Chapter 03
Awakened Conviction
Morning's rise brings with light
Dreams banished within the night
Decisions hastened upon lover's plight
Bringing forth the thunder's knight
Ranma woke up slowly to find herself looking at a bright set of green eyes. After a moment of confusion she snapped wide awake as she realized exactly who was staring her in the face, and tried to find a way to sink deeper into the pillow.
"About time you woke up," Makoto said playfully, not bothering to move away yet.
"Um, yeah, good morning to you too?" Ranma said uncertainly, not quite able to look away from her eyes. "Someone's gonna walk in on this, and I'm gonna get blamed, I know I'm gonna get blamed for something," she thought as she continued to lay there unmoving.
"Now Makoto, that's not very nice to pin poor Ranma down before he's even had a chance to get up," Kasumi said mischieviously from the doorway. Makoto blushed profusely as she moved off the bed and sat back down on the futon. Ranma sat up with a panicked look in her eyes and started to stammer out an apology. Kasumi grinned and began laughing gaily. "Okay, now that is the Ranma I remember. About time we saw a little of the old you, little brother."
Ranma stopped sputtering apologies and sat confused for a moment, before she looked at the two girls, realizing Kasumi at least had to have known what kind of reaction that would get.
"Alright, Kasumi, how long was I out, what day is it, and what was that all about?" Ranma rattled off as her brain started to finally kick in. Then she noticed that Makoto was wearing a green set of cotton pajamas. "And...why is Makoto in my bedroom in pajamas?"
"That's easy, little brother, we decided to let her have her wicked way with you while you were off in dreamland," Nabiki commented as she walked by the door on her way downstairs. Makoto's jaw dropped for a moment while Kasumi laughed even harder at the two of them both turning identical shades of red.
"Oh my, I'll have to mark the calendar. I don't think I've had a laugh this good in quite some time," she said as she wiped some random dust off of the dresser. "I merely told Makoto some stories about how you and Akane used to dance around each other before either of you admitted your feelings. And she's been the one watching over you the past couple days. Tofu and I took turns watching over you the first evening after you passed out, she's been in here mostly herself since then. We had the futon brought in so she wouldn't fall asleep in the chair and hurt her back."
"You...were watching over me?" Ranma asked the blushing Makoto, who was staring at a point somewhere beneath the floorboards, and twiddling her fingers nervously as she nodded. Ranma sighed loudly, running her hands through her hair. "Alrighty, let me go get cleaned up, since I'm probably starting to smell like dust myself from laying around for a few days, and then we can talk I guess."
"Oh, Ranma, I took a few of your old chinese shirts, the ones that you stopped wearing after Cologne helped me design your new ones. I had to use them to make a few new pieces for Makoto," Kasumi said as she walked out the door.
"Why does she even tell me these things? She knows I wouldn't even have noticed, I only had a collection of those things three layers deep," Ranma muttered as she grabbed a green dress-shirt like the one she was wearing, and a pair of white pants in place of her current black ones. She stuck her tongue out at Makoto as she walked towards the door. "I'd invite ya to come bathe with me, but I'd probably stand there and stare the whole time anyway."
Makoto's blush increased in heat, her face feeling like it was on fire as she heard two sudden thumps from the hallway. She looked to see both Kasumi and Nabiki recovering from sudden facefaults into the floor.
"Payback's a bitch, dear sisters," she heard Ranma yell from down the hall, before she burst out laughing herself.
Sailor Pluto watched through the time gates as Makoto teased Ranma, a sad expression marring her otherwise timeless beauty.
"If only I'd been able to see clearly, she wouldn't have had to deal with that place," she commented morosely, one hand moving towards the gates. "Still, I can only change so much, and the future is yet clouded. Perhaps this was just another bump in our long road that I missed? But you have no child in the future that we were seeing before, at least not to our knowledge. Is it possible you hid it even from your friends, and myself? Or did our path diverge somewhere when I wasn't watching?"
The gates focused momentarily on Ranma, the image blurring slightly. "And you...'Avatar of Chaos' indeed. So much good intention in you, your soul is more pure than any I have ever seen. Your only anger lashing out at those who've hurt the innocents around you. Your very being an inspiration to those in your presence. Perhaps you too have need of someone to calm you? Could you maybe be the cause of this disturbance, and also it's solution? Through no actions of your own, everything around you turns to pandemonium at one point or another. And your first and only love, torn from you just as it started to bloom." Pluto's fingers fell from the surface of the gates.
"Not all of us are blessed in such matters, are we? Some must fight forever it seems to find such a love," she commented quietly as she turned and walked out the doorway to the gates, appearing in the apartment next to Haruka and Michiru. "Good news, finally, Jupiter's been rescued. Bad news is, I'm not sure just how much assistance she's going to be in the current conditions."
"What do you mean, Setsuna?" Michiru asked quietly.
"I don't think the Inners noticed it in their visit, but Jupiter's pregnant," Setsuna replied as she powered down to her civilian guise, collapsing into a chair, her weariness taking hold finally.
"She's WHAT?" Michiru exclaimed, Haruka's expression just as incredulous. "How did that happen?"
"Once she was pulled out, I managed to look back into the past to see what happened. She was caught and put in a breeding ground," Setsuna replied, both hands rubbing on her temples. "One of the officials drugged her drink at the awards ceremony at that last tournament she went to. It's a government agency that was funding the place, but it's real purpose was still pretty shrouded. I'm still not sure what was blocking me from seeing it while it was occurring."
"Okay, not quite what I expected to hear admittedly, but how bad does this really affect us? We've been running the past six months without her as is," Haruka said after a moment, as Michiru brought a cup of tea to Setsuna who gingerly accepted it.
"I'm not so much worried about our combat capability due to her condition, as I am about how it's going to affect planning and defenses," Setsuna supplied, her brow creasing in concentration.
"You're afraid they're going to target her instead now that she's more open, and you're worried about how this is going to affect the future," Michiru supplied, sighing as Setsuna nodded in return. "Is our future even certain?"
"Honestly? No, it's not. But I can't tell if that's due to current events, or if I'm somehow being blocked from seeing what's going on. I normally wouldn't think that possible, but since I wasn't able to pin down Jupiter for so long, I'm not certain just how infallible the gates really are anymore," Setsuna sighed and seemed to slump even further into her chair. "At least she's out of that situation now, and realistically, I'm not sure she could be in a safer place."
"You're suggesting there's somewhere that's actually safe from youma?"
"You know that boy that the Inners have had helping them in the past few months?" Setsuna asked, receiving a nod from couple. "She's staying with him."
"You're right. Considering what we've seen out of him isn't near what he claims is his limit, you can't ask for too much more." Haruka said, shrugging non-chalantly, then blinking as Setsuna promptly fell asleep in her seat, Michiru barely reacting fast enough to keep the cup from crashing to the floor.
