Yes, this is a piece of that long-delayed 'The Pursuit of Happiness'
sequel to 'The More Things Change'.
It is also, let me state clearly now, in a **VERY** rough shape. Still
need to clean up many details, and in/cut out/adjust some bits of
continuity, and such, but since it's been a looooooong while since I
started this thing, I felt that it was about time I released a PART of it
to show that I'm not goofing off entirely...
Act1 of TPOH should be acts 1-12, if the rate of things stays as it does,
and I'm very near wrapping up act 1...
acts 2 and 3.... oh boy.
Fyi, Tanya Noori is a creation of Mihoshi@ffml. Her character design
was just perfect for the need of a new villian I needed, and when she
presented it to me, I eagerly asked if I could use Noori
In case you're wondering, parts 1-5 are in for MAJOR reworking, which is
why I'm not bothering with posting them just yet. I posted them a long
time ago, but I've changed it quite a bit since then.
WHAT'S IN THIS FILE (in this order):
part 6
part 7
part 8
One Thing Leads To Another: The Origin of Tanya Noori (by Mihoshi)
also, I wanted to get the new 'villian' Tanya Noori, some exposure.
It's been a while since I posted 'One Thing...' and ever since, Noori
hasn't made any public appearances. Didn't feel quite right t'me.
anyways, here's Tanya! ;)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TPOH - 6
Vengence of Noori
The sun rose on yet another sunny Nerima Friday. The birds chirped.
Across the neighborhood, citizens began to scurry in the daily rat race
that was Modern Life.
In front of Furinkan High School, a team of Kendoists stood in the
yard, stretching and warming up in preperation for the day's events.
Tatewaki Kuno stood in front of them all, giving ranting speeches of
inspiration.
In Ucchans, Ukyo was up bright and early for the breakfast crowd. The
morning hours were brief, short enough for her to close down and leave for
school a half hour before it started. The profit from the breakfast crowd
made the early hours worth it.
Meanwhile, at the Tendo residence, Akane stomped upstairs to awaken her
beloved.
"WAKE UP, STUPID!!!" The echo of Akane's booming wake-up call rattled
the house. Normally, this would manage to get Ranma jumping out of bed.
Instead, he opened up one bleary eye and groaned.
"Aaaw... not s'loud, 'Kane," mumbled Ranma
"Ranma? Are you okay?" Akane knelt down next to him and put a hand to
his forehead. "You don't look so great."
"Don'feel so great," he grumbled. His head was throbbing, he was
sweating more than usual, and he had an incredible headache.
"Oh no..." Akane wiped Ranma's brow in an attempt to soothe him. It
was working fabulously. "I think we'd better call Doctor Tofu. You're
definitely sick."
"Sick? Me? I never... get sick." He sat up suddenly, pulled a nearby
trashcan to himself, and threw up. Then he flopped back down on the bed,
and Akane resumed massaging his head. She paused a moment to go to the
door, boot Soun, Genma, and their handicam down the stairs, and closed it.
"Maybe I should stay here and take care of you?" she asked, cradling
his head in her lap.
"Nah... I'll be *ow the room is spinning* alright... Kasumi'll be here,
an' I don't want ya to miss anything 'cause of me." Ranma managed a weak
smile, and was rewarded with a quick kiss on the forehead.
"I wonder how you got so sick. You never got sick before..."
"Coulda been... your cooking..."
She lightly bonked him on the forehead. "Shut up, you."
*
Ukyo strolled down the sidewalk, breathing in the morning air and
feeling, overall, mellow. There was nothing to get excited about, and
nothing to feel down about either.
Then she noticed something amiss in her surroundings.
"Ryouga?"
She looked around, a frown creeping across her face. Ukyo walked
around, looking carefully for that one head in the crowd with the yellow
bandanna, ran over to it, and gave it a good yank.
"RYOUGA!!!"
"OW! What'd you do THAT for?!"
"Wrong way, idiot."
"Oh."
After several more well-placed whaps to the head, Ukyo managed to
shepard Ryouga to Furinkan once more. Arriving a few minutes early, they
went to their classes and immediately took a window seat to view the day's
festivities. Today was Kendo Day, and everyone always enjoyed watching
the 'Blue Thunder' get knocked around.
As Akane Tendo approaced the school, she noticed the courtyard clearing
out. Then, she finally remembered exactly what was nagging on her mind.
It was Kendo Day. She was alone. And Kuno had been showing a remarkable
amount of endurance for a while now.
<I wish Ranma was here... Wait a minute, I've always done this
_on_my_own_ and I can STILL handle it!>
Tossing back her bookbags and rolling up her sleeves, Akane Tendo got
ready to rumble.
"Hey, wait a minute," said Ryouga, "something isn't right here."
"Hm?" wondered Ukyo.
"She's... alone out there, against all those guys! That isn't fair!"
"Might I remind you," said Nabiki calmly, "she used to do this every
day, against a bigger crowd, and on her own."
"Well... alright." Ryouga settled in with everyone else looking out
from the windows as Akane approached and the Kendo Club settled into
attack formation.
Akane watched the Kendo Team surround her, their eyes watching her
carefully. In the past, fighting hordes of boys was easy. A person would
think fighting hordes is hard, but when those hordes are badly organized
and are as likely to hit each other as much as hit you, the odds improve
alot. The new way of doing things, however, fixed that. There was a new
sort of 'teamwork' ever since the various forces of Furinkan had split up
into units, and it proved to be a fair test of skills.
But that was with Ranma at her side.
"Good Morning, Akane Tendo." The greeting snapped her out of her
thougths and quickly reached in front of her to snatch something from the
air... a rose. Tatewaki Kuno stood in front of his team, looking as smug
as ever. He took a moment to close his eyes and breathe in the fine
morning air.
Then he ranted.
The students held their breaths as the kendo team and Akane faced off.
Everyone's eyes was watching for that one moment where the tension would
snap and the fighting would begin.
Someone sneezed.
Crickets chirped.
Akane watched them all carefully, awaiting that first attack.
Happosai streaked by in a flash hauling a bag of panties.
"ATTACK!" With that mighty roar, Kuno surged forward with a flury of
strikes. Akane dodged to one side, grabbing him by the arm, and heaved
him towards a crowd of Kendoists. As Kuno went flying, another bunch of
bokken wielding boys charged towards Akane, but were all mowed down by a
series of powerful sweeping kicks.
Meanwhile, a few floors up and watching from a window, Ryouga watched
nervously. He'd always seen her as a gentle, sweet person, even if she
had incredibly violent sleeping habits (she'd once beaten up Happosai in
her sleep) and was a fairly skilled martial artist.
"Looks like she's holding her own," cooly noted Ukyo. She looked over
to Ryouga, who was beginning to crush the window frame with his hands as
he nervously watched Akane's battle. <He's still in love with her, the
hopeless idiot.> She sighed and watched as Akane mowed down the fourth
wave of kendoists by using Kuno as a battle axe, and the fifth wave by
using him as a throwing axe.
"I AM NOT YET DEFEATED!" yelled Kuno, who got up once more, as if he
was never struck. For a brief moment his aura flared, and flickered from
his usual blue to a darker shade of purple. It was barely noticable.
Kuno launched himself into the air. This drew a gasp from the crowd,
mainly because Akane had her back turned.
Of course, she sensed him coming. As she spun around to give him a
bookbag slam to the forehead, something raced by and nailed Kuno in the
head before she had a chance to strike, something red whizzed by and
struck Kuno a thunderous blow. The Blue Thunder was flung away in the air
and landed hard into the floor.
"WHO DARES TO INTERFERE WHILE THE BLUE THUNDER DOES BATTLE!?" said Kuno
as he sprung up once more, showing alarming resiliancy.
Ryouga sprang out of the third floor window, his landing creating a
small crater. "How DARE you call this an honorable duel!"
Ryouga's entrance into the fray set off a new round of buzzing and
chatter amongst the Furinkan student body. "Hey, who's that?" "Isn't
that Ryouga Hibiki?" "I heard he was dating Ukyo." "No, I thought he was
dating that other girl?" "No fair, Ryouga getting all the women like
that, now he's putting the moves on Ranma's fiancee!"
Fortuantely, Ryouga didn't hear this.
"The rogue Hibiki! So, you would cast asperations on the fair Akane
Tendo? Very well then, feel defeat at the hands of Tatewaki Kuno!!!"
Before he could advance, something small and black struck him on the face,
then exploded in a large puff of black soot. The kendoists, bewildered,
looked around, but soon got hit by exploding bags as well.
"Akane look out!" Ryogua raced over to her and pushed her to the
ground as several of the bags zoomed by, creating another large cloud of
soot in the field. He opened his umbrella and stood next to her, covering
them from a few more bags that were flung their way.
"What the hell is going on down there?!" wondered Ukyo as she saw the
field of battle quickly become engulfled in dark clouds of soot. She
grabbed her battle spatula and jumped out the window and up to the top
floor. She could see, from there, that someone on the roof was flinging
those bags. As she zoomed up, a figure zoomed by her and into the clouds.
"Hey, get back here!" Scowling, she jumped back down and into the fray.
As Ryouga peered into the darkness, he heard sounds of fighting.
Occasinally, a kendoist would fly by them and back into the clouds.
"What's going on Ryouga?" asked Akane.
"I dunno, let's get out of here." He took her in his arms and jumped
to where, he hoped, the building would be. Instead he landed on the
concrete perimiter fence of Furinkan high, but it was out of the soot
cloud. From there, he could make out a shape racing within the crowd,
beating up kendoist after kendoist.
"WHAT SORCERY IS THIS, RYOUGA HIBIKI?!" Kuno thrashed around
violently, creating a whirlwind withinn the soot-covered field. That, and
a light breeze soon cleared out the field, but not before someone raced
out of the remains of that cloud and layed Kuno low with a few quick
strikes of what appeared to be... a broom.
Everyone stared with much curiosity as a figure in strange, greyish
western suit of some sort, covered with soot, looked up at Ryouga and
pointed with the broom. In formal, somewhat rigid japanese, the intruder
spoke.
"Hibiki. You are mine."
"What?" Ryouga looked puzzled and angry. "What'd I do to you???"
"Be here. After school. I will wait."
The figure threw down a handful of soot bombs, quickly obscured in a
cloud, and then dissapeared as the smoke blew away.
"Great... just great," muttered Ryouga.
From the rooftop, Ukyo yelled down, "Ryouga, what are you doing?!"
Unfortunately, he didn't hear that.
"Ah... Ryouga?" asked Akane tenatively.
"Hm?"
"You can let go now."
With extreme embarrasment, he realized that he'd been holding Akane
protectively, in his arms, all this time.
"Aaah! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to! It isn't what it looks
like!" He quickly let go and wiped off the minor nosebleed.
From high above, someone was yelling "Ryouga you jerk!"
***
Furinkan High: lunch hour
Ryouga was trying to have as peaceful a lunch as possible. It wasn't
going to be very peaceful at all.
"What're you up to, Hibiki?" said Daisuke, elbowing him a little and
giving him a knowing grin.
"Huh?"
"You know what we mean," said Hiroshi, appearing on Ryouga's other
side. "You puttin' the moves on Akane this morning!"
"WHAT?!"
"The whole school is talkin' about how you're stealing Akane from
Ranma, y'know," added Daisuke."
"B-b-but it isn't like that! I wasn't... I mean we weren't... I didn't
mean to..." Internally, Ryouga was a mess. <Why> he wondered <didn't
this happen a few months ago?! Why now when... when I still had a
chance?!>
As he stood there, not listening to Hiroshi and Daisuke's words, he
could hear everything else that was going on. It was a surreal moment.
The breeze blowing, the birds chirping, everyone _else_ but Hiroshi and
Daisuke gossiping.... about him.
"Did you see the way Ryouga was holding Akane this morning?"
"Where was Ranma anyways?"
"I heard those two got in a fight again."
"So Ryouga's dating Akane now? Man, it's always a martial artist!"
"Who was that guy earlier today that knocked out Kuno?"
"I heard they were gonna fight to see who gets Akane!"
"Ranma's gonna kill them both."
"Hey... a big fight, a boy helping Akane, some mysterious new guy
barging in and challenging... doesn't this all sound familiar?"
"Yeah, used to happen to Ranma all the time."
At that moment, Ryouga's mind screetched to a halt. <Used to happen
all the time... used to happen all the time... to Ranma.... TO RANMA!!!>
He looked around, paranoia tingling in his nerves. He glanced at Ukyo,
who immediately 'hmph'ed and turned away. He looked at Akane, who was
busy angrily shooting down rumors. He looked around at all the other boys
and girls of Furinkan High...
"... martial artists get all the girls...."
"... that womanizing cassanova..."
"... reminds me of Ranma..."
How did things get this ugly? Why was this happening to him?
Suddenly, he knew.
"RANMAAA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"
*
"You didn't have to do this," apologized Ryouga.
"No, it's alright. If you don't face this guy now, he'll just bug you
for a long while. You'd better get this outta the way now," explained
Ukyo as she yanked his bandanna once more and led him in the right
direction.
Like vultures around a carcas, the students of Nerima waited around the
schoolyard for some free entertainment. Not surprisingly, Nabiki was
there as well, maintaining her gambling business. Ukyo wasn't surprised
at all.
Out in the middle of the field stood Ryouga's adversary, clad in a
loose fitting Victorian Era-esque suit of some sort, covered with soot
from head to toe, holding an equally sooty metal wire broom in hand. The
stranger noticed Ryouga's approach and acknowledged him with a nod.
Ryouga stood in the clearing in the field, ignoring the crowd of
students that were watching him, focusing on his opponent. Was there any
way to end this peacefully? At the moment he was barely willing to give
that option a try.
"Who are you?"
"I am Noori, T-"
"What do you want?" he interrupted impatiently. Ryouga was still
blaming Ranma for this mess. He wanted to clear this matter up as soon as
possible, then cave Ranma's head in.
"You dishonored me," said the sweeper in stiff Japanese, "so we will
fight. I will destroy you."
"But when did I-"
"Enough talk! FIGHT!" Noori swung the steel brush broom at
Ryouga's face, barely missing. Three small scratches began to bleed on
Ryouga's face.
"Alright... THAT'S IT!" Ryouga charged recklessly into the fray,
ignoring a broom handle to the gut, and gave a vicious headbutt. Noori
recovered and swiped at Ryouga with the glistening metal end of her brush,
turning his sleeve into ribbons and scratching his arm badly. Soon, soot
bombs and bandannas were flying about recklessly.
While the two continued to fight, Ukyo watched from a distance and away
from the main 'audience'. Something about the fight was eerily familiar
to her. A sense of deja-vu. She stared at this 'Noori' with some nagging
feeling.
"Worried?" inquired Sayuri.
"Ah.... of COURSE I'm worried! He's my friend!"
Ryouga snapped off his belt and whipped it out until it suddenly
straightened itself into a blade...
Noori hefted a handfull of soot bombs, intending to blind Ryouga with a
bomb to the face...
The crowd gasped as there was a mighty explosion of black soot and a
high pitched scream. Ryouga stumbled out of the cloud, coughing violently
and squinting his eyes. A very enraged Noori charged out of the cloud,
spinning the steel brush broom in one hand, looking to bring it down on
Ryouga's face.
Ryouga, hearing Noori's footsteps, whipped out his umbrella and raised
it, blocking an overhead strike from the broom. At this particular
moment, with Noori's arms up high (holding the broom) and Ryouga looking
in a generally downward direction, coughing and blinking, his vision
finally cleared up.
He clearly saw that he'd managed to tag her with his belt/sword twice,
once across the arm, and once across the chest....
<Why's he wearing a... A BRA?>
"YOU'RE A GIRL!!!"
Ukyo felt the sensation of deja-vu hit hard as she saw what was
occurring on the field. The crowd started buzzing furiously as well after
hearing his shout. Rumors started flying immediately and she couldn't
help but hear what the crowd was saying.
"Ryouga's fighting a girl? I wonder what she did to him..."
"Hey, maybe she's his fiancee or something?"
"You hear that? She's his fiancee!"
"Y'know, this all seems kinda familiar."
"Didn't this sorta thing happen to Ranma?"
That last sentance echoed in Ukyo's mind, and slowly her left eye began
to twitch. She reached for her battle spatula.
Meanwhile, Noori was yelling at Ryouga in a strangely accented English.
He didn't understand a word, but whatever she was saying seemed rather
harsh. She was swinging madly at him, but he was doing nothing now but
dodging and backing away.
"Why do you run away?!?!" she yelled.
"I don't hit girls!" replied Ryouga.
Those words echoed in Ukyo's mind as well. She'd heard them before.
And her mood wasn't being improved by the memory.
"Fine! You stop running, I kill you!!!" Noori punctuated that remark
with a swing of the broom that narrowly missed.
The large spatula, on the other hand, didn't miss.
Noori stopped in her tracks, surprised by the unexpected intervention.
There seemed to be an irate girl with a large spatula yelling at her
enemy, and she wasn't quite sure what to do at all. This sort of
interference was unheard of.
"What are you doing?!" yelled Ryouga.
"What am *I* doing? What did YOU do to THAT girl, you JERK!" screamed
Ukyo. "Humiliate her as a little girl? Break her heart? RUN OFF RIGHT
AFTER YOU WERE ENGAGED TO HER?!?! WELL?!?! ANSWER ME!!!" While
throttling Ryouga and yelling, Ukyou felt a tap on her shoulder. She
turned around, asking, "WHAT?!"
Noori asked cautiously (and stiffly), "Ah... excuse me, but what are
you doing?"
"Yeah, what are you doing?" asked Ryouga, who was promptly whapped by
both Noori and Ukyo.
"You interrupt my fight," said Noori, running out of patience. "I hurt
Ryouga very much then go, okay?" With that said, she raised her broom,
preparing to brush Ryouga's face off of his head.
"Wait a minute, sister, he's my friend! If anybody around here is
gonna pound him into the ground, it's ME!"
"This is not your concern!" yelled Noori. "I am HERE to fight HIM!"
said Noori, and pointed at....
... an empty spot where Ryouga should have been.
*
Several hours later...
Ryouga was baffled. He was in the yard at Furinkan High a moment ago,
and after several blows to the head and some stumbling, he was in
Okinawa... well, it seemed like Okinawa. Or was it Osaka? He wasn't
quite sure and at moments of stress every place seemed like every other
place.
Oh wait, wasn't that the Tendo Dojo? He wasn't sure.
He thought about going there just to ask directions.
Then he remembered the day's events.
And he also remembered a certain pig-tailed boy he wanted to mangle.
"RANMA!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!"
He charged in, breaking through the gates, tearing through the front
door, and stared at complete and total strangers.
"Eep! Sorry! Wrong adress! Pardon me! Sorry! Sorry!"
*
"He WHAT?!" said the bedridden Ranma, suddenly feeling good enough to
stand up.
"You heard us, man," said Hiroshi, "he was all over Akane today!
Isn't that right?"
"We saw it all," said Daisuke.
"I'M *KAFF* GONNA KILL HIM!!!"
-end-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TPOH - 7
==========================================================================
[Ucchan's, 6:30am]
o/" Where it's at... o/"
The last strings of a melody echoed softly in her ears. Ukyou yawned
and woke up, stretching, and hummed the tune. It was catchy... and if she
modified it just right...
"Mm, mus'be crazy," she mutterd. Ucchans never did a commercial
before, and she didn't think they were going to do one now...
=========
INSERT TITLE HERE
=========
[Furinkan High, after school...]
