“Why isn’t Big Bro back yet?” asked Anko, looking out the window.
Nabiki sighed. “He’s depressed.”
“Why?”
It wasn’t as if Anko liked Nabiki that much. She was only letting the older girl stay here because her adopted brother wanted her to. As far as Anko was concerned, Nabiki needed to learn a lesson at kunai-point about how to treat people.
But then she hadn’t acted like that since they had been released from the hospital and moved into an apartment with Anko.
But what really irked the chuunin was that Nabiki seemed to have some sort of link with Ranma. She always seemed to know where he was, or at least the general direction, if he was too far away.
“I don’t think he was too happy when they got back from that mission.”
“Oh yeah,” said Anko somberly. She knew what the mission had been. Arashi had taken his two remaining team members as well as Ranma to retrieve the body of Obito. She never had met the Uchiha, but the way his teammates talked about him, he must have been a decent guy. He had to be, why else would he have sacrificed himself to save the former stuffed shirt Kakashi? “Seeing a dead body made him want to stay away?”
“You have to remember, Anko,” said Nabiki, as she finished cleaning the dishes—she didn’t mind doing them ... as long as Anko wasn’t summoning poisonous water snakes in the kitchen sink, “death is a lot more of an occurrence here than in our world.”
She nodded, remembering how her Big Bro had acted when he learned of how things went inside a ninja village. Hell, he had begged Arashi to allow him to go with them to get the body, instead of allowing the jounin ninjas already there to do it.
She still didn’t know why he did that, it wasn’t like Ranma had ever met them.
“It probably shook him up more than he thought,” said Nabiki. “My guess is that he’s probably drinking right now.”
She knew she would be if she had to recover the body of a boy only a few years younger than her.
“Shouldn’t we go get him?” asked Anko. “I mean, you guys do have your first day at the Academy tomorrow.”
Nabiki cringed a bit at that. To get a government job, she had to be at least a genin. This meant she had to act a little more like Ranma.
Then again, she would have preferred to understand why she had this damn link to him. It was almost like they were connected in some way, and no one seemed to be able to tell them why. My luck I have some weird spirit inside me from that Hell and the other end is in Saotome.
“He may not be too happy if we do,” said Nabiki.
“Well tough,” said Anko, getting her coat on. The recent rain had cooled the village down a bit. “As his Little Sister, I need to protect my Big Brother, usually from himself when he’s being an idiot.”
Nabiki couldn’t help but smile a bit. If only Saotome had had her as a sister before all of this...
Ranma stared into the bottle, male from a quick change as he entered the bar after the short rain.
It had held off ... until Obito’s family took the body away from his former teammates, a small thanks offered.
He was just a kid...
He shouldn’t even be fighting...
But the kids ... they need ta fight ... because the enemy doesn’t care. “Ain’t right,” muttered Ranma.
“Losing someone never is,” said Arashi, looking at his own drink. He knew the reason Ranma wanted to be male now: men don’t show pain, and all that crap.
And he was hurting. Ranma hadn’t been too happy when he heard what went on in the villages, even less when kids were being trained to kill, and downright pissed when he heard how easy taking a life was made.
“Kids shouldn’t be fighting like this,” muttered Ranma, slamming down another shot of vodka. “They should be kids.”
“Life isn’t fair, Saotome,” said Arashi. “If it were, then there’d be no need for people like us.”
“If I become a ninja, am I gonna have to maybe kill a kid?” muttered Ranma, a slight slur developing in his voice.
“We do what we need to,” said Arashi, nursing his drink. He figured he might need to keep his new friend in check if he got to rowdy.
But Ranma seemed more intent on drinking himself into a stupor than lashing out.
“Saotome, this world is a much harsher place than yours. There, death is hardly used. Here, death is a way of life. And while it would be nice not to have to ever take a life, such a philosophy in this world would get you and everyone you care for killed. We fight for a better world, and try and ensure we lose no one, but there will be losses, and we cannot dishonor the ones who have sacrificed their lives so that others may live.”
“It ... it ever get any easier?” asked Ranma, holding the empty shot glass before his eyes.
“No,” said Arashi.
“I killed once, ya know,” said Ranma. “Guy was a damn immortal phoenix, and I killed him, cause he was keeping me from saving the life of a girl I lo-lo...liked,” said Ranma. “I didn’t wanna do it, and I could understand why he was pissed, we did kinda interrupt something for him. Course he was an arrogant little bastard even before that. But I needed to save Akane’s life, and I killed him,” Ranma said, setting the glass down, and slowly filling it up.
Arashi simply nodded, not certain how much of Ranma’s story was true. But his eyes only shifted a little when he was trying to admit he had loved the girl. If they were to be believed, then he hadn’t lied once.
“He came back, ya know, being a phoenix and all, reborn as a little kid.
“Course that don’t make me feel none better,” he stumbled. “I’m not supposed ta take a life, and I did it.
“And the scary part,” whispered Ranma, “was I was kinda glad I did it. That scared me, more than those damn c-c-c-furry things ever could.”
Arashi nodded once more, making a mental note to get some more information from him later on about that fear he couldn’t seem to mention. “Do you want to kill again?”
“Fuck no!” Ranma yelled, staring at him.
“Then you’re still human,” said Arashi, throwing back his shot. “It’s when you enjoy killing, taking the missions so you can do it, even when you don’t have to, that is when you’re not human any more.
“But there will always be a time in this world where taking a life may be the only choice you have, or even the mission itself. We don’t take on a lot of dirty missions here, and we reject a lot where they ask us to assassinate some person who they think is a threat to whatever they covet.
“And because of what we did, because of Obito’s sacrifice, we kept that war from getting to our lands, dragging our village in.
“Because of Obito, Kakashi learned his heart, and his two teammates will continue on.”
“Still ain’t right,” muttered Ranma, looking at his glass.
“Then get strong enough to ensure none of the people you know die,” said Arashi. “Get strong enough, get smart enough so when your own children want to be ninjas, you’ll know they are prepared to face that world out there.”
“My ... children,” muttered Ranma. He had never even considered his own children. Then again, there was a good chance him and Nabiki might not be able to go home.
Then what? Would they get married? Honor said he had to marry a Tendo. Then again... “Crap, I gotta get married,” his drunken mind spit out.
Arashi could only blink. “Where’d that come from?”
“Back home, my Pops engaged me to like ... a lot of girls ... and a few guys,” he muttered, drinking his glass once again. “Fucking panda...
“Anyway, one of them, probably the only one he seemed to give a damn about, was between me and Nabiki’s family.”
“I see, and since she’s the only one left around here...”
“Then I might have ta marry her,” said Ranma. “She ain’t gonna be happy about that.”
“Who won’t be happy about what, Big Brother?”
“I gotta marry Nabiki.”
“WHAT?”
Ranma blinked, those voices sounded familiar. Turning slowly on the stool, he saw Nabiki and Anko looking at him, mouths open.
“Hiya Sis, hiya fiancée-finalist!” shouted Ranma, raising his empty glass to them, before he fell off his bar stool onto the floor.
Arashi merely shook his head. “Worst proposal I’ve ever seen.”
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(Posted Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:32)
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