Ranma couldn’t believe it, he just couldn’t. In his arms, he had trouble balancing the numerous stacks of paper currency. Sure, there was a LOT of the traditional Japanese Yen notes he recognized but there were also German Marks, Mexican Pesos, Moroccan Dirham, British Pounds, Norwegian Kroner, French Francs, Italian Lire and Dollars not only of United States origin but Canadian and Hong Kong’s as well!
In short... Ranma was holding a small fortune in international currency.
The first thought that had gone through the pigtailed martial artist’s mind had been to go see Nabiki. After all, the woman was always heaping bill after bill after surcharge after interest rate fee upon him for some slights both real and more than likely imaged and all of it scammed... it would be nice to get her off his back for at least a couple of days...
“But then again seeing how much this is, she might take it all as bonus interest...” he sighed. Nabiki was always trying to get more money out of him. There’d be no use giving it to her in that she’d probably just make some excuse to keep him in her clutches financially. “Besides...” he grumbled. “Kami knows if I take it home I’ll get mugged anyway...”
Although he tried to, the Heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts couldn’t repress the shudder that happened with the mental image going through his mind. It was yet another reason why he never had any money on him outside of Nabiki always bleeding him dry. People always kept going through his pack, his bedroll and personal belongings where he tried to hide money or other goods. He could just imagine coming home and being trampled upon by his father and Happosai... and then probably Nabiki for good measure.
But where could he keep this money, whom could he trust? Kasum—no, no... Nabiki would probably wheedle it out of her.
Hey, there was Uccha—no, not her either. She’d probably se it as him proposing to go into business with her or something.
Wait! Here was Miss Hina—damn it, not her either. Yes she was a responsibility adult now and then but ONLY now and then. Who knew what she might try to spend it on as soon as she turned back into a kid... although Ranma had to admit, he wouldn’t mind her buying a truckload of ice-cream if she shared.
Cologne? Pfft! Not a chance. She’d probably keep it and try to use it to lure him into marrying Shampoo.
He didn’t even consider Dr. Tofu. He stopped trusting that man since his second week in Nerima. The asshole busted his spine in the right spot as to put his legs out of commission... on some sort of internal timer no less! What would’ve happened if he’d gone a separate way from Akane or if she’d knocked him in the river when his legs went out? “Doctor do no harm, my ass...”
Lowering his head, Ranma sighed. There was really only ONE real option. And if she decided she wanted to keep the money or a portion of it, he couldn’t blame her. It was his fiancées that had busted up her home that that time in the first place. Probably cost a lot to repair. Deciding to bite the bullet, Ranma began rushing off... to his mother’s.
He just hoped this wasn’t a bad mistake.
It was a brisk trek as the martial artist made his way to his mother’s home. True, she was farther from his starting point in that alleyway than the Tendo residence was but the fact was when he wanted to get moving, he could run like the wind. He could feel the air rushing past him from the velocity, making the edges of paper money exposed past his arms flutter. Within the span of fifteen minutes, he was at his mother’s abode. Jumping over the stone wall along the side of the house, (having wanted to avoid being seen at the main gate) Ranma walked around and up to the front door. Carefully balancing his bundle with one arm, he reached out with his right hand and rang the doorbell.
After a few minutes of waiting the door opened, revealing the redheaded woman in her favored purple kimono. Looking down, the Matriarch of the Saotome family smiled. “Son! What a pleasant surprise! Do come...” she trailed of as she took notice of what he was carrying. “Son? Did you just rob a bank?” Nodoka asked curiously, blinking her eyes at the obscene amount of wealth he was carrying with one arm.
Shaking his head, Ranma told her, “No, mom. I found it.” At the incredulous look she gave him, he repeated, “Yes, I found it. That’s why I’m here...” he took a moment to look around, making sure no one else was in sight. “Can I come in, mom?” He asked of his mother. “I don’t want to talk about it out here in the open.”
Nodding her head in understanding, the older woman replied, “Oh of course.” So saying, she moved aside to let him enter.
Walking inside, Ranma waited for his mother to close the door. Looking around, he spotted and then walked over to a chair his mother had in her living room. He carefully placed all the stacks of monetary notes down onto the chair, taking a moment to look at the ludicrous pile of cash; it was a bit overwhelming now that he wasn’t in a rush. “Mom,” he spoke her title as he turned about to face her. “I need your help. I found all of this stuff in a storm drain and... well, I don’t know what to do with it.”
