Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ The Art of Love and War... ( Chapter 36 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"Two against one?" Nabiki blurted, "But that's not fair!"

"Those are my terms, take it or leave it," Cologne smiled at Nabiki knowingly and said, "Unless you would prefer to accept my other terms and come with me now back to Joketsuzoku…"

"Ranchan can't fight the two of them all by himself!" Ukyo protested, "These girls are tough, and we ought to know it!"

"If a boy aspires to be the Cock in the Hens Nest then he must prove he has the stamina and determination for his Amazons," Cologne replied sagaciously, "Unless he wishes to concede that he needs more training. Be glad I don't test him by having him fight all four of you at once."

"Great Grandmother is being generous," Shampoo said with neither boastfulness nor humor, "Shampoo no want boy get hurt, but Shampoo is Amazon. Must fight with full power. No hurt boy too badly, but boy no hold back. Is Amazon way."

"But Ranchan's no Amazon!" Ukyo continued to insist.

"That true, Airen," Perfume replied, "But he good enough for Amazon male, he fight, prove himself, then we one big family, or he take Perfume's place beside Great Grandmother."

"Either way you win, huh?" Nabiki eyed her sidelong.

To her credit Perfume did not meet her stare but sighed, "No want win this way, but Perfume fight for freedom to be with Airen. I fight not to death, but make boy concede she better."

"If he can take you both on, then he is more than worthy to be my Son-In-Law," Cologne replied, "How about it, boy? Will you concede, or are you a fighter?"

Nabiki wanted to curse the old crone and tell Ranma to forget all about it, but she knew him well enough to anticipate his prideful answer as he just said, "I'm not afraid of you or anyone, old woman. I don't like fighting girls, but…if I have to…"

"Hold it!" Ukyo cried, "Not inside my restaurant! I've taken enough property damage, and the place isn't even open yet!"

"Good thinking," Nabiki murmured, then more audibly said, "Let's take this someplace outside where there's a lot more room and less to damage, then you can have your stupid grudge match."

"It matters not a whit to me where the fight takes place," Cologne replied, "But don't try to delay this too long. I've already reserved plane ticks for a one way trip to China."

"Hope you can get a refund," Ranma sniffed, "All right, Nab-chan, where would you suggest?"

Nabiki was about to say something about foxholes and steel vaults when inspiration took her somewhere else. With a slight grin she said, "I know just the place, and it's not far from here either."

"What about him?" Ukyo indicated the still-unconscious Mousse, who still lay upon her counter.

"You got trash pit out in back?" Perfume asked.

"More like incinerator," Shampoo smiled coldly.

"Never mind the fool," Cologne sniffed, "He is not worth the attention. Very well, Miss Tendo, where do you suggest we go to resolve a matter of Amazon honor?

"I'll lead the way," Nabiki smiled, faintly hoping in her heart that Ranma would see the potential in what she was leading him towards and exploit every advantage, because against the Amazons his normal array of tricks would not be enough for their double onslaught…

"A construction yard?" Ukyo gasped, "This is your idea of an ideal battleground, Nab-chan?"

"Hey, for you it's the kitchen," Nabiki smiled, "For Musubetsu Kakuto Ryo it's anyplace where you can take advantage of your surroundings."

"It's perfect," Ranma smiled, "Couldn't ask for a better spot, Nab-chan."

"Very clever, Daughter-in-law," Cologne smiled, "I should have expected no less from you, but against my girls even this hardware store of potential weapons you've selected will hardly make the difference."

"Weapons?" Ranma looked at her curiously, "I thought this was going to be a hand-to-hand fight!"

"I said they would be going all out, and that means weapons," Cologne replied, "Shampoo and Perfume are trained to fight with the special weapons particular to their distinctive fighting systems in addition to their unarmed skills. Your iinazuke has merely provided you with a chance to balance things out a bit more in your favor, however ineffectual to the overall outcome."

Ranma was about to ask what she meant when he heard a mechanical clinking sound as Perfume flexed her arms and the double-bladed axes appeared from some place of concealment. Shampoo touched the earrings she always wore and suddenly her Bonbori appeared, one in each hand. Both Amazon girls looked at him, expectant and ready.

"Better go along with this, Ranchan," Nabiki murmured in his ear, "Just remember to use whatever's at hand, and one thing you should know about fighting Perfume…"

"No more coaching from the sidelines," Cologne snapped, "Let your betrothed fight his own battles without the extra pointers."

