Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ranma stuff.
Chapter 13
The next Saturday after the festival.
'Man its great to be done with school and out of the house.' Ranma thought as he bounced along the roof tops towards the estate for his afternoon patrol. 'This whole week was nothing but trouble and studying, I barely even got the two sparring sessions in and both those ended up just being embarrassing.' His mood dropping a little at the memories. The estate in sight though he decided to get a little fancy and finish the last few roofs with some flips and spins before landing at the entrance to ring the bell.
Ranma had spent the last week dealing not only with a sick Mirei who had picked up a cold, but so had most of the family except for him, his father and Mr. Tendo. This turned out to be the worst possible combination as it was quickly discovered where Akane got her cooking talents from as Mr. Tendo tried to make a simple porridge before Ranma banned him from the kitchen. His own father, busy with work was also mostly useless domestically after ruining a load of laundry that was thankfully mostly just Ranma's clothes, a sheet, and one of Akane's dresses, to which both have sworn they never saw and disposed of blocks away in a commercial dumpster.
So between being the sole cook, care giver, and errand runner, he also had to attend school and try to keep up with classes, as well as bring home the mountain of homework for the other girls. While thankfully Shampoo, Lufa, and Lotion visited with food or helped him out in the kitchen, he got very little sleep with Mirei staying with him downstairs on a futon and waking up every few hours coughing or feeling bad.
His usual spar with Akane and Lotion had just been with Lotion that week and she seemed determined to grapple with him far more than usual and her hands tended to stray more. It was at the end though when he ended up slipping after dodging an attack as he landed and fell into the cleaning supplies that he found the dirty mop bucket hadn't been emptied and he was then covered in filth and female once again. Lotion had offered to help him wash it off between laughs.
When Shampoo tried to spar with him though it was far into the week and he was running on barely one or two hours of sleep for the last few nights. She obviously knew he was too out of it and decided to have her own fun, using his sloppy attacks to make him fall all over, in more and more embarrassing ways until after one such fall he realized he was holding quite firmly onto her left breast before jumping away and groveling for forgiveness like his father had taught him. Shampoo simply teased him that he should apologize for not doing more, which made him blush harder.
"Hello Mrs. Hibiki, How ya doing Ryoga?" Ranma greeted the two on entering the small building they were still confined too.
"Good afternoon Ranma, my you look tired, have you been sleeping okay?" Mrs. Hibiki replied, looking up from the book she was reading.
"Yea, a bit tired, Mirei picked up a cold and gave it to almost everyone else, so I've had to take care of them all week, but their all starting to feel better now." Ranma said, reassuring her.
"Hey Ranma, glad to see ya, this math book is about as dry as that week I was lost in the Gobi, or was that the Sahara?" Ryoga answered, putting down what looked to be the same book Ranma was working out of.
"Yea, if that's the same one as mine, I can barely keep my eyes open. Least Lufa can make it more interesting cause she makes the questions into martial arts stuff, or about food." Ranma replied with a smile.
"Oh yea? She was just here a bit ago, gave me some pointers for the history exam I gotta take next week." Ryoga said.
"Exams? How are you doing that here?" Ranma wondered.
"The school sends out a teacher to watch me, cause I can't exactly go anywhere." Ryoga answers, giving a slight tug on the cloth and ring holding his right hand.
"Yea, I'm hoping we can find your dad soon, we couldn't do much this week with everyone being sick, but we'll be back at it from now on. Where's Shirokuro?" Ranma asked, looking around for the absent dog.
"Lufa already took him, figured you saw her out there?" Ryoga replied.
"Huh, must of missed her, but today's suppose to be Nabiki and me." Ranma said while heading for the door. "Anyway, I'll see ya when we get back and we can eat dinner together."
"Sure, see ya later" Ryoga said as they waved to each other.
Hopping back across the small gap between the island and shore Ranma didn't see Lufa or Shirokuro around and so went looking around, only to soon see her talking with Saki near the gate. Ranma paused before jumping down, during the week Lufa hadn't really interacted with him much besides tutoring, which didn't last long as he was called away to help or cook frequently. Now it seemed he'd be alone with her for a few hours and he felt his face flush as he saw her current outfit.
