Alex V Morgan
18th December 2002, 11:20 PM
Ranma Nibunnoichi : Reflections
By: A. V. Morgan (avmorgan27@attbi.com)
A continuation of the Two Ranmas manga story arc (V35 P1-4). Sexual
humor and innuendo, nudity and violence. Consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors
to whom she has given official rights. This work, in no way intends to
infringe upon those rights. The ideas explored are those of the author,
and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of
the creator or associated agencies.
BOLD Emphasis
~Italics~ Thought/Flashback
*SoundFX* ^_^;
[Sign] O.O [Arrrrgh! Panda's can't TALK!]
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Part Thirty-One: Certain Sacrifices
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>From the roof of the Tendo Dojo, Ranma watched the rising sun bring
the world back to life with crisp and vibrant color. She wanted to
lose herself in the beauty of the brilliant blue and white sky, the
gold tinting of reflected light that traced the edges of buildings,
accenting their subdued, neutral tones, and the occasional flash of
emerald plant life. She marveled at the sensitivity of her new eyes
to colors, which rivaled the enhanced sense of touch of her delicate
skin. It was hard not to rub her hands over herself, but she
resisted, reminding herself that it was the same sensuality that
betrayed her in her moment of awakening. She had the strength of
will to suppress those erotic memories, but the decision she had
spent most of the night struggling with had roused them repeatedly.
It was impossible to consider what she was obligated to do, to help
Ranko, without drifting into the pleasure such sacrifice entailed.
Ranma would have preferred outright torture. At least that would be
manly. If only she could be sure that she was not secretly grateful
for the excuse to continue doing what she had done with Ryouga, she
could be a man about it. It would be easier to sacrifice her manhood
to save Ranko if she hated what she had to do. It was just wrong
that the path to certain destruction should be so fun and exciting.
Still, the thing that bothered her most was that she was only afraid
of how her decision would impact the people around her. How it would
alter the way they thought of her. It hurt that her decision could
cost her parents their son, one way or the other. She was still
upset with herself over how her desire to be a man had caused her to
lash out at Ryouga. When she came out of the bath and went upstairs
to prepare for bed, they had passed in the hall, and he had refused
to even see her. Her father had nabbed her when Nodoka was
distracted and lectured her on her manly obligations, bringing up
the feelings she had inherited toward Akane. Even though they felt
as real and as strong as her feelings for Ryouga, she knew they were
not her true feelings. The sight of Akane supporting Ranko had made
it clear that there were no genuine feelings for her in Akane
either. That seemed to be true of Shampoo and Ukyo too. Why should
they feel anything for Ranma, when it had really been Ranko they had
gone through so much with?
Soun and Genma had never shown much consideration for the feelings
of their children, in their marriage pact. Ranma might have
obligations as far as Akane and Ukyo went, but fulfilling those
obligations could only hurt those girls the way she had already hurt
Ryouga. The one good thing that could come out of her sacrifice
would be a chance to make it up to him. If, in the course of saving
Ranko, she lost all desire to be a man, that would no longer stand
in the way of picking up where she and Ryouga had started. If he
could ever forgive her for how that night ended. It would be easy
enough to let Nodoka believe "Ranma" had died, since it would not be
too far from the truth. Genma would go along with it, since if the
truth came out he'd have to commit seppuku right next to his ruined
son.
Ranma sighed. She was kidding herself. If it wasn't for the
contract, she would not give any of this a second thought. She'd
sleep with a hundred men if that's what it took, now that she knew
it was far from terrible, and still be just as inclined to be a man.
She had no real desire to give her manhood up. The problem with the
contract was not even that she would have to die to preserve her
family honor. While not eager to die, there was no question she was
willing to lay down her life over a matter of honor. However stupid
the contract seemed, there might be a reason beyond sheer absurdity
for his mother to honor it. No, her concern about the contract was
that if it were upheld, it would take his entire family down. If one
thing became certain, after her talk with her mother, it was that
she was not going to let her parents die because of that contract.
If Ranma needed to die, she would take care of that in her own way,
even if that meant literally. Genma would have to make his own
amends, find his own way to restore his honor, but it ultimately
could not be his fault if Ranma failed to be a man-among-men at this
point.
Until she knew what it meant, in Nodoka's eyes, to be a man-among-
men, she would not allow the contract to dictate her decisions. That
left the question of what was the right thing for Ranma, as a
martial artist, to do. That made it simple. Ranko needed to recover
all of her ki to break the mirror's hold over her. Ranma knew how to
ensure that. If this changed her feelings about being a man, well,
it was not like that had not been a danger all along, because of the
curse. If she was enough of a man, afterwards, she would face
whatever obligations that demanded of her. Frowning in thought, she
noted that the obvious expectations concerned the future, but it
occurred to her that there might be matters in the past and present
she needed to address while she was man enough, in spirit, to take
care of them. Over the course of the night, she had plenty of time
to consider the deeds performed in her name by Ranko. Ranko could
not be held responsible, because there was no telling how much she
might have been influenced by Fa Shen's personality, or her own need
to discover herself as a person. Prior to the curse, Ranma had
always been obedient to his father. From the memories she now had,
the curse had created a person who lacked the trust and respect
Ranma owed in spite of all his father's faults.
Ranma could not resolve the problems created by the engagement, but
recognized that it would be dishonorable for her to fight Genma,
Soun and Akane as her surrogate had. The multiple engagements
created enough problems and conflict, and she would have to take
responsibility for that mess. Not a pleasant thing to look forward
to. Ryouga was another problem. Not just the emotional attachment,
Ranma had to do something about the whole P-chan situation with
Akane. By turning Ranma... Ranko's honor against her, Ryouga had
created a dishonorable situation for Ranko, Akane and himself. The
worst thing, however, was the way Genma forced Ranko to hide from
Nodoka. Nabiki had been right. The situation should have been
explained. Lying to her was unforgivable, and Ranma resented having
come into the middle of that deception and ending up contributing to
it. She shuddered at the thought of trying to fix that problem. In
retrospect, lying to her had been the correct thing to do, but
unless Nodoka could understand that, it was not safe to enlighten
her.
"Damn. I know it's not your fault, Ranko, but you sure made a mess
out of my life!" she growled.
"Oh, she had help, no question of that!" Cologne chuckled.
Ranma jumped straight up in shock. She had not heard the old woman
sneaking up on her. "Dammit! I hate when you do that!" she growled,
landing softly on her toes, braced for combat. Relaxing, she settled
back where she had been seated. "What do you want, old woman?"
After delivering the obligatory skull-crack with her staff, Cologne
perched on it in front of the girl. "I actually came up here to
enjoy the sunrise and warm my old bones, youngster. However, seeing
as you seem to be wrestling with things, I don't see any harm in
offering my counsel."
"You came all the way over here to 'warm your bones'?" Ranma
challenged skeptically.
"I see you have been distracted quite a bit longer than I expected,
child. In case you had not noticed, Kasumi deemed it too late, when
we concluded our meeting last night, for people to return to their
homes. As Happi never returned from the clinic, I availed myself of
the use of his room, with Shampoo and Mousse. Ukyo shared Akane's
room and Ryouga slept in the dojo," Cologne informed.
Ranma sighed, smirking. "Great. The gang's still all here." She
stretched and ran her fingers through her hair, noticing she had
forgotten to braid it before going to sleep. Ironically, braiding
her hair into the characteristic pig-tail was something that was
after her time. Ranma had usually just tied his long hair back in a
pony-tail. Producing a string, she proceeded to do just that, asking
Cologne to fill her in on the meeting, since she had been with
Nodoka while it was going on.
