Prisoner of the Iron Mask

Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi. Her intellectual property is
used without permission, but also without the intent of making money.

Author's notes:

This is the sixth chunk of original episodes 25-27 (of 30 that have been
posted on the Addventure). It is very short and mostly has just the
confrontation with Kunou.

Website:

In case you missed them, previous parts of the story can now be found
here: http://www.angelfire.com/anime6/loki-l/PotIM.html
(Those are exactly the same files I posted to the list. They still contain
the same typos, mistakes and errors. Revised versions that include all
the helpfuly corrections and suggestions I have recieved will be posted
soon.)


                             * **  ***  ** *

                   Metaphors and Food for Thoughts


"It is exactly as you described," Mr. Ryo admitted as he stood in awe
watching the castle.

The Lichtenburger restaurateur had been starting to have his doubts when
he and his son Ichiro entered the seemingly normal building, but now that
they had stepped out of the elevator he was cured of all skepticism and
second thoughts.

It was exactly as Ichiro had said. A medieval European castle had been
erected inside the empty hull of the office building. From where he stood
he could see Lichtenburger flags and banners waving atop the towers and
turrets Guards in traditional armor were visible in the distance, but they
appeared to take no notice of the new arrivals.

The guards probably ignored their presence because they had been expected.
It was unlikely that they would have been allowed to get to this point
alive without being invited.

Ichiro gasped next to him and Mr. Ryo followed his son outstretched
finger.

A girl was running along the parapets clad in nothing but a veil.

"It really is all exactly as you described!" he reaffirmed soberly without
taking his eyes of the heartwarming sight.

Father and son stood silently united in their aesthetic appreciation of
the sheer beauty of the scenes.

It was probably a good thing that none of the womenfolk had come along.
Mrs. Ryo could sometimes be very intolerant about his purely artistic
admiration of the female form. A character trait that was quite dangerous
in a woman who often had a heavy pan or a rolling pin within easy reach of
their hands.

Not long after the girl had disappeared in one of the upper story windows
with an elegant leap another figure emerged from the castle-gate beneath.

As the person came near it became clear that he too was exactly the way
Ichiro had described him. An iron mask covered his face, gilded armor
adorned his chest and a cape emblazoned with the royal crest of
Lichtenburg was flowing behind him.

Mr. Ryo frantically tried to remember the correct way of greeting the
person who most likely was the rightful heir. He had not really kept up
with the languages and traditions of the old country; just enough to come
up with suitable exotic sounding names on the menus. What if he tried to
address the prince and insulted him by accident? Better to speak Japanese
then instead of messing up. And what should he do? Bowing down would again
be the Japanese way, but Europeans bowed too, didn't they? He was pretty
sure that a woman would curtsey. He had seen in movies and pictures how
knights and warriors went down on one knee before their liege. That was
something his father could have done, but Mr. Ichiro did not think it
would be the right thing for him to do so. What was left? He could not
very well shake hands with royalty.

And what if he did not want to be acknowledged as royalty until after he
had won back his principality, there had been something like that in a
movie he once saw, where the heir refused to take the crown until certain
tasks had been performed first.

What if the person coming towards them was one of the seemingly lost
wanderers, striding around incognito until the crownless again should be
prince?

The stranger before them absolved him from further speculation by simply
greeting them with an: "Hello!"

So informal it was.

"This is my father," Ichiro introduced him to the stranger.
				
The man in the iron mask gave him an undecipherable look.

"Er, " he began cautiously," you are not angry about the coin-thing from
last time, are you?"

He was talking about the tokens he had given Ichiro in place of a tip the
last time he had ordered takeout. Not everyone would be happy to be
invited in such an oblique way into what might become a dangerous struggle
for the freedom of their country. Many would probably have preferred not
to be involved and ignored the summons, but Mr. Ryo was a patriot and he
hastened to assure the prince of that.

"Of course not, we feel honored to be chosen by you," he told him.

"Er, you are welcome I guess," the prince answered before changing the
topic seemingly at random. "Your food is really quite good after all.
Good solid traditional Lichtenburger cuisine."

Mr. Ryo was somewhat nonplussed by this compliment apropos nothing, but
his son once again proved to be faster on the uptake.

"We always try to hold up the old traditions at Light Castle Restaurant.
It must show through in our meals." Ichiro offered.

