Disclaimer: The characters here don't belong to me but to Rumiko Takahashi.
They're here only for entertainment.
Chapter 2: (---Title---)
"Ryouga's still shocked?" Ranma asked. He'd followed the footsteps up to the roof the previous night but to no avail. He soon lost sound of the person he was pursuing and decided to go home to think things over. If that thief was to be caught, lots of thinking and clues were needed.
"Yes, he hasn't moved a bit," the maid, Saone, replied.
Ranma, followed by Saone and two other maids, hastily walked to Ryouga's room.
They were close to the room. "What has been done to him?" Ranma asked again.
"We did as mistress told us to. We've laid him on his bed and put the covers up around him," Hirake answered.
Pushing open the door, the two maids curtsied and left, leaving only Saone to tend to the gentlemen.
"Ryouga," Ranma shook his friend's shoulders. "Ryouga-kun. Wake up, will ya?"
"Robbers," Ryouga muttered, "in my home.how can I protect my family?"
"Guess I gotta try it out," Ranma murmured before gathering all the happiness he could into his voice. "We've got the thief! Ryouga! We've got the thief!"
Ryouga jumped up. "Where? Where? Let me teach that scum a lesson."
"The thief is still out there. But before you return to your crazy mutterings, could you please explain to me: who is the Underworld? A secret gang?"
Ryouga sat up sadly, swinging one leg off the bed before revealing.
"Didn't your mother tell you?" Ranma shook his head. "The Underworld is a world where- okay, not a world, but it's a place where swindlers and gamblers live. The worst kind of people survive there.
"A few weeks ago, this particular robber or robbers started marking our homes. We were to look out for him or them. Unfortunately, no one has managed to even sneak a peek at the culprit.or-"
"I know, culprits," Ranma interjected. Ryouga nodded.
"I have a start," Ranma finally announced after a sacred moment of silence. Ryouga, surprised at his sudden outburst, jolted.
"What is it?" Ryouga eventually asked after he scolded himself mentally.
"I'm not going to say it out yet. It might not be a vital clue but just a coincidence or a chance," Ranma excused.
"Oh," Ryouga said, feeling a little disappointed. If the 'clue' wasn't a clue, then they were nowhere. But if the 'clue' was a clue, then they'd be somewhere.
"I wish the thief would just own up or something. I'm getting sick of this cat-and-mice chase," Ryouga admitted before sipping some water and going back to sleep again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Ughhh! I can't believe that they would do this to me!" Akane screamed, tugging her hair. Her hand almost didn't miss the scissors which was snipping around.
"Akane, don't do that again. Who knows, I might accidentally snip off your fingers," Kasumi berated as she neatened the edges of her sister's hair.
"But those bastards cut it! They chopped, sliced, ripped, severed and slashed it! How could they do this!" Akane moaned, before thinking about how nice it would be to get revenge on the person who did this to her.
Kasumi sighed. "Please don't do this ever again. Okay?"
Akane didn't reply. It was hard to resist her sister's plea. But she had to help her family when they were in a financial crisis, too, didn't she?
Kasumi's voice broke, "Please, Akane, you don't know how hard it is to have to lose you to them again."
Akane kept silent before nodding. "But onee-chan," she turned to face her sister, "I'll do it if I have to."
Kasumi smiled a little through her misty eyes.
Akane turned back before she turned again. "Wait, onee-chan, what do you mean by 'again'?"
Kasumi frowned. "I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say."
"What do you mean by losing me to 'them again'?"
Kasumi blinked several times. The frown was gone and replace by inquiring eyes which widened. "You don't remember? But I thought that was the reason why you hated them."
"I don't remember what? And what's the reason?" Akane asked.
"How come." Kasumi's voice trailed off.
"Kasumi onee-chan, tell me," Akane urged desperately.
Thereupon, Kasumi began the story of how their beloved mother died:
"It was a warm day. Nothing bad happened, we were all so happy. Akane, you were about five years old at that time. We weren't living like that. We were peasants and we reared chicken. You used to be so frightened of them," Kasumi's voice tinkled with laughter at the memory.
"They would run after you and you would run screaming to us about how a chicken was going to get you and eat you up. You said that they were going to cook you because Mother always cooked them up and we ate them.
"The sky was clear and Nabiki was telling jokes to all of us."
Kasumi's face darkened and she looked down.
"That's when it happened."
"That was when what happened?" Akane asked, tugging at her sister's apron.
"Atop a horse came a stranger who was galloping towards our 'farm'. He demanded that we give him half of our income for we owed him.
"Otou-san asked, 'Young sir, what is it that we owe you?' and the man replied harshly, 'I've saved you people countless times from being sent away from your pathetic farm here.'
"Father then questioned, 'Who are you exactly, young man?" and he replied, 'I'm part of the nobility, the ton, and you should obey me!'"
