Tenchi started walking up the steps to his grandfather's shrine in a slightly glum mood. School was finally out and it was great to see his grandfather again. But, he was sixteen! All of his associates at school would be down by the beach or going to movies and here he was in the boondocks. The Masaki Shrine was this little town's main attraction with a rundown hot spring twenty minutes away being the next major attraction. Tenchi loved nature, but he also wanted to be a normal teenager on summer break. You know, hang out with his buds, visit a few cool hangouts, and maybe even get a girlfriend.
With a sigh, Tenchi adjusted his backpack and continued to walk up the shrine steeps. There was no use complaining about being here in dullsville. Besides, he was used to it so the summer wouldn't be that disappointing. Nobuyuki wasn't climbing up the steps with Tenchi at the moment because the elder Masaki had run into town to pick up a few supplies. As the younger Masaki walked up the steps he frowned. Something about the path he was on was different. It took Tenchi a few seconds, but then he realized what was different. The path was too clean and well kept. His grandfather did a good job keeping up the shrine's appearance, but this was far more than the old man could do. For a moment, Tenchi wondered if his grandfather had finally broken down and hired a landscaping company to help him like his father had suggested on their last visit.
With a curious expression on his face, Tenchi continued his climb up the stairs. He eventually found his answer to why the grounds were so well kept when he spotted Ranma in ceremonial robes cleaning the side path to the shrine proper. Tenchi stopped and looked at the young hybrid in mild surprise. He didn't recognize the young man from previous trips over the years to the nearby village. However, the biggest surprise for the unaware prince was the fact that Ranma's ears were pointed. The left ear was pointed like an elf while the right ear was halfway between the left and a normal ear in pointiness. Furthermore the right ear's tip was red like it was undergoing stress.
Ranma looked up from the path and instantly gave Tenchi a spine numbing glare. The glare lasted for a second and then Ranma was able to reign in his instinctive hostility. While the hybrid's yokai instincts had gotten easier to control over the past two months since encountering his father, Ranma still had to watch himself around new people. The young hybrid scratched the back of his head and said, "Sorry about that. I don't do well when new people manage to get close to me without realizing it. Are you Tenchi Masaki? Sensei Katsuhito mentioned that his grandson would be coming today."
Tenchi blinked his eyes in confusion. "Yes I'm Tenchi Masaki and everything is fine. I did disturb your work after all. By the way, who are you? Grandfather never mentioned having a second priest at the shrine on his phone conversations."
Ranma set his washing ladle down and then replied, "I'm not a priest or training to be one. I'm a martial artist who had and still has a lot questions concerning where my life is going. Your grandfather has been helping me learn about myself and what I want to do with my life. In return, I've been helping him out around the shrine as an assistant caretaker."
Perhaps this summer wouldn't be so boring after all, Tenchi mused as he looked at Ranma. At the very least this would be the first time someone else his age would be at the shrine with him. Tenchi smiled and replied, "That's cool. It will be nice to have someone around my age here at the shrine while I'm here." Tenchi then gave Ranma a polite bow. As he bowed, the young Masaki's suitcase knocked into the bucket of water. The water flew from the bucket and activated Ranma's anti-curse activation shield.
With an utterly dumbfounded look on his face, Tenchi's eye traveled from Ranma to the bucket and back again. "Uh Ranma did a purple force field suddenly appear around you?"
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Ranma couldn't meet a potential new friend for more than five minutes before the curse made its way into the conversation. At least the curse hadn't activated. That would probably have convinced Tenchi that the boy had entered the twilight zone. Still, an explanation was in order. "That Tenchi," Ranma calmly began, "was a protection field to stop cold water from touching me. I've got a real curse that activates every time I'm splashed with cold water. It used to drive me nuts trying to find some warm water to deactivate the curse as no shrine is able to cure the blasted thing. A few months ago, just before I met your grandfather, I got an amulet that protects me from cold water hitting me."
