Chapter Six: The Next New World To Be Introduced

Ranma’s mind short-circuited for a moment. Then he started to get angry. What is *wrong* with all these places?

Fortunately (for Kuno) Ran-kun spoke before Ranma reacted. “ ‘Cursed body’? What do you mean by that?”

Kuno drew himself up to his full height and answered in a genuinely regal tone, much to the surprise of those who knew him as an idiot. “I know my betrothed, Saotome Ranma, was cursed to take the body of a boy, and you now wear that body. So tell me, are you my love reincarnated or some demon sent to tempt me into the netherworld?”

Cursed to take the body of a boy? Reincarnated? Oh boy…

Ranma’s anger didn’t exactly drain away, but he managed to control the urge to kill Kuno, at least. He rubbed his eyes in exasperation. “I’m not a reincarnation of anybody. I certainly was never betrothed to you. And if I have to deal with you calling me evil too I’ll kick you into orbit.”

Kuno blinked in confusion. “Why are you so belligerent to me?”

“Tachi, Ran – Ranma, please…” Akane held one hand up to stop the impending argument. “These are the four allies we were promised,” she explained to Kuno. “I don’t know why they look like Ranma’s cursed form and Ryouga, but…”

“I’m your guide.” Kasumi, who had been standing back and watching, interrupted suddenly. Akane looked at her in surprise, but stepped back and let her older sister have the floor.

“Thank you, sister,” she whispered as she stepped past Akane. “I was given instructions to explain our situation to you, since you are unfamiliar with our universe,” she continued in a loud voice, beginning the narration. “I do not know about any of you, though. Perhaps you can explain later…? Anyway, you have been sent here to help us in our struggle against the Wolf Pack, a society of magic users. They have existed for many years, and we are still uncertain as to the reason they suddenly became violent and clearly evil when before they were secretive and neutral, wanting only to be left alone. When the Wolf Pack began attacking and taking over cities and even countries, a worldwide organization was set up to defend against them, KARN. My two sisters, myself, Kuno Tatewaki, Saotome Ranma, and Hibiki Ryouga were recruited by Karn several years ago. Mu Tsu joined us one year and two months ago, when one of our missions took us to China. Incidentally, that was at the same point Ranma acquired her curse. Due to the recent deaths of two of our members, including our leader, we have been struggling, losing too many battles. We needed help, desperately – and we have now received it.” She explained it almost by rote, as if it were something she had memorized for this specific purpose. Her next words, however, were not so emotionless. “We were told that assistance would come to us in an unexpected form, but imagine our surprise when doubles of our lost comrades appeared.”

“Imagine our surprise,” Ranma mimicked. “We were told about this about five minutes ago. And not much at that.”

One of the Ryougas, the bandanna-less one, finally managed to speak. “I don’t even know who *they* are…”

“We’ll explain later, Ryo-chan…” Ran-kun reassured him. He glanced at the group they were supposed to help. “I think we need to be careful.”

The other Ryouga blinked repeatedly. “I don’t know what’s going on, but Ranma, I know this is all your fault!”

Ranma rolled his eyes. “Ryouga, you idiot…”

“Which one of them are you talking to?” spoke his twin, almost amused at this.

Ranma looked at him. “We need names for them, too, don’t we…”

Ran-kun nodded. “Yeah, that would be useful. Ryo-koi,” he looked up at the appropriate Ryouga with his sweetest smile, “Is it okay if they call you Ryo-kun? They call me Ran-kun, so this way it’s a pattern.”

‘Ryo-kun’ looked confused. “I guess so…”

“Thanks, love.” Ran-kun smiled, and turned back to the other group. “Now introductions won’t be quite so confusing. I’m Saotome Ranma, or Ran-kun. This is my counterpart from another reality, with the same name, but we just call him Ranma.” He gestured appropriately. “From my world, Hibiki Ryouga, or now Ryo-kun. His counterpart from Ranma’s reality, also with the same name, Ryouga,” he said, pointing to each in turn.

For what was supposed to be the less confusing explanation, most of the audience was still bewildered. Ryo-kun had lost track at the words ‘another reality’.

