Part Two
Nerima Ward – Six years after the failed wedding.
The woman looked at the sign outside the compound.
TENDOU SCHOOL OF INDISCRIMINATE GRAPPLING – All Challengers Use Side Gate.
The woman snorted at the sign. Even she knew that the school that was once known as Anything Goes had lost what little face it had left. He was simply here on business. The woman was in her late twenties, exotic, as she was the result of a union between a Japanese yakuza enforcer and his French-Indonesian wife. She moved with the grace of a martial artist – as she had been trained by both parents; her father in Kyokushin Karate, while her mother trained her in Silat – and had the build of one, but her eyes showed deadly intelligence. She was dressed simply, a business suit (Vice's business suit), the shirt red.
The reason why she was here was that one of the members of the Tendou family owed him a debt, which she decided to collect personally.
The woman stepped up to the front gate and rang the bell. Seconds later, the gate opened, revealing the gentle soul of the house, Kasumi Tendou.
"Oh my, a visitor." Kasumi bowed. "Welcome to the Tendou Dojo. How may I help you?"
The woman bowed in response. The woman was polite to her, so she decided to give Kasumi the same courtesy. Not because of honor, but because of respect. "I am here to see Nabiki Tendou. Is she here?"
Kasumi nodded. "She is inside," she replied, stepping to the side to allow the woman to enter. "May I ask your name please?"
"Kurosawa," the woman replied. "Yuni Kurosawa."
Inside the Tendou home, Nabiki Tendou was going through the family's food budget for the month. Her father and Genma Saotome were as usual, playing Shogi on the engawa. Akane was inside the dojo, breaking bricks.
In the six years following the failed wedding, the family was still struggling. Even with Kasumi's catering service, the Tendous were barely making enough money to stay in the black. Nabiki had lost all of her rackets to a rival with government-backed connections and was forced to pay them the lion's share of her profits. When Nabiki tried to start a new racket without her rival's knowledge, she had the former Ice Queen kicked out of Waseda and blacklisted. Nabiki had told her father that Genma had to go or get a job to help with the finances. Soun flatly refused, saying that honor demanded that Genma should be treated as a guest...despite the fact that Genma was putting the family in the red with his eating habits and their pub crawls. But her father didn't care.
Akane helped out the family by working part-time as a waitress at a restaurant, while Nabiki worked the books for Kasumi's catering service. But it still wasn't enough.
"Nabiki, there is someone here to see you," Kasumi said as she entered the room, with Yuni behind her. "A Miss Yuni Kurosawa."
The abacus that Nabiki was holding in her hand clattered to the table as Yuni sat on the opposite end of the table, the spot that Soun would usually be seated at. Yuni accepted Kasumi's tea with a nod, enjoying the uncomfortable look on Nabiki's face as she sipped at Kasumi's tea. Kasumi had returned to the kitchen to finish up dinner.
Genma and Soun noticed the newcomer and stopped their game of shogi, Genma switching the pieces around when Soun wasn't looking. They also noticed that Nabiki's businesslike demeanor was replaced with something foreign.
Fear.
Yuni finished her tea, flipped the cup over and placed it face-down in the saucer. "I take it you know why I am here, Nabiki?" Yuni began.
"Daughter, who is this woman?" Soun asked as he and Genma sat down.
"Permit me to introduce myself," Yuni began. She placed her palms on the table and bowed. "I am Yuni Kurosawa. Martial artist...and businesswoman."
It was at that moment, that the youngest of the Tendou sisters made her presence known. Akane Tendou entered the room, only to see her father and middle sister seated at the table with Genma and an unknown woman in a business suit. Akane saw that the woman was obviously a martial artist, but remained on her guard.
Yuni turned to Nabiki. "Where's my money, Nabiki?" Yuni demanded.
Nabiki swallowed. She had the money raised to pay Yuni back, but her idiot father and his friend had blown it on their last three-day outing to the bar.
"Money?" Soun repeated. "What money are you talking about?"
"Your daughter has borrowed quite a bit of money from me two months ago," Yuni explained. "But it appears that she does not have it."
"I had the money," Nabiki finally said in her defense. She then glared at her father and Genma. "But these two spent it all on booze and food."
