Let's see... Ranma 1/2 doesn't belong to me. It belongs to someone
else. Not me.
There, that's pretty simple for a disclaimer.
" " is when someone is talking in Japanese
"[ ]" is when someone is talking in Chinese
/ / is when someone is thinking
* * are sound effects
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wolf In The Snow
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
Written by Nathan Huss
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Several weeks ago...
Grandfather Bear slowly stirred the contents of his pot, tasting the
stew every now and then.
"[Hmm... still needs somethin'.]" He walked over to an open crate
and looked in.
*Thunk!*
Bear cautiously looked up. A dagger had landed barely an inch from
his hand, and was now stuck in one of the planks of the crate.
"Just a warning. I have very good aim and many more knives."
The old martial artist turned to face the entrance of his cave. A
figure stepped out of the shadows.
"You, huh?" Bear said. "I was expectin' one of you a while ago. What
took ya?"
"You did fairly well in keeping where you were a secret. My only clue
was a rumor of a large bear in these mountains."
"It keeps unwanted guests away, usually." Bear nodded, and pulled out
the knife. "Nice balance." He tossed it back to the figure. "I don't
suppose ya can juggle 'em?"
"Enough of this!" The figure pulled out a metal disk from a hidden
pocket. On it was an engraving of a roaring fire. "You know why I have come.
Do you accept my challenge, or will you just hand it over?"
"Bwa-ha-ha!" laughed Bear.
"What?" the stranger asked, startled. His voice turned cold. "You
have no choice in this. As the master and possessor of-"
"I might be the master, sonny, but yer too late. I already gave the
damn thing to my student. He's long gone, too."
The figure slowly nodded, and put away the disk. "Is he sufficiently
trained?"
"He did fairly well. Yeah, I'd say he is."
"What is his name, and where did he go?"
"The kid is Kage Tsuyosa. Last he told me he was headin' north."
"Very well." The figure turned to leave.
"Say, how's old 'One-eye' doin'?" Bear asked.
The stranger stiffened. "He wishes to see you dead."
"Ha! Don't blame 'im. Now get lost, boy."
About an hour later, Grandfather Bear put down his empty bowl. "[Only
twelve servings. I must be getting' old.]"
Just then, he heard a noise from the mouth of the cave.
/Shit! He can't be back this soon!/ he thought. He dived behind a
large crate and readied himself.
"[H-hello? Is... is anyone here?]" came a voice. "[I'm delivering
a letter.]"
Bear blinked, and peered around the crate. Standing nervously by
the entrance was a man from the nearby village, clothed in many furs.
/Whew!/ Bear stepped out from behind the crate. "[Eh? What'd ya say?]"
The man let out a sigh of relief. "[Hello, Grandfather. A letter
arrived at the village, addressed to you.]"
"[A letter, huh? Who's it from?]"
"[I don't know. It just has your name on it. None of us opened it.]"
Bear nodded. "[Well, give it here, then. And stop lookin' like somethin'
is gonna jump out at you. It's buggin' me.]"
"[Very sorry, sir.]" The man handed Bear the letter. "[It's just...
well, we've all heard how there is a vicious bear in the area chasing
some people who were traveling up here. I had thought that it might
have... gotten you and made your cave it's lair.]"
Bear smiled inwardly. "[Nah, I can take care of myself. The big
bastard has a cave of his own a couple miles away. 'Sides, he's usually
out huntin' 'round this time of day.]"
"[Oh... er... is that so? Well, I hope the letter brings good news.
Goodbye, Grandfather.]" The man hurried out of the cave.
Grandfather Bear chuckled. "[Someday I've gotta stop doin' that.
It might bring out some hunters. Now then, the letter.]"
He examined the letter for a moment, and then opened it up.
"'Dear Sensei... doing well... amazon village... challenge...' Bwa-ha-ha!
He met _them_? Oh, that's rich! '... Perfume... learned Hiryu Shoten Ha.'"
Bear blinked. "Whoo... that boy's damned lucky. 'Found out where Ranma...
will be going to Nerima, Japan. Will write again... your student, Kage
Tsuyosa.'"
Bear sat down. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. He continued for
several minutes, until he managed to get himself under control. "[If *snicker*
that brat had been just an hour late, I would have actually known where Kage
was goin'!]" he cackled. "[Then again, I wouldn't have told him the truth
anyhow!]"
He crumpled up the letter, and threw it into the fire. Stretching, he
got up and walked over to a bucket of melted snow. "[Well, out to spread
the rumor of the 'monster bear.' He should be about halfway to the village
about now.]" He poured the water over himself.
After shaking the excess water out of his fur, he lumbered out of
the cave. /Yep, really have to stop doin' this... some other time./
^^^^^^^^^^
Back in the present...
"Ranma? Where are you, boy?"
Akane woke up, hearing Genma's yelling. Groggily, she got out of bed
and put on her slippers.
"Damn it, boy, are you skipping out on morning training?"
Akane opened her door and walked into the hallway. "What's the matter,
Mr. Saotome?"
Genma frowned. "That son of mine is nowhere to be found. When I woke
up for our sparring session, he was gone from the room."
"Have you tried downstairs?"
"Of course I did! Hmm... he didn't sneak into your room, did he?"
Genma asked hopefully.
"NO!"
"Dang!" Genma said, snapping his fingers.
"Baka," said Akane, and she headed downstairs. She went out onto
the porch and stretched in the morning sunlight.
"Good morning, Akane," Kasumi said, entering the room behind her.
"Morning, Kasumi."
"Breakfast will be ready soon, so could you go tell Ranma?"
