Chapter 5: Secrets Best Kept...
A week had passed since the arrival of Ranma and Akane to Furinkan. Enough
time for life to settle down more or less to normal... barring of course
the disappearance of the Nabiki Tendo Morning Combat Committee... and the
by now familiar, though still unusual sight of the three Tendos and both
Kunos eating lunch together.
The day seemed typical enough. Nothing too untoward had occurred thus far
barring a quick downpour, which had sent Akane scurrying for cover. But now
it was lunchtime and nothing seemed amiss.
The five were eating their pack lunches under the shade of a particularly
large tree. Akane, who had finished her light lunch quickly, was lying on
her back, her head resting in Ranma's lap as she worked out some figures
from yesterday's income. Ranma, who was sitting cross-legged did not mind
Akane at all, was chatting happily with Kodachi. Occasionally, the two of
them would exchange pieces of food from their lunches. Occasionally they
would even feed them to one another. They seemed happy enough... except of
course for Kodachi's occasional jealous glances at the resting Akane.
Particularly when Ranma would absent-mindedly reach down to stroke his
sister's hair. Of course, Kodachi was doing her best to keep any indication
of THAT show up on her face. Sitting next to Kodachi was Nabiki who was
eating her lunch in silence. She stole an occasional glance at her siblings
and shuddered... then the particularly sympathetic glances at Kodachi...
and the last of her regular glances was at the man next to her, Tatewaki.
Tatewaki was trying to give no indication of doing anything more than
writing intently in his journal, and occasionally taking a sip of ice water
from his thermos. He did his best to ignore the pointedly angry glares from
Nabiki directed at him. Sometimes he would even look up to glance back at
her, but made it a point to look away before she could catch him. He was
even doing his best to ignore the fact that in the last fifteen minutes or
so, Akane had laid her legs across his lap... and was making do by using
her shins as a writing surface.
Granted, it was far from an idyllic scene, but it got other people talking.
Finally, Akane finished tallying up yesterday's gains and losses and was
pleased to find a positive count. A pretty good one. It was a start. What
surprised her though was how small her gains were for a school this size.
By all rights she should've been making twice what she currently was
already, but it was almost as if someone were moving to block her
activities. It was something she'd have to look into.
She looked over to Nabiki and Tatewaki, both of whom were giving a very
good impression of pointedly ignoring one another, even when they would
occasionally look at one another... even to the extent that at one point,
the two managed to stare at each other for all of ten seconds before either
realized that they'd already been caught looking and only then looked away.
She gave a little chuckle.
Ranma looked down at her, from feeding Kodachi a piece of pickled radish,
"What's so funny Akane?" he asked.
Akane grinned at Nabiki and Tatewaki wiggling her feet slightly in his
lap, "These two. You know we're supposed to make everyone think that you
two are trying to get along."
Nabiki grimaced and put her lunch down. She crossed her arms and scowled
at Akane, "We are getting along. He's alive isn't he?"
Tatewaki sighed, closing his journal since Akane's movement made it
impossible to write anymore, "She poses an excellent point. I am within
three feet of her and she has yet made an attempt to rip my arm off. I
personally consider this quite an accomplishment."
Akane giggled again, pushing her glasses up, "I guess, but you two have
been staring at each other for the past half hour already, sooner or later
you're going to have to talk to each other."
"We have not been staring!" Nabiki and Tatewaki shouted simultaneously.
They looked at one another and Nabiki glared. Tatewaki simply sighed.
Kodachi smiled a little, "Well... she does have a point... you guys could
at least look like you want to be here."
"I don't WANT to be next to him," Nabiki snorted.
"I could think of better ways of spending my lunchtime than being
unpleasantly seethed at," Tatewaki replied, "Like perhaps having my teeth
pulled out sans anesthesia."
Nabiki glared angrily at him, "Are you comparing me to a toothache?!"
Tatewaki scooted back a bit, "I will admit, based on prior observation
that you are fully capable of simulating the pain of one."
"How'd you like some pain?!" Nabiki snarled, rolling a sleeve up, readying
to hit him.
Ranma cried, "Whoa! Hey, cool it guys! Let's play this Akane's way
alright? We have to convince everyone that you two are really an item, so
when we do the big breakup thing, it won't seem to be anybody's fault...
right?"
Akane continues, "So you two could at least trying to look like you're
having fun..." she grinned, "Or maybe even get a little closer to each other."
