Chapter 1: Ghosting the past.
"Why we gotta go?" Ranma whined, in a manner that belied both his high military rank and years of combat experience.
"Because Anata they deserve a chance to see their grandchild before she goes away for years, or longer" Nabiki replied as if she had said the same thing countless times.
"Why?" asked Ranma "what have they ever done for us?"
"Stop sulking Ranma" Nabiki ordered, "just enjoy being male again."
The day was already warm and set to get hotter, the sky a brilliant cloudless blue. A light breeze was coming in from the sea bringing hints of salty air and seaweed. The troubles that affected the massive city that was Tokyo were little evident and for the moment even Ranma couldn't help but smile.
The two of them had once again returned to Nerima, for a final visit before the big launch. They had brought the infant Kimiko with them and the baby was currently being carried, happily slumbering one side of her father. Nabiki had decided that it would be unfair to disappear to the other side of the galaxy without at least letting the grandparents see Kimiko one more time. Of course Ranma was somewhat less sure.
Both the parents were wearing civilian clothes, enjoying the lovely spring morning in shorts and shirts. Nabiki's shirt was tied high to proudly display her bust and taught stomach, without stretch marks thanks to some very nifty alien technology. The effect of that display combined with the woman's generous figure and stunning legs was keeping her husband more than a little distracted. Ranma, deliberately walking a little behind Nabiki for reasons that were not entirely reluctance to reach the Tendo-ke, had gone for some black shorts and a deep red cut off t-shirt. His complete bicep scar was now covered by an elaborate tattoo, one Nabiki had chosen.
The two of them had once again chosen to stay at a hotel rather than at the family home but had weakened long enough to agree to meet the Onos for breakfast. So now they were on their way to Ukyo's for a meeting that both of them were dreading a little, one louder than the other.
"Did ya invite mom?" Ranma asked, the idea suddenly occurring to him.
"That would not have been a good idea would it" Nabiki said, perhaps a little too curtly thanks to the early start.
"Huh?" asked Ranma.
"My dad will bring the panda-baka" Nabiki explained, "somehow I think the world is a better place without forcing the two of them to meet."
"Yeah,"
Ranma agreed "I guess so. So who else did you invite?"
"Nearly
nobody" Nabiki replied, "we'll meet Jess and the others this
evening."
"Didn't one of that lot get hitched or something?" Ranma asked.
"Yes Ranma" Nabiki responded, speaking slowly "Ami?" she prompted.
"Ami?" Ranma replied, "but isn't she, you know, one of those?" Nabiki patted his arm encouragingly.
"Well done Ranma" she said "that was almost politically correct. And yes she used to be a lesbian but it would appear that she was a little more bisexual than any of us thought."
"Oh" Ranma answered.
"And besides that after the night before last I really don't think that either of us are fit to criticise that particular leaning" she whispered into his ear breathily, pressing her chest up against his side. Ranma immediately went beetroot red and began stammering. Nabiki laughed and kissed him, stroking his pigtail with her delicate fingers.
From there on the two walked towards the destination with hands and arms linked and happy smiles on their faces, occasionally exchanging quick kisses. It took longer this way but neither was in a particular hurry.
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The door to Ukyo's loomed before the young family, like a cavernous entrance to hell. Already Genma's larger than life voice could be heard lecturing an occupant on some finer point of the harsh life a martial artist could expect. A loud dull double thud was the only answer. Nabiki looked at Ranma, he looked at her they clasped hands and stepped through the door.
Inside little had changed from their last visit, a panda lay slumped, Soun was bawling, Ukyo still stood behind the grill, Konatsu was still dressed in her traditional kimono, and the Neriman locals were acting as if two cross dressers and an aquatransforming panda were normal.
Soun leapt to his feet and attacked his daughter with a patented tendo-ryu fatherly glomp. But was stopped at arm's reach by Ranma's free arm.
"Careful gramps" he warned, "she's delicate." It took some time for Soun to process the hint and his daughter's smug smile, of course when he did it required that Ranma stop another attempted glomp. Thus thwarted he settled for full blown fountaining as only the Tendo patriarch could. Ranma, using a placemat as an emergency umbrella, quietly hustled his wife to the family table behind.
