Full Circle
Ranko Saotome paused, blinking, as she emerged from the dark interior of the village meeting hall. So great was the shock from her audience with the Council of Elders, the impact of mere light was almost enough to topple her. The rich textures of hand crafted dwellings, the vibrant colors of the amazon maidens who loitered in front of their homes or strolled by in small groups, even the lush green forests and meadows visible in the background, could not capture or compel her eyes to focus. In spite of that, trained instincts moved her gracefully to the side in time to evade the storm of young people who raced out of the communal building in different flavors of excitement.
The high point in this spectrum of human emotion was set by Shampoo, who seemed to bounce about without ever quite touching the ground. Keeping her anchored to the ground with a firm grasp and air of abject despair was the recently dubbed amazon maiden, Mirror—known only to a select few as Mousse. Ukyo pursued the pair with a smile and a look of murder in her eye. An anxious Ryouga stopped a few feet in front of Ranko, avoiding Akane who ground to a halt right in front of him to glare in outrage at the amazons, furious about what Shampoo had done.
Turning to speak to Ranko, Ryouga came up against her blank expression, but he had come to understand her well enough to know that mental disconnection concealed profound emotional turmoil. That was a trait that hailed back, as far as Ryouga knew, to Ranma. It only served as a reminder that she was, in every way that mattered, the girl who stole his heart. The girl who seemed to be slipping further from his grasp with every bizarre twist in her chaotic life, and there was precious little he could do about it. He could not even talk to her about it without adding to the misery that she was so determined to hide. In the face of such frustration, Ryouga could not help reclaiming the title of World Heavyweight Champion of Depression—for which he was rewarded with a sudden transformation into the cutest, little, black piglet to ever drown in a pile of clothes.
"Bweee!" he blurted in outrage. Ironically, that seemed to snap Ranko out of her trance, forcing her to look down and take note of the piglet.
"Geez, Ryouga. It's not the end of the world, or anything," Ranko protested ruefully and stuffing her hands deep into her pockets. There was something about having a one-sided conversation with "P-Chan" that always brought a smirk to her lips. It was still amusing, and tragic, that Ryouga had been cured of his Heitonniichuan curse only to have it return, courtesy of a corrupted shishihokodan, as a new, depression triggered curse. Squatting down, she met the pig eye to eye as he squirmed out through the neck of his shirt. Poking Ryouga gently on the snout, she added, "Not that I shouldn't be in a pit of despair right with you, after what they've pulled on me."
Ranko closed her eyes, reflecting on the events just passed, wondering if there had been any way to avoid traps she had fallen into. Just showing up seemed to have been the worst mistake. The three days she had been unconscious had cost her far more than she could have imagined. From the way the meeting had opened, Ranko had been confident that she could finally break away from the tangled mess she had gotten into by cooperating with Cologne.
She could not have been more wrong.
Ranko had really wrapped the fish sausages around herself when she declared her intention to return with her mother to their home in Japan. The cunning old cats on the council had bared their claws and fangs at that. The elder immediately to the right of Cologne had stood up at once to declare that, with the completion of Nodoka and Ranko's adoptions, the village had become their official home. Apparently, the scheme to establish the identities of Fa Shen and Ranko and enable Nodoka to adopt them and return with them to Japan, had a developed a nasty catch. The amazons Cologne gave the task to had pulled some strings with the Chinese Communist government to make their new identities completely legal—and binding. That made Ranko a Chinese citizen at the moment. Without making an open threat, the old woman had made it clear that the tribe was more than capable of interfering with the legal adoption of Ranko in Japan. Put simply, Ranko was not going anywhere without the blessings of the Council. That point made, the Council returned to the question of Ranko's official status in the tribe.
The Council had decided to question more than her claim to Matriarch status.
To that end, the poor girl had learned, the Council had been conducting interviews of her companions while she was incapacitated to determine if Ranko was to be viewed as a true woman, or if she was to be treated like Ranma had been, as an "honorary" woman. In light of her recent fusion, they were "concerned" that Ranko would be overly influenced by the experiences and persona of Ranma. They were painting a portrait of Ranma's personality from everyone's accounts, and would use that to measure the contamination of Ranko. Another consequence of the fusion, Ranko had been found responsible for all the actions she had taken by herself, or through her analogs, from the moment she woke up in the Nyanniichuan and bridged the lives of Ranma and Fa Shen. As far as Ranko could tell, it was all useless quibbling. The whole business of refining her "status" had already been revealed as an attempt to bind and restrict her. The interrogations of Akane, Ukyo and Ryouga were already finished, having taken a day apiece. In the absence of Mousse, the last people the Council needed to question were Shampoo and Ranko. Within minutes of the start of Shampoo's interrogation, Ranko had been rendered catatonic with boredom.
