Chapter 2:

Ranko woke up slowly, holding her head from the massive headache she had. Her body was sore all over, but it was gradually subsiding. She looked around from her place on the couch and saw the one who she hoped had removed her curse talking to her friend and a slightly older man that looked similar to her. "Must be a brother." She didn't realize that she had mumbled her thought out loud.

The red-haired and tall man chuckled, "That is right, and I am glad we could finally meet. Although, I must confess to wanting our meeting to be under slightly better circumstances."

Ranko raised her eyebrow at him, realizing rather belatedly that her mind felt clearer than it had in a long time, "Who are you and what do you mean you have wanted to meet me?"

The man chuckled, "I am Sirzechs Lucifer, older brother of Rias, and it isn't every day that someone beats up both a half-dragon and the Phoenix Lord Saffron."

Ranko started a little bit, "Lucifer… as in…"

Sirzechs nodded with a smile, "The ruler of the underworld."

Ranko frowned, "You haven't come to take my soul as payment, for getting rid of my curses, have you?"

Sirzechs shook his head, "No, that kind of thing has actually been outlawed in the underworld for a couple hundred years now. I am here because something odd happened when your curses were removed, and it has never happened before. Rias needed me to confirm something about you now. So both me and my wife Grayfia checked you out and well…"

Ranko glanced at the woman behind her that she only just now sensed, then back at the others, "What happened?"

Rias answered because her brother was stalling, "You aren't human anymore, Ranko."

Ranko's eyes widened, "I don't feel any different."

Sirzechs winced, "I doubt you would considering you were able to potentially beat up high-class devils even when you were human and under the various curses."

Ranko shook her head, "That isn't what I was referring to."

Every devil there, including Grayfia, had one of their eyebrows rise into their bangs, and Akeno asked, "What do you mean?"

Ranko paused to collect her words, "My ki is still as human as it was before."

Everyone was looking at her like she had gone mad so she elaborated, "Actually, if it weren't for your wings and magic, I would have thought you guys were human as well based on your ki, though it is about as strong as an Olympic Athlete's ki. To my ki sense, you register as abnormally strong humans."

All of them shook their heads, wondering if they had heard her right, and Sirzechs asked, "By ki, are you referring to the sage arts?"

Ranko shook her head, slightly exasperated with the line of questioning, "Nope, I have heard of them, but they are still a form of magic. Ki as used by the Martial Artists in Nerima is your own life-force independent of magic. Sure the Sage Arts allow you to use your ki, but they tap into the chi of the environment and mix the chi and ki into a form of energy that can substitute for your life-force or for magical attacks. Believe me, with how much magic I saw in use in Nerima and ki techniques going every which way, I checked up on it to see the differences. I actually tried to use the Sage Arts once and couldn't figure out how to mix the natural chi with my ki. I could gather the chi and convert it to ki, but that took a long time, and I couldn't figure out how to combine it without it exploding in my face."

All of them were shaking their heads again in astonishment at her explanation, and Sirzechs coughed to draw everyone's attention back to him, "How about we get off the topic of the metaphysical and back to what I was trying to say when you derailed me."

Ranko smirked, "I am good at that, and it isn't often that I get to show to people that I am intelligent outside of a fight."

Sirzechs mumbled, "I believe it with what I read about your life." His voice raised to normal levels again, "Anyways, you now have a set of wings and some magic yourself."

Ranko raised her eyebrow, "How?"

Sirzechs glanced at Grayfia, who gave him a stern look in return, "The Spirit of Jusenkyo doesn't let its blessings ever really leave; they are its form of a claim on those it touches. It is usually very hostile to outside forces, so all the supernatural factions avoid that place as much as possible, except those that are already part of its 'pseudo-religion.' The transformative power of the blessing is no longer bound to water temperature, and the form it gave you was also technically destroyed. So it searched for something else to latch onto, and it found your natural magic."

Ranko raised her eyebrows, "And just how is my natural magic the same as you guys'."

