Mousse was pretty surprised when he flew head-first into something soft and shaggy.
After his last (failed) attempt to woo his beloved Shampoo, he had found himself in his duck form, and inside a shoe box that was on its way to Sapporo. He managed to free himself, of course, but he still had to fly all the way back to the main island of Japan... but just when he had covered half of the distance between both islands, his head hit this strange obstacle. It was too soft to be an airplane, and too big to be another bird... so what was it?
"Mom, there's a white duck in the bristles of my broom," a female voice that sounded somewhat familiar spoke up.
"Leave him there for now, dear!" another female, but older-sounding voice replied. "We can't just land in the ocean, and he looks like he's comfortable in there. You did brush Kamikaze before we left, didn't you?"
"Oh yes," the first voice answered back. "I always clean him before any big journey... I would never neglect to take care of him, ever since you gave him to me for my last birthday..."
"Good to hear that," the mother smiled. "You're turning out to be a responsible, young witch, Ranko... now let us not keep your father and brother waiting!"
"I can't wait!" the young girl said in a cheerful voice.
And thus, Mousse was condemned to stay in the bristles of the broomstick he had collided with.
Kasumi Tendo whistled to herself while picking up the daily mail.
"Let's see, we have a bill, a letter from Akari - oh, Katsunishiki's becoming a father - and a letter from Miss Hinako, for father..."
She then looked at the fourth envelope and blinked. "Oh my, this is a cute stamp," she smiled. "It has a little broomstick on it."
"Who's the letter from, sis?" Nabiki asked as she looked over her older sister's shoulder. She was expecting a reply from her last business partner.
"I was just looking, Nabiki," Kasumi replied and turned around the letter. "Let's see... 'Nodoka Saotome...' Oh, Nabiki!" Kasumi was ecstatic. "This must be Auntie Nodoka... I've heard so much about her from Father."
"I've been wondering why Uncle Saotome's wife never came for a visit," Nabiki said. "So, this letter is for Ranma and his father, then?"
"No, it is for Father," Kasumi said. "Oh, since he and Uncle Saotome have gone out, I guess I can open it for him."
She opened the envelope and carefully read the letter. She then smiled. "Nabiki, Auntie says here that she's coming for a visit! It's been a very long time since she saw her son, and she can't wait to see him again. And listen to this: She also brings Ranma's younger sister!"
"Ranma has a sister now?" Nabiki frowned. "Huh, I wonder why he never mentioned it to us..."
"But this is great!" Kasumi smiled. "Oh, I've got so many things to prepare... but Ranma has to learn about this first! Where is he, anyways?"
"Well, he and Akane ran into Kodachi on their way home," Nabiki shrugged. "You can imagine the rest..."
"Oh my... oh well, I will just tell him as soon as he comes back. Still so much to do before they arrive... I hope Father and Uncle Saotome return from the bar they were going to visit..."
"Say, did they say when they wanted to arrive?" Nabiki wondered.
Kasumi looked back at the letter. "Well, she's writing that we should expect them around four o' clock..."
Nabiki looked at her watch and gasped. "Kasumi, that was half an hour ago!"
"Ranko-chan, hurry up! We're already late..."
"I'm sorry, Mom! The little guy's stuck in here..."
Mousse felt like his whole body was stretched to twice its length as the owner of the cute voice tried to pull him out of her broomstick at his feet. But his duck bill had gotten entangled with a few of the bristles, so he was stuck... but finally, with a firm yank, he was pulled free and carefully put on the ground.
A lovely face, surrounded with a corona of red hair, was smiling down at him. The girl was almost as cute as his lovely Shampoo... only that Shampoo would never wear a pointed hat like that, or such unflattering, black robes.
"There you go, little duckie," the red-haired girl smiled. "You're free to go! And don't worry, I'll watch out for flying birds like yourself when I'm flying from now on."
Then Mousse blinked. That face... was that... Saotome? It had to be him, after all, Mousse was wearing his glasses for once. But why did he wear such an outfit? And why was he acting like he didn't know him?
And since when... could he fly on a broomstick?
"Hurry along now, Ranko!" the middle-aged woman next to her shouted. She was waiting impatiently, with another broomstick between her legs. "People are already watching us."
