Nearly two hours later Ukyou and Ryouga were
walking along the streets of Nerima carrying a
moderately impressive wad of cash.
"That wasn't very fair," Ryouga noted, nervously as
he followed step by step in Ukyou's path. There was a
mild blush on his face as he remembered Ukyou's tease
about "chasing the moon."
"Hey it gives us an excuse to drop by," Ukyou
retorted, counting the money. "All this from one spar?
I wonder how much she made on the fight after Ranma
learned the Hiryu-Shoten-Ha?" Ryouga watched the
aforementioned "moon" take a quick turn and followed.
"You can look up now, sugar, we're there."
"Oh," Ryouga turned beet red as he looked up and
laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Thanks."
"No problem, Ryochan, I'm the cute one after all,"
Ukyou giggled at his blush as she reached up and
knocked on the door. Kasumi answered a few moments
later.
"Oh, hello," Kasumi said quietly. "What brings you
two here?"
"We have some stuff to give Nabiki from a sparring
match me and Ryouga had."
"She's sleeping right now," Kasumi said firmly.
"Well we'd like to talk to the rest of you anyway,"
Ukyou explained. "All we have to do is drop this off."
"Well, come in then," Kasumi said. "We just
finished dinner."
Nabiki stretched and rubbed her head. She really
didn't get much out of that "rest." The middle Tendo
sat on her bed yawned, and rubbed her eyes. Well at
least Kasumi might be off her back a little more now.
Then she stood up and looked about her room, and
blinked.
"Uh�.maybe not�" Nabiki was suddenly newly
impressed with her older sister. She looked about and
noted that virtually everywhere were charms, herbs,
burning incense,�it was�a lot. They wouldn't stop
Nabiki from walking out of the door, at least not
bodily, but the message was clear: "GET REST!" She
took a moment to check the hidden drawer and found the
Jusenkyo water still there, and the seals still
intact. Nabiki smiled and shut them back in the
drawer, and looked about her room again.
"She actually gave me camouflage," Nabiki smiled at
the irony. Even when the magic of the water ate
through the seals, it would just fade into the mass of
medicinal charms about her room. Nabiki laughed as she
stretched again.
It was just as well that Nabiki's last task could
be completed from inside the dojo. She wouldn't have
to avoid or face Kasumi. There was just a matter of
details, she yawned again. Stepping outside her room
and closing the door on the incense allowed Nabiki to
smell the food downstairs. That was strange, it was
well past dinner time, and Kasumi shouldn't know she
was awake yet. She narrowed her eyes as she walked
down stairs into the family room.
"Okonomiyaki?" Nabiki asked, identifying the smell.
She glanced about the room and, sure enough, there was
Ryouga, staring at her. In fact everybody, and
everybody was definitely not an understatement, was
looking at her suspiciously. ~Hmmm, this is
interesting.~
"Did you have a good sleep, Nabiki," Kasumi asked
sweetly. Nabiki smiled back.
"Restful."
"Ryouga was telling us where he found you," Akane
said irritably.
~Ryouga told them I was at Jusenkyo.~ Nabiki had to
restrain herself from outright celebrating. "He was,
was he?" Ryouga squirmed under the glare. Nabiki noted
Cologne watching her as well as Kasumi. She could
practically hear the old ghoul inquiring what she
planned to do now. She passed quickly over Shampoo,
not wanting to dwell on her for the moment.
"So where is it Nabiki?" Ranma demanded.
"Where is what?" Nabiki asked, blinking innocently.
"Don't tell us that you were at Jusenkyo and never
bothered to collect some water," Mousse shouted.
Nabiki arched an eyebrow.
"When you were in my room earlier," Nabiki started.
"Did you see any water?" Reminded of that little faux
pas, Mousse quietly sat down, looking anywhere but at
Nabiki.
"Baka," Kodachi muttered irritably sitting next to
him. She no longer seemed subdued, unless you
considered her normal behavior. And there was still a
remnant of her laughter a couple of hours earlier.
Nabiki noticed her fiddling with a jade amulet and
pondered that for a moment, before giving a silent
amused laugh and sweeping her gaze across everybody
else. Ukyou was missing, but she supposed that's where
the okonomiyaki smell was coming from.
"For the sake of the Anything-Goes School of
martial arts!" Genma shouted. "Produce the water!"
Genma continued to be generally ignored by all
present. Nabiki's
"Well," Nabiki scratched at the knife wound on her
cheek. Shampoo watched as Nabiki's eyes finally
settled on her and held. The amazon hoped her thoughts
were plain enough on her face, they must have been.
The moneylender visibly flinched from her glare.
