Divine Blood - Chapter 13

"Wait out here," Morrigan said.

"Considering who we're going after," Horus said. "I think it might be better for you not to go alone."

"I'm never really alone," Morrigan noted. "And I'm not going in their looking like some frilly girl that needs support to face up to a restricted licensed rogue."

"This is Zeus," Tyr noted. "It doesn't matter what gesture you make, he'll take it to mean you went out of your way to make a point."

"Well, two cripples and a woman sent to collect me," Zeus said, stepping out of his palace, thunderbolt in hand. "I feel almost insulted."

Morrigan turned slowly around to face the god she'd come to take down.

"Are you intending to resist?" she asked.

"You don't expect me to meekly follow you to tartarus, do you?" Zeus asked.

All four were slowly manuevering around each other, waiting for the first move to be made.

None of them were quite ready for a rather steamed looking woman to come storming out of the palace and slamming Zeus in the back of the head with a solid, metallic urn.

"Adultry is bad enough," Hera sniped at the unconscious diety. "But you are not ruining my house because you're too important to obey the rules!"

Morrigan blinked and looked down at her quarry and up at Hera.

"My...isn't this unsatisfying," Morrigan said.

"And you three can just take him with you," Hera said. "I'm sure he'll try to escape at some point and you can fight him then and destroy whatever landscape happens to be...down there...away from my house!"

Morrigan rolled her head back and shook it before growling irritably and heading out of the palace grounds. Behind her, Tyr and Horus shrugged and then collected Zeus and his weapon.

---

"Yeah, I need that brought in today," Ranma told the salesman. "Your delivery guy can get that done right?"

"Certainly," the man said, nodding. "It'll be there this evening. Do you need any help moving it around?"

"No, I think I can handle that," the red-head said.

She walked out of the furniture store and checked the next step on her list.

"Crystals," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

The weapons and training gear had been mostly salvagable, and what wasn't she'd already replaced.

The quickest way to get crystals were New Age shops, specifically ones that had an artist cutting the crystals for sale.

Ranma hated New Age shops.

Her few crystals, mostly shattered now, were for exorcisms and other such rituals. She wouldn't have bothered with it right now except for one issue:

She was now responsible for teaching a particular soldier how to manipulate chi. Even that alone wouldn't need any particular tools, but she had to get him used to focusing tools as well.

There was no room for complaint however.

It was her that had pushed the training issue.

It was her that had destroyed the crystals she did have.

Hoist on her own emotional triggers. A familiar state of being.

---

"You want what?" Mardukas demanded.

"I want Sol...Sagara to come to me for training," Ranma said.

"Sergeant Sagara is already well trained in hand-to-hand combat," Mardukas retorted.

"Yes," Ranma said. "I heard from the Tom...Chidori-san that he beat a kendo-master that used to harass me when we were his age. Not just beat, but soundly beat. Meaning he might be...almost...as good as I was at his age, stress might. While I could teach him a lot about martial arts, he doesn't outright need me to."

"And if it isn't hand-to-hand combat," Mardukas asked. "Then what other skill do you have that you could teach him. He does not have psionic potential."

"She wants to teach him how to use the lambda driver," Tessa said.

Mardukas looked to his commanding officer as she got off the phone with Kaname Chidori.

"And what would she know about how to use a top secret prototype," Mardukas asked.

"I was there," Ranma said. "I know what I saw. I know what I felt."

The red-head looked around for a moment and directed her hand away from the three. Swiftly enough, the chi she was focusing turned visible and thrust outward, stopping just short of her building's wall as she turned back toward her visitors.

"That's a manifestation of raw, unrefined chi," Ranma said. "It's what your lambda drivers are making. The other thing, the shield? Martial artists call that battle-aura. He hasn't been able to use it outside of points of extreme emotional intensity yet, has he?"

"Given his report," Tessa said. "That's about right."

"If he wasn't piloting one of those things," Ranma said. "He wouldn't need the training. He's actually a more pure battle-specialist than I've ever been. But this mecha of yours needs more than just battle-skills."

"And your mysticism can help him control it?" Mardukas asked.

"Mysticism," Ranma said, rolling his eyes. "Mystics are half-trained morons that put together incomplete theories out of anime and old myths. Chi-use, white magic and black magic have rules, predictable results and measurable capabilities. It just so happens that most of our tools for using and measuring it is in our heads and bodies."

