Nice Sprites for Scary Monsters [Ranma 1/2]

So here's this thing I cooked up one day.

- - -

Disclaimer: Despite the inspiration for the title, this fanfic contains no dropping of the bass or anything resembling it. That said, this is just a story meant to have fun with the characters and setting. Please take any of your half formed criticisms and shove them straight up your ass. Thanks.

Nice Sprites for Scary Monsters
A One Shot of Feels and Madness brought to you by the Anonguy Workshop

Sometimes, you could almost set your watch to it, or so Ranma would swear. In those rare moments of quiet, where he could breathe, he would see Nabiki staring off into the space. Not watching TV or doing much of anything. Just sitting there quietly, looking out past the horizon, like a samurai contemplating some deep philosophy.

It was rare, to see her in an almost humanizing light, but then he’d swiftly remember her usual misdeeds and stop looking. Which is sad, because then he could see her almost start to cry. Her face would inevitably quiver, lips trembling as she fought herself down. A sob or two would wrack her body and she’d seem for all the world on the verge of a total meltdown.

But no one was there to see it, because this was the path she had decided.

This was the fate she assumed, the long and lonely road. No one would be there to dry her tears and tell her it would be ok. No one would give her the courage to hold her head up high. No one would be there, to take her in their arms and hold her until the pain subsides.

But that meant that no one would die because of her. Be kidnapped because of her. Be hurt because of her. And that was what she had wanted, why she was who she was now. If in the moments before the breakdown you could look into her eyes, you’d swear they belonged to someone who had seen it all.

Maybe because she had, but that was a different story of a different time. A time where everything was golden and nothing could hurt her. A time when she was all but invincible.

A time when she didn’t need someone to dry her tears, because she had no reason to cry.

- - -
It was Thursday, a day Ranma always hated. Mainly because it was usually review day in English class and ugh he wanted to declare war on America and the rest of the English speakers on the planet for making him go through it. Now don’t get it twisted, it was his best subject and he crushed the class like it was lunch. It was just the fact that the teacher was worse than he was just compounded things.

Also, yesterday had been the end of another farce that left him embarrassed and hating his lot in life. It had actually started last Thursday too, which was just perfect in the universe hates you kind of sense. But somehow, he had gotten engaged to Nabiki after some minor snafu with Akane that was by all rights minor as shit.

Man, he didn’t know what to do with that girl sometimes.

Okay, so they made up and everything which was great. What was vexing him at the moment was he really didn’t get even with Nabiki for the shit she pulled on him. He had let things slide in the past but it seemed his kindness was taken for weakness. Which meant he had to step up from his last attempt to get even with her.

But how? Giving a taste of her own medicine was out. He didn’t own a camera and odds were long anyone would buy pictures of her anyways. Come to think of it, he really didn’t know enough about Nabiki outside of the fact she liked money to come up with an appropriate punishment in accordance to the laws of karma and convenience.

He’d have to talk to Akane about this later, he was sure she’d know something and she’d have to be ticked at her sister.

- - -

“You want to what, Ranma?” Akane asked, when he confronted her at lunch about it.

“I wanna get back at Nabiki for that whole mess last week plus a lot of other stuff I’ve been letting slide because it’d be too much work to go after her.” Ranma replied, punching fist into palm.

“And how do you plan to do that?” This had better be good.

“I dunno.”

Akane nearly fell over. “You don’t know?!”

“Why do you think I’m telling you about it?” Ranma answered, managing to fight off his embarrassment. “You’re her sister, you should have all kinds of dirt on her that no one else does.”

Akane sighed and put aside her bento.

Ranma grew concerned, as he wasn’t expecting this reaction.

“I’m not angry.” She reassured him, before sighing again. “In most other situations, you’d be right. I should know a lot of juicy dirt on her to use to my benefit. But I don’t.”

“You don’t even know your own sister’s secret weaknesses?! What kind of little sister are you!?” Ranma was only kidding to try and lighten the mood but it only made it worse.

“I don’t know alright?! She’s not even that secretive of a person, she just doesn’t do anything that’d be good revenge material okay?” Akane let go of her defensiveness and relaxed. “And I’m not trying to protect her. She could use a good prank to put her into her place.”

“But if we have nothing to use then that won’t happen.”

Akane frowned before brightening. “I’m sure Kasumi knows something.”

- - -

It had been a while since she had done this, but like any person with a scab, Nabiki couldn’t help but pick at it. Sometimes, she needed to be reminded why she hurt herself this why. Why she didn’t just disappear into the ether when that had happened. She looked at the box of letters on the table in front of her and took a long time to pull one out. She’d need courage for this.

The letter was clearly from a child, helped by their parents in making it readable. The scrawl was kinda cute in that fivesy kind of way. There was a poor drawing of the child, a boy, with his parents. Nabiki looked around for a second, before she began to read the letter quietly.

`Dear Tendo-san,

I’m writing this letter to let you know that Papa has recovered from his injuries. Today, he picked me up for the first time since his accident and held me aloft. Mama said it was only possible because of you, so thank you very much! I hope you are doing well and have a great day!

-Hiroshi `

“I’ve had better.” Nabiki muttered to herself, fighting off the smile of relief so no one could see it. The boy’s father had nearly lost both of his arms during an incident a few years back. She still saw it in her dreams sometimes. Sometimes, they stayed dreams. Others...

She bit her lip and pulled another out. It was awfully official looking. A note from the Prime Minister? That was rare.

`Tendo-san,

It is with great joy that I write you this letter, for today, the final victim of that horrible tragedy has been released from the hospital. Words cannot express how much thanks this country has for what you have done. I hope this letter finds you in good spirits, and I extend my fullest thanks and admiration for you. Though, I understand there was some difficulty with how it ended on your end, I will not burden you with any empty talk of you returning to your duties. You have done enough. Rest and be proud.