“I did not know where our mysterious allies were coming from that they would need that explanation,” Kasumi commented. “I wonder why they went to such great lengths to gather you here from other worlds, though. Such magic does not come without a price.” She paused for a second and then added, thoughtfully, “Would you like some hot water?”

“Hot water?” Ran-kun repeated blankly, then remembered. “Oh. No, thank you, but I’m not cursed.”

Kasumi blinked. Well, isn’t tonight just full of surprises. “I see. Ryo-kun?”

“What?”

“He’s not cursed either.” Ran-kun explained. “They are,” he added looking at the other pair, “but neither are in need of hot water at the moment. I’ll explain later,” he whispered to Ryo-kun.

“I… see.” Kasumi said hesitantly.

“Now wait a minute!” Akane burst out, unable to keep quiet any longer. She wasn’t used to being in the background for so long. “Ranma, did your curse get stuck permanently or something again?”

“No,” both answered together. “I was *never* cursed,” clarified one.

She blinked. “You’re both actually male?” she asked incredulously.

“We’re as surprised that the one of this world was not,” Ran-kun answered.

“O-kay…” Akane let the information soak in for a while. I wonder what Ranma would think if she was still here… “I can deal with that. But you two have curses? What are they?”

Ran-kun didn’t answer, just looked at Ranma and Ryouga instead.

Ranma looked annoyed, obviously sick of explaining his curse. “I turn into a girl.”

“Short, kinda busty, bright red hair?” Akane asked hesitantly.

Ranma nodded curtly.

“Oh…” So he is Ranma… both of them are. Or at least… her… ‘counterparts’? Yeah, that was the word he used… I guess I can deal with this… She turned to Ryouga, remembering that they had said he was cursed as well. “What’s yours, Ryouga?”

A flash of something – fear? – passed over his face briefly before he looked down. “…”

Ranma shot him an annoyed glance. “I’ll tell ‘em if you won’t,” he threatened, and got treated to a glare of pure malice. “Fine then,” he continued blithely. “Hibiki turns into a pig.” Ryouga’s fingers started to twitch, curling into half-circles as if he was imagining wringing the neck of a certain martial artist.

Akane took a second to process that. At least it’s not a girl, she decided.

***

Nabiki was doing her best not to burst out laughing. That would have drawn attention, and he job was to stay unnoticed. Only Mu Tsu, who kept giving her knowing looks, could tell that anything at all was going on behind her placid expression.

Poor Tachi, she thought. It was bad enough that Ranma died, now he’s got to work with a guy who not only has the same name but is cursed to turn into her…

She didn’t miss the interaction between Ran-kun and Ryo-kun. They’re not bothering to hide it, after all. I wonder if the other two have a relationship as well… they don’t seem to get along, though. I suppose it’s not worse than if he – or she, for that matter – had appeared with Akane hanging off his arm. She snickered silently at the picture that appeared in her mind suddenly. Those two would kill each other first, though. The whole idea’s a bit freaky… but what isn’t about this situation? Besides, all of them are being pretty open about their emotions, and the more open people are, the easier they are to manipulate. Her forehead creased ever so slightly at that thought. Stop it. They’re allies, you don’t need to manipulate them, Nabiki. Not very much, anyway. Besides, who knows what they’re capable of. They’re supposed to turn the tide of this war… they must be hiding some serious power. I wonder what it is…

Mu Tsu didn’t startle her so much by speaking. It was almost impossible to startle her; and even if you did she showed no outward reaction. Hence the easy acceptance of the new arrival’s explanation. She didn’t believe them, of course, but she could accept it, then find out the real story.

“What are you planning?” he whispered, quietly enough so that only she heard. The others were too busy talking to pay any attention anyway, and Tachi was just plain confused, still trying to make sense of the situation. The poor boy wasn’t the most intelligent thing on earth. Nabiki turned her conscious attention to the Chinese boy, meanwhile recording the others’ conversation for later review.

“What makes you think I’m planning something?”

Mu Tsu snorted softly. “You make a plan for everything. If you let something as important as this slip by, you’re either ill or possessed. But aren’t you *battle* tactician? People can deal with their own interpersonal relationships, you know. And this one’s complicated. You should probably let it develop on its own, and take it from there.”

