Akane woke up groggy, and looked around her room. Something had distrubed her beauty sleep. If it was that preverted baka again, she was going to use her "Hentai-Slaying Punch" on him, no matter what she promised Kasumi.
If only she had not promised Kasumi to seal it away, after she used it on that Mega-Pervert. At least, there is one pervert who would not reproduce, or remain to taint Furinkan with his perverseness.
She did not understand why she had to seal her favorite technique away. That Mega-Pervert was just faking it, to lure innocent nurses into his perverted designs.
She huffed in disgust at the old memory, and looked at the clock. She let loose several profanities that she remembered her idol, Reiko Yonai-sama, used when she found out she had been betrayed by her employers and they had set a trap for her.
She ran out of her room, still dressing, and headed to the dining room.
A few more profanities flew out of her mouth, as she bumped, tripped, and fumbled her way towards breakfast. She did not know what the profanities meant, but sounded good when Yonai-sama said them after she was poisoned, drugged, and fought against a horde of evil ninjas. Her thoughts drifted to other thoughts as she recalled that Yonai-sama had not survived that encounter. She had mourned the lost of her heroine, until Yonai-sama appeared in the next movie.
As she finally made it to the dining room, she stopped and stared.
Sitting in Ranma's usual spot was Nabiki, wearing nothing but a loose kimono, which was open enough to show that she was not wearing anything underneath said kimono. It was a kimono similar to the one Yonai-sama wore on her assignment to seduce the reluctant Daimyo. How Nabiki, such an unworthy one as her, got such a fine kimono was beyond her. Moreover, it upset her. If anyone in their family should have something like that, it should be her, for she was the Family Heir after all.
If that was not enough, Nodoka-san was practically in Nabiki's lap. She was wearing her usual kimono, but it was as loose as Nabiki's, and was showing anyone present she had nothing on underneath it.
And Kasumi....
Kasumi was wearing a kimono similar to the one that Yonai-sama wore when she was sent to seduce a shy samurai on her master's orders. She was sitting too close to Nabiki and Nodoka, whispering in hushed voices that even with her "Listening For Hentai" technique that she learned from watching Yonai-sama, could not catch.
Even without her technique, she knew what they were whispering about.... Her.
After all, what else would any in the Tendo-ke talk about but its wonderful, beautiful, powerful, goddess of an Heir, such as herself.
That they did not even notice her divine presence annoyed her, but her desire for food took priority. Out of habit, she sat waiting for Kasumi to serve her, as it was only proper. Kasumi was still whispering with Nabiki and Nodoka, having failed to pay the proper homage.
Before she could protest such an injustice, her favorite food magically appeared before her. Although this was now a common occurrence, Akane still did not like it. Magical food always spelled danger or trouble for Yonai-sama. Like that time that wizard banished the conjured food, leaving her weak and starved. Or that sorceress tricked her into eating poison, which she transfigured into an apple.
Still she ate the food, as her family ate it too. Of course, she still could not figure out what happened to the kitchen. What was she thinking about?
She did not recall, but it had to be Nabiki's fault.
Nodoka and Kasumi should be paying attention to her like that, not the worthless Nabiki. Kasumi and her father knew their place, but not Nabiki. She was the Heir of the Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, not Nabiki. She had spent the last two years working on being the Heir, and she was not going to allow Nabiki to just waltz in and take over. She ran every morning, broke bricks, and watched Yonai-sama's movies to get where she was.
And what had Nabiki been doing? She was a wannabe Yazuka: taking money from everyone, gambling, trading gossip, having sex with every boy around, spying on everyone, making up stories about her, conspiring with Kuno-sempai to make her life miserable, and that was just what she knew about. Who knew what evil lurked in the heart of the Perverted?
"Where are you going, Akane-chan," Kasumi's voice cut through her thoughts.
Akane blinked stupidly and replied as if it was obvious, "To school, oneechan."
"But, Akane-chan", Nodoka-san's voice added, "It's Sunday, there are no classes today."