"So you're saying it's not voodoo, it's science?" Mardukas asked in a scoffing tone.

"Think about it," Tessa said. "Science is the process of testing hypotheses and determining their validity. Science is how you gain knowledge, not the knowledge itself. To outright deny a hypotheses without testing is thoroughly unscientific."

"Right," Ranma said nodding. "And the use of that knowledge is where the art comes in. Now, when I was a kid his age, I was an undisciplined lout that could barely think past hi...her fist."

"You sound as if you aren't that different from Sergeant Sagara," Mardukas noted.

"Seriously? Are we talking about the same Sergeant?" Ranma asked.

"There's only one that I know of," the commander said through a grimace.

"The bottom line is that I want to make sure that that young man is as prepared for that thing as possible," Ranma said.

"Loyalty to your new employer, Miss Satomi?" Mardukas asked.

"Loyalty to my daughter," Ranma returned before continuing in a low tone of voice that had Tessa straining to even confirm she was saying anything. "Just like you're here trying to get to know the parent of someone now close to someone you care for."

Mardukas stared at her for a moment.

"That's how you feel about it then?" Mardukas asked.

"That's how I feel about it," Ranma confirmed.

---

"Anyway, crystals," Ranma said to herself as she put aside memories and stopped in front of the new age store.

She checked the sign and looked relieved when she saw indications that they carved their own crystals.

She walked in and immediately rubbed the bridge of her nose over her John-Lennons as she got a look at the chi and other energies within the new age shop.

"Welcome," a cheerful girl said as Ranma entered. "Oh my, your aura is terribly stressed. Maybe we can help you out with some nice incense and maybe a crystal or two."

Ranma sighed, most aura readers that saw Ranma took several minutes trying to figure out what she was.

"Actually, I'm here to by some crystals," Ranma said. "I need to look through your raw, uncut stock."

The girl paused in a bit of confusion.

"We have several already cut crystals, Ma'am," the girl said. "And they're all quite beautiful."

"Yes," Ranma said. "I see that, but none of them are quite what I need. So if you can show me your uncut crystals, I can negotiate a price for them and we can be on our way."

"But then you'd have to do the work yourself," the girl said. "Surely it's more expedient to purchase one of the front-room pieces."

"I'm not looking for sculptures," Ranma said, a little more rudely than she might normally have said. "I need useful crystals."

"The artisan is an expert in cutting crystals, Ma'am," the saleswoman said. "I can assure you..."

"Okay, Miss," Ranma said, patience snapping. "Look here, see this pretty white column here?"

"Yes," the girl said. "That's for focusing and connecting with heaven..."

"It's cut for white magic," Ranma corrected. "It's a crystal connected with black magic. If someone with any power tried to use it in a ritual, pretty much all it would do is explode. Now, this green one here."

"Uh, it's for the enhancement of personal..." the girl started.

"Personal energy, chi, I know," Ranma said. "But it's been cut to look pretty and any use it had is gone."

"There's a bloodstone charm here..." the girl said, turning to indicate said item.

"Which is quite eagerly going to give the wearer's energy to anybody that passes him or her," Ranma finished. "Really, just show me the uncut crystals before I really lose my patience and start demonstrating what's wrong instead of just telling you!"

"Uh, hai," the girl said nervously. "One moment."

The woman walked into the back of the shop.

"Maybe I should see about setting up a deal with some mines or something," Ranma said shaking her head in annoyance.

It was a minute or so later that the young woman came back with a trolley of boxes for Ranma to pick through. After a few good pieces, and picking up the bloodstone charm as well so that she could destroy it before someone unsuspecting stumbled on it, she thanked the woman and started to walk out of the store.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," the girl said.

"Hmm?" Ranma asked at the door.

"You're not looking for an apprentice...are you?" she asked.

"Full up at the moment," Ranma said before walking out of the store. A few yards away she started to mumble. "The only saving grace there is that no one who could actually do anything would ever use any of these."

The fire at Hikaru Gosunkugi's apartment a few days later would have proved that last statement wrong if she'd heard about that.

---

"Sousuke, are you okay?" Shinji said as he came into the classroom and noticed the other boy's bandaged hands.

"I'm fine," he responded. "They are merely minor burns from an incident last night."

"Minor burns?" Kyoko said, joining the conversation with Mizuki next to her. "You look like you stuck your hand into a fire."

"Oh, it wasn't anything like that," Kaname said laughing the burns off nervously. "He just spilled some hot oil while he was cooking."

