Chapter Text
Reiko Kobayashi
Chapter 3
Ryouga examined his, currently female, body. It was his third attempt to do so.
“Here,” Muttsume, the Jurogomo who had accompanied the redhead who stopped his fall from the cliff, handed him a tissue which he gratefully used to clean up the blood trickling from his nose.
“Thanks,” Ryouga replied. Any other person would be terrified of being within such close proximity to a Youkai, but he had ended up in enough ‘Hidden’ villages in his wanderings to know that most Youkai, Mononoke, etc. just want to be left alone to live their lives and raise their children in peace.
He looked back at the full-length mirror in front of him. Magic like this took some getting used to. He was inside what was basically a one-bedroom apartment with all the mod-cons. It would have been nice to have run into the wizard that made these enchanted tents, he thought.
“You’re taking the curse quite well,” commented Muttsume.
Ryouga tentatively prodded his barely A-cup breasts. “At least these aren’t going to interfere with my regular routines,” he sighed. “It would have been nice to have at least some curves. The blood-loss and fainting would have been less embarrassing.”
Muttsume placed her hands over her own B-cups. “I know the feeling. My tribe generally has D- and DD-sized breasts. It’s one of the many things I ‘inherited’ from my father’s side of the family.” She brushed her purple hair away from her dark eyes. “I have my father’s eyes, which isn’t too bad. The lack of curves does mean my spider-butt can hide under my kimono a bit more easily, even more so with the runic-stitching Mizuchi showed me.” She sighed. “I just wish I didn’t inherit the Hibiki Curse.”
Ryouga spun around in surprise. “Hi-Hibiki? You get easily lost too?”
Muttsume’s cheeks coloured. “My mother had to string threads up everywhere.”
“What was your father’s name?” Ryouga asked quietly.
“Hibiki Okami,” she replied. “My mother was in an open relationship with both him and his wife Ran. I think they both had ‘arrangements’ like that in a few places. I’ve probably got a couple of half-siblings wandering out there somewhere. What’s the old saying?”
“‘If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with’,” they both said at the same time.
Muttsume was suddenly in a bone-crunching hug.
“Sister!” Ryouga cried, tears of joy rolling down his face.
===//===
Ranma was briefly surprised at the inside of the tent.
It’s like a small apartment, she- he thought. I never knew magic could be used for something other than bad things. Oh, sweet kami! There’s even a fridge.
Ranma’s train of thought was derailed when he noticed movement to his left. She- he turned and saw the shapely behind of the Chinese girl. She was leaning over a bench, talking to someone unseen, possibly sitting on the floor on the other side of the bench.
Walking forward a bit, Ranma pulled her- his eyes away from the other girl’s boobs and saw an honest-to-kami fairy. Okay, she was probably a Hornet Youkai, as opposed to a storybook fairy, but still...
The fact she had a tiny portable computer in her lap was a little disconcerting. She- he shrugged and added it to her- his ‘just another piece of weirdness to a weird-arse day’ list, and headed towards the door labelled ‘bathroom’.
===//===
“I’m so sorry, Xian-Pu,” said Cypher.
Xian-Pu didn’t know whether to break down and cry, or to ‘borrow’ that particle beam rifle Mizuchi has strapped to her back, between where her dress’s wing-slits are. She didn’t realise Loh-Shan could be that petty, or the village’s warriors that jealous of all those men challenging her, to do that to her. She saw the redhead in her peripheral vision checking her out, and moved her body just so , secretly enjoying the blush that formed on the girl’s face.
No, she was never ‘going to steal their men’ if she had any say in the matter.
“Looks like I won’t be returning to my village anytime soon,” she commented.
“I’m sure the boss will bring you with us,” replied Cypher. “She promised to keep you safe.”
===//===
Ranma watched nervously as the tall red-haired woman poured some cups of tea, waiting for her to go on a rant for not changing back to a male.
She- he would deny it profusely if anyone mentioned it, but the girl’s body felt more …comfortable. She- he glanced at the almost-familiar dark-haired boy sitting nearby. I know I’ve seen him somewhere before. He kept touching the kimono-sleeve of the girl next to him, almost afraid she would disappear on him.
The older redhead was just placing the tray on the low table, when the gaijin, Yousei-san, who had apparently adopted Ranma made her way through the tent-flap.
“We’ve set up the other tents and placed one of our SEP modules,” she said. “That way any observers don’t get suspicious.”
“Good work,” replied the woman as she distributed the cups. “Now that everyone is here, I think we’d better introduce ourselves to each other. I’ll go first.” She propped herself up on the kitchenette’s bench. “My name is Kobayashi Mizuchi. I have several titles to my name, one or two of which my Retainer likes to remind me of on occasion,” a set of wings unfurled from her back. “I am also a dragon.”
