Chp 3
Disclaimer: I barely have five cents to my name, what the heck makes you think I own any of this?
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Nabiki watched the younger of the Saotomes jump over the outer wall. He straightened and walked over to the house. The Tendo daughter got up to intercept his movement.
She put her trademark smirk in place. "Care to tell us where you've been, Saotome?"
"Not really," Ranma brushed off. He went past her before stopping, obviously letting an idea strike him.
"Nabiki," he asked her, "how about a trade? I need some information from the gangs in the Kanto area. Pass along anything that comes from an Eikichi Onizuka or a Ryuji Danma."
"And just what do I get?" the middle daughter queried with a raised eyebrow.
"You get to know where I was all day." Ranma began to grin evilly. "And I won't tell Akane about certain photos you take of her."
"How do you know about that?" Beneath her cool exterior, Nabiki was fuming. Was someone selling copies of the photos besides her? If so, how had they gotten under Nabiki's radar? Ranma had ditched right after his bout with Kuno, so no one had shown him any of the pictures.
The boy grinned at her discomfort. So good to get one over on the Ice Queen. "I know many things, dear Nabiki-chan. I do intend to overlook it, seein's'how I was told you do it to support the dojo. But I need this favor, Nabiki."
The named girl nodded her head. Then took on an expression of waiting for something.
"I was in and around Holy Forest Academy," Ranma said as he slid up the stairs, "in the Kanto area."
Nabiki stared at his retreating back. She stayed that way until he had disappeared up the steps.
"Who'd you piss off, Saotome?"
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Most gods have heard of L-sama, the dreaded Lord of Nightmares. She isn't too famous, even in Asgard, so few actually know of anything beyond her name. Her nature is rumored to be something along the lines of Toltiir, only not as goody-goody. The prospect of someone even less moral than Toltiir sends more than a few beings into paroxysms of terror.
Toltiir, of course, thought this was funny as hell.
The Lord of Nightmares is known to oversee a grouping of dimensions of her own, much the same way as Kami-sama does. That L-sama is even more hands-off than the Almighty is also known. No one has actually been to the worlds that She rules over, but it has been theorized by a few espers that they resemble the 'Slayers' universes.
Most denizens of Heaven assume that Father is all-powerful, and therefore is directly over the Lord of Nightmares. They simply ignore her. Since L-sama is rarely seen in Heaven, this is easy to do. But a few gods, led by Loki, have formed what is called the Asgardian Heresy. This heresy states than Kami-sama and L-sama are actually equal in power, with the Almighty representing an aspect of Law, and the Lord of Nightmares symbolizing Chaos.
A much darker theory, known as the Setite Heresy, states that She is more powerful than Him. The leader of the Setite Heresy is the Egyptian god Set, a being that seeks to bring down all order in the multiverse. Rumors persist that members of the Setite Heresy actually worship the Lord of Nightmares, venerating Her as the ultimate source of all chaos and destruction.
The fourth and final theory was put forth by Sidharta Gahtma, the Buddha; and Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism. They believe that neither does the Lord of Nightmares represent chaos, nor does She represent law. It was their understanding that L-sama is instead an intersection of both Law and Chaos. Thus, L-sama is the personification of the Dao. She is a combination of good and evil, light and dark, creation and destruction. Yin and Yang.
The young goddess Skuld had heard the rumors of course. But finding out further information of the various heresies had upset her even more. She was presently sobbing into Belldandy's arms, crying over how a poor boy had been manipulated by an omnipotent evil.
Urd tacked away at the keyboard. More data was coming up on her screen.
Roughly around the time Ranma was thrown in a pit of yowling cats, a communiqué had been sent from an unknown source to Kami-sama's office. The message had appeared first on the terminal of some low-ranking angel. Not finding any source designation, and seeing that the file was encrypted, the angel had called a security detail. Instead of a team of investigators, three of the Almighty's hand-picked Valkeries had come down, commandeered the terminal, and sent the file on as planned.
Father Himself had then come down to the terminal, typed what was assumed to be a reply, then left. Rumors had flown, naturally, but everything had mostly remained quiet. Until Skuld had found that a certain Ranma Saotome was not the real Ranma Saotome. Urd had been on duty when a peculiar datastream flashed across her terminal. An unnamed mortal was to be granted a wish. The wish had already been made, and the Yggsdrasil computer was only waiting until a proper moment to implement it.
