Authors Note: All I can say is Wow! And thank you very much for all the great reviews. I'm trying not to rush things as much, and I'll also shoot for chapters about this length from now on. Don't count on any pattern to the updates, but the one thing I can promise is that I'll finish this story, just like OTP. (I hate unfinished stories...they just seem so...unfinished!).
-**-
Chapter 2
Dai and Riku were heading home from school, but decided to go the long way since it passed by their favorite ice cream parlor. Neither would admit it, but they both shared their fathers obsession for the frozen treat.
They walked in to the store and sat down at a free table. Within a few moments, one of the new waitresses came over to take their order.
"Hi, may I take your order" the girl asked, smiling brightly at each of the boys.
"You're new here, aren't you?" said Dai.
"Yes, I am. The owner wanted new help, and for some reason he specifically wanted to hire girls instead of boys."
The two Saotomes looked at each other with a huge grin on their face. The waitress saw the look and couldn't help but ask. "Wait, do you know why?"
Dai shook his head, but Riku decided to let the girl in on what was going on. "That would be because of our sister…"
"And our…Aunt…" Dai tacked on.
The girls grin dropped, and a look of confusion appeared on her face. "Your sister and Aunt?"
"Yeah. Let's just say they get far more than they pay for when they come in. For some reason, they treat getting freebies as a game, and they are both very good at it." Good enough for the poor owner to try to hire female help to try to counteract the effects of the female Saotome charm.
"Oooh…"
"Yeah, sis came with us three days ago and managed to get two free banana splits with her sundae." Both Dai and Riku had talked about their sister's and Aunt's behavior when it came to scamming food. It was strictly a game with the two of them since the family had no shortage of funds. It actually embarrassed the two boys watching their sister and their Dad seeing how much they could get from the help at the restaurant. Dad had started showing Ranko how to flirt with the help when she was in her early teens, and had no reservations about taking advantage of the affects of his female form on the waiters. What neither Dai or Riku knew, was that Kasumi had arranged with Nabiki to be partners in several of the Saotome favorite snack shops in the area, so that the businesses could be compensated for the losses incurred by the owners when the Saotomes dined.
"Okay, then, so what would you two like?"
"How about a Zoo?" said Dai.
The girls eyebrows went up. The Zoo was their colossal desert, with 15 scoops of ice cream in a large silver bowl. "A Zoo? Really?" This was the first time she got to take an order for one. They weren't that common, but they were fun to deliver to the table because the owner had two waiters deliver it suspended between two poles after they ran around the shop with horns blaring and much celebration.
"Yeah, one for each of us." Added Riku.
"FOR EACH OF YOU?" Now she knew they were just having fun. True, the policy was that if you ate one yourself, you got a second one free, but nobody could possibly eat one by themselves….
"Yup. One for each." Chimed Dai. They both had charming grins on their faces, so she just smiled and figured she'd get to see them get halfway through the first, and then grind to a stop.
Ten minutes later, amid sirens and much antics, the two huge bowls were placed in front of the two and the carnage began. The waitress stood by the owner and watched the two attack the mountain of ice cream. "Do you think they will finish it?" she asked her boss.
"Oh yeah, they do every time."
"Every time?!"
"Oh yes. About once every two weeks they come in and go for the double."
She looked worried now. "But don't you lose money on your deal then?"
He leaned back and grinned. "Yes and no. Sure, they get more than they pay for. But take a look at the rest of the store."
She looked around and realized that everyone was enjoying the unabashed show of ice cream gluttony. Even as she watched, more people came in the front door when they had heard that those two guys were attacking a Zoo.
"See" he continued, "even though those two get some free ice cream, it brings in the crowds, and people get caught up in the feeding frenzy. Turns out it's pretty cheap entertainment and advertising all rolled into one.
They stood there and watched the two eating machines go through the first, and then second Zoo for each boy. When they dropped their spoons in the empty bowls, the restaurant gave them a standing ovation.
-**-
"Man that was good" said Dai as they walked home from their snack.
"Yeah, we should at least be able to make it until dinner now". They both laughed and turned down a shortcut to their land. Their parents had arranged for them to go to a school actually a few districts away from their house. It was a long walk, or shorter run, or even shorter roof hop, to and from home, but it helped give them a certain amount of anonymity in school that all three enjoyed. Even with being as careful as their family was, their was still some local talk in their neighborhood about the Saotome clan, and it made its way to the local schools as well.