“Looks like I’m next,” said the woman who had volunteered to be Ranma’s new guardian. There was a sound of surprise from the yellow-clad boy, and Ranma would also admit to being briefly surprised, when they both saw the ‘blonde woman’ was some sort of illusion hiding a human-sized, yet still feminine, robot. A hatch opened in its chest and another one of those Hornet Youkai stepped out of it.
It’s a miniaturised Arm Slave! Ranma realised. How do they power one that small?
Another random thought went through Ranma’s head, nearly making her- him laugh: The image of Genma standing in front of a police station ‘I swear, Officer, shortly after my negligence turned my son into a daughter, she was taken away by fairies!’ ‘Fairies, you say? Just wait right here in this room with padded walls.’
“My name is Yousei Yuki,” said the voice from the Arm Slave’s speakers. Ranma could hear the clicks, tinkles and whistles coming from the smaller shape at the same time. “My swarm has been magically bound to the boss ever since she and our Dryad-Queen married each other.”
The dragon is married to another girl? Ranma thought. I didn’t think that was legal. She- he noticed a contemplative look coming from the Chinese girl, then noticed it was aimed her- his way.
More Hornet Pixies were gathered on the bench next to Mizuchi and were introduced. One of them was typing away on a fairy-sized computer terminal, most likely the same one as earlier, and only acknowledged the introductions out of politeness. Ranma felt their ‘names’ were really callsigns.
The girl with the different coloured eyes was next. She opened the top two buttons of her blouse, and there was a faint hiss, as a concealed hatch above her breasts recessed and slid down, revealing a seventh Hornet Pixie. “My name is Yousei Nadare.” The ‘girl’ was another Arm Slave, one made to look human, but still an Arm Slave.
Definitely callsigns, thought Ranma. Nobody names their daughter ‘Avalanche’.
The Chinese girl was next. “I am Xian-Pu. My village is not too far from here. Unfortunately, it isn’t safe to go near at the moment.”
The boy in yellow decided introduced himself next. “Hibiki Ryouga-“
Ranma gasped. “RYOUGA!?” That’s why he looked familiar! “It’s me, Ranma! How’d you end up in China?” No wonder he thinks the girl in the kimono will disappear! Ryouga probably hasn’t seen anyone in months.
“R-Ranma? You fell into the Spring too?” Ryouga looked shocked. “You’re so… so…” his hands made certain gestures.
Ranma started to blush, then looked towards the dragon. “Heyyy! Why did you start laughing?!”
“The look on your face is priceless,” Mizuchi wiped a tear from her eye. “You like Ryouga, don’t you?”
Ranma spluttered. “I’m a guy damn it!”
“Not right now, you’re not,” purred Xian-Pu. “The kettle is right there.”
“Uh, m-maybe later,” stuttered Ranma.
Mizuchi raised an eyebrow. “Ranma, there’s no rush. You might need to practice getting used to your new centre of gravity and smaller size.”
“Y-yeah, that’s right,” Ranma recognised an ‘out’ when she- he heard it. “I don’t want to trip over my own feet now, do I?”
===//===
Genma crept towards the encampment the boy was hiding in. Women were just distractions to the Art.
He got within six feet of the cluster of tents…
…and the tents weren’t important. I should make sure my pack is ready for a quick getaway after I grab the boy, he thought all of a sudden.
===//===
Ranma startled awake, then relaxed. Genma wasn’t here to give her the usual pre-dawn wake up. She climbed out of the futon Kobayashi-san had given her and stepped quietly past a sight that made her wish she had a camera.
Sometime during the night, Ryouga had crawled into Muttsume’s futon, and he was currently being hugged by his half-sister. Ryouga’s mother would find the image so cute. Just because Muttsume was a Jurogomo didn’t make them any less family.
“I’ve already taken a photo,” said a voice from the kitchenette. Xian-Pu had a cup of tea in her hand. “They’re just too cute.”
“They are,” Ranma agreed. “I’m just going outside to perform my morning katas.” She pushed aside the tent-flap and stepped out to see Mizuchi in the middle of her morning katas.
Her scarily-familiar katas.
===//===
Mizuchi moved through the next motions of her modified morning kata routine. Whatever was messing with this version of Earth’s magic also interfered with her connection to the Vortex to such an extent that it caused her baby distress whenever she tried to manipulate space/time.
Now I understand what my mother meant by over-reliance on any one aspect of my training was a crutch, she thought. I’m stuck using my own magic, and I need to keep that suppressed for Sakura’s sake.
Every so often, she would look towards Yuki and Cypher. They were sitting on Yuki’s mecha’s shoulder, leaning against each other. Yuki was talking into a headset, while Cypher typed away on her portable console. Yuki was making what arrangements she could over the phonelines with the Japanese government for Ranma’s adoption, at least what steps she could achieve without physically being there. The rest could be dealt with when they set foot in Tokyo. Cypher was net-surfing as best as she could. Ranma’s and Ryouga’s comments about Arm Slaves, and Xian-Pu’s ignorance of them, meant they would be likely to run into ‘trouble’ once they were out of the rural backwaters of China and into the more populated regions.
