As they walked into the Tendo compound they both felt it.
Ranma signed and said, "Hello, Shampoo."
With in moment of his saying that, Shampoo's bike landed in the Tendo compound having jumped off the near-by rooftop. She had a few delivery orders in her basket.
Nabiki frowned at Shampoo. The 'extra ingredients' in several of those orders, all Ranma's favorites, just screamed at her magical senses. Even without thought, her magical probes sought them out and neutralized them.
Shampoo, uncaring or more likely unknowning, was smiling and demanded, "There, Husband. Shampoo make picnic lunch for us. We go date now."
Ranma's eyes narrowed as he looked directly at Shampoo and calmly, yet firmly stated, "No."
Shampoo blinked. As far as she knew, Ranma had never out right refused free food. Nor spoke forcedly to anyone, let alone, to her.
Still in a calm, yet firm voice, he stated, "I have more important work to take care of then to waste my time with some kitten, whose playing games. Shampoo-san, you are not my wife, not now, not before, not ever. I am happily married, and we have more then consummated that marriage. It is recognized and blessed by the Heavens, and to interfere with it, is to invoke their wrath."
Shampoo swallowed, this was far worse then any of her nightmares were. Still she had her Laws and Traditions to follow, so she flashed some skin and spoke firmly, "Airen, stop being funny. Airen is Amazon Husband and will obey his Wife."
Ranma sighed and stated, "I am not Amazon anything, Shampoo-san. I only challenged you for food I and my father took out of ignorance. It was you, and you only, that escalated everything. I follow only my conscious and the righteous Emperors."
When her sure-fire technique had failed, Shampoo knew she was in trouble. Always before, she could just show him some cheesecake, or more, and get her way, as an Amazon Warrior should. But now, her technique to fluster him, at least, had failed.
Nabiki's blood was boiling in anger. Amazons, of any kind, had been thorns in their side at every turn. The ignorant, stubborn bitches would always think themselves superior to everything, and then claim mercy when the Truth was slammed over their thick heads. Of course, any mercy from any Amazon was, simply, death. That Shampoo thought her Master was some prize to be taken back to her Village, and then broken into some stud stallion just pissed her off more.
In Tendo righteous anger, Nabiki yelled, "You're not taking my husband anywhere, you honorless, ignorant kitten!"
Both Ranma and Shampoo blinked in confusion at Nabiki's outburst, although for different reasons.
Nabiki's outburst brought Akane from within the house out, and Ukyou who was walking towards the Tendo-ke at a run. Both arrive in time to see and hear Ranma's response.
Which was: Ranma sighed, and said to Nabiki, "Fine... you can play Amazon Warrior too... Just don't expect me to get involved... And if you decide to kill her, try not to leave a body behind. I got a cramp in my writing hand from last time." He faced Shampoo and prayed, "May your next life be better then this one, Shampoo-san." With that, he walked towards the house.
Akane barred his way and confronted him with, "Baka! You're not going to leave my defenseless sister like that."
Ranma blinked in confusion and in a confused voice asked, "Huh? Akane-san, what I do or not, ain't your concern. Besides, there is no doubt as to Nabiki's victory."
Which shocked Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo. Nabiki just smirked.
Shampoo growled at the disrespect her husband was given her, and replied, "Mercenary Girl is no fighter..."
Hamming it up a bit, Nabiki dramatically posed and sung, "I'm a lover, not a fighter."
On more solid ground, Akane added with a hint of glee, "Nabiki isn't a martial artist!"
"Martial Arts isn't the only thing in the world, Tendo-san," Ranma answered with a slight sourness in his world. With that, he pushed Akane to the side and walked in to the house.
Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo's jaws were on the ground, shell-shocked from Ranma's very-un-Ranma-like statement, or rather the Ranma they thought they knew.
Nabiki laughter at their reactions brought the girls' attention back to reality and her.
Shampoo took a stance and threaten, "Give Airen back, Mercenary Girl, or..."
Nabiki smirked and asked in a poor intimation of Shampoo, "Or else what, kitten girl?"
"No fun make of Shampoo," she replied angrily.
"Why not? It's so easy," was Nabiki's reply with a laugh.
Akane was torn. On one hand, she knew she had to defense her oneesan from Shampoo, whom she could take as she was the best martial artists in the world. Yet, on the other hand, it was about time that her thief of a useless sister got taught a lesson in dealing with her betters and the Martial Arts.
