Ranma ½ Divine Blood
- Thread starter Thrythlind
- Start date
Thrythlind said:
The set-up right now:
character/relationship development
contact/groundwork of various groups
Behemoth/A-21-situation as a point of decision for many characters
more character development
more politics
Naiki goes off to join Hell's legions/Deimosu takes his route/Eija joins heaven
more situation/character/relationship development
small crises
more politics
Hecate's Xanados Plot ?
Act 5 stuff I'm not discussing yet
incidentally...Heaven and Hell haven't looked much into the Whispered yet
character/relationship development
contact/groundwork of various groups
Behemoth/A-21-situation as a point of decision for many characters
more character development
more politics
Naiki goes off to join Hell's legions/Deimosu takes his route/Eija joins heaven
more situation/character/relationship development
small crises
more politics
Hecate's Xanados Plot ?
Act 5 stuff I'm not discussing yet
incidentally...Heaven and Hell haven't looked much into the Whispered yet
Second, for some reason, I have the thought of Deimosu pulling some sort of SMT Neutral path and end up killing YHVH and Hild or something.
So, Nabiki gets some suspicions that it is Ranma and would like to force a confrontation.
This will not end well. As for Mara, she doens't get tired of messing with the Norns, now she wants to mess with Ranma's kids. Granted, Mara might be on anothe rlevel than Saffron, but what is Mara's purpose here?
I kind agot lost on the part with Hild.
This will not end well. As for Mara, she doens't get tired of messing with the Norns, now she wants to mess with Ranma's kids. Granted, Mara might be on anothe rlevel than Saffron, but what is Mara's purpose here?
I kind agot lost on the part with Hild.
I'm guessing the plan you're referring to is the plan to kill off Zeus and Poseidon?
SMT = Shin Megami Tensei. It's a series of games that are pretty much a fantasy melting pot involving human interaction with demons, which is the catchall term for pretty much every supernatural entity including devils and gods. They generally borrow from all sorts of cultures, though specific games focus a bit more on certain mythologies, such as the Digital Devil Saga focusing on Hindu mysticism or the Persona series, in general, focusing on the studies of Carl Jung (with certain titles focusing deeper on other things, like Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Mayan mythos and Persona 4 and Japanese mythology).
I think that Hild would be better off with someone other than Mara; she doesn't seem to strike me as the type to be very good at subtle conversion, especially if they're trying to stay under Heaven's radar. Of course, my perception on Mara's based more on fanon, so I might be wrong.
I wonder what has Nabiki so suspicious about Ranma, aside from the name...
SMT = Shin Megami Tensei. It's a series of games that are pretty much a fantasy melting pot involving human interaction with demons, which is the catchall term for pretty much every supernatural entity including devils and gods. They generally borrow from all sorts of cultures, though specific games focus a bit more on certain mythologies, such as the Digital Devil Saga focusing on Hindu mysticism or the Persona series, in general, focusing on the studies of Carl Jung (with certain titles focusing deeper on other things, like Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Mayan mythos and Persona 4 and Japanese mythology).
I think that Hild would be better off with someone other than Mara; she doesn't seem to strike me as the type to be very good at subtle conversion, especially if they're trying to stay under Heaven's radar. Of course, my perception on Mara's based more on fanon, so I might be wrong.
I wonder what has Nabiki so suspicious about Ranma, aside from the name...
Ranma slipped up in their meeting
she said "I'd like to meet your sisters" when Nabiki had only mentioned having a brother-in-law.
For all a stranger should have known, it could have been her husband's brother. And shouldn't have been able to guess at more than one sister.
either something recently triggered the realization...or she realized the slip fairly early and has just been vacilating on whether to call Ranma back
**********
oh, that reminds of my definition of demons in some situations:
Demon - noun - extraplanar species with which humanity has had hostile relations with at some point in the past.
then again, there is the Bystander uni definition of demon:
Spirit - Souls housed in an energy based shell as adverse a material like Mortals. Like mortals, the vast majority are unaware of all the uses of mana even though they feed on it rather than producing it as mortals do. Also mostly unaware of mortals.
Demon - Spirit that feeds on the excess mana produced by negative emotions/mental states.
Angel - Spirit that feeds on the excess mana produced by positive emotions/mental states.
Totem - Spirit that feeds off the excess mana produced by various species.
Elemental - Spirit that feeds off the excess mana produced by non-organic objects and substances.
Avatar - Spirit that feeds off the excess mana produced by events.
God - Spirit willingly granted the mana of believers in the spirit's position as the embodiment of a specific phenomena. Enemies of the God might also provide mana unwillingly if they are subject to belief in its embodiment as well. Generally only the common, mana-inactive Spirits and Mortals are prone to being connected to such a network.
Devil - basically the same as a God, but tends more towards those "Gods" that mostly trick others into following them and believing. IE less willing provision of power and more unwilling.
more intelligent spirits tend fall into multiple categories even if they lean heavily into one or the other:
The Cat - totem (cat) demon (fear) angel (innocence) avatar (bloodshed)
she said "I'd like to meet your sisters" when Nabiki had only mentioned having a brother-in-law.
