Innocence of Mine Chapter 11 Saying Goodbye, 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 11 - Saying Good-bye

Through the dark swirling snow of early evening, an innocuous old man walked. His shoulders were hunched and steps shuffled. Lost to the howl of wintry weather was the angry grumbling that was coming from his mouth, which was tucked inside his jacket.

"I'll kill him!" Kaji snarled again, "I'll kill that baka Happosai... Iie, that's too good for him. Hmmm... I'll put him in with Elvis!" The demonic arbiter shook his white-haired, snow-covered head. "Iie, that's too mean to Elvis." He considered and then grinned. "I know!" Just then, a tentacle appeared. "Oh Mamoru!" There was a pause and then he declared, "I just came up with what I'm going to do with Happosai for interfering in my plans! I'll have to start all over again if he throws any more monkey wrenches in things!" The tentacle demon rippled for a minute or so. "Nani? What did he do? That old panty-thief brought a Ki battery stocked full of normal reality into their house. No wonder it put a strain my the energy reserves." Another ripple from his multi-armed companion made Kaji say, "Well first, I was going to toss him in with Elvis but that would just be mean to poor Elvis. I know... I'll turn him into a toilet seat, in a men's public restroom! Hai, that'll fix him." He cackled evilly, rubbing his hands together.

A silent comment from Mamoru abruptly stopped his laughter. "What do you mean Happosai didn't have anything to do with it? Who else could've..." The lesser demon squirmed reluctantly communicating what he'd seen and done to his master. Kaji sighed. "Akane? An accident? Hai... Fine..." He grumbled for a little bit more and kicked a nearby snowbank with his snow boot. "You sure know how to spoil a demon's good time, Mamoru-kun. You really do." Sighing, Kaji started walking again with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face.

"It has to end soon anyway, my friend. I can't keep this up. My energy reserve is just enough that I can either let things go back to normal or make this permanent." Mamoru asked a question. "What do we do? I'm going to go talk with the Tendo, I mean Saotome sisters." After a moment of thought, he replied to the silent question, "Akane? Hai, you might need to take care of her." Then in a more sour tone, he continued, "I should send you off to attack Chibi-Usa." The tentacle demon shuddered.

# # # # #

Akane Tendo, or rather Akane Saotome in her current prepubescent form, flinched away from the door of Nabiki's bedroom as her sister gave a particularly pained squeal. It was just after supper when Kasumi was out of the room that the incident had started.

Now, Akane with her black hair hanging straight to her waist lurked outside her younger sister's bedroom. As far as she could tell, it sounded like their mother (Kasumi, she had to keep reminding herself) was intent on delivering every spanking little Nabiki had or would earn in her life. The nine year old wasn't completely sure about this given her limited experience and fuzzy childhood memories of when their real mother was still alive; as it was, she hoped not.

The young martial artist was also feeling guilty. When the trouble had started, she'd only felt anger toward Genma; that had started it. She'd been more than a little alarmed when Kasumi had come into the room. Self-preservation, and her annoyance at Nabiki, had stopped Akane from confessing her role in the trouble. She could only conclude that Nabiki took the complete blame and the consequences upon herself. Now though as she listened to her current kid sister spewing out miserable sounding yowls and pain-induced squeaks, she felt guilty. Would she have done that same for her sister had the situation been reversed? Likely not, she knew. 'Gomen nasai, Onee-chan.'

Suddenly the noises coming from Nabiki's room decreased in volume. With wide eyes, the nine year old bade a hasty retreat to her own bedroom, and swiftly peeled out of her clothes and into her pajamas. Just as she was fastening the last of her pajama top buttons up, her mother entered.

"Akane-chan, go take your bath." The look on her mother's face made Akane decide to simply nod her head and start collecting her bath things. "Are you done with your homework?"

"HAI!" Akane squeaked as if coming to attention. She wasn't about to make the mistake again of ignoring it regardless of how ridiculously easy it was. She stood there looking worried for a moment until the woman nodded in satisfaction.

"Good, because I want to make something crystal clear, young lady. ANY slacking on that end is going to get you a spanking from your father." Akane's only reaction was to stare wide-eyed. The mother of two wasn't about to add that Ranma would be shifting genders to carry out the punishment. 'Baka really but if that's what it takes...' "Understand?"

"H-Hai..." The youngster sagged as her mother turned to leave the room. Kasumi was nearly out the door before Akane asked tentatively, "Mama... You weren't too hard on Nabiki-chan, ne?" 'She's just a little kid, even if she's really a seventeen year old pain in the ass!'

Kasumi turned back and gave her daughter a puzzled look. "Nani?"

"Well, there was a lot of noise and I know you were mad and..." she trailed off.

"Just what did you think I was doing, Akane Saotome?" Kasumi asked, her hands on hips. The woman had a mixed expression playing across her face.