Rapid greetings were exchanged, the girls hugged and congratulated and Genma looked on with narrowed eyes. Ranma spotted his father's conspiratorial expression and threw a fork at him by way of a warning.
Of course the fork impacted quivering into the wall, but this being Nerima that wasn't quite enough, behind the wall was a pipe and that pipe in turn contained water. At that very moment Akane just happened to be walking in the front door, with predictable results; one angry and very wet young volcano.
"Who did that?" she demanded, readying her pervert crusher. She was immediately rewarded by the sight of the two Saotomes pointing at each other. Faced with a choice of perverts she decided to bash them both. Only suddenly she was stopped, the cold hard barrel of a personal hand cannon suddenly pressed against her forehead.
"Do not ever raise your hand near my family again" Ranma ordered, with icicles in his voice. The rest of the room fell deathly silent, even Akane getting enough of the message to stop what she was doing.
"Put it down!" Ranma commanded and Akane's mallet fell from her nerveless fingers. Ranma let a few moments pass and then un-cocked the weapon and put it down on the table, within easy reach. The gun hit the table with a resounding thud. Nabiki put her hand on her husband's arm, calming him, and reminding him he was among friends.
"Imouto-chan" Nabiki opened "I think I should warn you that my husband gets VERY protective when I am pregnant." Akane looked back and forth between her sister, Ranma and the gun, mouth flapping like a fish out of water. Soun burst into tears and Ukyo clapped.
"Well said Saotomes" she offered, "warnings don't work on her, but nice try anyway." After that she started serving, with an extra special selection for the eldest Saotomes.
Kimiko was by now both awake and causing trouble, she had decided that the cross dressing ninja was ever so amusing and was now chasing said transvestite around the shop with her own toy dinosaur. Why was the ninja running? Because that dinosaur was a very sticky dinosaur with all sorts of dress damaging substances on it. Of course being the child of Ranma Kimiko was doing a lot better at chasing than any toddler her age had a right to do.
"Help!" screamed the ninja dodging the sticky dinosaur of dress death again.
"So good of him to amuse little Kimi" cheered Ukyo, "I never knew he was so good with kids," Nabiki saw that it was mostly just teasing but she also spotted the subtext.
"So how about you?" Nabiki asked, "any sign of pattering feet?"
"Need a man first" Ukyo grumped, "Fancy lending me yours for a night or two?"
"Uh" Ranma replied negatively, suddenly alarmed.
"What sort of thing are you offering in return?" Nabiki asked, teasing her husband without even looking at him.
"I don't know what's he worth sugar?" Ukyo joined in, grabbing Ranma's face and inspecting his teeth.
"He's at least passable at his duties," Nabiki joked, "but sadly lacking when it comes to spontaneous romanticisms"
"Hey!" demanded Ranma, throwing off the chef's hand and turning to his wife, "I can too do spontaneous romantickisms! And what do you mean passable?" Nabiki leant over and kissed him, pinching his cheek at the same time.
"Prove me wrong stud" she whispered in his ear. Unfortunately for Ukyo this was a little loud and the very single chef overheard, and was treated to some mental images she could have done without.
Fortunately the timely arrival of the Onos gave her something else to concentrate on. With them they brought their kids and Tofu's mother. Kimi saw the other kids, they saw her, and they quickly found themselves helping her in her transvestite hunt. The eldest new arrivals took the spare seats and soon wre chatting away happily, swapping news and gossip.
Eventually the toddlers were sat down and given their own okonomykai to eat, giving the ninja a well-deserved break. Conversation continued for a while then Nabiki lightly smacked the back of Kimiko's hand.
"No Kimi" Nabiki said with a motherly expression on her face. Ranma looked over and added his own fatherly version.
"'m sorry mama, pappa" Kimi said, hanging her head.
"It's okay baby" Nabiki replied, "its easy to forget, isn't it." Kimiko nodded back with a toddler's version of a serious expression.
