Cologne looked around at the situation, and frowned. Whatever Ranma was afraid of was no doubt powerful. Fortunately, so was she. It was time she show just how powerful.
Nabiki, ironically, would be perfect. Grab her for a moment, watch Ranma stop as her hands curled around the mercenery girl’s windpipe - then crush it just as she’d gained his attention. By the time he’d recovered, she’d be holding his mother in an identical embrace. His relationship with Nabiki was strong enough for her death to make an impression, but not strong enough to have him swearing vengeance to the Yama Kings’ Hells.
Seeing his mother in similar straits, he’d capitulate. And in that moment, he’d be hers. The police wouldn’t have time to act - they’d be gone from Nerima before they even knew of the murder, and gone from Japan before they had a chance to stop her.
She finally had the winning moves. She faked to move away from the women, then sprang back, grabbing Nabiki by the throat.
The second seemed like an eternity, as she watched the play of emotions on his face. The jump in the body as he moved to act, drifting to stillness as he realized the situation. The look of fear - that delicious fear - as he understood just how she held him.
And then the moment of truth. She pressed into Nabiki’s windpipe, a standard killing move -
and blinked. She pushed harder into Nabiki’s throat; why wasn’t this working?
A slender hand grasped her arm, and squeezed; a ball of fire shot through as she felt her bones snap. She looked at the arm; Nabiki was casually - casually! - grasping it, crushing her with a careless grip. “What do you think you’re doing, old ghoul?”
She had a bad feeling as to what was coming next. Nabiki moved to toss her aside - she couldn’t hide the scream as her shattered arm was used to hurl her away. The tree in her general direction didn’t look pleasant; hopefully it would at least knock her unconscious...
***
Nabiki flexed her hand as she watched Cologne hit the tree. She knew what Cologne had tried to do; something had failed. She’d meant to toss Cologne’s arm away from her neck; she hadn’t meant to toss Cologne away from her. Moreover, she’d felt the old ghoul’s bones snapping; she hadn’t gripped that hard...
“R... Ranma?” She looked over at an equally-horrified Nodoka. “Auntie?”
Ranma looked quizzically at her for a moment, then tossed a thick wooden plank her direction. “Try to break this.”
Nabiki grabbed the plank with both hands. Surely Ranma was -
The plank exploded in her hands where she’d gripped them. Gingerly, she opened her purse and pulled out a 50-yen coin. After placing it in the palm of her hand, she closed her fist and squeezed.
The result wasn’t money anymore. A metal impression of the inside of her fist lay in its place; she’d gripped it so hard that its shape had completely changed. Ranma stared at the results of her work, then pulled out a cel phone.
“I’d better call Yashida-sensei. It’d be best if you joined us.”
Nabiki laughed nervously. This wasn’t happening... was it?
“Oh, joy! Now you two can uphold the joining of the schools!”
Nabiki groaned. Yes, it was happening...
See other episodes by Nightelf
(Posted Thu, 21 Nov 2002 07:39)
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