Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Wallets ❯ Homecoming Surprises ( Chapter 31 )

A Tale of Two Wallets

(An Altered Destiny)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

The Shinto temple of the Purple Chrysanthemum was an ancient structure dedicated to the peaceful establishment of harmony between man and his spiritual nature. It was also the repository of many an ancient and powerful legacy from the feudal past of Japan itself, not least of which was a certain box said to contain a malevolent Oni who had been held prisoner for a thousand years by a holy seal. It had been entrusted to the shrine for eternal wardship, only lately the seal had been showing signs of advanced degradation.

So it was that the resident priest sent the word out for an Exorcist to come and help him renew that seal. Of late the Oni had been struggling to break free of his containment and it was becoming more urgent that the wards be renewed to prevent this.

"So," said the Exorcist in question, whose given name was 'Cherry,' "Am I in time or not?"

"Your timing could not be more perfect," said the resident priest, whose name was Nihana, "The seal is just beginning to weaken. You must renew it now or we risk catastrophe."

"Patience, my brother," Cherry urged his fellow priest, "Take me to the box and I will seal the Oni away for another thousand years. There is no reason for you to panic."

"Oh no?" asked Nihana as they entered the shrine and the priest indicated to the little Exorcist, "You tell me that after you've seen that ward's condition."

"Hmmm…" Cherry replied as he noted the faded ink upon the ward, which looked very brittle as even ricepaper was wont to do after a thousand years in service, "I see what you mean. Well, never fear, I will put matters to right. First I must pray to the spirits of this holy place."

Cherry clapped his hands together and began to mumble prayers while Nihana noticed that the box itself was starting to vibrate, which prompted him to say, "Um…could you hurry it up a bit? I think the Oni is restless."

"At ease, brother," Cherry said before continuing in his ritual chanting, rubbing prayer beads between the palms of his hands while the box began to smoke along the edges, and them it started to glow slightly.

"Ah…" Nihana's voice climbed up another notch, "Maybe this time you should make an exception…"

"Hmm?" Cheery opened his eyes just as the box suddenly exploded into light as the ward strip upon it burned up like a strip of magnesium paper. With the ward seal gone the Oni emerged, billowing out like a cloud of smoke that filled the rafters as a dark shape materialized within it.

"FREE!" a guttural voice cried in triumphant glee, "AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS I AM AT LAST FREE TO WRECK MY VENGENCE! NO ONE WILL EVER HOLD ME PRISONER LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!"

"Ah…" Nihana said even more faintly, "It's free."

"So I see," said Cherry, whose hand suddenly filled with a prayer-strip, "Then we must do this the hard way!"

He hurled the strip but the Oni was no longer where he aimed. Cherry was just starting to wonder where it had gotten off to when he was clobbered from behind with his own wooden staff, the iron rings rattling at both ends as Nihana swung it intending to cripple.

Unfortunately for that plan the little priest proved resilient enough to pop back up again, whirling about as he cried, "So…you're able to take possession of innocent people. The legends did not exaggerate your evil."

"Innocent?" asked Nihana, who was not normally prone to sporting a pair of horns on his forehead. He cackled a hearty laugh and said, "I wouldn't go so far as that. In fact, I…"

He stopped, looked down at himself, then with a free hand began exploring his crotch area, looking horrified as he cried, "Oh no! I'm a Eunuch!"

"Too bad you didn't know brother Nihana's tragic childhood secret," Cherry smiled as he whipped out another prayer strip and sent it hurtling at the possessed Shinto priest, striking him on the forehead and causing the Oni to immediately vacate.

Nihana gasped, dropping Cherry's staff as he cried, "Thank you! Oh, that was terrible! You have no idea what sorts of perversions were floating through my head just now…"

"Save it for later, brother," Cherry said, glancing around, "The demon was expelled from you, but it is still close nearby. It will be looking for a new host body and anyone on hand will be sufficient for its evil needs."

"We must stop him before it is too late," Nihana declared, "If the Oni is allowed to absorb the repressed needs and desires of too many host victims…"

"I know," Cherry replied, "It will grow out to become a truly terrifying menace, and as priests it is our sacred duty to prevent this. Perhaps I should have asked my niece, Sakura, to join me in this endeavor. It is not too late, I have her cell phone number…"

A wicked cry from outside the shrine caused both men to turn around and gape at a passing little old lady, who suddenly was sprouting horns and grinning at them both while making an obscene finger gesture.

"You priests cannot stop me!" she cried, "I will soon become too powerful for the both of you to face!"

And with that she turned around, hiked up her skirts and flashed her underwear in their directions, then kicked up her heels and began running down the walkway heading for the public road and the main heart of town.

"Ah…maybe we should have placed wards around the shrine," said Nihana in a sheepishly voice.

