As Nabiki was telling her oneechan all about the joys of having a Master and serving him fully, there was a pop over the table, and Essy, the House-Elf, was standing there with a huge packet in her hands.
Seeing the House-Elf, Kasumi screamed and hide behind Nabiki.
Essy's eyes went wide and she said, "You'se not Lord Ranma! Where's Lord Ranma?"
Seeing the House-Elf talk, Kasumi fainted.
Nabiki taught her unconscious oneechan and teleported her to her room. She turned to Essy and stated, "Lord Ranma isn't here, why did you think he was? And why didn't you sense... Ahh... I see.. the pendant has Ranma's ki within it, masking Kasumi's..."
Nabiki gathered the troubled House-Elf into her arms and calmed her down as she would a child, telling her it was not her fault, and just holding her with care.
A few moments of comfort, Nabiki released Essy and took up the huge package, which was addressed to "Lord Ranma Saotome." Curious, she untied the knot that held the package closed, and papers exploded all over the way. Surprised, she jump back, only to be caught by Ranma.
Ranma used the Force to catch all the papers and sort them. He used a trick his Jedi Master had taught him for dealing with such situations.
Words were codified thoughts, and written words were these thoughts committed to some physical medium. The commitment to a medium left an impression upon that medium. Depending on the author and medium, that impression could be very weak or very strong. Since the impression is based on the thought, and not the word, the language of the message did not matter, only the intention of the message. So it was only a matter of grouping similar intentions together, just as one would group by color or other sorting criterion.
The documents were... enlightening, and troubling as well.
One pile of the documents related that the Kuonji Clan was a clan of ninjas, who specialized in infiltration through food-services, both Traditional and Modern Era, some of its credit assignments, and relationship to other Clan, including past and current Blood-Feuds. Nothing they had not guessed at, nor surprised them.
What did surprise them was that it seemed that Mister Murai Kuonji was worse then Genma. There were several official written agreements that Mister Kuonji's offspring would marry the offspring of several Clans, when Ukyou come of Age, in order to end various Blood-Feuds. And there were more engagement agreements, also in writing, engaging Ukyou to other people, all dating prior to Ranma's first meeting with her, totaling twenty-five, and there were more, afterwards, for both genders. Records indicate, after meeting Ranma and Genma, Murai Kuonji started to offer off his daughter, as a son, several years before Ukyou decided, as she claimed on her own, to live as a boy. Yet, the paper-trail seemed to indicate that it was not Ukyou's idea, but Murai's, as he had always wanted a son, instead of Ukyou.
Also surprising was the receipts and documentation that clearly showed that, yes, Genma did have the Kuonji yatai for a short time, but that was only to have it fixed, improved, and returned to Mister Kuonji. Thus, denying Ukyou's claim that Genma stole her dowry. Yes, he and Ranma went off, without Ukyou, with the yatai, but within a week's time, it was returned, better then new.
It was Genma's style to take something, as Happosai would, then return it or replace it, which would be more difficult, to distance himself from his Master. Yes, Genma had a conscious, weak as it was, plus, he worried what Nodoka's reaction would be, for he did love her dearly. Plus, any fool could steal something, but it took a true Master to return an item without being caught. Of course, Genma did not always replace said item into its proper place and condition. Items that were damaged, were replaced, and compensated for. Old Scrolls were copied, old yatais repaired, money left for food-items, and so on. It was this second half of Genma's training, that he did not admit to or acknowledge, but was done for the Nodoka's sake, as well as to distance himself from his Master, Happosai, and to keep his Martial Artist Code, such as it is.
Kuonji's Honor, even before Ranma had met Ukyou Kuonji, was tangled up in empty oaths and conflicting written agreements, more so, afterwards.
Upon entering their room, Nabiki stripped naked, and went to the computer to scan in all the documents, receipts, and papers. While she did that, Ranma made copies of everything, and stored the originals in a secure place within his Castle.
Afterwards, the two got into bed, with Nabiki's head resting against Ranma's shoulder, with his arm wrapped around her, holding her against his side.
Sighing, Ranma said, "You know this doesn't change anything..."
"Nani," Nabiki remarked surprised. "But if the Kuonji Clan has other arrangements for Ukyou-san.... and her claim such as it was, anyway..."
"Does not change how Ukyou-san feels," Ranma answered. "She blames me and Pops for ruining her life. That her own father ruined it, seemly before she was born, won't matter... even assuming she feels us. Which, I'm sad to say, is unlikely."
