Chapter 52: Spiralling

The valley was rather humid for mid October, which Ranma supposed was the first sign that it was chosen for more reasons than just being private. He really hoped Cologne would start explaining the technique he was going to be learning, but the old woman remained quiet as she led him, Hibari, Ukyo, and Shampoo through the rocky valley. The group eventually reached a wider and flatter portion of the valley, which had now grown to seem like a pleasant secluded low area rather than a rocky ravine.

"Set the tents up here, and then I will explain the training regimen," Cologne stated flatly.

The teens set to work, and quickly had four tents ready (Cologne hadn't wanted any arguments about who would share with Ranma). The ancient woman smiled as the others gathered around.

"Good. Now that we're away from any listening ears, I can explain to you one of my people's most secret and powerful techniques. One that turns an enemy's strength against them," Cologne replied. "Only the Nujiezu and the now extinct Musk have ever known the secret of this technique."

"The Musk? Who are they, and what happened to them?" Hibari asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"One time allies of the Nujiezu, but then our ideals grew further and further apart... there was a war some time ago, they lost, and slowly dwindled away," Cologne replied. "That is not what's important right now. What matters is teaching young Ranma the technique known as the Heaven Blast of the Dragon."

"Certainly sounds fancy," Ranma said, not sure what to make of it past that.

"Follow me!" the ancient woman announced, before bounding off on her walking stick.

"She's got a lotta energy for being... I, how old is your grandma anyhow, Shampoo?" Ukyo asked as they chased after her.

"Great-grandmother. And she turned 302 last month," Shampoo replied.

Ukyo's eye twitched. "302? That ain't natural! I... how old are you then?"

"17," Shampoo replied with a shrug.

The other three paused a moment, trying to do the math, before a more grounded question hit Hibari.

"Shouldn't you be in 2nd year then?" the redhead asked.

"Japanese is my second language. It seemed fair to accept being back a grade," Shampoo explained.

Hibari and Ranma nodded, accepting that. Ukyo, however, was still focused on the size of the generational gaps. At least until realising the others were leaving them behind and had to hurry after.

"Ah, you young ones finally caught up," Cologne announced, the quartet discovering that they were on the sandy shore of a decent sized pond. "Before we begin the proper lesson, I would like to give Ranma a hint of the next step."

Ranma raised an eyebrow, wondering about getting a hint on step two before starting step one. Of course, it being Cologne, the hint was rather abstract, the ancient woman drawing a spiral in the sand.

"I'm gonna guess that'll make more sense later," Ranma muttered, staring at the spiral.

"It should, if you're as smart as I think you are," Cologne replied. "Now, for step one: you must come to work on your temperament. This technique only works if you can retain your cool under the worst pressure."

"That don't sound too hard, it ain't like I'm Ryoga or somethin'," Ranma replied.

"Shampoo, show him the photographs," Cologne ordered.

The blue haired girl blushed, before producing a small collection of photos. Ranma was confused, until he saw just what they contained: the pin-ups of his male side that had so offended Happosai. And, well, Ranma had to admit the photos were rather scandalous, feeling his cheeks burn as he flipped through, both from the thought of so thoroughly breaking down a gender boundary he was afraid of and how the body language was so obviously Hibari's.

He got a smack from Cologne's staff.

"You had steam coming off of you, child. I had hoped you'd show more potential than this."

"I... I didn't get angry or nothin'!" Ranma protested, receiving another thwack for his troubles.

"You lost your cool. You must remain centered and calm, whatever happens,"

"Ooh, Tendo's a right good photographer," Ukyo said, drawing Ranma's attention.

He was surprised to see that Hibari was holding the photos, having grabbed them from his hand at some point, and the other three were looking them over.

"Mhm, and I see I was right that the forest green number would really bring out his eyes," Hibari was replying.

"I think that one is my favourite," Shampoo added.

Ranma felt more embarrassment bubbling in his gut. Seeing the photos himself was one thing, but seeing his three possible future spouses going over the pictures was even worse. But he had to stay calm, regardless of whatever the trio might say. What could he think of to find a happy place? That comforting feeling that came with Tsugumi's home cooking helped a bit.

Thinking of the eldest Oozora, he felt himself wondering how she managed to be such an island of calm in the chaotic Oozora home. Maybe they should have invited her along to give lessons in calm. (The others were still discussing the photos...) Or Kasumi, who seemed so calm between Nabiki's scheming and Akane's temper. Maybe it was some sort of benefit of being an eldest sister?

