A River Redirected
Warning and Disclaimer: I don't own any of the
characters aside from Jiro Kuonji, but he's more of
a punching bag than a character. Oh yeah, before I
get any comments, in Ruin Explorers, Wiccan is a race of
cat people (assuming Fam is typical member) NOT a
religion.
[I'm going to finish here for the moment though this
part is kind of short...I]
Last Episode: Kiyone arrived at the shrine in time
to meet the fiancees looking for lost weapons in the
woods. The Tendo contractor flashes by to repair
the after battle mess back at the Dojo. Leaf comes up
with plan that doesn't involve waiting for her
husband to wake up. The Manos maul Tatewaki
Kuno and meet Ayaka Kisaragi. Nabiki and Kiyone
discuss family, and Shampoo makes a sickening (for her)
discovery.
*******************************************************
"There is NO way I'm going to cast the spell,"
the woman shouted at her youthful seeming friend.
Youthful seeming, and still annoyingly youthful
acting at times.
"But Ihrie...I'll just mess up!" The "girl's"
tail twitched nervously.
"Why couldn't I pair up with an elf," Ihrie
wondered to herself, she was approaching her
mid-thirties with an old scar on her cheek. Her
long purple hair stuck out at odd angles, as if she had
never even heard of a brush before. "They may stay
young longer even than you wiccans, but at least
they don't ACT like kids."
"Oh come on Ihrie," Fam whined. "We have plenty
of your pills. And you're a much better magician than
I am and this involves time AND dimension travel and I
don't think I can do it right."
Ihrie growled, of course Fam was only half right.
Raw power and theoretical superiority didn't help
much when you only got one spell in each battle. Plus
Fam knew all her spells and a several more besides that
Ihrie's curse had made impossible for her to learn
properly.
"Fam, you once cast a spell in a place normal
spellcasting should have been impossible," Ihrie
said rubbing her temples irritably. "Even if it was just
a simple illusion, you can handle THIS, besides she's
your kid, not mine." ~And to think I rejoiced when
you finally stopped whining about Lyle. Last time we
visited your daughter we ended up getting chased
around by some psycho with blue hair.~
"Well...okay, if you say so Ihrie."
"Just cast the spell."
*******************************************************
"Back so soon, Shampoo?" Cologne said as Shampoo
sort of shuffled into the Nekohanten. "Is something
the matter, great-grandaughter?"
"Yes," Shampoo snatched a bowl of ramen and sat
down heavily, sort of poking at the noodles before
eating experimentally.
"Is the son-in-law..." Cologne ceased speaking,
as Shampoo pushed away the bowl of ramen. The color
drained out of her face and then returned in shades
of green. "What is it Shampoo?"
"Ranma is family," Shampoo said, standing up
calmly, and then making a mad dash for the public
restroom.
"This complicates matters," Cologne said to
herself.
*******************************************************
"Decisions, decisions," Nabiki said to herself,
watching Ryoko and Ayeka fight off into the hills.
Tenchi was in the fields doing chores, this early
in the morning, Ranma was still asleep. Nabiki had
seen Akane in the dining area in the process of
waking up. She must have had a long night, Akane wasn't
usually that tired in the morning. Still, her
asking how Kasumi had gotten so short was quite amusing.
Ryoko had no money that she could determine, so
it
was useless selling the little information she had
gleaned to the pirate. She doubted Ayeka would be
willing to believe it, so blackmailing her was out
of the question.
"Now, Xellos on the other hand," Nabiki pondered
that. How much farther could she push him before he
called her bluff.
"So you noticed her too?" Nabiki turned to
Kiyone,
who was suddenly just there. Nabiki wasn't
surprised, she hadn't felt a teleport, but that was probably
because Kiyone hadn't teleported.
"Of course YOU never thought of getting a little
advantage from that," Nabiki said, dryly.
"Knowing you, you've already found excuses to
avoid the schemes that would really hurt her," Kiyone
said. "And have gone on to, 'let's get daddy.'"
"Its hard to make any money with you around,"
Nabiki said. "Its too much like actually having a
conscience."
"By the way," Nabiki turned to face her. "How
did you get him to teach you the teleport thing?"
"What do you care, you've always been happy
without
magic," Nabiki commented. "Hell, even I only drag
the stuff out of him for a little oneupmanship."
"Curiosity, and I could have used the "
"Payment for getting me and Akane out of town."
"From the sounds of it you were already coming
here," Kiyone said. Then she smiled. "I can't wait
to see his reaction to that."
"KIYONE!!" the teal-haired woman face-faulted as
Mihoshi called out in search of her. "Where are you
Kiyone!?!?? Oh there you are! I've been looking
everywhere for you."
"Incoming!" Nabiki shouted pointing up into the
sky at the descending body. Kiyone saw it, judged the
trajectory and smirked a little. Tenchi returning
from some morning chores looked up and sighed.
