{What do you care? You’d like it if I was banished, you think then you’d have me all to yourself! Well, you are …} She broke off her rant at the sound of a knock on the front door, and hurried over to throw it open.
Ranma and Akane stepped through, followed by Nabiki and Kasumi. “Hey, Shampoo, good ta see ya. It’s been awhile.”
Xian Pu restrained her urge to glomp the redheaded girl and settled for a nod. “True, Great-grandmother keep Shampoo at restaurant after Mercenary Girl tell about visit to dojo.”
Akane’s eyebrows rose at that. Turning to her sister, she said, “You knew before we told you and Kasumi?”
Waving off her younger sister’s suspicion, Nabiki said airily, “My room’s right next to yours, and you guys weren’t as quiet as you could have been.”
“Right …” Ranma said, rolling her eyes. Finally, she shrugged and turned back to Xian Pu. “So, where’s the ol’ ghoul?” she asked, and Xian Pu waved them toward the door to the back rooms of the café.
“Come this way,” she said, and Nabiki frowned slightly at the worry and anger Xian Pu was unable to completely hide.
Ku Lon looked up from her place between two other Amazon women as shriveled and whitened by the years as she was as the six teenagers walked into the small private kitchen in the café’s private quarters. “Ah, good, you’re here,” she said, standing on her seat and bowing to her visitors, sending a questioning look at Kasumi. From Kasumi, her gaze swept across the other teens, pausing on Akane and widening slightly. Shaking herself, she continued, “Allow me to present the elders who have come to witness the ceremonies.”
Bowing to the elder on her right, Ku Lon said, “This is the honored elder Pa Fum.” Then turning to her left, she said, “And this is the honored elder Sah Lon.” The two elders nodded slightly, faces expressionless.
Nabiki heard a strangled growl, and looked to her left to see Xian Pu fighting to suppress a snarl. Leaning over to the purple-haired girl, she whispered, “Let me guess, they’re being deliberately rude.”
Xian Pu nodded slightly. “Yes, very rude.”
Smirking, Nabiki whispered, “Good, then they ought to appreciate the little surprise I set up for them.”
Xian Pu looked at Nabiki out of the corner of her eye, then smiled tightly. “Shampoo look forward to that.”
Ku Lon sent the two a quelling look as she turned to the two elders to introduce the teens. “You know the Godslayer and Akane from their time in the village, of course …”
Ranma fought to suppress a yawn as she stood in the middle of the café’s cleared out dining room before a line of the three elders, naked as the day she was born, listening to one of the new ones whose name she’d already forgotten go on and on about the greatness and faithfulness of the Champion to a people not her own, her fidelity to her own sisters even to the extent of deliberately drowning herself to give them even the slightest chance at freedom.... The same story the ol’ ghoul told us, only more than I ever wanted ta know.
Sighing slightly, fighting an urge to scratch at the bandage on her hand where’d they’d drawn blood for the Oath of Battle Sisters, the redhead glanced to her left, where Kasumi and Akane stood along the wall, Akane worried and still a little angry that she wasn’t standing in Nabiki’s place behind Ranma and slightly to the left, and trying to hide both emotions; Kasumi seemingly her usual serene self but giving off little signs of tension only recognizable to those that knew her well as she clutched at Ranma’s clothing.
Giving the two Tendos a faint reassuring smile, the redhead glanced over to her right where two Amazon warriors no one had bothered to introduce reclined against the wall alongside MuTse, and Ranma’s lips tightened at the two warriors’ obvious disdain for what they were watching. Nabiki was right, she thought, her gaze hardening. They’re usin’ us fer their own little games.
Behind Ranma, Nabiki smirked slightly as she followed Ranma’s gaze and saw the two nameless ones tense up. Ranma’s got their attention, good. Maybe they’re beginning to realize we aren’t as stupid as they thought. Focusing her attention back on the blathering idiot masquerading as an Elder, she noted that the storyteller was reaching the end and about to ask the all-important question. Both Nabiki and Xian Pu, standing beside her, gently jabbed Ranma in the ribs, making the redheaded girl jerk slightly. “Eyes front, you’re on! Remember your line,” Nabiki hissed, and nodded slightly as Ranma focused back on Elder Sah Lon in the middle of the three.
