Ranma 1/2

Disclaimer: I don’t own Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi does. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

Shades of Home

Chapter 35

“Ranma! Wait! I hate to do this to you but Steven said not to let you leave until you saw the reporters.”

“Damn it! I’m tired and hungry and I wanna go home.”

The Captain nodded, “I’m sorry, I know how it is, but Steven said to tell you that someone had to do it and he isn’t worth shit when it comes to reporters. He tends to glower at them and scare them into fits …I’ve seen it myself. He just doesn’t do well and we don’t need a bunch of negative publicity.”

Ranma kissed Sunny and put her on the chopper, she offered to stay but he knew she really wanted to go back to the Compound and get cleaned up; he’d gotten assorted wyvern bodily fluids on her. They’d had clothes for him but nothing for her. He wasn’t sure why and intended to find out.

Ranma reached for his shoulder and realized that he didn’t have his com system on anymore. Instead he pulled out his cell and speed dialed Steven.

“Talk to me!”

“Steven, you shit. I’m gonna get ya for this. Why should I have to deal with some reporter? And why didn’t Sunny have any clean clothes on site?”

“Sorry, sorry. I just hate talking to reporters, I don’t deal well with them. You look so young and harmless, I just dumped them on you and I know I’m being a shit but I . . . well, never mind, you just have better control over your mouth than I do. And I’ll find out why Sunny didn’t have clean clothes. At least we had some for you and your cell and wallet.”

“Yeah, I got both and even clean boots. But . . . well, never mind. Reporters it is. But you owe me big time.”

Ranma snapped his cell closed and looked around trying to find the reporters. If he had to do this, he wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. He was going to want coffee and lots of it. He knew he shouldn’t drink it, it made him jumpy but if he was going to have to do this on only a half hour nap, he was going to have to have it.

The Captain whose name tag said ‘Jackson’ walked away from the chopper with Ranma, talking all the way.

“We’ve set up in the barn just around the curve. I hope you have better control of your temper than Steven does and more patience, too. These people are all in the public eye in a big way and they could really help us. We can’t hide the incursions anymore, they’re all over the place and people are starting to ask uncomfortable questions. Steven said you had ideas about how to handle this. We’ve all tried to hide it so long that reporters don’t trust us anymore.

“That’s why we’re turning as much of this over to you and your group as we can. Just be as up front as you can, there isn’t any confidential info anymore. It is just causing more trouble than it is worth.”

“Ok. I got the drift. Talk to the nice people, be direct, don’t answer questions that haven’t been asked. Right? . . .” Captain Jackson nodded. “Got it. Wonder where I heard that before. Get me coffee.”

Ranma accepted the cup of coffee from Captain Jackson with a soft sigh. “Thanks man, I really need this. I’m really gettin’ tired of runnin’ on half an hour sleep and an MRE. Ain’t civilized.”

Fifteen minutes later Ranma entered a barn which had been set up as a make shift studio. He stopped and the Captain bumped into him.

“Hey! I ain’t no public speaker. I thought ya said . . . shit. I don’ wanna do this.” Ranma realized he was whining, took a deep breath, snarled and headed for the podium.

“Ladies and gentleman. I ain’t a public speaker. You’ll probably have trouble understandin’ me. So . . . you ask, I’ll answer to the best of my ability . . . QUIET!” Ranma shouted them down. The babble of questions was totally unintelligible. “I’ll answer questions for twenty minutes. If you ask the same question as someone else, I’ll call on the next person. Listen up and pay attention, I don’t intend to repeat myself and I’m not puttin’ up with a bunch of shit. I’m a martial artist, not a diplomat.”

The reporters questioned Ranma relentlessly, he only had to put one man in his place and he did it with a flat cold look that made even that callused individual back down. Ranma answered questions and kept an eye on his watch. He intended to start out the way he was going to handle all interviews. He was in charge and no one had better challenge him.

“OK! People. . . . People. HEY! Shaddap! I said twenty minutes and I meant it. You’ve all had a chance to ask two questions and your time is up. I’m leaving. I’m tired, hungry and frankly you’re beginning to get on my nerves. And that ain’t a good idea. Any more questions can be submitted to Department 13 in writing and I’m sure someone will get back to you. Now, good-bye.”

