Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Umbra Aureola ❯ Chapter 27 - New World, Old World ( Chapter 28 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Xylix 
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure / Action / Martial Arts | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.16.2004 | Updated On: 06.16.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.6K | Visits: 396 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure / Action / Martial Arts | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.16.2004 | Updated On: 06.16.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.6K | Visits: 396 | Status: Completed
CHAPTER XXVII : NEW WORLD, OLD WORLD
Entering into the world was much easier and simpler than Ranma-chan had imagined. When the three had left their own world the effort had been accompanied by blazing lights, incredibly magic, sophisticated casting, a giant lifting force and massive portal. Here things were much simpler. This time it was more like slipping through a door way. One moment she resided in the Aether surrounded by the dancing cosmos, and the next as with a gentle pull the Aether faded from existence and this new place sprang into clarity in response. As opposed as these experiences might be, there was one similarity between the modes of travel. In both Ranma-chan felt a hanging sense of weightlessness as she traveled the path. Here though this sense was much shorter lived leaving only seconds before gravity slowly reasserted itself upon her.
The three landed softly on hard concrete pavement. Ranma-chan shifted uncomfortably as she stood again on the extra inch of heel. It was not so much the balance as the reminder. To testify to this fact a grimace decorated the pigtailed girl's face. Squaring herself mentally Ranma-chan once again cast aside such thoughts. She had other things to deal with right now, and besides this kind of thing didn't solve itself just be thinking about it. Instead Ranma-chan shifted her gaze about taking in their new location.
The landing point was simple. All three stood upon a concrete sidewalk that was surrounded by lush green grass. Trees graced the walking path and near the center of what Ranma-chan named as a park was fountain. To the other side was a street and more familiar stores. Ranma-chan though focused on the fountain. The significance of water was not lost upon the pigtailed girl.
"Uh, I'll be right over there for a moment." Ranma-chan said breaking the silence. While pointing at her chosen destination.
Anito grinned laughing slightly under his breath. "First priority is it?"
"Yeah, something like that." The pigtailed girl said absently scratching her head.
"By all means." Anito spoke with a relaxed wave indicating his acceptance of the proposal.
Ranma-chan wasted no more time making a quick dash over to the fountain. The girl then plunged both hands into the water. The liquid was cool against Ranma-chan's skin. A fact that would need to be fixed. Luckily the pigtailed girl had tools and capabilities at her disposal to help remedy a situation just like this.
Scooping up some water Ranma-chan called upon the orange fire that rested in her bracers. The ravenous flames expanded from their confines blazing up around the pigtailed girl's arms. Caught in the orange light the water responded violently to the touch as its molecules were agitated by resonance. Temperature rising the water bubbled almost instantly. Large puffs of steam broke out of the liquids surface carrying a searing heat.
Startled by the quickness of it Ranma-chan didn't react before the water had all vanished from her hands rising as newly formed vapor. All in all it was certainly a strange experience feeling boiling and bubbling of searing hot water in your hands without feeling the slightest touch of heat. Again Ranma-chan found herself admiring the fact that Anito hadn't forgotten to protect the bracer's user from the simple after affects of using the object's own power.
Curious as the situation was it only took the pigtailed girl so far. Instead of wasting more time experimenting with this novel situation Ranma-chan thrust her hands into the water once again scooping up a second double handful. Not giving it more than a second to heat Ranma-chan tossed the liquid onto her face and immediately regretted it.
"Hot hot hot!" Ranma yelped dancing around slightly in a vain attempt to escape the heat.
"You can control and focus the resonance effect you know... or did I forget to mention that?" Anito supplied helpfully.
Ranma would have provided the wizard with a nice angry glare or perhaps even the much more potent and telling fist in the face for the wizard's efforts, however Ranma had something rather pressing to deal with. That being a certain pair of lacy underclothes that were currently squeezing around Ranma's larger masculine frame in a manner that could hardly be called in any situation elegant. Shifting from side to side uncomfortably the pigtailed boy looked at the other two slightly embarrassed, but still managing to afford Anito a slightly harder look. "I uh, will be behind that tree for just a moment."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow a light smirk decorating her face at the plight of her companion. "Did you forget about something Ranma?" Mentally the mercenary girl added notch to the theory that Ranma-chan had indeed been wearing a set of feminine undergarments.
Face flushed Ranma dived behind a tree at top speed. His movements though lost their normal grace by the effort of garments that crushed parts of the pigtailed boy's body that were not meant to be crushed. Safely out of eye sight Ranma wasted not a moment in freeing himself of the rather embarrassing predicament. Pushing his art to obscene speeds the pigtailed boy quickly improvised a new technique. Mentally Ranma dubbed it the Saotome Secret Art of Rapid Clothes Replacement. Absently the pigtailed boy noted that his technique was a far cry from whatever it was that his father implemented to avoid those rather embarrassing scenes that could result the moment after having an encounter with hot water.
Ranma let out a sigh of relief the moment the pink garments were safely in hand. It was unfortunate that he didn't have another pair of boxers, but even having nothing underneath beat wearing something like what he was holding in his hands right now. Further, Ranma had no desire to spend anymore time in female form where the undergarments would at least fit correctly. Instead the pigtailed boy held up the lacy, pink lingerie and let out a snort of distaste. "Stupid demon, pink isn't my color."
With a casual gesture the pigtailed boy vaporized the clothes with a quick pulse of ki. That taken care of and finally back in male form Ranma stretched out trotting toward the others with a sigh of contentment. Glancing at Nabiki and Anito, Ranma realized that the two were eyeing him with some amusement. "What?" Ranma growled dangerously.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Is there something in specific I should have been looking for Ranma?"
"Ha ha ha, nothing, nothing at all." Ranma sputtered out shifting uncomfortably under Nabiki's gaze. Somehow though the girl's smile and aura was leading Ranma to believe that he had just answered Nabiki's question despite having avoided the question entirely.
Thankfully Nabiki decided not to press the matter. Instead the cold hearted girl turned her eyes to the skyline looking at the city that surrounded the small park. She settled her gaze directly at the most prominent of the tall buildings that surrounded the three and the small park. Tokyo Tower, the mere mention of the tower that distinguished itself so wholly that it could not be missed even in the daylight was sufficient to see what it was that was bugging the cold hearted girl. "You know Anito, when you said another world I was expecting something a little more..., how should I say it, otherworldly. Instead I find that the alien vegetation is startlingly familiar."
Anito grinned in response. "I did say that the optimal world would be a much like our own as reasonably possible."
"I take it that as much like out world as possible does not include something like say, the equivalency of us three. Much less such a equivalent group being chased by an ancient mystical organization of wizards with access to powers and tools great enough to scare the gods. Or if not that perhaps a powerful military organization with access to highly advanced technology and the backing of one of the most powerful nations of the world. You do understand what I am saying don't you?" Nabiki drawled out.
"There wasn't a barrier." Anito responded as if in explanation.
"Hey, he's right. The wizards put up that labyrinth thing and there wasn't one hanging around here so that can't be the case." Ranma added in.
Nabiki looked at Ranma hard. "Really, with the two of you that makes me feel so much safer. Instead we might... only... have to deal with a secret military force and perhaps a slightly different group of wizards." Sarcasm almost dripped from the girl's words.
"Hey, I was just trying to be helpful!" Ranma retorted irritated at the verbal flailing.
Anito raised an eyebrow himself. "Really Nabiki, I apologize. Next time I will be sure to pick up the Hitchhikers guide to the Multiverse before traveling the Aether. Or perhaps I will merely consult the abstract that they leave on sign posts so that us wondering travelers of worlds can find the exact reality we desire."
Nabiki looked at Anito irritated. Ranma could almost see the girl gritting her teeth. "I just want to be sure we have cataloged our potential problems."
"You need to relax more Nabiki. Take these things in stride. If worse comes to worse we can always look elsewhere." Anito said with a grin.
"Unlike you two, I generally prefer if the powerful and mystical are not looking at me through a pair of cross hairs. Even if running away is an option." Nabiki snapped.
