"Great-Grandma why you make me wait if you want me kill girl-type Ranma?" Shampoo asked irritably as they were opening the next day. "It is unwise to just charge into a situation that you have no knowledge of," Cologne answered. "If this is like the other times that the son-in-law's girl side has been split she could be much more dangerous than she seems. It was not wise of the Tendos to send us away last night." "But if she just normal girl, why wait?" Shampoo asked, turning on the stove. "We shall need to see how the Tendos and Saotomes react to her," Cologne answered. "Not to mention just how much of the son-in-law's prowess she has." "If the Tendos and Saotomes accept her?" "Acquiring the son-in-law's strength for the tribe is a priority," Cologne said after a moment's thought. "But she must die eventually. Can you provide any information on how Nabiki would treat the girl?" Shampoo blinked and looked at her tribal Matriarch. "Nabiki see herself responsible," Shampoo said after a moment. "If girl, threat, she'll help kill. If not, she'll help girl." "It would be to our benefit for the girl to be a threat then," Cologne smiled. "I think we can arrange that." Shampoo looked at Cologne nervously. If anybody could actually trick Nabiki, Cologne could, but Nabiki would find out about it eventually. She didn't want to know the results of that discovery, that blank expression on her face last night was bad enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Kasumi?" Ukyou blinked as the eldest Tendo entered Ucchan's. This was unusual, but she had some questions to ask about last night. Like what happened with that half-Chinese version of Ranma-chan, not too mention how she Ryouga ended up passing out within a hundred feet of home. "What are you doing here?" "I've never gotten the chance to see your establishment here," Kasumi said smiling nicely. She walked to the counter and sat down demurely on one of the stools, maintaining a perfect lady-like serenity. "There are also some things we need to talk about, where's Ryouga?" "Good question," she looked around. "Ryouga!" "Almost there," the muffled shout came from a room in the back somewhere. "How interesting," Kasumi said. "Where's he trying to go?" "He thinks he dropped something in the closet." "I see." "Did you give Nabiki that money yet?" Ukyou asked. "I really don't want to cheat that poor girl out of her commission." "Nabiki is still asleep, actually." Kasumi answered cheerfully. "Oh that's right," Ukyou glanced at Kasumi carefully. "She had an meal to herself." "Oh dear, you used it on both okonomiyakis, didn't you?" "We're lucky we didn't catch a cold." "I'm so very sorry about that," Kasumi apologized. "But I needed to get her to sleep, and she would watch for it coming from me." "But she'd already slept half the day." "Well, it looked like that anyway," Kasumi sighed. Ryouga appeared behind Ukyou looking somewhat confused. "How did you move the dining room into the back of the restaurant?" Ryouga asked. Then he saw Kasumi. "Uh, hi Kasumi, what are you doing here?" The eldest Tendo sister set a flask on the counter. "We never got the chance to give you your cure," Kasumi smiled as Ukyou and Ryouga sweatdropped. "Or so you hope, and if I were you, I'd have a talk with my little sister." "Soon." Ukyou added, recovering from her surprise that Kasumi would know about P-chan. "Uh, thanks Kasumi," Ryouga said, sitting down shame-facedly. Kasumi stood up to leave, and then seemed to remember something. "Oh, that's right," Kasumi turned towards gracefully. "My sister said something funny while she was falling asleep last night." "Really, what was that?" Ukyou asked, not understanding how this could involve them. "She said something about being in love with Shampoo," Kasumi continued looking on serenely while Ukyou and Ryouga face faulted. "I was wondering how much you two know about this?" "Uh, why would we know anything about it?" Ukyou asked, suddenly concentrating strongly on her cooking. "Well, I had been wondering why you've been so jumpy around her and Shampoo," Kasumi noted. "Which would have been easy to understand if Ryouga hadn't continuously had to remind you 'we promised not to tell,' over the past month or so." Ryouga and Ukyou stared at her blank-faced. "Are you sure that you're Kasumi?" Ryouga asked finally. "My sister is spreading herself dangerously thin," Kasumi noted. "It would be nice to understand why." "We caught them…on a date," Ukyou explained, editing certain facts out. She could tell by Kasumi's face that the Tendo had assumed some of what was left unsaid. "I see," Kasumi noted. "Nabiki doesn't seem to think Shampoo feels the same way." "Nabiki said as much to Ukyou," Ryouga agreed. "Yeah, right," Ukyou hmphed. "You disagree?" "When I told her Nabiki had tried to fight Ken, she dropped a platter," Ukyou explained. "She