Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ranma stuff.
Chapter 11
'I've really really gotta stop getting hit by mom's sword magic…' Ranma thought as he opened, and then quickly shut his eyes as he was blinded by the afternoon light. Slowly, he tried again and managed to find himself in his futon in his room. He must have been out for a while he surmised, the sun being back up and the house being quiet meant it was at least the next day, and school was probably in session. Surprisingly he wasn't feeling as nearly drained as the previous time, and looking down he was in his female body for some reason. 'Maybe I landed in the pond?' he thought as he got up and dressed.
"Hey Mr. Tendo, is mom around?" Ranma asked as he entered the dining room to find the man sitting at the table reading the paper.
"Not at the moment, she's at the doctors getting checked up, the kick from last night was quite vicious." He replied solemnly. "Your friend is restrained in the Dojo, he seems to be back to his senses, but your mother said not to go in until she returns."
Ranma nodded, then asked about the others. "Are Akane and Lotion okay? Anyone else hurt?"
"Akane landed in the pond before your mother's attack, so she was fine, Lotion was knocked out like you, Shampoo and the Elder came to collect her last night. She's probably waking up about now too."
"What about Mirei?" Ranma asked worriedly.
"She's a brave little girl, didn't even cry and was just worried about you. She even spent last night holding onto you." Mr Tendo said with a smile. "After she splashed you as she thought your magical side would heal better…" Mr. Tendo said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Yea...I really gotta figure out how to convince her I ain't no magical girl at some point…" Ranma says with a laugh also.
"I'm gonna grab something to eat and then a bath." He says heading towards the kitchen. Mr. Tendo nodded and then went back to his newspaper.
# # #
"I think its this way mom, this is looking a bit more familiar now." Ranma said as he walked down the streets near his old junior high with his mother.
"Good, if we can find Ryoga's parents or house, it should help explain why he's been possessed by some sort of demon." His mother says quietly as they walk down the street, with many students from the local schools heading home now that classes were out. A few staring as they pass no doubt due to his mother's kimono and sword standing out.
"There it is." Ranma points to a house about two blocks away. The house was run down to say the least, moss covering the rooftops, paint peeling, and once they got to the gate they could see it was barely hanging on to the one hinge that was still connected. The yard was a mess too, weeds everywhere and grass growing out of control. Ranma went to open the gate but his mother put a hand over his chest to stop him.
"This whole house is reeking of evil. We can go into the yard, but don't step into the house itself." She warned Ranma.
Nodding he slowly opened the gate, only for it give out and snap off the last hinge, falling to the ground with a thud. The two then began to yell out if anyone was home, but got no response. Walking along the side path to the backyard revealed still more overgrowth and decay. They were peering into the back of the house through a loose sliding door when a noise came from behind them, something was moving near the tool shed in the corner.
Nodoka readied her sword as Ranma took the lead, moving silently through the grass. Ranma got to the corner of the shed and peeked around, only to turn and give his mom a smile.
"It's fine mom, it's their dog, Shirokuro." He told her before walking around the shed. "Hey girl, your bigger now aren't you!" Ranma said, holding out his hand to let her sniff and see if she remembered him. He was quickly bowled over by the black and white patched dog as it licked his face and wagged its tail excitedly. Soon the dog leapt off though and went back to where it had been, sticking its head under the shed and pulling something out before returning to Ranma.
"Aww, you had some puppies did you?" Ranma says, holding the small puppy in his arm as Shirokuro went back again, retrieving a second one to bring to Nodoka who she sniffed and licked the hand of.
"Shirokuro was how Ryoga and his mom got around to places, she could always find them, take them where they needed to go, and bring them back here. But I wonder what happened, this place looks like it has been abandoned for years…" Ranma said to his mother.
"The level of infestation here is massive, it's likely been here for decades if what that demon said about having been with Ryoga since he was born. Let's return for now, we aren't equipped to even begin investigating such a place." Nodoka said, grimacing at the house once again.
"What about Shirokuro and her puppies? She might be able to help us find his parents." Ranma asked.
"Lets take them back with us, we can care for them better, and maybe meeting with Ryoga again will help him." Nodoka says, gently petting the puppy that was relaxing in her arms.
Looking through the shed Ranma found an old leash and a box for the puppies and the two were soon headed home with the dogs, Shirokuro wagging her tail excitedly.
# # #
Studying proved to be harder than Ranma expected that afternoon as he found himself sandwiched between Sachiko and Lufa at the table, Lufa having joined them at the request of Mrs. Saotome as a tutor for Ranma, but as Sachiko was in the same class she wasn't going to miss out on the help, is what she told herself anyway. Akane and Lotion were there also, having planned to study too but were currently out in the garden with Mirei and the other Tendo sisters, playing with the puppies and losing their minds at how cute they were.
Shirokuro though was in the dojo, where she was currently holding vigil it seemed over Ryoga, not afraid of the boy when he was possessed from time to time, though the puppies refused to stay inside, so Shirokuro did come back the house to nurse them through out the day. She didn't seem to have any interest though in anyone, returning to the dojo as soon as she could.
"You brought them home Ranma, so you get to explain to her why she can't sleep with them tonight." Sachiko said with a smile as she watch Mirei rolling on the ground giggling, the puppies happily pouncing on her and running around her.
"Okay, but you have to explain that to Akane." Ranma said with a laugh, having watched as the normally tough girl had turned into a puddle of cutesy words and high pitched noises when she'd returned and seen the box with the puppies.
Sachiko had to laugh at that, having seen her try to adopt stray animals before. "I'm honestly not sure which one will be less reasonable…" she said, seeing Akane looking a bit jealous at the puppies paying Mirei more attention than her at the moment.
"I would worry more about when they have to return them to the Hibiki's…" Lufa said, a worried look on her face. Both Ranma and Sachiko's faces dropped at realizing that was the likely outcome in the end.