"What now?"
"Oh sorry, Mihoshi, didn't mean to be avoiding
you
or anything," Kiyone said nervously. The falling
person approached with rapid speed.
"Well you should be more considerate...ooo look
at the cool rock!" Mihoshi bent down to pick up said
rock
as the falling person zoomed past her towards a
wide-eyed Kiyone. "Hey, Kiyone, what happened to
you?"
"Is that a giant spatula?" Nabiki asked pointing
at
the unconscious pair.
"You IDIOT!!! Now we'll have to find out where
he
landed!" This was followed by a sleeping Ranma
landing in the courtyard by Akane express.
"Ever alert martial artist," she hmphed.
"GET BACK HERE RYOKO!"
"COME AND GET ME SLOW POKE!!!" Ryoko shouted
back.
~Hmm...she's getting better at this.~ Everybody
watched them pass and sweatdropped. Ranma snored.
"Hey, what's with all the noise?" Ukyou walked up
to the rest of the crowd stretching out the kinks
from
sleeping on the ground. She looked back to where
Kiyone was coming around underneath the the human
bullet. "Dad?"
Shampoo, who had disappeared sometime last night,
and Ukyou had refused to impose on anybody as
uninvited guests and set up camps. Nobody knew
where
Kodachi had ended up.
"I'm sorry, but he irritated me!" The Nerimites
looked at each other and groaned. Akane noted a
bucket of water and started in that direction.
"Grrr...Mihoshi!" Kiyone staggered to her feet in
time to see Akane splash Ranma awake.
"What did you do that for?" Ranma-chan shouted.
"What the...huh? Wow, interesting wedding
night."
"Dady's little girl," Nabiki smirked, ignoring
Kiyone's growl.
"Hey, who's the new girl?" the non nerimites
facefaulted as they tried to figure out how Mihoshi
had seen it happen and still didn't figure it out.
"She's cute." This, on the other hand, surprised
them.
"Ah Ha!" Nobuyuki shouted. "I knew it!"
"Quick! Turn me back to a guy!"
"Mihoshi! You're giving us a reputation!"
"Ah ha!! There he is! RANMA SAOTOME PREPARE TO
DIE!!!"
"Hmm? Ryouga great to see you man!"
"Shut up, Ranma, I'm here to punish you for your
mistreatment of women!" This resulted in two roving
fights.
"Do those two ever give it a rest?" Ukyou asked
watching the pair of martial artists take their
explosive match into the hills.
"No." Tenchi and Akane said at once, then looked
at each other and blinked.
"Great now I lost them both, hold it," Leaf
scratched the tip of her ear. "If that was Ranma
Saotome, that means we're here."
"MOM!" Ukyou shouted in surprise. ~Wow she looks
just like she did when she left, how does she do
it?~
"Ucchan!" the elfin girl, about Ukyou's height,
but a little slimmer. "I found you!" The two hugged
and jumped up and down amid numerous sweatdrops.
"Dad said you were dead!"
"Yeah, well, he's an idiot," Leaf said. "Umm,
what happened to your ears?"
"Oh, yeah," she blushed and shifted her hair to
let the pointed ears show.
"Ukyou!?" Akane shouted in surprise.
"Ukyou's an elf?" Nabiki blinked in surprise.
"Dad said they'd attract too much attention,"
Ukyou said shyly. Leaf glared at the unconscious Jiro.
"What happened to him anyway?"
"He accused that Ryouga boy of taking advantage
of you," Leaf said.
"How'd he know I tried to...uh...oops." Leaf
leveled a look at her making Ukyou realize she had
just given too much away. "Accident with a love
potion?"
"Grrr..." Leaf fumed. "I'll talk to him, AFTER I
talk to you about some things."
"Like what?"
"Like immortality for on thing," all the Nerimans
present, with the notable exception of Nabiki, face
faulted.
*******************************************************
"No, we are not sisters," Iako said crisply.
"Why do people keep asking us that?"
"Hey, you too look so identical that HAS to be
the next thing on most people's minds."
"Well, we AREN'T sisters," Yohko insisted, though
she really wouldn't mind it very much.
"My point exactly," Ayaka said.
"We should be getting on with travelling to look
for the Kuno," Iako said puzling over her comrades'
abilities to waste time. "But since you insist on
pestering us." Iako pulled a photograph from a
pocket that seemed to be in her clothes some
where though nobody could figure out where.
"Hey, Iako what are you doing with a picture of
my father?" Iako blinked.
"Grrrr."
"Ha!" Ayaka declared. "I knew you were sisters.
"Oh my Iako, isn't this great?" Yohko smiled at
who was turning out to be her half-sister.
~By the first devil-hunter!~ Iako thought.
~She's going to hug me...she's GOING TO hug me!"
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