Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Lost Universe, Stargate, or Ah My Goddess. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction meant only for entertainment.
Ice Squared
by Lerris Smith
-«Change and New Toys»-
Down in the Tendo living room, Ranma continued to be somewhat out of it, alternating between glancing in the direction of the furo and back at the bed. Concern was etched all over his face.
"Perhaps I should go find father." Kasumi scrunched her nose a bit and frowned, "But what am I going to tell him?"
The Senshi of Pluto said,"For now, nothing. Ami will have to figure that part out for herself."
Ranma paused slightly at hearing the name Ami and then turned back to the bed. He was surprised when he watched a silver glow formed around Nabiki's body, then suddenly it lit with thousands of scintillating white sparkles, blinding the occupants of the room. When their vision cleared, the blankets were all but flat on the bed. Ranma hastily tossed the covers aside to see that all that was left were the middle Tendo sister's bedclothes.
"I hadn't expected that." Setsuna observed dispassionately, "The crystal must have added a decomposition spell to be on the safe side."
"Safe-" questioned Kasumi.
"-Side?" concluded Ranma.
Setsuna continued in a clear businesslike tone. "While unlikely, the possession of that body might allow certain rarer forms of magic to affect Ami."
Ranma once again winced almost imperceptibly as Setsuna said the new name again. His attention seemed more rapt towards the end, but then he was always on alert for trouble.
The quiet in the room grew as if demanding to be filled, but no one was quite sure with what. After a couple minutes Sailor Pluto spoke. "I need to go and tell the others. You two need some time to think this through. I'll arrange for food to be delivered." Before Ranma or Kasumi could formulate a response, Pluto bowed deeply to both. "I really do wish there could have been another way." Her voice broke a little at the end, before she swung the staff casually and was gone.
"Strange woman" offered Kasumi.
"Uh-Huh" agreed Ranma, lost in thought.
-«oOo»-
The furo water was getting cold, and yet Nabiki had not really figured out any plans that she liked. Well a part of her did like the silly idea of Ranma joining her in here, just to see the look on his face , but that was hardly the kind of plan that she was thinking of. A casual move with her foot caused water to begin to empty from the tub.
She sighed. She could see plans so much clearer now than before, than either of the before's. Unfortunately, rose colored glasses were apparently not part of the package. Trouble seemed to be in the air, unless of course Setsuna did it just to save my life. No, the Senshi of Time never did anything this big without a reason. There was trouble ahead and all of her knew it. Was it a mistake to declare she was going to take Nabiki for a name, or just vanity? Certainly things would have been simpler if Nabiki Tendo was buried, yet she didn't like that answer entirely either. She reached over and flipped the drain control back to the fill position even as her other hand reached for the hot water. It seemed the only things she could be certain of were that she still liked long baths and that, from a purely analytical point of view of her body, the change was a definite upgrade. Oh sure she didn't quite have the 'attributes' of Makoto, but the overall package looked very nice, less busty but significantly cuter. She wondered briefly what Ranma thought, and then chastised herself for wasting time over such unimportant trivia. Nevertheless a small blush formed on her cheeks.
-«oOo»-
Half a city away Ami's mother was worried. Ami was supposed to be camping with her friends, but that was supposed to be over yesterday and her daughter was normally so conscientious of phoning. She sighed as she tore open the package of microwaveable hot wings. Why Ami bought such things she would never know, but it was either this or going out to eat and she wanted to be near the phone.
Where was that girl?
-«oOo»-
The others had gathered at the shrine after the battle only to find Ami missing. They were not happy to say the least.
"Where is she?! You were supposed to be watching her, and I find you sleeping." yelled an angry priestess at the sleepy prince of earth.
"I don't know. I don't know. I'd tell you if I knew." He held up his hands as if to ward off a blow that never came, while a part of him demanded the punishment anyway. He just couldn't understand how he could have let her down.
"It will be okay Rei. I know it will." added a strangely calm Usagi, causing everyone to look at her.
It had been a long time since she used that voice. The others had learned to listen to those odd times when she spoke with more maturity than normal. It tended to portend something important was happening.
"How can it be?" Rei demanded, not mollified in the slightest. "She was dying. Mamoru was barely able to do anything!" The black haired priestess continued to pace in aggravation despite the words of her princess, fists clenching and unclenching as she went.
"How could you know? For all you know she has been kidnapped, or maybe killed," accused the short haired blond.
