Ranma 1/2

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On to Chapter 5, all characters not made up by me, belonging to the Ranma ½ cast, are not property of me. I do not own so I do not expect to gain in any way from using them in this story. This is just an innocent fan fiction. On to Chapter 6.

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Remembrance

Chapter 6

When she awoke, it was the middle of the next day and she found herself wrapped in the warmth of a blanket. It was getting to be the winter time and the heater in her house was absolutely the most horrible. She was still dressed in the shirt that Ranma had provided for her, it was red silk with yellow trimming and black buttons that matched the loops they went through. Currently the buttons were in a state that held the shirt together over his body so she would not expose herself accidentally. She could still smell the remains of his scent on the shirt, it was powerful but not overly so. It did not make her disgusted either, she had heard that some people had different smelling odor depending on what they ate and how they lived. Ranma's smelled a little like spice, just a hint, and she found herself enjoying the smell of his clothes. Under is smell she could make out some detergent. She let her hand explore the shirt until she came to a small hole, where she paused.

It may have been that she was trying to forget about last night, it may have been that she got caught up in the moment, whatever the case may have been her mind had gotten preoccupied too quickly for her liking. Now that she had found the hole she remembered what had happened last night, those parts she was conscious for at least. It was not as if she had known what she was doing and everyone there had seen that quickly, luckily for her. Getting up from the bed she wrapped the blanket around herself in a quick shield from the cold that tried to attack her. She padded softly into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, and what stared back at her looked like a stranger.

Her hair, while usually messed in the morning, was akin to that of the German scientist Einstein. It stuck out here and there and her brown eyes were pale to the point of almost being hazel. There were bags under her eyes from the stress of the night and not getting any nutrition to offset such stress. Her skin looked pale, lacking any color, less of a pale color than an ashen color and her hair was such a light brown that it almost looked red. With a small sight she turned on the water to her sink and let some of the cold water gather in her two cupped hands. She gathered the liquid and felt the oddly satisfying cool water on her skin, bringing it to her lips so she could drink of it. With a sigh she wiped the remaining water off her skin and took another handful to splash against her face.

"I need a warm shower," she said to herself.

There was no need for confirmation from anyone but she almost expected there to be someone behind her saying something. With a deep breath she turned to the shower, a small closet style one with white tile walls and a stainless steel showerhead, the type that has many different settings and is meant to save on water, and turned it on. She started out with the clear glass knob turned all the way to the hottest she could in order to warm the water up the fastest. The spraying sound was harsh in her ears, which seemed a little more sensitive than usual, but then so did all of her senses now that she thought about it, but she eventually got used to it. When the water was hot she turned it down to a comfortable temperature and slid in, letting the warmth flow over her body in warm rivulets that spread the warmth to her aching muscles and relaxed her

Moving her head under the showerhead she let the water soak into her hair and massaged her scalp to work it in. Once she was done there she grabbed some shampoo and squeezed some into her hair, washing her hair with the sweet fragranced hair soap. The smell relaxed her even more, she had always been aware that her shampoo was scented but now the smell engulfed her. After a few minutes of washing her hair she rinsed it out and ran her hands through it a few more times to make sure it was clean. Nabiki then took some body soap and ran it across her body, allowing it to mix with the water and create bubbles across her body. As she moved her hands across her body and scrubbed her body down she pressed down on her muscles and forced the knots out of her now less tense muscles. It took a good hour for her to finish and when she was, she turned the water off and the sudden cool air left her shivering with goose bumps across her body. Quickly she reached for a towel and sent its soft absorbent body across her body to soak up the water. Once she was dry for the most part, Nabiki pulled on a cloth robe that hung by the shower, picked up the blanket, and walked back to her room where she found a surprise.

"Hey," A familiar smiling face said as she exited the bathroom, "You look a lot better after that shower. How you feeling?"

Nabiki smiled at the raven haired man and replied, "Well I feel better, why are you here?"

Ranma chuckled, his blue eyes seeming to sparkle, "Well I wanted to check on you. I was worried about you."

Nabiki looked down at the man's chest, then down at his still bandaged midsection, "So are you feeling alright, you're starting to look like a mummy."

