“So,” said Jim as he considered things. “I think I may just have to see what I can do about these rumors of this Tatewaki Kuno wanting to do some ‘many love’ with Ranma. I really don’t think that will help his image at ALL,” the Japanese-Irish scientist replied with a wince.
Despite her usual appearance and practiced professionalism, Number Thirteen twitched in place before straightening up due to what Sukotto had just told her. She stared at her creator with an incredulous look from behind the black lenses of her sunglasses. “Excuse me, Sir?” she asked, wanting to make sure that she had heard what had just been said correctly. Such a comment seemed to come out from left field.
Nodding his head as he stood up from his beach chair, the creator of pokégirls and the benefactor of mankind replied, “It’s something my personal net of Psychic-types have been reporting.” he told his personal body and, admittedly, his favorite design for the Samurai breed before his public relations group convinced him to go with something very-near human in design rather than just near human. “You know the relationship between Nodoka and myself, right?”
Number Thirteen nodded her head firmly to what the man said. “Yes. Your niece and god-daughter, whom you’ve been the father-figure to once she lost her parents.”
“Correct. And her children, my niece and nephew, they are very much grandchildren to me,” the aged scientist replied. “That means when her husband Genma ran off with their son to go one some asinine ‘training trip’, I’ve always made sure that I had eyes and ears on the pair, watching out for them.” he chuckled as he turned his head towards Number Thirteen. “In all the years I’ve known and cared for her, such was the only thing No-chan ever asked me for, besides my permission and blessing to marry that idiot in the first place... naturally, I was going to do it for her.”
“And during that time,” the man continued. “Is when things started to happen and become known amongst certain groups of people that wish to discredit the boy and myself.” a shudder went up his spine. “The boy isn’t gay by any stretch of the imagination; I’ve even had some of my Psychics perform scans of his brain chemistry to see if he was wired for it. Such isn’t in his desires, dormant as they are. Unfortunately for him, Thirteen, his father has put him in situations that are... shall we say, ‘questionable’.”
“How questionable are we talking about?” Number Thirteen inquired. She frowned a little as the man got up from his chair, the being of power and mass destruction in the form young girl leading him gently by the hand over to her sand castle to give him a better look, but said nothing. She wasn’t about to interrupt a child whom the tech boys said had destroyed fifty magitek soldier android prototypes in three minutes. So she simply settled for allowing Alice to be a child, allowing her the childish exuberance and pride of showing off what she’d accomplished to the person she considered her father.
Looking over the child’s work, the CEO of Sukebe Inc. smiled and nodded his head. He patted Alice on her head with the palm of his right hand, causing the girl to smile brightly. Reaching over to the castle, he brushed his hand lightly along the surface, helping smooth of the outer wall the young girl had erected. “Very questionable... and there were many things, Thirteen,” he spoke suddenly, surprising his bodyguard.
The Irish-Japanese male turned his head to look over his shoulder at the Samurai pokégirl. “Ranma’s first friend he made on the road was a young girl named Ukyo Kuonji. While it should be noted that yes, Ukyo was a girl... young Ranma thought she was very much another boy. That has been used as a springboard by certain critics and political enemies to put a spin on it, saying that he was he was attracted to her romantically because she was so much like a boy,” he snorted. “To thing they’d say such things about a child... and it doesn’t hurt Ranma still knows her today and she’s taken on cross-dressing.”
Frowning a little, the blonde pokégirl narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses. “There is nothing wrong with dressing in a suit, sir. I think it’s rather professional.” While she was very respectful and loyal to her creator... there was an edge to her voice that seemed to be daring him to say otherwise.
Which was something Jim paid no heed to... he’d made pokégirls to have a competitive spirit. Sometimes that meant such thinking processes would spill over to their Trainer. His original batch of pokégirls were as competitive too, especially on Sunday nights when they got together after their shifts to play poker. Yes, Jim learned the hard way not to play with all of them at once when they’re out for blood; even his sweet Melinda was out to kick his ass. He couldn’t hold it against them. When they were playing with just each other, it was the harem members’ fight for status and could be vicious, but when someone outside the group joined in, the game became the harem against the outsider. They probably didn’t cheat, at least he didn’t think so, but they would gang up on him before they’d choose a harem member to ravage.
But such was neither here nor there. The Samurai was waiting on an answer. “No, Thirteen, there is nothing wrong with a woman wearing a suit, especially when they look as great as you do in one.” he smiled as said pokégirl began to blush.
