Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Silent Lies and Closed Hearts ❯ The Baka Deal ( Chapter 2 )

The Baka Deal

She stood as stiff as she could as they rode down the street and up towards the gleaming red

gates of the palace. She didn't say a word and tried to contain her fists which were eager to

backhand this man who had 'bought' her. Was this how all slaves felt? No doubt she would

have to be at this stupid male's beck and call not to mention at his complete mercy. She had

seen the old woman hit the two boys, nothing but a blur and all it took was a little tap to

throw them in the air. It was an incredible speed and power she had never seen in such a

small creature. It took no effort whatsoever to throw heavily muscular guys around like they

were pieces of paper. If this was what one old woman could do, what about the guards who

still flanked around them? Rule number one to survival, never underestimate an enemy. The

horse abruptly stopped and the boy hopped off. She turned her head away and stubbornly

refused to come off the horse. *He has no idea what he has just bought* She smirked at the

thought, thinking of all the lovely ways she could drive her new master crazy. A hand

grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her off, making her land on her rump.

"Itei!"

She had landed on the large bruise already there from the four day's journey in the covered

wagon. Ranma towered over her, his face dark from the lack of light in the courtyard.

"Listen up, I won't stand for any of your crap, understand? You will obey every order and

every wish that I give out because you don't have a choice."

She hopped to her feet and stuck her face into Ranma's, going on tiptoe because of her height.

"You listen up, I won't stand for any of your crap either because I know you didn't buy me

because you needed me. So cut the act because I know you have dozens of other people to

order around. Why don't you do the right thing and set me free?"

He gave a sly smile and walked inside the building without answering her question, two more

guards took her arm and began to follow the boy into the palace. In there they stopped

before an ornately decorated shoji door. The guards bowed and left their presence leaving

only Ranma and his newly acquired servant.

"You'll sleep in a seperate bedroom connected to mine. You'll rise up at dawn to personally

make my breakfast. Then you'll clean my rooms daily and don't ever touch my personal

things. After that, we'll see what I need you to do for me." he said, opening his doors and

leading her in. It was a pigsty, literally. Clothes were strewn about everywhere along with

different types of weapons, books, and just everything you could think of. Her mouth

dropped open at the sight.

"You expect me to clean all this?!" she said, nudging a few piles of junk cluttered about. A staff

caught sight of her eye and she moved a little closer to it till it was within the reach of her

foot.

"Of course. You'll start tomorrow, bright and ear-"

She scooped the staff up with her foot and neatly caught it in mid air, already swinging it

towards his head before he could finish his sentence. He ducked and rolled, grabbing a staff as

well and blocked another attack. She spun and kicked, attacking at every point of his body

with both weapon and legs but he blocked with an even greater speed. With a little loop of his

staff he disarmed her and rested the staff's head at her throat, making her back up against the

wall. She stared daggers at him as he grinned.

"You're good, but not good enough. You're footwork needs some practice too."

She slapped the staff's head away in anger.

"Don't you dare mock me!"

She tried to punch him right in the face but he caught it with a hand. He made a confused

expression and looked at the small fist that was encased in his own.

"You are one scrawny little kid. How old are you anyway? 12? And do you ever work out or

eat?" he asked curiously, her unexpected attack on him apparently forgotten. He continued

to inspect her as if she was some new specimen.

"I've never seen a guy as small as you, but you don't look that young either. Is it 13 then?" he

asked again.

"No! And for your information, I'm 16 years old and I am in no respects a child!" First a man,

now a kid? Was her looks deteriorating already? She knew it was bad but never this bad!

Ranma ignored her and opened another set of shoji doors which revealed an immaculate

bedroom with beautiful chests of drawers and paintings decorating the tasteful room. Again,

there was another pair of shoji doors which revealed a smaller, less elegant room.

"This is where you sleep kid. And remember, breakfast at the crack of dawn! I like miso soup

in the morning with two pieces of fish on the side and some pickled vegetables. Don't forget

the tea." He said as he shoved her into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Kora! I'm not your maid!" she shouted but was given no response. "And I'm NOT a kid." she

said, kicking at the lone closet in her room. With a resolved sigh she threw open the closet

doors and took out the mattress, blanket, and pillow. *Rest today, fight tomorrow* She told

herself as she laid out her bed. Escape was currently out of the question, seeing as how her

master appeared to be more skilled in fighting than she was. Which really pulled the plug on

her pride of her own fighting skills. *Where did he ever learn to fight like that? He didn't even

have to try...* Thoughts of the boy puzzled her even through the calming pull of sleep.

