[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 12:
Realignments Part 2 of 3
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories. And I'll put them back when I've finished with them.
C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
Hidden Snapshots
"The gold bullion is on the bottom," Nabiki had just gotten home
from school. She had wanted to talk with Hiroko, only to see her
rushing after Rei, who was headed for the med center. Or Ranma, who was
last seen making a beeline for NERV, Nabiki didn't want to think about
what he was doing. She wasn't eager to talk to Asuka, especially after
the dreams, and the feeling seemed mutual. She was glad for a moment
when she heard Ritsuko was home, instead she caught Misato and Ritsuko
going through the trunk that seemed to be Jeff's major luggage. Both
older women started at Nabiki's silent approach. She spotted the book
she'd seen a few days earlier, and pulled it out.
"That's his property," Ritsuko told her.
"You're a fine one to talk, Doctor `Only-I-can-have-secrets`, was
it even locked?" Nabiki indicated the set of burglar tools Misato had
brought along. Both of them managed to look like caught school girls.
The book was a photo album, the first picture was a good one of
Jeff, about age nine, more lively and less stern than he was now. The
second, Nabiki thought it was a clever double exposure, Jeff from the
first picture, and a six-year-old, slightly chubby blonde version,
staring cross-eyed at a butterfly on his nose, The nine-year-old was
laughing at his, younger brother, Nabiki realized, The two boys from the
watch picture.
Next page, mother, father, two brothers, all in matching suits,
except the mother had a skirt replacing pants. All with the same stern
expression. Except the sardonic air of the six-year-old, That one's
Jeff, and that picture was cropped from this one. What did Shinji say
about a brother? Nabiki was aware that Misato and Ritsuko were now
standing on either side of her, both staring over her shoulders. The
next few pages had a few more family pictures. Then a newspaper
clipping, an obituary. "Samuel Bruce Davis, died 1939, parents . . .
Davis, brother Jeff . . . smallpox." There was a vaccine against
smallpox by 1939, wasn't there? Nabiki wondered, she decided not to ask
Ritsuko right now.
Next picture, Jeff in a black suit waiting with the same steamer
trunk they had open on the floor, next to a train. The grimness that
seemed always to be just under the clown, was clearly stamped on the boy
in this picture. Jeff in a suit, several older relatives and a few
kids, at another train station. Jeff and a lovely young girl about
fourteen, both of them in cowboy clothes. The girl seemed to be
teaching Jeff how to use a rope lasso. Jeff back in a black suit,
tempered now, harder but not as brittle, with Abigail and the Dean at a
Boston train station. More pages alternating between the Western and
Boston families, But never another with his birth parents, Nabiki
wondered about that, Are they somewhere else? Or doesn't he have any?
The one that struck her, was Jeff atop a horse, with both the
Boston and Western families around him, congratulating him, but _not_
his birth parents. His pose and demeanor were more typical of Asuka in
victory, than her rigidly composed teammate.
Another newspaper clipping: "Doctors Davis, auto accident, survived
by son Jeffrey age 10 attending Harvard, 1943. University of Chicago."
Nabiki flogged her memory, Physicist and Chemist and University of
Chicago, 1943. The answer dropped on her like a bomb, the bomb, The
Manhattan Project! His parents were killed while working on the atom
bomb?! Nabiki realized she'd thought 'were killed', and all that
implied, she wondered if Jeff knew, if he even suspected.
More pictures, again alternating between a cowboy and college
student. A picture of Jeff and two older kids, Maybe 17 years old, she
thought, That seems about right. The girl, a very pretty Hispanic or
black Irish, tolerating the grinning kid next to her. On the other side
a very handsome European boy, bemused by Jeff's and the girl's antics.
Jeff looked like a kid again, cotton candy stains on his face, a great
big, goofy grin. The two more `mature` kids had their fingers in 'V's
over Jeff's head.
