Watermelon Girl

by Chaos Orchid ← Ron Dow75

20.1 Mother Issues

Nabiki was thrown off her gaming. She didn't expect this from Kasumi. Nobody did! She, above everybody else, knew Big Sister was capable of ingenuity. But using it directly had been against her nature before! What had changed was most probably the kami in the omamori on the lanyard. It nested in her bosom, near her heart. Could it be listening to Kasumi's heart-mind, kokoro, and quickening the beat to ideas she would be otherwise be cautious with?

"It's not movin'," Ranma said, looking down at the baby-like doll Nabiki was (too?) casually holding in her arm.

Ukyō snarked, "She killed it."

Akane was still spooked, "You can't kill a poltergeist!"

"Oh, my," Kasumi sighed, disappointed. "Ranma, please hand Baby to Akane. Support everything like a real baby."

Reluctantly, Ranma did. A sour look came to her when it moved once more. S/he hurried around the far end of the table.

There, Akane held up her hands, not out.

Ukyō, "I'll take it!"

Hearing her rival, Akane reached out for the too baby-like doll.

FUMBLE! Baby fell centimeters to the floor: Onto its head! "No! I knew I'd hurt it! I can't be trusted!" she cried in misery.

Ukyō, "Idiot! It's not about you!"

Kasume, "She's correct. This is about Baby."

Ranma crouched down for it. But the sour look was back on her face. S/he looked at Akane, "Pick it up!"

Akane wanted somebody to understand her warning. She heard no understanding.

She looked down. "It, it's not moving. It's like its dead." If it were a baby, she would have killed it!

With a glint in her eye, Ukyō leaned towards her, "If it's dead, then it's going to haunt you like a ghost."

"It's a tsukumogami: a lifeless thing that comes to life."

Nabiki, "It didn't move when I had it, Little Sis. I ignored everything but what it is: just a doll."

"It doesn't look like any doll I've seen. It, it looks so…real."

Kasumi, "No other dolls look as realistic. It's a Reborn Doll. Only, according to the letter that came with Baby, it will not be reborn but born for the first time. From a kami-filled doll to a real person.

"Or that is the challenge."

Ranma flinched at his* trigger word. Fighting with her sourness, s/he picked up the doll.

Akane snatched it away from her!

After a awkward moment of adjusting, she was holding it up against her, the head resting on her shoulder. She no longer had to see its uncanny-valley eyes, half alive and half not.

As it moved against her, she put her hand up to control it. And ended up patting it. As if it were a baby that needed burping.

Ranma stood up, grateful that the responsibility was out of her hands. For now.

For now(!)

S/he was still a martial artist, on the look out for trouble, "We're contaminatin' it, aren't we? That's what that letter said, didn't it(?) Not havin' been born before, it's not gonna have karma. But it is gonna carry the emotion ki energy that gets rubbed off on it, right?"

Kasumi, "It appears that way. We should know when priestess Sakura arrives."

Ranma frowned deeply, "Sakura! She's the one who stuck me – us – with the 'mamori kami."

"…"

Her frown disappeared! "Kami! The doll is a tsukumogami! It's filled with too much kami! A minor god amount! If there's somebody who knows about them, it's a Shintō priestess!"

"Maybe she'll exorcize the tsukumogami!" Akane finished Ranma' thought. The thought made her feel less tense with what she was holding

Ranma was even more relaxed. S/he helped it by putting her hands against the back of her head, "I'll give the so-called expert the chance to do somethin' about the ki energy. If she can't, I'll handle the ki energy myself. Ki does power our special attacks."

Kasumi, "Kami are not made of ki energy."

"Okay, okay. But ki is what contaminates it, right? Ki carries our emotions. The kami in our 'mamori are only followin' the emotions put into them from the original Reservoir.

"Maybe." Ranma put her hand on her shirt, over where her omamori was beneath.

Ukyō, "Don't be a jackass! Wait until this priestess comes. You could make the little god angry!"

Kasumi, "Oh, my, yes! It's my understanding that kami are without form, incorporeal, but kami infusing a form can gather more spiritual substance and power if provoked. That is the reason there are tsukumogami."

The sour face came back. But Ranma decided to give it up! "Here!" s/he said, taking the doll sort of gently from Akane. S/he then placed it on the table and scooted it towards Kasumi. "Take care of it, Kasumi."

"Ranma! Your inka seal is on the 'birth certificate': It needs to bond with you!"

"Later. Maybe. I can't contaminate the doll if I ignore it."

"That's not TRUE!" cried out Ukyō! She brought the baby to her and held it to her body, rocking with it, patting and petting it as she weeped. "I know about being ignored! Nobody there for me! All alone in a crowd!"

"Uk–Ucchan?"

"U…Ukyō…." Akane reacted.

"Ma,mama. –My mama died when I was six. Then my papa, no: only my father…. I was disowned. That all –everything– happened on the day that…" She looked up at the red haired girl. She left it unsaid, only turning to the life-like baby doll to find comfort.

Akane moved closer. "My mom passed away at the same time. The same year." She looked at the girl who at that moment wasn't a rival. She reached out her hand…. But she didn't touch the the tsukumogami, the doll. Baby. Ukyō needed it more than she did. She, at least, had family.

"I'm not ready!" Ranma cried out to anybody who could hear her. And s/he fled.

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"Mom." Ranma didn't even know if his mom had died or not. He* could become a mom himself* before s/he did find out. If ever. The thought was literally shaking her, threatening her with a nervous breakdown.

Unless s/he forced his* rotten, fucking(!) old man to finally tell him* the truth!

How? He* had fought him every day of his* and even her life, still(!) the idiot had kept being his jerk, stubborn self!

S/he now had the Blast of the White Tiger!

