A Change in the Tide
**************************************************** Last Episode: Ihrie and Fam discuss casting a gate
opening spell to visit Fam's child. Kiyone and Nabiki
discuss another person. Leaf finally finds Ukyou.
Iako comes as close to panicking as she's ever been on
discovering that Yohko is her half-sister.
*******************************************************
In the hills about the Masaki shrine two battles
were raging. Two girls and two boys, one of whom was
a girl at the moment, were fighting as if to kill each
other, of course if they had REALLY been trying to
kill each other there would have been a lot more
devastation.
One of these battles was no where near close, Ryoko
was easily Ayeka's superior. Though Ryoko had to note
that she was getting much better at taking care of
herself than she had been when they first starting
living at the shrine.
Ranma and Ryouga, on the other hand, were at the
point that it took an interruption to actually finish
their fights. Either that or the unlikely event of
Ryouga deciding he didn't really want to kill Ranma.
The case in this point was an interruption.
"RANMA!! GET BACK HERE AND DIE!!"/"STAND AND FIGHT
RYOKO!!"
"Yeah right you can take me."/"Come and get me,
Princess!"
"LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!!" Who exactly shouted was
lost in the following collision. Resulting in a huge
explosion and a pile of four stunned combatants.
*******************************************************
Everybody turned away from the mother and daughter
reunion to see the geyser of earth and power erupt
into the sky in the hills. Well except for Ukyou, who
was trying to process the comment about immortality,
and her father, who was still unconscious. Then there
was quiet.
"Wow, that was big," Nobuyuki commented
intelligently.
"Oh! I hope nobody was hurt!" Sasami gasped.
"Those bakas," Akane hmphed. "Well I guess
somebody has to go check on them." She started
stalking off into the hills.
"Anybody else coming along?" Tenchi asked, turning
to follow her.
"You're kidding right?" Leaf said, pointing at
Ukyou and blinking. "Listen I have about three
months, less now, to cram sixteen years of knowledge
down her head before she has to make her choice, and
you want me to leave?"
"I'll go!" Mihoshi shouted, cheerfully. Kiyone
imagined Mihoshi applying first aid to anybody and
facefaulted.
"Umm, Mihoshi, I'm not certain that's a good idea."
"But I thought I recognized that guy that attacked
that cu.." Kiyone slapped a hand over Mihoshi's mouth.
"What did I tell you about making comments like
that around other people?" Kiyone whispered, almost
growling. Then she laughed nervously at the people
staring at them.
"I'm not asking," Akane declared before heading
back towards the site of the explosion.
"I've never bothered to either," Tenchi agreed,
continuing as well.
"Tenchi, wait up!" Sasami called out. "Azaka,
Kamidake, we got to go help." The three of them and
the logs faded away into the woods.
"What's this about immortality?" Ukyou asked,
confused. "And a choice?" Ukyou watched her mother
laugh nervously.
"Okay, no time for dawdling about," Leaf said,
getting a hold of herself. A dimensional pocket
appeared in front of her.
"Looking for some privacy?" Nabiki asked levely,
with a smirk. Ukyou face faulted as she worked
through the implications of Nabiki with such powers.
Then stood up narrowing her eyes.
"What's the catch?" Leaf demanded, narrowly.
"Yeah, Nabiki you never do anything without a
profit margin in mind," Ukyou added, Nabiki smirked.
"I'll just put it on your tab Ukyou," Nabiki said.
"Tab?" Leaf blinked. "You owe her money?"
"Everybody owes her money," Ukyou said irritably.
"I'm an honest business woman," Nabiki insisted.
"Like I said I'll put the entrance fee on your tab."
"And how will you know when we want out?"
"Just call out, I'll hear you," Nabiki said. ~At
least sticking annoying alarm clocks in there doesn't
help my ears much.~
"If this is a trick I'm going to skewer you girl,"
Leaf promised Nabiki.
"I'll do everything I promised to do," Nabiki said
eyes closed and head pointed to the ground as she
leaned against a tree. "I swear."
As Ukyou and her mother cautiously stepped into the
dimensional pocket and it closed behind them, Kiyone
slipped up next to Nabiki.
"So what is the trick?"
"I forgot to mention that I put the exit fee on her
tab as well," Nabiki said, smirking. "By the way,
shall I start a tab for you as well?"
"What are you talking about?" Kiyone asked
nervously.
"About a week stuck in our parents' homeworld, and
the noises after hours. EVERY night," Nabiki smirked
as Kiyone blushed. ~I told you I'd get you back for
having to sleep in that stable.~
*******************************************************
"Well, here we are Fam," Ihrie said. "Which way
now?" She'd heard Fam cast the spell, and she had
done it properly, well she had done it half-properly.
They should at least be in the proper vicinity of
Fam's daughter. Which time of the girl's life, on the
other hand, Ihrie had no idea.
"Well, I don't know," Fam said, looking about at
all the trees. At that point the explosion erupted a
mile or so below them.
"Think that's them?" Ihrie asked drly.
"She did turn out to be rather violent didn't she,"
Fam said sadly.
"Your fault for trusting a prince like THAT one,"
Ihrie said.
"He seemed nice enough," Fam said embarrassed.
"So does my father by all reports."
