Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon or any associated characters. The name 'Divus Honturi', the Trigan Guard, and the Cosmic Xenosol are all trademarked by me. ---Title--- Where Are We Now? Chapter 5: Homecomings By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton vze2jcwc@verizon.net ---Juuban--- Ranma entered his home, kicking off his shoes in the anteroom, and immediately headed towards the guest room. If Setsuna had performed her mission successfully, Karane should be in his hands which would make life a whole lot easier in the future. True, the girl couldn't possibly be mature enough to harness the power of Silence, but with his training Mistress Nine would never gain control of the child later. His mother was out in the back gardening so he could count on her not disturbing their meeting; he wanted to have some words with Setsuna concerning Karane and the rest of the senshi. "Setsuna?" Ranma's head poked through the door crack, followed by the rest of his body in a single snake-like movement. "Setsuna?" He cautiously stepped into the room, carefully looking around to make sure something or someone wasn't going to just jump out. Instead, he found his foot impacting with something soft and squishy; something that cried out as his weight shifted from one foot to the other. As Hotaru screamed out loud, Ranma unceremoniously fell to the floor, crashing through the coffee table and rolling onto Setsuna. "Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!" Hotaru looked at the odd strangers. Then she remembered her father's transformation. Then she screamed again, louder this time. She clutched the blanket tight in her tiny hands, the sigil of Saturn glowing in resonance with his own power. "Setsuna!? Goddamn it, where the hell are you!?" Ranma felt around the blanketed mass he'd fallen onto, grasping a bosom here, a buttock there, and thoroughly succeeding in waking up his partner. "What the hell did you do to her!?" "I didn't do anything! The Death Busters transformed in front of her!" Setsuna pulled herself from the tangle of sheets, her hair disheveled in knots and curls, and propped herself up on her arms. "What are you going to do?" Ranma gave her a look, one which silently asked if she was crazy, then picked up Hotaru by the shoulders. The poor girl was still bawling and thrashed in his grip. "Karane!! Karane listen to me!!!" He shook her violently, her screams increasing as her fragile grasp on sanity slipped further and further. "Listen, damn you!" "I want my daddy!!! Daddy!!!!!!" The little girl wailed as she remembered what her father had turned into, shocked and frightened by the strange witch who had burst into their conversation, and finally shut down as the man embraced her tightly. "Sleep, Karane...sleep and remember." Ranma cast a sleep spell on the girl and carefully laid her back on the futon, gently as not to wake her. Undoubtedly his mother had heard the scream, he grabbed Setsuna and literally threw her into a sitting position on one end of the kotatsu and sat down quickly himself. No sooner had he settled than his mother came rushing in, gardening shears brandished menacingly. "What's the matter? Ranma!? Setsuna!?" Nodoka burst through the door, throwing it off the rails, and ducked low with the shears, fully intending to castrate any intruder stupid enough to pick on her children. What greeted her instead of a mangled deranged maniac was her son and Setsuna sitting at the kotatsu talking quietly. "What was that noise? What happened?" Ranma looked up at her as if nothing happened, a perplexed look on his face. "The screaming?" Setsuna looked up at her as well, her composition unflappable and perfect. "That was just Setsuna's little cousin..." "Hotaru. Hotaru Tomoe." Setsuna picked up from Ranma's lead, never missing a beat. She knew what Honturi was thinking, she had always known how his mind worked, the subtle manipulations, the lustful drives...the insane positions...the frenzied, manic, uncontrollable- "She's just in town for a few months and Setsuna agreed to take care of her...didn't you Setsuna?" Ranma shook her shoulder, breaking her lustful gaze and looked up at his mother. "Isn't that right?" She quickly looked at his stern expression and back to Nodoka's confused face. "Uh...yeah-I mean yes, yes that's right. She'll only be here for a few months." She wiped a trail of drool off her mouth, she'd been thinking just a little too much about certain qualities Honturi possessed better left to the imagination...or a demented lemon fic. "I hope we're not putting you out, Mrs. Saotome." Nodoka looked at Setsuna, then at Hotaru sleeping like a cherub, then at Ranma and beamed the warmest smile imaginable. "Why of course not, Setsuna dear, we have plenty of room for you two. I'll just make up the guest room, Ranma would you go get another set of sheets?" Ranma looked at her strangely, knowing