"It is not a matter of want, Nabiki. It is a matter of adaptation. However I agree this situation calls for use to catalog the problems we have. Though the majority of them at this point consists mainly of the mundane. That being the distinct lack of a place to stay and other related resources."
Nabiki nodded her mind focusing again on more familiar things. "You are right. We undoubtedly have much more important things to worry about right now than possibilities out of our control. For one we don't even have a place to sleep, much less food or other comforts. Since from every indication this excursion is going to last quite some time all of this is a necessity. In addition we will need information and even legal papers making our presence reasonably legitimate."
Ranma watched Anito nod in agreement and then turned away from the conversation with a yawn. This kind of stuff really didn't interest the martial artist. Give him a fight and an ancient strange and all powerful enemy any day. The day to day stuff though was well beyond him.
Looking around for something of interest the pigtailed boy's eyes stopped upon a green haired women that gazed at the small group intensely. She was quite a while away, but even from here across a street and separated by nearly fifteen meters of land Ranma could feel her scrutiny, almost as if she was looking for something and thought that they just might be it. The effect made Ranma's danger sense tingle with slight warning.
Whatever it was the woman didn't find it as she abruptly turned away from the three instead moving on her path. The green haired woman though stopped in front of a Colonel Sanders statue placed in front of the American imported Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street. In what was obviously agitation the woman stopped and belted the statue's head clean off where it bounced several times barely avoiding going through a car's windshield before rolling to a stop only a meter from Ranma's feet. Ranma gazed at the statue's face thoughtfully before returning his eyes to the green haired woman only to find that she was gone.
"Odd." Anito said casually the conversation between Nabiki and himself interrupted by the plaster head that was now sitting innocently on the green grass.
"You can say that again. She's got quite an arm to hit it that far." Ranma added nodding to himself in appreciation of the swing. "I could do better of course."
"Great, it seems the two of you will feel right at home with all the super martial artists walking up and down the streets." Nabiki said dryly.
"Eh? Why wouldn't there be?" Ranma asked confused.
"Ranma, this is probably beyond the grasp of your limited understanding, but at least where we came from, people that can do that are not even supposed to exist." Nabiki explained.
"Hey, my understanding isn't limited!" Ranma retorted annoyed at Nabiki's continued insults.
Anito laughed a bit. "And yet he doesn't deny the latter. In any case Nabiki I would probably say that the same applies to most people here. With the exception of whoever that was I haven't felt any sources of ki, or magic for that matter, of significant strength. Not that I have really looked of course. Come to think of it this is rather surprising given the lack of a barrier. It makes me wonder how exactly these people defend themselves against the inevitable demonic incursions."
"Wonder all you like Anito, just make sure that your curiosity doesn't consist of us being attacked by them or whatever the defense system consist of. We just left one place because of that already and I for one have no desire to repeat our retreat multiple times." Nabiki countered. Nabiki then swirled and looked at Ranma hard. "That goes for you as well Ranma. You may be a walking chaos magnet, but you at least can attempt to maintain a low profile."
"Hey, your talking to a regular master of disguise here." Ranma returned proudly remembering all those times he fooled Ryouga.
Nabiki rolled her eyes at Ranma's reply. She could have made a retort to the pigtailed boy's presumptuous words, but decided doing so would just a waste of breath. Closing her eyes Nabiki calmed herself with a large breath. "Just try to avoid throwing around energy attacks, and leveling small buildings or for that matter doing anything that falls in the category inhuman or supernatural. I trust that the two of you are at least capable of managing that."
"Gotcha." Ranma replied.
Anito just let out an exaggerated sigh of reluctance. "That is acceptable, for now. However, if someone attacks me I won't hold back. No matter who it is."
Ranma nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if it comes to a fight I can't guarantee anything."
Nabiki gritted her teeth. "In that case the two of you are not fighting."
"Hey, If I don't spar someone at top form I'll lose my edge." Ranma shot back annoyed. Ranma's words caused Nabiki's eye to twitch in response.
"He has a point, we do plan on returning sometime and it would pay to have more fire power when we come back than when we left." Anito added thoughtfully.
"Is it that hard just to avoid attracting attention! What in all the hells is wrong with you two!" Nabiki exploded in annoyance her ribbons shimmering in a rather menacing display. "For god's sake, just avoid that shit in public!"
Ranma eyed the ribbons nervously. Yes, part of him exhilarated in the thought of challenging the power of the item, but at the same time he had personal experience with exactly how strong those things were. Not to mention how incredibly fast. Ranma would win of course, but he didn't think he could do it without taking Nabiki down hard. That of course was out of the question, not only because Nabiki was a girl, and a fairly weak one at that, but because Ranma had a firm feeling that Nabiki would find a way to get him back three fold. It just wasn't worth getting into a battle where the cycle of revenge resulted in escalating nastiness.
Anito though just grinned. Then again Ranma slightly felt the familiar folds of ki that signaled a prepared shadow step. "Now who is attracting attention?"
Nabiki calmed herself quickly returning to her normal icy self. The ribbons vanished almost immediately in response. Glaring at the arch-mage she spoke. "Okay Anito, you made your point. Now do you both agree to keep your heads low until we know what we might have to deal with."
"Of course." Anito replied smoothly his grin not having diminished in the least.
"Hey, didn't I already say I will?" Ranma retorted.
Nabiki ignored the pigtailed boy. "In that case we should return our attention to where it was. Now the three of us are going to need to take care of some things. The first of which is acquiring a place to stay. Now how much money do we all have."
"Nothing, my pack got lost remember." Ranma answered honestly.
"Yes, your pack and ten thousand of my yen." Nabiki returned annoyed.
"Eleven thousand, and it was my yen." Ranma replied stubbornly.
Nabiki let out a sigh and let it pass. Taking out her wallet she counted up the money. "I have 104,600 yen. That should last us a while. Keep in mind you are borrowing this money, I am not giving it to you. I am not a charity service. Now Anito how much do you have."
The wizard reached into his pockets. After a few moments of fishing around Anito pulled out and tossed a crate of grenades on the ground. Soon after came a slew of M16s that piled up in a nice high stack next to it. Still looking Anito dropped a pair of rocket launchers next to the assault rifles. Sifting around some more the arch-mage pulled out a box of manga and then a pillow. Finally with a slight widening of his grin Anito lifted out three 500 yen coins. "Ah, here."
Nabiki looked at the arch-mage incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me. You have what is probably 10 million or more yen worth of military equipment laying about, a PH.D. in physics, incredible and highly valuable talents and all you have is a measly 1,500 yen! And pick that all up before someone sees it."
"Well a couple of months ago I had upwards of 2 million yen, but I spent it all." Anito explained happily as he placed the array of materials back into his hidden weapon space.
"You spent 2 million yen in two months! What is wrong with you? And no don't answer that question its rhetorical." Nabiki said exasperated.
Anito shrugged. "I suppose I could sell a few guns and maybe a core or two. That should raise plenty of money."
Nabiki spoke in an icy tone while leveling her eyes at the arch-mage. "I am not the most moral of women, but that by far crosses the line. Don't even think about it." The last came precisely and forcefully.
Closing her eyes Nabiki took a breath and then slipped into her normal all business mode. "Now we have roughly 100,000 yen between the three of us. That should suffice for a few days, but no more than that. I don't think I need to point out that we will inevitably have to acquire more."
"I could work a part time job. I mean I have experience from Uchan's and the Neko Haten." Ranma offered slipping himself back into the conversation.
Nabiki shook her head. "You wouldn't earn hardly enough. Even an apartment is expensive, and every one of us would have to put in some serious hours just to pay the bills. I for one have no desire to do such a thing, further I have every intention of continuing my education despite what has come up and suggest you do the same. With school there will be precious little time for holding a full time position as well."
"We could knock over a bank." Anito add in thoughtfully. "A nice quick hit and we would be good."
"No way! I am not going to have anything to do with something like that." Ranma shot out firmly separating himself from that idea before anyone else could say anything else. Mentally Ranma half wondered if the wizard had been telling a joke, the smarter half said otherwise.
"What part of keep a low profile did you miss?" Nabiki said dryly.
