Nabiki scowled. "He used my name and hurt my friends. This isn't about money, this isn't blackmail. This is about justice."
Ranko nodded slowly. "If you say so," she said, sounding unconvinced.
Akane frowned. "Nabiki, that sounds a bit more like revenge than justice."
Nabiki didn't have the chance to respond before a wooden blur flew through Ranma. "What the hell?!"
For her part, Ranma was silently chanting thanks to her honed senses. The gnarled staff was as solid in her eyes as the wrinkled creature that held it, and she had no doubt that if she hadn't contorted out of its way it would have connected, intangible or no intangible. "Who are you?" she snapped, taking on the most effective stance she had found in her fight against Ryoga.
"You're not bad," the old woman croaked, "son-in-law."
Nabiki and Akane stared at the shriveled relic of a person while Ranma tightened her stance. "So Pop got himself married to a withered old crone, ne?"
Cologne thwacked Ranma with her cane in a way that would be come intimately familiar as their relationship progressed. "Who's a withered old crone?" She jumped up on her cane and pogoed away at high speed. "We'll meet again, groom!"
Ranma faceplanted a good three feet below ground before remembering that the ground wasn't going to stop her and came back up. "Groom?"
Nabiki pinched her nose and sighed. "I think Shampoo's marriage has been sorted out."
Ranma gulped as he felt anger flare in Akane all over again. "You're twotiming Nabiki?" she growled, looking around for the unseen pervert.
Nabiki sighed. First Kodachi, now Shampoo. Maybe she should marry Ranma quickly to shut up the crazies. Her gaze fell on her younger sister and thought about how she'd react to the idea. Okay, so it would only shut up some of the crazies. She didn't even notice that Ranma hadn't gone through her usual routine of covering up and shrieking when the old woman saw her.
"Nihao!"
Of all the greetings Nabiki expected upon finally getting home, Shampoo was actually on the top 3. Shampoo in a tight little dress, clean and bright-eyed and happy, carrying a set of takeout boxes? Well that wasn't on the odds table at all. "Shampoo! You clean up nice, girl."
"Nabiki too too kind," Shampoo said with a smile. "Shampoo bring dinner to celebrate return."
Ranma looked around for Kasumi and spotted her tidying up in the kitchen. She floated through the wall. "Kasumi?"
Kasumi turned with a smile. "Welcome home, Ranma. I'll put some clothes in the bathroom for you."
"Thanks," Ranma sighed gratefully. "Sorry for this."
Kasumi frowned and waved off the apology. "You don't need to apologize for who you are, Ranma," she said firmly.
Ranma was still thinking about that when she floated into the furo.
Meanwhile, Nabiki and Akane were talking with Shampoo. "You're moving here?" Akane asked, surprised.
Nabiki nodded. "Thought as much. The new ramen shop, right?"
Shampoo blinked. "How Nabiki know that?"
"Someone bought that property around the same time you challenged Ranma," Nabiki said, ticking off her fingers. "They bought up supplies and appliances ideal for ramen. They kept their identities out of easily accessed records. They've had enough dirt hauled away that they've done massive underground construction, the permits for which were filed very quietly. Now here you are with ramen takeout, a week before the scheduled grand opening of 'The Nekohanten.' It's not that hard to figure out."
Akane took this in stride, but Shampoo dropped her jaw at the litany of information. "That not hard Nabiki figure out?"
Nabiki took on an air of injured pride. "I see my reputation does not proceed me."
Shampoo looked to Akane. "Smart Girl take blow to head lately?"
This was too much for Akane, who quickly burst into giggles. Which did nothing for Shampoo's confusion.
"She means she's got a rep for knowin' stuff," came Ranma's voice as the now-male martial artist walked into the room.
"Airen!" Shampoo squealed, glomping Ranma.
Akane glowered. Nabiki groaned. Kasumi entered and said "Oh my." Ranma just gibbered unintelligibly.
The various reactions were interrupted at a slurping sound. Everyone turned to look at the ancient woman slurping ramen. "Be a man. Marry Shampoo."
"Have we met?" Kasumi asked sweetly, adding another place at the table.
"Yah!" Ranma yelped, prying himself free of Shampoo. "It's that old crone!"
"Is great-grandmother," Shampoo explained. "Shampoo tell how marry Ranma."
It was inevitable, really. Soun rushed in to grab the old woman. "Ranma is Nabiki's fiance."
"Our way is to marry strong men," Cologne replied, unfazed.
Genma was too busy scarfing ramen to respond. Marrying Soap or whatever her name is wouldn't be so bad with this kind of food.
"Your Japanese is very good," Kasumi said, pouring Cologne some tea.
"I haven't lived three hundred years for nothing!" Cologne laughed.
"My, you're much younger than you look!" Nabiki added.
"Hey, let's get this straight. I'm not marrying Shampoo," Ranma said, crossing his arms. "Not even thinking about it."
"Ranma come with Shampoo second?" Shampoo asked.
Ranma frowned, but Shampoo had kept trying to get out of her engagement with Genma, so maybe she had an idea to get away from him and couldn't talk in front of her great-grandmother. "Sure!" he said brightly.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:14)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.