Innocence of Mine Chapter 8 Make Me What I Am, a ranma fanfic

Innocence of Mine

By Douglas Helm and "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl

Those characters that are original and the story "Innocence of Mine" are copyrighted ©2006 ShoujoFiction .com by Douglas Helm and Will Wolfshohl. Ranma ½ characters are copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi.

This story and our many other stories reside at our Shoujo Fiction dot com domain. Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Chapter 8 - Make Me What I Am

Kasumi Saotome padded towards the dojo wearing a small frown on her face. She had sent Akane out to retrieve Happosai and Nabiki. That had been several minutes ago. Now she was headed to the dojo to lasso the three tardy martial artists. Upon reaching the dojo, she was puzzled to find only the old panty thief and her youngest daughter inside. "Ne, have you seen Akane?"

"Iie," Nabiki replied. "Why Mommy?"

"I sent her out to get you two for supper. I thought she'd come here."

"Oh happy day..." Happosai remarked. "Where should I sit, Kasumi-chan?"

"At the table, of course, Happosai-ojiisan. I had my 'student' prepare your meal."

'Lucky!' Na-chan thought.

"Student?" the old man questioned.

"Hai. Akane," Kasumi answered with a grin. "Can you excuse us, Ojii-san? I'd like to talk with Nabiki privately." Head drooping, Happosai shuffled from the dojo wondering if he would be best advised to go on a long journey.

'Onee-chan, what's wrong with Ojii-sama? Dunno...' was the best answer for her little friend. At least, this younger version of her sister produced edible if not tasty entrées. She couldn't say that about her sixteen year old sister's disastrous concoctions.

Kasumi waited for Happosai to fully exit the area before she knelt down in front of her daughter. She had been meaning to do this for a while. Nabiki for her part was looking slightly worried. "How are you finding training, Nabiki?"

"It's okay I guess, Mommy... Onee-chan thinks I should do it though."

"Well, your onee is proud of you for doing it."

"Hai! Nabiki-oneechan too," Na-chan amended.

"Oh my," the mother considered. Remembering Dr. Tofu's comments about this girl guiding her daughter being a benevolent spirit, she broached the subject, "Is Nabiki-oneechan being nice to you, Musume? I remember you saying she thought you should be spanked."

'Ne?' Na-chan asked the older girl.

'Gomen, Na-chan. I still think you need one when you whine,' Nabiki offered.

Na-chan pouted and repeated to her mother, "She thinks I whine too much, Mommy." The eight year old scowled as her mother laughed softly then covered her mouth. "It ain't funny!"

"Well... Maybe your onee-chan has a point."

Nabiki pouted even more. 'It ain't funny!' the little girl complained to her older companion. Both however felt warmth spread through them as Kasumi hugged them close.

"Na-chan, did your onee-chan help you with math too?" Nabiki nodded. Satisfied with Dr. Tofu's assessment, Kasumi stood and declared, "Well come along then, GIRLS. Then let's go find Akane so we can go eat."

"Hai! I'm hungry!" 'Me too!'

# # # # #

Meanwhile, while her mother and sister were conversing in the dojo, Akane Saotome was sneaking into Happosai's room. She had a large handkerchief covering her head and tied under her cute button nose. Her long hair was tucked underneath. She had copied the style from what Happosai wore before one of his nocturnal forays around Nerima.

The eldest Saotome daughter tiptoed down the hall. She only paused to inch the sliding door open wide enough to allow her access. She knew her parents wouldn't like this but she had to discover why Nabiki was so anxious about a mirror. Sliding the door closed, Akane crept cross the room for a moment wondering where the old man would put a mirror. She frowned slightly. The only thing she noticed out of place was his gunnysack of pilfered lingerie.

The nine year old wasted some time by ignoring the obvious places. Instead, she searched for hidden spaces around the floorboard and walls before poking her head into the closet.

"Kami-sama, it can't be that easy," Akane muttered to herself.

"Akane?" called the voice of Kasumi from some distance away, "We found Nabiki! Come to supper, sweetheart!"

'Mommy! I better hurry!' Alarmed, Akane scampered over to the gunnysack and dug into the soft pile within. 'Why does Ojii-sama like this stuff so much?' Her father turned red when she asked him about it once. He told her to ask her mother. After some muttered curses, which would have caused her mouth to be washed out, the fourth-grader's hand contacted something hard.

Excitedly, she yanked it out. The girl found herself staring into an old and rather tarnished looking mirror. 'I don't see what's so special about this thing...' She squinted at the etching around the rim of the mirror. One section of text was worn and completely indecipherable.

