Complications, part 2 By Kyokukou Disclaimer : I don't own the characters from Ranma 1/2 only the characters that I write myself . So please don't sue me ! But if you try to use my characters .....there will be ...unpleasant consequences if I find out . Do not repost or reprint this without my permission , however if you do ASK there is a good chance I will let you . " Dish served cold? No, revenge is best served with total impunity." -Raishal Chapter 19 How long have you been standing there Raishal Leonorah gritted her teeth as her joints ached. Her body was still in no condition to run for too long. But her fear of Paladin outranked the pain she felt in her knees and hips as her feet ate up block after block. Finally it was too much and she tripped over her own feet. After the short trip to the ground she scrambled to her feet. But her legs shook under her meager weight. No more running now. “ Shit.” She whispered to herself, frantically searching her surroundings for any sign of Paladin. Then she realized exactly where her surroundings were. One block from the Tendo Dojo. Nabiki could be there even if her boss wasn’t. She had seen Nabiki throw three men at once and catch thrown knives with ease. Nabiki could protect her. She started her legs plodding towards the Dojo, one hand on the fence for support. “ So, what do you think about it, Nabiki?” Kasumi asked. “ Define ‘it’.” She marked her place in her magazine. “ Otama going on a date with Ranma?” Kasumi sat down next to her. “ Trouble.” She sighed. “ Daddy means well, but if Otama does start liking Ranma or if Akane does. It’ll be very complicated. And if both Otama and Akane like Ranma then things will get downright ugly.” “ True.” Kasumi nodded seriously, but pressed on. “ But that is not what I meant. I meant, are you jealous?” “ Me?” She turned to face her sister with a neutral face. “ Jealous?” “ Yes you.” Kasumi playfully patted her younger sister on the head. “ After all I recall you being the one to ask Ranma out on a date in the first place.” “ I had ulterior motives.” “ Sure you did.” Kasumi teased. “ Profit was my ulterior motive. And I guess I can take this teasing to mean that you’re jealous of Otama and me?” “ Now that is a…” Kasumi trailed off, rising to her feet. “ There’s someone hurt coming to the door.” “ What-“ “ Nabiki!” A familiar voice called out from outside. “ What the hell,” Nabiki thought. “ could bring Leonorah here?” She rose and joined her sister in hastening to the front door. Kasumi threw it open to reveal a thin girl collapsing towards them. Nabiki caught Leonorah just before the fragile girl could hit the floor. “ What are you doing here?” She muttered, checking the younger girl for obvious injuries. Finding none, she gently shook the semi-conscious girl. “ Hey, can you hear me?” “ Nabiki!” Leonorah gasped, suddenly throwing her arms around Nabiki’s neck and drawing herself up into an embrace. “ Where’s Ranma?” Leonorah asked between gasps. “ Paladin! I ran into Paladin!” “ Whoa! Calm down kid, and tell me what’s wrong.” Awkwardly she returned the embrace with one arm and stroked Leonorah’s hair with the other. “ Ranma isn’t here right now, and I don’t know when he’ll be back.” “ You gotta protect me!” “ I will. Don’t worry. Kasumi is here and so am I. Nothing’s going to happen to you.” * * * “ Sorry about the whole magefair thing being a bust.” Ranma apologized as they exited the temple. “ I had fun.” Otama assured him. “ I mean, there were a few low points, but you can’t tell me that that low gravity restaurant we ate at wasn’t a blast.” “ I’m glad.” Ranma nodded. “ So when are you going to take Akane out?” Otama poked him in the side. Ranma leapt onto the nearby fence and kept walking. “ Ooh no you don’t. That ain’t up to me and you know it. It’s between Kasumi and Akane and I guess everybody else but me.” Otama watched him walk along the fence for a minute or two before speaking again. “ Don’t give me that. You have as much say in this as you want.” Ranma smiled and shook his head as if she had said something childish. “ I was promised to a Tendo daughter the day I was born. That, I have no say in. To my knowledge I have no living brother. That, I have no say in. It is my own honor and my father’s that is on this promise. Then there is the fact that when it really comes down to it. I don’t think that it would be a terrible fate to be married to any one of Soun’s daughters.” “ Really?” She wished he was on the ground for her to elbow. “ Yeah, all I really want to do now is try living a much more normal life for a while. I’m burnt out on high emotions, chaos, battle, and the death it brings. I’d probably get sick of a completely normal life. But from what Uncle Soun has told me, if I join the Tendo household I’ll never be for want of a flow of chaos and random adventure. Sounds like a relaxing retirement…” “ Retirement?” “ From serving my Lord in the wars for nearly five years.” “ I thought it was four.” “ Erk!