To reply, either post publically or e-mail ayonge@yahoo.com
Enjoy!
The FFML Refugee List
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko
Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her
licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz
Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is
intended.
"The Green Lantern", copyright ALL-AMERICAN COMICS
# 16 (July 1940)
(Note: Green Lantern #16 provided the inspiration for this story.
However only the colour green remains.)
WARNING: This story contains scenes that some readers may
find sexually suggestive and/or violent.
Extended author notes will be added at the end of
of Chapter one and again at the end of the final chapter.
*************************************************
******
Bedlam Fire
Chapter 7
*************************************************
*****
The now familiar tearing pain, like a claw of hot iron,
twisting her inside out, told Akane that she'd done too much,
gone too fast. But the same green fire that warned her of it's
dying with pain, also drove her on, implacably, irresistibly, toward
the mountains of Qinghai. As the green fire ebbed, sanity
returned, slightly. She couldn't stop, couldn't change course.
What she could do was edge, slowly, ever closer to the ground.
And, as she came more and more to herself, Akane began to
look around for a soft spot to land. Fortunately Qinghai was
noted for it's thousands of lakes, ponds and rivers. Softer than
the side of a mountain anyway, and she'd always wanted to learn
to swim.
The end came suddenly, a blinding, ripping pain and she
was falling like a stone, as she had on her first attempt to fly all
those days ago. There was one difference, she was more
prepared this time. Instantly she flipped in the air, tilting her body,
riding the wind toward one of the many lakes dotting the region.
The green fire could no longer sustain her in the air, but it still
burned, a dull, sullen green, like foxfire on a corpse.
Fifty feet above the surface of the water Akane flipped
again, aiming feet first for the surface of the lake. At two hundred
miles an hour she cannon-balled into the water, curling into a ball,
the dull green ember just sufficient to keep her alive. Alive, but
not uninjured, as she bounced and skittered across the surface,
like a stone skipped by a giant's hand.
Sky and water swapped places in a mad kaleidoscope of
dark and light while water was rammed into her mouth and nose.
Unconscious, she hit the shore at thirty miles an hour, like a bit of
storm tossed garbage, coming to rest in a bloody tumbled heap
against a pile of rock, brush and driftwood at the top of a rocky
slope. The booming crash of her hard landing vanished in the
distance, echoing faintly off craggy hills as it disappeared. Water,
muck and stone pattered down in an ever diminishing rain of
debris until only silence remained. Almost half an hour passed
before the first cautious bird called into the frightened silence.
The evening shadows had lengthened, joined and finally
covered the surrounding hills in a blanket of night when the small
crumpled figure stirred with a groan.
Akane rolled over on her side, pressing her hands against
the rocky ground to push herself to a sitting position.
"R . . .Ranma? Kasu . . sumi?" Pressing her hand to her
aching head it came away sticky with blood. She peered stupidly
at it for a moment, then looked around, wincing at even that slight
movement.
"Ranma?" Her voice was plaintive, bewildered. "Daddy?
Where . . ." She remembered . . . The hospital?
. . .Tarou? Images came to her, painful and indistinct. Ranma.
Tarou. Fighting. Tarou was hurting Ranma. Killing----
"RANMA!" She bolted upright in fright as the image of
Ranma being crushed to death came to her, terror blowing away
the pain of her own injuries. She had to help----
More images came, fast and terrible. Tarou, crippled and
falling. Shan Pu----Ke Lun----Ranma. A moan escaped her lips
as she saw them beaten and bloody. Memories of their pain and
her delight stabbed at her.
"nabiki." Akane fell to her knees on the rocks, vomiting
her fear and anguish on the stony ground. What had she done?
What had she become?
Even as memories of her actions sickened her, they
strengthened the green fire. Enough that the compulsion to find
what had been lost turned her eyes to the north-east. While her
mind grieved for what she had done, her body moved toward the
Bayan Har Mountains at a shambling stumbling run.
*************************************************
*****
Groaning Shan Pu struggled from her tent and crunched
blearily across an inch of new snow to the cook fire. She was out
of shape from all that soft living in Japan. A cold wind blew out of
the east and she tugged her woolen hat down over her ears.
"I've made you breakfast," Mu Si, as proper for a male
of the Amazons, had tea and chorizo ready for her. She savored
a bite of the still warm bread, thankful that Mu Si had the knack
of cooking at six thousand meters. The bitter tea was thick with
honey and toasted barley, just the way she like it.
"Where is Ranma?" She'd automatically checked his tent
as she walked to the fire. Or the place where it had been the night
before. Now there was only a patch of ground, bare of snow,
where his tent had stood, and his pack. "And great-
grandmother?" She looked to the rocks on her left, where Ke
Lun had made camp separately from the rest.