'Maybe you rub it like Aladdin's lamp,' Akane thought and rubbed the mirror with her hand without effect. Frowning, she squinted at the writing she could make out puzzling over it for a few moments. 'An incantation?' Great-Grandma Cologne had told her of such things.

A sharp noise, much like a crack of thunder, made the little girl drop the mirror back into the pile. She picked it up again and held close while staring at the door and pondering. 'Kami-sama, I'm not cut out for this!' This was a no win situation. If she were caught, she'd have to explain why she was in Happosai's room without permission. The ancient master might sometimes be on her mother's bad list but violating his privacy wouldn't be tolerated. Her mother was sure to tell Happosai and her father. She was very sure that she didn't want either of them knowing she was going through the old man's private stash. Moreover, she was already on probation for her earlier mischief. So she couldn't plead for clemency.

'I'll just put this back... But what if Nabiki does get it? Even Ojii-sama can't resist her forever if Na-chan puts her mind to it.' Grownups tended to cave into her little sister eventually. 'Are her pigtails magic?' She never had that kind of luck getting her way. Maybe she ought to wear pigtails as Nabiki had suggested more than once. 'Iie...' Her friends at school would tease her for sure. 'What about this baka thing?' After another moment, the young girl came to a decision.

# # # # #

"Minna, gomen, but I don't know where Akane has gotten to," Kasumi announced to her family as she came into the living room. "Do you think she went..."

"I'm right here, Mommy," Akane's voice piped up from behind Kasumi. She spun around to see her daughter grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Where were you?" Kasumi asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Bathroom," Akane fibbed.

"Honto? All this time?"

Akane shrugged and sat down at the low table beside her sister. "Like father, like daughter." Further comment was cut short by Kasumi clearing her throat. "Ne, gomen nasai. When I got to the dojo, it was empty." The nine year old bowed to her mother before turning and asking her sister, "How was training, Na-chan?"

"O-tag," Nabiki answered around a mouthful of ramen.

"That reminds me... You should show Happosai your baton twirling, Nabiki-chan," their father interjected. "I think he'd like that."

"Indeed. And why would that be, Ranma?" Happosai asked. He had a suspicious look on his face.

"Oh... It's just that she's got a hidden weapons technique that I ain't figured out." The old man raised an eyebrow. "Mousse claims he hasn't been training her in secret."

"Get that out of your heads for tonight, boys. Na-chan is going to be a little girl tonight," Kasumi declared. "I think a little playing, a bath, and then straight to bed."

"But I'm not tired, Mommy!" Na-chan whined.

Kasumi tilted her head, gave a little smile, and then relented. "All right... You did sleep most of the afternoon, Nabiki-chan." The eight year old nodded. "I'll allow you to stay up as late as Akane tonight."

"Honto?" Na-chan squeaked, eyes going wide. A half-hour extra was nothing to sneeze at and maybe if she was good, Mommy could make it permanent.

"Playing, that would be good," Happosai agreed. "I'm taking Soun and Genma out tonight for um... a little training excursion." 'And a decent meal...' Both fathers groaned.

"Sugoi!" Akane exclaimed. 'I can show Na-chan the mirror and then get it back before Ojii-sama even notices.' The rest of supper passed pleasantly enough and Kasumi sent both her daughters off to play in their room for a little while before bath time.

"Come on, Imouto," Akane said while grabbing her sister's hand, "I've got something to show you!"

# # # # #

'Onee-chan's sure acting weird,' Nabiki Saotome commented to the teenager beside her in the sun-drenched expanse of the meadow. A pair of bunnies (Miko-chan and Niko-chan) were frolicking unnoticed in the distance.

'Hai! You're right,' Nabiki Tendo agreed as the duo watched Akane peek cautiously around her bedroom door as if she were worried about being watched before closing it. 'Akane's up to something.'

'Akane-oneechan said she gots a surprise.'

"Close your eyes, Na-chan," her sister insisted. Wanting to play along, the pigtailed little girl complied. "And NO peeking!" Giggling, she covered her closed eyes with both her hands.

"Hai!" 'Is it a surprise? I think so. Nani? What is it? I think it will be good. Our onee-chan is the bestest. HAI!'

"Okay," Akane announced, "You can open them now!"

Little Nabiki did so, lowering her hands and opening her eyes. She frowned slightly when she saw that Akane was standing in front of her holding her hands behind her back. "Whatcha got, Onee-chan?"

