Reincarnated Brothers

A Ranma ½ Oh My Goddess Crossover

Chapter Four: Table Discussions

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Daisuke rubbed his stomach. "Just as good as I remember," he stated satisfactory.

Hiroshi shook his head as he sipped his soda. "I wouldn't say things like that in public," he said warningly, and for good reason. They were at the grand opening for an American style burger stand that in the last timeline they went to often. It was one of their favorite hangout places and they had been waiting patiently for it to open up in this timeline.

Daisuke shrugged. "Why do you think I got us a corner booth? Privacy, that's why."

Hiroshi gave him a skeptical look. "You, thinking ahead? That's a first."

Dai returned the look with a hooded glare. "Hey, I do have a brain, you know."

Hiroshi chuckled. "I though your mother had filled it to the brim with all her manly information she has for you. How do you find room for all your schoolwork in there?"

Dai stopped a passing waitress and ordered a strawberry milkshake. "I would prefer you didn't bring her up while we're here. I'm trying to relax, thank you."

Hiroshi leaned back against the booth seat. "But that's the reason why we're here. This is a strategy meeting."

Dai looked confused. "I thought you came here to get reacquainted with the place like old times."

Hiroshi shrugged. "As they say, kill two birds with one stone." Hiroshi took another sip from his just about empty soda cup. "But let's get serious for a moment. Yesterday didn't go like I planned, and today wasn't that fun either."

Dai sighed. "I take it Ranma's first day at school didn't go well?"

Hiroshi chuckled. "You know, all the times I wished I was back in middle school and now it comes true and I wanted to be back in high school. Irony in its finest." Hiroshi looked up at the ceiling. "But, Nabiki did tell me everything that happened. Kuno did fight Ranma in the front of the school before class started, but since Genma wasn't there to grab Ranma before the rain started, he turned into a girl right before everyone's eyes. Kuno called it a spell to seduce him and attacked harder. Ranma, being humiliated, quickly ended the fight and went inside. According to Nabiki he was bombarded with questions for hours, most he didn't understand. Kuno challenged him again since in Kuno's eyes he's some foul demon from hell and Ranma led him outside and beat the snot out of him for a second time. After that he left school saying it wasn't worth it."

Dai whistled. "That's rough."

When Dai's milkshake came Hiroshi ordered a vanilla one for himself. "Not only that, but we got a call from Soun's work today."

Dai wasn't optimistic. "Bad news?"

"They grew tired of him and fired him today." Hiroshi rubbed his temples. "It took a lot of Nabiki's connections to get him that job and he blows it. I tell you Dai every time I try to improve our household situation it goes to shit. With Kasumi wanting to start college and Ranma staying here we needed the extra money."

"Nodoka did offer to give you money to help, remember?" Dai reminded his friend.

Hiroshi looked at Dai. "Okay, you know your family situation better than I do. Do you think you two could lend us the money necessary to feed Ranma and help sis with college?"

Dai thought about it. "Well I haven't seen Nodoka work at all and we do live quite comfortably, so the money must be coming from somewhere. Nodoka is the clan head so I would think she might have access to some bank account I don't know about. We just might be able to help. And she is quite serious about this engagement. She won't stop talking about it. The only reason I don't ask her to stop talking about it is because it puts the attention off of me for once. I'm actually enjoying the peace."

"You know, that's the first good bit of news I've received today," Hiroshi noted about the money situation. "Thought Nodoka's obsession about the engagement worries me a bit. I need a plan to get her to lay off of it for a while."

Hiroshi's milkshake was placed in front of him. "Thank you." He looked up and didn't see the waitress, but instead Urd was standing there smiling. "Didn't expect to see you for another fifteen years."

Urd sat next to Dai who scooted over to give her room. "Ah, come on, I make a simple mistake and you won't let it go," she pouted.

Dai glared at her. "Simple mistake?"

Urd sat totally serious. "Time manipulation is extremely tricky and there's lots of red tape ever since the Velspar incident. Not only that but we had plenty of work to do after the time manipulation was done. You don't see all the hard work we did to clean up all the paradoxes that occur doing something like I did for you two."

Hiroshi gave her a curious look. "So why send us back in the first place if it's so hard?"