For a split second Tenchi wondered if Ranma was crazy. Sure he had seen the purple field appear around Ranma. However, the idea of curses with triggers was just too strange for him. In all honesty, Tenchi was having trouble buying into many of the traditions his father and grandfather tried to raise him with. Why worry about offending the kami of a pebble when there was MTV to watch? Sure the family shrine was supposedly founded by a heavenly warrior who slew and then imprisoned a demon away 700 years ago. Tenchi figured that Yosho probably was a samurai who fought a very ugly and very nasty bandit which all the locals considered to be a demon. All he needed to do to prove it was to get the key to the 'demon prison' from his grandfather.
Ranma saw the look of disbelief on Tenchi's face and sighed. "Fine, don't believe me if you want to do so. Just remember that I warned you if you see the curse in action. Now let's get you to your grandfather's house." Ranma quickly led Tenchi towards his grandfather's house wondering what it would be like to be able to dismiss magic and all the other 'crazy' aspects of his life.
Two days later, Katsuhito quietly observed Ranma and Tenchi do their chores to upkeep the shrine. Both boys had quickly become friendly acquaintances as he had expected. The two of them were rather friendly people and they both were the only ones interacting with each other in their age group at the moment. However, there was also an undercurrent of tension between the two that really worried the prince turned priest. The tension wasn't much at the moment, but it could grow and cause a lot of problems in the future.
At its heart the tension between Ranma and Tenchi that was building was due to the maturity and knowledge Ranma had that Tenchi lacked. Tenchi wanted a girlfriend like most young teenaged boys and had an idealized almost flanderized idea of what having a girlfriend was like. Ranma had experience with relationships with women and had a fairly realistic if ever so slightly cynical view on those relationships. Tenchi was still in the dark about his heritage and about the more mystical aspects of the world. Mostly, that was because the boy wasn't quite ready to deal with those parts of reality. Ranma had been thrown head first into the deep end of the bizarre and had managed to do fairly well for himself. Katsuhito could see a bit of resentment in Ranma's eyes over Tenchi being shielded from those sorts of things, but the young man was respectful of Katsuhito's wishes.
Silently, Katsuhito prayed to Tsunami that the tension between the boys would fade in time. Grudges had started over less and Jurai couldn't afford to have Ranma with an ax to grind against her. Mentoring Ranma was in some ways like dealing with nitroglycerin. Katsuhito needed to be firm enough as a mentor and influential enough to insure that Ranma grew up into the great man he could be. At the same time, the prince couldn't be manipulative or let his actions be misconstrued as manipulation as Ranma would at best leave. In the worst case, Ranma might turn into a pirate or attack Jurai just to spite him. That was a possibility that Katsuhito prayed would never come to pass.
Part of Katsuhito wished that he could officially foster Ranma. He knew Airi would be ecstatic to have a fine young man to be a mother to again. However, Katsuhito never approach Ranma about this possibility even though the young man was starting to act like they were in a foster pact. The reason why Katsuhito wouldn't bring up this idea to Ranma was that the required paperwork would send up signal flares across the galaxy. In hiding or not, a crown prince does not agree to take on parental responsibilities for someone and to raise him to be a noble every century. Pirates and other galactic criminals would flock to Earth for a shot a taking control of Yashataisho. Furthermore, Juraian politics would be put into turmoil as noble houses would riot that a 'nobody' like Ranma got the honor of being fostered by the crown prince while their sons and daughters did not. Then there would be the interstellar politics whereby people would think that the Juraians were trying to secure a powerful future fleet of warships. Those suspicious of the Juraians would likely start considering whether or not to preemptively attack the Empire for their own protection.
Katsuhito stopped his reflections on possible future situations to listen into the boys who were starting to argue. "Look Ranma," Tenchi began, "between the two of us we can have all of the chores done by three at the latest. That should give us plenty of time to go down to the village and try to meet some cute girls. I know there weren't many when I was here last year, but things change."
Ranma tensely glared at Tenchi and shot back. "Why the hell are you so anxious to get a girlfriend? Have you considered everything about a future relationship? You need money to take her places, time to keep her happy, like a number of her interests, and a whole host of other things to make a relationship work."
Tenchi blinked his eyes at Ranma's reply. The Juraian noble scratched the back of his head nervously. "You're being very serious about all of this Ranma. I'm not talking about trying to get a long term girlfriend. All I'm saying is that it would be nice to meet some cute girls to have some fun times over the summer with. You know, like the summer romances you see in all those tv shows which end when everyone goes back to school leaving everyone involved with happy memories of their time together."
