Chloe was back. Two knives stuck into the fence post he'd been eating
in front of. Ranma jumped to his feet to avoid two more, then took
off running down the row. He couldn't fight with bread in his hands.
He could hear Chloe a few steps behind in the next aisle.
He turned right when he reached the end of the field, then right again
to go into the next row. It'd give him a bit of space. Ranma ripped
another mouthful of bread off and swallowed it awkwardly as he ran,
then did the same again before the previous bite was finished working
its way down. Fast thoughts, speedy thoughts.
There was nobody behind him.
Ranma stopped, listened. He couldn't hear any pursuit. Chloe
wouldn't have given up that quickly. He quit chewing and a massive
lump of partially masticated bread hit his stomach with an audible
splash. The waves settled and all was silent. Where was she?
Another bite, this one quiet, chewed carefully and slowly as to not
make any noise. Splash. Quiet thoughts, sneaky thoughts, elephant
ears that catch everything thoughts. Still nothing. She was gone.
Ranma started walking again, though quietly. The second heel of the
first loaf of bread disappeared past his jaws. He was mostly full.
Too many grapes had made his insides shrink in protest. What a
surprise. Damn the things.
Chloe was out here somewhere, hunting for him. Archimedes was, too.
Would the bird tell Chloe where he was? It had startled him earlier
and that was why Chloe's first two knives had missed. He probably
would have dodged in time anyway. Probably. Chloe would have made a
bit of noise to warn of where she was. Wouldn't she have?
He frowned, looked down at the remaining loaf. Too bad there wasn't a
good place to put it until he was hungry again. Ranma reached the end
of the row and kept going straight. Chloe had to be behind him
somewhere so he'd head for the coliseum and ditch the bread somewhere.
Then they could play, if that was what Chloe wanted to do.
Ranma jumped to the top ledge of the coliseum and looked towards the
Manor. Some hills, grapes in the distance, the building tiny from
this far away, but there was no Chloe following him. Had she gone
back inside or was she still looking for him? He couldn't believe
that she would quit so easily.
He dropped back down to the uppermost row of seats and started the
descent back to the sands below. Sneaking around was fun but he was
bored and wanted to fight. He was going to march right up to the
Manor and wait for Chloe to show up, whether it was from inside or
from hiding somewhere in the grape fields.
Ranma squinted, the sun shining across as he looked south from under
Chloe's tree. There she was, stepping out into the open, a quarter
mile away. She wasn't covered in green, though. Where was her cloak?
She walked towards him and he waited for her. When she was fifty feet
away he stood, ready. She stopped at twenty feet. The same distance
she practiced throwing her knives from.
Her harnesses were visible since Chloe wasn't wearing her cloak.
Black things that covered a good portion of each thigh and forearm,
under which she wore clothes just like the ones he had on. His were
ripped and bloody, though.
"So you're gonna try to kill me?" he asked.
Chloe smiled slightly. "Yes."
Was that a truthful smile or a lying smile? His own lying smiles were
big and impossible for him to resist making. Chloe might be better at
it, though. Or she could be telling the truth. Which was it?
A knife was suddenly in each of the girl's hands. A neat trick and he
hadn't even noticed. "Are you ready?" she asked.
"Yup."
She nodded, glanced over towards the Manor doorway, then threw both
knives. He dodged and two more were in the air again, which he also
dodged. She was fast but not so much that he couldn't make sure she
missed from twenty feet off. He pulled a blade out of his pocket and
threw one of Chloe's knives back at her.
She had to step aside, and he grinned. "You don't want to get close,
do ya?"
Chloe frowned, pulled two more knives, and ran forward. At ten feet
he threw again. She had to almost jump to the right to avoid getting
stuck in the chest. His aim was better now? She stopped at that
distance.
She threw one knife and he started to dodge. She threw the second one
to where he was moving. Ranma snatched it out of the air and tossed
it back. He grinned again when she yelped at another close miss.
"That distance isn't good either?"
Chloe stopped, stared at him. "When did you get so good at that?"
"Dunno." Bugs would be proud. Is that what Chloe would look like?
"Maybe you should give up?"
She pulled two more knives out and again did the staggered release
trick. He dodged the first, had to duck the second which slipped
right over his ear, and then the next two were almost planted in his
gut. He jumped and caught a tree branch, the knives going under his
feet. This was annoying.
Chloe looked like she thought she'd won and the next two knives came
at him. The first was torso level and the second by his feet in case
he let go. Ranma yanked his body up, his feet hitting the branch next
to his hands, then jumped away from it, towards Chloe, a knife caught
from each pocket and thrown at her.
She dodged, barely, and threw one back. He twisted and it went by and
then he landed and she swiped at him with another knife. He caught
her wrist and she stepped forward to stab him with the other hand, a
new blade in it now. He turned and grabbed that wrist, too, and her
heel smashed into his knee.
He pulled away, that leg almost collapsing under him, and he used his
momentum to yank forward on her arms and head-butt Chloe in the face.
She cried out in pain and they both fell back, Chloe clutching at her
forehead and him testing his knee gingerly. It was bad but not enough
to keep him from fighting for several days, like Chloe's had. He'd
just have trouble during this one.
Ranma stood with his injured limb away from the girl. She was looking
at him, the base of one palm above her brow, her lips twisted in a
slight smile. Yeah, dodging knives with a bad leg was probably gonna
be really hard.
Chloe reached for her harnesses arm and Ranma pulled a knife out of
each pocket, throwing before Chloe could. The first knife missed but
the second shoved into the back of her left hand. She yelled out
again and Ranma could see the tip poking through her palm. A knife
flew at his face from her other hand and he barely managed to slap it
away.
When he looked back at Chloe he saw her grasp the handle of the knife
stuck though her and pull it free. Her face was white, the blade and
her hands covered with red. He ran at her as best he could but she
recovered and threw the knife at him. Twisting to the side made it
slice across his chest. He kicked Chloe in the stomach and she
stumbled back, knocked off her feet by the blow.
He dropped back to his feet, wincing at the pain. Chloe's chest
spasmed as she tried to suck in air but couldn't. She stood anyway
and her face was wet and she glared at him. Dirt clung to her bloody
hand from where she pushed herself up, a print upon the ground. She
shouldn't be using that hand at all. Even he knew that. A line
burned across his chest. He was hurt, too, his tattered shirt dyed
red in front.
