[AMG/Ranma][FanFic] Marriage Wishes
Luke Thrythlind Green
"Okay," Urd said. "First I 'rewarded' those three, did you know that
one of them is half-demon? Wait of course you knew, you probably read
the file. Anyway, then I kissed the next one just to keep h..uh...her
from asking anymore questions. Then came that other girl I decided to
help out a little with sexuality issues..."
"Oh my," Belldandy said, blushing red. Skuld and Keiichi stared at
Urd, blinking.
"And then I met Kodachi at the bar and got drunk," Urd said.
"Actually...she's half-demon too...strange that there would be two
unrelated half-demons in the same place. Then again, with all the
mortal powers there..."
"You made out with six different people," Keiichi said, interrupting
her. "In one day?"
"And you didn't know they were the people you were looking for?" Skuld
asked, she really didn't know any longer whether she could continue to
be amused or embarrassed about her sister.
"Well, I didn't have time for any REAL fun," Urd said, producing a
series of differing reactions from the other three. Belldandy blushed
deeper, Keiichi twitched and Skuld looked green. "I had work to do
after all. Hmmm, nice bunch though, I could definitely stand to be
around them for a while. Kinda glad it worked out that way."
"Hmmm," Belldandy said, calming herself down. "Sounds like quite a lot
of coincidences. Meeting them all like that and deciding you like them
before you knew who they were."
"Yeah, weird, huh?" Urd said, still concentrating on the main problem.
As such she completely missed the implication of the Ultimate Force
being at work.
"How did you 'help' the one girl?" Skuld asked. Urd turned to her and
blinked, looking confused.
"The one with sexuality issues," Keiichi said.
"Ohhh! Her," Urd said, then she waved her hand a little dismissively.
"Gave her one of my kisses with a tiny spell on it."
"URD!" Belldandy gasped indignantly.
"Oh it was just a little spell," Urd said. "It's just meant to release
a little of what she's been repressing." She paused a moment and
considered. "The effect WILL be stronger proportional to how repressed
she is or was and how much she tries to continue to repress anything.
And it'll reach its peak by sunset and be worn off before sunrise. Ten
to one she barely notices anything beyond a couple of extra-vivid
daydreams. How repressed and stubborn could she possibly be?"
*******
"I promise, she said," Akane muttered irritably. "No magic, right."
She had apparently forgotten that the exact wording of said promise.
This day was not turning out to be a good day. She sighed and tried
not to catch sight of anybody while waiting for the next boring
instructor. The lessons were proving to be quite adaquate
distractions.
"Hey, Akane," somebody said. Caught a little off guard in her
ruminitions, Akane's habit took over and she turned around to look
towards the voice. Instantly she saw Ranma looking at her with a
rather concerned look on his face. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Akane said dreamily. "Why do you ask?"
"You just look a little annoyed or something," Ranma said.
"Oh, I'm just a little distracted is all," Akane said.
"Maybe...longing a little."
"Hey, maybe I can do something to help, you know?" Ranma asked.
"Oh just get over here and kiss me already," Akane said, still
speaking as if half in a dream and very happy.
"All right," Ranma said and then, in front of everyone her handsome
fiancee swooped her up kissed her passionately. Holding her in his
rough, strong, yet gentle hands....
"Akane, you're scaring me," Ranma's voice said out of nowhere.
Akane blinked and suddenly realized she was staring at Ranma, who was
still in his desk, with a rather blank, almost drooling, expression.
"AARRRGGG!!" Akane roared and pulled her eyes away from Ranma. "I'M
NOT DOING ANYTHING!"
"Okay," Ranma said wondering if he could inch away from Akane a little
further. She was really acting unstable today. If she found out about
that woman yesterday he was in real trouble.
Ukyou walked back in from going to the restroom, just missing that
display, and sat down in her customary spot. Strangely enough she
seemed just as distracted as Akane about something. She sighed and
turned to where Akane was investigating the ceiling tiles.
"Akane can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Ukyou asked.