she was up to something, probably something he wouldn't like, but acquiesced and left the room. Nodoka was prone to jumping to the wildest of conclusions. Nodoka waited until Ranma left the room, placing the doors back on the rails, and listened to the door click shut on it's bearings before she spoke. "Come now Setsuna, dear, I've already told you, you must learn to call me 'Mom'." Nodoka sat in Ranma's empty seat and bided her time until she could hear the squeak of Ranma's footfalls upstairs. "So tell me Setsuna, how old is my granddaughter?" The sound of Ranma tripping in the upstairs hallway, followed by the sounds of numerous heavy objects falling could be heard as Nodoka smiled even wider. Setsuna promptly facefaulted. "G-g-g-grand-daughter??!?!?!?!" She was fully expecting Nodoka to start complaining about how she was abusing their hospitality, no wonder Honturi had warned her about Nodoka's ideas. "Wh-what ever made you think that Hotaru is my daughter?" She was insulted that 1) Nodoka would think her such a slut as to rob the cradle and 2) that she would think of her as an old mother. "I'm only seventeen!" A lie, but it was necessary to keep up Honturi's rouse. Nodoka smiled warmly and stroked Hotaru's hair, the little girl curling up at her touch. "Well it's quite obvious that you're in love with my son...and that you have had sexual relations." Setsuna blushed at that, remembering that when they were together they weren't exactly quiet. "Like last night for example, it would be considerate of you two to a least warn a poor old mother if you're going to scream and bring the ceiling plaster down on her head. How old is Hotaru, Setsuna?" Setsuna, totally taken unawares, dumbly answered her. "Uh...ten I think." Nodoka immediately became crestfallen. "What's wrong, missus-uh, I mean 'Mom'?" "That means she can't be my granddaughter. Unless of course you were seven when she was conceived!?" She looked at Setsuna out of the corner of her eye. "While it would be nice if you had made the sacrifice that early, I doubt that you would have been capable. Don't worry, I can wait for grandchildren until you and Ranma are ready." Setsuna's face, which had turned green at the prospect of conceiving a child at age seven, regained its color and she weakly smiled at the insane woman. "Thank you, 'Mom'. Don't worry we won't have children until we both have stable jobs and a healthy income." She knew the pragmatics of child-rearing and knew that as soon as Crystal Tokyo became a reality, she would seriously consider having a child. She didn't especially like the idea of raising her child in a world torn by strife. "Well, don't make me wait that long...I want to at least live to see my grandchildren graduate college." She gave a mirthful laugh before standing and walking slowly up the stairs, her departure followed soon thereafter by her muffled words upstairs to Ranma. The breeze blew through the room, and a koi gracefully leapt from the safety of the water and splashed back. An omen if Setsuna had ever seen one. "So what did you and my mother talk about Setsuna-chan?" Ranma stepped from behind her, his approach silent. "I heard 'granddaughter' in the conversation." He laced his fingers together in front of her, pulling her tightly to his body. "She seemed to think that Hotaru was our love child. I set her straight of course." "Of course. And what else came up in your 'girl talk'?" "She was keen to know when we planned on having children...and she...heard us in your room last night." She blushed again, the sheer shame of the admission causing a deep scarlet to bloom on her cheeks. She noticed Honturi was sporting a blush just as fierce as hers. "I told her that we'd wait." "Good, good. How did Karane's retrieval go? I noticed she wasn't fully stable." Ranma leaned back and they both collapsed into a plush chair, Setsuna firmly pressed to his lap - a position she enjoyed a bit too much. "What happened?" Setsuna looked down at the floor in shame as she related the incident with Mistress 9's henchmen. "The Witches were in the middle of a meeting, Professor Tomoe was in the middle of having a talk with Hotaru and my appearance caused him to shift into Youma form..." She felt as if his trust in her had been betrayed. "Great. That's why she freaked, she saw everyone she'd even known turn into a blood thirsty youma. I'll have to suspend her memories until she fully awakens." Ranma held her even closer, knowing how she felt, she had always taken things too seriously. "Hey, lighten up a little! You did great Setsuna, you got Karane and now Mistress 9 will never rise again, pretty good for a day's work." She was cradled in his arms, if she had been in her true form and not in her teenage guise the position would have proven incongruous, but as a seventeen-year old girl she fit perfectly into his lap. "You did good kid." "'Kid'? I wouldn't call me that