by TattooTheDL » Tue May 02, 2017 7:10 pm
Sorry for the delay, people. IRL issues insisted that what free time I had to write would immediately be taken over by other, significantly energy-draining duties.
All that said, let's get this show on the road, and find out what happens when Nerima plays a collective "Will! It! BLEND!?" experiment on a member of an endangered species.
Well...maybe…anyway, here's the story!
Imperial Servant: Chapter 5
The Truth
OOOOOO
Genma Saotome was not having a good day.
First, he and his oldest friend's brainstorming session regarding how to bring their two engaged children closer together had been a waste of time.
Second, he'd lost 4 out of the last 7 games of shogi he'd played against Soun, and since that meant the Tendo patriarch had cheated better than him, it was making the older Saotome slightly jealous.
Third, his wife was visiting, and despite accepting that Ranma was in fact manly in spite of his curse, she still carried that damn katana everywhere she went.
And the most current reason why he should have called today a wash and stayed in bed, was the dulled length of wood jammed into his stomach and a large, black, double-edged sword being held to his throat.
As Genma looked at the Chinese witch who'd taught his child some fancy tricks and an unknown but pretty highschool girl with brown hair, both of whom were looking at him with a disgust reserved for dung beetles and other creatures that make people wonder if their one useful function was really worth keeping them around, he considered his options carefully.
And immediately took his favored standby of the easiest, least subtle path to a solution by shouting, "What the hell is going on here?!"
~20 minutes ago~
"Panda?" Xuriel asked quietly as her eyes ran across the crowd of very angry people and wondered if there really was something in the water, because they seemed to fly off the handle at any given opportunity. "What panda?"
"I think they're talking about the kid's dad, Xury." Carrie offered helpfully, while also looking at her friend worriedly, as the purple succubus was at ground zero for what sounded like the run-up to a lynching.
"Well, yeah. But between that and the girl comments, I feel like I'm missing something."
The succubus' discussion was...not ignored per se, but rather put on the collective back-burner for the residents of Nerima Tokyo as they debated the theory proffered by the two most intelligent people in a 10 mile radius.
"That bastard!" Ukyo snarled, her knuckles whitening as she tightened her grip on the haft of her spatula-naginata. "He'd...he'd castrate Ranma just to keep him focused on the Art!?"
"Panda-man. Hurt Shampoo airen." Shampoo intoned in a emotionally dead voice, taking a page out of Akane's recent playbook and stockpiling all her fury for later, when she could unleash it on her future ex father-in-law. "Shampoo hurt him. Shampoo hurt him into pieces."
In an event that warranted a front-page article in the Nerima Gazette, Kuno was silent, as he had been since his enemy of the last year or so had uncorked a verbal bottle of whoop-ass on him and many others. However he was no longer thinking about Ranma, but rather looking down at his unconscious father with an unreadable expression on his face, considering the differences between his and Saotome's upbringing in a new light.
Mousse was making a simple edit to the mental note in his mind labeling Ranma Saotome as an 'enemy of all women'; wherein the RA of his enemy's name was swapped for GE, and the WO of women was crossed out entirely.
Akane was frowning as something niggled at the back of her mind, a stray thought that was taking an unwarranted amount of detours through the pink mist shrouding portions of her mental landscape, even as the same notion cheered at not being held back by the red wall of anger that almost perpetually blocked off portions of the bluenette's psyche.
Nabiki however, kept her head in the game and her eyes on the prize. And while there was a definite bonus in making a certain species of stupid bear more endangered, (or less so, if she could get ahold of that locking bucket) the end goal was more important as she turned to Cologne and addressed her politely. "Oba-san, can you take the Imperial Servant pressure point off of Ranma?"
The swift influx of hopeful looks disappeared just as quickly when the amazon matriarch lowered her eyes and sadly shook her head. "That scroll is one of many which is held under lock and key back in our village, and I have never read it." the old woman briefly gritted her teeth. "But considering that Happi knows it, he probably stole it along with everything else he took from our tribe decades ago."
"Then let's find that old freak and make him take it off of Ranchan!" Ukyo proclaimed, ready to lead the charge to save her friend and fiancé.
Nabiki shot down the chef's attempt at rabble-rousing with a cold, "Considering the only reason Ranma doesn't have the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion anymore is because he grabbed the scroll to remove it before Happosai burned it as 'useless junk', I wouldn't lay odds on him still having the Imperial Servant scroll."
While Ukyo processed that with one indignantly twitching eye, Hinako-chan took advantage of the calm to remind the students of their current location and her role in it, straightening up as she declared imperiously, "Alright. Extenuating circumstances aside, everyone needs to get back in class, because school is still in session." With a glance at Nabiki and a slightly swaying Akane, she added solemnly, "Nabiki and Akane Tendo are both permitted a leave of absence along with Saotome Ranma."
Both girls nodded, one more languidly than the other, and Kuno asked seriously, "Sensei, if you don't mind, may I be excused as well?" He looked down at the insensate principal and frowned thoughtfully. "I need to look after my father...and contemplate recent developments."
"What about me!?" Ukyo asked with a distraught, pleading look at her homeroom teacher. "Ranchan is my fiancé!"
"That's not exactly an exclusive club, Kuonji."
Ukyo rounded on Nabiki at the older girl's dry statement, and stopped cold when she realized dry ice was a more appropriate descriptor of the page-cut brunette's comment as the Ice Queen was in full-swing once more. Giving the chef a beatific smile that made the martial artist suppress a shiver of fear, Nabiki added in a voice as sweet as a sugar-laced razorblade, "And you're going to be doing me a personal favor if you stay here."
Ukyo swallowed heavily, but managed to narrow her eyes defiantly as she asked, "What favor?"
