It wasn’t the work Ranma hated. Honest work for honest meals, no cheating on payment, no ancient elderly master of some martial arts trying to get something from it; felt pretty good. It was especially good because he had the job at the end of the day since no rival or fiancée had arrived and trashed the job site trying to get at him.
It wasn’t the locals. Though they were a bit weary of him to begin with—and given that demons were apparently quite plentiful around, he could understand their paranoia—but after he helped stop that youkai, they welcomed him with … semi-open arms.
He was still a stranger after all.
The people didn’t belittle him, make plans for him, or any other thing that was a common occurrence in Nerima.
He wasn’t engaged to any of them; a big plus in his book.
They accepted his curse apparently. Not one single guy hit on him when he was a girl. Sure, they looked, but as long at they didn’t touch, he was okay with that … as long as it wasn’t keeping them from doing something he needed done.
No, what was bugging him was that damned youkai energy he had seemed to absorb. Oh no, it couldn’t just stay with demon ears. No, that would have been too simple, not something for someone with apparently an aura that refused to be cleansed. Seriously, how fucked up was his karma? He really wanted to know.
At first, it was his teeth, forming little canines. He started to look like the damned Lost Brother of the damned Lost Boy!
But okay, he could accept that. Surely a jewel that could fix demon ears could fix demon teeth as well.
Then after that, he discovered he now had demon claws as well. But that wasn’t too bad, really helped when he was catching fish and getting fresh lumber. The only downside was that he kept ripping his clothes if he had to itch.
At least he still had human eyes, that was a great thing as far as he was concerned. The rest he could hide if he ever needed to go back to his time for something.
But now he had something else he needed to do.
“Ye wish to turn the youkai’s carcass into armor?” Kaede asked.
Ranma nodded. “Well, if another one shows up, I’d like to have something other than claws to hold it off,” he replied. Truthfully, he just thought it would look cool to have.
“No,” she said. “The demon has already been tossed into the Bone Eater’s well. If ye were to make such armor, the remaining aura within it would attract other youkai to ye in force. Tis why we toss all slain demons into the well.”
Ranma just grumbled. “Just wanted some cool gear, can’t even get that.”
Kaede sighed. While he might be the reincarnation of Inuyasha, it was obvious some traits had transferred from one life to the next.
“Any clue on when this Kagome and her group are gonna show back up here?” he asked, trying to change topics.
For one, you did not anger the provider of free room and board. And the second thing was that since he had no way to find the shards of the magic jewel that was supposed to fix his demon ears, teeth, and claws, he needed to get help from the one that could.
“I was told she would return a week from now,” said Kaede, as she stirred the meal for lunch. “I believe it was because she needed to ‘ace an exam’ were her words.”
Ranma sighed as he sat down. Another week waiting for the magical compass girl to return, and then add to that however long for her to take her test and come back. Why is it magic girls never focus on the magic task they need to do? They always go to school, try and find dates; not once do they just stop that stuff and seriously train to kick the bad guy’s ass.
That was the part delegated to the less magical love interest.
Lazy magic girls…
“After our meal, we shall work on your spiritual skills,” said the priestess, as she checked to see if the stew was ready.
Ranma just nodded, knowing it wasn’t something he could get out of. The woman was pretty good with finding soft spots to whack with that ladle of hers if she didn’t get her way. He would have complained, but once again Reasons #1 and #2 came into play.
Never an attacking demon to kick the boredom when you need one, he grumbled as he held out his bowl.
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(Posted Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:19)
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