Chapter 2: The Amazons and the Tendos
The Sergeant took his new man to three dojos. None of them were open yet since it was so early on Sunday, but the Sensei was always pleasant to the officers and reviewed the status of his students as was listed in the Book. The Sensei usually promised to give a nudge to any student who owed someone time or money. In one case, the Sensei promised to "motivate the student strongly" to pay back what he owed. In a few cases, the Sensei said the debt had been paid and urged the Sergeant to talk to the debtor for confirmation. Imia promised he would.
After the third dojo, Imia sighed. "No one had news of the fight last night. I guess we better go talk to the Ghoul. Her restaurant is five blocks that away." Ueda just nodded, but asked no questions. Soon the officers found themselves outside of a Chinese restaurant named the Cat Café. Imia banged on the door.
A young Chinese man opened the door and peered at them through thick coke-bottle glasses. "Sergeant Imia? What brings you around so early on Sunday?" the teenager asked.
"Hello Mousse. This does," he said holding up the Book.
Mousse seemed to study the Book for a moment before realizing what it was. "Oh. Well please come in, but none of us have broken anything lately. My last fight was with Saotome. The only thing that got damaged was my ego."
"When was that?" the Sergeant asked.
"Let's see. I sparred with Konatsu on Tuesday, so I fought Ranma on Wednesday. He said the ambush was much better than usual, but I need to work more on my stealth."
"Are you sure it wasn't yesterday? There's a wall missing at the library," Imia pressed.
"No, I ambushed Ranma over on Central Street. That's a good ten blocks away. And it was definitely on Wednesday," Mousse insisted. "Besides, if you want to know if Ranma did it, just ask him. He usually just owns up to things anyway. That and he's a lousy liar, so he really doesn't bother trying to lie. He's also trying to work on this responsibility thing, so if he did do it, he would have reported the damage already."
"Responsibility thing?" the Sergeant asked amused.
"He's words, not mine," Mousse answered. "He wants to show Akane that he's dependable."
"Is this the couple the big guy mentioned? Himself and the Little Missy?" Ueda asked.
Something cackled off to their left. Ueda turned to see the oldest and ugliest woman he had ever seen. He immediately forced his mouth shut before he could ask a stupid question. Obviously, this was the Ghoul Imia referred to. Imia turned and bowed to the old woman. "Good morning, Ms. Cologne," Imia greeted her.
"I see you have been talking to the Dojo Destroyer. While a few people around town refer to Ranma as 'Himself' – which only amuses the lad – only the Dojo Destroyer refers to Akane as 'the Little Missy'," Cologne commented.
"He's one of the few who can and live," Mousse added with a touch of dry humor in his voice.
Cologne cackled again and then asked, "So what does Nerima's Finest want at the Cat Café?"
"Two orders of Breakfast Noodles to go, and any information on the fight last night that trashed one of Yamamoto's work sites," Sarge answered.
"The orders you can have. As far as the info – what's in it for me?" she asked brazenly.
"You'd be doing you civic duty to the people of Nerima," the Sergeant said.
"The people of Nerima have turned their back on me already," she answered in a sly tone. (1)
"That's because you turned your back on them first – if you want to get back into their good graces, you're going to have to make the first gesture," Imia shot back.
"I'm leaving here as soon as I can convince my Granddaughter there's nothing here for her." Cologne sighed then. "Still, it's easy to gather enemies. Friends are a lot harder. You will spread the info around? Especially where you got it?" she asked. At the Sergeant's nod, she continued: "Fine. The fight was between the Takaki and Tanguchi dojos. If you send some men around to the members, I'm sure you'll still find the remains of the paneling, wooden beams, and that red cement Yamamoto so fond of in their clothes. I'm not sure why they acted like such jerks (I'm being polite here), but you do need to nip the bud off before this nonsense blooms any further. By the way, me and mine had nothing to do with the attack on Kasumi Tendo. An enemy of mine did. I'm trying to make sure that no one in Nerima suffers because of me again." (2)
"You may want to tell Kasumi and Tofu that, you know," the Sergeant threw out.
The old woman sighed again at that. "Maybe," she said. Then she straightened up and looked at her employee. "All right, Part-Timer. Go get these men their food," she ordered.
Mousse bowed and said: "Yes, Elder."
"Anything else?" Cologne asked.
"No. Shampoo finished her community service in Akasaka two days ago. Mousse is up to date. You haven't done anything in months. The matter of the Tendo Dojo and the Saotome house is still winding its way through the courts." The Elder just shrugged her shoulders at that.
A short time later the officers were walking through the town again, eating noodles out of some take out containers. "This isn't bad," Ueda commented.
"Nope," Imia responded. "Consider it your 'Welcome to Nerima' meal." The Sergeant paused thoughtfully then. "I think it's time you met Himself and his family. We need to find out about the library wall anyway."
