It’s Off to Japan We Go!
Cologne looked down at the sleeping lad. It had been one day since she had taken him from his father. Although he had not awoken as of yet, he had already impressed the other Matriarchs enough to allow Cologne to keep him and adopt him if she so choose. When he had been brought to the village a day earlier the boy was suffering from many injures, both internal and external. One of his arms, his nose, and multiple ribs were broken. His shoulder needed to be reset. And there was no telling what else had been done to him. But today his broken bones had reset themselves and were mending at an astonishing rate and the cuts and bruises that littered his body had all but healed. Cologne smiled at the boy. (“You have so much potential. To be able to use your ki at such an early age should be impossible, yet the proof lies before me.”)
The boy stirred. He sat there for a moment before opening his eyes. “Doko?”
“You are in my home,” Cologne answered. The boy slowly and painfully turned his head to face her. “Get some more sleep. We’ll talk in a little while.”
Ranma did not nod. Instead he closed his eyes and drifted off into a silent sleep. Cologne smiled once more.
Pain. He remembered pain and blood. Not as much as the Neko-ken but still allot. He started to move but the pain returned, and he had to stop. He opened his eyes and looked up. He didn’t know where he was. “Doko?” He asked himself in a vain attempt to jog his memory.
His answer came from someone near him. “You are in my home,” The voice said. Knowing that moving too fast would aggravate his injures Ranma slowly turned his head. Sitting beside him was an old woman, a very old woman as far as Ranma knew. He was about to ask a question when she spoke once more. “Get some more sleep. We’ll talk in a little while.” Ranma wanted to say no to demand answers now, but something in the back of his head to him to listen to his woman. He closed his eyes and almost immediately succumbed to the darkness.
Eight Years later, Juuban, Tokyo, Japan
A wrinkled old woman exited a boat in Tokyo Harbor via the gangway. Behind her two others and a tiger followed, one male and one female. The male was nearly six feet tall with is long black hair drawn back into a loose ponytail. He wore loose fitting Chinese clothing that showed off his wonderful body. The tiger was white with black strips and obviously only an adolescent. It stayed at the boy’s side. The female was a bit shorter than the boy and had purple hair. She wore clothing that reveal a bit too much of her voluptuous body. <”Children, welcome to Japan,”> She said in Mandarin.
The boy nodded and looked around. <”It hasn’t changed.”>
The Cologne (who’d you think?) snorted. <”Did you really think it would? It’s only been a year since you were last here.”>
The young man nodded. <”I guess your right Baasan.”> He turned back to his companion. <”You coming Shampoo?”>
She nodded and moved to follow them. <”I was just admiring the city. It’s as big as Shanghai.”>
Cologne turned to the two youths. “Come now children we are expected at the restaurant within the hour. And speak Japanese when out in public.”
They nodded and followed behind the Elder.
They arrived at the restaurant moments later. The Nekohaten the sigh read. It was a restaurant owned by a Chinese Amazon, Jasmine, who volunteered to leave the tribe and act as a bridge to the outside world. The group entered the establishment and immediately noted the lack of customers. “I closed early so we could be alone,” A voice answered their unasked question. A woman came down the stairs. She was maybe 6’ 2”, had the body of a supermodel (nearly half of the Amazon nation did), and had purple hair. Though she was nearing her 40th year Ranma noted that she showed no signs of her true age, nor did her ki show any signs of weakening. She was a fighter of that he was sure. It was then that Shampoo rushed past Ranma and dove for the woman with a cry of, <”Mama!”>
The woman caught Shampoo and avoided being driven into, and possibly through the wall. <”It’s good to see you to daughter.”>
Ranma smiled as Shampoo and Jasmine were reunited. He had lived with Jasmine while he was in Japan last time and had gotten to know her quite well.
Jasmine turned to Ranma and admired him for a moment. <”You’ve grown even more handsome.”>
Ranma blushed and scratched the back of his head. <”It’s nice to see you again Miss Jasmine.”>
Jasmine smiled. <”Polite. But I told you last time call me Jasmine. The Miss makes me feel old.”> She took another long look at the young man before turning to Shampoo. <”When’s the wedding?”>
This, of course, caused Shampoo and Ranma to face fault. Shampoo was the first to recover. <”Mama!>
<”I’m only kidding daughter,”> Ranma sat down in a seat near by. The tiger, which had never left his side, sat its head in his lap. <”And who’s this?”> Jasmine asked as she moved from her daughter to Ranma and the tiger.
<”This is Neko. She’s my pet and friend.”>
<”Neko? You named your pet tiger Neko?”> Jasmine asked.
Ranma smiled. <”Well I didn’t think she’d ever leave China so I named her Neko as kind of a reminder as to where I’m from.”>
Jasmine nodded and scratched one of Neko’s ears. She purred in response. <”Friendly.”>
Ranma nodded. <”Only to those who aren’t threatening.”> He was silent before speaking once more. <”Baasan, there’s something that’s been bothering me.”>
<”Oh?”>
<”Why’d we come to Juuban? Nerima has lots more dojos and martial artists.”>
Cologne nodded. <”That is true. Had we come looking for husbands we would have gone to Nerima. But that is not the purpose of our trip.”>
<”Why are we here, great grandmother?”>
<”We are here so you can visit with your mother. So the two of you can have some connection with the outside world. So you can get an education. So we can establish a base of operations outside of the village. And although we will be competing in any martial arts tournaments, we’re going to use this to relax and have some peace and quiet.”>
Jasmine snorted. <”Peace and quiet don’t go with Juuban.”>
<”What do you mean?”> Ranma inquired.
<”There are all kinds of demons running around stealing ki, and then the Sailor Senshi fight them.”>
<”Really? Who are they and are they powerful?”> Cologne inquires.
Jasmine shrugs her shoulders. <”No one knows who they really are. They’re female defenders of love and justice. They use magical attacks that do seem to have some power behind them.”>
<”Really?”> Cologne seems intrigued. As Elder she had access to village lore concerning magic and was very interested in it. <”I wouldn’t mind seeing these Sailor Senshi.”>
<”I’ve seen them in action before. They appear to have above average strength, speed, and the like. But they have litter skills in the Art. They seem to defeat their opponents with their magical attacks.”>
Shampoo smiled. <”Maybe Ranma should meet them.”>
Ranma smiled. <”Maybe.”>
Cologne sighed. <”I’d prefer it if the cat wasn’t let out of the bag.”> The three of them had a good laugh.
Jasmine frowned. <”What are you laughing about?”>