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Chapter 6
Nabiki followed alongside Ranma as Ryoga's mom lead them all to Dr. Tofu's clinic. Ryoga looked like a little boy who'd been severely scolded. She guessed it was more to do with embarrassment for being yelled at by his mom in front of his rival/enemy. Still, she didn't understand why Ryoga was so mad, what Ranma described wasn't justification for so much rage. Something else happened between these two and she was going to get to the bottom of it, eventually.
"There is a hidden lift that goes down to the hospital," Tomoe Hibiki gestured towards the building. The "on break" sign was out on the front door but Tomoe had the key. Nabiki followed until she stopped at the wall right next to Betty handing on her stand. A vision test was hanging on the wall, it had been there for as long as Nabiki could remember. The succubus touched it and began to trace an intricate pattern over the letters. Each one began to glow in sequence, then there was a click and a portion of the wall slid aside to reveal an old-timey elevator lift with a metal scissor gate.
"This is the staff entrance," Tomoe explained.
Nabiki felt her eyes fall directly on her. "Your fiance is human, but that shouldn't be a problem as long as she doesn't wander off." Nabiki wondered what could be down there, given it was a Youkai Hospital there could likely be things there that eat people. She gripped Ranma's arm a little tighter.
"Maybe Nabiki should wait here," said Akane, but Nabiki shook her head.
"Not gonna happen," she groused looking at Ryoga's mom with suspicion, still a little jealous from that glomp she gave Ranma.
"She'll be fine," Ranma said and they poured into the lift. It was more than big enough for the five of them. The ride down was actually quite smooth despite how ancient the elevator looked, and it took a long time to descend though they were moving at a good clip. Finally, they reached the bottom and Tomoe opened the gate. The hospital waiting room looked like something out of a vintage '50s movie, there was wood grain paneling and molding, the ceiling was arched and decorated with intricate paintings, and dominating one wall as a large wooden receptionist desk.
Nabiki could help but notice the woman behind the desk. She was beautiful, but it was her hair which caught her attention. It wasn't really hair but snakes, many thin white snakes. Some of them were shuffling papers and another group was organizing a stack of medical folders. The woman noticed them and smiled.
"Dr. Tomoe," she said in a very sultry voice. "You're back early, and who are these people?"
"They're here on business," Tomoe replied, then she grabbed Ryoga by the arm. "And this is my little boy!"
"Oh my god, is that really little Ryoga?" the receptionist gushed. Nabiki heard Ranma snicker a little when she said "little Ryoga".
"Mom, please stop." Nabiki held back a laugh at the look on the lost boy's face. He was almost glowing red and looked like he wanted to find the nearest rock to hide under.
"Yes, he is!" Tomoe hugged her son causing him to grunt a little. His mom was likely very strong. The receptionist came out from behind the desk. She was dressed in a nurse's outfit which she filled out extremely well. Almost too well.
"The last I saw him he was barely knee high." the snake hair receptionist gave Ryoga a quick, which included her pressing his face between her very ample breasts. When he broke from the embrace Ryoga's nose erupted like a volcano, then he hit the floor with a thud.
"Oh my!"
"Just like his father." Tomoe sighed.
Ranma turned to Akane, "Stay here with the idiot until he wakes up, don't let him leave or he'll get lost."
Predictably, Akane didn't like that idea. "No way, who's going to protect Nabiki? You heard what Doctor Tomoe said, this place could be dangerous."
"I will," he told her. "You keep forgetting I've got way more training then you do."
"Hey, I've been training since I was old enough to walk." Akane groused.
Nabiki chimed in, "Akane, just do what he says. I'll be fine." Her little sister looked at the boy on the floor and sighed.
"Fine." she threw up her hands and started sulking in the nearest chair.
"We ready, let's go."
A short time later they walking the halls of the Youkai Hospital with Tomoe leading the way. Nabiki remembered vividly what the inside of Tokyo Youdai Hospital looked like and this place was pretty much just like that. Stark white walls, information signs pointing the direction to different wings and departments, nurse's stations, the whole place was just like a regular hospital. The main difference was the patients weren't human or at least weren't entirely human. The surrealness of the place prevented her from feeling uncomfortable, her last memory of a hospital was when her mother died. She didn't like the look she was getting so Nabiki kept a tight hold on Ranma's arm.
Nabiki could only guess what the creatures were she saw. There were so many kinds of different kinds of creatures. It was a bit of a shock, had she not met Ranma she would never have known any of these creatures actually existed. They would have remained myths and fairytales, that is unless the extremely rare encounter happened. How many unsolved murders and missing persons were the results of monster attacks? Did the police pin a crime on some random serial killer to hide the fact that some were done by youkai? These were questions Nabiki had on her mind when two burly humanoids stepped into the hallway to bar their path.
