Another week, another chapter. Maybe writer's block won't smack me upside the head in the middle of this one.
Sasami Tombo: Ehm, 'bishie clones' are something of an inside joke. Basically, it's the only way every one of us can have a certain bishie without having to kill for him. Even though we would…
Tasuki: Don't even go there, fox-girl.
Murr, I love my bishies. [Glomp!]
Tasuki: Anytime you feel like lettin' go…
Chapter 23: Deceptions, Deceptions.
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Kiima watches from a safe distance above as Akane disappears into the spring below with a large splash, small and very faint lights beginning to gather on the disturbed surface. Kiima hovers closer, watching the bubbles rising to the top with a frightening intensity. More lights gather, until the whole spring is alight and blazes into near-painful brightness, and the bubbles stop rising. Kiima strikes cobra-fast, and hauls an unconscious Akane out of the water while the liquid glows and then dims. Taking the opportunity, a taloned hand reaches into the wet gi and pulls out the map-piece, tucking it into the Phoenix woman's own shirt.
Tossing the soaked girl belly-down over a log, Kiima presses firmly upwards on Akane's back, making the human girl's lungs dislodge a great deal of water. A couple of good thumps and Kiima helps her sit up, looking at her work in satisfaction.
"What (cough) the hell was (hack cough) that for??" Akane gasps indignantly as she glares at her tormentor.
"Simple. Watch." And the bird-woman hops into the spring. Akane sits there, stunned, as the bubbles slow and then erupt into a lithe body leaping back onto solid grown. Gaping, Akane looks at a near-exact double of herself, the only thing marring the 'reflection' is the sardonic and smug smile the new Akane is wearing. "Heh. Think your 'fiancée' is going to be able to recognize me like this?"
"Yes!" Akane snaps back heatedly, but Kiima-now-Akane just throws her head back and laughs.
"Maybe he will, maybe he won't! But I doubt the others will!" And from out of nowhere the new Akane conjures a leather bottle, dumping the contents over her head. An all-too pleased Kiima beats her wings and rises into the air, leaving a shivering Akane to stand and yell after her.
"Hey! What about me??"
"You're lucky I let you live after my humiliation, ningen brat! You should be thankful for that much! But if you think you can make it, the guide's hut is twenty miles to the east. Try not to fall into something!" And Kiima takes off as fast as she can fly, vanishing into the distance within seconds.
"Well, crap," Akane mutters as she looks towards the setting sun. Firming her determination, the soaking wet Akane turns her feet towards the east and starts walking.
===
"Ranma!" The pig-tailed boy whirls and throws his arms open in relief at the sight of a short-haired girl running towards him. They collide and tumble to the grass, Ranma laughing happily as he hugs her close.
"You're safe! How'd you get away, Akane?"
Grey-blue eyes look up at him, shining in satisfaction. "I tricked her into letting go for a second. Then all I had to do was knock her out and I was long gone!"
"Do you still have your map piece?" Smiling, she reaches into her gi and pulls out a piece of old parchment with the final trap's compass seal painted on it. "Good. Come on, we have to go tell Rei."
"I can't," Akane says unhappily, getting to her feet and helping Ranma to his. "I have to go to the Neko-Hanten and talk to Cologne. But I'll meet you there, okay?"
"All right," Ranma agrees uncertainly. Smiling again, his fiancée stands on tiptoe and gives him a quick peck on the cheek before running off again, waving back until she turns the corner. Ranma stands there in shock, one hand raised and touching the spot where she'd kissed him. Confusion and a sudden suspicion spreads across his face, and he races off towards the Kenobishi Dojo.
Several blocks away, Akane slows and reaches again into her gi, pulling out not one, but two pieces of the map with a chuckle. "That was easier than I thought it would be," she chuckles, pouring hot water from another bottle over her head. Kiima stretches her wings and lifts off, still heading towards the Cat Café. "Now, to take care of that Elder and her little idiot of a great-granddaughter."
===
("Oh, it's you again,") Shampoo sighs when the smug-looking Kiima struts into the main dining room of the Neko-Hanten. ("What do you want?")
("I want to challenge you, little Amazon kitty. If I win, I get your map piece. If you win, you get both of mine.") And she waves the two pieces under Shampoo's nose before tucking them away again.
"How you get those??" Shampoo demands, accidentally falling into broken Japanese in her surprise.
("'By hook or by crook' I will always win,") Kiima tells her in an indulgent tone. If this works like she wants it to, getting the rest of the pieces will be easy. ("So .Do you accept my challenge or do you prove that Amazons are as weak as your cursed form?")
