A few days passed in this vein, the currently-unnamed demon-girl talking
with Kasumi, although she would have to take long rests sometimes, as her
injuries would not let her alone, and she preferred to remain still while
practicing Genma and Souun's healing techniques. There were no attempts,
surprisingly, to get Ranma and Akane together, other than the one time when
Souun had practically dumped a half-awake "Ranma" into the bathroom while
Akane was in there. Akane, of course, noted that "Ranma" was both alright
and not totally awake, still halfway meditating, and took appropriate
action. Souun avoided her the rest of that day. He'd never quite realized
how SCARY that Demon Head technique was.
It was maybe a week and a day since Ranma and Genma had arrived. The day before, Kasumi and the small girl had finally finished telling each other their life stories (Though Kasumi's was longer, the smaller girl refusing to speak of her previous life), and the demon-girl had promised to teach Kasumi a recipie called "Tuna Treat" that day. That wasn't what woke her up at four AM, sweating, though.
She sat up , putting painful strain on her arm, and gasped. That was wierd. She'd never had a dream do that to her before. What made it worse was that she couldn't remember anything about the dream except for a lot of glowing greenness. It just didn't make any sense.
The unnamed girl looked over at Kasumi, who had insisted on taking the futon on the floor, giving her bed to the smaller girl.
That in itself had been an interesting argument, consisting of Kasumi and her sisters arguing that "Ranma" needed the bed, and "Ranma", Ranma (by proxy), and the fathers arguing that it really wasn't neccessary to take Kasumi's bed away from her and leave her with a futon. Kasumi, of course, had won. Noone known in Nerima could win an argument with Kasumi.
Either way, the nameless girl was awake, and sweaty. That meant she needed a bath, and also that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. If she was up, that was it. No going back to sleep. She just wouldn't be able to do it, no matter how hard she tried. And Kasumi had insisted that when she got up, she should wake Kasumi up so Kasumi could help her.
But she couldn't bear to wake up Kasumi.
What a dilemma.
############################################################################ #############
Passenger
Chapter 9: This looks familiar
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by S. Starblade
Dedicated to... uh... to.... something important and good.
Warning: You've probably read this warning enough times. I'm not going to bother you with it again now.
Disclaimer: Aiyaaah! Starblade no own this! Be getting Kiss of Death if not write this. Oh, but Starblade own own character. Aiyaaah! Is so confusing.....
Key:
=English
" " = Japanese
[ ] = Jusenkyou Cursed Signs
{ } = Chinese ( I know, I know, there STILL isn't any. Have patience.)
* * = Internal conversation between Ranma and the demon formerly known as Yasha.
############################################################################ #############
Fortunately, she only had to wait a minute or two before Kasumi got up too. Attuned to her house and it's sounds, Kasumi's subconscious had noticed that Yasha's motions were in the category "unusual" as regarded this time of night, and possibly worth waking up over if they persisted. When they did, Kasumi's subconscious had yanked the "Wake Up" pullrope, and a small gong had gone off in Kasumi's head, rousting her consciousness.
Kasumi slowly sat up, the world fading gently into focus around her, as it always did when she woke. She yawned, stretching one arm, and rubbing her eyes with the other hand. Looking over at the clock, Kasumi noted that it was an hour earlier than she usually woke up, and looked around for what might have disturbed her sleep.
The small girl sat, watching Kasumi, an expression half-surprise and half- relief on her face.
"What's the problem?" Asked Kasumi, remaining where she was.
"It's nothing, just strange dream I have.. ah.. had." She corrected herself.
"Ah. Would you like to tell me about it?"
"Most definitely. Problem is, I can't remember it." Her Japanese had been getting much better, with Kasumi's guidance during their conversations.
Kasumi smiled. "Well, since we're both up, may as well go get our baths, ne?"
The nameless girl nodded once, carefully. Her neck had been hurting less the last couple of days.
******
Their bathing done, the two girls were sitting in the kitchen, having some cold green tea before setting to work on breakfast. They had taken to working together on it, and apparently the demon-girl had a bit of a knack for cooking. That and she remembered some from Before.
"Kasumi?"
"Hai?" Kasumi took a sip of tea.
"I have choose a name."
"Chosen."
