"I think you're past the worst of it now," Dr. Tofu
said. Ryoko turned toward him, and grimaced. She was
bundled up in a blanket, damp from sweat, despite her
awareness that the shivering wasn't from being cold.
"I think the sweating has stopped. How do you feel?"
"A lot better," Ryoko admitted. "The headache is
down enough that I can feel the cut in my side and all
the bruises again." Ranma snorted, while the doctor
just laughed at the sarcasm.
"Oh my, I'm afraid we can't do much but give a salve
for your injuries there," Kasumi said.
"How do your injuries feel?" Dr. Tofu asked.
"She gave me a good work over," Ryoko admitted
angrily after a moment. Nagi had toyed with her,
tossing her around as if she were a child. At the
same time ripping out Ryoko's heart with her words.
"But the bruises will be gone in a few days."
"What about that hole in your side?" Ranma asked, not
moving from his lotus position on the floor.
"Careful," she purred. "You sound dangerously close
to being concerned about me." Ryoko casually tossed
the comment out, producing teasing tone and phrase
almost mechanically.
Ranma narrowed his eyes, noticing her tone, and
watched at her closely for a moment, trying to decide
if she was hallucinating again. He didn't notice any
hint of the confusion that had accompanied her face
when she had been hallucinating earlier. And she
wasn't watching him either, she just didn't seem to
care what his reaction was.
"I have to be," Ranma shrugged, watching her. Then
he continued in an accusatory tone. "We're married,
remember." Ryoko glared at him, adding a small growl
for effect.
"Now, now," Kasumi waggled her finger. "You should
not tease her right now."
"Miao!" Ryo-Ohki agreed from behind the martial
artist. The cabbit nodded in satisfaction as Ranma
jumped across the room.
"Thanks Ryo-Ohki," Ryoko smirked.
"Would you quit that?" Ranma shouted.
"You pretty much asked for that, Ranma," Dr. Tofu
said, choking down a chuckle.
"Yeah, whatever," Ranma answered back. Kasumi sighed
in frustration while Dr. Tofu shook his head. ~Well
she noticed at least.~
"So am I clear to go?" Ryoko asked. ~One matchmaker
is better than two.~
"You should be fine," Dr. Tofu said.
"But perhaps you wouldn't mind staying for dinner,"
Kasumi asked. "We would be glad for some company."
Ranma watched the space pirate shift uncomfortably.
"Maybe next time, Kasumi," Ranma said. "I'm sure my
mom has something planned, and might as well let her
have some fun while this lasts."
"Of course," Kasumi smiled, wondering if Ranma
noticed the slip. "Next time then." Judging by
Ryoko's glare she definitely had.
*******************************************************
"You had to say 'next time'," Ryoko growled a minute
or two away from the Ono household. She was walking
slowly, with Ranma close to her. The air was cooling
slightly as afternoon gave way to evening. The pirate
noticed, irritably, a few interested faces as they
past by.
"What?" Ranma asked, completely unaware of what was
wrong.
"Now they're thinking we're getting closer!" Ryoko
snapped. "How dense can you be?"
"Hey, you still have that chi block, remember?" Ranma
noted. "You ARE going to be back there, and I'll
probably be WITH you."
"That better come off soon," Ryoko snapped in
response, ignoring the logic.
"The doc will take it off," Ranma said. "And you
need to calm down."
"What do you mean _I_ need to calm down?" Ryoko
demanded. She detected the lecturing tone and started
getting annoyed, who was he to tell her what to do.
"You get mad, you get stupid," Ranma told her.
"What do you know about it?" Ryoko asked. "It seems
to me that you're the one flying off the handle all
the time." Ranma stared at her and rolled his eyes.
"You fight like this, and you'll lose," he snapped.
"Well, duh," Ryoko said. "I'm half way dead as it
is! And don't take that as an invitation to carry me,
I can walk myself."
"I don't mean your body, baka!" Ranma snapped, though
to tell the truth he had been thinking about giving
her a ride. For one thing she wasn't moving very
quickly and he was getting a tad impatient. "You've
tried baiting me to fight, you know how it works. Get
im riled up and let them come at you...."
