"How to deal with this," an ancient figure muttered. "Can't have them hanging around here anymore. Cologne is enough to deal with, three gods, that's beyond what I want to try."
He tapped his foot, and considered the situation. Ranma still thought of Happosai as a comparatively harmless sort of evil, and he was right. Most of the time.
Happosai's primary joy in life was in groping woman and stealing their underwear, no more than that. He had set about becoming a martial artist for that goal, since he especially loved the idea of getting the better of powerful women.
That did not make him evil, however. There were plenty of perverts out there like him and none of them quite reached the status of evil.
What made Happosai evil wasn't that he enjoyed grabbing a woman's breast or buns or bra. What made Happosai evil was that he enjoyed twisting other people onto his path. The path of self-appeasement and ease. Those he couldn't corrupt, he ruined. It was a matter of jealousy in some ways, he hated seeing people that reached his level of power without making the same sacrifices.
Soun's emotional stability had been shattered. Hinako Ninomiya had to live with her cursed body and mind. Genma had all but shifted to Happosai's path, but he was lazy and stupid. His evil was all accidental, not intentional like Happosai's.
He did not really care much one way or the other about any of the more obvious sorts of evil. Which was just as well since they attracted a lot of attention.
No Happosai's evil was the silent, pernicious kind that grew like cancer. This generation he had not accomplished much, no Shi-Shio, no Naraku.
But he was capable of a little murder and mayhem if he wanted.
That was not what worried him though. An evil man could pass under the radar of a deity if they didn't attract attention. Diabolism, however, that was a different matter. Especially if the diabolist in question had courted the powers of hell rather than being tempted into it.
Happosai had worked hard to become the martial artist he was, and that work was all his own. The techniques, however, the ancient techniques that he had used to build his own deadly style of martial arts out of his Jujutsu knowledge had to be located first. A large number of them had been lost for ages before he found them. The Anything Goes Style, as he practiced, it was a match for the Amazon Wu Shu for one simple reason.
Happosai had made a deal all those years ago. The locations of where every martial arts technique known might be learned, in exchange for his mortal soul.
He had hoped to drag Ranma down, for the boy was quickly going to surpass his capability. Not to mention the fact that he barely needed to find ancient techniques, he created new ones as he needed them. And that really frightened the ancient pervert, since the map he had sold his soul for showed no technique that had been created since he had asked for it.
That would never happen now. Instinct would keep the three of them on the more or less straight and narrow. Bringing a god down to hell was nigh impossible for a demon even. A mere diabolist had no chance.
So now Happosai was faced with an odd choice. Find a way to make Nabiki and Ranma leave with that little brat, or leave himself. And he wasn't about to concede defeat to that either the punk or miss frigid.
Especially not since Nerima was the region of Japan most friendly to him. A "harmless" evil like him could hide in this weird place.
He had to do it soon before they felt the wrongness about his souless body, and before Ranma learned to control his mana any more. If he was lucky he could even get Nabiki and the little brat killed. That might certainly convince Ranma to leave Nerima and never look back.
So, a word in the right place...
"So why does everyone have to go?" Ranma asked.
"Think about how much we have to buy, baka," Akane said irritably. "You think you're going to carry her and all that by yourself."
"Right," Ranma said, looking like he wanted to scratch the back of his head in consternation. "Heh."
"Besides," Nabiki said. "This is a daughter you're shopping for, and the more women involved the better."
"Exactly, Nabiki-chan," Nodoka said smiling. Ranma grimaced. He glanced around for a moment nervously.
"Something wrong, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked curiously.
"I thought I heard something," Ranma muttered.
It was like whispering from the alley's as they passed. He'd thought he'd heard his name, only it wasn't his name not as his friend's said it anyway. Something out of his dreams or nightmares...
"I'm sure it was nothing," Akane said. She was acting a little less petulant now, but she still seemed to be taking this accident as a direct afront to her woman-hood.
They didn't quite reach the stores.
"Oh shit," Ranma gasped suddenly. He'd heard another "name" in those whispers, and this time understood the jist of the message. He turned to Nabiki. "Get out of here!"
