I'm glad we're finally getting into some of the deeper levels of the NAGF series. I just hope I was able to present them well, since I'm usually writing really silly stuff.
NEWS TRAVELS FAST
SIX YEARS LATER
Razor took a deep soothing breath and kept her eyes shut tight. Trust your instincts. She thought. She was standing on top of a bamboo pole that was protruding out of the spring of drowned heaven knows what. Her dad had checked it earlier and all they knew was that he wasn't cured, so it wasn't the spring of drowned man.
Razor jumped from her perch to another pole and then another, keeping a perfect balance atop them. Drier and Curler were sitting around a fire they had set up not long ago. Drier was in his human form since they had decided to call it a night and make dinner. A tent was pitched nearby as well. It was mostly for Curler and Drier. Razor would just as soon sleep on the ground under the stars and keep watch.
"Razor! Come on! Dinner's ready!" Her dad called as he spooned a bowl full of mushroom soup.
"Just a moment!" Razor answered as she jumped towards another pole, hands first. She grabbed the tip on the pole and held herself upside down for a few seconds before flipping over and swinging around the pole to the ground. "What's this?" She asked when she saw the soup.
"It's mushroom soup." Curler said somewhat grumpily. "I found them growing around the edges of one of those bamboo poles. Be grateful we have this, we're running low on supplies."
"Thank you, Mother." Razor said as she bowed in respect. Then she took a drink straight from the bowl in a very sloppy manner. This was a boyish thing to do so neither of her parents commented.
It was nearing sundown and the sky was turning a shade of orange on the horizon. This orange color reflected off the springs, creating a dazzling effect that the family had become used to. It was about then that Razor noticed someone coming towards them between the pools of water. She jumped up, ready to fight whoever it was. "There's someone coming."
Curler and Drier turned to look. It was a few minutes before they could really make out who it was coming towards them. It was a young Amazon girl of about seven with curly pink hair. Razor recognized her as the girl named Faucet who delivered messages to Curler from the Council.
This was a rare occurrence because Curler didn't want anyone to know they spent all of their time at Jusenkyo Springs. Sometimes when she expected the Council would be sending for her, she dragged them through the woods and into mountains to divert attention. This little girl was trained in tracking. She could find any animal when hunting, as young as she was, and finding three humans was no problem.
"Master Curler." Faucet addressed Curler with a bow and held out a letter. Curler took it and opened it quickly. Razor and Drier watched her curiously as she read.
After a moment Curler sighed in exasperation. "Cologne's back. She and the Council are meeting to discuss an engagement. Apparently that girl, Mascara, allowed herself to be defeated by two different men. How disgraceful."
"Isn't she Eyeliner's daughter?" Drier asked as he took to the letter to take a look at it once Curler handed it to him. "Are you going to go?"
"Of course!" Curler huffed. "I won't let Cologne jump in and take all the credit for solving these problems!" She dumped some water on the fire and went over to start taking the tent down. "We'll leave as soon as possible."
The next morning the Council was called to order in the Council Chamber. Curler and Cologne stood before the Council and the council head, Master Bath. Razor, Drier and Mascara's large green bearded father Eyeliner stood to the side of the Chamber with the council guards to watch the proceedings. The Council members were not sitting up on podiums now, but were sitting around large table carved from stone. Jewels and carvings of Amazons warriors covered the surface of the table.
"Soap's ritual has failed Mascara, so it now up to the Council to decide who Mascara should be married to." Cologne explained to the old Council members.
Bath nodded. "Yes, we will have to come up with some other test for the men in question. You say they are both talented martial artists. Are they honorable?"
"They're… respectable." Cologne pushed back mental pictures of Jatsuma flirting with her great-great granddaughter, Luffa, and Iikiba yelling at his sister about a hobo.
"Hmph." Curler closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Any Amazon who allows herself to be defeated twice by outsiders is surely dishonored. Perhaps we should just tell her to stay in Japan."
Cologne turned to Curler sharply. "Do not be so hasty in your judgments, Curler!"
"I agree with Curler, Mascara is dishonored." One of the Council members spoke. Another nodded in agreement.
"We can not dismiss an Amazon who has followed our laws so diligently!" A different Council member said angrily. "She has done nothing to disserve such treatment!"
"There should be a test for her fiancées. It will test them and also hold Mascara's fate depending on how well they do." Someone else chimed in.
"Why should Mascara be tested by how well they do? We should test her instead." The first Council member suggested.
"I believe her test was in her defeat at the hands of two different outsiders." Curler said. "And if she is so weak, who's to say either of these men will marry her at all?"
