Chapter Twenty-Three
Soun Tendo was unconscious, struck over the head by one of Shampoo's bonbari, and he was dreaming.
He recounted escaping Ryoga as Ryoga tried to kidnap him and Nabiki.
Ryoga couldn't handle the both of them, and Nabiki struggled enough that Ryoga needed all his focus and both hands to deal with her. So Soun was freed so Ryoga could deal with her hostility.
"Run, Daddy, run!" Nabiki said. "Save yourself!"
She pulled, trying to free herself from Ryoga's vice-like grip.
"No, sweetheart! Daddy will save you!"
"Stop struggling, you..." Ryoga started, and then slapped Nabiki across the face with the back of his hand, knocking her out. He draped her over a shoulder, her body limp.
"You bastard!" It was the first time Soun Tendo ever remembered hearing himself swear. And he attacked the young martial artist.
But even with the extra weight, Ryoga still managed to avoid Soun's strikes. Ryoga was much faster than Soun ever imagined.
"Stop playing around with him!" a voice came from a rooftop nearby. Copycat Ken stood poised steady on the arch of a clay shingled rooftop. "You've got what the master needs. Let's go!"
Ryoga glanced at Ken, then back at Soun. Ryoga tilted his head slightly and snorted. He smiled sinister and then leapt to the rooftop next to Ken.
"No! Give back me my little girl!" Soun Tendo cried. "Please! I beg you!"
"Nabiki Tendo is necessary to our master's plan," Ken said. "We attempted to get one other..." He looked at Ryoga. Ryoga looked away as if guilty or embarrassed. "But the sister of Takewaki Kuno, one of Ranma Saotome's greatest so-called rivals, was apparently too much for my colleague here to handle. So we had to silence her."
"Silence her?" Soun said. "You didn't..."
"No, we didn't kill her," Ken replied, swiping a hand through the air. "She just won't be waking up anytime soon! Our master has made sure of that! So, go back to your family, and tell them what has occurred. But heed my master's warning. He will have his revenge!"
And with that, the two rouges vanished, jumping off the roof and onto another, using the neighbourhood, each house, as stepping stones to escape.
Soun Tendo dropped to his knees and cried. And as he made his way home, to his now destroyed dojo, he thought how he was going to tell his family what had happened.
How could he let this happen? He was Nabiki's father. He was suppose to protect her. But he let her down. How would she ever forgive him?
Kasumi was waiting at front door, and Soun was shocked to now see Ranma, Akane, Genma and Cologne there as well.
It was here the whole story of Xi'an was told by Cologne. Shampoo and Ukyo had also been kidnapped.
And as he listened, he couldn't believe his ears. Everything that had been occurring: the new dojo opening up, recent hostile encounters by friends, the kidnappings, and the attacks, were all apart of one man's revenge. Oro Hiroshi, a man who had a rival martial arts dojo in the neighbourhood.
And this was all happening for what happened between Ranma and Hiroshi's ancestors a thousand years ago at Jusenkyo.
When the battle began at the destroyed dojo later, he recalled, Soun agreed to fight with Ranma and the others. But he hadn't been much help.
He could feel himself regaining consciousness, hearing voices now, but his head hurt. He and Genma had been fighting Shampoo; that was the last thing he remembered.
Soun opened his eyes to see his friend Genma laying unconscious on the ground next to him. "Saotome! Are you alright?"
Genma groaned and held up a wooden sign. It said: "Feed me!"
"You and your stomach, Saotome! Is food all you think about?"
"Father!" Kasumi came running over to him, holding a frying pan in her hand. "Are you alright? I've been watching the fighting from a distance."
"We're alright for the time being," Soun said. "But Saotome is hungry."
Another sign popped up. "Can't fight on an empty stomach!"
"Come inside, quickly!" Kasumi urged. "Let the other's do the fighting."
"But what about Nabiki? And Akane? We need to help them!"
Kasumi gave a look to Ranma at a distance, who smiled seeing Soun Tendo and his father awake. He nodded at Kasumi.
The fighting had left the surrounding area enclosure fences destroyed from many houses. So the battlefield was now very large.
Ranma then shouted with hands around his mouth: "Inside, take them inside!"
Kasumi herded Soun and Genmi inside the house. Soun didn't want to go, and struggled. But Kasumi was much stronger than she looked.
"You save my little girls, Ranma!" Soun shouted as he was carted inside.
And as he was dragged, another thought popped inside his mind. Where was Happosai in all this? Where was his master when he was needed the most?
Ryoga stood two meters away from Mousse as the self-proclaimed master of hidden weapons stood up straight.
Ryoga had overcome the demon that had possessed him in service to Xi'an, but Mousse was still under control of the demon that possessed him…
Mousse had his hands within his ceremonial coat and Ryoga wondered if Mousse was about to pull something out and try to attack him with it.
Instead, one of Mousse's hands reached out and adjusted his glasses on his face, perhaps in attempt at distraction, Ryoga thought.
But Ryoga would not be fooled. He pulled off three bandannas and started to swing them in his hand, ready to throw. With enough velocity, he could use his bandannas as boomerangs that"d slice threw the air like Shuriken (throwing ninja stars).
