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Well, I think I've done it this time. This may not be my best work, but then again, I'm not the best at what I do. Do note here that there is some minor swearing, I'm assuming that at some point in time you've all heard such foul language and I just want to apologize to you now if I'm about to offend your virgin eyes for such language.
Disclaimer: And here I do proclaim to thee, Ranma 1/2's not owned by me. Lawsuits on me would be a waste, just hit me with a heavy mace. (instead, that is)
G.B.: I don't understand the difference from lime, lemon, or even what waff means. Someone will have to explain the finer points at some point in time later. I think I grasp it enough to mention a brief lime like section near the bottom, but this is my belief only. I do know that near the end of this chapter is an Ecchi moment, though thankfully short. You're going to be exposed to it, but thankfully, it describes nothing specifically. Let your own mind fill in the blanks, you perverts.
Soun had called her the moment he had a phone number, surprising the woman on the other end that he had even remembered her after the five years since the letter had been sent to him for any information he may have had about her wayward husband and her lost child. Telling her that her husband was at his house and recovering from a serious bout of deadly poison, he suggested to her to come immediately, not knowing if he would survive long. She swore to him that she would be there by the end of the day.
Soun didn't actually lie to her about the poison. Normally, people who eat Akane's cooking really did die, though it was more along the lines of instantaneous than the slow torture that Genma was going through. The only thing that Soun could imagine to be the reason that he was being punished this way was for all the sins that he had accumulated during his live.
Somehow, that did put a smile on his face.
By the time the sun was setting, the sound of the gate slamming open followed by the harsh rapping of a fist on their doorway announced the arrival of one distraught wife.
Soun was the first to the door, closely followed by a weary Kasumi. She waited up late into the night hours for the return of Ranma, who for all intents and purposes, had not been seen nor heard from since disappearing into Nerima. Nabiki leaned against the frame of the hallway, waiting to see what kind of character this Nodoka really was.
Soun slid the door open to gaze upon a woman near her middle years, though her hair was a softer red than Ranma's female form. Blue eyes that looked like they had cried an ocean of tears rimmed by red rings stared from a face lined with worry and misery. Her blue kimono and red obi looked to have suffered from her hysterical travel to get here all the way from the edges of Juuban to nearly the center of Nerima in only a day.
"Where is my husband? Is he still alive?" She reached forward and grabbed Soun by his gi, shaking him silly with unheard of strength. Not getting the answers she was seeking, she stopped shaking him long enough to lean into his chest and bawled her eyes out at the injustice of it all.
"Mrs. Saotome?" Soun asked the woman, bewildered beyond belief.
"She looks a lot like her son." Nabiki muttered, only to wish she hadn't when the woman stopped crying on Soun and turns her gaze on her.
"You've seen my Ranma?" she whispered in a barely audible voice before seeming to teleport past Soun and repeat her throttling, only this time on Nabiki. "Where is my son? You've no idea what kind of hell I've seen!"
It took both Soun and Kasumi to pry Nodoka's hands from off of Nabiki before whiplash set in.
Moments later as calmer heads prevailed, Nodoka was told how both Genma and son had arrived at their house three days passed. They explained to her that her son was also now her daughter and her husband was now the family pet as they explained the Jusenkyo curse as best as they understood it. It was fortunate for them that Nabiki had the forethought to print off a description of Jusenkyo and a brief flyer about their instant packets that were sold as party commodities.
To say she was upset was being kind about it.
"I'LL KILL HIM!" Nodoka shouted at the top of her lungs as she headed for the stairs. Soun attempted to grab hold of her but missed the sleeve of her dark blue kimono by inches. Hot on her trail, Soun and his two eldest chased Nodoka upstairs and down the hall to the only room without a plaque hanging from it.
She slid the door open, nearly throwing it through the wall behind it as she balefully glared into the room. Sitting next to Genma's bed, force feeding him to make sure he stayed healthy, Akane turned from what she was doing to look at the strangely red glowing woman.
"Can I help you?" Akane asked, clueless as to the death gaze that was being shot over her shoulder and to the sweating man behind her.
"No-chan!" Genma squealed in mortal terror. He was trying to make his legs work, but that stuff the young Tendo was feeding him was playing havoc with his body. He hadn't been able to feel his legs ever since that first meal by her.
Nodoka reached for her waist, only to find that her hand grabbed at nothing but air. Wondering how that could be, she looked down at her waist to realize that she had left the house under the assumption that Genma was dying and left the honor blade on its rack in the dojo. Cursing herself for her foolishness, she walked over as calmly as she could to Genma, her battle aura still flaming brightly for all to see.
"Excuse my interrupting your mealtime, Husband." She said the last word with barely contained contempt. "I wanted to discuss a few things with you about our son." Hopefully her eyebrow wasn't ticking as hard as what she thought it was, Genma always said it was a good indication of her mood.
Watching Nodoka's face, Genma counted off mentally how many times her brow twitched. After getting nearly to eighty before he had reached half a minute, he decided that using his arms to crawl out the window nearby was in his best interests.
"So your auntie Saotome!" Akane deduced as she placed her bowl of 'specially prepared food' next to her and turned to face Nodoka properly. Her parent and sisters were motioning for her to come over to them, but she didn't see why that was necessary. After all, women weren't perverts. "I'm Akane Tendo, heir to the Tendo School of Martial Arts."
