"Onii-chan!!!"
As the shout started to register inside Ranma's mind, lessons learned from his many classes dealing with surprise ambushes quickly clicked in as his hand shot down to the hidden slit in his coat, right where one of his pair of .50 AE Desert Eagles was holstered. As soon as the words came clear to him, he then relaxed as his arms came out to welcome a bone-cracking embrace from the oncoming ponytailed typhoon of lovable killing machine who had been seated beside the three normal female residents of the Tendou household.
"Hi, Yumi-chan!" burst from Ranma's lungs as Saotome Yumiko's arms forced almost all the air out of his lungs.
Polite smiles crossed the faces of everyone else in the room as Ranma returned Yumi's welcoming hug. The daughter of this universe's Saotome Genma and his wife Nodoka, the chestnut-haired, blue-eyed Yumi had -- while Ranma was busy learning the mamluk trade with his father -- gone out to learn her father's martial arts school in anticipation of succeeding him as head of the Saotome Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu. That quest ended tragically six years before when the other Genma had been killed under whose circumstances Ranma didn't know exactly about. Further, even to this day, Ranma didn't know what exactly happened to Yumi after her father had died. What he did know -- confirmed now by what Ranma had sensed from Yumi as she came up to embrace him -- was that his "sister" had not stinted whatsoever when it came to martial arts skills.
Not to mention some other things, Ranma then mused as his hands felt the sheathed Bowie knife hidden under his "sister's" jacket, perfectly secreted in the small of Yumi's back. And...! Yep. Yumi had guns. A pair of SIG-Sauer P226s in holsters on her sides. Since mamluks were the only people in the Dual Empires beyond the military and the legal authorities who were allowed to carry pistols...!
"You're gonna be a bodyguard, too, huh?" Ranma then whispered.
"Yeah," Yumi whispered back, she slowly nodding before she pulled back to give him a reassuring look. "You can relax."
"I'll be the judge of that," he advised her.
A knowing laugh escaped Yumi as they joined the others around the coffee table. No properly-trained mamluk would ever take even the word of a brother or sister mamluk when it came to his/her safety on entering a strange location. "It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Ranma-san," the eldest of the three other girls then greeted him with a polite kneeling bow. "I'm Tendou Kasumi. Please feel welcome here."
"I'm Tendou Nabiki," the second of the three spoke up, she giving him a nod. "Pleased to meet you."
"And I'm Tendou Akane," the youngest -- and to Ranma's eyes, the prettiest -- of the girls said, she giving him a light bow which sang out the level of physical power she possessed to him. "I'm glad to meet you, Ranma-san. Yumi-sempai's told me so much about you."
"Pleased, all of you," Ranma returned with a curt bow, and then he gazed on Akane. "You're training to be a mamluk, Akane-san?"
A hooded look briefly crossed Akane's face, and then she gave him a smile. "Hai, Ranma-san. Under Sempai's tutelage, though. Forgive me for not saying much more, but I won't explain further unless Sempai gives me leave to do so."
Ranma briefly glanced at Yumi. An apologetic smile came back from his "sister." "Right..."
Souun politely cleared his throat. "Well, now that you've met my daughters, Ranma, let's get down to business. But first..." And with that, he gave the visiting mamluk an apologetic bow. "I must express my deepest regrets, Ranma-san."
Ranma's eyes widened a bit. "Excuse me?"
"As you know, son, the original agreement between your father and myself -- as finalized by my late wife prior to you going forth on your training journey -- was that you were to serve as the personal bodyguard to one of my daughters for a duration of five years," Souun then explained after he straightened himself, the tears flowing down his cheeks quite freely now. "That can no longer happen, I'm afraid."
Ranma froze in place, his jaw dropping in shock as his host's words sank into his mind. Ever since he could remember, he had pushed himself to be the most well-trained mamluk that he could be so that he could live up to the expectations laid on his shoulders by the late Tendou Kimiko-sensei. After her death many years before thanks to breast cancer, Ranma's determination to be the best in his chosen trade in life increased many-fold. It had been Kimiko-sensei's death-bed wish that Ranma would eventually come to be the servant and bodyguard to one of her daughters. But to hear that such wouldn't happen now, that Kimiko-sensei's wish wouldn't come true...?
"Why...?"
Reassuring hands landed on Ranma's shoulders from both his father and his "sister." "It is my fault, unfortunately," Souun replied, he closing his eyes as the shame of his past actions arced through him. "You see, Ranma, my daughters will also become slaves."
Silence.
"What...?" Ranma gasped before his eyes locked on the Tendou sisters.
It only took a brief glance into Kasumi's and Nabiki's eyes to make Ranma understand. The glassy sheen barely reflected in both their eyes spoke volumes. Both of them had recently undergone the special "conditioning" needed to turn them from fully free-thinking people into willing servants. Noting that, he then stared into Akane's eyes. The conditioning didn't seem apparent in the youngest Tendou, but if she was apprenticing under Saotome Yumi's guidance to become a mamluk in her own right...!
"Why?" Ranma repeated himself, an edge appearing in his voice.