"Simple." Urd leaned closer to Hiroshi. "We believe that Ranma Saotome's life was influenced by someone even after he was deemed untouchable due to his victory over Saffron of Jusendo. We want to know who did it, but before we could find out"

"Everything went downhill quick," Dai finished for her. Dai turned to Hiroshi. "You know, that puppet master theory we came up with sounds more plausible now."

Hiroshi nodded. "I agree." Hiroshi looked up at Urd. "So here's a question for you. Now since Ranma hasn't fought Saffron yet, is it still a crime to influence his life now, or did that little law not carry over?"

Urd shook her head. "No, that didn't carry over, so anyone influencing his life can do it legally," she replied. "Within reason of course," she quickly added.

"Do you think whoever influenced his life knows time's been changed?" Dai asked.

"If he was here on Midguard he wouldn't know," Urd replied. "If he was on either Asguard or Nifelhelm, then he would."

"But we have no way of knowing if he knows or not," Hiroshi said thoughtfully. "That puts us at a disadvantage. And since influencing Ranma's life isn't a crime, you can't interfere directly yet, I take it," he said while looking at Urd.

Urd shrugged. "I can push the line a bit but nothing too major," she said while crackling electricity between her fingers.

"That was you yesterday striking down Genma, wasn't it?" Hiroshi asked.

Urd shook her head. "I would love to take credit for that but it wasn't me. And it wasn't natural either. Someone shot Genma with a bolt of lightning."

Hiroshi sighed. "Two to one it's the same person who manipulating from behind the scenes."

Daisuke tapped his chin in thought. "So exactly how much influencing is this being doing?"

"Strange thing actually," Urd said in mind wonderment. "He isn't doing a lot. Only minor things here and there."

"That doesn't make sense," Daisuke stated.

"Dai, you don't understand anything unless it comes out of Penthouse or Playboy," Hiroshi stated with a straight face.

Dai went red face with embarrassment while Urd started to chuckle. "He reads those?" Urd asked while her chuckling got harder.

Hiroshi started chuckling as well. "His mother gets them imported in from America every month. He has every issue from the last few years."

"H-h-how did you know that?" Daisuke stammered.

Hiroshi stopped chuckling and had a blank look on his face. "Dude, I was only kidding. You mean… she actually…" Hiroshi lost it and started to laugh hard.

Daisuke hid his head with his arms while Urd and Hiroshi laughed for a few minutes. "Guys, it isn't funny," Daisuke said totally embarrassed.

Hiroshi started to calm down. "I didn't think she would do that," Hiroshi said between laughs. "She is rather single minded, isn't she?" Hiroshi shook his head while calming down. "It's funny really. Most guys would think your mom is the coolest ever. You can't stand her. What irony." Hiroshi continued to chuckle.

"Lets get back on topic," Dai said glaring at Hiroshi. "Ranma's about to go through hell and you're head's stuck in the gutter."

"And your mother's reserved a spot for you in the deepest gutter of all," Hiroshi said chuckling. Hiroshi cleared his throat and finished calming down. "But you're right, we need to get back to business." Hiroshi looked up towards the ceiling. "Now that I think about it, that's guy's tactic is quite good actually. Doing only enough prodding and probing to get the job done while keeping his trail small and hard to detect." Hiroshi turned to Urd. "So who and what are affected exactly?"

"Well, all three of your sisters plus your father," Urd counted off using her fingers. "Daisuke's mother as well."

Dai threw both fists in the air in celebration. "Yes! Then we can cure her of her madness."

Urd shook her head. "The influence on everyone isn't as drastic as you think. It's only minor."

Hiroshi smirked. "Meaning she would only tone down a bit."

"I don't care, I'll take it," Dai said a bit desperate. "Anything is better than how she is now."

Urd shook her head. "I wouldn't try to alter anything at the moment. We wouldn't want to give away the fact that I'm helping you two."

Dai slumped. "Go ahead and rain on my parade why don't you."

Hiroshi raised an eyebrow. "But you went to our houses yesterday. Your presence is already known."

