Ryoko Saotome
A Tenchi Muyo / Ranma 1/2 crossover
Part 5
By Thrythlind
"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.
Ryoko Saotome
A Tenchi Muyo / Ranma 1/2 crossover
Part 6
By Thrythlind
Nabiki stared at the paper on the desk in front of her. She didn't know whether or not to be happy or angry at the news this portrayed. Granted the entire thing was probably just one huge mistake. The fact that she hadn't heard about this through her family certainly supported that.
"They couldn't have kept this secret for long," she noted to herself. "Perhaps they just didn't think to tell me." She opened a drawer in her desk and looked at the sole photograph it contained before she removed it and slipped it into her purse.
"Ryoko Saotome..." she muttered. "And who were you before you married my would-be brother-in-law?"
Nerimites watched in nervous anticipation as they watched a teenage Amazon happily roof-hopping along towards a specific destination. The young girl carried in her hands a take-out delivery box, and it was a marvel that she could move at such speeds without disturbing the contents of that box. Such a sight had not been seen for over four years.
"I do believe that was an Amazon," one onlooker, a young man with brown hair, noted.
"That's one of Shampoo's sisters!" his companion, a young woman noted. "I was there when they fought the kendo club."
"But why would the Amazons be back in town," a black haired young man asked. "Isn't Ranma like a vegetable?" A pair of glares were directed at the unthinking speaker.
"Daisuke, he snapped out of that more than three years ago," the first young man noted.
"Men," a second woman, perhaps Daisuke's companion, hmphed. "Don't they understand anything about heartbreak? It is so sad, and they said he did everything he could to save her too." She sniffed sympathetically.
"It seems he's better now," Daisuke noted, watching the Amazon vanish betweeen some houses.
Ryoko yawned as she blinked herself awake, for a brief moment she marvelled at waking up without a headache or trying to escape a nightmare. Ryo-Ohki adjusted herself in Ryoko's lap as the pirate shifted. Then she turned to look for Ranma and narrowed her eyes. Just how was the jerk supposed to wake her up from a nightmare if he was asleep? The stiffness of day-old bruises that permeated her senses wasn't cooling her mood any.
"Some overwatch he is," she snorted. Of course she neglected to remind herself that she was supposed to be doing the same thing. She crossed her legs under her and leaned forward elbow on knee, head on hand, anc considered what to do about this perceived insult. Ryo-Ohki cracked open an eye momentarily and muttered in frustration before going back to sleep.
Ryoko looked toward her, she curled her lip, "husband" and scratched Ryo-Ohki's head with her free hand. The man was rude, casually arrogant, uptight, and, from what she could tell, lost his temper at the drop of a hat. Though he also stifled his anger at the same time. That seemed unnatural to her, emotions should be given full reign.
In addition to this, there was also a sense of purposelessness around him that several months ago she would have noted as depressing. As it was, she was too much the same to notice.
"Three days," she muttered to herself. "Just three more days and he'll be out of my life." With the exception, of course, of a brief appearance before she killed Nagi to show him and that panda what her REAL power was like.
Ryoko took a moment from scratching Ryo-Ohki to examine the wound under her clothes. It was healing, yesterday was probably the last time it would ever directly threaten her life. In a couple of days of rest it wouldn't seem like anything more than the time Ayeka and her had gotten a little too enthusiastic about their fight.
That would never happen again, Ryoko scowled. No Ayeka to fight with, and, no Tenchi to fight over. Sweet, kind and noble Tenchi who had neither cowered away from her, nor treated her like a free ride. The man she'd given up her perfect world for. The man who'd told her he'd love to go on a trip with her. The man she'd nearly died for, helping him try to rescue her rival for his heart.
The man Ryoko had spared HER for.
~Why did I ever listen to Ryo-Ohki about letting Nagi live?~ She growled. She knew very clearly why. She wasn't about to kill someone in cold blood in front of Tenchi. That had clearly been a mistake. Tears ran down her face as her low growling continued.
Ryoko turned to glare at the still sleeping Ranma. ~How could he sleep like that?~
"HEY!! WAKE-UP!!!" Ranma shifted in his sleep but didn't awaken.