Ranma just walked away from the podium but every reporter in the room seemed to take that as a license to stick microphones, tape recorders and cameras in his face. He breasted the crowd of shouting, shoving bodies and snarled. No one wanted to make way for him so he handled it quite well. He jumped over the mass of people, landing in the rafters of the open barn, then he dropped to the floor on the other side of them and went out the door, headed for Nerima at a dead run.

“Fucking reporters . . . fucking Steven . . . fucking . . . damn it, I still got belly rumblings. What the hell is going on? I got the wyvern and it’s supposed to be solitary . . . I . . . hhnn.”

Ranma looked around, he was hungry and still tired, but he knew if he got some food in him he’d be good for the rest of the day. So he looked for some place to eat.

{Ucchan’s, okonomiyaki. I’m going there}

Ranma knew exactly where he was, Ucchan’s was only a few blocks away. He could roof hop it easily. He decided to do just that since he was still hungry, and pissed, and tired; and he knew that, after reporters, he wasn’t going to get to sleep until it got dark. And that made him even more angry, which made it even less likely that he was going to wind down any time soon.

.

Ukyo turned from the pass-through and nearly swallowed her gum. She hadn’t seen Ranma since Genma had taken him away to that ‘summer camp’ and she’d been really angry about the letter he’d sent her. But she and Konatsu were getting along really well, so she figured out that trying to force Ranma to feel something that he didn’t was an exercise in futility.

“Ranma, long time no see, sugar. What can I do ya for?”

Ranma smiled; Ukyo was going to take it easy on him, she was a good friend and he was happy to see her.

“I’m hungry. What’s the chance of getting a special?”

Ukyo made Ranma a special and one of his favorites, he had that ‘I’m about to starve’ look around his eyes. Ranma watched as Ukyo make him two okonomiyaki, one special and one shrimp. His favorite. She put them in front of him and smiled.

“Hey, don’t look so sad. I admit I was mad at first but . . . shit happens, you know? Besides, I should have known that you’d never settle down in a restaurant. Konatsu and I are . . . a thing. How you doin’?”

“Pretty good. Just . . . well, you’d never believe me in a million years.”

Ranma stopped talking and started eating. He wolfed the food down like he was afraid someone was going to steal it. Konatsu reached for the plate and found his wrist pinned to the counter top, luckily not to the hot cooking surface.

“Don’t . . . don’t touch my plate until I give it to you. Long story, nasty too. Just be really careful with an ex-slave. ‘K?”

Konatsu blinked, then just nodded and went back to the back. (He had contacts and knew a great deal more than he thought Ranma might like)

“Slave? Ran-chan, what the hell are you talking about? And don’t give me that shut-faced look.”

Ranma finished his okonomiyaki and started talking; he told Ukyo everything as she cooked. She cooked, he talked, until he was full and finished.

“Well, I never in all my life. Genma better not ever show his face around here. I’ll take a spatula to him, you betcha.”

Ranma sneered at Ukyo. “Old Fart’s in prison and not gettin’ out anytime soon.”

“Good.”

Just then the door zinged and Akane came rushing in.

“Ukyo, call . . . Oh! Ranma I’m glad to see you. You better come with me.”

Akane reached out to grab Ranma, who slapped her hand away without even thinking about it.

“What . . . Ranma, this is no time to get pissy. There’s something . . . some kind of animal in the warehouse down the alley. Come with me . . . please.”

Ranma jumped up and headed for the door, hauling Akane with him.

“Where exactly? Show me but stay behind me.”

“I can take care of myself, Saotome. I don’t know exactly. Nabiki got a call from one of her contacts; she’s already called . . . Steven, is it? She said to tell you, if I found you, that help is on the way, but if you have to make a mess, it’ll be taken care of. What the hell is she talking about?”

“If I have to kill something big, it’ll make a bigger mess than we ever did. Akane? . . . . Thanks for testifying for me.”

“Well, you’re welcome. We don’t seem to get along, but that’s no reason for me to let that nasty man lie about you. . . . Here we are. Hey, mister, what . . . Ranma!”

Ranma didn’t wait for the men to tell him anything. He just walked into the warehouse and looked around. It was full of boxes and pallets, stacked in cubes, which made it extremely hard to see anything.

Akane came up behind him, but stayed out of arms reach. Clearing her throat, she waited for him to turn around and see her.

