Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Balance of Power ❯ Journey Horizons ( Chapter 10 )

Journey

Chapter 4

New Horizons

Xining, Qianhai province, China.

Minoru Hitonda stepped outside his hotel room and walked the short distance to the hotel elevator. He did not bother to make any chit chat with the other occupant of the elevator, as he did not wish to draw attention to himself. Once the elevator had reached the main floor, he exited the elevator and made his way through the lobby, forgetting to check out.

He walked through the front doors to the hotel and climbed into the back of a waiting car. The car sped off without a word being passed between the driver or the passenger.

The drive took ten minutes before they stopped in front of a café that was frequented by students from a nearby university. Minoru got out of the car and entered the café.

He spotted a booth in the corner of the café that was occupied by a short Chinese man wearing a traditional business type suit. The man was lightly built, and looked exactly what you would expect a lower level Chinese businessman to look like. Minoru casually walked over to him.

"I believe this morning chill is a sign of things to come," Minoru said, very casually, to the man.

"Yes," the man replied without looking up, "winter shall be upon us very soon."

The man beckoned Minoru to join him. Minoru obliged and took a seat opposite the man, and ordered some tea from a passing waiter.

"It has been awhile Toji," Minoru said.

"Yes, I seem to remember myself having more hair the last time we met," Toji smiled.

"I trust you have heard of Maruyama's passing?" Minoru asked.

"I shall not mourn his death, but it does pose some major problems, both for us and the Yakuza" Toji told him. "Now, may I ask why you have come such a great distance to talk? I doubt it was so we could exchange pleasantries."

"True," Minoru said. "I have come this distance so I can ask for your assistance. The people that killed Maruyama happen to be passing through China."

Toji sat up straight and looked right at Minoru.

"Go on," he urged.

"Their families are being monitored back in Japan and if everything goes according to plan, I will be able to have them taken care of by the end of this month. I must admit that I cannot tell you with great enthusiasm that I will be able to end the lives of those that killed Maruyama."

"And why is that?" Toji asked.

"The two males are very powerful, the one called Ryoga Hibiki was shot in the chest and he is now in China, four days after being shot."

"That is quite impressive," Toji said.

"Not only that but Seiji Inafune is with them. I know for a fact that Seiji was the one that hired those people to kill Maruyama, and he himself had a great part in ending Toshi's life. I feel it would be of great interest to us that Seiji be gotten rid of. Seiji alive poses a greater threat to us alive than dead," Minoru told him.

"I see," Toji said, contemplating what he had just been told. "You do realize that Seiji's death will lead to a number of problems for us."

"Yes, but as I said, if he were to be kept alive he would cause more trouble than if he were dead."

"I must consult other members from out of country for confirmation, but if what you said was true than you will have my support," Toji said as he got up from the table, leaving just enough money to cover his and Minoru's bill. Tipping waitresses and waiters was not exactly a normal occurrence in China.

Minoru waited five minutes after Toji left before leaving himself. He stepped back into the car he arrived in and instructed the driver of where their next stop would be.

"One down, two more to go," he said softly to himself. Everything was going according to plan. But something had to go wrong, something always did.

===============

"I kind of like these showers," Ryoga said, stepping out of the bathroom. The shower setup in their particular hotel was western-style.

"Yeah," Akane agreed while toweling off her hair. "They don't seem to last very long though."

Ranma mumbled something under his breath as he stepped into the bathroom.

The first thing they had all decided upon was that in order for them to make it through the day, a nice bath would be in order. But the agreement quickly spouted a fierce argument between Ranma and Ryoga over who would go first. The decided that an arm-wrestling match would be the easiest way to determine who would go first. While the two of them were having the first ever Anything-Goes Arm-Wrestling match, Akane and Akari had their showers. By the time they had finished, the hotel suite was a war zone. Ryoga was able to get his shower first because he accidentally stumbled into the bathroom after dodging an aerial barrage of hotel mints from Ranma.

It quickly dawned on the others that despite Ranma and Ryoga's admissions of friendship, they would always be looking for ways to fight each other over anything that they could think of.

