I do not own anything written by Rumiko Takahashi or Kosuke Fujishima.

As with natural species, supernatural species have followed in the wake of the migrations of peoples that have been so much a part of the modern world. However, supernatural species have operated under constraints that natural species haven't. Natural species were often imported by colonists and immigrants, especially the domesticated varieties, of course, but even the non-domesticated varieties. None of the Awakened has copied with supernatural species the Sleeper that imported every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and placed them in Central Park in New York City, for example.

And there are further constraints on the spread of supernatural species, likely a part of their nature in currently unknown ways. For instance, the dwarves of Scandinavia and the ban-sidhe of Ireland seem bound to their geographical locations, the genii of the ancient Romans are bound to specific bloodlines, and succubae have had very limited success expanding beyond populations descended from Europeans...

But not all supernatural species are so limited, and in rare cases their nature works for them. The biggest success story when it comes to the migration of European supernatural species is the sprite. Once bound by mountain, desert, and ocean barriers to Europe and parts of northern Africa, sprites have followed European colonists and adventurers wherever they've wandered and even in many places exceeded them. The current thinking is that sprites' success can be attributed to their intelligence — in most parts of the world, supernatural species filling the same ecological niche were nonsentient, and so unable to compete with the sentient (if often flighty) sprites and quickly pushed aside when the European import arrived in their region.

A good example of this is Japan. Sprites are believed to have arrived there in the latter part of the 19th century after Japan was forced to open its doors to diplomatic and economic relations with the West, brought in with the living plants sprites need to survive, imported by the wives of diplomats and traders across the Pacific. They quickly covered all of the Japanese islands, in spite of efforts by the native Awakened to prevent their spread and even eradicate them in areas that they had already occupied. The sprites then spread from Japan to Korea and China, and can now be found throughout the entire Orient...

"The Migration Patterns of the Supernatural Species of Europe," a term paper by Hermione Granger

The next morning:

Nabiki slowly came awake, and glanced at the still-quiet alarm clock. Hmm, earlier than usual—at least, than usual now, and isn't that wonderful? she thought with a sleepy smile as she considered the night's events, or rather non-events. No sex, like the first few night, no adventures, like the last couple, no dreams I can remember at all, he did it!

Then, as she slowly cleared her mind, she realized there was something missing. No Ranma. Where is she? she thought, a spike of panic shooting through her. She didn't go back to Genma, he's swimming back to Japan right now, and she doesn't have anywhere else to go...

Nabiki quickly rose, threw on the previous day's clothes, and headed downstairs where, as expected, she found her older sister in the kitchen. "Kasumi, have you seen Akane this morning?" she asked as she walked in.

Kasumi glanced up from her breakfast preparations with a smile, then focused back on her work. "Of course, she's taking her morning run."

"Good," Nabiki replied, then in a lower tone, "Have you seen Ranma anywhere?"

Kasumi nodded. "Yes, she's in the dojo practicing. Though that is odd, now that you mention it — usually, she wakes up with you." Glancing thoughtfully over at Nabiki, she asked, "You two haven't had a fight or anything?"

Nabiki shook her head. "No, nothing like that. No dreams last night, either, at least none that I can remember. But I woke up alone, so I don't know if that's because Ranma managed to control herself or because I spent the night alone."

"Well, I'm at a stopping point for the moment, so why don't I show you some of the most absolutely beautiful flowers that have bloomed in the yard and then you can talk to Ranma while I finish breakfast," Kasumi said in her old bubbly, slightly oblivious manner, making Nabiki start suspiciously.

"Okaayyy ..."

/\

As Nabiki and Kasumi walked out into the yard, Nabiki murmured, "Has one of your friends shown up?"

Kasumi nodded. "Yes, a sprite that played with me a lot while mother was alive. She's agreed to help us, but she wanted to meet you before she left."

"Meet me? Why?"

"I don't know, she said something about getting a 'look at you', why I don't know."

Suddenly, Nabiki found a six-inch tall slim girl with short blond hair and bumblebee wings hovering in front of her face — naturally blond at that, as the lack of so much as a stitch of clothing made obvious.

"Oh, wow, you're here!" the diminutive cutie bubbled. "And look at you! You're looking so much better now, all the reds and blues clearing up, the blacks and muddy greys fading away, you're even getting a little pink in there! That succubus in the dojo must be quite a hottie, huh?"

A gaping Nabiki started to blush, and Kasumi stifled a laugh. "Nabiki, this is Cherry Blossom. She's kind enough to agree to help us out."

"You betcha!" the sprite enthused as she circled Nabiki. "Gotta do something for all those wonderful stories you told us. Besides, it sounds like fun! Ooh, Nabiki, that demon stench is even fading, you've been a good girl lately! But not too good, I hope," Cherry Blossom added, flying up in front of the still-stunned girl and giving her a broad wink. "Well, it's been good to see you again, Nabiki, but now I have a job to do. To Juuban, up, up, and away!" And the little bundle of energy made manifest sped up and out of sight.