"Ranma left before first light, to scout the trail," Mu Si
indicated the fresh prints leading out of camp. "And I haven't
seen the old mummy since last evening."
"Strike camp," Shan Pu moved to her tent and started
packing.
"You should eat more." They'd been keeping a grueling
pace since they'd landed at the tiny port of Zhenwan six days
ago. "You need a hot meal. I can fix----"
"No time," Shan Pu favored him with a tiny smile which
made his heart do cartwheels in his chest. " If we're not ready to
go by the time he gets back, Ranma will leave without us."
"And do what? Wander around in the mountains until he
dies of starvation? Ranma needs us!" Mu Si didn't think much of
his rival for Shan Pu to begin with. Six days of close confines and
forced march had made him heartily sick of Ranma. Or, rather,
Shan Pu's continuing obsession with the over-sexed martial artist.
The fact that Ranma completely ignored Shan Pu only made Mu
Si more angry at Ranma. He would pay for making Shan Pu so
unhappy.
"Talkin' 'bout me behind my back?"
Mu Si twisted around at the sound of the hated voice to
see his rival high above him.
"I was telling Shan Pu that you need us." Mu Si said
coldly.
"I need the old ghoul," Ranma dropped from the top of
the boulder they'd camped beside. "to help Akane. "Grabbing
the last of the pan bread he wrapped it around a handful of barley
and stuffed it in his mouth. "E von't eed vuu."
"Ranma need." Shan Pu handed him a cup of tea to wash
down his breakfast. "Mountain very bad. Easy get lost. Die."
"Linxia," Ranma pointed to the north east, "Golmud," he
jerked a thumb to the north west, " and Jigzhi," he narrowed his
eyes and pointed south east between two peaks, "about seventy
klicks." He downed his tea in a gulp and casually tossed the mug
over his shoulder in Mu Si's direction.
Shan Pu stared slack jawed while Mu Si scrambled to
retrieve the tin mug from the ground.
"How do?"
"Ahhh, hell," Ranma shouldered his pack and started in
the direction of Ke Lun's tent. "My ol' man drug me over half o'
China before I was ten. I had my ninth birthday crossing Zhegu
Shan," he grimaced at the memory. " it was snowing! Stupid old
bastard." He shook off thoughts of that frigid and nearly fatal
mountain crossing. "HEY! Old mummy, let's get going!" There
was no answer and he started to shout again, moving into the
rocks where Ke Lun had pitched her tent.
"Dammit!" He crunched forward, marring the virgin
expanse of white,"Where th' hell are----"
"Looking for someone, son-in-law?" The shrunken old
Amazon appeared from around a tumble of rocks, moving with
surprising alacrity.
"Yeah, I'm lookin' for you! Where th' hell have you
been?" He stalked toward her, glaring suspiciously down at Ke
Lun. "You better not be up to nothin' funny."
"I was taking care of some . . .personal business. You're
welcome to watch next time. And tell me if it's funny." The old
woman cackled gleefully as Ranma purpled in embarrassment.
"Yeah . . .well," Ranma shuffled his feet. "let's get goin'. I
wanna get this demon thingy taken care of. "
"Of course, son-in-law." Ke Lun shifted the carefully
wrapped statue hanging at her side to a more comfortable
position and headed off down a narrow goat path. "Pack my
things and catch up," she called over shoulder to Mu Si.
"I'd like to pack your ass, you old bat," Mu Si muttered
under his breath as he began angrily stuffing Ke Lun's gear into a
pack.
"What was that?"
"I said," Mu Si rubbed his head where the end of her
staff had raised a lump, " I need to pack fast, then get my bag."
"That's what I thought you said." Ke Lun moved off
down the trail, chortling.
"Dammit, she didn't have to hit me so hard." Mu Si put
his head between his knees, feeling a little sick.
"If you're disrespectful, what can you expect?" Shan Pu
moved to help him pack. The sooner they were done, the sooner
they could catch up with Ranma. While she helped Mu Si break
camp she tried to figure out what was bothering her. Something
was nagging -----
"If you get great grandmother's things wet . . ." Shan Pu
let her voice trail off meaningfully. Mu Si pouted, but he wasn't
_quite_ ready to brave Ke Lun's wrath again and carefully
brushed the thick layer of snow off the tent flap, before taking it
down to pack.
*************************************************
******
Nabiki scrunched miserably in her seat, waiting for her
bicycle to fall into the corridor. The elderly steam engine
negotiated another turn and her bike swayed, almost tipping over.
"He hates me," she muttered, half to herself.
"What did you say, Tendou Nabiki-san?" Konatsu turned
from talking to Ukyou.