"Well, you recovered fast," observed Akane, walking up on the fence
behind Ranma and holding his hand. The two walked home at a leisurely
pace, with Akane occasionally wobbling, but getting her balance back
quickly.
"Yeah, didn't wanna miss too much class, y'know?" Ranma's grip on
Akane's hand tightened. He'd heard about what Ryouga was up to, and
there'd be hell to pay. Ryouga was, he felt, lucky to have been absent
from school again. Otherwise, he'd have been beaten into a pulp.
*
Ryouga wandered, it felt like he'd been wandering endlessly for the
past couple of days. He managed to stay in urban surroundings, so he
hoped that meant that he was still in Nerima. Tired, impatient, and
wanting to find how where the hell he was, he grabbed a passing student by
the shirt.
"Where is Furinkan High?!" he growled.
Daisuke blinked. This was apparently Ryouga. Again. There was a
definite sense of deja vu as Daisuke patiently pointed out the sign to
their left.
Ryouga looked to where the boy was pointing. It was a sign. A rather
large sign. One that read "Furinkan High School."
That's one problem down.
"Hey, you look familiar," said Ryouga.
"It's me, Daisuke. Your classmate?"
"Oh! Sorry about that."
"Well, it's too late for class, the school day is over," said Daisuke.
"Where've ya been?"
"Lost."
"Figures."
Suddenly, Ryouga's hunting instincts told him something he'd want to
hit was nearby. He looked around, scanning with narrowed eyes, until he
spotted two figures walking slowly upon the fence.
One of which he had a problem with.
Ryouga grabbed his umbrella charged, his quarry targeted and locked.
"RANMA!"
*
The sound of Okonomiyaki frying.
That was the sound that soothed Ukyou's soul. As of late, she noticed
that she was becoming far too easily stressed. What was the cause of it
all? She'd never been as aggrivated before. No time to dwell on that too
much, the okonomiyaki needs grilling.
Scoop.
Turn.
*sizzle*
Inhale the aroman. The grill, the oil, the spatula, the okonomiyaki.
All are one in the universe.
Add some sauce.
Scoop.
Sliiiiide to the plate.
All done.
She reached over to begin creating another okonomiyaki when something
disturbed the one-ness of her okonomiyaki universe. She didn't recall
having a vending machine in her store....
Tsubasa.
Get spatula.
"Um, Ukyou-sama! Hi!"
Adjust.
Scoop.
"No! Wait! I just came here to talk!"
Heave.
No, wait... something was wrong. Ukyou looked down to where her
spatula was wedged under Tsubasa's costume. It was bent. She cursed
silently as she had forgotten that Tsubasa'd been putting durable (and
sometimes heavy) mecha underneath his disguises lately. Quickly loosing
her zen-like state, she growled and pulled back an arm, getting ready to
slug the face that had just popped out of the vending machine.
"Waitwaitwait! Please!"
"This better be good, Tsubasa," growled Ukyou. "You bent my spatula."
"It is! It is! Please! Just listen!"
*
Tanya Noori was upset.
She had -finally- tracked down Hibiki, and was ready to pay him back
for the humiliation he had caused her. But somehow, somewhere along the
line, things went wrong.
First, her undergarments were revealed to the public via an attack from
Ryouga. Then, some strange girl with a titanic spatula interrupted the
fight and started bickering with him. And finally, as the strange girl
and Tanya were arguing, Ryouga escaped.
Tanya was not amused.
She had, in her haste to find him, rushed out into the city to track
him down. That was a mistake. Being a newcomer to the city herself, she
was fairly lost in a matter of hours as well. Cursing her luck, she found
a nice, clean rooftop to rest in and began her search once more... which
brought her to now.
She had been standing where she had managed to spot her former
significant other several days ago, hoping to see a familiar face once
more. The waiting was killing her.
Suddenly, a face stood out amongst the crowd. Somewhat pale, a little
on the lean side, with unmistakable eyes.
*'allo, Ryo* said Tanya in her native english, watching him from her
rooftop perch, *'ow very nice t'see you 'gain. You'll lead me t'Ryouga,
won't ye? Oi knew ye would.*
Tanya strolled the rooftops, watching Ryo carefully. She knew he hated
Ryouga possibly as much as she did, so he had to lead her to him
eventually. Besides, she figured, all this strolling around would help
her learn where everything was.
Ryo blinked. He had the distinct feeling that someone was shadowing
him. He looked up around the rooftops, suspiciously, but saw nothing.
"Ryo-sama, what's wrong?" asked Akari, tugging at his arm.
"Hm? Nothing, nothing. Let's go, hm?" Ryo offered his arm and Akari
took it as they walked through the commercial district of town, taking in
the sights and sounds of a fine spring day. She was thrilled that Ryo had
turned out to be such a gentleman, unlike the mean person they made him
out to be. She felt lucky that he was willing to date her. And he was
strong, too! He'd managed to knock out her sumo pig! No doubt,
grandfather would be happy to have such a polite, strong heir to the sumo
pig farm which had been theirs for generations.
Ryo grinned. Akari was remarkably gullable. Unbelievably, uniquely,
gullable. And so very trusting, as well. And the heir to a very well to
do family in the fairly profitable sumo pig industry business, too. He
was sure that everything was falling into place.
*
"RANMA!"
The boy in question turned around, just in time to dodge an umbrella
swipe to the skull. He saw the attacker, and his battle aura began to
glow. "Well... if it ain't Ryouga... DIE!" He lept from the fence,
towards Ryouga and hammered him with a series of blows. Ryouga took the
hits, but wasn't fazed by them much, and plowed into Ranma, knocking them
both through the fence and into the waterway beyond it.
A pig tailed girl and a fang-toothed girl emerged from the water,
looking furious. They clashed once more, with water spraying everywhere
and the occasional breaking point technique rattling the earth.
"Ranma! Ryouga! Stop it!" yelled Akane. "Why are you two fighting?!"
"Stay outta this, Akane!" yelled Ranma-chan.
"This is a man to man fight!" yelled Ryouga-chan.
With a battle cry, both combatants charged each other once more and
cut a path of destruction through the neighborhood. Akane, frustrated
that she hadn't been able to slow down the situation any, sighed and
followed.
*
"Well.... wow," said Ukyou, unsure of what else to say.
"I... I want you to know," said Tsubasa, her eyes almost ready to
go into tears, "I'll be back some day."
"Hey, if you end up tangled with obligations and all that, I understand
perfectly," replied Ukyou. {No, really, Tsubasa, you don't have to come
back at all.}
"I... I'll never forget you," said Tsubasa, letting a few tears fall.
"Okay..." As much as Tsubasa irritated her, Ukyou just didn't like
seeing anyone in tears like that.
"Hey, tell ya what," she said, pulling out two small spatulas and
bringing out the ingredients, "I'll make ya an okonomiyaki on the house,
for old time's sakes, okay?"
Tsubasa smiled through his tears. Ukyou had a feeling it was a mistake
already.
*
"Thanks for being with me today," said Akari, in a timid, shy voice.
Ryo grinned. "It was my pleasure."
They watched a few trains go by, Akari looking happy and Ryo looking
calm. Finally, her train arrived, and Ryo walked her to the door.
"See you later," he said with a smile.
They hugged briefly, then she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Reluctantly, she let go and entered the train, and soon was on her way
back to her grandfather's farm.
Ryo stood there.
The breeze blew by, trains passed, people surged back and forth to and
from the trains.
Ryo stood there.
Two figures, one carrying a bench, the other a shovel, both in suits,
walked quietly behind him.
"Heya, Ryo!"
Ryo narrowed his eyes and spun around, snarling. "WHAAAAAT?!?!"
The pair stumbled back, panic-stricken.
"Oh... you two."
"So, that's the girl you're going to hold ransom?" asked one of them.
"A cute one, too," observed the other.
Ryo's face was locked in a scowl, but he did nothing else.
"Hey, Ryo, are you sure we oughta be doing this?" asked one of them.
Ryo's eyes narrowed. He grabbed them both by their lapels and hissed,
"shut up! Both of you SHUT UP!" Ryo pushed them back some distance away,
then strode into the street, saying as he left, "we proceed as usual, do
not question me!"
Above, in the cover of the shadows of the rooftop, Tanya followed...
*
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY ONCE AND FOR ALL RANMA!!!" screamed Ryoga-chan as
she lunged around wildly with her umbrella, leaving shattered telephone
poles and deep dents in concrete.
Ranma dodged and threw a few kicks of her own in retaliation, yelling,
"ME?! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT'S GONNA PAY!"
"FOR ALL ALL THE HELL YOU PUT ME THROUGH!" boomed Ryouga-chan, flinging
a barrage of bandannas.
"WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE TIMES YA SLEPT WITH AKANE, HUH?" Ranma-chan shot
back.
Some distance away, Akane turned red, a little with embarrasment,
and alot with anger. {I did NOT sleep with Ryouga! HOW DARE HE YELL
THAT!} "Ranma, GET BACK HERE!!!"
"FOR RUNNING AWAY FROM OUR DUEL!" Ryouga-chan plowed into Ranma-chan
with a shoulder rush, sending them both into a wall.
"FOR ALL THE TIMES YA MADE ME LOOK BAD IN FRONT'A AKANE!" Ranma-chan
pummeled Ryouga-chan's side with a chestnut-fist attack.
"ALL THOSE LUNCHES YOU STOLE!" Ryouga-chan ignored the punches, and
flung Ranma-chan away.
"YOU STILL CRYIN' OVER THAT, YA BIG BABY?! I DIDN'T STEAL FROM YA
*THAT* MUCH!" said Ranma-chan as she landed, rolled away, and sprang
forward with both feet extended.
"EIGHTY-SEVEN TIMES!" yelled Ryogua-chan, ducking.
Ranma-chan blinked. "You actually kept count?"
"WHY YOU!" Ryouga-chan caught Ranma-chan by surprise, grabbing her
by the shirt and flung her through the air.
*
Ryo inhaled the cool evening air, idly observing the various
constellations that were revealing themselves as darkness took hold of the
land. He was standing atop a five floor building, enjoying the scenic
view of the night.
He turned, his expression becoming calm yet deadly, and said, "show
yourself."
He was greeted with silence. Ryo sighed, idly twirling his umbrella,
then suddenly swung it hard towards a cluster of shadows by the rooftop
corner, yelling "Ryugeki-ken!" A boomerang-shaped energy blazed from it
and slammed into the shadows, smashing into brick and metal. As the ki
flashed briefly, Ryo saw a shadowy shape jump high and safely away,
landing several feet away from him and in plain view.
"Who...." muttered Ryo, as he examined his visitor. The clothes...
western, British, victorian era, he'd guess, and all covered with a fine
layer of soot. As he stared at this person, realization dawned on him.
"You! Gaijin!" It was the gaijin girl that attended the reunion lunch!
Twirling his umbrella at a blurring speed, Ryo approached. "Explain and
identify yourself," he hissed, halting his umbrella with it's blade
pointed in her direction.
The girl looked defiantly at him, not intimidated at all, and revealed
her own weapon, a broom of sorts, seemingly normal, until he noticed the
brushes shone of metal in the dim light. She held it in a ready position,
watching him warily. "Where is Ryouga?" she asked, in a somewhat stiff,
accented voice.
"You didn't answer my.... Ryouga?" Ryo raised an eyebrow, much like a
Vulcan scientist would when discovering a fascinating new killer virus.
"What about Ryouga?"
The girl drew a line across her throat with her finger.
Ryo smirked. "You? You think you can defeat, no, kill Ryouga?" He
was somewhat annoyed at this new interloper. Ryouga was HIS to observe,
HIS to make suffer, HIS to hurt, and HIS to kill, once all the amusement
of making his life hell was gone. Who was this gaijin girl to think
otherwise?
"I am Tanya Noori. Ryouga..." she struggled for a moment, looking for
the appropriate word, "... dishonored me. He will be punished."
Ryo sneered, "it wouldn't take much to shame _you_, I would think."
"SHUT UP!" She swiped at him with her broom. He blocked with his
umbrella calmly.
Ryo was feeling the surge in him now. One he hadn't felt in a while.
The surge that came with crushing someone's very soul with harsh words and
equally harsh actions.
"Wait," he said, "Ryouga... dishonored you? Perhaps you are his
ex-fiancee?"
Noori tensed for a moment, pulling her broom as if to strike again,
then calmed down. With a withering glare, she said, "I see you did not
beat him."
His features went decidedly hostile.
"Perhaps I do better than you, yes?" she mocked. "I hear he always
beat you, so who are you to tell me?"
Ryo swiped forward with his umbrella, growling in anger. It was easily
blocked. Noori smirked.
"Ryouga is MINE," hissed Ryo. "You stay OUT of my way, and you leave
Ryouga to ME." He pulled his umbrella back and sprang down to the streets
below, clearly angered. Tanya glared from the rooftops. {'ey's a bloody
arse, the wanker...} She thought for a moment, thinking of all she'd heard
and seen this night. Ryo might prove to be a costly distraction,
especially when he might steal her primary target from under her nose.
No, that would not happen. Arrogant bastard be damned, she was here to
grind Ryouga into the ground. And God help whoever got in the way.
*
"So, when..." wondered Ukyou.
"It starts next week," said Tsubasa, happily finishing off his
okonomiyaki. He was enjoying the moment dearly, knowing that they didn't
make okonomiyaki this good in corporate caffeterias. As he ate, a few
sensors beeped. Tsubasa stopped eating and listened, carefully.
"Tsubasa? What is it?" wondered Ukyou.
"Something's...."
Before he could finish, something crashed through the storefront
window, slammed into Tsubasa (and his costume), and sent them both
barreling through tables and eventually, into the wall. Bits of table
were everywhere, and the dent in the wall was severe.
Ukyou stared. Her resteraunt had experienced a little damage before,
maybe a broken door chair or two, but this....
"Ow! Gedoffame!" Ranma-chan shoved the dazed Tsubasa aside. The
vending machien costume toppled over and slammed into the grill, bending a
section of it badly.
Ukyou's eyebrow began to twitch.
"RANMA! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME!" Ryouga-chan plowed in soon afterwards,
shattering even more of the storefront window. She landed on a table
(that was shattered immediately) and took another swing at Ranma-chan
with her umbrella. Ranma-chan caught Ryouga-chan's umbrella hand and
forced the umbrella to miss, where it smashed into another part of Ukyou's
grill, crumpling it to the ground.
In the distance, Akane could be heard yelling "Stop fighting, you two!"
Ranma-chan kept a grip on the umbrella, trying to pull it away from
Ryouga-chan. It swung wildly, left and right, smashing tables, chairs,
and more sections of Ukyou's long grill.
"WHY YOU!" Tsubasa uprighted himself and set a target lock on the two
fighting figures. "DIE!" Suddenly, a barrage of soda cans flew out of
Tsubasa's vending machine costume, battering them both and exploding on
contact, spraying the entire are with cola.
Finally, Akane stomped in, muttering something about stupid boys.
The trio of boys-looking-like-girls froze suddenly, sensing a supreme
amount of female anger nearby. They turned around slowly. Ranma spoke,
cautiously.
"Um... Ucchan... why are ya lookin' at us like that?
*
"So, how's things nowadays?" asked Ukyou, sipping on some tea.
"Things are well," replied Akane, drinking hers.
"Refill?"
"Yes, please."
Ukyou poured the tea calmly, then set it on the table. The breeze
lifted her hair up briefly, and she sighed while enjoying the sensation.
"Ukyou, what was Tsubasa doing here? We haven't seen him since he was
in the hospital," wondered Akane.
"Him? Oh, he's got himself an internship with Mishima Heavy
Industries. Mech design and all that. Just might end up part of the
permanent staff, he tells me."
"Oh... wow." Akane calmly drank some more tea. "You know... I never
thought of him as the type of guy..... that... well..." started Akane,
looking for the appropriate phrase.
"Hm?"
"The type that was into mecha," answered Akane.
Ukyou nodded in agreement. "True, very true."
The sound of people walking by filtered in. Another cool night breeze
drifted through their table.
"How's your sisters?" Ukyou wondered. "Nabiki?"
Akane smiled. "Well, there's this guy that's trying to get a date with
her... his name's Isamu."
"You think anything will work out?" wondered Ukyou.
"Maybe in another reality," mused Akane. Both girls giggled quietly
for a brief moment.
"Hey, how about Kasumi?" wondered Ukyou.
"What about her?"
"Any progress between her and Doctor Tofu?"
Akane sighed. "No, not really. He's too much of a nervous wreck when
she's around, and she doesn't try anything either."
Ukyou shook her head sadly. "That's a shame. They'd make a great
couple, I think."
Akane nodded in agreement. "Me too, me too." A grin slowly crept
across her face. "Speaking of couples that might go well together..."
She looked at Ukyou briefly, then tilted her head towards Ryouga.
"What, Ryouga?!?!" spat Ukyou.
Akane poked her teasingly. "Why not?"
"Out of the question," replied Ukyou with a smirk. "Besides, it seems
he's got a new admirer."
"Really?" Akane leaned forward, smiling. "Who is she?"
"I dunno, some crazy girl with a broom. Noori was her name."
From across the room, Ryouga shouted, "I do *NOT* know that girl!!!"
"GET BACK T'WORK!" bellowed Ukyou, flinging a throwing spatula in his
general direction.
"Hey! Careful with those things!" he yelled back. As Ryouga kneeled
back on the ground and picked up some nails and lumber, Ranma muttered,
"told ya to just keep quiet and get this done."
"Shut up, Ranma," growled Ryouga.
"Shh! She's gonna hear!" hissed Tsubasa.
*WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP**WHAP*
"I said GET BACK T'WORK! NOBODY'S LEAVING UNTIL EVERYTHING'S FIXED!"
Ukyou swung her spatula menacingly one more time, scowling, and made sure
all three boys went back to work with repairs.
"Sorry about this, Ukyou. I just don't know what got into those two
today," apologized Akane. "For some reason, Ranma thought Ryouga was
hitting on me."
From the front where they boys worked, there was a brief scuffle and
some hissed whispering between Ryouga and Ranma, but a spatula shuriken
from Ukyou quickly silenced them. "Quit fooling around!" she yelled.
"GET BACK TO WORK I SAID!" She sighed once more as she sat next to Akane
once more. "Boys, can't live with'em, can't live without'em."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Ukyou paused, her mouth half-open in
mid-thought. "Ah... say, Akane, I got this idea, tell me what ya
think..."
"I'll be glad when this is over," muttered Ranma.
"Shut up, or she'll think of something worse!" hissed Ryouga.
Just then, Akane started giggling. Ukyou's grin became dangerously
mirthful, much like a shark smiles before dinner.
"I think," said Tsubasa, "we're in trouble."
*
TWO DAYS LATER...
The Tendous and Saotomes sat in front of the television, with the
exception of Ranma, who was sulking in the back.
"Don't believe she made us do this..." he muttered.
"Oh, come on Ranma, it isn't THAT bad," teased Akane, whike Nabiki got
the VCR set to record, and Soun and Genma smiled proudly at their son's
pending 15 minutes of fame.
"Here it comes!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(camera fade in to TSUBASA in girl's uniform, standing at a typical
Nermia streetcorner. Cue somewhat hip-hop-ish beat)
TSUBASA
There's a destination a little up the road,
Where the Saotomes and the Tendos go,
A place that's run by Miss Ukyou,
The music wails and the batter flows!
Passin' out sake and okonamiyaki,
Two hot griddles and a spatula,
Leave a tip and just lick your lips, a-just lick your lips!
(camera switches to Ranma and Ryouga standing in front of Ucchan's with
sunglasses and swaying to the beat.)
