From the roof of the Saotome house, Cologne watched with growing amusement. Paste had a lot of her mother in her, though admittedly more subtle and with a better grasp of the Japanese language. It was no wonder that Akane had chosen to take out long-held frustrations with the Amazons on the pink-haired girl. Still, it was hardly their fault either-- the law held dire consequences for those who returned without fulfilling the vow, as Shampoo had ended up doing.
It was about this time that Rin, with Yukichi following her protectively, walked out. Rin had much the looks of her mother when she was very young, with her dark hair running down to her shoulders. As for Yukichi, he had a handsome face and a generally relaxed attitude, which Ranma worried about causing girl problems when he was older. Still, from what Cologne could sense (which was actually quite a bit, as she had centuries to learn how to evaluate your enemies), they were good children.
"Mommy, what's going on?" asked Rin.
"Dear, mommy is only trying to defend you kids from Amazon hussies like this one," Akane explained through gritted teeth as she tried rapidly to pound Paste into the pavement. It was only her rage and Paste's general agility, even in the face of an enraged female martial artist, that stopped this from happening.
"What's a hussy?" Rin replied and no one chose to answer her for the time being.
Makoto and Kusari were similarly stunned. "Um... mom?" asked Makoto. "Can you stop for a minute and tell me what's going on?" Akane didn't, but was now swinging at Paste with a clearly labelled ten pound mallet.
The last one of the family to come out was Ranma, who had been meditating quietly when the Amazon appeared. He seemed irritated that his tranquility had been interrupted. Instead of asking Akane what was going on, which he instinctively knew would be no use, he rushed over and tossed the weapon out of her hand. Ranma caught her wrist and stared meaningfully at his wife.
This was enough to return Akane to her senses. (Ranma had begun to have that effect on her.) "Ranma, the Amazons are back! This girl says she's one, and she's Shampoo's daughter, and she wanted to duel Kusari here and kill her, and..."
Ranma's thought process had began to leave her conversation. He too didn't like the news, but didn't feel entirely comfortable taking it out on this girl, who despite the heavy weapon that she carried really looked more frightened then anyone. The martial artist looked around the area, having an inkling of who might really be behind this.
On the rooftop, Cologne knew that Ranma was looking for her, and wondering if he could find the old woman with her battle aura not ignited. It would be a test, certainly. Even she had been impressed with the power he displayed during that last battle with Saffron, the only question was whether he had improved further during the last fifteen years or let his abilities wane with a more domestic lifestyle.
She soon got her answer. Ranma pinpointed Cologne's approximate location and thrust his hands forward, ki energy gathering between them. "MOKO TAKABISHA!" The energy blast flew out directly at Cologne's spot on the roof. The Amazon elder leapt out of the way agilely, into open sight in the middle of everything. The self-invented technique hit dead on, blowing a hole in the roof.
"I see you're as prone to destroying your own house as ever," Cologne taunted with a chuckle.
"And I see you're still meddling in our lives, you old crone!" proclaimed Ranma, launching after her with a fury that almost matched Akane's previous rage. Cologne ducked and weaved between his attacks, but was still impressed with his speed.
On the sidelines, Akane silently but passionately rooted for Ranma, her eyes fully locked on the one-sided battle between her husband and Cologne. Paste, feeling that she wasn't in mortal danger anymore, slowly walked over to Makoto and Kusari again. "Er... hi."
"Hi," Makoto said, slightly embarrassed because of his parent's actions.
Yukichi urged Rin back inside, then joined the three. "So, what's all the commotion about guys?"
"I have no clue," said Kusari honestly.
"Well, why don't we go inside and talk about it," Paste offered.
"Sure," Makoto shrugged, and the four went into the house, as Ranma worked out his pent-up aggression on the Joketsu elder.
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(Posted Mon, 15 Aug 2005 03:03)
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