Everything
Akane groaned and covered her head with her pillow as shrill beeping filled her bedroom. For a couple of minutes, her sleepiness battled with the alarm, trying to carry her back to half remembered dreams, until she abruptly threw her pillow to the side and sat up. She scowled at the time on her clock and made a sound of disgust at being awake so early on a Sunday before immediately brightening as she remembered why she'd set her alarm. She quickly visited the bathroom, got dressed, and made her way through the still sleeping house to her destination.
She stood at the threshold and sighed in contented reverence before stepping into the neat and orderly kitchen, remembering the times she spent there with her mother. Turning on the lights, she started setting out the tools and ingredients she'd need to make breakfast. The past month had been stressful for everyone, and she wanted to do something nice for them and show them how much she cared. She'd almost gotten everything set up when Kasumi walked into the kitchen and stopped.
"Oh. Akane. You're making breakfast?"
"Yes, I thought everyone deserved a special treat, so I decided to surprise them with a big western breakfast."
"Ah. That's very thoughtful of you. What are you going to make?"
"Vanilla almond French toast, quiche Lorraine, bacon, 'easy chocolate croissants', and fresh fruit."
"That's quite ambitious," Kasumi noted as she glanced at the counters, "where are the recipes?"
"I memorized them," Akane beamed as she set out the last of the ingredients.
Kasumi's gaze wandered over the numerous pieces of cookware and kitchen tools spread around her formerly neat and orderly kitchen. "Well, if we're sharing surprises," she said brightly, "have you heard of the karate tournament they're holding in Setagaya this month?"
"Yes," Akane nodded as she picked up a stick of butter, "it's a pretty large tournament for highly skilled martial artists; taking one of the top three places is usually considered a good stepping stone for opening a dojo. Why?"
"I've decided to enter."
"What?!" Akane exclaimed, crushing the butter in her hand. "You can't enter that, Kasumi! You need years of training and experience to be ready for it! Without that, you wouldn't have a chance of doing well and could get seriously hurt."
"Oh, but I've picked up a lot from watching you, Father, and the Saotomes for years. I'm sure I'll do fine."
"Kasumi, listen to me," Akane urged, stepping forward to take her sister's hands but stopping and washing her hands first when she noticed the remains of the butter. "Just picking things up is not good enough for this. You need years of dedicated training and practice, and even then, you should have an advanced practitioner confirm you're ready for a tournament, especially a high level one like this."
"Well… I suppose you do know more about martial arts than I do," Kasumi allowed thoughtfully, "so I'll defer to your judgment and not enter. Thank you, Akane."
"No, thank you for listening to me! Entering that tournament really would be a terrible idea. If you want to get into martial arts, any of us would be happy to teach you, though, and I'm sure you'd be ready to enter a beginner's tournament in no time, if that's really what you want."
"That's very kind of you," Kasumi said with a warm smile as Akane went to retrieve a new stick of butter from the fridge. After a moment, she asked, "Akane? Would you consider me to be an advanced practitioner of cooking?"
"Absolutely! You're amazing," Akane exclaimed, before stiffening as she reached for the butter. "K-Kasumi?" she asked in a stricken tone as she turned to face her sister.
"I'm sorry, Akane," Kasumi said with compassion, "but you really aren't ready to prepare a meal like this. I know you've picked up some of the basics by watching Mother and me, but a meal like this really does need study and practice."
"But… I thought…"
Kasumi walked to her sister and hugged her. "I know," she said soothingly, "you thought you'd do something nice for everyone, and that was a wonderful thought. But trying to make so many things at once without working your way up to it is very difficult and can even be dangerous for yourself or the people you're cooking for. It'd be a shame for such a lovely gesture to end badly, wouldn't it?"
"I, I guess," Akane said quietly, leaning into her sister's shoulder. "I just wanted to be more like Mom… and you."
Kasumi laughed softly and gave her a squeeze. "Well, then you'll just have to spend time learning how to cook, like she and I did. I can even teach you, just like Mother taught me."
"I'd like that," Akane whispered, giving Kasumi a tremulous smile.
"I'd like that too," Kasumi replied, giving her another squeeze before releasing her. "Now, I really do think your idea was lovely, so why don't you let me prepare the breakfast you planned so thoughtfully."
"All right. Can I at least make the 'easy chocolate croissants'? It's just slicing open some croissants and putting a thick layer of chocolate spread inside them. I already bought the croissants and the chocolate spread," she said, indicating the pastries and the small jar sitting on a counter.
