Ryoga sat in the yard of the Unryu farm, starting vaguely into space. He felt hungry. Yet he'd just eaten breakfast. Well, just tried to eat breakfast. He'd barely been able to stomach any of it.

He just hoped Akari's mother wasn't too upset. Normally he loved her cooking.

"There you are," Akari said, her tone soft. "Is everything okay?"

"I think I might be coming down with a cold or something," Ryoga said, hoping that idea made sense to her, since he wasn't sure if he believed it.

"I hope it's nothing too serious," Akari replied. "Can I ask why you have your umbrella open? It's kind of sunny, if anything."

"I was feeling a bit sleepy for some... maybe because I'm sick? Anyway, didn't want to fall asleep in the sun and get burnt," Ryoga explained.

Akari sat down beside him, scooting under the umbrella herself. She looked so beautiful to him... so beautiful he felt his mouth watering.

That was a strange response.

He tried not to think about it as she placed a hand on his forehead.

"Hm, you don't seem to have a fever. Hopefully it's just a cold," Akari said.

"H-hopefully," Ryoga stammered, his eyes following Akari's wrist.

Had the veins in her arm always been so visible? He didn't know, but he felt hypnotised by them. The elegant flowing shapes they made...

"Well, you should probably get some rest today. I'll handle feeding the pigs," Akari said, her voice so bubbly and innocent.

Ryoga nodded absently, his eyes lingering on her long elegant neck.

Ryoga had ended up napping much of the morning. Then lunch went much the same as breakfast had, nothing sparking his appetite. He ran through katas during the afternoon, but found himself drowsy and still so hungry.

When dinner rolled around he found himself only having a stomach for the meats, and even that he could barely manage.

The lights flicked on, blinding Ryoga a little.

"Ryoga, what... what are you eating?" Akari asked, staring at him drowsily.

Ryoga blinked and looked down, realising he'd torn open a package of uncooked ground beef. He'd been so hungry these past few days that he'd not even been thinking about what he was eating, only that he could actually stomach it.

"Uh... martial artists need protein?" Ryoga offered.

"You're sleeping more and more during the day. You're barely eating your meals. And I've noticed you're up almost all night. Now... now this... I think we need to take you to a doctor," Akari said. "Maybe you're anemic or something?"

"I don't think it's anything serious," Ryoga muttered.

Compassion filling her eyes, Akari walked over to him, placing a hand on Ryoga's cheek. "If it ends up being nothing, then at least let me have the piece of mind, please."

Ryoga opened his mouth, wanting to reply, but found himself growing lost in the beauty of Akari's neck. He felt something in the feral depths of his mind pressing him to move his mouth closer, and found himself licking his fangs.

The mental image of blood flowing filled his mind and he froze. Was his body telling him to hurt Akari?

"Ryo... what... what are you doing?" Akari asked, a bit of fear in her voice as she half whispered into his ear.

"I... I think you might be right. Please... call the doctor in the morning," Ryoga muttered. "I'll... I'll go sleep in the pig pens."

"What? But why?"

Ryoga didn't want to say that he wasn't sure he could control his strange urges. He didn't even know what they meant, or what was causing them, so how could he know if he could fight them? But then, what explanation was there?"

"Good night," was all he could manage to offer, setting out from the kitchen.

"Mhm, you definitely seem anemic," the doctor said to a drowsy Ryoga as they sat in the living room. (Why did the appointment have to be in the middle of the afternoon? He just wanted to sleep.)

"So, what's the treatment?" Akari asked.

"Iron supplements should help," the doctor replied. "More iron rich foods wouldn't hurt either, but with how pale your friend is, I think he'll definitely need to be medicated."

"Fiance, actually," Akari corrected.

"I thought the paleness was just from a lack of sun," Ryoga muttered, trying to ignore the way his mind was flashing images of blood when he looked at the doctor.

"Mhm, that probably isn't helping. I think that's from chronic fatigue that anemia can bring on, throwing off your sleep schedule," the doctor explained. "It's all fairly classic symptoms. Though the balance is a bit odd."

"I thought I ate plenty of meat though," Ryoga muttered.

"It could be a genetic issue," the doctor replied. "Is there any anemia in your family?"

Ryoga stared blankly at the wall (lessening the images of blood). "I've got no idea."

