Standard Disclosure Applies: This is fanfiction and I do not currently nor have I ever owned any of the copyrights for this material. I will not now or ever use these characters in an attempt to make money...

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Reunited We Stand

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Nabiki had long ago sworn that she had seen enough martial arts to last her a lifetime. Martial arts had been what her family name had stood for. Martial arts had been what had broke it apart. When she and Ukyo had agreed to split the costs on a house, the martial arts thing had been more than a minor point of contention. Ukyo had to practice outdoors, the further from the house the better.

Yet today, Nabiki ventured outside to watch her business partner perform various exotic katas with her sharpened oversized spatula. It was almost but not quite a baker's peel, though the bladed edges had never been intended for cooking.

As Ukyo moved, Nabiki's mind dipped deeper and deeper into her memories. Cologne had called asking for Ranma. The amazon had not bothered with them in years and only then to confirm that she was no longer interested in stealing Ranma away to China. Nabiki hadn't for a moment believed that was the end of the amazons, but she had hoped all the same.

It would be foolish to think that this phone call had nothing to do with martial arts. Ranma had always drawn that kind of attention from others. The question would be 'on what scale was this latest scare going to reach.' Jusendo reached out to grasp Nabiki's heart like an icy talon. She'd nearly lost her younger sister then, only to lose her a few years later because of Ranma.

Ukyo took notice of Nabiki, if a little belatedly. "I thought you hated my morning katas."

Nabiki smiled weakly. "I never said that," she paused, her breath catching in her throat. "I just have this awful feeling, Ukyo."

It was a dark depressing feeling that Ukyo apparently shared. The younger woman nodded and seemed to shiver slightly. "Kinda like some of those adventures Ranchan used to lead us on?"

"That's the feeling," Nabiki admitted. "The feeling that something terrible is going to happen. No matter how strong we think we've become, somebody or something will take it all away."

Ukyo paused a moment before abandoning her morning routine entirely. Her slow strides brought her across the yard, grace hiding strength and the skill of an experienced fighter. For the briefest of moments, Nabiki's mind put a younger image of Ukyo out there on the lawn. An image that was seven years out of date, and yet she could see the parallels all too clearly.

"You're going too," Nabiki commented quietly, her voice soft and worried. Ukyo frowned but didn't deny it. "Whatever it is, your going to fight by Ranma's side. Like before."

"I have to," Ukyo answered with gentleness in her voice that conflicted with the topic so badly it made Nabiki want to scream. "You don't need me here, sugar, and he might need me there."

"He did marry my sister, you know," Nabiki pointed out, feeling the need to convince Ukyo that she didn't have to go. Nabiki regretted the words even as she gave them voice. Certainly she was glad to be past the old Ice Queen bit, but there were moments when Nabiki still longed to hide her emtions away again.

"I can't say that I've forgotten that," came the angered response. "Look sugar, you always enjoyed playing behind the scenes. I enjoyed being out there, pushing myself to the limit. The feeling alone is reward to me. I missed the last great adventure and while I admit I would have been over my head, it still was an experience I regret losing out on."

Nabiki sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Why couldn't you just jump out of a plane or something else a little less crazy?"

The phone rang, signaling an end to their conversation or, if Nabiki had her way, only delayed it. Nabiki waited until the cordless rang a second time while she looked into the eyes of her partner and friend. That dark feeling inside wasn't going away.

"Nabiki speaking," she answered.

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Mousse followed after the strange girl, uncertain if he should believe what the wrinkled old ghoul had told him. While Cologne had long since abandoned much of the harsh prejudice against his being simply male, she still enjoyed taunting him.

He was older now, and perhaps wiser. At the very least, age had made him more realistic about life and the disappointments that would occur. Shampoo was gone, but that was an ache that no longer hurt. His life as an amazon similarly ended. His eyesight failed to the point no glasses would help, but his ki senses had developed more fully than could ever his eyes.

This one, Mousse thought as he 'watched' the young girl leap to the next roof, this one had an aura about her that frightened him. She seemed far too old, somehow. He picked up the same ancient vibes off Petra as he had off Cologne. Though her voice sounded young, he knew she was not what she appeared to be. And yet there was something more he couldn't identify.

Petra paused, holding onto a satellite dish for support as she gazed over the rooftops. "Juuban," she whispered just loud enough that he could hear it. He kept his own thoughts to himself, quite unwilling to show any sign of weakness. He had a restaurant to take care of and a future to think about. Jumping about the rooftops like he was a kid again was no way to pay the bills.

"You're quiet," Petra noted, suddenly taking interest in his silence. "I haven't heard you do much more than complain to Cologne."

Mousse looked away out towards the horizon, pretending not to hear. "We've got a few more hours of light. We'd better use them."

"Night, day," Petra answered tightly, "it won't matter. If the gateway is active it'll be dangerous all the same. The sewers can't get any darker."

