"Your sister, Kurumi?" the fox girl asked, pausing in the trip to the "kitchen."
"Not by blood," she said. "Someone pretending to be her father claimed to be mine."
"We saved the Mistress's sister," the cheetah girl said.
"Cool," was her partner's add on.
"She's got my dagger!" the wolf-girl shouted.
"It's too late to do anything about it," Kurumi said.
"But I bet I can get it back!" she insisted.
"Leave it," Kurumi instructed.
"I made that dagger," she insisted. "It's..."
"Shampoo!" Kurumi interrupted. "It's an item, it's not important."
"She'll never know I was there," Shampoo insisted.
"Most likely not," Kurumi agreed. Trying to ignore it as the cheetahs quietly started a tickle duel. "But it isn't worth the risk for just a replaceable tool. I can understand how you feel about being stuck down here. I spent most of my childhood wandering Japan with just my sister. But we need to be cautious when..." She picked up a glass of water and tossed it at the increasingly louder cheetahs. "Ranko, Ranma. There is a time and place for games, but its not while I'm lecturing."
"Sorry, Mistress," they said in one embarrassed voice.
"Cats," the wolves muttered. Kurumi just rolled her eyes and turned to the fox-girl.
"Ukyou, what's for dinner?" Kurumi asked.
"Yuck!" the fox-girl closed the fridge door, gagging. "Food's all spoiled."
"I think I may have spoiled you all," Kurumi said. "There's no such thing as food that can't be eaten."
"The milk is purple," Ukyou said. The other fox walked over to look over the fridge.
"On second thought," Kurumi said.
"No milk?" Ranko whined. Ukyou glanced up from the fridge and traded a look with the other fox.
"What do you think, Mousse?" she asked. He stood up and shook his head.
"Busted," he said. "Freon's all leaked out. And it short circuited to set the thaw function on overdrive. That's why it all spoiled so fast." All eyes turned to the dark skinned, human-looking girl. She sighed resignedly.
"I'll order the pizzas," she said.
"Good, now that that's settled," Kurumi said, the thought of coming food easing her mind somewhat. "While we wait for the food, I think that we should meditate on the events of the..." Kurumi was interrupted by the sound of music, and leaned her head on her hand and arched an eyebrow at her students.
"It's sorta the same," Ukyou said.
"Uh huh," Kurumi said, doubtfully tapping her fingers against her temple. Not that there was much she could say about it, remember Natsume's own efforts to get her to sit still long enough to meditate.
"I'm going for a walk," Shampoo declared, snatching a heavy, hooded coat and walking out of the sewer-apartment. Kurumi shook her head as she watched the girl leave. The wolf-boy glanced at Kurumi for a moment and then after Shampoo.
"Don't worry about her, Ryouga. She needs some time alone," she told him.
"I think I'll just follow her to be sure," he said anyway, and got up to follow Shampoo.
Kurumi shrugged and said, under her breath, "Kids."
"What are you doing out here, Mousse?" the dark skinned girl asked. "If someone sees you there'll be trouble."
"What's it like, Kodachi?" he asked quietly. "You know, walking around with the humans? Even Mistress Kurumi can't do that and she is human."
"What do you think it's like?" Kodachi asked. "I'm always afraid I'll be caught in a lie and someone will want to do a blood test or something."
"You don't feel like you fit in?" Mousse asked.
"Of coure not," Kodachi huffed. "They're human, I only appear to be."
"One other question," Mousse said.
"What is it?" Kodachi asked, tapping her fingers irritably.
"Why do you always have the pizza delivered to this place?" Mousse asked, gesturing around at the abandoned storefront. "Its not like you can't go down to that convenience store and wait there."
"Because there has yet to be a pizza delivery person who can find it in less than thirty minutes," Kodachi answered honestly.
"Oh," Mousse said.
"Mommy! Look at the werewolves!" a boy said, shouting excitedly. After hours of actors speaking in Shakespearian dialect he had finally found something that interested him.
"Those are just some statues, Eric," his mother said. "You'd think they'd put them somewhere easier to see, you could walk into them before you saw them." In fact she would have walked about three feet to left of them if her son hadn't pointed them out.
"They look so real!" he said.
"Don't be silly," the mother said. "There's no such thing as werewolves." She looked over the two "statues" that were placed just out of the light beyond the park theater. "Besides, real werewolves would be bigger, and wouldn't be dressed in those cute matching outfits." She looked over Shampoo's cheongsam, noting the definite humanoid figure from the neck down. "Must have been a post-adolescent sculptor." She muttered before herding her son away from the suggestive "sculpture."
"Why do the kids always find us?" Shampoo asked.
"I don't know whether to feel insulted or what," Ryouga said as the two humans moved off.