~You had Jusenkyo water all this time, and you
didn't tell me!~ Shampoo watched as Nabiki recovered
her cold demeanor and frown. It almost seemed as if
they had her in a corner, Shampoo watched Nabiki's
eyes, and something flashed behind them. ~She's happy
about this! Uh oh.~
"I might be able to get a hold of some water,"
Nabiki admitted finally. "But�" Ukyou came in with a
pair of okonomiyaki. "I assume that's for me?"
Everybody, save Kasumi face faulted as Ukyou irritably
handed Nabiki one of the okonomiyaki.
"Don't get any ideas," Ukyou growled quietly to the
girl. Nabiki sighed as Ukyou walked to sit over next
to Ryouga with the other okonomiyaki. She was almost
sitting on him, a fact that most everybody else was
trying to ignore as the two shared the meal.
"But what about the water!" Ranma shouted. Nabiki
looked up from her meal, staring innocently at Ranma.
"Oh yes, the water," Nabiki smirked as she ate.
Reaching into a pocket, the middle Tendo retrieved a
sheet of paper and looked at it for a moment. She
walked over to the lovebirds and handed the paper to
Ryouga. "You might be interested in that."
"Umm, what does this have to do with the Jusenkyo
water?" Akane asked.
"Is this all you want?" Ryouga asked, scratching
his head. Ukyou leaned in close and read the paper,
and face faulted.
"What do you mean is that ALL?" Ukyou repeated.
"How could Ryouga have that�" Nabiki handed her
another paper. "Ryouga Hibiki personal finances�oh,
you knew." Ukyou said the last with a flat tone of
voice.
"Nice try with the bluff though," Nabiki commented.
"Whatever she's asking for, it's got to be worth it
to get the Jusenkyo water," Ranma asked. "How much
could she ask for anyway?"
"Fifteen million yen," Ukyou said, resulting in a
mass face fault.
"Nabiki!" Akane shouted in shock.
"Where could any of us get that�" Soun began to
ask.
"I'll get it to you," Ryouga said, shrugging.
Another mass face fault. Kasumi merely shook her head
embarrassed.
"Ummm�.wow, thanks Ryouga," Akane said. "I don't
know how Ranma could repay you." Ukyou glared and
Ryouga.
"You still haven't told her, have you?"
"Told me what?" Akane asked.
"Nothing that we can't deal with after Nabiki gets
the water," Ranma interrupted.
"I'm going, I'm going," Nabiki said irritably. The
picture of someone who has amazingly pulled a little
profit out of a bad situation. Kasumi turned to face
her. "Don't worry Kasumi, I don't have to leave the
dojo."
As Nabiki disappeared upstairs her relieved smirk
twisted fully into a victorious grin. They had no idea
how well this fell into her plans. Opening the hidden
drawer again she retrieved perhaps ten of the flasks.
She double-checked the labels before walking back
downstairs.
"Okay here it is," Kasumi and Mousse both stared at
her in surprise. ~Didn't look close enough did you?~
"Give me a moment to sort through them." Nabiki
smirked at the anxious expressions on everybody's
faces. They were incredibly irritated, except for
Kasumi who was just mildly embarrassed.
"Can we hurry this up?" Shampoo demanded angrily.
She was tensed to move, away from Nabiki, the amazon
was still nervous about whatever the Tendo had
planned. "Shampoo bored."
"I think this might be it," Nabiki said, opening
the flask. "but I'm not�"
"GIVE ME THAT WATER!" Genma shouted springing
towards Nabiki. Nabiki looked on in surprise, an
expression Shampoo wasn't fooled by for a moment, as
Genma tried to snatch the flask. Instead, he managed
to knock the flask out of her hand sending it flying
toward Akane.
"Akane get down1" Predictably Ranma leaped in front
of Akane while virtually everyone else scattered. It
seemed that Genma was the only one who didn't catch
that Nabiki wasn't certain if it was the right water.
Cologne glanced at Nabiki, who was watching the
spinning flask intently as she fell backwards. The
fool Genma was already sprawled on the floor, some
master martial artist, over extending himself like
that. Cologne was more interested in the outcome of
Nabiki Tendo's plan.
As the flask spiraled out Nabiki slipped into chi
sight. The chi of the spirit-trapping water's victims
left a bright trail, spiralling trail to follow as it
collided with Ranma. Nabiki resisted the urge to smile
as Ranma's chi flow seemed to double and split, until
she took a closer look. She only caught a glance
before crashing painfully into the ground.
