After many years Ragna returns to his manor in Baghdad. He was out studying Mysticism with the famous Darvish of Central Asia Hali; aka Jubei of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Ragna was well immersed in the estoric studies like his father Joeseph was. His mother, Miriam died during childbirth of his younger sibling Jin. He belonged to one of the most ancient noble families of Iraq Vampirherzen.
When he arrived outside his manor; he found his old home in quite a mess. When he tried to knock on the door; he found that it was already open. Inside, the place even more messed up than it was outside. Various paintings, broken decoration pieces and cutlery sets etc were being thrown on the floor. As if someone ransacked the place.
"What in the hel?" Ragna exclaimed.
"Master Ragna! Is that you?" An old man emerged from the shadows. Ragna immediately knew who he was. It was Pietro Rizolli, the loyal butler who served generations of the patriarch of Vampirherzen family.
"Rizzoli what the fack happened here?"
"Oh, young master if only I knew. Unfortunately, I'm as badly shrouded in the dark as you are. Only recently I have returned from my vacation in Japan. As I returned, I found this place to be quite a mess, I'm afraid. Naturally, I tried to investigate the cause, but Master Andrew Kisaragi coerced me not to look into it any further."
"You mean uncle? Why would he do that?"
"Unfortunately young master I could not deduce that."
"Where is Uncle right now?"
"Well, he is currently staying with Edgar. As you can observe this place is not in a habitable state."
"Thanks, Pietro." Ragna waved him goodbye. He knew where he needed to go next to get his answers.
At The Vermillion Residence
Ragna was again met by shock on seeing the current, decrepit state of the once marvelous residence. It seems like the owner wasn't paying much financial attention to his not so humble abode. The Vermillion Residence used to be the envy of Baghdad.
Since the day Ragna left for Samarkand, he felt that things were not exactly like he used to remember. Regardless this was not his primary concern. He needed to know where his father and his younger sibling were right now. What exactly happened at his own home? There were so many questions on his mind. He knocked on the door three times.
After a minute or so, the door was slightly opened but not enough to reveal the mysterious attendant of the door: "Ummm...Wh..who... i...i.s ittt?" Came out a meek voice of a young female.
This caught Ragna off guard. He was expecting their regular butler Adonis to attend to the door, not some mere child: "Well I'm looking for Mr. Kisaragi. Is he here by any chance?
"Ummm...ummmm...Wh..at kind of busi..ness do yo..u ha...ve wi..wi..with Uncle Andrew?"
"Uncle Andrew? What in the hel servant girl?" Ragna was offended that a mere servant was referring to his relative as her uncle.
"I believe that is none of your concern you stupid servant girl?" Ragna said the last word as per his reaction.
"I'M NOT STUPID! I'M NOT A SERVANT GIRL EITHER!" The girl suddenly opened the door. It was Noel. She was clearly pissed off.
"Raa..gna? Is that really you? I'm so glad you're here." Noel then hugged Ragna; suddenly getting cherry all of a sudden. Ragna could have sworn that this girl suffers from Bi-polar disorder. She was pissed few seconds ago.
"Jeez Noel! Don't cling on to me like that. Where is Adonis (Vermillion's family butler) by the way?
On hearing Adonis name, Noel looked on the floor. There was a slight hint of sadness in her eyes. Ragna would have asked why she had become so depressed all of sudden, but he had more pressing concerns on his mind: "Noel! Can you tell me where Uncle Andrew is right now?"
"Umm...I'm not really sure where he is right now?"
"What do you mean?"
"He didn't tell me. When I asked father about it, he reprimanded me straight away."
"Well do you have any idea what happened to my father and Jin?"
"Ummmmm...Well, you..see...uncle wa...was..."
"NOEL WHAT THE HEL ARE YOU DOING THERE?" A ferocious voice shouted. The person who shouted came out of the door. It was Edgar Vermillion; father of Noel.
