A/N: Disclaimer I don't own anything in this story which sucks but that's live so deal. Hopefully this is the last flashback chapter but you never know.
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Chapter 8: Past is revealed Part 3
After Rich hung up one Ranma he turned to Su and asked, " How many of those things can you make?"
" Su can make as many as she wants" the blonde princess bounced up and down.
" Good cause my friend in Nerima would like to have as much as he can get for a lifetime."
" No problemo." And she ran back up the stairs to start mass-producing her new thermal balloons.
" Man that girl has spunk." Rich commented to himself and went back to work. He asked Haruka if he could have a couple weeks off his little trip and she agreed, one of the girls could help her out for a while so Rich started to pack his things.
The next day Rich was about ready to head out when he had an unexpected visitor at the rear door to the café. Motoko was standing at the door. " What is it?" he asked.
" I know it's been a couple of weeks but I was wondering if you would tell me what happened to make you on the run from your government?"
" Why are you asking that now?"
" Because I can't let it go. I thought I could but I just can't." she said sadly.
' I'm going to need to catch a later train.' He thought, " Fine but you're going to want to sit down." He suggested.
" I can handle it." She said arrogantly.
" No. It's a long story, like a couple hours." He said and she sat down across from him. The explanation was long as he said, he went from what happened to his parents to the Atlas program, then being set to HHS and what happened at graduation he even mentioned some to the stuff from Nerima and West City but that was about it. After he was finished talking Motoko sat there stunned at what he went through.
" How could people do such a thing?" she asked.
" Because they don't care about the individual. They can't care or else they can't do their job. I understand the reasoning and I don't' blame them for it but that they did after that is what really pisses me off. After everything I did for them they turned me into a target and had me hunted down like an animal. I couldn't let them go after my friends so I made them look for me. And it worked, I've checked up on them time and again and there doing just fine. All of them are in college and living normal lives, not much more I could hope for."
" But why don't you go back to them. I'm sure they miss you so why do you stay away?" she asked as tears ran down her check from the stories he told.
" I'm not ready yet and neither are they, what would happen if I just showed up now after they started a good life for themselves? I would be in the way of them making the progress that they need to live. Everyone needs time apart and our time isn't over yet." He then grabbed his things and walked out the door, " I'll be back in a couple of weeks so don't worry about me, I'll be fine." And he walked out the door.
Rich caught the last train of the day to Nerima. Sure he could fly there but it was just easier for him to travel normally. It was a two-hour ride to Nerima so Rich caught a little shuteye and woke up about 15 minutes from his stop. After he got off the train he looked at the scenery and breathed deep. " Its good to see this place again" and he floated off the ground and flew slowly over the housetops until the got to the Tendo Dojo. Landing softly he went up to the front door and knocked. A moment later Kasumi answered the door.
" Hello, Oh welcome back Rich, I don't know you were coming back." She said surprised to see him at the door.
" Nice to see you too Kasumi. Is Ranma here I have something he'd like to see?" he said stepping into the house.
" Yes he's here," suddenly there was a loud thud and the sound of wood breaking, " It appears that Ranma has just left. Is there something I can get you?"
" Yeah a kettle of warm water. Ranma will have no doubt gotten hit with cold water by now." He said.
" I have one ready just in case of a situation like this." Quickly grabbing the kettle she handed it to Rich. " Here you go."
Rich pulled out a balloon from his pocket and began to fill it up with the hot kettle water. Once he tied it off he went out the door in search of Ranma who should be back any moment.
" Damn that tomboy. Why does she have to keep hitting me for a simple comment? At least Shampoo wasn't there to make things worse. I hope Rich gets here soon with those balloons…" just then Ranma was hit in the face with a water balloon.
After Akane and mallet-sama had hit Ranma he landed in a fountain and got soaked with ice-cold water. But when the balloon hit him he changed back. Without him noticing it he looked around to see who threw it at him. Spotting someone in the shadows he yelled, " Hey man! What's the big idea?"
" Calm down man I just wanted to see if they would actually work on you." Rich came out of the shadows smiling.
" Rich! Man it's good to see you," he ran and hugged Rich who just chuckled and hugged back, " So that was one of the balloons you were talking about?"