"I'm not sure now is such a good time, Ukyou," Akane said, still
looking at the tiles and trying NOT to imagine what Ukyou looked like.
"We got eight minutes yet," Ukyou said. "This won't take long, and
it's important. And I can't talk to him about it..."
"Hey, what's wrong with me?" Ranma asked, Ukyou produced a rather
embarrassed look and turned back to Akane.
"Err...fine," Akane said reluctantly. "What do you need to talk
about?"
"Not here," Ukyou said, wondering why Akane wasn't looking at anyone.
"Just...umm...let's go somewhere more private." Akane twitched, or
maybe shivered.
"Err...lead the way," Akane said glancing around.
*******
After following Ukyou, and bumping into a few things on the way by
virtue of not watching where she was going, Akane reached the girl's
restroom with her friend and rival.
"Akane," Ukyou said hesitantly. "Could you look at me?"
"Not a good idea," Akane said.
"Oh please," Ukyou said. "I don't look THAT bad do I?"
"What?" Akane snapped, surprised and whipped about to look at Ukyou.
"What do you mean look bad? You look great."
"Yeah," Ukyou said. "I'm cute, but do I look like a cute guy, or a
cute girl?"
"You're very beautiful, Ukyou," Akane said with a smirk. "Any boy
would be a fool to not recognize your beauty."
"Oh Akane, thank you," Ukyou said. "But really how can you be sure,
you're not a boy." Akane reached out with a smile to grab the
convenient bucket of nannichuan water next to her.
"Well," Akane-otoko said rakishly. "I can give you some proof." He
leaned in and kissed the surprised Ukyou passionately slowly guiding
her down to the floor and thankful that he thought to lock the door on
the way in.
"Oh, Akane-kun," Ukyou gasped. "Make me a woman!"
"My pleasure, Ucchan," Akane said, smirking roguishly as he...
"Akane...why are you looking at me like?" Ukyou's voice asked.
Akane blinked and shook out her head, quickly coming back to reality.
Again.
"What...I mean," Akane stuttered. "ARRRGGG!!! I told you this was a
bad idea!" Then she was running out of the room.
"Err..." Ukyou said. "What was that about?"
*******
"What's wrong with you today?" Yuka asked as Akane came back into the
room looking out of breath. Akane didn't look at her as she felt her
way back to her desk.
"Nothing," Akane said. "Nothing's wrong."
Behind her a very confused looking Ukyou came in and sat down. Then
finally the teacher walked in. Akane breathed a sigh of relief and
turned to look forward to the lecture space. She almost choked for a
moment.
~Oh no,~ Akane thought. ~I forgot about her?"
"Good morning class," the adult form Hinako said cooly. "I'll begin
class in a moment, but first...Tendo-san, can I see you in my office
for a moment." Hinako-sensei produced a riding crop out of nowhere...
*******
Shampoo paced about her room anxiously. She didn't know what to think
about the events yesterday afternoon.
That woman had felt her up and then had KISSED her. In a village where
woman outnumbered men five to one this wasn't exactly unheard of,
especially when they shared a husband with a third (or fourth, or,
rarely, fifth) woman. Still Shampoo hadn't quite expected her to enjoy
the sensation so thoroughly.
That fact had opened some...interesting possibilities however. For one
thing, she was beginning to work herself toward being tolerant of the
idea of sharing Ranma, though it rankled that warrior such as herself
would have to share. On the other hand...
Shampoo glanced to the two gallon plastic tub that she sometimes
carried her drinking water in when she went to go train. Cologne
didn't even know she had that. At least Shampoo didn't think she knew.
Certainly Ryouga, Ranma and Mousse didn't know, or they'd be clamoring
over each other to get it.
The tub and its contents were her ace in the hole. It was plenty of
water to cure Ranma, his father, Ryouga and even Mousse. Shampoo was
planning to present it as a surprise gift when her husband finally
accepted her. Barring that, she could always use it as a bribe for all
four of the males.
One way or another, Shampoo was beginning to think that maybe it was
time to use that water. She frowned and tapped her feet. This was
going to take a little bit of thinking.
