-carried up the stairs by a girl. By that girl.

She looked herself in the eyes in the bathroom mirror, her hands shaking with the cold as she dried her hair with a fluffy lavender towel. She exhaled deeply, summoning her determination. Today isn't going to be easy, she suspected, but I gotta put the next step of the plan into motion.

A few minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom, the lavender towel draped around her body modestly and her damp hair braided in her once-signature lone pigtail. Akane sat at the little table near the kitchen area, sipping a cup of tea. She was already re-dressed in her school uniform. 

"Hey, you," Akane said with a smile. "Feel better?" 

Ranko nodded with a smile of her own. "I think so. You sure you don't wanna borrow a dress or something? You gotta be sick of wearing that uniform."

The raven-haired woman at the pine dinette table nodded, waving off the suggestion. "Yeah, this is fine. Besides, if I come home in a dress Dad doesn't recognize, he's gonna ask questions."

Yeah, I know, Akane. Working on it, Ranko thought as she opened her closet door. 

"What do you want to do today?" Akane respectfully turned to face the kitchen as she spoke, this time not peeking as Ranko removed the bath towel wrapped around her breasts and began searching for an outfit. 

Ranko grinned as she pulled on her old black gi pants. "Honestly? When's the last time you had a good spar? I don't really ever get a chance these days."

"Seriously?!" Akane laughed heartily as she rinsed her empty teacup out in the steel sink of the little kitchenette. "If that's really what you want to do, that's what we'll do. I don't suppose your karaoke bar has a dojo in the back?"

Ranko shook her head, not that Akane could see it with her back turned. "I work out up on the roof sometimes, just for exercise and stuff. The roof's gravel, though, and not really great for sparring. Don't worry, though. I know a place."

Akane looked down at her school uniform dress. "I don't have a gi with me or anything, though, and I know you don't have extras." She giggled a bit at a realization. "With the way Izzi's been dressing you lately, you're more likely to have a tutu in your closet."

"Hey!" Ranko flushed with the realization that her assessment was likely correct. She walked up behind Akane, putting her arms around Akane's neck and hugging her from behind. She wore a dark gray tee shirt with a white heart printed on it and her old black gi pants. "You'll be fine. It wouldn't be the first time you've fought dressed like that."

With a smirk, Akane turned in Ranko's arms and put her arms gently around the redhead's waist. "Yeah, but that was usually at school, and it was pretty much reserved for fighting off perverted boys. You don't see any of those around here, do you?"

Tittering brightly, Ranko craned her neck around her little apartment, opening her eyes wide in mock terror. Her mouth fell open. "Gods! I… I hope not! Boys are so gross! Ewwww!" 

Laughing together as they slipped on their shoes, the pair descended the stairs into the kitchen and slipped out the back door into the alley. Ranko locked the door behind her with her key, and began leading Akane out to the main road. 

I wonder if I should hold her hand, Akane thought, biting her lip in contemplation as they walked. Probably not. She's getting kind of famous around here now, and I don't know if she'd want anybody knowing she's… with a girl. I don't want to embarrass her. Instead, she just followed where Ranko led, watching her in quiet contemplation. "Are you sure you're okay, Ranko? After last night, if there's anything else you wanna talk about…"

The redhead waved off Akane's concern as the pair turned the corner out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk. "Yeah, I'm good. It happens, I move on. It's getting better. But it's easier if I don't talk about it."

Akane bobbed her head in response. "Forget I mentioned it then. Just know if you ever want to…"

"I know." Ranko managed a soft smile, turning another corner in the direction of the harbor. "Thanks."

* * *

After a stop at a little bakery for pastries and coffee, Ranko led Akane into a secluded patch of a park. Most of it was obscured from the street by a wall, and the grass was still lush and healthy despite the recent cold, possibly due to the canopy of trees that shielded most of the ground from the snow. A single, rickety picnic table made of weather-worn wood stood alone next to a narrow, winding cobblestone path running through the green space. Beyond a black wrought-iron rail, one of the many little rivers that broke up the Minato harbor area into smaller islands flowed lazily by.

"Well, such as it is, here we are," Ranko shouted over the sound of a train rumbling past on the tracks a few hundred meters away. As she spoke, she returned the wave of an old man in a red plaid shirt that was paddling by the park in a canoe. 

"This place is super pretty! How did you find it?" Akane leaned on one of the tree trunks, sighing happily. 

Ranko shrugged. "I just stumbled onto it walking one day." She didn't have the heart to tell Akane that the little oasis from the bustling city had been her bedroom for the better part of a month before she had wandered into the Phoenix one day. It was quiet, other than the sounds of the trains pulling into the station across the street that had somehow comforted her, like a mechanical, rhythmic lullaby. The station had provided her access to relatively clean bathrooms, affordable vending machines and a place to get out of the rain that was open twenty-four hours. 

"So, you ready to get started?" Ranko lifted her leg up almost completely vertical, holding her hamstring in her hands and stretching it. 

Akane turned, leaving her purse and the paper bag containing her half-eaten donut on the picnic table. "Are you sure about this? I mean, you can't…"

Ranko waved her off, releasing her hamstring to do so. "Don't let the dresses and stuff fool you; I'm tougher than I look." She raised her other leg, repeating the stretch. 