For all a stranger should have known, it could have been her husband's brother. And shouldn't have been able to guess at more than one sister.
either something recently triggered the realization...or she realized the slip fairly early and has just been vacilating on whether to call Ranma back
**********
oh, that reminds of my definition of demons in some situations:
Demon - noun - extraplanar species with which humanity has had hostile relations with at some point in the past.
then again, there is the Bystander uni definition of demon:
Spirit - Souls housed in an energy based shell as adverse a material like Mortals. Like mortals, the vast majority are unaware of all the uses of mana even though they feed on it rather than producing it as mortals do. Also mostly unaware of mortals.
Demon - Spirit that feeds on the excess mana produced by negative emotions/mental states.
Angel - Spirit that feeds on the excess mana produced by positive emotions/mental states.
Totem - Spirit that feeds off the excess mana produced by various species.
Elemental - Spirit that feeds off the excess mana produced by non-organic objects and substances.
Avatar - Spirit that feeds off the excess mana produced by events.
God - Spirit willingly granted the mana of believers in the spirit's position as the embodiment of a specific phenomena. Enemies of the God might also provide mana unwillingly if they are subject to belief in its embodiment as well. Generally only the common, mana-inactive Spirits and Mortals are prone to being connected to such a network.
Devil - basically the same as a God, but tends more towards those "Gods" that mostly trick others into following them and believing. IE less willing provision of power and more unwilling.
more intelligent spirits tend fall into multiple categories even if they lean heavily into one or the other:
The Cat - totem (cat) demon (fear) angel (innocence) avatar (bloodshed)
Sect said:
I'm guessing the plan you're referring to is the plan to kill off Zeus and Poseidon?
SMT = Shin Megami Tensei. It's a series of games that are pretty much a fantasy melting pot involving human interaction with demons, which is the catchall term for pretty much every supernatural entity including devils and gods. They generally borrow from all sorts of cultures, though specific games focus a bit more on certain mythologies, such as the Digital Devil Saga focusing on Hindu mysticism or the Persona series, in general, focusing on the studies of Carl Jung (with certain titles focusing deeper on other things, like Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Mayan mythos and Persona 4 and Japanese mythology).
I think that Hild would be better off with someone other than Mara; she doesn't seem to strike me as the type to be very good at subtle conversion, especially if they're trying to stay under Heaven's radar. Of course, my perception on Mara's based more on fanon, so I might be wrong.
I wonder what has Nabiki so suspicious about Ranma, aside from the name...
SMT = Shin Megami Tensei. It's a series of games that are pretty much a fantasy melting pot involving human interaction with demons, which is the catchall term for pretty much every supernatural entity including devils and gods. They generally borrow from all sorts of cultures, though specific games focus a bit more on certain mythologies, such as the Digital Devil Saga focusing on Hindu mysticism or the Persona series, in general, focusing on the studies of Carl Jung (with certain titles focusing deeper on other things, like Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Mayan mythos and Persona 4 and Japanese mythology).
I think that Hild would be better off with someone other than Mara; she doesn't seem to strike me as the type to be very good at subtle conversion, especially if they're trying to stay under Heaven's radar. Of course, my perception on Mara's based more on fanon, so I might be wrong.
I wonder what has Nabiki so suspicious about Ranma, aside from the name...
Though what will have surprise me is this, will Ranma be capable of dealing with her?
Seed00 said:
As for Mara, she doens't get tired of messing with the Norns, now she wants to mess with Ranma's kids. Granted, Mara might be on anothe rlevel than Saffron, but what is Mara's purpose here?
It isn't about Mara making life difficult but going "Hey we're big, we're shiny, we've got full dental, and what do you know here's a chance to strike back at the rat bastards who hurt your mom and others like them."
Ciao
indeed, for the most part in the manga Mara is cut off from Nidhog/Hel resources and has to resort to what she can afford and find on her own.
This is a direct consequence of her part in the Lord of Terror situation and probably the awakening of Urd's demon half later. (bosses tend to get upset when you inadvertantly come close to destroying the world twice)
Also remember that her basic mission statement only officially has her matching up against Belldandy, a class 1 goddess of impressive power and skill but not much in the way of a martial disposition. Her original mission specs probably did not include Urd (class 2 out of recklessness, not power...Urd is more powerful than a whole lot of class 1s) and Skuld (admittedly a nuissance, but still).
Still, quirky, desperate plans, and bad luck aside, she is a Class 1 demoness and you don't get that without showing restraint, skill and power if the demon classes are anything like the god classes.
This is a direct consequence of her part in the Lord of Terror situation and probably the awakening of Urd's demon half later. (bosses tend to get upset when you inadvertantly come close to destroying the world twice)
Also remember that her basic mission statement only officially has her matching up against Belldandy, a class 1 goddess of impressive power and skill but not much in the way of a martial disposition. Her original mission specs probably did not include Urd (class 2 out of recklessness, not power...Urd is more powerful than a whole lot of class 1s) and Skuld (admittedly a nuissance, but still).