Cologne covered the highlights.
"You're kidding!? Mousse challenged Ranko to a marriage duel, and
Ryouga...?" she could not finish past the sudden stab to her heart.
Cologne saw her cringe and clutch her chest in pain and shrewdly
overlooked it. "That is correct. The boy wishes to challenge
Shampoo's claim, no doubt to position himself to challenge Shampoo
directly, before the council can rule on Ranko's eligibility."
"So Shampoo isn't going to be after me?"
"I am not sure that anyone is after you at the moment, but no,
Shampoo has no claim to you. You would need to regain your manhood
and defeat her in combat to regain her interest."
"Like I'd wanna do that!" Ranma scowled.
"Oh? Perhaps someone else has caught your fancy? A certain wandering
young man, perhaps?" Cologne prodded.
Ranma jerked. Looking away she shook her head, "Echoes of someone
else. Besides, I don't think he'd be interested anymore." Ranma
tried to change the subject, "Say, if the Kiss of Marriage is not
gonna shift to me, what about the other one?"
"The Kiss of Death? No, that one has already been dissolved. If
Ranko chooses to remain entirely female, the Kiss of Marriage will
be dissolved too, though that is no protection from Mousse. With no
option of claiming Shampoo as his bride, he certainly would take
marriage to Ranko more seriously."
"That's a status thing?"
Cologne nodded.
"Well," Ranma sighed, "first he'd have to be able to defeat her. I'm
kinda tempted to go kick his head in for thinkin' he can use her
like that to get to Shampoo!"
"I would not recommend that. On the off chance you slipped and
knocked yourself out, it could be you who had to marry him," Cologne
laughed.
Ranma slowly turned to meet her eye and stared hard. "What!?"
Cologne grinned, "You and Ranko have several things in common at the
moment, starting with being permanently female and legitimate
reincarnations of Fa Shen. Those two things are enough to make you
both recognizable as amazon warriors."
Ranma burst to her feet in dismay. "You mean I have to marry any
jerk who can beat me up!? What does that mean if I go back to being
a guy!?"
"Well, that would come as a shock to the tribe. It is quite unusual
for a reincarnated warrior to remain male, if that is how they were
reborn, after being reunited with the tribe. However, when it
happens, the 'man' is regarded as an honorary woman. It usually is
necessary for 'her' to accept and use the female form given by the
nyanniichaun, though 'she' is allowed to take wives instead of
husbands," Cologne snickered.
"So, because of Fa Shen, I'm always gonna have to be a girl?"
"If you did not always reject it out of hand, you might just find
you could enjoy it, child," Cologne finally laughed out loud. She
stopped at the odd look on Ranma's face as she shouted her response.
"That's the problem! Are you forgetting that stupid contract!?"
Cologne sighed and composed herself. "In point of fact, I have not.
However, as you have put it, 'stupid' is an appropriate description.
I would also assert that stupidity is one of honor's greatest
adversaries. I fail to see the honor in a contract intended to
diminish the potential and capacity of one's own offspring."
"Heh. You mean, you wish I was a girl. An amazon girl."
"You are," Cologne stated, turning to excuse herself.
Ranma scowled and sulked as she left. As much as she did not
appreciate having any more encouragement to abandon her manhood, it
was a small relief to think she had some options if she ended up
losing it. Scrubbing her face with her hands, she tried to dismiss
the things Cologne had given her to think about. Unfortunately, she
was not allowed to, as Mousse came over the peak of the roof.
"She has no idea how true that is," the blind boy announced,
striding purposefully toward the red-head and squatting down to meet
her eyes. With a knowing grin, he continued, before she could speak.
"I had a little talk with Ryouga, last night. Your lover needs to
learn not to think out loud."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she instantly denied.
Mousse adjusted his glasses and noticed how pale she suddenly was.
"There's no reason to deny it, Saotome. Personally, the only thing
that shocked me was learning that you were a virgin until last
night. From the way you two carried on, I thought you had indulged
yourselves many times already."
"You might wanna give your last words more thought, Mousse," she
grated dangerously. Behind her anger was an overwhelming outrage
that Ryouga had been so careless! However, she held on tight and
tried to discourage Mousse. "It's pretty stupid to mistake someone's
fantasies for reality. Of course, you never could tell the
difference yourself, so I'll just have to remind you!" She rose to
her feet and prepared to cut loose.
"Relax, Saotome," Mousse backed away and stared off the edge of the
roof. "All Ryouga actually let slip was that sex had to be the
source of the ki that you gave Ranko, since that was the only new
thing you both did last night. If I did not depend so much on my
ears to get by, I would never have heard what he was muttering to
himself. I doubt anyone else could have. However," he turned back to
the girl, "what really interests me is what he admitted to when I
asked him what he was talking about. All he said was that you
figured out how to heal her. Since he will not talk to you--it seems
you broke his heart--he asked me to speak to you on his behalf and
urge you to heal her."
Ranma dropped bonelessly to her rear. "I am screwed," she moaned.
"You WERE screwed, if you want to be accurate about your tenses,"
Mousse grinned, pacing forward to stare down at her. "I do believe I
know what you meant, however. It would probably be bad if your
mother learned of this, so I will promise you now, as long as you
agree to hear me out and give me an honest reply, that I will never
even hint about what I have or will learn about your sexual
exploits. Is that reasonable?" Mousse asked pointedly.
Ranma sucked in a deep breath and then nodded cautiously. Mousse
sighed and moved to sit down next to her. Ranma studied his face and
noticed he seemed ashamed of himself. "What do you want, Mousse?"
"I must ask two things of you, Ranma. Since you've been told about
my challenge to Ranko, I want to make sure you understand my
intentions first," he announced, before repeating the conversation
he had with Fa Shen the other night. He then confirmed what happened
when he delivered his challenge to Ranko. "It goes without saying,
Ryouga is not happy with me, but even knowing she has to fight me as
soon as she is able, he told me to tell you this. 'Heal Ranko. Take
Ranko's advice and get Fa Shen to help you.' He said you need a guy
to help you--which is obvious when you know what he's talking about-
-but that he can't be that guy. Since this is also my first request,
I strongly urge you to speak to Fa Shen at once."
"What's your second request?"
"Well, it's the same one I made of Fa Shen. I need your help to
train so that I can defeat Ranko," he admitted.
"I don't need you to tell me to do the first, and you should know I
would not help you like that against Ranko. I can't do that to her,"
Ranma bit her lip.
"So. I guess I should go tell everyone the good news about you and
Ryouga then," Mousse threatened.
"Fine. Then start running, I'll catch up to you when I've taken care
of things here," Ranma replied woodenly, fighting to remain still.
Mousse sighed. "I'm not going to tell. I never planned to. Damn you,
Saotome. I need your help. Weren't you listening? I am only
interested in another shot at Shampoo!"
"You just tried to blackmail me. I'm supposed to trust what you
say!?"
Mousse sagged and looked away. "Like you would have helped if I just
asked for it!" he accused disdainfully.
"You never tried asking."
"Fine. I am asking!" he huffed.
Ranma shrugged and climbed to her feet. She walked to the edge of
the roof and turned before responding. "You're asking the wrong
person. If Ranko says I can help you, then I will." She jumped down
and began racing to the clinic to see Fa Shen. The best she could do
for Ranko right now was to help her recover quickly, so Mousse had
as little time as possible to train for their challenge. Because of
her short stature, she was already at a serious disadvantage
fighting Mousse, as their first combat had proven. Only with ki
attacks at her disposal could she win against him now.