"Just a thought." Anito said casually his hand waving off the criticism. As usual the wizard's grin was not diminished in the least.
Nabiki sighed. "Any other ideas? I haven't the time nor the contacts to set up my usual money gaining methods before we run out of cash. Nor do I have the references or the necessary documents to land us better jobs in such a short period of time."
"Hmm... ah ha! I wonder why I didn't think of it earlier. There is a single and perfect solution for our problem. Gambling Nabiki, gambling." Anito said with astounding self confidence.
"Anito, that is hardly a sound way of getting cash." Nabiki spoke tiredly.
"Nabiki my dear when gambling all is a matter of probability. In this case I will probably win because I have, how did you say it, incredible and highly valuable talents." Anito explained with a grin.
"Are you suggesting that we cheat?" Nabiki said her eyes narrowing with intensity. While Ranma's first thought was that Nabiki was glaring at the wizard he couldn't quite ascertain what exactly the mercenary girl was thinking.
"I don't think we should do anything illegal. Remember what happened when we raided that military base." Ranma added in leery of where Anito's mind seemed to be going.
The wizard ignored Ranma instead replying to Nabiki. "I wouldn't phrase it quite like that. I prefer to think of it as having the passive advantage of inordinate knowledge and the ability to effect luck via slight moderation of certain physical traits in such a way that just so happens to correspond with the desired outcome."
"As I said, cheating. Are you certain these methods are not detectable?" Nabiki continued her eyes borrowing icily into the wizard.
Anito didn't seem phased by the scrutiny. "Of course! Well some of them at least. I will take care not to use the others until making a thorough examination of the area."
"Hey! You guys aren't considering this are you? I am not going to get involved in something illegal again. You all know how it turned out last time." Ranma said putting in his opinion.
"Fine, I wouldn't want you gambling anyway. Anito and I will look into taking care of the monetary problem. You however, will have another responsibility. While we are gone I want you to scout out the area and look around for abnormal activities. That way we might know what will be in our neighborhood and what to watch out for." Nabiki said.
"No problem. I'll just walk around and see if I run into anything weird." Ranma replied.
"Keep in mind by abnormal... never mind it would be useless trying to explain it to you anyway." Nabiki cut herself off with yet another sigh.
Turning to the wizard Nabiki spoke up again. "Anito, I'll give you 50,000 yen. Keep in mind this is a loan. I expect to get half of whatever you earn. Think of this as interest, or my return for the investment. While you are gambling I will try to work the other guests at the casino to find out exactly how much like our world this one is."
"Umm couldn't you do that elsewhere?" Ranma asked.
Nabiki shifted her hard eyes onto the pigtailed boy. "Certainly, however since Anito will be gambling with my money, I intend to make sure that my investment will have maximum profitability. That and to insure that the wizard doesn't suddenly decide that simply robbing the casino would be faster and easier." As she spoke the last Nabiki borrowed her eyes into Anito again.
Anito just grinned back. "If such is the case I couldn't think of someone lovelier to keep me company."
"This is business Anito. Keep that in mind."
"Certainly."
"Okay then, when do we start or is there more?" Ranma asked.
"Now would be a good time. We will meet here again in the morning, understood."
"Gotcha." Ranma said in reply.
"In that case it is time for us to go. Now it shouldn't take too long to find a casino here in Tokyo." Nabiki said trying to figure out where exactly in the city they were.
Anito let out a hearty laugh. "Tokyo Nabiki? You have got to be kidding. Everyone knows when it comes to gambling there is only one place in the world to be, Vegas."
Reaching out an arm Anito nabbed Nabiki around the waist pulling her close. "See you tomorrow morning Ranma, the two of us have plenty of night hours to burn." With that the bands of light signaling a full teleportation unfolded and shortly swept the other two away.
Left all alone Ranma glanced around the city thoughtfully and then took off in a random direction. He may as well get started for all that it was worth. Taking to the roofs Ranma started his first cursory examination of this area of the city.
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Anito stared contemplatively at the cards he had in front of him. A jack and a three. That gave him a thirteen which is not exactly the best deal one could have in black jack. In fact it could be considered one of the worst given the probability of ending up in a bust from that situation. Shifting his attention to the person next to him Anito quickly evaluated what he had. It was a seven and a queen, seventeen. Again the wizard focused his attention this time to the deck. The next card was another three. Following that an eight and then a king. Finally, the dealer himself had an eight and a four, twelve.
As it was in all probability the person next to him would stand with his seventeen. Unfortunately that would leave Anito with only a three, bringing his total to sixteen. After that another hit would give him a eight to twenty-four, bust. If he didn't hit then the dealer would take the eight ending up with twenty-one.
Wacky grin not reduced at all by these dire situations Anito nudged the person next to him. "I would hit if I were you."
The man frowned at the wizard and then looked at the mournfully small stack of chips that sat in front of him. A stack that had been slowly shrinking all night. Then he looked instead at the large pile of chips in front of the wizard. Most of those chips earned in the last half hour. With a grunt the man said, "What the hell, hit me."
The man's eyes positively gleamed when he got the three pulling his total to twenty. He didn't even ask the wizard what to do next. Instead with his own grin he then declared. "I'll stand."
Anito didn't waste a moment. "Hit me as well." Picking up the eight the wizard now held a three, and eight, and a jack. Twenty-one in total. "I'll stand."
The dealer nodded and then added a card from the deck to his pile. The king though brought the dealer's total from twelve to twenty-two. With his bust everyone else at the table raked in the winnings. The dealer watched the arch-mage with obvious annoyance. "I see that you win again sir. Would you like to play another hand?"
"That won't be necessary, the two of us were just leaving, weren't we?" Nabiki said sliding in to scoop up the wizard.
Letting himself get dragged off for a while Anito complained quietly. "What is that about? I was going to get a black jack next round too."
"I think you have won enough here for now Anito. I don't want them getting too suspicious." Nabiki hissed back. "Now how much did you make?"
"Eh, about twenty thousand." Anito replied lazily.
"Thirty thousand? Do you mean yen or American?" Nabiki said not quite believing it could be the latter.
"American of course." Came Anito's reply.
"Twenty thousand! You turned five hundred dollars into twenty thousand dollars in an hour." Nabiki's eyes almost lit up like light bulbs.
"Yeah, I could make a lot more if you gave me a few more."
"I don't think so... not here at least. Come on we are going to another casino and give me half that cash. It will be our safety net."
Anito shrugged his grin still in place. "Sure whatever."
For Nabiki though it was looking like Vegas really was the place for the best night in town.
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Ranma sat down comfortably on a random roof. He had hopped his way through town until the sun had set. There wasn't much to see really. Everything was same old Tokyo as far as Ranma was concerned. Not that the pigtailed martial artist knew what to look for to tell what was different anyway. Ranma had never been one to pay attention to history, much less local history and even he could admit that his perception of the norm was probably strained from the usual.
Leaning back to relax all that he had sought to avoid hit him like a sledge hammer. The fight in the grayish void, if one could call such a thing a fight. Sure Ranma could say he had won. Had he not forced the demon into retreat? Had he not stopped its plans? Ranma though could not help but feel that somehow that was a battle in which all sides had lost. A battle that left each less than desired.
For Ranma it had left its reminder carved in his flesh. The taller heels, the stronger influence of the demon taint decorated his female side like battle scars. A reminder of the price paid to survive. Hidden deeper though were the memories, the fake and yet crystal clear image of what the demon had tried to twist him into. A shell, a doll that would gladly have accepted that creature's spirit into its flesh. Sickeningly the twisted mix of emotions that littered the memory like garbage left the pigtailed boy curious as to what it would have been like to have surrendered, and almost regretful that he did not. The thought made Ranma want to retch.
As much as this would twist his stomach for Ranma this was a small matter. His mind bore the scars of the influence of at least a dozen mind magics already. It held memories of actions taken under the influence of powers beyond his control. While perhaps not as deep, lasting or real these memories, these shadows he could ignore, destroy and crush. They were familiar foes as strange and odd this truth might seem to another.