Ukyou, on the other hand, knew that she would be creamed if she interfered with Shampoo's fight, but on the other hand, her Ranchan would praise her for saving the mercenary Tendo sister from her own folly. Although, said Mercenary Girl did steal her Ranchan out from under her. Probably tricked him into swearing to serve her as her boy-toy for the rest of his life, while she made money from his sweat and tears, crying for his Ucchan to save him. Let the gaijin bimbo teach the girl a lesson about interfering in the Arts and her betters.
Akane and Ukyou sat down on the steps toward, purposely leaving Nabiki to her fate as they saw it.
Shampoo was a bit worried that Akane and Ukyou would gang up on her of course, neither could truly work together like she and Ranma could. But still, fighting two opponents, plus whatever tricks Mercenary Girl had, was not something Shampoo wished to do. That they had sat down, obviously, leaving Nabiki to her was fine with her. She knew Mercenary Girl was a coward, as all Japanese were. So she hefted her bonbori at the girl and charged at her, thinking she would cower before her.
To the surprise of all those present, Nabiki remained calm and collected, and merely sidestepped Shampoo's attack as if it was nothing.
Shampoo blinked, growled in annoyance that this will take a bit more time, and charged at Nabiki again, a bit quicker this time.
Again, Nabiki merely sidestepped her at each charge.
Shampoo was moving a bit faster then Ukyou's level, still not going full out, and still Nabiki dodged her as if she was some kind of beginner.
If those present were more knowledgeable, they would have noted the seemly similarities between Shampoo's fight with Nabiki and Akane's first fight with onna-Ranma.
Shampoo was getting more and more annoyed with each miss and Nabiki's lack of concern. And then Nabiki smirked at her. Shampoo growled, "No more Miss Nice Girl. Do this Amazon-style now." With that, she took a step back, put one bonbori over her head, pointed at her, and the other one, was raised slightly in front of her. Obvious the over-the-head one was to strike her, while the in front one was to block a defense Nabiki had.
Nabiki's smirk grew.
Shampoo, using her full speed, rushed at Nabiki, with the intention of striking her down with her over-the-head bonbori, and follow up or defend herself with the other.
The sound of metal striking metal rang out over the neighborhood.
Akane and Ukyou could only blink as Nabiki's sword had blocked Shampoo's over-the-head bonbori strike.
After the block, Nabiki jumped out of the way, thus, barely missing Shampoo's follow up.
Shampoo was surprised to see the sword in Nabiki's hand, not to mention that Mercenary Girl seemed to use it correctly and efficiently. Not quite a swordmistress, but up there with Stick Boy. She tried several fake-outs to test Mercenary Girl's defenses, and found them to be solid. She did note that Mercenary Girl did not go on the offensive with her sword, just stuck to defense. She also saw that Mercenary Girl had a calm, almost empty-expression, on her face, almost as if she was in a trance.
Nabiki was sweating on the inside. Although, from without, it did not show, but she was using every trick she had learned just to avoid being hit. Shampoo was faster, stronger, and more skilled then she, and she knew it. But speed and power did not make the match. It had greatly troubled her to spar against her Master, but she was thankful for it now. Even when He punished her severely for not trying her best, it still went against her grain and slave-nature. Especially as her Master's idea of sparring was to use any non-lethal technique to beat the crap out of each other. Even rewarding her with her favorite treat, hot, animalistic sex, where her Master took her as the slavegirl she was, did not help her overcome her slave-nature. But her Master was persisted, and she was thankful, for in sparring with onna-Ranma, she was prepared and ready to take on Shampoo. Even if she did have to use her magic to speed herself up, use what very limited Force ability she had to predict Shampoo's moves, and use a bit of magic to re-enforce her sword, to prevent it from shattering from Shampoo's blows.
Of course, she was smirking at Shampoo, both to hide her fears, and since it was the Ranma-thing to do, she was, after all, the first disciple of Rando Ryu. But she was not a Martial Artist, nor pretended to be, like her imootosan. She was a Mage, who was on the defensive, true, but she was preparing a spell to use that would end this fight quickly.
None of which Shampoo knew. What Shampoo saw was someone, now obviously, trained by Ranma, and seemed to be on her level, in only a month's time. Which was impossible to Shampoo's mind, no one but her Airen was on her level, she only gave him to stoke his ego. Her Airen was impossible to be around when his useless male ego was hurt, the sooner she could remove it, the happier she knew they would be. Of course, the fact that Nabiki was seemly only on the defensive, not taking her seriously, just upset her to no end.