"Miao!" Ryo-Ohki hadn't quite expected that much of an outburst, even considering the emotions she was picking up from Ryoko. The cat-like sound did accomplish Ryoko's goal though. She blinked for a moment at the sight of Ranma clinging to the ceiling, then hardened her face again.
"Would you tell her to QUIT that?" Ranma demanded.
"What are you doing sleeping?" Ryoko ignored his demand. "You're supposed to be making sure I don't dream!" Ranma scowled before lightly dropping down from the ceiling to the floor.
"Weren't you supposed to be doing the same for me?" Ranma asked narrowly. She stood up to glare at him.
"You had just HAD some sleep," she reminded him, uncomfortable memories and thoughts faded as she engaged in one of her favorite distractions. "And you're the one that won't let me have a drink."
"I wouldn't NEED to sleep if you weren't afraid of the cold," he reminded her.
"You're blaming me for THAT?"
"If you'd do some..." Ranma paused for a moment.
"Why don't you do something about this fear of cats?" she demanded, then noticed the thoughtful expression on his face. "What?"
"How long were we asleep?" he asked.
"Umm," Ryoko checked the clock and noticed that it was almost noon. "About seven hours, maybe." Ryoko blinked. Now the truly interesting thing was that they'd slept that long without having nightmares. Ranma and Ryoko had other things on their minds.
"Did anyone see us?"
The door to Ranma's room snapped open to reveal Nodoka's serenely smiling face.
"Oh good, you're awake," she commented. "Shampoo's sister has come to pay a visit." Ranma's eyes narrowed.
"Swell."
Outside of town, at the Masaki shrine, a woman walked along what were the grounds of the Masaki home. She never actually lived here, but the stillness hanging about the shrine still felt wrong. She ran in her hand through the shock of green hair that was starting to grow back in. Idly she wondered if Washu's rejuvenation tank had truly required her to be free of most body hair, but shrugged the thought aside. She had more important things to worry about.
"Someone's been here," she noted to herself as she looked over the remains of a small camp. It had been evacuated in a hurry, there was some old rice over the firepit. She didn't think it was Nagi, but couldn't be sure. There was a cabbit in the area though, or had been recently. The crops that had been planted before they left for space were devestated.
"Why did Nagi come here?" Kiyone wondered quietly. The rumors indicated she was looking for Ryoko, but Azaka had said he doubted she was even alive. The pirate had apparently been more seriously injured by Kagato than any of them had guessed.
A little more investigation found a large fallen tree that looked like it had been used as a training dummy by someone with great strength. The damage certainly hadn't been done by an energy whip or in battle. The blows were also too precise for Ryoko, who's style of fighting revolved mostly around her powers rather than traditional martial arts. The detective frowned a little as she looked up toward the shrine proper, and headed that way.
The bloodstained tiles she found in front of the shrine stopped her cold. There had been a fight or accident of some kind. She frowned as she realized that a fight was most likely. Checking the shrine briefly she found it littered with dry leaves and a few empty sake bottles. Kiyone was beginning to get a very uncomfortable feeling.
She exited the shrine again gave the dried blood over the tiles a closer look, and then scraped off a sample of the blood to feed to a small machine. The small device analyazed the blood's DNA for several minutes displaying information as it confirmed the data.
"Comparing to known DNA files," the computers small Washu-like voice noted. "Identified subject as space pirate Ryoko with ninety-six percent probabilty." Kiyone sighed and sat down staring at the bloodstain.
"She was alive," the detective sighed. "At least until whatever this was happened." She lifted her arm to activate the communicator feature on her watch. Kiyone hesitated briefly before calling her partner.
"She hasn't made a serious mistake since the battle, she's really a lot calmer, nothing's going to happen," Kiyone cricked her neck upon completing the mantra, and then made the call. "Mihoshi, I'm finished here, come by for pick-up and we can compare notes."
