Ranma stepped through the glowing tear in space-time that she’d created with her katana (which technically speaking wasn’t a tear at all, but a very small wrinkle) to emerge in front of the Tendos’ front door. “I am so glad Amaterasu taught me that,” she remarked to herself as she cut the portal with her katana, sealing it up, “even if it still doesn’t make sense.” She briefly considered changing back into civilian garb, but decided against it—after all, as soon as she got inside everyone would want to see her costume anyway.
So, taking a deep breath to collect herself, she opened the door and entered the Tendo home. “I’m back!”
Not surprisingly, the first person to rush out to greet her was her mother, who likely as not had spent the entire time excitedly meddling in her affairs. “Ranma! You’re… back….” Nodoka said, her excitement quickly drifting off when she got an eyeful of her progeny’s costume.
“Hi, Mom,” Ranma replied icily. “Looks like you got lucky; Amaterasu convinced me to give the magical girl thing a shot.”
“I… uh… I see you chose the bodysuit,” her mother commented.
“Sure did,” the redhead replied.
“But… don’t you think it’s a little… risqué?”
“Well, sure, but it has the advantage of not bein’ a frilly dress.”
“Er, Ranma… are you certain about this? After all, the more traditional outfit has a place to keep your saya.”
“Actually, this one does, too.” The Taiyohime sheathed her katana and pressed the scabbard against her left hip. When she removed her hand, the sword stayed in place, despite the complete lack of physical attachments. “I mean, you don’t really think they’d even have a bodysuit option if there wasn’t some sort of magic to keep the katana where it’s supposed to be, do you?”
“Well… no… but aren’t you worried about appearances? After all, when I was the Taiyohime—”
Ranma cut her mother off before she could finish. “Mom, the costume I choose to wear is none of your business, so quit trying to railroad me into doing things the way you did.”
Nodoka bit her lip—once again, it looked like her attempts to start repairing her relationship with her child were getting rebuffed. This would be so much easier if I could figure out how I was supposed to start….
In the meantime, Ranma had entered the living room, where the TV was on and the Tendo sisters sat watching a rather unusual recording.
“…Here at the Guild of Calamitous Intent, your nemesis is our business. But don’t take our word on it! Right, Sovereign?”
“What’s this?” Ranma asked, doing her best to ignore the shocked stares of the Tendos.
“Nice costume,” Nabiki eventually remarked with a smirk.
“Just answer my question.”
“It just came in the mail,” Akane said, trying as hard as she could to suppress her “pervert-bashing” reflex.
“Um, I can explain that,” Nodoka suddenly added in an effort to quell whatever damage her premature meddling may have caused.
“Listen, Mom, I already know about the Guild.”
“You do?”
“Uh huh. Amaterasu figured you’d set something up with them anyway, so she decided to convince me to get my own archvillain herself.”
“Why are you doing that, Ranma-chan?” Kasumi asked.
“Well, for starters, there that,” Ranma answered with a gesture towards the screen, which showed a superhero being sexually harassed by a fey looking villain. “With a costume like this one, I’ve gotta do what I can to keep the creeps away, and that’s basically the main thing the Guild does.”
“Huh?”
“What Ranma’s saying is that when you sign with the Guild, they make sure that you aren’t pestered by unlicensed supervillains, making it possible to have some semblance of a normal life,” Nodoka explained.
“Right. And since the supervillainy community already considered me a primo catch before this Taiyohime debacle, I figure dealing with one or two is better than dealing with who knows how many.”
“So you did agree to be the Taiyohime?” Nabiki asked.
“You really think I’d wear something like this if I didn’t?”
“Hey, the DVD ended,” Akane suddenly noted. Ranma looked at the TV and noted that it now contained the address of the Tendo Dojo and a time.
“Huh… Sunday at 9 AM… that’s two days from now, right?”
“Looks like it,” Nabiki said with a nod. “These guys work fast.”
“Well, they’ve probably been waiting for the chance to get Ranma as a client since the Jusendo incident,” Nodoka added. “Likely as not, all they needed to do was fill in the date.”