RANMA & RYOUGA
WHERE IT'S AT!
She got two hot griddles and a spatula!
WHERE IT'S AT!
She got two hot griddles and a spatula!
WHERE IT'S AT!
She got two hot griddles and a spatula!
WHERE IT'S AT!
Two hot griddles and a spatula!
(camera switches to Ryouga, walking through the inside of Ucchan's)
RANMA
It's a hot little spot at the side of the road,
Where's the music's hot and the drinks are cold,
Members only, we emphasize it,
Don't break the rules or Ukyou fries ya!
(camera switches to Ryouga, also walking through the resteraunt)
RYOGUA
Stay out late,
Feel the groove,
Ukyou,
With her martial-arts moves!
Get all artistic with the sauce,
Just remember one thing -- UKYOU'S THE BOSS!
(camera switch to RANMA, TSUBASA, and RYOUGA standing in front of
Ucchan's resteraunt)
RANMA, TSUBASA, and RYOUGA
WHERE IT'S AT!
She got two hot griddles and a spatula!
WHERE IT'S AT!
She got two hot griddles and a spatula...
(scene and music fade)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh god, I don't wanna go to school tomorrow," muttered Ranma
miserably. "This ain't fair."
-end pt 7-
-----------
LEGAL STUFF
-----------
"Two Okonomiyaki and a spatula" done by Ryan Mathews (thanks =)
modified from "Where it's at" by Beck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TPOH - 8
"Ah! I LOVE the smell of coconuts in the morning!"
The principal of Furinkan high was in a good mood this morning. He
rested in the yard of his school, reclining on a beach chair under a sun
umbrella. He adjusted his sunglasses, watching several workers pull hard
on ropes, and drank from a coconut cut in half.
He'd grown to miss Hawaii... and the palm trees in his office just
weren't cutting it any more as relief for it. Neither was the sand, or
the beach-painted walls, or the sounds-of-the-ocean CDs that sometimes
blared on the school PS system. He needed something... grand.
And he found it.
His grin widened even more.
As he picked up his ukulele and strummed whimsically, a gigantic,
behemoth, bronze pinapple was slowly ascending the school, lifted to its
lofty perch by numerous ropes.
That, he felt, would do.
*
Ryouga wasn't in a good mood.
For starters, Ukyou had insisted on on him being a her today, and in
full waitress outfit too. So there SHE was, and in the 'cute waitress
outfit' to add insult to injury. After days like this, she had the urge
to find Ranma and have a nice MANLY fight with much bickering and
boasting. It helped affirm his... identity.
However, on this day, one other thing was bothering him. Earlier, a
smug looking man, about his age, strode through the doors, accompanied by
several bodyguards. He was dressed all in white, with a confident air
about him, and a shining sword at his side.
"Pardon me, madam," he said to Ryouga in a most polite manner (not
noticing her scowl at the word 'madam'), "could you tell me where a Miss
Ukyou Kuonji is?" He smiled. His teeth shone. She hated him
immediately.
"And who're you?" she asked angrily.
*WHAP*
Ukyou removed the spatula from Ryouga's head and shoved her aside.
"Aheh, sorry about her behaviour. I hope finding this place wasn't too
hard, Mendou-san?"
"No, no, it wasn't any trouble at all," said Mendou. He looked
questioningly at the still-dazed Ryouga-chan. "Will your waitress be
alright?"
"Who, her?" replied Ukyou. "She'll be just fine."
"Hey," hissed Ryouga, pulling Ukyou aside. "Where are you going?"
"Last minute thing, I'll explain later," said Ukyou. "Um... I guess
you might as well close up the restaraunt."
"What time'll you be back?" asked Ryouga.
"What are you, my dad? Don't worry about it," replied Ukyou. She
turned to Mendou, holding out an arm, and said, "Shall we?"
"After you," said Mendou.
Mendou strode out after Ukyou, leaving Ryouga standing there, looking
somewhat confused. After another five minutes of standing there, with a
strange, somewhat sad look on her face, she finally started thinking.
[Hey, why am I upset anyways? It isn't MY business...]
Thinking of Akane quickly sunk her mood back to neutral. Ryouga blamed
it on being in a girl's body [they get over-emotional, right?] and went
off to boil some water. Maybe take a trip later... she was in the mood to
get lost.
*
Some hot water and a few minutes later...
He stood there, getting more frustrated by the second. "WHERE THE
HELL IS THE EXIT?!?!" He'd been wandering Ucchans for several minutes
now, and he'd been through closet after closet after closet... and
discovered that they had a cellar.
It was getting embarrasing. Normally, in situations like this, he'd
just start punching through walls. In this case, however, he didn't dare,
especially considering how she reacted the last time he wrecked the place.
*KNOCK*KNOCK*KNOCK* "ANYBODY HERE?! HEY!"
"Dammit, not now," he muttered, "I can't find the door... WHO IS IT?"
"IT'S ME, RYOKO!"
Whoops.
Ryouga froze for a second. The last time he saw her, he said a few
things that might've... hurt her feelings. "Um... I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!"
"ARE YOU OKAY?"
"I CAN'T FIND THE DOOR!!" he yelled in frustration.
He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard laughter. "I'LL HELP YOU OUT!"
She said.
"HOW?"
"I'LL SING A SONG, FOLLOW THE MUSIC!"
"Oh... well... OKAY!" Ryouga stood still for a moment, listening
carefully. Then he heard it, a light humming, that soon went into a light
song. He didn't understand the lyrics well, only bits and pieces of it
since it was in English, but it was loud enough for him to follow and a
nice song as well.
o/" Hey Jude, don't make it bad o/"
o/" Take a sad song and make it better o/"
o/" Remember to let her into your heart o/"
o/" then you can start to make it better o/"
To the left.... no, the right....
o/" Hey Jude, don't be afraid o/"
o/" You were made to go out and get her o/"
Getting louder... closer... good.... oops. Knocked something over. Oh
well, Ukyou won't notice, right?
o/" Remember to let her into your heart o/"
o/" then you can start to make it better o/"
Okay, to the left.... *CRACK* Oops! Didn't notice that door. He
winced, knowing Ukyou'd be upset about that.
o/" and anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain o/"
o/" don't carry the world upon your shoulders o/"
o/" for well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool o/"
o/" by making his world a little colder o/"
Ah... the door at last.
Opening the door with relief, he said, "Ah, sorry for making you wait
so long." They stood there, both looking nervous. She was nervous from
the moment he opened the door. He was nervous from the moment he saw her
being nervous when he opened the door. Everyone was, for lack of a better
term, nervous.
"Um..." Ryouga said. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say,
but he felt it couldn't be as bad as the silence.
"I, ah," said Ryoko unsteadily, "came to warn you about something."
"Warn?" wondered Ryouga.
"Yeah... it's about my brother."
"Ryo? He hasn't bothered me in a while."
"Ever heard of 'calm before the storm'?" asked Ryoko.
"Oh."
"Can I... step inside?" asked Ryoko nervously.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to be rude. Come on in!"
Ryoko walked in slowly, followed by Ryouga. They took a seat nearby.
"Well... it's like this. He's been acting kinda weird lately, not like
he normally acts, and it might not be good."
"How?"
"He's... restless. Pacing around, in a downcast mood, he's on the edge
of going off on another wild mood swing, I think."
"Oh... and this is a bad thing?"
"The last time he was like this... alot of people got hurt." Ryoko's
look became more somber. "And... I think he might hurt one of my
friends."
"What? Who?"
"You've met Akari, right?"
"Briefly. Why? He's not..."
"He's dating her."
Ryouga blinked. "Huh?"
"He's dating her."
"And he's being mean to her? Abusing her? Or... molesting her? How
dare he!" Ryouga stood up, fist clenched. "I won't let this go
unpunished!"
"Acutally... he's being really nice to her."
"He what??" He looked at her, confused. "Then..."
"Wait, listen... whenever anyone asks him about it... when she's not
around... he becomes, well, almost violent. Angry. Defensive. I'm
afraid something bad might happen."
"Oh..."
"So, I was just wondering, I mean... if anything happened, I was
wondering if you could help out?"
"Of course! It's a martial artist's duty to help out in these
situations, after all!" Ryouga blinked briefly, wondering where he heard
that before, then shrugged the nagging feeling away.
"Thanks," she said, smiling nervously. "I, ah, also wanted to talk
about something else..."
"Oh?"
Ryoko looked away, appearing somewhat depressed. "About the, um... the
last time we met..."
"What about..." wondered Ryouga. Then he remembered. Yelling in anger
that he didn't care to have any relationships at all wasn't a good way to
make an impression. And he'd been trying to tell her earlier, in a more
polite way. "Oh. I... I'm sorry about that."
"No! No no, I'm sorry," she said, traces of sadness in her voice.
"You don't...?"
"I, ah, I'm kinda recovering from a broken heart, I guess," said
Ryouga, looking away. "I just... just don't want to date anybody."
"Oh."
"I hope you're not too upset abou-"
"Me? Oh, no, don't worry about me," she said, trying to put on a
smile. "I just... wasn't thinking much. Did I ever tell you why the
sensei wanted me to marry you?"
"They wanted you to marry me?" asked a startled Ryouga.
"Oh... you didn't know that either, hm?"
"I was kinda... distracted... every time I meant to ask."
"Well," said Ryoko, "it was just a way to save face for them... they
had doubts about my brother's ability to beat you."
"Wait, they also sent him after me?!"
"Well, you did leave abruptly, and some of the sensei are easily
offended," replied Ryoko. "Where was I... oh yeah. If they couldn't
defeat you, they figured they'd bring you back into the fold... by being
engaged to me."
"Oh," said Ryouga, blushing slightly. "But... what about you?"
"What about me?"
"How did you feel about it?"
"I... well... you remember all the times we used to walk around the
dojos... talk a little... all those things?"
Ryouga nodded.
"I... well... you're the first boy that I ever did all that with."
Ryouga was surprised. "What? Why? I mean, you seem like a nice girl
to me, smart, cute, it's hard to imagine you... well... alone." Ryoko
smiled and turned a shade pink at the compliments.
"It was because of Ryo," she explained. "When our parents went away,
he... he was kinda overprotective. He told all the boys that if anyone
messed with me in the wrong way, there would be hell to pay. And with his
reputation there, well, no boys tried."
"But I was your friend, right?" asked Ryouga.
"You were also the first person he couldn't beat up badly."
"Oh, I see."
At that moment, Ryouga felt it coming, like some animals instinctively
can tell when a rainstorm is about to hit. He knew a moment of awkward
silence was approaching, and he sighed, knowing that he had no idea how to
stop it.
*
"I want to beat him up badly," muttered Ryo, leaping around the
rooftops of Nerima, "but alas my prey is not in sight today." His face
was locked into a disapproving scowl as he stopped atop one rooftop,
pacing back and forth like a panther.
Trying to focus his energy into a useful exercise, Ryo closed his eyes
and stood still, lifting his fists to his side. Slowly, his gloved fists
began to glow an odd sort of purple until his fists were obscured by the
brightness. Then, just as slowly, his fists dimmed. He repeated this
several times, 'flexing his ki' as he thought of it. The purpose was to
master control of his energies, and perhaps be able to generate more of
it. With mild curiosity he opened his eyes and lifted one dimly glowing
fist. His ki was once of a yellow nature... bright yellow... but now it
was this odd shade of purple.
He hadn't given it much thought until now.
Ryo quickly shuffled the thought aside, a mystery for another day. He
was still bothered by something else.
"I am restless today, and do not know why. I had hoped that the idiot
would be wandering about, but I am denied. There is no school, the
resteraunt where he is known to inhabit was closed and locked, and... I...
AM... BORED!!!"
*
Tanya squeezed through the small air duct slowly, making sure her
filter mask was in place. Slowly and methodically, she scrubbed away at
the walls, ridding the duct of mold, mildew, and other miscellaneous
foreign objects that were tainting the air supply.
Noori had moved to Nerima shortly after the crash of the UWSMA,
intending to exact her vengence and also start up her own small business.
This, the cleaning of ventilation systems, was that business. It was work
that was dirty, but she felt at home doing it. It was the closest thing
to chimneysweeping that Japan had to offer, and the price she was offering
was very competitive with what the other 'professional' cleaners were
charging. Business, for her, was very well indeed.
This was all well and good, but what she was looking forward to was the
after-hours entertainment: hunting Ryouga.
*
The moment of awkward silence passed, as Ryoko stared out the window
with a blank stare and Ryouga nervously adjusted his bandanna.
"So..." he muttered.
"Can I... can I ask you a question?" wondered Ryoko.
"Um... sure."
"I can still call you my friend, right?" she said with a smile, holding
her hand out in offer of a handshake.
Ryouga was surprised by this turn of events. It was never this easy
with Ranma and his situation. He blinked, confused, then shook out of his
daze, saying, "Oh! Sure! I'd be glad to!" He shook her hand and smiled.
{Hey! That wasn't so bad.}
"So," she said, showing him a small smile, "who was this girl that
caught your heart before me?" She poked his arm teasingly.
"Well... it's a long story." They settled in to their seats as Ryouga
began his story of how he came to Nerima, there to settle a score against
a rival, and how he had met his rival's fiance. It was something, he
said, that was, now that he looked back on it all, something not meant to
be. Of course, he omitted the part about Jusenkyou, and curses, and
names. He didn't feel comfortable telling anyone the _details_, not just
yet.
"So... what's she look like, this girl?" asked Ryoko.
Lost in memory, Ryouga described her, "well... short hair, kinda like
yours, I guess. About your height... kinda like you I guess, but not
really."
Ryoko blinked. That, she thought, was a rather interesting
description. Curiosity prodded her onward with more questions, although
she wasn't certain she should ask them. "And... what about Ukyou?"
Ryouga snapped out of his slight haze. "Huh?"
"Why're you staying with Ukyou?" she asked.
"I... ah... I was in bad shape when Ak... when I found out that the
girl I was in love with loved someone else. Ukyou, she helped me out back
then. A friend, you know?" Ryoko nodded as Ryouga continued, "I helped
her out too, kinda. This'll sound strange, but the girl I was in love
with ended up with the guy Ukyou was in love with."
"Wow."
"Yeah, wow," he said with a shrug.
Trying to hide any signs of envy in her face, she asked, "so you
two...?"
Ryouga looked at her with a distinct lack of comprehension. "Us
two...?"
"You two, you and Ukyou I mean, you two weren't... ever... well...
attracted to each other?"
Ryouga's face went from blank to annoyed as comprehension finally
settled in. "What, with that... that... violent, short-tempered,
cross-dressing, unfeminine excuse for a girl!" Reflexively, he winced as
he said those words and looked around to make sure a certain spatula-armed
girl wasn't around to clobber him into the ground.
Ryoko couldn't help but smile a little. "So, just friends, huh?"
"Yeah, just friends."
"Where is she anyways?"
"She's... out on a date or something," grumbled Ryouga.
Not noticing the distinct look of jealousy on his face, Ryoko asked,
"Heey! A date! With who?"
"Some guy named Mendou," he grumbled.
Ryoko hmmed for a moment, tapping her chin. "Wait a minute, was he
wearing all white?"
Ryouga nodded.
"Expensive car? Lots of servants?"
Ryouga nodded.
"Carried a sword?"
Ryouga nodded.
"THAT LUCKY GIRL!" she shouted, grinning.
Ryouga's mouth was locked in a small frown. "Lucky?"
"That's Shutaro Mendou! The richest bachelor in Japan! I've seen
pictures him, the guy is cute!"
Ryouga winced with each word, feeling smaller by the second. "Oh, I
see."
"But," said Ryoko, patting Ryouga's shoulder, "I still think you're
cuter." Ryouga blushed furiously.
As she was about to say something more, Ryoko's wrist watch started
beeping. "Well, that's my little reminder that I'm on duty at the bar
tonite," sighed Ryoko. She stood up, then hesitated. "Ryouga... you
shouldn't be afraid of love just because something bad happened. I... I'm
not pressuring you to date me or anything... just... saying, as a friend,
don't dwell on the past too much. Okay?"
Ryouga blinked at the advice, not sure what to say in return. "Um...
okay."
"Good." She patted him on the shoulder once more. "Say, you really
like my singing voice?"
Ryouga nodded. "Definitely. Sounds great."
Ryoko smiled. "Thanks. See ya!" As she strolled out the door, she
began singing that gaijin song that he didn't recognize. It didn't matter
though. Somehow, the song sounded good anyways.
o/" Hey Jude, don't let me down o/"
o/" You have found her, now go and get her o/"
o/" Remember to let her into your heart o/"
o/" then you can start o/"
o/" to make it better o/"
Ryouga watched as she strolled down the street, singing her song,
fading from view. She was, he thought, a really nice girl. Cute too.
He looked around the store.
Well, he thought, we're alone. Again.
A dark mood was settling down once more on Ryouga's soul, a mood he was
all too familiar with. Determined not to sink into depression on this
day, he did what he always used to do when his mind was like this.
Ryouga traveled.
*
Tanya looked out at the city from her rooftop perch, taking in the
beautiful sights of the city from high above. She had felt, in her
experience, that there was nothing quite like a rooftop view. It somehow
put everything into perspective.
Like that boy walking by with the bandanna.
Bandanna?
Tanya grinned. "Ryouga." She had found him, at last. Now to leap
down and crush the idiot to a pulp. She adjusted her grip on her
steel-wire broom and prepared to jump down. {Heheh, Ryouga you bloody
sack'o shite, you're mine.}
***WHAM***
Ryo grinned, watching Tanya soar across the skyline. Nothing like the
universal Martial Artist Low Earth Orbit Kick to clear out the
competition, really. He laughed quietly to himself, dusting off his shoe.
"Idiot. Ryouga is mine."
Ryo spun his umbrella idly, looking down at the streets. "Back to
business..." He glanced down, scanning for Ryouga.
Who wasn't there.
"DAMNATION!" He cursed violently for a brief moment, then sprinted
away across the rooftops, hunting once more.
Several blocks away, Tanya extracted herself from a garbage can
angrily. She had him in her sights, she HAD him! And SOMEONE punted her
away at the crucial moment! *BLOODY HELL!* she swore in her native
tongue, then sprang up to the rooftops, hoping to find the forever lost
Hibiki once more.
*
Ryouga stood at the center of a long bridge over a river, feeling the
night breeze. The sound of the rushing water below was soothing.
Definitely soothing.
He found himself wondering about Ryoko's adivce. Certainly, he
couldn't be afraid of dating in the future. It'd be... well... unhealthy.
The problem, though, was the whole dynamics of the dating game. He'd
never had to mess with it. It was always just... Akane. There she was,
and there he'd go, fighting to get those three vital words out.
Would it have mattered, he wondered, if he did tell her earlier? Would
he be in the situation he was in now if he hadn't? If he had the chance
right now...
Ryouga shook his head. This was dwelling on the past, and Ryoko was
right, it wasn't a good thing to do.
Absentmindedly, he wondered what Ukyou was up to.
As he leaned against a lamp post, a white, open-top Rolls Royce drove
by slowly. Inside, a figure dressed in a white suit looked up at the
stars, casually putting his arm around a girl with a white ribbon in her
hair. They didn't seem to notice anyone else there but themselves...
"Is everything alright, Miss Kuonji?"
"Ah, well, yes Mendou-san, everything's fine. It's been a lovely
night so far."
The car drove off into the night.
Ryouga scowled. "Why that... that... WHY SHOULD I CARE ANYWAYS?!"