Akane shook her head. "He's missing. Mr. Saotome is looking for him."
Kasumi smiled. "He's just in the training hall. I saw him go in
there earlier."
/Why would he go in there this early?/ Akane wondered. She jogged
over and peeked into the dojo.
Ranma was in the center of the hall, going through what looked like
a kata. He was methodically moving around the hall, punching and kicking at
the air, and blocking imagined attacks. At one point he purposely fell,
and then rolled to the side. All the while, he was mumbling to himself.
As she watched, Akane realized that he was going over the fight from
the day before. She tiptoed inside quietly.
Once inside, Akane noticed that Ranma had his eyes closed, replaying
the whole thing from memory. When he reached the end, where he had been
kicked through the wall, he opened his eyes and cursed.
"What went wrong?" he asked himself. "It shouldn't have gone like that."
"Boo!"
"Gyaah!" Ranma screamed. He heard Akane giggling, and turned around.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Because you were acting so serious," Akane replied. "Lighten up. So
you lost a fight, it's happened before. I bet in a week you'll be challenging
Kage for a rematch."
"That's not what's bothering me. Kage is strong, yeah, but he _is_
slower than me, and even Ryoga. I hit him at least four times as often as
he hit me."
"So? He trained at Shampoo's village. Maybe he learned the Breaking
Point like Ryoga did."
"No," Ranma said firmly. "I could tell. He was feeling it when I
attacked. With Ryoga you have to hit him hard enough just to get him to
notice it. Kage was trying to ignore his wounds."
"Wow," Akane said. "It would have to catch up to him sometime, though."
"Yeah, but as long as it's after a fight, it doesn't really matter.
But that ain't what's bothering me."
Akane shrugged. "Then what is?"
"You saw it, he _caught_ the Chestnut Fist! No one can match it's
speed, 'cept probably Cologne and the old freak. Kage did, though!"
Akane sighed. "Maybe he was holding back his speed. Maybe he just
got lucky. You don't have to kill yourself thinking about it."
"You're not the one who's gonna have it shoved in your face by pop for
the next month," Ranma muttered.
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."
"You don't know the old man."
"Look, just forget about it for now," Akane said. "If anything, it
can wait until after breakfast. Kasumi's probably done preparing it by now.
Unless you want your father and Happosai to steal it..."
"Like I'd let 'em! They'd better not have eaten it all!" He hurried
toward the door. Right before he reached it he stopped. "Um... Akane?"
"Yes?"
"Uh..." he fumbled nervously, "thanks... thanks for trying to cheer
me up." He hurried on outside.
Akane stood in the training hall for a moment. "He's actually thanking
me for something? What's next, apologizing?" She walked out of the hall.
^^^^^^^^^^
"Perfume! Table Three's order is ready!"
"Okay!"
Kage stretched as he walked back into the Nekohaten. He headed into
the kitchen and put the delivery box on a counter.
"Good, you're back," Cologne said. "Were you able to find the house
easily?"
"Yeah. I'm getting the hang of where everything is."
"Good. Here's the next delivery."
Nodding, Kage took the order and jotted down the directions.
"Before you go," Cologne said, "do you know that you're being followed?"
"Uh-huh. Some small guy in a ninja costume."
"Ah, Sasuke. He works for the Kunos."
Kage sighed. "Great. If I had known that I would have tried to lose
him."
"How long has he been following you?" Cologne acknowledged an order
from Shampoo, and started preparing it.
"Since I woke up, actually. He seemed harmless enough."
"While that may be true, don't underestimate him. Now get going!
The food is getting cold!"
"Right." He jogged out.
^^^^^^^^^^
Kuno paced back and forth in his room.
"Where is he?" Kuno muttered. "Should he not have reported back by now?"
A trap door in a wall opened, and Sasuke crawled out.
"Finally!"
"Sorry, Master Kuno," the ninja said. "I had a bit of a... delay."
"Enough! I care not for thy excuses! What hast thou learned of
Tsuyosa?"
"Yes, right." The small ninja pulled out a small notepad. "Well,
after waking up, he went into the alley behind the Nekohaten and exercised
for about an hour. After that, he went in for breakfast, and then helped
prepare for when the restaurant was going to open."
"And...?"
"And..." Sasuke paused. "He has been doing deliveries?"
"Is that all? Are there no other items of interest?"
"Um... oh! There is this shop, not three blocks from here, that he
went to get ingredients from. It's amazing! It has a number of items I
have been trying to find for several months now, and at prices much lower
than I was expecting!"
"That is it?"
"Yes, master."
"Imbecile!" Kuno shouted. "I care nothing of all this babble! All
this is so much worthless trash in respect to defeating Tsuyosa! Where are
his dark secrets, his hidden schemes?"
"I... uh... don't think he has any."
"Aargh! Why must I be surrounded by such fools?" Tatewaki rubbed
his forehead. "Leave, Sasuke. I must consider a new strategy."
"Of course, Master Kuno."
Sasuke crawled back through the secret passage, and closed the trap
door. When he got out, he headed for his own quarters.
"Sasuke."
The ninja jumped. "Oh, Mistress Kodaichi."
"Was your report to my brother really all the information you were able
to acquire?" she asked.
"How did...? Never mind. Yes, it was. I couldn't get close enough for
a more detailed report."
"Oh? How so?"
"Well, I don't quite believe it myself, but I think he was able to hear
me if I got within 25 feet of him. I think he was able to tell when I was
writing down notes."
"Curious," Kodaichi said. "He is indeed a man of many skills. I
don't know how I could ever choose between my dearest Kage and Ranma."
