Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chained World: The Fall of the House of Kuno ❯ Hang Time ( Chapter 46 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi, or anyone else's published work.

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Nabiki watched from the Saotomes' bedroom window as Akane and Ukyo walked out of the house through the family room entrance. The two vanished out of sight around the corner of the house on their way to the front gate, the train station, and a Juuban hospital. The middle Tendo stayed at the window, considering her mixed feelings about this little trip.

Truthfully, she didn't know how she wanted to feel about it. On the one hand, it would simplify things enormously if Akane wasn't pregnant. Not only would it free Akane to again become one of the fighters instead of a civilian (and make her easier to live with), but it would put Nabiki back on the original track of pushing Kuno to come after her. On the other hand, Akane had little enough to bring joy into her life at the moment, and she was practically giddy at the thought of what a pregnancy would mean to Ranma. It had been all Nabiki could do to convince her to hold off a couple of days before making the trip, asking her to wait until Dr. Mizuno's afternoon schedule would be mostly clear and Nabiki could provide a referral from a previous patient to give her a reason to ask for a particular doctor. Not that that had been the real reason, of course....

She finally turned away from the window. “All right, you've seen plans I hacked for the rooftop layout for the guards around the center for today's slave auction,” she said to Mu Tse, Xian Pu and Konatsu. “Do any of you think there will be any problems keeping the guards away from the catapults long enough for Hiroshi-kun's team to escape?”

The three exchanged glances. “No, no problem,” Xian Pu replied for them. “Too too stupid guards placed to stop slings, protect each other. Not get to roofs of buildings farther away.”

“Good.” Turning her attention to Ranma's school friend, she asked, “Hiroshi-kun, is your team ready?”

“Yes, it is,” the brown-haired boy replied. “We've tested the catapult ranges, picked roofs where we can put them together without being seen by the guards, done some speed drills for putting them together, studied the escape routes —” He chopped off his babbling of details Nabiki already knew, took a deep breath, and jerked a nod. “We're ready.”

Nabiki studied him for a moment. His nervousness didn't surprise her. If anything, she was surprised that it had taken this long to break through — he wasn't from an obscure tribe of Amazons from the back of beyond or had the twisted childhood Konatsu had lived through, after all. This is taking too long. And it isn't just nerves — people are on a knife's edge right now, but they'll stay angry only so long. I know Kuno's been busy the last few weeks, but I never thought he'd hold off from Akane like this. “Good,” she finally said. “How about Akane's absence? Any of your people upset about it?”

Hiroshi shook his head. “No. If anything, they're a little relieved. With her not there, the big guns are less likely to get involved. Speaking of the big guns, why haven't they gotten involved?”

Nabiki shrugged. “Bigger fish to fry than some vandals. Besides, if the Kuno ninjas grabbed us and turned us over to the police, we'd be back on the streets in a few hours. Thanks to Kuno's grandfather, any captures or arrests made by the Family's retainers without direct orders from Lord Kuno aren't legal, and any evidence they collect independently isn't useable in court. Kuno's father never bothered to change the law, since he didn't bother with using the courts to punish his enemies. And before you ask, no, I don't know why Kuno hasn't changed that himself, yet.” She shrugged. “Maybe he doesn't like gamblers, they're the ones that have been taking the biggest hit from our little games.

“At any rate, you have a few hours to get into position, so you'd better get moving.”

The four nodded and left. Nabiki waited for a moment to let them get down the stairs before heading to her room. Once there, she made sure the blinds were closed, then dropped into the seat in front of her computer, shoulders slumped and rubbing at her face as she once again fought the temptation to use her little backdoor into the Kuno computer network to see if she could find anything about Kuno's plans. No, your little surprise has to stay a surprise if you want to keep Ranma off a cross or from being run out of the country. straightening, the pageboy-haired girl turned to her computer to check her list of special contacts for the umpteenth time. Maybe she should discreetly ask Kasumi to buy some antacid for the churning acid in her gut.