-------------------------
In spite of feeling weaker than she could ever remember feeling,
Ranko had not been very tired. Part of that stemmed from the hours
she had been in a trance, through which her body had apparently
slept. So, despite the late hour when she had finally gone to bed,
she had awakened well before sunrise and listened to Ranma toss and
turn listlessly in the futon beside her. Because of Nodoka's
presence, and general fatigue, she had not started a conversation
with her obviously insomniac twin. She regretted that when the other
girl threw aside her covers and slipped out the window. Something
weighed very heavily on Ranma's conscience, Ranko concluded, and
wished she had the strength to climb out after her to find out what
it was. As the sun came up and gently lit the room, Ranko grew more
and more restless, worrying about Ranma, until she finally had to
get up. That was a painful process, since even with her ki boosted
by what Ranma had poured into her, she was still operating on the
dregs of her spirit. Grateful to have her balance and coordination
at least, she strained and panted to crawl out of bed and drag her
body over to the door. By the time she reached it, the sound of her
struggles woke up Nodoka, who was instantly at her side.
"Ranko! You should not be exerting yourself!" she cried softly.
Ranko chuckled and continued to fight to her feet, using the door
frame for support. Nodoka lent her strength, but pulled her back
into an embrace. "Shhh. Just relax and tell me where you're in such
a hurry to go?" the woman crooned.
"The bathroom, for starters," the girl winced, suddenly noticing the
pressure on her bladder. That got Nodoka moving. She slipped one of
Ranko's arms over her shoulder, put one of her own around the girl's
waist and carefully walked her to the upstairs bathroom, next door
to the guest room. The small room offered only a sink, toilet and
mirror, but that was all that was needed. Ranko blushed, but
accepted the woman's help removing her pants and positioning herself
on the toilet.
"I hate not being able to take care of myself," she complained as
her mother cleaned her up, moments later.
"There is no need to be ashamed of taking help when you need it,"
Nodoka soothed, sensing the girl's embarrassment. She stood the girl
up, bracing her with a shoulder to pull her panties back up, but
left the pants off at her insistence.
"It's that much less for me to struggle against to move," Ranko
pointed out, as they reentered the hall. "Do you mind helping me
downstairs? I'd like to get a bath in before everyone wakes up,
since I'm moving so slow."
"I don't think you are in any condition to bathe yourself, young
lady. I will take you down stairs however. I am sure Kasumi won't
mind helping you when she comes down for her bath," Nodoka proposed.
The girl shrugged, just grateful to be out of her room. Before her
thoughts could wander, Nodoka surprised her by asking, "Seeing the
price you've paid, was this attempt at a cure worth it?"
"I- excuse me?" Ranko was stunned. She suddenly remembered what
Nabiki told her, about the confrontation with Kuno. "Oh. I suppose
it was. If I had not blundered into it, Ranma would never have been
able to get free," she observed thoughtfully.
"Are you saying the cure was a success?" Nodoka brightened.
Ranko shook her head sadly. "Not a complete success. There are some
problems that have to be taken care of before Ranma will be able to
get back to normal," she hedged carefully. It was ironic that, now,
Ranma had to be cursed to fix the side effects of the "cure" for
Ranko's curse.
Nodoka concentrated on steering them both down the stairs, not
speaking until they reached the main floor. "Can you explain why one
of you has to die to overcome this curse?" Nodoka begged. Ranko
stared at her and asked her to explain exactly what "Ranneko" had
said to give her that idea. Nodoka hesitated, deciding to take the
girl into the Tea Room and sit her at the table before repeating the
conversation she had with Ranma in the bath the night before. While
she was talking, Cologne entered and sat herself on the edge of the
table to listen. When Nodoka completed her recitation, she turned to
the old woman. "I don't believe we've been introduced. I am Nodoka
Saotome."
"Ah, yes. Ranma's mother. It is a great pleasure to meet you Nodoka.
I am Cologne, Matriarch of the Jokezoku," she smiled and held out
her hand. Nodoka took her hand in friendship and smiled at the old
woman in surprise.
"You're kidding!? You can't mean the fabled tribe of Chinese
Amazons!?" Nodoka laughed in amusement. Cologne's eyes widened,
surprised that the woman recognized the name, but simply nodded
firmly. "You're not kidding." Nodoka blinked off her surprise. "I am
so sorry. I did not mean to offend. My father used to tell me
stories about the Jokezoku. I thought they were just fairy tales!
Imagine that! And here you are, the real thing!"
Cologne's eyes narrowed slightly with interest. "I don't suppose you
could tell me about these stories of his? I'd be most interested to
learn what legends of our people have traveled so far."
"Oh, I haven't heard any since I was a little girl," Nodoka waved it
off. "I doubt I can remember more than how he used to tease me about
my mother. She died when I was born, you see, so all I know about
her were the stories he told me, and of course he tried to make her
sound very exotic." Nodoka sighed. With a laugh, she went on to
explain, "I used to be very self conscious of my hair color, you
see. When I was a girl, my hair was as red as Ranko's here. My
father would try to comfort me by saying that, where my mother came
from, hair like mine was quite normal compared to the other women in
her 'tribe'!"
Cologne smirked. "Well, if he was talking about the Jokezoku, he
certainly was not wrong about that! You should see my Great-
Granddaughter!"
Nodoka thought back. "Would she be the girl with the purple-hair I
saw coming out of the guest room when Ranneko and I went to bed?"
"That would be the one. However, I can't say that your father's
stories could be true. I've been around quite some time and I don't
recall losing one of our girls to a foreigner, who could possibly be
your mother," Cologne noted skeptically. Her own suspicions,
however, as she studied the woman, suggested that Nodoka's mother
might well have been a victim of the nyanniichaun. One who bore the
stamp of Fa Shen. Knowing she could not mention this to Nodoka, she
probed in another direction, "I don't suppose I could meet your
father? I think I might enjoy learning how he became acquainted with
our tribe."
"I am sorry to say, he died about a month or so ago. I was hoping to
learn from him if little Ranko here, and now her sister, might be
related to me or my mother," Nodoka replied, with a tinge of
resurfaced grief.
"I am sorry to hear that," Cologne sighed. Death was Mystery's
greatest ally, the ruthless protector of her secrets. She allowed
herself a smile, however, imagining the woman's reaction to
discovering Ranko's true relation to her. Then, remembering the
contract, shuddered. The conversation drifted into talk of the
amazon tribe, and an edited version of how they became acquainted
with Ranma. Kasumi arrived and the conversation paused long enough
for her to agree to help Ranko bathe. After they exited, Nodoka
continued to ask her questions and found herself intrigued by the
different views of the amazons, especially as they pertained to the
status of women. Cologne was just revealing that Ranko and "Ranneko"
were considered amazons through reincarnation, when Akane stumbled
down stairs and approached.
Seeing the girl wished to talk to her, Cologne interrupted herself
and turned to her. "Good morning, Akane. Is there something I can do
for you?"
"Good morning. Actually, I just wanted to know if you wanted this
back?" Akane reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out the
bottle of water Cologne had tossed her, after pouring most of its
contents on Ranko to lock her curse. She carefully handed it over to
the ancient amazon.
Cologne stretched out her hand gratefully, "Yes, indeed. Thank you,
Akane." She was about to return the bottle to the pocket where its
sister resided when she noticed something odd. Peering closely, she
noticed that one corner of the label was peeling off. She almost
dismissed it when she noticed that there seemed to be another label
underneath it. A frigid jolt sparked down her spine, as she
carefully peeled the top layer off and looked at what was underneath
it. With shaking hands, she pulled out the other bottle and stared
at the label. The two were identical. Without hesitation, she sprung
to her feet and raced to the bathroom, praying it was not too late.