"He hates me." Nabiki hissed, indicating the surly train
conductor squinting sourly in their direction. "We're not
supposed to have bicycles on the train. It says so in the guide
book," she discreetly showed him the edge of the book before
shoving it out of sight. No sense in reminding the minion of
officialdom of the rules they were breaking.
"We paid the extra freight charge," Ukyou joined the
conversation. "And no one said anything when we got on the
train. Well except for him." she pointed at the conductor whose
expression darkened noticeably.
"For gods sake," Nabiki wanted to smack the
okonomiyaki chef for being so obvious. "We're only here
because no one could believe we'd bring bikes on the train
_without_ permission. It's a bureaucracy. No one wants to make
a decision. Especially a wrong one. So they passed the buck up
the line. And while they're waiting for orders from higher up, it's
hands off. But when they find out that we just brought our
bicycles on board against the rules----?" When no one in her
party seemed to have the ability to imagine the inevitable crash
she wanted to scream at them.
"Look," (_you idiots_, she carefully didn't say.) She
nodded discretely at the official whose back was turned while he
dealt with another passenger, "he doesn't like us because we
broke the rules. He doesn't like us because his bosses over-ruled
him when he tried to, by-the-book, throw us and our bikes off
the train. And he especially doesn't like us because now he's
going to be known as 'the conductor who let bicycles on his
train' and it's all _our_ fault."
Her shoulders sagged at their uncomprehending looks.
Sixteen hours ago she'd been safe and happy in her own home.
Well, except for her demon-possessed baby sister trying to kill
her in an unthinkably cruel and painful manner. Still, it had been
home and she'd understood the rules. She'd been in control.
Control was important.
She'd started losing control when Kasumi had bundled
them on a jet to Hong Kong. From there, somehow, Konatsu
had found a feeder air-line that had a float planet hauling freight
into Qinghai. Five hours sandwiched between a diesel generator
and a crate full of something that leaked hydraulic fluid found her
bouncing across a lake in a forced landing south of the
A'nyemaqen mountains while the pilot screamed imprecations at
an engine trailing black oily smoke. Then a mad dash to the train
station--on bicycles that Konatsu, somehow, had "acquired",
from god-knows-where.
And now, she was stuck on a nasty little train, cold, tired
and hungry, waiting for an even nastier official of the communist
party to get permission from his bosses to toss the rule breaking
"Laowai" off the train . . .preferably while it was moving. Her life
couldn't get any worse.
There was a thump on the hard bench seat and the odour
of stale alcohol almost knocked her out, as she turned to see a
rumpled, unshaven man settle beside her. A meaty hand came
down on her knee and squeezed suggestively, accompanied by a
babble of slurred Mandarin.
"I think he likes you," Ukyou said, amusedly.
"Oh, you've made a friend." Kasumi handed an orange
to the drunk, which had the advantage of occupying his hands
while he pealed it. "How nice."
Nabiki wished Kasumi had found something more
suitable, like a cactus, on her foray to find lunch. And just where
_had_ she found fresh fruit at the last stop? A place so far off the
map it would take three changes of train to get to hell after you
died? She watched Kasumi hand Conductor Sour-face an orange
and a banana,
Ukyo took the basket from Kasumi and started
murmuring appreciatively as she pulled fresh baked bread,
cheese, a thermos of tea . . .was that a roast _chicken_? . . . out
of the basket.
Nabiki's stomach rumbled approvingly and, noting that
Sour-face was smiling and jabbering at Kasumi as if he'd
bounced her on his knee as a child, decided that she'd worry
about it . . .later.
*************************************************
******
"We could go a hell of a lot faster on the roads." Ranma
edged carefully along a rock-face that would have given an eagle
vertigo.
"Road no good to Amazon." Shan Pu swung across a
twenty meter gap in the trail. Or what might have been a trail a
few decades earlier. Now it was only a faint memory on the rock.
"Better go shadow roads."
"Shadow roads?" Ranma made sure his ice-axe was
firmly fixed, then reached down and hauled Shan Pu up beside
him. "Wha's that?"
"Amazon not travel supposed to. Bad trouble get
caught." Shan Pu's Japanese had noticeably deteriorated under
the stress of travel.
"Travel is restricted in the Autonomous Regions," Mu Si
elaborated, referring to the Tibet-Qinghai plateau. "If we get
caught without travel papers . . ." He drew his finger across his
throat in a slashing gesture before swinging across the gap and
scrambling up beside Ranma and Shan Pu.
"So we avoid the main roads," Mu Si pulled his rope free
of it's piton on the opposite ledge and hammered in a new one.
"and go by the 'Shadow Roads', hidden paths that only
Amazon's know. Or a crazy man would try."