Nodoka had been livid, however. While looking prim, proper and attentive to the world, she was issuing scathing comments and complaints under her breath to Ranko throughout the proceedings. Ranko welcomed the distraction, and for the most part agreed with her mother's opinions. From what she could tell, Nodoka's adoption had been a pleasant and uncomplicated affair. Even the formal recognition of Fa Shen, Ranko and Ranma as returning amazons, when they first arrived in the village, had occurred without complications and confusion. Everything had been calm and pleasant until the return of Akane's temper—and preference for a Ranma shaped target—had resulted in Ranma's public defeat at her hands. Added to that was a little misunderstanding about what Ranma's favorite pet insult for Akane implied. It just snowballed from there, until Akane infected herself with a chi based boy-curse and Fa Shen—a legitimate, Ranma shaped target—fell prey to the tomboy's temper. Of course, Akane had been mortified to receive the kiss of marriage. Ranko could remember the moment that Fa Shen "surrendered" to her "husband" and how she had disarmed Akane's fury before kissing her—or rather, him at the time—with a not so subtle reminder that the alternative was to be chased to the ends of the earth and killed by Fa Shen instead. In retrospect, now that the marriage part was dissolved, it was a funny situation.
Ranko was laughing silently at the memory of it all, when the fatal question almost slipped by.
"Wait. Did you just say Ranko challenged you before that fight?" Nai Lon croaked in surprise. Like everyone else, the elder's attention had drifted during the torturous recap of life in Nerima from Shampoo's perspective, delivered in broken Japanese for the benefit of Nodoka and the outsiders who accompanied Ranko. In a tale that seemed like utter fiction, one important fact had almost slipped by. In the middle of the row of Elders, Cologne stiffened and stared at Ranko intently.
Shampoo nodded, "That almost correct. Ranko was Ranma then. All day chase Shampoo, bother her all time, no go away. Shampoo do many things to chase him away. Beat him up, knock him down, yell in ear, anything Shampoo can do make him see Shampoo hate him. Ranma not know it was Reversal Jewel that make Shampoo heart become cold, he just keep trying to find out why Shampoo not be nice to him anymore. That why he challenge Shampoo to fight, so Shampoo forced to give kiss of marriage and say Shampoo love Airen. When Shampoo lose, feel like want to die, rather be married to Panda-Man father, because Reversal Jewel turn all great good feelings to dust that poison soul with hate. Shampoo wish never find Reversal Jewel. Never want feel that again. It so bad, Shampoo always block out memory all time, no like have such evil thinking about Ai... Ranko."
There was a long pause, during which Ranko felt the pit of her stomach open up into an abyss.
"Did you give him the kiss of marriage, Xian Pu?"
"No. Shampoo all time kiss husband, no think it necessary to make official."
There was a commotion as the Elders turned away and formed a little huddle. Nai Lon turned back and glared at Cologne for a moment. There had been a faint ring of falsehood to the testimony the Council had been given to explain the dissolution of Shampoo's marriage to "Ranma". It had not been worth disputing the loss of an outsider male when the tribe gained a resurrected warrior from legend and two reincarnations of her in his place. But, as a matter of policy, Nai Lon had wondered why Cologne had allowed Shampoo to lie to the Council. The question of Ranko's gender was a moot point to the Council, in truth, but the issue allowed the Elders to discretely probe the history of the Matriarch's stay in Japan, and perhaps expose the Matriarch's deception. Now that an inconsistency had come up, Nai Lon was eager to press, "When you returned to the village, Xian Pu, you reported that you had abandoned your claim to Ranma because of the things you learned when he became divided into Ranma, Ranko and Fa Shen. The specific reason being that you were not defeated by an outsider, so your claim was invalid. This, however, is a legitimate challenge, from one tribe member to another, and yet you failed to recognize it. Is it your intention to give up this claim, or will you resume your suit of Ranko?"
Shampoo's eyes got huge. Her eyes flicked over to Mirror, then locked on Ranko. The red-head looked pale and nervous, leaning unconsciously into Ryouga next to her. Swallowing nervously, Shampoo looked back at the Council. "Shampoo swear she never try force Ranko be man for her. Shampoo love very, very much. But… Even if Ranko be all girl, Shampoo want be wife of Ranko. Even if Shampoo must be man, must be husband, Shampoo want Ranko be wife of Shampoo. Shampoo not know what to do."
Elder Hei Ya Pin cleared her throat and asked, "Do I hear you correctly, Xian Pu? You would willingly be the wife OR husband if you could be with Ranko?"
"Shampoo happy be whatever Ranko want. Shampoo hate cat curse form because Ranko have big fear of all cats. Can be no worse punishment in hell than be very thing that one you love fear more than death. More than anything, Shampoo want Ranko love Shampoo as much as Shampoo love Ranko. Shampoo even give up claim if that make Ranko love even little bit," the purple-haired girl admitted with blushing frankness. Inside she was trembling with hope and fear.
