DISCLAIMER: "Ya-HO! Ya-HO! Ya-HO!" C-ko, wrong fanfic. "Oh, okay! Tess didn't make up the Ranma 1/2 characters, Rumiko Takahashi did. That better?" Much better, thanks, C-ko. "Ya-HO!" ---------------- Ranma 1/2: "The Professional" by Lady Tesser ---------------- There he was. I was promised quite a reward for this job. I was paid nearly five hundred thousand and rainchecked another five hundred thousand yen when the job was finished. The gal that hired me was as "barmy as a bandicoot" as those Australians say, but her money was good - and that's all that matters in this business. My disguise as any other school girl was quite successful. My bookbag looked like any other student's, save that it contained implements of killing. Sure, I could take him out more easily. I could consent to fight him and date him, then slip him a poison in his drink during dinner. My so-called good looks of wavy red hair and overly-endowed chest could get any man close enough to be careless and I could make it less obvious. But face it, sisters - killing is a fine art, slowly dying with the availability of automatics in most corner drugstores. It's up to us professionals to do it right. Besides, I didn't care to date my target. He was as crazy as the broad who hired me. Must run in the family, and I'd like to think she's preventing her brother from breeding. Hope someone else takes care of her ... *after* she pays me. The Kuno fortune is a good start to a retirement fund in my work. I kept my eye on him the whole time. I leapt up the levels of the school building, landing on top of the high school's clock tower. He was a tall boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old. Dark brown, somewhat curly hair. Pale. Blue eyes. Dressed in a blue hakadama and holding a bokken. Not a bad-looking specimen, but good looks don't mean he's a rocket scientist. From what I've gathered about him (and his sister and even their father), I wonder if there has been inbreeding in the Kuno clan. I looked up and saw him challenging Akane Tendo yet again. Gods be damned, that gal always seems to be in the way of my targets. That's why it's become an art: subtle, yet effective in one shot. Think getting ammo in Japan is easy? Well, little miss Tendo was going to have to accept responsibility for this one. Not my fault she was there when it 'happened' ... I opened the school bag and quickly pulled out the pieces, inserting and locking the sleek metals together. The sweet sounds of martial arts drifted up to me as I loaded the ammo, then clicked the silencer into place over the barrel. I crawled up to the edge, spying my target through the scope. Both moved fast, swirling around in front of my vision in the dance of fighters. Most of my colleagues would have been confused and wasted their bullets on both until he got hit. My own training permitted me to keep up. Breathing deeply, steadying my aim at one area, I waited for him to enter the target scope. He looked surprised. The feeling of being hit in that particular part of the head was like a pebble being thrown. Then it turned to shock as a blood vessel exploded and he fell on top of the Tendo girl, shooting blood all over her and the ground. Students screamed in terror. Tendo pushed him off herself, calling out for help while trying to remain calm. Good. I carefully took the gun apart and placed it back in my case. I hopped off the roof, blending and disappearing into the confusion around the high school. Running all the way to the business district, I stopped briefly at a pay phone. "Yes?" "Done." "Good. Visit me after two am for the rest." "Yes, miss." I hung up, ducking into an alley. I stripped and changed into my regular clothes, baggy at the moment, then took a thermos of hot water out of my bag and upturned it over my head. I sighed, feeling my normal body again. I left the bag hanging under a manhole cover, then exited onto the street, heading toward Ucchan's for a bite. My name is Ranma Saotome. But if you need a job done, ask for Ranko. She'll take care of everything. I know she will. -end- -- .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List---. | Administrators - ffml-admins@fanfic.com | | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@fanfic.com | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `---http://www.fanfic.com/FFML-FAQ.txt ---'