"What?" Nabiki asked as Ranma handed her Midori.
"Your the only other one that can take care of her," Ranma said. Nabiki frowned, and would have snapped back if it weren't for the serious look on Ranma's face.
"What seems to be the matter?" Nodoka asked.
"Hurry!" Ranma said.
"Just say what..." Akane started.
"Shampoo's coming!" Ranma said. "And she's not going to give us time for a story!" Nabiki's eyes widened.
"Damn!" she muttered and turned head back down the road to the dojo.
Too late.
Shampoo landed, sword in hand, on the path only a leap away from the group and looked from Ranma's face to Nabiki's and the baby's. Being too far away, she failed to note the Chinese features on the girl.
"Is TRUE!!!" Shampoo growled. "Airen have baby with greedy girl!!!" Her face darkened to purple with rage as she launched herself forward.
"Get out of here!" Ranma snapped as he intercepted the Amazon. Nabiki nodded and headed down the road, Nodoka and Kasumi going with her.
"Airen get out of Shampoo's way!!" Shampoo growled as she slashed with her sword. Ranma could practically see the arc of motion and breezed around the strike, then using Shampoo's own momentum to send the Amazon away from them.
"She's not Nabiki's daughter!" Akane shouted moving to stand next to Ranma and getting in stance.
"No!" Ranma snapped moving past Akane to intercept Shampoo again. "Go with them!"
"Shampoo KILL THEM!!" Shampoo shouted, before being redirected by a few well placed taps and shoved into a tree.
"But," Akane started.
"I can't watch them while I'm fighting Shampoo!" Ranma shouted. "Go keep an eye on Nabs and Midori!"
"Nabs," Akane repeated with narrowed eyes.
She shook her head, now was not the time for jealousy, even she saw that. Shampoo again tried to get around Ranma and again was sent into a piece of the landscape. Akane chased after her sisters and Nodoka.
"Ranma, how dare you abuse my Shampoo's trust!!!" Mousse shouted as he entered the scene.
Ranma could already feel the chains edging for his back, and Shampoo was positioning herself to go past Ranma while Mousse kept him busy.
Ranma spun around and met the first chain with a touch of hand. With the same efficiency of motion that he had been using to deal with Shampoo, he altered the chains' course.
He seemed to almost casually touch the chain and lightly push it to intercept the next, and that one to intercept the next and so on. To the naked it eye it almost seemed as as if Ranma had waved his hand and the entire array had curved around toward a new target.
"SHAMPOO!!?" Mousse shouted as his chains wrapped around to force Shampoo to a skidding stop as they barred the path before her.
"Stay out of this Mousse!" Ranma shouted as he moved to place himself between Shampoo and the retreating Tendos again.
"How DARE you!?" Mousse demanded. He landed and leaped again launching a volley of daggers.
"Shampoo no want to hurt Airen," the female Amazon warned.
"You want to hurt them, you have to get past me," Ranma snapped, casually spinning back to avoid the daggers.
He hadn't even technically attacked them yet, merely used their own motion against them. He always did that, but against artists of such caliber as Shampoo and Mousse, what he was doing should have been impossible. It was like his instincts about the way motion could be manipulated had increased a thousandfold.
Shampoo charged forward with a swipe that was a feint, Ranma could already feel the kick building up. At the same time, Mousse was lashing out with his own kick.
Ranma walked into the sword slash, away from Mousse's kick, ducking under the blade and pushing tapping the inside of the blade with one finger while pushing up on Shampoo's leg with his other hand.
With what seemed barely a touch of two fingers, Shampoo was sent in a dizzily twirling path straight into Mousse.
"Give up," Ranma said seriously as he again arrayed himself in stance between the Amazons and his family. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet.
Nabiki stopped dead as Ukyou stepped into her path.
"It's not my baby, Ukyou," Nabiki said quickly. The chef looked to the baby with a sour face and then up again.
"I had to see if it was true," Ukyou said grimmly.
