Series:    La Femme Ranma
Chapter:   #5 "The IceQueen and the Chameleon"
Author:    Akraen (S. Metcalf)
Email:     akraen@hotmail.com
Website:   http://www.akraen.com
Category:  Ranma x-over with La Femme Nikita (+ cameos)

-=- -=- -=-  - * -  -=- -=- -=-

"The target works under the codename "IceQueen". She first
appeared within our notice about four months ago. Her trade
consists mainly of blackmail, loan-sharking, and corporate
espionage; she also apparently runs several smalltime betting
pools and there are rumors of a child pornography trade."

The assembled team who were being briefed all shared a hard
glint in their eyes when they heard the last detail given. By
profession they were killers and as such they became hardened to
some things which would normally horrify a person such as murder
and torture, but there were still certain things just deemed
wrong and one of the worse of these was taking advantage of
children.

Before entering this place Ranma wouldn't even have known what
pornography meant but sadly the 'real world' is a very dark and
torrid place. It didn't take long for all the veils and
illusions about life to be removed from his mind. In some ways
it made his memories of the middle Tendo sister just a little
bit dirtier. Oh, he had long ago figured out the reasons Nabiki
had done the various things she did, although admittedly it was
only by pure chance that he first made the discovery.

He had snuck into her room in search of a particularly
embarrassing set of photos he didn't want to become public
knowledge and had instead found Nabiki's private ledger. He
didn't understand what all of it meant but he knew better than
to sit there trying to figure it out, so he quickly returned
the room to its state prior to his invasion and silently left.
Later that day if anyone who knew Ranma had any idea of his
location they would have known the world was ending. He had
actually visited a neighboring district's library and had spent
hours laboriously trying to understand it all. It's times like
that when he would be thankful for his perfect memory of details
which he usually used only for combat situations. Eventually he
had conquered the challenge of basic accounting and had his
efforts rewarded with the knowledge of the exact state of the
Tendo's budget.

After that day he no longer tried quite as hard to avoid
Nabiki's 'scams' and camera lens, as well as coming to
understand her just a little bit better. That didn't mean that
he liked being a victim of her though, and now that he better
understood the consequences behind such photos the only thing
that kept him from losing the respect he had for her was the
knowledge that due to the rules of Furinkan she had no other
means of supporting her family.

Ranma was shaken from his introspection by the voice of
Operations as he continued his pre-mission briefing, "..eason we
have designated her as a target is due to her recent theft from
one of our subsidiary accounts. It is possible that it is a
coincidence that she hacked into the system and retrieved funds
from us but it seems far more likely that she did so on behalf
of an enemy cell. Your team is to first scout out the situation
further to check for outside involvement in the hopes of
avoiding the chance of alerting whoever is backing her. If no
one contacts the target you are to retrieve the target and bring
her back for questioning."

Ranma suddenly felt a chill and shivered self-consciously. 'I
haven't felt something like that since the last time just prior
to a fiance showing up while the others were in the room with
me.. kuso!'

"The security around the target will probably be minimal at best
and so the mission would normally be given to a less proven
team; however, due to the location being outside of normal
operating areas and your recent knowledge of the outlying
regions, your team has been designated for this mission.
Michael, you recently were transferred to your company's Tokyo
base. As such, you and your wife, Nikita, will be renting one of
the homes in the neighborhood near to where she lives. In
addition, Nikita, you are going to be taking over the English
teaching position of the local school as the former teacher was
transferred to a school that needed her services more. This will
allow you to keep a closer eye on the target since she will also
be there."

Nikita quietly asked, "How is a teacher able to cause such an
effect?"

"Allow me to solve your confusion. She is not a teacher at the
school.. she is a student."

While the rest of the assembled agents was absorbing the latest
news, Ranma had lost the chill in favor of a deep-freeze. He had
a very bad feeling now that he knew exactly where this was
going. After all.. what are the chances of there being another
schoolgirl in Tokyo with such an interest and ability in
moneymaking schemes...