"Akane, that's Marmite."
oOo
"Oh, that smells wonderful," Soun said as he walked downstairs and into the living room. A glance into the kitchen gave him a moment of concern as he saw his youngest daughter was in there, but it passed quickly when he noted that she was only watching as his eldest did the actual food preparation.
"Good morning, Father," Kasumi said as cleaned a bowl, "I'm sorry, but breakfast won't be ready for a while. We didn't expect you to come down so early."
"Neither did I," laughed Soun, "but the aroma of your wonderful cooking woke me early."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."
"Nonsense. I can't think of a better way to start the day. Thank you, Kasumi, and Akane," he stated, though his voice took on an uncertain tone at the end, as if he were unsure exactly what he should be thanking Akane for.
"Oh, I didn't really do anything," Akane quickly exclaimed.
"I appreciate that—er, I mean, just keeping Kasumi company was very considerate of you!"
"Thanks…"
"I'll just go outside and exercise a bit."
Over the next twenty minutes, the rest of the household, with Velgri being first and Nabiki last, drifted downstairs and eventually made their way to the dining table. A few minutes after that, Kasumi and Akane brought the food to the table and took their seats.
"This looks great!" Ranma exclaimed as he reached for a platter.
"Oh, it was all Akane's idea," Kasumi said with a warm smile.
Ranma's hand stopped short inches from the food. "Her idea? Did she actually make any of it?"
"Oh, she came up with the idea, planned the menu, and bought the ingredients," Kasumi said, giving Akane's shoulder a warm squeeze, making the other girl's glare and soft growling subside, "but she asked me to do the preparation. She thought everyone deserved something nice after everything that's happened recently."
"Oh," Ranma said, looking a bit embarrassed. "Thanks, Akane. This was a great idea." His cheeks colored slightly when his words elicited a brilliant smile.
"Look how well they're getting along, Tendou," Genma rumbled, "We'll be hea—"
"Do not," Velgri warned, "disrupt this lovely gesture by Akane and Kasumi. If you wish to sabotage your own schemes, you may do so after the meal."
The two men exchanged a glance then wordlessly gave the food their full attention. The meal passed quietly, aside from a few pleasantries and more words of appreciation for the food and both Akane and Kasumi.
"Thanks again," Ranma said to Akane after they were away from the table. "It was a good idea."
"Thanks," Akane said, blushing faintly. "There was supposed to be chocolate for the croissants, but I picked a bad brand of chocolate spread."
"They were fine without it."
A moment passed in silence before Akane scowled and said, "Well, go ahead and say that you're happy I got Kasumi to make it and I'm a terrible cook."
Ranma rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah. But you know that. That's why you got Kasumi to make everything, right?"
Akane glowered for a moment but was unable to deny it. "Well, I'm going to get better and become a great cook and someday you'll be begging for me to make something for you!"
"Great!"
"Uh, right. You'll see."
"Looking forward to it."
Akane deflated with a sigh. "Fine. Are you doing any Avatar training I can help with today?"
"Nah, I'm going to hang out with some friends. It's been a while, you know?"
Akane's lips tightened briefly as she imagined just which friends he was going to visit before she forced herself to let it go. Ranma deserved, needed even, to relax, even if she didn't like how he did so or with whom. "Have fun. I guess I'll catch up on some things I need to do here."
oOo
Akane jotted down another note in her notebook as she read through the book on the fundamentals of cooking that Kasumi had given her. She was hoping that treating cooking more like a school subject than something to just pick up as she went would work out better. She put down her pencil with a sigh. She was still a bit in shock over what happened that morning; Kasumi had offered to help her learn to cook a number of times in the past but always just accepted her refusal. Okay, now that she thought about it, maybe the number of offers had been a bit high, and Kasumi may have been a bit less cheerful than usual after each refusal, but she'd never come anywhere close to saying Akane was so bad in the kitchen that she was a danger to herself and others! Or threatened to get herself killed in a martial arts tournament to make Akane stop. She glanced across the living room at the lavender fox reading the newspaper and had a feeling she had a good idea of what was responsible for the change in her sister's behavior.
"Do you need something, Akane?" Velgri asked, turning toward the girl as if she'd felt the weight of her gaze.
"No… I was just thinking about how much things have changed since you came here."
"That's understandable. I hope none of the changes have been too terrible," the fox said while telekinetically turning a page.
