Yesterday's Tale A future Ranma crossover by Chikiko 
(Chikiko@thekirealm.com) Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)



Disclaimer:

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 



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Yesterday's Tale Prologue 

Ranma felt his head throbbing painfully
and heard an odd buzzing sound in his ears. Akane had probably
pounded him for something stupid again. The question now was, what
had he done this time? He tried to remember what he did, but he just
kept drawing a blank. He figured whatever it was, she must be really
mad. He decided just to avoid her for awhile, until she lost some of
her steam and he could remember what it was that had gotten him 
knocked out in the first place.

Ranma was happy to note, that the painful throbbing was mostly gone,
but unfortunately the buzzing just kept getting louder and more 
insistent. As he focused on it, it seemed to get even louder. 
Eventually he realized that it sounded like his father's voice. 
Strangely enough, he thought it sounded somewhat frightened.
Although he couldn't quite understand what he was saying, he could
tell he was pleading with someone. Though now that he tough about
it, that didn't seem all that strange after all. He tried to hear 
what he was saying, but it was still pretty garbled. He tried to 
concentrate on it more, and it almost sounded like he was saying.
"Ranma! Wake up boy! Come on boy, stop acting like a girl and wake
up!"

Much to Genma's surprise, he did. Ranma, who at up somewhat 
unexpectedly, headbutted his father and knocked himself back down to
the ground. Once the world stopped spinning, Ranma groaned. "Whatcha
do something so dumb for pop? Now my heads hurts even more. Thanks
to you and the dumb tomboy, I'm gonna have a major headache. What did
I do this time to get pounded anyway?"

Genma seemed confused for a moment. "Don't look at me boy. I don't
know how any of this happened. When I woke up, not only did the both
of you have high fevers, but you looked like Tarou had just used you
for a punching bag. We were lucky to have been near a lake."

It was then, that Ranma realized his voice was higher than it should
be. Looking down, he confirmed the status of his current sex. Female.
"Ah great pop, now I'm a girl. The least you coulda done was change
me back!"

"Ungrateful boy!" Genma growled. "Stop complaining. If I wasn't such
a great survivalist, you'd probably be dead right now!" Then in a 
more serious and subdued voice he said. "It was almost as bad as the
summer before you turned twelve."

Ranma quickly sobered and nodded her head. If her father thought
it was even somewhat as bad as that summer, then he probably wasn't
exaggerating when he said she could have died. At least not by much.

They had been in the south near Okinawa, when Ranma suddenly began
to feel really sick. Thinking back on the experience, he could only
compare it with two weeks of eating nothing but large portions
of Akane's cooking. Needless to say, most of that summer was spent
fighting the sickness and recovering.

"You were lucky this time. Neither of your fevers was quite as high
as your's was back then, which was good since her fever was higher
than yours. The both of you mostly just tossed and turned, you've
been like that for about a day already. It almost seems as if we'd
been poisoned, but Akane hasn't made any food in over a month and I 
haven't seen that Kuno girl in about that long either."

Ranma didn't like the sound of that. It also just dawned on him, that
they weren't at the Tendo's house. "Where are we pop, and who else
are you taking care of?"

"I'm not sure. Where in the woods somewhere, but where I don't know.
We were here when I woke up. As I said before its lucky for you and
Nabiki that there's a lake nearby."

"Nabiki! Ah great that's just what we need! Being lost in the middle
of who knows where with Nabiki, that's almost as being lost with 
Kodachi!" 

"I'm glad I have such a warm place in your heart Saotome." Came the
weak reply from nabiki. 

As Genma went to check on her, Ranma grimaced deeply. she knew Nabiki
was going to get back at her for that. She didn't know much about
what was going on, but she knew without a doubt that she wasn't going
to like it.

She couldn't think of anywhere in Nerima that sounded like her father
described as where they were. She wondered where they were, and how
they had gotten there. She still couldn't remember much before waking
up. The last things she remembered was trying to ignore the snores
of the panda next to her, while she was trying to go to sleep.

Feeling quite tired of just laying down, she slowly got into sitting
position. She recognized the type of camp her father had set up, it 
was a necessity camp. She and her father had been forced to make 
similar camps often during their travels when they had to sell their
equipment to buy food or other important supplies. However they got
here, they obviously came only with what they had taken to bed with
them. All three of them where wearing their sleeping cloths, which
for her meant she was wearing her t-shirt and boxers. With a frown
she looked around at their makeshift camp, which was really nothing
more than a small camp fire not to far from where she was. Only one
think struck her odd, she just could not figure out how her father
had found a kettle and pot in the middle of the woods.

"So how are you feeling?" Genma asked Nabiki. 

"Like I've just been hit by a bus. What happened? Where are we?"

"You should be fine. It seems as if you and Ranma were somehow 
poisoned. I don't know why we're here, or even where here is."

Nabiki nodded her head. "Hmm, well hopefully there's a town nearby,
so we can find out exactly where we are and find a way to get back
home."

"Actually I'm pretty sure there is a town nearby. I accidentally
scared off some hunters."

"Well that was smart, scare away the only poeple who might be able
to help us." Nabiki said sarcastically.

"It's not my fault. I forgot I was in my panda form." 

"So why didn't you write some kind of sign like you always do?"

"I did!" Genma protested. "They just ran away screaming something
about a yokai. But on the good side, they dropped a few things as 
they were leaving like that kettle."

"I was wondering where you got kettle from pop. Is it ready? I'd like
to turn back to normal."

Nabiki just shook her head. "Like father like son." She muttered
to herself to quiet for them to hear. She sighed, not quite believing
she was actually lost in the middle of the woods with them. Why? Why
did it have to be her? She was sure Akane would have jumped at the 
chance to lost in the woods somewhere with Ranma and his father.

"So what's to eat pop? I'm starved."

"Not too much, there isn't much game around here either, but you can
have the little that's next to the fire. You two eat up. Now that 
you're both up, I'm going to go look around and explore the area."

After he had left, Ranma walked to the fire and looked uncertainly
at the small bowl next to the pot. "Well I guess its better nothing.
Pops ain't as bad as Akane, but some of the things he makes don't
exactly make you want to ask for seconds. He used to force me to eat
a buncha this gruel when I was kid. He said it helped raise one's
endurance. It's not one of his better tasting meals. I wouldn't
take too much if I were you."

Nabiki nodded her head and took a small serving as Ranma suggested.
She stared at the primitively made bowl for a second before taking
a small sip of the soupy stuff. Ranma was right, the stuff wasn't
very good. But since there was nothing else and she was very hungry,
she continued eating. As she did, she leaned back against a tree and
started to try to figure out exactly how she got tangled up in this
mess. The only thing she was able to remember before waking up in 
wonderland with the Saotome, was getting up in the middle of the 
night to take some pictures of Ranma.

With a start, Nabiki sat up, nearly spilling her food on herself,
and frantically began looking around. The sudden movement caught
Ranma's attention, and he shot up as well looking around for what 
ever startled Nabiki. She sighed when she couldn't find her camera
anywhere. She had gotten it as a birthday gift to herself last year.
She had saved up for quite some time go get that camera and its 
equipment. She concluded that however she had gotten where ever she
was, her camera unfortunately hadn't followed. unfortunate because
she was sure she could take some amazing pictures of Ranma. Knowing
Genma she was sure he was going to try and turn this into some kind
of training trip for him.

Noticing the way Ranma had gotten alert when she started to look for
her camera, she said. "I was just looking for my camera. You were 
right about the food. It taste like the stuff daddy makes when he 
tries to cook."

"Well considering I've spent just about my whole life having to eat
pops food, I pretty much know what to expect from his cooking.
He does have a couple of good meals, but he doesn't usually make them
unless we're in a somewhat big city. Of course he's so lazy he rarely
ever makes them even when we he can get what he needs, he'd just 
rather buy food. So that's why I taught myself to cook. I may not be
as good as Kasumi, but at least it a lot better than the pop's food."

Nabiki just nodded and kept eating. Ranma figured she wasn't in a 
talking mood, so he stopped trying to make conversation. "Shoulda
known better than to try an talk with her." He mumbled after having
walked far enough away for her not to hear him.

They spent the next several hours to themselves. Ranma tried to 
practice a little while Nabiki leaned against a tree to think. When
Genma finally returned, neither of them liked the look on his face.
He explained to them, that he had found a village several miles away
to the east. He had asked for directions to Tokyo, but no one even
know what Tokyo was, mush less where it was. It was a pretty old 
fashioned village as well, kind of like the kind of primitive
village in china the amazons had come from. He also told them of the
inn he had found where he had reserved a room for them, until they
could figure out what was going on and how to get home.

