Emiya Clan - Nerima 12

Several of the Emiya manor's many rooms were furnished as 'den' areas. They had plenty of comfortable chairs, long couches, and several broad, low tables. Some had bookshelves lining the walls and broad windows, and others had extensive AV systems. This one had bookshelves filled not with novels and magazines, but with reference books, and had a drafting table at one end. The younger Emiya children had been taught to use theirs as the study room. The older kids... hadn't, much to Shirou's regret.

Karin had long since converted one of these rooms to her own little command and control center. With a bit of creative rewiring, she now had a tap on eighty-percent of the security cameras under Matsu's control, supplementing the few dozen she had scattered around the house herself. She made no secret of the time she spent here; though the bedroom she shared with her sister was just down the hall, it had been seeing fewer and fewer use from her lately. If she wasn't at school or the occasional trip outside, chances were fairly high she could be found holed up in here. Naturally, this was the first place Koyuki went after she had been released from Chiho's care.

"Hey 'Yuki." The junior hacker greeted her without turning around, choosing instead to continue staring at the bank of monitors in front of her. The screens shifted periodically, the largest one in the center showing progressive camera views as Haru raced around the house after a small animal.

Koyuki silently closed the door – not that it mattered to the redhead – and turned towards the other two occupants in the room. Keiko and Sakuya, at least, still used the room for its intended purpose. Keiko appeared focused on the paperwork in front of her; Sakuya was smiling as she looked up from her own classwork.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"A bit," replied the snow girl. "Chiho-kaasan warned me to not take part in any further 'strenuous' activities."

"I should hope so," Sakuya said. "I don't like having to watch you getting beat up like that, much less carry your unconscious self around."

"Ah," Koyuki lowered her eyes. "sorry..." She looked back towards Karin, still busy manually shifting her cameras around to different viewpoints. "What is Karin watching today?"

"Oh," Keiko finally paused and looked up. "Just after you got taken inside, some guy busted through the walls in the backyard. I think it's one of Ranma's friends. Haru seemed to recognize him."

"Ranma-sama's friend? Bursting through the wall?" Koyuki searched her memories, trying to recall what she had learned of her Ashikabi's acquaintances. She lifted her head and faced the monitors. "Ryouga-san?"

"Yeah, that was him. Anyhow, Karin's been keeping an eye on him." Keiko's eyes narrowed and she raised her voice slightly. "And she needs to remember I'm not in her class so she can't copy homework off of me!"

"That's what 'Yuki-chan's here for," came the light reply from the hacker.

"..." Koyuki sighed and headed for the table, where she found Sakuya had helpfully pulled out her schoolbag and set it in her spot. "So how is Ryouga-san, sister?" she asked as she sat down and rummaged through her bag one-handed.

"He sparred with Haru, whooped his ass, then did something which caused Haru to actually pull Altrouge-chan out of her room." Karin answered. "Keiko, you'll be interested to know he can make the ground explode."

"Ooh..."

"Anyhow, Altrouge-chan did something to him – cameras couldn't quite make it out what – and suddenly Haru's playing hide-and-seek with a black ball of... something." Karin stabbed at her keyboard in annoyance and spun around in her chair. "He's got a Jusenkyo curse, but he's too fast. I lost him during a camera switch."

"You don't know what he turns into?" Sakuya blinked. "That's rare, didn't you get a full dossier from Matsu-kaasan's research?"

There was the sound of someone knocking at the door and Karin got up to answer it. "Oh, I know. I was just hoping to see it in person. He turns into this really cute– oh, hey Eiko."

The unofficial eldest Emiya was smiling as she entered the room. "Hello, Karin-chan. Oh good, Koyuki-chan's here as well."

"Eiko-nee," Koyuki greeted. "How can I help you?"

"Nothing really," Eiko replied. "I just wanted you to meet your new teacher."

"Eh?"

"Bukii?"