certainly hasn't given up on Ranchan though." Ryouga looked at her cautiously. "Ranchan?" "Hey, he's my oldest friend," Ukyou noted. "She came to check on Nabiki early yesterday as well," Kasumi noted. The Tendo wondered a moment if the amazon knew how much pain she was causing her sister. "Then you don't think she's using my sister?" "No more than anybody else that pays her fees," Ukyou sniffed. "Hmm, this is an uncomfortable situation, perhaps you could continue to keep quite about it?" Ryouga shrugged, it wasn't like he didn't have his own secrets. Though, then again, they were about to make him give one of those up. Still his situation and Nabiki's were somewhat different. He'd dug his own grave, unlike the reportedly heartless Nabiki. "I won't promise anything if Shampoo keeps getting in my face about me and Ryochan," Kasumi glanced at the blushing Ryouga and blinked before smiling serenely. "Yes, well we'll do what we can then, won't we?" Kasumi said. "That black eye looks much better by the way. I did warn you and Akane to be careful." Ukyou took a moment to consider whether Kasumi really knew about that, and decided not to chance it. "It's healing nicely, thanks," Ukyou mumbled. "Akane usually hits harder than that, though," Ryouga noted. Ukyou and Kasumi sweatdropped. "Weird." "Well, I should be getting back soon," Kasumi stood up and bowed on her way out. "Hey, Ryochan, why don't we spend the next couple of days training?" she asked. "I want to get the Baksai Tenketsu down before we get your weapon skills up." "I'm fine with weapons," Ryouga muttered. It was already becoming an old argument. He knew what was coming by the smirk on Ukyou's face. "Yeah," Ukyou agreed, she flipped her okonomiyaki. Before the dish could land again she had drawn her battle-spatula slashed over Ryouga's head and sent a salvo of six mini-spatulas scraping past Ryouga into the wall across the room. Ryouga didn't blink as Ukyou replaced the battle spatula and caught the okonomiyaki with the cooking version of the same tool. "But I'm better." "If only you knew how to throw a punch." *CLANG* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nabiki woke with a headache, this was quick becoming an uncomfortable constant in her life. She ticked off the variety of headaches she experienced recently. There was the concussion from the fight with Ken, the exhaustion headache when she "woke up" last night, and now this. She was fairly certain what the cause of this was. She turned to the clock and gave an irritated sigh. "They let me sleep for fifteen hours?" Nabiki blinked. She took a quick survey of her condition. The shoulder was still tender, but whatever healing techniques the Amazons had used were holding, and the arm was usable despite the fall she had taken last night. Her ankle hurt though, she had twisted it in keeping enough of a stance to get the water towards Akane when Genma rushed her. Other than that she had the headache and a mass of other annoying injuries. She stood up and limped to her desk, and picked up a mirror. Carefully undoing the bandage on her face she examined the slash. It had been shallow and was healing nicely, a thin, scabbed line ranging from the outer corner of her eye to her chin. She couldn't tell yet, but she hoped it wouldn't leave much of a scar. She could do without distinguishing features. "I should not have tried for confirmation," she muttered. "Too much risk." Everything she had done recently had been risk heavy. Nabiki glanced at her door, hearing the sound of angry Chinese, as she replaced the bandage on her face. It was the girl the spring water had created. If she had brought home more spring of drowned twins water, she could have, perhaps, tried again. Though she was fairly certain that she couldn't splash Ranma a second time. She sat back on her bed and examined the floor. "What are you? Some kind of pervert?" "You can't just run around beating on people," Nabiki heard Ranma insist. "You don't know what that jerk has put me through!" Nabiki stood up carefully wiping at her eyes, and schooling her expression to its normal bored appearance. "Actually he does," Nabiki said as she walked out of her room. Ranma was holding the red-haired girl up off the ground by her shirt. "I assume you're talking about Genma?" "That damn panda-man's name is Genma?" "Good Morning, Nabiki," Ranma said cautiously. He noted how Nabiki held herself a moment and then spoke in a more concerned tone. "Should you be out of bed?" "I'm fine Ranma, sore, but fine," Nabiki insisted. "Now, I missed much of what happened last night, I hear when it sounded like you were using Genma for a tent peg though. Something Ranma should have done long ago actually." "Hey, she agrees with me," the girl noted. Ranma smacked his free hand into his face. ~Time to see how much damage I've done," Nabiki sighed, she would