"This brings back unpleasant memories," Dr. Tofu noted as he examined Kodachi briefly. "Yes, it does," Kodachi agreed, quietly. She was still flashing through old memories that had been buried or warped since almost their inception. It was a most enlightening experience, it was funny how close she had been recently. Leaving her brother in jail as a show of disapproval and the relief at how less "boring" life would be. Then, of course, she could give him an excuse for trying to kill her later. Jumbled in this were all the times Ranma had told her that he didn't love her, mostly rude attempts, but she had to admit that she hadn't earned politeness. Then, of course there were all those "accidents," and the night she achieved an acceptable level of "perfection." "No physical injuries. Your chi is sluggish, though. If I didn't know better I'd say you just came out of a coma." "She was catatonic until just before we came inside." "I didn't let her touch me," Kodachi noted proudly, if subdued. "Then the bucket hit Ranma…and…and…" "Saotome maliciously triggered his curse in front of her," Mousse finished angrily. "I hit Ranma with the water," Kodachi admitted quietly, and scrunched her eyes in confusion. "And…..how did that happen?" "Hmmm, this is interesting," Dr. Tofu said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "What is it?" Mousse asked anxiously. "He was a boy…and then he was a girl…" "Your chi flow is too free," he said tapping his chin in thought. "The channels are too broad." "What does that mean?" Mousse asked. The doctor circled her, Kodachi watching nervously. "Everywhere, wow, never seen a job this thorough," he sat down and turned to his desk. "Very clean too, professional, odd that they took down everything, maybe they were in a rush." "Job?" Kodachi asked. The doctor opened a door and pulled out a piece of polished jade. It was held in a casing of some kind of bone, as they watched the doctor carved kanji into the stone. "What are you talking about?" Mousse demanded. The doctor finished the kanji and began sorting various strings until he found one to feed through the bone casing. "Well, Kodachi's chi flow is indicative of someone who's natural mental defenses have been taken down," he slipped the new amulet over Kodachi's head after imbuing it with a little chi. "Don't take that off for the next couple of days. I doubt you'll run across any demons, but around here you never know, and you are certainly an easy target until your chi flow fixes itself." The flood of memories slowed down tremendously, and she was thankful for that. "You're saying some demon was in her mind?" Mousse asked nervously. "I'm saying something was in her mind," Dr. Tofu repeated. "Could someone explain to me how Ranma and that red-haired girl are the same person, please," Kodachi demanded. "Certainly," Dr. Tofu smiled. "Excuse me, Mousse." "What do you…hey!" Kodachi's eyes bulged as Mousse shrunk into a duck. "QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!" The doctor then produced a kettle of hot water, and held down Mousse's foot with his. Strangely enough Mousse-duck was trying like crazy to get away. "And now," he paused. "You might want to look away a moment." Kodachi shrugged and looked towards a wall, and the mirror she knew was there. Her skin actually blushed past normal tones as Mousse transformed back. "You can look now," Mousse said irritably. Kodachi turned around and tried to blank her expression. "What was that?" Kodachi demanded. "A Jusenkyo curse," Dr. Tofu explained. "If you fall into a Jusenkyo spring, then you become whatever it was that drowned there. Mousse fell in the spring of drowned duck, so when he gets splashed with cold water…he turns into a duck." "And Ranma full into one of these springs," Kodachi asked. "The spring of drowned…girl?" "That's about the size of it," Dr. Tofu agreed. Kodachi thought about this for a moment when a small twitter escaped her mouth. Dr. Tofu and Mousse blinked and watched her in concern. "Ha…the redhaired girl…is Ranma…Ha! OHH-haahahahahaha!!" Kodachi threw herself back on to the examination table and continued to laugh. "Kodachi?" Then the gymnast rolled off the examination table falling to the ground with a thump that didn't interrupt the laughing for more than a moment. "Hahahahaha! I at least had the right gender!" Kodachi declared, returning to laughing almost immediately. "Are you okay?" Dr. Tofu asked cautiously, looking over the table at Kodachi's mirthful seizure. "My brother's obsessed with a man," she giggled. "And he doesn't even know it!" "Is she okay?" Mousse asked anxiously. "Ranma in a leotard, snicker snicker." "Very much so I'd say," Dr. Tofu smiled. She was laughing, really laughing for the first time in years. The doctor felt relieved, and to a degree, vindicated by this development. Kodachi was coming back to real life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Well," Akane turned to face Shampoo. Ranma came in from the living quarters drying himself off, steam was still rising up from his head and shoulders. "Well, what?" "You were about to go full out against her," Akane accused. "Weren't you?" "No I was not! Shampoo no bully the weak. Shampoo just teach crazy-girl lesson that's all." "Teach her a lesson!" Akane yelled indignantly. "Something like banging her head into a boulder?" "Hey!" Ranma's attempt at interruption called down a bonbori and a mallet to his head. "Uh, why we just clobber Ranma?" "Bad habit I guess," Akane said. "This is just great," Ranma grumbled. "I get a concussion, and they're trying to decide why." "Well, stay out of way of womans arguing!" Shampoo snapped. "Yeah, what