Nerima Ghost Detectives R Us
By
Ashuri
__~*~__
Chapter
Two: “A
little supernatural never hurt anyone, did it? ”
+++
The
girls had already run off screaming, practically trampling over each other to
get away from horrific scene. Ranma, frankly, did not blame them. Was that
bacon he smelt cooking? Oh, wait, that was him. Ranma sighed, trying to forget
that a bright hot explosion had just scorched him. “Ghosts?” Nabiki asked,
stepping to the side of him, eyeing the box wearily.
Okina
stood up, slightly bruised from the mob of girls from earlier, nodding
solemnly, “I received that cursed box ten years ago, and I never opened it! Then
you get it in a minute and unleash the true horror inside! Teenagers these days
sure have changed from the chivalrous, respectful figures of the future that
they used to be—“ the man babbled on, as Nabiki and Ranma exchanged looks.
“Why
the hell is it my fault?” Ranma inquired. Nabiki just shrugged,” I don’t know,
but obviously the man isn’t insane, a little long-winded, but not insane. We
both saw what was in that thing. Oh wait, I think he’s finishing up,” Nabiki
said, pointing to the still talking man. “And furthermore,” the man continued,
spittle flying off in all directions, “ you will take responsibility for your
actions!”
Ranma
frowned and took a menacing step towards the man,” How is this our fault, old
fart? You’re the one with the damn box! You should have taken better care of it
or somethin’!” Ranma declared. The old fart in question reeled back in shock,”
Old fart?! Why you disrespectful little—!” Nabiki sighed, putting her hands to
her head in a mock headache, looking at the two men argue amongst themselves.
It looked like a little business talking would be in order. How would Nerima survive
without her?
“Okay
you two,” Nabiki said, putting a hand on Ranma’s chest and holding her hand out
in front of Okina’s face. “ I think it’s best if we were to talk this out in a
calm, business like manner, wouldn’t you agree?” Nabiki asked, voice smooth as
silk, face turned into an amused grin. “Well, this seems to be a respectful
young woman. Unlike most people!” he said, glaring at Ranma from over
Nabiki’s arm. “Dry up and die old fart,” Ranma shot back…wait, where did he get
that? Akane must have been rubbing off on him.
“Ranma-kun!”
Nabiki said in mock authority, her voice thoroughly sounding amused. “ We’re
all friends here? How about we come up with a deal?” Nabiki suggested, another
catlike grin taking over her features. “What kind of deal?” Okina and Ranma
asked in unison, both sounding suspicious of the girl.
__~*~__
“What?”
Akane asked in surprise. Many of her friends had burst into the classroom. It
was obvious that panic and fear was overwhelming them. They automatically
huddled around her desk; taking comfort that strong, lovely Akane could protect
them from anything…including freaky ghost explosions. “Akane it was horrible!”
one girl cried. “It wasn’t horrible,” one girl spat,” it was terrible!” “Same
difference!” the other girl retorted angrily. “Oh, Akane, protect us!” a girl
shouted and grabbed onto Akane’s hands. Akane’s features matched the same bug
eyed ones of the boys in the class.
“Slow
down! Protect you from what?” Akane asked, the calm in her voice doing nothing
to sooth the girls but only make them more panicky. “It was an old man, Ranma
and Nabiki…” one girl started. Akane immediately sat up,” What happened to
Ranma and Nabiki?” she demanded. “A-a box,” another said, breathless. “What
box?” Akane demanded further, not quite understanding what her classmates were
getting at. “Ghosts!” another girl screamed, waving her arms wildly,” millions
and billions and trillions of ghosts!” the girl shrieked, eyes wide.
Akane shrunk back,” Um… Rei-chan, did you hit your head?” Akane asked sheepishly.
“She’s
telling the truth,” another calmer girl explained,” Ranma and Nabiki opened a
box that this old man had, and there was a bright light…and ghosts! Real
ghosts!” the girl said, shoulders shaking in fear from just remembering the
events,” It was horrible!” she exclaimed. “Terrible!” another girl shot back. “Same
stupid difference!” yet another girl declared. Akane stood up, a look of
determination on her face,” Well, whatever it is, I’ll check it out!” she said,
her voice brave and reassuring to her peers. “Oh, Akane! You’re the greatest!”
they declared,” Nothing can beat Akane!” they continued, cheering on their
champion.