# # #
"Hey Ryoga, ya hungry?" Ranma said coming in with plate and a glass of water with a lid and straw after having finished his own dinner.
"Yea, for being held captive, at least the foods been great." Ryoga said, giving him a wane grin. Still wearing the spare clothes from Ranma, he looked a bit more like a normal teenager than a wandering martial artist at the moment, though floating in the straps and golden bracelets holding him in place made it obvious things weren't close to normal.
"Sorry about this, but you definitely got some weird evil demon stuff going on, so until my grandma shows up, not much else we can do." Ranma says, feeding the boy a piece of chicken cutlet.
"All these years, I thought you were the demon, having left Sachko like that...I swore if I ever found ya I'd beat you too a pulp, then tell you to go save her." Ryoga said between bites.
"Where all did you end up, we use to always bump into each other like clock work for school, but after the challenge I never saw you again even though I waited for 3 days." Ranma asked curiously.
"China mostly, I think the middle east for a month or two a year, and 5 months on a farm in America which helped earn me some money, and probably some time in Europe but I can't keep track of all the languages, mostly just the food." Ryoga said with a shrug.
"Wait...you were in China most of the time? That's where I was!" Ranma said, a bit in disbelief.
"Yea, I know...I basically was following behind you and your dad, which let me tell you, the locals weren't to welcoming to the next Japanese martial artist after you two left…" Ryoga said, shooting Ranma a glare.
"Ugh..yea, we got chased out a bunch due to pop's stupid ideas and theft. Sorry about that." Ranma said with a quick bow of his head. "Did you ever find the Amazon village? I spent a bunch of time there training, and just avoiding pop's problems." Ranma asked.
"Amazons in China? I don't think so, the only ones I ran into were on a small island and spoke some sort of European language or something...they were NOT happy for what ever reason when I showed up on their beach." Ryoga said with a sour look.
"So you were following behind us for the last four years, but never once ran into us...that seems way to coincidental don't ya think?" Ranma said, taking a seat next to Shirokuro now that he'd finished feeding Ryoga, placing the plate and mostly empty glass next to him on the floor. "But wait, how'd you get your Jusenkyo curse without ever meeting the Amazons, their village is just a few miles away?" Ranma wondered out loud.
Ryoga's head suddenly snapped back as his eye's closed and opened again, black with red little dots. "YoU Di Di dID IT to US! ThE SillY girLs ChasiNG aFTer You!" The demon screeched out at Ranma. Shirokuro didn't shift from the large pillow she was using for a bed, but did growl lowly at the demon.
Ranma wouldn't admit it, but he did hop back a few inches when the change occurred, but quickly gave the demon a disgusted look. "Whatcha talk'n about? I didn't see ya that whole time!" He shouted back.
Ryoga seemed to come to just as quickly as he lost control, wincing with his eyes closed. "Argh...when ever it does that it sucks, its like a pounding headache compressed into seconds." Ryoga complained while trying to rub his head only to find his hands still restrained.
"It said I was responsible for your curse, something about girls chasing me? How long ago did you get your curse?" Ranma asked.
"Uh, its hard to say, but probably a bit over a month ago?" Ryoga replied. "I was just walking through a bit of a jungle, when suddenly I heard what sounded like an army crashing through, heading towards me. I tried to head away from them, but it just kept coming until I saw some women with weapons hacking through the foliage, and once they saw me they really started chasing me. I ran for a while, until I tripped and started rolling down a hill, ended up in the spring of drowned pig. Thankfully the guide got me out and explained things before I wandered off, helped fish out my pack too, even though it was soaked through." Ryoga explained.
"Huh...that sounds just like me and pops, we were headed back to the amazon village to say goodbye, but instead all of them seemed pissed and started chasing us and some of the other males in the village. We took off and ended up falling in too…" Ranma said, feeling like these coincidences weren't just random.
"You have a curse also?" Ryoga says a bit startled.
"Oh..yea, you were passed out so you didn't see…" Ranma remembers. Picking up the glass of water he'd had for Ryoga, he takes off the lid. "Look, if you say anything stupid when I show you, remember that you're the one tied up." Ranma warned him before tipping the water onto his head.
Ryoga's eyes went wide as he saw Ranma shift into his rather buxom female body. He quickly had to look at the ceiling before he let his eyes wander for too long. A flash of anger boiling up inside him at the revelation of Ranma's curse. "You get to stay human!? I turn into Food!" He shouts at the injustice of it.
"Hah, least you don't have guys ogling you constantly, or have to deal with a period." Ranma retorted.
"You can probably beat up any guy who does that, and what the heck even is a period?" Ryoga asked confused.
Ranma realized that Ryoga was probably as poorly educated as he was, though for slightly different reasons, and the thought of trying to explain all of...that to the boy was turning his whole face red. "You'll learn about it in school!" He jumped up and shouted back.
"Look, I wanted to say thanks for helping Sachiko and Mirei." Ranma says, hoping to change topics quickly. "Lotta people out there probably would of not helped, maybe even made it worse. You're a good guy Ryoga, and like my mom said, we Saotome's owe ya a lot, so we're definitely going to get to the bottom of this and kick that demon's ass outta ya." Ranma said, finishing with a deep bow.
"I'm a martial artist, no way I could leave her alone like that, and when she told me what her parents did...I can't wait to kick their butts." Ryoga said, once again forgetting he was tied up and trying to smack his fist into his other hands palm, frowning when his movements were once again restricted.
"Well, her pops is like banned from being around, and her mom can't see her, but does get to see Mirei like once a year or something, I don't really know the details well myself." Ranma said. "I think if her pops is stupid enough to come around though, we'll let you be first in line to show him how we feel." A grin appearing on Ranma's face as he thinks about what he'd like to do to that 'man'.