Lufa was wearing what looked to be a light pink strapless dress that was being held up simply because the top of it couldn't stretch over her ample chest, while the bottom of the dress was barely hanging half way down down to her knees. White stockings and a pair of glossy white dress pumps with a large emerald like gem on the buckles rounded out the ensemble, with her green hair braided together and held by three maroon ribbons. Ranma didn't have much time to admire it though as Saki soon looked up at him with a grin and gave him a wink.
"Hey Lufa, wasn't it Nabiki's turn today?" Ranma asked as he hopped down and landed near them.
"She called and said she still wasn't feeling good, so I offered to take her place." Lufa replied, not wanting to tell him how it might of also involved ten-thousand yen and she was the one that made the call.
"Nephew, couldn't you have worn something different, that outfits starting to be a bit boring on you, and the girls always dress up so nicely for these dates of yours." Saki asked with concern as she looked at the rumpled and frayed red silk shirt and black pants as was his go to outfit.
"Well pops ruined a load of my launnn….date? This isn't a date!" Ranma denied after his brain caught up with his Aunt's declaration. Looking at Lufa she simply rolled her eyes at Saki who seemed surprised at Ranma's quick denial.
"Ranma…" Saki says rubbing her forehead. "You mean to tell me that you have been going on these "patrols" with the girls for hours a few times a week, where each girl is dressed up and looking their best, and you think they're doing that to walk a dog?" She says, holding herself back from full on yelling at the boy.
"I...well..don't girls dress nice all the time?" Ranma reply's, besides their school outfits he was use to seeing the girls in the various outfits they did their patrols together in when ever they visited the dojo. Though this was something new for Lufa.
"I haven't had a date in two years and he's just stumbling through a hundred of them while already having the cutest little girl in the known history of the universe. Can I find one guy who's willing to wait!" Saki begins to rant to the skies, to which Lufa quickly grabs Ranma's hand and pulls him towards the entrance.
"Don't look back, you'll just make it worse." She whispers to him as she jerks him forward as he was starting to do just that.
"What's wrong with her, I've never seen her so angry." Ranma whispers back while they wait for the gate to open.
"Ranma...you understand that Saki's the ONLY fully powered and trained demon hunter in your family right?" She asks Ranma who nods. "So because of that, if she were to find a guy and have sex...your whole family wouldn't have anyone who could do the job that keeps this large estate functioning. Which means watching her nephew flaunt around with multiple girls in front of her, while already having a child which she DESPERATELY wants, if you haven't noticed her around Mirei, kind of pushes every single one of her buttons…" She finished, waiting for him to nod in understanding.
"But...but its not my fault, I was told these were patrols, not d.d..dates!" Ranma apologized in an almost automatic fashion.
"Ranma, I'm not the one to apologize too, also Saki's aware of your...inability to read the situation around girls. She'll calm down by the time we get back, she's more frustrated with her own situation than with you." Lufa tells him as they start to walk down the sidewalk, not having let go of his hand.
Ranma seemed to be thinking things over as he simply followed along with Lufa and Shirokuro, until she felt his hand and arm stiffen. Smiling she looked over knowing that he'd finally realized they were holding hands. His eyes were locked on their simple grip, as if they were on fire but she was a little surprised to see he didn't immediately pull away and jump some distance as he was prone too.
"I'll let go if you like Ranma, but I thought Sachiko taught you that holding hands was most important on those little dates you went on." She said with a sly smile.
He opened his mouth ever so slightly, but after a second closed it and his hand and arm seemed to relax. "Fine...I...I guess these are dates. But I plan to keep with the patrol, I owe Ryoga not to get all distracted and stuff." He said, almost defeated.
Lufa had to reign in her emotions to stop from skipping down the sidewalk, not only had she gotten him to not let go, but he'd even admitted this was a date! The smile she gave him must have been something as he blushed and looked at Shirokuro as a distraction for the next block.
