The origins of the cursed Springs

Ranma 1/2 divergence

Divergence point: After Nodoka's first visit

Prolog—

4001 thousand years ago 2 powerful looking women stood looking at a body that was lying face down in a shallow pool

"He's dead," the women with long bright red hair said to her companion a long cyan haired woman.

"Yeah he is and our Magic is seeping into the ground," the other woman stated as she placed a stray lock of her long cyan hair in it's place. "We can't do anything to uncurse it either only a blast of pure force energy created by a non-magical source could eradicate this place and the Magic that curses it now," the woman added before creating a portal, which she and her companion stepped through.

As Nodoka Saotome hummed while preparing breakfast for herself, her eyes strayed to a picture of her a 6-year-old Ranma and her husband Genma. "It's 3 been three weeks since I saw them last. True they didn't know I knew it was them but..." Nodoka said before trailing off only to clench her fest and state, "That's it I'm going to invite 'Ranko' and Akane over to stay for a while," with a fiery resolve.

********************

Later that day we find a very stressed out looking Ranma-chan sitting by the koi Pond.

"You ready" Akane asked as she walked up behind the red headed neo-girl.

"Yeah I suppose" Ranma-chan said before getting up and picking up a nearby bag.

********************

A few hours later Ranma-chan and Akane arrived in front of the Saotome household, which Nodoka was already coming out of.

"Come in come in" Nodoka said cheerfully before she rushed the two in and to the tearoom where she already had tea prepared, "I'd like to thank you two for coming this house can get very lonely," Nodoka said while pouring a few cups of tea.

"Hmm sure," Ranma-chan said nervously as she looked down.

"Now there's one thing you have to know if you're going to stay here and that's that the basement is off limits," Nodoka said seriously knowing full well making such a statement was probably as good as inviting the two to go down to the basement. "Now there's a room upstairs that both of you can use. So while you're settling in I'm going to cook dinner," Nodoka said before walking off to the kitchen mentally smirking.

A moment later Ranma-chan got up and walked upstairs where she found the guest room.

"Ranma are you ok?" Akane asked as she entered behind Ranma-chan

"I just don't want make a seen in from my mom ok," Ranma-chan replied.

"Ok" Akane replied before she unpacked.

Seeing this Ranma-chan simply left the room.

********************

Later we find Ranma-chan in her old room when Nodoka enters.

"Are you ok?" Nodoka asked.

"I suppose," Ranma-chan said distractedly.

"Come on your dinner's getting cold," Nodoka urged before she and Ranma-chan left.

********************

Later in the dining room, Nodoka looked on in wonder as Ranma-chan inhaled her food while Akane rubbed her temples.

"Would you cut that out," Akane growled.

"Yes, I must agree if your going to eat at light speed make sure you can get all your food in your mouth," Nodoka said in a scolding manner.

Blushing slightly Ranma-chan slowed down enough to do as her mother instructed.

********************

Later that night after dinner, Ranma-chan sat on the floor of the guest room quietly crying when Akane entered.

"Lets just go to bed," was all Akane said as she sat down by Ranma-chan to which Ranma-chan responded by nodding.

********************

Meanwhile downstairs Nodoka sits quietly enjoining a cup of tea

"Yes tomorrow. Tomorrow I reveal myself," Nodoka said with a smirk knowing that the bait she had planted would not take long to attract a catch.

********************

The next morning Akane awoke early and decided to get an early bath only to see a strange light as she passed the door to the basement.

'I know Nodoka said not to but...' Akane thought before opening the door and walking down the stairs to find a glowing orb of crystal and shelves that securely held bottles of water with all too familiar labels "Oh kami!!" Akane said with quiet surprise before backing up only to run into someone

"I thought I told you not to come down here Akane," Nodoka said before Akane turned around.

"Hmm Obasan," Akane said nervously as Nodoka sat down at a desk and picked up a journal of some sort

"I already know Akane," Nodoka said as she wrote in the journal before closing it and handing to Akane whose jaw found its way to the floor. .

The words on the cover of the journal were 'An analysis of the cursed Springs by Nodoka Saotome MsMa.'

"You know of the springs," Akane said after reeling in her jaw.

"Yes and its my fault Ranma is in the predicament he is now," Nodoka said as she walked over to a bottle of the water Ranma sought for a year.

"You can't blame yourself for Genma's stupidity," Akane said.

"Yes your right I can't but I can blame myself for the very fact those Springs are cursed at all," Nodoka said before walking over to a book case full of very old looking books where she picked out a very large tome and handed it to Akane.

"Dual body transformation Magic by Hishizuka RelOrt StMa and Nodoka Saotome StMa" was Akane reading of the title of the book "What do the aviations mean?"

"St means student and Ma means Magi," Nodoka replied as she took the book.

"You’re a Wizard?" Akane queried as she took a step back.

"No I am far more powerful than a Wizard Akane," Nodoka replied as she walked around looking at the jugs containing Magic water "Me and hi-chan had just passed our Magi's exam with flying colors. We were as happy as clams but our moods were ruined by a few sexist boys. We contemplated turning them into frog or something but our father's 'advised' against that. So that night we thought about what we could do to teach those sexist idiots a lesson and after about five or so months we came up with a pseudo-body transformation that lasts for 6 hours. The beauty of the pseudo-body transformation was that it never affected the person's original body but for the time the spell lasted they would be confined to a magically created one while there real body was taken out of phase. The practical joke was a great success and then our fathers' learned about it. Luckily, for us they liked the joke and they liked the Magic even more. They challenged us to create an even more powerful version of the pseudo-body transformation Magic and with a little help from an ancient book on sold binding we created dual body transformation. We won an award from the council of the Magi for the most innovative Magic in 5,000 years," Nodoka explained before her mood darkened and she continued, "Then somebody stole the copy the council kept," as she held up the book she had taken from Akane moments earlier.

"Oh no!" Akane exclaimed.

"He went to an isolated spot in China where he hoped the Magic in the book would help him exact revenge against the inhabitants of Phoenix Mountain. However, Hishizuka and I got to him first. The battle was hard but I finally delivered the death blow to Aku Jusenkyo who fell into a small spring along with the spell book he had stole and because of the Magic waters of those Springs the book dissolved cursing the entire area" Nodoka said as she sat the book down "That was 4001 years ago."

"You and Okaachan," Akane shuddered out.

"Created the Magic that curses my son and my husband," Nodoka said. "Now do you understand," Nodoka asked before her eyes went to Ranma-chan who was sitting on the stairs and had obviously been there quite some time.

Saying nothing the neo-girl walked over to the shelf that contained water she had sought for so long and asked, "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that the Magic was never designed to be a curse so the alternate body despite being created by magic is quite real and soul bound to you. In other words your female body is yours lock, stock and barrel," Nodoka explained.

"So this wouldn't get rid of it?" the redhead asked as she taped a bottle.

"No it would only seal it away," Nodoka replied tearfully.

"Can you do anything?" Ranma-chan asked exasperatedly

"I can change the trigger and make it so each form can wear different clothing but that's it. However I can't age your female body to it's correct age," Nodoka replied. "...tell me are you angry at me?"

"I don't know ... are you angry at me?" Ranma-chan asked.

"No not at you, if I know Genma he made me out to be some kind of acid spitting demon," Nodoka responded simply.

"Yeah he did," the redhead admitted nervously.

"Are you mad at Genma?" Akane asked.

"For acting up to par no. For trying to hide my son form me after 10 years yes," Nodoka replied with a smile to which Akane laughed to as a reply.

"What about the seppuku thing" Ranma-chan asked

"Honestly do you think I'd ever hold you to something as stupid as one of your father's promises?"

"Then why did you make it?" Akane demanded.

"I wanted to make sure Genma was serious," Nodoka replied matter-of-factly.

"Why did you even let pop do it?" Ranma-chan asked.

"It's a family tradition at the age of 6 each child must go on a decade long training mission. I did the same thing with my mother when I was 6 and my brother to the same with my father," Nodoka explained.

