Attached here are Scenes 38 thru 40 of Spreading Wings.
C&C Welcome.
I will work on the web site sometime late this afternoon. You should be
able to read scenes 35 thru 37 in html format sometime tonight. I have
not yet had the time to finishe the ASCII parts of the site so I here
apologize.
Regards,
Don Granberry.
Most of the characters in this piece and the setting for it, were
conceived of by Rumiko Takahashi for her Ranma1/2 series of Manga. All
such characters and the setting are the property of Takahashi-san and
her licensees. All other characters in the piece are purely fictional
and any resemblences to actual persons living or dead are purely
coincidental.
Spreading Wings
Part I: The Burning Ring of Fire
Scenes 38 through 40
Nabiki bounded over the canal fence with a perfectly executed
thief's vault, landed daintily upon the gas pipe that crossed over the
canal like a fallen tree and traipsed safely across the canal upon the
slippery surface of the pipe as though it were something she did on a
daily basis. Westerlake followed but was no where nearly so graceful
about it. He did not use a thief's vault to negotiate the fence. He used
the more conservative, pull and roll kip instead. This would have worked
nicely except that he lost his footing in the slippery grass on the
canal side of the fence. He fell down, then slid crosswise on his belly
about half the way across the canal on the eight-inch gas line. He
managed to hold on for ten seconds or so then fell, flailing his arms
and legs like mad as he slammed into the muddy water.
Westerlake surfaced spluttering and cursing. He looked up to find
Nabiki standing on the gas pipe, waving at him. She turned her back on
him, bent over so that her heart shaped little derriere stuck out, then
patted her right cheek with her right hand. Westerlake's face turned
beet red. Nabiki skipped merrily to the end of the pipe and executed
another thief's vault to surmount the next fence. Westerlake swarmed up
the timbers supporting the gas line, sprinted the rest of the way across
it, then executed a perfect thief's vault to clear the far fence. He
landed on the sidewalk just in time to see Nabiki's long, white legs
flash as she rounded a corner and leave his sight again.
"Ahooraagh!" Westerlake bellowed. This dreadful noise rattled
windows and startled people for several blocks in every direction as
Westerlake continued to pursue his fleet footed quarry with renewed
determination.
"When I catch her," he promised himself aloud between pants, "I'm
gonna spank that cute little bottom of hers."
---------
Kakuji Tanaka hated the organization's new business. It required
him to stand around all day and watch the entrances of the movie
theater, the pizza parlor, the dress shop and the coffee shop, counting
the people that went into each place. It was surprisingly difficult
work. Ripping off bankers and realtors had been much easier and paid a
lot better. He had not complained to his boss though. His old job of
hanging around office buildings just to remind executives of their
promises was gone, probably never to be had again. He tried to keep a
careful watch and get an accurate count of customers as he had been
told. The morning traffic had been fairly busy, but the weather had
slowed business considerably during the afternoon. Tanaka found that
with the reduced traffic, he could keep a fairly close watch from the
shelter of the overhanging roof above the theater entrance.
Tanaka leaned up against a wall and reflected on his new
assignment. Hanging around corporate lobbies had made an inveterate
people watcher of him. Here in Nerima, not only was his assignment
different, the people behaved differently. Elsewhere in Tokyo people
seldom took notice of him. Here he got inquiring glances on a regular
basis. The people of Nerima did not seem exceptionally suspicious, just
watchful and cautious, as though there were need to be on constant guard
against accident. They often glanced up at the sky as though expecting
falling objects and were cautious without exception about rounding blind
corners. This behavior puzzled him. They were watchful but not nervous,
nor did they appear to be all that worried about him and his
compatriots.
---------
Happosai led his pursuing storm of outraged femininity down Canal
Street jumping only two-meters into the air with each hop instead of his
usual three to five. This was necessary because of the weather, but
stilll risky as it allowed the girls to get closer to him. One little
slip up and they would be on him like a flock of chickens on a
grasshopper. Offsetting the risks, was the fact that their inflamed
auras were filling his needs much faster than the a safer hunt in good
weather did. It's probably best to keep it short in this weather anyway,
he thought. I don't want my little darlings catching cold.
He made a right at the corner at Sales and Canal, heading east.
He intended to turn left on Market and lead the girls one block over to
Rice, then make another left turn and bring them back down Canal, then
left on Sales again. At least that was what he had planned until someone
stepped out from under the cinema's overhanging roof. Ha! He thought,
one of those stupid yakuza.
"Welcome to Nerima, dummy!" Happosai screamed as he descended
roughly upon the yakuza's right shoulder. The man was not expecting an
attack from behind and three meters overhead in the middle of the
street. He went down with a deliciously satisfying crunch.
"Bwaha, ha, ha, haa!" Happosai laughed maniacally he as continued
bouncing down the street, "What a haul! What a haul!"
Just then, a seething cataract of green uniforms rounded the
corner of Canal and Sales, rushing straight at the prone figure lying in
front of the theater.