"Maybe I'd be better at stayin' calm in girl mode?" Ranma said, trying to ignore Shampoo giggling and pointing at something.

"Why do you think that would help?" Cologne asked, her tone sounding genuinely curious.

"Well, I ain't got an older sibling, and it seems like eldest sisters got a special calm to 'em," Ranma explained.

"You also have no younger siblings. Are youngest sisters calm?" Cologne asked.

"Uh..." Ranma's mind slid to Akane and Suzume's tempers. "Not so much... I guess that kinda ruins that idea."

Cologne nodded slowly with a slight grin. "If you feel calmer as a girl, though, then there is nothing wrong with changing forms."

Ranma paused for a moment, weighing his options. "I'm kinda leaning guyish right now. You got any calming breathing techniques or anythin' to recommend though?"

Cologne cocked her head a moment. "I know some that work for me, but I think you need to find what works for you. This technique requires a personal and unique resolve."

Ranma couldn't help glaring at her. She was being almost as bad as his father. At least she seemed to know what she was talking about, she was just being infuriatingly cryptic.

"Well, I think it's time we try some more conventional training, to make sure you're up to snuff on your dodging skills. You're going to need those, child," Cologne said. "As you can see, this pond has an island in the middle; that will be the sight of the sparring. What you might not have noticed is that this is a thermal pond, the heat will further intensify the need to keep your cool, Ranma."

The teens eyed the water, now noticing the steam flowing off it. Hibari and Ukyo both slipped behind Ranma and Shampoo, the latter two worried about being pushed in water of uncertain heat.

"Don't worry, children. The water's not much hotter than your average onsen," Cologne explained as she saw the nervous looks in their eyes.

"Plenty hot to undo Jusenkyo powder though," Ukyo muttered, getting a nod from Hibari.

"Good reason for you two to stay dry then," Cologne replied with a shrug. "Ranma, hop onto the island, will you?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Ranma said, having seen the leap was barely any longer than what it took to land on a 1st floor roof.

"Shampoo, you will go first. Just focus on being a warm up," Cologne continued.

"Just warm up? But I am the best fighter of we three?"

Cologne leaned over on her staff, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Ranma hides it well, but he is still nervous around your birth form. You striking at him with full intensity may remind him too much of your poor first impression."

"Tongzhi still fears me?" Shampoo whispered back.

"I'm not sure even he realises it, but I have watched the subtle clues in his body language around your two forms, and he is certainly more open with 'Shui' than 'Shampoo', even now," Cologne replied. "Besides, you have more of a cold anger, so you're poorly suited as a training partner in this either way."

Shampoo nodded solemnly before leaping out onto the small island. She decided she'd attempt the friendliest sparring she'd ever managed, giving Ranma her cutest smile.

"I will focus on the speed. The force behind blows shall be minimal," Shampoo said in her softest tone.

"I can take a hit still. I just can't dish anything out," Ranma snapped, the strain of all of this getting to him. He didn't like being treated as fragile by anyone.

"Understood, but your opponent is very fast. So I wish to copy that," the blue haired girl replied.

"I... I guess," Ranma muttered, before sliding into a fighting stance.

Shampoo moved an instant later. Her initial testing strikes weren't overly fast, but it did show good variety. Ranma decided to see if he could lead her at all, certain that the spiral had to have something to do with the movement of the fight. Why, he wasn't certain, but... right now the struggle was just moving in a spiral. Controlling movement by leading dodges, rather than pushing strikes, was much harder. And Shampoo was moving fast enough he didn't have much time to think.

"It looks like you've grasped the concept of the spiral, but you're a very long way from mastery," Cologne called out, sounding more amused than anything.

"Shampoo's trying to break it on purpose!" Ranma protested.

"Break what?" Shampoo asked. "How does the spiral... oh!"

Shampoo had looked down as she talked, and noticed the vaguely circular track of footprints on the sandy island. "I did not know it was movement. Thought the spiral was more... what is word? Metamorphical?"

"Metaphorical?" Ranma asked.

"Yes! That one!" Shampoo said happily.

"Huh, so you weren't purposefully tryin' ta mess up my spiral?" Ranma asked, getting an innocent head shake from Shampoo. Ranma let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped a bit. "Alright, I guess I need ta just practice more."

