Chapter One
Priest Li Xiang
It's dark. So very dark.
I shouldn't be afraid, but my heart is pounding. My body trembles... with exhaustion? Fear? Anticipation? I can't tell. I don't know if I want to be able to.
The darkness seems... familiar. Why? What is it reminding me of...?
A tiny shaft of light splashes across my hand, and I shudder. Don't look up!
But still, I find myself looking. A rectangle of light cuts through the darkness overhead. The light is safe, I know this... but it is so very far away...
Despite the distance, I reach for it. It is only some miniscule primitive instinct screeching away at me that hints of the danger in the darkness. I barely yank my arm back before a massive shadow ripples through the air where my arm had been, momentarily blocking the light. I shudder, not only from almost having lost my arm, but from the chill that comes from the dark.
I'm scared. Why...?
"Boy..." the growl is unlike anything I've ever heard before. It's a raspy, rumbling snarl that's hard to understand, "...my little tau'ri..."
"Who... who's there?!" my voice... there is something wrong, but I can't quite place my finger on it. I'm more worried about whatever it is that is stalking me through the shadows.
I can hear it now, the heavy breath coming from behind me. I whirl, and find myself staring into eyes that glow silver. Somehow, that is more frightening than if they had been red.
I am given the impression of fangs when it grins at me, just moments before pain slams into my chest, sending me to my knees. As I struggle for breath, a spine-chilling laugh fills the air, and I feel a pair of massive jaws come down on my neck--
"Ranma! Stop screaming!" I am awoken by the all-too-familiar screech of my unwanted, uncute tomboy of a fiancée, and to the feeling of being drenched. Just once, I'd like to wake up like a normal person-- not being hit or soaked, or thrown out a window.
Taking the time to grumble, I get up and trudge down the stairs. It's Sunday, so my old man and Tendou-san are probably hung-over. Kasumi's off at the market picking up the ingredients for dinner, the slamming door indicates that Akane's taken off to go be with her friends, and Nabiki...
The girl in question seems to appear from nowhere, draping herself across my back, like she was asking for a piggy-back ride. It's at times like this, that I almost wish that Nabiki had remained my fiancée, and had not given that title back to Akane.
That thought doesn't last long, however, as she dangles a... black leather collar?... in front of my face, "This yours?"
There's something almost foreboding about that chuck of tanned cow skin. I don't like the chill it sends down my spine, or the stirring of the beast locked away in the back of my mind, "No... but it looks familiar." Nabiki pulls away, and I turn to face her, "Why do you ask?"
The girl shrugs carelessly, "It was in your father's things. A little box with your name on it."
"Why were you going through Pops' things?"
She ignores me, as usual, more preoccupied with the collar, "Wonder why Uncle Saotome has this... you sure that it's not yours?"
"Positive," well, maybe not. That collar both scares and excites me. The excited part is the same part that took pleasure in killing the self-proclaimed god, Saffron. And the fact that the collar excites that demon... it terrifies me, "...though...?"
"Yes?" the manipulator quirks an eyebrow at me, and I shove my hands into my pockets.
"Maybe it has something to do with the Nekoken? Maybe it helped su... su... uh..."
"Suppress?"
"Yeah, that one," I look away for a moment-- I can feel my cheeks burning. I hate it when I have to get help just to speak a sentence, "You know I don't remember much from before Jhusenkyou."
Hell, everyone knew that; I had to be forcefully reminded every now and again. Certainly more frequently than I liked.
For the most part, I've found that I can blame my old man for that. The idiot used to feed me full of all sorts of drugs and potions; I stopped taking them after Jhusenkyou. Not because I was suspicious of them-- but more because I kept forgetting to do so, while running for my life from Shampoo.
"And we both know the reason why," I smile lopsidedly at her imperial tone. I know why; she only knows half. No one but me and pops know about the potions.
