Horus Goes Home

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Chapter 26: What Could Have Been



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Horus had retired to the place he had been staying a relatively small apartment on the outside, but it had done well while he had been in the town. There had been a somewhat startling conversation with the young man named Xander or more accurately with the young man he would become. It was always odd how when the younger sorcerers were immersed in their power they tended to act far older mentally than they are while the older ones tended to have the opposite problem and act more like their younger selves.



It was a balancing act Horus supposed. One that made things balance out in the end and yet it was obvious that the young boy even with having worn a mask of a fool had seen too much before to truly act as childish as he appeared to have done.



"Your worried about him," Seras said as she sat next to him. "I am too I guess it is never pretty seeing family turn on each other. It is as if it is wrong on a fundamental level."



"It is," Horus said with a sigh. "Family is supposed to be the ones you can count on no matter what. For those of us so cursed to outlive the rest of our families we do try to form a community and a new family."



"So what have you been up to while you have been outside of my sight?" Seras asked teasingly. "I know it was longer for you than me but I still want to know."



"A bit of this and that," Horus said with a chuckle. "Remember Ranma and Naruto that I told you about?"



"Yeah Ranma seemed like a good kid just a little bit rough around the edges," Seras said as she melded behind him. "Now as for Naruto I recall he was a rather happy kid with a rather unhappy childhood. Let me guess that didn\'t happen here?"



"Nope managed to prevent most of the idiocy that they would have suffered at this point in time," Horus said. "They are being raised with my alternate self and seem to have had the chance to be children even for a little bit."



"So how did this happen," Seras said. "One would think you could have prevented the whole mess so how did it unveil?"



"Well I have been searching for the two fragments that are present here," Horus began to tell his tale, "but they were not exactly reachable. One is behind wards that even a grandmaster would have trouble getting around although it seems like there is a plan in motion to access the ring. The dagger is similarly protected and is in fact a Kateni artifact. A rather cursed dagger it would seem that resembles a holy relic that is still on display. It is possible that the relic at some point in time is infested with a fragment when it is thrown into the distant past and leads to a rather unfortunate series of events. The ring grants certain powers and the dagger acts in effect as a corrupting influence based on the violent and sinister aspects of Riddle\'s mind while the ring plays to the paranoia and megalomania of whoever wears it. The dagger it would seem is hidden in the elemental countries and was being guarded by the Biju and as such was kept from corrupting those around it. However with the nine guardians that dwell there having fallen into a madness and then being sealed into living beings things become dicey at best. The group calling itself Red Dawn as it were is insistent on harnessing the nine as they are the most powerful beings to their knowledge. Now while there are beings that greatly dwarf them in power the nine do have a mandate for their actions. The problem is that not all were sealed correctly and that I will have to interfere there again. Taking Naruto away from the elemental countries is a significant deviation in his life and the flow of the nations there."



"You took him back to visit for a moment didn\'t you," Seras said after thinking things through. "You prevented something that had already happened before and it altered things and peoples views of him. Still it is not like you unleashed Jiraiya along with Happosai into Japan..."



"Well they were the best choices to pass on their knowledge to the boys and with Occamy keeping an eye none of their idiocy nor Genma\'s will get too much out of hand," Horus said trying to assuage his love. "I do have to admit that was a concern that I had although the two perverts will be kept in check by the ideas of the others and at least this way none of the boys will be scared of being intimate or girls in general. That was part of Ranma\'s problem is that he had no grasp of proper relationships and it is even worse since he went through something similar to young Alex here has done."



"You think he would make a good addition to the family," Seras said softly. "I do have to admit that he tugged on my heart strings the way that he acted. Still there is the fact that we have places to go and things to do and dragging him from his friends would be bad."



"Summer training very intense with morning training here during the school year," Horus said. "It is not like his friends are normal or anything. I had seen him in passing at a party I attended before his parents decline. A friend of his named Delia as he called her is most definitely going to be a Zoanthrope, a feline to be particular. Also his two female friends show definite potential for magic, if not sorcery, at this point in time. A Miss Willow Rosenberg and a Miss Amy Madison. Miss Madison\'s mother happens to be a dabbler in magic. The scent of Hecate of all beings seems to cling heavily on her. Still the old gods that survived tend to stay clear of us and us them. Perhaps it was the last Ragnarök that did it? Who can tell if it was."



"Wasn\'t Ragnarök the end of the world?" Seras asked in interest. "Shouldn\'t things be over now?"



"Worlds end," Horus said with a chuckle. "An end is merely a new beginning after all and there have been several \'Twilights of the Gods\' as it were just as there were several places that were the source for Atlantis and at least three cities named that."



"Atlantis there were three of them," Seras said in shock. "On second thought though I so don\'t want to know."



"Tell me about it," Horus said with a sigh of long term irritation. "Trying to keep track of which was which made history a bit of a pain and the report on how the original differed from the later attempts to recreate it and how they paled to the original Island city state of Ciana."



"Why does this make me just want to change the subject back to what you have been doing?" Seras asked offhandedly almost to herself with a shudder before thinking, \'that is so not what I want to discuss as the ideas and ramifications would not lead to what I want at this time.\'



"Yeah it is best if e get back to the point as it were," Horus said after seeing the look on Seras face. "We can discuss more things that history forgot later preferably while relaxing as this bit is a tad more disconcerting..."







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Flashback



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I was between travels again and decided to see where the dagger could be as my scrying showed the ring being at a place where no one living or dead or even undead could reach. I still have to find out what is neither living nor dead nor undead. I heard about something like that from this specter I knew but it has never come up and must be one of those small cases no one really studies. Anyways as I was saying there was some time to travel as neither of my goals were reachable and trying to time it to arrive back when things met those alignments might have been tricky I decided I might as well do something with my time besides the odd stint training or fighting to help some of the rookies here. So I was wandering about places I had wanted to explore more and hopefully not attract too much attention as the world is still not in the know about things. Most oddities would pass for somewhat normal in those countries as the ninja skills had a wide variety of appearances and effects.



I appeared near of all places Konoha or as the name translates properly and fully as the Village Hidden in the Leaves and considering it is surrounded by some large forests that name makes sense. Fire country is an interesting place and a bit less prone to the excesses that other regional leaders had. Thankfully enough time from after their third hidden war had happened so things were not in too heightened of a state of security. Sure they required ID and the like but that was easy enough to have.



It is amazing how easy transmutation is under pressure and is much better than an easily dismissed illusion or as they called it on the isles Genjutsu. Now as it is similar to lifting what they want to see and placing it on paper and yes I have heard of similar items and it in a way resembles the robes for all occasions or a morph suit as it were. Currently tech can only make a chameleon suit and not a morph officially as there are a few organizations that have their hands on the more advanced technology that was left behind when the demon hordes invaded the first time or more accurately the first recorded time on this planet. Oddly enough my memories are quite accurate that I digress into mental tangents unless I am involved in combat. It is in a way a side effect of the training I had in multitasking. Now I can tell that you want to know about alien technology and the past but later.



I had walked into Konoha and it was a good deal larger both in terms of people and terms of building. It would seem that the post Kyuubi period had not completely recovered from that incident. It was a somewhat interesting period of time and the majority of the ninja that were milling about were chibi versions of ones I had met. Thankfully as most of the businesses were family businesses they were in the same place even if they were under different operators or their rather younger looking selves. One thing I should stress is that the ninja grew up quick, led short lives and left a rather dismembered corpse when they go. It is in a way similar to how sorcerers lived in the beginning when the dangers were enough to have a life span if lucky of a few centuries until some space had been carved out so constant combat had some relief. The only difference at the time was that instead of leaving a corpse we left a big bang. It was a time when suicide missions were likely or inescapable deaths were and so triggering the one true difference between mystics and others and collapsed out cores resulting in a sort of magic anti-magic explosion that could in some ways be greater than a matter anti-matter annihilation in terms of explosive power. That most in those situations did not let the energy go as a pure explosion but shaped it to such devastating results.



Still that is another tale for another day. As I said the sights were still there and so I stopped to see if the ramen was still one of the best I have ever tasted. Odd that simple noodles with broth could be made to taste so good. Odd to get it that good outside of Japan as the ones available outside are ever as flavorable. The old man was a young businessman and Naruto\'s favorite waitress was barely a rug rat at the time yet you could see the potential for her looks already.



Now there was no way that I could help but notice someone that looked like an older version of Naruto scarfing ramen as fast as he had done before. So I was confronted with eating ramen in a restaurant with the man who would sire him as well as condemn him.\'



Arashi as the younger ramen stands owner called him was reluctant to drag himself away from more of the steaming hot noodles. The situation in the village was rather relaxed since the war had ended. It was obvious that he was going to meet Jiraiya or as he called him Ero-sensei. It does seem after the fact shocking how no one noticed the similarities between the two.



As I needed a decent reason to be in the village and I was bored while I had no desire to be a ninja that left a few things that I could do and not attract too much attention. While I may not be the best in it I do know enough to make passable weapons and as there was only one decent weapons shop by my standards I went there. Lousy timing as it terned out. They needed help but while the village was a bit relaxed the shinobi were not as well relaxed. They were talking about who would become the next Fire Shadow and it seemed that things would go as they had.



Which meant that soon enough a spited Snake Sage would be trying to use Kyu-chan\'s power to get revenge on the village that spited him. As much as I would like to prevent what would happen things would not go that great for the kid if I didn\'t. I had noticed that the mother to be was around and had taken a look at their aura. Suffice it to say something was wrong.



Fate does play a role in the world almost as much as free will does and sometimes the balance necessary for life to exist let alone flourish can be most unkind. A fractured soul bond of all things was present in the nascent Naruto. While cross species reincarnation and the like has happened it is far worse in the case of mystics. There are few if any mystics born to mundanes and those are at best records over ninety percent reincarnated and as the difference is in the soul there are complications.



Now as Naruto had two parents who are shinobi and thus considered sensitives there was the fact that the inherent bond would likely not form. In a way similar to those with ties like the clans with ties to animals such as dogs or insects this particular oddity was a tie of all things to foxes. It seems that short of finding a kitsune to bond with shortly after birth the kid was destined to die or at least live a half life.



Now despite this seeming contrived it does make some sense if one thinks back far enough that with Rice Country being close enough and the odd migrations that people make that one of Inari\'s priest or priestesses had a descendant in Konoha. That slight divine blessing as it were could have been where the ease that Arashi had with creating his techniques relatively came from.



