Scarlet Phoenix, Blue Dragon
Chapter 6, The Debt They Must Pay...
Author's Notes: Mid-terms are over! Finally! Anyways, I'll be able to write more now. In case anyone is wondering...here is a short progress report. For The Royal Servant, I have a lot of ideas for this series and it's roughly outlined in my mind already and all I have to do is type it and I'm set. For When The Children Are Grown, like The Royal Servant, I have mnay ideas for this series too so don't worry. Um...about The Scarlet Trail, I am run dry for this series...sorry. That's it for now. Comments and criticism to silverflame_maiden@hotmail.com and please sign my guestbook. Oh yeah, if anyone is offended by "language" or curse words, I suggest you do not read this.
Disclaimers: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma hurried into his office and searched through the papers on his desk. Ryoga, meanwhile, was searching through the papers in the drawer by the wall. Both of their faces were set in frustration and exasperation.
"Where is it?!" Ranma yelled as he threw his arms up in the air.
Ryoga continued his search, but said, "It has to be here, Ranma, just keep looking. I wonder who would dare set us up like that, I mean the cops had to have somebody on the inside rat on us."
"Who is it? Do you even have to ask it? It's that bitch, the Scarlet Phoenix. When I think about her...I...ugg...I mean first she severely injures five of my best assassins and now she has the nerve to do this! We need to find those papers, Ryoga, proving the shipment wasn't ours, but was someone else's. Now, I-...wait a minute, what's this?" Ranma picked up an envelope with a blue dragon on it.
Ryoga stared at the envelope and rushed over. Both men stared at the dragon on the envelope as if it was a sign of their death and doom.
"Do you think-?" Ryoga began, but Ranma cut him off, "It has to be. Damn! What could he possibly want?!"
Ryoga gave a cheeky smile, "Maybe he misses you and just wants to see how you're doing, that's all."
"Yeah, and the Scarlet Phoenix is Akane. Things like that just doesn't happen," Ranma turned the envelope over and opened it.
He pulled out a letter and both martial artists gulped before starting to read:
Isn't ' money cunning on my intelligence nothing grand. Before eating read elephant ate decisions you.
The message made little sense to anyone else since it obviously was a code. It, also, happened to be a child's code, but the message was clear enough. Take the first letter out of each word and what do you get? "I'm coming. Be ready."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane stood in front of the large doors to the gold suite in the Hotel Grande, her hand poised ready to knock. Room 706. That was the message that Sandy had left her that morning when she told her that Mel wanted to see her at exactly 4:00 P.M today. Akane took a deep breath *After so long...I'll be able to see Mel again...* Akane finally gave three, sharp, loud knocks on the door.
Sandy opened the door and smiled widely at Akane before pulling her into the room and locking the door behind them.
Looking around the room, Akane was unimpressed, she was used to luxury, anyways.
"Where's Mel?" Akane whispered to Sandy, but before the other girl could reply, a sharp voice rang from beside the mini-bar, "Right here, Fe-fe."
A smile spread across Akane's face at seeing her old boss stand beside the bar, pouring a bottle of drink into two glasses. Mel didn't look a day older then 29, though she must be reaching her forties by now. Her dark brown hair hung over her shoulders, a hair not out of place, while she wore an expensive, gray, chanel suit.
Akane walked over to the lady that was the closest to a mother that she ever had and her smile grew. Mel offered one glass of the strange alcohol to Akane and gave a wry grin as she said, "Drink, Fe-fe?"
Akane took the glass, but before she drank it, she sniffed it and said in amusement, "Poison, Mel? That was so obvious, are you lacking in skill?"
The older lady smiled, "No, but you're lacking in experience, Fe-fe. Take a look at your hand and tell me what you see."
Akane looked down at her hands just to see the veins in her hand become a dark green, traveling slowly up her system. She, immediately laughed and drank the glass. Her veins turned back to their original color.
