- Chapter 2 -
Up on the roof of the Tendo dojo, Akane lay, staring up into the
clear, azure sky, wanting only to relax after a long and exhausting
week. The sun bathed her weary muscles, energy showered over her in a
glorious bounty, each minute under its stream washing away hours of
stress. The distant murmur of birds were as exciting an orchestral
accompaniment as the day deserved, and Akane's eyes began to steadily
close.
But the percussion section must have felt left out, and begun to
improvise a part; the ladder that the Tendos kept in the dojo was
clattering on the ground below, a sure sign that somebody else wanted
to come up to the roof. The people Akane would have wanted to talk to
would have scorned a ladder -- Akane had been learning a martial
artist's pride of late, but the other martial artists were still much
fiercer about asserting their capabilities -- so she knew it was
somebody come to scold her.
Akane stubbornly focused on a distant object and hoped that her
inattention would be a hint to her unwelcome guests. But Kasumi's
sweet voice was a jangling distraction that wouldn't be easily put
aside. "Hello, Akane. We haven't seen you all week, so we thought we'd
join you up here and talk." The tone was light, but there was a deep
layer of concern lying beneath. Perhaps only a sister would have
recognized it, but having done so, Akane knew she wouldn't be able to
get out of this confrontation. Particularly with Nabiki supporting
Kasumi. The two of them together never backed down against their
little sister -- witness how they had given her to Ranma in the first
place.
Instead, she sighed, swinging her legs around to sit facing her two
sisters. "Well, you know, I've been busy with stuff." She toyed with
her hair -- she had started letting it grow out in the last few weeks,
and it was by now down to her neck -- fiddling with her hair was a
useful distraction at times, even if she didn't like catching herself
doing it. Bad habits could drive people away, after all.
"Doing what, Akane? You've been searching for Ranma, haven't you? Even
after Daddy told you not to." That was Nabiki, as suspicious as Kasumi
was concerned. "Of course, you know, now that Daddy's dissolved the
arrangement, you could relax, and date some other boys. Ranma will
eventually come back, trailing his tail between his legs, once he's
worked out whatever's bothering him." 'After I make him grovel a bit
for what he's done to you, of course.'
"Yeah, and what happens when he does? He's going to come back and find
me married off to some loser who conned Daddy into an engagement for
food, or else I'm going to be fat, old, and ugly! I am not going to
sit down and just let that happen!" Akane made her words a stinging
slap in the faces of her sisters.
"But, Akane, that doesn't mean you should shut out your family."
Kasumi, taking up the challenge.
"Yeah, but I don't think any of you understand what it's like. You're
just content to sit here, let Daddy tell you what to do, and pretend
that everything's normal. Well, it's not. I'm not normal, Ranma's not
normal, nothing in this entire city is normal! Closing your eyes to
the truth is just stupid!" Akane's charges held nothing back, until
she finally overextended herself.
"Oh, so we're stupid? But Ukyo isn't, of course. She's so much a
better partner than any of your loving family. Because this is all
about your precious RANMA. And nobody should act rationally where
RANMA is concerned." Nabiki's flurry began as hot jabs and cooled to a
chilling punch, straight to Akane's gut.
"Nabiki..." Kasumi chided, her conversational stance weakening.
"Kasumi, no, it's time to have this out. We've been beating about the
bush for weeks now, and she's just been avoiding the issue. Akane,
you're absolutely right; closing your eyes to the truth IS
stupid. Ranma LEFT you. I don't know exactly why, I don't know where,
but he is GONE." Nabiki was in fine form, her stance perfect, her jabs
piercing.
"You don't know exactly why? But you do have some idea, don't you?"
Akane had been making a wild accusation, feeling a need to strike out
against Nabiki's words, but then she saw something in her sister's
dark eyes. "What do you know, Nabiki? What are you hiding?"
Akane's familiar annoyance was starting to crystallize into a even
more familiar berserker rage, and Nabiki knew she needed to act
quickly if she was going to survive; a few more minutes, and Akane
wouldn't be listening to anything anyone said. "Moi, Akane? That's the
sort of thing Kasumi and I are talking about, you're lashing out at
your friends and family. I, no, we" -- she turned to look at Kasumi --
"think that maybe you should go in for some counseling next week."
