Manga
part 5
Shaken and stirred.
Duke stared at Akane as they waited for the train that would take them
most of the way home. "It's none of your god damn business that's why!"
Akane slapped him hard across his face and he staggered for a moment; it
was unexpected but he made no move to retaliate. Nabiki glared at her
sister and stood between them. "Akane, you should no better than this,
it's not like I'm gonna marry the guy!"
"That's the problem here Nabiki!" snorted Duke as he turned and stumbled
over a bench, he clumsily grabbed the back of the seat and lowered
himself as he forced his violent urges down.
"He's right Akane, what I do with my friends is none of your business!"
Nabiki glared at her sister directly in the eyes.
"Like hell it isn't! Your my sister and if you think I'm gonna let some
perverted..." Akane was silenced by her sister as she smacked the younger
girl across her face.
"Akane, I don't need your protection; I can take care of myself damnit!
Leave me alone, leave us alone." Akane turned away in tears and tore away
as Nabiki tried to take her into her arms to comfort her.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed as she rushed into Ranma's chest. The
look he was giving Duke didn't help matters any.
"Bloody hell." Nabiki forced herself into his lap and cried on his
shoulder and he made no move to stop her. The whole affair was his fault
and he knew it, he was feeling pretty crummy at the moment. "Look, Akane;
I'm not Japanese, I'm an American."
The younger sister tore away from Ranma violently and snarled at him.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything??!!"
"Everything! I'm not a Japanese person don't expect me to act like one!
I don't care about my families honor and I don't think about things like
that when I do things! Where I come from this would be acceptable, not
necessarily liked or approved of; but it isn't some grievous sin I've
done to your sister."
"This isn't America! Things don't work this way here!" screamed the girl
as Ranma attempted to calm her in vain; luckily his efforts where largely
ignored.
Duke threw his hands up into the air in frustration; Nabiki stood up and
faced her sister. "Don't they? Akane your living in a dream world. I hate
to put it this way, but not every girl waits until she gets married
before she has sex; do you really think he was the first? I'll admit the
others where few and far between, I'm not some bath house whore; but
still you are the exception and not the rule."
"What the hell is that supposed to do? Make me feel better?!" Akane tore
at her hair and lunged for Duke again, he easily moved out of her reach
and kicked over her head from a nearby cement pole. She turned and
charged him again and her strikes where all easily blocked without a
single attack.
"I can do this all day Akane; can you?" the girl backed off and looked
at Ranma.
"This isn't my fight Akane." he said to her simply.
"Akane, he didn't take advantage of me damn it! Can't you see that?"
Nabiki walked up and stared her sister in the face again. "Look at you!
Going about this like a mad elephant in public! This isn't about our
family honor, what this is about is how much you seem to hate men. I'm
sorry Akane but some of us aren't gay."
That hit Akane like she had taken a blow, she backed away with a
completely terrified gaze shifting between her sister and Duke. The boy
stood up and grabbed Nabiki's shoulder; "Nabiki that's enough! I'm not
about to let this happen, not now. Akane you want me to stop seeing
Nabiki? Fine; I am not about to become an obstacle in your relationship
with her; My only condition is that this stops now!" he shoved the both
of them apart.
"It's to late for that." spat Nabiki coldly, her anger was rising with
each moment and Duke slapped her across her face.
"I'm not gonna put up with this from either of you two, you'll get over
this in a few days or so and everything will go back to normal. If not, I
won't be a part of it, I have been stuck here away from my brother and my
family for what could be the rest of my life; I'm not about to let
something this stupid come between you two." both girls stared at him
with shocked looks halfway between pity and anger.
"Are you quite finished yet? Our train has arrived." Ryu passed through
the scene calmly and looked at both sides in disgust. "Carrying on like
that in public, disgraceful."
Akane and Nabiki both timidly gathered their things and walked to the
train keeping a fair bit of distance between them.
