Chapter 12: Queen’s Pawn

I deliver things.

That's what I'm paid to do. I'm NOT a spy, not an assassin, not even an agent or anything. I'm just a lil' old delivery girl who transports objects of value between two parties. By that, I mean things you wouldn't normally Fed Ex from the post office. It's usually just that simple. Sure, I came up against obstacles, but I'd always dealt with them before.

So why was I wearing a strappy little dress made of red feathers, hiding in the anteroom to the bar of the posh Plaza Hotel in the city of Shanghai, spying on a suspected smuggler and his henchmen, with Ranma my ex-fiancé behind me? Forget that Shampoo and Mousse, who I hadn't seen for almost as long as I hadn't seen Ranma, were also circulating in that crowd. Forget that some Indian gangster was sending his minions after us.

It was all for that great big diamond on display. The Mogul diamond sat winking and blinking at me in its black satin tray. I could almost swear it was communicating with me. Maybe it was. I'd been having weird dreams ever since it came into my hands. I couldn't wait to find the guy I was supposed to hand it over to and get the hell out of China.

Too bad I couldn't find him. Sir Blaine had come to Shanghai and done a disappearing act. I only had four more days to find him, not counting tonight. I was also a little hampered by the ninjas that kept appearing to attack Ranma and me and now they'd finally stolen my diamond for Zhang.

I hovered behind the crimson velvet curtains and tried to spot all the security guards circling the display case like sharks. Before I could decide how I was going to snatch the diamond, Mousse reappeared behind me like smoke.

"Akane Tendo," he said, balancing a tray of drinks with ease. His waiter's uniform didn't even bear a single crease. "I overheard that Zhang and his company will stay in the hotel tonight and move on in the late morning."

"Mousse!" I turned, startled, to face him. Ranma was glowering at him. "Why are you telling me...."

Mouse gave me a faint smirk. "I don't know what your business here is exactly, but I don't believe in coincidences. Zhang's presence here affects you. Since Shampoo and I are on Zhang's case, it is inevitable we will cross paths again. Perhaps we can assist each other."

He made to leave, but stopped when I placed a hand on his arm. He glanced down at me inquiringly.

"Mousse...." I began then said, "Why weren't you and Shampoo surprised to see me?"

He smiled. "Oh, we were surprised to see you HERE."

"Wha....?" I fisted my hands and glared up at him. He'd gotten taller and having to look up at him disconcerted me. "Make sense, Mousse. Don't get all enigmatic on me or I will kick your Chinese ass."

Ranma coughed behind me. Mousse choked and snickered. "Oh, really? Well, then let me ask you, Akane Tendo, do you really think that this is the first time we have crossed paths? Remember Paris, two years ago, you were working with an Armenian coffee smuggler ...."

"There was a Chinese arms dealer," I said, frowning as I remembered.

"What coffee smuggler?" Ranma walked around me and looked questioningly at both of us, folding his arms over his chest. He looked uncomfortable with Mousse and me sharing a nostalgic moment. "What arms dealer?"

"You were there?" I asked Mousse, ignoring Ranma and the way the material of his shirt stretched so snugly across his very wide....oh my.

"It was the first time Shampoo and I had been paired up, actually," A look of remembrance faintly shadowed Mousse's emerald eyes. I was starting to feel slightly hot and bothered, standing before two of my old Nerima friends, both of whom had grown up into tall, hot, intimidating.I firmly wrenched my mind back to the matter at hand.

"....we were waiting on the roof of the Louvre, and you walked by with the Armenian. Shampoo was shocked, I'll say." Mousse grinned, making him look a little more boyish, more like he used to. "You looked very....poised, Akane, very much in control. We hadn't even heard that you had left Nerima. You weren't in our way, so we left you alone."

"Didn't stop to say hi?" I joked, feeling a bit hurt anyway. After all, we had a history together.

Mousse leaned in very slightly, invading my personal space just enough to make me aware of him. "We both wanted to." His eyes were trained on mine, the green gaze boring into me like emerald lasers. "For VERY different reasons. Shampoo, I'm afraid, wanted to greet you rather violently." He straightened, and I suddenly remembered to breathe.

Ranma's hands closed around my shoulders from behind, the warm curve of his fingers against my bare skin doing little to disguise his firm grip. He came a half step closer to me, framing me with his body.

"And how did YOU want to greet Akane, Mousse?" he asked softly. His breath stirred the hair at my temple, and I shivered, watching Mousse watching Ranma. We were frozen in that odd tableaux for a moment, then Mousse smiled and stepped back.

"Nicely, of course," he said. Then he melted back into the crowd. I swung around and glared at Ranma.

"What was that all about?" I demanded.

