Ranma decided that it would be best to get what would likely be the least enjoyable of the tasks he intended to do in Nerima out of the way as soon as possible, and it was with this thought in mind that he found his way back to the Tendo compound to attempt to deal with his father. However, when he arrived, he was faced with two surprises. The first was the presence of a girl who looked to be about Usagi’s age and height whom he’d never seen before—and even more interestingly, she wore her hair in a variation of Usagi’s Amazonesque hairstyle, though this girl’s hair was a bright pink to Usagi’s blonde.
The second surprise really took the martial artist aback: as soon as the girl noticed him, she waved her hand and said, “Hi, Ranma.”
Ranma’s face took on a quizzical expression. “Um… hi. Have we met?” It wasn’t very often that someone he didn’t know greeted him by name, after all.
Chibi-Usa nearly kicked herself for her flub; she’d allowed herself to forget that from the martial artist’s point of view, the two of them hadn’t met yet. The pink-haired adolescent did her best to recover. “Um, no, not really—it’s just that Setsuna called and said you might be dropping by, and you fit the description that she gave me.” It wasn’t a lie; Setsuna had called and said that Ranma would probably drop by eventually, though she hadn’t said it would necessarily be today.
“You know my wife?”
“Yeah—the two of us actually go back quite a bit.” Back a few centuries, by my personal chronology anyway. “The reason you haven’t seen me before is that I haven’t been in the area recently,” she added.
“I see. Well, it’s nice ta meet ya.” Ranma decided to change the subject slightly. “Not that it’s any of my business, really, but what’re ya doin’ at the Tendos?”
“Oh, well, I needed a place to stay when I arrived in Tokyo this time, because the place where I usually stay is kind of off-limits for a while, so Setsuna introduced me to the Tendos, since she knew they’d have room.”
“Um…” Ranma was not quite following the girl’s line of reasoning.
“She knew that they were saving space for you, because your father and Mr. Tendo expected you to ‘come to your senses’ and return relatively soon.”
“Oh. I gotcha. She was countin’ on them ta be stubborn. She’s smart like that.”
“Yes, and it worked pretty well, though I had play up to Mr. Tendo’s sympathies to get him to let me stay. Your father—well, he’s a very… assertive man.”
“Ya don’t need ta tell me—he’s the one who raised me for the last dozen years or so,” Ranma replied with his trademark smirk. “Speakin’ of Pops, is he around? I need ta talk ta him.”
“Well, yes, but…”
“But he’s probably not feelin’ himself at the moment. I talked ta my Mom yesterday, so I know about his curse, and the pressure point thing, too. How’s he been takin’ it?”
“Denial, mostly. At first, he thought he could just tough out the Cat Tongue, since he knew that he wasn’t really in any physical danger of scalding from water that was merely warm. It was just a case of ‘matter over mind,’ as he put it.”
“I’m guessin’ it didn’t exactly work.”
“You guessed right—apparently, he forgot about the principles of sensory overload. After your mother and Tissue left, he passed out—for real—after ‘scalding’ himself twelve times in less than an hour.”
“Then I take it he’s figured out why a lotta Amazons think that Jusenkyo curses attract water.”
Chibi-Usa gave the martial artist a mischievous smile. “Not exactly—he thinks that it’s just more evidence of Amazon trickery on Tissue’s part. In fact, he claims that it didn’t happen to you nearly as often as it’s been happening to him.”
“Probably because I usually don’t immediately drop whatever I’m doin’ ta find some hot water every time my curse is activated.”
“Well, that certainly describes his general reaction… at least it did. When Nodoka called yesterday to find out how he was doing, he found out that constantly trying to ‘tough out’ the pain without any breaks to let his system reset would just end up making him even more sensitive to heat. According to Tissue, if he continued being excessively obstinate about it, it could reach the point where he would no longer be able to remain conscious even at room temperature. At least, that’s the theory. She also pointed out that this level of stubbornness has never been mentioned in the recorded history of the tribe.”
Ranma simply grunted in response. The news that his father could be one of the most inflexible people on the planet wasn’t exactly surprising, after all. “Yeah, so can I talk ta my Pops? I wanna get this over with.”
“I think she’s meditating in the dojo. Either that, or she’s moping—I’m having a hard time telling the difference. You shouldn’t have to worry about privacy: Kasumi’s out on an errand, Mr. Tendo’s dealing with some sort of council business, and I won’t disturb you.”
