Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ The Prodigal Daughter... ( Chapter 96 )

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.

"Oh my," mused Sakura as she poured a drink for herself and her male companion, "This seems so much like the old days, I'm actually feeling nostalgic."

"Does it now?" Genma asked as he held out his cup for more sake, "I can't imagine why…we old fogies barely survived our own sordid past. That's one thing where I don't envy the younger generation."

"Perhaps," Sakura remarked, "But isn't it interesting to see what fun the younger people are getting into on their own? Ah, it does a mother's heart proud to see her child finally starting to take an interest in the opposite sex…not that there's anything wrong with same-sex relationships, of course."

"No comment," Genma replied, thinking wryly of his main charge, Nabiki.

"Oh, come on now," the Ringmistress said indulgently, "From what you've described of Nabiki and her marital arrangements, I should think you would be thinking about the old days as a missed opportunity. Be honest, wouldn't you have preferred if you could have kept all of your girlfriends without having to choose just one of them at the expense of all of the others?"

"I would be lying if I didn't say that the thought has occurred to me," Genma replied with a straight face, "But having to be at the center of all that for the past two decades is a bit more than I think my nerves could withstand. I'll leave it to the younger people who have the stamina and grace to possibly make it work out."

"Doesn't sound like the Genma I knew to give up without trying," Sakura remarked, "I guess maybe time does change everything, or maybe it just makes us more cautious."

"The latter, I think," Genma paused to consider his emptied cup and then looked up again, "What was the question again?"

"You're not that drunk," Sakura chuckled, "You could hold your own and thensome in the old days, not like your skinny little friend, but then again I suppose Soun did have his charming qualities…"

"I wouldn't know," Genma said gruffly, "I left stuff like that to Silk and Yumi."

"By the way," Sakura mused, "Not to change the subject, but where has that son of yours gotten off to…you know the one I mean. Seems like I've barely seen him since yesterday…"

"Ranma?" Genma replied, "He's out practicing the Umisenken. He'll show up when he's ready."

"All day long?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, "That speaks a lot for his dedication. Reminds me a bit of my daughter…she literally throws herself into rehearsing for a performance. You should see her full act, not just the one she put on for you and the crowd yesterday…a bit of high wire legerdemain…such a wonderful chip off the old block."

"I can see why you're so proud of her," Genma agreed, "Her father must have been an extraordinary fellow, for all he up and abandoned you."

"Oh, I'd say he was quite…an unusually talented fellow, now that you mention it," Sakura said with a sly tone to her voice, "And full of surprises. You wouldn't believe the sorts of things he was capable of doing with the right sort of…motivation…"

Genma's eyes narrowed in sullen resentment as he contemplated his cup once again, even after Sakura thoughtfully refilled it, and at last he growled in a decided lack of humor, "But in the end he still left you alone with your child…"

"It wasn't really his fault," Sakura replied, "I never told him I was pregnant."

"Oh?" Genma said in confusion, "Why was that?"

"He was promised to another," Sakura sighed, "And I knew he didn't care for me as much as I did him. I took what satisfaction I could in our single time together…if anything I took advantage of him and exploited a situation that was not of his creation."

"Then…he doesn't know that he's a father?" Genma said in amazement, "And you never married?"

"Never saw any point to it," Sakura replied, "I had my father's circus to take care of, and the people here are my family. Why burden a married man with the knowledge of what happened nineteen years ago under the influence of a love spell? I'm sure he doesn't even remember that we made love together. I could hardly expect him to want to know about a daughter he didn't even know he sired, especially when he has two noble sons who can easily take over his family traditions."

"But who…" Genma stared blurry eyed for a moment then said, "Did you say…love spell?"

"Oh yes," Sakura smiled, "Quite a few of those going around in the old days, or so I noticed."

Genma very slowly set his cup down and said, "Nineteen years ago…before I married Nodoka…?"

"I wonder," Sakura mused as she scanned the little tea shop in which she and Genma had been reminiscing, "What would Nodoka do or say if she were ever to meet little Kaoih? She had very unusual tastes in those days…I wonder if she would be jealous…or compliment you on being so virile…?"

"Ah…Sakura-chan…" Genma started to say.

"Oh relax," she urged him tiredly, "I wasn't about to tell her. You know I'd never do anything to make your life more complicated than you make it for yourself…and besides, Kaoih already knows all about you."