As they walked along the quiet street, they saw a few boys up ahead looking into an alley that ran off the side of the road they were on. They heard some loud chanting from the alley, but couldn't tell what was going on save for the unpleasant look on the faces of the boys in view. As they drew nearer to the shallow alley, they could see more boys surrounding something near the back wall.
One of the boys on the edge caught them out of the corner of his eye and turned to face them. "What do you two want?"
Neither Dai or Riku recognized any of the boys, and were frankly feeling too good from their lactose and sugar high to want to deal with some punks. "Nothin" said Riku as they continued to walk on the opposite side of the street from where the alley entrance was.
"Good call" the boy smirked and turned to watch whatever the other boys were so interested in.
Just as they were passing the entrance, both Riku and Dai heard a small "Please no…" from behind the ring of boys. They both stopped walking and looked at each other, Dai rolled his eyes and said "Why do people have to be such jerks. I'm gonna get the burps from all this ice cream if I have to deal with these idiots."
"Come on" said Riku "a martial artists duty..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, let's make this quick". They then walked to the back of the group.
Dai came up to the boy that had noticed them earlier and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, what's going on?"
The older boy swiveled and tried to stare down the two younger boys. "Hey you two, didn't I tell you to keep going?"
Dai cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, but we don't take advice very well, do we Riku?"
As the other boys heard the exchange, they turned as one and when doing so, parted enough so that the two Saotomes could see a young girl on the ground. She didn't look hurt…yet…but she looked scared and worn down.
In a flat voice, Riku said "Let her go."
One of the boys at the center of the ring laughed. "What? Are you going to make us? Take off before you spoil our fun and make us mad…"
The two brothers stood their ground and just stared at the group of thugs.
"Fine. Your funeral" said the apparent leader.
The nearest gang members attacked first, instinctively ganging up on the two smaller boys with two from the gang teaming up against each boy.
The leader watched some of his troops walk toward the two nosy kids. He couldn't see their faces as his team drew toward them, but he knew they would be pissing their pants within a few moments. What he didn't expect to see was the four members fly out in four different directions and crash into the surrounding trash and boxes in the alley.
"What the…?" he said, and then he watched with disbelief as the two little snots proceeded to flow through his troops. He could barely make out their movements, but the bodies flying right and left clearly indicated where their feet and hands went. Within moments the two younger boys stood alone in front of the leader.
"So, who's funeral?" asked Dai? Who then watched in satisfaction as a wet stain appeared on the gang leaders pants.
"Hey...guys...really....you can have her. Just let me go!"
Riku and Dai looked at each other and then back at the last main standing. As one they both said. "I don't think so"
-**-
Nabiki Tendo was enjoying the ride to her family's house. "Family" she murmured in amazement to herself. I wonder when I started thinking of them as family instead of just Ranma and Kasumi? I suppose when I finally realized they really trusted me with 22 Nice Corporation.
Nabiki was still single, but not alone. It was getting close to twenty years ago when Ranma and Kasumi had returned to her father's home from their admittedly strange trip. Seeing Ranma and her sister together, and married of all things, was strange enough, but what really stopped her dead in her tracks was when they brought her into Kasumi's room and her sister had fished out a small fortune in jewels from her sleeve. She and Ranma had told her that one of the the jewels was hers to keep, one was for taking care of the dojo, and one was for Akane's schooling. That in itself was an offer beyond what she could have ever imagined. The one jewel she chose was worth a small fortune itself, but to top it off, they offered her 10% of anything she could make investing the rest of the jewels Kasumi had. Their only requirement was that whatever Nabiki invested in, that it would somehow help others.
Nabiki smiled to herself. At first she had scoffed at their naive attitude. You didn't get ahead in life by worrying about others. But she had talked to her sister and brother-in-law in the later weeks, and they had made a point that this was a challenge to her. They said they knew that she could do well in business now that she had some seed money, but just how well could she do if she tried to help others.
It took a while for Nabiki to change her mindset. Some of the investments were initially easy, like investing in Ukyo's restaurant, and eventually the chain of restaurants. As Kasumi had pointed out, she was primarily helping out Ukyo, and if she made some money from it, then great.
Other investments proved a little more tricky, and not all of them worked out. But to Nabiki's surprise, even the ones that didn't pay off started to make her still feel good, because she started to enjoy the challenge of helping people.