Sirzechs sighed, "It isn't based off of our kind. It is based off of my magic specifically." He held up a hand to forestall her questions, "Your mother was barren and her and your father wanted a child. She managed to summon me, and I couldn't deny her request. I used experimental magic to help your parents conceive you, and I didn't realize that there would be side effects. The curses your father placed on you before you were born actually kept me from realizing that there were any."

Ranko narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean you couldn't deny my mom's request, and what kind of side effects are we talking here?"

Sirzechs hung his head a little, "If you had been born without the curses you would have been born a half-devil, but because of Jusenkyo, you are now a pure-blooded devil."

Ranko sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "That was the second question."

Sirzechs sighed as he motioned to Grayfia to continue, "My husband did not even finish answering the second question because he is afraid of how you will react, but to answer your first, we devils have a very low birthrate. Me and my husband, despite being married for several hundred years, were only able to have our first son 11 years ago. My husband was not able to deny your mother's wish for a child because he understands the pain of wanting a child and not receiving one."

Ranko looked at the older devil with some sympathy that only partially vanished as her mind went back to the first question, "I see, but I still don't understand what is wrong that he would be afraid to say anything."

Sirzechs grimaced, "The magic the Jusenkyo blessing used that was dormant inside you was mine, and I know I already said that, but that makes you my pure-blooded devil daughter."

It took a few moments for Ranko's mind to reboot, "What about Pops?"

Sirzechs expected the question, "Were your devil traits allowed to come naturally, he would still be your biological father. With the situation what it is now, not only are you my daughter by power, but you are also now my daughter by blood."

Ranko stuttered, "S-s-so P-pops isn't my father anymore?"

Sirzechs actually growled a little, "Based on what I was able to find out about your childhood, that fat Panda had barely ever acted like a father towards you. I certainly wouldn't do even a thousandth of the things he did to you to my son, and I am considered by position to be the most evil being on the planet. I know you probably may not think this way, but I would be grateful to not have to call the man co-father to you."

Ranko processed that statement, "Co-father?"

Sirzechs paused, thinking he had messed up, and Rias rolled her eye at her brother, "What my brother is trying to say is that he wants to take you away from Nerima and raise you as his child."

Ranko looked at him in astonishment, "And his wife agreed to that?"

Grayfia nodded, and Rias continued, "He saw your so-called wedding, and even before this happened he wanted to help you in any way he could. He felt responsible for what happened to you, because he had helped your parents conceive you. That is why he placed my pamphlet in your pocket."

Ranko glanced at him, her face unreadable, "Why didn't you come to me yourself?"

Sirzechs sighed, already fearing rejection, "Part of the contract I made with your mother said that neither I nor anyone who works for me could have contact with you after you were born."

Ranko raised an eyebrow, "You are having contact with me now."

Sirzechs closed his eyes, "The wording of the contract was that I could not have contact with the child of Saotome Genma and Saotome Nodoka, and given that you are no longer the biological child of Saotome Genma. The contract does not apply to you."

Ranko sat there for a few moments, contemplating things, "Do I get a choice in the matter?"

Sirzechs looked at her with pleading eyes, "Part of me really wants to say no. You are my daughter now, and I want to protect you with everything I am. The different supernatural factions will also probably not look at you as the human slayer of Saffron, but as the illegitimate and abandoned eldest daughter of the leader of the Underworld. You would most likely be treated as a stray devil, and standing orders for stray devils are 'kill on sight.'"

Ranko motioned with her hand, "But…"

Sirzechs sighed as he lowered his head, "But, with everything I know of your life, I will not be taking your choice in the matter away. I will not be like Genma. If you really want to return I will not stop you."

Ranko saw that it almost physically hurt the leader of the Underworld to admit that, "I think I will accept your offer, but I still need to return to Nerima."

Almost everyone there were astounded, and Sirzechs asked, "Why?"

Ranko looked out the window, still not entirely comfortable talking about her feelings, "It is just… I need to know… I need the story straight from my Pops' and Mom's mouths… They are also my parents, even if not in blood anymore in Pops' case. I just…"

Akeno walked over and placed a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, "You need to know whether or not they will accept you as you are now."

