"I personally don't see why you've complaining about this whole matter, Oyaji. After all, if you'd only listened to the guide before trying to drag me on top of those stupid balance poles, you might've avoided becoming a panda."
"Growf!" A sign was then raised. [YOU GOT CURSED, TOO!]
"And if you rather noticed, I made sure I got a cure for it," Ranma then said before he glanced at the beautiful red-haired girl walking beside him, she dressed like he in a Mandarin tang and workout pants. "Lucky thing we found out about the Nánnìquán while we visited the Nujiézú village so we could deal with the curse. All you had to do was listen to Elder Kelun . . . "
[STUPID BOY! I TOLD YOU NOT TO LISTEN TO THOSE WOMEN!] Genma-panda furiously signed as he tried to glare at Ranma and his magically-born "sister."
The girl sighed. "Elder Kelun and Eva-sensei were right all along, Nii-chan. Oyaji is nothing more than a misogynist jerk!" She then glared at the black-and-white bear following them as they walked down the streets of Nerima in the general direction of the Tendou doojou. "If he didn't want to take advantage of going back to the springs and jumping into the Nánnìquán to get rid of his stupid curse, that's his problem, not ours."
Genma-panda froze for a second, his beady eyes as wide as saucers on hearing Kanami (that was the name Ranma had given his new sister; it meant "beautiful gold") mention the name of the child sorceress his stupid son had met on the several occasions he went over to the Mahora Academy. [STUPID GIRL!] he signed at her. [I TOLD YOU NEVER TO SAY THAT EVIL WOMAN'S NAME! SHE'S JUST AS BAD AS THE MASTER!]
"Who?! Happoosai?!" Kanami preened.
Genma wailed as he started to make warding signs with his hands . . . and given that a panda's forepaws weren't as dexterous as human hands, that he was able to make readable signs was quite amazing to both Ranma and Kanami. [DON'T SAY THE MASTER'S NAME, IDIOT GIRL! YOU'LL BRING HIM RIGHT TOO US!]
"Shall we start the chant, Nii-chan?" Kanami asked.
"Hai, Nee-chan!" Ranma affirmed with a nod.
Both then leapt up to the nearest telephone poles and ran off down the street, yelling out together, "EVA-CHAN! EVA-CHAN! EVA-CHAN! EVA-CHAN!"
Genma-panda groaned as he tried to race after them.
"AH-CHOO!"
"Bless you, Eva!" Takamichi called out. "Are you alright?!"
The child-like day-walker vampire/magi groaned as she rubbed her nose, and then she muttered out, "Booya's talking about me, I think."
"Master, do you wish me to locate Ranma-san and bring him here?" Chachamaru automatically offered.
"Might have to do it, knowing that fool he was born from," Evangeline grumbled. "Especially now."
"Hai."
[STUPID BOY! STUPID GIRL! STOP SAYING THAT EVIL WOMAN'S NAME!]
Kanami laughed as she leapt safely clear of the swung stop sign Genma had tried to use to knock her out. Given that he now had two children to deal with instead of one -- and with one of them being a girl of all things! -- it was much harder for him to keep control over his son and heir, especially now that he had sent a postcard to his old training partner announcing their return to Japan so the engagement could get underway and their retirements could be assured. "Make me, Oyaji!" she jeered at him.
Genma grunted as he tried to charge at her -- which left his back wide open for Ranma to dive-bomb on him from dead astern. A solid-placed kick sent the portly panda flying back onto the streets, making him slam into concrete head-first. Once he was down and out, the Saotome twins stared at him, and then they exchanged a grin before they charged off.
Away from the Tendou doojou, of course.
"You wanna go through a marriage with any of the sisters, Nii-chan?" Kanami asked as they quickly cut across the ward towards the local subway station so they could get a ride to Ohmiya, the JR station in Saitama city that had a branch line that led straight to Mahora.
"After we married Chisame?! What do you think, Nee-chan?!"
Kanami blinked, and then a frown crossed her face. Ranma was quick to notice. "Hey, Nee-chan, cut it out, okay?!" he assured her as he patted her shoulder. "We got all the stuff we need; the Elder made sure of it before we left the village. Chisame's a smart girl! And we got Eva-sensei, Takamichi and Negi to help out, too. Once we get it set up, you won't be alone anymore!"
Kanami heard that, and then she brightened as they raced for the nearest subway station.
"Chachamaru-dono, where are you going?"
