"Ranma, we need to talk."
Blinking in surprise at the familiar address, Ranma turned to see Setsuna. She blinked again, frowning. Setsuna both looked inordinately cranky, and apparently knew about the curse.
"What about?" Ranma managed to ask.
Before Setsuna could reply, their conversation was interrupted by an abrupt, "Papa!" Ranma found herself summarily glomped by an exuberant Hotaru. Wait. Hotaru knew about the curse, too?
Ranma tried to sort that memory out, struggling to remember, then decided Urd must have seen to it that Hotaru would always recognize her. That made sense, after all.
"Heya, Hotaru-chan," Ranma greeted, smirking down at the child briefly, before:
"Hey there, Sweetie! Didn't know you were bringing company!"
"Er...." And then:
"Ranma! Oh, my. Why are you dressed like a girl and carrying a purse?"
Ranma turned and surveyed the women who had surrounded him, pressing back the slowly thinning crowd. Nodoka looked confused, leaving Shampoo, Ukyou, and Akane to stare between him and Urd with unreadable expressions. The girls had been dressed for shopping, which meant casual clothing. Near Setsuna, shooting her occasional dark looks, was Urd, wearing a simultaneously elegant and skimpy black dress that hung off her shoulders.
After a second of staring at her, Ukyou, Akane, and Shampoo quickly sunk into a huddle, muttering and pointing to various of the bags they carried, occasionally exchanging a judicious nod and a wary backwards glance at the goddess.
Nodoka stood behind them, frowning and shaking her head slowly.
"Um," Ranma temporized. "I can explain this," she began hesitantly.
"Oh, hey guys!" Nanami exclaimed, emerging from the crowd to grin at Setsuna and the girls. Then she bowed to Nodoka. "Hello, Saotome-san. How funny to run into you here!"
"Funny," Ranma and Setsuna deadpanned together.
Urd's smile merely widened slightly. "I can explain it all," the goddess said confidently. "Ranma's incognito. I'm his supervisor, and we've got a meeting scheduled."
"Supervisor?" Nanami asked suddenly. "So, you work for the J.S.D.F., then? And where is he, anyway?"
"I don't think you have the clearance for that yet," Urd said after a moment of thought. In the meantime, the girls had calmed, smiling once more, Nodoka had relaxed and wore a very pleased smile, and Hotaru released Ranma long enough to look around at everyone surrounding her.
"Papa, are you going to work again?"
"Almost certainly," Urd said in an ominous tone, her smile lessening. Turning to Ranma, she continued, "Anyway, I think it's time to get to our meeting, don't you?"
Sensing an immediate escape, Ranma nodded quickly. "Yep," she said, smiling. "Gotta run! See you all later." She paused to ruffle Hotaru's hair, and quickly scurried off to follow Urd. The girls waved and watched, but did not follow.
Setsuna shouted, "We need to talk!"
This was followed almost immediately by three girls asking, "With our Ranma? What about?" in one voice.
Ranma winced, glad when he escaped earshot.
"Whew," Ranma sighed. "That coulda been messy."
"Will be," Urd corrected, leading Ranma into an alley, and then through a crook where it turned, quickly leaving Tokyo tower behind. "Now. There have been some mistakes, but for the most part, everything is coming back together. There's.... Well, here."
She opened a door in a building, deep in the alley. Ranma blinked, seeing that it was nondescript, and really, could have been the back door to anywhere. But it wasn't a back door, once Urd opened it.
With the plush royal red carpet, the excessive gold trim, and the bright, polished gleam of expensive metals everywhere, this room was obviously an entrance. That image was reinforced by the man standing just inside the door in an immaculate suit, bearing two leather-bound tomes in hand. "Urd?" he asked, unimpressed. "Party of two?"
"Yes," Urd replied, smiling.
"Your guest doesn't meet our dress code," the man said dryly.
Urd blinked, then her smile widened as she pointed a finger at the man. Her fingertip was suddenly surrounded by a tiny, crackling sphere of energy, one that cast light across the room. "What was that?" she asked sweetly.