Mizuki and Kyoko looked at each other. Kaname's nervous laugh was a bit too obvious for them.

"Is that so?" Mizuki asked with a smirk Kaname found worrisome. "You burned it cooking?"

"Affirmative," Sousuke said after a moment.

"Ouch," Shinji said. "Grease burns are painful."

"So you were cooking dinner with Kaname then?" Kyoko asked.

"Affirmative," Sousuke said. "We were roasting chestnuts for a lamb recipe I learned in the guerilla camps in Helmjastad."

"You were cooking a recipe from childhood for Kaname...at whose apartment?" Mizuki asked.

Kaname straightened as she started to see the flaw in their cover plan.

"Well, I've been staying with Miss Chidori the past two days," Sousuke said.

"What!" Kyoko gasped. "Kaname is this true?"

"It's because someone busted the door at his place," Kaname protested quickly. "That's all! The apartment complex is still fixing his door."

"Wow," Mizuki said. "I never would have figured you for that kind of thing, Kaname."

Several sets of eyes turned toward Mizuki as she made that comment.

"What?" she asked, apparently forgetting that she'd met the group after initiating a gossip campaign against Kaname that spread much worse things.

"Are you really staying at Kaname's, Sousuke?" Shinji asked.

"On a temporary basis only," Sousuke said. "I am borrowing a space of her living room floor until repairs can be completed to my residence."

"You sleep on the floor?" Kyoko said, sounded more than a little let down. "That's sort of disappointing. But still a little romantic."

"There's nothing like that going on, really," Kaname insisted.

"I'm not exactly clear on what the issue is," Sousuke said in clear confusion.

"Of course you wouldn't be," Kaname said rolling her eyes.

"So I guess that puts Kaname in the lead right now," Kyoko said.

"In the lead?" Kaname asked.

"Is Miss Chidori in some sort of competition?"

Both Mizuki and Kyoko smiled at the two and laughed knowingly.

Oh, great, they think Eija and I are love rivals over Sousuke.

Love rivals? What?

Yeah you should see thei...Eija! I can hear you again! Kaname sat up looking a combination of relieved and concerned. I thought you were trying to fix this.

"Miss Chidori is something wrong?" Sousuke asked as he turned to look at Kaname.

I Think all we did was stop it from getting worse. Eija thought. I think the only reason you can hear me right now is...

You're back on Earth! Kaname declared mentally with a broad smile.

Yes, that.

"Umm, Kaname," Kyoko said. "You're starting to scare us over here."

"Oh, sorry about that," Kaname said. "I just remembered...Eija's supposed to be back in town today. And I just had this feeling that she was somewhere nearby."

She glanced over at Sousuke and winked at him with a thumbs up. He took a moment to look at her in confusion before nodding as he realized what she meant.

Kaname wasn't certain, but she thought she saw his shoulders relax a little at her delivery.

---

"You look a little distracted, Eija-chan," Urd said to her charge as they stepped into the temple. "Glad to be back so soon?"

"I was just talking to Kaname," Eija said.

"Oh," Belldandy said coming from further in the temple. "I'd guess she's glad to know you're back too."

"I'll be interested in meeting her soon myself," a fourth goddess said. "And your mother."

Eija turned to look at the other woman, standing beside her with grey hair contrasting a grave, youthful face.

"Hai, grandmother," Eija said.

Grandmother? Kaname thoughts carried to Eija.

"If you please, Lady Persephone," Belldandy said. "We had a call from a friend of ours to ask that we wait for her to speak to Miss Satomi first."

"Oh, who would that be?" Persephone asked, honestly curious.

---

Ranma could feel the powerful energies behind the door well before she heard the knock. In fact, it was familiar.

She'd felt this particular energy once before, very recently.

Ranma narrowed her eyes as she walked to the door and opened it on the image of a blonde European woman with fangs that the martial artist had seen once before.

"Well?" Mara asked.

A brief instant later, and she was doubled over Ranma's fist, eyes wide. And Mara was able to confirm that was a lot more than a thousand punches that connected.

Ranma, fury clear on her face, coolly helped Mara straighten herself and waited for the demoness to catch her breath.

Then the red-head's elbow slammed into the demoness's lower back, with similar insane frequency, causing Mara to arch backwards and almost lose her balance. Bracing herself against Ranma's shoulder, Mara slowly recovered from that impact.