“Yeah, thanks for taking the liberty of calling them up for me, Mom,” Ranma replied with a glare. “It’s real convenient how you just skipped the part where you actually ask if I want anything ta do with it. Again.”
“But… you said you were okay with it….”
“Because Amaterasu told me about it and convinced me. Still doesn’t change the fact that you went ahead and did it yourself.”
“I… I’m sorry, Ranma. I’m only trying to help—I want what’s best for you.”
“Yeah, but do ya really know what’s best for me?”
“Well, I thought I did….”
Of course, Ranma was fully aware that the really screwed up part was that her mother really did think she was doing what was best for her child; most of her father’s child-rearing mistakes had similarly flawed reasoning behind them. Of course, in Genma’s case, he’d always been careful to frame his son’s “best interests” so that they not-so-coincidentally ended up furthering his own, while Nodoka’s personal wealth meant that she had no such blinders—and yet it was becoming patently obvious that Genma was far more successful as a parent. On the other hand, “good intentions” didn’t exactly make up for the whole “tricking Ranma into getting cursed” business, either. Why couldn’t she have just told her about the Taiyohime and asked her to go along with it instead of using all this subterfuge? Sure, he probably would have been frosty at first, but Nodoka could have legitimately used all the “doing the right thing” type of arguments that she had apparently assumed were self-evident. “Look, Mom,” the redhead finally said, “I know that you’re not trying to piss me off, okay? And I really don’t wanna stay mad at you, mostly because I don’t like being angry at anybody. So, could you, you know, not do things without telling me first?”
“Um… I suppose….”
“Is there something else you’ve already done?”
“Well, no… at least, I don’t think it counts….”
Given her mother’s recent track record, that sounded fairly ominous. “What is it?”
“Um, do you know what that DVD is actually announcing?”
“Yeah, some sort of supervillain tryout. Amaterasu explained that part, too. Why?”
“Well, the Guild thinks I’m going to be present during your interviews as an… advisor.”
“Which is a really polite way of saying they think she’s going to be the one choosing your nemesis, and you’re just going to rubber-stamp it,” Nabiki explained. “Which, in turn, means that most of them are going to try to meet her criteria instead of yours.”
Ranma said nothing, instead choosing to massage her forehead with her fingertips.
“Um, I fully understand if you don’t want my input,” Nodoka said, “and I understand that you are probably going to be a very different Taiyohime. But do keep in mind that you’ll ultimately be facing the same threats to humanity that I did, and my experience can help you get a better idea of what you want in an archvillain.”
Ranma sighed. “Fine. You can be there during the interviews. But I’m the one who’ll be asking the questions—and maybe Shampoo, since she’s doing the whole sidekick thing.”
“What?!” Akane asked, surprised at this development.
“I’ll talk about it later, Akane.” Ranma quickly returned her attention to her mother. “In any case, if I need you to chime in with your opinion, I will ask you. You try to take over the interviews, and you’re getting the boot.”
“I understand. Well, then when will we be beginning your instruction?”
“My instruction?”
“I have to teach you how to be the Taiyohime sometime.”
“Mom, you’ve really got to drop this habit of assuming things. It keeps getting you in trouble.”
Nodoka’s eyes widened—surely Ranma wasn’t going to do something this foolish! “Who else could possibly hope to teach you all the intricacies of being the Sun Princess?”
“Cologne’s looking over Amaterasu’s scrolls right now for just that purpose. In fact, Amaterasu was the one who suggested her.”
“But… but… didn’t anyone tell you of my tenure as the Taiyohime?”
“Oh, you bet they did. Apparently, you were the best magical girl ever. And you know what? My gut is telling me that you probably are.”
“Then why on Earth wouldn’t you want to learn from me?”
“Because I don’t trust you,” Ranma said with a smile. “So, Akane, you wanted to know about Shampoo, right?” The redhead walked out towards the dojo with her fiancée, leaving her stunned mother standing in the middle of the Tendos’ living room.
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(Posted Tue, 12 Oct 2010 05:38)
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