"But…" Nabiki was about to say, but she caught a warning look from Shampoo and decided to hold her peace. Ukyo looked ready to say something but Cologne pointed with her staff and said, "Combatants take your place. This fight begins at the count of ten, nine, eight, seven, six…"

Ranma vaulted down into the construction pit as Shampoo and Perfume did likewise, each party moving off to take their places on a stretch of level ground set in between the wood and steel girders of the place with ten paces distance between Ranma and his two formidable opponents. As Cologne continued to count backwards all three took ready stances and prepared for the match. Ranma tried to relax but found himself staring at the ground rather than at the two women, allowing his peripheral vision to give him the warning he needed as he summoned his will to do what he knew to be necessary.

"…gi, san, ni, ichi--hajime!" Cologne pronounced as she brought her staff down.

Ranma tensed slightly but did not initiate the first move. Shampoo and Perfume, on the other hand, began to circle warily, their weapons held at ready, their postures and bearing perfectly coordinated.

"Ranchan…" Ukyo murmured, then without taking her eyes off the fighters growled, "How could you agree to this, Nabiki? Aren't you worried Ranma will get hurt?"

"Are you kidding?" Nabiki said, "I'd rather it was me down there any day, and I know what those two are capable of. He'd better not let himself get hurt, the Baka…"

Cologne said nothing as she continued to watch as Ranma gave neither hint of his intentions nor sign of any opening. The boy seemed to be measuring the distance between himself and his opponents as though he were working out a geometric puzzle. At the last instant as both girls launched their attacks he was instantly in motion, fluid, graceful and rippling with power. He avoided both attacks as he dove right through the middle and came up in a roll, then spun and kicked backwards before launching himself into the air again and becoming a human pinwheel.

Perfume attacked in earnest with her axes, but it was like trying to chop smoke as Ranma melted before her eyes into a shadow, and suddenly he was on the other side of her, contending with Shampoo, who saw and adjusted her attack to this maneuver.

He is good, Cologne thought to herself as Ranma danced around Shampoo's Bonbori attack, then suddenly appeared atop one of them, surprising Shampoo completely as he vaulted into a somersault and landed atop a pile of lumber. Perfume at once threw her axes and they arced towards him like twin Frisbees. Ranma saw and avoided this attack by the narrowest of margins as he vaulted over the woodpile and disappeared on the opposite side.

"Whoah, I didn't know she could do that!" Ukyo said as the axes swung back towards Perfume, who plucked them out of the air as though the things were a pair of swooping hawks returning to their Mistress.

"That is nothing," Cologne scoffed, "My girls have been taking it far too easy on the boy. Now that they know how fast he is it will be a different story."

Indeed Perfume was stalking up to the woodpile with axes raised in preparation. Shampoo stood back and watched, as her adoptive Cousin became a blur of motion that moved straight into the lumber and began converting the pile into so much sawdust.

"Kind of extravagant, don't you think?" Nabiki asked, "Wasting all that energy on an essentially useless target."

"You think so?" Cologne mused as a cloud of wood chips and dust became a miniature tornado with Perfume at its center as she sent the fragments hurtling in all directions. She ceased rotating at the last and stared around at her own handiwork, expecting to see a body slumped somewhere, but Ranma was no where in sight. For a moment she looked puzzled and turned to exchange a look with Shampoo.

"Cousin!" Shampoo suddenly cried out as Ranma exploded from the ground virtually at Perfume's feet. The Amazon girl was startled but instantly jumped back and counter-attacked, only to find Ranma moved with her attack, staying inside her reach as his hands moved to block her strikes and kicks as fast as they were delivered.

Cologne chuckled to herself, "I can see the boy has had good coaching, but Perfume knows how to deal with this turn of events."

Sure enough Perfume stopped trying to chop Ranma to pieces and instead arched backwards and away from him. Ranma naturally followed suit as Perfume caught her weight upon her hands and Ranma did the same, moving his legs to catch her knees as she tried to kick him…

And took a solid blow from behind as Shampoo attacked with both Bonbori. Ranma was stunned, giving Perfume the chance to recover as Ranma doubled up in pain while Shampoo readied to deliver the finishing attack.

Instead Ranma kicked out with both feet aimed at Shampoo's wrists, catching the Amazon by surprise as she lost her grip on her Bonbori. Ranma wasted no time wrapping her in his legs as he pushed himself forward and righted his balance, dumping Shampoo on her head while avoiding Perfume's reach once again. He let go and flipped to his feet then braced himself as Perfume readied to charge.

