Chapter 3: Revelation
Nodoka Saotome was in her son's room cleaning her sword. That description is overly simplified. The cleaning of a katana, the family honor sword no less, is a complicated ritual designed to cleanse the weapon spiritually as well as removing physical stains from the blade. Performing the ritual cleaning in her son's bedroom, the room he hadn't slept in for ten years, was a personal ritual. Ten years ago, against her wishes, her husband had taken their only child on a training mission. She tried to stop him, she begged, she cajoled and threatened violence but Genma would not be dissuaded.
Before Ranma was born, before he and Nodoka had even met much less married, Genma had formed a pact with his friend and fellow master Soun Tendo to unite their families and schools through the marriage of their children. Soun had inherited his families dojo along with the ancestral home. All Genma had of his heritage was the Saotome name and honor blade, the very sword she was cleansing.
Soun was closer than a brother to him and Genma was determined to do his part in preserving the school of Anything Goes. Soun had a dojo and three daughters, Genma had a son which was alone worth more than a girl in his eyes, but not worth more than a girl and a dojo. So Genma became obsessed that his son, his part of the pact, would be the greatest martial artist of his generation. The reputation that would come with such skill would equal the value of a dojo building, together guaranteeing that their combined schools would continue and thrive. Genma loved his wife and his son, but as a holding less descendant of noble samurai warriors he loved his dream even more.
At first Genma despaired of having anything to offer his friend. He and Nodoka had been married almost has long as Soun and Kimiko, but were Tendo had one daughter and another due any day, Nodoka had yet to provide him with a single child much less a male heir.
Soun stored in his home many of the Master's possessions, all that wasn't on his person at the time of his sealing. Soun and Genma feared the Master's collection almost has much as the Master himself, but Genma was determined and after much wheedling convinced Soun to help him search through the collection for anything that might help Nodoka bear him a son.
Many days were spent carefully sifting through the Master's collection, followed by more hours of purification rituals to avoid the bad karma the Master had surely collected along with all the 'silky darlings' and pilfered relics. It was a trying and difficult task, but ultimately a fruitful one. Inside a cherry wood box, wrapped in an ancient pair of lacy women's panties, they found the Medallion of the First Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Inscribed on the amulet were invocations to guarantee the birth of a son. The Qin emperor would not allow his throne to pass to a girl so he had the medallion created for his wife to ensure the birth of a proper heir.
Tendo balked, he knew nothing of the medallion or how Happosai came to posses it ( or who's panties he had stored it in ), but he did know that both the Qin emperor and his sons came to bad ends. He feared that such magic as the medallion held might come with a terrible price, but Genma was too excited to be swayed from his course and took the medallion home to his wife.
Nodoka knew nothing of her medallion's royal history, Genma only told her that it was an ancient luck charm created to aid in conception. Nodoka felt so bad about her failure to provide her husband an heir that she accepted it without question. Two weeks later she was pregnant and the medallion became her most valued possession, after her baby.
When the doctor informed them that they were to be blessed with a son Genma was beyond happy and Nodoka felt her entire existence was now justified. She couldn't have been happier with her son, such a happy and caring child with a gentle soul.
Genma grew more and more dissatisfied with each passing year. His son was nearly six years of age and still showed none of the manly virtues Genma equated with a great warrior. The boy was soft hearted and while he performed kata with a grace and beauty that brought a tear to the eye, all Genma saw was a lack of the fierce fire he expected in a future master of Anything Goes. He watched as Nodoka doted on their son, he watched his son play with little girls instead of rough housing with other boys and determined that it would be necessary to remove all distractions and corruptive influences from his son's life if the boy was going to live up to Genma's dreams. As Genma watched his son follow Nodoka around their sheltered home, imitating her and playing 'housewife', watched his son wasting time with his mother helping with household chores and learning to cook, he determined that the most corrupting influence in his son's life was regrettably his beloved wife.
