I do not own anything written by Rumiko Takahashi.

Nabiki and Ranma walked towards Dr. Tofu's office, Nabiki ignoring the now familiar imps trailing them. She occasionally glanced toward the bandage taped to the side of Ranma's face, large enough to completely cover one cheek, and did her best not to giggle. Stop that! The Ice Queen does not giggle, so keep control, you're in public! "So, Ranma," she said, slightly breathless from the effort to keep her voice steady, "just what were you thinking about that distracted you so much that you didn't notice the baseball coming?"

"Nothin'!" Ranma almost shouted. "Just some stupid questions from some a' the guys in class."

"Oh? About what?"

"Nothin'," Ranma said shortly.

Nabiki glanced at him again, and managed to turn her giggle into a chuckle. "You might as well tell me, I'll just find out from one of your classmates. Or — I could test how ticklish you are again tonight, compare one form to the other," she added with a whimsical grin.

Ranma blanched. "Okay, I'll talk, I'll talk! Anything but that!" He grinned back, then shrugged. "They were just askin' about ... about us."

"Us? What about 'us'?" Nabiki asked when Ranma failed to continue.

"About things that are none a' their business," Ranma growled, blushing and radiating angry embarrassment.

Wonderful — I've managed to catch the right kind of attention from the wrong people, Nabiki thought, suppressing a sigh.

Just then they turned the corner to the clinic, and Nabiki's eyebrows rose at the sight of a cluster of people at the front door. "Okano-san what's going on?" she asked one man at the back of the pack.

"Oh, hello, Tendo-san. Your sister's inside with the doctor," Okano said. "It might be worth your life to go in right now."

"Kasumi, here?!" Nabiki exclaimed, then grabbed Ranma's arm and pulled him through the mob to the front door. "Hurry, Ranma, I want you to see this!"

Once in the waiting room, Nabiki pulled Ranma to a stop and hastily opened her book bag. "Come on, I know it's in here — got it!" She pulled out a thermos and twisted off the cap.

"Nabiki, what's goin' —" Ranma got out just before catching a splash of water in the face. Instantly, his clothes dropped through the now red-haired nature spirit to the floor, followed by the bandage that had been taped to his cheek. "What was that for?" Ranma demanded.

"You'll be safer this way, and I want to see if you notice anything, come on," Nabiki said, pausing for a brief moment to run appreciative eyes over the full frontal view offered by the lack of clothes, then grabbing the other girl's arm and pulling her toward the door to the examination room. "When we get in there, focus on the doc — well, that won't be hard, but see if you can sense anything wrong with him."

The two stepped/floated into the room to find Kasumi and Dr. Tofu, the dark-haired man with a checkered towel tied around his neck and ... taking bites out of a plate full of cookies!

Kasumi turned to look at the newcomers, her usual look of placid cheerfulness firmly in place, and both Ranma and Nabiki slammed to a stop as a wave of bitter despair from the older Tendo mixed with manic happiness from Dr. Tofu washed over them. "Whoa!" Ranma gasped, actually floating back a couple of feet.

The sound of her voice drew the attention of the doctor, and he stopped taking bites out of the plate and turned toward them. "Oh, I have patients!" he exclaimed. Turning to the skeleton he'd used to frighten Ranma the week before, now on its stand by the wall, he said, "Betty, please fetch some tea."

"No need, thank you," Nabiki managed to get out. "This is Ranko, a new friend of the family. Ranko, this is Dr. Tofu." Leaning over to Ranma, she hissed, "Check out Tofu!"

Ranma started and shook herself out of her shock from the emotional assault. She looked closely at Tofu, and her eyes narrowed. There was something odd about him, an aura that seemed to surround him, to reach out and ... the nature spirit followed it and her eyes widened as the whatever-it-was mixed with a similar something radiating from Kasumi! And whatever it was, it felt ... ugly, slimy.

"Well, if you don't want any tea, let's see what I can do for you," Dr. Tofu continued, stepping forward and reaching for the busty nature spirit floating in front of him.