He looked furious as his entire face was all red now. Ragna remembered that Jin once joked that Edgar, appeared like a red, mustached balloon whenever he was incensed. Now Ragna was beginning to see why he (Edgar) looked like one. He is one angry ballon. Ragna was hoping that he wouldn't blow up with increased blood pressure.
Edgar still had locks of blonde hair left on his large forehead; which surprised Ragna as he could have sworn that he would have lost those thin hairline of his, by the time Ragna completed his studies from Samarkand. Oh well, there is still plenty of time that Edgar would go full bald. All in good time. Afterall, the fruit of patience is sweet.
"GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM DAUGHTER."
"Bu..bu..t faaather? He cou...ld help us in finding Jin."
"WHAT THE HEL IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU'RE STILL HOPING TO BE REUNITED WITH THAT WORTHLESS BOY? WHY ARE YOU STILL WEARING THAT DAM RING? TAKE IT OFF NOWWW!" Edgar forcefully tried to remove the ring from Noel's finger.
"Father please don't..." But all of her struggles were all in vain, as Edgar finally managed to take the ring away from Noel grasp. She could only respond by crying away back to her own room.
"Really now old man? Did you just called my brother a worthless man?" Ragna smoldered.
"It was a slip of tongue Ragna I di...didn't mean any of that."
"The hel it was. But I have more important matters at hands than arguing about your true feelings towards me and my family. Where the hel is my father and my brother Edgar?"
"Ragna please try to understand. I can't give you a proper answer to that question."
"Does your noncooperation means that you were involved in my father and Jin disappearance directly and indirectly?"
"How did you reach such a ridiculous conclusion Ragna? You know that I'm quite fond of your family."
"Well, it doesn't look like you're quite fond of my brother though."
"Ragna please...Both of our interests would be harme..."
Ragna then shoved the approaching Edgar away, as he (Ragna) secretly took something out of Edgar's pocket: "Fack off Edgar. Know this, If you're not with me then you're against me." With that Ragna went away. He knew that Edgar was quite stubborn. If he was determined not tell Ragna anything about his family disappearance, he wouldn't tell him anyway; end of story. His stubbornness was the prime reason why he had become such a successful ship merchant in a short space of time. Though as of right now he doesn't look that much of success in financial terms.
Ragna was on his way towards the local Kazi (chief of police) office in order to file a report regarding Jin and Joeseph sudden disappearance, when he heard a familiar scream from a certain girl: "RAGNAAAAA-SAN WAITTTTT!"
"Noel?" Ragna turned around to spot a certain tiny girl running towards him.
Noel breathing very heavily as she got near Ragna: "Ha..ha..ha..Let me catch my breath...first...ha..ha..ha.." Noel was resting her hands on her knees.
"Noel, why are you here?"
"Ha..ha..ha..Ragna-san..I have something important that would help you..in your search...ha..ha..ha.. search for Uncle Joeseph..ha..ha..ha..ha.."
Noel suddenly hands him a piece of paper: "I found this on Jin's secret cabinet the night he disappeared."
"What? So you were there. Do you know where both of them are right now?"
Noel shook her head: "I wasn't there at the night of their disappearance Ragna-san. I only went there because I wanted to talk to Jin. You know he needs me at special times. However, when I got there. I found his place in quite a mess. I looked for him and Uncle Joeseph everywhere. But I couldn't find them. Then I thought to look for clues in his (Jin's) secret cabinet. Which I found this piece of paper as a result. I hope it's important."
Ragna always wondered why he never knew of the location of the secret cabinet that was installed in their house, many years ago. But he remembered that Noel and Jin were childhood friends. They used to play various games together that involved a secret cabinet. Jin would put cryptic messages on the list items for the scavenger hunt; that Noel and other children would collect for the grand prize. Jin was older than Noel; Ragna remembered. So he acted more like an older brother towards Noel than a friend.
