As soon as she was certain she was alone, she began her workout. Keeping in shape was getting harder and harder, though some of the more physical parts of being a merchant, such as lifting boxes and bandit raids, helped. She'd maintained her edge and perhaps had even improved a little, but it was getting more and more difficult.
On the other hand she had developed a few connections and found that being a merchant had other avenues of power. The flag her ship, indeed, her ship, was flying was just an example of those avenues of power. There were just three problems with her "safe" position.
The other fiancees, Ranma's children and Mousse.
The whole reason Mousse was a problem was that she'd found herself unable to kill him in the first place. Not that she couldn't beat him in a fight, which made her feel comfortable about her chances, but that she couldn't bring herself to kill him, knowing what she had known at the time.
Which was when she had realized something. She truly regretted what she had done. Regretted it and wanted to bury it behind her. And yet despite her desire to forget the past...she still occasionally travelled West with her ship and landed in these Japanese docks.
And her biggest fear was this. That news of her black past should reach across that ocean, through either Mousse, the fiancees or, worst of all, the children of the slain. Reach across the ocean and come to her children, both Mousse's son and that of her half-American daughters, and her husband.
And knowing this she wondered why, at her age, with the employees she could assign this task, she had to make the trip across the Pacific. What chained her to that guilty past?
****
Kodachi regarded herself in the mirror with a resigned dissatisfaction. Her great beauty was fading, far from gone, but certainly still fading. She'd never found neither man nor woman worth her time since Ranma. And despite occasional bedroom dealings, she remained barren, a fact which was disproportinately disturbing to her mind.
She should probably have rejoiced that she was spared such irritation, but something rankled at her about the lack of a child.
So she had done something about it and stolen a child.
Perhaps it was something to do with the idea that she, Kodachi, was unable to do something so basic as have a child.
Perhaps she was turning sentimental in her growing age and desired to leave a more permanent mark upon HER world.
Perhaps the insanity that she had always held in check was growing more malignant as she aged.
Or perhaps she was finding her dark existence growing increasingly empty.
In any case, something had inspired her to take in an orphan girl and raise her as an heir to the Widow's organization. Rei was the only important thing in her life besides power and her own beauty.
The girl was everything to her, lover, confidant, bodyguard and killer. And she would do anything to keep the child.
Though perhaps she missed the way the younger "Widow" seemed to grow in hate of her "mother" each day as Kodachi alternately defiled and pampered her. And perhaps she missed the way the girl's other dreams and emotions were successively locked away so she wouldn't have to deal with them and the pain they brought.
Rei thought her position hopeless, and it was this that kept her from acting. But still, Kodachi had pulled an asp to her breast...sooner or later it would bite.
****
Ukyou and Konatsu stretched and prepared to meet the new day. Just a couple like any other. An old and respected part of the community, though with the distinct characterization that neither had been born there.
Ukyou had almost forgotten her past and what she had done. In a way, she had almost believed Konatsu's explanations and beliefs on the matter. She had been forced into it. She'd had no choice.
Neither Ranma, the other girls or that ninja-brat had left her any other choice but what she had done. So there was no reason to blame her. It was all their fault.
There had been a close call towards threatening her new life once. A chance encounter with her old stalker, Tsubasa Kurenai. Something she couldn't risk getting out. Fortunately, Konatsu had been away on business, and the cement coming off the American boats was wonderful for hiding such things as bodies within the basements.
****
Akane wiped the sweat off her forehead and sighed at the end of a long day. She'd left her entire life behind her for this life with Shinnosuke. And, wonderously enough, her martial arts had advanced tremendously in dealing with the giant monsters and, occasionally, the dragon. She was now perfectly confident in her ability to deal with anybody that came making threats of retribution on her.
Still, she wondered how her family was doing after all these years. And she wanted to know whether the other girls had succeeded in finding Ranma's brats or not.
Of course, if they hadn't and she found out, well. She was a lot more skilled than she used to be. And a lot craftier as well.
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(Posted Sun, 10 Aug 2003 13:16)
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