prefer to get the girl alone, but that might not be a good idea. Still, Ranma would make a decent chaperone. "I'm going to walk to Dr. Tofu's for a check up, perhaps you can come along and we could bring…" she looked at the girl expectantly. "Ranko," the girl snapped. "Of course, bring Ranko along with us," Nabiki said. "Considering the circumstances of her…arrival, it is only prudent." "Yeah, it'll keep her out of trouble anyway," Ranma mumbled, indicating the girl with her arms crossed and hanging by her shirt from Ranma's grip. Getting Ranko to Dr. Tofu's had always seemed a good idea to him, and of course he realized that Nabiki meant to use him as a bodyguard. "How did I get here anyway?" "We spilled what suppose was water of drowned twins on Ranma," Nabiki answered, ignoring Ranma's glare. "You were the result." "Huh?" she blinked. "Can I put you down," Ranma asked. "Or will you just run off after the old man?" "I couldn't find him now anyway," she grumbled. She started pouting and mumbling in chinese. "Good, then let's go," Nabiki declared. "I want to catch up on what happened last night anyway." She started toward the stairs, trying not to limp. Looking back and Ranma and "Ranko," she decided it wasn't a very successful attempt. She frowned and continued walking. "I'm really feeling much better." Ranma disappeared into his room for a minute and returned with his post-malleting walking stick and tossed it to Nabiki. "Hey, I don't want your father doing that demon head thing because I let you hurt yourself," Ranma protested at Nabiki's insulted look. "Well, are we ready now?" Nabiki asked. Ranko mumbled something in Chinese before following after the limping girl. They had walked nearly half a block when Nabiki started asking questions. "So who named you Ranko?" "She…" "I was asking her," Ranma shrugged irritably, but kept quiet. "Where did you get the name?" "I've always had the name," she blinked. "What were you saying about spring of drowned twins, what's that?" "Do you know what Jusenkyo is?" "Sounds familiar…" she answered, still pouting. "I remember almost drowning though…" Nabiki blinked and examined the girl's chi, comparing it to Ranma's, quickly coming to the same conclusion everybody else had last night. "Does anything seem familiar to you?" "We're going to a healer right?" she asked. "And a sifu too?" "Doc?" Ranma asked. "Yeah, but the proper term is sensei, but no trick there, we told you as much." "There's a sifu-healer in the village and you walk the same direction from An Kai's home that we're walking now to get there," she scrunched her eyes in confusion, well aware that she was being watched. "Great healer too, unless An Kai's sister is around, then he's dangerous." "That sounds like Dr. Tofu around Kasumi!" "Interesting," Nabiki commented. "And how did you recognize Genma?" "It's him all right," Ranko growled. "He got fat and bald, but its him, I can't even look at a c..c.c..cat now! Its his fault I missed my trials too!" "Trials?" Ranma asked. "What trials." He glanced at Nabiki, but couldn't see anything there to answer his questions. Then they were in front of the clinic. "Well, here we are," Nabiki smiled. She glanced at Ranko, the girl looked confused, scared and a little ill. It was hard to tell as of yet, but Nabiki didn't think she would prove to be a problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I'm home!" Akane called out as she entered the house back from a jog. It was about a minute before she realized that nobody was home except for her. The house had that curious echoing sound, she sighed in irritation as she started scanning the rooms. She found a note in the room Ranma and his father shared. "Nabiki asked me to walk her and my girl-side to the Doc's." Akane grumbled, but that had seemed the most logical thing, and it was past time for Nabiki to check in with Dr. Tofu. She peaked into the guest-room Kodachi had been using and noticed the bed had not been slept in. She didn't blame the girl for not staying here after last night. Akane had no clue where Kasumi had gone, but she found a rather long-winded note in Genma's hand in the family room. "We have embarked a journey of self-discovery in such places of enlightenment that you young children could not hope to experience." Akane quickly translated it into the following. "We're hiding from the psycho girl in a bar, we took the shogi board." "Idiots," Akane growled. She heard the door open and saw Kodachi cautiously walking into the house. "Is everybody gone?" she asked. "Yeah, boring isn't it," Akane muttered. "So where were you last night?" Kodachi blushed. "Nothing happened," she declared haughtily. "I just wanted some quiet." "I don't blame you," Akane said. "Though I could use a little noise for the moment." "Tendo-sensei," Akane sighed wistfully and turned to Kodachi. "Can you teach me some