"..." was all Ranma-chan and Akane said as they blinked repeatedly

"I know it sounds like an odd tradition but you have to understand in Avalon the average age someone dies at is 500 years. Wizards live a minimum of twice that long while Magi are immortal. So people tend to take the time about getting married and having children ... I mean I'm over 5000 years old and in the time I've only had one son," Nodoka said dropping Ranma-chan and Akane's jaws.

"You're five thousand years old mom!!" Ranma-chan said after recovering somewhat

Saying nothing Nodoka counted on her fingers for a moment before finally saying "5033 to be precise," with a smirk before clutching her head in pain and cursing "Damn not again!"

"Okaachan what's wrong?" Ranma-chan queried frantically as she reached out to her mother who warded her off.

"I don't know as best as I can tell is somebody is trying to communicate with me telepathically. Somebody that's very bad at telepathy," Nodoka said after shaking her head to clear it.

"When did this start?" Akane asked.

"About a year ago," Nodoka answered as she started to look through her spell book only to stop and walk over to the bookcase.

"How old was my mom?" Akane asked a little nervously.

"She would be 5035," Nodoka replied rather distantly before she picked out a small book. "Ranma besides red and black what're your favorite colors?" Nodoka asked as she flipped through the small book.

"Hmm white," the redhead replied before Nodoka sat back down and raised her hand in a quick sweeping motion caused a piece of paper and pencil to appear after which she started writing on it as she looked at both books she had on her desk. "So are you going to tell pop?" Ranma-chan finely asked.

"No I think not after all as long as we keep him in the dark think of all the practical jokes we can play on him. Not to mention he's a hell of a lot quieter as a panda," Nodoka said after a moment of thought to which both Ranma-chan and Akane laughed to as a reply before Nodoka raised her hand and spoke in the language of magic, which caused Ranma-chan to glow momentarily.

"What was that?" Ranma-chan asked nervously.

"A simple spell so I know the condition of the spells attached to you," Nodoka responded as she continued to write.

"So?" Akane queried.

"The spells are in perfect order and condition," Nodoka said after putting down the piece of paper. "Now first, some hot water," Nodoka said before saying a few magical words, which caused a large quantity of hot water to appear above Ranma-chan's head.

"Gee thanks" Ranma said after spitting some water out of his mouth

"No problem," Nodoka said with a smirk. "Now to dispel the water based trigger," Nodoka said before she started chanting at a very fast speed finishing with a sudden upward motion with her arm, which caused a column of light to flash around Ranma who was momentarily lifted off the ground. "Now for the trigger of will," Nodoka said as she looked at her notes before starting to chant again after which another column of light appears around Ranma, which quickly flows into him "...and now for the clothes," Nodoka added before saying a few more words. "Done."

"That's it?" Ranma and Akane queried disbelievingly.

"Yeah what were you expecting? Some big fireworks show or something with fireballs flying all over the place?" Nodoka asked with a slight scolding tone in her voice to which Ranma and Akane responded to by looking sheepish. After shaking her head Nodoka explained, "Now son all you have to do change back and forth is will it to happen."

"Ok," Ranma said questioningly before concentrating which immediately caused him to change into Ranma-chan who was now dressed in a open red vest, a tight white tube top, a ultra short black miniskirt and skin tight black leggings. needless to say the change of attire gets the definite attention of the neo-girl "AKK OKAACHAN!!" Ranma-chan screamed

"What I think it looks quite good," Nodoka replied teasingly.

"It's definitely you Ranko," Akane said with a smile causing Ranma-chan to storm out of the basement.

After glaring at Akane disapprovingly, Nodoka headed upstairs to search for Ranma-chan who she found in her old room.

"Why? Why does everyone..." Ranma-chan seethed.

"Try to make you into a girl?" Nodoka questioned rhetorically.

"Yeah," Ranma-chan muttered.

"Listen son I'm not trying to make you into a girl but considering you can be a girl you need to find out what being one means to you. I won't force anything on you but what I will do is show you the ropes. So to speak," Nodoka explained calmly.

A raised eyebrow was the redhead's only response to this statement.

"Let me back up for a moment. First, you need to find out what being a man means to you then find out what things are fundamental to you. Things that have no bearing on gender, things that do not change even when your body does," Nodoka explained calmly.

Saying nothing Ranma-chan walked over to the window of her old room where she's stood in silent thought.

"Tell me son how much did your father teach you about relationships, expressing and dealing with your feelings, love, and sex?" Nodoka questioned after noting her neo-daughter's lost look.

"Nothing, not to, nothing, and less than nothing," Ranma-chan replied while continuing to look out the window before a crashing sound was heard outside the door this was followed shortly by Akane falling into the room.

"So good of you to join us Akane," Nodoka said as a very sheepish Akane got to her feet.

"Is what you said true?" Akane asked suspiciously.

"Yeah!!" Ranma-chan snapped.

"You don't have to yell pervert!!" Akane barked back.

"Oh yeah you un-" Ranma-chan managed to get out before being interrupted.

"SILENCE!!!" Nodoka bellowed.

"He started it," Akane grumbled.

"No Akane you started it by not trusting him enough to even give him time to explain himself," Nodoka said with more force then Akane had encountered in 10 years. "...and as for you son. YOU should have near infinite patients after training with your father for 10 years. So apply a little of that martial arts training to keeping your mouth shut long enough for your brain to get in gear," Nodoka continued with just as much force after turning around to face her neo-daughter.

"Yes Okaasan," Ranma-chan gulped.

"Now Akane," Nodoka said as she turned to Akane.

"Yes ma'am," Akane said nervously.

"According to your sisters your temper has an extremely short fuse," Nodoka stated.

"Yes," Akane replied.

"As I remember it your mother had a similar problem when she was your age" Nodoka said before continuing "It took me sometime but I got your mother's temper under control."

"...and your going to do the same for me?" Akane questioned while already knowing the answer.

"Of course," was all the Saotome matriarch said as she crossed her arms and left, this left Ranma-chan and Akane to stare at each other.

"I have a feeling were going to be here for while," Ranma-chan muttered after a moment.

"Yeah it's going to be one long training mission," Akane replied.

A nod of agreement was the only response the redhead gave to this.

Akane was lying on the floor in the room she was sharing with Ranma while she and he stated his mother's house wondering where Ranma was.

'I know Nodoka said she was going to talk to Ranma about relationships and expressing his feelings but they've been at it since after breakfast and it's almost dinner now,' Akane thought while absently flipping through her magna.

Mere moments later, Ranma entered and sat down but before Akane could speak to him Nodoka called her.

********************

As Akane entered the kitchen of the Saotome household, she found Nodoka drinking a very strong cup of tea —actually it looked and smelled so strong black coffee would look week in comparison.

Saying nothing Nodoka slid another cup of the liquid towards Akane who looked at it for a moment until Nodoka spoke, "You know that question I asked Ranma yesterday?"

"Yeah," Akane responded nervously.

"Well I had to re-evaluate the answer he gave me," Nodoka said while taking a sip of her tea.

"How bad?" Akane questioned while looking at her cup of tea.

"How to make enemies out of everyone in three easy steps, how to give yourself a nervous breakdown 101 and 102, have to make somebody hate you for life, and lastly he knows as much about sex as a 8-year old" Nodoka said after which she takes a large drink of her tea which Akane decides looks good.

"So how far out of the hole did you get him?" Akane questioned after coughing several times because of the sheer power of her tea.

"To nothing, not to, nothing, and less than nothing," Nodoka replied.

Saying nothing Akane downed some more tea which despite its sheer power —actually Akane thought the stuff could double as paint stripper— was quite good.

"Akane dear I can handle most of this on my own but you're going to have to handle the sexed," Nodoka said.

After completely finishing off the superpowered tea Akane worked up enough nerve to say, "I don't know if I can."

"Do you love him?" Nodoka asked to which Akane's only response was to blush in the extreme to which Nodoka took as an affirmative. "Then why are you so nervous?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because I've had to push hormonally challenged boys away from me for all of middle school," Akane's finally said.