"I can't believe he did that just to get back at us for having Makoto tease him," Nabiki said incredulously as she and Kasumi went downstairs. "Seriously, when did Ranma learn to play?"
"Oh, he's known how to for a long time. He just rarely did so, since back before he and Akane opened up, you were only trying to use him to make more money," Kasumi said, earning a slightly abashed look from Nabiki as they moved into the kitchen. "And since then you've only really gotten closer to him since Akane died. He used to banter back and forth with me quite a bit as long as no one was around. One stray word too friendly would have had Akane accusing him of something, or would have you starting rumors. Not to mention Daddy and Mister Saotome trying to marry us instead, since I don't think they even thought to care which daughter Ranma married."
"Ack," Nabiki replied intelligently. "Much as I hate to admit it, you've got a very valid argument there. I should've known he's smarter than it seems. He's too good at adapting in the middle of fights to be as stupid as I used to think he was."
"And I don't think my face is ever gonna stop burning," Makoto said quietly from the door. "I can't believe he said that either! He always seems so...naive, or innocent."
"Well, we did kinda coerce you into doing that, so I'd say we owe you the apology, but you didn't seem to mind too much," Nabiki commented, grinning as she handed Makoto a cup of tea. "Here ya go, nice mint blend I prefer myself for waking up."
"I would have pinned you as more of a coffee drinker," Makoto responded as she got a good whiff of the tea, almost instantly waking the rest of the way up. "Whoa, almost more mint than tea."
"Yeah, that's what I love about it. I used to use coffee for my morning drink till I found this stuff. So much better," Nabiki stretched and walked out into the living room. "You and Kasumi were gonna go shopping today, right?"
"Yeah," Mako replied as she moved out to the table as well. Nabiki slid a list acrossed the table to her.
"Check those places first, I saw a few advertisements from them, so you should be able to get a few good deals."
"But those are maternity shops!" Mako said suddenly.
"Um, hello? Earth to baby belly," Nabiki said, her eyebrows raising inquisitively as Makoto's face lit up red again.
"Just shoot me now," She said as she sat her head on the table. "I know I am pregnant, but I don't want to look like a pregnant woman!"
"Well, you're not gonna pull off lookin like a super-model at the moment," Nabiki said, smiling to take the sting out of her words. "Besides, that first one on the list is supposed to specialize in younger women's maternity wear, so hopefully they'll avoid the old-and-practiced look of most shops."
"Uuuuuugh," Makoto replied maturely from her spot on the table before groaning. "And stop kicking me in the ribs, blasted brat!"
"Maybe it agrees with me," Nabiki said, causing Makoto to raise her head and stick her tongue out at her. "You keep sticking that tongue out at everyone and Ranma's gonna get ideas."
"You're evil," Makoto deadpanned.
"I know, and it pays so well," Nabiki replied happily. Kasumi giggled as she walked in with breakfast, just as Ranma came bounding down the stairs in male form, his long ponytail whipping around behind him. "Oh? No braid today Ranma?"
"Nah. Didn't have time. You know that takes me at least a good fifteen or twenty minutes to do if I'm doing it properly. I was lucky I managed to get the silly thing undone in time to get back down here for breakfast," Ranma replied, sitting down at the end of the table. "You feeling better now, Makoto?"
"If you mean can I walk on my own now, yes, I finally learned how again," she said sarcastically, all the while smiling happily, before slapping her hand over her mouth. "Great, your sister is contagious."
"Yep, sounded like a Nabiki answer," Ranma said, laughing lightly as Nabiki tried to look affronted before joining in.
"I'm absolutely appalled that you would think so little of me," she replied between laughs. "I'm sure I could have made it at least twice that spiteful sounding."
"And would've charged admission at the door too," Ranma quipped before Nabiki could say another word, catching her off-guard and leaving her speechless. "Ow, twice in one morning from the martial arts jock. Someone's off to a bad start."
Nabiki closed her mouth and picked at her food for a moment. Ranma reached over and poked her in the shoulder.
"I'm not used to you bickering with us, Ranma," Nabiki said after another moment. "I don't mind...I'm just..."
"Sorta like meeting a talking horse, ne?" Ranma joked, setting aside his now empty bowl. "Yes, Nabiki, I do have a sense of humor, I can be a witty conversationalist on occasion, and I actually can think about stuff that isn't directly martial arts related. Akane helped break my mind out of that one-track tunnel that Pops forced it into, and I've tried to make sure I don't get that focused again. While I still live for my Art, Akane showed me there was a lot out there that compliments it very well. Besides, a man can't dwell on one thing forever, now can he?"
Nabiki suddenly looked at Ranma as he smiled brightly.
"Okay, who are you, and what did you do with my little brother of the past four years?" she asked playfully.
"I hid him in the deepest well in Japan, and you shall never see him again," Ranma remarked, crossing his eyes at her and grinning.
"Don't make me splash you," Nabiki threatened, reaching for her glass of water before they both burst out laughing.
"Ranma, I was going to take Makoto shopping this afternoon, and would appreciate it if you would accompany us," Kasumi asked as she started to clear the table.
"Okay, not a problem, sis, I need to get out and stretch after that extended nap I took anyway," Ranma said easily. "Oh, before we go, I need to get you to loosen up this particular shirt a little. For some reason it's feeling kinda tight across the chest on my male form."
"If you wanna leave it there while you do your morning workout, I can adjust it as soon as I finish the dishes. Was it still fitting properly on your girl form?" Kasumi replied as she filled the dish sink.
"Actually was a little snug across the bust there too. I thought maybe I was just having one of those sensitive days in girl form, but when it was the same in both forms, I'm only guessing it's the shirt." Ranma supplied as he pulled the offending garment off, setting it down and quickly catching Makoto's attention from her spot at the table. As he walked outside, Makoto's eyes followed him the whole way, causing Nabiki to chuckle.
"See something you like Makoto?" Nabiki asked, not receiving an answer for a moment. "Hello? Earth to Miss Kino?"
"Huh?" Makoto responded suddenly, her face again burning with a full blush. Nabiki chuckled and winked at her.
"Yes, he's excellent eye-candy, isn't he?" she said in a low voice.
"I uh," Makoto tried to talk, but kept finding herself tongue-tied.
"I'll take that as a yes," Nabiki said, chuckling again. "Just be yourself around him, and he'll open up a bit more to you, I think. He already seems to like you, and you both happen to be into martial arts, so that's good common ground for you. Though I'm guessing you aren't quite the same caliber he is, there's very few people who are and he knows it, so that won't be a sticking point anyway."
"Thank you," Makoto mumbled, her face still aflame even as she watched Ranma begin to work his way through his morning katas.
Tofu chuckled as he hopped down from the roof of the porch, having slept in slightly.
"So, are you just enjoying the sunlight, or trying to give a certain someone a show for the morning?" He asked Ranma as he landed next to the black-haired boy.