Shampoo growled, "Shampoo ends this now!" And got ready to perform one of her Amazon Special Techniques, which she had been saving to use on her Airen, but now, was annoyed enough to use it on Mercenary Girl.
Nabiki laughed, and replied, "You got that right, kitten-baby."
With that, Shampoo shouted, "Obstacle for Killing!" And she rushed at Nabiki moving so fast, she seemed to blur to Akane and Ukyou's sight. Both paled and looked away from the impending mayhem that was obviously going to follow.
Instead, of metal striking flesh, they heard, metal striking earth. They looked to see what happened. And they were shocked to their core.
The grounds of the Tendo-ke were Shampoo and Nabiki had fought was torn up. Two-third of the way where Shampoo was, and Nabiki stood, was Shampoo's twin bonbouris laying on the ground. Nabiki stood, unharmed, holding neko-Shampoo by the nape of neck and wiggling her friend at her saying in baby-talk, "Naughty, Naughty, kitten-baby. Bad kitten."
Akane and Ukyou could only stare in shock.
Smirking, Nabiki said, "Bad kitten go to room." With that, there was a puff of smoke and neko-Shampoo was gone. To the girls, she said, "Ranma did say the outcome was obvious." With that, she walked into the house.
Nabiki walked into the dining room, sat down, and took a great deal of food that had magically appeared before her.
While Nabiki was eating, Nodoka came into the room. Nodoka was amused to see that Nabiki was using the old Saotome Ryuu Eating technique that her son had perfected. She watched in amusement as Nabiki ate as much as she could, as quickly as she could, the poor girl was obviously starving.
In short while, Nabiki's pace slowed and finally stopped.
Seeing her chance, Nodoka asked, "Nabiki-chan, have you seen my son?"
Through their bond, Nabiki located her Master and answered, "He's in his castle."
Nodoka blinked and asked, "Castle?"
"It's easier to show you, then explain," Nabiki replied. She took her Master's Mother's hand in her right, and with her left took out the spellcard that served as a gate to her Master's sanctum sanctorum.
Nodoka gasped as the spellcard expanded to the side of a double-door gate and opened into a stone walkway. She was half-dragged, half-held back by Nabiki's hand. Nodoka was a bit surprised at how strong, physically, Nabiki was.
The walkway was completely made of stone, from floor to ceiling, no obvious source of light, or temperature regulation, but the walkway was very comfortable and well lite. The floor stones were darker then the walls, and the ceiling stones were lighter then the walls.
The walkway seemed to go on forever, or so Nodoka thought, but after a few moments, they reached a doorway. On either side of the doors were two female stone statues stood, seemly guarding it. The statues seemed familiar to both girls.
Nabiki blinked, the walkway had never before been closed to her. And she knew those two statues weren't statues, but Living-Earth Element Golems.
For some reason, whenever Ranma dealt with elementals or elemental chi/magic, the end result would be, almost always, female in some form. If it wasn't, on the very rare occasions, they were hermaphrodite in appearance. And even then, when working with Fire Element, they would seemly take on the appearance of Akane, Water Element would take on Kasumi's appearance, while Air Element would take hers, and she had originally thought that the Earth-Element had taken on onna-Ranma's appearance, but now with Nodoka at her side, she realized that it was actually Nodoka's appearance that the Earth-Elements would take. Mother Earth... she got it, now.
The Living-Earth Element Golems were formable opponents, any metal or wood against them could easily be absorbed into them, even if charged or charmed to explode, as no explosion would actually occur. The Golems were completely immune to most magics. And any damage done, could be easily repaired quickly, even if suspended off the ground. On the ground, they could absorb additional Earth-Elemental material, and use it to create weapons, shields, or body-patches. And if you touched one, they could suck anyone or anything inside themselves, enduring them harmless, captured and imprisoned within. They were as soft as clay, yet, stronger then any ceramic polymer, and could assume any shape needed or desired by Ranma.
Nabiki also knew that within the courtyard of the castle, as well as the walkways leading up to it, all magic was sealed. So she did not have any magic to use here, if the Golems decided not to let her and Nodoka pass.
Fortunately, Ranma had left instructions for the Golem to allow Nabiki and his Mother to pass, so as the two approached them, they opened the doors, and closed them after they passed.
Nabiki and Nodoka thought they heard the two Golems giggle as they closed the doors. Only, Golems did not giggle.