"I … I'm still thinking things out. But I do think it's horrible that Ranma has to kill people, especially ones he's gotten to know, and what happened to Kodachi is just—" The bell at the rear gate rang, and Akane broke off mid-sentence. "Excuse me," she said, standing up and putting on a polite professional expression as she walked to the rear gate.
The new challenger was a man with short brown hair moussed into spikes, wearing orange tinted sunglasses, an unfastened single breasted leather trench coat, a black t-shirt bearing some sort of eight bit video game art, dark blue jeans, and black engineer boots bearing a pair of straps with iron buckles. Wisps of a faint purple aura drifted up from his hair and eyes.
"Hey. I'm Brandon Bullseye," he said casually, "I'm here to kill the Avatar of Light."
"I'm sorry, she's not here right now and isn't expected back soon. Would you like to schedule an appointment to meet with her?"
"Nah, I'll just leave a message." A metal cylinder dropped out of his sleeve and into his hand, and as a dark purple beam of energy extended from its front end, he lunged forward in a blur of motion and thrust it into Akane's chest—only to be hurled violently back, across the street and into a sturdy tree, before he could do more than singe a circle on her shirt.
Brandon chuckled briefly as he pushed himself back to his feet and grinned at the girl who was staring at him with wide eyes as she backed away toward the house and the lavender fox who was walking from the building. "Looks like today's my lucky day. I get to leave an extra special message for the Avatar by killing both her secretary and her animal companion!"
With that declaration, he ran through the gate and charged his targets. He was only halfway to the girl when the fox's form blurred, and she suddenly became a lithe woman with lavender hair and violet eyes. Before he could do more than start to adjust the position of his plasma katana in response, she moved forward in another blur, and in a single graceful motion, drew the slender silver sword at her waist and sliced across his wrist, sending his weapon flying from his grasp. The plasma katana hadn't even hit the ground before the tip of the silver sword was lightly pressed against his throat. Brandon froze in place and swallowed, his slight motion causing a trickle of blood to run down his neck.
"You seem to be operating under a serious misconception, human," the woman casually remarked as he heard the girl gasp, "I act in an advisory role not due to a lack of prowess, but rather because the Accords forbid someone of my power from acting directly on Earth. In most cases, at least," she added with a predatory smile.
"Heh, I wasn't actually going to hurt either of you…" Brandon said, being very careful not to move," I just wanted to give the Avatar a little scare to make sure she took me seriously."
"Even if I believed your ridiculous claim, that's still a sufficient breach of the Accords to end your life, little darkling. But I think, perhaps, after what you attempted, the Avatar would like the pleasure of killing you herself."
"That's all I ever wanted," replied Brandon with a small grin.
"I see. That would set a terrible precedent, then," the advisor mused. There was a flash of motion, the world spun dizzyingly, and the girl screamed; then Brandon knew nothing more.
"Are you all right, Akane?" Velgri asked as she turned from the body that was rapidly dissolving into purple motes.
Akane tore her gaze from the spot where the body had been to stare wide eyed at the Avatar's animal companion who apparently had too much power to use on Earth unless the Accords had been violated. She took in the slender and graceful form, fair skin, soft brown ankle boots, juniper green trousers, and cream blouse she wore, hair adorned with pins shaped like small silver leaves, and the delicate ears with short pointed tips. She glanced down at the scorched circle on her shirt, then back at Velgri, and found herself blurting, "You don't have a human form because you have an elf form."
"Yes." A moment passed in silence. "Ah, yes, you did ask me about that one morning. I apologize if I was rather short in my reply then. I'd been reminiscing on the elven people and their unspeakably beautiful civilization; I was always quite fond of them. It was the conflict between the dark and the light that precipitated their decline, but it was humanity that put a final end to them. I don't blame the humans of today for that tragedy, but I'm afraid it was a poor time to ask if I have a human form; nevertheless, I should not have taken my inner turmoil out on you."
"It's all right," Akane said, then glanced in the direction of the house for a moment. "Are you…" She trailed off before trying again after a second. "What are your…" In the face of Velgri's slightly cocked head and inquisitive look, Akane's words failed her again. She sighed deeply. "I'm fine, Velgri. Thank you for stopping him."
"I'm glad, and you are welcome," said Velgri before reverting to her fox form and going inside.
