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 14: If you go seeking vengeance, be prepared to dig two graves.
Nabiki gave a worried look towards Qiang Pu's room again. The divide between the two had only grown in the last week. She had become more and more defiant, and outright dismissive of what Nabiki had to say. She had also been sneaking out on a regular basis, a fact that Nabiki had yet to confront her ward with.
Even more worrying was that she had been informed that Qiang Pu was not visiting Yaayaa as much as she had been. That was one of the things that was tipping Nabiki off to the level of crisis that her ward had to be experiencing. She figured at a time like this, that Qiang Pu would be practically grafted to her bedridden friend, and not avoiding her.
Then there were the reports that had started to trickle in about attacks on low-level gang members and thugs. It was possible that someone was trying to expand their territory or even move into this area. Neither one was exactly desirable for anyone involved. So far the big families had not become involved, but if any of their lower echelons were drawn into this, that could change rapidly.
She didn't want her ward sneaking out to see someone putting her at risk of getting drawn into a gang war. Then you had the fact that Nabiki wasn't positive that the mysterious people who had targeted her adoptive daughter were not still after her.
On the plus side, she should be able to have Koda or Tachi talk to her soon, the business that had kept the two occupied was finally coming to a close. She hadn't realized it was that time of year for Tachi, and the fact that Koda had been out of the country the one week she needed her was unfortunate. Koda would be coming over tomorrow, and that would hopefully be what it took to get her ward back on the right track again.
For about the thousandth time, she wished that Ranma were here. She understood that they all needed to find out what had happened in the village as soon as possible, and that Ranma was uniquely qualified and suited to deal with whatever had happened, but still. She really could use him by her side right now, and not once again in harm's way.
In other worrying news, it seemed that Gos had been poking his nose into things regarding Yaayaa. That right there seemed out of the usual pattern for the lecherous information broker, unless it somehow had something to do with the mysterious benefactor that Ranma had mentioned but refused to actually talk about. She just hoped that whoever was looking into Yaayaa didn't intend the poor girl any more harm. She had already lost enough already.
Nabiki glanced at the clock and sighed as she picked up Chiko for his nightly routine, knowing that when she came back out that Qiang Pu would have sneaked out once again. Maybe she should have taken Konatsu up on her offer to have one of her ladies tail the young amazon, but until she could truly say she was worried about what Qiang Pu might be getting into, she had to try and respect her young wards privacy, at least a little bit. She remembered being that age herself, after all.
Still, it wasn't helping matters here or anywhere else. She would see how the talk with Koda went, and go from there. Until then, all she could really do was watch and wait, and hope that she had made the right choice. Who knew that parenting a teenager could be so hard.
Once Qiang Pu had heard the door to Chiko's room shut, she nodded to herself and slipped out of her window. She left the piece of card over the latch like Xaph Ti Pyn had suggested, so that the alarm would not engage correctly and she could reopen her window when she got back without having to leave it actually open.
It was another good suggestion from the teen that she was quickly growing to consider a close acquaintance. Maybe even a friend, even though that word made her feel uneasy after what had happened to Yaayaa. She felt bad that she hadn't visited her in the last couple of days, but Xaph Ti Pyn had kept her busy with helping scout the next group they were going to question.
The first couple had been true street trash. They were the lowest of the low, the bottom of the scum filled pond that was the criminal underworld, as Xaph Ti Pyn described it. They were the ones that were most likely to have attacked Yaayaa for just being there.
This group though, had ties to one of the lower tiered Families. They were known to deal in prostitution, drug running, and human trafficking. Xaph Ti Pyn had suggested that they might have tried to abduct Yaayaa, but something went wrong so they ran after hurting her. Broken merchandise not being worth much, after all.
How Xaph Ti Pyn had described it filled Qiang Pu with a black, seething rage. To think that someone might have targeted her dear, sweet friend like that, for reasons like that?
It was unforgivable.
So, it was with a heart filled with the dark, butter brew of righteous fury that Qiang Pu slipped from Nabiki's home and out into the night.
So lost in her thoughts was the young warrior that she didn't notice the small, feminine outline dressed in a sable and grey kimono wearing a darkened Noh mask who observed her departure, and took note of the direction from an adjacent rooftop.
"This One thinks that our young guest shall need to be properly admonished." She said quietly before she settled back to wait for Qiang Pu's return. She might not be the stealthiest of the ladies, or a good combatant, but she was confident in her ability to handle wayward and unruly younger people, it was a skill that she had polished during her previous life.
With a sigh, Koda settled in and took a drink from the cup of tea that was set beside her on the dark grey cloth that was spread over the corner of the roof she was kneeling on. Just because one was staking out a wayward student, did not give one a reason to forgo the simple trappings of civilization.
Asuka had been pacing nervously for some time as she waited for Xaph Ti Pyn to make her appearance. The last few days had been nerve wracking for her. She had found out that of the group of stupid, brutish boys that had bungled their simple task with that plebian Yaayaa had been suffering a string of accidents. Fatal ones, at that. Three of them in four days had died in some sort of horrific accident or another. She had heard that the last of them had hung himself this morning. Four dead in that many days, and now Asuka was scared that she might have earned herself some karmic repercussions of her own. Of course, that would not be possible. She hadn't TOLD them to paralyze that annoying girl. She hadn't even told them to hurt her badly! It wasn't her fault!