"Okay," replied Cherry, "Now we should panic…"

Kodachi was in rare good spirits as she went shopping with Kasumi. As much as she might not care to dwell upon the subject of her mother, the two older guests of the Tendo house have proven a veritable fountain of useful tid-bits concerning Ranma's father. It seemed that the older Saotome had lived quite an interesting and event-filled life, one worthy of a heroic Samurai ballad.

It only made sense that Ranma would have gained his formidable prowess from an accomplished martial artist, though Kodachi had to concede that Genma Saotome well lived up to his name as the "Dark Horse" of his family lineage. Kodachi had judged the older man to be quite a bit of a useless layabout, and it seemed to her that this impression was shared by the Amazon named Silk, though the one named Comb always had dark looks of a different nature whenever his name was being mentioned.

By contrast with her, Kasumi was behaving in a most unusually pensive way, which Kodachi picked up before too long, aware that their pleasant chitchat was being mostly conducted on her end. It belatedly occurred to her that the eldest Tendo daughter was acting almost morose for some strange reason, and after a few tentative probing questions hinting about that subject she finally determined what was bothering her friend.

"She reminds you of your mother?" Kodachi asked, surprised to see the wistful smile that crossed the older girl's lovely features.

"Not exactly," Kasumi replied, "Although she does look a great deal like my mother, there is something very…different about her. I lost my mother when I was very young, like you, but I do seem to recall that my mother was...oh my. I'm not really sure what I mean, I just know that there was a difference."

Kodachi was surprised to note the way Kasumi spoke when she mentioned a difference between this Silk and her mother. From everything that she had heard from various sources, the late Kimiko Tendo had been regarded as a virtual saint, and if Kasumi were any reflection of her mother then it would certainly set a very high watermark, almost an unattainable goal to live up to. Still, this Silk had been so calm and well-mannered for a person of Chinese descent, certainly nothing like the wild ways of that Amazon Hussy, Shampoo, or even her dour-eyed mother.

"Still and all, it must be very strange for you," Kodachi noted, expecting to hear tacit agreement with this simple appraisal, but once again Kasumi surprised her with a gentle smile as if to suggest the opposite were true.

"I suppose it is a bit unusual," the older girl said with typical understatement, "But it is nice just the same to have people of such exotic temperament around our home. Things have been so exciting since Ranma and his father came to Nerima and he became engaged to my little sister. I never know what to expect from one day to the next, I just know that it will be interesting, and the chance to learn more about the world is certainly something that I would welcome. It's just…well…there seems to be a lot more to Silk's story than she has been telling us. For one thing she seems to get along very well with father."

"You noticed that, did you?" Kodachi found herself both surprised and intrigued, never having suspected that the overly emotional Soun Tendo might have his own little secrets of such a juicy and titillating nature. She might have pointed this out to her companion just to get a rise out of her, but for some reason she was hesitant to do anything that might hurt Kasumi's feelings. There was just something about the girl that made Kodachi feel perversely close and yet somehow protective. This was not typical behavior for her, and it made Kodachi wonder about that.

But not being overly introspective by inclination, Kodachi just smiled and said, "It would be only natural that your father be pleased at seeing an old friend. From what those two Amazons told us I would think they had some glorious adventures, and no doubt they are…reacquainting themselves with the particulars, wandering through memory lane, as it were…"

"Oh, I'm sure they are, and father must enjoy the company as he has few friends to talk to besides Mister Saotome," Kasumi smiled, but then that pensive look came back and she said, "I just wonder about something they're not telling us. I don't know why, but it troubles me whenever Silk mentions her daughter, or she is mentioned by Comb. The way they look at me, as if I resembled her the way Silk resembles my mother. I suppose I'm just being silly, but still…"

Kodachi hid her face by pretending to be interested in a piece of fruit on display in the open-air market, but for once her expression was…troubled. The wry and cynical side of her personality was thinking very nasty thoughts that-she had no doubt-were unquestionably close to the truth in that matter, but she was wondering at the same time if Kasumi also suspected the same things. It was hard to believe that the older girl could nurse an unpleasant thought towards anyone, but if she discovered that her father had once been unfaithful to her mother…what would it do to her peace of mind? Would it shatter her faith in humankind and shake her most fundamental beliefs to their root foundations?

Kodachi already knew what lay in wait for her friend should Kasumi go down that same path that Kodachi had experienced in her lost days of innocence when she had lost her own childhood forever. The memory was stark and deep of a time when her whole world had had been upturned, and even now she could not think back on that affair without feeling a twisting in her gut that made her instantly want to change to a different subject.