"It's not my baby," Nabiki repeated, stepping back.
"Young lady," Nodoka said. "This is most unseemly." She stepped forward, drawing her katana. Nodoka rolled her eyes and easily disarmed the woman with a tossed spatula, slicing open Nodoka's hand lightly.
"This ruins everything," Ukyou repeated, not moving from her spot. Nabiki started to relax, feeling that Ukyou wasn't about to attack them.
"Ukyou-san," Kasumi said desparately. "There is a reasonable explanation!" Ukyou looked bleakly to Kasumi, and the Tendo sisters felt a pang of pity at the look.
Akane caught up with them at this point.
"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTERS UKYOU!!!" Akane roared
"Oh for goodness sakes!" Ukyou snapped. "All right!!! You want a fight?! You GOT ONE!!" Ukyou dodged Akane and readied her spatula.
"Great," Nabiki said as she broke and ran from the fight, carrying a wailing Midori. Kasumi was helping Nodoka and didn't see where her sister had run, but someone else had.
The Amazons both hobbled to their feet looking determined to continue. Shampoo's eyes flicked past Ranma to where the Tendos had vanished in the distance. Mousse was upset that Ranma hadn't been addressing him in that imperative. The pig-tailed martial artist had only one person in his focus.
"Ah ha!" a new voice said. "So tis true that the vile sorcerer has been trifling with the affections of the Chinese Princess." Kuno shouted. Almost instantly launched into his thousand strikes.
Kuno lacked Shampoo and Mousse's near absolute control of their momentum.
This time Ranma did merely raise his hand to catch and deflect the first blast of air pressure. Shampoo and Mousse watched in shock as Kuno suddenly rocketed the way he had come from and slammed into a brick wall unconscious.
"Give up," Ranma said again. Shampoo seriously considered it.
Nabiki took paused and took a seat on a bench to catch her breath and quiet down a crying Midori. A shiver went down her spine as she suddenly felt that she wasn't alone.
"So this is the abomination I was told of," a tight voice declared.
Nabiki, terrified and very alone aside from Midori, turned to see Kodachi standing a little ways down the path. Her ribbon was in hand, and Nabiki was well within reach.
I'm sorry, Ranma, Nabiki thought.
"Hmmm," Happosai said. "It is a very good thing I didn't try to take him on myself. He hasn't even used any mana beyond enhanced physical capabilities yet, and that hardly at all."
Then he noticed another newcomer, one he hadn't expected, and smiled. This would be a decent test of what Ranma's abilities truly were.
"RANMA!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!" Ryouga shouted. Ranma turned to see the other boy and expected him to be as enraged as Mousse or Shampoo.
Instead he saw the small smirk on Ryouga's face that signified that he had no specific grudge against Ranma at the moment and merely wanted to get in on the fun.
Shampoo welcomed the Lost Boy's unfortunate appearance with an evil smile as she made use of Ranma's distraction. She broke for the path the Tendos had taken.
Ranma felt the shift and moved to block her again, but found Mousse in his way. And Ryouga was still following behind him.
Ranma didn't have time to stop both the male martial artists and still get in front of Shampoo, but if he ignored them, the hits would slow him down to much as well.
Frustrated and desparate beyond anything before Jusendo. Ranma lost his temper.
"ENOUGH!!!!!" Ranma shouted angrily.
Suddenly a blast of golden energy radiated out from in a brilliant flash. When it cleared only seconds later, all three of his opponents were in their cursed forms. Ryouga's umbrella was embedded in a wall near Kuno's head.
Shampoo, Ryouga and Mousse glanced around in confusion. Shampoo was too shocked to notice that Ranma was approaching her without fear, until he picked her up by the scruff of the neck.
She hissed and yowled angrily, and Ranma recognized the sounds coming from her mouth as the whispers he had heard earlier. The ones that had warned him of Shampoo's coming. He filed that away for later, along with the fact that he wasn't terrified of Shampoo's cursed form.
"You went too far this time Shampoo!" Ranma growled, his marks still flared brilliantly. All three of the Jusenkyo-animals vainly fought the desire to abase themselves. "You shouldn't have tried to kill my daughter!"
