|New Lease on Life|
Unfortunately, the rest of the school day was entirely uneventful. Kodachi did announce that in coming days there would be a great storm, but that Furinkan would weather it, there was no overt mentioning of the belligerence from the neighboring schools. But what rubbed Katie a bit raw was the fact that this Gambling King fellow hadn’t shown up quite yet.
It was two days after the phone call so where the hell was he? Did he just assume she refused and ran, therefore he didn’t even need to hear her answer? That would actually annoy her, she wanted to use Heaven against his card skills. Still, even if he didn’t show up, at least she had a full-blown school war to look forward to.
She looked over to Ranma, who walked alongside her back towards her place. In spite of an insistent invitation from Nabiki, Ranma elected to stay a few more nights at the house Darlian, since he actually enjoyed having a night’s sleep and a decent morning not having to deal with his Dad. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Misao decided to include him on the lease. Which was fine by her, the guy could use a stable roof over his head that didn’t include his old man trying to ruin everything.
Plus he had another perspective on things so it’d help to pick his brain at times. “So Ranma.” She said, deciding to see how he thought of this whole mess that was coming upon them.
“Yeah?” He semi-grunted, having wanted a chance to unwind a bit.
“Nothing too heavy,” Katie said, amused by his response. “Just wanted to hear your thoughts on the impending war. You know, if there was anything you couldn’t say in front of the others because they might be a bit quick to judge.”
“Eh, it’s nothing too heavy to worry about.” Ranma threw a punch to emphasize his point. “I already got some routines worked out for the guys to help keep them safe and improve both their skill and durability. Sometimes, I’d read training manuals on kung fu and stuff like that to pass the time whenever pops wasn’t around.”
Katie let out a noise of wonder. “Ehhh, sounds like you got it all figured out.”
Ranma shrugged. “Well Kolkhoz is a bunch of pampered rich kids so their usable fighters are even less than Furinkan has now, excluding the three of us naturally. Even adding in the mass of morons from Tomobiki, they’re really only loyal to their two generals. All our guys need is to wear ‘em down until they get good and strong from beatin’ on ‘em all day, then we go in and cut the heads off. No Mendou or Saginomiya, no war.”
“You want to turn this into a training thing?” Katie said, smiling a little. “Simple, yet effective.”
At that, the boy chuckled. “Well, I like to look at things like this as how we get the most out of it. I mean, we could wipe them out in less than a day. I don’t know how good Kodachi is, but she’s supposed to be a champion or something? She could probably do it too. But if we do that, then nobody gets a chance to learn anything.”
Huh, that suddenly sounded like something her uncle would say, but in a much more bloodthirsty context.
“I pitched the idea to Nabiki, and she thought it was pretty dang solid. Glad you do, too.”
Katie didn’t voice her opinion on the reason Nabiki caved, because it wasn’t that important and it wasn’t her place to sabotage the girl’s chances. “Well with both of you planning this, we’ve got this even more in the bag.”
“Hey they wanted this war,” Ranma replied casually. “And for that, they’re gonna have a bad time.”
Katie hummed. “The worst time.”
As they reached her place, Katie waved to the landlady of the building and owner of the karaoke bar that her and Misao’s apartment stood over. It was an older woman, who was sitting on a chair outside the doors. “Hey Paz, any signs of creeps?”
“Hey there,” the woman said in a raspy voice, “Not a loser to be found. Tell Misao thanks for fixing the rice cooker, will ya?”
Katie flashed her a smile as she unlocked the door. “Sure.”
“And another thing, next time you decide to ‘move furniture’ in the middle of the night, give a word of warning? I could barely sleep the other night.”
Katie looked aside. “Er… yeah, sorry.”
“Movin’ furniture? Geez, you should’ve woken me up, I would’ve helped.” Ranma then tossed in.
“Oh my God.” Katie said in English, her hand coming over her mouth to smother her laugh as she threw open the door and scurried up the stairs.
Ranma looked over at Paz, who just laughed and reclined on her wooden chair. Suspecting something just flew over his head, he headed upstairs, catching up with Katie–who had just opened the door.
Misao was sitting on the couch, in the middle of recording audio for a video, rather than streaming. “Let’s face it, fam. If people aren’t going to be able to even post video evidence of cheaters and modders without the creators making strikes against their content, then what’s that say about the creators? I’ve already hidden all of my WT content because if this goes over, BansheeDeadSix is going to get blammed for sure
again and Google’s Lawyers are a bitch to fight.”
She looked back over at Katie and Ranma, the latter being shushed by the former, and waved before turning back to the mic.
“So that’s it for now. BansheeDeadSix is taking a break from WT until this bullshit gets resolved, if you want to lose your lives in the skies, you can find me in DCS, World of Warplanes, or Ace Combat Infinity. The handle won’t change because I want you to come running, it’s more experience for me. Like, comment, subscribe, always check your six and remember that the number one rule to combat is survive. BansheeDeadSix, over and out.”
She quickly tapped the stop button on her remote, before getting up. “Hey guys, no extracurriculars today?”
“Nope, there’s still a bunch of work to do before that. Even more now that a war’s about to break out,” Katie replied as she loosened the tie of her uniform. “I’m gonna jump in the shower. Paz says thanks for fixing the rice cooker, and that we need to keep it down next time we ‘move furniture’.”
Misao pouted. “That’s entirely your fault, bae.” She looked at Ranma and the pout gave way to a smile. “How’s studying going, Ranma-kun?”
Ranma was confused by the moving furniture thing but pushed it from his mind. “Well, better than my old school, haven’t gotten any homework yet at least.”
Misao pumped a fist in celebration. “Then if you have nothing else to do tonight, you can sit down and record more Undertale with me!”
“Sounds good to me,” Ranma said, rather eager to pick up and play again. “Do you want to do it now?”
Misao chuckled. “Eager aren’t we? How about we get some dinner going first? You know how to cook?”
Ranma nodded. “Yeah, you learn to when you’re out on the road a lot.”
“Then you can make dinner today. I’m dying for something local, but I’m shit at cooking Asian dishes.”
Ranma nodded. “How about some fried shrimp and noodles, then?”
Misao was keen on that idea. “Ooh, that sounds delish.”
With expectations to meet, Ranma rolled up his sleeves and headed into the kitchen. “You know what? Let me handle it, you can sit back, watch, and learn from a master.”
A smile played across Misao’s lips as she followed him into the kitchen and hoisted herself onto the counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the living room space. “Well, if you insist.”