*******************************************************
"Well here we are, the Masaki shrine," Iako said
glancing at the steps irritably. Ayaka and Yohko
looked toward the top and swallowed. ~Yohko's my
sister, damn, at least I'm not half-demon or
something.~
~I hope this means we don't have to fight anymore,~
Yohko thought. ~But then it didn't seem to help our
grandmothers.~
"That's a lot of steps," Yohko stated simply upon
seeing the stairs.
"I knew a shouldn't have gotten out of bed today,"
Ayaka whined. Iako growled, knowing they were both
easily capable of making the climb in flash. "All
this climbing and sweating is going to ruin my
youthful complexion!" Both Manos blinked and looked
at the woman after that remark.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Yohko said politely.
*******************************************************
"Thank you for your hospitality, Kasumi-san,"
Amelia bowed to her as they left the building. "You
certainly seem to have inherited some of the best
traits of your mother." Kasumi bowed slightly, still
smiling.
"Yes, well I am sorry she can't still be here to
see you," Kasumi said, politely. "She was certainly a
very loving woman." If Nabiki had been here she would
have translated the exchange into the following.
"At least you're not a man-stealing tramp like your
mother."
"Well, at least she was more than woman enough to
hold a man or two."
Of course, Xellos, Filia and Zelgadis understood
the exchange, sweatdropping. Lina, Gourry and Soun
were completely clueless.
"Hey, we've got a month before we have to leave,"
Lina said loudly. "And I'll bet we can come back to
visit later."
"Yes, certainly," Amelia said, smiling. "And
perhaps I'll be better company." Roughly translated.
"Okay, I deserved that." The slayers individually
thanked the Tendos for their hospitality and turned
down the street.
"Well, come on where is this place we're going to?"
Lina demanded.
"Its a shrine outside the city," Amelia said as
they walked away. "Its supposed to have a demon
sealed away inside it."
"Shouldn't take too long to get there," Zelgadis
said. And in the next moment six bodies were flying
through the town. This was only moderately surprising
to the citizens of Nerima.
*******************************************************
"Hey, you okay?" Ayeka blinked awake to see
someone standing over her. As her vision cleared she
saw that was some strange boy about Lord Tenchi's age
wearing a bandanna and looking at her with concerned
look on his face. Only pieces of this filtered
through her punch-drunk thinking.
"AHH!! Pervert!!" The next thing Ryouga knew there
were a bunch of little logs surrounding him.
"What the...?" Then the electricity started. As a
result when everybody else arrived Ayeka was the only
one still awake.
"Wow, somebody actually woke up before Ranma and
Ryouga?" Akane blinked.
"Is that THIS pervert's name?"
"Damn did I get in the way of battleship?"
"When did Cologne stop by?" Ranma-chan groaned.
Then she looked to see Ryouga "still" unconscious.
"Hey Ryouga, wake up, you're giving us a bad name
man."
"Errggg," Ryouga groaned intelligently.
"Ryo-chan!" Ryoko blinked.
"I must really have been hit hard," the space
pirate said after a moment. "I could have sworn that
I just heard...."
"Fam, wait up! I'm not a kid anymore you damn
wiccan!"
"Oh great," Ryoko whined, then waved cheerfully.
"Hi mom."
Everybody looked at the cat girl in the white
outfit running down through the trees ahead of a woman
in her early thirties or late twenties, with untamed
purple hair. Then they looked back at Ryoko, who
seemed both older and much taller.
"That's your mother?" Tenchi asked, surprised.
"She seems so..." Ayeka started.
"Naive?" Ryoko asked.
"Ryo-chan!" Fam glomped onto her daughter. "Its
been so long!"
"Is that bounty hunter anywhere around?" Ihrie
asked, out of breath as she finally reached everybody
else.
"Does she mean Nagi?" Tenchi asked.
"Mommm...I..caan't breathe," Ryoko gasped.
"Is it just me or have there been a lot of
coincidences recently?" Ranma asked.
"Why do you seem familiar?" Ihrie asked Ayeka,
confused.
"Actually, I was about to ask you the same thing,"
the princess said. "But when would a disreputable
creature like you ever be able to encounter a princess
of Jurai."
"You'd be amazed who hires mercenaries," Ihrie
said, glancing at Fam and Ryoko. "Besides it wasn't a
princess that we had problems with, just the Crown
Prince."
"What do you mean by that?" Ayeka asked.
"Yeah, what DO you mean by that?" Ryoko repeated.
"Ihrie!" Fam snapped surprised, releasing Ryoko.
"Oh shit...and I always thought Fam ran off her
mouth," Ihrie laughed once. "Ignore I just said
anything."
"Do you guys sense an incredible coincidence
happening," Tenchi asked. Akane and Ranma nodded,
Ryouga sat up, blinking.
"Well you, see," Fam said nervously. "Your father
is the Crown Prince of Jurai."
"Was, Fam," Ihrie reminded her. "By now he'd be
the king. Time travel is annoying."
"WHAT!!!" Ayeka and Ryoko face faulted.
*******************************************************
"And now at last I can have the power to win my
Ranma-darling's heart! OHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Kodachi yelled. "And the purpose of my ancestors will
finally be complete to throw in the bargain!!"
~Its interesting that after all those bunglers that
tried to call my power,~ a demon lord pondered as it
waited to be released. ~That it would take marrying
into a family of demon hunters to finally fulfill my
release. I'll have to thank the Manos before I kill them.~
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