It took a great deal of self-control to prevent Katsuhito from groaning in disappointment. What kind of garbage was Tenchi watching? There is no such thing as a no-strings attached relationship. At least his grandson was only looking for a girl to date and not looking for a bedroom partner. Katsuhito decided to nip this argument in the bud by walking up on the duo and speaking. "So you two will be done all of your chores by three o'clock at the latest? That's very good news. I have several tasks that I've had to put off because I haven't had the time to do them. We can get started on the first task once you are done with your regular chores."
A small smirk appeared on Katsuhito's face as he looked at Tenchi's shocked and slightly horrified face. Ranma wasn't even fazed by the declaration of more work. In fact, the young man almost seemed relieved at the notice. Hopefully Tenchi would learn a valuable lesson from this argument's diffusion; never talk about free time in front of the boss!
Ranma was lying on a beach chair tanning in her female form on Yashataisho by the bathing pool. A month had passed since Katsuhito's relatives arrived for their annual summer visit and Ranma was enjoying her day off. Ranma still preferred to be male, but she was trying to come to terms with her feminine side since she was stuck with the curse. Katsuhito made the suggestion that she spend some as a girl to make peace with that side of her. The old priest's words still rang in Ranma's head, "One cannot be happy if they are at war with themselves."
As she was lazing about in the artificial sunlight, Ranma continued to realize just how true Katsuhito's words were. Although, she would have to admit that not dealing with a stressful home life made it easier to accept the curse. Not having the panda accusing her of being weak, Akane accusing her of being a pervert, or Nabiki trying to take pictures of her as a girl made it easier to be a girl. Onboard Yashataisho, the only one Ranma had to worry about was his partner and it just wanted him to be happy and successful.
The lazy afternoon was interrupted for Ranma by Yashataisho speaking up. "Partner, you have an incoming call on telephone." Now Ranma actually didn't have a telephone onboard the ship. Yashataisho had simply stolen an unused telephone number by hacking into the phone companies in Japan and transferring all calls to that number to itself.
Ranma turned on her side and said, "Put the call on the room speakers Yashataisho."
Seconds later Ranma heard Kasumi's voice, "Hello is this Ranma Saotome's phone number?"
Very quickly Ranma replied, "This is my number Kasumi. Where did you get it?" In the back of her mind Ranma wondered why Kasumi would call her since she had effectively cut all ties to the Tendos.
Kasumi quickly replied, "Oh my Ranma, I almost didn't recognize your voice. I got your phone number from your old teacher Ms. Ninomiya. She was a little hesitant to give it out, but I was able to convince her that I just wanted to talk to you."
Ranma nodded her head. "Okay, that makes sense. So what did you want to talk to me about Kasumi? Not that I don't want to talk to you, because I was hoping to speak with you again. It's just that given my history with your family I figured that it would be best to stay away."
There was a pause for a few seconds and then Kasumi continued. "Can we talk in private? I mean, can we meet somewhere so that I can talk about a few things without risking someone overhearing us? I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment and there's no one else I can think to talk to about this besides you."
For just a split second Ranma looked down at her state of undress and frowned. She then asked, "How soon do you need to talk? I can have Yashataisho beam you up as soon as you give the word." As she spoke, Ranma rolled onto her stomach and hastily pulled a towel onto her to cover her butt. Not doing so would have guaranteed that Kasumi would see everything.
Kasumi replied, "I'm alone now and I need to talk now so-" The eldest Tendo sister was cut off as Yashataisho immediately beamed her up so that she was two feet away from Ranma. Kasumi blinked her eyes for two seconds trying to process everything that had happened to her. Usually she was on the periphery of the local weirdness. A blush started to form on her face as the older woman looked at her sister's former fiancée barely covering her modesty. Kasumi looked down and nervously said, "I'm sorry Ranma I didn't know that you were. Well that you are. What I mean is."