She snapped up the sealed tub and a wad of yen to buy some sport drink
on her way out. Then she tramped downstairs, obstensibly to enjoy her
day off.
"Shampoo going to train," she called out on her way through the main
room.
"Wait Shampoo," Mousse said. "I'll go with you to he...owww! What was
that for you withered old monkey?" Cologne whacked Mousse a second
time.
"Shampoo has the day off," Cologne said. "You do not, Mr. Part-Time,
now get to work." She ignored the grumbling boy as she turned to
regard where her granddaughter had vanished. Shampoo was hiding
something from her, she only hoped it wouldn't be anything too bad.
*******
There was one good thing about her assignment though. The cover story
was VERY easy to make without lying. Judging by what she had seen in
the file she had finally read, the bounds of plausibility in this
neighborhood had been stretched beyond all conceptions.
Urd figured she could tell them that she was the space pirate daughter
of a prime goddess here to marry the boy that she had watched grow up
through most of his life after being imprisoned by his grandfather for
attacking their home planet.
"Naww..." Urd said as she knocked on the door. "Who would believe
that."
*******
Ryoko sneezed.
*******
"Hello, can I help you?" Kasumi said as she opened the door. The
person on the other side, a tall, tanned gaijin woman with interesting
taste in clothes backpedaled a couple of steps in surprise. "Oh my,
did I startle you?"
"Errr, this is the Tendo Dojo, right?" the woman asked.
"Why, yes it is," Kasumi said, blinking in confusion at the woman and
her behavior.
"I think I need to speak to a Soun Tendo and a Genma Saotome..." Urd
said, trying to decide if this was Bell playing a joke or just a
really strange coincidence. Kasumi blinked.
"Oh, certainly," she said, sounding vaguely cautious now. "Please,
come right in."
"Thanks," Urd said, looking at Kasumi curiously.
"Father," Kasumi called out. "You and Saotome-san have visitors!"
"What is that Kasumi?" Soun asked as Kasumi led Urd into the tea room.
As usual the two men were playing shogi.
"I shall prepare some tea," Kasumi said. "Do try to be polite."
"Is there something wrong with my daughter?" Soun asked, noting Urd's
confused look as Kasumi walked out of the room.
"She's almost the spitting image of my sister," Urd said faintly.
"Voice, personality...everything."
"You mean there are two such women in the world?" Genma asked,
blinking.
"Errr, back to business," Urd said turning back around.
"What business is that?" Soun asked.
"Well, I find myself in a rather confusing and difficult situation,"
Urd said. "And this is just the first place I have to stop by."
"What kind of confusing situation would that be?" Soun asked.
"My father has an...interesting sense of humor," Urd said. "I get the
feeling he's trying to make a point with this."
"Excuse me," Genma said. "Who is your father?"
"I'm sorry," Urd said, dodging the question. "I forgot to introduce
myself. I'm Urd Wodendottir."
It wasn't nearly an accurate name, the Norns were all three older than
Odin. In fact, they had advised him on his original rise to power, but
it was a much more obscure name than, say, "Godsdottir."
"Wodendottir," Soun said. "Is that a name you are familiar with?"
"Not I Tendo," Genma said. Then they turned to look at Urd. "You
wouldn't be..."
"I AM engaged to your children," Urd interrupted. "Yes." Genma and
Soun irked then stood up roaring in Urd's face.
"HOW did THAT happen?" they both roared.
"Well, let's see," Urd said calmly. "First there was this man that was
a little lacking in money so he sold my father this wedding contract
with one Ranma Saotome."
It was true, the man had swore that he'd burn the thing in offering if
he had a stroke of good luck, and he had.
"And then this other guy from some side branch of the Picolette family
tossed his off on us after hearing about the contract with another
branch getting nullified."
Also true, though the exact words as he destroyed the paper had been
"let God sort it out."
Urd produced the documents in question, however, as she spoke. There
were notations to the effect that they had been sold to the
Wodendottir family.
