Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Kaitou ❯ Untitled at this time ( Chapter 3 )

Wild Kaitou

By Lord Raa

Chapter 3

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Running from a group of armed thugs can make you wonder about whether or not you made the right choices in life.

I mean, should I really have chosen a career in crime?

Would my life be better if I were a simple martial artist?

Probably not, I guess that I was never meant to live a normal life. If parallel universes exist, no doubt in most of them I've been though incredible hardships and been the victim of several curses.

Maybe in one or two exceptionally good things have happened to me like I acquired fantastic martial arts prowess or mage like abilities.

Hell, this could be one of the good ones!

Oh, best dodge that gunfire. But I guess that I shouldn't grumble, it could always be worse.

"We know you are there, Wild Horse."

Stupid famous last words.

"I think that you should come out with your hands up. You wouldn't want this woman to be hurt, would you?"

I step out of the shadows and see Kasumi being treated roughly be these animals in suits. Biting back a growl and several beastly remarks, I ask what it they want is.

"We would like to know what happened to that bag of uncut gems."

"And just what is it that makes you think that I'm responsible?"

"The car they were in disappeared from the bottom section of the parking lot. You have to go through two checkpoints to get there. Plus avoid a dozen cameras, each with their own closed circuits. It was not the work of your average car thief."

He's right. Damn my skills, they've endangered Kasumi. I agree to show them where the car is stashed. They'll kick themselves when they see where it is.

"The car is of little consequence. We want those stones," the leader of the group states. He seems like a smart one. That could be trouble.

I'm going to have to write this down for my memoirs if I pull this escape off.

Shit, one of them thinks it'll be fun to grope Kasumi. No-one touches Kasumi like that. Not a single person on the face of the Earth.

They're going down. If Kasumi wasn't here, I'd gut them like fish.

I reach into my shirt and toss a bag to the leader. He keeps his gun trained on me the whole time.

When the bag explodes in a flash of light, I grab Kasumi and bounce off the walls for a spot of roof-hopping.

I need to get Kasumi away and checked over. I also want to have words with Ryoga and find out who the hell these people think they are.

##########

Later that evening, I'm sitting in a bar in Shinagawa drinking with my good buddy Ryoga when the topic of "why are we so attractive to women" comes up.

"I think I know why," Ryoga says as he sips from his Asahi "Super Dry" beer.

"Oh?"

"Remember that fertility talisman? The one from Malaysia?"

"Oh yes, it was a huge cock carved from obsidian. Don't tell me we're now cursed..." I trail off. It wouldn't surprise me if I were cursed, I get the feeling that I wasn't meant to lead an uneventful, stress-free life.

"No, unless you picked something up that I don't know about."

"Hey," I protest, "you're the one who's likely to pick something up, you floozy!"

Ryoga just laughs. It's contagious.

"No, it turns out that the talisman is actually defective." He looks at me in all seriousness. "If it did work properly, we'd have several kids each by now."

"Now that would put a serious crimp on my lifestyle." I must admit that I'm not planning on having children anytime soon. Though I think that I'd make a good father.

"Yep, mine too. Want to see something funny? It'll help prove my point about the talisman."

I nod.

He calls over a pretty waitress, and orders another round of drinks. When she promptly returns, he whispers something in her ear.

Her eyes glaze over and a spurt of blood pours from her nose. "Both of you at the same time?" she manages stammer out before fainting.

Ryoga does have a somewhat sadistic sense of humour.

I decided to see what he thought about the effect he had on the ladies.

"You know, Akane complained about your 'lechery' the other day."

"Feh, I don't know what you see in that tomboy. Kasumi and Nabiki, yes - I see what makes them attractive. I've eaten Kasumi's cooking and enjoyed a good battle of wits with Nabiki. But what attracts you to Akane?"

I think about Ryoga's words. He's right about Kasumi and Nabiki, but he only sees the angry tomboy mask Akane puts on for the outside world.

"Protective instinct." I sip my own drink, Kirin "Ichiban". "You don't know her like I do. And I don't mean in the biblical sense, dude. Underneath that violent maniac exterior was a frightened young woman. I think she was teased something rotten as a child."

Ryoga apologises for the tomboy remark. He doesn't like bullies either. "I never knew. Now that I know, I'll be nicer to her."

"Not too nice, I hope." I let him know that I know what he means when he says "nicer". There are rules, after all.

Ryoga puts his hands up in a warding gesture. "Dude, I'd never do that to you."

