Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Umbra Aureola ❯ Chapter 16 - Aphrodite's Bracelet Pt 4 ( Chapter 16 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

CHAPTER XVI : APHRODITES BRACELET pt 4


Ranma-chan woke up with a shock. She sat up off of the floor with a painful groan. Her body hurt from sleeping on the hard wood floor. That the wooden floor sat directly on stone did nothing to soften the pain. Shifting slightly Ranma-chan gasped as a fresh and more intense wave of pain swept through her. Clutching her left side, where in the dream the demon had buried its fist and unleashed its demonic energy into the pig tailed girl, Ranma-chan recovered from the shock.

Wincing in pain with even the touch of her hand Ranma-chan absently noted that her ki lines in that area were wrenched and broken into a gutted mess. That a wound gained from a dream could carry over to real life did not in the least make Ranma-chan comfortable. Taking her hand away from her side Ranma-chan stood up, mentally ignoring the fresh stabs into her mind, and immediately noticed something was wrong. Looking down she confirmed her fears.

"Aaaaaaaaaagggggggggg!" Ranma-chan yelled on the top of her lungs.

"Hmm, what is going on?" A sleep Anito said teleporting into the room strait past the magical locks on the door.

"Arg! Get off!" Ranma-chan ignored Anito as she sat down on the ground attempting to rip the pink pumps off of her feet. Her wound on her side over ridden by her high emotions. Surprisingly hands that could shatter multi-ton boulders couldn't make what should be flimsy shoes budge.

Anito blinked the sleep out of his eyes and absently noted that Ranma-chan was wearing a pair of four inch heels. Whacking himself on the head a few times to make sure he was awake Anito looked to see the same thing again. "As I was saying, what is going on?"

Ranma-chan still didn't pay the arch-mage any heed devoting her attention to what she considered more important matters. "Stupid bracelet, stupid heels, why won't anything get off of me!"

Anito suddenly produced his staff and slammed Ranma-chan across the room into the wall with his staff. A sharp crack echoed from both the blow and the impact. The fact the wall didn't give was a testament to the strength of the structure, and did nothing to make the attack hurt any less.

"What did you do that for!" Ranma-chan exclaimed rubbing her head.

"As I was saying, what is going on!?" Anito shot back annoyed at the red head.

"Oh, he he he sorry I didn't see you."

"Nice nice, but unless there is a damn good reason for me to be awake, and I am assuming there is, I am going back to sleep. So what the heck is going on!?" Anito said his cool disturbed.

"Well these stupid heels wont come off." Ranma-chan said summing up the entire story in one line.

Anito rubbed his head. "Okay, start from the beginning what happened."

"Let's see, well first I was practice that ki ball thing that you showed me and well I kind of accidentally slipped off into dream land. Then the demon girl showed up again and I didn't want to deal with her no more so I challenged her to a fight and if I won she would leave me alone." Ranma-chan stopped there and then mustered up her broken pride to say the last. "Then I kind of lost so I had to put on the stupid shoes in the dream. Well, when I woke up they were still there."

"Ranma."

"What?"

"Do you remember what I said about dealing with demons?"

"You don't?"

"Exactly, now what did you do?"

"Hey, I wasn't making a deal! I was challenging her to a fight, there's a difference!"

"Hmm, if you win she would leave you alone and if she won you wear the shoes. Now I am not certain, but I have the strong feeling that if I asked Nabiki she would call that a deal... and everyone knows she's a demon when it comes to bargaining."

"Well, I wasn't expecting to lose. If it weren't for those stupid chains I would have beaten her good." Ranma-chan retorted, her pride was hurt enough from the loss as things were.

"Obviously," Anito said dryly to the first. "Give me your foot, I'll see if I can figure out what is going on." Ranma-chan stuck one of her feet closer to the arch-mage who started looking at the pink pumps with faint interest. "You do know fighting a demon, even a weak one, in a mindscape is amongst the dumbest things you can do."

Ranma-chan looked annoyed. "Hey, I ain't dumb and what the heck is a mindscape?"