Tatewaki and Nabiki both blushed, turning to look at her.
"I'd sooner die."
"Such an action would no doubt lead to unpleasant physical injuries."
Kodachi sighed, "Come on you guys... it's only for a couple of weeks... or
months... and Ranma and Akane are right, you both look like you could
loosen up a little."
Akane sat up, smiling at Nabiki and Tatewaki, "You know... a little more
affection couldn't hurt."
Nabiki gave Akane a startled look then blushed remembering the numerous
times she'd walked in on her and Ranma.
Akane continued to grin, "Let's give you an example if you aren't sure
what to do..." she turned to Ranma and Kodachi, "Hmmm... Ko-chan... help me
out here..."
"What..?" Kodachi blinked at Akane.
Akane beckoned Kodachi, who scooted a bit closer, getting nearer to Ranma.
"There..." Akane said, "Perfect..." as she scooted to a position behind
the pair. She put a hand on Kodachi and Ranma's hips, then roughly shoved
them together, until they were practically sitting on one another.
"Hey!"
"Akane what're you..?"
As the two moved to try and regain their balance, Akane caught one of
Kodachi's wrists, and positioned it around Ranma's waist, and grasped one
of Ranma's wrists and draped his arm around Kodachi's shoulders. Before any
other objections could be voiced, she reached over them and made them hold
hands.
Akane grinned, "There... here's a rough example of snuggling. You two
could try it sometime."
Ranma turned around to look at his sister, "Hey, you!"
Kodachi blinked then blushed, "Oh my..."
"Uh-uh... no way am I letting him get his hands on me!" Nabiki frowned.
Tatewaki kept a diplomatic silence.
Akane scooted back to her old position as Ranma and Kodachi untangled
themselves. She shrugged, "Well it's really up to you two... I'm just
trying to help out."
Kodachi and Ranma did their best to get untangled, but as is often the
case in such accidents, an elbow sent into one direction without thinking,
accidentally upsetting Ranma's bento box, sending it crashing onto
Tatewaki's thermos... sending that flipping into the air, to upend its
contents on Akane...
"Oh no!" Ranma cried as he helplessly watched Akane get splashed.
Everyone else was shocked as Akane suddenly grew in height... the
proportions of her body redistributing themselves. The transformation
completed itself finally... leaving everyone staring at Akane... who was
now a near perfect duplicate of Ranma. There was a long moment of shocked
and profound silence as everyone stared at him... their gazes swung as one
to Ranma... then to Akane... practically the only way to tell them apart
was that Akane was wet and was wearing glasses, while Ranma wasn't...
Akane sighed heavily, "Oh shoot..."
"Sorry, sis... er... bro..." Ranma said weakly.
"It's okay, they would've found out eventually anyway." Akane replied gently.
"Wha..?!" Nabiki asked.
The Kunos simply stared...
The transformed Akane grinned at them, "Hi... I'm Akaru Tendo... pleased
to meet you all."
Kodachi finally broke the silence, "Now this... I really have to hear about."
"Likewise," Kuno nodded.
Akaru smiled at everyone, "Well... I guess it was past time you guys found
out..."
"It all started when Ranma and I went to China to follow up a lead on his
parents..."
"Our trip to this village in inland China turned out to be a bust... and
that's a story for another time, but we decided since we were there anyway
that we'd engage in a little sightseeing and a little training."
"What she means is that we didn't have enough money to get home with, so
we had to bum around China for a while to get enough cash. That and we had
to walk back to the coast," Ranma interjected.
"Hey, who's telling this? You or me?"
"Go ahead."
"Alright... anyway, we eventually ended up at this training ground that
they called Jusenkyo, the Legendary Training Ground of Cursed springs. We'd
talked to our guide and he told us that the springs were very dangerous,
and that we shouldn't even consider training there, because it could mean
our lives."
"Wow," Kodachi murmured.
"Training Ground of Cursed springs? You two aren't making this up are
you?" Nabiki asked incredulously.
"Nope. It's basically this place, with lots of these shallow pools and
there's bamboo sticking up out of the pools for people to balance on,"
Akane replied.
Ranma nodded, "So anyway, as we were about to leave, I guess I must've
slipped or something..."
Akaru interrupted, "My idiot brother had managed to snag his foot on a
rock and tripped. He hit his head on a stone as he landed and knocked
himself out, but that wasn't the worst part. Because he crashed into this
wooden paneling which was apparently being used to keep one of the pools
covered.