…um…” “ Ranma!” Someone called. Otama looked down the street to see Nabiki waiting at the gate, waving for them to hurry. “ What’s the problem?” Ranma asked when they were closer. “ Leonorah is here.” Nabiki began. “ Something about some Paladin? What the hell does that mean?” “ Shit.” Ranma’s face darkened. “ Get inside. Now. Nabiki, keep your eyes peeled for any guy that so much as looks wrong at your house. Otama, wake Akane up.” Ranma started for the house ahead of them, but turned around for one last parting shot before entering. “ If either of you see him, get me. Don’t even try to fight him yourselves.” She looked to Nabiki for answers. “ What’s going on? Who’s Leonorah? What Paladin?” Nabiki led the way back inside. “ Paladin –I gather- is some guy’s name or street handle. If Ranma is this concerned about him then he’s bad news in a big way. As for Leonorah, she’s a business acquaintance of mine. Remember the girl I told you about that no one can lie to? That’s Leonorah. Apparently she’s working for Ranma now, and is under some kind of contract with him. This is the first I’ve heard about it and when this Paladin guy is smeared around by Ranma I want some answers.” They entered the living room to find Kasumi standing watch on the back porch. Leonorah sitting at the family table, devouring dinner as Ranma stood over her quizzing the young girl. “ How long has it been since your ran from him?” Ranma asked. “ I didn’t have a watch, I guess it was about four thirty or five?” The girl answered between bites. “ It’s eight forty three now.” Ranma muttered. “ How far did he chase you? When did he stop chasing you and start stalking you?” “ I dunno. I was kinda scared out of my mind at the time.” “ Understandable,” Ranma nodded impatiently. “ but please try to remember.” “ He said that I had two minutes to get a block away…or was it one minute to get two blocks away? Anyway I had that long to get that far or he said he would do something terrible to me.” “ He would.” Ranma snorted. “ So I ran like hell, and I guess I made it in time because as far as I could tell every time I looked behind me he wasn’t there.” “ Did you just look behind you or did you also check the roofs?” “ Roofs?” “ Just about everyone who is physically capable of it likes to roof hop when they are in a hurry. He would roof hop so he didn’t have to weave through a crowd to follow you.” “ Uh, no I didn’t even think of the roofs.” “ Shit.” Ranma sat down where he was and closed his eyes. “ What did you hear about his sister?” “ Only that she’s in town looking for a hit man.” “ Well that buys us some time.” Ranma opened his eyes and smiled. “ If he did not attack right away he’s not going to tonight. He would have stopped surveillance about twenty minutes after you came here. So he knows where here is and that I’m connected to you-“ “ How would he know that?” Nabiki interjected. “ I assume that Leonorah was calling for me and you when she came here. Even when he found out I wasn’t here the two of you would have said my name enough for him to pick up on even on his worst day.” “ But I never sensed anyone unusual anywhere near here?” Kasumi turned around. “ No offence Kasumi, but I’ve proven that some can hide themselves even from you.” Ranma stole a sip from Leonorah’s drink before continuing. “ However, he would have left a long time ago. The man’s got a short attention span for surveillance. However, if he did not decide to attack then, he won’t attack at all tonight or tomorrow. He’ll wait until he can get more information. Also, by now he will have some idea that his sister is in town again looking to kill him. That will be his first order of business. However, unless