Nabiki and Ranma were now sitting at the table in the Tendo living room. Kasumi had insisted to make tea for their guest and Ranma had not dared refuse. Any hint of him towards leaving the house was dismissed and would send the eldest Tendo daughter into another fit of 'unstable behaviour'. He feared she would hurt herself at this rate and chose the path of least resistance. Patience is a virtue all decent mages cultivate and it wasn't as if he was in a hurry after all. On the other hand, Nabiki looked positively mortified at the sight of her sister's antics.
Ranma decided to break the awkward silence in the room (occasionally broken by suspicious noises coming from the Tendo kitchen) "Miss Tendo? You still haven't answered my question. Ranko Saotome, how is she handicapped exactly?" She had always been evasive on the subject and beyond the fact that it was recent, he didn't know anything.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you because I don't know myself. I didn't look too closely when I checked her records on my computer" Nabiki wasn't about to tell him that thanks to a ditzy blonde genie, reality had been altered and she was the only one to know. Besides, she wasn't lying. She had been shocked to find out that now, there was a Ranko Saotome and that she was crippled in some way because of the wish she made.
Many people would have laughed at the thought of Nabiki Tendo, the 'Ice Queen' of Furinkan high school, feeling remorse in a situation like this. As long as anyone wasn't too badly hurt, she admitted she would play all those dumb martial artists against each other to make the money her family needed. Being responsible, even indirectly, of long-lasting injuries or death turned her stomach.
It was easy to forget that even with their vaunted strength, toughness, speed and skill, the martial artists of Nerima were still human beings and therefore, mortal like anyone else. Ranko's crippled state was a reminder of this truth and a cold shower for the middle Tendo daughter.
"Ah... Too bad. I guess we'll know when we go to meet her then" Ranma had done some research before and knew that most japanese, as a rule, were uncomfortable with the subject of handicapped people. It was part of their cultural and religious background. Still, he wondered if she wasn't hiding something. Nabiki Tendo showed small signs of nervousness each time he spoke of Ranko.
Ranma's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on Nabiki's aura. He couldn't find any trace of evil beyond what was expected of an average human. On the other hand, a part of this house was... tainted by something dark. He'll have to look into it at the first opportunity.
Nabiki interpreted his intense gaze as a sign of something more disturbing than a mystical scan Uh oh, he isn't buying it. Damn! Why did he have to become smart and observant? Let's move unto a less dangerous subject... "So, Diggers-san, do you know how you appeared in my bedroom?"
"I must say I have no idea. One moment I was in my sister's laboratory and the next..." Of course, that wasn't the complete truth. He was here to solve the puzzle of Madrid's words and what Dao showed him with his Eye of Sight-beyond-Sight. That miss Tendo apparently knew Ranko Saotome, the only japanese he knew, was too much of a coincidence in his opinion.
"By the way, what's with the outfit?" Nabiki was curious as to why this Ranma would wear some kind of spandex bodysuit. Maybe he was some kind of gymnast? She smirked briefly at what Kodachi Kuno would think of that "Are you into bodybuilding or fitness?"
"You could say that..." Ranma shrugged, wondering again why did mage-suits looked like spandex in the first place.
Before Nabiki could question him further, they were interrupted by someone barging in the living room. It was...
See other episodes by Jamil Nate
(Posted Tue, 05 Aug 2003 22:30)
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