No it is what he had willingly, what he had done clear of mind and conscious that haunted him like an inescapable ghost. A stiff reminder of a darkness Ranma had never thought existed in his soul until a few weeks ago when it had crept up on him like a thief in the night. A lust for vengeance, revenge a mind numbing desire to bring pain back to his enemies, to rip out their souls and crush them completely. It was this that he despised and feared. Worse still was the pure delight the rose like ecstasy through his body when he had done exactly that. It was disturbing and terrifying the thoughts and feelings that had coursed throughout the pigtailed boy in the moments prior to and after he had plunged his hand into the demon's chest and ripped its spiritual flesh into shreds.
It was alarming that a martial artist like him could want something like that. That someone with all the power, all the propensity for destruction that he held could enjoy such a thing. Not that Ranma regretted the action itself. He had only gone a bit further than was really necessary. Sure a disabling attack would have been a better choice, but the difference of the act was not so extreme. No it was the intention behind the action that scared him completely. The pigtailed boy had not acted to defend himself, but instead out a pure desire to destroy. A desire born of a terrible hate. A desire that Ranma could not in any situation let loose upon the world.
The opening of a window below him startled the pigtailed martial artist from his inner turmoil. A young girl's sigh slipped out into the night as Ranma unconsciously and almost instinctively felt out an aura that sang of its own darkness and despair. Coincidence? A twist of fate? There was though a bitter satisfaction in knowing that he alone did not face the black expanse that haunted the souls of man.
"Hello moon." The girl spoke her eyes gazing up at the silvery celestial object that hung in the dark sky above the glowing city. "Are you lonely up there? Are you lonely so high in the sky surrounded by only darkness? Are you lonely... like me?"
Ranma in a reverie of his own answered without a thought. "No the moon isn't lonely. Even though it is surrounded by darkness a thousands stars keep it company sending their light through even the greatest darkest gaps and emptiness."
"Who... who said that?" The girl said startled yet strangely curious as she searched for the source of the voice.
Ranma paused realizing he had spoken out loud. "Ah ha ha, sorry about that. I was just borrowing your roof for a bit. You don't mind do you?" Ranma flopped upside down over the edge hanging directly in front of the girl using his feet to hold onto the edge of the building with what could only be called expertise.
The girl hopped back a bit when Ranma dropped into view. Now though she looked on curiously, giggling a bit from the oddity of it all. Ranma noted that she was a couple of years younger than him. A kid. The girl shook her in a no and then asked. "Umm... is that safe?"
As if to emphasis the point one the shingles that the martial artist had put his weight on slide a bit. Ranma adjusted his foot quickly to prevent himself from falling down two stories and landing in a rather undignified lump. Adjusting himself and applying a little ki to stabilize his position the pigtailed boy let out another laugh. "Yeah, probably isn't... these roofs just aren't as well made as those back home."
"You can come in." The girl offered shyly the moonlight reflecting off her purple eyes as she gazed at the man hanging upside down in front of her window.
"Nahh." Ranma said rather quickly. Then to cut off further argument he flipped himself back up top. The last thing Ranma needed to do was go into some girl's room. That always caused trouble. "I'll be fine up here." Back resting on the roof Ranma returned his thoughts to the black sky and the stars the glowed even against power of the city lights.
"Eeeeep!" Ranma's moment of peace was cut in two a second time as the girl's voice rang out. A slight thud of rapid movement followed the sound of her voice.
Quickly and without a second thought Ranma leaned over the side again to see the girl trying to make her way up to the roof from her window. Unfortunately she didn't prove to be nearly as physically adept as the pigtailed boy and was now hanging rather precariously from her window sill. Ranma grabbed the girl's arm and then hoisted her up without the slightest of effort. To the pigtailed boy she may as well have been a cup of water for all the difficulty he had. Then he put her down unceremoniously on the roof maintaining his hold just long enough to ensure she wasn't going to fall again.
The girl sat for a while quietly and then she turned her gaze up towards his face her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry... I didn't mean to do something stupid like that. It's just that... you made it look so easy and I didn't want to stop talking yet."
"Nah don't worry about it." Ranma waved it off in his normal way. Truthfully the pigtailed boy had already put the incident out of mind in favor of staring back at the sky as he was want to do. "You can't really see them." He said thoughtfully after a few more moments.
"Can't see what?" The girl asked laying back on the roof next to the pigtailed boy to look at the sky that seemed to capture her companion's attention beyond all other things.
"The stars. I mean... here in the city you can't really see them." Ranma tried to explain. "Its kind of disappointing really. I have had a lot of times where I have been far enough away from the city to really see the stars. There is nothing quite like it."
Silence stood for a while until finally the purple haired girl broke it with her own words. "I wonder if I have hidden stars too." She said with a sigh.
"Huh?" Ranma asked questioningly.
"Hidden stars... you said that the moon has the stars as companions. I was thinking that maybe I have stars that I can't see just like the moon."
"Oh..." Ranma said thinking about it. "Err... I don't know... stars are kind of a sky thing. You need something more down to earth that glows. Like... I don't know, fireflies or something."
The girl let out a giggle at Ranma's words. "If that's the case perhaps I am the one that needs a moon."
"Eh?"
"Nothing." The girl said turning away her cheeks red again. She sat a while looking at the sky before saying. "Thank you."
"What for?" Ranma asked confused.
"For talking."
Ranma shrugged. "Nah, don't worry about it."
Conversation died there leaving only two people staring up into the darkness. Truthfully talking to someone really helped Ranma take his mind off of things again. Besides the talk of stars gave Ranma a strange sort of hope. In its own way he could see himself up there like those stars. A point of light burning against the darkness. And if the stars could win their war and send their light so far that it reached him even here, then there could be no doubt that Ranma could do the same.
Stilling his thoughts Ranma glanced again at the young girl that had followed him up to the roof. Strangely she had drifted into sleep while he lost himself in his thoughts. Carefully the pigtailed boy lifted her up and carried her back to her room depositing the her lightly on her bed. Pausing only for a moment Ranma left to the roof returning to his previous position where he watched the night sky a while longer before drifting off into sleep himself.
----------------------------
Nabiki lifted a glass of golden liquid haphazardly to her lips. Downing the fiery substance the mercenary girl emptied the glass of the concoction at a break neck pace. Really she didn't quite like the flavor in the least, it was foul in her mouth. Nabiki though was already long past the point of caring. Finishing the glass she set it down on the table and looked across at her companion.
Anito watched Nabiki with his eyes dancing in amusement. He finished his own drink quickly placing it down to match the cold hearted girl. Not that Nabiki was in anyway cold hearted at the moment, instead she was laughing, gleeful and without a doubt dead drunk. This could be said of the wizard as well. Though in Anito's case only the last was sufficient different than the norm.
Nabiki let out a laugh and looked the wizard in the eye slyly. "Tell me how much did we make again."
Anito fumbled his fingers slowly as he mentally counted. "Uh, ten million... right?" He didn't sound so sure, that might have been because he was only holding up seven fingers.
Nabiki nodded with more motion than necessary. "That's right ten million. Ten million! Ten million!!!" With the last Nabiki stood up hoisting her empty drink into the air. Looking at the empty glass Nabiki declared loudly. "Bar tender another drink."
"Sorry, but the two of you are most definitely at your limit." The bar tender replied.
Anito stood swaying slightly. "Are you sure?" Anito said leaning threateningly close to the man that dared to cut off his drinks. Light flickered in the wizards hand in a sputtering spark. Pausing the very drunk arch-mage frowned staring down at the lightning blast the refused to form correctly.
"Don't worry, I think he might be right. I seem to be a bit drunk." Nabiki said laughing nonsensically as she stumbled over to the wizard. Fishing in her pockets she dropped a small wad of bills that probably added up to more than a thousand dollars on the table. Leaning against Anito as a support Nabiki spoke up again. "Come on, we still have a whole town to hit."
"I suppose you are right." The wizard slurred out as the two stumbled their way out of the bar. Walking for a while longer the arch-mage suddenly stopped looking around disoriented. "Say where are we going?"
"I don't know, I thought you were choosing directions?" Nabiki made out slowly her eyes looking at things blearily.