"She does?" Genma blinked, "But…"

"A few years ago, after you and Nabiki spent that one summer with us," Sakura replied, "She came to me curious to know who her real father was, and by then she had already figured most of it out. I told her the rest then explained why I never thought to burden you with the information. She understands perfectly now, but I can't say that I'm too surprised that she wants to spend some time getting to know her two brothers…"

"Two brothers?" Genma blinked, "But Ryoga…"

"Oh please," Sakura rolled her eyes, "I talked with Atsuko a few months ago and got her side of the story. There never was any other man in her life but you, no husband to father the child, just one man whom she loved well enough to give up the life she had when she was under the influence of her mother. You may have been trying to deceive yourself on that, Genma-chan, but you never could fool me. I think you knew it all along, too, which is why you are willing to teach the boy the Saotome Ryu. He's Ranma's half brother, even if neither one of them actually know it."

"But I swear to you…I was never that intimate with Atsuko…" Genma started to protest.

"Like you were never that intimate with me?" Sakura raised both eyebrows, "She's an illusionist, remember? How do you know what's real and what isn't around her? You don't really think she gave up on you that easily when you chose Nodoka over us? And besides…she told me that she did it with you on your wedding night at the urging of her mother. She later regretted that deception, but by then she was on the run and living like a fugitive before she settled down and started up a life in some suburb pretending to be a normal housewife."

"Then…she's still out there looking for the boy…?" Genma replied.

"Looking but not finding him, obviously," Sakura sighed, "It's the curse of her kind, the Hibikis…like her father before her, she can never find her way without wandering lost and aimless."

Genma was silent for a long moment as he stared at the table before them, yet strangely he did not feel like reaching for the sake bottle as he knew it would do little to resolve the situation.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said into the silence, "I thought you already had some idea about this."

"The boy can't know," Genma said, "He wouldn't understand…he lives by an entirely different standard, truer in some ways to the Code of Bushido than what Soun and I learned from the Master."

"Don't you think he's entitled to know?" Sakura asked, "You are his father…"

"And I'll do everything in my power to see that he is honored like a son," Genma replied, "He's going to marry Soun's daughter, and it wouldn't do to upset him by letting him know the real circumstances of his birthing."

"And what about Ranma?" Sakura asked, "He and Ryoga seemed highly resistant to the idea that they could be half-brothers, how do you think they'd feel about having a sister?"

"You don't want to know," Genma replied, "But the odds are more than even that they'll blame it all on me. I just wish I could talk to Atsuko again…I had a chance a few years back, but when I learned that she was the mother of Ryoga, Nabiki's friend from school…well…I was afraid she'd try to restart our old relationship, so I…"

"Used the Saotome Special Defense maneuver and skipped town?" Sakura finished for him, "Is that how you wound up in China?"

Genma looked at her in surprise, "How did you know about China?"

"Atsuko told me," Sakura replied, "She also followed you to China…in fact, she told me a rather curious story about a trip to the Chinese heartland where she wound up wandering aimlessly on your trail to some place that she referred to as Jusenkyo. Would you know anything about that?"

"Too much," Genma sighed, "One of the worst mistakes of my life happened in China…but Nabiki and I are trying to make the most of it, and so far we seem to be managing as best we're able."

"Ah," Sakura smiled, "I sense the heavy hand of fate has been much on your trail, but I won't pursue the matter any further. I only ask because I know that Atsuko will have her share of questions, and with her wandering to and fro, the odds of her encountering my circus again are…pretty high. And believe me, I would much rather stay on her good side than not, thank you…"

"Can't say I blame you for that," Genma faintly smiled, "At-chan was, at heart, a good person, Oni blood or no, but that girl did have a temper…"

"That she still does," Sakura agreed, when all at once she looked up as several of her employees came filing into the tea shop, surprising both patrons and customers alike as many of them were in their official "work clothes."

"Boss!" said a man in a full clown suit, complete with makeup, "We got a problem at the circus."

"A problem?" Sakura repeated.

"We got a ghost running loose around the place," said a dwarf (err-height challenged individual), "It's starting to freak out the Rubes and the tourists."

"We gotta shut the place down and call in an exorcist," said a burly Strong Man dressed in a lion's skin, "We got sightings all over the place of weird stuff going down…"

"Weird stuff?" Sakura again repeated.

"Yeah," said a lady dressed up in a pink leotard with a peacock feather headdress upon her head, "Doors opening and closing by themselves, a faint breeze kicking up out of no where, drawers opening and closing by themselves…heck, the belongings of my drawer got switched around while I was sitting there at my make-up table! I'd swear I never even saw the guy doing it…he must have been invisible or something!"

"Invisible?" Sakura raised the other eyebrow, "You're serious?"

"Heheh," Genma softly chuckled, "Looks like he got it all right…and to think I ever had my doubts…"

"Eh?" Sakura and the rest of the circus people turned to look his way, "How is that again? Your doubts about what?"

"I wouldn't worry about there being a ghost, Sakura," Genma held up his sake cup again and refilled it, "That's just the boy practicing the Umisenken."