It was already dark when they arrived at the village, so they headed
straight for the room Genma had gotten in the inn. Ranma and Genma
wasted no time and quickly fell asleep. Nabiki on the other hand was
having a much harder time. After she been able to ignore the loud 
snores coming from the Genma's side of the room, she finally managed
to get some sleep. Unfortunately her peaceful sleep was disturbed
by the sound of Ranma and his father fighting. She just knew it was
going to be a horrible day, when looked out the window and realized
the sun was just starting to rise.

After uselessly wasting an hour trying to go back to sleep, she 
decided to so some investigating herself. The moment she stepped
outside of the room, she knew something was horribly wrong. It seemed
like she was on the stage of some kind of historical 
production.`Everyone she saw was dressed in the style typical in the
feudal age. To top it all off, everyone was starring at her 
strangely. One woman even had the audacity to scowl at her and call
her a harlot. She was about to respond, when she heard a man near her
mention the name Nobunaga. Nabiki froze mouth open ready to make a 
retort. She pivoted and turned to look at the man with wide eyes.
Suddenly everything started to make sense. She just knew this was 
going to be a bad day.

She quickly made it to her room and slid the door open, very hard.
The two stopped fighting the moment the saw the fury on Nabiki's
face. Neither of them had ever seen her so upset before. Even on her
worst day, they didn't think Akane could reproduce the pure anger
that was radiating off of Nabiki. Both of them took an involuntary
stop backwards, as even Soun's infamous demons head attack was no 
where near as intimidating. Then, in a voice that was dripping
with venom, she asked. "Would either of you like to know why no one
here has ever heard of Tokyo?"

Both of them nodded their heads emphatically. "Good! I'll tell you 
why! IT'S BECAUSE TOKYO DOESN'T EXIST YET!!! Somehow or another
you got us sent back in time to the feudal age!!" 

Disclaimer:

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 



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Yesterday's Tale Chapter 

Ranma was trying busy trying to save 
breakfast from being inhaled by her father when Nabiki burst angrily
into the room. When he saw the look of pure fury on her face, Ranma
forgot about the food and took a good step away from her. The look
was far worse than any akane had ever given him, and she had held the
record for it. He noticed that even his father backed away from her,
leaving the food untouched. That was when Ranma knew he was dead.
If someone could intimidate his father enough that he would forget
about a table set with food for any amount of time, regardless
of how small, it meant that whatever action was going to be taken
against him it was really going to hurt a lot!"

Focusing her already murderous glare directly at him and yelled.
"Would either of you like to know why no one here has ever heard of 
Tokyo?"

Ranma nodded his head, and absently noticed his father was doing the
same. "Good! I’ll tell you why! "IT’S BECAUSE TOKYO DOESN’T EXIST
YET!!! Somehow or another you got us sent back in time to the feudal
age!!" 

Ranma was now feeling confused as was well as scared. "What? How? 
Huh? How can you tell?"

"I said somehow you got us all sent back in time; how you did it, I 
have no idea. Look out that window. Kuno doesn’t even dress like 
that! Do you remember all the stars we saw last night? When was the
last time you can remember seeing that many stars since you came to 
live at the dojo? Haven’t you noticed there’s no electricity,
no pavement, no phones, and no beds? For goodness sake’s these people
haven’t even heard of Tokyo!"

Seeing they’re expression didn’t change, she scowled at them and left
the room. She was upset and those two fools were only making her 
angrier. She had too many questions, and not enough answers! How did
she get into the past? How on earth were they supposed to get back?
Was it even possible to go back? 

The thought of having to live in the past for the rest of her life
didn’t agree well with her. Worse yet, how would she survive? Women
where little more than commodities and baby machines to those people.
There was NO WAY she was going to play the meek obedient house wife
whose purpose in life was to please her husband and produce him 
heirs. Hell’s seventh ice age would come and go before she ever 
followed "Three Obediences1." Worse yet, an unwed woman was 
considered even lower by society. 

As little as the idea of staying with the Saotome’s appealed to her,
the alternative was even worse. At least they knew better than that.
"Well Ranma does, Genma on the other hand might try to switch the 
engagement from Akane to me if he thinks there’s no way to get back."
That thought caused a shiver to run down her back. There was just no
way she’d ever marry that boy. Besides, it was obvious he liked 
Akane. Despite all his faults, and the things everyone said about
him, Nabiki had to admit that Ranma was one of the most honorable
and loyal person she had ever met. No small feat considering
Genma, who was the exact opposite, was the sole person to raise him.
How he turned out as good as he did with Genma as his only parent
was one of the great questions of the universe.

Still, the main question plaguing her mind was. "How do we get back
home?" It could perhaps be easier to answer the question if she knew
how they had gotten there in the first place. But the answer to that
seemed even more elusive than the answer of how to get back home.
Perhaps someone of this age might know enough of magic, or perhaps
even time travel, to help them find a way to return home.

That last thought made her stop. She couldn’t believe what she had 
just thought. One year ago, she used to believe that magic was only
for the gullible, and that time travel for those into science 
fiction. But just seconds ago she had thought about them as if it 
were a common place fact. Of course that was in no small part thanks
to Ranma. It’s hard to not believe in magic when your two house 
guests turn into a girl and a panda when splashed with cold water.

Since meeting Ranma and his "friends" she had learned to keep an open
mind to things she used to think were impossible. For all she knew
she might meet an alien, travel to an alternate dimension, and watch
Ranma fighting a demon. With that boy around, anything was possible,
including a way home. Resigning herself to the inevitable truth of 
her current dilemma, like it or not she was stuck with Ranma and 
Genma.

When she returned to the inn, she found Ranma still in there looking
somewhat down. When he noticed her, he hung his head in shame. "I’m
sorry about this. I didn’t mean to get you involved in any of this.
Shoot, I don’t even want to be involved in whatever it is that’s
going on. I don’t know how, but somehow or another I’ll find a way to
get us home. I mean if we got here, there’s got to be a way to get us
back right?" 

"I’m not really sure, but let’s hope so. Anyway, where did the panda
go?"

"Pops said he was gonna get some food and supplies for the road. Did
you come up with a plan?" Though Ranma thought it he was just 
chickening away from facing Nabiki in passioned rage mode.

Nabiki sighed. "Not yet, but perhaps someone around here might know
enough about magic to help get us back to our time."

"To bad the old ghoul isn’t here, I bet she’d know someway to get us
back."

Nabiki’s eyes widened. "Ranma that’s a great idea! If we find the 
amazons they maybe able to find a way to get us back home."

"Ya, but how do we even know if the old ghoul is even here. Besides
even if we did find her, she’d probably only do it if I promised
to marry Shampoo."

Nabiki slapped her head in frustration. "I wasn’t talking about 
Cologne or Shampoo. I mean the amazon tribe in china. They’re 
probably around. You know how cologne is always bragging about their
three thousand year-old customs and traditions. I’m not exactly
sure how far back in time we are, but if the amazons are around,
then they’re our best help getting out of here."

"But how are we going to get them to help us? I mean sure the old 
ghoul has helped us out before, but only because she wants me to 
marry Shampoo. There’s no way a bunch of amazons we don’t even know
are going to help. And I wont fight any of them either. The last 
thing I need is another old ghoul and shampoo chasing me around the
past."

"I wasn’t even thinking about that. My plan was we go there, tell 
them we’re from the future. Then you tell them you’re engaged to 
shampoo, and show them some of their secret techniques as proof.
Then once they believe us, we can have them send us back home."

Ranma gave her an apprehensive look. "I guess that’ll work. Just as 
long as I don’t get yet another fiancee."

"Don’t worry about it, as long as you don’t beat any of them in a 
fight you’ll be perfectly ok. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going for
another walk to try and clear my head."

It wasn’t until several hours later that Nabiki came back. A fight
quickly broke out between them about the plan. Genma reluctantly
agreed to it in the end, after having to go through both Ranma’s
and Nabiki’s methods of convincing. 

Having settled the matter, they began eating. Nabiki was surprised
at seeing how much food the Saotome’s were eating. She had certainly
grown used to their eating habits in the time they lived at her 
house, but they had been eating even more that what was considered
normal for them.

As she thought about it further, she realized that they were about
to head off on a journey to the east in hopes of reaching china.
Without the use of any modern technology, the trip would be a very
long one; she was also sure that Genma would end up making it even
longer by insisting on training Ranma along the way. She decided
she would have an extra long breakfast in the morning before they 
left, since there really wasn’t much left of all the food Genma had
bought for the night. She just hoped Genma didn’t suddenly decide
to leave early; she really didn’t want to travel half asleep. Saying
goodnight to the Saotome’s, she went to her futon and once again 
tried not to get some sleep.

