Xian Pu rubbed her temples, trying to banish the third headache of the day. It had been two days since she had seen the man she swore was Ranma at the park. She’d gone there both the days before and even came back late to work, but still no Ranma. She wished she could find him and some answers.
On top of the problems with seeing Ranma again, the work had been piling up around the office. All of the sudden she was staying late and having a lot of urgent work due. It was as if coming within Ranma’s sphere of influence had caused her life to return to a semblance of the chaos it once was. She sighed as she remembered the good times, but rubbed her head again as the migraine reminded her she had work to do.
She buckled back down to her work. Suddenly there were a lot of provisions for immigrant visas. She glanced over and saw that it was already dark outside. “Aiya!” She thought. “It’s already night time and still the papers are piling up! And the boss and his secretary is still working too!”
She looked over and saw the secretary sweating her work. The secretary was an older, graying woman dressed in a very conservative dress. She flipped through papers and folders like mad.
“Excuse me!”
The secretary and Xian Pu looked up to see a stunning redhead in a short black skirt outfit standing at the front desk. The secretary looked up from her work. “What can I do for you miss?”
The redhead smiled and giggled. “Inverse Linna. I’m here to talk to Xanshi.”
The secretary raised an eyebrow. “Really.” She said in a deadpan voice. “Do you have an appointment?”
The smile never wavered from the redhead’s face. “Of course! Look at your date book! I’m scheduled for an eight-o-clock appointment.” The girl flipped her French braid over her shoulder.
The secretary looked at the date book and gawked. She could have sworn there were no more appointments today! It was in her handwriting, so she must have penciled it in. But why couldn’t she remember doing it? She’d certainly remember if a redheaded tramp in a slinky outfit had made the appointment in person. “Very well.” She hit her intercom. “Mr. Xanshi. There is a young lady out here to see you.”
“A young lady, you say.” The speaker came back. “By all means, send her in!”
The redhead smiled and tilted her head. The motion would have been adorably cute on a younger girl… “See, I told you!” She sashayed her way past the secretary. “I’ll show myself in.” She brazenly opened the door, entered the office, and silently closed the door.
“Floozy.” The secretary hissed under her breath.
Xian Pu had taken the whole scene with her jaw slack. She jumped up and went to the desk. “Who did that girl say she was?”
“Linna Inverse.”
“Did you even check for I.D.?”
The secretary raised an eyebrow. “You really think a woman like that would use a real name?”
Xian Pu looked at the woman with some confusion on her face. “Like what?”
“A street walker, a prostitute, a wh…”
“I get the point! But couldn’t you see that she was too healthy? Most prostitutes are sickly from drugs and poor exercise habits!”
The secretary rolled her eyes and a ‘you must be joking’ gesture. “Listen, Miss Holmes, I’m sure your keen intellect can spot a criminal from a mile away, but that is just a filthy sl…”
“ARRRRRGGGHH!!!” CRASH!!!
The sound of the Xanshi’s scream and breaking glass pierced the outer room. Xian Pu twisted the doorknob. Locked! “Oh well.” She thought. “Never liked using stupid door anyway.”
CRASH!!!
Xian Pu broke the door down and looked around the office. Everything was perfect, except her boss, the Ambassador of China, was gone, and the window was broken out.
“Damn it!” She swore. She knew it had to have been Ranma. He was the only one that jumps out a window from this far up and hopes to survive. Well, maybe Ryoga would, but there would have been a large crater on the concrete below…
She turned and yelled back to the secretary. “Call the police! I’m going after whoever did this!” Xian Pu didn’t wait for an answer. She leapt out the broken window and landed on a nearby rooftop.
Upon landing, she stumbled and fell. She rolled back to her feet. “Stupid shoes!” She swore in Mandarin. She tore off her heels and tossed them aside. “No point wearing shoes to boss’s dress code if no boss.” She looked around her to try and find Ranma. Nothing. She leapt away to the next rooftop. She continued on, trying to find her lost airen.
Ranma-Chan stepped out of the shadows of the first building with a large satchel swung over her shoulder. “Too many coincidences.” She thought. “Come on Ambassador, you’ve been a bad boy. You’d have to have been to need my help.” She vaulted to a rooftop in another direction from Xian Pu’s and continued jumping until she made it to the rendezvous point.
The next day, Xian Pu was lounging in the park again. Only this time she was wearing a loose t-shirt and jogging shorts. Her hair was done up in her usual Amazon warrior, two-bun style. Her hair was much longer than it had been before. It was down to the small of her back and was flowing down the bench behind her. Many guys had stumbled over themselves, ran into trees, etc at the sight of the gorgeous lavender haired goddess sunning herself.
Little did they know that she was poised there watching everyone around her at once. “Where are you, Ranma?!” She screamed internally. “You cost me my job and most my career. Now I want to know what is going on!” She scowled as another man sent yet another lustful glance in her direction. “Pervert. At least I know I still got it.”