The Lord of Nightmares was listed as the overseeing goddess. Urd had sent the file on as planned, but had put her own data tag on it. That data tag had alerted her when the wish was implemented. Following it, Urd had ultimately found that Ranma Saotome had been effected.
Urd was not the smartest goddess around. She'd even admit it.
If she was really drunk.
But even Urd could see that the mysterious communiqué that Father had answered and the curious wish file were connected. This meant that Father and L-sama had established a form of communication and had planned this. Which of course meant they wanted something from him. She didn't have enough information at the moment to know just what it might be. Not even a ballpark estimate was possible. She didn't think the Lord of Nightmares wanted to suck the boy's brains. Which Skuld so obviously believed to be the case. The goddess's playful nature reasserted itself. She picked up the phone to make some calls.
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Ranma felt the oddest urge to sneeze. It was nothing really; just a slight twinge. Nothing to be worried about. Then he remembered that he was in an anime-based universe.
Crap.
Ignoring the goosebumps on his arms for now, he turned to face the other youth in front of him. Kuno was wearing his traditional kendo gear, slicked hair style, and sneer of superiority. Ranma swallowed his opinions of the man for just a few more moments.
"So you see Sempai, I have no designs whatsoever toward the fierce tigress Akane. I apologize,"—at this, the martial artist tried to sound sincere; tried—"for any misunderstandings I may have created."
Kuno gravely nodded. "Verily, thy words ring true. For surely few of even the strongest of men could hope to survive the attentions of the beauteous Akane Tendo."
"Surely." Ranma was smirking, but not for the reasons the kendo-ka knew.
"But," continued the nobleman, as though the other hadn't spoken, "know that I have not given up my quest against thy ignoble machinations! For the glorious house…"
Letting the moron go on in that vein for some time, supplying a few synonyms whenever the kendo-ka ran out of steam, Ranma simply grinned to himself. He'd just whittled down the fights with Kuno to once a day. He was content.
They parted with a polite nod toward each other. The Saotome youth felt like giggling all the way into his class. Giving a jaunty salute to Nabiki and her factors, he bought a bit of tea out of the vending machine. Several of the students around the Tendo eyed him.
Temptation sung. There were many times that voice had sung. Many times were quite memorable as something unpleasant had bit him in the ass. Such trivial things were ignored for now.
"Hi honey, I'm home," he joked towards Nabiki.
The Tendo girl watched with mounting horror at the calculating expression gracing her factors' faces. Her people were intelligent, much more so than the average Furinkan student. But even the smartest person was only a product of her environs. This was the social equivalent of a time bomb. It needed de-fusing. Now!
She smiled when the idea hit her. "Hello yourself, handsome." There. Now they knew she was in a habit of playing ball in Saotome's court. That meant nothing serious was on the line. Tina, born and raised in Hakata, pressed three fingers into Tendo's arm. Information later.
"Hello to those of you who don't know me. Name's Ranma Saotome…"
Ranma went on in the manner of a genuine fool that doesn't know that he is one. The group entertained him for a time, answering questions and fielding a few polite ones of their own. When he wandered off a few minutes later—reminding Nabiki immensely of a cat gotten bored—Tina snagged Tendo's arm, gaining her boss's attention.
"What in the world was that idiot trying to accomplish, Boss-san? Was he trying to feel us out?" The Foster girl had the look of a dog smelling an intruder.
"Mayu-chan thinks he is an idiot," stated the small girl to Tina's left. "No one tries to scope us out. He wants a territory dispute, we'll take him down."
Nabiki was about to correct the petite girl, but Aoi beat her to the punch. "He isn't stupid, Mayu-san," said Aoi, brushing a few short hairs behind her ear. "Just… simple."
"That didn't make any sense, Aoi-sempai." Taeko reseated her glasses. "Is he simple-minded or isn't he?"
Kaoru, the only male present, spoke up. "He's smart. Very smart. Smart enough to know exactly who we are and how he should behave. He just doesn't. He isn't afraid of us."
Nabiki felt a moment of pride for the two of them, Aoi Sakuraba and Kaoru Hanabishi. They were both sharper than a katana, and made of stronger stuff. They could both read people with a skill that even Nabiki found scary sometimes. She was sure that both Aoi and Kaoru would succeed her when she graduated on to college. But it was a slight concern that they might not have the heart needed to run the organization.
