Thief in the Night

By Chris James

christopherjim@mad.scientist.com

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

Cologne looked down at the baby lying in the crib before her with satisfaction and pride. She had endured much for the sake of this child, but that she now had the offspring of one of the world's finest warriors here, safe in China, well, it made it all worth while. With this infant she would create a bloodline that would take the Amazons to glory. With a cackle, she hopped out of the room on her cane. It probably would have been more dramatic, except that 'Soap', as the girl was now called, was crying her lungs out again, an activity which she had persisted in for the majority of the time she had been with them.

As she passed by the kitchen, she stopped and watched the figure inside listlessly stirring the baby's supper. It was such a shame, such a great shame that this girl, once considered the finest of all the tribe's young warriors should be reduced to this pitiful state. True, she had returned home in triumph, of a sort. The child, the strong child of a strong father, was hers, by law, by tradition, by honour; yet still, everyone… knew. Any accomplishment, any success of young Soap's would bring glory to the family, yet still everyone would… know; and they wouldn't say anything, as the child did belong to Cologne's great-granddaughter, but they'd still be thinking, still be aware of what the result of the trip to Japan should have been. Additionally, with no husband there in the village to look after her, the young mother was having to work that a husband was traditionally meant to do while the wife was tending a young child – the cooking, the cleaning, the general mundane services that a husband was meant to provide. Cologne sighed. "Shampoo, your daughter needs changing." The purple haired girl nodded and left the room.

Leaving the hut, Cologne hopped on her cane through the gloom of the evening towards the Council Hall for tonight's gathering of the Elders. On her way she passed by the Challenge Log hung in the centre of the village square. It was, in a way, the spiritual heart of the Amazon people's warrior culture, and to fight upon the challenge log was considered to be an almost holy act. Matters of honour were fought over on it, oaths were sworn by it, it even played a part in the traditional wedding ceremony. The type of tree that the log came from grew only in one small valley far over the mountains, and was only cut to make the Challenge Log and the staffs of the Elders. The current log had been brought to the village almost two hundred years ago, and had taken three months to transport. Outside the village in the tribe's cemetery there were seven huge burial mounds, each one the resting place of a previous log that had broken or split.

Her mind was taken back the fateful events which taken place here, when a certain redhead had defeated the champion of the tribe, which then led her thoughts to the conclusion of that affair. It had been a night not unlike this…

----

…It was a dark night, the night of the New Moon, and were clouds covering the stars, thought air was still warm. From her perch on a rooftop, Cologne watched through binoculars as a young couple left a large house several streets away. She watched and waited, aware that there would be far less chance of success if this first attempt went awry. Ten minutes passed, then twenty, until she was satisfied that it was time to move. "Come" she said, and with Shampoo following after her, she leapt from rooftop to rooftop until she reached her goal.

Easing open the second story window, they slunk into the darkened room. With an expression of both glee and heartbreak, Shampoo lifted the tiny form out of the crib in which it lay. Cologne understood. With this act the young warrior had both gained a means of re-entry back in to her tribe, and forever lost any chance of claiming her husband.

With a sniffle, the child began to wake-up. Cologne, who had been mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to over a dozen infants, could sense an intense crying fit in the making, and with a quick signal, both she and Shampoo were leaping quickly towards the docks. Their speed was such that they were almost out of earshot when the anguished cry of a parent's fear had echoed over the streets of Nerima.

----

With a shake of her head, Cologne brought herself back to the present. It had not been they way she had wished to end the matter, but the boy had been so stubborn! Her conscience still gave her an occasional twinge over what she had done, but resolutely drove it back. She had had the right! The child of Shampoo's husband was Shampoo's child, so said the traditions of the Amazons, and so she had been in the right, and the outsiders' laws be damned!

Reaching the steps of the Council Hall, she stopped and took a few long, calming breaths. Anger had no place here, only clear reason. She ascended into the building, leaving the past behind her, intent only on guiding her family, her people into the future.

----

Shampoo looked down at the wailing form in the cot before her.

" Soap, don't cry, " she murmured, "don't cry, Mother's here." For almost two months she had been saying these words, and they still seemed to have little effect. Sometimes violently upset, sometimes sullenly quiet, she had yet to see a true smile on the tiny face.