"Now, Nabiki, I'm sure that Yuni can be reasonable," attempted Soun. Genma had told him that he had some money stashed away for emergencies. How was he supposed to know that Genma had stolen it from Nabiki to fund their latest pub-crawl?
"Reasonable?" Nabiki repeated. "She gave me five months to pay it back, which would have been paid for sooner if that lazy panda got off his ass and helped around the house."
"Nabiki!" Soun admonished. "I told you before that he is a guest and will be treated as such! Honor demands it!"
Nabiki didn't back down. "He's a drain on the resources!" she shouted, pointing at Genma. "He eats more than all of us combined! Honor be damned! Either he pulls his own weight or throw him out!"
Soun rose to his feet. "Nabiki –"
Soun was cut off by Yuni clearing her throat. "As much as I would like to watch this little soap opera play out, there is still the debt that Nabiki owes to me."
Turning away from her father, Nabiki focused her attention back onto Yuni. "I need more time," she said.
Yuni shook her head. "No more time, Tendou. It's time to pay the piper." She folded his arms across her chest. "Three months ago, you took out a loan for 76,500,000 yen. Add late fees, not paying me off immediately, and interest...the total comes to 97,500,000 yen."
"Ninety-seven-point-five million yen?!" Akane shouted, rising to her feet. "Are you out of your mind?! We don't have that kind of money!"
"Actually, you do," Yuni replied, pulling out a sheet of paper and placing it on the table. Soun recognized his hanko imprint on the paper. Yuni's hanko was also seen. "Your daughter has placed the house and dojo up as collateral. I'm here to collect. Since you don't have the money, your home and dojo is forfeit."
Following those words, all hell broke loose.
Nabiki and Kasumi got out of the way as Akane, Genma, and Soun attacked. Yuni quickly rose from the seiza position and punted the table at Soun, taking him out of the fight. Yuni found herself double-teamed by Genma and Akane.
Yuni saw that Genma was the bigger threat, and moved to take him out of the fight. A kick to the nuts followed by a hard blow to the face was all that was needed to put down the rotund martial artist, which left Akane.
When Yuni saw Akane coming at her with her mallet, she smiled and reached behind her back. As Akane brought the mallet down, Yuni sidestepped, and Akane felt a sharp stab of pain in her right arm. Then she saw the mallet head fall to the ground, having been sliced off by Yuni's karambit.
As she was a practitioner of Silat (having been trained by her mother), Yuni was incredibly lethal in the style. Especially when it came to knives. The karambits she wielded belonged to her mother, and Akane found out that she was incredibly dangerous with the weapons.
Genma knew this the hard way, as he and Ranma had spent time in Indonesia during the training trip. Akane was now on the defensive, dodging Yuni's karambit swipes and thrusts. Akane cried out in pain again as the curved blades found their mark on her arms and legs.
As Akane staggered back from the pain, Yuni decided to end the match with a swift kick to the head. Akane went down.
It was over in less than two minutes.
"Well, that escalated quickly," Yuni said, barely winded, looking at Genma, still crumpled in a ball, holding his crotch, while Kasumi was tending to Akane's cuts. She turned to Nabiki. "What has happened here was your fault in not keeping your family in line. You have three days to settle your affairs and leave, lest you will be evicted by force."
Yuni started to leave, but stopped and turned around, casually twirling the karambit on her finger. "However, I am not completely heartless. I will give you a chance to save your home. As you have witnessed, I am very skilled in both Karate and Silat – the styles of my parents. It's been a while since I've had a decent workout, and sad to say, the Anything Goes style is lacking. Give me the challenge of a lifetime, and I will cancel the debt, win or lose."
"Name the place," Akane spat, ignoring the pain. "I'll take you on. Anytime, anywhere."
"Oh, you misunderstood," Yuni replied. "I don't want to fight you, as you are ten years too early to take me on. No, I want the original heir to the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu. The one which all of you have forsaken. I believe you know who I speak."
Soun's eyes went wide, as did Genma and Nabiki's. "You...you mean...?" the Ice Queen began, causing Yuni to stop and turn around.
The next five words confirmed what Yuni wanted before the halvsie businesswoman left the Tendou compound. "Yes. Bring me Ranma Saotome."