There was something that struck Ragna; what was Noel trying to imply when she said that Jin needed her (Noel) at special times? What kind of special needs that Jin had, that could only be fulfilled by Noel? It couldn't one of those lousy, raging teenage hormones things that's for sure. Jin was too much calm and controlled to act like some sort of animal. It had to be something important. But now is the not the time to ponder on an unrelated mystery. But he would ask Noel about that later on.
Ragna then inspected the piece of paper; it had a foreign letter written to it, 天.
"Ten." Ragna read the foreign letter aloud.
"What was that?" Noel asked.
"Nothing. But thank you for sharing me this." Ranga then takes out a ring from his pocket that he sneakily took out of Edgar's pocket just a while ago: "Take this. I believe you would take better care of it than I ever would. This ring is special for me Noel."
When Noel got hold of the prized ring, Ragna would have sworn that there were sufficient tears in her eyes: "Thank you Ragna-san." She then kissed the ring: "I'm 100 percent sure that you would find Uncle Joesph safe and sound."
"Why would you say that?"
Noel then touched both of her hands on her chest: "Because I know...I just know it... Jin is alive Ragna-san...If Jin is alive, then definitely Uncle Joesph is alive too. Believe me...I believe it with all my heart."
Ragna then patted Noel: "Stupid! You can't really tell whether people are okay or not just by your feelings. But thanks. I really needed that positive outlook of yours Noel. Go home now. Your father would throw tantrum if he found out that you were talking to me."
Noel than waved goodbye: "Okay stay safe. I would be offering special salat (prayers) so that you would be successful in your journey. Bye Ragna-san..." With that, she went away.
Ragna then started to walk towards the Kazi office. The ring that he had just returned to Noel originally belonged to his mother. It was the only memory Ragna had of his mother. But it (ring) ended up on Noel's fingers after both Noel and Jin were caught making out. Both of them had recently hit puberty and could not contain their fascination with the opposite sex. They even, secretly dated each other without anyone's knowledge.
But after getting caught, it was agreed that the only viable solution was that both of them were supposed to get engaged and eventually married. The strange thing back then was that Edgar Vermillion was pretty content with this idea.
The only person who was against this arrangement in first place was Ragna. But Jin assured him that he would only marry Noel after Ragna had completed his studies from Samarkand; after which both of them (Noel & Jin) would be of appropriate age to get married.
When Ragna actually returned from Samarkand he would have expected to attend his younger brother marriage ceremony. But, what he got in return was that both his father and his brother have mysteriously gone missing. Plus his house was a mess. He wanted to get an answer from his Uncle Andrew who was supposedly at Vermillion residence but mysteriously he wasn't there. Then there was Edgar Vermillion, who was determined not to give a straight answer to Ragna; plus for one reason or another, he seems to intensely hate Jin.
What the hel was going on? There were so many questions on Ragna's mind right now. He hoped that his paternal uncle, Andrew Kisaragi would at least be more cooperative than Edgar in giving the answers he sought. But first, he needed to find him. Which for now, Ragna had no clue where his uncle was in the first place. He could use that piece of paper that Noel had given him to kick-start his investigation. Surely the Japanese word Ten meant something important. He could go to the local Kazi office. Yeah, that would be the only option he had right now.
At The Kazi Office
Ragna headed straight towards the complaint registration area. There seated was the fat officer of the law. It looked like he did less of a cardio and more of free training at the restaurants. The officers of Baghdad were notorious for getting free meals from the food vendors, restaurants or even homes; wherever they could poke their dirty fingers on.
Ragna coughed in order to get the fat officer attention who was writing something on a piece of paper; most probably his monthly report on the conditions of Bagdad security. The officer paid no heed to Ragna initial cough. Besides being corrupt the officers of Baghdad were also rude.
So Ragna coughed again. This time, the fat officer looked Ragna in the eye after he stopped his paperwork: "What is it?"
"I want to file a report on my father and my younger brother disappearance."
"Come next month. We got our hands full already." The officer rudely responded.
"The fak! It is your duty to write a police report."