A moment later, Cherry Blossom was again hovering eye level with Nabiki, looking somewhat abashed. "Um, which way is Juuban?" Wordlessly, Nabiki pointed the way, and with a cheerful "Thanks!" the sprite was gone again.

Nabiki stared after the now vanished sprite until the sound of laughter brought her out of her daze. Turning, she found her normally calm, collected, even staid sister on her knees, arms across her stomach, laughing so hard she could barely keep from falling over completely and rolling on the ground. "Ohh ... you should ... have ... seen your ... face!" Kasumi managed to gasp out between peals of laughter.

Finally, Nabiki gave in to a chuckle of her own as she reached down to give Kasumi a hand up. "I suppose I was rather dumbstruck, there." Sobering, she turned her gaze back toward Juuban. "Please tell me that was an act!"

Finally toning down her laughter to chuckles, Kasumi shrugged. "That's the Cherry Blossom I've known for as long as I've known her, except ..." sobering, "... except just after mother died. When I was constantly breaking into tears from the pain, and completely overwhelmed by the workload and trying to be a mother to two sisters, she was there. It was like she was a completely different person, giving me a figurative shoulder to cry on, helping me with the housework — she's more mature than she acts." Giving a little chuckle, she added, "Not that that's hard. She's the one that taught me how to cook. Why she learned to begin with I don't know, she never actually ate ... I don't care what she says, Nabiki, no amount of storytelling equals what's she's done for me."

"For us, sis," Nabiki said, giving her older sister a quick hug, "and someday we'll figure out a way to pay her back."

"I don't think we can, little sis," Kasumi all but whispered, "but that's what friendship is really all about, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know," Nabiki said with a shrug, "but I'd sure like to find out. C'mon, I'll talk with Ranma later, what say I help with breakfast?"

The two started to walk back into the house, when Nabiki froze. Kasumi took a few more steps, then turned around when she realized Nabiki wasn't alongside her anymore. "Nabiki?" she asked quietly.

Nabiki waved for silence. There was something Cherry Blossom said, something important, what was it? As best she could she ran through her memory of their brief encounter, and then she had it. "Wait a minute, Cherry Blossom knew what kind of nature spirit Ranma is, she said what type! What was it, ulubus? Sudulus? No, succubus!" A big grin broke out on her face as she focused again on her sister. "At last, I'll be able to give Ranma some real news! Sorry, sis, I'm going to have to skip helping with breakfast. In fact I'll skip breakfast, make me an extra-large bento, I'll be on my computer!"

"Certainly, Nabiki, I fully understand," Kasumi said to her sister's retreating back as she watched Nabiki rush back into the house, then glanced toward the dojo before turning to follow her sister. I really hope she'll have some good news for you, you could use some and it would make her so happy.

/oOo\

Mara stalked down the hall toward her office, carefully ignoring how everyone she passed was carefully ignoring the smoke curling away from her charred clothing and singed hair. She kept her face expressionless even as anger, frustration and humiliation coiled and burned inside her.

Slamming open her door hard enough to crack its glass panel, she paused at the sight of her desk, reports piled in stacks, and groaned. She carefully shutg the door, walked over to the office chair behind the desk and flopped into it with a sigh.

I just don't understand it. Hild's Breasts, how do they do it?! One of Niflheim's best field operators, up against a romance-besotted clown that thinks there isn't a problem in the world her potions can't fix and a tech-obsessed kid with no power to speak of, both with serious impulse control problems, and their sister that sees the world through rose-colored glasses so dark it's amazing she can see at all — and still, every single time I come out looking like a complete idiot. Every single time!

Sitting up, she started sorting through the reports with a rapid-fire triage of 'now irrelevant', 'review at your convenience', and 'read yesterday'. I think Hild assigns me these little jobs with the Norns whenever I'm getting too full of myself. I'll have to remember not to do that in the future — though they do give me a chance to see Urd again.

For a moment, Mara's face softened and turned wistful, then she froze at the sight of a report with a stick-it note stuck to the cover with the name of Nabiki Tendo written on it. Quickly opening the folder, she started reading. Yeesh, Gosunkugi really is an idiot — fails to properly bargain or dominate the creatures he summons, gives impossible orders, I'll wager he accuses Gorash of being incompetent for being unable to read minds or sneak through Nabiki's wards. Ah, well, he's giving us a hold on his family, or will when daddy-dearest finds out what his precious son has been up to — and flubbing horribly. Then she stiffened. A sexually shy succubus skilled in the martial arts? How did that happen?