Still if Kyu-chan had not been near one of the more spiritually aware foxes would have shown up. The problem was that the divergence in the Foxes along with the other natural spirit beings or some might say beasts. The animalistic demons are in a way considered a tainted and slightly corrupted version of the pure forms found in the Anima as it is there was a small number of very low level demons often called Yokai in Japanese histories that were passing a bit too close for comfort of the situation. That and that the Tribes had little appreciation for the Yokai while they are still on good terms with their cousins from the Anima. Still the Tribes are interesting and they do a good enough job in keeping the various lycanthropes and zoanthropes from causing mass panic. The odds of any of those being open to people about themselves is rather low as they would likely be either shunned or treated with fear as owners of a powerful and dangerous Bloodline ability.



That neither of the Animus besides those summoned nor any shapeshifters were present in the elemental nations allowed the relatively powerful tailed beasts to rise to prominence. There had been the fact that someone had to watch over the lands here and that there were plenty of dangerous notions that had developed here. It was an enclosed community that had some technology but others were non existent. They had radios but had never received outsider signals. They had steam power and shuriken launchers with some cannon like weapons but no handguns.



Now while I had been there I had seen several variants on what would cause the previous and preceding conflicts with the so called Tailed Beasts. As it were regardless of the actions they would inevitably be sealed for good or ill intent and with bad or more often disastrous outcomes. I could have halted the attacks but that would have been a pebble in the pond moment as skills and abilities that were deemed impossibly by the shinobi involved would have been required to do so. That and sadly most of the reasons that the attacks occurred were reasonable.



Something to remember is that short of the truly psychopathic there is a reason for everything wither it would justify the act to ones own moral or ethical code is up to debate as the one doing so rarely if ever believes they are the villain in the drama that is their life. Now as directly interfering in the attack and defeating Kyu-chan was out of the question that did not preclude things that could limit the events that were unraveling in such a short time. Things follow the path of least resistance and as such tend to repeat themselves short of temporal folds but that gets messily.



It did seem rather odd that the Biju as they were known as were rather large considering. Well there were nine of them and they had a purpose that they were supposed to do. It sadly required that they be several stories high in fact. To put it simply put the chances were originally high that the barrier was weaker their than any other areas besides the places were the Hellmouths settled at any given time. The Biju were in essence left to guard what had been a proving ground were far too often the lesser demon races would pop up and try to get settled in. It was for a time considered a good place to send students to get a decent taste for combat in a somewhat controlled situation as the barrier while allowing lesser demons through prevented the far more dangerous ones from coming through.



Now as odd at it seems there was a tendency unknowingly to place the locations of the hidden villages were the barriers were weaker do to the concentration of energies. The ninja academies tended to actually lower the chances of a breech as the chakra that ninja use to perform their arts acted a bit like a viscus fluid that made it harder to force one through. To say it more accurately it was like trying to swim through oil and as one has seen with the aftermath of oil spillage and I still cannot believe that people chose that as a fuel source in this day and age, now back to the point of the matter; while there was this chakra residue acting as a weighted fluid that made it harder for the demons to pass it actually allowed summoned spirits a bit of ease as the chakra acted a bit like lubrication and made it easier to slip across to here their. Konoha was in fact no exception to this and one would think with the ease in which summons happened that there would be better security.



As it turned out since Konoha has gates it was relatively simple to manipulate the necessary accidents to preclude while not an ideal solution at least a passable one. The simple change was that using all the waste energy that ninja dispersed into the environment and the gate as a circle a simple protective barrier could be set up. Now while attuning it to those with ties to the spirit plane would have been easy it would have made summoning far more energy intensive to cross that barrier as well and so a simple filter to prevent summonings that would harm the village as a whole and not an individual had to be emplaced.



The wards simply were worked into the door hinges as well as the barring system. In the mean time I was able to study the subtler alterations to their weapons that the shinobi had done. It was one of those strange moments when seeing every possible outcome and actually had the time to properly divine the divergent chances had to see what would happen. As sad as it sounds Arashi had to do the sealing and there was a very large chance that his wife would die somehow or other.



I had been rather active in casual situations slowly building trust and the like. I did my best to make sure their was no underneath the underneath for the shinobi to investigate. I did admit to tending to tweak the little things that I could to make things a little better. The closest I would say I came to truly altering things was following after Arashi and his team one day when they neglected to pick up some new weapons.



They had left for a simple patrol that would bring them a bit close to Iwa or Rock territory. There had been a rather brutal war with Arashi having earned his famous or infamous to his enemies nickname of the \'Yellow Flash of Hidden Leaf Village\' for the use of a technique called the \'Flying Thunder God\'. It was a rather interesting techniques with a bit of ways it could have been recreated or simulated. It was dependent on a three pronged kunai with seals on it. Now while that can seem like a slight handicap it did allow for me to disassemble the technique as I had his others having watched him demonstrate them a time or two. Not that I needed it in the case of the Rasengan or \'Spiral Shot\' as it translates as because I had already taught Naruto my version of that attack.



Considering that they were some of the better customers that I had and that even the Uchiha on the team was not like the rest of his clan I had decided that since they should have stopped for weapons that I might as well deliver them even if they were in the field. Besides it was a slow day and I had picked up an assistant or two and was even working jointly with a rather promising young man who I planned to teach some of the more esoteric metal working skills to.



I was not prepared for what I saw when I arrived.



"Really Arashi," I said chidingly. "Is it possible for you not to get into trouble?"



"What are you doing here?" He asked in concern as he obviously was still unaware of my combat skills even if one needed to know how to use weapons to truly test their balance and other attributes.



"You forgot to pick up your order," I said simply. "Really going out in the field without being fully armed was rather careless..."



"What have we here?" one of the Rock ninjas asked. "A weapon\'s smith dropping off weapons. I guess we should do something about that."



The Rock ninjas thinking that using any ninja arts would be overkill merely launched a wave of shuriken and kunai at both myself and the Leaf ninja. There was no time for them to protect me and it was not as if they needed to do so.



To those watching it was as if my hands had at most blurred and the weapons that had been launched at me were caught. This had drawn a surprise from all of them and a speculative light flashed for a moment in both Kakashi and Arashi\'s eyes.



"Really is there a reason that ninja think everyone else is helpless," I said mockingly. "Just because I am no ninja does not mean that I am some helpless civilian or worse to be treated like some client or far worse a damsel in distress. Now then if you don\'t mind I suggest that you leave and let me be about my mission. It would be a shame to have to sully my hands with the blood of weaklings like yourselves."



They really did not take that well and I was trying to rile them up. Shame they forgot about the ninjas they were fighting and if they had not been so off put by my actions the team could have easily surprised and dealt with the others. Not that there was any reason for concern at all.



This time the Rock Ninja decided to launch some signature jutsu from their country namely earth elemental attacks. They were rather lame in their names as well as their usage. Still they did have potential if they had ever really mastered not wasting so much energy in their attacks.



"Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm," One of the Iwa shinobi shouted out the C-Rank attack before saying, "I guess that took care of him."



"What did a weapon\'s smith think he could do against us," one of the others said causing the frozen Leaf shinobi to stiffen and prepare to avenge their friend or at least aacquaintances\' death.



Before they could do that just as they were tensed to move a voice cut in and said, "That will not be necessary."



The Leaf ninja paused for a moment at the voice as they tried to place it and when they did their eyes widened. The Rock shinobi were less prepared for what happened next.



"Shadow Art: Double Decapitation Strike!" the voice said as it appeared amid the Iwa team for a moment before the attack was released.



The Rock shinobi fell dead instantly as the attack released a visible air wave as the twin swords struck the team as he spun around. They did not notice the fact that the shadows of the blades cleaved their shadows as well as the air wave and the steel in the strike.



"Well that was anti climactic," I said as he looked around. "What your really thought that just because I am not a shinobi that I am helpless?"



"Uh no not really," Obito managed to say looking un-Uchiha like as he was scratching the back of his head sheepishly.



"What he meant is why become a weapon\'s smith when you are still able to be a front line fighter?" Rin asked before even Kakashi had opened his mouth.



"Well Rin just because I can fight does not mean that I want to risk my life killing people," I said before putting his hand up to stop the question from coming that he was sure Rin would ask. "That does not mean that I respect you any less it is our choices however that make us who we are. Now that the interruption is done with are you ready to look at the weapons now that they are finished?"



"How did you do that?" Kakashi asked at last. "As you stated you are not a shinobi and that was definitely not a samurai sword technique nor a ninja one and in addition to that there is the fact that you escaped from that technique which is something that should have required a chakra manipulation to accomplish that."



"That is something that I wish to know as well," Arashi commented as there was definitely more to meet the eyes than even he had seen and he was a Jounnin and trained by Jiraiya as well.



"There are other ways to perform techniques and other arts than the ones that you know of," I said after a moment. "Just because I do not use chakra does not mean that I don\'t know alternate methods to produce similar effects. The main difference is that you need to shape your chakra to whichever elemental influence is need by changing the balance between aspects of mental and physical energies to get the right mix. Mostly I do rely on taijutsu and kenjutsu to deal with bandits and the like."



"You are just going to be evasive are you not?" Obito asked after processing things. "You have managed to fool an entire village of shinobi who have not ever attempted to look underneath the underneath and that is what we are trained to do...."



"Now that is an interesting question," I said with a sigh. "How could I fool those trained to see underneath the underneath unless I had similar training? Well that is simple I may not be trained as a shinobi, but where did the first shinobi learn their art?"



This question had caused them to have an interesting look plastered to their face as they had never really thought back that far in their history. They knew that at one time there had been shinobi clans before the villages had eventually formed. They were however unaware of anything that had happened before the settling of the elemental countries. They were aware that the first two Fire Shadows had come from a different land and that the first had used his gift with Wood arts to form the forests that gave the Leaf village their name.



"Now that you mention it there was never really much about them covered at the Academy," Kakashi said with a moment\'s thought. "We learned about the Shodaime and Nidaime as well as how they founded the village, but not where the earliest of shinobi arts came from. So I take it that you either know the origins or come from somewhere with the origins are known."



"Well it took you long enough to figure that out for a so called prodigy and genius," I said in a somewhat mocking tone as I attempted to rile them up and put them in even more of a disadvantage. "Then again I don\'t think very highly of the training methods that you shinobi use... far too soft for my tastes as well as glossing over the more important theories that should be handled long before you are let out into the field. More the pity and in part why the higher ranked missions have far too many casualties than I would consider necessary for the risks involved."



"So while not a shinobi you are skilled enough to have infiltrated our village and most likely gained more information than most spies could dream of," Arashi said in a slow drawn out manner. "Add to that there is the fact that you have if not chakra some sort of similar energies and that none of us detected you as anything but a skilled weapon\'s smith and it could lead to unfortunate misunderstandings..."