A true smile seemed to grace Nodoka's lips as Akane beamed happily up at Nodoka, her battle aura guttering out as she patted the young Tendo's head. "Akane, dear, if you'd be so kind as to allow me and my husband some privacy? We haven't seen each other in ten years, and we need to talk for a moment."
"Of course, Auntie." Akane said as she stood up, conveniently forgetting the food she left at the bedside of Genma. She walked over to the door and gave the elder woman a beautiful smile before closing the door on them.
The description of the sounds that came from this room would make the bravest man cringe and the weakest die simply to even have the rumor of said sounds be uttered in his presence. Suffice it to say, for the next hour or so after those doors closed, people all over Nerima shivered and found some reason to be inside, praying to whatever Kami they believed in that they were not the ones being so tortured.
Once the sounds died out and a silence that made people nervous ensued, Nodoka Saotome walked slowly down the stairwell looking for all intents immaculate in her blue kimono and red obi. Kasumi was in the process of cooking a meal for her newest guest, remembering to conserve food as best as she could to keep finances down. Although Mrs. Saotome had arrived to deliver punishment to her wayward husband, they were still hurting monetarily.
Nodding to Mrs. Saotome as she walked through the kitchen, she stood aside and allowed the older woman to sample her meal. The smile she received raised her spirits from the gloom they had settled into since Ranma's disappearance, but only enough to feel less upset and more worried.
Bringing dinner out to her family and to her guest, Kasumi listened in on what Soun was telling her. "Do you have any idea where Ranma may have disappeared to, Mrs. Saotome?" he asked, concerned for all intents and purposes.
Nodoka shook her head. "My husband and child have been gone for ten years. I can honestly say that if Ranma has run away, I wouldn't have the slightest idea as to where he disappeared to." Nodoka looked forlornly in front of herself as she thought. "I can only imagine what kind of child he raised my son up to be."
"A thief, apparently." Nabiki couldn't resist, and the glare she got from Kasumi wasn't cooling her dislike for the young Saotome. Nodoka's shocked gaze snapped up to the middle Tendo's eyes. "Nearly two days ago, the day of his disappearance, he stole a sizeable amount of money from all of us and disappeared into the streets with it."
Nodoka's hair audibly toinged from the bun on her head, giving her a ruffled and unsettled look.
"Now, because of his theft, we are in danger of losing our house and our livelihood." Nabiki continued, taking a rice cracker and munching on it without a care in the world on her face, her voice betraying that illusion.
"Be that as it may," Soun said, receiving a disparaging look from his daughter, "I have one last thing to say to you that will bring his emotional state into context with what may or may not have occurred. We honestly cannot say whether Ranma stole money from us without proof, though he is our prime suspect."
By this time, Akane was sitting at the table listening in as Kasumi brought the last of the food to the table and took her own seat.
Soun pulled out a book titled Neko-Ken and handed it across the table to Nodoka. "I think you should read this, but I warn you, it's not for the faint of heart."
Confused as to what that meant, Nodoka opened the book and began reading through the pages. Akane peeked around the side to see what was so interesting about a cat attack. Nodoka got halfway through the book before the color drained from her face and her eyebrow twitched fiercely. Akane looked faintly green around the edges, but continued to read.
By the time Nodoka was nearly done with the book, Akane excused herself and headed down the hall to the bathroom.
Closing the book as easily as she could and placing it flat on the table under her hands, she raised her stone cold eyes to Soun. "Which method did he use?" she asked, frost literally coating her lips.
Soun swallowed before he could answer. "I honestly don't know that."
"Guess." Nodoka wanted to know this answer, and wanted it bad enough to give a very unseemly display of impropriety to this family that had allowed her to sit with them at their dinner. If her son had truly gone through this training…
"Knowing Genma as I do from training under our Master", he shivered involuntarily, whether because of the woman in front of him or by the thought of his Master, "I would guess the last one."
The air visibly chilled around Nodoka at those words. Reaching down to her obi and her coin purse, Nodoka pulled out a roll of bills three fingers fat and laid them on the table before standing up. "Thank you for this information and for your hospitality. This money I give you is for your losses and for the room and board my husband and son may have incurred under your care."
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she looked sadly upon them all. "If you find my son, or hear anything about him, please call me immediately I will gladly compensate you for all of your troubles. Good day to you." She bowed to Soun and his daughters one at a time before walking out of the room and heading upstairs.
She came back down stairs pulling the gi of Genma by the neck as she dragged him out of the house. Nothing was said between them, and Nodoka would wait until they got home, otherwise she might have to murder him right now.
Kasumi and Nabiki both looked confused at Soun before Nabiki reached for the book and the money. By this time, Akane came back into the room and sat down at the table, still looking green around the edges. Pocketing the money, she opened the book and read for herself. Using the index, she flipped to the back where her father said may have been the reason Ranma was so messed up.
She read maybe half the page before her eyes popped out of her head and she slammed the book shut. Kasumi looked worriedly from her sisters to her father, who also had a pasty complexion, before looking at Nabiki and the book. She took the book from Nabiki's limp fingers, pulling it away but not opening it, simply pocketing the book in her apron.
