Need to Focus
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. I would hope everyone would know this by now.
….
Ranma could only stare at Tofu while the healer explained some ability or other he and Akane gained as shisa. Several hours had passed since Tofu re-entered their lives, but Ranma was still grappling with his story.
There had been a time when Ranma considered switching his devotion from The Great One to Glorious Will. But the ones who paid for the Glorious' favors were not always one and the same as those who received them. Sometimes an innocent suffered so that the Glorious' followers would benefit. Ranma could not compromise his honor in that way and had stayed with The Great One.
How had Tofu ended up the target of the Glorious Will? His ogres were known to be the ones to seek out the payment owed, but general consensus was that they found those who should have bettered their ways. How did the good healer become a target? The only way was for someone who was an acquaintance of Tofu to have been Glorious' follower and asked for a favor that was beyond the follower's means to pay.
Who did they know that could be one of the Glorious' followers?
The sound of pounding feet interrupted his thoughts and the voice of the shield spirit.
"You pig! Come back here!" Shampoo's strangled shout carried through the doors, "No one dare steal Shampoo's hairpin!"
A black blur whirled through the door, missing hairpin in his mouth, turned around and snarled at the door.
Upon passing through the doorway the Amazon warrior for once in her life stopped her attack and stared at the sight before her. Paling she backed away slightly.
Ranma almost let out a snarl to scare the girl off more, but Akane grumbled and pounced on Ryoga before he put thought to action.
The little pig squealed and streaked out of Akane's grip, unfortunately keeping a tight hold on the hairpin along the way. Akane gave chase but Ryoga launched and rocketed himself against the walls. Ranma watched their antics, recalling how annoying the little bugger had been when he did much the same to him upon Ranma's discovery of pig Ryoga getting overly close as Akane's pet. Briefly Ranma wondered if Fey was behind this particular scene since so many gods seemed to be influencing their lives lately. The ridiculously humorous scene was certainly right up with Her tastes.
Oddly enough the former healer instead of sitting back and watching their antics as he had when he was alive was staring grimly at the piglet. When Ryoga shot past him Tofu snapped him up by the bandana and lifted him high so that Akane sailed through the empty space to land on the other side.
All turned to stare at Tofu and Ryoga as the shield spirit lowered the pig to his eye level. Glowing embers appeared in the once gentle man's eyes as he stared into Ryoga's eyes. Ryoga dropped the hairpin.
"You have the mark of the Glorious," Tofu spoke in an even voice, but Ranma still winced in surprise at the angry edge to his words.
Ryoga worshipped the Glorious Will?
"Aiyaa! A ghost!" Shampoo exclaimed, breaking Ranma from his thoughts. He noted that the Amazon made no move to leave despite her comment.
Tofu lowered his arm holding the squirming piglet, changing his demeanor once again into something more recognizable, "Good morning Miss Shampoo! Yes, I regret to inform you that I am no longer alive." The healer deftly changed the subject to inquire into how the Amazon was doing so smoothly Ranma almost missed it.
Shampoo for her part just fell to her knees as if her senses had overloaded. Of course this was the moment Mousse came sliding around the corner to trip over Shampoo and land sprawling just inside the room.
Staring in disbelief Ranma was wondering just how accurate his previous thought about Fey influencing them had been when Akane dryly commented from her position, "Gee, we just need my sisters and then everyone who knows about us will be in one place."
Tofu swung wildly at Akane's words and Ryoga slipped out of his grasp, "K-Kasumi is coming?! She can't see me like this!"
Ranma, still in the center of all the commotion, watched amused as the Amazons, just getting to their feet were tripped by the freed Ryoga bouncing off the walls and Tofu faded away completely. Yup, the whole situation definitely had to be the work of Fey.
Akane moved beside him and gave a huff of annoyance, "This is ridiculous."
….
Back standing guard at the front of the Temple, Ranma stared bored out the front gates. He almost wished their 'lessons' had continued, at least it had been entertaining once their former acquaintances showed up and chaos reigned. All the commotion, however, attracted the attention of the Apprentice Server. When he showed up Ranma and Akane froze leaving the Amazons chasing after a piglet trying to explain whose fault the ensuing mess was. That in of itself was entertaining to watch, until the redheaded form of the Godling entered. One look at the redhead's face and the Amazons and Ryoga started to clean up the mess, the Apprentice was dismissed, and the shisa were sent back on guard duty.
Ranma glanced at Akane on the other side of the path. She appeared troubled and honestly he couldn't blame her. Perhaps they could use this time to plan. Or at least they could if it weren't for the occasional visitor causing them to freeze.
"Hey." Ranma tried after the last person passed.
Akane hummed in response but otherwise kept her troubled look.
"We'll figure it out and get through this, Akane."
She glanced at him then before turning her gaze on the ground, "I don't know what to think about much of anything, anymore."
Ranma snorted, "With this mess with gods I don't either, so… forget it for now. Let's concentrate on becoming human again."
The corner of Akane's mouth curled, "How can we do that when the 'gods' keep messing with our lives?"
At that Ranma stood up, raised his head and pushed out his chest in an approximation of his former boastful pose. "Have you forgotten? I am Ranma Saotome, the greatest martial artist! I am not about to let gods or demons get in the way of my goals." He earned a slight rumble from Akane. Turning toward her he continued, "and neither should you."
She looked up at him and purred ever so slightly. Shaking herself, Ranma's only warning was the glint in her eye before she pounced on him. Now on his side with Akane half on top of him, she growled in his ear, "So how do we discover if there were shisa here before?"
Ranma gulped, he could feel her breath on his ear and her growl all the way to his bones. At least she was distracted from her troubled mood.
"W-well…we could…er," he tried but his mind didn't seem to be cooperating at the moment.
"Hmmm…" the voice hummed above him. Akane, curse her, didn't seem to be having any problems. "The best ones to ask would be the Servers only we freeze every time they get near…"
Enough was enough, Ranma was not about to let Akane have all the glory in coming up with the plan. He rolled so that she slid onto the ground next to him. Finally able to think about what was said Ranma added, "The Apprentice seems a bit more aware than the others of what is going on."
Akane countered, "True, but we don't want him to be too aware of what is going on, or he might tell the Godling what we are up to."
"Asking about previous shisa won't be suspicious enough." Ranma maneuvered so that he half-stood over, half-sat next to, Akane. It was time for him to get some revenge. He quickly and lightly licked her ear. To his delight she twitched.
"W-we still can't move in front of him." Success! Akane didn't seem to be thinking to clearly anymore. That is, until she huffed in annoyance muscled her way out from under him. Matching his posture and glaring at him to stop being distracting.
Ranma relented, for the moment.
"Maybe we could make some sort of sign? Just to get him to realize his suspicions are right, and to get some answers from him?" Akane mused, continuing the conversation as if nothing else had occurred.
Ranma smirked, this could be fun. "So we want to convince the Apprentice we are alive in order to get answers from him." He glanced over at Akane with a mischievous glint in his eye. She appeared slightly surprised at the conclusion they had been dancing around, but had no opportunity for another reaction before Ranma pounced on her.
…
An Update! How long has it been? (Er…Don't answer that).
Constructive criticism and feedback are welcome.