"So," Akari began, "What do we do now?"

"Whatever you guys want to do is fine with me," Ryoga said.

"Well, this being your first time here in Beijing, I think we should do a little sight-seeing first," Seiji said.

Ranma emerged from the bathroom. It was apparent to everyone that he was in his cursed form, and also very cold.

"Y-You g-guys used up all t-the h-hot water," she said through chattering teeth. Ranma was rubbing her arms vigorously to try and generate some heat.

"Do not fret Ranma," Seiji laughed. "I took this into account and prepared some hot water."

Seiji left the room and returned with a steaming kettle. He poured the contents over Ranma's head and smiled contently as Ranma returned to his normal form.

"Now that we are all regenerated, I feel the day is wasting, let the sight-seeing commence!"

"Sight-seeing?" Ranma asked, confused.

===============

Seiji led them to a waiting car. Again it was of the same government -type make that all the cars Seiji seemed to travel in had.

Akari climbed into the front passenger side and Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga sat in the back. Akane placed herself between Ranma and Ryoga, and warned them of what would happen if they tried to start fighting again. She didn't want a repeat of what happened in the hotel room.

"So where's our first stop?" Akari asked.

"I shall see if any of you will be able to recognize where we are going," Seiji said as he pulled out of the hotel garage. He drove east from the Jianguo hotel.

No one knew where Seiji was taking them as they had never been to Beijing. As far as they knew they could be going to Tiananmen Square.

===============

Minoru cursed as his cell phone rang. He excused himself from the table and exited the restaurant.

"Hitonda!" Minoru barked, pushing the talk button.

"*I do not think that is a very pleasant way to answer one's phone Minoru.*"

"Ishii," Minoru said, his tone telling how much he appreciated the call, "I am in the middle of a very important meeting right now and-"

"*I do not care Minoru, right now I have a more pressing matter at hand,*" Ishii told him.

"And what is it?" Minoru asked, his impatience not hidden.

"*Oh, it seems to have slipped my mind, it was on the tip of my tongue a second ago. I wonder why I can't seem to remember it,*" Ishii said.

"You bastard," Minoru swore, "I do not have time to play your stupid adolescent games."

"*Then you had better make time,*" Ishii said sternly. "*Seiji wishes to have an update on what the other member's moods are at this point.*"

"You may tell him that if he were to show up in their office tomorrow they would string him up by the balls and slit his throat. Whatever way Seiji may wish to interpret that, I suggest he keep his presence unfelt."

"*Thank you Minoru, I have really enjoyed this conversation and I can't wait until we have our next one. See you in a week,*" the line clicked.

Minoru lowered the phone and smiled to himself. For only a little longer would he have to put up with Ishii and Seiji's bullshit. That thought made him smile very contently.

"It shall be the last week of your life."

===============

Seiji hit the end button, ending his conversation with Ishii. He cursed under his breath as he tossed the cell phone into the glove compartment.

"Something wrong Seiji?" Ryoga asked.

"Not exactly Ryoga, I guess it was to much to hope that the other members would have overlooked my absence for the past month," Seiji said.

"Who are they?" Ranma asked.

"It does not matter right now," Seiji told them, obviously avoiding the question. "Now, can any of you guess where we are now?"

Everyone looked out their windows, except Akane who had to look over Ranma's shoulder, and looked at the scenery.

They had driven to the heart of Beijing. This early in the morning there were few people out and the whole place was nearly deserted.

Seiji parked the car along the street and stepped out and stretched.

"This my friends," he said as he waved his hand over the respective area, "Is Tiananmen Square."

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Author's Notes: This chapter I had originally planned to be at least double in length, but I realized that if it were to be that long, the next chapter would have to be merged into it as well. That would have made it far too long. Throughout the story I tried to keep the length of the chapters consistent, except for the first chapter, the last chapter of this volume, and the final chapter. All three are over ten thousand words long.

Anyway, I hope everyone has been enjoying the story so far, and I hope everyone's been reviewing.