Notes : This fic starts six months after the end of the manga, which
means characters are a little more grown up, especially Ranma, and there
are things that happened in-between that you'll find out as the fic goes
on. C&C is greatly appreciated and can be sent at essedeah@hotmail.com,
and flames can go at someone@who-cares.com.

*******

Disclaimer

Ranma is not mine.
Sliders is not mine.

*******

What happened before:

Prologue :
Ranma gets the timer from another sliding team, and Nabiki unexpectedly
tags along.

Chapter 1 :
On a world devastated by nuclear warfare, Ranma and Nabiki are forced
into marriage. Ranma learns the breaking point by an enslaved Mousse
before escaping.

Chapter 2 :
On a world where Ukyou was taken over by a demon early on, Ranma and
Nabiki strive to stop her and prevent further deaths, while wondering
what their relationship is becoming.

Chapter 3 :
A force from China is invading Japan in the latest world, and Ranma and
Nabiki are mistaken for their pilot counterparts. Their flight goes
wrong as the enemy is unexpected.

Chapter 4 :
Ranma and Nabiki relax somewhat with a couple of goddesses while in
homeworld Akane looks for Ranma, but doesn't quite find what she was
looking for.

This chapter starts on the seventeenth day of Ranma and Nabiki's
travels.


"  "  spoken
<  >  chinese
'  '  thought

*******

     Slider Ranma

     Chapter 5 : Obstacles

*******

     Three red squares, three yellow, two green.

     Three red squares, three yellow, three green.

     Three red squares, three yellow, four green.

     The LED display flashed once, then the recharge progress bar
disappeared to show "Recharge complete. Activating primary program.".

     Out of the darkness, four beams of white light from four directions
with a tinge of red illuminated the small room, revealing it to be the
size of a deep drawer, made of hard black metal, containing a saucer-
shaped device. It was near eight inches tall and three feet wide, like
two plates atop one another, with two inches of flat dark metal in-
between slightly retreated inward from the plates' edges. Like cardinal
points, supports extended from the central part to hold the four high-
powered lamps that emitted more than simple white light.

     One of the compartment's sides slid upwards, revealing the morning
sun, leaves blowing about in the wind. With a faint mechanical whir, the
top and bottom parts of the saucer started to rotate, making it slowly
rise about an inch off the floor, and with no other indication it flew
out, beginning its patrol of the greater Tokyo's Nerima suburbs.

*******

     In the universe, matter is the exception, not the rule. Even in
matter, there's more space than actual matter. Thus, the laws of
probability dictate that when traveling into a universe, you're much
more likely to appear where there is nothing to prevent you from doing
so. Even then, there are three kinds of matter, and gaseous or liquid
are more abundant than solid.

     While Ranma Saotome would adamantly deny that any kind of good luck
is involved when he wins his fights, claiming skill and strength, he
would readily admit in the same breath that he has bad luck for almost
everything else.

     This is one of those cases.

     In the corner of a dark room, a swirling blue vortex of energy
suddenly appeared, illuminating the emptiness, facing the wall. From its
depths, two beacons of white light came forward, materializing shortly
before exiting into two female travelers.

     The first, a brunette wearing a loose fitting black and red outfit
and a ball cap, found herself slammed against the wall right after
leaving the portal, bouncing back lightly to find herself sprawled on
the floor, swirly-eyed.

     Her partner, a lovely redhead in a form-fitting ensemble of blouse
and mini-skirt, complete with high heels, soon followed, but being made
of sturdier stuff, became the unstoppable force that ran into the not-
immovable object.

     Once the portal closed, the previously dark room stayed lit from a
Ranma-shaped hole in the wall, leading to a side alley. Groaning, Nabiki
shook her head a little before opening her eyes, slowly coming back to
her senses. Suddenly realizing her position, she sat up quickly, fearful
for her precious laptop stowed away in the new schoolbag on her back,
but soon relaxed as she remembered Urd's assurances that her laptop was
"everything-proof".

     Then again, maybe those assurances in and of themselves should be
cause for worry.

     Using the nearest unbroken wall as support, the girl made her way
to her feet, taking a good look around. The room was awfully spartan,
and in spite of the low lighting, it was evident that it was uniformally
white. Mentally gagging, Nabiki noted to herself to add some more colors
to her room once she got back and took a look through the hole.

     Only to quickly hide by the side, barely evading detection.
Carefully, she put her head as close as she dared, sneaking a look
through the side of her eyes. Down in the alley, from what was now the
new third-story window, she could see her currently female husband,
still lying face-down right on top of the Ranma-shaped piece of the wall
- Nabiki made a mental note to inquire as to what the walls were made of
- and the whole firmly planted sideways on a man's back.

     A man lying in a pool of his own blood.

     Her body tensing at the sight, freezing her in place except for her
widening eyes, was all that saved her from being seen as the flying
saucer she hid from a moment ago turned two search lights towards her,
having heard her gasp.

     One of the two spotlights seemed to dim to nothingness, accompanied
by a high-pitched sound. Its focus changed to the side, focusing on the
hole - or what was once behind it. Apparently satisfied after a few
seconds, all of the spots turned downward as the saucer lowered,
examining the groaning and rising redhead over the easily identifiable
body under her.

     Though Nabiki couldn't see the weapon coming out of a panel from
under the machine, she could clearly hear the shouts and footsteps of
people hurrying closer, and she didn't need any of those to know all of
this meant big trouble. Unable to believe Ranma's fall with that piece
of the wall could have killed that man, yet at the same time unable to
refute what her eyes were telling her, Nabiki just stood in indecision,
reasoning with herself that there was nothing she could actually do.

     An electronic voice filled the alley. "Do not move. Raise your arms
in the air. Officers are coming. Do not move." The saucer stopped about
five feet over Ranma's head, ten feet away, all spotlights pointed at
him, along with a small tube-like weapon protruding from its underside.

     Ranma shook her head one last time, finally coming back to her full
senses, and took stock of what was around her. Her shock at seeing all
the blood under and around her was quickly broken as the machine
repeated its message.

     "What? Hey, I didn't do nuthin'! It ain't my fault! I dun have to
listen to a stupid machine!" Quickly hopping backwards to solid ground,
Ranma took a stance facing the saucer, not knowing what that thing could
do but still wary.

     Up above, Nabiki stifled a groan, hitting her forehead with her
left palm. While she didn't know what to do, she did know what not to
do, and outright defiance was never good. While exploring Ranma's inner
depths, she had forgotten about the brash exterior. Something she'd have
to correct, assuming they'd get out of this.

     The machine's response, however, was much more concrete. It quickly
charged up its weapon, emitting a red light, and fired between Ranma's
feet, making a three-inch wide and deep impression. "This is your last
warning. Raise your arms in the air. Do not move." it repeated.

     "Hmph. I ain't impressed." Ranma's face hardened as she cupped her
hands together, focusing her energy, unmindful of the four oddly-attired
men coming behind her, or the half-dozen on the other side of the alley
in front of her, all holding long silver metal sticks.

     "Unknown energy reading. Danger." The laser weapon started charging
up, moving to aim higher. "Cease your activity. Do not move. This is
your last chance to surr-" The programmed warning was cut short as Ranma
extended her hands forward with a loud kya, her chi hitting the robot in
a flash of light, followed barely a breath later by an explosion and a
shower of tiny metal parts all over the alley.

     Nabiki quickly averted her eyes, hand protecting her face as she
ducked away. Nothing was ever easy with Ranma, though with her hand
twisted like this, she knew her role; stand back, and get her wayward
husband out of trouble while she either ran or was captured. She was
betting on running, herself.

     Allowing herself a smirk at the robot's demise, the well-dressed
redhead didn't have time to do much else as an officer not frozen by
shock walked up behind her and touched her with his stick, causing her
to cry out in pain as electricity coursed all over her body.

     While this ordinarily would knock out a normal person, the attempt
at electroshock therapy only served to make Ranma Saotome very angry,
and spinning on herself, she quickly gave the unfortunate officer a
reason to visit a dentist in the near future, with a nice nap as a bonus
favour.

     "Anyone else wanna piece of me?" she shot to the remaining
officers, taking a loose stance facing the closest of them, though
slightly turned to keep track of the others from the corner of her eye.
When none of them moved, she allowed her confident smirk to return. "Ha,
didn't think so." she teased, relaxing her stance a little.

     In timely fashion, the cavalry arrived.

     Ranma sweatdropped, looking left and right at the new arrivals. She
could count at least a dozen men on each side of the alley, the new ones
carrying weird-looking sleek guns, with two patrol cars that hovered
some ten feet up, and four more of those saucer things with three lasers
each pointed at her. "Don't move! Hands on your head! On your knees!"
one brash young officer shouted.

     'Hmm... all that technology sure didn't make the police smarter.'
Nabiki smirked, chin on her hands, arms on the 'windowsill'. She watched
with amusement as Ranma started to do as ordered, crouching slowly with
arms coming up, only to suddenly spring to life, jumping some fifteen
feet to the nearest wall, bouncing off it to land lightly on a saucer,
crouched, unmoving for a split moment. She could see Ranma's arm blur
for a second before the well-dressed redhead kicked off the robot,
sending it into the building, but not before Nabiki could see the
crudely 'written' kanji on the top of the machine, 'home' and 'night'.
Another instant and Ranma was gone.

     Stepping back from the hole, knowing she had to escape the building
before the police decided to investigate the surrounding area, Nabiki
turned and went for the door, amazed at her husband's quick thinking.
She was sure Ranma hadn't looked in her direction, but she had found a
way to give her a message on where and when to meet. 'If only he could
think like that BEFORE he gets in trouble.' she thought sourly, closing
the door behind her.

*******

     Kasumi gently flapped the bedsheet twice in the late morning's
breeze before laying it on the clothesline, spreading it to have no
folds. A gentle humming rose from her lips as she took her basket and
moved a bit further, unmindful of the brisk autumn's air as she laid out
her laundry. Her smile rose a bit more as two small birds joined her,
singing from the perimeter wall.

     It had been a peaceful few days in Nerima, even more so than the
week and a half before. While Kasumi usually did enjoy calmness and
tranquility, this was not the kind she liked. She much preferred peace
of mind over peace of body.

     Akane, Ukyou and Shampoo had left three and a half days ago in
search of Ranma, and no one had heard of them. It was even worse with
the missing couple; gone for over two weeks, now, and if Cologne's
predictions were true, either dead or in trouble. She had heard of a few
others going after either Ranma or someone after him, but for those left
behind, it was a life of inaction and worry.

     Kasumi hated worrying.

     Of course, she handled it better than the three others in the
house, and only Nodoka could see past her calm exterior, but it was
still something she much preferred to avoid. A house destroyed but alive
was better than a house intact but dead.

     And so, it was with sad thoughts that Kasumi continued laying out
her laundry, humming with the birds, unwilling to let herself break down
and cry for her sister who was thought dead, and her sister who was dead
in her thoughts.

*******

     As buildings came and went, Ranma was beginning to wonder if she
could ever make a clean getaway. While leaving behind the officers was
easy, and outrunning the patrol cars simple since they refused to go
over the buildings for some reason she couldn't fathom, the flying
machines with the lasers were surprisingly fast and manoeuvrable, not to
mention growing in numbers for every few blocks she traveled, and those
lasers were pretty accurate.

     This world's police seeming more organized than any she could
remember, Ranma quickly considered her options, while almost
absentmindedly avoiding laser blasts. Staying on the roofs was obviously
pointless, and going down on the streets would give her obstacles as
well as letting the officers and their flying cars cause her problems.
She needed a place where she could lose her pursuers, then get away from
anonymously. Sewers were out of the question if she could avoid it, and
she had yet to see any sort of shopping mall, big or small, so that left
the only alternative; a large park with alot of trees.

     Only problem was, that ever since she had gotten to the rooftops,
all she had ever seen was white; buildings seemed to stretch without end
in every direction, and they didn't have a drop of color in them. The
roads were of a pale gray color like cobblestones, alot of people wore
color in the streets - but never more than one as far as she'd seen -
but aside the occasional plant on the windowsill or balcony, there
wasn't any sign of nature anywhere.

     'Gee, you'd think they'd be able to save a couple trees with all
that technology.' she thought, eeping as a laser beam took a few hairs.

     Doing a sharp turn to run parallel to an alley, condemned with her
only option, Ranma quickly scanned the ground for something resembling a
manhole cover, and deciding a little public property destruction was
nothing compared to what was done so far, started charging up some chi
to make her way through.

     That action was the only thing that saved her from great personal
injury as she jumped to the last building, completely missing the latest
saucer to join the fray, rising from between the buildings right into
her path, and she barely had time for an "Erk!" before slamming into it
stomach first. The front of the device collapsed inwards into a nice
impression of her body, while Ranma flew back from the impact on the
roof she had just left, the wind and then some knocked out of her,
hitting her head as she fell not helping. The explosion of the machine
she had literally ran into went unnoticed against the ringing in her
ears.

     "Ooohhh..." Groaning, the petite redhead weakly tried to push
herself to a sitting position, her free hand coming to her aching head.
Running into that robot felt like receiving one of Ryouga's punches
full-blast. Keeping her eyes firmly closed for now, knowing she'd see
doubles of everything, Ranma focused on her hearing, tuning out the
residual ringing to figure out if those machines were near.

     "You are surrounded. Put your hands on your head. Do not move." The
electronic voice came from at least twelve different directions, almost
synchronized, and all followed by the tiniest high-pitched sound she had
come to associate with those laser weapons.

     "Yeah, yeah, I heard ya before." she grumbled, finally recovering
enough to be back to her senses. Pretending to do as asked, Ranma took a
quick look around; a quick count said fifteen flying saucers were all
around and above her, effectively trapping her, were it not for a simple
thought.

     In true three-dimensional thinking, Ranma could also go down.

     Sliding her legs underneath her to sit properly, she let her eyes
roam the unnaturally smooth and perfect flat roof, trying to focus with
her mind's eye to find a suitable breaking point. A quick frown marred
her beautiful features as she drew a blank; either that roof was made of
especially sturdy stuff, or that run-in with the flying tin can took
more out of her than she thought.