Ranma, meanwhile felt, the familiar tingle of
transformation pass over him. It certainly wasn't
spring of drowned man if he could feel the
transformation happening. It was an odd transformation
though, almost like something growing out of him. He
cracked open his eyes at the sound of a thump.
"Ow!" Ranma looked down at the sound to see,
himself. Well, almost herself, the girl's hair was
darker and she looked half-chinese. After the
expression of pain the red-head started speaking
something in chinese. Ranma immediately started
running a mental check to make sure this wasn't still
the nightmare lands. Finding the world not enough
self-centered he relaxed and backed away from the
red-head.
"Great, another crazy copy of me," he muttered.
"Oh no," Ryouga gasped. "She's out again." The
hoard of martial artists dropped into stance and faced
the red-head girl who dressed almost identically to
Ranma. The girl glanced at them and blinked nervously
and then shouted desperately in Chinese. Shampoo,
Cologne and Ryouga blinked at the obviously confused
girl.
"I mean, wait a minute1" she shouted in Japanese
finally.
"What's going on here?" Akane shouted, not dropping
stance. Almost every time Ranma's girl side ran
separate it was bad news. "What was in that flask?"
"Spring of drowned twins," Cologne said,
unconcerned. "It seems that the son-in-law's curse has
interfered with the normal process of the spring
water."
"Okay, I don't know what you are talking about,"
the apparent Ranma-chan growled. "I don't know where I
am, but would someone mind telling me why you all look
ready to pound me into the ground?"
"What were you doing with spring of drowned twins,
Nabiki?" The moneylender sat up and stared on,
outwardly impassive. Shampoo looked at the girl and
narrowed her eyes trying to get a feeling for what was
going on in the middle Tendo's mind.
~So her plan was to make two Ranmas,~ Shampoo
realized. ~And then this happens. Talk about bad
timing.~
"Excuse me," Kasumi cleared her throat. "We seem to
have some family business, so thank you for coming,
but perhaps you should all go home for now."
"Umm, what if she turns out to be another
energy-draining chi spirit like the last time," Ryouga
asked.
"Excuse me, you've got to be kidding," the girl
said.
"Now, now," Soun said. "Kasumi is right, with all
of us here it is bound to get out of control�"
"But�" Nabiki stood up stiffly and left for
upstairs without a word, limping.
"I going to back bed." She announced flatly.
~Failed. Completely.~
"Nabiki?" she turned to look at Shampoo. ~Damn,
she's given up.~ "What about the water for the rest of
us?" Nabiki seemed to actually slump a little. Shampoo
could have kicked herself for the question, but she
felt oddly embarrassed at asking if Nabiki was okay.
Not too mention that would reveal too much about what
really happened.
"The labels are color-coded," Nabiki said cooly,
Shampoo felt a pause there where she would have said
"Kitty". "I'd suggest Genma as a test subject." She
then continued upstairs.
"Okay," Ranma started, angrily after everybody else
had left the Tendos and Saotomes to handle this. "Who
are you?"
"Ranko Saotome, who are you?" The girl was still
watching them cautiously, though she hadn't tried to
leave yet.
"Oh, then you're Ranma's girl side?" Kasumi asked
politely.
"Girl side? What are you talking about," the self
professed "Ranko" demanded. "Are you people crazy or
something? And how did I get to Japan anyway?"
"Interesting, she's obviously not Ranma," Soun
noted. "Or even knows much about us."
"Interesting," Genma noted, pushed his glasses up
on his nose and looked at the Chinese-Japanese girl.
"I wonder why.."
"AAHHH!!!" the girl screamed, then growled. "You're
the guy that dumped me in that pit!"
"What?" The next thing they saw was the red head
pounding on Genma.
"Well she seems to have some of Ranma's memories at
least," Soun noted as they watched Genma getting beat
over the head with a chair while his attacker shouted
in rapid fire Chinese.
"Oh my," Kasumi started. "Didn't Cologne say
something about Ranma's curse interfering with the
water's power?"
"Hey, enough of that!" Akane shouted reaching in to
grab a furious Ranko off of Genma. To Akane's surprise
it was actually fairly easy.
"What are you hiding behind me for?" Ranma asked
the old man calmly.
"Hey let me go, that jerk's put me through hell!"
Genma skittered to hide behind Ranma.
"Son, it's your duty to defend your father from
attackers."
"Uh huh," Ranma looked to where Akane was holding a
flailing "Ranko."
"Of course, I got it!" Akane declared. "The last
thing you remember is falling into a pond or something
right?"
"Hey, how'd you know that?"
"So wait a minute," Ranma started. "Are you saying
that she's the girl that originally drowned in the
spring?"