Meanwhile, while they did their thing, she needed to get used to using a ‘human’ body. No wings. No tail. No horns. (Almost) no magic. It annoyed her that she had to hide who she was, but her suspicions about how Xian-Pu ended up on that altar meant having to limit what intelligence the village’s scouts reported back.
Cypher and the others will have to gather some intelligence themselves, before I drop the SEP field, she thought. Speaking of Ranma and having to hide who they are…
Mizuchi walked over to the gaping teen and tapped the underside of her chin. “You’ll catch flies if you gape for any longer.”
“W-where did you learn those moves?” the smaller redhead shakily asked.
“Some I learned from my mother. Some from my Mum. Some from the other dragons in my home-town. Some I taught myself,” Mizuchi replied. “Our family’s style includes martial arts, weapons, Ki, magic, and any other traits we happen to have. My mother calls it ‘Variable Adaptive Close Quarters Combat’. Aunt Tohru nicknamed our using and adapting anything and everything we learn into the style ‘Anything Goes Martial Arts’. The name stuck.”
“ My family martial arts style, well former style seeing as I’m no longer Genma’s kid, is Anything Goes,” Ranma commented.
“So, you won’t have to change too much of what you already know,” Mizuchi replied. “It will be a good idea to relearn your katas in your new body. Female bodies have a lower centre of gravity, are more flexible, quicker and more agile. Better to learn how your female body moves sooner rather than later.”
“But I’m a guy!” Ranma protested.
“So is my nephew, Leo. He still has to wear a bra and deal with that time of month,” Mizuchi replied. “Hell, my wife and my girlfriend both claim I’m more manly than my wife’s boyfriend. Besides, men are simple creatures.” She gestured to her chest. “Distraction and misdirection are legitimate tactics in a fight.” She bounced a bit, causing her breasts to jiggle slightly, causing Ranma’s eyes to shift from her face. “Case in point.”
===//===
They were around fifteen minutes into their sparring match, when Cypher called out.
“Commander! We’ve found UNIT!”
Mizuchi and Ranma walked up to the tiny ECW expert, and looked at the symbols floating from the portable console’s holographic projector.
“You do know I can’t read that language,” said Ranma. “And what’s unit?”
“United Nations Intelligence Taskforce,” Mizuchi replied. “They’re technically an anti-terrorist organisation, but mainly deal with …esoteric… and off-world threats. In this time-line, it looks like they’re just an anti-terrorist ‘private security firm’.”
Ranma snorted. “You mean mercenaries.”
“Yeah, mercenaries,” Cypher agreed. She pointed to a set of symbols that looked like any others to Ranma. “Ooh, but their tech looks to be about five to ten years ahead of the rest of the world.”
Cypher tapped a few buttons, and the symbols changed to an aerial photograph.
“Real-time satellite imaging, plus the radio-chatter we’re picking up, shows we’re under surveillance from at least three sources.”
Satellite imaging? Ranma thought. No wonder the image is so steady.
Cypher pointed to different points with three of her four hands. “The panda thinks he’s hidden like that, but he will be easy to ditch once we reach the pick up point I’m going to arrange. One advantage to the abundance of mercenary companies is we won’t have to worry about inconvenient questions until we meet up with…”
“Fujiwara Hana,” supplied Yuki.
“With Fujiwara, on our arrival in Japan,” Cypher continued. “We’re lucky the clearance codes from our original time-line matched here. Anyway, this small cluster are from Xian-Pu’s village.”
“I’m sorely tempted to punch those bitches in their faces before we leave,” Mizuchi growled.
“For personal satisfaction, or to see how their ‘Kiss of Death’ affects their morale when they find out Empress Ragnarok is immortal?” Yuki asked cheekily. “Them not taking the hint could become annoying after a few months.” She pointed to the image. “This last one has been watching us since just after we faxed Ranma’s paperwork.”
“Not to point out the obvious,” Ranma gestured to the Hornet Pixies, “but why haven’t they reacted to you, or the martial arts we just did?”
“That would be the SEP field,” replied Mizuchi. “They know we’re here, but they don’t register us as important at the moment. Genma is giving it a good try. Your version of Anything Goes must have a technique with a similar effect to the SEP field. He can see us, but his brain keeps telling him to ignore us.”
“The Umisenken,” said Ranma with awe. “Why ‘SEP’ field?”
“It comes from a book,” Mizuchi explained. “Somebody Else’s Problem.”
===//===
A few days later saw Fujiwara Hana in a sectioned off room in Minato Hospital’s maternity ward, knowing she now owed her friend one hell of a favour.
“That was an education and a half, Hana-chan,” the blue-haired doctor said, as she warmed her hands with her coffee.
“I’m just sorry it’s going to be another six months before you can tell anyone you helped deliver a baby frost dragon, Saeko-chan,” she replied.