Nabiki was mildly surprised at Mu Tsu’s bluntness. It was a rare occasion indeed when he actually vocalized a disagreement with her, even though he often disliked her meddling. “Aisuru, you know I wouldn’t do anything to mess up this situation.”

Mu Tsu didn’t fall for the endearment; she hadn’t expected him to. It was much too obvious for that. But it threw him off, made him uncertain. Because he knew it had to be a ploy, it worked as one. She loved doing things like that – so simple, yet so insidious. And the best part was, the statement was not only believable, it was true. She *wouldn’t* harm this situation, she couldn’t afford to. “You don’t mean to mess up the situation, koiishi,” he replied, throwing the tactic back in her face in a display of remarkable intelligence. “But even the most well-meaning plan can turn bad. We don’t know enough about them yet.”

I’m rubbing off on him. The thought came with no small measure of pride. “You should know me better than that, Mu,” she replied, carefully not letting her real emotion slip through. The Amazon hadn’t had what could be called the cleverest mind when they had met fourteen months earlier, but spending a year of that time pursuing her and the most recent two months actually dating her had forced him to grow mentally, since it was clear that intelligence was the only thing that could make her reciprocate the emotion. She was a bit fearful of what the boy was becoming, to tell the truth. Years of attempting to win Xian Pu had honed his fighting capabilities to the top fraction of a percent in the world; now the months of pursuing her was gradually doing the same to his intellect, without damaging his skill. Nabiki found it a great amusement that he was reaping this benefit from chasing after women. It wasn’t really a perversion, but certainly obsessive. After all, he had chased Xian Pu from their childhood until her death, from what she understood… she’d never met the girl, having not encountered the Amazons until several months after she had been killed. But he hadn’t just latched immediately unto another warrioress when she was gone. He would’ve picked another Amazon or Akane for that. No, he had fallen for Nabiki, whose fighting skill was mediocre, at least compared to the other members of their team, but who had a mind that took to tactics, strategy, and practical psychology (her term for manipulation) like an eagle to the air. She could use that sort of obsession. He’ll be a leader someday, she thought smugly. And I’ll be right behind him, the shadow to his brightness, the hand pulling the strings that shy from the light. It was what she wanted to become – the one working behind the scenes, with more power than the ones who publicly held it could ever dream of. And Mu Tsu would be a perfect way to achieve this. It wasn’t that she didn’t hold genuine feelings for the boy, just that her emotions were heavily influenced with pragmatism, like everything else about her.

Mu Tsu turned back to the scene, which was winding down. It was the middle of the night, after all. Even Nabiki could feel the temptation to just turn around and go back to bed. It won’t do any good to confront her directly. The thought frustrated him, but he understood Nabiki better than she thought he did. Don’t think I’m going to let you run wild with this, though… I’m afraid you’ll destroy more than you build.

Nabiki played the meeting between the two groups over and over in her head as she headed back to the living area with everyone else, even as she kept an eye on the continually unfolding drama playing out for her amusement. Some the nuances didn’t seem to have a simple explanation, but the relationships between the four mapped itself out for her quite neatly. Yes, I can definitely work with this… now, I just need to find out what each of them are capable of in a fight…

***

Ran-kun wasn’t oblivious at all to the quiet observer role Nabiki had taken. True, Mu Tsu – that was the name they had attached to the boy, even though Ranma insisted on calling him ‘Mousse’ – hadn’t said a word to them either, but hadn’t watched them with the same intense purpose as Nabiki. I’m the brains of our group, they said. So I’ll probably have to work with her. I wish I knew was planning, though… something in her eyes is frightening. In the morning I’ll have to find out more about her, and everyone’s role here if I’m going to be of any use. The only problem I can think of is if she’s so accustomed in her role she probably won’t let me share it, even only for a little while. But I’m sure she’s reasonable. He wasn’t feeling particularly tired – it had only been afternoon when they had left – but for some reason it was nighttime here, and he could use the time to think, or maybe talk to the others. We need to figure out what we’re going to do.

***

~Mordain

Next

Previous

Back to The Nest