Sasuke decided to play it safe on that one and just kept silent.
Kodaichi snapped out of her mini-revere. "Oh, yes. While my brother
may not be interested in such things, do tell me about that shop you spoke
of. My own supplier had the gall to raise his prices."
"Ah, of course, mistress. They have..."
^^^^^^^^^^
At the Nerima station, a girl stepped off the train onto the platform.
She glanced around cautiously, before letting out a sigh of relief.
"Whew! For a bit I thought he had managed to get on the train," she
said. "God, he is so idiotically persistent.
She picked up her luggage, and walked out of the station. "I have
to hurry before he does come, though."
The girl saw a boy with a map nearby, and walked over. "Excuse me."
"What? Oh, yes?"
"can you tell me where to find a hotel? I just arrived and need to find
a place to stay for a few nights."
"Oh, sure." He looked at the map. "There's one... about four streets
that way, and then another two to the right."
"Thank you." She began walking in the direction he had pointed.
"You're welcome," Ryoga said.
^^^^^^^^^^
Ukyo looked at the last customer in her restaurant. It was a girl
about her age, black hair, wearing a light dress, and had a piece off luggage
next to her seat. She had come in about an hour ago, and had been silent
the whole time.
"Look, honey, I have to close up soon," Ukyo said, walking over.
The girl ignored her.
"Don't you have somewhere to go or something?" asked Ukyo.
"No, I don't!" the girl shouted suddenly. She began to cry.
"Hey, hey!" Ukyo tried to calm the girl down.
"I came her 'cause I had to get away from... from _him_ and he kept
following me but I lost him and then I asked this guy where a hotel was and
he gave me wrong directions and now I don't know where I am!"
"Whoa, calm down! Who are you running from?"
"This... this boy from my town who wants to marry me, and he won't
leave me alone! A guy came by our town a while ago and scared him off,
but since he left Kinzoku came back so I tried to get rid of him by saying
the guy was my fiancée but since he wasn't around Kinzoku didn't believe me,
so I came here because the guy said he was heading to Nerima and... and..."
"Slow down, girl!" Ukyo said. "You'll faint or something if you don't
stop to breathe."
The girl nodded, and tried to do so. She stopped crying, but looked
like she could start up again easily. "I wouldn't even *sniff* be like this
if that *sniff* stupid boy hadn't given me wrong directions! He seemed like
he knew *sniff* where he was, too!"
"Hm..." Ukyo thought for a second. "The guy who gave you the bad
directions, he wouldn't happen to be about so tall, brown hair, fangs,
generally clueless expression, and wears a bandana?"
"Yes *sniff*."
"Ryoga, you jackass! Why would you give someone directions if you're
always lost yourself?"
"You know him?"
"Yeah, I bet the idiot is on Mount Fuji or something right now." Ukyo
punched her fist into her hand. "I'll chew out him out next time I see him."
The girl smiled weakly.
"In the meantime, we have to do something about you," Ukyo said. "What's
your name, anyway? I'm Ukyo."
"Otome Kanari."
Well, Otome, how about I let you stay here? I have an empty guest room
upstairs that you can use."
"You... you do? You will? Really?"
"Sure! We girls have to look out for each other."
"Thank you! How can I repay you?"
"You don't need to. I kinda feel sorry for what you've gone through,
and it _is_ Ryoga's fault."
"Thank you, Ukyo," Otome said. "Maybe my luck is getting better. I
might even find the guy I was trying to find."
"There's a chance," Ukyo said. "Um... his name isn't Ranma, is it?"
"No."
/Whew!/ "okay then, I'll show you the room."
^^^^^^^^^^
Nearby the Kuno mansion, a large line of moving vans pulled up. The
doors to a large, empty mansion were opened, and a small army of men started
unpacking and moving crates and furniture inside.
Kuno watched the activity from his own mansion.
"Sasuke."
A trapdoor opened in the ceiling.
*Crash!*
"Ow!" Sasuke said, and got to his feet. "I could have sworn that door
was three feet to left. What is it, Master Kuno?"
Kuno held a hand to his forehead. "Gods..." He turned to the window.
"Sasuke, see you the commotion there?"
The ninja looked. "It looks like someone is moving in," he said.
"Go and find out who has purchased the place."
Yes, master."
A few moments passed.
"Sasuke."
"Master Kuno?"
"For now, use the door."
Sasuke dropped down from where he had been trying to pull himself
back into the ceiling. "I'll close that one later, then."
Kuno watched the scene outside. Very soon, he saw Sasuke walking
toward the other mansion. He started banging his head on the windowsill
as Sasuke stopped one of the movers and talked to him for a bit.
A minute later, Sasuke came back into the room.
"Well?" Tatewaki asked.
"It... what did you do to your head?"
"Do you even bother to be stealthy!?"
"Oh, er... it didn't really seem like I needed to."
Kuno sighed. "Very well. Out with it."
"It has been bought by Tomi Enterprises, and Kinzoku Tomi, the son of
the company's president, is moving in."
"Did you discover why?"
"The man I talked to was just hired for moving the furniture in."
"Hm..."
"Is that all, Master Kuno?"
"Yes. No. I shall need several ice packs and bandages."
"Very good, Master Kuno."
^^^^^^^^^^
Kage wiped off empty tables in the Nekohaten. The last group of
customers finished their food, paid, and left.
"Fairly good business today," said Cologne as she checked the cash
register.
"Perfume tired." Perfume was sitting in a chair, resting her head on
a table. "Too many people."
"It's just having new people working here," Cologne said. "You'll
note that many of the customers were about your age."
