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 26. New truths and old lies.
Nabiki sighed as she shifted carefully. She had been freed of the watchful presence of her subordinates for the time being, but that was only because of the fact that Akane and Ukyo sat across from her. Kaya had been whisked away to visit her Aunt Tachi, so the three women had each other for company.
The fascination that the little two year old girl had with Tachi was something that none of the three women present could figure out, but the joy that was evident was heartwarming.
The three sisters shared a smile as they settled in with the tea that had been set out for them by one of the many young geisha in training that populated the back rooms of the Teahouse.
Akane and Ukyo exchanged a look, before Akane turned to Nabiki and set her cup down. "How are you doing, Nabiki? Honestly, this time."
Nabiki looked at the two of them and sighed. She winced slightly as she shifted a bit, but held up a hand to stave off the other two giving her help. "Honestly? I feel like it's not just my body that has taken a beating, but my very heart and soul. Qiang Pu has come into our lives, but in a way none of us would ever want. Ranma is in another country, dealing with what I would assume to be people that would try to kill a twelve year old girl. Qiang Pu made friends here, then one turned out to be her brainwashed sister, another was being used by her sister, and then Yaayaa ended up getting hurt like this… Honestly, I don't know what I am supposed to do right now. I wish Ranma was here, I'm sure he would know what to do."
Ukyo glanced aside at her silent wife, and could plainly read how uncertain her tomboy had become in how to handle this. Ukyo smiled gently and reached out to take Nabiki's hand. "Sugar, Ranma would tell you to trust your head and your heart, just like he always has. He was able to go take care of this, to make sure that whoever is responsible would not be able to hurt his friends and family again, because he trusts you completely. You just need to show the same faith in yourself."
Nabiki huffed and shook her head. "You've spent too much time with Kasumi."
"I just want to be the best sister, wife, and mother I can be. So yes, I have happily plumbed the infinite depths of Kasumi's vast knowledge, sugar." Ukyo said with a wink.
The three women shared a laugh, then Nabiki looked at the time and nodded. "I want to show you both something, if you will. Plus, I've been ordered to take short walks every day so that I keep in shape."
The married couple looked at each other, then stood up before Akane offered Nabiki a helping hand. Nabiki chuckled, but let her athletic sister help her to her feet. Akane and Ukyo trailed behind Nabiki as she led them slowly towards the inner garden courtyard.
When they arrived, they saw a young girl who was wearing a pretty kimono with a very distinctive pattern and walked alongside Michi. The two of them talked quietly to each other, then stopped when the young girl wanted to look at a particular flower. Michi glanced in their direction where they stood at one of the entrances and nodded her head slightly before she gently urged her young charge along.
The three women watched as Michi led the young girl out of another one of the entrances, and it was only when Michi and her Ward were out of earshot that Akane broke the silence.
"Was that…" Akane said, then trailed off as Nabiki nodded.
"That is Xaph Ti Pyn, daughter of Xian Pu and Ranma, sister to Qiang Pu. She is a quiet, studious young girl who listens to her elders, and enjoys reading. She is happy that she is being allowed to walk outside of her room. She is a wonderful young girl, and Qiang Pu can't bring herself to see her." Nabiki said sadly.
"Why? She.. really isn't a threat anymore, right?" Akane asked as she took Ukyo's hand in hers.
Nabiki sighed and looked at her younger sister. "She is no longer a threat, no. At the same time, she is no longer the person that Qiang Pu knew. She is not the friend and confidant that she appeared to be. She is no longer a peer and an equal. She is a stranger who was placed into the person she knew, after she effectively killed the previous mind to inhabit that body."
Akane paled and thought about that for a moment. "I can't even imagine what that would be like."
Nabiki looked at her sister and decided to make her point. "Imagine if Ukyo one day just forgot everything that she had known on a personal level. She no longer remembered you or Kaya. You both became total strangers to her. That is what Qiang Pu is feeling. Then imagine if you were responsible. That it had happened because of a choice you had made, not even an accident. That is what Qiang Pu is dealing with."
The couple looked at each other, then at Nabiki. "What can we do to help, Sugar?" Ukyo asked.
"Be the family she needs, at least until she returns to China and her family there. With everything that has happened, she needs us more than ever." Nabiki said before she led her sisters to sit in the sun and talk about family. Neither Ukyo nor Akane could miss what Nabiki still tried to hide. How worried she was about Ranma, and how much she missed him.
It was completely understandable, since they all missed the cursed martial artist, and could feel the void that his absence had left.
Qiang Pu breathed out slowlu as she took her first stance, acutely aware of the women that stood alongside her. Michi had cleared her to do some very basic exercises, as long as she didn't strain the bandages that covered her back. The Lilies had invited her and Rei to join them in their morning sessions of Tai-Chi. Qiang Pu was aware it was more to placate her than anything, since she had Amaya on one side, and Rei on the opposite one. But she would take what she could get. She hadn"t felt like going to the garden this morning, not after she saw Xaph Ti Pyn taking a walk alongside Michi. She knew that they all wanted her to get acquainted with Xaph Ti Pyn again, but the wounds were still too new and raw. And she was not referring to the lash marks that criss-crossed her back. The scars on her heart hurt far worse than any wounds to the body could, and lingered far longer. So, she lost herself in the slow, gentle movements that she had grown up doing alongside her mother.
She knew in her heart of hearts that Xian Pu and Elder Khu Lon were fine. After all, they were the two most formidable fighters that the tribe had ever produced. There was no way that a bunch of turncoats with no honor could have taken them down.
They just had to be okay.