Akane was instantly worried by the woman's actions. Having peered
over Cologne's shoulder, she had seen the discovery of the other
label, and the comparison. Remembering the explanation from the
previous night, she gasped in terror and raced after the diminutive
woman. When she saw Cologne burst through the doors of the washroom
and furo, she knew the worst was inevitable. Cologne was shouting as
she entered.
"Ranko! Stay away from hot water!"
"Cologne!?" Kasumi's startled voice came out.
"What's wrong!" rang Ranko's panicked cry, followed by the sound of
water splashing and naked flesh hitting the tiles.
Akane pushed past Cologne, who had frozen in shock on entering the
bathroom, and looked down at Ranko. She was panting, laying sprawled
on the bathroom floor, with wisps of steam rising from her wet skin.
Only terror inspired by Cologne's shout had given her the strength
to thrust herself out of the bath, but the effort left her too
exhausted to resist gravity as it crushed her to the ground.
"This is impossible!" Cologne gasped.
"Ranko? Are you okay!?" Akane was instantly beside the girl, pulling
her up into her lap as she knelt on the hard tiles.
"I can barely move," the red head responded, close to
hyperventilating. She flopped as Akane wrestled her around so she
could sit back against her body. With her head aimed roughly in
Cologne's direction, she fought to lift her chin and look at the old
woman. "What's going on?" she gasped.
"You were in the bath?" Cologne demanded.
Kasumi nodded, "We've been in here for several minutes. I didn't
want her to catch cold, so I washed her as quickly as I could and
brought her in to soak with me."
It was obvious the girl had not changed. Cologne sagged, holding a
hand over her heart. "Thank the heavens. It was a false alarm!
Please forgive the intrusion, girls. Ranko, you can go back in and
finish your bath."
"What happened? Why were you so scared?"
Cologne held out the bottles and the loose label. "I thought I used
the wrong water to lock her curse. If I had, though, she would
already have evaporated," she took a deep breath and allowed herself
a nervous laugh. "I must have reused an antidote bottle for the
chisuiiton water."
Cologne and Akane returned to the Tea Room and resumed their seats.
Faced with Nodoka's alarm, Cologne simply stated her fear of having
used the wrong medicine to help Ranko. Nodoka took the used bottle
and examined it as she listened to the explanation.
Frowning, Nodoka looked up. "It looks like ordinary water. What is
it supposed to do?"
"For you or me, that is ordinary water. It wouldn't do a thing. But
for someone cursed like Ranko, it was the only thing that saved her
life," Cologne explained. Seeing Nodoka's skeptical look she waved
her hand. "Go ahead. Drink it if you're curious. It won't do
anything to you. But, believe me, if I had been wrong about this,
Ranko would already be a memory." Cologne sagged. She was getting
too old for such excitement.
Nodoka opened the bottle and paused. "So, it's just been blessed or
something?" Cologne nodded, and put the other bottle away. Nodoka
shrugged and took a sip. "Wow," she shivered. She had felt a shock
go through her body as she sipped. It had felt rather pleasant,
actually. With a grin, she tipped the vessel up. "It really does
have something special," she commented, before taking a long swallow
and emptying the bottle.
Akane, still staring at Cologne, was the only one to notice the
elder jerk in alarm at Nodoka's words. Before she could speak,
however, the empty bottle thumped onto the table. Akane watched as
Cologne paled, before turning to look at Nodoka, half afraid of what
she might see. With a sigh, Akane saw Nodoka grinning to herself as
she circled the mouth of the bottle with a finger. Then she gasped.
"A- Auntie N-No-Nodoka!"
Nodoka looked up, confused. "What's wrong, Akane?"
"Y- your h-h-hair!" Akane pointed in disbelief.
Nodoka frowned and reached up to feel her hair. Her immediate dread,
that the water had perhaps caused her hair to fall out was dismissed
at once as she felt her thick, long hair still tied securely in a
bun at the back of her head. Still, the girl and the old woman were
looking completely flabbergasted, so she pulled at the knot securing
it in a bun and let her hair unravel, so she could pull it forward
and look at it--now expecting it to have turned white or something.
"I suppose I should have known better than to drink magical water.
How irresponsible of you, Cologne," she chided, preparing herself
for a shock. She was not prepared to see the brilliant, scarlet hue
that had returned to her hair. "Good heavens! My color is back!"
Cologne and Akane turned to each other. Nodoka sprung to her feet
and danced out of the room in obvious delight as she celebrated this
magical transformation.
"Can you explain what just happened?" Akane croaked.
"Merciful Goddess. There is only one explanation," she reached out
for the bottle and pulled it carefully to her chest. At that moment,
Mousse walked through the room and asked if anyone had seen Ranko.
Cologne stared at him, then the bottle, and finally back up at him.
She threw the bottle at him, held up the label in her hand and
demanded. "Mousse! Do you know what this is? Or, more importantly,
how it came to be mislabeled!?" she barked commandingly.
Mousse caught the bottle easily and looked at it. He recognized the
label at once. A second glance, leaning in close to read the label
in her hand, and he suddenly froze in terror. "You used this on
Ranko!?" The old woman nodded, and Mousse pulled a similar bottle
out of his pocket. "Quick! Where is she!?"
Cologne rose to her feet and glared at him, conveying the
grief of a ruler as she announced, "Ranko has taken a hot bath."
Mousse let out an anguished cry and crumpled to the ground.
"No! I didn't mean...! I was just..." he choked and turned to face
Cologne. "You have to understand! I was just trying to protect
myself! I didn't want you to lock me in my cursed form!"
"You are an idiot, Mousse! Do you have any idea what you have
done!?"
"I meant her no harm! I... I was ready to marry her!"
"Do not lie to me, child! You meant to use her!"
"But..." Akane tried to interrupt.
"Silence. Akane, he needs to learn the error of his ways."
"But..."
"Shhhh!" Cologne winked at her. Akane choked down her protest and
stared at Mousse. The matriarch glared down at him, where he was
prostrating himself before her, and demanded, "Mousse. Knowing what
you have done to Ranko, I ask you. What are your intentions?"
Mousse squawked and looked up in confusion. "Intentions!?"
"Consider the situation and how it effects my Great-Granddaughter."
Mousse swallowed hard. If he had just killed Ranko... He shook his
head violently and tears began to stream down his face. "No! No! It
was an accident. I will not claim... I will not use this to enslave
Shampoo!"
Cologne stared him down. Mousse bowed his head. "I am pleased to
hear this, Mousse," she stated gently. The blind boy jerked up to a
kneeling position and stared at her in abject confusion.
"What?"
"Though you scheme and manipulate like the lowest sort of criminal,
you are true to your nature as a master of hidden weapons. It is all
bluff and bluster. Sleight of hand. Isn't it?" Mousse gawked at her,
wordlessly. "Why would you ignore the chance to claim Shampoo?"
"It is not worth Ranko's life. It is not worth Shampoo's death."
"Well," Cologne sighed, "I suppose it is a good thing Ranko is not
dead, then. Isn't it?" She smiled as Mousse jumped to his feet, and
then keeled over in shock. She glanced over at Akane and chuckled.
"However, because of your stupidity, instead of locking her curse,
you have caused me to cure it," she delivered the final blow. It
staggered Akane as much as Mousse.
"Whaaaat!!?" she howled in disbelief. "How can that be!?"
