THE QUEEN'S GAUNTLET

CHAPTER TWO

THE START OF THE NEW QUEEN'S REIN

(Or, And I just don't want to be Queen!)

As Akane went into the kitchen to talk to Kasumi about the extra guests for dinner, Ranma went to the bath.

After telling her guards that she was not to be disturbed for any reason, she entered the bath. After rinsing herself off with cold water, she entered the nice hot bath she had drawn. Sighing as she turned back into a he, the Gauntlet, that had told him it was named the Witchblade, and which he just called Witchy, which seemed to annoy it, a definite plus in his book, took this moment to speak up.

'So back to your guy form again? We have got to do something about that.' Witchy thought to Ranma in a sighing tone.

"Witchy, don't you even think of trying to lock me. I'm the bearer, and while I MAY now need to be female now more then I'd like too, if you try to lock me, you WILL regret the day your enchantment was ever cast." Ranma told Witchy, looking at it on his hand.

Witchy, seeing into Ranma's mind on all the things he was willing to do to his hand to get back at the permanently attached gauntlet, such as dunking it in acid, if Witchy was ever responsible for another locked episode, Witchy vowed NOT to continue on this line of thinking, at the moment. 'Maybe after Ranma's been a female long enough from being forced to be the Queen of those idiotic Amazons that held me in their stupid treasure vault, she'll see my wisdom in staying female.' It mused to itself, not letting Ranma hear that line of thinking.

Ranma stayed in the bath for as long as possible to stay male, but knew all good thins must come to an end, and that he'd have to be a female tonight at dinner, what with the advisers and the honor guard at dinner. Not that the honor guard would be eating with them, oh no, it just wouldn't be professional, but they would be there. 'In fact,' Ranma thought to himself, 'I would bet that the main reason I have this so called 'honor guard', is to make sure I stay female most of the time I'm in public, to show that they have a Queen instead of a King. Bah, this is horrible.' Ranma thought to himself.

Getting out of the bath and pouring some cold water on himself, she then got in some clean clothes. Finally exiting the bath, Ranma was immediately flanked by her honor guard. Sighing, she led them down stairs, to dinner.

As Ranma sat next to Akane at the dinner table, her twelve honor guards took a circular position around the table. As Kasumi brought dinner to the table, a member of the honor guard went to inspect it.

"Do not touch the food." Ranma said to the guard. "Do not go near the food. Do not even breathe near the food. What did I say about food?" Ranma asked the guard.

"Um, Kasumi's food is always good and welcome and to stop all of Akane's cooking from ever being in your presence?" The guard said hesitatively.

"Good, very good." Ranma said while Akane glared at her. "And whose cooking is this?" Ranma asked.

"Uh, Kasumi's?" The guard said.

"Yes, so what do you do?" Ranma asked patiently.

"Let it through?" The guard asked.

"Yes." Ranma said and the guard stepped aside and Kasumi brought the food to the table. "Sorry Kasumi, some times they get a little over zealous with this whole 'Protect the Queen' shnit." Ranma said, apologizing to Kasumi.

"That's ok Ranma. I'm glad to see them take their duties so seriously. You take good care of Ranma now." Kasumi said smiling and serving the food.

After Kasumi served everyone, including herself and sat down, Nabiki said "Ok Ranma, spill. What happed after you woke up?"

"Do not speak to the Queen so." Rug said stiffly.

Ranma looked at Rug and said "Oh be quiet." Turning to Nabiki Ranma said "The better question would be what happened while I was unconscious. And the answer to that is…"

START FLASHBACK FOUR

"Ughh, what hit me?" Ranma asked. Looking around he saw that he was in a black empty space he was intimately familiar with, his mind. He went here a lot when things became to chaotic in his sleep to sort things out. It was a sort of self defense mechanism his mind worked out so he wouldn't go crazy from his insane life.

"Uh, ok, what happened that I went here again?" Ranma asked out loud. Then remembering his day he said "Oh yeah, that."

Then a bright, bouncing light came up to Ranma. "I can't believe it! I bonded with a male! I feel so, so… violated!" The bright, bouncing light exalamed.

"Um, who are you, and what are you doing here?" Ranma asked. Ranma might not be the most knowledgeable person on psychology, but even he knew that it was a bad thing to be in your private place in your mind and have something else in there too.

"I'm the Witchblade." It said.

"The what?" Ranma asked puzzled.

"The Gauntlet you put on. But you were female! Why do you have a male mind?"

"Because I'm a guy!" Ranma shouted.

"Then how were you a girl when you put me on?" The light asked.

"That was my cursed form!" Ranma screamed.

"Cursed form?" It asked.

"Yeah I have a Jusenkyo curse! I turn into a girl with cold water!" Ranma shouted.

"So you're not a female?" It asked.

"NO!" Ranma shouted.

"But you do turn into one?" The light asked.

"Well yes, but I'm not one!" Ranma said loudly.