Ryoga seems to grow a bit somber as he remembers more of that night. "I'm…I'm just glad she did make it. I've been worried the last four years that she never found the place, maybe got returned to her parents, or something else bad happened to her. I'm so use to everything just going wrong...it's still hard for me to even imagine that things went...right."
"Yea...I think ya used up all our luck combined that night." Ranma says, the thoughts of what could of gone wrong making him feel queasy. Silence seemed to hang in the air between them until they heard a shout from the house about Mirei's bedtime.
"Hey, I gotta go, its my turn tonight to send her to bed, and I gotta tell her she can't sleep with the puppies…" Ranma said with a small groan. "I'm gonna ask the Amazons about that day, it seems crazy that the first time you got close to the village, we both ended up in the pools."
"Okay, yea I'd like to know." Ryoga replied as Ranma picked up the dishes.
"Have a good night buddy." Ranma says as he gets to the door.
"You too…" Ryoga replied, watching Ranma leave and hearing his foot steps fade towards the house. Hanging there he looked over at Shirokuro, who looked up at him and whined, before getting up and nuzzling his foot.
"It's okay girl, its gonna be...okay." He whispered, wishing for it to be true.
# # #
Ranma stared at his opponent, sizing them up as he mentally prepared a checklist of their weak points, and the possible counters they could have. Hoping to avoid some sort of speech, he quickly moved forward towards the target, hoping his speed might allow him some chance at snatching it before his opponent could react.
"NO!" His opponent screamed at him, her face beginning to tear up as she adjusted her grip on the target. Striking back at Ranma with just her gaze as she adopted a technique he wasn't sure he could defeat of Puppy dog eyes while holding a puppy.
Having to look away, Ranma stood back up to full height after his failed grab. "Mirei, we can't sleep with the puppy, they need to stay in their box where their momma can find them in the dojo."
"NO!" She screamed back again, the tears that had been welling up, now dripping down her cheeks. "Splatty needs me!" She argued.
"I can take care of her perfectly fine Sachiko, Checkers needs someone to watch over her!" Ranma heard Akane shout from across the hall, letting him know that any reinforcements in this fight were still involved in their own battle.
"Splatty needs his momma for food, and wouldn't his momma be worried if she couldn't find him." Ranma asked his crying daughter, questioning how they'd allowed this name to stick.
"NO!" She said a bit weaker between sobs. The puppy now whining a bit at being held for so long and began to wiggle to get free. "Maybe…" she said sadly.
Suddenly Ranma had an idea, pulling from his limited experiences with Mirei. "How about...we make sure Splatty has a good night...we can read him a story, and you can tuck him in…" He offered to his daughter who was now struggling to keep hold of the puppy.
Mirei was taking her time considering, mostly trying to keep the pup from getting out of her reach after having lost the ability to hold him in her arms.
"I bet his momma would be really happy to know he was being taken care of sooo well by his Big Sister." Ranma said in hopes she'd take the bate.
"Really?" Mirei asked, not sure how she'd know if the puppies mommy was happy.
"Akane, don't put her on your bed, you don't even know if she's…" He could hear Sachiko yell, followed by the sounds of Akane and her screaming in a panic.
"Oh yea, you can show her how big you are by taking care of her baby. Only big kids can do that right?" Ranma said encouragingly.
Mirei seemed to nod at that, letting go of the puppy who scrambled for the door which was currently closed. Heading to her dresser, she dug into the back of the bottom drawer and pulled out a tattered small blanket. "He's a baby, so he needs a baby blanket." She told Ranma in a serious tone.
"Good idea, lets pick out a book and get this little pup to bed." Ranma replied, happy to have resolved this peacefully.
"Oh god, its everywhere, quick, get some paper towels or rags!" Ranma heard Akane shout as he and Mirei headed down the stairs.
# # #
Ranma awoke early due to a shriek from Mirei, which thankfully turned out to just be her downstairs playing with the puppies once again. Getting up and heading down to practice, he saw Sachiko sticking her head out of Nabiki's room, a concerned look on her face.
"She's just playing with the puppies, but I'll go check, you can keep sleeping." He said heading towards the stairs.
Sachiko mouthed a silent thanks, watching him as he turned away, her eyes lingering a bit longer than they probably should have.
"Everything okay?" Nabiki asked from under her pillow as Sachiko returned to her futon.
"Yea, Mirei's probably playing with the puppies, but Ranma's going to check on her just to be sure." She tells the older girl as she slips back into bed.
"Such a good father. At least we know where she gets her "up at the crack of dawn" trait from" Nabiki said with a groan.
"At least you got to sleep in after she woke the whole house up back then...let's be glad she's self sufficient now with the activity cubby…" Sachiko replied, feeling tired just from the memory of those early mornings that felt like just a short time ago.
"Touche." Nabiki chuckled, before turning back over and trying to recover the small amount of sleep left before her alarm.
# # #
"Yes Mother, I'll go right away. See you this afternoon." Nodoka said in the receiver before gently hanging it up. Taking a deep breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in during the call, she slowly moved to the kitchen entrance. Looking out at the garden through the open sliding doors she watched as Ranma played with Mirei, trying to teach them to play fetch, but Mirei also trying to get the various sticks he'd throw before the puppies and then being chased by them all the way back to Ranma. She wished desperately that it could continue forever.
# # #
Lotion noticed her friend Akane looking exhausted as she and the other Amazon's met up with them on the way to school, and was walking by herself a bit further back. Slowing herself down she came to be right next to her friend who didn't seem to have the energy to look up.
"Long night? You is exhausted." Lotion said tentatively.