"Birkohf, you will be the tactical support for the mission,
which means that due to the differing time-zones between control
and the field that you also will need to adjust your off-line
periods accordingly. Ranma, due to your age and your familiarity
with the customs you will be enrolled in the same class as the
target. Since you are much more likely to blend in with your
features as a male you will be registered accordingly. You are
to gain the trust of the target and attempt to be accepted into
her organization using whatever means necessary."

Ranma looked away from the man as he told the other operatives
what their roles were to be, refusing to allow him to see his
repugnance for what he was being asked to do. He was honor-bound
to comply with his orders yet at the same time felt a deep
revulsion with the thought of seducing some girl only to betray
her. Beneath the table, and out of sight from anyone else, his
hands clenched spasmodically as he fought down his disgust and
tried to keep his outer shell of non-caring.

"Remember people, this may be a long duration undercover
protocol but you are expected to treat every day as if it was
the first day. Any slacking from the tediousness of your roles
will not be allowed, do I make myself clear?" Operations allowed
the implied threat to hang in their minds for a moment longer
before dismissing the meeting.

As Ranma quickly began to leave, he was stopped short by the
head of section calling out his name. Pushing aside his feelings
for a bland countenance, Ranma turned to face the man.
Operations turned and headed toward his private office, forcing
Ranma to follow him as he was obviously not dismissed like the
others. The two were shut away from the eyes and ears of the
rest of section when the soundproof door closed shut behind
them, leaving Nikita  and the others only to wonder on what was
going on behind that door...

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

"Did something about the briefing bother you?" Operations asked
grimly as he faced down the boy sitting on the other side of his
desk.

Ranma felt like he was in the principle's office back at
Furinkan.. only the scissors were a lot deadlier. "I can't
follow mission guidelines on this one, sir." Ranma stiffly
replied.

The man silently looked back at him without saying a word which
caused Ranma to squirm uncomfortably where he was sitting.
Finally, the peace was broken when Operations laid down the law,
"Ranma, we cannot have our agents dictating what they will or
will not do. Regardless of your feelings on betraying this girl
it has to be done. I will accept no refusal on this matter."

Ranma shuddered slightly as he looked into the other man's eyes
as it was the gaze of a predator. Even Nabiki at her most
manipulative best didn't quite pull off the same aura of menace
and, for the first time since his ex-fiance's near-death, Ranma
felt true fear without any exposure to the aftereffects of the
cat-fist training. "I'm not trying to dictate to you and I know
my duty, sir. I might not like it but I'll do it.. but this goes
beyond that.." Ranma broke off what he was saying to stare at
his clenched fists for a moment.

".. The girl that you want me to get close to.. I already am..
sort of.. She almost became my sister-in-law."

Silence once again held the room in its thrall for an extended
period of time. Eventually the head of section one returned his
reply, "Well.. this could indeed complicate matters.."

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

"Class! We have a new student today. Please introduce yourself,
young man." the teacher waved the boy forward.

"My name's Hibiki Maro. I've been.. traveling for my entire life
in search for the rest of my family. I'm happy to meet all of
you and hope we can see more of each other. Thank you." the 'boy'
seemed to fold in on himself self-consciously after doing the
obligatory first day speech.

One of the girls in the class raised her arm to ask a question,
which caused the teacher to groan slightly and silently pray for
the boy's soul. "Yes, Tendo-san?"

The girl gave a polite cough before asking the new kid, "Did you
say your name was Hibiki?"

The boy kind of stuttered out an affirmative and blushed out at
being singled out by a girl. The girl in question smirked as she
saw her effect upon him. "Never mind, I can see the resemblance
for myself."

"P-pardon me?" the boy bravely replied.

"Ignoring for a moment the wild state of your hair and your well
traveled clothing, the small protrusion of your incisor teeth,
and the familiar bandana and umbrella ensemble.. by the way that
red color suits you.. your manner of speech around girls would
still betray you for a Hibiki."