"Once you can manage a spiral, we'll switch to Kuonji. I believe her temper is more suited... his temper? I do wish to be respectful, but I've not been told which to consider you," Cologne said.

"I guess sticking to guy terms is the simplest option?" Ukyo replied. "No need to change around classmates."

Cologne nodded, and gestured for Ranma and Shampoo to begin sparring again. The effort to master the spiral ended up taking rather longer than expected, resulting in Hibari and Ukyo getting more than a little bored, deciding to lounge under a couple of nearby trees. Ukyo had actually started to nod off when Cologne suddenly shouted the chef's name.

"Huh, yeah? Oh, is it my turn?" Ukyo asked, noticing Shampoo was currently soaking in the spring, a happy smile on the girl's face.

"Yes, child. I want you to go all in," Cologne replied. "I want to see the fire in your heart."

Ukyo nodded, before realising something. "Hibari's going to be going all in too, right? You're not trying to make Ran-chan dislike me with this or anything, eh?"

"I am simply using each of your strengths. Hibari will test Ranma's ability to stay cool, but neither of them has the same heat you can bring," Cologne explained, her tone sounding truthful enough to convince Ukyo.

The chef hopped over, eyeing the hot water a bit nervously. Shampoo smiled up at the chef, wiggling her eyebrows as if to tease about how nice the water was.

"You ready to go, Ran-chan?" Ukyo asked.

"A little tired, but that just makes the trainin' better," Ranma replied, a cocky smile on his face. "C'mon, let's dance."

Ukyo's cheeks went a little hot, and Ukyo decided to run with that heat, battle spatula drawn to put Ranma on the run. Ukyo decided to try to break the spiral whenever possible, but kept getting pulled back in by Ranma's footwork.

Off to the side Cologne shook her head. She'd hoped Ukyo could draw upon a greater amount of anger due to issues of jealousy. The old woman hopped over to where Hibari was relaxing, and quietly cleared her throat.

"Hm?" Hibari said, sitting up and leaving her vague thoughts about taking Ranma to a concert.

"I think I need you to play a little dirty when it's your turn," Cologne said.

"Figured that was the plan to start?" Hibari asked. "Trying to get Ranma hot under the collar and all that?"

"Getting Kuonji heated might be more useful," Cologne said, before dropping to a whisper to explain her full idea.

Not that Ukyo was listening, busy trying to chase Ranma around the small island, unable to break out of the spirals he was leading them down. But... Ukyo had held so much misguided anger towards Ranma for so long, having released those years of pointless rage when the truth had come out, it was hard to get angry at him again. He'd been so forgiving, despite it all... and he was wearing that charming little smile, clearly loving the entire process of sparring and swerving. It really was like dancing for him, wasn't it?

"Alright, Kuonji-kun. I think you should take a break," Cologne called out.

"I barely started?" Ukyo shouted back, not wanting to be pulled away from Ranma so quickly.

"You're not going at this with enough force," Cologne replied calmly. "We'll let you try again later, but Hibari's specialty will be more useful right now."

Ukyo grumbled an acceptance and hopped over to the shore. Hibari gave a quick wink before leaping off and heading to the island herself. The look of mischief in her eyes made both Ranma and Ukyo feel a little nervous.

To open, Hibari played it conventional, just relying on speed to try to throw Ranma off. Her techniques were less honed to kill that Shampoo's, but her attacks were easily as fast. Ranma managed to keep just barely ahead. At least until the comments started.

"You look so delightful shiny with all that sweat, you know that?" Hibari said with a jab.

Ranma tried not to let the comment and the wink get to him.

"Maybe if you took your shirt off you'd be able to keep cool better?" Hibari asked, having lunged forward with a grin rather than a strike.

Ranma's cheeks warmed a bit as he stumbled back.

"Taking everything off might go even better," Hibari added.

"I second that!" Shampoo called out, now wrapped in a towel at the edge of the spring.

Ukyo grew a bit distracted by the mental image.

"I ain't sure it'd help that much," Ranma blurted, feeling like any effort to keep his cool had utterly failed as he stumbled back, falling onto the sand.

Hibari tossed herself on top of him, delivering a rather passionate kiss.

On the shore, Ukyo's flustered burst into rage. "Hey! That's not part of the training!"

Hibari looked up with a grin as Ukyo leapt onto the island, only to have her eyes grow wide as the chef's spatula swung at her head. The thin redhead scrambled back, forced to dodge and trying to give a verbal defense.