"Both of you? Me? Counseling? I can't believe this!" Nabiki
gulped. Akane's figure was starting to glow red, as her battle aura
came flaming into existence in strict defiance of the laws of
nature... this was the sort of fury normally reserved for Ranma's most
foolish mistakes, not the sort normal, non-suicidal humans wanted to
be in the path of.
But Kasumi stood her ground, placid and enduring. "Yes, Akane. And
Father. We may not know where Ranma is, and we want to find him just
as much as you do, but going around breaking into random people's
houses not doing any good. You've been like this for weeks now; people
have already started complaining around the neighborhood."
Akane knew that Kasumi had a point. The Japanese famously tried to
solve problems outside of their court system, so disputes were usually
settled through the intervention of neighbors. Most of the people
whose houses she had investigated (like the Kunos) were not popular
with the surrounding community, to say the least, so if the neighbors
were now taking their complaints seriously....
Nonetheless, some things were too important to give way to the
neighbors' offended pride. "If certain people were willing to help me,
maybe we'd have found something by now. But as it is, half the time
the people are there waiting for me, making sure I 'be careful'...."
As she spoke, the red around Akane began lightening into a blinding
orange, and streaks of yellow were beginning to flare.
The waves of pressure being thrown off from her sister's aura made
Nabiki stumble back, as she raised her hand to shield her eyes. "You
know, some of my customers depend on my services, sis. I couldn't let
them down in the lurch..." That wasn't helping; she shut her
eyes. That helped some; she could only see a faint glow through her
eyelids.
No sooner had her words been recognized, then the glow seemed to flare
outward, and she was knocked off her feet, to roll down the roof,
towards the edge, her fingers scrabbling for purchase, missing any
handholds, coming closer... yes!, she managed to lodge her feet
against the gutter.
"You think this is a time to worry about MONEY!? AARRGGH! I HATE YOU!"
With an inarticulate cry of rage, Akane leapt, becoming a sun in the
sky, before her shape receded in the distance, marked only by a
cascade of falling telephone poles.
"Well, I think Akane's is growing stronger," Kasumi smiled, attempting
to put the best face on the situation. She strode over to the edge of
the roof, and helped Nabiki climb up to a more secure position.
"Yeah, you could say that," Nabiki finally managed, after a few
minutes to catch her breath. "I think it's a good thing I've got the
party tonight; no more family discussions for a while." She began
climbing down the ladder, and then felt even more depressed when a
thought struck her. 'How did Kasumi stay standing through all that? Am
I the only normal one in this family?'
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
An hour or so later, Kasumi and Nabiki were inside the middle Tendo
daughter's room, as Nabiki prepared for the night's party. She slipped
out of her normal, everyday shorts while looking in the closet for her
dress, talking over her shoulder to Kasumi all the while.
"Only a few more weeks until I get out of Nerima, finally. You know,
it's odd, this summer has been surprisingly peaceful, but it's only
whetted my appetite to get away from the Nerima chaos. I mean, we've
put up with this all our lives, and now I'm just tired of it. I want
out in the real world, to make money, find myself a normal guy who
doesn't go berserk over the martial arts, to find myself a normal
life!"
"Oh, Nabiki. This hasn't been such a bad life, has it? You were happy
here, I think." Kasumi stepped over to the closet and picked up an
outfit Nabiki had discarded. "Oh, my, this is what Prince Toma gave to
you, isn't it? That was such a fun adventure... I hadn't enjoyed
myself so much in, hmm...." Kasumi's voice trailed off a bit as she
considered.
"It was an experience, all right. " Nabiki considered the clothes,
then took it back from Kasumi. It was too tame to attract the
attention she wanted tonight; the sort of sophisticated party-goer she
was stalking were used to flash. Smirking, she stretched out a finger
to grab a thin line of black cloth hanging from the closet rod. 'I
have to admit, I liked poking things up, but now I'm just tired of
it.'
"Oh, I never thought you cared much for sashes, Nabiki."
"I don't. But dresses, now those I like..." Nabiki's smirk widened, as
Kasumi mouth opened in a perfect 'o' of appreciation. "And I
definitely want to impress Kuno-chan's guests."
"Oh dear, you aren't going after Tatewaki, are you? "
"Kuno? I could gag. Why do you think I'd waste my time with him, when
there are so many other, less deluded fish in the sea?"
