Akane couldn't fathom what Ranma meant at first. She did remember quite clearly that he said he jumped right in. Confused, she asked dumbly, "What do you mean?"
By this time, Ranma was getting agitated since having been forced to talk about his merged curse. So he yelled back, "It means I'm stuck as a… as a… I'm stuck as a fucking girl-type dog demon, stupid!"
"I'm not stupid, you jerk!" Akane fumed back. They were getting no where. She truly wanted to help, but the more they talk about it the more irritated he became.
By now, Ranma had risen from his position before the window and is now pacing back and forth. Now that he's opened up about it though, more information seem to spew from his angry lips. "Then stop asking dumb questions! No matter how many times I jumped into the Spring of Drowned Man, I didn't turn back, okay? The change is permanent. That damn Jusenkyo guide couldn't explain it. 'He's never seen it before, he said. He also said that I'm the only person who's ever landed in the Spring of Drowned Demon either. Lucky me, huh? Shit load of good that does me, the damn turd doesn't make any sense."
Now that Ranma is opening up about the curse, Akane poignantly ignores his sarcasm and foul mouth in an attempt to keep her cool when she tries to focus on asking helpful questions this time. While she mulled over the information he's given her, he kept pacing however. It wasn't until ten minutes later when she stops him in his track with the following observation. "So… you're saying the Jusenkyo Society doesn't have any records of someone being curse as a dog demon? Hmm, what about the pool drying up? Is that normal?"
His frown was immediate when he replied, "Yeah, I thought that was weird too. Normally the water level stays pretty even to curse another sucker. But somehow mine... evaporated? Well the turd said it was more like I soaked it up."
Akane's eyes rounded by that little detail. She repeated the words in awe, "Soaked?"
Ranma's return smirk was all malice when he quipped, "Dumb isn't it? If I had soaked up that much water, I would have been bloated as big as a whale. Hell, I can't even drink all that water, let alone not drown from it! It's all stupid, I tell ya!"
Akane couldn't make heads or tails about this strange information either. She wasn't familiar enough with the Jusenkyo Springs. Her only close encounter was when Saffron had dunked her into a template pool and now a new spring is named after her. It still makes her skin crawl knowing that anybody can be curse with her resemblance. Regardless, the cursed springs never made sense to her since she had assumed that another Spring of Drowned Girl would appear instead, but it didn't.
Those cursed pool certainly works in mysterious ways, the brunette remarked inwardly.
Ranma returns to his pacing and so Akane decides to change the subject. The best way she could think of would also satisfy her curiosity upon learning about his new curse.
Boldly, Akane put out her most sincere expression when she caught his gaze and asked, "Ranma, show me. Please?"
Ranma was taken aback by this request. Despite the earnest, sincere look on Akane's demeanor, he just can't. He told her so. "I can't, Akane. Please don't ask that of me."
Her response wasn't easy for him. It never was. Her face now contorts to a look of hurt mixed with outrage.
"Why can't you trust me to make up my own mind about this? You've learned to get use to your girl side. You'll do the same for this dog demon curse."
Leave to Akane to make him feel more pitiful, he thought.
He tried to placate her without giving in. He just couldn't. "It's not that. You don't understand. This new curse… it feels different. I can't explain it."
Then it happened. Her face softens ever so gently and her eyes shimmer with emotions. "Then try. I want to help, Ranma. Trust me. Please?"
"I…"
How could he say no to that? He never could.
Thus with a heavy sigh, Ranma walks over to the low tray table where a tea set, a pitcher of water, and an small electrical hot water heater was placed. The water heater was the first thing he purchased when he came back home.
He reached out for the pitcher and hesitated. Then his brows furrowed as determination set in. With his back towards her, he quickly moves the pitcher over his head and empties the contents.
And down the cold water flows. The change occurs almost instantaneously.
With her increase hearing she heard Akane's sharp intake of breath as well as some others.