I scoffed before saying, "If I wanted any of you or all of you dead you would be so. It is not like I consider you any real threat. I had merely heard rumors of what some of the shinobi nations had become and wished to see if one finally understood what they were meant to be. That is no more no less what my purpose was. I know what my level of skill is and despite your reputation as Leaf\'s Yellow Flash there is actually not much you could do either strait up or from ambush to slow me down let alone harm me. To put it simply I am so far out of your league it is not even funny. Now while I do admit that you in the Leaf understand the truth of teamwork there are far too many that make unwise gambles with their subordinates for my taste there. Now while I will admit it is better than say the Bloody Mist there is room for improvement. Far too many of the geniuses are treated to a near hero worship which seems to make them far to likely to believe in their own superiority. It is rather off setting how many S-Rank missing shinobi there are out there now. I believe that there is a possibility that one more will rise from the Leaf and it is possible that dreadful matters will come to pass. Far too many shinobi let their ambition turn to obsession for their own let alone others good."



"So you are here to evaluate how well we perform not on skill but on how we interact with each other," Kakashi summarized. "Now there is the fact that you seem to have no concern that we know meaning you have made your decisions and consider your mission fulfilled. You also offered information rather openly that there will be a need to watch out for missing shinobi from our village from the elites who have grown complacent. You also warned geniuses like myself not to do so. You also show no signs that you plan on leaving but are planning to deal with matters to better allow our village to be an example."



"I will admit that I have been impressed by Leaf and the people there seem better off than in other villages," I told them in confidence. "However there is far too much uncertainty in how they respond to certain situations. The Clans have become too arrogant and have started too put their own interests ahead of the welfare of the village as a whole. Those with bloodline limits have allowed their children\'s other skills to atrophy. Now to make that even worse there is the over reliance on their family arts. Take the Uchiha for instance. Most if not all of that clan are so focused on their eyes that they tend to become completely dependent and then think that nothing can disable their powerful eyes which is patently false."



"What do you mean?" Obito asked. "The Sharingan is one of the most powerful optical abilities there is. It allows one to see through illusions, predict their opponents movements as well as learn their opponents arts."



"There are several flaws to that reasoning," I told him in a saddened tone as I was disappointed with how he overlooked the obvious flaws and counters to his Clan\'s pride. "The Sharingan can only perceive what is in front of you and most of the higher abilities require eye contact. A thick enough mist will make it difficult to perceive and if one does not use chakra to enhance their taijutsu than if they are fast enough then they can move faster than even a Sharingan user can react if not see. The last disadvantage is that the basis of the Sharingan as the Byakugan was flawed to begin with, but that is not the main issue here. We can talk more when we are not in a combat area. Still I am disappointed in the ease at which you were almost crushed. I trust that you will be increasing their training, Arashi."



After that things were rather quite for a time. We returned and discussed things and I did give a few pointers to improve their training and some for th academy as well. I was trying not to so much change the course of things like a tree falling but more like a pebble with the ripples changing and improving things as we went.



Everything seemed to be going fine until the time that Sarutobi chose who would be his successor. Orochimaru had been oddly enough not doing anything to the civilians that I could detect and if he experimented on traitors I held no compulsion for those and their safety. Thinking back it seemed obvious that when Arashi became the Fourth Fire Shadow that Orochimaru was somewhat upset. His Teacher had been the student of the First and Second and thus felt entitled since he was the better student and more successful to take what he felt was his rightful place.



Tsunade had still lost her lover Dan, but oddly enough one of the ripples had kept her brother alive. Perhaps it was a necessity that his next incarnation would be as it had been before. Sometimes I think back and notice that those that have a close bond tend to reincarnate together and fit the same roles as they had before. I guess that is why Father was able to survive... their loss as he knew that eventually they would be reunited. One thing that the longer lived will eventually notice is that those close to us return to us eventually even if it takes centuries for the cycles to change.



Sometimes while I was on the continent things seemed rather strange with the way that their were some things that I took for granted present while others were not. At times I find myself being a stranger in a strange land wherever I go. Things are different here and with all the excitement that it had not sunk in before I left. We are products of our ages and at times I look around and expect to see things from back than even that has changed as that is no longer home and yet I am aware that someday we will catch up and it will be home again.



While I had spent time in our version of this land it was not for anywhere near as long as I spent there. I still visited London and Sunnydale though. Long range teleportation has different definitions depending on who one talks to and how old they are. Some still recall porting from world to world and some even farther. The really old ones do acknowledge that there is no record of a non technological method to travel across the galaxies though. There is also the fact that magic is the only method known currently that can traverse the starts from this system as the technological methods were lost over several thousand years ago. As much as the continent I was in was isolated so too has the world we grown up in become isolated. A shame that there is so few who remember how to speak any of the other languages let alone the history and necessities, still there was a simple truth that the archives do have enough to handle an official first contact with the masses.



Thankfully when the Kyuubi eventually appeared and attacked things went slightly better. My main irritation was that I had checked Naruto prenatally and he had the same condition that he had in our world. It was as if something was missing when he had been reborn perhaps Dan and Tsunade were on the verge of forming a true soul bond, but Naruto would need something or someone to make the connection to stabilize his spirit. Normally I would have checked with any of the Animus that were interested in forming a partnership similar to how the Inuzaka and the Aburame got their links to their partners. As it was somehow the connection with Tsunade and her little brother had a ripple that made a fox as the best hope for the kid. The other option was a forced awakening. Now a normal awakening can be explosive or at least destructive, but forcing one is very dangerous as it might cause the subject to explode taking a large chunk of space with them.



Anyways I managed to get a hold of young Naruto before the ceremony and did a few tweaks to it. One of them was that the bond would work out better and that he would not have to worry about becoming a fox immediately or suffer from burn out. I managed to drag Jiraiya with us when it was time to leave. Without the villagers knowing about Naruto there was far less worry for when he returned. Besides having the three boys spar would turn out to be a good idea. It would also allow them to cross train some more.



I will admit that there had been a bit of a problem in discussing it with the Hokage. Despite what some would think he really and actually cares for his subordinates. All it really took was explaining that despite Arashi\'s belief in people that as someone older and wiser that the people would try to find a scapegoat since they didn\'t have a body to desecrate. It didn\'t take him long to realize that they would turn their fear of the contained to anger at the container to hatred because they would resent the situation and eventually take out the frustration that they felt on being unable to effect the fox.



###############







********



End Flashback



********







"So that is what happened," Seras said while looking Horus over. "Now while it has been nice catching up there are other things to catch up on..."



Horus took the hint with a shudder thinking back to how frisky she had been the night before and that before they had left that it had been to long since they had time outside the group. It had been far too long since they could simply lay there together and talk yet alone simply spending time with his lovely wife doing what married people do. Simply put it had been to long since they had been truly physically intimate and not slacking the enhanced lusts that their natures had given them. That was not to say that they did not enjoy such pursuits or the release that it granted, but merely the fact that there is despite what some would say a true difference between a passionate embrace and going at it like animals.



This was a simple matter that over time would have evened out. What was important in understanding this was that emotional as well as physical release was necessary for the two. Horus had spent the past several years alone emotionally although he had been able to keep his hormones and physical needs met often to the betterment of his partners of the moment.



This was a moment that had been a long time coming. Even though they had some time before the plan had been completed there had been the fact that everything was inevitably rushed and that feeling was doubly so as they had both accepted the ramifications of their nature. Time is relative and to a near immortal the time frame that had passed was just a passing moment.



All these realizations had passed through Horus\'s mind in the heartbeats immediately following Seras\'s admission. Horus was suddenly wide eyed as those realizations caused his heart to jump for a moment before he turned grinning to Seras.



"Seras love," he said as he looked at her with the emotion clearly visible in his eyes as his professional mask slipped. "I have missed you and while I tried to show you how much I missed you before I made in some ways a mistake in letting my desire cloud my actions. I should have done this than. I should have drawn you into my arms and talked before expressing my joy at being with you again..."



Seras while enjoying what he was saying and more importantly what she heard in his voice leaned up and kissed him gently cutting off what he was saying. Now while she had obviously been comfortable resting together they were somewhat newlyweds who had been separated far too long in her opinion and most assuredly too long in his opinion.



When Seras broke the kiss gently she raised her hand to caress his face comfortingly before saying, "Horus my love you do not need to tell me for me to know, but that does not mean that I do not appreciate when you tell me."



Horus simply smiled at her and kissed her forehead gently before settling down next to her. The two were for once able to enjoy each other without rushing and proceeded to do so gently and tenderly. They trailed gentle kisses and touches with while not lacking the feel of passion were clearly more of caring and love than lust. This was in part shown buy the almost deliberate avoidance of the obvious spots that would work them up quicker than the slow pace they were working on.



The fact that they were spending most of their time teasing and touching the firm muscles and slowly stroking the often neglected flesh between the more sensitive areas was telling. For the first time in a long time there was time enough for the two lovers to be able to indulge not in the quick orgasm rush but the slow rise and crests of passion that they were now indulging in.



Indeed it had been to long for them. They had spent their time in slow sensual teasing motions that would leave most contortionists askance as they shifted to better caress the other. For once their was time enough for the gentle trailing of kisses and touches that let them feel closer than they had been. The fact that they twisted themselves to see each other\'s faces and to caress and look at each other even when it was beyond impractical for the positions they had gone through.



Finally after working themselves slowly and surely up they reached their final climaxes and curled next to each other. Seras was nestled against him with his arms wrapped around her. The two drifted off to sleep.



A sleepy thought went through their heads, \'It had been to long.\'



**************







"So how should we see about the kid\'s training?" Seras asked in the morning after hearing all of the things that he had been up to while she had been separated from him for far too long in her opinion well and the more intimate than sexual encounter that had followed. "Besides he will need friends his own age and especially those that can understand him."



"That is a good point," Horus said as he was doing some morning stretches much to Seras\'s enjoyment while also getting the kinks he had worked in last night righted. "Still while he is in a way a late bloomer but has manifested before the usual age for schooling there is a feeling that this generation will be great. Still my Analogue along with Ranma and Naruto will be a formidable group. Perhaps they will need someone to train with to help them also learn to teach even if they are the same age."



"You don\'t plan on having him join their training trip though," Seras said as she started her own morning stretches also in a way to better start the day. "He has friends here after all."