"Why, helping my friends and the other girls find out who exactly was giving Ranma such helpful advice regarding his curse, his fiancé's," Nabiki's eyes gleamed with an unholy light. "And my sister."
Ukyo blinked. Then a slow, supremely sadistic smile spread across her face, which was matched by every other female student within earshot of Furinkan high's mercenary queen. The nearby male students however, either grimaced sympathetically, adopted the slightly smug grins of those who knew they had nothing to fear and had no compunctions narcing on the hormone-addled jackasses of campus, or held very very still and ignored the cold chills running down their spines as they estimated their chances of surviving to the end of the day.
Most of them wouldn't make it to the end of next period.
The ones who lasted beyond that were those who heard the screaming of their fellow hormonally-corrupted comrades, and ran like hell.
Those who weren't caught before escaping school grounds would suffer a much, much crueler fate later that night…
Before that however, Kuno called for his ever-present and hidden retainer Sasuke, and was soon leaving campus with his insensate father slung over the diminutive shinobi's shoulders in a fireman's carry. At the other end of the spectrum, Hinako-sensei was ushering the majority of the student body back into the school, which was already buzzing with rumors and speculation about what had occurred; as well as theoretical punishments for the school's more loosely moral males, which tested the bladder-control of the future deadmen who overheard those same ideas.
In the end, three Amazons, two sisters, and a perpetually lost boy were left on the slightly charred soccer field with one and a half succubi, the 'one' of which gave Nabiki an appraising look and said, "Damn...if it wasn't for the fact that I think you'd be my boss, I'd offer you a job."
Nabiki smiled thinly at Dabbler's not-quite compliment. "I've got no intention of ending up in hell, though if I do head that way, I'm making sure the seat reserved for me is a throne."
Xuriel watched the brunette nervously while Carrie offered in a mollifying tone, "I'll put through the paperwork now just in case...oh, speaking on that," He looked at the remaining people curiously. "What was all that about, 'being used to a girls body'?"
Cologne gave the two curious demons a thoughtful look. "You seem to be knowledgeable about mysticism and sorcery. Do you know anything about Jusenkyo?"
What the matriarch expected was looks of understanding and comprehension, or maybe more confusion.
Instead, both of the succubi seized up and slowly turned their heads to share a look of mutual horror before turning back to Cologne. "Why in Lucy's name did he go there?!" Dabbler hissed fearfully.
Nabiki cocked an eyebrow curiously at the succubi as she offered, "Ranma's sperm-donor found a travel guide to a legendary training ground, which was in a language he couldn't read, and went to Jusenkyo the second he had the chance."
In unison, the two demonesses eyes twitched, and Carrie stated coolly, "If anything would make me believe someone was dumb enough to castrate their own child for training-"
"-it would be the same person who would drag his kid to that Sidhe-made hellhole." Xuriel finished with a scowl.
Again, something poked Akane in the back of the head, and her frown deepened as she got a clearer image of idea making it's way to her higher brain functions. While she attempted to decipher the hieroglyphs within her brain, Cologne stared at Dabbler and said, "Eh? Jusenkyo was made by the Sidhe?"
"Tainting an underground reservoir so the water from it turns people into other things, then sitting back and applauding everytime some poor schmuck get's turned into a tasty critter and eaten? Who else would be responsible for that?" Carrie asked rhetorically with a grimace, not noticing that Shampoo, Ryoga, and Mousse all paled at her statement. "One of many reasons the standing orders for Sidhe are 'run away, use extreme caution, and if you get the chance, shoot to kill'."
"What about asking for mercy?"
Both succubi gave the Ryoga a flat look, and he reddened in embarrassment as he remembered the purple one's grim description earlier. "Right...so, what happens now?"
"Me and my sister go home so she doesn't embarrass herself anymore." Nabiki said with a slight smirk at the bluenette who was lazily blinking one eye at a time. "And get answers from that fat bastard, one way or another."
"I'm coming with you." Cologne stated grimly.
"Shampoo too!" the Amazon hefted her bonbori. "Shampoo make panda-man into rug for hurting Airen!"
"No, Shampoo." Cologne denied her great granddaughter with a shake of her head. "You and Mr. Part-timer go back to the cafe and wait until I return."
Shampoo sputtered indignantly. "Hiba-chan, why!? Shampoo want to hurt stupid panda-"
The lilac-haired girl squawked in pain due to the matriarch's staff bonking her on the head, and she rubbed the small lump with a petulant whine. "You can have your revenge, after we find out what he did, how to fix it, and make sure he doesn't leave out any details in a misguided attempt to bargain for leniency or through sheer idiocy! And more importantly…"
The old woman hopped closer to her descendent and whispered, "Do you want to risk letting the part-timer and lost boy out of your sight and sabotage any attempt to help son-in-law?"
Shampoo's eyes widened in understanding and she surreptitiously looking over her shoulder at Ryoga and the duck standing on the ground next to him. "I understand, hiba-chan."
"Good. Now," Cologne returned to her normal volume quickly. "Go to the cafe and wait until I return." Narrowing her eyes for extra emphasis, the Matriarch added, "That's an order, Shampoo."
Shampoo flinched, but nodded and said, "Hai, hiba-chan." while taking the stern warning as a cover to keep Ranma's rivals from suspecting her purpose was to keep a very close eye on them.
As the violet-haired Amazon grabbed Ryoga's arm and dragged him away while the duck took flight and followed them, Xuriel cocked an eyebrow and made a mental note before turning to the old woman and saying, "I assume you want my help too?"
Cologne narrowed her eyes at the succubus. "That's not a problem, is it?"
"The whole reason I got involved in this is 'cause I thought I was doing a good deed." Xuriel's lip curled in disgust. "And tearing a piece out of a jackass who'd neuter his own kid definitely fits the bill."