Next page, same two kids. The girl in an elegant western-style
wedding dress, the boy holding her hands, wearing a policeman's uniform.
The invitation preserved next to the picture. Facing that, another
obituary: "Henry and Rica Lincoln . . . fire, San Francisco, 1947,
that's while we were flying to Boston."
"Yes," Ritsuko said quietly.
Nabiki paged back through the album, "Good grief, does everybody
this kid care about die on him?" That explains the tears, he must have
been putting this last obituary in the book, Nabiki thought. She put
the book back and closed the trunk, "Are you two `adults` quite through,
or do you want to check his underwear too?"
Ritsuko and Misato exchanged embarrassed looks. "Your well-being
is our responsibility," Misato managed.
"That's why you're doing this while he's laid up unconscious, and
Ranma isn't here, instead of waiting so you could ask," Nabiki said, "I
assume Shinji and Asuka got this same treatment. Well in that case, I
should turn out all my stuff for inspection, or should I just leave and
let you paw through my clothes and diary, and giggle?"
Both women managed to look embarrassed. "Fine, I'll leave." Nabiki
walked out. She had nothing to hide. Only the prints were in her lock
box, the important negatives, and her notebooks, were stored elsewhere.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was angry at the invasion of their privacy. She understood
they had the right and responsibility to do it. But Misato's timing and
methods automatically makes it suspect, she admitted. She wasn't happy
about Ritsuko going along with it, "If she wanted to know, she could
have told the boys and me, marched in and looked. Or done it right
after we left for school. It was as if they wanted to get caught." And
why would they want that? Nabiki asked herself, she'd never wondered if
Kasumi went through her things, she assumed she did, she knew she and
Akane had gone through Ranma's stuff a few times, separately and
together.
"At least we had the decency not to get caught," Nabiki said,
looked around, wondering where her wanderings had led her.
She recognized she was walking across the area where the battle had
been, practically where Rei and Raccoon had been hit. She scuffed
around at the weird whorls of stone in the dirt. The NERV technical
teams had been over the place, trying to remove anything of
informational use.
"Well, I'm no geologist," she knelt near a very strange rock
formation, "But I know the difference between limestone, pumice and
obsidian." She bent close to the intermingled rocks, "I also suspect
they don't occur naturally next to each other. Let alone mixed together
like this. Especially where there was only dirt a week before." One
piece of obsidian caught her eye, as long as her arm and veined through
with other minerals. It looked alive, considering what created it,
perhaps it was. She picked it up, brushed it off, "It feels like just
an odd stone."
She smiled, I'm going to take it home, and it will turn into a
scary monster, she chuckled at the thought, actually, she had thought it
would be an interesting peace offering for Ranma, To Ranma, she amended.
She was beginning to understand there might be things in his life, other
that martial arts, at least here, without Genma and the fiance brigade's
influence. "He might appreciate an odd piece of `Modern` art," she
carefully wrapped it up, Admit it, you're just guessing.
"When I find you," she threatened, "I'll dig you out with a spoon."
----------------------------------------
Nabiki awoke suddenly, looked around desperately, searching the
floor, the walls, the ceiling for any trace. I'm in Dr. Akagi's
apartment! she reminded herself, There's nothing dangerous here.
"Bad dreams?" Ritsuko asked.
"No," Nabiki was aware that this was about the fifth time she'd
awakened in a cold sweat, looking around like the building itself was
going to attack her. Ritsuko had been a good sport, and not said
anything, the first four times. "No dreams at all. Sorry."
"I don't think Ranma is sleeping either," Ritsuko said after
listening for a moment. She tossed the covers aside. "Maybe your rock
is a monster?"
Nabiki frowned at Ritsuko as she walked out, she heard Ritsuko
speaking with Ranma. She doesn't know why she's so worried, she hasn't
had any dreams at all. Only the feeling that something is waiting to
drop the other shoe, she admits, On my head.
She heard Ritsuko enter.