Lufa wasn't actually planning for things to go this well, and she was starting to feel a bit flushed herself and having a hard time coming up with something to say before the silence became completely awkward. Finally taking a long breath, she turned to Ranma to ask him, "How's Mirei feeling, I heard she would only sleep with you this week from Nabiki." 'Good question brain, good question!' she congratulated herself.
Ranma chuckled, "It was a bit more that she had to sleep with me, mom and Sachiko couldn't deal with her also at night." he replied. "Honestly it wasn't too bad, she slept really well as she was drained like the rest, the hard part was just getting up every hour or two to help her with a runny nose or something." he finished with a yawn caused from just thinking about all the missed sleep this week.
"Well, it does seem like you're turning out to be a bit of a good father, probably why Shampoo's so charmed by you, she was just raised by her dad and great-grandma." Lufa replied before wishing she could strangle her own brain for bringing up one of the other girls and ruining the mood.
"Yea, she told me back when I first had dinner with her and her family a long time ago, about her mom dying in a fight with the musk, though saving many others and was considered a hero." Ranma replied, remembering the younger Shampoo taking pride in that when she showed him a picture of the woman at her house, even he could tell that she was sad about it though.
'Shit...shit...shiT! How do I get off this topic, think brain think!' Lufa thought desperately, only to be saved when Shirokuro must of have been having similar thoughts.
"Ewww…" Lufa said as she looked away from the dog as it did it's business on a tree lining the sidewalk. Feeling the leesh move once again she turned back to see quite a pile. "They are feeding you too much girl…" she muttered as she let go of Ranma's hand and got out one of the plastic baggies.
"I can do that for ya…" Ranma said, grimacing also but holding out his hand.
"Thanks…" She replied, handing him the baggie and walking a little further ahead so she wouldn't just be awkwardly watching him as he made gagging sounds.
Soon Ranma had finished and deposited the bag in a trash bin and they resumed their walk in a bit of awkward silence until Ranma ducked into a nearby restaurant to wash his hands, only to come back out with an annoyed face on his now female body. "Argh...no hot water in the restrooms…" He said disgruntled.
"I'm surprised you made it this long actually, do you ever even keep track of how long you can go before something happens to activate your curse?" Lufa said with a curious look.
"Huh? Why would I do that, it's just random." Ranma replied with a shrug.
"Hard to say its random if you never even look for a pattern, and to do that you need data." She said matter of factly.
Before they could say much more though Shirokuro seemed to backup and started to whine at them. Looking down the street, they saw a man about two blocks up wearing a large travel pack similar to Ryoga's, along with the tell-tale yellow and black bandanna. Ranma began to run towards the man before he could turn a corner only to hear Lufa shouting at him from behind.
"Be careful Ranma, something's not right!" She screamed at Ranma, trying to get Shirokuro to stop wrapping the leash around her legs as the dog panicked and tried too get behind her.
Just half a block away from the man he suddenly exploded in a deep black aura that grew to twice Ranma's diminutive height. His head turning completely around Ranma could see the same completely black eyes with small red dots looking back at him, Ranma screeched to a halt as it let loose a heinous roar of anger. Ranma barely even noticed it's hand flick something but instinctively dodged an orange sized object as it shot past his head and hit a cage hanging from a shop that had a parrot inside. Ranma flipped back away from the demon only to realize that there was now a rainbow stripped cat sitting in the cage looking incredibly confused. When the rainbow cat gave out an awkward meow, Ranma's hair shot up and he further retreated back to Lufa, dodging another ball that exploded against a wall.
"RuN rUn RRRRRRRRUUUUuuunnnn While You Can!" The demon screeched out as its head returned to a forward position. "FoR IT iS Time FoR A FeeeeAST!" It cackled, leaping up on a roof and off in a direction.
Seeing Ranma still cowaring from his close call with a cat, Lufa finally got free of the leash and shoved it into his hands before leaping on a roof to see where Mr. Hibiki was headed, a startled gasp soon escaping her mouth.