                                    ******

About an hour before sunrise, Genma shook Ranma to wake him up. "Boy,
get up. It’s time to go!" Not getting any response from his son, he 
threw a bucket of ice cold water at him.

Genma wasn’t sure if it was the water or the bucket that woke him up,
but needless to say Ranma was now wide awake and very upset. "Oh 
great pop! Whatcha do that for?" She yelled as loud as she could 
without worrying about waking up Nabiki. 

"Hurry up. It’s time to go. We have to get out of here before the 
innkeeper wakes up. I told him we would be leaving today, so he’s 
bound to come looking for his money."

Ranma groaned. "I should have known you’d do something like this."

"Ranma you wound your father’s heart. How can you say something
so awful about your father? Besides it’s not my fault! I had wanted
to stay in the village longer, perhaps a month or two, like we used
to. But you and the girl wanted to rush off to china. You know how 
bad that girl is when she wants something done. She’s just like your
mother! Once her mind is made up that is the way it has to be, or 
there’ll be hell to pay. Now if YOU want to wake her up and convince
her to stay until I can earn enough money to pay for the inn and the
food for the trip, then be my guest." 

Ranma gulped as she looked at the girl’s sleeping form. Other than
the thought of being stuck as a girl and certain small four legged
animals, there was no one she feared more than Nabiki. If she was in
a good mood, Nabiki would pester her for the fun of it. But if she 
was in a bad mood, breathing the wrong way around her could cause
Nabiki to make her life hell. Worst of all she gets very mad really
quickly when things don’t go her way. 

Although Nabiki nearly always confused her, Ranma knew being woken
up early in the morning to discuss a possible change in her plan,
was not something Nabiki would take too kindly. In fact just being
woken up early, was enough grounds for her to torment you. Ranma 
sighed and cursed her father. She didn’t know how or even why, but 
she knew that all ths was her father’s fault. Even if his part was 
minor, which it rarely was, Genma was always involved in every bad 
thing that happened to him. 

"Well?" He said impatiently. "Wake her up. We have to hurry."

"Me? Why should I have to do it?" He asked angrily. 

"Because you were the one, who agreed with her to leave in the 
morning."

Ranma sighed and went to wake up Nabiki. After a minute of gently
shaking her and calling her name, she finally opened one eye to see
who was disturbing her sleep and slurred. "Leabe me alome Saotome,
I’m seeping."

"Come on Nabiki, it’s checkout time. If we don’t go now, we’ll have
to stay here for at least a few more weeks."

After much effort and work, she finally sat up. With blurry eyes 
looked out the windows and promptly slumped forward onto Ranma. Genma
seeing this began laughing. "It looks like you get to carry her! Now
hurry up! We’ve wasted too much time already. We’re going to be 
traveling all day and hopefully make some distance from here, incase
they come looking for us."

Ranma growled as she picked up Nabiki and her stuff. So far she was
NOT enjoying this little trip through time. With her rotten luck 
she’d likely get her cursed locked or have some kinda cat follow
her around! With another sigh, she took off after her father. As they
made their escape, Ranma glared at her father. Not only had he not 
given her enough time to heat some water, but she also had to carry
just about everything they and including the sleeping form of Nabiki
and her stuff! 

They had spent all the money the hunters had left behind when Genma
scared them away in his panda form on food, clothes, and equipment,
but it hadn’t been enough for the three of them. Ranma and Nabiki
ended selling the cloths they had come with to the villagers,
who were very taken by it and were willing to pay a good deal of 
money for it. The money from the cloths was then used to buy more 
food and water, and saved the rest for buying more supplies on the 
road. 

They traveled at a somewhat brisk pace for a few hours until Nabiki
finally woke up. They decided to take a small break, for which Ranma
was all too happy to take, since that meant putting Nabiki down. 
After just a few minutes of resting, they began walking again, albeit
at a slower pace since Nabiki wouldn’t be able to keep up at the pace
they had been going. 

By the time noon came, they were forced to stop again. Nabiki who was
not used to a life on the road was worn out. Genma of course was not
very outwardly happy about it. He knew traveling with a girl was 
nothing but headache. Whispering to Ranma he said. "We need to keep
going. If she getting this tired and hungry now, how on earth does
she expect to get to western china?"

"Look I said I’m tired and hungry right now. There’s no way I’ll be 
able to go any further without fainting!" She said angrily, having
heard Genma’s whisper.

"You were the one who insisted on leaving today, so we can get back
home as quickly as soon as possible." He said angrily back to her.
"How do you expect to ever get there if we have to stop every few 
hours because you’re too tired?" 

Ranma threw her bag at him to keep him from continuing. "Ah shut up 
pop! It’s not like it’s her fault, she’s just a girl! Besides she 
ain’t used to traveling like us. Let’s just take a small break while
she eats." Without waiting for a response Ranma rushed her father
and started a Saotome style sparring match. 

Nabiki was grateful to Ranma for sticking up for her, even if the 
idiot had insulted her. But she quietly ate her late brunch as she 
watched them spar. --Most people would sit and rest during a break,
but not those two. Only they would begin sparing after hours of 
intense traveling. -- The sparring match ended just a little bit 
after she had finished eating, with Genma flying into a tree and 
sliding down headfirst.

Not bothering to give her father a second glance, Ranma walked by 
Nabiki, filled the small kettle with water, and put it on the fire.
"Stupid old man." She muttered to herself as she sat across from 
Nabiki. After the kettle had reached the desired heat, she reached
grabbed the kettle and poured it on herself to restore her proper
sex. "Ahh that feels so much better. So you ready to walk for another
three hours or so until we’re ready to stop?"

Nabiki gave him an incredulous look. "No! Not really. I need time to
rest, so I can keep walking. You may not believe this, but normal
people can’t hike across the country like you and not get tired.
Especially not in these shoes!" Ranma moved next to her and crouched
down. "Huh? What are you doing Ranma?"

"Get on." Said Ranma. "Unless you wanna stay here and listen to pop
complain all day. This way we can keep going, and you can rest until
you feel like you can walk again. Not to mention it’ll shut pop up 
for a while."

Nabiki looked at Ranma, and then to the elder Saotome, who was now 
stretching and already complaining about his ungrateful son. As much
as she didn’t like the idea of getting a piggy back ride from Ranma,
she decided it was better than listening to anymore of Genma’s 
complaints. In one day, she already had enough to last her a 
lifetime. -- Besides the faster we get to china, the quicker we can
get home. -- "Ok Ranma, I give. Let’s just get this over with."

"Sheesh, it’s not that big a deal. Your acting like your gonna get 
sealed with a Jusenkyou curse just cuz you touched me."

Climbing on his back she said. "If there’s one thing I’ve learned,
it’s that anything is possible if you’re around. "

Ranma wasn’t quite sure if he should take that as a compliment
or an insult. Once again Nabiki proved to be a total mystery to him.
Not wanting to dwell on it anymore, he picked up his packs and turned
to his father. "Come on, pops! Let’s go, or are you getting too old?"
With a derisive sniff, Genma picked up his pack and began following
his son.

 



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Notes: 

1. The three obediances is a buddhist teaching that became popular
in japan after the 15th century. 

"After the 15th century, the teachings of the ‘Three Obediences’
reigned. "A woman has no way of independence through life. When she
is young, she obeys her father; when she is married, she obeys her 
husband; when she is widowed, she obeys her son." 
(http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/sample-08.html)

Yes this is going to be an Inuyasha crossover, but not quite yet. 
Give me a few chapters to get things going. Sorry about the delay,
I had major writers block recently. I was intending to come out with
chaos quest 12 before this, I thought I’d let those of you who still
check my site every so often to see if everything is new. 
Yesterday's
Tale A future Ranma Crossover by Chikiko (Chikiko@thekirealm.com)
Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)



Disclaimer:

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 



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Yesterday's Tale Chapter 2 Nabiki sighed as she yet again awoke in 
Ranma's arms as they traveled through another forest. Since leaving
the village they had stayed at after discovering they were hundreds
of years in the past several weeks ago, waking up in his arms was 
becoming customary. She was getting quite sick of it. Every day was
the same thing, she would wake up and eat, then they would walk some
more before stopping to eat again, and finally Ranma would carry her
for a while so they could travel a bit faster before finally stopping
to make camp and sleep. 