-Prime Minister Ishikawa`

“I can try,” Nabiki whispered, as she leaned back to look at the sky. “But all I got is an empire of dirt for my troubles.” That was enough for now, she could pick at her scab more later as she placed the lid back on the box of letters.

From a distance, two random kids from Furinkin looked up to see the Ice Queen all alone.

One turned to the other. “What’s in the box?”

“All the names of people who owe her money.” The other retorted.

“Yeah, this is Nabiki. She’d never help anyone out even if they paid her.”

“Especially if they paid her.”

- - -

Akane looked aghast when the engaged couple had spoken with the eldest sister. “What do you mean you don’t know? You’re perfect for picking up secrets!”

“Normally yes but it seems there were none available for me to collect.” Kasumi looked down, feeling ashamed that she couldn’t dish up any good dirt on the middle sister.

“But.. I have a life, this lug and all his baggage to deal with! I’m too busy to pay attention to Nabiki all the time.” Akane tried to make sense of it all. “You should know just by dint of always having time to just snoop on us while cleaning.”

“I’m sorry but I didn’t see or hear anything that’d help you.” Kasumi said, having been filled in on the revenge quest before hand. “I should know but I don’t. And I don’t think daddy does either.”

Ranma snorted. “I doubt he even pays attention to the day or date unless we were getting married.”

Akane thought for a long moment. “You know, now that I think about it, this year is the first time me and Nabiki have gone to the same school.”

Ranma blinked. “Come again?”

Kasumi stepped up to plate for that. “Oh my yes, there were always those nasty incidents and Father would send Akane to a different school. It was for her protection he’d say and then loudly change the subject until you quit asking.”

Ranma felt kind of weird but something very wrong was shaping up here. “So you wouldn’t know any old friends or classmates who might have secrets to spill.”

“I don’t get it. I mean we’re not the closest of sisters but this is absurd.” Akane bit her lip for a second. “I think we need to abandon this revenge thing for now and just talk to her. There’s too much weird stuff going here to be thinking about pranking her.”

Ranma snorted. “She’s not going to talk.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Call it a hunch, but if you really don’t know anything about her, it doesn’t stand to reason she’s going to vomit up her story just for giggles.”

Akane got mad and looked like she was about to hit him, when she did the unexpected. She sighed and took a deep breath to calm down. “Alright, that’s entirely fair. But what do we do?”

“Well, there are plenty of things that can’t have been erased by time, right?” Ranma asked, in a purely rhetorical manner. “Like what schools she went to and such. Bound to be someone who can point us in the right direction.”

“That’s pretty smart of you Ranma.” Akane said, feeling awkward she didn’t think of it.

“Kinda out of character for him don’t you think?” Kasumi asked with an all too innocent expression.

“What?” Ranma asked, wondering where that came from.

“What?” Kasumi just put on her usual serene face and there was no getting an answer out of her.

“Anyways...” Ranma said, changing the subject. “Do you know where Nabiki went to school before Furinkan?”

- - -

It was a good thing they didn’t try to confront Nabiki, because she wasn’t even in Nerima at the moment. She was off in a neighboring district, checking up on someone who had written her recently. He was a simple man who ran a simple Chinese place. It was no Cat Cafe but it still served adequately for those who wanted a bit of the Mainland.

Tenshiro Katayama was a rough looking man, who looked more at home in back alley brawls or fighting kung-fu duels in post-apocalyptic wastelands. He wore what would be expected of a server of Chinese fare, nothing more or less. His hair was buzzed short, his eyes shone with a kindness that didn’t seem real.

He was also a man who should be dead.

Several years back, Nabiki and this man became acquainted in the midst of some big hullaballoo. The long and short of it was Tenshiro ended up with a large number of broken bones and damaged organs, and Nabiki was there to help save his life. It was perhaps happenstance, perhaps not. But they had developed something close to friendship.

“Nabiki.” He said, nodding his head in a jerk. You wouldn’t think you’d miss doing that, but a neck brace will remind you how much you move your head.

“Tenshiro.” She returned, nodding back. She looked the man over and outside of minor scarring, you wouldn’t guess he had been catastrophically injured some scant years before.

“See you got my letter.” He said, gesturing her towards the counter.

“Sorry it took so long,” she said, coming closer to him. “Backlog and all that.”

“It’s fine. Most wouldn’t expect someone like you to take time to help someone like me.” He teased, his chiseled face shifting into a small smirk.

“I always make time for people. It may not be right away, but I’ll do my best to find time.” She said, lifting her nose a little. “I have more free time now.”

“So you do. If you’ll help me with the veggies, I can whip up some food for us a little faster.” He couldn’t chop anything, the vibrations irritated his old injuries too much. He could slightly slice meat but he had helpers for that. Most days, he could only sweep and not break down in agony.

“Sure thing.” She said, eagerly heading into the back with him. While she couldn’t cook, cutting things with a knife wasn’t beyond her.

Here it was, how she spent her time, when she didn’t need to extend her already sore reputation. She had made friends with people through the years and sometimes, she could even act like a real human being. And to some people, still be a real hero.

But today, she was a kitchen helper. Maybe tomorrow she’d look up someone else and help them out too. Or she’d just pay them a visit to see how they were. So many lives, tangled up with hers.

It was the only way to apologize properly for things after all.

- - -
“You know, I don’t know what I was expecting but I’m still taken off guard.” Ranma commented in an all to casual manner.

Saotome Elementary was a prestigious little place, with students being sent in from all over the country. This was attributed to the founder being related to a super genius and seeming pretty smart.