Ranma fell back with Duke and spoke quietly. "How could you do it man?"
"How could I not? I'm not so lucky as you are to have an arrangement,
however complicated it may seem to you. I have to search for my soulmate,
sometimes that leads to a misfire."
"Like this one?" Ranma stopped and Duke waited next to him as it sort of
sunk in.
"This is worst than most, but yes. This is what the rest of the world
has to deal with Ranma; I know your problem with multiple women may seem
bad, but you have a relatively easy love life." Duke followed the girls
and stepped onto the train.
"I still don't buy it, but I guess I sorta understand." commented Ranma
dryly as he finally boarded.
They exited the train about two hours later in Nerima station. "Well, I
guess this is where we part ways, good-bye Nabiki Tendo, Akane, Ranma."
he bowed slightly to each of them and turned to see Ryu waiting patiently
behind him.
"I am impressed on how you handled the situation." Duke turned and
smiled slightly towards his companion.
"Well, most of what I said was true; losing Nabiki was a small price to
pay. Besides, we weren't serious anyway, I had my fun." he gazed
wistfully off at the sunset and stretched his arms. He still had the
blazer from his suit in his arm, surprisingly it was still pretty neat,
far from being pressed or steamed.
"No wrinkle fabric? How droll." Ryu seemed unimpressed and snorted.
"Hey, I know it's cheap, but it looks good. Besides, you always wear
those expensive formal Kimono things, they get messed up to easy for my
taste."
"It's called a Yukata, and it isn't formal." snorted the man lazily,
"This is our home?"
"Yea, looks like a real nice place...wait did you say our home?" Duke
glanced at Ryu and smiled.
"They bought us a mansion, and we are to live together? Unforgivable,
but I would not accept lesser accommodations."
"It's an easy commute at least." muttered Duke as he opened the gate, it
was a very nice and very large home. In a way it reminded him of a
smaller version of the Kuno home; but without the estate grounds, for
it's size the land area around it was absolutely tiny, the yard was no
bigger than the Tendo's, only wider to accommodate for the girth of the
house itself.
The home was two stories tall and was at least as large as two soccer
fields, from what Duke could see on the outside it was a very traditional
Japanese mansion, probably with an indoor bath the size of a pool along
with a dojo and few more modern western style rooms as well, for example
a library could be seen through a large window on the west side of the
building. "Too rich for my taste, I'll probably only eat and sleep here
most of the time anyway.
"Quite, shall we...what are you looking at?" Ryu noted with slight
annoyance that his companion was occupied at the moment.
"Just a local goon, recognize the tat?" he was staring at a short and
very fit looking young man across the street; he was wearing a business
suit and walking briskly. His hand flashed up and moved his long bangs
away from his hair in a habitual motion.
"Yes, he's Yakuza. The same faction exist on our world." Ryu turned away
without much interest. "You realize that fighting in the house is out of
the question, if we wish to settle our differences we'll have to leave
the building. I doubt we'll see much of each other since I intend to
avoid your presence like the plague while relaxing in my abode." the boy
turned his head to find his companion sitting behind a trash can peering
at the Yakuza with a growing interest.
"He's going to that house on the hill, it looks like a party or
something." Duke was not paying particular attention at the moment.
"We'll work out our schedule later Samurai boy, you packin?"
"Of course, it isn't safe around you without..." Ryu did not like the
way this was going, but he was getting a little jumpy with all the
inactivity of the world; Besides, Ryu was his friend; despite it all he
was the only man capable of keeping up with him in a fight and that was
not something he was going to give up easily. He hated the boy once, but
after numerous battles and working together to overcome impossible odds,
he had grown fond of him; not that he'd ever admit it aloud. In the end,
he was a trusted ally that seemed to always be in some sort of trouble;
an endless source of adventure and avoidance of a mundane life; that was
starting to calm down a little, until they had been brought to this
world.
