Snake in the Horse's Shadow By Lord Raa Disclaim-me-do: Toys just aren't as tasty since they stopped using lead paint. Part 7 Kasumi knew that family was of paramount importance, but couldn't help feel that it would be nice to see her brother-in-law have his attitude readjusted slightly. It wasn't that Ryoga was a rude or otherwise obnoxious person – he'd always been polite and apologised for any problems he'd caused. It was just that he wasn't very good at dealing with his problems in a mature fashion. Akane had explained that it was because of his poor sense of direction, he'd never had anyone help him learn such skills. She followed the others to the dojo, wondering what sort of fighting style Ranma would use against Ryoga. She knew her brother-in-law's style often used brute force and his endurance to great effect. Kasumi's mind idly thought back to how energetic Akane's wedding night must have been. After a moment's blushing, she took her seat next to her father and Genma. "Right then," Ranma said as he gently stretched. "How serious are we going to be for this fight?" "What do you mean, Ranma-san?" Akane asked as she took her husband's sweater off him. "I was brought up to fight to win," the pigtailed man answered, nodding to his father. "If we go all out, it could get messy." "Perhaps it would be best if we limited it to some light sparring," Soun said, hoping to avoid too much damage to his property and son-in-law. "You weren't that good a fighter back then, Ranma; Just fast hands and dirty tricks," Ryoga taunted. "Yep, and now I'm even faster and have more dirty tricks," Ranma smiled. "On a three count from the ref, err... you. If you don't mind starting us off." Kasumi blinked but stood up and raised her right arm. "Begin!" The two combatants circled each other slowly. Ranma was intrigued to know what sort of tricks that Ryoga could have learned over the years. 'I remember him being a bit stupid.' Ryoga's rage overcame his instincts and he charged his hated opponent, intent on gaining his vengeance on the brash boy who had humiliated him all those years ago. The younger Saotome calmly redirected the charging man and flipped him onto his back. "Oof," Ryoga gasped, not expecting Ranma to move that fast. "Is that it?" Ranma said, shaking his head before turning to Kasumi. "Are we done here, Ref?" "I..." the brunette was interrupted by Ryoga slowly climbing to his feet. "We're not done yet," the fanged man said as he fell into a fighting stance. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I fight on!" Ryoga launched a blizzard of punches at Ranma, all of which were dodged or blocked by the pigtailed man. "Yawn," Ranma mocked before jumping over the enraged man's head and hitting several pressure points on his back and neck. "I'm bored with this, what's for dinner?" "W-wait..." "Fine," Ranma rolled his eyes as he knocked Ryoga to the ground with simple leg sweep. "Are you happy now?" "Wow, you're really good," Kasumi gushed. She hadn't seen anyone beat Ryoga so easily for some time. Akane rushed to her husband's aid. "Are you alright, Ryoga-kun?" "Yeah, well, when people are trying to kill you, you either get good or get dead. He'll be fine in a few minutes, so don't worry." Soun turned to Genma. "With Ranma-kun being so good, it must have taken some effort to get him to stop showboating, Saotome-kun." "It only took a few broken bones, Tendo-kun," Genma smiled. "As for Ranma's skills, when you have the combination of brilliant student and skilled sensei, learning techniques is a joy for both of us." Ranma's jaw clicked shut when he heard his father's boasting, but allowed him to have his moment. Instead he turned to look at the upset, but slowly recovering Ryoga Hibiki on the floor. "You alright over there?" The fanged man glared at him with all his might. "Don't look at me like that. You wanted a fight, we had one. I won," the pigtailed man explained. "You look like the determined type, so I'll say this, but only the once: if you attack me, there's a chance that you'll get seriously hurt. There's an even better chance that you'll die." Ranma held out a hand to Ryoga. "Is the matter settled?" The fight hadn't gone the way Ryoga had planned, but he couldn't fault Ranma's behaviour. There hadn't been any shenanigans with hidden weapons or traps or attempts to drug him. He closed his eyes and sighed. "I guess so." He took Ranma's hand and was lifted to his feet. "So where did you disappear to? I spent two years looking for you." "Don't ask." "Why not?" "Because we can't talk about it," Genma said, rising to his own feet. "We promised." "Ok," Ryoga conceded. "So, how about dinner?" "Sounds good to me," Ranma smiled as he followed his father and Mr. Tendo back to the house. At the SGC, General Hammond was briefing SG-1. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip before smiling at his assembled team. "I've taken steps to see if we can locate Ranma and his father in Japan. General Ellis of Yakota Air Base has local contacts who should be able to find him," the bald man said. "No, they won't be spied upon. I've ordered that they be left alone. This is just for our peace of mind, we may need to contact them." "That's good to hear, Sir," Carter smiled. "Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "I do not wish to have the Ha're Kek as an enemy." "Now, as for your next mission," Hammond said, opening the file in front of him. "SG-3 have located an inhabited planet the locals call 'Nasya'. They're willing to discuss an alliance with us." "I like the sound of that," O'Neill smiled. "It's always nice to have friends." "It is indeed," the General said. "It would be nice to negotiate a treaty with them, so please behave yourselves." "That'll be easy now that we don't have Ranma to rile up the local ladies, Sir," O'Neill smirked. His expression turned serious for a moment. "I think it would be best if we didn't mention him at all." "What if they ask about him?" Daniel asked. "I mean, it's pretty clear that he's not just some phantom told to scare Jaffa. And we're not exactly the norm for people who walk through the Stargate. Eventually someone'll put two and two together and start asking questions." There was a silence for a few moments. It was Teal'c that broke it. "It is true that we have heard of the Ha're Kek. Perhaps we should only say that." "Need to know," Jack O'Neill smiled. "You're getting the hang of this covert ops business, Teal'c. When do we ship out, General?" "Tomorrow morning at 0830 hours. Dismissed," the Texan said rising from his seat. Dinner had been a pleasant event for all present. Ryoga had kept reasonably quiet, having been humbled by Ranma's fighting prowess. Soun and Genma had been discussing their old training days, interspersed with a few anecdotes from Ranma's training. Akane's attention had been divided between the fathers, her husband and Ranma. There was something about the pigtailed man that seemed interesting. Oh, sure, her husband had been well-travelled – his poor sense of direction had mean that he'd seen a great deal more of the world than his peers, but Ranma seemed different. And she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Kasumi was glad that her father seemed happy for the first time in several years. Not since Akane's wedding had he smiled so much. She cast a glance towards Ranma and noticed that he too was smiling. 'He's got a nice smile,' the brunette noted. She looked away and blushed lightly when Ranma turned to face her. 'What's with her?' the pigtailed man asked himself. Experience had taught Ranma that some questions were best left unvoiced. He rubbed his shoulder reflexively at the memory of the time he'd asked what he considered to be an innocent question. "Is something the matter, Ranma-san?" Akane asked. "What?" "You're rubbing your shoulder." "What? Oh, no, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something that had happened years ago," Ranma replied with a slightly nervous smile. As Ryoga watched the exchange between his wife and Ranma, a feeling of jealousy flared up. "So, why can't you talk about what you did, Ranma? Surely it can't be that secret." "You really want to know what I did for ten years?" Ranma asked, fixing his former schoolmate with a steely glare. "Ok. I found myself further away from Japan than you can imagine. I was in a strange land, where I couldn't understand the writing or what people were trying to say to me. The only person I could speak to was my father. "Soon after we arrived, we found some people being worked to death as slaves in a mine. We tried to help them, but we were captured ourselves because they had powerful weapons. It's easy to quell rebellions when you can blow people to pieces. Took us three months to escape that hell-hole." The room fell silent and pigtailed man took a few more bites of his food before continuing. "I had to kill people with my bare hands. Silently choke the life out of some of them so we could escape. So yeah, you can understand why we don't want to talk about it." "Oh," the Tendos and Ryoga replied in unison. "So if you've finished interrogating me about the horrible things I've done to survive and protect people, do you mind if I take a bath?" Ranma asked, calmly placing his chopsticks on the table. "Please, it would be rude of us to deny you such a basic request," Soun said as he recovered his wits. "Kasumi, would you please show Ranma-kun to the bathroom?" "Certainly, Father," the brunette smiled. "This way, please Ranma-kun." Colonel Jack O'Neill surveyed the Nasyan landscape. He felt somewhat pleased that this mission hadn't thrown up any complications. "Yet," he added under his breath. He smiled at some locals who walked past him. The women in the group looked at him, conferred and giggled to each other about some private joke. 