"Uh well..." The youngster shuffled her feet and glanced about nervously. "Gomen, Mama... It sounded like... Well like Nabiki was being spanked."

"Hmmm..." her mother remarked while thinning her lips, "Well, Akane, if you must know, I was just brushing out your imouto's hair before her bath. It was a mass of tangles from your latest braiding attempt. I thought it would be easier to wash." 'She sure made a fuss.'

"Gomen nasai," was all Akane could think to say while blushing.

"You make sure to tell Nabiki that tomorrow." As Kasumi left the room, she thought, 'I also gave her a swat for running around in her birthday suit. Honestly, that child has the modesty of a two year old!' It never occurred to Kasumi that her eldest daughter had thought Nabiki was being punished for something she did. However, she was forestalled from that line of thought when her youngest came streaking past in nothing but a pair of socks and shouting something about bubblebath. Mentally shrugging, the mother of two headed off to try and talk her daughter out of a bubblebath.

# # # # #

"Nabiki!" came the voice, more urgent this time.

Nabiki Saotome woke up with a start, looked wildly around, and muttered, "Mommy, I already went number one..." She then decided to make sure she hadn't had an accident and felt around the mattress. The little girl sighed with relief when everything seemed to be dry.

"I know, Nabiki-chan," came the voice. Now Nabiki recognized it.

"Kaji-sama?" The eight year old rubbed her eyes with one fist while still hugging her stuffed Pikachu toy with the other arm. She squinted as blue-white fire flared into being. There sat Kaji, face tilted down, eyes looking tired and a look as if he had a faint headache about his eyes. "What are you doing here?" There was a pause and then she worried, "What if Daddy catches you?"

"I've stopped time... at least locally." If Nabiki had been fully awake, she might have asked what "locally" meant. "Mind if I turn on a light?" The girl shook her head and then reached over to turn on her bedside light. She'd slept two nights in a row without a nightlight and was feeling fairly confident about it.

'I hope Na-chan isn't too scared...' The youngster frowned, and then scowled. 'Na-chan? It's okay. Na-chan?' But there was no echo. 'Na-chan!' Nothing; emptiness. "Kaji-sama! Na-chan's missing!" the eight year old squealed in panic after a few moments. She threw off the blanket and sat on the edge of the bed. "I can't find her. Normally when you stop stuff, she just goes to sleep but now..." The little girl's face drooped. "She's not around, and I don't FEEL her 'n'..." Her breathing started to come shorter as her eyes misted over.

"Nabiki-chan," Kaji interrupted, his eyes looking old and sad, "Na-chan is gone."

"Gone?" When the demon nodded, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that 'Na-chan' isn't in that body." He pointed to her.

"Where is she then? She'll be really scared! Please Kaji-sama, let's go check on her."

"She won't be scared unless you are, Nabiki-chan," Kaji soothed.

"You're supposed to be mad at me! Don't be mean to her!" Nabiki pleaded, eyes widening.

"I'm not," Kaji assured her. He may have been once but that seemed like long ago. "Nabiki... Didn't Na-chan ever mention you were growing younger?" The bunny pajama-clad girl considered and then nodded sadly. "Well, I couldn't keep both of you here. Gomen, it took too much power. If I had, you both would have..." He stopped and winced before glancing back at the door. Sighing, he shook his head. "I just came here to say that you don't have to worry, Nabiki-chan. I didn't want you to be worried and running around looking for me when you woke up in the morning."

"B-but... she'll be all alone! I'm her onee!" Nabiki protested, tears starting to run down her small cheeks.

"Nabiki! Na-chan is you. She's ALWAYS been you."

Nabiki shook her head sadly. "Iie, I was a bad little girl. Na-chan was always good!"

"Always?" Kaji questioned, eyebrow quirked. The child nodded. "Well... I doubt it but let's say that she was for the sake of argument." The young girl pouted. "But she was you at one time..." 'Sort of.' "Before your mommy died. The woman who was NABIKI TENDO'S mother. I bet losing your mommy was hard, ne?" Nabiki nodded looking troubled. "Na-chan was the shy little girl you hid within you who looked away when your mother died and things changed forever."

"That's a lie, Kaji-sama! Mommy's alive! Kasumi is my mommy!"

"Hai, she can be, little one."

"Nabiki-chan, within the next twelve hours, you're going to have to make a choice. Will you be Nabiki Tendo or Nabiki Saotome?"

"But I already know what I'd choose - I wanna be Nabiki SAOTOME forever!"

"Little business partner, you're half-asleep and you need to talk with Akane about this. Mamoru tells me that she's here too."

"But..."

"Nabiki," Kaji said more sternly than he intended, "Sleep. Tomorrow you can tell me your decision AFTER you talked to Akane." 'I hope she'll get through.' "Your decision affects her too."