"Don't worry about it Kasumi." Ranma firmly said cutting off the older girl's rambling. "In all honesty I'm a bit surprised that an embarrassing incident like this hasn't happened sooner. It used to be that I couldn't go for a week without something happening. What's a little embarrassment between friends if you get the help you need quicker? Besides, I seem to recall a few more incidents that were far more embarrassing than this. So now that I know you don't try to sunbath when a friend could need help, can you tell me what is troubling you?"
A brief smile appeared on the brunette's face as she heard Ranma brush off everything like nothing was wrong. She hadn't seen him in months and he still treated her like he saw her every day. Kasumi politely sat down near Ranma on her knees like everything was normal. Worry quickly filled Kasumi's face and she began to talk. "Ranma, I don't know how much you're aware of things in Nerima lately. Ever since school ended for the summer you've barely appeared in town so I don't know how much you know of our situation. Something has happened with Nabiki."
Ranma raised an eyebrow when she heard that. She always figured that Nabiki was the least likely of the Tendo sisters to get in trouble. "What's happened to Nabiki? She may not be my favorite person in the world, but I don't want anything bad to happen to her."
Kasumi paused for a second as if she had to gather her will in order to speak. She looked down at the grass in shame as she spoke. "Nabiki was arrested last week on charges of racketeering. I don't know the exact details, but one of the people involved in her little activities notified the police after losing some money. While a number of classmates have lodged their own complaints, I don't think my sister will be convicted as the evidence is circumstantial and she's already been allowed to return home until the trial is complete."
Unable to bring herself to look at Ranma, Kasumi continued the troubling tale. "While Nabiki is likely to either be exonerated of all charges given some community service time, that's not our family's real problem. A few hours ago, all the other members of the Town Council visited my father and requested that he turn in his resignation from the council. They said that having a person on the council who had a close relative defending herself in court would be unseemly. There is just too much risk of people thinking that the courts might possibly be biased no matter what the court decides on the case."
Ranma scowled as she realized the kind of trouble that Kasumi was worried about. What were the Tendos' going to do with Soun about to lose his job? Reopening the Dojo was a no go. The laws currently required dojo owners to have several different types of licenses which Soun didn't qualify for and it would take the middle aged man at least two years to get all of them. Back when Soun had been teaching he had gotten grandfathered from those requirements, but that grandfather protection ended when Soun stopped actively teaching. That was one of the reasons why Genma and Soun had been pushing for Ranma to reopen the dojo for them.
For a second she thought about suggesting that Kasumi try to get her father to look for another job or go job hunting herself. However, Ranma squashed that thought when she remembered how tough the Japanese job market was at the moment. Besides, who in Nerima would want to hire a disgraced councilman or the sister of a criminal even if the judge let Nabiki off? She could offer to help the Tendos pay their bills for a while. Sure Kasumi and more importantly Mr. Tendo's pride would try to refuse any such offer of pity. Ranma figured she could get around that by saying the money was her way of repaying all the trouble she had caused and to make up for breaking the betrothal agreement.
The problem is that Ranma couldn't think of a long term solution to the Tendo's problem other than try and find some way to get them a new job. She sighed and said, "I'm sorry that all of this is happening to you Kasumi. I wish I had some way to help or some good advice to give you, but I don't."
A stray thought crossed Ranma's mind when she saw Kasumi frown slightly revealing that the brunette had hoped Ranma could pull a solution out of nowhere like she usually could. "I might not be able to help you solve your problems, but I think I know someone who does. The priest I'm working for has seven hundred years of experience under his belt even though he tries to be quiet about his age. He might be able to advise you or perhaps he knows someone who needs some help at the moment."
Kasumi smiled at the smoking hot redhead. "Really Ranma, you think your boss can help me?"
Ranma smiled and replied, "I think so Kasumi. If you want, I can arrange for you two to meet soon."
The elder woman smiled and said, "Oh thank you Ranma. I don't know how I or my family is going to repay you for this."