"I did pay you all the money I had," I smile brightly in order to keep her from discovering that there's more to it than what she'd discovered. Even if we have a "truce", that doesn't mean that I'll just give her information that she has no right to have.
She taught me that, amusingly enough.
"The money went to a good cause," her smile is not exactly reassuring, despite our truce. She called it, actually, after discovering the true origins of the Nekoken. It had taken nearly eight months for her to find it, and I was paying on a daily basis the entire time.
Still, it was kind of disturbing to know that it wasn't a martial arts technique, but an ancient roman torture ritual designed to destroy the "trainee's" mind and force their obedience to the "trainer".
I'm not sure if my father knew that or not. The technique was originally meant to be used on the gladiators, so that they wouldn't go something stupid like, say, kill themselves. It was done under the coliseum, with one of the big cats, not a whole lot of little cats; if my father knew that, he didn't do it due to the small scrap of familial love he has for me. Maybe. Or it could have been he didn't want to travel to Rome with a six year old. I don't know. And I don't bother asking him, because I know that the old man won't tell me either way. He never was all that forthcoming with me-- take not telling me about any of my engagements, for example. I don't expect him to start now.
"What time is it?"
"Nearly noon," Nabiki smirks at me, "Akane was getting angry because you weren't up yet, and Kasumi told her she couldn't leave the house until you were."
Wincing, I turn away to find something to eat. No wonder Akane had drenched me-- even Kasumi's well-meaning attempts to get the two of us to be nicer to each other have a bad tendency to blow up in my face-- no one else's, just mine. Spotting a small plate of onigiri with my name on it, I snatch them up and thank whatever god is listening that my father is hung over. Otherwise, this snack wouldn't have been there.
Not really caring about manners and proper etiquette, I sprawl out on my stomach beside the table, munching away. Though when Nabiki drops onto my back, I nearly jump out of my skin, "Wha...?"
"Your hair is a mess," she clucks her tongue at me, and then proceeds to unravel my hair. The disgusted noise that she makes amuses me to no end-- I know how bad my hair can get. It's probably so tangled that it's more dreadlock than braid!
I don't doubt that there is dirt and grass, leaves and most likely dead insects in it. I wash it, yes, but not usually out of the pigtail. There's just too much effort involved to do that-- although sensei keeps telling me to "stop with the Nara act already!" I haven't quite figured out what the hell he's talking about...
Anyways, I just don't understand how girls do it. Long hair is a pain in the ass, but I never used to have any way to cut it, so I got used to it. Out in the middle of nowhere, with no one to impress... what would be the point of unbraiding it, scrubbing it, waiting for it to dry-- and in the meantime, getting it all in the face-- then rebraiding it?
See? It's a waste of time!
"You have a gig tonight, my dear," Nabiki grumbles, digging her fingernails into my scalp.
"Ouch! Dammit, what was that for, you crazy bitch?"
"You weren't listening, dumbass," is her retort, "As I was saying... you have a gig tonight, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, y'know, just once, I'd like to be male for one of these shows."
She laughs, and I feel a comb start pulling at the knots and tangles in my hair, "Now, now Ranma. You know that the fans prefer the female you."
"The 'fans' prefer to stare at Xue Shi's tits, Nabiki."
"Then try wearing a bra," this is amusing her far to much. I think it's karma for laughing at her disgust over my hair.
"Hmm... or, I could be male."
"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma," she's clucking her tongue again, and I'm pretty sure that she's rolling her eyes, too, "You're a star-- and stars pander to their fans!"
I don't really know what 'pander' means, but I think that I've got the right idea, "Oh yes. Such a famous person I am. Nabiki, I play at one bar in this ward. One. And only once every three weeks. I'm no star."
"You're still not going male. What will we tell the bar?"
"I dunno, isn't that your job?" I'm hit upside the head for my efforts.
She's giving me her favorite 'stop being an idiot' stare, I'm sure, "Ranma, you can't just change your gender whenever you feel like it--" at my amused star, she clarifies, "I meant in regards to when you've made a commitment in one form."