"Well," Soun said. "I'm sorry to say that I can't provide you a
husband. I only have daughters."
"Not a problem, it actually makes it easier," Urd said. Suddenly they
were speaking to a well-built, rougishly handsome gaijin man, and the
feminine robes had become something just as stylish, but more suiting
a male. "My family knows a lot about magic, and well...two
bodies...two identities...two marriages. If it were just a matter of
you two, this would be comparatively easy."
Meanwhile, Genma had toned out as wheels started rolling in his head.
"Bu...bu...bu..." Soun sputtered as Urd returned to her natural form.
"Now, this was just a polite visit to inform you of the situation,"
Urd said as Kasumi brought in tea.
"Here's the tea," Kasumi said.
"Oh, thanks, Belldandy," Urd said, she twitched. "I'm
sorry...Kasumi...you just look so much like my sister."
"Yes, I heard," Kasumi says. "Do you really mean to marry one of us?"
"Well," Urd said, feeling uncomfortable at the idea of any sort of
relationship with the Belldandy lookalike. "Not you! I mean...that
just would be...weird..."
"Oh," Kasumi said, obviously relieved. "I suppose marrying someone
exactly like your sister would be...odd." Genma and Soun were still
incapacitated in differing manners.
"You could say that," Urd said drinking her tea down quickly. ~Must
get away and beat head clear of that image.~ "Now, I have to go find
the other people I have business with and then find a way to sort out
this mess." ~Better to say it that way, if I say flat out I mean to
marry all of them...bwuhaha...yadda yadda yadda. Well...they'd
probably toss me out of the place.~
"Oh, what other people?" Kasumi asked.
"Umm, Ukyou Kuonji, Ryouga Hibiki, Kodachi Kuno and..." Urd thought
for a moment. "Someone named Shampoo."
"Oh dear," Kasumi said. "You're engaged to all of them?"
"I said this was a mess," Urd said, getting a little more comfortable
now that she was leaving the building. Well, next time she would be
prepared for that and wouldn't let it get to her.
"You're not staying to meet my sisters or Ranma?" Kasumi asked.
"I'll be by later," Urd said upon leaving the building.
*******
"Okay," Urd tapped her foot. "Ukyou Kuonji, still in school...Ryouga
Hibiki...don't know where he is...Kodachi Kuno," a grin spread across
Urd's face. "I'm saving her for tonight...and that just leaves the..."
Urd looked up at the Nekohanten sign and took a deep breath before
striding into the restaurant. "Amazons."
"Yes," Mousse said irritably and then continued in slow Japanese for
the obvious Westerner. "May I help you?"
"Actually," Urd said. "I was looking for a girl named Shampoo."
"She's out for the moment," Cologne said, sensing the power of the
woman in her building. ~She's more powerful than son-in-law, more
powerful than me...quite a bit more. And her chi...is not quite like
chi.~ "May I help you?"
"You're her great-grandmother, right?" Urd asked. "Cologne I believe."
"That is me," Cologne said cautiously. "How might I help you?"
"Well," Urd said sitting down and lounging comfortably. "I believe
that I'm engaged to her."
"WHAT!!!!" Mousse demanded. Urd looked at him funny for a moment.
"What's he complaining about?" Urd asked. "Assuming he ever got her to
look at him more than sideways he'd get two girls instead of one."
"Mousse has objections to sharing," Cologne said. "He is very Japanese
that way. And you seem to know an awful lot about his situation and
our ways. Perhaps you could tell me who you are and how you came to be
engaged to my daughter?"
"My name is Urd Wodendottir," Urd said. Cologne's eyebrow arched a
little. "And as to how I came by this engagement. Well, my father made
a deal with her mother."
Urd suddenly produced an intricately engraved scroll case sealed shut
to be almost seemless. Cologne gasped on seeing that.
"The Raven's Message Case," Cologne gasped. "That artifact was lost
long ago in a battle with demons from hell."
"I don't really understand, why," Urd said. "All it does is refuse to
open until the person the message inside is meant for tries to open.