She waited for another hour past the usual lunchtime for the nine to fivers, and still no Ranma or Ranma-Chan. She swore under her breath and stood to her feet. “I have to know what’s going on!” She shook her head. “I should have known he wouldn’t come back to this park. I’ve already seen him once, he’s bound to avoid me.” She turned and walked back towards the business district.
She was almost to the bus stop where she usually catches her ride back to her apartment when she saw a familiar face to the side. A tall woman with chestnut brown hair cradling an infant in her arms was coming out of the Japanese equivalent of the Better Business Bureau. “Jackasses.” She tickled the baby in her arms. “They’re a bunch of jackasses, aren’t they snookems?” The baby laughed and grabbed onto the finger that was tickling her.
“Hello, Ukyou.”
Ukyou stiffened at the voice over her shoulder. “Could it really be?” She thought. She turned to see Xian Pu, standing there big as life. “Well sugar, long time no see.”
“Haven’t seen you in a while either, Miss Kuonji.”
Ukyou blushed a bit. “Haven’t heard that one in a while. It’s actually Kurenai now. Kurenai Ukyou.”
Xian Pu chuckled a bit. “So you married Tsubasa then?”
Ukyou raised her eyebrows and looked away. “Not exactly.”
The Amazon had a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Go ahead and tell it. I’m made of time at this point.”
“Let’s go to that café then, and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
Several moments later they were sitting at a table at the outdoor café. They both ordered and were waiting for their food. The infant was already getting its meal from the bottle Ukyou was feeding it.
Xian Pu leveled a gaze at Ukyou. “So?”
Ukyou took a deep breath. “So?”
“So what about Tsubasa? Is that his kid?”
Ukyou bounced the baby to let it get a breath of air before continuing to eat. “Yes. This is his son, Tsubasa Jr.”
“So what’s this, ‘not exactly’ business?”
Ukyou looked down at the baby with a sad look on her face. “It’s Tsubasa’s baby, but I’m not the mother.”
Xian Pu blink-blinked. “What?!?! You took his name, you’re taking care of his baby, but you’re not the mother?”
Ukyou smiled a bit. “That’s the short version of the story.”
Xian Pu took a drink from her glass and leaned back. “Okay, so what’s the long version?”
“You’re Japanese has got much better.”
Xian Pu narrowed her eyes. “I’ve had lots of practice. You’re stalling. What’s the big story?”
Ukyou took a deep breath. “I guess I’ll start from the relative beginning. After Ranma and Akane’s wedding I was pretty broken up. I took out my frustrations on everyone around me. I even kicked Konatsu.” She paused.
“So what? You kicked him.”
“I kicked him in the groin.” She took a deep breath. “I was really mad.”
Xian Pu smiled. “I can tell. So what’s the rest of the story?”
“The rest of the story is I battered Konatsu to the limits of my abilities and further. You’d think I was trying to pull an Akane on him.”
Xian Pu
chuckled a bit at the private joke that she and the okonomiyaki chef had had between themselves. The term had become synonymous with violent abuse. “So he left you and you married Tsubasa.”
Ukyou took yet another deep
breath. “No. Actually, Konatsu stuck around through all of it. He stayed by my side the whole time and
helped me work through it. I was so
grateful that I married him.”
Xian Pu leaned forward on the table. “Now I’m really confused.”
“Tsubasa actually married Yuka, one
of Akane’s friends. He was actually a
decent person after that. Us and our
spouses became great friends, and then…” She choked a bit.
Xian Pu reached a hand out and touched Ukyou on the shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Ukyou put a hand over Xian Pu’s. “I’m fine. It’s just still hard to talk about. I found out I was barren. I…I found out I couldn’t have children.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I was angry all over again. Mad at the whole injustice of my life. I thought how great it was that I hadn’t married Ranma so that he wouldn’t be disappointed with me.” She took a second to steady herself. The baby reached up and grabbed her shirt with a concerned look on his face. Ukyou looked down at the little boy and smiled at him. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I’m fine.”
The food arrived and they ate a couple of bites. Xian Pu looked at the brunette. “So?”
Ukyou steadied herself. “Again, Konatsu was by my side. He, Tsubasa, and Yuka were all there. They helped me come to reasonable terms with my…condition. Later Tsubasa and Yuka had Tsubasa Jr. here.” She bounced the kid a bit. “We were actually babysitting the kid for them…when…”
Xian Pu could tell this story was really hard on her. “You don’t have to finish, if you don’t want to.”
Ukyou brushed some stray hairs out of her face. “It’s all right. Tsubasa and Yuka…were…killed in a car accident.”
Xian Pu’s eyes had a sympathetic look in them. “I’m sorry.”
Ukyou smiled a bit. “It’s okay. Tsubasa’s parents were devastated. They couldn’t really handle a baby at their age. We asked them if we could adopt the kid.”
“And?”
Ukyou smiled. “Here’s the good part of the story. They told us ‘only if we took their name’.”