again, Honturi-chan until you act your age, young man." She curled into his chest, her legs dangling off the arm of the chair and playfully nuzzled his neck. "I didn't see you complaining about how I acted last night." "Well...sometimes it's good to have teenage hormones again, it means your always ready for action." She snaked a hand down to his crotch. "What is it with you and sex, Puu-chan? You haven't been able to get enough since I found you!" Not that he minded particularly that much, it was just that if this continued, he would have enough juice for some other activities. She felt his manhood through the cloth, running her hand along his chest in time to her strokes. "You try going several thousand years without sex, then see what you do, okay?" Nodoka wisely didn't enter from the stairs, content as she was to listen to their lovemaking from the kitchen, ah! To be in love again! Honturi wasn't about to complain as they teleported up to his bedroom, but the earlier omen still bothered Setsuna...not enough to stop her conjugal activities, but enough so she stored the data away for later study. An ill omen of things to come... "I have to do something now, I have to do it alone." Honturi lay on his back with his arms folded under his head, just looking at the white plaster of his ceiling. They both were back in their true forms, Honturi looking in his thirties, Setsuna in her twenties. She was curled up to his body, the warm fluids from their lovemaking smeared across his thigh and the bedsheets. "I know you won't like it, but I have to awaken another to this life." "Why do I get the feeling you haven't been totally honest with me..." She gave him a flat-eyed stare. Her fingers curled into his pubic hair, fully intending to pull them out painfully if he kept the truth from her. "I'm not the only one you awakened...am I?" She tugged a bit and Honturi's eyes bugged out, sweat dripping down his face as she presented him with a serene smile. "Uh...n-no. No, you're not the only one, Freya saw me transform today and regained her memories of the past. She agreed not to tell the others about it yet so we're still relatively safe..." "I sense a 'but' coming on..." "...But I've already been in contact with Ganymede, Earth, and Titan." He braced himself for a scream, holding a pillow protectively over his face and closing his eyes. Setsuna merely looked at him as if he were crazy. "Ganymede? Earth? Titan? You mean to say you've been sleeping with Beryl for the past millennia!? Beryl of all people!" She grabbed his face in her hands, sitting astride his chest and pressed his head into the pillows beneath, an angry snarl marring the beauty of her features. "I was your first you know! Doesn't that mean I get some consideration!? I hadn't had a good lay in twenty-five thousand years while you were off screwing our mortal enemy!?" "Just let me explain!" He was getting sick from her constantly shaking him up and down. Her breasts swung enticingly with each slam but he was more intent on his own survival than the condition of her mammaries. "I had to do it! It was for our own good! Metallia...!" The throttling stopped abruptly and her temper died just as soon as it began. One moment she was preparing to rip his eyes out, the next she was cooing in pleasure on his chest. Honturi sweatdropped. "Are...you alright now?" She moaned in response, running her hands over his chest, letting her delicately manicured nails graze his skin ever so softly. "I'm sorry...I guess I just overreacted. It's just that you could have at least told me you were still alive, even that much and I wouldn't have been so lonely." "I know...I'm sorry." He cursed inwardly, feeling that his words gave too little mitigation to the enormity of his fault. The words seemed weak and ineffectual when compared to the magnitude of his crime. "Ganymede...you...I...only we know what a curse immortality is, some more than others." The last was said in a whisper. "What do you mean?" She sat up, pushing herself up on her arms but leaving her body to arch against his own. "Beryl I can understand, and I as well, but you? You died when the Moon Kingdom fell." He shook his head. "No...I did not die, Setsuna. The Cosmic Xenosol and the Ginzuishou share many of the same abilities as they are two halves of the power cosmic. Both are extremely powerful and both carry a curse." Both heard Nodoka open the closet out in the hall and reverted to their teenage guises, then relaxed as the matriarch's padded footsteps receded back into the house. "What kind of curse?" Her interest was piqued, she had never heard of such a thing, even during the Silver Millennium. "The bearer of either cannot die. The owner can pass the responsibility on to another but cannot die while power still flows through the crystal, that is how Queen Serenity managed to have Usagi reincarnated in the future, she simply delayed the time Usagi's