Chapter 2: Suspicion and a guest
Even the longest of journeys starts with a single step.
She carefully tilted her head, peeking around the corner and trying to remain undetected. Not a soul in sight, she sighed in relief and opened the first door she encountered, careful to make sure she was alone. She hastily reached one of the classroom's windows and looked downwards, soon leaping outside. Her short black-blue hair whisked as she fell and she touched the ground roughly, almost stumbling.
"This won't do" she muttered, angry with herself. "How can I even compare with the jerk when I can hardly clear a couple of floors..." Akane shook her head, regaining her wits, then inconspicuously sped away, reaching one of the trees at the far end of the school grounds and sitting under its shade. After she and Ranma had had to endure a virtual hailstorm of written messages during the first three periods, they had quietly decided to split and make a run for it as soon as the bell ringed. Ranma had casually jumped down from the third floor, attracting everybody's attention with an artistic somersault and vanishing from sight before he could even connect with the ground. Akane's escape had been less graceful but still successful. Sighing, she retrieved her lunch box from her bag, absentmindedly eating its contents.
"Glad you could make it, although that jump needs a bit more work." The voice came from just beside her, startling her so badly she almost choked on a riceball. An invisible hand patted her firmly and repeatedly on the back.
"Don't do that!" she exclaimed as soon as she regained her breathing capabilities, glaring at where she guessed Ranma's face was. She concentrated for a second, valiantly trying to see through the Umisenken and failing miserably. Her hand reached forward, encountering resistance just where she expected to. She slowly traced Ranma's shoulder, then neck, still trying to pierce the illusion. In the end she sighed frustrated.
"Don't worry, Akane. I have yet to find a technique to counter the Umisenken" he responded. Akane's eye twitched as a bento appeared from thin air and a shrimp levitated rapidly, vanishing behind invisible lips. "Pops used the technique to escape from martial artist mobs. It's supposed to be tricky to see through," he added as a fish cake followed. "Not even cameras help."
His fiancée frowned. "Quit it, it's creepy watching you eat like this!" she complained. "Nobody can see us here so come out already."
Ranma shrugged, dropping the illusion and startling her again, even though she expected it. "I haven't mastered it yet, you know. I need to be able to keep it up longer to make it really useful." He regarded the girl beside him thoughtfully. "I might even show you how it's done," he added mischievously, smirking at her expression that fluctuated from surprise to hopefulness to fake indifference.
"Wa- you.. Really?" she stuttered, trying to sound mildly interested and not like a babbling schoolgirl.
Her fiancé opened his mouth, stopped then closed it again. "We'll see," he added after some thought. "You need to learn other things before." Noticing her annoyance, he was quick to speak again. "I could only learn it so fast because of the Soul of Ice. It's not that simple!" He sighed when Akane calmed down.
The next minutes were spent in silence, although they both started fidgeting after a while.
"Say-" "Ranma-" they both tried at the same time, blushing a bit as they realized their blunder. "You first, I'd screw up anyway" muttered Ranma, turning to fully face her.
Akane gulped, then nodded. "I noticed you were really cheerful this morning" she started tentatively. "Not that it's a bad thing, you know" she amended, fidgeting a bit more. "It's just that you usually complain every time we land in the thick of Nerima like that."
Ranma looked away, reflecting on the morning's violent events. A small smile came to his face. "Well, it's not like... it doesn't seem much more than training anymore, you know. Not that it's easy to run around like that, but after Saffron... I don't know how much you remember from.." he answered, hesitating as his face darkened. He flinched as Akane's hand came to his shoulder.
"Everything" she whispered, as if afraid to say it loud. "I wasn't even... It was like watching the battle from a different angle. I-I could see my shrunken body from above when I momentarily regained control. It was like I could read what you were thinking" she continued hesitantly.
Ranma's smile widened. "Then you beat him as much as I did. You saved us both, tomboy."
Akane's face flushed a bit. "When you restored my body, I couldn't return to it at all. I had to follow your voice and... I'm just happy we are alive, you know..."
Ranma nodded. "I know what you mean, I feel the same... happy to be alive, I mean, don't think I mean anything else..." he blabbered. "That explains why your mallet never send me flying today," he added chuckling, stopping cold as he realized what he had said.
Instead of amending his reasoning, Akane turned away. "I was angry with you, don't think I wasn't, because I was..." she muttered as she remembered what he had told her. Ranma completely missed her ears that were red and almost steaming.
They remained silent for a while, then Akane spoke again. "Do you really think I'm a tomboy?" she asked quietly, leaning back on the tree's trunk.
"Of course you are!" promptly came the answer, causing her to stiffen. Without facing her, Ranma leaned back, tilting his head so it barely brushed her shoulder. "You are a bona fide tomboy and I wouldn't like it any other way" he added earnestly, feeling a bit lightheaded.
