"How're you feeling, Ranko?"

"Ugh. . . like my stomach shriveled up and died,"
Ranma-chan replied, hands automatically going down to cover
her stomach.

"Maybe you shouldn't go to school today," Sasami
said, her hand on Ranma-chan's forehead once again.

"We already went to school today." Ranma-chan
blinked, looking confused and blushing slightly from Sasami's
hand resting on her forehead.

"Wrong, Sakada, you were out all night," Nabiki
responded from where she stood beside Ranma-chan's futon.
She crossed her arms over her chest, looking thoughtful.

"Ugh!" Ranma-chan's head slumped down onto her
pillow. "You mean I missed dinner?" she asked, sounding
distraught.

"Figures that's what you'd be upset about," Nabiki
mumbled and grinned.

"A guys gotta eat," Ranma-chan said with a shrug.

Sasami gave Ranma-chan a confused look.

Nabiki moved behind Sasami and started waving her
hands around in warning. Receiving a blank look in return,
Nabiki cupped and squeezed her breasts, mouthing, 'YOU!
ARE! A! GIRL!'

Comprehension dawned on Ranma-chan's face. "Aha!
Did I say 'guy'? I meant 'girl'. It's the fact my dad raised me
as a boy, ya know, like I said before, yeah, it comes out like
that sometimes," she rambled in one long, fast sentence.
Taking a deep breath, Ranma-chan looked at Sasami and
smiled weakly.

"Um. . . alright. . ."

"Cause I'm a girl. A growing girl. I mean, what guy
would have these?" she asked, and cupped her breasts, pushing
them up at Sasami. "No guy, that's who! Not real ones like
these that is! Cause I mean, I guess some guys can have fake
ones, but-"

Nabiki smacked Ranma-chan on the back of the head,
effectively shutting the redhead up.

Sasami frowned. "You sound sick too. I really think
you should stay home today."

Ranma-chan slumped deeper in her pillow. "Yeah. . . I
guess so."

--

Disclaimer: I own neither Ranma ½ or Tenchi Muyo, their
respective owners, Rumiko Takahashi and Masaki Kajishima
do. If I owned either of them, I wouldn't be writing this fic,
that's for sure!

"A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds
green, which otherwise would heal and do well."
Bacon, Essays: Of Revenge.

Juraian Knight
A Ranma ½/ Tenchi Muyo Crossover
By Hawk

--

Chapter 6 - Sick Day

"Katsuhito-san will be here all day to look after you."

"Jeez, Sakada, getting out of school on the second day.
You sure you aren't faking it?" Nabiki asked, smiling teasingly
at the redhead.

Ranma-chan glared up at Nabiki. "You wanna trade
places? I'd rather go to school than suffer through this."

"Whoa, you are sick!" Nabiki exclaimed, looking
shocked.

"Urgh. . ." Ranma-chan's stomach growled and she
covered it with her hands.

Sasami smiled. "Don't worry, I'm going to bring you
your breakfast before Nabiki and I leave."

"Thanks, Sasami, you're the best," Ranma-chan said,
smiling. "Unlike someone I know."

"Hey! I made you a snack last night!" Nabiki replied
indignantly.

"Which you gave to Sasami," Ranma-chan pointed out.

"Yeah, well." Nabiki stuck her tongue out at Ranma-
chan and left the room.

"I'll be back with your break fast," Sasami said and
followed Nabiki.

Ranma-chan let out a long breath. She didn't actually
feel that bad, but any day free of school she could get she
wasn't about to give up. At the same time though, school at
least kept her mind occupied and free of her recent problems.

She had another dream while she had been asleep,
much like the rest. This time no Tsunami came to pull her from
the darkness, and she was left, lost, floating for what seemed
like forever. The voices called to her again, and she started to
see faces, only instead of alive, their faces rapidly decayed.
And then their hands started reaching for her, pulling her
farther from into the black.

She had finally fought against them, kicking and
screaming, and clawing at the void around her. Breaking free
from their grabbing hands, she pushed and pulled herself
upward, left and right, anyway she could to get away. And
then she awoke, once again finding Sasami hovering over her
protectively.

