Ranma watched the clock as the minutes ticked by. He was sure someone replaced the clock with one that went backwards. The sheer novelty of a normal day at school had worn off very quickly.
The few minutes they had between classes were dedicated to speculation. Hiroshi and Daisuke pestered Ranma for details about whatever Kuno was on about this time. "C'mon, Ranma," Hiroshi pressed. "Every time Kuno says stuff like that, he stumbled on something big. There's more to this than some magic thing."
"I told ya, ask Nabiki!"
"We can't afford her," Daisuke objected. "C'mon, you can tell a friend, can't ya?"
"And have Nabiki pissed at me?" Ranma snorted. "That's more than this is worth to ya."
Akane's luck was no better. "Nee, Akane, what was that giant cat-man in your neighborhood?" Sayuri asked.
"Did he have anything to do with those explosions on the news?" Yuka added.
"What did the news say?" Akane asked.
"Not much. A few unexplained booms. You know the news crews don't come around your neighborhood anymore."
"That's right. All they could say was that there were really loud noises and that Nabiki refused to comment."
Akane groaned. Only in Nerima could reporters outsource to a teenage girl without looking incompetent. "You know Nabiki," she said. "As soon as there's something worth knowing, she'll sell it to you."
Kuno awoke from his meditations to observe the familiar ceiling of the school nurse's office halfway through the morning classes. The ignorant wretch who called herself a member of the noble medical profession yelled at him to get out and take his deluded ramblings with him. "Fool! My love for Akane Tendo and osagi-no-onna has been blessed by the gods themselves! And by the power of love I-!"
Kuno was forced to beat a hasty retreat as heavy medical equipment was thrown his way. The nurse breathed heavily once she was alone, the wild look in her eye slowly fading. Martial Arts Nursing demanded she treat every ailment she could find, but no form of treatment or trauma she knew had fixed Kuno. So she usually stuck with trauma for the cathartic potential.
Minutes later, Nabiki sighed as Kuno entered their classroom. She had been hoping for a longer respite from the True Blunder this time. There would be no banter, no information to sell, no games to play. Kuno had decided she was Evil, and when Kuno decides something…
Kuno slammed a roll of yen notes on Nabiki's desk. By size and outermost denomination Nabiki estimated its value at one hundred thousand yen. "Tell me what the demon has done to my loves," Kuno growled.
Nabiki blinked. Admittedly, she had planned to sell Kuno information, but that was before he threatened her. "Why should I, Kuno-chan?" she asked mildly.
Kuno scowled and a second roll joined the first. "Because you can be bought," he said haughtily.
Not this time, Kuno-chan. "Well, as long as we understand eachother," Nabiki said, pocketing the money. "Ranma doesn't hold anyone in thrall, and anyone that knows anything about my sister knows she makes her choices for herself."
Before Kuno had a chance to demand better information (or, more likely, rant about how the foul sorcerer feline demon had made Akane genuinely happy to be engaged to him ensorcelled his loves' very mind to control her) the teacher for the next class walked in. "Kuno! Sit down! Bokken away!"
Kuno frowned at the teacher…but this was a man he was honor-bound to obey. What kind of samurai would not follow the orders of a proper authority?
The teacher sighed with relief as Kuno sat down. Just a few more months and he'll be someone else's headache, he thought desperately. Of course, next year he had to deal with The Saotome. That would be bad.
Lunch couldn't come soon enough for anyone. Ranma just wanted to be away from classes. Akane was getting jumpy about her hair; it felt like any minute people would point out that she was half-cheetah (or, more likely, the principal would declare her hair against school rules). Nabiki was nervous sitting next to Kuno. Her immunity to the chaos around her was the stuff of legends, but like a fool Kuno had rushed into this treacherous terrain. Nabiki had to deal with him…but to be perfectly honest she didn't know how. Usually some fast talk about Ranma and Akane would distract him, but now he accused her of being in league with Ranma. With all the martial artists who could trounce Kuno without breaking a sweat, it was easy to forget that he was more than capable of sending almost anyone else to the hospital with similar ease. Handling Kuno used to be holding a fool by the wallet, now Nabiki had the horrible feeling of holding a tiger by the tail.
Students filed out of the classroom. Ranma and Ukyo left by window – Ranma to leave class faster and Ukyo because she wasn't letting Ranchan out of her sight until her questions were answered. Akane joined up with Nabiki (kicking Kuno in the face in the process) and the sisters headed outside to meet up with Ranma.
A few minutes into the lunch break, Nabiki led the four of them to a rarely occupied part of the Furinkan grounds. It wasn't private enough for Ranma or Akane to transform openly, but they could talk relatively freely.
"What's going on with Ranchan?" Ukyo asked immediately.
"I got my hands on a genie," Ranma said. "Sorry."
"A genie?" Ukyo asked. "You mean a real three wishes genie in the lamp genie?"
"Yup," Ranma said.
Splash. "And you didn't cure your curse?"