"Okay, I'll go get her now!" Nabiki whined. Kaji looked pained and with an exasperated sigh, he vanished. Anger temporarily replaced her grief. "HEY, YOU JERK!" she shouted, "GET BAck here! Fix..." Tears started to trickle down her cheeks and within moments, she was crying, feeling terribly lonely. "Na-chan..."

# # # # #

Kasumi Saotome woke up suddenly. Glancing around her darkened bedroom, all she found was Ranma. Her husband was sound asleep and interested in nothing but snuggling against her soft warm body.

Deciding to check on her daughters, she got up and padded to the door, pausing only slightly as Ranma muttered something that nearly made Kasumi giggle out loud. Shaking her head, the twenty-nine year old mother of two left her bedroom and went down the hall. She paused outside of Nabiki's room and after a moment went in.

There, looking miserable, was little Nabiki. "Sweetheart, what's the matter?" 'Did she have a nightmare?'

Nabiki looked up as her mother came over to the bed and sat down. The child instantly crawled into her mother's lap and wrapped her small arms about Kasumi's neck.

"Nabiki-oneechan went away, Mommy!" the girl sobbed completely heartbroken.

Kasumi hugged her youngest to her bosom making soothing sounds and gently rocking her child in her arms. 'Perhaps, it's best she's gone, Nabiki.' She had always had mixed feelings concerning Nabiki-oneechan's influence on her impressionable little girl. Kasumi knew that she could never explain her apprehension to her daughter. "Poor Na-chan," she said sympathetically, "I know it's hard but you'll make new friends."

"But I want, Nabiki-oneechan," the eight year old sniffled.

"Well, she's gone away but I know about another onee. She's right next door." Kasumi suggested softly. "Ne, Na-chan, what if you go stay with Akane tonight?" It took a few minutes for Kasumi to convince her youngest to go and stay with her sister.

# # # # #

Akane opened her eyes. She frowned into the darkness of her room and listened sleepily to the wind. She wondered vaguely in a disembodied sort of way what had awakened her.

'Maybe I gotta go to the bathroom.' After a moment, she mentally shrugged and rolled onto her right side. On her nightstand in faintly glowing green numbers, she could see the clock telling her to go back to sleep. She sighed, closed her eyes, and snuggled under the covers. 'This Saturday is gonna be the pits!' She'd been told, via Kasumi, that her father "Ranma" had her scheduled to polish the dojo floor all afternoon. Running back and forth bent over pushing a rag on the floor was not her idea of fun. The nine year old didn't bother to ask why she was being forced to do this menial chore; she knew quite well, as her mother did that she'd brought it on herself.

While she was brooding, there was a noise outside her door. Akane frowned and then decided it was best to pretend to be asleep. Moments later, her door opened and the child took a chance to peek. She found her mother and Nabiki coming into her room. She closed her eyes and waited, wondering what had happened.

Not long after that, her younger sister in this incarnation was tucked under the covers beside her and within another few seconds, Kasumi had left. As soon as Akane felt it was safe to talk, she whispered, "What happened, Nabiki?" 'I bet she wet her bed.'

Instead of the hug and teary response she had come to expect from this younger version of her sister, the girl jabbed her hard with her elbow and stated loudly, "I'm asleep!"

'Good grief, I was right. I got to get out of this nightmare.' She wanted her independent-minded elder sister back. She promised never to complain about the teen's mercenary ways again. Sighing in resignation, Akane rolled to her back, stared up at the ceiling, and tried to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile unbeknownst to her sister, Nabiki fumed. One moment, Kaji was talking to her about Na-chan; the next moment, he disappeared only to be replaced by Kasumi who was insisting on Nabiki sleeping with her "real" big sister. It annoyed her even more that she wasn't going to be allowed to stay in her room (and have a good quiet cry over Na-chan's departure) before Kaji came back for her decision. If she had to sleep with Akane, her sister should have had to come into her room.

'Maybe I should go sleep with Mommy and wet the bed,' Nabiki angrily mused as she stared up into the darkness. She listened to the wind outside echoing the storm of emotion she was feeling inside.

# # # # #

Akane suddenly bolted upright. She stared at the wall across from the floor of her bed for a moment, and then frowned as she noticed the faint shimmer of light coming from the slightly open door. She turned and discovered that her younger sister was no longer asleep in the bed beside her.

Flopping back down, Akane sighed, glanced at the clock, and sighed with annoyance. 'It's the middle of the night. Kami-sama, I'm gonna be REALLY cranky in the morning at this rate.' She briefly considered smacking Nabiki for waking her up and then pushed the thought away. 'I'd rather be woken up than have my BABY IMOUTO wet my bed too.'