"Ahh the idea of getting close to a guy gets you so angry that you can't get close to even Ranma because it will trigger that anger."

"...hmm yeah I guess that's it," Akane said while scratching the back of her head.

"Well I have an idea," Nodoka said before getting up and walking over to a locked cabinet which she opens with a wave of her hand after which she picks up a small bottle and walks back over to Akane, "This is a rare variety passion spice that is only found in Avalon. It's much more discriminating than most varieties."

"How so?"

"It will only amplify the sexual attraction between the user and the one they love," Nodoka responded that she opened the bottle.

"How powerful is it?" Akane asked nervously as the smell of the pungent spice filled her nostrils.

"One grain will make you so horny that you'll be dripping honey for six hours," Nodoka said as she used a pair of tweezers to extract 1 grain from the bottle, which contained hundreds of thousands if not millions of grains.

"That little thing will do that?" Akane questioned with a great amount of skepticism and surprise in her voice.

"Yep" Nodoka answered. "If you want I can dilute it," Nodoka offered after a moment of consideration

"No no knowing my temper I'll me all the help I can get," Akane said with a sigh before trailing off into silence.

"What's the matter?" Nodoka questioned.

"I'm going to do it without this stupid passion spice. It'll take me longer to do but it'll be worth it!" Akane declared

"Okay if that's the way you want to play it," Nodoka said after putting away the passion spice and thinking, 'Of course with the amount of spice dust you just inhaled you won't actually need to take the spice at all,' before noticing and Akane's distant look.

"Why why did she?" Akane cried.

"I don't know and while I don't know as much as your mother did about life magic I tried the best I could to bring her back but I simply could not find her," Nodoka said sadly as she too shed tears.

"You tried?"

"Yes and I couldn't find a trace of her," Nodoka responded before walking off

********************

That night, in the guest room Ranma sits in his nothing but boxers generally feeling stupid and embarrassed.

"Stupid pop" Ranma muttered to himself before Akane entered wearing her pajamas.

Sitting down by Ranma, Akane offered, "Want to talk about it?" to which Ranma accepted.

So a few hours later, we find Akane who is now glowing bright red and coincidentally Ranma was glowing with the same color.

"If I ever see your father again it will be too soon," Akane said with a growl as her aura died down.

"I've been saying that for years," Ranma replied before his aura faded.

"Do you love me?" Akane asked suddenly.

"Hmm I don't know I really don't," Ranma replied. "You make me fell different than the others."

"How so?"

"Well hmm well Shampoo makes me feel nervous. I mean she did try to kill me and I'm not sure marrying her would be much better. She may look good and know how to cook but I never know where she really stands on anything and her word of honor is worth about as much as bowl of raman."

"What about Ukyou?" Akane asked.

"I don't know I never know quite what she wants from me and despite the fact she's a good cook she only cooks one thing and even I get bored of having the same food over and over again, then there's all the times she plays nice and lady like," Ranma said after a moment's thought.

"I'm not even going to bother asking about Kodachi," Akane said before Ranma laughed slightly. "So what about me?"

"Well hum..." Ranma said as he started to squirm,

"What don't like about me?" Akane asked.

"Well, I wish you would you give me time to explain myself and you take my insults way too seriously. I mean I'm only playing," Ranma responded nervously.

"That's one of the only ways you know to show someone you like them isn't it?" Akane questioned after thinking about Ranma's 'teasing'.

"Yeah I guess," Ranma answered uncertainly.

"Is that why you're always insulting Ryouga?"

"No" Ranma said darkly.

"Then why are you?" Akane asked.

"I can't say," Ranma said as he started to slump.

"Why" Akane asked as she began to lose her temper.

"I gave him my word of honor on something and he's been using against me ever sense," Ranma explained.

"Does this have to do with p-chan?" Akane asked after a moment of thought to which Ranma gave no answer to other than silence. "It does doesn't it" Akane said after noticing Ranma's posture drop.

"Yeah," Ranma finally admitted.

"So you can tell me what I'm right, right?" Akane asked after a moments thought.

"Yeah" Ranma said.

"Ok. So does anyone else know this secret?"

"Yes everyone but you and the Kunou's" Ranma responded.

"So why hasn't anyone told me?" Akane asked curiously.

"Everyone's afraid of what your reaction will be?"

"Is it that bad?" Akane questioned unbelievingly.

"Most everyone figures you'll kill me and Ryouga over it or at least put us in the hospital for a very long time," Ranma answered nervously.

"..." was all Akane said in response to that. "Hmm ok, so everyone knows about this except for the Kunou's. Now the only thing the Kunou's don't know if about is your curse and this has to do with p-chan and Ryouga. Now what do they have in common. They both have black hair and brown eyes and trouble with girls and a yellow ban..." Akane said before trailing off as she remembered every encounter with Ryouga and p-chan and after the reality that Ryouga was indeed P-chan finely sunk in she began to laugh and cry as a bright red aura appeared around her. "That, that PIG when I get my hands on him I'm going to. I don't know what I'm going to do but I'm going to do it," Akane said while visibly trying to calm herself.

"I'm so sorry Akane," Ranma apologized nervously.

"I can see that and now I know why you were always sneaking into my room," Akane said as her aura faded. "I'm mad you for not telling me but I'm even madder at Ryouga for using your word of honor against you like that," Akane said as she leaned against Ranma before yawning.

"It's getting late I guess we should be getting to sleep," Ranma commented as he looked at the clock on the wall.

"Mhh yeah we should," Akane replied as she stretched out while grabbing onto go Ranma. This resulted in Ranma being laid out beside her. "Goodnight, baka," Akane said as she put her arms around Ranma leaving him surprised and uncomfortable as he feels Akane snuggle closer. However, Akane was trying her best to control herself. 'Oh kami I had no idea this would get me so horny,' Akane thought as she snuggled closer to Ranma only to find him all hard this of course started Akane's default reaction to such things. Akane however managed to catch herself before she even forced herself off of Ranma. 'Of course he's as hard as a rock I'm pushing up against him, not that I'm not much better right now,' Akane thought before she stretched and removed her pajama top, which revealed her bra. Shortly thereafter Akane removed her pajama bottoms. "Much better it's so hot in hear," Akane commented.

"Hmm yeah," Ranma said in agreement as he began to sweat for reasons other than the temperature. 'Oh man what's up with her,' Ranma thought desperately before realization dawned on him like fusion bomb impacting on his skull. "Are you ... hmm do you?" Ranma stuttered out in a rather articulate fashion considering his discomfort.

"Yes," Akane said before kissing Ranma deeply while putting his hands on her back in a very strategic position. "If you don't want to go any further you don't have to," Akane said in nothing more then a whisper to witch Ranma responded to by nodding sheepishly. "Ok we'll just stay like this awhile," Akane said as she snuggled closer to Ranma who squirmed a bit but said nothing more for several hours.

"Hmm Akane do you love me," Ranma finely asked to which Akane nodded to in reply. "How do you know?" Ranma asked in an almost pleading tone.

"It's hard to explain. You’re my best friend but you mean something more than just a friend. It's something I can't really put into words but all of it together is what makes me love you," Akane said after a moment of thought.

"Even our fighting," Ranma asked.

"Yeah I wish we wouldn't fight over a lot of things but our fights always end with no real hard feelings," Akane said uncertainly.

"So love is something that you can't really nail down but you know when you are in love?" Ranma questioned.

"Yeah. Remember when you said I make you feel different than the others?"

"Yeah" Ranma said in agreement.

"How"

"Hmm well I feel more comfortable around you than I do the others and I really like the fact you always make sure I where I stand with you and despite the others cooking and marshal abilities you've got the most potential around here and lots of other things but..."

"There's something more than all of that something that scares you out of your mind for no good reason," Akane offered to which Ranma only nodded vehemently to as a reply.

"None of the others scare me like that," Ranma admitted nervously.

"Don't be scared," Akane said as she hugged Ranma tightly.

"Is love what I'm feeling?" Ranma asked.

"I don't know for sure but if I was you I'd say it was," Akane said as she got closer before feeling Ranma unbutton her bra.

