Forcibly United

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Chapter 8

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"Note not there!" Shenhua cried, smiling broadly at the sight of Wong Fei Chin's door. Perhaps this day could still be salvaged, after all. The car screeched to a stop and the Taiwanese woman grinned in the mirror. "I drive fast enough for you, annoying boy?"

"...are you trying to kill us?" Ranma sputtered, gasping for breath now that the car had finally stopped.

"You say I drive too slow. So I drive fast, what problem?" The raven-maned woman asked.

"Ryouga, c'mon! Back me up, man!" Ranma sputtered, his gaze going to the empty seat on the passenger side. The pigtailed martial artist turned his gaze outside the car, noting Ryouga standing outside.

"Ranma, stop being a baby and get out the car," Ryouga muttered, looking at the building.

"Excuse me, Mr. Indestructible! Some of us might actually get hurt if the car crashes!" Ranma groaned, giving the woman in the driver's seat a dirty look before getting out. She followed, shutting her door.

"I go to coffee shop down road, you come get when finished, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, Shenhua walked off, swinging the keys around her index finger as she did.

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Wong Fei Chin chuckled as he got out of his car, reminiscing about the last time he'd seen the mushrooms. Certainly he hadn't expected to see them in Roanapur, and going to the auction had been well worth it to verify their presence. Plus, Chang had mentioned on the phone that he had a "couple of boys" dropping by.

Fei Chin snorted at that. They could wait or come back another time. They'd probably be a pain in the ass when they got back: If they were lucky, he'd just use some of that dust he'd acquired in Egypt to confuse their memories. If they weren't...

Ah well.

The older Chinese man tore the note from his door as he unlocked it, throwing the crumpled paper into the wastebasket as he moved to his counter. Perching on his worn stool, he opened the Roanapur Daily and started reading.

He'd just gotten to the sports section when he heard a car screech up outside. Setting the paper aside, he walked to the window and used two fingers to spread open the blinds, observing the people outside his shop.

He recognized Shenhua in the driver's seat, of course. The girl was always so polite when she came by, though he supposed that had as much to do with her terrible English as anything. It was hard to have a conversation with someone when you were limited to the vocabulary of a ten-year-old, and he doubted most of Chang's men had the brains to discuss anything of importance.

The two boys were new. One, clad in a yellow shirt and green pants, practically dove out of the car as soon as it came to a complete stop, affecting an air of nonchalance once he realized that the car's occupants hadn't taken notice of his rapid escape. The other boy in the red shirt was rather stupidly yelling at Shenhua, and the shop owner wondered if she was going to eviscerate him now, or if she'd wait 'til he got out so she wouldn't have to clean the interior.

Surprisingly she did neither, instead walking off. Fei Chin then remembered her wounds and nodded to himself. Once the girl was back up to her usual self, he was sure she'd teach the whelp a lesson or two. Both boys watched her for a moment before turning and approaching the door.

Fei Chin quickly strode back to the stool, sitting and flipping the paper open just as the door did.

"Special customers only, boys. I'm pretty sure Chang knows that already," the old Chinese man grunted, shifting his baggy white t-shirt a bit as he spoke. He looked up when neither boy made a move to leave and nearly choked as he saw the bracers on their arms. "Well, you don't see those every day."

"Yo, old man... You know what these things do?" The boy in red asked, shaking the encased forearm for emphasis.

"I know what they're supposed to do, but I gather they've been causing you problems if you've come to see me about them," Fei Chin mused, rubbing his chin and setting his newspaper aside. He pointed at the bracers. "You two boys aren't exactly friendly with one another, are you?"

"Friends with him? Don't make me laugh!" The yellow-clad boy snorted, crossing his arms. "This has been an eternity already."

"Like I like it any better, pork-for-brains," the other boy muttered, crossing his arms.

"Well, that's the problem. I gather whoever put those on you two didn't know what he or she had. They probably messed up the binding aspect," Fei Chin said, leaning back to rest his shoulders on the wall behind him. "What he didn't know was that the bracers were actually originally designed to be placed one per arm like you're wearing them."

"Wait, if that's the case, then why are they making us stay together like this!?" The pigtailed boy cried, again shaking his forearm. "I ain't been able to get a moment's peace to myself ever since these things got locked on our arms!"

"That's the problem. The Bracers of Jian are an ancient Chinese artifact, used by the royalty of times past for political marriages," the old man chuckled at the growing horror on their faces. "They were designed, in part, to force their wearers to overcome their differences by being in constant proximity to one another. The only way you boys can step away from one another is if you're in love."

"In love..." The boy in yellow began, visibly turning green.

"...with him!?" The other boy screeched, taking a step back.

He bumped into the water cooler, tipping an old cup of water down his back. Fei Chin smirked to himself a bit as he noted the Jusenkyou transformation.

"I don't see the problem. You're a girl now anyway, right? Why don't you two get hitched?" The man asked reasonably, enjoying the way the redheaded girl's face went purple.

"I'm a guy, damn it!" She protested.

"Yeah Ranma, because you look so much like one at the moment," her friend chuckled.

"Can it, Ryouga!" Ranma snapped, turning viciously on the other boy.

"Easy, easy... There's another way to break the enchantment binding you two so tightly," Fei Chin informed them waving his hands to calm them down. "In fact, it'd take me five minutes."

"Really?" Ranma asked, starting forward with her friend.

"Ahem," the older man coughed, holding out his hand. "That'll be one million."

"What, yen?" Ryouga blanched, his face going pale.