     Furrowing her brow in concentration, a faint glow of chi
surrounding her, Ranma narrowed her eyes as she took a closer look, and
with a triumphant cry of "Ah ha! Bakusai Tenketsu!" quickly drove her
finger into the biggest point she could find.

     The entire side of the building collapsed.

*******

     Finally finding a side door that didn't lead to police-filled
streets, Nabiki promptly took advantage and left the building, pulling
her ball cap down some to hide her face a little more. She went in the
opposite direction of all the noise, trying to look nonchalant but
finding it harder to do than usual. Something about the death of an
innocent that made her especially nervous and sent her insides shaking.

     A few steps later and she was mingling with the passerbys, trying
not to stare as she looked around. The streets were large cobblestones,
of a dull gray color, the buildings were almost uniformally white, and
all the people she could see were only wearing one color of clothing;
Nabiki took note of this and swiftly decided to find someplace to stay
away from the public eye until the two days in this world were up.

     Quickly ducking into an alley, wishing to avoid any more of the
stares she had begun to receive, the brunette carefully observed the
people of this world. The majority of people on the streets were women,
and while few of them wore white, those were always leading a few other
women, usually young, clothed in bright colors ranging from yellow to
red. Blue, she had seen, were for the police, as seemed to be the
universal norm, and she had yet to find purple or green anywhere. 'Come
to think of it, I haven't seen a single tree... air seems fresh, maybe
they don't need to plant a few everywhere.' she mused.

     Leaning on a wall, Nabiki quickly pondered what to do. Her best
chance to go unnoticed was to find some clothes that were of the same
color, or a matching pair of pants; the lack of black anywhere hadn't
gone unseen, either.

     "Well, this comes off," she told herself, taking the cap off and
putting it away in her schoolbag, "and I guess this, too." removing the
pearl earring Belldandy had given her, this one stuffing into a pocket.
Using one hand to shake her hair loose, she took a look at the small
side alley for any help as to her clothing problem, without much hope;
after all, this wasn't the movies, and she couldn't expect to see a--

     "Well I'll be damned." she muttered to herself, making her way to
the emergency ladder on the side of the right building, from which hung
conveniently out to dry a pair of red pants.

     Five minutes later, the stylish brunette was back on the streets,
sporting slightly tight and very itchy red pants to match Ranma's shirt.
It wasn't the best fit, but it did well enough to mingle with the rest
of the crowd. Walking up to the gathering that surrounded the building
she had appeared into, Nabiki stopped on the edge and listened
carefully, trying to see past the curious onlookers.

     "They say it's a woman who did this." "Came out of the building up
there and landed on some guy." "Two of the patrol robots were blown up
too!" "No way! You can't destroy those things!" "Look at all the parts
next to the body!" "So much blood..." "It has to be a foreigner. No
Japanese could ever do this." "Nothing *human* could ever do this!" "You
think it's an invader?" "I can't believe someone's been killed." "I
can't believe it's escaped."

     "People please!" A large officer of a man spoke up, facing the
crowd. "This matter is still under investigation, but let me assure you
that every precaution has been taken! If you would please move along to
let our officers do their job, you shall be informed of whatever we find
through the usual means! Thank you!" The man motioned to a few policemen
next to him, and they advanced towards the crowd, repeating what was
said in softer tones while urging them to continue on.

     'That guy doesn't look too sure of himself.' Moving out of the way
of those leaving, Nabiki let herself edge closer to try to take a look
at the scene. There was something that bothered her about how things
happened, and she intended to find out what - upset stomach
notwithstanding.

     She apparently took one step forward too many, as a young blue-clad
man came her way to tell her to back off. A few steps away from her,
however, he suddenly developed wide eyes while stepping back in apparent
fear, and he quickly jogged to the large man in charge. Nabiki quirked a
brow at the whispered exchange and made to step back and leave, only to
be intercepted as the man ran to her side.

     "Lady Nabiki! Please excuse me for not seeing you sooner. I should
have realized that something like this would draw attention from
upstairs quickly. Please, you are more than welcome to examine the
scene." One arm extended to present her with where she definitely did
NOT want to go, the other around her shoulders and pushing her that way,
'Lady' Nabiki steeled herself and let herself be led, removing emotions
from her face as she carefully considered the position she had so
stupidly walked into.

     "Just what happened here?" she asked in her best neutral voice,
hoping to let the man talk while she came up with something, anything,
to act close to what was expected of her and get away with her hide
intact. 'Damn you Ranma, you're rubbing off on me.' she mentally sighed.

     But, unfortunately for her, the closer she was led to the body and
pool of blood, as the large officer rambled on about what little they
had found, the less she was able to think. The fact that it took four
men to move the piece of wall off from the body, indicating just how
strong and resistant the material was, all the more reason to research
its components, didn't even register with her mind facing being so close
to a dead man.

     She solemnly promised herself to empty her stomach as soon as it
was safe to do so.

     "...which is quite obvious, don't you see? ... Lady Nabiki? Are you
listening?" Having finished rambling, the officer looked at his
superior, curious as to her attitude. As rare as murder was in Tokyo, it
did happen, and he knew for a fact she had participated in at least
three investigations. Why did she act like she was seeing a dead man for
the first time? He gently pinched her, giving her a chance to save face
in front of the younger officers.

     Jolting awake mentally, her body too frozen in shock to move,
Nabiki had to force herself to take off her eyes from the corpse to look
at the bigger man next to her. "I'm sorry, I was taking in the
details... you were saying?" She even managed to offer a cool, small
reassuring smile to the man, while she felt a thousand needles travel up
and down her spine.

     The man took a second to look at her, then nodded and continued on.
"As you've probably observed, then, we've found that there were two
kinds of injuries on the body. Tears in the clothes and skin that being
crushed would give, and very straight and precise cuts." Stepping away
from her, he took the few strides to the body, avoiding putting a shoe
in blood, then kneeled with one hand pointing to the deceased's side.

     "Like here. The wall falling on him couldn't have done this, but
it's clear from the surrounding tissue that the cut bled heavily. But if
you look on the shoulder, here," moving his hand to pull on the ripped
shirt some, exposing the skin, "the skin's clearly ripped apart, but
there's no sign of bleeding." Finished, the officer stood up, checking
his hand for blood but wiping it on his pants anyway as he walked back
to her.

     Trying to put aside the fact there was a dead body in front of her,
Nabiki creased her brows as she considered that. Not caring to look too
much for a better example, she swallowed and set her mind to work.
"Well, if the man didn't bleed from being crushed, that means..." Her
eyes widened in realization, and the only thing preventing her from
being filled with joy was the grim situation before her. "The wall
falling on him didn't kill him, since he was already dead!" Ranma didn't
kill him!

     The officer, however, grimly nodded. "Indeed. Which means that
whomever killed this man by cutting him up is still out there. Instead
of an accidental death, we got ourselves a killer on our hands." He
sighed as he turned away, as if shamed to face the body. "Who'd have
thought..." shaking his head.

     "Yes, who'd have thought..." she replied, somewhat unbelieving that
this society could have so little crime to the point of a murder shaking
even the police.

     The man heaved a big sigh and turned to Nabiki, standing strong to
regain his courage. "Well, Lady Nabiki, what do we do? You're in charge
here." Eyes burning into her.

     Beating down the panic that threatened to overwhelm her at these
words, Nabiki took a breath and held it for a few seconds. "No, I'm
not." she returned, looking back at him with as much force. "I was never
here." 'Please let this work please let this work please let this
work...'

     Eyes widening in understanding, the officer quickly nodded. "I see,
I see. I was wondering why you were wearing the wrong color clothing.
Undercover amongst the servants. I didn't think you were still active...
alright. Don't let me keep you, Lady Nabiki." He gave her a quick,
formal bow, barely lowering his shoulders, and turned to walk to a
gathering of inactive policemen in a corner, shouting orders of
gathering and cleaning everything up.

     Giving herself a moment to gather herself, her breath coming out
shakily, Nabiki quickly turned and walked away from the scene, wishing
to put as much distance as she could between her and the dead man.

     As soon as she turned the corner, out of the police's eyesight, she
broke into a run.

*******

     Pushing one last boulder, Ranma finally managed a decent breath of
air as she removed herself from the pile of rubble. Glancing at the sky,
she sighed as she saw the sun hadn't moved that much, meaning she had
been unconscious for a small time. Pushing herself up with her left leg,
she sighed as she stepped forward, wanting to leave this place.

     The expected high heel not being there, the petite redhead quite
ungracefully lost her balance and flailed her arms, trying to stay up,
and failed miserably, planting her face into a solid piece of rubble.

     Putting both hands on the sides, Ranma pulled her face off with a
groan, letting herself fall back to a sitting position as she rubbed her
face. "Gee, what's this stuff made of anyway?" she grumbled, punching
annoyedly the nearest stone, not even leaving a mark.

     "It's duranite." a voice behind her said, and she quickly turned to
look.

     Twenty officers stood behind her, with four patrol cars supporting
them and a good dozen patrol saucers hovering above them. All sporting
weapons of various size and design, all looking quite dangerous. All
pointed at her.

     "I... give up?" Ranma offered nervously, lifting her arms in the
air.

*******

     Running. She just ran. Not stopping. Had to find a place. She could
feel the bile at the bottom of her throat. Just ran. Didn't care about
the looks, turning corner after corner, looking for some place...

     There! That was home. Had to be. Couldn't be anything else. Sure,
it was white all over, but it couldn't be anything else. The perimeter
wall had been white in the beginning, hadn't it? It just had to be home.
She'd recognize it anywhere. Oh, yes, home it was, and she ran for it
twice as hard. It was home. She was sure of it.

     She ran for the wall and nimbly jumped over it, more than high
enough to clear the top, instinctively doing a slow flip forward at the
apex to better position herself for a graceful landing, absorbing her
momentum with her legs, ending up crouched, head and eyes already
turning to observe her surroundings.

     A closer look did confirm that the house before her was, in fact,
the Tendou home, or exceptionally close to it. Her eyes, however, having
verified the lack of anyone around, locked themselves on her salvation;
a big, green, leafy, vibrant bush.

     Nabiki promptly returned her breakfast to nature.

     After a bit of retching and a lot of dry heaving, feeling spent,
she finally regained control, allowing herself a few weak coughs as she
sat back. She went to wipe her mouth with her sleeve, but quickly
revised herself, not wishing to dirty her shirt - and ignoring the voice
that told her Ranma would be mad if she had done that to his favorite
shirt. She snagged a big leaf and wiped herself with it, instead.

     "Do you need some water?"

     "Sure, Akane, I'd love-- eh?" Nabiki's head snapped to attention
towards the voice, and blinked as her initial reaction proved correct;
Akane was some ten feet away, between her and the house, dressed in a
kimono of the purest white and holding a glass of water. Behind her,
looking all shy and demure, stood a girl looking twenty or so clad in
simple yellow clothing, yet something about her made Nabiki's new senses
scream danger.

     Offering a gentle smile, Akane took the few steps to Nabiki and
offered the water. Once taken, she stepped back, waving her hand lightly
to her side to calm her bodyguard. "Please, take your time. Whatever
happened has clearly shocked you, I will let you recover." She turned to
face the house. "Miaka? Could you bring two small stools for Aya and
me?" she called.

     Gasping lightly after finishing the water, Nabiki shook her head,
waving a finger as she regained her breath. "Not... necessary." She
inhaled slowly, then let it out. With more control over herself, she
offered a smile. "It's obvious you know who I am, and you seem to be
well-protected," nodding towards a suddenly even more suspicious Aya,
"so we might as well go inside where I can recuperate better, and not
stain my husband's favorite shirt." she added with a smirk.

     Akane smiled again. "True. Ranma has always been particular about
his favorite shirt." She half-turned towards the house, but stopped, and
looked at Nabiki. "And it is quite obvious to anyone who you are. It
would be more accurate to say I know where you are from." She then
walked into the house, taking her time.

     One eyebrow up, Nabiki started to nod in agreement when she
realized; she was conceeding a point, to Akane no less! What was this
world coming t-- 'Hmm. Not my world. Not my Akane, either. Obviously.'
Giving herself a smirk, she rose and let her eyes set on Aya, still
standing and looking somewhat unfriendly towards her. Silently, the girl
rose an arm to motion Nabiki inside, and with a slow nod as she started
moving, the brunette accepted the invitation.

     Nimbly going up the steps and into the family room, Nabiki glanced
a look right as she went for her usual place around the low table. About
fifteen feet down the hallway, Akane stood whispering to a young girl
who couldn't be more than eight or nine, clad in red and barely managing
to hold two small stools in her arms by pressing the tops together.
After a moment, the girl nodded and left the other way, almost unable to
keep her balance as she turned around.

     The honored guest settled herself on her pillow as the gentle host
walked back. "I've sent Miaka for some tea to settle your stomach. It'll
only be a minute or two." Speaking calmly and gently as ever, Akane sat
down in front of the traveler with a smile.

     Nabiki held her peace for a few seconds, looking pointedly at Akane
with her mouth tightly closed. Reorganizing her list of questions
quickly, she pondered as she turned to look down the empty hallway.
"Miaka is your... servant?" hesitating on the title, only using it
because the policeman had used it too.

     Akane nodded once, her smile not changing one iota. "Yes. I've had
her for nearly a year now, and I must admit to being somewhat too
lenient with her." her smile increasing a bit as her gaze dropped
momentarily.

     While Nabiki would define herself as a calm and tolerant woman,
that last part, combined with her stressful day so far, almost literaly
blew a fuse in her head. "Too *lenient*?! She's a kid!" Nabiki leaned
forward, hands on the table, to yell closer. "How can you even *make* a
girl that age work as a s-- erk!"