Later that night, Amaya slipped through the upper window of the warehouse like a shadow. She might not be a ninja like Mother Konatsu, or an implacable typhoon like Tachi, but she did have her areas of expertise. There was only one other person in the Teahouse that was better at stealth operations, or up close work with a short blade and they were the person all the rest attempted to catch up to. Amaya's area of unrivaled excellence was undoubtedly her skill behind the wheel of a vehicle, and also the proficiency she had shown with the koto. But no one had been more surprised than Amaya herself had been.
As Amaya settled in to wait for her guests to get settled in, she reflected on how she had gotten here. Her apprenticeship to the Teahouse had been more than a little unusual. Unlike most that found solace here, she had actively chased after rumors of a place that people like her could find peace and acceptance.
She knew that she had made quite the strange image. A massive black man confessing her darkest, deepest secret to someone that was a stranger. All for the hope of possibly finding peace, finding an answer to the question that had plagued her for her entire life.
Who she was, and why she had never been comfortable in her own skin.
They had talked well into the night, and she had left with a very particular envelope. One that had changed her life. The day after that they had left for China, and Amaya was the one that had returned. It still seemed so surreal to her. All this time, this petite little black woman had lay hidden in that massive black man's body. Everything had seemed to just feel right, once she had gotten used to her height and reach.
And the fascination she had developed for the business end of her pistol slowly faded away.
Amaya returned her full attention to the doors as they slid open, and the vans pulled in. Tachi had dealt with some of those that had conspired against the Tendo's and the Teahouse, but there were others that still needed to be dealt with. People that had either helped, or had kept quiet about what they had heard. People who had broken the trust that their community had been built on.
Trust. Honor. Loyalty. Duty. Those were concepts that Amaya understood very well. They were what she had devoted her life to, back before she had left the service. Back before she had been told that she was broken, that the feelings she had, the wrongness that only grew over the years, was nothing. A figment of her imagination. A mistake that she would get over, that she would forget about. All that mattered was being the best man you could be, becoming a father someday so that the family's legacy could endure. That she lived up to all the expectations that everyone had for the person that she appeared to be on the outside.
She had left the service when she couldn't deny who she had become, but still she had hid the truth from everyone. She had drifted from place to place and job after job. She had been a mercenary, a bodyguard, a stuntman and any number of other rough jobs. No matter where she had gone, though, she had never felt like she belonged. She had never once felt like she could be who she knew she was, in her heart of hearts.
It hadn't been until she had heard rumors of the Teahouse that she had felt a stirring of hope. The possibility that there was a place that she could be who she was always meant to be. It wasn't until years later that Amaya had started to really think about the series of events and coincidences that had led her to the Teahouse. And what she had decided was that it didn't really matter how she had ended up there. All that mattered was that she had found her family. Her Sisters and Mother would be there for her always, just like she would be for them.
And that was what had brought her to this warehouse on this night. To take care of a problem for her family. People that had helped threaten the safety of her family and friends. They had thought that they could profit from the chaos that Rai Zur had brought to their home.
It was time to have them pay their dues.
This particular group were drug dealers, and the drugs they specialized already marked them as a problem, but until recently they had been small enough to fly under the radar. Their latest item on their menu for people looking for non-consenting fun had crossed the final line. They had started to distribute a lower dose version of the drug that Xaph Ti Pyn had used to eliminate the short-term memory and ability to resist of the unwilling participants for their clients'fun'.
This was a line that they should never have crossed. It did give Amaya the excuse she had always lacked to remove a cancer from her City and Ward.
She would have to 'thank' the previous one by being even nicer to the reborn Xaph Ti Pyn. It was almost shocking how different the two versions were. Which of them, the little psychopath or the sweet and considerate girl was the real one? Would she have always turned out like this, if Rai Zur hadn't poisoned her mind?
For her sake, Rai Zur had better hope that Ranma killed her. If not, then Amaya was going to have a very, very long talk with her.
Amaya slipped quietly down to the ground level, her tiny form clad in a black and gray silk skinsuit just another shadow amongst many. She handled things a bit differently than those that she had surrounded herself with. Tachi would have waded in with the certainty that the course she had been set on was the correct one. Ranma would have confirmed what he had already figured out before he carried out his plan. Amaya had made sure of her facts before she had acted, so that she would not have to hesitate doing what needed to be done, nor would she blindly follow along with what she had been told.
She was no longer a tool to be used and discarded when her work was done.
She slipped quietly into a shadow between two crates, and settled in to wait. She took slow, shallow breaths and stayed still. It was a skill that she had learned during her time in the service, and if it could make her ungainly, massive birth form able to vanish, then it was all that more effective for her true form.
Amaya watched the guard as he walked past her again. She had chosen this spot because it was out of sight of the tables where they were working, and because of the pile of cigarette butts that were nearby. It was always best to let a guard complete a circuit or two if that was an option. They tended to relax, and be less guarded and perceptive. Routine bred complacency and laziness.
In other words, it was a death sentence.
The guard gave a furtive look around before he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Amaya waited as he took a couple quick pulls, then blew out slowly. It was when he had almost completely exhaled that she stabbed into the back of his left knee. He let out one weak coughing sound as he fell and twisted towards his left. He was caught by the surprisingly strong left hand of the tiny black Geisha and she slit his throat as neat as if she had just butchered a pig
In some ways, she had.
Amaya laid the body down gently and wiped her blade on his jacket before she started to make her way towards the next guard as he walked his circuit.
A bit more bloody work, then she could go home and share a nice cup of tea with Xaph Ti Pyn.
It was the little things that you looked forward to.