"I called Maya, it seems you two get your wish, she's bringing her
kotatsu. Since neither of you two are sleeping, I thought you might
want to stay up and talk."
"What about security concerns?" Nabiki asked.
"They still exist," Ritsuko said, "What about yours?"
Nabiki grimaced at that.
----------------------------------------
Rei stared at the walls of her apartment. She hadn't been able to
sleep. The Cthonians had not bothered her for several days. What kept
her awake, was her worry about Shinji-kun, and an expectation of more
outre dreams. When the dreams didn't come, she found her worries about
the others chased themselves. Until she couldn't relax enough to sleep.
She could understand about Shinji-kun, and maybe Nabiki-kun she could
understand, her fear for the Second and the Fourth baffled her.
She looked down at the cast on her arm and her leg. The new
bandages allowed her to see properly. The injuries all still itched,
but she'd been able to ignore that in the past, and get back to sleep.
What of the others? she wondered, Are they disturbed as I am? She
decided to go see Shinji-kun, threw off the covers and got dressed. I
will not be able to sleep until I am sure.
----------------------------------------
Asuka rolls over, punches the pillow. She'd heard Misato stagger
in half-an-hour ago. Misato had gone straight to bed. Her snoring
confirms that, Asuka rolls over, lays there.
"Okay, even if it means another stupid dream, fine, just let me go
to sleep!" She lays there watching the minute hand move. "Okay, I give
up!"
She pulls the covers off her bed, and marches into Shinji's room,
drops them on the floor. She wraps herself in the covers, and closes
her eyes.
----------------------------------------
Letter from Asuka Soryu Langley
Anna,
What we were worried about, happened. I hope they don't follow
Hans and Gunther, but I'm not certain.
Despite our experiences, the dreams lately have been weirder that
anything before. Even physical manifestations. I'll tell you more when
I see you.
There are concerns of what we called 'people mines', you know what
I mean. We know they're there, but there aren't any real minesweepers,
even Kavon's old intelligence chief. How's that for a surprise? You
read the reports about the pilots while I was sailing to the 'States.
That kind of thing.
I have other doubts, but that's for another time. With luck the
problems will abate. I hope.
More later.
Asuka
----------------------------------------
Asuka put the pen aside. She'd had to go through ten pages of
doodles of Wondergirl before she could find a clean piece of stationary
on Spineless's desk. She felt a little guilty about that, except the
stack had been in the middle of his desk, out in the open. And who
doesn't know he's mooning for Wondergirl? she thought.
She was also disgusted she couldn't get any sleep in her own room,
but had managed a few short naps sleeping on Spineless's floor.
"If I want a good night sleep, I'll have to sleep in his hospital
room," she said disgustedly. "Nobody would do that." She laid down on
the floor again, hoping to get a little more sleep before morning.
----------------------------------------
Maya walked into the Akagi living room, and poured the tea for the
three others around the kotatsu. Ritsuko smiled, "I did warn you."
Maya looked at her sempai, she admired and respected her, but after
getting dragged out of her own apartment at 2:00 A.M., there were
limits. "Yes."
"Sorry about this," Ranma offered.
"Evidently Asuka's up too," Ritsuko said, "I would have thought
after bad dreams two nights running, you'd all be sleeping soundly."
"It's like being ready to take a punch," Ranma said, "You tense up,
and you can't untense."
"Aren't there exercises to relax?" Maya asked.
"None that I know, worked," Ranma replied.
"What about Rei?" Nabiki asked, "Has anyone talked to her?"
"She doesn't have a phone," Ritsuko made room for Maya at the table
heater.
Maya settled in, and blushed when someone rubbed her knee.
"Nabiki!" Ritsuko said, "Behave, you aren't so old I can't give you
a spanking."
Nabiki innocently pointed at Ranma, who was oblivious to what had
happened. The girl was caught, knew it, but wasn't ready to admit it,
"Are there any plans to give Rei a telephone? With more of us, it would
make sense."