     Finding her suspicions confirmed - somehow - Aya quickly stepped
forward and pulled the dangerous guest back with a strong grip on the
right shoulder, free hand ready to punch if the girl tried to retaliate.
Which is why it came as a surprise as Nabiki almost reflexively, if a
little late, grabbed her wrist with both hands, rose as she twisted on
herself to her left, pulling the bodyguard up in the air and over,
ending the modified throw in a crouch by extending her arms downward and
releasing at the last second, sending the stunned older girl for a nice
outbound flight.

     "Wh... whoa..." Nabiki blinked at her hands, slowly straightening.
"Cologne sure knows how to teach..." Adding this to her long lists of
things to ask of Ranma, she looked at her handiwork, currently working
her way out of the pond. 'I'm gonna have to talk to Ranma about this
too.' she mused, rubbing the back of her head.

     "Woooooooooooooow! I've never seen Aya beaten so easily before!"
Miaka gushed, rushing to Nabiki's side all starry-eyed, tea tray going
up in the air, forgotten. "You must be the greatest in the world!"
looking up at the surprised girl, fists under her chin, missing behind
her Akane's hurried grab of the tray.

     "Hum... not quite, but thank you." she offered a smile, trying to
hide her nervousness rising for each step Aya took coming back to the
house.

     "It would be more accurate to say, my dear student," emphasizing
the word, "that the Nabiki in front of you is the best of her world."
Akane corrected, gently lowering the tray on the table, as calm and
composed as ever. "Aya," she quickly added in a commanding tone,
stopping her bodyguard before a foot was placed on the steps, "it would
be preferrable were you to change before joining us." A sharp look
stopped any objections and Aya dejectedly stepped back to go into the
house another way.

     Nabiki wrestled her gaze away from the hated glare of the departing
Aya, to the ever-smiling Akane, and finally to the still admiring Miaka.
"I'm, hum, afraid that wouldn't be quite true, either." she added.
'Student? But she's a servant... isn't she?' She turned her head back to
her hostess, confused but trying not to show it.

     Re-seating herself at the table, Akane looked upon her guest. "Is
that so? I would be interested to hear of it, Nabiki, if you would be so
kind." she said, calmly serving tea for three.

     Blink. "Okay." Twisting her feet inwards and lifting her heels,
Nabiki dropped to sit on her pillow again, legs crossed. Miaka quickly
bounced twice to the seat next to her, still looking up at her with a
way too happy face. "Though I have a question before I start..."
ignoring the girl and looking at Akane.

     "Yes, this world is quite knowledgeable in interdimensional
translocation technology, and no, I cannot help you in any way regarding
any problems you may have. I am quite sorry." she said matter-of-factly,
sipping her tea afterwards.

     Another blink, though this time it was less surprised. 'I'm
beginning to think these people know everything.' she thought. 'Well, at
least, answers are easy coming. For now.' She nodded with a smile.
"That's alright. After that last world, I'm not too eager for anyone to
meddle with the timer." she said, patting a spot on her chest.

     Akane tilted her head at that. "Timer? Are you saying your
translocation technology is portable?" Leaning forward a bit, her calm
exterior slightly broken with pure curiosity.

     Nabiki sighed as she easily recognized the look. "Why don't I just
start from the beginning?" she offered, taking her tea.

*******

     "Hmm." With a flick of a finger, Ranma sent the last of her orange
jumpsuit buttons into the laser beam of her prison. Just like the five
others, it vanished into a puff of smoke. She sighed of despair. "Gee,
they sure know how to design a cell around here." Twisting her feet
inwards and rising her heels, Ranma let herself drop to sit on the
floor, cross-legged, chin in her palm.

     She was in a ten-foot cubic prison of laser beams, with the floor
of her prison raised off the ground a few inches for the lasers to go
under as well; the whole in a much bigger room. Out of reach, on the
other side of the lasers, acting as additional walls, were glass panels
that were most likely as difficult to tear apart as the floor, immune to
almost all of her attacks and hardly flexible. She had only been able to
test the lasers under her by exploiting the joint between two panels, at
the cost of a few nails.

     "Just let yourself be captured, I said. It'll be easy to break out
of any prison they put you in, I said." She snorted at herself. "I'm a
regular genius." She swinged her arms behind her head and let herself
fall on her back, not caring for the tiny cot provided in the cell.

*******

     "Interesting girl, isn't she, Lady Nabiki?"

     "Quite." The purple-clad lady pulled back from the monitor, which
showed a particular redhead in her cell, lying on the floor and
obviously devoid of feminine modesty, the top of her orange coveralls
open wide displaying her bra-clad abundant chest. "But which part are
you interested in, Mr. Akuya?" she smirked.

     The forty-something man turned to look at her, grinning. "Now, now,
I am much too old for her. 'Sides," he went back into position, taping
on the control panel in front of him, "she's already taken, see?" The
image on the monitor magnified to show Ranma's left hand, the simple
gold band on it evident.

     "So she is." Nabiki leaned forward again. "Move to her face." The
camera pulled back a little and lowered. "Any matches in the database?"

     "Nooooot exactly." A few more strokes on the keyboard removed the
camera feed to display a deep blue screen, on the left of which appeared
Ranma's disembodied head, face front. "I ran it before you came in...
here's what I found." Another key made three pictures appear on the
right side, one on top of the other, all looking eerily similar.

     Nabiki's eyebrows shot up. "To coin my little sister, oh my."
Though she didn't need to get closer to read the names, she did anyway.
"Yukishiro Tomoe. Saotome Nodoka. Saotome Ranma." She blinked and hmmed.
"Three generations... I take it you ran a DNA test?" looking at him.

     "Do you take me for an idiot?" The man worked his magic on the
keyboard and split the screen in four, each with a tiny picture and
streaming data. To the side of each, stood the exact same number; 47.3%
match. "Not only that, but if you check on Mr. Saotome's father's
side..." The pictures of Nodoka and Tomoe were replaced by Saotome Genma
and Saotome Kaoru, though the percentage match barely wavered half a
percent.

     "I get it. That girl is basically what Ranma Saotome would have
been if born a girl. This poses some problems, but it does answer some
questions." She pulled away from the monitor, and turned towards the
door. "I'm going to talk to her now. Akuya, I'd like you to forget
adding your findings to the public records for a day or so." as she
opened the door.

     The man nodded. "Family matters do delay things, don't they?" he
replied, smiling to no one as the door closed.

*******

     Having decided that as long as they were the ones to put her there
without any entertainment, they would pay for the one she'd make
herself, Ranma had moved her bed - not even noticing it had been bolted
down - to the middle of the cell, then proceeded to take the feathers of
her pillow - pulling them through the fabric, of course - and expertly
throw them at every laser beam of her cell.

     While that had been challenging at first, giving her a crash course
in practical aerodynamics and air resistance, it soon proved too easy;
imbue each feather with a tiny fraction of chi, like Ryouga and his
bandannas or Kuno and his bokken, and the feathers flew true until they
were disintegrated, or the one time she missed, bounced off the glass
wall. She was about to just rip her pillow to shreds and practice speed
punching when a voice interrupted her.

     "Hello there." came an unmistakenly familiar voice from behind.

     "Nabiki!!!" The pillow flew upwards - meeting its untimely demise
in a cloud of feathers, half of them joining it - as Ranma spun around
on the bed, stopping herself so suddenly with the metal bar at the end
that the whole thing tipped over. The prisoner let herself roll forward
with the momentum, rising to stand as close to the beams as possible and
looking straight at her salvation; Nabiki Tendo (which she swore would
take her name someday somehow) wearing an odd purple outfit and that
arrogant smirk she recognized so well.

     'As I thought.' Lady Nabiki's smirk grew a little at the prisoner's
reaction to her presence. "How are you?" trying to put some worry in her
voice.

     The orange-clad redhead rolled back on her heels, hands behind her
head, looking up. "Oh, I'm just fine and dandy. If that stupid building
hadn't collapsed instead of just the roof like I wanted, I wouldn't even
be here. It's all that stupid robot's fault anyways. When are we getting
out of here?" she asked, eyes lowering to look at her.

     Nabiki paused, then started to slowly walk left, making to go
around the prison. "Oh, I doubt you're leaving anytime soon... you're in
big trouble with all that public property destruction, not to mention
that man..." she paused, turning her head down and away, for a moment.

     Ranma's eyes narrowed a bit, though otherwise not moving. 'Why
didn't she answer, she knew what I meant... unless... we're being
watched. Hmm.' She promptly decided to be vague with her words and
meanings. "Don't fret 'bout it, 'Biki, guy was already dead before I
fell on him." she said, swallowing the lump in her throat as her mind
summoned what little she saw of the deceased.

     Biting her lip, Nabiki managed to resist turning to look at the
prisoner in surprise. The little the first patrol robot had sent before
its demise and the reports clearly showed she hadn't had the time to
check. "How do you know?" she asked, making her voice waver.

     "Opposite of Bell." deliberately keeping her answer short, eyes
fixed on the walking purple-clad girl but otherwise not moving.

     'He's on to me, or suspicious. Well, I'm a good actress myself.'
She stopped and turned to face the prisoner, nodding. "I see. Okay then.
What now?"

     Ranma shrugged, tilting her head back and turning it to have her
eyes straight forward and looking at her. "Depends. Control panel's over
there. How'd you get in?"

     Five minutes later...

     'I don't get it. I have every right to do what I'm doing, no one
could ever question me on this. The decision is entirely mine to take. I
won't get any problems doing this. So why is tiptoeing and avoiding
everyone making me so nervous?'

     "'Biki, stop daydreamin', we're almost out. I'd need to get some
new clothes, tho. Tell me if you spot a girl my size, a'right?"

     The sneaking Lady Nabiki blink-blinked at these words, and promptly
decided that letting this girl hurt someone else and take her clothes
wasn't quite acceptable. Gambling that helping her to escape had removed
any doubt of her identity, she decided that maybe something that
wouldn't arise suspicion was best. A quick glance around assured her of
her surroundings, and she tugged on Ranma's sleeve. "Um, that could
bring us some trouble. I think I saw a locker room over there when I
came in." she pointed down an hallway.

     "Really? Even better, I might finally get myself into some guy
clothes." she said with the beginning of a smile, which promptly went
away as she grumbled "Stupid Urd." under her breath. "Lead the way,
'Biki."

     A thoroughly confused Nabiki did so, and she was still a little
dazed when Ranma came out of the men's locker room, wearing a somewhat
loose matching purple two-piece and grumbling about not having hot
water. "How's it look?"

     "Hmm... I suppose it can do, though you could have picked something
more form-fitting." She added the grimace she got in response to her
mental file on the girl. "The hair's still a give-away, though. How much
hair do you have in the pigtail?" she waved with one finger.

     Ranma blinked and took her pigtail to look at it. "I dunno, as a
girl it probably goes down to- h-h-hey! Waitasec! That thing's hell to
tie up, I ain't undoin' it!" pulling back and waving her hands in
protest.

     Nabiki crossed her arms and leaned forward, creasing her brows and
narrowing her eyes. "You want to be in disguise or not?"

     Another five minutes later...

     "Man, last time my hair was down like this, I had makeup and a
revealing light blue dress on." Ranma muttered, more for herself than
for her companion, still fussing over her unbound red locks, which even
with some hair clips to hold them up and give some volume, came down
nearly to her knees.

     Next to her, Nabiki walked silently, eye still twitching at the
amount of hair that had come out of that pigtail. There were so many
impossibles, so many oddities, so many wrongs with that girl, that her
origins were clear, though of highly doubtful quality.

     Even then, there was just something about her, something that made
the calm and controled Nabiki act more impulsive and emotional. Like
there was an attraction there, but that just couldn't be; she was
happily married, and the strange redhead was too - well, if the ring
meant the same thing it did here.

     Heaving a great sigh, leaving her hair well enough alone, Ranma
just turned to her current companion and resignedly smiled. "So, what'd
you find out 'bout this place, anyway? And how long we got?" she asked,
eyes observing the girl next to her closely.

     Fixing her eyes ahead to do her best to ignore the staring, Nabiki
pursed her lips as she considered her next series of lies. "Well, it's
kinda--"

     "Aaarrrgghhh--" *gurgle* *splotch* went the alley next to them.

     Two heads turned as one, with a "What the--?" on the lips, to see a
shape bounce on the ground and a shadow run off the other way, jumping
over the wall easily. The pair glanced at each other, nodded in
agreement, and for completely different reasons ran into the alley.

*******

     When the path had slowly started to veer northward, Shampoo had
questioned the wisdom of continuing when China and Jusenkyo were so
obviously west. Ukyou had answered that it had been Shampoo's navigation
that had taken them this far. The proud chinese amazon wisely replied by
shutting up, furrowing her brow and taking the lead.

     And thus, half a day's walk later, the two found themselves on the
edge of a large cliff, the waves of the Japan Sea crashing below their
feet.

     "Shampoo think we go too far."

     The giant spatula came down.

*******

     Nabiki quirked a brow as she stepped in the large room, richly
decorated with paintings, carpets, and a long oak table with high
backrest chairs.

     "And this is the conference room, obviously." Akane said with a
smile, nimbly walking in and waving an arm around. She approached the
left end of the table, placing a hand on the armrest of the chair.
"Ranma always sits here when we receive ambassadors and emissaries." she
explained, almost wistfully, as if the thought of him made her
unendingly happy.

     While this convinced Nabiki to the core that the Akane in front of
her was the complete opposite of the sister she had left at home, it did
bring a question to her mind. "Ranma is a... diplomat?" The word almost
didn't come out as her brain refused to associate it with her husband.

     A nod. "He represents the people of Japan in difficult diplomatic
relations." she answered, looking at her guest intently, watching her
reaction.

     An eyebrow twitched. While a calm, composed, mature and intelligent
Akane was within her realm of understanding - she did remember a happy,
well-behaved little girl some twelve years ago - a Ranma capable of
handling tense diplomatic situations like a professional made her brain
synapses misfire. "Difficult diplomatic relations?" she managed to
repeat without stuttering.

     Akane giggled. "By your face, I can see your Ranma is like mine, if
not worse. It means situations where our emissary might be in danger and
needs to be able to defend himself. My husband is first and foremost a
physical adept, human relations is only his secondary discipline." She
sat in Ranma's chair, inviting Nabiki to join her on her right.