Having settled the question of the newest 'lost boy' 's identity
she lost interest in him and turned back to her notebook of the
day's take in the betting pool. So it was a complete surprise to
her when she found herself lifted from her seat by her blouse
and shook like a rag doll by a wide-eyed lunatic.

"You know another Hibiki?! Who? Where are they?! I must know!"
the new kid in class shouted in her face as he continued to
thrash her untrained body about.

The entire class were cringing in sheer terror. Not because
they were scared about this wild barbarian who tossed people
about like they were stuffed animals. Not because they were
afraid that they would be next in his wild rampage of berserk
behavior. No, the boys and girls of the classroom (and, by some
mystical unexplainable phenomenon possible only in Nerima, the
rest of the school) were all cowering in their desks for a quite
different reason than worry of bodily harm. Someone had
manhandled Nabiki Tendo.

News of this sign of cataclysmic events about to be unleashed
would soon spread throughout their rural community. Soon.. soon
all of Nerima would find itself held hostage by the knowledge of
their eventual doom at the hands of its most feared citizen.

The teacher gulped back his cries of doom and sent waves of
hatred at his newest student. He had not managed to survive five
years of teaching at the district's worst school and two years
of the middle Tendo child's subjugation just to lose it all due
to the arrival of this beast. Cautiously, he tried to avoid the
wrath of the true force of Furinkan High "P-put her down.. now!"

The boy shook his head around in confusion before noticing his
audience. His attention then was drawn to the girl faintly
struggling to free herself in horror and shame. "Oh, god.. what
have I done..?!"

Hurriedly he set the girl back down on the floor amid tears of
self-loathing and urgently scoured her body for signs that he
had not permanently injured her in any way.

Every man, woman, and child within the building shared a single
thought of escape as a mass exodus of the classrooms occurred
in the time when the boy first began his perusal of the girl for
injuries. By the time he had finally concluded that she was
alright and had stepped back in relief the area surrounding the
school had the same population as an evacuation zone.

The only girl remaining within the disaster area looked at the
only boy to also remain in that current locale in shock and
gradually growing outrage. Her face regained its calm composure
as she spoke for the first time since the.. attack.. began, "You
are going to pay for this. Until then, however.."

Suddenly a huge mallet struck the astonished boy, sending him to
careen through one of the windows  in shock. 'Oh, god... it runs
in the family..!'

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

The Tendo compound used to have an aura of violence about it
but it also had been a place of happiness. That had all
changed of late with the removal of its spirit in the form of
the disappearance of the fate-cursed fiance of its youngest
inhabitant. Instead it had taken on the gloom and misery of its
occupants after that momentous departure.

This day, however, it pulsed with malevolent vengeance to even
the least sensitive of individuals. The origins of the
oppressing dark emotions were easily spotted by witnessing the
large space that was given to the middle child by her siblings
and parental figure. Dinner was eerily quiet on the parts of
these noted beings. The vengeful girl sitting apart from them
though was given to ranting and laughter that even had driven a
certain gymnast into hiding.

A common thought persisted in each mind witness to the state of
the normally emotionless girl.. God help the forsaken soul who
had earned her wrath.

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

School the next day was a very tense affair, with everyone
edging nervously away from both the local mercenary and the poor
fool who had been cursed with the bad luck of getting lost while
trying to find his home only to end up lost in the classroom.

The hostility in the atmosphere only increased when the target
of the negative emotion approached the girl responsible for
creating it.

"What do you want?" she bit off as she stared at him with open
hatred.

"Look.. I'm sorry, Tendo-san. I didn't mean to do anything wrong
to you. I didn't know what I was doing at first.. and was only
trying to make sure you were alright afterward. I swear that I
didn't mean to grope you. Please say you'll forgive me..? I
couldn't forgive myself if a pretty girl like you hated me due
to my actions."