"THIS!" the nine year old replied and brandished the hidden object with a flourish. Both Nabikis stared.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Happosai-sensei," Akane said, "But I gotta give it back to him soon."

'Kami-sama! That's the mirror!' "Arigato! Can I see?" Na-chan asked, holding out her hand towards the mirror.

"You might break it," Akane remarked but moved around to stand beside her sister to hold the mirror up. "See?" The older girl was puzzled when her sister's jaw dropped open and she simply stared at the mirror. "Nani?"

'Pretty!' Na-chan declared to the older Nabiki. The reflection was that of her seventeen year old self. 'I'll look like you when I'm older, ne? Of course, silly, I already told you that. But you're super kawaii now.' Na-chan giggled. She then blinked in surprise. 'You know, Onee-chan? Hmm? You don't look as old as in the mirror. Honto? Hai.' Now that the little girl really thought about it, the invisible Nabiki looked about the same age as Naomi's older sister Rei, or a little older. Thirteen? The teen's curves were less pronounced and her hair seemed longer than when they first "met". It was certainly not the nearly grownup image that the mirror was showing them. Nabiki Tendo shrugged. She wrote it off to Na-chan's imagination.

"What's so funny?" Akane asked, staring intently at the mirror but not seeing anything unusual although there was something strange about her image that she couldn't quite place. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. The image was a bit fuzzy. 'Maybe the glass is dirty.' After all, it was old, even older than her parents were. She was glad she was here to protect Nabiki just in case it was dangerous.

Before the nine year old could analyze the odd feeling, her little sister asked, "What's it say around the outside, Onee-chan?"

"Hmm?" Akane noised, looking around the rim. She frowned at the odd characters - most of it was either worn away or indecipherable.

A loud thud outside made both children start. Scampering to her bedroom door, Akane opened it and peered out. She saw her father standing there.

"I hope I didn't scare you, girls," Ranma called to his daughters. "Gomen, I dropped this box." He grinned. "So, whatcha up to?"

"Nothing, Daddy!" Akane replied. She hid the mirror behind her back and mentally crossed her fingers. Her father just grinned.

"Well, whatever it is, don't let your mom catch you," the pigtailed martial arts master commented as he hefted the box. He gave his daughters a wink then started walking down the hall again.

"Shu..." Akane breathed as she closed the door and leaned against it, "That was close."

"Nani?"

"I'm gonna put this back," Akane decided, 'Before Mommy catches me.' This thing was giving her the creeps. No way that she would let Nabiki play with it alone.

"Ne, ne, Akane-oneechan, what does it say?" Nabiki asked, eyes looking pleadingly up at her sister. "Pleeeeeeease?" The nine year old shook her head.

"I'm gotta put it back," Akane remarked.

"Pwease?" Nabiki asked. Her hands were placed together under her chin and tears misting her eyes. Akane struggled for a moment and then grinning, she moved back to sit on the bed.

"How do you do that, Na-chan?" she asked the little girl.

"Nani?"

"Nothing."

Nabiki stared with interest at the reflection of herself. She still looked much older. She hugged Akane then and felt very happy. "Onee-chan, you're the bestest."

"Arigato, Nabiki. I love you too." Akane smiled as the younger girl hugged her. 'I was being silly,' she decided as they sat looking at the mirror. 'It's just some old mirror Ojii-sama found.'

"What's it say, 'Nee-chan?"

Sighing, the nine year old frowned at the writing on the edge of the tarnished mirror. As far as she could tell, it wasn't in Hiragana, Katakana, nor Kanji. "It says... um... um..."

"Well?" Nabiki demanded when several seconds of silence had passed.

"Gomen," Akane admitted, "It's not written in anything I know, Imouto."

"Sure, it is," Nabiki Tendo chimed in, "See... This part here looks like English." Akane squinted to where the small finger was pointing. "Ne?"

"Oh yeah... You like looking at yourself or something?"

"It makes me look bigger," she giggled.

"Bigger, ne?" Akane stared down at her own reflection in the mirror. It wasn't a magnifying mirror like their mother used for makeup. "You watch too much anime, Nabiki."

"But it does!"

"Maybe a monkey..." She grinned as Nabiki scowled at her. "It doesn't show me being bigger. I look like me in it."

Nabiki whined. Akane would have refused but her sister was regarding her with large, pleading puppy-dog eyes. 'Kami-sama...' Akane sighed to herself, 'I risked my hide getting this thing... It seems okay... Might as well let her see it for a little bit... Maybe she'll quit asking what it says. And then, I can put it back before Ojii-sama finds out.'