"I'm still scared," Ranma said while sounding surprised at his own words.

"So am I," Akane said before slipping out of her panties.

"..." was all Ranma said as he slipped out of his boxers.

"..." was all Akane said as kissed Ranma and whispering in his ear "it's time we both got a little sex education" after which passion and libido took over.

********************

Ranma Saotome wasn't sure if he was happy or not. On one hand, he now knew with absolute certainty that he loved Akane and after a night of ki heated passion and sex, he felt like a trillion yen. On the other hand, Akane hadn't woken up yet and Ranma knew she was an extremely heavy sleeper and was likely to pound into paste before remembering the previous night. Not that that fact particularly disturbed Ranma after all Akane pummeled him daily already. It was just he wanted to play a little bit more before breakfast.

"Mhh" was all Akane said as she awoke in her usual dead to the world state which was deader than even Ranma's and what followed was exactly what Ranma predicted. "That that ..." Akane managed to get out before —as Ranma predicted— she remember everything, "Oh geez, damn damn," Akane cursed as she went absolutely red in the face.

Meanwhile downstairs Ranma walked by his mother who said nothing about his current state as she read the morning paper.

"I'm really sorry Ranma," Akane said sheepishly as Ranma reentered the guest room.

"Don't worry about it," Ranma said as he grabbed his boxers and put them on before grabbing 1 of his standard outfits "I'm going to go take my bath now," Ranma said before leaving. Leaving Akane very embarrassed.

"I take that you're a heavy sleeper Akane," Nodoka said as she entered a few moments later to which Akane's only response was to nod. "Well why don't you go apologize," Nodoka offered as a suggestion.

"Now?" Akane questioned disbelievingly.

"If you want to," Nodoka said before leaving.

********************

Later we find Ranma soaking in the furo when Akane entered and began to wash herself.

"What do you think of it?" Ranma asked as Akane got in the furo with him.

"I think you make way to big of a deal about it and I really hate the fact that you take advantage of it."

Silence was Ranma's only response.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that every time I get stuck or have to do something that involves well you know I feel like I'm losing myself," Ranma answered distractedly.

"Well I don't know about getting stuck but if I did even one of the things you did I would feel like I was losing myself," Akane replied raising Ranma's eyebrow.

"Why you're a girl?"

Glaring Akane deciding to forego the beating she would usually given Ranma for such a comment. "Listen Ranma I may be a girl but I don't go around rejecting my own feelings, morals and honor just to go after something I want. It's just not worth it every time you do that you betray yourself. I mean it's no wonder that you feel like you losing yourself. It doesn't matter that you're quote doing something that makes you a girl. It matters that you're doing something that betrays who you are," was Akane's short speech to which Ranma nodded to while looking extremely thoughtful.

"Is that what you always get so angry with me when I do things like that," Ranma finely asked to which Akane nodded to as a reply. To which Ranma replied to by looking thoughtful. 'What being a girl means to me? Well I know what it doesn't mean or at least some of what it doesn't mean,' Ranma thought to himself before Nodoka was heard announcing that breakfast was ready.

********************

Later after breakfast, we find Ranma sitting alone in his old room when Nodoka enters.

"Anything wrong?"

"I don't know something that Akane said is really eating at me," Ranma answered as he started to look distant.

"What did she say," Nodoka asked before Ranma told her after which Nodoka sweat drops before adding her two yens worth. "Ask yourself this Ranma is being a girl what you hate or is being forced to be one what you hate," Nodoka said before leaving.

********************

Later that day Nodoka was found sitting in her desk in the basement when a knock was heard.

"Come in" Nodoka said before Akane entered. "Let me guess this is about you punting Ranma out the window this morning."

"Yeah," Akane said as she sat down. "...and about my temper in general."

"You can start by being patient," Nodoka responded.

Saying nothing Akane nervously looked down at the floor.

"One of your main problems right," Nodoka said as she got up. "Magic in general has given you and my son quite a bit of trouble," Nodoka said as she rose and picked up the cup of iced tea that was sitting on her desk.

"Yeah," Akane answered.

"May I assume most of it was Amazon in nature," Nodoka stated as she looked out the window.

"Yeah," Akane responded well sounding surprised.

"...and most of that magic came from a 300-year-old ghoul named Cologne," Nodoka asked.

"Yes."

"Why am I not surprised that Amazon is involved in all of this?" Nodoka questioned rhetorically as she shook her head. "Well I have a suggestion but it does involve a spell so it's your choice if you want to hear it."

"Ok I guess it wouldn't hurt to hear it."

"It's a simple spell that will make you sneeze anytime you try to attack Ranma without waiting at least seven seconds after you get mad at him," Nodoka said to which Akane's only response was to blink. "I know it sounds like it would never work Akane but it's worth try."

"No I was just..."

"Thinking that I would wave my hand and permanently make you not get mad Ranma; I could do that Akane but spells like that are immature and really do nothing to help in the long run. I knew this female sage once she would solve all of her problems by using spells like that. Then one day she accidentally drank an extremely powerful dispelling potion that she mistook for a curative potion. Her life fell apart in a matter of hours and in Avalon where people live to be 500 or so years old. Well needless to say, she had no way of coping. If it wasn't for one of her oldest friends she probably would not have made it through that experience."

"So simple is more often better with Magic?" Akane asked uncertainly.

"Yes. I'll always remember the plaque that hangs over my father's fireplace in his study. It was written in the language of the ancients. The translation is very very simple: 'Keep It Simple Stupid'," Nodoka said with a wry smile causing Akane to laugh furiously. "Not that type of thing you would expect in a 10,000-year-old Master Magi's study would you," Nodoka added to which Akane could only nod to an agreement as she tried to contain her mirth.

"Oh kami that was funny," Akane said as she finally calmed down.

"Now what do you think yes or no?" Nodoka asked.

"Why not I've heard crazier ideas," Akane said. "A lot crazier."

"Ok hear it goes," Nodoka said before raising her hand and saying a few words.

"That's it?"

"Yep," Nodoka replied before Akane left scratching her head.

********************

Kodachi had somehow gotten wind of Nodoka's visit to the dojo and after procuring some information, she immediately decided to visit her darling Ranma-sama's mother so she could dazzle the peasant woman with her wealth.

Surprisingly after showing up dressed in her finest clothing and wearing her finest jewels the peasant woman's only reaction was to raise an eyebrow slightly before inviting her in and showing her to tearoom leaving shortly thereafter to prepare tea. This left Kodachi alone with Ranma-chan and Akane who didn't bother disguising their glares.

A few moments later Nodoka reentered with a simple tea service, which she sat down while saying, "Sorry about the tea being plain but I haven't had time to go out and get my usual blend."

Nodding politely Kodachi took sip of the tea with the intention of stomaching whatever horrible blend it must be. However, her eyes widened when she realized the tea was the finest and most expensive variety of Darjeeling in the world. This meant Ranma's mother was exceptionally wealthy and had just 'politely' told her that her shows of wealth were worthless.

Looking up Kodachi found Nodoka looking her. "So what business does one of the Kunou family have with the Saotome clan?" Nodoka questioned as she sipped her tea.

Seeing her opportunity to impress the Saotome matriarch she explained her intentions to marry Ranma.

Nodoka was not impressed and simply responded, "You are not marriage material for the Saotome clan and before you ask I am the final arbiter of such matters."

"How da..." Kodachi managed to get out before finding razor-sharp cold steel millimeters from her throat.

"Do not question me child I have enough power to erase your entire clan either by force or influence with a single call," Nodoka said calmly as she held her sword perfectly still.

Backing away and then slowly nodding Kodachi said, "I thank you for the tea," before leaving hastily.

"The delusions of wealth," Nodoka stated as she sheathed her blade and sitting down.

"...and insanity," Akane muttered before Kunou barged in announcing himself before proclaiming his love for Akane and the pigtailed girl and his intentions to slay the foul sorcerer.

The response to say the least was chilly and Kunou was left standing out in the wind.