Anito flicked his finger against the material of the shoe thoughtfully. Ranma-chan twitched a bit at this act. "A mindscape is a dream world. An existence on which all materials and laws, except for the participants, are defined by the minds inside the mindscape. It is in other words a world which can be manipulated purely by will."

Anito caught in his explanation didn't even notice whether or not Ranma-chan paid any attention. "Now, demons are beings of pure ki. That is they are living ki without a physical existence. As such they primarily exist, except when they interact with our world, in a mindscape. Because of this demons are experts, masters of such a realm. While you are equally measure inexperienced with the same. Like an individual that can't swim fighting in the ocean."

"In other words I stood about as much chance as Akane would against a shark." Ranma-chan replied thoughtfully.

"That is one way of putting it. In any case the demon we are dealing with is actually pretty weak. If you had fought the creature in the real world you would have ripped the demon to pieces in seconds." Anito frowned thoughtfully running a finger down the back of the four inch heel of the shoe the arch-mage asked. "Can you feel that?"

Ranma-chan felt a chill pass down her spine at the arch-mage's action. "Yeah, I can."

"It looks to me that the shoes are demonic essence manifested physically. The problem is that they have bonded with your ki lines and are essentially being incorporated into your spirit."

"What does that mean? And can you get the damn things off?"

Anito chose to address the last first. "Well if I had some sort of advanced energy blade I could basically amputate the demonic energy. This would hurt like hell and probably prevent you from doing anything for about a month, even with your recovery ability. Unfortunately, I lack such a technique at the moment, and it would probably be too dangerous to attempt in even a few days. The second possibility would be to cut off the physical representation. That would have the same problems, in addition to the actual physical damage to the foot. What is more, given that this is demonic energy, and does not need a physical presence I cannot be sure that the energy would not simply flow back and reattach itself."

"On the up side, as demonic energy is not by nature physical, thus you should be able to dismiss these manifestations after the energy has incorporated itself into your spirit, or even change its physical representation. Further, the demon has so much ying energy that it has rejected your male side, which means that the energy rejects your male side. For the most part it is likely the energy won't effect you, at least overtly, in male form. Of course if it does completely bind itself to you then you will be part lust demon..." Anito said with a laugh.

Ranma-chan gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to put a fist in Anito's face. Not because she didn't want to piss him off, no the resistance was because she knew that throwing the fist would hurt her a lot more than it would hurt him. "You think that's pretty funny don't ya?"

Anito grinned. "Yes I do. Don't worry, even if it comes to that it would be a very very small part. As I said you are much stronger than this demon and this is a very small part of that demon's essence. Unless the demon manages to connect more of her essence there is no real worry from that end." Anito looked a bit more serious. "No, what you need to worry about is that with this established that the demon will be able to effect you more directly in your dreams. That is a real danger as there is no telling what the demon might decide to do."

"Oh what, it gets worse? Sounds like the story of my life." Ranma-chan said annoyed.

Anito let out a chuckle. "I should tell you about chaos auras sometime. In any case the fact that the demon has bound part of itself to you means that the demon can bind more of its essence without necessarily needing your permission or worse possibly enact the bracelet's original magic upon you. Luckily I doubt the demon is capable of the last. What I see indicates most of the magic was destroyed by the demon itself. Most likely because she was feeding on that energy. In any case because of those possibilities it is important to get the bracelet off as soon as humanly possible."

Anito stood up to leave. Ranma-chan butted in before the arch-mage could go. You had to be quick about such things when your conversationalist teleported. "Where you going? I figured you would be teaching me more stuff if your going to hurry up my training."

Anito grinned, "I am stopping by Tofu's. He is vastly more knowledgeable then me when it comes to medical practices and he may be able to do something about your little problem. Further, as I said you need to have that bracelet off as soon as humanly possible and that means no school. So you work on those ki balls and I'll be back." With that Anito shadow stepped out of the room to wherever.

"What do you know? There is a bright side to the things after all." Ranma-chan said with the enlightenment of no school.