     "I... see." Sitting herself, she gave the room another look around.
"And where is he now?" she asked, wishing to meet this diplomat Ranma.
Her eyebrow twitched again.

     The white-clad girl tilted her head a bit as she tried to remember.
"If I recall, he went to establish diplomatic contact with a valley in
mountainous China that has recently disbanded itself from the rest of
the country." She nodded to herself. "He should be on his way back, by
now." she added.

     "......that wouldn't be Joketsuzoku, would it?"

*******

     "Whoever that was, he's gone." the redhead said, jumping down from
the wall.

     "Whoever this is, he's dead." Nabiki replied, standing up next to
the man. She kept her voice as tight as possible, laying odds the Nabiki
this girl expected had never been this close to a dead man before.

     Ranma somberly took a few steps towards the body, lowering her gaze
to look at the body. "... ... ... ...expert cuts. Long blade, curved. I
can still feel the chi... a high-class martial artist did this." The
girl turned her head to look in the direction the killer fled.

     'Interesting... it's almost a coincidence, but she just might work
off her public property destruction if she catches this guy.' Slipping a
thumb in her sleeve, finger on the outside, she pulled a small round
ball out and squeezed it, letting it drop as it started flashing red.
"W- we should leave before the police gets here." she stuttered.

     "Yeah, before they jump to conclusions again and think I did it."
Ranma snorted, completely missing her companion's eyebrow twitch.
"Police ain't competent to handle someone like this. It's a martial
artist's duty to protect..." Her eyes lowered, and she couldn't finish
the lithany. "Come on, let's go." She turned and started walking towards
the wall the killer had jumped.

     Nabiki took the few steps to her quickly, stopping the girl with a
hand on her shoulder. "Hey, wait a minute! You just said he was gone,
what are you planning to do?"

     The redhead martial artist looked over her shoulder. "Catch him."
she replied, as if it was the simplest and most obvious thing in the
world.

     The sounds of footsteps approaching started to echo in the alley. A
moment later, both girls were gone.

*******

     The sun was high in the sky when Akane's mind made another attempt
at consciousness. Her eyelids trembled in the light, her right arm
shaking with the effort to shield her eyes, all in vain as neither
moved. Unable to talk, unable to even form coherent thoughts, all she
could do was stay still, feeling her heart beat eerily slowly.

     The door slid open, its sound hidden by the gentle humming of the
cheerful girl that entered. A few graceful steps brought her next to the
bed, where she lowered the tray on the nightstand and managed to sit
down. She blew a sigh, then forced a smile to her patient. "Still
sleeping, hm? Well, you do need your strength, but you can't replace
blood on rest alone. That's why I made you a little something full of
the iron and proteins you need." She nodded to herself as she took a
bowl and spoon from the tray.

     "Of course," she continued her one-sided conversation, "you're not
strong enough to eat a real meal properly, so I just threw everything in
a blender and set it on puree. I didn't taste it, but I was sure the mix
wasn't that tasteful, so I added a few herbs and spices to liven it up.
I hope it helps going down!" with a big smile.

     "First, though, I need to open your mouth a little..." With a
finger, she gently pried the still girl's lips open, pushing the teeth
slightly apart. "Then, put a little of it in your mouth..." Deftly
wielding the spoon, she took a bit of the brown puree then held it to
Akane's lips, letting it fall in. "And help you make it go down easy..."
rubbing her throat up and down with two fingers, until she could feel it
go down.

     Barely aware, Akane let it all happen, not that she could have
refused. Be it reflex of having something at the back of her throat or
simple survival instinct, her tired body found the energy to swallow
every time, absorbing everything as fast as it came.

     Once the feeding stopped, her mind shut down again, returning to
her dreams, though an outside observer wouldn't notice the difference.
Her body would heal itself soon enough, with time and resources, but a
healthy body does not make a healthy person.

*******

     After a few hours of conversation with Akane, Nabiki found this
world to be as near a working utopia as she could have imagined; no
money, every bit of information public record, a small transparent
government, and politicians doing the only thing they were actually good
at, looking good for international diplomatic relations. If you needed
something, you either had to simply go get it or ask; for a trip outside
the country, the government provided for everything.

     Of course, the one drawback Nabiki couldn't stand was being in
public service for life, something she didn't truly consider a good
thing. And since eight-year-olds had an education a high school
valedictorian would envy, she wasn't much enclined to stay, either. A
fact proven much too often as Miaka demonstrated time and again her
mastery of kanji and college-level sciences and mathematics.

     Nabiki was starting to miss high school and homework.

     In an effort to shut the little brat up, Nabiki asked Akane what
she did.

     "Well, since I completed my secondary discipline a year ago, I've
been mentoring Miaka in the theory and application of quantum physics
and mechanics. She's been doing rather well." Akane calmly answered.

     Twitch.

*******

     Lady Nabiki sat on the roof of a building she was too tired to
recognize, some twenty stories high, body weak and hurting from a long
day's work. Her mind didn't even register the pain her back was sending
from leaning against the short railing, lower arms on her knees and head
hanging, shoulders low from weariness. She considered herself in shape,
but this was ridiculous. The redhead had been running and jumping at
inhuman levels since before noon, and she looked as unflapable and
determined as ever.

     She lifted her head to look at the strange girl. Looking over the
city, standing straight, arms at her sides fists clenched, the girl
resembled the proud and noble hero of a holo-movie, the setting sun
shedding its crimson light from beyond the horizon's mountains, long
hair flapping in the wind gently.

     Struggling with the effort, Nabiki pushed herself up, to slowly
walk to Ranma's side. "We've looked around the district twice. Wherever
he is, he's well hidden and not coming out soon. We should get something
to eat and rest." she argued, not for the first time.

     The interdimensional traveler kept silent for a long moment, eyes
focused on the city. She blinked, slowly, then lowered her head,
bringing her left sleeve up, to roll it up again nearer to the elbow.
"He'll come." she said softly.

     "H- how do you know?" she had to ask, though Ranma's tone almost
made her believe it.

     Ranma almost smiled for a second. "A martial artist can't go beyond
a certain level of skill without developping a feel for certain things,
like a sixth sense. You can feel danger, things coming your way, how
strong an opponent is, stuff like that. I haven't seen much of the guy,
but what I did tells me he's past that level." she calmly explained.

     The brunette mused on that for a moment. "So, you've been doing
something to trigger that sixth sense?" she reasoned, looking at her
face curiously.

     She nodded. "Yep. Second time around the place, I beefed up my aura
much as I could without exhausting myself, with anger and all that
stuff. Normal people'll only get a chill down the spine, but a martial
artist'd feel threatened and challenged. Won't be long 'fore the guy
seeks me out."

     Eyebrows going up, Nabiki finally understood what that weird
feeling had been for the last few hours. And that girl could do that
voluntarily? This was starting to sound almost fantastic.

     A red car suddenly flew a few meters in front of them at top speed,
sending violent winds in their faces for a moment.

     "Well... alright. Stay here and keep watch, I'll go find something
to eat." she said after a moment, giving a tone of finality to stop any
arguments. She barely saw the girl's nod, and kept silent as she turned
to walk towards the service ladder, unable to jump up and down buildings
like her current partner.

     Ranma looked on, unmoving. Though lost in thought, her senses were
spread wide, waiting for the murderer to come to her call. She had been
dragged into this, she would see it to the end. A person killing so
easily had to be stopped. It was a martial artist's duty.

     Her eyes closed and her head lowered. 'Duty... it's so easy to say
when you haven't experienced death yourself. I bet pop or Mr. Tendo
never took a life... Mr. Tendo's still a wreck from losing his wife.
I'dda been like that if Akane really had died... I got to stop that guy
from killing more people and causing more pain. Not 'cause it's my duty
as a martial artist.' Her head came up, eyes hard, looking at the city
once more. 'It's my duty as a human being.'

     When Nabiki came back, twenty minutes, three places and two reports
later, Ranma hadn't budged an inch, overlooking the city still, giving
an eery apparence of beauty, power and mystery in the night's early
lights.

     They ate ravenously, in silence, the Lady managing to ignore the
martial artist's manners. Nabiki had guessed, correctly, that the amount
of energy spent by the girl meant an equal need for food, and the four-
course meal she had managed to find was quickly nothing more than
crumbs.

     Ranma sighed in contentment, then rose to her feet to stretch in
appreciation. "Ah, that hit the spot. Delicious, too. How'd you manage
to get it?" she turned to look at her companion.

     Offering a smile, Nabiki went for an evasive answer. "Oh, this
place is more different than you'd think. People are generous." She bit
into a large juicy apple, having saved it for dessert.

     "Cool." Dismissing the matter, Ranma closed her eyes and took a
deep breath in, long breath out, opening her senses. Her face suddenly
hardened.

     "He's coming."

*******

     Nabiki sat with Akane on the porch, looking at the early night sky,
ignoring Aya's constant vigil from the end of the hallway. Since supper
and afterwards, Miaka had been busy with her chores, and things had been
much better for her. "It's night." she said softly, eyes admiring the
stars, yet blaming them.

     "Shouldn't your Ranma be arriving soon?" Akane asked, her own eyes
on her hands in her lap, her thoughts to her own Ranma.

     She managed a small smile as she nodded. "The sun just set, so
he'll probably be a while. Of course, knowing Ranma, he got in trouble."
she smirked.

     "Why would I get in trouble?" a strong though naive male voice
asked from behind.

     "Ranma!" three voices chorused, heads turning towards the arrival.
The sight of a Ranma Saotome standing tall and proud greeted them,
smiling, wearing purple and short black hair.

     While Nabiki did have a small impulse to rush at Ranma, she quickly
recognized the one in front of her as not hers and settled in her place,
watching Akane stand and rush in her husband's arms.

     In the shadows at the end of the hallway, Aya took back the running
step she had started taking, head down and hand on her chest.

     Ranma Saotome, martial artist and diplomat, hugged his wife tightly
and resisted the urge to do more in the presence of company. A moment
passed, and he released, Akane doing the same and stepping back. "Now,
Nabiki, why would you say I get in trouble easily?" he asked again.

     Nabiki allowed herself an arrogant smirk as she got up and turned
to face him. "Oh, no other reason than the fact that you are who you
are, but in this case I was talking about my own Ranma, not you." she
replied.

     As Ranma sported a very confused look, Akane allowed herself a
feminine giggle.

*******

     Yoshi grinned as he laid his cards down. "Straight flush. Read 'em
and weep." He allowed himself a chuckle as he bent over the table,
gathering his newly-acquired chips.

     Ken and Daisuke threw their cards down, sighing. "Oh, come on! That
stupid genius mind of yours is counting the cards for you, it's not
fair." Ken complained, almost whimpering over losing half of his chips
when he had a full house. Daisuke had been less lucky.

     "You're only whining because I'm lucky." he replied, neatly piling
the red chips in piles of ten, then gathering the cards to shuffle and
deal again. "And I'll kindly remind you that since we're reshuffling the
cards after every deal, there's no chance I can use my photographic
memory and my mastery of statistics to help me. That's in blackjack, not
poker. Ante up." he finished, throwing a chip in the center.

     "Aw, man!" Daisuke groaned after seeing his cards, not believing
his luck. He turned towards the other end of the bar. "Hey, Shori! Get
me one of those fancy american beers, alright?" he called after the
waitress.

     "You shouldn't have done that." the other two whispered to
themselves in unison.

     The aforementioned waitress stomped over, serving tray under one
arm and looking quite angry. "What did you say?!?" she yelled in poor
Daisuke's ear.

     Blind (or stupid) in the face of danger, Daisuke actually repeated
himself. "I asked ya for one of 'em american beers. I kinda need a pick-
me-up from my bad luck, you know?" he smiled at her.

     *CLANG*

     The serving tray came down, and stayed there as Shori took to
twisting and rubbing it deeper into Dai's face like a duck to water.
"And may I ask, kindly, with whose money you intend to pay your tab
here?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice through clenched teeth, eyebrow
twitching.

     Not understanding why Shori had hit him, but firmly believing she
wouldn't hit him more than once for the same stupidity, Daisuke
answered. "Well, the only source of income we have in this world is your
waitress job, so-- urk!"

     Yoshi and Ken winced in tandem as the tray came down again.

     "And that goes for you two too." Shori glared at the other card
players, before returning to her job.

     A moment passed, during which Yoshi and Ken glanced at each other,
while Daisuke tried to remove the tray acting as a novelty oversize hat
on his head.

     "You notice Shori's been acting more and more like a classic anime
tomboy since we got here?"

     "And Daisuke like an ignorant jock. Though he kinda was like that
before."

     "Ah rhezent thath."

     "Still, I don't remember him being able to beat up bouncers built
like an ice box before."

     "Lithel he'p heer?"

     "Well, how come both of 'em changed and we haven't?"

     "I don't know. I never figured an universe could have influence on
travelers before. But since this is an anime universe, I think it's
because we both have common sense."

     "..."

     "..."

     "So you gonna bet or not?"

*******

     Nabiki was starting to wonder about the girl's definition of 'He's
coming'. By her mental clock, it had been well over five minutes, though
she didn't complain much as it did give her time to set up a few beacons
and cameras around the rooftop, pretending to look for any signs of the
killer's arrival. But now she was done, and starting to doubt Ranma's
little story about auras and sixth senses.

     Ranma suddenly turned to face her. "Nabiki, get out of the way.
Guy's tired of watching us and he's gettin' here." Ending with a smirk,
she turned her head left, towards a shadow that had appeared on the next
rooftop. Nabiki promptly got out of the way, raising her left wrist to
her mouth and speaking the activation code for her gadgets.

     The shadow moved his right arm wide, revealing the wicked-looking
curved sword Ranma knew was the murder weapon, and turned it so the
blade gleamed in the moonlight. "Well, that's fair." she muttered under
her breath, having forgotten this little detail. Weapon users were
weaker than true martial artists, that much she knew, but for that to
be, the person had to have focused solely on the weapon. Ranma knew that
this killer hadn't.