She paced and turned and practically screamed as that obnoxious foreigner she had been saddled with, Xaph Ti Pyn, seemed to appear out of the shadows in front of her.
"Is something wrong, Asuka? You look troubled." Xaph Ti Pyn said in a manner that conveyed concern.
"Troubled? Troubled! People are dropping dead around me, and you ask if I am troubled?" Asuka said as she sat down in a huff. "I passed troubled days ago! Where have you been? Why haven't you returned my calls until now?"
"Calm down, I am here to help you now. I've been trying to take care of the little mess you made, but hopefully your concerns will end tonight. I have everything lined up to take care of things. You should be no longer in any danger after tonight. I promise." Xaph Ti Pyn said as she sat down next to the other girl and pulled a thermos out of her backpack that she dropped between her knees. "Here, drink some of my tea. I guarantee it will calm your nerves so that I can explain how this will all work, okay?"
Asuka nodded as she took the cup of tea she was offered and drank it down in two long gulps. "That is a bit bitter, you know." She said. She did indeed feel calmer, almost like the world was just drifting away after a few moments.
"I know it is. The drugs ruin the taste every time." Xaph Ti Pyn said in an almost conversation tone of voice as she reached in and pulled out zip ties.
"Drugs?" Asuka said as she struggled to keep her head upright.
"Yes, dear. Drugs. You will fall asleep soon, and I am afraid that you will likely never wake up, not with the dosage you just drank. I did promise you that your worries would all be gone. Now, go to sleep like a good little piece of bait." Xaph Ti Pyn said as she bound the unresisting girl then looked at the shadows. "She is all yours, boys. As long as you have the money, that is?"
A trio of goons stepped out of the shadows and grinned at Xaph Ti Pyn as they dropped a bag of money onto the ground next to her. "Here you go. Thanks for doing business, we got just the right people for her."
Xaph Ti Pyn grinned and nodded as she stood up and took the bag without opening it and started to walk off into the shadows. "Oh, I am sure you do as well. It was good doing business with you, boys. Just make sure you forget me, or there could be problems."
"Sure thing, Miss Zur. Anything you want." The oldest of the goons said as the others carried the unconscious girl towards their truck.
"Are you sure that they will want her? Maybe we might want to check out the goods ourselves, you know, before we make the exchange?" One thug asked his boss.
The older one shook his head and cuffed the one who asked on the back of the head. "No, you idiot. You want to cut our proffits? No, she goes just like she is, or I stick you myself."
The other two just swallowed and nodded as they loaded the drooling girl into the truck, and made their way to the dropoff.
Xaph Ti Pyn smiled as she watched them, then leisurely sent a message to Qiang Pu as she walked towards her car to head to the meeting point outside of that night's target. "You need to hurry! They just brought in Asuka, and she doesn't look good!"
She did love it when things went according to plan. Her mother would be most pleased with her progress, she was sure. It might not be exactly what her mother had wanted, but it was all about results, as her own mother would often say. The means didn't matter as long as you got results.
After tonight, there should be some real results to show her mother. Maybe she would even earn a bit of praise for once?
It was a shame that her father would not find out about what she had been up to, but mother was rather insistent that she handle him herself. Old scores and all that, she had said.
Well, mother did know best, after all.
Xaph Ti Pyn hummed happily as she traveled to where she would be meeting Qiang Pu, then quickly schooled herself into the appropriate mix of fear and anger as she waited. It wasn't long before Qiang Pu landed a bit heavier than normal at her side.
"How they get her? Do we still do as planned?" Qiang Pu asked as she took a deep breath to steady herself. The pace she had been moving was not easy, even with as good shape as she was in. The damage that had only recently healed still seemed to have some effect on her.
Xaph Ti Pyn shook her head. "I don't know! I saw some thugs drag her in, and they exchanged her for money. We need to hurry, or who knows what they might do to her?" She said hurriedly as she pressed a knife into Qiang Pu's hands. "We can't afford to hold back this time! We have to hurry, and they deserve to die for this!" She said earnestly as she grasped Qiang Pu's hands in her own around the knife.
Qiang Pu looked at the knife and nodded as Xaph Ti Pyn stepped back. "We can't let what happened to Yaayaa happen to anyone else." Qiang Pu said in Mandarin as a grim look settled over her face.
Xaph Ti Pyn barely suppressed her smile as she nodded. "For Yaayaa and Asuka. They must pay in blood." she said as she pulled her own knife from her boot.
Qaing Pu gave her own grim nod as the pair of young girls made their way towards the warehouse, neither aware of the figure who strode out of the shadows a bit of a distance behind them. She moved with quiet grace as her geta seemed to glide over the ground. Her black and red kimono seemed to hang slightly oddly over one side of her body. In her one visible hand delicately grasped the handle of a traditional Japanese bamboo parasol depicting a black background adorned with cherry blossoms.
Her one eye watched the pair as they entered the building with an intensity that was terrifying.
*A/N*
I once again have a long weekend before me, and I am once again setting myself a challenge! Be expecting to see a lot of updates (hopefully) over the next couple of days!
Banzai!