"It's worth trying to look into," the doctor explained. "Well, I'll be heading off, but I can leave you a week's worth of pills and a prescription for now."

Ryoga nodded absently as Akari thanked the man. Not having good contact with his parents really did have some serious downsides.

The pills helped. He could concentrate again, despite the hunger. It was also lessening his blood filled hallucinations, which was nice to say the least.

It wasn't changing his messed up sleep schedule though. Or the way the sun was feeling so hot when he did try to go out during the day.

"Yo, sleeping beauty," Ranma's voice called out, causing Ryoga to jump awake.

Blinking and looking around, he saw it was just him and Ranma in the bedroom, the pigtailed boy wearing an obnoxious grin.

"Are pigs nocturnal or somethin'?" Ranma asked. "I mean, it's 4pm."

"My sleep's just been messed up, okay?" Ryoga muttered, glaring as he did so.

"Yeesh, ya could act happier to see me. I came all the way up from Tokyo to deliver a letter, but if you're gonna be like this, maybe I ain't gonna hand it over," Ranma said, maintaining his cocky smile the whole time.

"I doubt most people would react well to you waking them up in the middle of their sleep schedule," Ryoga grumbled. "What's the letter anyway?"

"It's somethin' from your mom," Ranma said, producing a green envelope from inside his shirt. "The return address is from some place called Slovakia... I didn't realise your mom was worse than you at directions."

Ryoga's eye twitched. Ranma could push his buttons normally, but with his unending hunger from the last week and a half Ryoga was feeling especially short tempered. "Just give me the letter!"

Ranma hopped to his feet and out of Ryoga's reach as Ryoga swung to try and grab the letter.

"Bein' grabby is ru—wait, have your fangs gotten longer?" Ranma asked, leaning forward again.

Leaning forward and exposing his neck. It looked so delicious to Ryoga right now. He could feel himself drooling as his brain began to shut down.

"Why are ya starin' at me like that?"

Ryoga licked his fangs, Ranma looked... tasty.

By the time he'd realised he'd thought it, he'd already pounced Ranma, his fangs digging into Ranma's neck. Blood was flowing, and the taste was like nothing Ryoga had ever tasted before. It was like liquid euphoria, that warm and living blood.

Living.

Ryoga realised that he was draining Ranma's life force. Against every cell in his body, Ryoga shoved Ranma away from him. To his shock, and terror, Ranma went flying into the wall, crashing through the thin material of the old house.

Ryoga watched in terror, hoping Ranma would get up and panting as his body told him to finish his meal. There was still blood in his mouth, and it tasted so good.

He shook his head, trying to tell himself to keep away from Ranma. He wanted to check on his friend, after what he'd done, but... he didn't know he'd be able to keep himself from pouncing if he saw blood flowing.

"A-Akari! Help!" he screamed, stumbling back into a corner and wrapping his arms around himself. "Help..."

There was the sound of scurrying feet, and he saw Akane and Akari come up the stairs through the broken wall.

"What—Ranma!" Akane shrieked, and Ryoga could make out her throwing herself down next to Ranma. "Is he breathing? Is he breathing!?"

"I think so," Akari said, before her head poked around through the broken wall. "What happ—"

Akari's voice halted as she looked at Ryoga properly. He could feel that there was still blood dripping down from his chin.

"I... I didn't mean to," Ryoga muttered. "I just... I lost control before I knew I had."

"What did you do?" Akari asked.

"Stay away from me!" Ryoga shouted, hating how his body felt so much better than it had been feeling. "And get Ranma away from here! I... I can smell his blood."

Ryoga closed his eyes, trying to find some sort of calm. He'd never been the best at meditation, but he hoped against hope he could regain some level of control.

He heard the two girls carrying Ranma away, not daring to open his eyes until it sounded like they were downstairs. He poked an eye open, the craving to lick up some of the blood he could smell in the hallway. Only, the green envelope on the floor drew his attention instead.

Could a letter from his mother explain things... somehow?

His mind still not quite functional, he scrambled over and grabbed the letter, tearing it open.

'Hey there, my little Ryoga,

You're getting close to adulthood. Your heritage should begin to shine soon. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I always worried how your father would react.