Absently she ran a finger across the material of the pink pumps. A shiver ran down her spine with the act. It was one thing to have the stupid things on, but to feel through them... that was simply unnatural. Ranma-chan hopped Tofu could figure out how to get rid of the darn things. Even now it still felt like they where crawling into her skin.

"Great, so what am I supposed to be, some sort of cursed, demonic, immortal, martial artist, wizard, godslayer? Yeesh, my life is just too weird." Ranma-chan paused for a second then added to herself, "Can't forget the fiancees and infinite supply of enemies that want to kill me for some of the most inane reasons man can dream up either." For a moment Ranma-chan wished all she was dealing with was someone trying to kill her. Those kind of problems where easily solved via the fist in the face method. Stuff like this Ranma-chan wasn't really trained to handle. Of course, given that magical effects seemed to be part of her life, it was probably a good thing she was going to pick up a bit of magic herself.

"Ahh, screw it. There ain't no point worrying about the stupid things that happen in my life. I wouldn't be able to make sense of it all anyway." With matters settled, at least as far as Ranma-chan was concerned she sat down to focus back on her training. "Now lets see, I think it might work better if I try this," Ranma-chan said out loud as she settled into work.


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


"Where is that idiot." Akane said to out loud in annoyance. She had looked in his room, she had looked on the roof, she had looked everywhere! Ranma though was nowhere to be found. Heck, the only place she hadn't checked was Anito's lair. That she had pushed it off until after breakfast figuring that Ranma wouldn't skip food no matter what came up. However, Ranma hadn't even bothered to show up for that! So she was left with no choice but looking in that man's place.

Anito, that was one name Akane didn't like. Sure there was Happosai, Mousse, Shampoo and plenty of others, but Anito earned a special place on his own in her book when he kidnapped Kasumi. She didn't get why everyone put up with him, she had expected to have Nabiki get rid of him in under a week. Unfortunately, if anything, Nabiki was his most vocal supporter, Kasumi falling in short second. The fact that Kasumi didn't seem bothered by the arch-mage only made things worse. Grrrr... that man got on Akane's nerves.

"Hey, Nabiki have you seen Ranma? That idiot is sleeping in again."

"Nope, can't say I have." Nabiki answered her sister. Of course though she hadn't seen Ranma, she knew where Ranma was, but telling her sister that wouldn't be any fun.

"Well, it isn't going to be my fault when he's late for school." Akane said annoyed.

Nabiki ignored Akane's diatribe and headed out of the house quickly. She had something far more important than her little sister on her mind. That being Anito. She didn't know what that man was up to, but whatever it was concerned Ranma, and when Ranma was concerned money was a big factor. Because of this Nabiki planned to be there when Tofu and Anito had their conversation and she planned to use that information to her advantage.

Nabiki picked up the pace a bit once she was out of sight from the Tendo House. It would do her little good if others knew what she knew. Knowledge was power, and power is a relative thing. That is, power is at its most useful when you had it and nobody else did. Thus Nabiki did what was in her best interest, she made sure that when she was getting knowledge nobody else was doing the same.

Reaching Tofu's clinic Nabiki slid in and pulled out the book Kasumi needed returned. The truest trick to stealth was not to need it. Because Nabiki always had an excuse she was able to get away with spying simply because nobody could do anything about it. One could say that Nabiki was a true master of hiding in plain sight.

"Hmm, a demon you say? That is most interesting Anito. I am afraid I am not aware any medical literature on that." Tofu said.

"Can't say that I didn't expect that. This is not exactly a normal case. Given this event I am afraid I must ask you to excuse Ranma from school until the bracelet is removed." Anito replied to the doctor.

"Hmm, given what you have said I must agree that would probably be for the best. I'll make up a note right now for Ranma." Tofu went to get some paper and silence reigned for a bit. "Here you go. I was thinking that I know an old Shinto Priest that may be able to help. Oh, hello Nabiki."

"Sis wanted me to return this book." Nabiki said walking into the room. It wouldn't make sense for her to stand back any longer than she had. Besides she was certain that Anito had known she was there the minute she had entered the area. A fact that she wanted the arch-mage to know, as it would serve to get the conversation she wanted.