"Oh, oops... I have chosen a name." She corrected herself. "I would like to be called Kodora."
Kasumi nodded. "Okay, Kodora. Any ideas for breakfast this morning?"
Kodora grinned. Her old father had known how to do some very interesting things with scrambled eggs.
******
Souun and Nabiki Tendou stared at the masses on their plates, and on everyone else's plates. They were mostly scrambled-egg-yellow, although it only just qualified as "mostly", being more like half. There were pink bits and brown bits (presumably meat, although with cooking that looked like this, you never knew), and green bits and red bits and black flecks and spots all over it. And some orange, and yellowish-white areas. And the yellow of the eggs was actually a bit off, looking a little green. Obviously, someone could cook just as badly as Akane: this looked like her kitchen-work, but she'd been out jogging all morning. It had been Ranma helping Kasumi.
Akane wondered what was wrong with Souun and Nabiki. She'd cooked stuff that looked worse than this, and they hadn't complained. On the other hand, they never actually ATE it, did they? Hmm. This bore looking into.
Genma also wondered what was wrong with the staring Tendous, but just shrugged and grabbed one of the muffins that were to go with the eggs. Mm. Blueberry.
Kodora and Kasumi just watched everyone else, waiting for them to try it. They'd already tasted some, and wanted to see everyone else's reactions.
Finally, Genma took his chopsticks and ate a bite of the adulterated eggs. All eyes were riveted on him, for various reasons.
Genma chewed.
And chewed.
He seemed reluctant to swallow, but eventually did.
Souun and Nabiki expected him to pass out or turn funny colors anytime now. Instead, he said: "Wow."
And took another, larger bite.
Kodora and Kasumi grinned and high-fived, before digging into their own food. By this point, Souun and Nabiki were totally confused.
Akane began eating too.
Carefully, looking scared, Souun picked up a bite of the eggs with his chopsticks, and timorously put it in his mouth.
First came the expression of surprise.
Then the happy chewing.
Then he began to cry, silently for once, as he chewed. It was too good to waste by opening his mouth and risking it falling out.
Nabiki was getting scared. She opened her mouth to object, only to find that Akane had grabbed her chopsticks and shoved a bite of eggs into her mouth, removing the chopsticks and forcing Nabiki's mouth closed before she could spit them out.
Nabiki got an expression of sheer fright on her face, and froze. She didn't dare chew it, she knew. That would bring out more of the awful, nasty, fetid, h.... h.... how good this was defied description.
Nearly passing out with relief and amazement, Nabiki joined the others in eating slowly and silently. Everyone was eating slowly, savoring each bite, even Genma.
******
Most of the demons in Hel had given up and taken up skiing and snowboarding by this point.
And, now that I've beaten THAT joke into the ground, I think I'll stop with it.
******
At school, Nabiki was in too much of a daze to notice that Kuno was absent again, this time because Akane had force-fed him his back-banner the previous day. In large chunks.
She was still trying to figure out how someone could make something that looked like Akane's cooking, but had tasted so darn good. Usually, when Akane cooked, the better it was at first, the worse it got. If it tasted horrible right off, it was usually okay to eat, but if it tasted okay, you immediately spat it out, because eating it would probably induce vomiting, diarrhea, or some other unpleasentness.
Okay, so Akane's cooking wasn't DEADLY, but it was pretty bad. Even by Nabiki's standards. And Nabiki could cook cheesetoast at best. Sometimes. When it didn't burn.
Although, if she could get Ranma to teach Akane to cook like that.... after all, both methods seemed to consist of grabbing everything handy and throwing it in, it's just that Ranma seemed to have gotten in the habit of grabbing the RIGHT everything. Whereas Akane would just grab anything. Once she'd even added dish soap.
That particular time, Nabiki had kept some, and persuaded Kuno to eat it.
Every year, "Bubbles Day" was celebrated, as Kuno was fed something else with dish soap in, after being told Akane cooked it, even if she hadn't.
The teachers were still working on a good way to get the soap scum off the ceilings.
******
"I'm having strange feeling about today, Kasumi."
Kodora was again sitting on the back porch with a cup of tea, and a sandwich. Kasumi, hanging laundry again, momentarily mused that the small girl never seemed to be without something to munch on, regardless of whether she or Kasumi made it, or pulled it from the cupboards.
