Chapter 3: Titles are hard..
By the time she got to the front step, Akane had collected her thoughts… mostly. What she'd heard Genma say seemed incredible, but then she'd been kidnapped by a prince searching for his bride, turned into a doll, and almost eaten… multiple times, so she supposed thinking anything was impossible was kind of short sighted.
Pushing open the front door she called "I'm home!" before shucking her school shoes for house slippers. She recognized two of the voices that responded to her as Kasumi and her father, but the third was new. Turning at the end of the hall into the living room, she took in the situation. Nabiki was leaning against a wall, obviously unwilling to act until she had more information. For a moment Akane had to suppress a grin at knowing more than her nosy older sister. Kasumi, her father and elder Cologne sat around the low table with three newcomers.
"So, that's Mrs. Saotome," the blue-black haired girl found herself saying, gesturing to an auburn haired girl who sat next to Kasumi, wearing a somewhat baggy set of track clothes and looking only a year or two older than herself. "Where's the illegitimate child?"
"Akane!" She flinched. Kasumi very rarely snapped at her. Maybe she wasn't quite as recovered from what Mr. Saotome had said as she thought. Still, the question had gotten results, as a younger girl who looked a lot like Akane herself, but with lighter hair, raised her hand slightly.
The youngest Tendo winced, stepping around the table to where the girl sat with an older woman. "Um, I'm sorry about saying it that way." She bowed. "I think I've been hanging around the idiot too long. I'm Akane Tendo."
"Ranma's the idiot," Nabiki clarified from her place against the wall, though from years of experience, Akane could tell she was curious.
"It's all right," the girl replied. "It is technically accurate. My name is Ami Mizuno; it's nice to meet you."
Akane was slightly taken aback at the easy acceptance of what many would take as an insult, and just smiled while trying to think of something to say. She heard a soft thud from the area of the ceiling, noticing her father, Cologne and Nodoka tilt their heads at the sound. "So… why is there a bunch of car parts scattered in the street out front?" she quickly asked. This had the desired effect, as her father and Nodoka turned their heads towards her, and Cologne shifted slightly, almost as though she were embarrassed. Nabiki leaned in a bit, though the strangest reaction was the older woman next to Ami, who glanced out the side door and winced.
HR.
"What took you so long, boy?" Genma demanded as Ranma dropped down behind the dojo.
"I woulda been here faster if you hadn't decided to go hide," Ranma replied, dropping a bulging backpack on the ground.
The balding man harumphed. "If you couldn't find me, it means your stealth and detection obviously need more work."
"Yeah, yeah." Ranma shrugged. "I brought the backpack, and I could just call everyone out here, y'know."
Genma glared for a moment, before hefting the bag and letting out a slight surprised breath. "This is… a lot heavier than I was expecting."
"I figured I'd better give ya my supplies or I might find a bunch more engagements when you got back," the pigtailed boy explained, crossing his arms. The lopsided grin belied his attempt at humor.
"And I have a new daughter to pawn off…" Genma muttered, with a lopsided grin of his own.
Ranma twitched. "Just get the hell outta here before I change my mind."
The older man nodded, slipping the backpack over his shoulders and settling it into a comfortable position. As he turned towards the back wall, Ranma spoke again. "You'd better not take ten years this time, or I'm draggin' you home by the fur." Genma didn't respond, only vaulting over the wall and disappearing into the streets. Turning, Ranma headed back for the house.
As he approached the porch, he began hearing snatches of conversation. "It was really brave," Ami's mother was saying. "She challenged three men almost as tall as Mr. Tendo in order to protect me."
"And got beaten to a pulp," his mother's voice came to him.
"I thought you would mention the stab wound rather than the bruises," Mrs. Mizuno replied. "That's what kept you at my parents' house recovering for two months."
He stopped just outside of the doors, looking in to see his mother in a much better mood than she'd been in when he left, though she looked slightly embarrassed as Mrs. Mizuno chuckled at her. "You should have heard her," the older woman continued. "She kept saying that a martial artist must protect others' and insisting that she could walk it off in a couple of days."