"Hey, I'll pay you a good sum if you're interested in selling that cute human." said one of the creatures. It was the latest of the two, a bit pudgy, and looked almost human. She did not like the way it looked her up and down and licked its greasy lips.
"She's not for sale," Ranma replied. Nabiki could feel the muscles in his arm grow as rigid as steel cables.
Ranma moved as to step around the pair when the shorter one grabbed Nabiki's arm. "Come on now, we're making a generous offer." the creature said. Nabiki tried to yank herself free but the youkai was much too strong for that. She heard the telltale crackling sound, the skin on Ranma's face stretch into his vampiric mask and his eyes blazed.
"Let her go or lose that arm," Nabiki shivered at the sound of his voice, he was defending her, but his voice was also inhuman. She'd never heard him speak like this before. It was both frightening and exciting at the same time.
"Go ahead Ranma dear," said Tomoe in a tone that said she wasn't concerned. "He's an orc, the arm will grow back in an hour." The orcs, Nabiki finally had a name for these two, didn't look worried at all and just sneered.
"Though, if you cut it off with your Slayer it'll take about a month for it to regenerate, lucky him he's already in a hospital." the short one let her go. Now the two orcs didn't look so tough, they almost looked pale.
The fat one slapped his companion on the shoulder and they wandered off all the while looking nervously over their shoulder. "A Slayer, he's a fucking Crimson Circle, what the fuck are they doing here?" she heard the smaller ask his bigger friend.
"You ok?" Ranma asked her. Nabiki nodded and tightened her grip on his arm.
It didn't take long for them to reach Dr. Tofu's office. His was the first door in the administrative wing. The office was spacious but not lavish. Nabiki never took Dr. Tofu for the kind of man who liked extravagance. The room looked more like a library than an office, most of the walls were covered by bookshelves. To one side was a large wooden office desk, the wall behind it featured windows offering a view of a huge indoor park. There were trees and flowers, and benches for hospital visitors to sit and enjoy the scenery. Off to the side as a skeleton on a stand that looked exactly like Betty back in the clinic on the surface.
"Wait here dears, I'll go get the good doctor." Tomoe gestured to the leather couch situated near the desk and left to find Dr. Tofu.
Nabiki looked around as she and Ranma took a seat. "This seems cozy," she said.
"Seems modest, not what I was expecting," Ranma said.
"Doctor Tofu was never the kind of person to show off his wealth," Nabiki knew the young doctor most of her life, mostly because Akane, when she was young, was always going to see him for some kind of training injury or because she got into a fight. Of course, she knew Akane has a crush on him.
She sighed as Ranma put his arm around her. Dr. Tofu walked in then with Tomoe following him. He was dressed in a white smock rather than the martial arts gi he usually wore in the clinic. Based on his expression he recognized her, then his eyes feel on Ranma and they narrowed.
"Ono, this is Ranma from the Order of the Crimson Circle," Tomoe said.
"We've met," said Dr. Tofu, his tone a bit hard.
"I'll be right back," Tomoe turned for the door. "I'm going to see if Ryoga has woken up yet."
Nabiki did not like the looks of this. Dr. Tofu was a close family friend, so she could only guess at what he was thinking. What he was probably thinking might lead to a misunderstanding but she wasn't sure what do about it. Then, on a whim, she kissed Ranma on the cheek. The hard expression on Tofu's face turned to bewildered curiosity.
"Doc," Ranma stood and offered him his hand. Dr. Tofu accepted and shook his hand, that made Nabiki feel a little better.
"I'm here officially as a member of the order," he said.
Dr. Tofu's expression was much less hard now. "What's this all about, and why is Nabiki here? I warn you if I don't like what I hear..." She stood up and took Ranma's hand.
"Ranma and I are engaged," she said, it technically was the truth. He hadn't officially asked the question but they were "technically" engaged due to family honor. They were also lovers, but she wasn't about to tell him that yet.
"She wouldn't let me come down here alone," Ranma explained.
Dr. Tofu nodded, "Ah, well, congratulations then. So, what is this official business with the order then?" The good doctor looked a bit ashamed, but Nabiki didn't blame him. He was pretty close to the family so it was obvious that he'd been a bit overprotective.
"You no doubt know about Dracula," it was more a statement than a question. Dr. Tofu nodded.