Still, quirky, desperate plans, and bad luck aside, she is a Class 1 demoness and you don't get that without showing restraint, skill and power if the demon classes are anything like the god classes.
"She said she had three children, correct?" Kasumi asked, stepping out of the kitchen.
"Right," Nabiki said irritably. "Triplets, sixteen years old."
"The name is really probably a coincidence, Nabiki," Kasumi said quietly to her sister. "Did she really behave like Ranma?"
"No, she was intelligent, eloquent and educated," Nabiki said. "Nothing like Ranma at all."
"That's rather unkind," Kasumi noted. "But true I'm afraid."
"But she knew I had sisters," Nabiki commented. "I never said that. I talked about my brother-in-law, but for all she should have known, that could have been Ryouga's brother."
"Might I note," Kasumi said. "That the person about whom your making these conclusions makes a business of predicting events and warding off evil spirits?"
"She's a feng shih, not a psychic or telepath," Nabiki grumbled.
"The woman can't be both?" Kasumi asked.
"What woman is this?" a third voice asked.
Both of the other women in the room froze and turned to look at the newcomer. Walking in from the backyard, dressed in maritime dress blues, was their younger sister.
"Akane," Nabiki said. "I thought you were in the Sea of Japan."
"Oh, so that's the welcome I get," Akane said eyes widening with a mock attitude of offense. "I get leave to visit my sister who is finally expecting her first child, and the response is: 'I thought you were in the Sea of Japan.'?"
"Well, consider it revenge for 'Hey, that looks like P-Chan,'" Nabiki responded after rolling her eyes as she stood up and walked across to face Akane with a smirk.
Akane winced, shaking her head and finally sighing.
"Okay, that's getting off easy," Akane agreed.
Kasumi crossed the room and hugged her younger sister as the verbal sparring came to a brief end.
"You still could have called first," Kasumi said. "Is your husband with you?"
"No, still at home, running the dojo," Akane said. "Tofu? Should I even ask about Ryouga?"
"Ryouga's in the dojo," Nabiki said defensively.
"And Tofu's still in the clinic," Kasumi said. "He'll be back tonight, we've got company coming over."
"That's what it sounded like," Akane said. "Who is it?"
"I hired a feng shih to help build the new place," Nabiki said.
"Oh," Akane said. "Hardly sounds like a social event."
"There's a...coincidence regarding her name," Kasumi said.
"Oh? What's her name?" Akane asked.
*****
Ranma paused in front of the gate to the Tendo dojo.
So much time had passed since she'd been here.
But that wasn't the telling bit, nope, as an American character in a movie she liked once said, "it wasn't the years, but the mileage."
"Okaasan," Eija said, looking over at her mother. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all," Ranma said. "Everything is where it should be."
"Ooo, they have a dojo," Naiki noted, pointing to the sign on the wall. "I'll go around to the back."
Ranma reached out and wrapped an arm around her daughter.
"We don't challenge clients to martial arts duels," Ranma said. "It's not healthy for business."
"Try not to embarrass us too much, Naiki," Deimosu noted.
Shaking her head and sighing, Ranma took a deep breath and stepped through the gate to the door and ringing the door.
It was a moment before a ten year old girl with long brown hair answered the door.
"Hello," Ranma said to her.
"Are you Miss Satomi?" the girl asked.
"That's me," the red-head answered. "Are your parents home?"
"MmHmm," the girl said, nodding.
The girl continued looking at the Satomis for a few more seconds, staring towards the back were Eija was trying not to draw attention.
"Are you going to go get them, kid?" Naiki asked.
"Kimiko-chan, are the guests at the door?" a voice asked that had the red-head's eyes widen fractionally.
The woman that came to the door was not the image she remembered, but then again, she was far from either the boy or girl the woman probably remembered.
Her blue-black hair was still worn short, though not in the same page-boy cut any longer. Instead it was the sensible cut of a middle-aged woman in the military. Which went well with the lieutenant commander's bars on her dress blues.
The woman bent down to smile at the little brown-haired girl.
"Why don't you go tell your mother the guests are here," the woman said.
"Okay, Auntie Saotome," the girl said, nodding before disappearing back into the building.
"Saotome?" Deimosu said under his breath, giving a confused glance toward his sisters, who shrugged in return.
The woman stood up and extended a hand toward Ranma.
"Akane Saotome," she said. "Sorry about this."
There was the feeling of a pause for Ranma before the next part of the statement registered in her mind.
"Kimiko is pretty shy," Akane noted. "So, want to come in and we can finish introductions?"
"Sure," Ranma said, gesturing for her kids to the enter the building. "Don't forget to take off your shoes."
"Right," Deimosu said at the entryway as he almost passed through without taking off the shoes.
"We grew up in Greece," Eija explained politely as she waited patiently behind her family.
"I'm...Ranma Satomi," the martial artist said. "These are my children, Deimosu, Naiki and Eija."
"Interesting names," Akane noted as they moved out of the entryway.
"I was trying to give them names to fit in," Ranma admitted.
