"Could be worse," said Ryu Hayabusa. "Could be Christie."
"Could be worse than that," agreed Hayate.
"Well, yes," admitted Hayabusa. "Christie would at least honor a 'safe word' being given."
"A who what?" asked Ranma.
"Never mind," said Hayabusa, Hayate, Genma, Kasumi, Ayane, and Hitomi.
"Well, what about her anyway?" asked Ranma. "Who's 'Helena' again?"
"You met her three years ago," said Hayate. "Blonde, French, considered a major talent as a soprano at the Paris Opera when she's not competing as a Pi Qua Quan style fighter."
"Kinda an odd match of talents," noted Ranma.
"She's fond of blancmange," said Hayate.
"Primadonna, arrogant," supplied Ayane.
"Conceited, pushy," supplied Hitomi.
"I've never cared for opera," offered Kasumi.
Helena switched off the monitoring equipment, as apparently that particular transceiver was no longer functional, and simply sat there considering things for a brief time.
"So your mother was killed by an assassin protecting your life? At least you knew your mother!" said the pale assassin-for-hire.
Helena went to the center mat and briefly lost herself in the free flowing circular motions of her martial art.
"If that is the best you can do," said the pale kunoichi, "you will never be able to avenge anyone!"
Each time a memory bubbled up, she swept it away in the clean motions of Pi Qua Quan.
"There is only one person special to me in my life now," said the pale kunoichi. "I will be strong to protect him! You must become much stronger to find and defend your own precious one."
Helena let a deep breath out, sagging for a moment as she tried to expel the conflicts in her heart. She'd used her contacts then to find out who the assassin was. She'd turned up the name of Ayane for the pale kunoichi, then dug deeper to find who it was that Ayane had mentioned.
Ranma Saotome, heir to the position of Lord of Azabu Juuban, martial artist of the Saotome Style, Runelord. His Runes were Kenaz, Ansuz linked to Ingwaz, Laguz, Ehwaz, Sowilo.
So someone who was a potentially devastating fighter. Helena had come up with the idea of stealing him away from Ayane, thereby avenging her humiliation at Ayane's hands.
That had not gone at all the way that Helena had intended. Her wealth had not dazzled him, her fighting skills had not swayed him, and he'd grown flustered when she'd moved to seduce him.
It was considered a fact by many, though really it was just a generalization, that French women were among the most frustrated in the world. That was because French men were among the most artistically oriented and accomplished, and among the most difficult to get interested in things OTHER than those various arts. There was a French phrase for it, naturally, in that 'The flow of the muse demands attention, let not earthly connections stop up that flow.'
So French women were likely to dabble a bit in various Arts, just as Helena managed with her efforts in the Opera. You could cruise a lot easier for guys if you could at least feign some competence in their field.
When she'd challenged him, and she had unexpectedly lost, she'd felt his body holding her in place - and in particular one part of him which had reacted to their position.
A man that could respond that quickly and that firmly was a real find. In that moment she'd been sure why Ayane had found this boy so precious.
Well, it had turned out a bit differently - she'd seen more, learned more, gotten to know this young Lord-heir a bit more. So now, she still mainly wanted to count coup against that brutal thug of an albino (yes they both practiced a fighting Art - it was just she had rather more Art being involved) but now she saw that the Lord-heir was a prize worth going after on his own merits.
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(Posted Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:25)
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