But would it just into yet another escalation without a resolution?

S/he dropped from a roof to the street below. Where had s/he wandered off to?

20.2 High Tea

"Airen!"

What? Ranma's attention was drawn momentarily away from her thoughts without answers. Shampoo?

She and her bike came down a centimeter from her. Her smile became a question, "Ranma tremble. Why? Airen know Shampoo only land on male-type Ranma."

"It's not about that!" her male pride spoke up.

"Ranma sick? Great-grandmother know too-too many remedy! Better than doctor!"

"I'm only sick about–" S/he stopped herself. S/he wasn't going to let Cologne know s/he was knocked up! The old ghoul would try to use it as a way for her to marry Shampoo. Would scheme to make her and the kid tribe members. S/he turned away.

Only to be glomped onto. "Shampoo have grandmother treat free meal to airen!"

Food! It was always tempting to Ranma. But it wasn't enough to risk facing a leader of the Tribe of Women Heroes, Joketsuzoku. Cologne, even above Happosai, was his* most skilled opponent. If she ever chose to be serious….

Skilled.

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"Irasshaimase!" Cologne greeted from behind the window that separated the kitchen from the customer's seating. "Ah! Son-in-law! I see my delivery girl has delivered you here! Are you here to mooch a meal or are you merely looking for hot water?"

Ranma looked around. There were five customers there. And s/he didn't know where Mousse was. S/he cautiously, carefully said, "I'm here for a deal. But I won't accept a price that's too high."

"Oh? I'm intrigued. You wouldn't ask for something from me or anybody else without a troubling reason.

"Granddaughter, tend to the customers. And see that Mousse remains in the kitchen." Hearing its name, the hidden (and tied up) duck quacked. "Okay, okay. If you promise to remain and assist in the kitchen, I'll let you have some hot water.

"Shampoo(?)"

"Shampoo have cold water ready when Duckboy bad, Grandmother!"

[] [] []

Ranma was invited into the apartment upstairs. Cologne, "I understand that in Japan, the host can ask the guest if they would like a hot bath."

Ranma tensed, wondering if the mistress of aura reading suspected her secret. "The deal is more important."

They were soon sitting on living room cushions. Ranma turned down the offer of hot tea, until s/he realized the Cologne would be having some. For some strange reason, she was using a tea set Ranma wasn't familiar with. But s/he saw it had the tea cups rested on small plates called saucers. S/he could use them to shield herself from the hot tea water. "Scone and clotted cream?" the wizen woman offered.

"What?"

Her cackle was a chuckle, "It's High Tea Time, as the British would have it. I find their tea and traditional finger foods exotic."

Once Ranma saw her opponent eat, s/he had some of the snacks, too. S/he enjoyed them. Cologne waited for her to make the first move.

Finally, s/he couldn't put it off any longer, "I want some information. Not from you."

The Elder lifted an eyebrow, "Or from Shampoo or Mousse or any I have authority over, I take it. Is it something from my or my tribe's vast store of knowledge?"

Ranma shook her head.

"This is a contract. You wish me to retrieve some piece of knowledge you believe you cannot retrieve on your own(?) What is to be the method: Trickery? Theft? Assault?"

"Yes: Assault. Assault!"

Cologne was startled! It took her a moment to be calculating again. "I thought Saotome Ranma fought his own battles."

"I've fought too many battles with this opponent," her hands became fists at the memories, "...and've never really won."

"And they are the one you have fought the longest with(?) All of your life(?)"

Ranma nodded.

"May I ask what you seek from Genma?"

S/he turned away. Would telling her lead her to discovering his* secret? His* shame.

"No? Then I will not attack Genma for you.

"I will, though, give you techniques that he hasn't experienced even under the reign of the nefarious Happosai. It will attack him where he is most vulnerable. And, believe me, if there is any who know how to bring down a male…," she eyed the pigtailed girl, "...they are women heroes."

Ranma shuddered. At least it interfered with her impending nervous breakdown. S/he was almost grateful as it helped counteract it. The price would be paid later. Later.

[] [] []

Cologne told Ranma the price would be paid only if s/he did get the information s/he was after. And what was the price? "On your word of honor, you must pledge yourself to be available to spy for the Joketsuzoku. To preserve your honor, we will not ask you to betray your Japanese heritage or loyalty. It will be an even swap: Information for information."

Of course Ranma didn't like it!

…But despite everything Shampoo's great-grandmother had done to him*, s/he still respected her as somebody who was honorable. Honor meant the same for her as him*. Their only real conflict was where their honors were pledged to.

At his* time –this crisis in her personal life(!)– s/he was almost – almost – willing to sacrifice her citizenship, her claim to being Japanese. S/he would if her country and her culture had betrayed the one thing, the one somebody who was now raised to be the most important thing in her life!

His* mom. He* had to at last know! HAD to!

Had he* been abandoned by her!(?) Left to be constantly manipulated by his* old man! Since a child: For ten long years! Why!? He didn't–S/he didn't know what a mother was really like because of that! How could she have allowed that! Was it genetic? Would s/he turn out like her!? Not really caring about the child s/he was supposed to be carrying!? S/he HAD to know! S/he needed resolution!

Maybe s/he could come to love her kid. But how much of a struggle it would be?

How much of a challenge(?)!

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NOTES to Section 20.1:

According to my story, "Son to Daughter: Yggdrasil", Ukyō's mom was killed the same day Genma stole her dowry, her father's okonomiyaki vending cart. Her father basically disowned her as he would never be able to have a son by her mother. That was when Ukyō vowed to be a 'son'.

NOTESto Section 20.2:

Again, the Watermelon Island story arc covered chapters 191-193, S6E14. In Canon, Ranma doesn't meet his* mom until chapters 225-229, S7E24-25.