I do not own anything written by Rumiko Takahashi.

Warning, high citrus content.

Ranma spiraled down toward the Tendo dojo under a cloudy sky, her newly-discovered red-furred wings spread wide and a big grin on her face.

It had been a long day. After the confrontation with her father, her mother had spent time getting reacquainted with the Tendo sisters, then helped Kasumi prepare lunch. (That lunch had been very tense, with Genma leaving the table as soon as possible.) Then Ranma (in his human form), Nabiki and Akane had helped Nodoka move as much of her furniture as would fit in the room Ranma and Genma had been sleeping in (not much), along with those possessions important enough to her mother that she didn't want to leave them in an empty house.

One thing that hadn't migrated to Nodoka's new home, however, was the little shrine she had created in honor of her son, and Ranma still felt a bubble of joy when she remembered her mother's comment that she didn't need a shrine now that she had the real thing. But while the shrine had remained behind, there was one thing missing from it — an envelope with a torn up seppuku contract. That, Nodoka had burned in the kitchen sink as soon as she entered the house.

And then, no sooner do we get everything set up in Mom's room, then Nabs suggests that since she'll be studying somethin' with her magic, I should find out what my new wings can do. Interestin' how it works — I can go a lot faster, but there's a new top limit and I'll bet it's the same as the old limit, an' no matter how I push I won't go faster. An' it's the same speed whether I go straight up or straight down. It's like the wings aren't grabbin' the air at all. I'll hafta ask Nabs what she thinks, if she can learn anything.

Ranma frowned at the thought of her fiancée, her joy in her newfound flight evaporating. She's worried about somethin' — somethin' she isn't tellin' me. Maybe it has ta do with when someone, how did she put it, 'rang her bell'? The winged redhead slowed as she swept through the hazy barely-there roof of the dojo on her way to the furo — it wouldn't do to be moving too fast when she reached it. I trust Nabs, I just wish she trusted me as much as she loves me. Ah, well, she'll tell me when she's ready. And at least I got a chance ta find out what I can do and have some fun while I was at it, an' more fun ta look forward to!

/\

Nabiki stiffened where she knelt in the middle of a meticulous circle made out of chalk pasted to a large sheet of paper spread out on the floor of Nodoka's new bedroom as she felt a nature spirit pass through her wards. Closing her eyes, she reached out with her empathic sense, relaxed as she felt the familiar mix that meant it was Ranma in a happy mood, only to freeze as she caught the threads of anticipation and nervousness mixed in. Opening her eyes, she looked over at her companion inside the circle. "Ranma's home," she announced.

Nodoka nodded. "Yes, I felt the nature spirit pass through the wards as well. Were you able to recognize Ranma when she passed through, or through your empathy?"

"Through my empathy," Nabiki replied. "I think it's getting stronger, walls used to block it. That could be a real problem down the road," she added with a worried frown.

"Were you actively using your empathy when you sensed Ranma?" Nodoka asked.

Nabiki nodded.

"Have you ever picked up someone in another room without trying?" the older woman continued.

"No, I haven't — not as individuals," Nabiki said slowly, thinking back over the past week plus. "I've been picking up a general feel of an area — a mix of the emotions of everyone around me, but not individuals. Though that general feel can get pretty intense sometimes, I had some serious headaches before I learned to dial it down a few notches, and it still gets overpowering sometimes."

"I wouldn't worry yet," Nodoka said. "When you start picking up specific people in other rooms rather than simply a general sense of the emotional environment it will be time to be concerned. Have you tried teaching your new emotional control to Ranma?"

"I ... no, I haven't," Nabiki admitted, shamefaced. "I'm not really sure how to teach it because I don't really know how I did it, I've been busy with other things, trying to track down who attacked me, dealing with Genma, the Amazons —"

"There are always excuses, child, though I can understand the need to prioritize," Nodoka broke in to say. "But you might consider taking time to pass on what you've learned to your fiancé even if you aren't sure how it's done. Ranma was hammered badly by the emotional currents of our confrontation with Genma this morning, and it probably won't be the last time he — she — finds herself in such an emotionally charged atmosphere."

"I will, at the first opportunity," Nabiki agreed.

"Good. And with that, I think it's time to help Kasumi with dinner," Nodoka said, carefully rising to her feet to avoid tearing the paper she'd been sitting on. "Now that Ranma's finally home, he and Akane will be having an abbreviated training session so we'd best get started."

Nabiki hesitated for a moment at Nodoka's assumption that the middle Tendo would help, then shrugged and rose to her feet as well. "I suppose we've accomplished enough for one afternoon," she said, then after a moment added, "Nodoka ... thank you for showing me how to modify my wards to detect entities coming through them instead of just stopping a few types."

"It was my pleasure," Nodoka replied as she stepped off the paper to allow Nabiki to start rolling it up. "What you do know, you know very well, and what you don't know you pick up quickly — not to mention some interesting innovations like this circle glued on paper. It will be a pleasure to have you as a student. Besides, you permitted me to integrate with those wards, it would be rude not to return the favor.