"Onee-chan, what does it say?"

'Guess not.' "Imouto, do you want to look or know what it says?"

"Both!" Akane rolled her eyes. "Pwease?" Nabiki pleaded. Her eyes were wide and innocent.

'Oh, you're good!' Nabiki Tendo complimented as her sister handed over the mirror. The little girl beside her smiled. 'I should try that more often.'

"I do so look bigger," Na-chan insisted while carefully examining the mirror. She squinted at the writing around the edge. "Onee-chan, please read it for me."

"Come on, Nabiki. I told you I couldn't. Maybe we can ask Cologne-obaasama tomorrow," Akane grumbled hoping to placate her sister. "Now, hurry up and look. Then I need to get that back."

"Iie, I was just asking, NABIKI-oneechan," Na-chan remarked which made the older girl roll her eyes incredulously. "I was!"

"I thought I was your onee!"

"You are..."

'Nabiki-oneechan. Right.' "Here, give me that thing so I can read it." After the briefest of pauses, the petite eight year old handed the mirror back. Akane lifted it up, cleared her throat, and opened her mouth. Only silence emerged. 'I got to tell her something or I'll never hear the end of it.'

"Well?"

"Hold on, Nabiki. I'm thinking."

'Hmmm...' the teenaged noised while squinting at the mirror. 'It looks like English.' "'Nee-chan says it looks like English."

'It does?' "I know that!"

'Na-chan, let me handle this,' Nabiki Tendo suggested, 'We do want to know what it says, ne?' Na-chan shrugged. She didn't care one way or the other actually. It was important to her teenage counterpart so she allowed her to take over control.

"Um..." Akane began.

"Pra..." 'Iie.' "Planto..." the teen in the little girl's body nearly whispered. Akane was concentrating so hard she didn't hear Nabiki, but the voice seemed to sink in on a subconscious level.

"Planto," Akane said after some moments. "Hai, that makes sense... I think and this other one is... Um... Um..."

"Mihi..." the pigtailed youngster muttered.

"Shush a second... Um..." Akane furrowed her brow. "Mihi..."

"Q-Quis...?" 'English is weird, ne?' The teenager nodded to the little girl. 'I think it's Latin though. Nani? Hush, I'm trying to follow this. I did a little bit of this for a contract.' Na-chan stuck her tongue out at her invisible partner and her sister - neither of whom noticed. "Ego... su-sum."

"I got it, Na-chan!" Akane suddenly exclaimed in delight.

"Honto? Sugoi, Onee-chan!"

"Hai! It says 'Planto mihi quis ego sum!'"

# # # # #

"What are the girls doing up there?" Kasumi asked as her husband came into the kitchen.

"Not much... They're in Akane's room playing quietly... for a change, 'Sumi-chan." He smirked as Kasumi chuckled. "I wonder if we can keep them little forever."

"You don't want them to grow up, ne Ran-chan?" Kasumi asked, eyebrow cocked.

Ranma, rubbing the back of his neck, grinned. "Well... I'd let Nabiki grow up but Akane's too headstrong for her own good sometimes. Imagine what she'll be like as a teenager..."

"Well, if you're that worried, you start disciplining them."

"Not me!" Ranma balked at the notion.

"Why not? You're their father?"

"They're girls... Besides, Na-chan is so innocent that..."

"You don't know if Nabi..." The rest of Kasumi's sentence was cut short by an explosion of noise that rattled the house. The couple looked up towards the ceiling and then at each other.

"Ran-chan, was it calling for rain today?" she asked her husband.

Before he could reply, both adults heard a shout of, "RANMA! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BAKA?"

# # # # #

'I didn't know Naomi-chan came over,' Nabiki Tendo mumbled to her younger counterpart. The duo were lying flat on their back, head throbbing, and a rather unpleasant feeling lower down that indicated they had wet themselves.

'That was a really big bang,' Na-chan replied. They both felt woozy. 'What's Onee-chan yelling?' The eight year old pushed herself up to one elbow in time to see Akane rush from the room yelling at the top of her lungs.

While little Nabiki was trying to gather her wits about her, Ranma and Kasumi had come to the bottom of the stairs just in time to see their eldest child descending them at breakneck speed.

