Preparations

By Kyokukou

Disclaimer : I don't own the characters from Ranma 1/2 only the characters 
that I write myself . So please don't sue me ! But if you try to use my 
characters .....there will be ...unpleasant consequences if I find out . Do 
not repost or reprint this without my permission , however if you do ASK 
there is a good chance I will let you .


" The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it."
                                            -Brendan Francis


Chapter 22
Now, how to get those two really soused?

    
    “ Lost someone?”
“ What?” Ranma turned to find a woman only a few years his senior standing next 
to him, but facing the short hedge fence as he was. Gazing into the grounds 
within.
“ Lost someone?” The woman repeated, not looking at him.
“ Yes, very recently.” Ranma nodded and returned his gaze to the gravestone that 
had caught his eye.
“ You sound oddly comfortable with that. Were you not close?”
    Something was not right about he woman’s tone. Its calm had a forced quality 
to it. As if she were dying of urgency inside, but just as urgently needed to 
hide that fact.
“ I’ve lost loved ones before.” He stated. “ I will lose more before I myself 
die. The pain is the same as the first, just more familiar now.”
“ So it does get easier?” The woman asked, still not looking at him.
“ No. Never easier, just more familiar.” He answered. “ Is this the first time 
you’ve lost someone?”
“ Yes.” There. That crack in her voice, so well hidden.
“ Is your husband buried here yet?” He asked, following the instincts as they 
danced in his head.
    The woman whirled to face him, taking a step back in the process.
“ How did you know it was my husband that died?” She demanded, her voice shaking 
slightly.
    Ranma did not move, he only noted that the gravestone that had his eye was 
developing a soft moss at the north base. Quite becoming actually.
“ Your voice, your manner, the words you used.” He answered. “ Like I said 
before, I’m familiar with this sort of thing. I know what a grieving widow looks 
and sounds like.”
“ Who are you?” The woman asked, this time suspicious.
“ Someone here for you to talk to. If you want to. If you don’t, then I’ll leave 
you to your solitude.”
    That’s what the grave reminded him of. It looked so much like Megumi’s 
gravestone. Except Megumi’s stone was right beside a cherry tree. Why were the 
most important things beyond him? He could see every work and response before 
this woman beside him even thought of them, but it took him almost and hour 
standing here to sort through the old pain just to realize that he was staring 
at a grave that was the twin of the one he had carved for Megumi himself.
“ Why should I talk to you?” The woman asked.
“ Only if you want to.” He shrugged, pretending indifference. “ You lost him a 
long time ago didn’t you?”
    This time the woman returned to her previous position. “ Yes. A very long 
time ago. He was only declared legally dead two years ago. Today is the 
anniversary of our wedding.”
“ So the grave stone between those two large ones is his?” He gestured with a 
nod of his head.
“ How-……Yes it is. His family had a gravesite on a cliff, but I lost the legal 
right to place a grave there when he was declared dead. So I had to put his 
marker where I could afford to.”
“ It’s a beautiful cemetery.” Ranma noted how the trees were placed to shade the 
paths but left the stones open to sunlight. An odd switch, to place the living 
in shadow, but bathe the dead in light. Odd, but artful. The dying sunset let 
the recent marble graves shine.
“ The worst part of it all is that I had to have my only child declared dead 
along with my husband. They left together and that was the last I saw of them. 
Until the funeral… When the letters stopped coming… I waited years.”
“ But you did more than wait.” He prompted. The controlled urgency in her words 
was easing, like pressure bleeding off.
“ Yes, I looked for them. I hired private investigators to track them down. The 
police had been looking for a long time. Nothing found them. Even I had to give 
up after nothing found any concrete evidence of them. Could anyone blame me?”
“ Most give up after only three or four years. You waited longer, didn’t you?”
“ Almost eight years.” The woman swallowed with difficulty.
    Ranma resisted the urge to take a direct look at her. He had estimated her 
age to be twenty five at the oldest. But if that were true she would have to 
have been married at fifteen! Possible, but not likely in this era.
“ How long were you married before he left?” Ranma risked asking.
“ I married him young. Probably too young, we should have waited. I was twenty 
three and he was twenty one. I had our only child three years later. But six 
years later they left. I suppose I only truly lost them after the funeral of my 
dear friend. It was shortly after that when the letters stopped coming and I 
became concerned.”
“ Sounds like you did more than anyone could have expected you to do.”