"But Nabiki, it's 'Mother', not 'Nodoka'. Or was your use of that title this morning a fluke?"

Nabiki stopped rolling up the circle for a long moment, before finally shaking her head. "Of course I let you integrate with the wards — this will be your home, how could I not? And no, it wasn't a fluke ... Mother. But I've been alone so long — Kasumi's tried, but ..." Her voice trailed off.

Carefully not mentioning how Nabiki had struggled to offer her access to the wards, Nodoka mused, "But you've been independent long enough that it's hard to open up to others, right?" She smiled softly when Nabiki nodded jerkily, and the teenager shivered at the bittersweet joy radiating from the older woman. "Thank you for trusting me enough to make the effort. Now, let's go help Kasumi."

/oOo\

The dim light of an overcast evening sky came through the window of the bedroom Nabiki and Ranma would now share, falling across the nude bodies of the two teens on the bed. The muscular black-haired Ranma lay stretched out on his back, eyes closed as Nabiki crouched over his legs, her breasts brushing his legs as her head bobbed. Even as she sucked, her tongue caressing, her fingers were busy between her own legs.

Finally, she sat up, resting her ass on her fiancé's legs, doing her best to ignore the growing fear hammering at her from Ranma. "This isn't working, love," she said softly.

Ranma's eyes opened, and the pageboy-haired girl winced at his fear-filled gaze. "This is what you've been scared of, isn't it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Yes ... yes, I was afraid this would happen," Nabiki reluctantly admitted, a deep breath thrusting her perky breasts up and out — not a hint of lust from Ranma at all, damn. "With my empathy I noticed that you weren't reacting — weren't attracted sexually — to anyone when you were a guy. I'd hoped that it was simply because of the way you can see through clothes when you're a nature spirit, but it looks like I was wrong. I think — I think when you're human you miss something you pick up as a nature spirit."

"So what now? How do we fix it?" Ranma asked desperately.

"I ... I ... I don't know if we can," Nabiki whispered, leaning down to lay herself along his body, her breasts pressed against his chest, his arms instinctively circling her back. "It might be because of your empathy. If so, if you ever become an empath when human, that might fix it — but I have no idea how to make that happen, or even if it'll help if it happens naturally." Feeling the muscular form beneath her beginning to shiver, she hastily added, "Ranma, listen, eventually you're going to get the ability to change into a man when you're a succubus. I know it didn't work out this morning, but it's inevitable."

"When? How?" Ranma demanded bitterly, his shivering increasing, and Nabiki froze.

There's no way I can tell him — "When your nature drives you to collect some man's sperm and use it to get a girl pregnant, probably me." If he hears that, what'll he do?!

She stiffened at a sudden thought, then pushed herself erect, once again sitting on Ranma's legs. "Ranma, I have an idea. Close your eyes, and think back to our last feeding session," she instructed. "Remember how you suckled at my tits, how your finger pumped up inside me, how much you enjoyed my taste, how all my muscles locked up and it was all I could do to keep from screaming..."

Ranma closed his eyes, and Nabiki held her breath as a slight smile appeared on his face, and she felt him beginning to press against her inner thigh... Yes! It worked! she exulted. Hastily, she lifted her ass off his legs, shifted forward to position herself. Sighing with relief as she felt him caressing her, she reached down to get lined up then slowly sank downward, hissing in pleasure as she felt him fill her. She began to slowly bounce, her speed increasing as she moaned at the pleasure bursting through her with each lift and drop of her hips.

Ranma opened his eyes, smiling with relief and happiness at the sensation of wet heat as he gazed up at his sweating fiancée's pleasure-glazed eyes. But as he did, his memory of the previous night slipped away, and Nabiki mewed protest as she felt the rod filling her begin to soften and shrink. Desperately, Ranma clenched his eyes shut and fought to bring back the memories he had been enjoying. But the panic filling him disrupted his thoughts and soon his manhood slipped out to leave his lover empty.

Nabiki simply sat on Ranma's hips for a long minute, eyes closed and quivering with the need for release, until the rising tide of self-loathing despair filling her lover broke through her disappointment. Her eyes flying open, she looked down to find tears trickling from under Ranma's eyelids and running down the sides of his head into his hair. "Ranma, I'm sorry, we almost did it, we can try again, I'll try harder —" she babbled.

"That's it, I'm never gonna be a man, be yer lover, be a father — nothin' but a leech," Ranma murmured, showing no sign that he even heard her attempts at reassurance. He opened his eyes and reached up to gently lift Nabiki off of his hips and set her to the side. She fell silent as he swung his legs over and sat up, then stood up and strode toward her desk. She shot upright when he picked up the glass of water beside the pitcher they had taken to keeping on her desk.

"Ranma, wait —" Nabiki shouted desperately, but the pigtailed boy ignored her and dumped the glass over his head. As she shrank and her hair flashed red before Nabiki's horrified gaze, her new wings flashed out from the back of her shoulders, spread out, and even as Nabiki dove toward her the succubus shot through the ceiling and was gone.