"You assume too much." Cologne disputed Curler again. "Mascara is capable but still young. She will be a fine Amazon warrior."
Curler smiled snidely. "Your time in Japan has made you soft, Cologne. Compassion for your great granddaughter clouds your judgment. You want us to start going slack with our laws."
Cologne's aura shot up angrily. "That has nothing to do with this."
"You mean the fact that Shampoo has caused our tribe it's greatest shame in a thousand years doesn't bother you?" Curler persisted.
"That's enough!" Bath stood from her seat. "Curler, where are you going with this? Do you mean to insult Master Cologne?" She asked sternly.
"Not at all." Curler answered, still holding her confidant air. "I was merely leading up to a discussion of Shampoo's banishment. You see, I have been giving it a lot of thought lately and I think we should show forgiveness."
This took the whole Council and Cologne by surprise. They stared at Curler until she continued. "I believe we can not more forward with helping Mascara while this larger shame hangs over our heads. We must rectify it immediately."
"It's too late." Cologne told her with a somewhat bitter tone. "You know Ranma is married, everyone knows."
"I know. But what if we arranged another marriage in its place?" Curler continued.
"A replacement marriage?" Bath blinked. "It's never been done. But it makes sense." There was a general murmur of agreement from the rest of the Council. One Council member spoke up eagerly. "What about Ranma's daughter Makoto? Surely she would make an outstanding Amazon. She bested some of our own warriors when she was here not long ago."
"That's perfect!" Curler nodded. "We can send a young Amazon man to marry Makoto and lift our shame in Shampoo. I have the perfect candidate. Razor!" She called to her 'son' standing on the side of the hall.
Razor's head shot up in surprise and she looked at her father for some sign of him knowing about this. He was just as clueless as her. So Razor made her way over to Curler and stood before the Council. Suddenly she was very nervous, but she didn't show it. Anyone looking at her would have said he was bored.
"You would send your own son?" Bath asked with new admiration. "You are truly dedicated to your cause."
"I am only going by Heng Shaiming's prophecy. 'He will lift a tragic shame from the shoulders of the Amazons.' This must be the shame Heng Shaiming was referring to. Razor can marry Makoto and lift our shame at last."
The Council members agreed, one by one until it was almost unanimous. "What do you think Cologne?" Curler asked with her sneering smile.
Cologne was silent for a moment. "And Shampoo and her family would be allowed to return to the tribe?"
"Of course."
"… Then I agree." Cologne conceded. She suddenly felt that Curler had taken away the last bit of power she held in the tribe. Cologne was no longer in charge except by title.
Bath stood up then and walked around the stone table to face Razor. She looked her in the eye and could not make out any sign of hesitance. "Razor, do you pledge to do the Council's will and lift our shame?"
Razor bowed low. "You have my word of honor."
PRESENT DAY
Razor stood up and stepped back from the edge of the roof, looking uneasy. "A vow to the Amazon Council is binding. So here I am, carrying out their will. And I will not disappoint them." She clinched her fist in determination.
Jatsuma was still sitting on the edge of the roof. He was looking at Razor with an expression she couldn't quite read, was it pity? Razor narrowed her eyes and scowled. "What? Don't give me that look. I told you the whole stupid story, didn't I? I know all of our sneaking around and keeping secrets from the Council was shameful! But you were the one who wanted to know, so don't judge us!" She spat angrily.
"I'm not judging you!" Jatsuma stood up as well. "It- It's just so strange! Your whole life has been dictated by this Shymung guy's prophecy!"
"His name is Heng Shaiming!" Razor growled. "And he is a fabled prophet in Amazon history!"
"I know, but…" Jatsuma looked down at his feet. After a moment of silence he spoke again. "I don't know what to say."
Razor grunted and folded her arms. "I don't suppose you would. I've told you all along that this doesn't concern you, Jatsuma. I must fulfill the pledge I made to the Council." She looked at him threateningly "No one's going to stand in my way, and certainly not you."
With that, she turned and walked to the doorway down into the school. She slammed open the door and made her way down the stairs, not bothering to close the door behind her.
Jatsuma blinked and sighed in exasperation. He had the strangest feeling that he should go after her, but didn't.
MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE SHCOOL
Coach Oshiro poked his head around the corner to look down the hallway. It was empty except for one person. Luffa was looking frustrated as she stomped down the hall in search of Jatsuma. She was beginning to wonder if Mascara hadn't already found him and taken him away from the school.
Oshiro know that Mascara was coming up the stairwell that Luffa was about to walk by. The two crazy girls were about to meet once again. He just had to wait for the right moment to confront them and recruit them for the pre-game entertainment. Cheerleaders fighting in a martial arts battle would blow that West Side Shark mascot's routine out of the water! That haughty fish didn't know what was coming!