"Let's go visit the neighbors then." Duke stood up and dusted off his
suit before putting the blazer back on, a few more brushes with his hands
and it looked presentable; his hand snaked between the fence of his own
yard and he plucked a red rose from the bushes that grew up and around
the iron bars; he smoothly placed it inside his lapel and smiled broadly
as he combed his hair neatly.
"What are you planing?" asked the boy as he followed and fixed his own
appearance. "Your going to play bodyguard for me, we are crashing that
party and finding out what that Yakuza is doing so close to our house.
Follow my lead and keep quiet, you know the deal act natural."
"Yes, yes, it's been done before; but why must I play the bodyguard all
the time?" Ryu adjusted the Kodachi and Katana that had been hanging from
his sash and snorted.
"Because I've done this sort of thing allot Ok? I know that to look for,
I've been fighting off Yakuza members for years."
"Only because they try to kill you or kidnap you to manipulate your
mother."
"So?! It's more than you have! Now shut up and hold still." Duke pulled
the cap off a permanent black marker with his teeth and smiled. "Trust
me."
"Now I know this is going to end messily." grumbled Ryu.
"Gentlemen, how can I?" the doorman stopped as Duke glared at him and
pat his shoulder. The stuffy looking butler stopped his speech at the
sight of the tattoo that had appeared on his hand, it was different than
most of the others, but still enough; besides he was important enough to
warrant a body guard so the man kept quiet and placed the ten thousand
yen bill he had been slipped into his pocket.
Inside was a vast array of lavishly dressed men and women, there where
gambling tables and a few tables with orderves scattered around. Men with
trays scooted between the crowd and served them drinks from a bar at the
far side of the room. Duke wiped his chin lazily and scooted over to a
black jack table that was set up just below a large staircase. He ushered
himself into the seat and smiled at the careless glances of those already
seated.
"The minimum bet at this table is one thousand sir." snorted the dealer
as the other players gave him distasteful looks. She was a busty woman
with long red hair and a snobbish scowl on her face.
"Is that all?" snorted Duke looking unimpressed.
"One thousand American dollars, sir." repeated the woman now certain
Duke would leave now.
He pulled a roll of bills from his coat and smiled warmly. �Deal me in."
after that he pulled an expensive cigar from his coat pocket and lit it
professionally.
"Yes sir." said the woman sounding impressed. Duke ignored her and waved
over one of the waiters. "Get me another coat would you? I look like an
insurance salesman."
"So what exactly do you do? Mr?" the man on his right was wearing an eye
patch and a pair of black leather gloves, he was older and had a deeply
scarred face.
Duke froze, he wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. If he used
his real name he could be in trouble, so he used the first thing that
popped into his head.
"Bond, James Bond." he said the words smoothly without missing a beat
and waited for the reaction.
"I can't say I've heard of you Mr. Bond." said the man calmly as he
pulled a pretty blonde girl off his lap and picked up his cards.
"Then I'm doing my job well." replied Duke smartly with a wry grin.
"And what sort of job do you have?" asked the girl, she got a sneer from
the old man and quickly shut her mouth.
"I sell insurance, why do you think I am in this terrible suit? I just
got off work." Duke grinned at her and winked causing her to blush
slightly.
"I like your style Mr. Bond." said the smaller younger man sitting next
to him as the butler returned with an Armani jacket on a tray. Duke
removed his blazer flashing the gun at his side to everyone as he put the
coat on lazily; no one reacted or cared since all of them had a similar
weapon somewhere on them.
"Sometimes style is all you have." replied Duke with his smirk never
changing; Ryu growled slightly behind him but remained silent, he stopped
the butler and smiled at him again as he slipped a bill into his pocket
without anyone else but the old man and the butler noticing. "Vodka, Dry
Martini, shaken not stirred."
The stuffy looking man nodded and moved to the bar through the crowd.
The dealer blushed slightly after the third hand. "Twenty, Mr. Bond wins
again." Ryu was beside himself in anger, Hibiki was making a fool of
himself again.