Akane, snapped out of the walking dead trance she was in looked over, taking a second to process who had just spoken before she became a teary eyed mess. Relating the terribleness of not being allowed to keep checkers in her room, and that it was obviously the arguing that had made the puppy nervous and caused her to soil the bed, and how she was reprimanded by her father for such childish behavior. Lotion, looking towards Sachiko saw that the girl had heard Akane complaining and when Lotion locked eyes with her, Sachiko just rolled her eyes at Akane's tale of the evening.
"It took me almost an hour to get things clean enough for the washing machine, and I still had to use a futon in Kasumi's room due to the...smell." Akane said disappointedly.
Looking at the group in front of them, Akane slows herself down a little bit more, grabbing lotions hand so she wouldn't walk off. "Though the real reason I'm tired." She whispers to Lotion, keeping an eye on the group to see if anyone was looking. "Kasumi talks in her sleep...or...more like goes on dates with her romance novel characters...really...long...dates…" Akane whispers, a shiver running up her spine remembering the details of one of them the previous night.
Lotion nodded in understanding at her friends misfortune. "I understand, once share tent with Shampoo during training. She fight in sleep, I have to hold her tight to stop it. Come morning, everyone think I in love with her…" Lotion said with annoyance.
Akane gives her hand a squeeze. "If I had a hundred yen for every time someone thought I liked some girl, I'd be rich by now. Us strong girls gotta stick together." She said, giving her a smile while flexing her arm holding her school bag.
Lotion did her best not to stumble at the knee weakening smile Akane gave her, and simply squeezed her hand back before replying. "Yes...Yes we do."
# # #
School had been mostly uneventful that day, and while Sachiko and Ranma's friends had wanted to meet Ryoga, the whole demon possession thing had them taking a rain check. So it was only a small group of Akane, Nabiki, Ranma, Sachiko, and Shampoo who had the later shift that found the large black limo parked out front of the dojo on their return.
"Crap, it looks like Grandma and Auntie are here Ranma." Sachiko says with some annoyance.
"Why is that a bad thing? What are they like?" Ranma enquires, seeing her mood shift so suddenly worried him.
"Grandma's...very direct and tends to just do what she wants, and tells you exactly what she thinks. Auntie...well...you'll see." Sachiko says as they reach the entrance.
"We're back!" The group cried out as they took their shoes off.
"Welcome back, come on over to the dining room please, we have guest." Nodoka shouted back from the kitchen.
Turning the corner Ranma saw an older woman, similar to Cologne in stature but who's hair was dark black, unless the light hit it just right you could see some deep dark red strands. She was wearing what looked to Ranma like a tight fitting ninja style garb, black mostly with red and gold inlays. Her eyes followed him as he entered, while mostly black he swore he saw a flash of gold at one point.
Next to her and holding Mirei in a tight hug was a women who looked quite similar to his mother, though probably in her twenties. She too was wearing an even more form fitting outfit, though mostly black with only some dark red highlights and had a hood hanging down the back, next to her were two swords in their scabards laying on the ground. She seemed to be babbling to Mirei about something in a cutesy voice while Mirei looked like she wanted to be let down, upon seeing her mother she started to squirm.
"Momma!" Sachiko cried out, putting her hands up in the air in hopes of being picked up.
"Hi cutie, is Auntie Saki spoiling you again?" Sachiko said, giving the older woman a knowing look as she walked over to pickup Mirei.
"Oh please, its just a few things from our recent trip. How could I not give the cutest little grand-niece some presents." Saki replied, not having let go of Mirei at all, but looking towards the TV area where a stack of wrapped boxes were.
Sachiko sighed, knowing the woman meant well, but with each visit the gifts became larger and harder to store, and trying to get her daughter to give up old toys to make room was always a struggle. Reaching down she went to rescue Mirei from her aunt's grip only to find the woman not exactly making it easy. A poke from her mother though got Saki to finally release the child.
The group took their seats around the table with Mirei ending up between Ranma and Sachiko. Ranma was still looking at the two guest when his grandmother casually picked up her glass of water to take a sip, and once finished quickly threw the remainder at him, with speed that surprised him.
"Hey...whatta ya do that for!" He yelled, wiping the water out of his face.
"Mother! You could of just asked…" Nodoka said with a tone that showed any lack of surprise at the old woman's behavior. Setting down a tray and snacks at the table, before returning to get the tea and cups for the group.
The old woman didn't say anything though, instead staring even more intently at Ranma to his growing frustration as he dripped onto his clothing. Finally, as Nodoka finished setting down the cups and teapot and took her place, the woman seemed to nod in understanding.
"Hum...most amazing, to think a curse could cause such a complete shift…" The old woman mused to herself.
"Ranma, let me introduce you to your Grandmother, Kofumi Saotome, and your Aunt Saki Saotome." Nodoka says, pointing to each respectively. "They've just returned from a recent mission, and I hope they are able to help us in dealing with poor Ryoga's possession."
"Mother, this is my son Ranma, who as you can see has a Josenkyo curse, and this is Shampoo from the Joketsuzoku, she along with two others are here as exchange students and suitors for Ranma." Nodoka said, introducing the two at the table her mother and sister had yet to meet.
Shampoo gave as deep a bow as she could from her seated position to the elder, and a slightly smaller one to her future aunt-in-law she hoped. Putting on her cheerful face she scooted closer to Ranma and tried to hold his hand, though he nervously pulled his hand away and blushed at the close contact.
"And where is the boy's father, it's been some time since I last got to...have words with that cretin." Grandmother Kofumi asked Nodoka, her eyes narrowing.
Nodoka sighed, she could already hear the groveling her husband would be doing. "He's at work right now mother, he'll be back tonight." She answered simply, which got no response from her mother as the woman quickly changed her attention back to Ranma.
"Humph, well if half of what I've been told about your abilities are true, maybe his screw ups will at least have a bit of a silver lining. Ranma, what do you know of your actual lineage?" Kofumi asked Ranma.