"Do what?" Ranma replied quickly. Realization dawned on him as he glanced towards the porch where Makoto sat watching intently. He started to chuckle, one hand reaching back and fiddling with his tail. "Actually, it was neither one to begin with, I needed Kasumi to fix the shirt I was wearing, and didn't even think about that."
"Well, you've got her attention either way," Tofu said, chuckling some more. "Ahh, to be young and in love. It's fun, isn't it?"
"Ack," Ranma replied intelligently as he turned a dark shade of red, causing Tofu to laugh a bit harder. "This has got to be karma biting me in the ass for shocking Nabiki twice in one morning."
"Oh? Finally gave her a clue that you have a brain, did you?" Tofu said, as he started his own katas, Ranma falling in beside him a moment later.
"Apparently her and Kasumi put Makoto up to embarassing me the moment I woke up this morning. So I left'em both speechless as I went to clean up, then caught Nabiki flat-footed after one of her usual comments at breakfast."
"Ahh, gave her a taste of her own medicine," Tofu commented, finishing one kata and moving into another, all the while keeping one eye on Ranma's aura. "At least you're good and stable now. I can quit worrying about one of you."
"Last I checked there was only one of me, unless both my forms count now," Ranma replied, chuckling.
"I meant you and Makoto," Tofu said quietly and seriously as he finished up and sat down next to the koi pond, Ranma dropping next to him. "She's hiding it very well, but the breeding ground did it's damage. She may manage to heal before it becomes an issue, but it's possible the wrong words or actions could send her into a breakdown again. I'm warning you, since the two of you seem to be making some headway, and I didn't want you to think it was just you if that does happen."
"No worries there, Doc," Ranma replied evenly. "I...well, I guess you could say I talked to Akane about it, while I was out. It was a dream, so perhaps I guess you could say I talked to myself, but...nah, it was too real to be just any old dream."
"If you believe it was Akane, then there's a good chance it was. You yourself prove every day through your actions that what most people consider to be normal isn't necessarily the limit of things," Tofu replied.
"Yeah, I know. I just wouldn't want ya thinkin I'd gone off the deep end. But, anyway, I talked to Akane. She told me to move on," Ranma stopped as tears started to form, which he quickly wiped away. "She told me not to let her death stop me from living, and loving other people. How can I deny myself the chance, if the woman I love is telling me to go for it?"
"Knowing you like I do, I'd say you can't," Tofu said, grinning lightly. "So, when were you gonna let her know?"
"Well, I think I'll probably have to get a shirt on first," Ranma replied cheekily, earning another chuckle. "I didn't know women were the type to do that. From how most of them talk, the whole staring openly thing is a male trait."
"Oh, typically it is. Let's face it, they're called the fairer sex for a reason," Tofu replied, grinning wider than before. "But women are prone to a good piece of eye candy just as much as men are. You're in good shape to say the least, so to her you're probably rating pretty high right now."
"Guess I better go pay the piper then, since I brought it on myself," Ranma said as he stood to walk in. Fate being what it is, a loose rock under his foot rolled and dropped him into the koi pond. As she stood back up spluttering, she quickly covered herself, blushing slightly as she looked at the sky. "You all find this funny up there, don't you?"
"Oh come on, Ranma, you ruined the show!" Nabiki yelled from inside the house, causing Makoto to snicker. Ranma walked back up to the house, keeping herself covered mostly, looking appropriately embarassed. "What? Ranma actually having feminine modesty? Now I know you can't be the real Ranma."
"I got yelled at for flashing everyone a few too many times I guess," Ranma said, sticking her tongue out at Nabiki. "Well, more specifically, Kasumi threatened to make me start wearing a bra at all times if I didn't stop showing off my boobs every time I got splashed. That didn't seem like a manly option, so here we stand."
"No, you're standing there like a bad ecchi model. I'm sitting in here laughing at you," Nabiki responded as she glanced over at Makoto. "At least Makoto hasn't seen you in all your red-headed glory yet. I think that's part of what always got Akane so mad at you."
"Didn't seem to make a difference to her later on," Ranma muttered under her breath. "Can someone go get me a towel, or am I gonna have to drip dry out here?"
"Just be patient," Kasumi quipped as she walked around the corner, a towel in one hand. "You know I'm always aware when you manage to fall into the pond, what made this time any different?"
"Nabs trying to poke fun at me in front of Makoto, that's what," Ranma replied, grinning. "Besides, she's the only one here I have to worry about flashing, everyone else has seen them more times than I can count."
"Yup, hit the pond and off with the shirt," Nabiki responded, rolling her eyes. "Saw more boobs in that first year with you here than I did in all the time I was in girl's P.E. back in school."
"Only cuz I'm bigger," Ranma said cheekily.
"And oh so modest too," Makoto chimed in, smirking.
"Well Mom always says if ya got it, flaunt it. I keep trying to figure out which form that's supposed to apply to though. She never was very specific."
"It's better that you've changed for the day now anyway, Ranma," Kasumi said as she handed the towel over to the soaked martial artist. "Knowing you and the way you love to be caught shopping, you would have wanted to change anyway."
"Awww, hell, what did I agree to earlier?" Ranma said, dramatically slapping her free hand to her forehead. Carefully keeping herself covered she toweled dry, before cheekily remarking, "Maybe I should've tried this modesty thing earlier, it's like trying to keep a Christmas present wrapped up while leaving it out in the open."
Makoto went back into full blush mode, Nabiki laughing so hard she fell off the couch, and Kasumi merely giggled as she walked back inside.
"And I'll be right back, need to go wash the pond water out of my hair and change into a different set of pants," Ranma said, heading for the furo quickly.
She came back a few minutes later, dressed in another set of black pants. Nabiki arched an eye as she caught sight of panty lines and a black bra as well. "Full girl mode today, Ranma?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, figured it was for the best, since Kasumi was dropping hints in that direction, and realized while cleaning up that I'm probably best staying a girl for the week anyway," Ranma replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, any time I'm stuck going out in public I'm usually best off as a girl. You know how people love to randomly splash drinks on me. And ladles, and sudden gusts of wind near fountains, and puddles that shouldn't exist in the middle of the summer with no rain in a week, and washtubs dropped out of windows."
"Is there any way you haven't been splashed yet?" Makoto asked incredulously.
"Ya know...I don't think so anymore. Of course, now that I've said that, some Kami is going to go look through the giant book of 'Ways To Splash Ranma', and find one they haven't used yet, I'm sure of it." Ranma said responded, picking up her shirt from earlier. "You got this adjusted Kasumi?"
"Yes," Kasumi responded as she walked out of the kitchen, without her usual apron. "We're going out now, Nabiki. I'll call and let you know if we're going to be out late."
"You guys have fun," Nabiki said, waving from her spot on the couch as the other three went through the door.
Ranma groaned as she saw where they were headed in the mall.
"No wonder you told me to stay a girl, Kasumi," she remarked as they walked into the first store Nabiki had listed. "I'd have died of embarassment in here as a guy."
