Amazon Cooking

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

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