more?" "Sure, nothing else to do," Akane shrugged standing up and heading for the dojo. Then in a half-joking tone she added: "We can discuss the so-called men." "Indeed." Kodachi nodded in agreement. "Did you discover which flasks were which?" "Yes, Kamisama, Genma makes an ugly woman," Akane shivered. "He makes an ugly man too." "Then afterwords I suppose I'll bring a flask of the appropriate item back to Mousse," Kodachi managed to still sound haughty. "I am NOT a magical compost!" "Construct," Tofu corrected, as he finished taping up Nabiki's ankle, it turned out that she had sprained it. Needless to say, the middle Tendo was very irritated at this. "Whatever, I don't buy it, I have memories," Ranko snapped. "I don't know about this drowned spring water junk. I have to get back home for the trials! I'm already behind on the training." Ranma sat on the counter looking bored. "I think you'll find that if you were to compare your memories with Ranma that his are similar in number of places." "Has he ever been dropped in a pit of hungry cats wrapped in…" "Yes." The other three said at once. "Used as a distraction so someone could escape a pack of wolves?" "Now that I don't…" Dr. Tofu didn't manage to finish. "It was a bear." Everybody looked at Ranma and blinked. "And actually he was using the bear to get away from me." "Uh, huh," Nabiki said. "You need to explain to me some day why you still hang around your father." "That panda-man is your father!" "Unfortunately so," he muttered. "Oh…I'm sorry, hey!" she rubbed her arm and glared at Dr. Tofu who was examining a small syringe of blood. "What did you do that for?" "I'm going to compare your and Ranma's blood," the doctor answered. "Should prove interesting." "Aren't you going to take a sample of his blood?" Ranko pouted. Dr. Tofu absent-mindedly opened a fridge near his counter and revealed rows of blood samples, each of the local martial artists had a row of samples. "I've had plenty of earlier opportunities," he looked to the two Saotomes thoughtfully. "I don't think you need to stay here if you don't want to, but perhaps you should stay close to Ranma or Akane for a while." "What do you mean by that," Ranko asked. "I can take care of myself." "Not compared to Ranma you can't," the Doctor insisted. "I can tell by how you move, but other people are going to assume that you are Ranma. Until people figure out that you aren't, or until you get some more training, you should probably watch your step." Tofu sighed, he assumed that the non-Ranma half of the girl was no where near as highly trained as Ranma. "What, are they blind or something?" Ranko blinked. "Or do you still expect me to believe that magic water stuff?" "What about the curse?" Nabiki put in, curious mostly. "Yeah, am I still going to change?" "Doubtful," Tofu said. "The entire section of your aura that represented the curse is now interwoven in her aura." "What does that mean?" "I'm guessing the water of drowned twins found the excess chi on Ranma's aura and split it off as a more efficient method of completing its task." Tofu shrugged. Nabiki nodded, at least it seemed she had managed to cure Ranma, sort of. "There is a way to be sure of course." "And what is...hey!" a suddenly wet Ranma shouted. "What did you...hey I'm still a guy!" "Gee, what a surprise," an equally wet Ranko muttered. "I'm tired of this mumbo-jumbo, I've got things to do!" she zipped quickly out of the room. "I got it, I got it," Ranma said following after her. Tofu turned to Nabiki and cupped his chin. "I'm usually seeing Akane Tendo here," he said. "Don't worry," Nabiki said, irritably stepping down from the examination table and getting used to the feel of a pair of crutches. "I don't have anything going on that I need to do much for, and I won't be initiating any new business." She started limping out of the clinic. Dr. Tofu watched her with some concern, Nabiki was much more passive than was normal for her. Actually, resigned seemed to be a more appropriate word. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Nabiki," Kasumi called out as she saw her sister walking back towards the dojo. The girl turned around stiffly and blinked, her sister was upset about something. Something other than the fact that Nabiki was walking around instead of resting. "Did Ukyou know what she was feeding me?" "[We have things to discuss, Nabiki,]" Kasumi spoke quickly in soft, sibilant tongue that seemed to pool in the air. Nabiki's eyes popped wide and she scanned the area for onlookers quickly. "We don't speak that out in the open!" Nabiki snapped. "What are you thinking?" "Since you've returned," Kasumi continued calmly, now that she had Nabiki's attention. "Since you left, actually, you seem to have been on a mission of self-destruction. I've been wondering why." "Don't be stupid," Nabiki felt rather silly yelling at