Summary: A Halloween Special! Happosai's plan for revenge goes wrong, and the Tendo's end up with TWO Ranma's! With one Ranma committing evil deeds and the other self-inflicting pain trying to stop him, what is Akane to do when the former comes after her next?
Rating: T
Prologue
Sunday, October 25th. 7:30 P.M.
A cold, dreary night descended upon Japan as the sun fell behind the mountains. In the district of Nerima, many families were preparing for a special event that was to take place six days.
An old man sat alone in his room, stirring a greenish concoction in a small bowl, muttering to himself as he did so.
"That fool," he said to himself. "I'll teach that boy for destroying all of my beautiful lingerie…" He fell into silence and continued stirring, not realizing that someone was outside his door having a close look inside.
The shadowed figure was tall and slender, but the face could not be distinguished. With a disapproving grunt, the stranger caressed a long package and slowly, quietly closed the door to the old mans room and snuck back to the dining room. With a flick of a finger, light quickly graced the room.
"Ah!" Two women screamed loudly before slapping their hands over their mouths.
"Auntie Saotome!"
"Kasumi!"
Both women took several moments to gasp until finally, Nodoka composed herself and placed a hand on the younger girls shoulder.
"You gave me quite a scare, dear," Nodoka said, retracting her hand to rest over her wildly beating heart.
Kasumi blushed and bowed lowly. "I'm sorry, auntie!"
Nodoka chuckled to herself and quickly led the girl to sit down.
"What are you doing up so late?" Nodoka asked, fingering her sheathed katana. Kasumi blushed.
"I forgot to put away some dinner. I left it out to cool before putting it in the fridge."
Nodoka smiled. "No need. I came down for a drink and did it myself."
A long silence followed after Kasumi's gracious thanks. Nodoka lightly pulled her sword out of its sheath and gently fingered its razor sharp edge, being extra careful not to cut herself. Kasumi watched cautiously, prepared to jump for a band-aid if she saw a drop of blood.
"Actually, dear," Nodoka started, sighing loudly. "I knew that Master Happosai would be up to something after Ranma destroyed all of his lingerie…Even though it was a complete accident that my son lit it all on fire after Happosai doused him in cold water…"
Kasumi gave a light, almost skeptical cough. "Yes…it was certainly a blow to his pride, wasn't it?"
Nodoka laughed. "And Happosai did it right when poor Ranma was changing his clothes! It doesn't help that my foolish husband poured hot water on him when he was busy chasing the old man…and right in front of Akane, too!"
Both women enjoyed a quiet laugh as they recalled the looks and the two fiancees' faces.
"Anyway, dear," said Nodoka, who was slightly red in the face. "I'm a bit worried about what Happosai is planning…he seemed very angry."
Kasumi looked thoughtful. "Well," she began. "Whenever Ranma makes Grandfather Happosai angry, he usually just does something to make Ranma humiliated in front of his friends and family…"
"Namely, Akane," Nodoka interrupted.
Kasumi nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. Before she could continue, the sound of a sliding door alerted their ears, along with small, light footsteps down the hall. Towards them.
Nodoka clumsily jumped to her feet, pulling up Kasumi as well, who gave a small "Oh!" of surprise. Nodoka quickly turned off the light and crouched just behind the opening of the shogi door that led to the hallway and kitchen. Kasumi peered over her shoulder.
Happosai tiptoed through the hallway and into the kitchen, whistling merrily. He was carrying a small bowl with the greenish liquid that Nodoka had spotted before.
"What's that?" Kasumi whispered, feeling slightly ashamed for spying.
"I think its Master Happosai's device for revenge…"
They both watched as Happosai placed the concoction on the counter and opened the freezer. He popped several large chunks of ice out of its tray and placed it in the bowl, which steamed and began to bubble a bright yellow. Then, he began to rummage through his pockets, obviously searching for something. He pulled out his hands and stared at them in disappointment.
"Oh shoot," Happosai muttered. "I forgot the instructions…"
Kasumi and Nodoka reared back as Happosai ran towards the living room, towards them, then they both let out a sigh of relief as he turned and sprinted up the stairs as fast as his short legs could take him. Both of them merely sat there for several seconds before Nodoka shot up, opened the door quietly and walked into the kitchen. Kasumi followed.
Walking cautiously towards the bowl left abandoned on the counter, both women peered into the steaming liquid and held their breath, afraid to breath the in the toxins.
"I wonder what would happen," Nodoka started, a glint in her eyes, "if we…toyed with Happosai's experiment…?"
