((A/N: No, I don't own Ranma ½, though I wish I did. This is just fanfic, I don't get any money out of it, just the enjoyment of writing. Thank you.))
It's A Mob Thing..
By Emogarg
"I'm looking for someone.. Someone named.. Saotome."
The large man behind the counter looked down at the woman, she had short brown hair in a neat cut, and big eyes, wearing a simple dark green skirt that ruffled around her long thin legs, and a matching low hung shirt of the same ruffled smooth material topped off with a long green suit jacket. She tilted her head back to peer up at him from under the dark green cloche hat, the word 'flapper' was written all over her figure even though her slim waist and medium chest were still slightly visible through the outfit. The bartender frowned more. "I don't know nothing about no one named Saotome.."
She smiled slightly and clicked her tongue a moment, "Oh my my.. I know he was here and I know someone here saw him. If you don't tell me where I can find Saotome.. I'm afraid I'll have to get.. angry.."She reached into her jacket and pulled out a small silver .45 caliber revolver and aimed it at his chest. The others at the club either didn't notice, or simply ignored her. A few faint beads of sweat appeared on the bald head of the man as he got nervous looking down at her. "I.. I said I don't know.." He saw her thumb move back to click the hammer. "But there might be someone.. He goes by the name Lost Boy.. He can find him if anyone can.. I heard he has fought with this Saotome kid.."
Frowning the girl nodded, "And where is this..Lost Boy?" She saw him point to a table in the back, where a lone figure sat raggedly at a table drinking from a glass. He certainly didn't fit in with the glitz and glamour of the prestigious club. He had short dark hair that looked like it hadn't had a proper trim in years, and a striped bandana held it back somewhat. His eyes were dark and slightly wild, and she noticed at his side on the ground was a large camping pack. Obviously he was traveling, and took his belongings with him everywhere.
She sighed as she slipped up to the table thinking to herself, (but of course.. He is a 'Lost Boy' perhaps he will lose his things if he doesn't keep them in sight.) The young lady smirked and sat down smoothing out her skirt, "You are the Lost Boy? I heard you can help me find someone..named Saotome.. I am looking for a man named Soun Tendo. I have heard of you before.. went by the nickname 'Angry Boar' a few months back when you tried the fighting circuit am I right? But you were late for most of your fights and were thrown-"
The man, who was about her age she realized, jerked his head up and hissed sharply. "Never call me by that..that.. foul name! Yes, I know Saotome, and he won't be hard to find..but why should I help you?"
Grinning softly, the girl momentarily licked her red lips and once again unsheathed her weapon holding it out to him, but before she could utter a word, he reached out grabbing the gun and crushed it crudely. Her large brown eyes gaped looking at it and sighed tossing it aside, "guess father was right.. maybe guns can't help with every problem..but.. "her frown turned into a cold smirk, "I do have something you would like.. From an expedition into China.. I believe you were there and came in contact with a curse.. how you got that nickname.." She leaned back crossing her legs and taps on a necklace that looked like it had an exaggerated crystal hanging from it, but he noticed immediately it was actually a small elegantly shaped glass bottle that held some water.
The Lost Boy stood up quickly leaning over, "Is..Is that..." The girl stood and smiled putting her hands around it protectively, "Nannichuan?"she grinned innocently, but fell back as the man leapt onto her and grabbed the necklace breaking it in his hand letting the water hit him, and suddenly in a blink, all that remained was his outfit and a scruffy looking little black pig. Leaning down, she lifted up the pig by the back of his neck which he squirmed and squealed shrilly. "Calm down.. Its not my fault you went for it, fool. Of course I have some, but I've it well hidden. There will be plenty for you, Hibiki.. "she grinned slightly. "And Saotome, but only after I've done my job.." She tossed the pig onto the table and grabbed his things and frowned trying to lift the heavy pack until a busboy noticed and quickly went to help her, having even more trouble. "Come on, unless you want to remain that way forever. I'm you're only hope for a cure.." She stepped into a sleek solid black Model T car followed closely by the pig who hopped onto the seat beside her as she cranked it up and they drove off into the dark muggy streets of the city.
Ryouga groaned as he looked out the small window of the car as they drove through the sparsely lit areas of the city late at night. It was getting foggy, and they had been driving for over an hour, though the scenery didn't seem to have changed much. But it was hard for him to tell, and he had no idea how large this city was. The girl growled in frustration and turned to the side of the road and parked by a phone. "I've had enough of this.." She walked to a payphone and slipped inside after looking around and closed the thick door behind her. It was impossible for him to tell what she was saying, but by looking through the small glass pane on the door she was not happy. She came out a couple of minutes later cursing quietly about "stupid pigs" and "passing by the same building fifteen times.." He wondered if she was referring to the fact he was trying to give her directions to Saotome's hotel, since he had bumped into him just the day before, but in that time, the Lost Boy couldn't even recall if he was in the same city or not. Though he didn't tell the strange woman who was now getting back into the car. "We're going to have a word with the boss.."