"You're. Chasing the... wrong... wrong person," Hibari said, between spatula strikes.

"Whaddya mean? You're the one who kissed him in front of me!" Ukyo hissed.

"He's the... one you're engaged... to! And he didn't... resist," Hibari protested as she dodged. "You're... you're supposed to... chase him."

Ukyo blinked, slowly coming to a halt. "You were just supposed to heat my tempers, weren't you?"

Hibari nodded. "It was Cologne's idea."

"You weren't mustering a hot enough battle aura. I do apologise, but I couldn't have explained it to you beforehand without ruining the effect, my child," Cologne explained from the shore.

Ukyo's eye twitched. "It shouldn't have been your first solution."

With that, the chef leapt off the island and stormed off into the woods. Hibari glared after them, unimpressed by the excessive reaction, especially in light of the recent kiss Ukyo had given to Ranma's lips.

Ranma, however, was quite unaware of what had occurred during that photoshoot and rushed after his friend, no idea what to say, but certain he had to say something. The forest around proved rough and difficult to walk in, the ground uneven and rocky, though Ranma's excellent balance let him move through it easily enough. After a few minutes of hunting, the pigtailed lad finally found Ukyo, the latter sat up in a tree, knees tucked in and staring blankly at the branch.

Ranma hopped onto a nearby tree, not wanting to be too in the chef's face, and gave a soft smile.

"Ucchan, hey..."

Ukyo turned to him, eyes not really focusing.

"Ya don't gotta be upset. That's just how Cologne is with everyone. She wasn't pickin' on you specially or nothin'."

Ukyo sneared, but gave no real response.

"Okay, I guess ya got some right ta be angry at her, but, it ain't a personal failin' or anything to have her get under your skin. Heck, look what she schemed up for Shampoo... The way to win is to prove your way works better," Ranma offered, starting to run out of ideas on what else there could be to say.

"I'm not actually angry with her," Ukyo said, at last. "I'm angry with myself."

Ranma blinked in confusion, tilting his head to the side. "Why are ya angry at yourself?"

"Because I'm jealous. I'm possessive. I can't stand the idea of sharing you with someone else, even when I see that someone else makes you happy," Ukyo explained, unfurling a bit to lean back against the trees. "Pretty sure I'm more attached to the idea of having you be 'mine' than actually in love with you... my mother'd be severely disappointed in me."

Ranma nodded, trying to think it over. "Well, I'm pretty sure Hibari's mostly supportive of the idea as a way to give her dad a heart attack. I know I'd a' never thought of it on my own either, not without Shampoo proposing the idea. And she didn't even want to share until she had to by the laws of her people. So... uh... Can you tell where I'm going with this?"

Ukyo let out a quick laugh. "I think so, yeah."

Ranma couldn't help lighting up with a smile. "That's why we're pals, Ucchan. You understand me."

"That smile of yours is dangerous, Ranchan," Ukyo said, before hopping down from the branch. "Well, time to show the old mummy I've got a better idea how to heat up my attacks... do you need help getting down from there?"

"Nah, down's easy," Ranma declared, dropping down from the tree himself. Landing with a flourish and a grin, only to be confused by Ukyo's laughter. "Hey, what's that about?"

"It's just that was the same landing pose Hibari used in gym class while pretending to be you. She really knew her impressions," Ukyo explained.

Ranma went a bit red, though it mellowed as the pair walked back to join the others. They found a rather bored looking Hibari alone, the redhead staring out aimlessly at the geothermal pond.

"Cologne decided to start cooking lunch," Hibari explained, hopping to her feet as she heard the pair coming. "Shampoo went to help."

"Sounds good. I'm starved," Ranma declared.

"Does she have a fire going?" Ukyo asked.

"I couldn't tell you. I stayed here. Seems like it's the most likely way for her to have something cooking, though. Unless she's got one of those solar oven things? Or a ki technique?" Hibari replied, examining the other two as she talked.

They didn't seem too close or romantic, so her mood improved.

After eating, Ranma decided to find a clearing to practice moving in a spiral. It seemed that Cologne was deep in thought, trying to work out who of those around might have the rage to throw against Ranma, and he felt sure he needed all the practice he could get before she called someone in. Hibari and Shampoo had decided to use the chance for more Japanese tutoring for the latter. Lastly, Ukyo had decided the fire needed tending for reasons Ranma didn't understand.