Two days later Ranma and Kasumi were beamed to the entrance of the Masaki Shrine. Kasumi was wearing a conservative blouse with a matching colored dress that went to her mid calves. Ranma was in his male form and wearing one of his usual red silk shirt and black pants combo. Thanks to his continuing maturation, Ranma was now as tall as Kasumi and with a slightly more bulk to his muscles. Ranma smiled at Kasumi and said, "Well here we are at the Masaki Shrine. Katsuhito said that he'd be waiting for us in his office. Oh, try not to mention anything less than normal around Katsuhito's grandson Tenchi. The boy still isn't in the loop on a lot of things and my boss wants to keep it that way for a little while longer."
Kasumi nodded her head and replied, "Okay Ranma." She bowed her head slightly so that Ranma couldn't see the faint blush forming on her face. On the inside Kasumi wondered when Ranma had become so attractive. Sure he had been handsome before in a boyish sort of way, but now he entering movie star levels of attractive.
Ranma casually led his friend up the stairs to the temple. He kept the pace reasonably slow so that Kasumi could have a chance to look at the scenery around the shrine. While Ranma still didn't grasp every social nicety, he figured a slight delay to help Kasumi relax before her meeting was a good thing. The duo nearly made it to the shrine's main office when Tenchi came around the corner with a broom to start sweeping. Tenchi looked at Ranma and Kasumi with a bit of shock and blurted out, "What's going on Ranma? Did you skip your morning chores to go on a date?"
For a split second Tenchi felt a presence pressing down on him and then it ended. Ranma, having quickly corrected his momentary slip of control, gave his friend a serious look. "Kasumi is a friend of mine from my old town who needs some help. I arraigned for her to have a meeting with your grandfather so that the two of them could talk. In case you've forgotten, Katsuhito mentioned yesterday that I would be late to work today and the reason for that is so that could bring Kasumi here. Once I escort her to the office I'll join you."
A sheepish look crossed Tenchi's face and he let the duo pass. Ranma quickly led Kasumi inside and then politely knocked on the office door. Katsuhito quickly opened the door and smiled at Kasumi. The old priest gave Kasumi a polite bow and said, "Good day Miss Tendo. Please come in and hopefully I can help you like my student thinks I can." Katsuhito turned to Ranma and said, "Ranma, could you please go to the south side of the shrine? The bushes by the stream are starting to grow out of control and need to be trimmed back a bit."
Ranma nodded his head and quickly departed to do his chore. At the same time, Katsuhito stepped aside so that Kasumi could enter the office. The old priest led her to a small bench and the two sat down. For the next ten minutes Kasumi carefully explained the situation and in slightly greater detail than she had gone into with Ranma. Finally she asked, "Mr. Masaki, what is your advice for this situation?"
Katsuhito frowned and replied, "I will be honest Miss Tendo your family is in some tough times thanks to your sister's rash actions. Ideally your sister's actions should not affect you or your father, but we both know that the world is not an ideal place. Am I correct in assuming that you have already tried looking for work and have had your application summarily dismissed?"
Unable to speak from sadness, Kasumi nodded her head. Help wanted ads for jobs that she could do were slim enough in Nerima. Part of Kasumi wished that she could have completed the nursing program she had been enrolled in part time. However, the slight decrease in available funds due to house repairs had put that program on hold. Before this situation arose, Kasumi had been planning on picking up the program in the fall. However, that couldn't happen since the family would need the funds to help make it through its current crisis.
A sigh escaped Katsuhito's lips. Even with all his years of experience, bigots quickly got his temper inflamed. He then started to give Kasumi some advice. "My first suggestion for you is that your family considers moving out of Nerima. Land prices in the Wards are ridiculously expensive compared to other parts of the country as is the cost of living. While I don't know how much land you do have, the fact that you have fairly large house and your own dojo suggests a good deal of land. Selling the land and moving to one of country towns or smaller cities could give your family quite a lot of money. That money and the lower costs of living in another part of the country could let your family last until your father or perhaps you could find a job. It would also be easier to downplay your sister's actions if you move to a new location. I would recommend against hiding her actions, but not advertising her actions at the same time if you took this path. What do you think of that suggestion Miss. Tendo?"
Kasumi quickly shook her head. "Selling the dojo or any part of our family's land is out of the question Mr. Masaki. Given our circumstances I would be willing to consider the possibility, but that decision is not up to me. You see, the land has belonged to the Tendo Clan for over 300 years. It may only be a small plot of land for a samurai family, but it has been a source of pride for the Tendos over the past three centuries since it was personally given to us by the Shogun. My father would never sell the land or allow that option to be brought up."