"Say what?" said the Circus Firebreather, "You know who's been doing this?"

"I do," Genma said brightly, "And you don't have to worry. The boy doesn't mean any harm…he takes too much after his mother to want to inconvenience anybody, he's just making sure to get it right with his new special maneuvers."

"Are you serious?" Sakura looked at the man sitting beside her, "Are you saying this technique actually has the power to render someone invisible?"

"Not invisible…not the way you mean it," Genma replied, "But if the boy is doing his job just right, then you wouldn't even know he was there if he was standing in the same room with you. He could be hiding on the ceiling, behind a post, right beside your table or…"

"Underneath the floorboards, Old Man?" the voice of Ranma continued for him.

"Eh…?" Sakura glanced down at the floor on which she and Genma had been sitting, only one second later the floor collapsed underneath them, the supports holding the wooden slats two feet above the baseline having been knocked out from underneath them, leaving balding man and beautiful Ringmistress sitting in a pit in the middle of the restaurant.

To everyone's complete surprise, the silence was broken as Genma began to laugh out loud, then balling one hand into a beefy fist he cried, "THAT YOUNG PUNK! He's finally gotten it! I never even sensed that attack! Ohhhh…he's his father's boy, all right! And to think, in only two days he's mastered BOTH the Yamasenken and Umisenken! He's ready now to fight with Ryu, and in even less time than I would have allowed him!"

"I'm glad to see you're taking this so well," Sakura remarked as she stood up and looked around at her employees, "May I take it on assumption then, that these disruptions to tent life will come to an effective end now that your son has concluded his rather vigorous practice sessions?"

"That all depends upon Ranma," Genma said as he climbed up out of the pit and offered her a hand, "But I think he'll be winding things down and getting some rest for the night, so you don't need to hire any exorcist…"

"Hey, what's going on here?" cried the restaurant manager as he came storming up to demand an explanation, "What happened to the floor…?"

"Termites," Genma replied in an off-handed manner.

"Termites?" the owner reacted with rounded eyes.

"Oh yes," Sakura replied, "Can't be too careful these says. Good thing neither of us were hurt or it might have damaged the reputation of your restaurant."

"My…reputation?" the owner swallowed, then promptly turned around and grumbled something about calling the building manager and demanding he pay for an exterminator.

Genma watched the man go before resuming his explanation, "Once Ryu is defeated we'll be sealing up the Umisenken and Yamasenken so that they will only be used in justifiable emergencies and not to harass otherwise honest people, like yourselves," he included with a sweeping gesture all the circus people currently crowded inside the restaurant.

"I hope for your sake that's true," said the bearded lady, "A girl can't get any real rest if her privacy's being violated by some invisible ghost boy."

"But think of the positive side of things," Sakura cupped her hands together, "Imagine what kind of an act we could put on with a boy who can turn virtually invisible and come and go at will! Are you sure I can't talk you and your sons into staying a bit longer with us…say…at least for a season?"

"You'd have to ask the boy that," Genma replied, "But I somehow doubt he'd go along…after all, he's got a challenge match to attend in another ten days, and beyond that he and his iinazuke are planning on getting married."

"So?" Sakura replied, "They can get married in the circus. I'm sure little Nabiki wouldn't mind using our big top for a chapel."

"That all depends on Nabiki," Genma mused, only to hear a voice whisper in his ear, "Don't push it, Old Man, or I'm telling Mom about this."

Sakura heard the voice but when she turned around found no trace of the one who had spoken those words, but Genma seemed visibly shaken as he softly murmured, "Oh yes…he's definitely learned the Umisenken…the Kami help us…"

Unseen and unnoticed at the back of the crowd, a member of that circus troop turned silently away, hiding his troubled expression as he thought on the implications of what might happen should Ranma come closer to marrying Nabiki. He knew well the dynamic of the five-way engagement, knew what a breakthrough on either end of Saotome Ranma's iinazuke front could mean should it break down the remaining stops preventing the Pentagonal arrangement from coming altogether, and it worried him greatly as he tried to decide if this was a good or a bad thing. That Saotome had gained such a powerful and obviously formidable fighting technique was alarming in itself, and countering this new maneuver could well prove to be a challenge even by Amazon standards. The old woman might know if there were a counter, but he rather seriously doubted that she had passed on such a thing to Nabiki.

Still, Mousse would continue to observe and monitor the situation. This Ryu Kumon was a formidable character in his own right, and his style was far easier to define by observation. If Ranma could truly overcome such a powerful technique, then Mousse could learn much by studying their battle and-who knew? Maybe he could put these techniques into effect himself against a certain fleet-footed girl of the fiery ribbon…

He paused at the door and frowned, detecting a slight flaw in his previous thinking. Obviously he had meant to use the technique against Perfume, not Kurume. Whatever confusion he felt over that, there could be no mistaking how a technique of invisibility might be used against the hyper-sharp senses of a Sentinel, so defeating her would be relatively easy.