"Ranma! Call the Tendo's, he's headed towards them!" She shouted as she leapt down, to which he quickly ran into a shop to borrow their phone. She too went into another to call the Cat Cafe, and then the Saotome estate. A minute later the two of them were racing along the roof tops, she was holding Sachiko while Ranma burst ahead as fast as he could.
# # #
Arriving at the top of the Dojo Ranma could see things had gotten out of hand with the back sliding door blown into the main room and being used as a shield along with the upturned table. His father and mother looked to be knocked out already in the house, while Mr. Tendo's brown gi was in a pile near the dojo door. The only thing keeping the demon out in the garden seems to have been Cologne, Shampoo, and Lotion who were blocking its path into the house.
The demon was keeping them busy though, leaping towards one while throwing those sphere's at the others, forcing them to dodge instead of being able to flank. Ranma wasn't sure how he could help so stayed on top of the dojo, looking for any sort of opportunity to strike. Lufa soon arrived also and took up a position where she could poke her head over the top of the roof, but otherwise would be out of the way and keeping Shirokuro safe too.
Ranma decided that staying on the roof wasn't going to work, if he tried any sort of aerial attack he'd just be a sitting duck for those things it was throwing around, dropping to the group so that now it was surrounded on all sides. Unfortunately this didn't seem to deter it, a black orb appearing to encompass all of Mr. Hibiki's head, followed by twenty or more of the glowing red eyes staring out in all directions while it made a laughing screech of a noise.
"Anyone got a plan?" Ranma shouted out as he ducked another orb as the creature dived for Shampoo who dodged out of the way and struck it back to the center with her maces, which were starting to shine with a black ooze.
"Don't touch it, you'll need a weapon." Cologne shouted to him, giving a quick glance to the door to the Dojo.
Ranma nodded and manged to dive through on the next attack, quickly searching the place for anything that might be useful among the training gear and finally settling on a wooden bo staff for the greater reach it would afford him. Exiting the doorway quickly found himself on the defensive parrying a leap and throwing the creature against the side of the dojo with the staff and then dropping back next to Shampoo as they formed a half circle around the demon.
"You got any demon stopping ancient secrets elder?" He asked, knowing she hadn't begun to really teach him anything super secret.
"Not that won't kill Mr. Hibiki also. We need your Aunt here, I was barely able to get it out of the house after it arrived and knocked out your mother and father." She replied, before being the target herself of the next attack, though she was able to use her cane to suddenly send a gust of wind to blow it back up against the wall along with the orbs it had thrown that time. Ranma was impressed, but noticed the elder was looking exhausted, which he'd rarely seen before.
One of the orbs blown off target though had landed in the koi pond, which suddenly began to bubble until a number of white and orange striped chow chow puppies came to the surface, barking and yipping wildly as they scrambled out. Lotion who was the closest found herself trying to not be distracted, but also dealing with them all around her feet, so when she was attacked next she did manage to block with her Tonfa, but was slammed back and slipped on the now wet grass and fell into the pool to the horror of everyone. A small blue haired chow chow soon surfaced with a very confused and scared look.
"Oh shit, those orbs are full of Jusenkyo water!" Ranma shouted in alarm.
"Lotion! Come to me!" Akane shouted from inside the house, she was moving towards the entry using one of the broken doors as a shield.
Ranma began to strike at the demon to keep it from immediately going after Akane, the door thankfully blocking two orbs from impacting her. Lotion was able to cover the distance surprisingly fast in her new cursed form and Akane retreated back to her sisters and other girls. Ranma paid the price though for his assault when a kick broke through his defences and knocked him back, the cloth on his chest starting to seemingly melt away and his skin to burn and itch. Rolling back up though he saw the demon already throwing an orb at him and he wasn't going to be quick enough to dodge.
"Shampoo! No!" Yelled Cologne as her granddaughter threw herself into the path of the orb, disappearing into her clothes as they collided with Ranma to her horror.