"Don't tell me this Tatewaki is actually baka enough not to know?" Nodoka whispered.

Ranma-chan and Akane's response was a nod.

After mentally groaning Nodoka cleared her throat and said, "You do realize Ranma and the 'pigtailed girl' are Gemini Twins."

Blinking Kunou queried, "Gemini Twins?"

"Yes," Nodoka explained as she held up two fingers. "Two bodies but only one mind and soul between them, it's so exceptionally rare it only happens once every few hundred years."

"I see," Kunou replied after a few moments of dead silence. "...so that means," Kunou continued as he looked over at Ranma-chan who just smirked. "You are truly a fiend of a ... demon," Kunou declared before storming off.

Ranma-chan's only response was to roll her eyes at Kunou's lame insult.

"So what now?" Akane questioned.

"We visit the dojo, and make the panda sweat," Nodoka answered simply.

********************

"I want to know where my worthless son cursing BAKA husband is now!" Nodoka demanded in an angry calm as she towered over Soun.

"Left training," Soun managed to squeak out as he cowered.

"Is that so," Nodoka stated while the panda cowered in a nearby corner.

"Yes," Soun answered with an exceptionally fast nodding motion.

"Then I will return when he gets back," Nodoka stated with a frigid tone to her voice before drawing her sword and bellowing, "...and when he does I'm going to..." only to 'accidentally' lose her grip on her sword which went flying embedding itself in the wall right next to the panda's head. "Oh my," Nodoka said in a Kasumi like voice as she walked over to the cowering panda. "I'm sorry Mr. Panda," Nodoka said with a pleasant smile as she retrieved her blade. "Now where was I?" Nodoka questioned thoughtfully before turning back to Soun and saying, "Ah yes when Genma gets back I will hold him to his promise," with a great deal of anger before storming off.

The panda's answer to this was to cry and pull out a sign that read, [You can't let me die!!]

"It's not my call Oyaji," Ranma-chan answered with a shrug as she walked off with Akane.

[Please someone help!], the panda begged.

"I'll start the funeral arrangements," Nabiki said with a completely straight face as she walked off leaving the panda to turn to Kasumi.

"What would you like as your final meal?" Kasumi questioned politely causing the panda to slump and walk off.

********************

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you two," Nabiki said as she walked away from Ukyou and Shampoo counting a few hundred thousand yen.

The girls however didn't hear Nabiki as they raced off to make preparations to impress Ranma's mother.

********************

Later that day back at the Saotome household Nodoka was sipping some tea —the good kind— as she thought about how long she would torture Genma before revealing that she knew he was the panda and her involvement with the springs.

Her musings however were interrupted when the far wall of her tearoom collapsed to reveal a buxom purple haired Amazon.

A tenth of the second later said Amazon was screaming in agony as she was electrocuted by lightning that lifted her off of the ground and threw her into a wall.

"Such horrific manners," Nodoka said sternly as she rose and snapped her fingers at the destroyed wall causing it to instantly repair itself. "Especially for an Amazon warrior," Nodoka continued before she levitated Shampoo up to her eye level.

Upon regaining her senses and focusing on who was in front of her Shampoo gasped in abject horror as she saw the progenitor of the springs known to all Amazon's as The Scarlet Magi. Bright red hair, piercing light hazel eyes tinted with emerald green and sapphire blue streaks, and beautiful facial features that while more mature than Ranma-chan's she recognized thanks to their obvious similarity.

"Good you remember me," Nodoka said simply as she let Shampoo drop to the ground before levitating the box of food Shampoo had brought over to her and opening it. After a moment of the examination, Nodoka shook her head and disintegrated the box. "Mind control drugs, child using such things only shows how pathetic you are," Nodoka said before sitting. "Leave, and tell your grandmother she will come here as soon as possible."

Shampoo's silent response was to nod and run off despite her injuries.

"Wasn't that a little harsh?" Ranma-chan questioned as she and Akane walked into the tearoom.

"Yeah even I have to agree," Akane admitted reluctantly.

"Yes but unfortunately Amazons' —especially the bubbleheaded pathetic ones— have notoriously thick skulls and the only way to knock any sense into them is a few hundred thousand volts," Nodoka responded as she poured some more tea for herself.

"Oh," Ranma-chan and Akane replied as they sat down.

"So how do you know so much about Amazons?" Akane questioned.

"I've had dealings with them in the past," Nodoka answered before muttering, "Unfortunately," before she clutched her head in pain.

~SEALED~ Nodoka heard a very familiar voice scream telepathically.

"Hishizuka!!!" Nodoka bellowed in shock before pulling a staff out of nowhere, slamming it onto the floor, summoning her power, and casting a spell through her staff. Once the spell finished Nodoka shook her head and said, "I couldn't get a complete trace."

"On what?" Akane queried while feeling scared.

"Your mother," Nodoka answered before rubbing the ridge of her nose and adding, "She's been sealed."

"Sealed?" Akane questioned.

"Yes and ..." Nodoka started only to the interrupted by a knock at the door. Nodoka's response to this was to blink and look at Ranma.

Ranma-chan's answer was to mutter something under her breath while Nodoka walked off to answer the door. Not surprisingly a few moments later Nodoka reentered the room with Ukyou who was already trying to gain favor with Nodoka.

Even Ranma-chan was disgusted by the amount of brown nosing Ukyou was doing.

Nodoka however questioned, "Who exactly are you Kuonji-san?"

Ukyou of course was floored by this statement but quickly recovered and explained who she was and how she became engaged to Ranma.

Nodoka's response was to shake her head in mumble, "Genma no baka," before turning to Ukyou and saying, "Genma has never had any authority to engage Ranma to anyone Kuonji-san. As such, your 'engagement' to him never happened."

Ukyou's response to this declaration was to start ranting about how Akane didn't have any right to 'Her Ranma'. This was followed by ranting about how Ranma had to be hers and then Ukyou tried to attack Akane.

She however was stopped quite literally in place by a single arcane word and burst of power.

"Something is not right here," Nodoka stated before she stood and walked over to Ukyou who she examined. After finishing Nodoka shook her head before muttering a few curses and saying, "Her mind is a complete mess and it's all centered around fixations Ranma."

Akane's reply to this was to sarcastically say, "Gee what a surprise."

"Akane I'm not talking about a simple crush. The problems are on the level of a serious chronic illness," Nodoka explained as she glared at Akane.

"Oh," Akane responded while feeling very bad.

"Can you do anything?" Ranma asked.

"Of course," Nodoka said before beginning to cast a spell, which took her 10 minutes to complete. Once completed Nodoka released Ukyou from the holding spell. Ukyou's response to this was to collapse to the ground panting and holding her head.

"What was that?!" Ukyou sputtered out angrily. "My head feels like it's on fire!!"

"A powerful restorative spell designed to remove all forms of physical, mental, genetic, magical and supernatural diseases. It also restores any degrading mental or physical damage to your body, regenerates lost limbs and organs and restores damage from the draining of your life force," Nodoka explained as she helped Ukyou stand. "The 'fire' you feel is merely a temporary aftereffect of the magic."

"Oh," Ukyou replied lamely as she rubbed her side. "Now what?" Ukyou questioned.

"Since my baka husband stole your father's cart under the pretense of a dowry and I will contact him as soon as possible to..."

"My Oyaji's dead." Ukyou interrupted bitterly. "I don't have any other family either."

After cursing a few kamis — specifically the ones that 'watched' over Genma— Nodoka walked off only to return sometime later with a large book. "That being the case I have no choice but to adopt you into the clan immediately," Nodoka explained as she opened the book and started writing a new entry. This of course completely flabbergasted Ukyou. Of course Ukyou started to object but she was silenced when Nodoka said, "You don't have a choice. This way what is left of your families' honor will be restored in full and you will keep your family name but you will have the resources of the Saotome clan at your disposal," before finishing and pushing the book over to Ukyou.

Reading the entry Ukyou found it registered her as Ranma's sister with full rights and access to all the Saotome clan had to offer. After looking at the entry for a while, Ukyou sighed deeply and signed.