"I never wanted to do this in female form! You are the one who splashed me right before the audition, and then you never let me change back!"
"Fine!" she throws her hands into the air, annoyed, "Go as a male. I sincerely doubt that you'll get the reaction you want!"
"Thank you Nabiki," I crow in glee; I had to get her permission. The last three times that I had tried and hadn't gotten it, she dumped an entire bucket of water on me a minute before I had to go on stage. Quite frankly, I'd rather not do another show while soaking wet.
--------
"You're going to... try it as a guy?" Pandemonium's guitarist, Ozbourne Daniel-- we call him Oz-- is giving me this kinda... blank stare. But then, it's Oz-- that's pretty much normal for him. I've known him for about eight months now, so I'd like to be able to say that I can interpret his stares with the utmost of ease-- but I'd be lying.
Oz isn't a normal guy-- and I don't mean just because of his lack of expression. Like me, he's got a curse, but it's not a Jhusenkyou curse.
Back when he lived in America, Oz had a run-in with what he likes to call the 'night-life' of the world. Vampires and demons. To tell the truth, I didn't actually believe him when he told me about the things that go bump in the night, even though I'd apparently beaten the crap out of one for attempting to mug us. Oz had admitted that that was the only reason that he actually told me that stuff.
Anyways, back on topic. Oz got bitten-- not by a vampire; but by a werewolf. So for three nights every month, Oz has to lock himself up, or fear the consequences. Like turning his roommates-- which consist of the rest of the band-- into werewolves just like him.
For the rest of the month, though, he gets to enjoy the higher-senses of his wolfy counter-part. Well, except for on the new moon, when he's apparently all human.
So he's a hard guy to read, and I can only hope I'm reading his non-expression of laid back-ness correctly.
"Yeah," I nod, "I finally got Nabiki's go ahead, so this won't work out the same way it did the last few times I've tried."
"You sure it'll work?" our drummer, Masaki Nobuyuki smirks. Nobuyuki's like me-- a high school guy who's doing this band thing to get out of the house. Unlike me, he actually has a loving fiancée, and his fiancée's father actually thinks he's an okay guy. I'm pretty sure that's because the two of them can perv-out together, so long as Nobuyuki doesn't say anything to get old man Masaki pissy. Like commenting on their common female.
I shrug, tugging on a lock of my hair. I hate having it loose, but this is the easiest way to keep people from recognizing me. The hair'll get in the way and cause shadows and all that fun stuff, "It should. I'm gunna be ticked at Nabiki if this doesn't go through."
Chang Li Fei would be the bassist of Pandemonium. He'd also be the extremely late asshole who was only just now running full-tilt into the dressing room. Chang's a weird kinda guy; I guess it's because I don't have anything to actually connect with him on. Oz and me... we go out and hunt the vampires and stuff when we want to do anything together. Nobuyuki and I talk fighting styles, even if Nobuyuki only knows what old man Masaki's told him about sword work-- well, and Nobuyuki telling me that I'm not supposed to call him old man Masaki. He's not that old.
Chang on the other hand... he's a gamer, through and through. He couldn't care less about fighting, or about the things that go bump in the night. If he's got a videogame to play, he's happy. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that the only reason he plays in this band with us is to get the extra money needed to feed his gaming addiction.
When he finally stops being all hunched over and gasping for breath, he opens his mouth to babble his usual stupid apologies for being late-- then freezes on seeing me. I keep forgetting that he rarely sees me in male-form. More often than not, he's used to seeing me in female form, ready to go on stage, and nothing more. S'not like we hang out regularly or any such thing.
"Xue? What the hell, you're a guy!"
"Gee, I hadn't noticed."
"Do you gotta change? Owner says we're supposed to go on now!" he's pulling his base guitar out of it's case, and doing a quick check of the strings. I smirk.