With one foot Ranma kicked a metal pipe from the ground into his hands and brought it up to his defense, catching the axes and deflecting them while both he and Perfume did a dance across the yard, sparks flying everywhere with each and every connection.

"Good improvisation, good use of terrain, good strategy," Cologne mused, "The boy may not be a genius at other things but as a fighter he has potential."

"Ranchan," Nabiki suddenly felt gut-deep worry as she sensed potential danger. So far Ranma had only managed to stave off the double onslaught of the two Amazons, but he kept fighting defensively, which she knew as his damned chivalry once more preventing him from counter-attacking. At the rate he was using up special techniques he was going to lose, because Perfume just kept right on coming.

Shampoo had also fully recovered and looked mad enough to spit nails. She retrieved her Bonbori and was ready to attack by the time Perfume had backed Ranma into corner and had him dead to rights. Shampoo moved to flanking position and watched for her chance, thinking grimly to herself that her chance for revenge was about to be dashed, because there was no way the boy could avoid Perfume's next attack.

Much to her surprise, and Perfume's astonishment, Ranma did not try to dodge but rather let the axe come near enough to split his hairs down the middle, then caught Perfume by both wrists and stopped her cold in mid-slice. Before this thought had registered Ranma's leg was up and into position, and then it came rocketing straight at Perfume's middle with barely enough time for her to bring up both her knees to block him. The kick almost got through and Perfume felt numb shock rocket through her body, and without knowing she why she found herself suddenly airborne as Ranma released her.

Shampoo watched in amazement as Perfume sailed over her head, attempting to react by reflex more than intention as her body automatically curled up into a ball and landed in the sand some distance away. Somehow Perfume managed to retail her grip on her axes, but Shampoo could spare no further thought for her cousin for Ranma was attacking.

Too late Shampoo recognized the Amaguriken technique as Ranma attacked not her but the Bonbori themselves, striking them each two hundred times in mere seconds and causing them to vibrate like gongs until they were too painful to hold onto. Once her guard was down and her hands were too numb to use she found Ranma moving to the attack in earnest. In haste, she brought her feet into play and used them to keep the boy at bay while trying to get circulation restored to her fingers. She gave ground as she did so and nearly stumbled over some workers debris, but just as it seemed her defenses would be overwhelmed she did a super leap backwards and landed atop the second story of the uncompleted structure.

Ranma took the opportunity to regain his breath, feeling close to exhausted by his own attack. It had been hard conserving his strength until the two girls thought they had him on the ropes, but now that he had effectively revealed that he could counter attack he knew they would not be so easily tricked again. His one hope was that he could last long enough to figure out a way to penetrate their nearly invincible defenses because he had come close to exhausting his inventory for surprises.

It occurred to him that Perfume should have recovered by now and mounted a counter attack, but he could not sense her anywhere. He did not want to risk looking away from where Shampoo crouched among the girders above him, knowing that the real attack would most likely come from there, but he wondered what was taking the other Amazon so long to take advantage of the opening he was leaving. He decided to back cautiously away as he kept his eyes on the purple haired Shampoo, using all his senses to reach out and feel for the other girl's presence.

At last when he was far enough away from the building he risked a glance to one side and there he found Perfume, still curled up in a ball near to where she had landed. The girl's face was a mask of serious concentration as she was attempting to regain her footing, and Ranma noted with surprise that her knees did not seem to be working properly, which was odd since he had not kicked her very hard. Could he have been somehow so careless as to have injured her worse than he had intended?

His head snapped back just in time to see the front end of a wooden beam rocketing at him at near hurricane velocity. With a quick twist of his body Ranma narrowly avoided having his head rammed clean off his shoulders, then straightened up in time to see Shampoo vaulting through the air to land in a series of flips that carried her right at him like a rolling jackknife. He vaulted and rolled out of her way then twisted in mid-air to exchange kicks and punches that flowed between them at near-Amaguriken velocities. Ranma sensed a barrier at his back and moved to the side as Shampoo shattered the wall directly behind him then spun and kicked at him again, striking a girder instead and doubling it over.

Ranma hastily moved beyond her reach as Shampoo took a defensive stance and glared at him with her lovely face set in a snarl that would do justice to a Tiger. Ranma tensed himself as he readied to absorb her next onslaught, but Shampoo had other ideas in mind and was now moving her hands in a strangely intricate pattern.

"Ranchan, get out of there!" Nabiki cried out, realizing instantly what Shampoo was attempting.

