“Thank you, Kasumi-san,” replied Ranma, bowing gently towards the eldest Tendo daughter who had shown him to the upper guest room.
For some unknown reason, when offered to Genma as well, the man had stared at Ranma’s cats, sweated, and then asked Soun if he could use the last free room on the first floor, allowing his son to have his privacy.
She had no idea the two cats had given Genma several telepathic images of what ‘might’ happen if he stayed in the same room as Ranma. The large man hadn’t shared a tent with his son since his snoring had kept the Goddesses awake all night.
The vengeance of sleep-deprived gods was cruel and entertaining.
“Oh, it was no problem at all,” Kasumi smiled. “The futons are in the left closet as well as some blankets and a pillow. Do you need anything else?” she asked.
Shaking his head, Ranma declined her offer. “Just give me a bit to settle in and directions to the furo. I smell like burnt panda.”
He didn’t know what to make of her giggles, but let it pass. She didn’t give off that ‘dangerous’ vibe.
“It is down the hall past the family room and Father’s room,” she offered.
“Then I shall be down shortly,” Ranma said with a smile. “Do you need my help? I’m quite the cook and I don’t mind helping out with chores.”
“But you’re a guest!” she gasped.
“So?” shrugged Ranma. “I don’t know how long the old man will insist we stay here, but I don’t want to be a drain if I can help it.”
“Well, I’ll let you know,” she replied demurely. Sure, it wasn’t proper, but neither was turning down a guest’s request. “I’ll make sure there are some bathing supplies waiting for you in the Outer Bath.”
As soon as she was gone, the door shut, Ranma sighed heavily.
“You know,” said Bastet with a devious smile, “you should just pick her.”
“May I remind you, Sister, that this plan was concocted by his father. Choosing one at this time would not be a wise decision.”
Bastet could only snort. Really, it was as if her sister was against their charge ever being with the fairer sex. “He’ll have to pick one eventually.” Moreover, the sooner he picked one, the sooner he could finally know the pleasures of the fairer sex, and the sooner she could begin ‘teaching’ him more things.
No charge of hers would be so unskilled in one of the more important Arts!
“Ah, but which one?” asked Sekhmet. “We know Genma has made several promises of engagement. And despite your well vocalized feelings, the majority of humanity is against polygamy.”
Bastet just shook her head. She could suppose it was a holdover from when ‘till death do we part’ was measured in at most a few decades, instead of closer to a century. Probably wouldn’t have happened if more women just took more husbands. She’d been part of the revolution for female equality. She even burned her bra … or would have had she ever wore one.
Ah, America had been so much fun at that time. Free love, good brownies, kick-ass music, and the true believers who understood that ‘make love, not war’ was a way of life, not an excuse to spend the following decades higher than the moon.
Ranma ignored their chatter, well use to the debates the two would have, as he marked out the room, pulling several crystals out of his inner pocket and placing them about. Once set, they would fuse to the wall, floor, and ceiling, making the room the safest place around. No thieves, no father, no nosy girl who seemed interested in his possible ability to make gems and valuable metals could break in or steal his notes.
He was half-tempted to magically expand the room, but without a stable mana-tap to power it, it would drain his own reserves. Sure, a great way to build up one’s reserves was to have it constantly drained. However, if he ever needed the energy for a long fight or a powerful spell, the expansion would collapse and his stuff would either be crushed back into the original space or vanish.
“Ranma, could you explain to my sister why you did not ‘simply pick one and try her out’?” asked Sekhmet, exhaustion in her voice.
Smirking, the pigtailed warrior-mage sent some power into his crystals, activating the barrier. Now, the only way some could enter the room was with his permission and only if he was in there, aside from the Goddesses—mortal magic was not an issue for them most of the time. No sense letting advanced magic or martial arts techniques be stolen.
“I don’t know them at all,” Ranma replied. “And given the fact that little decision seemed to upset the Old Man, I have to wonder what he’ll do to try and speed it up.” The last thing he wanted to do was get caught in a contract with a woman he’d only end up despising in the future, especially after all the harping the two Goddesses had done to him about such issues of ‘poor contract detail’.
“He probably wishes for you to decide and enter into a marriage before any of those he has promised arrive,” supplied Sekhmet. “He rightly feels that your continued presence in one area will allow those whom he has cheated to locate you quickly.”
