[Ranma/NGE/HPL/AMG][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri - Chapter 8: Oderint dum Metuant

[Daniel Gibson]

We have met the enemy and he is us.
Walt Kelly (Pogo Possum)

[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri

Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis Evangelion,
Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these stories. And I'll
put them back when I've finished with them.

C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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What has gone before:
About Book 11, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma out of the house,
Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him. They meet pilots Shinji Ikari
and Rei Ayanami, then pilots Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffery Davis.
The Pilots and the EVAs board the CVB-43 Coral Sea to sail to Tokyo,
testing the pilot/EVA combinations on the trip. The Great Old Ones Chaugnar
Faugn and Rhan-Tegoth escape their somnambulance aboard ship and escape.
They are captured, then killed. An Angel attempts to attack Unit 02, it is
killed by Asuka and Jeff cooperating in Unit 02's entry plug. Asuka
realizes Jeff is her old friend from the Dreamlands, they tell Misato, who
doesn't believe them. Shinji finds he has a friend in the new pilot.
With the arrival in Tokyo of all six pilots, the first battle against
the school 'mafia' goes entirely the pilots' way. Moving Asuka and Jeff
into their new quarters reveals a few new problems, and raised quite a few
questions in all the pilots' and their guardians' minds. An assassination
attempt on Gendo doesn't go as planned. Ranma's terrifying nightmares
continue and take an unexpected twist, Nabiki also has one, intensified by
Rei, who was under orders to.
The first day of school increased the tensions between the pilots and
the 'school mafia'. The new housemates settle in, with quite a few rough
spots for all concerned.
The Russians continue planning the defense of 'Rasputin's Legacy' at
Tunguska. General Borodin wants to avoid a conflict with the EVAs, a
conflict that Stalin and other militarists are pushing for.
Compatability tests with Unit 02 and the pilots go over really well
with Asuka, until Shinji steps in, she reluctantly agrees to allow them.
Much the the relief of NERV Security and the Marine guards.
Nabiki, Admiral Simson, Hiroko and Jeff plan the defeat of the 'school
mafia' once and for all.
Jeff meets with representives of the Council, and draws his plans to
destroy the Cthonians, and regarding Nabiki's and Ranma's fate.

Chapter 8: Oderint dum Metuant [Let them hate, as long as they fear]
Bunk beds
Jeff heard and felt the soft foot falls around him. He opened his eyes
to see his roommate, he didn't think he was dancing, but that's what it
looked like. Jeff slipped out of his bedroll. He was amazed that Ranma
neither altered his patterns, nor struck him as he stood up.
"Saotome-san, just what are you doing? And do you do this every
morning?"
"Katas." Ranma continued.
Jeff watched him for several minutes. Nabiki opened the door to the
boys' room, watched Ranma going through the motions. That seemed to be the
first thing to disturb the patterns of his movements.
"Saotome-san? How high do you usually kick in your practice?" Jeff
asked.
Nabiki blanched when Ranma planted his foot right against Jeff's
forehead. She dreaded that the other boy would start a fight, Ranma had
been pushing him as hard as he could. Nabiki fully expected that would be
the final straw.
"Did you at least wash that first?" Jeff asked calmly. He reached up
and touched Ranma's foot. "That's 5"7", call it 5'9", that's . . . 175
centimeters." He shoved Ranma's foot off his head and walked to his steamer
trunk.
Ranma returned to his practice, seemingly irritated he'd gotten no real
reaction from the other boy. Nabiki thought he was asking for it,
Akagi-sensei wouldn't appreciate Ranma picking on the other pilots.
Jeff pulled a folding carpenter's ruler from his trunk and measured the
height of the ceiling. "Well, that doesn't give me much space to deal with,
but . . . " He turned to Nabiki, "When's breakfast?"
Nonplused, "Ah, I don't know who's cooking," she admitted.
"Well, I'll take care of that. I hope you two don't mind omelets." He
left and headed to the kitchen.
"Wimp." Ranma smiled as the other boy left.
"It's too early in the morning to start a war, Saotome," she told him,
"Everybody knows that. Except you."
----------------------------------------
"This is terrific," Dr. Akagi commented.
"I've never had any complaints," Jeff replied, "Although, it will take
some time getting used to Japanese cooking."
"You'll make a good wife someday," Ranma told him.
Jeff stared down at his plate, certain there had been more food there
a few moments ago. "It least I have some useful skills."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ranma demanded.
"Is there a professional, what art do you use anyway?" Jeff asked.
"Kempo," Nabiki supplied, "No, there's no professional circuit. Not
like boxing."
"Well, then Saotome-san, I suggest you save your wages. Since you have
no useful skills. No skills that matter in the real world."
"You want a rematch?" Ranma sneered.
"That will put food on your table, how?" Jeff asked.
"There are things that are more important than money!" Ranma intoned.
"Like honor?" Jeff asked innocently.
"Exactly," Ranma agreed.
Jeff nodded, and got up from the table, putting the plate containing
his remaining breakfast on the floor, well out of Ranma's reach. He
returned with one of the three boxed lunches he'd prepared, handed it to
Ritsuko. "With my and Saotome-san's compliments, sensei. Ranma's going to
be having honor for lunch, or honorably beating up the weak, to steal their
lunches, in the finest tradition of Bushido militarism."
Ranma and Ritsuko grimaced at the exchange. Nabiki laughed.
----------------------------------------
Commander Fuyutsuki thought he'd been meeting with these tedious people
for hours, facing SEELE's spokesmen in the special conference room that
projected their images from across the globe.
"The processes continue," Chairman Kehl told Fuyutsuki, "But you are
substantially behind schedule."
"With the testing of the pilots and the EVAs completed," Fuyutsuki
replied, "We can refocus our efforts on Human Complementation. We will
return to the existing schedule."
NERV France began with a complaint, "The concentration on toadying up
to the Americans does not assist the Agenda. The resources you used, could
have better been applied in other ways."
Fuyutsuki noticed that even Kehl was uncomfortable with the assumption
that the French Unit should be fighting alongside the others. "Does France
intend to make up the vast monetary and industrial resources lost if the
Americans withhold theirs?" he asked, now watching NERV France squirm. "I
believe, we cannot yet ignore political realities."
----------------------------------------
Fuyutsuki was dragging as he left the conference room after the images
of SEELE faded. "I see why you hate those meetings." He told Gendo when he
saw his friend waiting.
Gendo nodded, "No complaints about you replacing me at the meeting."
"It never came up," Fuyutsuki said, concerned, "That's odd."
Gendo nodded, "I think I'll let you take the next few meetings. It is
necessary that they don't get the idea they can snap their fingers and we
must jump." He started walking, Fuyutsuki fell in behind him, "We still
have to answer to them, but let them learn there are other powers, and calls
on our time."
Fuyutsuki nodded his agreement, he was considering why none of them had
commented on Gendo's absence, normally they bawled like petulant children
when things didn't go _exactly_ their way. It worried him.
----------------------------------------
"Are you heading home?" Nabiki asked as she entered the locker bay and
changed into her outside shoes.
"No," Jeff replied, "A quick test with Unit 02 and then I have a few
things to pick up. If I have to stay with Dr. Akagi, there are a few
elements I have to take care of."
"Like what?" Nabiki asked, she was intrigued.
"Oh, that would hardly be fair," Jeff said, "And it would spoil the
surprise."
"I could follow you," Nabiki retorted.
"And spend time away from . . . " he sighed and said dreamily,
"Ranma-kun?" Jeff continued, "I've seen the way you look at him, and we
have our agreement. I can guess which way you'll choose." Jeff grinned at
her as he walked off.
Nabiki fumed, he was right. She was more interested in being alone
with Ranma for a few hours, than solving the mystery of the new boy.
----------------------------------------
Ranko watched the fight from a tree. He'd gotten splashed again, and
was hiding from Toji when she saw Raccoon, as he was leaving the school,
confronted by six of the 'school mafia' that Nabiki had been tangling with
lately. She'd been torn between helping her fellow pilot, and hiding from
Toji. In moments it was obvious, Raccoon hadn't needed any help. There was
only one word Ranko could have for the fight she'd just witnessed.
Pathetic, I could have beaten all of them together. The 'mafia' had
sent five bruisers to 'explain' to Raccoon. Boys picked for their physical
size. Most were as big as Seniors from High School, and that made them very
intimidating to most of the other students. Except Raccoon was as tall as
them. With sizes equal, it came down to skill, and dirty tricks. Although
Raccoon was no great shakes as a fighter from Ranko's point of view, he'd
surprised the others and kept the pressure on. He'd won more by bluff and
inferior opponents, than any real skill on his part.
Have to admit the trick with the cane and coat was neat, Ranko
considered.
Raccoon had knocked the wind out of two, dropped his coat and cane on
them, they now acted as if they were trapped under a tremendous weight,
gasping and struggling.
And the trick with the tie, she grudgingly appreciated that one.
One of the boys had grabbed Raccoon's tie, the reason Ranma _never_
wore one. The knot had come undone in the boy's hand, leaving him with a
piece of cloth, and an angry Raccoon.
That trick I have to learn.
He'd been ridiculed for not wearing a tie at more formal occasions,
Raccoon was in formals everywhere, and it didn't seem to hamper his
fighting, poor as it was.
Ranko strained her ears to listen, Raccoon was talking to some of the
fallen opponents.
"Listen, I need to get your attention." Raccoon stepped down on the
leg, just above the knee, of the leader 'trapped' under his cane, he kicked
him full force below the knee.
Ranko cringed as the boy screamed. That was a dislocation or a broken
leg, Ranko was considering intervening on the other side when Raccoon
started talking again.
"Tendo-san and I will be willing to accept the surrender of your
leaders, and are willing to accept some of you into our organization. I am
willing, and able, to continue to deliver lessons like this, again and
again, the choice is entirely yours. And before you go crying to the
authorities, I have two witnesses that you attacked me, Saotome Ranko and
Suzuhara Toji, who are both more credible than you."
Toji's around here! Ranko looked around desperately, wondering if she'd
been seen by the lovesick teen-ager. He hated being pawed and drooled over
by half the male population of the school, he hated being silent when the
other guys related their fantasies about Ranko to each other, around him.
She spotted Toji, staring at the spectacle, as shocked and stunned by the
violence as Ranko herself was.
"If you consider that I may be the worst fighter among the pilots,"
Raccoon told the group, who were trying to stand despite their injuries.
Nope, pal, Shinji's worse, Ranko thought disgustedly, You ain't even
top of the bottom.
"Tendo or the Saotomes will take care of business even more
effectively. Now, go." Raccoon told them.
"What about me?" the boy trapped under Raccoon's coat shouted
desperately.
"You and I are going to have a heart-to-heart discussion." Raccoon
stood over the fallen boy.
Wimp, that coat can't weigh more the 20 kilos, even if it was solid
metal, even with all the junk Raccoon carries in it. Ranko watched Toji and
Raccoon. Toji seemed eager to watch, he'd beaten up Shinji the first chance
he had, Nabiki had beaten him up in response. By the look on Toji's face,
Raccoon was going to escape un'tested'.
"Why did you join them? They only started adding people after
Saotome-san put their top 15 fighters in the hospital, you knew you'd be
facing him eventually. Are you that brave, or that stupid? I can't beat
Saotome, either of them."
Got that right, Ranko thought, At least he knows who the best is.
"I needed money," the boy called. Raccoon picked up his coat, the boy
stood up suddenly.
"Then if you can use your brains, as well as your fists, Tendo-san and
I may have a job for you. Your first test of your brains, is to go over,
and bring Suzuhara-san over here, you may not touch or speak to him in any
threatening way. Anything else is up to you, let's see if you have what we
need."
Ranko watched the other boy run towards Toji, glancing over his back at
Raccoon, Ranko thought it was 50-50 he'd simply run around the corner and
keep running, rather than stop and return with Suzuhara. A quick
conversation between the two, while Raccoon walked over to the tree Ranko
was hiding in.
Shit! Go 'way, shoo, damn. Ranko tried to catch Raccoon's attention,
and send him away, Raccoon either wouldn't or didn't notice. Ranko
retreated deeper in the foliage.
Toji and the other boy walked over to Raccoon. "You wanted to see me."
Toji puffed himself up, glanced at the other boy, "He says it's important."
"It is. I trust I don't need to prove my prowess in fighting. The
truth is I can't fight tournament-style, like Ranma and Ranko-san can, I can
only wound, cripple or kill my opponents." He paused to let that sink in,
"There will be no further 'testing' or 'disciplining' of the pilots. Anyone
who is foolish enough to try, will face me, one of the Saotomes, Tendo-san,"
he paused again, "Or Ayanami-san. Any problems or complaints will be
brought with all dispatch to Tendo-san or myself. Is that clear?"
