The door to the small room in Osaka was kicked open by a semi-drunk Mara. Only semi-drunk since she could still see straight.
Nabiki jumped to her feet in shock. She calmed down somewhat when she caught sight of the somewhat unsteady Mara.
"Lucy, I'm hooooOOOOooome..." The demoness called out, leaning against Ranma slightly. After that she turned her head to look at Ranma "Okay. We're here. S'now what?"
Ranma snorted in disgust and threw Mara towards the bed. That she did make it and landed comfortably was not Ranma's attempt, he was aiming for the floor.
Nabiki smirked in amusement and turned to Ranma. "Let me guess, she's been coping feels all the way here."
Nodding her head happily, Mara answered. "And he's squishy!"
The pigtailed demon threw Mara another disgusted look.
Nabiki only shook her head and muttered about Ranma always attracting the weird ones.
The middle Tendo sister then took notice of something and sobered. "... Is that blood?" She'd seen the red substance enough to recognize it, but confirmation was needed since this was Ranma. She highly doubted he was injured in a fight; otherwise it would be all over the news.
Looking over at Nabiki, Mara shrugged. "I've seen weirder. And bloodier."
Nabiki shuddered at the evil glint in Mara's eye, glint she'd seen in the eyes of murderesses in jail when they were recounting their exploits and having a great time of it, and was even more unnerved when she saw said glint in Ranma's eyes as well. "Well?"
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I told you I was coming for revenge. One down, two to go. Plus the ones you find out."
The casual way in which Ranma spoke made Nabiki realize he'd changed more than she at first thought. To so casually speak of murder... "So who was it?" The question was asked with genuine curiosity.
Rearing her head back, Mara laughed. A bitter, cruel laugh. "Tofu's practice is going to be on the front page tomorrow, if not on the evening news tonight... Or both."
Nabiki's eyes widened in an uncharacteristic show of shock. "TOFU?!!" She couldn't believe the good doctor was one of the participants in Ranma's murder and her subsequent confinement.
Nodding her head, Mara smirked. "He reaped what he sowed by betraying good old Ranma here."
Ranma didn't say anything. He simply crossed his arms over his chest.
Nabiki turned to Mara, remembering to be wary of the blonde woman, and stared at her. "What happened?" If her suspicions were correct Ranma was dangerous, but Mara was the one manipulating the pigtailed martial artist. It didn't matter how much Ranma changed, it seemed like it was still easy to both read and manipulate him.
Looking at Nabiki, Mara chuckled. "Depends... You asking about what happened when Ranma here was murdered, or what Ranma did to tear Tofu a new asshole?"
"... Why did Tofu betray Ranma?" She then made a realization and groaned. "Don't bother. My sister, right?" She should've seen this one coming. Someone as unstable as Tofu was certain to snap at some point.
Mara smirked again. "Boy, you're a sharp one, aren't you?"
Nabiki gave Mara a flat stare. "And you're very annoying when drunk."
Mara's smirk, if possible, widened and she glanced sideways at Ranma. "You know, he was just saying the same thing?"
Ranma glared at Mara. "Shut up, tomboy!"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow and smirked in amusement. "Ranma-kun! It seems you got yourself another fiancée."
The pigtailed demon choked at Nabiki's words, not having expected them, and glared at the young woman when he recovered.
Mara raised an eyebrow. "Me? A fiancée?" She snorted. "Please, don't make me laugh. This boy isn't worth the trouble." She leaned forward. "Hell, he caused more chaos down there than we've seen since 200 BC!"
Nabiki turned her serious gaze on Mara at those comments while Ranma just groaned. "Really?"
"Mara, you're an idiot!" Ranma snapped.
Mara rolled her eyes at Ranma's words. "Please! She's already figured it out..." She smirked a bit. "And besides, it’s true! I've never seen one man unintentionally seduce so many succubae, only to leave them hanging..."
"That's Ranma for you." Nabiki said with a nod and obvious amusement, already having deduced Ranma was back from the dead. Mara just confirmed her suspicions. "So I'm dealing with demons now, huh?" The idea obviously didn't make her nervous, and once over the shock of learning Tofu was dead for murdering Ranma she was back into her usual Ice Queen role.