Souun took a deep breath. "I have no choice in this matter, Ranma," he burbled.
Seeing that his host was about to fall apart at the seams, Ranma then snarled, "What about your wife's final wishes?!"
That did it. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!!!!"
Souun collapsed into a sobbing heap, he being instantly comforted by Genma. The younger people in the room ducked the spray of tears flying from the Tendou patriarch. Ranma's teeth gnashed as a mixture of anger and fear began to surge up from his heart. If Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane were ALL going to become slaves, what the hell would happen to him, for Heaven's sake...!
Genma's voice cut through the building haze in his son's mind: "Why don't you all go to the dojo and explain this to my son," he said.
"Hai, Oji-san," Kasumi replied as the girls rose. "Ranma-san, please come with us."
He blinked. Then, after sending Yumi a questioning look -- he getting an assuring nod in return from his "sister" -- he rose to follow...
"We must apologize for Father's behaviour," Kasumi declared as almost everyone relaxed in the middle of the Tendou dojo several minutes later; Nabiki had gone into the kitchen to get some snacks and tea for everyone to have. "Believe me when I say this, Ranma-san: we were all looking forward to you coming here to be with us. When she was still alive, Mother did her utmost to make us understand why it had to happen, why your being yoojimbou to one of us would ultimately give you a much better chance at life than had you and your father fallen victim to the authorities after you were brought to our world."
Ranma bowed his head. "But the promise..."
"We know," Akane spoke up. She and Yumi sat side-by-side, they holding hands. "Even if I don't care too much for boys these days, I wanted the chance for you and Sempai here to live with us, too. My best friend..." -- Here, she flashed Yumi a delighted smile -- "...and her handsome 'brother' as my bodyguard. Most girls would kill to have something like I could've got." She then scowled. "If only..."
"Father was so foolish," Kasumi hissed, a flash of anger briefly appearing deep in her eyes.
Nabiki walked in at that time, a tea tray in hand, to hear her sister's words. "That he is," she declared.
Everyone soon had a cup of tea in hand. "What happened?" Ranma demanded.
"Two things," Nabiki replied after getting a permissive nod from Kasumi. "One, it turns out that Daddy, a long time ago, made a deal with a family from Burgundy, the Chardins. We don't know exactly what the circumstances behind this deal are." A snort then escaped her. "Try to get Daddy to speak of anything concerning that and he turns into what you just saw in the sitting room."
A shrug then rolled Nabiki's shoulders. "Put simply, Father recently received a message from Monsieur Philip Chardin," Kasumi continued. "This part of the whole business, we do know. Monsieur Chardin expressed his desire to come to Japan and acquire one of us as his future personal concubine -- and, if we served well enough under him, his eventual wife upon emancipation."
Hearing the term "concubine," Ranma winced. The very idea of any of the Tendou girls becoming a sex-slave...!
"We're not sure if Daddy could've tried to fight it out," Akane added. "You probably know about the laws concerning the trade of slaves outside the borders of the Dual Empire, even with one of the states of the Holy Roman Empire."
"It can't happen unless permission is given by both a member of the Imperial Diet here in Tokyo and a member of the Reichstag in Worms," Ranma explained. "Or a compatible parliament, like in London or Paris. Both peers have to be fully familiar with the subject in question, though." He then glanced at Yumi, a twinkle of amusement flashing in his eyes. "But it certainly doesn't forbid slaves here from travelling to the Holy Roman Empire or any of its allied states in Europe to learn the tricks of their trade. Right, sis?"
"Hai!" Yumi replied with a giggle. Ranma knew that his "sister" had, after her father's death, spent most of her time training in various places across Europe, she living at a series of nunneries and youth hostels along the way.
"I can't wait for a chance to go there myself so I can follow in Sempai's footsteps," Akane added, she gazing knowingly at Yumi.
"Well, if our future Mistress allows that, you'll be going," Yumi assured her koohai. "Count on it."
Laughter filled the room. "At first, we all thought we could get clear of what the Chardins were trying to do," Nabiki then continued. "But then, the son of a member of the House of Peers from here in Nerima took a more than friendly interest in Akane-chan."
Akane's face melted into a neutral mask. "Kunou..." she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Who's that?" Ranma asked.
"Kunou Tatewaki," Kasumi explained. Ranma was quick to note the absence of an honorific attached to that name. "His father, Baron Kunou Goodai, is a member of the House of Peers as well as the owner and patron of the Fuurinkan School here in Nerima. Tatewaki is a senior student there, as am I at present." The House of Peers was the upper house of the Japanese Imperial Diet. "When Akane-chan started to attend Fuurinkan, Tatewaki took considerable interest in her. At first, it was innocent enough..."
"It was never innocent, Onee-chan!" Akane snapped.
Kasumi paused before she nodded. "Hai."
"He was trying to get you as his concubine, right?" Ranma wondered.
"What do you think?!" Akane spat out. After getting a squeeze of reassurance from Yumi, the youngest Tendou then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about that, Ranma-san. But if it wasn't for that bastard, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"It's okay, it's okay," the male mamluk assured her. "Tell me what happened."