Of course, he thought on the sly, it wouldn't hurt if such a technique could also be used to thwart the interference of a cute little girl who thought she was part road-runner… and did he just mentally call her cute? Where the heck had that come from! She was an annoying little brat, condescending and full of herself, and defeating her was just a means to an end, nothing serious beyond that. So what if he would obtain great satisfaction from tying her up in a knot with her own ribbon? She more than had it coming…and what was this nagging feeling that was weighing on his shoulders as he thought that?

He needed to get away and think for a bit, and it was a long time until morning. This problem about his frequent run-ins with the shorthaired, wiry adopted Tendo girl were confusing him on the issues, and the girl's whole behavior was even more confusing. He needed to have purity of thought and purpose when he made his next attempt at freeing Perfume from Kuonji's evil influence.

He vaulted into the night, unaware of the little man watching him go, nor did he hear Happosai's faint murmur, "That boy is going to be trouble…but if he keeps out of the way tomorrow, so much the better…"

This night, indeed, had many issues in need of a resolution…

Not very far away, back at the circus campsight, Kaoih was herself playing something of a mediator by walking in the space between Ryu and a glowering Ryoga. Keeping her tone light and friendly, she casually asked her two male companions, "So boys…what do you think of life in the circus so far?"

"It's…different from what I would have expected," Ryu replied, "Almost like an army camp on the move, only the purpose isn't war but entertainment."

"You were pretty good out there," Ryoga complimented, "The way you work with those animals, it's like you understand them…"

"Or they understand me," Kaoih replied, "I have a kind of an empathy with large, wild beasts…call it an implicit awareness that animals have instinctual drives that underlie their behavior. They eat, sleep, drink and play very much like people, only they're much less self-conscious about it."

"But still," Ryu reasoned, "An animal doesn't really think, it's not truly aware of itself in any objective sense, and it's incapable of higher reason…"

"So are a lot of human beings," Kaoih shrugged, "Can you really tell me that there's all that much of a difference? Besides, human reasoning faculties are highly overrated, if you ask me…far too many people use their brains to think up reasons why they shouldn't be happy. We may have a superior ability to define and solve problems, but it seems to me we create a lot more problems than we have to solve, so you wind up with a zero-sum difference."

"You may be right about that," Ryoga sighed, "Too much thinking can be bad for you…"

"…And not enough thinking can get you into a whole lot more trouble," Ryu countered, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Miss…it seems like an awfully cynical and clinical view of humanity…"

"But accurate," Kaoih replied, "Or are you still telling yourself that you need this Umisenken thing in order to be happy?"

"I need it to fulfill my promise to my father," Ryu said grimly, "To recreate the Kumon school, I'd be willing to walk barefoot through fire…"

"I've walked barefoot through fire lots of times," Kaoih mused as she stared forward, "All you need to do is keep a cool head and stay resolute and not let the hot coals get to you. If you'd like to see it, I'll give you a live demonstration."

"Er…" Ryu's eyes boggled slightly as he tried to visualize the pretty girl at his side walking barefoot over hot coals. The fact that she had been "barely dressed" during her act was enough to almost fuse his eyebrows near to his hairline.

"You are pretty good out there," Ryoga said, "The way you move, it's almost like you studied the martial arts…"

"I have studied the martial arts," Kaoih corrected, "I just don't use it for purposes like beating up people. My purpose is to entertain and make people happy, and not too many people are made happy by fighting…at least not that I've ever noticed, though you guys probably have a very different way of looking at it."

"There's more to the martial arts than just fighting," Ryoga insisted, "Fighting is how we get stronger in the art by testing our abilities against even stronger opponents…the real object isn't just to hurt people."

"But that sometimes happens when you fight, doesn't it?" Kaoih countered, "Fighting is where you take the greatest risks with your own personal safety, and anyone who gets in your way becomes a casualty by proxy…"

"That…sometimes has been known to happen," Ryoga admitted, "But it's unavoidable if you wind up fighting close to other people…"

"Other people just get in the way," Ryu growled, "It's better to fight where you're alone, where the only ones likely to get hurt at the ones doing the fighting."

"Hmph," Kaoih sniffed, "Seems to me like a pretty selfish way of viewing a battle…you think you're the only ones to get hurt? What about your families and loved ones? Don't you think it hurts them if you get seriously injured in a fight…or worse?"

"I don't have anybody who'd feel that way about me," Ryu looked away, "No family nor friends…which is pretty much the way I like it."

