Ranma’s return to the Tendos was met with mixed commentary.
Akane was nose-deep in Learning to Shift Forms for Beginning Weres and glanced up only to stare at Ranma’s hybrid form contemplatively. One had to know to look for it, but her roots were definitely turning dirty-blonde.
Genma had returned and was commiserating his misfortune with Soun. He drunkenly waved a half-written sign at Ranma, declaring him a dishonorable son. Ranma ignored them.
Kasumi and Belldandy were in the kitchen. Ranma dropped off the bottle and vacated when he heard Kasumi ask, “Bastet does things like that? Oh my!” Some things, Ranma would rather not contemplate until he had to.
Nabiki was the first to confront him directly. “That was a stupid thing to do, Saotome,” she groused.
“Huh?” Ranma asked intelligently.
Nabiki waved at Ranma’s body. “Running out like that. You’re not even fully dressed. You are eight feet tall. You ran at speeds most airplanes can’t match. You are going to be on the local news at the very least, and have you forgotten that the werecheetahs have mortal enemies?”
Ranma thought that through. “Well, I was a bit faster than usual, and I did sprint a bit to see how fast I was going, but really, airplanes, Nabiki?”
“Ranma, you made a sonic boom. You sprinted faster than sound.”
Ranma scratched his head. “Sound has speed? Man, I wish I undmmff!”
Akane gave Ranma a baleful look as her hand was mauled by his teeth again. “Don’t say the w word, baka.”
Ranma pulled her hand out of his mouth. “What word?”
“Did Ranma make his third wish?” Belldandy called from the kitchen.
“No!” Akane shouted back.
Ranma ducked his head. “Oh. That word.”
Nabiki snorted. “Two lessons in one day. Maybe that blessing gave you some brains, Saotome.”
Ranma scowled slightly at Nabiki. “So what do you want me to do, then?”
“For now, read your book. I’ll need it next. Then I’ll put out an info packet that has only the details we want, or need, to put out.” Nabiki frowned. “Which includes your problems with silver, Akane, because we can’t risk an accident. But not your immunity, Ranma, because that gives you an edge over the wererats when they get wind of this.”
Akane looked up. “There’s a lot more than just shifting in here,” she said. “Like here’s a recipe for stuff to treat silver wounds.”
“Really?” Nabiki asked. She walked over and scowled instantly. “That’s some exotic stuff. I know this one is really hard to get – Gosunkugi pays out the nose to just get in touch with someone who might carry it.”
Akane blinked. “Why would Gosunkugi…?”
“I don’t ask,” Nabiki muttered. “But I only know three people who might carry it.”
“Who?” Ranma asked, already knowing, and dreading, the answers.
Nabiki smiled grimly. “Happosai, Cologne, and Kodachi.”
Ranma’s head drooped and his tail went flat against his leg. “I knew it.”
“We’ll start with Kodachi,” Nabiki decided. “We don’t want the Amazons finding out about this until we know what they think of werecats.”
“What about the old freak?” Ranma growled. “He was here earlier.”
“And he’s our biggest problem,” Nabiki countered. “He knows you’re immune to silver, and kami only knows what kind of anti-werecat scrolls he’s stolen. If he figures out we’re desperate for this stuff, he can hold it over us.”
Akane frowned. “Nabiki, it’s not like silver is everywhere just waiting to jump out at me.”
Nabiki handed Akane a printout. “I did some quick research. Silver compounds are a lot more common than you’d think, and that book doesn’t look like it was written for the last century, let alone this one. For all we know, my old camera equipment could kill you.”
Akane blanched. Nabiki nodded at her expression. "Right."
"So what do we tell 'Dachi?" Ranma asked. "She is going to want to know why we need this stuff if it's that rare. Or at least get a date with me as her price."
Akane growled slightly and turned back to her book. Maybe if she learned to take hybrid form she could show those hussies a thing or two.
Nabiki took note of Akane’s growl and smiled secretly. About time, little sister. “Weeelllll…Bastet did say that biting her would get her head on straight. That could go a long way to getting her on our side.”
Ranma looked disturbed by this. “I can’t just bite her, Nabiki,” he protested. “I mean yeah I won’t make her a slave, but that’s still a really bad thing to do to someone without their permission.”
“Ahem,” Akane said.
Ranma blushed under his fur. “I didn’t mean to bite you,” he reminded her.
For some reason, Akane wasn’t pleased by that. Wait, why would I care what that pervert thinks about me? she asked herself. After all, it wasn't like she cared about Ranma or anything like that. Much. Well, maybe a little.
"Dinner's ready!" Belldandy called.
Dinner was a remarkably sedate affair…by Tendo standards. Belldandy's peaceful aura was only partly to blame for the lack of usual dinner chaos; the bigger reason was that Genma couldn't steal Ranma's food. Not that the part-time panda wasn't trying, he was simply outclassed.
Genma was unhappy. The boy's ki was quiet. He wasn't using that Amazon technique, he wasn't even using the Umisenken's speed techniques. But his hands were moving too fast for Genma to follow, let alone intercept. The boy must be using some dishonorable cat-demon technique to deprive his deserving father of food!
Genma's suspicions were only confirmed by Akane's appetite. While not the ravenous black hole of either Saotome, Akane's physical training and daily exercise led her to burn through a lot of calories on her own. But now, her increasingly high-performance cheetah body was demanding food on par with Ranma's appetite.
Nabiki frowned slightly. Their food costs were going to take another jump. Especially if Ranma nipped either her or Kasumi. Bastet had been disturbingly vague about how Akane's transformation had occurred, but given that she was a deity of mothers Nabiki was concerned that Bastet thought too much like Nodoka and all the Tendo girls would be furry by the end of the week, like it or not. For her part, it was warily but not definitively not. She wanted to go into business and make a lot of money, thank you very much, and a built-in fur coat wasn't going to help. Besides, she liked the look of silver.
Soun had recovered from Amaterasu's punches and Genma's sake, but rather than playing appropriate host to their guest, he had spent most of the meal alternately staring at Ranma's muzzle and Akane's hair, which now had several centimeters of blonde and faint brown spots. "Well, this doesn't seem so bad," he said in the same slightly drunk but accepting tones he had once used to offer his analysis of Ranma's original curse. "We'll have to put away a few heirlooms, but that's fine."
Ranma snorted slightly. "I wish it was that simple, Mr. Tendo," he said. He completely missed how everyone stopped eating and was staring at him in horror and continued on, "But knowing me an' knowing about the wererats an' all, Nabiki's probably right. This is gonna be a lot of trouble. If we're real lucky, we'll have quiet days to get ready." He smiled slightly. Usually when he started talking like this, Genma would rage about him being too like a girl. This time no one stopped him for some reason, and Ranma kept on rambling. "Heh, quiet days. Spent most of my life on the road and now I'm afraid of losing my home here. No offense, Mom…Mom?" he noticed Nodoka was staring at him. Wait…everyone was staring at him. "Um, do I have food in my teeth or something?"
"You just made a wish, Saotome," Nabiki pointed out. As one, with an audible creaking noise, every head turned to Belldandy.
Bell smiled. "Wish granted."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:43)
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.