Aura practically sparking in anger, Shampoo furiously agrees, unknowingly falling into Kiima's trap.
("Before we begin, does your Elder have a piece as well?")
(Great-grandmother does not need to hold a fragment against someone as dishonorable as you,") Shampoo snarls as she drops into an offensive stance, bonbori held high and ready. The two are standing in the middle of the empty street, the civilians in Nerima by this point having developed a 'storm sense' where the Nerima Wrecking Crew is involved and instinctively clearing out well in advance.
("Then let's begin.") Grinning, all Kiima does is snap her fingers. In the instant, a cloud of gold-colored dust bursts from the ground beneath Shampoo and engulfs her, forming into an oversized egg a few moments later. The sounds of banging can be heard from within, growing weaker and weaker with every passing second. Kiima waits a few moments longer when the banging stops before snapping her fingers again. The egg cracks, then shatters neatly back into dust motes that are absorbed back into the asphalt beneath the dazed Amazon girl. ("Now, what do you call me, slave?")
("Master,") Shampoo replies adoringly, looking at the bird-woman with an expression akin to hero-worship.
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("Very good, doreiko,") Kiima says indulgently, patting the ecstatic Shampoo on the head with a feeling of possessiveness. ("Now, we are going to collect all those pretty map pieces so that I will be happy. You do want me to be happy, don't you, doreiko?")
("Oh, yesyesyesyesyes!") Shampoo gushes quickly in reassurance. ("And I know where every single piece of the map is!")
("Very good,") Kiima repeats, beginning to walk off. Shampoo automatically falls into step three paces behind her, watching the woman ahead of her with eyes filled with adoration and all its related emotions. ("We will leave that nearsighted boy for last, since I am sure he would tell your Elder what he did.")
("What would that be?") Shampoo questions brightly, still trailing along like a puppy.
("You, doreiko, are going to each of the bad people holding a map piece and tell them that your great-grandmother has come up with a new plan, and needs each of the map pieces back. If they do not want you, you must make them, is that clear?")
("Yes, master!")
("Then please repeat my instructions.")
("I go to everyone who has a map piece and tell them that Great-grandmother has a new plan and needs their map fragments back. If they do not want to give them back I have to make them,") Shampoo parrots back obediently, and is rewarded for her correct answer by Kiima giving the violet-haired girl an approving smile over her shoulder.
("Excellent, doreiko,") Kiima tells her, Shampoo clapping her hands in joy at being praised. ("Now, I have already collected the fragments belonging to your 'Airen' and his fiancée, and you can keep your piece for the time being. Who is the next closest fragment-holder?")
("Kuno-baka.")
("Take me to him, then.")
====
"I should think that Akane kissing you instead of whacking the daylights out of you would be an improvement," Rei says dryly from her seat on her front lawn, tiny portable spinning wheel in her lap and a basket of cotton rolags dyed blue by her knee. The other three youkai-blooded teens sit haphazardly around her, engaged in various hobbies of their own. It's near sunset by this point, and rainclouds are beginning to gather at the horizon, set ablaze by the sinking sun into a riot of reds and oranges and golds.
"That's the thing," Ranma tells her, squatting in front of her, elbows on his knees and chin cupped in his hands, grey-blue eyes serious. "Akane's never really kissed me like that, not outta the blue like she did, not unless I've done somethin' not like me. Hell, I rescued her from kidnappers twice b'fore, and I ain't never got a kiss outta it."
"Ah, now it makes sense. You're confused that she decided to show an unexpected display of affection, which is not part of her usual character, desu ne?"
"Iie. I'm suspicious. It ain't like Akane to do somethin' like that. She hates casual touching almost as much as I do."
"Considering you keep getting mauled by wannabe fiancées and she keeps getting chased by the Hentai Horde, I'm not surprised you dislike casual touching," Kohaku snorts. Ranma just looks frustrated and scratches the back of his head.
"You don't think that baka-bird took her to Jusenkyo, do you?" Rei's expression never changes, and since Ranma is concentrated on her he misses the startled looks the other three give him.
-That guy is a lot smarter'n he lets on,- Kalerian comments to his soul-sibs, and gets various agreements in reply.
"Why do you say that?" Rei prods gently, never looking up from her spinning.
"Well, it'd fit, wouldn't it? Kiima drops her into an empty spring, hops in herself, and has a damn good disguise, ne?"
"But from what I gather and what you've told us, Kiima hates humans with a passion. Why would she want to turn into one?" Masaya points out logically.
"'Cause she's a fanatic to that Saffron kid. Fanatics do a lot of stuff they don't like if it's for their 'cause'." All four are openly staring at him now, mouths hanging slightly open. Ranma looks from one to the others and huffs. "Nani? Why're you all starin' at me?"