So here he was, pacing out the spiral. First walking forwards, then backwards. Next was with eyes closed. That felt like it helped, and so Ranma had repeated the movements a half dozen times with his eyes firmly shut, trying to let his body memorise spiral movements. He really felt like he was getting the flow of it when he heard a twig snap.

Eyes flying open, he saw Ukyo approaching, spatula drawn. Only... the spatula was glowing red and Ukyo was wearing thick oven mitts to hold the handle.

"Sorry, took me a while to get it heated up properly," Ukyo said, stepping into the clearing.

Ranma's eyes went wide as the chef shifted into a fighting stance. Were they really planning to attack him with a red hot weapon?

"I hope it's hot enough," Ukyo said, before lunging with a swing.

Ranma slipped under the sheet of hot metal, feeling the heat despite dodging the swing easily. It seemed that Ukyo's need to wear gloves was making the attacks slightly sloppy, but Ranma still needed to move perfectly to avoid severe burns. Too scared to think of anything more complicated than self preservation, Ranma dodged and swerved, eyes constantly on the glowing metal. At one point the sharpened cooking implement sliced into some of the nearby grass and Ranma absently noted the blades catching fire.

It didn't matter, though. All that mattered was dodging. At least until Ranma's body halted. He'd been following the spiral subconsciously, and now... and now he was at the middle with no idea what to do next.

Instinct took over, and he threw a punch in a final desperate bid.

A sudden howling wind drew Hibari and Shampoo's attention up and away from the Japanese language textbook in front of them. Rising over a nearby patch of forest was... a tornado? On a clear day?

"He did it," Cologne muttered. "But how did the child... so that's why Kuonji was running about gathering firewood."

As is on cue, a metallic glint caught the trio's eyes: Ukyo's spatula. Flying through the air not far from it was the chef themself.

"I underestimated Kuonji. Heating his weapon like that," Cologne muttered.

"Uhh... is Ukyo going to be alright?" Hibari asked, watching them flail about in the air.

"Oh, right. We should probably go catch him," Cologne said, bounding along on her walking stick. "I don't want to lose a student just when I realise their potential."

Hibari and Shampoo nodded and ran off, trying to track the likely arc of Ukyo's fall, hoping that the chef wasn't going to crash into a tree before they could do anything. Luckily Ukyo began to fall again over a clearing, and the pair, after a bit of second guessing and repositioning, were able to catch them.

"How was the view up there?" Hibari asked, holding on to Ukyo's legs.

"Slightly terrifying," Ukyo replied.

Nabiki leaned into the room of the despicable man that had stolen for himself in her family home. He was currently sorting through stolen underwear, pressing it with an iron and... she didn't really want to understand what he was doing. Instead, she cleared her throat, hoping to get his attention.

"Hm, yes?" the mosquito of a man asked.

"I was just wondering, do you really not have a cure for the moxibustion you used on Saotome?" Nabiki asked, doing her best to seem innocent.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. What interest is it of yours?"

"Well, I was just thinking that it would be dangerous to have such a technique around without a cure, in case someone found a way to use it on you while you were sleeping. Or something along those lines," Nabiki replied with a shrug. "And we know Saotome can be sneaky."

"Hm, you know, there may have been a treatment listed in that old book, now that I think about it," the old slime muttered, hopping to his feet and running over to a pile of books and underwear, tossing things about until he produced a large tome of some sort.

Nabiki walked carefully through the disaster zone so that she could spy over his shoulder, though found herself struggling to read when she realised the book was filled with hentaigana. With a sigh, she just waited for him to find the correct page as the diminutive man kept thumbing through the book, licking his fingers every so often.

"Ah, here it is," the old man declared, pausing on a page to read it over. "I knew it was in here."

Before Nabiki could say anything, the small slime nodded to himself and closed the book.

"I, wait, aren't you going to read it?" Nabiki asked, failing to hide her irritation.

"Why would I? I don't need the information right now," Happosai replied, tossing the book aside.

"It would be a useful carrot to offer Saotome, wouldn't it? Motivate her to prove herself so she can have her strength back?"

Happosai stared at her as if she'd just grown antlers. "You clearly think of young Ranma-chan as a girl yourself. Why would I want to see a delicate young maiden put through the struggles of martial arts? It's not what girls are made for."

"Not what—Akane does martial arts! And Ranma's half guy, if that mattered," Nabiki hissed, unable to contain her frustration towards the vile pervert who'd invaded her home.