"Is there a reason that Kurumi gave us matching outfits?" Shampoo asked.
"Well you know how she gets," Ryouga muttered. "At least the cheetahs enjoy them."
"Somebody might think we're a couple," Shampoo agreed. They looked at each other.
"Ewwww," they said unison.
"I just had a disturbing thought," Ryouga said.
"Do I want to know?" Shampoo asked.
"What if Ranko and Ranma DID get together?" Ryouga asked.
"Lots of cats," Shampoo said.
"All saying parts of one sentence," Ryouga added.
"Bouncing all over the place," Shampoo said
"Cats," they said in unison with a touch of frustration.
Ranko and Ranma sneezed.
"Some one..."
"...must be..."
"...talking..."
"...about us."
"Just for one moment," Ukyou said irritably. "Can you two talk as if you're two different people."
"Of course we can," Ranko said.
"It's just that that's more fun!" Ranma added. Both smiled.
"So that would be twenty-five pizzas," the delivery man said to a surprised Kodachi. He was a college-aged boy with dark brown hair, and nearly black eyes that glittered in the dark.
"Just how did you find me so quickly?" Kodachi asked.
"I almost didn't," the man said. "And that's impressive. So anyway, you owe me about two hundred sixty dollars." Kodachi looked mournfully at her wallet, she was expected free pizza. "But, I'll pay for it if you promise to tell me how you learned to hide your mind like that."
"I do not know what you're talking about," she said, eyes narrowed.
"Fine," he said, smiling. "I'll do it anyway, don't worry, I can afford it. I just do this job for the chance to meet interesting people."
"I see. Thank you," Kodachi said. "Mister..."
"Lamont Cranston," he said. "I was named after my grandfather."
"Fine," she said. "I'll see about repaying you."
"I'm in the phone book," he said. "I'll look forward to hearing from you, Foxy." He walked off.
"Good guess," Kodachi muttered as soon as he was gone. "Mousse are you still out there?"
"He was coming on to you," Mousse said.
"Really?" Kodachi asked dryly. "Can we concentrate on getting the pizzas home?"
"Ready?" Ukyou whispered to Mousse and Kodachi. Both nodded and tensed, staring ahead. She glanced at Ranko and Ranma, who also nodded and indicated their readiness. All eyes turned to Kurumi and waited for the signal to do battle.
"Itekadimas," Kurumi said cheerfully. And the battle over the food began.
All of them blurred into motion. When it was over a happily sated Kurumi sighed pleasantly and looked to her suddenly haggard looking students.
"You know, one of these days, you'll be able to keep up with me one on one." She stood up stiffly and stretched out as much as she could, leaning heavily on her cane. She then walked to the big recliner they had recovered for her and sat down with a sigh of relief.
"Just how fast is she?" Ukyou asked, catching her breath.
"Too..." Ranma started.
"...fast." Ranko finished.
A woman screamed as the man stepped out of the shadows and produced a switchblade. He waved at her with his other hand, gesturing for the purse and glancing around. He was moving to open his mouth and say something when something moved out of the corner of his eye.
"What the -- ?" he asked. His prey took the opportunity to run headlong away from him. screaming. "Hey, you come ba -- !" Something brushed past behind him in the darkness. He turned around to see what it was, and as soon as he turned around, something grabbed the back of his shirt and tossed him away.
The thug hit the ground and groaned as he stood stiffly back up, noticing that, somehow, he had been stripped to his boxers
"What the hell was that!" he asked.
"It appeared to me that you were in the process of assaulting that woman," a voice said coolly. A man stepped into the shadows tapping a cane against his shoulder. "It seems that I cannot even attend a viewing of one of The Bard's more triumphant productions without encountering some form of human filth such as yourself."
"Are you the asshole that did this?" the thug demanded. "Because if you are..."
"Do not be foolish," the man said. "I have a much more painful lesson to teach you."
"Just try it pops..." The man rushed forward in a blink and slammed his cane into the thugs get. He then reversed the grip and used the hook to toss the thug across the clearing.
"Stop that!" a girl's voice demanded from the shadows.
"Yeah, it ain't like a he's out to kill people," a boy's voice added.
"Perhaps you would like to voice your concerns in the open," the man asked. "Or do you wish to continue skulking in the shadows."
"You don't give us commands," the girl's voice shouted, from a different space. The thug was looking around, every motion of the leaves seeming to be someone just barely held back in the shadows. "We punished him enough as it is. There is absolutely no reason to beat him to within an inch of his life."
"Such embarrassments are for children," was the answer. "They are not effective for such as him." The criminal took the example of the woman he had tried to mug earlier and turned to run. The man with the cane turned to follow, leading with his cane and found his strike blocked by a thick staff weilded by someone in a heavy coat and a deep hood.
