I do not own anything written by Rumiko Takahashi.
"I swear, she's lying in wait, she's doin' it on purpose," the busty redhead grumbled as she floated along beside Nabiki and Akane, Nabiki yet again carrying Ranma's soaked clothes. Then, Ranma caught the little smile on Nabiki's face. "She is doin' it on purpose, isn't she?" she demanded, and Nabiki nodded.
"Probably," she said offhandedly. At least, if the little flash of satisfaction I got from her when you got splashed is any indication. Then the middle Tendo nodded at an alley between two stores. "That's what we need, come on."
"Need for what?" Akane asked as the three turned into the empty dead-end ally.
"To get Ranma back into manly shape," Nabiki replied, setting down her schoolbag and pulling out a thermos. "I thought this might happen and came prepared."
"What? Right out in the open?" Akane half-shrieked.
Nabiki shrugged. "So don't look if you don't want to. It isn't like you haven't seen it all before — briefly," she said. "You can keep an eye on the sidewalk, make sure nobody notices us."
"But what about you?"
"Someone has to pour the water," Nabiki said, then added with a leer, "Besides, I'm going to do a lot more than ogle in a few weeks."
Akane turned beet-red and whirled away to face the alley entrance. "Perverts," she muttered as Nabiki and Ranma chuckled.
A few minutes later, the two girls and pigtailed boy resumed their walk to the school.
"Remember," Ranma said, "don't charge straight in, wait for 'em to mostly come to you and then charge."
"Yeah, I know, you've only told me half a dozen times," Akane grumbled.
Ranma frowned. "That's because you've been doing this the same way every morning, it's become a habit," he warned, then exchanged a glance with Nabiki when Akane just shrugged while her face twisted into a snarl.
Then the three were walking through the school gates and Nabiki peeled off to the side as a cry of "Akane!" went up and the Horde rumbled toward them.
Akane's world went red at the sight and she started to lunge forward, only to jolt to a stop as Ranma's hand landed on her shoulder. "Remember, wait for it — like I told you," he said, and Akane blushed again as she nodded. He held them in place for a few more seconds, then shouted "Now!" and the two charged forward to meet the mass of boys.
The front ranks of the Horde paused for a moment, surprised at Ranma's inclusion in the charge, then were bowled over as the boys behind them weren't able to stop in time and ran into them. Then Ranma and Akane smashed into them, and hockey sticks, bats, rackets, clubs and boys exploded in all directions. In seconds, there wasn't a conscious boy on the field except Ranma.
At the front entrance to the school, Kuno stared in shock, then bellowed his outrage as he whipped his bokken from off his back and raised it above his head in what he imagined to be a noble pose. "Ranma, you enslaver of fair flowers of maidenhood! How dare you —" And Ranma and Akane came roaring in with the kind of flying kicks that should only be used against the blind and lame, and Kuno bounced off the wall at his back and landed face down on the sidewalk, out cold.
Back by the gates, Nabiki looked at the crater Kuno had left in the school's wall, shook her head with a smirk, then looked over at Sayuri and Yuka, standing to the side and gaping at the carnage. "Do you think even jocks stupid as these guys will finally get a clue?" she asked.
Akane's two friends tore their gaze from the carnage to stare at her. "You mean, Ranma's going to be joining in all the time now?" Sayuri asked.
"Yeah, every day. After all, he's her new sensei," Nabiki replied with a nod. "Pass the word, will you?"
The two girls contined to stare at Nabiki for a moment, then Yuka grinned broadly and Nabiki's own smile broadened at the satisfaction mixed with anger and loathing radiating from the girl. Sayuri said, "Of course, we'll be glad to."
/\
Gosunkugi watched the pre-school entertainment from the classroom window with other boys, ignoring the burst of conversation following Ranma's participation in the fight — massacre, really — and ground his teeth, then yawned and turned away to his desk. Who would have believed there were so many cursed springs in China? he thought. Springs for bad luck, springs for bad health, springs that make you a magnet for supernatural menaces, even springs that make you change into something else with a splash of water! Pulling out the textbook for the first class, Gosunkugi sat down and waited for class to begin.