"Why do you call him that? He's just a kid, isn't he?" Ueda asked.
"Yes and no. He's eighteen. In some ways, he's very immature. In others, he's way too old. The title is a description, not a sign of respect – and he knows it. When you meet with him, keep in mind that he's actually one of the top thirty martial artists in the entire country, and one of the top twenty martial artists in the city – he may be in the top ten. Let's go to the Tendo Dojo," Imia said. With that, he led the way through the maze of streets.
In short order, the two ended up before the Tendo dojo gates. They walked in and approached the house. The Sergeant stopped before the door and spoke to his subordinate. "Now, for the most part, the Tendos and Saotomes are polite people, but you need to expect a little weirdness. The most important thing is to keep a straight face at all times."
Ueda's eyebrows rose. "Oh? What should I expect?"
Suddenly, the front door swung inwards and a young woman with short brown hair and sharp eyes wearing shorts and a stylish T-shirt popped out. She snatched the Book from Imia's hands. "Things like this," she said. Then, she popped back in and slammed the door. The two men heard the door lock turn.
"NABIKI!" Imia shouted, his face turning red. He banged on the door for a full half a minute.
Ueda thought to himself: "So much for keeping a straight face."
Imia regained his composure and turned to the Ueda. "C'mon, let's get around to the backyard," he said. "The door's usually unlocked during daylight hours. If nothing else, we can find some allies." He walked off quickly.
The two men walked around the house and stopped. In the backyard, they found the girl sitting down at a large round patio table near the back fence with three other people in a half circle facing the house. They were obviously eating a late breakfast. The girl Nabiki sat on one end of the half-circle looking through the Book. "So tell me Brother-In-Law," she said to a tall man with brown hair tied back in a ponytail. "What did you do that required you to replace the town flag pole ten years ago?"
"Oh my," said the eldest of the three pretty women with a sparkle in her eye. The woman looked to be in her early twenties and was dressed in a modest skirt and blouse. When Ueda saw her, he immediately classified her as a Madonna/Matriarch type despite her young age. This was a woman a man immediately thought of bringing home to mother. "I think my dear Fiancé owes me a story," she teased.
The man shrugged his shoulders. "There's not much to tell," he said. "I was a bit of a hothead then."
Nabiki then addressed the youngest of the three. "My, my, Akane. Your Fiancé's entries go on for several pages." She tisked-tisked for a moment. "You know, Akane. He must love you. Some of these items I know you had a hand in – or rather a foot. And it usually connected to him." Meanwhile, Imia started walking to the table with Ueda behind him.
Akane adopted an innocent pose, "Why Nabiki, how could you accuse your sister of such a thing?" Ueda looked at the pretty girl with the blue-black hair dressed in a set of shorts and a frilly short-sleeved yellow blouse. This girl would cause her school mates to immediately think of a soda shop and sharing a drink with two straws.
"Won't work, sis," Nabiki said with a smirk flipping a few pages. "Your own entries go on for two pages." She turned another page. "Oh my, dear sister," she said to the eldest. "You have a page in here – and it looks brand new."
"And that's the way it will *stay*, dear sister," the eldest said firmly.
Suddenly, the sharp-eyed girl sat up. "Hey!" she exclaimed. Before she could say another word, Imia snatched the Book back.
Imia tapped her on the head with the book. "Five months!" he scolded her. "You only have five months until you turn twenty, young lady, and there will be much celebrating at the precinct."
Nabiki ignored the threat. Instead she said loudly with surprise: "I have a page in there! What the hell?"
"Nabiki, please watch your language," scolded the eldest calmly.
"Of course, you have a page in here," Imia said, please that the young woman was a little rattled. "You've been hanging around martial artist since you were in the womb. The ability is in your genes, and we know that any hi-jinks that come out of this dojo have been exacerbated because of you. You are not fooling any of us."
"All right," the man said to the girl and Sergeant. He said it quietly, but the words seemed to carry a lot of weight. "It's too early in the day for this; you two can play later."
Nabiki stuck her tongue out at the Sergeant, who gave a short laugh in response. The sharp-eyed girl looked at Ueda and said: "Who's the new officer, Imia?"
"Officer Ueda," the Sergeant started. "These three ladies are Kasumi Tendo, Akane Tendo, and Nabiki Tendo," he said indicating each young woman in turn. "Their Father works for the town in the Department of Public Works and is also a newly elected Council member. The gentleman is Doctor Tofu Ono. He is Miss Kasumi's fiancé and one of the more noted doctors in town – if he can't fix what's wrong with you, it's because you are already dead."
"The Sergeant is too kind with his praise," Tofu murmured.
"Folks," the Sergeant continued. "This is Officer Ueda. He just transferred to Nerima from Minato."
