[FFML] [Ranma/Love Hina/Golden Boy] Diamonds in the Rough Chapter 17 + Announcement

[Brian Randall]

All the cool kids seem to be updating their 'been untouched for almost
a decade' fics, so I should get in on that!  Also, I have been
updating my own website a bit, since Larry F's been a bit too busy
working on some support infrastructure on Florestica to update things
there:

http://pishoque.net/brian/fanfic/fanfiction.htm

Of note are the rewrite of Process of Elimination (yeah, I know...),
the revised chapters of DitR, and for those of you who were interested
in my exploration of the vastly under-utilized (imnsho) "Kyon gets a
powerup" genre, the first thirty chapters (around 300,000 words) of
Kyon: Big Damn Hero.  But you probably clicked on this for DitR, so:




	After being led to Ranma's room, Ukyou took a minute to put the man
in his bed, and then another to tuck him in.  After that, the
okonomiyaki-chef tried to stifle a yawn and sat back against a nearby
wall, watching over him.

	"Are you tired?" Motoko asked, taking a position up by the door,
where she could see her teacher easily and still hear anyone coming
down the hall.

	Ukyou flinched, blinking and turning to look at Motoko in surprise.
"Forgot you were there," she mumbled.  "Yeah.  Kinda.  I haven't slept
all night, and I spent most of the evening trying to find Minami."

	"I can show you to the teashop if you'd like to rest," the kendoka offered.

	"I can just sleep here," Ukyou murmured, eyes drifting shut.

	"It would be unseemly for me to let another woman sleep with my
sensei," Motoko protested.  "Please, Kuonji-san-"

	"Oh, no," Ukyou groaned, shaking her head without opening her eyes.
"You, too?"

	--------------------------------------
	Diamonds in the Rough -- Chapter Seventeen -- Home and Away

	Disclaimer: Paints in this story are from Rumiko Takahashi, Viz
(Ranma 1/2), TV Tokyo and Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and Tatsuya Egawa
(Goldenboy). The easel is mine. That's all.

	Note: I screwed up and thought that Ranma was introduced to his
mother before the Shishi Houkodan arc.  Erm.  Assume that it's an alt,
and my thoughts are correct for this story (because they are). -_-
	--------------------------------------

	Motoko fought down the blush she could feel coloring her cheeks.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked tersely.

	"You're jealous," Ukyou surmised, opening her eyes and fixing the
girl with an accusatory stare.  "You don't want to leave me alone with
Ranchan."

	"T...t...that's preposterous!" Motoko protested, her face now
burning.  Ukyou smirked, but before she could follow up, the kendoka
added, "And what do you mean 'too'?  Or is there something to validate
my concern -- if such exists?"

	Ukyou's face colored and she slumped, staring at the floor.
"Alright," she sighed.  "Let's let Ranchan rest -- I don't want him to
wake up and hear this."

	Motoko agreed; shortly the two were in Haruka's teashop, though the
woman in question was occupied with combing through an atlas of Sri
Lanka at one end of the main room.  Motoko picked a table in the
opposite corner and sat down, Ukyou quickly following suit.

	"So you fell for him too?" Ukyou asked, pouring a cup of tea.

	"W...well, he does have a certain rough sort of charm," Motoko
admitted, feeling her face warm up again.  "I had thought at one point
that I had....  There was....  That it was someone else."

	"Hey, I spent ten years chasing him down for revenge, and he got me
to fall for him by saying I was cute, so don't expect me to judge you
for that," Ukyou sighed.  "I thought it'd be easy to be upset with him
for abandoning me again, but after hearing what he went through ...
and seeing what he's done ... I can't really...."  Ukyou trailed off
with a grimace.  "Well.  It doesn't matter, I guess."

	"Oe-sensei has told me he doesn't care for me," Motoko said quietly.
"At least ... not in any sense beyond a student."

	"I think that's more than I got," Ukyou said with a sad smile.  "I'm
just glad that he seems to be happy for once, though."

	After a moment of hesitation, Motoko nodded, admitting, "I must agree
with you.  Oe-sensei once asked me to learn from his mistakes.  He has
not ... told me all that he wishes me to learn from, but I have
endeavored to become close enough to him to try.  It ... is a funny
thing, I think, having watched others.  There is ... a couple I know
of, who fought constantly.  I believe that their issue was that ...
she would not listen to him, and he would not explain himself well
enough."

	"Ironically, this sounds very familiar," Ukyou said dryly.  "But
anyway, Keitaro and Naru seem to be getting along now, right?"