Ranma Saotome was a smart kid, a little naïve, brilliant in a fight, but short when it came to certain things. Exhibit B. “Well, I couldn’t lend you a hand in your furniture moving the other night cuz I was so tired, so I figured that this would be a good way to make up for it.”
Misao brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle when Ranma said that. “Maybe next time, it could be you and I who moves the furniture.”
Ranma, moving with grace and speed, had quickly assembled the ingredients, and was already heating up the wok. Misao let out a surprised hum, at how quickly he took to prep.
“Wouldn’t it be better if Katie and I moved it with you together?” Ranma asked over his shoulder.
Misao immediately clasped her hands together, as if to pray, and looked away from Ranma while biting her lip to again stifle her laughter. How could a guy his age be so pure? It was adorable!
“Did I say something wrong?” Ranma asked, conscious that she didn’t say anything.
“No, no, it’s fine.” Misao said, smiling to herself. “You’re a really unique guy, you know?”
“That isn’t about the curse is it? Because I could do without that.” Ranma said, checking the temperature of the wok. “Not quite hot enough.”
“So what’s the secret to this kind of dish?” Misao asked, remembering she was supposed to be learning about it. She aimed her phone at him and hit the record button.
“It’s basically have everything you’re going to cook ready because it’s gonna go fast.” Ranma said, gesturing to the wok. “This thing is gonna be smoking hot even before I put the oil in. Beyond that, once I start it’s basically go go go. So get your veggies chopped, sauce made, those kind of things.” Ranma quickly diced up a carrot.
“You got good knife skills.” Misao noted, impressed. “Sure you didn’t intern at a restaurant somewhere?”
“Wouldn’t call it an internship, just that whenever Pop got off my back, I’d sometimes do small work around restaurants and covertly observe the chefs and how they moved. Made katas in my head and practiced them in secret.” Ranma explained, chopping up a spring onion. “Worked pretty well, wouldn’t you say?”
“Definitely.” Misao agreed, just enjoying the sight of this buff young man making her food.
“So, how do you like your spice? I kinda like to cook it in and add some at the end so the heat is present throughout. Might get a bit much and I don’t want you getting sick.” Ranma inquired, checking the shrimp to make sure they were deveined.
“Oh I love it spicy.” Misao giggled. “Katie can be a little stubborn when it comes to the spice, but she generally likes it. Though maybe just let her add hers at the end.”
“Got it.” He answered, making sure his noodles were ready. “So I’ll make ours separate from hers. Which is good, because I can show you how to do it both ways really easily.” He portioned out some of the shrimp for Katie. “Normally I’d put some chili paste or flakes on these before I cooked them. That’d give me the boost to the spice I like because I’ll cook this fast enough spread it through the rest of the dish thanks to the magic of the wok.”
Misao nodded. “I see!.” She watched as he portioned out some of the sauce he made, before adding some hot sauce to the reserved sauce and stirring it in. “So that’s more spice.”
“Yeah, it has to go through out to a degree. Lot of people, like pops, just cook something and dump a glob of hot sauce or pepper flakes on it and call it a day. Which is okay, you got the zip of the spice but it dies quickly as you eat and it’s almost like it was never there.” Ranma explained as he checked the wok. “Okay it’s hot enough. Now, there’s two ways to do this, the normal way which is dump in your shrimp, cook them, followed by your veggies, then your noodles and sauce. You’d push the shrimp to the walls to try and keep them from over cooking, along with anything else that was about done or done. That’s kinda advanced if you know what you’re doing.”
“That’s pretty complex!.” Misao said, watching him add some oil to the wok and swirl it around.
“It is, so you’re going to do this another time like I’m about to do it.” Ranma said, as he brought Katie’s portion of shrimp to the stove. “And that’s going to be to cook it, remove the shrimp, cook everything else, add the shrimp back in before the sauce and toss it all together until it’s done.”
He quickly dumped them in one at a time. “Don’t crowd it, even though it’s very hot, you can cause some spots to not cook if they’re too close together. Also, because this is so hot, this is gonna go real fast so watch them.”
He was already flipping them about 25 seconds after they went down, which showed they had acquired a nice golden brown color.
“Does it need to be that hot?” Misao decided she should ask. For future reference of course.
“Only with a wok, really. If you were to do this is a high sided pan, you’d probably keep the temp down.” Ranma said as he took the shrimp out and rested them on a clean plate. “The high heat, fast cooking is the point. It’s kinda like having a water slide without a water, y’know?”
He checked the heat and then grabbed the cut-up vegetables, quickly adding a single serving portion. “Now, leave it alone for a few seconds before you start futzing with it. Let the heat do its thing before you start poking and tossing and flipping them.” Once the time had passed, Ranma quickly started moving the vegetables about.
“Now you don’t need to do all the fancy stirring and tossing. It does nothing for the flavor but it does give you a slight bit of control. Sometimes the sides are a little too hot and things keep cooking a little too much so you-” He paused his lecture to toss the mixture around. “-give them a toss and let the sheer temperature difference cool them. If you’re gonna toss them, remember to push it away to flick them towards you and pull the wok back to catch them. Easy.” He swept the stuff he didn’t want burning to the edges.
“Tell me about the noodles.” Misao said, guessing they were next.
“Just rice noodles, soaked in water. You could get fatter noodles and fry them up in like a frier if you want. I’ve had that before, delicious.” He said, shaking the water out. “Get as much excess water off them as you can, you don’t want the final dish to be soupy. Plus the sauce gets diluted and loses the flavor you want.”
Satisfied with the lack of excess moisture, Ranma dropped the noodles into the wok. “Now, let them cook for just a bit again, dry them out a bit before you mix them into the vegetables. You want just a little bit of color on the noodles, but not too much. The sauce is going to reinvigorate them, so be mindful.” He waited the appropriate amount of time before stirring and mixing everything.
“Right, before we add our sauce, add back in our shrimp.” He did just that, nestling them in. “Give it a good stir just before you add it, it can get a little loose on you.” He stirred the sauce, making sure Misao and her camera could see. “Now, don’t just dump it in one spot because the wok is still hot. It’ll reduce too fast and you got one spot of deliciousness instead of the whole dish.”
The sauce was poured evenly over the shrimp and noodle mixture. He immediately began folding the sauce in. “This, you don’t want to sit until you just get everything coated. Also, if it looks like you didn’t have enough, just splash on a little more water. Best to have a squirt bottle of it, just in case but this is looking quite nice.” He gave it a few stirs before he dished it out onto a clean plate.
“So do we garnish it?” Misao asked, knowing the answer but keeping the tutorial going. He was really good at this, she couldn’t just end it now.