“Probably will,” replied Ranma, reaching into the closet to pull out the futon and set it up near the window. At the very least, he would have to drag it near the path of the sunlight during any activities he did where the observant eyes of his watchers could lounge and stay warm. They may have been Goddesses, but they were also cats, and cats loved to sleep in the sunlight. “Can’t worry about all his mistakes; just make sure they don’t hit me when they blow up.”
“They will,” sighed Sekhmet. “He seems to excel at dodging responsibility. And I fear many of those who would track him would not be calmed by you simply saying ‘not my problem’.”
Ranma nodded. “So worrying at the moment gets me nothing. I’ve already had a few plans available to me if, and when, they show up thanks to that Drow truth spell.” Looking around, he pointed at the door. “Speaking of Drow spells…
“Nec'perya yulul.” He smirked as the black glow of the spell that granted the prize of sanctuary spread across the door, highlighting the tiles in the roof and finally settled on the window and closets.
“Nice work,” stated Bastet, looking at the frames of the door and closets. “Sealed without being deadly, great variant. And the double layer of spells adds security without clashing with the different mana flows.”
“You have expanded into shadow magic?” asked Sekhmet, observing the window.
“A little,” shrugged Ranma, grabbing a change of clothes. “Never know if that demon will come back. I might want to set some stuff up around the property to deal with things like him.” He still couldn’t believe the large monstrosity he had battled at the temple, where he summoned Bastet and Sekhmet all those years ago, was still somehow tracking him, coming back stronger and faster than before. Luckily, the last time Ryoga had helped him defeat it, as well as a more powerful variant of the Sparkler Nova: the Flash Nova. But the thing knew Ranma could pull of purification magic. An ace up the sleeve was always a good plan, aside from the Toueihouseki.
His hand went to clutch said crystal, now in the form of a pendant around his neck, under his shirt. It was extending the time he needed to have it fully powered, but better an extra month than dead in a second.
“And now a nice hot bath.”
Blinking, he slowly looked down at Bastet. “You’re coming too?”
“Hey, just because I spend all day as a cat doesn’t mean I can’t take a warm soak?”
“Need I remind you that the last time you insisted on that, I was banned from that bath house in Shanghai?”
“That one time,” grumbled the Goddess.
“As much as I am loathed to agree with my sister on this point,” interrupted Sekhmet, “we need a bath as much as you do. And I would hardly consider the Tendo bathroom as the same situation.”
“What with someone setting a panda on fire,” Bastet said with a smile.
Sighing, Ranma used his free hand to rub his forehead. He had no choice; that was certain. No matter if he pointed out the small matter that as Goddesses, they had the power to clean themselves instantly, would garner no results.
“Just because we have an easy way doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the hard way.”
Opening the door, he began to mentally review any privacy spell and locking spell he knew. He didn’t know why, but he felt he was going to need them.
He was partially wrong.
His spells had stopped no less than two attempts to enter the Outer Bathroom, one of which seemed to have taken five minutes before the person got the hint to leave. Apparently, the sign that said ‘In Use’ was not something people cared to read.
Good to know for future bathes.
He had also forgotten one thing, the reason he had been banned from that one bathhouse.
“Ranma, could you please get my back?”
He had forgotten that Bastet insisted they wash together. And it wasn’t as if he could tell a Goddess ‘no’ after all.
Even now, he being a she, didn’t spare her from the Goddess’s teasing.
“Oh, I love when you do that?” purred Bastet, as Ranma scrubbed her back.
Sekhmet sighed as she continued her own scrubbing. Her sister really needed to go get laid. And she wasn’t going to get that from Ranma until he had gotten it from a mortal first.
Ranma had no idea his lessons about contracts came from mostly Bastet complaining about having made that one.
“Could you not do that?” Ranma asked, knowing it was futile.
“I could help you with yours?” Bastet responded with a smirk.
Of course, there lied the Catch-22; not only could Bastet not admit to Ranma about the contract, neither could Sekhmet, thus perhaps offering their pigtailed charge a mental buffer about why Bastet was teasing him as such. “I already got her back, dear sister,” answered Sekhmet, causing said woman to pout.
“But I wanted to!”
Rinsing her hands under the facet, Ranma could only chuckle weakly. Sometimes, they were the most serious beings she had ever met. Other times, it was like a pair of small kids.
Crossing the room, she slowly sank into the furo, feeling the change as the chaos magic shifted her female form to his male form, the change literally instantaneous unless one knew how to watch. If not, the shift took place faster than the normal human eye could perceive.