He had confided in Soun, sharing his fears and plans with his friend over drinks. At the time, with the benefit of several bottles of Sake, Soun believed his friends plan was brilliant, his reasoning sound. In the morning when the alcohol left his system he didn't even remember the plan. When he later learned Genma had taken Ranma from Nodoka for training on the road, his burgeoning memory was matched by his shared guilt and he kept his mouth tightly sealed on the subject. As time went by that guilt served to strengthen his own obsession with the pact, until without his wife's support he would gladly sacrifice his daughters' wishes to see it fulfilled.
Nodoka knew about Genma's dream and that in her husband's eyes she had failed as a mother. He took her joy, her reason for living and in his place left her a cold steel sword and the promise that he would succeed were she had failed. He hadn't quite said it that way, but that was the way she took it. He took her child and left her with a sword and a backhanded promise, a promise she meant him to keep.
The loss of her child and self respect damaged her soul and twisted her mind, she lived only for the promise. For ten years she waited for their return, keeping and caring for the sword in place of her little boy. Then she found out they were back and staying at the Tendo's, but still Genma's training trip had kept her from her child. Every time she went to the Tendo home to see her son they informed her that Genma had taken him training again.
The Tendo girls tried to help, telling her how manly he was and though their words helped they didn't fill the empty place in her heart that should have held her child. The only thing that saved her from complete despair was Ranko. She was a stranger and too much of a tomboy for Nodoka's traditional ways, but since the first time she met her Nodoka felt a connection to the lonely girl. Maybe that was it, like her Ranko was longing for someone she couldn't have. Perhaps it was their mutual need for a mother and child relationship that bound them to each other. Whatever it was, Ranko quickly became the daughter she never had. When she was with her Nodoka could forget the absence of her son. Somehow the tomboy filled the emptiness in her heart.
Then when she learned that the girl was her son, that 'Ranko' was a curse he had picked up during Genma's training trip, Nodoka didn't know how she should feel. Gratified to learn that her feelings for the girl were a mother's natural affection for her child, relieved to have her child back safe and reasonably sound, upset to learn that Genma had still tried to keep them apart and shamefully vindicated by his failure to raise her son as a 'man among men'.
She didn't know how to respond, part of her wanted to take her child and never let him go, another part of her couldn't help grinding Genma's failure in his face. She hadn't realized what she was doing until she found her son was convinced she was going to demand his life for his father's failure.
She wanted her son back, but she didn't want Genma to feel he was off the hook. She knew it was staged and she didn't really think it was proof that Ranma was the man Genma had promised, the man she never really wanted, but she allowed them to think that Ranma's peeping on his fiancée was proof enough for her. Ranma tried but she could tell he was still afraid to let her get too close. Most of it was due to his upbringing, but she couldn't deny that some of it was fear of her rejection. She had her son back, but still she was in his empty room cleaning the sword that Genma left in his place. Oh, how she prayed for a way to close the gap between them and regain the trust a child should hold for their mother.
****
Ranma Chan made her way across Suginami in a daze. Not even seeing were she was going, it was fortunate that being a residential area and a week day most of the people were at work or staying indoors or she probably would have been hit by passing traffic. Running on automatic she didn't even notice the rain water working its way down her collar, soaking her shirt and eliciting a shiver.
Not noticing as she crossed the intervening distance, she found herself standing before her mother's gate. Ranma hadn't meant to come here today, she wasn't ready to face her mother, but now that she was here she couldn't bring herself to leave. Her pride would never allow her to admit weakness, her fear didn't want her mother to see her like this, but her spirits had taken a serious blow and she wasn't ready to begin the lonely journey to a home that might not be hers anymore. Her emotional needs overriding her fear and pride, Ranma pushed her way past the gate and up the walk.
****
Nodoka's ritual cleansing was interrupted by the sound of the front door intercom squawking in the background. Placing the honor blade down on the towel before her, she rose and made her way to the front entryway. Suppressing her slight annoyance at the interruption she pressed the response button. "Hello, this is Nodoka Saotome."