She took a deep breath and composed herself while rubbing an apple off of her dress to polish it for closer inspection. When she had judged it worthy of consumption she graced the merchant with the required coinage and moved on to the next stall, using the time to compose her thoughts while allowing Kasumi her peace of mind. Only when Kodachi was ready to talk again did she say, "By the way, I was hoping that you might like to stop off by my family mansion on the way home. There is something…that I would very much like to show you."

"I'd love to come by your place, Kodachi-chan," Kasumi said with that musical lilt in her voice that conveyed such rich warm and sincerity that it made Kodachi feel her heart begin to flutter, "Is it very far from here?"

"No, not at all," Kodachi had to still her pulse before turning around, not daring to hope that her luck might hold long enough that she could lure this fascinating creature into her lair, where they could… explore more fascinating new aspects to their friendship. Her violet eyes were shining with admiration, though, as she looked up into Kasumi's guileless brown eyes and almost had a moment of indecision. She opened her mouth, preparing to say something casual that had just occurred to her at that moment when-all of a sudden-a crashing sound diverted both of their attention.

"Hey!" a Merchant was yelling, "What's the big idea of tipping over my cart?!?"

The old woman standing beside the overturned cart and spilled fruit was cackling like some character out of a children's fairy tail about stereotypical Wicked Old Witches as her voice grated out in a sarcastic wheeze, "I'm just disposing of some rubbish, you overpricing cheat! I've been buying your rotten fruit for years but I've always dreamed about telling you to your face what I think of your second-rate produce!"

She laughed at the merchant's stunned expression then merrily skipped off as two men-both obvious Shinto priests by their fancy style of dress, appeared mere moments later with one calling aloud to the other, "This way, my friend! She mustn't escape us this time!"

"Oh my," Kasumi remarked, "You do meet the strangest people in this district."

Kodachi was going to agree with that statement in the affirmative when both women were startled for a second time by another occurrence, this one much closer than the last. The two looked up simultaneously as a figure dropped from rooftop level to land on top of a merchant stall and from there vault to the sidewalk directly in their path, flashing a golden polearm that in some part resembled a Japanese Naginata.

"At last I've found you, Demon!" the new arrival snarled, "I caught scent of your evil presence from above. Now taste the bite of my holy weapon!"

With that she leveled the pole-arm towards Kasumi, who looked back at the new arrival with much surprise and incomprehension. Kodachi glanced from one woman to the other and back again, unable to help gasping with alarm at the realization that one very closely resembled the other.

She was as tall as Kasumi and had her features and hair color, but the style of her dress marked her for a Chinese Amazon, albeit one who looked very different from Shampoo by an entire order of being. What was notably different was that the glint in her eyes betrayed none of the serenity and benevolence of the gentle Tendo sister but more closely resembled the angry glares often worn by Akane.

"Who are you?" Kodachi asked as another analogy belatedly occurred to her as she mentally compared this stranger to her brother. Her manner of speech surely was worthy of Tatewaki!

"I am Kachu!" the stranger snarled, "A daughter of the Nyanchiczu, and here to rid myself of you, foul Doppelganger!"

"Gesundhiet, " Kasumi said politely, then blinked her eyes as she asked, "What is a Doppelganger?"

"DIE!!!" Kachu snarled and started to lunge forward, only to be intercepted by a ribbon that wrapped around the shaft of her weapon and quite easily deflected it away from Kasumi.

"I beg to differ," Kodachi said with polite deference that belied the angry glint of her stare, "I cannot permit you to do this to my companion. She has done nothing to deserve your wrath, but if you persist in this then you will feel mine, which is considerable I assure you."

Kachu easily freed her pole arm from the ribbon as she took in the dark haired Kodachi coolly while Kasumi remained where she was looking at them both with a much-surprised expression. With a contemptuous sniff the Amazon growled, "What, has she enchanted you to be her protector?"

"Something like that," Kodachi's eyes twinkled with faint amusement before she assumed a combat stance and added, "I am Kuno Kodachi, the Black Rose of Saint Hebereke, a rising star of Women's Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, and if you would come at my friend them you must first go through me."

"Whatever," Kachu replied, and attacked again, this time directing her assault in the direction of Kodachi…

"So," Comb remarked as she studied the Shogi board that Soun was presently sitting before, across from Silk, who was playing a game with him in earnest, "You and Genma sit and play all day by yourselves, do you? Interesting way to pass the time…"

"And is that so different from the games of Chess that you indulge in with your husband?" Silk pleasantly replied without taking her eyes off the board, or the man playing against her.

"Chess is different," Comb bristled slightly, "It's a warrior's game fought with strategy and honor. You can see the value of certain pieces as they weigh against each other for position and advantage. The pieces of this game are all the same worth and all you do is move them around trying to trump each other, like playing a child's game of leap-frog!"

"You play your game the way you want, I'll play it the way I like," Silk replied with perfect calm, smiling all the while as she saw how Soun was fretting over his position, which prompted her to say, "Your move, Soun dear."