Ranma rubbed the bandages absently, "They should be able to come off soon, and it's still a little tender. If you're still worried about the scratch you gave me, well that's already healed."

Nabiki nodded, "That's good."

"So, you hungry, Biki-chan?"

The woman nodded, "Yeah, I feel pretty weak."

The man smiled, "That's good to know because I made you a big meal, get dressed and come down whenever you're ready. Oh, by the way, I called you're work and told them you came down with something and had to take the week off."

"You didn't call my boss, did you?" Nabiki asked hesitantly, "That woman is the biggest gossiper in our company. And those other hens are not far behind her."

Ranma shrugged, "Well they had to be told something, and you know how bad I lie so I just bent the truth."

Nabiki sighed, "Don't get so defensive, I'm not blaming you, there was no way for you to know. Now if you don't mind I'll get changed."

The man stood and walked over to her, "I do mind actually."

"What do you mean?" Nabiki stared into his intense eyes in wonder, he was serious about this.

Suddenly he embraced her tightly, though not uncomfortably so, and whispered in her ear, "I'll apologize for this ahead of time, but you're so sexy right now.".

With those words he planted a huge passionate kiss on the woman's lips and after a surprised pause the kiss was matched with equal passion. The two began to get lost in the moment as their hands began to roam around one another's bodies. Their pawing lasted about fifteen minutes before they finally stopped and stood across from each other gasping for air. The scene was one that had not been common for some time but now the lust and love that had been held inside of them had come to a peak. In Ranma's mind it was just the fact that there was a chance he could loose the woman forever that caused him to hold her like he did next.

"Ranma," Nabiki said as she looked up from her position in her arms, "Is there something wrong?"

The man spoke softly, void of the bravado she was used to in his voice, "I'm just afraid that I'll lose you. Promise not to leave me again."

"I would love to do that, Ranma," Nabiki said quietly, "But I'll have to say that I won't leave you if it's under my power to stop it."

The man nodded, "That's enough for me. Thank you."

Nabiki smiled at him and responded, "No problem, now let me get changed so that I can change and eat."

"We'll be waiting for you, hurry," Ranma called as he walked out the door.

As the man left she turned and threw on some clothes so she could quickly get down stairs. She knew they were waiting for her so that they could eat and she did not want to keep them waiting for her sake. Plus she had the day off so she did not have to worry so much about her appearance. As she walked out of her room and clothes down the stairs she was careful to make sure there were no stray toys laying on the stairs before she started down. Last time Ranma had been there so she had been lucky, there was no guarantee that she would be as lucky without him there. She proceeded slowly down the stairs and when she got to the bottom headed for the kitchen where they were all waiting for her, as she had thought they would be doing. There was one unexpected person at the table, actually there was more than one but the one she was really surprised to see was who she focused on.

"Akane," Nabiki exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

Ranma sighed, "Look, I have a feeling that this will turn out bad if we go though this right now, so let's all eat right now and you two can talk later."

Nabiki nodded, "Alright."

The other person at the table who was not normally present spoke up, "You know, this is really good, where'd you learn to cook like this, sir."

Ranma rolled his eyes, "Look for the last time, don't call me 'sir', Akemi."

The girl with two toned hair looked appropriately embarrassed, "Sorry, s- Ranma."

"I guess you'll just have to get used to this life," Ranma said.

Everyone ate and Ranma decided to clean the dishes while Akane and Nabiki talked to one another. Akemi took Hitomi outside and played with her while everyone else was occupied with their task. It took a lot of silence, standing on the porch at the rear of the house, before either of the sisters even started to talk to each other and even that came out stuttering at first. Nabiki did not trust herself to talk without getting angry and Akane was not sure how to start without making her sister angry. So the two just stood facing each other, outside on the patio with the warm sun shining though the few grey clouds that floated across the sky.

"I know that it was wrong to marry him," Akane said finally, deciding that no matter what this was going to end in an argument but hoping for the best anyways, "I just did not know that he would come back. I thought he was gone for good, and we were growing apart anyways."

Nabiki took a few deep breaths, she felt anger rise but she would do her best to keep it down, "I know, I heard the story from Ranma, it still makes me mad that you would not at least tell your sisters about this. We would have supported you."