" Yeah, works pretty good too. So how have you all been?" Rich asked as the two of them walked back to the dojo. As they walked they chatted about what's been going on over the last couple of years
Out of nowhere came a voice shouting, " Ranma because of you I've seen hell, Shi Shi Houkou Dan!" and a large ball of depression ki flew at the two of them. Ranma dodged out of the way but Rich just stood there. Before Ranma could do anything the ki blast hit Rich and exploded. The smoke took a bit to clear but when it did Rich was unharmed and had a glow of ki energy around him as he stood there.
" Nice to see you Ryoga. Been a long time."
" Rich? Is that you?" the bandana wearing lost boy asked in disbelief.
" Yeah it's me alright. I was just saying hi to Ranma here and you had to go and attack me like that."
" Sorry but I was aiming for Ranma." He apologized.
" It's ok now we were just heading back to the dojo." And the three guys walked back to the Tendo residence.
As they walked in Nabiki who wrapped her arms around his waist screaming his name clobbered Rich. " Easy. Back off a little Nabiki. It's good to see you too." He smiled and the group sat down in time for dinner, which was always excellent. Throughout dinner Nabiki stared at Rich glade he was back for at least a while.
' Man the girls at school are going to go nuts once I get some more pictures of him.' She thought as she ate. " So Rich how long are you going to stay?"
" Only a couple of weeks. I have some thing to take care of back in Hinatasou."
As the meal went by there for once wasn't any fighting or Ranma being launched into the atmosphere. After dinner Rich was walking around the yard in the Tendo complex when he say a small person, at first he thought it was Cologne but at a closer look it was a man.
" Who are you?" the prune like man asked.
" My names Rich, Who are you?"
" I am Happosai the grand master of the 'anything goes fighting style'. What are you doing here, peeping on Akane no doubt?" he old man accused.
" No, from the looks of things you would be the peeping tom." Rich noticed the bunches of female undergarments hanging out of the small pack he had on his back.
" Yes well I need them for my strength." The old pervert said like his life depended on them. At that moment Ranma in his female from walked in the room. The old man Happosai glanced to his right noticing that Ranma entered. In a flash the old pervert was jumping into Ranma-chan's cleavage. Unfortunately with all the men in the Nerima area they are somehow unable to avoid a woman's attack. The old man was no different; as he jumped his face collided with Ranma's fist and was sent out of the building.
" Who was that Ranma?" Rich asked not getting a straight answer from the source.
" That was Happosai. He's the grand master of the Anything Goes school of Martial Arts. He's also the biggest pervert in the entire district. So what's it been like since you took off? You seem stronger than when you left."
" Well I learned how to use ki without emotion. And I have a couple of attacks that lets just say 'fit' my personality a little." Rich said cryptically. " Right now I'm in Hinatasou, not far from Tokyo University."
" What going to college now? Aren't you a little old for college military man?" Ranma joked. Yeah he knew about Rich's past but he didn't care, the guy helped him in more ways than he realized and Ranma Soatome doesn't forget those who help him. " So tell me where did you get those balloons? I've got to know."
" I got them in Hinatasou at the place that I'm staying right now. It's a all girls dormitory except for the manager, funny the a couple of the girls remind me of Akane for some reason, well anyway one of the residents is some kind of mad genius and created these hot water balloons, I can give you the number so if you need to you can call and I'm sure she will send you some more if you need them."
Ranma leaped up and hugged Rich tight to herself almost crushing Rich's head in her bosom. Rich found it hard to breath so he franticly tapped Ranma on the shoulder and she let go and he gasped for air. " So does anyone else know you're here?"
" No and I only came over to get you these balloons and I was going to go back right away." He answered and threw another balloon at Ranma so he changed back into a man.
" Thanks. Well I wouldn't count on anyone not knowing you're here. By now Nabiki will have called all her contacts and there will be a full-fledged mob outside in the morning at least to see you. At least that is what I heard Nabiki say on the phone when I came up here."
" Damn it!" Rich shouted and a wave of angry ki swept through the house, " this is why I wasn't going to stay long."
" Don't worry I'll help you out while you're here. So tell me what are these girls like at the dorm?"