"What did she do?" Ukyo whispered to Ranma.
"Telepathy stuff" Ranma replied around his next mouthful. When he realised what he had said and spotted Ukyo's stunned expression he quickly added "er you'd better forget I said that."
"Are you saying that your CHILD is capable of mental whotsits?" Ukyo hissed.
"She's a lot better than me" Ranma answered conspiratorially. "hasn't got the training but whoo she'll give the big brains a run when she does."
"When she does?" Ukyo asked.
"Uh Ranma" Nabiki interrupted, "Lose lips…"
"Sink ships" Ranma finished, "sorry Ukyo, I shouldn't of said that much."
"Fine" said Ukyo, even though it wasn't. Every time she saw this family they seemed to get weirder, it was about time she started trying to find some normal friends.
Akane returned to the table with a sulk on, and it was only then that Ukyo put her absence together with the curious smell.
"What have you done to my kitchen?" she screamed, running to the grill, and drawing her fighting spat to kill the creature inhabiting it.
"Stupid grill" Akane muttered, "damn thing won't do microwave. So I added an isotope or two, so what…" she trailed off into incoherent mumbling, completely missing the silent stares of her surroundings.
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"You're seriously taking Kimiko with you" hissed Tofu "Are you mad?" he demanded. He was talking to Ranma at the table in Ukyo's, everyone else had either left for work or moved out to chase the kids playing in the main body of the restaurant. Only the doctor and Ranma had been left behind, and now Tofu was taking the opportunity to harangue Ranma. "What sort of monster are you?" he demanded.
Ranma's cool was starting to go, "The sort of monster who doesn't abandon his child. The sort of monster who doesn't trust his most loved to the care of others!" Ranma was all but barking his whispers and Tofu caught a piece of the same anger that had scared Akane. "I know you and Kasumi were looking forwards to having her, I know your opinions on how far your obligations go and I know what you think of those of us on the edge but I also know that this is a decision that only Nabiki and I are qualified to make."
"Steady Ranma, you have to think this through, I mean how-" Tofu began
"No Doc" Ranma interrupted, "I have thought this through. I have made the decision and I am going to stick to it."
"But-"
"No buts Tofu" Ranma disagreed, calming down, "a child's place is with their parents, both of them and in this case that means outer space."
"And if you all get killed?" Tofu asked with less than his normal equanimity.
"Then we die as a family" Ranma replied "doing what we need to do." And for a while the two sat in silence. Finally Ranma turned to Tofu, "Look Doc, I ain't tryin' to put you down, it's just your ways ain't mine ya know"
"Yes I think I do Ranma" Tofu replied, not really knowing at all, but at least he was trying.
"Just as you couldn't stay in the service I can't leave" Ranma explained.
"And when it's over?" Tofu asked.
"It'll never be over" Ranma replied half-ruefully and half something else.
As Ranma left to find his wife Tofu's own came back.
"Are you all right Tofu" she asked.
"Yes my love" he replied, "feeling pretty damn guilty but I'm all right."
"Ranma?" she asked, tucking is head in onto her shoulder.
"I don't know," Tofu replied, "everytime I talk to him he makes me feel bad for not going to war with the entire universe." She stroked his hair and held him tight. "Course with him running things we would probably win…"
"NO Tofu" Kasumi whispered emphatically, "you made the right choice for our children, for me and for you. You have nothing to feel guilty for."
"But-
"No buts my husband" she interrupted. "Trust me." And he did.
o
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"And then she spat up all over Weir's face" Nabiki finished, causing the other girls to burst into laughter again. Together with her normal crew plus a new selection of partners and spouses they were sat in a swanky Chinese restaurant and had finished eating some time ago. The various children had been left with babysitters or family, Nodoka in Kimiko's case, and all of Nabiki's old friends had managed to get together for a blowout. They were all dressed to kill, taking the opportunity to show off and wear clothes they found little enough time to wear.
The restaurant was in a basement below a big office block and was not really designed for such a large party. It was only coping with the help of nearly every family member of the owner, the only one spared being the six-week old new baby asleep upstairs.