	Motoko twitched.  "I had intended to be subtle.  How did I betray them to you?"

	"You live with Mitsune, and she likes to talk."

	"Oh.  Right.  I suppose there's no point to pretenses, then."  A
brief grimace and a headshake punctuated the kendoka's pause.
"Regardless, I think it was because Oe-sensei was here that
Keitaro-san learned to explain himself, and maybe that Narusegawa-san
learned to listen.  Until he ... was willing to leave the inn to make
me happy, I don't think I learned to listen to Oe-sensei myself."
Motoko chuckled sardonically, glancing quickly to see that Haruka was
still occupied and out of earshot.

	Ukyou hid a smirk behind her teacup before asking, "Is that how you
fell for him?  He did something stupid and noble?"

	"Don't cheapen it so!" Motoko protested, face reddening.  "He was
willing to sacrifice his wellbeing for my sake!"

	"The ironic part is that you put more value on his wellbeing than he
does.  I bet you didn't fall for him then; that's just when you
admitted it to yourself."  Ukyou sighed and shook her head.  "But he
seems to like someone else so....  Oh well."  She rubbed her face
briefly and muttered, "I can't believe I'm letting myself get so
sidetracked; Minami's been kidnapped, and here we're rambling about
Ranchan."

	"Ah," Motoko managed, resisting the urge to cover her face; the glow
would probably penetrate her hands and the table anyway.  "Yes.  Let
us discuss that.  You are certain she was abducted?"

	"No, just really suspicious," Ukyou admitted.  "It's not like her to
vanish, and her little sister was abandoned.  I can't think I'd hired
someone who would do that."

	"She didn't seem the sort when we met," Motoko agreed.  "Well, does
the girl have any enemies?"

	Shaking her head, Ukyou said, "I asked Noriko all about that.  If
Minami does, Noriko doesn't know about them.  And Minami certainly
never told me, so...."

	"Have you any enemies of your own, then?"

	"This isn't Hyatto's style, and I can't think of anyone else."  For a
moment, the two contemplated in silence, then Ukyou added, "Though,
come to think of it, Ranchan might."

	"You believe that one of them might be behind this?" Motoko asked
doubtfully.  "The withered old troll, perhaps?"

	"Not the pervert's style, either, and I think Ranchan's pretty much
finished with him.  Okay ... so, do you know who Kuno Kodachi is?"

	"I have heard of the Kuno name," Motoko hazarded after a moment of
thought.  "I believe that Kuno Tatewaki is a kendoka of some renown;
my sister has mentioned him to me in the past."

	"That's right -- his sister is Kodachi.  Both of them chased Ranchan
when he lived in Nerima.  I don't think Tatewaki would kidnap someone
-- especially a girl, but Kodachi might.  Then again, I never knew her
that well, and that was years ago.  But she's the only person I know
of that could be responsible except...."  Ukyou looked away, staring
into her teacup thoughtfully.

	"Except?" Motoko prompted.

	"I'm not sure I can talk about this," Ukyou said quietly.  "Now,
Ranchan's been keeping his past to himself, and I respect that.  So if
this is something he hasn't talked about before...."

	"Do you not have your own past to speak of?"  Both broke off from
their conversation before Ukyou could reply, glancing at the teashop
entrance as Mutsumi and Naru walked in.

	"Oi," Haruka called, setting her atlas down.  "What's up, you two?
Just coming by for tea?"

	"Keitaro wanted to ask if you'd seen his sword," Naru replied
doubtfully.  "He's tearing apart his room, so I thought I'd come with
Mutsumi when she said she was coming down."

	Haruka's gaze swiveled to Mutsumi.

	"Oh, I wanted to say thank you for all the drinks you gave us last
time," Mutsumi said, clapping her hands together softly.  "And also to
let you know that I don't think Ranma-kun will be waking up today."

	"And how do you know that?" Haruka asked, pulling her cigarette from
her mouth and raising an eyebrow challengingly.

	Naru turned to Motoko and said, "Um, just to let you know ... your
sister came by."

	"And you left Oe-sensei alone, unconscious, with her?" Motoko asked,
rising to her feet quickly enough to knock her chair over.

	"Oh, my, is that a problem?" Mutsumi asked in surprise.  "Shinobu and
Suu are talking to her right now."

	"Is your sister dangerous?" Ukyou asked cautiously.