Ranma bounded back with the bundle, hoping to make it inside where he could drop her off when Shampoo leapt out of her shirt to attach herself firmly to his face as a scared lilac pointed cat. Ranma screamed, running blindly into the house his voice probably alerting the next district. Unwilling to swat at Shampoo and losing focus quickly he ended up crashing into the kitchen where a great clatter of pots, pans, and dishes hitting the floor was heard.
Outside Cologne was furious, the demon having now cursed two of her charges, one of them her very own granddaughter. Having watched Ranma run into the house though she spotted something that gave her an idea. Giving a quick hand signal to Lufa, she began to dance around the demon faster and faster until there were multiple images of her. Repeatedly jabbing and knocking the demon around as it flailed and threw orb after orb at the images.
'Sword?' Lufa thought as she tried to understand the signal Cologne had sent her. 'I don't use swords, what could she possibly...oh shit…' She realized, seeing the sword next to the knocked out Mrs. Saotome, she was being asked to retrieve that somehow. Sliding down the back of the roof with Shirokuro who was still frightened, she left the dog there hoping it wouldn't run off as she made her way to the student entrance to the property, hoping to go around the outside wall and get in through the front door or kitchen window. She was almost to the kitchen when she heard a cat yowl that was other worldly coming from it.
Cologne was overjoyed when a red blur slammed into the demon, even if the sounds it was making would likely make sleep difficult for many days. Falling to her knees she could only watch as the small red head hissed and striked with ki claws that extended almost a foot from her finger tips. She watched amazed at Ranma didn't go for an immediate kill, but was instead using the claws to burn and swipe off the black ooze, with what seemed surgical precision from Mr. Hibiki. But it wasn't going well as Ranma was still touching it at times to swat the arms away before they could toss any more orbs. Suddenly she was jerked back by Lufa, who had made it inside and retrieved the sword, and was now getting her to safety.
"#Lufa, try not to kill Mr. Hibiki, but you must hit that demon with the sword, its our only chance.#" Cologne told Lufa, both knowing how bad an idea it was. Lufa gritted her teeth and nodded, knowing she had to cover almost twenty meters of open space to get within range, and still somehow strike the demon before getting hit with an orb, or worse.
Waiting for Ranma to deal another heavy blow, Lufa began her charge. The first five meter's felt like they were done in a blink of an eye, but then it noticed her. A orb flew by her face, only just missing because Ranma had swatted it at the last second to change its trajectory. She pivoted to her left foot and crouched to dodge the next, hoping Ranma would get away from the shoulder she was hoping to hit. Five meter's left and she watched Ranma get slammed away towards the house and back into the kitchen. Four meters and she knew an orb was soon to be headed her way. At three meters she leapt, hoping her momentum would carry it onward as she felt the splash of water on her shoulder and the whole world tumbled around until she hit the ground.
The sword stayed true though, effortlessly slipping through a hand raised to block it and pinning it and the shoulder it pierced next into the wall of the dojo before the black ichor was suddenly alight in a white flame. The scream as the demon's ichor burned slowly shifted from the screach of an unearthly creature to that of a man before falling silent as the flames dissipated and the man passed out. Cologne smiled at seeing the defeat of the demon, before succumbing to sleep, exhausted beyond almost anything in the last hundred years of her life.
# # #
'What in the hell happened here?' Saki thought as she landed in the backyard just a minute later after pushing herself to the limit to get here from where she had been attending a meeting in Shinjuku. Taking in the area she found a man passed out and pinned to a wall with what looked like her sister sword, a ton of puppies flopping around like they were fish, an unconscious duck with a mustache in a wadded up brown gi, a large owl of some sorts struggling to stand up and looking back at her with a look that said she was just as confused.
Moving into the house made for an even more chaotic scene with a passed out amazon elder, her sister and her louse of a husband, hysterical girls either in shock or crying, and a male Ranma looking injured and confused laying under a stream of water coming from kitchen faucet. Deciding the medical attention was the most pressing she walked to the phone and dialed the number to get a hold of her mother and update her on the situation and to send a discreet medical service to come help.