"Ah…" Soun winced as if visibly made nervous by the Amazon's smile, then he suddenly glanced up and pointed, "Look, over there! What in the world is that?"

"Nice try," Silk's smile deepened as she sensed victory within her grasp, "But I'm not Genma. I won't fall for any minor…distractions?" she blinked before her eyes abruptly lost focus.

"Hah," Comb snorted, "It's like I thought. You and Genma just play to cheat, like always. It's not a Warrior's game when all you do is sneak around trying to…"

"No, I mean it seriously!" Soun pointed, "There's something going on that way."

"Are you still on that?" Comb said in exasperation, "Honestly, I thought you Japanese at least held to some concept of honor…"

"No, he's right," Silk turned around and glanced in the direction that Soun had pointed, just off to the left of her shoulder, "I sense it too."

"Eh?" Comb followed the line of their gazes and saw what had drawn their attention, a plume of light and smoke that was trailing up from the Furinkan district, nearly two kilometers from their current location, "What in the name of our ancestors is that?"

"Kachu," Silk rose smoothly to her feet, retrieving her silver flute in one fluid motion, her whole attitude reflecting a sudden sobriety that had not been there in prior moments.

"Kachu?" Soun remarked curiously.

"KACHU???" Comb's tone-in contrast to that of her companions-was borderline to panic, "She's doing this? Oh my…"

"Oh my indeed," Silk remarked, "We had best hurry and find my wayward daughter while the town is still standing."

"Surely any daughter of yours couldn't be all that bad," Soun said with a hopeful note in his voice, only to see the looks the two Amazons gave him, which prompted him to say, "That bad, eh? Well, she certainly will find herself with odd company in our fair city."

"<I think someone is in for a very rude shock,>" Comb remarked with a none-too-subtle undertone in her voice.

"<Ah…yes,>" Silk winced, "<Time is rapidly approaching when I will have to tell him about Kachu.>"

"<Before or after he sees her for himself?>" Comb asked rhetorically, to which Silk chose not to answer as the three of them filed out through the gates together…

The walk back home was quiet and uneventful for Akane, which suited her just fine as she was in no real mood for conversation. Her companions had maintained a respectful silence after she had made it abundantly clear that she did not welcome any chatter. Ryoga was too mindful of his tenuous position with her to risk venturing any questions, while Ukyo was simply wondering why she had chosen to accompany this pair rather than go with Ranma, Shampoo and Nabiki.

Cologne held to her own counsel and seemed far too preoccupied by her thoughts to bother her newly chosen apprentice, not that she had any cause for fear as in the case of Ryoga. She had judged the Tendo girl as one who was full of unexpected surprises, and as such she was appraising the ways in which she might use her fierce battle spirit to advantage, not only to train her in ways befitting an adopted warrior of the Nyanchiczu but also to employ her constructively towards the ends of motivating her great granddaughter and chosen Airen to do likewise.

They were just passing through the Furinkan financial district, still a fair ways from that part of the suburbs where the Tendo home was located, when Akane chose to break her own silence and said in a low voice, "Kuonji-san, why did you choose to forgive Ranma and his father for abandoning you all those years ago?"

"Eh?' Ukyo reacted in surprise before recovering to reply, "What makes you think I've forgiven him anything?'

"Well, not his father, I can understand that," Akane said with a slight shrug to her shoulders, "But you still consider Ranma your friend, don't you?"

"Huh?" Ukyo blinked, then after a moment of pause she said, "Well…yeah, Ranchan and I are friends. At least I think I understand him a lot better now than when I was carrying on a grudge for ten years. I don't blame him any more for being a party to his father's crimes. Kami knows my own father made more than his share of mistakes."

Ryoga glanced at Ukyo and frowned, not liking the tone of this conversation. Deciding to take a chance that he might be forgiven a small caveat of his own, he ventured to say, "Well…I don't blame his father for Ranma's crimes against me. Stealing bread when we were kids was one thing, skipping out on a man-to-man promise was another…"

"Are you still onto that?" Ukyo growled, "Why not take some responsibility of your own for getting lost those four days it took you to find an open lot behind your own house? Even you've got to admit that it's a little odd being that directionless, Sugar."

Ryoga bristled slightly, but when he caught a warning glance from Akane he checked himself, then heaved a sigh as he thought it over (or at least made a good attempt at it) then said, "Well, even if it were true that Ranma wasn't to blame for missing out on our fight, he still owes me for knocking me into that cursed spring and trapping me with this…body! I can never forgive him for that, never! I'm cursed to turn into a pig for the rest of my life, and some day I'll have my vengeance…"

"Aren't you forgetting something, sonny boy?" Cologne suddenly joined into their conversation, "You promised to desist from any thought of revenge as condition of your defeat. You are to train to test yourself against his skills, not for personal vengeance. But, if you should happen to defeat him as a consequence of improving much faster than he does…"

"Yes, exactly!" Ryoga declared, "I'll train hard and become good enough to finally beat him, then he can beg me for his pathetic life! I'll make him rue the day he ever heard the name of Hibiki Ryoga!"