"His precious people are important," Horus said as he skipped up from his finger stand push ups. "It seems however that some of his friends and acquaintances are following a path that will lead them to be either great allies or enemies... perhaps rivals instead. It is all how they react to each other. Little Cordelia while acting the consummate rich snob did worry about a kid in her class and she did make a few interesting analysis of her social peers and others her age."



"More practice for when we ladies eventually have kids," Seras said with a grin during her flexibility stretches almost curling backward to touch her toes. "I know that you wanted to wait a while so that we were ready as well as get the family more suited for babies. Still the way you have been with the little ones already does help."



"I know you want to start mothering some of your own," Horus began to say before sighing heavily. "It is just going to be complicated for any children that we do have will have so much pressure on them because of who we are. There is also the problem of possibly outliving them if they don\'t have the necessary inheritance in longevity. Dad went through that with his mortal descendants and even though he tries to be a part of their lives it just is so hard to see him being a virtual stranger to family because trying to explain the connection is so strange."



"Any parent loathes the idea of outliving their children," Seras said as she curled her head to look at him through her stretching legs. "Our lives are not certain, but we know that even if we have our time cut short with our kin in this life that we can always see them again later."



"A cruel fate that we have it seems," Horus said. "Perhaps we will see them again if they die and go to the Netherworld, but if they go elsewhere than we would never see them again. The Original Powers That Be\'s cruel last parting act still haunts us Seras. I am a Sorcerer and I accepted what it means when the teachers told us the price of our power. Luckily it is one the rest of our kin do not have to pay unless they inherit the gift or is it in this instance a curse. We can never rest in peace Seras. Still there is a chance that the Creator will let us see our deceased family some day. Those that are not part of the system as it were are torn from us why must fate be so cruel to us even if we did spit in her eye."



"I did in a way believe when I became Nosferatu that I would never gain the peace to see my father again," Seras said. "Yet with what I have seen I know that nothing is truly impossible if one puts their mind to it and tries. We will see those we lost. You did get to speak to your birth parents after all."



"True but far too many end up who knows where now," Horus said in a sad tone. "The Powers that Be those little more than middle management administrators are again trying to play too many games with those here and now. They seem to think that their power gives them a right to manipulate and use the mortals. I never seemed to notice until earlier but this town stinks of their machinations. The kid is going to need some serious training and catch up to the others. This place needs a team of its own the way that things feel like they are going to go. At times I curse that I don\'t have a decent amount of precognition, but then again who wants to see what may be and most likely will be."



"While we are not necessarily tied to fate to follow a set destiny," Seras said as she stood next to him molding to him as they stretched together, "that does not mean that there is a path of least resistance that we could fall into. Perhaps it is better not to know but then again how can one prepare for something without knowing what it will be?"



"You are right about that still I can remember in an almost flash of what he will be like when older and what would have been if he had not awakened last night," Horus said. "Delia does consider him a friend even if she had to think about not expressing it do to her parents needs to prove themselves as part of the elite. She will never truly be part of their world. Like Xander awakened I can tell that she will go through the same too. Unlike the vast majority of Zoanthropes she does not seem to have any abilities present at the moment. One of these days she will shift and it will be a shock. I have tried to find a way to tell her before, but it will seem so bizarre at the moment. She did see me change once but never mentioned it. I do hope that her senses come in gradually and do not overwhelm her. They are slightly more sensitive than a norms but I did manage to convince her and her parents to take some martial arts classes as well as gymnastics. Her mother seems to want to make her a cheerleader like one of her friends mother is doing as well."



"What is with the subtle stress on the others mother?" Seras asked suddenly noticing the almost imperceptible stress that he had placed on the word. "I did notice that slight change in tone after all."



"This town seems to obscure the strange and the unusual," Horus said. "It is odd that I never really noticed it as much until last night. The notice me not was rather subtle and worked on what one expects to perceive. As well as the convergence here it is able to make those less powerful stronger while also obscuring them. It is quite unlike the convergence that the Sisters live on..."



"You\'re thinking about them," Seras said with a sigh. "I miss them too and as much fun as finding their analogues and having some fun with those yummy sisters there seems to be more coming into focus that seems sadly more important than slacking our libidos regardless of how much fun it is."



"Watch your self witchy woman," Horus said before coming to a halt as his face lost the flirting smirk before laughing.



"So what is so funny?" Seras asked before huskily continuing in a teasing voice, "going to tell me or do I have to persuade you?"



"As much fun as that will be, luv," Horus said. "I just cannot believe that I overlooked Catherine Madison being a practitioner witch of all things and thinking back she reeked of invoking Hecate of all beings."



"So the bitch witch is a witch huh," Seras said having picked up on the comment on their link. "How have you been doing without one of us here to keep your head straight."



"Rather poorly it seems," Horus said wryly. "Still while my being aware of magic and the like prevented me from completely ostriching with the normal weirdness here. It just seems that a secondary effect along with the shrouding effects mean someone tied the convergence to the spell to enhance it to a self sustaining area effect. That takes subtlety that is not possible without several decades of magical experience or life and death need to weave such subtle effects. The thing is most Spellcasters are as subtle as a bull in a china shop when they start casting so it takes time except for the weakest of magicians to have that level of control."



"So it is similar to chakra huh the less you have the easier to control," Seras said. "Thus subtle control with a large enough source require a raising of the threat assessment for whoever is responsible."



"They could always be not that powerful in their own right," Horus said. "There is a reason that even the weakest of Druids could pull of some impressive magic. On a convergence one gains a boost and it is more so if it is a convergence where they are aligned. Take when I am in a cemetery there is a convergence of necromantic energy there and as a necromancer I can draw on that energy. Considering that the Blood Demons last night were able to give that good of a run when they were obviously fledglings yet even more foolish than most means that..."



"What?" Seras asked as he suddenly trailed off. "Come on Horus it cannot be that bad."



"A Hellmouth of all things," Horus muttered. "How could I not notice the demonic energies. Even a rank amateur would have noticed. Perhaps it was the way the spell was woven to make such a way to shroud the shrouding source."



"A Hellmouth does not sound good Horus," Seras said. "What are you not telling me?"



"There are in essence seven vents in the dimensional fabric that act as pressure release valves with a number of demon dimensions that are collectively called Hell," Horus began to say. "Now while having an inactive and dormant yet still open able gate seems bad on the surface as the leaking energy draws demons like a moth to the flame it serves the purpose of being the path of least resistance and as it is occupied it takes far more power to breach the barrier especially for those from a demonically aligned reality. There were nine gates that led to hell but two were truly closed and the resulting balancing act still permitted the lower upper demons to readily walk the earth. Now with the mouths they are thus cut off from enough demonic energy in a manner similar to having a plant cut off from light to photosynthesize. Basically when the Nine were dealt with there were the large number of the Horde that still wished conquest. They were for the most part banished through the very gates that they sought to use. "



"So how did you not know where this particular mouth was?" Seras asked. "It seems like the kind of thing to know where it is so why not have it recorded."



"The exact physical location varies through a complicated metaphysical calculation of various nodes and nexus along the ley lines," Horus said. "The exact mouths move about and of all the nodes a set number become dormant and one becomes the more active mouth where an adequate level of demonic energy congregates. There is thankfully that the settled energy prevents certain locations from becoming Hellmouths and yet they are still attractive to demons and other magically sensitive beings."



"So they move about well that explains why there is no record of where they are and yet it seems the kind of thing to investigate," Seras said with an inquisitive tone to her voice. "I take it that whoever was supposed to do so had their own reasons for hiding than?"



"That is what I suspect as well but whoever it is has gone to considerable means to hide who they are and what their intentions are," Horus said as he settled to do his stretches while standing on the ceiling. "There is however the matter that whoever it is has gone to considerable long term planning and as such whatever that is planned is most likely several years to a decade maybe more off. A higher level right can take centuries to gather enough power to enact. Using the Hellmouths ambient energy it would be likely that it is a demonic empowerment ritual and most likely one cumulative with several lesser one\'s having been preformed to extend life and insure survival until the climax of the ritual. Still there are a few empowerments that would raise one to the level of a local god that are far less taking to create so a higher level demon or the equivalent in power is my guess. It is not like he is claiming this town under the domain doctrine..."



"So it is just a spellcaster with long term plans utilizing the human and non human portions of the populous to further their goals," Seras said as she balanced herself between floor and ceiling on strands of dark energy. "One would almost think that it would be rather obvious who it is but if they are being rather shrewd in their hiding it is likely that there is no way to directly divine who it is."



"You know it is likely someone in the civil service of the town and most likely not one that is public although it is possible that they are hiding in plain sight," Horus said as condensed lines of sweat fell form the ceiling. "Things like this happened a few times in the middle ages where one of the warlords sacrificed their village to ascend into a true demon. I recall once there was this giant rabbit. Still there is a possibility that someone with delusions of conquering demon realms plans to elevate into the level of a higher circle demon. Now while it may not be the same as rising to the point of one of the three deceased Great Beasts there is nothing to scoff at either the Ancient Ones or Old Ones as they are called. Decently powerful enough to give even Alucard a run for his money unsealed in the former and sealed partially in the latter. Still there is something niggling at the edges of my memory perhaps a fragment of a possible future."



"So I take it that the kids are involved in this future?" Seras asked as the stretching muscle highlighted her form. "There is something about him that makes me want to mother him though."



"True and he seems to be set to eventually really spite the Puppeteers-That-Be," Horus said with a chuckle. "If what I seem to get an impression of is that he is going to take to training similar to the other two. It will be nice to have a few more at my level around here. There are far too few Journeyman and Masters than their should be given the boom in population. Far too many seem to stay as Initiates, Apprentices and Disciples for my peace of mind. The lack of open and widespread demonic incursions and the like seem to make the more academic and less military inclined aspirations grow again. They say necessity is the mother of invention but I always thought that desperation was what really forced humanity to grow and adapt quickly."



"So you\'re thinking of an intense program to get the kid up to speed and then let him spend a few training trips with the boys than," Seras said as she went through a few stretches that seemed to be exaggerated and designed to redirect his blood flow for other activities. "You want him and the others to reach Journeyman so that they can have a squad of their own. I take it you miss the comradeship that a smaller squad has lately."



"Hey the squad was a family in a way," Horus said as he dropped to the ground landing in a silent crouch. "While dad tried to be there my squad was my family. Dysfunctional yet functional in its own way. You got to remember how difficult it is to form a friendship a real one not what most think of nowadays. The kids are eventually need to realize that they cannot handle everything and despite wanting too that one has to learn to share the responsibilities."