"I have somebody who I care a lot about," Ryoga admitted, "And you're right…she'd be pretty upset with me if I did get hurt. She insists that she wants to fight beside me, and…and I know she cares a lot about me, and she's a pretty strong fighter, so…"

"So, you'd rather fight together than apart, eh?" Kaoih smiled, "Sounds almost romantic. What about you, Ryu-chan? Wouldn't you rather have somebody to fight beside you?"

"Me?" Ryu reacted, "But where would I ever find…? No…no way…I can't allow anyone to stand at my place during a battle…"

"Why not, Tough guy?" Kaoih asked, "Do you want to be alone all your life? Does it please you playing the lone wolf, both friendless and homeless?"

"It's what I'm used to," Ryu frowned, "And I don't see what business it is of anyone else. Besides, I have to get stronger on my own…I made a promise to my father…"

"To recreate your family dojo?" Kaoih asked, "Can't exactly do that all on your own. At the very least you're going to have to take in some students."

Ryu did not immediately reply, but it was plain from his expression that he found it irksome to be verbally checked by the quick-witted performer.

"Yeah, it does sound like you'll need a lot more than just yourself if you want to recreate your dojo," Ryoga mused, "I know that I'd never amount to anything if I didn't have Akane at my side…"

"That's the name of your iinazuke, eh?" Kaoih remarked, "Nabiki's little sister. What's she like?"

"Oh…she's very nice…" Ryoga got a dreamy expression that was visible even in the gloom of the coming twilight, "She's cute, strong, very brave, and she has this smile…you'd really have to meet her to know what she's like, but to me…she's perfect…"

Ryu eyed the other boy with a curious expression, but when he saw Kaoih glancing his way he looked away and muttered, "Yeah…whatever…"

Unknown and unseen by this trio, Ranma sat perched atop the big top tent and took notice of their passage, then turned his gaze out towards the normal skyline, unselfconsciously casting his gaze in the direction of a certain section of Nerima.

He had learned the Umisenken, and on the morrow he would use it in his fight against Ryu Kumon, a man who had to be stopped and shown the errors of his ways. It was his duty as a martial artist to see to it that Kumon was made aware of the true nature of the Senken and precisely why it was a forbidden technique. Beyond that, however, Ranma admitted to having a wounded pride that needed salving, and this fight would prove once and for all if he was truly worthy of his name, or just some base pretender.

Beyond that, in a larger scope, he had another, far more intimidating fight ahead of him, a challenge he did not really know if he could win, or whether it was even a matter of coming out on top. To go up against Nabiki when simply viewing her as another fighter was one thing, but to go all-out against a girl whom he seriously wanted to one day make his wife? How could he pull that off and still retain her respect when it was all over? After all, she wasn't some Amazon who thought marrying the guy who defeated her was a mark of some weirdly perverted honor…

Well, okay, maybe that was doing Shampoo an injustice, but the fact was that he knew Nabiki well enough to know just how much she would resent being beaten at her own game. She was much too competitive and obstinate to take defeat lying down…and that was assuming that the Senken would be enough to defeat her, which was far from an assured thing, even given his father's reassurance.

In truth, Ranma did not know what to make of his father anymore. No sooner did he start to uncover some reason to respect him, then he would learn some new revelation about Genma's past that would lead to questions for which Ranma had no easy answers. Even given the assurance that his father had tried to make amends for past mistakes, some deeds-once committed-could not be taken back or undone, rather much like what happened when Nabiki allowed herself to be seduced by Shampoo in the Amazon village, or when Perfume made out with Ukyo and got her pregnant. Actions like that had obvious consequences, and even if those incidents had not led to offspring, it certainly meant that the act of giving into their hormones had lessened them in an empirical and moral sense. His father had twice fathered children out of wedlock, and how would his mother react to such news? Would she be hurt or forgiving, and would telling her the truth lead to some unpleasant retribution?

Hard to say given the temperament of his mother, but Ranma doubted that she would take things lying down, even if her husband had not deliberately betrayed her. A woman's pride was fickle, and while she might eventually forgive Genma, Nodoka would most likely view his future actions with suspicion and/or contempt, which in turn would greatly weaken the state of their marriage. Still and all, his mother was entitled to know the truth…it was just the matter of explaining things to her that was leaving Ranma feeling a little frustrated.

Thoughtless actions seemed to have been an early hallmark with his father. If it was not abandoning Ranma to the house of a friend in exchange for that friend's daughter, it was engaging Ranma to Ukyo sight unseen, or dumping Nabiki into a pit of starving cats, or dragging her to Jusenkyo, and Kami knew how many other thoughtless deeds had been performed in the name of some perverted notions about honor. Nabiki herself seemed to harbor deep resentments towards Genma over his past actions, and while his father did seem sincere in his desire to make amends for that tattered history, the sins from that past were definitely showing up now to haunt him in the forms of the girl, Kaoih, and the angry young man named Ryu Kumon.