Nabiki Tendo stared at the boy before her in shock. Due to her
position and reputation as a mercenary, no one had ever had the
courage or the caring to call her pretty. 'Of course,' her
intuitive mind warned her, 'he could have said that just to
soften me up..' She didn't think that was the case, however, as
he didn't seem to be the type to be intimidated; beside which
there was the evidence from Ryoga's attraction to her little
sister.

Ryoga had spent only a small portion of his time in the company
of Akane and had become devoted to her to the point of being
unable to see any wrong in her actions. It is possible that for
this newest Hibiki the same could be said of his instantaneous
reaction to her presence.

A demonic smile settled into position as the perfect way to make
this boy pay for his treatment of her. "So you think I'm
pretty..?" she drawled out teasingly.

The poor boy's mind was unable to handle her teasing causing his
reply to be stuttered, "Y-yes I d-do.." and he broke out into
full blush.

'Gotcha!' she inwardly smirked. "Does that mean you want to date
with me..?" she asked flirtatiously causing everyone who knew
her to shiver fearfully. For the object of her 'affections',
however, it seemed to have an entirely different effect.

"Y-y-yes.. I-I'd.. y-you.. d-date with.. l-love to.." the poor
boy intelligently responded.

"Good. I'll see you tonight? 7-ish..?" she waited for a response
but when it became obvious that it would not be forthcoming she
nodded as if he had responded in the affirmative and continued,
"Remember to wear something nice and bring enough money. There's
this quaint foreign place I've been waiting for a chance to
try.." the girl left the besotted boy standing there in the
middle of the courtyard amidst a gossiping throng.

"That is cruel.. forcing that poor boy to date her.." one girl
croaked out.

"That was heartless.. he's going to become destitute in days.."
a boy choked up the nerve to append.

"That poor, pitiful, stupid wretch.. no one deserves such a
cruel fate.." another anonymous girl in the crowd contributed.

The talk would have continued but it was at that point which the
other Tendo girl who attended Furinkan entered the courtyard
from the school building causing all talk to cease. It was not a
very good idea to mess with a Tendo.. only the truly stupid or
hormone-driven would normally even attempt it. Which is probably
why Akane had such rotten luck with the boys of the school.

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

Surprisingly enough, the newest couple sensation of the academic
world of Nerima lasted for a lot longer than anyone had given
them credit for. Perhaps it is because the male part of the
relationship seemed to have an almost unlimited supply of money
that eventually outlasted her desire for revenge. Or perhaps the
uniqueness of his response to her piqued her interest even when
she still thought she hated him. It could even have been
possible that she was already primed for a relationship after
having seen her sister form one with a certain martial artist
and had secretly longed for someone of her own to rescue her and
be teased by. Then again it was also possible that some demonic
beast decided to wreak havoc, as they tended to do in certain
districts of Tokyo, and by some mastermind plan, that only it
was a party to, targeted the unlikely couple to bedevil and
enchant.

Whatever the reason behind the success of what was once
considered to be a doomed relationship, there was no denying
that it existed. The heart of an ice maiden had thawed. But this
was Nerima. Nothing ever existed in this sleepy little district
without a hitch or a complication. Perhaps the nay-sayers who
had predicted an expedient demise of the budding love were right
after all. The sad thing about the district of Nerima is that
anything was possible.. except a perfect solution.

The day that marked the end of one of the most romantic
relationships to have been born from hatred had nothing to
distinguish it apart from any other. The two had walked together
to class while discussing business as the younger sister stomped
nearby, fuming at her sister flirting with one of those pervert
boys. This had become a ritual someplace during the courtship
after the elder sister had learned of her boyfriend's keen mind.
His mind reminded her of someone else's, actually, only more
evolved.

