Family Trees
A multi-crossover
Part 5 - A Shift in the Stream
By Thrythlind
Same Warning and Disclaimer: I don't own any of this stuff...and don't take this fic too seriously.
Last Episode: Leaf and Ryouga get annoyed with Jiro Hibiki. The Slayers crew shows up at the Tendo household looking for Sylphiel. Ranma's curse is revealed to the Tenchi crew. The fiancees arrive. Leaf, Jiro and Ryouga arrive at the Tendo houshold. Kasumi and Amelia discuss Xellos. Jiro tries to kill Genma. Kiyone plans to direct her mother to the shrine and discusses Mihoshi's family.
Most people would approach a war zone with the utmost of caution. In fact, most people would not even bother to approach. They would turn around and run at the first sight of an impact crater Partially destroyed structures and still smoking energy blast burns tended to have that effect on people. Kiyone and Mihoshi barely noticed the damage at all.
"Hmm, Ryoko and Ayeka REALLY got into it didn't they, Kiyone?" Mihoshi asked. Kiyone paused to pull something out of a tree.
"A spatula?" Kiyone blinked, and looked around. A brown haired girl stepped out of the trees then and snatched it from her. Kiyone noted the huge spatula strapped to her back.
"Thanks, I was looking for those," the girl said, unconcerned about Kiyone's presence. "Seen any more of these? I'm missing like three still."
"Excuse me," Kiyone said calmly. "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Ukyou Kuonji," the girl said cheerfully. "Who are you two, more of that Tenchi's girlfriends?"
"What?!" Kiyone sputtered. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Tenchi's girlfriend," Mihoshi laughed. "What a...oh hello Ryoko and Ayeka." Mihoshi waved cheerfully to the angry girls.
~Oh no.~ Kiyone sighed and turned to face a fuming Ayeka.
"Detective Kiyone," she said tightly. "What is she talking about?"
"And what do you think about Tenchi?" Ryoko growled at Mihoshi. Mihoshi, being Mihoshi, took the question on face value.
"Well, let's see, he's cute, nice, polite, calm..." She looked up and the subject left her head. "Ooo, look at how pretty the stars are tonight!!"
"Grrr! You two know I don't feel anything for Tenchi," Kiyone growled. "Now, why are you here?"
"I'm here to save my Ranchan from that witch Nabiki," Ukyou said cheerfully. Her next movement was a swift dodge to the side, without changing her basic stance or expression. Where she had been standing a gymnast's club smashed into a tree.
"Why you peasant!" The speaker was a pale-skinned gymnast. "How dare you presume to chase my Ranma-darling! There is no way that he would even consider such a commoner as yourself. Not when he has Kodachi Kuno, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke, ready to give herself to him. OHHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Everybody excepting Ayeka cringed.
"Is there something wrong with that laugh," she asked curiously.
Kiyone face faulted as somebody tried to smash the dark-haired, pale girl with a bon bori. The gymnast leaped out of the way and
"Neither of you marry Airen," the blue haired girl declared. "Amazon law say, he Shampoo groom, so Shampoo marry!"
"Nobody invited you three," a fourth voice nearly growled as another girl walked out of the trees. She tossed Ukyou the missing three spatulas. "There's your spatulas Ukyou."
"Hey, thanks Akane," Ukyou said cheerfully.
"Why you play nice-nice with pathetic violent-girl when she try steal Airen!"
"Why would I want that baka freak!?" Akane shouted. "By the way, Auntie Saotome was sharpening her sword, something about truce-breakers."
"Shampoo behave."
~Just wait until I figure out the manner in which this little beauty operates,~ Kodachi smirked as she fiddled with a bracelet. "Excuse me, I have to find the rest of my clubs."
"Shampoo go set up tent." Both girls vanished into the trees again.
"Okay this is weird," Kiyone growled. "What's going on?"
"Oh, sorry," Akane said politely. "That Baka idiot my dad has me engaged to is Katsuhito's grandson, we're visiting for a little while, these three followed us."
~More descendants of the Jurai? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't ask Mom to come here just now.~ Kiyone looked hard at Akane. "There's something familiar about you."
"You know, I was thinking the same thing about you," Akane said curiously.
"Hey, everybody!" Mihoshi shouted. "Kiyone's parents are coming to visit too!"
~Great, so much for not asking mom to come here."