Before being thrown back hundreds of years in time, she had really
liked traveling. Now, on the other hand, she hated it with every 
being of her soul. It wasn't even the fact that they had to pretty
much walk all day or that it was gratingly monotonous. Genma's 
constant complAin'ts about how she was slowing them down, and having
to travel all day on a virtually empty stomach, had made her lose any
pleasure she might have once had about traveling.

Three weeks ago, they had run out of food. So for the most part they
had been surviving on roots, bark, grass and the like. They had been
lucky a week ago when they found and caught a rabbit, however besides
that they hadn't been able to catch anything else.

Her musings were stopped when Ranma noticed she was awake and put her
down. Ranma gave her a container with her portion of the stuff they
had made for breakfast. "Here's your food, I'm gonna go practice
a bit with pops. Just call when you're ready to go."

Turning to Genma, he said. "Come on pops, let's practice." Genma 
spared a glance at Nabiki who was unhappily eating the soupy 
concoction he had made earlier, before following his son to practice.

As they practiced, Genma was displeased to note that Ranma was 
distracted and sloppy. Seeing an opening in Ranma's defense, Genma
quickly took advantage of it and sent Ranma painfully into a tree.
With a glower Genma yelled at Ranma. "Boy, what's wrong with you? 
You're getting sloppy! I haven't seen you this sloppy in years!"

With a frustrated sigh, Ranma got up and yelled back. "Everything!
What are we doing? We're just walking around starving ourselves
for nothing!"

"Has living at the Tendo's made you that soft?! This isn't the first
time we've gone without food while traveling. What's gotten into 
you?"

"That's not what I meant. It may not be our first time, but I know
for a fact Nabiki hasn't! Even we haven't gone this long without
being able to find food before, and if its kinda tough for us just
think about her. I mean just look at her, any day now she's probably
gonna fall over dead! She's sleeping longer, walking slower, and she
has to quit walking earlier every day. Why is she even here? She 
ain't meant for any of this. I could understand Shampoo, Ukyou, or 
even the Akane, but why Nabiki? She ain't even a martial artist."

Genma sighed deeply. "Who knows Ranma? None of us asked for any of 
this, but regardless it is the path we must now bear. It's pointless
to ask why. We have no choice but to keep going."

"I guess. We should probably hurry and start looking for lunch, 
Nabiki's probably almost done eating." He said before heading out to
look for something edible to eat.

A few minutes later, he heard his father calling him and Nabiki.
Running to where his father was, he asked. "What's up pops?"

"Look, down there on the horizon, just north of here, there's a 
village there."

"WHAT? A village?" Nabiki's excited voice asked. "How long until we 
get there?"

"We'd probably make it there sometime this afternoon, if we skip 
lunch and keep going all day."

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Nabiki asked sounding more like she
used to.

"Gee! Someone sure got happy quick. Now let's just hope she'll stop
being so grumpy."

Nabiki made a dismissing gesture. "Whatever Saotome. Let's just get
going before I really start getting grumpy and believe me you really
won't like that. Ranma shook his head and started heading off toward
the village.

It took them the rest of the day, but they finally arrived just 
before sunset. "I thought you said we'd be here sometime this 
afternoon? It's almost evening?" Nabiki complained. 

"Hey we're here, aren't we? Let's just see if we can find some food
and a place to stay."

As they walked through town, people soon noticed the strangers
and called the village elder. The village elder quickly found them
and said. "Good evening strangers. I am the village elder here. My 
name is Anisho. Welcome to our village. It isn't often that we 
receive visitors here. How is it that you've come to such a remote
village?"

"We are traveling martial artists. I am Genma Saotome and this is my
son Ranma and -- uh his wife Nabiki." Both teenagers turned wide eyed
toward Genma. Genma quickly spoke up again before either could say 
anything. "We have been traveling for many weeks now. We were 
wondering if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience to you if 
you could spare us some food and a bed to sleep in for a few days.
We'd hate to impose, but you see the girl is pregnant and we still
a large journey ahead of us."

Ranma was suddenly frozen in place with a wide-eyed look of fear,
while Nabiki was visibly shaking in barely controlled rage. Seeing
how tired she looked, the elder misinterpreted her shaking and felt
sorry for her. He could only imagine the hardship she must have been
going through to have to travel so long in her condition, so he 
readily agreed and led them to his house. When they arrived, he led
them to the dining room. "Please have a seat. I'll have the servants
prepare you some food. I have a few things I must attend to right
now, but if you need anything just call for Kyoko. She is my head 
servant and can give you any assistance you may need."

Nabiki waited until Kyoko entered the kitchen to check on the food
before turning to yell at Genma with a voice dripping venom and 
retribution. "What was that you said about me being pregnant and 
Ranma's wife?"

Genma raised his hands in a placating manner as he slowly moved away
from her. "Now calm down Nabiki. I only said that to make them feel
sorry enough for us to give us food and a place to sleep."

Not losing any of her anger she advanced on him and said. "Couldn't
you have come up with anything better? I am warning you right now,
don't even think of trying to switch the engagement over to me. I am
NOT Akane, and I won't go through with it. We are going to china and
we're going back to the twentieth century where we belong! You hear
me?"

Before Genma could say anything, there was a knock on the door, and
Kyoko hesitantly entered the room. "Dinner is ready to be served."
She gave them a few seconds before signaling the other servants
to bring the food in.

Nabiki smirked when she realized she had been given a bigger portion
than either Ranma or Genma, then without preamble, she ravenously
began eating. Ranma and Genma of course needed no urging and began
eating with their usual gusto. Kyoko and the other servant in the 
room stared in open disbelief at the amount and speed at which they
were eating. After the second plate of food was gone and now sign 
that they would be ending several servants ran from the room to the
kitchen to prepare more food. 

Noticing that Nabiki was keeping up with him in the amount of food
she was eating, Ranma said. "So Nabiki, what is it you're always
saying about the way me and pops eat?"

"Shut up, Saotome. I'm hungry, tired, and pregnant in case you don't
remember. If I want to eat like a barbarian, then that is my own damn
prerogative thank you very much!"

Hearing laughter, they all turned to see that the elder had returned.
"The two of you must be newlyweds. Ah, to be so young and in love.
Best of all, the girl is full of spirit! She reminds me of my dearly
beloved Aiko. You're a fortunate man Saotome, may you be blessed
with many more children."

Unaware that he was being talked to, Ranma continued eating until
Nabiki pinched him under the table. "Ouch! Watcha do that for?"

She replied with a sugary sweet voice. "I think the elder was talking
to you -- darling."

Ranma blinked in confusion. "He was? But I'm not -- ouch! Oh ya. Uh 
thanks um I guess."

The elder laughed at the exchanges between them. "Well I'm glad 
you're enjoying the food. The servants are making more food incase
any of you want to eat more. I'm going to be turning in for the 
night. Kyoko will show you to your rooms when your done eating.
Ah here is your food now, please eat as much as you'd like."

Waiting until they were alone again, Nabiki shook her head at Ranma.
"I swear Saotome. You can be so dense at times!"

Ranma threw his hands up in an exasperated manner. "Well how the heck
was I supposed to know he was talking to me?"

"Gee, let me think now. Is there anyone else here who is supposed
to have a wife that's pregnant? Whatever, I'm going to bed. I'll see
you two in the morning. Goodnight."

Ranma sharply eyed his father. "This is all your fault pops. Why'd
you go and have to say something so stupid anyways? I mean who'd ever
believe me and Nabiki were married? Sheesh!"

"Oh, Why must my only son be such an ungrateful brat! Have I not 
sacrificed my entire life to train him to be the world's greatest
martial artist, and this is the thanks I get? Do you have no thanks
for all the things I sacrificed for your sake?"

"Like what pops? Getting me cursed to become a girl whenever I'm 
around cold water, or how about all those stupid engagements,
you made with who knows how many girls? Shoot, I wouldn't even be 
slightly surprised if us being sent back in time is somehow your 
fault!"

Ranma paused his tirade, when a sudden thought hit him. "Hey wait a 
minute! You were the first one up weren't you! Why were you ok, but
me and Nabiki were out cold for days? You do have something to do 
with this don't you?"

Genma gave his son and indignant glare. "Of course not! I don't know
anymore about us being here than you do! How in the hell could I be 
responsible for any of this? I told you when I woke up I found the 
two with high fevers, so I dumped the both of you in the lake for a 
while to try and break your fevers. I can't believe how ungrateful
you're acting, if it wasn't for me the both of you would be dead 
right now. It was hard enough trying to take care of you as a panda,
the least you could do is so some appreciation and say thank you for
saving your life. Not accusing me of having started this whole damn
mess."

"Ok! I'm sorry! You don't have to get so upset about it!" Standing
up he began to gather the dishes and looking at all the plates Nabiki
had he said. "Goodness! Did you see how much Nabiki was eating?!"