"I just know. I think I'd always know if one of you died," Usagi insisted, taking a seat and picking up a comic, much to Rei's frustration.
A lot of pacing happened at the shrine that day. At one point Rei's grandfather offered them food, and then made a hasty exit when he saw their grim expressions. Eventually Rei tried a fire reading, and while she could tell Ami was alive, all she could sense was hope and the feel of change.
It was another hour before Setsuna stepped out of the portal to a very on edge group. Her smile seemed to ease the tension in the room, if only by a little. "Sailor Mercury has been healed," she announced. "Now I must go. The gates of time require my presence." Before anyone could ask her questions, she stepped into another hastily created portal and once more faded from view.
"Dang cryptic annoying irritating pain in the arse woman!" Mars swore, causing everyone else to smirk.
Finally, since there was nothing else they could do, they each went back to their respective houses with a promise to call whenever someone found out something.
-«oOo»-
It was near dinner time by the time the others returned to the Tendo home. Even as they were getting comfortable there was a knock at the door. A drunken panda opened the door to reveal a pretty delivery girl. The panda immediately held up a badly scribbled sign saying, "Saotome family not live here."
"Eeek!" replied the startled girl.
"Who's thiiss Saootome? Betterrr not be annotther fiancée." Soun demanded, demon head on its way.
At the door the delivery girl rushed out, "Takeout, for Keven Mitnick. It's paid for, and this is your address right?" She grabbed the boxes from her bike and held them out, not taking no for an answer. The panda tossed the sign behind him and picked up the boxes. The woman then sped away on her bike. She might have even set a record had she been outside of Nerima. The takeout turned out to be a large order of Mexican food. Shrugging, Soun and Genma sat down to eat seemingly unconcerned. Kasumi frowned at them for several moments before Ranma joined them at the table.
It was then that Akane demanded, "How is she doing? I thought you were helping her."
Ranma started to open his mouth but was cut off by Kasumi, "Nabiki is doing much better. We should let her rest some more though." The way she said it held just enough authority to defuse her volcanic sister.
Surprised, yet pleasantly so, Akane said quietly,"Oh, Okay. Just as long as she is okay." She eat a bit more of her taco before adding, almost in afterthought, "Thanks, Ranma. At first I thought you were doing something perverted, but you've really helped her. I don't know what to say. Thanks seem so small." Her voice trailed off, but she could just be heard saying, "I was so sure it was going to happen again.."
A small sigh could be heard from Kasumi. It was so small that it was unlikely anyone was supposed to hear it. Ranma did however, but noticing the look Kasumi gave him refrained from commenting even as he tried to look over both sisters.
"Yes, thatss right Saotoomee. Ranma did better than thosee dang doctorrrs. Knew he could doo it. Stuupid dang uselesss doctorrrss. Why, maybe if he had been around when Kimiko... Waaaaaaaaaaaahhh." Soun was erupting again.
"It is alright father. Nabiki is getting better."
-«oOo»-
Upstairs Nabiki sighed and pulled out her cell phone, only to put it down and then pull out her other cell phone out of her personal storage space and start dialing. At the Tsukino home, Usagi lay back on her bed staring at the ceiling when her cell phone began playing 'Blurry Eyes' from DNA squared. Usagi smiled, tripped over out of her bed, then got up and fumbled for the phone on her desk.
"Ami! You're alright!" she cried, once again thankful that she had programmed unique ring tones for each of her friends.
"It is good to hear from you too," Nabiki replied with a fond smirk.
"Your voice is a little off. Is something wrong?"
"No, everything is fine. I'll explain soon. I just wanted to let you know I'm alright and not to worry."
"Okay, well if you say so." Usagi agreed, now as chirpy as ever. "I'd better call and tell the others. I even think Haruka missed you."
Nabiki laughed, happy to be derailed, "She would mourn the passing of any pretty girl!"
"That she would. Heck she even makes eyes at me, and I'm taken." The princess added, never missing the opportunity to remind people. "She even does it in front of Michiru," she whispered in her best scandalous voice.
"I've seen her" retorted Nabiki with a small laugh, "but I really don't have the time to talk now. I've got to go okay?"
"Sure Ami." Usagi replied, "We'll see you at school tomorrow?"
"I need to go Usagi," Nabiki replied not answering. "Take care, and thanks for letting the others know."