"It is just that we seem to be apart form our friends and comrades too often lately," Seras said in a sad melancholy voice. "We will be apart for how many years relatively in this adventure? I don\'t want to think about it but I know that I can feel how we feel about each other despite the distance and that in par that kind of relationship is what we hope for our children as well as our students."



"That is why we do what we do," Horus said with a smile. "We all want a better place for the future than we had. Besides there is the simple matter that leaving any kids untrained would be bad. Power corrupts as they say and without a sense of responsibility a downward spiral easily occurs. Still there are a few things that I will need to explain to the kid."



"You mean the wonderful world that he is a part of and how it is still secret and cannot tell his friends what is really going on yet?" Seras said sarcastically. "There is no way that they won\'t find out and I wonder how friends didn\'t find out before."



"Practice and it is similar to how Wizarding kids learned to hide their secrets," Horus said with a slightly cold look to his eyes. "Sadly they tended to loose touch of their childhood friends similar to what happened to friendship after high school for most. Now there is or will be a group of friends that was hiding their own secrets from each other. They had been the best of friends, but they were not exactly totally open with their family secrets for two of them. Maggy, Jase and Marcus were friends that went through their coming of age just during Discovery. Jase came from a line of skips which would be non-mystics born from mystic lines while Marcus was the head of the local Fox Tribe pack leader\'s son. Maggy however reminds me a bit of Hermione in that she was focused too much on books. Everything was going fine and Marcus and Jase had managed to talk out their issues thanks to the fact that there is a rather accurate census of mystics in the world. As both came from mystic legacies, they were well aware of the need for secrecy. That went to near disaster for Maggy as despite being one of the fellow fringe in school there was the issue of having too much time and money on her hands. Sorcerers have long since gone away from the nearly illegible handwritten manuscripts, but the practitioners still seem to have some of those left. Now Maggy somehow managed to find a rather detailed Book of Shadows and managed to almost kill herself botching a spell..."



What followed was Horus and Seras spending the night talking. Horus told her tales that he had never seemed to have the time to tell her about. The real world children\'s stories that mystics of his age learned of and there was a reason that they were talked about. They had been good examples of the things that mystics had to deal with in the early days of Discovery as well as before. For Horus had needed to utilize those lessons even if they had been considered somewhat irrelevant for those of his time.



Seras seemed to enjoy just having them time which had sadly been far too little in her opinion. Cuddling and teasing each other while talking was a nice change for them. Seras had been embarrassed at first when the discussion had drifted to little things that were embarrassing from their childhood.



They had decided to go through mundane means to Japan where the others were currently training. As much as they had wanted to beat Genma up and leave him to rot while training Ranma, there were some things that the idiot was good in doing and sadly one of those was coming up with some exercises that worked that were practical with what little they could scrounge up. Horus had confessed to Seras that they had made sure that Genma staid ignorant of teaching the boys Transmutation as having that thief learn how to turn junk into gold or water into sake would not be in their interests.



The two had drifted off just cuddling with each other as their conversation had trailed off. Seras drifted off with the nagging thought of why if someone could one did not simply make gold except that it would then devalue the currency. That thought had been dismissed as she had been far too tired and needed her sleep before dealing with the inconsistencies in her life and how they never made sense even after the fact.







**************



Japan was a nice country that in some ways had never changed since the old days. In other ways the islands had embraced the new while maintaining the traditions of the past. All in all it was a different experience compared to a relatively sleepy town in California. The weather was different, the food was different and the customs were different.



For a young boy from California it was a strange thing especially as he had never left his hometown to travel anywhere before. Sure his friend Willow had gone to the conferences with her parents but this was different. He was going somewhere and when he would get back he would have plenty to tell her about. Things had been bizarre when he left. He had even seen Delia without her mask again and the two had reconciled. Though why she had acted oddly and different from before was interesting.



\'Hokkaido,\' Little Xander thought as he looked around and managed not to tug on his collar. \'I have gotten used to a few odd things over the past few days, but to think that I would be able to understand a foreign language enough to enjoy the cartoons here seems a bit odd. The food is a bit different yet some of it is quite tasty. I still cannot believe the difference between ramen here and at home. It just tastes better here.\'



They walked forward and soon enough came upon the simple matter of some boys sparring. That was to Xander\'s eyes that one was slightly different in his movements. He would notice that it was a tomboy with a bit of effort considering that both Willow and Amy tended to wear guy clothes as often as not. Horus however had long since gotten used to the subtle difference that came to his perceptions. Appearance did in no way hide one\'s aura or scent. There was a difference in scent between the sexes and the pheromones produced even as infants and thus to those with a heightened sense of smell the scent was obvious while it was possible for one to have a different balance in their aura. Tomboys did tend to have a different balance of masculine and feminine chi as it were and yet the meta aura would discern the true form that one was regardless of their realistic alterations.



"Well Xander these will be your future sparing partners," Horus said as they approached. "As such there are certain behaviors that they will be expecting. The three are on a training trip to better improve their martial arts skills. As such they are used to a bit more roughhousing than you do with Jessie. Their teachers are not known for being too restrained in their training."



"Now Xander remember that they have been practicing longer and as such they are used to sparing at a higher level than yourself," Seras said before giving him a hug before allowing the two to proceed closer.



"Yes Seras," Xander said with a nod. "I know that they have more training and as such I can learn a lot by sparing with them. Still the aftereffects of where I was raised tend to allow for one\'s pathways to be widened and reinforced do to the constant flux of the areas waves."



Seras smiled at him before ruffling his head and saying, "See I knew you were smarter than you let on. Remember that one needs to be able to think things through as well as being able to act. Willow will be proud of you thinking like this more often. Besides girls like to have someone to talk to and she is your friend after all."



Xander just smiled a bit shyly. He had gotten used to acting the fool so as to stay under peoples noses but behaving like he could would take a bit getting used to. Ever since Tony Harris lost his job and the downward spiral socially and into the booze had forced the young child to reinvent himself. Now things had changed radically again. He had been reintroduced to Delia and managed to keep his friendships with Jessie, Amy and Willow. He did in a way miss being with them but with the way that things seemed to be headed it was logical to his cleared mind that things could come between them. The price of the potential he had unlocked did preclude close friendships with mundanes over time. Still they were his friends and yet he feared loosing them more now. These boys however were not mundanes and as such there was a less risk of the fear he had of loosing them either through accident or old age.



Xander was unaware in fact that it had been in part their shared potential that had led to him forming a friendship with Delia before. It was odd in a way how his friendships with his other friends had formed. Willow because he didn\'t want her to cry because of what Jessie did and then things spiraled out as they put aside the bad that had happened. Seras had like Horus noticed the potential in the four. Xander had thankfully been asleep during their conversation but his subconscious had heard and his mind began to think of things on some level.



Xander had dreamed of a might be future where the five of them had formed their own squad and fought monsters and protected people. It is in a way true that birds flock together and all that. Cliques form and the like, but that was something that seemed normal. Still there was one thing that had tended to happen and that was power drew power and sensitive drew sensitive. One tended to form friendships with those that felt similar even if they did not know so. Now with the various communities hidden from the world at large and in most cases from each other as well as having most members of the communities forgetting that others exist has led to some problems.



People are possessive and do to a minor incident thousands of years ago there came to be before the communities had for the most part drifted apart been an agreement called the Covenant of Trelgath after a long lost city that had thankfully been forgotten by mundanes even in legend something that even the third Atlantis could not attest to. This was something that had not been touched in any of the boys schooling yet and was a thing that they planned to avoid mentioning. It had been considered a very bad thing and was referred in a similar manner as a student of American history, social studies or political dynamics would consider the Dred Scott case.



\'In one ways that Seras love,\' Horus mentally whispered to her. \'That is one of the things I do wish to avoid telling the boys about and our children later. The Covenant of Trelgath is responsible for many of the problems that reach even to this day.\'



\'Alucard never mentioned it and neither have you and I seem to be averse to accessing those memories,\' Seras sent back with a bit of obvious trepidation in her mental voice. \'How bad must it be that you would bury the memory even deeper than your first mercy kills?\'



\'It is a thing in some ways that solved a number of problems through peaceful compromise and yet left a rather bitter taste to any raised in the past few centuries,\' Horus sent back as they watched Xander saying hello to the other kids. \'It is in a way an archaic and hopefully never voiced legal matter. It is reviled by the younger generation and yet those that have been around for a few centuries do not view it as harshly. To be rather cold about it, the Covenant of Trelgath is in its essence a legal agreement to adjudicate between the various sensitive communities...\'



\'That does not seem to bad on the surface,\' Seras replied in a reassuring tone of voice as the subtle stress on one word suddenly struck her. \'You seem to be stressing that it is between sensitive communities. Why the emphasis it is not like it completely ignores any interaction with the norms?\'



\'It does cover norms but not in a manner you would like,\' Horus sent in a chiding tone. \'I stressed sensitive for a reason. It is between sensitive communities and resolves conflict of ownership.\'



\'Of what?\' Seras asked as there seemed to be something sinister about what that turn of phrase in such a vague way could mean. \'Territory perhaps and who can exercise control over the resources and wildlife in an area or is there something sinister in what you have been trying to gloss over?\'



\'I can never sneak something past any of you brilliant women can I?\' Horus asked in an amused yet dark flavor. \'To be as shocking as this matter deserves the general gist of the matter is that Trelgath provides for recompensation in the case of conflict in between the acknowledged spheres of influence of the communities and their members. There is no mention of the mundanes as having any recourse to actions done to them on the surface. In depth however it does provide for the arbitration in property matters.\'



\'Mundanes are property under someone\'s ownership than,\' Seras almost growled out as she practically spat back at him. \'Now I can see why you are loath to talk about this. A person choosing to belong to someone is different from being forced and even if a punishment is to be owned by someone there is a chance that eventually one is not bound. I take it that some of the sensitives still control a number of mundane slaves or perhaps they are called servants now?\'



\'You were in a way bound in service to Sir Hellsing and yet you do not loath her,\' Horus sent back chidingly. \'Some of the people like to serve similar to house elves and imps. Is it that large of a shock that amid the hidden communities there are those that live to serve? Some as repayment of a great debt and others for the protection that their owner provides. Think about Nym for a moment we do in essence own her as you know but she did choose to be owned and there I think the difference to you lies.\'



\'There is a difference between a slave and a pet,\' Seras sent in a somewhat grumbling tone. \'Still there is a difference in a deserved punishment and being born into slavery.\'