responsibility to the crystal took effect. The Xenosol however allowed my spirit, my essence to live in various bodies throughout the millennia, each one building upon my DNA until Ranma Saotome was born - a perfect incarnation of my full genetic structure." "Interesting...Did you have full knowledge of your past in each life? Or did you have to wait until your full body was reborn?" She wondered what Honturi had done through all those years, surely the boredom would have set in if he was conscious of the past. She herself still felt bored looking at the Gates of Time, although that might have something to do with her new dramatic shift in loyalties and future. She was finished planning the future, now she would live to see what it held, not try to change it, she would take each day as it came. "No, I had no idea I was Honturi until puberty began in Ranma's body, that was the impetus for the change. Before Ranma, I had no knowledge of anything I'd done in a previous life. Honturi himself didn't exist in my mortal counterpart's mind until Ranma was born, Honturi stayed with Beryl in the Dark Dimension with no remembrance of how things used to be." Ranma paused in his storytelling. "I have to go to Nerima, it may resolve a few loose ends in Ranma's life." Setsuna sat up from his chest, straddling his stomach and leaned back down on her elbows, looking straight into his eyes. "Are you sure we can't go again? It was very enjoyable that last time." "No, I sense a strange force in the world now, perhaps something more dangerous than even Metallia, you'd best go check in at the Gates of Time and I'll meet you in a few hours." Setsuna felt it now. It felt like the ripples of time were crashing into each other, the distortions borne from the union changing everything around them. "I think that's a good idea, something big is coming." ---??--- "So what are my orders?" "Go to Honturi and change the past. Make sure to cause the alterations I told you about, this is very important!" "I know...I know...you can count on me!" "I certainly hope so daughter..." ---Author's note--- The next section deals harshly with Akane and Soun Tendo. If you don't like dark, angsty stuff than please skip to the next section. Thank you for your kind attention. ---Tendo Dojo, Nerima--- Akane was angry with Ranma. If this were a normal day in Nerima, one might go so far as to say that Akane being angry with Ranma was one of the laws in the Universe. She was seldom anything else, and the property rates of Nerima backed up many people's claims that Akane was the Dojo Destroyer of ill repute. However, now with Ranma out of the picture, people had no way to rationalize Akane's destructive behavior. No, this day was far from normal. The echoes of Akane's anger drifted through the kitchen where Kasumi was preparing dinner and out through the compound's gate where Ranma stood proudly under the setting sun. The task he set out to do would either make or break his relationship with Kasumi and Nabiki, and he didn't want to hurt them if he could help it, and utterly crush Akane and the sniveling coward Soun. He rather enjoyed that little added benefit of this plan, he would finally let out the dirty laundry for all the world to see and in so doing set himself free. Sure his life would never be the same again, but he embraced chaos and the challenges it brought. He strode easily through the gate and around to the kitchen door, easing the screen open on it's well-oiled hinges. The scent of home cooking assaulted his senses and Kasumi's pleasant humming drifted with the aroma out of the Tendo house. He quietly slipped inside. Kasumi turned as she heard the door open and was startled to see Ranma walked nonchalantly inside as if nothing happened. She gave him her customary smile and set out a hot cup of tea for him. With her back turned to him she continued to stir the pot of curry on the burner and make sure the rice-cooker was in full working order, it had been undercooking the grains lately. Thus with her guard down it came as a complete surprise when Ranma laid his bare hands on her shoulders and eased her away from the stove. "Is there anything I can do for you Ranma?" Kasumi felt the warmth of his hands through the thin cotton of her housedress and turned so she could look him in the yes. There was something in his stormy orbs that frightened her into silence, a seriousness or bitterness that wasn't there when he left. It was almost as though he had some great sin on his conscience, she could not even hope to guess the magnitude of his crime. "Will you do something for me, Kasumi?" "It depends on what it is, Ranma-kun." She looked up at him again and seemed small by comparison, there was definitely something different about him now. "NO, Kasumi! I need you to promise to follow exactly what I say! Will you promise?" She was taken aback by the vehemence of his question. Whatever it