She had quickly recognized the sheer brilliance of the mind
possessed by Ranma and had thought it almost tragic that it was
wasted in only using it during battles. He could have been so
much more.. Actually she had almost decided to make a play for
him herself in an attempt to see if his mind could be salvaged.
She eventually gave up on the idea after she realized that in
order to make him willing and able to utilize his brain she
would first have to destroy a lot of which made him who he was.
She might have thought it a shame that he would never amount to
more than a martial artist.. but it wasn't worth destroying the
kind and innocent boy that she had come to know.

She no longer regretted that decision to return the Saotome
engagement back to her younger sister, as her new boyfriend
exhibited all the potential that she had seen in the young
martial artist and was as devoted to her as the former had been
of her sister. She would miss the boy that she had come to think
of as a friend/sibling.. but she wouldn't have missed getting to
know Maro. She sent out a silent prayer to the missing friend
and snuggled closer to Maro.

Nabiki broke out of her memories when she felt the arm encircle
her briefly in a gesture of comfort. It had taken her a while to
trust this boy with her heart. But her business had been a
fortification even harder to breach. Even the mightiest of
defenses though could stand no match for the wonderful boy with
which she had fallen in love.

Again Nabiki returned to the present when she heard the
screeching of tires and saw a car come barreling at the three
of them. It was going too fast and the street was too narrow
without anyplace to dodge to. They weren't going to make it. In
that moment as the life she had lived played itself out before
her eyes, she looked longingly up at the rooftop where safety
awaited and wished for the first time in her life that she had
stuck to martial arts and had the skill to jump onto rooftops
with passengers in tow like Ranma appeared to do with ease. She
made her peace with the world as her mind sent one last message
out, 'I love you Maro!'

In that instant before certain death she felt a mighty shove
from the side which caused her body to fly across to the
opposite side of the street. She noticed that her sister was in
the same position in the air but could not see her boyfriend
anywhere. 'Oh god, no.. I can't lose him..'

Nabiki snapped her gaze back to the side of the street they had
been and was forced to stare in mute horror at the sprawled form
of the boy she had begun to make lifelong plans about, who had
obviously been the one to have pushed the two siblings out of
the way with all of his strength. It had been costly, however,
in that he ended up sprawled on the sidewalk. Their gazes met in
that moment before the impact struck his helpless form.. and
then it was over.. he was gone from her sight as the vehicle
smashed into the place they had been walking.

She screamed out his name in emotional pain. The scream altered
slightly midway as the mighty shove sent her body slamming into
the wall on the opposite side of the street. She heard a thud
similar to the one her own body had made upon its contact with
the wall, which she assumed to be from her sister's impact.. and
then the world faded away in a swirl of pain too deep to fathom,
both within and without.

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

Nothing seemed to matter to her anymore. When she had come to
she had immediately asked about Maro only to be told he had been
declared dead upon impact. She never got a chance to see him
again. The damage had been too extensive for the police to ask
anyone to identify him so a genetic tissue test was done based
on a sample provided by Ryoga when he next came to town.

Nabiki tossed back the liquid within her shot glass, only to
grimace after the fact when she began to become disoriented. She
hadn't thought she had taken enough yet that evening for such a
profound effect, but welcomed it anyway.

Her head smacked into the bar counter and the world finally
followed her desires and became a comforting nothingness.

-=- -=- -=- _*_ -=- -=- -=-

She came to in a blindingly white room. She noticed through her
disorientation that someone was standing within the glare of the
light but she couldn�t tell who it was.

"Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?" she asked as she
held a hand to her throbbing head.

"You should rest, Nabiki Tendo. Your body needs time to recover
from the drugs placed in your drink." the person coldly replied.

She knew that voice but couldn�t match the identity of the
person due to the cold tone, which acted like a mask. She
mentally went through a list of people it could possibly be.

The person tossed her something which she discovered to be a
newspaper. Staring at her was a picture of herself along with a
short but devastating headline.

= Local student joins boyfriend in death. =

"It is a fascinating article, actually. It seems that the
distraught girl never got over the death of her significant
other. She was drunk and attempted to walk home. She never saw
the truck she stepped in front of."