"So splash, he fell in, out cold and sinking like a rock... I, like an
idiot, jump in after him. He must've sunk about six feet before I managed
to grab him. For such a little pool it was pretty deep. Anyway, I managed
to pull him out, but he'd swallowed some water and wasn't breathing. I gave
him some CPR, and I was feeling kind of funny too, but I put it down to the
water having been dirty or something..."
"Well, I managed to wake up," Ranma interrupted, "I was coughing up water
and stuff... and then kneeling next to me is this guy who looks just like
me, he's in the same outfit and he's soaking wet too..."
"And this whole time," Akaru added, "The guide is behind us babbling in
Mandarin too fast for me to follow. Until I realize that he's telling me to
look at myself,"
"Then the guy suddenly screams, grabbing at his chest. Then he looks down
his pants and screams again, louder this time," Ranma said.
"It was quite a shock let me tell you." Akaru grinned.
"The water... transformed you into Ranma?" Tatewaki asked slowly.
Ranma answered, "Well, the guide managed to explain it to us after I'd
managed to calm Akaru down... turns out the water in the spring turns
anyone who falls into the spring into an exact duplicate of whatever first
drowned in the spring."
"Preposterous," Tatewaki snorted.
Akaru grinned, gesturing to himself, "I'm living proof right here."
"But you transformed when you were splashed," Kodachi said.
"That's what activates a Jusenkyo curse," Akaru replied, "Cold water turns
me into a duplicate of Ranma... and hot water will change me back to normal."
"How odd," Tatewaki said.
"That still doesn't explain why you turned into Ranma." Nabiki said
pointedly.
"Well," Akaru continued, "The guide told us later that in a lot of the
springs, there had been animals and people who'd died there centuries ago.
If I'd fallen into the spring of drowned pig for instance, I'd turn into a
pig when I get splashed. But it turns out that Ranma had managed to crash
into an unpatterned spring, where nothing had drowned there... until he did."
Everyone else blinked.
"So since he drowned in there, it became the Spring of Drowned Ranma, and
anyone who falls into the spring takes on the body of Ranma," he smirked.
"I'm famous," Ranma added sarcastically, "The guide was talking about
putting a new sign on that spring."
Nabiki shook her head, "It's so weird."
Ranma and Akane shrugged, "We've gotten used to it," Akaru continued, "We
tried asking around for a cure, but the guide said there wasn't any."
"Couldn't you have taken a jump into the..." Tatewaki paused thoughtfully,
"Drowned girl spring?"
"I didn't want to risk it," Akaru answered, "The guide said that sometimes
the springs interact funny."
"What do you mean funny?" Kodachi asked.
Ranma said seriously, "Well... the guide told us about this one guy who
was already cursed then fell into spring of drowned octopus. All that
happened was his cursed form got tentacles, and he could squirt ink through
his fingers..."
Kodachi grimaced, "Eww."
Nabiki frowned, "How does an octopus drown?"
"You're asking us? The entire spring thing doesn't make sense to us
either," Akaru shrugged, "But either way, last thing I wanted was to end up
with a hermaphrodite cursed form... yuck. Better to be a guy."
Kodachi glanced first at Ranma... then at Akaru, a playful gleam in her
eye, "So, Akane... what's it like being a guy?"
"Call me Akaru when I'm in this form, Kodachi..." Akaru grinned, "And to
answer the question, it's really unusual being a guy."
Even Nabiki caught a whiff of interest at the topic... simultaneously
shifting closer towards them while trying to seem uninterested.
Tatewaki and Ranma caught one another's gaze, "Why do I have a very bad
feeling about this line of questioning?" Tatewaki asked Ranma.
"I know what you mean."
Akaru stood up grinning, "Okay, I'll tell it to you guys in more detail
later, but I need to hunt up some hot water first to change back."
"I'll go with you," Ranma volunteered, beginning to rise to his feet.
Akaru tsked at him, "What? And leave Ko-chan? I'll be fine, brother-dear..."
Both Kodachi and Ranma blushed slightly.
"I'll just be a second!" Akaru called back to them as he ran off.
- - -
"Hey, pal... you Ranma Tendo?"
Akaru looked over his shoulder to look at four large, rather rough looking
men looming over him. He was just outside the cafeteria where a vendo
machine had been set up.
"Maybe..." Akaru said cautiously, waiting for the machine to spit out the
tea he had already paid for.