Akane silently stood in the yard, alone aside from the crow that took to the air from the roof of the dojo and flew off, having seen all he needed to.
oOo
A ladder clunked against the side of the house, and a few moments later, Akane climbed onto the roof and quietly lay on her back and gazed up at the clouds. For a while, she just watched them slowly drift by, thinking of absolutely nothing, not even contemplating what various clouds might be shaped like. Eventually, she sighed and let the thoughts rush back to flood her mind.
Things were changing so much; worse, people she loved and cared about were changing. Ranma might not acknowledge it, but it was obvious to her that everything was directly or indirectly due to him assuming the role of the Avatar of Light and the arrival of the lavender fox that came with the position. The duties of the position required Ranma to change, becoming someone accustomed to killing her opponents on a regular basis. It didn't make her someone who enjoyed killing, but it changed the thought of doing so from something almost unthinkable and only to be used as an absolute last resort to just another option, another tool in her box. It seemed almost minor in comparison, but she—he—had gone from tolerating his female form and maybe thinking of it as a costume he wore sometimes to actually learning how to behave properly as a girl. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was still his new role and Velgri changing who he was!
She didn't like it. Not the way it was forcing him to change, and not the way those changes together somehow made everything worse and hurt the arrogant jerk who was still someone she cared about. Henri had been an evil schemer who'd forced Ranma to go on a date with him right before they were going to fight to the death to give himself an advantage in the challenge. He'd still lost, but somehow he'd actually gotten her to like him. And then she'd had to kill him. It… it was just so unfair and she hated it! She'd tried to tell Ranma that Henri had just been trying to use her, but she didn't think she'd fully believed her. Akane sighed again. People who used feelings as weapons were the worst.
She tried watching the clouds again, but her heart just wasn't in it, and with a noise of discontent, she turned her thoughts to what was bothering her the most right now—Kasumi. For as long as Akane could remember, her sister had been a constant in her life, a warm, gentle, loving girl in harmony with the world around her. While Akane herself was prone to barging through the world, facing challenges head-on, and Nabiki one to manipulate and maneuver the people around her, making them bend to her will, Kasumi contentedly drifted along with the currents of life, maybe sending a gentle ripple to slightly nudge someone, but otherwise being a living example of peace, harmony, and grace. And now Velgri was ruining all that!
Just this morning, instead of sending a gentle ripple Akane's way, Kasumi had told her off, outright stated she was a danger in the kitchen, and manipulated her! Oh, all gently and considerately, of course, but she never would have done something like that before. Akane loved her sister, loved her the way she had been and didn't want some magical being changing her! Yes, she knew people change and wouldn't begrudge Kasumi growing and changing, but having someone else change her wasn't the same. Was she going to gradually become more and more like Velgri, becoming less tolerant of faults and more prone to manipulation and scolding? Would she one day be willing to kill someone, not even in the heat of the moment, but as a penalty for breaking rules?
Akane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And then there was the other thing she'd learned today. The person responsible for the changes in her sister, who slept in her room with her, had an elf form! Were they sharing more than just a room?! It was clear from the start that Kasumi was infatuated with the Avatar's advisor, but were they actually having a, a … physical relationship? Akane couldn't argue that it wasn't Kasumi's business whom she dated, but she'd be damned if she let someone take advantage of either of her sisters, and she had serious doubts about Velgri, magical girl advisor or no. For one thing, Velgri wasn't human; now, Akane wasn't one to hold something like that against someone, but there could be important differences in how their minds and bodies worked. For that matter, did they have any idea how old Velgri was? She could be thousands of years old! Yes, Kasumi has said that she prefers older men, but there had to be limits! Akane growled in frustration and punched the roof.
"Could you please not break the roof? I like coming up here to think."
Akane's eyes flew open and she flushed red at the sight of Ranma standing nearby with his hands in his pockets. "Sorry… I was just—"
"Yeah, I know how it is. Is everything okay?"
Akane sighed and sat up. "I don't know. I'm concerned about Kasumi and what's going on with her and Velgri. Do you know what I found out today? Velgri has an elf form, so they might even be—" She cut off as she noticed the way Ranma was nonchalantly studying the clouds. "You knew!"
Ranma sighed, "She took me to a French restaurant on our training trip when she first arrived. How could I not know?"
"I thought she went as a fox," Akane quietly replied.
Ranma chuckled and shook his head. "With the way she is about appropriate behavior in social settings?"
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
He shrugged. "Not my place. If she wanted you to know, she would have told or shown you. How did you find out, anyway?"
"It was when the challenger tried to kill me this morning."