Onna-Ranma glared at Ukyo. "Why are you even carrying a bucket of cold water?" she shrieked.
Ukyo smiled. "It's fun. You know your hair's still funny colored?"
Ranma twitched.
Nabiki offered Ranma a thermos. "I knew this would happen. C'mon, before Kodachi shows up."
"Oh-hohohohoho!! Who uses the name of the Black Rose!?"
Ranma splashed herself quickly. Kodachi was just bounding over the outer wall when his figure lost the rather prominent female characteristics that would have started a rather annoying fight.
"That would be me," Nabiki called. "Did you bring it?"
"Nabiki Tendo," Kodachi greeted coldly. "Am I some common merchant that I am here only for your material needs?"
"Of course not, but it really is important that we be able to make this compound," Nabiki said, digging out the recipe for silver extinguisher.
Ukyo snatched the scrap of paper and read over it. "…what is this?"
"I would like to know that as well, chef," Kodachi sneered. She snatched the paper away from Ukyo and ignored her glare. "Hmm. Yes, these are what you asked for, Nabiki Tendo, but this is no medicine I am familiar with."
"Well," Nabiki said easily, "we should go somewhere more private to answer more." She walked over to a nearby tree and calmly pulled one of he branches. A trap door opened in the ground.
"What's that?" Ranma asked.
"One of Toramasa's passageways," Nabiki answered. "There's a room down here we can talk freely in. Ranma, are you ready?"
Ranma nodded. "I'm used to wearing bad-fitting clothes." He adjusted something and his shirt seemed to balloon around him. "Ya just gotta know how to cinch 'em up."
"What are you talking about, Ranchan?"
"Inside," Nabiki said. She waved Ranma down and followed him. The fiancées followed. Nabiki directed Ranma into a surprisingly spacious room considering it was under their school.
"Okay, Sugar, we're alone," Ukyo drawled. "So what's this about?"
"Well, are either of you familiar with the western 'werewolf' myths?"
Kodachi blinked at the non-sequitur. "I am a daughter of the noble house of Kuno," she said imperialistically. "I know many things."
"So that's a no, Sugar?" Ukyo smirked.
"Of course not."
"Me neither," Ukyo said.
"Well, at least we have fewer misunderstandings this way," Nabiki sighed. "Ranma?"
Ranma touched the newest part of his psyche and twisted just so. A heartbeat later and his clothes were not loose at all. He looked down at Ukyo and smiled. "Sorry about this."
Ukyo stared, eyes wide, jaw hanging in the breeze. "Ranchan?"
Kodachi was no better. She looked like she had inhaled her own poison flowers. "Ranma-sama?"
"I'm what they call a 'werecheetah' now," Ranma explained. "It happened yesterday. I came across a magic lamp. Doing this cured the nekoken and made me immune to anything else Jusenkyo can throw at me."
"And that's why your hair was all funny colored?" Ukyo asked. Ranma's new form was…wow. The fur she could do without, but even through his shirt she could see rippling muscle definition that were telling her feminine instincts in no uncertain terms that this creature was a Man that she Wanted.
Wait. If funny hair made Ranma turn into that…Ukyo looked at Akane.
Akane smiled slightly and her form blurred and expanded to match Ranma's. "Me, too."
Nabiki looked over the two human fiancées. Ukyo was having trouble processing this, but she was trying. Kodachi…no one could guess what was going on in her mind. "Were creatures like Ranma and Akane have a few weaknesses," Nabiki said calmly. "They have a kind of allergy to silver, potentially lethal. That recipe is for a salve to treat silver wounds."
Kodachi looked dumbly at the list. "So that's why you need my supplies," she said numbly.
"If Ranma made a wish that turned him into a wereleopard-" Ukyo started.
"Werecheetah," Nabiki corrected.
"Werewhatever! If Ranma made the wish, what's with Miss Fuzzy over here?" Ukyo asked, jerking a thumb at Akane.
"Hey!"
"I bit her," Ranma said sullenly.
Ukyo looked Ranma over carefully. She knew Ranma's face intimately…pun desired. Anyway, the fur (those eyestripes are actually kinda sexy…) didn't change his body language that much. "You bit her?"
"Yeah. That's part of being a were. I can turn people into werecheetahs by biting them."
"And a werecheetah can look human?" Ukyo asked.
"Well duh," Akane said. "I'd shift back but we're still new at this changing thing. Give me a few minutes."
"Anything other than silver to look out for?"
"Other weres and magic," Ranma said. "Can you hand me your battle spatula?"
Ukyo unslung the weapon and carefully handed it to Ranma. "Just be careful with it, Ranchan."
Ranma didn't take the blade, instead he moved quickly and sliced open his hand.
"Ranma-sama!" Kodachi shrieked.
Ranma grunted in pain. "That didn't tickle…but see?" He showed them his hand, wiping away the blood and fur to show the wound had stopped bleeding and was visibly sealing.
Ukyo and Kodachi looked at eachother and then to the weres…
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:49)
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.