One of the men, who had a crewcut looked at a photo in his hand, "Yup...
that's gotta be him... pigtail, Chinese clothes and all."
Another man, skinnier than the rest nodded, he seemed to be the spokesman
for the group, possibly because he was the only one who seemed to have
anything even remotely as high as a room temperature IQ.
"Yer sister is lookin' for you," The skinny man said, as Akaru's purchase
clattered into the receptacle.
Akaru pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiled, "My sister
is looking for me, you say? Really..." he turned his back on the four
momentarily to pick up the warm container.
"She sez it's an emergency type thing. We'll take youse to her."
"Sure thing." Akaru said distractedly, peeling off the red 'Guaranteed
Fresh' sticker from the can.
The gang of four was getting worried... how come this guy wasn't gettin'
all panicky like the boss said he'd be? The boss said he was gonna be easy
to fool... they weren't really lookin forward to beatin' up this guy to
bring him along... rumor had it he was pretty tough.
The skinny man looked pleadingly at Akaru, "Better come quick, its a
really big emergency."
"Well, lead the way then," Akaru said slowly, idly tearing at the red
sticker in his hand, and sipping the tea occasionally. The smart thing to
do would most certainly have been to ignore them. But curiosity won out, as
it usually did.
- - -
Ranma looked impatiently at his watch, "Lunch is nearly over! Where is she?!"
- - -
Akaru grinned playfully at his captors, "This is a really nice place you
guys have here," he said politely.
"Ya really think so?" asked the crew cut tough, "Awfully nice of you to say."
Which it quite was, considering that they were in a dingy basement room.
The four had blindfolded him on the way there, but judging from how many
steps it took, not to mention the brief period of time they were obviously
outdoors, Akaru guessed it to be underneath the gym.
The place looked as if it hadn't been dusted, much less aired in more
years than Akaru cared to think of. There was a large desk around which the
four toughs were dealing out a hand of poker. On the desk were a couple of
large ledgers, the matchsticks that the toughs were using for chips, and
the can of undrunk tea which had gotten lukewarm by now. In the corner
furthest from the door, and incidentally the dustiest one, Akaru was tied
quite securely to a chair.
"Hey, da boss said not to tell im anythin'!" the skinny tough said,
whacking the crewcut fellow on the back of the head.
"I'm just bein' polite over here, okay?!" Crewcut snapped at Skinny.
"Hey, you two jawing or you playing cards over here?" a third tough
snapped at them both, he was already showing at the tender age of sixteen
signs of a receding hairline.
Akaru smiled confidently to the other two, "Gentlemen, please... there's
no need to argue... um... I didn't catch your name..?" he said nodding to
the skinny boy.
"Shin."
"Yes, Shin, pleased to meet you... I perfectly understand that as a
prisoner I'm too keep my peace, but it ill behooves me not to pay a
compliment when it's due."
The skinny boy, Shin grunted.
"Geez... you've gotta be the politest guy we ever hadda jump on," the
fourth tough said looking up from his hand (a busted flush). He seemed
unremarkable enough if one discounted the fact that he was at least twice
as big as the other three. Combined.
"Why, thank you," Akaru smiled pleasantly, "Incidentally, I'm curious, are
you gentlemen on retainer or does your... ahh... boss hire you on per
project basis?"
"What's a retainer?" the crewcut tough asked.
"It's what you put on yer teeth to straighten em out," the balding tough
sniped, "Now stop talkin to the guy." He tossed two matchsticks into the
pot, "I raise."
"What project is he talkin about?" the huge tough asked.
"This one you big moron!" Shin replied, "Holding him down here," the
skinny tough gave a superior sniff and turned to Akaru, "What makes you
think we're getting paid? Maybe we're doin somebody a favor."
"Just a feeling, Shin-kun..." Akaru smiled back.
The balding tough whirled on him, "Look you, shut up! We're trying to play
a hand here! We ain't even supposed to be talkin to you!"
Akaru gave an artfully calculated look of hurt surprise, "I was just
trying to make conversation to help you boys pass the time. I'm bored
too... can't you maybe deal me in on a couple of hands?"
"Is it gonna shut you up?!" the balding tough asked.
"Certainly. I wouldn't be bored if I were playing cards, correct?" Akaru
replied reasonably.
"He's gotta good point," crewcut nodded.
"I dunno about this guys..." Shin said.
