Shampoo was slightly uncomfortable in her new outfit. Cologne had insisted she wear something that could be changed into quickly, hidden easily, and yet still manage to obscure her identity. In the end, Cologne had been forced to cut off much of Shampoo's long hair to make it work.
The outfit itself was scarlet in color, and used a special hood that completely covered her face. Shampoo only grumbled at being forced to cut her hair first.
Of course, she was also grumbling about Cologne's other orders. Since she was supposed to be playing a ruse that "Shampoo" was a different person than "Cheng-Huang," she couldn't exactly go around talking with her usual 'Cute Chinese girl' voice. She would actually have to make an effort to speak correct Japanese as Cheng-Huang. The problem being that her 'cute Chinese girl' voice wasn't an act, she had always been abysmal at learning languages, it had taken her forever to learn Cantonese! So now she was being run through her Great-Grandmother's idea of language training, in addition to all her other school work. And told to speak as little as possible as Cheng-Huang for the time being.
Now Shampoo, or rather, Cheng-Huang, was roof-hopping across the sky-line of the city, rather than just the local neighborhood. She felt that she needed to get used to the layout of the city she was to protect.
That was when her super sensitive hearing picked up a strange sound, almost like someone snapping their fingers... oh wait... that was just a gun being shot.
A few seconds later, Cheng-Huang, changed course, homing in on that sound.
What she found when she got there was a massacre. Several bodies where lying about, and her heightened senses could tell that they were either dead or soon would be. There were only two people alive in the area - one a large man, the other a slight figure. But considering that Shampoo could smell the fear pouring off the large man, she guessed it was the other one that did all this. She listened in as they talked.
***
Daremo-san shook his head as he watched the leader of the late Skull Dragon gang cower before him. The slim man in the black body-suit and mask was embarrassed by his victims actions. "Really, Ryu-chan," he said in a light voice, "Did you think we wouldn't learn? You have no one to blame about this but yourself. My master does not like being short-changed, Ryu-chan."
The larger man, Ryu, dropped the smoking gun, and blubbered at Daremo-san. "Please! I'll never do it again! I promise!!"
Daremo-san nodded. "You are quite correct at that, Ryu-chan," he said as he drew out a throwing knife, "A dead man can not do anything..." With that, he threw the knife...
Only to have it snatched from mid-flight by a new figure as it leapt down from a nearby roof.
Daremo-san took a moment to identify this new player as female before addressing her. "Miss, this business is none of your concern. It would be unwise of you to interfere."
The woman shook her head, and broke the knife. Then she got into a combat stance that Daremo-san did not recognize. He just shrugged, and threw a shuriken at her. He wasn't too surprised to see her dodge out of the way, but she moved much faster than he anticipated. She quickly got within melee range and, after a short exchange, Daremo-san was knocked away.
Sprining to his feet, he drew out yet another throwing blade. "Well, you have some skill, my silent dear," he said. "May I have a name to go with your enchanting form?"
She shrugged after a moment, then said, "Cheng-Huang." She had a definite Chinese accent.
Daremo-san nodded, and sketched a short bow. "And I am Daremo-san. Well, it has been fun, but I must get to finishing my job..." He threw the blade at his opponent, at the same time throwing another at Ryu. Cheng-Huang dodged, of course, but couldn't move fast enough to save Ryu's life.
Cheng-Huang closed in on Daremo-san, but he just smiled beneath his mask. "I have no doubt we shall meet again, my dear." And with that, he vanished.
***
Shampoo cursed. Her opponent just... disappeared. She was certain that if it had just been a case of hiding or some such, she would have been able to find him, but no. Literally, one moment he was there, the next, he wasn't. And he managed to kill the man anyway.
Shampoo shook her head. Not such a successful first outing as Cheng-Huang. She definitely needed more training to deal with someone like Daremo-san.
(Posted Tue, 03 Dec 2002 17:29)
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