"THERE YOU ARE, YOU BAKA!" little Akane yelled and with that launched herself at him. Ranma for his part gave her a distressed look but caught Akane in mid-flight. "LEMME GO, PERVERT!" she shrieked. She was enraged that Ranma was manhandling her in such a fashion that she drove her foot into his groin as hard as she could. Kasumi winced as her husband cringed. He was too surprised to maintain his grip on the wriggling child.

"Young lady..." Kasumi started but Akane had taken up a ready stance and was looking madder than ever. Her Ki was quite visible and pulsing a violently bright red.

"Akane-chan, what on Earth's the matter?" Ranma managed to ask through the pain.

"RANMA NO BAKA!" she howled red with anger. "This is the problem!" The longhaired girl smacked her flat prepubescent chest. "I know it was you who did this!"

"Musume, what..."

Akane's aura flared as her anger increased. Why Ranma wasn't even showing proper fear? "You made me into a little girl!"

"Akane!" Kasumi scolded. "Stop yelling, and tell us what's wrong."

"Kasumi, don't you see what this perverted jackass did to me?" Akane stomped closer and turned toward confused father of two. "I want you to give me back my normal body! NOW!"

Ranma and Kasumi glanced at each other and then towards Nabiki's voice coming from upstairs. "Why are you yelling, Onee-chan?"

The petite child had a worried and anxious look on her face. "What's the matter, Nabiki-chan?" The nine year old paused at that point and stared open-mouthed at the girl at the top of the stairs who looked around five years old.

"I had an accident, Mommy," Nabiki squeaked, turning crimson. She was fighting back tears. "My head hurts too."

"Akane, were you picking on Nabiki?" Kasumi and Ranma both demanded.

"I WAS NOT, YOU FRIGGING MORONS!" Akane yelled.

"Akane swore, Mommy!"

"I know, Nabiki-chan. She said something very naughty."

"Nabiki," Akane mouthed as recognition struck her. An image of her older sister that she hadn't seen (except in old photographs) since she was in preschool. Then turning back to Ranma and Kasumi, she ranted, "What the hell is going on here?"

"That's no way to talk, young lady," Ranma hissed sternly.

"Oh yeah? Listen you jerk..." She tried to pull out a mallet to clobber him but it wasn't there. 'Nani? Where...'

"Akane Saotome, don't you dare..."

"NANI? WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

"A-KA-NE!" the pigtailed martial artist thundered.

"AAAA! It's my baka father and that baka panda then!" Akane shrieked. She turned and tore off upstairs. "They made me this way so I'll have to get married! I'll feed them their balls as soon as I find the mushrooms!"

"I'll go get her," Ranma offered, a dark look coming onto his face. "Kasumi-chan, please look after Na-chan." With that, the pigtailed martial artist fled upstairs chasing his maniacal daughter.

Nabiki by this time had come downstairs looking very worried and still blushing. Kasumi knelt down in front of her. Lifting the youngster up, she started towards the furo. "Ne, Nabiki-chan, we'll get you changed. Can you tell Mommy what happened?"

"Hai," Na-chan remarked.

'Fib!' Nabiki Tendo pleaded.

'Will not! You got me into enough trouble,' Na-chan commented and then to her mother stated, "We were looking at a mirror in Akane's room, Mommy."

"Nani? What mirror, Musume?" Kasumi asked. She slid the door to the outer bath open and stepped inside. While putting Nabiki down, she continued, "You mean the one you have?"

"Iie... The present that Ojii-sama brought me."

"He did? When did he give it to you, Nabiki?"

'Uh oh...' Na-chan remarked to her older self, 'Mommy won't like this.'

'No kidding,' Nabiki Tendo sneered. As she explained what had led up to the latest weirdness, Kasumi undressed her daughter. The entire time her brow furrowed and she took on a disapproving look. The little pigtailed girl's confession was occasionally interrupted by shouting from Akane, or Ranma, or loud crashes, as Akane went in search of what in her mind could only be age-altering mushrooms.

When it was over, the eight year old stood nervously twisting her fingers and shifting from foot to foot. "Well, Nabiki," Kasumi began while standing, "First thing we do is get you into a warm bath and then right to bed!"

"IIE! MOM-MY, YOU SAID I COULD STAY UP!" Nabiki howled.

"Not tonight... Not after you were naughty by playing with something that didn't belong to you." She was starting to wonder if this preteen spirit inside her daughter was benevolent letting her child do that.

"But... but..." Nabiki's eyes filled with tears, "But I wanna..."

"Na-chan," Kasumi said, crouching down and giving her youngest a serious look, "Mommy is not happy with you."