'They're too young for you anyway, Jack,' the Colonel told himself. Looking up he noticed something glinting in the sunlight. Pulling out his binoculars, he scanned the bright blue sky for any hint as to what that could be reflecting the sunlight. "Just a bit closer... There's another one. Oh crap!" Jack switched on his radio. "We've got company! Death gliders are approaching from the west!" "¬Copy that, Sir,¬" Carter answered. "¬I count three from my position.¬" "Get everyone you can to safety, I'll get Daniel," O'Neill barked into his radio. "¬No need, Jack, I can see you,¬" Daniel said waving at the Colonel. "¬I think we can use the Stargate to save these people.¬" "Agreed, get everyone you can to the 'Gate and dial home. Teal'c, you got any ideas how to hold them off?" "¬It will be extremely difficult without heavy weapons,¬" the Jaffa answered into his radio as he ran towards Jack. Another six death gliders flew over head, barely three metres above the roofs of the buildings. Teal'c finally reached the Colonel. "O'Neill, look!" A Goa'uld Ha'tak ship descended into view from orbit, its landing struts extended. "Crap." "I have not faced this situation before. I do not see how victory is possible without the Ha're Kek," the Jaffa said as he readied his staff weapon. "Yeah," Jack sighed. "But they're not available right now." More death gliders swarmed out and began strafing the Nasyan buildings. "Yeah, definitely could do with Ranma's help on this one." Ranma, however, was enjoying a soak in the Tendo's bathtub. There was a knock at the door. "The bath is occupied and anyone who tries to peep on me will get a poke in the eye," the martial artist warned, not bothering to open his eyes. "You don't have anything I haven't seen before, Ranma," a male voice teased. "Come on in, Dad, there's room for you." Genma walked into the bathroom and undressed. "Thank you for your generosity." Ranma moved to the edge of the tub as his father quickly shed his clothes. "So, what is your plan?" "Stay here until will track down your mother. Move in with her, live a nice, quiet life," the balding man said as he started to scrub down. He rinsed off and stepped into the hot water. "Sounds good to me. What about Mr. Tendo and his daughters? You know, that sacred pledge thingy he was harping on about." "You seem to get getting on well with Akane, but she's already married," Genma sighed. "I think that you two could have made a good couple." "Maybe," Ranma shrugged. "But like you said, she's already married." "It does leave Kasumi. She's the one who cooked dinner, remember." "True, it was nice. And she is pretty. But do you really think that we'd be happy together?" the pigtailed man asked. "I mean, I can't really talk about what we've been through, and what's the most exciting thing she's done lately?" "Ranma, you should be careful about judging people. She might have hidden depths." Ranma looked unconvinced, but said nothing. The following morning, Ranma awoke early. It took him a moment to realise where he was. He shook his head at his father's snoring and decided that now would be a good time to get up. Licking his lips, the pigtailed man decided that a drink of water was needed. Pulling on a pair of black trousers, he made his way to the kitchen. Upon his arrival, he was surprised to see Kasumi standing there looking exhausted. "Is everything ok?" he asked. "I... Yes," Kasumi said with a forced smile. "I'm fine, thank you for asking, Ranma-kun." "You don't look fine. Do you need me to take you to a doctor?" "No... I'll be fine once I have my medicine," the brunette said as she reached into the front pouch on her apron. She swallowed an off-white pill and smiled. "See, all better." "Medicine takes longer than that to work, Kasumi," Ranma said, his arms folded across his chest. "What's wrong?" "I..." Kasumi sighed tiredly. She was tempted to tell Ranma about her sickness, but felt it wouldn't be right. He was a guest and shouldn't have to worry about her. "It's really nothing, Ranma-kun. Don't worry too much, I'll be fine." Ranma set his jaw. "I'm not going away until you tell me what's wrong." "...Fine," Kasumi said after a few moments. "I'm tired, Ranma-kun. It's my body; it's working against me and making me sick." "I don't understand," Ranma said. "How can your body work against you?" "It's called an Auto-Immune Disease," Kasumi explained. "My body thinks I'm sick even though I'm not and tries to 'heal' me by attacking healthy organs, which is making me sick." "Oh..." Ranma didn't know what to say to that. After some awkward silence he asked, "D-does your father know?" "No." Not knowing what else to do, Ranma stepped up to Kasumi and put his arms around her in a comforting embrace. "I'm... I'm sorry I can't do anything else for you, Kasumi." "Thank you, Ranma-kun," Kasumi sniffed. "C-could you keep this a secret from my father?" "I will." Back at the SGC, SG-1 were reporting back to General Hammond. "We didn't see the mothership until after the death gliders started to attack," Carter said. "We barely had time to dial back home." "The Goa'uld just attacked without warning," Daniel added. "We've never seen