Kasumi picked up a side of her apron and dabbed her damp eyes.
"We denied his request and didn't give him any of our chickens. He rode along to our neighbour, who harvested wheat and other plants. They, too, disagreed with him. Other neighbours down the block were the same. The young man, furious at not being able to get anything from us, vowed to come back. What we didn't know was that he could be so malicious.
"He came in the dead of the night. Noiselessly, he crept into our house and grabbed Mother. He held our mother hostage. We cried at him to release her. Father offered him all our chickens and even the eggs the hens lay.
"The young man, greedy as ever, accepted it. But not before he sliced Mother across the throat and let her die.
"Mother knew what he was going to do and before he slid the blade across her neck, Mother cried out, 'I will always love you all!' before she fell down and blood bubbled out from her throat. The gash wasn't so deep, yet it held the fate of Mother. We all knew that she was going to leave, that she was going to die.
"You were so young, yet you swore right at our side, looking all of a sudden like an adult, that you'd hate the nobility for all eternity.
"Mother couldn't speak because of.you know.and she just died."
Kasumi laughed a hollow laugh before she continued. "I don't hate the nobility. I just don't really like them."
"But I thought I always hated the nobility 'cos they were lazy and all while we had to work so hard," Akane whispered.
Kasumi wiped away the tears from her eyes with her right hand. "Perhaps it was because you-" she cleared her throat to get rid of the lump burdening her, "you know, you grew up and forgot about how Mom died and then your subconscious made up and excuse."
Akane stared at her lap for several minutes before agreeing. "Yes.yes."
"Now if you'd not move, I'd like to help you straighten the edges of your hair."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Father, I think we should tell Mother the truth."
Genma, who was slurping the spaghetti with great speed, choked and coughed.
Ranma had to slap him on the back to help his father regain his breath.
"Are you crazy, my son? Mad? Demented?" Genma roared. "I promised her! A man amongst men! We'll die!"
"You yourself heard what she said. When we first saw her, she said that it mattered the least to her."
"But-but," Genma sputtered. The spaghetti was no longer the center of his attention.
"We have to tell her. Either way, she'll find out sooner or later," Ranma argued.
"No, I will not tell her!"
"That's okay, because you will not be telling her alone. We will be explaining things to her."
"But-but," Genma sputtered again, causing more bits of spaghetti to fly across the room.
"Don't do that again," Ranma warned when a piece of the spaghetti landed on his cheek.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"No, I will not!" Akane shrilled at her father.
"Please Akane!" he begged on his knees, "Please my utmost lovely and beautiful daughter!"
Akane smirked. "Like that's going to work on me. You tried that before, Father."
"But why won't you do it?" Soun bawled, not giving a damn that he was flooding the house.
"If I asked you to be a maid of the household for a week at some nobility's household, would you like it?" Akane pointed out.
"Well," Soun contemplated, "I wouldn't-"
"See!" Akane shrieked.
"-because I'm a man and being a maid would require me being a female." Soun finished his explanation.
"It's not like you've ever behave like a man before," Akane muttered. She raised her voice. "What about a butler? You could be a butler!"
"Uh.hahaha!" Soun pretended to laugh. "A butler- what a fun job!"
"Stop bluffing," Akane said; she saw through his act. "Why do I have to serve," she spat the last word out, "the nobility?"
"Uh."
"If they're so noble, can't they serve themselves?"
"But Akane-"
"Why should I be the maid? Why must I be 'Sazara the hardworking maid'?"
Soun tried one last time. "You will be blending in with them. So they won't suspect that you're the thief who's been striking these couple of weeks." Soun gave her a side-glance. "After all, you wouldn't want to be caught by them, do you? For stealing from them and all.?"
Akane fell into his trap. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, she assured her father. "I'll do it!"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Mother, we've got something extremely important to reveal," Ranma and his father walked forward, holding a pail of water in their hands each.
"Oh? And what is so important that my son must come up to me seriously to disclose?" Nodoka asked while waving her handkerchief in the air.
"You see, while on our training trip, father and I chanced upon these hot springs," Ranma began.
"Wait," Nodoka raised out her hand, preventing Ranma from saying any further. "I've got something to divulge, too."
Ranma frowned. He tried looking at Genma who was looking remarkably happy to see a plate of caviar on the table.
Sheesh, he thought, and he's my father?
Nodoka motioned for her son to come closer.
As Ranma closed the space between them, he could see a figure sitting opposite his mother, behind a curtain.
"Ranma, your father and I have agreed to give you everything of the best. We've arranged something for you with another woman. She has agreed with us."
Ranma frowned. Anything his father thought was the best for him, was actually the worst.
"Ranma," his mother announced, "I want you to meet your fiancée, Shampoo."
Ranma stopped deathly in his tracks.