“Yes, but with what? Add some tops of a spring onion, maybe some fresh herbs.” Ranma said, giving a rough chop to some cilantro. “Does she like cilantro? To some people it tastes like soap.”
“Tacos are one of her favorite dishes, so we keep a lot on hand.” Misao said, giving him the okay.
“Sprinkle it on, not too much in one area.” He finished the garnish. “And then you can add chili sauce, or flakes. Maybe some toasted nori if you like, but it’s done.”
Misao applauded. “Now make ours and we’ll eat.”
Ranma nodded, as he began to cover the shrimp in chili sauce. “Not too much, or it’ll burn.”
He made sure both sides were evenly coated before he wiped the wok clean since it wasn’t on the heat. “Those will basically marinade for the short time it takes for the wok to come back up to temp. Now because of the added chili sauce and increased size, I’m going to go standard. It’ll get done faster plus you’ll have a frame of reference for that method too.”
“Yeah, that’d be good.” Misao said with a nod, which gave her an opportunity to raise her nose and sniffed the air. The kitchen smelled amazing.
“Right, it’s almost heated back up. Since there’s some sugar in the sauce I used on the shrimp, it’s going to look a little darker than usual because the sugars are going to brown and become like a caramel. We don’t need to get the shrimp to doneness, we just need to brown one side, flip, brown the other and then we start adding and adding.” Ranma said, making sure he had everything ready. “It’s gonna seem like a mess but it’ll be worth it. Now it’ll seem almost not worth it because two servings in one wok is almost too much, but I’ll show you the trick.”
Misao leaned in. “Oh do tell.”
“It’s hot, so we put in our oil. Let that get a little smoky and then we add the shrimp.” Ranma quickly added the shrimp, almost crowding the wok. “Now it’s going to seem crazy but crowding it like this is actually going to help us in the cooking of the shrimp. It’ll slow down the browning of the sauce and let a little bit of the moisture evaporating almost steam them through so once we flip them we can almost immediately push them aside.”
He tended the shrimp, making sure they were still cooking. “Now, just be mindful of them but be ready to turn them once it just slows down sizzling... like there!” He swiftly turned the shrimp and began pushing them out to the edges of the wok.
“And now, chaos.” Ranma announced as he dumped in the vegetables. There was a bit more than Katie’s single portion and it was clear they were probably going to dry out and burn without moisture.
“Remember that trick? Shake the excess water from your noodle portions into the wok to create steam and keep the vegetables from drying out. That’s only because there’s two portions and not enough space. Otherwise we wouldn’t do this.” He lectured as he did what he was talking about. Once the noodles were perfect, he dropped them in and began stirring and tossing vigorously. “Normally you’d like them to sit but you need to distribute the shrimp and veggies first. Just keep it moving until the noodles just start to lose that luster from the water and then add your sauce. Most of the excess veggie mass should wilt down nicely before then, which means you just need to cook the sauce until it thickens.”
Misao was taken in by the show he put on, her eyes bouncing up and down as she watched the tossing and stirring the noodle mixture.
Ranma stirred the sauce a short while later, before distributing it around the wok evenly. He quickly began stirring it into the dish, creating a nice sheen to them. “Our sauce is pretty much down so let’s plate them up.” He brought the wok over and dished up two servings on two clean plates. “I’m going to garnish mine with a little chili sauce and some chili flakes. Throw in some spring onion and cilantro. Sound good for yours?”
“God yes,” Misao softly.
He garnished both plates, before he brought them over to the table. He placed one in front of Misao and set his own down. He went and rooted around a drawer, finding a couple pairs of chopsticks left over from take-outs past. “Moment of truth I suppose.” He passed her a pack of chopsticks, before tearing his own open.
“Thanks for the food.” Misao said, opening and breaking apart her chopsticks. While she hadn’t mastered cooking Asian dishes, she was a master when it came to eating them.
“Let me get some noodle, some shrimp and some veggies.” It was all so steamy, glistening with sauce and smelling just fabulous. She blew out the bite she had selected out with her chopsticks, before she popped it all in her mouth.
Immediately she was taken to a spicy, savory heaven that left her swooning as the flavor danced across her tastebuds and directly into the pleasure centers of her brain. “Ohhh my gawd… I can see what you mean by the heat, it’s so good!”
“You gotta cook with it to round it out.” Ranma agreed, digging in himself.
They ate quietly for a few minutes, Ranma showing uncharacteristic restraint.
“Normally you eat so fast.” Misao pointed out, after she had finished chewing and swallowing a mouthful of food.
“Pop can’t handle heat, he almost sweats at a bell pepper.” Ranma explained. “So when I spice it up, he won’t steal it from me and if he does, I’ll get to watch him sweat and cry.”
“Good luck in this household. We got iron stomachs here,” Misao said as she faked darting her chopsticks towards his shrimp.
Ranma easily parried her sticks with his own. “I wish you would,” he joked back, “At my last school, it was kill or be killed when it came to food, and I’m stone cold when it comes to that!”
Misao let out a laugh, and sat back. “So, how was your last school like? You sound like you had a bad time with the teachers.”
“Oh it wasn’t really the teachers themselves, they were just boring.” Ranma said, pausing to think about it. “It didn’t help they had this weird mentality about all of us fighting all the time so a lot of guys ended up in the infirmary for no good reason. Most of them sucked so the brawls weren’t any fun, except this one guy who took it upon himself to declare himself my rival.”
“Do tell,” Misao found herself more intrigued by a bunch of guys getting all hot and sweaty wrestling around. Hmm, to file that one away for another day.
“He was strong as hell and durable to boot. He could take a beating better than any other boy.” Ranma shook his head. “Sadly, he couldn’t find his way unless you physically dragged him to places. Directions were absolutely useless on the guy.”
“That poor guy.” Misao said, feeling sorry for someone who could literally get lost going in a straight line.
“I didn’t get why he was always dramatic about stuff, but it made sense after a bit of thinking.” Ranma shook his head as he continued to eat. “If I got hungry and had some pocket money, I could find a store to buy something. He could start at the front door of the store and be somewhere else about five steps in. It was uncanny how he could get lost.”
Misao could only ruefully shake her head. “This world is so messed up man.”
It was around here Ranma finally realized he was having dinner with his very cute and very attractive boss lady and suddenly he felt a little self conscious about things. He flushed a little as he looked across the table and found her adorable even as she continued to tuck into the food provided. God he was going to become a pervert at this rate.
Luckily, Katie showed up to save him from himself, towelling off her hair after her shower. “Hey, you should have said something about dinner being now and not later.”
“It was kind of a quick decision,” Ranma said, before handing her the plate of still hot shrimp and noodles.