Dr. Tofu gestured from them to sit as he went behind his desk to his chair. "We've been monitoring him, tracking his movements, but a few months ago we lost all trace of him."
"Yesterday, I and other members of the order engaged a group of corrupted gargoyles," Ranma continued. "They were attacking a werewolf from the Moon Clan."
Dr. Tofu look off his glasses, "Moon Clan, what are they doing in Japan?"
"Dracula is in Tokyo," Ranma told him. "They cornered him in Siberia then chased him through North Korea to here."
Dr. Tofu quickly jumped to his feet, "Wait a minute, he's here in Tokyo!?"
"We don't know his exact location," Ranma told him. "We'll be working with the Moon Clan to sniff him out." Had the conversation not been so serious Nabiki would have laughed at the "sniff" joke.
"What complicates things is Princess Mina Tepes is also in Tokyo," Ranma added. The idea of having to hunt down kill her father made Nabiki pity this vampire princess a little. Despite her Ice Queen persona, though a bit defrosted now because of Ranma, she did care deeply about her family.
Dr. Tofu nodded, "She'll bring the most elite warriors of the Earth Clan with her. The Moon and Earth Clans aren't enemies but they aren't exactly friends either. Have you met the princess yet?"
Ranma shook his head, "No, we haven't seen her. A Moon Clan werewolf told us she was definitely in town."
Dr. Tofu came from behind his desk and start pursuing his bookshelf, "According to our intel Dracula tried and failed to master primal magic. It corrupted him, twisted his mind, and gave him unpredictable powers." He found what he was looking for, pulled out the book, and went back to his desk.
"We need a sorcerer, someone who can stand toe to toe with that kind of magic," Ranma explained. "That's why I came to see you. Also, we were told he might be turning into some kind of a magic bomb."
Tofu nodded, "Lord Merlin said something to that effect, said we'd need to deal with him eventually." After obviously finding what he was looking for he closed the book with a snap.
Nabiki blinked, "Merlin, as in the Merlin? Of the King Arthur myth, he's real?"
Dr. Tofu laughed, "Well, yes and no. When we have more time I'll tell you the story, or he'll tell you it himself. When I tell him what's going on he'll insist on being here."
"Will you help us then?" Ranma asked him.
Dr. Tofu nodded, "Of course, doing something about 'him' is overdue. Dracula has been lying low, so we didn't consider him too much a threat, but now that he's here all that has changed."
"Thank you," Ranma said.
Nabiki felt him deflate a bit, he was probably worried that Dr. Tofu might not agree to help. "I have to ask, how did you two meet?" asked Dr. Tofu.
"Our fathers are old friends," Nabiki explained. "They made the marriage agreement before we were born so it is kind of a family honor sort of thing. Technically, the engagement could have gone to either of my sisters and me but things sort of happened and now I can't see myself being with anyone else."
"Neither can I," Ranma kissed her. Dr. Tofu waited patiently for them to finish, now he was smiling which made Nabiki feel a lot better. She didn't want there be to friction between him and Ranma.
"Your parents are old friends you say, so you haven't been a vampire for very long," Tofu looked to Ranma.
Ranma shook his head, "Technically, I've been a vampire for 30 years. The order has a pocket dimension where time passes faster than in normal space."
"I've heard of it, the Library uses something similar but we normalize the flow of time," Dr. Tofu replied.
Nabiki decided it was best she broach this particular subject now, "Doctor, there's something you should know. Something happened several weeks ago. Akane was attacked by a vampire, a foreigner, and now she's a vampire too. She's apprenticed to one of Ranma's friends from the Crimson Circle."
Dr. Tofu slowly sat back down. "Akane is a vampire!?" he was visibly shocked.
Ranma looked down at the floor, "It was all my fault, I couldn't protect her." Nabiki put her arms around him and hugged him.
"That was not your fault," she told him. She never blamed Ranma for what happened to Akane. Being a vampire didn't change her that much personality wise. She was still her little sister even if she was now undead.
"You'll have to give me the details another time," Dr. Tofu looked at his watch. "I have patients to check on. This place is always busy."
They stood and Ranma shook the young doctor's hand again. "I bet and thanks for everything," said Ranma.
"Do you want me to have Dr. Hibiki show you the way to the lobby?" Dr. Tofu asked. Ranma shook his head.
"Nah, I remember the way," he said. Dr. Tofu moved to hold the door for them as they left the office.
"It might be a few days before I contact you," Ranma told him.
Dr. Tofu nodded, "That's fine, it'll give me time to relay everything to Lord Merlin. When you're ready just contact me and I'll be there."
