"Oh look, it's Kodachi." Nabiki drawled bitterly.
"Evasive action?" Kenshiro asked.
"No good. She's already spotted us, but there's something different about her." Ranma said.
"Her clothes. Still black, but not the leotard." Nabiki said, scanning the gymnast as she approached. "This is interesting. Her bioscans aren't indicative of someone with mental instability."
"Her aura is considerably cleaner, as well." Ranma said as the teenager stopped in front of him. She peered intently at him, then Nabiki, and finally the children.
"Saotome san! My goodness how have you been!" She squealed glomping tightly to Ranma before releasing him and bouncing over to Nabiki. "Tendo Nabiki, is that you? God you've grown! Where have you been?"
"Um it's Saotome now." Nabiki corrected automatically.
"Oh my god, you caught the incredible hunk? Rock on girl!" Kodachi giggled happily.
"Um Kodachi-" Ranma began.
"Just 'Dachi. It's what all my friends call me." She grinned.
"Did this girl just fall in a vat of expresso?" Rikku asked.
"You know, Kas'i chan says I can be too expressive, but sometimes I can't help it!" She bounced over to Rikku. "Didn't catch your names cuties."
Ken stepped between them and deftly pulled Rikku back. "No offense, 'Dachi san, but we're not exactly close quarter people." He said, as Kodachi's face fell. "Give us some time to get to know you, then we'll cuddle." Kodachi's face lit up like a city skyline. "By the way, I'm Kenshiro and this is my big sis Rikku."
"Kenshiro... and Rikku.... Can I call you Ken'i and Rikky?" The gymnast seemed to be calming down now.
"Why not?" Rikku said blithely. "Everyone else does."
"Seriously, 'Dachi." Ranma said. "This is quite a change from the aristocratic gymnast we used to know."
"Come on, we'll talk over tea." The young teen smiled leading the way to a nearby teahouse.
Five minutes later the group was seated in a nearby tea house with a variety of different brews. "Believe it or not, you really were what held this god forsaken ward together the last three years, Ranma. When you vanished, the ward took an express train to hell. Your rivals swore they had driven you off, my brother loudest of all. Your fiancé's all blamed the others, but no one thought that if they were looking for you, that they didn't have you."
"And you, Kodachi?" Nabiki asked.
"Shortly Ten- er Saotome san. Gonna have to get used to that. When you two vanished, dumb and dumber kept driving Akane to find you, to the exclusion of all else. Genma kept pumping her head full of smoke, telling her that only the greatest of martial artists could find Ranma."
"And my father let him..." Nabiki growled. "Those two are in for such a beating."
"Not my father." Ranma said. "We'll tend to him ourrrrselves. Stay out of it."
Nabiki stared at Ranma, and nodded respectfully. "As you will it. What of the other fiancé's?"
"The Amazon's are still here running their business. Seems it provides a much needed flow of income and information to the village. Ukyo too, because she's sure you're coming back, and she enjoys the clientele. My brother is traipsing the globe in search of his pigtailed goddess- that really was you all along?" Ranma nodded as Kodachi slapped her forehead and laughed, a genuine laugh of joy. "I can't believe I never saw it."
"A wise woman once told me there are none so blind as those who will not see." Ranma said with a serene smile.
"Very wise and very true." Kodachi said. "Anyway, I was the only one who thought to delegate. What sense is having resources if you don't use them, right?"
"I agree." Nabiki said. "But you mentioned a Kas'i chan. Did you mean, my sister Kasumi?"
"Yup! My best friend." Kodachi turned sober. "I'm glad I met her, but at the same time I wish I hadn't."
"What's wrong with Aunt Kasumi?" Ken asked.
"All she knew was tending house, and with Akane and the fathers out, the house didn't need a lot of tending. I stopped over to find her in the middle of a nervous breakdown. I took her to the hospital and they said physically there was nothing wrong with her. They let her stay overnight, but she wouldn't let me go. She insisted that I stay by her side, she was that desperate to have someone in her life. The doctors sent us- meaning her with me in tow- to a psychiatrist. I was just gonna sit in with her, but then the doctor started talking to me and... I couldn't stop."
"Sometimes, all it takes to break the dams we build around our hearts is to start talking about them." Kenshiro said.
"Yeah, well... It was a turning point for me, and Kas'i chan too." Kodachi said. "We gradually grew out the shells we made for ourselves. She's become more wild and less tolerant of the bullshit. Though she's a natural with the ribbon. Very effective. So spill! Where have you been? These two cuties here are too old to be your kids if you had them here, so... that means you either went back in time or to an alternate reality. Am I right?"
"Pretty smart Kodachi." Nabiki grinned. "We've been traveling among realities for 25 linear years, not counting time travel and dimensional resets."
"What's a-"
"The technical name is a cyclic temporal anomaly, or dimensional reset. Exactly what the name implies. For some reason, a reality or dimension just... resets itself, like a video game. Everything goes back to an earlier time and everything from that point forward hasn't occurred yet." Ken said. "And there's no guarantee that it will happen like you remember."
"Interesting..." Kodachi mused to herself.
Ranma and Nabiki shared a look before Ranma cleared his throat. "'Dachi, Nabiki and I aren't legally married here and we'd like to know if you'd be part of the ceremony?"
Kodachi blinked. "Even... after last time?"
"You've shown you've changed for the better. That means you deserve a second chance." Nabiki said.
"I'll... have to think about it." Kodachi said distractedly. "Where will you go from here?"
Nabiki pursed her lips. "I guess we should stop by-
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(Posted Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:27)
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