Mousse pulled out a large Sigh with a metal chain attached.
Ryoga knew this weapon well. It was used in ancient Japan as a long range weapon that depending on the size of the chain could reach three times the length of its user's arm. All Mousse had to do was throw it, and with skill, it could slice through bone.
Ryoga took three steps back. His bandannas were no match for that weapon, but if he could throw them in such a way as to weave through Mousse's defenses, then he'd disarm Mousse.
"You can't win," Mousse declared. "I have an unlimited array of weapons at my fingertips."
"Weapons are useless without the skill to wield them," Ryoga said back. "And you, demon, as no match for me!"
"I beg to differ," Mousse said.
"Then let's fight!"
Akane Tendo knew none of this was her sister Nabiki's fault. She just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for Xi'an to get his hands on her and possess her with a demonic being from beyond the grave - kidnapped by Ryoga when he was under Xi'an influence.
But if there was one thing she knew, Akane knew her sister...and her weakness. Thus the demon's weakness. Because above all, no one can deny what's inherit to them. Or at least she hoped that's how it worked?
If she could trick Nabiki some how...
"Nabiki, let's make a bet," Akane said.
Nabiki's brow folded in suspicion. "A bet? What do you mean? On what?"
"Anything, your choice," Akane casually said.
"Why?"
"My sister loves to gamble," Akane began. "She'd bet on anything to make a Yen."
"And why would that interest me? I'm not your sister. I follow Master Xi'an, and I've been resurrected to bring you back to him."
What would Xi'an want with her, Akane wondered. Wasn't he after Ranma and his father? "That's too bad, my sister loves a good bet."
"I told you I'm not your sister. But, what kind of bet did you have in mind?"
That's it, Akane had hooked the demon. She knew Nabiki's consciousness was still in her body somewhere…perhaps coaxing the demon to wager?
"Like I said anything, your choice," Akane said. "But you must also wager something."
"Like what?"
"That depends on the bet. But the value of the bet must value what you wager to me. If I can win the bet, you must give me what we agree upon."
"And the bet can be anything?"
"Yes," Akane fully agreed. "First, let's make the stakes."
"Very well." Nabiki looked around as if summing up what she would want Akane to do and then equaling the stakes to a win/lose scenario. Nabiki smiled and turned back. "If you can't follow through on the bet, you'll come with me to Master Xi'an freely and without struggle."
Akane nodded. "And if I win, you leave my sister's body never to return. Understand?"
Nabiki's pursed her lips and her eyes narrowed thoughtfully, but after a few moments of thinking, she smiled confidently and said, "Agreed. So what is the bet?"
"Your choose," Akane said. "It can be anything from poker, martial artists, and kind of game."
Nabiki smiled. "Anything, and you have to do or you'll lose?" Akane nodded. "Alright. I want you to kiss Ranma on the lips for three seconds. A full, blown kiss. It has to be a passionate kiss. Like a lover's kiss. You two are engaged, so it should be easy."
Akane gasped, looked at Ranma. "But..."
"Surely you've kissed before?"
"Well, only once...at a school pageant, but it didn't turn out like I hoped. It was a play of Romeo and Juilet."
"What about the kiss at the end when the prince kisses his beloved?"
"I secretly slipped duct tape over Ranma's mouth during the scene."
"So you've never actually kissed Ranma before?" Nabiki smiled as Akane shook her head no. "Good, then this bet is already won. I know of your dislike of Ranma and your prearranged engagement. You should never have tried to trick me. If you can't kiss Ranma like I said, you are mine freely. Choose, Akane Tendo. Or face eternal damnation!"
No, this couldn't be happening! Akane thought. She thought tricking Nabiki into a bet would free her sister from the demon possessing her. She had a plan. But it had been turned against her.
Kiss Ranma or go back with Nabiki to Xi'an? Why was it so hard? The decision should be easy. Ranma was her fiancée and they were at the age where kissing was commonplace with couples. And even so, she found it odd that they hadn't kissed yet, even after so much time together.
Ranma was obnoxious, arrogant, overbearing and just plain insensitive most of the time, which made kissing him, even liking him - well, it made Akane sick to her stomach to even think about kissing him intimately.
She didn't want to be around him. Their parents made the engagement. And now, she'd have to do the one thing she dreaded.
But would it be so bad? Could she really kiss someone she disliked for three seconds passionately just to save her sister?
She didn't know what to do.
"You have three minutes or the bet's off," Nabiki said. "And use this…" Nabiki handed Akane a small cylinder tube.
"Wait! We didn't agree on a time limit. Why three minutes? And what's this? Lipstick?"
"I don't have all day," Nabiki said bluntly. "You agreed to the bet. You either kiss Ranma or forfeit. And yes, apply some that ruby lipstick to your lips and kiss Ranma."
Akane thought Nabiki giving her lipstick was odd, but she agreed, and applied the lipstick to her lips with the roll-up applicator and smoothed it, pursing her lips.
"Your time starts now," Nabiki said. "Three minutes, no more. Tick tock!"
To be continued…