"WHAT?!"
oOo
"So, you're sure it was that Bullseye guy and he was empowered with darkness?" Ranma asked Velgri several minutes later, a frown on his face as he paced the living room.
"He identified himself as such, and the taint of darkness was quite obvious," the lavender fox replied. "His actions hardly would have fallen under the Accords, otherwise."
"I wish you'd saved him for me," muttered Ranma.
"If it wouldn't have encouraged other challengers to do the same, I would have. But perhaps it was for the best, regardless."
Ranma stopped pacing to look at his advisor. "What do you mean?"
"It is part of your duty to kill your challenger, but it is a duty, and in some cases, even a hardship. I do not think it would be in your best interest for you to instead take up killing in anger or take pleasure from the act."
He sighed. "I guess you have a point. It'd be one thing if I beat the crap out of him and then turned him over to the police; having to kill him in the end would make things different… You don't think something like this is going to happen again, do you?"
"It's extremely unlikely. Everyone is quite aware that the next person to break the Accords will be made an example of and suffer far worse than a quick death. And honestly, only an empowered human would have committed an attack of this nature to begin with. I daresay the one who recruited him is dearly regretting that decision right now."
"That's another thing—what's with recruiting humans and sending them after me? First Kodachi and now this guy. I don't like it, Velgri."
"It's not an uncommon tactic by the Dark, I'm afraid, even if it is almost never fruitful. Sending a human after the Avatar doesn't risk any valuable resources, and since the challenger is not part of the existing hierarchy, the sponsor isn't at risk of being overshadowed by an underling. After today's debacle, I don't foresee more empowered humans anytime soon, though."
"I guess that's good, at least. Um, I don't think I said it yet, but thank you for protecting Akane. If something had happened to her because of me…"
"You're quite welcome, but the only person responsible is the sadistic psychopath who attacked her. You shouldn't blame yourself for other people's actions. I'm sure Akane doesn't blame you."
"You irresponsible jerk!" roared Akane as she stormed into the living room.
"It looks like she feels differently…" Ranma said softly.
"You knocked the ladder over when you jumped off the roof! Do you know what a pain it was getting down?!"
o0o
The Avatar of Light bowed respectfully to the kanji on the wall scroll in the Tendou dojo then turned as she heard soft footsteps approaching. "Perfect timing," she said with a smile, "ready for your first lesson?"
"No," replied Pretty Special airily, "I just enjoy dressing like this and wandering into dojos."
"Right… Ok, I figured we'd start with magical girl stuff and finish with some practical martial arts. Nothing fancy, but the things that will be quick to learn but still help you a lot in actual fights, like falling, rolling, and evading attacks. For the magical girl part, well… I guess the first thing is, what do you know about being one?
"Hm?"
"Tell me what being a magical girl is like for you—how it works for you, how you became one, what you can do, and how you do it."
Nabiki nodded and her face took on a stricken look. "It happened after I was injured in a magical girl attack. She blasted the area and knocked me out. I wasn't even the target," she sniffled, "I was just collateral damage of her reckless attack."
"Very funny," Ranma said flatly. "Do you want training or not?"
Nabiki smiled. "While I was unconscious, I dreamed I was approached by a magical teddy bear looking for the girl chosen to be Pretty Special, who was destined to save the world."
"And you tricked him into giving you the power instead."
"Please, like I'd want the position. But he was pretty insistent that the world would end if I didn't, so being the kind hearted person I am—is there something you want to say, Saotome?"
"Sorry, I just choked for some reason. Go on."
"Right, so I took the position, and became Pretty Special. We discovered he actually mistook me for someone else and had a laugh about it. It all felt very real, but eventually I woke up and didn't have the powers. It wasn't until we were in Akuko's nightmare and we talked about how it worked—"
"Why is it that you always seem to end up palling around with my challengers, anyway? This isn't a situation where you should be playing both sides, you know!"
"I guess you're right. I probably should have just stayed quiet and not figured out I could become Pretty Special there…"
"Fine… just do whatever you want. Like always," she added under her breath.
"Will do. So, I transformed and killed Akuko inside her nightmare. When we woke up, she dissolved into sparkles, and I still had my powers. I tested them later, and they're not nearly as strong as they had been, though."
Ranma frowned in thought for a long moment. "Maybe because they're actually real now instead of something you were dreaming. I still don't know how that happened; maybe you absorbed Akuko's power?"
"No, that's not it."