Her annoyance was forgotten when she heard the low shaky voice answer,
"Mo-mother, its Ranma. Can I …"
Ranma was interrupted by Nodoka opening the door and pulling her into the entry way.
"Come in out of the rain Ranma. Oh, your soaking wet."
Helping the dripping girl remove her raincoat and outside shoes, Nodoka then lead her into the house.
"Oh you poor dear, lets get you out of those wet clothes. You must be freezing."
She led the shaking girl into the furo were she helped her undress. Ranmas's hands were shaking too much to undo the wooden frogs holding her shirt closed so Nodoka did it for her. While releasing the ties she couldn't help but notice that not all of the water running down her child's face was from her rain soaked hair. She was amused to discover that all the girl had on under her masculine clothes was an equally masculine pair of boxers.
"Oh, you are such a tomboy. What ever am I going to do with you?"
Nodoka chided her gently, her warm smile taking away any sting while she wrapped the girl in a thick towel.
"I- I don't know, I …" Ranma broke off, her body shaking with unshed tears.
Her heart going out to her sometimes daughter, Nodoka wrapped the little red head in a warm hug. "It's okay dear, I love you boxers and all."
The towel fell to the floor as the girl within raised her arms, grasping the older woman in a desperate embrace. Nodoka didn't know what was wrong, but she held her child tight, rocking her and muttering calming words. "It's okay dear, I have you."
****
Sometime later mother and daughter were in the dinning room enjoying an early lunch. Ranma's clothes had been soaked right through to and including her boxers. Nodoka hung her clothes up to dry but in the mean time she dressed Ranma in what was available.
Ranma sat at the table next to her mother wearing one of her more casual skirts and blouses. She was fidgeting. The clothes were some Nodoka had given to 'Ranko' and kept at her home after learning Ranma's secret. She had been trying to help the tomboy become a proper girl so all of the clothes were skirts and dresses, much to Ranma's present discomfort. Still it wasn't the skirt that had Ranma cringing inside her skin, it was the panties. Her mother had insisted that her boxers were too wet to keep wearing, but that it was improper for a young lady or gentleman for that matter, to go without underpants.
Ranma couldn't change into a boy and she wasn't ready to draw her mother's attention to this, so instead of fighting her she allowed her mother this small victory and put on the panties, blouse and skirt. She drew the line at a bra, she feared in time she would have to accept such things but not yet.
Nodoka spent the morning carefully probing, trying to learn why Ranma was so upset. It hurt that she didn't know her son well enough to even try to guess what could be bothering him. She did know him well enough to know that he never showed his emotions, hiding his pain and fear from those around him. For him to be so distraught required something life shattering.
With patience and careful effort Nodoka coaxed Ranma until she told her about China and what happened with Saffron and Akane, but she held back her own predicament.
Nodoka was too overcome by the story of death and near loss, she never noticed that her daughter was holding something back. She did know Ranma well enough to understand how she felt about killing and she knew how important Akane Tendo was to her child. Satisfied that she knew what was upsetting her, Nodoka wrapped the girl in another hug, rocking her until she calmed down.
Safe within her mother's arms, for the first time in days Ranma felt her fears back off. Emotionally and physically exhausted she released a great yawn.
Nodoka felt warm holding her child, but the yawn reminded her how tired Ranma was and unfortunately she was too large now to sleep in her mother's arms. Nodoka pulled her up to her feet and half carried her to the long abandoned bedroom.
As they entered her childhood sanctuary, Ranma's eyes fell upon the honor blade where it still rested on the towel where Nodoka had left it. Nodoka felt Ranma's small body tense as they entered the room, then she too was reminded of the sword. Believing she understood her daughter's fear and regretting anew that she had allowed Genma's absurd promise to go so far, she gave her a comforting squeeze.
"Don't worry Ranma Chan, unlike your father I don't consider tears or the need for comfort to be a weakness. Let's just get you to bed, okay?"