The school day passed in a haze as thoughts of China's cursed springs continued to churn in the back of his mind, going over the list over and over. Most likely a partial list, he thought with a snarl as he sat down in his usual out of the way place for lunch. The most promising would be Jusenkyo, but that actually transforms the victim rather than having him change places with someone else, and how would you drown a succubus?
Then he stiffened, as he thought over Ranma's behavior — the way he seemed to size up every guy he met, the slight swagger — Okay, what if he and Nabiki lied — what if he really does transform into a succubus — the way he acts he certainly isn't going to want to let anyone know, but after hitting the pool a couple days ago in front of everyone... That must be it, Ranma's the succubus, and that means I know his true name! And that means that tonight, while 'she' and Nabiki are enjoying each other, there's going to be a summoning.
/oOo\
That night, Nabiki dreamed again of her mother, lying in the hospital bed, skin falling around her bones thanks to the wasting disease that killed her, tubes seeming to stick into her everywhere Nabiki could see. Her father knelt by the bed, clutching one of her mother's hands with tears pouring down his cheeks while Nabiki held the other and Kasumi sat in a nearby chair holding a terrified Akane in her lap, providing what comfort she could.
The old pain welled up, but this time it was answered by an answering wave of love and sympathy from an unseen Ranma.
"Your mother?" asked Ranma's voice inside her mind.
Nabiki nodded. "The day I lost both parents, my mother to disease and my father to grief," she answered silently.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it's old news."
The hospital room faded away, replaced by a meadow where the two had lounged about and talked other nights, the larger, raven-haired boy sitting on a rock beside a brook. "Not so old if you're still dreamin' about it," he said.
"Well, maybe not," Nabiki admitted, fighting back tears as she down next to him. "But I have to act as if —"
The meadow shivered as Nabiki's head rang like a bell, then vanished as she shot upright to a sitting position in her bed, looking around wildly. My wards! she thought with a gasp, looking out the window and starting to focus to bring them more strongly into view, then freezing — the effort wasn't necessary, the wards covering the dojo grounds were fluorescing bright enough to blind if it had been actual light.
Then, slowly, the light steadied and faded and Nabiki slumped in relief. They held, she thought, then looked around the room and realized something was missing, or rather someone. "Ranma?" she said softly, then again more loudly as she looked out the window, scanning the grounds, "Ranma!"
/\
Ranma had been sitting on a rock in the meadow of his favorite memory, when suddenly his head rang like a bell, and she found herself back in Nabiki's bedroom, her one-way lover's arms around her. Even as she felt Nabiki jerk awake, she felt something else odd, like a slight tugging on her center, trying to pull her away ... somewhere else. Instinctively, she pulled back, and suddenly an odd, twisting sensation washed away the tugging feeling as she sank back into the older girl.
Then the body she was suddenly sharing with Nabiki snapped upright, and she gasped at the sight of the wards lighting up the night, before they steadied and faded back to normal. Nabiki slumped in relief, then looked around. "Ranma?" she asked, and Ranma found their shared eyes searching the grounds out the window as Nabiki called out her name again.
"Right here," Ranma thought, then felt a touch of vertigo as Nabiki looked around again.
"Where?" her fiancée asked.
"Uh, I think I'm inside you," Ranma responded.
Nabiki froze, then to Ranma's relief closed her eyes. "You mean you've possessed me?" Nabiki thought inwardly, and felt an arm try to lift her hand to her neck.
"If ya mean I somehow mixed in with you, yeah, I guess so. Sorry 'bout that."
"Don't be sorry, this is great!" Nabiki enthused. "It means you're growing more into your powers. Now, do you think you can get out of me?"
"Sure," Ranma thought, then thought back over how it had felt to merge, remembered the twisting feeling, somehow pulled out — and found herself floating next to Nabiki, half-sunk into the bed.
Nabiki jerked, startled to suddenly find Ranma beside her, then grinned, only to have the grin fade to a thoughtful frown.