"Uhh...mom says you all are some sorta demon hunters, but only girls have the powers, though I might too when I have this body." Ranma answered nervously, the way his grandmother was looking at him seemed to almost be triggering his fight or flight reflex.
"So, close to nothing." She said with a sigh. "Ranma, the Saotome family extends back past written history in Japan from what we can gather. Back to when the realms of man were infested with demons. The gods were also more active then, choosing champions to help fight the scourge as it pleased them. We surmise one such ancestor was such, and ever since then, daughters who were born directly would inherit the power. Male's could pass it along to their own daughters, but usually at a weaker level than those of direct ascent." She explained to the wide eyed youth.
"We Saotome's are as direct a line as we know, and only one of a handful of families in Japan who possess the power. But all the families now have trouble keeping the lineage going, as the power is only truly manifest while the woman remains...pure." She says, having to pause in light of not causing Mirei to start asking about new words. Saki crossed her arms at this, grumbling something unintelligible for Ranma to follow.
"It' s a very dangerous job, daughters are lost at times, and more male heirs seem to be born every generation, diluting the bloodline. So, you can see why your "curse" as you put it, might be of great interest to our family, if the males could truly be made useful. So that is why you'll be coming back with me tonight, to begin testing and training to see if you truly do have what it takes." She finished, gasps coming from those around the table.
"MOTHER!" Nodoka said shocked at the demand. "He just returned, you can't take him away so soon, he's got Mirei, school, and plenty of other things to sort out first." She said, her face becoming upset at just the thought of losing Ranma in her life once again.
"This is more important than any of that, its about the survival of the clan!" Her mother said back to Nodoka, her voice leaving no room for argument.
"No." Ranma said, crossing his arms and staring down the old woman. "I made a promise to mom, that I'd stay here and do my best in school, and be the best dad I can be, and I don't go back on my promises." Wishing he was in his male body as he never felt very imposing when female.
The room seemed to freeze as Ranma spoke, Nodoka's face turned to a smile at seeing her son stand up for himself. Saki's eyes went wide, the last time anyone talked back to her mother, it had been her older sister before getting cast out. Shampoo suddenly felt like she was in the wrong place, as being near the target of ire from an elder seemed to always bring trouble. Sachiko held onto Mirei a little tighter, worried what might happen between the two.
Kofumi returned the stare, her battle aura starting to glow red around her, while Ranma's seemed to flicker between light blue and pink. As one's aura would grow, the other would increase their's slightly, the others quickly getting up and moving away from the table.
"You dare talk back to your elder that way? You're a hundred years too young to begin even speaking in my presence." Kofumi said calmly, but with a tenacity that was as if she already held a knife to his throat.
"You grow up with my pops, you lose a lot of respect for people that demand things because of their age." Ranma retorted.
"Growing up with your father, is exactly why you shouldn't be allowed to stay here with Mirei!" She growled out.
Ranma's aura faltered, shrinking by half as he hung his head, before it shot back up even large, but now with a green and black oozing edge.
Nodoka wanted to say something, many things infact, but whenever it came to her mother she felt frozen, as if time wasn't moving for her. She looked to Sachiko, to try and plead with her to say something but the girl was looking down at her daughter who was trying to get out of her grip. As Sachiko's second hand was coming over to help hold on, Nodoka watched as the little girl bit her mother's hand, releasing a cry of pain for the older girl as she let go.
Once free, Mirei bolted right towards Ranma, grabbing onto his arm and giving her great-grandmother the angriest face she could, followed up by a stomp of her foot. Ranma was pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden yelp and then glomp that would make even the amazon's proud. He forgot about his grandmother in an instant and simply scooted Mirei into his lap, letting her continue to hold onto his arm. Looking back up, he could see everyone else in the room now giving the elder unpleasant glares.
"Just give it up mother, before they both want as much to do with you as Nodoka…" Saki said, laying a hand on the woman's shoulder.
Kofumi's whole body seemed to sag, as if the strength in her just drained out of her in a few moments. Brushing the hand off her shoulder she stood up from the table and headed towards the Dojo. "Kids these days, no respect at all…" she muttered as she left.
# # #
"Ranma, try not to think poorly of your grandmother, she's had a life harder than either one of us could understand." Nodoka said to Ranma, handing him another plate to rinse and dry off as they finished up the dishes from dinner.
"You heard what she said…" Ranma said bitterly, having to be careful not to break another dish.
"Yes, and you know no one here thinks that, she was taking out her anger for your father on you, unjustly." Nodoka said, grateful that washing the dishes was keeping her hands busy, else they might be trying to strangle her mother. After all the time she and the rest of the house had spent to help build up Ranma's confidence at being a dad, her mother had shown up and ruined it in a single sentence.
Crack
Looking down, Nodoka cursed silently before placing the newly halved plate into the rubbish bin, at least thankful that Nabiki had found a way to buy them in bulk the year before.
"She does owe you an apology, but I want you to understand that she is how she is because she's worried about you. Our power to fight the demons is not all good, because it also tends to attract them too us." Nodoka explained, having to stop and wipe some tears from her eyes at the memories. "Saki and I aren't her only children...we're just the ones she has left…"
Ranma felt mostly anger still for the old woman, showing up and trying to control his life like his father always had, then saying he shouldn't even be around his own daughter. But seeing his mom's tears at the mention of losing children, it felt as if there was suddenly a hand squeezing his heart. He dried his hands on the towel and then wrapped his arms around his mom, she greedily held him tightly with her soapy hands, planting small kisses into his hair.
"When you were born a boy, I was so thankful." His mother whispers into his ear, not yet ready to let him go. "You wouldn't have to deal with the training, the demands, the feeling that your whole life was out of your own control." Pushing back from him, holding him at arms reach with her hands on his shoulders she gazes into his eyes. "Now, I have to worry all over again, and its made me understand my mother better. When the time come, she's going to push you, physically and mentally, do everything she can to get inside your head and rip your ego apart. You'll curse her name, but you must understand, she's doing it too you for protection, because the demon's will look to do the same, and they won't give you second chances."
