Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that i claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:
For Love and Money, Chapter 13: Be careful when you walk in darkness lest you lose your way.
It had been two days, and things had only gotten worse as far as Nabiki was concerned. Qiang Pu was more distant than ever, and spent most of her time in her room or on her phone. She would go and see Yaayaa for a bit whenever they would let her, but Nabiki could tell that everything was slowly eating at her ward, wearing her down steadily like a mountain eroded by wind and weather. It was almost inevitable that she would snap at some point, and Nabiki was not certain what that would look like.
Nabiki had done what she could, and had put her resources to work in an attempt to track down those that were responsible for hurting Yaayaa, and breaking her wards heart. Qiang Pu handled her emotions almost as well as Akane did at that age, which is to say that right now she seemed to be one small step away from wanton violence and destruction.
The news that Yaayaa couldn't feel her legs or anything below her waist definitely did not help the situation. Qiang Pu had grown more and more resentful and angry ever since that particular bit of news was passed along. Still, as much as she worried about Qiang Pu, she couldn't help but worry even more for Yaayaa. Such a bright, sweet girl had her future stolen from her, and for that someone was going to pay. It just had to be the right people, and they had to pay in a way that set an example, that made clear that those that are close to the Tendo's and those they love are sacrosanct, untouchable.
She could understand Qiang Pu's rage, but it needed a better outlet, a proper focus. The right people had to pay, and they had to pay in such a way that the lesson would not be forgotten for years to come. They also had to make sure that it was not in any way connected to China. If it was, that meant that other people that Qiang Pu associated with could be targets. The cold hearted part of her noted that if they did go after anyone else from school that Qiang Pu was associated with, it would make finding them so much easier.
Of course, she would never want that to happen.
Nabiki sighed as she played with Chiko before it was time to read him a book and put him down for a nap. She took a moment to glance at the door to her ward's room and worried about how distant she had started to become, how fast she had started to regress after all the progress they had made. Maybe it was time to call in the big guns, Koda and Tachi. Even if she seemed to have lost the respect that Qiang Pu had started to show her, perhaps those two would be able to get through to her.
It was all she could hope for, after all.
As she picked up Chiko to take him to his room to read, she glanced at Qiang Pu's door again, and wondered what she was up to, cloistered away like she had been for the last couple of days.
She just hoped that Qiang Pu would reach out when she needed to.
Qiang Pu sat in her room as she texted back and forth with Xaph Ti Pyn. The two of them had discussed in depth what they needed to do. Xaph Ti Pyn had suggested that it could be any number of low level gangs that could have assaulted Yaayaa.
Qiang Pu had not spent a lot of time in the last day talking with Yaayaa because she had been busy working with Xaph Ti Pyn on where to start. She felt that they were close to having a good place to start. A small time bunch of pushers and thugs that worked the area that Yaayaa walked home through.
Xaph Ti Pyn had laid out where and when they should hit them, now it was up to Qiang Pu to get out of the house and meet her. Luckily, the outsider that had taken her in was very much a creature of routines and schedules. She waited until she heard the sound of Chiko's door being closed and the soft tones of Nabiki's reading voice before she slipped out of the window and towards her objective.
Nabiki might not understand, but she was certain that her father would. After all, was she not a child born of duty and what needed to be done? Of course her father would understand, where Nabiki would not.
So, surely what she felt was not guilt.
Qiang Pu shook her head to cast aside those thoughts as she made her way quickly and quietly towards where she would meet with her new partner.
It was time for vengeance. It was time for justice. It was time to make them pay for what they did to Yaayaa. And if it wasn't then? Then they might know who was responsible, and they would make THEM pay. They would repeat this as often as needed, until they got the right ones.
And who would care about outsider scum being put down, anyhow?
Qiang Pu dropped from the roof to land lightly behind the slim figure wearing dark clothes with her hood pulled up. She didn't say anything, having the feeling it wasn't needed.
Xaph Ti Pyn turned and smiled as she said. "Right on time. Not that I expected anything else. Our targets should be leaving their hideout soon on the way to the bar."
Qiang Pu nodded as she pulled her head book up and spoke in Mandarin. "You seem to know their habits well."