"Only too obvious why they come here," Perfume said, frowning. "Some
boys seem more interested in me than food."
"It'll pass over," Kage said. "Just give them a reason to become
uninterested. But try not to hurt them too much."
The door opened, and Ryoga walked in. He was holding a map. "Can
you tell me how to get to the Tendo Dojo?"
Shampoo looked up from behind the counter. "Is lost boy. You gone
for while."
Ryoga lowered the map. "Huh? I'm here?"
Kage walked over. "Ryoga?"
"Yes?"
*WHAM!*
"That's for Jusenkyo."
^^^^^^^^^^
"Hi, Ryoga."
"Ranma."
"Nice night."
"I suppose."
"When'd you get back?" Ranma asked.
"Just now, apparently."
Ranma nodded. "How did...?"
"I just walked into the Nekohaten, and this guy punched me. I heard
him say it was 'for Jusenkyo'."
"I'm guessing that was Kage," Ranma said.
"What? You mean from-"
"Yep."
Ryoga thought back. "I guess he's still angry about that."
"About what?"
"I kinda had jumped off of him back at Jusenkyo when you knocked us
off the cliff."
"Ah."
"Does he...?"
"Giant wolf."
"Ah."
They were silent for a bit.
"Akane?" Ryoga asked.
"Happosai, actually."
"Oh."
"I think we're slowing," Ranma said.
"It's a long way."
Ranma nodded. "You know, one of these days you should put a parachute
in your backpack."
"Good idea."
"See you at ground level."
"Yeah."
And so they fell.
^^^^^^^^^^
In his room, Kage rummaged through his pack.
"Who was boy?" Perfume asked.
"Just someone I know from a while ago."
"Why you punch him?"
"It's not really important now. I just had to get it out of my system."
Perfume shook her head. "[Do you really think the boys will leave
me alone?]"
"[Of course.]"
"[You know, you should defend me by-]"
"[- beating them up? Intimidating them?]" Kage supplied. "[You know
as well as I do that Cologne would just get angry for scaring off customers.
Just tell them you're already taken. Damn! Where is it?]"
Perfume walked over. "[What are you looking for anyway?]"
"[I had started another letter to Grandfather Bear, to let him know
that we had arrived here. I can't find it.]"
"[Need any help looking?]"
Kage upturned the whole pack, and spilled the contents on the floor.
"[Sure.]"
"[Did you really need to do that?]"
"[We had to unpack anyway.]"
Perfume scooped up a small item from the pile and threw it at him.
"[You didn't have to just dump it like that.]"
*Whap!*
"Ow." Kage rubbed the side of his head where the item had hit. "[All
right, all right. I'll clean it up.]" He reached for the item. "[What's
this anyway?]"
He held up a small disk, with a snowflake engraved on it. "[I don't
remember getting this anywhere.]"
Perfume took it and looked at in the light. "[Pretty. Are you sure
you don't remember it?]"
"[Yeah,]" he said.
"[Maybe... your teacher gave it to you?]"
Kage looked at the disk. "[Actually, I think so. I don't know why
he didn't tell me he was going to give it to me.]" He raised his head
and looked at the window. "What do you want?"
The window opened, and Sasuke sheepishly climbed in.
"What you doing outside window?" Perfume asked, grabbing her trident.
Sasuke bowed several times. "Sorry! But I'm here to deliver a
message from Mistress Kodaichi."
This only made Perfume level the trident right at him. "What she
want with airen?"
"Oh, no," Sasuke said. "The message is for you, Miss Perfume."
"It... what?"
Sasuke pulled out a sealed envelope. "She is challenging you to a
fight tomorrow." He handed it to her.
"Hold it," Kage said. He grabbed the envelope and sniffed it. "There's
some sort of chemical on this."
The ninja sighed. "Probably a time released paralyzing potion. Standard
procedure, for the mistress. What response should I give to Mistress Kodaichi?"
"I be there," Perfume said.
Sasuke nodded. "Very well. Goodnight."
*Crash!*
Perfume and Kage looked out the window.
"Hey, you ok?"
A muffled groan from Sasuke answered. Kage shook his head and put on
his boots. "I'll make sure he gets back. Are you sure about fighting
Kodaichi?"
"Yes. Like you say for boys, show you is taken."
"Just be careful. Someone who poisons the challenge letter is probably
dangerous."
"I no lose to her. It take more than that."
Kage kissed her, and jumped down from the window. "I'll clean up the
mess when I get back," he called. Picking up the ninja, he jogged off.
^^^^^^^^^^
Back in China...
The stranger stomped (As best one could in the deep snow), up to the
cave entrance.
"Damn you, Bear!" He pulled out several concealed knives and shruiken.
"I'll get you for sending me on a wild goose chase!"
He entered the cave, and gaped. The weapons he had been holding clattered
to the ground.
All the crates, furs, and even the huge pot were gone. The only thing
left was a sign with a single word on it. 'Sucker!'
The stranger screamed with fury.
^^^^^^^^^^
Notes:
And that's all for part three. A bit shorter than I would have liked,
but it doesn't really matter. I'll start up on part 4 soon. As before, you
can e-mail any comments to Wakoid2@aol.com.
You can find this and several of my other fics on my site at
www.geocities.com/redjacket82/.
Also, I'm going to have a bit of a sorta-kinda contest for you, the
readers, at the end of the next chapter. I'll let you know what it is when
part four is posted.
Ok, that's everything! Bye!
Bye.
I said, "Bye."
Go away.
I'm just going to keep on doing this until you leave.
Please go away.
Please?
Pretty please?
GO!