Ranma sighed as he tried to make sense of what he had overheard in that restaurant, the revelations that seemed to as much take his father by surprise as they flabbergasted Ranma. He was prepared to believe that a magic spell had besotted his father's wits like some potent brand of sake, and surely Ranma had enough experience with charms of that nature to believe that the effects were the same as with Nabiki. What he could not quite so easily understand was the discovery that his father had been the object of such intense pursuits by a number of women who had clearly been the rivals of his mother. That two of them had produced children could only be considered slightly less credible than that, though it did explain a peculiar sense that he had been feeling all along in the presence of Kaoih Sanosuke.

Try as he might, Ranma found it difficult to work his mind around to figuring himself as having a blood sister, even if he regarded Akane and Kasumi in that manner. He had believed himself the only child of his father and mother, and that had been at the bedrock foundation of his beliefs for a good deal of time now. Bad enough to be confronted with the knowledge that Ryoga really was his brother, now he had a sister whom he had never previously even known existed to contend with (in a figurative sense). That she seemed to have a few things in common with Nabiki was incidental to the knowledge that she truly was a part of his family, a part he dared not yet reveal until he could somehow break the news to his mother.

Obviously Kaoih knew everything already, but Ryoga-as was typical in his case-was still completely clueless. How exactly would the notorious Lost Boy react to the news that he was-in fact-a Saotome? That his early life was partially a lie, some kind of illusion created by his Oni mother? Would he feel any differently towards Ranma as a brother? Ranma could not answer for himself in exactly what manner the news of their relationship would affect his views of the Lost Boy. Ryoga was a temperamental and stubborn fool much of the time, as thick as a brick wall and just as prone to listen, with muscles in his head that were only slightly less thick than his arms and legs. In a fight he could be like a virtual force of nature, a near-berserker prone to smash everything that was in his path, and very unsubtle in his fighting techniques, to say nothing of his general attitude. In short, the boy was nothing but trouble…and yet for all of that, Ranma viewed him as a good sparring partner and a fairly reliable companion.

Okay, so he and Ryoga were not exactly all that tight, but Ranma had to admit that the guy had more than his share of good points. For one thing Ryoga was as brave and honorable as he was solid in a fight, and you never had to doubt that his heart was in the right place, even when he was misguided over some small technical issue. Ryoga would never back down from a fight, would never deliberately hurt or betray someone he cared for, and for all that he was a bit of a blockhead, he could at times be as lyrical and poetic as any Kuno. On the whole there was a lot to like about him, and he was obviously good for Akane, so what was there about him that would disqualify him from being worthy of calling himself a Saotome and Ranma's brother?

Nothing much that Ranma could put his finger on, unless it was that "Oni blood" bit…

"Thought I'd find you up here, mooning like a lovesick puppy."

Ranma turned and looked to his side, seeing a familiar diminutive shape standing upon the canvas near to his position, and then in a wary voice he asked, "What do you want now, Old Freak?"

"Show a little more respect for your elders, Boy," Happosai sniffed, "You think learning the Umisenken makes you too good to listen to your father's Master?"

"What?" Ranma raised an eyebrow, "You telling me you know a technique more powerful than the Senken?"

"Of course I do," Happosai replied, "I know plenty of them…after all, your father created this attack style in an effort to defeat me so that he could become the new Master. In the end he used all that he had…mighty impressive battle too, you would have been mighty proud of his performance."

"And he still lost?" Ranma frowned the more deeply.

"Haven't you ever heard, Son?" Happosai mused as he pulled out his pipe, "It's not whether you lose or win, it's how well you play the game, and Genma played as well as he's ever done against me. Of course, I'm so much older and more experienced, it was natural that I'd figure out a way of rendering that invisibility trick null and void, but don't ever let it be said that I don't appreciate good effort."

"So what are you here for now?" Ranma asked, "I thought you'd be out stealing panties, like you usually do this time of night…"

"Did it ever occur to you, Boy, that I might value something more than panties and chasing after nubile young things?" the old man responded.

"Well," Ranma said reasonably, "When it comes to you…no."

"Hah, shows how much you know," the old man declared as he sat down on the tent and started filling his pipe with tobacco. He lit a fire with a minor spark of Chi then smoked the pipe for about half a minute before speaking again, "As it so happens there's one thing I do value more, and that's respect…"

"You want respect, Old Man?" Ranma sniffed, "Try earning it for a change. Ain't nobody gives it out for free."

