Ranma nodded his head. This seemed simple enough. "All right, Bast. I'll go save the baby, and I'll bring her back here..."
"...And raise her," Bast finished, looking seriously at Ranma.
A shiver went up Ranma's back and he stood straight. "Huh!? You want ME to raise her!?" Ranma asked increduously. "I mean, I don't know the first thing about raising kids!"
"Oh, that'll be easy," Bast said. "You remember what your father did to you during the training trip?"
Frowning, Ranma crossed his arms over his chest. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Well, do the opposite!" Bast said. "You'll find that by most of the time, doing the exact opposite, you'll be making the right choice."
Ranma still looked at Bast. He knew it was more or less very difficult to argue with a celestial entity, but he'd best try. "Look, no offense Bast, but I'm not ready to be a father yet! I mean, hell, I haven't finished high-school yet! And then there's all the fiancees and the rivals; do you really want me to bring a child into that!?"
"Not at all!" Bast said seriously.
Ranma let out a sigh of relief. "All right, now she understands that I'm not cut out for this," Ranma thought in relief...
"That's why I can't have you return to Nerima," Bastet then added.
Ranma's eye twitched. "You don't want me going back?"
"Of course not!" Bast said with a feline hiss. "Those idiots could very well hurt the poor darling."
"I don't know," Ranma said. "I can' just drop everything to raise a child... This is... Well... BIG! And I don't know squat!"
Ranma then watched as Bast took a step forward. He was nervous that he was going to get it now, after all, from all the stories he heard, Gods and Godesses do not take being turned down very well.
However, she just placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked in his eyes.
"Please," Bast said in a quiet voice. "I know this is a lot to ask for a mortal, but you've got to understand. This is very important. I know there are those that will find her and take care of her, but I have seen down the road to where her path will lead. Yes, she would live a happy life, but her end will not be pleasent, and there will be no chance of the werecheetah race to come back. You must find her, protect her, and raise her as your own. Under your guidance, she will become a fighter indeed, an able to take care of herself. Please don't deny her a future."
Looking back at the goddess, Ranma sighed. "Bast..." Ranma started at length. "Do you really think I'm right for having a child in my care? I mean, I'm gonna mess up along the way, and there's so much I don't know."
"You'll learn," Bast said softly. "And if you need help, you can call upon me, and a few others. We will offer guidance," Bast smiled and took her hand off of Ranma's shoulder. "Besides, I know in time you'll learn to love her as if she were your own daughter."
Sighing, Ranma nodded his head. "There's no way you're letting me outta this, huh?"
Giving Ranma a catty-smile, Bast said, "Nope."
"All right, all right," Ranma said, raising his hands. "I give." Putting his arms down, he asked, "So, where can I find her?"
The answer Ranma got was Bast snapping her fingers, and poof! Ranma was in surrounded by a fog, a mist of some sort. He coughed a bit and and tried to see past the fog. When it cleared he found himself in a non-too friendly surroundings.
Ranma sneered. His enhanced sense of smell let him smell all the blood and the charr of burnt flesh in the air. These were smells of wars, "Smells of death."
Sighing, Ranma just walked forward into the forest; walked forward into the nightmare. Ranam somehow knew that the child would be in there... Somewhere...
And he had to find her.
See other episodes by Red Priest of the 17th Order
(Posted Tue, 09 Dec 2003 17:28)
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