“That’s... weird.” Akane agreed, noting that the writing for the name Saotome was even the same as Ranma’s. “You don’t think...?”

“Saotome is slightly common I suppose. Pop might have had a lot of siblings who disowned him.” Ranma shook his head and decided to refocus. “But this is where Nabiki went to elementary huh?”

“And the site of the first big ‘incident’ which meant I didn’t get to go to school with her.” Akane added, feeling nervous. The teacher they had talked to on the phone seemed rather... over zealous to talk about Nabiki.

“Well, let’s get a move on while we can still meet with the teacher today.”

They entered the building, moving with a quick purpose so as not to get stopped by anyone. Saito-sensei would only be staying after for an extra hour and had graciously allowed them access to his knowledge of the middle Tendo as a child. It only took a couple minutes, but here they were, standing in class 1-B, feeling only mildly awkward.

“Saito-sensei, thank you for agreeing to meet with us.” Akane handled the social aspect of the meeting, ensuring that Ranma would have nothing to apologize later for.

“It’s nothing, after all, you’re her sister.” Saito was a thin man, thinner than standard. He was much like his hairline, receding back into the world which spawned him. Little glasses adorned his face and you would look at him and guess he was a teacher from how he handled himself and how he spoke. “I owe Nabiki too much to turn her little sister away.”

Ranma and Akane glanced at each other, as that had sounded too happy for someone being scammed. But then, they were here because they knew nothing about her but what little she let show. Akane cleared her throat to push aside the awkward feeling about that statement and push the conversation.

“I suppose. Anyways, it’s come to my attention that I don’t really know anything about her.” Akane said, looking down at the floor. “I barely remember what she was like before mom...”

“Ah, that sounds like her. She was always secretive.” Saito said, a good natured smile creasing his face. “There is little to tell you about her days here that would fill many gaps in your knowledge. But I can share with you my part in the incident that happened when she was a student here.”

Ranma wasn’t expecting much outside of that to be honest. “Anything you can tell us will be a big help.”

“Yes, my father never told me of that.” Or any of the others for that matter, Akane fumed to herself.

“I suppose he wouldn’t.” Saito grew somber as he opened his memories and thought back more than a decade hence. “Most fathers would probably try to forget the time their daughter is named a suspect in a murder and kidnapping case.”

Akane and Ranma both felt their jaws hang loose in shock.

“Ah, she was a joy to teach. So bright and cheerful, she even seemed to be making friends.” Saito smiled again, but it was pained. He didn’t want to remember this but he felt duty bound to let someone know. “But sometime after the first month, she became withdrawn and distant. One of her classmates, Masaru Emoto, had disappeared at roughly the same time. Later, another student, Nishi Ami, vanished as well. Nabiki went from withdrawn to angry, getting into fights with some of the other students and even yelling at me.”

Ranma didn’t buy it for a second. Akane, however, did and was reaching for money to buy even more.

“I didn’t understand it then, and I still don’t now. It was after school one day when she came running into class dressed in some weird outfit, yelling for me to run away. That something was after me and I needed to leave.” Saito paused and shivered in terror, a lone tear appearing in his eye. “It was... some.... thing. I still can’t describe it. The shape was all wrong and it perverted the air just by existing. I screamed but I was too slow and it grabbed me.”

He looked Ranma dead in the eye before continuing.

“I can still hear her screaming my name as it dragged me away.” Saito pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away his nervous sweat. “I don’t remember what happened after, only what was reported. She showed back up to school with me in tow, covered in blood or a blood like substance. Her eyes were vacant as she set me at my desk and went to her seat, as if whatever happened was all just a bad dream.”

Akane tried to say something but she could feel the man’s terror and horror plain as day.

“The police were called and the body of Masaru-kun had been found. No body was found for Ami-chan and she is still listed as missing. Nabiki wouldn’t say much on her but said she had killed the thing that killed Masaru. They held her for a day and a half before she was released, the entire precinct apologizing to her and your father.” Saito shook his head in grief. “No one will speak on what happens, but most of the police around here won’t hear a bad word spoken about Nabiki. Whatever happened inside those walls have left quite the impression on them.”

Ranma nodded, having gotten their next lead in the mystery. He looked at the desk and saw a picture of a young girl with brown hair tied into twin pigtails. Feeling as they had wrapped up what they had wanted to find out from her, the Saotome lad decided to mention it. “Your daughter is very cute, sir.”

“Huh?” Saito was baffled until he saw the picture. “Oh that’s not my daughter.”

Akane looked at the picture and placed it after a few seconds. “That’s Nabiki!”

Ranma blinked, having not taken her for something like that.

“We took it when she would be moving on to grade 2.” Saito said, a thin smile on his face. “She wanted me to remember her as an ordinary girl... not the one who had saved me.”

Akane wasn’t sure how to take that and decided to focus on something else. “Do you know the names of any of the officers who were involved? And if any of them are still on duty?”

“Only one who is still on active duty is Officer Jin.” Saito said, before thinking for a second. “I can give him a quick ring and see if he can make time for you.”

Ranma nodded. “Please, do that.”

- - -

Officer Jin was pretty much the stereotype of the Japanese police officer: Hard working, almost never out of uniform and a zeal for justice that bordered on insanity. It really should have been more a surprise that he was a walking stereotype but neither Ranma or Akane had ever encountered the police before now so they had no real way of gauging these things. As it were, they were glad he could fit them into his busy schedule of chasing down the criminal scum polluting their fair country.

“Of course I got time to talk to her sister,” Jin said, forcefully shaking hands with Akane and laughing boisterously. “Man, so many of us at this precinct and the others owe Nabiki a heavy debt.”