"Oh thank you. If you don't mind could you take this note excusing Ranma from school today to the principle."

"Of course Dr. Tofu," Nabiki said accepting the note. "I'll be going now." Nabiki walked out of the clinic and waited outside for a moment. She wasn't disappointed as Anito showed up a second latter.

"I take it you want to talk," The arch-mage said amused.

"That's what I like about you, you always know what a girl wants," Nabiki teased. "So I take it your little scheme isn't playing out how you wanted it to."

"You think I planned everything? You wound me, or perhaps I should be proud that you think so highly of my intellect." Anito replied suavely.

"Surely you don't expect me to think that Happosai could just waltz right into your lab now do you?"

"Even I make mistakes, which is why I installed the magical locks on my doors."

"Your good, even I can't tell if that's your cover story or you are telling the truth." Nabiki said playfully. "But, no matter what you certainly did capitalize on the situation. Some how I doubt those 'risks' involved with you removing the bracelet are as high as you have insinuated."

"What can I say? I am an opportunist." Anito said with a smile. Then his eyes went darker. "Besides, if Ranma can't handle something of this level he won't last."

"Ooo, you are planning something long term aren't you?"

"Yes, and what is it to you?"

"I want in."

Anito raised an eyebrow at that statement. He raised a cunning smile at the second eldest Tendo girl. "It is not something you can really help with. Then again maybe you could. I'll keep my mind open on the subject." Anito said thoughtfully. Then the arch-mage vanished before she could do anything about it.

Nabiki paused for a moment, and then continued on her path. Her cards had been played and now the ball was in motion. There was no telling how things would turn out. Especially considering Anito had a wit as quick, or quicker than her own and magical power to back it up. With a bit of nervousness and a good deal of exhilaration Nabiki looked forward to what would come.


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


"Got it!" Ranma-chan exclaimed moving the four colored balls of ki as Anito had directed. Her purity wasn't up to par, but hey if the color comes out right who's complaining.

"How is it going?" Anito appeared in the room almost causing Ranma-chan to accidentally dismiss the floating balls of ki.

"Ha ha ha! I got this thing down now!" Ranma-chan said happily nearly dancing around the room.

"So you do." Anito said with a smile. "Though your purity could use a bit of work, for most of the stuff you'll be using at this point that will only matter in efficiency."

"So what you got next?" Ranma-chan asked, she wanted a challenge, though she could do with some food as well. As if to make the last crystal clear her stomach grumbled rather loudly. "He he he, I haven't eaten in a while."

Anito laughed, "Well, well I'll see what I can do about that."

"Don't worry about it I'll get Kasumi to get me something." Ranma-chan said.

Anito waved his hand as if to indicate the matter was negligible. "Nah, I'll take care of it. That should save you about three hours of explanations for those." Anito said pointing his staff at the pink four inch heels that Ranma-chan was wearing quite against her will. "So I'll fetch it for you right after I set you on your next problem. Don't worry about the explanations either because I'm setting Nabiki on that task." Anito said with an evil gleam in his eye.

"Nabiki? Now how did you manage to get her to work for you?" Ranma-chan asked curiously.

"Believe it or not, she volunteered. Though I think she is expecting that I'm running something a slight different than I am... so she wanted in." Anito said laughing.

"Eh? You are running something?" Ranma-chan asked confused.

"Just what we talked about on the roof."

Now Ranma-chan was even more confused. "Why would she want to be part of that? I thought Nabiki hated that martial arts stuff."

Anito laughed even harder. "And that is why I am laughing. Though I think I might be able to hand her something more her style. While she doesn't have power per say, she does have quite a bit intellect and is a master of strategy and politics."

Ranma-chan frowned. "I don't think I get what you are saying. I can't see anything that would use politics."

Anito chuckled, "Just because something does not have immediate use does not mean that you cannot keep something in reserve until its use becomes apparent."

"So kinda like a secret technique or something?"

"Exactly, until I think up a use for her I can give her small jobs to keep her busy. While I am at it I'll toss in enough rewards to keep her happy." Anito said with an evil grin.