Anito blinked several times as though pondering this fact and then decided that it must be so. "Well in that case, lets go there." The wizard said pointing out the randomly chosen destination.
Nabiki focused her eyes slowly on the sign and then let out a laugh. "Sound like fun."
Entering into the world was much easier and simpler than Ranma-chan had imagined. When the three had left their own world the effort had been accompanied by blazing lights, incredibly magic, sophisticated casting, a giant lifting force and massive portal. Here things were much simpler. This time it was more like slipping through a door way. One moment she resided in the Aether surrounded by the dancing cosmos, and the next as with a gentle pull the Aether faded from existence and this new place sprang into clarity in response. As opposed as these experiences might be, there was one similarity between the modes of travel. In both Ranma-chan felt a hanging sense of weightlessness as she traveled the path. Here though this sense was much shorter lived leaving only seconds before gravity slowly reasserted itself upon her.
The three landed softly on hard concrete pavement. Ranma-chan shifted uncomfortably as she stood again on the extra inch of heel. It was not so much the balance as the reminder. To testify to this fact a grimace decorated the pigtailed girl's face. Squaring herself mentally Ranma-chan once again cast aside such thoughts. She had other things to deal with right now, and besides this kind of thing didn't solve itself just be thinking about it. Instead Ranma-chan shifted her gaze about taking in their new location.
The landing point was simple. All three stood upon a concrete sidewalk that was surrounded by lush green grass. Trees graced the walking path and near the center of what Ranma-chan named as a park was fountain. To the other side was a street and more familiar stores. Ranma-chan though focused on the fountain. The significance of water was not lost upon the pigtailed girl.
"Uh, I'll be right over there for a moment." Ranma-chan said breaking the silence. While pointing at her chosen destination.
Anito grinned laughing slightly under his breath. "First priority is it?"
"Yeah, something like that." The pigtailed girl said absently scratching her head.
"By all means." Anito spoke with a relaxed wave indicating his acceptance of the proposal.
Ranma-chan wasted no more time making a quick dash over to the fountain. The girl then plunged both hands into the water. The liquid was cool against Ranma-chan's skin. A fact that would need to be fixed. Luckily the pigtailed girl had tools and capabilities at her disposal to help remedy a situation just like this.
Scooping up some water Ranma-chan called upon the orange fire that rested in her bracers. The ravenous flames expanded from their confines blazing up around the pigtailed girl's arms. Caught in the orange light the water responded violently to the touch as its molecules were agitated by resonance. Temperature rising the water bubbled almost instantly. Large puffs of steam broke out of the liquids surface carrying a searing heat.
Startled by the quickness of it Ranma-chan didn't react before the water had all vanished from her hands rising as newly formed vapor. All in all it was certainly a strange experience feeling boiling and bubbling of searing hot water in your hands without feeling the slightest touch of heat. Again Ranma-chan found herself admiring the fact that Anito hadn't forgotten to protect the bracer's user from the simple after affects of using the object's own power.
Curious as the situation was it only took the pigtailed girl so far. Instead of wasting more time experimenting with this novel situation Ranma-chan thrust her hands into the water once again scooping up a second double handful. Not giving it more than a second to heat Ranma-chan tossed the liquid onto her face and immediately regretted it.
"Hot hot hot!" Ranma yelped dancing around slightly in a vain attempt to escape the heat.
"You can control and focus the resonance effect you know... or did I forget to mention that?" Anito supplied helpfully.
Ranma would have provided the wizard with a nice angry glare or perhaps even the much more potent and telling fist in the face for the wizard's efforts, however Ranma had something rather pressing to deal with. That being a certain pair of lacy underclothes that were currently squeezing around Ranma's larger masculine frame in a manner that could hardly be called in any situation elegant. Shifting from side to side uncomfortably the pigtailed boy looked at the other two slightly embarrassed, but still managing to afford Anito a slightly harder look. "I uh, will be behind that tree for just a moment."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow a light smirk decorating her face at the plight of her companion. "Did you forget about something Ranma?" Mentally the mercenary girl added notch to the theory that Ranma-chan had indeed been wearing a set of feminine undergarments.
Face flushed Ranma dived behind a tree at top speed. His movements though lost their normal grace by the effort of garments that crushed parts of the pigtailed boy's body that were not meant to be crushed. Safely out of eye sight Ranma wasted not a moment in freeing himself of the rather embarrassing predicament. Pushing his art to obscene speeds the pigtailed boy quickly improvised a new technique. Mentally Ranma dubbed it the Saotome Secret Art of Rapid Clothes Replacement. Absently the pigtailed boy noted that his technique was a far cry from whatever it was that his father implemented to avoid those rather embarrassing scenes that could result the moment after having an encounter with hot water.
Ranma let out a sigh of relief the moment the pink garments were safely in hand. It was unfortunate that he didn't have another pair of boxers, but even having nothing underneath beat wearing something like what he was holding in his hands right now. Further, Ranma had no desire to spend anymore time in female form where the undergarments would at least fit correctly. Instead the pigtailed boy held up the lacy, pink lingerie and let out a snort of distaste. "Stupid demon, pink isn't my color."
With a casual gesture the pigtailed boy vaporized the clothes with a quick pulse of ki. That taken care of and finally back in male form Ranma stretched out trotting toward the others with a sigh of contentment. Glancing at Nabiki and Anito, Ranma realized that the two were eyeing him with some amusement. "What?" Ranma growled dangerously.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Is there something in specific I should have been looking for Ranma?"
"Ha ha ha, nothing, nothing at all." Ranma sputtered out shifting uncomfortably under Nabiki's gaze. Somehow though the girl's smile and aura was leading Ranma to believe that he had just answered Nabiki's question despite having avoided the question entirely.
Thankfully Nabiki decided not to press the matter. Instead the cold hearted girl turned her eyes to the skyline looking at the city that surrounded the small park. She settled her gaze directly at the most prominent of the tall buildings that surrounded the three and the small park. Tokyo Tower, the mere mention of the tower that distinguished itself so wholly that it could not be missed even in the daylight was sufficient to see what it was that was bugging the cold hearted girl. "You know Anito, when you said another world I was expecting something a little more..., how should I say it, otherworldly. Instead I find that the alien vegetation is startlingly familiar."
Anito grinned in response. "I did say that the optimal world would be a much like our own as reasonably possible."
"I take it that as much like out world as possible does not include something like say, the equivalency of us three. Much less such a equivalent group being chased by an ancient mystical organization of wizards with access to powers and tools great enough to scare the gods. Or if not that perhaps a powerful military organization with access to highly advanced technology and the backing of one of the most powerful nations of the world. You do understand what I am saying don't you?" Nabiki drawled out.
"There wasn't a barrier." Anito responded as if in explanation.
"Hey, he's right. The wizards put up that labyrinth thing and there wasn't one hanging around here so that can't be the case." Ranma added in.
Nabiki looked at Ranma hard. "Really, with the two of you that makes me feel so much safer. Instead we might... only... have to deal with a secret military force and perhaps a slightly different group of wizards." Sarcasm almost dripped from the girl's words.
"Hey, I was just trying to be helpful!" Ranma retorted irritated at the verbal flailing.
Anito raised an eyebrow himself. "Really Nabiki, I apologize. Next time I will be sure to pick up the Hitchhikers guide to the Multiverse before traveling the Aether. Or perhaps I will merely consult the abstract that they leave on sign posts so that us wondering travelers of worlds can find the exact reality we desire."
Nabiki looked at Anito irritated. Ranma could almost see the girl gritting her teeth. "I just want to be sure we have cataloged our potential problems."
"You need to relax more Nabiki. Take these things in stride. If worse comes to worse we can always look elsewhere." Anito said with a grin.
"Unlike you two, I generally prefer if the powerful and mystical are not looking at me through a pair of cross hairs. Even if running away is an option." Nabiki snapped.
"It is not a matter of want, Nabiki. It is a matter of adaptation. However I agree this situation calls for use to catalog the problems we have. Though the majority of them at this point consists mainly of the mundane. That being the distinct lack of a place to stay and other related resources."