Akane relaxed visibly, exhaling audibly. For some reason, the day around her seemed brighter. They would have started dozing under the tree, silly smiles plastered on both faces, if not for the bell herding the students back to their classrooms.
Cologne frowned again, something she had been doing a lot since her son-in-law returned from China. Her hands moved independently and in Amaguriken speed, preparing food with the practice of ages. Her mind, however, was nowhere near the job at hand.
Her Great-great-granddaughter and potential heir would unerringly serve any customers with uncanny ease and finesse, offering the occasional smile and odd compliment that would make them return soon. As usual. Even her body language was saturated with promises and innuendoes, compensating for her somewhat poor grasp of the native, vulgar language. The Joketsuzoku elder actually smiled at that. The girl was a natural in clouding the minds of males, almost as good as she had been in her youth. Too bad she has yet to show whether she is elder material. Not that Shampoo was stupid.
"She is just a fool when she lets her impulses guide her" she muttered. Cologne knew that not many people could master the Soul of Ice. While she was happy her Son-in-law did so in less than a day, she perceived the fact her Granddaughter was unable to reign her emotions to do the same as a personal insult. She hoped that, if anything else, their prolonged stay away from the village would help Shampoo develop some perspective.
Then she saw it again. Or rather saw an absence she had not placed immediately. Shampoo seemed her normal, bubbly self, but Cologne knew how to see through masks. The decline of her usually skippy gait that had somehow migrated to Mousse spoke volumes.
The elder Amazon turned to regard her pet master of hidden weapons. Both he and Shampoo had returned in late morning with a generous share of minor wounds, burns and footprints. That was the norm for Nerima, a splendid training ground for Cologne's sensibilities, almost rivaling Jusenkyo in her eyes. And there was Mousse, washing plates fervently, blissfully whistling a battle-song normally reserved for imminent victories. Cologne had respect for the blind fool and much more than what would allow herself to show. The elder would never keep somebody so close without respecting him or her. Men with enough resolve to learn the Art were few in her Village, an unfortunate result of natural selection and social discrimination.
Cologne's frown deepened. While she knew the value of tradition all to well, she also knew it was not infallible. Heck, she could see some of her own past errors embedded in said tradition. "The council is a pack of fattened cronies" she whispered with annoyance. While that was not true per se – any elder could give an honest to goodness challenge to any conceivable opponent – the truth was there: They were way too passive. Cologne was somewhat of a council extremist, always traveling around the world and trying to keep her homeland up to date with the rest of the world. Which was like trying to force honey through a cotton blanket: messy, stupid and extremely grueling.
Cologne shook her head to clear her thoughts. Normally she would have been delighted to allow Mousse to wed her Granddaughter. His weak eyesight could be fixed, another benefit of the modern world. She would have told him about it, even cover the cost, if not for Ranma. The elder smiled, a rare smile reserved for rare moments. She had been absent when Shampoo lost to Ranma's female form. After Shampoo returned alone and unblooded, Cologne had started respecting the young martial artist. When she first saw him, she had to control herself not to knock him unconscious and haul him away. To her trained eyes, potential was oozing from every pore of his skin. His confidence and genius in battle along with his unwavering resolve made him invaluable. Mousse did not need a moral boost yet, she decided. Something he had apparently received anyway, she mused.
Neither Shampoo nor Mousse had talked about Jusendo, but Cologne was no fool. Between their silence and the tight-lip treatment she had received when she tried to contact her village council, she could say something important had happened. Something that simply blew away the creaked minds back home, filled Mousse with hope and Shampoo with despair. Ranma Saotome had prevailed against impossible odds yet again, she knew. Cologne chuckled. She already had a place in her heart for the boy, a place, she marveled, that eclipsed even Shampoo's. If the kiss of marriage failed, there were other, subtler ways to make an ally out of the powerful - and dangerous – youth and his curse made things that much easier. Cologne was a Grandmother but no fool.
Her eyes went wide a second after she concluded her thoughts, a passing feeling of dread marring her features. With a lightning-fast move, she removed an extra naruto from the bowl of Ramen she had been preparing. "Old age might just be catching up with me" she sighed humorlessly...
Contrary to common belief, Nabiki Tendo was not a person devoid of conscience. The hardships after her mother's death and her father's mental collapse had forced her to reevaluate her notions of right and wrong though. She had learned that while valor is valuable and honor priceless, lack of financial support would soon reduce both of them to cinders. She regretted a large portion of her actions but would sooner repeat them than let her family down. If she had to be ruthless, so be it.
The mercenary of Furinkan high plopped heavily on one of the more private tables of the ice cream parlor, ordering her favorite treat and diving back in her thoughts while waiting for this day's mysterious client. This time she had reached a new low, she decided. While she expected trouble when she handed out invitations for her baby sister's wedding to every rich lunatic she could think of, she sorely underestimated the chaos swirling around Ranma Saotome. The Kuno siblings where a given and she knew that they would have invited themselves anyway. Ukyo's intervention had been unexpected but otherwise manageable. A few explosions would have never stopped a ceremony in Nerima. The Nannichuan barrel, though, had been the straw that broke the camel's back.