"BUT WHYYYYY?" Na-chan whined. 'For Kami's sake, Na-chan!' Nabiki hissed, 'Just go take our bath! Iie! Why? 'Cause, we didn't do anything wrong!'

The mother took a deep breath and let it out. "You were naughty by playing with something..."

"But Mommy, you said we're supposed to share," Nabiki pointed out earnestly, "'N' I didn't get the mirror. Onee-chan did."

"I'm not discussing this with you, young lady. Please go take your bath."

"Am I going to bed early?"

"Definitely."

"THAT AIN'T FAIR!" the youngster screeched. Kasumi closed her eyes and started counting. 'Na-chan just go. We can stay up late tomorrow or something,' Nabiki Tendo pleaded. 'Iie, we didn't do nothing wrong.'

"Fair or not, Nabiki Saotome, you're going to take your bath and then go straight to bed."

"You're bein' mean, Mommy," the eight year old pouted.

"I'm sorry you feel that way but it's the way things are going to be." Nabiki only crossed her arms. 'I don't believe I'm going to have to say this,' Kasumi thought before adding sternly, "I'm going to count to three and if you're not in that furo, I'll have to spank you for not minding me."

'Quick!' Nabiki shouted, 'Let's go, Na-chan. This isn't something we can win.'

"One."

'It ain't fair, Onee-chan!' Na-chan complained, 'Miko-chan and Niko-chan wouldn't be so mean.'

'Yeah,' Nabiki agreed, 'But they aren't here and we are so MOVE!'

"Two."

'But Akane-oneechan got the mirror. Not us.'

'Do you want our onee to get into more trouble, Na-chan?'

'Iie but...' The eight year old paused as her invisible friend gave out a gusty sigh. 'You said I shouldn't be a wimp.'

'It's completely different!'

"Three," Kasumi said and waited.

Nabiki Saotome looked up at her mother and with her bravest face stated firmly and clearly, "I didn't do nothing, Mommy."

Kasumi was momentarily at a loss. This was not typical behavior for Nabiki. As a last desperate attempt to find an explanation, she asked, "Is Nabiki-oneechan telling you it's not your fault?" The mother of two was startled when the girl gave her a withering look.

"Nabiki-oneechan says I should go take my bath, Mommy."

"And why aren't you listening to your 'onee'?"

"Well..." Nabiki considered, tapping her bottom lip and then said, "See if we take our bath and go to bed early, then that says we did somethin' wrong and that would by fibbing 'cause I wasn't naughty. Fibbing is bad and I don't like to fib 'cause I wanna stay up so if I don't go to bed early, then I wouldn't be naughty and I can stay up."

Kasumi sighed and rubbed her forehead. It took her a few moments to sort through the logic. She realized she was experiencing something that had never happened before - normally shy Nabiki was being defiant. The fact that she was certain now that it was Nabiki's and not her ancestor's doing worried the mother of two a little.

'I'm going to put a stop to this right now!' Kasumi decided firmly while reaching out to pull her daughter closer. "BATH! NOW!" she snapped emphasizing each word with a smack to the youngster's bottom. The eight year old was too surprised even to cry. "MARCH!" she commanded. She landed a third swat that made Nabiki go up on her tiptoes. Head drooping, the little girl shuffled off into the inner bath before starting to cry. The mother of two might have been worried at this point. However, Nabiki was giving her the sort of look that Akane typically did when she thought the world was being exceptionally obstinate to her will.

'Find Akane!' Kasumi thought, 'Then me and Ranma are going to have a serious talk about him disciplining the girls once in a while.' If Nabiki was breaking out of her shell, Kasumi refused to play bad cop to his good cop all the time.

# # # # #

Ranma found his daughter upstairs tearing apart his father-in-law's bedroom. "Akane..."

The nine year old whirled about glaring at him. "Where are they?"

"Happosai and your two ojii-sans? They went out."

"Not those, baka, the mushrooms?"

"Sweetheart, what..." the gender-changing martial artist began but Akane cut him off.

"Don't be nice to me, pervert! Don't be nice to me just because you know I know you did this!"

'Mushrooms?' "I still don't know what you mean, Musume. Did what?" Ranma wondered. 'She's not possessed... Did she get into one of Cologne's potions?'

"DON'T BE BAKA!" Akane shouted. "I'll hunt them down, as soon as I take care of you!" Ranma stared in bewilderment trying to digest that statement, and then suddenly his eldest daughter rushed him. He neatly sidestepped her quite obvious attack making her fly into the hall and slammed into Kasumi who adeptly grabbed her by the ear.