Nabiki was having a great time, the food had been excellent the company was all she could hope for, and even the sake was top notch. She took a moment out to sit back and enjoy the moment, wrapping her oddly distracted husband's arms around her and relaxing into his embrace. Even with the anxiety of the big mission coming she was managing to really relax and it felt good.
Eventually it was the baby that made the decision, Jess's high pitch laughter woke the child and the party took that as their cue to head on. Outside it was a brisk spring night and the group soon faced the eternal question of whether to go on or not. In the end Nabiki swung it and they were all off for some nostalgia at Dante's .
Only when they arrived it wasn't the same. Instead of the gorilla-men that the place used to employ there were two well dressed small men. They looked decidedly less than useful until Ranma pointed out the bulges in their jackets. Then Ami noticed the tattoo peeking out from one's cuffs and the group knew all they needed to know. By then of course it was a little late and half the party was already inside. The rest of the group had little choice but to join them, and so they did, with Ranma getting a thorough eyeballing on the way past.
Inside things were distinctly downmarket of where they had been. Nabiki and Jess spotted at least two dealers on the way across the room, and more than one dancer was too far gone to keep the rhythm.
"Uh guys" Nabiki called to the others, "Lets not hang around"
"Nah, this was your idea" Jess drunkenly argued, "Besides we've got Ranma with us and he'll protect us from the nasty men."
"And we have already paid…" Ami offered.
"One dance" Nabiki pleaded.
"Okay spoilsport" Jess agreed, "only one dance." Ranma meanwhile was still looking around, getting that itchy feeling that spoke of imminent fighting. He just couldn't spot where it was going to come from. There were plenty of people packing weapons, mostly knives and blunt thins but far too many guns for comfort. The clientele here were obviously the sort of people who didn't care that guns were hard to get hold of and were secure enough about their liberty to carry their heat on a daily basis.
"Not good" he muttered, sobering as fast as he could and drawing Nabiki aside. With an almost imperceptible nod he drew her attention to a small group of well dressed hoods heading their way. Nabiki stepped half in front of him, covering his arm in case he needed to draw and set her mask into place.
The effort was entirely wasted; nothing could have prepared her for seeing Kinnosuke again. The man had literally wrecked a portion of her life and seeing him this side of hell could never be welcome.
"Hello Nabs" he leered, "I heard you had skipped town." The man was still as smooth as ever, but his sharp suit and semi-hidden tattoos clearly marked the level he had fallen to. Or risen to if the respect the gorillas around him were offering was any indicator. "Who's the boytoy? Another punter?" he taunted, and she had to fight the urge to rip his head clean off.
"My name Is Saotome Ranma and whatever business you had with my wife is ancient history" Ranma warned in an even voice, letting his emotions drain away. Nabiki recognised the change and took a half step closer to her husband.
"Kinnosuke" spat Jess, unintentionally defusing things for the moment "I thought you crawled back under your wet rock."
"Ah Jess" the Yakuza man drawled, "You are looking good"
"No thanks to you pig!" she spat.
"I heard you got clean" he replied as if he hadn't noticed the raw hate in her voice. "I like girls with spirit."
"Fuck you!" she swore, "You lay one finger on me and I'll…"
"You'll what whore?" he demanded, suddenly angry. "As if a two bit slut like you could…." He trailed off, disconcerted by the way the well built man suddenly loomed larger.
"All she has to do" Ranma whispered just loud enough to carry "is say the word" he finished in a voice cold enough to chill icewater. Kinnosuke looked at the man and suddenly decided it wasn't worth the effort.
"Call me" he jeered, turning and leaving, his hyenas laughing all the way.
Ranma turned to Nabiki who declined to answer, instead clicking her fingers to round up the others. So instead Ranma turned to Jess.
"Not now, later" she said, shaking slightly. "For now just believe me that shit is bad news."
They left, and found another club, further upmarket than even Dante's had used to be. There they drank, danced and partied well into the night. The previous cold seemed to evaporate and even the unpleasant aftertaste was washed away with enough effort. By the time they started to leave for home dawn was threatening and tired smiles were universal.