"Man she's goina be pissed if she finds you are using her." Ranma-chan said gleefully. Hey, she might not be the one doing it, but she could certainly live vicariously when Nabiki got one upped. "So what's next." Ranma-chan said anxious to get back to the training.

Anito grinned evilly. "The next part is fairly easy. You take all four balls of energy. Now before rotating you take the top one and you stretch it out into a line like this, and then twist it like this." Anito explained as he showed Ranma-chan what to do. As he worked the arch-mage formed the ki balls into a series of lines that filled a roughly spherical shape.

"You have got to be kidding me." Ranma-chan said in all seriousness. She couldn't even imagine the kind of ki control Anito had used to pull off his design in mere seconds. Sure she could do it, of course she could do it she was the best, but Anito made it look so easy and it was probably going to take her at least a day to pull that off.

"So what is the point of all that anyway?" Ranma-chan asked.

"Oh, this is a good portion of the unlocking spell you'll use to get rid of that." Anito explained pointing at the bracelet that still sat snug on Ranma-chan's wrist.

Ranma-chan's eyes burned with inner fire at those words. Not only was she going to going to get better than Anito at his own game when it came to this ki stuff, but she got to get rid of the stupid bracelet at the same time. "I gotcha!" Ranma-chan replied settling in to work on the ki formations.

"Good keep it up and I'll go get some food. I'll give you some tips a bit latter if you need them." Anito said before vanishing on his own quest. Not that tips would help all that much, but he could give a Ranma-chan a few hints about how to think about things to bring around the desired effect. Until then he needed to get Nabiki into the fold. The question was how he wanted to go about it.


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


"Got time to talk?"

Nabiki jumped hearing Anito's voice suddenly behind her. Nabiki was a cold hearted mercenary, or at least she liked to think she was one, so she grabbed back control of herself as quickly as possible. Nabiki quickly considered Anito's proposal. Undoubtedly it was about their earlier conversation, "Of course, if your buying."

"Client and host eh? I'll bite this time." Anito said slyly directing the two of them to a place to eat.

"So what where you and Tofu talking about?"

"Strait to the heart of things, eh? Actually that is exactly what I was going to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Nabiki said questioningly.

Anito gave a smile. "The demon has successfully merged a part of itself with Ranma."

"So did your little plan get out of your hands, or was this intended all along?" Nabiki asked.

"Hmm, let's say that the result was not exactly undesired."

"So it wasn't planned but you aren't unhappy with the results."

Anito eyed her thoughtfully. He had to be careful what he said around Nabiki she was quick to pick things up. Lying though would be equally foolish, Nabiki respected a cunning adversary, but if she caught him in a lie she could turn against him instead. "The effects of a partial merge would be beneficial in certain ways to my long term desires."

"And what exactly are those effects? I would rather know what I am getting into rather than find out latter and perhaps react in a rash manner." Nabiki returned, it was a dangerous play. She was effectively threatening to reveal information if he wasn't upfront about things she might find, distasteful. Normally Nabiki wouldn't consider such things, but she had been listening when the arch-mage described the bracelet.

Anito let the silence drag on for a while leaving Nabiki to wonder if threatening the arch-mage was a bad idea. Finally he answered, "There are minor personality effects and more notably the ability to work of certain kinds of magic much more easily. Perhaps, more importantly the a better ability to shrug off magic in general. Given Ranma's record with the latter this is the most important factor."

Nabiki breathed easier, Anito had chosen to recognize her doubts and address her concerns. The question now was how far would he go. Nabiki needed to have this question answered before she worked further with the arch-mage. Akane was after all right about one thing, Anito was far, far more dangerous than anyone else they had dealt with before. Not because he was a powerful individual, no because he was smart. That fact that he was powerful just made things much worse. Thus Nabiki wanted to make sure she wasn't getting into something she would want to get back out of latter. "What kind of personality effects are we talking about?"