Toji nodded, started to say something.
"I know," Raccoon interrupted, held up his hands, "Leaving it to us
means we'll go easy on them. Believe me, any of us who step out of line,
will wish the rest of the students were taking care of things. Being above
the ordinary means being held to a higher standard." Raccoon suddenly
leaned forward, catching the collar of Toji's jacket, lifting him off the
ground, one-handed, "That means your comments about Pilot Asuka Soryu
Langley stay comments . . . you don't want to know about the 'or else.' Are
we understanding each other?"
"Yes, yes, Davis-san, I understand." Toji squeaked as his feet
dangled.
"Very well." Raccoon set Toji back on his feet, "Please inform the
appropriate groups and cliques within the school. I am trusting you with
this assignment, carry it out and I can promise other jobs, and my
gratitude. Tendo-san and I are assembling our organization, I can promise
certain benefits. Perhaps some danger and adventures, if that's your taste.
Young man, Seisuke-san, you may now go. Suzuhara-san has something private
to hear."
The boy nodded and ran off, glad he had escaped the beating his
comrades, his ex-comrades, had received.
"Toji, may I call you Toji? Toji, leave - Ranko - alone, she isn't my
girl, but I know enough about girls to know that unless they are _very_
interested, they don't poach on another girl's territory. As far as Ranko
is concerned, you, are the Class President's territory. And the more you
irritate her, the more you distance yourself from Ranko."
"You want her for yourself," Toji growled.
"No, I'm merely the college student, trying to impart his hard-earned
wisdom. Ranko will tolerate your presence and actions, then she'll pound
you into scrap, literally. And there's nothing you can do to change that."
"Is that an order or a threat?" Toji asked, squared his shoulders.
"No, I'll let Ranma and Ranko fight their own battles."
"Ranma and Ranko?" Toji asked, his confidence vanished.
Raccoon sighed, "Saotome, similar appearances, the same taste in
clothes, both are EVA pilots, do the math. Only Ranma is _that_ willfully
stupid."
Ranko wanted to confront Raccoon for that, but she did not want to
confront Toji as a girl when she did.
"Brother and sister?" Toji asked.
"From twins to cousins, I haven't been able to narrow it down.
Tendo-san and Langley keep telling me they're the same person, because I've
never seen both of them at once. But that's just a joke I suspect the three
girls are playing on me."
Toji chuckled at that.
"As I said, she's not interested in you, I'm just her friend, she's not
interested in Shinji-kun. Maybe she's so disgusted by everyone fantasizing
about her, she doesn't want anything to do with _any_ schoolboys."
"I'll prove my love to her," Toji said.
Raccoon sighed again, "Your funeral. I'll try to keep her from peeing
in your ashes. Good day to you, sir." He tipped his hat.
Ranko watched Toji run off.
"Okay, Ranko-san, he's gone. And you can't say I didn't try."
Ranko landed next to him, Raccoon glanced at her, shook his head.
"How'd you see me?" Ranko asked.
"Red hair, red shirt, in a green tree. Why not use flares? You need
to learn more about camouflage, if you're going to keep hiding."
"Do you have any hot water?" Ranko asked.
Raccoon sighed, looked at the redhead, "Look, I apologized to
Tendo-san. How long do I pay for one stupid joke?" Raccoon marched off,
Ranko had to run to keep up.
"It's not a joke," Ranko told him, "It's embarrassing."
"You're a pretty girl. A little over developed for a
fourteen-year-old, but so is Langley. You'll grow into it. Look at me, I'm
going to have to. I'm the tallest pilot at 5' 7", or 170 centimeters, I'm
as tall as or taller than Captain Katsuragi and Ritsuko-sensei. But do you
know who the lightest pilot is?"
Ranko shook her head.
"Me, I'm three kilos lighter than Ayanami-san, basically I'm all skin
and bones. I'm taller and lighter than Katsuragi, Langley or Tendo-san, and
they _hate_ that. If I grow up the way my father and uncle William did,
I'll be six foot something and 80 to 120 kilos. Believe me, I've got a long
way to go. You just developed early, it happens."
"That's not what I mean," Ranko shot back.
"Well, I guess Tendo-san and Ritsuko-sensei can help you pick out some
under garments, keep you from bouncing and showing so much. It'll be more
comfortable. Your, Ranma, would be useless for that. Ask the other women,
I'll ask them for you if you like."
"That's not it either!" Ranko shouted.
"Then I can't help you. Should I walk you home?" Raccoon asked.
"I live at your apartment," Ranko said with exasperation.
"Yes, of course." Raccoon looked like he had an idea, then looked
angry, "Darn, that would have worked too."
"What?"
"Well, if you really are Ranma, at least you all keep telling me you
are, then I could have told Toji we're sleeping together. After all, Ranma
and I sleep in the same room, and if you and he are the same person, then
we're sleeping in the same room. We'd just have to tell them we aren't
having relations. That would have worked too."
Ranma remembered his nightmare, and was too shocked at the implications
to respond, or even move, as Raccoon headed away from the apartment.
----------------------------------------
Ranma entered the apartment as a boy, Raccoon's suggestions were still
bothering him. He was a _guy_, he didn't wear girly clothes, he didn't
sleep with other . . . well he did _sleep_ with them, but he didn't have sex
with them. The dream of Ranko seducing Raccoon came back, Ranma shivered
again.
"You're late," Nabiki told him, "Were you out on a date." She was
seated at the dining room table, working on her homework.
"I got splashed and had to dodge Toji" he replied, entered the kitchen,
helped himself to a snack out of the refrigerator.
"He must have caught you," Nabiki said, "Considering how nervous you
are. Just one kiss shook you so much." She sighed, "It couldn't have been
as romantic and passionate as Raccoon's first kiss."
Ranma blanched at that, Nabiki laughed.
"Don't worry, you'll find a true love who just makes you all warm
inside," Nabiki told him, "Home and family and lots of kids running all over
the house. Just think of all the young students, a whole tribe of little
Ranmas."
A HUGE sweatdrop formed on Ranma's brow.
"Oh, I forgot. You aren't interested in girls. It must be Ranko, has
she found someone who makes her heart go pitter-patter? Some brave knight
to save her from mean ole' Ranma?"
Ranma was nearly shaking, with fear and rage. Nabiki's teasing was a
little too close to the truth and his nightmares. He stroked his stomach,
Would I kill an innocent to get my manhood back? Would I let a guy . . . do
that to me? "No, I just watched Raccoon fight, he's real bad."
"Oh," Nabiki enthused, "Watching your brave knight and wanting to give
him a token as he goes into battle for your honor." She sighed again, laid
her head on the table, "Why can't I have a romantic man like that after me.
Courtly love to the girl he knows he can never have. It's just sooo
romantic."
Ranma couldn't figure out if he should be revolted or terrified, "I'm
a _GUY_!_"
"But you aren't interested in girls. Maybe you're interested in other
guys, there's nothing to be ashamed of, you just indulge yourself as Ranko,
and nobody has to know. I can keep a secret, for a fee I can tell you his
favorite foods, his favorite perfume, just the right clothes to wear."
"I don't date guys, either!" Ranma shouted at her. Realized as she
smiled, she'd just been trying to get under his skin. I'll turn the tables
on her! "Just 'cause he likes Ranko better than you, I bet he never offered
to buy you underwear!" From her expression, he realized what a mistake he'd
made.
"Ooo! Frilly things with lace and silk?!" Nabiki leaned forward, "I am
sooo very jealous. I'm sure he suggested it in a proper manner. You know
Saotome, you should wear something in your girl form. It would cut down on
the interest and if you don't you might hurt yourself."
Ranma shivered at the suggestion and what Nabiki's accuracy implied,
"It's not like that!" he shouted back.
Nabiki patted his hand, "I know, he was a perfect gentleman about it,
when all you wanted was for him to sweep you up in his arms." She sniffed,
"I know the heartbreak of a man you love never seeing you. It's so
sentimental and so sad."
"It's nothing like that I'd never . . . " He fell silent.
"Something _did_ happen, didn't it?" Nabiki asked. "Come on, out with
it Saotome. Or Toji gets a free show, and you'll be dodging him as Ranma
and Ranko."
"It was just a dream!" Ranma countered angrily.
"The dream where you nearly broke Jeff's nose, the same one where you
nearly took my head off?" Nabiki said angrily. "That wasn't 'just a dream',
you could have killed or crippled both of us."
"I don't want to talk about it." Ranma got up to leave the table.
Nabiki blocked his way, "I already know your 'I don't hit girls' pledge
went out the window that night. Shaddup!" she shouted as he tried to
protest, "So you are going to tell me. Then we are going to find an answer,
if I have to roast you and Roku-kun over hot coals, I'll get an answer.
Now, _SIT_DOWN_!_"
Ranma felt himself drop into the chair almost against his will.
"I apologize for teasing you," she said formally, "Now spill it!"
Ranma reluctantly told her about the dream, Ranko seducing Raccoon to
keep Ranma suppressed, for years. He was grateful Nabiki kept her 'Ice
Princess' expression and persona in place the whole time, he still felt she
was boring into his personal feelings a little too much. He wasn't sure how
much blackmail material he was providing her with.
When he'd finished, Nabiki sat back in her chair and considered. Any
move he made to get up netted him an angry glare from her, he'd quickly sit
back down.
"First, I don't think he'd ever do that. Second, I don't think Ranko
would ever do that," Nabiki said quietly.
"There is no Ranko!" Ranma insisted, "I'm a guy!"
"And _she's_ definitely a girl," Nabiki coldly replied, "You haven't
come to grips with that. For a Martial Artist not to understand yin and
yang is pathetic. Everyone has male and female characteristics, your denial
of that makes your female half stronger because of that suppression. The
dream might be a warning."
"I'm a guy, I don't want to be a girl. _EVER_!_"
"You don't have that choice," Nabiki replied, "Deal with that and the
nightmares, might, go away."
"This is pointless," Ranma left, ignoring Nabiki's glare. He closed
the door to his bedroom and lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling. That
_can't_ be the answer.
----------------------------------------
Raccoon entered the apartment with a huge, long parcel under his arm,
a parcel that clanked. He set it down long enough to remove his boots, and
change into inside shoes. The noise drew Ranma out of the bedroom and his
own thoughts.
"If you were bringing home all this," Ranma indicated the parcel, "You
could have asked one of us to help."
Raccoon shrugged, "If I had known what I was looking for, I would have
asked for help. I wasn't aware that, what I was looking for, didn't exist."
"So what did you get?" Nabiki asked.
"A few things." He extracted a package of bottles of colored liquids,
"To deal with some of the arguments that come up." He exposed a collection
of heavy pipes. "And a bunk bed."
"Out of pipes?" Ranma said in disbelief.
"I told you." Raccoon hefted the cluster of pipes, "You need to learn
a salable skill. Like thinking. Stand clear."
Ranma grimaced at that as he watched the other boy weave through the
living room and walk into the bedroom. Raccoon touched nothing with the
unwieldy parcel.
"See what I mean," Ranma commented, "He doesn't move normally."
Nabiki agreed, and left to watch. Ranma could careless about what
Raccoon was doing, although he was suspicious of the attention Nabiki was
paying to him.
For over an hour Ranma heard Raccoon assembling, tightening and he
could smell the soldering. Ranma was disgusted by Nabiki's fascination as
the collection of plumbing changed into two shelves and a framework. The
shelves were heavily cross braced, they slipped into the frame, and the
structure took on form and function.
"Saotome-san, I need to show this to you," Raccoon called to Ranma.
Ranma meandered in, he stared at the odd structure. "What, what is
that?"
"A bunk bed. You put your futon here." He indicated the lower shelf,
"And when you want to do your practices." He grabbed the bunk and folded it
up, then back and out of the way, "That will get it up and out of your way,
and you don't have to roll up your futon every morning, just fold it out of
the way."
"Uh, that's, uh, clever," Ranma said.
Nabiki slapped him on the back of the head, "Say 'Thank you,' dummy."
"I wasn't expecting thanks. Not from him, anyway," Raccoon commented.
He walked smiling, past a fuming Ranma.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki remembered there were few insults greater than not acknowledging
a debt, and if Davis believed Ranma wouldn't acknowledge his debts, Whoo
boy, Ranma you were looking for a fight. Now you've got one. She paused,
I'll have to find out how he feels about Ranko, since 'They're not the same
person.' Maybe talk to him about the dream, get him to train Ranma. She
sighed, Yeah, that will happen. Then she considered an alternative, and
smiled.