"Hey, quit it," Ranma said. "You gotta go have Artena fix you up."
Teary red eyes glanced passed him, over at the Manor again. Was she
there? Ranma wasn't going to try looking.
"No," Chloe said.
She had to have forced that out, she still couldn't breathe. He
couldn't just split, not fast enough with his messed up knee. He had
to make Chloe stop attacking him. Blood was almost pouring off her
fingers.
Another knife was pulled from harness by Chloe's uninjured hand. She
still wasn't breathing right and she was going to attack?
Ranma rushed forward. Chloe didn't throw and he had to stop quickly
to avoid her taking a slash at him. It was slow and clumsy, though,
and Chloe was still trying to get more oxygen into her lungs. When
she swung the knife back at him he stepped in and punched her in the
gut. Any air she'd gained was ejected and he tried to grab the
weapon. She struggled and he knocked her down again, the knife in one
of his hands now.
Chloe stayed on the ground, arms clutched to her chest as she fought
to take a breath. Red soaked into her previously clean shirt; eyes
clenched shut but still leaking. Was it from the pain or something
else?
Ranma looked to the Manor and Artena was in the doorway, watching
calmly. Didn't she care? Chloe was bleeding pretty badly.
Ranma stared down at the girl. She was crying breathlessly, dirty,
and wounded. His pop probably woulda beat the shit out of any kid
that hurt him that badly. Artena just stood there and watched. What
would happen when he left? Would Artena help Chloe out, or not?
A click sounded. He raised his head in time to see a Japanese girl
the same age as he and Chloe, then something smashed into his good leg
and she had a gun and Ranma fell but not before the next bullet hit
high on his right arm and then he landed on it and it hurt then
another shot blasted his ringing ears and he was punched by another
fist of lead again this time in the chest.
The girl walked to him and he knew that even if Chloe didn't hate him,
he wasn't sure if she really meant it or not, he knew that this girl
did hate him and wanted him to die more than anything. Her face was
framed by hair the same color as his but her eyes were dark and mean
and her face told him that he was going to die. He couldn't move, he
couldn't stand or attack or even try to run away. He could barely
even turn his head to look up as she pointed the gun at his face. His
blood washed stickily over his body as it escaped in a steady stream.
He was going to die.
He saw the girl's finger tense to fire. He was going to die.
"You're early," came Artena's voice.
The girl paused, looked away from him but kept the gun pointed at his
head. "Yes," she said.
He heard something else but a black hole swallowed the sun and muffled
his ears and he could no longer see or listen or feel anything.
Chloe hadn't come by to visit. Neither had that other girl, the one
who'd shot him three times and almost caused him to die. He knew he'd
almost died because Artena had told him so. She also told him that
Chloe had wanted him to die and that the other girl had also. He'd
known that.
Ranma was stuck in bed and had been for the past few days, ever since
he woke up. The bullet to his leg had broken the bone. His opposite
knee hadn't healed as quickly as he'd thought it would, probably
because he got shot a bunch of times, so that still uncomfortable as
well. Which meant that he couldn't walk at all. His right arm was in
a sling to keep him from moving it. He didn't have a reason to move
since he didn't have a place to go anyway. There was a big bandage
over his chest and it hurt to breathe or move or even stay still like
he was. He didn't know how Artena had gotten that third bullet out
and hadn't asked. He was alive.
Artena fed him three times a day. There had been no talk of doing
dishes; she'd just fed him pleasantly. When he had to go to the
bathroom she helped him with that, too. It was difficult and
embarrassing but she remained pleasant no matter how much he wished
that girl had shot Artena instead. She came to his room to feed him
and check his bandages occasionally but other than that he stayed
alone.
He knew now that Chloe really did hate him. He could hear her voice
as she walked by his room on occasion, shy and happy as she talked to
the silent girl who'd shot him three times. Chloe didn't sound weepy
and hateful like when she'd been talking to him. He was sure the hand
he'd stabbed was still useless and bandaged up and that she probably
needed help eating too, but she was still happy and friendly and eager
to please the girl who'd shot him three times.
Archimedes had come by, though. The bird flew in through the open
doorway and settled down out of his reach on one of the corner posts
at the bottom of the bed. Archimedes just stared at him from there,
motionless until he tried to shift slightly, to make it's support
shake and the damn bird to leave. When it did its laughter was
mocking, harsh. Archimedes probably hated him, too. Why had she kept
Chloe from putting a knife in his back?
Footsteps clicked down the hallway and he heard Artena enter the room.
Ranma looked to the side, the door being in the wall behind him, and
saw her standing there with something cut out of a newspaper. It was
a Japanese newspaper because he could read the ad on the back of what
she held. Something for toothpaste. Artena wasn't here to check his
bandages.
"I found your father." Pleasant as ever. Pop was in the news?
Artena stepped over to the bed and held out the clipping and he took
it with his uninjured left hand. "You can stay here as long as you
want," she said, then left the room.
On the other side of the toothpaste ad it said that a man named Genma
Saotome was found present at the scene of a massacre. After
attempting to flee the suspect had been shot to death to prevent his
escape. The man had a number of small wounds covering his body, his
clothes were torn, and he had a knife fitting those that were used on
the victims in his hand when he was spotted. The police judged him
the killer and considered the case closed. The motive was guessed to
be an intent to steal from the victims. His father had a history of
theft.
Ranma hopped into the dining room. It'd been a week and the damaged
knee was fine now. His other leg was healed well enough that he could
at least hold it up slightly for getting around. His chest only hurt
when he breathed too much, an ache that spread all throughout his
torso. It hurt whenever he bumped into anything, too, and it was hard
not to do that while hopping around with only one useful arm.
The others were waiting, Artena patiently, Chloe watching the girl
that'd shot him three times, and the girl that'd shot him three times
just staring ahead in that odd hateful way of hers. He stopped next
to his chair and Artena scooted it back for him, holding it still
while he seated himself. When he was ready she pushed it forward
again so he was up against the table. She sat down.