     While the killer nimbly made the jump from one rooftop's edge to
the next, the redheaded traveler allowed herself a better look at her
surroundings. A flat roof made of white whatever that police guy had
said, with two-foot edges all around, what she figured was an elevator
box in the middle, five feet high and wide, the top of the service
ladder, and a tall antenna attached to the side of the building, ending
twenty feet above the roof, with horizontal bars in a diamond shape
pattern.

     'Bingo.'

     Sandals making noise stepping down from the edge, bulky black
clothes hiding every feature, eyes almost glowing, the figure left no
doubt in the minds of the forty-six people watching that he didn't have
good intentions. Ranma wasn't too keen on being the target of those
intentions, however, so before he came too close, she went to get
herself a weapon.

     Quickly turning on her left foot, she sprang away and to the right
of the advancing menace, jumping into the large antenna. Holding herself
up with her right hand, she grabbed a rod of about five feet in length
and yanked. Then yanked again.

     "Ah goddamnit! I hate being a girl!" she shouted in annoyance,
before lifting a foot to the connection of the antenna and the rod,
letting herself fall back to grab unto it with both hands, and pulling
with all her might using her foot as leverage.

     'Well, if she can pull it off, she'll have something to defend
herself with, but... what'd she mean by that?' Nabiki wondered, from the
relative safety of the other side of the roof. She had had to use every
trick she could pull to make sure the police would stand back to let
Ranma handle it, but seeing the redhead hang stupidly from an antenna
trying to break off a metal rod, she was starting to doubt in the
foreign girl's prowess. And from the looks of it, the killer, too, as he
stopped to look at Ranma, head to the side in wonder.

     Ranma didn't relent, pulling with all she could. "Snap, will ya?!"
And it did. "Alright!" Leaving her without anything to hold on. She
blinked. "Ah, crap." Muttering as she fell. Nabiki's palm slapped her
forehead.

     Letting the curved sword drop at his side, the mysterious figure
looked as the girl he had thought had been the one to set off his senses
all evening fell off the side of the building, cursing all the way. He
turned his head towards Nabiki, acknowledging her presence for the first
time, but dismissed her again, and continued his way to see where Ranma
had fallen.

     A few feet to the left of the antenna, a hand suddenly appeared
from over the side, taunt for a second before closing on the edge. A
moment later, the other arm followed, fingers clenching a metal bar
tightly, wrapping the forearm over the side. Ranma slowly pulled herself
up, red hair over her eyes, mouth twisted in a curse she wasn't quite
willing to say aloud - yet. 'This is just my day.' she thought to
herself bitterly, trying to find a foothold and move her free hand
inside the edge for better leverage.

     Slightly impressed that the girl had caught herself - though still
far from regaining the opinion he had before meeting her - the killer
hurried his pace and lifted a gleaming blade up high, allowing himself a
hidden smirk as he got close and sliced downwards to the girl's head.

     *CLANG* Moving her hand to hold the metal rod like a sword, hand up
high and the point against the small edge, Ranma grinned as the killer's
blade chipped the metal and slid down the length to hit the hard
duranite, most likely nicking the blade.

     Not caring for it at all, the black-robed figure pulled back and
aimed a thrust below the silly girl's tool; Ranma's right hand let go of
the ledge to grab unto said tool, letting herself fall just below the
sharp sword, but quickly stopping as the metal rod jammed it against the
building. She put her legs against the wall to balance herself, and
sincerely hoped the killer wouldn't just let go of the sword.

     Angry to have been outwitted like that, trying not to think of all
the ways his master would be disappointed by such poor tactics, the
killer pulled with all his might at his weapon, knowing that removing it
would cause the girl to fall. The metal bar was an inch or two inside
the edge, however, causing the weight to compress the sword in between
it and the building; he wasn't sure that twisting the blade would allow
removal before the rod lowered again and snapped his weapon.

     Furrowing her brow, Ranma did her best to think of something to get
herself out of this before the person up there wisened up. She couldn't
lift herself up, she couldn't attack, she couldn't jump... or could she?
Of the few things she would admit to benefit from the curse, the main
one would be knowing the difference between male and female martial
artists. Men had body strength, endurance, reach and toughness, while
women had speed, agility, balance and a nice and long pair of legs that
didn't quit.

     Not wasting any more time, Ranma raised her knees to her chest, set
her feet solidly on the side of the building, and pulling as much as she
could on the metal pole, sprung from the wall.

     Her strength downward created just enough resistance between the
rod and the sword that she managed to use the former as a pivot long
enough to get herself above, giving a final push to finish the forward
flip, the back of her knees hitting the other's shoulders so that she
sled forward, his face hitting her stomach and lower so that she sit on
top of him, causing him to backpedal and flail his arms. Taking
advantage, she squeezed her legs to incapacitate and suffocate him,
while biting her lip to take her mind off exactly what was touching
where.

     After a few steps, Ranma decided to help him go down and threw her
upper body weight forward. 'Gotcha.' she thought with a smug look,
controling her balance with her arms up high holding the metal rod, as
the strange man finally fell on his back, arms wide to soften the
landing. Ranma let her weight hit him right on the upper torso, stopping
him from breathing until he coughed enough, then settled herself to sit
on his chest and hold him down properly.

     Her eyes flew wide open and she jumped from her position,
unknowingly avoiding the weak swing of the sword that barely took a few
hairs, and she scrambled backwards to put her back against the elevator
box, staring at the mysterious person as he got up, coughing, hand on
chest. Ranma put one hand on her behind, as if to remember the feeling.

     "You- You- You're a girl!" she accused, finger pointing. And
desperately trying to forget the position she had just been in.

*******

     Somewhere, in pitch blackness, two eyes opened, glowing red.

*******

     The black-clad figure gave a final wheeze, then a deep breath as
she straightened and looked at Ranma. "Hmph." The sword, slightly
nicked, swung a perfect circle next to her, then was pulled back low as
the assassin dashed forward.

     Not to let herself get trapped - again - Ranma dutifully met her
halfway, rod in a defensive swing for all the moves she could think of
from the sword coming from there. Admitedly, she wasn't a swordsman;
heck, she didn't particularly train in any weapon use as a specialty. Of
course, she had had basic training with every kind imaginable; know the
weaknesses, how to disarm, that kind of stuff.

     A resounding *clang* indicated the meeting of weapons, followed by
others as the two women exchanged attacks and parries - or rather, the
murderess attacked, and Ranma parried.

     While more than capable of using almost anything as a make-shift
weapon - if Akane could grab anything out of the house to bash her head
in, why not her? - she wasn't quite able to attack, even with a blunt
object. 'Or rather, I won't attack a girl.' she thought sourly, dodging
and parrying.

     She would have tried the few disarming tricks she knew, but right
away it was obvious they wouldn't work; a metal rod against a sword, the
strong grip on the handle, and with the speed she displayed, short of
crushing the fingers, nothing could do it.

     A notion she wasn't quite willing to entertain yet.

     And so, Ranma kept on avoiding harm to herself, while spotting
openings she thought she could exploit and never doing so, all the while
causing the murderess to grow slowly in anger, and the many spectators
in frustration. Ranma, for herself, was racking up alot of resentment
and disappointment.

     'I'm a martial artist, dammit!' she cursed at herself, ducking
under a swing, wishing as an afterthought her hair hadn't been cut.
'That girl is killing for no reason, and I can't bring myself to stop
her, when that's what I'm supposed to do!' Her eyebrows started to form
a deep V as she angrily batted a downward swing aside. 'There's no honor
in hitting girls, but pop also nags me about bein' beaten by one!' She
dodged sideways a forward thrust, hitting the top of the blade with the
rod. 'And bein' one!' Her foot lashed out on its own, while the
murderess was bent and extended forward, to solidly connect with her
face, sending her backwards with a bloody nose, sword lost.

     A savage growl escaped Ranma's lips as she threw the metal rod
away, not even hearing its clanging. "I'm #$%^$@& tired of my #$%^$@&
pop imposing his #$%^$@& messed up honor on me!" she shouted to no one
in particular, unknowingly starting to glow a righteous blue.

     Her opponent, not quite sure what to make of this, took a defensive
stance and observed. An angry enemy always made mistakes, after all.

     Ranma, however, kept ranting, her tired and angry mind sticking to
one extreme and building. "If honor is letting a #$%^$@& honorless
killer go free, then screw honor! I'm Ranma Saotome of the Anything-Goes
School of Martial Arts, and I never lose!" she screamed to the heavens.

*******

     Nabiki saw her husband on the holographic display and slapped her
forehead. "Ranma no baka." she muttered with resignation.

*******

     The murderess got angry herself at being called honorless. She
rubbed her nose sourly at the cheap shot, but chided herself on relying
on her weapon so much. Truly, her master would not be pleased. The
gloves came off, and she threw them aside, more comfortable without them
in hand-to-hand. That girl was proving herself to be as dangerous as
initially thought, but everything done so far hadn't affected her at
all, except she somehow got angry. Really angry.

     This bothered her to no small extent. An angry opponent was more
likely to make lethal mistakes, but also exponentially stronger.

     The redhead's aura slowly started to recede, coalescing into a
faint red outline around her body. Then, in the blink of an eye, she
went from standing twenty feet away to in her face, fist flying. The
killer barely had time to bend backwards, and quickly raised both hands
to grab the extended wrist, foot already rising towards the girl's
stomach.

     Ranma let the girl catch her wrist, and blocked the offending foot
with her free hand, hoping to do a modified judo throw by pulling her
over herself completely, and slam her into whatever was closest. Her
anger-clouded mind, however, failed to take note that her only hold
wasn't in her control, and in the middle of turning around, found
herself with no weight on her arm and an enemy holding her neck in a
chokehold.

     'Too easy.' the foreign girl thought, smirking behind her mask,
setting her feet on the girl's calves to topple her as she pulled on the
neck with her forearm. That had been a stupid move, but the girl had
proved her strength and she would make it as painless a death as she
could, using her free hand to grab the chin and try to twist the head.

     Having suffered more abuse than humanly possible in ten lifetimes,
Ranma's neck wasn't anywhere near being snapped so easily. She pulled on
the forearm choking her right next to the elbow, disabling the hold, and
let her legs bend to fall on top of the killer.

     The foreigner still had control, however, and before they hit the
ground, spun the redhead around to slam on top of her. 'Being angry is
making mistakes.' she grinned mentally, trying to resume her chokehold
while holding down the helpless girl on the ground.

     Her setback cooling her fires to more tolerable levels, Ranma
quickly rethought her situation. Flat on her stomach, killer on top of
her, chokehold slowly but surely doing its thing, one arm pinned.

     'Gee, pop always managed a knee in the small of my back, too.'

     She spread her legs, bent, to get leverage at the knees, and
promptly pushed her behind upwards with enough force to send the killer
rolling forward. 'Lose the angry, focus, stay sharp, Saotome. Don't lose
this 'cause of pop.'

     Honestly surprised, the murderess used her free hand to do a
handstand, moving her legs upwards to balance, and once she removed her
arm from under the girl's head, flipped forward to her feet some five
feet away, turning around immediately.

     With her legs right under her so readily, Ranma simply took a
runner's stance and dashed forward to deliver a solid gut punch when the
girl in black turned around, with enough force to slightly bend her in
two just enough for a perfect uppercut to be the natural follow-through
move. Ranma finished her half-second combo with a devastatingly quick
roundhouse to the head, making her opponent fly into the elevator box,
twenty feet away.

     She took a simple ready stance, fists forward, to calm herself,
chest heaving with the energy just spent. 'I musta wasted more chi than
I thought today.' she thought to herself, hoping to finish this quick,
before she had time to truly reflect on the path she had engaged herself
on.

     The girl in black stood up slowly, shaking her head a bit, and
promptly glared at the girl in purple. "You won't get away with this."
she said, speaking for the first time, as she took a few steps away from
the elevator box, then stood ready as well.

     'That voice...' Ranma blinked, cocking her head to the side a bit,
but dismissed it as easily. "Shut up and fight." she replied.

     The two martial artists rushed at each other, and engaged in a
fight the people watching had never seen, save one. Fists flew at close
range, blocked, countered, parried, only visible the instant they were
stopped, to disappear for another strike. The redhead went through some
'basic' advanced punching katas that always ended in a draw, mostly
mindless repetition only needing concentration at the speed involved, to
test her opponent's skills and abilities.

     The girl was doing rather well.

     On a hunch, Ranma started on a particular series of moves Cologne
had taught her; punch with left fist towards the shoulder, right hand on
top of the wrist; when blocked, hand up for backward slap; when blocked,
opponent's hands are up high and its vision blocked, so use left fist in
a downward twist to punch the stomach.

     The appropriate block was in place half a second before Ranma hit
it.

     A few wild punches to busy the girl and Ranma jumped backwards
about ten feet, taking a ready position just in case.

     But the killer in black merely took a stance herself, smirk hidden.
"You're good, but not good enough." she said haughtily.

     "I was only testing you." Ranma replied, keeping a level voice. "I
should have recognized that sword and your voice. The Shampoo of the
Joketsuzoku I know isn't a cold-blooded killer." Her eyes narrowed on
the girl. 'Emotions later. Now, stop the killer. Emotions later.' she
kept repeating to herself.

     "How you know--" she stopped herself, getting control back. "No
matter. You obstacle, like others, and like others, you die."

     "Since when are innocent people who can't lift a finger against you
obstacles?!" Her aura flared large and red, her mouth and lips made
weird figures as she did her best to control herself, to not start
spouting insults; in a way, she did succeed, as Ranma simply yelled out
an incomprehensible kia and ran towards the murderess, fist pulled back.

     Shampoo grinned and blocked, taking a step backwards and slightly
to the right. She focused herself and stowed away her emotions, as she
parried another strike, taking another step back. She calmly let the
redheaded fury go into combo moves and follow-throughs of strikes,
faking being unable to block or counter by dodging at the last moment,
fumbling parries.