"What? It's not manly for a man to be shopping in a maternity clothing store?" Kasumi teased.
"Depends, I'm sure Mom would've found it plenty manly for me to be in here as long as it was shopping for all of my fiancees at the same time," Ranma replied, rolling her eyes.
"Your mom seems to have an odd view on things, Ranma," Makoto said, a bit wide-eyed at the commentary.
"You don't know the half of it," Ranma said as they walked further through the store, Kasumi concentrating on picking out a few items here and there. "By the way, you'd better keep up with Kasumi if you want a say in your clothes. She's scarily efficient with this kind of stuff."
"Anything Goes Martial Arts Maternity Shopping," Kasumi quipped from in front of them, grinning.
"Ugh, spare me," Ranma said theatrically. "You're going for a lot of green there, Kasumi."
"Of course, it matches her eyes," Kasumi said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "You should know that, you got a very good view of them this morning."
Makoto giggled and put a hand to her face as Ranma turned as red as her hair, digging a trail in the carpet at her feet with her toes.
"Yep, karma, not like I was awake enough to be paying attention anyway." Ranma said cryptically as she resolutely followed the other two. Suddenly a loud crash was heard outside of the store, Ranma blurring through the racks as she rushed to the front. She quickly spotted the problem, a small humanoid youma who had apparently drained several bystanders. "Oh come on, if you're gonna interrupt my day, at least make it freakin worthwhile!"
Before the youma could turn to grab another person, Ranma had jumped up and over the small crowd that was trying to disperse, dropping a quick Mouko Takabisha on the youma's head before arriving directly behind it, using her knees to drive the monster further into the ground and causing a small impact crater. Before the dust had settled Ranma lifted the creature up, snapping both arms with precise strikes before slamming it bodily back into the ground again. She waited a moment for the creature to turn to dust like they usually did, surprised as it started to speak instead.
"The master...was wrong...about you...weak and...merciful the master said..." the creature spat out vehemently.
"I don't know who your master is, but make no mistake, I've tried to work things out with your kind before. You give me no reason to believe that any of you are worth sparing, and now I only have more of a reason to be quick and decisive in my fights with you. Let your master decide what they want to do from that," Ranma replied, her eyes glowing a light blue as she formed her ki around her hand, forming a small spike and driving it down through the chest of the youma before it could regain it's feet, instantly turning it to dust. "I'm done screwing around with people who are out to destroy what I hold dear."
As the crowd began to form, and sirens wailed off in the distance, Ranma swore quietly and quickly wrapped herself in the Umi-Ken-Sen. Making her way around the crowd, she found Kasumi and Makoto nearing the front of the store as she let herself fade back into visibility.
"Youma?" Kasumi asked simply, Ranma nodding quickly. "Must have been a small one. I felt the change in your aura, but then you were gone. That fight was over too quick to be one of the more serious ones."
"Yeah, that one was barely even worth the effort, but no reason to let it hurt anyone just because I've been asleep. Besides, it was a decent little stretch," Ranma replied, working her arms back and forth with her usual confident smirk. "So, back to shopping?"
Kasumi and Makoto drifted through the rest of the store, Ranma walked along behind them, occasionally joining into their conversations. A few hours and a large stack of clothes later, Kasumi was looking pleased.
"I think we'll be able to finish up in just this one store," Kasumi said brightly. "Unless you just want to go to the others to browse in case you see something you like."
"No thanks," Makoto responded. "I'm thinking I'll have to sit down here for a bit soon as is. I'm starting to feel a little worn out."
"Oh my, you should have said something earlier. We could have stopped for a snack out at the food court," Kasumi replied, frowning slightly. "Actually, I should have been able to judge that better."
"Oh don't you start that already, Ka-chan," Ranma said from behind her. "If you'd gone by your original thinking, she'd still be laying in a bed. Mako's got pretty decent recuperation, we can just let her sit down for a bit, then she'll be okay I bet."
Kasumi frowned a bit more. "I'm just usually capable of judging people's condition better."
"How often are you dealing with a pregnant martial artist who's recovering though, Ka-chan?" Ranma arched an eyebrow as she pressed the point. "You're dealing with a situation that's somewhat unusual even for us. After all, none of you Tendo girls have ever been pregnant, nor has Shampoo or Ukyo. I'm not sure how exactly Shampoo didn't end up pregnant before they went back, considering she seemed to go after Mousse pretty hard when Cologne decided to annull the Kisses, but that's not even the point here at all. You've done fairly well up till now, but Makoto's a complete unknown to ya up until a few days ago. So stop frowning, and just let it slide. Besides, I'm here if she starts getting wobbly."
"I guess you're right," Kasumi relented, sighing lightly. "I'm letting myself get too worked up I think lately, somehow."
"It's starting to show a little too, you're starting to look run down. Too much work and not enough play, I'm thinking," Ranma said, wrapping an arm around Kasumi for a moment. "Now come on, we'll have'em ship everything that Makoto's not wearing to the house, then we're gonna go out, get a snack, and let her and you both off your feet for a while."
"Stop making me feel like the little sister," Kasumi said jokingly. "That's supposed to be my job."
"Well, that's too bad, I'm taking over, so deal with it," Ranma replied, grinning widely.
"Ranma...how is it that you manage to out-cute almost every other girl when it comes to ice cream scoops?" Kasumi asked as they made their way to a table.
"Easy, I love me some ice cream," Ranma said before digging into the sweet, quickly finishing it.
"Why the vanilla? I saw you watching the chocolate like a hawk the whole time we were waiting in line," Makoto asked innocently.
Ranma groaned and laid her head down on the table.
"That's Ranma's way of trying to say she really doesn't want to admit why she got the vanilla," Kasumi said mirthfully as she finished her snack in a more lady-like fashion.
"But it's just ice cream!" Mako stated in confusion. Ranma looked back up with a very bright blush. "What's the difference?"
"She's just gonna find out later from Nabiki anyway, you might as well tell her, Ka-chan," Ranma said, hiding her face on the table again, leaving Makoto looking very perplexed.
"What Ranma is trying to avoid admitting, is that she tends to get somewhat affectionate with chocolate ice cream. Only in female form, as far as we know, but that is the reason she gets the vanilla even when she wants the chocolate," Kasumi said, smiling her usual angelic smile.
"That doesn't sound so bad." Makoto replied, her face still showing her confusion.
"What Kasumi isn't explaining, is what she means by affectionate," Ranma said, finally looking up again. "For some reason, my female form loves chocolate in just about any form, more so in ice cream, and the effect is even worse if I happen to be on my time of the month...which I am."
"That...makes almost no sense. I mean, chocolate is known for being a food that makes people happy, but isn't that kind of overboard?" Makoto said, scratching her head lightly.
