Part Three, Chapter Five: Disconsolation

Akane groaned. She followed Ryouga by only a moment and only because of her brief astonishment over their appearance – both the fact that they were there at all and their physical look. Jeans and somewhat ragged sweaters didn’t quite suit them.

She could almost feel Herb, behind her, growl in anger. A second later the Musk emperor did growl, much to no one’s surprise. Ryouga just rolled her eyes, looking pained and exasperated more than angry. Akane wondered if between them was the best place to be standing at the moment, and decided probably at the same time she also decided she didn’t care in the slightest.

“No fighting!” she barked, holding up her hands. Ranma was more likely to fight than Ryouga, who seemed mildly embarrassed, unless the red tinge to her cheeks was a cold. Akane delayed her confusion for the time being.

Unfortunately she had little if any effect on the three who were most likely to actually start violence, but luckily enough Herb chose to simply make a noise of irritation and dislike rather than a movement of aggression.

Akane dropped her arms, wondering what crazy thought process had prompted her to attempt to keep the peace, but there wasn’t much time to think.

“What are you doing here?” Contrary to his bland expression, the antagonism in Ranma’s voice was obvious. He narrowed his eyes, ever so slightly but enough to punctuate his words.

“What are you doing alive?” Herb retorted, a smirk as audible in her words as any emotion that Ranma’s contained. She yanked back her hood almost violently and glared at them, as if the implication she could put in her voice wasn’t enough. Somehow the soft feminine features that were revealed this way startled Akane.

“That’s our business.”

“Same to any question of yours,” Herb answered, and that seemed to be end of it. For her at least.

“I, on the other hand, would disagree.”

Everyone turned to look at Cologne who no one had expected to speak. She generally didn’t get involved in things that she didn’t have to.

“What do you mean, ghoul?” Surprisingly enough it was Ryouga who spoke, and bitingly too.

The Amazon ignored her. “I think there is more business to discuss. Perhaps something that both of you, as well as myself, might find interesting. We’ll start with a certain object you carry, son-in-law.”

Ranma and Ryouga had stepped fully into the restaurant by now, and the door slid closed behind them with a remarkably final snap. Akane rolled her eyes, wishing for a knife to cut the tension.

“What object?” If Ranma hadn’t been one of the worst liars in Japan he might have gotten away with it; as it was there was just a touch of defensiveness in his voice, something in the tone of the two seemingly simple words that made it quite clear that he knew exactly what was being referred to, and also betrayed surprise at the mention.

“Stupidity does not become you. The fragments. Bring them out.”

Slowly and rebelliously Ranma reached into a bag he carried at his side and pulled something out, something that gleamed in the light. He placed it gently on a table – not the one that Cologne was standing on but rather one with a more defensible position.

Akane almost didn’t notice Ryouga’s pained look and her speed in turning her eyes away from the shining fragments of metal that landed on the table with a heavy sound that heralded nothing but more complicated situations ahead.

Akane couldn’t know for certain but was reasonably sure of what they were, and she inhaled sharply at what they implied. Ryouga’s current femininity hadn’t quite registered, but now it did, and painfully too.

So they failed.

The pieces that Ranma produced were clearly from a teakettle that had been ripped apart by some unknown force.

Herb’s exclamation of shock was not lost, either, but what was more interesting was not hers but rather the reaction of the two boys who always flanked her – in particular the shorter one. Cologne gave him a stern look and with a highly embarrassed and fearful lowering of eyes he pulled something out of his own pocket. They landed on a table with a second, echoing series of thunks.

“Mint!” Herb’s voice was angry, not as angry as her words to Ranma had been but the margin wasn’t very large at all.

“I’m sorry, Herb-sama… but…”

Cologne was ignoring the both of them and inspecting the pieces. “Actually, it is very fortunate that he saved them,” she commented, prompting every head in the room to swivel in her direction with whiplash-inducing speed.

Akane was interested in the goings-on but there were other, less blatant things happening at the same time. She edged away from the middle of the room, past Ranma who was almost oblivious to her presence at this point, and next to Ryouga who seemed ready to crumple on the floor and launch a Shishihoukodan or worse.

Akane placed one hand on the pink-haired girl’s shoulder, eliciting an almost violent jerk in reaction and a startled glance.

Ryouga looked absolutely dejected, and this was almost making it worse. Why, Akane didn’t know and didn’t bother to wonder. She smiled as comfortingly as she could and patted Ryouga’s shoulder consolingly. It seemed to do some good. They turned their attention back to what was going on.

“The magic is still intact,” said Cologne, seeing that all eyes were on her.

Ryouga’s visible wince to that was relatively mild, but Akane’s hand was still on her shoulder and felt the shuddering that wasn’t obvious, the tightening of muscles there and all along her back, as violent a reaction as any outburst.

“What do you mean?!” Herb, Ryouga, and Ranma shouted in various tones at roughly the same time after a moment’s astonished silence. They exchanged angry glances at each other. Angry, and in two cases, uncertain. Almost scared, but that was impossible. Ranma was never scared, and rarely uncertain. Akane dropped her hand back to her side and took a step away. Violence now would not be stopped by her words, although she felt angry just thinking about it.

Cologne rapped her cane noisily on the table, thinking. “Of course, the magic is useless with the kettle in so many pieces, and no normal method will suffice to repair it,” she finished, managing to look thoughtful and shrewd at the same time.

Ryouga reacted strangely to that. Akane couldn’t analyze it exactly.

“No *normal* means?” Herb pressed.

“Or any magical means that I can think of… wait.” Cologne caught herself. “There might be one,” she corrected.