Wordlessly, Ranma gripped the demoness's shoulder and stopped, sensing that the flesh there was already injured. Grimacing, she moved around to Mara's other side and swiftly pulled the shoulder out of joint, covering the demoness's mouth to contain the involuntary scream that followed.

Mara leaned into her, arm hanging loose at her side and shakily waited for the shock to fade so that she could prepare herself for whatever came next.

Unmoving as a statue, Ranma let Mara lean against her until the demoness pushed away and was standing straight again, the one arm hanging loosely at her side. She took a deep breath and nodded at Ranma with a grimace.

The red-head stepped forward and matter of factly rammed the arm back into place.

If anything, that hurt worse than the original dislocation and Ranma found herself having to fully catch the demoness and actively prop Mara up before she could wrap her mind around steadying herself.

"Have I made myself clear?" Ranma asked coolly.

Mara nodded wordlessly, still leaning against her student's mother.

"Where's Naiki?" Ranma asked.

"On her way," Mara said.

The demoness didn't have to add that she hadn't wanted Naiki to be present for this. The fact that Mara was alive and not bruised visibly was proof enough that Ranma had realized what she was doing.

"Come in, we'll wait for her inside," Ranma said, moving slowly toward the door and letting Mara lean on her until they reached a couch for her to sit down on.

---

"Kaname! Sousuke!" Eija called out as she turned the corner to see the other two.

Quickly she moved forward to hug both of the them, to the surprise of each. Though, they probably would have known better if they had seen Ranma meeting her kids after some questionable seperations.

We've been talking since you got back, Kaname thought.

That's not the same as seeing you two, Eija returned.

Behind them coming out of the school, Kyoko pulled out her camera and clicked a picture.

"Miss Satomi, is everything okay?" Sousuke asked the girl that was currently wrapped around him and Kaname.

"Umm, fine, Sousuke," Eija said.

"Everybody's watching us," Kaname whispered through a smiling face.

Embarassed suddenly, Eija let go of the other two and stepped back, suddenly aware that she'd started no small number of rumors as the other students walked past them.

"It's good to see you're both safe, Miss Satomi, Miss Chidori," Sousuke said to the blushing girl.

"Both..." Mizuki started to ask.

"Those are neat tattoos by the way," Kaname said suddenly, cutting off Mizuki from wondering about why Sousuke would think they were both in danger.

"Oh, they're cute," Kyoko said, snapping a picture.

"They're not exactly tattoos," Eija said.

"They're an inherited mark," a new voice said. "Usually our family has them at birth, but sometimes it takes a while to show up."

Everyone turned toward the tall, grey-haired woman with the youthful smiling face and marks small, seed-shaped blue marks at the corners of her eyes and a blue circle with a small oval taken out of it on her forehead.

As she moved forward, the usual small area of space formed by people diverting around Eija grew significantly.

Sousuke frowned and started to step forward.

"Grandmother?" Kaname asked.

"Grandmother," Eija confirmed.

"I see," Sousuke noted, stepping back slightly and relaxing.

"Sousuke, Kaname, Kyoko," Eija said formally. "This is my...father's mother. Persephone DisPater."

"Ma'am," Sousuke said with a cautious nod.

"I guess...I'm pleased to meet you," Kaname said.

Persephone...as in... Kaname asked Eija.

Queen of the Underworld.

"Sousuke Sagara, Kaname Chidori" Persephone said with a measuring smile. "I've been reading your files."

"Files?" Kyoko asked.

Sousuke blinked and wondered what sort of file he had in Heaven.

"Kyoko," Persephone said turning to the other girl. "I'm glad to see there are still some people that are truly accepting of all people."

"Umm, thank you," Kyoko said. "You look a little young to be a grandmother."

"I've aged well," Persephone said.

"We were heading home, Kaname and Sousuke," Eija said. "Would you come with m...us?

"I'd like to get to know the both of you a bit better myself," Persephone said.

"Umm, why?" Kaname asked.

"That's a matter for private discussion," Persephone said quietly before turning toward Eija and saying something in Greek.

What did she say?

She said that we're lucky we get along so well, Eija returned. She imagines that some links would just about drive people crazy.

---

Tessa looked up from her own work as she felt the strengthening of a presence in the back of her mind.

Miss Satomi? she asked.

Hey, Tessa! Wow, you're nowhere nearby.

No, I guess I'm not. Is everything fixed?

Yes, it is. I'm a full fledged demon now, so we're not going to have to worry about melting into each other.