     Calmly stepping backwards and slightly to the right; and a little
more.

     Nabiki watched this with curiosity, wondering why the foreigner was
walking backwards in a tightening spiral, all the while whispering
harshly in her communicator to get her intel on the information the
redhead had said. And what was that slight wind that was picking up?

     Ranma continued to mercilessly attack the stranger in front of her
she just couldn't recognize as the Shampoo she knew and liked; she knew
that at one point, she would break her defenses and get through. If the
girl could just stop backing off so much, and was that the third time
she passed Nabiki by?

     A click went off in the girl's head, making her pause for half a
second in her pursuit, but she quickly took it up again. That crazy
Amazon wanted to use that technique on her? Well, why not go along?
Scrunching her face even more in anger, Ranma doubled her aura and
continued attacking.

     Shampoo did her best to prevent her grin as she backtracked to the
next-to-last circle. A dozen of steps more and the technique was
complete, she only had to trigger it at the center of the spiral. And
with the amount of hot aura emitted, it was going to be a big one.

     Though of the same opinion on the result, Ranma begged to differ on
the method. Unlike the Amazon in front of her, whom she guessed had only
used the technique in training or in the perfect, theorized way, she had
used the Hyryu Shoten Ha multiple times in many situations, and quite
outside the standard terms; Kurumi and Natsume, Herb, Kirin, Saffron, to
name a few. The theory gave you the best conditions to do it, but
practice made you learn the truth behind; you needed hot and cold air or
chi, mixed, and a trigger; nothing more. It didn't matter who gave off
what, who seemed in control, where the trigger was. When Shampoo was two
steps away from the center, Ranma made her move.

     Using the Amaguriken, she tagged the girl on her arms a dozen times
each, sending them wide, then stepped inside the open defenses to grab
Shampoo by the shirt, switch positions with her, and let her go, taking
the last step to the center.

     And punched upwards, grinning at her opponent.

     A moment of disbelief stretched into a thousand hours as Shampoo
stared at the redhead in front of her, eyes fixed on her lips as she saw
her mouth, in ever slow motion, 'Hyryu Shoten Ha'.

     Time returned to normal as the winds suddenly picked up all around
her in a fury, and she barely yelled a chinese <No!!>, lost in the roar
of the new tornado, that she was lifted up the ground and sent into the
air.

     Ranma closed her eyes, perfectly poised in the center, gentle winds
playing with her long hair, but otherwise untouched in the eye. She was
doing her best to not think of what she had just done and to whom; and
to think that if Kuno could survive windburned and bruised but alive,
this Shampoo most certainly could too.

     The spectators, save one, stood with mouths agape at the sight;
somewhere, a meteo-technician nearly had a heart attack seeing an
unpredicted event.

     The redhead waited, keeping the pose, until the tornado dissipated,
surprisingly quicker than usual; she figured it was because the one with
the Soul of Ice had gone up. She let go of a sigh and turned to look at
Nabiki, who was standing with her mouth slightly agape and round eyes,
up at the sky still.

     A few quick steps took her to whom she considered her wife, and she
waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Hey, 'Biki, you okay there?" she
asked eloquently, looking closely at the girl.

     Nabiki blinked, pulling her head back a bit. "Huh? Oh, yes, I'm
fine, thank you..." still a bit awed, switching her vision from the now
clear sky to the amazing person in front of her. What kind of world did
that girl come from for her to have these kind of abilities?!

     Glancing upwards, Ranma nodded to herself then looked at Nabiki.
"I'm gonna go catch her now, fall's kinda hard, so I'm told." she said
with a grin, and gathering a bit of confidence to take the initiative,
quickly leaned forward for a quick peck on the lips before turning
around and moving away, leaving an even more shocked Nabiki behind.

*******

     Some distance away, another Nabiki narrowed her eyes at the scene.
The people around took a step back when the flaring blue aura sprung up.

*******

     Ranma carefully observed the skies, and finally spotted the falling
figure. A quick leap at the right time, and the unmoving girl was in her
arms, bending her legs at landing to absorb all the energy. She allowed
herself another sigh, bleeding off all the emotions that made her angry
enough to simply attack a girl like that.

     Then Shampoo's eyes flew open.

     "Yah!" Ranma let go reflexively, yelling in surprise. Shampoo
twisted herself to put a hand on the ground, pushing to land standing.
The redhead took a few steps back, and fell into a ready stance. "Wha-
ho- the hell?!" she managed, staring.

     Though still conscious, Shampoo was breathing hard and feeling
somewhat weak, but she put up a brave front. "Every Amazon is trained to
be at both ends of every technique." she said with a smirk. "We're not
so arrogant as to think our techniques can't be stolen or copied. You'll
have to do better than that."

     "Yeah. Sure." Ranma muttered to herself. One look at the foreigner
told her a finger on the forehead could tilt her over. Her black
clothing was shredded, one side of her face red from windburn, her
stance loose and slightly drooping, and her breathing was labored. 'Like
I'm gonna hit her like THAT. Call me a batterer of women why don't ya.'

     "Look," Ranma said after a pause, "sure, you're still awake and
all, but that's just 'cause I caught ya. Just give up, a'right? I'm in
way better shape than ya right now, so ya ain't got a chance." Well,
slightly better shape. Just a little, really.

     So, both fighters stared at each other, standing ready, waiting for
the other to give.

     And stared.

     Nabiki looked at the scene. "Oh, this..."

*******

     "...is ridiculous." Nabiki muttered to herself. "Another prime
example of Ranma Saotome stubborness, patent pending."

     "Hey!"

     "Oh, not you. The other you." she corrected.

     A blink, then a thought. "I still think it's insulting." he
observed.

     Now *that* made Nabiki turn her head, ignoring the two giggling
girls next to her. "Well, you're either smarter than him for seeing the
indirect insult, or dumber than him for seeing an insult that isn't
there." she replied, hiding her grin. She was going to test this Ranma's
intelligence as much as she could, with a smirk on her face and a
snicker in her heart.

     Ranma, diplomat extraordinaire, decidedly kept his mouth shut as he
pondered how to respond to that. Then something came to him. "Why did
you call her a 'him'?" he asked, pointing to the image of the redhead.

     She blinked, then sweatdropped. 'I didn't mention that already? Oh
dear...' She propped an elbow against her knee, set her chin in her
palm, and asked a question that would be rhetorical to a technologically
advanced society: "Do you believe in magic?"

*******

     After holding back the troops for a few minutes too many, Nabiki
decided to just let them go in. The stranger certainly didn't look in
any shape to put up a good struggle, especially without that deadly
blade of hers. She lifted her right wrist close to her mouth. "Alright,
people, get ready to--" she stopped when she saw Ranma relax from her
stance. "Get ready to move, wait for it."

     The redhead let go of a sigh as she simply walked forward, guard
down. "Look, be reasonable already. I know Cologne taught ya to never
give up and stuff but she also taught ya to recognize superior strength
and skill." She didn't see Shampoo's face tighten up and her eyebrows
form a 'V'. "Just give yerself up an' accept what you did an' all, you
know, warriors accept the consequences of their actions. Or are ya a
coward like you been so far?" she spat, but Ranma shut herself up right
after, knowing that the sudden burst of anger coming out of nowhere
hadn't helped.

     "You open!" the murderess shouted suddenly, throwing herself
forward at the enemy who had been stupid enough to get too close without
tightening her guard. She took a long step and swung her right hand at
the eyes-wide girl in front of her, extending her index at the last
second and striking within an eyeblink several spots on her body.

     Ranma stumbled backwards a few steps, right hand going to her
stomach in reflex... to end up with an unvoluntary yell of pain as her
arm seized up in spasms to her side. She tried to back up another step
to find her left leg unmoving, and simply toppled backwards,
ungracefully sprawling on the roof.

     "AHHHH!!!"

     Which made Ranma aware of the rest of the things the foreigner had
done.

     Curses didn't quite make it to the outside world, blocked by teeth
clenched in pain. The redhead didn't know exactly what had been hit, but
she knew it hurt like hell and it seized up the muscles in a way that
made moving feel like being paralyzed, and trying not to move feel like
giving a 9.8 earthquake a run for its money. Oddly enough, her thoughts
were rather calm. 'Is this the second or third time she's had me?'

     Shampoo proudly strode over to gloat at her opponent. "You take
your guard down, you die. Consequence of your action, *warrior*." To top
it off, she spat on the girl at her feet.

     Not quite seeing where it landed, and not caring, Ranma focused on
being able to speak properly for a few seconds. "How about killing
innocents?" she shot back, glaring. She could understand beating those
that stood in one's way, but not killing.

     "Obstacles are for killing." the girl recited candidly. "People
going to try stop me, so I stop them first." she explained.

     If anger had clouded Ranma's mind before, now it was fury. "Going
to?! GOING TO!? You killed them BEFORE they actually did anything?!"
Through sheer willpower, Ranma lifted her hands, palms facing the
assassin, and held them steady. Cool resolution filled her eyes, with
the fires burning deep inside. "I don't care anymore." she whispered,
almost more to herself. "You deserve to die." Using all of her energies,
she summoned the biggest, most unstable ball of chi she could, and sent
it flying at the girl a few feet in front of her.

     And all went white.

*******

     Though the others around her shielded their eyes at the brightness
on the image viewer, Nabiki's simply went wide at the sight. She had
been glad, proud even, to finally see Ranma wisen up and not refrain
from attacking a girl when necessary; she wouldn't voice it - she had no
need for ego boasting - but she considered it part of her influence on
him. But the chi blast had pushed all of it away.

     For a long time, she had kept tab of Ranma's progress and
techniques, at first strictly as business information to set bets and
the like, but now that she was married to the guy, she could admit that
as time went on, a sort of personal interest had grown. So, she was
fully aware of the devastation a chi blast could do; when Ranma first
learned to copy Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan, they had traded blasts like
crazy in the dojo, and the fights that followed sometimes had one or two
of them. Collateral damage had never given her, or insurance agents,
bigger headaches. For this one, her problem wasn't with property damage,
however, but with the target.

     She wasn't sure it had survived.

     Frantic, she stood up, turning to shake diplomat Ranma by the
shoulders. "I gotta get there! Ranma's gonna... Get me there!!" she
yelled in his face.

*******

     Nabiki groggingly sat up, unsure of how exactly she became lying
down, one hand on her aching head. Incidently, she only had to speak up
to be heard, the right cuff in her face. "I need a report on what just
happened, NOW." Carefully, she made sure her eyes functioned properly.

     "We're not sure, ma'am." the tiny voice in her ear piped up. "There
was a bio-energy spike off the scale, very unstable, then the flash
burned out every optical sensor in the area. We're sending more units as
we speak. Are you alright ma'am?"

     She held back a curse. "I'm fine, and quit calling me ma'am, I'm
only eighteen." She rubbed her eyes. Weren't spots supposed to be black?

     "But I'm half your age." the officer whined.

     "...just make sure one of those units has a medical 'roid, I'm
going to need more than eyedrops to get rid of those white spots. From
what I can see, though, a good section of the building is gone, the
traveler is unconscious and the killer is... missing." She paused. "Get
the patrols to block off the area. Can you give me an ETA?"

     "Already done, and abouuuuuut now." the boy answered with an
audible smirk.

     Right as predicted, Nabiki could hear at least five crafts fly over
her, already extending their analyzing equipment. "Hmph. Not bad. And
you've only been my apprentice for a year." She could hear his beaming
smile at her praise. "If you hadn't had to usurp my authority to do it,
I'd be impressed." she added.

     "Err..." he sweatdropped, trying to find a reply to that, when an
incoming call saved him. "Ma'am, Ranma wants to talk to you. I'll patch
him through."

     "Fine, and quit calling me ma'am!" she shot back.

     Ranma blinked in his receiver. "I didn't call you ma'am." he
replied, confused.

     Nabiki let go of a frustrated sigh. "I swear, that kid'll be the
death of me."

     "He does seem to be the only one that can get to you." he replied,
amused.

     "And *I* can get to *you*." she returned dangerously, eyes narrowed
at her comm. "Why are you calling me when I'm busy? Akane caught you
with Aya again?"

     "NO!" came the quick and scared answer.

     Allowing herself a chuckle, Nabiki simply leaned against the
closest object, needing to relax. "So why are you calling?" she asked.

     "Oh, just to tell you that I'm bringing the wife of the redhead
you're with, and she's eager to meet herself."

     "Oh, alright th- *blink blink* WHAT?!"

*******

     The flying car was still in motion when Nabiki kicked the door
open, hard enough for it to jam at an angle it wasn't supposed to go to,
and jump out to the rooftop. She tucked into a roll like she had been
taught, set her feet down to use the inertia to stand, and broke into a
run towards the fallen redhead.

     "Ranma!!" she shouted in worry, pushing aside the people in her way
with perhaps a little too much force to be appreciated, and she idilly
kicked the hovercraft from over her husband's body before she kneeled
next to it. "Ranma! Ranma, are you okay?!" She looked the girl over and
her worry doubled. Half of the front clothing was burned and the exposed
skin was definitely the wrong color. The only thing that didn't make her
go hysterical was the rhythmic rise and descent of Ranma's chest and the
constant trickling of blood from the many cuts.

     "Ma'am, please, let us treat her." one man said, putting a hand on
her shoulder.

     "Erk!"

     And quickly found himself in need of medical attention, holding his
oddly-bent wrist.

     "Dammit, Ranma, wake up!" she shook the girl by the shoulders,
holding back the tears. The man - yes, the *man* she had opened her
heart to was lying in front of her, bruised, burned and beaten, and she
was NOT going to lose him. She was not going through that again. "Pl-
please... wake up, Ranma." she whispered, eyes tightly shut as she
leaned over her.

     "Oh, get up, you're making me look bad." a voice said behind her,
grabbing the back of her shirt and pulling her up.

     Nabiki turned around to better punch whoever had dared, fist ready,
to stop short in mid-swing. And blink. "..." And blink again.