It's not the most impressive magic I've seen."
"No, that is true," Cologne said. ~A sorceress, I see, that would
explain the power, perhaps.~ "I was merely impressed that you had it."
"I don't know the exact wording on the message inside," Urd said,
handing the scroll case over to Cologne. "It might not open for you."
Cologne nodded in understanding and examined the canister for a moment
before finding a small chink on one end. Before she could do more than
notice that, the chink had grown to a straight line crack and
continued through until the scroll case split open.
"It appears the author did include my name on the message," Cologne
said. She looked to Urd again and examined her. ~There is a touch of
demon about her, that must be what is different, she is a descendant
of demons, maybe a close descendant. But she doesn't feel as
threatening as most half-demons do. In fact, not threatening at all,
more...comfortable. Curious.~
"Guess so," Urd said. She began to stand up. "Well, if you'll excuse
me, I have other people I must see."
"You are not planning to remain and meet my granddaughter?" Cologne
asked, confused.
"I met her once already," Urd said with a smirk. "I didn't know who
she was at the time, though, nice girl. In all the right ways." Urd
smirked as Mousse blanched and sputtered trying to come up with a
response. "Anyway, I still have to talk to three people, I have to get
all the notices out before I work out how to fix the problems."
"Before you leave," Cologne said. "You have no problems with marrying
my granddaughter?"
"To tell you the truth," Urd said. "I'm obligated to marry about six
people, that's the mess. So I'll have to see what I can work out.
Anyway, you're tribe just might gain a powerful ally if this works
out. Too-do-loo!" She twisted her hand and sashayed out the door.
Cologne rolled open the scroll and almost face faulted, despite being
seated. It wasn't everyday you got a letter from someone that began
this one did.
"Dear Grandmother, how are things since I died? Things up here are
wonderful, I spar with the Valkyries everyday. I'm going to try and
get a spot with them when the next tournament runs this year. The rest
of our family keeps asking me when I think you'll finally be coming up
to join us. Most of THEM are already Valkyries...well...except
Purfume...you just KNOW what she's like, and..."
"You know," Cologne muttered as she continued reading the ranting
letter. "Letting Silk correspond with that American girl was probably
a bad idea."
Still, as Cologne read on, a broad smile began to stretch over her
face. If this letter was the genuine article, then that meant the
bearing was much more than a mere sorceress. And if she was willing to
a marriage, it would certainly make the tribe much more powerful
indeed.
*******
~Schools almost over,~ Akane thought happily. ~Almost over.~
She was currently trying to get showered and dressed after gym,
without looking at anyone or raising any more suspicion. She had
adopted the habit of staring at the floor by now.
Gym had certainly been hell though. Just thinking about the boys
running through their gymnastics class. Or the girls in those tight...
"Hey, Akane," somebody said next to her. Akane turned to see Yuka, and
a number of half-naked girls behind her, holding a portion of
chocolate pudding in it's sealed plastic container. "I brought an
extra pudding today by accident, do you want it? That lunch actually
stuffed me for once."
"Sure Yuka," Akane said cheerfully. "It would be shame to waste it
after all."
She reached to accept the pudding when suddenly Yuka seemed to trip
and the pudding container flew through the air and landed on Akane's
heading, virtually exploding as a thick covering of chocolate covered
her naked body and quickly hardened.
"Oh no!" Yuka gasped. "She'll suffocate in there, we have to help her
out." She turned back to the other girls in the locker room.
"Yeah," some girl said. "And it would be a shame to waste all that
chocolate too."
"Guys," Akane tried to say nervously from inside the chocolate, though
the sound seemed unable to reach outside the chocolate statues. "What
are you doing?"
Then the girls started swarming over her chocolate encased form and
eating and licking, and.
"Ohhh, stop that," Akane gasped as fingers and tongues quickly began
to work they way to her flesh. "Sss...ohh..."
"Hey, you've got to try her breasts," some girl said.
"Mmmm...Chocolate milk."