"It seems luck is on your side as well Mr. Bond," said the young
Japanese man as he eyed the dealer suspiciously.
"It's always been one of my fortes, I try not to leave home without it."
he puffed on the cigar idly and rolled it between his fingers as he
undressed the red head with his eyes.
The man glared at him and placed the last of his chips on the table,
Duke matched his bet, as did the old man. The cars where delt and Duke
smirked casually as the three of them received a queen, the young man
flipped his over to reveal a jack of diamonds; the old man sighed and
flipped over an eight. "Ha!" snapped the young Yakuza.
Duke lifted his card up and casually tossed it on the table face up,
"The ace of spades." called the dealer in a monotone voice.
"She cheats!" screamed the boy as he reached into his jacket and pulled
out a 45. The girl screamed and stumbled back as the angry man cocked the
hammer.
Duke slid the empty stool that sat between them into his legs causing
him to lurch forward sending the shot into the wall behind her
harmlessly. He spun out of his chair as the man turned to fire on him and
kicked his hand up forcing him to misfire and take out a small piece of
ceiling. Duke's hands moved like lightening as he spun around again this
time moving down to his knee's and firing a single shot up, another quick
twist and the young punks gun was caught behind his back easily as the
unfortunate man fell to the ground; dead from a head shot through the
bottom of his jaw.
"That's no way to treat a lady my friend." commented Duke as he lay the
gunman's former piece on the green felt surface of the black jack table
and returned to his seat. "Especially one as pretty as this."
The woman stared at him wide eyed as the crowd around him calmed down
and rose from the various points of cover most of them had dove to; many
of them calmly replaced their own guns. The old man was as calm as ever
and he now had a large grin plastered to his face. "Most impressive Mr.
Bond, a young man like you could move up quickly in the world." two
butlers quietly gathered the man up and cleaned up the blood from the
floor as the party started to continue despite the commotion. Duke
noticed a rather large group of women crowding around behind him and the
rather large space most of the party goers where now giving him and the
old man. "Or should I say, Mr. Hibiki?"
Duke smiled and turned to the man casually. "Well, it's my turn to be
impressed."
"There is not much that goes on in this town that I do not know about.
Nerima is crime free for a reason, it's a neutral zone; a place for deals
to be made under a peaceful setting; it has been my families duty to
preserve that for generations. That is what my house serves in this
turbulent place, tell me what is it you want with me?"
"Just meeting the neighbors, this isn't the kind of party you can crash
easily you know. I moved in down the street and wanted to make sure your
little operation wouldn't effect me, I don't really want to get all
tangled up in Yakuza business." Duke smirked and noticed Ryu was not in
sight.
"So you crashed my party and hoped to pick up a little information on
the goings on then?" the old man seemed to be enjoying this.
"That's about the gist of it, yea." Duke glanced around the room and
noticed no one seemed to care about the current conversation. "Isn't that
the chief of police in Nerima? Interesting, that's the mayor of Tokyo
too. Hmm."
"Mr. Hibiki I am impressed with you! You are welcome to any of my
parties you wish to crash, nothing serious is ever concluded here in this
setting, it is more a cover for my other operations in delegating; to be
truthful I am nothing more than a diplomat, and you are quite the
charmer, and your bodyguard is also very skilled; to be honest situations
like this one are not uncommon in my home, the added security alone is
enough reason to stay friendly with you. I'm sure you realize I could
have you killed at any moment."
"You could try anyway, I appreciate the thought though. My friend and I
didn't want any trouble, we just wanted to check around and find out what
kind of a place we had just moved into, if you hadn't said anything you
probably wouldn't have seen us again outside of passing on the street."
Duke had remained completely calm when he realized where Ryu was; he was
sitting at the bar watching the whole affair with his hands on the gun he
had tucked away inside of his sleeve.