“Hey, good deal.” Katie said, going over to put the final touches on the dish. “You didn’t add anything spicy to it?”
“I erred on the side of caution for you.” Ranma answered, which Katie kind of expected considering the neatness of the food. “The spicy stuff is still out if you want it.”
“I tend to go hotter than even people who like things a little spicy.” Katie explained as she took a seat at the table. “Wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy me but this is fine. I still miss hot wings though.”
“I’m good at making new stuff, so tell me about it. Maybe I can figure it out and whip some up.” Ranma offered.
Katie laughed a little and then took a bite of her food. Her eyes flew wide, and tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. Closing them, she took a deep breath and chewed her food before swallowing. “You know what? We gotta put you on the lease. I don’t think I can live without this.”
Misao piped up. “On the lease, huh?” Her grin was mostly wholesome, a record for her.
Ranma perked up at that. “Wait, what? Really? You want me to move in?”
“It would make sense logistically, and besides you wouldn’t have to deal with your Dad’s crap and since this place is more or less a safe house, you wouldn’t have to worry about anybody stalking you.” Katie suggested.
Misao certainly agreed. “Plus you’d have a roof over your head all on your own!”
“And it’s totally not a ruse to get you to cook for us every once in awhile.” Katie added
“Ah, thanks you guys.” Ranma said, his neck flushing red. “Well, if you really want me to stay…”
“Sure I do!” Misao said. “I mean, it’s only been a few days, but you’ve impressed me plenty.”
Katie swallowed more of her food. “Me too, so… I guess welcome home, Ranma.”
Misao nodded. “Yeah, welcome home!”
Touched by the gesture, Ranma put up a warm smile. “Heh, thanks guys.”
Home. He finally had a home.
Katie had just finished eating when her phone rang, interrupting the chummy atmosphere with a reminder of the world outside their walls. She checked it and found that it was Akane, which lead to her answering it with a quickness. “Yo, Akaneko, what’s up?”
“You know that Gambling King guy you told me about the other day?” Akane’s voice came through a little strained.
The writing was on the wall but Katie decided to let Akane finish. “Yeah?”
“He’s at the Dojo and he’s demanding you come give him your answer.” Akane said, sounding very upset.
Katie pinched the bridge of her noise. “I’ll be right over.”
Ranma noticed her demeanor. “What’s up?”
“Got some business over at the Tendos, you stay here and do your stream.” Katie said as she got up from the table.
“Is everything alright?” Misao asked, frowning just a tad.
“It’s fine, I just gotta clean up a mess someone else made in my name.” Katie said, ready for this but wishing it wasn’t necessary. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Kick ass and take names. I know a guy who wouldn’t mind a new one.” Ranma said, adding some levity.
Katie chuckled, that fucking dork. “Thanks Ranma, I needed that.”
“Go get ‘em bae!” Misao cheered as Katie headed to the door.
|Gambling’s For Fools|
She made her way down through the Karaoke bar, waving to Paz as she passed through. Out into the early evening air, the world felt oppressive and cold at the moment. Maybe it was her anger heating her blood up or maybe it was the real consequences to this fight wasn’t going to be decided by her talents. If she fought and got beat, that was one thing. To lose everything that she had earned since coming to Japan on a fucking card game?
She refused.
She refused!
She refused!
The Tendo compound loomed before her now, her rage powered walking blurring the scenery between her place and here. How fitting, in the home of Kasumi and Akane, she was going to fight for her future. Her temperature cooled and her anger gelled to a molten paste, as she walked up and knocked on the door.
Kasumi opened the door, Akane was waiting with her. “Katie-chan.” She murmured with worry.
“Senpai, he’s…” Akane began to say, missing the subtle intensity in Kasumi’s tone outright.
“I know, I’ll get rid of him.” Katie promised, as Kasumi stepped away to let her enter. “ C’mon, Akaneko.”
Akane nodded and turned to fall in step with her.
“Let the asshole stew just a second longer.” She had to focus just a little more.
“Keep your focus and pay attention to the cards. That’s all you need to do.”
She ignored Soun as she made her way to the dojo, the world melting away to black as the building became the focal point of her mind. She could do this. No, she would do this. This was her Paradise and interlopers weren’t welcomed. Just win and it was over.
“Just win and-”
The door to the dojo from the house was wrenched open with a bang. Calm down, you need to be calm.
“Just be calm-”
Katie entered the dojo and found a slightly creepy looking guy who fancied himself the King of Gambling. He was even dressed like a face card and ugh. If this was a fight, she would kill him just for his shitty taste in clothes. But it wasn’t so she bit down on the murderous impulse.
The Gambling King looked her, smug as fuck as though he expected her to run. Just run away and let it be.
“This wasn’t your mess, this isn’t you-”
“Deal the cards and get ready to lose.” Katie said, her eyes looking over to see a bored looking Nabiki playing with a deck of cards. “If you don’t want to play, you can just run away and keep my Uncle. He snores in his sleep and don’t feed him after midnight.”
Her opponent for the evening looked somewhat surprised she agreed, but a look of determination soon found his features. “So you wish to lose as well.”
“The only thing I’m losing is my Uncle’s stupid debt hanging over my head.” Katie snapped back. “My folks wouldn’t talk to me again if I let that idiot hang in the wind.”
She sat down at the table, opposite of the man. Out of the corner of her eye, she got a subtle nod from Nabiki. Good, at least that was still in effect.
“I wonder what I’ll add to my collection from you.” The Gambling King mused in that snotty voice of his. “Maybe you’ll be my bodyguard, kehehehehe.”
Katie narrowed her eyes but said nothing.
“Okay, stop with the unnecessary posturing so we can get started.” Nabiki said, shuffling the cards she had in her hands.
That was the only sound for a few seconds, before Nabiki finished.
“Ready?” Nabiki asked Katie.
There was only a slightly noticeable nod.
“You?” Nabiki turned to the Gambling King.
“To win it all.” He taunted.
Nabiki dealt the cards, keeping everything looking like the height of neutrality.
Katie barely touched her cards and she knew she had rags. From how Nabiki dealt them, she knew that he barely had the better hand by din of better high card. A bluffing battle to start out with to see what he was made of eh? Too bad she didn’t want to let this go on too long or else this would be a great way to start. She left them on the table, she didn’t need to look at them for this.
The Gambling King picked up his cards and kept the frown from his face. He had gotten nothing in the deal, which meant it was down to who bluffed better between them. Tch, how annoying, but not as annoying as this mere girl not even looking at her cards. Hmm, what to do?
“One of you can fold,” Nabiki reminded them. “We’ll start again. If not make a wager and let’s see how it goes.”