------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Part Thirty-One
------------------------------------------------------------------
By: A. V. Morgan (avmorgan27@attbi.com)
A continuation of the Two Ranmas manga story arc (V35 P1-4). Sexual
humor and innuendo, nudity and violence. Consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors
to whom she has given official rights. This work, in no way intends to
infringe upon those rights. The ideas explored are those of the author,
and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of
the creator or associated agencies.
BOLD Emphasis
~Italics~ Thought/Flashback
*SoundFX* ^_^;
[Sign] O.O [Arrrrgh! Panda's can't TALK!]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Thirty-One: Certain Sacrifices
------------------------------------------------------------------
>From the roof of the Tendo Dojo, Ranma watched the rising sun bring
the world back to life with crisp and vibrant color. She wanted to
lose herself in the beauty of the brilliant blue and white sky, the
gold tinting of reflected light that traced the edges of buildings,
accenting their subdued, neutral tones, and the occasional flash of
emerald plant life. She marveled at the sensitivity of her new eyes
to colors, which rivaled the enhanced sense of touch of her delicate
skin. It was hard not to rub her hands over herself, but she
resisted, reminding herself that it was the same sensuality that
betrayed her in her moment of awakening. She had the strength of
will to suppress those erotic memories, but the decision she had
spent most of the night struggling with had roused them repeatedly.
It was impossible to consider what she was obligated to do, to help
Ranko, without drifting into the pleasure such sacrifice entailed.
Ranma would have preferred outright torture. At least that would be
manly. If only she could be sure that she was not secretly grateful
for the excuse to continue doing what she had done with Ryouga, she
could be a man about it. It would be easier to sacrifice her manhood
to save Ranko if she hated what she had to do. It was just wrong
that the path to certain destruction should be so fun and exciting.
Still, the thing that bothered her most was that she was only afraid
of how her decision would impact the people around her. How it would
alter the way they thought of her. It hurt that her decision could
cost her parents their son, one way or the other. She was still
upset with herself over how her desire to be a man had caused her to
lash out at Ryouga. When she came out of the bath and went upstairs
to prepare for bed, they had passed in the hall, and he had refused
to even see her. Her father had nabbed her when Nodoka was
distracted and lectured her on her manly obligations, bringing up
the feelings she had inherited toward Akane. Even though they felt
as real and as strong as her feelings for Ryouga, she knew they were
not her true feelings. The sight of Akane supporting Ranko had made
it clear that there were no genuine feelings for her in Akane
either. That seemed to be true of Shampoo and Ukyo too. Why should
they feel anything for Ranma, when it had really been Ranko they had
gone through so much with?
Soun and Genma had never shown much consideration for the feelings
of their children, in their marriage pact. Ranma might have
obligations as far as Akane and Ukyo went, but fulfilling those
obligations could only hurt those girls the way she had already hurt
Ryouga. The one good thing that could come out of her sacrifice
would be a chance to make it up to him. If, in the course of saving
Ranko, she lost all desire to be a man, that would no longer stand
in the way of picking up where she and Ryouga had started. If he
could ever forgive her for how that night ended. It would be easy
enough to let Nodoka believe "Ranma" had died, since it would not be
too far from the truth. Genma would go along with it, since if the
truth came out he'd have to commit seppuku right next to his ruined
son.
Ranma sighed. She was kidding herself. If it wasn't for the
contract, she would not give any of this a second thought. She'd
sleep with a hundred men if that's what it took, now that she knew
it was far from terrible, and still be just as inclined to be a man.
She had no real desire to give her manhood up. The problem with the
contract was not even that she would have to die to preserve her
family honor. While not eager to die, there was no question she was
willing to lay down her life over a matter of honor. However stupid
the contract seemed, there might be a reason beyond sheer absurdity
for his mother to honor it. No, her concern about the contract was
that if it were upheld, it would take his entire family down. If one
thing became certain, after her talk with her mother, it was that
she was not going to let her parents die because of that contract.
If Ranma needed to die, she would take care of that in her own way,
even if that meant literally. Genma would have to make his own
amends, find his own way to restore his honor, but it ultimately
could not be his fault if Ranma failed to be a man-among-men at this
point.
Until she knew what it meant, in Nodoka's eyes, to be a man-among-
men, she would not allow the contract to dictate her decisions. That
left the question of what was the right thing for Ranma, as a
martial artist, to do. That made it simple. Ranko needed to recover
all of her ki to break the mirror's hold over her. Ranma knew how to
ensure that. If this changed her feelings about being a man, well,
it was not like that had not been a danger all along, because of the
curse. If she was enough of a man, afterwards, she would face
whatever obligations that demanded of her. Frowning in thought, she
noted that the obvious expectations concerned the future, but it
occurred to her that there might be matters in the past and present
she needed to address while she was man enough, in spirit, to take
care of them. Over the course of the night, she had plenty of time
to consider the deeds performed in her name by Ranko. Ranko could
not be held responsible, because there was no telling how much she
might have been influenced by Fa Shen's personality, or her own need
to discover herself as a person. Prior to the curse, Ranma had
always been obedient to his father. From the memories she now had,
the curse had created a person who lacked the trust and respect
Ranma owed in spite of all his father's faults.
Ranma could not resolve the problems created by the engagement, but
recognized that it would be dishonorable for her to fight Genma,
Soun and Akane as her surrogate had. The multiple engagements
created enough problems and conflict, and she would have to take
responsibility for that mess. Not a pleasant thing to look forward
to. Ryouga was another problem. Not just the emotional attachment,
Ranma had to do something about the whole P-chan situation with
Akane. By turning Ranma... Ranko's honor against her, Ryouga had
created a dishonorable situation for Ranko, Akane and himself. The
worst thing, however, was the way Genma forced Ranko to hide from
Nodoka. Nabiki had been right. The situation should have been
explained. Lying to her was unforgivable, and Ranma resented having
come into the middle of that deception and ending up contributing to
it. She shuddered at the thought of trying to fix that problem. In
retrospect, lying to her had been the correct thing to do, but
unless Nodoka could understand that, it was not safe to enlighten
her.
"Damn. I know it's not your fault, Ranko, but you sure made a mess
out of my life!" she growled.
"Oh, she had help, no question of that!" Cologne chuckled.
Ranma jumped straight up in shock. She had not heard the old woman
sneaking up on her. "Dammit! I hate when you do that!" she growled,
landing softly on her toes, braced for combat. Relaxing, she settled
back where she had been seated. "What do you want, old woman?"
After delivering the obligatory skull-crack with her staff, Cologne
perched on it in front of the girl. "I actually came up here to
enjoy the sunrise and warm my old bones, youngster. However, seeing
as you seem to be wrestling with things, I don't see any harm in
offering my counsel."
"You came all the way over here to 'warm your bones'?" Ranma
challenged skeptically.
"I see you have been distracted quite a bit longer than I expected,
child. In case you had not noticed, Kasumi deemed it too late, when
we concluded our meeting last night, for people to return to their
homes. As Happi never returned from the clinic, I availed myself of
the use of his room, with Shampoo and Mousse. Ukyo shared Akane's
room and Ryouga slept in the dojo," Cologne informed.
Ranma sighed, smirking. "Great. The gang's still all here." She
stretched and ran her fingers through her hair, noticing she had
forgotten to braid it before going to sleep. Ironically, braiding
her hair into the characteristic pig-tail was something that was
after her time. Ranma had usually just tied his long hair back in a
pony-tail. Producing a string, she proceeded to do just that, asking
Cologne to fill her in on the meeting, since she had been with
Nodoka while it was going on.