     "Hello, me." Lady Nabiki said with a smirk, gently pulling herself
away from the redhead as she waved a low hand to the medical staff for
them to move in. "I know you're worried about your... companion," she
hesitated on the word, trying to forget how Ranma had pictured their
relationship, "but if you just let the doctors treat her, she'll be
fine. The medical hovercraft scanned her and said she'd recover, well,
before you kicked it into the next building, but I'm willing to overlook
that if you just talk to me for awhile." she smiled.

     Blinking herself awake after the first true face-to-face with
herself, Nabiki straightened herself before glancing towards her Ranma.
"He- she'll be fine?" she managed with a straight voice.

     With a knowing smile, the Nabiki in purple nodded. "Yes. She'll
feel it in the morning, and if the energy readings are any indication
she'll be dead tired, but by tomorrow the burns and bruises will be
gone." she informed her. 'No need to mention the cracked ribs and the
concussion, they'll be gone by morning anyway.'

     Nabiki's whole body relaxed and she felt a great weight lift off
her shoulders. "Good... now, what is it you want to talk about?" she
asked, a hand  to her forehead. As soon as she could get away from
herself, she'd get closer to a part of herself.

     "Oh, nothing much, really. If you're with her, that means you're
also not from this world. I'd just like a few explanations, mainly why
you chose our quaint little town for your trip."

     Nabiki suddenly acquired a headache. Not long after, Nabiki also
acquired a headache.

*******

     The sun left its hiding place behind the horizon and shone its
bright light upon a brand new day.

     "Ah... what a nice day."

     At least, for those that actually liked mornings.

     "*Censored*."

     "Amelia, watch your language."

     *sigh* "Yes grandfather."

     Then there are those who hate mornings.

     "Now go brush your teeth and sweep the hallways before making
breakfast."

     *loooo~ooong sigh* "...yes grandfather."

     "I'll take care of your guest today, but it's a one-time favor."

     "......yes grandfather."

     "And don't exert yourself, you're due in a couple weeks you know."

     Amelia didn't dignify that one with a response.

*******

     With a smirk, Kojiro stepped into the guest room, gently closing
the door behind him. He loved teasing his grand-daughter like that.

     At least, he thought she knew it was teasing.

     In any case, Kojiro sat on the chair next to the bed, putting on
the nightstand a large glass of heated whatever Amelia had put in the
blender and set to puree the night before. Though he usually loved her
cooking, he gave more than a second glance at the mix, and even after
tasting it wasn't sure it was proper to give a recuperating girl.

     A soft smile spread to his lips as he looked at the sleeping girl.
With her eyes closed and her hair a mess, she was the spitting image of
his grand-daughter. A non-pregnant spitting image of his grand-daughter.

     One could hope.

     Pulling open the bottom drawer, Kojiro took a new bandage roll and
proceeded to change the wrapping on the girl's hand, delicately removing
it. The wound was nasty, the skin ripped and torn by the fingernails,
but it was healing nicely. With a little luck, even, the scars would be
hidden enough in the natural wrinkles of the palm to not be too
noticeable. With luck.

     "Ooohhh..."

     "Oh, sorry there... " Kojiro quickly soaked a compress in the
admittedly not-so-cool water bowl, and after pushing some hair aside,
applied it on the girl's forehead. It wasn't quite required since the
girl wasn't sick per se, but he knew personnally how a little comfort
could help when weak.

     "Wh... where... am I?" Akane's raspy voice muttered, barely
managing a whisper. Her eyelids fluttered in an effort to open.

     Kojiro gave a short smile. "You're in my temple, child. I found you
on the road unconscious from blood loss." He wisely kept silent the fact
she'd have died there if it wasn't for him. "I took you back here to
take care of you."

     "... ... ... th... thank you..." she managed, remembering,
painfully remembering what had led her to that. She abandoned the idea
of getting up or staying awake at all, and simply sank deeper into the
bed, focusing on the throbbing of her hand to prevent any thought on her
situation.

     "Now, now, don't get away from me, you need food and I got
something here to help you recover. I don't see much fat on you so you
need proteins to make more blood." he grinned at his joke, though he
didn't expect any sort of reply.

     "Mph..." Akane gave a small sudden exhale of air, but if it was a
cough, a chuckle or a choke on tears, Kojiro couldn't tell.

     "It won't take long, I assure you." With a spoon, he scooped up
some of the puree and put it to her mouth. Without asking, her mouth
opened just enough, and he let the food slide in.

     'Poor girl.' he thought as he fed her. 'All worked up, almost
unvoluntarily killed herself, over nothing.' He let go of a sigh. 'Then
again, she wouldn't need soul-searching if she hadn't done this. Of all
the cases I was given, she's one of the worst.'

     It took a long time, but Kojiro finally scrapped the last of
Amelia's cuisine, and the feeding was over. "Rest now, please." he
sermoned the child, gently. "You need it."

     As Akane let herself drift away, the feeding session oddly calming
and soothing the pain, she heard the old man mutter, knowing he was
shaking his head, "It's always the pretty ones..."

*******

     The office nurse closed communications and sighed, laying back in
her chair. The security agency was very annoying, asking for a report on
the outsider's condition every hour. She took another look at the glass
pad, which was displaying the girl's vitals, and shook her head. Nothing
but trouble.

     Just as she was about to put it down, the pad vibrated with a tiny,
ear-splitting sound comparable to fingernails on a chalkboard; the nurse
didn't have to look to know it meant every vital sign had disappeared,
and she simply threw the pad on the desk in her rush to the patient's
room.

     Pushing away the bewildered guard, she pushed the door wide open -
and stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide. In front of her, naked as a
jailbird, stood the patient that had been so beat up and tired, frozen
in mid-stretch, arms behind her and chest quite proeminently standing
out.

     "Hum, shouldn't you, like, knock or sumpthin'? Bargin' in is kinda
rude, ya know." the redhead eloquently spoke, removing the kinks in her
neck in a rather loud manner.

     The nurse cringed at the sound, not quite sure it was good for the
neck. "Ehh... you shouldn't just get out of bed and disconnect
everything like that, either." she replied. "And for god's sake, cover
up." she added sourly.

     "Huh?" Ranma looked down at herself. "Oh. Right." She walked next
to the bed, and gently took back the hospital gown covering Nabiki,
asleep in a chair. "I'd appreciate having some decent clothes, by the
way." as she put it on.

     "That can be arranged." the nurse answered almost automatically,
then shook her head. "Huh, you're putting it on backwards."

     Ranma stopped in the middle of tying the little straps in her back.
"Huh?"

     The nurse put a hand on her forehead, feeling a headache coming.

*******

     The doctor's hand slipped, and the man quickly found himself
embedded in the far wall, next to two of his colleagues. The nurses
hadn't dared step into the room to get them yet. The guards had ran from
the glare they had received when they peeped in at a time Ranma was
changing.

     "Can I go *now*?" an irate Ranma asked yet again.

     Nabiki rolled her eyes. "No. Not before you're given a clean bill
of health." she sermoned. This was annoying, but at least it was giving
her time to properly braid that stupidly long red hair back into a
pigtail. As long as Ranma didn't turn it into martial arts training,
that is. It was better than pacing a hole in the floor, but not that
much.

     Ranma crossed her arms under her breasts. "I told you, I'm *fine*!
I think I'm better at knowing my own health, thank you."

     "And I suppose they're fine, hmm?" she asked, pointing to the three
doctors in the wall. "What about Shampoo? Is *she* fine?"

     When she saw Ranma suddenly tense and all emotion drain from her
face, Nabiki immediately regretted her words. "Um, Ranma, I'm sorry, I
shouldn't have sa--"

     "No." Ranma lowered her head, eyes closed. "It's not your fault."
She kept still in contemplation. "Is she alive?"

     Awkward pause. "They... don't know. They did an extensive search in
a five-mile area. Either she was blown back and she managed to get up
and run, or..." Nabiki bit her lip. Given the girl's condition even
before the blast, the second option was far more likely, but she didn't
wish to tell Ranma he had killed. For real this time.

     "She... she..." Ranma banged her fist on the gurney, creating a
deep impression and making Nabiki jump. "She deserved it, dammit! She
brought it on herself. Killing innocent people who haven't done anything
is the worst thing anyone can do. I didn't like doing it but I don't
regret it. I..." Her resolve lessened and she choked up. "I don't..."

     Nabiki leaned forward and hugged her softly crying husband. For
such a socially and technologically advanced world, it was turning out
worse than any other. And almost a whole day to go.

*******

     Ukyou and Shampoo stepped out of the taxi, the latter still
muttering and rubbing her head. Once they admitted they weren't anywhere
close to finding Ranma, they found the nearest train station and came
back. One week had passed, or nearly, since Cologne had done that first
spell, and she should have received what she needed from the village.

     "Great-grandmother, Shampoo back with spa-- Ukyou!" the happy
purple-headed wonder yelled as she walked in the restaurant. Then she
froze.

     "Thanks." Ukyou whispered noncommitally, stopping next to her and
taking a look around. "Whoa..."

     The term 'warzone' had just received a new definition. All the
tables and chairs were in pieces strewn around like a few hurricanes
came by for lunch, along with a dozen unbalanced fire-breathers for
decoration. A spot here, a spot there was relatively intact - as long as
you didn't touch it. On the walls, ustensils and knives of various sizes
and lengths, most twisted beyond repair, stood out proeminently; Shampoo
recognized a few of Mousse's own throwing knives. A ceiling lamp
suddenly decided to get a life and went to flirt noisily with the floor.

     "Geez, sugar, you got us lost long enough for World War 3 to break
out and be over." Ukyou said to Shampoo in wonder. And soon evaded the
wild swing her way.

     <Great-grandmother!> Shampoo cried in alarm, broken out of her
reverie by Ukyou's comment, as she ran into the kitchen. She hesitated
half a step seeing the even worse mess in there, pots and pans and food
everywhere, and over an inch of broken plates covering the floor, before
simply running through to the stairs.

     Ukyou followed at her own pace, taking her time to observe what
could only be described as the carnage that had ransacked the only
restaurant she had a begrudging respect for. 'Not to think ill-thoughts,
but I do hope Konatsu kept my place running smoothly. Lot more customers
with this place closed.'

     Shampoo cleared the stairs in half a second and ran straight down
the hall and burst in her great-grandmother's room, her mind failing to
notice the lack of any damage on the second floor. <Great-grandmother!>
she yelled out again, fearful and nervous.

     <Tsk.> came a voice she couldn't identify right away. <It's not
befitting an Amazon Warrior to act so worried and afraid. I would have
thought your dear great-grandmother would have taught you that.> A
figure stepped out of the shadows, and Shampoo's eyes became very wide.
<But then again, for one who's been defeated by an outsider, came back
shamed and was touched by Jusenkyo, and now over a year later still
hasn't caught her male, I shouldn't be surprised.> A sneer crooked the
otherwise lovely woman's face, adding to the condescending tone and
hate-filled sarcasm.

     <Honored elder.> Shampoo managed in her most respectful voice,
kneeling and bowing her head down, noticing the two sleeping figures on
cots but not showing it. <It is an honor to be graced with your presence
so far from our ances->

     <Oh, can it.> came the spiteful reply. <I see Khu Lon has done her
brainwashing well. All form and no substance.> She glared at the pitiful
girl who dared to claim to the Amazon name. <Feh. In any case, your
great-grandmother is fine, only unconscious. Causing magical backlash
will do that. That Amazon Male is out too.>

     Shampoo took the news in stride, hiding her joy to know her elder
was alright. Then she realized. <If I may, honored elder, what has-->

     "I got here last night with the ingredients of the spell." the
elder said, deliberately using japanese with the eavesdropping girl in
the hallway. Another prime example of foreigner inferiority. "Khu Lon
was hasty and managed to mess it up, but she held it together long
enough to get results. For running around on a fool's errand, you'll do
the clean up alone."

     Beginning to rise to do as told, Shampoo suddenly paused. "Honored
elder, does that mean-"

     "Geez, you are a scatter-brain, aren't you?" the woman cut in.
"Yes. I was the one to deliver the components in case the answer was
negative. After you're done cleaning, get dressed properly. There'll be
a reckoning tonight for your failures." She barely let a second go by to
let the news sink in. "Now LEAVE!"

     Acting more on instinct than anything else, Shampoo bolted from the
room and ran to the stairs, not even seeing the shell-shocked Ukyou on
her knees, leaning against the wall, eyes wide, with tears running down
her face.

     After all, how could she see past her own tears?

*******

     It took about an hour more, after Ranma recovered, but Nabiki
finally got the redhead to go through a proper physical, and they were
allowed to leave, escorted. Until Ranma's clothes could be retrieved
from Akane's, the pigtailed girl was stuck in an old, remarkably tight
white nurse's uniform, with matching 2-inch heel shoes. She had declined
the accompanying hat, though Nabiki had quickly pocketed it. But her
current state of dress wasn't the reason she was blushing beet red.

     "Look, Nabiki, I'm sorry already, I just... you know..." Ranma
looked down, continuing to let herself be pulled forward as they passed
the entrance doors.

     "Riiight, Saotome..." Nabiki deadpanned. "I'm smarter than your
average fiance," she began, "though that's debatable since I'm now
married to you," she muttered under her breath, "but the fact that you
managed to get a *woman* doctor in her *late twenties* to hit on you as
a *girl* in a country that gets its children married at eight years old
baffles even ME," she paused for dramatic effect and to calm herself,
"and forces me to conclude that you HAD to have some hand in it
happening."

     "But I didn't do anything, I swear!" Ranma lamented. "You saw it, I
just sat there and let her tou--" The girl cutely blinked, twice. "Did
you just say people here get married at eight?" she asked
disbelievingly.

     Nabiki rolled her eyes, reminded herself that, for once, Ranma's
ignorance truly wasn't her fault, and pulled on the girl's arm so they
could walk side to side. "Yes. I had a look through their history files.
Seems that when the europeans first came to visit, they brought a plague
on us like they did the american natives. Part of the population died,
some children didn't grow up, some were sterile..." She trailed off.