Artena had already cut up his and Chloe's food so everybody began to
eat. The other girl picked at hers. She never ate much, her plate
still having food on it when everybody finished. He hadn't tried to
take any of her leftovers, both because it'd be hard to do with a
busted arm and because he knew she'd shoot him if he did. Artena had
told the girl not to kill him, but she would anyway.
The girl didn't have a name. Chloe never called her anything, nor did
Artena. It wasn't a big deal, it was easy for them to look at the
girl whenever they said something to her and everybody would know whom
they were talking to. A name wasn't really necessary. But it made
the girl even weirder, made her seem even more malicious. She was a
nameless girl with a gun who wanted to kill him for no reason. Chloe,
at least, hated him in particular, and had reasons for wanting to stab
him to death with her knives.
The person who'd killed those men in the paper had used knives. His
father had picked one of them up. Had it belonged to Chloe?
Even wounded he still finished eating first. Chloe ate awkwardly with
her right hand, just like he did his left, and the other two went
slowly, or hardly at all in the girl's case. Chloe rested her
bandaged hand on the edge of the table and he wondered if it still
looked like Bugs had after Ranma had ripped him open, red and gory and
sickening with a bit of white barely glimpsed through the bloody
flesh.
She ignored him, just as she'd done ever since he had woken up after
being shot three times.
The others finished, Artena pulled his chair back for him, and he
hopped back to his room.
Ranma stared at the stone ceiling. Sleeping was something he had
always liked to do. Usually when he and his pop were on the road
between sessions at school they would spend their time training all
day and stop only for meals. He would collapse after their evening
sparring session, a full stomach and an exhausted body knocking him
out until it was time to start again the next morning. He got almost
ten hours of sleep and it was something he missed when going to school
and having to train later at night to make up for the missed practice.
Now, though, that wasn't going to happen anymore. Not if his father
was dead. He was sleeping all day because he didn't have anything
better to do. He couldn't even run through boring kata, not with him
being shot up like he was.
Ranma stared at the ceiling. He was trying to sleep, anyway. Sleepy
thoughts, drowsy thoughts, thoughts of the Sandman coming to make him
slumber for a few years. But he didn't come and Ranma couldn't sleep.
All Ranma could do was lie in bed and wish for something to do that
didn't require any kind of movement.
Artena held out a book and he took it with his left hand. She turned
to leave, but spoke from the doorway, "You need to know that in a week
because afterwards we'll stop talking Japanese." She stepped out of
the room.
Learning French? Dammit, he'd asked for something to read, not a
paper brick. And it was shaped just like a brick, too, tall and
narrow and thick enough that he could barely hold it with one hand.
He opened the book and looked through the first few pages. Copyright
1964? It was as old as Artena!
Ranma flipped to the first chapter.
He concentrated. He had to get this right, otherwise it'd probably
sound really stupid. "Please pass the butter," he said in French,
carefully.
Chloe stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth, looked at him. The
other girl didn't react at all. Artena was at the opposite end of the
table and too far away to reach him, but the butter was right between
her and Chloe.
Artena picked the butter up and held it out to Chloe, expectation
clear. The girl frowned slightly but put her fork down, took the
butter with her right hand, and gave it to Ranma. He grinned, put the
stuff next to his plate, and went back to eating. Chloe glared at him
and then picked her own fork back up, almost stabbing at her food in
annoyance. Had she thought he could have put it on something using
only one hand?
Common phrases. Which way to the capital? Why would anybody ask
that? He flipped to the next page. Where is the restroom? He
memorized that one. Does your poodle have rabies? What? Next page.
Brick. Window. Brick. Bed. Brick. Cupboard. Brick. Sheet.
Brick. Pillow. Brick. Brick. Brick. Too many bricks. He knew
that word already.
Ranma pulled himself off the bed. His arm seemed fine and it didn't
hurt to put weight on his leg anymore. He knew it was still fragile,
though. His chest ache seemed to have gone away as well. Two weeks.
It'd taken long enough. He probably still wasn't ready to do much,
but walking around outside should be fine.
He picked up the book and left his room.
Chloe's tree was abandoned. He wasn't really surprised. Her hand had
healed faster than his bullet wounds so Chloe and that girl had been
sparring. Chloe came to dinner every night with bruises on her face
and exposed skin, looking cheerful as the other girl just ate
sullenly, unmarked. He didn't understand girls at all. Chloe just
got upset when he'd beaten her. But she hated him, so maybe that was
different.
Ranma sat under the tree and flipped through the book on French. He'd
also gotten a dictionary from Artena before heading out, since the one
in the book wasn't very complete. Tree. Sky. Building. Manor.
Hills. Mountains. Clouds. Leaves. Grapes. Wood. Lots more stuff
to learn when he left his room.
Off in the distance, coliseum.
They didn't look or even seem to notice when he entered the sand-
filled arena. He went over to the stone benches to watch. His leg
hurt a bit from walking so far, but he ignored it.
The two girls were fighting with staffs. The wooden poles were taller
than they were and as big around as their wrists, but they still swung
the things about and smacked at each other almost as quickly as he
could have. It was clear that Chloe was losing, the other girl's
staff impacting on Chloe's side or arms or legs almost regularly.
Chloe could barely keep up a partial defense and never managed to land
a hit in return.
Though she kept going, Chloe had to be hurting pretty badly. His pop
had trained him with staffs and Ranma was pretty sure that the girl
was hitting Chloe harder than his father had him, even though the
training was supposed to be something to help toughen him up against
repeated damage. Chloe just kept up that happy smile that faltered
only slightly at particularly vicious blows.
The crazy chick looked at Chloe the same way she'd looked at Ranma, as
a bug to be crushed. The same way she'd looked at him before shooting
him three times. She was working Chloe over methodically, though,
putting a careful amount of weight behind each swing. Bones that
could have been broken weren't, but they probably came close.
Suddenly the girl quit playing nice. Chloe was pushed back as blow
after heavy blow beat upon her staff. Chloe held her stick up in
defense and the other girl brought hers down again and again to hit
it. The other girl was going so fast that Chloe couldn't do anything
but try to keep from getting hit by something that would crack her
skull.
The girl knocked Chloe on her back with another blow. Chloe's staff
fell to the side. She looked scared. They were friends? The other
girl brought her stick up again for another swing. Ranma tensed.