"In that case, your claim need not wait on the ruling of the Council. By issuing the challenge man to woman and defeating you, Ranko has given you a valid claim. It would be no different if the challenge were made woman to woman," Hei Ya Pin announced. "Is this not true, Matriarch?"
Cologne sighed, this would only make Ranko that much more difficult to control. Unfortunately, there was no denying it. "That is a correct interpretation of the law in such circumstances." Cologne wanted to kick herself for overlooking the significance of Ranko's actions during the Reversal Jewel incident, but it would have been undignified. She was tempted to kick herself anyway, seeing how Hei Ya Pin's words had chased every shred of common sense and self-preservation out of Shampoo's head. The problem was, it would be ridiculously out of character for Cologne to object to a marriage between her great-granddaughter and her new heir. The best she could do was weaken Shampoo's position. "Ranko's gender does not affect the status of Shampoo's claim. However, she did not grant Ranko the kiss of marriage in response to that defeat, and in the interim the outsiders Ryouga and Akane have each established themselves as suitors for Ranko's hand. Under such circumstances, they have a right to challenge any claim Shampoo can make at this point."
Effectively, Cologne's protest amounted to little more than determining the order of seniority among spouses—since Ryouga and Akane had both become ambisexual. "As if bringing other 'men'—strong enough to be suitable husbands for Ranko—into a marriage involving Shampoo and Ranko would be undesirable," one of the other old women laughed. There was no telling who was liable to be a husband or wife in their tangled relationship. "Since I understand that one of the outsider males consummated his marriage with one of the reflections of Ranko, I'd say he has a bit more than a claim to her. Just the same, Ryouga and Akane are outsiders, so the point of contention would be between Xian Pu and Ranko over who is the senior wife or who is the husband to who. In either case, Shampoo would be granted special dispensation to acquire a Nanniichuan curse to accommodate Ranko's."
Shampoo gnawed on her lip through this commentary. As the Elder finished, Shampoo sprung impulsively toward Ranko. Ranko responded to the lunge precisely the same as she always had, freezing in shock as the other girl molded the luscious curves of her body conform to Ranko's and captured the red-head's mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. Ryouga, Akane and Ukyo went ballistic and Nodoka did an impromptu Kasumi impersonation while everyone else stared, wondering if Ranko could even breathe under Shampoo's assault. Fortunately, before the smaller girl could pass out, Shampoo leaned back and murmured, "Wo Ai Ni." She might as well have meowed for all the joy Ranko expressed at her declaration of love. One look at the rigid, stunned girl was enough to convince the Elders it was a good time to quit for the day. They called the meeting to an end, excused themselves and exited out the back. Cinnamon had murmured something to Nodoka and pursued them with a fierce look.
Ranko had simply turned and walked out of the building, when Shampoo let go to perform an impromptu victory dance. As much as Ranko had wanted to be angry at Shampoo for leaping at the chance to pursue her again, there was no denying that Ranko brought it on herself. It had almost been comforting, having things jump one step closer to restoring the status quo. Not that things would ever be the way they were again. In fact, the one thing she had feared as Ranma had finally occurred. She now had to contend with engagements to multiple men as well as women. She had to shake her head in dismay.
Opening her eyes again, she found P-Chan regarding her intently. Her lips gained a wry twist. He looked so serious, waiting patiently, his entire being focused on her as she struggled with the chaos of her life. It was so cute, she wanted to roll her eyes. She had to be careful to remember that cute little form was the bane of Ryouga's existence. "Would you stop lookin' at me like that, Porkchop?" she demanded in feigned irritation, surrendering to a sudden impulse to shake Ryouga out of his latest funk. Unfortunately, this one technique she devised as Ranma had unique disadvantages she had forgotten about, the first of which was how Ryouga had been conditioned to respond after exhaustive use. "I've seen you look happier reading a map."
"Ernk!" Ryouga glared, his temper triggered automatically by her tone of voice and manner, so typical of how she used to taunt him as Ranma. Before Ryouga had even realized it, he had lunged forward, and sunk his teeth into Ranko's forearm. The pig's eyes widened in mortified alarm.
Ranko winced, holding in a shout of pain and automatically braining the pig with her other fist. As if that were a ritual of summoning, a large, familiar mallet crowned Ranko at the exact same moment.
"Ranma! Stop picking on Ryouga!" Akane barked in irritation as she too was set off by ingrained habit. Taking a second glance at her past or future fiancé and her former pet, her fury melted into a concerned look. "I'm… I'm sorry, Ranko." Akane carefully removed the mallet and stowed it away. The red-head had barely flinched at the blow, but now stood staring at the ground, her face veiled by her bangs. "Hey. Are you alright?"
It took a moment, as Akane and Ryouga studied her self-consciously, for Ranko to respond. Blinking again, she looked up and met Akane's eyes. Then her attention was drawn slightly to the side as Ukyo suddenly loomed over Akane, battle-spatula raised, ready to rain down righteous punishment if Akane offered Ranko any more violence. Naturally, Ranko's instinctive response was to backpedal away from both of them and raise warding hands. Both girls flinched in dismay, then looked down as the piglet let out a plaintive squeal of frustration, struggling harder to escape a sea of cloth.