However, said smile was short-lived. “But such isn’t the case with Miss Kuonji. She prefers the world sees her as a man. She even attends the same high school with Ranma, wearing a boy’s uniform. That gives more opportunities for people to see him getting along well with another guy.”
“So?” Number Thirteen questioned. “Isn’t it all right for men to have male friends?” she herself had a few good female associates among Sukotto’s staff. It was nice to have a ‘girl’s night out’ once in awhile too. Perhaps such was what he had meant about vacations being so important?
Nodding his head, the scientist finally turned about fully to face his bodyguard. “Yes, but the fact is that Miss Kuonji is very... ‘clingy’ as it were. And it doesn’t help that she keeps opening saying she and Ranma should get married and that she’s his ‘cute fiancée’... despite the fact such arrangements are null and voice...” the man twitched. “Unfortunately, she still insist such is the case and since the terms ‘fiancé’ and ‘fiancée’ sound so similar...”
That made the Samurai wince. “I can see where’d there be such confusion,” the pokégirl admitted. “Still, if that’s the worst of it, surely such rumors should be easily curtailed. We do have a very efficiently run Public Relations Office staffed by some of the best and brightest people and pokégirls in the business.”
“Very true,” Jim agreed. “However, as I said before, there were many things that happened. Many things that even our PR boys have trouble writing off. For one thing, that idiot Genma raised Ranma around ‘the Art’, and didn’t want him being distracted by hormones and girls... that meant very little interaction with them.”
The pokégirl rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “So? I doubt that’s convincing enough to proclaim your nephew to be homo-”
The scientist interrupted her, “And when Genma actually allowed Ranma to attend classes and get something of a traditional education, it was always at all-boys’ schools...”
Number Thirteen was quiet for a long pause. “...Could be worse...” she suggested.
“At one point, Ranma was to have a duel with another youth, a Ryoga Hibiki,” the head of Sukebe Inc. replied. “He waited three days in a field behind the boy’s house to have a duel with him before his father just dragged him off, declaring him the winner by default. Ryoga finally showed up on the fourth day, declaring his undying hatred for my nephew. Certain groups and... reporters...” he said that last word with much venom in his voice. “That have found out about such an event have already twisted such a thing around, making it seem like Ranma was going to pledge his love to the boy and that Ryoga is some kind of jilted lover. Can you believe that!?”
The man sighed as he shook his head. It took a moment for Sukotto to continue. “And then there are Ranma’s own actions. Growing up around a minimal pokégirl influence and then getting turned into a girl at Jusenkyo—which he was lucky enough to be cured of in time—the trouble he had at the Joketsuzoku Village at the Bayankala mountain range, and his reluctance to have chosen any pokégirls has lead many to believe that he has developed a fear if not hatred of the female gender. It’s the only way they can think of to explain his, understandably, quirky actions.”
Twitching a bit, the pokégirl could only reply, “Well... so he has a friend that’s a cross-dresser, an old rival that wishes to beat the crap out of him, and he’s initially nervous around pokégirls. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.” Number Thirteen stood firm before her creator/employer/occasional lover. “Why, you’re the one that brought up that he’s now accepted a pokégirl. Accepting one means he’ll accept others and that should kill any question as to his sexual orientation.”
“That is what I had gathered too,” Sukotto told his Samurai bodyguard. Shaking his head, he turned his back to her once more, giving young Alice his attention once more. However, that did not mean he was done with the blonde pokégirl. “Thirteen, this morning, a rival of his from his high school, an upperclassmen named Tatewaki Kuno, ran out of his estate without a stitch of clothing on. There are many clashing accounts... but the general consensus among the witnesses was that he openly declared his ‘manly love’ for my nephew.”
That made Number Thirteen gawk in surprise for a moment. Thankful that her sunglasses hid the shock she was sure was evident in her eyes, the pokégirl told her creator, “All right... so this Kuno person comes out and admits to wanting to swing that way. That doesn’t mean your nephew has any interest in it.”
“Of course he won’t,” Jim agreed with her. “But with the shared history the two have at the school, the rivalries, the fights...” he turned his head to the side to look at the Samurai once more. “How much are you willing to bet that the tabloids and my enemies aren’t going to try and run with such an event and twist it to their own world-views?” He snarled once more. “Just as Miss McKenzie, if her notes were anything to go by, had planned such a fate for myself...”