“Ranma. They say there is a really big, winged snake in here. I don’t believe that. What kind of snake has wings?”

Ranma turned his attention back to his search. “Ain’t one. But I just killed a wyvern about three hours ago. They’re oviparous, and this one was mature. Real mature.”

“Ovi . . . what’s that? Where did you learn all this stuff?”

Akane looked at Ranma with new eyes. She’d been disappointed when she came to testify. Nabiki had said Ranma was really changed, but she’d wanted to see for herself. Now she was getting an eye full. Ranma was serious about this snake thing, not cracking jokes or being a jerk.

“In school. I’ve got my diploma and graduated with an A average. We studied some completely off the wall biology. And that included egg-laying reptiles of the mythological variety. Like dragons and wyverns and gryphons.”

“You’re not kidding me are you.” Akane felt her skin crawl. “You really are fighting dragons and . . . and . . .?

“Yeah. Can the chatter. Jump up into the rafters and keep an eye peeled, will ya? We need to find that thing and quick.”

Ranma was disgusted with himself ‘listen to my gut, Baka’. He was dressed in jeans, T-shirt and sneakers. He didn’t have any kind of weapon and needed something badly.

(Baka! Baka! You know better than to go off without something.)

“Hssst! Ranma! I see it. At least I think I do. Over in the back, by the red boxes.”

Akane made room for Ranma beside her on the rafter where she was perched, like a bird. She pointed to the area where she had seen the movement. Ranma looked where she pointed and saw a wyvern, he blinked and looked again. Then he snorted softly, wheezing so he wouldn’t laugh out loud and scare it.

The wyvern was all of five feet long from nose to stinger. It was a hatchling, a very new one.

“Akane. I’m going to keep an eye on it. Go get me some duct tape. Hurry, before it gets away and I have to chase it. Go!”

“Hey! Who do you think you’re ordering around?”

“Akane . . . this is not the time . . . never mind. I’ll do it myself. Why should you be any different from ever before?”

Ranma hopped down from the rafter and rummaged around on one of the benches against one wall.

“Hey, Major. What ya lookin’ for?”

The man had approached Ranma from the side so he could be seen. He peered at the bench and then at Ranma

“Duct tape. Got any? I need the high tensile strength . . . wide as you can find. Quick!”

“Duct tape? Got some of that stuff they call gaffers’ tape. That do?”

The man rummaged under the bench and pulled out a huge roll of silvery tape about three inches wide and handed it to Ranma with a little bow.

“Yeah, that’ll do fine. Now get out of here before you get stung. That baby isn’t going to like what I’m gonna do to it.”

Ranma took time to call Steven-- after he got back in the rafters where he could see the wyvern.

“Steven. I got a situation here. Found another wyvern. I need a truck that’ll haul about . . . oh, say half a ton, maybe five . . . six feet long, wing span. Well, that won’t make any difference . . . Huh? It’s a hatchling. Haven’t found any eggs yet, but once I get baby, I’ll look around. Damn it, I’m not armed or armored. I’m wearing civvies . . . Yeah. No, just my cell. I’ll switch my watch to active tracking so you can find me.”

Ranma snapped his phone closed, fiddled with his watch for a second, then jumped from rafter to rafter until he was right over the hatchling. It was shifting from foot to foot nervously, making squawking noises under its breath. Every now and then it flapped its wings, flapping them back and forth in a strange fanning motion. Ranma realized that it was still too young to fly and was exercising its wings.

Akane had followed him and was peering down at the baby with wide eyes. She waited until he was done planning and started to move, then grabbed him by the arm.

“Ranma what are you doing? Let the experts take care of this thing. I think it has a sting in its tail. You can’t keep going off half-cocked.”

“Akane, let go of me. I am the expert, and I don’t go off half-cocked. I don’t go off at all. If I did, I’d have smacked you into next week a long time ago. Do not touch me again. I don’t like it.”