"Your to interesting to just meet in passing, as I said you are welcome
here; I doubt my men would be able to stop your body guard if I tried to
kill you now anyway!" the man let out a loud laugh and Duke waved Ryu
over.
"Well, he's a bit of a snob and a little stuck in the mud, but he's an
Ok guy who's gotten me out of allot of messes before." Duke noticed that
Ryu was already beside him before he finished the sentence. "He also
likes to show off."
"Who are you to talk? I can see you've made a few connections tonight, I
hope your nervous curiosity is satisfied. This is a rich neiborhood, what
did you expect? A crack house?"
"One can never be to sure," said Duke with a shrug. The dealer continued
her job and Duke merrily half amused himself by watching her.
"You two boys enjoy the party, I know you can handle yourselves; I'll
tell the doorman to add you on the guest list permanently; It's a
privilege few people share." The old man walked by towards the stairs
lazily with the young blonde and a brunette in tow. "Oh, and Candy?" the
dealer turned towards him questioningly. "Take the rest of the night off
and enjoy the party."
Duke sat up straight and caught a wink from the old man. The dealer
turned towards him and leaned on the counter with a drink she had nabbed
from a butler that had passed. "So see anything you like?"
"Oh, most definitely." Duke drank some of his dry martini and pulled a
rose from his jacket lapel. He placed it on her tuxedo lapel and kissed
her hand. "I'm just not sure where to begin."
Ryu snorted and walked off to seek more interesting conversation, a
group of particularly vicious looking men caught his attention.
Duke stumbled down the hallway of his new home in a passionate embrace
with the young dealer as they both pulled at each other's clothing.
"Where the hell is the damn bed room?!" he muttered as they separated
their lips for a moment.
"You don't know? You only had a Martini." she giggled.
"I've never been in this house before." said Duke honestly as she rubbed
at his exposed chest through the opened front.
"I thought this was your house?" she asked in uninterested mock
surprise.
"It is, I just moved in." she shoved her tongue down his throat and shut
him up. Her shirt was open revealing a light purple colored bra which
matched the color of the tuxedo almost perfectly. He opened another door
hoping for a bedroom or a couch, instead he found a billiards room. He
looked at her and smirked, "Close enough."
Ryu stood at the doorway to his room and frowned, "Another woman
already? Ah, well. It's in his nature I suppose, gods that was the most
idiotic experience of my life; James Bond indeed. I half expected that
man to leave him in an easily escapable situation involving an over
elaborate and exotic death. I certainly wasn't going to save him, that
battle with the Yakuza body guards was not enough to sate me Duke, I'm
going to challenge him tomorrow for being so stupid last night. Not that
it will make him any smarter, but I'll certainly feel better."
A cry of "Oh Duke!" broke his train of thought and he closed the door to
his room silencing them as he went to sleep.
TBC....
Yes I know, Duke seems like the perfect over the top super guy from
allot of fanfics, I'm focusing on his flaws on purpose though. He isn't
going to solve anyone's problems and it doesn't interest him in the
slightest, but remember. He's a manga character from Ranma's favorite
comic book hero. So he's gonna be a little over the top and perfect
outwardly.
This was a fun story that I can use later for easy explanation on how he
knows things and people, is able to get a hold of certain things, and it
creates a great story backdrop for, as yet unwritten scenes.
I broke up Duke and Nabiki because I didn't want to tie him down with a
character and it creates a bit of tension between him and Akane. Ranma's
relationship with him will change a little as well; but for the better;
especially considering that Ranma has a few sins in his own past.
I've always wanted to do an Indiana Jones and a James Bond story. These
where more test runs than anything else to see how well I could write
these kinds of situations well. The James Bond thing ended a little less
than spectacularly because I didn't want to involve Duke in a Yakuza war.
I want to focus on some of the Manga stories before I start to finish up
this lengthy tale.
As Always please C&C me baby!! Send to CarrotGlace@juno.com
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