Chapter 4:

Ranko sighed, she seemed to be doing a lot of that recently. Her family was as unhelpful as always. She had gotten out of the bath, and walked into a very troubling situation. Her human father and mother were already in the room they shared in the house, both of them had seen the packed bag and knew something was wrong.

Nodoka glared at her, "Son, why is your bag packed?"

Ranko grimaced, "Cause, Mom, I don't expect you to like somethin' I have to say."

Genma looked hopeful, "Have you found a chance at a cure?"

Ranko shook her head, "I haven't found a chance of one." She swallowed, "I found one, and I have already used it."

To Nodoka's logic system that just wasn't capable of computing, "If you had used it, then you would be fully a man and able to fulfill your manly duties with Akane."

Ranko shook her head, "No, Mom. My curses were cured." She looked pointedly at Genma, "ALL of 'em."

Genma instantly caught her drift and sneered, "Then you are no son of mine."

Nodoka was able to make sense of that exchange, though she didn't know everything her husband had done, "There is no changing back this time, is there?"

Ranko nodded, her eyes closed, "I am permanently female now, Mom."

Something seemed to snap inside of Nodoka, something that had been braking ever since she had married Genma, "I have no more son… I have a daughter… except I can't have a girl… How can a girl pass on the family name…" Tears started to roll down her cheeks as her eyes vacantly stared at Ranko who was now very frightened, "I have no son… My son is dead… I have no son… He can never come back to me…" She started reaching for her Katana, not even truly aware of what she was doing anymore, "Why do I have no son..? Can you tell me Ranko… Where is my son..?" Genma's heart, for perhaps the first time in his life truly broke for someone because of what he had done, "Where is my son..? Genma.., why do we have no son..? Where is my son..? I have no son… Who will carry on the family name..? I have no son… Who will unite the Tendo and Saotome families..? Where is my son..? I have no son…" Her eyes "focused" onto Ranko, "I have no son… I have no son… I have no son…"

Ranko was full on weeping, "Mom, I am still here. I am still me. I am still your child."

Nodoka unsheathed her sword, "I have no daughter… I have no son…"

She pointed the tip towards her own gut, but it was suddenly gone from her hands. Genma had used the Umisenken to take it from her. He gently turned her around and hugged her. He glared over her unresponsive body at Ranko, "Leave now girl, you are upsetting my wife."

Ranko burst anew into deep sobs, "Pops, I…"

He glared at her, almost irrational hatred boiling in his veins, "You are no son of mine, you only bring destruction to everything you touch, relationships and plans. I am better off without a worthless little girl trying to pretend like she is my child."

Ranko grabbed her bag and ran, she ran right out the door into Grayfia, "Mom, th-th-they…"

Grayfia wrapped her arms around Ranko, "I know, dear. I know."

This time as she wept, she cried herself to sleep. Grayfia picked her up and held her like she used to carry her son. With her arm holding onto her legs, and Ranko's head on her shoulders. She turned to the other people who had waited outside to see what would happen.

Ryoga bowed his head and slung his pack over his shoulder, "If she ever needs a friend, I will be there. No one should have to go through that."

Grayfia nodded in agreement, "It was what she said she wanted though."

Ryoga shook his head ruefully as he laid a companionable hand on the sleeping Ranko's back, "Always doing things the hard way, aren't you?" He picked up his pack and walked away, slipping around a non-existent corner and into a small forest outside Tokyo.

Happosai shook his head at the no-longer present Lost Boy, "That boy is something else." He turned back to look at Grayfia, "I named the girl my heir, and she will remain so until she learns everything I have to teach her. I will contact you later and formally request to teach her, my lady Grayfia."

Grayfia raised an eyebrow at the little gnome, "You didn't used to be this respectful towards me, Happosai."

Happosai grinned, "I have a healthy fear of your husband now that I didn't possess before."

Grayfia gave him a small grin, "When will I be hearing from you?"

Happosai rubbed his chin, "When the young one is ready."

Grayfia nodded as a magic circle formed under her, "Then for now this is goodbye, Human Demon Happosai."