"Nani?" Ranma asked, his eyes wide with surprise as he saw what looked like sparks swirling in the air around the girl. Shampoo continued moving her hands as if to gather fireflies into her grasp, and suddenly her body was glowing around the level of her navel. As Shampoo brought her hands back Ranma suddenly had a sense of what was to come and threw his own arms foreword in a blocking motion, summoning his own Ki into fortifying his defenses.

Shampoo suddenly thrust her palms foreword and a blast like blue fire shot from her hands at Ranma, picking him up and throwing him a considerable distance.

"Well done, my child!" Cologne cried in approval, "I've been trying to teach her the technique for summoning her Chi many months now, but she never got farther than the basic level. This attack exceeds all of her previous efforts!"

"Ranchan!" Ukyo cried, about to leap forward when she felt Nabiki's hand on her shoulder.

"Wait," Nabiki said, "He's all right, see?"

"What?" Cologne was astonished, seeing Ranma trying to force himself back to his feet, "He still is conscious? It's amazing that he even lives!"

"Good thing Shampoo gave him time enough to summon his own Ki in a counter," Nabiki smiled, "Admit it, old woman, you've badly underestimated our iinazuke, right Ucchan?"

Ukyo blinked as she turned to look at Nabiki, the word "our" registering in her mind as if it were an entirely new concept. She tested it on her lips as she said, "Our…iinazuke?" then she smiled and said, "Yeah, I guess maybe he is…"

Shampoo was even more astonished than Ranma at seeing the boy manage to stand up, because her own legs felt too weak to support her. With a soft groan she collapsed to her knees, feeling drained by her own efforts. The boy just was not human if he could withstand a thing like that! Suddenly all desire to fight him drained out of her as she felt ready to do the unthinkable and surrender.

But Perfume had finally overcome her pain and was now in a position to threaten Ranma. Ranma was breathing hard, still trying to make sense of whatever it was Shampoo had hit him with, and the last thing he felt like doing was renewing the fight. He tried to calm his mind and think of something he had left in his inventory, unable to conceive of a thing that would help him stand his ground against a fully recovered Amazon. Perfume was stalking towards him with murder in her eyes and did not seem in a mood to take prisoners at the moment.

He held his ground, breathing in through his nostrils as he felt a trembling throughout his body that told him how near he was to the point of exhaustion. Perfume was only a few meters away and closing when Ranma thought he heard a voice in his head crying out, "What's the matter with you, Boy? Are you quitting because you're tired? What kind of a son are you to let yourself be cowed by a couple of women? Stand straight, act like a man and think with your heart!"

Ranma blinked then realized that the voice was not just in his head. Perfume had stopped advancing and was looking past the point of his shoulder. Ranma turned around and--sure enough--there was his father standing right behind him.

"Otosan?" he gasped, "What are you doing here, Dad?"

"I've come to see you fight, what do you think, boy?" Genma asked him, "So far all I've seen you do is dance around and trade a few kicks and punches. Where's that grit and determination I've seen you display in the past? Are you just going to let yourself be overwhelmed by a couple of women? Stand up for yourself! Be a man and use your head! Every fighter has a weakness, and you're just not looking!"

"What Panda man do?" Perfume asked, waving her axe meaningfully, "Stay out of fight and let Perfume chop boy into sukiyaki!"

"Ranma," Genma said seriously, "Take a good look at this girl and see her for what she is: an enemy out to destroy you! Stop thinking of her as a girl and think of her as a target! Save all the rest until after you've defeated her! It's her or you, and anything else is secondary!"

"You!" Perfume said from only a few feet away, pointing over Ranma with her axes, her tone as deadly serious as her blades, "Leave now or I kill!"

"Remember what I said about having weaknesses," Genma hissed into Ranma's ear, then raised his hands as he said, "I'm going! I'm going!"

Perfume blew air out through her nostrils as she waited for the elder Saotome to withdraw from the battlefield then she gave Ranma a half-regard as she said, "You father very annoying man. How you put up with?"

"He's not that bad," Ranma shrugged, "Once you get over his little quirks."

Perfume suddenly attacked and Ranma ducked, then rolled out of the way and grabbed a handful of sand that he projected towards her. Perfume deflected this attack with her axes but the moment cost her the opportunity to press on ahead in her attack while Ranma had recovered his wind and hastily scrambled out of reach, heading for the building under construction.

"Come back you!" Perfume cried as she hastened after him, only to find Ranma was picking up and throwing things he scooped up off the ground on the run. Her axes moved to deflect as much of it as she could, but some still managed to get by her and came close to grazing her skin. The wind that flowed past her cheek as a speck of hardened concrete just missed her caused her to hesitate with a shudder.