-«oOo»-
Back at the Tendo home, dinner went remarkably uneventfully. Each participant was too busy with their own thoughts to make trouble. As soon as it was over Kasumi took another plate and went up to check on her sister. Everyone's eyes followed her as she went. About fifteen minutes later she came down with a smile on her face. She sat down and calmly asked if Akane would care to look in on her sister. The younger girl practically bolted for the stairs. When she came back down she seemed more than a bit confused but otherwise calm. No sooner had she sat down than her father looked inquiringly at his eldest daughter. At her nod he bolted upstairs, elbowing his friend out of the way, as he tried to follow. They came back looking much more somber and seemingly significantly soberer than before.
Shortly afterwards Nabiki came down to the living room, where everyone was still gathered around the table. As she arrived, Kasumi set out vanilla ice cream for everyone as if nothing was amiss. Everyone kept sneaking surreptitious looks at the now blue-haired girl in their midst. Unfortunately for Ranma, Akane interpreted his attentions in the usual way, and began the process of winding herself up.
Nabiki waited for the bowls to be cleared before getting everyone's attention, "As I told you already, I will be taking the name Nabiki Mizuno," her father got as far as "My" before being cut off. She continued, "No father, it does not mean I'm ashamed of the name Tendo. It is just simpler this way. I've already told you this." Her tone left no room for argument. Her father nodded reluctantly before saying, "We must have a funeral then. I mean, even if?"
"Yes, but a private one," Nabiki agreed, "and I will deal with the legal issues."
"Betcha never thought to see your own funeral eh Nabs?" Ranma observed, his tired mind operating at obscure angles.
"Keep calling me Nabs and perhaps we can make it a double. At any rate, I need to go talk to my mother. My other mother," she clarified. Once again she was not leaving room for argument.
"Ranma, go with her. She ... Just go with her." added Genma, unusually subdued.
Ranma looked confused. "Okay," he replied, standing.
"You'd better watch out for my sister," added Akane darkly as Ranma walked out the door.
Kasumi said absently, "Nabiki Mizuno. I think it may mean to yield to the power of water."
-«oOo»-
They began their trek to Jüban in silence at a quick walk and barely made it in time for the last train. They got into an all but deserted carriage and sat down facing each other.
"Akane is jealous you know." Nabiki broke in after a long silence.
"And what's new?" lamented Ranma, eyes half closed as the train rocked him towards sleep.
"Just try to keep things calm okay? I could use your help, but not at the cost of all the insanity in your life."
"Why? What?" Ranma offered, confused. "I mean you're a Sailor Senshi now."
"Because, with a couple of exceptions," Nabiki explained "the ability of the other girls to do anything more complex than blast at a problem sucks, and because you already know, and you keep your word, even when you shouldn't." The last was said in a very pointed manner.
"You know about..." Ranma guessed.
"P-chan. Yes, I figured it out right before I got sick. I just haven't figured out what to do about it yet. Actually..." She paused. "You are going to tell her."
"Why me? I promised..."
"I don't care what you promised! You are engaged to my little sister, and even if you weren't, it is still your responsibility, since he is your friend, enemy, something... Or do you want her to hate you too?"
"It ain't that simple Nabs," Ranma argued, causing her to frown again. "You see his curse-"
"I don't care Saotome!" Nabiki argued. "You will do what is right by Akane!"
"Fine!"
"Don't be so angry," Nabiki added in a more conversational tone. "We will practice the words later, just to make sure you don't mess it up."
"Gee thanks," Ranma replied, ever so pleased by her apparent confidence in him.
"You're welcome."
The rest of the train trip to Jüban was remarkably boring. After what Nabiki had said Ranma didn't seem to want to talk much, and she appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. By the time they arrived Ranma was fast asleep.
-«oOo»-
"So this is your other home huh?" Ranma asked looking up at the building. The house was, well mansion was perhaps a better word. It was considerably more modern than the Tendo home and significantly larger. There was even a decent sized backyard.
"It has been in my mother's family for four generations, although it was largely renovated a few years back after my father passed away. I think mother wanted something different so the memories wouldn't haunt her so."
"I'm glad you have a mother again Nabiki," Ranma offered, his face far away.
"You surprise me Saotome. Occasionally you say just the right thing."
"Gee thanks," he replied automatically.