“Okay, thanks, um… I don’t think I caught yer name…”
The pink-haired teenager blushed a bit—she’d also forgotten that Ranma didn’t know her name yet. “Sorry about that. You can call me Chibi-Usa.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Ranma was surprised to see a drop-dead gorgeous woman sitting in the Tendo dojo, apparently lost in thought. Somehow, the idea that there could be a physically beautiful woman inside his somewhat chauvinist father was a difficult one for him to get around (and he really didn’t expect his father’s bust to be bigger than his girlform’s, though that might simply have been vanity on his part). Still, given what Ranma knew about the recent events in his father’s life, there was really only one conclusion he could come to. “Pops? Is that you?”
The woman looked up, clearly startled to realize that she wasn’t alone in the room (if she was Genma, she must have been really distracted by her musings). She did her best to regain her composure. “Uh, what are you talking about? I’ve, uh, never met you before in my life.”
Ranma had to suppress a groan—his father was trying to hide something (again) and not doing a very good job of it (again). “Pops, I know that ya got cursed. I talked with Mom an’ Tissue last night.”
“Tissue? That’s a funny name.”
“Okay, Pops, this is gettin’ real old, real fast.”
“What is?”
“You pretendin’ ya don’t know me.”
“But I don’t.”
Ranma just raised an eyebrow. “Alright, then. Who are ya?”
“Um, I’m… Soun Tendo’s… cousin.”
“And yer name?”
“Um—”
“C’mon Pops, just give it up. I’d recognize those eyeglasses anywhere, not ta mention that sour ‘things aren’t goin’ the way I think they’re supposed ta’ look on yer face.”
The woman suddenly became indignant at this. “You ought to show more respect for your elders, Ranma.”
“How’d ya know my name was Ranma if we’ve never met?”
The woman froze with her mouth open as she realized that she’d walked into a trap she couldn’t recover from. Genma slumped to the ground in defeat. “I suppose your mother sent you to try and convince me to got through with this nonsense.”
“Look, Pops, whatever ya decide ta do about this Amazon thing is yer own business, okay? I really don’t wanna get involved in a debate about that right now. I came here ’cause I wanna talk about the schools. And before ya get yer hopes up, no, I ain’t leavin’ Setsuna.” Genma’s posture deflated even further with this news—clearly her hopes had already been up. “I just wanna get back on schedule for my trainin’.” Ranma explained his situation to his father, emphasizing the idea that her refusal to compromise would result in her heir losing important skills without her guidance.
“I suppose you have a point, boy,” said Genma with a sigh. She hated to admit defeat in anything, even when it was to her advantage. “I want you to show up here tomorrow by dawn, and we’ll see where you should go next.”
Chibi-Usa was waiting for Ranma when he exited the dojo. “So, how did it go?”
“Fine, I guess. He says he’s willin’ ta ignore the whole unitin’ the schools thing for a while, so I can get back ta trainin. It’s gonna be a bitch havin’ ta come out here every mornin’, though.”
“I can imagine. So, what else are you doing today?”
“Ah, I got an errand ta run for Setsuna, an’ I was plannin’ on visitin’ my Mom, too. Why d’ya ask?”
“Well, I just arrived in Nerima, so I haven’t been able to make any arrangements for attending school yet, and I was wondering if you wanted any company.”
“Uh, sure. That’d be nice, though I don’t know if it’ll be very interestin’—”
Ranma was cut off as a svelte raven-haired woman nailed him with a roundhouse kick that sent him flying into the Tendos’ koi pond. “Ugh, what’s wrong with you, boy? I leave you to your own devices for two weeks and you let your abilities atrophy to the point where you couldn’t see that coming? I really am going to have to resume your training for the sake of the schools.” Genma didn’t wait for her son to answer as she headed back to the dojo in the best mood she’d been in for the past forty-eight hours.
Chibi-Usa helped her now redheaded (and female) companion out of the pond. “You were saying something about it not being very interesting?”
“Okay, so you have a point. You can come along, provided that you get me some hot water while I’m wringing out my clothes.”
The pink-haired girl smiled broadly. “Consider it done.” This was likely to be an extremely fascinating day.
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(Posted Sat, 03 Jun 2006 08:19)
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