"Ok, lets take this from the top. Explain this slowly to me." The bright, bouncing light said.

END FLASHBACK FOUR

"So I explained the curse and a lot of other stuff to Witchy, and it decided that as long as I do have the ability to turn into a female that it wasn't too bad. But," Ranma said looking at the Witchblade "it keeps thinking of how to get me wet more then usual, and how to lock me without my finding out it did it." She said darkly.

"So this thing is intelligent, prefers your girl side, and wants you to stay that way as much as possible?" Nabiki asked. Ranma nodded. "Is that why you're female at the moment?" she asked.

"Nah," Ranma started. "I'm a girl now because of an arrangement I came to with the Amazons." Ranma said.

"What arrangement is that?" Nabiki asked.

"They didn't want to be embarrassed by the world seeing that their Queen is really a King, so I told them I'd be a girl in public as much as possible, if I could be a guy in private." Ranma said.

"Why do I feel there's more to it then that?" Nabiki asked.

"Because there is, Nabiki." Cologne laughed "Let me tell you how things went when Ranma awoke." She said.

"You wouldn't." Nair and Rug said shocked.

"Yes I would. This is more fun than I've had in ages, you old hags!" Cologne said to Rug and Nair.

"Your Majesty!" Nair protested to Ranma.

Ramna ignored Nair and said "If you want to take over the telling of the story, be my guest, my food's getting cold." Ranma said, digging into her food.

Royal permission given, Cologne started to talk while Rug and Nair looked on in the shock that their Queen would allow this to happen.

START FLASHBACK FIVE

Ranma awoke in a lavishly decorated hut, with Akane, Shampoo, Cologne and the other counsel members hovering over her. "How are you your Majesty?" Shampoo asked in mandarin, barely covering her giggles.

"Yes your Majesty, how do you feel?" Cologne asked, not bothering to cover her wide smile.

"Ok what the hell's going on? Why did I have to spend so much time in my head explaining how I'm not a girl to a freaking gauntlet?" Ranma shouted.

"It spoke to you? What did it say?" Rug asked, hopping for the best. She did not get it.

"The stupid thing said that as long as I had the capacity to be a female, it's alright because I'm still the best bearer it's had in a long ass time. Stupid Witchy!" Ranma shouted at the gauntlet.

Rug sighed "So the Queen's gauntlet has chosen." As the Amazons got to their knees they said in unison "Long live Queen Ranma!"

Ranma's left eye started twitching. "Ok, what's going on here?" she asked deadly calm.

"It's simple oh great Queen." Cologne said, trying not to snicker. "The other elders used what we use to determine a new Queen of the Amazons as your test to enter the tribe, for it has been known to, violently reject, unworthy candidates, so violently at times that no one has dared try to don it for a few hundred years. In fact there never has been a Queen, for no one has ever met it approval. And since legend says only the greatest of female warriors may wear it, well they thought it would kill you or something. They never saw this one coming!"

Ranma looked at the other council members and said "We'll talk later." Turning to Cologne she asked "Ok so if I'm the Queen, what the heck am I supposed to do?"

Cologne looked surprised "You're going to do it?" She asked shocked.

"Not like I have a lot of choice, now do I? It's not like I can give Witchy back, and I did come here to join the tribe, I just got a slightly different position then I expected." Ranma said sighing "Besides, I really doubt that you gals would just let me get out of this with out a serious fight." Ranma then sighed again. "So what do I have to do to be Queen?"

END FLASHBACK FIVE

"Wow, Ranma just agreed to be the Queen? That so unlike him, uh her." Nabiki said, changing gender pronoun upon seeing the looks on the Amazons faces.

Cologne went "Yes, yes it was."

"Hey!" Ranma said from behind her food "I really didn't have a choice on the matter and I knew it. Stupid Witchy chose me as it's bearer, and the Amazons think that makes me their Queen. Even I'm not stupid enough to try to change an Amazons mind, let alone the entire tribes! I just made the best of the situation as I could." Ranma said, going back to her food.

"Really, how did you make the best of it?" Nabiki asked.

"Well," Akane said "For one thing, they wanted to lock Ranma, but Ranma put a stop to that. Though Ranma did agree to spend all the time he could in public and with the tribe as a female, and they agreed to let him be male during his private time, like when he's not in public or with the tribe or things like that."

"Any thing else?" Nabiki asked leaning forward "Yeah, lots of thing." Ranma said. "Look we really don't have the time to go over everything that happened if we want to get to bed tonight. I am so not looking forward to going to school tomorrow as a girl, with a stupid honor guard, and being asked a whole bunch of dumb questions. So if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." Ranma said standing up, and then leaving the table.

"Thank you for the wonderful meal Kasumi." Cologne said singling the other advisers it was time to leave, then they left through the front door.

AN: I think this will be the last chapter that tells the story through flash backs for a while. It's getting harder to do it. So next chapter we pick up in real time I think.