Ukyou blinked, feeling a twinge of guilt for some reason. "Hey, did
you hear something?" she asked, looking around.
"No... I don't think so," said Mendou.
*
Ryo leapt from lamp top to lamp top, lightly, barely making the lights
shake. The idiot was a few lamps down, and not suspecting a thing. He
grinned. "Tonight, Hibiki, you are mine."
He held his umbrella ready, concentrating his ki so that the hook end
was blazing with energy, then leapt down.
"HIBIKI!!!"
*POOF*POOF*POOF*
-splash-
Ryouga turned around. He thought he'd heard someone calling him...
"Weird." For a moment, he listened carefully to his surroundings.
Cars, the waves, the sound of laugher... nothing unusual. Shrugging off
the odd feeling, Ryouga wandered off into the night.
Tanya Noori struggled to stay balanced on her light pole, snickering
badly. The look on Ryo's face as three soot bomb bags nailed him and
knocked him into the river was, simply put, a classic moment.
*That'll teach you, ye bloody jackass!* she declared while laughing.
It took her a few moments to calm down from the hysteria, having a nagging
feeling that she was forgetting something.
*Oh hell! Ryouga! Where'd he go?!* She looked around angrily, but
failed to see her prey anywhere.
Several minutes later, a dirty, wet, and furious Ryo Muhoshin emerged
on the shore of the river, coughing, wheezing, and lamenting the loss of
another set of good clothes to the river. They'd never recover from the
soaking they got, even in a dry cleaner. Ryo made a mental note to look
into more water-resistent clothing.
He wiped off the black material from his face and examined it.
Soot.
"THAT BITCH!"
*
Ryouga's stomach growled briefly, causing him to stop from his
wanderings. "Guess it is dinner time," he mumbled. Normally, he didn't
have to worry about it, mainly because there was always free okonomiyaki.
"Hmph. Sick of okonomiyaki anyways," he grumbled. He took a moment to
examine where he'd wandered off to. Seemed to be the resteraunt district,
and fortunately for him, he brought his wallet. Something caught Ryouga's
eye, a shadow of yesterday still standing a block away.
"The Nekohanten," he muttered. "Wonder how Mousse and Shampoo are."
If she was still as violent and short-tempered with Mousse as she'd always
been, he thought, then Mousse must be having a rough time of it. Funny
what people put up with for love.
{Now why'd I think about that?} he wondered. Any further thoughts on
human nature were pushed aside as the smell of fresh grilled food
assaulted his senses and demanded his attention.
Tanya came to a stop atop a fairly tall building in the commercial
district of town. It was a relatively quiet night, all things considered,
so she hoped that it'd be easier to spot Ryouga amongst the crowds.
*Where are you, y'bloody half-arsed...*
The breeze blew by, raising the aromas of the various resteraunts into
the rooftops, tempting her with the scents. *Cor, I'm a bit hungry, I am.
Izzat yakitori I smell?* She sighed and sat down at the rooftop's edge,
eyeing the various eateries.
And a bandanna-clad boy standing in front of a cart, buying several
sticks of yakitori.
*Alright then, let's get this bloody show on the road, eh?* She
grinned, pulling a few soot bombs from her jacket, and landed on the
sidewalk softly, sticking to the shadows at all times.
Her plan was set: she'd blind him with a soot-bomb, then bludgeon him
to the ground.
She waited until the feeling was right, then heaved a soot bomb at his
head.
The wind was still.
Her aim was true.
He never saw it coming.
Ryouga sat at the counter of an open-air eatery, munching on his
yakitori. As he ate, he thought he saw something on the floor. {Hey!
Some yen!} He bent down to pick up the bills. He heard two distinct
whooshing noises, flying behind him. Ryouga quickly sat up, looking left,
then right. Seeing nothing, he shrugged. {Must be the wind.}
Ryo stumbled through the dark alley, coughing violently and wiping his
face with his sleeves. {A soot bomb! Again with the soot bomb!} He _had_
Ryouga dead in his sights, ki blast right at his bandanna-clad skull, and
of all the stupid things he bends down! And then the damned soot bomb!
He tripped over debris and bumped into walls, occasionally accompanied by
cursing and swearing, and faded into the night.
Tanya stood up shakily, surprised she was still alive. The last thing
thing she expected was a ki-blast, and that's what she got, just as she
flung her soot bomb. The bright yellow wave of energy nailed her in the
chest, slamming into her harder than the hardest punch she'd ever taken.
It sent her flying across a street, over the trafic... and... {AGAIN into
a garbage bin! AGAIN!}
Ryouga smiled as he looked at the several yen he'd found on the ground.
{Hm. Might be my lucky day.} He left a tip to the cook, then resumed his
stroll to nowhere.
*
an hour later....
Noori sighed, happily. She'd missed Ryouga with a trap she'd set, a
rather elaborate trap with ropes and a really heavy tanuki statue, but in
the process, she'd accidentally eliminated that interfering Muhoshin. She
was back to hunting him, searching the streets quickly, and....
Tanya had him dead in his sights.
Ryouga.
Standing in a street corner, looking very much unalert. She charged
across the street, yelling and spinning her brooom madly.
Ryo trod through the sewers, unsure of the exact details of the
hows and whys of his current situation, but knowing the following
facts:
1) something shiny and metal flew through the air
2) something really heavy hit him, most likely from above him.
3) he woke up in a pile of debris, in the sewers, and wasn't
in any shape to leap out of the hole far overhead.
And at the rate things were going, he thought, he might be safer in the
sewers anyways.
It was at one point where he finally saw a ladder leading up to a
manhole. Feeling too lazy to make the effort of pushing the manhole out
of the way, he prepared to shatter it with a breaking point touch.
Tanya Noori suddenly found herself flying through the air with
fragments of metal slamming into her. Just before one large chunk hit her
in the head, sending her into unconsciousness, she noticed with a tired
sort of resignation that she was flying towards a garbage dumpster.
Again.
Ryo emerged from the manhole slowly, and immediately saw Ryouga. It
didn't help his mood. As he sprang out of the hole, a truck slammed into
him, sending him up, up, and away into (he saw with much anger) the river.
Again.
Ryouga blinked and turned around. There seemed to be a pothole in the
road, cars swerved everywhere, and the honking was growing to annoying
sound levels. He shook his head sadly, lamenting the effect of cars on
modern life. How could you enjoy the city with those things blazing by
and making all that noise?
*
yet another hour later...
Ryouga spent the rest of the night wandering aimlessly across town.
Much to his surprise, he didn't leave the city of Japan. In fact, he saw
parts of it he hadn't seen before. The tower thing seemed rather
familiar... like something he'd seen seen in France. All through the
night, he had a nagging feeling something was behind him. Sometimes he
heard screams, and the people nearby seemed disturbed at something... but
he didn't see what. Whatever it was, it was gone by the time he looked.
Maybe he was getting paranoid?
Naah.
Minutes had turned into hours, and Ryouga found himself standing before
good old Furinkan High. He sighed, surrendering to the fact that he was
locked in a semi-sentimental mood.
Furinkan High.
Yeah, lots of memories here.
Ryouga sat down underneath the dark shade of a tree in the courtyard,
watching the moon rise. So much happened here, in Furinkan. He found
Ranma here and had several fierce battles with him. Almost had him,
almost. On so many occasions, too. Ryouga shook his head sadly. Just a
little bit more effort, and maybe...
Then there was the first time he met Akane. She was just another girl
at the time. Somebody that seemed to be sticking around with his rival
for some reason. And then her hair was cut. Whose fault was that? His?
Ranma's?
Of course it was Ranma's fault.
What else, what else...
Oh yeah. The first time he met Ukyou. Ryouga grinned, not noticing
it, though. She looked every bit the hansome young man, she did.
Amazing, that. Especially when he looked at her now...
"Feh, who cares about her?" he asked, but his voice lacked any strong
emotion. She was cute. Angry, short tempered, and with an okonomiyaki
fixation, but... cute.
Ryouga blinked, realizing that this particular line of thought was
leading to some place he wasn't comfortable at all in going to. He
sighed, leaned against the tree, and drank a bottle of soda.
He blinked. Something was odd.
There seemed to be a giant, bronze pineapple sitting atop the roof of
Furinkan. He grunted in disbelief. Looks like the principal was going
tropically insane again.
Ryo stood next to the Furinkan High building, feeling the aches and
pains of the day. He'd spotted Ryouga, repeatedly, and was poised to
strike his enemy the final blow, but... every single time SOMETHING went
wrong! And worse yet, somehow he ended up battered and injured, either by
soot bomb or some other almost absurd sort of accident. He stretched, his
sore body complaining with every movement. This night was one to forget.
Damn that Hibiki luck, and DAMN that gaijin Noori for interfering in HIS
affairs!
And those soot bomb stains weren't coming out of his shirt either.
Tanya sagged, leaning against the cool stone of the building's surface.
Tonight wasn't a good night at all for her. Not at all. She *HAD* Ryouga
dead in her sights, SEVERAL times, a guaranteed kill... except that
SOMETHING always went wrong, somehow. Worse yet, she'd been trying to
kill him all night, and it was her that was badly beaten up, via many,
numerous, ridiculous accidents of one sort or another. That Ryouga was
the luckiest bastard alive... and damn that Muhoshin for interfering in
HER business!!!
Ryo heard breathing nearby. He blinked, listening carefully, and
ignoring the aching bruise that was his body, stalked closer to the
unexpected presence.
Tanya froze, sensing a presence nearby and approaching her. She
ignored the soreness that the day had inflicted on her and readied her
broom once more, waiting for combat. She slashed out where she suspected
the person was, and her weapon connected solidly with something metal. In
the dimness of the shadows, she could see the person's form. A sudden
passing car illuminated the area.
"YOU!" growled Ryo.
"YOU!" yelled Tanya.
They both began slashing wildly, sending sparks flying whenever they
hit the concrete walls of the school. In their tired, mad battle lust,
they didn't notice the various ropes around them....
Ryouga settled down, looking at the rising moon. It reminded him of
the days when he wandered across Japan with no place to call home. Just
him, the stars, and a campfire at night. A brief moment later he was
snoring restfully.
Ryo slashed again, wildly, adrenaline powering him on despite his
fatigue. He advanced on Tanya with a wild and reckless series of slashes,
pushing her towards the wall. Suddenly, a loud, shuddering, metal sort of
noise groaned.
He suddenly had a bad feeling about things.
Ryouga woke with a start, feeling the ground shake under his body. Was
it an earthquake? An explosion? He jumped to his feet, startled and
alert. There was the sound of something heavy, something big, rolling
away in the distance, but at the moment, in the darkness, he couldn't see
what was making the noise. Ryouga's gaze stopped at the top of Furinkan
High.
"Hey, where'd that giant pineapple go?"
*
Doctor Tofu stopped reading his book and raised his head with a puzzled
expression. Something just went *thud*, accompanied by a brief rattling
that shook through his clinic. He rose from his desk and went to see what
caused the disturbance.
several minutes later...
For Tanya Noori, there was nothing. Total oblivion. No sight, no
sound, no taste...
Actualy, there was a feel. She finally felt gravity and it's constant
pull, keeping her pressed to something fairly soft. Probbably a bed of
some sort. She took a deep breath, feeling the dry, cool air fill her
lungs.
Then there was a motion. Something blurry, fleshtone in color, was
slowly waving in front of him. She squinted to focus. There was some
sort of sound accompanying that waving...
"How're you feeling?"
Tanya blinked.
"Are you okay, miss?"
Tanya sat up suddenly, which was a mistake. Her various bruises and
cuts reminded her that rest was a good thing.
"Don't sit up miss, you need your rest."
"Who... are you?" she asked in her slightly rigid japanese.
"I'm Doctor Tofu. I found you outside," he said, with some concern.
"How are you feeling?"
She thought about this for a moment. "Hurt."
"Badly?"
"Not exactly."
"Well, you're in a little rough shape. I cleaned up your cuts and
wounds, and did the best I could on all your bruises."
"Thank you." She looked around slowly, then saw a certain someone else
on a medical bed nearby, eyes closed, resting with a scowl on his face.
"Should not help him," she told Tofu with a frown, pointing to Ryo.
"Shut up, Noori," mumbled Muhoshin.
"Hey, both of you, stop fighting," chided Tofu.
There was a knock at the front door.
"You two just stay put for a while, okay? I'll be right back." He
went to the front door and opened it, revealing a puzzled looking group of
Ranma, Akane, and Kasumi.
Tofu's glasses flashed from clear to cloudy in a heartbeat as Kasumi
looked into his eyes and spoke.
"Hello Doctor Tofu, we were passing by and I decided to return some
things I borrowed. Why is there a giant bronze pineapple in front of your
clinic?"
"K-kasumi! Why hello!"
*
The neighbors looked at the clinic, shaking their heads sadly as they
heard agonizing screams and the sound of joints being bent out of the
position where nature had intended them to be. Despite the doors being
closed, they heard the screams of terror coming from within. The Tofu
Clinic had thin walls.
"Wonder when the poor boy will ever overcome it."
"Do you think she knows how he feels?"
"AAAAAGH! MY NECK! MY NECK!!!"
"What's that, Miss Noori, you need painkillers?"
"I'M RYO! SHE'S *MFFF*"
"Oh, Doctor Tofu, you're so silly."
"Hmm... maybe, maybe not."
"Tsk, it's a shame about that. The doctor and her would make a rather
nice couple... if it weren't for... you know."
"True, true."
*clap* "Such is fate."
*
It was, according to Ryouga's watch, about ten at night. He wondered
if he should head back to Ucchan's, then tossed that idea aside quickly.
What would she care if he was out? Besides, it was just a little walk.
He found himself in front of a grey building of french design. The
sign on it's roof read, 'King's Cafe'. Wasn't that where Ukyou hung out
now and then? Curiosity got the better of him, and he stepped forward to
enter.
*SPLASH*
Ryouga sighed as the car drove away. Of course, there had to be a
puddle nearby. And of course, the car had to hit it at just the right
speed. Maybe, he (now a she) hoped, there'd be some hot water inside.
She entered and found herself in a very... eurpean setting. The floor
and all the furniture were made of unpainted lumber, and the walls were
covered with grey cut stone, giving it the feel of a tavern of sorts. At
one end was a small stage, where a few musicians were tuning up their
instruments. One, in glasses, looked at Ryouga, blinked, then turned
away. At the other end of the cafe was a bar, attended to by a gaijin
lady, probbably in her 30's, wearing a feminine burgandy tuxedo.
Two figures, their backs turned to him, were slumped on the bar,
several barstools apart, and it seemed she was talking to them. Not
knowing what else to do, he took a seat at the bar between the two.
"Hi there, miss," said the blond woman, "what'll it be?"
"Can I have a glass of hot water?" she asked.
The lady looked puzzled. "Hot... water?"
Ryouga nodded.
"Anything else? Pretzels? Peanuts? Snacks?"
"No... that's all for now. Thanks."
As she waited for the hot water, Ryouga noticed that the bartender was
looking at her strangely. It was making her nervous.
"You wouldn't happen t'be named Hibiki, would you?" asked the lady.
The girl and boy to Ryogua's left and right stirred.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, s'the lossssssssstboooooy? Wherrre?" said the
boy. He was in a navy blue suit, but it was ragged and stained badly
everywhere with some sort of black material. His face also had traces of
the black stains.
"Aaaaah, Hibiki-san? Heeeeeere? Surp-p-prising," said the girl. She
was dressed in a british outfit from the victorian era.
There was something dangerously familiar about the pair. The fact that
they both seemed to be drunk, or high on some chemical, didn't ease
Ryouga's nervousness.
Wait... skinny, wears a suit, and there was a distinctive black
umbrella next to him. Ryo Muhoshin. Not good.
The other... odd accent, covered with black stained clothing... Noori.
Getting worse. Both of them, and in the same building, no less. Not
good. Ryouga tried to back away, but with crooked grins, they both dragged
him and sat him firmly into a bar stool. To make sure he didn't get away,
they both sat at either side of him.
"Aaaah. You, madame," he said, squinting at her, "are... not Ryouga."
*Abso-bloody-lutely* said Noory.
Ryo poked Tanya. "Oy! Noori! Ya'talkin in gaiiiiijin'gain."
*Who gives a rat's ar... arse*
Ryo contemplated her worlds. "Hm. Qui... quite right."
King smiled as she watched the pair banter with the very nervous
looking girl in the middle. The whole scene just looked too funny. "By
the way you look," she said, "and from what I've heard, you look like
you're maybe... his sister?"
"Um... yeah, that's it," she answered nervously. "I really should
go..." said Ryouga nervously.
"Come now, m'laaady, stay'n wax philosophic with us, eh?" urged
Ryo.
"Stay, stay, need more people fo... fooooooor this," said Noori.
Ryouga looked at King with worried eyes. "Um... why are they like
this?" he asked her. "Did they..."
"They came in this way," said King. "Before they were totally gone
like this, Muhoshin said something about someone named Tofu, a bottle full
of very strong medication, and some girl named Kasumi. Make any sense to
you?" she asked.
"I took th'whooooooooooooooole bottle!" yelled Ryo. "Naaaaaaaaaasty
medicine, I tell you. But I'm feelin' so hiiiiiiigh right now."
*Abso-bloody-lutely* added Noori.
"Japaaaaaaaanese, Noori. Speak'n Japanese. How'll the preeety
laaady," said Ryo, poking Ryouga in the head," understand what you're
sayin'?"
"Up yoooooooours, skinny," replied Noori with a grin.
"Much better. Now," said Ryo, blinking and shaking his head. "Me'n...
miss SOOT BOMB here... we was havin' a discussion... meanin'o life and all
that, hm?"
"Right-o," added Noori.
"Ssssso...." slurred Ryo.
"Hmmmmm...." mumbled Tanya.
They both slumped back to the bar.
Ryouga sat there, unsure of what to do, exactly. They never saw her in
this form before. Actually, only Ukyou, Ranma, and Akane knew about it.
She would have gone out more as a girl, thought Ryouga, if she had known
it'd help in avoiding those two.
"Seems these two are your friends?" asked King.
"Actually, they're out to kill me," said Ryouga.
"Youu?" wondered Ryo.
"Hm?" added Noori.
"Er, um, I mean, my brother," fumbled Ryouga.
"DARN RIGHT!" yelled Ryo.
"BINGO!" cheered Tanya.
"Tried aaaaaaaaall night, too," said Ryo. He poked at Ryouga somewhat
harshly. "HE... hassss the damnedest luck."
*No bloody kiddin'* mumbled Tanya. Ryo looked at her for a moment,
thought about reminding her to stay in the japanese tongue, then just
rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"E'r since sundown, been tryin't kill'em, missed by THAT much," said
Ryo, putting his finger and thumb almost togeher.
*Me tooooo* blurted Noori.
"What'd she say?" asked Ryouga.
"S'not important," replied Muhoshin.
*Bugger off, umbrella-booooooy* sneered Tanya drunkenly.
*Bite-u meh* shot back Ryo. Focusing back on Ryouga, Ryo said, "where
were weeeeeeee...."
*Waxin' the bloody philosophic* said Tanya.
"Yeah, that," nodded Ryo.
"What'd she say?" asked Ryouga.
*Waxin' the philosophic* repeated Tanya.
"Exactly," said Ryo.
"They were just talking about life, I think they're really wasted,"
added in King. "You two guys want any coffee to sober yourselves up?"
"Tha's if we're drunk, an'we're not," said Ryo.
"Stoned," added Noori.
"Quite right," said Ryo. "Stoooooned silly. Now wha're'we
talkin'about?" he asked Noori.