To make a long story short, we're vampires. Your grandfather was a Slovakian soldier in the Russian civil war who found his way to Japan.

The essentials you should know are: 1) you need blood to survive, this is just a fact, 2) stay out of the sun. 3) wooden stakes through the heart or decapitation will kill you, but... that's not really new.

Who you feed on is up to you, but don't starve yourself to death. That's a waste of your potential. You have immortality ahead of you. A human life is so small next to you, like that of a cow or a pig next to a human.

Oh, and another important fact: if you leave a human partially fed upon, they will turn and become a retainer. It's hard to do until you're rather experienced... say a century or two. Your grandfather has only managed to change a couple. If you're curious about that, we can meet up sometime.

I'll be staying at this address for a while, so send me any questions you have by mail.

With love,

your mother.'

Ryoga stared at the page for a few moments, before a wave of nausea overcame him. This wasn't some temporary sickness? This was his new normal... and his mother apparently saw nothing wrong with it? The kind and smiling woman who'd taught him about the world...

He felt tears running down his face. Did he remember any neighbours going missing? Probably not. It was easy to head into Tokyo and have millions of potential meals... victims!

He wasn't going to let himself think of them as anything else.

Stumbling to his feet, he wandered into the hallway. The blood on the floor had gone dry and lost its appeal. Though it disgusted him that it had ever held any. Moving forward, Ryoga needed to see if Ranma was still alive, at least to apologise until he headed off. Where he'd go, he didn't know, but he didn't think he could look Akari in the eye now. Let alone Akane.

He could hear the commotion in the kitchen, and stepped up to the doorway. Inside he saw Akari and her mother fussing around Ranma, while Akane stood to one side.

"Is... is he alive?" Ryoga asked.

Akane turned to him, pure hatred in her eyes. "Give me one reason not to try to kill you right now."

"I don't have one," Ryoga replied, staring absently out the window. "Especially if Ranma's de—dead."

He heard Akane let out some sort of a huff. "He's breathing. We stopped the bleeding and we've called the doctor."

Ryoga nodded. "Tell him I'm sorry."

"What even happened? Why did you attack him?" Akane asked, sounding more desperate for knowledge more than anything. "I mean, you bit him!"

"I... you're going to think this sounds insane, but, according to this letter from my mother... I'm a-a vampire?" Ryoga said weakly, placing the bloodied letter on the counter down.

"A vampire?" Akane asked. "Seriously?"

"I said it would sound insane," Ryoga muttered.

Akari stood up turning to him with pain in her eyes. "You're serious?"

"Would I really joke at a time like this?" Ryoga countered, maybe a little sharper than he wanted.

"I'm not-not dead... qui-quite yet," Ranma's voice rasped. "Don't be... too serious."

"Ranma, don't strain yourself!" Akane gasped.

"You're awake already?" Ryoga asked.

"No thanks to you... at least now I know what the letter said," Ranma muttered, chuckling a little before it turned into coughing.

"Rest, you idiot," Ryoga grumbled before turning around to head out. "I'm... I'm going to get going. It's probably not safe for me to stay around you all."

With that he left towards the front door, grabbing his backpack and shoes before stepping out. He made it a few metres, shivering in the early December evening, before Akari's voice called out to him.

"Ryoga, where are you going?"

He turned to her and shrugged. "I don't really know, just som—"

His sentence was cut off when it suddenly began to rain. Ryoga now found himself a very annoyed piglet. Vampire piglet? Well, presumably a vampiric piglet, though maybe vampire status would be overridden by Jusenkyo? Ryoga began to rack his brain, trying to remember if he'd been in cursed form since the strange hunger started.

Lost in thought, Ryoga hadn't noticed Akari walk over to him, and was therefore surprised to find himself lifted into the air. He wondered where Akari was taking him, his question answered a few minutes later when they arrived at the pig pens.

"It's not a perfect solution, but I think we can keep you here safely for a while. You're small enough that even if you feel like pouncing again you won't really be a threat," Akari explained as she placed him into an empty pen. "We're going to try to call Doctor Tofu, he might know more about these sorts of things than our family doctor."

Ryoga nodded weakly. He couldn't really argue in this form. And he kind of hoped his cravings for blood would be solved by being in cursed form. Even if his sense of taste had never been great in pig form, it would be nicer to be able to eat food than human blood.