“Ranma, this is the example of she who has gone before you,” the elder intoned. “If you prove to be her Chosen One, will you take her example to heart and follow in her footsteps, as a refuge for her sisters and an ally of the tribe?”
“Yes,” Ranma responded with the line Nabiki had forced her to memorize that afternoon. “I will protect the weak, as I always have, and I will accept the offer of alliance with the Joketsuzoku in the spirit in which it is offered.” With that, she smirked as Elder Sah Lon started slightly.
Beside her compatriot, Elder Pa Fum glanced over at Nabiki, her lips thinning at the middle Tendo’s hard-eyed stare, then her eyes widened slightly when Nabiki’s gazed shifted momentarily to Ku Lon and back with a cynical smile. Good, Nabiki thought, message received — the alliance is with those that offered it in good faith, and them only. You get to go back to your pissant village with Ku Lon free to return with the Godslayer for an ally, her heir freed of the burden of the Kisses and now the battle sister of that same Godslayer, and you with nothing to show for it. Have fun explaining this to the rest of your little clique.
Meanwhile, Elder Sah Lon paused and glanced over at her partner, then started when Ku Lon elbowed her in the ribs.
“Not the exact phrase of the ritual, but certainly an acceptable deviation,” Ku Lon said, carefully hiding her amusement at the byplay she’d just witnessed. “Any alliance is two-sided, after all — and I’m sure the Council will see it that way. Continue.”
Sah Lon glanced again at Pa Fum, then on receiving a frustrated nod sighed and said, “Very well. May the waters of the Faithful One seal our alliance and reveal if the Champion once again walks the earth!”
With that, Xian Pu and Nabiki stepped back and to the side, joining the other two unnamed Amazon warriors standing by a small barrel of water. The two warriors grasped the handles at the top of the barrel and lifted it, advancing directly behind the petite redhead. Nabiki and Xian Pu grabbed the handles at the bottom of the barrel, the latter careful because of her own bandaged hand from the Oath of Battle Sisters, and tilted the barrel until the water inside cascaded over Ranma’s head.
For a long moment, nothing happened. The two elders and the Tendo sisters against the wall relaxed, but Xian Pu and Nabiki had their eyes on Ku Lon and the ancient Elder continued to stare intensely at Ranma. Then suddenly, the soaked, naked redhead clutched at her stomach, doubling over and falling to her knees in the middle of the puddle with a groan. Akane jolted forward, only to be intercepted by Nabiki and Xian Pu. “Wait for it,” her sister whispered to the almost frantic girl, nodding to Ku Lon. “It isn’t over yet, she’ll know when, and it could be dangerous for Ranma if you interfere.” The matriarch had continued to stare at Ranma, not moving even as her fellow elders had stepped back in shock. The dining room was completely silent except for Ranma’s strangled groans.
Abruptly, Ranma shot up straight, still on her knees, face pointed at the ceiling, and shrieked as streams of almost blinding light sprang from every orifice, from her ears, her eyes, from two tiny spots on her forehead. Through watering eyes, the Tendo sisters, Xian Pu, and the two warriors that had helped with the barrel watched in amazement as a line of red fur ran down Ranma’s neck, spread across her shoulders, then in a matter of seconds in a ‘V’ down her back to her tailbone. As soon as the spreading fur reached her tailbone, a red-furred, spade-tipped tail erupted, growing rapidly to four feet in length, and Ranma’s back arched, her ongoing scream intensifying, as bat-like wings also covered in short red fur erupted from her shoulder blades and rapidly spread out to her full length on each side.
Just as suddenly as it had started, the light show ended and Ranma collapsed onto her side, gasping in deep, shuddering breaths. Akane broke free of her sister and Xian Pu and dashed to her lover, dropping to her knees and pulling Ranma up into her lap. “Ranma, are you okay, say something, please!” Akane babbled, half-sobbing, and Ranma wearily lifted her head and looked up at the blacked-haired girl clutching at her, two tiny bone-white horns clearly visible on her forehead at the spots from which the beams of light had emanated.
