Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chained World: The Fall of the House of Kuno ❯ Exit, Stage Right ( Chapter 53 )

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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A teenage girl so covered in dusted brick and concrete and splashed with blood and gore that even in daylight it would have been difficult to recognize the purple shade of her hair landed on the top of the wall around the Tendo dojo. She paused, fighting to keep from passing out as the pain in her head exploded at the impact. In spite of the way Xian Pu knew she was skylining herself, she waited until the pounding ebbed once more to a level that allowed her to be more than peripherally aware of the nighttime world around her, until at last she decided that she had recovered enough to go on and dropped down inside the compound.

Landing lightly in a crouch, she looked around, eyes widening at the carnage visible in the moonlight, at least half a dozen bodies lying on the grass — including one that was heartbreakingly familiar. She ignored the body for a moment to look around again ... nothing. The night was quiet, without a hint of the pressure of being the target of hostile focus. Whatever had happened here, it was over.

With that realization she felt herself begin to relax and fought to stay on her feet as she approached the corpse at the center of the massacre — yes, as she'd feared, it was Genma. She stared down at the body for a long moment, eyes picking out the no longer bleeding stabs and slashes that had killed him, thoughts of the man he'd been and the man he'd become clashing within her. He had been an irritating, laughable excuse for a human being, much worse than even would normally be expected of a man, but the last few weeks he had been ... impressive.

Think about it later, you have more important things to worry about. Putting aside the thought of Genma as she had done earlier with her grief over her great-grandmother and her childhood friend/annoying pursuer, she glanced around. Genma was the only corpse of the dojo residents she could see and she couldn't see him choosing to leave them defenseless, so ...

She looked up at the open second story window to the not-so-Mercenary Girl's bedroom that Genma must have fallen from, to see it now lit by a soft flickering light. So someone, at least, survived. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself, leaped, and pain again exploded behind her eyes as her knee thudded down on the windowsill. Forcing herself to focus as she wiped at watering eyes with one dust- and blood-encrusted hand while the other gripped the window frame, she looked around. In the flickering light from a candle on top of the bookshelf she could see the bedroom was liberally splashed with spatters and streaks of blood and gore and littered with bodies ... and a pale, shaking Nodoka was sitting in the midst of the carnage, braced upright by a Nabiki still gripping tight the stump where the Saotome matriarch's hand used to be while Kasumi hastily tied off a strip of cloth torn from her apron and wrapped around Nodoka's forearm as a tourniquet. The three froze, staring at the apparition that had appeared in the window, then even as Xian Pu saw the Lost Boy step toward her from where he'd been guarding the doorway, the last of her strength drained away and she collapsed forward onto the blood-soaked bed strewn with bodies and pieces of bodies.

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The dojo's defenders stared for a long moment at the almost unrecognizable Amazon lying curled up on the bed and shaking as she dry heaved. Finally, Nabiki shook off the surprise. “Kasumi, check on her. Ryoga, make sure Shampoo doesn't do anything she'll regret later.”

Kasumi managed a jerky nod and rose to step over to the bed, Ryoga hastily joining her, and Nabiki gently pulled Nodoka back to lean her against the computer table's leg. Making sure the shaky older woman wouldn't fall over, she scrabbled for her school bag. They had to get Nodoka to a hospital and from what little she'd seen Xian Pu didn't look to be in much better shape, but she needed ... yes! Hastily dumping out the old textbooks it still held, she looked around. Nodoka's hand has to be around here somewhere. Maybe it can be reattached ... ah, there! She knelt between the bed she was definitely not going to be sleeping in ever again and picked up the Saotome blade, then used it to gingerly sweep the hand that had been lying beside it into the empty backpack. Looks like I won't be using the bookbag again, either.

Looking over her shoulder at Nodoka, Nabiki scuttled back over to catch her before the matriarch's sideways tilt dumped her onto the blood-covered floor. “Kasumi, how's Shampoo?”

“Badly bruised, scratches and scrapes, concussed, I don't know how badly, but bad,” her older sister answered, “but no deep cuts or broken bones.”

“Better than I expected,” Nabiki mused. “But then, I expected her to be dead, she must not have been inside the Cat Café when it blew up. Can she walk?”

“N-No, not a ch-ch-chance.”

Nabiki looked up sharply at the stutter in Kasumi's voice. Ryoga was a stolid presence standing guard as asked, but Kasumi had slumped back onto the bed, uncaring of the blood and gore, her eyes haunted in the flickering candlelight. “Kasumi?”

“Nabiki, wh-what about Ak-k-kane and Ukyo?”

“Nabiki sighed. “Kuno's people had to have grabbed them before they attacked us, they're probably at the mansion right now. We'll have to leave them to Ranma and the mob.”

“Mob?” Ryoga asked without looking up from the Amazon teenager.

