Her father paused, and then said, "Hey, while Hotaru's being checked up, will you keep an eye on her for me?"
All of Hotaru's big sisters nodded together.
"Thanks," he said, smiling. "I shouldn't need more than a few minutes to talk to Tarou." Turning to Hotaru, she said, "Let's introduce you to Tofu-sensei!"
"Ah," the man in question said, seeming to pop from a nearby shadow. "It's good to see you again, Ranma-kun!"
Hotaru watched her father twitch slightly, and spin to face the new arrival. He was so funny! "Er ... you're still as hard to notice as ever, Tofu-sensei. How are you doing?"
"Pretty well," he said, glancing at Hotaru and offering a warm smile before turning his attention to Ranma. "I imagine that this is about Tarou?"
"Partially," Ranma admitted. "I only did what I did to Tarou because he kidnapped my daughter -- I'm honestly not sure what his plan was. One minute he wanted me to fight the letch, the next he was going to try and beat me on his own. But I need to make sure it won't happen again."
Tofu raised his chin slightly, and his spectacles turned into solidly illuminated barriers, hiding his eyes from sight. "I see," he said quietly. "You won't permanently damage my patient, I trust?"
"I just want to talk," Ranma assured the man, shaking his head.
Tofu's chin lowered, and his eyes came into sight again. "Very well," he said. "Is there anything else?"
"Yeah," Ranma said slowly, smiling at Hotaru. "My daughter needs a checkup. I know she's got ... ah ... less strength than normal. She gets dizzy, and runs out of breath easily."
The doctor knelt, and Hotaru found herself looking him in the eye. He seemed trustworthy. Her father liked him, after all. "Hello, there," he said, offering a genial smile. "I'm Ono Tofu. What's your name?"
"Saotome Hotaru," she answered shyly. Her father was introducing her to so many new friends! This doctor wasn't like the others; no sterile lab and cold instruments. His office was a building that looked like it had a home built above it, and was surrounded by plants and a well-tended lawn.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Hotaru-chan. Are you ready for a checkup?"
"Yes," she said hesitantly, glancing nervously behind her for her sisters.
"We be there for you," Shampoo encouraged. "Shampoo can work as nurse for Tofu-sensei, yes?"
"Well," Tofu began hesitantly, offering Ranma a worried glance, "I'm not sure...."
"Ah, Hotaru's big sisters would never hurt her," Hotaru's father assured the doctor. "Where's Tarou?"
"Back room," Tofu said after a moment. "The doors are soundproofed, but only if you close them."
"Got it," Ranma answered, striding into the clinic. Hotaru slowly walked forward, and Shampoo took her hand. Cheered, Hotaru allowed herself to be led inside, just behind Tofu.
***
"Yikes," Ranma finally allowed himself, once he reached the bed where Tarou was laid up. For his part, the Chinese boy had all four limbs in casts, and a neck-brace on, though he had enough spirit in him to glare angrily at Ranma. After closing the door behind him, he turned to Tarou and asked, "So. Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really," Tarou growled, looking away.
"Alrighty," Ranma said. "Then I guess I'll talk, and you can do some listening."
Tarou sneered, but wasn't really in a position to do much else.
"Okay. Here's how it's gonna go. You're not going to pick on my daughter again, or else I won't go easy on you next time."
Tarou's sneer worked its way into a heated glower.
"I'm going to talk to the old letch tonight, and tell him pretty much the same thing," Ranma added. "I'm just going to see if I can get him to change your name first."
Tarou's glower faded into a look of confusion.
"See, the way I figure it, if I take away your reason for fighting around me, or my daughter, you'll leave me alone. Sound like a plan?"
"Yeah," Tarou said after a moment. "Why.... Why did you have me hauled here?"
"You're someone I fight, and someone I can beat," Ranma answered. "But you're not an enemy."
"If you don't consider me to be an enemy, who do you?" Tarou asked, surprised at this answer.
"Saffu-Long," Ranma replied with a cold smile. "But I killed him. Just want you to look at things from that perspective, eh? Now. You haven't called me 'fem-boy', and I ain't calling you what I usually do. I think this means that if we won't be friends, we can at least respect one-another. Then nobody worries about funeral arrangements, and we're all happy. Right?"
Tarou raised both eyebrows and then lowered them together, which Ranma realized was the closest the boy could come to a shrug in his broken state. "I don't think I got a lot of choice in the matter," he mumbled. "Fine. If you can get my name changed, I'll stay away from you."
"I'll see what I can do," Ranma answered.
Without waiting to see if Tarou needed anything else, Ranma left, closing the door behind him. Alone, Tarou wriggled his nose. "Stupid itch," he cursed quietly.
***
After returning to the lobby, Ranma found Akane already there, Ukyou having wrested the tea-set from her hands before she could manage to ruin anything. The youngest Tendo wasn't quite sulking, but was a little miffed that Ukyou wasn't even willing to let her try to make tea. Then again, Ranma reflected, she'd flubbed the martial arts tea ceremony with spectacular results.
Ukyou handed him a teacup, which he accepted, and then she offered one to Akane before pouring a third for herself.
After about a minute, Hotaru scampered back into the lobby, followed by Shampoo (though the Chinese girl was now wearing a nurses cap in addition to her standard outfit). "So," Ranma said, as Hotaru glomped onto him again. "How did it go?"
"I was good!" Hotaru said, nodding.
"Very well behaved," Shampoo agreed, accepting a teacup from Ukyou. "Tofu-sensei should be here soon."
And a moment later, Tofu stepped into the room....
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(Posted Wed, 27 Jul 2005 18:44)
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