"But the facts," Nabiki began.
"Has little to do with the Heart," Ranma replied. "Ukyou-san must know some of what we learned, and wishes to use the engagement as her way out... The easiest way, would be for Pops to adopted her... thus, she would be free from any Kuonji commitments."
"But Ukyou-san wants more then to be your sibling," Nabiki remarked.
"And yet, she expects me to give up my life so she can run a restaurant," Ranma stated sourly. "She's in love with the idea of being love with me... but has no more understanding what it entails then either Kuno or any of the others. Especially, now. Of course, even if somehow, she choose to accept the adoption option, her Clan troubles will just follow her and be visited upon us as well."
"Ukyou-san has made her bed," Nabiki said gently, "Now, she has to lay in it."
Cologne had a bad feeling. It was not like Shampoo to miss the supper crowd. She should be happy that Shampoo was sending all that time with her Airen, but something told her that was not the case.
neko-Shampoo meowed her frustration to the World, both in her lost to the Mercenary Girl as well as her seemingly inability to change back.
Her meow brought her great-grandmother over to her to see what the problem was. With a bit of humor in her voice, Cologne remarked, "Not hot enough?"
neko-Shampoo could only nodded her cat-head as best she could, and Cologne put a pot of water on the stove, and let it sit for a while.
After testing the water, Cologne poured it over neko-Shampoo, and frowned at the lack of change. She checked the water temperature, and tried again, no change.
"Most strange," Cologne remarked.
Cologne shouted out to Mousse, "We're closing! Now!"
Mousse shouted back, "There are customers here..."
Cologne repeated in a firm voice, "We're closed! Now!"
There was some commotion in the front area of the store and then silence. Cologne picked up neko-Shampoo, headed towards the dining area, and shouted out, "Clear some of the tables away, I need space to examine Shampoo properly."
There were a few crashes and a worried Mousse's voice asking, "What's wrong with Shampoo-sama?"
Cologne ignored the boy; saw a large place created by throwing tables out of the way. Although, it was the Amazon thing to do, she would need to punish the boy for the damage, afterwards.
She set neko-Shampoo in the center, and told her not to move as she examined neko-Shampoo's form, pressure points and ki. She asked her grand-granddaughter to take to do certain things to see if her ki was affected, as well as how well she could response to her.
After several tests, she told neko-Shampoo to remain as she was, and pulled Mousse with her to the store-room, there she had him carry everything but a book out to the dining room.
Once there, she had Mousse put everything down and sorted out a bit, she informed him that she had some important things to do, and his presence would only interfere. He was to leave and not return until morning, and if she caught him around before then, she would kill him. It would not do for Mousse to know of Amazon magic, or any male for that matter. By Council decree, any male that merely witnessed Amazon magic was killed on the spot. Of course, such magic was very rare, which Cologne, herself, never understood. And then the Council also was divided on the issue. Many on the Council claimed magic of any kind was cursed and only weak males wasted their time with it. But cologne knew better, magic was just another form of ki manipulation, not some non-sense about spirituality and mystical mana that did not exist. Still, very few Amazons could do "Magic", even those trained in ki as she was, and none of her offsprings had any inclination for it either, although, Shampoo had shown signs of having the ability to manipulate her ki, internally, just before all this non-sense started.
Still, she was cautious, she pressed a few pressure points on neko-Shampoo rendering her unconscious, and then using chalk paste (easier to use then chalk dust) to form a circle around neko-Shampoo. She used a bit of ki to infuse the chalk paste with power. She then turned to page one thousand, six hundred ninety three of the large tome, and began to read off the page. The 'spells' were more advance ki-sensing probes that could detect more then what she had used previously.
The 'spells' did seem detect something she must have missed before, but it did not help her in the least.
Turning to page two thousand, four hundred sixty two, she tried a few more 'spells' to see if she could trigger a change with her ki. Nothing happened, but she did not expect anything to. She was simply going through the checklist in dealing with unexpected reactions of a Jusenkyou curse.
That two was something that was not shared, even among Warriors. The Joketsuzoku Amazons had stayed long enough by Jusenkyou to develop several techniques to help deal with its curses. There were stories, whispered among the Elders, of certain Warriors that were cursed and claimed they could control their curses, but such stories, where just that, stories.
Cologne had to rest after spending several long hours, trying various 'spells' and such to restore her great-granddaughter without any success.
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