The translation of Akane's idea to coherence had mostly been completed, and she frowned despite the pleasant buzz of Dabbler's charm spell.
"Xury, normally I'd say you're too nice for your own good." Carrie offered. "This time? I'll set up an appointment between the boss and that kid's old man right now, just to save time." Turning slightly to look out of the edge of her portal, the green-haired succubus asked, "What's his name?"
"Genma Saotome." Nabiki stated grimly, before looking at Xuriel and cocking an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be giving your friend a name too?"
Xuriel blinked and then thunked her forehead with the heel of her upper right hand. "Crap, thanks for reminding me!" She said gratefully before turning to the small portal. "Carrie, tell Beelz he needs to blacklist some Japanese kid named Hikaru Gosunkugi."
"Who's that?"
"My summoner, who somehow knew my true name, despite not even knowing banishing anchors existed until I told him to send me back."
The green-haired succubus paled. "Xury, tell me this is a joke."
"I couldn't make this up if I tried, Carrie." Xuriel's eye-twitched in remembered outrage. "He used his own blood and house paint for the sigil, thank Lucy it was only a few drops. He didn't bind his life to mine or my voice-"
"Done, done!" Carrie waved off her friends itemizing of Gosunkugi's screw-ups and shuddered violently. "Sweet Lucy on a tricycle, he's so lucky he called you!"
"No kidding." Xuriel nodded in agreement before lifting her upper-left hand and reaching for the display. "I'll call you after I finish up here, alright?"
"Alright." The green-haired succubus nodded, and then smiled lecherously at Dabbler. "And I'm gonna want details on what happens when you uncork the stud!"
With a small chuckle of "Of course!", Xuriel dispelled the lesser portal, the void and Carries face disappearing as the sextet of runic stones floated into her outstretched hand, where they quickly vanished back into the ether. A gesture and a soft whisper returned the 6-foot demoness to the illusion of an ordinary school-girl, and she looked expectantly at the Tendo sisters and Cologne. "Well? Lead the way."
OOOOOO
The quartet neared the dojo's front gate, with Akane bringing up the rear. While it was assumed her slower pace was due to being slightly jelly-legged, there was an added factor in that the bluenette's brain was finally finishing it's decryption of her opinion on the latest upheaval in her and her iinazuke's life. Just before Nabiki could announce their presence, Akane called out, "Nee-san?"
Cologne, Nabiki, and the disguised Xuriel turned to look at the frowning girl with curious expressions, with the middle Tendo sister asking, "What is it, Akane?"
"I...I don't think Genma put the Imperial Servant on Ranma…"
Nabiki blinked in surprise along with Cologne, while Xuriel cocked an eyebrow at her supernaturally charmed 'victim'. "What makes you say that? If he's dumb enough to get his kid cursed at Jusenkyo, this sounds like a gimme-putt."
"Ranma's dad is dumb...sometimes." Akane admitted, her brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Well, most of the time. But he really really wants me and Ranma to get married as soon as possible. If Ranma doesn't like me-" the bluenette blinked rapidly as there was a sudden burning sensation from her eyes, which she rubbed away quickly. "-then he and daddy won't have an heir to Anything Goes."
The blink-and-you'd-miss-it emotional response was caught by Nabiki, but filed away for later as she ran her sister's idea through her own devious mind and scowled. "That's a good point, though it's possible he could have slapped it on and forgot about it. If that's the case then we'll have an entirely different problem on our hands."
"Eh?" Xuriel gave the chilling brunette a curious look. "What's that?"
"If he thinks the Imperial Servant is why Akane and Ranma haven't been fooling around like teenagers, and that Ranma will 'make up for lost time', we'll have to restrain the moron to keep him from unlocking Ranma before we've figured out all the angles and prepare for whatever happens next." Nabiki side-eye'd her sister. "I don't think the panda cares if Ranma and Akane end up having a shotgun wedding, but if Ranma is forced to make an honest woman out of every girl in Tokyo, that's going to be a major problem."
"The more I hear about this guy, the less and less I like him." Xuriel stated with a frown.
Cologne showed the wisdom of the ages by not commenting on that, mostly because her great-granddaughter's machinations regarding Ranma weren't that dissimilar from the Genma's, which was another reason the younger Amazon wasn't present. Instead, the old woman pogoed forward and said, "No point in speculating now. Let's find out exactly what's wrong with my son-in-law." before reaching out and opening the Tendo compound's front gates.
Kasumi sighed contentedly as she enjoyed the company of her future mother-in-law, Nodoka Saotome. The older woman had stopped by to visit, gossip, and swap cooking recipes while Genma and Soun played shogi on the veranda. The 19-year-old domestic buddha of Nerima savored the peaceful atmosphere, until the sound of the front gate opening and closing brought a curious look to her face. Getting to her feet, Kasumi said apologetically, "Sumimasen, auntie-Nodoka, but I believe we have visitors."
"Go ahead dear," Nodoka smiled kindly at the younger woman. "Show your guests the proper hospitality."
Kasumi nodded before making her exit, calling out, "I'm coming!" As she walked to the front door of the household proper. When she arrived and opened door, the brunette blinked rapidly at the sight of her younger sisters, Cologne, and a very strange person who looked blurry to the older girl's eyes, like a cross between a TV screen that needed to be fixed and a mirage. It was a brunette, though the only reason Kasumi knew that much was from the blob of brown sitting on top of the haze obscuring many of the finer details of their face as well as their body. Hazarding a guess from the pre-dominantly blue coloration of what she assumed was a Furinkan girls uniform, Kasumi assumed the figure was a girl before turning to Nabiki and asking, "Imouto, why are you home?"
"We got a leave of absence from school." Nabiki replied coolly.