That's good to hear, Tessa said with a smile. I'm guessing you'll be seeing your mother again then. I'm glad. She's been worried.

I'll bet my brother and sister have been complaining, too, Naiki responded.

Unlike Naiki and Kaname, Tessa had more than a few experiences with telepathy and knew how to avoid accidentally blurting out information, but some emotions still leaked through.

Something wrong? Naiki asked. Did something happen?

Your sister had a similar problem as we did, Tessa said.

Naiki flinched as she recalled Kaname's spirit bleeding into Eija and cursed herself for forgetting that with her own problems.

She and Kaname...?

No, they should be safe if we are. Eija went to Heaven for the same reason you went to Hell.

Come to think of it, Geisthexe-san did say there was someone else casting spells that night.

Idly, Tessa wondered if life with Naiki in the back of her head was going to involve having to hear every thought that went through the other girl's head.

She sighed and shook her head.

Wait, what about Deimosu, is he fine?

I...don't know. You'll have to ask your mother. She hasn't said much of what's going on there.

Tessa enjoyed a few moments of mental quiet again as she bent to her task of working on the Whispered version of the Demon and God transformation devices.

So I'm a demon and my sister's a goddess...that's weird.

Tessa sighed and restrained herself from insensitively demanding quiet.

Yes. I can see how that would be. She kept her thoughts about how useful it was far below her surface thoughts.

I wonder if Geisthexe-san knew about any of this.

Tessa was rapidly coming to understand the concept of captive audience.

I wouldn't know. Tessa responded.

Really Naiki was a likeable enough person. And she did owe her life to the girl. And Naiki had just learned a few unpleasant things, from Tessa at that...

I wonder what time it is.

...but trying to figure out which thoughts were directed at her and which were just floating randomness was...tiring and aggravating.

I'm guessing you're going to need some privacy, coming up, Tessa thought with deliberate calmness. So I'm going to try an experiment and block you out for a bit. Kind of like you did to me just before you left.

The other...?...umm okay...How do I know if it w...

Well, she could still feel Naiki's emotions, but the mental chatter had quieted to an acceptable level. Save the one time her name was practically shouted before things got quiet again.

---

Tessa? Tessa? TESSA! Naiki waited for a little bit to see if there was a response.

"Okay," she said. "I guess that worked."

She'd have to thank Tessa for going to the effort later

The young demoness checked her watch and noted the time before starting to walk down the street. It was about fifteen minutes past the time Mara had told her to wait for.

She bit her lip nervously, still trying to process the fact that her mother had been alone the last two days, and that her brother and sister were gone.

She was considering this as she walked down the road, toward the warehouse her family had been living in the past few months. It didn't take long to pick up Geisthexe-san's scent, but it was in the direction she was going anyway so it hardly mattered.

Naiki stopped at the outer wall of the warehouse and took a deep breath before walking up the path toward the building and into the door.

The furniture was new.

That was a bad sign.

Geisthexe-san was sitting on a couch with an ice-pack on her shoulder and past that was her mother, practicing katas. The older demoness nodded quietly in that direction.

"Ummm, 'Kaasan," Naiki said, stepping forward.

Ranma stopped and turned around to see her daughter standing there, and the amount of relief visible behind her calm expression was painful to watch.

"I'm back," she said.

Ranma walked up to her and hugged the green-haired girl tightly for several seconds before stepping back and examining the red marks on Naiki's face.

"Welcome home," Ranma said. "I'll get some food started."

Naiki was about to ask about Eija and Deimosu when something occurred to her. She looked over at Mara, pointed at the ice pack on the shoulder and scrunched up her eyes.

"Weren't you shot in the other shoulder?" she asked, finger pointing between the two shoulders.

"I had an accident getting here," Mara said.

The door opened then, letting in Eija and company.

"Okaasan!" Eija called out. "I'm...Naiki."

Eija stopped short inches away from her taller, green-haired sister and looked up into the other girl's red-marked face.

The two stared at each other for several seconds taking in the changes to each other.

On the couch, Mara stood up as she recognized the woman coming in with Eija and the two humans, and truly wished that she could afford to teleport away just now.

The scene was interrupted as Ranma moved in to hug both her children tightly.

---

In the kitchen, Ranma had drafted Kaname and Eija to cooking for the surprise influx of visitors.

The red-head was both relieved by the delay at speaking to her children and firmly aggravated. A fact that Kaname and Eija had both noted.