"Who'd teach her to use it?" Ranma said, saw Nabiki's angry look,
"I mean answer it. You've said she doesn't even answer a knock on the
door."
Well, that is a problem, Maya thought.
"Tell her it could be the Commander or Shinji-kun," Nabiki
suggested.
"That might work," Ritsuko said sourly.
Maya wondered why sempai had such a problem with the girl. She
followed orders, she did her best at whatever she was ordered to do.
What they, we, ordered her to do. And she's ordered to do things even
I'm not cleared to know about, Maya admitted. Maya didn't understand
why the friction.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Ritsuko asked, "Just remember,
some things are classified."
"Where'd you and Misato meet Kaji?" Nabiki asked.
"Like that," Ritsuko replied, "How about your dreams."
"That too," Nabiki said sourly.
Maya smiled at that.
----------------------------------------
Polish and Roughen
"Rei-san, Rei!" she heard a voice calling her name, "Ayanami-san!"
She opened her eyes, looked around the hospital room, saw
Shinji-kun, still in the plastic tent, but sitting up.
"Ayanami-san, are you all right?" he asked, his expression clearly
troubled.
"Yes." More than you could know, she thought, I am now, she shifted
in the chair where she'd fallen asleep.
"But, you're hurt," he argued.
"I will survive," she stood carefully, "I will get a nurse." She
turned and left to get medical help. If he was awake, then he would
recover.
----------------------------------------
Rei waited patiently in the examination room, while Dr. Akagi ran
her tests on Shinji-kun. Rei was concerned that both the doctor and
Shinji-kun seemed clumsy and slightly unfocused. Rei doubted she would
harm Shinji-kun, but the tests were taking twice to three times as long
as they usually did.
Unless the doctor is intentionally drawing this out, Rei thought,
but could find no reason why the doctor would do that.
"Well," Doctor Akagi sighed, "You're probably fit enough to go
home, but you'll still need bed rest." She turned to Rei, "And you are
going to be late for school."
Rei nodded, she didn't know what else to do. "I will tell the
Second Children."
"Asuka as a nurse," Shinji-kun sighed, "Can't I stay here?"
Ritsuko smiled, "No, I think you'll find she's a very good nurse.
If you do what she tells you, and I'll make sure she knows exactly what
you are, and are not to do."
"I will visit you," Rei told him. Rei knew Dr. Akagi would explain
things carefully to the Second, and she would do as she was told.
"Don't forget to have Asuka pick up his assignments," Dr. Akagi
told her, then turned back to Shinji, "You're going to be bored just
sitting around, but you'll heal quicker."
"What happened to me?" Shinji asked
"The nearest we can come up with, was systemic shock, like a cross
between a drug overdose and an allergic reaction," Doctor Akagi told
them.
"What does that mean about piloting?" Shinji asked.
"You don't get out of it that easily," Dr. Akagi told him, "You
show no reaction to the regular L.C.L., but if it gets a few hundred
years old, you might want to avoid it."
"Thank you, Doctor," Shinji bowed.
"Don't thank me, thank your nurse here," Doctor Akagi pointed to
Rei, "She stayed with you every day after school, and all last night."
The praise embarrassed Rei. "You should not be alone."
"Well, I want to hold you here for a few more hours. I'll transfer
you back to Misato's apartment this afternoon, after school."
"Is she worried, has she been by?" Shinji asked.
"We've all been worried," Ritsuko told him as she left.
"I will return after school," Rei told him, "I wish to tell the
others."
"Thank you, Ayanami-san, for everything," he said.
"There is snow on the railroad," she said as she left.
She caught up with Dr. Akagi quickly, "The Captain did not visit
him."
"Knowing that won't help his recovery," Dr. Akagi told her, "You
shouldn't tell him either."
