Kodachi was mildly irritated that her spouses had so little confidence in her plan. I simply fail to see why they seem so ready to consign my efforts to failure. Certainly, Tatewaki can be difficult at times, but it is a relatively simple task to manage him once one understands how his mind works. He may seem the traditionalist, but with the right impetus, that traditionalism can be very malleable. Once I reveal the harridan’s true nature to him, I am certain he will cease his endless pursuit of that demonic beast. What will be truly difficult will be the task of gaining him as an ally in our efforts for public acceptance, or rather, as close to acceptance as the public is willing to arrive at in our case.
The scioness of the Kuno clan had just about reached her family’s palatial estate, having been entrusted with the task of ensuring that her relatives’ interference would be kept to a minimum. She, of course, wanted to enlist the aid of her brother, but it was apparent that none of her spouses held their brother-in-law in very high regard, as they all seemed to think her proposal so gargantuan in its ambition as to be doomed from the very outset. She, however, had to live with him, and as such had far more insight into his personal quirks than most.
“Sasuke?” she called out as she walked through her front door.
The diminutive butler/ninja appeared at her side almost immediately. “Yes, Mistress?”
Kodachi couldn’t fully suppress her smile from these words. Even though the context was hardly erotic (especially since she had no physical interest in Sasuke’s body shape) it still felt quite good to be called “Mistress.” Now if only I can convince Akane to do likewise—sans garments, preferably… She was forced to banish this delightful fantasy, however, as she had more pressing matters to attend to. “Is my brother here at the moment? I need to speak with him.”
“I believe he’s currently training in his usual place.”
“Thank you,” Kodachi replied before walking down the halls towards the Kuno family’s private gymnasium.
Ranma sighed as he realized that Kodachi was on her way to talk to her brother. “Well, there she goes. I just hope she knows what she’s doin’.”
This, quite naturally, caught the attention of the one he was traveling with. “What do you mean, Ranma?” asked Akane. “You hope who knows what she’s doing?”
“Kodachi. She’s got this plan ta get Kuno on our side—or at least ta get him ta leave us alone.”
“I know that: she told all of us before we split up, remember?”
“Yeah, I know, but she just left ta try an’ actually talk ta the idiot.”
“Oh. How exactly does she plan on getting him on our side, anyway?”
“Well, I’ve only caught glimpses of her plan so far,” Ranma explained to his wife, “an’ it ain’t exactly easy ta follow, but I think it sorta revolves around usin’ his delusions in our favor, instead of tryin’ ta get rid of them.”
“What delusions could he have that might actually help us?” Akane had always figured that if Tatewaki Kuno’s skewed worldview held any advantages, they would have shown up a long time ago.
“Well, like I said, I ain’t too sure, ’cuz her plan’s real, uh… confusin,’ her husband replied, although he was fairly certain that “confusing” wasn’t quite the word he actually wanted. “But I think a lot of it revolves around the fact that he thinks that the Emperor still has lotsa influence in the government.”
“So if the government approves of the marriage, he’ll think that basically means that the Emperor approves?”
“I guess… but I don’t see how that’s gonna help us. But then, we got other things ta deal with right now.” Ranma stopped walking and waved his hand towards the building in front of them. Akane looked and saw that they had arrived at their destination: the Saotome home, newly rebuilt after the engagement ring fiasco, where Nodoka was likely going about her business, unaware of the momentous news she was about to receive. Well, here goes nuthin’.
Would you like my assistance, Airen? I’m not too far away, and surely I could help convince your mother that you have retained some of your honor, at least in the eyes of my people.
Ranma was actually a little surprised at Shampoo’s sudden offer of help. Um… sure, why not? I ain’t never been too good at gettin’ my point across, so me an’ Akane are gonna need all the help we can get. Come on over as soon as ya have the chance, Shampoo.
I shall do that, Airen.
That conversation finished, Ranma turned his attention towards the family home where he spent so little of his time. He stepped up to the door and knocked. As expected, Nodoka came to the door, and she was overjoyed to see her son. “Ranma! What a surprise!” She then noticed her son’s companion. “And Akane, too! How delightful! Please, come in.”
All three went inside, where the conversation soon resumed. “So what brings the two of you here today?” asked Nodoka with a smile.
Ranma took a deep breath and started in with his plan, which was to present the situation in the best possible light at the beginning. “Well, me an’ Akane managed ta iron things out with the other fiancées, an’ so we got married just ins morning.”
As Ranma half expected, his mother was overjoyed. She rushed forward and hugged her son tightly as she gushed out praise. “Oh, Ranma! I knew you could do it! I knew that eventually you would settle down and choose one of those girls—and I must admit that I think you made a great choice with Akane. I only wish I could have been there to see the ceremony.”
At this, both teenagers became visibly nervous. “Uh, don’t be too sure of that, Mom. I got some bad news, too.”
“Bad news?”
“Yeah, ya see, I never actually settled down an’ picked one of ’em… things happened, and I sorta had end up pickin’ all of them.”
Nodoka looked stunned. “What? What do you mean?”
Here, Akane intervened. “He means that to get around the glitches in Amazon law, he had to have a polygamous Amazon marriage with me, Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Mom,” Ranma said as an apology. Even as he said it, it felt utterly inadequate.
And, as it turned out, it was rather inadequate. “Ranma… how could you do something like this?! You can’t simply take all the women you want as brides. That’s not manly, that’s just selfish! How can you possibly give all of them the attention they deserve?”
“I… I don’t know. Believe me, Mom, this is the last thing I ever wanted ta happen, but there was no other way to keep them from gettin’ hurt.”
“I know you don’t want to hurt their feelings, but—”
“Not that kinda hurt. I mean hurt for real—ya know, physically.”
“What? How on earth could polygamy be necessary to protect these girls?”
“Because Amazon law very strict,” came a voice from the front door. “Pardon Shampoo, door unlocked, let self in.”
“Don’t you usually just make a hole in the wall?” Akane asked.
“Shampoo breaking enough Japanese taboos as is. Why add more?”
“What’s this about Amazon laws?” Nodoka asked in a tone of indignation. “Is this your doing?”
“No—Shampoo explain.”
“Alright,” Nodoka agreed warily. “Tell me just what is going on here, please.”
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(Posted Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:19)
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