"...and they don't know they've lost until it
happens," Ryoko finished. Then faced him
suscipiciously. "That's a game you want to win you
strike fast and strike hard, if you just defend..."
"...you'll lose," Ranma agreed. "But you gotta make
them open up and to do that..."
"Oh that's simple," Ryoko smirked. "You just keep
attacking until they make a mistake."
"You're most open when attacking," Ranma protested.
Then he smirked. "I thought you said you weren't a
martial artist."
"I'm not," Ryoko protested. A martial artist chooses
to learn, I had to learn. "And you CAN attack without
being vulnerable."
As Ranma and Ryoko continued to argue the virtues of
offensive versus defensive fighting, they failed to
notice as a young man in a blue hakama appeared in the
street as they turned a corner. The samurai scanned
the air quickly, looking confused.
"Hmm, I swear that the vile Saotome's voice was here
just a moment ago," he declared. "No doubt he sensed
my righteous spirit and fled before my approach. Now
onward to the physician's home. If that is where he
was, then he shall have retreated back to cower behind
the beauteous Akane's elder sister."
*******************************************************
Genma-panda was pacing in an uneven stride, every
once in awhile glancing in the direction of his wife.
The good thing about the panda form was that he could
voice aloud his thoughts without anyone else
understanding him. Of course, this was hampered by
his habit of writing signs whether or not he was
talking to anybody or not. Which is how he found
himself staring at an irate silver-haired woman with
yellow eyes suddenly.
"'I'll bet this Ryoko doesn't know the first thing
about battle?'" the woman read irritably. "What is
this?" She rubbed her head and growled, she was not
in the mood for this.
"That's Oyaji," Ryoko looked about to ask a question.
"He's cursed too."
*This is Ryoko?* the new sign asked. *She doesn't
look to be in very good shape.*
"I wonder why that is?" Ryoko narrowed her eyes at
Ranma.
"Back off Oyaji," Ranma said, ignoring the glare.
"And can you get out of the way so we can get inside?"
The panda glanced back inside to make sure Nodoka
hadn't seen them yet.
*Ranma, you should not distract yourself from the art
with a sickly girl like this,* the sign flipped
around. *How are you going to train if you have to
spend all your time taking care of her.*
"I take care of myself," Ryoko said, then she smirked
and leaned forward seductively. "And I am much more
than just a girl." Ranma blushed at Ryoko's behavior,
while Genma seemed to be enjoying the attention, until
someone cleared their throat behind him.
"Are you flirting with your daughter-in-law," another
feminine voice asked from behind the panda. Genma
sweatdropped.
"Oh..I guess I'm just too much woman to ignore,"
Ryoko declared cutely. Then her expression hardened
and she walked past the suddenly very nervous Genma.
Nodoka noted the change in attitude, but pretended not
to.
"Err...sorry about that Mom," Ranma said edging past
his parents as well. Nodoka looked down in curiousity
as Ryo-Ohki hopped cheerfully past her.
"It is not your responsibility," she paused and
glared at Genma. "I believe it is his."
*It wasn't what it looked like,* Genma's sign
declared desperately, before being sliced in half by
Nodoka's katana.
"Now can you at least try to be civil," Nodoka asked,
half sheathing her katana. Genma eyed the blade and
then nodded furiously. "Good, then perhaps you'd be
good enough to change back to your human form for
dinner."
*Yes, dear,* the newest sign said. The katana
snapped back into its sheath.
*******************************************************
"No, I'm sorry, they've already left," Kasumi told the
tall samurai wannabe standing outside her door.
"It seems I am already too late to intercept the vile
Saotome's cowardly flight from my puissance in
battle," Kuno turned to look at Kasumi again. "I
understand that he seeks to enslave yet another
helpless damsel now. It seems the spells he has
placed on the pig-tailed girl and your sister are not
enough for his evil tastes."
The expression that crossed Kasumi's face in that
half-moment revealed with absolute certainity her
relation to both Nabiki and Akane. Then it was gone
and Kasumi's normal sweet smile returned.
"I think they're taking a trip out of the city,"
Kasumi said. "Excuse me a moment I'll get the
location." Kuno tapped his foot impatiently until the
woman returned with a slip of paper. "Here you go,
have a nice trip."
