She was not, therefore surprised when Ranma and Akane came striding in looking distraught.
"Hey, old ghoul, I gotta talk to you?" Ranma said. He growled as the thrown chopstick bounced off his head.
"Show some manners, son-in-law," she said with observable amusement. "Now, what's troubling you?"
"My sister's have changed into..." Akane started, stopping for a moment to swallow. "...things out of old fairy tales."
"What is that?" Cologne demanded. Transformations were serious business.
"Listen, old ghoul," Ranma said. "This dead witch dressed as a miko told us about some spell she cast that's happening now! Every four hours for the next year a different girl gets changed into some sort of monster. Nabiki is some sort of snake-girl and Kasumi is a kitsune!"
"Dead witch dressed as a..." Cologne repeated. "Tell me everything, son-in-law. Clearly, if you please."
For the next several minutes Akane and Ranma presented the story as related to them by the woman. When it was finished, Cologne seemed thoughtful.
"When I was twenty," Cologne said. "A woman such as you describe came upon me as I was travelling on an errand for the village. A travelling priestess who broke bread with me when we camped that evening. She was gone the next morning, before I woke. It had always seemed inconsequential to me, but...still it has always stuck in my mind...things she said about the future and the past. Son-in-law, if what you say is true, I may be one of the original bearers of these shards."
"You might," Ranma said. "You don't know anything?"
"The tribe has heard of the Jewel of Four Souls, son-in-law," Cologne said. "But only through rumor. We had our own problems to deal with, we couldn't spend time on Japanese problems that were something like two-hundred years old."
"Well, there is still this Higurashi person," Akane said hopefully.
"I'm afraid you'll find that an unlikely hope, Miss Tendo," Cologne said.
"Huh," Ranma said. "Why is that?! This ghost said she was some sort of hot-shot devil hunter or something."
"Will be," Colonge said. "Will be."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked "This all happened hundreds of years ago."
"And now," Akane said, gasping. "Kagome Higurashi, she's a time traveller."
"That's right," Cologne said. "According to the same ghost, some of these shards were collected from this time."
"So?" Ranma asked.
"Baka!" Akane growled. "Don't you see, when we go to see her, we're not going to find the all powerful exorcist from the stories, we're going to find the girl still on the quest."
"This may very well be the reason she rushed matters," Cologne said. "To be sure that her foe would be preoccupied with her own quest and be unable to deal with this matter. When are you seeing her?"
"Nabiki's going to have transportation ready in," Akane looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes."
"Then we'd best be leaving," Cologne said.
"We?" Ranma and Akane asked.
"Of course," Cologne said. "I must speak with this woman as well."
The old woman turned back towards the kitchen and bellowed for the blind dishwashermartial-artist.
"Mr. Part-time, if you see Shampoo tell her to go to the Tendo dojo," she called out. "And mind the resturant!"
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Sat, 07 Jun 2003 22:44)
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