    This woman had to be at least forty two years old, yet she looked and  her 
voice sounded as if she were barely in her mid twenties.
“ I wish I could feel that way.”
“ Why haven’t you sought to remarry?”
“ I have to ask how it is that you know these things?” The woman turned her head 
to look at him. “ You knew I looked for them longer than most would, you knew I 
looked harder, you knew I lost my husband, and you even knew that I haven’t even 
started looking for another again. How?”
    A rumble of thunder overhead drowned out his initial reply. When the roar 
faded he changed his response.
“ I’m afraid that I must be going.”
“ What? I don’t understand this at all. You somehow get me to confess so much 
and you know so much but then you have to leave because it is about to rain?”
“ Do you feel better for talking about it?” He asked as he turned to leave.
“ I…” The woman closed her mouth and brought a hand to her heart. “ I do 
actually. Thank you, but please answer me.” 
    Again he let thunder drown his response. When a gust of wind forced the 
woman to shut her eyes for a moment he took thee opportunity to leap away. To 
the woman he would have appeared to vanish. She would be free to make what she 
would of the encounter. However, what the hell had caused him to draw her out 
like that? Sentimentality about Megumi’s death? That could explain why he wanted 
to make her feel better by getting the words out. It could explain, but did it?
“ Just go back to the Tendo home, Ranma.” He told himself. “ I’ll go visit all 
three of their graves in a few days. Paladin must be taken care of first, and 
Nabiki needs to be safe before I can afford to leave even for a few days.”
    The rain hit before he could reach the subway. 
“ Why is it always water?” She asked the storm clouds.

                           *         *         *
    “ Otama is going to be fine.” Akane took a sip from the tea Kasumi had 
prepared for them. “ It took a while to explain Nabiki’s situation. Then I sorta 
pissed her off.”
“ What? How?” Kasumi asked. “ Otama is usually very much in control of 
herself.”“ Well, when Otama mentioned the possibility that Ranma mentioned –the 
one about Nabiki’s soul not wanting to come back. When she brought that up I 
said something along the lines of her using Nabiki’s body since Nabiki wouldn’t 
be coming back.”
“ What’d she get so mad about?” Leonorah asked. “ If Nabiki won’t come back then 
the body is just that, a body. Vacancy for one.” 
    It had taken a few minutes to explain the Otama/Akane relationship to 
Leonorah but the young girl had taken to the concept very readily.
“ Despite how hard it is for me to accept that concept,” Akane said. “ I have to 
agree with you. If Nabiki isn’t going to come back to it, she should use it. But 
Otama started crying and kept saying something about it not being that simple. 
About some kind of risks to me if she tried. Then I apologized and came back. 
She’s shaken, but I think she’ll be fine by tomorrow. But she may not be up to 
any spellwork for a week or more.”
“ At least nothing permanent was done.” Kasumi sounded more relieved than her 
words implied.
“ Can I ask something?” Leonorah looked to Akane.
“ Yeah?”
“ I saw that blue heat ray thing go right through you. And now there’s a huge 
hole burned in the front and right out the back of your shirt. But there’s not 
even a red mark on you. Why’s that?”
    Akane looked down at the burn hole in her blouse’s midriff the size of a 
cantaloupe. She picked at the blackened edge as she explained.
“ The blue stream was a nitrogen/oxygen plasma. The spell is called ‘Pillar of 
the sun’s blue kiss.’ It takes a few seconds to get off, but if Raishal hadn’t 
had that spell shroud up there wouldn’t have even been ash left. I told Otama to 
pump it up, but she said didn’t want to start the fight out with something 
major.”
    Kasumi stared at Akane. Akane smiled back. “ What? She and I share the same 
brain, in that kind of proximity you have to expect me to pick up stuff along 
the way.”
“ But how come you’re not a crispy critter?” Leonorah took a sip. “ Was it just 
another illusionary you like with the boulder and pond trick?”
“ No, that really was us in the flesh. The first stream Otama negated as a show 
of control. I was the one who came up with the idea to take the next one. Otama 
asked me for a distraction and I said ‘take a hit.’. So we did. Unless you have 
attuned the clothing you are wearing or it itself is enchanted, spell defense 
doesn’t go outside you. So while my body is fine, my blouse is out of luck. 
Plasma tends to be hot. So then we stage fell and I took over for maneuvering 
while Otama set up the boulder and illusion trick.”