Ranko nodded, not quite able to hold back a tear as she turned to Sirzechs, "Please understand…"

She was cut off as he held up a hand, "I can understand closure, but based on what I know of them, I believe you need to be ready to face rejection."

Ranko chuckled humorlessly, "My mom's form of rejection may be a short sword to the gut and a katana to the neck."

Sirzechs glared, not necessarily at her, "If that is what happens, then I may not be able to stop myself from wiping her off the face of the earth."

Ranko shivered as she felt what was probably his magic spike, "I won't let her do that. I promise."

Sirzechs paused, "Grayfia, would it be possible for you to escort our new daughter back to her home, so that she can get her closure?"

Grayfia nodded, almost smiling because she knows her husband will probably be pacing back and forth in this room while they were gone. Ranko smiled at her, recognizing the flickers of emotion in the woman's ki for what it was. The young red-headed girl looked at her new self-proclaimed-father, "One thing before we go."

Akeno and Rias raised their eyebrows, and Sirzechs motioned for her to ask what it was she was going to ask. Ranko gulped slightly, "Are a lot of the things in my life a result of the curses?"

Sirzechs shook his head, "It is actually not quite as simple as that I am afraid. If it was then you would be standing before us with a completely different personality. Your mind is probably clearer now, but the way curses like yours fulfill their purpose aren't simple. Something you could attribute to a curse, like Genma engaging you to multiple women to keep your life interesting, would probably still have happened, even without the curses you had on you. You probably still would have met all the people you have. The role environmental curses like your chaotic destruction curse actually have in the way you and people around you act is hard to pin down. Whatever event you could attribute to it probably still would have happened. This is a very confusing debate, and I know of people in the various different factions that have devoted their entire lives to studying what part curses play in people's lives, and to my knowledge it is an ongoing debate that will probably continue until long after my great great grandchildren are dead."

Ranko sighed, "It is just… I wish…"

Sirzechs lay a hand on one of her shoulders, and Grayfia lay one of her hands on the other, "You were hoping that you could blame the way your human parents, your rivals, and the different fiancées acted on your curses."

Akeno winced cause she recognized the blame game as being similar to the one she used herself that all the Gremory's had stated they disagreed with on more than one occasion. No one noticed though as their eyes were on Ranko, who was nodding silently, somewhat ashamed to admit that part of her reason for asking that was because she didn't want there to be the possibility of her leaving her old life behind. Sirzechs and Grayfia both enveloped the girl in a hug, and she started crying in front of what were still essentially strangers to her, but they were giving her something that she had never truly felt before from her human parents or anyone else, unconditional love. Her heart was rapidly coming to tell her that between these two people was the place she belonged, but she still craved the same kind of love and acceptance from her human parents. She didn't really want to anymore, but she just had to know.

The hug was broken off once Ranko gained control of herself, and she saw Rias off to the side almost bawling her eyes out from the touching scene. Sirzechs smiled a warm smile that only an older sibling and a father can give, that is, it is both happy and wry at the same time, "One thing about one of your curses being gone is that you will find it very easy to show your emotions and very hard to suppress them. We Gremory aren't exactly known for being able to control our emotions very well, especially when it comes to family."

Ranko nodded quite surprised by the outcome, "Yeah, Pops never really said anything other than emotions being a distraction from the art or something similar."

Sirzechs eyes narrowed, "Don't give me any more of a reason to want to annihilate that man, please."

She rapidly nodded up and down, which caused her to realize something that she hadn't yet, she stared down at a rather significant part of her anatomy, "Why am I smaller than before?"

Sirzechs chuckled, "Only just now realizing it, I see." At her confused look he continued, "There was some kind of failsafe or something in that aging curse of yours, and when it was removed, it reduced your physical age down to your mental age. How exactly that is calculated, I have no idea, but you are now physically twelve years old, only a year older than my son Millicas."

Ranko raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean you have no idea?"

Sirzechs winced as Grayfia said, "My husband has never really taken much time to study magical theory because the power of destruction is not compatible with most magics."