Within ten minutes, she parked by a narrow street where the tall sky scrapers seemed to lean over them, and the darkness grew as the shadows faded into the mists. His driver stepped out of the car and walked across the street, trying to hide her face in her jacket and stood underneath a street light. A couple of minutes later a Rolls Royce drove up and stopped in front of her. To his surprise, a girl's head poked out, she had similar style to the woman under the street light, except mostly that her hair was a little longer at the sides and a touch lighter brown, plus her face had that popular cherub roundness to it, though her face was mature and thin so as not to be confused with a child. She frowned slightly, pushing down her hat that was similar also, though with a smaller rim and it was white with a gold band across of it. "Ukyo.. I sent you to do a simple task.. and you failed.."
Ukyo, as he knew her name to be, frowned and put her hands on the door of the car, "No! I can find Saotome. I have the Lost Boy. It'll just take a little extra time. You know I want to find him as badly as you do, and you know I want-" She was silenced momentarily by the girl holding up her finger. "Nabiki.."she sighed taking off her hat holding it to her side. "I want my father's Okonomiyaki cart.. After what that slime did.."
The girl in the car laughed slightly, "Well, what sort of fool sells sake through a food cart with prohibition?..Even if it is profitable. You're lucky Soun was in the agency at the time. He held onto it and we've gotten it now. And it will be yours, after I get Saotome. Look, I'm being nice and giving you another chance. You're a sweet girl, though a bit too honest for this city. And you broke my favorite gun.. Give me that pig you claim is the Lost Boy, and you keep looking for him with your own means. I will contact you tomorrow.."
Ukyo looked up. "Why does your father care about some gutter scum like Saotome?" She frowned and her hand drifted up to run through the recently cropped hair.
Nabiki didn't fail to notice this as she glanced up at her and lit a cigarette. "I don't ask my father about these things, just like he doesn't ask me about my business.. But, I do know this... Saotome made a deal with him years ago and disappeared before he could come through. So I guess my father wants him found and either pay his debt, or..well.. Let's just say, I hope Saotome likes concrete shoes.. I'm sure they'll fit like a glove." She laughed a bit and then frowned seeing Ukyo's still mournful face, "Yes, you were right. You look awful with short hair, its a good thing looking like a boy is in style." Nabiki smirked and then held out her hand, and Ukyo hurried and grabbed Ryouga and his clothes giving them to her, and then heaved the heavy pack into the trunk. "I'll speak with you tomorrow, Ukyo.."Nabiki said and the automobile drove off.
Nabiki leaned back and held up the pig with disgust before dropping it and looked at the tall handsome man beside her who was frowning at her. "Why do you allow these things to happen. Now you are caring for a pig?"
She rolled her eyes, "He'll be fine after a good cleaning and he'll be a lot of good to us.. Now just shut up and tell the driver to take me home, Kuno."
It didn't take long before the little black pig was feeling really ill from driving around and he fell asleep. He woke to find himself in a deep hot tub and gasped realizing he was back to human. Seeing across from him was a nude Nabiki sitting back happily in the tub drinking a glass of champagne almost made him get a bloody nose and faint, but he held it in frowning at her. "Oh don't look so panicky.."she said simply and smiled offering him a glass which made him shake his head. "Come now, you don't think I'd take a filthy pig without knowing it really was you. I'm the one who did my homework, I'm the one who knew you'd be at the bar. I knew there was no way she'd be able to find Saotome. We need you..And I have the spring water you're looking for. It will be yours.. when Saotome is mine.."
He nodded slightly and clung to the side of the tub as Nabiki moved closer and grinned leaning up to him, "You are much too shy. That's the reason you never had a girlfriend. A trusting loving girl can wait years for her beloved to return, your problem is confidence. For being so tough you are a bit of a pussy." She smirked and when Ryouga frowned angrily about to argue, she leaned up and kissed him firmly on the lips. Causing him to blink, blushing brightly and finally, pass out..
It was the next morning and Ryouga was looking out the window of the Rolls Royce that Nabiki was now driving, wearing beige driving gloves and a matching beige outfit. She looked out the window and smirked turning to him seeing his still blushing face. "Geez, you can relax you know. It all happened Last Night. And you fainted through half of it. And the rest you looked more like you were being tortured."