“I’ll let him start us off, he’s the reigning champ after all,” Katie said.
“Confident eh? Yet you don’t look at your cards.” The Gambling King bantered a little.
“My cards are my cards. I don’t need to know them as long as you don’t know them.” Katie replied. “Bet or fold.”
“Very well,” he said, contemplating. “I’ll start off strong… everything your loser of an Uncle lost to me. So a little over five hundred thousand yen, the titles to his car and motorcycle, the deed to his house, and his marriage license to one Helena Sherman. All totaling out to a grand total of ten million, one hundred thousand yen.”
Akane gasped at the shock at the sheer amount of money just thrown onto the table. “T-ten million…!”
Nabiki kept her features cool despite the magnitude of the bet. Had she an inkling he’d have thrown it all down, she’d have given Katie the Nuts to smash through his skull.
“That’s substantial.” Katie said, not rising to the bait. In fact, she was cooler than ice right now. “Are you sure?”
“Positive, it’ll all come back to me anyways.” He chortled, looking pleased as punch at the idea of winning. “Now, can you meet that?”
Katie closed her eyes, and nodded, before she reached out and slapped something onto the table. When she removed it, she looked down at it, then at him, as from the billfold a paltry ten thousand yen and several green and black credit cards slipped out. Reaching over, she picked up the a black card with no name on it, before tossing it into the pile.
“And that is?” The Gambling King asked.
“My pay card, for services rendered to Misao Darlian. On it is eleven million, two hundred twenty thousand yen, built up over the time I’ve been here.”
The Gambling King was rather surprised. “All of that money is yours?”
“Yeah, but I don’t touch it really, I have plans of retiring before I’m thirty, you see,” Katie revealed.
“How much was that again?” A rather surprised Nabiki asked.
“Eleven mil,” Katie replied.
Akane shook her head. “You’re better at hoarding money than Nabiki is.”
“Just a tad,” Nabiki thought to herself.
Katie snorted. “The majority is hazard pay. Trust me: You
do not want to earn money the way I did.”
She brought a hand down to her side and consciously rubbed it as she said this.
Akane saw this, and she worried her lower lip in concern. What had her senpai been doing to make her react like that?
Nabiki regarded Katie’s actions carefully, she seemed more concerned with what was clearly an old injury over the game itself. Her poker face was incalculable. However… she was going in way too hard on the opening hand.
“She’s going to try to bluff him out on the open, which would be great if I hadn’t given her rags!” She thought behind her cool exterior. Did she really think that he was going to bow out on this? Normally she wouldn’t care, but that check wasn’t going to clear if she lost, and she’d have to pay out that money she promised to this jackass!
The Gambling King let out a laugh. “Well, isn’t this a high-stakes game! I suppose I should put a little more into the pot.”
He looked down at his cards, and then up at Katie once again. “That seems well and suitable. I’ll call your bet and throw in one million yen more. Courtesy of a fool old man of many virtues except for that hopeless gambling affliction.”
Katie looked at the slip of paper: a shrine and the land it sat on, a deal sealed with blood, neat. “Whatever. You ready to play?”
The Gambling King chuckled and looked at his hand. “Are you sure you want to play your hand without looking at your cards?”
“Don’t need to,” Katie replied. “I know exactly how this is going to go down.”
Akane, was staring at Katie’s cards, wondering if she had some kind of trick up her sleeve. How powerful were those cards that she hadn’t even looked at?! Was she being like Jotaro?
Nabiki knew the truth, and it made her all the more dumbfounded.
“Idiot, you lost the hand!”
The Gambling King let out a small laugh, and then showed his cards. “My high card is a queen, my dear! What do you have to show me?”
Katie organized her cards, and then using the fifth card, flipped the other four over in a row, revealing a 2, a 5, a 6, and a 9. She then tossed down the last card face up, revealing a Jack. “Bullshit.”
Nabiki palmed her face, while Akane’s mouth fell open in complete horror at the awfulness of the hand. Even the Gambling King couldn’t help but stare at the complete uselessness of the hand brought against him.
“Uh… hey,” he said flatly, “You do realize that’s a bum hand, right?”
Katie remained unflinching. “It is?”
Nabiki didn’t know whether to laugh or cry into her hand. What just happened?
Why did this just happen?!
Akane was at Katie’s side right away. “Katie! You lost! I don’t even play poker and I know that you can’t win with that!”
At that moment, Katie’s eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh, so I definitely lost then.”
“Yes!” Akane quickly said. “He just beat you and took all of your money!”
The Gambling King reached out, and promptly scooped up the pot, pulling it over to his side of the table. “That I did, little lady! You lose.”
“But wait!” Akane cried out. “Aren’t you going to give her a chance to win back the pot?”
“Well, unless she has anymore money or collateral, she has no way of buying that chance,” the Gambling King said. “And despite your surprising little display of money in this card of yours, you don’t have enough to buy your way back into this game.”
Standing up, the large man looked down at his winnings, and–rather pleased with himself–began to gather them up to stuff into his bag. “With this ugly business out of the way, I think it’s time for me to take my leave-”
“Hey,” Katie then said, stopping him.
The Gambling King then looked up, and found that Katie was holding her smartphone in her hand, while looking straight at him.
“Who said anything about me not having enough?”
Akane looked at the phone, seeing
“The Bae” in romaji on the contact highlighted on the screen.
|And don’t forget the Joker|
Nabiki stopped shaking her head, and peeked from behind her palm. What?
Katie took the cards and after gathering them up, set them down in front of Nabiki. “Shuffle up the deck, because this is happening right now.”
The Gambling King was rather surprised. “You want to lose
another hand?”
“If you’re so confident you’ll win, I don’t see why you’re asking me.”
At that challenge, the Gambling King chuckled and then sat right back down. “Interesting! Interesting! I don’t think I’ve ever beaten a player this stupidly confident in their odds against me.”
“There’s nothing stupid about it,” Katie said, as Nabiki began to deal the cards. Back and forth they went, Nabiki doling out a total of five to each, which they picked up.
Examining his hand, The Gambling King inwardly decided that he liked very much what he saw. “Oh it is, you’ll see when I learn you something. Now, there’s the little matter of the opening pot-”
Katie then sat the phone down. “Give me a second.”
She hit the call button, and set her phone down on the table, the phone quickly connecting and ringing once, then twice, and then a third time-
“Hello?” Both Nabiki and Akane recognized Misao’s voice. “Yo, what’s up bae? Kind of an inopportune time to call, filming and all.”
“I lost a hand of poker, and I need to open the next pot,” she said. “Can I borrow thirteen million yen?”