Ranma stiffened at the feeling of concern she was suddenly radiating. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Nabiki shrugged. "Not much," she replied, "only that my book didn't mention that succubae could possess people. Makes me wonder what else it left out or didn't get quite right. Can you do that again?"
"I dunno, let's find out," Ranma said, reached out to hold Nabiki's hand, somehow reached, and again found herself looking through Nabiki's widened eyes as her lover's shock reverberated through her.
Nabiki took a deep breath, then thought, "That looked weird, like you were just sucked into me! Felt strange, too. Now come on out, you may as well go guy and spend the night with your father or practice katas. I'm not going to be getting to sleep for awhile." At the feel of Ranma's unspoken question she smiled wryly. "I'm going to be trying to find out who tried to break through my wards, and why."
/\
In a shed on the grounds of Furinkan High, Gosunkugi writhed, screaming, candles knocked in all directions, brazier kicked over, chalked lines and symbols smeared and broken. Finally, the pain receded to a massive pounding in his head and the hollow-eyed boy drew a deep shuddering breath and pulled himself to his knees and carefully looked around. How?! he thought. Yes, she's powerful, but I spend hours priming the summoning. Surely not even her wards should have been able to prevent it! And I could have sworn I felt the ritual latch onto something for a moment...
Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet and stared around at the mess, then snarled on looking down at his charred, wax-spattered, chalk-smeared clothing. That was one of my favorite outfits, one more thing Nabiki owes me for. I'll just have to figure out how she was able to stop the summoning — once I change and get everything cleaned up.
/\
In a rosebush in the yard of the house across the street from the dojo entrance, Gorash rubbed its eyes, its sight slowly coming back as the afterimages of the wards' flare-up faded away. Finally, the imp turned to its companion. Grimly, it said, "I think this warrants an immediate report to Mara, see to it." The other imp nodded and slipped down the street to the space between houses, into shadows between the two buildings, and vanished from sight.
/oOo\
Nabiki did her best to not to snarl as she walked between Ranma and Akane, all of them in their school uniforms and headed for another wonderful day at Furinkan High — though Nabiki's dress was somewhat less ... decorous ... (not to say, shorter) than usual. Six days, and not even a hint at who tried to break my shields! she thought yet again, teeth grinding despite her best efforts, only to be interrupted by a huge yawn. Four hours sleep again, yeah, today's going to be fun.
Suddenly, Ranma dropped and rolled, springing to his feet, and Nabiki tried to stop — too late, and the water aimed for Ranma soaked one side of her school uniform. Just behind her, Akane's laughter dropped her to her knees as she clutched her sides. Nabiki turned to glare at the Ladle Lady. The old woman just shrugged with a slight smile (and an inward touch of delight) and turned to go back inside, and the middle Tendo turned her glare on her fiancé. Ranma tugged at his ponytail, an abashed look on his face.
"Sorry 'bout that," he said sheepishly.
Nabiki took a deep breath, let it out as she resumed walking, then said, "Not your fault, I should have been paying attention."
Ranma turned to walk beside her while Akane forced her laughter down to chuckles as she climbed to her feet and hurried to catch up. "Yeah, you normally stop there, is something wrong?" the youngest Tendo asked.
Nabiki shook her head, then yawned again. "No, just tired from trying to find who hit my wards."
Akane nodded, looking away uncomfortably, but Ranma shot his fiancée a concerned look. Yes, I know, you've been picking up my worry when in nature spirit form, Nabiki thought to herself, carefully keeping her expression even. I'm almost grateful for whoever attacked us, it makes a good cover for what's really on my mind the most.
Then the three turned through the school ground gates, and Nabiki peeled off while the other two got their additional morning exercise beating Upperclassman Kuno unconscious. Nabiki smirked at the sight while pulling out her cell phone and hitting a speed dial number. Well, at least that much is still going right — there hasn't been a gathering of the Hentai Horde since the second day Ranma joined in. I guess even jocks can recognize reality when it beats them into the ground two days in a row.
"Hello, Nodoka? Nabiki here ... yes, I'm doing fine, mostly, just a little tired ... no, Ranma isn't keeping me up nights, something's come up. Will you be home tonight? ... Yeah, we need to talk."