was, it was serious and Kasumi hadn't lived so long without realizing there are times when you have to just suck it in and take was destiny gives you. She nodded her ascent. In the far reaches of her mind she secretly hoped he wanted her to lie naked, spread-eagle on a water bed among jasmine candles and silk sheets... "Kasumi, go upstairs and pack an overnight bag, pack enough clothing for a few days. When you're done go outside and stand by the gate until I come to escort you, okay?" Ranma shook her slightly as he noticed her mind was somewhere else. He didn't know if she would ever forgive him for what he was about to do to her family. "Please, just do it, Kasumi." She knew that he really meant his words and so she untied her apron and turned the burner under her curry off, walking up the stairs with a worried expression. [That was the easiest part, now for Nabiki - she's going to be bit more difficult.] Ranma drank the cup of tea Kasumi laid out for him and sighed, there were some days it just didn't pay to be in his shoes. He walked outside again, hearing the crashing and yelling of Akane in the dojo and performed a standing leap of one story to land outside Nabiki's window. Nabiki was upstairs in her room, tallying up the bill from the hardware store in time to the rhythmic and systematic destruction of cinderblocks in the dojo. The middle Tendo daughter rolled her eyes in disgust as Akane began yet another ranting fit, the girl was certainly going to have to pay; perhaps another photo session for Kuno was in order. How else was Nabiki goin to raise the funds to pay the exorbitant masonry bill? Another plan formed in her mind: if she could find Ranma and drag him back then Akane's ire would calm considerably. Now the problem was just that, find Ranma and bring him back. He wasn't going to return voluntarily if Shampoo's bruises were any indication. He seemed to have a girlfriend named 'Freya', Shampoo had spilled the beans the night she returned empty-handed. It was her condition: battered, bruised, and sorrowful, that discouraged Akane, Ukyo and Kodachi from trying to interfere. So now her dear sister was venting her frustrations on inanimate objects yet again. Nabiki's search for Nodoka's address had come up seriously wanting, apparently it was unlisted. [He won't escape me that easily! I will find him and drag him back for retribution!] He still owed her a considerable sum of yen and she wasn't going to just forget it, no matter the friends he had. The brown-haired mercenary was broken from her revelry by the light tapping of someone on her windowpane. She knew of only one person who entered that way...Ranma. A devious grin spread over her face and she unlatched her window. Sure enough, Ranma burst through her curtains in a flutter of cloth. "Well, well, well, look what the _cat_ dragged in, hmm? Ranma Saotome as I live and breath, what brings you back to Nerima?" Sarcasm dripped from her tongue as she stood before him with her arms crossed arrogantly under her breasts. "I have something very important to tell you and Kasumi, while it may not be especially profitable, I promise that it is important to you personally." Ranma rose to his full height and Nabiki goggled at how much he'd grown in just a week. Whereas he was just 5'8 when he left, now he towered over her at close to 6'1. "Sill you trust me?" She raised an eyebrow. "Trust you? Why on Earth would I do that, Saotome, you can't even be trusted to pay back your debt, why should I trust you with my expensive time?" "I'll make it worth your while." Ranma pulled his soft purse from the back pocket of his silk pants and plucked a fat wad of bills out, unfolding them and laying them neatly on Nabiki's desk. "300,000 yen. Debt paid, correct?" Her mouth was dry, when did he get so much money? "Uh...y-yeah...I think this will cover it nicely." [Not to mention fund an impromptu shopping spree downtown.] "So what do you want?" [Ah, Nabiki, you're so easy to manipulate. Just wave a few bills in front of you and you'd follow me to hell and back, wouldn't you?] He stepped closer and grasped her shoulders for emphases, just as he did downstairs with Kasumi. "Pack a bag with enough clothes for a few days then wait outside with Kasumi by the gate until I some get you. I have someone very important you'll want to meet." She nodded slowly and he released her to hurry gathering clothes. "Forget your school uniform, just casual clothes." She too seemed to notice the air of maturity that hung over him since he left, she too did not protest. The sun was just dipping behind the skyscrapers far in the distance, the bright orange rays of sunlight streaming through the open porch of the Tendo home and illuminating the sitting form of Soun Tendo. He knew that supper was almost ready because the delicious aroma of curry wafted in from the kitchen and so he sat reading the paper in the fading light. At the