He frowned and gulped licking his dry lips. "It.. wasn't that.. I . I did like it." The slightly older girl shrugged, "I could tell, cause every now and again you would smile, besides the obvious other.. 'hints' you .. shot off."She smirked playfully making him hang his head lower shyly."Now what's wrong?" The girl threw a cold glare at him annoyed.
"It's just.. um.. what about your husband.. Kuno?" He took a small sideglance to her and saw she started to laugh."H-husband? I'm his girlfriend and I help him out, for a small fee of course. I'm not a prostitute, more like a mistress, but that's not what I do for the money. I get information, other things like that that I'm good at. Sleeping with him is for favors, like this car.. Besides, atleast he doesn't faint. And, don't think that cause you and I did anything means we're lovers or even going to do it again. I didn't sleep with you for emotional reasons. I did it for two reasons: 1, you have a hot body and I wanted a piece of it; and 2, you need to be officially made a man. Though I think there's still some growing up to do.."she handed him a handkerchief as he started to look faint and his nose began to bleed as he relived the night before, once again. "Geez, you're like a faucet. Now pay attention, I need you awake so we can catch Saotome. You can sleep tonight.."Then middle Tendo grinned slightly at him," or we can stay up all night again, but I don't think you have it in you."
Ryouga turned red again and nodded slightly keeping his head down for a while before slowly turning it to look out the window of the car watching the scenery sail by while thinking again of how much he hated riding in cars..
It was late in the afternoon before the car slowed down on a dusty road before a small restaurant that had a large sign posted out front in quick scrawled letters: ' All You Can Eat'. Nabiki stepped out slowly, glancing around quickly before turning to look in the window. "Get out, Ryouga. It's time you do your job and go in there and get Saotome for me." She jerked her hand towards the restaurant and the lost boy sighed and nodded as he climbed out of the car, happy enough to be back on the stationary ground again and cracked his knuckles. "Its time for my vengance, Saotome!"
"Uh uh, remember. You get him for me, and you can have your own vengeance later, " she corrected him and walked towards the restuarant as well, noticing a dusty banner on top calling it Old Joe's Cafe. She rolled her eyes and pushed open the squeaky screen door, Ryouga close behind her. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the badly lit room, there were men all around sitting at small tables and a bar with the faint sound of glasses being put down as they entered. "Who here is Saotome?"
Ryouga whispered into her ear, "You don't even know what he looks like?" Just before she could answer, a boy near the back about their age lifted his head up from a table covered in food. He craned his head back to look at them; he had similar dark eyes, a strong figure, and black hair that was tied back in a short braid. He was dressed in a red chinese shirt and black pants but from the dust and dirt that had collected it was hard to tell. "I'm Saotome, who wants to know?"
She felt the anger boil in the man behind her and held her arm up to keep him back and frowned sharply before stepping forward towards his table. "You are to come with me, Soun Tendo wants a word with you." She glanced at the collection of dirty plates around him, wondering how someone could eat so much and not look like a sumo wrestler.
"I don't know a Soun Tendo. You've got the wrong guy, leave me alone and let me eat." Ranma looked back down and an angry cry erupted from Ryouga as a first slammed into the table splitting it in the middle. Ranma leapt away from the table growling. "Oh it's you again Hibiki, nice to see you're doing so well.."
"Saotome..." Ryouga growled charging towards him just as Nabiki slipped her hand into her purse and pulled out a large bottle and tossed it to Ryouga. "Here you go, the Nannichuan that we promised since you did get me Saotome." She grinned a little noticing the interest in the braided boy's eyes as her assistant smiled happily pouring it on himself and gave a surprised gasp as he turned back into a pig and squealed angrily as she lifted him up. "Like I would keep it in the bottle.. You are naive."grins. "I'll give it to you, I promise.. The moment we get Saotome to my father.." The small animal looked down angrily and she hugged it to her breasts and it blinked getting a nose bleed before passing out and she laughed then turned to the man beside her. "Come on, get in the car, and you can have your curse lifted too."
He was obviously more then a bit confused and suspicious by her actions, but realized this was the easiest way to get his cure, and besides they had caused enough of a distraction to the owner of the restaurant he wouldn't have to pay; since it occured to him only after he started eating that he was out of money. He shrugged and patted her shoulder as he stepped outside, deciding that meeting with some strange Tendo guy wouldn't be so bad and he could handle anything thrown at him.