She let out a shuddering breath, feeling her chest rattle.
And then the guilt weighed down on her again, like forceful
hands pushing on her shoulders. Depression rolled through her
body, making her feel utterly weak and defenseless. She turned
over onto her side, facing away from the door, and curled into
a tight ball.

Sasami entered the room, carrying a tray of breakfast
foods. She shuddered and blinked in surprise as she suddenly
saw her breath in front of her face. The temperature of the
room had dropped to near freezing, it seemed, her lips already
feeling blue. Hurriedly placing the tray beside Ranma-chan's
futon, she covered the smaller girl with her blanket. She moved
to the window, find it completely closed and locked. The
morning dew on the outside of the glass was slowly freezing
before her eyes.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Sasami cupped her hands
over her mouth and breathed hotly, attempting to warm them
and her lips. A moment later they were cold again. She quickly
left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Come on, Sasami! We're gonna miss the bus!" Nabiki
called from downstairs.

"Oh, uh, coming!" Sasami yelled back. As she hurried
downstairs, she glanced at the upstairs thermostat, noticing it
was set at 75 degrees. "Weird," she muttered as she grabbed
her backpack.

Stepping outside, she braced herself for the cold air,
but found that it was warmer outside than it had been in
Ranma-chan's room. She walked around the side of the house
and looked up at Ranma-chan's bedroom window. It was pitch
black inside even though the morning sun was shining right
into it.

"What is going on. . ." Sasami wondered aloud.

She glanced at her window, which was the one to the
right of Ranma-chan's, noticing the she could see right inside.
There was no frozen dew on her window either.

"Sasami!" Nabiki shouted from the front of the other
side of the house.

"Sorry!" Sasami shouted, hopping once and sprinting
to the front yard.

--

Ranma-chan's eyes snapped open. 'What time is it?'
she thought, raising her head from her pillow.

She blinked, her eyelids feeling heavy, eyes stinging
painfully. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned, and then looked
down at her pillow, noting the wet marks all over it. She
sniffled, her left nostril being stuffed.

"Ugh, I hate crying. . ." she muttered to herself, hitting
her pillow. She sniffled again, and glanced over at hers and
Nabiki's alarm clock. "10:37."

She looked around the empty room, the emptiness of it
echoing in her chest. She stood up, dressed in a t-shirt and
boxers.

"I gotta get outta here," she said to herself, and quickly
started to get dressed.

--

There was a soft knock on the door. A moment of
silence then another soft knock. "Ranko-chan?" Katsuhito
asked from the other side. "I've got lunch."

The door slid open and Katsuhito entered, balancing a
tray of food on one hand. "Ranko-chan? It's 12:30, you should
be awake by now."

A cold breeze rushed by, drawing his attention to the
open window. His eyes moved to the futon, finding it empty
and the tray of breakfast food left untouched. Yosho sighed
and left the room, lunch tray still in hand.

He walked downstairs and knocked on Washu's closet
door. It opened a moment later, Washu, in child form, stood
looking up at him. She glanced at the tray in his hands.

"Oh, lunch for me? You're too kind, Yosho-san!" She
smiled cutely.

"I hope that you know where Ranko is because you
addressed me as Yosho, instead of Katsuhito," Yosho replied,
his eyes twinkling with mirth.

Washu grinned. "Gimme the food and I'll show you."

"This is Ranko's lunch."

"She won't be needing it," Washu replied, reentering
her lab, Yosho following behind.

The diminutive scientist hopped onto a floating pillow,
a screen and keyboard appearing in front of her. The tray was
placed on the floor. "Bring up security images from today on
the Eastern side of the Masaki home around 10:40."

Another screen popped up in front of them, displaying
the Eastern side of the house, a small clock in the top right
corner of the screen read 10:41. Ranma-chan's bedroom
window opened, and in a moment she was falling to the
ground. The redhead landed lightly and took off in a sprint.