"You come with me, Akane Saotome," Kasumi commanded. "You are taking a bath with your imouto. And then you and I are going to have a very long discussion about taking things that don't belong to you and respecting your elders."

"Don't be..."

"THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!" Kasumi thundered at her eldest. "I've already spanked your imouto. The only choice you have, young lady, is do I spank you now or after your bath?"

"Ow! But Ka..." Akane started to complain as she was led down the hall by the towering figure of Kasumi. The intense scowl made her reconsider saying anything more. Ranma stood silently; he wasn't about to interfere with his wife.

'Na-chan?' Ranma mused, 'Kami-sama, Akane's really in for it if 'Sumi-chan spanked Nabiki!'

# # # # #

Happosai froze. His chopsticks were midway to his mouth. "Master?" Soun asked, a worried expression coming over his face. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure, boys," the old man answered while suspiciously looking about the room. 'What was that?' It felt as if reality itself had shifted. He put the ramen into his mouth. "This is much better than..."

"Akane will get better, Master," Soun interjected. He had tears running down his cheeks. "Her cooking is edible, if not very tasty." Happosai frowned. "Akane is young, Master, and will grow into her skill."

"Indeed. How... How old is Akane?" Happosai questioned.

Soun blinked. Genma did something remarkable and paused in his eating. "Why Akane is nine, Master. They grow up so fast. It seems like only yesterday that Kasumi-chan told us she was preg..."

"And Nabiki is eight, ne?" Happosai countered. Soun nodded.

"Hai, of course... Master, what is it?" Genma asked, nervously looking about once again.

"I don't know, Genma. It might not be anything. I must think on this." He would finish his meal and then head over to speak with Cologne. Soun and Genma exchanged worried looks and then they both went back to their meal, all the time nervously watching Happosai who was brooding ominously.

# # # # #

Nabiki kept some distance from her older sister when they were both in the furo. She was very worried by her sister's odd behavior. One moment Akane had been yelling; the next, the nine year old was awfully subdued.

The pigtailed little girl only protested mildly when she was put to bed at her normal bedtime without her usual story. Na-chan might have protested more but she didn't want a repeat of her earlier punishment.

'What's with Akane?' Nabiki Tendo asked her younger counterpart after they had been tucked into "their" bed, 'She's acting kinda funny. If Mommy spanked her too, she might... Hai but we don't know that happened. Maybe Mommy just scolded her. She's still really mad.'

'She sure is... Did that mirror do something bad?'

'I don't think so... unless...'

'Nani?' The teenager shrugged. Yawning, Nabiki snuggled under the covers, hugged her stuffed Pikachu next to her, and closed her eyes. "'Night, Onee-chan." The little girl mumbled to the older Nabiki.

# # # # #

Akane for her part didn't attempt to protest the fact of such an early bedtime. She just wanted the horrible nightmare to be over with. She convinced herself that it couldn't be real. 'Imagine, Ranma and Kasumi married and my onee a five year old! What a story I'll have for Kasumi and Nabiki in the morning! They'll never believe it!'

"Goodnight, Akane," Kasumi said as she left Akane's bedroom.

"Goodnight," Akane replied, still staring up at the dark ceiling. 'What happened?' she asked herself rhetorically. 'It can't be those baka mushrooms. Dad... Ranma looked like he didn't know what I was talking about. He's too baka to lie that good. Happosai? It has to be. What did that old fart bring into the house?'

As Akane laid there in the darkness, she remembered what had happened while they were bathing.

Kasumi had lifted little Nabiki out of the water and wrapped a large towel about her. "You go find your daddy. He'll put you to bed. I want to have a talk with your onee."

"Hai," Na-chan replied softly and then paused for an instant, "Mommy?" When Kasumi gave her an expectant look, she asked, "Can I have a hug?"

"Hai," the woman answered softly and gave her youngest a large hug, "Now off to bed with you." As soon as little girl was out of the room, the normally demure and patient Kasumi's manner shifted radically.

"How dare you?" Kasumi lectured to her while Akane sat in the tub looking shamefaced. The girl's long hair was wrapped in a towel atop her head. "Akane Saotome, I am your mother!" The nine year old opened her mouth to object that she was her sister, but no sound came out. Her eyes were wide. She stared at the woman as if she had never seen her before. She felt like the child she appeared to be. Kasumi seemed so mature, so intimidating, in comparison. "You did something very wrong. Sneaking around stealing things is very dishonest!"

"Hai..."

