“Muff-in?”
Stryp groaned inwardly. It was very little comfort to know that his wife was the least libidinous of her sisters. She still wore him out on a nightly basis. “Hmm?”
“Would it be alright...” she began, tickling his chest delicately, “if I invited some friends of mine to visit?”
“Sure,” he replied sleepily.
“Thank you, Muffin! Hmmm-Mmmm-mmah,” came the enthusiastic reply, and very enthusiastic kiss.
He rewound the conversation so far, and wondered. “Um, who do you want to invite?” he asked.
“My pen-pal from Japan,” replied his wife. He nodded; that didn’t sound too bad. “And her sister and brother-in-law.”
Why did his hackles rise at that? “Any particular reason why now?”
“Oh, Kasumi suggested it in her last letter, and she says Akane and Ranma are having some difficulties since they got married and that getting away from home for a while would be good for them.”
“Oh.” He thought, trying to figure out the catch. “How long are they going to be staying?”
“Oh, a little while.”
‘Damn, right first time,’ he thought. ‘Oh well, more girls to coo over Tiffany, and the guy’s got to be reasonably mature if he’s already married. We’ll find something to talk about.’
The mass facefault for no apparent reason probably wasn’t what set their daughter crying – even the simultaneous collapse of the entire population of a suburb of Tokyo isn’t sufficient to trigger earth movements in Georgia.
“Wahh! My little girl’s running away to America!”
“Now, don’t be silly, father. I’m only visiting my friend Brittany.”
“But you’ll meet her brother and get married and have children and I’ll never see my little Kasumi again!”
“Brittany doesn’t have a brother, father, and I wouldn’t get married in that much of a hurry anyway.”
“She doesn’t? But who will protect you while you’re there? You’ll get kidnapped and dragged away by some horrible cult like that one in Waco and fed to demons! Wahh! My daughter is going to be fed to monsters!”
Kasumi couldn’t quite control the twitch of her eyebrow, although a suggestion like this was something she had hoped for. With any luck, her father would suggest the right thing, and Ranma was gently primed... “It would be very rude of me to refuse such an invitation, after we have been such friends for so long.”
“I really don’t think those cults are as common as you seem to think, father. Anyway, you can’t really expect her to rope someone in to protect her all the time,” inserted Akane exasperatedly. “After all, if she can survive in Nerima I doubt any reasonably civilised town will offer her any problems at all.”
A light blazed in their father’s eyes, and he arose to his full height. “You shall take Ranma with you to assure your safety!”
“Hey!” spluttered Ranma. “I ain’t going nowhere without Akane,” he continued warningly.
[I refuse permission!] declared the panda. [Without constant practice and striving] flip [a Martial Artist becomes soft and weak.] flip [I have seen signs of this in him already] flip [time away from training with me will be disastrous!]
“Oh, yeah, Pops? An’ who’s been bathin’ in the pond every morning for the last coupla months? Cause it ain’t me!” Behind the young man, a demon head was brewing, and for once it wasn’t aimed at the younger Saotome.
[That’s because you’ve been ganging up on me!] flip [Having your wife attack me as well is unmanly!]
Nodoka, who had witnessed several of the morning battles, narrowed her eyes and she interrupted with, “That would be because you persist in interrupting their training sessions, dearest.”
Before Genma could produce another sign, Kasumi scooped up the threads of the conversation again. “Besides, Brittany is the Armsmaster of Jade’s daughter. I’m sure the Armsmaster will be happy to spar with him.”
[The Armsmaster of Jade?] flip [Who’s he?]
“Jade is one of the few places where pure martial skill can gain you true authority,” inserted Happosai, an interested gleam in his eyes. “The Armsmaster is selected every ten years in a contest of arms – candidates fight each other for the honor of competing against the sitting Weaponsmasters, and if they can defeat all the Weaponsmasters they are entitled to challenge the Armsmaster for the title. Obviously, the Armsmaster is a very powerful warrior. It would do the boy good to meet him, much less spar against him.”
[Of course, now I remember] asserted the panda unconvincingly. [Ranma, you will meet this Armsmaster and challenge him for his title!]
“I ain’t going anywhere without Akane,” repeated Ranma. “‘Sides, he’s prolly got loads of idiots challenging him all the time. Wouldn’t be very polite to visit his daughter an’ challenge him like that.”
[What does politeness have to do with it?]
“Panda...”
“NO BAKA!” finished Ranma, as Akane brought down the mallet.
“But – But – If Akane goes, who will protect her?”
Ranma leveled his father-in-law with a flat glare. “We’ll be perfectly capable...”
“...of keeping all three of us safe, daddy.” Akane’s glare perfectly matched her husband’s. “Besides...”
“...if she’s this Armsmaster’s daughter, she’s probably...”
“...got her own protections around anyway.”
“It wouldn’t be very nice to try to keep Ranma and Akane apart when they’re only recently married, either,” suggested Kasumi. “Why, they haven’t even had a proper honeymoon yet!”
Faced with three firm young faces, and with Nodoka nodding her agreement to Kasumi’s suggestion, Soun caved in. “Very well. Akane, son-in-law, you shall defend the life and virtue of my eldest daughter on her trip to the United States; I place her safety in your hands.”
“Very nice, daddy,” inserted his middle daughter sardonically. “However, how do you intend sending any of them to America? The budget will only stretch so far.”
Soun’s stern and imposing façade started to crumble.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Brittany said she would ask one of her friends to pick us up when he’s in Japan. She says it won’t be as comfortable as a regular flight, but much more convenient. All we’ll need is passports.”
“What’s a passport?” asked Ranma.
And so planning began, for a visit to America to begin on the first day of the school summer holidays. There were details to straighten out, of course. Exactly when and where they would meet their transport (Narita airport, the freight terminal, after school on the last day of term). Spending money (not much). Passports (Ranma was kidding – he had one. Kasumi didn’t, but even Japanese government bureaucracy wasn’t immune to the Kasumi effect). Special instructions.
There were a lot of special instructions. Happosai banned Ranma and Akane from challenging the Armsmaster, although he encouraged them to ask – politely, mind – for lessons and sparring, warning that they would, if they were lucky, get to fight some of the Armsmaster’s senior students – whom they weren’t to challenge formally either. He also gave them a sealed letter for the Armsmaster, and another small package, and warned them to ask that the letter be read before Genma’s illiterate communication. Genma insisted that Ranma was to challenge the Armsmaster for his position, and return with the wealth therefrom. Kasumi asked Nabiki to restrict knowledge of where they were going, and to be as obscure and misdirecting as possible when she finally did release the information. She also asked Nodoka to look after the house while she was gone, but, perhaps, to encourage her father to take a little care of it himself?
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:25)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.