That's it! If you're not going, I am!
else. Not me.
There, that's pretty simple for a disclaimer.
" " is when someone is talking in Japanese
"[ ]" is when someone is talking in Chinese
/ / is when someone is thinking
* * are sound effects
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wolf In The Snow
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
Written by Nathan Huss
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Several weeks ago...
Grandfather Bear slowly stirred the contents of his pot, tasting the
stew every now and then.
"[Hmm... still needs somethin'.]" He walked over to an open crate
and looked in.
*Thunk!*
Bear cautiously looked up. A dagger had landed barely an inch from
his hand, and was now stuck in one of the planks of the crate.
"Just a warning. I have very good aim and many more knives."
The old martial artist turned to face the entrance of his cave. A
figure stepped out of the shadows.
"You, huh?" Bear said. "I was expectin' one of you a while ago. What
took ya?"
"You did fairly well in keeping where you were a secret. My only clue
was a rumor of a large bear in these mountains."
"It keeps unwanted guests away, usually." Bear nodded, and pulled out
the knife. "Nice balance." He tossed it back to the figure. "I don't
suppose ya can juggle 'em?"
"Enough of this!" The figure pulled out a metal disk from a hidden
pocket. On it was an engraving of a roaring fire. "You know why I have come.
Do you accept my challenge, or will you just hand it over?"
"Bwa-ha-ha!" laughed Bear.
"What?" the stranger asked, startled. His voice turned cold. "You
have no choice in this. As the master and possessor of-"
"I might be the master, sonny, but yer too late. I already gave the
damn thing to my student. He's long gone, too."
The figure slowly nodded, and put away the disk. "Is he sufficiently
trained?"
"He did fairly well. Yeah, I'd say he is."
"What is his name, and where did he go?"
"The kid is Kage Tsuyosa. Last he told me he was headin' north."
"Very well." The figure turned to leave.
"Say, how's old 'One-eye' doin'?" Bear asked.
The stranger stiffened. "He wishes to see you dead."
"Ha! Don't blame 'im. Now get lost, boy."
About an hour later, Grandfather Bear put down his empty bowl. "[Only
twelve servings. I must be getting' old.]"
Just then, he heard a noise from the mouth of the cave.
/Shit! He can't be back this soon!/ he thought. He dived behind a
large crate and readied himself.
"[H-hello? Is... is anyone here?]" came a voice. "[I'm delivering
a letter.]"
Bear blinked, and peered around the crate. Standing nervously by
the entrance was a man from the nearby village, clothed in many furs.
/Whew!/ Bear stepped out from behind the crate. "[Eh? What'd ya say?]"
The man let out a sigh of relief. "[Hello, Grandfather. A letter
arrived at the village, addressed to you.]"
"[A letter, huh? Who's it from?]"
"[I don't know. It just has your name on it. None of us opened it.]"
Bear nodded. "[Well, give it here, then. And stop lookin' like somethin'
is gonna jump out at you. It's buggin' me.]"
"[Very sorry, sir.]" The man handed Bear the letter. "[It's just...
well, we've all heard how there is a vicious bear in the area chasing
some people who were traveling up here. I had thought that it might
have... gotten you and made your cave it's lair.]"
Bear smiled inwardly. "[Nah, I can take care of myself. The big
bastard has a cave of his own a couple miles away. 'Sides, he's usually
out huntin' 'round this time of day.]"
"[Oh... er... is that so? Well, I hope the letter brings good news.
Goodbye, Grandfather.]" The man hurried out of the cave.
Grandfather Bear chuckled. "[Someday I've gotta stop doin' that.
It might bring out some hunters. Now then, the letter.]"
He examined the letter for a moment, and then opened it up.
"'Dear Sensei... doing well... amazon village... challenge...' Bwa-ha-ha!
He met _them_? Oh, that's rich! '... Perfume... learned Hiryu Shoten Ha.'"
Bear blinked. "Whoo... that boy's damned lucky. 'Found out where Ranma...
will be going to Nerima, Japan. Will write again... your student, Kage
Tsuyosa.'"
Bear sat down. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. He continued for
several minutes, until he managed to get himself under control. "[If *snicker*
that brat had been just an hour late, I would have actually known where Kage
was goin'!]" he cackled. "[Then again, I wouldn't have told him the truth
anyhow!]"
He crumpled up the letter, and threw it into the fire. Stretching, he
got up and walked over to a bucket of melted snow. "[Well, out to spread
the rumor of the 'monster bear.' He should be about halfway to the village
about now.]" He poured the water over himself.
After shaking the excess water out of his fur, he lumbered out of
the cave. /Yep, really have to stop doin' this... some other time./
^^^^^^^^^^
Back in the present...
"Ranma? Where are you, boy?"
Akane woke up, hearing Genma's yelling. Groggily, she got out of bed
and put on her slippers.
"Damn it, boy, are you skipping out on morning training?"
Akane opened her door and walked into the hallway. "What's the matter,
Mr. Saotome?"
Genma frowned. "That son of mine is nowhere to be found. When I woke
up for our sparring session, he was gone from the room."
"Have you tried downstairs?"
"Of course I did! Hmm... he didn't sneak into your room, did he?"
Genma asked hopefully.
"NO!"
"Dang!" Genma said, snapping his fingers.
"Baka," said Akane, and she headed downstairs. She went out onto
the porch and stretched in the morning sunlight.
"Good morning, Akane," Kasumi said, entering the room behind her.
"Morning, Kasumi."
"Breakfast will be ready soon, so could you go tell Ranma?"
Akane shook her head. "He's missing. Mr. Saotome is looking for him."