"Hey, the boss said not to tell im anything, he didn't say nuthin about
dealing him in on a game of cards." The big tough muttered.
"Aww... what the heck." The balding tough shrugged as the big tough moved
Akaru's chair closer to the table.
- - -
"Nabiki! Have you seen Akane?"
Nabiki turned, shutting her locker and hurriedly tucking away a piece of
stationery to look up at the worried face of Ranma. Standing next to him
was Kodachi, who looked a trifle breathless.
"What's wrong with Akane?" Nabiki frowned.
"She didn't come back to class after lunch. And she was supposed to meet
some friends after classes. Nobody's seen her since lunch." Ranma's voice
had a certain note of panic to it.
"We've been looking everywhere," Kodachi said weakly.
"Well, I haven't seen her, either, I'm afraid." Nabiki replied.
Ranma frowned slightly, as the students moved around them heading out.
Kodachi glanced at Akane's locker just across the same hall and tugged at
his sleeve, "Hey, look. There's a note on her locker."
Nabiki shrugged, following the two as they walked over to Akane's locker.
Ranma tore the folded post it note from the locker door, sending something
clattered to the floor.
"What is that?" Nabiki asked.
Kodachi bent down and picked up the object, "It's a nail."
Ranma frowned and read the note aloud, "What the..? 'To Miss Akane Tendo,
I have your brother. He will not be harmed if you come to the auditorium at
precisely 4:36 PM, alone. There are certain matters of territory to be
discussed.'?" he finished disbelieving.
"I heard about stuff like this!" Kodachi said excitedly, "There's supposed
to be this guy who secretly runs everything in the school... and the nail
is supposed to be his trademark," she held up the nail, "Course my dad says
its just a rumor."
"Whoever it was must've grabbed Akane by mistake, thinking it was me,"
Ranma said. He glanced over to his own locker and noticed something which
had also been stuck on his locker door. He sighed with relief, Kodachi and
Nabiki followed his gaze, "What're you looking at?" Nabiki asked.
He pointed at a red sticker which had been neatly torn into a roughly
cloud-like shape, the word 'Fresh--' could still be somewhat made out. "I
think Akane managed to put it on there," he said, "And since she had enough
time to make it, I'm guessing she's okay, and she's telling me not to worry."
The other two girls stared at him, "You got that from a sticker?" Nabiki
asked pointedly.
He shrugged, "She did it when we got into trouble before."
"Well, regardless," Kodachi said, "It's four quarter already... let's head
for the auditorium."
Nabiki frowned and cracked her knuckles, "Yeah! Whoever it is that has our
sister, he's going to wish he'd never heard the name Tendo."
- - -
"Read em and weep boys." Akaru grinned.
"Another full house?!" Sho, the balding tough, cried out.
"Glad I folded early." Shin snickered.
"Um... I lose again right?" the crewcut tough, Shiro asked uncertainly.
"You only had a low pair," the big tough, Shigo replied, gathering the
cards up to shuffle the next hand.
"I don't think I want in on this next one anymore..." Shin said uncertainly.
Akaru smiled slightly, gathering the large pile of matchsticks and IOU's
closer to his end of the table, "So let's see... that puts me at what...
five hundred seventeen matchsticks... two hockey sticks, a catcher's mitt,
and five manga volumes of Creamy Lemon."
Sho moaned, "My prized collection!"
"Guys, guys... please..." Akaru grinned, "Just to show you I'm not a bad
guy, I'm willing to let all of the debts slide, what do you say?"
"Ya mean it?" Shiro asked incredulously.
"Sure thing, we're all friends here, aren't we?" Akaru asked with a
winning smile.
"I get my hockey sticks back?" Shin smiled happily.
"Wow!" Shigo rumbled, "The boss woulda never done that!"
"Yeah, stingy little piece of..." Sho started to say, before he turned and
suddenly gave Akaru a couple of hard whacks on the back, "Yer an okay guy!"
Akaru winced at the blows then smiled thoughtfully. The four looked to be
pretty open to suggestion by now... and what he'd been seeing in the
ledgers had been very interesting... very interesting indeed.
"Hey, guys," Akaru said, calling their attention, "Since we're all friends
here, I want to make you boys an offer. It could be worth more money than
you're making now off of your current boss."
The four were all ears.
"Just listen up..." Akaru started to speak.