"This doesn't tell me where she is though," Yosho
pointed out.

A new screen opened, this one showing a flat layout of
the Okayama city streets. A red dot blinked on the map, not
moving. "Tracking device," Washu said proudly.

"Where is that?"

"Yoshiokadora Street. She's been there for over 30
minutes now," Washu explained.

Yosho sighed. "I better go get her."

--

Ranma sat, staring over at Okayama Cleaning, his right
leg bouncing anxiously. He was sitting at the same restaurant
that he and Nabiki had sat at before. Originally he had left the
Masaki house to just take a walk through the city and think.
He had changed back into a guy, even though he knew it
wasn't smart, no one had recognized him so far, or paid much
attention to him. There weren't many articles in the paper
about him anymore. Ranma Saotome had disappeared off the
face of the Earth for over a week.

He ended up walking straight to Okayama Cleaning.
He couldn't help it; he had been drawn there as if he had no
other place in Okayama to be. And it was almost true, that this
was where he was really supposed to be.

And now he was waiting. For a man in a suit, or
someone that looked like a thug.

Ranma's food arrived in abundance. Two different
types of soup with six different plates of food. Grinning ear to
ear, Ranma called out his battle cry. "Food!" And started
eating at a dizzying pace. Though stuffing food into his mouth,
his eyes never left Okayama Cleaning.

--

"Is she still on Yoshiokadora Street?" Yosho asked as
he walked down one of the many busy roads in Okayama.

"Yup, still hasn't moved," the microphone in his ear
replied.

Yosho sighed. "How do we know the tracking device
hasn't fallen off?"

"We don't. That's why you're checking personally."

--

The food was all gone, no one suspicious looking had
entered or exited Okayama Cleaning and the bill for his lunch
was resting in front of him. All in all, it seemed like things
weren't going to pan out.

He sighed as he looked over the bill. This would not be
the first time he ran out on paying one. As he started to grab
his jacket, he looked up. Straight ahead of him, was an
incoming Katsuhito.

"What the hell is he doing here!" Ranma exclaimed to
himself. He quickly looked around for a place to hide.

"I don't see her," Ranma heard Katsuhito say to
himself.

"Crazy old man," Ranma muttered, still not moving
from his seat, afraid to draw the old mans attention.

Katsuhito stopped and titled his head as if listening to
someone. The old shrine caretaker's eyes locked onto Ranma's
and they stared at each other for a brief moment, Katsuhito
confused, Ranma nervous.

The beefy owner of the restaurant stepped inbetween
them, arms wide. "Katsuhito-san!" the man exclaimed.

Katsuhito sweatdropped. "Ah. . ."

"It's me! Takashi Himiro!" the large man announced,
hugging Katsuhito.

Taking this opportunity, Yosho looked over the man's
shoulder and found the boy gone.

"It's been so long, Katsuhito-san! You haven't changed
a bit! How come you never visit any more?"

"Ah. . ."

--

"That was a close one."

Ranma sighed deeply as he looked down at Katsuhito
and the other man. He had jumped up to the roof of the
restaurant to get away and thanked his lucky stars that he had
not been spotted doing so.

"Why'd the old man come here of all places and why
the heck did he look at me," Ranma wondered aloud. "God,
it's been so hard keeping my curse a secret for the past week,
and now the old man spots me as a guy. . . It was as if he knew
I was gonna be here. . ."

He looked across the street and noticed for the first
time a man in a clean suit and dark sunglasses exiting Okayama
Cleaning. Having not seen him enter, Ranma assumed the man
must have done so when he had been distracted by Katsuhito.

"Almost missed you," Ranma muttered, leaping from
the roof of the restaurant to the roof of Okayama Cleaning
without a running start. He glanced down at his legs, marveling
at his strength before jumping down into the alley between
Okayama Cleaning and the next building over.

As the man walked past the alley, Ranma's hand
flashed out and grabbed his collar. The man was pulled off his
feet and into the alley so fast that no one noticed his sudden
disappearance.