"Not tonight. Hurry up, Oh-Five, we've gotta get on stage," he gives me a dirty glare. Chang hates being referred to as 'Oh-Five'-- or rather '05' as in pilot 05 on Gundam Wing; Chang Wu Fei. The similarities in their names has pissed him off since he first found out about it.
It doesn't take us all that long to get out on stage and all set up. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to say to the crowd, now that I'm out here and male. As the stage lights go on, I don't have time to think any more, so I just pull the microphone towards me, smirking out at the crowd. S'my standard smirk, the one that puts Ryouga into such a tizzy all the time.
"Hey everyone. Sorry t'say, but Xue Shi couldn't be in tonight. So I'm going to be singing up here. The name's Uma, and I hope you like me as much as you like my sister." So it's a lie, big deal. Wouldn't be the first time I've lied about who my redheaded other half is.
"Fumikomuze akuseru kake hiki wa naisa sou dayo!" it was a cover-- Pandemonium has few original songs, so we always open with a cover. Tonight was the night for Asian Kung-Fu Generations' Haruka Kanata. A good beat to start off the night, and best of all, it's a song originally sung by a guy, so there's no weirdness with pronouns.
"Youru wo nukeru
Nejikomu sa saigo ni sashihiki zero sa sou dayo
Hibi wo kezuru!"
I love this song, and I feel a lot freer to bounce around and have fun singing it, when I don't have tits to get in the way.
"Kokoro wo sotto hiraite gyutto hiki yosetara
todokuyo kitto tsutau yo motto sa aa!"
I don't have a problem with bouncing around like a hyper-active rabbit while in female form-- I do it often enough when I fight. It just feels strange, and when all I have are the words coming out of my mouth to distract me, it gets kinda uncomfortable.
"Iki isoide shiboritotee
motsureru ashi dakedo mae yori zutto sou tokue!"
I'm not exactly sure how girls do it normally; though it probably has something to do with having their tits grow in slowly, and not with a splash of water. Or, like Nabiki's told me time and time again, it could be the bra. It's just really hard to put one of those on-- even the sports tops-- without making me think of some of those girly mags Hiroshi and Daisuke leave everywhere.
"Ubaitotte tsukandatte
Kimi ja nai nara imi wa naniosa!"
I get a little fancy, and start throwing in kicks and flips and all that fun stuff. I never really felt like I could get into it when I was being 'Xue Shi'-- it just wasn't me. But now that I'm out here as me...
"Dakara motto motto motto haruka kanata!"
...I feel a lot more free.
"Fumikomuze akuseru kake hiki wa naisa sou dayo
Youru wo nukeru
Nejikomu sa saigo ni sashihiki zero sa sou dayo
Hibi wo kezuru!"
This is exhilarating in a way I hadn't thought possible over the last few months. I'd spent so much time fretting over being female while on stage, wearing the outfits Nabiki had picked out for me, that I hadn't been having any fun.
"Kokoro wo sotto hiraite gyutto hiki yosetara
Todokuyo kitto tsutau yo motto sa aa!"
Man, Nabiki was so wrong. I might not have the perfect pitch that I had in female form, but I like this so much more. It doesn't even matter to me if tonight goes good or bad in terms of other people liking it. This is what I want to do when I do these gigs. I want to be male, and have the type of fun that this should have been all along.
"Iki isoide shiboritotte
Motsureru ashi dakedo mae yori zutto sou tokue!"
I get the feeling that Oz is feeding off of my hyperness-- as I turn in a far more acrobatic movement than I've ever done in any fight, I can see him grinning at me.
"Ubaitotte tsukandatte
Kimi ja nai nara imi wa naniosa!"
That's a look I don't think I've ever seen on Oz's face. He actually looks happy, as apposed to stoned. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm super giddy, but I think my enthusiasm is catching.
"Dakara haruka kanata!"
Hell, even Chang looks happier than he was at the beginning of the song. He always looks grumpy when he's on stage. I think it's because I keep calling him Oh-Five before we go out.