Ryoga had just gotten to sleep when he was woken by someone coming into the barn.

"Good morning, Ryoga," Akari said as she walked in with the food for the pigs. "Don't worry, I've brought you something a little nicer than the pigs are getting."

Ryoga nodded groggily. Akari smiled softly and put down a plate of vegetables and barely cooked beef. He tried to eat, but found himself struggling just as much as when he was human. Reluctantly, be backed away, looking up at Akari and shaking his head.

"Ah, well... it was worth a shot. We'll figure something out when Dr. Tofu gets here, don't worry," she replied, her kind eyes giving him hope.

There was a questioning looming over the situation, and Ryoga hoped Akari would tell what he wanted to ask as he stared up at her with questioning eyes.

"Ranma's been resting, but he's getting better," Akari said. "And Dr. Tofu should be here the day after tomorrow, so we'll hopefully know what's going on better soon."

Ryoga nodded. He spent the next little while watching Akari feed the pigs. Her smile when she was around her pigs was always so cute.

Spending time in an empty pigpen was boring. It wasn't the first time Ryoga had been in one, but this was the first time he didn't have the goal of escape keeping him busy.

As such, the first night had been mind numbing. He'd mostly just tried to nap, but that had mixed results.

He was woken early for the second night by a pale and sickly looking female Ranma standing over the edge of current pen. When Ranma saw he was awake the redhead nodded and pulled out the bloodstained letter.

"Oh, and another important fact: if you leave a human partially fed upon, they will turn and become a retainer," Ranma read out. "The heck does that mean, P-chan? What exactly is a 'retainer'? And... does that mean I'm gonna be a vampire too?"

'How am I suppose to answer as a piglet?' Ryoga thought to himself as he stared up judgmentally at Ranma.

"Oh, right... I forgot about that," Ranma muttered, looking embarrassed.

'Forgot what?' Ryoga wondered to himself. Ranma did seem to jump subjects sometimes.

"The kettle, you doofus. Like you sai-said? Wait, how did I hear that when you're a pig?" Ranma asked, climbing up the pen gate a bit to lean forward. "Am I a mind reader now?"

'How should I know?' Ryoga replied silently.

"I shoulda known better than to ask you anythin'," Ranma grumbled. "I'm gonna go see if I can read Akane's mind."

It was a little unsettling to Ryoga to see Ranma smiling so energetically while looking so pale and sickly as the redhead began to hurry off.

"Not a very nice thing to think about a girl's appearance," Ranma said, sticking his tongue out.

Ryoga rolled his eyes and decided to try to get a bit more sleep. It took a few moments before he felt himself fall asleep.

Only to find himself immediately awake, staring up into Akane's eyes. She looked beautiful, but also confused.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be resting?" Akane asked.

"I was tryin' to read your mind," Ranma's voice replied from... well, it almost sounded like it was coming from Ryoga's mouth. "I was reading Ryoga's earlier."

'What in the world is going on?' Ryoga thought to himself, confused by Ranma's apparent ventriloquism.

"Why am I still pickin' up P-chan's thoughts?" Ranma muttered.

'Well, apparently you're right beside me, where—why can't I turn my head?' Ryoga thought, before he realised a reason why it might seem like Ranma was speaking from his mouth. 'I... Ranma, blink twice.'

Ryoga's frame of reference blinked twice.

"Why did I do that just because you asked?" Ranma muttered, causing Akane to stare at them.

'I'm in your head, I think,' Ryoga informed Ranma. 'I'm seeing out of your eyes.'

"What? Get out then!" Ranma said, before turning to Akane. "Ryoga's in my head."

'I don't know how to get out,' Ryoga protested.

"Oh, of course you don't P-chan. You couldn't find your way out of a gazebo," Ranma muttered.

'You jerk! I'd punch you right now if I could!' Ryoga mentally hissed.

Suddenly Ranma's left arm flew up, hand balled in a fist as it flew towards his face. It stopped a few centimetres from his face, the muscles looking like they were struggling with each other for a moment.

"What the heck was that... is my body listening to you?" Ranma shouted.

Akane began to massage her temples. "Only you and Ryoga could go from a life and death situation to bickering like this."