Ranma slugged the man across his face, shattering the
sunglasses and knocking him into a pile of garbage bags.

"Alright, pal, who the hell do you work for?" Ranma
asked, grabbing the man by his shirt and lifting him off the
ground.

The mans face, already starting to bruise, filled with
surprise. "Wh-what?"

"You heard what I said!" Ranma snarled, throwing the
man into the garbage bags again. "The Demon Claws or the
Tigers of Kai?"

The man attempted to stand, but Ranma placed his foot
on his chest, forcing the man back down. "Talk before I break
your breast plate into your chest and crush your lungs."

The man gasped, grabbing Ranma's ankle, trying to pry
it from his chest. He grunted and wheezed as Ranma started to
press down.

"Tell me who you work for. . ." Ranma growled
dangerously.

"Claws!" the man gasped out. "Demon Claws!"

Removing his foot, Ranma reached down and picked
the man up again, holding him in the air. "Where's the proof!
How do I know you're telling me the truth?" He slammed the
man back against the building wall, causing it to crack slightly.

The man moved slowly, nervously, reaching over with
his right hand and rolled up the sleeve of his suit on his left
arm. There a tattoo lay, imprinted on his forearm: A red
reptilian hand with sharp nails clutching the world in its palm.
The man looked at Ranma, eyes wide.

"Thanks for your help," Ranma said as he slammed the
man against the wall again. "You're lucking I'm in a hurry."

The man fell back into the pile of garbage as Ranma
disappeared into thin air. The Demon Claw members head
slumped as he lost consciousness.

A moment later, Yosho ran into the alley. His eyes
narrowed. "What the hell is going on here, Washu-chan?"

"I don't know, but Ranko's on the movie again. She's
heading back here it appears, really fast too! I've never seen
anyone move so fast!"

Yosho sighed, glacing at the unconscious man. His
eyes took in the tattoo on the mans forearm before he turned
and started for the shrine as fast as he could. His eyes
narrowed. 'Why would Ranko attack a member of the Demon
Claws?' he wondered.

--

Ranma muttered to himself as he leapt from roof to
roof. His strides were long, only needing two steps on the roof
to launch himself to the next. "How did Katsuhito-san find me
like that! He even looked right at me as if expecting me to be
Ranko. . ."

The next roof he took four steps before leaping over a
crowded business street. A few people pointed and honked at
his passing. 'That was close, but now I know who's behind
Okayama Cleaning!' Ranma thought as he leapt to the next
building. He landed lightly, walked to the edge of the roof, and
looked down at the busy street below. His fists clenched at his
sides.

'I'm gonna tear the Demon Claws apart if that's what it
takes to find you, Musou.'

--

Yosho huffed as he approached the Masaki house, a
thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. He had run back to the
house as fast as he could, but every stride he took, Washu
would inform him that Ranko was at least two times ahead.

From what Washu had told him, Ranko had arrived 15
minutes before he had and was toiling around in the carrot
fields. Puffing out some air, he marched toward the fields,
finding Ranma-chan down on her knees, pulling out carrots, a
large basket strapped to her back. It was filled to the brim.

His eyes narrowed. 'How'd she pull so many carrots in
just 15 minutes?' he thought to himself.

Yosho stepped up beside Ranma-chan. "Where've you
been, young lady?" he asked seriously.

Ranma-chan grit her teeth at the 'young lady' comment
but turned to look at Katushito with a sweet smile. "I've been
out here all day, picking carrots, old man."

"I brought your lunch to your room and you weren't
there."

"I just said, 'I've been out here,'" Ranma-chan lied
again, starting to get annoyed at being confronted.

"Washu-chan saw you leave the property. Where did
you go?"

Ranma-chan snapped. "Look, old man, what I do, and
where I go during the day is my business and mine alone and I
don't need you snooping around and following me everywhere
I decide to go!"

Katsuhito's face turned grim. "That's where you're
wrong, young lady. The moment we accepted you into our
house, what you do became my business. I won't have you
gallivanting around, getting into trouble and bringing it back to
my home," he explained coldly.