"You're younger sister's hobby is something Soun should have never let happen. And Ranma's clearly abandoned the path of manhood," the little creep said, actually shivering a little as he no doubt remembered the pictures Nabiki had plastered up in his room.

Feeling a slight smirk of victory on her face, she decided to redouble her efforts. "The school is called 'anything goes' isn't it? Ranma was simply holding the ideal of victory by any means. Knowing those photos would be worse for you than any embarrassment on his end."

Of course, that was a lie and it had really been Hibari, but that was information the little creep didn't deserve to know.

Nabiki's slight smirk grew to a full vampiric grin as she saw the little creep trying to process the information and seemed to struggle to come up with a reason to refute it. Mind games were an inherent part of Anything Goes, her father had taught her that at a young age with all his crocodile tears. She also knew the pathetic grandmaster wasn't above grovelling and temper tantrums to get his way. She'd never liked the idea of ditching all dignity as those two did, but had adopted the more ruthless side happily.

"Fine. If young Saotome finds a way to impress me, I will restore his strength. I'll expect him to start taking some lessons alongside Sakamoto though," Happosai declared. "And to stop spending so much time in a girl's body. It's surely weakening his spirit."

"I'll start making preparations," Nabiki replied, zipping out of the room as quickly as possible, now that she had what she wanted.

Slipping over to the living room, she found her father staring blankly at the tv. Happosai's decision to set up shop in the Tendo home had so obviously drained her father. It was time to move on to the more selfish part of her plan...

"Say, daddy, is a grandmaster of Anything Goes grandmaster for life?" she asked as she sat down not far from her father.

"Hm? Oh," Soun started, taking a moment to process the question. "Ah, not in theory, no. The master always used to tell us that we could take over the school if we managed to beat him. I think he just said it to spark hope in our hearts so he could extinguish it later when he won every time though..."

Nabiki couldn't help beaming away, even as her father started sobbing at painful memories. She'd heard Happosai boasting something along those lines a few days ago, but had wanted confirmation. Her plan to get the little creep out of her home so she could finally bathe in peace had some potential.

Hibari had been in the middle of taking bets on Ranma's upcoming fight with Happosai when the principal had walked up and informed her there were to be no more planned fights on the Wakaba school grounds. Damages to school property were exceeding the current insurance claim limits and he didn't want to deal with the headache of upgrading the plan. This left Hibari hunting for an alternative venue, racking her brain all through the first afternoon period trusting Shui and Ukyo to keep an eye on Ranma and any potential threats he might face.

A public park would probably be too crowded with bystanders on a Sunday afternoon. Who knew what to expect with a parking lot. And... Tokyo had limited open spaces, even out in the suburbs like Nerima. There were some farm fields in the north of the war, but farmers were rather protective of their property.

Then the idea struck her and Hibari hurried off to find one of the school's payphones, quickly flipping through to find the phone number she needed in the phonebook.

After a few rings, a bored sounding woman picked up. "Hello, Furinkan high school, how might I help you?"

"Hi there, I need to speak with Nabiki, Tendo Nabiki. This is her aunt," Hibari replied, trying her best to sound a bit more mature than she was.

"Is it an emergency? She should be in class right now," the secretary replied.

"Not a full emergency, per say, but it is pressing. She was over at my home a couple days ago and was looking at some paperwork for me, being that she's a smart girl who's good with legal formatting and all, I wanted her second opinion. However, I can't seem to find the forms, and need to bring them to a dinner meeting with a client, so I was really hoping you could go get her for me," Hibari explained, flipping through the phone book in her hands once or twice to give the impression of flitting through paperwork.

Some passersby gave Hibari an odd look, but the lie worked and the secretary made an announcement for Nabiki. The announcement including mention of an aunt apparently sparked Nabiki's curiosity as she picked up the phone barely two minutes later.

"Hello?" Nabiki asked, her tone tentative.

"Yo, Nabi-chan, it's Hibari. I needed to ask you if you thought we could host Ranma's little fight with the sleazebag at Furinkan? The principal here's concerned about 'property damage' and 'insurance claims' and a bunch of boring junk like that," Hibari explained.

"Easily. Furinkan is basically anarchy," Nabiki replied. "We could probably get some locals betting too. Should I open the books?"

Hibari couldn't help grinning. "I like you, Tendo. You don't waste time."

The pair set off planning, Hibari having a trick or two she wanted to run by Nabiki's tactical mind (just in case Happosai pulled any dirty tricks of his own).