"No, I'm saying she's a mix of you and that girl."
"Why that's incredible!" Soun declared. Ranma
glanced at her, examining the girl's chi.
"Hey, the tomboy's right," Ranma declared, Akane
ignored the insult. "Its like she's half me, and half
somebody else."
"That would explain the Chinese," Kasumi noted. She
had figured it out already, but couldn't really say
anything without letting on that she could see chi
flows.
"Not to mention the fact that she's not as good as
me," Akane noted, proudly.
"Excuse me, I'm going to check on Nabiki," Kasumi
said.
"If I let you go, will you behave?" Akane asked.
"Will you let me kill the freak over there?"
Nabiki barely stirred at the sound of Kasumi
knocking, she did barely more when Kasumi walked into
the charm filled room.
"I shouldn't have pushed," Nabiki said.
"You planned for Ranma to get splashed," Kasumi
said quietly as she sat next to the bed. "Didn't you."
"Two Ranmas, identical in thought and form," Nabiki
whispered. "One for Akane and one for Shampoo. Problem
solved."
"Unless the second Ranma objected," Kasumi noted.
"And what about his trip to the nightmare lands, I
know you heard about some of his dreams. You could
have created a lunatic more dangerous than Kodachi
ever was.
"That won't be a problem now," Nabiki whispered.
"Nothing will go right from here."
"You're tired," Kasumi smiled tucking her sister
into bed, as their mother had done long ago. "You're
injured, take some time to rest. A solution will come
to you." Nabiki shook her head.
"Shampoo won't give up, and neither will Akane,"
Nabiki whispered. "Nobody will come out well."
"Akane will be fine," Kasumi assured her. "She can
take care of herself, and Ranma won't let anything
happen to her."
"Shampoo doesn't have anybody to watch her." Kasumi
blinked in surprise, Nabiki was really tired, mentally
and spiritually more than physically. She never
slipped up this much.
"Why are you worried about Shampoo?" Kasumi asked
quietly, noticing that Nabiki's breath was turning
deeper and more sedate. The herb she'd asked Ukyou to
put in the okonomiyaki was working it seemed. She had
been right that Nabiki wouldn't have suspected them of
such a ploy. Kasumi doubted that she was much aware of
anything at the moment.
"Love�her..." Nabiki whispered before she slipped
completely asleep.
Kasumi sat up straight and stared at her sister in
shock. Nabiki, in love with Shampoo? That was just
so�improper! She thought back to Nabiki's and
Shampoo's argument before Nabiki vanished on that
foolish self-imposed mission. Then of course,
something else came to mind. Ukyou and Ryouga had
known about this. Kasumi sighed, wondering whether to
be grateful to them for not revealing Nabiki's secret.
Or to perhaps be upset that they had told no one.
Kasumi sighed in frustration. Well, it did
certainly explain Nabiki's actions over the last day,
she had certainly gone to lengths that she usually
reserved for family members. If it was true, then
Kasumi could understand why she had nearly pushed
herself to breaking.
"That talk I need to have with her has gotten
longer." She stood up and left the room, walking
downstairs to the telephone, everybody else was still
interrogating the girl that Nabiki's plan had created.
She picked up the phone and dialled Ucchans. The phone
rang several times before she considered something.
"Hmm, I wonder if Ukyou put that herb in both
okonomiyaki?"
Two forms lay huddled on the roof next to Ucchan's
sleeping soundly next to each other.
"Kodachi, you're living there," Mousse noted. "I
doubt they would have minded you staying."
"It's�too much," she noted. The current craziness
and her own free-flowing memories were giving her a
headache. "Besides I haven't seen where you live yet,
and I don't want to be impolite." She smiled quietly.
Then they arrived at Mousse's "home."
"Its more like camping out," he muttered. Kodachi
looked at the circus trailer curiously, sitting in the
middle of this clearing in the woods, Nerima behind
them and the sun going down.
"You must be joking," Kodachi said irritably. Then
she sighed, at least it was quiet up here. "Is there
just the one room in there?"
"Yes, but there are two beds, so don't worry,"
Mousse commented. "Even were it not so I've camped on
the ground before."
"Thank you," Kodachi said, clutching her head. "I
think I'll follow that wretched Nabiki's example and
get some sleep."
"Nabiki give up," Shampoo noted glumly.
"We can't worry about that now," Cologne noted. "We
have that girl to consider."
"What wrong with girl?" Shampoo asked as they
walked along towards the Nekohanten.
"If she is the son-in-law's girl side, then she has
beaten you in combat," Shampoo stared at Cologne. "You
must kill her, Shampoo."
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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