"It's not my fault pig-boy is an idiot!" Ranma shouted.

'Oh, like you'd handle turning into a vampire better than me,' Ryoga grumbled internally.

"I probably would!" Ranma countered angrily, waving a finger at an empty part of the room. "Wait, maybe I am? Didn't that letter say I was going to be one?"

"Well, I think I'll give you two some privacy to argue. It's too confusing to only hear half of it," Akane said with a shrug, before leaving the room.

"Look what you did now. Akane's angry with me," Ranma muttered.

'Like you needed my help to make that happen,' Ryoga thought sarcastically.

"I've got half a mind to cook up some bacon right now," Ranma hissed under his breath.

Ryoga felt Ranma's body convulse, as if hit by a wave of nausea, and he collapsed to his knees.

"Gah! The heck was that... am I not allowed to want to fight you anymore?" Ranma asked. "What else has gotten changed by you biting me?"

'I don't know?' Ryoga replied weakly. 'You saw the same letter I did.'

"Fine, I guess I can't expect you to know anything," Ranma muttered, shifting into a proper sitting position. "And, I guess I should honestly be thankful I'm still alive. Since your mom said that it was hard to quit 'feeding' partway through. So... thanks for that."

'Sorry I threw you through a wall,' Ryoga offered.

"Eh, we've done worse to each other," Ranma replied. "I would still like you out of my head though."

'I'll leave as soon as I figure out how,' Ryoga mentally muttered.

A few hours had passed and Ryoga felt embarrassed that he'd still not figured out how to let go of Ranma's head. Ranma had grabbed a kettle at one point, in a strange display of modesty before going to the washroom. Other than that, they'd just bickered from time to time.

It was only around 2am, when Ranma fell asleep halfway through a Godzilla movie, that Ryoga found himself ejected from Ranma's mind and back into the pig pen.

He was also feeling very hungry. Apparently maintaining that bond took energy. Staring out the gate of his pen, and out at the pigs in the other pens, he couldn't help licking his fangs. He was so hungry... and they looked kind of tasty. Feeding on pigs still kind of disturbed him, but... not as much as feeding on humans.

He'd also never had nearly as much willpower as a piglet compared to his human form. So resisting his hunger was much harder.

Looking up at the gate's lock, he saw it was a well secured padlock. There was no was he could open that, since the breaking point technique still escaped him in pig form. The gate was too high for him to jump, which didn't leave him with many options.

But he was just too hungry to give up. Could he dig? If he could fly that would be easy, but... well, he'd gain the ability to fly when pigs flew.

He chuckled a bit as his terrible analogy when he heard a strange popping noise, and suddenly felt an unusual sensation on his back. It was like... like he had wings. Trying it out, he was able to stretch on forward, where he could see he had indeed grown bat wings. After jumping and flapping a bit, it took him a couple attempts to get airborne, but once he had he made his way up to the perimeter wall of his pen.

Perched, he looked around, wondering which pig to choose. He remembered that there was one old pig that Akari's father had said they'd have to put down soon. Seemed as good a place as any to start. He hopped up and glided silently across the barn, landing in the correct pen after following his nose.

Landing beside the large old pig, he licked his fangs.

Ryoga woke to the sound of the barn door opening. He wanted to respond, but he felt so bloated. He couldn't even roll off of his back. And his brain felt so overwhelmed with a sense of contentment.

"He was right in here," Akari's voice said, sounding panicked. "Oh my, and why are all the pigs are scared. What's going on everyone?"

Ryoga responded with a weak 'bwee'. Apparently it was enough, because he heard the scrambling of feet, and was soon staring at an upside down Akari.

She looked so pretty.

"Ryoga? How did you-did you," Akari stammered, eyes flying between Ryoga and the old pig he'd fed on.

"He's got bat wings," Akane said as she stepped into Ryoga's view. "I... that's... that's almost cute? Like, if he wasn't covered in blood."

She looked cute too.

"Fascinating. I'd wondered how his vampiric abilities would interact with Jusenkyo's magic," Dr. Tofu added. "Well, let's get him into the house and get some hot water."

"Right, yes," Akari said, opening up the gate. "Poor old Yubuta-san, but he lived a good long life... Um, I'm not sure how to pick Ryoga up without getting blood on me."