her sister, especially knowing that Kasumi wouldn't be rising to the bait. "I've had a run of severe bad luck. That is all." Nabiki thought about trying to ignore her sister and continue home, but that might not have been a good idea. "You're pining over Shampoo," Kasumi corrected, with an upraised eyebrow. "Just how much did I say last night," Nabiki demanded icily. "You predicted war and death," Kasumi said calmly. "And said you loved Shampoo." "That is my business," Nabiki snapped. "Even if I did not disapprove, even if you weren't killing yourself over this," Kasumi responded calmly. "It is our business when the family's only adept starts blurting family secrets and then fancying herself capable of fighting a powerful martial artist, With a knife no less." "The mistake was in waking him up to ask questions," Nabiki insisted. ~Not to mention that aside from this last week, I haven't entered the astral or worked the simplest spells since Mom died, and if he was Kento Kage...well I was lucky either way.~ "And what questions did you need to ask him." Nabiki looked about again for watchers, using chi sight to double check. "I heard him use the name Kento Kage," Nabiki whispered. Kasumi gasped in surprise, but quickly recovered herself. "Copycat Ken, whether he was the Traitor or not," Kasumi noted, not falling for the subject change. "Is dead. It does not change things, you need to stop dwelling on Shampoo, it isn't accomplishing anything." "I know that," Nabiki said and laughed bitterly. "I most definitely know that." She tried to ignore the feeling of her sister's concerned stare at her back, but couldn't quite do it. Kasumi might lack viciousness, but she was tenacious, and she was as protective of family as Nabiki or Akane. "We're just going up into the hills for a couple of days Ryouga," Ukyou said, sweatdropping. She was newly amazed, however, at just how much stuff Ryouga could fit in a single backpack, much less two. "Umm, that's all I ever plan to do," Ryouga said sheepishly. Ukyou rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well I think I have the solution for that," Ukyou said, she walked into the hallway, opened the closet and returned with a length of cable. "We're not doing any mountaineering," Ryouga said, before moving to finish up his packing. "Jackass," Ukyou muttered, and moved forward to clip the cable first to Ryouga's belt, then to hers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "There, now you can't wander off." "Uh," Ryouga sweatdropped. "Heh, heh. Umm..Food, tent, kettle, first aid kits...hmm?" "Something wrong?" Ukyou was glancing at the multiple first aid kits. "Not sure I have room for the rain gear," he scratched his head as he pondered how to proceed. He didn't notice Ukyou rolling her eyes and walking to the dresser. "Ugh," the noise was followed by a thudding sound, Ryouga turned to see Ukyou fallen flat on her rear. "Heh, maybe I need a longer cable, heh." Ryouga and Ukyou sweatdropped. She unhooked herself and snagged the flask off the counter. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I thought you wanted me to do that in front of Akane." "Yeah, well lying unconscious with only a pig to help me doesn't sound very appealing," she poured the water over Ryouga, standing as far back from the dripping water as possible. Ryouga felt the familiar tingle of transformation only for a moment. Not that the transformation ever lasted more than an instant, but it certainly felt like an eternity to the victims. It was as if the process started, found nothing to change, and stopped. Looking down saw himself, still human. "YES!!" the lost boy leaped up, hit the ceiling, went through it and then dropped, making the first hole larger. "Ryouga are you okay?" Ukyou asked concerned. "Yeah, that wasn't enough to hurt me," he said sheepishly. "And, it worked! Your not a pig!" Ukyou embraced him cheerfully. "Yes, finally I shall no longer have to worry about this humiliating curse!" Ryouga declared. "I'm a whole man again!" "Good," Ukyou said before narrowing her eyes and pointing up. "BECAUSE LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO OUR CEILING!!!" "Oh, sorry," Ryouga said nervously, before Ukyou burst out laughing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Mousse," Kodachi called out, attracting the blind boy's attention. "Kodachi? What are you doing here?" Mousse asked. "She always here, duck-boy," Shampoo snapped. "I came to bring this," she brandished the still sealed flask. "To Mousse, you conniving gaijin!" "Oh," Mousse took the flask and looked at it. "Thanks." "Ah, Kuno-san," Kodachi turned toward the whithered old crone. "And how are things at the Tendo dojo?" "That is hardly your concern," Kodachi said haughtily, if with not so high pitched a voice as usual. Her headache was better, but it was still present as a shadow. "I'm