Ranma jerked his arm out of Akane’s hand and dropped to the floor behind the chick. A quick snatch and he had the tail in one hand and one foot in the other. Switching the foot in his right hand to the left, he taped them together with several wraps of tape, dumping it onto its side in the process. Dodging a snap from the slavering jaws, he taped the other foot to the already taped appendages. A slap from one wing stung him across the back. “Ow! You little fuck!” Ranma grabbed the muzzle and taped the jaws together, the wyvern butted him in the chest and sent him rolling, allowing it time to struggle to its belly. He used the momentum to roll to his feet and dodged another attempt to batter him with the knobby elbows, he ducked under the wyvern and managed to get both wings folded against its back. He taped the wings down and stepped back.

The whole battle didn’t take more than two minutes.

Akane dropped down beside Ranma and tried to dodge around him to see the chick. He blocked her by standing between her and it. She dodged back and forth while Ranma tried to stay between Akane and the still struggling wyvern. It could still move its head and was determinedly trying to butt anything near it. Ranma finally grabbed Akane by the arms and got between her and the wyvern.

“Damn it Akane, fuckin’ stop that. Son of a bitch! It’ll butt you.”

“Ranma, when did you start swearing like that? You didn’t used to. You better watch out or your guardian will wash your mouth out with soap.”

Akane stood with her arms folded, glaring at Ranma, alternating with trying to see around him

“I don’t have a guardian because I’m an emancipated minor. And I’d like to see anyone wash my mouth out with soap. Damnit, stand still. If you want to see the fuckin’ thing go back to the rafters. I’ve got to figure out some way to get the little mother on a truck without hurtin’ it or gettin hurt myself. Got any ideas? And don’t give me any damn smart mouth. I’m not in the fuckin’ mood.”

He turned around to eye the wyvern speculatively, ignoring a now fuming Akane.

Ranma hadn’t turned his head from the contemplation of the small wyvern, so Akane’s slap should have caught him by surprise, but it didn’t. He stopped her slap by holding his hand up and allowing her to hit it instead of his face.

“That’s the last damn time. Next time, I’ll fuckin’ smack you back.” Ranma stopped for a second, taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose slowly. “I never hit you in all the time we were engaged. You really hurt me last time, and next time you hit me, I’ll treat you just like I would a guy. I don’t know what the hell is the matter with you. I know I’m a smart mouth and annoying as hell, but did you ever think that you annoy the shit out of me? All I want to do is protect you. This time from yourself. That wyvern could really hurt you. It’s real strong and a good solid butt will knock you over. Get away from it and leave it alone.”

Akane stiffened then sagged.

“Ranma, I’m sorry. We really can’t even be in the same room for more than a little while before we start fighting. I know I’m not your type . . . I mean . . . well . . . “ Akane blushed red and stammered to a stop.

“What?. . . Oh that. Rio is a friend and we got cold. You jumped to the wrong conclusion and I couldn’t help but take advantage. That proves you don’t know me any where near as good as you should. We like to laughed ourselves sick. I shouldn’t have done it but I can’t say I’m sorry. You’re always accusin’ me of bein’ a hentai so…”

Ranma just walked away, leaving Akane steaming and trying to decide whether she wanted to smack him or just scream in frustration. He didn’t act like he even noticed that she was mad. He just kept looking at the wyvern.

When the truck pulled up Ranma went to the door and grinned. Sunny had come back with the truck.

“How’d you find me so fast?”

Sunny hopped down and bopped him on the shoulder with her palm. Ranma caught it and kissed the palm.

“We traced your watch, silly. Why did you turn it on active trace if you didn’t expect us to find it? Goof ball. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Ranma tucked Sunny under his arm and led her toward the warehouse. “I forgot about the tracer. I been a little busy ya know. I’m not hurt but you should see what I caught.”

Sunny froze, looking at a steaming Akane, who was glaring at her coolly.

“Ranma, that’s Akane, isn’t it? What’s she doing here? You know we aren’t supposed to allow civilians in a combat zone. You’ll catch hell from Steven. That’s one of only three offenses he’ll really cane you for.”

Ranma just shrugged, he knew he was going to get in trouble for Akane, but he also knew trying to get her to do anything he said was as futile as they came.

Steven walked up, took one look at Akane and gave Ranma a ‘later for you’ look. Ranma just shrugged, maybe he could talk Steven out of a canning. Then Steven saw what Ranma had caught and all he could do was laugh.

“Damn it, Ranma, only you. Only the Wild Horse. Damn it, duct tape. Oh, shit.” Steven leaned against a stack of boxes and laughed until tears ran down his cheeks. “We’re going to have a hell of a time getting that off it. Veggie oil or not. Boy, you are priceless.”