----------------------------------------
Raccoon prepared dinner, the recently-made chart made it his job
tonight. Dr. Akagi was mildly shocked at the added furniture in her home.
Raccoon had shown her how the entire assembly could be folded up and set
against the wall, and the boards that dispersed the weight over a larger
area. Ranma was more interested in supper. Whatever Raccoon was cooking,
it did smell good.
I can cook that well, Ranma thought, Maybe better. It depressed him
that cooking was a girl's skill, and he was so good at it. It was
embarrassing, Why aren't Shinji and Raccoon embarrassed by that? Probably
'cause they ain't real guys. Like you? Ranma ignored that thought.
"Well, it's my first attempt at real Japanese cooking, as opposed to
the American interpretations." Raccoon set the dishes on the table, "But I
think it's edible." He set a covered dish in front of each person.
"Now Saotome-san, I have watched you steal food right off my plate,
since San Francisco. I don't know if you - "
"I don't steal food!" Ranma retorted.
Ritsuko and Nabiki exchanged smiles, they had both discussed this, and
Ranma had denied it every time. I don't steal food, or anything else, Ranma
thought.
"Okay, you don't believe you do it." Raccoon lifted the cover on his
dish. The rice was deep yellow.
Nabiki uncovered her red rice, Ritsuko green rice. Ranma uncovered his
quickly, it was white. He looked at the others.
"I'll bet you six months of cleaning the bathroom, against six months
of any chore you want," Raccoon said.
"Bathroom cleaning is good," Ranma replied, he hated cleaning the whole
bathroom.
"Okay, the bet is, that your tongue will be brown, at the end of the
meal, mine will be yellow, Tendo-san's red, Akagi-sensei's green. It's only
food coloring, and should be all gone by tomorrow morning. Is it a bet?"
"You'll trick me," Ranma retorted.
"Okay, the bet is canceled, but I still want all four of us to look at
your tongue after dinner. That isn't negotiable, you don't agree, you don't
eat. I'm sick of having my food stolen."
"I didn't steal it!" Ranma shouted back.
"I have some blue food coloring, I could add it to your rice and the
color will tell, won't it?" Raccoon asked.
"I'm all for it," Nabiki added.
"And I." Ritsuko pronounced sentence.
"You don't think - "
"Why don't we find out for certain," Nabiki said, "Itadakemasu." And
began digging in.
Raccoon said a simple prayer and began. Ranma exchanged glances with
Ritsuko.
Ranma felt put upon as he ate, he was more disturbed by the growing
smiles on all three of his dinner companions as he ate.
"I'm done." Ranma stood up, and headed for his room.
"Two bit's says he looks in the mirror," he heard Raccoon say.
I'll show them! Ranma entered the bathroom.
"What odds?" Nabiki replied. Ranma's squawk interrupted any reply.
Ranma ran back, stuck out his brown tongue. Yellow, red and green
tongues answered him. He was thunderstruck.
"Members of the jury, I rest my case," Raccoon told the others, "I
would like some help in determining sentence."
"I knew he was doing it," Ritsuko said, "I almost couldn't see him
moving so fast."
"You don't - " Ranma protested.
"We've got proof Saotome-san," Raccoon cut him off.
"Let's give him the benefit of the doubt," Nabiki said, "Let's assume,
he doesn't believe he's doing, what he's doing."
"That's almost worse," Ranma said.
"We could build glass partitions around him when we eat," Raccoon
suggested, earning him angry look from both women. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry.
That still leaves us with the problem. How do you untrain a, what is it, a
reflex?"
"Good enough explanation," Ritsuko said.
"Hey, I'm right here!" Ranma protested.
"Then sit down," Nabiki told him as she stood and walked to the nearest
curio case.
Ranma noticed both Raccoon and Ritsuko pulled their dinners a little
ways away from him. He was about to comment on that when the cat landed
right in front of him, he instantly drew back. He saw Nabiki's hand turn
the cat statuary to stare at him, she set another down.
"We don't build a solid wall," she began alternating tall and short cat
statues and knickknacks, "Like the teeth of a castle."
"A crenelated battlement," Raccoon said, "It also deals with his fear
of cats."
"Well, I noticed he hasn't touched them since he's been here, and he
reacted to Asuka's comments," Nabiki replied.
Ranma was sick of being discussed as if he wasn't there, "I'm not
afraid of -" He nearly jumped out of his skin as Nabiki set a particularly
realistic statue right in front of him, he reeled back.
"You can work on two problems at once, stealing food and your phobia of
cats." Nabiki smiled at him as she completed the barrier.
Ranma looked to Ritsuko, she was too busy laughing to help him.
Ranma decided to go upstairs to the roof to practice, At least there's
something I can always do.
----------------------------------------
Eyes tracked the target in the darkness. Ikari's purge had eliminated
the cultists. It had taken time for them to build up again. He wondered if
this creature was once a NERV employee, or one of Asuka or Shinji's
schoolmates. The rat-like creature with the near-human face and forearms.
He'd killed them before, but he couldn't figure out how they'd gotten
into Misato's apartment. He watched it pass Misato's room, then Asuka's,
trying to enter Shinji's.
He was amazed when it squeezed under the door. He hadn't known they
could get through such a small gap. He hurried down the hall silently, he
wanted to be close enough to defend Shinji, if it did more than spy on him.
It didn't. He retreated out of sight as the creature squeezed back
under the door. Again it bypassed the girls' rooms. He watched it move
through the living room. To the corner of the dining room where it was
separated from the kitchen by the counter.
Before it could reach the tiny hole, he struck without mercy. He had
what he needed, he glanced down at the tiny corpse, then at Misato's room.
Despite her job, she didn't need to encounter one of these things, didn't
need to know about the realities of the real world she lived in. Yet. He
glanced at Asuka's and Shinji's closed doors. He liked the kids, despite
what a problem they posed for him, he just wished they didn't live with
Misato. They didn't need to know either, not yet.
He picked up the corpse, a moment later it slid down his gullet. As
bad as it was, it wasn't the worst thing he'd eaten here.
Now, how do I get the others to investigate this little hole? the
answer was obvious, the turned to the little refrigerator and started
forward.
----------------------------------------
Butting Heads
"Nabiki we're almost ready to go," Jeff called to me from the kitchen.
I opened the door and peered out, Ranma watched Jeff fill the thermos with
scorching, hot tea. "What's that for?" our Martial Artist asked.
Oh no, I thought, Not another argument, not this early. I hurriedly
finished dressing, watched to see if, no when, I'd have to intervene.
"For drinking," Jeff replied, slipped the thermos into his pack, "And
in case you have an accident. Besides, Ranko asked me to."
"Thanks, I, wait, you still don't believe it, do you?"
Jeff faced Ranma, arms akimbo, "Look Saotome-san, I can appreciate, and
play along with a joke as well as anyone. Supposedly you turn into a girl
with cold water, supposedly you are an absolute magnet for cold water. That
according to the good Doctor, and Asuka Langley, our two most unimpeachable
sources. The fact that Tendo-san and Ayanami-san are both silent on the
situation, I should discount and assume _they're_ the ones playing the joke.
Ayanami-san wouldn't do that, and Tendo-san's humor is more subtle,
Ranko-san is going along, I guess, to be a good sport. Crude practical
jokes are your's and Langley's style, Saotome-san." Jeff walked to the
entryway, changed into his outside boots.
"What are you saying? I'm lying about this?" Ranma was getting angry.
I strolled out of my and Doctor Akagi's room. Normally I enjoyed
watching Ranma fight, but not against Jeff. Jeff took fighting far more
seriously than Ranma, too seriously. "Hey! No murdering each other in the
house, you break it you bought it."
"I was just leaving." Jeff left, typically, Ranma wasn't ready to go
just yet.
"Hey wait up!" Ranma scrambled for his homework and lunch. I sighed,
collected my own, I'm going to have to play referee again.
It would be easier if Ranma actually changed once in front of Jeff, but
circumstances kept preventing it.
"And how weird is that," I considered, In Nerima, Ranma never went a
day without changing several times. Here, he can go for days without
changing, unless he specifically wants to. Another mystery of this place.
Ranma was walking on the fence, still arguing with Jeff, who was doing
his level best to ignore the martial artist.
"It's not my fault you haven't seen it. Dr. Akagi has volunteered to
douse me plenty of times, it happens all the time when I bathe. If you
weren't so prissy about bathing in private, you would have seen."
I could almost hear Jeff's teeth grinding, one more Ranma
'foot-in-mouth' comment, and Jeff would probably air-express him to Saipan.
The American was very strict about aspects of his privacy, and wrongly
assumed the rest of us felt the same way. Asuka's voice and the sight of
her dragging Shinji behind her did not increase the chances I'd be able to
defuse the situation.
"What are you two arguing about now?" Asuka let go of Shinji once she
had caught up to the others, "Stupid penguin going crazy over a mouse hole?
At least you don't have to deal with that."
"Ranma's mad that Jeff's carrying a thermos of hot tea, in case he has
an accident," I told her, knowing whatever was said, would be turned into an
insult.
"Oh, Ranko and Raccoon sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." Asuka
taunted them.
Well, if both of them turn on her, it might not be so bad. I checked
to make sure I had Jeff's camera in a secure place, He doesn't seem to mind
me burrowing it. Pictures of that fight would be worth a lot. Visions of
easy yen filled my head for an instant.
Jeff didn't rise to the bait, but he did start walking a lot faster.
Ranma turned up his nose at Asuka's suggestion. Jeff was around the corner
and out of sight when Ranma put a foot wrong and tumbled into the drainage
ditch. Ranko sputtered in fury.
"Now I'm going to be late!" she shook herself off.
"Roku-kun has that thermos," Shinji suggested, "You could catch up to
him and ask for it."
"No!" Ranko shouted, "I won't ask that smug jerk for anything!"
"Baka." Asuka muttered, this time, I and Shinji thought it was an
understatement.
The school yard was, as expected, when Ranko walked in. Most of the
girls wanted to kill her on sight, and most of the boys started closing in.
Rei and Jeff moved in, to cut us a hole to let us get away, Asuka and Shinji
reluctantly moved up to reinforce them. Somewhere in the jostling, Ranko
found herself in possession of Jeff's thermos. I caught Ranko, and made it
inside while Asuka, Rei and Jeff held off the mob, and Shinji closed the
door behind us. This is getting to be a regular thing, I thought, and
wondered how they'd choreographed the maneuver that well, and that quickly.
Ranko quickly found a bathroom, and became Ranma again.
"Funny," I teased, "He doesn't seem to have any trouble helping you
when you're in trouble. Or maybe he has a crush on Ranko."
Ranma shuddered.
"He's just waiting for the right time, you two alone together, you
never expecting a little cold water. After all, he proclaims he doesn't
believe in the curse, right. And poor little Ranko, mean ole' Jeff beat
Ranma in dreams, what could sweet little Ranko do against him? Or maybe
he'd seduce you." I enjoyed watching Ranma squirm, remembering his dream.
It was a safe image to plant in his mind. Frankly the possibility Jeff
acting in that manner, were in the same order as the entire mythos
surrendering and offering terms and reparations. But Ranma dealt with his
fears badly, and they did share a bedroom.
In class, Jeff was concentrating on some secret project or other,
oblivious to the world, until called on, then it seemed he'd been paying
attention. Ranma kept throwing the other boy dirty looks, he hated being in
anyone's debt. Asuka and Hikari were having fun spreading salacious rumors
about Ranko, which Toji and Kensuke could just barely overhear, and it had
them salivating over the possibilities and what they speculated the girls
had said. Rei seemed completely oblivious to all that was going on around
her, although I had learned: the strange girl was listening closely,
cataloging who said what to whom, and how it changed with the retelling, and
could recount it with perfect precision.
A real collection, give them some training and they'd have the Nerima
crew chasing their tails in a few days, I considered.
"Boss, is there a problem?" Hiroko asked me.
"Just my two roommates are getting ready to kill each other," I
admitted, "I haven't decided if I should let them, or not."
"Well, get plenty of pictures," she teased. I frowned at her, she
smiled back.
I almost preferred it when I was the only one in the district with any
brains, I mourned my one-time supremacy of discernment.
Class dragged on, until lunch. Then pandemonium broke out, as the
students unpacked their lunches, and headed out to eat them, or do a little
trading. I'd wisely made our lunch preparation schedule public. It did my
ego a little damage that Ranma's and Jeff's cooking made for such
enthusiastic trading. Ranma always participated, mainly to increase the
_amount_ of food, regardless of the quality. Jeff was outside, and had
seated himself near Rei. He said nothing, merely played chess against
himself while he ate.