Nodding, Akane hugged her left arm between her right and her chest, stretching her shoulder. "If you're sure, but promise you'll stop me if you need to."

Ranko's response was to drop into a defensive taekwondo stance. Come on, Akane, she thought to herself, I need to see that you can do this. 

"I mean it, Ranko," Akane said as she switched to stretching her other arm. "I'm worried. I don't want to hurt you."

"I said I'm fine, Akane!" Ranko insisted, shaking her head before resuming her stance. "I can take care of myself!" I think.

Akane nodded, settling into a karate forward stance with her left arm extended down and forward over her outstretched knee, and her right cocked behind her at the waist. "Alright! Let's see!" She swung forward with a tentative fist, and Ranko kicked at her wrist, blocking it with the sole of her shoe. 

The redhead laughed, standing casually. "I know you can do better than that. What's the matter, don't want to hit a girl?!" She watched carefully, despite the mocking tone in her voice.

Akane smiled and shook her head. "Not one I'm dating, no."

Blushing, Ranko motioned her forward with her hand. "Come on, give me a workout here. I promise I won't hold it against ya."

"Okay, but you asked for it!" With a loud kiai, Akane whipped her leg around, barely clearing Ranko's head as the shorter girl ducked beneath the roundhouse kick. Akane followed up with a sweep from the left, but Ranko hopped effortlessly over her leg. 

Akane righted herself. "You know, you don't have to do the whole no-hitting-girls thing anymore either. You can fight back."

Ranko nodded. "I know." Still don't gotta feel great about it, but today, I don't have much choice. I gotta see that you can do this, and for that, I gotta rile you up. With a piercing kiai of her own, the redhead threw a high punch aiming for Akane's left shoulder. 

Akane whirled out of its range, delivering a snap kick to the right side of Ranko's torso. It struck her in the ribs.

The redhead crumpled to the grass, coughing as she clutched at her side. Gods, I forgot just how freakin' strong she is! It felt like she'd been shot in the kidney with a cannonball. Damn this stupid Cat's Tongue thing!

"Oh, no! Ranko, are you okay?!" Akane rushed forward, bending down to check on her girlfriend.

Ranko groaned a bit as she caught her breath. She braced herself as Akane closed on her. This is gonna hurt now, but it's gotta be done. She reached up suddenly and grabbed Akane's wrist, pulling her down onto the grass next to her and assaulting her neck, legs and ribs with a flurry of tickles. 

Barely any of Ranko's attacks landed before Akane matched her speed, swatting away her pinching fingers and even landing a few of her own. "Ha! Now who's too slow?"

Ranko beamed, giggling as she was tickled despite the pain still radiating through her ribcage when she laughed. "Okay, okay! You win! I give up!" 

Akane rocked to her feet, offering her girlfriend a hand up. Her companion groaned as Akane pulled her to her feet. "Are you sure you're okay, Ran-chan?"

The shorter girl nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine in a minute. The Cat's Tongue doesn't make me get hurt more. It just makes me feel the hurt more." She flashed a tentative smile as she tried to stand up straight. "I think we're gonna call that a day on the sparring, though." She did it. She's got it. And besides, fuck, that hurt.

Akane shouldered her purse, this time not being shy about taking Ranko's slender hand in her own. "Come on then, let's get out of here."

Ranko blushed as she looked down at their intertwined fingers, but smiled contentedly despite her pain. She's ready. "Akane, I want to talk to you about something."

"Of course. Anything," Akane said, swaying her arm merrily and taking Ranko's with it as the pair made the ascent up the embankment back to the sidewalk.

The satisfied young songstress walked alongside her partner, her right hand on her ribcage and her left enveloped in Akane's. "So, I had this crazy idea…"

* * *

"Please take your seats," came the droning announcement over a series of crackly recess-mount speakers in the ceiling of the smallish train station. 

Akane looked up at the train, glancing back at her partner with a nervous expression in her eyes. "And you're sure about this?" 

Ranko nodded emphatically, stepping closer to her as the small group of assembled travelers around them began to board the northbound train. "I know you can do it, Akane. I believe in you." 

The black-haired girl scoffed. "That makes one of us. You know this is freakin' crazy, right?" 

Ranko squeezed her hand as they approached the entrance to the second-to-last car on the commuter train. "I mean, I did lead with that. But crazy has always been kind of our thing, hasn't it?" 

Akane laughed. "I guess it has, yeah! So… any last-minute advice?" 

"Don't get tickled," Ranko said, holding her finger up as if to indicate her words as a point of emphasis from a wizened old master.  

Laughing louder still, Akane shook her head. "Of course not, silly girl! That's only for you." She leaned down, giving Ranko a gentle hug, mindful of her sore ribs.

Ranko squeezed back tightly, not caring if it hurt to do so. "Good luck, Akane. You can do it. Akane, I… I…" 

"Final boarding call!" The shrill announcement over the public address system jolted the pair out of their embrace.

"I gotta go." Akane adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "I'll see you soon, 'kay?" She turned, walking the last forty meters or so on the platform alone and stepping through the open door of the train car.

Ranko stood at the railing, watching her board. As the doors closed and the train began to accelerate, she finally summoned the words she'd meant to say, even though her partner could no longer hear them.

"I love you, Akane."