"Ahhh, honey covered cherries," somebody else said, from quite a bit
lower.
"Hey, I want a piece of her ass..."
"So are you going to take it or not?" Yuka asked, getting nervous at
the sudden pleasantly, smuggly blank look that had just passed over
Akane's face.
"Sure, Yuka," Akane said dreamily, eyes finally half focused on her.
"It would be a shame to waste it, wouldn't it?"
"That's certainly right," Yuka said, placing the pudding box in
Akane's outstretched hand. "See later, Akane." Then Yuka was walking
away, not noticing the vaguely disappointed look on Akane's face.
Thankfully for Akane, most people were gone when she realized that she
had just had a VERY weird sex-dream, and then had actually hoped for
it to happen in real life. The response she gave was...vocal to say
the least.
"ARRRRRGGGGHHH!!" Akane roared, before attempting one of Ranma's
maneuvers and banging her head into the lockers.
Then she devoured the pudding and headed out the door.
*******
"Why aren't you looking at me?" Ranma asked.
"No reason," Akane said, blushing as she walked along.
"You've been acting weird all day," Ranma said.
"Nothing happened!!" Akane snapped desparately.
"Gee," Ranma said. "You sound like me whenever I get glomped or
something." Akane blushed deeper and clenched her fists tight. She'd
have to LOOK at him if she wanted to him, and see those beautiful deep
eyes staring back into hers as if they were a whole universe lonely
and apart seeking the perfect match in a great...
"Ahh, behold," Kuno said as he sprang out in front of them. Akane's
eyes twitched as Kuno ruined the first tolerable fantasy she had had
all day. "The beautiful Akane must be growing free of the spell about
her, for she cannot bear to look at your foul visage, Saotome..."
"DRY UP AND DIE!!!" Akane growled, launching forward and sending Kuno
into LEO.
Ranma, frozen in mid sarcastic comment, sat there and watched as Kuno
dwindled to a shiny spot in the distance. Akane huffed angrily,
grumbling and then blinked.
"I wonder why I didn't fantasize about him?" Akane said to herself.
The phrase broke Ranma out of his rapt admiration of Kuno's flight.
The idiot was going to land Shinjuku in looked like.
"Huh?" Ranma said. "Fantasize about what?"
"About finally managing to send Kuno that far," Akane said quickly.
"Yeah. That's right."
"Errr, okay," Ranma said.
*******
"I wonder just what was in that letter anyway?" Urd wondered.
She was just realizing she probably should have checked over the
prospective Valkyrie's letter for anything Urd didn't want out. Such
as the fact that this letter was written yesterday rather than ten
years ago, before she died.
"It can't be too bad," Urd assured herself. She merely continued to
lean against the building behind her and waited for her next
discussion to arrive. She wasn't particularly interested in being
avoided, however. And to that effect she had placed an aura of
unnoticeablity around herself.
Urd hated being unnoticed.
"First that weird woman yesterday," Ukyou muttered as she walked down
the sidewalk. "Then Akane was acting weird. It was almost like she was
day dreaming about something. Something's going on in this town. I can
smell it. The weirdness factor just jumped about twenty points..."
"Well, you could say that," Urd said, letting the spell around her
drop with a sigh of release.
"YOU!!" Ukyou snapped, turning to look at Urd lounging next to her
door not three feet away from her. "Where did YOU come from? I should
pound for embarrassing me like that yesterday! Half those people think
I'm sort of tomboy lesbian now!"
"Did you enjoy the kiss?" Urd asked. Ukyou's anger seemed to trip over
it's own feet as she blushed brightly.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Ukyou snapped. "I mean...errr...NOOO!"
"Right," Urd said. "I understand perfectly. If it's any consolation, I
DID think you were a guy when I kissed you?"
"So that means your not..." Ukyou's voice trailed off.
"Don't be so disappointed," Urd said. Ukyou started to bridle again.
"I go either way." And Ukyou flinched again.
"Are you going to hang around out here much longer?" Ukyou asked.
"Because I'd rather not get a reputation if I can help it."