"What do you mean, Kodora-chan?"
"Something feels.... not quite straight. Sort of wrong tilt to it. Not bad, but... not how it supposed to be. Ranma say he feels uneasy, like he sometimes does when Oyaji do something dumb, but we don't know yet."
Kasumi nodded, hanging up another sheet.
Kodora sighed. "Oh, well. Is nothing to do about it, anyway." She picked up the crutch with her good hand, and used it to help herself up to a standing position as she finished off the sandwich in one large bite.
******
I feel compelled to note the differences between how Kodora eats and how Ranma does. Both eat very, very quickly. Ranma moreso, he's had more practice. There are three ways to eat fast. There's the way Ranma and Genma eat, which involves stuffing as many bites down your throat as possible as quickly as you can, especially from someone else's plate.
There's the Chardin method, which involves basically warping your own musculoskeletal structure so you can do things like stuff whole watermelons in your mouth.
Then there's Kodora's method. This method is also shared by members of certain other anime casts, most notably Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev.
This method consists of getting onto your eating utensil as large a bite as you can fit in your mouth. This gets stuffed in, and chewed to reduce it's volume, then another bite is stuffed in, chewed, the whole thing is swallowed, and by this time, you have another large bite ready. This method has less mess than the Saotome style, and lacks the physical deformity caused by the Chardin style. The reason it still works quickly is that, by using it, one builds up one's jaw muscles so that food can be compacted smaller. For this reason, more food mass dissapears at once.
I hope this dissertation did not disgust you.
******
Kodora was lying in Kasumi's bed, resting after having meditated for a while. Her neck was pretty much not bothering her anymore, and her bruises had long since disappeared. The cracked ribs and broken limbs, however, were not healed yet, and sometimes hurt like hell. Or Hel, depending on whom you asked. This was one of those times.
Kasumi was downstairs with the recipie and instructions Kodora had given her, since the small girl's limbs had begun to ache yet again, and she would probably be of little use in the kitchen.
Kodora heard a shouted "Tadaima!" from Akane and Nabiki as they returned from school. There was a bit of quiet conversation from downstairs, and then she heard three sets of footsteps heading up the stairs. But Kasumi was still singing in the kitchen as she cooked, and Souun and Genma didn't move that quietly unless they absolutely had to. So who was the third person?
Also, one of the sets of footsteps occasionally paused, or fluctuated in nearness, as though whoever it was kept changing their mind or stopping for a moment, then returning to a steady pace towards Kasumi's room.
Finally, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." Said Kodora, eager to find out who the third person was.
Akane and Nabiki stepped in, leaving the door open behind them for someone.
But noone was there but Akane and Nabiki.
"How are you doing, Ranma?" Asked Akane.
Ranma-Kodora grimaced. "Okay, but leg and arm are hurting. Was going to take a nap soon."
Nabiki nodded, face neutral, as Akane looked on, concerned. "Someone came to the school to see you, so we brought him here. Says he knew you."
*I don't THINK I know anyone around here...*
*Maybe seeing him will jog your memory, Oniichan.*
*I hope so.*
"So," began Kodora, "Where is he?"
Akane and Nabiki blinked. "He's right-" Nabiki turned to point out the empty doorway. And nearly fell over at the lack of someone there.
Akane, also looking into the hall, blinked again. "And here I thought he was kidding about that."
Kodora didn't look amused. "Look, am not in the mood for joke. Is nice to see you both, really, but could you go now? I really would like to take nap."
Akane frowned, it wasn't a joke. They'd gone to so much trouble to see that the boy actually got here... But there was nothing to do about it now. He was gone, like he said might happen. Nodding, Akane said "Gomen, Ranma. Oyasumi nasai." And headed into the hall and down to her own room.
Nabiki grimaced. This hurt her credibility with Ranma. She liked her credibility with ANYONE. Besides, she'd figured out what the parents had been up to: if Ranma didn't marry one of them, they might not be able to keep the Tendou-ke in the family when their father eventually passed on. Anything that hurt his chances of agreeing to join the family was bad news. Majorly. Nodding sourly, she muttered "Oyasumi nasai," and left, closing the door behind her.