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Ranma and Nabiki caught a taxi and were soon ensconced in their ultra comfortable expensive-but-worth-it hotel room. As the sandman drew closer Ranma gently asked "Anata, Kinnosuke?"
"It was a very bad part of my life" she whispered looking up at his face, "he swept in and showed me a different kind of world, and for a while everything was fantastic, exciting. We weren't in love or anything but we did do all sorts of things like we were..."
"Drugs?" Ranma asked, she nodded, her eyes tearing up.
"And then one time I wake up in this strange bed with a man I didn't know and I realise my life is going to shit. I got out, and pulled myself back from the edge."
"Your family?"
"Never cared enough to ask, or cared too much to do so. Whatever, I ended up doing cold turkey and seeing all sorts of doctors on the sly to clean myself up."
"It hurt"
"More than I ever want to remember, there were days when I wanted to run back to him and bury myself in his filth because it was easier than going on."
"But you didn't" Ranma whispered, kissing her. She offered a smile in return.
"A Saotome never surrenders" she said. "In the end I won, it was me who helped pull Jess out of his grasp, me who broke up his operation and me who put the police on his tail."
"So you didn't just win" Ranma said "You beat him."
"Yeah I did" she said with a smile.
"Shows what a tough old boot you- OW-" he said, being interrupted by her yanking on his pigtail.
"Old?" she asked, with mock menace. "That coming from passable-san"
"OI!" he said. And from somewhere they found the energy.
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Kinnosuke was just tidying his office for the last time before he left for the 'night' and reminiscing about the strange meetings of the evening. That Tendo girl really stuck in his craw, she should never have been able to get away and it really annoyed him that he had called that one wrong. She could have been a really good earner when properly 'trained' and instead he was pretty sure the bitch had cost him his entire operation. It was her fault that he had had to sell out to the Yaks and her fault that his family school died. And now the bitch had the temerity to be rich, happy, married and stunning; it just would not do. He stepped out of his office, into the mirrored lounge, ignoring the idiot girls who his men were 'grooming' lying as they were in comatose heaps. He called his minder away from the recording camera and told him to get everyone else moving, himself picking his way across the room.
Then the door opened, the door behind him, the door to his empty office. A sudden chill ran down his spine and he had to force himself to turn. Standing there was the man from the dancefloor. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I decided not to wait for the word" the intruder offered in that glacial tone, stepping into the room as if he owned it. Kinnosuke waved a hand and two of the thugs rushed the big man.
Ranma ducked left and under the first wild swing and followed up with a powerful knee to the guts. The hood went down puking his guts and gasping for air. The second one was nowhere near so lucky. As he swung for Ranma the pigtailed soldier intercepted the arm and shattered it. In one quick combination the man lost the use of half his body and found himself flying across the room to block the far door.
Kinnosuke drew his pistol and his minder did the same. Rather than cower in fear the nut job attacker with the pigtail just raised an eyebrow and started walking closer. Kinnosuke thrust out the gun to firing extension and let loose a burst of rounds, only the Pigtailed man wasn't there anymore. Instead he was dropping in from above, somehow having leapt at just the right moment.
The soldier-agent landed, and in doing so took control of Kinnosuke's gun arm. The minder, somewhat slower to react than his boss suddenly found himself in a Mexican standoff with his boss.
The minder's last sight was the cold expression on the intruder's face as he forced his boss to squeeze off the rounds that destroyed first his face and then blew out the back of his skull.
Kinnosuke was really scared now, the sight of his minder's gun pointed at his face was bad enough but seeing the man's face dissolve really finished off his rational thought. He was swung face first into the wall behind. The impact drove the wind out of him and was suddenly coupled with the splintering of his right arm. Pain replaced fear, and Kinnosuke momentarily blacked out.
As he came to the man's forearm was pressed into his neck and exerting just enough pressure to flex the vertebrae.
"Please!" Kinnosuke begged, "Please" he cried, warm liquid running down his leg from his loosened bowels.
"No" Ranma whispered and the last sound Kinnosuke heard was his own neck.