"Actually," Urd said. "There's the matter of an engagement to discuss,
and then I have to find somebody else."
"An engagement?" Ukyou repeated blinking.
A few minutes later Ukyou was staring at Urd with a rather annoyed
expression.
"You mean to tell me," Ukyou said. "That my father engaged me to some
girl after I renounced my femininity and then stole the dowry and
vanished into the teeming millions of Japan. And you're the girl I'm
engaged too?"
"Actually," Urd said. "That family tracked your records down and
discovered that you were in fact female and subsequently stuck my
family with handling it."
Again...it was all true. Urd was really beginning to want to hurt most
of the parents of her intendeds. Too bad she wasn't allowed too.
"Well," Ukyou said. "Sorry to disappoint you, sugar. I hope you have
luck in your search for the perfect man."
"Heh," Urd said. "Like I told Tendo and Saotome. Gender doesn't
matter."
The man in front of Ukyou where the woman had been almost sent her
into one of the fantasies Akane had been plagued with all day. She
shook off the effect and warily watched as Urd shifted back to her
female form.
"Besides," Urd said. "The law still says you're a man."
"I've already got a...wait a minute," Ukyou said. "You talked to Soun
and Genma?"
"That's right, 'Sugar'," Urd said teasingly. "You ain't the only one
I'm obliged to. I'm just going around telling everybody right now.
After that I'll see about fixing the mess."
"Err," Ukyou said. "Who else are you engaged to?"
"Ranma Saotome," Urd said, Ukyou rolled her eyes as if that was a
given. "You, Akane Tendo, Shampoo Daughter of Silk, Ryouga Hibiki, and
Kodachi Kuno."
Ukyou had blanched upon hearing Shampoo's name, she had gathered Akane
would be there from the discussion so far. Then Ryouga was added and
she almost had a coronary. By the time Kodachi was mentioned she
almost lost all higher brain function.
"Any favorites?" Ukyou asked faintly. Urd smirked and pecked her on
the lips.
"I'll take the lot of you if I can find a way," she said. "But that's
hard to imagine, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Ukyou said. "That is."
*******
"Wait," Akane said. "There's another fiancee and she wants both me and
Ranma?" The absurdity of it was keeping her from imagining the
situation.
"She is also engaged to Ukyou, Kodachi, Ryouga, and Shampoo," Kasumi
said. "She didn't particularly say that she wanted to go through with
anything, just that she was willing if she could work her way through
the mess."
"Wait," Ranma said. "How is SHE engaged to four girls and two guys?"
Akane's eyes started to fade out, not that anybody noticed in the face
of bigger problems.
"Well, apparently she is capable of casting some magic," Kasumi said.
Akane blinked and looked to Kasumi, thankful that her sisters didn't
trigger any sort of fantasies.
"Magic?" Akane asked. "Like changing into a guy?"
"Oh," Kasumi said. "Yes. She did that right in front of us, without
water like Ranma's curse."
"Was she tall," Akane asked dreamily. "White-haired, dark, dark skin
with a wonderful figure and dressed in somewhat...risque clothes?"
"Uhh..." Kasumi said. "Yes. You've met her?" Ranma looked to Akane and
started to get scared again.
"Uh huh," Akane said dreamily. "And she wants to marry ALL of us?"
"Akane," Kasumi said. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Akane said. "I'm just a little tired is all. And umm..." she
fumbled for a moment. "I didn't shower as well as I should have in
gym. I think I'm going to go soak for a while in the furo. A long
while..."
"She has just been TOO weird today," Nabiki said, watching Akane head
upstairs with a rather strange grin on her face.
"Wait a minute!" Ranma gasped. "I recognize that description too!
That's the lady that kissed the three of us when we saved her!"
"Would you mind repeating that Saotome?" Nabiki asked.
*******
Urd stepped into the house hesitantly and glanced about looking for
any sign of residents. This was the only line she really had on Ryouga
at the moment. Granted she could find him through Yggdrasil, but she
really wanted to avoid popping out of a TV next to him with this news.
