"How am Ah s'pposed ta clean mahself?" she asked rhetorically.
As if in answer, the entire bath exploded before her in a wide, dense cluster of individual gouts of hot water. From each emerged a beautiful, nubile young woman wearing nothing but a smile. "GOSHUUJIN-SAMA!!!" came a cacophony of devoted cries, with the triplets out in front in three-part harmony.
"GYAH!" yelped Ukyou, throwing her pail up and over her shoulder out of reflex. She stared at the gathered expanse of naked women in front of her, arms and legs bowed in startlement and fear. The tossed pail of bath toys made a clattering sound as it spilled its contents across the floor deep in one corner of the bathroom.
The gathered wall of naked maids blinked at her, then looked disappointed as a unit. "Awwww, it's only a latecomer." "False alarm, girls..." "Thanks for the letdown, Jane Come-Lately!" "Feh, typical..." Similar murmurings of discontent followed as the maids milled about and ignored Ukyou.
They... they don't recognize me! thought Ukyou, relief restarting her brain, It's possible. Mah old classmates always say Ah look quite different with mah hair free, as opposed ta in a ponytail. Lucky!
"You're late!" said a curt voice. Ukyou snapped out of her daze of relief. One of the triplets, Ukyou couldn't tell which, crossed her arms across her substantial chest and glared at disapproving her. The other two had their hands on their hips with similar disapproving looks on their faces, as they nodded with agreement.
"Ah'm... er, I'm sorry! Please forgive me for being late!" appologized Ukyou, shifting to a higher register 'girl voice' and dropping her usual Kansai accent in favor of a Tokyo accent (by convention rendered as Standard American English), not to mention switching to feminine speech forms—that is to say, switching to the vocabulary and syntax girls are supposed to use to espress themselves. "Just let me gather up my bath things and—"
"No time! We have to hide ourselves before Ukyou-sama comes," came the triplet's buresque reply as she approached what she believed to be another maid of the household. "Just hope he doesn't notice it in the corner like that."
"Yes, ma'am!" squeaked Ukyou as contritely as possible. She padded up to edge of the bath and stopped in.
"Wait a second," the triplet said suddenly as Ukyou passed her. Ukyou froze obediently, remembering that (for the moment) she was merely a maid here. The triplet stepped up to Ukyou and lightly sniffed at her skin. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You reek! Didn't you bathe before coming here?"
Ukyou choked. "But... I thought we were all going to get clean he—" she began.
"IMBECILE! This is the place where the master washes his own body, not for filthy maids to wash theirs!" growled the triplet, vein popping on her forehead and a killing look in her eyes.
"Ah'm... I'm sorry!!!" stammered Ukyou, almost losing her accent, now truly intimidated. "I'll go back to the servants' bath!"
"No, there's no time. The master will be here any minute," growled the maid in annoyance. "Junko, Mariko... take this girl to the rear of the bath and make her presentable. Everyone else, back to your places!"
A brown-haired beauty and a petite girl with long black hair took Ukyou back behind the statue. Everyone else followed suit, hiding discretely behind the statue where they would be hidden upon first entry. Meanwhile, Ukyou was taken to the very back to the bath, well behind the central statue, where Junko and Mariko proceeded to quickly and efficiently (and quietly) bathe her, and Ukyou didn't protest. Within minutes, she was well enough clean for the bath.
"There, we're done!" whispered Junko, the brown-haired beauty.
"I'm sorry to be such a bother," whispered Ukyou back, bowing politely.
"Tee hee! Don't worry. You're a newbie; it's to be expected. You'll learn the ropes soon enough," consoled Mariko, the petite girl with black hair. "Now, all who's left is Ukyou-sama himself!" she giggled as the two maids returned to the main group.
Ah think you'll have a long time ta wait, missy... thought Ukyou privately as she joined the group.
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(Posted Mon, 30 Aug 2004 21:22)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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