"Bravo! But must you always win in everything, Mel?" Akane laughed.
"Yes," Mel said simply and both Akane and Sandy broke into laughter this time.
"You dare laugh at the Lady's expense?" Mel asked seriously.
Akane's eyes narrowed and her mouth turned grim, but her eyes still held the twinkle of humor, "I am no longer one of your henchmen, Mel. I don't work for you anymore."
Mel drank from her glass as she said, "My loss then."
Then as if she was commenting on what she had for lunch, Mel said non-chalantly, "I never did say I'd let you live, did I?"
Akane and Sandy smiled, "No, but you can try and take my life."
"You'd actually let me try?"
Akane flashed Mel a broad grin, "I said you can try, Mel, I never said you'd succeed, did I?"
Mel gave a low laugh and said, "So, tell me about this Scarlet Phoenix and Akane Varshardi..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane hummed a tuneless song as she walked happily down the street. People walked to and fro on all sides of the street, eager to get to their destination soon, not noticing their surroundings in an overpopulated city. Akane stopped along with a crowd of people on one side of the street, the red blinking hand on the other street telling her not to cross yet. A cinnamon, glazed donut was in her hand as she nibbled gently on it. The meeting with Mel today had sent her into a more confident, joyful mood so she had decided to indulge herself for once. With 3 famous chefs working for her and cooking all sorts of rare, delicious meals, this one cinnamon, glazed donut tasted sweeter then anything she could remember at that moment. The shrill sound of her cell phone rang from her Gucchi purse and Akane put her donut in her mouth as she answered it.
"Eh-oh?" she mumbled, the donut still in her mouth.
"Hello, Akane?" a smooth voice rang out on the other end.
Akane's mouth dropped open in surprise and her sweet donut immediately fell onto the cold, dirty ground just as the light changed and people started crossing the street.
"Damn!" Akane mumbled as she crossed the street among the crowd of people.
"I'd take that as you're not happy to hear from me?" the amused voice joke.
"No, no, it's just-" Akane began, then stopped and her eyebrows knit together as she asked, "Ranma, how did you get the number to my cellphone?"
"Kasumi told me," Ranma replied truthfully.
"What do you want Ranma?" Akane asked.
The guy on the other line chuckled deeply, "I can just hear the enthusiasm in your voice, Akane."
"I'm sorry Ranma, I don't know why I snapped at you," Akane lied, she did know. Here she was happily thinking about her life now, her life and how successful she was, how happy she was supposed to be when Ranma called, pouring salt over the wound she thought she had closed years ago, making her have a moment of wishing for something that she could never have. *Sweet, innocent Ranma. You probably have no idea about the other side of the city...or the dark side of life...you probably don't know about true hunger, or fear, or desolation, or hopelessness, or betrayal, or murder, or death...my naive Ranma...*
"It's okay, um...I was wondering if you would want to go to a party I'll be throwing at my apartment tonight?" Ranma asked, a catch in his voice.
"Sure Ranma, no prob, now where's your apartment?" Akane smiled.
"Oh it's the third building on Tymia street, 5th floor, 2nd apartment to the left," Ranma replied.
Akane's mind gave a dry laugh *...Tymia street...the good side of the city...*
Suddenly, she saw something that made her throat jump. There a few yards down the street was a man with crystal blue eyes that stared mockingly at her. She remembered that face and all the memories rushed at her again carrying the pain, anger, and guilt along with it. She saw Tyra's bloody body in that cold alleyway again and Akane saw him standing over her body with a gun. Then, she saw those cold eyes laughing at her terror.
Once again she felt the familiar fear grip her...but this time she wasn't stupid...she wasn't inexperienced...and she wasn't scared. Sort of like a child that was afraid of monsters under the bed until when they grew up and knew there were no monsters under there. Akane grew up in those few years...and she was ready for revenge...
