That was when they all turned at the sound of somebody tromping up onto the porch.
The screen slid aside to reveal a rather ragged-looking youth in black and yellow, a striped bandanna around his head, and an umbrella slung over his back. He looked back at them and a smile lit his face as he recognized them.
“...er..Hello?” Ryouga Hibiki grinned.
********
Cologne found her granddaughter sitting in the storeroom, a candle lit on the floor in front of her. Coming around she saw the tears on the young girl's face, saw her lips moving in words she recognized...an ancient Amazon prayer for missing warriors, ones lost in battle to the Musk...Cologne felt it most appropriate, given the circumstances.
She slipped up and sat down next to her protege.
There was a moment of silence.
"We go home to village? " That Shampoo spoke in the broken Japanese came as no surprise to Cologne; she'd sensed what the young woman was likely to ask.
"You wish to return?"
"Not without Aire---Ranma---safe."
"It may be several years."
"Not care....what if Ranma need help? Shampoo...not want to leave if can still so something..."
"He made his choice, you know..."
"Shampoo know...also know Ranma too-too good a friend, honorable...even if not Airen, even if not turn back...Ranma Amazon...shpuld be Amazon...Shampoo want Ranma for shield-sister...not abandon friend and shield-sister to vile stick-boy with too much power or evil mens..."
"I understand...perhaps we can return for a short while back to the village and explain matters to them.....maybe we can think of something new to help Ranma...Then we return...and wait for an opportunity....Something is sure to arise with that child...I can just feel it...."
"Shampoo like that..."
"In the meantime, there is another prayer we can share....a few more appeals to the ancient spirits of the Amazons...it can't hurt..."
As the two Amazon women knelt in prayer, outside the storeroom Mouse listened quietly. then slid down the wall on his back, his head clasped in his hands...Shampoo had accepted Ranma would not be her husband any more...Mouse should be jubiliant, but he just couldn't bring himself to find joy in the situation. It would be an insult to the two women inside, and the pain they shared, and it just wasn't fair all around. Mousse may have been a male, but he shared the same Amazon hatred of the Musk and their ways, and the whole situation here in Japan stunk of those same loathsome practices...
Saotome; I never thought I'd say this, and I'll deny it if it ever came out; but you better come out of this alive, for Shampoo's sake, or I'll never forgive you!...Honored Ancient Matriarchs of our past protect your soul and guard you from the darkness....
********
”---I swear! She could suck tennis balls through a vacuum hose!”
“HAWWWHHAWHHAWAH!!!”
“---I guess that’s what comes of all that martial arts training! She sucked like a pro!HAHAHAHA!!!”
“Yeah! Kuno had problems with THAT bitch? She seemed pretty eager to go to me!”
“Well, we’re just the men for the job! And we have a good Doctor! Hahahahha!”
“High five, my man!”
SLAP!
“Pity she ain’t a virgin...”
“Yeah...Wonder who got to us before?”
“Maybe a tech snuck in ahead of us? Hey, we should ask double-pay for that little discrepancy! Maybe a ‘final exam’ and an obstacle course, huh?”
“Yeah, hahahahahahh!!!”
whirrrr*CLICK*
whirrrr*CLICK*
whirrrr*CLICK*
The digital camera clicked another image of the two men on the Adjustment center’s roof, a parabolic microphone recorded their conversation.
The man behind the surveillance equipment made another check in his notebook, taking note of the time and place. A grimace worthy of an angry samurai twisted his features.
“Vile bastards.....they rape our wives, our lovers, our children...and they boast of it....Go ahead; laugh...we know you and your kind...’Crabe’, ‘Goyle’...you and your fellow ‘specialists’....and you’ll get your proper pay for your toils soon enough...”
...mmmreeeooooeewww?...
The man looked down at the small cat that apparently had snuck into the watch-nest. He reached down and scratched behind the ears of the animal, grateful for the company of something other than the two rapists on the distant rooftop he was watching; he still had several hours to go before he was relieved in his observations by another member of the Society.
“Hhhhmmph.....He may have been a gaijan, but Ol’ John Brown-san was right; there are some sorts of men that are only good for killing, if people are to be free....”
The cat took no notice of the militant abolitionist’s mutterings; it was too busy staring at the digital camera’s display window, as if it too were memorizing the faces of the men shown there....
(Posted Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:45)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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