     "Anyway, they beat the thing by putting everything they had into
research and science, but it took over a century, so in the meantime,
they had to make sure the 'foreigner's touch' wouldn't affect the honor
of the houses and shogun too much. So they made children marry before
any effect of the plague could be seen on them. Of course, some of the
rules changed and there aren't any social castes anymore, but I guess
it's been going well since they still do it."

     Ranma blinked again, trying to make sense of it all. "Wait... if
they still do it... do we have counterparts here?" she asked, almost
afraid of the answer.

     "Yes." Nabiki said, but kept it at that. A happily married Ranma
and Akane probably wasn't the best thing this Ranma should see right
now. Not to mention that Aya girl probably couldn't handle seeing a
second Ranma. Not like they had a choice, though.

     "So..." Ranma continued, not catching anything, "all of us are
married?"

     Nabiki didn't dignify that with an answer, only giving a half-
lidded look.

     "...right. So... what'd you find out?"

     She simply sighed, for once seeing profit - not monetary, but at
this point she didn't care - in delaying the inevitable. "You'll find
out when we get there. Be nice, don't do anything stupid, shut up, and
maybe, just maybe, you'll get hot water."

     For once getting the message and understanding the implicit threat,
Ranma wisely shut up. She figured it just about covered the other two
conditions, as well.

     The two simply walked down the street, too used to looks to care,
or to notice they weren't being looked at for the usual reasons. The two
girls had, unknowingly since Nabiki pulled Ranma to her level, held
hands, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. For a country
unused - though not against - such couples, it did tend to attract
attention.

     Unknowing as they were, though, they simply went down the path,
their escort around them. Up until Ranma forgot her lesson. "Say, 'Biki,
you never told me how you got into the prison I was in." she asked,
looking at her.

     One eyebrow going up, the brunette briefly wondered if Ranma could
be faking such innocence and candor. For all of half a millisecond.
"That wasn't me, Ranma. I was at my... at this world's version of my
house, all day."

     Blink. "Huh? But..." Another blink. "But then... that means that
the Nabiki I was with is..." Ranma silenced herself in horror with
widening eyes, and her head snapped sideways to look at Nabiki's face.
"You..." she started, but didn't finish, unable to read her wife's
expression.

     "Yes." she answered the unspoken question. "And the only reason I'm
not sure if I should be angry yet is because you thought you were with
me. I'm getting worried about your vow of fidelity, though." she
finished with a smirk.

     "What?! Nabiki!" she almost whined. "You know I didn't--" she
paused. "Well, I sorta did, but it's not my fault! You know I don't do
these things by myself!"

     Nabiki simply moved her eyes to look sideways at the redhead.
"Right. I almost believed that before we started all this, but now that
I'm in the middle..." she trailed off.

     "But... but... I swear! It's not my fault! I got my mom's looks and
whatever Saotome charm that God only knows how let my old man get her. I
dunno if I give off pheromones or sumpthin', but I don't do it on
purpose! Honest!"

     With a sigh, Nabiki let go of Ranma's hand - only now realizing
they were holding hands - and slid her arm around the shorter girl's
shoulders. "That's almost believable, so you're off the hook, for now."
she grinned, having reached her goal. "But I'll be watching you."

     Ranma's head slumped. "I'm doomed." she lamented to herself,
forgetting her wife was right next to her.

     Nabiki allowed herself a smile. She had successfully distracted her
wayward husband from his earlier actions, and at the same time gotten a
little revenge back at him. She'd let him off the hook sooner or later,
after he stopped having 'encounters' with every girl that came around
the corner. Which basically meant never, not that she minded. "Come on,
Ranma, we're almost there." she pointed.

*******

     Lady Nabiki tussled Miaka's hair with a smile as she took her tea
cup from her, sitting at the table. The kid took off to another part of
the house. "It took a little convincing, and putting myself on the line,
but it's all mine. All I need is your official acceptance of housing our
guests until they leave." She looked at the happy couple snuggling on
the other side of the table.

     "Hey, I'm more than willing." Ranma jumped on the chance. "I can't
wait to meet that redhead. If she's me, I'm sure she's even more
beautiful upcl-- Ooff!"

     Akane removed her elbow from her husband's side, straightening to
sit on her own a foot away from him. "*WE* are also curious as to what
another Ranma might act like." she smiled, if not for her actions
totally oblivious to her own Ranma's comment.

     Just outside the room, leaning against the hallway wall, Aya shook
her head with a fond smile.

     "Right." Nabiki let out a chuckle. "Try impulsive, egotistical,
loud-mouthed, annoying, emotionally introverted, otherwise very
outspoken without social skills, action-focused, but generally well-
intentioned and caring for others, within a specific code of principles.
Ready to protect others without regard to her own safety, might I add."
She took a sip of tea.

     "That sounds about right." a known yet different voice piped in
from the side.

     Four heads turned to look upon the two travelers, lead by the ever-
smiling Miaka and escorted from behind by two officers. Nabiki simply
waved hello with a smile, while Ranma was grumbling to herself about all
the Nabikis out to get her.

     "Oh, my! Ranma, she looks just like your mother." Akane exclaimed,
hand covering her mouth.

     "Nah, mom's more of a brunette. Her hair ain't that red." Ranma
replied, pulling down at a strand of her hair to look at it.

     The other Ranma simply stared. A hot buxom redhead in a tight white
nurse's uniform had just walked in, and the subconscious wasn't minding
the mother resemblance at all. "I knew it, she's a--"

     Aya slipped her hand over the too quick-talking man's mouth,
letting him know it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do to say that.

     "Err..." Ranma refrained from commenting her counterpart's
reaction, though couldn't help but be curious/nervous about the other
girl. "Anyway, before we talk an' all, I'd kinda like to get out of
these stuffy clothes. Kinda too tight on me, but I guess ya can see
that." She gave a lopsided grin, pulling with two fingers on the shirt,
demonstrating how well it clinged to her curves.

     Ranma promptly mumbled his express and devoted agreement into Aya's
hand, nodding his head, while Aya only gave an impish smile and
pretended not to notice. Akane demonstrated an oblivious happiness
comparable, if not better, than of the Kasumi the travelers knew. "Oh,
dear, of course. Miaka, show them to our guest room upstairs. Nabiki,
your bag is over there." Akane pointed behind her to the wall.

     "Thank you." she kindly replied, walking over to pick it up. "If I
may ask, what about our nice escort?" she asked, giving her schoolbag a
once-over.

     "They are to stand guard at the front gates and escort you if you
leave." the other Nabiki answered, at the same time letting the guards
know with a nod their way. They silently acknowledged and turned to
exit. "You're under my care while inside the house. But we can talk
after you're comfortable." she politely smiled.

     Nabiki nodded and turned to the youngest amongst them. "Lead the
way."

*******

     Kasumi approached the family table with apprehension, unable to
look at her father or the Saotomes directly. "W-we have a visitor." she
announced, stepping aside to let the other woman pass.

     Putting down her tea, Nodoka got up to give a formal bow. "Hello.
Welcome to--"

     "No need for that." the visitor cut off. "I'm just here to give a
message to the parents here. Khu Lon did her spell last night. The two
kids are dead. So sorry. I'll show myself out." She turned and left,
having done what she had to do.

     Nodoka fell back on her cushion, eyes wide like the others. Kasumi
went to hide in the kitchen.

     Silence fell over the Tendo home.

*******

     Blocks away, Shampoo was doing her best to clean up the restaurant,
barely able to see through her tears.

     In her own restaurant, Ukyou was doing the opposite, maddened with
grief.

     The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky of the Nerima district.

*******

     With a sigh, Ranma finished tying her red shirt. "Better." she
commented to herself, purposely not looking at Nabiki folding the
nurse's uniform and putting it in her bag. "Can I get some hot water
now?"

     "No, and I'd really prefer you didn't." Nabiki replied, more
focused on managing to close her schoolbag. Then she paused, being hit
with the horror that Ranma's talking before thinking was getting to her.
"I *mean*," she continued before her husband protested, "that magic here
is given even less thought than the religious certitudes of the after-
life. When I asked them, Akane went into a ten minute long rant about
how magic was just something a culture couldn't understand because it
isn't technologically advanced yet. Not to mention the scolding she gave
me about magic being physically and scientifically impossible." she
sighed. "I can't wait to leave this world." she muttered under her
breath.

     "......fine, fine. I get it." Ranma replied, miffed, while
adjusting her shirt a bit more. "When do we leave this world, anyway?"

     Nabiki hopped out of the red pants she had 'borrowed'. "Tomorrow
morning. Time enough to relax in peace for awhile."

     A sigh. "Good..." Ranma lowered her head, losing all emotion and
animosity, letting herself slump against the wall, barely close enough
to stay standing. "Good..." she sighed again, softer.

     Hearing the strange tone, she turned to look at the redhead, but
prevented her own sigh from escaping. She walked over to her husband,
wishing Kasumi was there to tell her what to do. She was always the
strong one, dealing with emotions.

*******

     Nodoka put down the phone, the picture of cool and resolute. She
walked back to the living room and sat down, facing her husband. "It's
done. Posters will be spread out, pictures put in all the major
newspapers of Japan and inquiries will be made in every airport and
seaport." She let out a small sigh. "We should have done this from the
beginning."

     Across the table, Genma shook his head, arms crossed. "You may not
trust magic, Nodoka, but I've seen too much not to believe. I don't know
what my son got himself into, but..."

     "Hmph. I suppose you trust these Amazons, too? They've more than
proven their unhonourable ways and tricks to try to snare my son. This
is nothing more than another subterfuge. My son may be missing, but he
is *not* dead." Spoken with the true faith of a mother.

     Eyes closed, Genma considered his wife's words. "Hopefully your
confidence will make Tendo stop crying." he finally said, before getting
up and leaving the room.

     Nodoka kept her posture but closed her eyes, refusing to see her
husband's cowardice. When he was gone, she opened them, and calmly took
her tea, uncaring that it was cold. 'I have faith in my son, and oddly
enough in your teachings, if you don't, husband. The Saotome family is
not without influence, if without money. My son is alive and will
return. Even if I have to move Heaven and Earth.' she vowed.

*******

     Ranma closed the bathroom door behind her, sighing. After a bit
of... time with Nabiki, they had talked with their hosts well into the
afternoon. She had at first marveled at this world; but soon began to
wish to get the hell out of it. Not only was everyone exceedingly smart
in many fields of knowledge, she just knew that despite their
manneurisms, she was being looked down upon because of her bad speech
pattern. "Stupid pop." she mumbled, getting undressed.

     She piled her clothes in a corner, and stepped into the small
shower. "Huh. No knobs, no... oh. There it is." She pressed a green
square button on her left, and right away warm, comforting water
assaulted her from above and three sides. "Oohhh... that feels soooo...
crap I'm a guy again." he mumbled. Then paused as the full meaning of
his words hit him. "Screw i--pfft..."

     'Mental note: do not talk to self in shower with sideways spray.'

     Ranma turned on himself, letting the water cascade down his back.
'I'm staying a guy, dammit. No matter what.' He just laid his head
against the wall, letting the soapy water do its work. It was nice not
having to scrub yourself.

     It all ended with a slightly stronger burst of water, then warm air
to dry.

     Meanwhile, Aya, not seeing the occupied sign up, allowed herself
into the unlocked bathroom, and started to disrobe, wanting to take a
shower before making dinner. She had grown bored of the conversation
early and went off to do her gardening. She mumbled a curse about
visitors as she put her clothes on top of another pile.

     Ranma got out of the shower, feeling refreshed. And stared.

     Aya stared back.

     They stared for awhile, then, extending one arm, Aya put a finger
on the mirror over the sink, eyes never leaving the boy in front of him.
A square around her finger turned blue. "Display living room." she said
softly.

     The image in the mirror changed to an above view of said place,
with Akane in her husband's lap playing lovey-dovey, and the two Nabikis
on the other side discussing some particular fine point on a subject.
Aya's eyes flicked to the image, at the sime time as Ranma's, and a
second later they turned to look at each other again.

     Ranma gave a weak embarrassed smile.

     Aya's reaction wasn't quite the same.

*******

     "AAAHH! HELP!"

     Akane looked up, letting her husband kiss her neck instead. "That
sounded like..."

     "A wayward husband." Nabiki finished, frowning and getting up. "If
you'll excuse me." she kindly bowed to her hosts and went off to find
her Ranma. Obviously, the three others followed.

     The lock on the bathroom door didn't stand a chance against
Nabiki's anger, reinforced with the sounds of struggle, the moans, and
the sound of flesh against flesh. The door slamming open made both
wrestlers stop and look.

     Aya, naked, literally laid on top of Ranma, also naked. Her hands
were holding Ranma's head and forcing him into a kiss that hadn't been
quite broken with them turning slightly to look at the door. Ranma's two
arms were stuck between them, his hands on her chest though exactly
where couldn't be seen.

     Nabiki's eyebrow twitched.

     "He's mine!" Aya shouted, letting go of Ranma's head just to put
her arms around him and hug him tight. "You have your Ranma, and now
this one's mine!"

     Nabiki walked to the sink, not even bothering to explain anything
to the shell-shocked trio behind her, and filled a glass of cold water.
"No, this one's mine." she said matter-of-factly, and threw the water at
the hugging couple.

     "Oh my." "Interesting." "Whoa!"

     Three guesses who went wide-eyed at two naked girls hugging each
other.

     Ranma spit out the water that had gotten in her mouth, and let her
head hang backwards. "Why me?" she asked the ceiling, because she
already knew God wouldn't answer.

*******

     The deadly claws raked the stone wall like a trowel in soft earth
for hours on end, the creature only pausing to remove the accumulated
rubble. Its red eyes narrowed, sensing that freedom was near and, ever
cautious, it extended one finger forward, going through the stone
easily. Upon removal, a thin shaft of light pierced the blackness of the
cave, illuminating what had been for thousands of years in the dark.

     With a hiss of pain as its exposed skin burned, the creature
retreated far into the cave, glaring at its hated enemy. Once it felt
safely enough away, it settled into a corner an