"That you are." Mara admitted. "And I still can't figure out why Ranma isn't making you sell your immortal soul to us or something along those lines."
"Because she's too smart to fall for that." Ranma said in a gruff voice.
Nabiki smirked, gave a nod to Ranma and turned to Mara. "So what happened? You offered Ranma his revenge for him to work with you?"
Mara smirked. "Yes and no. That was the offer, but I was not the one to make the offer."
"I should've known." Nabiki said with a nod and turned back to Ranma. "So Ranma-kun... you never did tell me just who you were after."
Ranma looked at Nabiki seriously, even if he felt like smirking after her off-handed comment towards Mara.
"One was Ukyo. She's the one that brought me to the warehouse."
"The second was Tofu. He struck the first blow."
When Ranma fought for words but obviously lost, since his silence prolonged itself, Mara raised an eyebrow. "Well, Ms. Tendo, for the final one... To quote an old... 'Acquaintance' of mine..." Mara started seriously. She then looked at Nabiki and answered. "That is a secret."
Nabiki looked at Mara seriously before turning to Ranma. "It was her... wasn't she?"
Ranma looked Nabiki in the eye for a long time and nodded, pain obviously etched in his features.
Nabiki's expression hardened considerably. She was close to both Ranma and Nabiki, always affectionate.
But the betrayal was still there... And it hurt all the more for it.
Mara nodded with a smile. "Yep. So sweet. Quite the homemaker; a wonderful cook. No one would suspect her..." Rearing her head back, Mara laughed loudly. "What irony!" She crowed as she continued to laugh.
Ranma got up, stormed his way to the laughing demoness and bopped her upside the head. "It's not funny, tomboy!" He was still very upset about the lightning attack from a few hours prior, and Mara laughing at the situation triggered his anger.
Rubbing the side of her head, Mara grumbled. "Watch it! If I was mortal, my head would have been sent flying clear off my shoulders!"
"Maybe that's what I wanted to happen." Ranma grumbled and bopped her head a second time. Nabiki had to wince in sympathy. The sound by itself hurt. Ranma obviously wasn't holding that much strength behind his blows.
Landing back on the bed, Mara's eye twitched. She sat back up and glared at Ranma. "I DARE you to do that again!"
Ranma smirked coldly. He stuck his hands into his pockets... and lashed out with a leg. He kicked Mara across the face and sent her crashing against the wall.
Mara crumbled near the ground by the wall. She fought to gain a kneeling position slowly, raising her body with one hand. The other hand was over her face, covered in blood coming out of the demoness' mouth.
Nabiki stared at the fallen form of Mara and turned to Ranma in shock. Even if he punched her in the stomach with enough force to almost make her puke her guts... Even if she knew he killed Tofu... Seeing the pigtailed demon lash out at a woman with such viciousness was something she never expected to see.
Ranma ignored Nabiki as he looked down at the recovering Mara and smirked nastily. "You did say we demons needed an invitation."
Mara chuckled bitterly, showing red teeth due to the blood. "Only when humans are concerned... But you're catching on..." The demoness didn't know whether to hate or be impressed by the pigtailed demon at that moment. While he showed the cruelty inherent to their kind, and it came out natural, the display was performed on her person.
Ranma chuckled and returned to his chair, now feeling satisfied with himself for getting back at Mara. The lightning bolt from earlier hurt a lot more than what he just did to the demoness.
Getting to her feet, Mara looked at Nabiki. "Hey Tendo, you got any booze?"
Nabiki stared at Mara flatly. "I don't even have something to eat. Besides, haven't you had enough to drink already?" It was obvious Mara was still slightly drunk.
Mara shrugged. "You don't even have anything to eat? What? I thought we brought your yen with you."
"I'm not going out in broad daylight, thank you very much. I might be 'dead', but there's no need to take chances with that." She turned to see out the window, it was getting dark outside. "Like you said, I have to move around at night."
Mara nodded. "The night is one of our greatest assets at the moment..."
"And yet you killed Tofu in broad daylight." Nabiki couldn't hold back the sarcasm in her tone of voice.
Ranma chuckled at that. "It wasn't that hard. Mara made sure no one interrupted us."
Mara smirked. "And when you have privacy... Heh. Easy to get anything done."