"Itsuwaru ko do ni nareta kimi no sekai wo
Murizubusu no sa shiroku shirou!"
As I come to the end of the song, I find myself bouncing on my toes. It's such a weird feeling... oh hey! I can see one of my "outside Nerima" friends coming through the door to the club. I'm sure that if Akane were here, she'd get all pissy and annoyed-- Osaka Naru is, after all, a girl.
I make a note to myself that I need to talk to her after the show, before launching into our next cover: Paku Romi's Only One.
"Kodoku to jiyuu uraomote
Togireta kokoro kakushite..."
--------
Naru starts rather spectacularly when I drop a bottle in front of her nose. It's just a coke, but she grabs it and guzzles it down like a drowning guy in a desert. Something like that, I guess. Anyway, she slams down the empty bottle pretty quickly, and I make a note to never get her anything alcoholic. Ever.
"What's wrong, Naru?" because something has to be wrong to get her into this type of mood.
The flash of grit teeth when she smiles at me makes it kinda obvious that she thinks that it's my fault. Nothing new there, "When was the last time you saw Hibiki?"
Now that was unexpected. Naru doesn't like talking about my life in Nerima, and I don't like talking about her life in Juuban. It's easier on both of us if we don't pry or anything like that. Pretty much all I know about her is that her friends ditched her, she has an older brother, and she's older than I am. I've never told her about Ryouga; which is why I'm gaping at her.
"How...?"
"Answer the question, Ranma," she's giving me one vicious glare.
I shrug, trying to recall how long ago it had been... to my surprise, I haven't seen him in over a month, "Six weeks, maybe. Why? And How'd you know about him?"
"Someone taped your last fight with him," she grumbles, hooking her feet around the bottom of the stool and leaning back to glare at me, "And somehow it fell into the hands of my brother's employers."
"...your brother's a bodyguard, Naru. What's the deal?"
She's not looking at me-- she seems to be focused on the ceiling. No, I have no idea why. The mochiyaki-- I still haven't figured out why it's called that-- isn't exactly the most upscale of places. In fact, it's pretty damn threadbare, if that word applies here, "Bodyguard is his 'official' job. It's not his real job."
"So?"
"So, the guys who gave him his real job want to recruit you," she glances at me out of the corner of her eye, "And I don't think you have what it takes."
If there's one thing that annoys me, it's people trying to control my life. Okay, yeah, so other people do control my life. Doesn't mean I have to like it. I glare at her, "Well, obviously they think I can."
She spins around to face me, grabbing my shirt and pulling me closer, in a movement far faster than I'd thought her capable of. Her voice is very low when she hisses her question at me, "Can you kill them? Can you kill everyone you know? The Tendou, Kuonji, the Kunou, the Amazons, your parents, your schoolmates? They know about them-- they know about all of them. And the first assignment after they've finished warping you will be to kill them."
The intensity in her eyes is frightening, "Wha... bu..."
"No, Ranma," she's still too close, and speaking in that deadly soft voice, "The only reason I'm alive today is because I began exhibiting my psionics when I was three. I was long gone by the time bruder was found by them; assumed dead."
I'm still blinking in shock at her when she leans back, "Look, this isn't the best place to talk about this, Ranma. Especially not about the... other... part of this thing. See, one of my brother's... co-workers recognized you."
"Recognized...?" damn, did I have another enemy waiting in the wings?
She grimaces, "Recognized, and proclaimed ownership."
...or another fiancée? This is not good; I don't need this, not now. I just finished that mess with Saffron, and that stupid wedding. The girls have finally backed off-- sort of-- and I have some more free time for myself. If a new girl pops out of the woodwork now, that vacation from reality is going to be long gone before I know it. Not fun, not fun at all.