He could hear a bubbly voice greet him, "Nihao, Ranma!" before he fell to the floor with a faint.
Chapter 2: (---Title---)
"Ryouga's still shocked?" Ranma asked. He'd followed the footsteps up to the roof the previous night but to no avail. He soon lost sound of the person he was pursuing and decided to go home to think things over. If that thief was to be caught, lots of thinking and clues were needed.
"Yes, he hasn't moved a bit," the maid, Saone, replied.
Ranma, followed by Saone and two other maids, hastily walked to Ryouga's room.
They were close to the room. "What has been done to him?" Ranma asked again.
"We did as mistress told us to. We've laid him on his bed and put the covers up around him," Hirake answered.
Pushing open the door, the two maids curtsied and left, leaving only Saone to tend to the gentlemen.
"Ryouga," Ranma shook his friend's shoulders. "Ryouga-kun. Wake up, will ya?"
"Robbers," Ryouga muttered, "in my home.how can I protect my family?"
"Guess I gotta try it out," Ranma murmured before gathering all the happiness he could into his voice. "We've got the thief! Ryouga! We've got the thief!"
Ryouga jumped up. "Where? Where? Let me teach that scum a lesson."
"The thief is still out there. But before you return to your crazy mutterings, could you please explain to me: who is the Underworld? A secret gang?"
Ryouga sat up sadly, swinging one leg off the bed before revealing.
"Didn't your mother tell you?" Ranma shook his head. "The Underworld is a world where- okay, not a world, but it's a place where swindlers and gamblers live. The worst kind of people survive there.
"A few weeks ago, this particular robber or robbers started marking our homes. We were to look out for him or them. Unfortunately, no one has managed to even sneak a peek at the culprit.or-"
"I know, culprits," Ranma interjected. Ryouga nodded.
"I have a start," Ranma finally announced after a sacred moment of silence. Ryouga, surprised at his sudden outburst, jolted.
"What is it?" Ryouga eventually asked after he scolded himself mentally.
"I'm not going to say it out yet. It might not be a vital clue but just a coincidence or a chance," Ranma excused.
"Oh," Ryouga said, feeling a little disappointed. If the 'clue' wasn't a clue, then they were nowhere. But if the 'clue' was a clue, then they'd be somewhere.
"I wish the thief would just own up or something. I'm getting sick of this cat-and-mice chase," Ryouga admitted before sipping some water and going back to sleep again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Ughhh! I can't believe that they would do this to me!" Akane screamed, tugging her hair. Her hand almost didn't miss the scissors which was snipping around.
"Akane, don't do that again. Who knows, I might accidentally snip off your fingers," Kasumi berated as she neatened the edges of her sister's hair.
"But those bastards cut it! They chopped, sliced, ripped, severed and slashed it! How could they do this!" Akane moaned, before thinking about how nice it would be to get revenge on the person who did this to her.
Kasumi sighed. "Please don't do this ever again. Okay?"
Akane didn't reply. It was hard to resist her sister's plea. But she had to help her family when they were in a financial crisis, too, didn't she?
Kasumi's voice broke, "Please, Akane, you don't know how hard it is to have to lose you to them again."
Akane kept silent before nodding. "But onee-chan," she turned to face her sister, "I'll do it if I have to."
Kasumi smiled a little through her misty eyes.
Akane turned back before she turned again. "Wait, onee-chan, what do you mean by 'again'?"
Kasumi frowned. "I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say."
"What do you mean by losing me to 'them again'?"
Kasumi blinked several times. The frown was gone and replace by inquiring eyes which widened. "You don't remember? But I thought that was the reason why you hated them."
"I don't remember what? And what's the reason?" Akane asked.
"How come." Kasumi's voice trailed off.
"Kasumi onee-chan, tell me," Akane urged desperately.
Thereupon, Kasumi began the story of how their beloved mother died:
"It was a warm day. Nothing bad happened, we were all so happy. Akane, you were about five years old at that time. We weren't living like that. We were peasants and we reared chicken. You used to be so frightened of them," Kasumi's voice tinkled with laughter at the memory.
"They would run after you and you would run screaming to us about how a chicken was going to get you and eat you up. You said that they were going to cook you because Mother always cooked them up and we ate them.
"The sky was clear and Nabiki was telling jokes to all of us."
Kasumi's face darkened and she looked down.
"That's when it happened."
"That was when what happened?" Akane asked, tugging at her sister's apron.
"Atop a horse came a stranger who was galloping towards our 'farm'. He demanded that we give him half of our income for we owed him.
"Otou-san asked, 'Young sir, what is it that we owe you?' and the man replied harshly, 'I've saved you people countless times from being sent away from your pathetic farm here.'
"Father then questioned, 'Who are you exactly, young man?" and he replied, 'I'm part of the nobility, the ton, and you should obey me!'"
Kasumi picked up a side of her apron and dabbed her damp eyes.