Cologne covered the highlights.
"You're kidding!? Mousse challenged Ranko to a marriage duel, and
Ryouga...?" she could not finish past the sudden stab to her heart.
Cologne saw her cringe and clutch her chest in pain and shrewdly
overlooked it. "That is correct. The boy wishes to challenge
Shampoo's claim, no doubt to position himself to challenge Shampoo
directly, before the council can rule on Ranko's eligibility."
"So Shampoo isn't going to be after me?"
"I am not sure that anyone is after you at the moment, but no,
Shampoo has no claim to you. You would need to regain your manhood
and defeat her in combat to regain her interest."
"Like I'd wanna do that!" Ranma scowled.
"Oh? Perhaps someone else has caught your fancy? A certain wandering
young man, perhaps?" Cologne prodded.
Ranma jerked. Looking away she shook her head, "Echoes of someone
else. Besides, I don't think he'd be interested anymore." Ranma
tried to change the subject, "Say, if the Kiss of Marriage is not
gonna shift to me, what about the other one?"
"The Kiss of Death? No, that one has already been dissolved. If
Ranko chooses to remain entirely female, the Kiss of Marriage will
be dissolved too, though that is no protection from Mousse. With no
option of claiming Shampoo as his bride, he certainly would take
marriage to Ranko more seriously."
"That's a status thing?"
Cologne nodded.
"Well," Ranma sighed, "first he'd have to be able to defeat her. I'm
kinda tempted to go kick his head in for thinkin' he can use her
like that to get to Shampoo!"
"I would not recommend that. On the off chance you slipped and
knocked yourself out, it could be you who had to marry him," Cologne
laughed.
Ranma slowly turned to meet her eye and stared hard. "What!?"
Cologne grinned, "You and Ranko have several things in common at the
moment, starting with being permanently female and legitimate
reincarnations of Fa Shen. Those two things are enough to make you
both recognizable as amazon warriors."
Ranma burst to her feet in dismay. "You mean I have to marry any
jerk who can beat me up!? What does that mean if I go back to being
a guy!?"
"Well, that would come as a shock to the tribe. It is quite unusual
for a reincarnated warrior to remain male, if that is how they were
reborn, after being reunited with the tribe. However, when it
happens, the 'man' is regarded as an honorary woman. It usually is
necessary for 'her' to accept and use the female form given by the
nyanniichaun, though 'she' is allowed to take wives instead of
husbands," Cologne snickered.
"So, because of Fa Shen, I'm always gonna have to be a girl?"
"If you did not always reject it out of hand, you might just find
you could enjoy it, child," Cologne finally laughed out loud. She
stopped at the odd look on Ranma's face as she shouted her response.
"That's the problem! Are you forgetting that stupid contract!?"
Cologne sighed and composed herself. "In point of fact, I have not.
However, as you have put it, 'stupid' is an appropriate description.
I would also assert that stupidity is one of honor's greatest
adversaries. I fail to see the honor in a contract intended to
diminish the potential and capacity of one's own offspring."
"Heh. You mean, you wish I was a girl. An amazon girl."
"You are," Cologne stated, turning to excuse herself.
Ranma scowled and sulked as she left. As much as she did not
appreciate having any more encouragement to abandon her manhood, it
was a small relief to think she had some options if she ended up
losing it. Scrubbing her face with her hands, she tried to dismiss
the things Cologne had given her to think about. Unfortunately, she
was not allowed to, as Mousse came over the peak of the roof.
"She has no idea how true that is," the blind boy announced,
striding purposefully toward the red-head and squatting down to meet
her eyes. With a knowing grin, he continued, before she could speak.
"I had a little talk with Ryouga, last night. Your lover needs to
learn not to think out loud."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she instantly denied.
Mousse adjusted his glasses and noticed how pale she suddenly was.
"There's no reason to deny it, Saotome. Personally, the only thing
that shocked me was learning that you were a virgin until last
night. From the way you two carried on, I thought you had indulged
yourselves many times already."
"You might wanna give your last words more thought, Mousse," she
grated dangerously. Behind her anger was an overwhelming outrage
that Ryouga had been so careless! However, she held on tight and
tried to discourage Mousse. "It's pretty stupid to mistake someone's
fantasies for reality. Of course, you never could tell the
difference yourself, so I'll just have to remind you!" She rose to
her feet and prepared to cut loose.
"Relax, Saotome," Mousse backed away and stared off the edge of the
roof. "All Ryouga actually let slip was that sex had to be the
source of the ki that you gave Ranko, since that was the only new
thing you both did last night. If I did not depend so much on my
ears to get by, I would never have heard what he was muttering to
himself. I doubt anyone else could have. However," he turned back to
the girl, "what really interests me is what he admitted to when I
asked him what he was talking about. All he said was that you
figured out how to heal her. Since he will not talk to you--it seems
you broke his heart--he asked me to speak to you on his behalf and
urge you to heal her."
Ranma dropped bonelessly to her rear. "I am screwed," she moaned.
"You WERE screwed, if you want to be accurate about your tenses,"
Mousse grinned, pacing forward to stare down at her. "I do believe I
know what you meant, however. It would probably be bad if your
mother learned of this, so I will promise you now, as long as you
agree to hear me out and give me an honest reply, that I will never
even hint about what I have or will learn about your sexual
exploits. Is that reasonable?" Mousse asked pointedly.
Ranma sucked in a deep breath and then nodded cautiously. Mousse
sighed and moved to sit down next to her. Ranma studied his face and
noticed he seemed ashamed of himself. "What do you want, Mousse?"
"I must ask two things of you, Ranma. Since you've been told about
my challenge to Ranko, I want to make sure you understand my
intentions first," he announced, before repeating the conversation
he had with Fa Shen the other night. He then confirmed what happened
when he delivered his challenge to Ranko. "It goes without saying,
Ryouga is not happy with me, but even knowing she has to fight me as
soon as she is able, he told me to tell you this. 'Heal Ranko. Take
Ranko's advice and get Fa Shen to help you.' He said you need a guy
to help you--which is obvious when you know what he's talking about-
-but that he can't be that guy. Since this is also my first request,
I strongly urge you to speak to Fa Shen at once."
"What's your second request?"
"Well, it's the same one I made of Fa Shen. I need your help to
train so that I can defeat Ranko," he admitted.
"I don't need you to tell me to do the first, and you should know I
would not help you like that against Ranko. I can't do that to her,"
Ranma bit her lip.
"So. I guess I should go tell everyone the good news about you and
Ryouga then," Mousse threatened.
"Fine. Then start running, I'll catch up to you when I've taken care
of things here," Ranma replied woodenly, fighting to remain still.
Mousse sighed. "I'm not going to tell. I never planned to. Damn you,
Saotome. I need your help. Weren't you listening? I am only
interested in another shot at Shampoo!"
"You just tried to blackmail me. I'm supposed to trust what you
say!?"
Mousse sagged and looked away. "Like you would have helped if I just
asked for it!" he accused disdainfully.
"You never tried asking."
"Fine. I am asking!" he huffed.
Ranma shrugged and climbed to her feet. She walked to the edge of
the roof and turned before responding. "You're asking the wrong
person. If Ranko says I can help you, then I will." She jumped down
and began racing to the clinic to see Fa Shen. The best she could do
for Ranko right now was to help her recover quickly, so Mousse had
as little time as possible to train for their challenge. Because of
her short stature, she was already at a serious disadvantage
fighting Mousse, as their first combat had proven. Only with ki
attacks at her disposal could she win against him now.