Nabiki nodded her mind focusing again on more familiar things. "You are right. We undoubtedly have much more important things to worry about right now than possibilities out of our control. For one we don't even have a place to sleep, much less food or other comforts. Since from every indication this excursion is going to last quite some time all of this is a necessity. In addition we will need information and even legal papers making our presence reasonably legitimate."
Ranma watched Anito nod in agreement and then turned away from the conversation with a yawn. This kind of stuff really didn't interest the martial artist. Give him a fight and an ancient strange and all powerful enemy any day. The day to day stuff though was well beyond him.
Looking around for something of interest the pigtailed boy's eyes stopped upon a green haired women that gazed at the small group intensely. She was quite a while away, but even from here across a street and separated by nearly fifteen meters of land Ranma could feel her scrutiny, almost as if she was looking for something and thought that they just might be it. The effect made Ranma's danger sense tingle with slight warning.
Whatever it was the woman didn't find it as she abruptly turned away from the three instead moving on her path. The green haired woman though stopped in front of a Colonel Sanders statue placed in front of the American imported Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street. In what was obviously agitation the woman stopped and belted the statue's head clean off where it bounced several times barely avoiding going through a car's windshield before rolling to a stop only a meter from Ranma's feet. Ranma gazed at the statue's face thoughtfully before returning his eyes to the green haired woman only to find that she was gone.
"Odd." Anito said casually the conversation between Nabiki and himself interrupted by the plaster head that was now sitting innocently on the green grass.
"You can say that again. She's got quite an arm to hit it that far." Ranma added nodding to himself in appreciation of the swing. "I could do better of course."
"Great, it seems the two of you will feel right at home with all the super martial artists walking up and down the streets." Nabiki said dryly.
"Eh? Why wouldn't there be?" Ranma asked confused.
"Ranma, this is probably beyond the grasp of your limited understanding, but at least where we came from, people that can do that are not even supposed to exist." Nabiki explained.
"Hey, my understanding isn't limited!" Ranma retorted annoyed at Nabiki's continued insults.
Anito laughed a bit. "And yet he doesn't deny the latter. In any case Nabiki I would probably say that the same applies to most people here. With the exception of whoever that was I haven't felt any sources of ki, or magic for that matter, of significant strength. Not that I have really looked of course. Come to think of it this is rather surprising given the lack of a barrier. It makes me wonder how exactly these people defend themselves against the inevitable demonic incursions."
"Wonder all you like Anito, just make sure that your curiosity doesn't consist of us being attacked by them or whatever the defense system consist of. We just left one place because of that already and I for one have no desire to repeat our retreat multiple times." Nabiki countered. Nabiki then swirled and looked at Ranma hard. "That goes for you as well Ranma. You may be a walking chaos magnet, but you at least can attempt to maintain a low profile."
"Hey, your talking to a regular master of disguise here." Ranma returned proudly remembering all those times he fooled Ryouga.
Nabiki rolled her eyes at Ranma's reply. She could have made a retort to the pigtailed boy's presumptuous words, but decided doing so would just a waste of breath. Closing her eyes Nabiki calmed herself with a large breath. "Just try to avoid throwing around energy attacks, and leveling small buildings or for that matter doing anything that falls in the category inhuman or supernatural. I trust that the two of you are at least capable of managing that."
"Gotcha." Ranma replied.
Anito just let out an exaggerated sigh of reluctance. "That is acceptable, for now. However, if someone attacks me I won't hold back. No matter who it is."
Ranma nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if it comes to a fight I can't guarantee anything."
Nabiki gritted her teeth. "In that case the two of you are not fighting."
"Hey, If I don't spar someone at top form I'll lose my edge." Ranma shot back annoyed. Ranma's words caused Nabiki's eye to twitch in response.
"He has a point, we do plan on returning sometime and it would pay to have more fire power when we come back than when we left." Anito added thoughtfully.
"Is it that hard just to avoid attracting attention! What in all the hells is wrong with you two!" Nabiki exploded in annoyance her ribbons shimmering in a rather menacing display. "For god's sake, just avoid that shit in public!"
Ranma eyed the ribbons nervously. Yes, part of him exhilarated in the thought of challenging the power of the item, but at the same time he had personal experience with exactly how strong those things were. Not to mention how incredibly fast. Ranma would win of course, but he didn't think he could do it without taking Nabiki down hard. That of course was out of the question, not only because Nabiki was a girl, and a fairly weak one at that, but because Ranma had a firm feeling that Nabiki would find a way to get him back three fold. It just wasn't worth getting into a battle where the cycle of revenge resulted in escalating nastiness.
Anito though just grinned. Then again Ranma slightly felt the familiar folds of ki that signaled a prepared shadow step. "Now who is attracting attention?"
Nabiki calmed herself quickly returning to her normal icy self. The ribbons vanished almost immediately in response. Glaring at the arch-mage she spoke. "Okay Anito, you made your point. Now do you both agree to keep your heads low until we know what we might have to deal with."
"Of course." Anito replied smoothly his grin not having diminished in the least.
"Hey, didn't I already say I will?" Ranma retorted.
Nabiki ignored the pigtailed boy. "In that case we should return our attention to where it was. Now the three of us are going to need to take care of some things. The first of which is acquiring a place to stay. Now how much money do we all have."
"Nothing, my pack got lost remember." Ranma answered honestly.
"Yes, your pack and ten thousand of my yen." Nabiki returned annoyed.
"Eleven thousand, and it was my yen." Ranma replied stubbornly.
Nabiki let out a sigh and let it pass. Taking out her wallet she counted up the money. "I have 104,600 yen. That should last us a while. Keep in mind you are borrowing this money, I am not giving it to you. I am not a charity service. Now Anito how much do you have."
The wizard reached into his pockets. After a few moments of fishing around Anito pulled out and tossed a crate of grenades on the ground. Soon after came a slew of M16s that piled up in a nice high stack next to it. Still looking Anito dropped a pair of rocket launchers next to the assault rifles. Sifting around some more the arch-mage pulled out a box of manga and then a pillow. Finally with a slight widening of his grin Anito lifted out three 500 yen coins. "Ah, here."
Nabiki looked at the arch-mage incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me. You have what is probably 10 million or more yen worth of military equipment laying about, a PH.D. in physics, incredible and highly valuable talents and all you have is a measly 1,500 yen! And pick that all up before someone sees it."
"Well a couple of months ago I had upwards of 2 million yen, but I spent it all." Anito explained happily as he placed the array of materials back into his hidden weapon space.
"You spent 2 million yen in two months! What is wrong with you? And no don't answer that question its rhetorical." Nabiki said exasperated.
Anito shrugged. "I suppose I could sell a few guns and maybe a core or two. That should raise plenty of money."
Nabiki spoke in an icy tone while leveling her eyes at the arch-mage. "I am not the most moral of women, but that by far crosses the line. Don't even think about it." The last came precisely and forcefully.
Closing her eyes Nabiki took a breath and then slipped into her normal all business mode. "Now we have roughly 100,000 yen between the three of us. That should suffice for a few days, but no more than that. I don't think I need to point out that we will inevitably have to acquire more."
"I could work a part time job. I mean I have experience from Uchan's and the Neko Haten." Ranma offered slipping himself back into the conversation.
Nabiki shook her head. "You wouldn't earn hardly enough. Even an apartment is expensive, and every one of us would have to put in some serious hours just to pay the bills. I for one have no desire to do such a thing, further I have every intention of continuing my education despite what has come up and suggest you do the same. With school there will be precious little time for holding a full time position as well."
"We could knock over a bank." Anito add in thoughtfully. "A nice quick hit and we would be good."
"No way! I am not going to have anything to do with something like that." Ranma shot out firmly separating himself from that idea before anyone else could say anything else. Mentally Ranma half wondered if the wizard had been telling a joke, the smarter half said otherwise.
"What part of keep a low profile did you miss?" Nabiki said dryly.
"Just a thought." Anito said casually his hand waving off the criticism. As usual the wizard's grin was not diminished in the least.
Nabiki sighed. "Any other ideas? I haven't the time nor the contacts to set up my usual money gaining methods before we run out of cash. Nor do I have the references or the necessary documents to land us better jobs in such a short period of time."
