Disclaimer: if I owned ranma why would I write fanfiction?
Soun sighed again as he reached for his tea. The house was depressingly quiet to his noise-accustomed ears. It had been 8 years since the house had been filled with the noise that was his daughter and her fiancé, but the silence still seemed...out of place. He put down his tea, untouched and cold, and reached across the shoji board. This time another accompanied his sigh, that of his best friend who at the moment was a giant panda...
Nodoka walked through the halls of the mansion quickly. She had good news to tell her lady, and her lady sure needed it. Nodoka had been serving "Lady" for a little more than 3 years and every year around this time her lady became so detached and...cold was the only way to describe it, that it was all Nodoka could do not to start crying when she was around her. It had been a couple of days though and she should be getting over it soon, and this would certainly help.
Lady helps so many people, why can't she just have the happiness she deserves? she thought. Nodoka reached the end of the hall and opened the large double doors at the end, after placing her hand on a scanner, which read her fingerprints and unlocked it electronically.
She strode through the door placing the manila folder back under her arm from where she'd moved it to scan her hand. She walked through the foyer and walked into a large room which had a huge chair, bolted to the wall, that was more like a throne than a chair. What would have surprised any one unaccustomed to Lady's home, was the huge lioness that was currently draped over the "throne." As it was, the utterly savage sight was familiar and beloved to Nodoka. Looking around the room would prove that the lioness wasn't the only one, and the number of lionesses' perched on various pieces of furniture around the room, was enough to form a small feline army.
Nodoka walked forward, knelt, and stroked the lioness on the throne's massive head.
"Take me to her please," she whispered to the lioness. The lioness looked into Nodoka's brown eyes with her own amber eyes, and then stood up in that lazy, graceful, and deadly way only cats seem to manage.
Only cats and Lady can be that graceful, and yet seem not to care," thought Nodoka and as she listened to the lions silent walk " Thank Kami that Lady is not my enemy. I wouldn't live to see another dawn, with henchman so fiercely loyal."
As she thought about it that she realized that it didn't only apply to the lions; If Lady had asked her to kill someone, she probably would've done it with question. Of course the question wouldn't be necessary, Lady would explain why the death was important. She felt that if anyone was going to be involved in taking away something as important as life they should know why. Nodoka's thoughts trailed off as she reached another set of double doors.
They'd reached the gym that Lady used to train herself and her women. On the way there Nodoka and the lead dominant lioness, Tanto had picked up two more lionesses and together all four of them walked into the gym. The lionesses dispersed to find themselves niches to settle into, and Nodoka watched and waited for Lady to finish the kata she was performing.
She's beautiful. Like a dancer, so smooth and graceful Nodoka thought as she watched Lady. Suddenly the kata turned into a savage kick and a punch that had the ability to shatter cinder blocks into specks of dust.
No, not a dancer. She's too savage, too fierce to be a demure little ballerina- Nodoka's thoughts broke off as Lady finished up and turned to her.
"So Nodoka, what do you have to report that couldn't wait till our meeting tomorrow?" She smiled but it wasn't the genuine smile Nodoka wanted to see. It was better than the day before though, and that was enough for now.
" There's a new fighter in the city Lady. It's a she and according to our women in the forces she's quite formidable. She came from Okinawa to find the Crime King, The Blue Lion. Mai, you remember her, the chief of the department says she's made it her personal mission to find you."
Lady let out a short wry laugh. Like her smile, it wasn't as genuine as normal, but it would have to do.
"Oh Nodoka, how many times must I tell you? Call me Michiko! Are they still going on about that crime king thing? Well at least the female reporters know better.
This fighter, you've got her name, picture, stats? Is there any chance she'll join us?"
"How can you even ask if I have her info?" Nodoka asked jokingly as she pulled out the manila folder she'd put inside her black leather jacket flipping her short hair in mock indignance.
"Michiko!, Nodoka, Michiko!" she replied pretending to be stern.
She's getting her sense of humor back, that's good. Nodoka thought
Michiko opened the folder and pulled out one of the photos paper- clipped to it. She brought it closer to inspect it in more detail and then drew in a deep ragged breath. Then she placed the photo back in the folder, slowly, as if she was afraid of it, and if she made any sudden moves it would attack her. One of the lionesses', Tanto, sensing her mistress' discomfort, sauntered up and rubbed her head against Michiko's side. Michiko stroked the cat, but it seemed mechanical and as she petted it she said rather shakily
" Let's continue this in my rooms."
Nodoka followed Michiko as they left the gym and walked down the hall again, stopping at a hidden door, small and inconspicuous, nothing like most of the double doors in the gigantic house. The only thing that made it noticeable was the retina and hand scanner that allowed access into the room, but that too was hidden, disguised as a thermostat and if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't have spared it a second glance and continued on. Michiko flipped the "thermostat" to the scanner side and put her hand on it and looked into the retina scanner. After a couple of seconds an automated voice said
"Welcome Michiko. Password?"