"Ummm, alright, be right there!" Mihoshi sounded closer to her pre-Jurai chipper self. This made Kiyone worried, which in turn made her feel a little guilty. Worry was appropriate though. Mihoshi chipper was Mihoshi not paying attention, which is how BAD things happened. The green-haired detective silently prayed for thanks when she appeared on the bridge of their small ship without incident.
"Good news?" she asked, trying to be optimistic. The blonde police officer's hair was only a little longer than Kiyone's. Then again Mihoshi had some how found the luck to not be
"Uh huh!" Mihoshi smiled happily, if a little strained. "She was awake! It was on the news, so I called Washu and..."
"You sent an intersystem communication?" Kiyone said suddenly, the urgency of that fact outweighing the otherwise welcome news. "Find us a landing right now!"
"Huh? Why?" Kiyone hadn't said anything about not calling the others.
"Because Nagi might be in the area, and I'd rather see her before she sees us," Kiyone noticed Mihoshi's normal confused expression, though the blonde was bringing the craft down into a forested region of the country side.
"Nagi!? We found her?!" Mihoshi gasped as she was powering down the ship's engines, and accidentally firing the laser. Thus clearing a decent sized line of trees. Kiyone sighed in frustration as she scanned for any trace of a cabbit.
"There was a fight of some kind at the shrine," Kiyone explained. "Their was a good-sized blood-stain." She paused. "Ryoko's blood." Mihoshi just stared back at her partner.
"Missed them," Nagi said quietly, as she scanned the starscape. "Well they found me, whoever they are. Bounty hunters or Ryoko's friends. We should have made certain they were out of the way first, eh, Ken-Ohki?" The ship did not respond for a long silence.
"Miao?" the questioning sound echoed through the chamber.
"They're in the way," Nagi answered with a scowl. Then there was silence again.
Ranma glanced at Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki, the cabbit had just said something that had caught the silver haired woman's attention. Ranma was curious, especially since the last time that had happened was just before Nagi showed up, but he turned back to the problem at hand.
"....and Shampoo want give apology for all her tricks and plans in past," Ran-Ran said with a smile. "This start of apology, you get free ramen every day, so long you no break Nekohanten." Ranma looked at the ramen questionably.
"Well, isn't that nice," Nodoka smiled quietly as she took a sip of her own bowl of ramen. "This is very well done, did your sister make this?" Ran-Ran nodded happily.
"Sister Shampoo very good cook," the Amazon declared.
"Well, boy, are you going to thank her or not?" Genma demanded. Ranma glanced at his father, the thoughts in the panda's head virtually written in neon on his face. ~She's an Amazon, a fit wife for a master of the martial arts, come on boy, all you have to do is give a little suggestion and she'll be all over you.~ Of course, this was assuming that Genma and Soun didn't have plans for Nabiki. Then again, if they did, he almost felt sorry for them when Nabiki found out. Almost.
"Genma, Ranma is no longer a boy," Nodoka reminded him sharply.
"..its probably nothing," Ryoko shrugged as she turned back to the table. Ranma glanced at Ryo-Ohki and wondered what the cabbit had said.
"You talk to rabbit?" Ran-Ran asked confused. "Is Jusenkyo cursed?"
"Jusenkyo cursed?" Ryoko blinked. "You mean like fem-boy and the panda here?" Nodoka titled her head at the "fem-boy" comment and the as yet quiet Ranma sighed in irritation. Fortunately Ran-Ran provided a suitable distraction.
"This panda who say womans not good martial-artist?" Ran-Ran asked with narrowed eyes.
"No, that was a different panda entirely," Genma sputtered. Everybody else alternated their reactions from arched eyebrows to rolling eyes. The green-haired amazon considered this and then shrugged.
"Ranma want try the ramen?" the girl asked hopefully.
"Ain't nothing going to happen is it?" he asked irritably. "No hypnotic mushrooms, or love potions or nothing like that?" Ryoko, who had been about to start eating, blinked and looked at her bowl cautiously.
"That's a perfect beginning to the day," Ryoko sighed.
"Ranma," Nodoka gasped at the straightforward question.
"Older sister serious about apology," Ran-Ran said, as if affronted.
