Although he made sure only to take what he believed the three sisters would not need anymore, Snooze Puk had not had much time when collecting stuff for his new little home. Therefore, he still had to see if there was anything suitable for his needs at all.
But he found something, among the things he had collected from Akane's room:
"Doll's shoes!" he shouted in joy. He really was lucky. The humans always tend to throw away such things so quickly. But shoes that were made for the feet of a doll might just fit the tiny feet of a Puk as well.
He tried them on. They were a little bit too big, but once he stuffed them with some paper, they fit.
He also built a nice bed, made of a shoe box, some thread and an old bra from Kasumi, which didn't fit her anymore. In the end, he looked at something that he always wanted to have: a swinging bed.
Dangling from the 'ceiling' of his little cave, it could swing back and forth, bound by the straps of the bra. He only had to use a few old oven cloths to pad out the bottom of the box. He could also use a few as a blanket.
After selecting a few other things from the big pile of stuff, Snooze Puk yawned. Was it already noon? Normally, a Puk would already be asleep by now, for the night was the Puk's day.
He was just going to jump into his bed, when he heard the sound of the front door, and the voices of the three other teenagers, as they came home from school.
He decided to stay up for just a little while, so he could listen to them. Perhaps he could learn something new about their culture...
He walked back towards the small crack in the wall, bowed and grabbed his pigtail, to say the 'Invisibility Spell':
"Summer, Winter, Fall and Spring,
Bees will buzz and birds will sing,
North and South and West and East...
Puk Puk Puk! You'll see the least!"
And Snooze Puk turned invisible again.
----
"How was school today?" Nodoka asked, out of the kitchen. "Did something unusual happen?"
"Nuthin' much," Ranma shrugged. "Kuno's still didn't come to school - can't say I miss him. Oh yeah, Ukyo wanted to give me some lunch, and she and Akane almost fought again."
"Akane, you shouldn't fight at school," Kasumi scolded her younger sister.
"Well, is it my fault?" Akane grumbled. "Ukyo doesn't have to be so smug about her cooking skills... I can do better than her anyway."
"Uh-huh..." Nabiki doubtfully raised an eyebrow. "Well, how did the conflict end?"
Ranma smirked. "Miss Hinako arrived... with a big appetite. Soon after, not much of Ucchan's meal was left. I kinda felt sorry for her."
"Oh my! I suppose Ukyo wasn't too happy about that."
"True, but she's smart enough not to threaten a child-like teacher that can absorb her battle aura with a single coin."
In the meantime, Nabiki had taken a look at today's mail. As the caretaker of the families' finances, she was usually the first one to have a look at the daily mail.
After a few minutes, she let out a deep groan.
"What happened, Nabiki?" Akane asked her sister.
"Something I've been afraid of for a long time now..." the middle Tendo sister sighed. "You wanna hear the long story or the short version?"
"Um... make that the short version," Akane replied.
"Okay... Guys, the problem is: We're broke!"
"Come again?"
"It's true," Nabiki said and threw an empty envelope on the table. "This just arrived today... our latest bank statements. As you might know, all the money we had in the family's cash box during the past few months was only the income from MY private little business transactions... Neither of our parents got any job - no offense, auntie!"
"None taken," Nodoka sighed. "But you are right, I always asked Genma why he didn't take a job... What do you have to say for yourself, husband?"
SPLASH!
'I'm just a cute lil' panda.'
Nodoka groaned.
"And what about you, Dad?" Nabiki asked. "The dojo isn't really a good way to earn money, is it? We haven't had a formal challenger for months."
"Well, what do you expect me to do?" Soun asked, taken aback. "I never learned anything than martial arts."
"Not a very good excuse," Nabiki scoffed. "Try again."
"WHAAAAAAH!" The Niagara Falls were flowing again. "My daughter is doubting me. WHAAAAAAH!"
Ranma sweat-dropped. "I don't think those two would be much of a help..."
"But this is truly a serious situation we're in..." Nodoka pondered. "If we don't find a way to make some quick money, I fear we won't have much left..."
"I already calculated the amount of money we have left at the end of the month, even if we step short." Nabiki shook her head. "I'm afraid it won't be enough for the rest of the year, even if I manage to gain a little more through my connections."
She looked at the other members of the Tendo and Saotome families seriously. "We might... have to sell the house."
Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
"Na-nabiki!" Akane stuttered. "You can't be serious... can you?"
"'Fraid so," Nabiki shrugged. "There's not much I can do about it, sis, sorry!"
"WHAAAAAAH!" Soun wailed. "My daughter is going to sell the dojo!"
'What about the school?' Genma-Panda signed. 'How are we going to continue the school if there is no dojo left?'
"Damn..." Ranma muttered. "There's gotta be SOMETHING we can do..."
Suddenly, Kasumi smiled. "I guess we're in luck, then... With our new Puk living underneath our roof, something good is about to happen."
Akane stared at her sister. "Our new... what?"
----
Snooze Puk had listened to the entire conversation, sitting on the ceiling lamp. He had been a little bit startled when the Saotome father had suddenly turned into a panda, but the financial problems of the family made him worry even more.
While he was glad that Nodoka and Kasumi seem to know something about Puks - and he was happy about the confidence they were having in him - he really had no idea how to prevent this disaster.
Dang! And he already felt at home in this nice household. Everyone was so nice... Okay, Akane might have a bit of a temper sometimes, and the fathers weren't quite the most trustworthy humans... but still, this was HIS new family, and he somehow had to help them.
"I have to visit the Library Puk tonight," he decided. "He must know of a way how we Puks can help those families. And afterwards, we have to go and see the Chief Puk. This calls for an Extraordinary Puk Meeting."
Snooze Puk felt confident enough that the other Puks might be able to help the Tendo household, so he went to sleep.
Soon enough, he was snoozing peacefully in his new swinging bed and snored gently through his knobby nose.
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(Posted Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:29)
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