It was a pleasant summer morning. A gentle breeze was blowing through the air, and the inhabitants of Nerima were on their way to work, or school.
It was exceptionally quiet for this neighborhood. No rival martial artists were fighting each other, no magical curses were causing mayhem, not even the tiniest magical prince was there to abduct any unwilling, uncute, tomboy martial artist daughter (cough, cough, Akane, cough, cough...).
Tatewaki Kuno was having the flu, so he couldn't come to school. His demented sister Kodachi seemed to have caught the same virus. Normally, that wouldn't have stopped her in going after her 'Ranma-sama', but she just felt too weak today. And their little ninja retainer Sasuke had the honor of nursing them both back to health. Oh boy, was he thrilled...
Principal Kuno was back on the island of Hawaii, Miss Hinako felt especially forgiving towards her students, and even the Amazons didn't plan anything unusual... except for that new, special Ramen recipe, which Cologne was planning to serve her customers, a delicacy from her home village...
Anyway, life had become pretty quiet for Ranma and the Tendos those days. No challengers, no fiancee plots with Ranma as the main prize, no martial arts contests.
Ranma was almost feeling bored. Well, but only almost...
As already mentioned, it was a pleasant morning, and Ranma, Akane and Nabiki had already left for school. Genma and Soun were once again playing Shogi, and Nodoka was already preparing lunch.
The eldest Tendo sister had just gone outside to fetch the paper.
Kasumi took a deep breath and sighed, as she inhaled the fresh morning air. She then bowed down to pick up the morning paper.
When she saw something unusual in the corner of her eyes, she blinked. Now where did that come from?
She picked up the strange item and carried it inside.
"Auntie?" she asked as she entered the kitchen. "Does this, by any chance, belong to you?"
Nodoka put down the knife on the cutting board and took the strange pot out of Kasumi's hands. It was very small, even smaller than a teacup. It was made out of polished wood and had a handle, almost like a shopping basket. There was also a tiny, wooden spoon within it. Except for that, it was empty.
"No, I can't say I've seen this before," the Saotome matriarch finally said. She turned around the tiny item in her hands and frowned. "But something about it... seems familiar."
Kasumi raised her finger and pointed at one side of the pot. "Auntie... did you see those letters? Looks like someone's initials..."
She was right. Two big letters were visible on one side of the pot, drawn in a unique, squiggly way.
"S.P." Kasumi read. "Do you have an idea what that means?"
And suddenly, Nodoka remembered what her own mother had once told her when she was still a child, about the old myths and legends, about mythical creatures and spirits.
She smiled. "Kasumi, I believe we will be in good luck from now on. This is a Puk's grit pot."
Kasumi was confused. "What is a Puk?"
"A well meaning house spirit," Nodoka explained. "As long as a Puk is living within a house, he will make sure that the people living within that house will have good luck in their life. They just have to treat him well."
Kasumi nodded, not very convinced. "And what about that pot?"
Nodoka snickered. "From what my mother once told me, Puks are crazy about barley grits," she said. "Cooked with just a hint of cinnamon, we have to fill the pot to just underneath the seam and afterwards, a patch of melted butter on top."
"That's not a typical Japanese dish, is it, auntie?" Kasumi asked.
"Of course not. From what my mother told me, the Puks do not originally come from Japan. She had once been to Europe when she was young, you know? And there, she heard from them for the first time."
"Oh my," Kasumi exclaimed. "If what you said is true, then we should just make sure that our house Puk feels at home within our house. I mean, Ranma and Akane surely could need some luck in their relationship."
Nodoka nodded. "Yes, definitely. Come, if you like, I'll show you how to make barley grits."
That made Kasumi beam with joy. She always loved to learn new recipes. "Oh, that would be wonderful, auntie!"
----
Snooze Puk was sitting in the grass, in front of the wooden sign in front of the new house. Confused, he scratched his head. He just couldn't get used to the strange writing style of the Japanese. Whatever did that mean?
Oh well. He would just have to visit the Library Puk, perhaps he would be able to help with the translation.
Snooze Puk stood up from the ground. He was only as tall as a squirrel, and like all members of his race, he was able to turn invisible using the 'Invisibility Spell'. Like all Puks, he was wearing a woolen cap, a woolen pair of tights and a gray jacket. All Puks loved colors, so his tights were adorned with a yellow-and-black checkered pattern. His hair was sandy and very shaggy, so he wore it in a very short pigtail, which he decorated with a red clothes-pin.
Almost three days ago, he and the rest from his clan had arrived in Japan, as stowaways on a passenger ship. The Puks in Europe had planned to learn more about foreign countries, and so many Puks were asked if they were interested in living abroad for a while.
Snooze Puk and his clan were chosen to live within Nerima in Tokyo, as the head of the Puk Council back at home had heard that the people living here would just be those kind of people who would be in the need of some luck.
After searching for a suitable home during the past two days, Snooze Puk had finally found this nice house. From what he had seen, there were two friendly families living here together, with a total of four teenaged children, three girls and a boy.
But there was still so many about Japanese culture the European Puk did not understand. What was that strange hall for, in the building that was attached to the main house? Was it some sort of storage room? But he couldn't see anything stored within at all.
Snooze Puk had not lived for a long time within the Tendo household, and as Ranma and his father hadn't had a good spar for a few days now, he couldn't now the true purpose of that 'hall'. And the concept of a training dojo was just too foreign for his mind.
Oh well, maybe he would be able to solve that mystery later on. For now, he still had to arrange his new home.
He jumped back through the open window (Puks are able to jump higher than thrice their height) and ran back to the little crack in the living room's wall, directly next to the TV.
When he was back inside, he grabbed the end of his pigtail, made a short bow and said the 'Visibility Spell':
"Puk's tummy, Puk's head,
Puk's pigtail, Puk's leg,
Puk's arm and Puk's ear -
Puk Puk Puk - I am here!"
And the little Puk turned visible again.
It was very dark in the little 'cave' behind the walls, but Puks were able to see in the darkness, so Snooze Puk had no problems at all. He walked over to the pile of stuff he had gathered from the Tendo sister's rooms and rummaged through it, to see if there was anything in it he could use for his own purposes.
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(Posted Sun, 21 Jan 2007 17:33)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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