Yes, that was it. Royalty seldom talked about important stuff openly and
directly. They always were diplomatic and concerned with things like
plausible deniability. The prince was speaking in metaphors. He was
complimenting them for their food when he meant to compliment them for
their loyalty emphasizing tradition to drive his point home.

Ichiro chose this moment to give the prince the bags of takeout they had
brought along as disguise. The man in the iron mask took them and made a
show of smelling the food as if they really mattered.

"Those smell really good," he let them know, "I look really forward to
eating it."

He seemed to think for a moment as if to weigh if he should really ask the
next question.

"Maybe you could give me the recipes for some of that stuff, if it is not
too much to ask? I mean, I guess they are family recipes and you normally
guard them from others, but...." he trailed off.

This time Mr. Ryo had no problems understanding the question and assured
the prince that he had the full support of his entire family (i.e. the
exile community that he had contact with) and that they were willing to
work for him even if there were risks involved.

"That will be no problem at all. I can get you the family recipes, lists
of ingredients and everything, I know they will be in good hands with you.
The boy will simply bring them along the next time you order takeout. We
can give bring you all the information you need," he promised the prince.

After that they went through the hassle of actually receiving payment for
the delivery to keep up appearances and bid the prince farewell.

In the elevator back to the lobby Ichiro finally asked nervously: "Dad,
what did we just agree to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? He called on us to make contact with all the other
exiles loyal to the cause and now he wants recipes. He wants information.
We will make a big list of people that can be trusted and bring it to him.
You see?" He explained to his son.

When they left the building they were so proud of the responsibility that
had been laid on their shoulders that they hardly took any notice of the
disturbed young man with the wooden stick and the paralyzed ninja going
the other way.


                             * **  ***  ** *

             Sir Kuno's arrival at the Castle of Maidens


Kodachi was shifting in her seat trying not to be to obvious about it. It
really would not do to look as embarrassingly uncomfortable as the Tendou
girl sitting next to her who kept squirming around and flinching every
time she put some weight on her behind.

It was really unbecoming of her. If she could not stand the mild
discomfort in the aftermath Akane simply should not have participated in
baiting the stuffy nun. She should endure the slight pains and embrace
them as part of the overall experience which Kodachi knew Akane had
enjoyed.

The prince who was sitting opposite them would be well aware of what had
transpired during their session with the nun and he was bound to judge
them by their reactions.

Kodachi tried to project an aura of dignified attrition while maintaining
a general air of spirited playfulness.

The prince liked strong-willed girls according to Akane. But on the other
hand he seemed to enjoy having his servants dress and act very
submissively. This suggested to Kodachi that he liked strong-willed women
because he enjoyed making them submit. The game likely was just no fun
with girls who did not at least attempt to resist. And Kodachi was trying
to get across that here was a girl sitting right across from him that
promised to be many nights of highly enjoyable work properly subduing
without either breaking easily or being totally unyielding.

Unfortunately for her he mostly had eyes for Akane, who in Kodachi's
opinion was not only far less suited for his tastes but also already very
much taken by someone else.

Kodachi tried to concentrate on her meal instead of dwelling on the
unfairness of the Tendo girl's ability to attract so many men without
really appreciating any of them.

The food certainly deserved her extra attention. The Lichtenburger
appeared to believe in what the prince called 'hearty' meals. Kodachi had
felt her arteries clog up and her wight going up just from looking at
dinner. One had to wonder how Mistress Severa or Ashes the maid managed to
keep their figures when they ate stuff like that. The prince claimed that
it was traditional, healthy and properly balanced between the four food
groups: sugar, starch, grease and burnt crunchy bits.

Kodachi only knew that she would have to participate far more actively in
Akane's training sessions in the future if she wanted to keep from
ballooning, congealing or simply dying of heart-failure. She had to admit
though that the stuff did taste good.

She was just in the process of transferring an especially greasy bit into
her mouth without touching her veil when she heard it.

Putting down her fork and swallowing hard she looked up. Akane was still
busy with her food but the prince had also stopped eating and was looking
out the window.

There it was again the familiar sound of a raving lunatic on a futile
mission and his whining excuse of a Sancho Pansa trying to steer him from
stupidity.

For Kodachi it sounded depressingly like family and home.

"But Master, Kuno," the squires voice could now be heard clearly, "You
can't just storm the castle, there are many guards about and they must
have seen us. We will be overwhelmed by their numbers."