Urd shook her head. "Normally, yes, but you," she said while pointing at Hiroshi, "have an aura around you caused by your wards that you carry. No demonic energy can come within a certain distance to you, not even demonic radars." Urd pointed at Daisuke. "Your house I'm not worried about due to the fact that the demon aura is centered around the Tendo compound. The only reason your mother is influenced is due to her being there before."

"What about your aura?" Dai asked. "Certainly someone can sense your aura."

Urd pulled out a small jewel. "This little jewel can mask my aura going out to whatever it is set to. Right now it's set to give out an aura of a talented demon hunter."

Hiroshi looked confused. "Demon hunter? Why not a normal human?"

Urd smirked. "Think about it. If I give off that aura but some fancy demon hunting spells are sensed from me, wouldn't that be cause for alarm?"

Hiroshi chuckled. "Interesting point. Plus with the people I hang around with at temples and such, seeing demon hunters around me wouldn't be considered odd. Perfect disguise."

"But wouldn't you being around demon hunters at all be cause for alarm with this guy, since we're dealing with demonic energy if Urd's guess is right?" Dai asked worriedly.

"And Dai finally proves he has a brain," Hiroshi stated with a smirk. He rubbed his chin in thought. "That is something to take in consideration. But if I alter my daily life style without reason that might cause suspicion as well. Quite a pickle."

"Roshi," Dai said a little worriedly. "I just thought of something. If Nodoka has some influence on her because she's been to your place before, then what about me?"

Hiroshi grew a bit worried and looked at Urd who was looking at him intensely. Urd shook her head. "I don't see any trace of influence on you. How often have you been to the Tendo compound?"

"A few times," Dai replied.

"I don't like this," Hiroshi stated. "Is our being reincarnated have anything to do with this?"

Urd shook her head. "No. That doesn't affect your bodies, only your souls. Cleaning of the time paradoxes wouldn't have done anything either. He shouldn't be immune to demonic influence. Hiroshi, hand him one of your seals. One of the ones you were given from a shrine."

Hiroshi nodded and handed Daisuke one of his seals. Dai took it and held it in front of him. "So what do I do with it?" he asked while staring at it. It looked like an ordinary piece of paper with some kanji written on it.

"Nothing," Urd replied. "If you were possessed then even touching it would burn you. So you're not influenced and you're not possessed. Interesting."

"Then he must know who we are," Dai stated. "That's why he hasn't influenced me. It would draw suspicion towards where he was."

"But he hasn't gone after us in other ways either," Hiroshi countered. "If he knew who we were he would have gotten rid of us while we were weaker."

"Not quite," Urd said thoughtfully. "No one knew you two were reincarnated until recently. We were under the assumption you two were just sent back a few years so that means no one knew you were weak years ago."

"But we still haven't seen any added influence our way recently," Hiroshi stated. Hiroshi rubbed his temples. "I so did not need this now. With Ranma here things are going to heat up. Can I ever catch a break?"

"I'll keep an eye out for any demon activity," Urd stated. "Leave that to me, that is one of the reasons I'm here and the main reason why I tried to send you back to when I did."

"Give us a year to adjust before Ranma arrived and the chaos started so we can help you investigate the reason behind the chaos," Dai realized. "Interesting choice. And I'll keep an eye on Nodoka. We need to find a way to loosen her stance on this wedding issue."

Hiroshi nodded. "I'll take a look in the temples I visit often for anything on demons. Maybe they have something that will help us."

Urd smirked. "Now that's settled, let's relax a bit." She turned towards Daisuke. "Dai, dear, does your mother also get Hustler for you? I heard that's a popular one as well."

Dai groaned and sipped his milkshake.

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"So how's Ranma's education going?"

Hiroshi and Nabiki were relaxing in the dining room late that evening drinking some tea. They did this often to help alleviate some of Nabiki's stress since talking about her day and problems helps calm her down a bit.

Nabiki shook her head a bit. "I really don't know what to make of him actually. He's got issues concerning how he was raised. I swear kindergarteners know more about life than he does."

"That bad?" Hiroshi said a bit shocked. "I'm surprised."

"I may be exaggerating a bit but still…" Nabiki smirked. "Though he is cute when he looks clueless."

Hiroshi raised an eyebrow. "Warming up to him already? And I though you were cold-hearted."