"You tell me, Akane," he grinned. I wasn't quite sure myself so I filed it all away to think about later, trying to focus on the relevant things. Mousse had said Zhang and his gang would be around till tomorrow morning. The dead of night would make stealing the diamond a lot easier, I hoped.

"The Mogul can stay safe here until we get back." I began to walk towards the exit.

"What? Where are we going?" I felt a flash of satisfaction at Ranma's confused expression.

"We're going to find Sir Blaine, of course."

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"Do not tell me you want to ransack Blaine's room in the middle of the night!" Ranma hissed at me from his position behind a trashcan.

"It's only 10 pm, Ranma," I said from behind a statue, scanning the walls of the Silver Lily hotel, our residence of just a day ago. "In the middle of the night, we'll be busy stealing the Mogul back, remember?" I heard a slight groan from his direction and grinned.

"Blaine was in Room 1006," I reminded him. The tenth floor. Hmm, tricky but not impossible. Tricky only because we were going to get in from the outside. With Ranma on my side, things looked a lot easier. However, I didn't want to startle the people who were now occupying the room. A bomb had gone off in the hotel the day before. The staff was bound to be a mite jumpy.

I glanced briefly at my clothes. Ranma and I had searched for more inconspicuous clothes in the dance troupe's wardrobe. Ironically, all we had come up with were ninja costumes. Well, it WAS a dance troupe. Ranma and I were now clad in unrelieved black from head to toe, with concealing black scarves wrapped around our faces.

"Don't you think that the hotel would have vacated its guests after the bomb exploded?" Ranma was watching the entrance. "There's going to be a lot of security, you know." One security guard sat at the entrance while others discreetly patrolled the perimeter.

"There's security, but they've passed the explosion off as a gas leak."

"What?" I could hear incredulity in Ranma's voice.

"I saw it on the little TV backstage at the Plaza hotel." I didn't think the hotel would be able to keep it under wraps for much longer, but as long as an investigation went on, the guests would not be encouraged to leave.

Ranma was silent. "You're right. It's just stupid that we're responsible for making it so hard to get in." he said. "Well, if you're really determined, let's do this."

We sprinted for the cover of the garden hedges and plastered ourselves against the side of the building, counting on the hedges to hide us from view. The security guard at the hotel entrance looked around, raising his gun momentarily, but we did our best to melt into the shadows, becoming invisible. My heart thudded with excitement and I breathed out shallowly.

The security guard moved off around the corner of the building, and Ranma hissed, "Now!"

I hopped into his arms and he bent his knees and leapt. I felt the air rushing past my cheeks, fluttering the ends of my scarf, and clutched Ranma. He landed on the balcony of a third floor room and leapt up again, coming to rest on the sixth floor. Soon, we had landed on the balcony to a tenth floor room. Now to figure out where 1006 was.

Hopping down from the balcony railing, I walked forward softly. The room was dark. Ranma had picked it on purpose. I tugged at the French style windows but they were locked shut. I snapped open a compartment of my belt and pulled out two lock picks.

Ranma watched silently as I got to work. Soon, I was able to slide the doors open, push the long white curtains aside and step into the room.

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A/N: ^_^ Guys, just remember, I AM a R/A fan. Now that the semester's over, methinks I should be able to make more updates.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed ch 11- That's all I could cram into one chapter.

Me- Thanks a lot! It really helps to know which bits of the fic you like.

ikillyoupig - If you're still reading, don't worry, I don't think any more Nerima people will appear though I was surprised when Shampoo showed up, too. At the moment, I'm more surprised by Mousse.

Reader- thanks a lot!

Shadow Knight- I really doubt Ryouga will show up. I had him in my other fic, Tokens, but he got LOST.

Rei2- Thanks loads. Nice to know I'm not the only fan on this site who is waiting for stories to be updated.

Leigh- What a suggestion! ^_^ I honestly hadn't thought about continuing the adventures, though now it's teasing my mind. But gotta get this one done first!! Sterling-Ag- Glad it was a fun read. Really, I'm happy you are enjoying it.

misao-heaven- Sorry it took so long to updat, but exams got in the way!

pajaro95- Sorry, no ukyou and ryouga in this one I think. If you want ukyou, try Tokens.

may- what's up? You are such a faithful reader and one of the most encouraging! I never feel like a chapter's been reviewed enough until you review it!!! ^_^

Nimbus Rey- Me too. I wish everyone would update sooner. Lol.

Jane- Actually, there was no silk in ch 11. i did a word check. I think you were thinking of an earlier chapter. Still, I shall tone it down! :D Thanks for the constructive crit.

stargirl2004- Thank you!!!!!!!!