"Somehow I don't think that will be a problem," Ukyo said with a dry note of sarcasm in her tone, rolling her eyes and wondering how anyone could be so clueless.

Akane sighed, looking away from Ryoga to Ukyo with an unreadable expression. A smile began to form upon her face and she deliberately moved closer to Ukyo, creating a distance with Ryoga that the lost boy was not slow to notice. In what for her was a too-casual tone of voice, Akane said, "Well, I think it shows great maturity that you're able to overlook the fact that you were abandoned and neglected so long ago. Another boy might have taken it out on everyone and become as much a stranger to himself and everyone around him."

"Huh?" Ukyo responded, an exclamation that was echoed by Ryoga, who wore a non-plussed expression that was equal parts incomprehension.

"Interesting," Cologne mused to herself in a soft voice, "You are just full of surprises today, Tendo-san."

"Eh?" Akane glanced towards the old woman as if just recognizing her for the first time, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing," Cologne said innocently as she faced straight ahead, "It's just that I find you young people an infinite source of amusement what with the way you twist and turn in your relationships."

"Huh?" all three of her companions said together.

Cologne was about to pointedly ignore their shared remarks when a sudden foreboding gripped her heart. She halted in the middle of the walkway and stared straight ahead as a most peculiar thing occurred. An outdoor cart and several window displays all toppled over together, and then an old woman went crashing through a window clutching a dress in her arms while cackling merrily something to the effect that the store prices were outrageous. The next instant she tripped over the hem of her dress and staggered forward, about to hit her head upon the sidewalk when Ryoga instinctively went into action.

Slipping the straps of his backpack off his shoulders, Ryoga allowed his burden to fall as he rushed forward with arms outstretched to catch the old woman before she could hurt herself. Unfortunately his attempt was ill timed and instead of providing the lady a safe cushion his head wound up butting against hers. He fell flat on his face, the old woman looking stunned as she landed on top of his body. A moment later she blinked her eyes, looked around and said, "Oh my…where am I?"

"Are you all right?" Ukyo asked as she started to move forward, only to find Cologne's staff was thrust into her path.

"Ryoga, are you hurt?" Akane was equally concerned, only to find her ability to move forward was being deterred by the Amazon Elder, who was looking towards Ryoga with a particularly disturbed expression.

"Hey you!" a high-toned nasal voice called out, "Don't go near them!"

"Stay back!" a deeper male voice called in warning, "You don't want to come any closer!"

"Huh?" Ukyo and Akane turned their heads to see an odd pair of priests approaching them at a dead run. Cologne, on the other hand, kept her eyes focused on the prone Ryoga. As the lost boy started to groan it caused the pair to reorient their attention his way, then Ryoga began to pry himself off of the sidewalk, turning towards them with a very odd expression.

"Ryoga-kun?" asked Akane hesitantly.

"Hey, what's with the horns?" Ukyo asked, just noticing what looked different about their companion, other than the fact that Ryoga was wearing a most uncharacteristic expression.

Ryoga smiled in a lopsided manner and began to cackle to himself, then crouched like a predatory animal as he unceremoniously dumped the old woman to the side. As he rose to his full height the malevolent gleam in his eyes became apparent to everyone who could see it, as did the calculated tone of his voice as he purred in a low growl, "Akane-chan…how nice it is to finally see you this way. I feel like a new man altogether!"

"R-Ryoga-kun?" Akane asked in confusion when Ukyo stepped into her path with her baker's peel raised in warning.

"Hold up, Sugar," Ukyo said, "That's not really you talking, is it, Ryoga?"

"Good guess," Ryoga glared at her while still smiling, then suddenly he lunged forward as he cried, "You stay away from my Akane, you hear me?"

Ukyo side-stepped the lost boy's powerful lunge and brought her spatula down upon his head with a loud "CLANG" sound as she knocked him sprawling once again. Ryoga lay still for half a moment as Akane called out his name, then all at once they shared a gasp as something rose up from Ryoga's prone body, a nebulous form like a diminutive imp, or a balloon with horns.

"What is that?" Akane gasped.

"I think it's some kind of Youma," Ukyo hesitated.

"No," said the shorter of the two priests very solemnly, "It is an Oni, a dark and terrible creature that feeds off the repressed desires and hidden needs concealed by most people. It escaped from a local shrine, now my esteemed colleague and I are attempting to recapture the foul creature. Be careful that it does not attempt to possess you."