"My thanks for this information good Kasumi," Kuno
didn't bother to bow, instead he posed heroically.
"And now I am off to punish the vile Saotome!!"
Kasumi sighed as she closed the door.
"So where did you send him?" Tofu asked his wife as
she returned humming happily.
"Oh he'll be having a quite interesting time," Kasumi
said sweetly.
*******************************************************
Ryoko and Ranma glanced at each other once before
making the final move to the dinner table.
"You remember the plan?" Ranma asked.
"Do you?" Ryoko returned. Then they moved, and sat
down, as far away from each other as the table would
allow. They then enacted their plan, full of the
combined deviousness and skill of both Ranma and
Ryoko.
"We are NOT a couple," Ranma declared. Of course, no
plan involving Ranma has ever had much of a survival
rate. Ryoko's own track record on plans was nearly as
spotty.
"Yeah, there is no way I'd be interested in that
jerk," Ryoko hmphed. And of course the "plan" to
present a "stick together" and "tell them why it won't
work," had one minor drawback.
"As if you're any catch," Ranma replied. Neither of
them would let an insult slide.
"I could give you a list that would say otherwise,"
Ryoko hmphed and smirked at the comment.
"That's part of what I'm talking about," Ranma
snapped. "You don't see me hitting on all the girls
in sight."
"Jealousy is not a manly emotion, Ranma," Nodoka
lectured. Ryoko blinked, was Ranma really jealous of
that display at the door?
"You shouldn't encourage this," Genma snorted before
anyone else could comment. "She has a tail for
goodness sake." Ryoko looked confused, not
understanding the big deal about her tail. Nodoka
merely sighed, while Ranma favored his father with a
glare. The next thing Genma knew he was being dragged
into away from the table and experiencing his own
"hell's cradle" technique.
"Panda no baka," Ranma muttered as he sat back down,
within reach of Ryoko this time. Neither of them
noticed.
"I must apologize for my husband," Nodoka said. "He
has a very bad learning curve."
"So what is the thing about my tail anyway?" Ryoko
asked in confusion. "Some of you people act like
you've never seen one before."
"Well, not on people," Nodoka noted politely.
"Though considering Genma's experiences he should be
more accomodating."
"Not likely," Ranma muttered. "He never learns."
"Since the subject was brought up, however," Nodoka
coughed. "Is your...species....hmm.... compatible
with human beings?" Ranma turned to her with a beet
red face.
"Mom..."
"I'm part human," Ryoko commented, not noticing that
she was suddenly arguing against a reason not to get
married.
"Oh good," Nodoka smiled as she served out the food.
She watched with some surprise as Ranma and Ryoko's
food vanished rapidly. Ryoko smirked as she thought
of something that would get this woman off her back.
"Yeah, the prison doc said I had the most
unique mix of genetics he had ever seen," Ryoko said
honestly. Ranma facefaulted, considering that might
be going to far. "Never did explain what a tanar'ri
was."
"Prison?" Nodoka repeated questionably. "You
were in prison?"
"They tend to put space pirates there," She
glared at the pretzeled Genma.
"So you're a criminal then?" Nodoka asked
coolly, Ranma swallowed nervously.
"That's right, the most wanted criminal
Ryoko," she smirked. ~Now you can give up on this
match-making kick you got.~
"Well I hope you succeed in reforming
yourself," Nodoka said calmly. Ryoko and Ranma
facefaulted. "But I'm certain such a background
should provide a very...interesting...married life."
Ranma and Ryoko twitched at this further introduction
to life on planet Nodoka.
"I prepared your bedroom by the way."
"And where is that?" Ryoko asked, righting her self
and turning back to the food with a frustrated growl.
"Ranma's room," Nodoka said simply resulting in both
Ranma and Ryoko nearly choking on their food. "No
argument."
*******************************************************
"That went well," Ranma said after the door was
closed behind them.
"I'm not the one that gave in as soon as she touched
her katana," Ryoko noted.
"Don't worry," Ranma said. "I'll just sit in the
corner, I don't sleep much anyway." Ryoko sat on the
bed and stared at him. "Are you going to sleep or
aren't you?"
"Yeah and let you try something while I'm out?"