Rias and Akeno both chuckled as Ranko looked at him in bewilderment, though what they didn't realize was that she was thinking in terms of a martial artist. If something can be used against you, you study it to understand what it does so you can counter it. She had a pretty good idea of where she had gotten the age curse, and she knew that that type of thing could be used against you because of her time among the French dining martial artist family, the Chardins. In a fight, if your opponent could alter your age at the drop of a hat, depending on what of your attributes changed with your age, then they could knock you out of the fight completely, even if you possessed power like what was probably implied for her new father to possess to be able to be the leader of the underworld. Even if they were not the monsters of legend, she highly doubted that a race of magical beings would accept a weak leader ruling over them.

Ranko shook off her musings, getting back to what she was planning on doing in the first place, though it took her a second to realize that part of the reason she was stalling was her own fear of rejection. Their fear was probably for her safety and mental health. She sighed, "When we get to the Tendo's we should probably say that I accidentally ate some stew that you gave me that you had put the age changing mushrooms in, without you realizing what they were of course, to keep them from being suspicious while I fish for answers from Mom and Pops."

Grayfia nodded, "That seems a perfectly acceptable solution to me."

The other three nodded as they all said their goodbyes, though Ranko had an inkling in the back of her mind that Sirzechs still had a way to observe what was happening, and would be observing very closely. She shivered slightly at the thought as her and Grayfia made their way out of the door and to the train station, where they would be hopping on the train to Nerima. Why they were taking the train instead of teleporting there, she had no idea. There probably was a reason for it, though she was obviously not privy to the information. Her and Grayfia made small talk as they made their way to the Tendo dojo, but Ranko didn't really remember anything of what was talked about, which might have been a good thing considering Grayfia was sorely tempted to turn a certain Panda into a popsicle after hearing some of the stuff Ranko distractedly said.

Ranko called out as she opened the door, "I'm home."

A veritable stampede of martial artists ran to meet the two devils (not that they were aware of their exact nature). Each one of them trying to make themselves heard over the other. Ranko believed it to be a good thing that it was only the usual nut-cases of the house that were there, and not the various rivals and fiancées. Though she caught a glimpse of a decidedly morose P-Chan in the arms of the fiancée she had killed someone for. She figured it would be easiest to just pretend that things were normal for now, despite desperately wanting a new Panda-skin rug.

"Boy, what has been taking you so long? Your mother has been worried."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out who said that, and Ranko was equal parts relieved and worried by that statement, but before she could speak up the water works were upon her, "Why did you run off? My boy, you are a member of the family, our worries are your worries."

Ranko was about to speak up again, but was again interrupted before she could speak, "Ranma-baka, when are you going to help fix our dojo after you helped wreck it? Where will I be able to practice my martial arts?"

Ranko didn't even bother to open her mouth when some of the words she least wanted to hear floated in from behind the mini-mob, "Hello son, when are you going to change back to your tall and manly form?"

All of them froze, and luckily none noticed Ranko's wince, except a certain old geezer looking down on her from his position on top of the stairs. All suddenly took a closer look at Ranko and realized that she was actually shorter than usual and significantly less curvy than she was before.

The stoic woman behind her raised an eyebrow an a semi-false inquisitive look, "The young miss here saved my husband from accidentally consuming some age-changing mushrooms and in the process consumed some herself, and as a reward and thank you he gave her a blessing of 'unchanging times ahead.'"

All of them collectively winced as everyone but Nodoka and Happosai easily arrived at the conclusion Grayfia had intended them to. In the case of those two it was for very different reasons, evidenced by the confusion on Nodoka's face and the smirk Happosai was directing at both Ranko and Grayfia.

Nodoka looked around for anyone to clear up the issue, and Kasumi did while walking calmly out of the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron, "Auntie Nodoka, Ranma is most likely locked in his cursed form for the time being and appears to be about the age of twelve."

Nodoka turned to look at her current daughter, who nodded while turning her head away a little bit. Everyone was a little put off by the fact that Nodoka currently seemed to have no expression on her face, at all.