"Is that so?" Ayeka arched an eyebrow. "Who are your parents Detective Makibi? And why can they not find their own lodgings?"
"Yeah, we don't need more freeloaders," Ryoko agreed.
"Be, careful about accusing people of freeloading, Ryoko!"
"If freeloading is all my father gets up to it'll be a miracle," Kiyone muttered.
"Is it just me," Akane asked. "Or is this getting weird?"
"Weird? around us?" Ukyou said dryly. "You've got to be kidding suger."
In the Nerima, in a similar scene of battle scars and smoking ruin, another group of people were quietly have tea. Aside from the panda and spatula weilding martial artist lying unconscious in pile outside.
"We should apologize for the state of your house, Kasumi-san," Amelia said politely. "Lina can get quite active at times."
"Oh, its no problem at all," Kasumi said as she filled her pot of tea. "Ranma's fiancees and rivals destroy the house on a regular basis. Isn't that right father?" The man nodded from behind is paper.
~Just pretend nothing's happening,~ he thought as he scanned the paper, not noticing it was upside down.
"Will you be staying for the night?" Kasumi asked.
"In this mess?" Gourry asked surprised.
"Jellyfish-brains!" Lina whacked him upside the head. "We made the mess, so don't go complaining about it!"
"Oh this will be fixed in little while," Kasumi said.
"How is that...?" Zelgadis was interrupted by what seemed to be a flash of red light that whipped through the damaged portions of the house. Somebody seemed to step out of the flashing light for a moment, a slim man in a red jumpsuit with lightning bolts on it. He seemed to flicker off and on while the red blur continued zipping about the house.
"What happened here?" he asked Kasumi. "I don't see any of the normal sources of damage, oh wait, there's Ryouga." The bandanna wearing boy absently waved from where he was comparing methods of depression with Zelgadis.
"Some friends of my mother's are visiting," Kasumi said sweetly. "And there was an argument over some spilt food. Thank you for coming, I wasn't certain you'd come out this hour." The man in the red suit nodded momentarily, flickering again, as if saying, oh I see.
"Hey, this is good exercise," the man said before vanishing into the blur again. "I'll have this finished in a moment."
The last sentence seemed to come from everywhere, then suddenly the blur just vanished and the house was in perfect condition again.
"What was that?"
"The contractor," Kasumi said simply. "Will you be staying the night then?"
"Not me," Leaf said standing up, after blinking away the surprise from the rapid fix up job. "I don't have the time to be sitting around here much longer. As soon as my husband wakes up we're out of here." She blinked in surprise. "Oh by the Gods, I sound like SPARK!"
"And I'm going with you!" Ryouga shouted. "Its my only chance to get to Ranma before he does something terrible to Akane!"
"Whatever," Leaf waved the comment aside. They had all been variously breifed on the fiancee/rival situation. Leaf would have felt sorry for the poor boy if it weren't the fact that one of the fiancees was her daughter. "Wait a minute, that gives me an idea."
"Huh?" Ryouga looked nervous as the half-elf smirked, recognizing Ukyou's "I've got a plan" smile.
"See who's at the gate, Sasuke," Kuno ordered. "I must prepare for my trek to face the evil sorcerer Ranma."
"Yes, master," the ninja strolled to the front of the estate and out to the gate. Outside he saw a pair of nearly identical girls. Both wearing long, double pony tails coming out of a braided loop. One was dressed in tight, dark-colored clothes and had a rather venomous look on her face.
The other was fidgeting and appeared rather irritated and anger. The tight discipline in other seemed to not at all be present in the second girl. This one was wearing sweats and a t-shirt that showed more skin but revealed less than the other girl's apparel.
"Is this the Kuno estate?" the fidgety one asked irritably.
"Yes it is," Sasuke said. "How may I help.."
"Who is it Sasuke?" Kuno stepped out into the estate's yard.
~Oh...what a BABE!~ Yohko thought practically drooling, and ignoring Iako's palpable irritation.
~What a ditz,~ Iako thought shaking her head. ~When is she going to learn to apply discipline outside of combat?~
"Two young women, I think they're sisters," Sasuke said. The solemn girl arched an eyebrow at that. Yohko's latest crush didn't survive Kuno opening his mouth again.