Ryoko hmphed. "No thank you."
"I'm not going to try anything," Ranma said, sitting
in a Lotus position away from her and shaking his
head.
"Yeah right," Ryoko hmphed and continued watching.
She fell asleep within twenty minutes.
*******************************************************
"Hmmm, hardly the place for a honeymoon," Kuno noted
as he climbed the hill to the first location on Kasumi
Ono's list. "But an excellent location for a vile
sorcerer like Saotome. And now I shall finally defeat
him and break the spell that holds Akane Tendo in her
enchanted slumber." He climbed to the shrine up on
top of the hill and ran inside shouting his challenge.
"COME OUT AND FACE ME SAOTOME!!! YOU VILE SORCEROUS
DOG!! I COME FORTH WITH RIGHTEOUS ANGER PREPARED TO
LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!!!" Kuno paused in his loud
pacing and ranting as a torch sprung to life revealing
a very angry looking young man in a purple vest.
Standing next to him was slender woman with long brown
hair and dressed in a simple blue travelling outfit.
In her hand was a tightly gripped rug beater. To any
other martial artist it would have been obvious that
they had just woken up, or else were engaged in some
act other than sleeping, but this was Kuno.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" the man
asked coldly.
"This is the fool who keeps trying to dig up my
sister's grave," the woman noted in an equally cool
voice.
"Who are you," Kuno demanded. "Some vile minion of
that fiend Saotome? I see that you too have enslaved
a defenseless woman" Tarou and Natsume narrowed their
eyes.
"Vile MINION?" Tarou cracked his knuckles.
"DEFENSELESS woman?" Natumse adjusted the grip on her
weapon.
*******************************************************
It was dark and cold, and she couldn't move. Tenchi
was fighting Kagato, with Ayeka as the prize. As
Ryoko watched a cloaked figure walked past her towards
the battle.
"Tenchi!! Look out for Nagi!! Nagi's behind you!"
The sounds just bounced back to her, and Ryoko was
aware that she was sealed in something. She wanted to
slam against it, but she couldn't move. She was
frozen stiff and unable to do more than watch as Nagi
calmly snapped the bound Ayeka's neck and start moving
toward Tenchi.
"Tenchi!!" She couldn't even hear the scream this
time, and everything seemed frozen. She was cold,
chilled to the bone. There was almost no other
sensation but that cold and the scene before her.
"Let me out!!! Let me out!! She's going to kill
Tenchi!!" Ryoko watched as Kagato finally fell,
Tenchi aware that Nagi was a approaching behind him.
The bounty reared back her hand to send the whip out
and...Ryoko woke up. She tried to bolt to her feet
and found something stopping her.
"Let me go, I have to..."
"Its a dream, you were having a dream," Ranma
insisted, holding her back, and deciding that if she
were at her top health that he'd have pretty much no
chance to do so. Ryo-Ohki was also nearby miaoing at
her worriedly, but staying within Ranma's line of
sight, since she knew Ranma wouldn't freak as long as
he knew the miaoing was coming from her.
"Let. Me. Go." Ryoko growled.
"You keep struggling, you'll hurt yourself, and it'll
be that much longer before you can take that
whip-lady," Ranma reminded her. Ryoko stopped
struggling and slumped. Ranma uncomfortably continued
to hold her as she sat silent for a few minutes.
"Why is it so cold in here?" Ryoko asked suddenly.
"That's one of my techniques," Ranma said, suspecting
she was just trying to distract herself. "Why?"
"Please don't do that," Ryoko sighed. "I don't like
the cold."
"Why not?" Ranma asked. "So its cold, what's the big
deal."
"Why do you jump everytime Ryo-Ohki says something,"
Ryoko countered.
"Okay," Ranma decided after a moments thought. "I'll
tell you if you tell me."
"Deal," then she thought about something. "You can
let go of me now."
"Oh, sorry," Ranma released her, backing off and
sitting against the wall. "You go first."
"Why me?" Ryoko demanded after turning around to face
him.
"You're the one that wants me to stop using that
technique around you."
"Yeah, whatever," Ryoko hmphed. "I had a faulty cryo
tank, allright."
"What?"