Smiling, Akane began to pull out her handgun from her bag when the figure shook his head slowly, a terrifying grin growing on his face, and disappeared through the crowd. Rushing through the sea of people, Akane couldn't find him and gave a frustrated groan before she heard a voice yell on the cell phone she still gripped in her hand, "Akane?! Akane?!"
"Oh sorry, Ranma," Akane said, "I just thought I saw an old friend, that's all..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(That night)
Akane, Wasuki and Ukyo stood in front of the apartment door, the music blazing from inside.
"Are you sure your friend won't get mad if I went to his party uninvited?" Wasuki asked, not all that worried.
"Listen, hon', he won't mind," Ukyo said.
"Yeah, and you need to get over that idiot that dumped you," Akane joined in.
After they knocked on the door, a blond guy opened it. He smiled at them and said, "Hi, I'm Daniel, come in," before he closed the door.
Inside the loud-music, dark room Ukyo smiled dazzlingly at Daniel and fluttered her eyelashes obviously as she said, "Hey, sugar, wanna dance?"
"Sure," and with that Daniel started pulling Ukyo onto the dance floor.
"What about-?!" Akane began, but Ukyo just yelled back, "Tell him I'll meet him later!"
Both Akane gave a look to each other that said, *That's Ukyo*.
"Come on, " Akane started pulling Wasuki through the crowd, "I'll introduce you to him."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma stood next to the two large speakers as he joked with Ryoga and a group of guys. Suddenly,, he saw Akane heading towards him and he stood up straighter as he smiled. Ryoga nudged Ranma in the ribs as he whispered a warning, "Run." Obviously, Ryoga saw something Ranma didn't. Ranma just shot a scowl at Ryoga's way before turning back to Akane. By the time he noticed what was wrong Akane and her friend had already reached them.
Ranma stared wide-eyed at Akane's friend as Akane introduced her, "Ranma, I'd like you to meet Wasuki. Wasuki, Ranma."
Beside him Ranma heard Ryoga chuckle and say in a low voice, "Busted."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Notes: Send all comments and criticism to silverflame_maiden@hotmail.com.
Chapter 6, The Debt They Must Pay...
Author's Notes: Mid-terms are over! Finally! Anyways, I'll be able to write more now. In case anyone is wondering...here is a short progress report. For The Royal Servant, I have a lot of ideas for this series and it's roughly outlined in my mind already and all I have to do is type it and I'm set. For When The Children Are Grown, like The Royal Servant, I have mnay ideas for this series too so don't worry. Um...about The Scarlet Trail, I am run dry for this series...sorry. That's it for now. Comments and criticism to silverflame_maiden@hotmail.com and please sign my guestbook. Oh yeah, if anyone is offended by "language" or curse words, I suggest you do not read this.
Disclaimers: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma hurried into his office and searched through the papers on his desk. Ryoga, meanwhile, was searching through the papers in the drawer by the wall. Both of their faces were set in frustration and exasperation.
"Where is it?!" Ranma yelled as he threw his arms up in the air.
Ryoga continued his search, but said, "It has to be here, Ranma, just keep looking. I wonder who would dare set us up like that, I mean the cops had to have somebody on the inside rat on us."
"Who is it? Do you even have to ask it? It's that bitch, the Scarlet Phoenix. When I think about her...I...ugg...I mean first she severely injures five of my best assassins and now she has the nerve to do this! We need to find those papers, Ryoga, proving the shipment wasn't ours, but was someone else's. Now, I-...wait a minute, what's this?" Ranma picked up an envelope with a blue dragon on it.
Ryoga stared at the envelope and rushed over. Both men stared at the dragon on the envelope as if it was a sign of their death and doom.
"Do you think-?" Ryoga began, but Ranma cut him off, "It has to be. Damn! What could he possibly want?!"
Ryoga gave a cheeky smile, "Maybe he misses you and just wants to see how you're doing, that's all."
"Yeah, and the Scarlet Phoenix is Akane. Things like that just doesn't happen," Ranma turned the envelope over and opened it.