"What's that baka doing with Wondergirl?" Asuka asked no one in
particular. "I tried to make friends with her the first day. 'I'll be
friends if I'm ordered to.' Stupid robot."
"Misato's cooking today?" I asked innocently. Asuka's answering
grimace told her the story, she'd sold her entire lunch for half of Ranma's.
The expression on Ranma's face told me that Misato's cooking was running
true to form.
"Maybe he trying to do . . . " I shut my mouth quickly, I was going to
say 'Something you can't.' But I stopped myself. If I had, then Asuka
would interject herself, and we'd never get Rei out of her shell. Something
both of us, independently, thought extremely important.
"Something to what?" Asuka impatiently demanded.
I smiled mischievously at her anger, "Something to make you mad. It
seems to be working."
Asuka stomped off.
I smiled again, a predator's smile. I was wrong, some of these people
are as easy marks as the Nerima crew had been, then I chided myself, You
should be working to bring them together, strengthen them. It's not like I
need the money here. After all, I have my salary, if I want more all I have
to do is get Mr. Davis to marry me. What's divorce like here and now?
Lunch finished, and the next class was physical education, our first
class that left the classroom. I had hoped the early trouble had blown
over, while the girls were swimming, the boys were playing soccer. I
carelessly didn't catch that Ranma and Jeff were on opposing teams, until
the match was half over. Jeff was simply no good at the game. So Ranma
kept passing him the ball, rushing in, body checking him, and racing off
again with the ball. Or bouncing the ball off him, to pass to another
player. Shinji was on the sidelines, with Ranma on his team, most of the
others never got any time with the ball, whether they were on the field or
not. Shinji, Toji and Kensuke were critiquing the battle.
Tempers were running a lot hotter when the period ended. Strangely,
Rei had also been carefully watching the goings on.
"If a fight starts, who'll win?" I asked the albino girl.
"Neither, we will all lose." She turned away, and headed for the
showers. Again I had to agree, Ranma wanted a rematch after his dream
defeat, which only he seemed to talk about, Jeff hadn't even acknowledged
that it happened. So, Jeff seemed to take an especial pleasure in ignoring
all of Ranma's provocations.
Literature class was the last, and worst, of the day. All the Children
were again in the same classroom, while the teacher droned on about haiku
versus iambic pentameter. I wished I could ignore the teacher and do
something else, but he invariably called on anyone not paying attention,
except Asuka and Jeff, who seemed to know the subject better than he did.
They're college students, of course they know the subject, I reminded
myself as I struggled to stay awake, Why can't we drop this idiot on the
Angels, if he didn't kill them from boredom, we wouldn't have to deal with
him again.
But I was concerned, several of my 'associates', had already been
taking bets on the possibility of a fight today, and the winner, despite my
assurances that no fight would occur, today or in the near future. Many had
seen Ranma fight on the school grounds and after school. Jeff's withdrawal
aboard the carrier, and all of us dealing with the school's 'mafia', were
regarded as apocryphal, and only I saw the battle in San Francisco.
Although Asuka and Rei seemed to regard a fight between them as a bad idea,
the only thing those two completely agreed about. And how did they know
that? I wondered.
So the betting heavily favored Ranma, I secretly wished they would come
to blows, or face some opponent in hand-to-hand together, not only would it
net me a fair pile of yen, it would relieve the tension building up between
the roommates, and it would make it abundantly clear why 'Roku-kun' didn't
fight other kids.
Classes ended, none of the pilots had cleanup duty, so we headed home.
Rei to her apartment, Asuka and Shinji to Misato's. From a safe distance,
I watched the two boys march along, Ranma seemed content to walk along the
tops of the fences, matching whatever pace Jeff set. Jeff carried his
walking stick against his arm, giving the impression of a switchblade knife.
"You two had better get it out of your systems," I shouted to them, "Or
Asuka and I will beat up both of you."
"I just want my thermos back." Jeff kept walking.
Ranma faltered for a second, then regained his balance.
Damn, I should have pushed him, that would have solved a lot of
problems, I lamented a lost chance. "You gave it to Ranko, why didn't you
get it back from her?" That earned me a dark look from Ranma.
"You are always telling me Ranma IS Ranko," Jeff replied evenly, "Why
doesn't _he_ have it then?"
I looked at Ranma who shrugged.
Baka, he forgot it! He must have left it in the girls' bathroom. I
realized too late, Jeff tried to play along and it cost him. That's going
to improve this a whole lot. "He'll pay you back."
"No need, I shouldn't have expected civilized behavior." Jeff's mild
tone tore it.
Ranma leapt in front of the other boy, "What the hell is that supposed
to mean!?" he was clenching and unclenching his fists.
I hurried forward, to break up the fight. I was better than Davis, and
Ranma wouldn't hit me.
"It means, I think you are either totally thoughtless, or intentionally
cruel. Since I can't positively decide which, I've kept silent. Let me
clue you in Saotome-san, I don't dislike you. I. Hate. You." Jeff's
voice betrayed no emotion, none at all, he might as well have been reading
a speech, badly, "I would like nothing better than to see you slowly boiled
alive, with your life's blood oozing out of every orifice and opening.
Unfortunately, current circumstances preclude me that pleasure. Since you
are the higher rated pilot, it falls to me to protect you, which I have
done, and will continue to do. However, when the last 'Angel' falls, and
that has been reliably confirmed, I would suggest you consider moving, to
another planet."
"You think you're that tough?" Ranma was ready for a fight, cracking
his knuckles and assuming a stance.
"Puh-leaze, you claim to be this super-skilled martial artist, who can
read an opponent's moves before he makes them, correct."
"I can," Ranma retorted, "Come on and try me."
"Then that answers my question. Those stupid things you say and do,
the ones that infuriate all the people around you. Since you _are_ aware of
how angry they get, you must keep doing it on purpose. That makes you a
cockroach, you don't fistfight cockroaches, that's what DDT is for." Jeff
stepped to one side, and continued walking.
"It makes sense, what he says," I told Ranma as I hurried to his side,
he stared at me in hurt disbelief, "You get everyone riled up, and rather
than take the warning, you set everyone off. It's no wonder Asuka wants to
beat you up." I walked past him.
"You can't believe that!" Ranma ran after me, "You can't believe I
would . . . "
"You do it to him and Shinji, all the time," I retorted angrily, The
boy has got to learn, "I saw the soccer game. You had that ball under
total control all the time."
"Well maybe I - "
"And that thermos, on the slim chance that we're right, and he's wrong,
he prepared a rescue plan, and gave it to you when you needed it. You
didn't think enough of him, or his efforts, to keep track of it?" I watched
him squirm. "Actually, I do think he's wrong about you."
"You do?" Ranma brightened.
"Yeah, martial artists are supposed to be centered. You're not smart
enough to be cruel, so you're just self-centered and stupid." I turned on
my heel and walked away, leaving the stricken Ranma. I hated doing that,
But if Ranma keeps pushing, he was going to get something far different than
he bargained for from Rei, Jeff, and Shinji.
I caught up with Jeff, a few moments later. "You were pretty hard on
him, I don't think he deserved all that."
"He deserves to be shot." Jeff kept his voice and expression flat, his
eyes straight ahead, "Have you ever met Ranko, sat down and just talked to
her?"
"Well, I - "
"Right, the curse, so what you and the others are saying is, 'She's
just a side-effect, something to be gotten rid of as soon as possible,
disposable.' I'm sorry, everybody can be replaced, but nobody is
disposable. Our illustrious Commander, and our den-mother, have Rei
brainwashed the same way. She acts as if there are a dozen people ready to
step in, and take her place. The U.S. lost two of the three pilots they
found, and they quit looking, officially. The Brits lost six to the EVA
they dug up, they quit looking. The French found only one. There aren't
any records of how many the Germans and Japanese found, but they have five
survivors and I know of eleven who didn't make it, from NERV Tokyo alone.
Ranko isn't Ranma, the speech patterns and fighting styles are similar, but
so are your's. Does that mean you're irrelevant too?"
"I think it's a little different," I began, rather weakly, I honestly
hadn't considered this. Even though it was wrong, it made sense, in an odd
way.
"No. It isn't. People either have an intrinsic value, or they don't.
This new EVA technology has the potential to allow duplication of existing
humans. So, if there are a dozen duplicates of Tendo Nabiki in existence,
accurate right down to the cellular level, are they people, or spare parts.
Say they can all think and feel and reason, just like the original. And if
you say they're spare parts, your spare parts, to do with as you see fit.
What's to keep someone from saying that a person's race, or faith, or
country of origin makes them less than ideally human, and not deserving the
protections of the Law and civilization?"
Jeff stopped, took a breath and stared at me, I could feel the boiling
fury under the muted facade, I didn't like him being angry with me or around
me.
"Then what was the war all about?" he calmly asked, "We killed tens of
millions over what? The rulership of Continental Europe, who controls trade
with China and southeast Asia? I expect that kind of reasoning from
Ikari-chan, he's Kempeitai, the Japanese Army Secret Police, but Langley
grew up a 'Volk Hero of the National Socialist Fatherland', and she
_doesn't_ subscribe to it."
"She doesn't believe anybody is as good as she is," I countered, tried
to make it sound like a joke, it didn't work.
"True. But that's general arrogance, everybody is equally beneath
her," Jeff admitted, "But Ranma does, he treats Ranko with utter revulsion.
And most girls and women with an, oh-so-polite, contempt. If I could change
genders that easily, I'd be investigating, comparing and contrasting the
interdependent sides of humanity, the perceptual, emotional and cultural
differences, studying what makes up identity and self-image.
"He acts like the only value he or anybody else has is: how well _he_
can fight, the depth of his voice, and a bit of flesh hanging between his
legs. 'Shes' don't count, period." Jeff paused, staring at me, willing me
to understand.
"I'd, I'd just never thought of it that way before," I stammered, "I've
always known that he wanted to be normal."
"Trust me, _nobody_ is normal, especially among the pilots." Jeff
started walking again, the anger wasn't gone, but it was buried, far deeper,
"If that's what he wants, he should quit practicing martial arts, and take
up accounting or law. To join the hordes of government worker bees. You
want a curse, try growing up with an intellectual and emotional age 10 to 15
years ahead of where you should be. Imagine being an eight-year-old who can
look at the world as a twenty-year-old, or a fourteen-year-old who thinks
like thirty. That my dear, is a REAL curse, because there is _nothing_ you
can do about it. Because you either can't convince someone to treat you as
you deserve, or if you can, then you are a freak."
I swallowed and nodded, I'd never seen Jeff so furious, I don't
particularly want to see it again, ever.
I let him walk away, I've got a test with Unit 02, so I couldn't keep
playing referee. I stalked back to where Ranma was waiting. "You get a
replacement!" I hissed at him, poked him in the chest to punctuate my point,
"I don't care if you have to walk to Kyoto. You get one, or he's right: you
only talk about honor, you don't really live it. And do something about
your attitude, all you are right now is a bully, and all a bully is, is a
coward with a little strength or training. And the five of us together are
a lot stronger than you are. Imagine the nightmares we could come up with!"
I turned and walked away, I hoped it would get him thinking. From my
experience, he only seems to think when planning a stratagem, a way to beat
an opponent, I only hope he puts his current dilemma in that context. Soon
or later he's going to do something that hurts or kills somebody, maybe
himself. I couldn't live with that.
----------------------------------------
Education
Ranma stared at the thermos. It had taken a couple of hours to find
one like the one Raccoon had handed Ranko this morning. Nabiki had
insisted, so had Ranma's honor. Ranma kept running into the fact that he
didn't know who he _was_, but he had a pretty good idea who he wasn't. One
thing Saotome Ranma did, was pay his debts.
He'd spent a lot of time thinking while he'd been searching. Now he
realized he'd been feeling sorry for himself, 'Everybody's picking on me.'
It was wrong, and it was unworthy.
"They pick on everyone, who picks on them," he admitted as he climbed
the stairs to Dr. Akagi's apartment. What had occurred to him while he was
alone, was that since Everett had died, been killed: he'd been running
scared. Martial Arts was the most important thing, almost the only thing,
in his life, and it failed him, failed him completely.
Everett was a good fighter, and they'd killed him in moments. Ranma
knew he might have lasted a bit longer, but they would have killed him too,
if he'd stayed to fight. "And if I'd run away . . . " he said as he opened
the door to the apartment, peered inside to see if Raccoon was inside, and
still mad at him. If I'd just run away, I would have condemned the others
to death. Again, he knew who he wasn't.