The two stopped and starred at the courtyard and Castle, for two different reasons.
Nodoka could only stare at the Castle, done in the Yamato Era style, which was seven stories tall, and looked majestic. It was exactly as her father had described it to her in the bedtime stories. It was the Hosuseri Castle, built by Takagi-no-Kami, in all its glory. It was the Castle from which the Hosuseri Clan served as Shoguns and Daimyos of the Land throughout Japanese History. She recalled the stories of the Castle had withstood sieges and countless invasions, and she see could see why, now, for herself. Her father would tell her only the Palace of the Emperor surpassed the Castle in splendor. Although, seeing the Castle, she was not sure how that could be.
After taking in the Caste, she saw the courtyard, which was very spacious, filled with gardens, trees, wells, and open spots that could be used for various purposes, such as relaxation, exercise, or picnics.
Enclosing the courtyard were mighty walls, seemly made from the same material as the Living-Earth Elemental Golems. They could easily take a cannon-ball assault without any problems, and just as equally easily take any direct magical attack as well, even better then the Golems.
Nabiki was starring not become of the Castle and its grounds, she, too, had been awed in seeing them for the first time. Her interest laid in the fact that the courtyard was filled with activities. Water-spirits, shaped like Kasumi, were carrying various items out from the Castle and through the gates in the walls. While Fire-spirits, shaped like Akane, where carrying tools and building materials all over the place. Air-spirits, shaped like herself, were cleaning the messes caused by all the activities, while the Earth-spirits, shaped like her Master's Mother, were assisting the others as they could.
Neither could spot Ranma in the courtyard.
"Let's check the Castle for my son," Nodoka suggested.
Nabiki shook her head, "He's not there." Seeing Nodoka's look, she clarified, "There's a warm feeling from the Castle when Ranma is within. I'm not feeling that. So he must be outside."
"Outside?" Nodoka echoed.
Nabiki's answer was seemly to take Nodoka's hand and headed out through the nearest wall-gate.
Once through the wall-gate, passed the no man's land that surrounded the walls, they saw a grass prairie that seemed to go over for as far as the eye could see.
Nabiki explained, "We don't know where the Castle actually resides... My theory is its somewhere within the kami-plane. Both the Castle and surrounding areas response to Ranma's wishes. The grass prairie, for the most part, seems to be endless. I've flew my top speed for days without finding any indication of an end to the prairies."
At Nodoka's worried look, Nabiki added, "However, when walking with Ranma, to go on a picnic, we walked out of the East Gate, and with in an ten minutes, we were at the edge of an also seemly endless forest, where every tree or plant that we had come across grew. Even the mystical Senzu Bean plant, which we had heard only grew under very extreme, very rare conditions, grows here in abundance. Doesn't matter how difficult or rare something is in its native soil, here, it grows in abundance."
Nabiki smiled as she recalled a memory and mentioned, "Through the North-Gate, the grass prairie gives away to the most beautiful beach with a seemly endless sea. The sea is filled with both fresh-water and salt-water fishes and sea creatures. We've spent several picnics there. Just catching what we wish to eat, and either roast it on the beach, or make sushi out it. The water is just warm enough, not to activate Ranma-nushi's Jusenkyou curse, but not so warm that you have to adjust to it."
She added, to be complete, "Through the West-Gate, it gives away to a seemly endless mountain range. The mountains are good for skiing, climbing, and possess a richness of minerals and ores. There are even mystical ores and magical gems in the mountains." Nabiki laughed. "Lina-sensei would have given anything to be able to spend any amount of time in those mountains... She loves exploring, and finding rare magical gems and such."
Nabiki's face took on a bit of edge and her voice, a warning, as she finished with, "Through the South-Gate, you need to be careful. There is a volcano passed the grass prairie, that's very active. You need to be care of the lava flows and the chemical geysers. There are several thunderstorms going in that area as well. However, if you're careful, there are lovely hot springs, where you can relax in. There are also some caves that act as natural stream baths. In its own way, it's as beautiful as the other quadrants, but there, you need to be cautious."
Nodoka could only nod and wonder about such a place, especially how Nabiki had said "seemly endless" a lot. But that was for later, now, she wished to find her son.
As if the thought had summoned him, Ranma's voice asked, "Enjoying the scenery?"
Ranma stood before the two Saotome girls, one by blood and the other by marriage, and smiled at them. He led them a short distance away, where a table and chairs had been set up. On the table a map of Tokyo rested. The map was more detailed then any map Nodoka had ever seen.