The Gambling King froze where he sat, his eyes flying wide at the simple proposition. “You-you’re going to just borrow thirteen-!”
“Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Just put it on a promissory note,” Misao replied.
There was a sudden shuffling behind Katie and Akane. The latter and Nabiki both looked and saw Soun and Kasumi standing in the doorway, the patriarch of the Tendo home looking rather pale at the amount of money casually tossed around.
“Love ya, doll,” Katie said as she quickly scribbled down an IOU of 13 million yen, and tossed it in the center of the table. “That’s the pot.”
Staring at the simple IOU, the Gambling King chuckled, and then looked up at her. “You do realize, that if neither of you can pony up that kind of money, you’re going to have to pay me back somehow, right?”
Katie sat back in her chair. “That won’t be a problem, because I’m not going to lose.”
She gestured to the table. “So, call, raise, or fold.”
The Gambling King was undeterred, and pulled out a few stacks of white papers and dropped them onto the table, they were all IOUs, bearing seals and signatures, with one at the top featuring the a child’s handprint in dried blood. The brim of his hat ominously shaded his blue eyes as he looked up from under it at Katie with a smile.
“These are the deeds to businesses, properties, and other assets I’ve collected over my travels,” he revealed. “Many a loser, frustrated at my prowess, have handed over to me their entire lives for a chance to beat me, and all of them have failed.”
Akane tensed up when she saw the stack of notes. “W-what…?”
“This here amount totals to sixteen million yen,” he reveals. “Feel free to look through it all, but I’m an honest man, there’s no need for me to cheat.”
“S-sixteen million…” Soun muttered, in disbelief at the pot.
Nabiki was much more relaxed behind her façade.
Katie shrugged her shoulders. “I believe you. I don’t have reason to.”
She then called to the phone. “Misao, I need to borrow another five million yen.”
“Go ‘head,” Misao said, now sounding more interested in the drama happening over the phone.
Just like that, it clicked in Nabiki’s head.
“I see! Misao… she can just pour money into the pot, a girl as rich as her, it wouldn’t matter how much he raises, Katie can just out-raise him!”
The Gambling King let out a boisterous laugh. “That’s bold! That’s bold!”
He then reached into his ugly overcoat, and pulled out another stack of IOUs, dropping them down onto the total. “I see your bet and raise it! This here is a total amount of no less than twenty-two million yen!”
“Oh my!” Kasumi said, herself shocked at how the stakes rose higher.
Akane looked at Katie, and then at her hand.
“This one is a winner, right? If you can’t match that, or if you lose…!”
“I’ll raise,” Katie said. “Misao, throw another ten million yen onto the fire.”
Nabiki stared at Katie now, seeing her utter calmness.
“The higher it goes, the more likely he can’t match it, the more he’s going to think she’s bluffing. But this guy’s an old pro…”
She looked at Katie’s hand, and then at the Gambling King’s, and then at the Gambling King himself. He was the picture of serenity, his almost comical appearance lent heavily to his imperceptible poker face.
“I see your twenty-eight million yen, and I will raise you this!” He pulled forth even more papers, but these looked like official documents. “Contractual agreements, deeds, and titles to various… unseemly establishments around Tokyo! A total of no less than eighty million yen!”
That was almost too high of a jump. Almost.
Akane looked to Katie. “Senpai… you should call…”
“Nah, don’t wanna,” Katie said as she looked to Misao. “Hey. Let’s make this an even hundo.”
“Sure!” Misao replied without hesitation.
“I see your bet and raise it,” Katie said as she pushed the next promissory note forward. “Call, fold, or raise, your majesty.”
It was too high, he couldn’t call that, much less raise it! Nabiki resisted the urge to smirk. Misao was proving to be extremely useful in this little fiasco, and she wasn’t even physically here!
Akane looked at Katie, who seemed more annoyed that sporting any confidence or cockiness, but even she could see that this was in the bag. The stakes were much too high, and Katie could keep raising them as she wished. He would have no choice but to fold in the face of such confidence.
Unless, as Nabiki noted to herself, he decided to call her massive betting or they went to showdown because he couldn’t raise anymore.
Because Katie had nothing but rags again.
The Gambling King held up his cards again, peering over them at the mess of papers that had accumulated the table’s center. Then up at Katie, who continued to give him a completely neutral expression. He let out a bit of a laugh, and then sat back in his chair.
“So, that’s the game you’re playing, hm?” The Gambling King asked. “It won’t do you any good to raise the pot any higher, because I have no intention of walking away from this one.”
Nabiki’s blood ran cold.
“Oh shit.”
Katie nodded. “Calling my hand?”
The Gambling King nodded. “I’m calling it bullshit, is what I am. Honestly, little lady, you think that a man who knows his way around a poker table wouldn’t know when you’re counting your cards hoping for a win?”
And now there was ice in Nabiki’s veins.
The Gambling King closed his eyes and spoke. “The next five cards in your deck are seven, eight, nine, ten, and an ace. All clubs, respectively.”
Akane, before Nabiki could stop her, took the deck from her hand and drew those next five cards, and her eyes widened at the sight of the cards being exactly as The Gambling King predicted. Feeling eyes on her, she noticed that both Soun and Kasumi were suddenly peering over her back as well.
“He… he’s right!” Soun gasped in amazement.
“He reasoned the positions of my deck based off just ten cards?!” Nabiki was in disbelief herself, again not that she’d shown it.
“Ho, ho, ho! It’s precious that you would attempt to defeat me through such simple and underhanded means,” The Gambling King said, “But I didn’t think that the neutral dealer would be rigging the house for you.”
He looked at Nabiki pointedly with that, before addressing Katie. “That certainly changes some things, but not how this story ends.”
His hand landed on the table, revealing a Straight Flush of Hearts. “They say the Queen of Diamonds will beat you if she’s able, but the Queen of Hearts is just as cruel.”
He closed his eyes and chuckled. “It looks like–again-”
The words came to a stop when he looked up at her. The haughty sneer he wore melted into one of confusion and then of disbelief… when he saw that Katie was smiling. Not just smiling, grinning ear to ear at the sight of the Gambling King’s hand.
“Buddy, I don’t need to count cards to beat you,” she said, “The only card I need…”
She threw her hand down onto the table, and The Gambling King nearly fell backward from his seat in a full tumble, when he saw a Royal Flush suited in Spades.
“… Is the Ace of Spades,” she finished as she smiled down on the Gambling King, her eyes nearly glowing from the malice of her gaze. “Take one look and die.”