"Mu Si no come if no like." Shan Pu whapped him on the
head.
"Ya didn't have no trouble chasin' me an'," Ranma's foot
slipped on the icy rock, " . . .me an' pop all over China." Ranma
slammed his axe into the rock face, stopping with a jerk.
"Shan Pu honor to chase outsider. No can worry other
thing."
"Geeez," Ranma worked his way up the sheer rock face.
A quick scramble took him over the lip of rock, where he
collapsed, panting. " . . .ya coulda gone to jail an' ya still chased
us all the way to Japan?" He hammered a couple of pitons
through the ice and into the rock, then secured his rope before
lowering it to the two below. "That's pretty stupid." Glancing
over his shoulder he could see Ke Lun in the distance, moving
over the rock like a giant spider. "On belay!"
Below, Mu Si checked the anchorage of his safety rope
before entrusting Shan Pu to Ranma's dubious care. If Rama's
rope failed . . .he had a few moments bliss imagining Shan Pu
gratitude as her death plunge was halted by _his_ rope. He would
pull her to safety. Her eyes brimming with gratitude she would
melt into his arms and say----
"Hurry up, stupid duck boy!"
Shit! Mu Si, rudely jerked out of a better world, looked
up to see Shan Pu glaring down at him from above.
"Arrest is not the worst that can happen," Mu Si clawed
his way over the rock lip, disdaining Ranma's help. Unfortunately
no one seemed to appreciate his agility. "if Shan Pu is caught----"
"Mu Si!" Shan Pu's voice was sharp, forbidding him to
continue.
"No! He should know what he's getting you into. What
kind of trouble----
"I _forbid_ you to say another word!" Lips tight with
anger, Shan Pu glared at the troublesome male that dared
challenge her.
"What kinda trouble?" Ranma, of course, recognized the
Chinese word for trouble. He pulled off his gloves and pounded
his fingers to work some feeling back into them.
"Young girls are stolen and sold. They drug and rape
them. Then sell them in the country. For wives." Mu Si rushed to
get out his story before Shan Pu could stop him.
"No problem!" Shan Pu's look promised retribution once
they got off the mountain. A second look and Mu Si rapidly re-
calculated his chances of making it _off_ the mountain. Alive.
"No problem," Shan Pu repeated, looking at Ranma.
"No man brave enough take Amazon."
"What's the deal?" Ranma pulled on his gloves and
started following Ke Lun's tracks. He pulled Shan Pu beside him
so they could talk as they walked.
"It's hard for men living in the country to find wives." Mu
Si continued his little travelogue in the face of Shan Pu's
disapproval. "Not many women want to starve on a subsistence
farm in the middle of nowhere. So they buy wives. "Mu Si
carefully kept Ranma between himself and Shan Pu.
Rama glanced back and forth between Mu Si and the
fuming Shan Pu. "Hell, don't the cops do nuthin'?"
Mu Si laughed sourly. "The police? They're the best
source for prime girls. I hear their prices are very reasonable.
And they guarantee delivery."
"Is no so bad." Shan Pu tried to stop Mu Si's chattering.
"Not that bad!?" The blind magician spat disgustedly.
"They hate anyone who's not Han. They're destroying the herds,
polluting the water. It's not enough they rape the land. They steal
young girls . . .their own kind, other races." A vein throbbed in
his temple from the force of his anger. "They steal them, drug
them. Rape them. So they'll be too ashamed to go back home, or
even tell anyone what happened to them. They spend the rest of
their lives, working themselves to death among strangers.
Working themselves . . ." his voice broke and Ranma was
shocked to see tears streaming down his face.
"Is alright. Is alright." Shan Pu quickly moved to pull Mu
Si into her arms, murmuring soothingly in a low voice. After a
moment Mu Si pulled free and wiped his face.
"Mu Si Amazon," Shan Pu wiped a smudge off Mu Si's
face with the edge of her sleeve. "Mother, Father," Shan Pu
made a throwing-away gesture, "no matter. Mu Si Amazon, now.
Forever."
"Are you really in danger?" Ranma asked quietly.
Shan Pu shrugged. "Duck-boy worry all time. Amazon
not easy steal." She smiled, rather as Ranma imagined a wolf
might smile, dreaming about a tasty rabbit. "no enjoy if do steal."
"Yeabut ----"
"No worry," Shan Pu interrupted confidently. "Police,
woman stealers, no come mountains. Too cold. Too hard. They
stay warm, dry places." Her look dared Mu Si to disagree.
"Soon find friend. Get travel papers, move faster. No worry."
"Friend?"
"Xar'oi, a small town about a day's travel." Mu Si
added. "They're mostly Uighar, Zhuan and Tibetan."