"So, you just figured that out, did you?" Happosai countered slyly, "Let me guess…you just found out about the cutie, and now you're sulking because you think your Dad's been disloyal to your mother, and you're resentful about it. No allowances for being a mere human, nosiree…"

"Get lost," Ranma growled softly.

"Why don't you just admit that you're afraid of turning out to be just like your father?" Happosai asked, "The Umisenken's powerful, there are a lot of uses you could put it to if you gave into your desires. You understand now why your father buried the technique for close to fifteen years, and why that Ryu lad would do just about anything to obtain it, even getting close to your half-sister, Kaoih."

"He doesn't know anything about her," Ranma said, "He knows it's me he has to get through if he's going to get the scroll from Pop…"

"Then what are you going to do, my Boy?" Happosai asked, "Let him have it if he wins?"

"He won't win," Ranma insisted, "He's not the real problem. The Umisenken will overwhelm his Yamasenken, but…after that's done…I got another challenge I gotta work through…"

"So I've heard," Happosai mused, "So it's true…you're after Nabiki."

"I ain't after her," Ranma growled, "I'm just…I just have to get better than her, that's all."

"And when you challenge her, what will you do?" Happosai smiled, "Use the Senken on her? I'm wondering if you'd even have the stomach."

Ranma did not respond, but he glared into the night with a less than pleasant expression.

"That's what I thought," Happosai blew a smoke ring after taking a long draw on his pipe, "There's no shame in admitting that you don't want to hurt the woman you love, but you know when you go up against her it's going to be all or nothing. She's not the type to lie down and play dead, not even for you. She's got some fiercely competitive instincts, they're what's made her the kind of fighter she is, and you…you're just not hungry enough yet to achieve a major victory. That's the whole problem…you're just too soft. You think like a Momma's boy, and you can't even bring yourself to hit a woman."

"I ain't out to hurt Nabiki," Ranma said, "I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt on account of some dumb fight…"

"Who said anything about hurting her?" Happosai replied, "You just have to beat her fair and square, right? Lots of ways to do that without putting a bruise on your cutie's sweet hide. Take the Senken, for example…you think it's only got two uses?"

"What's that, Old Man?" Ranma asked, "You know something, spit it out…"

"Later Boy," Happosai chuckled, "After you win tomorrow we'll have that talk. If I know your father, he's planning to show you the other uses of the Senken, the ones he started to work on before that accident with the Kumon dojo."

"You mean…there's others way to fight than just the Umisenken and Yamasenken?" Ranma said, trying not to sound too excited.

"As I said, we'll have that talk after tomorrow," Happosai blew another smoke ring before adding in a matter-of-fact voice, "Too bad about your father…he was a really promising student in the old days…kind of reminds me a lot of you, and that's not even including the ladies that were chasing him around, kind of like those rival suitors used to chase around Nabiki."

Ranma's eyes narrowed again and he asked, "What happened?"

"Your father hit a plateau and refused to cross it," Happosai replied, "The Senken was his greatest accomplishment as a martial artist, and by right it should have put him in the ranks of the great Masters of the ages. But when his friend Kumon died…it broke something inside him, turned him away from his own creation. Your father loved the art and had dedicated his life to becoming as good as he could be. All he's done in the last fifteen years is improve and refine what he'd already learned, and he hasn't added one new technique to his arsenal. Instead, he seems to have imbued all his hopes and aspirations into Nabiki, and now into you, as if that was going to buy redemption for a mistake that wasn't even his fault to begin with."

"But I thought the Yamasenken…" Ranma began to reason.

"A technique is neither good nor bad, boy," Happosai insisted, "It's what you do with it that counts, the uses to which you employ it. I reached my peak a long time ago when I decided that I didn't need to go any further than I had gone, though when I was younger I used to snatch up new techniques like they were food and water. I'd devour a new style just as soon as I'd become aware of it…but after a while I just asked myself why I was sweating it so hard. I wasn't really enjoying life all that much, I was too intense, too serious, too much like you. Then it occurred to me one day what I was missing…that vital ingredient without which the art can never be fully mastered."

"And what's that?" Ranma asked, taking the risk of asking the question.

"I wasn't having any fun," Happosai explained, "And without fun the art just becomes a job, it's work and drudgery. Fun is what happens when you let go and relax and let the art take over, it's when you fight with your whole heart, mind, soul and body, and that's the point where you really can't lose."

"Fun?" Ranma raised both eyebrows.

"Fun," Happosai replied, "It's where you stop being a boy and start being a man, where you let go on trying to pretend to be an adult and just worry about doing what your heart tells you is the thing to do. It's where you become the you that's most true to your inner nature…"

"Oh, I see," Ranma said, "In other words, your inner nature is that of a lonely old guy who can't get a date, so you try to get the attention of the ladies by copping a feel and stealing their undies."