"Your table is ready," the man corrected himself with an elegant bow. "This way, please."
Once Ranma had been seated, but before a waiter came to see them, she briefly surveyed the restaurant. The interior of the dining room was -- if anything -- even more opulent than the entry. There was a large cleared space in the middle of the room where a handful of exceedingly well-dressed couples danced slowly. Behind them was what Ranma thought was a full orchestra, playing the soft music everyone danced to.
"S...so," Ranma began, fumbling with her 'purse' for a moment to produce Urd's present and hand it over, "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I picked these out for you." He thought girls liked chocolates; he hoped he was right.
She blinked and opened the box, a slight blush coming onto her cheeks. "Oh," she cooed. "These are my favorite! The ones with alcohol inside!"
Ranma wondered briefly how she had purchased anything with liquor in it. She was still underage after all. Blaming it on her ID, she forced a smile and nodded. "I'm glad you like it," she said earnestly. "After all you've done for me, I thought it was the least I could do to say 'thanks', you know?"
"I do," Urd said, placing the box to one side, not removing any of the candies yet. "Ah ... Ranma, I'm really glad you're coming along so well, and I wanted to let you know that you're doing a really bang-up job so far, all things considered."
"All things considered?" Ranma asked warily.
"Well...." Urd looked away, her blush deepening. "I messed up," she said quietly. "I, uh, made things more complicated for you than they had to be, and I want to apologize to you for it."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, bewildered, as a well-dressed man glided to their table, delivering the leather bound-menus the man at the door hadn't handed them.
"Well...." Urd waited until the waiter was out of earshot. "As it turns out, you're a hero, but you're kind of lacking in one important area -- I messed up your file early on, and that's why you've never learned ... some important things."
"Like what?" Ranma protested. She thought she'd been doing a swell job, so far. Then again, girls had to deal with things that Ranma could avoid just by splashing herself regularly with hot water. Was that it?
"Ah ... you don't really understand where kids come from, do you?" Urd asked, smiling.
"Well.... The kami-plane, I guess," Ranma hazarded, smirking. "That's where I got mine."
Urd chuckled. "True," she replied. "But no, that's not what I really meant. Um, Ranma, you're lacking in a certain ... kind of maturity when it comes to girls, and you're going to grow up soon. This could make things ... kind of uncomfortable and awkward for you. And you'll want to set a good example for Hotaru, too."
"Huh?" Ranma noised, frowning. Did this have to do with what Hiroshi and Daisuke were always talking about?
"Kind of," Urd replied to the unspoken question, her face reddening as she couldn't quite meet his eyes. "Um.... S...so, even.... Well, I had to put some of my own plans on the back burner because it wouldn't work out here." She fixed Ranma directly with a stare. "I want you to remember this, because I'm not going to repeat it. I love heroes, Ranma. And your nobility, especially. But I had to.... Well, there were some people that Father said had priority over me, even though they aren't as ready to teach you what I had hoped to."
Ranma was now thoroughly lost, so just nodded, glancing to one side when a waiter unobtrusively poured wine for Urd, and water for her.
"Anyway," the goddess continued, "you're going to be learning it soon, and all I can really do right now is warn you that it's coming."
"Right," Ranma said slowly, furrowing her brow. "Anything else?"
"Yes," Urd admitted. "Um ... see, remember what I said about chaos occasionally building up?"
"Tomorrow's going to be a bad day," Ranma said, narrowing her eyes. "Isn't it?"
"Well...." Urd chuckled nervously. "It ... seems very likely. I'm sorry, Sweeties, really I am...."
"At least I get a warning," Ranma sighed.
"And a good meal!" Urd enthused. "But don't eat too much; there's going to be a surprise when you get home."
"O...oh?" Ranma asked, frowning. Well, at least it wasn't all bad news. "Okay. Um ... what else can you tell me?"
"I think it's time I started telling you what Hotaru's going to grow up into," Urd decided. "You've looked over the datacube, right?"
"Right."
"Good, so...."
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(Posted Fri, 19 May 2006 22:50)
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