“A-Akane?” Ranma gasped out, and suddenly her eyes sharpened and she slowly sat up. Akane gasped and fell silent at the impact of Ranma’s gaze, and then Nabiki was there pulling Ranma away from her and Xian Pu and Mu Tse each grabbed an arm of the youngest Tendo.
Nabiki ignored Akane’s shouted demands to be let go and grabbed the pants and shirt a wide-eyed Kasumi handed her as she hauled Ranma to her feet. “Ranma, look at me,” she ordered as Ranma began to turn toward Akane. “Remember what I told you before we came here, look at me!” Reluctantly, Ranma turned toward Nabiki, and the middle Tendo gasped slightly at the impact of the newly-birthed succubus’s gaze. Forcing herself to ignore the sudden warm attraction she felt, she stared into Ranma’s eyes. “Good, now focus, remember what you look like, pull up that image, cover yourself with it!”
“Right!” Ranma gasped, and closed her eyes. For a long moment nothing happened, and then Ranma’s form seemed to fluctuate, blurring like an out-of-focus camera pointed at a funhouse mirror, her height and breadth wavering, her hair color shifting back and forth between black and red even as the wings and tail shrank into Ranma’s torso and vanished. Abruptly the blurring ceased and the redheaded girl stood before the two older Tendos.
Nabiki sagged with relief and handed a dazed Ranma the clothing. Moving slowly, almost as if she were surrounded by water, Ranma pulled on the pants and shirt, and Nabiki frantically pulled her toward the café’s front door. Opening the door, she shoved the still-dazed redhead out onto the sidewalk. “Now, take a walk, a long one,” she said. “Remember, what I told you, you aren’t safe around women right now, avoid them like the plague. Don’t come back here or to the dojo until you’re safe.”
“But … but how will I know?” Ranma asked, and Nabiki sighed.
You’ll know,” she said softly, “now go.”
Ranma nodded and turned away down the sidewalk, her weaving walk slowly straightening out. Nabiki watched her for a few moments, then glanced up at the roof of the building across the street and smiled in satisfaction as she saw a dark figure briefly silhouetted against the night sky as it leaped across the alley to the next building over.
Turning back into the dining room, Nabiki sighed at the sight of a frantically struggling Akane lying on the floor, actually bound up in one of Mu Tse’s chains and held down by the two Amazon teenagers. Walking over to her younger sister, she crouched down next to her. “You can stop, Ranma’s gone and won’t be back for awhile. Good thing, too — if Ranma’s going to find herself next to a corpse, I’d rather it wasn’t yours.”
Akane stopped struggling and stared at her sister. “Corpse?” she asked hesitantly, and Nabiki stood up, looking around at Ku Lon.
“You know how this works a lot better than I do, why don’t you explain it?” Then Nabiki’s eyes sharpened as she noticed some absences. “Hey, where’d the other Amazons go?”
Ku Lon chuckled dryly. “They had a sudden need to return to the village as soon as possible. They left to pack so that they could start their journey tonight.”
Nabiki smirked. “And of course you’ll beat them back, even when they have a head start.”
“Of course. It is only right that the one who best knows the situation and its causes report first to the Council,” Ku Lon replied blandly, then turned to Xian Pu. “Great-granddaughter, you will need to remain here and give your battle sister whatever support she will accept as she adjusts to her new form and needs.”
Xian Pu nodded vigorously. “Of course, Great-grandmother! Honored Elder leave scrolls about Champion?”
Ku Lon nodded, then turned to Mu Tse. “And you will be returning with me to the village, to act as a corroborating witness.” Mu Tse stiffened, opening his mouth as his face twisted with anger, only to freeze when he suddenly found the matriarch’s staff pressed against his chest. “You will do this, Part-timer,” Ku Lon growled. “If you comport yourself properly you may be allowed to return, but interference in the relationship between battle sisters, especially champion battle sisters, will see you banished from the tribe at best.”
“What needs?! What’s going on?! Let me out!” a red-faced Akane shouted, resuming her struggles, only to freeze as the matriarch turned to her, her expression gentle and eyes sad.
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(Posted Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:45)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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