"Of course I did, I wouldn't be surprised if she even ate more than
you. All this traveling has been really hard on her. It'll probably
be in her best interest if we stay here a little while before heading
off again."

"Really pop, what would've ever given you that idea? She's been 
walking halfway across the country while starving herself. Who woulda
thought it might be hard on her."

"Oh shut up. Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I'm not
worried about her. You don't think I haven't thought about what 
happens when we reach Kysh and we have to start swimming? When we 
went to China we had to swim from Kysh to Iki to Tsushima to Korea
and finally to China. Unless we start seriously training her from 
here to there, I don't see how she'll make it."

Ranma laughed. "Nabiki? Martial arts? Ya, that'll be the day! She 
Ain't gonna go for that. Not only ain't it her style, but it'll mean
majorly slowing down the pace which you know she's definitely
not gonna go for. So what are we gonna have to do then, take a boat?"

"Boy think before you speak! We couldn't afford passage for the two
of us in our time, how on earth do you expect to get enough money
to buy passage for the three of us in THIS time period?"

Ranma looked down at the plates in his hands and frowned. "I guess
you're right. So what are we gonna do then?"

Genma sighed. "There's not much we can do. We have got to make her 
understand she needs to start training if she's wants to make it back
home. There's no way we can avoid the swim to Korea, that's 
inevitable and if she wants to go home, she's gonna have to be able
to make that swim. Once there we'll have to walk around the Yellow
Sea if she doesn't think she can make the swim across it. Honestly
Ranma, it's likely gonna be at least five years before we can make
it home. You have to make her understand it's either training or 
staying here in the past."

Ranma nodded silently at his father as he thought about what he said.
Without the use of cars to reach Tibet, where Jusenkyou and the 
amazon village were, it was going to be a very long trip. It would
dwarf even his first trip there, since they had hitchhiked part of 
the way. As rare a moment as it was, his father was actually right.
But how do you convince Nabiki that she's gonna have to start 
training in the martial arts? Deciding it was too much to think about
for the moment, he decided to postpone it until tomorrow. Looking
down at his hands, he realized he was still holding the plates.
"Um hey pop? What do I do with these plates?"

"Just leave them there. The servants will pick them up. Let's head
to bed. Tomorrow we're getting up early to train. It's been far too
long since either of us have had the chance to get any real training
in since this whole mess started. I'll go find Kyoko and have her 
show us where our rooms are."

Ranma put the plates down and waited for his father to return with
Kyoko. When he returned, Kyoko led them to a room just down the 
hallway. "This will be your room Saotome-san." She said to Genma,
then turned to Ranma and said. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to
your room young sir."

Ranma shrugged and smiled as he followed Kyoko. "Hey cool! We each
get our own rooms. I'll finally get to sleep in peace, without pop's
snoring keeping me up all night." Kyoko led him to a room just a bit
further down the hall. Thanking her, he slid the door open a little
and entered the room. The room was dark, but he managed to see where
the futon was when he entered. He decided he was too tired to do any
practicing before going to sleep, so he quickly undressed and laid
down to sleep.

Three seconds later, he jumped out of bed when he felt another body
next to him. Nabiki's sleepily annoyed asked. "Is that you Saotome?
What are you doing in my room?"

"Nabiki! Ack! I -- uh sorry, Kyoko told me this was my room. She 
must've mest up and gave me the wrong room on accident. Just give me
a second to find her, so she can show me which is my room."

Nabiki pulled her hair in frustration as she realized what happened.
"Don't even bother Saotome."

Ranma sputtered in confusion. "W-what? B-b-but -- "

"They'll just bring you back here, anyway. We're married remember?
So they just naturally stuck us in the same room together."

"Oh! So uh what should I do now? I guess I can go back and sleep in 
pop's room."

"Don't you think that might look a bit suspicious? We're newlyweds
remember, we're supposed to be going at it like bunnies; Hence the 
reason for my condition. Just go sleep on the other side of the room.
Besides it would be inhuman of me to force you to have to endure
that panda's snoring. I don't know how his snores never kept me up 
before coming to the feudal age. It's loud and annoying enough to 
keep the whole neighborhood up. Anyway here, catch your pillow."

Ranma reached over and grabbed the pillow that didn't quite make it 
to him. "Uh thanks."

"No problem, I'll just put it on your tab when we get home."

Ranma shook his head and thought how something never change. Ranma
considered talking to her about what he had spoken with his father
about, but decided it could wait until tomorrow. After all although
Nabiki snored a little, it was nothing compared to his fathers.
He tried falling asleep, but the knowledge of what he was going to 
have to talk to Nabiki about the following day wouldn't allow him to
sleep. After a long time of unsuccessfully trying to go to sleep,
he thought he heard Nabiki turn over restlessly. Quietly, in case she
really was asleep, he asked. "You still awake?"

"Unfortunately! Considering the amount of food I ate, the fact I 
actually have a semi comfortable bed to sleep on and blissful absence
of your father's snoring, I should be sleeping like a baby right 
now."

Ranma snickered. "You're just getting used to toughing it out. It 
took me about a week when we moved to your house, to get used to it.
Your house is probably the most comfortable place I've ever stayed
at." He paused a moment and sullenly continued. "I'm sorry about you
getting stuck in all this."

"That's why we're hunting down the amazons. We should be able to use
that mirror of theirs to send us back to our time."

"Ya, but how are we gonna get there? When me and pops went there,
we had to swim to Korea and then to china. Not to mention Jusenkyou
and the amazons are way deep into China. I know the last few weeks
have been pretty hard on you, just the swim there is gonna be murder
on you."

Angrily Nabiki asked. "So are you suggesting we give up and stay 
stuck five hundred years in the past?"

Hearing the anger in her voice, he decided to stick to his original
idea and wait till she's in a better mood to bring it up. "No! I mean
-- I don't know. I'm just worried about you! I mean you're not a 
tomboy like your sister, so it ain't fair to you to have to deal with
it."

Nabiki arched her eyebrows. "So it doesn't bother you that we're 
hundreds of years in the past?"

"I don't know. I guess not. It's that I exactly like it here, but I 
guess if you weren't here being stuck here forever wouldn't be the 
worst thing in the world."

"You know Ranma, sometimes, I just don't understand you."

"Well it ain't that hard to figure out. It kinda makes sense if you
remember that this is how I've spent most of my life. So it ain't
exactly a big deal. Besides you know how pop's is. Even after we 
moved to your house, we were still going on training trips ever few
weeks and stuff."

Nabiki was quiet for several minutes. "You know Ranma-kun, I can't
even imagine what growing up must have been like for you."

Ranma sighed and spoke in a forlorn tone. "It was very lonely. Sure
I had pops, but that was it. I never really had any friends. Whenever
we'd goto a town, I'd always see all the other kids playing and 
having fun, but pop's would never let me go with them. He always
said I don't need friends, that friends are a distraction from the 
art, and that I should go practice. The few times I was able to sneak
away from pop's, none of the kids ever wanted to play with me. They'd
always call me names like weirdo or freak, and run away."

"You know, maybe pop was right. I mean look at what happened to the
only two friends I ever had. Ukyou my best friend, had her life 
stolen from her cuz of me. She spent ten years of her life trying
to hunt me down for vengeance and Ryouga's obsessed with killing
me. Oh and let's not forget Akane. She was my friend for all of ten
minutes. Then again, it was pretty fun at times too. I mean, I could
do just about what ever I wanted, go to sleep whenever, and best of 
all I didn't have to goto school everyday!"

Nabiki laughed."Well that last part explains a lot about you 
Saotome."

"Oh never mind! I don't know what I was thinking tell you any of that
anyway."

"It was a joke Ranma-kun, relax. Besides, I can understand what some
of that must have been like. I'm not exactly miss popularity
myself."

"See that's the one thing I really don't understand about you. You're
like the smartest person I've ever known, you ain't bad looking,
and you can be really nice when you wanna be. If you'd only wanna
be more often, you could have plenty of friends and stuff."

"It's too late for that Ranma. For better or worse I'll always be the
'ice queen.' Nothing is going to change that."

"Why? You don't have to be. I know you mostly do it to help your 
family and stuff, but there's got be other ways of doing it that 
doesn't make people not like you."

Nabiki was silent for a moment. "It's no use Ranma. It's too late.
Even if I were to suddenly become as nice as Kasumi. My reputation
wouldn't go away, everyone would think it's just some scheme to make
money off them. My family needs the money and nothing I do is gonna
change that, so why even bother trying? Besides, who would even want
to be my friend?"