"We denied his request and didn't give him any of our chickens. He rode along to our neighbour, who harvested wheat and other plants. They, too, disagreed with him. Other neighbours down the block were the same. The young man, furious at not being able to get anything from us, vowed to come back. What we didn't know was that he could be so malicious.
"He came in the dead of the night. Noiselessly, he crept into our house and grabbed Mother. He held our mother hostage. We cried at him to release her. Father offered him all our chickens and even the eggs the hens lay.
"The young man, greedy as ever, accepted it. But not before he sliced Mother across the throat and let her die.
"Mother knew what he was going to do and before he slid the blade across her neck, Mother cried out, 'I will always love you all!' before she fell down and blood bubbled out from her throat. The gash wasn't so deep, yet it held the fate of Mother. We all knew that she was going to leave, that she was going to die.
"You were so young, yet you swore right at our side, looking all of a sudden like an adult, that you'd hate the nobility for all eternity.
"Mother couldn't speak because of.you know.and she just died."
Kasumi laughed a hollow laugh before she continued. "I don't hate the nobility. I just don't really like them."
"But I thought I always hated the nobility 'cos they were lazy and all while we had to work so hard," Akane whispered.
Kasumi wiped away the tears from her eyes with her right hand. "Perhaps it was because you-" she cleared her throat to get rid of the lump burdening her, "you know, you grew up and forgot about how Mom died and then your subconscious made up and excuse."
Akane stared at her lap for several minutes before agreeing. "Yes.yes."
"Now if you'd not move, I'd like to help you straighten the edges of your hair."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Father, I think we should tell Mother the truth."
Genma, who was slurping the spaghetti with great speed, choked and coughed.
Ranma had to slap him on the back to help his father regain his breath.
"Are you crazy, my son? Mad? Demented?" Genma roared. "I promised her! A man amongst men! We'll die!"
"You yourself heard what she said. When we first saw her, she said that it mattered the least to her."
"But-but," Genma sputtered. The spaghetti was no longer the center of his attention.
"We have to tell her. Either way, she'll find out sooner or later," Ranma argued.
"No, I will not tell her!"
"That's okay, because you will not be telling her alone. We will be explaining things to her."
"But-but," Genma sputtered again, causing more bits of spaghetti to fly across the room.
"Don't do that again," Ranma warned when a piece of the spaghetti landed on his cheek.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"No, I will not!" Akane shrilled at her father.
"Please Akane!" he begged on his knees, "Please my utmost lovely and beautiful daughter!"
Akane smirked. "Like that's going to work on me. You tried that before, Father."
"But why won't you do it?" Soun bawled, not giving a damn that he was flooding the house.
"If I asked you to be a maid of the household for a week at some nobility's household, would you like it?" Akane pointed out.
"Well," Soun contemplated, "I wouldn't-"
"See!" Akane shrieked.
"-because I'm a man and being a maid would require me being a female." Soun finished his explanation.
"It's not like you've ever behave like a man before," Akane muttered. She raised her voice. "What about a butler? You could be a butler!"
"Uh.hahaha!" Soun pretended to laugh. "A butler- what a fun job!"
"Stop bluffing," Akane said; she saw through his act. "Why do I have to serve," she spat the last word out, "the nobility?"
"Uh."
"If they're so noble, can't they serve themselves?"
"But Akane-"
"Why should I be the maid? Why must I be 'Sazara the hardworking maid'?"
Soun tried one last time. "You will be blending in with them. So they won't suspect that you're the thief who's been striking these couple of weeks." Soun gave her a side-glance. "After all, you wouldn't want to be caught by them, do you? For stealing from them and all.?"
Akane fell into his trap. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, she assured her father. "I'll do it!"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Mother, we've got something extremely important to reveal," Ranma and his father walked forward, holding a pail of water in their hands each.
"Oh? And what is so important that my son must come up to me seriously to disclose?" Nodoka asked while waving her handkerchief in the air.
"You see, while on our training trip, father and I chanced upon these hot springs," Ranma began.
"Wait," Nodoka raised out her hand, preventing Ranma from saying any further. "I've got something to divulge, too."
Ranma frowned. He tried looking at Genma who was looking remarkably happy to see a plate of caviar on the table.
Sheesh, he thought, and he's my father?
Nodoka motioned for her son to come closer.
As Ranma closed the space between them, he could see a figure sitting opposite his mother, behind a curtain.
"Ranma, your father and I have agreed to give you everything of the best. We've arranged something for you with another woman. She has agreed with us."
Ranma frowned. Anything his father thought was the best for him, was actually the worst.
"Ranma," his mother announced, "I want you to meet your fiancée, Shampoo."
Ranma stopped deathly in his tracks.
He could hear a bubbly voice greet him, "Nihao, Ranma!" before he fell to the floor with a faint.