Ranma and Sunny had started laughing too, Steven’s hilarity was contagious. The wyvern let it be known that it didn’t think it was funny in the least. It squawked and grumbled, squirming and struggling against its improvised bonds.

Akane watched the three friends and grumbled too. She felt left out and ignored and that set her teeth on edge, so she took it out on the most likely target, even thought she knew better. She let her temper get the best of her.

“Well, and who are you? I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Tendo Akane. Ranma’s ex-fiancé.”

Sunny bristled at the tone of Akane’s voice. It was cool and slightly sarcastic, but she smiled at Akane in what she hoped was a friendly fashion. Unfortunately the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“I’m Yao Sun. Ranma’s healer. Should I be pleased to meet you?”

Ranma started to get in between the two girls but Steven grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled hard enough that, if he didn’t yield, his shirt would tear. Getting Ranma in a head lock, he held on, as Ranma struggled half-heartedly.

“No, boy. Stay out of it. I’d rather fight a dozen wyverns than get in between two girls in a cat fight.”

“Cat fight? Akane don’t know the Neko-ken, when did Sunny learn it?”

“Shut up, stay out of it, and watch.”

So Ranma watched as the two girls figuratively circled each other like two cats, waiting for an opening.

“Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what you want with that jerk Ranma. I don’t think much of the way you’ve influenced him either. Swears like a dock hand, still talks like a rice farmer too.”

Sunny sneered at Akane, “Poor Ranma. Last time he saw you, I had to heal him. Took a lot to do it too. Violent tomboy isn’t what I’d call you. Ranma talks quite well when he isn’t upset. I wonder who upset him?”

Akane bristled at Sunny, and reached up to get her mallet.

“Oh dear! Did I touch a raw spot? You shouldn’t lose your temper like that, it’s not lady like.”

Sunny made a small gesture with one hand. Akane yelped and stuck her tingling fingers in her mouth.

“Oh my, I knew you were immature, but really. Thumb sucking. Tsk, tsk” Sunny made a ticking sound with her tongue and then cocked her head as Akane glared at her.

“At least I don’t go around stealing other people’s boyfriends.”

“Stealing! You didn’t want him. In fact you nearly ruined him.”

“Ruined him! All I did was try to keep him from being a total hentai.”

Sunny peered at the air beside Akane.

“You nearly ruined him. It took me forever to get him to quit flinching every time I got near him. You’re a true fool and very ignorant.”

Akane growled at Sunny who smiled, a chilly expression that scared Ranma. He tried to get away from Steven again but he wouldn’t let go.

“I’m ignorant. You’re deluded. If you think he’s going to do more than . . .”

“He’ll only do what I let him. That’s your problem, you don’t have any self-control, so you blame him for your insecurities. You need a shrink in the worst way.”

The argument was rapidly degenerating into name calling, so Sunny showed her maturity by apologizing.

“Damn, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get into this with you. You don’t want him and I do, so let’s just quit. Before we go somewhere we don’t want to.”

Akane sighed. “I have a shrink, and I thought I was doing better, but every time I see Ranma I just seem to fall back into old, bad patterns. I’m sorry too. Forget I said anything. And sorry about the mallet.”

“Show me how you do that?”

“Ok you just . . . and then you . . . See. It’s not hard.”

Sunny watched as Akane showed her how to make a tesseract and smiled. “Well. That was easy.” Sunny gestured like Akane had and made her own anomaly. “Thank you. It’ll be very useful.”

Akane eyed Ranma and Steven, then stood side by side with Sunny, who glared at the two men along with her.

“What, you two? What did you think I was going to do, attack her? Not likely, only men indulge in that sort of foolishness.”

Sunny added her two cents worth by just folding her arms and nodding. Akane left. saying she was going home and Ranma should bring Sunny to the Dojo to meet the rest of the Tendo family.

Ranma elbowed Steven in the ribs and changed the subject, realizing that he was never going to figure it out.

“I’m going to finish searching the warehouse, where there’s one, there might be more. I don’t feel any…whatever it is. Warnin’ but no sense in taking chances. Sunny stay with Steven please. But kiss first.”