Kasumi tilted her head, indicating her seriousness. "Well, with how
you've said Tatewaki's settled down these last few months, I was
thinking he might help cheer up Akane."
Nabiki shook her head, as she started to take off her shirt. "Yeah,
he's settled down, sis, but I don't think Akane's going to be warming
up to him anytime soon. He's stopped the insane challenges, but he
still pesters her to date him at least once a week." Tossing the shirt
to the bed, Nabiki walked over to the mirror in the corner, making a
final check that she hadn't suddenly sprouted horns or been tattooed
by a wandering martial artist.
"He still asks her out, even though he's going away soon? How
romantic." Kasumi looked wistfully into the distance.
'Oh, boy. She's not usually this blind; I think she's getting tired of
Tofu's antics. Maybe I'd better offer my assistance soon in landing
her catch. But not tonight; tomorrow. I don't want anything
distracting me tonight.'
"So why /are/ you so excited about this party, Nabiki? That dress
looks a bit much, even for you."
"Not my fault I'm the one with all the fashion sense in this family,
sis. I'm excited because this party is where I'm going to start making
contacts for the real world. The more people I impress tonight, the
easier life will be after college."
"But Nabiki, I thought you had accepted the offer from Kuno
Industries."
"I'm thinking about it, but if I just jumped into bed with him, there
goes all of my leverage. Keep your options open, sis... and speaking
of which, that's why you should start dating other people, so Tofu
realizes he's got to win you over." 'OK, that's a freebie for tonight,
Kasumi. Better take advantage of it.'
Kasumi didn't respond, but her cheeks reddened.
"Anyway, Kuno may have cleaned up his act recently, but deep down I
think he's the same person he's always been. He and I have a lot of
history, and I think I want a clean break." 'That way, I can avoid
people thinking of me as an Ice Queen forever.'
Shooing Kasumi out of her room, Nabiki quickly continued undressing,
before beginning the painstaking process of making herself appear
casually elegant.
She had barely finished, her elaborate hour of work not visible to
anyone who didn't closely examine her face, but working to smooth out
the few flaws in her natural skin, when she heard the telephone ring.
Cursing softly at the interruptions to her plans, she picked up the
handset. "Hello, Nabiki speaking. What do you want?"
The voice on the other end relieved her irritation. "Nabiki Tendo,
your not-entirely-dulcet tone is the angels' choir to me today. But I
called simply to inquire whether you were prepared for the limousine
to pick you up." Kuno's voice seemed somewhat strained, as if he were
physically holding his tongue to stop himself from babbling on about
some new development in his rich fantasy life.
"Yep, just finished." Nabiki couldn't muster her normal layer of
sarcasm in the face of this evening's potential. "I'll be waiting
outside for Sasuke in just a minute."
Kunos voice was noticeably less joyful. "Actually, I must admit that
my loyal retainer is indisposed tonight, and the Kuno family has had
to draw upon the services of a rental agency."
Nabiki laughed silently to herself at the manifest shame in Kunos
voice. Since his reconciliation with his father last month, Kuno had
been throwing around his social rank a lot more. She had had more fun
tweaking his nose in it the last few weeks than she had the entire
previous year -- particularly since Kuno had seemed to shake off a
large part of his buffoon persona. She actually started being subtle
in her mockery, mixing it throughly between layers of innuendo and
deceptive speech. It seemed to be working, keeping her mind flexible
and sharp when she could easily be dulling it by simply floating
through the college entrance exams.
That subtlety had paid off quite well, as Kuno relaxed more around
her. She hadn't realized just how large the Kuno fortune was until his
father called in the Prime Minister, on very short notice, to speak at
their graduation. After learning that, she had upgraded the services
she provided Kuno by helping him avoid some of the more embarrassing
situations that plagued Nerima. And, of course, she had insisted on
being handsomely rewarded for that. A promised executive position, if
she chose, and an introduction to the elite social circles... exactly
what she needed to make her own way in the world.
But she was pretty sure she wouldn't take him up on his offer of a
position within the Kuno family company. Not only did she want to make
a break with her past, she wanted to remain on good terms with her
family. It was pretty clear that Ranma had ended up suspecting
something about his dates with Kuno; maybe he had started building up
a resistance to the drugs, maybe something else had given him a
hint. Once he had worked off his rage and disgust, he would be back
for Akane. It's certainly a good idea to not alienate her future
brother-in-law any more than necessary. 'And that's the one
predictable thing about Ranma,' Nabiki thought, 'he'll never stay down
for long when Akane's involved.'