Ukyo wordlessly plucked Ryouga out of the pile of clothes and handed him to Ranko, who hugged him reflexively to her bosom. A better cure for Ryouga's depression could not be asked for, even if it did make the piglet's blood pressure skyrocket. While the common myth held that spontaneous nosebleeds were the affliction of virginal young males, the reality in Ryouga's case was that he could no more control his libido than he could contain any other emotional impulse. Being crushed, full body, into twin mounds of soft, warm flesh, the only possible response he could make was to shudder, sighing in pleasure, before a fountain of blood spurted from his snout and he embraced his bliss. Ukyo, holding Ryouga's clothes out to Ranko in a bundle, glared as the red-head suddenly blushed furiously. The chef did not need to be telepathic to realize what had possessed the minds of Ryouga and Ranko. Fortunately, Ukyo was not telepathic, and was spared the actual flood of images and remembered sensations detailing exactly how Ryouga once redirected his erotic impulses. With a gasp, Ranko dropped the puny porker and reeled back as she felt a familiar and unprecedented tingle surging through her from himclear even through the new and unpleasant searing agony caused by his chi washing over her raw nerves. Ryouga emitted a squeal of surprise at the same time, shocked back to his senses and yet almost too stunned to land on his feet. He knew the sensation intimately. He'd felt it every time he had changed forms. It was oddly different this time. For one thing, instead of a flash of numbed neurological chaos, the sensation spread and mounted slowly. It expanded, consuming his awareness, until it overwhelmed all other thought or sensation. It was unbelievably intense, but before his mind could decide if the feeling was pain or pleasure, it dissipated just as inexorably.
"Ryouga!" Ranko exclaimed with a look of alarm and confusion. She had never sensed anything in direct association with someone else's curse. At the same time, with the painful hypersensitivity she had developed to chi flows after the battle with Herb, there was no question in her mind that she had felt the surge of transformation. She rubbed her hands and arms, to relieve the searing pain that had resulted from her proximity to the chi surge, and stared at the piglet. It did not take a genius to figure out what had triggered it, but Ranko was unable to fathom why the surge stopped short of transformation.
"Ranko? Are you okay?" Akane was staring at the prodigal martial-artist in deeper concern. "You look like you're about to pass out."
Ranko reoriented herself, carefully turning away from Akane and Ukyo, and knelt down to pick up Ryouga. As soon as she touched him, she could tell he was shocked as well. Ranko nestled him in her arms with great care and gently stroked his head and back to calm him. It took them a moment to catch their breath and calm their racing hearts. As she straightened, she felt the pressure of the other girls' expectant gazes. Absently, Ranko shook her head and replied, "I'm fine, Akane. I just…" She snapped her mouth shut before she could elaborate on what she and Ryouga "just" experienced. That last thing she wanted or needed to do was explain to Akane and Ukyo that the memory of having sex with her had almost turned Ryouga human again. "And I thought just getting wet was inconvenient," Ranko muttered to herself, semi-conscious of the fact that Ryouga's hearing was keen enough to pick that up.
"What was that? You just what?" Akane pressed, with her unerring instinct for homing in on the best possible fodder for an explosive misunderstanding.
"Ranko?" The new voice was accompanied by a hand resting on Ranko's shoulder. A hand that belonged to her mother.
"Mrs. Saotome?" Akane shifted her gaze to the woman standing in the door behind Ranko.
Cologne hopped into the light and cleared her throat. "That is not the proper way to address my daughter in this village, child." With a slight shake of her head, she chuckled to herself. Since the adoption ceremony for Nodoka, held while Ranko was recovering from her fight with Prince Herb, she had been trying to get it through the heads of the Nerima teens that it was appropriate for them to just use Nodoka's name, or the designation Matron if they wished to be polite. With a glance and brief nod to Nodoka, she urged, "Go ahead, Daughter."
Nodoka managed to nod and reply without her usual disoriented pause, "Thank you, Mother." Nodoka was impressed that no ire or resentment tainted her voice. Over the past few days, the completion of the adoption process begun at their arrival in the village had been a welcome distraction from the endless worrying about Ranko, as she recuperated in the hands of the Musk. Unfortunately, she was stuck with the consequences now, as the Council had been quick to remind her when her daughter was snubbed by the council and begged to go home. Nodoka was greatly displeased to have been used to give the amazons more leverage over Ranko, and Cologne was going to hear about it the next time they spoke in private. Of course she blamed herself more for failing to predict how far the amazons would go to keep Ranko from slipping out of their grasp. Nodoka was impressed, despite herself, at how well they had covered every contingency. Even to the point of slipping a wedge in between mother and daughter.