Raccoon was nowhere in sight, and Nabiki was taking a compatibility
test in Unit 02, so was Shinji.
He filled the thermos with water, added a couple of ice cubes. He
noticed the trays needed refilling, decided to do it. Taking some
responsibility for the house, No, the _home_, I live in.
He resealed the thermos and sat down with it at the dining room table.
He didn't want to do this.
But without Martial Arts, what am I? he wondered. He was tired of the
uncertainty, tired of the terrible dreams and nightmares, and he was sick to
death of the _fact_ he was helpless against these things. Saotome Ranma was
no quitter, but his instinct was to act, not to think, thinking in a fight
could get you hurt or beaten.
"Not thinking can get you killed," he reminded himself, coming back to
the conclusions he'd drawn on his walk around Tokyo. He'd insult Raccoon or
Asuka, and he'd be facing both of them, and sometimes Nabiki too. He'd lost
every exchange he'd gotten into, but Raccoon and Nabiki could shut Asuka
down with a few words and neither interfered.
Using a 'soft' technique like judo, instead of the 'hard' method I've
been using.
The insults were just part of it, since Everett had died, he'd not won
a single fight he'd been in, not at insults, not in hand-to-hand, not in
dreams. Raccoon had him completely at his mercy, and _the_gaijin's_ honor
was the only thing that kept him from paying Ranma back in full for the
insults and the beating. Asuka had been able to insult him and he'd been
too unskilled to reply effectively. He'd beaten Shinji, but that was hardly
a victory to be proud of, neither boy had a chance, they'd come to him to be
trained. Rather than welcome them to the Martial Arts than meant so much to
him, he'd given them a beating, and everybody knew it. Ayanami held him in
contempt, and he wasn't sure if Tendo liked or hated him, she seemed to
bounce from one to the other so often he couldn't tell.
Ranma had been so desperate for _any_ victory, he'd been pushing Shinji
and Raccoon, and even Ayanami to fight him, so he could beat them, so he
could feel like a man again.
The battles against those kids holding Hiroko didn't count. If Nabiki
had attacked, she, Raccoon and Asuka would still have won. He'd won a few
times in the EVAs, beaten those monsters easily. "But that wasn't
fighting," he lamented, "It was more like driving a car, or a bulldozer."
He knew it wasn't the same, getting a machine to do something wasn't the
same as doing it himself.
The other important conclusion he'd drawn was he _could_ learn the
techniques to beat those things. Asuka seemed to be unafraid of them, Rei
obviously wasn't, nor was Raccoon, so the weirdos knew how to deal with
them. Rei couldn't explain anything, And she hates you. Asuka knew, but
considered the rest of the pilots obstacles or trivialities, asking her was
just inviting a tirade of insults.
He unscrewed the top and poured the cap half-full of water, watched the
tiny ice chip floating in the water.
The solution had been staring him in the face, Beating you over the
head, you mean, since right after the briefing on the Coral Sea, You just
didn't want to face it. You didn't want to be humiliated again, he
remembered, But if only you know you're being humiliated, if only you care.
Isn't winning worth that? he asked himself.
"I'm dithering," he said, "I already decided to do this." He got a
towel from the linen closet, draping it over his shoulders as he walked back
to the dining room table.
He took a deep breath, You aren't going swimming or taking a punch, you
idiot! He relaxed a bit, let the breath out and upended the cap over his
head. Once she was sure the change was complete, she dried off her hair.
"Okay Mister 'I-could-teach-better'!" Ranko said, "Let's see what you
can teach!" She marched out of the apartment, determined to defeat all of
it, the helpless feeling, the voices that troubled her dreams, all of it.
She was so focused, she missed Nabiki ducking around a corner, back out
of sight, with a huge smile on her face.
Ranko stopped at the base of the stairs to the roof, "Okay, I'm ready
to take on the world. Where's my target?" Before I lose my nerve, she
added. She headed to the roof to talk to Raccoon.
She walked across the gravel roof of the apartment.
"Did you want to practice?" Raccoon asked, as he moved the claymore
through a series of motions, "I can leave."
"No," Ranko told him, "I wanted to talk, if you don't mind."
"I can talk and work out." Raccoon began a new series of moves, moving
slowly. Ranko thought it was exercise, training and strengthening the
muscles. Ranko also enjoyed the slow speed because it allowed her to see
the nuances of the moves. She walked over and picked up the other claymore,
and began mirroring his movements.
"The claymore depends on more power than the speed of the Japanese
style: rather than stab or slash," Raccoon did what Ranko recognized as some
very basic kendo moves, "Aren't appropriate, instead you thrust and chop."
Ranko almost overbalanced, the blade was longer than she was tall and
the changing center of balance still surprised her. "Ranma mentioned that
he had a dream, you beat him in a fight," Ranko had trouble admitting that,
"But he didn't mention any follow ups." I have to take this carefully,
especially after that nightmare. I need that training.
"I didn't. I gave him some 'homework', he neither solved the problem,
nor asked for advice in finding the solution. If he can't think through, he
can't learn the basics. It wouldn't be worth my time, and it would just
irritate him. I don't like to fail."
Ranko bristled at that, but plunged ahead, "Would you be willing to
teach me?"
"What do I get in return?" Raccoon asked.
Ranko got angry, "Training isn't worth that!" she shouted back at him.
He stopped, glared at her.
Uh, oh, Ranko didn't like how angry Raccoon looked.
"Is that some of the crap Ranma's been filling your head with?!" He
stomped away, the blade lashing like an angry tiger's tail.
Ranko watched him go through a series of _very_ fast combinations,
strikes and parries.
"If Ranma was here, I'd give him his rematch, and hang the
consequences," he shouted back.
Ranko decided _not_ to remind Raccoon that Ranko was Ranma. She
watched the boy force himself to relax, Ranko watched a tranquility that
rivaled a Zen master's settle over him, no expression, no emotion.
"I'm sorry. But I would _never_ demand that from someone. That's
hardly the only valuable thing you have to offer. I know Ranma thinks
that's all women are good for, I don't agree."
"Okay," Ranko nodded.
"How does this sound? If you want training, you have to hit the books
with Tendo-san and me, if you can't manage straight B's on the next midterm,
the training ends."
Ranko wanted to protest, Whatever I have to do to get that training!
she reminded herself. "Okay, what happens if I get straight A's?" Ranko
raised the challenge.
"Something you should be interested in," Raccoon set the blade down,
"You'll probably have piloted in combat by then. And I'll have a chance to
figure out exactly how this works. Once both those have happened, I can
teach you this." He held his fingers like a dead spider or the skeleton of
a bowl, palm up.
"Watch," he dropped a piece of gravel towards his palm. An octagonal
pattern formed in the air over his fingers.
That's an AT field! Ranko realized.
Another piece and another shockwave. Another, and another. Ranko
noticed Raccoon was straining now. Another stone and he was sweating.
Another and he clenched his jaw.
Another, this time the shockwaves didn't dissipate at the edges. The
last passed through, followed by the other supported stones, and Raccoon
dropped to his knees. Ranko had to catch him to stop him from crashing face
down on the ground.
"That's quite a strain."
"Was that what I think it was?" Ranko asked.
"Yes, with the knowledge of Chaugnar Faugn, I figured out how, and I
talked with the EVAs."
Ranko kept her face somber as Raccoon teased her, to learn that secret,
she could put up with a lot.
Raccoon smiled tiredly, "Imagine encasing your fist in that, or
extending a blade from the plane of your hand."
"You can do that?" Ranko couldn't believe it.
"Well, not yet."
"Why not?" This was _exactly_ what she was looking for, a way to fight
these things hand-to-hand.
"Well excuse me for not unraveling all the secrets of the Great Old
Ones in two weeks!" he shot back, "It took years to learn what I have. You
had to practice for years to get as good as you are."
"I can pick up new fighting moves real quick," Ranko explained.
"Well, when the fighting moves include picking through the memories of
those things . . . "
Ranko felt her stomach churn, the merest whispers of those memories
terrified her, Raccoon was actively going through them? How crazy is he?
"Maybe you understand why I'm going slow."
"Yuck," Ranko told him.
"That's an understatement."
"So when can we start? Tonight?" Ranko asked.
"Why not? Try to be asleep by 22:00, don't worry about the transition,
I'll find you," he told her.
"What's the Dreamlands like?" she asked.
"You aren't going anywhere _near_ the Dreamlands! If some of the
things that live there found out you were a pilot, you'd never survive," he
told her.
"So what are we going to do?" she asked.
"Begin at the beginning."
Ranko knew she'd pick the stuff up fast.
"Just remember your promise. Besides, give me a few hours and you can
sleep through class."
Ha! Ranko thought triumphantly, That will almost make it worth it.
"If you're assuming this is a panacea, a solution to everything, it
isn't. You may not remember everything. I can teach you to remember more
of what you learn in dreams, but everyone has an upper limit and there will
be things that you'll never be able to carry between the worlds. Some
things from the Waking World to the Dreamlands, or vice versa."
Ranko nodded, "I can live with that." She helped him to his feet,
staring intently at him, "I want to learn."
"Remember the price, you'll have to get your grades up, and keep them
there. Not C's, B's or better, or the lessons stop."
Ranko nodded, "I give you my word as a martial artist."
"Give me your word as a human being that holds some weight."
"Keeping your word is part of the Bushido Code," Ranko protested.
"No it isn't. Besides, martial arts were invented by artisans,
farmers, and women to defend themselves _against_ the followers of Bushido,
who had all the weapons and the absolute right to kill anyone not in the
warrior caste. In that, I agree with the farmers, when you see a batch on
the run, hunt them down like animals and kill every single one of them."
"Uh," Ranko was confused.
"Don't argue history with someone who devours it like candy," Raccoon
picked up the blade and continued his practice.
Well. I got what I was after. And I outsmarted you Raccoon! Ranko
thought, watching and studying the moves. Okay. Blocks would get you cut
in half, she realized, and considered how to adapt the moves to her supply
of moves mastered. She also wondered about the calm, to go from enraged to
unruffled was also something she wanted to master, her temper and ego still
got her in trouble. I can borrow these later, see what I can learn, she
thought as she hefted the blade. She also wondered how Raccoon would do
against a real opponent with one of these swords.
----------------------------------------
"So what were you doing up there?" Nabiki asked Ranko as she headed
down the stairs from the roof.
"Making a deal," Ranko replied, smiled at her as she told Nabiki the
details how she outsmarted 'Raccoon'.
"Well, we were wondering how we'd get you to study," Nabiki said.
"You tricked me?" Ranko asked, shocked.
"_We_ wanted you to learn, some of what they teach _might_ be useful
for your future."
Ranko looked around, feeling confused, "Why?"
"Why what? Why do we try to help you? What do we want for you?"
Nabiki poked Ranko in the breastbone, "Maybe we actually want what's best
for you. Maybe we don't like what your prospects are if we let you go as
you are. Maybe we actually _care_ about you, you jerk!" Nabiki stormed
off.
Ranko would have sworn she was crying, What - got into her? Ranko
wondered.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko stood in the bathroom of her lab, peering in the mirror.
Anyone else would have thought she was examining if her hair needed another
treatment, she knew better.
The excitement of the newcomers in her life and home had pushed the
pain and tension to the periphery. She'd vainly hoped that the increased
activity had forced it into remission, or at least made it so minor she
could safely ignore it.
Not now, as the external strain had reduced, the headaches had
returned, not as bad as they had been. But she couldn't afford the
distraction that the constant pain caused.
She pulled the vial from the medicine cabinet. A pale violet liquid.
"Five cc's, that won't change things too much." She hated what this
medicine did to her, it dulled her intellect, made it harder to focus. She
needed that focus, both at work and at home, less of it meant less muddle
and more headaches and pain, which imposed their own costs.
More pain, she decided as she raised her skirt and injected herself in
the leg muscle. Long practice kept her from screaming as fire burned
through her. As she lay twitching on the floor of the bathroom, she
wondered if the pain of the medication just marginallized the pain of her
condition.
----------------------------------------
Ranko stood in the dojo, she recognized it as exactly the one Raccoon
had made appear when he had beaten Ranma. She didn't see anyone else, so
she centered herself. She wondered if he would announce himself or attack
by ambush. For some reason she was expecting the latter.
"As I told Ranma," Raccoon, in the same T-shirt and boxing trunks and
gloves as before, appeared, "Try to hit me, if you can."
Ranko stood, bowed, and considered. She raised one fist and walked
slowly forward. Raccoon made no effort to dodge or distract her.