"I'll do it," Akane replied, stepping in and scooping P-chan up, though holding him at a distance (as she'd been doing any time she picked him up after finding out who he was).

From the higher (and not upside down) position, Ryoga realised Dr. Tofu was carrying and umbrella, and the doctor kept him safely in it's shadow as they walked back to the Unryu family home. Once inside they found Ranma waiting for them, the pigtailed boy looking healthier than the last time Ryoga had seen him (which hadn't been that long ago).

"What's with-with all the blood?" Ranma asked, much to worried for Ryoga's liking.

'I ate,' Ryoga thought simply, trying not to smile. He was sure that would reassure Ranma.

"Ate? Who did you eat?" Ranma asked in a panicking tone. (Apparently Ryoga had misread the situation.)

"Yubuta-san," Akari replied solemnly.

"Yubuta-san? Is that one of the neighbours?" Ranma asked, utterly horrified. (A feeling Ryoga didn't like that he was picking up on.)

"One of the pigs," Akane

"Oh... oh thank the Buddhas," Ranma muttered. "I, uh, I'll take Ryoga-sama to the bath."

"Ryoga-sama?" Akari and Akane asked in unison.

"What?" Ranma replied, a confused look on his face.

'You definitely called me 'sama',' Ryoga added silently and smuggly.

Ranma blushed furiously. "I... I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Well, by some definitions you're currently undead, so you can't really live anything down," Dr. Tofu replied.

'Call me it again!' Ryoga declared, feeling a bit giddy. (Or maybe drunk from the blood?)

"I'm not going to call you that again, got it, Ryoga-sama... darn it!" Ranma fumed.

"Well, go take your master off to the bath," Akane said, handing P-chan over.

"Don't call him that," Ranma muttered, but took the bat-winged piglet all the same.

"Let's go get him heated up, shall we?" Dr. Tofu said, quickly removing his shoes and heading off towards the bath.

Ranma carried P-chan behind the doctor, arriving at the furo a short bit later. Ryoga found himself tossed in a bit gracelessly, and was too drunk on blood to orient himself in the air at all.

The usual feeling of transformation followed, but Ryoga began to panic when he realised he hadn't turned into a human. Instead, he was some sort of small furry creature with wings.

A bat. He'd turned into a bat!?

Ryoga found himself pulled out of the water by Ranma, who was looking rather panicked.

"Why's he a bat?" Ranma asked.

"Vampires can transform into different animals," Dr. Tofu replied calmly. "Jusenkyo clearly prevented him from making a full transformation, only allowing him to create the wings in cursed form."

"How does he turn back?" Ranma asked, almost as quickly as the question had occurred to Ryoga.

"I'm not entirely sure. Vampires have never really been prone to being very talkative," the doctor replied, before he leaned down to Ryoga's eye level. "Try just focusing on your human form maybe?"

Ryoga nodded, closing his eyes and picturing what he normally looked like. It didn't seem to be working, causing him to scrunch up his face as he tried to concentrate harder.

"You can open your eyes now, boss, you're human again... oh great, now I'm calling him 'boss'," Ranma said, sounding a bit tired.

Ryoga opened his eyes again, and found he was indeed in human form, though still curled up awkwardly in Ranma's arms. Which was made more embarrassing by the fact that he currently naked.

"Huh, so you're looking fairly healthy too," Dr. Tofu said, leaning over apparently unfazed by Ryoga's current embarrassment. "I suppose that means pig blood can feed you when you're in cursed mode."

"It was so delicious," Ryoga said, smiling absently (and forgetting Ranma was holding him).

"What about me, though?" Ranma asked. "My curse don't really help me not have to eat people if I'm really turnin' into a vampire."

"Luckily, when a master vampire feeds, they're able to transmit that energy to those they've turned. I think a lot of it is simple greed, not wanting to share the pleasure of feeding, but wanting to keep their servants alive? That's pure conjecture on my part though," Tofu explained, adjusting his glasses.

"Oh, coo-wait, how do you know all this?" Ryoga asked. "You're not a vampire too... are you?"

"No, no," Tofu replied, waving a hand dismissively. "You've heard how my family's from Nagasaki, yes? Well, my one great grandfather was a dutch doctor from a family with a bit of experience in the field. Maybe you've heard of the Van Helsing's?"