"Very good Ukyou-chan," Nodoka said before reaching into her kimono and pulling out a small purse, which she retrieved ten 10,000-yen bills from. "This should be enough to tide you over until such time as I can set up an account for you," Nodoka said simply as she handed Ukyou the money.

After taking the money, Ukyou walked off looking rather numb.

Shaking her head Nodoka mumbled something to herself before saying, "Both of you stay away from her for the time being. Now if you'll excuse me I have seal breaker to prepare," and walking off leaving Ranma-chan at Akane alone.

"I'm going to go practice," Ranma-chan muttered before walking off to do just that.

As Nodoka worked on the seal breaking spell she thought about how in the multiverse Hishizuka who was a full circle of power more powerful than she was could have been sealed.

Individually none of their enemies could ever hope to even seal her let alone Hishizuka. Heck even together Nodoka doubted their enemies could come up with a powerful enough focus to seal even her for more than a year. In fact, the only thing that could be used as a focus for a seal that could even theoretically hold either of them for any meaningful amount of time was a sphere of natural annihilation most commonly known on Earth as a black hole. That would also explain why Hishizuka was having such a hard time communicating with her since a sphere of natural annihilation was one of the few things in the multiverse capable of scrambling and blocking the sort of telepathy she and Hishizuka used. The sphere was also quite capable of scrambling any attempts, be they mortal, divine, magical or psychic of finding its precise location.

'Still how would any of our enemies get their hands on a sphere of natural annihilation?' Nodoka mentally questioned since even the greater evil gods were wary of going near a sphere. The thing twisted reality so much that its effects were felt even on the astral plane. "One of our enemies must have found a way to artificially create a sphere of natural annihilation inside of a movable dimiplane. That being done it would be easy to know the sphere's precise location," Nodoka said to herself as she finished the seal breaker.

The seal breaker finished Nodoka teleported to the general location she had gained earlier. The location not surprisingly was the park and as Nodoka began to walk around, she mentally activated all of her supernatural senses. A few minutes of searching later, she found a distortion.

Taking a deep breath Nodoka said, "Time to get to work," before simply freezing time around her. That being done Nodoka walked over to the distortion and carefully 'pulled' on it. This revealed a natural sphere of annihilation bound within a dimiplane. Shaking her head Nodoka mumbled, "Sometimes I really hate it when I'm right."

Taking a few steps back, Nodoka began to glow with power. The power was that of an immortal soul: more commonly known as divine power.

After summoning all the power she needed Nodoka focused it into a luminescent blade of divine energy and then slashed through both the dimiplane and the natural sphere of annihilation destroying them both then with a quick divine motion she moved the energy that was released by their destruction to the astral plane where it would dissipate harmlessly. This left behind a small black sphere that was severely cracked Nodoka's only response to this was to release the seal breaker spell, which instantly destroyed the sphere revealing a long cyan haired woman wearing a simple housedress similar in style to what Kasumi wore.

Scowling the woman muttered something under her breath before saying, "10 damn years, Nodoka."

"I know," Nodoka said with a nod before releasing her hold on time. "Come on I have a lot to tell you, Hishizuka."

"...and I have to make plans to disembowel a certain dark god and a few demon lords," Hishizuka said with a growl.

"Which ones?" Nodoka questioned as the two walked off.

********************

As Nodoka and Hishizuka walked through the gates of the Saotome home they found Ranma and Akane practicing. The two ancient Magi responded to this by smiling brightly before Nodoka walked into clear view. This of course attracted Ranma and Akane's attention.

Nodoka's only response was to smile, step aside and let Hishizuka step in to view.

"Okaachan!!" Akane bellowed and she ran to her mother and hugged her.

"You've grown up beautifully," Hishizuka said with a smile before walking off with Akane as she said, "Come lets go home."

This left Ranma to turn to his mother who smiled before saying, "Come on it's time for lunch."

********************

Later after a quiet lunch, Ranma was found sitting in his old room quietly meditating on what had transpired when he noticed Cologne actually walking up the street.

"She must be spooked," Ranma commented to himself before deciding to go see how things were at the Tendo dojo.

********************

As Ranma arrived at the dojo, he found it eerily quiet. Shrugging Ranma hopped over the wall to find Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane and Soun all sitting by the koi pond watching Hishizuka who was quietly contemplating something. Seeing this Ranma held back as there was obviously something important transpiring; a few moments later Hishizuka said, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

The response the others gave was to shake their heads.

"Very well," Hishizuka answered before getting up and saying, "Ranma, Akane follow me," as she walked off.

Shrugging Ranma followed along with Akane.

********************

A few minutes later the three came to the open field where challengers took place Hishizuka stopped and said, "This is as good as place as any."

"For what?" Ranma questioned as he looked around.

"You fell into the spring of the drowned young girl," Hishizuka responded that she stretched her arms out in front of her. "So I'm going to correct the young part," Hishizuka continued. "...and yes I will hurt."

Grumbling Ranma nodded and transformed. Hishizuka's response was to cast the aging spell.

15 seconds of pain later it was finally over.

"Damn," Ranma-chan cursed as she picked herself up off of the ground immediately noticing a few things as she recovered.

1 she was now as tall as Akane.

2 her voice had lost its annoying childish high-pitched edge.

3 she was significantly stronger than she had been.

"You ok?" Akane asked after Ranma-chan sat back down on the ground.

Grumbling Ranma-chan nodded before everyone heard a scream of, "WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW!!!" which was quickly followed by Ryouga stumbling into view.

Akane and her mother's response to this was to pull mallets out of nowhere and advance on Ryouga. Ranma-chan however executed the Saotome secret technique since she didn't want to see her best friend/enemy pummeled into paste.

Nodoka was smirking as she looked at a crystal panel. The reason for this was she was watching the panda on the panel. Currently the panda was hiding out at the park.

"What to do?" Nodoka questioned before making the panel vanish with a flick of her wrist as she said, "Might as well start with the basics: Mind games and accidental water exposure," and teleporting to the park and right behind Genma-panda. After smirking slightly Nodoka queried, "What are you doing here Mr. Panda?"

Genma-panda's response to this was to jump 3 feet in pure terror before turning around and pulling out a sign that read, [Nothing.]

After blinking curiously at the sign Nodoka said, "Well in that case you can help me with my shopping," with a smile as she started pushing the panda along.

********************

'She has to know,' Genma-panda thought well feeling terrified. 'She has to,' he mentally repeated as Nodoka continue to ramble on about what she was going to do to her worthless husband.

As Nodoka continued to ramble, she saw a perfect opportunity to start the accidental water exposure part of her plan. That opportunity was a collection of pipes carrying both hot and cold water running up the side of the building. As she passed the pipes, she released a small bit of magic that would cause them to burst all over Genma-panda.

What followed thereafter was an exceptionally acrobatic display as Genma was hit and dodged multiple streams of hot and cold water all while making sure to stay out of Nodoka's site. It was really quite an amazing display and even she didn't actually see Genma transform out of his panda form.

'Too close way to close,' Genma-panda thought as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"Oh my, are you ok Mr. Panda?" Nodoka questioned.

[Yes, of course,] was the reading of the sign the panda pulled out of nowhere.

"Are you sure? I can get you some nice hot water and hot towels," Nodoka offered.

[NO, NO, NO, I'm just fine,] the panda's sign replied.

"Ok, if you say so," Nodoka answered as she gave the panda a curious look that made him sweat quite literally. "Well let's go," Nodoka finally said before walking off leaving the panda to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Nodoka's a response to this was to think, 'I wouldn't breathe too easily dear,' Nodoka thought as the blue streaks in her hazel her eyes briefly flashed.

********************

15 minutes and twice that many water-based 'accidents' later an absolutely terrified Genma-panda was hyperventilating as he hid. Looking around neurotically Genma-panda made a break for it. A second later Nodoka dropped her invisibility spell and said, "I'll give him a five minute reprieve before 'finding him'," before becoming invisible once again.