"I've had a lot of experience with Amazon cooking," Ranma noted dryly.
"No drugs in ramen!" Ran-Ran insisted. She then proceeded to take a quick bite of noodles from each of Ryoko's and Ranma's bowls of ramen, and then one of the extra bowls of ramen. "See."
She pouted and started on her own bowl ramen, which was a different color than the others. There was a reason for that, but as irritated as she was, she couldn't remember why.
"Better safe than sorry," Ranma shrugged and cautiously started eating.
"Ranma, that is not exactly polite," Nodoka lectured. Ran-Ran started to nod smugly before Nodoka continued. "Though I suppose it is prudent."
~What all did Sister Shampoo do back then?~ Ran-Ran asked herself, slumping. Deciding to change the subject she turned to the silver-haired woman that she understood was her current competition. "So what was duel like?"
Ranma groaned, and Ryoko merely continued eating. It was a few seconds before she realized the girl was talking to her. She looked up confused.
"Duel? What duel?" Ran-Ran narrowed her eyes, with a smirk.
"Ranma no beat you in duel?" she asked. Ranma narrowed his eyes and idly wondered just how much chinese he had learned for his foreign language requirement.
"There's is no way I'd be beaten by a little punk from a hayseed planet like this one," Ryoko sniffed. The Saotome's sweatdropped at Ryoko's casual indication of her extraterrestial origin.
~I must talk to her about that,~ Nodoka noted. ~Its fine among friends, but it might cause too many problems otherwise.~
~I must work on my Japanese, I thought she said planet,~ Ran-Ran said after a moment's confusion. "Then how you...." Ranma interrupted speaking in halting Mandarin, Ran-Ran's face paled visibly as Ranma finished speaking. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Uh...my apologies, is none of my business." Everybody looked from Ranma to Ran-Ran and tried to figure out what Ranma had said.
"You got that right," Ryoko said finally. "But what are you talking about?"
"Umm...nothing important, my mistake," Ran-Ran said. She glanced at Ranma who nodded before going back to the ramen.
"This is excellent ramen," Nodoka changed the subject quietly. "Did you make it?"
"No, sister Shampoo make it," Ran-Ran affirmed. "Is her apology. You already ask that." Ranma wasn't glaring at her anymore, she noticed with relief. However, she still felt a little queasy and light-headed. That was odd, the threat hadn't been that nasty, and Ranma was probably bluffing anyway.
"Yeah, it tastes good," Ryoko admitted.
"Ah the garlic blends perfectly with the broth," Genma sighed appreciatively.
"Ran-Ran would not know," the young Amazon admitted. "Is allergic to....garlic...uh oh." She looked from her bowl to the extra bowl she had devoured. That's right, that's why her bowl was a different color.
"Are you okay?" Ranma asked noticing the direction of her gaze.
"Ranma worried about Ran-Ran?" the Amazon suddenly asked, momentarily forgetting Ranma's earlier comment.
~Who does she think she is?~ Ryoko wondered. ~I might not WANT to be married to him, but STILL!!~ The table was treated to a stereo growl before Ranma and Ryoko stared at each other in surprise. Before they could turn back to the young Amazon, Ran-Ran was bolting for the restroom. Everybody sweatdropped at the retching sounds emanating from that direction, and then a few minutes later a still pale looking Ran-Ran returned.
"Think Ran-Ran go home now," she said.
"Hold a moment," Nodoka interrupted the Amazon leaving. "Perhaps Ranma should see you home safely."
"Yes, an excellent notion," Genma declared, and Ran-Ran beamed as much as she could after being sick.
~That's a welcome change of policy,~ Ryoko smirked. "But where does she get off sending Ranma to escort someone that's obviously after him, when I'm supposed to be married to him?" Ryoko wondered for a moment why Ranma, the slut in-training, and the stupid panda were suddenly glaring at her.
"Oh I'm sorry, Ryoko-chan," Nodoka said suddenly.
"Huh?" Ryoko blinked.
"You're quite right," Nodoka continued. "Genma and I will make sure she gets home. Won't we dear."