/\

Behind the rosebush across the street from the Tendo compound, Gorash and its fellow imps settled in for another long, boring night. Its fear of unremitting boredom on first receiving the assignment from Mara had proven somewhat incorrect — 'Ranko's' outing by Kuno in the school swimming pool, the fight with the Lost Boy, and first Xian Pu and then more Amazons showing up, the little chase that had happened just that morning (and a good thing Ranma had returned right away carrying her father, since the appearance of her wings had taken the imps completely by surprise) had all added some spice to things. Still, surveillance was what it was, very long stretches of time where absolutely nothing was happening but the spies had to be constantly alert because that could change at any time. Like now.

Suddenly, light flashed at a spot toward the top of Nabiki's and now Nodoka's wards as the now very familiar naked busty red-haired nature spirit came through the dojo roof to flash through the wards at high speed, wings held in tight. She leveled off and turned east, heading away without slowing down.

Gorash nodded to one of the two imps with it. "Jalok, go, keep her in sight, let us know when she goes to ground." The imp sprouted its own bat-wings and shot up after Ranma, as Gorash turned to the other. "Gishul, alert Mara that Ranma is on the move as she predicted." The second imp stepped into shadows and vanished, and Gorash turned back toward the dojo. And that will probably be all the excitement tonight — at least out here. I wonder what's going on inside?

/\

Akane quietly paced back and forth outside Nabiki's bedroom. Pausing in front of the door, she lifted a hand to knock, hesitated, then dropped her hand and resumed her back-and-forth.

They've been lying to me all along, I know they have, they owe me some answers! Even if they're doing something perverted right now, she fumed, her mind again going over all the little niggling details she had done her best to ignore: the way Ranma and Nabiki (Nabiki, of all people) had just clicked and become practically inseparable, the moments that 'Ranko' had confused herself with Ranma. And then there was the showdown with 'Uncle' Genma this morning (Akane's lips curled back in a snarl for a moment) when Ranma's mother had clearly referred to 'Ranko' as Ranma — Just how long has Ranma been hanging around?

Unbidden, the memory she had managed to suppress from days before Ranma and his father had arrived out of the rain rose in her mind, of a naked Nabiki sprawled on her bed, one hand pumping a dildo up between her spread legs, the other hand massaging a breast and the other breast palpitating on its own!

Whirling, she reached for the door, but froze with her hand on the knob at the sound of someone running up the stairs and down the hallway toward the girls' rooms. Turning and stepping to the side, the youngest Tendo gaped as 'Auntie' Nodoka (she just couldn't bring herself to refer to the dojo's newest resident as 'Mother', whatever Kasumi did, not yet) came barreling into the T-intersection, yanked open Nabiki's door, and charged through.

"Nabiki, was that Ranma I just felt go through the wards?" she heard the older woman demand.

"I ... yes, we tried to ... Ranma couldn't perform, and he didn't take it well when I told him he probably wouldn't ever be able to. He activated the curse and flew out," Nabiki responded.

"I thought you weren't going to explain that until I was present ... Nabiki, that's a summoning circle, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm calling Ranma back."

"No, you aren't. Considering why Ranma flew out of here, summoning her back might be the worst thing you could do — make it even clearer that she isn't human anymore, not entirely. Give her some time to herself to calm down."

"But Nodo — Mother — Ranma's out there alone, it's getting dark and maybe dangerous for her, and she's hurting so much..."

"If Ranma's not back by morning, then we can summon her. But you have a point about the possible danger," Nodoka agreed in a thoughtful tone. "Normally, between Ranma's nature as a nature spirit and her martial arts training I wouldn't worry — now that she has her wings, what she couldn't outfight she could probably outrun. But as distraught as you say she is ... do you know any sprites?"

"Sprites? ... Yes, Kasumi's friend, Cherry Blossom," a confused-sounding Nabiki replied.

"Cherry Blossom? Good, I know her as well. Let's offer to summon her and ask her to find and keep an eye on Ranma for us."

"But why a sprite?" Nabiki asked. "They aren't exactly combat monsters."

" ... But they do have some sort of — not a group mind, they're distinct individuals — an awareness of other sprites, they can pass messages to each other. So, Cherry Blossom can pass the word to the other sprites around here, and once they find Ranma they can let us know right away. That way we can keep an eye on Ranma without invading her privacy."

For a moment no sound came from the bedroom, then Nabiki said uncertainly, "I guess that'll work ... okay, let's do it."

Akane stared at her sister's still-open door, her anger snuffed out, replaced by worry for the sensei she had reluctantly come to respect — some of the time, at least. That did not sound good, she thought, and stepped forward only to pause, the familiar queasy feeling at the thought of the supernatural filling her to mix with her concern. Yeah, and just what do you think you can do to help? It sounds like they're doing what they can, leave them to it. She turned away and quietly slipped down the hall to her own bedroom. Anyway, they're too busy to give you straight answers right now, you can ask them tomorrow, she thought as she pulled out some schoolbooks from her bag and set out to distract herself with her weekend homework assignments.