Nabiki smiled quietly for a moment silently observing her companion before knocking on the door and waiting to be admitted. She tried to spin a tale where she had stumbled into an artifact in the mountains with the other girl and this was the outcome.
It might have worked too, except it seemed that Ami's mother knew about her night life, and strangely accepted her daughter's choice. In the end tears, hugs, and cold water were involved. This led to fascination from Dr. Mizuno and a bit of, was that amusement?
-«oOo»-
The night was not a good one for Ami's mother, even after the other two went to bed she stayed up, crying for a lost daughter. In the morning she tossed the remains of a box of Kleenex in the bin and pasted a professional smile on her face.
Her new daughter was in the guest room and they would be hungry. Those two facts were a slim foundation to build upon, but for now they were enough, for now they were all she truly wanted to face. She went downstairs to prepare breakfast.
-«oOo»-
"So what are we going to do? I mean, you look somewhat like my daughter but, well, people will notice..." Dr Mizuno asked over her bowl of Miso.
"I took care of most of it last night with the Mercury computer. I'm now Nabiki Mizuno adopted into your family, well eventually anyway. We will have to wait for the forms to arrive and all the rest, but it should be a mere formality now."
"Well then what about Ami? I mean lots of people knew her..."
Nabiki sighed. "I guess she will have to have a funeral too." Nabiki looked less than happy about that idea and her mother reached out and clasped her hand. Soon the two were holding each other for comfort. "I'll have to change schools too. Perhaps I'll go to Rei's school. As far as my friends go, they will understand," the blue haired girl added, thinking aloud.
"They are like you..?" asked Ami's mother, hinting.
"You don't really expect an answer do you?" Nabiki replied softly, making it clear the information was available. "It is for the best that few people know who we are."
It was too much. Ami's mother broke down. Her professional resolve had run out. "My baby is gone! My baby is gone!" She wailed, clasping the young girl to herself with a hold that spoke of steel. At a look from Nabiki, Ranma silently left to investigate the backyard. It was as massive as the house. Fighting his own demons Ranma went into kata after kata to try to lose himself in the art.
Some time later a soft voice said, "You can come back in now."
He didn't know how long he had been like that when Nabiki interrupted him, but judging from how tired he was, and the damage to the lawn, it might have been for over an hour. "Alright," he replied with a shy smile and caught the towel she threw him. They quickly entered and sat down.
"Okay, well I'll talk with the Tendos later today," a somewhat recovered Dr. Mizuno began, "So what about you two?" She turned to Ranma. "Were you involved with Nabiki before?" The question was hardly innocent but even Ranma could see that the woman was needing something to help her accept this new reality.
Nabiki once again stepped on anything Ranma might say, by saying, "He is engaged to my younger sister. He looked after Nabiki Tendo when she was sick."
"I was going to.."
"At any rate Ranma, we had better get going. We have a lot to do today," Nabiki interrupted. Bowing followed and a bemused mother watched her daughter herd the strange boy/girl out the door.
-«oOo»-
"Do you have to keep interrupting me?" said a slightly irritated Ranma as they began walking to the train station.
"I'm sorry Ranma, but right now I'm trying to keep everything going as smoothly as possible, and well, sometimes what you say makes it difficult."
"You called me Ranma. You almost never ever call me by my first name."
"Only part of me is the Nabiki you knew..." This was said quietly, as truths you are resigned to sometimes are. Ranma was once more at a loss, just when he had thought he had a handle on this newest change she had to throw another curve ball.
"It's okay," he hazarded, but it seemed to do no good and the rest of the trip was spent walking to the station in silence.
-«oOo»-
On the train Ranma stopped to really look at Nabiki. She was typing away at her laptop computer. Even as he watched she smiled at something on it and he was once again caught by the odd resemblance to Akane. Yet where Akane's face was often filled with either anger or wonder this face was filled with intelligence, a surprising wisdom, and a muted cheerfulness. Her new face was rounder and her eyes lighter. Instead of Akane's gray eyes they were a piercing blue with a few flecks of warm brown floating in them. The hair was much as Ami's hair was, except it too contained a few nearly invisible strands of brown. It was almost as if in the odd blending, someone picked and chose to insure the result was pleasing to the eye. A maturity was there that seemed absent from both before, yet taken all in all she could easily be mistaken for being born a Tendo, well if Mrs. Tendo was perhaps a little less faithful anyway.
"Ranma." Nabiki said without looking up. There was no response.