She was confused, "But the truth - "
"Do you want him to recover or not?" Dr. Akagi said, even Rei could
tell she was angry.
Rei nodded.
"Then he doesn't need to know until after he's recovered."
"I understand," Rei said. She left, I serve Commander and Dr.
Akagi, requiring silence, this is just another service.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched the others make a big fuss over Shinji. Ranma was
glad Shinji was back, but they acted like it was a cause for a party.
As they were transferring Shinji to a wheelchair, Kaji walked in,
"Hi guys. Hi Asuka."
"Hello," Asuka said, concentrated on Shinji.
"Well, you're going home, good to see you up and around. It'll be
a load off Misato's mind," Kaji tousled Shinji's hair, then continued
down the corridor.
"Kind of unfriendly," Ranma told Asuka as she brushed Shinji's hair
back into an attempt at order, "Something wrong between you two?"
"Saotome, butt out," Asuka confronted him, "You obviously don't
know what you're talking about."
Ranma backed up from her anger, "Sorry."
"So you're going home," Misato said from the door, then stepped out
of the way as the wheelchair rolled through it, "So what are you going
to be doing? Lying around all day, skipping school."
"Asuka will bring in his homework," Nabiki said, "She can tutor him
to keep him current."
"Ha, I'd like to see that," Misato said, "I've seen Asuka's
grades."
Ranma stepped back from Asuka, from the heat, he was wondering how
Shinji didn't burst into flames.
"It's not my fault I can't read kanji," Asuka grumbled, staring
daggers at Misato.
"You'll do fine," Nabiki said.
Asuka grimly nodded. Ranma wondered about that.
As they walked through the corridors, Misato was chattering about
this and that, all fluff, no substance.
"You've been wandering around NERV after school," Nabiki said just
loud enough for him to hear. "Looking for something in particular?"
"Naw, just looking at the people," he replied. He was remembering
how Nabiki reacted to Asuka saying 'Shampoo' Or was it Xian Pu? and
'Akane', using them to mutter unflattering comparisons to someone at
school. Does that mean Asuka went into your past Nabiki-chan, like I
went into Raccoon's? He'd been wandering the corridors of NERV, looking
at the faces, finding many of those he'd last seen as mutilated corpses
in the dream. It may have been a dream, but I bet it was accurate, he
glanced at Rei, limping beside Shinji's wheelchair, Was that really you,
trying to shoot Raccoon?
He looked around at his fellow pilots, If Asuka went to
`Nabiki-land`, and I went to `Raccoon-ville`, did Nabiki go to Asuka's
past? He looked into the room they walked by, at the other pilot in an
oxygen tent, If it was an exchange, then . . . he thought about it,
I'll need a test. None of us want to talk about it, he shuddered, If I
_ever_ see things like those demons again, it will be too soon.
He followed them out of the hospital, helped them load Shinji
aboard a car to head home. He knew they'd need his help at the other
end to unload.
----------------------------------------
Ranma stood atop Akagi-sensei's apartment building, doing his
evening practice. Nabiki had gone out for some reason, and Akagi-sensei
was staying late at the lab, so he was alone. Alone with his thoughts,
I need a test, something only Asuka would know. Something that Nabiki
might have learned. He sighed, it was frustrating, the answer would be
in the sciences, something he had no interest in, at all. There was a
chance he could find out who he was, before whatever dropped him in
NERV's lap. But he knew he couldn't come out and ask for what he
wanted, from either of the girls.
He didn't like having to guess about who he was, why he did the
things he did. Why was he afraid of cats? Why did he keep saying
things that made people so mad at him? Why did he have to turn
absolutely everything into a competition? If Asuka, Misato, Nabiki and
Rei had a beauty contest, one word from Raccoon or Shinji would get me,
Ranko, to compete, Ranma stopped his kata, his thoughts and worries had
disrupted the flow of his exercises, "And I'd do everything I could to
win." That disgusted him.