"I would and I don't see why anyone else wouldn't." Ranma immediately
responded.

That shocked Nabiki a bit. She had been expecting him to say Kuno or
even one of her associates, but she hadn't expected him to suggest
himself. She had been as much of a thorn in his side as Kuno, Mousse,
Ryouga, or anyone one else who had bothered him. "YOU? YOU would want
to be MY friend?"

"Ya! Why not? If you really meant it, then of course I'd wanna be 
your friend."

"Why? I've used you twice as much as anyone else? Why? How could you
trust me after everything I've done to you?"

"Ok look at it this way. If you're not really serious about it, then
nothing's really changed. I might be able to avoid one of your 
schemes now, but sooner or later you'll end up getting me anyways.
Probably worse than you would have otherwise. But if you're really
being serious about it and you really do want to be my friend, I may
only really have one chance. If I say no to you now, I may probably
lose the best friend I'll ever have."

"I know you're your trying to help your family out, and I only make
it harder for you. With the mess my fiance's and rivals make, I'm 
sure half of what you make probably goes straight to repairing
all the damage we cause or paying for all the hot water me and pop 
use. That's why I don't usually make that big of a deal about it when
you do use me in one of your scheme's, cuz it helps pay for the mess
that I cause."

Nabiki sat in stunned silence. The implications of what he had just
told her, struck her in numerous ways. Combined with what he had 
mentioned before she saw an intense yearning for friendship,
someone who he could connect with, so badly that he was willing
to overlook past wrongs. She thought back to the day Ryouga first
came to Nerima, and how he repeatedly tried to make restitutions
with Ryouga so they could be friends again. Although most people
seemed to have missed it, Ryouga's rejection of his offer of 
friendship hurt him. 

Now here he was doing the same thing again, by indirectly asking
her to be friends with him. It just amazed her. No matter how well
she thought she knew Ranma, he always found some new way to surprise
her. With a slight laugh in her tone, she said. "Ok Ranma. Friends
it is. Now let me try and get some sleep while I can. Knowing Genma
this might be my only chance to sleep in comfort for a long time."

Ranma yawned. "Ok. I'm getting tired too. Don't worry. It usually
takes pop's three or four days to get kicked out of somewhere.
So we should have at least two more *yawn* nights before we gotta
run. Anyway pop wants to get some do some real training tomorrow,
which means we'll probably be sparring till afternoon sometime.
So goodnight Nabiki."

"Goodnight Ranma."

A Future Ranma/Inuyasha Crossover

by Chikiko(Chikiko@thekirealms.com)

Webpage: (www.thekirealms.com)

Fanficiton.net page: ( www.fanfiction.net/~chikiko)

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 

Nabiki woke to find herself on a comfortable bed. With a sigh of 
contentment, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of a 
comfortable pillow under her head. She was starting to contemplate
going back to sleep, when she heard her door slowly slide open a bit.
"Are you awake mistress?" Asked a voice quietly.

Nabiki sighed and answered irritably. "Yes, I’m awake. What is it?"

"I just came to inform you that your breakfast is ready. I’m sorry
for the intrusion, but the young master said you would be awake about
this time. He also mentioned something about you wanting to eat, 
before a panda comes and steals all of the food."

Nabiki thought for moment before asking. "Where are my husband and 
father-in-law now?"

"I’m not sure. They left several hours ago. When you’re finished
getting ready, I’ll sow you to the dinning room."

Nabiki shook her head. "Getting ready can wait. Right now I’m 
starved."

"But mistress!" The girl exclaimed. "Some of the men may see you! 
Going out there in your sleeping attire wouldn’t be proper."

"Right now I’m tired from traveling, hungry, and let’s not forget
pregnant; I could really care less if anyone sees me looking this 
rough. Not that it really matters, since these are the only cloths
I have anyway."

The girl looked as if was about to say something, but then changed
her mind. "As you wish mistress, but I’ll see what I can do about
getting you something else to wear."

Nabiki nodded to the girl and followed her into the dinning room.
Her eyes got wide as she stared at all the food. It took virtually
all of her self-control to sit first, before she began eating. As it
was, she ate as if it were the last meal she would ever eat. Then 
again, knowing Genma’s ability to cause trouble, it very well might
be the last meal she’d have for a long time.

Nabiki mentally took back everything she had ever said about Ranma
and his eating habits. She seriously doubted she’d ever eat normally
again. After quickly eating her fill, she stood up to take the plates
to the kitchen. A servant quickly stopped her however, and said. "Oh
no mistress, let me handle that. Why don’t you go with Akemi and take
a nice warm bath? It’ll make you feel much better. We’ve already
had it heated up for you."

The mention of a warm bath caught Nabiki’s attention. She couldn’t
even remember when the last time she had last had a warm bath. Ever
since she woke to find herself in the past, she had to make due with
cold baths in a river or a lake. In fact, it had probably been a 
week, since her last bath. Needless to say, she was more then happy
to follow the servant’s idea.

Akemi, the servant girl who had woken her, led her to the bath house
behind the house. "Here you are mistress. Your bath is ready. I’ll
stay here to tell the servants when to make it hotter."

"Could you turn around so I can change?"

After hearing the splash that indicated Nabiki had entered the water,
she turned around to face her. After a few minutes of silence,
Akemi sighed wistfully. "You’re very lucky mistress."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh and why is that?"

"Well, not only do you have such a handsome husband, but it’s obvious
that he cares for you as well! Most husbands would have insisted
that their wives wait to eat with them, and some would even make them
wait until after they had eaten. Tell me, how did the two of you 
meet?"

"Well let’s see. I met him a year ago when, my father suddenly
announced to my sisters and me that one of us would marry Ranma.
Surprisingly, Ranma and his father, showed up shortly there after."

"Was it love at first sight?" The girl asked eagerly.

Nabiki looked at her, noting for the first time that she somewhat
resembled Akane’s friend Sayuri. "Why are you so eager to know?"

The girl looked down and apologized. "I’m sorry mistress. I was out
place. I shouldn’t have been prying."

Nabiki frowned slightly at the girl’s reaction. "There’s no need to 
apologize, I was just wondering why you were so curious about it."

"Mistress, I’m a slave and my master doesn’t own many man slaves.
So it is likely I’ll never marry, much less a husband who actually
loves and respects me. But listening to you speak of your happiness,
I can imagine what it must be like to be held in the arms of a strong
handsome man who loves me like your husband obviously loves you. This
must sound strange to you, forget I even asked."

Nabiki thought about what the girl said for a moment and realized
that she probably wasn’t exaggerating, which made her feel really
sorry for the poor girl. Now that she thought about it, the older
woman in the dinning room resembled Akemi. It was likely that the 
woman was Akemi’s mother, which would suggest Akemi was born a slave.
The elder didn’t seem like he was a mean man, but even in a palace,
a slave is still a slave.

Remembering Ranma’s suggestion from the night before about being more
friendly, Nabiki decided to give the girl what she wanted. With a 
sigh she began to weave an exaggerated story that would have made 
Kuno proud. "No, it wasn’t. In fact I wasn’t even chosen to be his 
fiancée; our parents actually choose my little sister. The story 
would have ended there with a somewhat happily ever after, if not for
his idiot of a father."

"Why? What did he do?"

"Well, the fool somehow managed to get Ranma engaged to at least five
different women!"

Akemi’s eyes grew large with surprise. "Five women!?"

"At least five! There may be more out there we don’t know about;
luckily we were able to work things out with two of them."

"So there were three other women trying to get him too? However
were you able to end up with him . . . or has he taken the others
on as concubines?"

Nabiki laughed. "As if I would marry him if he had three other women
on the side! Although, I’m quite sure some of them would be more than
thrilled at the idea of Ranma at least having them on the side. 
Besides the three other fiances, there were other girls who were 
after him as well. In fact, one of them was actually a nobleman
daughter."

Akemi gasped in complete surprise. "A noble woman?!"

"Yes, but that’s nothing, compared to one of the fiancees. One of his
fiances was an attractive blue-haired princess from a foreign land."
Nabiki struggled hard not to laugh out loud at the expression
on Akemi’s face.

Seeing Akemi was still speechless, Nabiki continued her story. "Now
where was I again? Oh yes, the four girls. Well each of them were 
well trained in martial arts, and the four of them would often fight
to see who would be the one to marry him."

"But what of the foreign princess?"

"Ah yes, she left her homeland to try to win his hand. Leaving 
everything behind, she and her grandmother, the queen of Joketsuzoku,
came to our village and sold food to make a living."

"She and the queen both left her kingdom for him?" She asked.