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He opened one eye, streams of warm sunlight settling on his face. The sunrise had already

past and gone, yet, where was his breakfast? He kicked off his silken blanket and quietly slid

the boy's door open. He was sleeping sideways on his mattress, long blue hair spilling out of

the bun he had on. Ranma leaned closer and was quickly punched on the face. Surprised at

being caught unaware he glared at the servant, preparing to give a harsh scolding but the boy

was still.....asleep? A foot whizzed by and slammed into Ranma's shoulder with the force of an

elephant. And the boy was still asleep?! How was it that last night Ranma had been able to

block every attack but now he was being hit at every turn? The boy suddenly sat up and

Ranma jumped back. The boy's hands reached out and grabbed Ranma's shirt and promptly

began to shake him like crazy. Ranma desperately tried to pry the boy's hands off his shirt but

it was a death grip.

"Itei!! What the hell are you doing you crazy boy??!!" yelled Ranma as he began to get a

headache. The boy's eyes open in a flash and punched Ranma's face before he was even

completely awake.

"Hey, what are you doing in my room?" he asked as he yawned and covered his mouth. Ranma

sourly looked at his servant with his hair all out of place, a large bruise on the cheek, and

probably a bruise on the shoulder as well.

"Mmm, that was a good dream. I don't think I've slept so well in ages." the boy went on,

stretching his arms and legs. He finally looked at Ranma and gawked at the prince's

disgruntled state.

"What happened to you? You look like you got run over by a cart." the boy innocently asked,

hands folded in his lap. "Ah, it's about breakfast isn't? I already made it hours ago, it's in your

room that looks like a pig's pen. While you eat, I'm going to take a bath, ok?" The boy got up

without waiting for an answer and sped out of the room.

"Teme...you think you can treat your master like that!" Ranma bellowed and ran after his

servant. He stopped in mid step as he entered into his sitting room. It was immaculately

clean but that wasn't what made him stop. What made him stop was the sickeningly putrid

stench coming from a small table of food. He cautiously walked towards it, pinching the

openings of his nose with one hand. It was unlike anything he had ever seen in his life. A bowl

of a brownish liquid with the consistency of mud, two burnt sticks, a bowl of dark looking

porridge, and a tiny dish of pickles. The smell wafting from the food was incredible, it was so

bad he could almost taste it on his tongue. Where was his miso? And his two fish and his rice?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She peered around the women's bath, making sure nobody was in there, and hopped into the

room with her little towel. With a deep sigh she began to scrub her body with the soap laying

around, making sure to get every inch. Two weeks of going without a bath is not a pretty sight

and it didn't feel good either. She lathered her hair three times, rinsed, then settled into the

hot bath. She was just starting to feel her muscles relax when shouts crept into her ears. It

sounded like her master in a hot temper. What had she done now? After spending an hour and

a half cleaning that messy room (she threw everything into a tall pile in the garden right

outside his window) and an additional hour cooking, her body was exhausted. She wasn't

going to drive him crazy until after she ate breakfast, which wasn't till after her bath. Well,

there was that episode in the morning when she had punched and kicked him while faking

sleep. But she couldn't help it, he was entering her room without even knocking! Did he think

she was so bad at martial arts that she couldn't hear someone moving around? With a shrug

she dipped her head under the water to erase the sounds of him screaming for his servant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a thorough fight, which included Ranma insulting his servant's cooking skills and his

servant daydreaming and completely blocking the insults, Ranma dragged her to the dojo.

"Hey, I know how to walk, you don't have to drag me around! I'm tired of people grabbing my

arm and leading me!" she argued while Ranma stomped about. "Hey! Are you even

listening?!" Ranma continued to ignore her ranting and slid open a door, throwing her inside.

She rolled and flipped up, landing on her feet.

"Some master you are, do you abuse all your servants like this or am I a special case?" she

said, looking around the room. It was just like any other traditional dojo except it was almost

falling apart in the inside. Most of the walls had holes or large dents and the ceiling was in the

same condition as well.