Happosai rolled his eyes at her, "Beat up a former Demon one time and… Goodbye for now Grayfia, and take the best care possible of my heir there."

Grayfia nodded and said as she disappeared, "I will."

Happosai grunted after she left, "Darn, now I owe Cologne a thousand Yen. I thought for sure Ranma would beat the living daylights out of those two."

Sirzechs quickly ran to hug Grayfia when she returned to the clubroom, but paused when he saw his new daughter, "Dear, what happened?"

Grayfia mildly glared at him, "You know good and well what happened my overprotective husband."

Sirzechs shook his head, "I stopped watching after she woke up and you started packing."

Grayfia looked around, seeing that Rias and Akeno were gone, she spoke, "Nodoka's mind snapped when Ranko told her that she was permanently female."

Sirzechs' eyes widened, "How bad was it?"

Grayfia absently rubbed Ranko's back, "Nodoka almost committed suicide right in front of our daughter, and Genma disowned her while hugging his insane wife."

Sirzechs winced, "I wish I could have prevented that."

Grayfia shook her head, "What is done is done, husband. It has happened and there is nothing more we can do except be the family she should have had."

Sirzechs sighed as he hugged his wife and daughter, he whispered into his sleeping daughter's ear, "I promise that I will care for you always."

Something inside of Ranko seemed to register what he said and she started rubbing her tear stained face against the supposedly most evil being in the universe. Grayfia silently handed the girl off to her husband and chuckled when the little girl sneezed from her father's hair getting in her nose. She silently willed a camera into existence and snapped a picture of the cute moment.

Sirzechs rolled his eyes, knowing that pictures would be a common thing considering how much of her life they had missed, and looked down at their daughter, "She is awfully small for her age."

Grayfia nodded, "And without the abuse this time she will grow up to be a tall and strong young lady."

Sirzechs smirked coldly, "Speaking of abuse…"

Grayfia watched silently, having a very good idea of what her husband was up to. Sirzechs summoned a very thick legal folder into his right hand and leafed through it very briefly to make sure all the contents were in order and sent it to a lawyer in the district next to Nerima who was involved in helping the Japanese Government keep the knowledge that the supernatural was real out of the minds of the common folk. They had had business dealings before when some hair-brained devil decided to go against the laws of the Underworld and tried to take over Japan, so Sirzechs knew he could be trusted with the knowledge of his daughter's former family and their actions.

Grayfia raised her eyebrow, "I would have thought you would disregard the treaty and go in guns blazing."

Sirzechs pouted at his wife, "I'm not that bad."

Grayfia smirked slightly, "Yes you are, dear."

Sirzechs couldn't maintain his "serious" demeanor under his wife's gaze with his daughter snuggling in to him, "Oh, fine, part of that was a request to extradite the fat fool to the Underworld so that he could go through our justice system because a lot of his crimes were committed against my daughter."

Grayfia's smirk grew, "And despite your reforms, if you call for his execution then the judges in the Underworld courts will automatically go with it."

Sirzechs' smile turned nasty, "I was thinking something quite different from execution my dear. After all it is a lot easier to change animal genders than it is sentient creatures, and our zoo has been in desperate need for a strong female Panda for their breeding program."

Grayfia raised an eyebrow, "A hell of another sort?"

Sirzechs nodded his eyes glowing with power, "Indeed, no one messes with family."

Grayfia gestured to their daughter, "What if she doesn't approve?"

Sirzechs' face turned to steel, "She needs to learn that actions have consequences and that being emotionally attached to an abuser is not healthy, but enough of this talk for now, my dear. Let's go home."

Grayfia bowed, her face back to the emotionless maid mask, "As you wish."

Sirzechs hugged his daughter close to him as they all teleported to his castle in the underworld. He frowned slightly as something occurred to him when he saw that his wife had teleported them directly into their bedroom, "Dear, where will we be putting her? We have already made a bedroom for her, but…?"