She stopped and turned towards him. He stayed still. Fifteen feet
separated them. Did she have a gun? The staff would be enough. No
way could he beat her right now.
She looked back down at Chloe, then headed for the exit. Practice was
over. He watched her go.
Chloe stayed on the ground, on the sand. He could see she was
breathing quickly, and a bit shaky. It was probably because of the
workout. Eventually she sat up, then stood.
She glared at him like the other girl had, her stick back in hand.
Chloe wouldn't attack him, though. Not like the other girl would.
She said something in French that he didn't know, then went after her
friend. Her bruises weren't quite as cheerful now. She hurried
painfully.
Ranma stared. What was that about?
He sighed, opened his book. Benches. Stadium. Arena. Sand. Ranma
checked to see what she'd said, then frowned. He was not!
Ranma limped back into the Manor, hungry, his leg hurting. He
shouldn't have walked that much yet. He'd wait a few days before
trying it again. He would probably be back to normal in another week,
broken bones and all. Then he could do kata again.
Dinner was quiet as normal, the crazy chick not saying anything,
Artena eating silently. She'd stopped cutting his and Chloe's food
up. Chloe seemed a bit sorer than usual, and a bit angrier with him,
for whatever reason. He ate quickly, his speed no longer handicapped
by using only one hand. As soon as he finished he pushed his chair
back to leave.
"It's your turn to help me with the dishes, Ranma." Artena spoke in
Japanese for clarity. Chloe cheered up visibly.
"Uh, my leg hurts. I should go lie down." It did hurt. He wasn't
lying, really.
"Chloe is bruised all over."
Ranma looked at the other girl. She stared back. She had a butter
knife in one hand.
"She helped yesterday," Artena said, then repeated, "it's your turn."
He sat down and waited while the others finished their meals. The
girl put the knife down and resumed picking at her plate. At least
this way he could finish what the crazy chick didn't eat.
Ranma lied in bed, 'Through The Looking Glass' on his lap, the
'Learning French' book on one side and the Japanese to French
dictionary on the other. Chloe had quit reading when that girl
arrived, so it gave him something else to do. His leg hurt too much
and his chest did, too, so he couldn't do anything fun, anyway. Plus
he needed to learn this.
He really hated Alice, though.
Ranma jumped, dodged in midair, and threw his leg out at his opponent
who leapt to meet him. Miss. A fist slammed into his stomach and he
was knocked back to the ground, breathless. He landed on his feet and
threw himself forward, fists flying at his unprepared enemy just as
the man touched down. The fists were blocked easily and a foot rose
to crush into his side.
Ranma collapsed to the ground, bellows pumping. He'd lost a bit of
his conditioning after most of a month relaxing and spending much of
the time asleep. His pop woulda been disgusted, for him to run short
of breath so easily against an imaginary opponent. He'd have to get
back into shape as quickly as possible. Not that it mattered much.
He forced the air out quickly in a small explosion, then stood, sucked
it back in, and started again.
He stopped immediately when the crazy chick entered the arena. Chloe
he might not have felt arrive. The crazy chick was like a weird kid
who had been in his class one year, though. The boy would burst out
yelling stuff all the time and not even notice he was doing it. The
girl was like that only she did it while carrying around a megaphone.
She never actually said anything, but she didn't need to. He knew she
was there.
She walked out not looking at him at all, and stopped near the center.
Chloe was with her. Neither of them looked at him but he went and sat
down in the stands anyway. If he got in the way she'd probably shoot
him again. Saying he was there first wouldn't do any good. She
wouldn't care.
Ranma watched Chloe get beaten on by a pair of nun-chucks, this time.
His pop had never taught him those, so he tried to memorize all the
tricks the other girl used. He could figure out where they had gotten
the things, then practice with them later.
What the hell were they using nun-chucks for, anyway?
Ranma frowned, looking up from the book as Chloe walked by, talking to
that girl in the shy manner she had with the crazy chick. What the
hell was she saying? He'd started listening whenever he could, trying
to pick out the words, but he could never find them in his dictionary.
It was annoying.
"Keep going," Artena said.
The crazy woman was making him read the crappy book about Alice out
loud to her. Practicing his French, she said. He didn't even have to
know what the words meant to speak what it said on the page, so what
was the point?
He started reading again.
He limped back to the Manor. Smacking himself on the shin with those
things had really hurt, but he knew how to use them well enough now.
In case he ever needed such a skill.
He'd spent a few days looking for the things before Artena had simply
given them to him. Odd that she'd lent him a pair without even having
to be asked, though. How'd she know?
Ranma stopped again and glared towards the doorway. What the hell was
she saying? He should know by now! "How come I can't understand
her?" he demanded. It was really pissing him off!
Artena smiled pleasantly. "Chloe is talking in English. You haven't
learned that yet."
"Oh." She thought he was gonna study another new language? Artena
was as nuts as the crazy girl.
He came to a stop, his breathing heavy but stable and smooth. He
could barely hear his heartbeat now, his body again accustomed to the
exercise that it'd been getting for years. Quit for a month and it
was like having to start all over again. Scary.
Ranma turned to leave, done practicing for the moment, and almost
missed a step. That girl was at the edge of the arena, sitting down
in the first row of benches, watching him. He hadn't known she was
there at all. How long had she been watching? Why hadn't he sensed
her?
She could have taken her gun out and been taking aim, pointing it
right at his head, able to fire at any time, and he'd never even have
known what hit him. Scary.
He walked out, flinching only slightly as her oppressive malevolence
suddenly returned. He didn't even peek back over his shoulder to make
sure she wasn't about to shoot him. Why would she bother, at that
point? She could have done it already.
Ranma slammed the book shut. "There. The end," he said in French.
No more Alice, and no more reading to Artena.
The woman just nodded, and responded in kind. "Good. Tomorrow you
and Chloe will go to the village to get some new books." She looked
down at his feet, and Ranma did, too. "You can get more clothes, and
some shoes, as well. It will be too cold to go barefoot, soon. Chloe
will know what you'll need, and where to get it."
More books? Yay. Shoes would be nice. Not that he needed them, but
sometimes he'd step on a rock that was pointed up like a little tooth
reaching out to take a bite out of him. "How come the other girl
isn't coming along?"
