I do not own Ranma ½ Rumiko Takahashi does.

Talking

Thinking

AN: I am sorry for how long this chapter took, but my muse decided that she needed a vacation, and then proceeded to take a trip to a remote location. After that, it was discovered that the notes I had made for this chapter and the ones following it were destroyed in an accident. I appreciate all the reviews, and hope all of you like this chapter. Hopefully all your questions will be answered.

Nabiki couldn’t help but smirk. Just as she had expected, Ranma’s brain had shut down. She then turned to her daughter and knelt down, a smile on her face.

“If I were to take a guess, I would say that daddy did stop for breakfast today. Am I right?”

Kiren giggled at her mothers antics and nodded.

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I saved each of you a plate. Let’s go to the kitchen and get yours.”

Kiren’s smile grew to the point that it was almost bigger than her face, and followed her mother towards the kitchen. Nabiki looked back at her husband for a moment, studying his posture and expression then pulled out a camera and took a few pictures. Nabiki then turned and called up to Kasumi.

“I’m going to be in the kitchen for a while, Kasumi.”

Nabiki led her daughter into the kitchen without waiting for a reply from Kasumi. She found a stool for Kiren to sit on and then put a warm plate of food on the counter. She then turned to Kiren and knelt down to look her in the eye.

“Now I know you know daddy’s eating technique, but remember the rule I told you.”

“I know mommy, I can’t eat like that unless it’s just me and daddy. Or if Grandpa Panda tries to use it on me or sissy.”

Nabiki smiles as she stands up. She sits Kiren down on her stool and lets her enjoy her food. She smiles as her daughter digs into her food.

Hmmm, Ranma should be waking up soon. I hope this goes well.

Almost on queue, the object of Nabiki’s thoughts shouted out.

“NABIKI, WE NEED TO TALK!”

I wish he had been quieter about that. Now everyone in the house knows he’s here.

Nabiki sighed and called out to her husband.

“I’m in the kitchen Ranma.”

At this point, several things happened all at once. Akane stopped worrying about Nabiki’s actions from earlier and shot up from her seat with a scowl on her face when she heard Ranma. Kasumi put down her cleaning rag and started downstairs, wanting to know what all the fuss was about. Soun and Genma remained clueless.

Ranma ran into the kitchen, the worry evident on his face.

“Nabs, why did you come back here? If that certificate is authentic, then you are going to have 3 or 4 people after your head. What happens when they find out about Kiren? I stayed away for a reason, remember!”

“Ranma, please calm down. Yelling at Nabiki isn’t going to change the fact that you are here.”

Ranma looked in the direction of the soft, caring voice.

“I know Kasumi; I just wanted to do this on my terms.” Ranma sighed and looked at his daughter. I hope I don’t regret bringing her here.

“RANMA!!!!!!”

Everyone looked in the direction of the dining room, where the shout seemed to come from.

“Well, it seems that the “Princess” is on her way. Nabs, grab Kiren and get behind me, this could end badly.”

Nabiki grabbed her daughter and moved closer to Ranma just as Akane stormed into the kitchen.

“SO RANMA, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHICH OF YOUR WHORES WERE YOU SHACKED UP WITH? RANMA YOU JERK!”

Ranma sighs to himself.

Same old Akane, I see. She didn’t even let me say anything. She just automatically jumped to conclusions as she always does.

Everyone in the room watched as Akane’s aura flared, the red tint of rage evident even to Kasumi. Kiren’s eyes narrowed as her aunt raised her hands above her head and called forth her Mallet-sama, punisher of all who piss off the Princess Akane.

Nabiki scowled at her sister. She has no idea who she’s dealing with. Kasumi looked on with similar thoughts, but added her own. I wonder if Ranma is going to let her hit him this time. Maybe he’s grown a backbone since the last time I saw him. Hey, stranger things have happened.

Akane, oblivious to everyone in the room besides Ranma, rushed forward with her mallet ready to deliver justice upon her wayward fiancé. As she reached the halfway point, her mallet suddenly became quite light in her hands. When she glanced up to see what the cause was, she saw Mallet-sama had been burned into charcoal.

What the hell? How did that happen?

Ranma watched as Akane stopped her bull rush and glanced back at his daughter.

“Kiren, what did I tell you about doing that?”

“Sorry daddy, but she was going to hurt you. I didn’t want that to happen, so I stopped her.”

Ranma sighed and knelt down to look his 7 year old daughter in the face. He brushed her red hair out of her face so he could look into her green eyes. Her clothing mimicked her father’s except she liked green, so had a green shirt on. Her hair was down to the middle of her back and was pulled back into a ponytail.

“Kiren I know you meant well, but we do not use that on people. It’s too dangerous and what if the fire had spread to her clothing. Please think about stuff like that next time.”

“He’s right Kiren. While I am proud of the control you showed by flash burning your aunt’s mallet into ash, it was very dangerous and we are lucky no one was hurt.”

Kiren looked at her parents and smirked.

“Like you two weren’t thinking of doing something similar.”