Cologne turned to the short little man and said, "Cherry? Is that you?"

"Eh?" the little priest suddenly all but jumped out of his skin as he took notice of the tribal Elder, "Cologne? What are you doing back here in Japan?"

"Personal business," Cologne said dryly, "But it is so nice to run into old acquaintances, yes?"

"Old girlfriend, eh?" the taller priest murmured to the side.

"Don't be ridiculous," Cherry said with great solemnity, "And besides, this isn't the time or place to be talking about that."

"Speaking of which," Ukyo said as she started to turn back to where the Oni had been, only to freeze where she was as her face clouded over with a most peculiar expression.

"Hey, where did it go?" Akane gasped, seeing no trace of the creature.

"Heheh," Ukyo murmured softly under her breath, a lascivious smile suddenly crossing her Bishonen features, "That would be telling."

"Ukyo?" Akane started, seeing the horns that were suddenly sprouting from the okinomiyaki chef's forehead, "Not you too?"

Cologne attempted to strike Ukyo with her staff but the chef was too fast, bunching her legs before springing backwards out of the Elder's reach. With another powerful leap she was suddenly astride the roof to a nearby apartment, then looked down at them with a contemptuous gleam in her chestnut brown eyes before she called out, "I've no time to deal with you, losers! I've got an old score to settle with my 'good buddy' Ranma!"

"C-come back!" Ryoga's shaky voice called out, "I'm not finished with you! Just let me get my hands on that…horrible creature!"

"Ryoga-kun?" Akane knelt over him with concern in her expression, "Are you all right?"

"No," Ryoga said without meeting her gaze, "I'm not all right! That…thing got into my head…there were so many dark and terrible thoughts it unleashed in me…you have no idea of the kind of ugliness it's capable of unleashing…"

"Well, you know," Cologne said philosophically, "They do tend to be like that, these demons of the mind. It's their specialty to prey on human suffering and weakness."

"Then we have to stop that thing!" Akane cried out, "It's got Ukyo, and who knows what it's doing to his mind?"

"That's right," Ryoga said as he got to his feet, "No one deserves to go through what I just went through, not even Ranma!"

"Ranma?" Akane's eyes narrowed, "I'll bet he's going after him…and if it gets possession of Ranma, then Nabiki…"

"There's not a moment to lose!" cried Nihana, the taller of the two priests, "We must be after that Oni!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ryoga asked when a sudden explosion was heard to erupt from another part of the city.

"Huh?" Akane gasped, "What now?"

"Oh my," Cologne blinked, "There seems to be no end of troubles today. Follow me, there is not a moment to waste!"

With that the Amazon Elder began to vault away on her staff, causing Akane and Ryoga to quicken their own pace, grabbing up their backpacks on the run so as not to lose them. Nihana and Cherry held back for a few moments to exchange a few private words between them.

"You felt that, brother?" Nihana asked.

"I did indeed," Cherry replied, "And I don't think it was the Oni."

"There's no telling what else is waiting for us up ahead," Nihana said with grim fatalism, then paused to add on the sly, "So, what is the story between you and that old woman?"

"Nothing you want to be troubled with, brother," Cherry's expression was grim, "There are some things other men were not meant to know. I just wish I were numbered among them…"

Shampoo's Diary Continues:

Although my husband had triumphed against his enemy and proven himself truly a man much to be prized there seemed little celebration for us as we sought to return to the Tendo estate after a long, reflective march down the trail leading from the forest to Nerima. I was somewhat perplexed as I tried to think of some way to cheer my wife and husband up since they were obviously still very much upset over the matter of that fool, Ryoga.

To be perfectly honest I did not then see what was consuming them with such anxiety. Ranma was not truly to blame for the other boy's misfortune, even if he did knock Ryoga into the Spring of Itoniichuan. As I understand the circumstances it was an accident caused when Ranma was seeking to chastise his father for bringing them both to Jusenkyo. Ryoga was fool enough to be in their path and so received the curse on account of his own clumsiness. To hold Ranma responsible is merely to avoid the harsh reality of the curse itself by deflecting his anger at another party.

It would be much the same if I blamed great-grandmother for giving me my curse. I know as well as anyone the hardships bestowed upon one who is forced to become small and helpless against their will, and under different circumstances I most certainly would feel pity for Ryoga, but blaming his troubles upon Ranma is quite simply pointless.

I suppose what really bothered my airen was the deception practiced by not informing Akane of her mistake in assuming a small black pig would be a harmless pet that she could take into her bed. As if! I do not fully understand myself why my wife and husband did not share their knowledge of Ryoga's dual nature, I only know that it involves what the Japanese call Bushido, or the Warrior's Code as it is understood within their homeland.