/oOo\

Kasumi sighed as she put the bag of groceries on the kitchen counter. It had taken her a week to work up her courage enough to tell that nice Yamaguchi-san at the grocery store that she had reconsidered his generous offer, and then Auntie Nodoka had returned. Fortunately, she had been distracted by Kasumi's request that she take care of the laundry. Even now, the eldest Tendo could hear her softly singing to herself through the open kitchen window as the Saotome matron hung up the clean laundry in the back yard. Good, I'll have time to get this hidden before anyone sees it.

Emptying the bag of the next several days' meals, Kasumi lifted a highly polished wooden box up from the bottom. Pulling a key attached to a thin chain around her neck from up out of the neck of her house dress, she quickly unlocked the box, lifted the lid, and took the small revolver from its setting. She stared at the weapon for a minute, fighting the churning in her gut, before shaking away her unpleasant thoughts and plucking out the box of bullets from its setting. She carefully loaded the gun, then put it and the rest of the ammo back in the box, locked it, and knelt to unload enough glasses and ceramic bowls from the circular rotating shelves in one of the lower cupboards so she could slip the box into one of the corners behind them before replacing the dishes.

So, a few hours before I need to start dinner, she thought as she stood up to put away the fresh meat and vegetables. Lifting a hand to her nose, she sniffed, and grimaced. I can't have anyone smelling the gunpowder from the practice Yamagushi insisted on. I think it's time to clean the furo.

/oOo\

Shinohara Asuma looked up, an eyebrow going up as the perkiest ray of sunshine in the division stepped into his tent. She'd stepped in, instead of bouncing. “Back already? With the training maneuvers over I thought you and Yamazaki-kun were going to check out the local drinking establishments, see if any of the local brews were the equals of the ones back home. I didn't expect to see you until this evening.”

“We were, until we hit the first three,” Noa replied, and Asuma straightened at the serious tone of the usually lighthearted redhead. “Asuma-kun, I think we ought to expedite switching out the practice ammo for the live rounds.”

Asuma stared at her. “Why?”

“The Nerima Lording's a powderkeg waiting for a match — even more than we thought — and when the match gets lit, there's no way the police are going to be able to handle it.”

“And you expect that to happen while we're still out here, and for us to get involved?” Noa simply gave him a tight smile, and Asuma sighed. “Right, Captain Goto agreed to accept Meioh-san's offer for a reason, and I haven't seen or heard of any other possibility, either. Unless the betting pool has other options?”

“There is no betting pool,” Noa admitted. “No one could come up with an idea of what the Captain's planning that anyone was willing to put money on. Everyone knows we owe Ranma so nobody thinks we're going to protect the Kunos, but Setsuna-kun can't think that Captain Goto would sanction an attack on the Kunos, either. We're law enforcement — we protect people and take down lawbreakers, not engage in large-scale assassinations.”

“I have to agree, but Captain Goto must know what he's doing,” Asuma said. “Go ahead and trade out the ammo, and we'll see what happens.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Noa said with something closer to her normal bubbly manner, “Hiromi-kun's already on it. He's going to move the tanks onto the transports when he's finished. As soon as that's done, he's going to prep and load the powered wings.”

Well, I'm glad you at least pretended to leave the decision up to me,” Asuma said mock-sternly.

Noa grinned back at him at his tent's entrance. “Hey, you're a good boss, meaning you ... ah ... take our suggestions seriously.” The two chuckled for a moment, then Noa added, “You know, it may not be Captain Goto with the plan, this time — maybe he trusts Setsuna-kun have one.” Then she was gone, leaving a suddenly thoughtful superior officer behind.

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Yeah, I know, it's a little short and a transition chapter, but I thought it was the best place to break off. After this, things should start hopping.

Also, I'm almost completely winging it with the “Patlabor” characters, since I know next to nothing about the series. Good thing this is an extremely AU fanfic....