Deciding it was best to wait for her sister to come back from the bathroom before trying to go back to sleep, the nine year old got out of bed and looked out her window. 'Wow, it's still snowing.' She stood there in her bare feet watching the snow fall down in gusty sheets of white. As time went by however, Akane frowned. 'Nabiki can't be taking that long.' Worried now, Akane crept across her room and poked her head out the door into the hall. The house was quiet.

Softly padding down the hallway, she carefully peeked into her parents' bedroom and found Kasumi and Ranma, both cuddled together, alone. 'Well, she's not in there.' Quietly she walked to the bathroom but even before she looked inside, she could see it was dark and empty.

"Baka little kid, where is she?" she grumbled, pausing to frown at her toes. "Kitchen?" she muttered to herself. After a moment, she carefully padded down the stairs and was about to head towards the kitchen when she noticed that something was askew. It took Akane several moments to figure out what it was but then when she did, she was confused. "Iie, she didn't!" the youngster hissed a little louder than she would have liked. She then looked nervously up the stairs. Fortunately, none of the adults stirred. Padding over, she verified that Nabiki's snow boots were indeed missing. 'Hai, she did.' Frowning, she walked to the front door and was not surprised to find it unlocked. Cracking the door open, she shivered as the cold air whipped into the house blowing back her long black hair. There, in the snow though, starting to fade from sight, were clear boot marks leading away from the house.

Akane shut the door and stared at it for a moment. 'Kuso!' the youngster seethed, 'Well, what do I do now?' After a moment, she sighed and pulled on her own boots before getting her coat. 'Kami-sama, I'm her onee. I better go after her... wherever the little fungus went.'

# # # # #

Mamoru slithered silently along behind Nabiki down the darkened streets of Nerima. It was growing more agitated as the minutes passed. The little girl's clothing was not meant for a harsh winter storm and she was already soaked from having tripped and fallen. Nabiki was sounding frustrated, angry, and scared at the same time. Only her stubborn determination kept her going.

Meanwhile, due to her martial arts skill and agility, Akane had caught up quickly to her petite sister. She did not join her though. She chose to trail at a discrete distance behind her to find out what would be important enough for her sister to leave in the middle of the night during a storm without telling anyone. 'Nabiki must be riding roughshod. Poor Na-chan wouldn't do this.' A major disadvantage in Akane's strategy though was that she had trouble keeping Nabiki in sight through the heavy snowstorm.

Mamoru could not see the girl trailing them but it could sense her off in the distance. Akane was moving away from her sister now. Nevertheless, the demon did not move to act until Nabiki fell into a snowbank and didn't bother getting up. Sighing to itself, Mamoru decided to get both "Saotome" sisters under a safe roof and let its master sort things out.

# # # # #

Kaji was startled by a thump. He stood up from his chair in the small sitting room at the back of his shop and frowned. It was hours before his shop was scheduled to open. There was another thump and a small squeal of indignation. Who would be out on a night like this? More to the point, who would be out and able to get into his shop? Moving quickly, he entered the main section of his antiques shop and was startled to see Nabiki and Akane Tendo sprawled on the floor and just beginning to gain their senses back. Beside them, Mamoru was waving several of its tentacles in obvious agitation.

"What are you doing out at this time of night?" Kaji lectured the two children. Nabiki sprang up, ran over to the old man, and hugged his legs. Akane for her part got up rubbing her backside while glowering at Mamoru. "You're lucky Mamoru-kun knows I'm working with you two." Mamoru writhed in annoyance at the implication.

"Was he saying something just now, ojii-san?" Akane wondered.

"Hai," Kaji translated, "He said just because you're clients doesn't mean he would hurt you if you weren't."

Nabiki frowned then asked, "What's a 'client'?" She felt like she should know.

Akane blinked. 'I need to get her outta here!'

Kaji ignored them both and remarked to his friend, "You ARE a demon, after all. That brings certain connotations." The tentacle creature fumed.

"Hey, I'm a martial artist. I could've stopped him... it," Akane growled to Kaji. Mamoru shot the child a gesture that left nothing to the imagination; the younger girl just gaped at him bug-eyed.

"Behave, Mamoru-kun, we have small children about." Mamoru shrugged. Nabiki giggled.

"And who the hell are you?"

"Pardon my manners, Akane-chan. I'm Kaji and I believe you've already met Mamoru-kun," the old man replied and bowed. "As to handling him, I sincerely doubt it."

Akane stared at the old man for a moment before it registered. "K-Kaji... as in the demon Kaji who did this to me?"

"All according to contract I can assure you, shoujo-chan," the demon remarked with a jaunty smile, "So..." Before he could say anything more, Akane yelled and lunged at the arbiter who instantly vanished only to materialize behind her and tap her on the head as she flew by (as Ranma had done more than once). "Well, that took care of one item on my agenda." He concentrated for a moment. "Ah, that's better. I'm not wasting so much power now." He hadn't realized how much strain there had been on him until he'd ceased maintaining Akane's form.