I don't care how stupid I look, she felt foolish advancing as if her
fist was a mace or a club, I don't care how hard I hit him, he didn't say
knock him down he said hit him. She burned with embarrassment at the
humiliation of their last 'battle' here. Nothing Ranma could do had
anything like the effect he expected. Raccoon either dodged or turned the
force against him.
Nothing is going to stop me, Ranko thought as she closed the distance,
she was angry at the stupid grin Raccoon wore as she advanced, I _won't_ let
him distract me. All I have to do is make contact, and _I've_ won!
When she'd closed to a few feet he began sidestepping, Ranko increased
her pace and her determination. She landed the blow, Sheesh! Even Shinji
could do better! she thought disgustedly, Even Raccoon is laughing at you.
She looked at the goofy grin.
He reached down and picked her up in a hug, "Congratulations, Ranko,
that was _perfect_!_ Exactly what you were supposed to do."
She was so stunned, she barely noticed him reconsidering giving her a
kiss, but he didn't give her one as he set her down. "You wanted to punch
me, didn't you."
She nodded, More than anything in the world.
"You learned the first lesson, belief here is stronger than anything
else. What you _want_ happens, I threw all the tricks I used against Ranma
at you. You shrugged them all off, nothing deflected you from your goal.
That's the whole secret, you figured it out in the first few seconds, Ranma
didn't in an hour and a half, with me dropping hints like anvils all the
time."
"What next, sensei?" Ranko asked, hating calling anyone else 'teacher'.
"You do it again, with more force, more speed."
Ranko launched one of her super-speed flurry of punches, Raccoon dodged
every one.
"Wrong, you can't trust that the blows will land, you can't just let
them happen. You have to think them through, you have to actively want them
to land. Let's start on a practice dummy and go from there."
I _will_ learn this! Ranko vowed, I'll beat him, and the nightmares!
----------------------------------------
"Okay, time out." Raccoon made a crude T with his hands.
Ranko excitedly bounced from foot to foot, "I'm not tired, I can go
on."
"Your mind needs time to assimilate what it's absorbed. Besides _I'm_
tired." Raccoon flopped down on the straw mats, laid down. "What's the
hurry? How long do you think we've been here anyway?"
"An hour, an hour and a half." Ranko sat next to him.
"Nine seconds, maximum, waking world time."
Nine _SECONDS_!_ Ranko stared at him.
He reached up and tousled her hair, "How do you think Langley and I got
to be such know-it-alls. Don't worry, we've both heard it before. When you
can study something for a week, all in one night, you get a depth and
breadth of knowledge that surpasses all others. Besides, we're as eager to
learn as you are, it's just we're interested in more than just martial
arts."
"So we'll spend a week here?" Ranko asks, A week of training, all in
just one night!
"No, just a few hours. This is your dreamscape, beyond those walls are
your nightmares, all of them. Drawn by your presence and your obvious lack
of fear."
Ranko looked around, listened, "I don't hear anything."
"And they won't get in, but that's why I'm tired. You've got some
extremely severe fears." He pointed various points on the wall, "Sexual
identity, cats, whether your martial arts skills measure up, the things we
fought, the things we'll fight. They're all out there, clawing and biting
at the outer boundary of this structure."
Ranko was glancing around, looking for weak spots, places they might
get in. She couldn't see any, Would I be able to see any? Would they
disguise themselves until they were right on top of me? she was sweating
now.
"Relax, they can't get in, I'm a stronger Dreamer than you are. And if
I thought I needed help, I could get it. Something a _lot_ meaner than
anything out there."
"You don't know that," Ranko glanced around worriedly, she'd thought
she was safe, now she realized she was among everything that had convinced
her to begin this training in the first place.
"I do."
Something in his tone drew Ranko's attention back, she'd heard whispers
like that, from the things she'd killed. Cold, and ancient, somehow she
realized the grand imperial nightmare was lying on the straw mats, staring
up at the ceiling.
"Relax, center yourself, fear is a warning of danger or pain. This is
your mind, your dream."
And soon I'll be in control of it, Ranko vowed, she bowed once, then
sat and meditated on what she'd learned so far.
----------------------------------------
Shinji was screaming again, Asuka realized as she opened one eye. The
nightmares were bad, getting woken up by them was worse.
"Between the snoring and the screaming I'll never get any sleep," she
complained, fortunately Misato was awake and talking to Shinji.
She didn't like to admit it, but she probably would have strangled the
little twerp if she'd gone in there. Once a night was bad enough, two,
three, five times was preventing anyone from getting any sleep. Long
experience taught her: troops did badly without enough sleep, you could
break a man by denying him sleep long enough. So is this reaction to
piloting, or enemy action? she wondered, One way to find out. She had a
plan, she relaxed, let Misato's unintelligible words to Shinji lull her to
sleep, she had an ambush to set. She hoped the Dragon was in a good mood.
I bet ole' Raccoon doesn't have these problems. Why couldn't they get some
_competent_people_ as pilots?
----------------------------------------
Rei dropped away from Shinji-kun's window before Misato could have seen
her. She'd heard the Second complain about Shinji-kun's nightmares,
everyone in the class had heard.
She landed easily, and began walking back to her apartment. She looked
at Dr. Akagi's apartment in the distance, wondering if Nabiki-kun had any
advice on nightmares.
She'd verified they weren't being sent from the waking world, and they
weren't from the Dreamlands. So it was Shinji-kun doing it to himself. If
that was the case, she could do nothing. If it was something to fight, she
could have fought it, killed it, torn it apart with her bare hands.
She opened her fists and glanced down at the bloody half-moon marks
where her nails had cut into her palms. She didn't want him to know what
she was capable of, what she could do. He was frightened of her already.
The Second would be of no help, nor would her dreamself, the Meliorist, both
also feared her. The Dragon? she discarded the idea, that would be worse
than the current series of nightmares, the Dragon even frightened _her_.
As she entered the apartment grounds, she noted someone had soaked the
ground into a sea of mud, again. Who had done it was a mystery, as was why.
The Cthonians would be in full retreat for the night, it guaranteed her a
restful night, except her own thoughts would keep her awake.
----------------------------------------
Shinji ran, he tried his best not to make a noise. Asuka had told him
if his screaming woke her one more time, she'd tear out his voice box. He
had no reason to disbelieve her. The corridor he ran through was the one in
NERV where he'd first met his father, an appropriate place for nightmares.
They were behind him, _LOTS_ of them. He wasn't sure what they'd do
when they caught him, eat his flesh, burrow into his brain and make him a
slave to those - things. The monsters they were fighting.
"Asuka-san, Raccoon, Ranma-san, Nabiki-san, Misato-san, Ayanami-san,
Ritsuko-sensei!" he shouted, he didn't care what Asuka did to him in the
'real world', if he didn't survive to get there.
The blow to his knees threw him to the floor, he spun to face the
creatures as they swarmed towards him. The armored knight drove her polearm
through the nearest one.
"Spineless! You were waking me up because of this?!"
He looked at the white eight-legged rabbit-spider that was twitching at
the end of a long blade at the end of the polearm. It looked almost cute,
but he knew better. "Asuka?"
The knight flipped the corpse off her weapon, "I'm called the Meliorist
here, in dreams."
I think she's a worse nightmare than those things, Shinji thought, "Not
just one of them." Hundreds and thousands of angry, red eyes appeared in
the darkness.
"Oh, that," she said dismissively.
That's Asuka all right, we're about to be eaten by thousand of those
things, and 'Oh how boring.' Shinji thought. Then a blast of deeper
darkness, and a wind smelling of reptile and rotting meat erased nearly all
of them.
A few snarled and leapt at him, he screamed. Asuka the knight cut them
all down in mid-flight with that weird weapon she carried.
"Any more, any carnivorous teddy-bears, giant fire-breathing penguins?"
Asuka, the Meliorist, asked sardonically, offered her hand to pull Shinji to
his feet.
Now that he was closer, he thought this Asuka was about Misato's age,
but the combative attitude and condescension was pure Asuka. "You need
training."
"I'll never learn to wield a weapon like that," he admitted.
"Ha!" she slapped him on the arm. "You're a funny guy, when you want
to be."
Shinji rubbed his shoulder, wondering what she could have meant.
----------------------------------------
"Okay," Raccoon told Ranko, "That's enough for this session."
"I want to punch some more." She smiled, better than half the blows
were landing at full strength, forcing Raccoon back when they landed.
"There's a lot more to this, like manipulating the surrounding, your
appearance, your clothes. So," he gestured. Instead of a gi, Ranko was
wearing a red and blue silk dress, buttoned at the throat and covering her
to the knees, it hugged her like it was painted on.
"Pervert," she said, smiling.
"Change it if you want. Change your hair, your clothes, part of the
Dreamlands is how you present yourself, beginners throw who they are to
anyone who cares to look. The more experienced can assume the persona they
want." He paused, "That's not funny Ranko."
"What?" Ranma realized it was _his_ voice, he grabbed a lock of hair,
it was black.
"Change back, or I'll tell him," Raccoon threatened.
"Tell him what," Ranko was glad it was her voice now.
"That you stuck Ranma in a dress, he'd kill you if he found out. Don't
doubt that."
"You don't think much of him." Ranko made the dress into her usual red
top and black pants.
"You're right. He's a misogynistic, asexual, violent, narcissistic
idiot, what's not to like?"
Ranko changed her clothes to duplicate Raccoon's usual three-piece suit
and fedora.
"Well, you picked that up pretty quick," Raccoon told her, "Keep
practicing. Try some different hair colors, lip shades, like cosmetics."
"That's dumb stuff," Ranko retorted, "That's for parties and dances."
"And those are places to meet people, hear stories, do you intend to
live in a cave practicing Martial Arts until you die?"
Ranko didn't have an answer, 'she' was part of a curse, Ranma had no
idea about his future, he'd just let it come.
"Keep practicing, think of it as wearing a mempo, one of those demon
face masks samurai wear in battle," he told her firmly. She nodded.
----------------------------------------
Ranma practically bounced out of bed and immediately started his
practices, punching and moving as fast as he possible could. He felt great,
no nightmares and soon he'd be able to deal with those things on a level
playing field, then he'd be better than them.
He noted Raccoon practically crawling out of bed. "What's wrong with
you this morning?" he asked his near-dead roommate.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you," he mumbled, headed for
the bathroom.
Ranma continued his practices, That's what you think smart guy. He
continued his katas, each form perfectly flowing into the next. He felt
ready for anything. Nothing that happened today was beyond him.
----------------------------------------
Assault
Nabiki was incredibly nervous about this, the walls of the bomb shelter
seemed to be closing in on her. Even with Ranma beside her, she was
worried, as chipper as Ranma was, she almost felt like stepping back and
letting him take on the whole crowd. But that wasn't the plan. The two of
them were outnumbered at least 25 to 1. Akane might have been the expert in
mass-combat, but Nabiki didn't know how well Ranma would do. She was even
_more_ worried about her part, all Ranma had to do was keep silent, then
bash anything that moved. She had to get them to attack or surrender, all
without seeming to provoke them.
"So, you have something to say to us?" their leader told her,
"Actually, you should _listen_."
"You think you have the authority to demand everyone bow down to you?"
Nabiki asked.
"Our concern is the good of the students. You are a disruptive
influence."
I've been disrupting _your_ operations, Nabiki thought, she noted
Ranma's tenseness, his preparation for battle, Stay, calm, we might get out
of here without a fight. I hope. "You call loansharking, protection
rackets and the rest 'for the good of the students', and costing the jobs of
the parents of anyone who disagrees?"
"You could hardly understand the larger picture here, there are
concerns you can't see."
That's a load of bullshit and _both_ of us know it, Nabiki thought.
----------------------------------------
"Come on Wondergirl," Asuka dragged her along the shelter's entry
corridor.
"Why?"
"Because Shinji-kun," the name turned her stomach, "Will be hitting the
other end, and we have to support him, right?" Asuka was shocked Rei had
passed her, and was dragging _her_ along, "Stop before you hit the door!"
"Why?"
Oh, scheiss! Asuka thought.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki noted the leader was getting angry at her refutations of the
points of their belief, Cognitive dissonance, she thought, He doesn't really
believe, but he doesn't want it pointed out.
"Get'em!" the leader ordered. The troops advanced a step, then
hesitated.
The doors behind Nabiki and Ranma opened, instead of more committee
'troops', Shinji, Toji and Jeff entered.
"Guten Tag." Jeff tipped his hat. Toji cracked his knuckles. The
forces realigned themselves.
"Kill them!" the troops surged forward.