Usually, Okaasan is a very good cook. Eija noted.

Yeah, I've had dinner here before. Kaname agreed. Found another piece of cutting board.

These were new kitchen tools, Eija noted as she threw away another knife.

"Okay, not exactly my best work," Ranma said with a flat tone that Eija recognized as her trying not react emotionally. "But it should be edible."

"Oh, it looks fine Satomi-san," Kaname said.

"Yeah," Ranma said, doubtfully. "I believe that."

She looked out of the kitchen to the living room where her other daughter sat with Sousuke and the other two "guests."

Sousuke was overlooking the situation and finding it somewhat reminescent of times when he'd been on hand as security for the meetings of officials from opposing factions.

Currently, they were picking at the fruit their host had put out and staring at each other across the table. The demoness was, to Sousuke's eyes, notably more nervous, but still refusing to back down.

"Enjoying probation?" Persephone inquired.

The demoness picked up a piece of fruit and held it out to the Queen of the Underworld.

"Pomegranate? Mara asked.

"No, thank you," Persephone said, looking over Mara's outfit. "That's a lovely white trash look, by the way."

"Really," Mara responded. "I suppose a trophy wife would be an expert on all things skanky."

Both other-worldly women narrowed their eyes and continued glaring. Though the sweat at Mara's brow left no doubt who was getting the better of the staredown.

Yes, this was a very familiar situation, Sousuke reasoned.

At about this point Ranma walked in from the kitchen and set down the prepared food.

"Okay," she said and then moved on before anybody could respond. "Who here knows what happened with me a decade and a half ago?"

"I do," Persephone noted.

"A little," Eija said quietly from Ranma's side.

Very quietly, almost trying not to attract attention, Mara wincingly raised her hand.

Persephone stared at Mara, noting her hesitance with the human martial artist and arched an eye brow in consideration.

For her part, Ranma was mostly looking at Eija, a grimace clearly on her face.

"And the facts of the matter are important to what you're here to talk about," Ranma said with a fake, smile. "Am I right."

"Unfortunately so," Persephone noted.

"Okay then," Ranma said, rubbing her forehead. "Naiki, Eija, we're going to my room. Everybody else, enjoy the food. This is my house. All smiting privileges are mine."

With that said she turned around and walked through the practice floor towards the stairwell leading up to her bedroom and study, Eija following. A little behind her, Naiki stood up and followed looking completely lost.

"Smiting privileges," Persephone said. "What an amusing joke."

"That was not a joke," Sousuke said. "I have found Miss Satomi to be rather glib with her threats, but she tends not to bluff."

"It's really not a joke," Mara said in agreement.

---

Ranma sat down on her bed and crossed her arms and legs as she considered how to break the news...to Naiki at least.

"I was going to wait to tell you all this for a little bit," Ranma said. "But, at least two of you already learned."

"Learned what?" Naiki asked as she snagged Ranma's office chair before Eija could, ignoring the young goddess's irritated sigh.

"I have to tell you something about your other parents..." Ranma said.

It was a few minutes to tell the story and Ranma watched the reactions of her girls.

"I thought it was just the one," Eija said quietly before moving hesitantly to sit down beside her mother and wrap her arms around the red-head.

Ranma sighed and patted Eija's arms, amused by the girl's attempts to comfort her.

Naiki was another story.

"The Gods did this?" Naiki said angrily. "Heaven. Source of love, justice and all that crap?"

She paced over to Ranma's window and cracked open one of the blinds to look down at their guests.

"You let one of their mothers in the house!" Naiki demanded. "A bunch of hypocrites."

"They are not!" Eija protested, standing up. "Anything that can think can be prone to bad decisions."

"My actual quote is," Ranma noted. "'Anything with a brain can fuck up.'"

"Err, right," Eija said.

"So why don't we go down there and kick her out right now?" Naiki said.

"The Gods didn't obscure facts from one of my daughters that there were two options for fixing a problem she was having," Ranma noted firmly. "Or deny me the chance to really see her off. So forgive me if I think both sides have their faults."

Naiki hopped from one foot to another, trying to keep her temper on hand while thinking things through.

"But, they..." Naiki said, uncertain. "And you never said anything."

Ranma walked up to her and laid both arms on her shoulders.

"Do you think I ever wanted to put this sort of burden on any of you?" she asked. "I knew it would come back on us. I knew I'd have to tell you. I was just hoping it wouldn't be until after college."