"Ranma." After a few more seconds she gave up and stepped on his toe.
"What did you do that for?"
"You were staring."
"Was not."
"Whatever," she replied, finally raising her eyes from the screen. "Look we had better practice what you're going to say to Akane and then if we have time we can start fixing your education."
"What?" he gasped, not liking where this was going, "I'm a martial artist."
"Look, if I can manage to teach Usagi then I can certainly manage with you, and before you say education isn't important, just what do you think you used to save my life?"
"But, that's different. It was the art!"
Nabiki held her face in her hands and sighed. "How?"
"How what?"
"How is it different?"
"It just is. It is the art after all."
The argument lasted all of the trip, and they never did get to the practice session for revealing P-chan, but in the end, she did get him to agree that he needed to work harder on his education, not as hard as the art mind you, but harder. Finally, not wanting to undo her progress, she called a halt to the effort and let him fall asleep, slumped and all but drooling onto her shoulder, while she typed away. In the middle of the screen was, "Note to self: Keep track of every hour it takes to retrain Ranma's mind so it can think beyond martial arts and make the panda pay in full."
-«oOo»-
The place they ended up seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, which in Japan takes some doing. There were trees and mountains and well more trees and mountains, yet Nabiki walked unerringly towards a given direction following whatever her little computer said until she put the computer away and turned a little to the left and kept walking. It took till well past noon before Nabiki stopped and said, "We are here."
"Where and just why are we here anyway?" replied Ranma looking around, "I asked several times before, but you just said to be patient."
"I'm not sure. Well I think it may have something to do with a past life of Nabiki's, but I'm really not sure."
"Well what do we do now?"
Nabiki brought her laptop back out and sat down Indian style while she tapped a few keys. "Whatever it is, is down below about 200 hundred feet below us. Unfortunately after about 10 feet it becomes solid rock."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Ranma exclaimed, already seeing where this was going.
"No, I thought you knew that trick of Ryoga's."
"I do, sort of," Ranma agreed "but I never practiced it, since it requires being bashed with boulders to toughen your body and that hurts your speed too much," not adding just how dumb he believed the technique to be.
"Well, I could freeze this entire area, but I don't see how that would help..." Nabiki mused aloud, tapping away on her computer to do the math.
"How important is this anyway?"
"If I knew that I would have told you," Nabiki retorted annoyed by the interruption, "I just felt the need to go here and figured I'd take you along just in case I ran into trouble." Ranma grumbled a bit but had to accept that it was still better than being at school.
"How far away can you be and still freeze the air and much of the ground?" he asked, a half formed idea surfacing.
"I have to be able to see it," she replied, waiting to see where this was going.
"Good. You go back behind that clump of trees over there" he ordered, pointing towards a nearby stand "and do whatever you do to get ready and wait for my signal."
"What? Are you afraid of seeing me change into the beautiful sailor suited Senshi of Mercury?" She said teasingly, her eyes flashing. This caused an immediate full body blush of the pigtailed young man, who had seen enough sentai to get the implication.
"No. Yes. Er. Whatever." He stumbled. "Just get over there. You won't want to be here when it starts," he finished, determination returning.
Nabiki nodded and jogged up the hill. He watched her go for a moment and then turned back to the problem. From behind him a sudden flash of light caused Ranma's shadow to lengthen as he inspected the ground. He nodded to himself and then began a slow spiral starting from the center and working his way out. Nabiki watched as he kept going and going until he was about fifty foot out from the center. The last pass was a complete circle into which Ranma broke in a dead run in her direction shouting, "Now!"
She blasted and suddenly blue and white magic enveloped the field and a focused high energy tornado proceeded to tear the ground to pieces like the finger of the Kami himself.
"Well, it is impressive, but I don't think that is going to get rid of all the rock..." Nabiki observed, approaching.
Ranma smirked. "I'm not done." Taking a deep breath Ranma faced back towards the storm and flung ball of energy after ball of energy into the tornado, where the ambient energy gathered them in and transferred their fury into the rock. Each blast echoed outwards, expanding the storm and tearing apart the countryside.
"You sure that's safe?"
Ranma shrugged. "It was either that or go all the way back. The only other alternative was vacuum blades and I don't think this really warrants that."
"If you say so," she said dubiously.
The energy storm continued to rage and Ranma continued to pour the odd blast into it, until Sailor Mercury finally said, "Stop it Ranma. Just stop it!"