Ranma looked at his daughter for a moment before turning to his wife.

“I knew you taught her to be way too smart for her own good, Nabs.”

“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t want her ending up like you.”

Kiren couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her parents as they shot comments back and forth.

“Who is she and what happened to my mallet?!”

“Akane, that will be explained in due time. Now, let’s all go out to the dojo, I don’t feel like explaining this more than once today and the fathers have a right to know.”

Nabiki turned and walked out to the dojo with Kiren in tow. Ranma trailed right behind his daughter and he was followed by Kasumi and Akane. Nabiki entered the dojo and looked at the two middle age men sitting together in the middle of the room, huddled close so that their voices wouldn’t carry.

“Daddy” Nabiki’s eyes narrowed. “Genma; we have something we need to talk about.”

“What is that, Nabiki?”

“My husband and daughters are what I want to talk about, Father.”

Both fathers looked at her with wide eyes.

“Husband and daughters, but Nabiki, you don’t have either of those.”

Nabiki smirked and pulled in Ranma and Kiren.

“Oh, but didn’t I tell you? The families are joined, just like you wanted.”

“RANMA WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?”

“DAUGHTER, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?”

Nabiki calmly sat down facing the fathers and pulled her daughter into her lap.

“Well, if everyone will sit down, we will try to explain how this all came about.”

Ranma sat next to Nabiki, while Akane sat next to Genma while Kasumi was next to her father.

“Nabiki, you said daughters, how many more do you have and where are they?”

“There is only one other, and she was at a sleepover with her friends last night, she knows where we are and how to get here. She should be arriving just before Mother Nodoka.”

“Nodoka is coming here? Soun my friend, I’m afraid I must be off.”

“Oh no Pops, you’re staying right there. We are both going to greet mom when she gets here.”

“Foolish boy, she’ll kill us both if we stay here!”

“And why would she do that? I have a wife and two daughters. Don’t you think that is more than manly enough for her?” Even though I had no clue about being married, I have to thank Nabiki. She gave me a way to finally talk to mom without worrying about that damn pledge.

“Nabiki, what I would like to know is how all this happened. How did you come to be married to Ranma? How is it that you have two daughters?”

Nabiki looked from Ranma to her father.

“Well daddy, I have to let Ranma start the tale, I was not there at the beginning.”

“Well Mr. Tendo, it all started the night of the failed wedding.”

Flashback

Ranma is walking down the street, still in the tux he was forced into not that long ago.

Why does nothing ever go right for me? Why does everyone feel the need to interfere with my life? I’m not greedy, there was more than enough water in that cask for all of us to be cured, but no, they had to have it for themselves.

Ranma sighs to himself then looks up as he hears a scream. He runs in the direction of the scream and arrives at the scene of a house fire, a small red-headed girl being the one who screamed. Ranma runs over to her and checks her over for injuries.

“Are you okay?”

The little girl looks up to him with tears in her eyes.

“Mommy…”

“Where is your mother?”

She points to the burning building.

“Your mommy’s inside that building?”

The little girl nodded at Ranma and turned back to the burning building.

“I wonder if anyone is alive in there.”

Then he looks back at the little girl and nods to himself before running inside to try to find anyone that might be inside.

Flashback End

“When I went inside, I found several bodies, including a few children, all charred beyond recognition. I don’t know what happened there, but from what I could tell, her mother was dead before the fire started.”

“I called the fire department and did what I could to prevent the fire from spreading. After the firemen showed up, I check Kiren over for wounds and kept her nearby. The police took my statement and I asked if I could look after the girl, since she was alone now.”

Ranma glanced over to Kiren before returning his gaze to his father and the tendos.

“The officer I talked to said I could watch her for the night, but unless I adopted her, she would end up in an orphanage. After what she had been through, I couldn’t let that happen. So I managed to scrounge enough money for a hotel and got a room for the night.”

“The next morning, I called the one person I knew that could help me with keeping Kiren out of an orphanage.”

Flashback

Ranma wasn’t looking forward to this. But if it keeps Kiren out of an orphanage, then I’ll do it. He then picks up the phone and dials.

“Hello”

“Hello Nabiki”

“Oh, it’s you. Where have you been?”

“I can’t tell you right now, but I can explain after you help me with a problem I have.”

“So, you need my help. You do know that this is going to cost you, right?”

“I’ve been around you enough to know that, but this is too important to take to anyone else. You might charge an arm and a leg, but you always come through.”

“I was just making sure you understand. So, how can I help you?”

“How much is this going to cost me?”

“We’ll discuss the cost once I find out what it is you need.”

“Well, last night after I left, I ran into a little girl. Her mother died in a fire and she was all alone outside the building where her mother died. I am watching her right now but she will be put into an orphanage unless someone adopts her. I want to be the one who does.”

“Wow….Only you would come to me for this kind of thing. Alright, I’ll see what I can do for you. Call me back in 30 minutes.”

“Okay Nabiki. I’m going to trust you to keep this to your self for now. If anyone else found out, I doubt she or I would get a moments rest and she really needs time to deal with what happened.”