"I know but the way you were acting at the time made it seem that you were both conspiring against me," Akane looked down at her hands as she started to wring them in a nervous habit kind of way, "I felt I had nobody to trust, and that's what drove to me Ryouga in the first place."
Nabiki nodded, "We were all trying to push you into the engagement, but I had my own agenda. I would have liked to know that I did not have to go through with it though."

"It was all a misunderstanding," Akane said quietly, "I wish that I had told you now. I'm so sorry, Nabiki."

The woman with short brown hair closed her eyes and sighed, "I'm no good at this grudge holding thing. I love all of my sisters but sometimes you just piss me off so bad, Akane. I'm glad you found your happiness."

A knock came from the door and the two of them looked to see Ranma standing there with an apologetic look on his face, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, Kasumi just stopped by with an important message."

The two girls looked at each other in confusion, "We'll be right there," Akane said.

Ranma nodded and headed back inside while the two girls waited for the door to shut before they spoke again, "I wonder what that important message would be," Akane stated.

Nabiki shook her head, "I don't know but we had better find out, we'll talk about this a little later."

The two girls walked inside and found Kasumi standing in the middle of the living room with Ranma across from her looking a little disturbed to say the least. Akemi was look on in confusion while holding on to Hitomi's hand as the little girl seemed to be wondering what was going on. The two women who just entered walked up to the woman and stopped in front of her before she spoke.

"I came by because I just got this a letter," Kasumi spoke in a calm voice but she was quiet pale and shaking, "I think you should read it."

Nabiki took the letter and opened it so she could read it, and after a second of scanning over it a few times handed over to Akane with stiff movements that belied her outer calm. After Akane read it, her reaction was more outspoken and angry than the others reaction had been.

"They have got to be kidding," The outburst was so loud the walls seemed to rattle with the air escaping, "Those bastards, I will not forgive them for this, there is no way."

Ranma sighed and looked down at his now clenched fist before he spoke his next words, "Unfortunately they have… I'll go back."

Everyone gathered around gasped, "Ranma, you can't!" Akemi yelled.

The man looked over at her sadly, "You read the letter, and I have enough power to go against a couple of them but not their whole army. You and I together might be able to but people would still get hurt. This is the only way for things to work out for everyone."

"Ranma…" Kasumi could not trust herself to speak anymore.

The next surprise came in a resounding slap across the face to the martial artist followed by a brown haired girl flinging herself at the man, "You idiot, you're just going to leave again? You're going to abandon me and Hitomi just because of some stupid organization! How could you do that to me? After all you promised to me you're just going to leave!"

The man went quiet for a while after that before he spoke again, "I know, I just don't want any of you hurt. Don't you understand."

"You don't want anyone hurt?" Nabiki was yelling through teary eyes now, "How much have we been through with you? We have been through so much and not gotten hurt, what makes you think now is different."

The man seemed ashamed, "You're right, but what do you want me to do? I don't want to see any of you hurt."

"What makes you think they won't hurt us if you leave?" Nabiki asked.

Akemi nodded, "You know as well as I do their perfectly capable of that."

Ranma ran his hands through his hair before he sighed, "Fine, I expect we have little time after they get the message that I'm not coming back. Kasumi, you and Doc find a safe place to hide and take Hitomi with you. Akemi, you will train with me and Ryouga when he gets here. We'll need every fighter we know of, that includes Shampoo. As for you Nabiki, I need to show you how to control that power inside of you."

The woman nodded, "Alright, does that mean you are going to let me fight?"

Ranma nodded, "I don't want to, but if you can control that power of yours a little then you can fight while you're still sane. That would be a great help to us in the upcoming battle."

Her training began a few hours after that, she met Ranma out in the back of the house where he was moving through one of his practice forms to focus his energy for the upcoming task. She was not sure what form he was doing as she had never really gotten that much into martial arts, but it seemed to be a form far more complicated than she would ever learn. The horrible part was that he was not even breaking a sweat from the movements of the form. Every little kick, feint, and punch seemed to be timed perfectly and the movements themselves were as smooth as flowing water. As he leapt into the air with a spinning kick landing with his left back leg bent to support his weight and his right leg at an angle so that it touch the ground in front of him he stood and wiped his forehead as if he had been sweating and blew out a breath.