Noting how Akane was having trouble maintaining her balance, Kasumi bit her lip worriedly and asked, "Akane-chan, are you sick?"
"No…" The bluenette droned lightly, her eyes pointed at her older sister, but her attention clearly focused somewhere beyond the older girl as she added, "Actually, I feel really good...but I'm also kind of sad, cause Ranma doesn't like me…"
Kasumi's eyes widened. "N-nani!?"
"Long story, nee-san." Nabiki sighed as she waved off further questions. "We need to talk to Genma. Where is he?"
"He's with father…" While her instincts said such rude behavior was improper, Kasumi deigned to open the door before addressing the graphical error in front of her and asked hesitantly, "Imouto, who is your...friend?"
"My nAme's mAI," a feminine, though slightly warped cheery voice came from the figure. "NICE to MeeT yOu."
"Nice to meet you too…" Kasumi replied slowly, earning her curious looks from both siblings and Cologne, which made her blush. "Sumimasen, Mai-san...but...If you don't mind my asking, why are you...fuzzy?"
Xuriel blinked and stared at the pony-tailed brunette who'd answered the door. "Pardon? Fuzzy?"
"I don't understand why, and I hope I'm not coming down with something serious," Kasumi explained apologetically. "But your body looks indistinct to me, like some sort of mirage."
Xuriel's jaw dropped while Cologne, Nabiki, and Akane looked at her, with the buzzed bluenette asking, "Is that normal, Dabbler-chan?"
"No!" The demon sputtered as she turned to look at her companions with shock. "She's looking through my glamour! I mean, she almost is, but-"
"Pardon?" Kasumi blinked. "Glamour?"
"Nee-san," Nabiki facepalmed. "It's a very long story. Short version, she's a demon using an illusion, but she's nice-"
"And a really good kisser."
Nabiki sighed and internally cursed as her older sister promptly gawped at their little sister's goofy grin with wide eyes. "Nee-san, I'll explain in a bit, but she's here to help us."
Kasumi pulled her eyes away from her youngest sister with some difficulty, the idea that the romantically challenged bluenette had kissed another girl (let alone a demon) having been put on a shelf in a far corner of her mind before it made her react in an unladylike and very uncomposed manner. "Alright, imouto...she can come in."
"Good." Cologne's lips twisted in a snarl. "Now, where's the panda?"
OOOOOO
Soun blinked at the shogi piece which was spinning like a top on the game board, wondering why his old friend had disappeared and decided to perform a trick for his next move rather than simply setting the wooden token down normally.
Before the piece could fall and determine Genma's latest strategy, his indignant roar brought Soun's attention to the far wall of the living room where Cologne and a teenage girl had his oldest friend at staff and sword point. Recalling the sudden blur a half-second before bulky man had vanished, Soun got to his feet and shouted, "What's going on here!?" as all three of his daughters rushed into the living room.
Upon entering, Kasumi gasped, "Oh my!" while Nabiki fixed Genma with a calculating stare that sent chills down her father's spine. Akane however, seemed to be regarding the older man with a mixture of worry and irritation, which was rather mild as far as the reactions his youngest child would normally have and earned a fair bit of Soun's attention from where his oldest friend was being threatened.
"I would like to know that as well." Nodoka said in a 'polite' tone as she stood up. Polite in this instance meaning she was willing to give the very old woman and young girl with a sword a chance to correct their behavior before she did it for them.
Xuriel ignored the array of questions and smiled thinly at the larger man as she chuckled, "Oh, I can smell the asshole on this one! How much you wanna bet he tries to haggle his way out of this?"
Kasumi's shock evaporated, and she narrowed her eyes slightly at the blurry 'demon'.
"No bet." Cologne replied in a low, murderous tone, pushing harder into the layer of blubber covering a deceptively muscular stomach. Turning her head, the Amazon Matriarch said, "Pardon us, everyone, we just have business with this worthless sack of flesh."
"Which there'll be less of, once we get done claiming a few pounds of it." Xuriel licked her lips in a way that would have forced Genma to answer some very awkward questions from his wife, had he not been terrified out of his mind.
"What the hell are you all talking about!?" The burly martial artist shouted, sweating from the heat he could feel emanating from the sword at his neck. "Who are you?!"
"Allow me to introduce myself." Xuriel purred in a manner that was more feral than sexual. "My name is Dabbler, and I'm a succubus who's had a very strange day." At the 3 parents confused looks, her smile widened. "Oh, where are my manners?"
Xuriel dropped her glamour, a thrill of vindictive glee coming from the sight of Genma's ruddy face turning pale, while a series of shocked cries came from behind her. Locking eyes with the rotund man, the succubus smiled widely and exposed a mouthful of too-sharp teeth, which made her victim hold very very still and give a quiet whimper as she hissed, "Nice to meet you, meat."
"Down, girl." Cologne said sternly, though on the inside she was stifling the urge to cackle delightedly.
"Aww," Xuriel made a show of pouting at the old woman. "Can't I bite one of his ears off?"
"Maybe later," Cologne conceded before giving Genma a smile that frightened him even more than the demon's had. "Depending on how honest this sexist tub of lard decides to be."
"Fair enough, though I'm hoping he'll lie a little bit." Xuriel ran her tongue across her fangs for emphasis. "I hate missing out on a free meal, even if it's a fat piece of shi-"
The succubus froze as a sudden pressure bore down on her, nearly making her drop to her knees as a steady disapproving voice from behind her declared seriously, "No swearing in my home."
"Got it! Got it!" Xuriel gasped, her breaths easing as the pressure abated, and she sent a haunted look at the brunette who was frowning in disapproval at her. "Jeez, you're freaking terrifying, you know that?"