I am prepared to accept my husband's explanation that he was behaving with honor by not revealing Ryoga's weakness to another. To my way of thinking it is most curious that Ranma would be so concerned about protecting the honor of an enemy who hated him with such intensity and publicly vowed to destroy him in battle. To an Amazon it would be unthinkable to owe any regard to an enemy who challenged you constantly and sought your life over a trifle. Mousse would never do that to anyone he hated so intensely, but then again perhaps that is why I love Ranma instead of Mousse. My husband is strong enough not to fear his enemies and so could afford the luxury of being generous towards those who hate him.

Like Akane, if you wish another example. I simply do not understand the younger sister to my wife, even though I have taken it upon myself to see that she becomes a more capable fighter. That girl spends much too much of her time quarreling with my husband (on those occasions when she cannot outright avoid him) and I cannot for the life of me understand why she holds such intense dislike of him. If it were merely the fact that he is a better fighter but chooses not to challenge her, then it would be a sensible reason for resentment, but it is as if she holds some secret quarrel that I know nothing about, quite beyond the circumstances (as they were explained to me) of their first meeting.

It is not as if Akane spends all her time being angry at the world that she was born into, and those times when she is behaving more rationally I actually find myself liking her, for some strange, unaccountable reason. Since we are not rivals there is little reason for hostility between us, but she seems to resent me for any number of issues, not least of which was my use of the Xi Fang Giao upon her.

If anything though, it was my wife who was giving me the greatest amount of concern on that long walk back to her home. Nabiki was being silent and saying little beyond what was necessary to maintain light conversation. I could see that she felt tormented by some issue but was at a loss to understand how she was allowing events to affect her in such a manner. Nabiki always seemed to me the very picture of self-possessed calm…very different in manner and temperament from her gentler older sister, perhaps, but certainly not one to allow herself to be become distraught over something as minor as holding back information from her sister.

As I think back on it now I seem to perceive that I may be doing my airen a great injustice by not understanding the seriousness of the breach of ethics that they may have committed. Japanese are very concerned about the Wa (a word that Elder Lotion has been explaining to me at great length this very evening) or "Harmony" of one's own household (and does this ever conjure up thoughts of home and the many families to whom the concept of harmony would be entirely foreign).

Perhaps my airen believes that she has disturbed the Wa of her household by not informing her sister that the harmless pig she was clutching to her bosom late at night was not entirely so harmless. If so, then I think she is worrying over nothing, for Akane's state of mind has hardly been a state of Wa for as long as I have known her!

Still, it is this dutiful bride's responsibility to look after her airen in good times as well as bad, and while I may not share their feelings towards the volatile Akane, I must respect that they feel some measure of regret for having deceived her…or allowed her to deceive herself by withholding information. Perhaps in time I may even help them to see that it will all work out for the better.

Of course this is not to say that I am overlooking the strange events that were about to take place, but I am putting my thoughts into perspective here, as Elder Lotion would say, dealing with one issue at a time in proper order. It helps when you have a cursed form such as mine that forces one to play passive observer.

This point is relevant because at the time I was riding upon the shoulders of my wife, holding on without use of my claws through a careful balancing of posture. She was generously giving me a ride while I dried off after that unexpected rainshower had inadvertently rendered me in cursed form. There is not a lot that I could verbally say to convey my meaning so I sought to be reassuring and supporting in other ways. I was hoping to find some hot water as soon as we came within sight of the Tendo home when all of a sudden Elder Lotion tensed up, the first indication that something was very wrong in Nerima…

Nabiki's Journal Resumes:

I betrayed my sister. I know this both objectively and factually that I deliberately withheld information from Akane for what I thought was her own best interest, but try as I might I can't get over the angry, hurt way that she was looking at me when she hurled her accusations. Regardless of the fact that I thought that I was doing the right thing at the time, it was my duty as her sister to inform her about Ryoga and I didn't. I can't even claim my usual self-interested motivation, I just had a dirty little secret that I kept to myself and in the end I hurt my sister's feelings and endangered her relationship with the man she was interested in, all against my better judgement.

I know this wasn't Ranma's fault, but a part of me was blaming him for talking me into it. So what if it was against the code of Budo to reveal the weaknesses of an enemy? I wasn't raised to be a warrior like him, and I certainly don't feel obligated to protect Ryoga from his own foolishness. Why protect someone who is out to kill you, as Ryoga most certainly was? It's noble and honorable and all that, but it isn't smart and it set Akane up to be taken advantage of by that clueless pig-boy.