Kasumi smiled. "He's just in the training hall. I saw him go in
there earlier."
/Why would he go in there this early?/ Akane wondered. She jogged
over and peeked into the dojo.
Ranma was in the center of the hall, going through what looked like
a kata. He was methodically moving around the hall, punching and kicking at
the air, and blocking imagined attacks. At one point he purposely fell,
and then rolled to the side. All the while, he was mumbling to himself.
As she watched, Akane realized that he was going over the fight from
the day before. She tiptoed inside quietly.
Once inside, Akane noticed that Ranma had his eyes closed, replaying
the whole thing from memory. When he reached the end, where he had been
kicked through the wall, he opened his eyes and cursed.
"What went wrong?" he asked himself. "It shouldn't have gone like that."
"Boo!"
"Gyaah!" Ranma screamed. He heard Akane giggling, and turned around.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Because you were acting so serious," Akane replied. "Lighten up. So
you lost a fight, it's happened before. I bet in a week you'll be challenging
Kage for a rematch."
"That's not what's bothering me. Kage is strong, yeah, but he _is_
slower than me, and even Ryoga. I hit him at least four times as often as
he hit me."
"So? He trained at Shampoo's village. Maybe he learned the Breaking
Point like Ryoga did."
"No," Ranma said firmly. "I could tell. He was feeling it when I
attacked. With Ryoga you have to hit him hard enough just to get him to
notice it. Kage was trying to ignore his wounds."
"Wow," Akane said. "It would have to catch up to him sometime, though."
"Yeah, but as long as it's after a fight, it doesn't really matter.
But that ain't what's bothering me."
Akane shrugged. "Then what is?"
"You saw it, he _caught_ the Chestnut Fist! No one can match it's
speed, 'cept probably Cologne and the old freak. Kage did, though!"
Akane sighed. "Maybe he was holding back his speed. Maybe he just
got lucky. You don't have to kill yourself thinking about it."
"You're not the one who's gonna have it shoved in your face by pop for
the next month," Ranma muttered.
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."
"You don't know the old man."
"Look, just forget about it for now," Akane said. "If anything, it
can wait until after breakfast. Kasumi's probably done preparing it by now.
Unless you want your father and Happosai to steal it..."
"Like I'd let 'em! They'd better not have eaten it all!" He hurried
toward the door. Right before he reached it he stopped. "Um... Akane?"
"Yes?"
"Uh..." he fumbled nervously, "thanks... thanks for trying to cheer
me up." He hurried on outside.
Akane stood in the training hall for a moment. "He's actually thanking
me for something? What's next, apologizing?" She walked out of the hall.
^^^^^^^^^^
"Perfume! Table Three's order is ready!"
"Okay!"
Kage stretched as he walked back into the Nekohaten. He headed into
the kitchen and put the delivery box on a counter.
"Good, you're back," Cologne said. "Were you able to find the house
easily?"
"Yeah. I'm getting the hang of where everything is."
"Good. Here's the next delivery."
Nodding, Kage took the order and jotted down the directions.
"Before you go," Cologne said, "do you know that you're being followed?"
"Uh-huh. Some small guy in a ninja costume."
"Ah, Sasuke. He works for the Kunos."
Kage sighed. "Great. If I had known that I would have tried to lose
him."
"How long has he been following you?" Cologne acknowledged an order
from Shampoo, and started preparing it.
"Since I woke up, actually. He seemed harmless enough."
"While that may be true, don't underestimate him. Now get going!
The food is getting cold!"
"Right." He jogged out.
^^^^^^^^^^
Kuno paced back and forth in his room.
"Where is he?" Kuno muttered. "Should he not have reported back by now?"
A trap door in a wall opened, and Sasuke crawled out.
"Finally!"
"Sorry, Master Kuno," the ninja said. "I had a bit of a... delay."
"Enough! I care not for thy excuses! What hast thou learned of
Tsuyosa?"
"Yes, right." The small ninja pulled out a small notepad. "Well,
after waking up, he went into the alley behind the Nekohaten and exercised
for about an hour. After that, he went in for breakfast, and then helped
prepare for when the restaurant was going to open."
"And...?"
"And..." Sasuke paused. "He has been doing deliveries?"
"Is that all? Are there no other items of interest?"
"Um... oh! There is this shop, not three blocks from here, that he
went to get ingredients from. It's amazing! It has a number of items I
have been trying to find for several months now, and at prices much lower
than I was expecting!"
"That is it?"
"Yes, master."
"Imbecile!" Kuno shouted. "I care nothing of all this babble! All
this is so much worthless trash in respect to defeating Tsuyosa! Where are
his dark secrets, his hidden schemes?"
"I... uh... don't think he has any."
"Aargh! Why must I be surrounded by such fools?" Tatewaki rubbed
his forehead. "Leave, Sasuke. I must consider a new strategy."
"Of course, Master Kuno."
Sasuke crawled back through the secret passage, and closed the trap
door. When he got out, he headed for his own quarters.
"Sasuke."
The ninja jumped. "Oh, Mistress Kodaichi."
"Was your report to my brother really all the information you were able
to acquire?" she asked.
"How did...? Never mind. Yes, it was. I couldn't get close enough for
a more detailed report."
"Oh? How so?"
"Well, I don't quite believe it myself, but I think he was able to hear
me if I got within 25 feet of him. I think he was able to tell when I was
writing down notes."
"Curious," Kodaichi said. "He is indeed a man of many skills. I
don't know how I could ever choose between my dearest Kage and Ranma."
Sasuke decided to play it safe on that one and just kept silent.