"Nobody messes with Kasumi." Nabiki smiled proudly.
"Clearly...although," one of Xuriel's eyebrow/eartenna rose and she smirked wickedly. "She just gave me a way to solve our little problem with this miserable-"
The succubus stopped at Kasumi's slight narrowing of the eyes, cold sweat running down the back of her neck while Cologne looked at her curiously. "What's that?"
Xuriel shook her head and turned her attention back to the older woman. "A magic spell called 'Zone of Truth'. I've got a scroll for it in my personal collection, and if we use it first, this schmuck couldn't bullsh-lie to us even if he wanted to."
Cologne regarded the succubus with a surprised and impressed look. "I've heard of that spell, but it's supposedly divine magic. Can you really use it?"
"Even as a scroll, no." Xuriel tilted her head towards Kasumi. "But I'll bet she can."
"Nani!?" Kasumi's cheeks blushed cherry red as she found herself under the eyes of everyone in the room save for the succubus who'd called attention to her in the first place. "M-magic? Holy magic!? But, I'm not a priest, and I don't go to temple that often-"
"Not to cast aspersions on her abilities," Cologne mused as she eye'd the embarrassed brunette up and down, not sensing anything inherently magical or divine in her chi pathways or aura with a quick-and-dirty passive scan. "But why not have me read it?"
"You're gonna help me keep this schmuck from running away," Xuriel replied simply. "And there's still a chance the scroll could be a dud if you used it."
Cologne blinked and regarded the demoness anew. "Why?"
"Tricky little by-law get's put in divine magic when somebody puts it in a scroll to keep just anyone from using it, kinda like how only really devout priests or demigods can perform holy miracles directly." Xuriel gave the matronly girl a cheeky grin. "There's always a chance a holy spell could misfire...unless the one using it is a pure-hearted, genuinely good person, which trumps any magical experience."
Kasumi's blush deepened by a factor of five and she lowered her eyes. "Oh no, no no no, I couldn't use something like that-"
"Oh, that'll be easy for her!"
"Yeah, that's legit."
"Well, obviously."
"No doubt."
With the words of confident praise from her sisters, father, and mother-in-law, Kasumi's cheeks reddened until she resembled a brunette stoplight. Cologne considered what she knew of the eldest Tendo and agreed with the sentiment, but it was better to be cautious if this was truly a one-shot opportunity. "What makes you so sure?"
"She could see through my glamour, and her reaction to my naughty language felt like a divine geas." Xuriel chuckled. "Trust me, if there was anyone in this room who's got an aptitude for voodoo from upstairs, it's probably her."
Genma, noting that the pressure on his neck and stomach hadn't relented despite the two women's discussion, hesitantly interrupted, "Don't I get a say in this?"
"No!"
"No!"
He snapped his lips shut, and seriously regretted calling attention to himself again as Cologne and the purple-skinned, four-armed woman with scary teeth glared at him again. "You are the root cause for what has to be the weirdest summoning that any succubus has had to go through!" The four-armed demon snapped. "And I'm in no mood do deal with more cra-stuff!" Smiling thinly, she leaned in and captured Genma's stare with her merciless, heterochromatic eyes. "So here's what's gonna happen, schmuck. She's gonna use the spell, and you're gonna answer our questions. And while it's possible to dodge the effects by keeping quiet; if you try it, you're going to go on a radical weightloss plan."
Genma's eyes flicked down to the very sharp sword, then back up to the demoness and he whimpered in agreement.
"Good boy."
With a quick gesture, a faint popping sound and a quick gleam of light dropped a vellum scroll into Xuriel's lower right hand, as the both her lefts were holding her equalizer. She raised it towards Kasumi meaningfully, and the still crimson-cheeked girl hesitantly stepped forward to take it. As she picked up the rolled sheet, she blinked when the demoness said, "One second," before making a gesture and the brunette jerked in surprise when she was briefly surrounded by twinkling sparks.
"Read magic, basic cantrip." Xuriel offered by way of explanation. "Ready when you are, sweetie."
Kasumi nodded and slowly unrolled the sheet, looking at a strange, spidery-script which should have been incomprehensible gibberish to her, except the meaning and pronunciation of every syllable and inflection flowed through her mind as her eyes traced the page. After a few internal recitations, she swallowed nervously and spoke the words aloud. The instant she finished, the scroll flashed gold and she gasped sharply as she dropped it, only to find the paper disappeared before it hit the ground. At the same time, a strange rush of wind extended out from her and a subtle glow filled the air for a moment, leaving behind an odd desire for honesty from all present.
Xuriel grinned from ear-to-ear at the brunette who was covering her glowing cheeks with her hands, while Soun and Nodoka smiled proudly and Nabiki gave her sister a knowing smirk, and Akane giggled, "Called~ it~!"
"Very impressive." Cologne said softly, before turning back to Genma and pointedly digging her staff into his ribs, making the larger man grimace as she asked venomously. "Now, how do you remove the Imperial Servant pressure-point?"
Cologne was a woman who could think ahead. She could plan and anticipate many scenarios and outcomes for a given situation, as was needed when you were a leader for a very small tribe of warriors in the backwoods of China. For this situation, she'd prepared many responses for any denials or assertions that Genma would make regarding his innocence in crippling her son-in-law, although most of those plans could be tossed out thanks to the spell he was now under the effects of.
When Genma gave her an answer she hadn't anticipated, the Amazon Matriarch would have been rather put out, if she wasn't utterly thunderstruck by two deceptively simple words.
"The what?"
Xuriel, Cologne, and Nabiki all froze. Their eyes widened as they drank in the fearful and honestly confused expression on Genma's face as the middle Tendo daughter whispered, "No…"
"The Imperial Servant!" Cologne dug her staff deeper into Genma's body, making him groan in pain as she snapped, "The pressure-point you used on son-in-law!"