"Who says it is my duty boy? Using insulting language in front of the officer of the law. We can arrest you for that. That is the authority given to me by the Kazi (chief of police) of this city. Plus he (Kazi) is busy. He won't be taking any more reports now. He has more pressing concerns like controlling food prices so that people won't revolt against his holiness Grand Caylip Nazid Ibn Fusian." .
"The hel he is busy?" Ragna was about to fight but then he remembered that the officers of Baghdad wouldn't even bother writing his police report without bribing them first; sufficient money he didn't carry with him right now for such a task.
He could pay the fatty later and the Kazi (chief of police) would magically order an investigation into his family disappearance. Perhaps, it would be better if he could get free information out of him first, regarding what that heck 天/Ten actually meant: "Ummmm sorry for the outburst sir. But could you help me with something if you don't mind?"
"Hahahaha...So you actually realized the extent of my authority boy. I love respectful and obedient citizens like you. So what can I help you with?"
"Yeah, could you tell me what this strange letter actually means?" Ragna handed him the paper that he originally got from Noel.
Officer inspected the piece of paper: "Hmmmm...it's Japanese..." Suddenly the clerk eyes then became wide open: "TEN?"
"I know it says Ten but what does that actually mean?"
"Where...di..d yo...u get tha...t?" The clerk was clearly scared.
"Could you please tell what that means sir?"
"TELL ME! WHERE THE FACK WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?" He immediately draws his sword at Ragna.
"Woah...woah...woah...You really need to calm down." Ragna was clearly psyched out by the sudden and violent change in the clerk's behaviour.
"TELL ME NOW!"
Ragna knew that something was up and if he told him (fat clerk) that Noel was one the who gave him the piece of paper with the strange calligraphy she could be in serious trouble. Her family was influential yes. But the key word is "WAS" influential. Looking back at how bad Noel's family financial situation is right now; he (Ragna) doubted that if he told the clerk the truth her father could not keep her (Noel) away from any serious trouble: "Ummm...I found it lying on the Mutanabbi Street...ummm yeah that's where I found it." Ragna trying to come up with a plausible story.
"LIER!" The clerk then pointed his sword at Ragna's throat, which shifted the majority of the clerks' and the citizens' of Baghdad attention at Ragna and the paranoid clerk. Then one of the colleagues of the paranoid clerk whispered in his ear: "Not now...everyone is watching..." That was the only part of the whisper that Ragna managed to hear.
The paranoid clerk then nodded and he went into the room, where his colleague him escorted to. The paranoid clerk also took the paper that contained the strange calligraphy with him. Ragna figured whatever was happening right now, it would be a terrible idea if he lingered on this place any further. He had to leave this place and fast. If he insisted on getting his paper returned he was sure that he could land in hot water again. Now is the high time to leave this God forsaken place. Besides Ragna had a good memory and he could rewrite that specific word 天 again without much problem.
With that, he left the Kazi office. He headed straight towards the caravanserai (Inn) by the name of "Garghabazar". Garghabazar was one of the premier caravanserai in Baghdad. Ragna originally went there for some food and lodging for the night; as his original home was still not in a habitable state.
"What will it be, stranger?" Asked the caravanserai waiter.
"A large mug of sharab (wine) and a roasted lamb pronto." Ragna ordered. The waiter nodded and went away to fetch Ragna's order. At this point, he (Ragna) was really miserable now. Whenever it looked like he was making some progress, immediately afterward, there would be some sort of sick twist of fate, that would force him to retreat two steps backward. Eating a hearty meal and a nice drink would help him to cheer up for the time being.
However, Ragna's thought process was broken by a sudden announcement from a certain French man. He (French man) had a very, over the top appearance. He had a distinctive, raven handlebar mustache and wore tall red, white and blue top hat and a matching cape. His appearance gave out a vibe of a showman, whose bread and butter clearly depended on his audience attention.