"Of course," Naiki said. "Since we're all named after mythical gods instead of having normal Greek names...it didn't really work."
Ranma sighed and shook her head.
"Naiki," Deimosu muttered.
"Don't worry about it," Akane said. "Tomboys will be tomboys."
Ranma shuffled uncomfortably at the comment.
"What's that mean?" Naiki asked.
"I think that's obvious, little sister," Deimosu said smirking.
They came into the living area, and Kasumi appeared coming forward to welcome them into the house, Kimiko holding onto her dress.
Kasumi was very much like Ranma remembered her being. Perhaps with a few more lines, but she paid less attention to the other former Tendo than she otherwise would have given Akane's presence.
"Hello, I'm Kasumi Ono, I'm afraid my husband is still at his clinic," Kasumi said. "But he should be home shortly. Nabiki and her husband are in the dojo, Akane, could you show her the way?"
"I think I remember it, 'Neechan," Akane said.
"Can you kids stay out of the way?" Ranma asked her children.
"No problem," Naiki said. "Is it okay if I watch TV? Ono-san?"
"That shouldn't be a problem," Kasumi said, smiling. "Would one of you like to help me in the kitchen?"
"I can do that," Eija noted. "If...you don't mind."
"Why should I mind?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma turned to watch the scene as she followed Akane through the familiar hallway.
"So, you're a feng shih?" Akane said.
"Yes," Ranma said.
"Do you practice any martial art?" the woman in the officer's uniform asked.
"A little karate," Ranma said, a bit nostalgically.
"Maybe we can have a little match," Akane said. "Just a bit for fun since neither of us is dressed for it."
"If it doesn't take long," Ranma said as they entered the dojo.
Ryouga looked a lot larger than Ranma remembered him being, apparently he'd had a growth spurt since Ranma vanished. Then again, most of Ranma's memories of Ryouga came out of a body a lot closer in size to the other fighter.
There were a few more scars on the man's body, but she could say the same herself. He'd kept in shape all these years, and it looked like he'd done some heavy fighting at one point or another. Judging by the shape of some of those scars, comparable to some of Naiki's new ones, Ranma judged it was conventional warfare he'd been involved in more than the paranatural stuff Ranma had mostly dealt with.
Ryouga was currently practicing a kata in the dojo while Nabiki sat in the opening out toward the yard drinking coffee and writing in a notebook. She looked up as Akane and Ranma came in, watching the two carefully.
"Ranma Satomi," Akane said. "Ryouga Hibiki, I think you've met my sister already."
Ryouga frowned and walked over to tower over the petite red-head in her red-business suit and look down toward her. Obviously taking the time to analyze everything he could see about her.
"Pleased to meet you," Ryouga finally said in the polite tone he'd saved for most people that weren't Ranma.
Ranma sighed and almost wished the "prepare to die" that he'd almost expected to come out.
"Thanks for coming," Nabiki said. "And don't mind Ryouga. He's an overprotective boar."
"Nabiki," Ryouga protested. "Do you have to make jokes about that?"
"You haven't finished paying that one off yet, brother-in-law," Akane noted with a smirk.
"Sorry, missed the reference," Ranma said. "Is it an inside joke?"
Off to the side, Akane leaned against a wall and smiled at the question.
"Yeah," Ryouga said after a moment. "Anyway, you're supposed to be helping us design our house, right?"
"That's why your wife asked me to come over," Ranma said, looking between the two.
"Wondering how I ended up with someone like him?" Nabiki asked.
"It's not an immediately obvious pairing," Ranma admitted.
"It wasn't what I expected, I can tell you," Ryouga said.
"Excuse me?" Nabiki said turning around to look at the fighter with a dangerous smirk. "Are you talking like being married to me is some horrible fate? Didn't I nurse you tenderly for three weeks in that dry, dirty, sandy hole?"
"Of course you did," Ryouga said quickly. "I didn't mean anything by it."
Akane leaned forward from her position at the wall.
"The way I heard it," she stage-whispered. "It took her the first two weeks to learn how to make a proper bandage."
Nabiki frowned and looked at Ryouga.
"You promised never to mention that to anyone," she said.
"I never told her anything," Ryouga protested. Ranma noticed he was firm about this. "Someone read your journal."
He pointed at Akane.
"Akane!" Nabiki snapped as she faced her youngest sister.
"I was under orders to investigate the belongings of all refugees at the time," Akane rationalized.
"I wasn't a refugee, I was your sister," Nabiki growled. "Though you apparently recognized him first."
"I thought you cleared me of that," Akane said.
"That was before I knew you'd abused your position to invade my privacy," Nabiki said before turning to Ranma as if just remembering she was there. "Sorry, we must look like a bunch of squabbling brats to you, Satomi-san."
"That's fine," Ranma said. "I know how families are."
"Right, did you bring your kids, by the way?" Nabiki asked.
"They're with Kasumi," Akane said.
"I see," Nabiki said. "Well, dinner should be ready soon and that means Tofu is close to getting here. I should get Ryouga to the dining room."
"I can find the dining room," Ryouga protested.