\'Some debts carry across generations,\' Horus said sadly. \'Have you not heard of the sins of the fathers? So to can blessings pass along the generations. I can say that it was a different time love and things were different. Now while that is not an excuse it is an explanation there is still the simple fact that you must remember that most people are lazy, selfish and foolish. With that simple fact they need protection from others as well as themselves. In the old days it was simply the norm for those in power to use their subordinates as they see fit. Remember that in the old days a monarch owned everything and everyone in their domain. Is this any different in practice?\'



\'As you have said that was in the past,\' Seras replied somewhat mollified. \'I just don\'t like the fact that at one point and time I would have been considered property.\'



\'There is that,\' Horus admitted. \'Still while it is a cold thing it was better than it had been and to be blatantly honest it did save lives. By having a way to mediate disputes less lives were lost and protections for one\'s protectorates were established. Put it this way at least those members of a household are better off than the serf like status for others still. Thankfully most of the involved groups police themselves and avoid drawing attention to themselves. Why do you think that mind controllers don\'t just grab celebrities and the like? Simply put there is too large of a risk. Now while the part of the populous with no discernible influence might be grab and snagged there is far less of that than even with a mundane crime syndicate. So for the loss of a negligible part of the population such as the transients and the homeless and the like the rest go about their days with little worry about things they do not see. Besides most that are capable of mind control can readily alter or gain access to body altering technology or techniques. That in part is why so few of the socially desirable physically vanish. Not that there are not cases where they are simply picked up for a quick fling. Though in such cases those doing so get out of that phase and at most influence similarly to having money or other status would do. Most communities frown in the extreme on rape but sadly not coercion.\'



\'That does not make me feel too much better and yet,\' Seras began while looking over at the \'boys\' sparing, \'there is the fact that I could do so and yet I do not. Mentally dominating someone while a power I have does not seem to overly concern myself.\'



\'In part that is because that while we can act like randy teenagers we are not as overloaded by our hormones,\' Horus sent as he watched Xander get back in and learn to adapt as the spar continued. \'The communities do police their own and they are able to tell when someone is altered and track down who did so to give the usual rules. It would seem odd at first, but the psionic are actually the least likely to run across demons and those vermin in particular. Something about the auric interference keeps them away from each other. Still there have been few cases where the demon breeds clashed with psionics and they rarely came out even or ahead at all. Body control allowed them to equalize the physical difference and the ability to strike at their minds took the rest. The only cases where their was even close to a draw was in the case of a demon species with psychic abilities of their own. Despite the propaganda that the demons seem to believe there is little that can compare to the strength of the human soul.\'



\'We are human at least I believe we are,\' Seras said. \'I may be true Nosferatu but that does not change my soul. It took me far too long to realize that.\'



\'That is something that we all too easily forget,\' Horus sent in comfort. \'With out abilities it is far too easily to lord over others. That is a lesson that we mystics learned and we do try our best to teach that to the younger generations. Still it is hard for those that can remember...\'



\'Remember before?\' Seras asked in concern. \'I can see where if one is used to being the ruling class that change would be... undesirable.\'



\'Id it was only that simple,\' Horus sighed. \'There are still mystics alive and outside the Netherworld that remember what it was like before. When my people walked as gods among the masses. It was a heady thing and it led to arrogance and so many problems. Still the sensitives at times are even worse. It seems odd to think that sensitives with similar characteristics tended to be pulled under a mystic umbrella.\'



\'More discussions of things I did not dwell overly on to remember,\' Seras grumbled as there were much better things to do or at least dwell on than this in her opinion. \'Still some of those things will effect the brats more so than others.\'



\'Too true,\' Horus sent in a jovial tone seemingly out of the sour mood. \'Naruto at the very least will have to deal with the problems that Kyuubi had unintentionally caused. His spirit has gained fox traits and do to the lovely protection that sorcerers have will indubitably develop into a fox Zoanthrope. The Tribes will be aware of him and the events that would have broken lesser wills will not be allowed to happen. Even with the memories you inherited it seems that some matters did not stick as well as others.\'



\'If I recall correctly the Zoanthropes are grouped by the tribe which is for each different breed with those with two breeds or more acting as a neutral party while considered a member honorary of their breed tribes,\' Seras said as if reciting a drilled fact. \'Now while there are subdivisions of the Tribes with clans, packs and families there is a distinctive difference in the pack hierarchies and while non wolves have a different name for their close nit community it is a ranking of power as well as social status among Zoanthropes to where they are from Pack Leader down to the pups, cubs, kits or kittens as the case may be.\'



\'Good to see that you remembered all that,\' Horus said with a grin, \'but it appears that you forgot that there is a bonus when they reach a certain level. Alphas gain a greater control as do Betas but Alphas gain an additional form. Gammas and the children gain through practice a pair of forms to appear less threatening and to defer to those higher up. A little hybrid as well as a common cute form as it were. Alphas gain a throwback to primal form such as a direwolf, a sabertoothed tiger and the like. A pack leader takes that one step forward and gains another hybrid form which is a mix of there primal form in a similar manner to their hybrid.\'



\'I remember,\' Seras sent with a shudder. \'I recall how your hybrid looks. I take it you think that you will be considered a pack leader either now or soon. Normal hybrid is intimidating but the warrior form as it were is a bit excessive. Really size matters in some areas but going from nine feet tall to over fourteen feet of hulking muscle seems a bit much.\'



\'Yeah it seems as if one would be slowed down by all that muscle mass but sadly that is not the case,\' Horus sent with a bit of humor showing. \'The important point is that Naruto at the least has enough of a connection to shift soon. The little hybrid form is excessively cute and it hopefully does not trigger a full shift at the moment. As he was not raised shifting normally it might take something to trigger it.\'



\'You do realize that once he shifts he probably wont be really comfortable in a purely human form for a while?\' Seras sent as she went over what the first change was like and why it generally happened young especially before they were kindergarten age. \'So I take it that it would be best to not be in a heavily populated area when that time comes. Do you suspect that the others have any of that latent abilities.\'



\'Yeah as you know Ranma has besides some of a shared ancestor with me at last some ties to cats,\' Horus sent with a shrug. \'It is the reason that he never really went completely mad with that phobia to cats that he developed. He really never should have been able to develop it without some severe trauma but for some reason the events seem sketchy at the moment. Still it was only a few years ago relatively speaking and I should be able to remember it easily.\'



\'I know what you mean then again he did gloss over it and perhaps in some way something with the same benefits but not the same flaws will occur with the others keeping Genma in check,\' Seras sent as she leaned against him. \'Still the boys are getting along well.\'



\'I know that but you seem to have missed that one of those boys is actually a girl even if she is a bit of a tomboy,\' Horus sent with amusement coloring his thoughts. \'You should have noticed the subtle body language differences if not the scent at this distance. I guess that we will have to work on that before we go.\'



\'I guess you are right about that,\' Seras sent with a disappointment almost puppy got mowed over tone. \'And I so used top be able to spot cross dressers but with those that seem to show up here it is difficult to tell when before I could at least spot them so plainly.\'



\'Its Nerima my love,\' Horus sent in good humor. \'It brings out the strange... like us.\'



\'I guess most people would consider us strange,\' Seras hedged, \'but I guess to those that are strange like us the so called normal ones seem odd after a while.\'



\'Yes that is a sad truth,\' Horus agreed. \'With time all things become relative. So things that seemed strange are not as shocking later in life. We adapt to the situations that we find ourselves in.\'



\'True we do adapt and speaking of that is there a reason that they have not taught her any of their tricks?\' Seras asked concerned that they were neglecting something. \'She does have potential at least in manipulating her chi if I recall her analogue. Leaving obvious methods that would need to be explained may be problematic, but otherwise it merely allows Genma another example of failing to meet his biased expectations and as much as I would like to give him a much deserved pounding there is no reason to allow that to continue.\'



\'Sadly it is an issue of trust,\' Horus said as he watched and subtly listened in on the kids conversation. \'Now while there are plenty of techniques that will be used to aid their development some are not applicable if one lacks enough of a reserve already. Death by energy drain can happen. The other reason is that besides using chi to create magic effects there is not much that one can do at her current level except for transmutations and as arrogant and condescending as it sounds Ukyo is only a sensitive and as such cannot internalize the pattern and energy shapes for that art. I still think that somehow that anime was inspired by someone that had the basics of transmutation. Magic and other energy manipulations tend to have circles to contain and direct the effects. As I said Genma turning trash to gold with his greed would be bad. The kids at least have enough restraint to not make more than a few coins to get by...\'



\'Didn\'t you do some borderline illegal things to make money as a kid?\' Seras asked thinking back to some of their previous discussions. \'Something about complaining how when one of your teaches was young turning trash to gold and more easily carbon to diamond was not regulated than.\'



\'Well the guild as well as those with some knowledge of transmutation regulate bulk conversion as until recently the masses were on a gold standard,\' Horus said with a look. \'It is a shame that one cannot conjure gold and some other metals. There is a method that does the equivalent of conjuring the Noble Metals but it is more cost ineffective than anything short of a pure tech matter converter drawing from energy to matter conversion instead of matter to matter.\'



\'So it seems that magic and science are two sides of the same coin in the matter,\' Seras said with a near giggle at the pun. \'Science fiction level technology can do what seems like magic and magic can most likely already do such already so what can the two do together?\'



\'Technomagickal development is rather complicated,\' Horus said with a shrug. \'I am more of a soldier and leave the complex stuff to the researchers. Though I know dad is skilled enough to be the magical equivalent of an engineer just more like an engineer in the Army Corps of Engineers. He knows that most of that stuff is in the Master level or higher with a more academic research minded individual. The Guild does have a large research aspect but while we understand science and magic better than most scientists understand the universe far more of magic research is as much as the discovery of penicillin versus testing new theory to develop things. Most of the Guild are not lifers in the combat roles having preferred to do their duty before digging into the secrets of the universe.\'



\'I always wondered about that,\' Seras sent with an obvious smirk to it. \'The Guild seemed to be oddly arranged considering...\'



\'That why would a militaristic group form a guild of all things,\' Horus amusingly replied. \'The Guild was designed to prevent sorcerers from coming to blows which would escalate. That it allowed better selection of students and workers was an unforeseen plus. There are two things that seem to be inherent to our personalities competition and tinkering. Short answer is that most of us are rather competitive in what we do wither it is academic or social as a result of the ritual that made us what we are. I guess one could say that we are driven people to succeed as well as improve ourselves and the world around us.\'



\'So basically there is the split nature of the Guild," Seras sent as she leaned around him. \'There is a future besides fighting even if that is something that we enjoy and thrive in. I take it that business is another thing like physical fighting and that they are being taught the Art of Business as another art of war.\'



The two paused for a moment as they saw the kids getting along. It would seem odd that they were talking about other things as they fought, but they were obviously being trained in the ability to split their focus. Seras was of course somewhat surprised by the fact that the topics seemed far in advance of what they would normally study.