I move first to deal with him he’ll come here to force my hand. But he’ll only come here if and when he deals with his new assassination threat. So I have a full day tomorrow.” With that said, Ranma stood and headed for the kitchen. “ I’ll have a snack before bed, anyone want anything while I’m up?” * * * The client most definitely knew about the contract now. Or at least Paladin knew that his sister was still hunting around for someone to accept a contract. Nice tactic of hers. As long as word among the circles was that no contract had been settled Paladin would think he still had time. Very nice tactic. From now on he would never trust the word among the circles as much as he used to. Paladin was a paranoid man, a healthy habit, for someone of his professions. He would only eat food prepared himself, or at fast food places that allowed him to watch the preparation. Even then he would only dine at an individual restaurant once. He did not have any visitors, no drugs, no dirty little habits like fetish clubs or anything that would tie him to a place that could be rigged with explosives ahead of time. The only constant seemed to be the building he had claimed as his. Which was undoubtedly rigged with some sort of security by now. It could be anything as low tech as paying off local squatters to keep an eye out, or as high as minicameras the size of a fingernail and electromagnetic field disturbance detectors. No real way to tell from his vantage point six blocks away on the roof of a eight story apartment complex. What he could tell was that Paladin was as ruthless as anecdotes said, if not more so. But he also was much more random in his ruthlessness. A homeless young boy tried to beg from him early that morning. Paladin broke both of the child’s arms before the kid could blink. An hour later two girls and a boy around the same age came up to beg as well. Paladin taught them a game to play with sticks then sent them away empty-handed but unharmed. It was part of his job to understand such a dangerous client. Otherwise he could screw up the hit when the client abruptly turned around to talk to someone or get some forgotten item. You had to be sure of their actions just for one minute, only a minute but you had to be absolutely sure. With someone like Paladin there might not be a second chance. In his profession there were those who had trained themselves to almost inhuman levels of physical ability and skill. Paladin was of the rare breed that scared the shit out of those people. Even through the scope he did not see exactly what Paladin did to break the boy’s arms. Only that the albino’s arm twitched at the same time the boy’s arms broke at the humerus. Taking Paladin on at close quarters would not be an option. Even the thought of trying with an automatic rifle and a good fifty meters distance was bleak. A sniper hit would be the only relatively safe option. But then he had to worry about missing. Martial artists and military personnel had the worst habit of instinctually sensing the danger and moving at the last damn second. He would have to wait until something dangerous was already taking Paladin’s attention. Or he would just have to fabricate such a situation. Pay a gang to rough up what they think is a ordinary guy? Hire a rather stupid newbie and let the guy think he was subcontracting? Maybe… Whatever he sent after Paladin it would have to be something that could last long enough, and that would keep the guy’s pasty white ass still long enough for a head shot. Still very risky. Maybe another method of assassination would be better? Well, until he thought of something better he was stuck observing his quarry. “ Alright girl you have some explaining to do.” Nabiki sat down across the table from Leonorah as the young girl ate a large bowl of something Ranma had made for her before he left. Kasumi was out shopping and her Father was playing chess with Genma in the back yard. It was as close to privacy as she was going to get. “ Shouldn’t you be at school with Akane?” Leonorah gave her a quizzical look. The girl was sharp. “ I’m taking a sick day.” She dismissed. “ So am I.” The younger girl smiled. “ Boss told me to stay here today. Rest up from my run yesterday.” “ About this ‘Boss’ business. When did you start working for Ranma exclusively?” “ Um, just two