squeak of a floorboard he raised his smiling face to speak. "Ah, Kasumi when will dinner-YOU!!!?" Soun looked up from his paper and ended up crushing the periodical in his fists. "HOW DARE YOU RETURN HERE RANMA!? For what you have done to my baby girl, I'll see you suffer!" Genma was nowhere in sight to back him up, neither was Happosai for that matter, Soun was all alone in the house. "In all due respect, Soun, shut up!" The Tendo patriarch was shocked by Ranma's casual insult and sputtered furiously for several minutes, thinking of an appropriate retort. "Spare me your pontification on honor and justice, Soun, I've heard it all before. I've only returned to see that two that I cherish more than anything in this world receive their just rewards. As for your daughter, Soun, Akane can drop dead for all I care. Like Kasumi and Nabiki, Akane takes after her father." "Now look here son, I'll not stand by and allow you to insult me like this!" Ranma shifted slightly and Soun's words died in his throat. The figure cloaked itself in a veil of golden light and so sooner was enveloped than he stepped out. No longer did an eighteen year old boy stand in his presence but a thirty-year old man. A man that Soun recognized from the deepest hell of his soul. "H-H-H-H-Hon-Hon-Honda!!??!!" "I go by 'Divus Honturi' now, Soun Tendo. I'm taking Kasumi and Nabiki, you can keep the other piece of trash, the one you spawned." Honturi pulled the Cosmic Xenosol from his sheath and sliced the dinning room table in two, the blade resting precariously between Soun's legs. "Goodbye Soun Tendo." Honturi shifted back into Ranma by the time he appeared outside to escort Kasumi and Nabiki, leaving Soun Tendo to rot in the hell of his own cowardice. "What happened between you and father, Ranma?" "Yeah, spill it Saotome." Ranma closed the door to the Tendo house quietly and approached the perplexed sisters. "Just something that had to be done. Now, if we're all ready why don't we get going, I want to be back in Juuban by nightfall." He caught the crook of their arms in his and literally dragged them through the streets. And so the Tendo house was left in the dusk of it's life, filled only with the cowardice and memories of glories past and the anger of the present. ---??--- "Are you ready?" "As ready as I'll ever be!" "Prepare for chronoleap!" "Farewell, my daughter, may Serenity herself protect you." ---Yamada Home, Nerima--- "How much longer is this going to take, Saotome?" Nabiki readjusted the backpack filled with her clothes and laptop before looking at the house they stopped at. "Hey, isn't this where auntie Yamada lives?" Kasumi came up beside her sister, looking up at the modern house at the corner of main street. "Oh my, we haven't seen auntie Yamada in so long, I do hope she isn't too upset." Trust Kasumi to think of that scenario. Ranma marched straight up to the front door and fished the key from underneath the awning. Both Tendo sisters followed him as he opened wide the doors and helped them both inside. "Trust me, Kasumi, I don't think she'll be upset at all once she sees who it is." The eldest seemed to brighten at the statement and set her bag down at the foot of the steps, her fears effectively debunked. Nabiki was looking into the empty living room, brand new TV, expensive but tasteful furniture, auntie Yamada sure was doing well for herself. Unless...that was it, of course! She smirked as all the pieces fell into place, the reason she couldn't find Ranma in Juuban was that he had been hiding out in their own backyard the entire time! He wasn't with his mother at the Saotome home but was renting this house from the Yamadas, now if she could only fathom where he got the money... Kasumi went straight to the kitchen only to find all four burners ablaze with fine delicacies and fragrant stews. Auntie Yamada was probably a better chief than their mother, the dinner tasted absolutely fabulous, neither too salty nor too sweet yet with just enough of both elements to really bring out the flavor in the food. Since she knew auntie from when she was a little girl, Kasumi knew exactly where the tea set was kept and put on water so the older woman could have a nice cup of tea. It was really the least she could do for the woman who helped her through the death of her mother. It was just after mother died that Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane fell into depression. Each was cast adrift after the loss of their parent until the kindly old woman down the street took them in one day after school and made them tea and homemade cookies. In the time of desperate need, auntie Yamada had helped them all with housework when it was needed, cooking or just for a shoulder to cry on, a motherly figure to talk to, she was there for them. Which was more than what Soun did. Soun was so devastated by his wife's death that he withdrew from the world for the next two