That same golden light moved from his hand into Shampoo's body. Ranma almost lost his grip in surprise, but maintained it.
"Never," he said. "NEVER try that again!! This is your only warning!"
He dropped the shivering cat on the ground and turned to Ryouga as Shampoo ran for the Nekohanten. Both the pig and duck were on the ground and staring at him in shock. As the light of his marks faded they began to glare at him.
"Mousse," Ranma said seriously. "I ain't interested in Shampoo. I'll never marry her, and I'd rather never see her until she changes. So get it through your head that I'M not your obstacle. She is. Oh, and sorry Ryouga, bad timing you know?"
Ranma reached down into Mousse's robes and pulled out a thermos which he poured on Ryouga. Before the Lost Boy could do more than growl at him and get grab his clothes Ranma was heading away.
"We'll fight later!" Ranma said. "I gotta make sure Nabiki and Midori are alright."
"Well," Happosai said sourly as he finished cowering. He had felt the divine aura even as far away as he was. "It's apparent that most of the Jusenkyo cursed types have no chance against Ranma anymore."
He didn't like not knowing the limits of his old pupil, even if he hoped to drive him away forever.
Ranma found Akane and Ukyou wearily glaring at each other. They were circling and getting ready for another round of battle, though neither looked in a condition to continue fighting.
"Ranma-kun!" Kasumi called out. "You have to stop them before somebody seriously hurt."
"She was attacking Nabiki," Akane said, she was bleeding from several small cuts and looked fairly battered as well. Both fighters were covered in flour.
"I was not!" Ukyou snapped. "I came to see if what I'd heard was true, that's all!" Ukyou was holding her spatula one handed.
"You attacked Saotome-san!" Akane countered.
"Actually," Nodoka said. "She disarmed me when I threatened her."
"See!" Ukyou snapped. "She attacked me, just like you!"
"Where's Nabiki and my daughter?" Ranma demanded finally. Everybody froze and looked very nervous suddenly.
"She ran off when the fight started," Ukyou said. "I didn't notice which way."
"I was looking the wrong way," Akane said.
"Oh my," Kasumi said. Ranma paled and looked around in desparation for a moment.
He almost missed Nabiki's and Midori's scents, not used to these new senses. Fortunately he caught and recognized them and took off running.
"This is the abomination that would take my Ranma-sama away from me," Kodachi said coolly fingering her ribbon. She stepped forward gracefully, like a serpent.
Okay, how do I get her to go away, Nabiki asked herself.
The usual way that Nabiki got what she wanted was to give someone something else that they desired. She had always been exceptionally good at figuring out what someone needed, and offering it. But she couldn't give Kodachi Ranma. Or was that what she really wanted.
"You don't really think Ranma will love you if you hurt his baby, do you?" Nabiki asked nervously.
"Ranma can't possibly want this noisome little burden," Kodachi said. "And I believe you've been a trouble yourself from time to time."
"Why do you even like Ranma?" Nabiki asked, carefully not moving except to cradle the crying Midori tighter. Kodachi smirked at the question and shook her head.
"That is a ridiculous question," Kodachi said.
"I don't think so," Nabiki said, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "He's poor, ill-cultured, and by your standards low-born. So what's the attraction."
Kodachi laughed again and shook her head, though she seemed to look a little disturbed.
"How many other men with whom could a share the thrill of flying through the air?" she asked.
"There are several throughout Nerima," Nabiki countered.
"But none better than Ranma," Kodachi countered. "And its only the best for the Kunos."
"What's the real reason," Nabiki asked, gaining confidence as Kodachi kept talking.
Nabiki didn't see Midori's markings flaring lightly, nor did she notice her own glowing just slightly. Not enough for Kodachi to notice from her position.
"If it is your dying wish," Kodachi said, she sounded uncertain though. "Fine. He was kind to me." Nabiki heard all the varied layers of meaning to that simple statement.