	"Only to Oe-sensei, and only in the sense that you and I would be,"
Motoko admitted, righting her chair and sitting back down.  "But if
Sensei will not wake today, you should rest.  We can speak later, I'm
certain, and you will want your strength to seek Minami."

	"Point," Ukyou acquiesced.  "Where's that bed, now?"

	***

	"I deem this a trap," Motoko surmised, staring at where Ranma's
tracking skills had led the group.

	Ranma grunted, rising from a crouch and peering across the area,
ignoring the others for the moment.  Motoko and Ukyou stood an equal
distance away from him, five paces; the kendoka on the left, the chef
on the right.

	"I gotta agree, Sugar," Ukyou said, shaking her head.

	Seta rested one hand on the hilt his sword.  "I'm thinking you're
both right.  What shall we do then, Oe-kun?"

	"Well," Ranma said slowly, "I can probably track a train better than a boat."

	Motoko turned about and surveyed the boarding platform for the train
station.  As a hub of traffic in and out of the region, and especially
for the Hinata district, hundreds of trains passed through it each
day.

	"Tracking won't be so terribly hard," Seta said with a shake of his
head.  "I'm sure I can pull some strings with the Guild to check out
the security footage."

	"The what?" Ukyou asked, looking at the man sidelong.

	"The Archeologists' Guild," Seta clarified.

	"Okay, okay," Ranma said, shaking his head and turning his back to
the trains.  "So, you all think this is a trap.  If that's the case,
they're trying to ... what, get Ucchan away from her restaurant?  I
don't get why someone would do this.  Did Minami have any enemies?"

	Ukyou and Motoko exchanged a glance.  "None that we know of," they
said together.

	"Then if it's not an enemy of Minami's, who would stand to benefit
from kidnapping her?" Seta asked.

	"Well....  She doesn't have much money, and I didn't get a ransom
note -- neither did Noriko.  There aren't a lot of thugs or anything
in our area ... it's a pretty low-crime district."  Ukyou frowned.
"So, I figure that someone knows that I'm friends with Ranchan here."

	"Hence my own thoughts that this was a trap; Oe-sensei, regardless of
if you intended it, you have some renown.  Happosai has followed you,
as did Kuonji-san.  What others might come after us?" Motoko asked.

	Ranma flinched.  "Damn it," he grumbled.  "I promised I wouldn't
bring trouble with me."

	"Don't blame yourself," Ukyou said, shaking her head.  "Minami was my
employee, and I should have kept a closer eye on her instead of
fee...."  She coughed quietly and cleared her throat.  "Anyway, I made
a mistake and came to you for help.  It's not your fault."

	"Okay," Ranma mumbled, rubbing at his temples.  "I'm pretty sure that
Tarou would have sent a note, and we don't fight anymore anyway -- his
grudge is with Happosai, not me."

	"Who?" Motoko asked, blinking.  "I've never heard of this person."

	"From what _I've_ heard, you should be happy," Ukyou said darkly.

	"Yes," Seta agreed.  "Not a charming lad by any sense, if we're
speaking of the same Tarou."

	"Anyway, what about Ryouga?" Ukyou asked with a frown.

	"I'd know if it was him," Ranma said tightly.  "Shan Pu went back
home, so Mu-Si's got no reason to do this....  So who else is there?"

	"Kuno!"

	"You're giving him too much credit," Motoko's teacher replied dryly.

	"The other Kuno."

	"Oh!"  Ranma cocked his head to one side and closed his eyes,
considering.  "Maybe," he finally allowed.  "It could be her, but I'd
expect to hear something from her about it ... and why would she go
after Minami, anyway?  I'm sure she'd let me know she was around
before she did anything."

	"Well, if it were Kasumi's sister, I'd expect Akane to go straight
after you.  Unless you've got more enemies I don't know about...."
Ukyou trailed off with a shrug.  "Someone wants me to chase after
Minami, though."

	Ranma flinched and said nothing.

	"And I think they want you to take Oe-sensei with you," Motoko added.
 "I don't intend to offend you, Kuonji-san, but I think it is him, and
not you who is the target here."

	"She was dragged off by a woman," Ranma mumbled.  "There wasn't much
of a fight."

	"Minami's not much of a fighter," Ukyou sighed.

	"Well, she still struggled.  Then she was dragged here and put on a
train.  So assuming I fall for this trap, what happens?  I chase out
of the city after Minami with Ucchan and ... then what?"