weeks…wow it feels longer than that.” Her introspection did not deter the thin girl from digging into her meal. “ So for two weeks you have been running around working for Ranma without me hearing any of it? Not from him, not from you.” She gesticulated wildly to express her exasperation. “ Well actually I’m his vassal. That’s why he’s my Boss.” “ VASSAL?” “ Yeah, I swore an oath and everything.” For a moment Leonorah lowered her bowl and stared off into space with a smile. “ That really touches me still. I guess I have more of a purpose now that just surviving day to day. That feels good.” “ Hello! There was something called the BAKUMATSU! No more samurai or feudal system! Post Meiji era to Leonorah!” The younger girl scowled at Nabiki. “ I know that. That’s more or less what I told Boss. But he said something that is very true.” “ What? This I gotta hear.” “ Boss said that honor wasn’t outlawed. All swearing fealty is, is an oath by your honor to serve and protect someone.” “ So what do you get out of this?” She stared to drum her fingers on the table. Leonorah tried to hide a smile as she stole a glance at Nabiki. “ I’m off the street, in my own apartment, with a weekly salary, and I’m in school. I think I’ve gained at least two kilograms now that I can eat regularly.” “ Apartment, salary…” Nabiki’s jaw hung loose. “ Twenty five square meters of floor space.” Leonorah squared her slim shoulders. “ Now, my salary is really low, only nine thousand yen a week. But Boss fits the bill for rent, utilities, and I suspect other things I don’t know about yet.” “ I just can’t compete with that…” Nabiki mumbled. “ What do you have to do for him? There’s gotta be some catch!” “ I’m his vassal. I run around getting info for him. But sometimes he gives me orders to do little weird things. Like go to the park and set off a bottle rocket then leave. Or leave sealed envelopes in weird places around town. But my first real assignment was looking for info about Paladin and his sister. But I had to screw up and go too far when he told me not to right there in the orders.” The young girl slumped her shoulders as she thought about it. “ The whole mess was my fault. I was stupid and took a risk he told me not to. I’m just glad he wasn’t as angry as I thought he would be.” “ I’m sure that he was much more angry than he let on.” Nabiki nodded to herself. “ Jealous…” Leonorah shook her head and smiled. “ I never thought I would ever catch you being jealous.” “ I am not jealous.” Nabiki protested. “ Lie.” Leonorah rolled her eyes. “ Remember who you’re talking to.” “ Alright then little-miss-psychic. What am I jealous about?” Nabiki challenged. Leonorah put down her finished meal and stared hard at Nabiki. “ Think about this for a second, Nabiki. How many times have you seen this same scenario from the sidelines before? You may not expect or like the truth.” “ I know myself enough,” Nabiki sniffed. “ I know the truth.” “ I hope so.” The younger girl sighed. “ So out with it. I know it doesn’t take you more than a second, at the most.” “ You’re jealous of Ranma. Of what he has done for me.” Nabiki folded her arms and glared at the table. “ Can’t say I didn’t warn you.” “ Oh shut up and get something else to eat.” * * * Raishal popped his neck and continued down the street. It had taken him weeks and weeks of hard, sweaty, detestable labor but he had done it. The newfound power his blade now granted him would mean the death of Tendo Nabiki, and her soul’s eternal imprisonment! Oh life was good. He looked down at the map he had brought. Tendo was such a stupidly common surname in this country! So far he had checked three quarters of all the Tendos in Tokyo. It had been so nice of that woman at the library to print out the phone book list compilations. Otherwise he would just have to have gone from phone book to phone book tearing out all the different area codes for Tokyo. “ Lets see now…Tendo Katsumasa, Tendo Kanzan, Tendo Soun, Tendo Jiro…” “< Foreigner, are you lost?>” A little woman tapped him on the shoulder. “< Thank you for your concern Miss, but I am just looking for the nearest Tendo residence.>” Although convenient, it was sad that he had been looking for Tendo Nabiki for so long that he no longer stumbled over the Japanese language. “< Nearest? Oh you must mean the Tendo Dojo. Where that nice man, Soun, lives. It’s just a few blocks east of here.