Ranma felt a strange lassitude sweep through her, chilling her as she realized what she had to do. To her mother she just gave a tired smile and a nod before undressing and climbing in bed.
Nodoka smiled at her daughter as she quickly fell to sleep. Kneeling on the floor she took up the sword to return to the ritual cleansing. Looking out the window she was shocked to see it was snowing outside.
The next morning Nodoka awoke and found to her disappointment that Ranma had already left. She found a note on the dinning room table, asking her to come to the Tendo home at four in the afternoon and to bring the family sword. Holding her daughter's note she went to the front door to look and see if her daughter was still in sight. She knew it was a futile gesture and she was surprised to see her daughter's footprints in the snow. It had snowed lightly all night long, leaving the ground hidden under a soft sheet of white. It was still snowing and from the still sharply defined footprints she could tell that she had just missed her. A shiver passed through her from more than the cold, somehow she knew the snow in early fall was a bad omen. Snow is white and white is the color of death.
****
Ranma had determined what she needed to do, but there was one more thing she had to do first to be sure. Which is why she was standing outside of the Neko Hanten at ten in the morning, a light snow falling on her head.
Whatever replaced her chi had been acting up all morning and right now she felt especially vulnerable.
She harbored no illusions that the old Amazon held a soft spot in her heart for her. Their relationship was defined by Amazon law and now that Ranma was no longer suitable for marriage the old ghoul would probably reinstate the kiss of death.
The way Ranma was now Shampoo or even Mousse could kill her with little effort.
"Like that would be a bad thing." she said to herself.
Yes, she knew what she needed to do, but having the Amazons kill her would be so much easier to face. She quailed inside at the thought of what her future held, she almost cried knowing that everything was as good as lost to her. She took bitter comfort in the knowledge that now that she was no longer suitable to fit her father's plans she was free to face her own fate, choose her own course, but that comfort was an illusion, rather like her mother's acceptance. She had always hated being trapped in the web of her father's dreams, but if she was truly free to choose her fate she would happily fulfill them. She wanted nothing more than to be the best, to marry Akane and teach the art to their children. Whenever she could wrest them away from their doting grandmother. She brushed away a single tear that fell at the thought, looking to make sure no one saw.
Before she faced her extended family there was one last thing she had to do just to be sure, she had to talk to Cologne. It galled her to come crawling to the old woman one last time, she held no hope that three thousand years of Amazon history held the cure to her little problem and no desire to pay the price the ghoul would demand if they did. What would be the point of sacrificing her dreams in a vain attempt to save them? Mustering her courage and firming up her resolve, she entered the restaurant.
****
Khu Lon, Amazon matriarch and warrior, with centuries of experience and the keeper of secrets that common folk couldn't even imagine, was stirring ramen noodles in the kitchen of a small Chinese restaurant in Nerima Japan. A year ago she had come to this barbaric land on a fool's quest to claim her great granddaughter's unwilling husband. So much trouble over a mere male, was it worth it?
The boy was special no doubt about that. Her first taste of defeat in a century and it had been given to her by a boy child.
The boy was as arrogant has any Amazon warrior and with better reason. He learned new techniques with superhuman ease, what took seasoned warriors months the boy accomplished in days. Barely seventeen years old and the boy had faced and defeated opponents worthy of a matriarch. Prince Herb was a rare opponent, his dragon blood gave him a strength greater than her own. A worthy male if ever there was one. Yet son in law, who's strength was no where near Herb's had managed to defeat the Musk prince. True he had done it while in his superior female form, but it was still more than she could believe.
Jusenkyo had recognized the child's potential granting him the blessing the gods had denied, making him a woman.
Now he had defeated Saffron of the Phoenix. A true immortal, a creature of legend, defeated by a boy. Somehow son in law took his stubborn refusal to lose and turned it into victory after impossible victory.