As 22 Nice Corporation grew, Nabiki realized that she would need to work on staying low key lest too much attention be focused on the up and coming business. Once 22 Nice (or just "22" as most people called it) started to get bigger, she was besieged by a slew of investors trying to get money from her. She learned that by using front corporations to hide 22's size, she had more freedom to invest in new projects without drawing too much attention on her or her company.
The change in Nabiki over this time was gradual, but profound. She no longer had to claw for every Yen she could, and the burning need to squeeze money out of any source she had started to fade. I suppose it was a matter of security she thought to herself as she got closer to her home away from home. Once I no longer had to worry about being poor, it was easier to think of others. Well, that and the fact that I had two saints for a sister and brother-in-law.
In a few moments the car finally came to a stop in front of the main building at the Saotome compound. Nabiki leaned forward and told her driver "I'm set for the weekend. After you bring the bags in, go on home and get some rest, Just be here at three on Sunday".
The driver broke into a big smile. The weekend off, what a deal! "Thanks Miss Tendo! I'll be back on Sunday then!" He quickly jumped out and got her bags from the trunk and carried them up to the front door, following Nabiki.
This was the first time the driver had dropped Miss Tendo off at this location, and as they approached the door, it opened showing a beautiful young woman, perhaps in her early twenties.
"Onee-chan!" Nabiki cried as she walked to the young girl.
Onee-chan? He thought to himself. Must be an inside joke. I know Miss Tendo is in her thirties, there is no way she is her big sister....
"Hello Nabiki. I'm glad you could come for the weekend" Kasumi stepped forward and hugged her sister.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world" she replied as the two of them walked through the door.
"Who is your new driver?"
"Oh" Nabiki glanced back at the man carrying in her things. "This is Naoki. He just started last month".
Naoki looked around at the modest home as he stepped inside. He expected Nabiki's sister to have some huge ostentatious house, but this was small, cozy and had an aura of warmth eveywhere he looked. It was modestly decorated, but every item on display was wonderful to look at. Naoki wasn't an art critic, but he could immediately tell that everything was top notch.
"Hello Naoki-san. It is a pleasure to meet you" the eldest sister said. Naoki had the most unique feeling meeting this woman. He had never sensed such a feeling of peace and tranquility emanating from an individual before. The young woman before him had long soft brown hair with matching eyes.
Naoki bowed "Likewise Mrs. Saotome"
"Here, let me take those from you" She said as she reached for the two heavy bags that Naoki held. He started to protest "But Mrs. Saotome, they're far to heavy..." When she took them from him as though they weighed nothing.
Naoki watched with open mouth as the young woman carried the two bags as if they were filled with air. Nabiki saw his reaction and smiled "Stronger than she looks, isn't she?"
Naoki nodded dumbly.
"Get going Naoki, I'm fine here, just be back by three on Sunday"
"Thanks Miss Tendo!" he said as he headed out the door. He couldn't figure out how that young woman could lift those bags, but it wasn't worth losing any of his weekend time, so off he went.
Nabiki followed Kasumi to one of the additions to the home where her guest bedroom was located. The original house was fine for a small family, but Ranma had learned that for as nice as the house was for he and Kasumi, it was a tad small for three growing children and the occasional guest, so he added on two wings at the back of the house. As she walked down the hall, Nabiki shook her head with repeated wonder that Ranma had done this work himself. It wasn't anything too elaborate, but it was clean, simple, and had that certain warmth that the whole house exuded.
Kasumi put the bags inside the door of her bedroom. "Here you go Nabiki."
"Thanks Oneesan." Nabiki walked over to the bed a flopped down on her back. She looked up at the ceiling and said. "So what's up. You said you wanted to talk? Anything wrong?"
Kasumi joined her older, younger sister on the bed. It was becoming a little more disconcerting seeing Nabiki as the years continued to age her sister normally, while she really hadn't changed much at all. Oh, Nabiki still looked good, after all she worked hard at it, but it was still strange to see your younger sister starting to look more like a parent than a sibling.
"No, nothing wrong....yet...but Ranma and I may need some help, or at least some advice"
-**-
"Elder! I have important news from the Jusenkyo guide!"
Cologne looked up from her gardening at the out of breath sentry who had just run up to her house. Few outside the village would have suspected Cologne's love of flowers, but the incredible display of color was a testimony to her botanical skills. "What is it child?"