"And they like Amazons?"
"Not always. But they _hate_ the Han. We _should_ be
alright." Mu Si didn't sound as confident as Ranma would have
liked.
"Whatever," Ranma wasn't very interested in Amazon
internal politics. "long as we don't waste any time gettin' to
Joketsuzoku." He settled his pack and started crunching along the
trail Ke Lun had left in the snow.
Mu Si automatically tried to shoulder Shan Pu's pack,
and received a clout on the head for his efforts. Warmly
reassured by this sign of affection Mu Si hurried after his beloved.
The Xar'oi route took longer than other Shadow Roads but was
more secure due to it's isolation. He was glad that Ke Lun was
showing some concern for Shan Pu's safety.
*************************************************
******
"Need a hand?"
Wheezing, Nabiki struggled to get enough air to stay
alive. She didn't have enough energy for anything as trivial as
talking. Standing in the saddle, putting her entire body weight into
the effort, she fought to peddle up yet another hill.
Hill?
It was a bloody mountain. Pump. Pump. Pump. She
focused on the road under her wheels. The air was too damn thin
just sitting, let alone climbing to the top of the world. And she
_hurt_. Two days ago she hadn't even known she _had_
hamstrings. Now she knew. And they felt like flaming barbed-
wire being ripped out the back of her legs, and if she ever made it
back to civilization she was going to have the damn things
removed. Nothing that hurt that much could possibly be useful.
She was going to die----
"There's an easier way." Ukyou was concerned. The
middle Tendou sister was hunched over the handlebars of her
bike, grunting with each pump of the pedals, her face an
unhealthy grey. She'd seen better looking road kill.
"Watch." She reached out and snagged Nabiki's bicycle,
effortlessly pulling it along beside her.
The sudden relief from her effort was so intense Nabiki
almost passed out. When Ukyou almost immediately let go she
wanted to burst into tears.
"Grab hold."
"What?" Nabiki looked at Ukyou as if she were crazy,
her bike wobbling back toward the center of the road. "Grab
hold of what?"
"Look out!"
Nabiki had an instant to see Ukyou's eyes get as big as
saucers, then the okonomiyaki chef snatched her, bicycle and all,
off the road, almost into her lap.
"Watch it!"
An ancient Ford truck, piled high with coal, rumbled and
wheezed up the road at a sedate fifteen miles per hour. More
than sufficient to squash Nabiki like a bug.
"Grab it. Grab it." at Nabiki's uncomprehending look
Ukyou physically moved Nabiki's left arm and wrapped her hand
around a grab bar on the back of the slowly moving truck. Envy
stabbed her in the belly like a knife as Ukyou effortlessly swung
over to the opposite side of the truck and grabbed hold.
"Wheeeeeeeee!"
Startled, Nabiki watched her elder sister zoom past,
pulled swiftly up the hill by holding onto the back of a motorbike.
She looked, Nabiki thought resentfully, as neat and composed as
if she were headed to the market for bread and tea.
"You have to work smarter, not harder." Ukyou grinned
as if she'd said something profound.
Nabiki briefly considered killing the okonomiyaki chef.
Maybe later. After they got to the other side of the-----
"WHEEEEEEE!"
Hill.
Nabiki stared down into a valley that looked a million
miles below her.
"oh god."
*************************************************
******
Akane splashed out of the Nyikog, about thirty
kilometers south of where she'd entered the river, but at least she
was on the opposite bank. Finally. The alien fire couldn't give her
the ability to swim---- all it could do was keep her alive while the
swift moving water tumbled her down stream like a dead leaf or
bit of trash. Unfortunately, she was now almost one hundred fifty
kilometers further _away_ from her objective, which was
continuing to move north-west, than when she'd smashed into a
lake on the west bank of the Du river.
The compulsion to find what she'd lost had been too
strong, too overwhelming and she'd been unable to look for a
place to ford the river. Instead the power had demonstrated that
a straight line is _not_ always the shortest distance between two
points. Especially when there are rivers and lakes in the way. And
your host body has the aquatic skills of an angle-iron.
Mostly immune to the cold and wind, thanks to the dim
fire burning redly at her core, the naked school-girl rose from the
frigid water like some mythic creature, scattering water droplets
like diamond tears. Almost a week of constant running, snatching
a mouth full of water on the run or devouring one of the millions
of mice that had invaded Qinghai had burned away the softness
that was the hallmark of city dwellers. Like some wild animal, she
was all nerve and muscle, and her eyes burned like a wolf on the
hunt.
But the small lives she took flamed briefly and their pain
was simple. Their death provided only a tiny fraction of what her
fire needed, and so it ebbed to a sullen sunset glow, never quite
going out. She needed larger lives with more complex feelings.