The priest nodded head in understanding. Pride and honor were good things to have, but not to the extent that they caused other people harm. "I understand Miss Tendo. I don't agree with your father's apparent stance, but I can understand it. Since you need a solution that allows you to stay in Nerima I would suggest starting a business out of your house. Ranma has mentioned several times that you are a very talented cook. Homemade bentos could be marketed to some small convenience stores for a reasonable profit for instance. While there are some large startup costs, I think you could easily get Ranma to provide a loan or offer him a partnership deal."
For a few seconds a smile appeared on Kasumi's face. She was a bit proud that Ranma had boasted of her cooking abilities. Kasumi thought about it for a moment before replying. "That is a good suggestion. However, I'm not sure that my cooking would be so good in mass production. Part of what makes my meals so good is the careful attention and love I put in it." Kasumi thought for a moment about the journal she had been writing in ever since Ranma showed up. Some of his adventures were really fascinating and she had written them down. Perhaps she could go into writing? No, Kasumi quickly admitted to herself that she wasn't a great writer at the moment. Perhaps if she had a year or two to practice that would be different but not now.
She paused in her reflection to notice an interesting look on Katshuito's face. It was the look of someone who had an idea but didn't want to bring it up for some reason. Kasumi politely smiled and said, "Mr. Masaki if you have another idea I would be grateful to hear it. Even if it's not a particularly good idea I would like to have as much advice as possible."
There was a pause and the office became slightly tense as a pensive look crossed the priest's face. He then calmly spoke. "There is a third option available to you with Ranma's help should he agree. I didn't want to bring this up because I figured you would reject it out of hand as most women on Earth would."
Kasumi's eyes narrowed slightly as she inquired, "What is this option? I get the sense that I probably won't like it but I want to hear it anyway."
Katsuhito quickly carried on his explanation. "The Japanese government, like most stable governments around the world, is both aware of the extraordinary aspects of world and has regulations for it. These are naturally kept hidden from ordinary folks to keep things calm." For a brief second Katshuito thought about the Roswell Incident that the US government staged as a test to see how people would react to the idea of aliens visiting. The results firmly convinced the world governments to keep a tight lid on the supernatural and extraterrestrial.
Continuing on he said, "Ranma's status as a non-human hybrid gives him certain legal rights and advantages that regular people do not. In particular, Ranma has the right to take as many concubines among the Japanese as he wishes so long as he can afford the fees for the paperwork and the costs to maintain them."
Kasumi's face lost some of its color when she heard that option. Doing something like that was a little too close to joining the water trade for her comfort at the moment. She quickly steeled her nerves and replied with a small edge to her voice, "How can that even be an option Mr. Masaki? Furthermore, why should I even consider being a concubine if I was to even consider selling myself when I could be married?"
Having expected even more hostility than that, Katsuhito wasn't fazed in the least by Kasumi's hostility. "Let me explain Miss Tendo," Katsuhito calmly stated. "Legally, you are too young to be married except with parental consent. Most people getting married today do so without any obligation to their spouse's family. On the off chance you could find someone willing to pay a bride price, that money would be taxed as a gift taking a large chunk of it away from your family. Furthermore, any further money you sent to your family would be a gift taxable as such even if you could get it through your father's apparent pride."
"Being a concubine to a non-human opens up a different set of options. First off, no government likes dealing with unusual or supernatural events and so they tend to not try to update those regulations. Because of that, age is not an impediment for you or Ranma to set up a contract. Secondly, the original crafters of the rule wanted to insure that it was not abused by non-humans and made the fees and required maintenance cost very high. I think the minimum amount of money required to give to the concubine is around 800,000 yen a month but it could be higher since I don't check those kinds of rules that often. Finally, that money is non-taxable since the government wants to hide the supernatural by creating as little of a paper trail as possible."
Kasumi frowned and replied, "Thank you for your advice Mr. Masaki. However, I would prefer to discuss other lines of though than that." With that said, their conversation changed direction to how she could help her family cope and move on from the situation.