Heads turned at the sudden squeal, all four teens suddenly noticing the very wide eyes staring at them from chest-height. Karin leaned in to take a closer look.

"Eiko-chan, is that... a pig you're carrying?" The black coloring was almost identical to the woman's dress, which gave it almost perfect camouflage.

The time-traveler smiled and picked him up by a bandanna which they hadn't noticed before. The tiny piglet flailed helplessly as she held him in front of Koyuki for a few moments, then dropped him as the other girl obligingly held out her good hand.

Koyuki stared for a few moments at Eiko, then looked down at the animal in her palm. "Ryouga-san?" she asked softly.

"Bwee."

A soft blush grew on the snow girl's face. "How cute..."

"...bweh."

"I think I liked you better as a pig," Karin sighed.

Back in his human form, Ryouga – wrapped in a spare blanket they had pulled out from one of the side rooms – glared daggers at her.

"What? You were much cuter that way"

Eiko returned to the room, carrying Ryouga's travel bag over her shoulder. She placed it on the floor, where it was quickly snatched up by the blushing boy and dragged over to the other end of the room. He quickly pulled out a spare set of clothes, then looked up at the five girls staring at him.

"Is something missing?" Eiko asked him innocently.

"Could you um, give me some privacy?" he asked.

Sakuya pouted, "You're no fun at all..." She simply turned her back on him, the other four eventually following suit.

"Um... I was thinking more along the lines of you... maybe leaving the room?"

"Dress faster or we're turning around!" Karin shouted. Her head was down and she suddenly leaned into Keiko heavily, a clear sign for the others that she had 'dived' into a nearby digital network.

Keiko sighed. "You didn't tell him about the cameras..." she whispered.

"No~ope" The hacker chuckled. "Nfufufufu~"

There was a few moments before Ryouga gave them the all-clear, still blushing as he rejoined them. "Now then," he said, turning towards Eiko. "What were you saying about me being a teacher?"

"Exactly what I meant," the elder replied. She pointed at the Lost Boy. "You," she swung her hand towards Koyuki, "... are going to train her how to fight."

"What?" he and Koyuki asked in stereo.

"But what about Arika-nee?" Koyuki continued.

"He's better than Arika," Eiko replied with certainty.

"Then, Haru-nii?"

"Hm... it depends if he's holding back or not. Skill-wise, I think Ryouga-chan's still better."

"Why not somebody else in the family?"

"Most of us are weapon users. We wouldn't be able to teach you anything except our own specialties." Eiko looked at the snow girl in the eye. "Musubi-kaasan might work, but honestly I think she'd drive you nuts trying to learn from her."

Koyuki looked at her arm. "I would not be able to fight in this condition. Chiho-kaasan was quite insistent."

"Well, to be honest we don't really need you to learn how to fight per se. Arika did have one thing right, we need you to learn to defend yourself better." Eiko raised her hand to forestall any further arguments. "It's not a bad idea to get Haru and Arika, or even Kumako to help out once in a while. But ultimately, if you want to beat that Shampoo girl, this guy's your best bet for figuring out where you stand."

Ryouga frowned. "You're challenging Shampoo?" He shook his head, "She's way out of your league."
Koyuki looked down, "I know."

Keiko growled, "This is stupid. We can't just leave this to Koyuki. If she's gonna train, then so am I. She's not the only long-ranged fighter who needs to learn how to dodge."

"I want in too," Sakuya said.

All of them looked at Karin, who was just now straightening out with a goofy grin on her face.

"What?" She looked around nervously. "I'm not a fighter, I stay in the back."

Keiko hummed thoughtfully. "You know Karin, if I get through this training and you go without it, I don't think you'll ever be able to catch me again for your Happy-Fun-Time..."

Karin slapped her hand on the table. "When do we start?"

Ryouga's eyes were wide. "Uh...?"

"You don't want to know," Eiko assured him.

Ryouga paced in front of the children gathered in the backyard. "I guess I should first ask how you've all been training until now?"