Kodaichi snapped out of her mini-revere. "Oh, yes. While my brother
may not be interested in such things, do tell me about that shop you spoke
of. My own supplier had the gall to raise his prices."
"Ah, of course, mistress. They have..."
^^^^^^^^^^
At the Nerima station, a girl stepped off the train onto the platform.
She glanced around cautiously, before letting out a sigh of relief.
"Whew! For a bit I thought he had managed to get on the train," she
said. "God, he is so idiotically persistent.
She picked up her luggage, and walked out of the station. "I have
to hurry before he does come, though."
The girl saw a boy with a map nearby, and walked over. "Excuse me."
"What? Oh, yes?"
"can you tell me where to find a hotel? I just arrived and need to find
a place to stay for a few nights."
"Oh, sure." He looked at the map. "There's one... about four streets
that way, and then another two to the right."
"Thank you." She began walking in the direction he had pointed.
"You're welcome," Ryoga said.
^^^^^^^^^^
Ukyo looked at the last customer in her restaurant. It was a girl
about her age, black hair, wearing a light dress, and had a piece off luggage
next to her seat. She had come in about an hour ago, and had been silent
the whole time.
"Look, honey, I have to close up soon," Ukyo said, walking over.
The girl ignored her.
"Don't you have somewhere to go or something?" asked Ukyo.
"No, I don't!" the girl shouted suddenly. She began to cry.
"Hey, hey!" Ukyo tried to calm the girl down.
"I came her 'cause I had to get away from... from _him_ and he kept
following me but I lost him and then I asked this guy where a hotel was and
he gave me wrong directions and now I don't know where I am!"
"Whoa, calm down! Who are you running from?"
"This... this boy from my town who wants to marry me, and he won't
leave me alone! A guy came by our town a while ago and scared him off,
but since he left Kinzoku came back so I tried to get rid of him by saying
the guy was my fiancée but since he wasn't around Kinzoku didn't believe me,
so I came here because the guy said he was heading to Nerima and... and..."
"Slow down, girl!" Ukyo said. "You'll faint or something if you don't
stop to breathe."
The girl nodded, and tried to do so. She stopped crying, but looked
like she could start up again easily. "I wouldn't even *sniff* be like this
if that *sniff* stupid boy hadn't given me wrong directions! He seemed like
he knew *sniff* where he was, too!"
"Hm..." Ukyo thought for a second. "The guy who gave you the bad
directions, he wouldn't happen to be about so tall, brown hair, fangs,
generally clueless expression, and wears a bandana?"
"Yes *sniff*."
"Ryoga, you jackass! Why would you give someone directions if you're
always lost yourself?"
"You know him?"
"Yeah, I bet the idiot is on Mount Fuji or something right now." Ukyo
punched her fist into her hand. "I'll chew out him out next time I see him."
The girl smiled weakly.
"In the meantime, we have to do something about you," Ukyo said. "What's
your name, anyway? I'm Ukyo."
"Otome Kanari."
Well, Otome, how about I let you stay here? I have an empty guest room
upstairs that you can use."
"You... you do? You will? Really?"
"Sure! We girls have to look out for each other."
"Thank you! How can I repay you?"
"You don't need to. I kinda feel sorry for what you've gone through,
and it _is_ Ryoga's fault."
"Thank you, Ukyo," Otome said. "Maybe my luck is getting better. I
might even find the guy I was trying to find."
"There's a chance," Ukyo said. "Um... his name isn't Ranma, is it?"
"No."
/Whew!/ "okay then, I'll show you the room."
^^^^^^^^^^
Nearby the Kuno mansion, a large line of moving vans pulled up. The
doors to a large, empty mansion were opened, and a small army of men started
unpacking and moving crates and furniture inside.
Kuno watched the activity from his own mansion.
"Sasuke."
A trapdoor opened in the ceiling.
*Crash!*
"Ow!" Sasuke said, and got to his feet. "I could have sworn that door
was three feet to left. What is it, Master Kuno?"
Kuno held a hand to his forehead. "Gods..." He turned to the window.
"Sasuke, see you the commotion there?"
The ninja looked. "It looks like someone is moving in," he said.
"Go and find out who has purchased the place."
Yes, master."
A few moments passed.
"Sasuke."
"Master Kuno?"
"For now, use the door."
Sasuke dropped down from where he had been trying to pull himself
back into the ceiling. "I'll close that one later, then."
Kuno watched the scene outside. Very soon, he saw Sasuke walking
toward the other mansion. He started banging his head on the windowsill
as Sasuke stopped one of the movers and talked to him for a bit.
A minute later, Sasuke came back into the room.
"Well?" Tatewaki asked.
"It... what did you do to your head?"
"Do you even bother to be stealthy!?"
"Oh, er... it didn't really seem like I needed to."
Kuno sighed. "Very well. Out with it."
"It has been bought by Tomi Enterprises, and Kinzoku Tomi, the son of
the company's president, is moving in."
"Did you discover why?"
"The man I talked to was just hired for moving the furniture in."
"Hm..."
"Is that all, Master Kuno?"
"Yes. No. I shall need several ice packs and bandages."
"Very good, Master Kuno."
^^^^^^^^^^
Kage wiped off empty tables in the Nekohaten. The last group of
customers finished their food, paid, and left.
"Fairly good business today," said Cologne as she checked the cash
register.
"Perfume tired." Perfume was sitting in a chair, resting her head on
a table. "Too many people."
"It's just having new people working here," Cologne said. "You'll
note that many of the customers were about your age."
