Artemis frowned. “Inari?”
“Japanese god of rice and foxes.”
Artemis sipped at her drink again. “Odd combination.”
Bastet shook her head. “Not really. The Japanese revered the fox sort of like the Egyptians did the cat, and for some of the same reasons: kept the vermin out of the grain. Inari was the rice god; foxes were his messengers and the protectors of the rice fields.”
“And this is a problem how?”
“Well, messing in another god's specific domain is asking for trouble.”
Artemis grinned, then drank the rest of her glass dry. “So we bring him in on it.”
Bastet snickered. “Nice, but I doubt that Inari would be willing to help just to settle a bet about Ranma, even if the boy is a hero in training.”
“Who says we have to mention Ranma? Tell him it's to get revenge on Genma. I'm sure he must have defiled a shrine somewhere in the last ten years...”
As the two goddesses started to giggle to each other, Toltiir just shook his head. “I've created a monster.”
Soon enough, back at the Tendo dojo...
“I’ll get it!” Kasumi called as she heard a knock on the door. Not that anybody else would be likely to anyway, of course. Father and Mr. Saotome were off playing one of their innumerable games of shogi last she looked; Akane and Ranma were still ‘sparring’ out back in the dojo (though she hadn't heard a splash yet, so things were all right so far); and Nabiki had come home late after a meeting with one of her associates, and was probably half-asleep in her room.
Kasumi thought she had become immune to strangeness in the year or so since Ranma and his father had arrived. What she saw at the door made her reconsider that opinion.
Standing at the gateway were two fox-women, both dressed in full formal kimonos with delicate gold stitching of rice stalks that seemed to sway as the fabric moved in the light breeze. The elder of the two was dressed in a brilliant sky blue, while the younger in a deeper, grassy green.
The elder was tall, had fur of a bright white, and the flickers of fur behind her that Kasumi could see spoke of more than one tail. With a gasp, Kasumi bowed as low as she could. “Welcome to our humble house, Akomachi-sama.”
The kitsune chuckled softly. “Rise, child. I am certain that my great-grandmother would be very pleased to hear that people think she could still look so young.”
Kasumi blushed. “I meant no disrespect, honoured one.”
The kitsune smiled, and nodded. “I know you meant none, so do not worry. And you would be?”
“Kasumi Tendo, honoured one.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. Now, tell me, Tendo-san: is there a Ranma Saotome living here?”
Kasumi's smile dropped a nearly unnoticeable fraction of a millimeter. Why did all the interesting people have to be looking for Ranma? Well, aside from those Chardin people. “Indeed there is, honoured one. He is currently practicing in the dojo out back. May I ask what your business with him is?”
Kasumi's ears were very familiar with the nuances of sound in the Tendo house. One particular sound that she was not hearing right now was the clack of shogi tiles. Ah, and there was that particular slight shift of a wall panel that indicated Father and Saotome-san were leaning around the corner to hear what was being said.
“Of course, Tendo-san. My daughter and I are here to take up the matter of her engagement to Ranma Saotome.” The kitsune shot a sharp look at her daughter, who wasn't looking terribly happy about the situation.
Kasumi listened to the padding sound of her father walking down the hallway behind her in his sandals, and was barely able to suppress the sigh at this news. “May I ask how this occurred, honoured one? Saotome-san didn't sell his son for food again, did he?”
The kitsune, looking slightly perturbed, said, “Close enough. Saotome stole some of the rice that was being kept for a harvest festival, and offered his son as barter when he was caught at it by the priests of the shrine. Why, has he done this before?”
“SA-O-TO-ME!!!” The two kitsune were treated to the view of Soun Tendo, dressed in full samurai armour and flailing his katana around, charging down the hallway and chasing after a panda who was trying to use one of his signs to parry the blade.
As Kasumi's hair fell back into place after the breeze of the chase, she said, “Let's see, there was the Kuonji engagement, the Daikoku engagement... I believe you're the fourth fiancée Saotome-san has arranged for food.”
“Fifth,” called Nabiki's voice down the stairs. “You never met the Hashimoto family and their speed-roll sushi technique. We ran into them over on the Ginza, and they hadn't bothered trying to track the Saotomes down, figuring they didn't really want to join with any family that included Genma.”
Kasumi said, “Sorry, fifth.”
The kitsune was developing a slight twitch over one eye by this point. “So how many engagements does Ranma Saotome have?”
“If you only count engagements that we know of actively being pursued, three. Our own family agreement was made by our fathers before our birth, when my father and Saotome-san were both students under the same martial arts master. Ukyo Kuonji was arranged using her family yattai as a dowry. And Shampoo of the Joketsuzoku started chasing after Ranma because of her village laws after Ranma defeated her in combat.”
Nabiki called down the stairs again. “You forgot to mention that the main reason Ranma fought her in the first place was that his father had started eating the banquet that was Shampoo's prize as tournament champion.”
Kasumi nodded again. “That's true, yes. But only those three are active participants with any real standing.”
The kitsune smiled in such a way as to show more teeth than really necessary. “And if I wished to talk to this Genma Saotome about the standing of our arrangement, where would I find him?”
Kasumi said, “He was the panda that was just chased out of here. I'm afraid Father was rather upset to learn of another of Saotome-san's indiscretions.”
Nabiki walked all the way down the stairs, and after a couple of seconds of boggling at the kitsune at the front entrance, said, “He'll probably be back in time for breakfast tomorrow morning. If you want to find him sooner, he'll probably be hiding in some bar getting drunk and trying to get Father drunk as well. I wouldn't bother, though; if there's one thing Genma is truly good at, it's protecting his own hide. Trying to extract revenge from him is usually an exercise in frustration.”
“Nabiki!”
Nabiki smirked. “Hey, it's true, and you know it.” She turned and looked back at the kitsune. “Rather more exotic than any of the other fiancées after Ranma. The Bakaneko was after Shampoo, after all.”
The kitsune sighed. “I am starting to understand why my presence here aroused so little of the shock I was expecting.” She turned to the side, saying, “Shi... where did she go?”
Kasumi turned her head, listening. “I believe she's in back at the dojo.”
“I was hoping I could use this to get young Shinobu to settle down. She's been rather... rambunctious of late, always testing to see just how far she can push things.” Her ears flattened out at the sound of combat coming from the dojo. “Perhaps we should go see what she is doing before she gets into trouble.”
Kasumi nodded, and gestured for the kitsune to follow her. “Allow me to guide you, honoured one.”
Nabiki just grinned and made sure she had her camera in hand. Whatever happened, this was sure to be interesting.
Meanwhile, out back...
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 29 Sep 2003 04:19)
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.