She was currently sitting at the dinner table along with her other two adoptive parents. Normally they would be flirting with each other or something, but tonight Setsuna's call had the pair too serious to do much more than sit there worrying quietly.
Galaxia had been defeated. There weren't supposed to be any new challenges of that sort until the final battles to establish Crystal Tokyo. Were those battles starting already?
The sound of the door opening drew the attention of all three women, and Setsuna's voice carried in from the doorway, "Come along. You can drop the food off at the table, and then I shall show you where you can put your things."
A few agonizingly long seconds were all it took Setsuna to enter the room. She had several boxes of take-out food with her.
And she was soon followed by her guest - a handsome young man, with unruly raven black hair tied off in back, dressed in Chinese-style silks. He carried several more boxes of food - indeed he seemed loaded down with them, and was just barely able to see over the top of his load.
"Ah, good. You are all here," Setsuna commented. "Ranma, these are my roommates, Haruka and Michiru, and our ward Hotaru. Ladies, this is Ranma Saotome."
No one moved for a moment, unsure just how to deal with this intrusive presence.
Setsuna finally broke the tableau by setting down her burden of food. "If someone would help with the food, I need to show Ranma where he can freshen up before dinner."
Michiru, knowing that assisting now would be admitting that she'd been rude by not already having jumped up to help, glared at Haruka.
Haruka grumbled under her breath and moved to help take some of the food from their guest. "What's with all the food, Setsuna? We'd be lucky to go through this much in a week."
"Then truly it is fortunate that Ranma is here; half of it is for him," Setsuna replied, and then turned to Ranma, "If you'll follow, I'll show you to your room."
Ranma, shifting somewhat nervously, nodded, and followed. Hotaru noticed he had a well-worn and oversized backpack strapped to his back.
A moment later the pair returned from one of the spare rooms and sat down at the table, Setsuna directing Ranma to sit in her usually spot across from Hotaru, while taking the extra place setting herself.
Dinner began shortly thereafter as Setsuna began serving herself from the take-out boxes. Ranma noticeably frowned when he watched Hotaru take her typical bird-like portion of food, and waited until everyone else had grabbed their share before completely emptying a take-out box of his own.
Though begun in relative silence, the meal didn't stay that way for long. "So who's the kid?" Haruka asked, starting off the interrogations.
Hotaru noticed that Ranma, in spite of having a large helping of food before him, seemed to be just sitting there, with his hands at his sides.
Setsuna calmly replied, "I have decided that Hotaru needs a physical trainer to help her overcome her poor health. To that end, I have retained Ranma's services."
Hotaru blushed at having her problem discussed in front of a stranger. Of course, since he was here, he obviously had known about it before now.
Haruka snorted, "We could have done that ourselves."
Ranma barked out a reply, "Yet you haven't." He started emptying a second container onto his plate.
Hotaru blinked. When had he eaten the first helping? She was barely through a third of her own tiny helping and was already starting to fill full.
"Precisely," Setsuna continued. "Each of us have our own duties to attend to which prevents us from giving Hotaru's problem the attention it needs. Furthermore, neither of you have any experience in this matter. Ranma, on the other hand, has no other obligations at the moment, and has experience in strength training all the way from weakened conditions to healthy ones."
Haruka grumbled but said no more on the subject.
Hotaru noticed Michiru frowning as Ranma emptied a third container out on his place. She blinked again. Hadn't he just emptied a second container a moment ago? She'd certainly never seen him take a bite of food, so where was it going?
Setsuna also seemed to notice Michiru's frown. "Ranma will also be taking over the duties of cooking."
"What?!" Ranma exclaimed, swallowing the food in his mouth. "This is news to me, lady."
Setsuna shrugged. "You are Hotaru's physical trainer. I'd assumed you'd wish to oversee her diet as well."
Ranma's ire obviously faded away. "Well, yeah, but you could'a said something to me 'bout this sooner, you know." He shook his head, "Hell, I bet that means I gotta go shopping too yet."
Setsuna only nodded.
Hotaru looked down at her plate in dismay. She was only about two-thirds of the way through her meal, and felt like she couldn't eat another bite. She normally could at least finish off her plate. "I'm finished, Michiru-mama," she commented as she started to clean up her place.
"Sit down and finish your plate," Ranma instructed his deep tenor voice hard and firm. He wasn't even looking at her, but instead emptying out a fourth container of food. "The first step to makin' sure you get healthier, is makin' sure you ain't starvin' yourself half to death. Finish you plate."
Michiru nodded, and gave Hotaru a strained smile. "He's right, Hotaru. You didn't take that much food in the first place, so you should eat it all."
Hotaru sighed, but did as she was told. She was just so full, though. She had no idea how she was going to get the rest of the food down.
"So, hot shot," Haruka began. It was obvious she didn't think too highly of Ranma. "What are you planning to do first to help Hotaru?"
Ranma shrugged, and leaned back from the table slightly, his plate empty of food once more. "Well, I was planning to take her with me when I went shopping for food. I gotta figure out how bad her problem is 'fore I know exactly what to do next."
Hotaru almost groaned. She could tell Ranma intended to walk to the store. She'd be hard pressed to make it to the store, much less follow him around through the store and all the way back. Especially with her overfull stomach.
"I suggest you take your backpack then, Ranma," Setsuna commented. "Hotaru will not be able to make that journey."
Ranma nodded, and then rose, "Then I'll go get it." He paused before leaving, "Umm..."
Setsuna smiled, "I'll get your plate, Ranma."
With that Ranma nodded and headed off to his room.
Hotaru sighed, glad her plate was empty finally. "I probably should go change," she commented quietly.
Setsuna nodded, and took Hotaru's plate, already focused on cleaning the table.
See other episodes by Brian Drozd
(Posted Wed, 13 Aug 2003 02:33)
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