Meanwhile, the young martial artist pivoted to press her attack again but as she did so, her whole center-of-balance shifted. Her arms extended, shooting downward rippling as hard-won muscle mass reappeared. Legs extended, elongating in such a way that tripped the rapidly aging Akane up making her crash onto the floor. Her long hair receded back to its normal short style. The trappings of womanhood reasserted themselves where there were none from the constraints of her former prepubescent form. Finally exposing the curves and the modest bosom of an athletic high school sophomore.

As the now sixteen year old Akane lay prone trying to gather her wits and formulate an attack plan at the same time, she heard Nabiki sing out, "I can see A-ka-ne's bu-um!" It took only a second for Akane to recognize the fact that not only was her naked bum exposed but even worse, she was no longer wearing anything. Every piece of clothing she had on had been shredded at the seams and fallen off due to her rapid seven year growth spurt. Shrieking in protest, she leapt to her feet and rounded on Kaji who was looking slightly amused.

"If you're looking for dating assistance, Akane-chan," the demon stated dryly. "I know a few people who might be interested."

"Nani?" the teen demanded from a combat stance. Her cheeks were flushed with anger and embarrassment as her aura flared. She was forced to forego modesty for the time being; this old man was too great a threat to drop her defenses. Nabiki was puzzled.

"You're a little young for my tastes though, Akane-chan," Kaji observed, looking thoroughly bored. He took a moment though to loiter over Akane's lithe body. He decided that he preferred Nabiki's teenage form to that of her younger sister's. But that was of no matter. "Hmmm... Mamoru-kun might be interested though, ne?"

The demon in question made a gesture that Akane couldn't fathom but was immediately insulted when the other demon commented, "True, Mamo-kun, you like Amazonian girls. Akane-chan here... Well... She doesn't have the frontage, relatively speaking, to fill a gnat's bra."

"NANI? Are you saying that that baka demon finds Shampoo more attractive than me?" She felt a strange mixture of embarrassment, disgust, and jealousy.

"Well, if the cup fits..." Kaji quipped in a bored sounding tone.

"What cup?" Nabiki interjected curiously, glancing between Kaji and Akane. Grownups were sure hard to fathom.

"Not something you need to worry about, Nabiki-chan," Kaji replied. "In the meantime..."

"I'm gonna kill you, ojii!" the enraged teenager yelled.

He waved his hand and Akane suddenly found herself dressed in a fetish version of her Furinkan High School uniform. The hemline was much higher (well up her thighs) and middle section was gone leaving her midriff and cute bellybutton fully exposed. Her hair was done up in pigtails tied with blue ribbons although now comically short compared to those she had sported as a child.

"There," Kaji announced sounding much more relieved, "That's much better. But it needs something..." He cocked his head, glanced at Nabiki, and waved downwards making Akane's hair grow rapidly until her black pigtails made a small coil on the floor. "Perfect."

"I said I'm gonna kill you!" Akane snarled, seemingly ignoring the outfit she now wore. With a shout of outrage, Akane rushed forward only to have the old man vanish again. She whirled about and gave a startled yelp as her long flowing pigtails wrapped themselves about her.

Nabiki just looked on in wide-eyed fascination. For several seconds, she stared open-mouthed at her much older sister sporting such ridiculous pigtails before the sight made her start to giggle. She tried, and failed, to stifle her giggles as the teen turned smoldering eyes onto her.

"As for you, young lady, out of those wet things." Kaji snapped his finger. Nabiki squeaked and then laughed delightedly as the little girl found herself in a frosted pink party dress with white mother-of-pearl ribbons holding up braided pigtails. "Kawaii..."

"Arigato, Kaji-sama. I love this dress and my pigtails look like Daddy's now," Nabiki beamed. Akane raised a fist to show her gratitude.

Kaji held up his hand. "Might I suggest, girls," he commented, "That we all sit down calmly and chat about this?"

"Kuso! There's nothing to talk about, ojii!" the cosplay schoolgirl shouted, "Send us back NOW!"

"But I wanna stay, Onee-chan!" Nabiki shouted, "I have to. Na-chan's gone!"

"Eh?"

The eight year old nodded solemnly. "Kaji-sama told me... I don't really get it 'n' I miss her lots but I gotta stay and BE her." Akane pulled a face that showed that she didn't care for that idea. "'Sides, I like being a little kid... And Ranma and Kasumi's musume. That's what I came to tell Kaji-sama."

"And have to put up with being punished like one?"

"Well..." the eight year old started and blushed slightly, "We were naughty, Onee-chan." Akane growled indignantly and turned her attention back to the demon who had since produced an armchair from somewhere. "Ne, Kaji-sama, can you put Akane-oneechan back? We gotta get back to bed before Mommy and Daddy find out." 'Akane's just too big now.' Also, why risk the upcoming sleepover Saturday with Minako and Ruri anymore than necessary.