Mascara was also stomping up the steps, but she was more worried than frustrated. It had been over two hours since she had seen Jatsuma. Where could he have gotten to? Surely Luffa had done something horrible to him! She stepped off the last step and into the hallway. Luffa wasn't far away and they both stopped when their eyes met.
"You! What have you done with Jatsuma?" They both shouted at each other. Then they blinked in confusion. "I thought he was with you!" They both answered.
Luffa shook her head. "Look! Just stop trying to take Jatsuma away!"
"It is by Amazon law that I am engaged to him! I'll fight you if I have to!" Mascara stood in a fighting stance.
"Bring it on, Little Miss Perfect!" Luffa looked like she was about to take a swing at Mascara, but right then Coach Oshiro stepped around the corned and sprinted down the hallway towards them.
"No fighting in the halls girls! This is a school, not a boxing ring!" He stopped in front of them with a stern look. He wasn't acting quite as fierce as he normally did, but the effect of his presence was the same. Luffa and Mascara jumped back in surprise and quickly backed down from the fight.
"I'm so sorry Coach Oshiro! She was provoking me!" Luffas plead.
"ME? You're the one who won't face me in a fair fight because you're scared!" Mascara snapped at her rival.
Luffa scowled. "Maybe in your dreams I'm scared of you! I'd fight you anytime, anywhere!"
"GIRLS!" Oshiro barked, causing the girls to stop bickering. "I can not condone violence in this school!" They looked at their feet in embarrassment. "If you want to fight then take it to the field!"
They looked at him in confusion. "Wha-"
"Think about it! A martial arts battle between the two of you, tonight before the game! There will be hundreds of people there!" He put a hand on Luffa's shoulder and paned his hand out in front of them. "There will be no doubt who the winner is with that many witnesses! This issue you have over Saotome will be settled once and for all!" He grinned.
"I don't know…" Mascara said.
"Not used to being in front so many people?" Luffa asked snidely. "I cheer at these games every week. But I'll understand if you're too chicken."
Mascara's eyes flared angrily. "I'll make you eat those words! I'll see you tonight at…at…"
"Six-thirty." Coach Oshiro chimed in.
"SIX-THIRTY!" Mascara finished.
"SEE YOU THEN!" Luffa yelled back. The two glared at each other momentarily before turning and marching in the opposite directions down the hallway. Coach Oshiro smiled at his own success. "Easy as pie."
SOMETIME LATER IN THE STREETS OF NERIMA
After school was released Jatsuma got out of there as quickly as he could, partly to avoid Luffa and Mascara's attacks and partly to steer clear of Razor. He felt like he was between a rock and a hard place. After all of their fighting and arguing, Razor had opened up and told him about her very strange past. Now he knew why Razor was pretending to be a boy, but it didn't make him feel any better.
None of this was really her fault, it was all her mother, the Council and Heng Shaiming steering her life. But at the same time he knew he couldn't talk her out of trying to marry Makoto, and he certainly couldn't condone it. She's so stuck on her honor she can't even see beyond her own nose! He thought in frustration. I wonder if she's ever done anything just because that was what SHE wanted, instead of what the Council wanted. Maybe not.
Jatsuma sighed. "I don't know what to do. What can I possible do for her? Nothing. There's nothing I can do to make this right! Argh!" He hit his head against the street wall. He was close to home but he wasn't in any hurry to get there. "Should I apologize? What for? I haven't done anything but help her. Would she even care?" Jatsuma mumbled to himself as he stood there with his head against the wall.
He didn't want to think about it anymore right now. All he wanted to do was get up to his bed and take a nap. Maybe all of this would seem better if he got a little sleep. So Jatsuma shuffled the rest of the way down the street to the Tendo Dojo and made his way through the front entrance. He kicked off his shoes after he got inside. "Mom! I'm home!" He called. For some reason he really wanted a hug from his mommy.
But it wasn't Akane who came out to meet him first. It was Daichi, looking rather frantic as he ran down the hall from the dinning room. "Jatsuma! Where the heck have you been?"
"Uh, just walking." Jatsuma raised an eyebrow. "What's the big deal?"
"You're on the news!" Daichi shouted.
"What?" Jatsuma and Daichi ran back down the hallway to the dinning room where Ranma, Akane, Soun, Genma, Makoto and Iikiba were sitting watching the television with gaping mouths.
A picture of Jatsuma with a big grin and him holding up the peace sign was in the corner of the screen. The news caster chuckled. "That sounds like one lucky boy!" He commented to his female co-host. "That he does!" She answered cheerily before they cut to commercial.