The young woman stopped to get her breath, and then continued. "The guide said he saw two people at the springs this morning. He could not say which spring they were visiting, but they had a flask with them. When they heard him coming, they ran away."
Cologne's blood ran cold. Please, please don't let it be her. "Did he describe what they looked like?"
The girls eyes looked down. She knew the Matriarch wouldn't want to hear this next part. "Yes, Elder, two people, a man and a woman. The main was in white robes with long black hair and glasses. The woman appeared to be an Amazon by her dress, and had...purple hair."
Cologne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Shampoo's hair was her trademark within the village. Oh Great-granddaughter, why? Why are you doing this. Eventually she opened her eyes at looked at the young warrior before her. "Notify the rest of the council. How many days until the Saotomes are scheduled to visit us?"
"I believe they are going to be here for the festival in 10 days."
"Very well, it doesn't make sense to send them a message at this point, but I want a standard escort guard team to meet them when the arrive in Japan. I'll talk to them more when they get here."
"Yes Elder!" The girl spun and ran off in the direction of the rest of the council.
Cologne turned back around to her bright red flowers, and stared at their petals for a while. Waves of sadness and remorse passed over her as she considered what events Shampoo had just set in motion. Years ago, when Ranma and Kasumi had returned from their "inescapable" banishment, Ranma had deprived Mouse of his strength and hidden weapons technique and had told the village that if any of them threatened his family, he would switch from being an ally of the village to its enemy. In the years that passed, that allegiance had held both the Musk and Phoenix people at bay, as neither wanted to risk taking on the Amazons and Ranma at the same time. Everyone in the village was happy with the arrangement except one person, her own Shampoo.
The threat that Ranma had made had kept Shampoo in line for many years. The council had formally declared that Ranma's allegiance to the tribe fulfilled Shampoo's requirement to bring him back with her. This allowed her to continue to participate as a full warrior within their society without being penalized for her failure to return with Ranma as her husband.
The problem was, Shampoo just couldn't let it go. Cologne could see as it ate at her heir. Shampoo was used to getting what she wanted...always, and this was no exception. Unfortunately, about five years ago, the frustration evolved into anger. Shampoo now decided that Ranma had ruined her chance at happiness and that somehow it was his fault that she never took a husband of her own.
Humph! Probably because she has continued to socialize with Mousse. Cologne never did like the boy, as obsessed as her great-granddaughter was, he was even more so. Particularly after Ranma deprived him off his hidden weapons techniques.
She thought back on the time when Ranma sealed Mousse's hidden weapons abilities and strength. Mousse had just threatened that he would never give up on attacking Ranma. In the past, Ranma had always tolerated these threats, but when he and Kasumi had re-appeared in their village, things had changed. Cologne could see immediately how protective he was of his wife and knew that Mousse had made a serious mistake. Ranma had made the decision right then that he could no longer ignore these threats, and tried to administer as fair of justice that he could.
It wasn't a bad effort either. Cologne often considered that she herself couldn't have come up with anything as effective without being overly punitive. The problem was it just wasn't going to sit well with her great granddaughter, and that fool Mousse was using Shampoo's dissatisfaction to remain close to her.
Cologne climbed back on her staff on went in to the house. This is not going to be pleasant, however it works out...
-**-
The two boys looked down at the crumpled form below them. A low moan escaped the leader of the gang. He was battered, bruised and had several non-threatening broken bones, but he would recover, after a long and painful rehab.
"Well, that was therapeutic!" gloated the youngest.
"Yeah, it did feel good, not much of a challenge, but it did feel good".
They looked over at the young girl who was still cowering in the corner. It took them both a few moments to realize that the girl was no longer afraid of the gang, but now seemed to be shrinking from them.
"Hey, it's okay. We're here to help. Honest!" said the older of the two.
Hotaru looked doubtful. She'd had too many people treat harshly over too many years to trust these strangers. She looked at the two young boys, both about her age. The oldest had dark hair with a pig-tail and blue-gray eyes, while the younger of the two had short hair with deep brown eyes. Both were wearing black pants, with the pig-tailed boy in a red shirt and the short haired boy in blue. She decided to wait and see what they would do next.
The two boys just stood there, not pressing the recovering girl. Finally after beginning to wonder if the girl was in some kind of shock, the oldest spoke again. "Look, we can go, but you're probably in no shape to be left on your own. You look pretty upset. We can take you to our house and then you can call your parents."