“ That was impressive.” Kasumi nodded. “ I remember when you and Otama used that 
many images trick to take out those Yakuza in Kyoto, but I never thought Otama 
could do so much at once.”
“ Yeah, I asked her about that.” Akane refilled her cup. “ She was kinda 
evasive, being vague about enough time had gone by.”
“ Can you do magic?” Leonorah asked Akane.
“ Little stuff.” Akane looked embarrassed. “ Nothing like what Otama can do. Or 
anywhere in the same realm of what she used to do in her own body. But she’s 
taught me little convenient tricks. I guess I know more than Ranma, but when I 
asked Otama about that poison cleansing spell that Ranma worked on Nabiki’s 
body. Otama got real quiet and started mumbling about lost healing arts. When 
she’s up to it I really need to have the two of them sit down for a chat.”
“ Agreed.” Kasumi nodded.
“ I’ll talk to Boss about it when he gets back.” Leonorah stated.
“ Why not leave that up to Otama herself?” Ranma asked as he walked right past 
the seated group.
    Kasumi dropped her cup from surprise, Akane spilled hers, and Leonorah 
fumbled but managed to keep most of the tea from spilling out of her own cup. 
Ranma walked to the edge of the porch and stood there observing the sky’s colors 
fade from the last reds and golds to the deeper hues of indigo and black violet.
“ I’ve known cats that make more noise than you.” Akane grumbled.
“ Leonorah,” Ranma began. “ in an hour I want you to go to the Golden Geisha bar 
and get both my father and mister Tendo drunk enough that you have to take them 
to a hotel to spend the night. Keep them there until about noon tomorrow. But 
call here before you leave with them to come back here.” 
“ Yes Boss.” The thin girl agreed. “ But why?”
“ Paladin will attack tomorrow morning. I don’t want them here trying to play 
heroes. No fault in their abilities. I simply would rather not risk it.”
“ What about us?” Akane challenged. “ Are we supposed to hide too?”
“ No.” Ranma stated. “ You three are in mourning for Nabiki. I’ll help you set 
up the altar and I’ll bring a coffin. Paladin respects the dead. At least the 
ones he did not kill personally. As long as you act only to protect her body he 
won’t bother you, physically.”
“ What are you going to do?” Kasumi asked.
“ Remove all evidence that I live here, that I was ever here. Then, once he’s 
left here I’ll stage some sort of chance meeting and he and I will have it out 
like we did in Hong Kong. Once it’s over I’ll spend the rest of the day looking 
for his sister. Leonorah, after you bring Pop and mister Tendo back I don’t want 
you leaving this house without either Kasumi or Akane and Otama with you. Just 
to be safe.”
“ What about school?” Leonorah asked.
“ I’ll take you back to tomorrow or today after this Paladin scare is over. 
Akane, can you stand to miss a day or two? If not, I can do the same for you.” 
Ranma slid the sheathed sword from his sash and sat down on the porch, his sword 
propped up against his left shoulder.
“ Uh, no thanks. I can miss a day.” Akane seemed a little frightened at the 
thought of time travel.
“ By its nature, the offer is open.” Ranma shifted position. “ Anyway, after his 
whole Paladin thing is taken care of I’m going on a trip to visit some old 
friends. Leonorah, would you like to join me? It’ll be a short trip. Just two or 
three days.”
    The thin girl opened her mouth but hesitated.
“ Think it over. I won’t be leaving until I know Paladin is out of Japan, or out 
of commission.”
    Silence ensued as the girls waited for Ranma to say more. When only crickets 
replied Akane spoke up.
“ So, where is that damned sword?”
“ In the mail.” Ranma answered. 
“ What?” The three asked in unison.
“ Raishal threw it into a mail truck before I could reach him. I called around 
until I got the post office that had a Indian sword that had showed up in one of 
their trucks mysteriously. I gave them a description and said I was the owner 
and that an angry relative of mine had thrown it in the truck after an argument. 
I gave them this address to drop it off in the morning.”
“ You’re entrusting my sister’s SOUL to the MAIL!” Akane appeared behind Ranma, 
fists at the ready.
“ They were kind enough not to even charge us postage for it.”
    Akane took a step back, drew her right foot back, checked her aim, and 
punted Ranma out into the night sky.
“ RANMA YOU IDIOT!” She called after the flying figure.
                           *         *         *

    Frame 5,814 then frame 5,815. Fourteen then fifteen. The frame rate had been 
the standard thirty a second. But in fourteen the girl’s head was intact. In 
seventeen Paladin was already retracing his tonfa while the first splatter 
hadn’t even gone more than forty centimeters.