" Well let's just say my first impression was almost as bad as yours. I helped the landlord with something and he invited me to lunch; which turned into dinner. Well as I was standing in the doorway cause he warned me about the residents when one of them came in the door behind me, she was a little drunk and started to feel me up. Naturally I tried to pull her off but in mist of the struggle two other girls came down the stairs and thought I was attacking her. One had a sword and the other came at me with her fist, she broke her hand on my chin and as the other was drawing her sword I managed to keep it in its sheath. So we took the girl with the broken hand to the hospital and got it reset." After a break Rich told him the rest of the story and as it was getting late they put Rich up in the spare room.
As morning came there was a lot of commotion outside. Rich woke up sleepily rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Rich got up and pulled some cloths on as he walked to the closest window. Outside his window he saw a crowd of girls staring at the window. He quickly woke up and ducked down so that they couldn't see him as he crawled back to the bed and from there left the room. Feeling he was safe for the moment Rich looked for an exit from the dojo but found that all the girls were blocking any way for him to escape unnoticed. " NABIKI!" he shouted loud enough for the girls outside to here him. Moments later Nabiki came skipping down the stairs with a pleased look on her face.
" Yes Rich" she almost cooed fluttering her eye lashes.
" You called them didn't you?" he glared at her keeping his temper just below the surface. He wasn't really going to blow his top but he wanted Nabiki to think he would. Unfortunately she knew him for a year and was a great judge of character so she wasn't fooled.
" Oh save it Rich I know you better than that." She winked, " Why are you mad. I thought you would be happy to see all of your admirers. Even after two years and you still drew a crowd if I call your name. I tried that once and they were mad, but hey it was April Fools day." She giggled to herself at the memory of all those girls screaming Rich's name thinking he was inside.
" Well why did you have to do it today and at 6 in the morning. I didn't get to sleep if you must know until 4 in the morning so I've only had two hours of sleep and the last thing I need is a swarm of hormone crazed girls waiting for me to step up outside. So please tell them to go away so I can get some sleep." He asked tired and went back in the room knowing the discussion was over.
" Well looks like I won't be getting paid for his guest aperients." She said disappointed and went outside to tell the mob of estrogen to leave Rich in peace while he slept but that didn't mean there wouldn't be time later.
As Rich fell back down on his pillow and sleep started to envelop him Rich's thoughts turned to Raven, what she was doing, how she was doing, if she was ok and as he slept memories of high school played in his mind. He woke a couple hours later feeling refreshed and went to the kitchen were the others were eating lunch, being that it was a Sunday the whole family was there. Rich took his place next to Ranma and after all Rich had been through and seen watching Ranma eat was still a sight. The speed that he ate with would astound the most experienced person. To him eating was like everything else, a martial art and he was damn good at it to. Ranma's hands were a blur between his mouth and the plate.
After lunch Rich went for a walk around the neighborhood getting the feeling back as he walked down the block three rock came speeding out of nowhere. It looked like Rich didn't move and as the rocks arrived where he was they kept on going as if they went through nothing at all. Cologne came out from her hiding place to see Rich keep walking down the street, ' He's improved so much in this time. He is most worthy of marring Shampoo.' She thought and went back to the café.
As Rich went on his walk the girls from that morning seemed to pop up out of nowhere and start chasing him around town, after about the eighth time he got fed up with it and took off to the skies. As he was high above the rooftops in Nerima the calmness of the air had his thoughts wander around, As Rich sat atop the clouds in meditation he lost all track of time and when he came out of it the sun had gone down so he glided over to the dojo and as he landed the back yard lights came on and Ranma came walking out to him.
" Where have you been all day?"
" Up and about." Rich answered quietly still lost in though a little.
" Did I see you flying earlier?"
" Yeah, something I picked up on in West City. Look Ranma I know what's going on here so you can just stop," Ranma was about to say something but the way Rich was acting worried him, " I have to leave and get on with my trip. I don't know what I need before I go back home but I don't know what it is. I can't stay here." And he went inside and packed his stuff. When he came back out Ranma hadn't moved, " Here." And he handed Ranma a box full of the thermal balloons and walked outside were he look off and flew back to Hinatasou.
