While Akane was receiving her bath, things were wrapping up at the Musk citadel. Now that Ranma had stormed the place and taken care of Herb, the Amazons were methodically clearing the place.
The sight of an Amazon Cologne thought lost walking out of the building pleased Cologne, despite seeing the condition of the woman. Despite her confident gait, it was obvious she had been a slave during the period of her captivity. A strong warrior when she had gone missing, it was obvious she had never quite been broken. It wasn't for lack of trying though, as she was missing her left arm. Under threat of losing her remaining arm and becoming helpless, she had likely submitted enough to avoid that fate. The other signs were there as well, as her ashen colored skin was pale from lack of sunlight and dirty from lack of bathing. Her hair, the color of dried blood, was long and matted. Having obviously been neither cut nor cleaned during her captivity. Nude except for an iron collar, from which dangled a length of thick chain, she still walked without shame and with all of the pride a warrior woman could have after surviving such.
Recognizing Cologne as a leader and wise-woman, she immediately headed to her for answers. Cologne was surprised to find that she was looking for the man that freed her, the same man that had apparently executed Herb. She entertained Cologne's questions in turn.
Ranma for his part blinked in surprise when Cologne led a naked woman over to him. The old prune actually seemed amused by whatever she was up to. "Ah well son-in-law, you've certainly made things interesting as usual."
Mildly suspicious that Cologne might be up to something, the depressed young warrior responded, "So? What's yer point?"
At that point, Cologne decided to share her amusement, "The young woman behind me is one of our best warriors, thought recently rescued from the Musk. She seems to be quite determined to give herself in service to the young foreign Prince that managed to raise an army to defeat the Musk and slay their leader in personal combat."
The majority of that went over Ranma's head, making him confused as to why Cologne told him this. Of course, he was pretty sure Herb had been their leader, and he had been the one to take Herb down. "Ah crap, you're kidding right?"
Amused by his reaction, Cologne did her best to look vaguely comforting. "Oh no O'Mighty Prince, Song seems to be quite sure of this. Even I would be hard pressed to dissuade her from this, particularly so soon after she regained her freedom. Of course, if she offends you, she might be dissuaded if you were to ah, 'discourage her'." Not hiding her amusement as Ranma gave a defeated sigh, Cologne made a mock bow of respect before leaving the two to get acquainted.
Faintly smiling in an attempt at a pleasant look, the firm bodied young woman knelt before her Master, feeling some vindictive pleasure to give to Herb's slayer what Herb had demanded yet never received. Sighing at the injustice of it all, Ranma tried the first step of reasoning with the girl, "Do you speak Japanese?"
Seeing her reply of bowing her head while speaking rather beautiful Chinese that Ranma didn't understand, and shook his head in resignation, "Nah, of course not. Of course, that means you're gonna take your sweet time finding clothes right?" To which she cocked her head to the side in an inquiring manner and spoke in a tone that seemed to ask what was wrong. Patting her awkwardly on the shoulder, Ranma tried to be more reassuring than frustrated, "Oh don't worry about it. Everyone will flip out anyways."
Once Cologne was away from Ranma, Shampoo had some questions she wanted answered in her native tongue. "Great Grand-Mother, why did you allow Song to serve Ranma?"
Smiling indulgently at her young descendant, Cologne decided to ease Shampoo's worries. "It's alright child, Song's position can easily help you with Ranma. Merely acting as translator gives you an opportunity to be around him. Also, Akane will require much care, care that Ranma would otherwise be forced to give her."
Thinking about it like that, the young amazon had to agree, "Ah yes, I see your wisdom now honored Elder. Her presence could be of great help."
Deciding to toss Shampoo a curveball too, Cologne replied, "Oh no, I just found it terribly amusing. The look on Ranma's face does an old heart much good. You should really try the 'Great Prince' bit, it's even better than Muko-dono."
Shampoo stopped and stared at Cologne in stunned silence. Muko-dono was how Cologne had previously referred to Ranma, which Shampoo had thought was in support of her marriage to him. If calling him her honored son-in-law was just a joke, had she taken Shampoo's pursuit of Ranma seriously?
Cologne merrily pogo-ed away, perhaps wondering if she could do something interesting with Ryouga if he were still around.
Ukyou hadn't had a very good time with Akane, so she wasn't in a particularly good mood when she got back to camp. Luckily for Ranma, Ukyou was still in a caregiver mood, so she restrained herself admirably when she found a naked woman crawling all over her Ranchan. "What the hell are you doing jack-ass?"
Frustrated, Ranma called back, "I'm trying not to do anything, but I'm kinda in a corner here."
Sensing the hostilities flare up, the woman took her hand off Ranma to get up and glare at the chef with enough force to make her shift Akane into a protective hold. To that Ranma responded by grabbing her chain and literally yanking it, scolding her like a dog in his panic, "Down girl! Come on, no crazy Amazon stuff!"
Surprised himself, Ranma tried to explain the situation to Ukyou since she spoke his language, "Look, she don't speak Japanese. I think she's trying to defend me or something, so just take it easy 'kay? I got enough problems already, cause about all the Old Ghoul told me 'bout her was she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer even if she understood me."
Tensions went up a bit further when Shampoo entered into the tent, but when she started talking to the one-armed Amazon, everyone started to relax a bit. Nodding once in affirmative, Shampoo prepared to translate, "Song say strange girl attack Master, she kill. Shampoo explain Ukyou is friend. Song say anyone attack Master, she kill." Nodding once to herself, Shampoo then added in her opinion, "Shampoo think is good time to make nice-nice." Shampoo would have elaborated further, but she figured everyone present understood Song was Amazon equivalent of a starving tiger in terms of danger. Shampoo was brave, proud and skilled, but she didn't want to have her face ripped off.
When the nude Amazon relented to sitting at Ranma's feet and watching the girls, Ukyou carefully made her way over, making sure to stay on the other side of Ranma. When Akane was close enough, Ranma gently reached over and guided one of her hands to his pig-tail. Happy as a barnacle, Akane promptly attached herself to Ranma, squirming around until she was seated across his lap. He in turn awkwardly patted her back, finding it supremely uncomfortable with two fiancees staring at him, thought to be honest the naked woman rubbing against his leg didn't help. When Song seemed content to watch from her seat on the floor, Ukyou sat down on the cot, keeping Ranma between her and the wild amazon. Considering the circumstances and her experience cleaning Akane, she was content just to quietly sit beside Ranma for now.
Seeing Shampoo standing at the door with a contemplative frown however gave Ranma an idea, though he wasn't getting his hopes up. "Hey Shampoo, could you tell her to put some clothes on?" Raising an eyebrow and looking speculatively at the nude woman, Shampoo's current mood was starting to worry Ranma. He expected a lot of things from her, but in his experience when Shampoo got serious it meant something odd was up. That she was being compliant meant it wasn't something obvious and simple.
Apparently Shampoo found her conversation with Song moderately interesting, but not enough to really get a reaction from the violet-maned girl. "Song no care. Song no leave Master. Song bathe when bathe Master, put on clothes then if Master want." At that point, even Ukyou was sympathizing with Ranma having to deal with the strange slave-girl.
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(Posted Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:53)
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