But back to trolling the fish. "Oh, I'm sure your impressive offer
will guarantee good service," Nabiki purred in response to Kuno,
before making her excuses and hanging up. She burst out giggling, at
that. 'Get a hold of yourself, Nabiki. There's no guarantee how this
night will turn out. And besides, maybe you will take that job after
all.'
She slipped out of her room, almost skipping down the stairs, and out
the door to wait for her ride, not hearing as the phone began ringing
again.
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
Akane hopped from rooftop to rooftop, trying to regain her
control. The air around her, heavy with her dark emotions, noticeably
slowed her down, probably the only reason she wasn't already outside
of the city limits.
As she came to a park, Akane descended to the ground, and among the
peace of the trees, began to unclench her fists. She had lived with
her sisters for years, and knew what they were trying to do. 'They
just don't understand Ranma, though; they never really adjusted to
what his life is like, since they stayed out of most of it.' Her
thoughts continued in this bitter vein, until she came to the lake
that resided at the center of the park. There she knelt and began the
slow, deliberate process of meditation, opening herself to the world
as she contemplated the periodic ripples in the water.
Had she not opened up her senses, she would have missed the two
shadowy figures slinking out of the wooded areas behind her back. But
she did, and quickly without hurrying rose to her feet, pivoting to
face them, alert and ready.
Her alertness proved wasted as the taller of the two stretched up and
waved. "Hey, Akane! We've been looking all over for you, sugar!" The
two figures came bounding over to the lake, before finally coming to a
stop directly in front of Akane.
"Oh, hey, Ukyo." Even to Akane's ears, that sounded flat. The
meditation didn't seem to have left her at peace, just tired. "Any
luck on the search?" Had she truly had any hope for Ukyo's search, she
would have been excited, but as it was...
Akane wasn't surprised that Ukyo looked excited. Ukyo was relentlessly
optimistic in everything she did; by the second week after Ranma's
disappearance, she had assumed Ranma was stuck in the neko-ken, and
had promptly hijacked a milk truck and spent a week haunting animal
shelters, the parks, and people's backyards. She didn't give up until
after the Animal Control tranquilized her, and promised to step up
their own patrols to look for a human who thinks he's a cat. But after
that, she just stopped worrying about it; no real regrets, just on to
the next plan with as much enthusiasm as ever: conducting a
house-to-house search of the entire ward. And if that failed, she'd
probably go on to the rest of Japan.
Akane was surprised, however, to see that Shampoo's face bright and
cheery. The lavender-haired Amazon, when finally convinced that the
other fiancees were not holding Ranma captive somewhere to prevent his
marriage to her, had become a grim-faced huntress in pursuit of
Ranma. Her shakedown of the local dojos in pursuit of clues had been
entertaining. Well, at least for most onlookers, if not the dojos'
masters (the Martial Arts Aromatherapy had resulted in two city blocks
reeking of lemon-grass for a week and a half, but many of the audience
had decided that fiasco was was more than made up for by the Martial
Arts Massage challenge).
Shampoo was visibly bouncing on her toes. "Akane, I just now back from
China. I have compass to find Ranma! We go..."
"WHAT!?" Akane found her nose suddenly pressed to Shampoo's. "What's
this about China?" Shampoo was off the ground, that was odd. "What's
this about Ranma?!" And Shampoo was having trouble trouble
breathing. What was going on?
Suddenly Ukyo swung her spatula, knocking Akane away from
Shampoo. "Stop it! She'll tell you IN A MINUTE!"
'Oh, that was what was going on.' Akane slid backwards, into the lake,
and briefly floundered in the shallow water.
"What'd you do _that_ for?" Akane yelled, realizing that she could sit
in the water with no fear of drowning.
"Akane, you're being ridiculous. Shampoo was about to tell you about
her compass before you lost it." Ukyo calmly held out her spatula so
that Akane could grab a hold of it and clamber sullenly to her feet.