"Uh...yes dear," Genma said suddenly. Ran-Ran growled, but allowed herself to be escorted out of the house, she'd be back later...after sleeping for at least four hours. Then she remembered Ranma's threat earlier, and decided maybe that a longer time period to let him cool down would be smart.
"Did I say that out loud?" Ryoko asked Ranma after they were gone.
"Yes," Ranma answered irritably.
"Damn!"
Kuno finally managed to crawl out of the pile of burnt and crashed wood. He had been striding heroically towards his goal (limping on his bokken) when some eldritch blast of yellow fire had cut a swath through the forest. Obviously it was the work of the wretch Saotome. His minion, Tarou must have warned him of the samurai's approach.
"This shall not stop me! Do you hear that Saotome! The vengence of heaven is slow but sure!"
At the moment the "vengence of heaven" was about to give up trying to teach the fool a lesson, and just smear him from the face of the Earth. Fortunately for Kuno, the power in question decided he wasn't worth getting a restricted liscense over.
"Now, onward!!" he shouted, charging forward, at a speed to make a three legged turtle proud.
"Sense we're out, dear," Nodoka said after making sure Ran-Ran got home, the young amazon had gone for her bed almost immediately. "Perhaps we should do some shopping."
"But..."
"Really, Genma," Nodoka sighed. "You act like a married couple needs a chaperone, Ranma is not a child any longer. Now let's get the shopping done."
"Yes dear," Genma said reluctantly.
"You act like you wanted to go with that brat," Ryoko hmphed. Ranma glanced at her cautiously. That had the air of one of those loaded questions he always seemed to be asked.
"Yeah, so?" Sure enough Ryoko's eyes narrowed.
"Well, its a good thing for me that you prefer little girls to a true woman," Ryoko smirked.
"Hey, I ain't like that, idiot," Ranma noticed her growling and decided to throw in a few key words. "Why are you jealous over that little girl?" The pirate growled, her tail twitching irrtiable before she relaxed again and lounged back on the sofa. "Jealous?" Ryoko snickered, her eyes closed, stretched out like a sunbathing cat. Sighing slightly as each stiff joint untied, soon she'd be able to take Nagi. "She's an amateur, its obvious she's never done anything."
"It is?" Ranma asked, sweatdropping as she curled over the sofa's back and stretched open her legs for a moment. Ranma quickly averted his eyes from the seemingly unintentional invitation, blushing deep red. ~Well that's different. Usually I get hit with something.~
"All that chest flaunting," Ryoko said with a yawn as she settled again. She absently checked her injury again, it would be a bad idea to aggravate it now. She needed to be healthy for Nagi. "Strictly for hormonal adolescent virgins. Mmmm, that felt good."
"You're still tired," Ranma noted after a moment, he turned his attention back to her after a glance told him it was safe. "Go ahead and try to get some sleep, I'll be up practicing."
"Yeah, sure, I'm going to trust you again," Ryoko noted sourly, she was no longer moving provocatively, just relaxing. She pulled back into herself and grabbed the remote to switch on the television. A little channel flipping later and a soap opera clicked on the screen. Ryoko hesistated a little before setting the remote back down. "When did those two get together?" she asked, changing the subject.
Ranma glanced at the TV and idly wondered if he should answer her, but instead just shrugged as he moved off to the empty room behind the sofa. His mother watched this show every day while he practiced his kata's in the room behind her, he was fairly well caught up on it. He didn't particularly care to mention that though. Watching TV she might fall asleep, give her a chance to argue and that wouldn't happen.
The woman jumped at a chance to push an advantage. She was way too hot-headed and impulsive for her own good, striking at her goal, blind to anything else. There was no discipline, no control, at least none that he could see. Her relaxation was more like a bomb waiting to go off than anything else. She was a self-centered, vindictative, and loose woman.
At least vindictive and self-centered was something he was used to. The fact that she could exude more sexuality than he remembered Shampoo ever doing was rather disturbing. Though he had to admit that she wasn't pushing herself at him, she just did it without considering it. He idly wondered what she was like before her Tenchi was killed. She had probably been out of control.