Ranma knew he wasn’t speaking about money. “She saved your life, right?”

“Yeah, was no higher than my knee she was.” Jin said, smiling a bit. “Didn’t matter, she blasted the thing that attacked that night straight to hell. Even though we treated her like a criminal, she didn’t hesitate to defend any of us. Thing had me up by the throat and she used some kind of magic and tore its arm clean off. ‘Put him down!’ she yelled, eyes full of fury. Still gives me chills thinking about it.”

Akane took the cue to push the conversation deeper. “Because she was so young?”

“Aye, no more than six she had to be. Told us how things had kidnapped the Emoto and Nishi kids. Said she didn’t know what happened to Nishi but said she watched Emoto die.” Jin said with a pained grimace. “Six years old and she already saw someone die, someone her own age no less. We did our best to help her over the years, but as time wore on, she seemed to grow distant and cold. Job must have worn on her, all by herself.”

Ranma grew puzzled by that. “You didn’t help her out?”

“Not like we didn’t try kid, but bullets don’t beat monsters. Not these ones anyways.” Jin looked away in clear shame. “Always thought those magic girl stuff is supposed to come in pairs or teams or something. Guess that ain’t true for reality. Coulda used the help, I reckon.”

‘No wonder Sis is so cold and distant.’ Akane’s heart ached for her sister. “Are there any other leads you can give us?”

“Nothing too big, save an investigator who was hired by the Prime Minister to look into the attacks.” Jin said, after pausing to think. “Name of Honma, works out of Nishitokyo. Should be at his place today, he’ll probably be willing to talk to you.”

“Because she’s Nabiki’s sister?” Ranma didn’t meant to betray his skepticism but this was weighing down on him too much.

“Hey kid, don’t get it twisted. She’s saved hundreds if not thousands of people. A lot more than I know the official count of. Heck, she might be why there’s still a Tokyo here to begin with.” Jin looked like he was trying not to shout, which he succeeded at mildly. “So if you had no idea this happened, she did her job better than anyone could ever ask of her. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll give Honma a ring to see if he’s in before I send you chasing a ghost.”

“Smooth Ranma. Real smooth.” Akane said with slight sarcasm.

“Sorry, I just don’t believe it. That Nabiki is some world saving hero?! My ass!” Ranma had been holding back since the teacher but getting yelled at by the cop pushed him past a certain point.

“Do you really think Nabiki is running some city wide scam, blackmailing her first grade teacher and a police officer to lie for her? Where does she benefit here?” Akane chose logic over anger and that weirded Ranma out even more than hearing about Nabiki’s secret past.

“I don’t know, but something doesn’t add up here.” Ranma sulked, trying to piece it together in his head what was off to him.

“Ranma, you only know Nabiki after all this had happened to her. Haven’t you ever heard of PTSD?” Akane continued her patience and now he had another thing to worry about.

Of course he had, if not the term itself, he knew the effects from several fighters he had encountered on the road. Guys who had thrown themselves away in pursuit of a fight and came away crippled physically and spiritually. But if that applied to Nabiki...

“Hey you two, Honma said he’ll be at his office for the next hour or two so you should probably scamper on over to him.” Jin’s reappearance threw that line of thought into the dirt.

“Yes, we’ll do that.” Akane bowed. “Thank you for your help today, you’ve shed more light on things for us.”

- - -

Tomohiro Honma was a throwback to a throwback, living to an idea so old it was probably lost to history where in the hell he picked it up. He looked somewhat ridiculous, the leather trench didn’t go with the hat he wore, nor did it go with the full blown Tuxedo he wore under the trench. He smoked so he at least had something not completely clown shoes about him.

What wasn’t clown shoes was the work he did, as he had a sprawling file with a running list of the hundred or so incidents where Nabiki Tendo had appeared. Apparently, she didn’t try to hide her identity, if for no better reason than she often transformed right in front of the person she was rescuing. Make no mistake, there were a lot of them from over the years.

“It’s like you see, this is just what I have on hand.” Honma answered. “The official file on Nabiki is probably in the thousands, these are the most salient ones I keep tabs on.”

“Why?” Akane asked, a simple yet complex question.

“To see if there were any after effects to the monster appearances. Diseases, lingering injuries that were uncovered at the time. Things like that.” Honma said, before shrugging a little. “And to keep the record straight on her, don’t want some dishrag level reporter stumbling over something like this and trying to smear her for whatever they decided she was guilty of.”

“Happens a lot?” Ranma asked, sounding surprised.

“Too much, though it stopped in the last year or so.” Honma pulled a newspaper off his shelf and dropped in on his desk for them to see. “This was an aborted print run, alleging that she had attacked everyone with monsters in some kind of mad grab at power. This is tamer, others have accused her of eating some of the people who died in order to become strong enough to fight the monsters. Others will tell you she’s a government spy here to take away your rights and freedom, leaving you helpless when the government attacks in the Great War.”

“People are so stupid.” Akane said, shaking her head. “It’s so random, these monsters didn’t even seem to have a plan of attack.”

There were shopkeepers, cart vendors, store clerks even... mall security? Really? What kind of random ass operation were they running?

“Yeah, there never was a rhyme or reason to their attacks. Maybe they were just flushing out your sister but they lost way too much in their efforts to keep doing it.” Honma agreed, feeling slightly upset by it. “Didn’t even have the decency to spare children, the awful bastards.”

Ranma might not be the most empathic person, but he could tell there was something else bothering the detective. “It’s more about them having no qualms going after Nabiki, right?”

Akane was surprised he picked up on that but remained quiet.