Akane growled at Nodoka's use of the suffix 'chan' as non-family, she had no right do to so. She blinked in confusion and repeated, "Sunday?"
All three women at the table nodded in agreement.
"But?" Akane asked confused.
"The day after Saturday is Sunday, imooto-chan," Nabiki remarked as if speaking to a child. "And yesterday was Saturday."
Akane growled and head to the Dojo, as she felt she needed to train.
She surpassed her old record of the number of bricks that she broke in an hour by four. She knew she could have done more, but she had to get each new brick from outside each time.
Feeling better, she now felt she could challenge Nabiki and went in searching for her.
She found Nabiki in the back yard practicing some kind of kata she only vaguely recognized as one that baka-Ranma would do to show-off.
In true Nerimian fashion, Akane shouted, "Nabiki! Prepare to Die!"
Nabiki felt her sister's rage, long before she felt her presence, so it was no surprise to her when she then heard, "Nabiki! Prepare to Die!"
Similarities between her imooto-chan and a certain Pigboy were too obvious to comment on.
As Ryoga ran for his life from a horde of hentai women were after him, he sneezed, tripped, and cried out, "This is all Nabiki's fault!"
When Ryoga made his escape from the Temple of Eternal Love Slavery several days later, he carried off a statue in the crook of his arm. He did not move that fast since he was walking bow-legged, and had chains on his wrists and ankles that were still connected to cement blocks.
Nabiki just looked at Akane as she jumped at her. The Sith in her just wanted to kill her, but she knew that her Master would be very displeased if she gave into that instinct. A simple jump to the side, using neither Force nor ki, was all that was required to avoid Akane's attack.
In a tired voice she asked, "What is it this time, hime-chan?"
Akane screamed as she tried to kick her, "Don't call me that!"
Nabiki just smirked, she thought calling Akane a little princess was very fitting.
Akane screamed, "You're not going to cheat this time, Nabiki. Cheaters never win!"
She sighed. Any skill above or better then Akane, she considered cheating. Sad really.
She felt Cologne's approach long before the aged thrice-accursed ghoul could sense her, or watch what was going on. She did not wish the old ghoul to know what she was truly capable of. She needed to save those aces for a later date. An overwhelming show of force would just encourage Cologne and her thrice-accursed nonsense.
Several techniques flashed through her mind that would end this farce Akane called a challenge quickly, without Cologne sensing anything. Of course, later Akane would cry foul, but she was going to do that regardless of the outcome of the match.
Akane then screamed while striking a very Kuno-like pose, sealing her fate, "Cheater! Cheaters shall never win! I, Akane Tendo, Heir of the honorable and noble Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu shall smite you! In the Name of Justice and Love, I will punish you!"
A red aura of rage surrounded Akane with her pronouncement. Flowers that Kasumi spent months taken care of wilted in Akane's presence. Where her aura touched the ground, burnt marks could be seen.
Kasumi drawn by Akane's shouting, ran out, saw Akane and her demonic aura, and ran back in. She kneeled before her mother's shrine and began to pray for Akane's soul and family.
Nabiki's blood boiled over what Akane truly thought of her Master and what heinous acts she wished to inflict upon him. Damn it all to the Abyss, her imooto-san had been twisted into a thrice-cursed Amazon. As far as she was concerned, the only good Amazon was a broken one. From experience she knew, the only Amazon she would allow to live was one who knew her place at her Master's feet.
Nabiki Saotome was pissed, and that was not a good thing. Things like mountain ranges, dragons, asteroids, and entire cultures tended to disintegrate when Nabiki Saotome was pissed.
The only thing that saved the Isle of Japan from going the way of Atlantis was Ranma's clamping down on her magic and limiting her abilities to normal Nerimian levels.
Crunch.
The sound of Akane's fist breaking upon impact with Nabiki's stomach could be heard, and caused Cologne to move faster to reach the Tendo-ke.