“Yes, the mob that must be marching on the mansion right now,” Nabiki told him blandly, glancing at him as she kept an unhappy frown off her face. There was no way to avoid it, they were going to need his help.

Looking back at her now-shivering sister, voice softening, she continued, “Kasumi, we need to get Shampoo and Nodoka to the hospital, and after the attack I am not calling for an ambulance. Ryoga can't carry both of them, I need your help with Nodoka.”

Kasumi took a deep breath and nodded, rising to her feet. “You're right.” She stepped over and bent to take one of Nodoka's arms while Nabiki slung her book bag with its severed hand over her shoulder and gripped Nodoka's other arm and they helped the older woman to her feet.

As Ryoga gently scooped up the curled-up Shampoo in his arms, Nabiki grabbed the revolver from where Kasumi had placed it on her desk when the older girl had rushed over to help with the Saotome matriarch and slipped it in her pocket, just in case. I'm going to have to get me one of these, and some training.... “Let's go.”

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Almost fifteen minutes later, Nabiki sighed with relief as she and Kasumi maneuvered their shocky burden through the front gate of the dojo. At least they were finally on level ground and done with doorways until they got to the hospital. Maybe someone with a car would see them and stop to help? I can't believe I didn't see something like this coming. But Kuno ... he's never been this brutal, what happened to him?

“Nabiki! Kasumi!” Nabiki looked up to see Akane's two best friends hurrying toward them. The two brunettes slammed to a stop, blanching when they got close enough to see Nodoka's handless arm over Kasumi's shoulder and recognize the filthy, bloody bundle in Ryoga's arms. “Oh, Kami-sama, what happened! ?” Sayuri gasped.

“We were attacked, what do you think?” Nabiki snarled, then choked back the rest of the scathing reply. They love Akane, they must be here to help. Do not rip their heads off, they can't help it if they're idiots. Taking a deep breath, she forced her voice into what she hoped was at least a neutral tone. “Actually, I'm glad you're here, we need your help. Ryoga-kun, let them take Shampoo off your hands, they can bring her along the same way Kasumi and I have Nodoka.”

“Uhm ...” Yuka visibly gathered her courage, and forced herself to ask, “Where's everyone else?”

Nabiki felt her anger fade away at the fear in the younger brunette's voice. Of course, they didn't know. “Konatsu-kun's off on a job,” she replied. “Akane and Ukyo-kun were making a run for Juuban and never came back, I'm assuming they've been captured and are at the Kuno mansion. Genma-san ... Genma-san is dead. Now, come on, we need to get Shampoo and Nodoka to the hospital.”

The girls nodded and stepped forward as Ryoga carefully lowered Shampoo to her feet, holding her up as Yuka and Sayuri each pulled one of the Amazon's arms over their shoulders and wrapped arms around her waist. As soon as Shampoo was safely supported, Ryoga turned away and started to stride down the street.

“Ryoga, stop!” The (formerly) Lost Boy froze at Nabiki's shout and turned around to look back. The middle Tendo asked, “Where are you headed?”

“The Kuno mansion, where else?” Ryoga answered, puzzled that she'd ask what should be perfectly obvious.

“No, you aren't.” Ryoga stiffened at the harsh order, his face twisting with anger, and Nabiki hastily continued, “If Akane and Ukyo are there they've been there for hours, so if the worst is going to happen it's already over. Plus Ranma's there, and a lot more any time now — we can probably get by without you. But afterwards, when we're trying to sell this as an uprising of the faceless masses of Nerima, we can't have the scourge that's been attacking Kuno holdings for weeks known to be involved — and considering the way you light things up and the mess you make of the landscape, not to mention your distinctive profile, there's no way to avoid that. Ryoga, you saved our lives tonight, we owe you — Akane and Ranma owe you. But right now, the best thing you can do for us and them is to get lost again.”

Ryoga stared Nabiki for a long moment, then nodded curtly and turned and strode away.

The girls watched him go until he turned a corner at a street intersection and was gone. As he disappeared from sight, Sayuri hesitantly asked, “Nabiki, how are you going to convince anyone that this was just a mass uprising? Your message is on phones and computers all over Nerima.”

Nabiki chuckled. “Haven't looked at your phone since you got my call, have you? When you do, my message won't be there — the messages were self-erasing, along with cleaning up their back trail, standard shadow walker trick. Now come on, we've got eight blocks to the hospital and some badly injured people that need to get there as quickly as we can manage.”

As the girls started to help their armfuls down the sidewalk, Nabiki glanced in the direction of the Kuno mansion, and her sister and Ranma — she'd done what she could, whatever happened it was out of her hands. Kami-sama, Kannon, any other kami that might be paying attention be with you.

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No, Nabiki isn't “getting religion.” OTOH, after everything she's seen since Ranma showed up I don't think she'd be particularly irreligious, either, and whatever happens it's out of her hands. Might as well ask whatever higher powers that might be out there to pick up the slack.