"I think that they are doing well enough to let them be," Horus said with a smirk as he watched Xander getting worked into their routine like an old friend. "So we have time to get ready."



"Well they are getting along and there is at least one adult to watch them," Seras said with a sultry smirk.



"Leaving now!" Horus shouted to the kids as they waved back.







**************



Meanwhile the kids had a slight conversation while they were sparing. Thankfully they were only using normal martial arts with just a bit of chi enhancements and none of the sorcerer and fellow mystics hybrid styles. Then again there was the fact that Ukyo was present. As it was the three were in a free for all with Ranma attacking both Ukyo and Harry while the two teamed up half the time and attacked each other whenever Ranma was out of range.



"Names Ranma want to join in?" Ranma had asked to Xander as he approached.



"Yeah," Xander said as he got closer to the sparring three. "Name\'s Xander and I wouldn\'t mind a spar just so long as we don\'t use special techniques."



"We don\'t mind," Harry said as he back flipped away from where Ukyo was about to trip him with her battle spatula. "Do we U-chan?"



"I have no problem with it," Ukyo said as she came close to nailing Ranma before he nimbly avoided her strike. "Just makes things a bit more interesting."



"Then I might as well join in," Xander said with a grin as he jumped in.



The free for all continued as the five children spared. Ukyo, Harry and Xander versus Ranma and Naruto went on for a while before the sides changed in a flow of temporary alliances and responses. Kicks, punches and elaborate yet effective acrobatics flowed as each tried to find an adaptive style to work for long. With each moment the wholes that had existed in their young defenses became slightly smaller, new responses and new attacks were developed and the reason that one trained with peers and betters to improve oneself.



As Xander had requested there were no special attacks. He had meant energy attacks as well as magic and the like, but he was unsure if Ukyo was aware of such things as he knew the other three were aware of the unusual. That had been a good choice as Ukyo had not begun to learn any of the more esoteric techniques, however there was the simple matter that her family had chi users in it and as such she was learning how to enhance her body as well as her equipment with ki.



"Well this is fun," Xander commented as he dodged a double team gone wrong with Naruto and Ranma sending Ukyo flying back while the two barely managed to near miss Harry. "Isn\'t there something we were supposed to be doing while we are sparing?"



"Thanks a lot for reminding us," Ranma and Naruto said with annoyance showing clearly. "Teach wanted us to discuss what we learned while sparing."



"So what\'s the topic," Xander asked as he sent a snap kick to Naruto\'s head. "I take it from the look that it must be something boring."



"Teach wants us to be better educated," Ranma said as he used Xander\'s distraction to knock him back. "Now while I think and know pops can be an idiot a lot of the things at school are just boring."



"Tell me about it," Xander said as he rose up after rolling with the punch. "Then again I wasn\'t getting the best of support you know?"



"Yeah Genma-baka tends to think that anything outside of fighting is useless," Naruto said as he rushed to get back at Xander. "I know none of us like school, but some things are useful so we don\'t get cheated and can improve a fight."



"So basic skills like math enough to know what is properly spent and received?" Xander asked as he twisted to avoid Naruto\'s strike yet not fast enough to spin away from Ranma\'s ax kick.



"I wish," Harry said as he and Ukyo stopped their own dance to join in.



"He wants us to be able to pass compulsory by the time we are twelve!" Naruto said with a shudder. "College level soon after with an emphasis on chemistry and physics. I get the boom factor and trajectories but the softer arts... Ugh!"



Xander shuddered when Naruto said that and winced when he saw Ukyo cut in with a shot that nailed Naruto in the stomach hard. He knew that he would not be allowed to slack off in his classes like he had before, but this seemed ridiculous. Then again he had done well before...



They kids heard the quick shout of "Leaving Now," by Horus and they absently waved at the pair that suddenly vanished. Ukyo most likely thought it was just a speed technique while the others noted that it was a teleportation trick. The kids quickly turned back to their sparing.



\'It is best if I don\'t think about that,\' Xander thought as he decided for a change up after dodging a strike from Ukyo. \'Besides I know there is no way that I can be up to their real level. I guess that they are taking it easy with Ukyo here although they don\'t seem to be holding it against... he...r. I don\'t think they know that Ukyo is a girl with the way things have been going. Considering what they said Genma had said about women fighters except for his wife. The way that he shuddered makes me think that despite his opinion of the fairer but not weaker sex that he is deathly afraid of her or more accurately her katana.\'



Xander moved to strike Ukyo and as circumstances had it so had the others. They were all in mid strike when they landed their blows into the free falling form of Ukyo. Their strikes caused Ukyo to spin around before being knocked back and striking the ground before skidding to a halt.



"Well that," Xander started to say as he landed in a crouch.



"Didn\'t go," Naruto said with a blink.



"Any where near," Harry said as he landed after a hand stand.



"To plan," Ranma said as he looked at the form of his friend landing on the ground a bit harsher than he had intended. "So what do we do now?"



"Well there are things that I was unsure if Ukyo here knew about," Xander said as he stretched out of his crouch. "Still we should check how bad the landing was."



"She has kept up rather well," Naruto said showing hints of the improved speech that his current sensei had imparted. "Still there is only so far a sensitive can go no matter how much we would like otherwise."



"So I take it that Ukyo does not know about us?" Xander asked as he looked at the other boys.



"Yeah, we have been tempted to show him a few things but we didn\'t know how far he has gotten in his chi training," Harry said as he went through a few cool down stretches.



"U-chan does need a bit more training before even the rudiments of the more esoteric techniques," Ranma said with a sigh. "Though the basics of transmutation has been tempting especially considering how his family style seems a bit too dependent on tools and spatulas in particular."



"It is a service style," Harry said with a slight disdain. "They are a clan that were ninja and used their food services to infiltrate. Now while they are like most surviving ninja on these islands not at the same level of threat that those in the countries are there is still some danger in the fighting style. Although it is a constructive style it is better able to hide in plain sight than those there."



"It would be better suited to a kunoichi than a shinobi though," Naruto said after a moment. "They have less energy and raw physical power for most. There are exceptions as there is Tsunade a legendary medical ninja back home and several famous kunoichi there. They do tend to favor techniques that require more control and less power."



"That is besides the point," Xander said with a look at Ukyo\'s snoozing form. "We are unobserved and as such should practice what is best unseen. Transmutation seems like something that would suit Ukyo, but we would need a firm grasp to explain it better. Also there is the simple constrictions that a non mystic has in that art."



"There is that," Harry admitted reluctantly. "We can easily internalize the patterns and shape them with our minds, but sensitives and the like require the pattern to be physically formed similar to sealing techniques and rituals. A simple circle that formed spatulas would work as well as maybe having a repair design inscribed, so that instead of having to draw it, it merely needs to be activated. A shame that there is such a high price to enable internal transmutations. Still some have become good enough to transmute what they breath to sustain them instead of doing something more obvious like tapping the lines."



"Still even we need to understand the reasons for the forms before free styling it," Ranma said with a shrug. "That is why we learn the basic structure as well as some forms before we start experimenting with the basic alterations, that is like any other Art. We just have to have a firm enough grasp on the basics as well as a way to simplify the explanations to allow our potential student to start."



With that the boys settled down to go over the basics that they were being taught. Still considering who was teaching them there was a difference in the meaning of basic. While they had the basic grasp of transmutation design there was the fact that they had only the bare fundamentals of the theory covered as more went into practical and necessary aspects at first.



They had a grasp on the circles requirement and why a circle and cycle was so fundamental to any energy manipulation. The circle contained the energies and directed the flow of external energies to power their constructs. This was one of the reasons that geometry had been stressed in their training even though they were so young for two other practical purposes those being the circles and logical thought and angles in fights. Transmutation designs had a lot in common with spell forms and while they were not pattern users they understood or at least were told that there was a simple description of any interaction.



To begin with each of the boys drew a circle on the ground with a stick instead of chalk like most or blood like a ninja seal would use. The reason was that using transmutation without a defined system required a far more complex understanding than they would have fro several years. Next each of them copied the lines from their book and double checked that all of the lines were in the right place in relation to each other. It was a simple design that was also one of the first taught in most cases. It was designed to repair cracks in most material. The basic of the design was interconnecting triangles and when they were sure that they were ready they placed a broken tool in the center.



The boys looked around again to make sure that no one was there to observe them that should not be. With that concern dealt with the four of them placed their hands along the edge of their circle and let some of their energy flow through the circle through the pattern and then back to themselves in a close circuit. Each of the boys had including Xander had a few training exercises in control and this was a key to any energy user in making the most efficient use of their energy as possible.



With the bare minimum of energy sent there was far less waste for most of them, well except for Xander who had not had as many lessons on control. Where the others had barely a visible flicker of wasted light and heat, Xander had the misfortune to have enough to be visible as well as a slight ozone smell and a slight heat wave rush away from the circle as the energies equilibrated.



"Well someone needs to do some work on control exercises," Naruto said somewhat smugly as this time he wasn\'t the one needing more effort in control.



"Hey I grew up on a somewhat active but still just a bit dormant Hellmouth," Xander said in way of explanation. "It takes some energy to resist that so I am used to higher resistance since I wasn\'t using external energies like some practitioners do there."



"Like that would ever be a good idea," Harry said sarcastically. "Most practitioners would know to purge often to avoid tainting their reservoir, but those growing up there would be used to the contamination and not notice as it builds and influences them. I believe that is why most communities tend to avoid picking anyone that lives there while they are there. There is far too much risk for addiction and demonic taint for practitioners and other magical groups there. I think it is only the internal users that would even think of recruiting there."



"Tree climbing or water walking?" Xander asked with a sigh. "I guess I need to get used to the lack of outside pressure anyways."



"I was thinking something a bit more fun," Ranma said with a grin. "If we are going to practice we had better have some fun while doing so; am I right or what?"



The other boys grinned and nodded. Xander felt a slight sense of foreboding considering that fun was mentioned twice and he had already learned that his teachers definition of fun and his were never quite the same. Still there was the fact that back home he had maybe two real friends and then some pals.



"So what fun method of control will we be doing?" Xander asked sarcastically. "As much fun as it is going to be shouldn\'t we decide now?"



Ranma and Harry just grinned as Naruto shuddered a bit. Xander got a sense of foreboding and just sighed as he prepared him for the strenuous workout that was to come.



