Nodoka blinked for a moment. “She was one... a junior member, I believe.”
“Junior member?!?” Rally cried. “That... that bitch with the drugs and the mind control from hell was a JUNIOR member?!?” She shuddered. “No wonder you were so frightened of Kimiko, Mom. If Goldy was a more senior member... well, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“I would have come for you,” Nodoka said simply. “If you needed me... I would have come.”
“I know,” Rally said quietly. “Just... well, it didn’t feel good when Daddy - you know, Mr. V...”
“I’ve known your father for many years, Rally,” Nodoka said, a touch of sadness to her voice. “Feel free to call him Daddy. He’s earned what you call him - probably more than I’ve earned mine.”
Rally nodded slowly. “Well, when Daddy and I were given that damn drug... We had to do what she said. It was so frightening, and...”
“Never again,” Nodoka said quietly. “If she tries something like that again... she’ll have a lot of angry people to deal with.”
Rally looked around at the intense gazes of her sisters, and smiled. It felt good to be a part of a family.
A stray thought crossed her mind. Maybe...
She looked over to Nabiki. “What beef do you have with police officers?”
Nabiki growled. “The last time I dealt with the police, they were literally selling the one boy I ever cared about to his death.” She growled. “Needless to say, my opinion of the protectors of the law has never been high since then.”
Rally nodded slowly at that. “I... see. Your older sister paid them off, I take it?”
Nabiki’s eyes just stared back in anger; Rally coughed. “I’ll take that as a yes. And here, there are a few crooked ones; I don’t think you’ll ever find a truly and completely honest police force in a city this large.” She licked her lips. “Which brings me to an idea.”
The ohers blinked at her. “What is it?”
She looked around at her sisters in turn. Anger flared from a lot of eyes; sadness as well. The cameraderie was instantaneous; they were already gelling as a family. And, if you ever wanted someone to watch your back...
“You know the line of work I’m in, right?”
The other girls except Kodachi nodded slowly. Kodachi, instead, smiled. “You want us to join your business.”
Rally took a deep breath. “Yes... and no.” She rubbed her hand against the flat of the table. “There are more opportunities out there than simply bounty hunting. Bodyguard work, private investigation, missing persons... there are places on the streets that we can go that most people would be too afraid to. You say you’re immensely strong and tough, right?”
The former slaves all nodded. “Yes... a couple of us have even been shot, without major effect.”
Rally nearly choked. “Really? Oh, my...” She gathered her breath. “How would you like to take down slime like the ones that enslaved you?”
See other episodes by Nightelf
(Posted Tue, 07 Jan 2003 18:50)
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.