Beings with the ability to suffer and fear. But what the fire lost,
Tendou Akane gained. The dimming fire could maintain its host
body or control its mind, but not both. And so her mind rose
slowly from the fire induced fog and began to take an interest in
it's surroundings, to make small decisions, change direction
slightly when something caught her eye.
Like the shadow that struggled on the ice. A patch of
darkness that was deeper and more solid than the shadows that
almost hit it. Attracted, like any predator, to the movement
Akane moved closer, forcing a tiny deviation in her straight line
path through strength of will.
A rabbit, not yet a year past its late spring birth, was
caught in a crack in the ice, leg bent at an impossible angle. Its
frantic struggle to escape exploded into a frenzy as the alien
shadow fell over it.
Akane stood over the poor creature as it fell back on the
ice, exhausted. She could hear the tiny thunder of its heart,
strained almost to bursting, feel the red pulse of its life, taste its
fear. Her eyes locked on the soft dark eyes, glazed with pain and
she remembered . . .the small life her mother had put in her
hands as a child. How warm and soft it felt against her cheek.
How she had followed it around the garden, trying to imitate its
clumsy baby hops, laughing as it tickled her fingers nibbling a
carrot from her hand.
Then a neighbor left the gate open and it slipped out. A
dog had found it first. She could still remember the bewildered
look of pain in its eyes as it lay in the road, broken backed and
tangled in its own intestines, that spilled through the hole in its
belly. It was moaning in pain. She hadn't even know rabbits
could make a noise, it had been so soft and quiet before.
She wanted to run away. Wanted to run get daddy or
mama. Someone. Anyone. But it was hers, and it was in pain.
She was strong, even at that age.
And it wasn't in pain, anymore.
She'd buried it in the back yard, wrapped in a little blue
blanket so it wouldn't get cold and with her favorite stuffed piggy
so it wouldn't get lonely. And never let herself remember.
Until now.
Her pain and tears came flooding back, feeding the fire in
her soul. Memory and desire warred, the conflict churning in her
gut like a mad dog running from its shadow. She threw back her
head and screamed at the sky, trying to claw the fire from her
belly.
The dawn shadows shortened as the sun rose in the sky
and her bare feet moved across and icy stone trail, marked with
blood that dripped from her lips and hands.
*************************************************
******
"Zuo xia!" The burly sergeant punctuated his command
by stabbing his AK-47 at a bench.
Nabiki sat. This trip was certainly a learning experience.
"Laowai" was "foreigner", "Pudong" meant "don't understand"
and "Jing Fang" was "police". She wondered what the Chinese
for "firing squad" was.
Konatsu, through some sort of ninja-aid-association in
China, found out where Ranma and the others were _not_. From
that he'd managed to deduce that the best place to intercept
them, or at least find word of their travel, was along the road
between Gyuring and Jigzhi. They'd headed down that road in
the faint hope of finding Ranma and the Amazons _before_
Akane did.
They'd just been coming into Madoi and Nabiki had
been anticipating a hot meal, sitting in a real chair, not bolting
trail-mix in the saddle of a bicycle that had been old when the
Sun-goddess ruled Japan. She had a brief vision of Amaerasu
and her brother Su-sa-no-oh fighting over who got to ride
next---- when it happened.
Shaking her head at the memory she leaned back, resting
her head against the cool brick of her "cell".
She'd just gotten used to the idea of a soft bed and, bliss
of bliss, a _hot_ " who-do-I-have-to-kill" bath, when two large
canvas covered trucks and a third, smaller, open truck roared up
the road and surrounded them. That's when Nabiki learned
several new words in Chinese. Having a gun stuck in your face
facilitates learning. Maybe she should compete with Berlitz when
she got back home.
If she got back.
The police back home answered questions, took lost
children home and wore neat white gloves.
Chinese police asked questions, in mean loud voices.
They probably ate lost children and they wore steel helmets. And
guns. Lots of guns. There was even a big one mounted on the
back of the small truck.
The police had taken their passports and travel papers
and carted them off to a small brick building in the center of town.
They had searched them and their belongings before pushing
them all into a small room that Nabiki thought of as a cell, even
though there were no bars on the windows.
Nabiki was sure they were going to die when the police
started through Ukyou's stuff. A giant "combat" spatula might,
barely, pass muster in Nerima but she was quite certain that
Chinese Police would not be amused. They hadn't even noticed.
Somehow, and Nabiki suspected Konatsu's handiwork, seventy-
plus inches of battle steel and a few dozen assorted throwing
spatulas had been rendered invisible. Or, at least, no longer
resembled weapons. The uber-spatula had turned into a camp-
shovel and the mini-spatulas became tent-pegs and other camp
gear.