Nabiki crossed her arms. "I'm doing nothing of the sort. I'm just making an observation, that's all."

"Rrrriiiiight," Hiroshi said unbelievingly. "So how do think we should go about getting Ranma acquainted with the real world? With school somewhere he isn't going to find much peace we need to get him up to speed with normal teenage life."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "And how are we experts about that?"

Hiroshi went to say something but stopped and thought about that for a moment. "Good point. But we would be the perfect bridge between abnormal and normal, wouldn't you think?"

"Depends on your view of abnormal," Nabiki replied. "He isn't abnormal, just deprived."

"Simple to diagnose but hard to cure," Hiroshi observed. "Makes you feel like a doctor, doesn't it?"

"Doctors get paid more than I do," Nabiki countered.

"I'm sure Ranma could pay you in spades in other ways," Hiroshi said with a smirk. "He is after all the 'Wild Horse'."

Nabiki shook her head. "You're turning into a pervert Hiroshi. I think you have been hanging around Daisuke too long."

'No, Nabiki, I'm just a thirty… thirty…' Hiroshi rubbed his chin in thought. 'How old am I again? Damn it I lost count.'

"Careful Hiroshi I see steam coming out of your ears," Nabiki said with a smirk.

"Hey, I'm not Dai thank you," Hiroshi countered. "I was just lost in thought, but never mind that. I want to know what you are planning to do if things go south when we meet Saotome-san next week. Will you go through with it?"

Nabiki took a long sip from her tea. "Ask me again in a few days, I'll have an answer for you then."

Hiroshi chuckled. "Planning on looking him over before making any commitments? And here I thought you were against the idea of him staying here."

"I still am thank you. He will be a drain on our dwindling resources, especially now that father was fired." Nabiki shook her head. "All those favors wasted. I knew it was a bad idea."

"I talked to Dai today. According to him the Saotomes should be able to help us with money. Since Saotome-san did offer to pay for Ranma's stay, we should take it." Hiroshi smirked. "That's a better option than taking pictures of him, don't you think?"

Nabiki nodded. "I agree. Kuno won't buy pictures of his female side now."

Hiroshi chuckled bitterly. "Here we are saying how we hate the Kunos and yet their money helps keep us afloat. I tell you irony knows no bounds."

"I would rather have no contact at all with them," Nabiki stated. "How many times have they been committed?"

"Enough to get them a frequent buyers card," Hrioshi replied. "I hear some of the patients are asking when Tatewaki's coming back to visit them. They want their jester back."

Nabiki chuckled. "He makes a good fool, doesn't he?"

Hiroshi shrugged. "He practices everyday." Hiroshi sighed. "I do need to warn you about something. According to Dai Saotome-san seems very serious about this deal. I think I have a way to get her to back off about the kid but I need a little more time to develop it properly. If it does work, however, she may insist on you doing your wifely duties anyways with protection of course. She may even give you a crash course on proper usage."

"I already know about protect brother," Nabiki replied a bit coldly. "And haven't we talked about you practicing better judgment about what you say? You're about to get smacked."

Hiroshi held his hands up a bit defensively. "Hey, calm down sis. I just thought you might be a bit rusty, that's all. I mean, it's been awhile since your last date, right?"

Nabiki just glared at Hiroshi.

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'I swear that temper is genetic. There's no way a demon could make anything like that.'

Kasumi walked into the kitchen to do her final rounds before bed when she saw Hiroshi sitting in the dining room. "Um, Hiroshi, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sis," Hiroshi said dismissively. "Don't worry about me."

Kasumi looked a bit worried. "You do know the dining table is implanted into your head, right?"

Hiroshi was sitting cross-legged in the dining room. He was resting his head in his hand that was propped up using his knee. The dining room table was firmly imbedded into his skull legs up.

Hiroshi waved his sister away with his other hand. "Don't worry about it. I'll put it back before going to bed."

Kasumi smiled. "Okay Hiroshi. Have a good night." Kasumi left to go to bed herself.

Hiroshi sighed. "I swear she can't take a joke sometimes. That hurt you know."

A/N: Questions, comments, concerns, complaints, please send them to me. Have fun and be safe. Until next time, Peace!