"Listen here, old man, I have things I need to do, that
need to be done and if you don't like the fact that I have other
places to be, then that's your problem, not mine, because I'm
going to keep doing what I need to do!" Ranma-chan retorted
fiercely.

"If you do continue these things, and continue to try
and lie to me, or my family, I will have you kicked out of my
house, do you understand?" Yosho asked quietly.

Ranma-chan stood up, slapping the dust off her pants.
She gave Katsuhito a look of death. "Alright, old man, you
better listen, and listen REAL good. All my life I've had people
telling me what to do, how to live, where to be, or where to
go, and I'm sick of it. This is MY life and for once I'm going
to do what I want to do an' what I need to do an' there's
nothing you can say or do to me that'll stop me. Do YOU
understand?"

Yosho's hand lashed out, hitting Ranma-chan in the
stomach. He watched as the short teen dropped to her knees,
covered her stomach and gasped pitifully for air.

"As I am the caretaker of the shrine, and my son-in-law
owns the house, you will follow the rules that we put forth or
else you will find yourself living on the streets. You will go to
school and no get into trouble. You will do your chores when
told, and you will not 'ditch' school nor will you ever leave
this property without telling anyone where you're going, and I
will know when you're lying to me if you leave and go
somewhere other than you said you were going." Yosho
turned and started back toward the house.

"Hurry up and finish this, Sasami and Asuka will be
home shortly," he added, sounding as if nothing had just
occurred between them.

Ranma-chan stood and kicked over the basket of
carrots, snarling.

"And pick up those carrots."

The redhead stood fuming, watching Katsuhito until
the old man entered the Masaki home. She reached down,
picked up a carrot, and screaming angrily, hurling said
vegetable over a hundred yards away.

--

Washu exited her lab as Yosho entered the house.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she waited for Yosho to
approached before speaking, "Went a little hard on her, don't
you think?"

"She attacked a Demon Claw member, you know this.
Whatever business she has with them I DON'T want brought
back here where it could endanger any of us. I won't have my
family put in harms way again because of something she
'wants' or 'needs' to do."

"What if she really needs to do this? To save her life or
someone else's?"

"If she really needs to she can leave and find someplace
else to live, but while she lives under this roof, I will have none
of it, or her attitude, even if she is Tsunami's chosen
guardian."

"I really doubt a few gang members could get past the
security system I've installed around the property," Washu
countered.

"You don't understand, Washu-chan. The head of the
Demon Claws, Nobunaga Oda, would not take any attack on
his organization sitting down. The Demon Claws are very
resourceful, powerful, and have a seemingly never ending
supply of cash. Not only that, but almost half of the Okayama
Police Department is in their pocket.

"If the Demon Claws wanted to destroy this house and
its inhabitants, they would find a way, and they would not stop
until they did," Yosho explained, eyes narrowed.

The back door slid open and slammed shut. Ranma-
chan stomped past them without a word, heading upstairs.

"I don't think she's going to give up on this," Washu
mumbled.

"Unfortunately, neither do I," Yosho replied after a
moment.

--

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sakada?"

"The old man is what the hell is wrong with me!"

"What did he do to piss you-"

"He told me I can't do what I want! I can't leave here
without telling him, or Washu or Nobuyuki where I'm going!
That if I don't go to school or if I ditch, he'll kick me out of
the house!" Ranma-chan raged. "He's going to get in the way
of finding Musou and Takenda!"

"What brought this about?" Nabiki asked cooly.

"I don't know!" Ranma-chan exclaimed, throwing her
hands up in exasperation. "I need to go out there! I need to
find out more about the Demon Claws!"

"Why the Demon Claws?" Nabiki asked quietly. "What
about the Tigers of Kai?"

"I found out that the Demon Claws are the ones who
are running Okayama Cleaning. I went there while you were at
school," Ranma-chan explained glumly, still upset.

Nabiki was quite happy though, and smiled almost
gleefully. "That's great! Now I can focus on finding out as
much as I can about the Demon Claws and forget about the
Tigers of Kai."