"The Galaxy Police prisons use cryogenic freezing to
keep prisoner's in check," Ryoko said. "Its supposed
to put you to sleep too, so you don't go insane while
stuck inside." Ranma felt like asking why she was in
prison, but kept his tongue. "Mine didn't do that. I
was awake and frozen for a few months before someone
noticed and fixed it. The only good thing is that,
when certain people found out about it, I ended up
only spending a few more months in prison." Ryoko
didn't bother to mention that she sometimes suspected
Ayeka of being "certain people," didn't want to think
about it.
"Okay," Ranma said, remembering a night spent
paralyzed in the cold air and extending that for
months. "I'll try not to use the Soul of Ice around
you."
"Now you," Ryoko replied. "Why does Ryo-Ohki scare
you?"
"She sounds like a c..c..cat," Ranma said, standing
up and walking to the small desk his mother had
insisted on getting for him. He pulled out a slim
notebook and handed it to Ryoko. "Side effect of some
training I had as a kid, here it is."
~Gah...good thing I didn't say I was also part
nekojin,~ Ryoko said after reading the manual. "Does
this have anything to do with why that Ukyou person
said to run if you started 'meowing.'?"
"Yes," Ranma admitted reluctantly. "I like freak out
when I'm around too many c..c..c..cats. And when that
happens I'm more powerful and dangerous than I am most
of the time."
"Oh...thanks for the warning," the comment was
moderately accusatory. It almost spoke "why didn't
you tell me about this before?" ~Why does he keep the
manual?~
"Miao?" Ryo-ohki said confused, Ranma gritted his
teeth
"It's late," Ranma said, leaning against a wall.
"We should get some sleep."
"Yeah, just don't do that any more," Ryoko agreed
laying back on the bed, and bundleling up in the
blankets. She didn't really think the lack of cold
would keep any nightmares away, but it had been a
safer topic of conversation.
*******************************************************
The narrowly focused Hiryu Shoten Ha slashed through
Saffron and the Phoenix God fell to ground, flame
fading away. Ranma didn't wait to see it, rushing
forward to start the flow of cold Jusendo and save
Akane. They burst of flame flashed past and above
him, and as he watched the gigantic tap was destroyed,
melting in on itself and sealing the water away.
Ranma snapped awake screaming, but immediately
quieted down, trying to catch his breath. He leaned
forward clutching at his knees and stared into
darkness.
Ryoko looked over, unoticed, and considered what to
do. If she had been asleep she probably wouldn't have
woken up for Ranma snapping awake. The martial artist
apparently woke up a lot quieter than she did. The
screaming had cut off almost immediately after
starting, and the only sound coming from him now wwere
heavy, desperate breaths.
~I could just pretend to be asleep,~ she thought.
~And he is a jerk.~
"Hey, you okay?" Ryoko said, finding herself standing
over Ranma.
"Couldn't sleep?" Ranma asked, hollowly, after a
moment. He didn't look up. Ryoko sat down to his
side, taking the non-answer for a negative.
"Why bother?" Ryoko asked. "I hate dreams."
"Never had a good one?"
"Once or twice," Ryoko admitted, wistfully.
"Its only a couple hours til day," Ranma said after a
moment. "We can last that long."
"Sure, if I DO fall asleep, you'll wake me up when I
start dreaming, right?"
"If you do the same."
*******************************************************
As dawn broke, Nodoka quietly opened the door to
check (spy) on her son and daughter-in-law. The
Saotome matriarch was pleased to see the two of them
asleep, leaning against each other. That strange
cabbit critter was curled up in the silver-haired
woman's lap. True, there was no cuddling and it look
more like they had fallen asleep while on guard, but
she was willing to take a little bit here and there.
It had been a while since she had seen her son
actually sleeping, rather sitting in something like
suspended animation in the middle of the room. An
impressive, if disturbing, feat. She quietly closed
the door again, letting them sleep in.
She walked into the dining room and paused in
confusion. Then she turned to the source of that
confusion.
"Have you been there all night, dear?" Nodoka asked
her husband. "You know, after everything else that
you went through yesterday, that probably wasn't a
very good idea. At your age you could develope some
nasty kinks."
"I didn't have much of a choice," Genma-pretzel
explained bitterly.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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