But the voice of reason or at least enlightened self-preservation had no
chance of deterring this knight from his mission.

"Fear not Sasuke their numbers mean nothing," an extremely self-righteous
and stupid sounding voice replied before completely abandoning its
tentative hold on reality and contiunuing with, "

   My strength is as the strength of ten,
   Because my heart is pure.

My love is held in that castle and I will free her!

   How sweet are looks that ladies bend
   On whom their favours fall!
   From them I battle till the end,
   To save from shame and thrall!"

So she had been wrong it was not in fact Don Tatewaki to futilely fight
windmills, but Sir Dunderhead come to the Castle of Maidens to destroy the
wicked custom. Kodachi had to admit that her brother seeing himself as the
Maiden-Kight did make a certain amount of sense. If nothing else he truly
was 'A virgin heart in work and will,' but that did not give him the right
to spoil everyone's fun.

This Damsel in Distress certainly did not want to be freed and even Akane
was likely to prefer continued imprisonment to freedom at the hands of
Tatewaki Kuno.

Together with her host and her fellow prisoner Kodachi moved towards the
balcony to get a better look at her brothers impending defeat.

With Sasuke in tow he was just entering the courtyard, while the prince's
gurds passively looked on from their posts upon the walls and towers.

Was it too much to hope that they were waiting for a signal to employ
their crossbows on him? 

But before he could be turned into a porcupine by remote acupuncture the
lunatic in the courtyard called out a challenge to the lord of the castle.

Next to Kodachi the prince stiffened in affront. He fetched a sword that
had hung as a decoration on the wall of the dining room and vaulted over
the railing of the balcony to the courtyard below.

This, Kodachi thought, ought to be interesting. It would be a nice
opportunity to see the full abilities of the prince and to see her stupid
sibling get beaten up even if she only had a plate full of greasy
meatloafs instead of the bag of popcorn that the occasion required.

                             * **  ***  ** *

                        Wildpferd Wins Again


As Ranma jumped from the balcony with a sword in his hand he considered
just how he gotten himself into a situation like this.

It had been mostly the tomboy's fault for being so stubborn of course,
though Kodachi did share some of the blame for being unpredictable and
crazy. The girls had practically forced him into this with no other option
open to him except backing down -- and Ranma Saotome could not be expected
to do that.

It would be most unfair to blame him for what had happened, but he had
the feeling that that would not stop anybody -- certainly not Akane. And
there was no way to predict how Kodachi might react to the revelation of
the full truth of what had happened. Reality seemed to be only a minor
influence on the Kunou girl's thought process.

Being girls they would not understand that Ranma had only been motivated
by good intentions. 

He realized all this as he landed in the courtyard prepared to meet his
enemy.

Akane had started it by wanting to become a martial artist, too. Ranma had
tried to explain her that this was not a good idea in the most diplomatic
way he could, but Akane would not listen.

The tomboy only would get herself hurt if she tried to fight everyone
herself, she should just sit back and let Ranma do the fighting. Saffron
should have shown her that much.

After a heated discussion Ranma had ended up being maneuvered into
promising not to rescue Akane the next time she got abducted.

Ranma had practically been forced by her to take this course. He had
preemptively attacked the next group of strangers who showed up in Nerima
with the usual signs of prospective tomboy-nappers. After the fight he had
taken over their headquarters, a medieval European castle hidden inside
the hollow shell of a Tokyo business building, and assumed the identity
of a tomboy-napper himself.

He had disguised himself as the iron-masked Prince Wildpferd of
Lichtenburg who had come to Japan to capture himself a bride. And macho,
stubborn and tomboy-ish just happened to be the prince's type.

The plan had been to show Akane just how helpless she really was and that
she needed somebody like Ranma to save her from People like Wildpferd.
Ranma had tried to make the prince Akane's worst nightmare patterning him
after everything that Akane accused Ranma of. An arrogant pervert who was
trying to gather himself a harem.

Somehow things had gotten out of control at the point Akane entered the
picture. She had refused to see the danger she was in or how little
chance she had of escaping the Prince without help. Ranma had left her
lots of openings, but the girl would not admit defeat and call Ranma for
help.

Akane had even managed to weasel a promise out of the prince to receive
training in the mistaken believe that she could somehow get good enough
to beat him on her own.