"Do you want her to?"
"No."
in front of. Ranma jumped to his feet to avoid two more, then took
off running down the row. He couldn't fight with bread in his hands.
He could hear Chloe a few steps behind in the next aisle.
He turned right when he reached the end of the field, then right again
to go into the next row. It'd give him a bit of space. Ranma ripped
another mouthful of bread off and swallowed it awkwardly as he ran,
then did the same again before the previous bite was finished working
its way down. Fast thoughts, speedy thoughts.
There was nobody behind him.
Ranma stopped, listened. He couldn't hear any pursuit. Chloe
wouldn't have given up that quickly. He quit chewing and a massive
lump of partially masticated bread hit his stomach with an audible
splash. The waves settled and all was silent. Where was she?
Another bite, this one quiet, chewed carefully and slowly as to not
make any noise. Splash. Quiet thoughts, sneaky thoughts, elephant
ears that catch everything thoughts. Still nothing. She was gone.
Ranma started walking again, though quietly. The second heel of the
first loaf of bread disappeared past his jaws. He was mostly full.
Too many grapes had made his insides shrink in protest. What a
surprise. Damn the things.
Chloe was out here somewhere, hunting for him. Archimedes was, too.
Would the bird tell Chloe where he was? It had startled him earlier
and that was why Chloe's first two knives had missed. He probably
would have dodged in time anyway. Probably. Chloe would have made a
bit of noise to warn of where she was. Wouldn't she have?
He frowned, looked down at the remaining loaf. Too bad there wasn't a
good place to put it until he was hungry again. Ranma reached the end
of the row and kept going straight. Chloe had to be behind him
somewhere so he'd head for the coliseum and ditch the bread somewhere.
Then they could play, if that was what Chloe wanted to do.
Ranma jumped to the top ledge of the coliseum and looked towards the
Manor. Some hills, grapes in the distance, the building tiny from
this far away, but there was no Chloe following him. Had she gone
back inside or was she still looking for him? He couldn't believe
that she would quit so easily.
He dropped back down to the uppermost row of seats and started the
descent back to the sands below. Sneaking around was fun but he was
bored and wanted to fight. He was going to march right up to the
Manor and wait for Chloe to show up, whether it was from inside or
from hiding somewhere in the grape fields.
Ranma squinted, the sun shining across as he looked south from under
Chloe's tree. There she was, stepping out into the open, a quarter
mile away. She wasn't covered in green, though. Where was her cloak?
She walked towards him and he waited for her. When she was fifty feet
away he stood, ready. She stopped at twenty feet. The same distance
she practiced throwing her knives from.
Her harnesses were visible since Chloe wasn't wearing her cloak.
Black things that covered a good portion of each thigh and forearm,
under which she wore clothes just like the ones he had on. His were
ripped and bloody, though.
"So you're gonna try to kill me?" he asked.
Chloe smiled slightly. "Yes."
Was that a truthful smile or a lying smile? His own lying smiles were
big and impossible for him to resist making. Chloe might be better at
it, though. Or she could be telling the truth. Which was it?
A knife was suddenly in each of the girl's hands. A neat trick and he
hadn't even noticed. "Are you ready?" she asked.
"Yup."
She nodded, glanced over towards the Manor doorway, then threw both
knives. He dodged and two more were in the air again, which he also
dodged. She was fast but not so much that he couldn't make sure she
missed from twenty feet off. He pulled a blade out of his pocket and
threw one of Chloe's knives back at her.
She had to step aside, and he grinned. "You don't want to get close,
do ya?"
Chloe frowned, pulled two more knives, and ran forward. At ten feet
he threw again. She had to almost jump to the right to avoid getting
stuck in the chest. His aim was better now? She stopped at that
distance.
She threw one knife and he started to dodge. She threw the second one
to where he was moving. Ranma snatched it out of the air and tossed
it back. He grinned again when she yelped at another close miss.
"That distance isn't good either?"
Chloe stopped, stared at him. "When did you get so good at that?"
"Dunno." Bugs would be proud. Is that what Chloe would look like?
"Maybe you should give up?"
She pulled two more knives out and again did the staggered release
trick. He dodged the first, had to duck the second which slipped
right over his ear, and then the next two were almost planted in his
gut. He jumped and caught a tree branch, the knives going under his
feet. This was annoying.
Chloe looked like she thought she'd won and the next two knives came
at him. The first was torso level and the second by his feet in case
he let go. Ranma yanked his body up, his feet hitting the branch next
to his hands, then jumped away from it, towards Chloe, a knife caught
from each pocket and thrown at her.
She dodged, barely, and threw one back. He twisted and it went by and
then he landed and she swiped at him with another knife. He caught
her wrist and she stepped forward to stab him with the other hand, a
new blade in it now. He turned and grabbed that wrist, too, and her
heel smashed into his knee.
He pulled away, that leg almost collapsing under him, and he used his
momentum to yank forward on her arms and head-butt Chloe in the face.
She cried out in pain and they both fell back, Chloe clutching at her
forehead and him testing his knee gingerly. It was bad but not enough
to keep him from fighting for several days, like Chloe's had. He'd
just have trouble during this one.
Ranma stood with his injured limb away from the girl. She was looking
at him, the base of one palm above her brow, her lips twisted in a
slight smile. Yeah, dodging knives with a bad leg was probably gonna
be really hard.
Chloe reached for her harnesses arm and Ranma pulled a knife out of
each pocket, throwing before Chloe could. The first knife missed but
the second shoved into the back of her left hand. She yelled out
again and Ranma could see the tip poking through her palm. A knife
flew at his face from her other hand and he barely managed to slap it
away.
When he looked back at Chloe he saw her grasp the handle of the knife
stuck though her and pull it free. Her face was white, the blade and
her hands covered with red. He ran at her as best he could but she
recovered and threw the knife at him. Twisting to the side made it
slice across his chest. He kicked Chloe in the stomach and she
stumbled back, knocked off her feet by the blow.
He dropped back to his feet, wincing at the pain. Chloe's chest
spasmed as she tried to suck in air but couldn't. She stood anyway
and her face was wet and she glared at him. Dirt clung to her bloody
hand from where she pushed herself up, a print upon the ground. She
shouldn't be using that hand at all. Even he knew that. A line
burned across his chest. He was hurt, too, his tattered shirt dyed
red in front.