"Ta be fair, I've gotten out of a body cast in less than a week before," he chimed in as he stepped into the room.
Mrs. Mizuno raised an eyebrow. "Clearly you had some over-zealous doctors."
"Actually, he'd broken both collar bones, his right ulna, his pelvis and left leg in three places, along with several severe contusions, incomplete fractures, and torn muscles," Kasumi chipped in. "The girls were rather peeved at him that time."
Ranma winced. Why the hell had he brought that up? Akane was giving him a dark look.
"And you healed from that in less than a week?" Ami asked, her fingers making a curious tapping gesture against the tabletop.
"Well, I could walk on 'em by then," Ranma replied evasively. Seeing that Akane was still glaring at him a little, he decided a change of subject was in order. "So what happened after that?" He asked. "Y'know, with mom and the thugs and all."
Nodoka shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I kept insisting I was you, and locked, and a much better fighter than I am…so she thought I was insane." She tilted her head for a moment. "Well, I suppose I was."
"But she went to China with you; how did you convince her of that?" Ami asked, curious.
"Well, I decided that the easiest way was to show her something supernatural," Nodoka explained, her accent seeming to get a little courser as she remembered. "I didn't know about much of the supernatural stuff Ranma had run into, so I only talked about it vaguely, but I had met that Kagane girl Gos was dating last Tanabata, and heard her story…" She trailed off.
"We ended up sneaking into Furinkan high one friday night," Mrs. Mizuno continued. "No-chan walked down the halls calling for this Kagane person, and I was just hoping that when this didn't work she'd accept the fact that she had a mental problem… but then the ghost showed up."
"Aw, crap…" Ranma rubbed his forehead. "This was from before we pacified her, wasn't it?"
Nodoka nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. "She chased us around the school with floating chairs and pencil spears all night until we smashed out the gym window to escape."
Mrs. Mizuno nodded, rubbing at the back of her neck as though remembering an old wound. "She'd known the ghost was there, and even known its name, the fact that it wasn't at rest even explained the time travel thing, so I started to believe."
"Y'know a ghost like Kagane could probably be faked," Nabiki observed.
Mrs. Mizuno shrugged. "I was 17, and almost wanted to believe. It didn't help that No-chan's flirting was actually starting to work, and I… well…"
Ami flushed bright red and hid her face behind her hands. Leaning over, Kasumi patted the younger girl on the back.
"Yes, well…" Nodoka responded, fidgeting slightly before coughing. "Ranma, where is your father?"
'Crap,' Ranma thought, clearing his throat. "The ol' man had to go clear his head for a while," he explained. "He's gone on a bit of a training trip."
"Typical," Nabiki snorted. "Things get weird and the old panda takes off. Not sure he's going to come back this time."
Nodoka opened her mouth but Ranma beat her to it. "He's coming back." The conviction surprised many people in the room, including Nodoka, who'd been about to question it herself. "He didn't want to say nothin' stupid. This is just… a lot to think about, for a lotta people," he explained, lamely.
The room descended into an awkward silence for a moment, before Kasumi spoke up. "Maybe I should get some food for everyone. Auntie," she inclined her head towards Nodoka. "Would you help me?"
"Of course, Kasumi-chan," Nodoka replied, following the taller girl as she exited the room.
HR.
"So," Nodoka said as she and Kasumi entered the kitchen, the small cloth curtain falling into place behind them. "What were you planning on cooking?"
"Since I was going to do it quickly, perhaps a salad?" the eldest Tendo sister suggested. Nodoka nodded, and Kasumi walked over to gather the supplies she needed out of the refrigerator. "I can wash them if you'll cut them."
As the two arranged themselves next to the sink, and Kasumi began passing washed veggies to Nodoka, she watched her carefully out of the corner of her eye. She was cutting the same way she always had, having apparently gotten used to the slightly different way she now moved, though she was also focussing more intently on the task than Kasumi thought was strictly necessary.