To add such a bloodline to her own would ensure the ascendancy of her clan for a millennia, to add such a male could be the end of the tribe and Amazon culture. At the rate the boy learned in ten years he would be able to defeat the entire council of matriarchs, in twenty the entire tribe. How does a culture that places a warriors strength before all else, convince such a man to accept his place beneath weaker women?
She would live to see the council of elders, the matriarchy itself thrown down and replaced by a king. After three thousand years the proud Amazons would be subject to the will of a man and how could they fight against it. Their society was based on individual strength, how do you tell the strongest to bow? Even if they accepted Ranma's cursed form, how do you tell his sons to kneel before women half their measure? Even her great granddaughter had come to recognize the problem. Her pride wanted Ranma, the strongest male of many generations, her pride would refuse to bow before him. Her pride was already hurting from how much she had bent in pursuit of him.
Shampoo was fond of the boy, but if not for the kisses Khu Lon was sure her great granddaughter would be running for home.
She was surprised by the jingle of the bell on the front door followed by Mousse's "Good morning miss, welcome to the Neko-Hanten."
Her surprise turned to shock when she heard a familiar soprano respond back "Hello Mousse, I'm here to see the old ghoul."
It wasn't the female voice that surprised her, she had seen the snow outside and with the near constant rainfall the past two weeks it was not a good time to be one of the Jusenkyo cursed in Tokyo. No what surprised her was that she didn't sense anyone coming, much less son in law whom she should have felt a block away. Practicing his father's Umi-Sen-Ken he still couldn't hide his aura enough to get this close without her sensing him. Even now, knowing that he was in the next room she couldn't sense his familiar chi.
"Saotome, you defiler of women! How dare you come here to steal my Shampoo?!"
"I didn't come here for Shampoo you idiot! I'm here to see the ghoul!"
Khu Lon heard the familiar sound of rattling chains followed by the splintering of wood. Hoping to save her restaurant's furniture from being smashed she rushed to stop the combatants. Upon entering the dinning area she was surprised to see that instead of engaging in his usual taunts and aerial combat, Ranma Chan was using tables and chairs as obstacles against Mousse's chains.
"Stop Mousse, I will speak with son in law."
but Mousse, sensing the real possibility of beating an apparently weakened Ranma would not be dissuaded. Shampoo wouldn't know or he felt care how Ranma lost, just that Mousse had proven his worthiness to be her husband.
"I will free you my Shampoo!" free you to be my wife, Mousse couldn't help but gloat.
Ranma's spirit had chosen a bad moment to be at an all time low, Mousse was attacking her and all she had to defend herself with was raw muscle and skill. Against Mousse that meant she wasn't fast enough, strong enough or able to withstand enough damage. She was frustrated and nearly helpless, nearly. Thanks to battles with the likes of Herb and now Saffron, Ranma was used to being the weaker opponent, but she still won and not just with skill or special techniques. She won because she had a tactical mind and a good eye for finding her opponents weaknesses. She already knew Mousses' weakness, knew it personally. She also knew the Neko-Hanten thanks to the time she spent working there as a waitress and she knew that at the front counter by the register they kept a pitcher of ice water to refill the glasses of their patrons. Hospitality was everything in the restaurant business.
Keeping obstacles between her and Mousse she quickly made her way towards the register. She ducked just in time to avoid another hooked chain, instead it grabbed onto the register nearly dropping it on her head and spilling its contents all over the floor.
'Ooh, the old ghoul is going to be pissed' she thought with a smirk. This fight was doing a lot of damage to the interior of the restaurant, much more and they wouldn't be open for lunch today. She found it gratifying after all the damage the Amazons had done to the Tendo home.
Mousse was beyond caring, he was too caught up in the euphoria of seeing, barely, his previously unbeatable opponent scramble in fear from his attacks. What little his eyes allowed him to see his Amazon arrogance did not.
Ranma whipped a table cloth off of the nearest table and threw it into the air between them as an obvious distraction. It had to be obvious or else Mousse might not have seen it, but it was and he did.