	"You leave the inn with Noriyasu-san and myself still easily able to
defend it," Motoko surmised.  "Obviously then you will find trouble
and plenty of it; the strength of your enemies is not enough to
overcome us, so you're led away."

	"You're trying to tell me I need to stay here," Ranma realized.  "You
don't want me to go after Minami."

	"Hey!" Ukyou protested, rounding on Motoko.  "I need help, here!  You
can't just keep Ranchan from helping me out when I need it the most!"

	"Then take me in his stead," the kendoka offered.  "He can stay here
and watch over the inn.  I will go with you."

	"Motoko-chan," Ranma protested, "I know you've trained a lot, and
you've gotten much better-"

	"I realize I'm not an ideal replacement for you," Motoko said,
shaking her head.  "But remember that you are the target here, and I
am not."

	"If there is a trap being set for me, I'm not going to let my best
friend and my best student walk straight into it," Ranma growled.

	"I'll go, too," Seta decided.  "I think Motoko-chan is right.  It
seems reasonable to think that this is a trap for you, and that if she
and I go with Ukyou, we can overwhelm whoever thinks to take advantage
of you being away from the inn."

	"B...but," Ranma tried to protest, before Ukyou sighed and stepped
closer, dropping a hand on his shoulder.

	"Just let us go, Ranchan," Ukyou said with a weak smile.  "I want
your help, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pull you into a trap --
not if I can help it."

	"Yeah, but now I've gotta stay in town with your dad ready to beat
the tar out of me if he even knows I'm around!" Ranma grumbled,
crossing his arms over his chest.  "And ... what if something happens?
 Something that should have happened to me, but it happens to you
instead?"

	"Minami's my employee," Ukyou said insistently.  "I'm not being left
out of this."

	"And this trap is about me, so neither am I!" Ranma said, shaking his head.

	"But a challenge to the master is a challenge to the school, and I am
nothing if I am not enough of your student to step in here," Motoko
warned.  "Did you not just say I was your best?"

	"I think you should probably quit now," Seta said with a wink.  "The
Guild will let us track Minami from here, and the longer we wait, the
further away she gets."

	"Fine," Ranma sighed.  "I'm just ... gonna be real unhappy if
anything bad happens to either of you two.  Noriyasu-"

	"I promise I'll watch over them for you, Oe," the man said solemnly,
before Ranma could continue.  "I give you my word on my family's good
name.  Now hurry to the inn, in case this is somehow a diversion.
I'll bring both of them back as long as you can promise me that
Haruka's inn is still standing to bring them back to."

	"Fair's fair," Ranma allowed, shaking hands with Seta.  "I don't like
it, but ... good luck."

	"Thank you," Ukyou and Motoko said in tandem.

	***

	Mitsune awoke shortly after sunrise, staring at the bright lights
playing across the ceiling.  "Man," she groaned, sitting up and
surveying her room quickly.  She hadn't been too badly off to make it
to bed, whatever had happened.  "That was one hell of a bender."

	Clothing was gathered as she tried to piece the previous ... evening
together.  It was actually more of an afternoon, from what she could
recall.  She'd met a woman who'd been jilted by her lover, and then
they'd gotten to drinking and telling stories of men that had gotten
away.

	Of course, this lead to rather more blathering about Ranma than
Mitsune had intended, in retrospect.  As she slid the door open and
shuffled to the hall, she reflected that the other woman hadn't
actually drunk much, for all of the drinks she had bought.

	In fact, it was the untouched alcohol which had been offered to her
that had ended her memory with a patchwork of incomplete images, among
them Ranma wreathed in a flaming white nimbus.  "I gotta cut down,"
she mumbled, making her way to the kitchen without encountering anyone
else.

	Shinobu was already there as usual, bustling away at the dishes with
her standard efficiency.  A plate had been left at the table.  "Good
morning," the girl called, not even looking over her shoulder.  "Are
you feeling better today, Kitsune?"

	"Peachy," the woman replied, sitting before the meal and sampling it.
 "Thanks, Shinobu -- delicious as usual.  Where's everyone else?"

	"Ah...."  Shinobu finished the last dish she was working on and then
turned around, a contemplative expression in place.  "There's no
school today, so Koara and Sarah are helping Haruka go through all of
those old outfits in the teashop attic.  Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi
are studying in the front room with Motoko's sister."

	"Motoko's sister again?  Then where's Motoko and Oe?  Training trip
to avoid her?"  Somehow, Mitsune didn't like the idea of Motoko and
Ranma being off alone somewhere.  It reminded her far too much of the
time the kendoka had run into her room claiming that the teacher had
fallen in love with his student.