"Gentlemen! I would like your attention, please. For your hearts entertainment, a rare beauty from the mystical land of India would be performing here, at this great establishment tonight. She is a very famous dancer indeed. Trained in such seductive arts by the Goddess of Beauty Lakshmi herself. Surely, all of you fine gentlemen must be presuming that I must be mad to make such grand claims. Wait until you see this alluring creature for yourself."
Suddenly a thin, well-endowed young girl appeared in front of the audience; wearing a scanty, red, bedlah (a belly dancer's costume). Her face was obscured by a red drape covering her head. Only her luscious, red lips were visible, which he (Ragna) wouldn't mind kissing if given the opportunity. Even if her face was concealed Ragna knew that she had a beautiful face. But he could easily speculate that she had a short hair. Weren't the women of India were famous for their long hairs? There was another thing that caught Ranga's eyes. Located on her right side of her fitted top, was a small, yellow badge that looked awfully familiar to Ragna. Oh where, oh where had he seen that trinket before?
The French man then continued: "Feast your eyes on this delicate Kandahar flower. Her milk, white skin, her seductive curves, that were crafted by the executor of a thousand handicrafts; the Hindu Deity Vishwa Karma. Who was forced to use all four of his hands to craft this masterpiece of a human body. She is a rare beastkin. Show yourself, your majesty, QUEEN MAKOTO NANAYA."
The woman then removed the drape from her head, thereby revealing her face; which was so beautiful that Ragna heart skipped a beat. This woman had a brown, bob haircut with fringes, and a two perky set of squirrel ears on her head. She also had a brown, bushy tail located near her rear. This was indeed, a rare beauty.
The girl started to dance gracefully, which brought loud cheers, wolf whistles, and applause at her direction from the patrons of Garghabazar. Some of the patrons, who have accidentally brought their wives with them, were savagely attacked by their better halves, because of their lustful stares. So note to every non-single guy who has a girlfriend or wife. NEVER ENGAGE IN STARING CONTEST WHEN YOUR MISTRESS IS AROUND. Trust me you're gonna regret it.
"This Goddess herself was responsible for the downfall of the Chandragupta Maurya empire. She used to be the concubine of the great king (Chandragupta), you see. But her beauty and her allure attracted the attention of Chandragupta's jealous son Susima; who fell head over her heels. While he could not attain Miss Nanaya by legitimate means. The Crown Prince Susima foolishly conspired to kill his own father just to attain her and he was successful at that. However, this resulted in the demise of both the Crown Prince; who was executed for the treason and the once great empire of Maurya. With no roof left on her head, Miss Nanaya had no choice but to travel around the world to maintain her royal lifestyle with her much demanded skill. So please dear patrons of Garghabazar, contribute as much money as you possibly can for her royal highness."
The entire crowd was rowdy now. They were throwing countless amount of gold coins at Makoto's direction. Ragna knew that most of the claims made by the French man were bogus. Chandragupta Maurya empire never crumbled. In fact, it witnessed its full magnificence at the hands of his grandson, Buddhist Emperor Asoka; one of the greatest ruler of all time. Chandragupta never had a son by the name of Susima, who eventually killed him. The actual name of the Crown Prince was Bindusara who became the second Emperor of Maurya Empire when Chandragupta decided to leave his post, just so he could become a monk of Jainism. In fact, Chandragupta Empire preceded even that of Roman Empire.
The patrons were either too dumb or too much drunk to spot the lies in the French man claims. Speaking of drunk, his food and his sharab (alcohol) had just arrived. Ragna then started to eat his meal. The food and the drinks were mediocre at best. Ragna had eaten better food at other places in Baghdad. But he always preferred eating out at Garaghabazar because it had a certain ambiance to it. It was always full and lively; not like other lifeless and almost empty caravanserai (Inn) of Baghdad; which Ragna hated by the way.