********************

"Damn," Genma cursed as he looked around for some sort of cold water so he could escape from Nodoka who had spotted him a few minutes ago. "I've..." Genma said as he spun around only to come face-to-face with Nodoka. His response to this was to run. Nodoka's answer to this was to pull out two bolos and throw them at Genma. Both hit with expert precision and Genma went down.

After walking over to Genma Nodoka picked him up and said, "So good to see you again, dear."

Genma's only response was a nervous smile as he was dragged over to a nearby park bench.

After Nodoka unceremoniously threw Genma on to bench, she unsheathed her blade and sat down next to Genma. "Now where should I begin?" Nodoka questioned rhetorically as she glared at Genma. "I know how bout your complete ineptitude at teaching Ranma how to relate to others," Nodoka began as she held her sword under Genma's nose.

********************

About an hour later Nodoka finished by lightly tapping Genma on the nose with the point of her blade as she thoughtfully said, "That's about it. Now do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Genma who was by this time scared completely out of his mind wasn't able to respond with more than a squeak.

Rolling her eyes Nodoka tapped Genma on the nose once again this time hard enough to scratch Genma enough that blood was drawn. This of course immediately refocused Genma's attention. "Well?" Nodoka reiterated as she moved the blade away from Genma's face.

"Hmm, well..." Genma started before pausing briefly and stating with as much backbone as he could muster, "I did the best I could."

Nodoka's response to this was to stand and consider what Genma had said for a moment before spinning around and slicing at Genma with her sword. Genma's natural response to this was to go white, until he realized he wasn't dead. Looking down at himself and Genma found that bolos that had bound him had been cut. After breathing a sigh of relief, Genma looked up to see Nodoka sheathing her blade. "Yes I believe you did and despite your inaptitude you've fulfilled your promise to the best of your ability."

Genma's response to this was to start gloating however before he got very far he found steel at his shoulder and Nodoka in inch from his face.

"Don't push your luck, dear," Nodoka said flatly to which Genma responded with a nervous grin. Smiling rather mischievously at this, Nodoka kissed Genma passionately before whispering the truth of who she was in Genma's ear. That done she walked from Genma and after sheathing her blade teleported away.

A few seconds later a petrified with shock Genma was blown over by a strong gust of wind.

********************

After about an hour and a half of wandering around Ranma-chan returned to the dojo to find Ryouga laying on the ground by the Koi pond bloody, beaten, scorched, and electrocuted.

"You still alive?" Ranma-chan questioned as she stood over Ryouga.

The only response Ryouga could give was a slight twitch and a tortured mumble that sounded like a yes.

"Well that's good," Ranma-chan said before picking Ryouga up so she could take him to Dr. Tofu. "Look on the bright side at least they didn't make bacon out of you."

Ryouga's only response to this cringe horribly as his face contorted with soul numbing terror. This was missed by Ranma-chan who was concentrating on keeping Ryouga stable. Ranma-chan also didn't see the three Tendo sisters and their mother smiling at Ryouga as they waved goodbye from the tearoom.

********************

Just after Ranma-chan had dropped Ryouga off at Dr. Tofu's clinic, he encountered Akane who was obviously waiting for him. Surprisingly and to her obvious embarrassment Akane was wearing an outfit that was identical to Ranma-chan's in all respects except for the colors for the open vest and tube top, which were sky blue and bright yellow.

"Hi," Akane said with a blush as she leaned against the concrete wall around Dr. Tofu's clinic.

"You look good," Ranma-chan said nervously and with a blush of her own.

"Thanks," Akane said nervously as Ranma-chan leaned against the wall as well. "So what now?"

"I have no idea," Ranma-chan answered with a shrug before the two walked off.

It had been several days since Nabiki's mother had returned and it had been revealed that she and Nodoka played a major part in the creation of the cursed springs. In those days nothing particularly interesting had happened other than the fact Ranma and Akane were sequestered at Nodoka's home where she was in her mother's words smoothing out their rough edges with a dwarven warhammer. As Nabiki thought about it, Ranma and Akane's absence was more than likely the reason why things had been boring.

It was also a little known fact that Nabiki quite loved the chaos of Nerima —though she'd never admit it— and without the usual chaos avatars around Nabiki had become quite bored. In fact, she had become dangerously bored and was plotting to generate some chaos of her own. Surprisingly Nabiki had been joined in her efforts by Kasumi.

That was why the two were now in possession of their mother's staff, which was topped with a diamond the size of Genma's fist.

"Now if we can only figure out how to work a real 'Staff of the Magi'," Kasumi commented with a smirk causing Nabiki to roll her eyes.

"You and your thing for pen and paper RPGs," Nabiki commented as she shook her head.

"So says the girl that at 12 ran the yakuza out of Nerima," Kasumi replied as she looked over her extensive library of RPG manuals.

"It was never proven I had any direct involvement with that," Nabiki replied with a dismissive gesture.

Kasumi's reply was to toss a 'you have got to be kidding me look' over her shoulder before returning her attention to examining the staff. A few moments later Kasumi shook her head and said, "Unless this thing happens to be intelligent I don't think we're going to figure out how to work it."

"Intelligent?" Nabiki said with a raised eyebrow. "Come on sis this isn't some fanta..."

"I'll have you know that I am very intelligent young lady," a cultured feminine voice with a mix of a Scottish and British accent with just a touch of another accent neither Tendo sister could identify said as the staff leapt into the air and began to glow.

After blinking a few times Nabiki shook her head and mumbled something about chaos before stating, "Now Staff-chan you're going to help us."

"...and why should I?" the staff demanded.

"Because I know more than a few diamond cutters," Nabiki answered simply.

"Ok," the staff answered after Kasumi swore she heard it gulp.

"Good now what exactly can you do?"

********************

Later at the park, Kasumi and Nabiki sat amongst the branches of a high tree both smiling mischievously.

"So many jokes so much chaos..." Nabiki began.

"...and so little time," Kasumi finished.

Smiling mischievously Nabiki raised her mother's staff and pointed it at a group of innocent bystanders. An instant later the bystanders had been changed into a cat, rabbit, dog, and even squirrel morphs this of course caused immediate chaos and pandemonium, which the two Tendo sisters sat back and enjoyed.

"Squirrels?" Kasumi questioned curiously after a moment.

Shrugging Nabiki responded, "I wanted something a little different, and if you got any other ideas I'm game."

"Fox, raccoons and I don't know a kender or two," Kasumi responded mischievously.

Raising an eyebrow Nabiki responded, "There's already one too many of that last one in Nerima," before zapping a few more people into fox and raccoon morphs.

"I suppose you're right and we're not trying to create mass panic just the usual chaos," Kasumi responded before hearing a squeal of delight followed by the appearance of the kender of Nerima otherwise known Azusa. This was followed by the various people that had been transformed scattering to the winds as fast as they could. Nabiki's response to this was to bang her head against the tree a few times. Kasumi however shrugged and said, "Elves," as she hopped down from the tree.

Smiling at this Nabiki said, "Tolkien, Santa, RPG, or Anime?" as she to hopped down.

After a faux moment of consideration, Kasumi simply answered with a mischievous smirk.

"All of the above it is then," Nabiki answered as the two walked off.

********************

Later after more random transformations, Nabiki handed the staff off to Kasumi. Kasumi who already had a plan in mind smiled and mentally commanded the staff to start the plan. This resulted in the two Tendo sisters teleporting away only to appear near Genma-panda. In instant later, the two became invisible and Kasumi briefly directed a battle aura at Genma-panda. The rotund martial artist responded to this immediately and began looking around for an unknown adversary. However, the panda couldn't find anything and so became quite nervous. Kasumi's response to this was to again briefly pulse her battle aura at Genma. However, this time she used a trick that enabled her to make it feel as though her aura was coming from a different direction than it really was. This furthered Genma-panda's nervousness into full-blown paranoia and the rotund panda ran soon after.

********************

A little while later after the panda had stopped running he frantically looked around before finally breathing a sigh of relief. An instant later however, he felt a battle aura directed at him from his left followed by a tingling sensation. His response to this was to wonder what horrific magic had been wrought on him. However before he could Kasumi walked by and questioned, "Oh my, what happened to your fur, Ojisan?"