"Let's eat before dinner gets cold, okay?" Kasumi offered, trying to raise their spirits.
The only thing she managed to do was send Akane running back to the bathroom. Nabiki looked nearly as ill as Akane, though she managed to keep from throwing up. Soun took his chopsticks in hand before taking the offered rice bowl from Kasumi. Nabiki waved her sister off from the food, saying she was no longer hungry as she stood up and walked to the stairs heading up to her room.
Akane came back a bit later, but also didn't stay around to eat, saying she was on a diet. Thanking her sister anyways, she headed upstairs to her bedroom.
Disappointed that her meal would go uneaten tonight, Kasumi and Soun ate slowly, wondering what would happen next to their household.
By the time school was out, she had not made enough.
Nabiki walked home, head down and tears running along her cheeks, unsure what would become of her family. She had tried her best, she had tried to keep her family from being out on the street, but her best wasn't good enough. Now, because of a bad choice of ethics, her family was not only going to be out on the street, but was going to be someone's property.
She cursed her ill fated luck, she cursed her lack of morals and ethics, but most of all, she cursed Ranma Saotome.
Everything would have been fine if he and his father had never come to the dojo. They would have found some way of making their food stretch as far as it could while paying off the loan to the yakuza. She also would have found a means to save up their cash and not have to worry about lack of college funds for her and Akane, even making enough of a nest egg up for Kasumi's dowry and daddy's retirement.
She sighed as she rubbed her cheeks. Who was she kidding? She was the reason for her family's bad luck. She should have sold her skills on the street when she could to make sure things didn't get this bad. At least then she wouldn't have had to go to the yakuza for that stupid loan. So what if her father would never have talked to her again? At least she could have provided for them.
She bumped into someone, not seeing where she was going and her resentment snapped. "Watch where the hell you're..?" her voice trailed off at the mess in front of her.
Blood leaked freely from the left arm from under the sleeve of the red cheongsam with a twined dragon along the body. The person's shoes were lost some time ago and every step was a bloody one, most likely due to walking on things best left for shoes. The hair was dull and matted, crusty blood peeking out from between the red locks and along the pigtail that hung low. The person wobbled dangerously on weary legs, unsure of their own step.
"Ranma?" Nabiki whispered, catching the attention of the person in front of herself.
They turned around and she blanched. It was Ranma, or what was left of her. One whole side of her face was swollen badly, her eyesight impossible from the left one. Shallow cuts on her cheek under the one good eye gave her the semblance of crying tears of blood. Her nose was busted open and bleeding slowly from the bridge, from the stains on her face, she had been in one fight too many.
Reaching underneath her cheongsam with her good arm, she pulled out a bundle of money far larger than anything Nabiki had ever seen before. The roll was nearly as large as her fist and the outside bill read ten thousand yen on it. Unable to accurately hand over the money to her, Ranma pushed it into her stomach until she felt her hands wrapping around it.
Unable to understand what Ranma was doing, she looked up into Nabiki's disbelieving eyes before wiping at the tears that were still playing along her cheeks. The light in Ranma's eyes went out as her knees gave out and she collapsed forward into Nabiki, Nabiki's arms reflexively reaching out and around the hurt girl. Looking down into the unconscious face of the person she just didn't understand, she did the first thing that came to her mind.
"Help me! Someone, please, help me!"
Nabiki had summarily been declared fit if in a state of shock and could go at any time. Ranma was worse off in the extreme and was a miracle of the human body how she was still alive. She had lost a lot of blood, nearly half of it, not to mention the dislocated left shoulder, cracked skull, and sprained ankle. Tofu didn't know if she was going to make it, but in his best opinion, if she wasn't dead by now she wasn't going to die.
That joke didn't exactly fly with Nabiki either.
The yakuza had been called on Nabiki's cell phone. They had come while Tofu was still examining Ranma for anything he might have missed, thankfully Nabiki didn't have to explain how she knew them to Tofu. They had taken the money, it was still short ten thousand yet, but for such a small amount of money, they were willing to wait. They didn't ask about the blood that was all over her school uniform and she didn't bother telling them.
Her next call had been to Kasumi. She should have been home by now and it was probably driving her sister insane with worry that the yakuza had caught up to her and made her do all sorts of things in remunerations, and that was just a start of what she was going to have to do for them. Thankfully, her father had picked the phone up and managed to keep his weeping down to a gentle trickle until she explained that the yakuza were no longer a threat and she needed help at Tofu's.
She waited for whoever would be coming. At this point, she was emotionally shell shocked. The last few days had not only been physically draining, but had sapped her will to do anything but sit there and let the world go by without her. It was different, not something she was used to. It left her unsettled, and feeling strangely alone.
Tofu's door slid open and in walked a bawling Soun and a slightly worried Kasumi Tendo. Soun took one look at his daughter, broke down into even more tears and immediately lifted her off the couch into a bone crushing hug, unmindful that his tears were soaking his middle child. The look of worry on Kasumi's face cleared up immediately when Nabiki looked at her over her father's shoulder before Nabiki broke down and cried openly into him.
The door leading into Tofu's medical area opened and out came Tofu, removing bloody latex gloves and the mask over his face. He sighed once into his hands as he mentally shrugged off the fugue that Nabiki's friend put him in before looking up at who else was here.