Ranma nodded, knowing how much he'd hated his father in the past for all of the "training" he'd given him, the insults and punishments. But he knew his father did care about him in the end, wanted to see him grow and become stronger. If his grandmother was going to be the same he thought, then she better be ready for him to push back on her controlling his life, because he was done with that for a while. The idea that he was some how going to attract more trouble though worried him, he was already a water magnet and cat's tended to show up at the worst times, were demons going to start popping up randomly too, well, besides Ryoga?
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind that gave him goosebumps. "Mom, you said the demon's come after our power right? What about Mirei then?" He asked worriedly.
His mother's face didn't change from the sad look she was already giving him, but he saw her shoulders square up and her posture become more rigid. "It is true, she will eventually gain some powers as she get older, though as the off spring of your male side, its likely to be diminished. With luck she'll be able to train and learn how to detect demon's presences, and alert us to come handle it, many of your distant cousins, uncles, and aunts are attuned enough to act as a kind of safety net around the country."
Ranma nodded at the explanation. "I'll do it, for Mirei, not because the old wi… grandma demands it." He said resolutely.
"Good, now lets finish up and see what they've found out." Nodoka said, letting him go and returning back to finishing the dishes.
# # #
"The demon itself is connected to the young Hibiki, but it doesn't reside there. Likely the close presence of its cursed object allowed it to in a way, infect the boy. It's been using him to draw power probably his whole life from the sounds of things." Saki said to the group like she was briefing the media, once again seated around the table, joined this time by the rest of the household except Mirei and Sachiko.
"So the demon's not in him, but like...connected to him?" Ranma asked a bit confused by the explanation.
"Yes, it likely has a host person or object its anchored too in our world, judging from the state of the house from what we've been told, it sounds like it's been there for a very long time to have built up such an aura." Saki replied. "But just going in and destroying it is reckless, and could likely kill anyone connected to the demon, like the Hibiki's."
The group murmured uncomfortably at the news, before quieting down and waiting for Saki to continue. "We need to find the boys parents, figure out what the object is, then we can plan an attack on it while we also shield them from its influence so it can't try and hop into one of them completely." She finishes.
"How come it hasn't done that already?" Ranma asks.
"It uses a lot more energy to fully possess a living creature vs some object, so it's likely just feeding on the Hibiki's to gather strength. If it took over a human it would have to feed almost constantly, and we'd quickly start hearing of those attacks and come to stop it. In this way, its managed to hide from us for almost two decades." Saki explains.
"How are we going to find his parents if they have the same "always lost" curse?" Nabiki asked with a raised hand.
"Shirokuro. She seems to have some sort of connection to the family as Ranma's told us, able to find them and bring them home, if their nearby. We'll be setting up a rotation schedule to run patrols with her around their neighborhood, two people each, one person to stay with them, the other should run and call us to come gather them. Try not to make them happy or sad, that seems to trigger the demon more, just talk about the weather or food." Saki explains.
"Where are we going to keep them?" Akane asks.
"At our estate, we have some buildings designed for possessions like this, we're going to be transporting Ryoga there tonight. It's about ten miles from here." Saki explained.
Ranma tuned out the rest of the meeting which seemed to be people coming up with a patrol schedule. Instead he watched his grandmother avoid looking at him as she instead seemed to examine the rest of the girls in the room. While she spent only a little time on the Tendo's, she was looking Shampoo up and down enough that the girl seemed nervous about it, until she saw Ranma looking at her which lead to a smile as she grabbed Ranma's hand.
"We go on patrol together yes!?" Shampoo said excitedly, hoping this was her chance to get some time alone with Ranma.
"Huh...oh...uhm...well…if you want too." Ranma replied nervously as he didn't want to upset her, only to be pulled down into a hug that left his face sandwiched between her very ample breast. He tried to find a way to dislodge himself without having to touch there, but she seemed to know just how to keep him off balance.
Nodoka gave a quick cough to get their attention. "Yes, well, Shampoo how about you and Ranma have the Thursday evening patrol." She said in hopes it would get her son released as he started to turn the same color as the young womans hair.
Shampoo happily refocused to Nodoka at hearing her name, allowing Ranma to finally pull himself away and ended up on the ground wheezing. "Yes honored mother, I be there no problem!" She answered cheerfully. Finally sitting back up, Ranma saw his grandmother simply roll her eyes at the antics, while Akane seemed to be giving him her patented pervert stare down. Ranma was mostly glad that the group didn't get up right away, else he might have to splash himself to avoid a certain problem.
Eventually though the time came for Ranma's grandmother and aunt to take Ryoga, Shirokuro and the puppies with them, both Mirei and Akane crying as they drove off. Ranma wasn't sure what he was feeling though, seeing Ryoga wrapped up almost like a mummy as they loaded him into the limo felt sad, and that they didn't know when they'd be able to find his parents, if at all meant he was going to be stuck in some holding cell or something for a long time. The feeling of helplessness gnawed at him, until finally it was time to get Mirei to bed, and he was able to distract himself with her.
# # #
"Lufa, do you have any idea why the amazon's were chasing me and my pop? Ryoga's demon mentioned it was because of me that they ended up chasing him too, and that's how we all end up in Jusenkyo." Ranma asks as they take their seats for lunch under the tree, Lufa joining them both to be near Ranma and enjoy more of Shampoo's humiliation at feeding Daisuke.
"When did this happen?" Lufa asks as she tries to think what could be the reason.
"Uhm...five or six weeks ago I guess. I didn't recognize any of the amazons, they were all older than us." Ranma answers.