Chachamaru blinked on hearing that question, and then she turned to see Nagisa Kaede standing there, she accompanied by the Narutaki twins; the three members of the Walking Club had been out to do a mid-day constitutional before they returned to classes. "Master believes Ranma-san might have requirement of our assistance in returning to Mahora and Chisame-san. I was ordered by Master to locate Ranma-san and return him to Mahora as quickly as possible."
The ninja took that in, and then she perked as the twins stared teary-eyed at her. "Kaede-nee, you can help bring Ranma-nii back, can't you?" Fuuka asked.
"You'll help bring Ranma-nii back, won't you?!" Fumika pleaded.
Kaede smiled. "Hai, hai, you two! Of course I'll help!"
"YAY!" the twins cheered.
Making it to Nerima Kasuga-chou station on the Toei Ooedo line, Ranma and Kanami laughed as they quickly bought tickets, and then made their way onto a train that would take them to Shinjuku station. Once there, it was a quick transfer to the Yamanote line to Ueno, a hop onto the Toohoku Shinkan-sen for the short trip to Ohmiya, and then the Mahora line for the final trip to Mahora-joochuugakkou station. As they moved to sit down in one of the cars, they looked back towards the stairs leading to the upper landing, where the security gates were located. As the car pulled away from the station heading south, their grins widened as they watched the station vanish behind them. No sign of a running panda with a backpack chasing them.
"We ditched him, Nee-chan!" Ranma said.
Both breathed out. "Thank the gods we did!" Kanami said as she leaned against her brother's shoulder. Ever since they wound up split thanks to Ranma's accidentally jumping into the Shuangshengémìquán at Jusenkyou -- that being soon followed (with some smart advice from Cologne) by Ranma's diving into the Nánnìquán to rid himself of his gender-changing curse and Kanami diving into the Niángnìquán to freeze herself as a girl -- Kanami had got the full brunt of Genma's scorn. Never mind that their mother Nodoka would gladly welcome having a daughter into her life (especially in the wake of Ranma's marrying Hasegawa Chisame in December), never mind that Kanami was just as skilled as Ranma in the Art, never mind that Ranma himself welcomed having a sister in his life . . . oh, no! It was certainly not the least bit kosher to Saotome Genma.
And now, with this whole fool "engagement" to the Tendous . . .!
"Nii-chan?"
"Hai, Nee-chan?"
"Why Chiu of all people?"
Ranma took a moment to consider that point, and then he smiled. "We needed her, Nee-chan," he said as the train passed Toshima-en station. "There were a lot of folks in Negi's class who were just as free-spirited as we were." He always used the first-person plural terms when he spoke of the time before he and Kanami were split apart thanks to the waters of Jusenkyou's Drowned Twins Spring. "Kaede, Mana, Asuna, Haruna, Kazumi . . .! Heck, even a girl as polite and formal as Setsuna or as quiet and secretive as Zazie. Of that whole lot, only Chiu keeps herself grounded in reality; she only lets her hair down when she's alone and able to do stuff on her web page. She taught us to do the same thing when we dated her. How not to act like a total braggart like we used to do before Mom dragged Oyaji's butt back home so she could find out what had happened to us during the big trip. It certainly saved us when Oyaji ate Shan's victory feast, remember?"
Kanami laughed. "Yeah, it sure did!" she mused as she remembered her blood-sister, the woman she -- when she and Ranma were still one -- might have been forced to fight on the challenge log in the Nujiézú village hadn't Chisame's and Kasumi's etiquette lessons come back to them. That had won them many brownie points with Shanpú's tribe, especially when the glaring social differences between Ranma (plus Kanami when she became her own person) and Genma became obvious.
Of course, being good friends with the son of the famed Thousand Master -- to say ANYTHING of being a student of the legendary Dark Evangel, the magi the Nujiézú had adopted as an honorary sister after she had saved many of them from a Musk attack a century before -- earned the Saotome siblings many more brownie points.
Especially with the woman they looked on as another sensei, Elder Nu Kelun.
"Still got the letters?" Kanami asked.
Ranma immediately opened his pack to stare in a special compartment stitched into it by one of the many craftsmen living in the village. Looking inside, he smiled on seeing the three letters encased there. One to Negi, one to Evangeline and one to the dean of the Mahora Academy and leader of the Kantou Magical Association, Konoka's grandfather Konoe Konoemon. Zipping the pack back up again, he nodded at Kanami, and then they relaxed as they arrived at Shin-Egota station.
Shinjuku was just another seven stops away.
Meanwhile . . .
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(Posted Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:51)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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