Xian Pu cocked an eyebrow. “That’s good?”
Ukyou smiled. “After I didn’t marry Ranma, my parents disowned me to save their own honor. Konatsu was dishonored when he left his clan. We were a couple without a family. They gave us two of the greatest gifts we could have ever received. They gave us a child and a family name. It all worked out in the end. Just the road was a little too bumpy for my tastes.”
Xian Pu
took another drink. “At least
everything worked out for you.”
Ukyou leaned back. “So what’s your story? Why are you wondering around the park in the business district?”
“I was actually working there until yesterday.”
Ukyou looked shocked. “Really?”
“Don’t act so surprised.”
“Sorry, it’s just hard to imagine the mad Amazon Ranma glomper as a businesswoman.”
“I was actually an ambassador’s aide.”
Ukyou put the baby on her shoulder and burped him. “Wow, sugar. So what happened?”
It was Xian Pu’s turn to take a deep breath. “Ranma.”
Ukyou’s eyes went wide. “It certainly didn’t take him long.”
Xian Pu was getting really tired of being so confused. “What?”
Ukyou looked at her. “You mean you didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Akane and him got a divorce. I didn’t think he’d come chasing after you though.”
“He didn’t! I mean…well…it’s not like I DON’T want him…uh…”
Ukyou couldn’t help but laugh. It was the first time she had ever seen the mighty Amazon warrior Shampoo flustered. “So?”
“He made me lose my job.”
“How so?”
“He killed my boss.”
Ukyou’s eyes went wide. “What? Ranchan? Ranchan wouldn’t do anything like that!!! Would he?!?!”
Xian Pu held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Keep it down! I’m pretty sure that he killed the ambassador.”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know. He snuck in right under my nose and the next thing I know him and the ambassador are gone.”
“So why do you think he killed the ambassador?”
Xian Pu leaned in close. “I caught him talking to a pair of Yakuza in the park the other day. They were talking about ‘doing a job’. I’m pretty sure it was to kill the ambassador.”
Ukyou still couldn’t believe it. “Not my Ranchan! He’d never do that!”
Xian Pu narrowed her eyes. “That’s what I intend to find out.”
Later that night Xian Pu was leaping from rooftop to rooftop, patrolling the city in search of Ranma. She was about to give up when she caught sight of a familiar pigtail. He was coming out of a strip joint in China town. The club was a known front for Triad, the Chinese mafia. Xian Pu swore under her breath. “First he works for the Yakuza and then he works for the Triad. What is going on?”
He rounded a corner and started walking down an alleyway with Xian Pu close behind. He stopped halfway down the alleyway. “Come on out. I know you’re there.”
Xian Pu swallowed hard. She was about to step out when another voice caught her attention.
“You’ll pay for stealing our honor, Ikari.”
Ranma laughed. “Can I help it if you can’t handle a simple assassination?”
Out of the shadows emerged several ninjas. One of them stepped forward. “You defaced our honor! You did a job that was rightfully ours! We will get our payment with your blood!”
Ranma scoffed at them. “You and what army?”
The ninja looked around at the ten other ninja. “Which army do you think?”
Ranma looked around him. “Oh! You mean these losers! I thought you might have had a REAL army!”
All the ninjas were quaking in anger. “You mocked us for the last time!” They charged in at him.
Ranma smirked and leapt straight up to the rooftop. The ninjas followed in hot pursuit. Xian Pu followed as well. He leapt across town and started heading toward the outskirts of town. He found an open field and came to a stop. The ninjas dropped in front of him.
“Tired of running like a coward, eh, Ikari?” The ninja pulled out his katana. “Prepare to die!”
Ranma smirked. “Like I haven’t heard that before.”
The ninjas charged in at him. Ranma nimbly dodged all the attacks added a few small, annoying strikes to keep them motivated. He started to move in a spiral.
Xian Pu recognized the move immediately. She tried to brace herself against in the tree she was in.
As he reached the center of the spiral, Ranma smiled. “HIRYU SHOTEN HA!”
A whirlwind stirred up and picked up all the ninjas. The anger from all of them had generated enough power for a small tornado. The branch that Xian Pu was holding onto snapped off and got caught up in the winds. “AIYA!!”
“Shampoo!” Ranma shouted. “Damn it!” He leapt up into the maelstrom after the Amazon warrior. He swam his way to her and scooped her up. “Stupid girl! What the hell were you thinking?!”
“Ranma! What you doing?!”
“What?”
Xian Pu composed herself. “What are you doing?”
A twitch of movement caught Ranma’s attention. He turned to see one of the remaining ninjas pull something from his gi. “You may kill us, but we’ll still have our honor!” He pulled out a block of C-4. He slammed what looked like a pen into the block and pushed the stopper.
“NOOOO!!!” Ranma shouted. He wrapped himself around Xian Pu and put himself between the blast and her.
He managed to get his back to the blast when the world went white…