We get up and leave the tiny club-- I take a moment to tell Oz I'm off, so that someone can tell her imperial highness Nabiki where I am-- with Naru leading the way. She knows this area of Tokyo far better than I do-- if only because this is closer to her home than to the Tendou Dojo. The place she finally stops us at is a dirty little corner of a gardener's shed in a small park. She's seriously taking this a bit to far-- but then, considering her earlier words, I guess I can understand why.
She trails a finger through the dust on the floor as we crouch down, voices still low, "They're called Estet."
"Huh?"
"The people who want you, who have my brother. They're called Estet. I don't know what they really are, or where they come from, but they've been training assassins for years," she nods slightly, "Assassins, Ranma! My brother is an assassin! I knew he was hiding something from me, but it took all my psionic skill to hide my thoughts from him, and to hide myself from the others to find out about it."
I don't think my mind has quite caught up yet. I'm still processing the fact that guys who would have my kill my family want me to be their new... employee? Toy? Something like that.
She keeps talking, "I only found out a couple months ago, only got the courage up to ask him a few weeks ago. He doesn't deny it, Ranma, he revels in it. He doesn't care that he's killing people! My brother is... so very different than what I can barely recall..."
"Naru," I set my hands on her shoulders, "Naru, focus! Why do they want me?"
"Your ability to manipulate ki," she admits, brushing my hands away and rubbing her forehead, "That's all I managed to sneak out of Crawford's head before his shields kicked me out. Estet wants you, because you can form energy to your will. It's the perfect killing weapon; unable to be traced."
I frown, "Any martial artist of a high enough caliber can recognize a distinctive ki signature. It's not infallible... and who's Crawford"
"Estet doesn't know that; and Crawford is the leader of the team my brother's on," she shakes her head, "That's not the point right now, Ranma. The point is that you have to go into hiding."
"I don't hide, Naru," the thought of it sickens me. Who does she think I am? My old man? No way, no how; I don't hide from anyone. They want me, then they face me head on.
"They don't work like that, Ranma," she hisses. I glare at her, "Sorry, you were broadcasting. My psionics may not be anywhere near bruder's level, but your own aren't exactly weak."
According to Naru, I'm psionic. We don't know my particular specialty, except for the fact that it's not telepathy. Neither is Naru's, but her brother is one, so she's picked up a bit from him. She's an empath. I think my psionics have to do with battle-- probably with how I learn techniques so quickly. More than once, I've been told that it's unnatural.
"Look, it's no big deal, Naru. But if I suddenly start acting like I know that they want me; that I know that they're watching me, we can't predict anything on their part. Nabiki taught me that-- it's better to continue with the status quo, trying to see what they are up to before you make your move. Gotta have the whole picture in your sight, you know?"
She sighs heavily, "Yeah, I know, but I don't like it. Farfello is a dangerous man, Ranma. Are you sure you can deal with him?"
Another new name. Jeez, she could at least tell me who these people are before she starts talking about them, "Farfello?"
"The one who thinks he owns you," wait... it's a guy?! "Yes Ranma, it's a guy. He's... not exactly stable, either. He says that you were his 'Kitty' way back when."
The demon stirs, and I can feel amusement from it. I push it down as hard as I can, but I get the distinct impression that this Farfello guy and the Nekoken were close. It might have been the "my bloody little pet's still alive?" followed by laughter before I fully suppressed him, that was the cause of the shivers down my spine. The demon thinks this Farfello belongs to him. Farfello thinks I belong to him. Oh hell, this is not a good thing.
"...is he Irish?"
She blinks in surprise, "How'd you know?"
"...we were in Ireland when I got lost in the Nekoken for the first time after the training. I was... ten... or eleven, I think. I don't remember; I never remember what happens when I'm lost," I rake my fingers through my bangs, so not a good thing.
"Damn," Naru curses in German, "Okay, how're we going to do this? You can't go back and do 'status quo', if you have to be on the look out for Farfello. But you can't actively search for him, because Estet is going to be on your hide. And if they find out that I was the one to warn you, my life is as good as done."
I close my eyes, leaning forwards and rocking on my heels, "I don't know..."