The two worked in companionable silence for almost a minute before Nodoka spoke. "Do you think Ranma is right?"
"Hmm?" Kasumi asked, curiously.
"About Genma coming back," Nodoka explained.
"I'm not sure, but Ranma-kun does know his father better than I do," Kasumi offered. "He seemed rather certain."
"Yes... "
"Is there something wrong?" Kasumi asked, the tone of what the auburn haired girl had just said worrying her.
"I was just thinking…" Nodoka started. "I got married to Genma right after high school, and we had Ranma almost immediately. After that, Genma was always wandering, even when Ranma was a baby. It's just occured to me that Ranma knows his father far better than I do. As Seiko pointed out yesterday… I don't really know either of them very well."
"Auntie, I'm sure you can…" Kasumi started, unsure where she was going but knowing that she needed to say something.
"Kasumi, Genma just ran off again, and I…" Nodoka slumped. "For the last day or so, Ranma's been taking care of ME."
"Ranma-kun cares about you very much," Kasumi hurriedly said. "So does Uncle Genma. Both of them were searching for the past week!"
"I know, I just… I know why Genma left. How could he care about me when this happens!" With that, Nodoka shoved her hand under the running tap, her body shifting and growing, the baggy clothing she wore filling out rapidly.
"Oh… oh my," Kasumi gasped, as she looked on what was revealed. Once, several months ago Nabiki had snidely observed that given both Ranma and Herb of the Musk's appearance, Jusenkyo should retitle the spring of drowned girl to that of the drowned supermodel. Looking at Nodoka's male form, she had to admit that the same may be true about the spring of the drowned man.
He was taller than his female form, almost as tall as she was with broad, muscular shoulders and sharp, refined features framed by hair that had changed from auburn to a deep brown. Kasumi just stood with her mouth open for several moments. Thankfully, she wasn't a Saotome so she'd managed to resist her first inclination to tell Nodoka that he looked very handsome. That likely wouldn't help at all. Of course, she did have to say something, as the steadily growing look of apprehension on Nodoka's face indicated. Scrambling through her memories of the conversation to try to regain her train of thought, she offered, "Well… uncle Genma has a curse too, you… um… don't have to be attracted to him as a panda in order to love him…"
"It's slightly more complicated than that," Nodoka replied, "But thank you for trying to help, Kasumi-chan."
"Uh… no problem," Kasumi replied, uncertain of why Nodoka seemed to be smiling.
HR.
"I can't believe this," Usagi whined. "We've gone into a completely different district, and you lost it?"
"I told you I wasn't very good at this," Rei grumbled. "I think we might be going the wrong way, too, but the trail in the other direction was a lot fainter and faded quickly."
"Well then, what do we do?" Usagi asked, her hands on her hips.
"We don't really have any other leads to go after," Luna replied. "You could ask around, but we've been walking so long that most of the places Ami would have visited would be closed by now."
"We might just have to give it up for the night," Rei offered. At the others' shocked expressions, she shrugged. "We're far enough out that it's going to be hard to get back before it gets dark, and, like Luna said, we won't be able to ask around until tomorrow anyways. I'd say we go home and start out again tomorrow, leave school on first break if Ami doesn't show up."
"But you're at a different school," Usagi protested.
"That would be what your communicator is for," Luna replied. "I think Rei might be right."
"Yeah…" Usagi sounded reluctant. "Ami, I hope you're all right… wherever you are."
HR.
Ami settled back in the train car, rather thankful that they hadn't had to go home at rush hour, and watched the Furinkan subway station fall away as the train started to move. Her mother sat next to her, and Ranma across from them. The older boy had volunteered to come along when Mr. Tendo had insisted that someone walk them home, as it'd gotten dark. None of them had said much as they walked, though she'd gotten the chance to get a closer look at some of the patched walls on their way to the station, and a surprising amount of the patches looked new. Well, it would have been surprising before, but after the fight she'd seen earlier in the day, it was starting to make a certain amount of sense.
