It was the reason he stood here now, in Ryden, slowly making his way to the Brigands household. What if Tsunami had simply flipped? What if the entire Brigand clan was behind the attack? He couldn't think of a suitable motivation for such, however. Theo was married to their daughter! Yet.. that could be a reason. Yes, perhaps something had happened between the two, something gruesome and so despicable that open war had been declared between the families. Such occurrences weren't all that uncommon on Jade, but it was generally held between families as more of a civil dispute, never actually going to such extremes as Tsunami went with young Theo.
He examined the house critically. A typical house for the Barbarians of Ryden, comprised of wood with clay tile ceilings. Two stories with a quaint little porch with some small steps that led up into the house. Not all that bad considering the villages stance on keeping to traditions and the like, even if they had become more relaxed on those issues of late. He steeled himself, mentally preparing a number of contingencies just in case a brawl broke out. Attacking anyone with intention to kill was against the law, obviously, and the general consensus from the officers presents certainly pointed to that fact.
"Hello?"
"Hold on! Ack! Dad! I thought I told you not to leave those poisoned Shuriken lying around?!" some rustling took place inside, followed by, "And just why on Earth would you need so many of them?!?"
Gaja mentally noted everything the woman was saying.
"What does that mean? 'Sniveling Cowards'? You're losing it, dad." Julia rolled her eyes, huffing tiredly as she came out the door. "Oh.. hello.. ah, Gaja right?" she cursed herself mentally. While she wasn't often inclined to memorize names of all the magic users on Jade, at least the Arch mages deserved that much!
"Yes, Honored Armsmaster." Gaja bowed, respectfully, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I've come on a matter most urgent. Ah.. is your father home?"
Julia nodded, slowly, "Yes he is." she turned and walked into the house, motioning for him to follow.
Gaja did just there, taking careful note of anything and everything as he went. The home was spacious by his standards, but to Barbarians he guessed it was just 'nice'. He couldn't see hide nor hair of those weapons he had heard Julia complaining about earlier. Mumsey, the rather tall, even by Barbarian standards, Weapon master sat at the table, going through some documents with a quizzical eye. Tsunami sat there as well, arms crossed with his eyes closed, seemingly in meditation. He gulped inwardly. Nothing sucked more then being a mage surrounded by warriors, especially warriors of this caliber. It wasn't a secret that while Mages were capable of far more destruction over a period of time, warriors still walked over them like a bad habit. He guessed his chances of making out of this alive if things got violent as pretty much nil. Against one Weapons master, maybe, but two, and the Armsmaster? No chance in hell. "Ah.." he coughed, bowing respectfully, "Greetings."
Tsunami opened one eye, seemingly to look him over, before closing it again, unconcerned.
Mumsey looked up from the papers she had been reading, "Hello.." Well, it wasn't an every day occurrence, or every decade that a mage showed up, never the less an Arch mage.
"Now." Julia grumbled, sliding into her own chair at the table, "What's so urgent, Gaja?"
Hmm, how to go about saying this? Well, gee Armsmaster, I woke up today, smoke some weed, got a little high, then read this report about your father going physco and trying to kill your husband. Oh, and threatening to do the same to his officers while he was at it. Hmm, no, that wouldn't work. Needed more tact. "A situation of rather.. seedy origins..." he stared at Tsunami, who just sat there doing nothing, "Transpired last night in Tessa. Theodore Diggers was attacked and nearly killed."
Julia looked shock, rising up from her seat and slamming her fists on the table, "WHAT!? Who? How? Why?!"
"Yes, well." Gaja coughed, "I was hoping Tsunami could answer that."
Mumsey blinked, "What would he have to do with it?"
Julia's heated gaze swung to the silent Ninja, "Dad?! You know something about this?" her tone was stressed, and rightly so. Despite the upcoming divorce, she still loved the man.
Tsunami was silent for a long moment, which was aggravating to all present. Eventually sighing, he expressed "..."
Julia stumbled back, shocked, "You.. you attacked him?!"
Tsunami nodded, not looking the least bit sorry. "..."
Mumsey groaned, rubbing her forehead tiredly, "You're an idiot."
The Ninja Master growled, a sickening thing coming from his damaged vocal cords. "..."
"You IDIOT!" Julia snapped, slamming a fist on the table in furious anger, "He isn't asking for the divorce! I am! I told you we were getting divorced!"
Tsunami blinked, "..."
"I love you, my little ninja of nookie." Mumsey scowled, "And for some one who gloats about always 'listening' and 'knowing what's going on around them', you sure screwed the pooch this time!"
Gaja coughed, reminding the ranting family that he was still present. "So this is just a misunderstanding, then?"
Julia couldn't stop glaring at her father, but the thought Theo had been hurt permanently waged against her anger, in the end her fear for her soon to be ex-husband taking hold. "How is he? He's not in danger of death is he? Tell me!"
Gaja waved the girl's concern off. "He's fine, he's yet to express a desire to press charges." he gave Tsunami a thoroughly disappointed look, "However, if he does express such a desire.. "
Tsunami considered his options very carefully. Looking at Mumsey and her heated scowl, he realized there would be a rather nasty brawl in his upcoming future. Looking at his daughter, he came to the same assumption. He frowned at that, curiously scratching his chin. He realized he made a mistake, and a big one, but being a father who thought his little girl had been hurt just drove him nuts. Hmmm. "..."
Gaja blinked, "Uh.. yeah, I'm sure we could.."
"Oh no you don't!" Mumsey snarled, reaching over and grabbing Tsunami by the collar of his shirt, "No jail on Jade is going to protect you from us! You are in SO much trouble husband!"
"Dad." Julia scowled, cracking her knuckles, "Don't even think about it."
Tsunami sweated. "..."
Gaja nodded, "I'm afraid the paper work for protective custody will take a few hours to draw up and get passed." he turned around, a vicious smirk on his face. This should teach that uppity Ninja master he couldn't attack one of his own and get away from it. We mages needed to stick together, right? Right!
Tsunami paled.
---
Let's Look Toward:
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Matdeception
(Posted Tue, 28 Dec 2004 02:12)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.