Ranma flinched slightly at the worry that suddenly spiked from both Tendo sisters. Nabiki hurriedly grabbed her fiancé's arm and pulled her out of the doctor's reach. "Actually, Dr. Tofu, we're just here to collect Kasumi, we thought we'd walk home with her."

The manic happiness that had been assaulting Nabiki and Ranma ebbed as it mixed with growing sadness. "Oh, that's too bad," a suddenly calmer Tofu said, turning to the older sister. "But please come again, Kasumi. I enjoy your visits."

Kasumi forced a smile and nodded. "Of course, Dr. Tofu, I would be glad to," she said, and hurried to join Ranma and Nabiki. With a quick round of goodbyes, the three were on their way.

/\

For a time, the three girls walked/floated along in silence as the despair radiating from Kasumi slowly ebbed, replaced by weary resignation. Finally, Nabiki quietly said, "I didn't realize how badly you were taking the doc's little problem, big sis. I'm sorry."

Kasumi gave her sister a wan smile. "No reason you should have, little sis — I did my best to keep anyone from knowing, after all. I hoped ... well, I guess it doesn't matter what I hoped, he isn't getting any better, is he?"

"Doesn't seem like it," Nabiki agreed. "Ranko, I know you were shocked but I couldn't tell if it was just the Doc or something else. Did you sense anything?"

Ranma frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, I did," she said, "but I don't know what it means. There was ... somethin', I'm not sure how ta describe it. It was like he was ... shinin' ... with some sort a' ... I can't say what, just that I didn't like it. But whatever it was, Kasumi had it, too, an' the two ... whatevers ... were reachin' out, mixin' together."

The Tendo sisters had slammed to a stop and were now staring at the succubus. Then Nabiki's eyes narrowed. "So, does Kasumi have that ... aura ... right now?" she asked intently.

Ranma shook her head. "No, it faded as soon as we left Dr. Tofu's."

"Okay ... now I have something to work with," Nabiki said as she started walking again, the other two hurrying to catch up. "Ranma, I'll bet that what you sensed was a curse — but a two-part curse, that only activates when both victims are close together. That would be why I didn't find anything when I checked out the possibility, and I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Tofu missed it for the same reason."

Picking up the pace to a near-trot, she tossed over her shoulder, "Come on, let's get home, I want to check out some things before I leave this evening!"

/oOo\

Nodoka smiled as she let the two older Tendo sisters into her home. "Nabiki, it's good to see you again this early, I didn't expect to see you until the weekend. And this is Kasumi?"

Nabiki nodded, eyebrows rising at the formal kimono the older woman wore, the unhappy tension she radiated, as Kasumi bowed. "Yes," the middle Tendo replied. "Nodoka, my older sister, and the one that tried her best to raise me after Mother died, Kasumi."

Nodoka returned Kasumi's bow. "Tendo-san," she said quietly, "I owe you a debt of honor. At the time of your mother's death the earliest reports of my former husband's return to petty crime were surfacing and I was obsessed with finding him and my son. In my fear and confusion, I betrayed my friend and abandoned her children when they needed me most — especially you."

Kasumi stiffened, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face before it returned to her usual serene expression. "Please, Saotome-san, don't — I had no expectation that you would help, I received the help I needed, and Nabiki has told me of what you were going through. I do not hold the lack of support against you, and ask that you don't hold it against yourself."

A relieved Nodoka bowed again. "You are generous, Tendo-san, but nonetheless, I will seek to amend my failure if the opportunity arises. We are to be family, after all."

At that, Kasumi smiled brightly and Nabiki relaxed slightly as her sister's abrupt tension was replaced by warm happiness. "Yes, we are, and I am glad. And please, call me Kasumi."

Nodoka returned the smile. "And you must call me Nodoka, as Nabiki does." Then, mock-frowning at Nabiki she added, "You will call me 'Mother' one day as Ranma does!"

Nabiki just chuckled and shook her head, ignoring a slight spike of grief from both of the others, and Nodoka waved the two girls toward a low table set with the makings for tea.

/\

Opening courtesies complete, Nodoka turned her attention to her future daughter-in-law. "Nabiki, I have to say I was surprised by your call this morning. What is so important that it couldn't wait until the weekend? You and Ranma were already planning to visit, after all."