"Well she wouldn’t have been the first person to leave their home and
lives to be with him. The other fiancée left all she had behind and
searched fro him for about ten years."

"Ten years!? How could she have managed?"

"She pretended to be a man and worked as a cook. I always somewhat
felt sorry for her. She spent all those years trying to find him, 
only to find out that Ranma had always thought she was a boy. 
Apparently from what she told us her father had always wanted a son,
and since his wife had died giving birth, he ended up raising her as
he would have a boy."

Nabiki noticed the way the girl payed attention to her every word,
as if she were delivering from the very gods. "And then there was my
little sister. She can’t cook, she can’t fight as well as the warrior
princess, she doesn’t have the wealth of the noblewoman, or even the
long-standing friendship of the chef. In fact the only real advantage
she had was that she was Ranma’s first fiancee. So he had more time
to get comfortable with the idea of being married to her, even before
any of the other girls had a chance to show up."

Nabiki paused for a moment. "Well maybe there were a few other 
things. I think living together helped them come to terms with the 
engagement better than if they hadn’t. When your constantly together
like they were, something just happens and you almost can’t help but
to fall in love. So that was another big advantage she had. That or 
Ranma really is a masochist."

"A what?" Akemi asked completely confused.

"Eh — never mind. Anyway getting back to the story. Things continued
like that for almost a year, until one day our village was attacked.
We were caught by surprise and only the three of us managed to 
survive it. . . . Daddy . . . Kasumi . . . Akane. . . ." Nabiki 
paused to wipe crocodile tears from her eyes. "They’re all . . . " 
Nabiki covered her face and began sobbing.

"Mistress! I’m sorry! That must have been so difficult for you! I 
can’t even imagine how you could have survived. To have lost your 
entire family in one night; you must be so strong."

Nabiki shook her head. "I only barely survived. The only reason I’m
alive today is because Ranma risked himself to make sure I was safe.
It’s only because he tended to me day and night that I didn’t die 
that night myself. Then when I found out what had happened to my 
parents, he again took care of me and comforted me."

"What happened? How did he risk his life to save you?"

Akemi’s interruption caught Nabiki off guard. Looking away from the
girl, Nabiki began to rack her mind for something to say. As she 
thought about her story and what would likely be considered romantic
to the girl she was talking to, she suddenly remembered seeing a burn
mark on Ranma’s arm a few days past. Taking a moment to solidify
her story, she said. "Our attackers set the house on fire, and my 
room quickly became a blazing inferno. When Ranma came to rescue
me, I was huddled up in the corner of the room with a sprained
ankle, completely surrounded by fire. Ranma rushed into the 
conflagration that was my room, calling my name. Luckily for me, he 
came just in the nick of time; the moment he entered a room, a large
fiery beam fell from the ceiling. I called out his name in fear as I 
saw that it was about to fall on top of me. Knowing that there was no
way I would be able to move out of the way in time, he ran toward
me. Without a second thought, he blocked the beam with his left arm
and scooped me up in his arms to take me to safety. If you look at 
his left arm just above the elbow, you’ll see the scorch mark where
the beam landed."

Nabiki paused for a moment, and took note of the girl to whom she was
talking. Tears were running freely down the girls face. She was about
to continue when a sudden movement caught her eye. Turning to see 
what it was, she nearly jumped out of the tub, when she saw four 
other servants sitting near the entryway to the bath. Seeing that all
four of them were also crying, it didn’t take a genius to realize
that they had been listening as well. She berated herself for getting
so caught up in the story that she hadn’t realized four other people
had joined them.

Seeing as how it was too late already, she mentally shrugged her 
shoulders. She turned a bit to face all five girls, and continued
again. "I cried for days afterward. I hated myself for being alive
when the rest of my family had died. But Ranma, who had lost many 
friend and family as well, refused to let me dwell on it. So he 
decided to leave the village, and to take me with him. He knew my 
spirit would eventually die there as I stayed; there were too just
many memories there for both of us. Memories that would haunt us if 
we stayed there. So he took me as his wife, and we left."

"Since then, Every time I cry, he’d be there to hold me and cry with
me. Every time I’ve happy, he’s been there share that happiness
with me as well. Whenever I’m in so much pain that I feel that it 
will overwhelm me, he’s always there to help me thought it."

Nabiki paused a moment, noticing to her dismay there was now about
ten girls in the room. Summoning more crocodile tears, she slowly
began. "You asked me if it was love at first sight. No, it wasn’t.
But now, after everything that happened; after all that we’ve been
through, I know that I could never have fallen in love with another
man."

"Yet, my heart is conflicted! For this love, whose fruit is sweeter
than the sweetest honey was watered in blood. For if it wasn’t for 
that wretched night so long ago, I would never have had the chance
to feel love like I do today. It wasn’t until my world fell apart
that I realized how truly desolate my life had been. So from my 
greatest pain came my greatest joys. The joys of life, love, and 
soon. . . motherhood."

Wiping a crocodile tear from eyes, Nabiki looked up from her 
academy-award presentation to see everyone in the room looking up at
her with tears in their eyes. Akemi, the only girl in the room that
wasn’t cuddled up with someone else, looked at her and said. "I have
never been so moved like that before. Please mistress, if it wouldn’t
be too much trouble for you, tell me more. Tell me more about you and
your husband, and the family that you lost."

Nabiki looked at the girl’s pleading eyes, which was mirrored in the
eyes of all of the other girls in the room. She couldn’t find it in 
her to refuse the poor girl. Besides it had been fun! She always
knew that all the yen she had spent on buying her manga was well 
spent. "Ok, but only on one condition."

"Tell me and I will do all within my ability to see that it is done
for you." Akemi said solemnly.

Shivering slightly, she crossed her arms over her chest and said.
"Can you raise the temperature of this thing? The water is getting
cold!" Four girls, the one’s who had likely been there to regulate
the temperature of the water, quickly stood and went to restart
the fire to heat the water.

That evening, an exhausted Ranma found his way to his room. As he 
entered the room, he saw several lit candles which Nabiki was using
to read some kind of book. "Hey Nabiki."

Nabiki looked up from her book. "Why, hello darling. How was your day
today? I hope it wasn’t too tiring."

Ranma winced. She was acting just like she was when they had been 
engaged. He knew she was doing it to tease him, but it was still very
disconcerting for him. "Nah. Me and pop were mostly training all day.
What about you, whatcha reading?" He said as he began getting ready
sleep.

"Oh this?" She said, indicating the book. "Akemi let me borrow it for
a while. It’s nothing much really. It’s just a book about some of the
stuff the elder’s seen while traveling."

"It any good?"

"I suppose. It seems more like some kinda story book. It’s got a 
bunch of stories about monsters and demons."

Ranma raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Any interesting stories?"

"Not really. Most are just about big animals of different kinds.
The only interesting story was the first one. It was about a demon
and a miko who fell in love about forty-nine years ago. Or at least
that’s what the few people who knew about it thought. It seems this
miko was the guardian of some kind of powerful jewel that the demon
wanted, so he pretended to be in love with her, and waited until he 
was sure she had fallen in love with him to spring his attack."

"The demon asked her if he could use the power of the jewel to become
a human so that they could stop hiding their relationship.
The miko who was overjoyed at the idea, readily agreed. However,
when she brought it to him, he attacked her. He stole the jewel from
her and must have thought she was dead, because he returned to the 
village to attack them now that they were defenseless. The miko 
didn’t die however, and so she used the last of her power to seal the
demon forever."

"Sheesh, and this was a real story?"

"Supposedly." Nabiki said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Talk about weird. Anyway what else ya do?"

"Not much really. I had a great warm bath, followed by a lot of 
pampering and lounging about. After being on the road for so long,
it feels so good just to relax. I especially enjoyed being able to 
take a warm bath, instead of swimming in freezing cold lakes.

"Well at least you got to take a warm bath, me and pops had to go to
a nearby lake. Of course that’s only the beginning of my great day.
Pops being the idiot he is, forgets to bring a kettle. So I get the
job of finding one to borrow. It took me forever to find one, but 
when I got back pops was no where to be found. I was about to just
use it and let pops find his own kettle, when a bunch of guys from
the village came along. They said that they were hunters and were 
trying to find a large beast that found its way into the woods. Of 
course it was Pops, so I had to go rescue him from the hunters."

"Then, when I got back here, the servants suddenly started looking
at me all weird. I mean every time I walked into a room, they would
all just shut up all and look at me funny. Wait a minute! You don’t
think they know. . . Do you? About my curse I mean?" He said, as his
eyes grew wide in sudden fear.

"I doubt it. To the best of my knowledge, your secret is still safe."