"You guys go ahead," Akane said. "It's been forever since I was in the dojo and Satomi-san and I promised each other a short match."
Nabiki gave Akane a long look and then looked toward Ranma, trying to decide if the red-head as the same Ranma she suspected her to be and if Akane was setting herself up for disappointment.
Either way.
"Well, we'll leave you to that then," Nabiki said after a moment, dragging Ryouga with her.
And Ranma and Akane were alone in the dojo.
****
"So what do you practice?" Ranma asked.
"Mostly two family styles," Akane said.
"Two?" Ranma said. "Yours and your husband's?"
Akane nodded.
"You see," the dark-haired woman explained as she faced Ranma. "It was arranged for me to marry a young man of the Saotome clan so that we could continue the combination of our family styles."
"Sounds like something from a manga," the red-head said. "So I guess you married him then?"
"No," Akane said, moving closer. Her eyes furrowed dangerously. "He disappeared one night and we could never find him. We lost Nabiki for two years because China blew up into civil war at the wrong time and she happened to be in nanjing chasing rumors."
"I can't say how sorry I am," Ranma said quietly.
"Well," Akane said. "We have a match to do."
"We do," Ranma said.
Both stood apart from each other with no apparent change in stance for a moment before Akane lashed out with a short punch, which Ranma sidestepped fractionally.
Then the Saotome-style strike twisted swiftly into a grasping hands joint lock that reached for her shoulder.
Ranma blinked in surprise and stepped fully to the side before jumping over the kick that followed.
Akane had gotten better.
Her strikes were efficient and wasted little motion. Her transitions were good, and she no longer telegraphed her actions like a boom box set to highest volume.
She still had something of a temper, but she was reigning it in. Making it power rather than hindrance.
Of course, Ranma had gotten better too.
Another dodge and Ranma was around behind the woman in the naval uniform and the first clean contact of the match came in the form of a finger in the back of Akane's hand.
Akane blinked and turned around to face Ranma.
"You're pretty good," she said quietly. "You..."
She laughed slightly, remembering things and Ranma echoed her with a nervous chitter herself.
"You want to be friends?" Akane asked.
The dojo resounded with quiet laughter for a long minute before the sound quietly changed to sobbing as a red-head wrapped her arms around Akane's form and the larger woman held her.
"Baka," Akane whispered.
*****
"Dinner's ready," Kasumi said. "Would someone go tell Satomi-san and Akane?"
"I'll get them," Deimosu said, thankful for something to do.
*****
"So how'd you end up with the Saotome name?" Ranma asked as she sat on the porch of the dojo.
"Ryuu was adopted in to clan," Akane said.
"Ryuu...Kumon?" the other martial artist said in surprise.
"He was the only other one with Saotome-ryu training," Akane said. "Even if it was just the Yamasen-ken to start."
"You went with the arrangement after all," Ranma noted.
"After...I got tired of fighting it," Akane said. "I'd lost too much to risk another campaign."
"Are you happy?" Ranma asked.
"We've gotten there," Akane said. "The first few years were...cold. But we've gotten there. It's a nice life now."
"And the uniform?" the redhead asked.
"I could ask you about the feng shih thing," Akane protested. "But fine. Nabiki'd just gone missing and the Sea of Japan was flooded with pirates and mercenaries. I wanted to do something about it and maybe it annoyed Ryuu a little at the beginning."
"I guess..." Ranma started. "I guess I already knew you'd have moved on."
"I think you knew that when you chose not to trust me enough to pick up a phone and call for help," Akane said accusingly.
"I'm sor..."
"No, I gave you too many hammers to expect trust," the other woman said, reigning in her temper again.
"Yeah," Ranma said. "It could have been great if we'd gotten past that."
Akane nodded.
"It can still be great," Akane said. "Just not romantic great."
"Besides which, you're straight," Ranma teased playfully, drawing a sad smirk from Akane.
There was another long moment of silence.
"I'm not going to ask you about the kids," Akane said. "I'm fairly certain I know how someone attracted to women ends up pregnant. But do they know?"
"Not yet," Ranma said firmly. "My job is to protect them, not give them more pain."
"What if the father comes for them?" Akane asked. "Is that the time for them to learn."
"I've trained them as well as I can," Ranma said. "Found them teachers for things I couldn't teach them. And...I'll have to tell them soon. I just hope that when I do, they know it's to protect them, not to get them to go avenge me. I don't want them avenging me. I don't want the smallest hair on their heads cut."
"Ranma Saotome," Akane said smiling. "If your kids know you at all, they know you don't let other people get hurt fighting your battles. Kasumi should be just about finished with dinner, let's go."
Both stood up and turned to walk out of the dojo, and found Deimosu walking towards them down the hallway waving.
"Okaasan," Deimosu said. "Saotome-san, dinner's ready."
"Yeah, we're coming, Dei-chan," Ranma called out.
"Don't call me that in front of people, Okaasan," the blonde young man said, letting the two adults pass him by.
As they passed in front of him, he slowed his pace to a momentary stop and breathed a sigh of relief that the two women had thought he was just coming to find them.