Nabiki grimaced slightly. "Actually, that was part of the reason I'm here early — we really need to discuss this without Ranma around, and if he asks Akane's nightly training makes a good excuse for not bringing him along. Not that he's going to ask, he trusts me."

For a moment Nabiki paused, face turning gentle, before she sobered, continuing, "But Ranma wasn't the only reason, and then something that happened this afternoon added yet another problem, which is why I asked if I could bring Kasumi."

Nodoka stiffened, gaze sharpening as she looked over at Kasumi again. "Tell me what happened," she ordered.

Nabiki took a moment to order her thoughts. "It started about five years ago. For years before that, Dr. Tofu had been treating Akane, and it's fair to say that he's become a close friend of the family — all of us, not just Akane, even if the physical injuries she had while trying to train herself were the reason we saw him as often as we did. In that time he seemed a rather quiet, calm man, if given to the occasional practical joke.

"Generally that is still the case, so long as Kasumi isn't around. But for the past five years, when she is around he becomes manic, delusional, and dangerous — he is a highly skilled chiropractor, among other things, and in his manic state anyone he gets his hands on is at risk of injury at best, death at worst.

"Once I went through my Awakening and became aware of the reality of curses I thought that he might be under one, so I checked: human, demonic, nature spirit, even divine. I found nothing, and reluctantly concluded that our friend just had a screw loose for some reason — perhaps he fell in love with big sis when she was only fourteen, and couldn't handle it.

"It turns out that I was wrong. Kasumi has been paying occasional visits to the good Doctor, hoping that time or exposure would get him over his little problem, though she's never said just why she's so eager for that." The middle Tendo glanced over at her older sister, grinning. Kasumi studiously ignored her, but a faint tinge of pink colored her cheeks. Turning her attention back to Nodoka, who was smiling slightly at the unspoken exchange, Nabiki continued, "Today she paid Dr. Tofu one of her little visits, and this time Ranma was there, in spirit form. She told me afterward that while Kasumi and Dr. Tofu were in the same room they were both shining with some sort of aura, reaching out to each other and intermingling. When Kasumi left Dr. Tofu's office, that aura quickly vanished.

"Ranma didn't recognize the feel of whatever that aura was, but said it felt slimy, ugly. I suspect that both Kasumi and Dr. Tofu are under a demonic curse that only activates when the two are together. Whatever it is, I couldn't find a trace of it, even though I tried for hours. But while I'm more powerful than you are, from your library I'd say you're more experienced than I am. I'm hoping that you can find something I can't, perhaps do something about it."

Nodoka nodded, gazing thoughtfully at the two sisters. "You are right that I am less powerful than you — I'm barely powerful enough to act as a Scout, you could easily qualify as a full-fledged Hunter with some training. Still, I have had some years of practice, I'll see what I can learn. But that will take some time, so let's cover the other problems first, what's next?"

"Well, I suppose the next problem would be the fact that last week someone rang my bell — tried to break through my wards. So far as I can tell whoever it was failed, I haven't been able to find any signs of hostile magic within my wards' boundaries, but I haven't been able to learn who it was. All I know is that whoever it was is human, but I've known that all along. I'm guessing I was the target, as far as I know I'm the only one living there that moves in the circles that would employ such an attack, but it could have been targeted at someone else in order to strike at me indirectly. The problem is that I can't think of anyone like that that I might have offended directly. There are way too many possibilities I may have offended indirectly, though, and I'm pretty sure I don't know all the Awakened powers in Nerima. You've been Awakened longer than I have, would it be possible for you to make a list and provide capsule backgrounds of the Neriman Awakened you know? Perhaps something will jog a memory."

Nodoka nodded, face stiff with worry. "Certainly, Nabiki, I will be happy to help. Is there anything else unusual that's been happening lately that might hint at who it might be?"

Nabiki started to shake her head, then paused. "Actually ... maybe. Shortly after Ranma first showed up in my summoning circle an imp — or maybe imps, they're hard to tell apart at a distance — started following me around. It tries to stay hidden and never gets close enough to be listening to my conversations, so I pretend I don't know it's there. I'm not sure it has anything to do with the attack, it started following me weeks before, but that's the only other odd thing to happen lately."