Ryoga blinked. "They're real? I thought that Dracula stuff was all fiction."

"Says the vampire," Dr. Tofu replied with a grin.

"D-does that mean you're going to kill us?" Ranma asked nervously.

Ryoga's eyes grew in terror.

"If Ryoga sticks to pigs, I have no reason to engage in any vampire slaying. And, if he eats enough to keep you both fed, then I have no need to go after you either, Ranma," the doctor replied with a gentle grin. Then his face shifted, almost seeming to have the lighting change too as a bit glinted of his glasses. "If either of you do feed on a human though... You wouldn't be the first vampire I've had to deal with."

Ryoga stared at the normally friendly doctor, feeling only dread in his gut.

"Let's not dwell on that dark possibility while you two present a fascinating case study," Tofu continued, his normally jolly disposition returning. "We've never had such an easy to care for vampire before, and especially not with a turned second who's got so much free will left."

"So, we're going to be lab rats?" Ranma asked.

"No, no. Periodic check-ins should be all you need," the doctor replied with a gentle smile.

The rest of the examination went fairly smoothly, the only awkward part having been when Tofu asked Ranma to put Ryoga down. The pigtailed boy spent the next few minutes awkwardly in the corner, muttering (or perhaps thinking, Ryoga wasn't sure) about how he'd not realised what he was doing.

Ryoga had been a little unsettled to learn he was no longer breathing, and Ranma being in the same position made Ryoga feel a little guilty. Seeing that Ranma had grown some pretty good fangs was an... odd feeling for Ryoga, reminding him of the Yoiko incident. And filling him with a feeling of protectiveness (even if he was fairly certain Ranma was older than him... and knew Ranma was taller half the time).

He also briefly found himself wondering if they counted as family on some level now, with the connection they had from Ryoga's bite.

As things wrapped up, Ryoga decided to ask if there were any other animals he could turn into. The answer proved to be wolf, rat, and (strangely enough) umbrellas.

"Could I turn into animals too?" Ranma asked, once the explanations were over.

"Well, you're a vampire too, so I think so? You haven't fed yet, which might make a difference though. Why not try?" Tofu replied.

Ranma lit up. "Nice! I've always wanted to be able to fly."

With that, there was a poof and Ranma had turned into a quite fluffy little bat. Ryoga swore he heard Ranma laughing away as he fluttered around the bathroom, though he wasn't sure if that was mind reading or actually what he was hearing.

As Ranma enjoyed the thrill of flight, Ryoga headed over to the changing area and pulled some clothes. He was pulling his shirt on when he heard a feminine shriek and felt Ranma's feeling of surprise. Hurrying back into the furo area, he found a drenched Ranma in female (human) form and Dr. Tofu standing near him with a bucket.

"What was that for?" Ranma asked, spinning around and glaring at the doctor.

"Well, Ryoga's curse over-rode his vampiric shapeshifting. I was curious if your curse would be the same, or if it being a human curse would mean you could still transform," Tofu replied, smiling innocently.

Ranma held his glare for a moment, before pulling his silk shirt off to wring it out. As he did, he revealed a pair of small bat wings sticking out from the loose neck of his undershirt.

"Huh, I knew the shirt was sittin' weird," Ranma said, looking over his shoulders and flexing the small wings.

"Those are adorable," Ryoga said, stepping over and poking Ranma's wing.

"You think so, big bro?" Ranma asked, giving Ryoga a fangy grin.

"I... 'big bro'? We're not yakuza or anything," Ryoga replied, trying to ignore the fact that Ranma's girl side with actual fangs was setting off his big brother instincts completely.

"It's better than calling you 'sama' or 'boss'," Ranma said with a shrug. "And I like that it makes you blush."

"You like... are you flirting with me or something?" Ryoga asked, feeling very confused.

Ranma's face shifted from smiles to judgmental. "I'm teasing you. Calm your ego down, big bro."

"Oh, right," Ryoga nodded, before turning and heading out into the hallway, trying to save face. He was just too much of a sucker for cute girls, and Ranma was so good at poking at that.

"I can still hear hear your thoughts!" Ranma called out in a sing song voice.

Ryoga was sure he was blushing furiously.