It was about here that The Gambling King lost the schooled, steel composure that he had come into this game with. He stood up, recoiling from the cards as if they were an extremely venomous snake. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!”
Soun nearly shoved his oldest and younger daughters to the floor as he raced to the table and look on in disbelief. Sure enough, there sat the Royal Flush of Spades, in all of its Straight Flush pummeling glory.
Kasumi clapped her hands together, gleeful. “That means you win… right?”
“It does!” Akane shouted ecstatically. “She beat him!”
“Ho-shit! Nice!” Misao called over the speakerphone. “GG, bae!”
Katie looked down at the phone. “Did you seriously just use textspeak IRL?”
“Did you?” Misao cattily retorted.
She needed a second to realize that she did. “… Fuck.”
“HOLD ON A SECOND!” The Gambling King roared, in exasperation.
He slammed a hand down on the table, and then pointed at the hand. “You cheated!”
Katie recoiled. “I cheated how?”
“You switched hands!” He said. “There’s no way you should’ve had a Royal Flush! Your next cards were going to be all rags! Useless! You should’ve had a seven-high hand!!”
Katie looked around the witnesses to the game. “Hey guys, did anyone see me switch cards?”
Kasumi shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”
“Nor did I,” Soun said.
Akane quietly checked through the rest of the deck, then fanned them out on a clear spot of the table, face up. “The faces and the ace of spades aren’t in here.”
But the seven-high described by The Gambling King was, exactly after the club flush. Nabiki stared at it as well, her mouth finally shutting after hanging open.
“HOW?!” The Gambling King bellowed. Nabiki was of the same mind.
“That shouldn’t have happened, I arranged the deck so that, so that…” She then stopped, as she remembered one important thing that happened. The Gambling King remembered it as well.
Katie had gathered the cards… and handed them back to Nabiki…
“Were you paying attention at all, or were you too caught up in my theatrics to notice?” Katie then asked.
Nabiki slowly looked from the cards to Katie, as those same words echoed in her head.
“Oh, you sneaky cunt.”
The Gambling King sagged where he stood, and then began to tremble with rage when he realized that he’d been defeated by what seemed like a simple sloppy rearrangement of the cards that turned out to be a predicted shift in card position. She had outplayed him and the dealer using the losing hand! The dramatic call to Misao and the skyrocketing pot were specifically to keep his attention away from the possibility that the cards had been shifted!
He put a trembling hand to his brow, and bowed his head. But rather than growl in rage… he let out a chuckle, before he spoke in a different, yet very familiar voice.
“Damn it girl, you ruined it.”
The Tendos noticed the shift in his voice, and looked at him before it occurred to Katie that something was off.
The grin faded from Katie’s face as she searched the voice in her mind… and then recognized it. “You.”
Nabiki recoiled a tiny bit. “Say what?”
“You know him all of a sudden?” Akane asked.
Katie nodded. “… It’s my Uncle Nick.”
|Hi Uncle Nick!|
“I didn’t lose to the asshole who used to call himself the Gambling King.” The man named Nicholas Fontaine Sherman said as he grabbed the top of his face, and began to pull it and his hat off, revealing that it was a latex mask that hid a different, familiar face to Soun and Katie.
“Ah, you! Nick!” Soun yelped.
“You know him?” Nabiki asked him.
“I went drinking with him yesterday, Saotome and I!” Soun explained.
Kasumi suddenly clasped his shoulder with one hand, and leaned close. “Drinking? I thought you said you were exhausted from training, which is why you both went straight to bed when you came home.”
Soun stiffened, and looked out the corner of his eye at Kasumi, who was still smiling pleasantly.
“We. Will. Talk. Later.” Her stilted tone, while still very nice, emphasised her anger perfectly.
“What the literal shit, you bastard?!” Katie suddenly, and vehemently, shouted at Nick. “Do you realize how stressed I’ve been over this?!”
“Relax, relax, I have my reasons for this,” Nick explained as he tossed the mask and hat on the table, and then began to shed his goofy overcoat as well. “I found this bozo a couple neighborhoods over hustling kids and kicked his ass first in Poker and then with my fists. Looking through his stuff, I found he was interested in trying to collect a bounty that someone put on you.”
He took off the overcoat he wore, revealing his more usual vest and khaki combo.
Katie stopped. “Wait, a
bounty?”
“Yeah, to make you look like an idiot. I tracked them down and I wanted to figure out what their game was.” Nick said, looking irritated. “And it was all gonna go down real smooth like and then you ruined it.”
“You could have just told me your plan. The only other person who would’ve have known it wasn’t legit would be Misao.” Katie pointed out, still just a tiny bit pissed. The relief that she wasn’t actually on the hook for anything was soon melting under the boiling inferno of rage that her Uncle pulled a fast one on her and made her worry for nothing.
“I wanted to be sure.” He defended. “But I found out who did it.”
“Who?” Katie asked.
He looked at Nabiki, who blanched a bit in spite of her retained composure.
Katie actually broke down into hysterical laughter. “Shit man, you definitely should have told me! We could’ve hustled her on that shit and split the money!”
“You’re taking that rather well.” Nick noted, kind of taken aback by her blase attitude.
“Well, yeah. It was what, embarrass me or something?” Katie guessed.
Nick nodded.
“Well that’s no big deal. It takes a lot to embarrass me, you know that.” Katie said, shaking her head. “I mean, so what? Compared to Tillamook, this is actually small time.”
Nick didn’t look pleased with his niece turning defense for the girl who put a bounty on her.
“Fine whatever man. I’m gonna skip summer this year, thanks.” Katie said, getting up.
“You’re just going to let this go?” Nick asked, somewhat incredulous.
“Dude, she put a bounty on my head and then took a paycheck from me to be the dealer to screw over her hitman.” Katie said, shaking her head. “I can’t hate on a bitch that bad. It wouldn’t be right.” She tossed him a dark look. “Besides, the guy who tricked me into a high-stakes poker game and forced me into this whole mess just so you could confront her shouldn’t be throwing stones man.”
Nick let out a contemplative hum at that, before nodding. “I suppose
that’s fair.”
Nabiki, heretofore silent, decided to make a point in her own defense. “Uh, not for nothing, but until he brought this whole thing up, I completely forgot about the bounty.”
Katie laughed at that. “See? Knowing we could both kill her she says that!”
Nick decided to probe the girl a little anyways. “Would you have still paid it?”
“To you? Hell no. Complete and utter humiliation my man. Beating her in a card game? What kind of lame manga shit are trying to pull?” Nabiki seemed offended by the notion that beating her at poker would work.
“Was it even possible?” Katie asked. “Because I have my doubts.”