"Hmmm, you could be right, but it is odd," Nodoka agreed. "When I make the list I'll note which ones are suspected of trafficking with demons. I wouldn't advise ignoring the rest of the list, but the summoners probably include your attacker.

"You know," she added, shooting Nabiki a searching look, "I didn't realize I'd heard about you already until after your first visit, but before I met you I would have included your own name as one of those demon summoners."

Nabiki froze for a long moment, mind racing. Oh, crap! What do I say? She frantically scrolled through a list of stories and excuses, until she firmly brought her panic to heel. This is Ranma's mother, anything you tell her has a high chance of getting back to him. Play it straight. Forcing herself to relax, she shrugged. "You would have been right to do so," she admitted calmly, "though only imps and never to do anything but spy. But that all stopped once I got to know Ranma — he doesn't approve, and that's good enough for me."

Nodoka continued to gaze at Nabiki. Finally, she said, "Good enough. I'll make the list and have it ready by your weekend visit. You said you had at least two problems even before Kasumi's visit to Dr. Tofu, so what's the next problem?"

Buying time to order her thoughts, Nabiki picked up her tea cup, then grimaced slightly when she found it had cooled. Putting it down, she sighed, eyes on the tabletop. "Nodoka, the last problem ... I ... I haven't been completely forthcoming with you, when it comes to what kind of nature spirit Ranma is. Ranma is ... is a succubus." Nodoka stiffened, and Nabiki, catching it out of the corner of her eye, looked up. "You recognize the type?" she asked.

Nodoka nodded, fighting through her shock. "Yes, I once rescued one that had been enslaved." Suddenly, she started chuckling even as she went a little green. "No wonder you reacted so strongly when I apologized for not being able to supply whatever Ranma needed to feed on!"

Nabiki laughed again at the memory even as Kasumi flinched, then sobered. "After the first meeting I found out that Ranma isn't the only empath around — so am I, now. And there's a serious problem with Ranma." She paused again while the others waited patiently, then finally continued, "While I have no problem with taking Ranma to bed as a human man, we haven't yet — I have no birth control, have no intention of risking blackmail or having my reputation ruined by acquiring any, won't risk needing an abortion, and when Ranma and the Panda arrived I was at the most fertile point in my cycle. So I told Ranma we'd have to wait a few weeks."

She paused, watching Nodoka while ignoring Kasumi's stiff-faced disapproval, but Nodoka simply waited, face noncommittal. Finally shrugging slightly, Nabiki continued, "Well, two weeks will be up this weekend, and I'm scared that when the time comes Ranma will be unable to perform. And when that happens he is going to be devastated — he's managed to avoid a lot of the crap Genma's pushed on him, but for some reason the need to be 'a man' hasn't. His definition of what it means to be a man doesn't quite match his father's, but it does include sex."

"How do you know this?" Nodoka asked when Nabiki paused.

"Just because we haven't slept together while he's human doesn't mean we haven't had sex. I insisted shortly before he arrived, when I realized she was starving. But it was all I could do to talk her into it, she was afraid she'd like it too much as a girl. And when we do it's all her on me, she won't let me touch her; and she calls it 'feeding'."

Nodoka nodded thoughtfully, she and Nabiki ignoring Kasumi's uncomfortable squirming. "That makes sense," the older woman mused, "but how do you know that my son will have trouble performing?"

"Because of my new empathic abilities — I first noticed it right after our first meeting," Nabiki explained. "Since then, I've noticed that, while I get at least a mildly lustful once-over from practically every teenage boy I meet, I don't get anything like that from Ranma at all. Happiness, anger, frustration, contentment ... love ... yes, but not a hint of lust. At first, I thought he might be gay when human, but it's not that, either — he pays no more attention to other guys, sexually at least, than he does to me. I've tried dressing more provocatively, to the point that I'm ruining my reputation, but nothing. Or rather, something from all the guys but the one I want."