"Um, Mizuno-san, Ami, I'm real sorry about the stuff that happened today," Ranma said, jolting Ami out of her thoughts. "I'd like ta say that sorta thing doesn't happen much, but, to tell the truth, today was pretty mild."
"It gets worse?" Ami's mother asked, worried.
"Well, um, the ol' ghoul isn't usually involved, but that was actually a pretty short fight," Ranma explained. "When me 'n Ryoga go at it, it usually lasts about half an hour and goes a couple blocks."
"Oh…" the older woman replied, faintly, causing Ranma to tug at his pigtail.
"No one gets hurt, usually,"
"Full body cast?" she replied.
Ranma winced. "That only happened a couple times and besides, I'm a martial artist. I can take it."
"Your mother said the same thing," her mother mentioned. "While she was bleeding on my floor."
Ranma winced again. "Yeah, well, when I get my hands on the duck for that little stunt…" Ami noted that his fingers were slightly deforming the metal of the pole he was gripping, and decided she wasn't going to ask about the duck, even though she wanted to. "Look, all I'm sayin' is I know how screwed up Nerima is, and I'm sorry 'bout your car, but it's not all that bad if you're not a martial artist… usually."
"I see…" Ami's mother nodded. "But perhaps you and Nodoka should visit us more often than we visit you."
"Might be a better idea if only Mom comes," Ranma shook his head. "There are a couple guys who want to beat me up… and a couple girls who wanna marry me, and..."
"You should definately come around," the older woman interrupted. "If your friends cause too much trouble we can figure something else out, but you and Ami should have the opportunity to get to know each other."
Ami thought for a moment. It was true that the things she'd seen today were… not normal by any stretch of the imagination, but Ranma seemed like a nice enough person, even if thinking about her father made something inside of her head want to snap. "Yes, it would be good to get to know you and… Nodoka-san," she eventually replied with a firm nod.
Ranma tried to hide it, at least she thought that's what his facial contortions were supposed to be, but he looked relieved. Had he brought up the situation entirely to see if they were frightened of the strangeness? Well, it was a legitimate concern, she supposed, and she wondered if she would have taken it as well as she had if she hadn't been a senshi. No, she eventually decided, in that case she'd probably be huddled in a fetal position right now jibbering about the laws of physics.
HR.
"Still wasting time on that, I see." Nephrite tried to ignore the annoying voice as he concentrated on his calculations and the starmap that surrounded him. "I don't see why you're so set on it; Jadeite's just going to ignore anything you find for his own schemes, and the queen won't let you out until his inevitable failure." His concentration slipped, and the construct around him collapsed.
Rising to his feet, he turned to glare at the blonde haired figure that stood in the doorway. "Do you want something, Zoisite?" he demanded.
"I just wanted to see what you were futilely wasting your time on, that's all," the other general replied.
"You aren't going to leave me alone unless I tell you, are you?" Nephrite growled.
"That's the general idea, yes," Zoisite confirmed.
"A strangely powerful human has entered the target area," the darker haired general replied. "I was trying to track them in hopes that I could get permission to seize their energy, or at the least point Jadeite at them."
"You wouldn't be angry if Jadeite took your glory?" Zoisite asked. "You never were all that upwardly mobile, were you?"
"I am simply attempting to fulfill our queen's wishes, as are you," Nephrite replied. "Besides, unless you plan to destroy the queen and ascend to her throne, there isn't much up left."
Zoisite snorted. "Such a small mind. Oh well, have fun with your little plan."
"Little pest…" Nephrite muttered, as the door closed behind the departing woman.
HR.
"Where have you been?!" Ami rocked back on her feet as Usagi confronted her during morning break.
"Mom called me in sick," the blue haired girl replied, somewhat nervous at the blonde's intent stare.
"And you didn't answer your communicator because…" Usagi was tapping her foot now, and as Ami watched, Luna appeared in the window giving her an accusatory glare.