“My boy, the girl is what, seventeen now? She’s spent more than half her life fighting monsters from who the hell knows where. Most soldiers come back fucked up from just a single tour of duty. She was at war with the forces of evil by herself for a decade, during the time of her life where she should have been enjoying the innocence of childhood and being allowed to grow into her cynicism.” Honma shook his head. “Some things are just not right man. Even if they’re evil they should have some form of standards. But what was even worse was the fact that we couldn’t help her. Like at all. Assholes kept popping out of the blue so it wasn’t like we couldn’t try and protect a possible victim.”

Ranma nodded, it did indeed seem like the man had spent a lot of time thinking about this stuff. “As much as I’d like to keep talking about this, we got other leads to pursue. Just a little more to put a capper on all this right Akane?”

Akane looked a little out of it, but she recovered. “Ah, yeah. That’s right. We need to check a few more things.”

“If I find something you should check, I’ll contact you.” Honma offered.

“That’ll have to do.” Ranma said, trying to conceal his worry over Akane as he lead her out of the office.

- - -

Akane took a seat on a bench not too far from the Inspector’s office. Ever since she started on the path of this mystery, she’d been having this dull ache in her head. But now, it was a pulsing pain that was causing her to space out a little and it didn’t make any sense.

“You might be a little dehydrated, so I’ll go grab you a juice from the vendor we passed on our way to the guy.” Ranma said, not really thinking too much about anything.

He was almost to the machine when he felt it... this pressure of something from another world pressing down on him. He could feel something tickle the edges of his mind but there was nothing around to show what it was he’s dealing with. Right as he was about to dismiss it as paranoia, he felt another sensation.

“Well well well! Don’t you just stink of magic potential and only years late for the party.” A voice echoed through his head, the feeling of something touching the corners of his mind causing a shiver down his mind. “And before you say it, I’m in your head and already aware of your water based problem.”

“Who are you? What are you talking about?” Ranma asked, though talk of magic intrigued him.

“Who I am is a loaded topic, so I will answer your second question first.” The voice seemed to sniff at him, as if dismissing the importance of the questions. “You are capable of using magic from my world and I daresay it’d suit you quite well. Moving faster, hitter harder, soaring over the clouds. It could be yours... but there would be some who might be warn you to be wary of the cost.”

Ranma nodded, mostly to himself, before he spoke up again. “I don’t like to repeat myself, but I feel I must. Who.are.you?”

“Touchy too, I like that.” The voice’s laughter echoed in his head, even as the image of mist coalescing into a grey fox appeared in his head. The noble animal bent its head in greeting. “My name is a little hard for your tongue and a little too long for an intro. So, for brevity’s sake, you can call me Fuwa-chan.”

“You don’t exactly fit the name.” Ranma twitched ever so slightly at the reminder of that.

“I don’t actually have a natural form, so I pick out what will keep you at ease. I sensed your fear so I took a quick look.” The voice explained, before chuckling. “Should I authenticate my appearance?”

“No, that’s fine.” Ranma said, before he moved on in the conversation. “What are you?”

“A traveler first and foremost. Then I guess you could call me an ambassador for my world.” The voice mused, chuckling again. “Has it already been eleven years since I first cross over? My, how time flies.”

That seemed like a clue and Ranma started sliding pieces into place. “So I take it you weren’t just chilling out here sniffing anything that came by?”

“Cheeky, but correct. I am familiar with the girl you travel with.” Fuwa-chan replied, losing the mirthfulness to his voice. “You should know you’re treading on dangerous ground boy. Her mind is still damaged.”

Something was wrong with Akane? Ranma bit down his worry and decided to get answers. “Damaged? Damaged how?”

“A year, maybe two. I think it has been two now. Anyways, she and several other people had an unfortunate encounter with some other travelers from my world. They didn’t come in peace, they were a roving band of lunatic conquerors.”

Ranma suspected he knew the answer to why Akane but felt he needed to ask. “Why her though?”

“Why is it ever her?” Fuwa asked with just a smidge of sardonic reflection. “But in this case, it wasn’t a mere case of the universe at large having a go at her. They were trying to hurt someone close to her.”

Ranma’s breath hitched in his throat as a pit formed in his stomach. “Nabiki.” He could feel the presence wince at the name and knew he was right.

“They were the final battalion of the Invaders she had been fighting, having been in hiding through a dispute over the throne. I had foolishly deluded myself that there weren’t any more of them and let my guard down... which brought down hers.” Fuwa’s voice wavered and the fox was curled up in a ball, ears flat. It whimpered a little before continuing. “Nabiki didn’t have her transformation tool so when they attacked, everyone had been captured. They made her watch her friends and family be tortured or worse.”

Anger blasted through the young Saotome boy, causing a small shifting in the wind. “Those... those bastards!”

“I appreciate your anger but you’ll have nothing to vent it on. Nabiki slaughtered all of them, without mercy.” Fuwa said, still curled up. “They deserved it. Her usual MO with them was to spare the ones who had been conscripted... but sadly for them, they all had voluntarily attacked her and her family. They suffered for it, greatly.”

Ranma’s anger relented externally but internally, another one was burning its way through his belly. “I get it. It all makes sense. I knew there had to be something to Nabiki being a magical girl.”

Fuwa didn’t miss that the anger was being pointed at him like a blade. “Boy, you must understand-”

“Understand what?!” Ranma snapped, both in his head and aloud. A thrum of mana danced behind the words. He was gonna transform at this rate. “That you drafted a six year old girl to fight a war for you? And for what, because she had ‘potential’? What’s to understand?!” It was surprising that he was this mad on Nabiki’s behalf. But she went through hell because some coward handed her a weapon and tossed her at his enemies.