"Only too obvious why they come here," Perfume said, frowning. "Some
boys seem more interested in me than food."
"It'll pass over," Kage said. "Just give them a reason to become
uninterested. But try not to hurt them too much."
The door opened, and Ryoga walked in. He was holding a map. "Can
you tell me how to get to the Tendo Dojo?"
Shampoo looked up from behind the counter. "Is lost boy. You gone
for while."
Ryoga lowered the map. "Huh? I'm here?"
Kage walked over. "Ryoga?"
"Yes?"
*WHAM!*
"That's for Jusenkyo."
^^^^^^^^^^
"Hi, Ryoga."
"Ranma."
"Nice night."
"I suppose."
"When'd you get back?" Ranma asked.
"Just now, apparently."
Ranma nodded. "How did...?"
"I just walked into the Nekohaten, and this guy punched me. I heard
him say it was 'for Jusenkyo'."
"I'm guessing that was Kage," Ranma said.
"What? You mean from-"
"Yep."
Ryoga thought back. "I guess he's still angry about that."
"About what?"
"I kinda had jumped off of him back at Jusenkyo when you knocked us
off the cliff."
"Ah."
"Does he...?"
"Giant wolf."
"Ah."
They were silent for a bit.
"Akane?" Ryoga asked.
"Happosai, actually."
"Oh."
"I think we're slowing," Ranma said.
"It's a long way."
Ranma nodded. "You know, one of these days you should put a parachute
in your backpack."
"Good idea."
"See you at ground level."
"Yeah."
And so they fell.
^^^^^^^^^^
In his room, Kage rummaged through his pack.
"Who was boy?" Perfume asked.
"Just someone I know from a while ago."
"Why you punch him?"
"It's not really important now. I just had to get it out of my system."
Perfume shook her head. "[Do you really think the boys will leave
me alone?]"
"[Of course.]"
"[You know, you should defend me by-]"
"[- beating them up? Intimidating them?]" Kage supplied. "[You know
as well as I do that Cologne would just get angry for scaring off customers.
Just tell them you're already taken. Damn! Where is it?]"
Perfume walked over. "[What are you looking for anyway?]"
"[I had started another letter to Grandfather Bear, to let him know
that we had arrived here. I can't find it.]"
"[Need any help looking?]"
Kage upturned the whole pack, and spilled the contents on the floor.
"[Sure.]"
"[Did you really need to do that?]"
"[We had to unpack anyway.]"
Perfume scooped up a small item from the pile and threw it at him.
"[You didn't have to just dump it like that.]"
*Whap!*
"Ow." Kage rubbed the side of his head where the item had hit. "[All
right, all right. I'll clean it up.]" He reached for the item. "[What's
this anyway?]"
He held up a small disk, with a snowflake engraved on it. "[I don't
remember getting this anywhere.]"
Perfume took it and looked at in the light. "[Pretty. Are you sure
you don't remember it?]"
"[Yeah,]" he said.
"[Maybe... your teacher gave it to you?]"
Kage looked at the disk. "[Actually, I think so. I don't know why
he didn't tell me he was going to give it to me.]" He raised his head
and looked at the window. "What do you want?"
The window opened, and Sasuke sheepishly climbed in.
"What you doing outside window?" Perfume asked, grabbing her trident.
Sasuke bowed several times. "Sorry! But I'm here to deliver a
message from Mistress Kodaichi."
This only made Perfume level the trident right at him. "What she
want with airen?"
"Oh, no," Sasuke said. "The message is for you, Miss Perfume."
"It... what?"
Sasuke pulled out a sealed envelope. "She is challenging you to a
fight tomorrow." He handed it to her.
"Hold it," Kage said. He grabbed the envelope and sniffed it. "There's
some sort of chemical on this."
The ninja sighed. "Probably a time released paralyzing potion. Standard
procedure, for the mistress. What response should I give to Mistress Kodaichi?"
"I be there," Perfume said.
Sasuke nodded. "Very well. Goodnight."
*Crash!*
Perfume and Kage looked out the window.
"Hey, you ok?"
A muffled groan from Sasuke answered. Kage shook his head and put on
his boots. "I'll make sure he gets back. Are you sure about fighting
Kodaichi?"
"Yes. Like you say for boys, show you is taken."
"Just be careful. Someone who poisons the challenge letter is probably
dangerous."
"I no lose to her. It take more than that."
Kage kissed her, and jumped down from the window. "I'll clean up the
mess when I get back," he called. Picking up the ninja, he jogged off.
^^^^^^^^^^
Back in China...
The stranger stomped (As best one could in the deep snow), up to the
cave entrance.
"Damn you, Bear!" He pulled out several concealed knives and shruiken.
"I'll get you for sending me on a wild goose chase!"
He entered the cave, and gaped. The weapons he had been holding clattered
to the ground.
All the crates, furs, and even the huge pot were gone. The only thing
left was a sign with a single word on it. 'Sucker!'
The stranger screamed with fury.
^^^^^^^^^^
Notes:
And that's all for part three. A bit shorter than I would have liked,
but it doesn't really matter. I'll start up on part 4 soon. As before, you
can e-mail any comments to Wakoid2@aol.com.
You can find this and several of my other fics on my site at
www.geocities.com/redjacket82/.
Also, I'm going to have a bit of a sorta-kinda contest for you, the
readers, at the end of the next chapter. I'll let you know what it is when
part four is posted.
Ok, that's everything! Bye!
Bye.
I said, "Bye."
Go away.
I'm just going to keep on doing this until you leave.
Please go away.
Please?
Pretty please?
GO!
That's it! If you're not going, I am!