"Normally, yes. But you have to remember, this body was magically given to me to begin with. We think it has something to do with my brain basically being wired fully male, but in a female body, with female hormones and all of that wonderful stuff. All we know for certain is that Ranma in girl form plus chocolate ice cream equals a very cuddly Ranma for a few hours. And if I happen to be like I am now, it just goes straight to my brain, and I wake back up a few hours later feeling like I just came out of the Neko-ken," Ranma explained, face still flaming.
"Neko-ken?" Makoto asked, having finished her snack.
"Oh, right, I left that part out when I was telling you my stories. Most people just want to kill my Pops after I tell them about it anyway," Ranma said as she got up and threw their containers away. "Basics of it, is that my father tried to teach me an invincible technique when I was about ten or so. And it backfired. Since my father is an idiot, he missed the last page of the instructions detailing the downfalls of the technique, and the explanation that only an idiot would try to teach it to anyone."
"Ranma's father dug a pit, filled it with starving cats, then covered Ranma in fish sausages, and threw him into the pit, closing the lid. Repeatedly," Kasumi finished, her eyes closed tight. "I still want to fix panda steaks some weekend to make up for that."
"Ka-chan, you know they're on the endangered list. Maybe next year," Ranma said gently. "But that's the basis of the Neko-ken. The downside is I'm deathly afraid of those animals now, and if I'm stuck near them for too long, I...well, I pretty much lose my mind, become one of them, and I go berserk."
"But...wha?" Mako sat with her jaw open again."How the hell does anyone do something so cruel?"
"Pops is an idiot. Like I said, he didn't bother to read further in the book. At least not till right before I finally snapped and then came back up out of the pit in the Neko-ken trance." Ranma said, keeping her eyes on Mako.
"That's insane!" Makoto blurted out, using both hands as she started rubbing her eyes. "How'd you turn out as well as you did with that man training you?"
"I didn't, not to begin with," Ranma explained as they got up and began to walk back towards home. "A lot of my more problematic behavior got trained out of me by Kasumi and Akane. More Kasumi, but again, no real point in differentiating. When I first showed up, my speech was atrocious, my only thing I focused on was my martial arts, I slept through every class I was ever in, got into fights left and right, and was an absolute ass to Akane from day one."
"Now Ran-chan, that's not completely true. You were actually fairly kind most of the time," Kasumi chimed in.
"Not that first year, Ka-chan. From that first night, Akane and I were at each other's throats. The initial incident in the furo certainly didn't help matters any, but from that point on it was tomboy and baka, uncute and jerk. Both of us too pissed at our dads to admit to any feelings of friendship, even though we were covering each other's backs constantly. Occasionally one of us would slip for a moment, but soon as the trouble spot was past, we'd go right back to denial," Ranma kept talking as they boarded the train, moving back to an empty section of it. After they all sat down, Ranma continued.
"After I had to kill Saffron in order to save her, then the failed wedding, there was no real denying things at that point. We kept arguing, but the usual anger wasn't quite in it anymore. We danced around it for about another year, then finally one night, we sat down on the roof and just talked everything over. We even tried to figure out later what made us decide to do that to begin with, and we never did figure it out. It's like we just suddenly decided it was a good time to talk, and we did."
"You sound as if you regret a lot of that, Ranma," Makoto said quietly as the train began to move. Ranma looked stoically at her lap for a few minutes.
"I...no, I can't say I regret it. It's more...I'm disappointed with myself that I wasted so much time getting around to admitting things. If we had only admitted sooner how we really felt. We were mad at our fathers for pushing us into the situation, we were mad at everyone else who got involved, all the fiancees and suitors. We took all of that anger, and we threw it at each other," Ranma explained as they crossed town. "Both of us were immature children, neither of us really sure what to do, or how to even sort our own feelings. And being children, every time someone tried to push us together, we pushed right back, and in the end we were only hurting each other. We finally realized that."
"And that's when the two of you finally started getting along. From that day, I remember seeing you finally spar with her. She was so happy when you finally took her seriously and started hitting back. Your proposal was certainly one that would've only happened between the two of you," Kasumi said, smiling gently.
"Oh? What did you do?" Makoto asked, her attention riveted, before her sense of compassion took hold. "Um...that is if you feel like telling. Sorry, I really shouldn't pry."
"You're fine, Makoto," Ranma said easily, her eyes shimmering brightly with unshed tears as she looked out the window. "I...don't mind talking about it like I once would have. It brings up a few emotions that I don't always know how to handle, but it doesn't bother me like it would have a few years ago."
"Three months after we finally talked, we were outside sparring. I had on my usual black and red chinese combo that I always wore back then, and Akane had swapped into her yellow gi she loved so much. So we're sparring near the koi pond, amazingly without me landing in it, and she rushes in for an attack. I knew all the holes in her defense, since that's what we'd been working on up to that point. I just had to wait, and she fell into one of her patterns she was fond of, but it left her horribly open in the mid-section. So, I punched through and doubled her over. Knocked the wind out of her, and held her there."
"I thought we were explaining you proposing to her?" Makoto asked in confusion.
"We are. She of course, was trying to get her wind back. So while she was stuck bent over, I pulled my fist back. And opened the box that I had in my hand," Ranma said, smiling softly. Makoto gasped. "So she's standing there, trying to get breath back in her lungs, and looking at that box in disbelief. And I asked her right there to marry me. She still couldn't breathe straight for a few more moments, but I nearly got crushed with the hug I got. Finally she was able to talk again, and all she said to me was 'Yes, you damned baka.' I put the ring on her finger, she starts jumping and squealing. Then she started doing that crying happy tears thing that women do, and being me at the time, I freaked out, started backpedaling because I can't stand to see a girl cry. And of course, I fell straight in the koi pond."
"Oh no!" Makoto remarked. "You didn't!"
"Yep. Right on cue," Ranma said, smiling widely and chuckling. "I'd avoided that damned pond all evening. And in my moment of glory, I step backwards right into it. I came back up spluttering and spitting water. And Akane stands there, starts laughing, and says 'I'll even marry you too.' Needless to say, I had to start laughing at that point, everyone else is celebrating, Nabiki's handing out the reward on the betting pool as to when I'd propose, my Mom is crying because now she'd have an excuse to push for grandkids. Was a good evening. We set the date for a month after she was due to be back from that expedition to the pole."
Ranma grew quiet at that point, losing her smile. The train stopped, and they started to walk the rest of the way home.
"Those few months after that were the happiest I ever had with Akane. That was around three months before she left on the expedition," Ranma said slowly as they walked, the other two girls following behind her. "About two months after the impact, they finally sent word back that the expedition had been too close to where the impact occurred, and I fell into a bit of a state. I don't even remember most of those months. I had spent the two up till that point doing everything I could around the city to help dig stuff out, clear out water, anything I could do, I did. Then we got that message from the college about what had happened. And I fell apart. I threw myself into my training, I guess as some sort of strange mental survival instinct. I got up, and I just started running through katas. Pops would come by and try to spar with me, but I hardly noticed."