Deimosu started walking again, trying to bury what he'd just unintentionally learned.
"Right," Nabiki said irritably. "Triplets, sixteen years old."
"The name is really probably a coincidence, Nabiki," Kasumi said quietly to her sister. "Did she really behave like Ranma?"
"No, she was intelligent, eloquent and educated," Nabiki said. "Nothing like Ranma at all."
"That's rather unkind," Kasumi noted. "But true I'm afraid."
"But she knew I had sisters," Nabiki commented. "I never said that. I talked about my brother-in-law, but for all she should have known, that could have been Ryouga's brother."
"Might I note," Kasumi said. "That the person about whom your making these conclusions makes a business of predicting events and warding off evil spirits?"
"She's a feng shih, not a psychic or telepath," Nabiki grumbled.
"The woman can't be both?" Kasumi asked.
"What woman is this?" a third voice asked.
Both of the other women in the room froze and turned to look at the newcomer. Walking in from the backyard, dressed in maritime dress blues, was their younger sister.
"Akane," Nabiki said. "I thought you were in the Sea of Japan."
"Oh, so that's the welcome I get," Akane said eyes widening with a mock attitude of offense. "I get leave to visit my sister who is finally expecting her first child, and the response is: 'I thought you were in the Sea of Japan.'?"
"Well, consider it revenge for 'Hey, that looks like P-Chan,'" Nabiki responded after rolling her eyes as she stood up and walked across to face Akane with a smirk.
Akane winced, shaking her head and finally sighing.
"Okay, that's getting off easy," Akane agreed.
Kasumi crossed the room and hugged her younger sister as the verbal sparring came to a brief end.
"You still could have called first," Kasumi said. "Is your husband with you?"
"No, still at home, running the dojo," Akane said. "Tofu? Should I even ask about Ryouga?"
"Ryouga's in the dojo," Nabiki said defensively.
"And Tofu's still in the clinic," Kasumi said. "He'll be back tonight, we've got company coming over."
"That's what it sounded like," Akane said. "Who is it?"
"I hired a feng shih to help build the new place," Nabiki said.
"Oh," Akane said. "Hardly sounds like a social event."
"There's a...coincidence regarding her name," Kasumi said.
"Oh? What's her name?" Akane asked.
*****
Ranma paused in front of the gate to the Tendo dojo.
So much time had passed since she'd been here.
But that wasn't the telling bit, nope, as an American character in a movie she liked once said, "it wasn't the years, but the mileage."
"Okaasan," Eija said, looking over at her mother. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all," Ranma said. "Everything is where it should be."
"Ooo, they have a dojo," Naiki noted, pointing to the sign on the wall. "I'll go around to the back."
Ranma reached out and wrapped an arm around her daughter.
"We don't challenge clients to martial arts duels," Ranma said. "It's not healthy for business."
"Try not to embarrass us too much, Naiki," Deimosu noted.
Shaking her head and sighing, Ranma took a deep breath and stepped through the gate to the door and ringing the door.
It was a moment before a ten year old girl with long brown hair answered the door.
"Hello," Ranma said to her.
"Are you Miss Satomi?" the girl asked.
"That's me," the red-head answered. "Are your parents home?"
"MmHmm," the girl said, nodding.
The girl continued looking at the Satomis for a few more seconds, staring towards the back were Eija was trying not to draw attention.
"Are you going to go get them, kid?" Naiki asked.
"Kimiko-chan, are the guests at the door?" a voice asked that had the red-head's eyes widen fractionally.
The woman that came to the door was not the image she remembered, but then again, she was far from either the boy or girl the woman probably remembered.
Her blue-black hair was still worn short, though not in the same page-boy cut any longer. Instead it was the sensible cut of a middle-aged woman in the military. Which went well with the lieutenant commander's bars on her dress blues.
The woman bent down to smile at the little brown-haired girl.
"Why don't you go tell your mother the guests are here," the woman said.
"Okay, Auntie Saotome," the girl said, nodding before disappearing back into the building.
"Saotome?" Deimosu said under his breath, giving a confused glance toward his sisters, who shrugged in return.
The woman stood up and extended a hand toward Ranma.
"Akane Saotome," she said. "Sorry about this."
There was the feeling of a pause for Ranma before the next part of the statement registered in her mind.
"Kimiko is pretty shy," Akane noted. "So, want to come in and we can finish introductions?"
"Sure," Ranma said, gesturing for her kids to the enter the building. "Don't forget to take off your shoes."
"Right," Deimosu said at the entryway as he almost passed through without taking off the shoes.
"We grew up in Greece," Eija explained politely as she waited patiently behind her family.
"I'm...Ranma Satomi," the martial artist said. "These are my children, Deimosu, Naiki and Eija."
"Interesting names," Akane noted as they moved out of the entryway.
"I was trying to give them names to fit in," Ranma admitted.
"Of course," Naiki said. "Since we're all named after mythical gods instead of having normal Greek names...it didn't really work."
Ranma sighed and shook her head.