“I showed up when they were about to kidnap her. If I hadn’t done that, she’d be dead and so many more would have followed.” Fuwa did his best to defend himself but remaining curled up showed how hollow the words were. “It was the only choice I had.”

“There’s always another choice.” Ranma retorted, tone sharp, teeth bared like a predator intimidating his prey. “You had to have had a better way to do this. If nothing else, you could and should have found someone old enough to handle this. Not a child.” The anger cooled in irritation but it still weighed the presence down.

“I tried. I scanned everyone I came across, everyone I could even remotely sense and there was no one there. I didn’t want her to fight beyond saving herself the first time but she had fought the monster off so brilliantly and took to it so well... I kinda got lost in awe.” Fuwa finally abandoned the curl of sorrow and stood up with defiance. “I never would have believed her capable of even the tiniest fraction of what she did. Even now I don’t believe it actually happened.”

Ranma snorted but decided to let it go for now. “So this is why Nabiki is such a bitch?”

“It’s not an excuse kid, it’s an explanation. Maybe that’s just how she grew due to the trauma, or maybe she’d always become what she is now. But she has a lot of reasons to be how she is and all of them center on her sisters.” Fuwa said, snorting as well. “You might think that too out of character for her but she did spend about a decade of her life fighting against the forces of evil for people who she would never really know. She bled in place of everyone else.”

It kinda made sense, but there were other things. “So Akane’s headache and dizziness...”

“Her mind is rebelling against the information. Once she recovers she might only vaguely remember bits and pieces and certainly not anything about Nabiki being a magical girl.” Fuwa said, before shaking his head. “It’s not my place to say anything more on that. If you can break Nabiki of her shell, she can tell you all about it someday.”

“Alright, so I guess I’m riding solo from here on out.” Ranma said, looking back towards Akane. “I’ll finish this in her place.”

“If you mean to see this through, then the only place left to look is that guy’s shop.” Fuwa said, before the fox seemed to grin. “I was serious though, the power is there for you to take.”

“And get stuck in a fuku for the rest of my life? Pass.”

“It’s unisex so you’d just transform into a magical boy.” Fuwa said, just sliding it out there.

“Go on.”

- - -

“Here’s your juice Akane.” Ranma said as he returned to where Akane was sitting. She was looking a lot better now, and the juice could only help.

“Thanks.” Akane said, taking the can of juice without much issue. She popped the tab and began gulping it down. “Ah... my head’s clearing up.”

“That’s cool.” Ranma said, thinking for a second. “Hey, I got a text from Honma. It’s about a shopkeeper who was apparently a big fan of Nabiki’s back in the day. Gave me his number and I called him, but the guy will only see me. Afraid you might find it ‘creepy’ that he kept tabs on your sister’s activity.”

“I wouldn’t do anything.” Akane protested, even if she did find it creepy.

“I know that, but the best way to get what we want is to give him a little bit of what he wants.” Ranma said, smiling a tad. “Besides, you should get home and check on Nabiki. Wouldn’t want her doing something weird again.”

Akane’s face screwed up like she was about to snap at him, when again she defied his usual expectations. “You’re right. If nothing else, I can share a little about today with Kasumi. I’m sure she’d love to know about what happened back then.”

“If it’s okay with you, I’ll head on to the shop now. You can get home by yourself?”

“Of course.”

- - -

Akio’s Emporium of The Mystic was nothing special to look at, being just a plain ol’ building. It was one of those, leftover space shops you see. Where it’s wedged in behind something else and all cramped, but the price for the space was too good to pass up and here we are.

The owner, Akio Jiratsuki, was a half Thai son of a Thai immigrant who was doing his best in navigating the troubling world of Japan. He was bigger than most Japanese and his skin was just a little darker than most, but he was friendly to a fault and someone you could expect to keep all your secrets. His sandy hair perpetually spiked by what he would call his connection to the supernatural world, his dark eyes shone with a sneaky sort of intelligence.

“You must be Ranma.” He said, smiling as the named boy walked in. “I wasn’t going to be open today, but when Fuwa-chan makes a request I can’t deny it.”

“Yeah, thanks all the same though.” Ranma said, nodding, looking around the place. He saw several pictures of a teenaged Nabiki in the midst of battle. Her face held such a foreign look of determination. “I see I came to the right place.”

“Indeed you did friend. Especially for the hero of Japan.” Akio said, nodding his head in a sharp manner. “Though I have no direct rescue story, she fought and killed a monster who had kidnapped a local councilman right outside my shop. She was about nine at the time and she apologized for the noise.” He paused to laugh. “Still funny that’s what she worried about.”

“Okay, yeah, that is kinda funny.” Ranma said, shaking his head. “So you kept tabs on her since then huh?”

“Only right considering the shop yes? A real live example of the supernatural right there.” Akio said, gesturing to the varying photos. “She was hesitant at first, but she came around after a bit. It was something else, to the point where some days, I wonder if I dreamed it all up. But I got proof, such as these pictures.”

Ranma was intrigued a little. “What else?”

“The weapon she used the end the Dark World’s invasion forever.” Akio reached behind him and pressed a switch on the wall, which hand the panel next to it drop down to reveal a rather large frickin’ sword. It was a solid gold and hummed with magical energy, though it was debatable if there was a cutting edge on it or not.

“Wow.” Ranma was a little surprised. “That’s a really big sword.”

“Shoots lasers too.” Akio said with an agreeing nod. “She said she was mad as hell at them and wanted something big to smash their heads in good. I think it works yes?”

“Very much so.” Ranma paused, looking back towards the shopkeeper. “Anything else?”