“I understand Saotome. Just call back in 30 minutes.”

Flashback Ends

The fathers looked at Ranma in shock. Akane’s face perfectly displayed the barely controlled rage she was feeling and Kasumi just gave Ranma a proud smile.

“Ranma, as much as I would like you to continue the story, you have a tournament to get to. I’ll tell your mother where you are.”

Ranma looked at Nabiki and sighed.

“Oh, come on Ranma. It’s not that bad. Besides, you haven’t done anything like this in a while. And when you come home tonight...”

Nabiki whispered in Ranma’s ear and his eyes grew wide and he got a nosebleed.

“Nabs, I never knew.”

“Well Ranma, we have been married for 5 years now. You didn’t think I would let you get away without a wedding night, did you?”

Ranma paled for a moment and then blushed.

“Just get going, Ranma. Have fun, but don’t come home too tired. You’ll need some energy for when you get home.”

Ranma stared at Nabiki for a few moments before smiling.

“Okay Nabs. I promise I won’t go all out and come home exhausted.”

Ranma stands and walks out of the dojo.

“Well, where were we?”

“Ranma had called you to help him with adopting Kiren.”

“Thank you Kasumi. Well, I looked into what Ranma wanted and after 10 minutes I found that he could adopt her, but at his age, he would have to be married. I thought about the situation and after hearing about how traumatized Kiren was, I felt that there was only one option. So when Ranma called, I had him meet me at city hall.”

Nabiki looks down at the little girl in her lap and smiles.

“While I was getting the adoption papers, I also got marriage papers. I combined the stacks and took them out to where Ranma was to get Kiren’s information and for him to sign where appropriate.”

“Why did you marry him? Why not ask me to? He was MY fiancé!!!”

Akane’s control over her rage had obviously broken. Her red aura flared and her knuckles were white.

“You’re giving a perfect demonstration of why I didn’t let anyone know. Do you really think that placing a recently traumatized little girl in your care would have been a good idea? Even if you hadn’t turned your temper on her, you would have led her around town, showing off your way of winning Ranma.”

Akane’s eyes lit up with the flames of her rage and her mallet began to materialize in her hands.

“How dare you! Taking MY fiancé! What right did you have to make that decision?! Who do you think you ARE?! HE WAS MINE!!”

Akane charged Nabiki, her mallet-sama ready to deal justice to the bitch of a sister who had dared steal her “fiancé” from her. As she brought her instrument of justice down upon the thief, she grinned. She can’t dodge this now. She’ll get what she deserves.

Just as Akane thought victory was all but achieved, Nabiki rolled to her left with Kiren still in her lap. Once out of the way of the mallet, she sent a kick up into her sister’s jaw. This shocked Akane enough for Nabiki to get further away from her sister and get Kiren to safety. She then stood and set Kiren down, her own red aura flaring brighter than Akane’s.

“Akane, if you endanger my family again, neither Ranma nor I will take responsibility for what happens.”

“I doubt you could do anything to me Nabiki. That kick was just a lucky shot.”

“Whatever makes you feel better, Akane. Now, if I can get back to the story. Well, after watching Ranma with our new daughter, I knew he would be a good father.”

“How did all this happen and no one found out? Where did the official documents go daughter?”

Nabiki smiles at her father and would have answered his question, but at this exact moment her cell phone rings.

“Hello.”

“Yes darling.”

“She should be he just after you then.”

“Okay, just be careful. See you when you get here.”

Nabiki hung up her cell phone and put it back in her apron pocket.

“Sorry about that. Where were we again?”

“I believe that father asked about the official documents.”

“Thank you again, Kasumi.”

Nabiki smiles at her sister.

“That was actually the easiest thing to set up. I called Mother Nodoka after Ranma called me back and told her everything. She told me to have all the official documents sent to her and no one here would be the wiser. I also discovered that getting the clan head’s permission was easier than I thought it would be.”

Genma didn’t like the way this was going. She couldn’t have, she wouldn’t.

“You can imagine how surprised I was when I found out that Mother Nodoka was the clan head. So you can imagine how interested she was when I started to tell her all I knew about the 10 year training journey.”

A red aura flared for a second time, but this time it came from Genma.

“You BITCH!! What have you done?!”

“What have I done? That’s simple, you lazy oaf. I told your wife about what happened on your training journey and then I got you removed from the clan register. Your wife has divorced you and you are now a ronin.”

Genma was livid. All that work I put into raising my meal ticket, I mean my son and for what, so this bitch can take away everything from me? She is going to pay right NOW!

Genma charged Nabiki in an almost exact reenactment of how Akane had just tried to. Genma was faster than Akane however, so Nabiki was not able to dodge the incoming strike. A voice cried out form the dojo entrance that only Nabiki and Kiren recognized.

“MOKO TAKABISHA!”

A/N: Wow, finally done. Again, I would like to apologize for how long this chapter took. I knew where I wanted this to go, but without my muse and notes, it took longer than I wished. Well, I hope that explains a few things. Please review, I love hearing feedback.