Ragna was now glad that he came to Garghabazar. The spectacular and seductive dancing of Miss Nanaya certainly made his mood a whole lot better from otherwise a very bad day at the office. Maybe he should reward her for her deed. So, Ragna threw some gold coin at her direction; which resulted in Miss Nanaya to momentarily stop dancing and look Ragna in the eye while smiling at him. Ragna smiled back, but suddenly the yellow badge on the right side of her fitted top caught his attention again. He now knew why that dam badge looked so familiar to him. It had a similar Japanese letter to the one that was supposedly calligraphed by Jin the night both he and father disappeared. But this one was bit different though. It was written as 字/Ji.
Maybe he could have a little chat with this beastkin dancer regarding his family sudden disappearance. But the thought itself was naive. As this Indian beastkin (Makoto), apparently had no connection with his family or Iraq in general. She was a traveling dancer for God sake. But Ragna had no choice but to ask Miss Nanaya some serious questions in order to get any possible lead on his family disappearance. If he gets no valuable answer from her, he could at least ask her, where did she get that yellow badge from. That in itself could prove to be a valuable lead, Ragna reasoned to himself.
Suddenly, Ragna felt a strong tap on his left shoulder: "Mind if we join you, handsome young stranger?" One of the men in the group of hooded strangers asked Ragna. There were six of them. They looked quite suspicious to Ragna as their mouths were covered by almost identical, dirty, purple sash and all of them wore a black hoodie over their heads. Perhaps they could be robbers or something. Ragna did not know for sure. But they certainly looked like some distant relative of Mr. Merchant from Resident Evil 4.
Ragna nodded and went back to his drink. These hooded strangers took their seat near Ragna's table and one them, who seemed to be the leader, ordered the waiter: "Brings us twenty-four glasses of sharab." He gruffed.
"Excuse me, sir?" The waiter was freaked out by the strange man, strange order. They were six of them. He could not understand why they needed to drink 24 glasses of sharab.
"WE ARE EXTREMELY THIRTY YOU BAKA! JUST BRING IT." As the stranger banged his fist on the table in a menacing manner.
"Right away sir." The waiter was scared, as he decided to fetch their order as quickly as possible.
"Ah, my lovely Sharab or alcohol as they are called in the West is banned in the ancient land of Iraq. Such shame, if only they knew of its heavenly taste. Unfortunately, the religion of Iraq have strict dietary laws you know and is primarily against sharab. But they are still served in its capital. Must be because Garghabazar is loved by Baghdad police." Rest of the five hooded strangers laughed at their leader strange joke.
"By love, you mean that the Garghabazar's establishment is forced to pay a lot of gold coins to Baghdad police as a bribe huh?" Ragna said as he sipped on his Sharab cup.
All six of the strangers erupted into fits of laughter. One of the six strange men, who seemed to be subordinate exclaimed: "Boss this guy is funny."
The leader of the group then continued: "Well don't you think that the source of all love is money?" All of the five strangers began to cackle like madmen.
The boss of the strange men then continued: "As much as you're handsome. I don't love you. Do you grasp the meaning of my wise words, handsome stranger?"
"Not my problem if you don't love me. People in Baghdad live, work and eat together while they hate each other guts. If you're asking for some money, here take it. That is all I have right now." Ragna then puts some of the money on the table.
The leader of the strangers was now agitated: "DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT WE'RE ARE A BUNCH OF BEGGARS? TIME TO TEACH YOU SOME MANNERS DOG!" The leader and two other strange men were about to attack Ragna.
Ragna, as if on instinct, quickly punched and kicked all three assailants. Which made all three of them fall down on the floor.
The remaining of the three strange men were about attack Ragna when they were stopped by their recently downed leader: "STOP!" The leader shouted, as he got up and removed the sash from his face: "Attacking the officer of the law could land you in serious trouble. Son, you're under arrest for insulting and assaulting under duty police officers."
"Hey, I wasn't responsible for the earlier attack. You guys provoked me. It was an act of self-defence."