"Gomen, Nabiki, but I don't want to stay a little girl!"

"But whyyyyyy?" the youngster whined. "We had lotsa fun together."

"Because I'm gonna kill him!" Akane roared and flung herself again, ridiculous pigtails and all, at the demon who vanished. She promptly tumbled over his chair and knocked it over giving them a flash of her animal print cotton panties.

"Think I should spank her, Nabiki-chan? She's been a naughty girl."

"Hai!"

"Hey!" the longhaired teen complained, "Who's side are you on?"

"Well, Onee-chan," Nabiki explained putting her hands on her hips like Kasumi, "You are acting very rude!" She nodded in agreement with herself. "Please make her my onee-chan again, Kaji-sama... Mommy and Daddy won't like her being so big."

"I can't, Nabiki-chan," Kaji said wearily. "Chibi-Akane isn't there."

"You mean she's gone like Na-chan, ne?" 'Poor Akane-oneechan.'

"Iie," Kaji sighed. "Nabiki-chan... Chibi-Akane was never inside Akane Tendo. Nabiki Saotome and Nabiki Tendo had ideas about what attributes constituted a good onee. When I first changed Akane to her younger form, I looked at what you two thought would make a good onee and mashed them together."

"Good. Just mash'm together again, Kaji-sama," Nabiki requested simply while demonstrating with her hands.

"I can't," he answered solemnly. "I wish I could but I can't because there's nothing there to use."

"That's sad, Kaji-sama," the youngster said softly and then brightened, "But you can make her small." 'She's still kinda fun.'

"Are you nuts!" Akane shouted, immediately regretted it as Nabiki's eyes welled up and she started to sniffle. "Look, Nabiki, gomen. I just meant I want me to be me and I want you as... you!" 'Kuso! That didn't make any sense.'

"But I am me," Nabiki reasoned.

"I could," the demon suggested mildly, "Make it so that it's like the first reality, Nabiki-chan."

"Nani?" was the teen's demand.

"Iie, I like CHIBI-Akane WAY better," the pigtailed child answered. "That other Akane's REALLY mean!" 'And she's too big to play with.'

"Why you..." Akane advanced on the little girl dragging her floor-length pigtails, which promptly caught on the overturned chair and started dragging it and her head back. "Would you get rid of these baka things?"

Kaji, an amused glint in his eye, gave a bored wave of his hand. Both pigtails vanished instead to be replaced by a pair of rabbit ears covered in soft white fur. They sprouted more than foot in length out of the top of Akane's head. Neither girl noticed the white cottontail poking out of her skirt just above her rump.

Eight year old Nabiki stared for a moment, struggled to keep her face straight for another instant, and then completely lost it. Akane's aura flared as her sister burst into gales of laughter.

"NA-BI-KI!" Akane shouted, started to run forward, and promptly overbalanced.

"Are you okay, Onee-chan?" Nabiki asked, a worried expression on her face.

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused me and Ranma?" Bunny Akane asked while pushing herself up. The teenager moved towards over former older sister and glared.

"That's why I wanna stay, Akane-oneechan," Nabiki explained, not backing down even though she now barely stood to her provocatively dressed sister's waist. "I like having a daddy who doesn't cry all the time. Everyone likes Daddy, even Ryouga-oniichan. I like being able to be a nice girl. I like Na-chan and I like my friends at school and Kasumi is the bestest mommy!" 'You was my bestest onee.'

"AAAHHHRRRR!" the teen growled though clenched teeth, gripping her hair, only then realizing that there was something on her head. She felt the new protrusions. "WHAT ARE THESE SUPPOSED TO BE?" She squeezed them. "OUCH!"

"BUNNY EARS!" the little girl exclaimed happily, "Now you just need a pink nose and whiskers like Miko-chan!" 'Kawaii!'

"NABIKI!" Akane ground her teeth before yelling, "I SPANKED BAKA RANMA, AND I SHOULD SPANK YOUR LITTLE BUTT TO KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO THAT BAKA HEAD!"

"See... You always beat things up to get your way. You ain't no better than Naomi!" the child amended her thought about that. "Actually, sempai is better than you are."

"Gomen, Nabiki-chan. I don't think Akane knows who Naomi is," Kaji pointed out.

"Ojii! Keep out of this!" the anthropomorphic bunny girl snarled.

"Naomi is a bully at school, Akane," Nabiki elaborated softly. "She kept beating me... Na-chan up, but Na-chan still wanted to be her friend. Naomi-sempai might've been a bully but at least she has an excuse."

"Which is?" Kaji prompted, sounding interested.