"Enough already," the boy said.
"Good work, Ryouga," another figure said, dropping down out of the trees and weilding a bokken. The man with the cane arched an eyebrow, both at the weapon and the name. A gloved hand extended outward to point at the man. "Now you get out of here, we don't want to hurt you."
"Shampoo," Ryouga said, frustrated. The other wolf had a tendency to give commands to her fellows rather than requesting anything.
"Perhaps something else is in order then," the man said, pulling back and tapping his shoulder with the cane again. "It has been far too long since the Blue Thunder has been tested against a worthy foe."
"The Blue Thunder?" Shampoo repeated.
"Is that like a sad fart?" Ryouga asked.
"Well, this is not a bokken," the Blue Thunder said, glancing at his cane. "But it has some advantages. It'll do to punish your impertinence to Kuno Tatewaki."
He slashed out at the figure with the male voice and the boy predictably blocked him. Kuno reversed his grip and grabbed the boys staff pulling back. He was surprised when the smaller figure didn't even budge. The staff swung down and narrowly missed a side-stepping Kuno. The hook of the cane came free of the staff and Kuno was about to strike again when the legs were swept out from under his feet.
"You shouldn't ignore me," Shampoo said. "I am the chief student of the Shinkiro Style, not some useless female."
Ryouga fought the urge to ask the usual question one of them would ask in response to that: "When did Kurumi name a 'chief student'?" It was well known that Shampoo's bossiness had earned her her name. A fact which made some of them wonder what the original Shampoo was like.
Kuno kippuped to his feet and smiled, dusting himself off.
"Perhaps I should cease playing," he said, stepping back into stance. "Care to test your skill, Miss...?"
"Shampoo," Shampoo said readying her bokken. Kuno laughed and tapped his shoulders.
"Of course," he said. "But are you certain you can take me without help?"
"Easily," Shampoo said. Then the wolf was launching forward in a strike. Kuno's cane flashed out and hooked the bokken out of her hand. And into Kuno's.
"You show promise," Kuno admitted, quirking an eye as the girl produced a Manriki-Gusari she had apparently been wearing as a necklace. That wasn't what surprised him though. Her hood had fallen back, revealing the very canine head. "What manner of demon are you?"
"You don't need to know!" Shampoo shouted.
"Do you need help, Shampoo?" Ryouga asked, hefting his staff.
"Ryouga, stay out of this!" Shampoo ordered. She moved forward swiftly, and kicked out. The cane, now in Kuno's left hand, came down, and Shampoo caught it with the chain. Her kick, unfortunately, moved smoothly past the other fighter though, and the bokken slammed squarely into her back sending her into a tree.
"Shampoo!" Ryouga shouted, moving in and starting a series of attacks with the staff, assisted by occasional unarmed strikes. Kuno's cane and bokken combination seemed to present a formidable defense, however.
"Impressive," Kuno said. He hooked the staff again and saw the wolfish grin under the head.
"That doesn't work, remember?!" Ryouga shouted, ripping back on the cane. And rolling completely out of balance when Kuno merely released the cane. From there it was an easy two-handed strike for Kuno to slam him into another tree.
"Whatever sort of demon or spirit you may be," Kuno said to the dazed wolves. "You are obviously children, and I have no time to waste with such cubs." Saying that he impaled the bokken into the ground and snatched up his cane on his way away from the scene.
"Cubs!?" Shampoo shouted angrily, getting dazedly to her feet. And starting to chase after the man. "Cubs!?
"Shampoo! Stop!" Ryouga shouted, grabbing her. "He's on the street! We can't go out there!"
"Great! Great!" Shampoo snapped angrily, grabbing her bokken. "First I lose the dagger and then we get humiliated by an old man with a cane."
"What is it with the dagger?" Ryouga asked. "You have tons of throwing daggers."
"Well, I made THAT one," Shampoo said.
"So, make another one," Ryouga said. "You act like you marked that thing with the symbols of the foundation schools."
"Uh, heh," Shampoo said, scratching the back of her head. "Well, this was relaxing, better go home before they start getting worried." Ryouga stared at her.
"You didn't," he said.
"There should be a record of the style's history," Shampoo said, embarrassed.
"Yeah, right," Ryouga said. "Except that Kurumi said NEVER mark ANYTHING with those symbols!"
"Don't you shout at me!" Shampoo protested. "I'll get it back!"
"How!?" he asked.
"She's not a martial artist," Shampoo said. "You just can't stand to be optimistic about anything, can you?" Ryouga covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head.
"Don't worry, it'll be easy," Shampoo ended.
Part 3 | Anime@Fan.Fic