"Why won't you stop crying?" She pleaded, picking up the child and rocking her back and forth in her arms. "Mother's here! I am your mother, I am! You are my daughter, you should have been mine, mine, not hers!" It wasn't fair, this wasn't how here life was meant to be, she was meant to be the most envied girl in the village, with a dutiful husband, happy children, and the praise of the entire tribe echoing in her ears night and day. Instead she was stuck here, in an empty house, with nothing but a petulant baby and shadows for company. Nothing but tears and shadows.

"You're my child, mine, why can't you understand that!?" She sobbed. It wasn't meant to be like this, it wasn't.

The happy gurgle of the baby in her arms shocked her more than anything in her life ever had. She looked down to see a smile where she had almost given up hope of seeing one. "That's it," she cooed, "that's my girl!"

Around her, the shadows… moved.

----

Inside the Council Hall, the meeting dragged on into its second hour.

"…And so, in regard to trade with the Musk, the new treaty…"

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

"What in heaven's name is that infernal noise?!" Yelled Talcum, the senior-most elder and the meeting 's chairlady. It seemed to be coming from directly beneath them; an incessant metallic ringing that went on, and on, and on.

"Fragrance, go see what that is!" Cologne commanded one of the door guards. The old women around the table waited wordlessly around the table, eyes searching around the room, trying to see if this was some ploy by one of the others, each trying to discern who would benefit from it.

The noise was cut off with an abrupt crack, and within a minute the guard returned, bowed and placed a shattered plastic object on the council table. Cologne, who had had the most experience with the outside world, identified it quickly. "It's an electronic alarm clock." Turning to the guard she asked, " Where did to you find this, child?"

"Attached to a beam on the ceiling in the records chamber, Elder, directly over the centre table."

Cologne hissed. That was directly under the room they were in now, in a place no one should be able to enter without at least three of the elders being notified.

The cry of "Fire!" and the sound of the emergency gong being sounded cut short her analysis of the situation. The Elders rushed out of the Hall and into the village square. In a township whose main building materials were wood, bamboo and rushes, the alarm was enough to call every person but the duty sentinels from their posts.

Cologne's eyes widened at the sight before her. "No" she whispered.

Despite their building materials, the houses of the Amazons were not particularly inflammable. On the rare occasions when a hearth fire had gotten out of control, or a lamp had fallen over, or when any similar domestic accident had taken place, the quick response of the villagers was often able to prevent the fire from spreading through the entire building. That would not be the case this time. It was as though each individual fibre of Shampoo's home had simultaneously decided to burst into flames.

Every motherly instinct within her screamed for her to dive into the inferno, but she held herself back. From where she stood, over fifty metres away, the heat was intense. Nothing could have survived within. "Shampoo. Soap." Her heir, her hope for the future of their tribe, gone up in smoke with the rest of Shampoo's hut.

Grief warred with anger. Someone had done this, someone had turned her plans into ashes, and someone was going to pay for it.

A sudden shout from her left caused her to turn and watch as two warriors emerged from the shadows behind a house carrying an unconscious Shampoo between them. With a bound she was by the young girl's side and checking her for injuries. The only noticeable one was the large lump on the back of her head.

"Shampoo, can you hear me?" The purple-haired girl remained unresponsive. Cologne frowned, pressed and held a number of pressure points them tried again. "Shampoo, what happened, where is Soap?"

Shampoo grimaced as she awoke and the pain in the back of her head hit her.

"Do… do no… not know. I… was… feeding Soap… when… do not know."

Cologne growled. Not murder, but kidnapping instead. The irony of the situation did not amuse her.

"Elders, honoured Elders!" cried out a young warrior, running in from the town square and waving two letters in her hand, "these were found resting upon the challenge log. One is addressed to Elder Cologne, the other too the Council." Bowing, she delivered them, Talcum taking the one addressed to the Council.

Cologne paused before she opened hers. "Who was on sentry duty at the Challenge Log tonight?"

"M-myself and Blush, honoured elder." The warrior who had delivered the letters stammered. Knowing the question behind the stares she was receiving, she continued. "We do not know how the letters appeared there. We turned our heads for one moment when the alarm gong, and when we turned back they were there!"

With an angry hiss, Cologne tore open the message and read.

Cologne

You shouldn't have done it, old ghoul. No matter what traditions or laws you have, you should've known better than to steal a six-month old child from her parents. Did you really think we wouldn't find out? Despite all the false trails you laid, despite the fact that we thought you'd gone back to China months before, we found out.