******
Elsewhere in the house, a teenage boy was muttering darkly to himself about his two curses, tripped on the edge of the furo, and fell into the cold bathwater, triggering one of them. The other one was always active, anyways.
Crawling out, the cat-sized green rabbit muttered silently to itself, unable to make human-hearing-range sounds with it's lungs and throat, and dragged its soaked clothes out of the furo.
He WOULD find Ranma, and NOTHING would stop him.
******
Kodora woke up instantly. Since joining Ranma, she had become a very, VERY light sleeper. Someone was in the room. The window was open, and the door was closed, so it wasn't one of the Tendous or Oyaji. And she couldn't turn over right now, her arm and ribs were killing her.
This was very, VERY bad.
She tried to take a deep breath to scream for help, but the pain in her ribs cut her short, and she wound up gasping shallowly for a few moments instead.
Then she heard it. Someone or something was crouched below the foot of the bed, trying not to make a lot of noise.
Kodora began to shiver in fear.
Then the green rabbit jumped up and landed on the foot of the bed, and she nearly passed out in relief. After all, rabbits didn't kill people or rape them or anything. Although, apparently, they did scare people half to death sometimes.
The rabbit looked at what had to be the smallest teenage girl he'd ever seen. This was supposed to be Ranma here in this bed. This was all wrong. He must have gotten the wrong room again. As he started to turn to leave the pleasently-decorated room, the small girl held out her uninjured arm, making a sort of "tchk-tchk" noise with her tongue on the roof of her mouth.
Well, it wouldn't hurt, and the girl looked kind of scared, too... Aw, hell. He never could resist, even though all the people who'd tried that had wanted him to be their pet, and had done all sorts of horrible ear- pulling and such.
Kodora smiled as the rabbit carefully hop-walked into reach. It jumped slightly at that, seeing her fangs, but somehow seemed to relax even more after seeing them.
Once it was close enough, Kodora lightly stroked it on the head and neck, careful not to pull at its skin or ears too hard- she'd handled rabbits before. Not very much, but she tended to have a bit of a sixth sense for animals. They tended to like her, too.
It was an interesting sort of collar, though, she thought as she drifted off, one small arm draped across the now-drowsy green rabbit.
Why on earth would someone put a yellow bandana with jaguar splotches on a rabbit?
############################################################################ #############
Uh-oh. (giggles maniacally) THIS is going to be interesting.
It was maybe a week and a day since Ranma and Genma had arrived. The day before, Kasumi and the small girl had finally finished telling each other their life stories (Though Kasumi's was longer, the smaller girl refusing to speak of her previous life), and the demon-girl had promised to teach Kasumi a recipie called "Tuna Treat" that day. That wasn't what woke her up at four AM, sweating, though.
She sat up , putting painful strain on her arm, and gasped. That was wierd. She'd never had a dream do that to her before. What made it worse was that she couldn't remember anything about the dream except for a lot of glowing greenness. It just didn't make any sense.
The unnamed girl looked over at Kasumi, who had insisted on taking the futon on the floor, giving her bed to the smaller girl.
That in itself had been an interesting argument, consisting of Kasumi and her sisters arguing that "Ranma" needed the bed, and "Ranma", Ranma (by proxy), and the fathers arguing that it really wasn't neccessary to take Kasumi's bed away from her and leave her with a futon. Kasumi, of course, had won. Noone known in Nerima could win an argument with Kasumi.
Either way, the nameless girl was awake, and sweaty. That meant she needed a bath, and also that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. If she was up, that was it. No going back to sleep. She just wouldn't be able to do it, no matter how hard she tried. And Kasumi had insisted that when she got up, she should wake Kasumi up so Kasumi could help her.
But she couldn't bear to wake up Kasumi.
What a dilemma.
############################################################################ #############
Passenger
Chapter 9: This looks familiar
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by S. Starblade
Dedicated to... uh... to.... something important and good.
Warning: You've probably read this warning enough times. I'm not going to bother you with it again now.
Disclaimer: Aiyaaah! Starblade no own this! Be getting Kiss of Death if not write this. Oh, but Starblade own own character. Aiyaaah! Is so confusing.....