Nabiki just grinned at her stunned imooto, and delivered a palm attack to her stomach.
The impact caused Akane to go flying back several meters, where she fell on to her ass.
Nabiki could sense that Cologne had just arrived, which only fueled her anger more.
Enraged at her humiliation and Nabiki's sacrilege, Akane blindly charged at Nabiki. Each of Akane's strikes missed Nabiki by inches.
Nabiki had a cocky grin on her face, mocking Akane's efforts to hit her. Even without the Force, she knew where Akane's fists and feet where going long before Akane knew. With Cologne watching with great interest, she had to limit herself to just dodging, and not flattening her Amazon of an imooto-san.
Cologne was greatly surprised to see the middle Tendo daughter dodging the youngest Tendo with such ease (even using a bit of style). She estimated that Nabiki had to be above that weak-girl, Ukyo in terms of skill and power. Fortunately, as Nabiki lacked the Amazon Traditions and Secrets, so she would not be able to advance much further and be a threat to her Shampoo.
She also wondered how Son-in-Law could have advanced her so far and so fast. No matter how good the boy was, he was still but a mere boy. Too wild and arrogant for his own good, but it would just make him all the more sweeter as the plaything he would become once he was finally brought to heel. In the meantime, the boy was a great source of amusement, and there was no rush.
Still, the only conclusion that fit was that some other Amazon Mistress must have taken the girl in hand while Son-in-Law was away, which troubled her greatly. First and foremost, there were an unknown number of Amazons, probably from another tribe, operating within her sphere of influence without her permission or knowledge. Secondly, these same mysterious Amazons were training Nabiki, for reasons unknown. All she could say about the girl was that she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.
She watched as Nabiki dodged and humiliated Akane, trying to see what style she was using.
She got frustrated after several moments as she realized she could not pin down what style the middle Tendo daughter was using. It was not any Amazon Style or one of the variations of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. Happosai's version was nothing but a joke. It was Happosai's aura of perversion and disregard for others that made him so dangerous. Genma took Happosai's teaching to the next level, putting it on par with any shinobi style she knew of. Genma was aptly named, 'Dark Horse,' indeed. And then Son-In-Law took that to its next level.
The difference between the two Tendo children where like day and night to the train eye of Cologne. Clearly, Akane was only taught the basics of the Lower Art by a poor teacher, while Nabiki was trained by the Best.
This was very troubling to Cologne. The Neko-ken, uncertainty of Genma's true nature and what resources he could call upon, and the very nature of Nerima had cautioned her from simply drugging the boy and returning him to his proper place chained to Shampoo's bed as it was traditionally done.
And then, Cologne saw it.
Its glow was hypnotic.
A glow that pulsed with the beat of a human heart.
There can only one thing that looked like that, held a person's ki, and pulsed with one's heart.
A Life-stone.
A thing of Legend.
A thing of Power.
The story had been passed down from Elder to Elder, as part of the Forbidden Lore not told to any but an Elder, on their third anniversary of being made an Elder of their People.
The story speaks of the seven elders of the Amazons, who were the greatest of them all, virtual goddesses of their individual domains. These Seven Elders of Legend were told of a prophecy of the coming of Saffron against the Amazons of a thousand years ago. Those Elders called for a yearlong tournament of all the Amazon Warriors in all seven Amazon Nations. During that year, the seven Elders created a Life-stone, using their own ki and that was bleed off all the energy of the tournament.
This Life-stone was given to the Champion of the Tournament, Cologne's many times removed grandmother, who used it to defeat Saffron and forced him to swear never to come again against the Amazons. A peace that had lasted to this day.
That Life-stone was but a pale comparison to the one Cologne saw upon the neck of the middle Tendo daughter.
This Life-stone seem to contain a storm of vast power.
If she would possess it, not only would she be more powerful then the upstart Musk Emperor and Saffron combined, but she would have absolute control over whoever's ki was used to make it. Whether it was Nabiki, by some miracle, or whichever Amazon Mistress that was training her.
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