"Ranma," Mako started to say quietly, only to stop as Kasumi put a hand on her shoulder and quickly shook her head.
"In a sense, I guess I tried to push myself into dying. I didn't know what to do without Akane. And every time I would try to think of what to do, I'd see her face again in my mind, and I'd throw myself right back into the Art. It was not a time I'm proud to admit to. It helped keep my edge on my training, but it was nothing more than a more energetic version of depression, I guess," Ranma stopped walking, staring at one of her open hands. "I finally threw myself into it so hard that I didn't sleep for four days in a row. I think. I kinda lost track. Doc came out and tore a few strips off of me at that point, and got through to me. That was the first time I pushed myself to collapsing. If Doc hadn't stopped me then, I'm not sure I would have stopped at all till I wore myself into the ground. I woke back up from that a day later."
"That's when I found out about the breeding grounds," Ranma said, her voice regaining it's usual liveliness, seething with an edge of anger, her open hand she'd been staring at closing tightly into a fist. "I was walking back just the way we are now. I just happened to catch a light flash on out of the corner of my eye. I didn't think a thing of it, till I heard that girl scream. That night was the first time I truly felt alive again, since I'd found out Akane had died. I tore into that first room through the windows, shattered them all. I'm honestly not sure how I ended up not killing anyone. I can remember a detail here or there from that one, but the whole night is just a blur in my memory now. I remember Na-chan showing up at some point, and I set her to getting information from the girls."
"There were four girls in that place, and about thirty men. All between the ages of eighteen and forty I'd say. All of them had family honor swords on them, a few them carried guns. I...went a bit overboard in my rage," Ranma said, her voice going quiet again. Her fist dropped to her side, lifeless. "I didn't hold back much. The news downplayed just how badly I injured all of them. I broke all of their legs when I realized exactly what was going on. On top of that, the ones that tried to keep fighting, I broke their arm. I wasn't merciful at all. I gave them no second chances. After I had done that, and got all the girls back outside, I went back in, threw all of them in one room. I shot key points in the structure's supports with ki blasts, then I went outside with Nabiki, and fired another one straight through the middle of the structure, severing all of the main supports. The place caved in on itself. I didn't bother to plan the survival of those men. I'd planned to bury them in there, and I didn't care at the time if they lived or not. I left that to chance."
"You didn't do anything more than anyone else with a heart would have done, Ranma," Makoto said fiercely. Ranma turned to find the girl with tears in her eyes. Kasumi sniffed slightly, and Ranma saw the tears forming there too. "No one could ever blame you for that. Most would say you did take it easy on them. Especially the girls from there. Most girls would tell you that what you did isn't enough."
"Makoto..." Kasumi said quietly from behind the girl.
"You were merciful in letting them live. It's hell being in those places. Every day the same horror as the one before," Mako said, losing her voice as she went, tears falling faster as she wrapped her arms around herself. "You wake up wanting to die, or wanting to kill someone else and hoping they kill you as punishment. You pray for someone to rescue you, and you end up celebrating a day where you don't see another human. I'd wake up, planning to try something else, trying to find anything I could use to my advantage. Two weeks I fought my way out of my cell every time they made the mistake of opening the door. I broke bones in every man they'd send in, before they finally sent in five or six and managed to hold me down long enough to get the chains on me," Makoto started to cry, shivering before suddenly finding herself in a tight hug. She looked down to see the top of Ranma's red hair.
"You did everything you could Makoto. That one you were in was leaps and bounds beyond the other ones I tore down. I would have had to throw everything into that to tear it all down, and that would have hurt too many innocents. You did better than anyone would expect getting as far out as you did. And more importantly, you held on to that fighting spirit even through everything they did to you." Ranma said slowly, stepping back and looking up at the other girl.
"But I didn't. By the time you showed up, I was done fighting. I was trying to back into a corner every time I heard a noise beyond my cell. The abuse didn't stop when they realized we were pregnant. It slacked off, but it still happened every day anyway. If a guard had a bad day, he'd come in, and relieve his stress by taking it out on us." Makoto cried out, tears flowing freely down her face. Kasumi stood back, not sure to get involved now or not.
"Makoto-san," Ranma said quietly, instantly getting the girl's attention. "Girls who don't have any fighting spirit in them don't get my attention."
"I...wha?" Mako replied, confusion now mixing with the pain in her eyes.
"I've made no real attempts to hide that I like you, Makoto. Perhaps more, but I can't say for certain yet," Ranma said, just as quietly. "I may be friendly to everyone, but only girls who have a very visible fighting spirit to them actually catch my attention. You may have been trying to back into a corner. Perhaps you felt like you'd given up. But the moment I opened that door to your cell, you were coiled to pounce. You have the kind of spirit I had only found once before, in Akane. Even scared out of your mind, you were ready to fight rather than lay down and die."
"But, I" Mako started to argue, only to be silenced by Ranma's hand on her mouth.
"No buts. You were in there for eight months Makoto. Most girls I rescued would have been nothing more than a quivering pile of whimpers and crying. But you were still trying to fight. The only reason you fainted is because you were expecting to fight, and instead, found yourself freed. You came out of it all carrying a kid that you didn't want, and yet you can still laugh, and even have enough of a sense of humor to play a joke on me the moment I wake back up a few days later. Kasumi was so shocked at how sane you seemed when you first woke up, that she wasn't sure what to do. You've taken every 'normal' scenario that we have for dealing with girls from these places, and turned them all upside down," Ranma continued on, her face stoic. "If you still consider yourself to have failed, then take my word that you're the furthest thing from it that I've seen. You can ask Kasumi. I don't lie to people. I don't believe in that, I grew up seeing the results of it too often with Panda Pops."
Makoto started to cry again, throwing herself at Ranma. Kasumi could only smile as Ranma's face went from stoic, to confused, and finally to a slight smile as she tried to comfort the taller girl.
"Guess it's a good thing I'm already a girl at the moment, huh?" Ranma quipped lightly, earning a snort from Makoto and a partially supressed giggle from Kasumi.
"Stop making me laugh when I'm busy feeling like shit," Makoto said, a weak smile on her face as she stood back up, before her legs buckled under her, dropping her back against Ranma. "Um...sorry...guess I've overdone it again," she said sheepishly, trying to hide her face.
"It's no biggie," Ranma said quickly.
"Crying fits tend to wear the body out even faster," Kasumi supplied. "Ranma can carry you the rest of the way home, I think. It's not too far."
"As if it would make a difference to me if it was too far," Ranma smirked. "But before we go, I'll show you something."
Ranma reached down and pulled Mako up into her arms, before leaping up the top of the wall they were standing next to. Mako looked out to see a yard where a home had once stood, most of it still in a large pile, random pieces apparently slung to corners of the yard where the grass had overgrown them.