Ranma breathed out in relief. "Can you think of why they’re looking
at me funny?"

Nabiki was tempted to tell him he was just being paranoid. After all
they’d be gone soon and unless she told him, she knew for a fact that
he would never find out. In fact, she was very sure that he would
most likely prefer not to know; not to mention the awkwardness
that not telling him would save him. They had agreed on being friends
however, and he did have the right to know, despite how embarrassed
he would feel when he did. "Well unless my guess is wrong, I would
guess those looks are more curioustity and admiration than anything
else."

"Huh? Why would ya think that?"

"Oh no reason at, really. I mean I did kinda mention a few small 
things, nothing all that big really."

Ranma suddenly became very worried. Nabiki was rambling. Never in all
the time that he had known Nabiki, had he ever known her to ramble.
Therefore, her rambling could only be a bad omen. "When you say ‘a 
few small things,’ what exactly do you mean?"

"Well — just stuff like your fiancees and the other girls who 
constantly chased after you. Of course I kept out certain things
like your curse. But I did mention just a few other non-important
things, like how we fell in love, our marriage, and why we’re on the
road traveling while I’m pregnant. Like I said, hardly anything."

"You said what!?" He asked in shock and dismay. W-w-why did you we 
were — were — "

"Married and in love?" Nabiki added helpfully. Ranma nodded his head.
With a sigh she continued. "Well just in case you’ve already 
forgotten, I’ll remind you. Thanks to that dumb panda, not only are
we married, but I’m also pregnant with Ranma jr. Remember?"

"Still why ya have to even talk about it in the first place?" Ranma
stammered.

"Well Akemi was keeping me company while I was taking a bath, and she
started asking me a lot of questions. It was either answer her or be
cold to her. You were the one that said I should be friendlier.
All I was doing was taking your advice."

Ranma sighed. "Well what exactly did you say?" Nabiki sighed and told
him the revised version of their life in Nerima that she had told 
Akemi, ending with their marriage. "And they actually believed
a crazy story like that?"

"First off, I only meant to tell one person, but they somehow just
kept multiplying. Besides, why wouldn’t they believe it? It is true
you know. Well ... It’s almost all true. It’s just been embellished
a bit. Think about it. Shampoo is Cologne’s successor, so that would
make her an amazon princesses, and the Kuno’s are technically
a noble family. Anyway, with my charisma and my vast supply of manga
romance plots to draw upon, I could have convinced them we were 
really aliens form planet Jusenkyou on a mission to baptize them all
in the spring of drowned duckbill platypus."

Ranma burst out laughing at the idea of finally having a way to not
only make him forget about the ‘pigtailed girl,’ as well as making
him shut up. He quickly made a mental note to pick up some spring
water from Jusenkyou before going back to their own time. "Now that
is funny. Ok, well I guess it’s no big deal then. At least you didn’t
say any other stuff."

Nabiki winced. "Well... That’s not exactly everything I said. I did
happen to mention just a wee bit more." She said sounding very 
embarrassed.

Ranma looked at her in wide eyed fear. The fear only magnified,
when he noted the blush that was starting to decorate Nabiki’s
face. No, fear was far too small of a word to describe the emotions
coursing though Ranma. Anything that could make Nabiki blush like 
that was certainly something to fear. In fact, if a lion had suddenly
come into the room and sat on his lap, he probably wouldn’t have even
blinked. "W-wh-what d-d-do you m-mean t-that wasn’t everything?"
He asked; his voice reflecting his currently emotion.

Preparing herself for what she was about to talk about, Nabiki took
a deep breath and began. "Well you see, at first she started by 
asking simple questions like describing what everyone back home was
like. Unfortunately, she started asking other questions, and seeing
as how I was on a roll, I didn’t even really think about what it was
I was saying until later."

Her reluctant tone did nothing to help soothe his nerves. "Like what
kinda questions?" The further spreading of the blush when he asked
her, nearly drove him into hysterics.

Nabiki gulped and said. "Oh just stuff like what our first time was
like."

Ranma looked at her blankly, his fears temporarily placed on hold.
"Huh? First time? First time what?"

Nabiki just couldn’t believe it. She wanted nothing better than to 
just disappear. She cursed herself for taking Ranma’s advice and 
opening up like she did. "IT! You know ‘doing IT!’ What do men and 
women do when they’re married?"

She looked at Ranma in dismay, when the blank look never left his 
face. She shut her eyes and clenched her hands tightly in anger and
frustration. There was NO way that SHE was going to have to be the 
one to explain the birds and the bees to RANMA of all people. She 
decided to make one last attempt before trying to teach Ranma 
biology. "Ok Ranma, this may be stupid question, but do you know how
babies are made?"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Of course I do Nabiki! I ain’t that stupid
or nothin. It’s when. . . ." Ranma when pale. He tried to speak,
but for some reason neither his lungs nor his vocal chords remembered
how to work correctly. So his mouth would open and close as if he 
were speaking, but no sounds came out.

In what Ranma could only describe as a once-in-a-lifetime
event, Nabiki earnestly apologized to him. "I am so sorry Ranma.
I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was having so much fun coming
up with answers to the questions I was being asked, that I just got
carried away. Believe me, I didn’t mean for any of it to get as 
carried away as it did. And before you ask, no. I will not go into
details about what I said. However, I will say this, any man those
women marry will have some pretty high expectations to overcome."

Ranma shook his head. "Why do these things always happen to me? What
did I ever do to deserve this? You know what, just skip it. I am too
tired for this! Let’s just forget this whole thing ever happened!
But, you gotta promise me one thing. Don’t do something like this 
again. Ok?"

"Believe me, I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life. 
Trust me when I say, I have no intentions of ever doing anything
like that again. Ever! In fact, let’s just blow out the candles
and goto sleep. I want to enjoy this nice comfortable bed, before
Genma decides that its time to try and run away from this town. So 
come on help me blow out the lights."

They stood and began blowing out the candles. As Nabiki faced the 
final candle, she asked. "Ranma?"

"Ya Nabiki?" He said, turning to look at her back.

"Are we still friends?" She asked neutrally.

Ranma smiled at her, despite the fact that he knew she couldn’t
see it. "Of course we’re still friends."

"Thanks." She said, before blowing out the final candle.

"That’s what friends are for right? Besides you know me. I’m always
saying stupid stuff I shouldn’t and getting people mad at me. So fair
is fair right?"

"I’m actually pretty impressed with you so far. You’ve pretty much
managed to keep your foot out of your mouth, this entire trip."

"Why gee, thanks a lot Nabiki! That makes me feel so much better"
Ranma said sarcastically.

"You’re very welcome Ranma. Anyway good night." Nabiki answered
back, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Ya good night." He responded.

The two rolled over and attempted to sleep, but after a few minutes
Nabiki spoke up. "Ranma?"

"Ya?"

"I gotta business deal for you."

"What?"

"A business deal. You know when people agree to help each other to 
make a lot of money."

Ranma’s internal danger sense was ringing overtime. Past experience
had taught him, deals made with Nabiki always found a way to turn 
around and bite him in the butt. With some difficulty Ranma ignored
his danger sense, after all that was before they had become friends.
He hoped now that they were friends, things would change. So he took
a deep breath and said. "So what’s your idea?"

"Well — I was thinking. When we get back, we have got to try and get
that story of yours published. It would be a hit. I’m sure we can 
easily get it turned into a book or a manga, and if it’s really 
popular we might even be able to get it turned into a movie! Heck we
could make two different series. One for your life in Nerima, and 
another for our misadventures here in the past! We could easily make
Millions!"

Ranma laughed. "I swear some things about you never change."

"Come on, tell me you don’t think we could make millions? It’s a sure
hit. Do you know how much I make everyday at school selling news 
about you? If I can make as I do at school from the few students
that go there, just imagine if we market it out to all of japan and
later the world!"

"I don’t know Nabiki." Ranma said hesitantly.

"Just think about it ok? We can talk about it later, when i got all
the details worked out. That’s all I’m asking you, just think about
it."

"Ok, I guess. I’ll think about it."

"Good! Oh and Ranma, just one more thing."

"Hm?" He said feeling very tired."

"Nothing really, I just wanted to say, goodnight dear."

Ranma groaned. "Just got sleep Nabiki."

"Yes, dear. I’m sorry to keep you up dear." She said teasingly,
eliciting yet another groan from her supposed husband.

Ranma wisely stayed quite though. Instead he turned over and closed
his eyes. Not much longer after that, both of them had fallen 
blissfully asleep. It was only then, after both began a rhythmic
chorus of snoring, that the person hiding behind the door snuck away.