With a low growl, she stalks over towards the sliding door, throws it back, and thereby startling the nosy eavesdropper of a family to crumble at her feet.
And in such cases as these, which happens more often than not, chaos ensues.
"Oh my word," was Kasumi's shock response.
"Oh the humanity!" was Soun Tendo's typical expletive before he begins weeping.
Surprisingly her father didn't say anything but started crying like his old friend and console each other by hugging it out.
Ranma's mother also didn't say anything as she clutches her hands to her heart and wept quietly.
Thank goodness Happosai wasn't with them. She liked to think that with her looking like a freak, the old letch won't pester her anymore.
Interestingly enough, Nabiki's response was the most unexpected. Her eyes rounded in surprise for a split second before they began to gleam over. It reminded Ranma terribly of the look Azusa from the martial arts skating competition gets when she had her eyes set on Ryouga's pig form, P-chan.
"Can I touch it?" Nabiki said with such enthusiasm as she dusted herself off the floor. That had Ranma backing away from her instantly. No way was she letting Nabiki touch anything if she was going to grope her again like the first time she changed into her girl form in front of the loan shark.
"Oh! May I touch it too, Ranma?"
Demon eyes swiveled to Kasumi in shock as she too dusted herself off and approaches Ranma with the same fascination on her face.
What the hell has gotten into both them? Ranma thought wildly.
Then unbeknownst to her, both girls pounce on her form with a speed that belied their limited martial arts skills and toppled the three of them to the floor.
Aren't they the least bit afraid of me? Ranma wondered before suspicion sets in. And just what was it they wanted to touch?
She got her answer when three pair of hands began petting her ears like a dog.
Ranma was double shocked when she realized Akane had joined in too.
Her cheeks bloom red from one part embarrassment and two part annoyance before she emitted a warning growl to bay them off.
It worked when she smelled their fear as they made quick work to move off of him. Ranma immediately jumps to her feet and returns to the low tray table. She presses the button for hot water into the emptied pitcher. Without waiting for it to fill up all the way, she releases the button and raises the container once more to pour the contents down on her head.
When his world was tilted upright once more and he no longer has that odd sensation in being a demon, Ranma straightens his shoulders and reluctantly turns around to face his nosy family and company.
Ranma should have expected something like this to happen. It always does when one of them has something to hide or is acting weird. Then the reason becomes public knowledge a few days later whether the person wanted to or not.
It looks like he was in for a long night as they eagerly gather around and knelt down on the tatami mat. With another huge sigh, Ranma walks over to an open spot in the circle between his mother and Akane. His mother thoughtfully hands him her handkerchief.
He nods his thanks. It was small but it'll have to do for now. The group was too eager looking and he supposes an explanation was long overdue. Thus as he wipes futilely wipes at the lingering moisture from his body, Ranma reluctantly begins answering their questions.
In the interim, at the near epicenter of Nerima, a lone figure stands atop a stack chimney of an abandon factory while darkness blankets the sky, indicating nightfall.
The juxtaposition of the location against the ancient armor clad figure in white silk kimono may seem out of place to anyone who bothered to look upwards. However, to the lone figure, it was like any other day since he arrived in Nerima.
His normally placid face draws into a pinch as his closed eyes squint in concentration. He had been on this very spot a few times for several days now, trying his damndest to capture that scent and youki aura again. However, with the last several days of rain, the scent has been washed away with the rest of the toxic fumes the humans had spewed into the air. Likewise, sensing the youki was even more trivial. And without much luck, there were no new signs of the trespasser resurfacing. Until now…
Though the youki was faint, the figure felt it. It was so familiar yet different somehow. The crease between his brows deepens. He couldn't put his finger on it. He tried concentrating further to zero in on a destination when the youki disappears as suddenly as it occurs.
The figure growls low in frustration, startling the nesting birds on the rooftop below him. He bid them no heed as he continues his watch, his face returning to serenity as he waits patiently for another sign, unmindful of the faint drizzle that restarted. It was the least he could do for the past 500 years.