"Naiki," Deimosu muttered.
"Don't worry about it," Akane said. "Tomboys will be tomboys."
Ranma shuffled uncomfortably at the comment.
"What's that mean?" Naiki asked.
"I think that's obvious, little sister," Deimosu said smirking.
They came into the living area, and Kasumi appeared coming forward to welcome them into the house, Kimiko holding onto her dress.
Kasumi was very much like Ranma remembered her being. Perhaps with a few more lines, but she paid less attention to the other former Tendo than she otherwise would have given Akane's presence.
"Hello, I'm Kasumi Ono, I'm afraid my husband is still at his clinic," Kasumi said. "But he should be home shortly. Nabiki and her husband are in the dojo, Akane, could you show her the way?"
"I think I remember it, 'Neechan," Akane said.
"Can you kids stay out of the way?" Ranma asked her children.
"No problem," Naiki said. "Is it okay if I watch TV? Ono-san?"
"That shouldn't be a problem," Kasumi said, smiling. "Would one of you like to help me in the kitchen?"
"I can do that," Eija noted. "If...you don't mind."
"Why should I mind?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma turned to watch the scene as she followed Akane through the familiar hallway.
"So, you're a feng shih?" Akane said.
"Yes," Ranma said.
"Do you practice any martial art?" the woman in the officer's uniform asked.
"A little karate," Ranma said, a bit nostalgically.
"Maybe we can have a little match," Akane said. "Just a bit for fun since neither of us is dressed for it."
"If it doesn't take long," Ranma said as they entered the dojo.
Ryouga looked a lot larger than Ranma remembered him being, apparently he'd had a growth spurt since Ranma vanished. Then again, most of Ranma's memories of Ryouga came out of a body a lot closer in size to the other fighter.
There were a few more scars on the man's body, but she could say the same herself. He'd kept in shape all these years, and it looked like he'd done some heavy fighting at one point or another. Judging by the shape of some of those scars, comparable to some of Naiki's new ones, Ranma judged it was conventional warfare he'd been involved in more than the paranatural stuff Ranma had mostly dealt with.
Ryouga was currently practicing a kata in the dojo while Nabiki sat in the opening out toward the yard drinking coffee and writing in a notebook. She looked up as Akane and Ranma came in, watching the two carefully.
"Ranma Satomi," Akane said. "Ryouga Hibiki, I think you've met my sister already."
Ryouga frowned and walked over to tower over the petite red-head in her red-business suit and look down toward her. Obviously taking the time to analyze everything he could see about her.
"Pleased to meet you," Ryouga finally said in the polite tone he'd saved for most people that weren't Ranma.
Ranma sighed and almost wished the "prepare to die" that he'd almost expected to come out.
"Thanks for coming," Nabiki said. "And don't mind Ryouga. He's an overprotective boar."
"Nabiki," Ryouga protested. "Do you have to make jokes about that?"
"You haven't finished paying that one off yet, brother-in-law," Akane noted with a smirk.
"Sorry, missed the reference," Ranma said. "Is it an inside joke?"
Off to the side, Akane leaned against a wall and smiled at the question.
"Yeah," Ryouga said after a moment. "Anyway, you're supposed to be helping us design our house, right?"
"That's why your wife asked me to come over," Ranma said, looking between the two.
"Wondering how I ended up with someone like him?" Nabiki asked.
"It's not an immediately obvious pairing," Ranma admitted.
"It wasn't what I expected, I can tell you," Ryouga said.
"Excuse me?" Nabiki said turning around to look at the fighter with a dangerous smirk. "Are you talking like being married to me is some horrible fate? Didn't I nurse you tenderly for three weeks in that dry, dirty, sandy hole?"
"Of course you did," Ryouga said quickly. "I didn't mean anything by it."
Akane leaned forward from her position at the wall.
"The way I heard it," she stage-whispered. "It took her the first two weeks to learn how to make a proper bandage."
Nabiki frowned and looked at Ryouga.
"You promised never to mention that to anyone," she said.
"I never told her anything," Ryouga protested. Ranma noticed he was firm about this. "Someone read your journal."
He pointed at Akane.
"Akane!" Nabiki snapped as she faced her youngest sister.
"I was under orders to investigate the belongings of all refugees at the time," Akane rationalized.
"I wasn't a refugee, I was your sister," Nabiki growled. "Though you apparently recognized him first."
"I thought you cleared me of that," Akane said.
"That was before I knew you'd abused your position to invade my privacy," Nabiki said before turning to Ranma as if just remembering she was there. "Sorry, we must look like a bunch of squabbling brats to you, Satomi-san."
"That's fine," Ranma said. "I know how families are."
"Right, did you bring your kids, by the way?" Nabiki asked.
"They're with Kasumi," Akane said.
"I see," Nabiki said. "Well, dinner should be ready soon and that means Tofu is close to getting here. I should get Ryouga to the dining room."
"I can find the dining room," Ryouga protested.
"You guys go ahead," Akane said. "It's been forever since I was in the dojo and Satomi-san and I promised each other a short match."