	"Ah, no...."  Shinobu bit her lower lip, then explained, "They're
with Ukyou and Noriyasu-san, trying to find Minami."

	"Ah," Mitsune mumbled, nodding.  "Minami's a good girl -- where'd she
get off to?"

	"Ukyou-san thinks she was kidnapped."

	Mitsune blinked.  "Sounds like a job for Ranma," she decided, pushing
her plate away from her.  "I guess things'll calm down here for a
while.  Maybe he'll have a good story when he comes back."

	"Well, no more adventures for me," Shinobu said with a frown, shaking
her head.  "Not if I can help it."

	"Watch what you say," Haruka advised, slipping in through the
side-door.  "I think I said the same thing when I was your age."

	"Uh-oh," Shinobu said quietly.

	Haruka pulled a cigarette from her apron and put it to her lips.
"Anyway, I just came by to drop off the mail."

	"Anything for me?" Mitsune asked.

	"Nope," Haruka said, sorting through the stack quickly.  "Something
for Keitaro, something for Oe, and ... something for Mutsumi from her
family."

	"Oe?" Mitsune asked.  "How long will we wait to read his mail this time?"

	"Ah, it's just junk," Haruka said, shaking her head.  "From Nerima --
some family-owned dojo.  Probably a job offer or something."

	"A dojo?" Ranma asked, slipping through the door.  He continued past
Haruka, taking the envelope from her hand in the same smooth motion.
For her part, the woman removed the cigarette from her lips and turned
a very cool look on Ranma.

	Mitsune blinked.  "You're here!" she blurted out.  "So, uh ... found
Minami already?"

	"No," he grumbled, sticking the envelope into his notebook without
looking at it.  "Ucchan and Motoko sent me back -- said they wanted to
go on with Noriyasu instead because they thought it was a trap for
me."

	Haruka's cool expression was swiftly replaced with irritation.  "That
sounds like Seta," she mumbled.  "What did you find out?"

	"Not much," he said, shrugging.  "Minami was hauled off by a woman,
onto a train.  Noriyasu said he'd use his Guild connections to find
out more."

	The woman sighed, rubbing at her temples.  "There he goes, treating
it like a rival archeologist.  Well, I did ask him to help.  With
luck, he'll bring Ukyou and Motoko back sane.  The last time I went on
an expedition with him we ended up fighting against the Magnificent
Ten."

	Ranma blinked.  "Noriyasu said he'd take care of them," he offered.
"Who are the Magnificent Ten?"

	"He'd better," Haruka grumbled.  "Or else when you're done, I'll take
a crack at him.  And the Magnificent Ten are a story for another day."
 Ranma stared at Haruka for a moment before she rolled her eyes and
said, "If you're going to take the mail before you talk to me, you
might as well take care of this, too."  She flicked the remaining
envelopes to Ranma, and he deftly snatched them out of the air.

	"Mutsumi and Keitaro?" he asked, glancing at the names.  "No
problem."  He turned and trotted down the hall.

	"I think he'll be running into Motoko's sister right about ... now,"
Haruka predicted, her last word punctuated by a strangled yelp of
protest from the front room.

	Shinobu shook her head, producing a tea set from the cupboards.
"Would you like something to drink, Haruka-san?" she offered.

	"Nah.  I've been here long enough," the woman said with a sigh.  "I'd
better get back to the old tea-mine before Suu and Sarah tear it
apart.  I'll talk to you later, Shinobu-chan."

	Mitsune smirked, once the older woman had gone, leaving just herself
and the younger girl in the kitchen.  "I'm suddenly glad for Naru that
she likes Keitaro instead of Seta, now," she said.  "I don't think
she'd have a chance against a woman that devious."

	Shinobu blinked, then her eyes widened.  "I don't think any of us
would," she surmised.  "I'm going to bring Aoyama-san some tea."

	"Oooh!" Mitsune enthused.  "I forgot all about that!  Let's watch the fun."

	***

	Keitaro put his letter down with a frown.  Naru was at his side at
the front room's main table, Mutsumi sitting opposite her, and Tsuruko
opposite from himself.  "Thank you for..." he began, before trailing
off.  Ranma had entered the room, handed over an envelope for the
manager, and then another for Mutsumi.

	Somehow, while Keitaro had distracted himself reading through his
parent's congratulations on successfully getting into Toudai, the
martial artist had planted his face in the elder Aoyama's cleavage.