At this innocent query, the feeling of dread Genma-panda was feeling increased tenfold and after a moment, he turned around and saw his reflection in a nearby window.

His white fur was now a bright neon pink. This was too much for the panda to handle and he fainted straightaway already delirious enough to see Kasumi smirking mischievously.

Kasumi's response to this was to walk off as she thought, 'That was a good warm-up.'

As Kasumi rounded a nearby corner she reflexively caught her mother's staff as Nabiki said, "At times like this I really wonder which of us is truly the 'nice sister'."

Kasumi's only reply was to smirk before she and Nabiki went off to find her next victim.

********************

The next person Kasumi decided to prank was actually a surprisingly hard mark and that mark was Tatewaki Kunou. The reason for this was simply because Kunou had such a thick head. To overcome this Kasumi simply set up every classical prank she could and unleashed them all on Kunou is a great montage. The results were hilarious but largely unsatisfying even though Kodachi had been dragged in the montage of practical jokes.

********************

"So your going to prank Ukyou?" Nabiki questioned as the two sat on a rooftop across the street from Ucchan's.

"Yes," Kasumi replied before smirking slightly as Ukyou chased a vending machine that was screaming like a little girl out of her store. A moment or two later when Ukyou headed back to her store Kasumi took the opportunity to begin and zapped Ukyou. The zap however had no apparent effect but Kasumi still smiled and said, "Let's go have some okonomiyaki."

"Ok," Nabiki responded while not even pretending to know what Kasumi was up to.

As the two walked into Ucchan's a few moments later they found Ukyou fuming angrily as she cursed. Nearby and cowering underneath a table was Ryouga who was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

"Hello Ukyou-chan," Kasumi chimed in as she sat down at the grill. "I like what you've done with your hair," Kasumi added with a pleasant smile causing everyone to look at Ukyou's hair, which had suddenly become a bright and rather familiar shade of red.

Ukyou's immediate response to seeing her hair in a nearby stainless steel countertop was to start cursing a mile a minute that somebody was going to pay for pranking her.

"I think I should be going," Kasumi interrupted.

"Hun?" Ukyou mumbled as she snapped out of her prank-induced rage to see a smirking Kasumi Tendo leaving. 'Must be seeing things Kasumi..." Ukyou thought before literally seeing Ryouga flying at her hands first.

*GROPE!!!!**SPURT!!*

Ukyou's response to this was to look down to find Ryouga's hands seemingly magnetically adhered to her bosom while the boy in question was passed out his nose dribbling blood. "Why do I have the sudden unshakable and horrific feeling we've been pranked by Kasumi?" Ukyou asked the unconscious Ryouga as she tried to remove his magnetic hands from her bosom.

A moment later she received an unlikely answer as her chest bindings broke making the magnetically induced groping much more complete.

********************

"ACK!" Ukyou screamed just as Nabiki and Kasumi high-fived each other.

"So who next?" Nabiki queried

"We mousse an annoying fur ball and call it a day," Kasumi replied.

"What aren't we going to go after Oyaji?" Nabiki questioned seriously.

"Unfortunately the staff only has power for one more prank," Kasumi answered.

"Drat," Nabiki mumbled before shrugging and asking, "So how are we going to mousse the fur ball?"

"With chocolate of course," Kasumi responded with a little giggle. A giggle Nabiki noted would be full-blown maniacal laughter from anyone else.

********************

Shampoo had for some inexplicable reason developed a sweet tooth specifically aimed at chocolate. Worse yet she had found the elder Tendo sisters eating a decadent looking confection absolutely brimming over with chocolate in the park.

"Would you like some Shampoo?" Kasumi queried as Shampoo literally started drooling over the desert in front of her.

Shampoo's response was a rapid nodding to which Kasumi replied by pulling another serving of the decadent dessert from a nearby picnic basket. Shampoo's response to this was to dig in and savor every wonderful decadent morsel. After she was done Shampoo queried, "What name desert?"

Kasumi's completely calm and slightly mischievous reply was to say, "Chocolate Mousse."

Shampoo's answer was to go completely white and pass out.

"Well that was a stronger reaction than I was expecting," Kasumi said plainly before she and Nabiki got up and walked off. Both satisfied at a full day's pranking.

********************

As Kasumi and Nabiki arrived home laughing at the hijinks they had created, they found their mother waiting for them was a very disapproving glare.

After shaking her head, Hishizuka retrieved her staff with a simple telekinetic motion.

"You two will be punished," Hishizuka said sternly before zapping Nabiki who's ears started itching soon afterwards.

"You ..." Nabiki sputtered before her mother raised an eyebrow. At this Nabiki ran off to find the nearest mirror hoping beyond hope that her mother really hadn't done what she thought she had.

This left Kasumi behind to mentally smile after all what could her mother do, give her more chores?

"As for you no chores for a week and no Tofu for two," Hishizuka said sternly before walking off.

This left a pale twitching and utterly frozen Kasumi to imitate a statue. A few moments later the silence was shattered by a shrill scream of, "NO NOT A RABBIT!!!"

********************

Late that night Kasumi found herself moping in the training hall when Nabiki who now had bunny ears and a white fluffy tail walked in and sat down.

"You know, after thinking about it I'm sure the joke's on us," Nabiki muttered.

The only reply Kasumi gave was a sad nod.

The magnetic attraction had finally worn off after six hours. Still enough time had passed that Ukyou had to share her bed with Ryouga who was currently asleep and snoring softly his hands still groping her.

Strangely, Ukyou didn't mind anymore. This of course was why Ukyou thought she had gone cuckoo.

'Or maybe it's just the fact he's the first to get this close and that's playing with my hormones,' Ukyou mentally added as Ryouga unconsciously squeezed her left breast through her shirt. This caused Ukyou to blush hotly both in pleasure of what she was feeling and the embarrassment it caused. Still the embarrassment she was feeling didn't detract any from the pleasure and for a small moment Ukyou seriously entertained the idea of becoming his 'boyfriend' just to continue receiving the pleasure she was feeling. Shaking the thought off as both cruel to her and Ryouga, Ukyou looked out the window for a moment before slipping out of bed and stretching. A moment later, she sat back down on the edge of the bed where she removed her shirt and discarded her broken chest bindings. This left in Ukyou to look out the window as she thought about how lonely she and Ryouga were. 'Then again becoming close for real isn't bad idea at all,' Ukyou thought before slipping out of the rest of her clothes and back into bed.

********************

Meanwhile in another part of Nerima the pink panda was hiding and looking around while feeling paranoid about what would be done to him next.

********************

At the Cat Café Shampoo wailed incomprehensibly about eating Mousse.

********************

At the Kunou Manor, however the Kunou siblings were stocking up on good luck charms since they had a run of 'bad luck'.

********************

The next morning Ryouga awoke to find his head resting on Ukyou's bosom. Jerking completely awake and grabbing his nose at the same time, Ryouga blushed hotly as he wondered how in the world Ukyou had ended up naked.

'Naked?' Ryouga mentally questioned as he realized he was seeing ALL of Ukyou. A half second later, he collapsed blood explosively erupting from his nose.

Sitting up Ukyou commented, "We're really going to have to work on that," before grabbing Ryouga and shaking him until he regained consciousness. "You've..." Ukyou managed to get out before Ryouga fainted again. "...got to stop doing that," Ukyou finished as she rubbed her temples. A moment later, she dropped the eternally lost boy and walked off to get dressed. She didn't want him losing any more blood.

********************

Later after Ukyou had a shower —which thankfully had returned her hair to its normal color— and gotten dressed she returned to her room to find Ryouga just regaining consciousness.

"You know you've really should work on stopping your nose from erupting thing like that," Ukyou commented that she sat down behind Ryouga.

"I can't it just happens," Ryouga sputtered nervously before squeaking as Ukyou leaned against him her ample bosom pressing against his back.

"Relax buta-chan," Ukyou teased as she bonked Ryouga on the head.