Kasumi filled their guest's tea cup and continued on serenely to fill Akane's, Mr. Saotome's and Ranma's.
"Will there be anything else?" Kasumi asked calmly.
"No that will be all, thank you Kasumi," Nadoka turned with her nearly ever-present smile to face the other three individuals at the table.
"If this is family business, what's Akane doing here?" Ranma asked, trying to hide his worry under a veneer of impoliteness. His mom calling them for family business was NOT what he considered good news, he was keeping an eye on her wrapped katana.
"As if I have any interest at all in the Saotome family affairs." Akane was also watching the katana, and she'd be damned if she was going to let Ranma know she was worried about him.
"Wait a moment, I just remembered an important previous engagement." Genma started to stand and leave.
"Sit," the command was a small chorus from all three of the others. Ranma and Akane didn't know what was coming, but they were damn certain it was his fault somehow.
"Now as I was saying, there is something I need to tell Ranma." Ranma and Akane both narrowed their eyes at Genma, who sweatdropped.
I'm making sure you go ahead of me, old man, and what did you do to get Akane roped into this?
There is no way I'm letting you get away with this...uh...not that I care.
"Genma is not your natural father."
"You don't have to do it..." Akane shouted. "Wait a minute."
"What did you say?!?!"
"I said Genma is not your natural father." Akane and Ranma facefaulted, as did someone standing outside the door.
"Nabiki!" Kasumi's muffled yet scandalized voice declared from the hallway. "It is not polite to easedrop." The Saotomes and youngest Tendo sweatdropped.
"He's NOT my natural father," Ranma repeated after righting himself. He and Akane turned to glare at him again.
"And I thought he was low before," Akane noted. Genma swallowed and looked for somewhere to disappear to.
"No, I met Genma while I was pregnant with you," Nadoka calmly sipped her tea. "Your father and I had parted ways before I learned that you'd be coming, and I couldn't find him again after that."
"And you married HIM?" Akane said, shocked.
"Oh yes, I wanted my son to be a master martial artist like his father was, but I couldn't teach him all he'd need to know. And I was certainly not going to show myself before my father and sister in that circumstances."
"And then along comes Genma and he promised to make my son a 'man among men' and give him a lifelong training in martial arts."
"And you believed HIM?" Ranma asked
"Slight error in judgment," Nadoka said.
"Gee, you think?" Akane put in snidely.
"You can discuss it with him later."
"Oh, I will." Ranma cracked his knuckles.
"I did raise you to be a master martial artist after all," Genma suggested nervously.
"You neglected to place much emphasis on the sword," Nadoka noted. "And that has been my family's art for generations."
"Not to mention the cat fist," Akane noted.
"And Jusenkyo, and the fiancees."
"I need a place, date and time!"
"Nabiki, what did I just tell you?" Akane and the Saotomes sweatdropped again.
"So who is Ranma's father?" Akane asked. Nadoka retrieved an old photograph from inside her kimono and displayed it formally. The man in the picture wore a white gi with torn sleeves and a red headband, and he was obviously a masterful martial artist.
"Looks familiar," Akane admitted.
"At any rate," Nadoka returned the photo to its hiding place without giving a name. "Genma adopted you and took you on that regretful training trip, knowing what I do now I would have taken you to meet my family much earlier."
"Meet your family," Akane repeated. ~A chance to meet more of Ranma's family?~
"I still don't see why Akane has to be here," Ranma complained.
"Shut up Ranma."
"Well, I'd like you and Akane to take a trip with me to meet your grandfather and cousin. I myself haven't seen them since before my sister graduated school, and none of us have seen or heard from our brother after his last letter from China," she sighed wistfully for a moment. "I should have at least gone for my sister's funeral, but I couldn't see them yet."
Ranma's relatives, that thought was followed by an almost audible kching sound as Nabiki considered the profit opportunities. "Hey I'll go!" She stepped into the room, unconcerned about appearances suddenly.
"What?" Ranma blinked. "I don't want to..."
"Nabiki, they didn't invite you," Akane protested. Wait a minute, did I just confirm I want to go...damn it!