Mousse actually smiled, though it remained a dark and cynical look on the martial artist as his blind eyes traced back to Petra. Night, day, it was all the same to him as well.

He could tell that the strange girl wasn't smiling, he could see the turmoil in her ki that she was trying to hide from him. She was frightened. She knew something that she wasn't telling him, and he worried about what secrets she might be hiding.

Rather than asking the question he knew would be turned aside, he took the lead on the next jump over the rooftops. She followed him after a moment of hesitation, but Mousse stubbornly ignored her as they continued.

She must have sensed that was what he was doing, as she didn't try to speak or hold him up as they continued on. Mousse didn't care overly much. He was here simply to help her scout out something and return her safely to the Nekohaten.

Up ahead he began to see the colours of a great battle being fought. The power being thrown around made him wonder if Petra's worries had indeed be sound. He could tell there were six powers, though beyond that he knew little. They were too far off at this point.

"There's a fight up ahead," Mousse noted as he waited for Petra to land beside him.

Petra seemed alert to the possibility that it might be dangerous to them. "Where?" She asked, her eyes scanning the rooftops worriedly.

"Five blocks, that way," he answered, pointing the way.

It took only a moment for Petra to follow his finger towards the fight. While she may not have been able to sense it, she did recognize the area. "I recognize that tower. The gateway is in the sewers beneath it."

Mousse remained silent. That put the fight pretty much overtop of their destination. If any of either side were hostile, it might slow them up a bit. He had little doubt however that he would be able to beat his way through.

Instead of telling her this, he started moving once more, increasing his speed. He wanted to find a point to attack with surprise on his side.

The closer he got the stronger the power he could sense. At first he had assumed they were unclear because of the distances involved, but it was becoming obvious that they were all extremely powerful. Their auras did not speak of great ki mastery, but a power of another kind. They fairly glowed with raw energy that made the old hag look like a baby.

Now even Petra could feel their presence. "Demon," she hissed into the wind as she chased after him. Her senses fixed onto the demon and shunted all else from her mind. Mousse picked up on the vehemence of her voice and saw her ki twist in the most horrific ways. That level of hatred was not pretty.

The creature in question was large and misshapen. While vaguely human in that it had two arms, two legs and a head, very little else matched with what Mousse could recognize. It easily appeared to out-mass even Tarou's cursed form.

Mouse watched Petra, unsure of what to expect as she drew her bow. She didn't carry arrows, but he had experienced enough in his lifetime that he was anticipating some sort of magical attack.

His attention was easily sidetracked by the actions of five young girls throwing magic at the monster. Their power dwarfed that of Petra's, but the way they moved spoke of little training or experience. "Who are they?" he asked his companion, forgetting his anger at being used by the old hag.

"Demon hunters," Petra dismissed easily as if they were of little concern. She paused for a moment, studying and reassessing what she saw. The full lot of them barely missed being smashed by a blast of energy. "Must be amateur night."

"And you're only a few years older than they are," Mousse snorted as he watched from above. Aura aside, Petra sounded much younger than he was. It was hard to judge her age correctly. Besides, he wanted to bring her down a peg. She was sounding far too high and mighty.

Oddly enough, Petra replied with action. She pointed her bow, stretched the string tight and released in rapid motion, hardly taking aim at all as she fired. Mousse could see the attack with his aura sense and he could hear it with his ears. The ki arrow fairly screamed through the air in a loud shriek that buried the sounds of combat.

The demon took the impact full in the head. Her ki energies ripped into the creature in an instant, violently disrupting it's life energies. With an anguished scream, the monster dissolved into the wind as if it had been merely imagined.

Mousse looked on, mildly surprised by the result. His earlier opinion of Petra's aura seemed confirmed. She was far more dangerous than she let on. While he had managed some ki strengthening, a full out ki blast had always eluded him. The strength she had put into that almost casual attack had been several times more powerful than Ranma had generally displayed.

"As I said," Petra told him in a scolding manor, "they're amateurs."

Another look to the five stunned girls let Mousse in on the truth of Petra's words. They had taken up a loosely defensive posture, as they looked about for the source of the attack, seemingly blind to their presence. It wasn't dark and Mousse knew that neither he nor Petra were trying to hide, yet they were blind to them all the same.

Still, there was one thing in their favor. "They're pretty strong. Even that old ghoul doesn't have that much power."

"Then don't make them angry." He could almost hear the smirk on Petra's lips. "Come on, warding the gateway is our priority." She turned away from the untrained hunters and began walking down the slope of the roof as if walking down the street.

Mousse wasn't about to let her off that easily. Something wasn't making sense. "You don't need me. If you can beat these things so easily, what are you afraid of?"

She stopped, but the swirl of her aura was a wild pattern of anxious fear and worry. "A single demon can be handled easily by a trained hunter," she answered tightly. "Two is a little tougher. But a dozen? A hundred? A thousand? I need more than just you. That gateway can transport in more at a moments notice," she told him, turning her head so that she looked over her shoulder at him. She slipped her bow over her arm as she waited for a reaction.