"Lucky? WHAT'D I DO?" Jatsuma yelled at the screen.
"It's okay, we're taping it." Soun reached forward and pressed the stop button, then the rewind and after a moment the play button.
"You're taping it?" Jatsuma asked warily.
The news desk flickered back on with the newscaster fake-talking to his co-host while the music played. The music died down and he turned to the camera. "In other news, local boy Jatsuma Saotome is at the center of the never before heard of pre-game martial arts entertainment taking place tonight at Bunraku High School. The martial arts match is allegedly a way to draw crowds to the soccer game against the Bunraku Beaver's long time rivals, the West Side Sharks. But rather than two professional martial artists fighting it out, the organizer of the event, Coach Edward Oshiro, has recruited two cheerleaders who apparently have a grudge with one another concerning young Saotome. My co-host, Fay, had an interview with Mr. Oshiro just this afternoon. Fay?"
"Thanks Chuck." Fay turned to the camera now. "Mr. Oshiro was more than happy to give us an interview concerning the upcoming game." The scene changed to Fay sitting in a gray room in gray chairs. Next to her was Coach Oshiro.
"Thank you for being with us today, Mr. Oshiro." She shook his hand.
"It's my pleasure! I'm more than happy to get the news out about tonight's event!" He said happily.
Fay fake laughed. "Well I'm sure you are. Can you tell me more about this martial arts event?"
"Well you see Fay; I was in a quandary trying to draw a larger crowd to our home games. When I saw the talent these two young ladies possessed I decided, why not?"
Fay looked through her papers. "But our records show that Bunraku High has never had problem getting people to come to games."
"It's been a slow season." Oshiro said shortly.
"I see. And what about the rumors that you're just trying to top the West Side Shark's famous mascot, Sherry Shark and her break dancing routine?"
Oshiro shook his head. "Pure nonsense! It would be insulting to the girls who have worked so hard on their martial arts to make such an accusation."
Fay flipped through her papers again. "But isn't it true that one of the girls doesn't even attend Bunraku High?"
"Baloney! I've been teaching both for years!" Oshiro shifted his eyes from the screen.
"I see. And isn't it so that the prize for this competition is a boy they have been fighting over?"
"Ah yes!" Oshiro sat up in his seat. "Young Saotome volunteered for the position. How could I crush his school spirit?"
"I WHAT?" Jatsuma yelled at the screen.
"Interesting." Fay pursed her lips. "And does it occur to you that two teenage girls fighting over a boy in front of an audience while wearing cheerleading outfits hardly seems school appropriate?"
"Fay, this is a school funded event. Trust me. It will very tasteful." Oshiro assured her.
"I see. Interesting. Thank you for coming out today Mr. Oshiro." She shook his hand.
"My pleasure!" He shook her hand as well.
The scene changed back to the news desk, Chuck looking at the screen. "The game begins tonight at seven, tickets being sold at the door." The picture of Jatsuma holding a peace sigh appeared in the corner of the screen. "Wow! That sounds like one lucky boy!" He turned to Fay.
"That he does!" She answered cheerily, but his time he noticed a twitch in her smile before they cut to commercial.
Jatsuma turned to look at his family, who were giving him accusing glares. "I didn't volunteer for this!" He shouted.
"Oshiro had the soccer team handing these out after school." Daichi pushed a flier into Jatsuma's hands. It was a picture someone must have taken of Luffa and Mascara fighting that afternoon. Luffa was pulling Mascara's hair while Mascara pulling at Luffa's clothes. There was a big headline at the top that read 'Come see these girls duke it out over Jatsuma Saotome tonight at seven! Remember, one will need a shoulder to cry on when the night is over!'
"Do you have any idea how angry Lotion was when she saw this?" Daichi snapped at his brother. "She yelled at Luffa for an hour!"
"And Iikiba keeps whining about you stealing Mascara!" Makoto shouted, as though that too were Jatsuma's doing.
"Jatsuma, you can't keep leading girls on like this!" Akane commented. "You have to learn to tell them straight out that you're not interested! Your father had to learn that!" She glared at Ranma.
"Why is it whenever they do something bad, it MY gene's fault?" Ranma asked.
"Well what have you got to say for yourself?" Daichi asked angrily.
Jatsuma looked at the flier for a moment then looked up again. "This is so hot." He answered readily.
"That's what I said!" Iikiba shouted, as though his point had been proven. Makoto glared and pinched his arm. "OW!"
I do like to delude myself into thinking my writing as gotten better from when I first started. But a little reassurance couldn't hurt!