"Life?" wondered Noori.
"Nah, too general."
"Meaning of life?"
"Did that already."
"The ex... ex... there bein' a benevolant higher being?" wondered
Tanya.
"I think we agreeeeeeed that it was a being of a naaaasty sense'o
humor, ne?"
"Oh yeah. Oh... what is happiness?"
"A warm gun," said Ryo, matter-of-factly.
"Oh, oh. Ah! Llllllllove!" said Tanya, pounding the bar with her
fist.
"L'Amour!" exclaimed Ryo.
"Hey," said Tanya, reaching over to whap Ryo in the head. "Speak
th'native tongue, eh?"
"Oh. Sorry."
King sat back and watched. "This oughta be good," she mumbled.
"AND WHAT.... iz love?" asked Ryo.
"A warm gun?" wondered Noori.
"No, thaaaaaaaaaat's HAPPINESS!" replied Ryo irritably.
"Ah, love. Tis that which beats in every heart, what makes slaves of
men and women, and drives madness into the most stoic of hearts. Oh, what
fools us mortals be when gripped by the fiery hand of love! The passion
and the tempest which is stirred indeed, when that strongest of emotions
possesses our souls!"
Ryo blinked.
Tanya blinked.
Ryouga blinked.
King stepped up. "Anything to drink, mister...."
"Tatewaki Kuno, oh fair mistress of the bar," said Kuno, taking a seat
next to Noori. "I shall partake of a cola, good woman." He noticed
the bandanna-clad girl staring at him oddly. "Ah, hello, young lady.
Allow me to introduce myself." Ryouga tried to escape, but he was
blocked at the sides by Noori and Muhoshin, behind by Kuno, and front by
the bar. Kuno ranted on... "I am the one known amongst notable circles as
Tatewaki Kuno, blazing star of the kendo world, and the legendary blue
thunder of Furinkan High!"
In the distance, thunder rumbled as Kuno struck a dramatic pose.
"And what is the name of the young lady standing before me?" he asked
Ryouga.
"Sheeeee's sittin'," pointed out Ryo.
"Sitting before me," corrected Kuno.
*Much better* mumbled Noori.
"What was that which this street urchin hath spoken? Methinks she
speaks in the gaijin tongue?"
"S'not important," mumbled Ryo.
*Screw you* mumbled Noori.
"See what I mean?" said Ryo.
"Again I ask," Kuno said to Ryouga, "what might thy name be?"
"I'm Ry....er... Rei." Ryouga tried to think of a way for the
bothersome trio to focus on something else so that she could sneak away.
"Um, what were you two talking about?" she asked Noori and Muhoshin.
"Love!" declared Ryo.
"Natures of the heart?" asked Kuno. "The blue thunder is, I dare say,
thoroughly knowledgable in the affairs of the heart. But what hast this
fair company to say on the topic?"
*Love?* replied Noori, *S'when y'see someone, roight? An'every moment
you're with'em, y'don'wanna leave'em.* She sniffled a bit, then said *A
li'l more water, miss?*
Ryouga tried to make sense of it all. He couldn't. English wasn't a
language he was familiar with, except for the words 'where am I?' 'where
is Japan?' and 'Where is the restroom?'.
"Hah, and this was why you dated my brother?" snickered Ryo.
*Tha'wassa bloody mistake, now don'bringiitup'gain.*
"Hrmph. Any thoughts on th'sub... sub... topic, Kuno?" wondered Ryo.
"When cupid's arrow doth strike," said Kuno, standing up dramatically,
"the very thought of the one which you love clouds... nay, BEFUDDLES thy
mind! The tongue is turned to rubber and the heart beats with a
fierceness unmatched. When one is in love, neither stick, nor stone, or
mighty kick, which my pig-tailed goddess doth have alongst with a mighty
punch, shall deter one from one's object of desire." Kuno sat down once
more, taking a sip from his glass.
*Tha'was beuuuuutiful, man* said Noori. Ryo nodded solemly. *Wha'bout
you, stick-boy?* Noori asked Ryo.
"Hm? Love... what is love... love is..." Ryo fell silent.
"Is...?" wondered Ryouga.
"Is...?" prodded King.
*'urry up'n answer, ya bloody git* mumbled Noori.
Ryo looked up, solemly. "I've no idea."
"Are you not dating Unryuu?" asked Noori.
"Oh, so you're him?" said King. "Akari's in here sometimes too. She
talks about you alot, you know."
"S-she does?" said Ryo, looking surprised. Suddenly, it felt a bit
warm in the room to him. He adjusted the ragged remains of his tie
nervously.
"Ah..." Ryo found the situation entirely too uncomfortable. So he did
the only thing he thought was left to do. "What ab.... what've you t'say
on this love business, miss? Eh?"
"Ahhhh... I don't know." She looked down at the bar, sadly.
"Come nnnnnnnow, miss Rei. Don't you have any experiences to draw
upon?" wondered Ryo.
"Tis sad indeed," said Kuno.
"I..." said Ryouga, trying to find something to say. "I... know a
couple. They're in love. I... don't understand why. He insults her all
the time, she hits him all the time because he's a jerk... but they love
each other. Makes no sense."
"There is no mystery in it, Rei-chan," replied Kuno. "For when one is
in love, one ignores the minor slights and offenses, and in the end
follows thy heart. The angry tongue or violent fist may crack the heart,
but when one is truely chained by love, wounds to thy pride are nothing.
Come, let me show you the way of love! *OOF*" Kuno was knocked back in
mid-glomp by 'Rei' and her punch. This seemed to set him back to a
non-agressive mode, at least for the moment. "Ah, The lady doth have a
strong punch, not unlike my pigtailed goddess and the fair Akane Tendou."
The others stared at Kuno briefly, shrugged, then stared back into their
drinks. King was snickering badly, she was definitely liking this part of
town already.
Ryo rubbed his chin, contemplating Kuno's words of wisdom. "So... in
oth... in oth... so, a person enam... enama... in love puts up with
alotta crap, hm?"
"I would not phrase it in such a vulgar way," said Kuno, frowning.
The four fell into a contemplative silence.
"Annnnybody got any cards?" wondered Ryo.
*
"Well, where to next?"
Ukyou blused, smiling at the regal treatment she'd been receiving all
night from Mendou. It'd been a while since anyone had paid attention to
her in this manner.
"Hm..." She tapped her chin, wondering where indeed to go next.
They'd had a good drive, through a rather scenic part of town, topped off
by dinner at a four star resteraunt that just happened to have a jazz
band and a dance floor as well. Mendou had turned out to be a very
good dancer indeed. And now they were driving around with no particular
place to go.
"Oh, wait, stop over here," said Ukyou. "Let's stop in here for a
little coffee?"
Mendou smiled. "As you wish."
*
The drink wasn't what she wished for. She would've rather ordered a
cola, but Tanya had shoved some odd drink in her hands before she could
protest, and King was away tending to other customers.
Ryouga frowned. She wasn't sure at all what on earth he was doing with
this pack of lunatics. It just didn't make sense. There was Kuno, who
was out to smite him, no thanks to Ranma and a practical joke of his that
made Kuno think his pig-tailed goddess was now Ryouga's. There was Tanya,
who had some grudge against him but never explained it just yet. Then
there was Ryo, who simply had developed quite a mean streak when all
things Hibiki were concerned.
However, the current conditions of these people made it easier and
harder to deal with them. It was easier, because it looked like no fight
would break out, and harder because they were acting far far more strange
than he was used to. Apparently, Kuno had been feeling a tad melancholy,
and so this night, for Blue Thunder, was not one for conflict, but
contemplation. Add to that the excessively caffinated drinks and odd
effects of mass dosages of sugar additives in said drinks and it left Kuno
feeling... odd. Tanya and Ryo were apparently stoned, possibly due to Dr.
Tofu, Kasumi, and Bad Timing.
It was, definitely, under normal circumstances, extremely undesirable
company. But the mood he was in that night, something bordering on sad,
but not quite, held on to him. It's said misery loves company.
Melancholy doesn't mind a few houseguests either.
She wondered if it was possible to leave yet, sighing and looking down
at her glass.
"Ryouga? Is that you?"
A blast of ice ran it's way through her spine. A definite bad feeling.
Tanya, Ryo, and Kuno looked around, expecting to see their nemesis nearby.
Ukyou walked into King's cafe, hoping for some pleasant after dinner
conversation, but instead saw Ryouga, in his cursed form, sitting with a
group of people that should have been trying to kill him, and with a drink
in her hand.
She remembered how Ryouga was the few times he was drunk. Ukyou was
determined not to put up with it again.
"HEY! YOU!"
Ryouga nearly dropped his glass, as he stared at Ukyou like a deer
before a car's headlights. "Um... Ukyou..."
"And you're drinking again, too!" yelled Ukyou.
"It's not-! I mean-! It isn't! I wasn't!" Ryouga stumbled for words,
but just couldn't focus with all the panic hitting him.
"Ooooh, someone's in troubllllle," hissed Ryo.
*Oy, s'the weird gel wit'th'spaaatchula* mumbled Tanya.
"Tsk. Ah, fair miss Kuonji, tis sad to see such a young lady steeped
in the chains of alcholism, is it not?" said Kuno solemly, shaking his
head.
"I'M NOT DRUNK!" insisted Ryouga. However, her tired expression from
what she'd had to endure at the bar previously, added to the effort of
walking around all day didn't help her appearances. "But maybe YOU are,
after you and the rich kid have been running around all night!"
"What's THAT supposed to mean?!"
"What do you THINK it means?!"
*CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG*
Meanwhile...
Kuno's head rose, and he peered at Mendou curiously. "Mendou?"
Mendou stared at Kuno, recognition seeping into his mind. "Kuno?"
Ryo turned to Tanya. "Good security, those Mendou buildinnnngs have."
Tanya nodded in agreement. She'd tripped their alarms every time she
hopped across one of their rooftops.
"Ah! Mendou!" Kuno grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down to a
nearby barstool. "It has been long since we had last met! Come, have a
seat with us on this fair night!"
"Ah, I would love to, Kuno-kun, but I really must see this young
lady... ah..." He looked around. Miss Kuonji was gone. "Where did Miss
Kuonji go?"
"Worry not about the weaker sex tonight, Mendou! Come, share with us a
drink and good conversation," urged Kuno, slapping him on the back
cheerfully. Full of mirth, Kuno and the others dragged Mendou to the
table, while Kuno mentioned to one of Mendou's aides, "the veritable
Shutaro Mendou shall be enthralling us with his presence, perhaps it would
be best to return those two fair maidens," he gestured at Ukyou and a now
unconscious Ryouga (wearing a gigantic spatula), "back to their place of
residence?"
"Yessir, right away!"
*
Ryouga woke up with a nagging headache. He was also still a she, and
also apparently back at Ucchan's. She had a ringing headache, and it
definitely wasn't due to a hangover. How, she wondered, did Ukyou manage
to do that? Knock him out with one blow? She'd taken MUCH worse from far
stronger adversaries, and yet she comes along, and with one hit of her
spatula, *WHAMMO* it's lights out. He wondered if it had any link to why
Akane always beat Ranma up so easily all the time.
She wandered aimlessly around, looking for a kitchen. It seemed her
mouth was incredibly dry. It was while doing this that she overheard a
voice somewhere else in the house, definitely Ukyou's.
"I'm sorry about tonight, Mendou, but I had a great time anyways."
Mendou? Ryouga narrowed her eyes. What was she doing talking to
Mendou?
"Your proposal?"
PROPOSAL?! Ryouga felt her heart sink and she slumped to the floor,
feeling suddenly cold.
"Well..."
_Say no!_ Ryouga screamed in her mind, _please say no! Don't leave
m.._
"Well, I'm not sure yet...."
_THANK_YOU._
"But I'm gonna havta talk to my dad about it too. I'll need his
approval, of course."
That... didn't sound good. Sounded like she was going to say yes.
Father's approval?! It couldn't be...
//Good night, Kuonji-san.//
"Good night, Mendou-san." Ukyou hung up the phone and sighed. It was
a pretty fun night, all things considered. If only that dummy Ryouga
didn't get lost and smashed. She checked to make sure the doors were
locked, then went to the back area of the resteraunt where she immediately
stumbled over Ryouga, who was sitting on the floor and looking a little
despondant. A little too sad for her not to notice.
"Hey, Ryouga, you okay?" She waved a hand in front of his face. He
seemed not to notice it. "Ryouga? Hey, you're worrying me. C'mon,
sugar, snap out of it."
"Huh?"
Ukyou sat down across from Ryouga on the floor and gave him a worried
look. "What's on your mind? You look... well... depressed."
"It's.... nothing." He hung his head down, feeling the old depression
settle into him like fog.
Ukyou poked Ryouga's arm teasingly. "C'mon, tell me about it."
"I... I'd rather not. Can you just guide me to my room?"
Ukyou became very worried at this. Since when did Ryogua hide anything
from her lately? "Well, okay, if you say so. C'mon." Withouth thinking
about it, she stood up, then grabbed him by the hand. As he shuffled into
his room with some odd expression on his face, she felt frustrated that
she wasn't able to cheer him up.
"Well... g'night, Ryouga."
"Good night."
Ukyou took a moment to give him a light hug. She didn't think of why,
really, except that someone she cared about was in one of his deep
depressions again. She gave him a light, harmless slap on the cheek and
then poked him on the nose with a mock-frown on face. "Hey you, you'd
better tell me what's on your mind sometime, okay? I worry about you
somtimes."
"Y-you do?"
"Of course I do, stupid. Now get some sleep." And with that said,
Ukyou left.
Ryouga's mind was spinning in odd directions. He'd felt this way
before, but for the first time he was realizing what it was and was afraid
of what the consequences might be if he was right. A confusing end to a
confusing day. He took in a deep breath, closed his door, and sighed.
_I think... I think I'm...
-end-
===========================================================================
[REPOST] The Origin of Tanya Noori, 'One Thing Leads To Another'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
EDITOR'S NOTE: it isn't essential that you read it, but this story is
linked to the fanfic "The More Things Change" and it's forthcoming sequel
"The Pursuit of Happiness" (yeah, the fic I've been working on for, oh,
six, seven months @.@)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*******
Prelude
*******
A woman sat at her desk and appraised her computer, the monitor seemed
to shine rather blankly back at her. Papers cluttered the area and had
been strewn about rather haphazardly. She perused the file in her hand,
which contained information on the most recent martial artist to arrive in
Nerima. The file wasn't big at all.
The woman in question was Nabiki Tendo. She was an information broker,
and as such, she made it a point to know _exactly_ who and what was
emerging in Nerima. Nabiki didn't get involved in Ranma's little
problems, no, but if he had ever bothered to ask (and had the money to
foot her service fee) she could have easily pulled up some interesting...
facts. Facts that could demoralise and just possibly crush the fighting
spirit out of Ryouga, Kuno, or any of the other many enemies Ranma had
made over time. His fiancees weren't safe either, as careful drudging had
netted Nabiki more than enough useful tidbits to keep her infinitely
happy. She never pointed this out to Ranma (and given the current status
of the fiancees and rivals, a little late), it was enough for her to know
that she had at least a little leverage (or sometimes lots of leverage,
especially in Kuno's case) to make them bend to her will. Having several
of the world's most powerful (and strange) martial artists in her pocket
was a reassuring feeling.
This new arrival, though, was a mystery. Nabiki had very little to go
on, and it annoyed her a bit. Again, this was mainly due to the fact that
said person was a complete stranger to these parts. That, she decided,
would have to be fixed, and soon. Until then, she felt that she might as
well start a file.
====================================================================
Name : Noori, Tanya
Sex : Female
Age : 16
Height : 5'3"
Weight : 80-90lbs?
Eyes : Hazel
Hair : Light brown, semi-short
Martial Art : ?
Associates : ?
Enemies : ?
History : ?
Personality : ?
====================================================================
She paused to appraise the screen and frowned, there were too many
question marks, not enough answers. This was no good. She saved the
information to a file and shut down her laptop. Nabiki shrugged off her
disappointment. It really hadn't taken long to find a stool pigeon, and it
was one who would talk for a fairly cheap price at that. A wry grin
formed on Nabiki's face, as later this day her pidgeon would give her all
the info she needed to fill some of those gaps.
****
In a cafe in the commercial part of Nerima, Nabiki looked thoughtfully
at her notes. Meanwhile, a somewhat lanky young man rose from the table.
His long bangs fell loosely over his round-rimmed eyeglasses, concealing
any emotion that may have shown there. At his side was a long case that
appeared to contain some sort of musical instrument. The man looked as
though he had just been payed, and rightfully so... as he now fingered
through a small wad of yen to be sure it was all there.
"Thanks, Tendo-san," he said non-chalantly.
"Just remember, Megane-kun, if you hear anything more, let me know?"
"Yah." this came out a bit mumbled as the man finished his counting,
turned, and stalked off towards the door.
As he departed, Nabiki shook her head in disbelief. Just when she
thought she'd do about anything for money, she meets Mr. Megane Muhoshin.
He was the very same one who'd previously sold out his family to her. She
tsked, now he'd given her much of what she'd needed on Miss Noori.
Nabiki looked down at her notes, sipped some more of her espresso, and
filled in a few more blanks.
====================================================================
Name : Noori, Tanya
Aliases : O'Leary, Danny; Nory, Tanya
Sex : Female
Age : 16
Height : 5'3"
Weight : 80-90lbs?
Eyes : Hazel
Hair : Light brown, semi-short
Martial Art : Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts
Division Housecleaning Subdivision Chimney Sweeping(?)
Skill level unknown, but rumored to be high.
Associates : Megane Muhoshin (ex-boyfriend), Oshimu Giichi (sensei)
Enemies : Ryouga Hibiki (Reason unknown)
History : Recruited by the UWSMA (reason unknown) from the United
Kingdom, enrolled for 5(?) years as a student of the UWSMA.
Briefly involved with Megane Muhoshin (reason unknown)
Has arrived in Nerima with the intent to defeat (kill?)
Ryouga Hibiki (reason unknown).
Personality : Generally quiet, not talkative. Tends to pursue any goal
she sets with some intensity. Has shown flashes of
brashness and a penchant for scheming. Is quick to
annoyance or anger. Has a high level of pride and a
strong ego.
====================================================================
Nabiki frowned. That filled in the empty spots, but her history was
definitely too short. In most circumstances, the history part of her
subjects would generally be the largest and most interesting. Nabiki
sighed, she had to wonder what Miss Noori could be hiding, what bits of
her past were yet to be uncovered.
No sense frowning over it, she thought, and shut down her laptop
computer. Standing slowly, Nabiki planned to waltz on over to Tatewake
Kuno with some pictures in hand. If she played her cards, ah, pictures,
right, she'd even get Kuno to foot the bill for the lunch she just ate.
And Miss Noori? Nabiki put that subject aside. All would be revealed
in time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First attempt at a Ranma fanfic... feel free to tear it apart at your
leisure. I never once claimed to be good, just one with ideas. And here,
put to text, was one. Ranma 1/2 has shown us once or twice, not all
martial artists are contemporary... nor are they all Asian. With this, I
thrust upon you... a young girl who is neither. This is the story of Tanya
Noori...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ranma 1/2 fanfic by Mihoshi
All characters depicted or mentioned in this story are the trademarks
and/or copyrights of their respective holders with the exception of Tanya
Noori... who's mine, dammit. :P
Send all comments and bashes to Mihoshi@ptw.com
The Pursuit of Happiness: Side Story
ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER
******
PART 1 Brutal Youth
******
Somewhere in Manchester, England... a young, well-kept police officer
did his best to keep a rambunctious child under control as he made his way
up the stairs to a large, forboding building.... -
(It's not fair... they can't take 'er from me...)