Akane shuddered for a moment, and then she gave Nabiki a glance. "Let me explain it," the middle daughter spoke up after she gave her sister a nod. "Kunou-chan found out about Akane-chan wanting to be a mamluk early on. So he decided that since he, as a son of the local gentry, deserved to have his own bodyguard/concubine, he moved to pursue her." A chuckle escaped her then. "At first, it was downright idiotic. He thinks, even now, that he's a suave sort of guy. Wooing Akane-chan with poetry..."
"Bad poetry at that!" Akane snapped.
"Master Shakespeare must be turning over in his grave," Yumi added.
"...flowers and the whole works," Nabiki continued without pause. "When that didn't work, Kunou-chan then came up with an idea as to how to better Akane-chan's 'training.' He convinced most of the guys in the school to attack Akane-chan every morning before classes. If they defeated her, they could date her. And since Akane-chan was 'supposed' to be a concubine as well as a mamluk..."
"If you could date her, you could fuck her, too!" Yumi finished.
"Yumi-chan, your language!" Kasumi automatically scolded her sister's friend and teacher.
Yumi fired Kasumi an annoyed look in return. "I assume you didn't give in to that sort of thing, did you?" Ranma asked.
"Of course not!" Akane replied. "Ranma-san, you know this as much as Sempai and I do. Being a full-use slave just gets in the way of our doing our jobs, for Heaven's sake! And there was no way that I would've ever submitted myself to be Kunou's bodyguard!! If I was to train in Sempai's school of combat, the decision as to who I'd do my service with would've been left to Sempai's teachers!"
"And Kunou-chan didn't take to that at all," Nabiki added.
"Why didn't he?" Ranma wondered.
Silence fell as the girls in the dojo exchanged looks. Yumi then breathed out, "Onii-chan, I never told you which school I trained under while I was living in Europe. It's the fact that I've got permission from my senseis to start Akane-chan's training that's scared the Blue Blunder..." -- the other girls in the room laughed on hearing Yumi's nickname for Kunou Tatewaki -- "...half to death."
Ranma looked at her for a moment. It was the way that Yumi had said "death" which made a light-bulb go off in his mind.
"You're Noir, aren't you?!"
Yumi nodded.
"The peace of the newly-born; their black hands protect," Akane whispered one of the mottos of those who had, until a couple centuries ago, been the sole servants of one of Europe's most feared social orders, known by their French title les Soldats. These days, those who trained as one of "Death's Black Hands" -- only women could be Noir, Ranma knew -- were considered to be one of the highest-ranked bodyguards on Earth. Those who normally became Noir found themselves hired by the various imperial and royal houses of Europe, the Holy Lands and Asia for their "indentured" period of time before they were emancipated and allowed to go freelance.
That people like Yumi were actually some of the most-skilled assassins on Earth was a conveniently forgotten point which wasn't typically spoken of in polite company.
Ranma ruefully chuckled. "So this Kunou thinks he can get his hands on one of the Black Hands, eh?"
"No, not exactly. But it's a pretty good guess," Nabiki said. As Ranma turned to her, she added, "Ranma-san, Kunou-chan doesn't want Akane-chan to become Noir. Deep down, I happen to know it scares him a lot. Which is understandable, of course. Living with a girl hypo-trained in almost a hundred ways of killing someone by hand alone?" Her eyebrow arched.
More laughter filled the room. "To finish the explanation," Kasumi declared after a polite cough. "After Akane-chan told Tatewaki that Yumi-chan had arranged with Bouquet-sensei to allow Akane-chan to train as Noir, Tatewaki then tried to convince his father to have it stopped. Baron Kunou soon found out that it couldn't be stopped; after all, one of the Noir serves as the Emperor's bodyguard and she was able to convince His Majesty to allow female mamluks from Japan to train as Noir. Once Baron Kunou told Tatewaki about it..."
"Kunou-chan soon found out about the Chardins' interest in us," Nabiki continued. "So they made a little back-room deal. If Kunou-chan's father could help the Chardins get either Onee-chan or I as his personal concubine, the Chardins would convince the Soldats -- they have a seat on their ruling council -- to cancel Akane-chan's planned training trip, thus forcing her to remain here in Japan."
"Not to mention their convincing the Council to recall me so I can commence my indentured period," Yumi added. "And once that's done..."
"I could easily find myself engaged to marry that jerk!" Akane finished. "Which I don't want!"
"And if you resist, an 'incident' could be used to get you enslaved," Ranma said.
Akane nodded. Hearing that, Ranma breathed out, he shaking his head in disgust. All forms of slavery in the Dual Empires were heavily regulated by laws crafted by both the Imperial Diet in Tokyo and the Korean Imperial Council in Seoul to ensure such abuse didn't happen. Unfortunately, as everyone in the dojo knew, it did happen, try as authorities might to stop it. And with this particular situation, involving the son of a member of the House of Peers and a family hailing from one of Europe's most powerful empires...!
"Damn..." he finally hissed.
"It's not all hopeless, Onii-chan."
Ranma looked at Yumi. "What do you mean?"
"Well..."
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(Posted Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:07)
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