As it turns out Rich leaving early for the Hinata house was a good thing. After that little incident with Hanuka the American government somehow knew where Rich was staying and sent a strike team in to 'handle' the problem. A group of 20 men started moving through the woods on the hill to the dorm all of them heavily armed with fully automatic weapons and in full Kevlar body armor. As the special ops team moved in to take the building. With all the stealth of their training they entered the Hina house and had an exact possession on all its residence. As they moved all the residents to the main room and waited there pray. A call comes over their radio saying their target was on its way and an estimated ETA was in a couple minutes they got ready knowing who they were dealing with and trained for two years to find him and kill him.
Rich was almost at the Hina house when he felt more presences at that dorm than he should. There was about 26 auras and couple more at the Tea House, ' Damn they found me! And now I've got them involved in this.' Rich thought and decided not to disappoint them since they've come all this way, best not to disappoint and Rich went in and landed in front of the dorm. The soldiers didn't move in on him when he landed, that wasn't the plan. They would wait until they had him surrounded and then overwhelm him with numbers to take him down. As Rich approached the main room he saw everyone that lived at the in lying in the main room. As he saw all six residents were sprawled on the floor the soldiers decided it was time to strike.
Four of them showed up from behind the furniture and six more form the kitchen. Five came through the ceiling as they all got into position for the attack they failed to notice the bright flashes of light coming from Rich's hands, soon there were fifteen balls of light one next to each op member. Before they noticed Rich extended his ki into a shield around himself and the residents, " Hell Zone Grenade!" and the ki balls exploded killing all fifteen op members. The remaining five that were outside the building came rushing in to see what happened. They were met by Rich and Motoko who had woken up just before Rich attacked and stood in a ready stance still in her oversized t-shirt that she slept in. The energy barrier was still up and the five soldiers opened fire at them but the bullets were deflected away. " Motoko, these guys have most likely been trained to take me down so I want you to be careful with them." He looked over his shoulder at her and she nodded, " And try to keep at least on of them alive I might need some questions answered." And he dropped the shield and went in for the attack.
It seemed to the others as they started to wake up that Motoko and Rich were fighting a bunch of practice dummies, their team work and the way they moved was like poetry in motion. Once everyone was down Rich could have sworn he heard gunfire coming from the Tea House only to find Haruka walking in the dorm with a gun in her hand and some blood on her cloths.
" Rich! Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" he yelled and everyone winced knowing that pissing Haruka off was like signing a death warrant. But Rich walked over to her calmly knowing how exhausted she really was, after all this time Rich was great judge of character and had a sixth sense of what someone needed and Haruka needed to have a nice warm cup of tea while she sat down and gathered her thoughts.
After everyone got dressed into something more decent than their pajamas everyone looked to Rich to get the answers to what really happened. So Rich went into his explanation of himself omitting what he felt they didn't need to know, which was quite a bit. He mostly went over why they were after him exactly but didn't tell him about the sort of things he did for them. He talked about his training, which Motoko found extremely interesting and secretly planned on getting him to train with her. And everything lead to the present where they were all sitting, looking at him intently.
' Man and I thought I had issues.' Keitaro thought to himself after listening to Rich's story.
The others sat there in shock except Motoko because he told her before he left for Nerima. As the others were processing the information, Su was the first one to speak up.
" So, do you want to play Rich?" she asked hopping up and down.
" Not much gets her down does it?" he turned to the others and asked getting a unified headshake. " Sure Su but could we not play in your room? I don't think I can handle that right now ok?" She nodded enthusiastically grabbing his hand and they rushed off to places unknown.
" Well it looks like those two are getting along famously." Mitsune said taking a sip from her sake glass. She looked over at Naru and asked, " What's the matter Naru. Not as bad of a guy as you wanted to make him out to be?"
Naru didn't even respond she just sat there as her mind tried to think of what it was like to live in Rich's shoes. Having all that stuff happen to you and still be sane. Now his break down in Su's room made sense to everyone. " It's ok if he stays here, it's not like we can really make him leave. Could we?" she asked rhetorically but the others nodded anyways in agreement.
A couple of hours later Rich came into the main room where Keitaro, Motoko and Mitsune were sitting down watching T.V. When he entered Motoko looked up sensing him enter since he wasn't exactly making a lot of noise walking. The others followed suit-taking notice to his appearance. Motoko walked over to him, " Um… Rich I was wondering if you wanted to join me in training. It's always more beneficial if you train with someone rather than yourself." As a small blush appeared on her checks. She didn't feel the same way she did towards Keitaro but still the thought of asking a guy to do something with her always made her blush.