"American," Fei Chin chuckled nastily. The redhead groaned and palmed her forehead. "Sorry boys, that's pretty much non-negotiable: If it was a simple matter to solve your problem I wouldn't even charge you, but you have to realize that I'm going to have to use a lot of rare and expensive ingredients just to form the basic magic."

"One million dollars?" The pigtailed girl whimpered, her hand dropping. "I don't think I could scam even Kuno into paying that much..."

"Ranma, I've got maybe a thousand dollars. Maybe," Ryouga said, turning to the other individual. He grabbed her shoulders. "You've got the rest of it, right? I saw your mom's house, it's pretty nice! She can spare the cash, right!?"

"Not even if she sold her place," Ranma moaned slapping the hands away. "I've got maybe half of what you've got, pork-butt. No way we can afford this. Not for years."

"If I may interrupt?" Fei Chin asked with a cough, getting their attention. "The price isn't negotiable, but I'm sure I could find work for you boys which should pay pretty well. I've got a list of the ingredients in the back, and it just so happens that I'd be willing to pay top dollar for some of them because they're such a pain in the ass to retrieve.

"Likewise Mr. Chang's could probably use a hand or two with some of his bigger problems around this city, and I'm sure he'd have no more problem letting you do freelance work than he does letting that lovely girl who drove you here do it, as long as it doesn't go against his interests," the old Chinese shopowner pointed out reasonably. He spread his arms. "Why, a couple of enterprising young fellows like yourselves could probably earn that much in as little as six months in a place like this!"

"Six months with him?" Ranma squeaked, pointing her finger at the other boy. He smacked her on top of the head.

"Old man, you seem to know a lot about these things. Is there a way you could maybe negate the effect of them? Even just for a little while?" Ryouga wondered, absently grinding his fist into the irritated redhead's skull.

"Now that, my boys, is a decidedly more simple proposition. Won't work for more than an hour, but I can let you boys wander as far from one another as you like. Just mind that you're close to one another when that hour runs out, is all," Fei Chin chuckled. He got up off his stool. "In fact why don't I go whip up a small batch of the stuff, on the house? Can't have you gathering all that cash and doing all that work without a guarantee of some sort, can I?"

"Thanks, old man!" Ranma enthused, slapping Ryouga's fist off her head.

"You two just wait here. It should go without saying that most of these knick-knacks in here can cause quite the problem if you mess around, so keep your hands to yourselves and I'll be right back."

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Balalaika smiled, reveling in a sight which had been lost to her. In the mirror, her seventeen or eighteen year old face smiled back at her. With the increase in her age came the small increase in her body mass to fill out her skirt and blouse once more, and the large increase in height which gave her a far more gratifying vision: Having to look down to meet the devious little Japanese bastard instead of having to look up. It helped to restore her equilibrium after how thoroughly he'd played her.

"Well Balalaika, I'd say I earned that fee. Wouldn't you agree?" The boy- no, young man asked with a calm smile.

"Indeed you have. Though it seems to me that it would be a shame for the Lagoon Company to merely break even after today's adventure. Certainly with Benny restored and your mind so occupied with petty tricks, you could probably stand to take on a little extra business, am I correct?" The Russian woman wondered.

"Dutch?" Rock prompted, breaking the older man's tension as he watched the pair.

"We do have a job tomorrow, Balalaika, but I think we're free to take on any work you might have for us for a week afterwards," Dutch explained calmly, prompting the woman to nod once.

"Perfect. I need some time to finalize my arrangements anyway," She turned towards the door. "Sergeant, we're leaving."

Boris spun and followed, moving ahead of Balalaika as she stopped at the doorway.

"Oh, one more thing. This job, it's a little bigger than I think even your people could handle. Revy, you wouldn't mind if I hired a couple of extra contractors to help, would you? Perhaps Eda and another?" The blond asked, smiling.

"Sure, Sis!" Revy said, smiling. Like she'd do anything else for me, Balalaika mused.

"Perfect. I'll have the cargo and the extra people at your dock at 9 a.m. sharp the day after tomorrow," she informed the four, waving once. "Take care."

Originally she'd intended to handle the matter internally, but this was an opportunity. The job really did call for more men than the Lagoon Company had. Adding a couple of extra contractors wasn't anything out of the ordinary, really.

She had no intention of hiring Eda or any other member of Roanapur's underworld. No, she thought, Rock having to deal with her little sister's temper when she hired those two boys of Chang's would be quite the suitable punishment for his transgression today.

Well, it would do for a start.

The boy had crossed a line not meant to be crossed. And so soon after doing it twice in Tokyo. It was intriguing the way he saw the line, then purposefully stepped across. That took the sort of steel in one's spine she'd rarely seen.

"I wonder just how firm you can be," the woman mused, glancing up at the second storey window before getting into the back of the limo. Rock looked down on her, his face only mildly curious.

That poor boy had no idea what he was in for.

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Author's Notes:

I picked Wong Fei Chin's perspective for the first meeting because it made a lot of exposition easier. I r layzee awthur. Also, I know I said I was starting the new arc here. Technically I did, because the boys now know just how much money they need to free themselves.

Because that bit about Ryouga and Ranma having to fall in love with one another? Pure joke material. Nothing more. Not gonna happen. That is not how the story is going to be resolved.

Also, Balalaika's decision to hire to "add to" Lagoon Company's muscle for her next job was the first step in her revenge. I mean, she's seen the fight between Ranma and Revy and she's got good reason to want to get back at Rock in a way that's not obvious. Him having to deal with them fits the bill nicely.

Edit: That was wierd. I wonder why fanfiction(.)net decided to left-align my entire chapter?
Edit 2: Hmmm... Keeps doing it. Yet another arbitrary formatting change for fanfiction(.)net?