Ranma peered at her curiously. "How do you know?"
Nabiki shrugged. "I don't know; I just know."
"Hunh. Ok, what can you do as Pretty Special?" Ranma listened to the answer and nodded. "Versatile long range offense and some ranged defense/manipulation, not a bad start at all. You'll want to improve what you have, in speed, power, and versatility. You'll also want to develop some kind of short range and defensive abilities and work on the power issue. We can't really throw around magical attacks here in here, so we'll start with theory."
At Nabiki's raised eyebrow, Ranma shook her head. "Even in regular martial arts, theory is important. You can practice moves forever, but if you don't know what you're trying to do and why it works the way it does, you'll only get so far; you also won't be able to develop your own techniques without it. Yeah, you can eventually pick up the theory through lots of experience, but it works better the other way around. It's even more important for a magical girl, unless you just want to be throwing around the powers that came with the deal."
Ranma coughed. "At least, that's my experience as the Avatar of Light. I can't say for sure it works the same for other magical girls. Even worse, your powers may actually be dependent on how well you connect with their source; when I fought Henri, I … well, I was afraid the Light could maybe overwhelm me, wash away what made me me, so I focused on keeping myself separate from it, and I was much weaker until I realized what was happening and stopped.
"So, since the connection to your power source can affect everything else, we should probably start there. Get in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and think about the source of your power." She watched as Pretty Special adjusted her stance, announcing clear as day to her that the girl had grown up around martial artists, even if she wasn't one herself, and closed her eyes. After a moment, the other girl's brow furrowed and her lips shifted into a slight frown.
"Doing all right there, Nabiki? Er, you do know what the source of your power is, don't you?"
"It hasn't come up before now."
"Okay, let's try to figure it out, then. Can you feel it at all? For me, I'm infused with the Light all the time and can feel it if I focus."
Nabiki stood silently for a long moment. "I'm not sure… I haven't really meditated before, so I can't tell if anything's different."
"If you had something like the Light inside, you'd notice it, trust me. Something quieter, then… Do you have any techniques where you gather power?"
"Yes."
"Great. Start gathering just a little bit of power—actually, wait. Can you dismiss the energy you gather without it blowing up? We can't throw around magical attacks in here."
"Yes, I've tested that."
"Really? Good. Most people don't think about things like that."
"I'm not most people."
"That's for sure. Go ahead and try it. Don't gather too much, try to do a slow and steady draw. If it starts to be too much to handle, stop and let it dissipate. Try to feel where this power is coming from and if it has a particular feel to it. Don't worry if you can't tell at first, it may take a while."
Nabiki inhaled deeply and started gathering a trickle of energy around her left hand. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the power as a sphere of different … flavors, it seemed to her, swirling around. There was the crisp, cold snap of blue; the energetic, crackling of what was sometimes yellow, sometimes bright blue, and sometimes a mix of the two; the intense burning strength of red; the refreshing and dangerously sharp edge of something barely visible; and the pure power of bright yellow-green. After a long moment of admiring each of them growing stronger around her hand, she tried to feel where they were coming from. Long minutes passed as she tried to trace the energy back to something, but it seemed like it just sprang into existence from nothing.
"You need to dismiss the energy, Nabiki."
Nabiki slowly opened her eyes, and at the sight of the brightly glowing orb of energy surrounding her left hand, let the power gently flow away. "You shouldn't call me that when I'm like this."
"Yeah, okay. So … Pretty? Special? PS?"
Nabiki made a face. "Special, I guess. None of them sound great. Should I try again with the power sensing thing?"
"Yeah, sometimes this sort of thing takes a long time. Like months or more. Don't worry," she added with a grin, "you'll get it, Specs."
"No. Maybe if my costume prominently featured glasses, but as it is, it'll just confuse people."
Nabiki closed her eyes again and gathered power around both hands this time. It felt similar, though some of the flavors were slightly different. She wasn't sure how long she spent before she was told to release the energy and try again. A few minutes into that attempt, she finally had some success when she turned her attention from the energy gathering around her hands and focused on herself. There was a power within her, warm, comforting, and full of limitless possibility. She basked in it for a time and then, with no more than a thought, traced it back to what it was connected to.
Nabiki opened her eyes and smiled. "I found it."
"Great! What is it?"
"Everything."
Author's Note (5/25/24): Even if I don't say it every chapter, thank you to Sunshine Temple for pre-reading and giving feedback. Feedback from readers is also greatly appreciated.