"You're going to let these people who hurt you in our house," Naiki asked grimmly.

"These people haven't hurt me," Ranma said, lying a little bit in the case of Mara.

At least from Ranma's perspective.

"And...my...that woman," Eija said. "She's a criminal. She stole relics from heaven and ran. There's something more to this than just a..." she glanced at her human mother helplessly.

"Someone's been pulling our strings," Ranma said. "And it's probably not them out there."

"What if they try something again?" Naiki asked.

"Then we'll fight back," Ranma promised. "God, Demon, Human or whatever, we stand together. You with me?"

"I agree," Eija said firmly.

Naiki paused a moment, trying to juggle the emotions that were telling her to march out there and beat the hell out of Persephone and the resolution to think before acting.

Her mother was saying to wait and see who was really behind things.

"I don't have to like them," Naiki said. "Well, except for Eija."

---

Tessa paused in her work. She'd need to double check the design with Kaname anyway, but that wasn't why she was pausing.

The intensity of emotion coming through her link with Naiki was almost overwhelming. And they were hardly pleasant emotions.

Setting her drafting pencil down, she slowly unblocked her link.

It was like opening the door to a sound-proofed room and finding a TV blaring at full volume on the other side.

Naiki, she thought firmly. Calm down.

Calm down! Naiki snapped. I just learned that I was born because the fucking Gods raped my mother.

The Gods... Tessa repeated. In general?

No...three specific ones, Naiki said. The mother of one of them is here. Persephone. She came with Eija.

Do you think your mother would mind if I listen in? Tessa asked, leaning back. You'll need to think about everything people say so that I can hear it.

'Kaasan, Tessa wants to know if it's okay to listen in.
'Kaasan, Tessa wants to know if it's okay to listen in.

'Sousuke will just report it anyway, so why not.' That's what she said.

Tessa opened her desk and pulled a notepad out, picking up a pen.

Thank you, Tessa said. Maybe I can help you untangle some of this.

---

"Miss Chidori, are you okay?" Sousuke asked as he noted how pale Kaname was getting.

"Likely she's getting Eija's side of the conversation taking place above," Persephone said.

"You mean about your husband's games?" Mara asked snidely.

Sousuke frowned as he listened to the conversation. He'd seen Ranma's file, including the reported sexual assault. But the report in the file indicated a female perpetrator. Granted, these were supernatural beings, they might be able to change gender.

"My husband," Persephone said a bit surprised. "Is that what she wants you to think?"

Mara looked back at the Iron Queen in confusion for a moment.

The conversation was cut short as the Satomis came back down into the living area.

"Okay," Ranma said. "Everybody's up to speed."

Naiki sat down next to Mara, glaring hatefully at Persephone as she did so.

"In that case," the grey-haired goddess said. "I should note that Zeus and Poseiden were both taken into custody and are now being held in Tartarus. Hecate, unfortunately, seems to have prepared for this and has left."

"Hecate," Mara said. "Hecate is behind this?"

"And took a bunch of weapons too," Naiki said. "Right?"

"That is correct," Persephone said reluctantly. "I see having a grand-daughter with a demon for a sister is going to be...interesting."

"No worse than a grandmother with a rapist for a daughter," Naiki said. The grey-haired goddess's eyes narrowed as she started to rise from her seat.

"Naiki," Ranma said firmly. "And, lady, you're a guest in my house, so watch what you say about my children here."

"My apologies," Persephone said, sitting back down. "You're right, I am the one that owes you. And your...child is correct about mine."

"What sort of person is this Hecate?" Sousuke asked. "It sounds as if she is the sort to prepare things carefully in advance and not prone to doing things simply for the thrill."

"That's accurate," Persephone said. "She's been handling Yggdrassil security for millenia."

"But you guys had the wrong information," Kaname noted. "In fact, I recognize Geisthexe-san from school, and she'd been around for almost a month. So they knew about you guys a long time before the...Gods did."

Mara looked around at everybody.

"They were also given false information," Sousuke said.

"I understand where you're going with this," Mara said. "You're saying that Hecate is working with some of our people. That's impossible."

Naiki's head seemed to be switching between whoever was talking, half mouthing what they were saying.

"My daughter made no secret of her dislike of demons," Persephone said. "She has even refused to acknowledge Heaven's demonic citizens. It would be very unlike her to cooperate with any demon, much less one still within Nifelheim."