He looked across the distance at Misato's apartment building,
"There is the first set." He stepped to the edge of the roof, and leapt
to the nearest roof, then to next, and the next.
The only light at Misato's apartment was in Shinji's room. He
hadn't seen Misato's car, so she wasn't home yet, What a surprise, he
thought.
Ranma also saw Rei hanging from Shinji's window sill, one-handed,
six stories up, peering into Shinji's room. How did she get up there?
Especially with her arm and leg in a cast! he silently landed on the
balcony near to her.
He leaned over to look inside the room, Shinji sitting up with
Asuka's help. He watched Asuka feeding Shinji in his bed. "Jealous?"
he asked Rei, Asuka reacted to the sound, Oops.
The impact surprised him, from Rei backhanding him off the building
with her cast. As he dropped to the ground, he watched her let go and
drop away from the window.
----------------------------------------
Asuka yanked the curtain away from the window. She looked around,
I wish I had that pistol again, "I'm getting paranoid," Asuka told
Shinji, "There's nothing out there."
Shinji was too embarrassed to argue about Asuka returning to feed
him.
She smiled at that, he'd tried to explain that girls didn't do
things like that. 'I bet your mother did,' she'd told him as she
settled him in the crook of her arm, 'Just like mine.' She missed her
mother terribly, wondered if `little Asuka` made her mama proud, up in
Heaven.
----------------------------------------
Ranma shook himself after his long fall. He saw Rei walking
towards him, "What's wrong with you?! We were on the sixth floor! Why
did you hit me?"
Ranma watched Rei advance towards him, with a look of fury twisting
her face. I've never _seen_ her look that mad, Ranma began to step
backward.
Rei accelerated to continue to close on him.
Even when that thing was killing us, Ranma turned and ran away at
his best speed.
After a few minutes, he slowed down enough to glance behind him.
He let out a breath and came to a stop, Rei wasn't pursuing. "What got
into her, I think she would really have tried to kill me."
He wasn't sure what she thought she could do to him in a fight, but
after all the killing in the dream last night, he wasn't sure he wanted
to find out either.
----------------------------------------
Rei looked at the apartment, hoping that the Second and Shinji had
gone back to what they had been doing. She hadn't expected Saotome to
manage to land uninjured. In retrospect, she was glad she hadn't
injured him.
Why was he so anxious to disturb the moment for Shinji, the Second
. . . and me - ? she remembered the feelings she'd had as she'd watched
the Second supporting Shinji-kun and feeding him. I felt as if I was on
fire. I wanted to charge in and . . . do something. But after I
watched, the fire went away, leaving only a pleasant warmth. The Second
was not threatening Shinji-kun, not trying to displace me, she honestly
cared for him. As harsh as she often is, she cares for him almost as
much as I.
She felt embarrassed watching them after that, But I had to, to
understand the Second, as well as be there for him. The anger returned
full force, Rei found herself shaking, Does the Fourth have to destroy
any other quiet/contemplative moment anyone around him has? Does he
hate us all so much? Is violence the only language he understands? she
dropped to her knees, the shaking has become so bad, "I can speak that
language too." The wave of fury threatened to overwhelm her, Better
than he can.
She steadied her raging thoughts by reminding herself of the scene
between Shinji-kun and the Second, by reminding herself of the words and
attentions of Nabiki-kun and Roku-kun. She felt the storm calm, felt
herself regaining control. She often wondered why people thought she
was emotionless, when all too often, her thoughts and feelings raced out
of control and overwhelmed her, until she could barely even move or
react, all she could do was watch the others. She feared such loss of
control, Someday it will happen when I am needed.
She stood, pulled off center by the weight of the casts, I will
dispense with this, she glanced around, When it will not risk detection.