Hotaru had been continuing to study them the whole time. She had a good feeling about the two, they both somehow radiated a sense of both confidence and peace. She slowly stood up, still keeping her eyes on the two, and only then glanced again at the bent forms of her former attackers.
"Thank you" was all she could get out at first.
Both of their serious expressions immediately shifted to more relaxed ones at her simple words. "No problem", spoke the younger. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I am, thank you."
"My name is Daitaro, and this is my brother Riku" the red shirted boy said.
"Mine is Hotaru."
"What happened? Why did they try to hurt you" asked Riku.
Hotaru looked down at the ground. She hated the endless cycle of explanations, either followed by too many questions, pity or unease by those interested. "They just don't like me."
Daitaro looked down at the boys on the ground around him. "That's okay, I don't think they like us much either."
She couldn't help but grin at his joke. "No, I don't suppose they do. Is it really okay to call my parents from your house? Is it far from here?"
Daitaro smiled. "Yeah, it's okay. It's a little bit of a walk though, is your house close by?"
Hotaru took a few steps towards the boys on shaky legs. These encounters with the locals who seemed to enjoy taunting her so always took more out of her than she would have liked. "No, it's actually quite a bit of a walk. Maybe I should just sit down instead..." she walked over to the wall of the dirty alley. I'm not going to bother them, I'll just sit sit down here for a while.
Both Daitaro and Riku sped over to her sides and grabbed her arms, turning her towards the entry of the alley. Riku said "Hotaru, I think you should come with us. If you can't walk, we can carry you."
Carry me? She was amazed. Nobody had ever cared for her enough to carry her, not even Michiru and Haruka ever really worried that much about her. Oh they loved here and watched out for her, but it was different than really having somebody care for you.
As she was still lost in thought. Daitaro turned her towards her and said, "I can carry you. Can you hold on to my back? You'll need to hold on tight."
Piggy-back? She thought to herself. "Sure" she said. Daitaro turned around and knelt down as she climbed on.
"All set?" he asked her.
"Yes, I think so."
"Then hold on".
Hotaru felt him bend at the knees, and then held on with all of her strength as he and his brother shot two stories straight up to land on the roof of the building they stood next two. Well, land really wasn't the word, because as soon as they made contact, they leaped to a nearby roof and proceeded to bounce from building to building as they made their way across town. Hotaru felt a mixture of fear and exhilaration as she seemed to fly through the air with the two brothers. It was only a matter of a minute or two before they were at the edge of town at the foothills of the low mountains to the west of the town. When they ran out of roofs they chose a seemingly well used path (going by the wear marks) on branches of trees for the last few bounds. Seemingly as quickly as it started, they stood before a small compound on the side of the hills.
She climbed down off the back of Daitaro and stretched her legs.
"Come on in. Mom's great at fixing things up, she'll have you feeling better in no time" said the younger brother as they walked to the front door of the building in the front.
"How...how did you do that" asked Hotaru as she walked between the two.
"The roof hopping? Oh, our dad taught us that when we were kids. Makes getting around a lot easier, don't you think. You just have to be careful in the mornings if there is any dew on the roofs, makes it a bit more challenging then." Daitaro explained.
It suddenly hit her that she had heard stories of people roof hopping in the nearby area from kids at school. She had thought they were just trying to tease her once again. Granted, her experience with the Sailors had shown her that some amazing things were possible, but she never expected normal people to....
"Wait!" she squeaked.
The two turned around with concerned looks on their faces. "What?" the both chimed.
"You don't know someone named Beryl do you?" She had to ask. What if they weren't normal people?
The brothers looked at each other and shrugged. Riku spoke up. "Nope. Know a lot of people named after personal hygiene products, one guy named after pantyhose, and several named after or dress as the opposite gender, but no gemstones yet."
Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but okay... "Sorry, just had some bad experience with people who knew of her."
They turned and proceeded into the house, with the somewhat relieved young Saturn following.
-**-
Kasumi and Nabiki were sitting at the table when they heard the door open. Ranko had come home earlier, so they were not surprised when Dai and Riku walked in. They were slightly surprised when a young girl neither had seen before followed them in.