"This is that first breeding ground I was telling you about. I realized part of the way through my explanation that we were standing next to it. If you want proof of what I've talked about Makoto, here it is," Ranma said quietly as Makoto looked out over the ruined home. "This is my handiwork. I'm not proud of that night, but I am proud of the mission it gave me. I won't allow these places to exist. Once I've got my strength back, I'm going back to the one I rescued you from, and I'm getting anyone else out that is still there, and then I'm tearing it down to the foundations as well."
"And once he's done that, we'll take care of anyone he's rescued, and then they'll get sent back to their parents or families," Kasumi said from where she had lightly landed next to them. "When Ranma destroyed this place, he took it as his personal mission. His father and mother took his mission as their own. They've destroyed at least a dozen of these places across northern Japan. Ukyo went out and about as a means of trying to track them down in other places south of here. Tofu and I help him by doctoring up any of the girls he pulls back out of these places injured. Nabiki tracks down information on the girls, keeps an eye for papers showing an increase in girls missing in areas. Ranma's even managed to get the Sailor Senshi to help him track down information on these places, and in exchange, he helps them with monsters that show up now, since they seem to have branched out."
"You all do all this? On your own?" Makoto asked in disbelief as Ranma jumped back down to the ground. "But why? How?"
"The how is easy, we do it with our own strength and spirits, just like you fought back with yours while inside that breeding ground," Ranma said fiercely as they walked on. "We do it on our own because the government for some reason has been trying to sweep this all under the rug. Any articles related to these places are buried in the middle of papers crammed in small print next to advertisements. It's a martial artist's job to protect those who can't protect themselves. "
"Besides," Ranma said, grinning openly. "A lifetime of training in martial arts nearly every hour of every day has to be useful for something I guess, ne?"
"Good grief, take the scenic route home?" Nabiki said sarcastically as they walked in. She opened her mouth when she saw Makoto asleep in Ranma's arms, only to shut it again when Kasumi shook her head.
"She wore herself out a bit more than she thought while we were out and collapsed," Kasumi said quickly, moving into the kitchen.
"I'm going to go set her in her room, Kasumi," Ranma said as she moved down the hall.
"Just wore herself out?" Nabiki said quietly as she joined Kasumi in the kitchen. "Judging by her face, she wasn't too wore out to cry."
"She...had another episode," Kasumi admittedly slowly.
"In front of Ranma, no less," Nabiki replied. "So how long did it take Ranma to not be a blubbering pile of uselessness?"
"Actually, Na-chan, I'll have you know, I'm not nearly so prone to that anymore," Ranma said from directly behind her, causing Nabiki to jump away with a startled yelp. "And I would tell you it's none of your business, if I were the old me, but Makoto knows now for sure, that while I'm not sure where things are going, I do like her. Far as I'm concerned, that means I help her get over the damage that place did to her mind. I'm going to politely ask you not to go eavesdropping on her room."
"I hadn't really planned on it, Ran-chan. We tend to keep a bit of an open-door policy around the house now anyway, if something's being said behind a closed door anymore, it's usually for a good reason," Nabiki said smoothly.
"Wouldn't have stopped you before, Na-chan," Ranma replied, causing another moment of minor embarassment from the former Ice Queen of Furinkan. "I appreciate it though. She'll talk about it all out in the open I think soon. The fact she broke down on a public street I'm guessing is a good sign of that, but till then, I'm trying to let her decide when and where she'll open her doors, so to speak."
"In other words, you'd like for us to let her work her own way out of it, and not pry at her," Kasumi said softly.
"I wasn't kidding before when I told her I see a good bit of Akane's spirit in her. And you know how Akane hated being pushed by people. Last thing I need is for her to feel like she's being backed into a corner and expected to spill her guts," Ranma said seriously, looking at both the girls who were passing looks back and forth. "She's already opened up to both of you I'm guessing while I was busy off in dreamland."
"She did somewhat. She opened up a little bit, then cried on me that day you were sparring with Tofu," Kasumi said.
"That'd be when Doc clocked me with that strike to the side of my face," Ranma replied, grinning. "That one hurt, I might add."
"After you collapsed out by the pond, and her friends left, I ended up talking to her for a little while as well," Nabiki added, crossing her arms and leaning against the cabinets. "She didn't so much open up as just talked, like friends, but the conversation turned around to you. I ended up telling a little bit of the story behind that first breeding ground you came across. And she ended up crying on me and Kasumi both for a bit. She's trying not to let it show, but I think the constant abuse in there did a lot more to damage her sense of safety than we first thought. She's strong, she hides it better than any other girl we've seen come out of there, but Kasumi thinks the pregnancy is destroying any real chance of her keeping it from affecting her."
"Hormones?" Ranma asked, sighing as Kasumi nodded at her. "I was afraid of that. They're gonna play hell on her in her mental condition."
"When did you get smart in dealing with people?" Nabiki asked, cocking her head slightly.
"I didn't. Half of fighting is in your mind. I've learned to turn every situation into sort of a fight in my head, as a way of looking at things. The rest of it is just me trying to apply what little bits of medical and psychological knowledge I have from what Doc and Kasumi leave lying around the house," Ranma said, crossing her arms and bringing one hand up to her chin. "I just don't know what the suggested response would be in this situation. So, I'm playing by ear. I'm gonna go watch over her till dinner is ready."
"Oh?" Nabiki said, her voice almost a purr.
"If nothing else, I owe her for watching over me those couple of days. Besides, I admitted straight to her face that I like her. Would seem a little odd if I didn't return the favor, wouldn't you say?" Ranma replied, grinning back at Nabiki. "Besides, this'll give you two more to talk about."
Kasumi started laughing as Nabiki's brain blew a fuse for the third time in the day.
Makoto woke back up slowly, blinking occasionally as she tried to remember what happened.
"Good afternoon, glad to see you're a bit quicker to recover than most people," Ranma said, her face mere inches from Makoto's own. The brunette's eyes widened for a moment before she grinned impishly and leaned forward, landing a light kiss on Ranma's nose. Ranma panicked and fell backwards, eliciting giggles from the other girl. "Okay, admittedly did not see that one coming."
"Looks like your plan to get back at me failed, Mister Saotome." She giggled again as Ranma made a rude gesture, grinning all the while.
"Considering the end results, I'm not sure if that's a failure, or just success of a different sort," Ranma said cheekily. "I'm honestly just more surprised you did that while I'm in girl form."
"I run around with a pack of eight other girls, at least two of whom are well known to be more than just fond of each other. While I'm not a lesbian, I won't deny having had a few curious moments on occasion." Makoto replied, her face still split with her grin and quickly coloring. "Besides, you're actually a guy who happens to be in a girl's body. Seemed like a perfectly good opportunity to me."