Xaph Ti Pyn shrugged her slim shoulders as she answered in the same language. "It's not that hard to find things about loud people who like to brag."
Qiang Pu nodded, having seen the same trait already.
"So, we are ready to begin. You think it is likely that they are the ones that attacked Yaayaa?" Qiang Pu asked in Mandarin as the pair started to move towards where the thugs were going to be passing through.
"It is likely. They move in the same area that she would have been walking home through, and they are known for petty little acts of lawlessness. Since the Japanese do not really punish their criminals, they have little reason to stop what they are doing." Xaph Ti Pyn answered.
Qiang Pu nodded as she adjusted the fit of her leather gloves one more time. "And why do we have to do all of this? Hide our faces and cover our hands? These are not fighting gloves." She stated as she looked at their attire dismissively.
"It's because we don't want anyone to come after our families, right? And since their police are in the pocket of some of the criminals, we don't want them to be able to help those that we punish." Xaph Ti Pyn said as she checked over her own gear as well.
Qiang Pu nodded as she thought about that. "It is sad that their law-givers are so corrupt that they would help those they should punish over those that they should protect."
"It is one of the reasons I don't like them. They push their way into things that they have no reason to be involved with, while letting other things go unchecked." Xaph Ti Pyn said with some venom in her voice.
Qiang Pu nodded, as she saw the logic in what she said. The fact that it fit almost perfectly with how she felt at that moment probably didn't hurt in getting her to readily agree. "Let us get this over with, so that Yaayaa can be avenged. It will make her rest better in her bed, I would think. To know that those responsible have been punished."
"Indeed. And its best to remove as many burdens from her as possible. She is a weak girl, fragile. We don't want to weigh her down too much with things that we can take care of easily." Xaph Ti Pyn said as they moved quickly through the shadows of the back alleys and low roofs.
Qiang Pu hesitated, then sighed and nodded. As much as she did not like anyone disparaging her friend, what Xaph Ti Pyn said did ring true. It was why they were able to hurt her, after all. She was a soft, fragile girl. One that Qiang Pu had failed once. She would not fail her again.
Xaph Ti Pyn made sure she was looking forward as a ghost of a smile flickered across her face before it was carefully hidden once more. The more she could separate Qiang Pu from those around her, the easier her job became. Perhaps it would not be necessary to kill her, if she could bring her over to their side? Mother would surely be pleased with that, and forgive her the disobedience of not arranging for a violent end to the Heir. After all, it would make the changes they had to perform so much easier, if they had a legitimate successor helping them.
And the fact that she could use this chance to twist the knife in the gut of Nabiki Tendo and her faithless husband were just bonuses. Xaph Ti Pyn nodded to herself. Mother approved of efficiency.
Xaph Ti Pyn held up her hand, signaling for Qiang Pu to stop and made a silencing gesture as the pair crept forward slowly, the loud voices of several men and one woman sounded below them.
Xaph Ti Pyn would have preferred to have the pistols and knives she had been trained with at hand, but they would raise too many questions in a land as peaceful as Japan. She was confident in her own fighting ability, and of course Qiang Pu was the heir. It went without saying that she was possibly the finest fighter that they had reared in hundreds of years.
The pair peered over the low roof they were crouched on and observed the five men, one of them who looked a little older than the rest. The older one was being rather hands on with the woman who was more than likely a prostitute from what she was wearing. The pair exchanged a silent look, and waited for the group to pass underneath them. At a silent nod, they swung over the edge and hung there for a moment before they dropped silently behind them. They landed lightly, already in motion.
Qiang Pu lunged forward as she drove the heel of one hand into the small of the back of the man in front of her, her other hand catching the heel of his trailing leg. He let out a painful squawk as he slammed face first into the dirty pavement, but went still when her follow up movement was a stomp aimed at the back of his head. His head bounced painfully as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Xaph Ti Pyn aimed a kick between the legs of the unaware man before her, and stunned him painfully. Her follow up is a quick yank back on his collar to pull him off balance, and then a powerful drive into the ground. A powerful kick to the side of the head sent him out of this fight as she gathered herself for the next opponent.