The moment he saw Kasumi, the world went away. Tofu was off in his own world with the love of his life, dancing around his office as he imagined the life he would be living with the woman that made his world spin. Kasumi smiled happily at the doctor, wondering why he was acting so happily, but not saying anything at his antics.
"Sis, I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait outside, or we'll never get Tofu to calm down." Nabiki sniffled as she pulled away from her father, Soun eyeing Tofu as if the man was slightly unbalanced and not safe to be around.
Tilting her head to the side in confusion at her sister, she complied none the less and closed the door behind her as she waited for her family.
The moment Kasumi left the room, the doctor seemed to come back to his senses, though his glasses were still fogged up. "Oh, Mr. Tendo. Are you here to pick up Nabiki?" It was as if he didn't even realize Kasumi had just been there.
"Actually, we're here about her friend." Soun said, earning him a confused tilt much like Kasumi's, but the doctor didn't inquire as to whom else was with him. Maybe it was a mouse in his pocket or something.
Opening the doorway and motioning for Soun and Nabiki to go first, Tofu stepped in after them and closed the door for privacy's sake. On the lone table lay Ranma, the swelling had gone down a bit from the ice pack that was positioned and hanging from a rod above her head, both feet were bandaged heavily and gauzed, and a tight bandaged wrap could be seen covering her left shoulder.
"It's amazing she's even still alive." Tofu said critically as he pulled the medical chart he had used to write down everything that was wrong with her. "She has light internal injuries as if she was put through ha tenderizer and left in there for hours. Dislocated left shoulder and right ankle, forty percent blood loss, fatigue, dehydrated, and a concussion from the size of the blow she took on the back of her head." Tofu shook his head at the mess. "I can't even begin to imagine how she was still on her feet when Nabiki found her."
"Do you know where she came from, or what could have caused all this to her?" Soun didn't know what he was going to do when or if he found the punks who did this to Ranma, but someone was going to get their butt handed to them, out of practice or not.
"I did find one thing on her." Tofu handed over a subway ticket stub. "It was in her pocket when I checked to get her identification or anything else that would prevent me from finding out what else was wrong with her. Does it mean anything to you?"
Soun looked at it, confusion playing across his face before handing it to Nabiki. She took one look at it before turning around and running out of Tofu's clinic.
"I guess it does mean something, after all." Tofu muttered as he shook his head.
"Can I take her home?" Soun asked, his throat dry and raspy. He would not cry, not right now.
"Is she a part of your family?" Tofu asked with confusion. "I thought you only had three daughters."
"I do." Soun cleared his throat as he looked Tofu in the eye. "She's a cousin from outside the city who was coming to visit, daughter to my sister. Her name is Ranko Tendo."
Tofu wrote the information down on his clipboard. "Well, she's in pretty bad shape, I'd prefer to keep her overnight to get her blood pressure back up."
Soun nodded. "I'll come back tomorrow to see how she is. Thank you, Doctor." Soun bowed deeply to the young man before him. He was a good man, a little unbalanced, but still a good man.
Soun had just managed to get Ranma back to his house and inside the gate when a woman in a blue kimono and red obi appeared from out of nowhere, swept the red headed child from out of his arms, and whisked said child into the house all within the blink of an eye. He flexed his fingers and counted his toes just to make sure everything was still attached. As he went inside followed closely by Kasumi, he noticed a windswept Nabiki trying to pull herself out of the hallway wall.
It reminded him so much of when he had brought home a crying Nabiki from preschool where she had been cruelly teased by the other children because of her clothing. The moment he had stepped into the house, his wife had flown, not run, into him and took her daughter into her arms before whisking her up to her room. It had taken him nearly an hour to get free from the floor he had been planted in.
Aiding his middle daughter from a meeting of the unmovable, he helped her into the dining room to sit and get the stars out of her head while the eldest daughter headed for the dining room and the dinner yet to be cooked.
Nodoka laid her son turned daughter onto the futon, taking great care to be as gentle as she could. She hadn't seen him in so long and to hear that he had been hospitalized had done nothing for her heart or her patience, as her husband would attest to. Using her lap as a pillow for her little Ranma, Nodoka hummed gently to her sleeping child as she smoothed out the red hair which was a brighter shade than her own.
Nabiki, although dazed, was returning back to herself over the last two days. The stress of trying to find a way to not be sold into slavery and guilt over involving her family had made her a wreck, going so far as to make people think they could take advantage of her. When she made her reluctant return as the Ice Queen, many were left wondering, where others just assumed it was that time of the month.
They didn't think that for long when she cleaned them out for everything they were worth and then some. The one person who accused her of being a yakuza would thankfully never sully the gene pool ever again.
Still, Ranma's name was a sensitive thing around her ears while she was home. They only need to ask once what the ticket was about and have her break down into tears to remember not to bring it up in her presence until she was ready. Akane made the mistake of threatening to bash the pervert into the ground for taking advantage of her sister in whatever way he did to make her cry like that. The tongue lashing she had gotten had left her red cheeked and quick to avoid Nabiki at all costs.