"Good, the sooner we get through them, the sooner we
can get Musou."

"It may take awhile for me to dig something
constructive up on them. Find out who their head boss is,
where they work."

"Just get it done," Ranma-chan muttered rudely. "The
sooner we get Musou, the sooner things will be cleared up."

"There've hardly been any articles about us lately,
Ranma," Nabiki whispered.

"I know, I'm just sick of hiding as a girl, is all."

"So how'd you find out that the Demon Claws are the
place?" Nabiki asked after a couple seconds of awkward
silence.

"I confronted one of the guys that left the place,"
Ranma-chan replied and cracked her knuckles. "Forced him to
tell me."

Nabiki gave Ranma-chan an annoyed look. "Why
didn't you find out more?"

Frowning, Ranma-chan glanced at the bedroom door.
"The old man showed up. Somehow he followed me there,
even though I was a guy," she whispered.

"How do you know he was following you?"

"Because I just know!" Ranma-chan exclaimed. "He
and I made eye contact at one point and when we did, he
looked confused, like he wasn't expecting me to be me."

"That's not good, 'Ranko'."

"You think, Asuka?" Ranma-chan ground out. "But he
said earlier that he'll know when I leave and go some place,
and after today I can't help but believe it. I snuck out of here
as fast as I could without being seen. I KNOW I wasn't seen!
But no less than forty minutes after I arrived at Okayama
Cleaning did Katsuhito-san too! I don't know how he followed
me, especially if he was forty minutes behind me! It doesn't
make sense!"

"It doesn't make sense unless he was watching you for
forty minutes before he decided to show up. Where'd you turn
into a guy? Maybe he saw you do it," Nabiki suggested, trying
to make sense of the whole situation.

"No. No one saw me. I went into a one person
bathroom to change," Ranma-chan replied, shaking her head.
"I just don't get it."

"Neither do I, Ranko. . . there's something definitely
weird about this place."

Ranma-chan gave Nabiki a questioning look.

In a hushed voice, Nabiki explained, "A healing tree,
Sasami being a Jurai even though she lives with the Masaki's.
Same with Washu; her last name is Habiki. Where are their
parents? Why are Katsuhito-san and Nobuyuki-san taking
random girls into their home? And what about Washu's closet?
I've been trying to get into that thing ever since we first got
here, but it's always locked and everyone just shrugs it off
when I asked about it. This place is strange. . ."

"Well, Sasami said that Nobuyuki was her uncle. . . but
I don't know about Washu or her closet," Ranma-chan said.
"A healing tree though? You've seen weirder things in
Nerima."

"Exactly my point thought! It's still weird! I don't
know what, but I'm going to find out. Something is going on
around here," Nabiki muttered.

"We don't have time for you to snoop around here for
something that doesn't exist! There's nothing weirder here
than what happened in Nerima!" Ranma-chan angrily replied.
"Why can't you accept the fact that we may actually be
somewhere normal?"

"Because this isn't normal, Ranma! What we're doing
here isn't normal! Normal people don't get healed by tree
Goddesses, or hunt down the Yakuza on a daily basis! Shrines
don't have Kendo masters in charge of them, and I've never
heard of anyone having natural blue hair and pink eyes. You
know that's why the kids at school pick on Sasami? Just
because she looks so different." Nabiki looked read to throw
something at the wall in her disgust. "Yet they seemed to love
your redhead look the other day."

Ranma-chan sighed. "Just get off it, Nabiki. Just leave
it alone, don't go sneaking around trying to find out stuff
about the Masaki's, and Sasami and Washu," she said and
stood up, moving to leave. Opening the door, she turned and
looked at the last Tendo. "You might not like what you find,"
she added and left.

She walked down the hallway, stopping in front of the
bathroom door. Knocking lightly, the redhead waiting quietly.

"I'm in here!" Sasami called from the other side.

"Oh, er, I'll come back later then," Ranma-chan
croaked, embarrassed.