Lufa and Shampoo's eyes seem to go wide as they look at each other in surprise.
"#It just had to be...#" Both girls say in Chinese before breaking out into a fit of giggles.
"What had to be? What's so funny?" Ranma asks, a bit upset at not getting the joke.
"Is...old amazon custom…" Shampoo gets out between laughs.
"Running of...grooms. Irony you get involved too too funny." Lufa continues, doing her best to regain her composure.
"Running of what!?" Ranma asks startled.
"Is for old singles, who no find someone, or punishment for males who think play with ladies hearts." Shampoo says, finally able to talk straight.
"Men get two minute head start, then women chase. They catch, they married. Man who make it two hours no catch, stay single. Some men desperate though, they try get woman catch." Lufa says still slightly giggling.
"Wait, so they weren't trying to kill us?" Ranma says startled at the news.
"No, even if they catch, you is too young for contest, and you and father already have elder say no can marry." Shampoo answers.
"So...we ran away for nothing and then got our curses…" Ranma groaned, not looking forward to explaining this to Ryoga.
"Well...marriage is instant, so best you no get caught, some woman's try consummate right away." Shampoo said, giggling once again at the stories of the event she'd heard growing up.
"Just...Just how old do you have to be to join this event...just asking...for a friend" Daisuke asks, causing the rest of the group to simply groan and begin to eat their meals.
# # #
'Breath in...Breath out...I'm in a sea of calm, and nothing will disturb me' Shampoo chanted to herself while ridding the bus towards the Saotome estate with Ranma. Well, near Ranma because he was currently sitting with Mirei in his lap and Sachiko next to him, while the Tendo sisters were in front of them. 'It's fine, once we begin our patrol we'll be alone and I'll finally get to be with him, just like back in the village when the other girls knew not to come around.' She smiled to herself, looking at her reflection she fixed a few strands of hair before looking at the outfit she was wearing.
'Humm, a bit plain for my taste, but Great Grandma say Ranma just run if I wear what I wanted…' She mused. Her regular Chinese outfit being left at home while she wore a lavander summer dress with a white button up sweater that had little hearts all over it. 'Once were alone I'll let him see my secret weapon.' she thought while looking down her blouse at the very lacy purple bra she was wearing.
"This is it. I think." Ranma said, lifting up Mirei to hold against his chest as the group exited the bus.
Nabiki just gave a low whistle as she looked at the entrance in front of them, two large doors big enough for horse and carriages to go through, while the walls on either side seemed to go on forever. "This is some real estate…" She remarked as the group walked towards the gate. 'If the other girls screw it up, I might have to take a crack at Ranma, this makes that idiot Kuno look like a peasant.' Nabiki thought, wondering if the balls in the two guardian cat/dogs mouths was possibly real gold as they walked past the statues towards the door.
":BBBBUUUZZZZZZ:" They heard as Ranma pushed the call button on the number pad near the gate. Without any response, a few seconds later the gate began to open up, Saki was there in what seemed a normal office ladies attire of white blouse, blue vest, blue skirt, and black stockings.
"Come on in, let me give you the tour and then we'll get to Ryoga and the puppies." She said smiling as she walked over and picked up Mirei and put her on her shoulders much to the girls delight.
The estate felt massive, with the central area being for meetings and receiving guest, there were also a few small houses and two larger dormitories. To the left were the training areas with gym, dojo, and an open air garden with large open grassy spaces. The right housed the kitchen, though it felt more like a cafeteria, likely able to seat over fifty people at time with a large commercial kitchen in the back. Ryoga's building was held deeper into the estate, past the meeting halls where a small lake was, on an island in the middle of the lake were three buildings, each about the size of the Tendo's dojo.
An attendant was already at the boat dock with the puppies and Shirokuro, the puppies now having collars and name tags to help tell them apart, and Shirokuro was on a leash, she perked up on seeing Ranma and barked excitedly while Akane rushed over to the puppies, followed by Mirei once she was put back on the ground.
"Dinner will be at seven, so don't stay out too late, you still have school tomorrow." Saki told the group, leading the girls to the covered area near the lake, while Shampoo and Ranma headed back towards the gate to begin their patrol.
# # #
"Shampoo, if you keep holding onto me like that I'm going to lose feeling…" Ranma complained to the girl who was currently holding him almost tight enough to cut off circulation.
'Aaarrgghhh!' Shampoo screamed internally at Ranma's eternal inability to get a clue. "Oh, is okay I just hold hand then?" Shampoo asked in her cutesy innocent voice.
Ranma sighed as he looked over at Shampoo to try and get out of her grasp, only to immediately tear his eyes away from her as they wandered lower to where she was squishing his arm in the middle of her chest, each step causing things to jostle and bounce. "It's a….we got a job to do." He answered looking straight forward, impressed he came up with that as an answer himself.
"Oh yes, the patrol." She said as if she were an army soldier as she let go of his arm and mock marched a few steps ahead until she got to the next intersection. "Which way we go?" she called back sweetly while spinning around quickly, letting her dress twirl up just enough to show some thigh. Seeing his eyes taking the bate, she then leans over, putting her chest right into view, the loose dress dropping down and giving him a direct view at her lacy bra.
While she was glad to see his lower bodies reaction to her display, his face was anything but approving, instead she saw him quickly scowl at her. 'Why is he so against seeing girls bodies, he has one and yet he always gets upset or nervous when I show some skin' Shampoo sighed.
"Shampoo!" Ranma shouted out, "Don't do that...now I gotta find some water, I can't walk around like...this." He said quieter, with a frown. Looking around though he for once couldn't find a single bit of water, not even a puddle in the street. Resigned to walking awkwardly he tried to think of math problems.