- - -
Kodachi stepped into the auditorium first, despite Ranma and Nabiki's
protests. The door slammed shut behind her with a resounding crash, right
into the two Tendo's faces.
Despite the hour, it was dark inside the auditorium, lacking any windows
in the dim light, she could vaguely make out a figure standing on the
stage, with its back to her.
"I'm glad you could make it, Miss Tendo. And so prompt too, that's an
admirable trait," an eerily distorted voice floated down to her, "I am the
Shadow President of Furinkan High School." It paused for dramatic effect,
then its hand was raised in the dim light. A finger snap, and then the
sudden hum as one of the spotlights highlighted the figure on the stage.
It was a very slender male figure, almost skeletally thin, in slacks and
an oversized leather jacket. He languidly slipped his outstretched hand
back into his jacket pocket, "You were very foolish," the voice continued
on, "To even think of challenging my supremacy on my own home ground! There
will be no gambling or rumor peddling that goes on in this campus that does
not stem from me! Nothing happens in this place without my say so, and if
you don't understand that then I'm very sorry but your brother will not
have long for this earth."
"Um..." Kodachi tried to speak, but it was almost impossible to get a word
in edgewise.
"Understand this well, for I am the Shadow President of Furinkan High
School," he finally paused, once more obviously for dramatic effect, before
he whirled on Kodachi, "I am the mighty Hikaru Gosunkugi!" his movement was
matched by a rather loud orchestral fanfare, then taped applause.
He still had his eyes closed, a smug, arrogant smirk on his hollow cheeked
face, "Yes... I know... handsome am I not? If you understand your place in
this school's hierarchy, I'm certain perhaps one day you could be my first
lady, but of course you're only too honored to--"
"Ahem!" Kodachi said with a certain tone of finality. Her arms crossed in
front of her as she glared at the boy onstage.
Gosunkugi's eyes snapped open, "Wha..? You're not Akane? Kodachi?! What
the hell are you doing here?!
Kodachi smirked, "Akane can't make it, she was too busy with something else."
Gosunkugi gaped, "But..!"
Kodachi seemed both amused and repulsed at the same time, "So you're the
Shadow President of Furinkan High School?"
"No I'm not!" Gosunkugi denied it cringing back slightly.
Kodachi crossed her arms, "Didn't you just tell me you were?"
"Ack... oh, fine then. You found out. Fine. I AM the Shadow President of
Furinkan High School!" Gosunkugi said with another superior smirk.
"Didn't we have you impeached last semester?" Kodachi pointed out,
"Because you were cheating at the ballot boxes?"
"What does that have to do with anything?!" Gosunkugi ranted, his arms
flailing, looking to all the world as if he was likely to get lost inside
his leather jacket.
"Last I heard you'd gotten expelled..."
"I am STILL ruler of Furinkan High School!" Gosunkugi snapped, "Just
because you denied me is no reason..."
Kodachi sighed, "I mean really... isn't this overcompensating a bit...
just because I turned you down for a date..."
"You turned me down twenty three times! Twenty three! If I can't have you,
then the rest of this school will bow down on their knees for me!"
Gosunkugi was all but drooling.
"Definitely overcompensating..."
"I'd intended this to be a welcome for Akane, but since you've annoyed me
sufficiently..." he snapped his fingers again. He blinked as nothing happened.
He screamed, squinting up at the spotlight, "Hey! You on the lights! Don't
you know your signals?!"
There were long moments of quiet as Kodachi fought to keep from giggling
and Gosunkugi kept staring up at the spotlight, vainly straining to see
whoever should've been up there. The skinny teen scowled fiercely at
Kodachi as if blaming her for this failure, before he scrambled to the side
of the stage and threw a switch.
The spotlight shut off and the rest of the lights surged on. Kodachi was
disoriented for a moment by the sudden amount of light, blinding her. When
the spots had cleared from her eyes, she realized that in most of the
corners of the auditorium were a LOT of boys. She recognized most of them
as holdovers from the Nabiki Tendo Morning Combat Committees.
Gosunkugi threw his head back and laughed maniacally, "Now you will pay!
Get her my minions!"
The men looked at one another uncertainly... then looked at Kodachi.
Kodachi smiled weakly and waved to them in a rather friendly manner.
They smiled back uncertainly and waved back en masse.