Arika and Haru looked at each other "At the beginning, Musubi-kaasan would show us various hand-to-hand styles until we found one we liked..." Arika said.

"...and then she'd beat the crap out of us with it," Haru continued.

Ryouga stared at the two of them, then looked towards the others.

"Mother mostly trained me how to not let my powers go out of control," Sakuya said plainly. I'm in the track and field club at my school so I get enough exercise, but my sparring is mostly against Keiko."

"Shooting range," Keiko said. "And running away from her," she pointed at Karin.

"I like chasing her," the other redhead said with a grin.

"You three don't have any formal combat training?" Ryouga asked in disbelief. "And you beat Ranma?"

"Well, it was sort of a tie," Keiko grumbled. "We were mostly playing tag. He beat the crap out of us, then Koyuki 'tagged' him when he thought we were down."

Ryouga looked at the girl in question, who was visibly blushing from her seated position behind the others. Eiko and Reiko sat beside her, both nodding sagely.

"Well, how good is your mother?"

"Musubi-kaasan?" Haru cocked his head to the side. "Mm, you should be finding out in a few moments."

"What?" Ryouga suddenly became aware of a whistling sound that was gradually growing in volume. He looked around frantically, then up towards the sky.

"...fffiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!"

*WHAM*

Musubi fell from the sky, apparently having leapt from one of the upper floors of the building. Ryouga had not managed to get out of her path in time and she landed on top of him, dropping to her knees in a position very familiar to her family.

Shinta and Kumako landed behind the group and – still having leftover momentum – bounced over the assembled group before they came to a stop beside their mother and the boy now knocked prone beneath her. Shinta was shaking his head, "I swear, you do that on purpose Kaa-san."

Musubi tapped a fist against her head, "Eheh~" then looked down at the very red face between her legs. "So you're the new guy? I want to fight you!"

Ryouga passed out. Again.

BOOM.

"Come back!"

CRASH.

"Get away from me!"

All but forgotten on the sidelines, the children had joined Koyuki sitting down on the grass as they watched the two blurring combatants. Musubi was chasing the Lost Boy back and forth across the field, the latter finding she was able to ignore his blows just as well as he was able to ignore hers. That is, whenever she was able to land a hit on him. Mostly she simply missed and hit the ground, leaving craters of sizes that rivaled his Breaking Point's.

"Mommy's having fun!" Kumako chirped.

RIP

"Where did he get that boulder from?" Arika blinked. "He just... pulled it out of the ground. Did we have a boulder there?"

"I have no idea..." Haru said.

CRUNCH.

Sakuya winced. "That looked like it could have hurt..."

"It's Kaa-chan," Shinta said confidently. "She wont have noticed."

"OOH, NEW GAME?"

RIP

Arika blinked again. "Where did she get that boulder from?"

WHAM.

Ryouga – bruised, battered, but not quite beaten – paced in front of the children again. "So, tell me why this crazy lady can't train you?"

Said crazy lady was currently being held down by shadow binds, clumps of snow against her legs, and Kumako sitting in her lap. She had a very put-out expression on her face, but otherwise looked none the worse for wear.

"Because she goes almost full-out every time she does so. It's completely overwhelming for most of us," Haru said.

"We're assuming that you, at least, can hold yourself back just enough to work on their skills," Eiko chimed in.

Ryouga waved his hand to take in the whole group. "I can't possibly train all of you."

"What about..." All eyes turned towards Koyuki who was looking down with a blush on her cheeks. "What if you asked Ranma-sama to help you?"

The Lost Boy looked uncertain. "He is supposed to take over the Tendou Dojo, but if he were the teaching type then Akane-san would be much better than she is right now..."

Eiko shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to ask. Besides, whether you get him to help out or not, you will be training us." Her eyes took on a distant, mystical air. "I have foreseen it."

Keiko threw an annoyed glare at the time-traveler. "How long have you been waiting to use that line?"

"About half a century."