"Kasumi and I have actually talked about that a few times. My ki apparently over the years has balanced out to where I'm essentially both genders. Ain't gonna chase guys, cuz there's just all sorts of mental wrongs involved in that, but I don't mind being a girl," Ranma said, her face perfectly serious. She crossed her arms as she sat back up straight. "I'm some sort of heterosexual lesbian or something. Hell if I know what to call it exactly, but it boils down to whether I'm being a guy or a girl, I like girls, don't like guys. Ever since Akane and I opened up and I realized she didn't care about me being a girl half the time, I just stopped fighting my girl side. Akane actually approved of that. I think her comment on it was 'Last thing I need is to be hearing tales of my husband-turned-wife in my later years, running around town and flashing everyone because you're too damned stubborn to dress appropriately for your current gender.' And then Kasumi started drilling proper etiquette into me as a girl, and yeah, I lost my will to fight with it after that. I had no reason left to fight it. Mom didn't care, Akane didn't care, no one else cared, so I stopped trying to fight the girl in my soul."
"So you used to act completely like a guy even as a girl?" Makoto asked, bunching her blankets and pillows around her to lean on.
"Except when I went after ice cream, yeah, was about the manliest acting girl you'd ever seen. I used to wear my chinese shirt and silk pants all the time, just tightened the belt if I got transformed into a girl, and looked for hot water as soon as possible. Of course, being me, and my never lose attitude, I ended up taking on a few challenges in girl form that ended up with me having to be just a bit too far to the other side to be considered girly," Ranma rambled on, causing Makoto to quirk an eyebrow at him. "Well, dressing up in a playboy bunny outfit for a race to see who could sell food faster was probably a bit over the top." Ranma admittedly sheepishly.
"You didn't?" Mako replied, laughing merrily.
"Oh, yes, I did. I used to use it to hide from embarassment too, like ice skating, I couldn't figure that out at the time, so I only went out as a girl. Idiot that I was, not even thinking that being in girl form was probably making it harder for me to figure it out, since I was still adjusting to my balance then," Ranma explained, relaxing back against a wall. "Oh, before I sit here and keep talking like a moron, I got Nabiki to give me her word not to eavesdrop on ya in here, so you're safe."
"That...was necessary?" Makoto's face showed her confusion.
"May not have been, but I had to make sure. Nabiki used to be nicknamed the Ice Queen of Furinkan. She did a lot of betting pools, information selling, stuff like that, and she was good at it. But she had a tendency to eavesdrop on me and Akane, or anyone else she thought she could get dirt on. It serves her well in her job with the city, since she has to have a bit of an edge on some of the people there, especially since she's female, but I think she's managed to kick the habit of doing that kind of stuff here around the house." Ranma looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Actually, yeah, I guess I really didn't need to do that. I haven't heard her trying to eavesdrop on me in a year or two at least now I think."
"You all seem so open with each other anyway, I wouldn't have thought something like that would have even been necessary." Mako said as she sat her chin on her hands.
"Oh, we didn't used to be. I was pretty much an open book, but I kept all my real thinking to myself. Akane was open, friendly, but underneath it all was a deep-seated core of anger, mad at anything that went wrong really. Bad reaction to her mom dying and her dad giving up the art at the time." Ranma looked out the window, her mind drifting back in memories. "Nabiki was the Ice Queen, and didn't care what you were doing, how you were doing it, or what your feelings were, as long as she could make money off of it. Kasumi, on the other hand, hasn't really changed much. Except she used to always be worried about what was proper, but I think Tofu has showed her that perhaps an improper thing here and there wasn't necessarily such a problem. She used to get really hung up on what was traditionally proper."
"Nothing wrong with a little tradition." Mako said somewhat indignantly.
"Oh, I agree. But like, she used to be really traditional. Like, you didn't so much as glance out of place or anything sometimes without getting a frown from her. And if Kasumi went so far as to frown at you, that meant you probably weren't getting clean clothes, or warm meals, for at least a week." Ranma grinned from ear to ear. "I'm still not sure how Pops ever managed to avoid getting a kitchen knife thrown at him or anything. Probably only saved by the fact he was a guest and Mr. Tendo's best friend."
"You never seem to speak well of your father," Mako said as she started to stand, wobbling slightly but managing on her own. "I will be so happy once my legs get all their normal strength back. I'm really tired of being shaky all the time."
"Should only take ya another day or two if I had to take a guess. All the walking we did this afternoon is probably the only reason you're feeling it right now." Ranma said as she fell in behind the taller girl, the two of them making their way out to the family room. "But about Pops, yeah, I never speak well of him because up until about three years ago, there really wasn't anything good to be said. He's very well suited to his cursed form. He's lazy, lays around a lot, and likes to eat. Preferably everyone else's food before his own, using the excuse of it being speed training. He's thrown me into a pit of starving animals trying to learn an invincible technique, only to forget to fully read the instructions that told him he was an idiot. He's half the reason Akane and I fought for so long, well, him and Mr. Tendo. He has the spine of an earthworm, runs away from the slightest challenge if he thinks he can't win, and designed technques of his own based off of burglarizing houses."
"That's...a lot of downsides," Makoto said slowly as they seated themselves.
"That's still not even the full list," Kasumi said as she brought dinner in. "Mr. Saotome was also very sexist, felt women were weak, and a distraction from the art. And he drilled that thinking into Ranma's head during their training, enforcing a viewpoint that kept Ranma from being able to adapt to his curse as fast as he would have been able to. Even after Ranma was kicking him around the yard every sparring match in either form, he still held to those viewpoints, unless he was in front of Auntie Nodoka. Then amazingly, he seemed to suddenly gain respect for women, until she turned around again. He's a lazy, drunken, excuse of a parent in my honest opinion, and deserves whatever punishment the gods hand to him."
"And sis is being nice about it," Nabiki chimed in as she walked over to sit down for the meal after having yelled at Tofu in the back yard. "Genma Saotome is probably among my top ten most disgusting individuals I've ever met, once you look at the core of everything he's done. His only real redeeming factor is that that man can fight."
"Yep," Ranma piped up. "I've already came to terms with it. My father, sadly, isn't much of a man. My mother has said as much after learning what all I've been put through. But he did one thing right, and it's what keeps him from becoming a rug in my mother's living room. He taught me our family's martial arts school. And he taught me damned well."
"By the way, Ranma," Nabiki started talking as they all began to eat. "I need to you to go straighten things out with the city when you've got a free day. I don't know what's going on exactly, but for some reason the council seems to be trying to put pressure on us to start paying for the utilities again."
"Even after our contract with them?" Ranma asked, sighing as Nabiki nodded. "Okay, guess I go remind them tomorrow. I'll get to the bottom of it. Hopefully I don't have to resort to anything close to bullying, but I'm not gonna let them bend that contract."
"Only thing I've been able to figure out is that some new guy stepped up into the head position in the council from nowhere. He's supposedly pushing at the other council members to try and push this on us, since they're all the ones that keep coming to me about it, but this guy never seems to come to me himself, even after I've told the other councilmen that he'd have to do so," Nabiki supplied as she finished her food. "Great meal as always, Sis."