"Hey, quit it," Ranma said. "You gotta go have Artena fix you up."
Teary red eyes glanced passed him, over at the Manor again. Was she
there? Ranma wasn't going to try looking.
"No," Chloe said.
She had to have forced that out, she still couldn't breathe. He
couldn't just split, not fast enough with his messed up knee. He had
to make Chloe stop attacking him. Blood was almost pouring off her
fingers.
Another knife was pulled from harness by Chloe's uninjured hand. She
still wasn't breathing right and she was going to attack?
Ranma rushed forward. Chloe didn't throw and he had to stop quickly
to avoid her taking a slash at him. It was slow and clumsy, though,
and Chloe was still trying to get more oxygen into her lungs. When
she swung the knife back at him he stepped in and punched her in the
gut. Any air she'd gained was ejected and he tried to grab the
weapon. She struggled and he knocked her down again, the knife in one
of his hands now.
Chloe stayed on the ground, arms clutched to her chest as she fought
to take a breath. Red soaked into her previously clean shirt; eyes
clenched shut but still leaking. Was it from the pain or something
else?
Ranma looked to the Manor and Artena was in the doorway, watching
calmly. Didn't she care? Chloe was bleeding pretty badly.
Ranma stared down at the girl. She was crying breathlessly, dirty,
and wounded. His pop probably woulda beat the shit out of any kid
that hurt him that badly. Artena just stood there and watched. What
would happen when he left? Would Artena help Chloe out, or not?
A click sounded. He raised his head in time to see a Japanese girl
the same age as he and Chloe, then something smashed into his good leg
and she had a gun and Ranma fell but not before the next bullet hit
high on his right arm and then he landed on it and it hurt then
another shot blasted his ringing ears and he was punched by another
fist of lead again this time in the chest.
The girl walked to him and he knew that even if Chloe didn't hate him,
he wasn't sure if she really meant it or not, he knew that this girl
did hate him and wanted him to die more than anything. Her face was
framed by hair the same color as his but her eyes were dark and mean
and her face told him that he was going to die. He couldn't move, he
couldn't stand or attack or even try to run away. He could barely
even turn his head to look up as she pointed the gun at his face. His
blood washed stickily over his body as it escaped in a steady stream.
He was going to die.
He saw the girl's finger tense to fire. He was going to die.
"You're early," came Artena's voice.
The girl paused, looked away from him but kept the gun pointed at his
head. "Yes," she said.
He heard something else but a black hole swallowed the sun and muffled
his ears and he could no longer see or listen or feel anything.
Chloe hadn't come by to visit. Neither had that other girl, the one
who'd shot him three times and almost caused him to die. He knew he'd
almost died because Artena had told him so. She also told him that
Chloe had wanted him to die and that the other girl had also. He'd
known that.
Ranma was stuck in bed and had been for the past few days, ever since
he woke up. The bullet to his leg had broken the bone. His opposite
knee hadn't healed as quickly as he'd thought it would, probably
because he got shot a bunch of times, so that still uncomfortable as
well. Which meant that he couldn't walk at all. His right arm was in
a sling to keep him from moving it. He didn't have a reason to move
since he didn't have a place to go anyway. There was a big bandage
over his chest and it hurt to breathe or move or even stay still like
he was. He didn't know how Artena had gotten that third bullet out
and hadn't asked. He was alive.
Artena fed him three times a day. There had been no talk of doing
dishes; she'd just fed him pleasantly. When he had to go to the
bathroom she helped him with that, too. It was difficult and
embarrassing but she remained pleasant no matter how much he wished
that girl had shot Artena instead. She came to his room to feed him
and check his bandages occasionally but other than that he stayed
alone.
He knew now that Chloe really did hate him. He could hear her voice
as she walked by his room on occasion, shy and happy as she talked to
the silent girl who'd shot him three times. Chloe didn't sound weepy
and hateful like when she'd been talking to him. He was sure the hand
he'd stabbed was still useless and bandaged up and that she probably
needed help eating too, but she was still happy and friendly and eager
to please the girl who'd shot him three times.
Archimedes had come by, though. The bird flew in through the open
doorway and settled down out of his reach on one of the corner posts
at the bottom of the bed. Archimedes just stared at him from there,
motionless until he tried to shift slightly, to make it's support
shake and the damn bird to leave. When it did its laughter was
mocking, harsh. Archimedes probably hated him, too. Why had she kept
Chloe from putting a knife in his back?
Footsteps clicked down the hallway and he heard Artena enter the room.
Ranma looked to the side, the door being in the wall behind him, and
saw her standing there with something cut out of a newspaper. It was
a Japanese newspaper because he could read the ad on the back of what
she held. Something for toothpaste. Artena wasn't here to check his
bandages.
"I found your father." Pleasant as ever. Pop was in the news?
Artena stepped over to the bed and held out the clipping and he took
it with his uninjured left hand. "You can stay here as long as you
want," she said, then left the room.
On the other side of the toothpaste ad it said that a man named Genma
Saotome was found present at the scene of a massacre. After
attempting to flee the suspect had been shot to death to prevent his
escape. The man had a number of small wounds covering his body, his
clothes were torn, and he had a knife fitting those that were used on
the victims in his hand when he was spotted. The police judged him
the killer and considered the case closed. The motive was guessed to
be an intent to steal from the victims. His father had a history of
theft.
Ranma hopped into the dining room. It'd been a week and the damaged
knee was fine now. His other leg was healed well enough that he could
at least hold it up slightly for getting around. His chest only hurt
when he breathed too much, an ache that spread all throughout his
torso. It hurt whenever he bumped into anything, too, and it was hard
not to do that while hopping around with only one useful arm.
The others were waiting, Artena patiently, Chloe watching the girl
that'd shot him three times, and the girl that'd shot him three times
just staring ahead in that odd hateful way of hers. He stopped next
to his chair and Artena scooted it back for him, holding it still
while he seated himself. When he was ready she pushed it forward
again so he was up against the table. She sat down.