"And then you start acting very naughty towards your otou-san, your imouto, and me!"

"Otou-san? Ranma ain't..." Akane trailed off at the mother's glare. "Gomen nasai, Onee... Okaa-san. I didn't mean to."

"'I didn't mean to' won't cover it, young lady. I've already punished your imouto for her part."

"Nabiki's just a little kid. She didn't do anything! It was Ranma who..."

'At least, she wants to protect her imouto.' Kasumi held back her smile of approval and continued, "She isn't as innocent as you think, Akane. And besides, Nabiki's going to bed at her normal time."

'Doesn't sound like much of a punishment,' Akane thought wryly.

"Nabiki was looking forward to staying up with you," the mother scolded. "And then for you to do something that dangerous as invoke a spell that you didn't know what it did...!" Kasumi's nostrils flared and Akane bowed her head to stare at bottom of the furo. "You are going to apologize to Happosai-ojiisan. You are going to apologize to your otou-san."

"Hai." Akane bowed her head.

"And you have been less than honest with me the past couple of days." The girl remained silent. "I won't stand for it, Akane. I don't care what you think are good reasons but I will not tolerate it. Do, you, understand?"

"Hai," came the soft reply. Akane's stomach was twisted into knots. She knew it was her sister but it really did feel like she was her mother.

The newly minted nine year old was pulled back to the present by the thought of her formerly older but now small sister. 'Poor kid! Did Mom-Kasumi really spank her? Nah!' She did feel bad for the kindergartener though, who seemed more vulnerable than Akane had ever remembered her. 'Happosai will pay for this. Nabiki isn't gonna stand being toyed with, and neither will I!'

# # # # #

"Strange... I felt a ripple of Ki as well." Cologne was saying to Happosai, as Shampoo hovered nearby. The younger Amazon warrior became worried about her small friends the instant she heard their names mentioned.

"Nabiki and Akane is okay, ne?" Shampoo asked.

"I think so, Shampoo-chan," Happosai assured the purple-haired teen. "It's just... I have this strange feeling as if my memories have been altered."

"Maybe use wrong shampoo on head," Shampoo offered.

Happosai grinned at the unintended pun. "I think I'm making much ado out of nothing. I should go, Cologne. One thing though, I would like to ask if you know if Mousse is training Nabiki."

"Baka Mousse?" the busty young Amazon huffed.

"Ranma also asked that question, Happosai," Cologne commented. "Apparently the child can produce a baton from thin air."

"Indeed... She's never shown much interest in 'The Art'. Teaching her is difficult as well." Shampoo considered. Perhaps, she could give some pointers to her savior's youngest daughter.

"Shampoo-chan, could you leave us?" the old woman asked. Her great-granddaughter frowned but dutifully left the room as instructed. "Happosai, do you think something is happening?"

"I don't know..." The panty thief rubbed his chin. "Perhaps, it's just the power spike. However, it might be Kaji."

"Who?"

"Er... Someone I would not want to cross... Well, I should go."

# # # # #

Ranma Saotome was heading from the bathroom back to his and Kasumi's bedroom when he spotted his youngest daughter in the hallway. "Na-chan, what are you doing out here? It's past your bedtime."

"Daddy, I don't feel good."

"Oh, come here," the martial artist told her softly then gently lifted his youngest into his powerful arms. "Ne, what's the matter?" Nabiki shrugged and only laid her head against his shoulder. Her father chuckled and hugged her. "Feel better?"

"A little." Ranma smiled.

"I don't think your mommy would like you to sleep in our bed tonight. You've been naughty, ne?" A sniffle was his only response. "Don't cry, Nabiki-chan. You don't want to wake your onee-chan up when I tuck you in with her, ne?"

"Hai," Nabiki agreed. In her mind, sleeping in Akane's bed would be just as good as her mother's at this point. The eight year old closed her eyes and allowed her worry that had awaken her to drain away as her father carried her down the hallway to Akane's room.

Her sister was sound asleep. She only stirred slightly as Ranma tucked the younger girl under the covers next to her. "Now you go to sleep, Musume." His only response was a small yawn before Nabiki turned onto her side. She snuggled Akane who hugged her almost instinctively. Smiling, the young man and father bent and gave his children a gentle kiss on the cheek before heading for his own bed.

'I'm impressed, Na-chan. I'm impressed...' Of course, Ranma didn't dare tell his wife that. At least... not right away.

End of Chapter 8

Coming next in Chapter 9 - Dream Walker, Reality Fighter