“Her transformation rod. Said she didn’t want to keep it but couldn’t throw it away. Thought I’d appreciate it more than it wasting away in her desk somewhere.” Akio pulled the little pink rod out of his pocket. “ ‘sbeen like a good luck charm these past few months, but if Fuwa-chan sent you, I think it’s best for her to have it back. Do a lot more good than me having it.”

There was no telling if something else would show up. It was obvious that the animal thing was concerned but also keeping its distance for her sake. Ranma nodded. “I can give it back to her.” It must be killing her, to see everyone act like she’s the villain when she was really the hero. No one knew and no one understood... least of all him. He had judged her off the cuff and unfairly to boot.

But now... “Let me take a look at some of this stuff. I wanna find out all I can about her.” He’d need it in the confrontation ahead.

“Sure thing.”

- - -

This was how a day like this for her usually ended. If reading thank you letters was picking at the scab, showing up here was like stabbing a knife into it. Here was a memorial, for all the people who had died in the scuffle with that neighboring dimension of darkness. Kids like Masaru to adults who did nothing more than exist. Some had simply passed on from injuries later, some hadn’t been able to cope with what happened and took their own lives.

But here she stood, in front of the monument to her failures as a hero. As a magical girl. As a human being. Here she stood, alive while they were gone. People who could have made a difference just as much if not more than her.

Che, there she goes with the self depreciation again.

It was hard not to feel worthless, even if the list was a lot smaller than it should have been for a campaign that lasted her from her early childhood to just a few years back. She was something of an idealist that way, that even was life was too many. Still, she really shouldn’t beat herself up about it.

Nabiki looked at the statue, knowing it was made in the likeness of Fuwa-chan. The being who saved her life and inadvertently sent her screaming headlong into its destruction. The one who empowered her, guided her, comforted her. The one who got her into this mess that lead her to be both a hero and a villain.

Sure it wasn’t all of his fault, but sometimes, Nabiki found comfort in irrationality.

Her hand curled into a fist, a memory of all the Burner Spikes she had thrown from it echoing deep in her muscles. Eyes watering, the weight of guilt and the shame of giving up hammered down on her shoulders as the despair swirled from deep within. All it would have taken was one quick little blast and she would be gone.

What was left to live for anymore? The people of her peerage who thought her a monster? Her sisters who looked at her like she was a stranger everyday? Her ever distant father who only ever acknowledged her in rare moments of lucidity? The boy she alienated out of spite?

Really was a shame she gave up her powers now eh?

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, falling to her knees and bawling without shame. “I’m so sorry. I’m still too weak. I’m-” And here she dissolved into full on sobbing and babbling.

The wind swirled by but there was no one there, as she had made so very sure of.

- - -

He found her sitting in front of the TV, half doing homework, half shoveling some snacks into her face. Before he wouldn’t even begin to think about it and just hoped she’d leave him alone. But now...

Now things were different, as he knew the truth of the situation. She couldn’t exactly be open about what happened lest she destroy her sisters’ minds. And after everything, he could admit to wanting to stop being so altruistic and helpful of people. If all it amounted to was everyone important to you driven to madness and your accomplishments forgotten, he wouldn’t want to be nice to people again.

Stay away from me, you’ll only end up being hurt.

Part of him, the stubborn prideful part, didn’t want to reach out to her. She didn’t deserve that mercy, she had already burned the bridge down between them. But the rest of him, the one who had to constantly leave friends behind and end up a stranger all over again sympathized with her so much more. Besides, if she threw it away he could just go on ignoring her until the end of time.

What could it hurt? Time to find out. “Hey Nabiki, what’s up?”

“Nothing that’d interest you Saotome.” She blew him off of course. But he had a lot of time, so he could waste some time chasing her down.

“I dunno, you seem to have a pretty interesting life.” Ranma rested on the doorframe and looked at back of her head. Part of him wondered if she caught that.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. “Oh I’m sure my life is so interesting to you.”

“Well I’ve never fought off an invasion from a dimension made of darkness and evil.” Ranma said, innocent personified. If she missed it before, she caught it now.

“What the hell are you talking about?” That was too quick, too sharp. Coupled with the sudden shudder that ran through her before she spoke gave her away.

“Not much, I was bored and decided to find out about you.” Ranma said, keeping his nonchalance at max. “I mean, we were engaged and you never said anything! I’m quite frankly hurt.”

“I don’t know who is making crap up about me, but you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.” She covered better that time, and if not for a certain piece of evidence in his pocket, that might have made him doubt.

Might. “I dunno, they seemed to have a lot of elaborate photos to back their stories about you up.”

“A likely story.” She didn’t turn around but her body language said she was getting rather annoyed.

Ranma pulled out the transformation rod from his pocket. “I guess they made this too? Even has your name on it.”

Nabiki turned to look at him finally and whatever she was going to say dropped out of her mind when she saw it. Even from the distance between the two, she recognized it immediately. “Where the hell did you get that?”

“Why, Akio-san was nice enough to give it to me.” Ranma said with a teasing smile. This was better than any revenge he could have come up with.

“How did- oh no, he told you about it didn’t he?” Nabiki said, becoming visually angry. She was easily the most pissed Ranma had ever seen her.

“He came to me, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Ranma said, before becoming worried when she shot to her feet.

“Keep that thing away from me!” She demanded, pointing at the rod with an accusing glare in her eyes. “I’m not going back, you can’t make me!” Her eyes darted around and sweat began to bead on her brow. Wow, she was really repressing things.

“I’m not going to.” Ranma said, his face falling into concern. “He just wanted you to have it back so there’s no repeat.”

“Get out! Get out of this house and take that with you! You fight whatever it is! I quit!” She ran over to him and started trying to push him out of the room.