Artena had already cut up his and Chloe's food so everybody began to
eat. The other girl picked at hers. She never ate much, her plate
still having food on it when everybody finished. He hadn't tried to
take any of her leftovers, both because it'd be hard to do with a
busted arm and because he knew she'd shoot him if he did. Artena had
told the girl not to kill him, but she would anyway.
The girl didn't have a name. Chloe never called her anything, nor did
Artena. It wasn't a big deal, it was easy for them to look at the
girl whenever they said something to her and everybody would know whom
they were talking to. A name wasn't really necessary. But it made
the girl even weirder, made her seem even more malicious. She was a
nameless girl with a gun who wanted to kill him for no reason. Chloe,
at least, hated him in particular, and had reasons for wanting to stab
him to death with her knives.
The person who'd killed those men in the paper had used knives. His
father had picked one of them up. Had it belonged to Chloe?
Even wounded he still finished eating first. Chloe ate awkwardly with
her right hand, just like he did his left, and the other two went
slowly, or hardly at all in the girl's case. Chloe rested her
bandaged hand on the edge of the table and he wondered if it still
looked like Bugs had after Ranma had ripped him open, red and gory and
sickening with a bit of white barely glimpsed through the bloody
flesh.
She ignored him, just as she'd done ever since he had woken up after
being shot three times.
The others finished, Artena pulled his chair back for him, and he
hopped back to his room.
Ranma stared at the stone ceiling. Sleeping was something he had
always liked to do. Usually when he and his pop were on the road
between sessions at school they would spend their time training all
day and stop only for meals. He would collapse after their evening
sparring session, a full stomach and an exhausted body knocking him
out until it was time to start again the next morning. He got almost
ten hours of sleep and it was something he missed when going to school
and having to train later at night to make up for the missed practice.
Now, though, that wasn't going to happen anymore. Not if his father
was dead. He was sleeping all day because he didn't have anything
better to do. He couldn't even run through boring kata, not with him
being shot up like he was.
Ranma stared at the ceiling. He was trying to sleep, anyway. Sleepy
thoughts, drowsy thoughts, thoughts of the Sandman coming to make him
slumber for a few years. But he didn't come and Ranma couldn't sleep.
All Ranma could do was lie in bed and wish for something to do that
didn't require any kind of movement.
Artena held out a book and he took it with his left hand. She turned
to leave, but spoke from the doorway, "You need to know that in a week
because afterwards we'll stop talking Japanese." She stepped out of
the room.
Learning French? Dammit, he'd asked for something to read, not a
paper brick. And it was shaped just like a brick, too, tall and
narrow and thick enough that he could barely hold it with one hand.
He opened the book and looked through the first few pages. Copyright
1964? It was as old as Artena!
Ranma flipped to the first chapter.
He concentrated. He had to get this right, otherwise it'd probably
sound really stupid. "Please pass the butter," he said in French,
carefully.
Chloe stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth, looked at him. The
other girl didn't react at all. Artena was at the opposite end of the
table and too far away to reach him, but the butter was right between
her and Chloe.
Artena picked the butter up and held it out to Chloe, expectation
clear. The girl frowned slightly but put her fork down, took the
butter with her right hand, and gave it to Ranma. He grinned, put the
stuff next to his plate, and went back to eating. Chloe glared at him
and then picked her own fork back up, almost stabbing at her food in
annoyance. Had she thought he could have put it on something using
only one hand?
Common phrases. Which way to the capital? Why would anybody ask
that? He flipped to the next page. Where is the restroom? He
memorized that one. Does your poodle have rabies? What? Next page.
Brick. Window. Brick. Bed. Brick. Cupboard. Brick. Sheet.
Brick. Pillow. Brick. Brick. Brick. Too many bricks. He knew
that word already.
Ranma pulled himself off the bed. His arm seemed fine and it didn't
hurt to put weight on his leg anymore. He knew it was still fragile,
though. His chest ache seemed to have gone away as well. Two weeks.
It'd taken long enough. He probably still wasn't ready to do much,
but walking around outside should be fine.
He picked up the book and left his room.
Chloe's tree was abandoned. He wasn't really surprised. Her hand had
healed faster than his bullet wounds so Chloe and that girl had been
sparring. Chloe came to dinner every night with bruises on her face
and exposed skin, looking cheerful as the other girl just ate
sullenly, unmarked. He didn't understand girls at all. Chloe just
got upset when he'd beaten her. But she hated him, so maybe that was
different.
Ranma sat under the tree and flipped through the book on French. He'd
also gotten a dictionary from Artena before heading out, since the one
in the book wasn't very complete. Tree. Sky. Building. Manor.
Hills. Mountains. Clouds. Leaves. Grapes. Wood. Lots more stuff
to learn when he left his room.
Off in the distance, coliseum.
They didn't look or even seem to notice when he entered the sand-
filled arena. He went over to the stone benches to watch. His leg
hurt a bit from walking so far, but he ignored it.
The two girls were fighting with staffs. The wooden poles were taller
than they were and as big around as their wrists, but they still swung
the things about and smacked at each other almost as quickly as he
could have. It was clear that Chloe was losing, the other girl's
staff impacting on Chloe's side or arms or legs almost regularly.
Chloe could barely keep up a partial defense and never managed to land
a hit in return.
Though she kept going, Chloe had to be hurting pretty badly. His pop
had trained him with staffs and Ranma was pretty sure that the girl
was hitting Chloe harder than his father had him, even though the
training was supposed to be something to help toughen him up against
repeated damage. Chloe just kept up that happy smile that faltered
only slightly at particularly vicious blows.
The crazy chick looked at Chloe the same way she'd looked at Ranma, as
a bug to be crushed. The same way she'd looked at him before shooting
him three times. She was working Chloe over methodically, though,
putting a careful amount of weight behind each swing. Bones that
could have been broken weren't, but they probably came close.
Suddenly the girl quit playing nice. Chloe was pushed back as blow
after heavy blow beat upon her staff. Chloe held her stick up in
defense and the other girl brought hers down again and again to hit
it. The other girl was going so fast that Chloe couldn't do anything
but try to keep from getting hit by something that would crack her
skull.
The girl knocked Chloe on her back with another blow. Chloe's staff
fell to the side. She looked scared. They were friends? The other
girl brought her stick up again for another swing. Ranma tensed.