Naturally, Nodoka was desperate to find out how bad the damage there was. "Ranko-chan, we should sit down and discuss this," she prompted gently, but firmly. Ukyo, Ryouga and Akane instantly formed up in a group around Ranko, silently refusing to be separated from the object of their affections. With a nod, Nodoka included them in her suggestion. "The three of you might as well come along. I know some of you missed breakfast, and the meeting ran straight through lunch. We can get something to eat while we sort out the Council's decision. Cinnamon will join us later." That last had been a warning and reminder, both for the teens and for Cologne. The dragon had not minced words about how seriously she took her temporary role as Ranko's advocate.
The teens all nodded mutely and cleared a path through the crowd of natives for Nodoka and Ranko. Mother and daughter were both grateful. Since their arrival in the village, the amazons had been hovering always within earshot to learn all they could about the new tribe members. They were polite, so most of the time it was not really an annoyance, but at a moment like this Nodoka wanted to provide her daughter some privacy. Nodoka had not seen the girl seem so vulnerable since she recovered from the paralysis induced by Ranma and Fa Shen's "awakening".
As they moved down the path toward Cologne's home, Ranko frowned and mumbled, "I don't see the point. I just wanna go. I just wanna get away from the stupid amazons, and stupid Herb. I wanna go before some other weirdo from some crazy Chinese village pops up and starts tryin' to make me marry him or join his tribe." She turned and glanced back over her shoulder into the meeting hall. If she had not been crippled at the moment, she would have taken great delight in bringing the whole building down around the Council of Elders' heads. With a wry smile, she added to herself, "I've gotta ask Cinnamon what she did to get them to expel her from the tribe."
Ranko sat at the table studying P-Chan. In the background, she could hear Cologne in the kitchen directing the efforts of Shampoo and Mirror. Akane and Ukyo flanked her to either side, and her mother sat serenely across the table from her. The three amazons had retreated wordlessly in response to a question from Ranko to Shampoo. The red-head had asked the other girl, point blank, if she intended to reveal the fact that she seduced Fa Shen into consummating their marriage. Shampoo had frozen, pale as death, and stared at Ranko's stern visage helplessly until Cologne ushered her and Mirror out of the room. The rest had avoided looking at Ranko as they all settled down to wait for food to be prepared. They were all disturbed to have Ranko pick up on and point out such an important detail before anyone else could think of it. After what they had all witnessed in the village meeting hall, there was no doubt how the Council of Elders would respond to that little revelation, if it was ever presented to them. Fortunately, Ranko's reaction had compelled them to cut Shampoo's interrogation short and prevented that fact from coming to light.
"And here I thought this just put everything back to the way it was," Ukyo finally broke the silence.
Ranko glanced up at the okonomiyaki chef and sighed. Shaking her head, she countered, "Nothing's ever going to be the way it was."
Akane bit her lip and put a hand over one of Ranko's. When the red-head met her eye, she suggested, "You don't have to let them get away with it. I mean, technically, Ryouga got to you first. I may not get all these weird amazon laws, but…"
"It doesn't work like that, Akane. Whenever you think you've got the rules on your side, they just go and change the rules," Ranko growled savagely. "The only reason I allowed Cologne to bring me back into the tribe was to protect myself from the way they abused outsiders. I was so stupid, thinking the laws offered any protection at all. I was stupid to think I was safe as an amazon, that I was too good for anyone to beat. But no, any excuse is good enough if it serves the elder's whims. No. There's no way to make the laws work for you. They'll just bend them until they don't." Ranko took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. "I did it all to get out of marrying Shampoo. And now, because of that, they can use everything else that's happened to declare us married. It was all pointless. Hell, the whole trip was a waste, since I'm stuck again, and might not ever be able to turn back into a boy!"
That last bit came as something of a shock to the others. "What? That's not what Cinnamon said!" Nodoka cried out.
"It's true, Mom. I've had three whole days to heal, and I can't stand to even touch my chi. I could unlock my curse easily enough, but I don't know if I'd survive changing. You all saw what happened to Herb, right?" Ranko nodded after seeing the others nod. "So, I'm stuck as a girl, stripped of my chi abilities, and still engaged to too many people to make satisfying everyone's honor possible. I could have just stayed home and been better off."
"You said you wanted to go home," Ukyo reminded.