"You don't think they would watch us when we're flying through the sky, Mom?" the young witch giggled. "Don't worry, I'm ready to go..."
"OOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Stay with me, my darling Ranma! You and I, we are meant to be!"
"Forget it, Kodachi! Not this time!"
"Ranma, you jerk! Why are you running after her again?"
"Hey, she's running after ME!"
"Akane, are you picking on Ranchan again?"
Ranko and Nodoka blinked when they saw a scene that looked even weirder than anything they were used to: A girl in a tight leotard was jumping after a pig-tailed boy, swinging around a long ribbon which she tried to use to entangle him. All the while the young man did his best to stay out of her reach, by taking leaps that were longer than any normal human being should be able to take. A couple of other girls were running after them, the first, short-haired one swinging a large mallet around and shouting threats at the boy, while the last girl was carrying a huge spatula on her back.
"Ranma-darling, why are you running from me? Come along and marry me!"
"I'd rather marry your giant alligator, Kodachi!"
"Oh, that can be arranged..."
"And now you're even into bestiality? RANMA NO BAKA!"
"Hey, at least he hasn't started anything with P-chan yet..."
Ranko looked closer at the young man. "Mom? Can it be...?"
"Just a sec, dear..." Nodoka murmured. The older witch reached into her purse and pulled a photo out. She compared the young boy on it with the pig-tailed youngster who was now trying to pull the ribbon out of the gymnastic's grasp, all the while trying to dodge the mallet strikes of the short-haired girl.
Finally, Nodoka nodded. "Yes, this must be him!"
Ranko smiled. "Oniichan! I've waited so long to finally meet him..." Then she frowned. "But what are those nasty girls doing to my big brother?"
"Looks like he is quite popular with the ladies," Nodoka smiled. "Oh, my son... good to see you've become so manly..."
"Well, to me it looks like they are trying to strangle him," Ranko muttered. She took her broom and pushed it into her surprised mother's hands. "Here, Mom, hold onto Kamikaze for a while." And then she turned around and ran towards the scene of the brawl.
"Oniichan, I'll save you!"
The young witch kept her distance, since she could see that all three of the other girls seemed to be quite strong.
But for a witch, that was no problem.
Ranko raised her hands in a dramatic gesture and murmured a magic spell: "NRUT OTNI YNNUB STIBBAR!" And then, she pointed her finger at Akane, Kodachi and Ukyo.
Ukyo was the first one to notice something when her spatula bandoleer fell off. "Hey, what's the matter with this thing?" she grumbled. "That never happened to me!"
She then looked at Akane's face. "Um... Akane, did you always have a mustache?"
The youngest Tendo sister wrinkled her nose. "Huh?" Her hands felt her face... and she blinked when she did not only feel the whiskers that were growing there, but also her buckteeth and the beginning of a slight muzzle. She then looked at Kodachi. "Kodachi... your ears..."
"Are you trying to trick me, Akane Tendo?" Kodachi asked, but she still raised her hands up to her head. She paled. "Wh-what? My beautiful ears... what magic is this?"
Ranko smirked when she saw the long bunny ears that had appeared on the gymnast's face. "That's right!" she grinned. "Magic... at its finest!"
Ranma noticed that something was wrong when his three fiancees were only half as tall as they used to be. They began to slip out of their clothes, and he nearly developed a nosebleed, if not for the fuzzy fur that was spreading on their bodies. They fell down to their feet, and when it was all over, there was just a trio of rabbits sitting around the pig-tailed boy. A black one, a brown one and a dark blue one. They all wrinkled their little noses and looked up at Ranma in confusion.
Ranma could only stare. "Um... Ucchan? Kodachi? A... akane? What happened to you guys?"
Suddenly, he felt himself glomped by a red-haired whirlwind. "ONIICHAN!" someone squealed. "I've saved you from those nasty girls... aren't you glad?"
Ranma looked down... and saw a girl that could almost be his female side, if she wore her hair in a pigtail, and was a couple of years older. "Who... who are you?"
She smiled. "I'm Ranko Saotome, witch-in-training... I'm your little sister!"
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(Posted Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:11)
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