Ah, another stray Ranma's family has taken in mulled Nabiki as she looked over the girl. Black shoulder length hair with impressive bangs, black dress with blue highlights. Large dark eyes, kind of sad, and the whole look was almost goth if she had the right make up and some modifications to the outfit.
Kasumi on the other hand was instantly alert. Ranma had taught her to read people's auras, and this girl radiated a strange power. It seemed dormant, and the girl didn't seem tainted in any way, but the bottom line is that anyone with that type of power who walked into your home definitely got your full attention.
"Hi mom, hi Auntie Nabiki" shot Daitaro as he walked over to the table.
"So Dai, who's your new friend?" asked Nabiki in her usual deadpan voice.
"Oh, this is Hotaru"
"Hotaru....?" prompted Nabiki
Daitaro gave his patented Saotome grin and then turned to the girl behind him. "I forgot to ask what your full name was"
"Tomoe, Hotaru Tomoe." said the girl in a near whisper.
"Yeah, Hotaru Tomoe. Hey mom, can you give her a look over. We found some guys giving her a hard time on the way home. She seemed pretty shaken up so we told her she could come here for a bit and then call home"
"Certainly Dai. Miss Tomoe, if you don't mind, come next door to the office and I'll check you over. Nabiki, we'll be right back" said Kasumi.
"No problem sis."
Both her boys now had big smiles on their faces, with Riku adding the "Thanks mom!" as all but Nabiki walked out the front door.
As they followed Kasumi on the path to the Doctor's office both she and Ranma used. Hotaru whispered to Daitaro "Is she really your mom? She looks so young".
Daitaro just snorted and explained "Yeah, we hear that all the time. Especially my older sister Ranko. Both my mom and dad age really well, believe it or not, she's my Aunt Nabiki's older sister."
"What? No way!" Hotaru pictured the woman they left behind in the other house. She didn't look old, but she at least looked like she was in her mid thirties. The woman walking in front of them looked like she could just have got out of college.
"Yup" agreed Riku. "Looks pretty good for being almost forty, don't ya think?"
Hotaru eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Forty? Wow, she could give Setsuna a run for her money, granted, Setsuna was lot older, but still...
-**-
Ranma Saotome was having a great afternoon. Actually, he was having a great day, or better yet, he was continuing to enjoy a great day after day. What made this part of the day so good was that he was training with his daughter Ranko.
They were currently in the mountains behind their home, finishing training on the Bakusai Tenketsu. He was proud of how well Ranko had done in the training. Now some people might wonder if Ranma had taken the rather twisted training path of his father with regards to his children's training. If they had been watching the two the last few weeks, they would have been sure of it, seeing Ranma swing massive boulders at his young daughter.
The truth was that Ranma had long ago dropped most of his fathers methods. His experience with training his Kasumi provided all the impetus he needed to come up with new methods. No, the Bakusai Tenketsu was from the Amazons, and as bizarre as they may seemed at first glance, they were honed over thousands of years to maximize the benefit while minimizing the harm to the trainee.
They stood before a field of broken boulders at the foot of a large cliff. "Use your senses. Think of the rock as a special house of cards, all you need is to disturb the correct one and it all falls down. Look at it, concentrate...."
Ranko pointed her fingers and announced " Bakusai Tenketsu" and touched the rock, which proceeded to shatter to hundreds of pieces, striking both of them.
"All right!" she cried. "Finally!"
"Not bad, not bad at all. I think you learned it even faster than Ryoga did".
She started running from small boulder to small boulder, pulverizing each one.
Eventually, Ranma thought he should point something out to his daughter. His years with Kasumi and definitely made him more comfortable with the human body, so he didn't stammer like he might of when he was younger, instead he merely said. "Uh Ranko?"
"Yeah Dad?"
"You might want to stop while you have some clothes left..."
She was so caught up with the joy of learning the technique, she failed to notice the effect it was having on her outfit. The training may have toughened her up, but her clothes.... "Ooops. Yeah, better not give too many free shows, huh."
"Yeah, might as well not shock them too much, huh? I think its..." he stopped in mid sentence, a look concern on his face.
"Pop, something wrong?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Something is up at home. Mom isn't too worried, but I can tell something out of the ordinary has her on alert. Let's get going, if we move fast, nobody will be even able to get a good look."
"Sounds good to me, let's go!"