"Ah, doubtless they have come to seek the incomparable grace and majesty of Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High. Alas but my heart already belongs to the pig-tailed goddes and the virtuous Akane Tendo. Still such persistance should be rewarded," Sasuke stepped back from the open entrance as the two girls looked at each other for a moment. "Very well I shall....ACCK!!! ARGGH!! EEEK! AEIIII! OW!! OW!! OW!!"
"It seems the rumors of insanity were correct," Iako said cooly.
"Hey, where do you think you're going, toad?!" Yohko shouted, a small blast of magical armor passed in front of the ninja. "We have some questions to ask." Iako's whip flashed out and caught the ninja, bringing him back towards them.
"We are looking for one Kodachi Kuno," Iako said.
"What a coincidence," a new voice said. They turned around to see a woman in her late twenties with long red hair and sparkling red eyes. She was dressed in a manner similar to Iako, but with much brighter colors. "So am I."
"And who are you?" the woman handed her a card. "You-gen-kai-sya? Ayaka Kisaragi?"
"Oh I've heard of you," Iako sneered, holding the ninja out at arm's length. "Mystical investigations, you work for money."
"Family talents for swordsmanship and magic," she shrugged. "Might as well use it to make a living. And you two I guess are Manos, lack of battle dress notwithstanding."
"Yeah, so what are you doing here?" Yohko asked.
"The musuem hired me to recover a supposedly mystical item," she shrugged. "Thanks for going through the gymnast's ahead of me, made it easy to get information."
"Speaking of information," Iako said levelly. All three looked to a nervous Sasuke.
"This is starting to turn into a family reunion weekend," Nabiki said cooly. Behind her Akane and Nodoka were going through family photo albums. Ranma was supposedly doing the same, but it looked more like he was sleeping. "How long has it been anyway?"
"You remember the hell brat?" Kiyone asked.
"Yep," Nabiki nodded. "That's right, didn't see the whole thing though."*
"Think we should warn him?" Kiyone asked, glaring at the younger girl. Both thought about it for a moment.
"Nah."
Xellos glanced about nervously, that sense of impending doom had just deepened.
"Xellos, what is it this time?" Amelia demanded irritably. He had been on the verge of "convincing" her not to be mad anymore when suddenly he's looking for threats again. ~Hmm, wonder if we need a new game.~
"Must be my imagination, Ame-chan," he smiled cheerfully.
"Ooo, Shampoo get see Airen's family!" Shampoo plopped down on the table, oddly enough it fell rather round under her feet, and snatched up the book.
"Hey, what do you think your doing?" Akane demanded.
"That certainly wasn't polite," Nodoka agreed.
"Grrr."
"What that noise?" Shampoo asked then shrugging.
"Excuse miss...Shampoo," Sasami said quietly, pointing down.
"Oh, Shampoo land on Airen head," she giggled. "Sorry." She flipped off, driving Ranma's head back into the table again, and landed on a couch with the book. She flipped through several places and stopped.
"Shampoo, we were looking at that," Akane yelled. "Now give it back and go off and cook up some Ramen or something."
"Who's that?" Shampoo asked turning the book towards Nodoka with a pale expression. She was pointing to a slim angry looking young man standing between a younger Nodoka and some other girl.
"Oh him?" Nodoka said. "That's my brother Wu Fei, we haven't heard from him since he went to China several years ago."
"Airen's uncle name Wu Fei?" Shampoo asked quietly looking at Ranma.
"Why you asking me?" he responded. "I just found out about all this stuff." The amazon looked at the picture and turned a lovely shade of green.
"Excuse me, Shampoo go be very sick now," and with that the amazon vanished through the hole in the wall.
Well, Washu, HAD just fixed it, but Shampoo solved that problem easily enough.
"ARG!!! Ryoko and Ayeka are bad enough!" the pink scientist shouted. "I haven't seen this much damage since my ex was learning black magic. Grrr, a blind man practicing attack spells indeed."
Family Trees
A multi-crossover
Part 6 - A River Redirected
By Thrythlind
Warning and Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters aside from Jiro Kuonji, but he's more of a punching bag than a character. Oh yeah, before I get any comments, in Ruin Explorers, Wiccan is a race of cat people (assuming Fam is typical member) NOT a religion. [I'm going to finish here for the moment though this part is kind of short...I]
Last Episode: Kiyone arrived at the shrine in time to meet the fiancees looking for lost weapons in the woods. The Tendo contractor flashes by to repair the after battle mess back at the Dojo. Leaf comes up with plan that doesn't involve waiting for her husband to wake up. The Manos maul Tatewaki Kuno and meet Ayaka Kisaragi. Nabiki and Kiyone discuss family, and Shampoo makes a sickening (for her) discovery.