Nodoka cocked an eyebrow curiously at the older woman's insistence and her usage of the term son-in-law while her husband roared in near agony due to the length of wood jabbing him in the spleen. "What pressure-point!? I've never used a pressure-point on my son!"
"Y-you're lying!" Desperation and more than a bit of fear came to Cologne's voice as she insistently yelled, "You're lying to us! What did you do to-"
"Granny...stop…"
Xuriel's quiet, resigned tone drew Cologne's eyes to hers, and the demoness softly shook her head with a solemn expression. The Amazon stiffened and glared defiantly at the succubus for a few moments, before suddenly feeling the weight of her 300 years settle into her bones. She pulled her staff out of Genma's gut and sagged as Xuriel dissipated her sword with a gesture and a red gleam.
Freed from the threat on his life, Genma glared at the demon and the old woman, both of whom turned away from him with the latter sitting down on the floor and resting her staff on her shoulder. "What the hell are you two playing at!? What pressure point?! What's wrong with my son!?"
"Ranma's hurt."
Nabiki's soft answer brought Genma's attention to her, and his blood froze. The normally sarcastic and merciless teenage girl's eyes were lowered and glimmering with unshed tears. Soun and Kasumi's expressions of wide-eye'd shock told Genma that no, he wasn't hallucinating at the sight of the middle Tendo sister's break in her emotionless facade as she went on solemnly. "Ranma hasn't been attracted to Akane, or any girl since he was a kid, because of a pressure-point they used on rapists back in China."
The frozen blood reached Genma's heart, his world going grey at the edges as Nodoka whispered, "He...what?!" in complete horror.
"I was supposed to seduce him, and nothing worked." Dabbler picked up in a low tone, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news again, but needing to explain just the same. "At first I thought he was asexual; basically born celibate, like all the normal biological urges just...weren't put in."
"Masaka!" Kasumi breathed quietly while Nodoka swayed and nearly collapsed to the floor if Soun hadn't caught her. "I...I thought Ranma-kun was just a late-bloomer!"
"Imperial servant…" The grey film of shock disappeared as comprehension dawned, disappearing in a haze of red as Genma looked between Xuriel and Cologne again, fury purpling his cheeks as he snarled, "You thought I did it!? To my own son!?"
"Why not?" Nabiki snapped at the outraged martial artist, her voice tinged with something raw while she laid into Genma and ignored the wet streaks on her cheeks, somehow managing to keep her voice level. "You've pulled the stupidest plans to make Ranma a martial arts master, and girls would just distract him from the Art."
"I wouldn't rob my only child of his manhood!" Genma shouted furiously. "How could he be a man among men if he couldn't prove it by having children of his own!? I'd never cripple my own child!"
Akane sniffed, vision blurring as the gravity of the situation bore down on her even through the blissful haze. Her expression and voice like someone who'd been fed a 'major bummer', she said quietly. "That's what Ranma said…"
"What?" Genma focused his attention on his son's fiancé. "What do you mean by that?"
"When we figured out something was wrong, Ranma got angry and stormed off." Nabiki answered, tamping down on her loss of control quickly so she could plan out the next step to their solution, which seemed like it would be a one-in-a-million longshot that Happosai still had the scroll. "He didn't like that we kept talking about him like he was 'broken'."
"Son-in-law has been under the effects of the Imperial Servant for so long, he thinks he just has good willpower resisting the charms of the opposite sex." Cologne added tiredly, emotionally exhausted by the events of the day. "He thinks he is normal, while everyone else is-"
"Perverted." Akane finished, her lip quivering slightly as that over-used and hated word came out of her mouth, now disgusting her for a different reason than normal as the usual target for it wasn't present...and had apparently been unjustly labeled from the moment she'd first uttered it in his presence.
Genma's ire was starting to fade, the anger at being accused of violating his son giving way to the reality of the situation. Images swam through his mind of his child's interactions with girls, which he'd blanketed under the assumption that the boy's social awkwardness was from a lifetime dedicated to the art. The elder Saotome struggled to keep his bearings and quietly asked, "How...how long has he been like this?"
"We don't know for certain." Xuriel answered with a soft shake of her head and a dark look. "But it's been at least since he was 12."
Genma stopped.
A light pinged off of a memory somewhere in his mind as he repeated questioningly, "Twelve?"
"Yeah." Akane affirmed with a soft nod. "He was shouting at us before he left, and said he hasn't gotten hard around a girl since then."
While mildly embarrassed by the frank statement, Kasumi was far too horrified by the content of same as she gasped, "Oh no...Ranma-kun…"
"No…" Nodoka whimpered, the dreams of being a grandmother fading into nothingness before her eyes as she sobbed, "No no no, not my boy...my son…"
"The promise…" Soun intoned as he went into full water-slide mode with streams of saltwater flowing down his face. "Our vow to unite the schools…"
Xuriel clenched her fists, unable and unwilling to believe that today had bounced back and forth so much from fun to infuriating to amusing to horrifying and now finally settled on tragic. The succubus swore she'd never come back to this island again lest another horrorshow like today occurred, and turned to Genma so she could apologize to him.
And stopped.
Genma was also looking away from the group at large, but rather than shamefaced or haunted; the bald man's thoughts were clearly a million miles away. The expression on his face one of wide-eye'd concentration, akin to a gold-panner who'd just caught a glimpse of yellow in the sand of a shallow river and was frantically sifting for the nugget of good fortune.
Xuriel's eyes widened, and she almost called him out on the intense, hopeful expression on his face when Genma suddenly bolted, running to the Tendo stairs and taking them in one leap.