“If you don’t fulfill the terms in the contract, you don’t get paid.” Nabiki said, before looking a little chagrined. “That probably means I won’t see that fat check since I’m the one who sent this guy after you.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve learned an invaluable skill–next time I go to a casino, I’m going to walk out with the keys.”
Nabiki actually giggled a little at that.
Hearing it, Nick realized exactly why Katie was standing up for this bitch. He wanted to bury his face in his hands but refrained. “All’s well that ends well as it goes.”
Akane gently elbowed Katie in the side. “Senpai… this man’s really your Uncle?”
“Yeah, he’s an asshole, isn’t he?” Katie replied.
Asshole was being nice, in Akane’s book. Putting Katie over like this, and making her come all this way for ultimately nothing. Then there was Nabiki. “Are you okay with Nabiki…?”
“What, the bounty?” Katie turned back to Nabiki. “Hey, since this has all been blown out, mind calling that whole thing off?”
“Not at all,” Nabiki said. “This venture was too profitable for me to need something meaningless like schadenfreude.”
“And there goes the water under the bridge,” Katie replied, before she picked up her phone. “I’m not going to need all that money.”
“Good, Mom would kick my ass if I suddenly had to pay all of that shit out,” Misao said. “Hi Uncle Nick~!”
“Hello Misao,” Nick said kindly to the phone, “Are you eighteen yet?”
“Yes, Uncle Nick~” Misao sang.
“Great, so how about we-”
“No, Uncle Nick~” Misao sang again.
Nick snapped his fingers. “Fuck.”
Akane cringed, as Katie shook her head in disgust. “Could you not ever do that again?”
Her Uncle just gave her a blithe, smarmy look. “A man can aspire, can’t he?”
“Aim much lower,” Katie warned.
Nick nearly glanced in Soun’s direction and thought of his curiously absent friend. “I always hit those marks.”
And with that innuendo, Katie was done with the conversation, because her double-entendre loving creepy Uncle almost certainly implied that there was going to be drama later that she’d have to clean up somehow. “Well, I’m done. Hey Akaneko, can we go watch TV?”
Akane wholeheartedly seconded the notion. “Y-yes! Absolutely!”
With that, she took Katie by the hand and led her out of the dojo. Kasumi was two paces behind the two girls, just shaking her head in amusement. As the action was over, Soun slowly trailed out, and Nabiki was left alone with Nick, who began to gather up his things.
“I’m not going to apologize or beg for mercy.” Nabiki said to break the contemplative silence. “I made a mistake that could have cost me dearly.”
A little spike of killing intent danced in the air. “Who’s to say it still won’t?”
Nabiki sensed it, and blew out a sigh. “I know, you want to rage and howl at me, maybe rough me up and leave me in a ditch somewhere to rue the day I messed with your family, but you know what? Let’s skip all that, too much energy. You intimidated me with some sinister posturing, I was scared into prostrating myself on your mercy, and you can walk out here feeling like you protected her from the big bad me.”
“I don’t know, I like the sinister posturing part a lot.” Nick lamented in a joking tone.
“I’ll trade you a secret in exchange for saving us both the bad acting.” Nabiki offered.
“Okay, what?” Nick asked.
“I cancelled the bounty this morning, considering I could keep it and get the money from Katie.” Nabiki said, before pausing to let him reason it out.
“So if I had won and asked for it…” Nick started to realize what trouble Katie might be in because of this girl that didn’t have to do with the bounty.
“I would have asked what bounty.” Nabiki replied with a nod. “So please, if you’ll allow me to excuse myself.”
Nick waited for her to get to the door, his expression one of surprise, before it turned into a sinister grin. “You know, the bounty being gone should make me worry less now, but knowing you’re close to her doesn’t actually relieve me at all.”
“Oh yeah?” Nabiki asked, wondering what he was getting at.
“You’re a bonafide problem and one of the few she won’t ever try to get rid of,” Nick replied, “A girl like you is her greatest weakness.”
Nabiki contemplated the words before she nodded. “I’ll have to keep that in mind. Excuse me.”
Nick shook his head and looked at the cards. He picked up the Ace of Spades, and turned it over in his hand, before chuckling. “Goddamn it girl, you’re gonna get yourself into some deep shit with that type of yours.”
Back in the house, Nabiki was thinking over what Nick had said. No that wasn’t quite right, because even if she was a petty, vindictive bitch, putting a bounty on Katie’s head was a bit too much. Something more than just jealousy vexed her about Katie Izland. Something she couldn’t quite put a finger on it.
She walked to the sitting room and found Katie lying on the floor with Akane as they switched it over to an international channel showing a poker tournament. Katie was explaining to her kouhai how she’d done it.
Nabiki cocked her head slightly, taking in the sight of Katie’s confident, muscular back as she laid on the ground uncoiled and relaxed… like a wolf resting after a kill. A little to the side she could see that confident smile that Katie wore everyday like armor against a cynical world. Nabiki could only stand and stare, almost captivated.
The spark had been provided, the tinder had begun to burn.
|Roundabout|
It was well into the night now, and a young man wearing a tiger-striped bandana was sitting next to a campfire, waiting for the late meal to be finished. It was ramen again, but they had found some ingredients and made the most of it. He looked across the fire to the girl doing the cooking, this dangerous woman named Shampoo.
“Should search for Red.” The girl seethed as she stirred the broth. “Then Shampoo kill!”
“Yes, but the city is different from the countryside. It’s harder to track anything here.” Ryoga said, sighing only slightly. “And I can’t track anything as a human and will get lost, putting us farther away from her.”
“Shampoo no care, Shampoo kill Red!” The Amazon hissed, showing the honeymoon period, if it had ever been there, was over.
“We’ve been over this, I want to talk to Ranma.” Ryoga said patiently. “Besides, we were delayed today by someone needing to play Dota at an internet cafe.”
“Shampoo just want have fun.” The girl groused sourly.
“And you did once you took my advice and stopped feeding.” Ryoga said, though it was less advice and more taunting her about going to play LoL instead if all she wanted to do was feed. Luckily, nothing got damaged in her tantrum but it was a close call.
“Hmph.” Shampoo didn’t respond to the barb and switched topics. “Who this Ranma? Why so important?”
Ryoga leaned forward and pressed his hands together, before resting his chin on them. The fire framed his face as he contemplated the answer.
“A friend,” he said after a couple seconds. “More than that, just someone I need to talk to.”
The conversation seemed to die with Shampoo’s annoyed huff at his cryptic answer, and the night rolled on.
= = =
And, with Seven Chapters in, I officially end the first arc of Senpai.