Sunny gave Ranma a special kiss. He’d been insulted by Akane and she felt sorry that she’d made such a scene in front of him. His reaction to the kiss was everything she hoped it would be. Ranma groaned into her mouth and reluctantly pulled away.

“Damn it, Sunny. I’ve got to search this warehouse and . . . well, never mind.”

He started his search and spent sometime looking, while he listened with half an ear to the sound of Steven and several other men loading the wyvern chick onto the truck. He didn’t know exactly what they would do with it, but he remembered hearing someone on the radio wanting to research other dimensional creatures.

“Steven? You better see this.”

Steven came up beside Ranma and looked where he was pointing. On the floor were six broken egg shells. A little farther along they could see the remains of several wyvern chicks. Ranma peered at them and tried to count, but they were so entangled he couldn’t.

Steven left and came back with gloves for both of them, after a little pulling and fiddling they saw that there were five bodies. The soft parts had been eaten and parts of the large muscle masses as well.

“Ok, that answers my question. There are six eggs and five corpses. One live one--we got them all-- one way or another.”

Steven sighed, he was glad they didn’t have another mess on their hands. He didn’t feel like trying to kill another wyvern or other inter-dimensional pain in the ass.

“Ranma you did real good catching that wyvern chick. But as to Akane being involved in it--” A shout from the truck driver distracted him. “I’ll talk to you when you get home, ok?”

Steven headed to the truck; the wyvern chick was beginning to get combative again, so he just waved to Ranma over his shoulder and took off, leaving Ranma and Sunny to their own devices. He wasn’t abandoning them, he knew they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

“Ranma, do you think Akane really meant it when she invited us to see her family?”

Sunny knew that Ranma thought a lot of some of the family. And she hoped he would visit them and get back on good footing with the people he had feelings for. “No, she didn’t, but I’m going to visit anyway. Do you mind?”

Ranma waited for Sunny to call the shot. He’d like to visit now but if Sunny was uncomfortable he’d put it off ‘til later.

“No, let’s go. I’d like to meet Nabiki.”

~ * ~

Ranma rang the bell at the gate and waited for someone to come and invite him in.

“Ranma, my boy. Come in. You just missed. . . .”

Soun didn’t get to finish his sentence as Kasumi showed up behind him and immediately began to fuss over Ranma and Sunny. Inviting them in and seating them in the Engawa with tea and cake.

“Now Ranma, tell me everything. I want to know all about what you’ve been doing.”

Ranma grinned at Kasumi and Soun. He didn’t believe for a minute that Nabiki didn’t know exactly what he’d been up to and said so.

“Oh, she tells us stories, but I think she’s just trying to shock us. Ranma, you tell me something and I’ll believe it.”

So Ranma started to tell them what he’d been doing. Only to be stopped by Nabiki walking in and seating herself at the table. Kasumi had to make a fuss over her, so it took a while and Ranma had time to think.

“Where’s Akane? Didn’t she hear testimony at the trial?”

Soun shook his head, “The lawyers didn’t let her stay in the court room. They didn’t want her testimony to be tainted. Your Mother wasn’t allowed either.”

“Is she in the house? If she is, Kasumi, I’d like you to get her. Please.”

Sunny just wrapped her arms around Ranma and hugged him. She knew Nabiki had told everyone as much as she knew, she didn’t know exactly what Ranma, or more likely Steven, had told her. She hated to see Ranma have to go through all this again and again.

Akane followed Kasumi onto the Engawa and sat down, looking sullen.

“I don’t know what you want with me. I’m sorry we don’t get along, but we don’t, and I don’t see any reason to subject myself to another messy scene. Just let it slide, will you?”

Ranma eyed Nabiki for a moment before asking, “What have you told everyone?”

Nabiki gave Ranma a quick run down of what she knew, a very bare outline. It included everything that had happened to him and he was amazed again at the extent of Nabiki’s information network.

Akane burst out in a fury, “I don’t believe half of it. I missed all the testimony about everything. Nabiki has been telling us stuff but her information is wrong.”

“Akane, I know you don’t want to believe anything. I really don’t care anymore. I always tried not to upset you but take a gander at this.”

Ranma pulled his shirt off and stood up. The results were everything Ranma had always feared. Akane turned so white she was practically transparent. Nabiki left the room quickly. Soun started to cry. But Kasumi surprised him, she stood up and clenched her fists saying, “Oh my. I’m so angry. You just wait until I get my hands on Genma. Would you like a slice of cake?”

