Awkward Lunch
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½.
….
Akane shifted uneasily as she sat along a low table in the lesson room. Beside her Ranma gave a low huff of impatience. The spirit form of Tofu sat on the other side of Akane, glaring angrily at the piglet Ryoga sitting opposite him. It appeared that this "midday meeting" the Godling told them to attend was some sort of luncheon judging by the table set with bowls. Also, a number of the other guests appeared to be late leaving the two shisa, a piglet, and a ghost the only ones currently in the room.
Waiting wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that Tofu seemed bound and determined to glare at Ryoga. While Akane could certainly understand being upset with the pig, seeing her friend so outraged was unsettling. Tofu did not even get distracted the various times Akane or Ranma tried to draw him into a conversation. Akane was sure if it weren't for the orders from the puppet Tofu would have tried to throw Ryoga from the room already. For his part, Ryoga just continued to ignore the former healer, or with nothing else to do, glare back.
An odd thought struck Akane, it had been several days since Ryoga re-entered her life and in that entire time he had remained in pig form. She would have thought Ryoga would have done everything in his ability to change back by now, and Akane had a hard time believing that there was no hot water around the Temple. Deciding this was as good a distraction as any, Akane whispered her thoughts to Ranma.
"Huh?" Ranma, to Akane's annoyance, made no effort to whisper back, "Dunno." Switching his attention to the one in question he shouted, "Hey, pig boy, why haven't you found hot water yet? Keep getting lost?"
In response Ryoga broke eye contact with the ghost and squealed angrily at Ranma instead.
Luckily before things could escalate, the female puppet walked in. The puppet stiffly walked to the table and sat beside the silent piglet, across from Akane. Akane glanced around and noticed Tofu watching the Godling with utmost respect and reverence, Ryoga looked shocked, and Ranma appeared wary and guarded.
Everyone sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes until Mousse and Shampoo entered with food and a teapot. The Amazons proceeded serve everyone tea.
Only then did the Godling speak, "The Tendo sisters will join us later." Akane felt Tofu straighten beside her and noticed a nervous smile on his lips. "There are things I wish to discuss with all of you, most importantly the ceremony after the full moon."
As Mousse and Shampoo finished, the puppet gestured for them to join them at the table. Akane watched, bemused, as Shampoo eyed the seat next to Ranma, only to quickly dismiss it when the shisa glared back and finally sat by Tofu's side as far from Ranma as she could get. Upset that Shampoo sat at the end of the table, Mousse sat across from her next to Ryoga.
As soon as the Amazons were seated, the Godling picked up the teapot and poured hot water over Ryoga. Ryoga sputtered, naked then patted himself in amazement. His face turned the brightest red and he tried to hide under the table, "C-Could I have some clothes?"
"Clothes?" the Godling blinked as if She had never heard of them before.
Mousse grumbled and reached into his sleeve fishing around until he pulled out trousers and a shirt. Ryoga hastily snatched the clothes away and awkwardly tried to dress himself while simultaneously hiding under the table.
As soon as Ryoga emerged, still the brightest red Akane had ever seen, the redheaded Godling addressed him, "Explain to your companions your presence here."
Ryoga looked at the puppet and visibly gulped. "Weeelll…" Akane stared as Ryoga visibly took a deep breath and wondered what else had occurred to her once-friend. Could his actions toward her, masquerading as her pet, be forgivable? Akane scowled, of course not, but perhaps he had been given karmic justice and no longer deserved her hostility. He certainly was receiving quite a bit of hostility from the healer beside her.
Ranma growled beside her to get Ryoga to stop stalling.
Ryoga glared back at his rival. Finally, he began, "I have always been a follower of the Glorious Might. My family has inherited the curse of becoming lost easily and frequently, and regularly worshiping at a shrine or temple was not always an option. The Glorious Might does not care, as long as something is given for His favors. When Ranma ran from our first fight I prayed to be able to find him again. The price I paid for being able to find Ranma again and again was to fall into one of the cursed springs.
"Since being cursed the price I paid for favors had always been changing at a bad time, or having to stay in my cursed form for a few days. That is until…until I asked for Akane's forgiveness and love. Immediately after that I became lost and must have left the village. When I continued to not be able to find the village, I guessed that my absence was my payment, and that once it was over I'd find Akane again. I met Tofu at one point and tried to follow him back, but I got lost. When I finally returned to the village I had disappeared for a year. Within a day of my return my curse was revealed to Akane."
Ryoga paused to drink his tea, and in the break Akane noticed Tofu glaring at the young martial artist.
The puppet also noticed Tofu's hostility, "The Glorious used the pig cursed man. Glorious could not have given him Akane's love, she is already tied to another. Instead the Glorious used the pig cursed man to trod upon and awaken the evil spirits to do his bidding." The redhead shook Her head and some of Her locks fell in Her eyes, "The three of us should balance, but the Glorious has become greedy again."
