The four walked slowly towards the Tendo estate, still talking.
“You should have immunised Ranma,” Yuka muttered, for third time.
“I already explained that,” Hiroshi said. “We can't. I thought I had, but I did it as a batch command, so I wasn't immune to being tricked about the result-”
“-because it happened at the same time as you made yourself immune to indirect effects,” Sayuri finished, “but why didn't you realise that?.”
Hiroshi half smiled. “I made myself smarter, not perfect.”
“Good,” Sayuri said. “Don't forget that.”
Hiroshi nodded. He wouldn't; he couldn't afford to.
“I still don't like tricking Akane,” Yuka said.
“It's better that she not know,” Hiroshi said, “and it's only for tonight. Tomorrow, we'll find time to visit that priest, and get some better advice.”
“Couldn't we just go and burn the brothel down?” Daisuke asked.
“We could,” Hiroshi said patiently, “if we didn't mind getting thrown in prison. This building will have its own security, for rowdy customers, and it'll be backed up by the Master PC. We do it the way we agreed. The girls keep Akane bus-”
“-and we drug Ranma,” Daisuke said, glancing down at the boxes of take out. “I know the plan, but I still don't like it.”
“Got a better one?” Hiroshi challenged.
No one answered.
“Good Evening,” Kasumi said, smiling serenely. “Are you two here to see Ranma?”
“Of course they are,” Nabiki said, behind her. “You know how often these two visit.”
Hiroshi shifted uneasily. Daisuke and him did hang out with Ranma outside school, sometimes, but they hardly ever visited the dojo; too much risk of being at ground zero for the latest mishap.
“Every couple of months,” Kasumi said. “Do come in.”
Hiroshi followed Daisuke inside, his eyes on Nabiki, and slipped his shoes off.
She half-smiled. “Going to invite him to join the sewing club?”
“No,” Daisuke said quickly. “Um, we aren't in the sewing club anyway, so we couldn't invite him. Why would we be in a sewing club?”
“To learn sewing,” Nabiki said. “You two couldn't possibly have an ulterior motive, after all.”
“Many of the greatest tailors were men,” Kasumi added helpfully. “Shall I tell Ranma you're here?”
Hiroshi nodded, then looked back at Nabiki. “Everyone knows boys will use any subterfuge to meet girls.”
“That's true,” Nabiki said, watching as her sister walked away, “but we all know better than that. You four are involved in something; I've established that much. Have you brought it here?”
“It was here already,” Hiroshi said. “You want to talk terms?”
It wasn't really a good time, but getting Nabiki on their side would be worth the disruption to his plan.
“Almost exactly Sayuri's words,” Nabiki said, “and the answer is the same: not just yet.”
“You're not going to pretend Sayuri told you everything?” Daisuke asked.
“Too much of a gamble,” Nabiki said dismissively, then sighed. “As I told Sayuri, if any of my family get hurt, I will not be pleased?”
“And Ranma?” Hiroshi asked.
“A good host does not let their guests be harmed,” Nabiki said.
“He's in the dojo, training,” Kasumi said, coming back. “You can go in and watch.”
Ranma broke off his kata as the two entered.
“That food for me?” he asked hopefully.
Hiroshi nodded. “We thought we could share some while we-”
“Where'd you get it?”
“Not from any of your fiancées,” Hiroshi said, answering the unasked question. They' hadn't actually bought it anywhere; they'd conjured it up using the Master PC, a delicious meal laced with undetectable drugs.
“Not unless you've got any we don't know about,” Daisuke added, smiling.
Halfway through the first carton, Ranma looked up. “Don't joke about that.”
“Worried Akane will hear?” Hiroshi probed.
“Why would she care?” Ranma asked, honest puzzlement on his face.
Hiroshi sighed. “You have a lot to learn about girls.”
“You're not going to try and show me your porn mags again?” Ranma asked warily, finishing the second carton. “I've told you-”
“No,” Hiroshi said quickly. “What were you doing, anyway?”
As Ranma began eagerly explaining his latest technique, Hiroshi tuned him out, thinking instead about Nabiki. How much had she found out already?
Mid-sentence, Ranma fell asleep, exactly forty-seven minutes after eating the meal.
Hiroshi smiled. Everything had gone smoothly, and with that time delay no one would suspect them of anything.
“Ranma, darling,” Kodachi said. ”Leave this place and come with me.”
“Husband,” Shampoo said, coming up behind her. “Have new recipe. You try? Is very-”
Catching sight of Ranma, sprawled on his pack, Shampoo paused, then turned to glare at Kodachi.
“Sleep drugs, again? Husband not yours.”
“You dare accuse me, peasant?” Kodachi said.
Shampoo ignored her, hurrying instead towards Ranma, a bottle of pills appearing in her hand.
“You will not lay hands upon my darling,” Kodachi said, lashing out with her ribbon.
Shampoo swayed sideways, letting the ribbon whistle harmlessly past, then turned to face Kodachi.
Hiroshi backed up against the wall, scowling. Whoever won, the situation had slipped out of his control.
Next to him, Daisuke smiled, eyes locked on the two girls. “This is great.”
Hiroshi frowned. Daisuke must be hearing a running commentary on the fight, which might be useful, but-
“Very passionate about this, aren't they?” he said, elbowing Daisuke.
Cued in, his friend stared at the floor.
Five minutes later, Hiroshi watched as Akane tried to wake Ranma up, a futile effort.
“What's Kodachi given him this time?” she muttered. “He'd normally be awake by now.”
“Sure it was her?” Nabiki asked. “She seemed quite insistent, before Father threw her out.”
Hiroshi nodded, remembering. Soun had not been pleased when Kodachi had turned on his daughter, after Shampoo's unlucky accident with the pond.
“Could be Shampoo,” Sayuri suggested.
“It's not Shampoo's style,” Akane said confidently, then sighed. “I'll just have to carry him upstairs.”
Nabiki watched as her sister scooped Ranma up, then smiled at Hiroshi and the others. “Productive night?”
“Ranma should be safe now,” Hiroshi said, then hastily added, “as long as he doesn't go sleepwalking.”
The drug had worked. There was no way the brothel owner could summon Ranma now, not without some crazy coincidence.
(Posted Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:38)
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