"There is NO way I'm going to cast the spell," the woman shouted at her youthful seeming friend. Youthful seeming, and still annoyingly youthful acting at times.
"But Ihrie...I'll just mess up!" The "girl's" tail twitched nervously.
"Why couldn't I pair up with an elf," Ihrie wondered to herself, she was approaching her mid-thirties with an old scar on her cheek. Her long purple hair stuck out at odd angles, as if she had never even heard of a brush before. "They may stay young longer even than you wiccans, but at least they don't ACT like kids."
"Oh come on Ihrie," Fam whined. "We have plenty of your pills. And you're a much better magician than I am and this involves time AND dimension travel and I don't think I can do it right." Ihrie growled, of course Fam was only half right. Raw power and theoretical superiority didn't help much when you only got one spell in each battle. Plus Fam knew all her spells and a several more besides that Ihrie's curse had made impossible for her to learn properly.
"Fam, you once cast a spell in a place normal spellcasting should have been impossible," Ihrie said rubbing her temples irritably. "Even if it was just a simple illusion, you can handle THIS, besides she's your kid, not mine." ~And to think I rejoiced when you finally stopped whining about Lyle. Last time we visited your daughter we ended up getting chased around by some psycho with blue hair.~
"Well...okay, if you say so Ihrie."
"Just cast the spell."
"Back so soon, Shampoo?" Cologne said as Shampoo sort of shuffled into the Nekohanten. "Is something the matter, great-grandaughter?"
"Yes," Shampoo snatched a bowl of ramen and sat down heavily, sort of poking at the noodles before eating experimentally.
"Is the son-in-law..." Cologne ceased speaking, as Shampoo pushed away the bowl of ramen. The color drained out of her face and then returned in shades of green. "What is it Shampoo?"
"Ranma is family," Shampoo said, standing up calmly, and then making a mad dash for the public restroom.
"This complicates matters," Cologne said to herself.
"Decisions, decisions," Nabiki said to herself, watching Ryoko and Ayeka fight off into the hills. Tenchi was in the fields doing chores, this early in the morning, Ranma was still asleep. Nabiki had seen Akane in the dining area in the process of waking up. She must have had a long night, Akane wasn't usually that tired in the morning. Still, her asking how Kasumi had gotten so short was quite amusing. Ryoko had no money that she could determine, so it was useless selling the little information she had gleaned to the pirate. She doubted Ayeka would be willing to believe it, so blackmailing her was out of the question. "Now, Xellos on the other hand," Nabiki pondered that. How much farther could she push him before he called her bluff.
"So you noticed her too?" Nabiki turned to Kiyone, who was suddenly just there. Nabiki wasn't surprised, she hadn't felt a teleport, but that was probably because Kiyone hadn't teleported.
"Of course YOU never thought of getting a little advantage from that," Nabiki said, dryly.
"Knowing you, you've already found excuses to avoid the schemes that would really hurt her," Kiyone said. "And have gone on to, 'let's get daddy.'"
"Its hard to make any money with you around," Nabiki said. "Its too much like actually having a conscience."
"By the way," Nabiki turned to face her. "How did you get him to teach you the teleport thing?"
"What do you care, you've always been happy without magic," Nabiki commented. "Hell, even I only drag the stuff out of him for a little oneupmanship."
"Curiosity, and I could have used the "
"Payment for getting me and Akane out of town."
"From the sounds of it you were already coming here," Kiyone said. Then she smiled. "I can't wait to see his reaction to that."
"KIYONE!!" the teal-haired woman face-faulted as Mihoshi called out in search of her. "Where are you Kiyone!?!?? Oh there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Incoming!" Nabiki shouted pointing up into the sky at the descending body. Kiyone saw it, judged the trajectory and smirked a little.
Tenchi returning from some morning chores looked up and sighed. "What now?"
"Oh sorry, Mihoshi, didn't mean to be avoiding you or anything," Kiyone said nervously. The falling person approached with rapid speed.