Anito thought carefully almost as though considering whether or not to answer. "The effects of the merge are in proportion to the amount, and type of essence absorbed. The effect is also dependent on both the strength of the subject's personality and essence. In this case a probably increase in aspects pertaining to the type, both specific and general, of creature merging. In this case probable effects include a closer affiliation with the subjects femininity on various levels, and the desire to solve problems via manipulation, but are not in anyway limited by these alterations. It is worth noting that at the current amount of exposure these effects will not be noticeable except to the close observer."

Nabiki noted Anito's use of the word subject. The application and the way he said it indicated without a doubt that these words where not to be repeated, to anyone. It also indicated that the conversation should be treated as though there was a listener. Nabiki decided to fish for a bit more information before asking directly. "That is most interest. I must say that I am curious as to your contact with Tofu. Especially considering it would be advantageous for you not to."

Anito's look was all Nabiki needed. Anito knew Tofu wouldn't be able to help and used him instead as a second layer to his cover story. "It is advantageous for me to explore all avenues in preparation for possible future events."

Nabiki raised a eyebrow at that. Relying on her intuition she took a shot in the dark. "You are considering exposing, the subject, a second time."

"The thought has crossed my mind. As things stand there is a good probability that such an exposure would occur a second time before matters could be addressed. It is however, in my power to ensure a desired result in either direction. Normally, I would allow events to resolve themselves, but I feel in this case either way the path should be ensured and matters already taken in hand to deal with these effects."

"In other words it effects on the subject effect your long term plans." Nabiki said simply.

"Yes."

Nabiki set her drink down carefully with her hands shaking slightly. Nabiki was used to dealing with small time blackmail and scams. Causing trouble was something she was used to. Long term manipulation of the life of someone you knew for an unknown cause? That was something else. Further, the direction of the conversation gave her a sinking feeling that Anito was going to leave her the decision of what to do in this matter. Such things where a common ploy when bringing a person into a group. Nabiki did it herself when getting a new recruit, hand them some dirty work so they have some dirt of their own. Safety in the concept that everyone is guilty. The question was would Anito let Nabiki back out at this point. She wasn't sure she would in his place. "What do you desire of me."

"How do you think the subject would react to further exposure?"

There it was. The question she had been fearing. The question she did not want to answer. To do so decided her future and Nabiki wasn't sure she was ready to make that choice. She needed more time and Nabiki was smart enough to get some. "I'll answer that latter, first tell me what exactly would be the effects of further exposure."

Anito paused, and decided to entertain Nabiki's question. "Where as at current levels the effect will probably go unnoticed, with further exposure these shifts will become evident over time. Most especially the traits involving the specific type of the creature merged, but also those of the general type merged. Given the subjects powerful essence and personality it is unlikely that this will strongly effect the core personality."

Nabiki considered Anito's answer. He was saying that with further exposure that Ranma would pick up notable qualities of the creature merged. In this case Anito had labeled it a lust demon probably of the female sort, which would be the specific type. In addition the merging would imbue other more general demonic qualities.

Nabiki considered and decided she didn't want to be part of this. It was one thing to blackmail but to make a person you know into a part demon? There where levels even she didn't want to down to. "I can not be responsible for the mind of another person," Nabiki said. It was a nice good neutral answer. It indicated that she didn't want a part in events, but would not make a move against him.

Anito sat quietly for a while and then gave an unexpected speech. "The technique that subject X used created vast reservoirs of light and dark energy which X can tap. These reservoirs not only where filled, but grow at a linear rate comparable to subject Z's current growth of power plus about ten percent. While these reservoirs of light and dark grow in balance with each other, the dark energy is far more active and tends to splash to the core in which the personality of X is located."

"Currently a binding spell and a good aura can hold this energy in check. As the spell establishes itself the stability of the system will increase for the first year, after that point the dark energy will become too strong to contain and will slowly start to escape once again effecting X's personality."

"By the end of ten years the dark energy will, even with all known considerations, rule the functional personality of X. During this time of, insanity, the core original essence of X will continue to take in the light and dark energy and merge these effects with X. One hundred years after insanity sets in X will begin to merge at a rate greater than the rate of linear growth, as such this will be the point at which the insanity will be at its peak. After about one hundred and fifty years the levels of dark energy will be low enough for X to regain its sanity. Within two hundred years complete recovery is projected."