All in all, though, the two served each other well. Nabiki had seen them play good-cop/bad-cop against a debtor before. Kaoru could look as cold as an ice floe when he wanted to, and Aoi could charm the birds out of the trees. They meshed perfectly together, something even they saw.
They'd been dating ever since they'd met.
Even though Tina Foster and Mayu Miyuki would much rather have been in Aoi's place. Even though Kaoru seemed to have a soft spot in his heart for Taeko Minazuki, Tina, Mayu, and nearly every person he dealt with. Nabiki still wished them well.
Nabiki dispelled the argument over what to do about Ranma. "Tae-chin, put a tag on Saotome. Get Noin to do it."
"Lucrezia-sempai? Why not someone who doesn't stand out as much? Or someone cuter? He does have the right plumbing."
Kaoru quirked an eyebrow.
"So does Hanabishi-san, and he doesn't go ga-ga around a pretty face," Nabiki pointed out. "No, we need her."
"Tracking him?" questioned Mayu and Tina at the same time. Then began scowling at each other.
"You think he'll be doing a lot of traveling?" Aoi had assumed what Nabiki called the Noh-face. A faint smile and shining eyes that let the viewer believe whatever they wished without revealing anything.
"That, and I'll bet he's going into high-risk situations. Noin can handle herself there better than anyone except Zechs or Treize. And you know how those two are."
Everyone nodded. Zechs Marquis and Treize Kushrenada were just as obsessed with honor and personal glory as Tatewaki. The only difference was that Zechs and Treize were smarter and less vocal. In a fight, those two would feel the need to stick around and get noticed. Nabiki needed someone who would return in a timely manner.
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Aoi walked into the girl's bathroom and looked carefully around. This included a more unusual search, one done by getting down on her knees and checking underneath each stall. Assured that no one was in the room with her, Aoi made her way into her own stall. She draped her overcoat across the door, and pulled her undergarments down to her ankles.
A slim gray cell phone appeared from the folds of her uniform. One number that Aoi always made sure was deleted from phone memory was dialed. She waited.
"Auntie, hi, how are you?" she said when the call was answered. "I'm fine, I'm fine. No, no emergency. I was just calling to talk to you. I know how lonely you get. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Is that so?
"Auntie, I don't suppose you've ever met my friend, Lucrezia Noin, have you? Well, she might be dropping by your area sometime soon. A new boy here, Ranma Saotome might be with her." Here she made sure to give a scandalized giggle. "No Auntie, they're not seeing each other."
No one who overheard the conversation, got a tape of it, or in anyway knew what was said would ever know just where Aoi's voice was being sent. It was indeed being sent to her aunt. But her aunt, Ichiko Kazami, would then pass on certain orders to Sakuraba-oyabun, the head of the Sakuraba Yakuza. These orders would say to put a trace on Lucrezia Noin, who would have a connection with Ranma Saotome. One or the other of the two being followed would not be aware of the other.
Aoi came out of the bathroom just in time to see another boy slap Kaoru-sama high on the back. Near the collar. Letting the other walk away smiling, she smoothly inserted herself by Kaoru-sama's side. Holding his bento for him, and taking his now-free hand, the pair moved off toward a quiet corner.
Kaoru disengaged his arm from Aoi-chan and raised it to scratch an itch on his lower neck. Near the collar.
"Kaoru-sama," called Aoi-chan, "look at the dates for the team's games."
She was pointing at a message-board that hung on the wall. Leaning close, Kaoru studied the board, using his hand to guide his reading. Using the hand that had been scratching his neck.
"I don't see anything that'll conflict, Aoi-chan," he eventually pronounced. "What times to the games start, anyway?"
Aoi blinked. Saotome had checked out, but something was up that Kaoru-sama needed to speak with her about. "Maybe around…six o'clock?" she returned, giving a time they could meet in private to talk.
The young couple continued on down the hall. A slip of paper carelessly drifted out of Kaoru's palm.
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Ranma was suddenly and inexplicably seized by a sneezing fit.
"Damn it all to hell. Anime's a hell of a lot funnier when you're not in it."
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AN: Don't expect this to be great art, people. My idea of high literature is the 'Great War' series by Harry Turtledove. Not to mention, I only work on this when bored, and have absolutely no idea where it's going. Anyone got a clue where it should go? I'll accept suggestions. Good ones.