"Hmm... ah ha! I wonder why I didn't think of it earlier. There is a single and perfect solution for our problem. Gambling Nabiki, gambling." Anito said with astounding self confidence.
"Anito, that is hardly a sound way of getting cash." Nabiki spoke tiredly.
"Nabiki my dear when gambling all is a matter of probability. In this case I will probably win because I have, how did you say it, incredible and highly valuable talents." Anito explained with a grin.
"Are you suggesting that we cheat?" Nabiki said her eyes narrowing with intensity. While Ranma's first thought was that Nabiki was glaring at the wizard he couldn't quite ascertain what exactly the mercenary girl was thinking.
"I don't think we should do anything illegal. Remember what happened when we raided that military base." Ranma added in leery of where Anito's mind seemed to be going.
The wizard ignored Ranma instead replying to Nabiki. "I wouldn't phrase it quite like that. I prefer to think of it as having the passive advantage of inordinate knowledge and the ability to effect luck via slight moderation of certain physical traits in such a way that just so happens to correspond with the desired outcome."
"As I said, cheating. Are you certain these methods are not detectable?" Nabiki continued her eyes borrowing icily into the wizard.
Anito didn't seem phased by the scrutiny. "Of course! Well some of them at least. I will take care not to use the others until making a thorough examination of the area."
"Hey! You guys aren't considering this are you? I am not going to get involved in something illegal again. You all know how it turned out last time." Ranma said putting in his opinion.
"Fine, I wouldn't want you gambling anyway. Anito and I will look into taking care of the monetary problem. You however, will have another responsibility. While we are gone I want you to scout out the area and look around for abnormal activities. That way we might know what will be in our neighborhood and what to watch out for." Nabiki said.
"No problem. I'll just walk around and see if I run into anything weird." Ranma replied.
"Keep in mind by abnormal... never mind it would be useless trying to explain it to you anyway." Nabiki cut herself off with yet another sigh.
Turning to the wizard Nabiki spoke up again. "Anito, I'll give you 50,000 yen. Keep in mind this is a loan. I expect to get half of whatever you earn. Think of this as interest, or my return for the investment. While you are gambling I will try to work the other guests at the casino to find out exactly how much like our world this one is."
"Umm couldn't you do that elsewhere?" Ranma asked.
Nabiki shifted her hard eyes onto the pigtailed boy. "Certainly, however since Anito will be gambling with my money, I intend to make sure that my investment will have maximum profitability. That and to insure that the wizard doesn't suddenly decide that simply robbing the casino would be faster and easier." As she spoke the last Nabiki borrowed her eyes into Anito again.
Anito just grinned back. "If such is the case I couldn't think of someone lovelier to keep me company."
"This is business Anito. Keep that in mind."
"Certainly."
"Okay then, when do we start or is there more?" Ranma asked.
"Now would be a good time. We will meet here again in the morning, understood."
"Gotcha." Ranma said in reply.
"In that case it is time for us to go. Now it shouldn't take too long to find a casino here in Tokyo." Nabiki said trying to figure out where exactly in the city they were.
Anito let out a hearty laugh. "Tokyo Nabiki? You have got to be kidding. Everyone knows when it comes to gambling there is only one place in the world to be, Vegas."
Reaching out an arm Anito nabbed Nabiki around the waist pulling her close. "See you tomorrow morning Ranma, the two of us have plenty of night hours to burn." With that the bands of light signaling a full teleportation unfolded and shortly swept the other two away.
Left all alone Ranma glanced around the city thoughtfully and then took off in a random direction. He may as well get started for all that it was worth. Taking to the roofs Ranma started his first cursory examination of this area of the city.
----------------------------
Anito stared contemplatively at the cards he had in front of him. A jack and a three. That gave him a thirteen which is not exactly the best deal one could have in black jack. In fact it could be considered one of the worst given the probability of ending up in a bust from that situation. Shifting his attention to the person next to him Anito quickly evaluated what he had. It was a seven and a queen, seventeen. Again the wizard focused his attention this time to the deck. The next card was another three. Following that an eight and then a king. Finally, the dealer himself had an eight and a four, twelve.
As it was in all probability the person next to him would stand with his seventeen. Unfortunately that would leave Anito with only a three, bringing his total to sixteen. After that another hit would give him a eight to twenty-four, bust. If he didn't hit then the dealer would take the eight ending up with twenty-one.
Wacky grin not reduced at all by these dire situations Anito nudged the person next to him. "I would hit if I were you."
The man frowned at the wizard and then looked at the mournfully small stack of chips that sat in front of him. A stack that had been slowly shrinking all night. Then he looked instead at the large pile of chips in front of the wizard. Most of those chips earned in the last half hour. With a grunt the man said, "What the hell, hit me."
The man's eyes positively gleamed when he got the three pulling his total to twenty. He didn't even ask the wizard what to do next. Instead with his own grin he then declared. "I'll stand."
Anito didn't waste a moment. "Hit me as well." Picking up the eight the wizard now held a three, and eight, and a jack. Twenty-one in total. "I'll stand."
The dealer nodded and then added a card from the deck to his pile. The king though brought the dealer's total from twelve to twenty-two. With his bust everyone else at the table raked in the winnings. The dealer watched the arch-mage with obvious annoyance. "I see that you win again sir. Would you like to play another hand?"
"That won't be necessary, the two of us were just leaving, weren't we?" Nabiki said sliding in to scoop up the wizard.
Letting himself get dragged off for a while Anito complained quietly. "What is that about? I was going to get a black jack next round too."
"I think you have won enough here for now Anito. I don't want them getting too suspicious." Nabiki hissed back. "Now how much did you make?"
"Eh, about twenty thousand." Anito replied lazily.
"Thirty thousand? Do you mean yen or American?" Nabiki said not quite believing it could be the latter.
"American of course." Came Anito's reply.
"Twenty thousand! You turned five hundred dollars into twenty thousand dollars in an hour." Nabiki's eyes almost lit up like light bulbs.
"Yeah, I could make a lot more if you gave me a few more."
"I don't think so... not here at least. Come on we are going to another casino and give me half that cash. It will be our safety net."
Anito shrugged his grin still in place. "Sure whatever."
For Nabiki though it was looking like Vegas really was the place for the best night in town.
----------------------------
Ranma sat down comfortably on a random roof. He had hopped his way through town until the sun had set. There wasn't much to see really. Everything was same old Tokyo as far as Ranma was concerned. Not that the pigtailed martial artist knew what to look for to tell what was different anyway. Ranma had never been one to pay attention to history, much less local history and even he could admit that his perception of the norm was probably strained from the usual.
Leaning back to relax all that he had sought to avoid hit him like a sledge hammer. The fight in the grayish void, if one could call such a thing a fight. Sure Ranma could say he had won. Had he not forced the demon into retreat? Had he not stopped its plans? Ranma though could not help but feel that somehow that was a battle in which all sides had lost. A battle that left each less than desired.
For Ranma it had left its reminder carved in his flesh. The taller heels, the stronger influence of the demon taint decorated his female side like battle scars. A reminder of the price paid to survive. Hidden deeper though were the memories, the fake and yet crystal clear image of what the demon had tried to twist him into. A shell, a doll that would gladly have accepted that creature's spirit into its flesh. Sickeningly the twisted mix of emotions that littered the memory like garbage left the pigtailed boy curious as to what it would have been like to have surrendered, and almost regretful that he did not. The thought made Ranma want to retch.
As much as this would twist his stomach for Ranma this was a small matter. His mind bore the scars of the influence of at least a dozen mind magics already. It held memories of actions taken under the influence of powers beyond his control. While perhaps not as deep, lasting or real these memories, these shadows he could ignore, destroy and crush. They were familiar foes as strange and odd this truth might seem to another.