-------------------------
In spite of feeling weaker than she could ever remember feeling,
Ranko had not been very tired. Part of that stemmed from the hours
she had been in a trance, through which her body had apparently
slept. So, despite the late hour when she had finally gone to bed,
she had awakened well before sunrise and listened to Ranma toss and
turn listlessly in the futon beside her. Because of Nodoka's
presence, and general fatigue, she had not started a conversation
with her obviously insomniac twin. She regretted that when the other
girl threw aside her covers and slipped out the window. Something
weighed very heavily on Ranma's conscience, Ranko concluded, and
wished she had the strength to climb out after her to find out what
it was. As the sun came up and gently lit the room, Ranko grew more
and more restless, worrying about Ranma, until she finally had to
get up. That was a painful process, since even with her ki boosted
by what Ranma had poured into her, she was still operating on the
dregs of her spirit. Grateful to have her balance and coordination
at least, she strained and panted to crawl out of bed and drag her
body over to the door. By the time she reached it, the sound of her
struggles woke up Nodoka, who was instantly at her side.
"Ranko! You should not be exerting yourself!" she cried softly.
Ranko chuckled and continued to fight to her feet, using the door
frame for support. Nodoka lent her strength, but pulled her back
into an embrace. "Shhh. Just relax and tell me where you're in such
a hurry to go?" the woman crooned.
"The bathroom, for starters," the girl winced, suddenly noticing the
pressure on her bladder. That got Nodoka moving. She slipped one of
Ranko's arms over her shoulder, put one of her own around the girl's
waist and carefully walked her to the upstairs bathroom, next door
to the guest room. The small room offered only a sink, toilet and
mirror, but that was all that was needed. Ranko blushed, but
accepted the woman's help removing her pants and positioning herself
on the toilet.
"I hate not being able to take care of myself," she complained as
her mother cleaned her up, moments later.
"There is no need to be ashamed of taking help when you need it,"
Nodoka soothed, sensing the girl's embarrassment. She stood the girl
up, bracing her with a shoulder to pull her panties back up, but
left the pants off at her insistence.
"It's that much less for me to struggle against to move," Ranko
pointed out, as they reentered the hall. "Do you mind helping me
downstairs? I'd like to get a bath in before everyone wakes up,
since I'm moving so slow."
"I don't think you are in any condition to bathe yourself, young
lady. I will take you down stairs however. I am sure Kasumi won't
mind helping you when she comes down for her bath," Nodoka proposed.
The girl shrugged, just grateful to be out of her room. Before her
thoughts could wander, Nodoka surprised her by asking, "Seeing the
price you've paid, was this attempt at a cure worth it?"
"I- excuse me?" Ranko was stunned. She suddenly remembered what
Nabiki told her, about the confrontation with Kuno. "Oh. I suppose
it was. If I had not blundered into it, Ranma would never have been
able to get free," she observed thoughtfully.
"Are you saying the cure was a success?" Nodoka brightened.
Ranko shook her head sadly. "Not a complete success. There are some
problems that have to be taken care of before Ranma will be able to
get back to normal," she hedged carefully. It was ironic that, now,
Ranma had to be cursed to fix the side effects of the "cure" for
Ranko's curse.
Nodoka concentrated on steering them both down the stairs, not
speaking until they reached the main floor. "Can you explain why one
of you has to die to overcome this curse?" Nodoka begged. Ranko
stared at her and asked her to explain exactly what "Ranneko" had
said to give her that idea. Nodoka hesitated, deciding to take the
girl into the Tea Room and sit her at the table before repeating the
conversation she had with Ranma in the bath the night before. While
she was talking, Cologne entered and sat herself on the edge of the
table to listen. When Nodoka completed her recitation, she turned to
the old woman. "I don't believe we've been introduced. I am Nodoka
Saotome."
"Ah, yes. Ranma's mother. It is a great pleasure to meet you Nodoka.
I am Cologne, Matriarch of the Jokezoku," she smiled and held out
her hand. Nodoka took her hand in friendship and smiled at the old
woman in surprise.
"You're kidding!? You can't mean the fabled tribe of Chinese
Amazons!?" Nodoka laughed in amusement. Cologne's eyes widened,
surprised that the woman recognized the name, but simply nodded
firmly. "You're not kidding." Nodoka blinked off her surprise. "I am
so sorry. I did not mean to offend. My father used to tell me
stories about the Jokezoku. I thought they were just fairy tales!
Imagine that! And here you are, the real thing!"
Cologne's eyes narrowed slightly with interest. "I don't suppose you
could tell me about these stories of his? I'd be most interested to
learn what legends of our people have traveled so far."
"Oh, I haven't heard any since I was a little girl," Nodoka waved it
off. "I doubt I can remember more than how he used to tease me about
my mother. She died when I was born, you see, so all I know about
her were the stories he told me, and of course he tried to make her
sound very exotic." Nodoka sighed. With a laugh, she went on to
explain, "I used to be very self conscious of my hair color, you
see. When I was a girl, my hair was as red as Ranko's here. My
father would try to comfort me by saying that, where my mother came
from, hair like mine was quite normal compared to the other women in
her 'tribe'!"
Cologne smirked. "Well, if he was talking about the Jokezoku, he
certainly was not wrong about that! You should see my Great-
Granddaughter!"
Nodoka thought back. "Would she be the girl with the purple-hair I
saw coming out of the guest room when Ranneko and I went to bed?"
"That would be the one. However, I can't say that your father's
stories could be true. I've been around quite some time and I don't
recall losing one of our girls to a foreigner, who could possibly be
your mother," Cologne noted skeptically. Her own suspicions,
however, as she studied the woman, suggested that Nodoka's mother
might well have been a victim of the nyanniichaun. One who bore the
stamp of Fa Shen. Knowing she could not mention this to Nodoka, she
probed in another direction, "I don't suppose I could meet your
father? I think I might enjoy learning how he became acquainted with
our tribe."
"I am sorry to say, he died about a month or so ago. I was hoping to
learn from him if little Ranko here, and now her sister, might be
related to me or my mother," Nodoka replied, with a tinge of
resurfaced grief.
"I am sorry to hear that," Cologne sighed. Death was Mystery's
greatest ally, the ruthless protector of her secrets. She allowed
herself a smile, however, imagining the woman's reaction to
discovering Ranko's true relation to her. Then, remembering the
contract, shuddered. The conversation drifted into talk of the
amazon tribe, and an edited version of how they became acquainted
with Ranma. Kasumi arrived and the conversation paused long enough
for her to agree to help Ranko bathe. After they exited, Nodoka
continued to ask her questions and found herself intrigued by the
different views of the amazons, especially as they pertained to the
status of women. Cologne was just revealing that Ranko and "Ranneko"
were considered amazons through reincarnation, when Akane stumbled
down stairs and approached.
Seeing the girl wished to talk to her, Cologne interrupted herself
and turned to her. "Good morning, Akane. Is there something I can do
for you?"
"Good morning. Actually, I just wanted to know if you wanted this
back?" Akane reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out the
bottle of water Cologne had tossed her, after pouring most of its
contents on Ranko to lock her curse. She carefully handed it over to
the ancient amazon.
Cologne stretched out her hand gratefully, "Yes, indeed. Thank you,
Akane." She was about to return the bottle to the pocket where its
sister resided when she noticed something odd. Peering closely, she
noticed that one corner of the label was peeling off. She almost
dismissed it when she noticed that there seemed to be another label
underneath it. A frigid jolt sparked down her spine, as she
carefully peeled the top layer off and looked at what was underneath
it. With shaking hands, she pulled out the other bottle and stared
at the label. The two were identical. Without hesitation, she sprung
to her feet and raced to the bathroom, praying it was not too late.