"Wait... maybe..."
"What?" I'm thinking that we'll probably have to go to Nabiki on this.
"Look, Estet knows I know you; Estet knows I hang around Schwarz-- don't give me that look, Ranma. That's my brother's team-- so it wouldn't be too unusual to be 'warned' about Farfello so that I can stay out of his way. Now, we could just have it look like I gave you some friendly advice on Farfello. Just a general 'there's this freak, and he wants you' type thing. They don't have to know that I told you about the assassins part. They don't know I know that, so how would I be able to tell you?"
"I... guess..." it does make sense, actually, "Though I don't see the problem with him coming after me. I am the best, after all." A little ego never hurt. Naru doesn't need to know about the demon, let alone the fact that the demon was pleased with the idea of Farfello returning to his rightful place at his side.
She gives me a dirty look, "You keep thinking that, when Irish lets you put a piece of rebar through his stomach and doesn't even blink."
Okay, now that sounded dangerous. I stare at her, "Wha... what?"
"Farfello's brain is miswired, I think," she shrugs half-heartedly, "I can't feel any psionics around him-- not like bruder, Crawford or Naoe-- but he doesn't feel pain. I don't think he feels anything. Like he's got no nervous-system or something. But he never falters, which is just creepy. Insane, unable to feel pain, bloodthirsty... not exactly someone I want coming after me; friendly or not."
"Yeah..." I agree with a short nod, "...doesn't sound like life's going to be any fun for me for the next little while."
"Oh Ranma," she smiles sardonically, "When is life ever fun for you?"
I throw a trowel at her, and she ducks it, laughing.
--------
Breakfast the next morning wasn't a very fun experience, let me tell you. Between Akane's normal glaring, Nabiki's annoyed stares, dad, Soun, and Kasumi's obliviousness to the situation around them, and my mother having decided to drop by, I found myself staring at my plate and trying to eat as fast as I could. Well, as fast as I could with my mother harping about manners.
I love the woman, I really do, but she's not going to be able to change me over night. She really should have learned that after the whole 'Ranko' fiasco.
I kept as quiet as possible, but I don't think that worked in my favor all that much. As soon as I was done, I made my way out of the dining area before bolting into the room I shared with pops. I'm not looking forwards to school today-- last night had been a bit painful for me, when all was said and done.
For once, I had a heads-up on what was going to go wrong with my life, but that just tied my stomach up in knots. What was I supposed to do with this information? Not only that, but how do you defend yourself from someone who doesn't feel any pain, and can therefore continue to fight until well after he's done irreparable damage to his body?
No one ever said I'd have to deal with this shit when I signed on to become a martial artist.
...okay, so maybe I didn't actually have a choice in that one. But the sentiment's the same.
As the day passes by with the odd interruption by Kunou, Mousse and Shampoo, I find myself raking what I know over and over again in my mind. I can't think of anything to stop this guy. Hell, I don't even know what he looks like, so I can't even start to try and create a defense based on his physical size. Knowing how he fights would help, too, but after Naru's descriptions of his particular brand of insanity, I'm not sure if I want to risk creating that mind-set in myself in order to combat him.
To be honest, most of the time when I happen to be temporarily defeated, I have to literally make a new personality to embed myself in. To try and figure out how my opponent works, how they tick, I have to become them. Now, that's not so big a deal if it's someone like, say, Ryouga-- he's all about depression and rage. Those I can handle-- otherwise, I'd probably a whole hell of a lot like him right now, considering my life-- but insanity?
I don't want to give the demon a chance to get out, but there's a little tickle at the back of my mind that says he'll get out again, no matter what I try to do to stop him.
It's only as I'm walking along the fence back to the dojo that I work up the nerve to go to Nabiki with this. She's a lot smarter than I am, and maybe she can see a way to get out of this that I haven't. Or, at least, a way to keep any interactions with this Farfello guy to a minimum.