Kasumi could guess why Nabiki would defend Ranma. She had gotten Nabiki to confide in her that first day at Tofu's about the money Ranma had given her and done her own research about the ticket stub, Soun had left it in his gi. The stub had been a bit confusing for her, not one to normally travel on a metro or anywhere outside of Nerima, but asking a desk clerk at such a place had provided her with everything she needed to hear.
Apparently, Ranma wasn't as unaware of the world around him as he had let on. While they had been talking about their money troubles, he had listened in on everything and had taken it upon himself to gather up what money they had before going to Funabashi. She wondered how he had survived on the streets for so long, fighting the locals and in those horrid pit fights while accumulating as much money as he could before he came home, let alone how he managed to get home in the state he was in.
Finally back on their monetary track, food was easier to get and cook with, though Auntie Saotome refused to take back the money she had given them for the supposed theft. She mentioned something about being reunited with her child and would say nothing else about it. Shrugging, Kasumi prepared the plates and took them carefully out to the dining room table, calling for Akane to come in from the dojo and eat.
Returning back to the kitchen, she took two plates with her and headed upstairs. She walked down the second floor hallway carefully, balancing the plates in each hand before propping one against herself and her arm, freeing one hand to slide the door open and step inside. Nodoka looked up from stroking her child's hair to look at Kasumi entering.
"Thank you, dear, for being so considerate." Nodoka smiled softly, as if a great weariness was slowly seeping into her.
"It's no trouble, Auntie." Kasumi said as she kneeled next to them with a practiced manner, balancing herself and her food with a dainty grace. Laying the plates of food to the side, she gazed for a moment at the peaceful look on Ranma's face. "He's so peaceful." She murmured, Nodoka's eyes resting on her own child's face.
Those, apparently, were the words you should not say around Ranma Saotome as she sat bolt upright and slashed with her hand in front of herself. They had missed the tell tale signs of the blue claws springing to life on her hand, but the sudden four rips that cut into the wall in front of her were impossible to miss.
Ranma panted heavily, as if struggling to contain something while at the same time Kasumi and Nodoka stared at Ranma in shock, both of their hair visibly frizzled from errant strands of hair standing on end. Ranma glanced over at Kasumi, eyes confused and slightly disoriented before he looked behind him and froze in horror. Although Nodoka was visible shocked at her son's act of destruction, the look she was suddenly giving her made her cold inside.
Ranma was on his feet and pressed up against the wall he had slashed from a good five feet away faster than you could blink, he pushed himself into the wall hard enough to make it creak. Nodoka couldn't move, the abject horror on her child's face was breaking her heart in a way only a child's rejection of their parents could ever do. Kasumi looked between the nearly crying Nodoka to the scared Ranma.
The sounds of stomping feet came up the stairs and for a moment Kasumi thought that Ranma would do the same thing he had done to the wall, only this time it would be her family instead of wood. Kasumi was on her feet as his hand reared back for another swat, fear creasing his face in a mask of terror. Stepping inbetween the hallway behind her and in front of Ranma's line of sight, she calmly waited for the end.
"Kasumi!" Nodoka shouted, as Kasumi closed her eyes.
She waited, even when the sound of her family's footsteps ended behind her. She waited till even the echo of their feet pounding through the house had faded away. She waited till she couldn't even hear breathing anymore before she opened her eyes.
Ranma had moved, silent as a ghost into the farthest corner of the room away from everybody. Curled into a ball and crying as silently as she could, Ranma shuddered with the wracking sobs of the inconsolable. Nodoka cringed and turned away from looking at her son, her own tears leaking from her eyes at the miserable wreck her husband had made of their son. Kasumi took a step toward Ranma and stopped as Ranma tried pushing herself through the corner she was in to get away from her, which made Kasumi's heart wrench all the harder in her.
"Auntie Saotome," Kasumi voice whispered over the sounds of crying, "I think we should leave Ranma alone for awhile."
Nodoka stood shakily before smoothing her hair back into place and composing herself once again. "I believe you're right, Kasumi. In any event, I need to go home and find that husband of mine. I think I'll have him honor that pledge he handed me before this ridiculous training journey began."
Nabiki's ears twitched. "What kind of pledge did he make you?" She asked. Something about it sounded like something she may want a hand in.
As Nodoka walked over to Soun, Nabiki and Akane, she pulled out from her kimono a rumpled sheet of paper. A signature and thumb print was signed at the bottom right next to a child's handprint. Nabiki looked to the names first before reading it, though what it was became clear instantly.
"A seppuku pledge." Nodoka intoned, drawing everyone's but Ranma's attention to her. "Genma swore to me that if he was allowed to take our son on a training journey, he would make Ranma a man among men. By the looks of our child, I cannot imagine a worse example of manliness even if it were presented to me by Kami himself."
Nabiki pointed out one little detail that made Kasumi's heart stop. "Both of their names are on this."
Nodoka gave a full body twitch at this. "I never intended on having our son go through with this silly oath. I intended it to keep my husband from doing anything ignorant due in no small part from the training that little pervert gave both your father and my husband" Soun didn't try to deny it, nor say anything about it. His Master was a pervert. "I see that Genma took to the training far more than your father did, which is a blessing for all of you."