"Tell it to the Kazi (chief of police and judge both rolled in one). You're coming with us, whether you like it or not." The rest of the five officers were about to apprehend Ragna when suddenly, a broad metal chain with a head of a black snake attached at front, wrapped around the forearm of one of the apprehending officer: "WHAT?" He exclaimed.
"Hey, there friends! I thought it was quite unfair if you boys decided to pick on a little girl. That's no way to treat a fine lady." Said a green haired individual whose eyes were perpetually closed all of the time. Ragna immediately knew who that snake was. It was that dip sit, Yuki Terumi.
"Who the hel are you?" The boss of the five police officers asked.
Terumi then removed his hat and bowed: "Name's Michael Jackson. But let me ask you a Shakespearean question. What's in a name? If I got the moves and the beat then I'm still The King of Pop even without the name...hahahahaha..."
"Your jokes are are just terrible, stupid kid! But here is the deal estúpido . Release my man now and walk away. We will let you off the hook for your stupid action towards my subordinate." The boss bargained.
"OMG really! Thank you so much, sir. I really think that only stupid actions done by an estúpido (Stupid in Spanish) like me would force me to face your wrath. No..no I don't want that...No sire...No..."
The subordinate whose hands was being constrained by Terumi's Ouroboros asked: "What do you mean?"
Terumi suddenly pulled the officer towards him and smiled evilly: "I mean this stupid action." Terumi brutally and constantly punched the police officer's face to a bloody mess and then threw him at a nearby table. Ragna knew that the attacked police officer was not dead. But attacking the police officer and brutally injuring him would land both him (Ragna) and Terumi on hot waters.
"TERUMI! YOU SIT HEAD! THEY WERE ABOUT TO ARREST ME FOR TWO DAYS! TWO FACKING DAYS! BUT NOW THANKS TO YOU WE COULD END UP IN JAIL FOR NINE WHOLE YEARS YOU MORON!" Ranga shouted.
"Well, you thank me later buddy boy." Terumi creepily smiled at Ragna.
The boss of the five, no four police officers was breathing in a menacing manner: "SEIZE BOTH RAGNA AND THAT WEIRD COMPANION OF HIS NOWWWWWWWWWWWW!"
Ragna just realized that they ended up in an even deeper sit hole than before. Not only four police officers were advancing towards them. There were many more, undercover officers that were present at caravanserai (Inn) that were advancing towards them. There were at least forty-six of them. He (Ragna) had no clue how he could stand up to so many officers at the same time. Both Terumi and Ragna joined their backs together as if they were two brave samurais fighting against the whole army.
"Man, I don't like the stinking idea of ending up in jail for nine whole years." Terumi complained.
"Well, jackass! You shouldn't have brutally assaulted a facking police officer in the first place." Ragna said as he that group of police officers was approaching them fast.
"Well how about we resist those dip sits. Put up a good fight. Know what I'm saying?"
"I HATE IT WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT..." Ragna shouted as he and Terumi simultaneously punched their respective officers away. With that, all of the officers ran towards both Ragna and Terumi. Both Ragna and Terumi attacked their oncoming assaulters with punches, kicks, dodge, and repeat. They managed to take down scores of them. But the wave of police who about to arrest was not to be stopped anytime soon. Ragna knew that odds were heavily stacked against them. But he had to take his chances now. If he ends up jail time now, he would never know what happened to his brother and his father. With that Ragna gave a Super-Man punch to the head of the police officers for good measure.
The fight went on and on. Although both Ragna and Terumi took down a lot of police officers. There still a lot them, that remained. Both of them (Ragna & Terumi) were out of stamina.
"HA..HA..HA..HA..HA..HA..HA..HA.." Both Ragna and Terumi were breathing heavily.
Head of the police who was on the receiving end of Ragna's Super-Man punch announced: "You know what I'm gonna do to you two pieces of dog sits? I'm gonna torture both of you all day long and remove your fingers and your toes so that both of you would never able to raise your hands and legs against officers of the law."
