Nabiki--Dark Justice

-----
Disclaimer: The rights to Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko
Takahashi and any others that she has liscenced them
to.
Black Hood is the property of Impact Comics
-----

Chapter 3

Homicide detective Hidoshi Takamoro was not the
happiest of men at the moment.  Three days of
investigation into the multiple homicides had given
him zip.  Nerima PD had identified the kid as Toshi
Sakuchi, a high school student with no record.  The US
Embassy had ID'd the gaijin as one John Peters, in the
country on a tourist visa.  When he'd tried digging
deeper on the American, he had been politely informed
that the information was classified, and to make
matters worse, government strings were pulled, getting
the man's body released to the embassy before an
autopsy could be performed.

All he had left was the kid's date, one Nabiki Tendo. 
She had given a statement to Nerima PD on the night of
the incident that seemingly tied things together, but
something stank.  Autopsies had confirmed Yoshi's
original findings; most of the perp's were done in by
a small martial artist.  Someone, either a young
woman, or a man with very small hands, was capable of
delivering blows whose power exceeded that of a
heavyweight professional boxer, something that the
local martial arts instructors he'd interviewed
claimed was impossible.

Impossible...  He'd heard that word so many times in
the last three days, it was actually starting to lose
meaning.  Whatever had happened in that alleyway
defied logical explanations; someone had killed those
perps, someone who moved fast enough to dodge bullets
and hit harder than Mike Tyson.  Someone who,
according to the laws of nature, shouldn't exist...

Tossing down yet another aspirin, he decided to move
his investigation to the only place left to look,
Nerima.

**************************

Unlike a certain police detective, Nabiki was having a
very good day.

While her family had freaked out at the news of her
evening escapade, it hadn't been as bad as she'd
feared.  When Kasumi'd "informed" her of Toshi's
death, she'd found it quite easy to fake surprise and
shock, even easier than she'd expected.  This was the
hood's doing, she was sure.  It was helping her adjust
to...  Whatever it was she was going through.  She was
not the same person she'd been three days ago, that
was for sure; her evening outings were ample proof of
that.

For the last two nights, she'd been, well, patrolling
the streets, as it were.  Hell, she even had an outfit
specifically for that purpose...  Strangely, she
wasn't the least bit worried about her change in
behavior, something about the hood's influence allowed
her to take things in stride, even when she wasn't
wearing it.

Of course, discovering that she didn't HAVE to kill
helped matters considerably.  The encounters she'd
had, muggings and petty street crimes so far, had all
been non-lethal...  And exciting as hell, that she had
to admit.  There was something about it, something
about being that strong, that fast, that capable.  It
was a rush, an addictive one at that, that now had her
looking forward to nightfall so she could don the hood
again.

Her musings were interrupted by Ryouga's impromptu
challenging of Ranma-chan, something she already had a
contingency plan for.  Gathering her cronies, she
moved on into the all-important business of the
betting pool, with a part of her mind still going over
plans for the night's outing.

---------------------------------

If nothing else, the Tendo girl was a looker.  Parked
across from the entrance to Furinkan High, Takamoro
observed his last lead, not really sure of what he was
looking for.  His view was suddenly blocked by a
rather muscular youth sporting an oversized pack and a
yellow and black spotted bandana.  The boy looked
around in confusion for a moment before approaching
him.

"Erm...  Excuse me, do you know the way to Furinkan
High School?"

Blinking momentarily in confusion, Takamoro simply
pointed to the large sign on the gate behind the boy. 
Then he watched in numb shock as the boy, after
carefully reading the sign, made a standing leap clear
across the street to the top of the wall surrounding
the school...  A wall that was at least ten feet high!
 Fumbling in his glove compartment, he retrieved a
small camera as he scrambled out of his car toward the
school gates.  Just as he arrived, the youth flung
himself off the wall with a bellowed war cry, and,
wielding a bamboo umbrella like a club, attacked a
rather annoyed looking petite redhead.

Jaw on the floor, he barely had the presence of mind
to snap pictures of what followed.  Instead of being
beaten down as one would expect, the girl was weaving
in and out of the lightening fast strikes with
apparent ease.  Then, her hands and feet blurring, the
girl went on the offensive.  At first, the boy's
defense held, then, one after another, blows slipped
through, rocking him back.  A kick that was invisible
until it connected knocked the boy twenty feet through
the air into the side of the school building,
embedding him there momentarily, but that did not seem
to faze him at all.  Pulling himself out of the hole
his impact had created, the boy charged his smaller
opponent, only to get smashed back into it as the girl
released what looked like a ball of yellow energy from
her hands into him.

Shaking it off, the boy fired a bolt of his own, this
one green, which the girl dodged by leaping better
than thirty feet in the air before changing her leap
into a flying kick aimed at the boy's head.  The kick
was deflected by the boy's umbrella as he continued
the motion into a spinning back kick the girl simply
flipped over then followed with a foot sweep knocking
the boy on his ass.  Just as the boy regained his
feet, the girl launched into his midsection while
yelling something about chestnuts.  This blow seemed
to stun the boy momentarily, as the girl repeated her
cry three more times, striking the boy's body with
impunity, the last blow smashing the boy into the
building for a third and final time before collapsing
to the ground.

Stunned, the detective registered several things at
once.  First of all, none of the students seemed all
that surprised at the proceedings.  Secondly, the
Tendo girl, instead of ducking for cover like any sane
person, was collecting on what appeared to be an
impromptu betting pool.  On top of that, the redhead
seemed only slightly winded after an Olympic level
performance of martial prowess.  And lastly, he was
now out of film.  Looking back at the redhead, one
thought was prevalent...  He now had a suspect.

Takamoro wasn't the only one who watched the events in
the schoolyard, however.  The second observer snubbed
out his cigarette before slipping off, his decision
reached.  The Tendo girl was the key, it seemed.  She
was the one with the contacts he wanted.  Her network
of students would easily be converted to a
distribution network with only minor changes, and her
hunger for Yen should give his friends the leverage
needed to win her over.  And if she wanted no part of
them, well...  She could be dealt with.

Tbc

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