Not being an inexperienced amateur Mousse jumped high and to his right, chains already lashing through the air to catch Ranma as she came leaping over her distraction to attack from above in the preferred Saotome style. He was caught totally by surprise when instead she came in low to the ground, moving around the same side of the table cloth as him, splashing him with the contents of the pitcher.
Thanks to her father Ranma understood well what Mousse did not. Mousse's greatest weakness wasn't his eyesight, but being so predictable. He was also very wet and very much a duck. A duck who was very vulnerable to the glass pitcher that then struck him, sending him flying out the door and into the street. Squawking obscenities Mousse made good his escape.
****
When Mousse ignored her command to stop, Khu Lon hesitated to follow up her words with action. He was not her first choice for her great granddaughter, but if Mousse succeeded in defeating Ranma without also beating Shampoo then her great granddaughter could declare Ranma an unfit husband, abandoning the chase to return to China, all the while refusing Mousse's claim until he beat her as well. She hesitated too long, Mousse always caused a lot of collateral damage blindly flailing around with his hidden weapons and with Ranma intentionally putting the furniture in his path the cost was climbing. Mousse's method of fighting was the reason she considered him a fool unworthy of her granddaughter. Like the communist leaders of China he believed that the way to deal with a threat was to blindly throw overwhelming force at it, unmindful of the destruction he caused. What good was it to defeat a threat to the village if in doing so you destroyed that same village yourself? Yes Mousse was handsome and he had power and skill, but then so did a tank and it at least did what it was told. Mousse would never be a leader in the tribe, he was fit only to be cannon fodder.
Unlike Mousse it didn't take her long to see what Ranma was about and she was reminded never to count Ranma out until, as the Americans stationed in China during the war with the Japanese said, 'you see the body'. Watching she could see that Ranma wasn't just hiding her chi, the way the girl moved it was clear that she wasn't using any to augment her muscles. Khu Lon couldn't even sense the chi inherent in all living things, to her senses the girl might as well be dead. Clearly she was not.
Khu Lon ignored the continuing fight to study the girl. Stretching her senses she tried to find the girl's chi but couldn't, she could just detect something but it wasn't chi.
When Mousse began his predictable dodge and attack combination she knew the fight was over. She watched as Ranma moved in with the cold pitcher and as the girl prepared to throw its contents, Khu Lon felt a brief surge of energy. Her jaw dropped, that wasn't chi she felt, it was in fact an energy she had only felt connected to a few holy places, never people. What she felt was the energy her people's histories called manna, the power of the divine. She had never met Saffron, to the Amazons he and his people were legend, but the histories claimed that his power and immortality came from the manna that was mixed in with his chi. Could Ranma have taken on some of his energy when the demi-god fell? If that was so where was Ranma's chi? Even Saffron had chi, only the kami were filled with pure manna. Only the kami, and now Ranma.
Khu Lon didn't even notice as Mousse flew away, she had eyes only for Ranma who was now turning to face her, face schooled to show no emotion but her eyes filled with a desperate need.
"I'm still a guy, right?" the girl asked, her voice breaking.
Instantly Khu Lon knew why the girl was here, what she wanted to hear and what she feared. Khu Lon didn't know what had happened or how, but this was her chance to find out so she locked the doors, hung out the closed sign and invited Ranma to join her in the back rooms.
****
Three hours passed will they were in the elder's private sanctum. Shampoo had returned and been directed to clean up Mousse's mess and man the phone. Of Mousse there hadn't been the sign of a single tail feather.
Khu Lon ran several tests, consulted many tomes, but in the end she still didn't understand what had happened to Ranma. At last she looked the girl in the eyes, seeing the fear there she felt sympathy for her, even some regret for the entertainment she had taken at the child's expense. She also felt fear of her own. This was clearly the work of the kami and history showed that when the kami took offense, entire nations could suffer and fall and the kami were not has forgiving as son in law.