As
Akane and the other girls left, the boys all exchanged rather confused looks. “I
never understand what’s going on in this class anymore,” Daisuke said finally. “Ditto,”
was Hiroshi’s reply. The teacher just groaned and put his hands to his head,”
Please be quiet in the halls,” he said to no one in particular.
__~*~__
“Whaaaaat?”
Ranma exclaimed, looking at Nabiki like she was one of the ghosts herself.
“Ranma
will help you,” Nabiki repeated slyly, hands tucked behind her back,” he will
go and find all those ghost and return them to the box, what do you say?”
Nabiki asked. “Why…that’s a wonderful idea!” Okina said, clasping his hands
together, giving them a smile full of holes. “I would myself, but considering
my condition,” he put up an old man cough for emphasis, “I’m slightly weak,” he
said pitifully. “Good,” Nabiki said, still grinning,” and you will pay Ranma
and me for our services,” she said simply.
“WHAT?!”
Okina demanded, his voice even louder than Ranma’s. Ranma narrowed his eyes,”
So much for being “weak”, old fart,” he said scornfully. “Quiet you,” he shot
at Ranma, before turning to Nabiki. “Do I look rich?” he demanded, motioning to
his shaggy brown cloak, and lack of accessories. “How do you think I could get
the money to pay you?” he inquired angrily. Nabiki nodded,” You’re right,” she
said in a careless voice and turned around, beginning to wave, “ you can take
care of those ghosts all by your lonesome then,” she said in a carefree voice.
“Wait!”
Okina said, defeated. “How much?” he asked.
“4000 yen,” Nabiki said.
“2000,”
Okina demanded.
“3000,”
Nabiki offered.
“2050,”
Okina said stiffly.
“2500,”
Nabiki replied, her final offer.
Okina
sighed, looking through his robes,” Deal…2500 yen for every ghost you capture,”
he said. Nabiki grinned,” Sounds like about a weeks allowance, eh, Ranma-kun?”
Nabiki said, grinning in triumph. Ranma just glowered at her,” I can’t believe
you put my services up for sale,” Ranma said. “Oh, don’t be so stingy Ranma. I’ll
help too,” Nabiki said, never stopping her grin. Ranma just rolled his eyes.
They
all turned around to see Akane and a group of girls following behind her. Akane
looked around expecting to see gore, evil creatures with axes giggling
hideously to themselves, and gremlins dancing with peoples heads on poles…instead
she was greeted by the sight of Nabiki, Ranma, and an old man she had never
seen before looking at her curiously. “Um, is this the horror?” she asked a
girl behind her. Unfortunately, that girl happened to be Rei, who was still in
shock. “Ghosts, I say! Billions, trillions, and quadrillions of—” she began,
before one of her peers restrained her and put a hand firmly over her mouth,
chuckling sheepishly.
“What’s
going on here?” Akane demanded,” These girls said they saw some paranormal
ghost explosion (this prompted Rei to scream: GHOSTS! Before her peers had to
hold her down)!” Akane looked at Ranma and Nabiki, expecting an answer. Nabiki
grinned,” Oh, it’s okay Akane-chan, we just happened to open a box that had a
bunch of evil spirits in them that went all over Nerima,” Nabiki said in a
chirpy, yet smooth voice. Akane almost fell over.
“WHAT?!”
__~*~__
“Oh,
how nice, we have visitors today,” Kasumi said looking up from her laundry.
Soun and Genma (currently a panda) looked up from their game. “Hey,
Kasumi-chan,” Nabiki said, an annoyed Ranma and Okina following her in, a
rather confused Akane in the back. “You’re home from school early,” Soun said,
stating the obvious. “Well, we opened a box and a whole bunch of evil spirits
are everywhere,” Nabiki said, this time not chirpy, but calmly in a
matter-of-fact tone.