Key:
=English
" " = Japanese
[ ] = Jusenkyou Cursed Signs
{ } = Chinese ( I know, I know, there STILL isn't any. Have patience.)
* * = Internal conversation between Ranma and the demon formerly known as Yasha.
############################################################################ #############
Fortunately, she only had to wait a minute or two before Kasumi got up too. Attuned to her house and it's sounds, Kasumi's subconscious had noticed that Yasha's motions were in the category "unusual" as regarded this time of night, and possibly worth waking up over if they persisted. When they did, Kasumi's subconscious had yanked the "Wake Up" pullrope, and a small gong had gone off in Kasumi's head, rousting her consciousness.
Kasumi slowly sat up, the world fading gently into focus around her, as it always did when she woke. She yawned, stretching one arm, and rubbing her eyes with the other hand. Looking over at the clock, Kasumi noted that it was an hour earlier than she usually woke up, and looked around for what might have disturbed her sleep.
The small girl sat, watching Kasumi, an expression half-surprise and half- relief on her face.
"What's the problem?" Asked Kasumi, remaining where she was.
"It's nothing, just strange dream I have.. ah.. had." She corrected herself.
"Ah. Would you like to tell me about it?"
"Most definitely. Problem is, I can't remember it." Her Japanese had been getting much better, with Kasumi's guidance during their conversations.
Kasumi smiled. "Well, since we're both up, may as well go get our baths, ne?"
The nameless girl nodded once, carefully. Her neck had been hurting less the last couple of days.
******
Their bathing done, the two girls were sitting in the kitchen, having some cold green tea before setting to work on breakfast. They had taken to working together on it, and apparently the demon-girl had a bit of a knack for cooking. That and she remembered some from Before.
"Kasumi?"
"Hai?" Kasumi took a sip of tea.
"I have choose a name."
"Chosen."
"Oh, oops... I have chosen a name." She corrected herself. "I would like to be called Kodora."
Kasumi nodded. "Okay, Kodora. Any ideas for breakfast this morning?"
Kodora grinned. Her old father had known how to do some very interesting things with scrambled eggs.
******
Souun and Nabiki Tendou stared at the masses on their plates, and on everyone else's plates. They were mostly scrambled-egg-yellow, although it only just qualified as "mostly", being more like half. There were pink bits and brown bits (presumably meat, although with cooking that looked like this, you never knew), and green bits and red bits and black flecks and spots all over it. And some orange, and yellowish-white areas. And the yellow of the eggs was actually a bit off, looking a little green. Obviously, someone could cook just as badly as Akane: this looked like her kitchen-work, but she'd been out jogging all morning. It had been Ranma helping Kasumi.
Akane wondered what was wrong with Souun and Nabiki. She'd cooked stuff that looked worse than this, and they hadn't complained. On the other hand, they never actually ATE it, did they? Hmm. This bore looking into.
Genma also wondered what was wrong with the staring Tendous, but just shrugged and grabbed one of the muffins that were to go with the eggs. Mm. Blueberry.
Kodora and Kasumi just watched everyone else, waiting for them to try it. They'd already tasted some, and wanted to see everyone else's reactions.
Finally, Genma took his chopsticks and ate a bite of the adulterated eggs. All eyes were riveted on him, for various reasons.
Genma chewed.
And chewed.
He seemed reluctant to swallow, but eventually did.
Souun and Nabiki expected him to pass out or turn funny colors anytime now. Instead, he said: "Wow."
And took another, larger bite.
Kodora and Kasumi grinned and high-fived, before digging into their own food. By this point, Souun and Nabiki were totally confused.
Akane began eating too.
Carefully, looking scared, Souun picked up a bite of the eggs with his chopsticks, and timorously put it in his mouth.
First came the expression of surprise.
Then the happy chewing.
Then he began to cry, silently for once, as he chewed. It was too good to waste by opening his mouth and risking it falling out.
Nabiki was getting scared. She opened her mouth to object, only to find that Akane had grabbed her chopsticks and shoved a bite of eggs into her mouth, removing the chopsticks and forcing Nabiki's mouth closed before she could spit them out.
Nabiki got an expression of sheer fright on her face, and froze. She didn't dare chew it, she knew. That would bring out more of the awful, nasty, fetid, h.... h.... how good this was defied description.