"Dude, what happened to the adorably dense-in-all-things-not-martial-arts Ranma?" Kohaku queries, the others snapping their mouths shut and looking mildly embarrassed.
"I ain't that dense. I got good grades same as you do. Just 'cause I don't prance around braggin' about how smart I am don't make me stupid." The pig-tailed boy now looks mightily offended.
"You're right, we're sorry, Ranma," Masaya says from his sprawl next to a intricate little bonsai pine. "It's just that Nabiki keeps screwing you over from Okinawa and back, and you don't seem able to stop her."
"Okay, one: I do that to pay for food and rent, 'cause I can't get a job with my luck and curse. Two: I spent over ten years gettin' hauled all over Japan by a fat lazy old man with the social skills of a gnat. Three: I'm waitin' until I turn eighteen, and then I'm gonna move out and turn the tables on her. Meanwhile she just keeps underestimating me."
"Absolutely brilliant," Kalerian chuckles. "Bravo, bravo. Think about selling tickets to that, I want a front row seat."
"Airen!" comes a familiar shout. Like a purple comet Shampoo drops out of nowhere and glomps onto the unfortunate Ranma, who is knocked off balance and ends up flat on his back and looking none-too-pleased with the situation.
"Shampoo, get offa me, woudja??" Somehow Ranma manages to wriggle free and takes refuge on a tree-branch, adding 'rumpled' to the list of things that aren't making him happy today and just pinning Shampoo with a surprisingly cat-like glare of indignation. Unhappy though she is that her beloved has run away from her yet again, the Amazon girl turns to the others and sighs.
"Great-grandmother has come up with a new plan that she hasn't explained to me yet, but she needs the pieces of the map she gave you. Can I have them, please?"
Digging into the pocket of his jeans, Kalerian glances up at the ruffled cursed young man and grins. "You know what's sad? Shampoo's lived here for just a year or so and her Japanese is much better than yours."
"Shove it, fish-boy," Ranma grumbles back as he digs around in his shirt for his own piece. Concern blooms on his face and he unbuttons the whole shirt, takes it off, and shakes it out. Shampoo has already collected the fragments from the other four and is standing under his branch, admiring the play of muscles under tanned skin lit by sunset. "Eh? Oh, kuso, don't tell me I dropped it!" he says frantically, rummaging around in his pockets desperately. "My fragment's gone!"
"Oh, that one must've been yours, then," Shampoo says suddenly, reaching into her pocket space tucked inside her shirt and coming out with a piece illustrated with a circle of blue. "I found it outside the Tendo Dojo."
"Oh, thank Kami," Ranma murmurs to himself and puts his shirt back on. "I don't like scares like that."
"What were you doing walking by Akane's place?" Masaya asks in curiosity.
"Looking for Ranma, of course. I got Kitchen-destroyer's piece from her while I was at it."
"But Akane said she needed to talk to the old ghoul." Ranma's suspicions come back full force, but are deflated when Shampoo lifts one slender eyebrow sardonically.
"And how long would she have been there if she was still at the Cafe?"
"Oh. Right."
With an edge of tension underlying her smile, Shampoo bids them all goodbye and bounds over the front wall to vanish from sight.
She runs for a few blocks, and then ducks into an alleyway and looks up expectantly. With a quiet thundering of wings, Kiima drops onto the ground beside her and gives her a waiting look. Soundlessly the brainwashed girl reaches into her pocket space and pulls out over two dozen pieces of heavy parchment ("Good work, doreiko,") Kiima murmurs to her as the woman takes the pieces and puts them in a small flat case, ("Now all that's left is that foolish Mu Tsu boy and we can go home. Eh? What's this?") A folded piece of paper has fallen from thin air and spirals to the ground. Picking it up, Kiima unfolds it and gasps. Written in elegant script are two sentences, two words, and one signature.
'Because this is how the Threads must go, I must allow your trickery. But do not think we four fooled, Kiima of the Phoenix Clan. Signed, the Weaver.'
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Heh-heh, Kiima's gonna blow a brain vessel trying to figure out who the Weaver is now. She only has to choose from among, oh, about thirty people. I'm so evil to my characters! [grins]
Doreiko: little slave. 'ko' is a suffix for 'small' or 'little', much like -chan.
Desu ne: right?
Ne: yes, or the shorter form of 'desu ne'
Nani: what
A standard rule of Japanese spelling is to make the 'u' in 'su' silent, which is why names like Yusuke or Tasuki and words like desu are pronounced Yuske, Taski, and des.