"That's all you want?" Nabiki asked, somehow knowing the answer. She stood up. "Isn't it?"
Midori's cries came to a small end.
Kodachi no longer seemed so intimidating, in fact she seemed very sad and pitiful. The gymnast's shoulders didn't seem so firm as before, they were almost slumping.
"D..don't try anything," Kodachi stammered, wondering just when she had lost the initiative.
"You don't really want to hurt anybody," Nabiki said, stepping forward. Kodachi took a step back branishing her ribbon. "You don't think Ranma can be kind to more than one person?"
"Stay b..back," Kodachi gasped as Nabiki's markings flared brighter now. Nabiki tried to ignore the fact that she was taking Midori and herself closer to Kodachi.
She had unnerved the gymnast somehow, and if she wanted to get out of this she had to maintain her confidence. And she found herself truly wanting to help the girl somehow.
"And you don't think anybody else would truly be kind to you," Nabiki said coming closer. Kodachi stumbled back, somehow terrified and ashamed. She dropped her ribbon but managed to keep her feet.
"Pl..please don't hurt me," Kodachi whimpered as Nabiki closed the distance. Nabiki shifted Midori to one hand and reached out to circle an arm around Kodachi's shoulders.
"Ssh," Nabiki said.
This felt unusual, this comforting. Especially considering that Kodachi had been intent on killing her. And for some reason Kodachi was still looking at her as if ashamed.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. Nabiki reached her arm up to Kodachi's head and softly pulled it down to her shoulder. She stroked the other girl's hair soothingly, the way Kasumi had to her.
"It's okay," Nabiki said. "I'm not going to hurt you." Suddenly Kodachi's arms were around Nabiki and the girl was crying loudly into her shoulder. Nabiki's and Midori's marks ceased glowing, and the gymnast continued weeping.
Midori turned in Nabiki's arms and looked at the strange person that had seemed scary before but now wasn't. She made a questioning noise and reached out a tiny hand to pat Kodachi's head in a manner similar to what Nabiki was doing.
"Nabiki!" Ranma's voice called out. "Is Midori okay? Are you hurt?" Nabiki nodded and continued soothing the sobbing Kodachi. Midori was cooing something that almost sounded like melody.
"We're fine," Nabiki said. She sighed as she came to an uncomfortable conclusion. Ranma walked over and took Midori from Kodachi, and Nabiki nodded her thanks as she used her other arm to hold Kodachi while she cried.
They waited patiently and quietly for Kodachi to calm down before anything else happened. Nabiki stepped back from the now subdued Kuno and held her eyes.
"Now I want you to go to my sister Kasumi and talk to her, okay?" she said. "Tell her anything that bothers you, okay? And don't get into a fight with my little sister, okay?" Kodachi nodded with each "okay."
"Thank you, Nabiki-sama," Kodachi said silently, wiping her eyes. She turned to Ranma and muttered the same before leaving.
"What happened to Kodachi?" Ranma asked.
"She got what she was needing," Nabiki said. "I think. What happened to Shampoo?"
"I think I scared her away for now," Ranma said. "We can't stay here, can we?"
"No," Nabiki said. "We can't. Ukyou wasn't going to attack I think, but there's still Shampoo. And if Tarou or someone on like Herb shows up...I don't know how we're going to handle it. And if Happosai or Cologne had gotten involved..." She shrugged and looked around seeming haggard.
"Yeah," Ranma said soberly, looking at his daughter. "I have to leave Nerima with Midori."
"We, Ranma," Nabiki said. "We.
"You don't have to..."
"This is my responsibility, too," Nabiki insisted, then she smirked. "Besides, you'll need my help."
"Yeah, well, we should say goodbye to people," Ranma said. Nabiki nodded.
"But make it short," Nabiki said. She didn't feel safe saying that she thought they should come back eventually. She'd tell him that later.
"Excellent," Happosai smirked rubbing his hands. "Just according to plan."
Next: Meeting the Goddesses
Oh yeah, I'd like to name Brian Drozd's Deification and Tarqhan's A Divine Daughter as inspirations for this fic...