The doors behind the leader smashed open. Rei and Asuka, still
hand-in-hand, were framed by the shattered doors.
"Ohayo!" Asuka said, detaching her hand from Rei's. It sounded a
little shaky to Nabiki, considering Rei just torn the heavy doors clear out
of the wall, it was reasonable.
"I said get them!" the leader shrieked. They hit the pilots from all
directions.
Nabiki noted that Shinji withdrew a bit while Jeff and Toji advanced to
block the exit. Ranma rapidly moved from target to target, never letting
them come to him. Rei would grab one and hurl him bodily at the largest or
nearest cluster. Asuka, a few steps behind, denying exit and guarding Rei's
flanks and rear.
Within moments, the Marines and Army poured in, and began handcuffing
and removing the fallen, or those who've wisely decided to surrender.
"Shinji-kun!" Rei marked the leader's attempt to get through the crowd.
Shinji moved to block his escape.
Nabiki realized if the idiot just sidestepped he might have bypassed
Shinji, instead he crashed into him to knock him down, and became entangled.
Instantly two Marines dragged the spitting, screaming boy off Shinji, and
held him down, cuffed him, then shackled his legs. An Army Captain stepped
between Shinji and the leader, gesturing Shinji to stop, with his other hand
resting on his pistol.
Someone's overplay his part, Nabiki thought as she glanced around,
there were no more combatants in her area, anyone around her was either down
or surrendering. She didn't relax until the Marines had cuffed all of the
committee and led them away. With their leader down, the fight had gone out
of the rest. Quite a few had already surrendered. Toji was watching the
U.S. troops dealing with them. Nabiki could tell from his expression, he
was glad he didn't have to compare his fighting skills against the pilots'.
They'd been almost 10-to-1 and there wasn't even a bruise on any of the
pilots.
Nabiki saw Hiroko at the door, she worriedly waved at Nabiki.
"Carry out the plan," Nabiki ordered.
Hiroko looked at the sullen leader, still spouting threats.
"Spineless!" Asuka shouted, "Go with her, you too Wondergirl!"
Shinji and Rei went with Hiroko, they half-carried, half-dragged the
boy.
"We'll get you Tendo! You can't escape us!"
"Yeah, right," Ranma said, "We took care of all your fighters."
"They may attack in other ways," Davis said, "Keep your eyes open."
"We should go up now," Nabiki said. Ranma followed her up, Asuka and
Davis remained behind. Nabiki wondered if they were trying to make this an
'all-Japanese' show, no foreigners, just Japanese commanding the American
forces.
Nabiki heard the cheers over the fallen leadership. She wondered how
much was pleasure at being freed, and how much was simply 'You always cheer
the new regime.' The latter worried her, Part of the 'political' end of the
operation was to prove to my countrymen can still control their own destiny.
The cheers increased as Nabiki came into the sunlight with Ranma, who
took a pose that would have been stereotypical and ridiculous in another,
his typical, environment, but at this place and time, it fit perfectly.
That's his _real_ problem, Nabiki thought, He was born in the wrong age
or the wrong genre. Here he can become the hero he deserves to be. Nabiki
was a bit alarmed that neither Davis nor Asuka appeared.
She went ahead with the plan, announcing a general amnesty to those who
served the 'old administration', some who didn't abuse their position might
have a place in the new power structure.
She noted with pleasure the concern on some faces, 'Women taking
over?!', they looked at her, Hiroko and Rei. When the concern became angry
murmurs, Ranma cracked his knuckles, dissent vanished.
I didn't want to replace one emperor with another, Nabiki lamented,
Then I take the 'throne' to prevent anyone else from taking it, and 'govern'
as hands-off as I can.
"Congratulations, General Washington," a Marine Major told her.
Unfortunately, I don't get the reference, Nabiki thought, Where's my
History Major when I need him?
----------------------------------------
Rei studied the board. After a week of watching Roku-kun playing
chess, she began playing against him. School was over for the week, Dr.
Akagi was collating the test results, she had until this evening, when
Captain Katsuragi had required all of them to attend a 'welcoming party' at
her apartment.
She had correctly mastered the moves, how each piece moved, how they
captured each other. Other nuances of the game.
The others had already gone home. They sat alone on the school
grounds, the two spoke no words, for which Rei was grateful, she felt
awkward speaking. She rarely understood the full intent of what others
said, and unless she was painfully careful in what she said, others didn't
understand her.
The game was predictable, and the rules never changed, once you
understood them, you understood them now and in the future, there was no
ambiguity. Right now she knew she was losing. Her initial defense had
collapsed, and what she had assumed was a diversion was the core of the
attack. Three pawns crossed the board and became three queens, bringing the
total to four. She'd realized the danger and hunted them down, now the two
that remained destroyed her last fallback position. Taking those two pieces
had cost the bulk of her force, it had been an aggressive beginner's
mistake. Another diversion from the real goal, her king.
She thought of it as the Commander, the weakest piece, but the key to
the entire game, the sacrifice of the rest of the force was worth protecting
that one piece. Was this part of the lesson? she wondered, If a pawn can
become the queen, is that what I am, a pawn? she didn't know, perhaps later
she would ask. She knew Roku-kun would insist on walking her home, she
could ask him then. In that way, he was as predictable as the rules of this
game.
He moved a bishop halfway across the board to a seemingly innocuous
position. Whenever she assumed it was a mistake, he'd made it the core of
his attack, when she attacked, she discovered it was a diversion. Always to
her detriment. She wasn't sure which this was, her defenses were so weak
now it hardly mattered. She knew she could surrender, resign it was called,
but she wouldn't. She had never given up in her life, she had found a way
to improve the position of the Commander, even when it had cost her her
life. Even in a game, she couldn't give up, In that way, I am like the
Fourth, Saotome. He cannot surrender either, she wasn't pleased by the
comparison, she wondered how far it went, Do others consider me as tactless
as he? As focused on things they don't understand or care about? Is that
why he dislikes me? It didn't matter, the Commander needed him, the Others
told her he was important. She would accept his mistreatment, protect him,
until the Commander said otherwise.
"Check."
She surveyed the board, she had only one safe place to move the
Commander/king, and the bishop so innocuously placed would move one square
and deny even that safety. She moved, the bishop moved.
"Checkmate," Roku-kun told her, he collected the pieces when she nodded
her agreement with his assessment. The board folded and served as a box for
the pieces, a clever arrangement.
She stood, brushed off her skirt. She had failed, failed to find a
solution. Will I fail when the Commander needs me? she wondered.
"It's just a game," Roku-kun told her.
Is he reading my mind?
"Here." He handed her the board and a book clearly labeled 'Famous
Chess Games', "You might enjoy practicing, and I want a rematch next
Saturday."
"Thank you," she said. Packing the board in her book bag, opening the
book and studying the failures and victories of others as she walked home.
----------------------------------------
>From the Journal of Saotome Ranma
I don't wanna do this, but Maya says all the pilots gotta write, or
they ain't pilots.
The disaster at Misa's place is worth writing about. I knew we were in
trouble when we opened the door. The stench coming from the kitchen and the
sight of Misato in her shorts and T-shirt, with flour and others things
streaked all over her, well, I knew we were in bad trouble.
Kaji, Shinji and Asuka were seated at the table, all sweating. A bunch
of really old roses and two candles on the table made the place look even
more depressing. Now I know why Asuka and Shinji took off after school, to
make sure the place wasn't a complete disaster when we got there. They
should have locked Misa-chan in her room and cooked dinner themselves.
Well, actually they did.
Raccoon started it as we sat down, 'Oh good, suki-yucky'. Then Rei
piled on with 'I dislike meat.' The only reason she came was she was
ordered to, and she stayed because she was trying to follow Misa's orders to
'enjoy herself'.
Misato then announced it was katsu-don, even _I_ know that takes pork
and sake, not beef and beer. I don't know how much of the eight empty cans
of beer we saw went in the cook, or the dish. Even Kaji was sweating at
this point, Shinji apologized, of course. That kid would apologize for the
dinosaurs dying, if someone said he did it. Dinner was supposed to be at
7:00, by 7:30, and a half hour of 'Oh that's too much!' 'I'll just use
this!' All of us were ready to run.
Rit-chan asked about the crumbling center piece, the petals were
falling off in droves. It was Misato's tribute to Kaji, he'd sent her three
dozen roses, to announce his imminent arrival in Japan. Only Misato had
been evacuating the pilots at the time, so they'd sat without water until
they'd arrived back in Japan. A week later they weren't any better.
Misato refusing every offer of help, Nabiki kept smirking more and
more. Why? It wasn't until I realized everybody who _could_ cook was
wincing at every cry of disaster from the kitchen, even me. 'Well, I'm
going to start on the buffet,' Raccoon announced and began removing the
wilted roses from the vase, and pulling the petals off.
Asuka excused herself to 'get a salad dressing'. Rit-chan teased Kaji
that food poisoning was more important to Asuka than he was. Kaji loosened
his collar, Misato and Asuka had been at daggers-drawn over him all evening.
Raccoon handed me the petals and his pocket knife to cut the white part
off the petals. Asuka returned with wasabi, sesame oil and a can of beer,
she handed Shinji a big spoon and a potholder. He and Rei started stripping
the thorns off and roasting them. Asuka put the broken up stems in the
unused beer. Nabiki was giggling at us the whole time, Rit-chan and Kaji
soon joined her, until from the kitchen came Misa's memories of her college
days with Kaji and Rit-chan. I think Rit-chan wanted to kill her, and Asuka
would help. Kaji was just embarrassed.
I didn't care, if our two brains were actually agreeing on something,
it must be right. It did smell a _LOT_ better than what was coming out of
Misa's kitchen.
The squawk from Misa about the vandalized roses would have been funny,
except whatever she'd been cooking burst into flame. Jokes aside, we
started fighting the fire: covering the pans before drenching the entire
stove and countertops with sudsy water, another Asuka/Raccoon idea. Despite
her protests, _everything_ went into the sink and was thoroughly soaked with
water.
Rit-chan knew a rebellion when she saw one, she thanked Misa for the
invite as we left. Raccoon pulled Asuka with us as we left, Rei grabbed
Shinji's arm, then Asuka grabbed Kaji. We all hurried away, leaving
Misa-chan to clean up the mess. Nabiki brought what we'd prepared, we
nibbled on it as we walked down the stairs, it was weird, but actually okay.
Unfortunately, it just made us hungry.
I suggested okonomiyaki, there was a place right on our way home, and
it was open until 9:00. Nabiki looked like she was going to burst as she,
oh so innocently, asked 'Do you like okonomiyaki better than girls?' then
burst into laughter before I could answer.
One builds beds out of plumbing, the other laughs herself silly at her
own jokes. Do I really want to know which of my roommates is more nuts?
----------------------------------------
Hair Bomb
Nabiki had had to do some smooth walking, but she had Ranma right where
she wanted him. Leaning back with his head over the bathroom sink, and she
had all Sunday afternoon to do this.
"Why do I have to do this?" Ranma asked.
"Let's just say the . . . scent of L.C.L. is becoming noticeable," she
said, "Since you bathe regularly, it has to be your hair. So it's going to
get a proper washing. Not that rinse and go you've been doing. Besides,
you don't have to do this."
"I don't." Ranma sat up.
"Sure," Nabiki pushed him back down, "You can stink instead. Your
choice."
Ranma sighed and sat still.
Yes, Nabiki thought.
"Good day, Tendo-san, Saotome-san. Ah, he agreed." Davis entered the
bathroom, "I'll have you know I thought we'd have to use chains and one of
the NERV fire engines."
Ranma frowned at the other boy.
Nabiki briefly considered a splash of cold water, but she'd have to
work too hard to get Ranma to trust her again. "Another word," she told
Davis, "And out you go."
"Just one question, are you also planning to cut his hair?" he asked.
"What do you think Saotome, do you need a trim?" she asked.
"I dunno, what do you think?" Ranma said.
"I'd cut off the pigtail." Davis stood, "But that's just me." Davis
ran a hand over his short hair, "Why give someone a handle in a fight?"
As he left, both Nabiki and Ranma shuddered at the memory of the pilots
first fight in Japan.
"Hey, where you going?" Ranma asked as Davis left.
"Getting some better scissors from my kit," Davis called back.
"Afraid to be alone with me Saotome?" Nabiki asked seductively, "If you
try anything I can always yell for help."
Ranma was flustered by that, Nabiki started unwrapping the binding on
his pigtail.
Davis walked in with a small case, "I used this for the wigs and
moustaches, most of them are real hair."
"What's that?" Nabiki saw something small and white fall out of Ranma's
hair.