did you want to say anyway?" Ranma looked at them for a moment, deciding whether or not to run. "Shampoo wasn't going full out," Ranma noted. "There were no large bladed objects involved." "See, Nabiki-sister not know everything." Shampoo crossed her arms smuggly. "So you think she's right then?" "No, I think she was about to beat Kodachi into a bloody pulp, and that she wouldn't think much of it." At Ranma's disapproving tone Shampoo's ego deflated substantially. She didn't just descend into a hissy fit over it either, she cocked her head at that thought. "She just wouldn't have killed her." "Shampoo go talk to people that not so uptight," she hmphed and walked out of the dojo. "Speaking of bloody pulps," Akane noted dangerously. "Why aren't you one?" "For what?" "Baka, you just insulted her again!" "When?" *SLAM* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shampoo watched as Kasumi walked out of Nabiki's room, closing the door behind her softly. She turned to face Shampoo and elicited a brief gasp of surprise. Like everybody else, Shampoo liked Kasumi, that was just natural, practically everybody liked Kasumi. "Oh, hello Shampoo." "Nihao!" "I didn't hear you come in." "Came in to the dojo." "Oh dear, I'll call the contractors tomorrow I guess," Kasumi paused in passing her and turned to face Shampoo. "Ranma was in the dojo, so why are you here?" "Checking on Nabiki," Shampoo answered naturally. "She look really bad this morning." "Well she's sleeping now," Kasumi said firmly. "And after everything else today I don't think she could use any more visitors." "Plus you not trust me?" Shampoo nodded expectantly. "How is she?" "She would be fine if she weren't pressing herself so hard," Kasumi said sweetly. "Nabiki works so hard all the time, and she's never been so injured before. She really doesn't know how to deal with it." "She stupid." "That too," Kasumi said calmly. "Would you like some tea?" "Sure," Shampoo shrugged after a little bit of thought. She followed the calm serene girl downstairs, and kneeled down at the table while Kasumi prepared some tea. "Are Ranma and Akane still mad at you about the kiss?" "No, they seem to forget," Shampoo blushed in memory of that event. Then she recalled the daydream that followed, and that the girl involved was upstairs. All this combined made it hard for Shampoo not to bear a striking resemblance to Ranma's shirt. ~What if she finds out about that? Silly, what does Nabiki care if a love potion makes me kiss…Her…Sister…oh…uh oh…she'll kill me…she'll put Nekohanten in bankruptcy!!~ "Oh don't worry about that," Kasumi said as she sat down and poured the tea for Shampoo. "With all the craziness around here it was almost long over due, and I can see you're just as embarrassed about it as Akane is." "Yeah, that true," Shampoo breathed a sigh of relief. "So why are you so concerned about my sister?" Kasumi asked sweetly. "Huh?" "That is if you don't mind me asking." "She help me with lots of favors," Shampoo said. "And it not right to bully the weak." "I see," Kasumi said. "Then you aren't asking her to win Ranma's heart?" "She say no will do that," Shampoo grumbled irritably. "Won't hurt sister." "I see, and what favors does she do for you then?" ~Think girl, think.~ Shampoo's forehead crinkled as she tried to come up with a plausible lie in the face of Kasumi's overwhelming niceness. "She tell me where other girls are who obstacles to Shampoo's Airen." "And how much does that cost you?" "All total eighty thousand yen," Shampoo grumbled. "Ahh, and perhaps you should return to work in order to make up that money," Kasumi suggested. "After all you won't soon be needing my sister's services any more." "Really?" "Yes, strange that so many of Ranma's would be girlfriends finding alternative matches," the older girl smiled warmly. "More tea?" "Yes, then Shampoo go back to work." Shampoo said. ~She's not so out of it.~ "It doesn't seem you'll need to know about their movements anymore." Shampoo nodded enthusiastically. "And perhaps you can tell her that?" "Why me?" she asked nervously. Nabiki hadn't really talked to her since coming back, besides she was a client and that's all. Nabiki had said that herself. "You're the client," Kasumi said. "She is very professional, Nabiki won't stop because I ask her to, and I'd rather not have to force her to take some time to heal." Shampoo blinked. Kasumi's tone of voice hadn't changed at all, as if she had total confidence her ability to do that. "Shampoo not hire her last," the Amazon said suddenly. "Great-Grandma did." Kasumi regarded her for a moment while pouring the tea, and smiled. "Well, that is different then," the tall girl sat down and sipped her tea. Shampoo sighed in relief, as that weight of disapproval vanished. She pondered on how amazing the pressure was when someone who was just totally and completely nice disapproved of you. "Oh, Shampoo go back work now," Shampoo said, sweatdropping. "Goodbye." She left quickly and quietly through the door. "Have a nice day," Kasumi called cheerily. Then she sighed and shook her head, well she could try convincing Nabiki to rest one more time. She would have to prepare for the likely event of Nabiki trying to get around her again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The sound of Shampoo's bike over head grated on Ukyou's nerves. The reason being that her dinner crowd took a moment to rush outside and watch the purple-haired girl bicycle along the rooftops. Ryouga looked at her, carefully avoiding mentioning the distinct smell of cooked beef. She'd been in a bad mood since he and Nabiki met the group in the airport, the free publicity