Ranma turned around and began to hop from tree to tree in a beeline toward home. The bond he and Kasumi shared started during their time in the world of Yesterday. Since then, it had only gotten stronger. Cologne had explained that it was not uncommon in the village that married couples would build up this kind of link as their years together continued. It wasn't common, and it seemed to be a function of how much they loved each other combined with their Ki abilities. He could feel his wife's concern, but he could tell she wasn't threatened.
Soon they could see the house. Ranma and Ranko could both feel Kasumi's presence in the medical building and quickly ran to the front door. He opened the door to see his wife examining a young girl, somewhere around Riku and Dai's age. Dai and Riku were next to the window.
Kasumi didn't look up. She had known Ranma would show up the moment she became aware of the girls unique aura.
Dai finally broke the silence. "Hi pop!"
"Hello Dai, so...whose your new friend?"
"Oh, this is Hotaru. We met her on the way home today. She had a little trouble with the local punks, so we asked Mom to take a look at her."
Kasumi stood up, walked around Hotaru, and commenced to press several pressure points, and as Ranma and his children could notice, also applied some small, medical based ki pulses as well.
When she finished, she walked back around and faced the girl. "All finished Hotaru. I didn't notice any signs of damage from today, but I did notice some old problems that I took care of. How do you feel?"
Hotaru was amazed. For the first time that she could remember, she actually felt good. No, she actually felt great. She looked up at this wonderful woman who finally took away the fatigue that had plagued her forever. "I fell wonderful! Thank you Mrs. Saotome!"
Kasumi could see the color returning to the girls face, and her primary aura was shifting back to normal. Most of the girls internal problems were chi-flow based, and her treatment unblocked some critical paths that looked like they had been blocked for a long time. What was more interesting was that in additional to her primary aura, she had some type of secondary aura superimposed on her primary. The secondary aura was fleeting, and difficult to detect, almost like a shadow image of a regular one. In spite of this, Kasumi could tell that whatever this aura was, it was very powerful. She assumed it was this shadow aura that had set of her danger senses when the girl first walked in ealier.
"You are very welcome." Kasumi replied. She turned to her husband and daughter. "Back from training early?"
"Uh...yeah...early. We finished up early, right Ranko?" he stammered.
"Yeah. Hey Mom! I finally got the breaking point technique down!" she beamed.
"That's wonderful dear"
When Dai and Riku's father and sister came in, Hotaru couldn't see them as she was facing Kasumi. When she could finally turn around and see the newcomers, she saw a tall, dark-haired pigtailed man that clearly resembled his two sons and a red haired girl of about 17 or 18 standing next to him. Her eyes widened as she realized that the girl was wearing just shreds of clothing. Even her easily viewed underwear was ripped in several compromising locations. She was a bit unnerved when nobody else seemed to react to her state of dress.
"Um...excuse me" she finally managed to say after the girl had said she learned some breaking technique. "What happened to your clothes?"
Ranko glanced down and just shrugged. "Technique's kind of hard on the old outfit."
"Uh, don't you want a coat or...something?"
"Nah, I'm heading inside to take a soak. I'll change then."
Now Hotaru wasn't that uncomfortable about excess female flesh, after all, she lived with Michiru and Haruka and she'd seen more than most kids her age. But she was somewhat unnerved at the lack of reaction from everybody else. Heck, even though they were her brothers, they were still boys for goodness sakes!
"Ranko dear, go on ahead. Aunt Nabiki is finally here, so don't forget to say hello to her."
"Gotcha! Thanks again Pop." She walked to the door and quickly left.
During this exchange, Kasumi couldn't help but notice the keen attention Ranma was paying to Dai and Riku's new friend. Granted, she had a strange secondary aura, but that still didn't explain why he was paying so much attention to her.
"Dai" Kasumi asked "Do you and Riku want to walk Hotaru home?"
"Sure!" he said. "C'mon Riku. Hey Hotaru, are you okay to walk home now?"
"Yes I believe I am. Thank you."
Hotaru followed the two boys out of the room. When she was gone, Kasumi looked at Ranma "Did you notice her second aura?"
"Yeah."
"I noticed how closely you were watching her. Is there something else?"
"Yeah, I think I've seen her before."
"Where" Kasumi prodded.
"You said Nabiki was here. I'd like to talk to her about it too. Remember how I wanted to talk to her about the dreams I've been having? Well...I'm pretty sure that girl was one of the girls in the dream."
-**-
A short time later, Nabiki, Kasumi and Ranma were seated in the main room of the house.