"Exactly," Happosai nodded, then paused, "Wait a minute…"

"I think I know what you're getting at," Ranma sighed, "But…I just don't know if I can do that…let go, I mean…I mean…how can I have fun fighting with Nabiki?"

"Good question," Happosai recovered from his sour expression, "Not that a callow young pup like you seems to know what to do with a woman. Why, if I had your looks right now, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to take that cute iinazuke of yours and give her something else to grab her attention."

"Huh?" Ranma blinked, not immediately comprehending.

Happosai rolled his eyes and made a disparaging noise, "Do I have to spell it out to you, Boy? You can't be that dumb, or do I need to explain what a guy does with a girl he likes a whole lot?"

"Uh…oh…uh…ah…ooohhhboy…" exclaimed, then swallowed thickly.

"Now what in the name of Frederick's of Hokkaido is your problem, Boy?" Happosai growled, "She's your iinazuke, right? Nothing wrong with having those kinds of thoughts about her…in fact, I think she'd be more than a little insulted if you didn't."

"Uh…you think?" Ranma nervously asked.

"Mind you, she's even more thick-witted than you in that department," Happosai snorted, "Probably on account of the fact that she spends so much time as a guy with that Shampoo cutie…she's way more experienced in bed that you are, but when it comes to sleeping with you, she turns into a timid little school girl whose had her first crush. She was still going on about that kiss you gave her when I overheard her and the old woman talking about it. And here I was going to reward you with points for showing some initiative, but nooo! You're just as bad as your father!"

"As bad as what?" Ranma blinked.

"Your father could have had his pick of them in the old days," Happosai explained, "Forget he lacked your looks, he had a lot of raw animal magnetism that drew the ladies like flies to honey. I just about lost all hope in him when he turned into such a scared little mouse around the likes of Atsuko and that Comb cutie…and if it had been me in his place, do you think it would have taken a magic spell to get me to sleep with a goddess like Sakura?"

"I…guess I never looked at it that way," Ranma said, "I thought…"

"You thought he was unfaithful to your mom because he fell prey to their charms, eh?" Happosai gave a crafty little chuckle, "The amazing thing to me is that he held out as long as he did, or he could have bedded them all and given you a whole litter of half brothers and sisters. The day he met your mother, though...I could tell he was smitten, even if the fool never knew it himself, so can you blame Atsuko for taking her last desperate gamble by using her magic? As for Sakura, that wasn't even her fault, just a wild spell that got out of control. Things like that have been known to happen, so count yourself lucky that you didn't need any spell to earn the respect of your ladies."

"Yeah…well…" Ranma stared off into the night, "It ain't all a bed of roses…still…"

"Still, it could be a lot worse, believe me," the old man replied, "You're not so different from your father as you'd like to believe, boy…hard to believe the pair of you are kith and kin to me. Of course, that Kaoih cutie's also one of mine, and she definitely shows promise, taking after that Kumon boy like a wet nosed puppy, not that the whelp has a clue of his peril."

Ranma's frown returned, only now he seemed to be contemplating something other than his own relationships, and thus he did not take note of the gleam in the eye of the old man, whose smile was hidden in the gloom as he sensed a spark being kindled in the breast of his wayward protégé.

"Well, I guess that's all I came to say for now," Happosai said as he got up and knocked the burned out ashes from his pipe-which, thankfully, did not immediately set the tent on fire, "Time to turn in and get a good night's sleep. After all, you'll want to be at your best when fighting that Kumon boy. No sense giving him even a slight advantage come the morning."

"Yeah," Ranma agreed, "I hear that. Sleep sounds pretty good. See you around, Old Fool."

"Same to you, Young Pup," Happosai grinned broadly, sensing that the seeds of his revenge against Nabiki had been sown in fertile soil, and with any luck at all the boy would soon be motivated to follow his advice when confronting his iinazuke and teaching her that she was not the top dog in the wolfpack. With any luck he would have her crawling back to her loving Master Happy just begging for forgiveness, and the old woman would not even know what hit her precious chosen apprentice, thus teaching the old biddy that there was more than one way to craft a martial arts genius. The boy had the raw talent and most of the skills that he would need to be triumphant, and with just a little more guidance he'd be the perfect weapon for upbraiding his upstart apprentice.

After all, one did not always need brute force to win a battle, and complex emotions such as love could have their own potent chemistry to charm even a force of nature like Nabiki, and with that thought in mind the perverted little man went off to celebrate by stealing some unmentionables from a nearby trailer. After all, he had said that there were some things more important than lingerie, but as anyone who knew Happosai could well have told, he always had been a very bad liar…

Continued

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