"She doesn't know a better way, Kaji-sama. I just figure that Akane likes it. She FEELS good about hitting people and being mad all the time. If we stay, we can both grow up to be good girls." The eight year old squealed as Akane lifted her up and looked as if she was about to bring her hand down hard on Nabiki's butt when Kaji lifted his hand.

"Akane-chan, this is Nabiki's choice. I'll stop you if you try to harm your sister. There are worse things than rabbit ears." The teenager and demon locked eyes for a few seconds and then Akane gently dropped her sister to the floor and then moved to slump in a nearby chair, her new rabbit ears drooping.

"Onee-chan?" Nabiki asked. After a few seconds, she got up and hopped into Akane's lap, "Why are you so mad? We'll have lotsa fun together. I'll be the bestest imouto. I promise."

"Because, Nabiki, I don't want an imouto. I wanna go home! I don't want Ranma as my dad. I don't want Kasumi as my mom!"

"But they're great!" Nabiki countered.

"Hai, but they aren't really Mom and Dad. Kaji just made them that way. Our real mom is dead and you seem to want to give that up! To dishonor her memory." The youngster didn't have any response to that accusation but Akane went on regardless. "Sure, Dad acts like a broken water main at the drop of the hat but he is our father."

"But Ranma is the bestest daddy, Onee-chan, and I need to stay so I can be good and show him I can be good. When I was big, I was always mean to him." She couldn't understand the reason why anymore.

"BAKA! He doesn't know what you did before!" Akane raged, her ears sticking straight up, their fur bristling with their owners rage.

"That's good 'cause I'd be in BIG trouble then..." Nabiki remarked and nodded emphatically with herself. 'I'd get a spanking for sure. Na-chan wouldn't like that.'

"Look," the teenager argued, "I don't see why you want to waste your time growing up all over again. I'm the one that's stuck marrying Ranma. I have maybe two years of freedom left if I'm lucky. Kasumi has the house and Dad to look after. You're the free one."

"Free? I like to play and Ruri-chan and Minako-chan are my friends and you're a good onee," Nabiki stated firmly. This older Akane was definitely no fun. She then asked Kaji, "Kaji-sama, why can't you make Onee-chan small again?"

"It would take more energy than I have."

"So you could... later, ne Kaji-chan?"

"Un... I could but not for a long time, Nabiki-chan," Kaji conceded.

"That's okay I guess... I can wait."

"Nabiki-chan, in that case, make your choice." The youngster frowned. "Go back to being a teen, or stay a little girl and have Akane-chan as your oba like before."

Akane, tears forming in her eyes, said, "Our mother..." Her voice faded for a moment before coming back. "Look, Nabiki... Onee-chan, we have family obligations. People depend on us."

"Nani?" Akane kept using those big words.

"Are you losing your grip, Nabiki? I'm Ranma's fiancée. I have to marry Ranma!" 'There, I finally said it.'

"Why?"

"Our baka dad arranged it," Akane spat bitterly, "Family honor and all that crap." She began to rationalize. "I'm sure I'll learn to love Ranma in time and it looks like he'll be a good father. I'll need to be strong to take over the dojo. I'll tell Dad and Saotome-san the 'good news' when we get back." 'They'll both be thrilled... Maybe Ukyo and that Chinese bimbo will stop harassing us.'

"That sounds boring, Onee-chan." A solution suddenly struck her. "If you stay, you won't have to marry Daddy, ne?" She squealed when Akane leapt from the chair she was in and with one mighty yell drove her fist through it. "Ne, Akane, whatcha do that for?" the little girl demanded.

"Because you're being baka!"

"Am not!" The eight year old retorted, 'I was only trying to help.'

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Kaji would you just make things NORMAL! She's in no condition to..."

"As I said, it's Nabiki's choice, Usagi-chan."

"I wanna stay!"

"With Akane as your sixteen year old oba?"

"Iie..."

"Well, that's the choice." The child pouted.

"But why?" Akane argued before her sister could agree to that constraint. "Nabiki, you said you wanted to stay to show Ranma how good a girl you can be, ne?" Nabiki nodded. "Well, how will he know if he already thinks you're a good girl?" The youngster opened her mouth, closed it, and then frowned. "Nabiki-oneechan, aren't you being selfish? Ranma didn't ask for this. Kasumi didn't ask for this. I know I didn't." Her ears drooped.

"You don't love Daddy!" Nabiki accused the teen.

"Iie, I don't love Ranma. I do love our real father, SOUN TENDO. I love my two onee, KASUMI TENDO and NABIKI TENDO. This is just a big fantasy that you want to stay in. It's not real. You're being selfish and you have no right to hurt others."

"I ain't hurting nobody!" Nabiki huffed, folding her arms and pouting. "Daddy says that you can't use martial arts to hurt nobody and you don't. I know I won't be as good as you but I can train real hard with you 'n' Daddy 'n' everybody!"

