Once again, Nodoka sat at the edge of her bed, alone in her home for another night. This wouldn’t have been so bad, if it weren’t for the fact that she had been certain that her offspring would be returning home that night after gladly accepting the call to be the next Taiyohime. By now, she should have finished Ranma’s first lesson in the noble art of demon-hunting—but instead, her son had gotten so angry that Amaterasu had found it necessary to intervene directly to convince him to reconsider, and he still didn’t want anything to do with his mother. It didn’t make any sense—but then, Nodoka didn’t quite understand why the Sun Goddess had so unceremoniously dismissed her from the Heavenly Plane before Ranma had accepted. After all, she’d made plenty of mistakes before, and usually received little more than a slap on the wrist. How was this any different?
Nodoka sighed and flopped back onto her bed. She really didn’t understand why her child had been so hostile—well, she supposed that being the subject of a year-long deception had something to do with it, but surely Ranma should have been able to get past all of that. After all, she was his mother, and she wanted the best for him, and what could be better than serving Amaterasu as the Taiyohime? It wasn’t just because of the considerable financial compensation; it was also because of the tremendous psychological benefits that naturally went along with being a defender of the human race.
Where could she have possibly gone wrong? Ranma obviously had the personality for being a hero, which should have resulted in minor details being pushed aside when the chance for heroism presented itself. But instead of showing gratitude for the proactive measures his mother took to ensure that that path remained open to him, Ranma had been resentful.
“I don’t trust you.” The words of her progeny echoed in Nodoka’s mind, even if they still didn’t make sense. You know what? I bet it’s just the shock of the moment talking…. Yes, that must be it. Why else would she admit my talent but then refuse my services as an instructor? She just needs some time to reconsider things, and then everything will be back on track. Besides, she still had one more introduction to make, and she was quite certain that this would dispel any doubts Ranma had about his mother’s qualifications. This, more than anything else, seemed to satisfy Nodoka’s restless mind, because it wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep.
When Nabiki sat down to breakfast the next morning, there was something surprising sitting next to her meal. “Ranma, is this the contract I gave you?”
“Yup,” the teenage boy replied without bothering to look up from his own plate of food.
“Don’t you want it?”
“Nah, I’m done with it. You keep it.”
“So, you’re turning down my offer, then?”
“Oh, no. I’ve already signed it. Take a look.”
Nabiki did so, and was surprised to see Ranma’s hanko stamped on the lengthy contract’s final page. “Um, Ranma, are you sure you’re not going to regret contacting an attorney about this?”
“Not likely. I had Amaterasu-sama take a look at it.”
“What?!” Nabiki hadn’t expected that her legalese would have to pass the muster of the head of the Shinto pantheon. “Well, what did she say?”
“She said that if you had passed this off as a normal contract, you’d probably end up being arrested for fraud at some point, but other than that, it’s solid. Basically, I’m paying you a lot more than normal in return for a higher level of service, right?”
“Uh, right.”
“Good, then there’s no problem.”
“Well, thank you for hiring me, R—I mean, Mr. Saotome.”
“Don’t mention it, though you should keep in mind that you still need to sign it yourself to show that you approve of the changes Amaterasu made to it.”
“Changes? Like what?”
“Well, it’s really only one change. You see, since Amaterasu doesn’t want me to get screwed over again, she’s going to enforce this contract personally, which means if you try any funny business, you’ll have to answer to her. And keep in mind that she’s not nearly as timid and soft-spoken nowadays as she was when all those stories about her were first written.”
“Uh… sure. Anything else?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then I don’t think there will be a problem.”
Given his usual luck, Ranma fully expected that his new status as a professional magical girl would not only have leaked out but become the talk of Furinkan. Thus he was pleasantly surprised to find out that his secret had, against all odds, managed to remain secret, at least for the time being. Then again, the local scuttlebutt was largely occupied by the stunning resignation of Nabiki from all of her side businesses, bestowing control of them to her longtime assistant, Ryonami. She’d told him she was going to do something like this when their arrangement was solidified, but Ranma hadn’t really expected her to be so public about it.
Still, he wondered whether there’d be some new sort of madness waiting for him when he returned to the Tendo home, and when he walked into the dojo and saw his mother standing there, he knew immediately that the answer was an unqualified “yes.” This was not so much a result of his mother presence in and of itself, but because of the gaunt, well-dressed, and somewhat wrinkled Caucasian man standing behind her.
“Alright, Mom, who is this guy?”
“This, my dear, is someone very important—the kind of person who can make the next few days go very smoothly for you.”
“So, he’s your complete opposite, then?”
Nodoka bristled a bit at her son’s prickly attitude, but she quickly recovered. “Actually, in a manner of speaking, that’s true, though that was only for a brief period of time in the 1970’s... but I digress. Ranma, it is my pleasure to introduce you to David Bowie.”
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(Posted Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:21)
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