Now the four of them were sitting and waiting for higher
authority to show up. Well, three of them were sitting. Something
indescribable had been bubbling in a large iron pot when they
were hustled into the "jail". For an instant Nabiki thought they
had found her sister, the sight and smell of whatever was cooking
was so . . . so . . .Akane.
Kasumi had taken one look and started to work. She had
ignored a young private and a grizzled sergeant, pushed up her
sleeves, metaphorically and actually, and started to work.
Ignoring loud voices, pointed stares and even pointed guns as
both silly and useless to the task at hand, Tendou Kasumi had
taken charge. As soft as an ocean of water and implacable as a
mountain Kasumi had moved, arranged, cleaned and ordered.
The interior of the decrepit building now gleamed as it never had,
even when new, and savory smells from the stove mixed perfectly
with the slight lemon tang of the newly polished floor and
furniture.
*************************************************
******
Major General Liu Borang sat, frowning, in the passenger
seat while the APC rumbled north at a kidney bruising forty
kilometers per hour. He should be in the field with the rest of the
42nd Army Group. Instead his deputy was in the field, looking
for who or what had invaded the People's Republic and killed
three of its pilots. They were looking for the pilots as well, at least
officially. Unofficially ---- it looked like someone had made
confetti out of three jet fighters and scattered them over half of
Qinghai. The largest piece they'd found of Colonel Sima and his
hundred billion Yuan super fighter was a bloody thirteen-
centimeter nomex strip from his flight suit.
And here _he_ was, headed for . . ., he checked the
map holder on his knee, . . .Madoi. Some bureaucratic genius
had suddenly noticed that four Japanese nationals had entered
Hong Kong and almost immediately departed for Qinghai only a
few hours after the loss of both Lighting Flight and Sima. The
same genius had then decided that only General Liu could be
entrusted with these obviously dangerous foreigners.
Liu snorted inelegantly and his driver darted a quick look
at the general, then just as quickly fixed his eyes on the road,
paling as the general pinned him with an icy stare.
The gunner, manning the quad twenty-five millimeter
mount, looked sympathetically at his comrade. He was just as
glad his position was _behind_ the general and out of sight. Liu
was usually a just, if firm, commander, but he didn't suffer
fools . . .at all.
Liu was aware that he was being unreasonable, and had
been since his helicopter had been diverted and he'd found the
APC waiting for him in a clearing, along with gunner, driver and
platoon in full combat gear. Men and equipment better used to
find the peoples enemies. All so a commanding general could be
taken to interview people already in custody. Along with every
foreigner in China and half the ethnic-minority population, if his
encrypted radio traffic could be believed. There weren't enough
cells in all China to hold them all. And was he supposed to deal
with them _all_ in person?
But Beijing was in a panic. Something had blazed through
the Peoples sky, killed three of its fighters and fighter pilots (one
of whom was _highly_ placed in the Party) then vanished.
Answers must be found.
Answers _would_ be found, Liu was sure of that. But
through careful, methodical procedure. He didn't believe in
super-weapons, and military-secrets were the most fleeting in the
world. Resources would be better used in intelligence gathering.
Or simple bribery of foreign nationals would----
He suddenly noticed that the diesel had fallen silent and
the big APC was stopped in front of a worn building built of
stone and sun-dried brick. His driver ran around to open the
door but he waved him off. He was a fighting general and the day
he couldn't open his own door, or match his men step for step in
the field, was the day he'd retire to his garden in Shanghai.
Straightening his uniform he settled his side-arm on his hip and
strode to the door. Best to enter suddenly and throw them off
balance. Perhaps startle them into saying or doing something
incriminating. This might be a fools errand but he would do it in as
professional manner as possible.
The front door slammed back and Liu burst into the
room, right hand resting on the butt of his pistol and the scowl he
usually reserved for First Lieutenants engaged in a FUBAR,
firmly on his face.
"Welcome. Let me take your coat."
Liu slammed to a halt, almost falling over the delicate
Japanese girl kneeling formally before him. Before he could regain
his balance, physical and mental, she had taken his over-coat and
helmet, hanging them neatly on a stand in a corner of the room.
"Please, be seated," a soft white hand on his arm gently,
but inexorably, guided him to a . . . .
Was that a _table cloth_?! And _flowers_!?"
The general was a life long student of Feng Shui and this
shabby building felt as if it had been designed by a master of that
ancient art. Tension he didn't know he had, drained away and a
feeling of well being and renewed energy filled him. He'd been in
homes costing hundreds of million yuan that were not as
harmonious. Before he quite knew what had happened he, his
driver and the eleven man squad assigned to his APC were
seated at the table eating a meal that was perfectly balanced in
taste, colour and arrangement. While she served them, the young
woman spoke in a low, pleasant voice. The general's Japanese
was only moderate and she had no Chinese, but that didn't seem
to hinder communication in the least.