years, missing everything of importance during that time, in fact, if it wasn't for auntie Yamada, the Tendo sisters would have never made it through those dark times. Kasumi berated herself for not coming for a visit in so long, it wasn't proper or respectful. The same thoughts were drifted through Nabiki's head as she sat in the tea room while Ranma was upstairs. Auntie Yamada was the first person who made math fun for a young Nabiki, showing her that there was something comforting in the fact that no matter the time or place, arithmetic and mathematics stayed the same, a constant in the sea of chaos. She smiled as she recalled the months after her mother's death spent with Kasumi and Akane, the picnics auntie Yamada would take them on, the movies they'd go to, the hours they'd talk late at night when Daddy had drank too much. After Kimiko's death, Soun had taken to depression and the bottle, so there were numerous times when his drunken tirades became too much for the sisters to handle and so they sought shelter at the Yamada's house. 'Auntie' had only been in her thirties at the time and proved to be the default 'Mother figure' in Nabiki's life. Now that she had returned, Nabiki felt guilty for not visiting in the past four years. Ranma returned from upstairs with auntie Yamada in tow, the thirty-eight year old woman looking beautiful in a lined housedress. "Kasumi, Nabiki, please come and sit with us in the dining room." Nabiki lifted herself out of the plush couch and staggered into the dining room, Kasumi following soon after with a fresh pot of tea. "Hello, auntie Yamada, I'm sorry we haven't visited in so long." Kasumi poured them all tea before sitting next to Nabiki opposite Ranma. "It's just been so hectic these past few years!" The older woman nodded in understanding and both girls could tell she wasn't mad or upset, they could read her like a book. "I understand with Ranma under the same roof." He had the good conscience to look indignant. "I resent that, you've never complained up until this point." "So why did you bring us here, Saotome?" Nabiki munched on a cracker, one hand holding the sweet the other supporting her head. "I doubt it was just to reminice with auntie Yamada." "Yes, that's correct. I have something very important to tell you, something that might be painful to hear but we decided that you had to know." Nabiki raised her hand and waved it in front of his face. "Wait just a minute, 'we'? Since when did you know auntie Yamada, Saotome?" "Since long before you were born, Nabiki." Ranma waited for his statement to settle in before standing and stepping back a little ways from the table. "Watch and learn." He began to glow a soft yellow, the lines of energy swirling around him like a tornado of gold, and raised his arms to the sky. The bands of light coaleced into his body and the color abrupty changed from gold to blue, the same blue as his Moku Takabashi, before bursting apart in a furry of colors. The group closed their eyes at the display, the bright flashes still visible through the thin membranes of their eyelids, and waited until a silver greaved foot stepped from the coccon of power. Honturi stepped forth from the corona and secured the Cosmic Xenosol at his hip. Nuriko Yamada stood from her seat and smoothed her skirt, lightly trotting to his side. Nabiki and Kasumi were still too stunned by Ranma's transformation to comment on their auntie's girlish giggle. She ran to him, collapsing into a fierce embrace as tears dripped slowly off the metal of his breastplate. "Finally! Finally!" She wept as he softly patted her hair. "It's been such a long wait, but finally you all have returned to me!" "It was time that this charade ended. Your senshi duties are needed." Kasumi recovered enough to drop her cup of tea in her lap; Nabiki was still staring. "We have to tell them." She stood on tip-toe to kiss him and a fiery manifestation of her aura snaked out from her body, swirling around the room as she was lifted into the air. She spread her legs and arms out wide, throwing her head back in the meantime, until the tendrils of power attacked her body en masse. Her clothing was ripped away by the sheer force of her transformation and she screamed in joy as her true form stood revealed to her husband. Instead of a thirty-year old woman, there now stood a girl of no more than twenty, with soft dark hair and intelligent brown eyes. Brown eyes that seemed to stare deep within their souls. Eyes that dreged up memories from long, long ago. The girl looked up from the floor at the other girls gawking at her transformation and smiled sweetly. Her Senshi uniform rustled as she took the few steps necessary for her to be in direct view of Kasumi and Nabiki. Honturi stood bravely behind her. "Kasumi, Nabiki, I've missed you so much these past years. My life never felt complete without you...my daughters." ---To be continued---