----------------------------------------
Return and Recovery
The five pilots walked together to school. Dr. Akagi agreed that a
half-day of school shouldn't tax Shinji too much. From his walkway atop
the fence, Ranma watched Asuka and Rei quietly competing to `help`
Shinji. Yeah he looks unwell, but even without the casts, Rei looks
like she went up against the heavyweight champion, he thought. He also
remembered when he'd walked up to Shinji and the glare he got from Rei,
That girl can hold a grudge. He'd backed off quickly, he wasn't happy
about the interest Nabiki had shown in that little scene. He expected
to have to explain it all to her in great detail.
Later, he thought, Today I've got a plan and a trap of my own.
He'd called Asuka on the phone, no more confrontations with Rei, and
asked a question straight out of a physics textbook. Finding the right
question had taken most of Friday afterschool. All I have to do is
wait, ask the question and watch Nab-chan, simple, he thought as they
walked along.
----------------------------------------
At lunch he's ready. "Asuka, what did you mean humans can't tunnel
like quantum mechanical objects?" Ranma asks.
He notes Nabiki's look of shock.
"You're misinterpreting the Uncertainty Principle," Asuka angrily
tells him.
Ranma notices that also throws Nabiki off. I've got my answer.
Asuka went into your world Nabiki, and you went into Asuka's. "Thanks,
I still don't understand it," Ranma told Asuka, Therefore since I went
to Boston, Jeff knows all about my past.
"Well then quit wasting my time!" Asuka pulled out her lunch and
headed to where Shinji and Rei were sitting. "Say Wondergirl, did you
bring your chessboard?"
"Yes."
"Great, winner gets to fix Shinji dinner on Sunday," Asuka offers.
Rei nods.
Well the good news is: I finally have a way to get the answers I
want, Ranma thought as the two girls set up the board, The bad news is:
that way is inaccessible, and dying. Ranma sighed, started in on lunch,
while Rei made her first move.
----------------------------------------
Dr. Akagi looked over the results from the ongoing sync tests of
the four pilots. She was glad she had postponed this test until after
the Saturday half day of school. She figured that the kids could use
some normal time together. She was glad to see that the data had proven
this assumption out.
She turned to see Maya entering the control room, with preliminary
records, "Well Shinji is down, that's not unexpected. The other
surprise is Rei seems to have completely recovered."
"I know, she came in Friday afternoon to ask for the casts to be
removed," Maya sat down across from her, "Then I used the fluoroscope.
The bones were completely healed. If I didn't know they'd been broken,
I wouldn't believe it ever happened. How are the others? Nabiki seemed
very nervous about the tests."
"It showed, Nabiki is the lowest ranked, again. Nothing I did
could calm her down." She'd released the girl once it was clear she was
still the lowest.
"Sempai," Maya started carefully, "Breaking and entering, instead
of using your legitimate authority, may have undermined her confidence.
In you, and in herself. Asuka's rate was up _because_ you trusted her
with responsibility."
"What about Rei?" Ritsuko evaded the question, watched her
assistant.
Maya blushed, "I think she's pleased Shinji is well."
"I agree, I just can't believe she doesn't have a problem with
Asuka looking after Shinji."
"Then you haven't seen how Asuka has been taking care of him. I
think Rei is studying her methods," Maya admitted.
"I don't think she'll be able to pull it off," Ritsuko smiled at
that, "Did you hear how Ranma reacted to Nabiki's gift?"
Maya laughed, "I don't think Nabiki-chan meant to give him a
sword."
Ritsuko joined her laugh, "I'm afraid Ranma still treats everything
as either combat or competition. The problem is, the edge on that
obsidian is sharp enough to cut. I am afraid that he might injure
himself practicing with it."
"I don't think he will, sempai," Maya assured her.
"Where are they planning to go?" Ritsuko asked.
Maya smiled, "Asuka is going with Rei, to buy supplies for the
dinner Rei has to make for Shinji. Somehow they got Ranma to go with
them."
"Are we invited?" Ritsuko asked.
"I don't think it's going to be anyone but Shinji and the two
girls."
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