Soon enough there was the blur of movement as each of the kids launched up the suddenly slick slopes as if the walls were made of flowing water. There was the occasional form visible as the momentary stationary act was when not putting enough energy to go forward, but not too little to fall down. There were several occasions however where Xander thudded to the ground or flew upwards as he worked on his control. This was not helped by the variance in the energy that the others used to make the task harder.



\'Turn about is fair play,\' Xander thought as an idea began to form in his head.



A short while later the group were doing some cool down stretches as their bodies were flushed and their clothes soaked with sweat. They had already put away anything odd that would show what they had been doing and covered up there tracks when they felt a presence approach. Besides the fact that Ranma was learning weapons as well as unarmed let alone the other stuff would have sent Genma into an apocalyptic fit.



"Now boys," Genma said as he approached the relaxing kids. "How would you like to learn the ultimate technique?"



"Old man, if it is an ultimate technique than why haven\'t you used it to win against our other teachers?" Ranma asked with a slight glare at his rather foolish and short sighted father.



"Well it is simply that it must be learned at a young age and I was already to old to learn it when I found it," Genma said with a stern glare. "Now would you like to learn this ultimate technique or not?"



"Why do I think that there is something that you are not telling us?" Harry asked in a slow deliberate voice as if talking to a child. "What does the technique enhance and why would it be an ultimate technique? That is the question as there are several so called ultimate techniques and most require a heavy cost to even begin to master."



"The technique is said to boost one\'s speed, endurance, stamina as well as reactions physically in addition to boosting one\'s chi reserves," Genma said as he had long gotten used to having to convince either his students or their other teachers about techniques and as such learned how to best sugar coat the training or make it seem much more rewarding. "It involves strenuous physical activities designed to increase one\'s strength and speed. This is followed by inducing a necessarily stressful situation to force the mind to adapt to better react and improve one\'s grasp of one\'s instincts. It is said that a master of this even gains the ability to wield chi blades with barely any effort. Is that not worth the effort to attempt to gain such abilities?"



The boys looked at each other and the recovering Ukyo. Genma noticed the silent communication and that there was another student now. He was grateful that all of the situations had improved his poker face as it was called and as such was able to hide his growing unease as he has to get the boy trained in this technique to prove he was a better teacher than the others what with the way they belittled his methods and ideas.



\'Really I wanted him to be chased with weights to slow him down,\' Genma thought with disgust. \'What is so wrong with using hungry wolves to motivate or forcing the boy to keep up with a train? That they considered it to soft at times has been disconcerting. I constantly fear that they are in fact far more powerful than the dread master is. The boy must become strong enough to protect me and my retirement!\'



"Fine," Ranma said after getting an agreement from the others, "but there is the fact that it has to be all of us. What good is sparring if there is no one to be a challenge? So it is obvious that we will have to be on a near level or there will be no fun in it."



The other boys were nodding there heads in agreement. There was the problem that Genma did not want the other students to be better than his son. After a moment the thoughts began to formulate before Genma sighed.



"Fine," Genma said in the same tone as his son did.



Little did any of them know what would result of this.



**************



"So we have everything ready?" Seras asked as she looked over at the various gear that they had on as she would admit that their attire would be better suited to not leaving... again, but instead engaging in some roleplay or maybe some more sex. "Is there any reason I am dressed in a way to make what Lady Croft wears seem tame?"



"Yes we have everything ready and we had best get going soon," Horus said as he checked himself over and wondered why Seras was making such a big deal out of how she was dressed when she had him dressed like a young Indiana Jones only the clothes were skin tight like hers were and the whip was not a bullwhip but still would do the job. "Besides the temple has a kind of feel to it that it is something that Lara will be disappointed that she could not come along."



"So going to fill em in some more about the temple?" Seras asked realizing that she really had no room to complain considering what she made him wear. "You have been rather vague about it..."



"The fact that this temple is a deviation from our version of reality is a good enough reason to be vague," Horus began as he went eyes unfocused for a minute. "The Temple of Betrayal, as it is known in its own language, is one of the Kateni temples that seems to have survived over the years. Now while they had some off and on contact with the less developed tribes that rose and fell their was no major interaction with any of the various protectorates. The closest of these things was the occasional mistaken identities with some of the werecats. Kateni are a feline sentient species after all and they do have a similar culture to zoanthropes in general. The main thing is that both groups are arranged in various subdivided groups of family, pack, clan and tribe in that order. Technically the Kateni are a tribe made of clans which are subdivided in packs and families. One thing to note is that both groups take honor vary seriously. There have been wars and bloody conflicts over the common slights that seem common to mundanes nowadays."



"So what is important to them besides honor?" Seras asked wondering what could come to rival that. "Honor is one linchpin but a society normally revolves around another as well."



"," Horus said succulently drawing a shudder from Seras as the word curled around the room almost visibly caressing her with dark promises and desires. "English and most other languages fail to color the word as subtly and variant to the verbal palette as common primal does. The Kateni word itself is an amalgamated concept closely and yet still loosely translated as the Great and Dangerous Chase of Predator and Prey. Unlike hunting as most do to prey species it is hunting lesser predatory species and the more challenging and normally dangerous the better. If I recall they like to hunt things at least as dangerous as class threes. That would of course be the equivalent of saber-toothed tigers with only primitive weapons. They were one of the few alien species that was not mostly exterminated by the horde during the war."



"Sound a bit like those predator blokes from the movies," Seras said in an offhand way seeing an odd similarity in that. "So big game hunters\' clan like and honor of the hunter and the challenge increasing standing in their clan."



"Well they may have had something to do with that as they do have access to interplanar transportation," Horus said after a moment. "Still while they may have had some influence on the Yautja and that they both like to hunt the derived species of untainted demonoids with the Kateni favoring the \'Fast Blades\' of the lizard derivative while the Yautja favor a variant on Locust\'s non infernal analogues which they called \'Hard Meat\'."



"Please tell me you are not saying?" Seras asked before breaking off.



"That somewhere out there in the myriad of possibility there is a dimension where the Predator and Aliens movies are a reality," Horus said with an almost sinister chuckle. "That is like saying that there is somewhere out there where there is not some person making a fortune off of our lives or something similar. Face it Seras that somewhere out there with a significantly large number of possibilities almost any perceivable outcome has occurred. There is probably one where Incognito instead of Alucard was bound to the Hellsing family for all we know or were the Hellsing family was Mideon or something else."



"Cor thats a twisted thought," Seras said in shock. "Still I should have expected to run across odd situations before I came after you."



"There is even going to be a movie and video game cross," Horus said with a chuckle. "It just seems odd how accurate movies are for alternate dimensions. In particular the movie was accurate in where we are going as they based it off something similar only different. Unlike the Yautja the Kateni did not ask people to incubate their prey but used the temple security for a different proving ground."



"Temple?" Seras asked inquisitively. "And what is this about a proving ground?"



"Yes we are going to a temple that is where they hid away the few dangerous artifacts that they left here over the years," Horus said simply. "Now while the Kateni are alien and not necessarily would be considered under Trelgath they have over the millennium secured a few treaties with the original colonists as well as the succeeding organizations. What that means for us is that the dagger we are looking for is kept behind some of the most elaborate wards as well as security systems imaginable. The vault as it were is where the Yautja kept a captured Alien Queen. The general layout while the same lacks the sacrificial chamber and some of the other things. The Kateni before using the temple in the current manner used it to judge those who had lost honor in a test of trial by combat to the extreme. A game of cat and mouse through a labyrinth that changed and the hunted would be pardoned if they made it to the core first and fought the guardian."



"So basically there will be plenty of traps to make this challenging and I am guessing that since you didn\'t just pop there that there are protections to prevent such actions," Seras said calmly. "That means that it is impossible to simply go there but what about leaving?"



"One way block allows exit but not entrance," Horus said in reply. "They might need help so going to get help was allowed but not teleporting to the goal. I am unsure what all the security measures added were but there will be simulacrum at the very least if not androids and flesh puppets. My research has shown that the particular dagger while corrupted is in fact not the dagger of this dimension and created an aberration in the time stream. The dagger is believed to be the one the betrayer used when he almost succeeded in a coup against the Battlelord of the time. The twin blades clashed and both fell. One from a wound honorably given in combat and the other from a back stab with the dagger we seek. The Kateni would consider it a dagger but it is more of a short sword in size. It is shaped a bit like the Egyptian kopeck but it has a secondary edge at the base of the handle and has a curved form that curves toward and then away from the user. An elongated s shape with a curved blade with two edges set in the handle. The blade itself is serrated on the edge and the face of the blade is decorated with a number of pictograph symbols."



"I take it that their might be other blades among which it may be hidden?" Seras asked as the attention to the specifics of the blade would make little sense if it was the sole occupant of the temple. "I take it that they didn\'t try to destroy the blade since it was so symbolic than?"



"Yeah they avoided destroying it as it was seen as a balancing image and yet they wondered how a perfect mirror image of a sacred blade had suddenly appeared," Horus said with a sigh. "While they are a warrior people they have their own religion and their own priests as well as priestesses had little success in expunging the taint. A mockery of their legacy will be sadly missed but it needs to be cleansed of its dark legacy as well as the shard of that fools psychic impression."



"Yeah we do have to do this and the sooner the better," Seras said as they stated to head out.



"If it wasn\'t for the time lock we could have gone at any time," Horus said with a shrug. "Still there is this gnawing concern that I am forgetting something with the kids."



"With the others watching it is not like Genma can cause anything too stupid," Seras said to reassure him.



"Yeah but considering how karma and fate can be Genma can cause enough havoc with the little things," Horus said as he walked out of the room. "I mean sure most of his idiocy has been kept in check and none of the big blunders have occurred. I just cannot shake the feeling that when he does succeed in his idiocy that it will be a complete disaster."



"Almost as if the universe abhors Genma not making mistakes," Seras said as she closed the door. "Still the odds of something happening while we are gone and the others failing to prevent the latest stupidity is rather small. Besides it is not like anything the fool does cannot be dealt with and we have a dagger to recover and an evil presence to destroy."



"Your right Seras," Horus said as his departing words echoed across the room. "Its not like even Genma could cause that much of a problem."



With that the two left but despite what they knew there was a reason for that inkling as they would find out when they returned. It was a given that when Genma tried to do something that it would be the most idiotic of methods would be rejected for not being good enough and as such it was of course the nature of the man\'s bungling that misfortune and misery followed as he chose time and again whatever method would have a quicker pay off... for him.



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