"Is ok. She always like that." Shampoo's good humor had apparently
been completely restored by her trip to China. "Great-grandmother and
I go to China last week, fought tribe for Compass of Location. I won,
and now, we find Ranma!" Shampoo reached into the neckline of her silk
pant-suit, removing a large golden compass on a metal necklace, until
now hidden beneath her hair. She cupped it protectively while tilting
her hands so that Akane could see it.
"A compass? How is that going to help us? We know what direction north
is!" Akane was disgusted. She had briefly seen an end to her search,
but Shampoo was either playing the bimbo role to the hilt, or mocking
her. Neither one was appreciated where Ranma was concerned. "Come on,
Ukyo, let's go back to searching. Maybe we'll find some trace of him
at the Japanese Nannichuan."
Ukyo remained standing, settling a serious gaze on Akane. "Akane,
listen to Shampoo for once. This is too important for our feuds."
There was no hesitation in Ukyo's voice, no trace of the cunning that
she sometimes exhibited when trying to manipulate her
rivals. "Shampoo, show her what it can do."
Shampoo closed her eyes, and began murmuring under her breath. The
compass began glowing, lighting up the area. The entire scene began to
feel hyper-realistic to Akane -- she felt like she could count the
threads of silk in Shampoo's outfit, see every dimple that years of
pounding had beaten into Ukyo's spatula, feel the separate pulses of
her blood as the various valves in her heart closed and opened -- and
then Shampoo opened her eyes and said one recognizable word, her
high-pitched voice ineffably deeper and resonating: "Ranma."
The gold of the compass seemed to gather itself into a ball, and then
spread out, forming a ray as it shot across the lake and into the
town. Akane could only watch dumbfounded with her heightened senses as
it seemed to descend on a particular block in the rich section of
town, and then highlighting one familiar estate.
The beam slowly faded, taking with it the hypersenses, and in the now
ill-focused reality Akane looked around at the other two. "What was
that beam? Did it just show us where Ranma is?"
"Aiyah," Shampoo softly said. "It ancient treasure of the
Joketzusoku. How I track Ranma to Japan years ago. Should never never
be brought away from village; but I challenge for it, I win. It always
shows the truth; Ranma is at end of the beam." From some hidden cache
in the park, Shampoo must have drawn her weapons; she placed a bow on
the ground before her, and began inspecting a sword, making sure it
was ready for use.
Ukyo walked stiffly away from the other two, stepping right at the
edge of the lake, gazing at the ripples. She started a low-voiced
litany, obviously not expecting a response. "You remember when we were
in that area, don't you, Akane? There was a party, but people were
leaving; they had been expecting us, somehow, and didn't want to risk
the social faux pas of confronting us directly. Then we got a guided
tour, before their bodyguards asked us to leave. And we left. It
didn't feel right, but we left; they were open, they were agreeable,
they were forewarned, they tricked us, they tricked us, the Kunos
tricked us!" By the end Ukyo was shouting, and sobbing, and swinging
her spatula in the air, surely decapitating any invisible ninja who
might have been creeping up on her.
Akane was in little better condition, but she managed to step up to
Ukyo and rest her hand on Ukyo's shoulder. "I remember, Ukyo. But we
don't know it's them yet. There could be some reasonable
explanation. And if there isn't...." Akane stopped; there was no need
to go further.
Shampoo slipped her sword into a scabbard tied around her waist, and
picked up the bow. "No time to talk. We go now." She resolutely turned
and began slipping towards the trees.
"No," Akane softly said, her mind still clouded by emotion but
determined for once not to let her strategy be dictated by that. "I've
got a bad feeling about this. First, let me call the dojo, and..."
Akane swallowed. "...get some help."
Ukyo had stopped, and then her expression firmed. "Yes, and then we'll
see Ranchan, no matter what!"
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
Author's notes: Wow, this has been a while. Some people manage to
throw out an incredible chapter every few weeks, it seems; but I
manage to take half a year to crank this out :-) My thanks to the
brave people who sent me encouragement and feedback on the previous
chapter. In particular, I'd like to thank Ginrai for his
encouragement. I'm no longer holding to my previous estimate of there
being 3 chapters in total; my current guess is at least 5, but I'm not
committed to it.
This chapter is very much a 'setting things up' chapter. I tried to
'show, not tell', but I'd appreciate feedback on that (even if it's
just a simple YES or NO, although more details would be certainly
appreciated). As always, any and all comments, including flames,
lampooning, MSTing, and cash money is appreciated.