The pokégirl went stock still. That was why this was bothering the CEO of Sukebe Inc. so much. “You’re feeling camaraderie with your nephew on this, aren’t you?”
His shoulders slumping, the man actually looked his age for once, as the worried expression showed the wrinkles on his features. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, Thirteen...” the scientist said with a very quiet tone that belied the usually easy-going attitude of the developer of Gating. “One tries so hard to get somewhere on their own merits, rather than letting their lives be dictated and directed by ‘connections’ and the ‘good old boy’ system, and I feel if they manage it, then they goddamn deserve to have what they accomplished. Yet, it is these same people that are the ones often targeted as there are those who wish to take a shortcut in life, those who would wish to make something better of themselves but not put forth the effort required. They would do anything in their own power to discredit and ruin others, in the hopes of bolstering themselves to some higher station in life.”
As Number Thirteen tried to speak up, the Japanese-Irishman raised a hand. “And that is what Ranma has tried and what they have been doing to him.” The scientist lowered his hand, patting Alice once more on her head, the child looking up and smiling at him, as if comprehending that he needed some positive reinforcement. “Thirteen, Ranma has asked nothing of me in all his life. Nothing. Life was very hard on the road, especially to his father’s incompetence, that much has been made very clear to me. He also has more than enough understanding to know just who he is, and what he could do with the kind of connections he has. Yet through it all, everything, and I mean everything he’s done has been by his own hands. Despite of what fat bastard Genma claims to have accomplished in how he trained Ranma, it was in spite of such idiocy that my nephew has become a very skilled practitioner of the martial arts.” Jim took a deep breath. “And he could’ve saved himself any trouble by saying a word. Anything in regards to wanting to go home or end this... and I would have moved heaven and earth to make it possible.”
“...But he didn’t...” Thirteen said slowly. At her employer’s shaking of his head, she frowned a little. “I take it you feel guilty over that?”
Nodding his head, Jim replied, “I do. I just told you that I truly believe in making one’s own path... but for Christ’s sake, he was a child, Thirteen, a CHILD! Children need love and guidance, it is a time in their lives that they should be provided for... and his father, in his demented way, was doing what he thought best, taking from the boy and using him to his own ends. That wasn’t how a child should be raised but that is what happened with Ranma. In a way, that has left the boy a child in some ways but damn it, if he isn’t a self-sufficient one. However, without the proper guidance that he needed early on, there is much in this world that will chew him alive and spit him out, and he won’t even see it coming.”
“If such is the case,” Number Thirteen said slowly. “Then why is he the one you want as an heir?” At the hard look he gave her, she actually felt a chill run up her spine. “I mean, you already have Ranko on hand, and she is quite competent to the running of your business empire. She seems like a better candidate if what you told me about your nephew is true.”
The man snorted. “Because my Ranko is exactly the kind of person I told you about. She is one that has gotten where she is because of me. Do you really think she earned anything? No! I was the one that paid for everything, her food, clothing, shelter, medicines, education, entertainment, trivial wants and whims, and especially her mistakes all her life thus far! Everything that has come to her was because of my name and my accomplishments!” He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Thirteen, do not get me wrong. I love Ranko. She is practically my granddaughter, and my heart soars every time she calls me ‘Grampy Jim’ in private. But where she is now, the power she holds, the money in her bank... it’s because she’s followed a trail I already blazed, had already map. Her accomplishments aren’t her own, but a continuous extension of mine.”
“But Ranma,” Jim continued. “Because of how he’s been raised, he’s the rebel... the trouble-maker... the one that sees things differently. While some may see it as insanity, I know better and see it as genius.” he chuckled. “After all, my dear Thirteen... it’s the people who’re crazy enough to think they can change the world... that are the ones that do.”
He clenched his fists tightly. “And I’ll be damned if I let my opponents that would choose to go after him to get to me, seeing him as an easy target... to ruin his life with mere rumors and character-bashing before he accomplishes his own greatness. Mark my words, Thirteen. He will accomplish it.”
Chuckling, Ranko smiled as she looked over the e-card her ‘grandfather’ sent... a simple electronic greetings format that, while otherwise unremarkable, was an excellent tactic on her great-uncle’s part. After all, who would think to search for special requests and files on what could otherwise be a publicly accessible file if someone wanted to check it out? No one would think to find anything valuable in there. It was the perfect ‘Trojan Horse’ for Jim when he needed to keep her in the loop on certain things yet keep them ‘off the record’.