"Huh?"
"I said just stop," she demanded, "or do you have to drive yourself into exhaustion to get a clue?" She had easily noticed just how much energy these blasts were taking from him, and it had not been that long since he had spent so much energy to save her.
"Oh, okay." and with that our pigtailed hero fell over unconscious.
Sailor Mercury sat down and pillowed his head in her lap. A fond 'baka' came from her lips as she gently ran her fingers through his hair. She mused on how jealous Makoto and Minako would be now. Of course, technically this was her sister's fiancé. She looked up at the slowly dying tower of destruction. It was a pity Rei wasn't here, since heat and energy seemed to keep the thing going. She brought out her computer, sat it down on Ranma's chest and tapped a few keys. "It is going to be close," she mused. Then she sat back to watch, not even noticing how her hand seemed to continue stroking his hair all by itself. A few minutes later a passing cloud decided to target the nearest Jusenkyo victim, causing her laptop to sit at an odd, yet oddly more ergonomic, angle. She ignored it. It wasn't as if the Mercury computer could be damaged so easily and the red hair was no less smooth than the black.
-«oOo»-
It took almost an hour before Ranma-chan awoke, and when she did she awoke to a scary sight; it was another woman with that grin. That grin was never a good thing. She jumped up and away, saying, "Huh? How long was I out?"
"About an hour. Your tornado removed most of it. There's just a little left."
Mercury stood and walked over and then down into the hole; and down some more as Ranma-chan quickly followed behind. Together Sailor Mercury and Ranma-chan strained and lifted one last boulder aside, revealing a simple, but very old, metal box, seemingly made of steel but showing no signs of rust or deterioration. The box was perhaps six foot long by a foot tall and a foot wide. It was also locked.
"Well what now?" Ranma asked.
"Open it?"
Ranma shrugged and kicked the locking mechanism, knocking the box open. Inside, laying on a silvery cloth, were rods about an inch and a half in diameter and about five foot long. One was a dark blue color, while the other was a dark red color. Both were covered with flowing runes and sigils. Following the opening of the box both had taken on a muted glow matching their respective colors.
Mercury stepped forward and began to reach down.
"Stop! Are you crazy?! Those things reek of magic!" Ranma cried, restraining her.
Nabiki's silvery laugh cut through the tension. "I suppose that given your current form you have a right to distrust magic. Let me scan them first," she conceded. A visor appeared over her eyes and she brought out the Mercury computer again and fiddled for a little while. "There are no linkages to the negaforce, no radioactivity, no biohazards, no excessively negative energies indicating mass killing, and other than minor amounts of spirit embedded in the core matrices, they appear to be nothing more than incredibly well made magical weapons."
"Still, I don't think.." His words trailed off as Mercury reached into the box and after a brief pause over the red one, picked up the blue one and then held it in both hands in front of her. The blue glow around the staff intensified and spread over her, and for a brief moment she cried out, before the glow faded and she smiled. "Go on, grab the other one and we can go."
"I still don't think this is a good idea." added the suddenly wary redhead.
In amused tone Mercury said, "Oh, is the mighty man among men afraid of a little old staff?"
"I'm not afraid of nothing." She reached in and grabbed the staff and turned back. Her smirk continued until the harsh red light flared around her, causing her to writhe in pain, and fall to the ground unconscious. Mercury tried to go to her, but her legs refused to move. When she looked down she could see the magic from the staff hovering around her legs. She tried harder, but still failed to move or let go of the staff. She focused on her link to Mercury and pulled. She heard the word "Wait!" as if in command, but resolutely tried to push her way forward. She could feel whatever was holding her stretching.
-«oOo»-
Inside Ranma's mind things were less calm. A series of images of every time the Tendo family had hurt him flashed in painful and more vivid than life detail. From Akane's offer of friendship to the subsequent bashing, to more and more bashings, and never letting him explain. Every image was presented in harsh detail, yet somehow they seemed even worse than he remembered; Kasumi's fake caring, while secretly wishing for him to be gone. Soun's manipulations, badgering, threatening and never listening to him. Worst of all were the scenes of all the times Nabiki had used him for profit, often turning the others against him just to make a buck.