Grayfia nodded, "I do not believe it would be good for her to wake up in a strange place with no one around. We can bring her to bed with us tonight, and that means…"

Sirzechs held up his hands in surrender, "I promise dear, I will wear something and not try anything, I really don't want to scar my daughter so soon after something traumatic."

Grayfia smiled at her husband and motioned for him to pass her Ranko, he gave her over with a smile and gently rubbed both of his girls' cheeks before walking over to his dresser. He watched them walk towards the bathroom with a smile and shook his head at the speed things had happened at. He mentally made a note that he and Ajuka would need to look into what Ranko had said before she went back to Nerima about their similarities to humans. His reason for doing this was that he had found himself and many other devils performing many human-like actions, like manually getting undressed and dressed for bed instead of using magic to do it when they technically could. It was one of the differences that he had noticed between his kind and the original 72.

He chuckled, "There really isn't much of a comparison between me and the original Lucifer. He was scheming and plotting to the bitter end, and I have what some call a heroic personality." He paused, "Wait a second… Lucifer means light bringer. What if…?"

He pulled on the pants he would wear to bed and went and sat on his bed thinking hard. He summoned a magic circle to his hand, "Ajuka… Yes I know what time it is… no I am not calling about another of Serafall's magical girl misunderstandings… Listen, you should dust off your lab equipment… NO, you will NOT be getting my new daughter to run tests on… no… no… no… NO… Heh, listen, she said something that got me thinking… no I am not planning on taking a trip to Jusenkyo… look, old friend, I need you to run some expirements on the similarities of human, fallen, and devil life forces, souls, and genetics… I know it seems odd, but just do it… something is really bugging me about why my predecessor kept the name Lucifer and some other stuff that has cropped up recently that is making me wonder what exactly our differences are… I know it is a long shot, but if this plays out like I think, it may put us a lot closer to achieving true peace between us and the other factions… I know achieving peace isn't a very Satanish thing to do, but you know I don't want Rias or my kids growing up in the midst of war… as it is my daughter has seen some of the worst in humanity and I am worried that she might eventually get it into her head that humanity doesn't deserve a chance… YES I AM A WORRY WART… Goodbye Ajuka, I look forward to hearing your findings."

He hung up and folded his hands together in deep contemplation. If what he suspected was true then he just might be able to finally do what both Michael and Azazel said he couldn't do, achieve peace for his children and sister. He looked to the ceiling and sighed. When you are a ruler the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

Meanwhile his wife in the "small" bathroom was in a bit of a conundrum. Her new daughter had little in the way of clothes, and what she did have were either too large, boys clothes that would have to be destroyed, or inappropriate for a young girl to wear period. The closest thing her daughter had to sleepwear were a sheer nighty thing that combined with no female undergarments that would fit would make it highly inappropriate for her to wear it in the same bed as her father. The next closest thing was a too large bunny suit, so that was also a big fat no. She sighed while looking at her daughter sitting propped up on the counter in front of her still sleeping with tear tracks still under her eyes. Grayfia figured that her daughter's sleeping attire for tonight would have to be her silk Chinese shirt.

Grayfia picked up the sleeping redhead who stirred a little and mumbled something about needing to use the bathroom. She chuckled as she helped the half-awake red-head get out of her clothes and get over to the toilet, and it was perhaps a testament to either how tired or comfortable with her Ranko was that she didn't even fully wake up even when Grayfia completely disrobed her to get her washed up a little bit before and while she did her business. Grayfia had to quickly pick up her daughter again because she fell asleep immediately after her business was completed. She shook her head in fond amusement at the little girl as she put the dress-like shirt on her young charge and carried her out to the bed and carefully lay the girl down next to her husband, where the young girl promptly latched onto his arm for warmth. Grayfia quickly got into her own nightwear, turned off the light and joined her husband and daughter in bed. She smirked at his pout when the little girl turned from his arm to snuggle into the woman next to her. Sirzechs rolled his eyes in exasperation as he wrapped his two girls in a hug as he pulled the covers over them all and they fell asleep with the parents both vowing to do everything in their power to protect the little girl sleeping peacefully between them.