Okay, I wasn't exactly being fair at that point, and I was more than a little hurt, and maybe stung in my pride, because I can't account for why it was bothering me so much on this one occasion. I mean…I've done plenty of less-than-honorable things to Akane in the past and never felt this bad about it. She might be overreacting this time, but the plain fact is that I was not behaving like a sister by letting things get as much out of control as they had. If Ryoga hadn't exposed himself at last who knows how long she would have been in the dark about her precious pet "P-chan?"

I glance over at my sex-changing "fiancé" and I started to wonder how I let myself get talked into this whole engagement mess. I mean…sure I'm attracted to him-her-whatever, but surely that's just a sexual chemistry thing, right? I mean, I'm Tendo Nabiki, I don't get all mushy about romance. I'm in perfect control of my emotions and I'm not going to let a trick of biology get my better judgement.

Okay, like I said, I was in a pretty crappy mood trudging home from those hills, getting caught out in the open by a brief shower that left me feeling wet and miserable while Shampoo turned into a cat and my boyfriend turned into my girlfriend. (I won't even go into what I thought about the panda walking on two legs beside us!) When you've had the sort of day I've had you tend to start thinking off-color stuff that normally you'd keep locked up in your subconscious. Looking back on my attitude during that part of the day I kind of wonder how I could stand being around myself, and it was almost a relief that the typical insanity of Nerima came to my rescue and prevented me from doing or saying something that was really quite foolish.

We were still a mile from home when all of a sudden Lotion halted rather suddenly and turned as if hearing or sensing something that was oblivious to the rest of us. I had been wondering why she was being so quiet on the way back down the trail after proving to be such a stirring conversationalist during training, but I guess in retrospect that she was respecting my privacy (for once!) and leaving me to my mood-swings, or maybe she was just distracted by her own thoughts. Whatever the case her staff was suddenly in my path, blocking further advance as the rest of us turned towards her with curious expressions. It didn't take me very long to see that she was pretty agitated about something.

"What's up?" Ranma asked her, beating me to the punch by at least a dozen heartbeats.

"Something very troubling is in the air," the old woman turned towards us very slowly, her eyes roving over my face before she answered my iinazuke's question, "It comes sooner than expected, the test that I've been dreading."

"Test?" I blinked, "What is this, a pop quiz or something?"

"Something, yes," Lotion nodded with a distracted air, then her gaze focused sharply on me and she said, "Your older sister is in grave danger. Due to the folly of your father-and my granddaughter-there is a threat to her safety that you and your loved ones must deal with very swiftly. If you go that way for a few blocks you will see what the danger is. Beyond this I cannot say, save that it is a test of the solidarity of your union with those you care for and who care most about you. How you handle this will determine the sort of Lore Master you will become when you further your training."

"Never mind about my training!" I suddenly blurted with real urgency, "What's this about Kasumi being in danger? From what? From whom?"

"Whom indeed," Lotion replied for us, "Time is wasting, I will explain when there is more of it to dispense, but at the moment you need to travel like the wind if you are to arrive in time to be of use to your sister."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ranma-chan turned to me and said, "Need a lift, Nabiki?"

The question was, I assume, rhetorical, because the next thing I know my redheaded baka of a fiancé has scooped me up into her arms once again and-in total disregard for my normal digestive processes-begun to spirit me away with prodigious leaps worthy of a human-sized grasshopper.

I felt Shampoo dig her claws into my shoulder in her attempt to maintain a perch as we were suddenly on top of the nearest building with Ranma racing along at a good clip, carrying me along as if I were a sack of groceries he-I mean she-was bringing home to make supper.

Before this training mission had started I would probably have wondered how Ranma-chan-who was currently a good deal smaller than me-could not only handle my weight but managed to set such a breakneck pace that I could never achieve through normal jogging. Something about this Ki-force manipulation that makes martial artists like him so much tougher than the rest of us mere mortals.

Shampoo managed to scramble around to climb onto my lap midway to our goal or else I think we'd probably have lost her along the way. (A good thing Ranma has also been making progress in overcoming his phobia of Shampoo's cursed form or the mere fact of having her tail wave under Ranma's nose might have caused us all some very bad moments.) My shoulders bore claw marks from her efforts at holding on and were hurting like hell, but that was the least of my immediate worries as thoughts of my older sister were running through my head.

A threat against Kasumi? Inconceivable! Who would want to harm my sister? Kasumi is the gentlest soul that I have ever known, and she's always been there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry upon. I could not think of anyone who would want to see her hurt, so I was glad that the race to the scene of the crime in Ranma's arms was a brief one for more reasons than just my usual crazed sense of panic.

We arrived, like I just said, within moments of our departure, yet to my great surprise we found Lotion waiting for us with no sign of any pandas. What we did find, however, was trouble in spades! There was Kodachi on the ropes getting thrashed by an opponent wearing fancy Chinese dress and wielding some kind of fancy Naginata.

The scary thing is that she looked exactly like Kasumi!

Continued

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