Ranma stopped running as he caught the significance of that gasp, her hesitation. Suddenly it was all clear to him and he looked at Perfume and she looked back, suddenly reacting to the knowledge that he knew, that the game had been given away, and suddenly she was very frightened and showed it.

Ranma was almost surprised that he had not realized it before. The girl before him had a very low pain threshold! Nabiki had explained this after the incident in Ukyo's café where Mousse had taken her down with only a pebble. From the way she had just reacted to being kicked in the knees he should have realized how vulnerable she was, and her avoidance of the merest hint of a scratch did much to confirm this. It all fit a pattern, and somehow he knew that the battle was all but over.

Something Keiko had said came to mind, of how other Amazons treated Perfume with contempt before she started training with Cologne and gained the status of an Enforcer. The many veiled comments concerning the difference between her and other warriors, the fact that she was denied full status and had to abide like a virtual servant in Cologne's shadow, and the fact that only Shampoo would train with her, and why someone so formidable seemed to walk around as though dreading her own shadow.

He took a stance and Perfume reluctantly assumed one of her own, only now it was as if their roles had been reversed as she studied him warily while he examined her posture, then casually kicked the ground and flipped a discarded sheet of metal into his hands, which he casually threw at Perfume, who just as casually chopped it into so much useless metal. Ranma found other bits of discarded junk to toss her way, more and more of it to be hurled at Perfume, who became frantic in her efforts to avoid them. Her axes became an almost solid wall of flashing steel as she tried to erect a barrier between herself and her assailant. More and more bits and tiny pieces began to penetrate her guard as Ranma intensified his onslaught, wearing Perfume's defenses down while he got closer and closer, at last coming into reach as she tried to end the fight by a direct assault, at which point he finally had her.

Ranma pounced on the girl and knocked both axes out of her hands, but far from defeating her at that point, he had to work quickly to intercept her hand as she tried to stab him in several vital centers with the tips of her fingers. At last Ranma overpowered the girl and pinned her down with his greater mass, forcing her arms apart while using his legs to immobilize her feet. Perfume fought to try and dislodge him but Ranma shifted his weight to hold her helpless. In the end the girl wound up glaring helplessly at Ranma from her prone position, but short of spitting on or biting him she had clearly run out of options.

"Say uncle," Ranma said.

"No!" Perfume replied, then closed her eyes and seemed to relax within his grip as if giving up all attempt at escape. Instead Ranma became aware of a feeling along his nape hairs.

"Ranma!" Nabiki called out, sensing that Perfume was gathering her energy for a last-ditch Ki attack, which at such close range was bound to have terrible consequences for Ranma.

"I don't want to hurt you," Ranma said pensively, but he realized from the way the girl was glowing that in another moment she would do to him the same thing as Shampoo. Though physically overmastered it was plain that her fighting spirit would not permit her to surrender, and short of knocking her out there seemed no way of ending the matter in a positive light.

Of course the thought of hurting her was enormously distasteful, but what to do…?

Ranma smiled in sudden inspiration, taking advantage of Perfume's lax state to leg go of her wrists and move his hands into a different sort of attack position. He ran them lightly over the silken shirt the Amazon wore, using his knowledge of pressure points to find just the right places and…

Perfume's eyes went wide, and then she started to giggle in uncontrollable laughter. She brought her hands up to attempt to deflect, but Ranma was all over her, lightly stimulating the right places, and with her hyper-sensitive nerves the result overwhelmed her mind and broke her concentration, leaving her helpless in the face of these mind-numbing tickling sensations.

"Say uncle!" Ranma said as Perfume made a weak attempt to fend him off, and after several long moments Perfume finally gasped, "Ojisama!"

Ranma sat back and desisted in his assault. Perfume recovered by the time he got back to his feet and glared up at him warily, but no longer seemed ready to fight him.

"Is good you let go cousin," Ranma heard Shampoo say as he turned around to see the Purple haired girl standing there holding her Bonbori at the ready, "Shampoo no need make you let go."

Ranma felt tired as he turned to her and said, "Don't tell me you still want to do this again?"

Shampoo shook her head then caused her Bonbori to vanish. She exposed her empty hands and said, "Shampoo no fight no more. Ranma prove he man worthy of Amazons. Great Grandmother! Shampoo no fight Ranma!"

"Shampoo, are you deliberately throwing this fight for him?" Cologne asked archly, "What say you, Perfume, my child?"