Nabiki gave Akane a long look and then looked toward Ranma, trying to decide if the red-head as the same Ranma she suspected her to be and if Akane was setting herself up for disappointment.
Either way.
"Well, we'll leave you to that then," Nabiki said after a moment, dragging Ryouga with her.
And Ranma and Akane were alone in the dojo.
****
"So what do you practice?" Ranma asked.
"Mostly two family styles," Akane said.
"Two?" Ranma said. "Yours and your husband's?"
Akane nodded.
"You see," the dark-haired woman explained as she faced Ranma. "It was arranged for me to marry a young man of the Saotome clan so that we could continue the combination of our family styles."
"Sounds like something from a manga," the red-head said. "So I guess you married him then?"
"No," Akane said, moving closer. Her eyes furrowed dangerously. "He disappeared one night and we could never find him. We lost Nabiki for two years because China blew up into civil war at the wrong time and she happened to be in nanjing chasing rumors."
"I can't say how sorry I am," Ranma said quietly.
"Well," Akane said. "We have a match to do."
"We do," Ranma said.
Both stood apart from each other with no apparent change in stance for a moment before Akane lashed out with a short punch, which Ranma sidestepped fractionally.
Then the Saotome-style strike twisted swiftly into a grasping hands joint lock that reached for her shoulder.
Ranma blinked in surprise and stepped fully to the side before jumping over the kick that followed.
Akane had gotten better.
Her strikes were efficient and wasted little motion. Her transitions were good, and she no longer telegraphed her actions like a boom box set to highest volume.
She still had something of a temper, but she was reigning it in. Making it power rather than hindrance.
Of course, Ranma had gotten better too.
Another dodge and Ranma was around behind the woman in the naval uniform and the first clean contact of the match came in the form of a finger in the back of Akane's hand.
Akane blinked and turned around to face Ranma.
"You're pretty good," she said quietly. "You..."
She laughed slightly, remembering things and Ranma echoed her with a nervous chitter herself.
"You want to be friends?" Akane asked.
The dojo resounded with quiet laughter for a long minute before the sound quietly changed to sobbing as a red-head wrapped her arms around Akane's form and the larger woman held her.
"Baka," Akane whispered.
*****
"Dinner's ready," Kasumi said. "Would someone go tell Satomi-san and Akane?"
"I'll get them," Deimosu said, thankful for something to do.
*****
"So how'd you end up with the Saotome name?" Ranma asked as she sat on the porch of the dojo.
"Ryuu was adopted in to clan," Akane said.
"Ryuu...Kumon?" the other martial artist said in surprise.
"He was the only other one with Saotome-ryu training," Akane said. "Even if it was just the Yamasen-ken to start."
"You went with the arrangement after all," Ranma noted.
"After...I got tired of fighting it," Akane said. "I'd lost too much to risk another campaign."
"Are you happy?" Ranma asked.
"We've gotten there," Akane said. "The first few years were...cold. But we've gotten there. It's a nice life now."
"And the uniform?" the redhead asked.
"I could ask you about the feng shih thing," Akane protested. "But fine. Nabiki'd just gone missing and the Sea of Japan was flooded with pirates and mercenaries. I wanted to do something about it and maybe it annoyed Ryuu a little at the beginning."
"I guess..." Ranma started. "I guess I already knew you'd have moved on."
"I think you knew that when you chose not to trust me enough to pick up a phone and call for help," Akane said accusingly.
"I'm sor..."
"No, I gave you too many hammers to expect trust," the other woman said, reigning in her temper again.
"Yeah," Ranma said. "It could have been great if we'd gotten past that."
Akane nodded.
"It can still be great," Akane said. "Just not romantic great."
"Besides which, you're straight," Ranma teased playfully, drawing a sad smirk from Akane.
There was another long moment of silence.
"I'm not going to ask you about the kids," Akane said. "I'm fairly certain I know how someone attracted to women ends up pregnant. But do they know?"
"Not yet," Ranma said firmly. "My job is to protect them, not give them more pain."
"What if the father comes for them?" Akane asked. "Is that the time for them to learn."
"I've trained them as well as I can," Ranma said. "Found them teachers for things I couldn't teach them. And...I'll have to tell them soon. I just hope that when I do, they know it's to protect them, not to get them to go avenge me. I don't want them avenging me. I don't want the smallest hair on their heads cut."
"Ranma Saotome," Akane said smiling. "If your kids know you at all, they know you don't let other people get hurt fighting your battles. Kasumi should be just about finished with dinner, let's go."
Both stood up and turned to walk out of the dojo, and found Deimosu walking towards them down the hallway waving.
"Okaasan," Deimosu said. "Saotome-san, dinner's ready."
"Yeah, we're coming, Dei-chan," Ranma called out.
"Don't call me that in front of people, Okaasan," the blonde young man said, letting the two adults pass him by.
As they passed in front of him, he slowed his pace to a momentary stop and breathed a sigh of relief that the two women had thought he was just coming to find them.
Deimosu started walking again, trying to bury what he'd just unintentionally learned.