    No human should be that fast. Nobody had the right to be.
    The bullet dodging thing had been the same. In one frame he was standing 
still, but only five frames down he was leaning to one side at rest again. The 
bastard could move his entire body in less than five thirtieths of a second. 
Less than 0.17 seconds! If that was not faster than a human had the right to be 
then what was? What made it more horrible was the possibility that he could 
dodge five more times in one second. None of this seemed to be any great strain 
on Paladin.
    Not only did Paladin dodge the future trajectory of bullets, but he could 
theoretically dodge six separate ways in about a second. He could also strike 
with a tonfa using more than lethal force in less than one seven hundredth of a 
second. Average human trigger fingers could respond in twenty five tenths of a 
second. His own –on a good day- responded in 0.19 seconds at the best. That 
meant that even if he could jam a gun in Paladin’s face the bastard could dodge 
faster than he could pull the trigger! But it got even worse than that. From the 
video he observed that Paladin did not wait for the patsy to pull the trigger. 
Paladin dodged a full 0.35 seconds before the hammer on the patsy’s gun even 
started to pull back. Somehow he could predict the shot’s time as well as path. 
Aside from variances of a few hundredths of a second Paladin always preempted 
the shot by 0.35 seconds. Except for that first shot. That one he didn’t preempt 
at all, he just outpaced the gun’s hammer as it cocked back. Probably wasn’t 
expecting the first shot and dodged by instinct. Or maybe he wasn’t sure until 
he saw something else at the last moment. The significance of the find meant 
that Paladin would be vulnerable to sniper fire. With proper distraction he 
could have Paladin dead by tomorrow.
    After all, only had four more days to kill the man. If no opportunity arose 
tomorrow he would pull some strings or get another patsy. Simple. So why did his 
stomach knot with fear?
“ Because this man will most likely kill you if you miss the first time.” He 
answered himself.

                           *         *         *

    Leonorah checked the time as she waited for the crosswalk light to change. 
“ Half an hour late.” She muttered. “ I wonder if that’ll make a difference.”
    With Ranma being a time traveler she never knew how much any particular 
decision he made was based on future knowledge or just the guesswork everyone 
else had to rely on. Sometimes he operated in ways that just were waaaay over 
her head. Like that whole setting off that bottle rocket in the park for no 
apparent reason. Leaving envelops in strange places she understood, those had to 
be letters and stuff for Ranma to pick up at future dates. But other things, 
like waiting at a bus stop for a woman carrying a wrapped katana and delaying 
her for five minutes. That had to be some future consequence thing. Right?
    When the signal changed she walked across the crosswalk with the gathered 
crowd. But before she could continue down the next street further the crowd 
parted for a strange sight. A woman carrying a long rectangular box longer than 
she was tall on her shoulders. A red head to be precise.
“ Boss?” She asked when she got closer. “ What are you doing?”
“ Oh hi.” Ranma looked out from under her burden. “ Taking Nabiki’s coffin to 
the Tendo house.”
“ Umm, on foot?”
“ Stupid subway wouldn’t let me take it with me.” Ranma snorted. “ This won’t 
fit through the bus doors so I’m kinda stuck doing it this way.”
    She looked at the coffin, it was more than nice. Black lacquer with what 
looked like gold hinges and bearer handles. 
“ Wow, it even looks like Nabiki’s size.” She guessed.
“ Naaw, they only had one five centimeters too long.” Ranma shifted the coffin 
and laid it down on the street. “ Five too long and seven too wide. But I didn’t 
have time to build one myself.”
“ Build one?” She stared at her lord. “ You know how to build a coffin?”
“ Yes, I’ve built about twenty six so far.” Ranma nodded.
“ Why not just have them build one?” She asked.
“ Beca-……why not?” Ranma nodded. “ That’s a good idea. Next time I’ll do that.”
“ Next time!?” Leonorah felt her eyes bulge.
“ Ya don’t wanna know.”
“ I don’t?” She asked, wary.
“ Trust me.” Ranma patted her shoulder.
“ It’s not me is it?”
“ Oh hell no.” Ranma gave her a warm squeeze. “ Oh, take a look inside. I think 
that Nabiki’ll love waking up in it.” Ranma lifted the lid for her.
    Inside was a silk bed of the brightest yellow, the sides were padded silk of 
the same color. Ranma’s sword laid in the cocoon of fabric. It looked more 
luxurious than even the beds she had seen in movies.
“ I think she’ll like it…” Leonorah commented awkwardly.
“ Well, it just has to convince Paladin.” Ranma shut the lid and started to 
replace the coffin on his shoulders. “ Anyway, I have to get back with this and 
you need to get those two blind drunk. Oh yeah, keep thinking about that trip.”
“ Wait.” She stopped Ranma before she could turn away.
“ Yes?”
“ I was just thinking…well, when are you going to tell me why you have me do 
some of the most pointless things?” 
“ Like what?” Ranma asked, confused. “ Everything I ask you to do has a specific 
reason behind it.”
“ What about that bottle rocket?”
“ Signal for the Resurrected Shield Society to attack.” Ranma answered 
immediately.
“ What about that lady with the katana that I had to delay?” 
“ Exercise in the good ol’ chaos effect. It prevented the chain reaction that 
would have led to a four year old being killed in a construction accident two 
blocks away. Instead Kasumi’s grocery bag was knocked over by the new chain.”
“ What about the parcel I had to delver to that really paranoid guy?”
“ Laundry. And he’s an agoraphobe.”
“ Wha- wait, laundry? It was just laundry?”
“ If you must know it happened to be my Haori, my sword cleaning cloths, and 
other special items that mister Edo is quite adept at caring for. I’d rather not 
have some drycleaners ruin such sentimentally important items.”
“ Oh.” She looked at the ground. “ Boss, I’m sorry for doubting you. They just 
didn’t make enough sense to me.” 
“ It’s okay. Maybe you should have more faith in me from now on?”
“ Yes Boss.” She nodded.
“ And maybe I should keep you better informed from now on, eh?” Ranma turned and 
started walking off before Leonorah could look up.
“ Boss?”
    Ranma stopped but did not turn around. “ Yes?”
“ I gotta ask. Why can’t you just go back in time and keep Nabiki from getting 
killed?” She felt her throat tighten as she awaited an answer.
    Ranma started walking again. “ Even a time traveler can’t break some rules. 
We bend far too many as it is. Ask me again after we get her back.”
    She stopped herself from calling out again. She still had orders to follow. 
But still so many other questions. Later, she could ask her lord how his curse 
got activated after Akane gave him the LEO punt. Then there was the question 
that she could ask Ranma, but he probably wouldn’t have the slightest idea 
about. Why were his thoughts felt so different from everyone else? 
    As it was, those could wait. Leonorah glared at the onlookers that remained 
gathered about where she had talked with Ranma. Most quickly looked elsewhere 
and went about their merry ways, some stood there dumbly. She kicked one such 
dolt in the shin as she passed. From what the phonebook had said that bar had to 
be just a few blocks from here. Now, how to get those two really soused?



    ‘ Akane? You awake?’ 
“ What? Huh?” She sat up and looked around at the empty living room.
‘ You dozed off. Up, up, up.’ Otama’s voice rang through her consciousness.
‘ You do it.’ She sent back. ‘ Lemme sleep.’
‘ Oh no, you don’t. I’m too weak to take control. I doubt I could get your body 
to walk in a straight line.’
‘ You sound fine to me.’ Akane answered. ‘ I’m glad that you’re better, but why 
don’t you get some rest? There’s nothing we can do right now.’
‘ I’m gonna make damn sure about that. Now up! You said something about some  
girl that put that stasis spell on Nabiki’s body? I need to talk to her.’
‘ Only for you Otama.’ Akane roused herself and groggily plodded to Ranma’s 
room.
    Inside, the girl was bundled up under the comforter and in Ranma’s futon. 
She looked very much asleep. Akane sent as much to Otama.
‘ Then I’LL wake her up!’ Otama mentally prodded Akane for control. Which Akane 
relinquished gratefully, retreating back in for some sleep.
“ Whoa, I didn’t need full control.” Otama grabbed the doorframe to steady 
herself. Once falling was no longer an issue she returned her attention to the 
sleeping girl.
    Taking each step very carefully Otama made her way to the bedside. She felt 
a spell forming the moment she was a meter from the futon.
“ Easy, I’m Otama.” She stated. “ I need to talk with you about Nabiki.” 
    The spell faded as the girl opened her eyes and yawned.
“ Sorry, old habit.” The girl apologized. “ I’m Rei. So you’re the gal that can 
pull off something like the ‘Pillar of the sun’s blue kiss’ as an opener? I’m 
impressed, quite impressed. Were you a demon hunter or something?” 
“ Until I got myself killed.” Otama took great care to sit down instead of 
falling down.
    Rei hugged the comforter to herself and sat up, wrapping it around herself 
so that only her neck and head were exposed. 
“ So what’s so important?” Rei asked. “ Did something finally come up that Ranma 
hasn’t already seen coming a week away? He can be really frustrating that way.”
“ I take it you and Ranma have a history?” She found herself asking.
“ Oh yeah, in Hong Kong he saved me from one of fates worse than death……um…
several times.” Rei finished with an embarrassed sigh.
    She wanted to probe further, but there were more important matters. Like 
Nabiki’s SOUL!
“ I wanted to talk with you about how you and I are going to get Nabiki’s soul 
back into her body. I’m assuming that Ranma will come through and get the sword 
back with her soul inside.”
“ Oh he will.” Rei nodded. “ Ranma always comes through for the big stuff. Sure, 
he lets little bad things happen, but that’s so he’s not controlling anyone’s 
life but his own. Sometimes I wish he’d prevent a few things happening in my 
life. But, what are you going to do? Force him? HA!” 
“ Do you have any ideas?” Otama asked. 
“ Let’s hear yours first.”
“ Sadly the only one that I think will have a good chance of working is for me 
to bury Akane really deep into her mind and nearly kill myself with that sword. 
I’ll time it so that as soon as it’s taking hold of me I’ll try to get a hold of 
Nabiki’s soul and target her body with the same spell I used to end up in 
Akane’s body. But there is so much that might go wrong.”
“ I’ll say.” Rei said, not unkindly. “ But it’s better than nothing. Whatever 
transference spell you have might be a good place to start from. We could spend 
a few weeks making modifications. The principal is what’s needed.”
“ Oh…damn.” Otama said as a thought occurred to her. “ The only reason why I can 
work that spell is that it kills you. The whole idea being that you’re dying 
anyway when you use it so it’s sort of a freebie.”
“ So even if you timed everything right it’d kill Akane’s body and Akane with 
it?”
“ No, I’d try to pull that into the sword with me, but it might kill Nabiki’s 
body even as I throw her soul back into it.”
“ Still, I say it’s a good starting point.” Rei snaked a hand out through the 
hole she made for her neck and rubbed her throat. “ Hmmm. I’m a magic item 
dealer. Foci, artifacts, enchantments, scrolls, potions, and such. I’ll be 
looking for something designed for this. It’s always best to use an item for its 
intended use. Getting creative with artifacts and foci is wonderful, but getting 
too creative tends to backlash in the end.”
“ We cannot afford a backlash in this situation.” Otama stated.
“ Exactly.” Rei agreed. “ But I think we should focus on resurrecting her body 
first. Once we have the means for that we can worry about the rest.”
“ She died of poison, I’m told.” Otama looked critically at Rei. 
“ Ranma purged it. So that’s no obstacle.”
“ From what Akane told me she felt it sounds like Ranma was using an art that 
supposedly died out three hundred years ago.” Otama watched for any signs of 
evasion in Rei.
“ He was.” Rei looked annoyed. “ Every time I try to pry outta him where he 
learned all this ancient healing arts from hell he gets all vague. I got the boy 
drunk and even then all he’d give me was some mumbling about some Sakuya woman 
who taught him. I ask about this Sakuya and the best I can get is that she was 
killed a few years ago. It’s just so frustrating!”
“ Why won’t he teach you?”
“ He tried when I asked.” Rei bit her lower lip. “ But unrelated things kinda 
stopped us. I’ve never gotten around to asking him again. I’m sure he’d be more 
than happy to teach you.”
    She’d most definitely ask, but not before Nabiki was alive an well.
“ So,” Rei continued. “ The way I see it, it’s very straightforward. We 
resurrect Nabiki’s body shortly before transferring her soul into it by whatever 
means we decide upon later. I say we resuscitate the body by a combination of 
shock, manual breathing, and a major healing spell of mine, or yours.”
“ Sounds good, what’s your best healing spell?” Otama asked.
“ Siddhartha’s caress.” Rei answered, squaring her shoulders under the fluffy 
bulk of the comforter. “ What’s yours?”
“ Grand Hara lotus.” Otama smiled.
“ Oh wow.” Rei’s eyes widened. “ You’re starting to get scary. When this is 
over, how much will you charge for lessons?”