*************************************************
******
"Have a safe trip." Smiling, General Liu helped Kasumi
into the back of a truck, making sure she and her pack and
bicycle were safely stowed, and she was comfortably settled in a
nest of cushions he and his men had scavenged from their
equipment, before he closed the lower gate. "I hope you find
your brother-in-law and sister."
"Thank you so very much General Liu," Kasumi smiled
gently, making Liu feel warm all over. "Goodby. And thank
you." Kasumi waved until she was out of sight, leaving Liu to
wonder if he should have his eldest son leave for Nerima
immediately, to meet Tendou Souun or wait until Kasumi returned
home. Fortunately Liu had four sons, all of marriageable age.
Surely _one_ of them could impress her father. And her.
*************************************************
******
"That was amazing," Ukyou said admiringly, wondering if
she could borrow a few cushions. For some reason the general
had seemed to forget about Kasumi's three companions, leaving
them to more or less rattle around in the back of the transport.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?" Kasumi glanced at Ukyou while she was
busy mending a tear in the coat of their driver. Such a nice young
man. And his wife looked so sweet in that picture and the
children were darling. It was too bad the youngest was having
teething problems. But the herbal poultice she had recommended
should----
"How did you get that general to let us go?" Ukyou
interrupted her thoughts. "And give us a ride, and everything!"
Her gesture encompassed the back of the truck which was
crammed with rations, camping gear, medical supplies . . .
enough to support a platoon in the field for a month. And, most
valuable of all, travel papers that would pass them through any
check point in China, except, possibly, the Central Party
Chamber or the Strategic Nuclear Storage facility. And Ukyou
wouldn't bet against Kasumi in either of those events, or at least
would want even money.
"Oh, I just explained our problem to him." Kasumi held
the coat up to the light, looking for a trace of her mending. Since
her minute stitches were invisible to anything short of a ten power
magnifier she found it marginally satisfactory. At least considering
the conditions of sewing in the back of a moving truck with the
sun going down while wearing gloves. She carefully folded the
coat and started on one of Akane's blouses she'd packed, since
Akane had left without her suitcase. Her baby sister was always
so enthusiastic it was a real challenge to keep her neatly----
Nabiki was making little choking noises and jerking
slightly. Ukyou pounded her on the back, making sure she could
breath before returning to Kasumi.
"Ummmm, what _exactly_ did you tell him?" Ukyou
asked, unable to imagine any satisfactory way to explain Akane.
Or Ranma. And the Amazons would take a few days just for the
introduction. Not to mention----
"I told him Akane and her fianc� had a fight. And Ranma
went to China and Akane followed him." Kasumi tied a knot in
the thread holding the new button to Akane's blouse and snipped
the thread, all the while balancing perfectly against the sway of the
under sprung truck on the rutted road.
"You told him . . ." Nabiki's voice trailed off. "What did
_he_ say?"
"Oh, he was very understanding," Kasumi started
working on a frayed cuff. "he said it was a shame children didn't
listen to their parents," she smiled at Nabiki, "or their elder
sisters. He said his own sons often didn't know what was good
for them. He told me to call him if we ran into any trouble finding
Ranma or Akane. He set aside a radio frequency just for us. Isn't
that sweet?" Ukyou could only nod dumbly.
Kasumi had a sudden thought and pulled a photograph
from her apron pocket. "This is his eldest son," the others
gathered around to look at a smiling young man, handsome in the
uniform of a captain in the PLA. "The general said something
about he and his son calling on father," she smiled brightly at
them. "It will be nice for father to have company."
Nabiki began to bang her head against the side of the
truck.
"Oh! Why are you doing that?"
"Because it feels so good when I stop."
Kasumi nodded as if that made perfect sense, and went
back to her sewing.
"I'm adopted." Nabiki moaned, putting her head in her
hands. "I just know it."
*************************************************
******
END Chapter 7
Notes:
Well, I _think_ I set this up
properly. It's hard to tell what
I'm doing. (I'm working with an
ancient IBM monitor , 9" viewable) :(
Blame any problems with formatting
or addressing on IBM. ^_*
I just ordered a new(refurbished) TAXAN 1075
20" monitor. It's supposed to be in next week sometime.
Once it's here I should be back to writing and C&Cing.
I appreciate everyones patience with BF, Sukeban,
and the rest and I apologize too for the
lateness of my C&C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
List owner, FFML Refuge. To subscribe, head to:
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/Refuge.htm
and follow the directions.
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'