"Well you should be more considerate...ooo look at the cool rock!" Mihoshi bent down to pick up said rock as the falling person zoomed past her towards a wide-eyed Kiyone. "Hey, Kiyone, what happened to you?"
"Is that a giant spatula?" Nabiki asked pointing at the unconscious pair.
"You IDIOT!!! Now we'll have to find out where he landed!" This was followed by a sleeping Ranma landing in the courtyard by Akane express.
"Ever alert martial artist," she hmphed. "GET BACK HERE RYOKO!"
"COME AND GET ME SLOW POKE!!!" Ryoko shouted back.
~Hmm...she's getting better at this.~ Everybody watched them pass and sweatdropped. Ranma snored.
"Hey, what's with all the noise?" Ukyou walked up to the rest of the crowd stretching out the kinks from sleeping on the ground. She looked back to where Kiyone was coming around underneath the the human bullet. "Dad?"
Shampoo, who had disappeared sometime last night, and Ukyou had refused to impose on anybody as uninvited guests and set up camps. Nobody knew where Kodachi had ended up.
"I'm sorry, but he irritated me!" The Nerimites looked at each other and groaned. Akane noted a bucket of water and started in that direction.
"Grrr...Mihoshi!" Kiyone staggered to her feet in time to see Akane splash Ranma awake. "What did you do that for?" Ranma-chan shouted.
"What the...huh? Wow, interesting wedding night."
"Dady's little girl," Nabiki smirked, ignoring Kiyone's growl.
"Hey, who's the new girl?" the non nerimites facefaulted as they tried to figure out how Mihoshi had seen it happen and still didn't figure it out. "She's cute." This, on the other hand, surprised them.
"Ah Ha!" Nobuyuki shouted. "I knew it!"
"Quick! Turn me back to a guy!"
"Mihoshi! You're giving us a reputation!"
"Ah ha!! There he is! RANMA SAOTOME PREPARE TO DIE!!!"
"Hmm? Ryouga great to see you man!"
"Shut up, Ranma, I'm here to punish you for your mistreatment of women!" This resulted in two roving fights. "Do those two ever give it a rest?" Ukyou asked watching the pair of martial artists take their explosive match into the hills.
"No." Tenchi and Akane said at once, then looked at each other and blinked.
"Great now I lost them both, hold it," Leaf scratched the tip of her ear. "If that was Ranma Saotome, that means we're here."
"MOM!" Ukyou shouted in surprise. ~Wow she looks just like she did when she left, how does she do it?~
"Ucchan!" the elfin girl, about Ukyou's height, but a little slimmer. "I found you!" The two hugged and jumped up and down amid numerous sweatdrops.
"Dad said you were dead!"
"Yeah, well, he's an idiot," Leaf said. "Umm, what happened to your ears?"
"Oh, yeah," she blushed and shifted her hair to let the pointed ears show.
"Ukyou!?" Akane shouted in surprise. "Ukyou's an elf?" Nabiki blinked in surprise.
"Dad said they'd attract too much attention," Ukyou said shyly. Leaf glared at the unconscious Jiro. "What happened to him anyway?"
"He accused that Ryouga boy of taking advantage of you," Leaf said. "How'd he know I tried to...uh...oops." Leaf leveled a look at her making Ukyou realize she had just given too much away.
"Accident with a love potion?"
"Grrr..." Leaf fumed. "I'll talk to him, AFTER I talk to you about some things."
"Like what?"
"Like immortality for on thing," all the Nerimans present, with the notable exception of Nabiki, face faulted.
"No, we are not sisters," Iako said crisply. "Why do people keep asking us that?"
"Hey, you too look so identical that HAS to be the next thing on most people's minds."
"Well, we AREN'T sisters," Yohko insisted, though she really wouldn't mind it very much.
"My point exactly," Ayaka said.
"We should be getting on with travelling to look for the Kuno," Iako said puzling over her comrades' abilities to waste time. "But since you insist on pestering us." Iako pulled a photograph from a pocket that seemed to be in her clothes some where though nobody could figure out where.
"Hey, Iako what are you doing with a picture of my father?" Iako blinked.
"Grrrr."
"Ha!" Ayaka declared. "I knew you were sisters. "Oh my Iako, isn't this great?" Yohko smiled at who was turning out to be her half-sister. ~By the first devil-hunter!~ Iako thought. ~She's going to hug me...she's GOING TO hug me!"