Raising her head as her son’s voice had her attention, she asked, “Hmm?" She walked over to her son when he asked, taking a moment to look over the money, examining it. “You know, it could be stolen currency; Yakuza money. I’d call the police perhaps...”
Ranma winced. “I was afraid you’d say that mom. But when I found it, well... the bag it was all in was rather filthy and mostly hidden underneath a pile of garbage. I think it had been there for some time. If it was Yakuza, it was probably forgotten or... something... I dunno...” his shoulders sagged.
That made Nodoka raise an eyebrow. Why would her son be digging through garbage?
Noticing the look she gave him, Ranma sighed. “What can I say? Once I found the stuff, I figured I might be able to do something... get out of debt from Nabiki... pay you for all the repairs you had to have done... I don’t know. I just didn’t feel like I could leave it where it was, that I could do something with it. Something good.”
The woman smiled slowly, in her eyes it was a very manly think to want to do something good with the wealth they had. “Hmm... I see your point,” Nodoka admitted, raising a hand to rub her chin in thought. “...In that case... we should look into getting you a private bank account... one that won’t ask too many questions should be our first priority. After all, we can’t hide this money under a bed.”
Wincing as that had been one of hits first thoughts, Ranma covered up any embarrassment by nodding his head in agreement with his mother. “It wouldn't fit under my bedroll anyway...”
Nodoka blinked her eyes as her son said that. “Bedroll?” She questioned as she turned to look at her son, her one and only child. “Aren’t you sharing Akane’s bed?” She hoped he wasn’t spending his time with Kasumi or Nabiki too much. Akane was supposed to be his wife proper. Did they switch things around without telling her?
Rolling his eyes, Ranma snorted. “Please. Anytime I go near her room I end up getting clobbered by the uncute Tomboy!”
Sighing, the redheaded woman realized her son and his fiancée were still having pre-marital spats. “You know, calling her that is a surefire way to get clobbered son.” A serious look came into her eyes. “And before you argue, yes, I know she jumps to wild conclusions but you don’t help yourself either,” Nodoka pointed out.
“I can’t help it! She clobbers me first and I feel I gotta get back at her!” Ranma retorted. Realizing he was raising his voice to her, he apologized. “Sorry mom. It’s just what you say... I ain’t makin’ my situation better but she just infuriates me when she acts up every flippin’ time! Just last week I had her throw a bottle of maple syrup at me at the breakfast table for complimenting Kasumi’s food!” It had been a rather sweet breakfast.
The woman nodded her head in understanding to her son’s plight. “Yes, I’ve been noticing such about her, sadly...” she sighed. “Genma didn’t instill good social skills or even simple tact with you... and poor Akane-chan’s anger was never properly tempered. She has legitimate reasons to be angry at times but it and her insecurities consume her... not too unlike you.” She smiled wanly.
“Uh... I... you see...” Ranma trailed off, blushing. He never wanted to make his mother ashamed of him. It was one of the few things he held higher than proving his masculinity at every which chance that came up.
Seeing how her son was becoming uncomfortable, Nodoka changed the subject. “But that’s getting off topic. As for the money...” she looked at the stacks of paper bills again and considered what to do. Finally, she told her son, “I’ll call some friends about setting up an account... another thing to maybe do is invest some of it to help it grow as well as take the currency you may never use and convert it all to Yen, if not all of it.”
Nodding his head, Ranma could go with that. “Yeah, mom. I can do that...” he smiled. “So what now? Do we meet later and you give me ideas of what to invest in after you meet your accountant?”
“That sounds about right son,” Nodoka answered. Bringing a hand over to him, she rubbed the top of his head. “This is your money, so it’s up to you to decide what to invest into. I can merely offer suggestions as to what’s best in the long run but in the end it is your decision.” She felt giving him such responsibilities would perhaps help him mature.
“Cool,” Ranma said, cheering up a bit. Raising his arms around his mother, he hugged the woman tightly, possibly for the first time since before his father took him on his training journey. “Thank you, mom.”
Smiling brightly, the woman hugged her child back. “You’re welcome, son.”
Letting go of the woman, Ranma looked up at her, “Thanks mom. I promise you, I’ll do the best I can with this. I’ll invest wisely!”
“I hope so,” she said as she ruffled his head. “I sure hope so.”
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(Posted Tue, 19 May 2009 21:16)
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