"It's ok, Ranko-chan, I'm only taking a soak in the
furo! You can join me," Sasami replied.

"Urk! Ah, ah, uh, no, no, I'll just wait! Take your
time!" Ranma-chan stuttered and hurried downstairs, blushing
heavily.

"Oi, Ranko," Washu bid as Ranma-chan reached the
bottom step. The diminutive redheaded scientist stood in front
of her closet door, holding an apple as red as her hair. She
took a bite of it and smiled as her fellow redhead approached.

"What's up, Washu," Ranma-chan asked, then added
after a look, "chan?"

Washu smiled. "I just wanted to tell you," bite of the
apple, "that you need to understand where Katsuhito-san is
coming from." She swallowed the piece she was chewing.

"I know where he's coming from," Ranma-chan
glowered. "He just wants to show me who the boss is."

Washu sighed. "Not even close, Ranko. Katsuhito-san
isn't trying to show you who's boss, he's trying to protect his
family and loved ones. Do you understand that? The desire to
protect the ones you love?"

"Yes. . ." Ranma-chan muttered quietly, "but would
never do anything to ever endanger anyone here!"

"Katsuhito-san doesn't seem to believe that, and I'm
sure he's got his reasons. He's a very loving man, and though
you may not believe it, I know he worries about you too. If he
didn't care about you, he would've have yelled at you like he
did," Washu explained.

"That's an odd way to show you care," Ranma-chan
mumbled.

"If he didn't care, he wouldn't have taken you and
Asuka in so willingly? He wants to make sure you and Asuka
are safe, Ranko, and that's why he doesn't want you running
off on your own, doing God knows what. You could get
yourself hurt or bring trouble back here which might hurt one
of us, the people he loves."

Ranma-chan looked at Washu as if she were a
completely different person. "How old did you say you were?"
she asked jokingly.

"Aha! Ah. . . hehe," Washu stuttered, rubbing the back
of her head with her free hand. She dropped the half eaten
apple, and quickly pulled out a lollipop, sticking it in her
mouth. She smiled giddily up at Ranma-chan.

Ranma-chan grinned back. "Thanks, Washu-chan."

"You know what this means, right?" Washu asked
innocently, yet strangely serious at the same time.

"What. . ?"

"You have to be a guinea pig for one of my
experiments!"

"No."

"Then how about a piggy-back ride!" The genius
jumped suddenly, latching onto Ranma-chan's back, almost
knocking her over. "Lets go!" she cried.

--

Yosho smiled to himself as he watch Ranko run around
the house with Washu on her shoulders. The two redheads
bounded across the backyard, Washu laughing throughout the
ride. Yosho could rarely recall a time when he had seen the
scientist act so young.

Yosho sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "I hope
you know what you're doing, Tsunami-sama."

"What about Tsunami?"

Yosho jumped and turned, noticing Sasami standing
behind him. "Ack! Nothing!" he squeaked, and then cleared his
throat forcibly. He straightened up and in a much deeper voice
than his regular, said, "Nothing! Nothing at all! Yes, yes, I
think I'll go sweep! Yes, I haven't swept in awhile, I think I'll
go do that!"

Sasami blinked, confused. Had she missed something?
Her eyes narrowed on Yosho's retreating figure. Was he
keeping something from her? She blew a strand of her blue hair
out of her face.

She smiled though, when she noticed Ranko and
Washu stumble past, the smaller redhead covering the taller
ones eyes.

"Which way, Washu-chan!" Ranko yelled, hands
outstretched.

"Go left! No, left! YOUR OTHER LEFT!" Washu
screamed before Ranko ran straight into the lake, the two fall
face first into the water.

Sasami laughed out loud and went to retrieve some
towels.

Next Time: Chapter 7 - The Sleep Over
Ranma and Sasami are invited over to Nariko's for a sleep
over. Will they accept? Yes. What does this have to do with
this story? You'll find out.

A/N: I have the next chapter pretty much all written up... I just
need to find the first half of it. It's somewhere apart from the
second half... not good...