She sighed. She hadn't taken her communicator for what to her seemed like a very good reason… until the fact that the other senshi could need her to defeat a Youma finally got past her sense of information overload, which had been mid-evening, sitting in the Tendo living room and making small talk with a girl who looked disturbingly like herself a few years in the future. "I was worried someone might hear it if it went off," She explained. "There were a lot of people around."
Usagi frowned. She recognized dodging around the truth when she heard it, as she was far better at it than Ami could hope to be, and she still sort of sucked at it. Of course, she also knew her mother's counter, and it helped that she had been genuinely worried. "We went to your apartment yesterday," she explained. "We know you weren't there, and Rei found this weird dark energy thing so we thought you'd been kidnapped! We spent hours searching for you after school!"
"Oh, um…" Ami looked down and scuffed her feet. "Can we talk about this later?"
"It is rather important," Ami blinked, surprised that Luna would speak to them when they were in school, even if they were at the end of a hall with no one else around. "If the dark kingdom had gotten to you while you didn't have your communicator…"
the blue haired girl slumped. "I'm sorry, I really am, it's just something big came up and I wasn't thinking."
"And what would be so important that you would forget about your responsibilities as a senshi?" Luna asked, giving her a look that clearly communicated her thought that she was supposed to be the responsible one.
"Well, um… I met my father yesterday," Ami decided that she should probably stick to the basics. "And found out I've got an older half brother. Things are rather complicated right now."
"You've got an older brother?" Usagi asked, her mood shifting from reproving to excited in half a second. "Is he nice? Is your older brother cute? Can I meet him? I bet someone from your family would be able to do all my homework for me if I dated him!"
"I noticed she completely missed the fact that your father came back as well," Luna chipped in. "I do understand more why you would forget about your communicator now, but you must be more careful in the future, and there may be a problem."
"A problem?" Ami asked, as Usagi danced around in the background in one of her fantasies about boys.
"Rei DID report an unusual trace outside of your apartment building last night, and she did sense dark energy in it."
Ami thought for a moment and then pulled the Mercury Computer out of its pocket. "I didn't detect anything, but Rei's abilities as a miko may make her capable of finding things the computer didn't… Still, they really didn't seem like they were from the Dark Kingdom or anything."
"Maybe so," Luna said, "But it is slightly suspicious that this happened so shortly after you've become a Sailor Senshi. Perhaps we should get Rei to meet your new family."
Ami laughed nervously. "That… might not be the best idea."
"Why?" Usagi said, having apparently returned from her daydream.
"Well, um, my father and brother are…" She looked for something to say that was true, but didn't sound insulting, or interesting enough to grab Usagi's curiosity. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by the bell that ended break.
"We'll decide when to come over later, okay?" Usagi chirped, before turning towards class. Ami looked to Luna, but she'd already gone searching for an exit.
"This isn't going to end well, is it?" she asked, rhetorically.
END.
"Rei DID report an unusual trace outside of your apartment building last night, and she did sense dark energy in it."
Theoretical Ami: So what, Rei's a bloodhound now?
Jonakhensu: Damn it Ami, learn how to snark!
Weebee: Yes readers, we MST our own chapters far too often.
Jonakhensu: … while we write them.
Yes, Zoisite is female, which means we're swiping bits from the dub. We're also considering a few plot points from the manga. Personally, Weebee is happy about this due to finding her insanity much more interesting than the 'how-many-stereotypes-can-I-put-in flat character that he originally was. Still, this decision was made the way we make many of our decisions, using a d6 and the maxim that Osaka is odd, so really, randomness is to blame, not us.
Jonakhensu: SWIPER NO SWIPING! SWIPER NO SWIPING!
Weebee: Now the notes? And seriously, Dora the explorer?
We're sorry folks, we don't know what was in the water this week, but we want more of it. and Jonak has just informed Weebee that it's the beer… DAMNED INABILITY TO DRINK ALCOHOL! DAMN IT TO HELL!
...okay, we're done. Sorry for how long these notes got.