"Oh such a tragedy... the poor dear! Well, we'll take care of her."
these words of false sympathy poured from the mouth of a frightening,
elderly woman as she stood in the doorway Shildly Orphanage. The young
girl now squirming helplessly under the arm of a large bobby glared
spitefully at the old biddy, who seemed every bit a liar to her. This
woman just wanted to take her from her Mum, and she knew it. The old
witch continued, "Her mother's been hauled to the institute then? Well...
the child is better off here anyhow. Ms. Nory was a raving looney, she
was!"
(You just WANTED t' take 'er away... so ya could make me sad! Well,
I'm not sad, I'm ANGRY!! You'll ALL pay for taking 'er! Ya will!)
The bobby, a young, strong-looking officer of law, nodded solemnly.
Ms. Nory had never been quite right since her hubby had run off... at
least, it looked as though he'd bailed on her. His disappearance occurred
suddenly, only just months after the birth of the screaming child now
being held. He was gone without a trace, and Ms. Nory took it... poorly,
"Aye, 'tis a shame. A charmin' lass, she was. Goin' off like that after
four years... truely a shame, she'd seemed t' almost gotten o'er it, too.
Ah well... nothin' t' be done of it now. Are ya sure y'can 'andle young
Tanya 'ere?"
(This man was our friend!! 'ow could 'e allow them t' take 'er? 'ow
could 'e?? Mum TRUSTED 'im!! Evil man!)
Tanya Nory, the girl in question, could be a mean-spirited brat when
she set her mind to it. This was one of those times. She just screamed
and bawled, flailing like a wild animal in the officer's firm grip.
Twisting like a snake, she managed to plant a foot firmly to his groin,
which resulted in a squeak and a wince. However, the bobby remained
standing. He squeezed his arm around the child and she gasped, becoming
stiller. She struggled weakly still, however, with the spirit of a devil.
(You'll pay... you'll see! Ya can't keep me forever!! If me mum sawr
Dad... she sawr him! Dammit!! I'll avenge you, Mum... wherever they 'id
ya.)
"Now... ya sure y'can 'andle the wee babe?" he queried, his voice a
little breathless.
"Of course." came a cold, almost offended reply. The biddy pointed
down the hall a ways, "Just take her to room 9 and she'll be just fine."
Tanya glared icily at this... this... evil creature who presumed to
take over her life. An evil grin flitted across her face... just as she
resumed her struggle.
(You, lady, will regret th' day ya crossed me path! I'll get ya, I
will! I'll get ya but good!)
"Right then, ma'am." shuffling through the door, the Bobby dragged a
kicking and screaming Tanya to her new room, pushed her in, and slammed
the door as though capturing a raving wolverine, "Cor, she's a nasty one!
She pro'bly drove the Missus to the bin 'erself!"
A loud, resounding crash came from beyond the door... and another...
and yet another. The bobby sighed, "Sounds like she's tryin' t' bash th'
door in. Me thinks y've gotcher 'ands full wit' th' wee beastie."
"Indeed. Well, Mr. O'Solin... I'll just be seeing you out now, if you
don't mind." the hag shooed the policeman out the door, "Things to do,
don't you know. I haven't time to doddle."
"Right then..." O'Solin tipped his cap politely as he shuffled out,
"Good day to you, Ma'am." he made his way down the stairs and out to the
street as the door was slammed behind him. He grumbled, "Saints preserve
us, but that's a wild one. May they 'ave the best o' luck wit' 'er...
they're goin' t' NEED it."
*
"Young lady..."
The girl in question sat quietly at her desk, staring in an
absent-minded manner at wall nearest to her. Anything was more
interesting than Miss Brambly's lectures on multiplication, and young
Tanya was always the first to show it.
"Young lady..."
There it was again: that annoying, sharp, elderly voice which Tanya
continued to ignore in favour of now counting the holes in a ceiling
panel. Not particularly interesting, but again, far more important than
anything this old nag of an instructor had to say.
"TANYA!!"
Okay, that got her attention, but only just barely. Piercing hazel
eyes gazed up rather sullenly through puffy, even bangs.... they settled
coldly upon a slightly unnerved educator, "WOT?" came the stiff, cut
response.
Miss Brambly sighed. Tanya Nory was the terror of Shildly... and well
deserving of the title. She was mean spirited, unruly, and often unkept
child... one that was missing at all times of the day, only to be found
setting up some horrendous and often potentially hazardous prank. This
diminutive waif of a girl had the entire orphanage terrorized, and Miss
Brambly was no exception. She was clearly more irritated than frightened,
"Ms. Nory, you WILL pay attention in THIS class, I'll see to that!"
The imputant child merely crossed her arms over her chest and sneered
defiantly. She thought to herself in the standoff-ish silence, (You'll
break, ya old hag, I'll be seein' t' that. I won't be leavin' here 'til
I've made ev'ry last one o' you lot miserable.) finally shattering some
of the tension, Tanya emitted a vaguely 'hmph' -like sound, "Wha'ever."
The teacher flared! "You WILL learn what I'm teaching if it KILLS me,
damn you!"
"It jus' might."
By this time, every child in the class was silent. Dead silent.
The teacher went -red-. She pulled out a wooden ruler, to which the
general class body's response was a group cringe. She approached the
delinquent slowly, "I have had just about enough of you, young miss!"
"Right then!" this was as good a time as any for a hasty withdrawal.
Tanya scampered from her desk and bolted out the door, "G'day Ma'am! One
o' y're best classes t' date!" she remarked sarcasticly as she fled the
classroom. Her impish giggling echoed from the corridor, then progressed
to silence as Tanya got out of range.
Some of the other children began to giggle in spite of themselves, only
to be silenced with a glare. It was then Miss Brambly launched into a
torent of cursing and loud mumblings, mostly to the effect of 'They aren't
paying me enough to take this' and 'If I was her mum, I'd switch her
silly' which served only to set off more giggling. -
Tanya cackled mischieviously to herself. Taunting Miss Brambly was
always fun, and it was her biggest challenge to date. Tanya was now eight
years of age, and in her four year stay at Shildley she had managed to
scare off eight other instructors. After all, this was an orphanage, not
a real school... few were willing to put up with her abuses, especially
coupled with the meager wages. But Miss Brambly, the old bat, she'd
stayed on for almost a year now. No call for that then! Tanya would
often find herself pondering... debating wether the teacher was stubborn,
of just plain stupid. "Stupid." she assured herself, "Definitely stupid."
With a shrug, she clambered up through a loose air duct screen and
disappeared, pulling the grate shut behind her.
- Several Months Later -
Well, it had all finally paid off. Tanya was a clever lass, far more
so than any of the faculty at Shildly orphanage could have ever imagined.
Although, the in-house staff experienced more turnovers than your average
fast-food joint. Few were ever given the chance to understand her... not
that anyone had the courage, patience, or desire to do so. Had any of the
adults bothered to observe her, they might have noticed a cold,
calculating tone to all her mischief. It was her job to make all who
acquainted themselves with this establishment a living hell, and she did a
damn good job of it. Funny thing was, she could barely remember why.
Now, Miss Brambly was gone. Barely a year there, and she had been the
staunchest of the faculty. Tanya took a certain pride in knowing that it
was indeed her who scared the wench off.
"B-b-but Miss Brambly! Joan! Wait please!! Shildly needs you!" this
was from one of the paper pushers, a mousey man in a suit that always
seemed several sizes too large. Tanya never knew or cared what purpose he
served.
The old cow ignored him. She -IGNORED- him!! Oh this was too great!
Tanya giggled wickedly from her window in room #9. She smiled almost
cutely down at the ex-educator.
Miss Brambly looked up at the wicked child, then clucked abrasively,
"You don't need me, you need a firing squad! And now... you need a
lawyer. Mine will be contacting yours. Good day!"
"But-but-but..." he just stammered, stunned. 'Lawyer' was not a word
he wanted to hear. He gulped quietly, then sighed. He shook his head
solemnly as he watched the woman go. The proprietors would -not- be
pleased.
Tanya cackled mildly to herself as she watched old Brambly hoof off to
the Taxi like the cow she was. Tanya giggled in a fit of mirth as the
door closed on a bit of Brambly's dress, leaving it to flap in the wind as
the taxi tore off down the street. Smiling, the self-proclaimed 'Faculty
basher' ticked off another mark on her wall. Yes, she even kept track.
Brambly had been a toughy, alright. It had taken a year of blatant
disregard and feigned ignorance in class, 12 waterbucket-in-doorway gags
(she never did learn each month to watch the doors), multiple times of
greasing the woman's shoes at night with lard to mixed effects, varied
incidents with mildly poisonous bugs; and one nearly villianous prank
which involved half a dozen hungry rats, a cannister of honey mustard,
oven mits, a rake from maintenance, and an externally locked bathroom
door. Oh, but that was a good one, her pride in fact. Tanya puffed up
triumphantly, it sounded like the old hag would sue, a bit of recognition
for just how cunning that prank really was! A day of triumph indeed!
Tanya gleed as she watched old paper-pusher slink back in through the
entry doors. She knew where he was going, and wanted to watch him get
chewed out. Quickly, she scrambled into her air duct and scampered along
the passage with practiced silence.
-
"Well... that's it then." the voice seemed familiar, and rightfully
so. Mrs. McTal was the only person who'd been a constant over Tanya's
four-year stay. This was the woman in charge, not to mention the lady who
had first taken Tanya in so many years ago. It wasn't devotion that kept
the woman here, only that Tanya hadn't given her a reason to leave
personally. Tanya wanted -someone- to see her in action at all times.
McTal eyed the little man who had entered her office only moments ago,
"You're absolutely positive then? She's plannin' to sue? All over that
waif, then, isn't it?"
Somewhere in the air ducts, a giggle was stifled.
"W-well... yes..." he stammered, no backbone at all here, "The Nory
child seemed to have a hand in it, alright..."
"Right. I think I have had just about enough. It has become apparent
to me that the child is untameable. She is uncooperative, disruptive, has
no desire nor shown any ability to learn, and has shown a distinctive
tendency to mischief bordering upon violence. I don't care -who's- she
was, I want her gone."
(Uh oh.) was Tanya's thoughts, (I know where this's goin', and no sir,
I don' like it.)
"I think it's time I took Officer Roler up on that military school
offer. She's nearly nine now, and we can't be keeping her forever. Maybe
the lads can beat sense into her."
(This would be where I make my hasty retreat...) she paused only long
enough to pick out minor details.
"Get me Roler on the tele. I want her gone by Friday, no later, do you
hear me?"
"Right Ma'am!"
"Dally, and it will be your head."
"Right Ma'am, I'll get him right away..."
(I've until Friday... easy. Luckily, I've made preparations. Time t'
blow this 'ell.) she crept soundlessly through the ducts, back to her
room.
******
PART 2 On The Outside
******
It was several months after her daring escape from Shildly... well,
maybe it wasn't so daring upon looking back. Tanya grinned smugly at her
cunning, as she had stolen her idea from a novel she once read, and was
particularly surprised no one had thought of it sooner. It was a simple
matter to crawl through the circulation ducts to the laundry room. So,
early Friday morning, she packed up her meager belongings and snuck off to
where the laundry was kept. Upon reaching her destination, she hid in one
of the laundry troughs just before they were carted off for cleaning.
Laundry trucks came every friday, and that friday was no exception. It
was a flawless plan, and no one seemed to notice (or care) that she was
gone.
By noon, Tanya was well on her way to London. She had pickpocketed
enough money from the Shildly faculty to afford a train. She figured that
London was far enough away to evade the bobbies... and there, she could
start her life anew.
As a petty thief.
This didn't work out... at all.
Sitting quietly in her hiding place, Tanya was very fortunate it was
mid-summer, else the chimney she'd chosen to lay low in might have been in
use. She took every care to maintain her silence, and would do so for
hours, for she had errored severely and was now paying the price. Bobbies
were after her, and she wasn't sure if it was due to the fact she was a
runaway... or if it was as a result of her recently botched attempt at
shoplifting. She was sure it was for the latter, but disliked both
prospects either way.
Narrowly eying the one item she'd managed to make off with, Tanya
sighed. Today, her dinner would be a single orange. Hardly a meal at
all. She actually pondered, ever so briefly, if she'd made a huge mistake
running off. (No,) Tanya slumped a bit in her hideaway, (They were gonna
send me t' milit'ry schoolin' anyway. Better off dead than that.)
With a resigned shrug, Tanya peeled her orange and munched without a
sound.
Several hours passed like this, with Tanya slowly dozing off. For all
the fight she offered, fatigue overwhelmed her. In order to get here, the
girl had done an awful lot of running, and it was now beginning to catch
up to her. She might even have fallen asleep, were it not for the
distinct sound of foot steps approaching. Okay, now she was awake.
Tanya was suddenly very still... and very frightened. (Oh bloody 'ell.)
A face peered into the chimney, a dirty one at that, "Well! Wou'dja
lookit that!" more words might have come if the man hadn't received a face
and mouth full of soot. "ACK! *pfeh!Kaffkaff!*" he stumbled backwards,
rubbing his face.
"GO AWAY!"
"Wot the bloody 'ell was that?" it was a second voice, somewhat deeper
than the first. So there were two of them out there...
"There's a kid in there... *kaffkaff* no wonder th' soot washed down
inta th' livin' room like that. *kaffwheeze* Prob'ly knocked it all
loose, I bet!" the man didn't dare poke his face in there a second time,
"Go 'ave a look-see, why doncha?"
"An' jus' wot kind of bloke do ya take me for? Get a faceful like you?
I don't think so! " a long pause followed, then, "Eh, Donald... you
okay?"
"Bleah, *hackhack* yeah, jus' ducky."
"Right then."
They sure didn't sound like bobbies, not by a long shot. Then again,
bobbies didn't exactly have a designated voice signature. Tanya knew she
was in a great amount of trouble, all things considered. What would they
do with her now?
(Well, I've come all this way for naught. I can't let m'self end up
like this.)
"Go 'ave another look then." the distinct sound of shuffling followed,
then some grumbling and footsteps.
Tanya swallowed hard, this was it. She could run, but where? She'd
done trapped herself but good in the narrow chimney of some London home.
It was late now, Tanya had run an awful lot to escape, and she was very
tired as a result. Almost too tired to offer any real resistance at all.
A voice called out, "Come on out, lad, or I'm comin' in. And I'm
supposin' that'd right be uncomf'table. Don't make me do it."
(A warm room wit' a bed would rather suit me now...) the girl hunched a
bit in her chimney, (But I've come so far.. I don't want t' go back.)
then it dawned on her, ('Lad'?)
"Come on out, now! I 'ave a job t' be doin'..." this was still the
voice of he who had been called 'Donald'.
Tanya growled low, acquiring a minor aura. She had been called 'lad'
or 'boy' by the other kids in the orphanage her first weeks there. This
did stop after a while, once she beat the holy snot out of each and every
one of them to prove them wrong. In most situations, this double negative
would be proof positive that she was, in fact, a he... but no one dared
make this joke least she smite them further. Either way, she hated be
called a boy in any case, this time was no exception.
The other voice added, "Come now, time is money..."
Seething, she drew in a deep breath, finally going with the assumption
that they were, in fact, not bobbies. The soot-covered visage which arose
from the chimney was, at best, indistinguishable.
The two men blinked, Donald managed, "Cor... 'e's a dusty one, ain't 'e
though?"
Two leering eyes peered out from the child's soot covered face... this,
accompanied by the noticeable red aura she now wore made the two men step
back a bit. She intoned angrily, "I... am *NOT* ... a *LAD*"
"Ah... no?" Donald quickly shoved his comrade forward, "Go talk t' th'
la--er..." very quickly did he note the voice... a girl? "...lady,
Jimmy-boy"
"Er... right."
*Cold glare*
"You talk t' 'er." he counter-shoved Donald forward none too gently,
"You found 'er."
Donald was a tall, gangly-looking man. There was little more he could
do than to stumble towards the girl, having been pushed by a guy who
looked a good bit brawnier than himself. He tripped forward, then did his
best to maintain some dignity while attempting to regain balance.
Straightening up, Donald approached the now vaguely glowing child, "Now
then, come on out, love, we won't be 'urtin' ya..."
She thought about it for a moment, then looked the man over. He was
very non-threatening, almost laughable in appearance as he seemed to wear
a fine coat of soot over his clothes. He was dressed in a simple black
shirt with grey jacket and work pants. Donald also donned a dirty red
scarf and a soft-cloth cap which probably would have shaded his eyes, were
the sun out. On his feet were steel-tipped shoes... a mark of a teddy,
but the soot smudged on his face and the brushes and brooms he carried
were a dead give away. She resisted the temptation to giggle, it was a
chimney sweep, and he looked like he'd stepped right out of a story book.
For all her efforts, a grin broke on her face. She quickly noted the
other was dressed similarly.
Donald blinked, then melted into a somewhat silly smile, "There now,
see? We're friends, right?"
Tanya finally giggled in spite of herself, then reluctantly climbed out
of her chimney. She was still maintaining a mildly threatening glow, and
thusly tried to stay wary of the two strangers, "Who're you? What d'ya
want?" she was ready to bolt if need be... but on a rooftop, as it were,
she had no idea where she'd go.
The gangly one took a bold step forward, but took no more when he saw
the girl start to tense, "Um... I'm Donald, and me mate 'ere's James.
We're not goin'ta 'urtcha, lass. What're ya doin' up 'ere this time o'
night?"
She was really too tired for a snappy retort, but managed one anyway,
"I'm admirin' th' stars, I am." Tanya made sure this dripped with sarcasm.
"Oh, I see..." Donald rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Won't yer parents
be worried 'boutcha way up 'ere this time o' night? A lot o' strange ones
roamin' 'bout, don'tcha know..."
"That's right, a fine... er... lass such as yerself out by yer lonesome
and all that. 'ardly seems proper." the other couldn't help but add. He
never could stay quiet, a trait that occasionally found him in trouble.
"Who're you to tell me wot's proper??
"Um... well..."
"And me parents'll ne'er know."
"No?"
"No."
Donald pondered his next words carefully, still unsure what exactly the
lass meant by this, "Come now... we'll be takin' ya 'ome now, afore
someone misses ya."
"NO!! I'm not going back!" she'd yelled this in a rather frightened
voice, one that betrayed the boldness of her appearance. Tanya had all
but startled the chimney sweeps, and herself. The girl really was afraid,
far more so than she dared to let on.
Regardless, this response certainly got their attention, as well as
maybe drawing the attention of passerbys below, "Mebbe we should be takin'
this elsewhere. Won't you come wit' us an' talk a bit, lass?" the
thinner of the two had noticed spectators below gathering... and didn't
care for it at all, "We'll take ya t' th' van."
"You're just trying to trick me!"
(Really, wot do I 'ave t' lose? They can't be worse than th'
authorities.)
James finally noticed what Donald kept glancing down at, "Lookee
there... cor, we're drawin' an audience, we are."
"Audience?" this WOULD be a good time to leave. And these two seemed
nice enough. Besides, she could probably get away if she needed to,
"Okay, I'll go. But I warn ya, I'll run at first opportunity ya try t'
'arm me."
"We'd never dream of it, lass." Donald offered his hand forward to
Tanya, "We'll getcha down from 'ere first. Then we talk, right?"
James continued to look down at the gathering London folk. He even
waved to them, smiling innocently.