When Mousse didn't offer one but his own look of uncertain fears, she turned away again. "Come on," she said in a softer voice that seemed almost apologetic. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of here. The real fight will come later. If we live."

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Sewers. Petra hated them. They smelled bad, they were dark, wet and infested with rats and other undesirable things. If ever there was a hell on earth, it would be the sewer system of a large crowded city.

Then of course there was the simple fact that demons loved places like these. It was secluded and private yet within easy striking distance at whatever prey they wished.

This was further strengthened by memories of a decade or so ago when she had last seen these very sewer pipes. She had gone in cocky with full belief that she could win in face of anything she could encounter. It must have taken several months before she was able to return from that voyage into the dark and she wasn't anxious to have a repeat performance of that showing.

This particular section of the sewers had been built over a forgotten cave once used by dimensional gating beings. This only made it all the more desirable to those she hunted. All it took was a small break in the pipes and the demons had full access to the entire district.

"I hate sewers," she told Mousse bluntly, voicing her feelings. Her bow was already out and at the ready. She hoped to catch any demon at range. In close and she would lose any advantage she might have.

Mousse didn't argue with her as he was inclined to agree. He doubted any self-respect amazon warrior would have found their way down into this muck without promise of some masterfully great reward in the end.

"Odd," Petra's voice noted with the sound of somebody being deeply troubled by something. Mousse noticed her looking at a small ward, glowing brightly in her hand. He imagined her eyes saw it with somewhat less glowing brilliance, but she probably could feel its power. It seemed to create small eddies in her wildly chaotic aura simply by touching it.

The demon hunter turned to face him, confusion thick in her deceptively young voice. "This ward has been strengthened. Somebody else has been maintaining the wards."

Mousse considered this for just a moment. He might admit that he wasn't as sharp or observant as a few other people he had met, but something didn't quite fit with Petra's observation. "If the wards are being looked after, why was there a demon on street level?"

"I don't know," she answered. There was no need for her to say more. They both knew they were going to find out.

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Nabiki was waiting by the door when the small car slowed to a stop in front of her small home. She hadn't been waiting all that long. Her contacts had in fact reported when the car had turned off the freeway. Some things never changed in Nerima. Nabiki knew that her craving for information was one of them.

Others, like Kasumi and her ever-calm husband, were changes beyond expectations. Kasumi had found her happiness. She looked after herself these days and her remaining family. She had two lovely daughters to care for these days. It was her husband Doctor Ono Tofu who had changed the most. If not for Kasumi, Nabiki knew she would never have found her younger sister.

The light pads of feet on stairs behind her announced Ukyo's timely arrival. It brought Nabiki out of her memories and back to the present. "Like old times again, huh sugar?" The voice only confirmed what Nabiki had already expected. This was of course one of the many things she did not need to be informed on to make the correct call.

"With the threat of danger on the horizon because of our boy Ranma? What could possibly remind you of the old days?"

Ukyo's steady march faltered for a moment before continuing at a more rapid pace. "That's not fair, Nabiki."

Nabiki didn't reconsider her stance. "Then how would you interpret the facts? Cologne is pestering us because of some ancient Chinese threat. Now note that we would never be in this position had it not been for Ranma."

Ukyo forcefully turned Nabiki away from the door with the strength of her anger. Her angry brown eyes glared at Nabiki burning with rage. "And if it weren't for Ranma you would never have met your partner! You should be thankful for what you have."

Nabiki frowned at Ukyo's emotional outburst and considered her sister approaching the door. A sister she hadn't seen in five years. It was because of Ranma that her family had fallen apart.

Even before the weddings, Nabiki knew she should have seen the signs. She had shared on some of Ranma's adventures and had seen first hand what these people were capable of. It seemed like only blind luck that nobody had been killed. Nabiki didn't like banking on luck. "I just don't want to lose any more than I already have," she told her friend before turning to face the door.

Her face fell upon the taller form of Akane's husband. It wasn't the first time she considered what her life would have been without Ranma. Though admittedly, seeing the smile on Akane's face, it was one of the first times she considered the impact he had on her younger sister. Nabiki was hard put to remember a time when Akane looked happier.

With a heavy sigh, Nabiki composed herself and swung the door open even as Akane reached out for the doorbell. With a forced smile, Nabiki greeted them. Ranma was family, she had to accept that fact. Why couldn't her family be normal?

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Notes:

Yes, there are some minor crossover elements here, but are hardly worth noting at present. I do not plan any leading moments for the likes of the senshi. Not to say it's impossible, but I find it highly unlikely they will play much a role in this story.

ShadowBakaSama: I had this chapter all ready to go until I read your review. I wanted to make sure it would at least live up to some expectations. I hadn't planned any flashbacks, but there were some less than happy moments past that will be revisited.