here mainly to give..." she turned back to Mousse and face faulted. "You DRANK it??" "Was I not supposed to?" Mousse asked, confused. "It was very refreshing by the way." "Baka! That was your cure!" Mousse blinked, though no one could tell through the glasses. "You mean I just drank away my best chance to be normal again?" Mousse asked. Cologne snickered. "Stupid duck-boy still stupid duck-boy," Shampoo muttered as she left for a delivery. "I've had enough of you old crone!" Kodachi snapped and moved to orbit kick Cologne. She blinked in surprise on finding herself thrown across the street into the garbage. "Hey, you dried-up old monkey!" Mousse followed Kodachi directly. "What happened?" Kodachi asked as she tried to remember the sequence of events that led to her in the trash. "Cologne is...very good." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Hey, wait up!" The girl turned around and shouted something Chinese that Ranma was certain was an insult. "Why do I get stuck as the baby sitter?" he wondered irritably. He put on a burst of speed to catch up with the girl and then pass her. "Get out of my way!" She launched an kick at his head, which Ranma caught easily enough. She had potential, though he had considered that obvious. She was at least half him after all. Ranko didn't stop there of course, launching into a flurry of punches that would have worried when he had first arrived in Nerima. As it was, he found them easy to counter, and he was actually fairly bored, though he hoped Ranko couldn't tell that. She gave up when Ranma dodged a sweep by flipping over her. Then she settled for merely shouting at him in a bizarre mixture of Japanese and Chinese. "Listen, Ranko," he shook his head, irritably. "Could you try to calm down and pick one language, preferably Japanese?" "I'm real!" "I couldn't guess," Ranma growled. "You know what I mean," she sat on the roof he had finally caught up to her on, and pouted. "If he's right then all my memories are wrong, but I know they aren't!" "Idiot! You can't always know that," Ranma snapped, thinking about the nightmare lands again. "Take a moment to look yourself over." "You are a pervert!" "Just do it," Ranma sighed. "Why?" "Any scars, or blemishes?" he asked. "Yeah, right here…" she blinked at the blank flesh. "Must have healed, well there's always this…the spear…I know the spear has to…" She tipped up her shirt corner, not noticing Ranma blush and look away. "What happened to me?!" "Newborns don't got scars," Ranma said. "Not usually anyway." "I'm seventeen years old thank you!" "Haven't you noticed that some of your memories don't make sense?" Ranma asked. "Like the mongols with the Okinawan accent." "That could happen," she whined, Ranma looked at her reproachfully. "This isn't fair!" She started crying, and Ranma reluctantly let her lean on his shoulder, cautiously looking about for Akane. Unnoticed by either a small form dropped out of the green shadows of a tree and padded carefully away. "Master Kuno will want to hear of this," the whisper carried only a small distance before dying away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shampoo waited until after closing time, when Cologne was going to sleep. It wouldn't do for her great-grandma to catch her. She would be suspicious at least, and if she guessed the truth, would have been furious. Shampoo was not going to allow her to trick Nabiki though. When an amazon was dishonored they were exiled and expected to go on a quest to regain their honor. The Japanese had this curious little tradition called seppuku, and while she doubted Nabiki would ever do something like that, she didn't want to take the chance. Besides, since Nabiki had gotten back she hadn't done more than speak a few sentences to the girl. She had still been a little mad, of course, but hadn't gotten much of a chance to vocalize it. Nabiki had been avoiding her, she knew it, but she didn't know why. When Shampoo had seen Nabiki, the Tendo was hardly her normal self. Shampoo wanted the dryly sarcastic girl back, and Nabiki's current behavior was scaring her. As the lights started dying out in the Tendo dojo, Shampoo moved. When she wanted to, the girl could move with absurd stealth, she didn't have to break down walls to get into places. But it annoyed Akane. The window opened quietly and Shampoo stepped in, and then goggled at all the charms around the room. "How anyone sleep in here?" she asked. "They actually very relaxing." Shampoo turned to see Nabiki sitting up on her bed, looking at Shampoo quietly. "Why are you here Shampoo?" "You okay?" the amazon asked. Shampoo darted in close and reached out to gingerly remove the bandage on Nabiki's face. She nodded satisfactorily. "Healing nice, not much of a scar." Nabiki couldn't think straight, Shampoo was right there with her, and she could think of was how it was an