After a few short hours driving the sun had set and a chill crept into the air. Nabiki pulled off the road into a small bed and breakfast. "Come on guys, we are going to stay the night here." "Why here?" Ranma frowned arching his brow as he looked up at the ragged looking building with only one light in the top upstairs window. A breeze rattled the windows as crickets chirped all around, making the isolation of this place all the more apparent. The girl gave him a quick glance. "If you'd rather sleep out here, be my guest.. Come on Ryouga!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him from the car since he had fallen asleep, after she had given him some hot water to return to normal first, of course. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up at the place and stretched out, yawning. "I don't like it, Nabiki.. It sort of gives me a bad feeling."
The brunette sighed shaking her head and stepped up to the front door, her heels clicking against the aged wood. "I can't believe you two. Believing in ghost stories.." Taking a deep breath she knocked on the door a couple of times and waited as a faint light moved towards the front door from upstairs. After a rattling of locks it opened slowly to show a kind old woman's face beaming up at them. "Oh we have guests.. I'm sorry you are a bit late and my husband and I were just preparing for bed.. come in come in.." The woman wore a faded pink nightgown that trailed a bit behind her , and large white fluffy slippers stuck out the front of it as she waved them in, lighting the way with a small candle. "So is it three rooms?"
With a giggle a feminine arm wrapped around Ryouga's as the Tendo girl grinned holding up one finger. "Just one room, my brothers and I have shared one since we were just babies. I'm sure you can see the family resemblance, everyone loves to comment how similar we look." The lady gave them a smile and nodded, "Oh my yes, what charming little angels you must have been.." She locked the door behind them and shuffled across the worn matted floor and got a key from a small stand with a few scratched numbers. "Ok, here you go child. Room 103 should suit you just fine."
Nabiki nodded and took the key, "Come on boys, we got a long trip in the morning." She yawned absently and stepped quietly up the creaking stairs, she new there was no way there could be six bedrooms here, much less over a hundred and wondered about the room number until she saw them. It seemed the old woman thought it sounded better and all of them started with 100. Sighing as she gazed at the blue door, most of the paint cracking off, she gently grabbed the door knob and unlocked it before stepping through and coughed. "No one ever heard of dusting?" She hopped onto the bed and almost fell over in a coughing fit as a cloud of dust welled up around her. Stepping off she opened a window and shoved the sheets into Ryouga's hands. "Beat those out the window for me, would you? You're so strong you'll get them nice and dust free." Ryouga frowned looked at them, "Why dont you just ask for clean sheets? " She ignored him and went to the attached bathroom.
It took almost an hour before she was satisfied enough to go to bed and Ranma and Ryouga growled a bit laying on the floor. "She could have atleast given us the pillows.." Ranma muttered before yawning and rolled onto his side to get some sleep. The clocked chimed a few moments later, unheard by Ranma and Nabiki who were fast asleep. Ryouga frowned having trouble onthe hard floor when he heard it, the door slowly creaked open and two figures stepped into the room.
"It's been a while since we've had guests, hasn't it, Marie?"
"Oh my yes, and look how happy they all look asleep.We probably would have had more if
most of them had more money on them. "
"Oh yes.. unlike these .. did you see the car they came in? It alone probably costs more
then this rat infested home of ours.."
The old woman's sillhouette became visible against the dim hanging lightbulb in the hallway behind her, and next to her stood a man easily her age if not older who was very skinny and pale. The Hibiki boy pretended to be asleep, but then something caught the light in the hallway, it was a long razor the man had in his hand. "We'd better hurry, dear. We don't want any of 'em waking up before we can finish them off, "his rough voice whispered. Ryouga jumped up, which caught the old couple by surprise, but the man thrust the sharp object at him quickly. "Awake are you? Well, we can fix that." With a growl, the old man was thrown out into the hallway, as the woman tried to jump onto him from behind, but was tossed back and landed on the bed over Nabiki, shaking her awake. "What the hell?" Her words were cut off as she gasped for breath as the woman gripped her throat tightly. "Don't make a move, or I'll kill the girl." Nabiki shook her head and kicked her feet, but was unable to squirm from the grip around her throat and coughed weakly. Ryouga growled watching as a shadow moved up behind the woman, "Let her go now. I don't like to hit girls, but I'll make an exception for a murderer like you.." She turned her head in surprise,and dropped the brunette who coughed on the bed as she regained her breath and rubbed her neck.
Marie backed up and grabbed her candle from the shelf and waved it back and forth at them,"You back off now! "Ryouga frowned grabbing the candle, ignoring the fire against his tough skin and tossed it aside. "You don't scare us." "Ryouga!"Nabiki shouted angrily, and he turned to notice that the candle had caught the ragged and dusty drapes from the window and now the room was quickly catching on fire. The woman used that moment of distraction to run out, they turned and growled, "Great she got away !" As the fire quickly spread, they started making their way out into the hallway, when they noticed the flames had moved and were already covering the stairs. "Great, now I'm going to die here with you two." She covered her mouth and coughed as the smoke became thicker, when suddenly a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, "Come on, Pigboy."Ranma said as he leapt out a window crashing through, with Ryouga just behind him. "Don't call me that!"