Nearly passing out with relief and amazement, Nabiki joined the others in eating slowly and silently. Everyone was eating slowly, savoring each bite, even Genma.
******
Most of the demons in Hel had given up and taken up skiing and snowboarding by this point.
And, now that I've beaten THAT joke into the ground, I think I'll stop with it.
******
At school, Nabiki was in too much of a daze to notice that Kuno was absent again, this time because Akane had force-fed him his back-banner the previous day. In large chunks.
She was still trying to figure out how someone could make something that looked like Akane's cooking, but had tasted so darn good. Usually, when Akane cooked, the better it was at first, the worse it got. If it tasted horrible right off, it was usually okay to eat, but if it tasted okay, you immediately spat it out, because eating it would probably induce vomiting, diarrhea, or some other unpleasentness.
Okay, so Akane's cooking wasn't DEADLY, but it was pretty bad. Even by Nabiki's standards. And Nabiki could cook cheesetoast at best. Sometimes. When it didn't burn.
Although, if she could get Ranma to teach Akane to cook like that.... after all, both methods seemed to consist of grabbing everything handy and throwing it in, it's just that Ranma seemed to have gotten in the habit of grabbing the RIGHT everything. Whereas Akane would just grab anything. Once she'd even added dish soap.
That particular time, Nabiki had kept some, and persuaded Kuno to eat it.
Every year, "Bubbles Day" was celebrated, as Kuno was fed something else with dish soap in, after being told Akane cooked it, even if she hadn't.
The teachers were still working on a good way to get the soap scum off the ceilings.
******
"I'm having strange feeling about today, Kasumi."
Kodora was again sitting on the back porch with a cup of tea, and a sandwich. Kasumi, hanging laundry again, momentarily mused that the small girl never seemed to be without something to munch on, regardless of whether she or Kasumi made it, or pulled it from the cupboards.
"What do you mean, Kodora-chan?"
"Something feels.... not quite straight. Sort of wrong tilt to it. Not bad, but... not how it supposed to be. Ranma say he feels uneasy, like he sometimes does when Oyaji do something dumb, but we don't know yet."
Kasumi nodded, hanging up another sheet.
Kodora sighed. "Oh, well. Is nothing to do about it, anyway." She picked up the crutch with her good hand, and used it to help herself up to a standing position as she finished off the sandwich in one large bite.
******
I feel compelled to note the differences between how Kodora eats and how Ranma does. Both eat very, very quickly. Ranma moreso, he's had more practice. There are three ways to eat fast. There's the way Ranma and Genma eat, which involves stuffing as many bites down your throat as possible as quickly as you can, especially from someone else's plate.
There's the Chardin method, which involves basically warping your own musculoskeletal structure so you can do things like stuff whole watermelons in your mouth.
Then there's Kodora's method. This method is also shared by members of certain other anime casts, most notably Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev.
This method consists of getting onto your eating utensil as large a bite as you can fit in your mouth. This gets stuffed in, and chewed to reduce it's volume, then another bite is stuffed in, chewed, the whole thing is swallowed, and by this time, you have another large bite ready. This method has less mess than the Saotome style, and lacks the physical deformity caused by the Chardin style. The reason it still works quickly is that, by using it, one builds up one's jaw muscles so that food can be compacted smaller. For this reason, more food mass dissapears at once.
I hope this dissertation did not disgust you.
******
Kodora was lying in Kasumi's bed, resting after having meditated for a while. Her neck was pretty much not bothering her anymore, and her bruises had long since disappeared. The cracked ribs and broken limbs, however, were not healed yet, and sometimes hurt like hell. Or Hel, depending on whom you asked. This was one of those times.
Kasumi was downstairs with the recipie and instructions Kodora had given her, since the small girl's limbs had begun to ache yet again, and she would probably be of little use in the kitchen.
Kodora heard a shouted "Tadaima!" from Akane and Nabiki as they returned from school. There was a bit of quiet conversation from downstairs, and then she heard three sets of footsteps heading up the stairs. But Kasumi was still singing in the kitchen as she cooked, and Souun and Genma didn't move that quietly unless they absolutely had to. So who was the third person?