Nodoka bowed once, readjusting the pledge into a roll before settling it into her kimono. "Please excuse me, I have to go kill someone." Nodoka said, calm as can be before walking past the stunned Tendo's and out of the house.
Kasumi couldn't deny that Ranma most likely hadn't seen a bath since that first night when they had seen his change, so deciding that a bath was in order, Kasumi donned her swimsuit and followed Nabiki out into the hallway. Nabiki decided to go with a swimsuit instead of the jean and tank top combo, going with a two piece that was almost too provocative to see in public. Kasumi wondered why her sister liked flaunting herself off like that so much, but didn't question her sister's opinion.
Opening the spare bedroom door, Kasumi and Nabiki looked into the dim room to see if they could find the boy turned girl. She sat almost exactly where she had been, curled in the corner but now with the familiar dead look in her face that they were becoming accustomed to. Walking in carefully and flipping the light switch on, Ranma's eyes moved to the two girls. Kasumi went to step forward, but Nabiki's hand prevented her.
Shaking her head at her sister, Nabiki offered her hand from the doorway. "You haven't had a bath in days, Ranma. You need to stay clean." She called to her, not making any other move but to stand there.
Ranma didn't make a move to join them, remaining in the corner of the room. Kasumi looked at her sister who shook her head at her and continued to wait. Unsure of what her goal was in this, Kasumi offered her own hand to Ranma. Ranma watched for a bit longer, her brows creased as she observed them before she shifted himself.
As she rose to her feet, she shifted her weight unsteadily. Taking a breath before moving, she kept her eyes on the girls as she put one slow foot in front of the other. Kasumi wondered if this was a sign that Ranma was starting to come out of his shell. Ranma moved slowly until she was nearly in front of them, taking their hands in hers before coming to a stop. Although Kasumi and Nabiki smiled at her, she refused to return their smile.
They walked, as best as they could, hand in hand down the hall to the bath and the furo. Taking off her clothes before heading into the bathing area, Ranma again gave no change of expression on her face, but at least it was easier to undress her. Nabiki walked into the bath first, letting Kasumi finish removing Ranma's clothes as she reached over to the basin and began filling it with hot water.
Bringing Ranma into the bath, Kasumi guided and sat her down on the stool and let Nabiki do the honors this time, watching how Ranma's body stretched out in some places, smoothed over in others, and became a girl's wet dream under other circumstances. His body had healed over faster than normal, most likely due to the punishment it had always taken while on his training journey. His body had to adapt to heal faster than normal so that he could keep up with the training regimen his father put him through.
Taking the shampoo from Nabiki, Kasumi poured a dollop into one hand before laying the bottle down and reaching up to remove the tie in his pigtail. Ranma placed his hand on his pigtail, preventing her from undoing it and moving her hand down as he undid his own hair, shaking his hair lightly to let the pigtail come free on its own.
Nabiki eyed Kasumi who could only shrug at her before she applied the shampoo to his head. Trying to keep her eyes up on his chest and arms, Nabiki did what she could to curb the looks she wanted to send lower than his stomach. It was hard to remember that he had been taken from his mother when he was young and abused, unless you looked at the scars across his back.
Her sister didn't seem to have a problem seeing Ranma as a man, if the evidence in her swimsuit was what she thought it was. Even looking down at all the scars on his back, she hummed away blissfully, washing his hair as if she were his wife. Was there something wrong with herself, maybe? Couldn't she see past a person's outer hurt and see what was underneath like her onee-chan?
"Nabiki?" Kasumi's voice broke through her fugue, making her look up at her sister's face. "I think he can clean that by himself."
Nabiki looked confused at her sister briefly. Clean what by himself? She looked at what she was holding and fell backwards with a squeak, releasing Ranma's legs with her hands. Kasumi tsked her sister from her impropriety while Nabiki blushed whole new levels of crimson.
Apparently, her hands had started washing Ranma's legs without her brain. At least she hadn't been touching something else.
After Nabiki's fiasco of washing Ranma, they washed him off and settled him into the furo as they sat against the outside, talking to each other. "I can't believe he went to Funabashi for us." Nabiki muttered out loud as she played her fingers along the surface of the water.
"I think there's more of Ranma in him than he even realizes." Kasumi said as she stroked the hair back from his face, his body submerged up to his chin.
Nabiki made a considering sound in her throat. "When he first came here, I wouldn't have bet even money on him at all. It's like he's….I don't know, unsure of himself, maybe."
Kasumi tilted her head to the side, considering this. "I think you're close, but it's deeper than that."
Nabiki looked into his cold face. "Who are you really, Ranma Saotome? What's your secret?" She smiled mischievously at him, as if she knew her own secret.
"Nabiki?" Kasumi called to her sister while watching Ranma's hair play through her fingers. At the sound of her ascent, she continued. "What is the Neko-Ken?"
Ranma flinched hard enough to snap his head back from underneath her hand and splash water trying to get away from her. Kasumi had to get up and away from the furo before Ranma would finally calm down. Nabiki took one of Ranma's hands in her and stroked it with hers, trying to calm the boy down more to allow Kasumi to come back and sit next to him.
"Kasumi." Nabiki said gently, but gave her sister a piercing look. "I know you still have that book in your room, and I'm telling you, don't read it." She calmly placed Ranma's hand in the water before she went on. "Burn it, tear it up, anything but read it. That technique is an abomination that the world needs to forget."