By the next afternoon, the sun was unbearably hot and bore down on them savagely. Nabiki licked her dry lips momentarily as she fanned her forhead with her hat and stood by the side of the road while her two 'companions' slowly continued on. "This isn't working, I'm not used to walking long distances. It'll take us weeks to get to Nerima." She leaned against a faded and slightly tilted sign that was at a crossroad, unable to tell which direction it said, but enjoying the minute shading it provided. The two turned and frowned slightly, "It's not our fault someone decided to stop there. And you left your key in the ignition." Ranma winced as something small was thrown at his head, "There's the key. Like I'm that stupid.. they just knew how to hotwire it.. Something I didn't expect." He turned and stared down at the girl who was not one to back down. "You wanna say something to me? Just say it!" His dark eyes widened slightly as he glared and then turned away. "You know, this is starting to not be worth the cure. And you've got a real attitude problem.." She suddenly smirked and took his arm, "Now now, this heat is just making us all irritable, you know you want that cure.. "
Birds started to circle over head as the empty road seemed to stretch out before them. Nabiki's forehead was beaded with sweat, and she kept pushing her limp bangs out of her eyes, and looking at Ranma and Ryouga's backs with a frown as they seemed to have little problem with the heat. It was very bright and hard to see. She could barely tell where the road was as it matched the parched ground almost perfectly, a hot wind blew over her and made her wince, stepping back slightly. She shook her head and hurried to catch up a bit and Ranma sighed walking over and grabbed her putting her on his back. "Ahh! What are you doing?" He shrugged, "What else I'm carrying you.. You aren't taking this very well, and we don't need to lag behind cause of you." She blinked and narrowed her eyes at him, "Me? Just cause its really hot and sunny, I can't help it if I'm not used to these conditions like you two. Besides," she said as they walked past a very similar looking sign," do you even know where we're going." He shook his head slightly, "I thought Ryouga was leading..."
Everyone froze up and Ranma and Nabiki sweatdropped, "No wonder we haven't gotten anywhere.. "
After finally taking charge of their direction, Nabiki lead them down the other direction. The sun was nearing the horizon and she rested her head against Ranma's shoulder. It had become an exhausting trip and she didn't know how much longer it was going to last. With a sigh she closed her eyes, but opened them again as she heard something in the distance, quickly approaching. It was a strange puttering sound, and it belonged to a truck that was kicking up dust as it ran along the road. They stopped and turned to watch it as it came up and slowed down. A man's head poked out the window and smiled, "You guys sure look like you're lost.. Where you headed to?" Ryouga smiled quickly,"Nerima.. you know where it is?" The man nodded , as he happened to be headed that way and everyone piled into the back as he started off again. "Finally, something good came along.."Ranma said and Nabiki agreed quietly. "I am never going out on a search again, this sort of thing is for henchmen.." They ignored her as both men almost cried in joy knowing their cure was only a few hours away..
Ryouga wanted to kiss the ground when they arrived in Nerima, but Nabiki grabbed his collar and started walking quickly towards a large gate that stood infront of the Tendo home and dojo. The dojo of course was just a front for their many other 'businesses'. She took a deep breath and smiled. She didn't want to think that her clothes were filthy, she was dirty, her hair was a mess, and she broke a nail. What she did care about was that she was home, and be able to turn in the man her father had been looking for for the last two years. "Well.. come on. We have to get you to my father, Genma."
Ranma's eyes widened, "Did..you just call me Genma?" When she looked at him confused, a sudden look of horror appeared in her eyes. "Don't tell me.. you're not Genma Saotome?" He had to hug his sides to keep from hurting himself he laughed so hard, Ryouga had to fight off his laughter as well. "The great Nabiki who could find anything, didn't even know which Saotome she was looking for?" Her eyes burned with anger, "Than who are you?" "Ranma Saotome, the good-for-nothing's son. " She frowned and grabbed his shirt and kicked open the gate. "Good enough. Not my fault my dad never told me his age, and you could easily have dealt with him only two years ago." She thought of Ukyo's anger towards the Saotome name, it was Genma's entire family she wanted to get revenge on, so once again, Nabiki had no reason to think it wasn't Genma she was now pulling into the house as she slid open the door. "I'm hooome!"
((A/N: Sorry, no clue when I'll ever add to it. If I ever will. But comments will help decide that certainly. ))