“One?” That was Ranma. He glanced back at Ryouga, clearly excited but the emotion was not reflected in her eyes. His eyes dimmed slightly at seeing that, but then he turned back to Cologne. “Where? How?”

Cologne held up one hand to forestall more questions. “I don’t know all of the details,” she said. “I will do some research on the question, however.”

Ranma grinned but not as wide as might be expected. Akane was baffled again, at both of them.

Something’s happened, she thought with certainty. Certainty about a fuzzy and obvious statement, but it was something to grasp hold of.

Ryouga looked away from everyone, choosing to stare at the wall instead.

“Why are you helping us like this?” Ryouga’s voice was almost impossibly soft as she asked the question that no one else had thought of.

Cologne looked the pink haired girl squarely in the eyes, expression set hard into something that Akane recognized but couldn’t precisely identify. It seemed out of context, somehow. “I thought you would know.” Pause, dripping with overdone significance. “My interest in magical artifacts, of course. Both of you previously agreed to let me have the Kaisufuu if you succeeded. I assume that deal still holds. And if the Kaisufuu can be repaired not only will be a valuable possession but the method of repair will assist understanding of such things greatly.”

It was the most obvious smoothly uttered half-truth that had ever been said. Akane wished she knew what the other half was.

***

Herb sat cross-legged on the floor, head down and expression serious in a violent sort of way. She was here grudgingly, but Cologne’s suggestion hadn’t really been debatable, and the promise of some miraculous restoration of a cure was too tempting to pass up. Akane had nearly forgotten all the details in the recent confusion, but from Ryouga’s telling of the tale of how all this started – had it really been almost a month ago? – she remembered that Herb was cursed in much the same way as Ryouga himself.

The situation that Cologne had almost casually suggested was a ridiculous one from any perspective except, apparently, Cologne’s, and was the reason that Herb currently sat on the floor of the Tendo house, clearly disgruntled. Mint and Lime were nearby but out of immediate line of sight, and Ranma and Ryouga had retreated to another portion of the house, probably their respective rooms, to get as far apart from the newcomers as possible. And get some rest, no doubt. They had looked exhausted earlier. Akane was glad that they weren’t currently there or this would be that much harder. She sighed, rubbing her eyes. Ranma always had to make things more difficult, didn’t he? Ryouga too, this time at least, she admitted somewhat grudgingly.

Oh well. Not much to be done about it. Besides, what’s *another* freeloader at this point? Okay, three, but at least they have *some* way of paying…

Monetary compensation would only be minimal, but it was better than what the Saotomes offered. However, Akane’s interest wasn’t with financial matters; that was Nabiki’s realm, and the bargaining had indeed been rather impressive.

Akane let her sister take care of that sort of thing. But that wasn’t enough, in the youngest sister’s book.

“You’re not paying enough to properly compensate for room and board, you know,” she said.

“I know,” Herb answered irritably. “I thought the agreement had been worked out to your satisfaction.”

“Oh, it has,” Akane answered. “I just wanted to set a time. Tomorrow, I assume, is good?”

Herb nodded curtly.

“Alright then. I have class, and I get home around three in the afternoon.” She paused. “Around three-thirty, then.”

“I already agreed to this.”

“But reluctantly,” Akane reminded her. “I’m just making certain.”

Herb stood in an impressive swirl of brown robe and long blue hair that was clearly calculated to make Akane shut up. It only worked for a moment, but that was sufficient.

“I don’t break my word,” Herb told her lowly. “The time doesn’t matter – you’ll get your lesson. Even if it’s a waste of my time.”

Akane took a step back, if only because the distance between them was far too reduced now. “I don’t think it is. But okay,” she nodded, and left quickly.

I said too much, she thought with a small smile that she wasn’t quite aware of.

***

Ryouga leaned against a wall, fiddling with the three fragments of kettle that were their find. Two of them fit together almost perfectly, she had discovered, whereas the third, the spout, required another piece to attach to. Another piece that Herb was in possession of. Ryouga narrowed her eyes at the shining bits of metal. Frustrating.

She brushed a too-long fringe of pink hair off her forehead and to one side, folding a particularly long tendril behind one ear. She wasn’t quite aware of doing that, nor was she aware of the pair of eyes that rested on her, narrowed as well but in slight worry rather than frustration, on anything other than an abstract level.

After about half an hour of twisting around bits of metal, meshing the parts that fit together and pulling them back apart with a single-mindedness that bordered on obsession, she finally put them down. Her arms hurt, in a strange way that reminded her that she was supposed to be exhausted.

“Finally, and you didn’t even break them,” Ranma commented nonchalantly. Worry alleviated for now, he fell backwards onto his futon mattress and stared at the ceiling, feeling tiredness pulling at his eyelids.

“Shut up, Saotome,” Ryouga tried. It came out weak and tired, however – she was slightly surprised.

“Do you think her plan is gonna work?”

“Of course it is, idiot,” Ryouga snapped back, crumpling to the floor. It would be more comfortable to go to her own room where a futon waited rather than the floor of Ranma’s, but that would require standing and she didn’t feel like moving. Odd. Her legs had never hurt like this from mere walking before. 

“Okay then. Moron.” There was a long pause, interrupted only by faint rustling sounds. Ranma getting comfortable for bed. “I’m goin’ to sleep.” Ryouga’s only answer was the even breathing of sleep or something like it.

“Lettin’ me off the hook for once? I shouldn’t complain.” It was such a faint whisper that it shouldn’t have been audible.

***

~Mordain

Next

Previous

Back to The Nest