While the still-female Ranma thought about her choice, Nabiki and Kasumi pushed Akane forward.
“You want Akane,” Kasumi declared.
“Oh, definitely,” Nabiki agreed.
“Umm, I'm technically already engaged to Ranma,” Shampoo said.
“How could that be, Shampoo?” Kasumi asked her step-sister. “When Ranma first arrived, you wanted to kill him.”
“It has to do with Amazon marriage laws. You know that I just got back from the village-”
“Oh my!” Kasumi exclaimed. “That's right, you were going to compete in that big tournament and we haven't even asked you how you fared, yet.”
“I won, but immediately discovered a panda and a redheaded outsider girl devouring the grand prize feast. I fought the girl and lost. I gave her the Kiss of Death and she ran away. The outsider girl was Ranma.”
“Sorry 'bout that,” Ranma apologized as she scratched the back of her head. “Me & Pop were really hungry and didn't see the sign.”
“Since Ranma is actually a boy and not a girl, Amazon law states that I must make him my husband.”
“Now wait just a second!” Akane spoke up. “You give Ranma the Kiss of Death, hunt him like a dog for days in China, then try to kill him when he arrives here, and now you expect him to marry you?”
“I didn't know she was really a he, then. Now I know better.”
“So, the only reason you want to marry Ranma is because of the marriage law? You don't find him attractive in the least?”
“Of course I find him attractive! He's a very handsome man. I know girls back in the village who would literally kill in order to marry a man as handsome and strong as Ranma.”
“Aha! So you're playing the marriage law card because you know he wouldn't pick you over me?”
“Ha! Aren't we confident. I'm sure he would pick me anyway because I'm more beautiful than you.”
“Yeah right, size isn't everything.”
“Girls. Girls!” Gel shouted to put an abrupt halt to the escalating argument between her daughter and step-daughter. “Perhaps it would be better if Ranma made the decision as to who his fiancée should be?”
“Fine with me,” Shampoo nodded.
“I've got no problem with that,” Akane agreed.
“So Ranma, which of my daughters do you wish to have as your fiancée?” Soun asked.
“Well, uhhh.... Akane seems like a nice girl, and Shampoo seems nice too now that we're past that whole Kiss of Death thing,” Ranma paused to think. “It's real hard to decide cuz I just met em today... OK, I met Shampoo back in China, but we weren't exactly getting to know each other then. She was talking in Chinese and the Jusenkyo guide translated, and even then it was just a few sentences relating to me & Pop eating her prize and the challenge to fight. Do I have to decide now?”
“No, you don't,” Gel answered. “Actually, perhaps it would be best if you got to know Akane and Shampoo better before making your decision. That way you can figure out which of them you want to spend your life with before you make a commitment.”
“B-But the promise?!” Genma sputtered. “Tendo, from what I understand, Shampoo is not really your daughter, the promise we made-”
“Will still be fulfilled if Ranma chooses Shampoo,” Soun interrupted his old friend. “The only sense in which Shampoo is not my daughter is the biological. In every other sense, she is as much my child as all my other children.”
“So, Shampoo practices Anything Goes?” Genma asked, bringing a derisive snort from the purple-haired teenager.
“Well, no. She practices the Wu Shu style of her home village in China. I offered to teach her Anything Goes years ago, but she wasn't interested. The question of which style is superior has been a point of contention between Akane and Shampoo for a number of years now.”
“Then, if Ranma marries Shampoo, the schools will not be joined!”
“Love between a boy and a girl cannot be dictated by a promise made by a parent when the children aren't even old enough to walk,” Gel said. “Ranma needs to make his own decision without pressure from any of us. Isn't that right, husband?”
“Uhh, yes! You're quite right, dear!” Soun replied enthusiastically.
Genma stared at Soun as though his old friend had just stabbed him in the back. He couldn't figure out why his old friend would so suddenly turn away from the promise they'd made so many years before.
“Does this mean that you're gonna be our new big brother?” Kimiko asked.
“I've always wanted a big brother!” Powder said.
“Uh, well,” Ranma scratched the back of his head. “I guess so.”
“Yayyyyy!” Both twins cheered.
“Tendo, I am somewhat reminded of that time in Hokkaido,” Genma said casually. “You remember, right? When we made a wrong turn and accidentally found ourselves in a daycare center?”
“Ah, yes,” Soun answered after a moment's hesitation. “The memories of that time long ago. Saotome, I'd like to show you the dojo. You should find it quite interesting, having been on the road so long.”
“Certainly, it would be good to familiarize myself with your dojo here.”
Genma and Soun stood up and exited the room, walking to the dojo. Once they arrived, Genma had some words to say to his old friend.
“Tendo, you traitor,” the bespectacled martial artist said. “What happened to our promise? If Ranma marries Shampoo, the schools will never be joined!”
“I'm sorry, Saotome,” Soun apologized. “But I have learned over the years that it is a very bad idea to contradict Gel unless I'm sure that I can make her see that I'm right. I fear she would not look kindly on my trying to dictate that Ranma and Akane marry no matter their feelings, or those of Shampoo.”
“But the promise-”
“Might still be fulfilled. Just because Ranma might choose Shampoo, doesn't mean he still won't choose Akane.”
“Well, I suppose we can help them along a bit...”
“Yes, perhaps we can, but we must be subtle or Gel could grow angry.”
“Who is more subtle than us, my friend?”
“No one, no one at all.”
“The Schools shall still be joined!” Both men cheered together.
At that same time, Ranma, Akane, Shampoo, and Gel all sneezed in rapid succession.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Jumper Prime
(Posted Mon, 13 Mar 2006 19:16)
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.