Tanya carefully took Donald's hand, her slight aura fading to nothing.
Donald sighed, then dragged his idiot partner away from the side of the
roof, "Cut it out, ya cad. Let's move. We'll get th' chimney on our way
back. Jus' tell Corey somethin' came up, an' we won't charge 'im t' make
up for it. 'e'll understand"
"For free?? Cor, damn right 'e'll understand." James grumbled, but
nodded, "Right."
Strapping his brooms firmly to his back, Donald gathered up the girl
and nodded to James, "Short cut, Jimmy-boy..."
James grimaced, the shortcut involved him climbing down and getting a
bulky, *heavy* ladder from the van. It wasn't that he wasn't strong
enough, not by a long shot, but it was mostly just a terrible hassle. He
grumbled and disappeared over the edge of the roof, uttering a muffled,
"Right." as he went.
Donald nodded solemnly, "E's a good lad, me finest friend. And I 'ope
'e 'urries it up..."
*
Three years had passed since Tanya's encounter with the chimney
sweeps... and an interesting three years they were. They had taken pity
on her, after she'd explained everything she'd been through. Not only had
they not turned her over, they took her in as one of their family.
Donald went through an extreme amount of trouble for the girl. He'd
taken an immediate liking to her. Pulling a few strings - no, a lot of
strings, he'd managed to see to it that nobody noticed as one London
filing clerk 'misplaced' a few important records on a runaway orphan no
one really wanted to find. That some new, false records mysteriously
appeared in their place, regarding a young boy by the name of 'Danny
O'Leary' who would be staying with his uncle Donald for a while.... (In
order to better conceal the girl, they had made her dress as boy. She
cursed and hollered up and down about this, but finally had to admit: it
was a great disguise, and... *grr* she so much looked the part.) The
final touch was the local schooling. With a few called in favors, 'Danny'
was easily enrolled, 'his' papers mysteriously all in order.
Tanya never knew or understood what Donald had done exactly, nor all
the work he'd had to do following the trouble he'd gone through. She knew
only that she was comfortable where she was. They treated her like
family, and expected her to work with them to earn her keep as well. This
was no problem, as Tanya grew to love the profession... getting payed to
wander the roofs and pop about in the chimneys, that was the life. To say
she loved her work was an understatement.
Staying with her newfound family, Tanya learned a lot about the
business history. It was a very small-time endeavor, and something of a
family tradition. Donald had become a sweep like his father and
grandfather before him. They were very traditional, and kept a small
clientel who valued their services greatly. See, they did things in the
old style, the old stereotypical brooms and cleaning equipment... no
corners ever cut. Donald had a very important reputation to live up to,
being the only child in the family, it was a bit harder than one might
expect. It was strictly a family thing, but when his father finally died,
he was forced to take on a partner to keep the business going. This was
James.
James had always been a class chum of Donald's. Old school pals and
what not. James was a bit bigger than Donald, and not nearly so bright,
but he was always a true and loyal friend. They would goof off upon the
roof tops while Donald's father would do whatever chimney maintenance was
required of him. Needless to say, they got yelled at a lot. This,
however, kept James fairly close. And he was the first to offer his
assistance when the elder had died. Donald gratefully accepted.
With the business being so exclusive, it had a lot of close ties.
Donald and James would often do favors and such, not the least of which
was some basic maintenance other than chimney cleaning. This garnered
many favors, most of which Donald called in the day he took on Tanya.
This, she never fully realized.
Tanya, again, knew only that she was content. And it was her staunch
mission to make the both of them proud of her.
In school, she made a lovely boy. And as 'Danny' she was never teased,
nor was her gender ever questioned as it had been back in the orphanage.
This was both a relief, and very disturbing to Tanya... after all, what
that told her was that she made a better boy, and that annoyed her to no
end. Either way, she never complained, nor did the girl ever give away
her secret. Her instructors found her to be a marvelously sharp child,
and often was she commended for her wit and cunning. Praise was rather
alien to the girl, and decidedly, she rather liked it.
Donald had planned to enrolled her in a sort of martial arts class.
With her wandering the streets on occasion, he grew more and more
paranoid. It took him a good year before he could work a favour out of
the instructors there. Donald was one who didn't care to pay for things
if he could labor for them.
Tanya found herself enrolled in a Tai Kwan Do class, and she absolutely
ADORED it. It was an EXCUSE to beat on someone if she ever felt the need
or desire. Even now, she was still every bit the violent child she had
been, only more in control.
In her two years there, she had proven to be an excellent student, one
who learned fairly quickly. However, her temper still tended to flair in
combat, often hurting her opponent to unnecessary extents. Admittedly,
though, she was brutally efficient. It wasn't long before she'd convinced
one of the teachers to train her in various weapons, not the least of
which was the staff.
By the end of that two years, she had achieved a red belt in the art.
It was rightfully earned, as Tanya had become quite good. With staves,
she excelled. The very idea of extending the distance at which she could
strike had caught her fancy. The reach was nice, and it felt very 'right'
in her grip.
And, most of all, her sweep brooms were an awful lot like staves, only
weighted to one end. Using what she'd learned, Tanya had soon trained
herself to compensate for the uneven balance. Once she'd achieved that,
her desire was to incorporate her sweep tools into the art.
Tanya had initially thought this would impress her masters.
It didn't.
*
There was the sound of a violent *CRACK* then a shriek. This was
shortly followed by the sobbing of a 12 year-old boy.
Tanya was always rough on the boys. Feh, they deserved it anyway. If
they had any idea it was a girl stomping their arse...
"DANNY!"
She didn't respond immediately. Even after 3 years of having the name,
there were things that could still distract her from noticing. The punk
child on the floor holding his now bleeding cheek was one of them.
(Thought ya were pretty tough, eh, boy? i don't car 'ow much older'n me
you are...)
This thought was interrupted by a very loud *THWACK* to her skull. She
winced, "'EY?! Wot's th' big idea??"
"Mr. O'Leary! How many times have I said not to bring those...
_THINGS_ into class with you??!" this was barely short of a yell. Aye,
teacher was *miffed*. And the 'things' he referred to were two three foot
poles ending in wire-bristle brushes which splayed out in a circle about
the tip. She was now wielding one in each hand.
Obviously, these brushes were sweeping tools, but the metal bristles
were a bit of a curiousity. Actually, Tanya had custom made them to be
weapons, and the iron fibers were her added touch.
"Well, sir, they're technically short staves, right?"
Whispering went on in the background. Something along the lines of
"'ow did 'e get those in 'ere?", "Dunno... didn't see.", "Where would ya
'ide things like those?", "'e pulled 'em from thin air, 'e did!" this was
silenced by another instructor who wanted nothing to so with the
situation, and wanted his students to follow in suit.
"STAVES??!" the enraged master bellowed this.
Tanya honestly didn't see the big deal. She'd been at this almost two
years now, and was rather surprised the inventive, modified staves didn't
impress. But this was no matter. This had been the fifth or so time
she'd used them in class, and now, it was a sort of defiance thing.
"Staves? Indeed..." he helped the crying child up and examined the
damage. It was rather serious, and he flushed pale when he could just
make out bone through the badly ripped cheek. The towels they were using
had soaked up much of the blood, but it was apparent an ambulance would
need to be called, "Right... Gorden, call the paramedics. And you...
Daniel O'Leary, do not return here ever again."
She shrugged, it really wasn't a big deal. She hadn't broken anything,
so the worse would be some scarring. No biggie. But oh well. Tanya
nodded, and said in a largely mocking tone, "Aye, sir." on her way out.
She'd learned all she could here anyway, though, Tanya was sure, Donald
wouldn't be happy one bit.
-
It was hours later, and Tanya found herself walking along an alleyway
just north of her home. She had been stalling herself all this time.
(Donald's goin' t' be so disappointed.) was the thought for the passing
moments. Rather than go home and tell them right away, the girl opted to
wander, carefully pondering the words she would use. Whatever words would
smooth things the best.
She didn't notice the men who happened to be approaching her swiftly
from behind.
They had, however, noticed her. And dressed in her sweep clothes, did
she ever look the easy mark.
Tanya mumbled to herself, "Two years at that lousy school... think
they'd be teachin' me somethin' use--*" she was cut off when she heard the
distinct shattering of glass, "Wot th'...?" she spun to face the noise.
The 'noise' was one man wielding a broken bottle, with a second holding
tight to an iron pipe. They were dressed in leather, with steel-tipped
shoes. Teds for certain. They approached slowly, "All we wants is yer
wallet, li'l boy. 'and it o'er." was the foul utterance of the one
bearing the pipe.
She backed up carefully, (Only two, but are they ever nasty lookin'
blokes. Right... shouldn't be too 'ard.)
The men continued to approach, they didn't think much of the short
staff sweep-brooms strapped to her back. And they thought even less of
them when she drew both and held them forward defensively, "Wot? Gonna
'sweep' us t' death?" the two had a quick laugh at this.
"I jus' might."
Little to no time was wasted on words. She was gone suddenly, then
several loud *cracks* were heard and a sickening *squidge*. With that,
the pipe man was on the ground shrieking. He looked a bit mauled, far
worse than he actually was, holding his now blood-stained side and
awkwardly bent arm.
"'oly shi--*" was the cut response. There most certainly were other
words he'd desired to say, but they were silenced as he caught the end of
an iron rod with his jaw. This knocked him sideways, but didn't keep him
from steadying and LUNGING for the girl, "Ah lad... BIG mistake!" he
jabbed quickly, and only just caught Tanya's shoulder. It was enough to
send the child reeling across the pavement.
(Owowow... 'urt, that 'urt... damn... can't feel me arm...) she
scrambled deeper into the ally, just barely ahead of the still slightly
dazed teddy boy.
"Now I'm gonna kill ya, ya li'l bastard..." he found himself alone,
"Come on out... no sense 'idin'! Y're dead walkin', ya are!"
Pawing through a belt-pouch, she drew forth a small egg-shaped item.
(Let's see then 'ow these chemicals work...) drawing aim on the punk,
Tanya threw the egg-thing as hard as she could. It hit its mark: face.
(BINGO!)
The ted flailed, flinging his bottle in a random direction and hitting
nothing. He grabbed for his face and eyes, where smoke was now rising
from its surface. All he managed was an incomprehensible scream.
It was then Tanya drew in for the kill, so to speak. Adrenaline
kicking in, the blinded hood stood little to no chance as he was
bludgeoned into unconsciousness.
That done, Tanya found herself panting. Her bruised arm fell to her
side as the adrenaline rush faded. She leaned against a wall, sagging
into it. Sheathing her tools, she rubbed her shoulder, and tried to
resist crying.
A figure stepped out from the shadows, and eyed her narrowly.
Bad timing, Tanya really wasn't in any shape for another fight. She
only whispered, "Who're you?"
The man bowed low and stepped forward. He was noticeably foreign,
Asian for certain. He only nodded, "You are Danny O'Leary? Or should I
say, Tanya *Noori?"
Tanya BLINKED! "Er..." (Cover... cover... no wait, 'e already knows
who I am... oh 'ell. I'm caught.) "Ya don't look like a bobby..." was
all she could think to say.
"I am not." the man offered his hand to Tanya, "I am Giichi. Oshimu
Giichi. You have a strong spirit, and we have some interest in you."
"We?"
"Hai."
"Wot?"
"Yes."
"Ah..." well, that was fruitless. Tanya decided to query a bit
further, this man was obviously not an authority of any kind, "Who's this
'we'?"
"I noticed your fighting style at what was once your dojo only days
ago. It is very interesting, to say the least. You use brushes and
brooms... chemicals... unusual to say the least, ne?"
"Problem wit' that?"
"Iie, no problem. In fact, it is what attracted my attention." Giichi
noted the surroundings with a bit of disgust, "I should like to talk to
you further. Perhaps elsewhere would be more appropriate. I think I have
a proposition for you."
Finally catching her breath, Tanya nodded, "Right..." she was still
wary of the stranger, "'ow about a bit o' tea? I know a nice dine-in."
Giichi nodded. He was certainly dressed for nicer places. He worried
that too much time in this alley might ruin his nice business suit. He
didn't have many, after all, "Please, lead the way."
Tanya nodded carefully, then made her way out of the alley. At no time
did she take her eyes off the gentleman.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* Nory becomes Noori because in Japanese 'ry' doesn't exist.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
It had taken 3 hours and a rather costly meal to finally sway young
Tanya's trust, but it was worth it. Giichi had convinced the girl that
her best course of action would be to join him in his journey back to
Japan. He had been watching her over the last week, and her skill was
wasted in such a conventional environment. Giichi was satisfied that this
spry, tomboyish child would easily fullfil his obligation to the school.
(Strong, spirited, and talented. Hai, she'll make a fine pupil. I need
only convince her family now that this is the best for her. Her gift is
wasted here... it can be refined at the dojo.) he had faded only ever so
slightly with his thoughts, and Tanya's voice brought him back with little
to no effort.
"Okay... so... y're sayin' 'ere that y'll 'ouse me, feed me, and train
me fer free then?" it sounded too good to be true. She'd never thought
she'd have the opportunity to travel to the orient, much less live there,
"And y'll teach me t' better use me brooms better, right?"
Giichi nodded solemnly. They'd gone over this part of the conversation
three times before... and no, the answer wasn't any different.
"And... " she continued on, counting the perks on her fingers, "I'll
get t' spar wit' other blokes usin' me tools, as well as learn th' local
language so's I can talk wit' 'em, right?" the learning of a new language
part was easily the cincher. Contrary to popular belief, she did enjoy
the prospect of gaining new knowledges.
The sensei again nodded... this, too, had been gone over three times
previous.
"So... where do I sign?"
"Ah, but we need the consent of your peers. I dare not worry them
unnecessarily. I think they can be persuaded, however." Giichi stood,
leaving money and tip for the waitress who'd served them. He looked down
at the girl and knew she had no way of understanding how financially bad
off her 'family' was. He'd quickly realized it would be a simple matter
to show them it was indeed for the best. He needed only first convince
the girl of it as well. This went well, Tanya was more than anxious to
go.
Tanya stood and stretched. There had to be a catch somewhere, but if
there was, she couldn't see it, "Okay. I 'ope you're right. I've never
asked t' go so far away. I don't know..."
The other thing of note about this exceptional child was her history...
that, and the information his people had gathered on how she had become
'he'. The routes used for this were far less than legal. Giichi could
use that if it came down to the wire, but he really loathed blackmail or
strong arm methods. Willing was far more to his liking, and his
diplomatic way with words would likely net his dojo a new student as well
as prove convenient for all involved. (I don't know why the UWSMA wishes
to have students from so far north, but I am pleased to have found one
with so much potential. Now, If her rebellious streak can be shaped into
obedience, there will be no problems. and she will excel in her
learnings.) he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then stated in a calm voice,
"I have little time to waste. Take me to your family so I may converse
with them?"
"Okay! This'll be cool!" Tanya bounced from her seat and took off,
intent on leading the man to where she knew Donald and James were working
at the moment. She halted long enough to inquire, "Do ya mind roofs
much?"
Giichi was the master sensei of the Housekeeping and Maintenance Dojo,
he'd done far more tedious things than roof-hopping... and all in a nicely
kept suit as well, "Iie, I'll manage."
Nodding, Tanya rushed off out the door. Giichi strolled out casually,
waiting for the door to close behind him before chasing off after the
youth, "Chotto matte!"
-
It was after 20 minutes of bounding from rooftop to rooftop that they
finally stumbled upon the two chimney sweeps. Donald, for one, was overly
surprised at the appearance of a middle-aged Asian man in a white suit,
but seemed to handle it fairly well with all things considered. It was
just a bit unusual to get such a well dressed visitor while on the job...
especially three stories up at the base of a chimney. These things just
didn't normally happen.
James seemed oblivious to it, his only comment being, "Fancy that." as
he disappeared into the chimney.
Giichi approached the two carefully (More like one... James was far too
busy with the chimney to be bothered, it seemed.) and stated in a proper,
delicate tone, "Gentleman, I believe I have a proposition for you that
would be in the best of interests for all parties involved..."
"Oh?"
******
PART 3 Turning Japanese
******
2 Years later
In a small, wooden, and very traditional tea house, two elderly
gentlemen, both wearing kimonos, drank tea and chatted of various things.
This was where they went to relax.
"So, how goes the new student, Giichi-san?" said one of the two men,
idly perusing a newspaper he stroked his beard.
The other smiled. "She progresses quickly, Miyaji-san, beyond my
expectations."
"What was her name again?"
"Noori Tanya."
"A gaijin, isn't she?"
Giichi nodded and reached for the business section of the paper. "She
was rebellious at first, indeed." He chuckled, thinking of how odd she
looked. A little girl so full of stubborness and pride. "But after a
while, with a little stern discipline and careful guidence, she's quickly
become the top of her class."
"Did you hear of her current relations? She is currently being courted
by Mr. Muhoshin."
Giichi paled. "Not -him-?"
"No no no, not Ryo. The other one."
Giichi sighed with relief.
"Tell me, Giichi, was it your teachings or natural talent which
elevated Noori-san in her martial art abilities?" queried Miyaji.
"At first I had to get through her stubbornness. Difficult, that was.
But once I overcame that, her progress was amazing. A natural martial
artist, that Noori-san."
"I was hoping you might enlighten me on dealing with -him-."
"The eldest Muhoshin?"
Sensei Miyaji nodded sadly. "In the martial arts, he is indeed sharp,
but he is not easily motivated. Once he established himself as the finest
student in the dojo, he became content and lazy."
"Surely he has something that motivates him. For Noori-san, it was the
art itself, and the spirit of competition." Giichi wouldn't admit it, but
he was feeling a little proud at the moment.
"Oh, he is motivated... by forces I do not wish to use." he sighed,
"However, my fellow senseis have resigned themselves to it."
Sensei Giichi's expression turned to that of concern. "Oh?"
"If someone threatens to become talented enough to overtake him in his
standing as number one student, _then_ he is motivated. But he does not
stop at training, he faces his rival in a duel and tries his best to not
just defeat, but humiliate his opponent. He is fueled by prestige and
hate, it seems."
Sensei Giichi nodded solemnly. "Good talent, but a dishonorable soul."
Sensei Miyaji sighed. "I only hope that this plan that the others have
used won't backfire."
"Plan?"
"Muhoshin-san is currently ranked at number two, and will stay there.
He IS training harder, as a result, but I fear his hatred of the new top
student will overshadow everything else."
Giichi patted Miyaji on the back. "The way of the martial artist is
fraught with difficulties, Miyaji-san."
"So says the sensei with such a willing student," replied Miyaji.
"I _did_ say she was stubborn at first, did I not?" replied Giichi,
"Believe me, Miyaji-san, that first year was very difficult. She had
beaten up any student that she thought may have been insulting her, and
would even presume to tell her instructors how things should be done! Did
Muhoshin-san ever do that?"
"No," muttered Miyaji, "he just found loopholes in our rules and took
every advantage of them."
"Oh. A warrior's skill and a lawyer's heart?"
Miyaji just nodded tiredly.
"Ah, well, Miyaji-san, I think it's time I check on my student about
now. We are supposed to go on a small training trip some time later."
"Very well then, good day, Giichi-san."
"Good day, Miyaji-san."