"So how did you like that?" The man asked with a smirk.

Though she was caught off guard at first, she did not even see him look at her, she answered easily, "Well it was very impressive."

"Nah, I was a little off, I was not very focused," Ranma said with a little dismay, "Anyway, enough of that, let's start you're training. This will be meditation exercises so you must follow what I say closely. If you don't I can't guide you through it and you may fail in you're goal."

The woman nodded, "Alright."

"Now close you're eyes and imagine yourself in a calm place, the most comfortable place you can think of," Ranma saw her follow his instructions and continued, "Okay, now imagine there is someone across from you, someone you don't know, imagine this is the other you," He paused for a second and he saw Nabiki's face flinch and he continued, "Alright, now maintain you calmness. You must keep control, look at the other you and touch it. This is part of you, accept it, keep calm there is nothing to be afraid of."

At that point Nabiki lost all track of what Ranma was saying, as soon as she touched the other form of herself the world spun around her. The once faceless form of herself suddenly gained her face and she could see it smirking at her. She remembered what Ranma said and kept herself calm, she had not been told about this but she assumed that it was because it happened different for everyone. Nabiki reached out toward the form of herself and found her hand being held back by the arm.

"Hello, me" the other form said as she grinned evilly, "Did you come to purge me?"

Nabiki stood silently in thought, had she come to get rid of this form, is that what she had come here in the first place to do? After a short line of thinking she determined that this was not the goal she wished to accomplish. What she wanted was control of her other form, she did not want it to just come out randomly. To do this she had to manifest her will and transform though, and for that she needed confidence in herself. Nabiki looked defiantly at the form across from her.

"I came to make sure you don't take me over without me wanting it," Nabiki said this in a challenging voice.

The other form of her let go of her arm and smiled genuinely at her, "I like you, but this face is all wrong for me. You see, this is not the real me."

Nabiki blinked and narrowed her eyes, "Then what is?"

For a second there was a shimmer from the other form before her face, height, and build changed into something that was very different, "This is my real form, you see, I am a succubus. As for how I became part of you, it's complicated, when I came to this world I had just enough power to get here. Due to a fatal miscalculation I misjudged the amount of power needed, because of that I was captured by the company you were taken to and sealed until you came along to use as a host."
"So you're just using my body?" Nabiki asked with folded arms, the idea obviously not appealing to her.

"Well you could say that," the succubus said, "Of course it's not exactly my choice. The way they inserted my essence into you was not very effective though, too much stress causes you to come out. The only way to control me is to improve the amount of stress you're body can take, and I bet that hot piece of man meat can help you with that."

Nabiki had to choke back a laugh, who the hell talked like that, it was like being in a porn movie, "Yeah, I bet he could, but you also have to allow me to control you, don't you?"

The succubus nodded, "I see you are smart also, yes, and I will allow you to but for right now stress will still bring me out."

"What do you mean 'smart also' and why did you not come out earlier when I changed?" Nabiki asked.

The sex demon sighed, "I meant you're hot, and I did not come out earlier because I was too weak at the time, so you instead went into a trance state, a nature state of protection for our kind."

Nabiki nodded, "I see," then she stared intensely at the succubus, "I'm not like that by the way. Don't get any ideas about trying anything with my body."

The demon laughed, "Sorry, I scared you, we demons can't do that unless you wish it to happen. It's kind of a caveat of being a demon, so don't worry."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, so we understand each other, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry," The succubus said, "Just practice to make yourself better. I'll take care of the rest."

"Thank you," Nabiki said and the world around her shimmered as she opened her eyes and saw Ranma staring at her with concern.

"You okay," He asked.

The woman nodded, "Yeah, it was… interesting."

Ranma grinned, "Good, sounds like it worked."

"Uh, Ranma," Nabiki wanted to ask something but seemed hesitant.

"What is it Nabiki?"

The woman breathed deeply and let it out, "Could you help me get in shape, it's one thing that will help me keep the other form from coming out."

He seemed to be taken back for a second before he patted her shoulder and nodded, "Yeah, whenever you want to start just ask. Oh, just don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I would never dream of it," Nabiki said sarcastically.