"Yeah. I don't care what some moldy old elder says about my adoption and new identity, this ain't my home. Not as Ranma, not as Fa Shen, not as me." In truth, there was only one place Ranko could really think of as home, and given the situation she doubted she would be welcomed back at the Tendo Dojo. It would probably cost her too much to even try. That thought caused her to bite her lip. Genma was a stubborn man. Worse than that, he had a somewhat skewed view of reality. Even if she told him she was not his child, even if she revealed everything Cinnamon had told her and Nodoka, Genma would refuse to believe it. He would look at the outcome of her fusion and try to force her to go back to being Ranma. Not the Ranma that emerged among the triplets either, but the ignorant, uncultured, misogynistic, macho man-among-men he had worked so hard to create. It was ironic. If there was one thing that made Ranko less inclined to embrace her manhood, she could not think of it. At the same time, her experience as Genma's son made her uneasy about her prospects as Nodoka's daughter. The flash in her mother's eye, when Akane "selflessly" suggested Ranko marry Ryouga to escape from a union with Shampoo, was all the warning she needed in that regard. While part of her leapt at the idea of going home with her mother, the knowledge that she would be pressed into the mold of what Nodoka considered a proper woman discouraged her. There would be no chance for her to really explore the feelings she had for the lost boy if she was being thrust relentlessly toward marriage.
Ranko looked down and swallowed her anger. What was the point of worrying about that when she had promised to marry Herb? What was the point of worrying about her future happiness or her feelings for Ryouga or Akane or Ukyo, when she no longer had the luxury of being in love? Once again, she felt a surge of helplessness that made her want to speak up, reveal the horrible situation she had gotten herself into and ask for help getting out of it. Instead, she was forced to step around it, to protect them from harm by keeping her fate a secret. Clearing her throat, she announced, "I want all of you to go home. Tonight."
There was an immediate commotion at the table. Even Cologne, Shampoo and Mirror burst in from the kitchen.
In the babble of concerned and alarmed voices, Ranko could not make anything out. She stood up, holding her hands out for silence. "This is important. Everything we needed to do on this trip has been done, or there's nothing more that we can do to fix things. I want to go home too, but I made a promise to Prince Herb and I don't want any of you becoming involved trying to protect me."
"What kind of promise are you talking about?" Cologne demanded at once, silencing everyone else with her tone.
Ranko turned to look at her. "A promise that keeps all of you safe, as long as you don't do anything Herb or the Musk can take direct offence at."
"What did you promise him?" Nodoka asked worriedly.
Ranko looked down. What could she tell them that would not rile them up against Herb? In a hesitant voice, she went with the first idea that came to her. "I kinda sorta promised him I would not marry anyone until things were sorted out between us." That stunned them all into silence. Scrabbling along, Ranko looked up plaintively. "I sorta figured, at the time, what I'd figured out would nullify the amazon marriages, and the stuff Cinnamon told us would cancel all the engagements that Pops made. I wanted to keep him from attacking anyone I cared about, so I had to make him believe you were not a threat to him. Now, this thing with Shampoo comes up… I don't know what to do. I can't marry her, or I'll be breaking my promise. So, I have to fight it. I'll have to get expelled from the tribe, I guess."
Cologne paled. The last thing she wanted was to see Ranko follow in Cinnamon's footsteps. Particularly not while the dragon considered herself Ranko's champion. As unsurprising as it was that Ranko was inclined to forsake her amazon heritage, she remained vital to the old woman's plans. Plans so important she had been willing to throttle Shampoo herself to keep the girl's insane infatuation with the prodigal martial artist from driving Ranko away. "As I pointed out in front of the Council, Shampoo can only make claim to an engagement with you under the present circumstances. Shampoo herself only wants a fair chance to win your heart, there will be no schemes or scams to force you together with her. I am on your side in this, Ranko. Please, do nothing rash, Child. Permit me time to set things right."
Ranko studied the wizened old woman. "If you had recognized me as an elder, I would have claimed the right to establish a new tribe. I would have returned home with honor. I would have remained an asset of the tribe, without sacrificing my integrity or autonomy," Ranko declared with an uncharacteristic formality. "You never gave me a chance to work with you. You always had to be in control. You never understood I was always the one in control. I was always the one who had what you wanted. That made me the power to be reckoned with all along, skill and experience be damned. That has not changed. That will not change. The initiative is mine."
Cologne gaped, while Shampoo and Mirror literally toppled over in shock.
Ranko grinned suddenly. "I'll be damned. Mom's lectures… that is, ah, Pa Shen… when I was Fa Shen… Oh, never mind. Point is, I guess I really did learn something from all her nagging." Shrugging, she returned to that more severe tone. "I want you to take my friends and family away from here, Cologne. I want to know they are all safe from Herb, before I go back to complete our business together. You owe me this."
To the surprise of everyone present, Cologne bowed, and in a very meek voice answered, "Yes… Princess."
Ranko's eyes nearly spat themselves out of their sockets. "What's with this 'Princess' crap, again?" she demanded, looking uncomfortable.
"If you did not want the title, you should not play the part," Cologne retorted with a cryptic smile.
"Huh?" Ranko blinked in confusion.
Cologne sighed. "Why do you think I have pursued you so earnestly? Why do you think I have invested so much in you?"
"You were planning on making her this amazon princess all along?" Ukyo inquired disbelievingly.
"Come along, girls. We have a meal to tend to, and much more besides if we are to depart this evening," Cologne nudged Shampoo and Mirror into motion, instead of responding. There was a prolonged silence as they resumed bustling about the kitchen and the others stared at a frozen Ranko.