" Blue lion" Michiko said in that same detached, shaky voice.
"Hey." the door opened and the 2 women walked in. "You've got some messages. Want me to play them?" the same automated voice said but now that it had confirmed its occupant it seemed a lot more real and less mechanical.
"No." was Michiko's curt response. Nodoka looked at Michiko. She was wearing the loose, drawstring pants, and the tight shirt, today both in black, that she always wore when she was training. Her long, thick, blue-black hair was tied into her customary training braid and she was barefoot. Her usually tan skin was rather pale, and her blue eyes seemed...withdrawn was the only word Nodoka could think of. Her hands, she noticed, were clenched and trembling.
What could possibly make Lady THIS upset? She thought, thinking of her normally calm, controlled, and commanding Lady. They walked through a couple of rooms; the door which at most one would've expected to contain a broom closet, actually hid a suite of rooms, many for the lions and a couple for Lady, bathrooms, a kitchen, bedrooms, an office, a weapons room...It was a large suite, but tiny compared to the whole house. When they reached the bedroom, Michiko sat down on the bed and Nodoka on a chair. For the amount of money Michiko obviously had by the rich decor of the house, and the sheer size of the house itself, her own personal suite was surprisingly plain; sparsely decorated.
For a while Michiko just sat and stared at her folded hands, and Nodoka, getting uncomfortable, and still worried, fidgeted and looked around, wondering why Michiko's own rooms were so plain.
"Do you know how old I am?" Michiko asked, startling Nodoka, and when she started shaking her head no, she continued:
" 25. I'm 25 years old. Almost 26, only 2 more months. All those years, wasted. What have I accomplished? Nothing. Nothing at-" Michiko was silenced as Nodoka burst out shocked:
"That's not true at all!" You're Michiko Sasaki-the queen of crime and Rumiko Hayasaka the city's most eligible bachelorette-slash-MILLIONAIRE. You've gotten so many women of the streets, helped them fight back against their abusive boyfriends, husbands. You've gotten rid of drugs, and petty crime. You're wonderful! You're beautiful, you're smart, you're rich, and you're one of the nicest people I know! You're one of the greatest fighters in the world if not THE best! -"
"Ah but Nodoka, if only you knew..." She sighed dejectedly.
"What about LOVE? Bachellorette I am, and there's a reason I'm single. After 8 years, I still fear this man." She said as she drew out the picture from the folder.
"The only man who ever conquered me..." She whispered, frightened again, as if the photo were a real person, and not just a picture. She drew in a ragged breath and touched the photo with her fingertips.
Nodoka was baffled.
"But La-Michiko," and as she looked up Nodoka continued:
"THAT, is a picture, of a WOMAN. A very...ROBUST woman. I'm afraid you've lost me."
Michiko held up a photo.
"Tell me. What do you see Nodoka?"
" I see a red-headed, pigtailed, female, martial artist. Why?"
Michiko drew in another ragged breath.
"Because things aren't always what they seem. You see a buxom, feminine woman named Ranko. In reality he's a 26 year old man. A "man amongst men" as he's still alive. The last time I saw him he...he could defeat me without even trying. You see Ranko, I see Ranma. It doesn't matter, what I accomplish, how good I am at ANYTHING. This man will always be better. Fighting, cooking, acting, anything. I've never been in his league even back... even when... You call me Lady Nodoka. Lady, and Michiko, The Crime Queen, The Blue Lion, Rumiko...but it's all a LIE, Nodoka, a LIE. Everything is a lie. You think I'm some spectacular superwoman, but I'm NOT I'm NOT." Tears built up in her eyes but refused to fall.
"Michiko.." Said Nodoka softly and slightly shocked at the outburst from her normally relaxed and confident Lady.
" NO, that's NOT MY NAME!!" she screamed before crumpling into a small sobbing heap. Nodoka hugged the crying woman and said softly:
"I don't care WHAT your name is, you will ALLWAYS be my Lady."
"Michiko looked up, still crying and said:
"I am glad my present is so full of people like you, who don't care about my past. But how could I let my past catch up with my present?" She put her face in her hands and started sobbing again: "Why, why, did you have to come find me?? Why couldn't you just let it GO?!" After about 10 minutes she stopped rocking on her knees and fell asleep in Nodoka's arms. Nodoka put her in her bed and walked out after taking a last look at the tear stained face of her Lady.