Turning to her phone, she hit the speed dial and smiled at the face that appeared on the phone's screen. "Hey, Calise, good to see you. They take you off of field work?"

Calise smiled back and shrugged. "Just a vacation, a chance to get away from all the assholes for a few weeks."

"Good," Mara said with a smirk, "wouldn't want our second-best field agent to be retired."

"Ah, well," Calise said with a return smirk, "we can't all be as good as Amora. Hey, I hear you've had another encounter with the Terrible Trio. How'd it go?" A look of mock-concern crossed her face as Mara winced, and she leaned closer to the screen. "Is that soot on your face?" She laughed at Mara's grumbled response, then sobered. "And how was Urd?"

Mara sighed and failed miserably at a disapproving frown that insisted on turning into a soft smile. "As beautiful and irritating as ever."

Calise sighed. "I'm sure she'll join us eventually. She's too pragmatic to be really comfortable with those dreamers." Straightening up, she asked, "And what can Intelligence do for you?"

Mara held up the folder. "I have a report here from an imp named Gorash on assignment in Nerima."

"Ah, the one about the succubus hanging around Nabiki Tendo."

"Ah, you've seen it. Will you see what we have on the succubus?"

"Nothing." Calise chuckled at Mara's surprised look. "When I saw the report I knew you'd be interested and looked into it, and we don't have anything on a succubus named Ranma. Not too surprising, seeing how we don't really pay much attention to those scatterbrained bimbos, but something weird obviously happened to this one."

"Yes," Mara agreed, frowning thoughtfully, "and she's somehow involved with my hopefully future lieutenant. I wonder how that happened? Nabiki's always been more concerned with her safety, she hasn't been the type to dominate someone else just for her own personal pleasure. I hope this isn't the beginning of a trend."

Calise shook her head. "Not likely. As soon as I saw the report I assigned some higher power surveillance and did a little research. It's been over a week since Nabiki's summoned any imps, or anything else according to the surveillance. There's been some summoning magic causing blips occasionally, but nothing lasting anywhere near long enough for a summoning to take place."

"Has Research come up with an explanation for the blips?"

"No, they're as confused as we are. As for Nabiki herself, her aura's all wrong for someone turning sadistic — not, however, for someone falling in love."

"Hmmm," Mara stared unseeing at the wall for a long moment, then shook herself. "After I plow through my backlog and make sure I don't have any other immediate fires to put out I'm going to have to make a personal reconnaissance — I have a sneaky suspicion that our plans for Nabiki are going off the rails. Meanwhile, put out the word that I want to know anything any of our contacts might know about a succubus named Ranma. And Calise? Thanks."

Calise smiled at her old friend. "No problem, glad to help." The phone's screen went black.

Mara smiled fondly at the blank screen, then groaned as she turned back to the stack of folders.

/oOo\

Carrying an oversized bento, Kasumi knocked on Nabiki's door and stepped in, then took an unconscious step back as Nabiki looked over from her computer monitor and literally snarled at her older sister. Instantly, Nabiki went from a snarl to a ruefully apologetic look. "Sorry about that, sis, I'm just feeling a little frustrated at the moment."

Kasumi walked over and handed the bento to her younger sister, then looked at the monitor and saw a picture of a sultry-looking nude woman with wings. "It's time for you to head to school, Akane has already left. So, no luck on finding information on succubuses? That doesn't look much like Ranma."

"The plural is 'succubae', and no, the problem's just the opposite," Nabiki said with a sigh, shutting down her desktop computer. "There's too much, and every site seems to either be too general, too likely to be false, or contradicts other sites — even the sites that are normally reliable contradict each other. I'm afraid that in this case the 'net just isn't going to give me answers I can trust. I'm going to have to go to my magic source here in Tokyo and see if he can suggest a book I can order, and that's going to take time."

Kasumi gave her downcast sister a quick hug. "Cheer up, Nabiki, at least we now have a name. So this is a step back, at least we've made two steps forward!"

Nabiki had stiffened to the hug at first, but relaxed and hugged Kasumi back for a moment before breaking away to pick up her school bag. "You're right, and I know just having the name is a huge step forward, but for a moment there I thought we had all the answers. Ah, well, they'll come with time." Then perking up, Nabiki added, "Besides, Ranma's nature isn't the only thing I'm trying to get answers on. Let's collect her and I'll get to school, there should be some waiting for me there."

/oOo\

Akane strode down the sidewalk toward Furinkan High School, moving up to a trot. Strange, she thought to herself when she realized what she was doing and slowed down to a stride again, I'm actually eager to face the Hentai Horde and Kuno today. Her face twisted into a vicious smile as she thought of the coming battle. I really need to hit something — or someone — and they'll do as well as anyone, and better than most!

