Shampoo limped into the Nekohanten, a downcast expression on her face. Reactions to this varied. Most of the patrons were concerned but accepting. This was Nerima after all. Mousse, wearing his glasses for once, immediately rushed to her intent on administering aid to his beloved before taking his vengeance on whomever dared to lay a hand on her.
"Shampoo! Are you ok my love? I shall avenge this slight on whoever dared.." WHAM
Shampoo put away the bonbori she had just flattened Mousse with. "Shampoo in no mood for foolishness, so stupid Mousse leave Shampoo alone yes?" It was clearly not a question.
"Gracious child, what happened to you?" Cologne was also concerned, though for different reasons than Mousse. Hopefully this wasn't anything to complicate the already tangled situation here. Her hopes were dashed with the first words out of her great-granddaughter's mouth.
"Airen throw Shampoo through window into wall. Also disable Shampoo's leg."
"What!?! Saotome did this? I'll kill him!" Mouse turned to rush from the Nekohanten, only to fall from a blow from Cologne's staff.
"Put up the closed sign before you go, Mr. Part Time. Now child, I want you to tell me EVERYTHING." Cologne led Shampoo into the back room.
"Shampoo go to visit airen, bringing him too too delicious meal. When Shampoo.."
"You can stop speaking Japanese for this, Shampoo."
"Thank you, Great Grandmother. When I arrived my husband was sleeping in his room, but my attention was caught by a young girl who was at the Tendo House with Nabiki. She called Nabiki her Aunt, and Nabiki confirmed that she was related to her. She was dressed like Ranma, and called herself Ranko. I assumed that she was emulating Ranma, much like some of the younger warriors do back home, and that she was the source for the name my husband takes when in his Jusenkyo form. I was attempting to make friends with her in order to get closer to my husband when I discovered something very important," Shampoo's manner changed slightly as she shifted into a more formal mode of address, "Elder, she was wearing one of the tribal treasures! She said her father had given it to her."
Cologne frowned, this was getting worse and worse, "Which one? I know that Happosai stole several of them and such a thing is to be expected.."
"That was the problem, Elder. It wasn't one of the ones Happosai stole. It was the Hand of Lakshmi!"
"Stay right here, Great-Granddaughter." Cologne quickly hopped away, returning moments later with an intricately carved box. "The Hand of Lakshmi is one of the artifacts I brought with me when we came back here. None of the wards on it have been broken." Cologne's hands made several passes over the box, disabling the traps that protected it. She opened it to reveal the Hand of Lakshmi.
"But I saw it around the neck of Ranko. I swear that it is the same necklace.
"It is possible that there could be another copy of the Hand in existence. But it is not this one, and that is all that matters." 'Thank the gods,' thought Cologne, relieved, 'because the last thing I want to do now is declare a blood feud with the Tendos.'
Shampoo, however, was devastated. She looked ready to burst into tears as she wailed, "Then I destroyed everything with my husband.. for nothing? You should just disown me now before I bring any more dishonor to our family, Great-Grandmother. I don't deserve to be an Amazon. I'm.."
"You're about to be paddled like a disobedient child if you keep that up. Now master yourself and finish telling me what happened. I'll be the one to decide if things are beyond redemption with my son-in-law." Cologne had a good idea where this was heading anyways.
Shampoo took a moment to collect herself, then resumed her tale, "When I saw the Hand, I asked Ranko to hand it over. She refused, saying that it was hers, a gift from her father. I attempted to take it from her, but she jumped on my head, pushing me to the floor, and vaulted towards the stairs. Of course, I immediately got up and would have caught her but Nabiki tripped me. I admit my judgment was clouded after being humiliated by a child and a non-warrior or I would have handled things differently after realizing that Ranko had run into Ranma's room. I'm not sure exactly what happened when I entered the room, just that my husband threw me through the window and I think he also hit several shiatsu points on my leg as well. Due to my leg not responding correctly I landed on the Tendo wall badly. That's when my husband asked me what I was trying to do to his daughter! I told him that Ranko had an Amazon treasure and that it was my duty to retrieve it. He told me that she didn't have anything of ours and threatened me if I tried to do anything to her. He also said the same thing applied to you and Mousse as well. I've never seen him look at me like that, Great-Grandmother. It was like he hated me. And it was all for nothing! I.. I need to go to my room and meditate."
"You do that child." Cologne watched until her great-granddaughter left the room, then snorted to herself. 'Meditate indeed. A good cry would do her good after all this. So my son-in-law has a daughter? And from what Shampoo said one that is old enough to have been born before this mess. That is quite probably the best news I have heard in a long time, if it is true. To bring young Ranma back to the village now would make things extremely delicate, especially if he was anything less than totally willing.' "Looks like there will be no rest for these old bones tonight."
Cologne returned the Hand of Lakshmi back to it's hiding place, ignoring the sobs coming from Shampoo's room when she passed by it. After that she finished closing down the restaurant and then left a note for Shampoo stating that she was going to the Tendo Dojo. Her thoughts briefly touched on Mousse and she hoped that the blind fool wouldn't meet up with Ranma tonight. As nice as it would be not to put up with him anymore, the last thing she needed was to have to inform Elder Lotion that her great-grandson was crippled or killed by the Saotome boy.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 14 Jul 2004 01:04)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.