"So. You promised you wouldn't marry anyone?" Ukyo prodded, poking the red-head with an extended index finger.
"He threatened to remove anyone who got in the way of him marrying me…" Ranko muttered.
"So, what? You tell him he can have a clear shot at you? Aren't you just playing into his hands?"
"Come on, Ucchan. I had to do something to keep him from going after other people to get to me."
"Well… I guess," Ukyo accepted uneasily. "I don't suppose it really changes all that much…"
"At least you didn't promise to marry him if you lost," Akane quipped in askance.
"Bweee!" Ryouga concurred.
Ranko tried to swallow the lump in her throat unobtrusively. Then she laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head.
The three teens—two girls and one piglet—stared at her in sudden alarm. Exchanging looks with each other, the same thought was clearly at the front of all their minds. Ranko still could not bluff to save her life.
That evening, Ranko stood outside Cologne's home to bid her mother and friends goodbye. She suspected that Ryouga, Akane and Ukyo had guessed the truth about her promise to Herb, so she was surprised they were putting up so little fuss. The worst so far had been the private moments with each of them during the afternoon. Given the situation, Ranko saw no harm in explaining to them that Herb had only demanded the same thing Shampoo hada chance to win her heart.
The obvious question for each of them had been about their own chances at winning her heart. Ryouga was particularly difficult for Ranko to deal with. Every fiber of her being called out to him, screamed at her to choose him, but the engagements with Akane and Ukyo still weighed too heavily on her conscience for Ranko to surrender to that impulse. All she could say to him was that she needed to sort out the complications from her life as Ranma, before she was free to explore her options as Ranko.
Akane and Ukyo had been slightly distressed when Ranko asked them to decide who it was they had had feelings for, her or Ranma, and what they would do if Ranma never returned. In one sense, that was a reference to her doubts about being able to reactivate her curse to be a man again. In a deeper sense, there was the question of Genma's legitimacy as a father, and the possibility of voiding all the agreements the crooked panda had made. But all of that was just a distraction from the choice Nodoka had presented her with.
Should Ranko close the book on her former lives? Should she let Ranma and Fa Shen die, officially? By absorbing her other selves, and losing the capacity to endure the effects of either of her curses, Ranko was in a position to exploit that suggestion. It was not like she could ever revert to being the person Ranma or Fa Shen had been before their tragedies at Jusenkyo. Being Ranko was the best she could do to acknowledge and accept who she had been in who she was now. Besides, there was the possibility—less horrifying than it once might have been—that Genma would disown her, declare Ranma dead himself, to punish Ranko for the loss of her manhood.
She just hoped, again, that she would not be forced to marry Soun like the old men had threatened when Herb locked her curse the first time.
Ranko already knew better than to hope there were no engagements lurking out there for her as a girl. The mess with Picolet Chardin had already established the fact that Genma had been as quick to promise his daughters, fictional or not, as payment of debts and leverage to manipulate people. In fact, she had to make sure that Herb and Spice did not go and dangle wealth and luxuries before Genma's nose to win the lazy panda's endorsement of the marriage. That was her main reason for staying in China while sending her family and friends home. The Musk were only interested in her, and they would not stray near the likes of Genma or her other would be suitors if she did not lead them there. For now, the only ally she could count on was Cinnamon. Fortunately, Cinnamon was the most powerful thing around at the moment, and it was possible the old dragon, for all her interest in Ranko, had no particular interest in human practices and institutions like marriage. It might be inevitable that Ranko would have to sleep with Cinnamon to appease the dragon. If it came to that, Ranko could always imagine she was with another duplicate of herself, and that was now rather familiar territory.
Ranko noticed that everyone's gear had finally been assembled and accounted for. Nodoka and Cologne were standing with Mirror, as she studied the magic compact mirror and nodded. Even though the male form of Mousse was locked away, the master of hidden weapons could still assume the form of a mandarin duck. Mirror would provide the group's transportation to Shanghai, where Nodoka would take over as the compact's courier for the plane trip back to Japan. The trip was supposed to take them about four days. Ranko had been assured by Cinnamon that she could fly Ranko to Tokyo, as shown to her on a map, in one night in dragon form, so in theory Ranko would be arriving just a few days after the others. If flying on a dragon's back did not drive her into the neko-ken.
"I guess you're all ready then?" Ranko asked, coming up next to her mother.
"Do not worry, Saotome. I have everything under control," Mirror puffed up, bristling automatically at her presence.
Ranko looked at Mirror, and suddenly understood the reason she was still a she. "If I grew tentacles, and Shampoo thought they were cute, would you go splash yourself with water from the pool of drowned octopus?"
"If the fates deem that you and I shall forever be rivals, then so be it. However, in part, this is my penance for betraying you to Prince Herb."