She almost didn't have the strength to tell the poor girl what she found, but she was an elder of a strong people and did what she must.
"I'm sorry Ranma," the moment she referred to him by name instead of as son in law Ranma knew what she was going to say. "Jusenkyo curses bond to the living chi of the victim, but you have no chi and thus no curse. What you do have my people call manna, the power of the kami themselves, and the manna within you is clearly female." She placed a small withered hand on the girl's shoulder in a comforting manner. Now that she knew it was there she could feel the warmth of the girl's manna reflecting off of her own spirit. Basking in that warmth she found she couldn't feel sorrow for the girl. Smiling reassuringly, she continued; "The kami themselves have blessed you Ranma, they have given you a gift beyond the treasures of this world. You know that we consider women to be superior to men, but what you are now is even more than that, more even than Saffron. I don't understand what has happened child, but know that it is not a curse. You are blessed above all men."
Ranma could tell that Cologne was being sincere and believed every word she said, but Ranma didn't feel blessed. She felt like she had been stripped of everything and found no comfort in the old woman's words. Her eyes and voice dead, she bowed to Cologne. "Thank you for your efforts elder."
Then her motions stiff and mechanical she rose to her feet and left the Neko-Hanten, passing Shampoo in a daze.
Only Tofu's words gave her any comfort, 'Akane is alive when she should be dead. If this is the price for her life then I'll accept it without regret.' She repeated that like a mantra to herself, but she still felt regret. Akane was alive, but she would share that life with another, not Ranma. She had only one recourse, her path was now clear. Accepting her fate she felt the cold seep into her soul as the snow began to turn to ice.
Ranma returned to Tofu's clinic to use the phone. She called the Tendo home and asked Kasumi to gather everyone in the dojo at four o'clock. She then called Ukyou and asked her to come as well. When the Doc asked her what she learned from the priest and if she had gone to Cologne she nearly broken down into tears. Her voice choked with restrained sobs, she promised to tell him along with everyone else in the dojo at four. She then left to perform some final errands before the meeting. Tofu could tell she was suffering but she refused his attempts to offer comfort and left.
****
Mousse the duck had been waiting and watching on a rooftop across from the restaurant he called home, the place were the accursed Saotome had defeated him once again. This time his defeat cut deeper than ever before, this time he felt fear for what he may have lost. He watched as Ranma left and after she disappeared from sight, plus several minutes since his sight didn't extend all that far, he flapped down to the ground and using his bill he rapped on the door. He saw his beautiful Shampoo come to the door, she opened it and let him in.
"Foolish Mousse, why you no change back into human then open door yourself?" She had never seen the duck look so defeated as he did waddling past her into the kitchen.
Mousse knew Khu Lon did not consider him a good match and wished he would give up his pursuit of her granddaughter and return to China, but he was an Amazon under her care. As an elder she would help him, regardless of how she felt about him. He found her in the kitchen preparing for the dinner rush.
"So Mousse, why have you returned as a duck. Do you not realize you have much to make up for, wrecking the restaurant the way you did? Perhaps you seek to make amends by offering yourself as an entrée?"
She took a pot of hot water off of the stove, a little too hot, and poured it over the duck's head. The water splashed down over the duck, his feathers protected him from getting burned but he was now jumping around the kitchen squawking and still a duck.
Khu Lon froze when she realized that Mousse hadn't changed back. Had he become locked? Looking closer she could still sense the taint of Jusenkyo on his chi so he hadn't suffered the same fate as Ranma. Then she realized what must have happened.
"Oh my. I'm sorry Mu Tzu but it seems that your attack on so… on Ranma has offended the kami. We can only hope that she and they will forgive you."
The duck felt a moment of joy when the old ghoul corrected herself, calling Ranma by name instead of son in law. Remembering the dejected look she had leaving the restaurant he knew Ranma was no longer his rival for Shampoo, but the elder's words also filled him with fear. How had attacking Ranma offended the kami? The Ranma he saw leaving didn't look all that forgiving.