" Sure, I could use a little work out." And as the two fighters left the room Mitsune turned to Keitaro and asked.
" So do you really think there going to train or do something else?" the fox women asked the young landlord.
" I don't know what you're ensuing KItsune but I would suggest leaving them alone for now." He said in wisdom that seemed more befitting a monk.
On the roof Motoko and Rich were standing a couple of yards apart each in a stance. Motoko had her sword out and poised for an attack. At first she wanted to use her boken thinking a real blade would be too much to practice with but Rich insisted she use her blade and the thought, ' Well it's his own fault if he's hurt.' As Rich was standing in his combat stance Motoko was measuring him up, ' I know he's fast and strong from what he did to Naru's hand but I don't know how fast or strong. The first time he caught me by surprise but now I'm ready for him. I know he can use ki but I don't know what he can all do with it. I'll have to be careful if I want to beat him.'
Meanwhile Rich was making his own assessment, ' I shouldn't take what I see on looks, she probably faster and stronger than that, she uses ki but through her sword, that limits her abilities somewhat. I think I should play possum for a bit not to reveal what I know too soon.' Just then Motoko took the insinuative and attacked first, raising her sword high above her as she let the ki flow ready for her assault, " Rock Splitting Sword!" she yelled and swiped her blow down sending her ki wave cross the roof squarely at Rich who didn't even move wanting to judge the strength of her attacks from he damage she can dish out. As it impacted his body Rich grunted in a little pain.
' Man that actually hurt a little, she's a lot stronger than I first took her for.' The blow forced a cloud of dust to surround him and as the dust settled down Rich's silhouette was standing proud for all to see. He grabbed his right shoulder rubbing it slightly, " Not bad Motoko. That actually hurt a bit," and smiled and went on the offensive. Moving slowly he rushed her, sure she could attack from a distance but how what she in close quarters combat. Rich was making strikes at her torso gaining some ground, as he didn't want to remove a limb from his body with her sword, Rich pulled back seeing that she wasn't giving it her all. So he back off and let her recover. " Look if you don't want to do this fine but if you're worried about hurting me don't bother, I can take a couple of scratches." So Rich attacked again and Motoko didn't hold back, he threw a punch and was going to take his arm off when it struck and there was a strange clang sound of metal hitting metal. Now she got it, he had metal arm guards, Rich smiled as he knew she wouldn't hesitate again and since he was in such close quarters he used the breaking point and struck the top of the roof. As if a small grenade went off where he touched the roof the force of the explosion launched Motoko back in the air.
She recovered, flipping back and landing a good distance away from Rich as he stood back up slowly leaving his back exposed knowing she would take the opening. As he rushed his back he disappeared and showed up right behind her and pulled her arms in a full nelson causing her to drop her sword. I fell to the ground with a clang. Rich leaned to talk in her ear, " Looks like I win huh?" and what he didn't know was the proximity of their bodies and the breathing on close to her ear was getting Motoko a little hot and bothered as she dropped all resistance to his holding her and relaxed against him. He let her go and she slumped to the ground.
' Why did he stop? It felt so good, having him hold me like that.' She found herself thinking and her face red as a cherry. Quickly pushing that thought out of her head and picked up her sword and sheathed it. It was almost dinnertime and they went down and cleaned up for dinner.
All through dinner Kitsune kept teasing the two of them for being alone together but shut up with one look from Rich's cold gray eyes.
A couple of weeks have passed and life at the old Inn and the new resident fell into their routine. He woke up, trained with Motoko, ate breakfast with the others, while the others went to school he would stay around the house and help with any cleaning and taking care of Mitsune when she was hung over (meaning every day). Once the students came home he and Motoko would do some more training and then dinner would be served. They'd eat and if Keitaro or Naru needed help with their studies since Rich was a real genius they could ask him questions and he'd answer.
It took a bit but Naru finally armed up to Rich being around the inn and if she'd send Keitaro flying or tried Rich would seem to pop up and try to find out the whole story before it resorted to violence. I only took a couple of weeks before both Motoko and Naru stopped hitting first and asking questions never but it didn't stop completely since Haruka still needed help down at the Tea House.