impossible dream. "Lock the door," she managed to get out. "You don't want my family seeing you in here." Shampoo stood up and shrugged before walking to Nabiki's door and placing the deadlocks in place. She glanced at the crutches and flinched inwardly, this most recent injury had been for Shampoo's benefit, even if it hadn't come out the way Nabiki had intended. "Shampoo warn you," Nabiki looked up. "Great grandma say have to kill red-haired girl." "I see," Nabiki sighed quietly. "Why are you telling me this." "Great-grandma want make girl seem to be threat," Shampoo said. "Then you help us kill her." Nabiki was aghast, trick her to aid in murder! How dare that old crone. "And how do you feel about this," Nabiki asked. "Shampoo not face half-breed in match," Shampoo noted. "She face Ranma." Nabiki looked down at her feet where they set against the floor. That horrible blank look came across her face before it passed below Shampoo's sight. Then the girl's shoulders started to shake quietly, Shampoo cautiously moved forward and bent to look in her face, she immediately stood straight up again. Nabiki was crying!? "I made a total mess of things Shampoo," she whimpered. "Everything is wrong. You and Akane are going to die fighting over Ranma, I know it." Shampoo sat down on the bed next to the weeping girl, and gingerly reached arm around her to pat her back. "You fix many things," Shampoo insisted. This wasn't good, seeing her friend like this, it almost seemed to physically hurt. Like when Nabiki blamed herself for Kuno attacking Ukyou, though that was just a shadow of the present situation. She kept thinking back to that daydream, with a brightly smirking Nabiki, full of confidence and fire. That image had been stuck in her mind. "Only what I broke in the first place," Nabiki sighed. "I should stick to money. Money doesn't have a life to…" Shampoo turned Nabiki to face her and the Tendo girl stopped talking as she turned to look at Shampoo. Those purple eyes that caught her once before were filled with intense worry as Shampoo carefully brushed some of the bangs away from Nabiki's face. "Shampoo?" The amazon moved in and kissed the shocked moneylender. Nabiki was too surprised at first to respond, but as Shampoo pull her full body in she began to understand that it was really happening. After several moments they broke off and stared at each other in surprise, Nabiki still firmly in Shampoo's embrace. Shampoo blinked as she realized that the kiss wasn't near enough for her now. "We have to be quiet," Shampoo said softly as Nabiki just nodded. She hesistantly reached her arms around Shampoo, still half-expecting this to be a dream. The Japanese girl initiated her own kiss, closing her eyes to focus on the feel and the taste. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The scents of ramen spices, incense and the tang of blood mixed as she inhaled them. Shampoo hesitated when Nabiki didn't resist being lowered to the bed. The yielding confused her, she expected Nabiki to be domineering. Everything she knew about Nabiki told her the girl liked to be in control, and this fading seemed strange. "You hurt?" Shampoo asked cautiously, pulling away. Nabiki arched her eyebrow in her usual "what do you think" manner, and reached back up to gently encircle Shampoo's head in her arms, and assuage her doubts with another kiss. Shampoo pushed downward again, hesitantly as she tried to figure out why Nabiki was acting so oddly. Nabiki was no less confused. Shampoo refused to be led. She was having to draw the girl out more than she thought would be necessary. Every time she thought Shampoo was taking the lead, the amazon hesitated. It was strange, quite unlike what she expected. Hands and lips roamed, and eyes met momentarily. Each regarded the other with the same unasked for inquiry. ~Why are you holding back?~ Both decided to change tactics, still thinking in terms of plan and counter. Restraint remained, as Shampoo carefully avoided aggravating Nabiki's injuries. This mildly frustrated the Tendo, who found herself prevented from doing everything she wanted to. Both were trying to keep as quiet as possible, worried about discovery. Which of the two gave in first was too close to call. Perhaps Nabiki stopped trying to lead Shampoo on. Maybe Shampoo gave up trying to figure out Nabiki. At some point they merely tossed out whatever strategies they had in mind. Slowly they started responding to each other, rather than their own expectations. Pressure of one kind faded into another, and the pressure built. Until, finally paired screams died in a shared embrace. Then the two girls wearily fell back on Nabiki's bed, staring at each other in sweat-coated awe. They didn't even fight the exhaustion that pulled them gently down to sleep, in each other's arms.
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