Then she felt it, a small tear in the dimensional fabric that
indicated one of a number of types of teleportation. Suddenly Urd
shared the house with two other people.
The first was a red-haired (dyed red, the original color seemed to be
black) woman about thirty-five with rather cute looking yellow horns
sticking out of her forehead. She stood about five foot ten. Her blood
red eyes blinked innocently several times as she looked around the
room and fiddled with the sword at her side. Over her chain mail armor
was an incongrous t-shirt from the Ruruoni Kenshin cartoon. Her skin
was a dark tan that stretched the limits of Japanese skin tone.
The man stood about the same height and only a little broader than the
woman. His hair was black and red tiger striped, and his cat like eyes
sat over a flat nose and a mouth with sharp canines. He was dressed
more practically in rather well worn travelling attire. Quite similar
to his son actually.
Almost as soon as they appeared in the world, both inacted illusions
of totally humanity. Their inhuman features quickly easing away.
"Are we in the right place this time, Jiro?" the woman asked. "And
what's that tingling feeling I'm getting."
"I think we're home, Aki, yeah," the man said nervously. "As for the
tingling feeling, she's standing behind you."
"Oro?" the woman said curiously, slowly turning about and then
backpedalling quickly. "A GODDESS!?! But..but...we're the good
guys...aren't we?"
"Hmmm," Urd said. "His parents are both half-demon. Let's see, you
look like you're half-oni, and he looks like he's half-rakshasha. Am I
right? That explains why he looks so human, and the lost problem. He
must have inherited two conflicting ways of sensing the world around
him. You know...I really should read the case file over again."
"Excuse me," the woman said, getting a little backbone suddenly. "Are
you talking about our son?"
"Well," Urd said. "Yes, as a matter of fact I am."
"Listen, Goddess," the man said. "We don't work with Hell, damn it
we've even been getting chased half-way across the universe collecting
random assorted pieces of magical junk for you people. Don't take
anything out on our son just because..." Urd rose a hand to forestall
him. Both half-demons gulped.
"He's not in any trouble," Urd said. "On the contrary, I like him."
"Huh?" Aki asked, blinking.
"Put simply," Urd said. "I'm here to formally announce my intention to
marry your son."
"What?" Jiro asked. "A goddess wants to marry our son?"
"Well," Urd said. "Him and five other people. Assuming he agrees of
course." At that the Long-Lost Hibikis fainted.
*******
Getting the details straight to the Hibikis had taken a little while,
so, here she was, night falling behind her, as she strode up to the
Kuno mansion.
"May I help you?" the voice on the intercom, some sort of servant.
"I'm hear to speak to Kodachi Kuno or her parents," Urd said.
"Her father's at the school and her mother's been missing for ages,"
the servant said.
"How about her?" Kodachi asked.
"She's not seeing anyone today," the woman said.
"Just tell her that it turns out she's one of the people I was looking
for," Urd said. "If she remembers last night, she'll know what that
means."
"I shall deliver the message," the servant said hesitantly. Urd rolled
her eyes impatiently and commenced waiting. It was a few minutes
before Kodachi appeared at the gate herself.
"*I* am one of your betrotheds?" Kodachi said curiously.
"Turns out," Urd said smirking. "Oh, and my sister says that nothing
happened last night."
"Yes," Kodachi said. "I'd come to that conclusion myself, but I
wasn't...you're honor rides on marrying ME? and...who else?"
"Well," Urd said with a smirk. "Why don't we talk about that
inside."~Besides, I don't want you blurting out the full story, what
you know of it, to everybody just yet.~
"Of course," Kodachi said. "It seems we have much more to discuss than
I previously assumed. And this is the wrong place to discuss such
matters." She pushed a button and opened the gates.
"Nice spread you have here, Dachi," Urd said as she walked in.
"My thanks, Urd-san," Kodachi said cautiously, calculatingly. "Perhaps
we can even remedy yesterdays lack."
"Hmmm," Urd said. "You think like I do."