A grateful sigh escaped his lips as he sunk lower into the hot water, enjoying as his muscles began to relax. The last few weeks had been on the road, back from China, making their way here. Bathing in rivers, creeks, or not at all were their only options, as his father had wanted to arrive as quickly as possible.
But to be able to relax, without others—somewhat—around, no father badgering him to hurry, no grumbling of half-plastered adults complaining about their jobs, their families, their ‘others’, no odd smells made by odd people, and most of all, no worrying about changing to his female form around such people. All that there was now was simple peace and quiet, a relaxing soak.
Soaking in a tub … that was being magically expanded according to his senses. Oh no…
“Ah, this is great!” cheered Bastet as she settled into the furo, soaking in the heat. “This is what I miss about Egypt, the heat.”
Sekhmet nodded. She too missed the heat, especially when compared to the Japanese winters, the cold waters. Not that a warrior like her would complain, but when one grew up in a climate that was always warm, colder climates took a while to get used to. So hot bathes were something to be enjoyed. That was unless of course Bastet decided to—
“Kanpai!” Bastet cheered.
The warrior Goddess and mortal both slowly opened their eyes, spying Baste now holding an empty saucer, a bottle of sake on a small floating tray in the water. “Did you not learn anything from Shanghai, Sister?”
“Yes, that they have no sense of humor,” Bastet replied, before producing two more saucers. “Join me!”
“Do we have a choice?” asked Ranma.
“Have we ever,” sighed Sekhmet, knowing what the plan was all about. Bastet hoped Ranma would be more ‘free’ with alcohol. And it was such a nice soak too…
“I can’t believe them!” Akane growled.
The trio of sisters were meeting in what was to become ‘Uncle Genma’s’ room as Kasumi set it up.
“Which one, little sister?” asked Nabiki, sitting against the wall and reading a manga.
“All of them! How could they just expect us to drop everything and marry someone like … like him?”
“Oh, Ranma isn’t that bad,” Kasumi spoke as she set out the futon and put some sheets on it. The two fathers were drinking right now, and if Uncle Genma was anything like their father, they wouldn’t stop until they ran out of alcohol or passed out, hopefully in their own beds. “He was very nice, he even offered to help me around the house.”
“I bet,” growled Akane, leaning against the door.
“Interested, Kasumi?” asked Nabiki.
“Oh, but he a younger man.”
“Some say they have more energy.”
“Nabiki!” the two sisters cried out.
Said woman just smirked. “Oh please, like I’m the only one that thought about that.”
“I’m not a pervert and neither is Kasumi!” Akane replied.
“This has nothing to do with perverts, little sister,” Nabiki replied. “And like it or not, Daddy is going to be pressuring us to try and make him choose one of us.”
“Well it isn’t me!”
“Now calm down, Akane.”
“Yeah, not like Ranma’s shown any sign of being like your morning friends.”
“Morning friends?” asked Kasumi. That didn’t sound proper.
“All boys are perverts!”
Shaking her head, Nabiki returned to her manga. The prospect wasn’t too bad. Sure, the gender-changing thing was new. But the fact he was a mage, that he could make that little show they had seen… People would pay a lot of money for those talents. The more popular book series nowadays involved magic, mainly that kid with the scar and glasses that had the major issues.
A real life mage? That was like being given a goose that laid the golden egg! Quite possibly literally, if he could make gold out of thin air for her while he was at it.
How much would a mage be worth in today’s world? Not many people wanted to learn martial arts these days, but actual magic? In addition, he had magical technology! The sheer money that could bring in was beyond anything she could think of.
Oh yes, he was quite valuable to her. But would she make more money as his wife or his manager? Could what he had even be marketable? Could others produce his work or just him?
Oh, so many possibilities. And the longer he took to make his decision or had it made for him, the better her chances to learn what the risks were and what could be gained.
Besides, nothing like a nice divorce settlement. “You’ll learn one day, Akane. And if not, Ranma is half-girl. So that takes care of it right there.”
“I am not like that!”
Smirking, Nabiki looked up towards Kasumi. “I think she doth protest too much.”
“Hey!”
“Now Akane, no matter what, we will always love and support you,” Kasumi replied, hugging her little sister.
Nabiki could only smirk, knowing that dinner would be very interesting tonight.
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(Posted Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:48)
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