Ranma let her wear herself out before he pocketed the rod again and smooshed her cheeks together. “I said, I’m not here to make you go back. I just brought it back to you as an a back up plan. If they do attack you again, you can fend them off easily this way.” Not that he planned to sit on the sidelines. He let go of her face and she staggered.

“Huh?” Once she calmed down, she began to digest what was said.

“For what it’s worth, there’s been no activity from the other side. You’re safe for now, and now if they do attack again, you can slaughter them like the shitty pigs they clearly are.” Ranma felt his anger surge again, as he thought about how traumatized the girl before him was. Damn it, the thoughts of saving the world should be a source of pride, not resentment and bitterness. He took a steadying breath and calmed down again.

“I-I’m still safe?” She seemed to be unable to comprehend that.

“As safe as things are around here anyways.” Ranma joked.

She actually shed a few tears of relief as she laughed, a weak and frail sound. “You’re right. You’d know wouldn’t you?” She wiped her eyes and looked down at the ground, seeming for all the world so very small.

“Yeah, and I’m going to help you out with Akane and Kasumi.” Prolly not the Kunos though, he didn’t have the patience. “I know what happened to them, so I won’t go blabbing about it.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible anymore.” Nabiki said, still looking down. “It’s been so long...”

“They’re not dead, so they can get better.” Ranma said, reaching out and pulling Nabiki’s head up. “Nobody recovers from death so at least there’s the possibility of them getting better.”

“Yeah, it’s better than nothing.” Nabiki said, her features softening as she realized that there was someone who knew about everything and didn’t seem to be blaming her. “I miss them so much sometimes it hurts.”

“How were they... before that happened?” Ranma said, leading her back to the table so they could sit down and talk.

Nabiki gently sat down, lost in thought. “Akane was really patient and sweet. She wasn’t really all that violent and would hear people out first. She was also amazing at cooking, easily a hundred times better than Kasumi. Heck, if you could have had her food, you’d have proposed to her on the spot.”

Ranma chuckled, though he privately doubted the marriage thing. “And Kasumi?”

“She was a lot more snappy and liked to put in a lot of snark. Also, she had an active social life, as she had her own phone line and everything to keep up with her friends. Outside of cleaning, Akane actually cooked most of the breakfasts and dinners. Kasumi was often out of the house... in fact, if not for the incident, she’d have been dating Dr Tofu when you arrived.”

Ranma thought back to the doctor and his heart felt sick in sympathy for the man. “Must be rough.”

“Without question.” Nabiki said, before she smiled at Ranma. “But I think it’ll be a little smoother from now on.”

“I hope so.” Ranma returned it with enthusiasm.

“You know... thinking about it, you and Kuno would have actually gotten along.” Nabiki said, smirking a little at his glare. “He was as rude as you are and was really good at being a nuisance. But he also was a reliable person and never afraid to stand up for anyone.”

“Sounds like you had a crush on him.” He needled her back.

“Maybe I did.” She didn’t rise to the bait, and only became wistful. “It’s moot now. He should be dead, he took the most punishment and hell, for a good minute he was. The fact that he’s alive is a miracle. Dunno much about Kodachi, but she was a fan of mine since she was one of the people I rescued.”

“I suppose she tried to set you up with her brother so she could hero worship you without being as awkward and creepy about it.” Ranma tried to keep the mood light.

“Yeah, probably. But they got their issues to sort out and maybe they’ll wake up sane again.” Nabiki said, shrugging off handedly.

“I wish them well, but I don’t have the patience for them.” Ranma said, before pursing his lips. “I’ve heard a lot of accounts about what happened, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of first hand... if you feel like sharing.”

“Normally I’d say no but...”

- - -

Hours later, after finishing the talk with Nabiki, Ranma laid down on the roof, mind stretching out as he watched the stars. It had went better than he thought, though it appeared she’d need a lot of help recovering from this. Before too long, a certain presences managed to poke his mind.

“Seems it went rather well.” Fuwa noted with a certain tone, sounded kinda happy.

“Swimmingly. It’ll be a while before she does anything like run over to Minato and upstage Sailor Moon.” Ranma said, laughing at the image in his head. “Boy, I hope she can adjust the outfit or she’s gonna get an awful draft.”

Fuwa laughed and decided that he shouldn’t risk getting detected by Nabiki just yet.

As the presence faded away, Ranma’s left hand reached into his pocket and he felt something in there.

“You’re not alone Nabiki.” Ranma said, breathing out a sharp breath. “I’m not letting you bear this burden by yourself.” That image of her, feeble and sad, managed to rile him up again.

“You don’t need to hide your tears anymore, because I’m here for you now.” God that felt corny to say.

But deep in his heart, he felt glad he could say it.

- - -

It was a week later, as Ranma had just got done talking to Nabiki again that something happened. Akane had confronted him about it and she seemed rather irate about it. Not giving in to impulse he managed to reign it in.

“Ah, I needed help with my homework and Nabiki aced this class last year so I figured I’d ask her.” Ranma replied, the lie coming easy. “Come on, I can show you the answer to question five that was giving you trouble.”

Akane blinked, but she relented in her anger. “Yeah, I do need to do better in that.”

Nabiki peeked out of her room, surprised that there was no big blow out this time.

Ranma looked back and smiled, giving her a quick thumbs up.

Everything was changing, the time that had been frozen for her when the attack happened finally started moving again. It was like she was alive again. She could let a little bit of the real her out, just to remind herself that she wasn’t just a money grubbing bitch.

For the first time in forever, she didn’t need to hide away. She didn’t need to wallow in her own self hatred and pity just to keep her mind on the the true. For once, she felt like she didn’t need to hide anymore.

She finally had someone who knew the truth again and it felt so freeing.

End~