Kasumi raised her hand only to watch Ranma flinch. She tilted her head in defeat before asking Nabiki to help him finish before leaving them in peace. Kasumi went back to her room, wishing her curiosity didn't kill the cat, so to speak. She changed from her swimsuit to her nightgown, making sure she was decently clothed, even underneath her nightgown. She sat down on her bed, listening for a bit until she heard Nabiki bringing Ranma back down the hall to his room before heading back to the furo.
Kasumi knew that the cat fist must have been bad if both her father and Nabiki wouldn't discuss it, even Auntie Saotome had looked fit to strangle and Akane couldn't eat a bite afterwards. What could Genma have done to him that was so bad? Was the training worse than she could imagine?
She could imagine so pretty bad stuff, y'know. Like being out of salt in the kitchen and the stores are closed for the night, that's really bad. Or running out of soy sauce, which was even worse than running out of salt.
Her hands itched to read it. Fingers rubbing against each other incessantly, she looked at the apron that hung from her chair in her room, the bulge in the pocket so tempting. Nabiki had told her not to read it, had told her specifically to get rid of the book by any means, not to let anyone else learn its secrets. She glanced at the doorway that led to the hall and eventually Ranma, she wanted to help him so badly. It was a home maker's duty to make everyone in their house happy…
Her path set, Kasumi retrieved the book from her apron and took a seat on her bed. Flipping the cover over, there was a picture of a martial artist standing on their back leg, front leg forward and body hunched with hands splayed before him above the title. Flipping the title page, Kasumi read that the Cat Fist, or Neko-Ken, is the creation of a Kami-like martial arts that, when perfected, cannot be defeated by any man alive.
'The Cat Fist is a secular martial arts technique developed in ancient Egypt that, when mastered, has never been defeated by any foe be it man, beast, or spirit. Since ancient times, the teaching of the Cat Fist has been passed down through a secret order of priests and warriors dedicated to a singular ideology…'
This didn't help her in the least bit in understanding Ranma. Flipping the page, she came to the index that briefly mentioned the various ways to master the Cat Fist. Eyeing the last one as the one that everyone seemed to agree was the worst, Kasumi flipped to the designated page. The title of the page seemed to be the same as the front of the book, briefly describing and mentioning the history, but in a more condensed version. The instructions, though, looked even easier to understand.
"Let's see, build large pit." Kasumi muttered to herself, not understanding what you would need a pit for to learn about cats. "Throw many cats into pit, that's not very nice." She was beginning to see the true evils of this technique. "Starve cats for many days and night, how horrid." Cats need to eat too, who could do something that cruel? "Take trainee of approximate six to eight years of age." She hoped it was to help those poor animals out of that terrible place and feed them.
Only when it came to the part that they were to wrap the student in many fish products did she not want to read any further, a slow sinking feeling filling her with dread. When she saw the word 'Toss' in the next line of instructions, she threw the book against the far side of her room. She shivered uncontrollably in a cold sweat, starting to get a grasp of what the training was all about. Still, maybe she was wrong, maybe it was toss food into pit before tossing the trainee in.
Yeah, that was possible, it couldn't have wanted the person to throw the child into the pit.
She walked over and picked the book up, finding the index and then finding the page she had been reading. She couldn't read the instructions over again, even wishing to believe that the instructions were not as terrible as they sounded, she couldn't even read the last line she had moved to. Fortunately, there was one other line underneath that one, maybe if she skipped to the end she'd see that they actually let the cats go after they had taught the child the Cat Fist.
Hope has a strange way of springing eternally in the heart of an innocent, but when someone's innocence dies, it dies an ugly death.
Tears cascaded down her near perfect cheeks as her eyes passed over the damning words, forever ruining the idea that someone couldn't be irredeemably bad. In cold black and white script, the words repeated themselves over and over in her head, mocking her naivety with its claws of pain and cruel laughter. She dropped the book and wrapped her arms around herself, unable to stop the cold chills and the tears that flowed from her eyes.
She sighed as she poured another basin of cold water over her head, trying to purge those impure thoughts. She was supposed to be helping him out, not taking advantage of him. Her eldest sister wouldn't approve in the least about those thoughts, even if she was having them herself.
"Closet pervert." Nabiki smirked before dumping one last bucket over her head. Shaking off the water that dripped off of her, she reached for the towel and began to rub herself dry. It wasn't fair, sometimes. The only guy that ever did something nice for her and his father was messed up in the head enough to abuse him.
"I guess helping to get rid of his dad was a step in the right direction." Nabiki once again muttered to herself. She opened the doorway into the bathroom and reached to the top of the hamper for her bikini. It was the only clothing she had brought with her, she'd just have to change when she got back into her room.
Slipping her two piece back on, she opened the door and nearly screamed. Standing feet in front of her just beyond the door, Ranma stared balefully into her face. Cold chills ran up her back and goosebumps played along her skin as she looked up into his stormy blue eyes, his black hair still unbound and hanging past his shoulders.