Ranma glanced over at the pirate and paused in his kata. Her face was locked on the television where the soap opera was running. Ryoko's shoulders were shaking slightly, though he could tell it wasn't a sad scene. He stood straight, looked down and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
~This is how I always got myself in trouble,~ he sighed before walking into the kitchen. A minute later a slightly soaked Ranma-chan deposited herself on the sofa next too Ryoko. The pirate glanced at her, confused. Her eyes were only a little red, and it seemed she had wiped her eyes before had turned to look at her.
"What do you think you're doing?" It took her a moment to recognize the red-headed girl as Ranma. That curse of his was still a little weird, even by her standards.
"I've noticed girls get a little weird when guys watch soap operas," he explained, shrugging. He purposefully didn't mention her crying, ~And this works with other people.~
"Okay..." Ryoko arched an eyebrow and watched h..er suspiciously. Ranma merely pointed at the television without turning to face her. She looked back at the television, paying attention out of respect for the sacred truce the daily dramas represented. The show itself wasn't of interest to her at the moment. Her surroundings, however, were.
"You know if your hearing this, then I'm probably dead," a televised voice was saying. Ranma sort of half-listened but Ryoko almost acted like she didn't even hear it.
~She's ignoring it,~ he thought cooly.
"And you probably think its your fault," the voice continued.
The entire situation was grating on Ryoko's nerves. She glanced about, looking for the source of her discomfort. As the show continued, building to a point of high drama, the entire situation just bore down on her as wrong.
"But, hey, I took this on, I knew the risks."
Ryoko had no idea how obvious her state of mind was to the red-head next to her. Her face might not have revealed much, but her body language certainly spoke volumes. Ranma watched as she scanned about the room and fixed her gaze on seemingly random spots. As the show continued, the pirate started fidgetting.
"And if I'm successful, that means you're alive. That's what matters. I know you'd give your life for me, did you think I cared any less about you?" Ranma gave the television her full attention, to see a couple sitting close together in front of a stereo. The sound of quiet whimper turned her attention back to Ryoko, and she wondered again why he would care whether she was okay or not. "Don't waste what I've given you, baka."
The pirate collapsed as the credits started rolling. When Mihoshi failed to interrupt the ending of the episode the wrongness of the scene became too much for her. Ranma tried not to groan as she saw Ryoko's shoulders shaking. She guessed that tears were again running down the pirate's cheeks though her head was turned away from Ranma.
"Hey," he tapped Ryoko's shoulder. A low growl emanated from the pirate, but she didn't turn around. ~How did Ukyou do this?~
"Leave me alone," Ryoko growled.
"No," Ranma said firmly. "I said I'd help you get ready to fight, you won't win if you're this upset over a television show."
"Its wrong, ALL wrong!" Ryoko growled as she whirled to face him.
"Hmm?" Ranma crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow as he waited for an explanation. The diminutive red-head suddenly reminded Ryoko of both Yosho and Washu. Ryoko growled, lunged, and found herself turned around and being held from behind. "Why'd you do that?"
"It shouldn't be YOU here!" Ryoko snapped, and struggled briefly but not seriously. Ryoko slumped as she finished. "Maybe Nagi lied about survivors, maybe I'm the only one left alive." Ranma continued to hold her while she sobbed, all the missing elements of the daily drama crushing her. No Sasami preparing lunch, no Mihoshi to interrupt the show, no Ayeka to help kill Mihoshi, and no Tenchi to keep them from doing it. Just an insensitive martial artist who was only helping her so he could avoid losing face.
When Ryoko finally cried herself to sleep, body still exhausted from recent ordeals, in Ranma's arms, the martial artist lay her down on the couch. She then collected a comforter from her room and draped it over the space pirate and sighed. She turned an accusatory glance to her reflection in the window.
"Hey, she needs to be ready for that Nagi person," she told herself angrily, but quietly. "And she needs to be rested for that. Why would I care about her beyond that. I barely know her." Her reflection didn't have to remind them that he had barely known Akane when she first decided that she liked Akane.