“So,” the redhead said to herself, licking her lips. “It would seem that some people are trying to out dear brother as a homosexual...” not that she believed it, mind you, but with the file of ‘questionable’ events that plagued her brother’s life her grandfather has so graciously sent her so she could act as the middle-man between him and the PR boys...
One couldn’t blame a person for believing her brother to swing that way with such ‘evidence’ readily available. While she had nothing against homosexuals at all—she herself ended up spending some quality time with some pokégirls—she knew that such a label had a stigma to it that many people to this day still looked at with such prejudice. From experience, she knew that human hatred was a perfect tool to ruin someone.
Reaching over to the side of her computer, she hit a button on a special device she had set up. It was an IP scrambler, a piece of equipment she had installed once she started working with McKenzie’s people. It was one of her many safety precaution she had set up to make sure she wouldn’t be traced back as to having any connection to the terrorist group... or possibly dirty dealings as she was going to be at this moment.
Opening an internet connection and logging onto a website, she brought up one of her dummy e-mail addresses. She gathered links and e-mail urls to various newspapers and tabloid presses, putting them into the address bar. Placing the thumb-drive into its appropriate slot, she then began to upload said data into the file attachment option When it was finally attached, she pulled the thumb-drive out and started to type the e-mail header.
“Ranma Saotome,” she whispered to herself as she typed. “Heir of Sukebe Inc.: Closet Homosexual?” She chuckled and then used her mouse to click on the ‘SEND’ icon. The redheaded woman laughed as the bar went through 100% before giving her the ‘message sent’ screen.
Oh yes, this was perfect. She’d allow everyone else to do the work for her. And if her dear ‘grandfather’ decided to look into what was going on, it would’ve been easy for her to pin blame on the Public Relations staff.
After all, what did she have to gain by hurting her own brother so, ruining his reputation to the point where there would be such an outcry against him becoming the heir to Sukebe Inc.?
In reality, there was a lot but she wasn’t going to let the old man realize that she knew. All she had to do was play the part of ‘supportive relative’ in what would be an upcoming time of crisis, and then gracefully accept her place as the new heir once things became too unbearable for her poor brother.
It would only be the right thing to do to ease his suffering, after all...
“Here, Ranma...” the Tigress pokégirl and eldest of Son’s daughters said as she held up a cup of tea to him. “Drink this. This should help with the teleportation after-effects.”
Groaning as he sat back on a bunch of gathered pillow, the pigtailed martial artist let her bring the cup to his lips. Opening his mouth as she tilted the cup, the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts gagged at the burning, bitter liquid way its way across his tongue and down his throat. Turning his head, he coughed powerfully. “Ugh... what is that stuff?” he stuck his tongue out, trying to get the taste off of it.
Holding the cup back from his lips, Kasumi replied, “It’s one of mother’s recipes. A special tea for when he has a really bad hangover from his Saturday night escapades with uncle Genma.”
The martial artist considered that for a moment. “Yeah but... I ain’t hung-over...” he mumbled as he looked at the eldest Tendo. While he was pleased to see her in more conservative clothing now, (although that her dress now came above her knees was still a surprise to him) he wasn’t able to relax... as there was much yelling going on in the background that made his head throb.
“What do you mean Ranma’s chosen a pokégirl!?” he could head the male voice rant from another room of the house. “Ranma was supposed to choose one of my precious daughters!”
“Is not fault of Shampoo that Ranma accept Shampoo first!” he heard the familiar voice of the Chinese Amazon-turned-spotted feline pokégirl happily reply. “Ranma know quality when see so Ranma take Shampoo first as pokégirl for Ranma’s PokéBattle Team! And Shampoo will do Ranma proud!”
“RAAAAANNNNNNMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” was the irate roar from the other room.
The raven-haired youth brought a hand up to the side of his head, rubbing his temple. It felt like his head was thumping powerfully and... wait... something was thumping and it wasn’t just his skull. Raising his head, he caught sight of the Tendo Patriarch rushing into the room. “Ranma!” The heaving mustached man asked as he glared at his houseguest. “Is it true!?”
Wincing for a moment as the man’s yelling was really causing his brain to throb and colored lights to flash across his vision, it was a tentative Ranma that questioned back, “What the heck are you talking about?”