Akane frustrated, needing something to do, started to paced. Completely unnoticed by her, her rabbit ears started to twist together expressing her true agitation. "What about the dishonor you are doing to our real mother? To our family?"

"I love her in my heart," Nabiki answered but she was starting to look troubled.

"Another thing, you'll have to be heir to the Saotome Dojo." Nabiki shrugged. "And I won't help you!" Akane threatened in frustration. She was annoyed when her sister gave her a dubious look. "And if I'm your oba, I'll spank you every chance I get."

"I'd like to see you try," Nabiki commented sarcastically while crossing her arms and sticking out her tongue. Would they let a bunny girl spank her? The teenager growled in frustration.

"Akane-chan," Kaji interjected softly, "If you want to spank her now, go right ahead."

"HEY!" the pigtailed youngster complained.

"You're being a rude and disrespectful little girl."

Nabiki pouted while grumbling, "Akane-baka-'neechan is being mean!"

Akane stood there fists clenched and quivering all over. To her credit, she didn't even consider acting on Kaji's offer. Instead the teenager asked, "Why can't you see that this is all a lie?" The little girl suddenly looked troubled. Taking a few breaths, Akane paced. "Nabiki, you want to make up for what you did, ne?"

"Un," Nabiki agreed, still looking troubled.

"Well, how can you do that if nobody knows what you did to them, ne?"

"Aren't you repeating yourself, Akane-chan?" Kaji asked. Akane shot him a venomous look.

"I'd know," Nabiki stated, although she didn't feel as confident as she sounded. 'I think.'

"Are you sure?" Akane asked.

"Well, I would!" the eight year old almost pleaded.

"That's not very honest of you though. You've already almost forgotten Mama... our mother." Nabiki squirmed and looked down. Akane sighed. She walked over and knelt by her sister her ears stood straight up. "Nabiki-oneechan." She waited until Nabiki regarded her. "If you can tell me just one real, honest unselfish reason why you want to stay, why WE should stay, I'll be okay with that."

"I like to play," Nabiki answered in a hopeful tone.

"Na-bi-ki, that was selfish, and Miko-chan and Niko-chan wouldn't like that, ne?" Kaji interjected quietly. His former business partner frowned. "Be fair... Akane has asked you a very honest question. I think if you're going to MAKE her be your mean oba, you should come up with something pretty good."

Nabiki's expression took on a sulky air and she pouted at them both. "That pout might work on Mom 'n' Dad but it won't work on me, NIECE," the teen began. "In fact, if you choose to stay, you better hope it works 'cause when they find out you snuck out of the house in the middle of a snowstorm, they're gonna take the hide off of you in little strips!" Nabiki appeared worried now. "Didn't think of that, ne baby?"

"Hey, I ain't a baby, I'm eight!"

"Not really, you look more like five," Akane argued. 'And acting like it too.' "What about this, Onee-chan. We go back to normal and I hunt you up some of those age-changing mushrooms. You can use it to be little again... for a while. That way, Ranma will know you're making an honest effort to be a good little girl and you're not forcing people to do things they really aren't meant to do." The youngster frowned, apparently mulling it over. "Nabiki, being honorable is probably the hardest thing anyone can do and part of that is being honest with yourself."

"Nani?" Nabiki asked, completely puzzled now.

Kaji got down beside Nabiki and gave the little girl a long look. "I think, what Akane is trying to say is that you need to ask yourself what Na-chan would do? What would Miko-chan and Niko-chan do?" The youngster opened her mouth but nothing came out. She closed it, frowned, opened it again, and then closed it looking frustrated. Nabiki meandered about looking at the different items in the shop. Passing by a full-length mirror, she paused and regarded the small pigtailed child reflected in it.

"Kaji-sama," Nabiki asked, turning to the demonic arbiter, "If I go back to bein' a big girl and stuff and I wanna come back..."

"Gomen nasai, little one," Kaji answered, "One per customer."

Akane frowned. 'That wasn't what he said before.' Pushing that to the side, she sighed, "Please, Nabiki-oneechan? For me? For Ranma? For all of us?" Nabiki was starting to look miserable now. "You had Akane-chan get the mirror so you could go. You knew it was time to leave then, ne?"

"But Na-chan..."

"Listen for her, little business partner, listen for her because Na-chan is with you. You just have to listen hard enough."

There was a long drawn out silence and then Nabiki let her head droop in acquiescence. She took a great shuddering breath and said softly, "I guess..." She looked up at Akane with tears in her eyes. "I... I guess it's time we went home, Imouto. To our real home... The 'Ice Queen' needs to melt." 'Gomen nasai, Na-chan.' The little girl began to cry and Akane, for once not caring what others thought, wrapped her arms about Nabiki and hugged her as her older sister for the last time.

End of Chapter 11

Coming next in Chapter 12 - Homecoming