The girls could see various cots, beddings, and tents being set up by the various elemental-spirits. A few Fire-Akanes and Air-Nabikis were setting up campfires, while Water-Kasumis and Earth-Nodokas set up cooking utensils and got some soups and stews that could be easily consumed, yet filling, and would stay without attention for a while. One Air-Nabiki made sure everything was just 'right', and then winked at the real Nabiki, her mother-in-law, and her Master.
"Ranma-chan," Nodoka asked, "What's all this?"
The elementals stopped, gave Ranma sympathetic looks, and dark looks towards Nodoka.
Ranma, himself, whined with, "Mom..." And then continued with, "It's a field hospital. We're reorganizing the devil hunter clans, the mikos and the like... to help out, we will give each a ki-crystal pendants, that will allow them, if they're injured to come here to be healed, or simply to communicate with each other and us."
"Why not use the Castle?" Nodoka inquired.
"The Castle is Hosuseri Clan property," Ranma stated. "Out here, is neutral ground, where everyone can feel safe. And if, some demon or unauthorized person used the ki-crystal to get here, they can be easily trapped in the prairie, without endangering anyone else. Which reminds me..."
Ranma reached towards the table, and presented his mother with a pendant. The pendant ended with a blue-greyish crystal, which seemed to glow and pulse, much like the life-stone that was on Nabiki's collar/choker.
When Nodoka put it on, she squealed and exclaimed, "It's warm..."
"There's a bit of my ki in it," Ranma explained with a smile.
Nabiki looked happy at that, so Nodoka let it go, since her son's explanation did not truly explain anything to her why the pendant was warm to the touch, although, it was a very nice feeling between her breasts. It invoked memories of her breast-feeding Ranma and just hold him as a baby.
"You need to just hold the pendant and think of the Castle, and you will be teleported to the Castle, Mother," Ranma stated. "The other pendants will only teleport to here, unless the ki-signature does not match the person it was given to, then it will teleport them further out. Groups will be kept together, while individuals will be separated a bit of distance away, in case of any problem that might arise."
Ranma reached out, took both Nabiki and Nodoka's hand, and returned them to Tendo's dining room, which was empty. Nodoka went off to check on her husband, wanting some quality time with him.
Kasumi was curious as to why she could not find her sister, Auntie or Ranma-kun. Not knowing what to do, she spent the time in her room going over the various pamphlets and trying to decide what classes to take. She was also a bit worried about how the family was going to pay for it all, until she say the included budget that showed that her classes and everything would be covered completely, even leaving her a bit to spend on herself and food/snacks.
She was surprised to note, that she had been studying the pamphlets for over an hour or so, and decided to head to the dining room for a snack.
As she got close to the dining-room, she heard Ranma called out, "Ka-chan, come here."
"Hai, Ranma-sama," Kasumi replied and walked briskly into the room. It was only after she entered the room, did she noticed she had used the formal/superior -sama suffix with Ranma's name, as well as, her haste to get to him. But she stood with pride before him, although, the blush did not help, neither did the smirk on Nabiki's face.
"Turn around," Ranma commanded. Both Nabiki and Kasumi did so, and then when she realized that her husband had only meant for Kasumi to do so, she turned around fully, to watch.
Ranma lifted up Kasumi's hair off her neck and placed a similar pendant around her neck.
Kasumi moaned in pleasure at the contact of Ranma's hands and the warm pendent between her breasts. Unable to help herself, she leaned back a bit, to make greater contact with Ranma's body.
Nabiki smirked at her oneechan, even as she wished she were the one leaning against her Master.
With a bit of concern, Ranma whispered in Kasumi's ear, "You okay, Ka-chan?"
"Heavenly," was Kasumi's answer in a dreamy voice.
Ranma blinked in confusion, shook his head a bit, and stated, "Don't take the pendant off, for any reason, it will protect you and take you to a safe place if there is trouble."
Dreaming of being with her mother, for that was the safest place she knew, Kasumi replied, "Hai, Ranma-sama."
Ranma eased Kasumi onto the bench, in front of the dining-room table, and said, "Nabs, take care of oneechan, while I go delivery the other pendants."
Nabiki nodded, and after Ranma left, she and Kasumi had a bit of sister-talk including: boys, sex, fashion, movies, what being Ranma's sex slave was like, clothing, food, cooking, family, and friends.
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