Gosunkugi sputtered and strode to the edge of the stage. He reached out
and grabbed one of the boys by his ear, and tugged on it brutally, dragging
the unfortunate over to him, "Excuse me..." he said in a low and dangerous
tone, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Um... boss... you know, you kinda hired us to beat up Akane Tendo... you
didn't say nuthin about Kodachi..." the boy, who was in a tracksuit, mumbled.
A shorter boy in a fencing outfit near them piped up, "She's the
principal's daughter, boss. That's kinda like askin for big trouble..."
"Shut up you morons I don't care! You are going to beat up Kodachi Kuno if
I have to--!!"
It should be noted at this point that throughout this entire scene, there
was the rhythmic thumping and shouting coming from behind the door which
had slammed shut in Ranma and Nabiki's faces. It should also be noted that
in the past few minutes, the thumping had escalated in volume and power. It
was at roughly this point that the doors flew open, as Ranma and Nabiki
burst into the room.
"Nobody hurts Kodachi!" Ranma shouted to the room at large.
Nabiki's eyes narrowed, "So it's you guys!"
The boys of course recognized the Tendos... they remembered the kinds of
beatings Nabiki used to give them on a daily basis. They also remembered
that Kodachi and Ranma were some kind of item. They also remembered that
the Tendos were all supposed to be kick ass martial artists. There were
two, extremely pissed off Tendos at the door. While most of these boys were
hardly mental giants, they weren't stupid either. Panic would be too mild a
word to use.
There was a great screaming rout as the boys ran for the hills, or barring
that the other exits in the auditorium... Even the boy who's ear Gosunkugi
had trapped, was doing his best to simultaneously get away from Gosunkugi,
not get trampled and avoid Nabiki all at once.
"Stop that!" Gosunkugi yelled into his ear.
"Nuh-uh! Akane Tendo is one thing, that's the other two Tendos, lemme
outta here!"
Gosunkugi stared at Ranma, who, much like his sister Nabiki was giving
chase to the panicked, milling mass of escaping athletes.
"He can't have escaped! I put my best men on it! He can't have!" Gosunkugi
cried out. He panted heavily, avoiding the running and screaming boys,
"Alright... remain calm... everything will be fine..." as he made his own
mad dash for the door behind the stage, spindly arms windmilling inside his
jacket.
Gosunkugi reached the door without incident, Ranma and Nabiki too busy
with his minions to worry about him. He smiled easily as he prepared to
make good his escape. After all, nothing could capture the Shadow President
of Furinkan High School! He laughed easily as he opened the door. Only to
find Akane Tendo standing there, smiling sweetly up at him. Behind her were
the four toughs he had sent to capture Ranma! What was happening?!
"Hello, Mr. Gosunkugi," Akane spoke briskly, "I believe you were
interested in resolving a territorial conflict?"
"Ahh... er... what..?"
Akane pressed into Gosunkugi's hand a sheaf of papers, "These are
resignation letters from your entire staff, as well as signed affidavits
transferring control of your operations over to me. Everything perfectly
documented."
"What?! No! How?!"
Akane smiled cattily at him, "Well, I simply pointed out to your upper
management that you were skimming quite a large percentage off the top and
misreporting the funds they'd received. My brother was quite helpful in
showing these gentlemen," she glanced back at the four toughs behind her,
all of whom dutifully cracked their knuckles, "Just how badly you were
cheating them."
Gosunkugi only managed to say in a small voice, "Oh no."
Akane smiled sweetly at the four boys, "Gentlemen... please do your duty."
Shin gave a gleeful cackle, "Sure thing Miss Akane."
Nabiki and Ranma looked up from what they were doing and looked at one
another.
"Why do I get the feeling something important just happened and nobody
told me?" Nabiki asked her brother.
He shrugged, kicking a guy in a sumo outfit into a guy in a kendo outfit,
"Ahh... you get used to it. I feel that way all the time around Akane.
"Ran-chan, please put me down, I CAN walk you know." Kodachi muttered,
cradled in Ranma's arms.
"Just til we get outta here, Ko-chan," he replied.
- - -
=====
TimeRunner's Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482
icq: 7153134 (Keiichi)
=====
"The story grew in the most convoluted way, as many people will be
surprised to learn. Writing episodically meant that when I finished one
episode I had no idea about what the next one would contain. When, in the
twists and turns of the plot, some event su
ddenly seemed to illuminate things that had gone before, I was as surprised
as anyone else."
--- Douglas Adams, "A Guide to the Guide"
"Mos people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They
want to HAVE BEEN writers."
--- James A. Michener