Akane felt disturbed as she noticed the slightest frown on Godling's face, it was the first time the shisa saw the puppet express a personal emotion. She also had no idea about how to feel about being "tied to another", could that mean-?
Clearing his throat Ryoga continued, "After Akane saw me transform I left the village and got lost. I got caught in a rainstorm and then had evil spirits confronting and chasing me until I ran through the Temple-Palace gates. Since arriving I have not gotten lost or chased. I have not been able to change back until now."
"It took longer to break The Glorious' influence on you than expected. If you arrived after the upcoming ceremony it would have been faster," the puppet explained.
Akane once again felt her emotions twist at the thought of the Gods. If the story she just heard was to be believed the Glorious Might didn't care about mortals, but the Great One did care, and who knew what the third deity thought. Akane still could not decide how trustworthy any of the stories she recently heard about the deities were. Was the Godling telling the truth? Or trying to manipulate them? Akane grimaced and glanced at Ranma, what did he think of all this? Who and what did he believe?
A light knock came from the doorway as Nabiki and Kasumi entered. Akane looked closely at her sisters, they both looked tired.
Tofu stood up and greeted the Tendo sisters, "Kasumi, Nabiki, I am glad to see you again."
Both sisters froze and their eyes widened at the sight of the Healer's transparent form.
Kasumi recovered first, "Tofu Ono, is that you?"
The healer gave a bitter grin, "Yes, I, er, well, I unfortunately… died since I saw you last. The Great One brought me back as a shield spirit."
Nabiki seemed to still be in shock, "You are speaking to Kasumi. Coherently."
Before Tofu could respond the puppet broke in, "Now that we are all here, Shield Spirit, please explain the ceremony."
Akane quickly lost interest in what Tofu was saying about the ceremony when it became clear that the main message was who would help and who would stay out of the way. The Amazons, Ryoga oddly enough (something about a recent convert being needed), and Tofu were to help in the ceremony, while Ranma, her sisters and herself were to stay out of the way.
The arrangement was perfect if the four of them were to perform their own ceremony in secret. The female shisa briefly reflected on how oddly convenient that was. Clearly the day after the full moon did something to The Great One's powers that significant ceremonies often occurred then. Akane just hoped the same significance applied to breaking the deity's spells.
Now that Akane finally had the chance to see her sisters again, she and Ranma had to discuss with them what the stone shisa in the back garden signified for their spell breaking.
The puppet and Tofu continued to work out the details with input from the Amazons and Ryoga. They informed the shisa how critical it was for them to guard the gate at that time with the moral support from the Tendo sisters.
….
Once all explanations of the ceremony after the full moon were finished to the Godling's satisfaction, She left and the Amazons proceeded to serve everyone food.
As Akane began to eat she kept glancing at her sisters, dying for the chance to talk to them. Her sisters, however, appeared to still be absorbing what had happened to Tofu. They both kept trying to touch his hand or his shoulder and when that failed Kasumi began to silently cry while Nabiki formed a hard calculating look. Tofu for his part was trying to reassure Kasumi that his current form really wasn't so bad.
Akane glanced at Ranma to try and see what he made of… everything really. The look she received back was a mix of concern and determination.
The shisa did not get a chance to talk to the Tendo sisters until long after everyone finished eating and Tofu left citing duties he had to attend to. The shisa and the Tendo sisters silently made their way to the front yard where Kasumi slid down onto the steps, her face still wet from tears.
Akane cautiously approached her eldest sister and rubbed against her gently.
"Oh, Akane," Kasumi hugged her little sister. Sniffing, Kasumi tried to dry her eyes as Nabiki rubbed her back and Akane purred softly.
After a few moments Nabiki spoke, "Let's at least bring our sister and her fiancé back."
Kasumi nodded and Ranma who had been silently watching walked up to the three.
Nabiki nodded sharply and settled back into business mode. "Have the two of you found previous shisa here?"
Akane kept quiet and watched from Kasumi's arms as Ranma explained the stone shisa in the back.
Nabiki sat down on the steps next to her sisters. "Those shisa are still here, correct?"
"Yes," Ranma stared determinedly back at her.
"That changes things," the middle sister muttered to herself. After several moments of silent contemplation Nabiki slowly said, "If there are separate shisa here that must mean that the spell still formed your shisa bodies from scratch, rather than put your souls into existing shisa bodies. The reversal spell we found should work, it will reform your current shisa bodies into your former bodies." Nabiki gave a wry smiled, "Ranma will even be cured of his female form."
Nabiki, with occasional assistance from Kasumi, explained the plan to the shisa of how the counter-spell ceremony would proceed.
Akane felt hope expand in her chest at Nabiki's insistence that their counter-spell would work. They would finally be back to normal.
…
Let me know what you think.