"Welcome to Nerima, Officer Ueda," Kasumi said warmly. "Can I interest either of you in some breakfast?"
Ueda spoke up: "Thank you kindly ma'am, but…"
"Of course, we accept," the Sergeant said.
"Good," Kasumi said as the officers sat down. "Let me go get a fresh pot of coffee." She was up and gone before Tofu could offer to go instead.
Nabiki laughed as the Doc shrugged. Then she leaned over conspiratorially to Officer Ueda and said: "One rule all of Nerima's Finest know – never refuse Kasumi Tendo's cooking." Sergeant Imia leaned over and tapped Nabiki on the head with the Book again. Nabiki just stuck her tongue out at the man again and reached over to give his hand a familiar squeeze.
Akane spoke up. "So, what brings you to Nerima, Officer Ueda?" she asked pleasantly.
Ueda smiled at the charming young lady. He had a tough time believing this girl stood toe-to-toe with the Dojo Destroyer. "I felt very confined by the politics associated with my last position. I needed a change," he answered diplomatically.
"I'm afraid you cannot escape politics in Nerima either," Nabiki told him. "But maybe you'll feel more comfortable in Nerima." The Sergeant gave her a warning glance, but she pressed on. "What most of the politicians don't seem to understand is that the game is fixed." Doctor Tofu looked at her curiously. Nabiki went on: "Toshio Kuno has set the rules so that he has a free hand. He uses his ninjas, who supposedly help patrol the town free of charge, as an excuse to limit the number of police in Nerima. He funds the Mayor's and the Councilors' pet projects to keep them happy and sufficiently docile. He also pumps enough money into the Treasury to keep the Ward's taxes low and the people satisfied. The only real problem is that the ninjas are not enough to control the crime in the town or the martial artists."
"But any martial artists I have met this morning seem to be very respectful to the Sergeant. Are they really a problem?" Ueda asked.
Nabiki glanced at the Sergeant, who shrugged his shoulders. "You started it, young lady. You finish it."
"The martial artists of Nerima are like any other group of people – some good, some bad. One thing that they all like to do is eat – and some of them eat quite a bit," Nabiki said rolling her eyes. Akane gave a snort of laughter. "Since most of them are not farmers, they have to get the food from their neighbors – which is tough to do if that particular fighter has ticked off his neighbors. Many of the martial artists subscribe to Bushido to some extent. This means that they believe that they have a duty to protect society and they have some measure of obedience to the Emperor and his agents – i.e. the police force and other civil servants. Ranma would rather cut off his hand than strike a police officer."
She went on: "Others are like the Amazons. While they feel they are superior to the police, they give a certain grudging respect to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect their neighbors regardless of their training, so they will not cross the police force – or support anyone else who does."
"The group that doesn't respect the police is kept in line by the first thing I mentioned – it's tough to get food out of people who don't like you. Also, no matter what they would like to believe, none of the fighters are invincible. Number 1 can be taken out by Numbers 2 and 3 joining forces – or by however many martial artists it takes."
"Are you saying the martial artists are self-policing?" Ueda asked.
Nabiki nodded. "To some degree, yes. Since the local police are short staffed and not allowed to correct it, the martial artist pick up bonus points by helping guard their neighbors and working with the police as requested – this includes capturing other martial artist that the *police* feel are sitting on the wrong side of the law. Also, since the martial artists are not beholden to Toshio Kuno, this helps limit Kuno's power which the police love and gets the martial artists some forgiveness points."
"This is true," Imia agreed.
"But we also come back to having to work with your neighbors – if your neighbors are subject to the powers-that-be, so you must be too. The civilians demand that the martial artists have some visible accountability despite their wild ways and their usefulness. Also, the police would rather the limited court system not be tied up with small claims. Hence, the Book was created." Nabiki pointed at the Book as she continued: "If a civilian has a grievance with a martial artist, this allows folks to get restitution without filing formal charges in the case of simple property damage – which is usually the situation. The police maintain the Book and are the first line arbiters. If either the civilian or the martial artist feel the ruling is unfair, then they can go to the court system, but both sides will be reluctant to do this. The martial artist may be incarcerated, and the civilian might be waiting a long time for restitution."
At this point, Kasumi made her reappearance with food and coffee. Once she had served everyone, and sat down, Ueda spoke up: "Sounds like the martial artists are given unwarranted privileges. Many police officers have martial arts training. What's so special about the Nerima martial artists?"
The other five people at the table looked at each other. Then Kasumi cleared her throat. "Akane? I think Ranma has slept in long enough. Would you please go wake him?"
Footnote:
(1) See Chapter 2 of "Brothers" if your curious why the town turned it's back on the Amazons.
(2) The battle between Kasumi and Henna happened in Chapters 1 and 2 of "Kasumi's Fate".
A/N: Do I really have to tell you the name of the final chapter?