She stopped and turned towards him. He stayed still. Fifteen feet
separated them. Did she have a gun? The staff would be enough. No
way could he beat her right now.
She looked back down at Chloe, then headed for the exit. Practice was
over. He watched her go.
Chloe stayed on the ground, on the sand. He could see she was
breathing quickly, and a bit shaky. It was probably because of the
workout. Eventually she sat up, then stood.
She glared at him like the other girl had, her stick back in hand.
Chloe wouldn't attack him, though. Not like the other girl would.
She said something in French that he didn't know, then went after her
friend. Her bruises weren't quite as cheerful now. She hurried
painfully.
Ranma stared. What was that about?
He sighed, opened his book. Benches. Stadium. Arena. Sand. Ranma
checked to see what she'd said, then frowned. He was not!
Ranma limped back into the Manor, hungry, his leg hurting. He
shouldn't have walked that much yet. He'd wait a few days before
trying it again. He would probably be back to normal in another week,
broken bones and all. Then he could do kata again.
Dinner was quiet as normal, the crazy chick not saying anything,
Artena eating silently. She'd stopped cutting his and Chloe's food
up. Chloe seemed a bit sorer than usual, and a bit angrier with him,
for whatever reason. He ate quickly, his speed no longer handicapped
by using only one hand. As soon as he finished he pushed his chair
back to leave.
"It's your turn to help me with the dishes, Ranma." Artena spoke in
Japanese for clarity. Chloe cheered up visibly.
"Uh, my leg hurts. I should go lie down." It did hurt. He wasn't
lying, really.
"Chloe is bruised all over."
Ranma looked at the other girl. She stared back. She had a butter
knife in one hand.
"She helped yesterday," Artena said, then repeated, "it's your turn."
He sat down and waited while the others finished their meals. The
girl put the knife down and resumed picking at her plate. At least
this way he could finish what the crazy chick didn't eat.
Ranma lied in bed, 'Through The Looking Glass' on his lap, the
'Learning French' book on one side and the Japanese to French
dictionary on the other. Chloe had quit reading when that girl
arrived, so it gave him something else to do. His leg hurt too much
and his chest did, too, so he couldn't do anything fun, anyway. Plus
he needed to learn this.
He really hated Alice, though.
Ranma jumped, dodged in midair, and threw his leg out at his opponent
who leapt to meet him. Miss. A fist slammed into his stomach and he
was knocked back to the ground, breathless. He landed on his feet and
threw himself forward, fists flying at his unprepared enemy just as
the man touched down. The fists were blocked easily and a foot rose
to crush into his side.
Ranma collapsed to the ground, bellows pumping. He'd lost a bit of
his conditioning after most of a month relaxing and spending much of
the time asleep. His pop woulda been disgusted, for him to run short
of breath so easily against an imaginary opponent. He'd have to get
back into shape as quickly as possible. Not that it mattered much.
He forced the air out quickly in a small explosion, then stood, sucked
it back in, and started again.
He stopped immediately when the crazy chick entered the arena. Chloe
he might not have felt arrive. The crazy chick was like a weird kid
who had been in his class one year, though. The boy would burst out
yelling stuff all the time and not even notice he was doing it. The
girl was like that only she did it while carrying around a megaphone.
She never actually said anything, but she didn't need to. He knew she
was there.
She walked out not looking at him at all, and stopped near the center.
Chloe was with her. Neither of them looked at him but he went and sat
down in the stands anyway. If he got in the way she'd probably shoot
him again. Saying he was there first wouldn't do any good. She
wouldn't care.
Ranma watched Chloe get beaten on by a pair of nun-chucks, this time.
His pop had never taught him those, so he tried to memorize all the
tricks the other girl used. He could figure out where they had gotten
the things, then practice with them later.
What the hell were they using nun-chucks for, anyway?
Ranma frowned, looking up from the book as Chloe walked by, talking to
that girl in the shy manner she had with the crazy chick. What the
hell was she saying? He'd started listening whenever he could, trying
to pick out the words, but he could never find them in his dictionary.
It was annoying.
"Keep going," Artena said.
The crazy woman was making him read the crappy book about Alice out
loud to her. Practicing his French, she said. He didn't even have to
know what the words meant to speak what it said on the page, so what
was the point?
He started reading again.
He limped back to the Manor. Smacking himself on the shin with those
things had really hurt, but he knew how to use them well enough now.
In case he ever needed such a skill.
He'd spent a few days looking for the things before Artena had simply
given them to him. Odd that she'd lent him a pair without even having
to be asked, though. How'd she know?
Ranma stopped again and glared towards the doorway. What the hell was
she saying? He should know by now! "How come I can't understand
her?" he demanded. It was really pissing him off!
Artena smiled pleasantly. "Chloe is talking in English. You haven't
learned that yet."
"Oh." She thought he was gonna study another new language? Artena
was as nuts as the crazy girl.
He came to a stop, his breathing heavy but stable and smooth. He
could barely hear his heartbeat now, his body again accustomed to the
exercise that it'd been getting for years. Quit for a month and it
was like having to start all over again. Scary.
Ranma turned to leave, done practicing for the moment, and almost
missed a step. That girl was at the edge of the arena, sitting down
in the first row of benches, watching him. He hadn't known she was
there at all. How long had she been watching? Why hadn't he sensed
her?
She could have taken her gun out and been taking aim, pointing it
right at his head, able to fire at any time, and he'd never even have
known what hit him. Scary.
He walked out, flinching only slightly as her oppressive malevolence
suddenly returned. He didn't even peek back over his shoulder to make
sure she wasn't about to shoot him. Why would she bother, at that
point? She could have done it already.
Ranma slammed the book shut. "There. The end," he said in French.
No more Alice, and no more reading to Artena.
The woman just nodded, and responded in kind. "Good. Tomorrow you
and Chloe will go to the village to get some new books." She looked
down at his feet, and Ranma did, too. "You can get more clothes, and
some shoes, as well. It will be too cold to go barefoot, soon. Chloe
will know what you'll need, and where to get it."
More books? Yay. Shoes would be nice. Not that he needed them, but
sometimes he'd step on a rock that was pointed up like a little tooth
reaching out to take a bite out of him. "How come the other girl
isn't coming along?"
"Do you want her to?"
"No."