It might mean revealing more of my connection with the nekoken than I really want to admit to her. After all, I don't think the original roman technique involved possession by a demon, let along conversation with it if I drop any of my mental shields for even a moment.
Hopping from the back porch to Nabiki's windowsill is Childs play, though opening the window from the outside is never a fun task, especially when you're teetering on a ledge that's barely wide enough for a butterfly, let alone me. Once getting it open and slipping in is completed, I plop myself down on her bed to wait. She'll be back from her contacts soon enough, and until then I get a chance to straighten out my head. It's a chance I seriously need.
How the hell am I going to convince her to do this?
----End Chapter----
...Interlude...
"Can we help you with something, Miss...?"
Nabiki nearly jumped out of her skin, whirling about to face whomever it was that had managed to sneak up on her. She was on one of her bi-monthly treks out to the edge of Furinkan-cho, bordering Tomobiki-cho, in order to meet face-to-face with some of her contacts from that district. Here, she was more known as a reputation than as a person, but that was alright. This far away from her business center, she could be herself without having to hide behind the Ice Bitch mask. It was relieving, but also depressing, knowing that in a few hours, she would have to go back to that falsified version of herself.
There was a group of three behind her, a pair of redheads and a man with silver hair-- the male redhead was grinning at her, the grin bordering upon leering, while the female was wearing an odd smile that took Nabiki a moment to pin down as vaguely apologetic. The final member was smirking, his single eye a confusing swirl of golden madness, and crimson lucidity. Something in that single, glinting eye, that made her think of Ranma while he was lost within the very depths of the Nekoken demon. It held that same feral knowledge that he was the predator. That he was in control, and that all he surveyed before him were mere prey.
Shifting her gaze from the scarred man's disconcerting stare, she returned her attention to the woman of the group. Her sharp emerald eyes were set into an almost classically beautiful face of alabaster coloring, the brown-red of her shoulder-length hair feeding color into her appearance. She and the redheaded male had the look of siblings-- although the man's red hair was closer to orange, and was held back with a yellow bandana, unlike the blue-green ribbon in his sister's hair. The girl's apologetic smile stretched into a warm grin, at Nabiki's cool stare.
"No, that's quite fine."
"Oh, well, maybe you could help us, Miss Tendou?" the girl tipped her head to one side, still smiling that smile. Nabiki's eyes narrowed sharply, her mind racing. Had she met this woman before...? After a moment, she realized who it was she was talking to-- outside of the Mochiyaki's cruddy bar lights, Naru looked very different. In natural sunlight, her pale sick didn't seem quite so sickly, and her eyes looked a lot brighter. Now, Nabiki was just wondering what she had to be apologetic about.
"Perhaps I could help you. For a price."
"Your life?" offered the single-eyed man, lips curling back from his teeth in a parody of a smile, the gold in his eyes taking almost full control-- at least, until the redheaded man leaned against his shoulder.
"Irish," warned her cash cow's dear friend, "Hush. You can set your price... whatever you want is yours. After you do what we want you to do."
"And if I don't?"
The girl smiled, "Then you'll still see us at your Dojo this evening, you just won't have the inside scoop. What do you say, want to help us?"
"I'd like to know who you three are," it was the closest to saying 'I agree' that Nabiki ever got-- and Naru knew that. The girl had been around Pandemonium and Ranma long enough to pick up on his manager's moods and attitudes. The girl nodded.
"This is my brother, Schuldig, and our friend, Farfello. You may call me Rache."
The different name threw her for a moment, before she realized that neither Schuldig nor Farfello must have known that Naru and Nabiki had met at a prior date. Not all that unreasonable a situation, given that Naru and Nabiki had no reason to be in contact with one another outside of the Mochiyaki. Naru was Ranma's friend, not hers. The best they could be described as was acquaintances.
Though... she had a feeling that this meeting, here and now, meant that that would be changing. She didn't know if that was for better or for worse.
...End Interlude...