Snarling, Soun clarified with, “Is it true that you chose that Cheetah over one of my precious little girls first!?”
Nodding his head slowly, Ranma answered, “Yeah, but—”
Before he could say another word, Soun grabbed the youth by his shoulders and lifted him up. “How dare you insult my family like this!?” the Tendo Patriarch demanded to know as he shook the youth like a rag-doll. “We take you in, we watch over you and THIS is how you repay me!? You choose some Chinese wench over one of my four, beautiful, skillful, excellent Alpha-material daughters!? I’LL HAVE YOU—”
*WHACK*!
“...Owww...” the teary-eyed Tendo whimpered as he let go of Ranma; the youth landing on his feet as he fell to his knees; a large lump growing on his head and above his hairline.
Nodding her head firmly, the Nekomama handed the wooden staff with a large, gnarled head back to the blue-tressed Megami. “Thank you for allowing me to borrow this. Sometimes, force is the only thing that will get through to my husband’s thick skull.”
Accepting her staff back, Cologne nodded her head in agreement. “Oh, it’s quite understandable. I know how men can be at times.” she smirked a little. “Why, it took me having to speak up to Ranma a good five times during an eight minute rant of his that Shampoo did not have to be his Alpha to finally get the fact to hit home. He was more accepting of that once I laid down such terms.”
Blinking his eyes once, twice, the middle-aged man lying on the floor in a crumpled heap asked, “W-wait... that... that Body-wash girl—”
“Shampoo,” said Cheetah said as she walked into the room. She frowned as she corrected him, “Name is ‘Shampoo’!”
Standing up slowly, the Tendo Patriarch wiped off his shirt with the back of his hands. “Yes... Shampoo...” he said slowly as he turned to look at the boy who was being fussed over by Kasumi. “You mean to tell me the Amazon isn’t your Alpha?”
Pulling away from the Tigress for a bit to escape her coddling, Ranma nodded his head firmly. “Yeah. It’s just Cologne and I had a long talk and after a bit, I finally accepted her as a pokégirl for my Battle Team... but she’s not the Alpha.” He said firmly.
Crossing her arms underneath her breasts, the purple-tressed Chinese Cheetah pokégirl muttered, “Though Shampoo believe Shampoo should be.” She winced as her great-grandmother poked her so said nothing for on the matter... but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try harder later on to prove that she was indeed worthy of the position.
Upon hearing that, it was like new life sparked within the old Tendo. “THAT’S WONDERFUL!” The man shouted happily, patting Ranma on the shoulders repeatedly with force, making the pigtailed youth jolt with each firm strike. “Now that you have one pokégirl for protection, you should easily be able to choose one of my loving daughters as your Alpha! That Toothpaste Cheetah—”
“SHAMPOO!” Said spotted feline pokégirl firmly corrected.
“...Right... Shampoo...” Soun said again, blinking his eyes before his features were once again back to a full-blown smile. “Shampoo here can keep watch while you take one of my daughters and Bond with her! The Cheetah will see to it that no one interrupts you making whichever daughter of mine you choose as your Alpha! It’ll be perfect!” He let off a bout of boisterous laughter. “Nothing can stop the Saotome-Tendo arrangement!”
Slapping herself on the face, Kimiko groaned in exasperation. “Soun... dear... I do love you but please... you’re embarrassing us with this.”
“Oh, nonsense!” Soun crowed, moving so that he was standing next to Ranma. “Ranma! You do the right thing and make a choice, right here, right now! Tell me which of my loving daughters you want and she’ll be yours!”
Ranma blinked his eyes once, twice. How the heck did this happen?
However, the pigtailed teenager had no more time to consider the insanity that was being dropped on him as the old man held him in a firm, proud yet oddly affectionate embrace that was comparable to a headlock. “Go on, son! Tell me! Don’t keep us all in suspense!”
“...Dear...” Kimiko said slowly. “You’re strangling him...”
“Oh nonsense, he’s just shy,” Soun assured his wife. “He’s blushing as the thought of making one of my sweet girls his wife-proper.”
The Nekomama twitched. “Dear... people don’t blush blue!”
Gasping for breath, Ranma kicked his legs out, trying to run and otherwise pull himself free. Realizing he was going to black out if he did nothing, the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts choked out...
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(Posted Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:39)
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