Nabiki had initially thought she could just blame her father for hiding the Guide's gift to Ranma and igniting that sequence of events, but had promptly dismissed that notion. Applying the standards she expected from her associates on herself, she knew she was to blame for never learning that vital tidbit of information.
"Oh gods Akane. I really messed up this time" she muttered, deploying her smile mask to accept a bowl of parfait, then sighing again. She had already found a way to turn yesterday's mess into monetary profit by extorting large amounts of money from all offending parties. In fact, even after repairing the collateral damage and subtracting the wedding's expenses, the net profit was formidable. It made her feel quite empty inside, but, as usual, she would grind her teeth and take it like a Tendo. She only had to think of a way to get even with Ranma and her sister now.
Suddenly, her instincts declared immediate danger. While the middle Tendo daughter was nowhere near the martial artist Ranma or even her younger sister were, she had been taught the basics of the anything-goes school. Even though she would rarely practice the Art anymore, she had managed to remain fit and any street thugs would find their hands full against her. As soon as she saw the cause of her alarm, though, she knew fighting was not an option for her.
"What can I do for you, Taro?" she asked politely, hiding behind a mask of smug superiority.
The cursed martial artist sat opposite to her and regarded the mercenary girl intently. "You are brave to face me that casually, I'll give you that" he stated at length. "Don't worry, I mean no harm to either you or the Tendo family. I'm here to do business."
Nabiki smirked. "You are after the old gnome again." It was not a question. "My sources say you have been running after him all around Nerima."
Taro raised a brow, visibly impressed. "I was right to come to you, I see" he offered.
Nabiki glared at him. "It's not easy to ignore flying minotaurs and panty raid victims hunting the same target at the same time. The question is what can I do for you. Keeping track of Happosai is something I wouldn't inflict on my worst enemy, if you must know."
Taro nodded knowingly. "I will be staying in Nerima for a while, what with Happosai being here and things being bleak back home and I need a place to stay. I figured I'd try at one place the old pervert tends to return to."
Nabiki had to admit she did not expect that. "I'm willing to pay for my stay, of course," added the Chinese fighter.
The middle Tendo took some time to massage her temples, weighting the offer. "Let me get this straight" she started after a while. "You want me to let you stay in my house, where Ranma and sometimes Happosai live. The same Ranma you can't suffer in a room for five seconds and the same Happosai who is your life's bane."
Taro chuckled. "I know femboy in a decent guy in general. I think we can suffer each other if we try. As for the old freak..." Taro suppressed a grimace of disgust. "I promise I won't fight him inside the Tendo grounds."
Nabiki smiled a toothy grin. "It's not that simply, Taro. Rule one. He is Ranma, you are Taro and I won't accept other pet names from either of you within a mile from my house. The same goes for anything more that mundane sparring. You want to beat each other's stuffing out, do it where others will clean."
"Rule two. You won't even look funny at Happosai within a five-mile radius from home. If he attacks, you get to remove him from the immediate area and pay for all collateral damage.
"Rule three. You get a futon to sleep and food to eat. You will pay normal rate rent every day plus an optional 10000-yen to keep your stay out of my rumor mill."
"Rule four. Screw this up and a rain of your photos along with full name and full known history might fall in Nerima."
"And rule five. You'll avoid transforming indoors. You'll keep your hands off family and other guests unless provoked, in which case you also pay collateral. That's your deal, take it or leave it."
Taro remained stunned for a while, scratching his head. "Things are quite bad back home so I'll take your deal, Nabiki Tendo." His initial confusion turned into a smile. "You are much more formidable than what you let other think" he added, reaching for his wallet while smirking.
Nabiki also smirked. "So I have been told" she answered, receiving the money. "Now come with me and stay close until I can pound similar rules in Ranma's head. Oh, and pay my bill too" she added almost as an afterthought.
Pantyhose Taro complied while his smirk grew even larger.
8-12-2006: End of chapter 2 and I find this story blossoming in my mind into something I like. Instead of writing specific responses to each review, I'll try to answer any general questions. Being close to canon while improvising will take some work, but I think I'll manage. Some might think Taro is a bit too nice in this chapter, but do remember he was shown saving people in need occasionally. As for his 'home problems' you'll have to wait.
Concerning Ranma and Akane. I'm not too fond of reading continuation fics where the two of them somehow come to their senses and hump each other the night of the failed wedding. It's cute but not too realistic. They almost died against Saffron and they are closer than ever after that, but they still need time. I know I'll be reusing some ideas others have already implementing, but I think the 'how' is marginally more important than the 'what' when writing a concept.
Thank you for reading and reviewing.