Also, one of the sets of footsteps occasionally paused, or fluctuated in nearness, as though whoever it was kept changing their mind or stopping for a moment, then returning to a steady pace towards Kasumi's room.
Finally, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." Said Kodora, eager to find out who the third person was.
Akane and Nabiki stepped in, leaving the door open behind them for someone.
But noone was there but Akane and Nabiki.
"How are you doing, Ranma?" Asked Akane.
Ranma-Kodora grimaced. "Okay, but leg and arm are hurting. Was going to take a nap soon."
Nabiki nodded, face neutral, as Akane looked on, concerned. "Someone came to the school to see you, so we brought him here. Says he knew you."
*I don't THINK I know anyone around here...*
*Maybe seeing him will jog your memory, Oniichan.*
*I hope so.*
"So," began Kodora, "Where is he?"
Akane and Nabiki blinked. "He's right-" Nabiki turned to point out the empty doorway. And nearly fell over at the lack of someone there.
Akane, also looking into the hall, blinked again. "And here I thought he was kidding about that."
Kodora didn't look amused. "Look, am not in the mood for joke. Is nice to see you both, really, but could you go now? I really would like to take nap."
Akane frowned, it wasn't a joke. They'd gone to so much trouble to see that the boy actually got here... But there was nothing to do about it now. He was gone, like he said might happen. Nodding, Akane said "Gomen, Ranma. Oyasumi nasai." And headed into the hall and down to her own room.
Nabiki grimaced. This hurt her credibility with Ranma. She liked her credibility with ANYONE. Besides, she'd figured out what the parents had been up to: if Ranma didn't marry one of them, they might not be able to keep the Tendou-ke in the family when their father eventually passed on. Anything that hurt his chances of agreeing to join the family was bad news. Majorly. Nodding sourly, she muttered "Oyasumi nasai," and left, closing the door behind her.
******
Elsewhere in the house, a teenage boy was muttering darkly to himself about his two curses, tripped on the edge of the furo, and fell into the cold bathwater, triggering one of them. The other one was always active, anyways.
Crawling out, the cat-sized green rabbit muttered silently to itself, unable to make human-hearing-range sounds with it's lungs and throat, and dragged its soaked clothes out of the furo.
He WOULD find Ranma, and NOTHING would stop him.
******
Kodora woke up instantly. Since joining Ranma, she had become a very, VERY light sleeper. Someone was in the room. The window was open, and the door was closed, so it wasn't one of the Tendous or Oyaji. And she couldn't turn over right now, her arm and ribs were killing her.
This was very, VERY bad.
She tried to take a deep breath to scream for help, but the pain in her ribs cut her short, and she wound up gasping shallowly for a few moments instead.
Then she heard it. Someone or something was crouched below the foot of the bed, trying not to make a lot of noise.
Kodora began to shiver in fear.
Then the green rabbit jumped up and landed on the foot of the bed, and she nearly passed out in relief. After all, rabbits didn't kill people or rape them or anything. Although, apparently, they did scare people half to death sometimes.
The rabbit looked at what had to be the smallest teenage girl he'd ever seen. This was supposed to be Ranma here in this bed. This was all wrong. He must have gotten the wrong room again. As he started to turn to leave the pleasently-decorated room, the small girl held out her uninjured arm, making a sort of "tchk-tchk" noise with her tongue on the roof of her mouth.
Well, it wouldn't hurt, and the girl looked kind of scared, too... Aw, hell. He never could resist, even though all the people who'd tried that had wanted him to be their pet, and had done all sorts of horrible ear- pulling and such.
Kodora smiled as the rabbit carefully hop-walked into reach. It jumped slightly at that, seeing her fangs, but somehow seemed to relax even more after seeing them.
Once it was close enough, Kodora lightly stroked it on the head and neck, careful not to pull at its skin or ears too hard- she'd handled rabbits before. Not very much, but she tended to have a bit of a sixth sense for animals. They tended to like her, too.
It was an interesting sort of collar, though, she thought as she drifted off, one small arm draped across the now-drowsy green rabbit.
Why on earth would someone put a yellow bandana with jaguar splotches on a rabbit?
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Uh-oh. (giggles maniacally) THIS is going to be interesting.