Ragna knew they were done and dusted. His truth-finding mission would end right away. Along with his limbs. He was clearly scared and so he decided to pray to Lord Almighty to save their asses from this mess. If Mighty Lord decides to save Ragna alone and not Terumi because he is the worst kind of sinner. Ragna wouldn't mind that option either. Terumi definitely deserved to go to hel especially for how stupidly he acted today.
Out of nowhere, six pellets were being thrown at the police officers direction. Suddenly from the pellets, there was smoked that was being released which made all forty-six started to cough and their eyes started to burn. Ragna then tried to locate their mysterious benefactor. It was that Indian Beastkin Dancer; Makoto Nanaya.
Why did she (Makoto) took the risk and helped Ragna in the first place? Was it because he had thrown some gold coins for dance performance and she decided to return him the favour? No that was not possible. By helping Ragna the good ol' police of Baghdad would surely be on her bushy tail from now on. Dam it! Why was a belly dancer even carrying smoke pellets in the first place? Nothing made sense.
Ragna then shook his head and shouted: "COME ON! THIS OUR CHANCE. LET'S GO!" Both Ragna and Terumi exited the Garghabazar.
Outside, Terumi the wiped sweat from his forehead: "Man that was close...Mmmm...hmmmm I'm quite thirty. I think, I will fetch myself a nice, cold drink now." Terumi was about to move back to the Garghabazar when his right arm was grabbed by Ragna: "Stupid! Why the hel would you even want to go back to that place, when the Baghdad finest would not hesitate to give our limbs some Phantom Pain."
The last time Ragna came close to losing one of his precious limbs was when both Ragna and Jin were young kids. Both of them were playing sword fights with real swords, and Jin got over excited was about to amputate Ragna's right arm. But, thankfully his right arm remained intact. Otherwise, Ragna would have been forced to use some convenient, plot device, of an arm that contains a lot of evil energy and a whole lot of unwanted attention. THE HORROR! After that Ragna proceeded to spank Jin's ass so much that his (Jin's) cheeks started to blush like some school girl in love.
"Oh yeah! Sorry, that thought never crossed my mind. So what are we gonna do now? Run from them all night?"
"Hel no! We need to find a Safehouse and fast."
"Man I really want to do that running all night thing, ya know. It would be a good workout. A guy gotta stay lean and fit. Oh, I got an idea. How about we vote? I vote for running all night." Terumi raised his right hand for his vote.
"No! We are not gonna vote Terumi. And most importantly, do you have a Safehouse or not?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. And it's not far from here." Terumi said as he pointed his right index finger in a specific direction.
"Good take me there."
Safehouse
"This doesn't look like a good place to hide. Where the hel are we Terumi?
"Chill Rags. This used to be a storage facility but now it's abandoned but there is a secret hiding place." Terumi smiled.
"Oh good! Show me where that secreting hiding place is?"
"I would gladly." Terumi immediately took out his twin butterfly knife: "But you owe me a workout Rags."
"Dam it Terumi!" Ragna cursed. He knew that Terumi was stupid; mad even. But he wouldn't that much mad that he would decide to pick a sword fight with Ragna right about the time when all forty-six police officers were searching for their asses. Ragna took out his Zweihänder in order end this fight quickly.
"Now Rags may the best man win. Plus no cheating. Only I'm allowed to do that." Terumi winked. With that, both Terumi and Ragna charged at each other.
So there you go, guys. The end of chappie 1. Well, I have to make a confession. The cover pic of the story is at total dissonance with my story. I wanted to find an image with Ragna, Terumi and Kagura together. I couldn't find that pic anywhere. Then I tried searching for the images of either Ragna with Terumi or Ragna with Kagura and the results were HORROR. So I went ahead with this cover pic instead. The problem I have this cover pic is that Jin would not appear in this story. Of course, Celica and Noel would appear as supporting characters. So I'm both satisfied and dissatisfied with this cover pic. Until then readers. This is Howlin Blood signing off.