For some reason Rich hadn't seen much of Su and there were a lot of odd noises coming from her room in the middle of the night. A couple of months later she came out of her room anxious to find Rich. She bugged everyone asking if they'd seen him. At the moment Rich was helping Keitaro clean the hot springs. It came easier when two people did it especially considering one was a trained military man who was obsessed with keeping things tidy.
Su came in the hot springs and preformed her flying kick to the immortal landlord, " Heya Keitaro have you seen Rich?" she asked happily.
After he regained his senses Keitaro pointed to the drained hot springs. Su hopped of his head and jumped into the drained spring and landed on Rich's head, " Heaoooo. Rich I've got something for you to check out in my room. Wanna see?" and without giving him the chance to answer she dragged him to her room.
Once in the jungle of Su's room Rich was still a little nervous about the scenery but he didn't let it bother him anymore, he'd put it behind him finally was ready to move on. Once Su showed back up after jumping through the dense foliage she came out with what looked like a full body suit, rather small and form fitting. She threw it at him and asked for him to try it on for her. After changing (not it front of her but in a changing room in her room. Rich wondered why she had a changing room but knowing what he did about the blonde genius he didn't ask any questions) As the thought it was skin tight but not uncomfortable, he looked in the full length mirror at himself and noticed that it curved to every shape of his body. Su looked him over like a tailor checking to see if everything fit all right and then went into the explanation of what it did.
" All righty now this suit is suppose to interface with you nervous system via your skin and increases your abilities by a factor of 10, cool huh? Well the thing has the works but I never got around to figuring out where to but the suits self destruct device so I had to forego that." She smiled, ' I originally built it for Keitaro for his fight with Motoko's older sister Tsuruko but that's a long time ago. Anyway since Keitaro has been training with Seta and Motoko on occasion he really doesn't need it and I thought since you were going against the feds I would give you a hand." Her smile didn't go away. In fact it only got bigger.
Rich looked down at the young women in front of him with a smile of his own. " Thanks Su. I've never gotten a better present." ' Except that one time me and Raven.' But stopped that thought before he went on.
After Rich came away from Su's room he ran into Motoko who what looking for him to begin their afternoon training session. He had the suit on under his cloths now. " Ah, Rich I was just looking for you. Would you like to begin out sparing session now?" In recent weeks her sessions with Rich had blossomed into something not unlike love but there was something holding her back. At first she thought it was because of the way she felt about Urashima, but it wasn't that. It was his ki; no matter what how she looked at it his ki wasn't natural. From everyone she met there ki was to her a solid color but Rich's swirled between blue and red, sliver and gold. Like in a state of conflict. Another thing was that that his ki glowed slightly brighter than the others almost artificial in a way.
They headed up on the roof for their training. Today they were both using bokens, Rich wasn't one to use weapons for close quarters combat unless it's a knife. However that does not mean Rich cannot use a sword in fact he's about as good as Motoko its just not his preferred style of combat. As they got into their spar their wood bokens clashed together a smile was on both of their faces. They moved as a blur along the roof of the inn. As Motoko charged him Rich didn't move he just sat there and blocked her attacks. Motoko got carried away and started to loosen her defense. Rich saw his time to strike in a flash Rich had his boken at her throat. She stopped instantly gazing down at his boken pint just millimeters away from her throat. Her labored breathing apparent and her sweat rolled down her neck. She was exhausted but at the same time exhilarated never before had she felt this alive. They stayed in this possession for some time with Rich kneeling, his boken thrust upward at her throat as she let her arms dangle at her sides looking down on him. Finally she collapsed and fell over his shoulder. As he reached to steady her she tried to kiss him. Rich just put his index and middle finger to her lips to stop her.
" No. I can't." he said looking her in the eye.
" Why not?" she asked frustrated, " we're both adults and I know you feel something. You must, I've only felt like this around Urashima; but never like this. I simply can't find another man who makes me feel like this!" as a tear started to roll down her check.
Rich wiped the tear away and brought her face so she was looking at him, " But don't you see. If you have found two men that make you feel love, who's to say there isn't someone out there that is meant for you and only you. I've found that person for me but she is in America living her life, as she needs right now. That is why I am here. To let her be herself." Rich said but had a sad look in his eye. " I'm here because I need to be strong enough to protect her from my past."