"Dr. Tofu, thank you for being so understanding about me and Ranma," Nabiki thanked him. He was practically family, especially if he and Kasumi ever finally got together. They weren't related, yet he was always protective of her and her sisters.
He suddenly looked abashed, "Merlin always told me I need to keep an open mind. I had the wrong conclusion at first, and I'm sorry." He bowed deeply, a show of respect.
"I'd do the same thing," Ranma admitted.
"Good luck you two," Dr. Tofu told them, then they parted way. Nabiki held tightly to Ranma's arm as they wound their way back to the lobby. Akane was still there, Ryoga was awake, the two of them were having a conversation.
"I see you two are getting along," Nabiki interrupted them.
Akane turned to look at them when she saw Ranma she frowned. "So, how did your meeting with Dr. Tofu go?" she asked.
"He's, on board," Ranma told her. "All we have to do is let him know when we need him. Let's go, I need to talk to Sanangi and get her to coordinate with her werewolf friend."
"My mom wants me to stay here," Ryoga said. "Dad's coming home and so she doesn't want me to wander off."
Ranma laughed, "Yeah, you get lost going to the bathroom." Akane shot him an angry look. Nabiki knew that look all too well.
"Don't think this is over, Saotome," Ryoga growled at him. "I'm still going to fight you."
They boarded the lift back to the surface. As the elevator ascended Nabiki studied her little sister a bit. Akane's body language was clear, she was angry which wasn't unusual for her, but this renewed anger towards Ranma bothered her.
"Ok, what happened between you two?" Nabiki demanded.
Akane blushed, "Nothing happened, we were just talking." That pretty much confirmed her suspicions, and it also told her that her little sister might be more bi than lesbian if she's interested in that Ryoga.
"Let me guess, he was telling you how terrible I am and what hell I've put them through, yadda yadda yadda." Ranma groused.
Akane frowned, "Maybe."
"I know his type, " Nabiki told her. "He's the kind who doesn't take responsibility for his own actions and place the blame on others. Kuno is exactly the same way so what makes this guy different."
Akane snapped at her, "You don't know that you don't know what he's been through!" She looked up at Ranma with an angry expression.
"All because of him," she frowned up at Ranma.
It was Nabiki's turn to snap back, "You just met the guy and you're going to believe everything he says? Akane, sometimes you can be a real idiot." She saw Akane wince, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her little sister but in this case, she had it coming.
"Ryoga isn't a bad person," Ranma spoke up finally. "He's got flaws, a lot of them. Show me someone who doesn't. I don't know what happened to him after me and pops left China, but if he decided to follow me whatever happened after that is totally on him, not me."
"Exactly," Nabiki nodded in agreement.
A gloomy cloud hung over Akane the entire way home. Sanangi was in the family room at the kotatsu table when they arrived. John, though, was nowhere to be seen. The sound of pots and pans clanking in the kitchen answer the question of where Kasumi was. Nabiki didn't see her father at the table and of course, Genma wasn't there. He was still at Ukyo's working off his debt to her family. Baron sat out in the yard on one of the stones ringing the koi pond. He was in a lotus position deep in meditation. Nabiki heard the voice of Aria from the kitchen.
"So, how did things go with the sorcerer?" Sanangi asked when she saw them enter.
"He'll help us, now all we need to know is where Dracula is," Ranma told her.
Sanangi nodded, "I'll coordinate with Sasha and her kin, we will find him."
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Boris Dragasoni set out of the magic circle, the light of the teleportation spell fading. Under his right arm, he carried a carefully wrapped package. The gave the witches their payment before leaving. Outside, watching the back entrance to the Black Sabbath Club, a tall Italian man in a gray suit watched the assassin leave. Marius Endrizzi frowned upon seeing the assassin. Quietly he wanted for Dragasoni to get out of sight, then walked down the alley to his car parked on the street.
After getting in behind the wheel, Marius pulled out a cellphone. "It's me," he said after his call was picked up. "I saw him, inform Lord Cain, then contact the chairs. I'm calling an emergency meeting of the tribunal. I'll be there in five minutes." When the call was complete he pocketed the phone, started his car, a Lamborgini, and drove away tires squealing.
Dragasoni did not know his turn to Earth had been witnessed, he was too focused on the object he carried and the mission he'd been given by his benefactors. Many eyes watched him, most of them hostile, but he paid them to mind. This was Paris, the neutral city, nobody would make a move on him. Everyone knew the consequenced of violating Cain's Law.
Within an hour, Master Lee got the call. Dragasoni was back.
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To be continued...