"He abuses all his servants like this, including his family members." said a new voice from

behind the shadows. She turned quickly, body already in the ready stance; Right foot

distanced back and her hands in fists. The other boy from yesterday popped out of the corner

wearing the same clothes she had seen him in.

"Who are you?" she boldly asked.

"Stop asking questions." Ranma said, slapping the back of her head. "We're here to practice."

"Then why am I here? Can't I go off on my own and do some servant duties?" she asked batting

her eyes to portray the ultimate picture of innocence.

"No, because I KNOW you will try to escape and I want you under my eyes at all times. So be

quiet and sit in the corner." Ranma's eyes gave her a silent warning and she reluctantly

obeyed his orders. But the practice itself was an educational experiance. Ranma had the

speed and agility, not to mention the self discipline. Ryoga was quite sloppy but his strength

was incredible. Most of the holes in the dojo must have been from him. And he took every hit

as if it was nothing. She observed every move, counter, and block and stored it away for her

own future use. If she ever had her own time to practice, she wanted to try out some of the

interesting and completely foreign fighting techniques the two brothers were using. The

practice was finally over when Ryoga was lying unmoving on the ground and Ranma was

stepping on his back.

"Hey, you don't have to be so callous and stomp on your brother when he's down." she

berated Ranma as he wiped his face with a towel.

"He'll be fine, he's had worse beatings from me." he nonchalantly said and began to walk out

the dojo. She was leaning over to check if Ryoga was breathing or not when Ranma barked

out her name. Ryoga stirred and slowly opened his eyes. She held up three fingers before his

face.

"How many fingers am I holding?" she asked the disoriented boy.

"Mmm, six?" he said, a lopsided smile on his face.

She gave a grin. "Close enough, I suppose."

"Hey!" a voice said from behind her. She didn't turn around and only gave a sigh, looking

down at Ryoga.

"Take it easy, ok? You shouldn't let him push you around like that." she gave a small smile and

stood, her muscles groaning for exercise.

"What kind of servant are you if you don't even listen to me?" Ranma complained as his

servant walked ahead of him.

"What kind of master are you if you won't let me be?" she retorted, quickening her pace but

her master kept right up with her. "Do all masters normally follow their servant around

everywhere?" she asked him.

"Ones that are due to escape any second." he said smoothly. "Hey, you should cut your hair,

don't you ever worry that it will get in the way during a fight?" he pulled on the ends of her

hair none too gently. She whipped her hair out of his grasp.

"Never, I'm going to keep growing it and growing it until it drives you nuts or until you set me

free."

"Baka, you'll be my slave for as long as I live. Which means forever." Ranma poked at her

forehead. She poked him back harder, making him stumble backwards.

"Baka times one million, you aren't immortal." *poke*

"Baka times TWO million, forever means as long as I live." *poke poke*

"Baka times three million, forever means the end of time. And I am NOT spending eternity

with you." Ranma grabbed her index finger before it could poke him again.

"How about a deal? The day that you beat me in a fight will be the day I set you free?" She

pulled her finger out of his grasp and gave a bright smile.

"Deal!"

"You better start practicing now because you don't have a chance against me." he flipped his

pigtail and stood straight with his hands on his waist, trying to appear the handsome hero.

She poked him in the forehead with her finger.

"Baka, why don't YOU start practicing instead?" *poke*

"Baka times one million, you need the practice more than I do. What kind of sloppy technique

was yesterday's?" *poke poke poke*

"BAKA times TWO million, you're gonna die!!!!!!"

-teme: why you! (usually used when angry or annoyed)

-baka: stupid

*hehehe, so now we got a deal going on. And tons of thanks to people who like my story! I wasn't expecting such reviews, and quite a few were long too! I LOVE long reviews! And I've been looking for some really good Ranma stories, but haven't found any yet. So if you guys know any, could you put in the title and author in your review? Much thanks!

Elysium and Lonely Soul: this is going to be a ranma/akane fic, but with a little ryoga romance thrown in and whatever else i can think of while i'm writing

tigerrelly: i'm glad you caught that. i didn't put it down word for word that Ranma and Ryoga are princes from China, so i was wondering if anybody was getting that. and i can't give away the fact on if akane is a princess or not because i'm still debating over that myself ^^

lili boom: yeah, Akane can be quite the tomboy but she'll have her moments of acting like a girl too. i don't want her to just act like a guy throughout the whole story