Before Kasumi could answer, Nodoka grabbed a multitude of various baking ingredients. Not caring to measure out the substances, she dumped sugar, salt, baking soda, vinegar, vanilla extract and even some starch into the bowl and gently swirled it around by small rotations. Kasumi stood watch nervously and jumped when she heard footsteps.
"I think he's coming back," she said softly. But before either of them could rush out in time, a small "tsk, tsk," sound made them stop in their tracks. They both turned and found Happosai already behind them, staring into the contents of the bowl, which turned a dark blue.
"Now, now, my dears…" Happosai said, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Why don't you tell me what you've done to my potion…?"
Nodoka and Kasumi weren't intimidated. Instead, they both flashed a gently smile in the old man's direction. The evil sparkle in his eyes vanished.
"All we were doing was cleaning up, grandfather," Kasumi said. And it was done.
"Ah…I see…" Happosai said, slightly ashamed of suspecting the two trustworthiest women in Nerima. "Why don't you two head off to bed? It's awfully late, don't you think?"
The women nodded, and after bidding him a goodnight, headed upstairs to their rooms.
Happosai watched them go, his eyes guilty with his previous suspicion. He turned back to his potion and lifted an eyebrow before pulling out his instructions.
"Ah! The potion was supposed to turn red after I added the ice…Silly me, I must've done something wrong…"
But Happosai decided not to worry about it and continued with what he was doing.
oOo
Kasumi and Nodoka walked quickly back to their rooms, taking pre-cautious glances back over their shoulders.
"Nice save, Kasumi, dear!" Nodoka said, laughing lightly. They reached Kasumi's room first. When Kasumi reached to open the door, a hand on her shoulder made her stop.
"Even though he apologized, I think he's going to be more careful from now on. I don't think there's much we can do if he decides to use that potion on Ranma. If anything, I bet he'll do it tonight."
Kasumi nodded. "Don't worry, Auntie Saotome. Grandfather Happosai has done things like this many times before, and Ranma has always found a way around it."
Nodoka smiled and caressed her sword. "Yes…Ranma indeed is a man among men, isn't he?"
Kasumi took a deep breath and opened her door. "Sweet dreams, Auntie," she said softly before lightly shutting the door.
Nodoka stared through the wood for several seconds before she turned and walked the rest of the way back to her own room.
OOo
Happosai sat in the kitchen, stirring his concoction with a long wooden spoon. The liquid had finally turned a dark red, though Happosai had to go through many ingredients to make it so. He was sweating from bouncing around the kitchen for so long.
Pulling out the instructions from his back pocket, Happosai scanned them over quickly, squinting periodically.
"Caution: Put on the gas mask before adding the powdered ginger root," he muttered. "The toxic fumes of the mixture may cause swelling in throat and hives." Happosai adorned the mask and dumped in the powder, his hands clenching in anticipation. He turned back to the instructions and read the next section.
"After several minutes, the fumes will dissipate and the potion should now be a dark gray."
He peered into the bowl and decided that a light purple was good enough. He read the next section.
"Congratulations! You have now completed the Chinese Medicinal Herb with Poison Ivy for your no-good relative and/or friend that does not appreciate you! For instructions on how to apply, see Part Two."
He pulled out Part Two.
"To apply on victim, be sure to wear gloves before touching the medicine. Apply to all areas of skin; avoid eyes, ears, mouth, nostrils, and open wounds. Easy enough," Happosai said before tossing the instructions away.
Grabbing the bowl and a pair of rubber gloves, Happosai bounded up the stairs and towards Ranma's room. He slid the door open, walked in, and closed it gently.
Ranma was snoozing on his back, his mouth wide open. Despite the fact that it was a cool night, he was sleeping with the top half of his pajama shirt unbuttoned and his blanket around his waist.
Thinking that this was too easy, Happosai tiptoed over to the boy's head and kneeled before pulling on the plastic gloves. Then, scooping a huge amount of the light purple potion from the bowl, he slapped it on to Ranma's forehead and smeared it around his face, including his eyes, nostrils and open mouth.
"Ha! This fool deserves it!" Happosai muttered gleefully. Gradually, Happosai rotated around Ranma's body, smearing more of the thick liquid as possible. When he was finished, Ranma looked like nothing more than giant, purple silly putty.
The old man carefully disposed of the evidence and washed the bowl thoroughly before finally heading up to bed, a grin plastered to his face.
"This 'ought a show him!"
The clock rang at 12 midnight.
Chapter One; Finished! Chapter two is coming tomorrow. I'm going to update these everyday until Halloween! Review please!
Until then,
~Hannahkimi