Ranma sighed as he lugged another arm full of bags towards their transport. When they'd left he'd been intending to spend the entire day finding the girl Nanami converted and trying to figure out what this danger Nanami felt was. Now, while they were asking around, the majority of what he found himself doing was something entirely different.
“Oh, this is so cute!” Kodachi cooed as she spotted a black baby bonnet near on one of the local stalls. “I'll take it.”
Exchanging the clothing for money, she threw it onto the pile and they continued on.
As soon as they'd hit the town, much to Ranma's lingering displeasure, Kodachi had snagged another sales girl to help them around the town. When they'd left the Repository, they'd only had what little clothing Nanami could carry with her, and what they could salvage out of Carthy's closet. Kodachi seemed to be hell bent on fixing that, as well as picking up some personalized items to make the ship less a ship and more a home. As someone who'd lived out of a backpack his entire life, Ranma honestly didn't see the point.
He had a transient mentality. To him home was where your head laid. He didn't put any attachment on places and not much on things. Kodachi on the other hand, well, she'd probably already bought him more clothes and useless knickknacks than he'd had owned at any one time in his entire past life, the time spent with the Tendos included, and she wasn't done yet. Now she was looking for clothing for their offspring, and Nanami's eventual offspring which she was sure was to be conceived sooner than later, not that he had any problems with that idea.
Of course she was going over the top, buying clothes for all ages because she wasn't sure how fast their kid would mature. Nanami had said that Sil type hybrids could reach maturity in weeks. She'd also said their metabolic rates were slower and more stable and their kid's maturation rate would probably be much slower, but still. Give the Black Rose an excuse to shop and the Black Rose will shop.
Must be a chick thing, he decided.
Still, one good thing had come out of this. It seems their new shopping girl didn't only know the girl that Nanami converted, but in fact the two of them were roommates. He'd asked about them and had gotten a good deal of information on both of them.
The girl Nanami had stabbed was named Celes Victora and she was 15 years old. She was a recruit for the security forces and helped out at the market in order to help pad the income she got from security. She also didn't come in the night before. That rubbed Ranma the wrong way, and as soon as he had a chance he was going to start looking for her. Had no idea where to start, but he trusted his gut to lead the way.
As for the girl herself, her name was Winry Rockbell, and she was also 15. She was a mechanic of some skill if she was to believed, and liked to talk about it at great, excessive, almost nauseating lengths. She only had this job because she needed the extra money. Seems she was taking a series of correspondence courses and needed the cash.
In a moment of dark personal humor, Ranma acting found himself asking why, if Nanami had been forced by instinct to turn one of them, why couldn't it have been this one? They did need a mechanic after all.
Sighing as he threw the latest pile of bags into the overloaded storage compartment of the small, over-glorified golf-cart that Winry called a car, he could not help but smirk as the girl struggled with forcing it closed.
“I think we're going to have to drop this stuff off back at your ship,” the girl observed.
“Fine by me,” Ranma replied. He could see the reasoning for getting these small comforts, such as clothing and the other junk she was buying, but personally he'd rather be in the thick of it. Hopefully now Kodachi would let him go off on his own to actively search. He'd always considered this waiting stuff to be for the birds.
Taking a moment to relax, he submerged himself in their link, hoping to get some clue as to Celes's location. Kodachi was close by as he already knew and feeling quite entertained by their shopping trip. Nanami was sitting in the ship and was radiating 'smug'. He could faintly feel the other presence, the one that probably belonged to Celes, but it was so subdued, it was impossible to pinpoint. Surprisingly he also felt something faint, almost unidentifiable that could be a fifth presence sitting beyond his range, but leaving a slight shadow on everything. It didn't feel like danger, but it made him wonder. Before he could contemplate it any more, a shock of fear from Nanami ripped its way through the the connection.
Shit! She was in trouble, again.
Glancing to Kodachi the two shared a nod. They couldn't just up and leave their stuff, as it would leave questions and and it would probably attract attention. They'd been asking questions about a missing girl, and the last thing they needed was for Winry to go to security. At the same time, they had to help Nanami. Now.
“I'm going to do my own thing for a couple,” Ranma said suddenly.
Winry blinked in some confusion, but before she could respond, Kodachi added, “You do that. Winry, dear, how about you and I go get something to eat. You're the local. You'd probablly know something good. What do you say? My treat!”
“Um, okay.”
“Great,” Ranma said, “I'll catch up with you two ladies once you're done.”
Without another word, Ranma vanished into the crowd, and as soon as he had a chance began to run full out for the star port, doing his best not to be seen.
As he ran, Ranma couldn't help reflect on the situation. Honestly, Nanami almost had worse luck than Akane. Almost because while she tended to fall into trouble unwittingly, she didn't overestimate herself. That was a habit that had lead the girl to a very bad end. She'd gone with them into the hive, saying she was a martial artist too... and... well. Somethings he just didn't want to think about.
Shaking his head, and refusing to let his pack mate come to an equally bad end, he doubled his speed. He wouldn't let another of his girls die. Oh hell no.
While the port was a good mile and a half outside of town, he made the distance in less than three minutes, just in time to see a frantic looking man rushing out of the ship, his head bloodied and a gun in his hand.
Frowning, Ranma ran into him and punched him, knocking him completely unconscious. Without missing a beat he grabbed the man by the ankle and drug him with him. He had questions and this fucker was going to answer them.
Inside he found a mess. It was a carnal house. Bodies and gore everywhere. What pissed him off the most though, was the small scattering of acid burns in the floor. That meant blood, Nanami's blood.
A feral growl escaped his lips as he slammed on the controls for the cargo bay door, closing it behind him. They needed to hide this, clean it up. They could not afford this bullshit.
“Nanami?” he cried out. “Are you okay?”
Hearing the chittering of movement, he looked up and saw Nanami standing on the upper cause way of the bay, in her half-breed form, covered in blood and ruined clothing, looking like some kind of vengeful goddess. It it wasn't for the shell-shocked look on her face, he'd honestly say it was one of the most erotic sites he'd ever been beheld.
“I'm, I'm alright,” she said, “I killed them. I killed all of them...”
“Well, except this guy,” Ranma observed, dropping the survivor's leg.
“Except that guy,” she replied nodding her head slightly.
“Listen,” Ranma said, grabbing a spool of wire in order to bind his prisoner. “How about you wash up, we tie this guy up, we find out what's going on, and see what the damage is?”
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by PsyckoSama
(Posted Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:48)
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.