" How…how did you two meet?" she asked.
" High school," he chuckled as he remembered, " She and our friends kept bugging me to talk to them. She even followed me home one day just to talk. But I was to thick headed back then to realize what I really needed. I thought that all I needed was my work, my orders. What a fool I was." He smiled, " I even threatened her and her friends to stay away from me at gun point in my apartment. After that I got the call from the General that Atlas was going to be canceled. My world crumbled around me and turned to dust. After that I finally opened up to them and it was the best thing I could have done. God I haven't seen her in a year or so."
" Why so long? If you love her why not see her every day. Why would you choose to abandoned love for this?" she cried in frustration find some way for him to chose her.
" Because I can't be with her for her. She needs to find her way just like to rest of us. She knows I'll be back fro her."
" How can she just wait? If it was me I wouldn't have let you go to save the life of me." She replied.
" Because we have faith. We know each other and trust the other with out lives."
" But do you trust her with your heart?"
" Completely."
" I see." And she looked away grief sweeping over her. She couldn't understand what he meant about this kind of love and trust but she wanted to so badly it hurt. She desperately wanted to feel what he felt everyday, to not have to worry about love but to have it there even if you can't see the one you love. She started to cry again against his shoulder.
Of course as with any private conversation in the Hina house Kitsune, Su, Shinobu and Naru were there listening in. Motoko was to caught up in her emotions to notice but Rich knew they were being watched but didn't do anything about it. ' If they want to here this let them, just gives me a reason to embarrass them later' the thought fiendishly as he comforted Motoko.
Later that night at dinner it was unusually quiet that meal. The four girls exchanged knowing glances toward Rich and Motoko. Naru was a little mad that Motoko was after her man but knew she wasn't so serious if she tried a pass at Rich. Now everyone knew her feelings except for Keitaro who to Rich's observation was oblivious to all the girls' affections.
" So how was your training this afternoon Rich?" Kitsune asked giving him a little wink.
" I'm sure you know all about it from watching us by the stairs." He said back staring her down.
' Busted.' All four of the girls thought and quickly resumed eating.
After dinner that night Haruka made a trip up to the dorm to talk with Rich.
" Had fun today?" she asked.
" What would you know about it?" he raised his eyebrow.
" You don't think you and Motoko are the only ones here that can sense ki did you?" she shot back lighting her cigarette and taking a long drag.
" No, I just didn't think you would be keeping tabs on me, or were you keeping tabs on her?"
" Both of you actually. I was worried that she'd hurt you or you might lose control and kill someone like Keitaro. He has the worst luck you know. I figured he might somehow get involved in your spar and get hurt. But then I noticed Motoko's ki started to waver. What did you two talk about that got her in such a right state?"
" She came on to me and I denied her. Now before you say anything I have someone else back home and I will not betray her for a good time with Motoko or any other girl that I've come a cross on my journey. She'll find someone for her and they'll have a happy life together. You'll see." Rich said smiling.
' How can someone like him change so much since coming here open up so much to this group of all people? Well maybe it's the inn itself. Hina always did say there was a strange magic that flowed threw these halls that help people become better after staying here.' Haruka thought and left the young solider to himself and went to check on Keitaro and Naru to make sure she wasn't killing him.
Time went on at the Hina House and it came up on the one year anniversary of Rich's arrival. That night Rich packed his gear planning on telling the others that it was time to go home and get his life together. He wasn't sure how he was going to break it to them. Shinobu and Motoko would take it hard he knew, Su would wonder if he could come back and play with her sometime, Naru and Kitsune probably wouldn't care all that much, same with Haruka. Keitaro would be sad to see him go. Rich got the feeling other than the girls Keitaro didn't have many friends but he told Keitaro if he was ever in America to look him up Rich would most likely know if he would arrive and greet him at the airport.
That night as Rich was getting ready to leave. As he opened his door Mitsune was leaning against the wall and looked at him. Behind her were Motoko and Naru. Keitaro it seemed was too tired from his daily work to say goodbye.
" Well trying to sneak out in the middle of the night huh?" Mitsune said.