Following along besides Ranma, Shampoo thought for a bit about his reaction, or really all of his reactions lately. Back in the village he seemed happy to see her, would go looking for her to practice with or eat together. But since she'd arrived, he's not even stopped by for a free meal at the restaurant, or asked her to join him for lunch, and all her attempts to flirt have ended poorly.
"Ranma, you no like Shampoo anymore?" She asked, surprising herself at letting that thought be vocalized.
"Huh? What are you talking about, you're like my best friend that's a girl?" Ranma answered, giving the girl a worried look.
"You say, but you no do. How long since we spar, or you come visit?" Shampoo asked, her shoulders slumping while she looked at the ground ahead of them.
"It's been really busy lately. Between school, studying, chores, and taking care of Mirei I don't even get out of the house much. Now we got Ryoga and this demon to track down, and then probably going to be training with my grandma." Ranma replied, a little shocked at how much his life had changed since he arrived, no camping, no days of training, or just hiking to the next village.
"Is true, but you use ask Shampoo join you all the time in village. Now Shampoo feel like you no see. Is why I try get you attention." Shampoo sadly, wiping her eye that was damp.
Ranma didn't have a good answer for that, he thought about how excited he was when they had first arrived, but now he was always keeping his distance when he could. Seeing Shampoo so upset though at him he tried to think of something to say. "I...well…" He stuttered at first. "Things were simpler in the village…" he finally got out. "We could just be friends, who hung out, talked, have some fun. But now...everyone has all these expectations of me, like I should just know how to be a dad, or learn fast, or go on dates and stuff." He said with some exasperation.
"I don't get it at all really, why would any of you girls want to be with me. The curse alone is freaky enough, but I don't have a clue what I'm doing, it feels like everyday I just try and survive all the awkward moments at school, and then not do something to upset people at home." Ranma said, his shoulders slumping also.
Shampoo looked at Ranma a bit shocked at the boy's poor view of himself. She slowly reached out her hand to gently hold his, glad he didn't pull it away, though she could feel him tense at the touch. "I has same feelings since coming to Japan. I make many mistakes and no friends to help it feels like." She said softly, giving his hand a squeeze.
They walked together slowly like that for a few blocks, neither saying a word as they were lost in their own thoughts.
"I'm sorry for not asking you to hang out Shampoo, I should of seen you were lonely…" Ranma apologized.
"Shampoo sorry too, I should try help more, no tease you cause I am jealous." she replied, giving his hand a small squeeze.
"Jealous, I don't know why anyone would be jealous about me…" Ranma said, blushing some as he became more aware of their hands still being together, but not feeling like he wanted to pull away.
"Not you." She said snidely with a grin, "The girls you spend time with, Sachiko, Mirei, Lufa. This first time Shampoo get with Ranma since coming Japan where we alone."
"I don't get it though, why leave your village and come all this way for me, especially after you find out about all my problems. You could get any guy in the village, Mousse practically worships you." Ranma said, waving his hand out in front as if there were a line of boys to choose from.
Shampoo stopped suddenly, causing Ranma to have to spin towards her as he adjusted his balance mid-step. Giving him her biggest smile she got right up next to him and whispered, "Because you idiot, I love you, I love you since you first stay in village many years ago. Everyone see me as rival, you saw me as friend, treat me kindly because you is kind, and challenge me so we both get better. When ever you gone, Shampoo sad, no want do anything. When grandma say we go find you in Japan, I pack right away. Now, even if I be second wife to Sachiko, I still happy be with you." She then leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, before letting go of his hand and walking ahead of the now frozen boy.
'Wait...since years ago...love...second wife!?' Ranma's thoughts were scattered as he tried to make sense of his friends confession. Slowly turning and watching her walk away, he brought a hand up to his lips, unsure how to feel about the kiss, only that it made his whole face seem warm. Shirokuro gave a bark, and began to pull on the leash to follow, tired of standing in one spot. While Ranma started walking again, Shampoo seemed to be staying ahead of him the whole way as they finished their patrol and returned to the estate, not having run into either of Ryoga's parents.
While Ranma busied himself with Mirei on the bus ride home, Sachiko and the Tendo's didn't miss Shampoo's improved mood on returning, nor Ranma's flushed face when she said her good byes up close to Ranma when they parted at the bus stop. While Nabiki was hoping to extract some information on the walk home, a cat fight spilling out of an alley sent Ranma running before she had her chance.
# # #
Ryoga sighed as he laid back and put the book down, looking up at the ceiling that was his current home, though more of a prison cell really. While still restrained but what ever these magical cloth ribbons and golden bracelets were, they were slack enough to allow him to move around a small area, as well as read and sleep. Everything about it was unsettling to him, because for the first time in his life, he wasn't lost, he knew exactly where he was for the last four days and it was causing all of his instincts to misfire and behave oddly. Just yesterday he'd greeted Ranma's aunt in Russian.
'Some monkey paw wish this is, don't want to be lost anymore, so now I'm imprisoned…' He thought sourly to himself. 'At least it isn't a real jail, and the foods good.' Grabbing his head, he could feel a headache coming on just from having thought that. 'gotta not be positive, damn demon…' He told himself, looking back to the stack of books to see if there was something else he could distract himself with besides just all the texts books Ranma's mother had brought over for him, she was very optimistic to think he might be able to go to school again.
Thoughts of Ranma and the other girls that had visited flashed through his head, tell him thanks for his help, promising to do their best for him. It left him more unsettled than anything, people constantly coming in, asking how he was, if he needed anything, it was making it so much harder to just be satisfied with being alone all the time. Not to mention the awkwardness around Akane and Lotion, doubtful he could ever look them in the eyes after they found out about his curse, not that they'd been able to look at a freak like him he thought.
Seeing that it was nighttime finally, he picked up the math book he'd been working on and started going through it some more, knowing there weren't going to be any pleasant thoughts to give him a headache before he fell asleep.