While she and most everyone else was caught off-guard by the speed of the rotund man, Cologne recovered far faster than the others and followed after him a half-second later. A swell of fury manifested and the matriarch made ready to run the coward down on the off-chance that the Zone of Truth spell had failed, when he ducked into a sideroom. Rounding the doorway, Cologne's preparation to strike down Genma before he escaped were pushed away when she saw him crouched down over a traveling pack, frantically pawing through it like a starving bear at an abandoned beehive.
"What are you doing?" She asked as she hopped into the room, hearing a ruckus from behind her that signaled the arrival of the rest of the Tendo family, plus the other two guests besides her.
Having found what he was looking for, Genma turned around and revealed a leather-bound book, stuffed with loose papers and notes which almost doubled the thickness of the weather-beaten tome. "My journal." He stated with a grim scowl. "The record I kept of me and my son's training journey. Every technique, every school we trained at, every master who assisted me in teaching him about the art."
"So you do know something about what happened to him." Cologne stated suspiciously.
"I have an idea!" Genma snapped at the matriarch. "But I don't remember the details, so if you'll excuse me," He yanked open the book and began thumbing through it with an ugly scowl. "I need to save my son…"
OOOOOO
At the Kuno estate, Tatewaki Kuno sat next to his father's bed, which held the man in question. As he watched his patriarch breathe steadily, he said quietly, "Sasuke."
"Sir?"
Kuno showed no reaction to the ninja's appearance, having expected no less from the loyal retainer. "Find my sister and tell her to come here, as I have found out something very distressing regarding the sorc-" Kuno paused and struggled with himself. "Saotome Ranma."
Noting the slip-up, Sasuke gulped and said, "Hai, Kuno-sama!" before disappearing again.
Sometime later, Kuno wasn't sure how long as he was lost in his own thoughts, the doors to his father's boudoir swung open and his sister walked in, either mid-training or simply clad in her most comfortable ensemble of her signature gymnastics leotard. Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Kodachi Kuno declared, "Brother dear, why have you summoned me as some common servant to our fathers quarters? I'll have you know that I am only humoring you by dint of finding out what information you have regarding my beloved."
"So I assumed, imouto." Tatewaki stood up and faced her with a solemn expression. "Though it doesn't change the seriousness of my plea, and I ask you prepare yourself, sister." The taller boy lowered his eyes. "What I have to say...will be hard for you to hear."
Kodachi's eyes widened and fear lanced her heart as her sibling referred to his most hated foe in a manner that belied the severity of his words. "Brother...what has happened to my darling?!"
"He is alive and whole, imouto." Kuno stepped forward and gently laid a hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes as he declared, "But not undamaged. As myself and others discovered today, Saotome Ranma was wounded many years ago by the man who should have watched over him, as our father should have watched over us."
Looking over his shoulder to his insensate sire, Kuno mused, "Strange what can make you appreciate your own good fortune, even if you believed it to be something of a curse..."
The boy suddenly stiffened at the sudden surge of hostile intent and returned his attention to his sister, who wore an expression of unbridled rage as she snarled "Brother. What. Happened. To my darling?"
Kuno swallowed heavily to loosen his throat before answering, "Earlier today, the one known as Hikaru Gosunkugi, who fashions himself as some sort of practitioner of the sorcerous arts, successfully summoned a creature from the pit, with the intent of sending it against Saotome."
Kodachi's eye began twitching furiously.
"Rather than direct combat however, Gosunkugi summoned a succubus to tempt Saotome Ranma, and expose him as a womanizing cad before all and sundry." Kuno shook his head sadly. "The attempt failed...but not due to any error on those involved, but rather because Saotome could not be swayed by the creature's powers."
Kodachi's anger faded, and she began laughing in her own, unique way. "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! Of course my beloved would not be swayed by such a base creature! His virtuousness knows no limits, and-"
She stopped as Tatewaki grabbed both her shoulders, making her stare at him in shock as he stated grimly. "Not would not, Imouto! Saotome could not fall under the succubus' spells! He was incapable of being seduced, and apparently has been since he was a child!"
Kodachi froze, her eyes widening in understanding and thunderstruck horror as she whispered, "What?!"
Satisfied that the severity of his message had gotten through her perpetual lunacy, Kuno let go of her and went on in a more calm voice. "The creature could...sense the affections and desire's of those surrounding her, as her kind feed off of those feelings as a flower draws nourishment from sunlight." Kuno looked up to a portrait on the wall, and Kodachi followed his gaze to the image of their deceased mother. "From Saotome Ranma, she sensed naught but a blasé appreciation for the female form. As though every woman he saw was no more attainable or desirable than one formed of ink and paper."
Kodachi stared at the picture, recalling all the times her attempts to lure in her beloved with her physical charms had been for naught...as well as those occassions where she had punished him for seemingly falling for the charms of others. "He...does not desire women...at all?"
"No more than he would want to lie with a masterwork piece of art." Kuno affirmed with a gesture. He then grimaced and shuddered violently, which brought a confused look from Kodachi. "I saw our mother…"
"Nani!?"
"Not for real, Imouto. Saotome denied the succubus' claims, and it tested his assertion by using a magic which clad itself in the form of one's deepest desires and fantasies. She ensorcelled our father first as a demonstration…" Kuno trailed off and turned faintly green. "I believe I will be partaking heavily of the family's supply of saké to rid myself of the image of okaa-san portrayed in such a lewd state…"
"What...what of my darling Ranma?" Kodachi asked tremulously. "What did this demon become?"
"Nothing, dear sister." Kuno returned with a soft shake of his head. "Or rather, less than that, as she'd thought her illusion would have been completely unaffected by him and his lack of desires. Instead, her true form was exposed to us all as the image collapsed, and a subsequent casting drove her to her knees in terror, through no outward action on Saotome Ranma's part." As he went on, Kuno lowered his eyes from the painting and back to his sister. "However, she was able to discern the cause of Saotome Ranma's enfeeblement, which has lead me to my current vigil over otou-san."