-
Tanya yawned and stretched, (It's been a good day, then, 'asn't it?) she
thought to herself, grinning widely at her achievement. It hadn't been
more than two hours ago that she had finally perfected her Hyakuharisuru,
a technique involving the spinning of a chimney broom until bristles
literally launched at a target. Not only that, she'd even managed to
charge a bit of chi energy into it, sending the sharp needles hurtling
that much faster towards a target about 70 feet away. This was a rather
new thing for her all together and it was the first time any of her
attacks actually utilized the inner power. Short of the pride she gained
with the achievement, Tanya received a rather noteworthy score on the test
she was taking and was rewarded with a day to kick back and rest.
She was doing just that.
(Wait until I tell me folks... they'll be proud for certain!) her
thoughts drifted back to a rooftop conversation from long ago. One in
which a saddened but understanding Donald agreed to transfer the care of
Tanya over to a man he'd never before seen: Giichi, in effect, to the
UWSMA. It was an excellent decision, one that had proven to do nothing
but alter the child for the better.
She frowned slightly, the girl did miss her family dearly, but was
happier now than ever before that she had decided to join the
Housekeeping/Maintanance dojo, (They'd be proud o' me now, they would! I
know it! Gotta call 'em tonight.)
Tanya smiled and sat up, looking down from her perch upon a roof beam
in one of the sparring buildings. It had become something of a habit for
her to hide away in the rafters on her free days, and today was no
different. She had crept up there unobserved, and now watched the
happenings unnoticed. Her attention was drawn to a duel between two of
the umbrella fighters, "Hm?" squinting, she recognized them both. Ryo
Muhoshin, Megane's brother. This caught her attention more than anything,
she'd always wanted to see her boyfriend's family in action. The other
was Ryouga... something. The family name eluded her, but Tanya knew he
was supposed to be some sort of fighting prodigy. (Oooh... this ought t'
be a good'n...) with that thought aside, she kicked back and watched
silently, unnoticed. Well, she thought so anyway.
The fight came to a rather climactic end, with several blows struck
between both combatants. She had been observing the battle for quite some
time now and, to her shame, found herself kinda rooting for the Ryouga
boy. It seemed only right, Tanya always did cheer on the underdog... and
to her eyes, the boy was losing. Besides, Ryouga was cuter.
Her attention intensified as she watched Muhoshin whip his umbrella
forward in a fluid motion, pressing the tip to the 'prodigy's' throat.
Tanya managed to stifle her gasp, thinking, (Ye gods, he's gonna kill th'
lad!) Her reflex was to jump down to join the fray, this was halted
promptly as something struck her face, and suctioned there. A muffled
'eep' came from Tanya, who now worked to free a plunger from her face.
"Ah, my pupil... it is not your business to interfere. Sit and watch
young one." he pulled the plunger free with a quick tug.
"S-sensei?"
"Hai, now be still."
"But... sensei. Will he not kill him?" Tanya's Japanese, though
improving greatly over the years, still left much to be desired.
Fortunately, her sentances were mostly passable, though hardly eloquent.
"Shhh..."
Sensei knew best. Among many things, a certain sense of obedience had
worked its way into Tanya's persona. It wasn't programmed, however, it
had built over time. She'd experienced time and time again that sensei
was always right... well, mostly right anyway. And he could knock her
silly at a moment's notice if he had to.
Giichi's voice noted softly, "These two are the bitterest of enemies...
spawned unknowingly by their dojo's senseis. One of them doesn't even
know of the cold rivalry kindled between them." he nodded solemnly, "They
are the finest of the Environmental Extremes Dojo, Hibiki Ryouga and
Muhoshin Ryo."
Tanya loomed on, exhaling gently as Ryo finally lowered his umbrella,
seemingly influenced by the protests from his sister. She nodded, "Ah...
so they hate each other? Why?"
"It is a hatred kindled by jealousy. Both are fine warriors, yet one
is highly revered for his strength and ability to learn quickly, while the
other is constantly chided for being less of a fighter."
"Oh, is that so? Ryouga is the one who replaced Ryo as best, ne?"
Giichi nodded solemnly.
"That is rather unfair." her eyes followed Ryo as he stalked off,
looking rather peeved, "Megane had mentioned Ryo had a rival for who was
better. He never went into depth on it though. Why didn't he kill
Ryouga?"
"Eh?"
"That would have solved his problems! Then he would be best again."
Giichi shook his head, "Who's to say why? Perhaps it was honor that
kept him. Or maybe fear? It could be any number of reasons. I like to
think it was a sense of honor." he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "To kill
such a fine combatant in cold blood would disgrace his dojo."
Nodding, she admitted, "I'm glad he did not, we would have to come in
and clean up." she giggled. It was a joke, though poorly worded at best.
"Ano... h-hai..." it was a joke lost to Giichi completely, "Anyhow. I
had come to remind you, your new training begins tomorrow. Please, I
would like a show of dedication, ne? I know this is your free time, but a
bit of practice never hurts."
"Hai.. *grumble* I will do that soon, sensei."
"Very good. For now, I bid you good day."
The words 'goodbye sensei' didn't make it from her lips before Giichi
disappeared completely from sight, "Damn, he's so good..." thinking a bit
further on it, she shrugged, "I will have to ask Megane more about it
later."
With that, Tanya turned her attention to some of the other fights. If
nothing else, UWSMA was well known for battles which looked either
terrifyingly deadly, or tragically hysterical. Her sights fell to a
French battle mime dueling with an American fighting plumber. This was
decidedly going to be entertaining.
******
PART 4 One Way Or Another I'm Gonna Find Ya, I'm Gonna Getcha....
******
It couldn't have been more than a week or two later, Tanya now found
herself in friendly competition for a 'best of class' title. It was
mostly for bragging rights, but it was far more to her, as no battle of
any sort was ever friendly with Tanya. She fought to win, and that was
that. This also happened to be the last step in her newest training, as
well as the final bout in the minor tourney. Her opponent: A young Asian
boy who'd seemed to have mastered the art of yard maintenance.
Looking her enemy over coldly, she knew he was good. Damn good. She'd
seen him fight before and knew his weapons of choice were generally a HUGE
pair of hedge trimmers (Nasty at best) and various rakes and shovels.
Luckily for Tanya, he never got his hands on a weedwhacker...
The boy took up a defensive crouch, trimmer in hand. He snapped it
open and shut for effect, and had he been trying to intimidate... it was
successfull.
The boy in question was known only as 'Kumade', and Tanya had never
heard him called anything else. He stood about five feet tall, and really
didn't look all that intimidating. Rather, almost on the innoffensive
side. The huge hedgers belied this otherwise 'mostly harmless'
appearance. And, to reiterate, even she had to admit he was good.
The bout was to 3 hits, and Tanya tensed nervously as she anticipated
the call. This would decide her ranking and show her sensei that she
really was the best. This wasn't just a tourney, it was status! And
status was very important. She resisted the urge to jump as the word
'fight' left her sensei's lips.
Kumade lept into action, lunging high with the clippers, then sweeping
low at Tanya's feet. She was caught only slightly off guard and managed a
clumsy, awkward cartwheel to avoid both. Tanya returned to her stance,
carefully twirling her sweep brooms. This was going to be a long,
grueling fight... -
20 minutes went by, and yet the bout still raged on. The two stood in
their ready positions once more. Kumade had just scored a point, and it
had been a good, solid point at that. Tanya held her now bleeding side,
where a rake had ripped across it like a tiger's claws. This was the
point that brought Kumade's total up to two, tying him with Tanya's score.
The other point had only grazed her arm, barely bruising the limb.
Tanya's points had been a bit nastier, as one tore open Kumade's shirt
and left uncountable deep scratches diagonally across his chest, while her
first point gashed across his leg, leaving the boy with a slight limp.
It amazed Tanya that, with his injuries, Kumade didn't surrender. But
now, with the score tied, she knew for certain that was out of the
question. (Owww... bugger got me one good there, 'e did... no matter.
'e'll be an easy win for certain now. 'e's limpin' far worse now than
before, and that last point was jus' luck, 't'was...) she held her
sweep-brooms to either side once more, again ready.
Giichi eyed the two carefully... it had been by far the bloodiest, and
most dedicated fight he'd seen in some time. He watched carefully, the
injuries so far were but flesh wounds, deep as they were, the two would
easily survive the bout. That was, unless the last blow scored caused
great damage. As he watched Tanya, he could see a bit of fury building,
unhealthy fury, perhaps even deadly. Giichi was concerned that she might
lose it. He sighed, (And I am here to make certain she does not.) Kumade
was far more disciplined, so Giichi didn't even give his demeanor a second
thought. "Fight."
The combatants tensed at the word, then...
*Ka-BOOM! CRASH! CRASH!*
Suddenly there were screams of panic as rocks and debris flew EVERYWHERE.
Unable to resist the compulsion, Tanya looked up, "Wot th' bloody
'ell??" came her words... in english. "Wot is-* *ACK*"
It was over in a flash. Something swept Tanya's feet out from under
her, and she found herself on her back, pinned to the floor. Opening her
eyes, she could just make out the hedgers that now held her in place by her
neck, one blade to each side.
"Full point! Victory to Kumade."
"WOT?? But that's not fair!! I was distracted, I was!!" she screamed
in her Brittish tongue.
A soft *thwack* was heard as Tanya again found a plunger suctioned to
her face. Giichi spoke softly, "It is your own fault, Noori-san. You
allowed yourself to be distracted. In a real battle, it would have been
your downfall. Kumade did not allow the disruption to affect him. The
point is fair. You are an excellent fighter, but you still have much to
learn." he plucked the plunger free and finished more softly, "I am sorry."
Kumade pulled his trimmers free of the floor and offered his hand to Tanya.
Tanya snarled mildly and pushed herself to a stand. It had been a
humiliating point, one that hadn't hurt her at all physically, but damaged
her ego far more than anyone other than her sensei could see. The girl
finally looked to see what had lost her the match. Her eyes settled... on
Ryouga.
Ryouga had been lost, he'd suddenly remembered his vow to find and
punish Ranma for all the suffering caused to him. Leaving the UWSMA had
proven far more difficult than finding it to begin with. When finding
doors came to be a problem, Ryouga had taken to busting through the walls.
This was one such instance, as he casually busted down one wall and made
his way through the housekeeping/maintenance dojo. He managed little more
than a muffled "'scuse me." as he plodded through.
Tanya glared icily at boy... and emblazoned him to her memory. She
couldn't fault her opponent for being more focused, or her sensei for
calling the point. But, she COULD blame the jerk who'd caused her the loss
in concentration. Her voice growled very low, "Ryouga... I will not
forgive you this indignity." and flinched only slightly as he continued on
through the opposite wall, leaving her dojo in shambles, "Where ever you
go... one day... Hibiki Ryouga, I WILL avenge this slight." Tanya always
was just a bit intense.
Giichi saw the cold stare Tanya now wore, and looked on as the finest of
the External Extremes dojo tromped off into the distance. He shrugged and
thought to himself, (If what I have heard of him is true, the revenge she
desires will never be fulfilled. How does one find a person who can not
find himself? Ah well.) "Noori-san, we will begin your retraining
tomorrow, when your wounds are less apparent. Both of you, walk to the
health dojo and get the care you need. Kumade, you have proven your worth.
Your new training will begin in two days, use your rest well. Now go."
"But..." Tanya was furious, but could do little to nothing. She wanted
to go beat the crap out of that Hibiki punk, but could not refuse her
teacher, "Hai, Sensei." she growled heavily and managed a forced bow.
Kumade bowed deeply, holding his his chest and wincing, "Hai, Sensei."
They made their way towards the health dojo, with Tanya still seething.
Giichi shook his head and eyed his dojo narrowly. His gaze fell upon the
stunned students who even STILL looked about in amazed bewilderment,
"Well?" he called out, "Why are you all gawking? Get to work on repairs
immediately!" this was the housekeeping and maintenance dojo after all,
the students here were more capable than those of any other. The way
Giichi saw it, repairs should be simple.
-
Four months came and went... and Tanya had found stalking Ryo to be a
wonderful pastime. She had managed to drag out of Megane (Info that was
hard-gotten, even if he was her Boyfriend) that his brother Ryo would be
leaving to hunt Ryouga soon. Since then, she'd shadowed Ryo stealthily
whenever she could. It had almost become her hobby over the last month.
And she was fairly certain Ryo was oblivious to her presence. Then again,
after observing him, she was of the opinion he was pretty oblivious in
general.
Ryo wasn't anywhere near as inattentive as Tanya made him out to be, but
pressing matters kept him from caring. He would soon have Ryouga in his
sights, and he would avenge all his humiliation on the 'prodigy' who had
removed him from his top ranking. And all else was unimportant. Ryo never
noticed the dark-clad girl who now followed him, and he blatantly ignored
any instinct which pointed it out to him. That, and Tanya was truely good
at what she did.
Today, the tedium of shadowing Ryo had changed. This was the day Ryo
was to leave in pursuit of Ryouga, and Tanya was ready for it. Perched in
the rafters of the Environmental Extremes dojo, she craned ever so slightly
to see the paperwork being handed to her patsy. She shouldered a modest
pack of her belongings and was ready for the journey. Tanya thought
quietly to herself, ( AlI need is fer Ryo t' lead me right t' Ryouga...
then I can take over from there! I 'aven't forgotten th' indignity and
'umiliation that jerk caused me! 'e's mine, 'e is! And rightfully so.
Such a loss of face b'fore me sensei is unforgiveable!) she looked on as
Ryo pocketed the papers and stalked off, (Ah! Soon, I will be avenged.
This mission, by all rights, shoulda been mine.)
Pouncing soundlessly from rafter to rafter, she dropped to a graceful
stand before the door and quickly made her way through it. She was on
Ryo's trail, and most certainly would not lose him. Well, this would have
been true had it not been for the familiar *thwack* and accompanied
darkness, "Wot th'-*??"
Once more, Tanya found herself pulling at the plunger now hugging her
face. Her words were probably not pleasant, not that anyone could hear
them.
A voice spoke up, "And just where do you think you are going, Noori-san?"
Tanya found the plunger rather harshly yanked from her face.
"You weren't planning to leave with a word, now, were you? I had
thought you a bit more responsible than that." Giichi showed no real
emotion, but he made his disappointment more than apparent.
Tanya scanned the area, then the horizon, no sign of Ryo... at all. She
cursed to herself in english, then managed in her best Japanese, "I lost
him! I can not follow now! Why did you do this, sensei?"
Frowning, Giichi placed one hand on the girl's shoulder. He shook his
head slowly, "Your duties lie here with your dojo, Noori-san. Would you
shame your dojo by abandoning it?"
"But...! He's going fter Ryouga! That should be my fight!!"
"Iie, it shouldn't be anyone's fight. Your failure that day was just
that: your own. You allowed distraction to be your downfall. In a way, it
was a valuable lesson. I suspect your concentration will never again be so
easily shaken in the future."
Tanya stammered helplessly, "But... but... but..."
"I do not approve of this 'hunt' they've sent Muhoshin on, but it isn't
my place to object. Those in my dojo, however, I have some say in their
doings. You will stay and keep with your teachings." the sensei seemed
to glare almost, he wasn't about to allow one of his prized pupils get
caught up in what he viewed as 'foolish revenge', nor did he want her to
have any dealings what so ever with Ryo. It was bad enough she was being
courted by one related to him, "The mission they've sent Muhoshin on is
mindless, and encourages spite. You will have nothing to do with it."
"..."
"Do I make myself clear?"
"Hai..."
"You had best mean that, Tanya. You're one of the finest." he didn't
mind bolstering her ego, it wasn't a lie.
"Hai, sensei."
Giichi nodded, "Good. Now, join me in morning practice." the sensei
walked away casually, knowing full well the girl's sense of duty would
compel her properly.
Tanya did a final scan of the surroundings. Nothing. Ryo was just
gone. She grumbled and followed her sensei, just as she was told. But her
thoughts still lingered, (This ain't over, Ryouga. I'll find ya, I will.
Ya 'aven't gotten out o' this yet.)
The two disappeared into their dojo.
********
EPILOGUE
********
3 years later. Present day.
Nabiki frowned, looking at the Noori file. Somewhat unsatisfactory.
Just on a whim she flipped back to the UWSMA file and glanced it over.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts (UWSMA)
Membership: unknown
Known Members in Nerima:
Hibiki Ryouga - (?)
Muhoshin Kyoko - student
Muhoshin Megane - student
Muhoshin Ryo - student
Muhoshin Ryoko - student
History: The UWSMA was founded hundreds of years ago as a school to
train martial artists on how to use any sort of weaponry, and handle any
sort of environment, mainly for the purpose of training guardians to men
of great importance. As time passed, for unknown reasons, the UWSMA
gradually faded from it's once prominent position, but still exists today.
Possible heavy influence on the strange techniques found in Nerima (i.e.
Handwriting Martial Arts, Tea Ceremony Martial Arts, Cheerleading Martial
Arts). Reported to have been recently disbanded by unknown events but
getting ready for a revival.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
She quickly added in the names Oshimu Giichi and Noori Tanya, then
closed the file again. Nabiki mulled over the possibilities on this case.
Why was Noori after Ryouga? Old rival? Fiancee? She laughed out loud
briefly at that. _How Ranma-esque_ she mused. Still, there was no
information yet that would bend Noori to her will. That was the entire
point of her 'files'. No sense in lingering any further, Kuno was waiting
and she had photos to deal, and had a feeling today she'd make a killing.
Meanwhile, across the street...
Tanya eyed the woman exiting the cafe with a measure of suspicion.
She'd been patrolling around the neighborhood when she spotted her
ex-boyfriend, Megane, talking to a girl down below. That was enough for
her to be suspicious of what they were both up to. Or was it? Maybe she
was just being paranoid. (Ah, s'nothin' to worry'bout) she reassured
herself, then sprinted off across the rooftops. (Megs went 'bout this way,
methinks... 'ey oughta lead me straight't Ryo... who oughta lead me
straight't Ryouga. 'An when I find'em...) Tanya grinned as she sprinted
off in pursuit. She had a Hibiki to find, and had a feeling today she'd
make a killing.
-the end... and the beginning-
=========================================================================
WRITER'S COMMENTS:
Well, here it is. This is the first and only thing I've made public.
I don't know how good it is, I guess it could be considered a first
attempt. This isn't the first thing I've ever written, but all else I've
done has been exclusive to a small writing club, or stories that have
never been made public. Anyway, I owe a lot to RPM for this one, without
his aid and persistant prodding... this wouldn't have been written at all.
Just another idea on a back burner somewhere. Also, my thanks to him for
the editing and critisism, and putting up with my procrastination ^_^;.
It's not fully a Ranma 1/2 fic exactly, more of an introduction... and I
gotta admit, I was rather afraid to put it out at all. Ah well, never
know until you try, ne?
==========================================================================
EDITOR'S COMMENTS: rebirth of a character.
Well, it started like this...
Several months ago I was in my Nth Total Rewrite of The More Things Change
(N being a number higher than 20 but lower than infinity) and it was
FINALLY flowing nicely. A few friends of mine helped me get unjammed from
severe writer's block. One friend of mine, I was encouraging her to start
writing. She had an old fic that I read, it read fairly good, and I
thought she could certainly do some stuff now now.
And so she brings up an old character design. A girl that uses England
Chimney Sweep stuff to fight, and has a grudge against a certain Lost Boy
that was wanndering through her place and caused a mess.
That, by itself, was a fair plot. We both realized, thought, that she'd
be a PERFECT candidate for the Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts.
That, and I needed another rival to make Ryouga's life hell. After ALOT
of prodding, she started writing, and the final result is, imho, a pretty
nifty character for the ranmaverse. I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly
did =) C&C -very- much appreciated.
-rpm
btw, bonus points to whoever can name the artists that sang the titles to
the story AND the four parts =)