“Huh? Cake? Not now, I think. Thanks anyway.”

Sunny just snickered softly, she knew girls like Kasumi. She had a very odd world view, extremely narrow in that she was the perfect house keeper but she was also protective. Once the blinders came off, she was going to be something to reckon with. If the blinders ever came off.

“Ranma, that wasn’t nice. You’ve shocked everyone with that little display.”

“Yeah, Sunny. I know. But I’m tired of dodging around trying to hide stuff from people, I lose track of who knows what. I’m not doing that anymore, Ryouga says it’s compensatory . . . something. I’m trying to make it ‘not so’ but, ya know, how would you feel if your father sold you? . . forget it. I’m just coming down and feeling a little sorry for myself. Let’s go home, ‘kay?”

Ranma stood up and offered Sunny his hand, when she took it, he pulled her into a quick hug and, smiling sweetly at Kasumi, refused tea, cake or anything else. Telling her he’d come back later for a real visit, he started to leave, with Sunny trying to run interference for him.

Nabiki stopped him and showed him some papers. “Ranma, I need a few minutes of your time, right now. Please. It’s really important.”

Sunny poked Ranma and said she’d try to settle Soun down a little. She didn’t hold out much hope of that but she liked Nabiki from the little contact she’d had with her via E-mail, so she wanted to let Ranma have some private time with her, if they both wanted it.

Ranma sat down at the common room table with Nabiki and tried to get his head into listening to what she had to say. It was hard as he was beginning to come down from the double adrenaline high and knew he only had so much time to get this done and get home before he crashed completely. There were some techniques he could use to stay awake but he’d pay for it later and didn’t want to use them unless it was life or death. And this didn’t seem like either.

“What ya got? Nabiki, I don’t want to be rude, but let’s get to it. I’m startin’ to come down and I’m gonna crash soon.”

Nabiki hadn’t been around martial arts all her life, and Ranma for nearly two years, without learning something. So she knew exactly what Ranma was talking about.

“I’m sorry Ranma, I won’t take much time. I’ll just go over everything; then, you have your lawyers look these papers over. I’ll answer any questions they have. But it’s pretty straightforward.”

Kasumi put a tea pot and two cups on the table and left again but not before she bowed to Ranma with a murmured ‘Thank you, Ranma-sama’, Ranma bowed back with a puzzled look on his face. (What now?)

“I took the money from your sale . . . oh, this is harder than I thought it would be . . . I invested it and I’ve been using the interest to get the Dojo out of the red, along with Akane’s classes, the family is finally out of financial trouble. These papers put you in receipt of the principle and make arrangements for us to pay off the interest that I used at a reasonable rate of interest.”

Ranma blinked at Nabiki for a moment. “Um . . . Nabiki, how can you have interest on interest? I don’t understand. That money was a gift from me to you. I just kinda let ya keep it. So as not to make ya self-conscious or nothin’. It’s yours. I don’t want it.”

“Ranma! You are not giving us that much money. Especially American cash, it’s not in anyone’s best interests. The taxes we’d have to pay on a gift would eat up most of it. The interest I used is now the principle of a loan from you, and the payments are not only reasonable, but can be skipped as needed. Don’t worry, I covered all the bases. This way we’re all protected. We got use of the money when we needed it most. The interest won’t hurt us and that interest gives you a nice little income. Appropriate to your age. Just take it and be happy. For all of us.” Nabiki gave a watery little sniff. “Shit. Now see what you’ve done.”

Ranma reached out and hugged Nabiki, whispering, “Nabiki, please don’t cry. I gave ya the money because I knew you needed it. I love all of ya. You’re the family I never had. I’m glad to help. Stop snifflin’ and give me some tea.”

Nabiki wiped her eyes, bopped Ranma, and poured him some tea, calling Sunny to come have some too.

After the obligatory tea and cake, Ranma and Sunny said good-by to the Tendo family. Akane barely said anything, only wishing Ranma and Sunny a good trip. Soun blubbered all over both teens, while Kasumi looked on with a soft smile. Nabiki reminded Ranma to give the papers to his lawyers and told Sunny to take her some good pictures.

~ * ~