Nabiki returned the smirk and caught the hidden meaning in Mara's words. Ranma obviously missed it as he sat there staring at the ceiling in boredom. "I think I should be getting out of here. Need something to eat and see about getting a computer." She stood up and turned to Mara. "You're a demon right? Can you give me clothes? These..." she motioned for her jail uniform "... kind of give me away."
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." Mara smirked. "Consider this one a freebie."
Pointing a finger at the middle Tendo sibling, a bolt of violet light shot out from Mara's finger-tip, hitting Nabiki dead on. The brown-haired girl was covered in an overwhelming violet aura that, when it died down, left Nabiki dressed in a rather nice black blaze and shirt. The high-heeled shoes were a black leather to go with the outfit.
"Better?" Mara asked simply.
Nabiki looked herself over and nodded doubtfully. "I guess." She took the room's key and a lot of yen with her. "I'll be back before morning."
"Yeah, yeah. Just see what you can find, okay?"
"Ranma-kun, you wound me." Nabiki smirked. "I want revenge as much as you do."
"See ya later, alligator," Mara called out with a mock salute.
With that Nabiki was gone, but not before giving Mara an amused look.
Mara smirked. Oh yeah, she was liking this girl. Maybe she could interest Hild in giving the girl an internship.
Ranma stared at Mara strangely. "What's with the attitude? You're acting like an idiot."
Turning to look at Ranma, Mara spoke showing some signs of anger in her voice. "The only idiot here is you, asshole."
Ranma glared at Mara. "I'm not the one acting like a teenager. And an idiot one at that. What's with the happy-go-lucky attitude? You were a lot easier to get along with when you were all business."
Mara glowered at Ranma considerably. She walked over to the pigtailed demon and stared him in the eyes. "I'll tell you, but there's something you should know. I don't appreciate you trying to be a pain in my ass every other hour."
Ranma smirked and leaned back on his chair. "I'm rather good at it, aren't I?"
"Yes, I'll give you that." Smirking, she sat down on his lap. "But I'm still better." She spoke as she wrapped an arm around Ranma's back.
Ranma's pigtail stood on end at the action. "What are you doing?!" His voice, earlier strong and nasty, came out as a pathetic squeak.
Leaning forward the tip of Mara's nose touched Ranma's as she looked into his eyes. "Remember how earlier I told you I was the Queen Bitch?" She leaned her head forward, past Ranma's face, and started licking along the rim of his ear. "I have another title you know? Virgin Killer." She then nibbled on his ear gently as her hand was moving along his back.
Ranma froze when he felt Mara's tongue touch his skin. He completely lost control of his body and, since he was leaning back on his chair with Mara on his lap, the chair tilted back and both demons fell to the ground. Ranma hit the back of his head against the ground, while Mara met the ground face-first over Ranma's shoulder.
"Stupid tomboy..." Ranma muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.
Mara rubbed her nose a little. "Well, THAT certainly killed the mood..." She grumbled.
Ranma groaned. "Can you get off me? You're damn heavy."
Sitting atop of Ranma, Mara glared down at him. "You calling me fat?"
"I'm calling you that and add stupid to the mix. How's that?" Ranma said and pushed Mara off.
Mara growled. "You're begging for an ass-kicking, you know that!?"
Ranma snorted and jumped elegantly to his feet. "As if you had what it takes. Last time you cheated."
Mara raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me; you have the very same, if not similar powers, asshole."
"But you still haven't taught me shit, tomboy!"
Mara stood. "Oh you want to learn? All right then! Lesson 1!" Raising a hand, it sparked a bit as she smirked evilly. "Energy concentration..."
Ranma narrowed his eyes and, before Mara let loose with her attack, extended his hands forward. "SHI SHI HOKODAN!!!" He knew he was going to get hit, but he'd be 'blessed' if Mara got away unscathed.
The chi blast hit Mara full on just as the lightning did Ranma. The demoness idly remembered Hild telling her about Ranma's martial arts abilities.
---
As she walked down the street, Nabiki turned her head to see the light show coming form her motel room. Sighing, she mumbled to herself. "Yeah, I'm going to lose my deposit..."
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(Posted Tue, 15 Jun 2004 03:20)
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