"OH GOD!" "SHIT!" "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"
"Grab it!" Nabiki shouted as hair, inches, feet then yards of it,
sprouted from Ranma's head.
Ranma had a more practical answer as hair covered the floor in greater
and greater depth, he started climbing for higher ground, taking Nabiki with
him.
Davis took a deep breath and dove into the mass, surfacing a moment
later with the long sliver. Nabiki managed to shove it in the endless
torrent before she and Ranma slipped beneath the swirling mass. Nabiki
managed to tie it off, before darkness enclosed her.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki wakened again, "I had this terrible . . . " she stopped as she
looked down into the sea of hair that covered her to her waist. Ranma had
a grip on one of her arms, Davis on the other. She guessed Davis was wedged
between the doorjamb and the ceiling. Ranma seemed to have wedged himself
in the corner like a spider, one foot on each wall, his hand on the ceiling.
"Are you all right?" Davis asked, earning a dark look from Ranma.
"Yes, I'm being dangled over a sea of hair, WHY WOULDN'T I BE ALL
RIGHT?!" Nabiki shouted at him.
"She's fine," Davis said, Ranma nodded.
Nabiki considered hitting both of them, but if either let go, she'd
'drown', like she nearly did. "What _is_ all this?" she demanded, "And how
do we get out of here?!"
"I think it's my hair," Ranma admitted.
"Look, I like holding hands, but I'd rather have my feet on something,"
Nabiki said.
"Uh, Tendo-san."
She knew she was in trouble when Davis used that tone,
"The ceiling in here is 10 feet, there's about a foot and a half of
free space. The only places to stand that are high enough are the door
jambs, and there's no guarantee I could reach the other one if I gave you
this one."
"Not _that_ much of a gentleman?" Ranma asked, "Huh, Raccoon?"
"Being a gentleman isn't a suicide pact, I can't swim in this stuff,
and I can't jump like the fabulous, fighting, human hair-bomb!"
"Well, you're so smart! Think of something! I . . . what's so funny,"
Ranma asked Nabiki as she started laughing at them.
"This is serious!" Ranma said. Nabiki kept laughing.
"This is your all your fault, Saotome, poor girl has completely lost
her grip on reality. Condemned to a life as a giggling idiot."
Nabiki laughed harder, looking from one glaring boy to the other.
Finally she managed to sober up. "Why don't we open the door?"
"None of us are that strong," Davis said.
"Burn it?" Ranma asked, "No, Nab-chan could get burned too."
"And we'd be asphyxiated," Davis added.
"Well. My arms are getting stiff," Nabiki told them between chuckles.
"Just think of all the money you'll make selling locks of Ranma's hair
tomorrow, and for the next few years," Davis suggested.
Nabiki enjoyed Ranma's grumbles at the suggestion.
"And you didn't know you could do this?" Davis shouted at Ranma,
"Saotome super technique: Hair Bomb, I can produce 11 cubic yards of hair a
second. Where'd the mass or energy to produce all of this come from? Are
you even _from_ this planet?"
"Now, now," Nabiki soothed, "He lost his memory. He wouldn't know if
he was an Angel or not." She was aware all Ranma had to do was let go, but
he'd never do that.
"Of course you are correct," Davis bowed, nearly lost his footing.
"The only other thing I can think of, besides waiting for Akagi-sensei, is
to eat our way out, but hair isn't digestible."
"Terrific," Ranma said, stared off into space.
Nabiki didn't mind holding hands, but her arms were beginning to
_hurt_.
Ranma glanced around, "Ah, I have to go to the bathroom."
"Below you and to the left," Davis replied.
"I'm serious!"
"So am I."
Nabiki desperately tried to think of _anything_ except how this could
get any worse.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko walked into her apartment, after a hard day she was starting to
enjoy the dinner being ready, and a bit of playful banter. Her earlier
concerns about Nabiki and Ranma had been relieved. The three, or four, way
battle kept things platonic. She looked around, none of them were in sight,
no sounds or smells of food, or any other activity.
"Kids!" she shouted.
"We're in here!" came the ragged chorus from the bathroom.
She headed over, turned the knob, but the door wouldn't move, "Unblock
the door."
"We can't from this side," Davis answered.
"Get an ax or break it down!" Ranma shouted.
"Hurry! Please!" Nabiki yelled.
She's hurt, Ritsuko thought as she slammed her shoulder into the door,
it barely budged. The Hell with this, she summoned her full strength and
crashed into the door, it cracked under the impact, but didn't open. That's
impossible!
"Oh shit!" she heard Davis.
"Don't let go!" Nabiki screamed, "My hand! Take my hand!"
"Doc! Hurry!" Ranma yelled.
She hit the door again, splitting it completely, breaking it clear of
the jamb. Rather than pushing into the room, the door shoved her back and
something black poured into the hall.
"Find him!" Nabiki shouted as Ritsuko shoved the broken door aside, the
bathroom was still half full of some weird material, it looked almost like
hair.
"Get his knife," Nabiki dragged Jeff out of a mass of the stuff with a
tendril of the material wrapped tightly around his throat.
Ranma pulled the knife and sawed at the garrote.
Once free he dropped to his knees, "Thanks."
Ranma hauled him up and out of the room, Nabiki followed close after.
"What happened here?" Ritsuko looked around the bathroom, as the kids
headed into the living room.
"Uh, I decided to wash Ranma's hair," Nabiki explained, "That
happened."
"Do you know a wig manufacturer who wants some raw material," Davis
coughed, "Cheap?"
"I think I need to call a clean up crew." Ritsuko carefully walked
through the hallway and the 'drift' of black hair, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, great," Nabiki said as she lay on the living room couch. Ranma
was carefully rubbing her arms and shoulders.
"What _else_ is going to happen around you three?" Ritsuko walked to
the phone.
"Well, there are those ancient beings who'll periodically attack," Jeff
sat rubbing his throat, "Sorry about dinner."
"We'll go out, I need to use a bathroom anyway. I don't think I want
to try in there."
"Doctor, can we include Ayanami-san? I'll pay for her," Davis said, "I
think if she has your permission, she'll actually come with us."
Ritsuko sighed, "Yes, all right." She dialed the phone.
"It could be worse?" Nabiki offered.
"Really?" Ritsuko asked sarcastically, "How?"
"Ranma could have gotten splashed, then the hair would be red and
black."
Ritsuko wasn't sure how that made things worse.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki's Pictures
Hiroko approached with the day's take, "Boss, once again, I have to
say. I had my doubts, but you were right again."
"About what?" Nabiki had been too busy assembling the organization to
pay too much attention to the selling of pictures, it was only Monday and
she had the job half done, with Hiroko and Davis's help. The elections on
Saturday had been a formality. In their class Roku-kun had moved
nominations be closed and the current officers keep their positions. Rei
had seconded almost instantly, before Asuka could support her friend Hikari.
'Someone' had passed the word to do likewise in every other class, so
the girls held the power they'd been given, only now with the implication
the 'new administration' approved, even endorsed them. It would make things
interesting.
She counted out the money, already calculating her friend's cut as she
counted. She noted the former school mafia tough, staying close enough to
guard Hiroko, but far enough away to be unobtrusive. What an organization
I'm 'in charge of', Nabiki thought, wondering where her group stopped and
the 'eyes and ears' started.
"Those pictures," Hiroko said, "They were a bit racy, and a little out
of character, but there were selling like hotcakes all day. I've never seen
business this good."
Nabiki noticed the pile was heavier than usual. "Which pictures were
those?" Nabiki asked.
Hiroko put the negatives in their clear plastic sleeves in front of
her. Nabiki's heart froze as she realized they were pictures of _her_.
"Some of these were selling better than Asuka's."
Nabiki was thinking furiously, she'd had Jeff's camera for a least the
last four days, there was no way he could have snapped these pictures, yet
there she was, in glorious color. Coquettish in a fancy dress. Awakening
with a smile on her face. Her in her black plugsuit. A few of how she
actually looked in the morning, those were the highest priced, at least five
times any other pictures they sold.
I'll kill him! she thought, "You have the order sheet?" If I can
return the money, I can prevent these from going out.
"Sure," Hiroko handed her the sheet, "That's a carbon copy. Davis-san
has the original, he already handed out the orders I took before lunch."
Nabiki abandoned thoughts of buying her way out, and switched to
thoughts of homicide.
"Asuka bought a couple," Nabiki observed, No surprise, she bought one
of the 'wreckage in the morning' pictures. Nabiki wondered how slowly it
was possible to kill someone.
"Selling well, were they?" Nabiki managed, Hiroko was obviously not in
on 'Raccoon's' nefarious scheme.
"Oh yeah, well some people asked for dartboard-sized, but most people
wanted regular prints"
Nabiki could barely manage to hide her shock, she was used to being the
object of fear, terror and loathing, the 'Ice Queen of Furinken High', not
someone who was the source of these pictures, or the object of that kind of
interest. It had to be Kensuke, but how did he get inside Dr. Akagi's
apartment? Nabiki wondered, she noted with disappointment that Ranma hadn't
bought any. She debated taking the negatives, and destroying them. She
looked at the money in her hand, considered, finally deciding that turnabout
was fair-play.
She handed the package back to Hiroko, "When Davis-san gives you any
more pictures to sell, check with me, I'd like to coordinate operations."
She counted out the money the girl had earned, "Ice cream and romance
manga?"
"No, boss, college-fund. I'm going to be the first in my family to go
to college," Hiroko said proudly.
"Business?" Nabiki asked.
Her confidant looked embarrassed, "Psychiatry. I want to be a doctor.
Try and eliminate the assumption that mental problems are different from
physical difficulties."
"There's nothing to be ashamed of," Nabiki countered, even in 'modern'
Japan, there was a prejudice against mental illness as somehow 'wrong.' It
explains most of the Nerima Crew, in the West they'd be hospitalized, not
causing havoc. "There's nothing wrong with being ambitious. If you ask
nicely, and work on your English skills, Raccoon may even get you considered
at Harvard. It's a good school and getting in depends on who you know, and
he's the nephew of a Department Dean. Besides, I'd like a friendly face
there when I go."
"You think he'd, would he really?"
"Ask. All he can do is say yes or no," Nabiki told her.
Hiroko nodded and ran off. Her bodyguard waited a moment then
followed.
"Talk to him soon, 'cause I'm going to kill him!" Nabiki said,
wondering if any special 'security' had been assigned to her.
----------------------------------------
Hiroko walked away from her meeting, she glanced back to her 'faithful
watchdog'. He was one of the 15 that had tried to ambush her. She wondered
at the change, it made sense, Ranma and Roku-kun managed to scare many of
the worker bees to switch sides. She wasn't afraid of him now, the boss had
assigned him to her, to make sure nobody failed to understand she was the
boss's emissary, her voice and eyes.
Hiroko paused, pulled the picture Roku-kun had given her. A picture of
her boss in a sexy and forceful pose, in her skin-tight plugsuit, this was
one picture that wasn't for sale. Hiroko even had the negative. She looked
at her boss, she was too embarrassed to tell Nabiki how much of a crush she
had on her.
She signed, she knew Nabiki was in love with Ranma, like half the girls
in the class. But Ranma didn't care about her, or anyone else if reports
were accurate. She wished the boss would look around and see someone who
really did care about her. She'd been so happy when Nabiki had told her to
come with her to Harvard. It would be a dream come true, maybe . . . No,
she realized, She'll be a business woman, I want to be a doctor. She signed
again, replaced the picture in her bookbag. She walked on, considering the
unfairness of the world as a whole, and love specifically.
----------------------------------------
"Davis!" The door to Dr. Akagi's apartment slammed open, a furious
Nabiki framed in the doorway. She scanned the room for her target.
Ranma knew to make himself scarce when Nabiki sounded like that, out
the balcony and up two floors onto the roof.
"Yes Tendo-kun, you called?"
Nabiki forced herself to calm down a bit, "What is the meaning of
giving Hiroko pictures of _me_ TO SELL?!"
"Ouchy, my poor ears," Davis said, trying to look innocent.
"I'll tear'em off and feed them to you, if you don't answer my
question!"
"It was a revenue stream you'd overlooked," Davis answered breezily,
"You don't recognize how much you're admired, there are a number of boys,
and girls, who have a _huge_ crush on you."
Nabiki felt the world crumbling around her, "Me?" she asked.
"Of course, you're not as cute as Ranko, as exotic as Langley or as
mysterious as Ayanami, but you are a pilot and you don't take any disrespect
from anyone, not me, not Ranma, not Langley, although the three of us attack
ea