"Ah, Ryoga, is the exam finished?" Akari asked poking her head out of the kitchen. "I... what did Ranma do?"

"Pardon?" Ryoga asked.

"You're bright red. I'm willing to guess that wasn't Dr. Tofu's doing," she said.

The curvy redheaded boy appeared to Ryoga's side, grinning away. "Don't worry, he wasn't thinking anything inappropriate. Just about how embarrassed he was."

"Oh my gosh, you look so cute with those little wings," Akari said. "Oh, and you've got fangs too! Akane, you have to come here and see Ranma!"

Akane appeared a few seconds later, gave Ranma a once over, and began to blush at least as strongly as Ryoga had been doing earlier.

"Cute," was all she managed.

Ranma lit up with grin and leapt over towards Akane, his little wings fluttering and seeming to actually hold the redhead in the air smoother than should have been possible.

"Ya really think so?" Ranma said.

"You've got little fangs," Akane gasped.

"Fangs are always cute," Akari said, turning to Ryoga with soft smile.

Ranma, Akane, and Tofu stayed until the evening before Dr. Tofu led the two teens down to his car. Ryoga and Akari followed, ready to say their goodbyes, when Ryoga found himself pulled to the side by Tofu.

"I just want to check that you're going to eat enough. I know you're reluctant to go after pigs for the obvious reason, but... well, Ranma's being fed by what you're eating too. And he can't eat anything but human blood on his own," the doctor explained softly.

Ryoga nodded. "I know, I know. There's a few regular pig farms in the area. Akari's dad said he'd buy me one whenever I need it."

Suddenly Ranma poked his head out of the car window, an annoying smile on his face. "Yeah, remember, you're eating for two now!"

"I should have known he'd say that," Ryoga muttered. "And he wonders why I want to kill him sometimes."

While Ryoga was marching off thinking 'loudly' about how annoying Ranma could be, he noticed Akari hurry over to Dr. Tofu. She passed something to him, though Ryoga didn't see what.

His curiosity was piqued, and he stopped so he could ask her. The look in her eyes told him what he needed to know though. As bad at reading emotions as he was, even he could see the guilt on her face.

"L-let's go in and watch a movie?" Akari offered, with a strained smile.

Ryoga nodded. He wouldn't ask. And he wouldn't look for his mother's letter, so he could pretend that wasn't what Akari had given Tofu.

'Hey, Ranma,' Ryoga though as he popped into Ranma's head.

The rest of his thought was interrupted by the feeling on Ranma's lips. And then Ranma's eyes popping open to reveal it was indeed Akane that Ranma was kissing. Emphasis on 'was' because Ranma shoved her back as his eyes opened.

"Seriously, Ryoga-sama? Can you... like, knock or something first?" Ranma shouted.

'Not-not that I know of,' Ryoga replied meekly.

"He popped in now?" Akane asked, her eye twitching.

'I... Akari wanted to know if you two wanted to come up next weekend, since we have a pig festival in town,' Ryoga offered to Ranma weakly.

"You know phones are a thing, right?" Ranma half shouted.

'They've got long distance charges and stuff though,' Ryoga mentally muttered.

"Long distance charges? You popped into my head without warning to avoid paying a couple yen in long distance charges?" Ranma hissed.

"Tell him that jumping into your head gets him 'beaten up by Akane' charges instead," the short haired girl muttered. "We had to wait until my family were all out of town, uncle Genma was at a kabuki play with Nodoka, and we managed to trick Ukyo and Shampoo into thinking we were going to... ugh... just, it took a lot of effort to try to get some privacy for our first kiss, and then he barges in... sorry, that's a lot of explaining."

"Don't worry, he can hear everything," Ranma said.

'Sorry?' Ryoga offered.

"He says 'sorry'," Ranma explained, his tone sarcastic.

"Ryoga, since you can hear this... I want you to pay for our train tickets and all of my food when we go to the festival," Akane said sharply.

'Okay, okay,' Ryoga muttered weakly.

"Seriously, though... how is it that inconvenient mental 'phone calls' and having to spend a fortune on sunblock are the only real results of me being turned into a vampire?" Ranma grumbled.

'Your life was a disaster to begin with?' Ryoga replied.

"Yeah, that's fair," Ranma said, sighing.