Dinner was a quiet affair for once inside the Tendo Dojo. Akane was still with her friends, fuming and ranting about ‘cheating and perverted fiancés and lying little girls’. The fathers were still out celebrating the joining of the schools, word of which would soon reach out through the Nerima Gossip Line and eventually reach a certain few individuals, especially when they went to those restaurants to grab a bite to eat before heading home after a night at the bars.
So it was just Kasumi, Nabiki, Ranma, and little Ranko eating there today. Said child from another dimension stayed very close to her ‘father’, cuddled into his side when she wasn’t busy eating her own food.
Nabiki had to admit it was a day for surprises. While the fact that Ranko was actually Ranma and Akane’s daughter from a possible future was still a little hard to completely accept, she would admit the girl was very enjoyable to be around. It had her wondering if that feeling was what Ranma had been experiencing.
Then there was what little she had been able to get out of the girl about her ‘Mommy’. Nabiki had known Akane could be lacking in patience at times, but to yell at her own child and toss her out of the house until she stopped crying, even shaking the little girl... She truly hoped that wasn’t her sister of this dimension. Judging from how her little sister had acted before storming off, she knew she was going to need to give Akane a very serious talk when she eventually came back. She may have taken advantage of her sister at times, but she wasn’t going to let Akane grow into that type of woman.
“So Ranko-chan,” said Kasumi, “are you enjoying your meal?”
“Yep,” happily agreed the girl. Already her plate was empty, much like her father’s, who was currently refilling her plate before his own. “I’m happy to be back with Daddy, thanks to the nice kitty Goddess.”
Ranma shivered a bit, but didn’t let it get too noticeable for his daughter to worry. Yes, he decided that there was at least one good c-c-cat out there.
Of course, his mind was also on what little his new daughter had mentioned about her ‘evil mommy’. He never thought Akane would act like that to her own child, but apparently it was close enough considering how she had reacted here. Knowing his luck, the other fiancées would show up sometime either tonight or tomorrow and try to take advantage of it. Even then, if Ranko mentioned parts of their futures they didn’t like, that in itself was bound to cause more problems.
But he would protect her; he knew that with all of his heart. She was his own flesh and blood. Man, how far am I gonna have to go ta keep them from tryin’ ta hurt her?
Would he have to seriously injure someone, even if they were a girl?
Would he have to go farther?
Would he have to do to them what he did to Saffron?
As he looked down at the smiling mop of red hair, he knew he had his answer. Whatever it takes to keep her safe...
“Ranko,” said Nabiki, “can I ask you what Kasumi and I ended up as?”
The little girl paused her eating for a bit, thinking. “Auntie became a nurse. She told me she helps keep skeletons from dancing away. But she never tells me why skeletons dancing are a bad thing.”
Nabiki found herself holding back a laugh that Ranma failed to do, as Kasumi looked on. “Oh my, I wonder what that means,” she said, looking at her blushing sister.
“And you are living in America. Daddy said you’d move back when you bought all those people with glass ceilings,” said Ranko. “But what’s wrong with glass ceilings? They’d be great for plants.”
Nabiki’s look soured for a bit. Glass ceilings? She would be forced into America to get past glass ceilings? This will take some thought to get past, she thought, wondering what her options were, and if certain activities she had been apart of my have hampered her in that future, or even if that would be a problem in this dimension.
Then of course there was one final thought on her mind; what had happened to that Ranma of Ranko’s world. That Akane had said ‘daddy had gone away and that I was getting a new daddy’.
That didn’t bode well for that Ranma. She had a hard time imagining Ranma would ever leave his little girl, if how this own was reacting was any indication. No, the way that sounded, it meant that the reason that Ranma wasn’t there for his daughter was because he couldn’t be. And the only thing that would keep him away was ... his death.
At least that would explain why Bastet would bring her here to be with her Daddy, it was because her original one was dead.
Oh yes, Akane was definitely getting a talking-to when she got back. And even if Kasumi didn’t like it, she was helping too. No way was her sister ending up like that. She may enjoy her fun with teasing Akane, but no way was she going to let her sister be that type of woman, seeing what that type had done to her niece.
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(Posted Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:38)
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