"Ah. So, you admit finally that you always go too far?" Ranko challenged.
"What?" Mirror glared.
Ranko sighed and waved her off. "Never mind. Just remember, even people with perfect eyesight can still be blind, Mousse."
"Ranko! You can't call me that!" Mirror exploded, whipping her head around to see if any amazons were in earshot.
"Fine. Have a safe flight. Try not to lose anyone, okay?" Ranko backed off. Turning to her mother, she gave her a quick hug. "I'll catch up to you in a week. Hopefully that will be enough to recover and deal with Herb. If I am able, we can work on wrapping up the man-among-men thing when I come home. I'm kinda curious to know what the point of all that was, and your dad's friend seems to be the only one who can explain it. Hopefully, Pops hasn't stirred up a whole nest of problems for me to deal with first."
"Well, that proves you are optimistic, at any rate," Nodoka smiled, returning the hug.
Ranko went up to the trio of fiancées arguing with Ryouga. "Hey. It looks like you're all set. See you in a week, okay?"
"One week, Ranchan, then we're coming after you," Ukyo promised, pulling the smaller girl into an impulsive embrace and kissing her on the forehead.
"I wish you were coming with us," Akane protested, locking her hands together in front of herself nervously.
"Shampoo know Ranko beat Herb, win back honor. You come see Shampoo at Nekohanten soon as you come home, is okay?"
"Don't be late, Ranko. Don't make me come looking for you," Ryouga joked.
"Ah, yeah. Akane, do you mind keeping a leash on P-Chan until I come back?" Ranko turned to the raven-haired girl, to tease Ryouga.
"Eh heh," Akane blushed and looked away.
The others quirked eyebrows in curiosity. "What are you blushing for?" Ryouga asked uncomfortably.
Akane pulled a leash and collar out of her pocket and held it up sheepishly. "You know how I went shopping to buy P-Chan a present? That was like a week before I learned the truth about Ryouga. After that I figured I'd never be able to use it."
"Who says you're gonna get to use it now?" Ryouga fumed instantly in indignation.
Ukyo was making careful notes in a notepad she whisked out of nowhere. Anyone listening carefully would have heard her mutter, as she wrote, "Bondage… and bestiality… You're just getting stranger and stranger everyday, Ms. Tendo."
"Come on, children. It's time to go," Nodoka interrupted.
Cologne came up to Ranko's side, "I am reluctant to leave you to do this alone. You are at a severe disadvantage right now. Fighting is your greatest strength, and you are barely capable of that without the benefit of your chi. I suggest you focus more on getting back into fighting trim than trying to discourage Herb's interest. He is liable to continue pursuing you no matter what happens. Beware that Cinnamon does not inform him of your claim to being our princess. He has no need of further encouragement. Do well. There is much for us to discuss starting next week."
Ranko nodded, then stepped back as each of them glanced in the compact mirror and vanished with their belongings. Cologne was the last, gathering up Mirror's clothes as the girl turned into a duck and flashed the mirror before the old woman's eyes. The duck gave Ranko a salute with one wing, hiding the compact with a flourish of feathers, and then took off into the evening sky.
Cinnamon cleared her throat, from where she was waiting by the gate. Ranko paused to take the first good look at the manor since she destroyed a quarter of it. The reminder of what she was now capable of impressed Ranko. Repairs had already been started, so the right half of the upper floor was reframed with wall and roof timbers. The area was still dusted with the chips and shrapnel of her explosion. If she could make a quick recovery, with Cinnamon's help, she was certain she could give Herb a lot more than he was counting on. At the very least, she was going to have a rematch. At worst, she would make him understand that he was not the only one capable of making threats that could not be ignored. But first, she was going to discover as much as she could about the Musk while she was his guest, and Herb was going to provide all of that information, hoping to impress her.
"It's time," Cinnamon spoke up, trying to pull the girl away from the scene of her loss.
Ranko turned and walked over to the dragon's side. "Yes. It's about time," she acknowledged, referring to much more than the need to depart.
It was time to start making some real changes.
Ranma Nibunnoichi: Reflections – Volume 5: Paying the Price – Part 01
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors to whom she has given official rights. It is not the intention of this work to infringe upon those rights. This story may not be purchased or sold without the express permission of the writer, meaning me, the creator, meaning Rumiko Takahashi, or those agencies to whom the creator has given such rights or privileges. The ideas explored are those of the author, and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of the creator or associated agencies.
Author's Note: I know this originally appeared as the epilogue of It's All in the Reflexes, but it was once the first chapter of Ranko Nibunnnoichi - Refractions. With the odd review coming in each month to remind me that there are people waiting patiently to see this story continued, I decided to set the stage for it by restoring this as the first chapter in the next volume. This is the fifth and final volume of Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections. Reflexes is already reset as the fourth volume, with the transfer of this chapter. I am taking suggestions for the chapter titles of Reflexes, by the way, which will appear when the revision catches up to it.