"Perfume say," Perfume hesitated, giving Ranma a less hostile look before nodding, "She no want Boy as enemy. Ranma prove he good enough defeat Perfume. Perfume concede to Ranma, he good enough for Airen."

"Yes!" Ukyo cried, then blinked when she saw the other looking her way and said, "Ah, I mean…way to go, Ranchan!"

"He did it," Nabiki sighed, letting out the breath she had been holding.

"You never really doubted him, did you?" Genma asked as he beamed proudly, "He is my son after all. But…" he frowned, "This doesn't mean he has to marry both of those girls, does it?"

"Unfortunately he does," Cologne said tiredly, "Your son has proven himself exceptional for an outsider. You've won this time, Boy, savor the moment."

"Then I don't have to leave Japan," Ranma smiled, "And you have to stop pestering Nabiki!"

"I did agree to abide by certain limitations," Cologne said with a slight scowl in her expression, but I still would insist that your family group would be better off in Joketsuzoku than here in Japan…"

"That is where we differ, Elder," Nabiki smiled, finally able to play the trump card Happosai had provided, "We will make our home here in Japan and your former pupils will become members of my house where we will honor both them and your Amazon culture. You may insist all you like, but Joketsuzoku is not the true home of the Amazon spirit, it is in all women who struggle to gain in wisdom and ability. A friend of yours informed me of that before I set about winning the right for my independence."

"You are a clever and woman, Tendo Nabiki, but you are forgetting one thing," Cologne smiled, giving Nabiki a side-glance, "I am the only one who knows how to permanently reverse the Cat-Tongue. The Grandfather spot only works a single time, and by noon tomorrow you will be vulnerable once more to heat. The next time you get splashed with water, Daughter-in-law, you will lose your femininity forever!"

"Not if Gramps knows more than you think, Grandma," Nabiki growled, "You still think you can pressure me into going back to Joketsuzoku?"

"You have proven yourself a worthy opponent," Cologne said sagely, "But I'm not yet ready to throw the towel in this soon. The round I concede to you, but the fight goes on, and ultimately I intend to have my way. Enjoy your victory for what it's worth, because when you are a man you will only have Shampoo as your wife. Your betrothal to these others hinges on regaining your womanhood, and only I know how you may do that."

She laughed as she hopped away on her staff, leaving Nabiki to glower angrily in her wake and mutter, "That old woman should have been locked up in whatever retirement home she escaped from…"

"Airen!" Shampoo cried as she threw her arms around the startled Nabiki, even as Perfume did likewise with an even more disconcerted Ukyo.

"Hey, what do I get?" Ranma asked, "I did all the fighting!"

"Don't worry, Ranchan," Nabiki said as she managed to regain her balance with Shampoo still glomming her, "I'll think of a good consolation prize…"

"As long as we both get to give him something," Ukyo sighed in resignation as she said, "Perfume please! At least wait until we're back inside the restaurant…"

"Airen make Great Grandmother back down," Shampoo said happily, "Shampoo so proud of Airen!"

"I wish it was that simple," Genma said sadly, "But all you've won is a truce. That old woman is very determined to have her way."

"No kidding," Ranma sniffed, "By the way, Otosan, how did you know I was in trouble?"

"Fathers have a way of knowing when their boys need a Father's guidance," Genma smiled, "You develop a sixth sense, a way of always sensing danger so that you can be there when your children most need you…"

"Happosai told you where to find us," Nabiki sniffed.

"More like he hinted what he'd do to me if I didn't, quote: 'Get my Butt in Gear,' end quote," Genma replied, "But hey, it amounts to the same thing in the end. All that matters, son, is that I'm proud of the way you handled yourself. The Anything Goes school is in good hands with you young people."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Nabiki said as she turned to one side and said, "Hey, Ucchan, think you can get the grill going in your restaurant? I don't know about the rest of you but I'm starving!"

"Not a bad idea," Ukyo sniffed, "And maybe Shampoo wouldn't mind cooking up some noodles to go with the Okonomiaki?"

"Perfume know many good dish she serve to Airen," Perfume said brightly, "What Ranma cook?"

"His own goose, if I let him," Nabiki flashed a smile Ranma's way as she linked one arm with him and the other with Shampoo while Ukyo took Ranma's other arm while Perfume continued clinging to Ukyo's other side while Genma just stared at the lot of them in open confusion. The five partners thus joined together they walked back to the restaurant in remarkably good spirits…

Continued

Comments/Criticisms/Corrections in Grammar: Shadowmane@msn.com