Do not interfere with our family again. If you do, you'll regret it, and so will all your people. This is a promise, and it's your only warning. There's so much we could do in your village tonight. The alarm clock could have just as easily been a bomb. The letters could have just as easily been petrol and a match. We could have destroyed you, but we didn't. Because we're not like you.

Cologne seethed. "How dare he," she whispered, "how dare he!" Wordlessly Talcum came over next to her and handed her the second letter.

To the honoured Council of the Elders of the Amazons,

We hereby inform you that we have this night taken action to retrieve that which was taken from us. Understand that there is no tradition older than a parent's love for their child, no law so powerful as to stop a family protecting their own.

We do not hold the Amazon people guilty of Cologne's crime, and will not seek reparations , but should such an event occur again, we shall consider that it happened because you allowed it. We do not want you as our enemy. You do not want us as yours.

In silence, the Council returned to its chambers and took their places. "I shall set out immediately," said Cologne in a voice filled with cold anger, "and bring back my great-great-granddaughter Soap."

She had expected an acknowledgement of her actions. She had expected an agreement that what she planned to do was right. She neither expected the incredulous silence, nor the looks of shock.

"Is not the father of 'Soap'" said Talcum quietly, " the same young man who defeated the Dragon Prince Herb? Is he not the same young man who has mastered the dreaded Cat-fist?"

"He's still just a boy," growled Cologne, "he has no right to stand against the will of the Amazons."

"Is he not the same young man who defeated Kirin of the Seven-Lucky gods? Is he not the one who struck down Saffron?! Is he not the one who showed tonight that he could have destroyed this very council without us being aware of his presence in the village!?!"

"He is only…"

"By all that's holy Cologne, we agreed with Shampoo's adoption of the child because you assured us that that the parents would never find out! One child is not worth risking the village over, no matter how strong she may grow." Rising from her chair, Talcum continued. "I hereby move that the adoption of the child Soap by the warrior Shampoo be nullified, and that no further contact be made with the child's birth family, unless agreed upon by the council. Such action without council sanction may be punishable with exile."

"I second the motion."

Cologne looked on with shock. Conditioner had long been one of her strongest allies, yet now she was supporting… this!

"The motion is sustained. All in favour?"

Watching as all hands but hers were raised, Cologne sighed in defeat.

"I rescind my decision to reclaim Soap," she said, "and will abide by the will of the Council."

And that was it, her dreams and plans for the future were left as nothing but ashes.

----

In a pass leading out of the valley, the shadows lay thick and heavy. Out of them strode three forms. One thin and feminine, one large and stocky, the last that of a young man carrying a small bundle. Turning to his companions he spoke. "Pop, Konatsu, I… thanks." A tear of relief worked its way across his face.

The older figure patted his son's shoulder. "It's alright Ranma. Let's go, Akane's waiting for us."

Lifting the giggling child in arms up to his face, Ranma touched her forehead with his. "Come on Kimi-chan, let's go home to Mummy."

End

Please review, it's all that keeps me going.

Author's Notes.

1. Yes, I know this is somewhat similar to 'To the World and Back' by Mitch74, but it's a complete coincidence, as I'd started writing this out before it was posted. 'An idea whose time has come', I guess.

2. No, I have no idea if a baby would be that sensitive to whether the person looking after it was its parent or not. This is Ranma and Akane's little girl, she's allowed to be special.

3. Yes, I chose to write 'Shampoo' and 'Cologne', rather than 'Xian Pu' and 'Khu Lon' or any other similar variants. I actually rather like having the names written in 'Chinese' form. However, I wasn't particularly confident in my ability to do the same to the names of theAmazons who I made up, which do follow the general body-care products naming theme. After all, far be it for me to trip up Takahashi-sama's running joke.

4. Why did I choose to have Ranma accompanied by Genma and Konatsu? Because this wasn't about fighting, this was about stealth, and with his daughter at stake, Ranma wouldn't turn down help. Genma is the one who taught Ranma the Umisenken, the way of the quiet thief; and Konatsu is a genius ninja, and is also skilled with explosives; so, besides Happosai, they're probably the sneakiest of Ranma's allies.

5. No, I haven't abandoned 'Angel's Guardian'. I have, on the other hand just begun to get over a rather nasty writer's block regarding it. I realised I'd only really plotted out what Ranma was doing with himself, and hadn't given enough thought to what Akane was doing with her time. I'll hopefully have another chapter up within a month or so, but if anyone would be interested in doing a bit of pre-reading, I'd be quite appreciative.