# # #
"Well, I had been bugging daddy about a hot springs trip…" Nabiki said to her sisters as they entered into the guest room at the Saotome estate after their bath. It seemed they were going to be there for a few nights while their house was fixed up and then cleansed of any residual demonic issues as Saki had put it, but they hadn't been allowed to pack anything and had all their clothes collected once they arrived as a precaution. The amazon's were staying the next room over for observation as they had taken the brunt of the damage along with Ranma who was still being checked out.
Kasumi didn't really respond to her sisters joke, she was still in a bit of shock from the attack and just set about checking they had everything needed in the room for later that night. Akane was doing her best to try and help her older sister, but Nabiki could see that she was distracted and lost in worry the whole time, the glances towards the door and the next door room where the amazon's were staying made it obvious enough what was on her mind.
"Akane, go check on her, you're just making a mess here." Nabiki told her younger sister who was about to rip a futon in half with the way she was trying to fold it after accidentally spilling it out of the closet earlier. Akane looked up at her oldest sister who silently nodded before Akane's shoulders slumped and she wore a hopeless look on her face as she started towards the door.
"Akane." Nabiki called out to her as she reached the door. "Chin up. She's going to need it, they all are." She told her with a serious look.
Akane found herself staring at the door to the amazon's guest room, but unable to do much else. 'What am I doing, I was useless, a coward, just hid behind the table instead of fighting.' She berated herself silently. Still trying to figure out what she would even say, the door began to slowly open and a tired looking Cologne with no cane came out and shut the door, looking up at Akane, she simply motioned for the girl to follow her down the hall, which she did.
"Do...do they hate me?" Akane finally asked after she couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"And why would you think that young Tendo?" Cologne asked in return.
"I...I just hid, I didn't even try to fight the the..the demon." Akane answered, wiping tears that were slowly forming in her eyes.
"Three hundred years I've lived as a warrior, and yet, I couldn't put a dent in it." Cologne replied as she pulled out a pipe now that they had made their way to a bench in the garden behind the dorm. "We were all raised as warriors, we've all lost others to fights, but we didn't have family to protect." She said after a long puff.
"But I didn't protect them, I didn't even try to fight!" Akane rebutted.
"Who flipped the table and held the broken door in place to protect her sisters and others?" Cologne said, raising her eyebrow as she did.
"But...but if I had helped more...maybe Lo...the other's wouldn't of been cursed." Akane said angrily, balling her fist tightly.
"You would have been torn apart, and likely taken one of the other girls with you. You don't know how to fight with us, our signals, or our tactics. These are the cold hard facts." Cologne replied coldly, hoping to sober up the young girl so she could see the truth.
"But Ranma" Akane began to say.
"But nothing, he's spent almost two years with us off and on, and his natural ability to read a fight and adapt made it possible for him to help, and you saw even he could barely do anything until the Neko-ken took a hold of him." Cologne quickly said, shutting down Akane's argument.
Akane just broke down crying into her hands, while Cologne sat next to her and puffed on her pipe for a while. Cologne thought of all the other young warriors she's had to talk through this same kind of situation, the shame of freezing in their first battle. She hoped the young Tendo was able to get over this hurdle and mature, not all young warriors could and would give up forever.
Hearing the sobbing start to let up, Cologne put her pipe away and slid off the bench. "Come now, we've made Lotion wait long enough to get to thank her new shield sister." She said to Akane.
Wiping her face Akane looked back confused. "Shield sister?" She asked.
"Of course, not only did you protect your family, but you risked a curse yourself to safe guard Lotion after she was. Even if you're an outsider, that deserves some recognition, which Lotion is eager to give you." Cologne said with a sly smile that made Akane a little bit worried about this.
As they reached the door, Cologne simply knocked twice and then headed back down the hallway. "I'll be back later, going to go check on Ranma, you two enjoy yourselves." She shouted back to a confused Akane.