"Take care of her," she whispered to the lions before shutting the door and walking out. As she walked through the suite to the hall a determined look came over her face. Sh-HE won't find you Lady. We won't let him, we'll protect you, like you protect us. Maybe he COULD defeat you but that was 8 years ago, and you were only 17, 2 years younger than I am now. Besides what army does he have? The cops? Right. All the female ones are with us and the rest are incompetent. Let him come, he'll get what he deserves, let him come."
Across the city in one of the police stations a young woman was discussing a certain crime lord with the police chief.
"In the last 3 years the rate of crime has actually decreased a great deal, as has, in huge percentages, the rate of rape and prostitution. Homicides have been decreasing in huge quantities also, bu-"
"I don't get it Chief. Why did you call me down here? To get rid of someone helping in a job your department obviously isn't good enough to handle by itself? Seems kinda dumb... a SMARTER guy would've taken the credit and let things be." The woman interrupted cheekily, blatantly insulting her host, but not caring in the least.
The heavy-set man, who'd obviously had too many rendezvous' with the donut shop, glared and continued.
"As I was saying. While the RATE of crime has gone down the CALIBER has increased exponentially. Before it was just people being mugged on the street, vandalism, drug-circulation, gang activities, kidnapping, drive-by shootings. As far as we know these activities have pretty much stopped. They just don't happen any more. No-one's buying pot anymore, and no-body's killing people from sniper's nests. And when they DO happen, on very rare occasion, they have nothing to do with this Blue Lion." Instead, wealthy aristocrats, Tokyo's finest, are being robbed, sometimes of MILLIONS of dollars, in jewelry, technology, even cold hard cash. He and his operatives are breaking into safes, guarded by men, cameras, even lasers. But the guy manages to get in anyway, grab the stuff and disappear. And it's not even just from people's houses. He's finding codes to accounts only their owners know, and he's transferring money out of the bank. Jewels too, BANK safes. This guy's breaking into BANK safes, and those are watched by cameras and top guards. We don't know how he does it. These people have the best security money can buy. And another thing. A guard has never been hurt. Not a single one has even had a bump on his head, but they haven't seen anything either. A lot of the time they'll be asleep, which in itself is weird, because these guys are really experienced. We had them tested for sleeping drugs and they came up negative. We've ruled out inside jobs, because to pay off the amount of guards that would need paying off would cost more than even Rumiko Hayasaka could afford. There's just too many of them and they cost too much to pay 'em all off. The only thing we can think of is the air ducts, but we've had to rule that out too, sometimes the air ducts are too small to fit the people, or whatever it was they stole. We called your BOSS, not YOU, because we need help bringing him in." The chief leaned back in his chair, folding his arms, and looking smug.
The woman sat back in her chair puzzled and frowning.
"Tell me chief. What do all these "aristocrats" have in common? I'm sure you looked that up before you called my BOSS for help."
The chief, looking a little uncomfortable but trying to hide it, fidgeted as he answered:
"All of them are RUMORED to have made their money in slightly... UNORTHODOX ways, and/or of making rather large... contributions to certain people..."
At this the buxom redhead burst out laughing.
"So all we have here is a self-imposed vigilante who knows his stuff huh? Interesting."
"It's NOT funny!!" The infuriated chief yelled.
"You've forgotten who you're talking to." The woman said sharply, all traces of humor gone.
"Forgive me Miss Yamamoto." He said bowing his balding head.
"Ya, whatever" she replied, returning to her relaxed state of draping over her chair and swinging her legs.
"So what about the rape and stuff? What happened there?"
"Not much to tell. Suddenly the seedier parts of town cleaned up. The whores disappeared of the streets. Rape cases went down to 0. We think it's 'cause of the program we've been insti-"
"Bullshit. It's this guy and you know it." Yamamoto interrupted again and then watched the chief seethe in silent anger through half- lidded eyes. She smirked and went on
"What about the name?"
"Huh?" was the Chief's intelligent reply.
Miss Yamamoto sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Blue L-lion- not exactly something every mother would name her son," she stated
"Oh. um, we don't know why he's called that, he just is"
Miss Yamamoto raised one eye skeptically
"Do you even have pictures of this guy?" she asked condescendingly.
"No, but we DO have some tapes. Here" The chief pulled out one of the drawers on his wooden desk and pulled out a 4 tapes and then handed them to Ms. Yamamoto.
"Watch 'em at home." the Chief said, telling Ms. Yamamoto to get out, none too tactfully.
She snorted in a very un-lady like manner and replied:
" My pleasure. The stink of donuts and stale coffee is too strong. Later "chief"" and then walked out of the station leaving the chief wallowing in his fury and indignation.
Authors note: this is my first fanfic so feedback is really appreciated. Constructive criticism is welcomed, flames are not, so please don't send any. They're mean, pointless, and unhelpful. Please review.