He didn't say anything to her, staring into her eyes for what seemed forever before taking her hand and dragging her down the hallway. Nabiki's mind wasn't working properly as she watched him stalk down the hall, a rolling gait that flowed instead of walked. His cheongsam was cut off at the shoulders so she could see the muscles that corded in his arms as she was pulled along, taken wherever he wanted her to go.
She nearly bumped into him on purpose as he abruptly came to a stop in front of her, turning on her and placing his firm hands to her shoulders. She could do nothing as she looked into his face, paralyzed by something she couldn't understand, didn't want to understand. He leaned down over her, his face coming closer to hers as she closed her eyes instinctively.
His breath brushed across her cheek, making her shiver unconsciously. "Listen." His voice was quiet and rough at the same time, and she leaned closer to him, wanting to hear anything he had to say.
"Can't you hear her?" his voice asked of her.
She was confused. What was she supposed to be listening to? She opened her eyes in confusion, but Ranma wasn't looking anymore at her, but the door to her left. "She's crying."
"Wha?" The plain wooden plaque with the few colored daisies floating around the name didn't make any sense to her. "Why would…Ranma?" In the time she had turned to the door, he had disappeared, his doorway closed as if it had never been open in the first place.
Frustrated beyond belief, she sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. Reaching for her sister's room, she turned the doorknob and opened the doorway.
Kasumi was crying, she just had not been able to hear her through the door even as close as she had been. Pushing the door open, she peered at the shadowy form of her sister in her nightgown crying her heart out as she shook all over. The Neko-Ken book was easily seen at her feet, and she knew instantly what had happened.
She walked over and kicked the infernal training manual away from Kasumi, nearly jamming her toes into the floor before she sat down next to her sister and wrapped her in her arms. Kasumi unlatched her arms from herself and threw them around Nabiki in a tight embrace, her despairing wail being poured into Nabiki's shoulder as she continued to hear the taunting words of the book playing over and over again in her head.
"What have I done, Nabiki?" Kasumi said as she wept weakly into her sister's shoulder. "I didn't mean to hurt him."
"Sshhh, it's all right, Kasumi." Nabiki stroked her sister's back as best as she could, not accustomed to consoling the heart broken. "He knows you didn't mean it. I bet my life on it."
If Kasumi heard or not didn't matter to her. Right now she needed to be loved to mend what could not be mended. Peering hatefully over Kasumi's shoulder at the bare outline of that book, she could only think one thing. "Damn you, Genma Saotome. Damn you to hell."
"She would have made a great martial artist." Genma thought to himself as he headed further into Nerima by the cover of the quarter moon.
He hopped over one large gap between houses and ran onward, not quite sure yet what he was going to do, but one thing was for sure. He was going to get that ungrateful son of his back, beat some sense into him, and show him exactly where his place in the world was. He was meant to marry one of those silly girls and keep him fat and fed while Genma trained the next generation of students for him, allowing Ranma to be Sensei in name only.
"It would serve him right if he became engaged to that brute of a Tendo." Genma smiled darkly, imagining Ranma paralyzed by the food she had kept him fed with, unable to move and barely breathing as Genma trained a whole new line of children in his family's style of martial arts.
"Sorry Tendo, old friend." Genma thought as he cleared a street, landing on the house across the way. "I'm afraid your school is going to have to be forgotten for the good of the Anything Goes."
The sound of a bike bell ringing behind him made Genma stop. Confused as to who would be riding their bike at night, he peered over his shoulder, preparing to slip into the Shooting Star Cloth technique. The ten-speed that came out of nowhere and crashed into him, landing square between the eyes, caught the fat fool flat footed.
Slammed from his roof perch and crushed into the alley below with enough force to crater concrete, he thankfully passed out.
The person who stood on the roof with what appeared to be two large ball shaped maces glared down at Genma. Their clothing swayed in the night air as they observed their work before leaping away, their mission only begun.
As I said before, that was a pretty risque scene and in some people's eyes, not appropriate for children. I agree with you, but remind you that teenagers are growing up and are learning these things on their own. By this fact, you're making an assumption that she was touching something inappropriate, and for that, you should be ashamed. It Implies Only, might I remind you. Yes, it's ecchi (perverted), but its deliberate. Nabiki has repressed herself for her family for a long time, she's still a girl/woman growing into an adult, get over it. ranting over
Jusenkyo: A legendary training grounds in the deep unknowns of China said to be a cursed place. The springs hold over one thousand different curses, each with a tragic story tied to it. Legend has it that falling into a spring curses the survivor into the form of whatever fell in. Hot water reverses the curse, but only until they are doused in cold water.
Neko-Ken: Literally translates into Cat Fist, this deadly technique is a banned martial arts maneuver that must traumatize the student (must be a young child) into thinking they are a cat, causing them to tap into their inherit ether abilities (life energy) and create foot long or longer claws that can cleave anything.
Shooting Star Cloth: Specialized for use by Genma Saotome, a family sealed martial art that allows the user to cloak themselves in a form of invisibility, allowing them to move about as if they weren't there. It blocks all forms of awareness including scent and sight, but not sound. The drawback to this technique is that the moment they attack with it, the ability drops. Also noted, when the person is in the Shooting Star Cloth, the space they occupy, if sensed by someone who can feel the presence of others through their ether abilities (life energy), will feel a lack of said energies in this spot, as if a hole exists.
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