"Actually that is a good idea," Nadoka decided. "This way there is a chaperone from both families."
"See sis," Nabiki smirked. Ranma looked around and tried to judge as to whether he had any say in this happening. "Besides it will give you and Ranma some time to decide what to do with him."
"I'll go pack."
Nabiki felt a familiar sensation as she entered her room. She had been about to start packing, but it wouldn't be a good idea to give him too much of an idea of her plans. She smirked without turning to face the materializing cloaked-man.
"Long time no see," she said in a bored manner. Then she turned to face him, leaning against her dresser. "So what brings you to this neck of the cosmos?"
"Ah, nothing important," he said cheerfully through closed eyes. "I just came to visit a talented girl of my acquaintance."
"Really, Xellos" Nabiki drawled, arching an eyebrow and crossing her arms.
"Is it too much to ask that I'd like visit my children?"
"You expect me to believe that, Xellos?"
"Not especially," her visitor answered smiling. Nabiki waited. "You know, you really should get out a little more, go on a vacation or something."
"And for what reason do you want me out of town?"
"Actually I was hoping you'd take your sister with you as well."
"You don't want someone to see us?"
"Well," Xellos smirked. "That...is a secret."
"And the favor...has a price," she riposted. Xellos smirked in pride.
"Which..."
"Depends on the reason why you want me to do it," Nabiki noted.
"Well the gate that brought your mother here is going to stablize enough for human use again," he explained. "Some of our old companions are going to come and try to visit her."
"Well I don't see...oh...SHE's coming isn't she," Nabiki smirked.
"That is a..."
"Doesn't she know about me and..." Nabiki interrupted. She gave a predatorial smirk. "She doesn't know about Akane, does she."
"It shouldn't be too long," Xellos said. "We plan on visiting our daughter later."
"Well, I suppose I can find a way to get me and Akane out of town for a while." Being empathic, Xellos DID hear the kching sound, or at least in detected the emotions connected with it, and smiled.
"And what is the price?"
"Can you teach me that teleport thing?"
"Hmmm, interesting," the old man turned the postcard over in his hand and investigated.
"You wanted to talk to me grandpa?" he turned to the polite young boy, who seemed almost relieved to be pulled out of the chaos of his normal life.
"We'll be having visitors soon," the old man said. "Family."
"I didn't think any of father's relatives wanted to come back after that incident with..."
"This is your mother's family, my other daughter and her son," the old man interrupted.
"Mom had a sister?" the young man blinked.
"And a brother, I've been on Earth for many human life times" the old man explained. For a moment the young boy seemed to be considering possibilities. "Don't hope to much for a relief from the girls, it seems your cousin's fiancee is coming along as well."
"It wouldn't have been fair anyway," he said reluctantly. "So what's my cousin like?"
"He apparently is a martial artist of some skill and power, perhaps you can learn something from him." The boy shrugged humbly, as if that was no surprise. His grandfather smiled, knowing he was much better than he pretended to be. "Now perhaps you should return to the fields, before Sasami starts looking for materials for tonight's dinner.
"Get back here before I call a spirit to wrap that thing around your head!"
The woman shouting seemed almost like a young girl, standing just barely five feet tall with short brown hair tied with a ribbon. Her long pointy ears twitched angrily as she shouted. She was wearing a red leather jerkin that looked like it was something out of a dungeons and dragons convention. Hooked at her back was a short, three foot stave with spear points at either end. Her eyes showed a deal more age than her body, however.
"I was just going to find something to drink."
"Man you're a jerk!" the girl shouted again. "I swear, you are such a moron. I miss the gate home and what do you do, send her into the world as a child on a vendetta!"
"Well I thought you were dead, and the family honor needed to be...."
"BAKA!! Do you realize that she has like three months before she has to choose mortality or immortality? AND SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW IT!!!!" (its a Tolkien thing)
"Well I didn't see the need to, with you dead..."
"You didn't even SHOW her the books of magic I left for her to study! ARGGG!!!"
"Well..."
"Shut up, shut up...let's just find her and then I can give her a crash course of being born with elf blood."