Ranma had decided to make the best of a bad situation. In the guise of
several female servants he had started to train Akane a bit and tried to
break some of her worst habits while making her stay here in Prince
Wildpferd's castle as uncomfortable as possible. Because of her
stubbornness she allowed many humiliating and degrading things to be done
to her rather than giving in, but Ranma also managed to at least get some
strength training in and made progress in helping Akane learning to
control her temper.

Just when Ranma had gotten comfortable with just the two of them being
alone in the otherwise empty castle, Kodachi had appeared on the scene.
Ranma was still not quite sure how Kodachi had managed to become a
prisoner of Prince Wildpferd. Ranma certainly did not want her here, but
Kodachi appeared to want to be here and Akane expected him to keep her.
There was little Ranma could do about that and all of his attempts to 
make Kodachi leave had just resulted in settling her more firmly in place.

And if all that was not enough now her brother had appeared in Ranma's
supposedly secret lair.

Tatewaki Kunou and Sasuke the Kunou family ninja had interrupted the
dinner that Prince Wildpferd had been having with his two prisoners. 

Ranma would somehow have to defeat Kunou without allowing himself to be
unmasked. Akane and Kodachi could be somewhat stupid at times, not
realizing that what they thought to be two different characters really
was a single victim of Jusenkyo, but they might very well figure out that
Ranma and Wildpferd were one and the same if given enough hints.

Even the Blue Thunder might notice a similarity between Ranma and the
prince and blurt out something that would allow the girls to connected
the dots. Ranma would be done for then for sure.

Ranma could not allow himself to use any of his special moves. He could
use no 'Hiryuu Shouten Ha' or 'Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken' to give himself
away as somebody trained in secret amazon techniques. Using techniques
completely unique to Ranma like the 'Mouko Takabisha' or any of the other
adaptions and variations of moves that Ranma had come up with himself was
right out. Ranma could not even safely use his normal fighting style.
Akane might not be a real martial-artist, but she would recognize her own
family-art for sure.

One thing Ranma had already done to disguise himself was to take a sword.
Ranma did not normally use swords and few people had seen him train or
fight with one to recognize his style. Ranma also had to admit that he was
not nearly as good with weapons as he was unarmed another thing that would
hopefully help to keep the girls from recognizing him.

Moving slowly and keeping to the ground instead of revealing his speed and
mastery of aerial combat Ranma advanced on his enemy.

As he held the sword in front of himself he got his first good look on the
blade he had taken from the wall of the dining room. It had been a part of
the decoration and on closer inspection turned out to be completely
blunted. A good thing in a decoration that was just supposed to lend a bit
of atmosphere to a room, but a distinctive disadvantage in a weapon.

This was bad.

Not that Ranma actually wanted to cut or slash Kunou, but the kendonist
would think that Ranma had a real blade and fight accordingly. The Blue
Thunder was an idiot, but he did know a thing or two about sword-fighting.

Ranma's opponent had stopped sprouting poetry and insults and was now
concentrating on a fight with what he assumed to be a deadly opponent.

Could Ranma somehow manage to beat Kunou without getting himself or his
opponent badly hurt or his identity revealed?

It would be a challenge, and Ranma Saotome never backed down from a
challenge!

With a cry Tatewaki struck the first blow. Ranma parried only realizing
too late his opponents intention. Steel met wood in a splintering crash
and Kunou twisted his blade in an elaborate gesture. Had Ranma been using
a real blade at this point it would have stuck in Kunou's wooden sword and
the twist would have wrenched it out of Ranma's hand disarming him easily.

Neither of them expected Ranma's sword to bounce of Kunou's splintered
weapon like that and turn with the added momentum of Kunou's twist
directly towards his head.

                             * **  ***  ** *

>From the balcony Akane and Kodachi watched in awe as Kodachi's brother
passed out after the prince struck a single blow with the flat of his
blade. It happened very fast -- a crash, a hollow 'THUNK' and Tatewaki
laid sprawled in the courtyard.

Kodachi knew her brother to be a master of his sport. For the prince to
beat him in one strike without even using the edge of his blade truly
spoke volumes of his ability.

Watching her brother defeated at the prince's feet she knew that she had
chosen wisely when she had set her eyes on him and that from now on she
would redouble her efforts to win over the Prince in the Iron Mask.


                                                              )  )" <
                                                             tsu zu ku

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