>” “ Wonderful! Your death is at hand my tormentor!” He laughed. “< Thank you so much. I will be on my way now.>” Raishal nodded to the woman and started off in the indicated direction at a brisk pace. His blood quickening a little with each step. Finally, after long last. He had found her home. Now she would have nowhere to hide from him. Alright, so she would have plenty of hiding places in all reality, but it was something he had never been able to do before! Fine, she had been traveling with her family for years, and had only gone home just a year ago. But he would… “ Aww screw drama.” He muttered and broke into a run. “ How does Nabiki like the earring?” She asked Ranma as she finished updating her site. “ Honestly Rei?” Ranma chuckled behind her. “ She hardly ever wears the thing. I think the inability to lie sometimes outweighs the benefit of being a lie detector to her. At least for now.” Once the FTP program was uploading her updated catalogue she turned around in her swivel chair. Ranma was staring at an old golden Incan idol she had gotten by sheer chance at an auction on Ebay. “ You like it?” She giggled. Ranma was so fun to watch. “ Not specifically.” Ranma peered in close to it before standing straight. “ I just like Native American art and architecture. This is South American?” “ Inca.” She hopped off her chair and moved beside her friend. “ This is one that I think is beyond your talents.” Ranma considered the idol for a few moments. “ I’m not sure it’s totally beyond me.” He began slowly, his eyes already violet. “ It’s very, very old and a masterwork of some holy order…It only has one function…” “ Anything more?” She asked, gently grabbing his arm. “ …Wait…it has another function.” “ It does?” News to her. “ What is it?!” “ I think…yes it does.” “ Does what?!” “ It makes Julianne fries!” “ I should hurt you.” She shifted her grip on his arm. Trying to dig her nails into it. Ranma only laughed and she only managed to hurt her fingers. He was so much tougher than he looked, it felt like the arm of a marble statue under his skin. Next time she would have to use a salve of softening on him first. Or something like that. “ So was I right about the other things?” Ranma grinned down at her. She took a second to just take in his face. If only she were three or four years older… “ Well,” She relaxed her grip on Ranma’s arm and simply leaned her head on his arm as she stared at the idol. “ it’s a very ancient idol from the Incan empire. A religious relic supposedly once used to transfer the dying elder priests into young bodies so that they might continue their service for another lifetime. That’s the legend. I have too many artifacts that’s true function is far removed from what their legend says they do.” “ Hmm. It is definitely powerful enough to transfer souls from body to body. If that is not it’s real function then it must do something equally profound.” A thought struck her. She gave his arm a slight squeeze. “ Say didn’t you tell me that the youngest Tendo daughter has a sorceress inside her? Something about the sorceress having to abandon her body?” “ Well this thing couldn’t do the job until we know two things first.” Ranma replied. “ One: exactly how to work this thing and at what cost. Two: where is Otama going to go? We don’t exactly have a spare body for her just lying around without any mind or soul of its own.” “ I’m sure we could grow a body for her.” She stared at the idol. “ I once had a thing called a ‘Coffin of Rebirth’. You’d sleep in it with the lid closed and it would heal any injury you had, as long as you were alive. It regrew the legs of a landmine victim in Cambodia. That’s who I got it from. With things like that I’m sure you, myself, and Otama could figure something out.” “ But first we have to be sure of this thing.” Ranma gestured to the idol. “ True.” She nodded, and released her grip on Ranma. “ Anyway, I’m sure you did not come here to talk about this thing.” “ Paladin is here in Tokyo.” Ranma said seriously. “ I know.” She nodded, suppressing a shudder from memories. “ I’ve set up precautions that even he would think twice about. As long as I make it more trouble than reward for him to kill me I’m safe.” “ Good. But the Tendos are not, and neither is Leonorah.” “ Who?” “ Mutual friend and employee of Nabiki and I.” “ Alright. Now what can I do to help?” She stared fiddling with her braid, a nervous habit she never bothered to break. “ Paladin’s sister is here too.” Ranma said. “ Great! Maybe she’ll finally kill him.” She snorted. “ At least she should come to me first. Some of the scrolls I just got in from up north might be worth taking a crack at that curse he put on them. No sense in her dying with her brother.” “ Exactly what I was coming to.” Ranma smiled. “ I thought she might have come to you for exactly that reason or at least for some weapon to take down her brother. She may have sent someone else in her place. Any customers out of your ordinary clientele lately?” She took her time searching her memory. “ There was that one woman with reptilian eyes. But she was looking for some kind of vampire slaying thingy. Um…a old man was looking for some kind of gender changing belt.” “ That reminds me. If you run across something that might counter a Junsenkyo curse. Please tell me.” She chuckled wickedly. “ Rei, don’t toy with me about this.” “ Oh a gender changing belt would be burned out by your curse. Couldn’t help you if I even had one.” “ You know what I meant.” “ Do I?” She giggled. “ I was just thinking of what kind of price tag I’d slap onto the thing that could break your curse.” “ Do I even want to ask?” “ Nope.” “ Then I won’t.” He shook his head. “ Now, you were tying to think of unusual customers.” “ Oh yeah, let me see. Hmm, there was that tall Indian guy. He was looking for things that would help him beat three or four powerful martial artists at once. That could correlate to one Paladin…maybe that baldy was an assassin hired by Xain?” Ranma however had a worried look on his face. “ Describe this guy. Was he about a head taller than me?” “ Yup.” “ Shaved head, not natural baldness.” “ Looked like it.” “ Young guy, in his late twenties?” “ I guess.” “ Did he have tattoos, lots of them?” “ Yeah, but I don’t read any Hindi.” “ One last thing. Did he call himself Raishal?” “ Yeah, weird name huh?” “ Excuse me Rei, but I have to go see if Nabiki is still alive.” “ Hey wa-“ She was cut off by the sudden flurry of wind and movement as Ranma blurred past her and out of the building. “ I am not.” Leonorah turned her head away and sniffed. “ Oh come on. It’s the rescued maiden effect. Admit it.” Nabiki pressed. “ He’s my Boss and much older than me.” “ So?” Nabiki patted Leonorah on the back. “ The heart does not care for age. Akane fell for a guy almost twice her age once.” “ Did she date him?” “ Well…no.” “ HA!” The younger girl poked Nabiki gently on the nose. “ That does not mean that she didn’t feel strongly for him, or that you can’t go for Ranma.” Nabiki poked Leonorah’s nose in riposte. “ Why would you want more competition?” Leonorah asked. “ Competition? That would mean that I’m actively seeking out Ranma’s favor.” “ You are.” “ I am not.” “ Now this is a circular argument.” Came a male voice from the koi pond. Nabiki stiffened in fright at the sound. That fact alone nearly sent Leonorah into a panic. She looked past Nabiki to the tall Indian man standing there with a sword drawn and murder in his eyes. “ How long have you been standing there Raishal?” Nabiki slowly turned around, a cocky expression now firmly fixed on her face. “ Long enough.” The Hindu replied. “ Care to come out and die with dignity? Or do I have to tear up your home to take your soul?” “ Leonorah, run to Kasumi.” Nabiki slowly got to her feet. “ But she’s at the bath house!” “ And your Father and his friend are gone as well.” Raishal grinned like a hungry wolf. “ I checked only a minute ago.” “ Go to Ranma’s room.” Nabiki growled to Leonorah. Before she could turn and run from the room she watched Nabiki practically fly from the porch at the Hindu man. Who leapt away before Nabiki was even halfway to him. When she heard a surprised cry from Nabiki she knew that this was not going to be a usual fight where Nabiki dispatched all comers in timeframes measured in quarters of seconds. She ran, the sounds of Nabiki fighting for her life lending speed to her steps. * Raishal: See Chapters 2 and 8 for a reminder of who this obscure character is. He’s back and more pissed off than ever! Too bad Rei never got to tell Ranma exactly what Raishal bought.