"There aren't any demons that would work with her either," Mara said. "She's got too much of a reputation from before the truce. And we're fairly certain she hasn't reincarnated once since before the truce."

"What? No, I'm sure she's reincarnated at least once recently," Persephone said. "She was out of touch for some years."

"Whatever. I've known people that would kill each other without thinking about it," Ranma said. "Work together to get rid of a bigger problem. Or at least try to. And I've known people who play tricks to make others dance to their tune."

"Hecate prefers a...personal touch," Persephone noted.

"I know," Ranma said harshly. "I've felt it."

"But she does have a manipulative bent," the Iron Queen added, shifting in shame at Ranma's statement. "Unfortunately, without knowing what her goals are, there is little we can say about her plans."

"You're being quiet suddenly," Eija noted to Naiki.

"I'm trying to keep track of what's going on for Tessa," Naiki explained.

"I get the feeling there's something missing that's right in front of somebody's face," Kaname said.

"I have to agree with Miss Chidori," Sousuke said.

"If I may, where is your son, Miss Satomi," Persephone asked.

"He eavesdropped on a conversation I had with an old friend," Ranma said. "Went off on his own the same night these two did."

"Then I am still at a loss," Persephone said. "It seems more and more as if she has simply gone insane."

"Go too long without reliving life, that happens to a God or Demon," Mara noted.

Persephone glared at Mara for the comment.

"Maybe you should check," Naiki said suddenly. "On when she last reincarnated."

"I will, if only to disprove that woman's ridiculous theory," the Queen noted before leveling a look at Naiki as well.

"So, are we getting any answers?" Ranma asked.

"It doesn't seem so, Miss Satomi," Sousuke said.

"Then maybe everybody could head home and I could have a night with my daughters," Ranma asked.

"Yeah, we're getting nowhere," Mara said quickly as Ranma suggested that.

"I shall take my leave as well," Persephone said, standing up herself. "One thing however. Ranma Satomi, my daughter has done you a grave disservice. If you wish, my husband and I would be pleased to accept you in her place."

Mara froze from where she was in the middle of standing up.

"You're offering to adopt me," Ranma said.

"And give you a place as a goddess," Persephone said. "Full standing as mine and Hades' youngest child. Granted, you'll still have to earn a standing in Asgard."

Naiki listened cautiously, and feeling a bit of relief that she hadn't given in to her first impulse to attack the goddess on hearing what her daughter had done to Naiki's mother.

Of course her mother was strong, it only made sense for the Gods to want to recruit her.

"I think I'll stay human," Ranma said.

"I understand," Persephone said, standing up and looking at Naiki. "However, you and yours shall still be considered family regardless of species. And one other thing."

The goddess reached out and lightly touched Ranma on the head with a cold wind and grey light surrounding her.

Naiki took a step forward, narrowing her eyes, but was stopped by Mara who shook her head with a reassuring look.

When it ended, Persephone brought down her hand with a brief smile.

"That might be easier to live with now," she said.

"Mara," Persephone said. "Try not to spark off any more armaggeddon programs."

Ranma frowned and stood up, crossing her arms as she watched Persephone walk out of the house.

Naiki chased out of the house to go confront Persephone, Ranma tried to stop her at the doo, but Naiki was already out in front of the leaving goddess.

"What did you do to my mother," she demanded.

"I fixed something that was broken, little demon," the goddess answered. "It's not my place to say more. Though your mother might find that the trigger is different from what she was used to."

"Used to, what?" Naiki demanded.

She looked back toward her mother and noticed a wide-eyed thoughtful expression on the red-head's face. Then she turned back to face Persephone.

"It better not be any..." Naiki started to say.

"Before you continue this accusatory tone," Persephone noted. "You might be interested to know that your mother and I share an unfortunate relationship with Zeus."

"He's done this before?" Naiki asked.

"Don't you know your Greek mythology, Naiki?" Persephone asked before turning toward Ranma and bowing. "Again, good night."

The goddess continued walking and, as she reached the intersection of the roads, vanished.

"Gods are always fond of their dramatic exits," Mara said shaking her head.

"Speaking of dramatic exits, Geisthexe," Ranma said narrowly, turning to face the blonde demon.

"Right," Mara said, quickly. "See you in class tomorrow, Naiki."

She vanished into a puff of smoke.

"'Kaasan," Naiki said. "Did you threaten to beat up Geisthexe-san?"