that before. I can't think of any reason why they would attack the Nasyans. They'd been left alone for nearly three centuries." "It's not normal for the Goa'ulds to suddenly just show up and wipe out peaceful people for no apparent reason, is it?" Hammond asked. Daniel shook his head. "In the past there was usually some reason, most often they seem to attack civilisations that are advancing to a point where their technology could be a threat, but that wasn't the case here." "Maybe they found out we were there?" Jack suggested. "I don't know how they could know. Even if they did know, why did this particular Goa'uld care?" the archaeologist asked. "I have seen the Goa'uld wipe out entire civilizations—no reason, simply because it gave them pleasure," Teal'c added. "So what, Nasya was just next on the list? Part of me wishes it was that simple, but I don't want to underestimate them," Daniel said, rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe their reasons just weren't made apparent to you, Teal'c. I mean, you are just a Jaffa," Carter said in an unexpectedly cold tone. She noticed that her words had attracted more attention than she'd realised. "All…all I meant was that Apophis wouldn't necessarily have explained everything to Teal'c even if he was First Prime. Would he?" "That has been the case on numerous occasions," the Jaffa confirmed. "I agree with Sam. We've been looking at Goa'uld society as if they were a group of power-hungry warlords," Daniel nodded. "Clearly they're more complex than that. We should find out why the Nasyans were attacked like that." "Agreed," General Hammond said before casting a glance around the members of SG-1. "However, our priority is to relocate the surviving Nasyans. I've assigned three more SG teams to coordinate with you. Dismissed." Dr. Frasier looked over her notes and frowned. "Sam still hasn't had her post mission check up." She picked up her phone and dialled the Captain's office. "Sam, it's Janet here. You still need to have your examination." "¬Yes, sorry, I've been a little distracted. I'll be there in about five minutes,¬" the blonde answered. "Have you had a sore throat lately? There's this abrasion on the back of your throat." "Yeah, a little." Janet noticed that the blonde seemed distant, as if she was thinking about something far weightier than her own health. "Is something wrong, Sam?" she asked. "I was just thinking about Ranma," the Captain replied. "I think I might need to speak with him." "Oh? I thought you didn't like him. Or is it about that naquadah reactor he gave you?" "No, it's about something else," Sam answered. She leaned back and rubbed her eyes. "It's hard to explain, but I need to talk with him about something important." "Aren't you scheduled for a mission tomorrow?" Janet asked. "That's going to delay talking to Ranma." "Yeah... still, I'm sure that I'll be able to talk with Ranma before too long." Jack O'Neill was not surprised to be called into General Hammond's office. What was a surprise was the fact that Dr. Frasier was there. "Is something wrong, Doc?" "It's about Captain Carter, Colonel," the Texan said. "Doctor Frasier, if you'll brief the Colonel." "Yes Sir. During Sam's routine post mission examination, I noticed that there was an abrasion at the back of her throat. That in itself isn't a concern, but she did seem rather absent and when I tested the blood I drew, I noticed something strange in her blood chemistry." "Oh? Is she sick or something?" Jack asked. "Is travelling through the gate affecting her health?" "No, but the changes in her blood chemistry are similar to the ones we saw in Major Kowalski, Colonel." "So, when are you giving her an MRI or x-ray or something to check she doesn't have a snake in her head?" "I haven't yet, she's off-base," the Doctor answered. "I had no reason to detain her. I tried to call her in, but she's not answering her phone." "General, I recommend that we lockdown the Stargate until further notice," Jack said. "With your permission, I'll go to Carter's house to check up on her." "Agreed, Colonel," Hammond nodded. He picked up his phone and ordered the lockdown on the Stargate. At her home, Samantha Carter was using her computer to search trawl the internet to search for references to Ranma Saotome in an attempt to track him down. After five minutes of fruitless searching, she shook her head. "Of course I'm not going to be able to find any record of him – he's been off-world for ten years!" She let out a sigh and leaned back to look up at the ceiling. There was a knock at the door. Shrugging, she made her way to the front door and saw that it was Colonel O'Neill standing there. "Is there something wrong, Sir?" "Possibly, we need you to come back to the base," Jack said. "Now?" the blonde asked. "It's an order, Captain." To be continued... Pre-read by Chi Vayne, previewed on various intertubes.
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Snake in the Horse's Shadow
Chapter 07: Chapter 7
By: Lord Raa