"Unfortunately, X will retain all intellect during this insanity. Given the X's growth of power, X's current power and X's intellect it is highly unlikely that the level of the survival of human kind will be, after this amount of time has elapsed, by any means desirable. Because of this X has taken measures to make sure that subject Z will be capable of killing X should insanity ensue before X expects it. Thus giving X a fail safe to avoid this disaster. Z is however, only aware of the possibility of insanity, not the certainty. This is because X feels that Z will be unwilling to submit to a system that will in all probability result in the death of X."

"X though has no desire to die. So X has taken it upon itself to not only ensure that Z can kill X if necessary, but to prepare Z for a soul merge. This merge as projected will allow the resulting XZ to merge with the reservoirs at a rate greater than the linear growth of light in dark in only three years following the merge. Further, the stronger core personality ensures that insanity would not ensue even if the reservoirs where thrice the expected values after ten years. In other words, in the event of a soul merge the resulting XZ would not go insane."

"X though has become aware that Z is not only unlikely to accept a soul merge at this point, but may no be able to fulfill the mission for which Z was originally chosen. That is the killing of X if things go wrong. That is because Z, while talented in combat lacks the ability to engage in battle effectively outside of a standard martial conflict. This makes Z exceptional vulnerable to certain kinds of attack which X is not only quite capable of implementing and using, but is likely to do so in the event of insanity."

Nabiki sat a while in silence from Anito's words. Such a deep revealing of Anito's long term plans was unexpected, even stripped as they where of deep detail. In other words, there went her escape, she was irrevocably in, and Anito had just let her know what exactly that meant. For the first time Nabiki understood the meaning of the words ignorance is bliss. "Why? Why me?" She asked not really expecting an answer.

"X fears that its judgment is impaired and decided after a strange request to bring Y into the loop. Y can act not only as Z's protection against certain kinds of attack, but as a teacher of defense methods against the same. In addition Y has the intellect to detect if X is losing sanity early."

Nabiki understood clearly what Anito had said. Effectively Anito feared that his thoughts on the subject where dangerously effected by bias. That is the preservation of Ranma's ability to kill him if need be. The reason for that being was in all probability the amount of time Anito would risk being alive before a soul merge or other solution came to light. Thus when Nabiki decided to ask to be in, Anito decided that it was better that he not be the judge of these events and that she, for whatever reason, would be a better judge.

Effectively Nabiki was stuck with the position and Nabiki was forced to agree Anito was too biased to make the decision. Unfortunately she didn't want to give such an answer. It was uncharacteristic of her to avoid this kind of control, but really Nabiki had never wanted control on this level. To blackmail and scheme was one thing. To act as an arbiter on decisions that effected the fate of the world was quite another.

"Ice cream?" Anito asked with a grin.

"Yes, please," Nabiki replied.

Nabiki ate in silence while Anito watched running her thoughts of the subject through her head over and over again. "Two questions. One how much does this pay. Two what are you expecting out of me in general and specific?"

"It pays nothing, apparently the government doesn't assign a special budget for funds for the personal use of potential world destroying entities. As such money is a wee bit short. You do get cool gizmos though!" Anito said with a laugh.

Nabiki let out a laugh. Of course Anito could only pay with magical toys. Not that having a few magical toys wouldn't be fun. Nabiki smiled inwardly, Anito had saved her from a way to serious conversation with that statement. "And the other question." Nabiki said teasing him for his omission.

"Hmm, in general I have noted that the subject tends to learn best through a combination of hints and open conflict."

"So basically screw the subject over, but leave enough hints to get them to do better next time. I think I can work with that." Nabiki said thoughtfully.

"In specific I need you to break the news of what is going on to the rest so that our mutual friend does not need to. I would rather minimize distractions, a third exposure would be dangerous. Speaking of which, what is the answer to my earlier question."

Nabiki ate some more ice cream while coming to her decision. Once her mind was made up she put down her spoon. "Okay, here it is."