Akane though didn't have a chance to respond before Lotion swung the door open, pulled her into the room and shut the door. Akane barely even got the first syllable out of her apology before she was engulfed in a smothering kiss from the Amazon who was also just wearing a simple white robe, leading Akane's short circuiting mind to notice how loose it seemed to be on the girl. The kiss only being broken when Akane tripped and fell backwards onto a Futon that was already laid out. She opened her mouth to say...something, but she couldn't think of what to say when Lotion simply moved towards her, letting the robe drop away entirely.
Nabiki and Kasumi thoguht that it might be a good idea to take a tour of the grounds at that time, grateful that the replacement clothing had arrived. Their discussion mostly centering around if Kasumi owed Nabiki money over a certain bet or if it was still too early to tell.
# # #
"Alright Mirei, it's our turn for the baths so lets get going before it's bed time." Sachiko was saying to her daughter as Cologne entered into the medical suite. With a little pout she did as she was told and headed towards the door, turning at the last moment to look over at the bed Mr. Tendo was in and giving a loud "Quack Quack!" before scampering past her mother, giggling to herself. "Mirei! What did I just tell you to stop doing!" They heard from Sachiko as she chased after the little girl.
Cologne couldn't help but laugh to herself as she moved to take a seat on the small couch near the window with Mrs. Saotome. "Well, it's good to see she's still in high spirits after today. How are you all feeling?" She asks towards Mr. Tendo and Ranma who are in the two beds in the room.
"I'll be fine, just a concussion." Mr. Tendo stated stoically, his head bandaged leaving his hair a bit of a mess.
"Feels like I was trying to learn that chestnut thing you showed me a while ago, only this time I used my chest." Ranma said with a chuckle only to regret it as he grimaced and held his fully bandaged chest.
"Humm yes, we should revisit that again, your father interrupted us before you seemed to have figured it out. Maybe now though your ki is stronger and more focused." She said with a nod as she remembered demanding the boys hands be covered with salve and bandaged before she let Genma run off with him once again.
"How are your girls holding up?" Mrs. Saotome asks Cologne, worry evident on her face, mimicked shortly after on Ranma's.
"Lotion's upset, but Akane is helping her process it. Lufa is probably taking it the best, she's outside practicing flying. Shampoo though...she wishes it could have been pretty much anything but...that." Cologne finished, somber at having seen Shampoo distraught over turning into the one thing Ranma feared the most.
"Don't begin to blame yourself boy, that shames Shampoo's sacrifice, she knew that Jusenkyo curse's can meld, if she hadn't taken that hit for you, you could turn into some cat girl monster, trapping your mind in the Neko-ken with every splash." Cologne quickly followed up, seeing Ranma's downcast face.
The thought of being stuck not only in the neko-ken, but as some hybrid form was enough to almost make him lose his lunch, it was only his anger at feeling so useless in the fight that his friends ended up just as screwed up as him, if not worse. "How can I not blame myself? Because of me my best friend now sends me screaming out of my mind if she gets wet." He retorted bitterly.
Cologne wished she had the strength and her cane to whack the young boy, but had to settle for just giving him a harsh glare from her seat. "Because of you, Akane was spared while she helped get Lotion to safety. Because of you, we were able to hold the demon back before it got into the house and attacked your daughter. Because of you, Lufa was able to get the sword attack off successfully. This was a true battle Ranma, and we are damn lucky to get away with just planning on how to handle the curses, not some funerals. Shampoo knows this, because her mother wasn't so lucky as we were." Cologne finished her speech by slipping down off the bench and heading for the door. 'I'm too old to be giving out such harsh lessons to such young children.' She told herself, only allowing her emotions to finally take over when she reached a secluded spot in the garden.
Back in the room Nodoka excused herself to go check on the others and see how Mr. Hibiki was doing, promising to return before heading to bed. Mr. Tendo sat and watched Ranma for a while, the young man having at first tried to turn away only for the pain to be too much and so he simply kept his head turned towards the opposite wall. Mr. Tendo knew the boy was trying to hide his tears, because he'd done the same during his training with the master, not wanting to show weakness in front of Genma or he who shall not be named.
"The woman is right Ranma, don't drown yourself in regret, aim to make yourself into something their sacrifice is worthy of." Soun said solemly, not expecting any answer.