No it is what he had willingly, what he had done clear of mind and conscious that haunted him like an inescapable ghost. A stiff reminder of a darkness Ranma had never thought existed in his soul until a few weeks ago when it had crept up on him like a thief in the night. A lust for vengeance, revenge a mind numbing desire to bring pain back to his enemies, to rip out their souls and crush them completely. It was this that he despised and feared. Worse still was the pure delight the rose like ecstasy through his body when he had done exactly that. It was disturbing and terrifying the thoughts and feelings that had coursed throughout the pigtailed boy in the moments prior to and after he had plunged his hand into the demon's chest and ripped its spiritual flesh into shreds.
It was alarming that a martial artist like him could want something like that. That someone with all the power, all the propensity for destruction that he held could enjoy such a thing. Not that Ranma regretted the action itself. He had only gone a bit further than was really necessary. Sure a disabling attack would have been a better choice, but the difference of the act was not so extreme. No it was the intention behind the action that scared him completely. The pigtailed boy had not acted to defend himself, but instead out a pure desire to destroy. A desire born of a terrible hate. A desire that Ranma could not in any situation let loose upon the world.
The opening of a window below him startled the pigtailed martial artist from his inner turmoil. A young girl's sigh slipped out into the night as Ranma unconsciously and almost instinctively felt out an aura that sang of its own darkness and despair. Coincidence? A twist of fate? There was though a bitter satisfaction in knowing that he alone did not face the black expanse that haunted the souls of man.
"Hello moon." The girl spoke her eyes gazing up at the silvery celestial object that hung in the dark sky above the glowing city. "Are you lonely up there? Are you lonely so high in the sky surrounded by only darkness? Are you lonely... like me?"
Ranma in a reverie of his own answered without a thought. "No the moon isn't lonely. Even though it is surrounded by darkness a thousands stars keep it company sending their light through even the greatest darkest gaps and emptiness."
"Who... who said that?" The girl said startled yet strangely curious as she searched for the source of the voice.
Ranma paused realizing he had spoken out loud. "Ah ha ha, sorry about that. I was just borrowing your roof for a bit. You don't mind do you?" Ranma flopped upside down over the edge hanging directly in front of the girl using his feet to hold onto the edge of the building with what could only be called expertise.
The girl hopped back a bit when Ranma dropped into view. Now though she looked on curiously, giggling a bit from the oddity of it all. Ranma noted that she was a couple of years younger than him. A kid. The girl shook her in a no and then asked. "Umm... is that safe?"
As if to emphasis the point one the shingles that the martial artist had put his weight on slide a bit. Ranma adjusted his foot quickly to prevent himself from falling down two stories and landing in a rather undignified lump. Adjusting himself and applying a little ki to stabilize his position the pigtailed boy let out another laugh. "Yeah, probably isn't... these roofs just aren't as well made as those back home."
"You can come in." The girl offered shyly the moonlight reflecting off her purple eyes as she gazed at the man hanging upside down in front of her window.
"Nahh." Ranma said rather quickly. Then to cut off further argument he flipped himself back up top. The last thing Ranma needed to do was go into some girl's room. That always caused trouble. "I'll be fine up here." Back resting on the roof Ranma returned his thoughts to the black sky and the stars the glowed even against power of the city lights.
"Eeeeep!" Ranma's moment of peace was cut in two a second time as the girl's voice rang out. A slight thud of rapid movement followed the sound of her voice.
Quickly and without a second thought Ranma leaned over the side again to see the girl trying to make her way up to the roof from her window. Unfortunately she didn't prove to be nearly as physically adept as the pigtailed boy and was now hanging rather precariously from her window sill. Ranma grabbed the girl's arm and then hoisted her up without the slightest of effort. To the pigtailed boy she may as well have been a cup of water for all the difficulty he had. Then he put her down unceremoniously on the roof maintaining his hold just long enough to ensure she wasn't going to fall again.
The girl sat for a while quietly and then she turned her gaze up towards his face her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry... I didn't mean to do something stupid like that. It's just that... you made it look so easy and I didn't want to stop talking yet."
"Nah don't worry about it." Ranma waved it off in his normal way. Truthfully the pigtailed boy had already put the incident out of mind in favor of staring back at the sky as he was want to do. "You can't really see them." He said thoughtfully after a few more moments.
"Can't see what?" The girl asked laying back on the roof next to the pigtailed boy to look at the sky that seemed to capture her companion's attention beyond all other things.
"The stars. I mean... here in the city you can't really see them." Ranma tried to explain. "Its kind of disappointing really. I have had a lot of times where I have been far enough away from the city to really see the stars. There is nothing quite like it."
Silence stood for a while until finally the purple haired girl broke it with her own words. "I wonder if I have hidden stars too." She said with a sigh.
"Huh?" Ranma asked questioningly.
"Hidden stars... you said that the moon has the stars as companions. I was thinking that maybe I have stars that I can't see just like the moon."
"Oh..." Ranma said thinking about it. "Err... I don't know... stars are kind of a sky thing. You need something more down to earth that glows. Like... I don't know, fireflies or something."
The girl let out a giggle at Ranma's words. "If that's the case perhaps I am the one that needs a moon."
"Eh?"
"Nothing." The girl said turning away her cheeks red again. She sat a while looking at the sky before saying. "Thank you."
"What for?" Ranma asked confused.
"For talking."
Ranma shrugged. "Nah, don't worry about it."
Conversation died there leaving only two people staring up into the darkness. Truthfully talking to someone really helped Ranma take his mind off of things again. Besides the talk of stars gave Ranma a strange sort of hope. In its own way he could see himself up there like those stars. A point of light burning against the darkness. And if the stars could win their war and send their light so far that it reached him even here, then there could be no doubt that Ranma could do the same.
Stilling his thoughts Ranma glanced again at the young girl that had followed him up to the roof. Strangely she had drifted into sleep while he lost himself in his thoughts. Carefully the pigtailed boy lifted her up and carried her back to her room depositing the her lightly on her bed. Pausing only for a moment Ranma left to the roof returning to his previous position where he watched the night sky a while longer before drifting off into sleep himself.
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Nabiki lifted a glass of golden liquid haphazardly to her lips. Downing the fiery substance the mercenary girl emptied the glass of the concoction at a break neck pace. Really she didn't quite like the flavor in the least, it was foul in her mouth. Nabiki though was already long past the point of caring. Finishing the glass she set it down on the table and looked across at her companion.
Anito watched Nabiki with his eyes dancing in amusement. He finished his own drink quickly placing it down to match the cold hearted girl. Not that Nabiki was in anyway cold hearted at the moment, instead she was laughing, gleeful and without a doubt dead drunk. This could be said of the wizard as well. Though in Anito's case only the last was sufficient different than the norm.
Nabiki let out a laugh and looked the wizard in the eye slyly. "Tell me how much did we make again."
Anito fumbled his fingers slowly as he mentally counted. "Uh, ten million... right?" He didn't sound so sure, that might have been because he was only holding up seven fingers.
Nabiki nodded with more motion than necessary. "That's right ten million. Ten million! Ten million!!!" With the last Nabiki stood up hoisting her empty drink into the air. Looking at the empty glass Nabiki declared loudly. "Bar tender another drink."
"Sorry, but the two of you are most definitely at your limit." The bar tender replied.
Anito stood swaying slightly. "Are you sure?" Anito said leaning threateningly close to the man that dared to cut off his drinks. Light flickered in the wizards hand in a sputtering spark. Pausing the very drunk arch-mage frowned staring down at the lightning blast the refused to form correctly.
"Don't worry, I think he might be right. I seem to be a bit drunk." Nabiki said laughing nonsensically as she stumbled over to the wizard. Fishing in her pockets she dropped a small wad of bills that probably added up to more than a thousand dollars on the table. Leaning against Anito as a support Nabiki spoke up again. "Come on, we still have a whole town to hit."
"I suppose you are right." The wizard slurred out as the two stumbled their way out of the bar. Walking for a while longer the arch-mage suddenly stopped looking around disoriented. "Say where are we going?"
"I don't know, I thought you were choosing directions?" Nabiki made out slowly her eyes looking at things blearily.
Anito blinked several times as though pondering this fact and then decided that it must be so. "Well in that case, lets go there." The wizard said pointing out the randomly chosen destination.
Nabiki focused her eyes slowly on the sign and then let out a laugh. "Sound like fun."