He pulled out a letter and both martial artists gulped before starting to read:
Isn't ' money cunning on my intelligence nothing grand. Before eating read elephant ate decisions you.
The message made little sense to anyone else since it obviously was a code. It, also, happened to be a child's code, but the message was clear enough. Take the first letter out of each word and what do you get? "I'm coming. Be ready."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane stood in front of the large doors to the gold suite in the Hotel Grande, her hand poised ready to knock. Room 706. That was the message that Sandy had left her that morning when she told her that Mel wanted to see her at exactly 4:00 P.M today. Akane took a deep breath *After so long...I'll be able to see Mel again...* Akane finally gave three, sharp, loud knocks on the door.
Sandy opened the door and smiled widely at Akane before pulling her into the room and locking the door behind them.
Looking around the room, Akane was unimpressed, she was used to luxury, anyways.
"Where's Mel?" Akane whispered to Sandy, but before the other girl could reply, a sharp voice rang from beside the mini-bar, "Right here, Fe-fe."
A smile spread across Akane's face at seeing her old boss stand beside the bar, pouring a bottle of drink into two glasses. Mel didn't look a day older then 29, though she must be reaching her forties by now. Her dark brown hair hung over her shoulders, a hair not out of place, while she wore an expensive, gray, chanel suit.
Akane walked over to the lady that was the closest to a mother that she ever had and her smile grew. Mel offered one glass of the strange alcohol to Akane and gave a wry grin as she said, "Drink, Fe-fe?"
Akane took the glass, but before she drank it, she sniffed it and said in amusement, "Poison, Mel? That was so obvious, are you lacking in skill?"
The older lady smiled, "No, but you're lacking in experience, Fe-fe. Take a look at your hand and tell me what you see."
Akane looked down at her hands just to see the veins in her hand become a dark green, traveling slowly up her system. She, immediately laughed and drank the glass. Her veins turned back to their original color.
"Bravo! But must you always win in everything, Mel?" Akane laughed.
"Yes," Mel said simply and both Akane and Sandy broke into laughter this time.
"You dare laugh at the Lady's expense?" Mel asked seriously.
Akane's eyes narrowed and her mouth turned grim, but her eyes still held the twinkle of humor, "I am no longer one of your henchmen, Mel. I don't work for you anymore."
Mel drank from her glass as she said, "My loss then."
Then as if she was commenting on what she had for lunch, Mel said non-chalantly, "I never did say I'd let you live, did I?"
Akane and Sandy smiled, "No, but you can try and take my life."
"You'd actually let me try?"
Akane flashed Mel a broad grin, "I said you can try, Mel, I never said you'd succeed, did I?"
Mel gave a low laugh and said, "So, tell me about this Scarlet Phoenix and Akane Varshardi..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane hummed a tuneless song as she walked happily down the street. People walked to and fro on all sides of the street, eager to get to their destination soon, not noticing their surroundings in an overpopulated city. Akane stopped along with a crowd of people on one side of the street, the red blinking hand on the other street telling her not to cross yet. A cinnamon, glazed donut was in her hand as she nibbled gently on it. The meeting with Mel today had sent her into a more confident, joyful mood so she had decided to indulge herself for once. With 3 famous chefs working for her and cooking all sorts of rare, delicious meals, this one cinnamon, glazed donut tasted sweeter then anything she could remember at that moment. The shrill sound of her cell phone rang from her Gucchi purse and Akane put her donut in her mouth as she answered it.
"Eh-oh?" she mumbled, the donut still in her mouth.
"Hello, Akane?" a smooth voice rang out on the other end.
Akane's mouth dropped open in surprise and her sweet donut immediately fell onto the cold, dirty ground just as the light changed and people started crossing the street.
"Damn!" Akane mumbled as she crossed the street among the crowd of people.
"I'd take that as you're not happy to hear from me?" the amused voice joke.