" No I just thought it would be easier to get through traffic at night when everyone was inside asleep." He said matter-o-factly. The look on Motoko's face said what she wanted to ask. It was the same look Nabiki gave him when he left Nerima the first time. She wanted him to stay but in her heart she knew that he needed to go home now and be with his love. Naru had on a curious expression, she looked like she didn't care but her body language said that she was a bit insecure about him leaving. Like she would feel uncomfortable when he wasn't around, he often saw her like this if Keitaro was out doing something. He knew of course that Naru wanted to be with Keitaro but for some reason they weren't.
" Well I guess you've been here long enough," Naru said, " but it will be different around here without you." She huffed and stuck out her hand; which he gladly accepted making sure he didn't squeeze her hand too hard.
Now Motoko, a little teary-eyed latched onto Rich and squeezed him tightly. " I'll miss you." She chocked out. Both Mitsune and Naru were a bit shocked at Motoko's behavior, sure they knew she liked him but this was un-Motoko like behavior.
Once she finally let go of him he gave her a chaise kiss on her forehead and smiled, " It'll be ok Motoko. It'll be ok." He said to her; picking up his gear and walked out of the all women's dormitory.
After getting to the street he jumped in the air and flew to the airport. Sure he could have flown home but with all the money he had from the deal with Bulma a plane ticket wasn't a big expense.
After he landed in Steel City he decided to fly to Jump City. Hell if it was inside a country flying didn't use up that much energy. As he made his way into Jump City he saw a store being robbed. The story owner was lying on the ground with blood on the ground and splattered all along the wall, he was dead. The robbers were still inside, Rich set his traveling pack on the rooftop he landed on and jumped down to ground level to stop the thieves. As he came in the front door the two robbers turned around and opened fire. Each was using a 9mm handgun and fired off three shots. Rich on the other hand caught all six shots and let them fall to the ground with a soft pinging sound. Through their ski masks there eyes widened and jaws dropped. Rich casually walked up to them and took the guns away; both robbers were in such shock that they didn't even realize that he moved.
Rich handcuffed them to a street lamp outside the store and called the cops on his cell. After that he went in search of Raven. He knew where she was after all he'd been keeping tabs on her all this time. He was heading over to her home address when he heard sirens blaring coming from the downtown area and knowing what work she did she would of course be there.
" And that brings us to now." Rich said finally finishing his four-year travel story. Of course he omitted certain things and other stuff he couldn't know since he wasn't there. The others sat there in silence at the hours long tail. They just stated at him when Raven squeezed his hand that she'd been holding. She smiled up at him and kissed him right there not really knowing what came over her it might have been a way of confirming that he was hers and no one else's in the past. Hey after hearing all of these girls crawling over your man wouldn't you wonder if he left something out so he didn't hurt you?
Anyways that kiss snapped everyone out of his or her shocked state. " Well I say we have a party for the reunion of our two long lost friends." Victor said shouting and cracking open a beer. The others followed suit and pretty soon Raven's whole house was party central with pizza, beer, and nachos everywhere.
Meanwhile in jail our friendly little terrorist was sitting around looking rather nervous. It was the graveyard shift at the police station and he was sitting in his little 8 X 8 cell when the doors at the far end opened to the holding cells. Three men in nice business suits came into the hallway of cell doors. As they got closer he say one of them reaching to his underarm gun holster and took out a 9mm and proceeded to attach a silencer to the barrel.
Now all three men were at his cell door, the man in front of the group asked, " Do you know why we are here?" he just nodded, ' good now would you please tell me why you failed your assignment?"
" It wasn't my fault. I did everything I was asked but there was another hero there. How was I supposed to know that another one would show up? I wasn't given proper information." He said pleading for his life.
" The bosses understand what happened but this was your last chance and you failed." At that point the man to his right aimed his gun and shot the jailed man three times, two in the chest and one in the head, right in between the eyes.
" Well it looks like we have another player in town to deal with." The lead man received nodes from his two companions. " We have to report this to the bosses immediately." And they walked out of the cell corridor.
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A/N: Finally done with the back-story. I'm sure all of you must feel like I was doing this on purpose but I had all these ideas and I just couldn't let them go to waste could I? Well you all know the drill and I hope to get many reviews for this.