"So Saotome, what's up?" Nabiki was always focused and to the point.
Ranma squirmed in his seat. "Nabiki, I know this is going to sound bonkers. Even for me."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"I've been having a recurring dream for some time now. It's always the same, but it seems to be getting stronger, more clear in the last few months." He paused, trying to put his thoughts together into as believable chain as possible. He and Kasumi had talked about this a lot lately, but it was entirely different talking to somebody else about it. Heck, I know Kasumi trusts me, but Nabiki....he thought to himself.
Nabiki just looked at him waiting, until Kasumi prodded him "Go on Ranma".
"Okay. See Nabiki, my dream always is the same. It turns out that there is this huge natural disaster that affects the whole world."
"What disaster? What happens?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, I'm not sure. I think something explodes, or crashes, that puts so much junk in the sky that it causes things to start getting colder."
"Like with the dinosaurs?"
"Yeah! I think so" he said.
Nabiki was trying to be patient. She knew that if she pressed too hard, Ranma would clam up. "So it would be some type of large meteor?"
"Yeah. Anyways, once things start getting colder, a lot of people start dying. Some from the crash, some from the cold, and some from lack of food. A lot of people die Nabiki." He looked her in the eyes. "Almost everyone" he added.
"I assume there is more?..."
"Uh huh. The survivors are herded up by this group of girls. I think it may be the Sailor Senshi. Sometimes their faces aren't so clear. Anyways, these girls are actually trying to help, and the protect the few people that survive and help them start over." He stopped, looked at Kasumi, and then back to Nabiki. "That's it, except for three last things."
"And they are?"
"One, I get the feeling that the big crash doesn't necessarily have to happen. I don't know why or how, but I think that part is important. Two, I think this is more than a dream. I can feel it. I really think its more of a warning than just a dream."
Nabiki noticed he only mentioned two things. "And the third is".
"I'm almost certain that the girl that we just met was one of the Sailor Senshi."
In the old days, Nabiki would have instantly seen dollar signs in this last tidbit. That type of information would be valuable to many people. But now.... "Okay, so let's accept that this is some type of...vision. First, why you? Why are you having these dreams?"
Ranma just snorted. "Why me? Heck, I don't know, why does anything happen to me. Look at all of the crap that's happened to me so far in my life. The chaos at your house, kidnappings, fighting with gods.... I've got no clue. Maybe it's a gift from our visit to that weird world. I don't know. What's important is that I think it is more than a dream.
Nabiki rolled her eyes. He had a point, there never was a good reason why all this stuff happened to Ranma, it just did. "So, What next?"
Kasumi finally chimed in. "Nabiki, we had talked about you trying to get some information on the Sailor Senshi before, but you said there were no good clues. What about now, with this girl."
Nabiki sat in silence for a bit. "Yes, it might give us a stating point. Let me work on it." She looked back at Ranma. "Are you sure you want to get into this? If we start to get warm, they may not like us snooping around."
Ranma reached over and took Kasumi's hand in his. "Until today, I wasn't really convinced that the dream meant anything. Originally, we were just going to talk to you about it and see what you thought. But since I've seen that girl, I'm now sure it is just more than just a dream. Nabiki, almost everybody dies. If we can do something to prevent it, we must."
-**-
The Princess of Pluto was back at the Gates, reviewing the timelines for anything out of the ordinary. As usual, nothing worth dealing with, although once again, Setsuna was subconsciously troubled at how quickly the reviews were going.
I'm sure it's just because we're getting close to when it all begins she told herself. After all, you'd expect the temporal permutations to diminish the closer you got to the event. It only made sense.
Maybe I'll just run through them one more time... she thought, and sat back down to verify this weeks findings.
About an hour later, she had finished the second pass and felt better. She hadn't missed anything. All of the probabilities of Crystal Tokyo were around 99.5 percent or better. She was sure of it, and she had used the Gates for so long, she knew they had no surprises for her. If nothing else, she could count on their flawless operation. The scientists who built the gates for Queen Serenity definitely knew their stuff. Take a lot of advanced science and technology, mix in some magic, and you got some truly awesome inventions.
But it just seems too quick. She kept thinking to herself. I still can't believe that the alternate timelines are disappearing this soon. Impact won't be for quite a few months still.
In the end, she once again relied on the tool that had served her flawlessly for so long.