The others are starting to react as Qiang Pu pucks in under the wild swing of the third man, letting his fist pass through where her head had been moments ago. She twisted as she stood back up, her arm locked, palm flat and rigid as she drove it up into the bottom of his chin. The sound of his jaw breaking is a startling sound, almost like a muffled gunshot as she continued the slight twist of her motion and drove a powerful spinning back kick into him and sent him flying backwards into a wall. Her eyes locked on the older thug, who was wide eyed at the sudden, intense violence.
Xaph Ti Pyn was engaged with her second opponent, who had some level of training it seemed and had reacted quicker than his friends had. He had pulled back into a boxing-style stance and was throwing jabs and kicks at the smaller girl before him. Xaph Ti Pyn wove her way between his strikes as she deflected his kick slightly to the side, and began to unload her own rapid fire series of punched and palm strikes into his exposed midsection. As he staggered back, she viciously drove a knife hand blow to his throat, and swept his legs out from under him, as she left him gasping and writing on the ground. She stepped forward alongside Qiang Pu as they moved towards the last thug.
The thug looked at the two of the wild-eyed as he pulled a knife and held it to the throat of the struggling woman before him. He yelled at the pair of younger girls as he backed away, his other hand knotted in the hair of the woman he was using as a shield. "Stay back! Stay back, or I swear I will slit this bithces throat from ear to ear!"
Qiang Pu shrugged as she stepped forward. "Do. Is not care. Is stupid outsider womans who sell body to ugly men. No care what happens. Tell me what I need to know, and I won't kill you." She said in her broken, halting Japanese that she had started to slide back into.
Xaph Ti Pyn stalked forward silently as she pulled the knife from the belt of the first man she had taken out. "Go ahead. I will happily castrate you… You know, as revenge for the woman, or something like that." She said offhandedly as she flipped the knife into a proper grip.
He swallowed hard as he continued to back up, but came to a sudden stop when his back hit the wall behind him. He eyed the pair of young girls before him as his fist tightened in the hair of the suddenly still woman before him, the knife pressed into her throat drawing a little line of blood. "What do you want? Money? Women? My territory? What?" He yelled as he tried to keep hidden behind his human shield.
"Is want answer, is all. Is want know why you attacked a young girl three day ago. Why you hurt her. Why you almost kill her." Qiang Pu said tightly.
"Hey! We haven't hurt any stupid girls! Three days ago we were partying with Yamada';s boys up in Shiba. I don't have any fucking clue what you are talking about!" He yelled as Qiang Pu stopped and stared at him from within the shadows of her hood before she stopped and took a step back.
"He know nothing. They not the ones." She said simply.
"And how do you know that? We should hold this fat pig down and torture him until he tells us what he knows!" Xaph Ti Pyn argued hotly.
Qiang Pu shook her head. "Why? Is clear he tell truth. Is so scared wet himself. No, not lie. They not the ones. We look for the right ones."
"But they are scum! You are going to let them go?" Xaph Ti Pyn said as she tightened the grip on her knife.
The man swallowed hard as he kept the woman tight against him, but relaxed slightly as Qiang Pu shook her head.
"He no worth effort of torturing." She said, as she eyed him, a stone hidden in the palm of her hand.
He relaxed a moment, the knife pulled away from the woman's neck slightly. That was when Qiang Pu moved. It was fast, fluid, and certain. An almost casual gesture sent the stone flying like a shot into his eye. He let out a startled gasp as he let go of the woman and reached up instinctively for the bleeding ruin of his eye. The next moment Qiang Pu is in front of him, and the last thing he sees is the heel of her foot before it smashed into his head and sent him tumbling into darkness.
"We should kill them, make sure they can't hurt anyone else." Xaph Ti Pyn argued as the prostitute ran away into the night.
"Why? Is not the right ones. We keep looking. We will find them, and make them pay." Qiang Pu argued back before she turned on her heel to start her trek back home. She almost off handedly kicked one of the men in the side of the head, sending him back into unconsciousness as Xaph Ti Pyn looked at the knife in her hand, and sighed as she drove it into the ground next to the head of one of the thugs.
She knew that it wasn't yet the time to push the Heir that last little bit, but it was coming closer faster than anticipated.
She couldn't wait.