She reflected on the last week, the way Nabiki was no longer so hyper-focused on everything around her; the way her gaze would occasionally go unfocused, as if she was seeing something no one else could; the way every so often her usual cynical smile would soften. All Akane's friends insisted that all meant her middle sister was seeing someone, but she'd been unable to find anything that even hinted at who the boy could be (once again Akane firmly squelched the suggestion some of her friends had made that perhaps Nabiki had a girlfriend), and Akane's frustration was steadily growing.

The school gates came into view and Akane again broke into a trot, then a run, her chanted mantra growing into a shout: "I hate boys, I hate boys, I hate boys, I HATE BOYS!"

/oOo\

As Nabiki walked down the sidewalk, she carefully looked out of the corner of her eye as she glanced toward the cute, busty and very naked redhead floating along at her side. Yup, that imp's still following us. At least, I think it's the same imp. I wonder who set it to spy on me? I'll have to see if I can come up with a trap. Dismissing the imp from her mind for the moment, she focused on Ranma's impressive chest with an inward lascivious grin only to see Ranma blush and turn slightly so that her assets weren't quite as much on display. "Ranma, what's with the blush?"

"Uh ... well, ya see ... y-you're th-th-thinkin' about me, aren't you?" Ranma stuttered.

"Yeah, so?"

"I-I mean thinking about me, like in the d-dreams we had the first few nights."

"Well ... yes, I was," Nabiki admitted. "Sorry if that bothers you, but you're just so cute." She chuckled as Ranma's blush grew deeper. "But how did you know?" she asked.

"I dunno, I just did — I ... I felt it, somehow," the now thoroughly embarrassed nature spirit replied.

Nabiki nodded thoughtfully. "You must be an empath of some sort. Makes sense."

"An em-what?" Ranma asked, her blush dying down now that Nabiki was focused on something besides her physical attributes.

"An empath, someone that can sense other people's emotions," Nabiki explained. "Is lust the only one you can pick up, or can you sense other emotions as well?"

"Others too, it's just that, uh ... well ..." Ranma was a brilliant red again. "I don't really know what the others mean yet, lust is the only one I've been able to figure out."

"Lots of exposure, right?" Nabiki grinned at Ranma. "Well, I'm sure the rest will come with experience. And speaking of dreams, you weren't in mine last night, but I woke up alone this morning. Did you not spend the night with me, or successfully stay out of my head and just get up early?"

Ranma brightened, relieved at the change of subject. "Both, I guess. I couldn't fall asleep at all, so after a few hours I got up and practiced my new katas."

"Hmmm." Nabiki gazed forward, deep in thought. "Do you feel tired?"

"No, not really."

"After hours of no sleep and all that time spent practicing? Then maybe your variety of nature spirit doesn't sleep, except when occupying someone else's dream," Nabiki thought out loud. "Interesting ..."

The school gates came into view, and Nabiki paused and glanced around — nobody paying attention to her, good. "We're almost there, so remember — you can practice your katas on the school fields or explore the town while I'm in class. I'll be out by the corner of the wall by myself for lunch like always so you can join me then, but this time don't harass me in class!"

Ranma chuckled nervously, reaching back and scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, I won't. Sorry 'bout that."

Nabiki grinned and started again for the school gates. "Hey, don't worry about it, just don't do it again. Now come on, we ought to be in time for you to see the aftermath."

"Aftermath?" Ranma asked, and then they walked/floated through the gates and the redhead stared at the groaning or unconscious (or both) bodies scattered around with a panting Akane standing over an unconscious Kuno. "Whoa, what happened here?"

Nabiki winced slightly at the odd looks some of the watching students sent her way. None of them were close enough to have made out what Ranma said, but ... "Shhh," she hissed. "I'll explain at lunch. Now be quiet — remember, even if people can't see you they can still hear you. Now, I have to get to class."

"Oh, right, sorry," Ranma whispered back. "I'll see ya at lunch." Then she floated up above the heads of the students and headed toward the field.

Nabiki watched her friend head off, then turned and headed for the school doors through the scattered bodies. An empath. That's great, just ... great. I can hide how I feel, but how do I suppress it? Can I suppress it? Do I want to suppress it? Ranma was just really getting comfortable with what she is again, damn it! But she's going to have to learn the truth eventually... I really hope Kazuki has something for me today, I could really use some good news.

/\

Gosunkugi turned away from the school window as the students below started entering the school, a snarl on his face so intense that the boy next to him actually flinched back from the normally next-to-invisible boy. So now Nabiki's bringing her fuck-toy to school again. She must have it properly 'trained' now, and I can just guess what she's going to be up to during lunch!

Walking over to his desk, he pondered the past week — specifically, the past week's silence. And where's that imp? You would think by now it would have something to report. Well, Nabiki, you can have your lunchtime fun, I'll be seeing about teaching you a lesson about getting above your station.

The title comes in part from the song from Les Miserables.