the Nekohanten was now getting at her expense was not helping her mood. "Next time we train you for chi channelling," Ryouga started cautiously. "Let's do it along Shampoo's delivery routes." Ukyou blinked and looked at him, then laughed. This was much to Ryouga's relief. "Fist of the insulted businesswoman," Ukyou agreed. "Deadbeats of the world beware. Can you get this to that table?" Ryouga looked and shrugged. "I think so," he muttered. "Good, we only have another hour until closing and then we have to go visit the Tendos," Ukyou paused. "It will go a lot faster with a little help." Ryouga ducked his head as a playfully tossed mini-spatula passed over his head. The regulars didn't pay much mind, other than to get out of the way and watch the show, but a pair of gaijin tourists were not so calm. Especially not when three more spatulas zipped toward the boy, who was trying to find the indicated table. "Hey miss," one of them shouted. "Are you crazy or something." Ryouga spotted his goal as he snatched the spatulas with his free hand and sent them back Ukyou's way. Deciding that no serious training exercises were going on, the regulars sat back down and watched as they ate. "What do you mean by that?" Ukyou asked, confused as she launched another salvo of spatulas. She caught the returned projectiles almost absent-mindedly, and waited for the next three as Ryouga set down the dish he was delivering. "You're throwing kitchen ware about the room, are their no health codes in this country?" Ukyou narrowed her eyes. "Are you suggesting I use these to cook?" She brandished the three, and suddenly six, spatulas in her hand. "Uh, what else would you use them for?" The tourist's apparent girl-friend asked, confused. Ukyou at least noted that they spoke good Japanese, even if they showed no common sense. Noting the glare of the challenged in the chef's eyes, most of the customers stood with their back to the walls. "Ryouga, remember that game javelins we saw in Texas?" "Yeah," he smirked as the tourist couple stared at the boy, his arms grimmly crossed. "Two points?" Ukyou suggested, her boyfriend shrugged. "Fine with me." "This could be good," one of the Nerimans whispered. "I'll bet…" "Excuse me," a non-descript school girl interrupted. Finally, she was the one on hand for a martial art fight, this would be her commission. "That's my job." "Are you two going to get out of the way," Ukyou asked irritably as she walked around the corner standing about ten feet away from Ryouga. The tourists cleared the main floor. "Finally, ready?" "Ready." "Go!" The air between the two was suddenly filled with spatulas and bandanas circling at an insane speed. Neither moved their feet and just concentrated on the projectile war. "Uh, what's going on?" "You turned a simple training exercise into a decent sparring match," somebody explained to the completely lost tourist. "Training exercise, what?" "I've got two hundred on Ukyou!" somebody shouted. "Look at that bandanna swarm, Ryouga to win for sure!" The tourists sweatdropped as they turned back to face the two martial artists. One of the spatulas broke through Ukyou's catches and scraped along her shoulder. "Ha! First point," Ryouga noted with a laugh. Now he just needed, Ryouga almost fainted as perhaps every projectile in the past two volleys combined rocketed his way. He blocked nearly twelve of them before a bandana and a spatula whipped in smacking him nearly simultaneously. "Beginner's luck, Ryochan," Ukyou smiled as she flipped her hair back. The gaijin blinked as she flipped back behind the counter and cheerfully went back to cooking, snatching the few remaining projectiles from the air as she did so. "Heh, I'll get you sooner or later," Ryouga answered. Collecting the dropped weapons, the tourists noted with dismay as he examined the bent and ruined throwing spatula. "You'll need stronger spatulas he noted, after you finish the baksai tenketsu we could quickly run through your ammo in these games." Ryouga tossed it in the trash as everybody returned glumly to their seats. Ukyou noted angrily that only three people seemed to have bet on her, and then smiled evilly at all the people that had lost money. That served them right. "Well, are you going to be making any more complaints," Ukyou asked the gaijin couple. They hastily shook their hoods and scooted to their seats. "Good, here's your okonomiyaki." Two dishes landed perfectly in front of the two. They looked at their food and concentrated fully on its consumption ignoring the martial chaos around them. "Wow," the schoolgirl said quietly as she started walking out of the door. Until she found herself facing a battle spatula. "Excuse me, what's your name?" "R-r-ruri," the girl answered. "Hey, don't worry, girl," Ukyou said. "We're not going to do anything, but I'm heading to the Tendo dojo anyway so I thought maybe I could take that to Nabiki?" "But….I'm supposed to take that to Yuka…and this is my first time…" She whined. Ukyou smiled, good, a beginner. Sayuri or Yuka wouldn't have given in. "Ukyou, what are you doing?" Ryouga asked curiously. Ukyou smiled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. "We'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. ~Surprise.~ "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 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. Sheesh, 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 this already. "The labels are color-coded kitty," Nabiki said cooly. "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."
Back to The Amazon and the Moneylender Index - Back to Ranma 1/2 Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction