[soundtrack for this one was: Shatter Me Featuring Lzzy Hale, by Lindsey Stirling]

"Kasumi, can you come here?" Nabiki called out as they arrived home. She put an arm around Ranma and held on to him. She didn't want him bolting away.
"Coming." She heard her older sister call out from somewhere deeper in the house. Ranma looked over at her, but didn't say anything, she could tell he knew she was summoning Kasumi for him, but he seemed to be enjoying her holding him anyway. She smiled at him playfully.
Kasumi walked serenely into the entryway with her hands clasped in front of her. She had a feeling Kasumi was feeling pretty good these days with Doctor Tofu around all the time. "Yes, what is it, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked.
"Ranma hurt his hand earlier, can you look at it?" She said in a voice she tried very hard to make not sound like she was telling on him.
He looked over at her and frowned. "I'm fine." He then looked over at Kasumi and repeated himself. "Really, I'm fine."
She shook her head. "The nurse thought it could get infected. He wouldn't let the nurse look at it. He caught a spiked club in his bare hand, and it was bleeding."
"I'm tellin' ya, I'm fine, it's nothin'. I don't need no—"
"Ranma ... " Kasumi interrupted him sweetly as she moved over to put a hand on his shoulder. When Kasumi stood very close, the very faint rose petal scent she smelled like from the sachets she kept in her dresser, were noticeable. She knew from experience that Kasumi's hands were warm, even through clothing. She had a feeling that was because Kasumi worked so often with her hands.
"Y-yes?" Ranma asked, suddenly losing his bluster.
"Will you be able to do your duty and protect my sisters if your hand gets infected?" Kasumi asked him, still in her sweet voice, but with a hint of an edge of steel behind it.
"S-sure, I could fight with just one hand if I—"
"Would you be able to fight as well, and protect them as well, with only one hand? Would you do as well against multiple opponents?" Kasumi pressed as she let the steel seep into her voice a bit more.
Ranma hung his head and deflated. "No. I wouldn't." He admitted.
"May I look at your hand and treat it?" Kasumi asked, again in her sweet voice.
He nodded, defeated. She grinned at him. "Oh, come on, Ranma. Worst case scenario is you have to endure some rubbing alcohol, then you get a pretty bandage to make it all better." She said cheerfully. He glared at her, but she could tell he wasn't actually mad at her. She switched from a one-armed hug to wrapping herself around his right arm to try to make it up to him. She felt him sag into her a bit as he relaxed. "Come on, let's go let big sister Kasumi look at us, all right?" She said in a sing-song voice. He scowled at her, but let her lead him to follow Kasumi to the kitchen.
She sat him down at the table, and took the chair next to him. She changed from hanging on him to just holding his hand. He frowned at her again, but sat obediently in the chair and waited while Kasumi grabbed one of the first aid boxes from the cupboard.
Kasumi came and sat down opposite Ranma and opened up the box and started pulling out antiseptic wipes, cotton balls, and bandages, and laying them out in the lid of the box. When she was done she looked expectantly at him.
When he didn't move, Kasumi narrowed her eyes at him. He sighed and pulled his left arm up from below the table and laid it on the table. His hand was still closed into a fist though.
"Come on, open up." Kasumi said sweetly. Ranma sighed, and obeyed.
She looked along with Kasumi. He had a small puncture at the base of his palm along the meat of the part that connected to his thumb, there was a tiny scratch that led away from it to the edge of his palm. The source of the bleeding had been the puncture wound. It wasn't really any worse than what he would have gotten if he'd accidentally grabbed a rose stem the wrong way and jabbed himself with it lightly. It wasn't bleeding any more, but it was red around the edges.
Kasumi tsked at it and began lightly swabbing the area with the disinfectant wipes. They came away mostly clean, with just traces of red. Kasumi then reached into the kit and pulled out a little bottle of rubbing alcohol, and held one of the cotton balls over the mouth of it as she tipped it over and soaked it, then repeated the cleaning process. "Just to be safe." Kasumi said as she reached for his hand again. Ranma nodded.
She could tell that it actually did sting him, but she knew he would never flinch or admit he was in pain to the two of them. His father had drilled into him too hard that he had to be a big strong man. She decided to not joke about it right now, considering he was only enduring the process at all, because of her. She was also feeling slightly queasy from the sharp and sickly-sweet smell of the rubbing alcohol, which put her into even less of a joking mood.
Once Kasumi was done with the antiseptic cotton ball, she put it to the side, and used a couple more cotton balls to pat the wound dry. Then her older sister made her day by holding up two bandages. In Kasumi's left hand was a bandage with little baby chickens on it, in her right hand the bandage had rainbows and smiley faces on it.
Ranma frowned. "Can't I ... just leave it as it is?" He asked with disapproval.
Kasumi shook her head. "You have to keep it clean for a while to let it heal and close up the wound. Pick one."
He sighed and pointed to Kasumi's left hand.
She grinned but again held her tongue. She'd tease him later once the sting of the indignity of the whole process had worn off.
When Kasumi was done a moment later he quickly yanked his hand off the table to hide it again by his side. Kasumi smiled at him and reached over and ruffled his hair affectionately. "There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Kasumi asked softly.
He shook his head at her hesitantly. She knew his pride was hurting more than his hand was. He focused on her and clearly tried to change the subject. "Did you want to go to the dojo now and work on your battle aura?" He asked her quietly.
She shook her head. "Not yet, I need to do something first. Meet you there in a few minutes?" She asked.
He narrowed his eyes at her. She knew he didn't like splitting up from her. She sighed. "I'm home with you, and Doctor Tofu, and your Dad, and my Daddy, Ranma. And I promised you I would yell if I needed help in the future." She whispered.
He sighed as well, then nodded. "All right, I'll go wait for you in the dojo." He then stood up from the table, and walked quickly out of the kitchen. He kept a wary eye on Kasumi as he exited. She smiled at his eagerness to get away from Kasumi.
Kasumi smiled after him as well then looked at her and raised her eyebrows. She knew Kasumi wanted to talk to her about everything that had been going on. She still wasn't ready to though. So she smiled weakly back at Kasumi and hurried to follow Ranma's example of fleeing the kitchen.
She paused at the doorway though, and looked back at Kasumi, who was still watching her patiently. "Where's Daddy?" She asked.
"Father is getting some rest in his room. Doctor Tofu made him after he finished repairing the wall today." Kasumi said in a tone that suggested she leave him alone. She nodded and turned to leave. She had to do two things right now that she didn't want to do, but felt she had to.
As she made her way up the stairs she decided she would just pop in and see Daddy real quick and do what she had to do. She wanted to do it before she lost her nerve. She arrived at his door moments later and paused. She always felt weird about going into his room. That was the room he had shared with Mom. Mom's things were still in there. It was a ... private place.
"Daddy?" She said as she knocked on the door frame as she entered his room. His door had been left open.
He sat up immediately out of his futon and look at her in alarm. "What is it? Attackers?" He asked as he started to rise out of bed.
She hurried over to him and took his hand and held it between hers. "No, everyone's fine, it's all right." She said soothingly as she pushed on his shoulders to get him to lie back down as she knelt down next to him. Her hands were already shaking.
He sank back on tense muscles. She could tell he was exhausted. "You can relax, Daddy. The Amazons have called a two day truce. Shampoo's grandmother promised it this morning." She whispered to him soothingly as she stroked his hair back from his forehead.
He squeezed her hand gently and smiled as he closed his tired eyes. "That's good. It's not good for you to be so worried, baby." He said softly.
"I'm not worried, Daddy. I have you to protect me." She whispered in a voice that was breaking.
He cracked an eye open. "You will always have me to protect you, baby." He said. "Have faith in Ranma too. It is part of his duty to protect you as well." He added.
She smiled. She knew, she just knew in her heart that Ranma would die before he allowed her or her sisters to be hurt. He had never said that to her specifically, but she knew it was true. "Don't worry, Daddy, Ranma is being a good boy." She said weakly. She wasn't here to talk about Ranma.
"Good ... good, nothing is going to happen to you girls. Don't you worry, baby." He said sleepily.
"I'm not worried. After all, you trained all of us to fight." Her voice broke more as the emotion hit her and she tried to will herself to not cry. Her whole body was shaking now. "You trained all of us ... how to survive being attacked. Even though some of us might have complained at the time." She said in a voice heavy with emotion. She was about to lose control, she couldn't see anymore, her vision was blurry with tears. She sank back on her heels as she started to lose the battle against the emotion.
He looked up at her in alarm as the tears started to stream down her cheeks. She was reliving the fear from when she had been attacked in her mind in a delayed reaction to what had happened to her. "Nabiki, what's the matter?" Daddy asked her urgently as he started to sit up again.
She lost control then and fell into his arms as she wrapped her hands around his neck and let herself cry. "Thank you, Daddy! Thank you so much! You saved my life today!" She managed to get out in between shuddering gasps as she cried and shook as she let the fear from earlier hit her. Akane and Ranma were always brave when they were attacked. She had felt she needed to be brave too. She had made herself ignore it and be brave. But here, alone with her Daddy, she could admit how scared she had been.
Her Daddy scooped her up into his strong arms and sat up with her as he pulled her into his lap and held her while he rubbed her back and stroked her hair, just like he had done when she was little. "Nabiki ... what ... I did what?" He asked softly, in confusion.
She didn't answer him right away. She let her breathing calm down first as she tried to regain control of herself. "I ... I was attacked today." She finally said. She could feel him tensing in anger under her. She was sure he was about to demand to know where Ranma had been. "I was ambushed." She added quickly. "Ranma and Akane both came and helped me as soon as they knew." She reassured him.
"So ... how ... did I save your life, then?" He asked as he relaxed again.
"Do you ... do you remember that drill you used to make me practice every day for over a year when I was very little? The one you told me was all Martial, and no Art?"
He nodded. "Of course I remember, baby."
"It works." She said simply in a shuddering voice.
He didn't say anything for a moment, then he slowly brought his arms up to cradle her neck and back as he pulled her into a much tighter hug and buried his face in her neck. He was crying.
"I'm so glad, baby. I'm so glad! I had hoped ... I had hoped you would never need to use it, but I am very happy you could use it to get away from danger." He said as he clutched her to himself.
She nodded fiercely. She was going to cry again if she tried to talk. A minute or so passed as her Daddy rocked her back and forth and held her to him as she allowed herself to do something she almost never did, and dropped all her masks and was just herself for a while — a young girl who loved her Daddy and was thankful for what he'd done for her.
As she regained control she did something else she almost never did, admit she had been wrong. "You were right, Daddy ... and I was wrong, and foolish. I should have continued my training." She whispered to him.
He was silent for a while as he held her. After a few moments had gone by, he finally responded to her. "It's not too late, you know. You could pick up where you left off." His voice was shaking.
She nodded. Then she began to tell him about the attack, and how she had used the training she had remembered. She told him of the practicing she still did, and all of the details she could remember of the fight. He listened and gave her tips, and nodded when she told him about everything. It was the closest she had been to him in a long time. She even told him about the battle aura Ranma had seen on her.
When she was done and it was time to go, she got up from his lap and made her way softly to the door. Daddy laid back down in his bed, still exhausted. She paused at the door when he called her name, though. "Nabiki..."
"Yes, Daddy?"
"I'm proud of you." He whispered.
She looked back at him and smiled. "Thank you, Daddy. Get some sleep. I ... I'm going to go train." She whispered.
"That's my girl." Daddy said sleepily. "Proud of you." He said again as he drifted back to sleep.
She made her way to the dojo on light feet, but with a heavy heart. That was just the first of the two things she had to do that she didn't want to. The second one was going to be much harder.
She found Ranma waiting for her in the center of the dojo. He was kneeling calmly and watching the door for her. His eyes lit up when he saw her. He quickly got to his feet as she approached him.
She smiled at that. It delighted her that he was so happy to see her. She made her way over to him as he stood up and reached his hands out for her. He seemed to need to touch her a lot more now. She loved that.
"Ranma, before we start, I have to tell you something." She said reluctantly, then bit her lower lip as she met his eyes. She was dreading what she was about to do. She could already feel herself starting to shake as the reality of what she was about to do settled in on her.
She could tell that he picked up right away from her voice that she felt guilty about something. His eyes narrowed. "What?" He asked guardedly.
"Can we sit and talk for a minute?" She asked carefully as she tried desperately to keep her emotions off her face. Even though he wasn't glaring at her, it still really made her feel bad to have him look negatively at her. He nodded and let go of her hands to sit down at her feet. He looked up at her with expectant eyes. She followed his example and sat down where she was standing and met his eyes as she took a couple of calming breaths.
"What's goin' on? You're freakin' me out." He said quietly.
She smiled at him and reached a hand out for him. He took it and wrapped it up in his warm hand. That made her feel a little better. She took another long slow breath then met his eyes again. "I kind of broke one of my promises to you today." She whispered to him.
His eyes narrowed again, and she looked down, ashamed. She felt him tense his hand like he was going to yank it away from hers. She relaxed her hand to let him, if that was what he wanted. A moment later he whispered back to her. "What do ya mean by, 'kinda'?"
He hadn't taken his hand away ... yet. She took another deep breath and met his eyes again. He wasn't glaring at her, but he did look disapproving. She knew that he knew that she was well aware that he had been keeping all of his promises to her. She began slowly. "Akane and I talked after you left the nurse's office today." He nodded as if that was obvious. "She ... she started crying because I was talking about you. She's ... very upset that you haven't taken her back yet." Ranma face changed from disapproval, to worry.
"What did you do?" He whispered in an alarmed tone.
"I ... I told her the truth, well ... as much as I felt she was entitled to hear, anyway." She paused and looked into his eyes again. He wasn't scowling at her, or looking worried or disapproving, he was just ... waiting. She sighed and pushed onward. "Akane asked for me to give you back; I told her you weren't mine to give. She was ... very upset by that." She whispered. Ranma's hand tightened on hers, but his eyes gave nothing away about what he was feeling. He still wasn't saying anything. "She ... asked me if I was just playing games, I told her ... I wasn't." She admitted in a very small voice.
He nodded at that and finally asked a question. "When did you break a promise?"
She grimaced and blurted out the rest of it before she lost her nerve. "I interfered with your relationship with Akane. Akane was ... in a really bad place. She needed me to say something, anything to help her. So, I gave her some advice." She said gingerly. He raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything as he waited patiently for her to finish. "I ... told her ... she needed to be honest about her feelings if she wanted to get what she wanted." She whispered as she looked down again.
Silence stretched between them for a few moments. It was a silence that hurt more with every passing heartbeat. She could feel him drifting away from her. She'd broken her promise, and now he could end their deal, and everything was falling apart, and she was so stupid! Why?! Why did I do it?! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! She berated herself.
"Is that all?" Ranma finally said as he broke the silence.
She looked up at him and found him looking at her expectantly. She swallowed hard and nodded.
He smiled at her, and grasped her hand more firmly. "That's not breakin' your promise. Interferin' would be showing up on a date and causing a problem, or lyin' to her and telling her I said stuff I didn't, or things like that. All you did was tell her to be honest. You didn't break your promise as far as I'm concerned." He said calmly.
She felt a huge weight lift off her that she hadn't realized she was carrying. She was suddenly able to breathe easier. She nodded at him in a jerky head bob as she fought to hold back the tears that wanted to come. She didn't know why she felt like crying, but she did. He squeezed her hand again and she looked up at him.
"Want to learn about battle auras now?" He asked cheerfully as he started to stand up. She could tell he was also hurrying back to Martial Arts to pull her attention away from her worries. She was sure that had more to do with his uneasiness around crying girls than anything else. It still made her happy though.
She nodded her head eagerly. "Yes!" She said as she rose to her feet on shaky legs as he reached down and helped pull her up. She just stood there after that and waited while she looked at him.
He smiled and put his hands behind his back. "Want to try to make your own battle aura by yourself first?" He asked.
She shrugged. "I can try, but I don't think I can. I don't remember how." She said.
"You know, your body remembers. You can't have trained in the Anything Goes style for as long as you did, without learning how." He said confidently. She just stood and looked at him doubtfully. He smiled at her. "Trust me." He whispered.
She nodded. "All right, well, show me how." She said.
"Give me your hand." He said as he held out his own hand.
She reached out and put her hand in his warm palm.
"Now close your eyes." He said softly.
She did so.
"Listen to the sound of my voice." He said softly in a slower cadence than he usually spoke in. "Concentrate on my voice, I'm gonna help you look inside yourself."
"Okay." She whispered. She was strangely excited.
"Imagine my voice as a warm summer breeze."
She nodded.
"The breeze is on your face. It's moving your hair. You're breathing it inside you. Can you feel it?"
"Yes." She whispered. She really could, she could feel his words moving around in the air around her, and she was breathing them in now.
"Great. Now, imagine that inside of you is a sun. It isn't your heart, or your gut or anything else. It's just you. It's warm, and it's there for you to reach for, you can grab hold of it, if you focus."
She gasped. He was describing what she did when she needed courage to do what had to be done. Her mind skipped back to when she was a little girl. She was standing in this very dojo, doing an exercise very similar to this with her Daddy.

"Reach inside yourself and grab hold of it, Nabiki. That's my girl. Now, open your eyes, and hold on to it."
She had, and she had seen her very own little battle aura dancing on her skin. Daddy was glowing too. And ... so was Mommy. Mommy was standing against the wall and watching. Mommy was glowing with pride! Her own little aura had gotten brighter as she saw Mommy being proud of her.
She could do it, she could do it!
And she had. She had held her focus on the power inside herself and drilled with Daddy while Mommy had watched, and called out corrections for her footwork, and encouraged her.

She gasped again and snapped back to the present. She opened her eyes and looked at Ranma. He was staring at her wide-eyed. She looked down and saw that she was flickering with a little blue battle aura. It wasn't anywhere near as big as what Ranma or even Akane could produce. It was about the same as the one she had been able to make when she was a little girl.
Ranma stared at her in shock for a little bit longer, then smiled.
"See, I told you that you'd remember."
She nodded fiercely as she fought back tears. For some reason, she felt like crying when he praised her about it.
"I didn't even talk you through tapping into the power or focusing it to make the battle aura. You did that all on your own." He said, sounding impressed.
"I...I...I remembered. I remembered... Daddy, showing me how to do this." She said. She lost focus then, and her aura flickered out. She realized that at some point she had let go of his hand.
He smiled gently and reached his hand out for her again. "Want to try again?" He asked. She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm not going to walk you through it this time, let's see if you can bring it out on your own." He said with confidence.
She nodded and closed her eyes as she breathed deeply and reached inside herself. She found the center of herself easily enough. It was what she always went looking for when she needed courage. She grabbed hold of it, and pulled and opened her eyes again. Her flickering blue aura was dancing on her skin again. It was the pull and the focus on making it do something that she usually didn't do, when she needed to be brave. Usually just having a hold on it was enough for her to be brave enough to do what needed to be done.
Ranma nodded at her slowly as he smiled. "Very good. The more you practice it, the easier it will get. Once you can produce it, and hold it while you fight, then you can start using it to power your attacks, and your defenses." He said happily.
"When will I be able to see other people's battle auras?" She asked, excited.
"How about right now?" He asked with a smile.
She nodded eagerly. She hadn't realized how much she wanted to be able to do this until now.
"Okay, well let's start with the simple test." He said as she suddenly felt waves of warmth start pouring off of him. "Can you see anything?" He asked.
She shook her head, disappointed. "No, I can feel the heat of it, but I can't see anything."
He nodded. "All right, well, at least you can feel it. That's something. Not everyone's battle aura is warm, by the way. Ryoga's is always cold. Mine is cold when I use the Hiryū Shōten Ha." He said.
She nodded. "So, now what?" She asked.
"Take my hand." He said softly as he closed his eyes.
She followed his example and closed hers.
"This will be the same idea, but you'll need to think of it differently now. I can guide you better now though, because it's my battle aura you're tryin' ta see." He said quietly. His voice was low and slow enough that it was almost hypnotizing.
She nodded.
"Now, listen to my voice again. It's a warm breeze still, but it's comin' to you from far away."
She nodded.
"You're standin' on a cliff feeling the warm breeze reach you. But the winds on the cliff are cold. You want to stay with the warm breeze. Stay with it." He whispered.
She nodded.
"Follow the warm breeze back to the sun that's makin' it." He said urgently.
She nodded.
"Step to the edge of the cliff. Focus on the warm breeze from far away. Feel it around you, trace it back to where it's comin' from."
"I can feel it." She said. She meant it. She could feel what he was describing.
"Jump off the cliff, Nabiki. Follow the breeze." He said softly.
She took a deep breath and nodded. In her mind she didn't jump so much as fall off the cliff into the breeze. It lifted her up and carried her along with it. "Open your eyes." He whispered.
She did, and gasped. She could see it, she could see his battle aura! It was yellow, and huge. It was glowing around him at least a meter in every direction. She could now match up the waves of heat from him to the flicker and pulse of his aura. It didn't look quite right, though, like it was transparent or something. That disappointed her.
"I can see it, but it's faded. It doesn't look solid like when I see Akane's or Daddy's." She said, frustrated.
"Of course it does, we haven't finished focusing you yet." He said calmly, still in his slow, hypnotic tone. "Ready to focus it?" He asked.
She nodded, eager now.
"Keep your eyes open, now, and listen to the sound of my voice." He said as he matched the pace of his voice to the pace of the waves of the heat from his aura. "My voice is a trail of smoke from a fire. Follow it to the fire." He said.
"Okay." She said, she felt as if she was falling into some sort of a trance.
"Tell me when you find the fire." He said calmly, then started to repeat that same phrase over and over again as he matched pace with the waves of heat streaming off him.
She focused and tried to imagine his voice as smoke from a fire. She was frustrated, it wasn't working.
"Remember, you have a sun inside of you. You can use it to light the way." He said, still in the same cadence.
She nodded and focused on his voice again as he switched back to the repeated phrase. She focused on the sound of his voice, and reached down inside herself and found her core and grabbed hold of it again. She imagined his voice as smoke from a fire, and tried to smell it. She could almost smell ... something. It wasn't smoke from a wood fire though, it was more like burning ozone from superheated air inside an oven. She followed it. She realized almost immediately that it was drawing her down towards Ranma. She closed her eyes and listened with the senses from inside herself, what she thought of as her core.
She felt ... something. She couldn't really even describe it to herself, but it felt like part of her core was reaching out to the bright center inside him. It felt ... warm ... like fire.
She opened her eyes a little bit and whispered, "I think I found the fire."
"Excellent. Now, hold on to it, fix the location of it in your mind." He said softly, still in the same slow, low tone.
She nodded and did what he said. In her mind she was floating in the warm breeze, and looking down at a bright spot on the ground. It wasn't a fire so much as like catching a glimpse of the sun through the leaves of a tree.
"Now ... the sun inside of you, focus on it." He said calmly.
She nodded and did so.
"Pull on it, take threads of it and pull them to the surface, wrap them around yourself." He said softly.
She concentrated, and did what he said. In her mind, she grabbed hold of her core, and pulled at it. It wasn't a sun though, it was more like a warm, fuzzy ball of yarn. She yanked threads out from it and pulled on them until she had a lot of them. Then she just kind of held on to them while she spun into them and wrapped herself in them. They didn't stay threads, though, they just kind of melted into her and shimmered around on her skin like pools of liquid warmth.
"I ... I think I did it." She whispered.
"Perfect. Now, focus on my fire, and reach out to it. Grab threads of it. You should be able to grab it now that you have your own threads wrapped around you." He said with a happy tone in his voice.
She reached out to the heat of his aura, the fire of the center of it, and found that the power of it almost leaped into her hands. In her mind the heat of it rose up and almost overwhelmed her. She pulled back in fright and gasped.
"Easy ... easy ... just a little at a time. Think of it like trying to scoop a rock out of a bowl of water that's almost full. If you just jam your hand in there to get the rock, you'll overflow the bowl. You have to just stick two fingers in there gently, grab it, and pull gently so you won't overflow the bowl." He said, still in his soothing, soft voice.
She nodded and pulled more strength around herself from her core, and eyed the heat of the fire of his aura more warily now. She reached out gingerly in her mind and extended just her little finger. Immediately the heat of his aura flowed to her own power, and joined with it. She gasped again, with delight. It was like having a direct connection with him. She could feel him. Was this how he was able to read her? She felt a part of him agree with her through the link they now shared. She smiled.
"Now, pull gently on the thread. Wrap it around yourself and control it with your own threads. Control it, and make it part of you." He said calmly.
She did as he said and suddenly felt lighter, and heavier at the same time. She felt like a power inside of her was making her able to do things she wouldn't normally be able to do. At the same time, the weight of that made her feel like she shouldn't dare move, and the connection to him was overpowering everything else.
"I'm ... I'm scared ... " She whispered with a tremor in her voice.
"I know, I was too the first time I did this. You're doin' great, Kiki. Don't worry, none of this is dangerous. I wouldn't be much of a teacher if I let you get hurt in your very first lesson, now would I?" He said calmly. She also felt him send what felt like soothing thoughts to her. "Ready to finish the focus?" He asked quietly.
She nodded as she forced herself to relax and trust him.
"All right, now close your eyes again. Now that you have the threads from inside you wrapped around yourself and you have a thread from me controlled and part of it, think of the threads turning to water. Think of them covering you like you just got out of a bath, or like you're standin' in the rain, or however you want to imagine it."
She was already imagining her threads as pools of liquid warmth shimmering around her, so it was easy for her to shift that to what he was describing. "Okay, I think I am doing it." She whispered.
"Great. Now, pull on the power of the sun inside you and push it into the water around you. Make the water into steam, and push it around you so that it surrounds me too."
She concentrated, and found that the power inside of herself was only too eager to be pulled to the surface. She didn't know how to use it though, so she just imagined it as heat and pushed it around her and imagined the water turning to steam. She pushed on it until it was around him as well.
"Open your eyes." Ranma whispered. He sounded like he was whispering right in her ear.
She opened her eyes and blinked in wonder. She could see his battle aura as clearly as she could see Akane's. It was like they were in a little bubble she had created around them. The rest of the world around them seemed muted, dark, and lifeless. Only here in her bubble did she feel alive, unbelievably alive. It took her breath away, she wanted to sink to her knees in awe.
"Can you see it?" He asked. He still sounded very close to her, even though he wasn't that close.
She nodded. His aura was very bright now. He was standing across from her in a relaxed stance. His clothes and hair were ruffling around him like they were being stirred by an unseen breeze. She was glowing as well, and there was a bridge between them now. A tiny stream of her blue energy was entwined around a tiny stream of his yellow energy. Wherever their two streams touched, they merged to make a bright jade-green. She looked down and saw streams of his yellow aura dancing around on her skin, mixing with her blue.
"What do you think?" He asked warmly.
"Wow." Was all she could think to say.
He smiled enormously with eyes shimmering with happiness.
She was breathless. She could feel herself on the verge of hyperventilating. She couldn't believe how alive she felt right now. She felt like a little girl again. She felt like laughing, skipping, jumping, rolling around on the ground and giggling madly for no reason whatsoever.
"Ranma ... I ... wow! ... I can't ... what do you ... how does this ..." She tried to say as multiple questions rose to her mind at the same time.
"It's intense the first time, isn't it?" He whispered. He sounded very happy. He also still sounded like he was literally right next to her. Even though she could see him in front of her.
"It's ... wow! ... Ranma, wow! Is it ... is it like this for you all the time? Is this how you see the world?" She whispered, awestruck as tears streamed down her cheeks. She wasn't sad, she was blown away by emotion. She felt herself resonating with him in a way that was making her shake. She'd never felt anything like this before. She felt closer to him now than she had since she had known him. She couldn't even fully wrap her mind around how special the moment they were sharing was. Something inside her was straining. With every passing moment she spent with him, she wanted him to be part of her even more strongly. She felt like everything she was awakening in her core was shifting things inside her. She could feel something deep inside her straining to the point of almost cracking. She felt wonderful and ... ached at the same time.
He smiled softly at her. "No, not all the time. Only when I use my Ki to see, like you're doing now." He whispered.
She didn't know why, but it felt like whispering was required right now, like it would be sacrilegious to speak in a normal voice right now. He seemed to agree with her, because he was also was whispering.
"Do you have to go through that exercise every time you want to use your Ki to see?" She asked, curious.
She felt him laugh through the connection they were sharing. He pushed warmth to her and smiled as he shook his head. "No, it gets easier once you know how." He said with a bit of mirth in his voice.
"How are you doing that?" She asked, curious.
"Doing what?" He asked calmly.
"I can feel you pushing feelings and other stuff to me." She whispered.
"That's how you're able to see with your Ki right now, it's kind of a guided tour. This is how Pops taught me. You can feel me sending you things, because you're seeing through me." He said softly.
"I'm, wait, what?" She asked, confused.
He smiled at her. "The exercise I took you through is known as the Fractal Ki Mirror. The student draws on the power of their Ki and wraps themselves in it. Then the student connects to the teacher, and the teacher then helps the student to see through their own Ki by helping the student to focus through their shared connection on an infinite number of reflections of the student's own Ki surrounding them."
"What happens if the connection breaks?" She asked, worried.
"If you concentrate, you'll still be able to see my battle aura, but the bubble will break, and most of the heightened senses you feel right now will fade. You may be able to hold it on your own for a while, or it may collapse almost immediately." He replied calmly.
She wanted to try. She also really, really wanted to stay in this bubble with him ... forever. She looked around a little bit longer in wonder, then looked at him and nodded. "I'd like to try to hold it on my own. How do I do that?" She asked.
"Simple. Continue doing exactly what you're doing. Believe that you can see, stay connected to your own Ki, and focus on seeing the world around you as you draw on your Ki." He said.
That didn't sound all that terribly simple, but she nodded and tried to do what he described. When she was ready, she took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded again. "Ready." She whispered.
He nodded and a moment later she felt him withdraw his own presence from her. She immediately felt the sensation of being heavy and light fade. The bubble shattered a moment later then faded away, and the giddy euphoria went with it. She concentrated, and pulled on her own power as she gasped as the power of their connection let go of her. She looked at him, and was relieved to see that she could still see his battle aura. It didn't seem quite as bright as before, and she didn't have all of the extra perceptions of him that she'd had when she had been seeing the world through the power of his Ki, but she found that she was getting little tiny bits of those perceptions on her own. He smiled widely at her.
"Very good." I lost it almost the moment Pops broke the connection the first time we did that drill.
"I think I have ... a better teacher ... than you did..." She breathed her reply as she struggled to maintain her focus. A moment later, she lost it and it all faded.
She sank slowly to the floor of the dojo on legs that wouldn't support her any more. She was exhausted and shaking with emotion. He came over and sat down next to her. She didn't feel any heat from him any more.
She looked up at him, and found him smiling at her. "You did very, very good. A lot better than I was expectin', actually. Your Dad had to have trained you to do at least some of that. There's no way you should've been able to do that like that as an absolute beginner. But, I don't think he ever showed you seein' with your Ki, and you did very good with that too. So, I dunno, maybe you're just a natural." He said with a grin.
She smiled at him as she breathed deeply and tried to regain her energy.
"Here, eat this." He said as he handed her a little round ball and sat down next to her.
"What is it?" She asked as she popped it into her mouth. It was like a cookie, but it had like a jam or something similar filling.
"Pops says it's Mom's recipe. He calls them energy balls. I have a feelin' Mom's actual recipe isn't named something dumb like that, but it's too good to not be hers. Knowin' him, he probably swiped it when she wasn't lookin'. But it's good, isn't it? I keep some on me when I can for moments like these." He said quietly.
"When ... when do you make them?" She asked, shocked that he baked. She also noticed that she was starting to feel better, and stronger.
He smiled. "I try to make them when I'm home alone. It doesn't happen very often, so when I'm home alone, I try to make a couple batches of them, and then I hide them around the house. If I know I'm gonna need some before I'll be home alone again, I just make 'em really late at night. It's hard to do though, because Kasumi's a light sleeper, and baking smells wake her up. I figured out that if I use a fan and open a window though, she doesn't smell 'em baking." He said softly.
She just blinked at him in shock. She couldn't believe he had this side to himself. "You're ... a complicated guy, aren't you?" She asked with a smile.
He smiled. "You're one to talk." He whispered.
She had to agree with him on that. She probably hid more stuff about herself than he did. She resolved to share some more about herself with him on their date. It was only fair.
"So, what did you think of seeing with your Ki?" He asked her.
"It was ... amazing, especially when I was seeing through yours. Holy crap, Ranma, I had to fight myself to not just stay like that forever. The way you can see the world ... it's amazing." She said.
"And now you understand why I love the Art so much." He replied.
"Well, I mean, there's looking at the world like that, and then there's having someone try to kick your head in. Two really different things there, Ranma." She joked as she leaned into him happily.
She was about to make another joke when she heard a noise. She looked up at the same time Ranma did. There was someone watching them from the hallway that joined the dojo to the house.
It was Akane.