First Akane had gotten sick, and then Kasumi and Nabiki had gotten sick.
There had been a brief attempt by the pair of Genma and Soun to fix dinner. Followed by a brief attempt by the pair to put out the fire. Followed by the Nerima Fire Department and a call to several diners in the area trying to find someone whose delivery girl hadn't unexpectedly gotten sick.
Ranma knew a little bit about healing and taking care of those who were ill. He'd been ill himself and injured more often - and it was himself whom he'd taken care of on those occasions for all the difficulty of being both caregiver and patient. He knew something of that, something of cooking (he could make more than a salad when he set his mind to it), and something of keeping a place clean.
Since it was girls catching this disease, he'd been keeping himself male as long as possible - otherwise he would have switched to girl form to do "girl things" like that. His father had taught him well about how some things were girly and cooking fell directly into that category - never mind the number of gourmet or professional chefs who were male. Cooking was a "girl thing" according to Genma, and Genma was always right. In his own eyes at least.
The three girls were practically sleepwalking at some points during the second day. Akane's pajamas weren't so bad. Kasumi's nightgown was fairly modest. Nabiki's pajamas weren't bad. Except for those occasions before they changed into dry ones and those bedclothes had been plastered to their bodies.
There were other things happening on those days which gave Ranma some concerns. The moaning from their rooms. THAT had been concerning. It hadn't sounded like pain, but what else could it be? Girls getting hurt was something that really made Ranma uncomfortable and not being able to do anything about it had not sat well with him.
Fortunately it had turned out that Kasumi had a few books on shiatsu and moxibuxtion techniques. After trying some on Kasumi (though getting her nightshirt off had been a terrifying experience) and seeing that it DID seem to help, he was quick to do the same for Akane and Nabiki. Though he'd nearly leapt through the wall when it had looked like Akane was about to wake up.
Four words from Akane as he'd had her sitting away from him and he was rubbing her shoulders and upper back. Four words had changed him from panicked and reluctant caregiver to fiery determined caregiver. Four words that had Akane been in charge of her senses and fully conscious she might not have given. Four words that if Ranma hadn't been so concerned (not that he'd have said so) wouldn't have been received in quite the same manner.
"...feels good. thanks Ranma..."
She'd fallen back asleep but had been breathing easier and seemed more relaxed.
So he cooked and he straightened things up and he used the shiatsu techniques and he checked up on Shampoo (being taken care of by Cologne, particularly after Mousse tried to take her temperature and apparently mistook something else for a thermometer - Ranma wasn't sure what it was just that Cologne seemed to think that Shampoo was gonna kill Mousse when she was better) and Ukyo (who wasn't doing so good either.)
So Ranma made it through several days where he worked himself to exhaustion. On the second day he'd noticed the ears.
By the third day it was obvious (to Ranma at least) what had happened. Shampoo had caught some cold, the virus had gotten ahold of Shampoo's curse, and it was turning everyone into cats!
The world had suddenly become a horrible and frightening place.
Then he'd felt it every time he switched to female. The sniffles, his mouth seeming to be dry, a metallic taste. He'd caught the cold everyone was getting. By the beginning of the third day, he was feeling it in either shape.
He fought it off until he heard the sounds that indicated the girls were getting up and feeling fine, and it was with relief (especially as said girls were not turning into horrifying demonic creatures that went 'meow') that he sought his own bed.
Meanwhile:
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(Posted Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:46)
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