"You can't do this.. there's no way you could possibly get away
with it.."

"The damage was too extensive.. they had to identify the body by
genetic testing.. it was a closed casket ceremony of course..
feel comfort in knowing that your family was spared the agony of
having to see your body in death.."

She inwardly seethed and felt cold fear grip her soul at the
same time. She realized suddenly that they could and indeed had
done this to her.

"Why are you doing this to me..?" she lashed out while trying to
withhold her tears.

"Your skills attracted our attention.. simply put, my dear, you
were too good to pass up. Consider yourself recruited." after
saying this the man began to exit the room.

"Who are you?! Do I not have the right to know my captor..?" she
screamed out in a fury.

The figure stopped and looked at her for a moment. Finally he
seemed to nod and then he walked forward until she could see
him fully for the first time.

"Maro?!" she cried out in anguish. On the one hand she felt
alive once more with the knowledge that he was not dead but the
most powerful emotion right now was pure hatred at the betrayal
from someone she had loved.

The boy shook his head slightly. "Sorry, no, that�s not my name.
We needed someone to get close to you and I was the best choice
since I already knew what made you tick. You would have
recognized my real name, however."

"Who are you then, you bastard?!" she snarled at him.

"Perhaps this will help.." The man in the room with her worked
his unruly hair into a braided pigtail behind his back. She
would have denied the truth which this single gesture was
placing within her mind, but she was not allowed that luxury.
Before her very eyes the man dumped a glass of water over his
head and became instead a red-haired girl.

She stared in utter disbelief at the one person in the world she
would never have associated with this cruelty. "How could you do
this to me..? I _loved_ you!!" she choked out between tears.

The girl stared at her emotional display coldly and replied
without any warmth at all, "I know." before turning to leave the
room.

Nabiki Tendo collapsed in tears of horror and hatred within the
white room.

On the other side of the soundproof door another girl was also
crying although none would ever know it. "I know.." she
whispered to herself.

-=- -=- -=-  - * -  -=- -=- -=-

[Author's Notes: This marks the end of the material already
written up, chapter 6 though has already passed through the
planning stages and is just getting under way being built. I'm
hoping that this time there will not be months between completed
works. But even if there is, the story as it is could be
considered a completed work in its own right, which is typical
of my style of writing. I have never been a fan of the tradition
of leaving readers hanging by ending chapters/stories with more
questions unanswered and instead feel that almost all of the
time each new chapter should be able to stand alone on its own
without any need to produce further. One of the biggest
advantages to writing like this is that if you never again work
on something because lose interest or time, your fans will not
be left permanently hanging on the edge of their computer chairs
waiting for that next episode.
There are so many great author's out there whom, although I have
dearly enjoyed the wonderful contributions they have made to our
fanfiction community, have left me frustrated for release.. in
agony for months or even years waiting for the next piece of the
giant jigsaw puzzle which makes up their complex stories.
I have never really understood why the cliffhanger endings grew
to become so popular anyway. They do not make the audience like
the author any more or any less, and it takes just as little
effort to put together a completed puzzle and then later to
append around it than it does to leave a big gap unfilled and
leaving the picture look incomplete.
I realize that this rant will probably not effect the greater
majority of writers out there, but I truly hope that at least
some of you will take these words to heart and think before you
decide how to end your works just an extra bit more. In my
opinion, however expert or amateur in origins it may be, we as
writers should put some thought into the happiness of our
readers.. why should we create unnecessary angst and anxiousness
in their lives when we can so easily avoid it..?]

I'll get off my rant/soapbox now and close off this chapter by
thanking all of the readers who have written in to me with their
comments, both good and bad. During those down times when I
swear I may never be able to write again I stop and re-read the
letters that you all have sent in and gather just that little
bit of extra courage needed to continue when I realize that you
all have cared enough to take the time to tell me what you think
about my stories and writing skill. I hope to continue to hear
from everyone in the future.

- Akraen (S. Metcalf)

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