"I know, besides you'd have to put on a lot of charm before she'd jump in the sack with you."

Ryoga's new round of laughter wakes up the waitress. "I'm sorry, what happened?"

I decide to play the game of being the big tease. "You fainted when my friend asked if you wanted to be part of a 'ménage a trois' later." I say with my most charming smile.

More blood comes from her nose as my phone rings.

"Yeah?"

#Master Ranma, where are you? I'm getting lonely. #

"Don't worry, I'll be up soon. I've just got to finish up with Ryoga."

I hang up and get the waitress's attention. "I'm sorry miss, but I've got to go now. But I'm sure that my friend will be able to take care of you for the evening."

Ryoga looks at me, and nods with a grin. "I'll see you around Ranma. Remember to make that delivery tomorrow afternoon." He turns to the waitress, "are you alright? You look a little dizzy. Perhaps you should take the rest of your clothes - I mean rest of the night off."

The waitress nods and goes to talk with her shift manager.

##########

I spend the rest of the evening fussing over Kasumi. Thinking about those animals still makes me angry. But some of the rage is rightly directed at me.

I feel awful when anything bad happens to my assistants. When I'm responsible for something like today, I feel like slitting open my belly.

The problem is that Kasumi and the others would follow me in death as soon as they could.

"Kasumi, I have a question for you."

"Yes master Ranma?"

I'm a little nervous about this.

"What if I was to kill one of those that hurt you? Would you respect me less?"

I see Kasumi think long and hard about my question. We've been together for ten years now and I've never killed anyone. I try my best not to hurt people, but sometimes you have to.

"Master Ranma, I'm not sure why you are asking me this question."

"Kasumi, when I saw you manhandled by those men, I nearly killed them. It was only the fact that I wouldn't have been able to guarantee your safety that stopped me."

I see Kasumi blush and look slightly horrified at the same time. I kick my mentally for causing her trouble. I _will_ learn to keep my mouth shut one day.

"Master Ranma, I don't know."

I hug her gently. "I'm sorry Kasumi; please forgive me for bringing it up."

"Of course Master Ranma."

"Please, for one night only, can I just be Ranma?" I ask the beauty in my arms.

While it is nice to have three beautiful women that will do anything for me, I'd prefer it if we were on equal terms. This whole master-servant relationship has always made me a little uncomfortable.

"Yes, if I can spend the night in your arms."

I turn her face towards mine. God her eyes are so pretty.

"It'd be my pleasure, Kasumi."

##########

It is now 9.15 am and I am looking at the base of operations of a certain yakuza. It is time see what they want.

I slip into the building via the back entrance with the aid of my father's invisibility technique. I really must show Akane and the others how to master it.

Noting that the bastard that groped Kasumi was alone, I move in for the kill.

Or I would have, had Kasumi given me a definitive answer.

In my line of work, my father always told me "you must be sure of your course of action - you cannot undo most things", and he was right. You have to deal with the consequences of your actions. I don't think that Kasumi would want me to kill someone.

I've been responsible for the deaths of people; it's not something that you can take lightly. Kasumi is too gentle to be exposed to that sort of thing; I really hate myself for putting her in that position.

Best do this the challenging way; it will be good for my karma.

With the application of some esoteric shiatsu knowledge, I manage to paralyse the offending thug. Quickly hogtying him, I move to where his boss is planning his next move.

The boss looks up at me, understandably confused by my presence.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Last night he hurt one of my friends. He touched her in an inappropriate manner. Let this be a warning to the criminal population at large. Messing with the Wild Horse can be bad for your health."

I throw the bundle of man to the floor in a harsh manner. His chiropractor won't be thanking me for that. Neither will his dry-cleaner. I accidentally hit the points that cause the sphincter to relax.

I can see that the yakuza has called for his guards during my little speech. I can't decide if that was a good move or a bad one.

"I take it you would like those uncut diamonds back?"

"Yes, but I have to teach you a lesson. You understand, don't you?"

I laugh. "It would seem that there is a lot of learning planned for today. But if I was able to sneak in into the compound, incapacitate someone and deposit them in here unnoticed, just what do you think I can do to you?"

The yakuza boss yawns. "Kill him, he bores me."

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(Incomplete 23/8/2004)

Just thought that you might like to read what I have so far for this chapter. Feel free to provide me with feedback in your usual manner - you should know how to contact me by now.

Laterer.