Then suddenly Nabiki was there being attacked by Ukyo with her giant spatula for selling him out. He could just sit here, he knew it. She had caused him so much pain. They all had. The images had shown it to be true. Nabiki failed to jump back quickly enough and Ukyo managed a solid gash against her stomach. Blood ran down and she collapsed. Then suddenly Ranma was there intercepting the next attack with an odd red staff and trying to see how bad she was hurt. Ukyo's attacks were relentless and battered against his staff. Since when was Ukyo this good? He stopped pondering and focused on stopping her. Ten precise swings in a row and the spatula was beat up and battered away from the chef. Ukyo attempted to come at him unarmed, but he quickly tossed the staff aside and paralyzed her with a pressure point, in the process taking several punches to the gut. "What the heck is going on?" he mused aloud.
He was brought out of his musing by the memory of Nabiki's injuries. They were his fault. He had hesitated. He set Ukyo down quickly and ran over to look at her. It was worse than he thought. Part of her intestines were on the wrong side of her stomach. He quickly set down next to her and let his ki sing through his hands and arms to hopefully burn away any germs before using the same energy to carefully push her intestines back in place as best he could, but it seemed all wrong.
He suddenly wished he had studied more anatomy than where all the vital areas were. Quickly he sat down lotus fashion and pulled her into his lap. He brought his hands up around the wounded area before letting himself drop into a shallow trance. He focused on letting healing ki flow into her. Healing oneself was comparatively easy as long as one could keep conscious, had enough ki, and wasn't too insanely damaged. Healing another was much more difficult as he had found out with her cancer. Still he persevered, stubbornly refusing to accept defeat, for one minute, for ten minutes, and then as unconsciousness hit him he was inundated with feelings of approval, gratitude, and acceptance.
-«oOo»-
Ranma awoke warm and female. He stared into Nabiki's new blue eyes and the curves of her chest. A sudden thought struck him about how indecent the Senshi uniform really was, but at the moment Ranma could hardly complain.
"My staff tried to keep me from moving, but I managed to break free about ten minutes ago. There seemed to be little I could do without hurting you though, since you were holding your staff too tightly until just now. What happened?" she asked, looking very concerned.
"It was all very weird" he began, "It tested me I think. Somehow it tried to use my memories to make me hate the Tendos. It worked for a moment," he admitted, but because he was looking away he missed the shock in her eyes, "The images it showed..." Ranma shuddered. "I waited too long and this dream Ukyo hurt you badly. I stopped her and tried to heal you, but I didn't have that much strength. No one could heal that much damage with only ki. Just before I passed out I thought I felt as if I passed a test of some kind."
"Hmm. Let me see what the Mercury computer has come up with from the book I found in the box. I've not seen the language before, yet..." She tapped a few keys and was rewarded by a quiet cheerful beep. "It worked," she announced, smiling "It seems from the traces of spirit that are linked within the staffs and what the Mercury computer translated that these were made long ago by ancestors of the Tendo family, which probably explains why mine accepted me almost right away. It may also explain why I was compelled to come here. My moon kingdom magic must have woken an ancestral memory or something."
"Then what about me?"
"Now now Ranma, you know I charge to answer dumb questions."
"It wanted to know that I would protect the Tendo family, didn't it? By trying to get me to harm them it was testing me, wasn't it? But I failed, didn't I?"
"Did you? You gave much of your life energy recently to try to heal me from cancer and I'm betting that what you tried in that dream might have killed you had you done it in real life.."
"Well ya. But I hesitated."
"Get over it Saotome. Magically induced dreams can make one do things they would never do normally. Ami has had to deal with more than enough of them. The fact that you only hesitated briefly after all that is either a sign you're in love with me," she said teasingly, before she continued in a fonder tone, "or you're just an altruistic fool."
"Um, okay, but, well I'm not in love with you..."
"So, you're admitting you're a fool, eh Saotome?"
"Why you!" Ranma lunged at her, smiling, but not sure what she was going to do other than to grab her. The decision was taken away by a demonstration of Ami's well earned tickle torture skills.
"Give up, only Usagi can beat me in this art!"
"Never!" Ranma cried, and was about to go on but Nabiki's renewed attacks rendered her incapable of coherent speech. And so the Senshi of Mercury and a certain red head got very dirty rolling around on the ground, but had a great deal of fun. As they eventually broke apart, Ranma was left musing aloud how unfair it was that she was using Senshi powers, and silently how at least Nabiki didn't blow every comment he made out of proportion.