Nabiki paused in thought for a moment. "I suspect it's because of how Ranma's an empath when a succubus, I think he's now missing some emotional signal as a human that he's — she's ... missing as a succubus, and when he realizes that he will never be able to perform as a guy he'll take it badly."

"Why haven't you simply gotten Ranma to change into his male form while a succubus? I'd think that would solve his problem right now, instead of waiting," Nodoka said absentmindedly, thinking over what she'd just heard.

Nabiki stared, stunned. "Male form? What male form?" she asked.

Nodoka focused on Nabiki, confused, then suddenly laughed. "Of course, you wouldn't know. You've been basing what you know on the books I loaned you, correct?"

"Yes, especially An Introduction to the Nature Spirits of Europe," Nabiki agreed.

Nodoka shook her head ruefully. "I'm afraid that one has some gaps and misapprehensions. Especially, it assumes that succubae are naturally female."

"They aren't?" the Tendo sisters chorused.

"No, they aren't," Nodoka replied. "I had a long talk with the succubus I rescued and I learned that while they are born female, they are actually asexual — they don't have a single sex, but take on whichever form the person they're feeding off of is most attracted to. That's when they actually feed through physical stimulation rather than dream-feeding that is, have you and Ranma tried that?"

"Twice — the first two times, actually, when we didn't realize what was going on," Nabiki admitted. "But we haven't since I figured it out. Ranma's been afraid of losing control like he did the first time and hurting me somehow, so we've been sticking to actual physical, if one-sided, sex. A male form ... yes, that would solve this little problem. But what if he can't change? All the succubus abilities he's manifested so far have happened through instinct and circumstance."

"Oh, that won't be a problem in the long run," Nodoka said offhandedly. "Turning male is part of the succubus mating process, if nothing else my son will learn then. But Ranma may not take waiting that long well, especially when he learns that he has to have sex with a man first — has he shown any attraction to men while a succubus?"

"I ... no, not that I've noticed, great, another problem to worry about ... Nodoka, you're taking this incredibly well," Nabiki said, a questioning lilt to her voice.

"Nodoka smiled. "Oh, if this had happened when Ranma left on the training trip, I would have been horrified. But now ... now I'm just happy to finally have my son back in my life. So long as he is truly honorable, I'll take him as he comes — curse and all. Besides," she continued with a slight wistful smile, "he'll still be able to sire children to pass the family legacy on to, even if they won't necessarily be human."

She gazed off into empty space for a time, then focused on the two stunned girls and chuckled. "Still, that won't help us here and now if Ranma can't learn the trick of changing his ... her, I suppose ... shape. I assume you've been thinking about this already, Nabiki, do you have any ideas?"

Shaking herself out of her shock, Nabiki nodded. "Yes, I do. If Ranma can't change into a male succubus —"

"Incubus," Nodoka broke in.

Nabiki nodded at the correction. "— incubus," she continued, "he'll need support, people he cares about telling him that it doesn't matter. I can't really, he knows I'm bisexual. Kasumi can't, she doesn't really approve of me and Ranma getting physical and I think Ranma's picked up on that when she's a nature spirit." Ignoring Kasumi's wincing blush and the shame that accompanied it, Nabiki finished, "That leaves you. I think it's time for you to come visit us and get an explanation from your ex-husband, and coincidentally be on hand if Ranma can't perform and doesn't take it well. Do you think you can keep from killing Genma?"

Nodoka's eyes lit up, and Nabiki had to laugh as the older woman practically glowed with a mix of eagerness, love, worry, anger and satisfaction. "That sounds like an excellent suggestion," the auburn-haired woman gushed. "Yes, I think I can control myself in the Panda's presence, at least that much. When should I visit?"

Nabiki forced her laughter down to chuckles as Kasumi smiled at Nodoka's enthusiasm. "I was thinking Saturday morning ..."

/\

Invisible to the woman and two girls she had been spying on, Mara slowly floated out of the room, frowning thoughtfully even as she carefully maintained her obscuration field. I'm glad I was able to pay closer attention to this when Gorash suggested it, she thought gleefully as she slipped out of the house. There may actually be an opportunity, here...