# # #
"Is he going to make it?" Nodoka asked her mother, now in the basement of the same medical facility looking into a room where Mr. Hibiki was recovering from surgery. The man seemed less menacing now that he wasn't a hulking 9 foot nightmare, and actually looked to be a bit short, with an ugly weathered face. 'Ryoga probably got his handsomeness from his mother's side.' She thought absently.
Kofumi nodded slowly without looking at her daughter. "Some how, the owl girl managed to miss anything too vital, though the shoulder's probably never going to feel the same." She said without a hint of emotion.
"Her name is Lufa, and if it wasn't for her, you'd be planning the funeral for your great granddaughter, so show her some respect for her sacrifice." Nodoka said, annoyed at her mothers lack of emotion this whole afternoon when dealing with the fallout and cleanup of the attack. Going about things like it was just another day at the office.
Kofumi seemed to break under the admonishment, her face becoming furious as she turned to Nodoka. "Bunch of damn foolish children messing in things they know nothing about!" She spat angrily before deflating. "Never should of let them do those stupid patrol's without Saki or someone with real capabilities." She says more to herself than Nodoka.
"It's over now though, we've got the Hibiki's and can focus on finding and destroying the demon's artifact that's linking it here once Mr. Hibiki is conscious." Nodoka said, hoping to shine a light on the positives.
Kofumi shook her head though before replying with worry on her face. "Jusenkyo's involved now more than ever, and that mean's nothing is over. There haven't been more than one or two cursed individuals in Japan for the last century, now we have seven in close proximity. It's said that no one can avoid Jusenko, its' not random chance to get a curse, but a stronger fate than even the heaven's can break. It's supposedly a place that was the compromise between heaven and hell, for what purpose we will probably never know."
"How he managed to get so much of the water with out getting a curse himself...that truly is a mystery." Kofumi mutters to herself.
Nodoka gripped her sword tighter, the idea that her son and his friends curses were fated and no mere simple chance bothered her greatly. The fact that the heaven's might be as involved in today's fight as the demon left a sinking feeling in her stomach, what other dangers might they allow near her daughter and grandchild she worried. What more challenges must Ranma face?
"Still, those three girls fought bravely, and paid a dear price for it to protect our own. We need to discuss a proper reward, and we both know what the elder wants." Kofumi said, looking back at Nodoka with a small frown.
"Ranma's still years away before he should reasonably start having more children, and I'm not too sure he's going to agree to multiple wives like the elder expects." Nodoka replies.
Kofumi nods her head in agreeance, giving a small shock to Nodoka that the woman wouldn't argue about it. "Ranma should wait, but what about you. You're still in good health for having more children, and while I can understand not being interested in Genma." Kofumi's face showing disgust at even the thought. "Cologne could snap her fingers and have ten of the best men from her village here as your consorts."
Nodoka was taken aback by her mothers suggestion that she should not only have more children, but that she would give one up to the Amazons. "Mother! How could I have another child just to given them up like Ranma!" She shouted back in shock.
"Who said you would do such a thing? You could stay here and raise the child just as you would, and they would need to be nearby anyway to train. Cologne wants to expand the village to Japan anyway, setup an outpost, maybe an emergency refugee location, given tension with the current communist government and long time animosity between the Musk and Phoenix people. So you'd get to raise your child, but they would be raised as an amazon too, so long as its a daughter." Kofumi explained, her face remaining neutral.
Nodoka couldn't say anything as her brain was in conflict over the idea of having another child, which she would love to do, but how cruel would it be for the child's future to be forced on them just like her mother had forced her desires onto herself. Not to mention Genma, who was at least trying, but still had all his bad habits when he didn't think she was watching. But she owed the Amazons a great debt, if they hadn't been there it's entirely likely she'd have lost Sachiko and Mirei, if not everyone.
Letting out a breath she had been holding, she turned away from her mother and headed for the elevator. "I'll….I'll discuss it with Genma, but I'm not agreeing to any of this right now." She said to her mother without looking at the old woman.