“Oh,
that’s nice—WHAT?!” Soun screamed, Genma having to keep their game from
toppling over from the sound of Soun’s voice. “Well, that doesn’t happen
everyday,” Kasumi said, and as if on cue, a small, scaly green spirit flew
through the air above her, bounced off the rooftop, and flew back into the air,
cackling to itself. Kasumi noticed everyone looking up shell-shocked. “What is
it?” she asked sweetly, looking up, having missed what the others saw. “Well,
it is a nice day today indeed,” she said before looking back down and folding
one of Akane’s shirts. Everyone else fell over.
__~*~__
“Damn,
if only that fight with Cerberus,” the name was followed by a small shudder,”
didn’t take out almost all my power, I wouldn’t have given that box to the old
man! I figured I could trust the simpleton with such a meaningless task as ‘hold
a box and don’t open it’! Hell, I would’ve been better off with a
five-year-old!” the person grumbled.
The
person was the girl, the previous owner of the box who had given it to Okina
years ago. She had not changed a bit from that fateful day. “ Just what will
the Spirit Guild think of this?” she declared, her voice defeated. She already
knew what. She would be thrown off the Special Spirit Task Force (SSTF for
short) and thrown into the Sea of Oblivion for punishment. Will, maybe the Sea
of Oblivion was an exaggeration, but loosing her job was pretty damn bad in
itself.
“I
got to get to Nerima, and get that box and spirits back myself before anyone
from the Guild finds out,” she vowed to herself. Anyone walking along that
forest trail might have found it odd to see the girl floating a half foot off
the ground, melding in with the passing shadows of the trees. Tsuna, officer of
the SSTF, was on her way.
__~*~__
Later
that evening everyone sat around the table at the Tendou household.
“Oh,
how wonderful, you’ve found an after school job,” Kasumi said, smiling sweetly.
“Um, well, if you can call it that,” Ranma said, shooting Nabiki a glare.
Nabiki just gave him an innocent look in return,” You could help out Akane-chan,”
she said, looking at her younger sister hopefully,” we could use all the help
we could get, and I could split you in on a…percent of the profits,” the
middle daughter offered. “Maybe,” Akane said thoughtfully. “I still think it’s
stupid that Ranma would open a box full of ghosts!” Akane stated. Ranma seethed,”
Hey! I didn’t know!” he defended. “Oh, and I’m sure this,” Akane said, pointing
to the words: DON’T OPEN, GHOSTS INSIDE,” wasn’t a dead giveaway?” she asked,
looking Ranma in the eye. “S-shut up!” Ranma declared. Okina grinned and
chuckled, sipping his tea that Kasumi had so graciously made him,” It’s so nice
you could help a poor old man out like this,” he said, tears beginning to form
in the corners of his eyes.
“Why
if it wasn’t for that foolish young twit here, you wouldn’t have to go through
all this,” he continued, a solemn and sad air to his voice. “Shut up, old fart!”
Ranma growled, looking at the smaller old man. He was worse than Happosai! “Just
whom are you calling an old fart?” he demanded, glaring at Ranma with bright
blue eyes framed by wrinkled old skin. “You, ‘cause you’re an old fart, damn it!”
Ranma retorted.
Nabiki
rolled her eyes and ate a cookie from the plate in the middle of the table.
Akane focused on hitting Ranma, telling him to leave the “poor old man” alone.
Kasumi smiled, and continued to work on folding clothes. Soun and Genma just
exchanged looks before taking long swigs from their tea, both wishing they had
a bit of rum at that moment.
__~*~__
Halfway
across town, the young Okonomiyaki chef, Ukyou, was hard at work cleaning off
the grills for the next day. Feeling slightly hungry, she began to make herself
an Okonomiyaki. Rolling out the dough, she turned around to get the other
ingredients. Turning back around she saw the dough was gone. “Huh?” she looked
around until she had the sudden urge to look up. In the air the dough floated,
quivering, shaking…giggling.
There
was a very confused Ukyou.
+++
Author’s
Notes: Reviews, comments, questions, and criticism? It’s all appreciated! Tell
me what you think of the second chapter of Nerima Ghost Detectives R Us!
Next
Chapter:
Having forged a union, the two, and now three ghost detectives- Ranma, Nabiki, and Akane must decipher a very weird mystery involving…possessed Okonomiyaki?! Well, they never said the job was going to be NORMAL.
***