"No, no, it's just-" Akane began, then stopped and her eyebrows knit together as she asked, "Ranma, how did you get the number to my cellphone?"
"Kasumi told me," Ranma replied truthfully.
"What do you want Ranma?" Akane asked.
The guy on the other line chuckled deeply, "I can just hear the enthusiasm in your voice, Akane."
"I'm sorry Ranma, I don't know why I snapped at you," Akane lied, she did know. Here she was happily thinking about her life now, her life and how successful she was, how happy she was supposed to be when Ranma called, pouring salt over the wound she thought she had closed years ago, making her have a moment of wishing for something that she could never have. *Sweet, innocent Ranma. You probably have no idea about the other side of the city...or the dark side of life...you probably don't know about true hunger, or fear, or desolation, or hopelessness, or betrayal, or murder, or death...my naive Ranma...*
"It's okay, um...I was wondering if you would want to go to a party I'll be throwing at my apartment tonight?" Ranma asked, a catch in his voice.
"Sure Ranma, no prob, now where's your apartment?" Akane smiled.
"Oh it's the third building on Tymia street, 5th floor, 2nd apartment to the left," Ranma replied.
Akane's mind gave a dry laugh *...Tymia street...the good side of the city...*
Suddenly, she saw something that made her throat jump. There a few yards down the street was a man with crystal blue eyes that stared mockingly at her. She remembered that face and all the memories rushed at her again carrying the pain, anger, and guilt along with it. She saw Tyra's bloody body in that cold alleyway again and Akane saw him standing over her body with a gun. Then, she saw those cold eyes laughing at her terror.
Once again she felt the familiar fear grip her...but this time she wasn't stupid...she wasn't inexperienced...and she wasn't scared. Sort of like a child that was afraid of monsters under the bed until when they grew up and knew there were no monsters under there. Akane grew up in those few years...and she was ready for revenge...
Smiling, Akane began to pull out her handgun from her bag when the figure shook his head slowly, a terrifying grin growing on his face, and disappeared through the crowd. Rushing through the sea of people, Akane couldn't find him and gave a frustrated groan before she heard a voice yell on the cell phone she still gripped in her hand, "Akane?! Akane?!"
"Oh sorry, Ranma," Akane said, "I just thought I saw an old friend, that's all..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(That night)
Akane, Wasuki and Ukyo stood in front of the apartment door, the music blazing from inside.
"Are you sure your friend won't get mad if I went to his party uninvited?" Wasuki asked, not all that worried.
"Listen, hon', he won't mind," Ukyo said.
"Yeah, and you need to get over that idiot that dumped you," Akane joined in.
After they knocked on the door, a blond guy opened it. He smiled at them and said, "Hi, I'm Daniel, come in," before he closed the door.
Inside the loud-music, dark room Ukyo smiled dazzlingly at Daniel and fluttered her eyelashes obviously as she said, "Hey, sugar, wanna dance?"
"Sure," and with that Daniel started pulling Ukyo onto the dance floor.
"What about-?!" Akane began, but Ukyo just yelled back, "Tell him I'll meet him later!"
Both Akane gave a look to each other that said, *That's Ukyo*.
"Come on, " Akane started pulling Wasuki through the crowd, "I'll introduce you to him."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma stood next to the two large speakers as he joked with Ryoga and a group of guys. Suddenly,, he saw Akane heading towards him and he stood up straighter as he smiled. Ryoga nudged Ranma in the ribs as he whispered a warning, "Run." Obviously, Ryoga saw something Ranma didn't. Ranma just shot a scowl at Ryoga's way before turning back to Akane. By the time he noticed what was wrong Akane and her friend had already reached them.
Ranma stared wide-eyed at Akane's friend as Akane introduced her, "Ranma, I'd like you to meet Wasuki. Wasuki, Ranma."
Beside him Ranma heard Ryoga chuckle and say in a low voice, "Busted."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Notes: Send all comments and criticism to silverflame_maiden@hotmail.com.