Akane was instantly worried by the woman's actions. Having peered
over Cologne's shoulder, she had seen the discovery of the other
label, and the comparison. Remembering the explanation from the
previous night, she gasped in terror and raced after the diminutive
woman. When she saw Cologne burst through the doors of the washroom
and furo, she knew the worst was inevitable. Cologne was shouting as
she entered.
"Ranko! Stay away from hot water!"
"Cologne!?" Kasumi's startled voice came out.
"What's wrong!" rang Ranko's panicked cry, followed by the sound of
water splashing and naked flesh hitting the tiles.
Akane pushed past Cologne, who had frozen in shock on entering the
bathroom, and looked down at Ranko. She was panting, laying sprawled
on the bathroom floor, with wisps of steam rising from her wet skin.
Only terror inspired by Cologne's shout had given her the strength
to thrust herself out of the bath, but the effort left her too
exhausted to resist gravity as it crushed her to the ground.
"This is impossible!" Cologne gasped.
"Ranko? Are you okay!?" Akane was instantly beside the girl, pulling
her up into her lap as she knelt on the hard tiles.
"I can barely move," the red head responded, close to
hyperventilating. She flopped as Akane wrestled her around so she
could sit back against her body. With her head aimed roughly in
Cologne's direction, she fought to lift her chin and look at the old
woman. "What's going on?" she gasped.
"You were in the bath?" Cologne demanded.
Kasumi nodded, "We've been in here for several minutes. I didn't
want her to catch cold, so I washed her as quickly as I could and
brought her in to soak with me."
It was obvious the girl had not changed. Cologne sagged, holding a
hand over her heart. "Thank the heavens. It was a false alarm!
Please forgive the intrusion, girls. Ranko, you can go back in and
finish your bath."
"What happened? Why were you so scared?"
Cologne held out the bottles and the loose label. "I thought I used
the wrong water to lock her curse. If I had, though, she would
already have evaporated," she took a deep breath and allowed herself
a nervous laugh. "I must have reused an antidote bottle for the
chisuiiton water."
Cologne and Akane returned to the Tea Room and resumed their seats.
Faced with Nodoka's alarm, Cologne simply stated her fear of having
used the wrong medicine to help Ranko. Nodoka took the used bottle
and examined it as she listened to the explanation.
Frowning, Nodoka looked up. "It looks like ordinary water. What is
it supposed to do?"
"For you or me, that is ordinary water. It wouldn't do a thing. But
for someone cursed like Ranko, it was the only thing that saved her
life," Cologne explained. Seeing Nodoka's skeptical look she waved
her hand. "Go ahead. Drink it if you're curious. It won't do
anything to you. But, believe me, if I had been wrong about this,
Ranko would already be a memory." Cologne sagged. She was getting
too old for such excitement.
Nodoka opened the bottle and paused. "So, it's just been blessed or
something?" Cologne nodded, and put the other bottle away. Nodoka
shrugged and took a sip. "Wow," she shivered. She had felt a shock
go through her body as she sipped. It had felt rather pleasant,
actually. With a grin, she tipped the vessel up. "It really does
have something special," she commented, before taking a long swallow
and emptying the bottle.
Akane, still staring at Cologne, was the only one to notice the
elder jerk in alarm at Nodoka's words. Before she could speak,
however, the empty bottle thumped onto the table. Akane watched as
Cologne paled, before turning to look at Nodoka, half afraid of what
she might see. With a sigh, Akane saw Nodoka grinning to herself as
she circled the mouth of the bottle with a finger. Then she gasped.
"A- Auntie N-No-Nodoka!"
Nodoka looked up, confused. "What's wrong, Akane?"
"Y- your h-h-hair!" Akane pointed in disbelief.
Nodoka frowned and reached up to feel her hair. Her immediate dread,
that the water had perhaps caused her hair to fall out was dismissed
at once as she felt her thick, long hair still tied securely in a
bun at the back of her head. Still, the girl and the old woman were
looking completely flabbergasted, so she pulled at the knot securing
it in a bun and let her hair unravel, so she could pull it forward
and look at it--now expecting it to have turned white or something.
"I suppose I should have known better than to drink magical water.
How irresponsible of you, Cologne," she chided, preparing herself
for a shock. She was not prepared to see the brilliant, scarlet hue
that had returned to her hair. "Good heavens! My color is back!"
Cologne and Akane turned to each other. Nodoka sprung to her feet
and danced out of the room in obvious delight as she celebrated this
magical transformation.
"Can you explain what just happened?" Akane croaked.
"Merciful Goddess. There is only one explanation," she reached out
for the bottle and pulled it carefully to her chest. At that moment,
Mousse walked through the room and asked if anyone had seen Ranko.
Cologne stared at him, then the bottle, and finally back up at him.
She threw the bottle at him, held up the label in her hand and
demanded. "Mousse! Do you know what this is? Or, more importantly,
how it came to be mislabeled!?" she barked commandingly.
Mousse caught the bottle easily and looked at it. He recognized the
label at once. A second glance, leaning in close to read the label
in her hand, and he suddenly froze in terror. "You used this on
Ranko!?" The old woman nodded, and Mousse pulled a similar bottle
out of his pocket. "Quick! Where is she!?"
Cologne rose to her feet and glared at him, conveying the
grief of a ruler as she announced, "Ranko has taken a hot bath."
Mousse let out an anguished cry and crumpled to the ground.
"No! I didn't mean...! I was just..." he choked and turned to face
Cologne. "You have to understand! I was just trying to protect
myself! I didn't want you to lock me in my cursed form!"
"You are an idiot, Mousse! Do you have any idea what you have
done!?"
"I meant her no harm! I... I was ready to marry her!"
"Do not lie to me, child! You meant to use her!"
"But..." Akane tried to interrupt.
"Silence. Akane, he needs to learn the error of his ways."
"But..."
"Shhhh!" Cologne winked at her. Akane choked down her protest and
stared at Mousse. The matriarch glared down at him, where he was
prostrating himself before her, and demanded, "Mousse. Knowing what
you have done to Ranko, I ask you. What are your intentions?"
Mousse squawked and looked up in confusion. "Intentions!?"
"Consider the situation and how it effects my Great-Granddaughter."
Mousse swallowed hard. If he had just killed Ranko... He shook his
head violently and tears began to stream down his face. "No! No! It
was an accident. I will not claim... I will not use this to enslave
Shampoo!"
Cologne stared him down. Mousse bowed his head. "I am pleased to
hear this, Mousse," she stated gently. The blind boy jerked up to a
kneeling position and stared at her in abject confusion.
"What?"
"Though you scheme and manipulate like the lowest sort of criminal,
you are true to your nature as a master of hidden weapons. It is all
bluff and bluster. Sleight of hand. Isn't it?" Mousse gawked at her,
wordlessly. "Why would you ignore the chance to claim Shampoo?"
"It is not worth Ranko's life. It is not worth Shampoo's death."
"Well," Cologne sighed, "I suppose it is a good thing Ranko is not
dead, then. Isn't it?" She smiled as Mousse jumped to his feet, and
then keeled over in shock. She glanced over at Akane and chuckled.
"However, because of your stupidity, instead of locking her curse,
you have caused me to cure it," she delivered the final blow. It
staggered Akane as much as Mousse.
"Whaaaat!!?" she howled in disbelief. "How can that be!?"
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End of Part Thirty-One
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