"What happened to him?" Kodachi asked, her voice thickening with repressed sorrow and raw hate as she growled, "Who hurt my beloved Ranma-sama!?"
"As far as we were able to determine, his father used some manner of acupressure to suppress his sexual urges, as a way to ensure Saotome Ranma would be able to focus completely on his study of martial arts. But…" Kuno regarded his sister fully as he said, "I believe it would be best if you did not go to him."
"What?!" Kodachi snapped, forgetting her high-society upbringing for a moment as she got in her older brother's face. "Why not!? My beloved has been hurt by his bastard of a father, and I'll see him suffer for it!"
"True...or at least, that is what many have come to believe." Kuno admitted. "But you must ask yourself the same question I have, Imouto. If your beloved and my hated foe is incapable of physical pleasure, then why are we pursuing him?"
Kodachi stilled, her eyes narrowed menacingly as she hissed, "What did you say?"
"From the moment of Saotome Ranma's arrival, I hounded him for being too familiar with the fierce tigress, Akane Tendo." Kuno slowly walked away from his scowling sibling, across their father's bedroom to the open picture window as he went on. "When I heard they were engaged, I forbid their union, as I thought no other man deserved to bask in her presence, save for myself. Now, with the knowledge that Saotome was unable to lust after Tendo Akane in the way that I despised him for..."
Kuno stopped at the open window and looked outside, seeing the pond where his sister's pet crocodile was sunning itself as he sighed, "I ask myself, why was I hounding him? Why did I seek to avenge myself on a man who was not a threat to me in the way I'd considered him?"
Seeing a little of where her sibling was going on this new tact, Kodachi crossed her arms and coldly said, "Just because you have erred does not mean I will not make haste to my beloved's bedside and see justice done-"
"Forget about her, Kuno."
Kodachi paused, blinking in confusion as her brother imitated Ranma's rough, uncouth drawl. "If I have anything to say about it, you'll never see her again." The Blue Thunder looked over his shoulder to regard his sister with a solemn expression. "That is what Saotome Ranma said to me, when Nabiki Tendo first informed me that the best way to meet my beloved pig-tailed girl would be through him. Again, I foresaw deviancy's most foul and intended to protect the innocent creature he'd defiled."
The kendoist lowered his eyes. "Now...I realize the truth of what has occurred. Saotome Ranma's disrespectful behavior towards me was not as a threat to his women...but of personal disgust, and from that perspective, I find I...cannot fault him."
Kodachi's jaw dropped at the admission from her brother. "Onii-san...what are you saying?"
"Consider your own actions towards your beloved, imouto," Kuno declared as he spun on his heel and fixed his sibling with a stern look. "And the 'red-haired harlot' you sought to keep from him! Bereft of lust, why would the two of them be as familiar with each other as they appear!? Why would they risk life and limb, and show equal amounts of displeasure and disregard for us and our affections, if they are not lovers!? There is only one conclusion to be drawn from today and that is…"
Kuno struggled with himself for several moments, teeth clenched at the bitter taste in his throat. Despite that, he gave voice to the theory he'd come to believe more and more with each introspective passing hour. "They are siblings."
Kodachi paused, staring at her brother for a moment before quietly saying, "They're what?"
"They are brother and sister, imouto. There is no other reason for the two of them to be so similar to one another and risk so much for each other's well-being, except that they are kin." Kuno met Kodachi's eyes and intoned seriously. "Sister...you know as well as I do that our family is not the paragon of how those who are related by blood will behave towards each other. Look at everything you have done in pursuit of Saotome Ranma, both to him and the red-haired girl you despise so much...and consider your actions through the lens of two who are bound by familial affection, rather than romantic attraction."
Kodachi, while undoubtedly twisted, was not stupid. However, denial performed admirably to resist the truth of what Kuno was saying, throwing more and more unlikely scenario's in realities path, until the inevitable occurred and Kodachi realized that the man she loved was not only unswayed by her beauty...but had also seen her contempt and vicious hostility brought to bear on someone he loved unconditionally.
Kuno sighed as the last resistance in Kodachi's mind shattered and walked over to his kneeling, despondently sobbing sister, holding her close, and letting her grieve as he had for the love that was poisoned before it'd ever had the chance to flower.
-AN-
I promise, that was the last time I'll be jerking people around regarding the 'whodunnit' aspect of this story. From here on, no more sudden suspects popping out of the woodwork, because I already exhausted the most plausible instigators among the canon cast.
Which, if you haven't already guessed, was the entire point.
Ranma's sex drive shut off? Check.
Devoting more than a half-chapter (Or about 3 freaking paragraphs) to it's discovery? Check.
Ranma still being in Nerima, and the Wrecking Crew finding out about it? Check.
Somebody who grew up with no physical attraction to girls reacting in a way besides "Oh, I always knew there was something wrong! Time to go from 'dense harem protagonist' to 'ladies man'!"? Check.
And FINALLY, coming up with a culprit who wasn't freaking GENMA, and making it somewhat logical?
Well, here's hoping that last bit will be a check, but I think I dotted the 'I's and crossed the 'T's quite well.
As a small concession though, and a very mean teaser, Genma is the indirect cause of the Imperial Servant being put on Ranma. But to be fair, he was really, really drunk at the time.
No spoilers!
Besides that, the idea of Kasumi, 'accidentally a high leveled Favored Soul' was just too amusing for me to pass up on.
Next chapter out, hopefully sooner than this one was, but no promises as I'm having to make a severe re-write of the 'perspective' for it.
Have faith...