I don't own these characters. I also don't own the original premise that this saga is based on. I do own: Isabel, Todd, Mayah, Jayden, Raziya, Aztek, Romah, Chyna, Bokuden, Nobunaga and Shi.
A/N: italic words in quote marks means the person is speaking another language.
Reason Thirty-eight: When in Rome
Everything should be fine. After all, how much trouble could they possibly get into?
Isabel was keeping an eye on all the munchkins in her care while trying to have a business conversation over the phone. It was working out fairly well since the kids were busy snapping pictures of everything as they were standing on the streets of Rome. They were in awe, as they typically were when they went somewhere with Isabel. Todd had wandered away from the group a few yards and, for a while, no one noticed, but that did not last too long.
Mayah saw that Todd was gone because she turned around to take a picture of him only to find that he was not where she last saw him. She scanned the square for him and found the redhead speaking with some girl that looked around Todd's age. Mayah frowned, upset for a reason that was beyond her at the moment. All she knew was that she wanted to get her Todd away from that little milkmaid.
"Jade," Mayah said, tapping her cohort on the shoulder to ensure that she got the younger girl's attention.
"Hmm?" Jayden asked, turning her attention away from what she knew was going to be an entertaining scene soon if only she watched long enough. Raziya was standing by a fountain and Aztek was teasing her by pretending that he was going to lick her with his unusually long tongue. There was a bloody lip in that boy's future, Jayden was sure of that, and she wanted to see that.
"Look at that," Mayah replied while pointing toward Todd.
Jayden followed her friend's arm to spy what her brother was doing. She also frowned when she saw that Todd was talking to some girl. Jayden disliked when Todd spoke to girls because it meant that she might have to share him. She hated on the few occasions when Todd had girlfriends and she wanted to do something with him, but he had other engagements. As her big brother, she believed that she should be first on his list to do stuff with, not some girl that was probably going to label him "weird" in a few days and decide that she disliked "weird" people.
"Who the fuck is that?" Jayden inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Hell if I know," Mayah answered, her own scowl in place.
"Well, I'm gonna go find out and get her the hell away from my brother," the raven-haired girl declared.
"And how you gonna do that?" the elder girl asked curiously.
"I'm gonna go over there and punch Smiles in the stomach," Jayden answered as if that was the most logical thing to her. She did not blame the girls for talking to Todd. He was pleasant to speak with being highly intelligent and all. He was also polite and listened fairly well. She blamed him because he should know better than to put other people before her.
Mayah sighed and rolled her eyes. She should have known that was Jayden's plan. She did not want Todd to get hurt. She just wanted that girl away from "her Smiley," especially since he was making that girl laugh and she was touching Todd's bare arm. The sight was enough to make her want to ground her teeth together in anger before making that girl suffer, but first, she needed to get Jayden away from the idea of punching Todd.
"That's not a good plan," the older girl told her friend.
"What's wrong with it? You think I should hit him in the chest, right?" Jayden asked with a nod because she thought that was an even better idea. If she hit him right in the solar plexus, he might actually learn his lesson. Yeah, so maybe her friend had a point and her original plan was not good. She needed to aim higher.
"No, you shouldn't hit him at all. We just need a way to get that girl away from him. I'm going to need a distraction," Mayah said.
"Like what?" Jayden inquired curiously.
Mayah shrugged because she did not know at the moment. She was not usually the one that thought of plans; that was more Jayden's department. She looked over at Todd and then glanced at Jayden. She suddenly got an idea thanks to Jayden's violent schemes. She knew just what kind of distraction she could use.
"I got it," the older girl proclaimed with a sinister smile.
"What?" Jayden asked in a very interested tone.
Mayah wasted no time in showing the younger girl. She popped Jayden a perfect hit right on the nose with a brilliant right hook. Jayden fell back, holding her face, which had snapped to the side the moment of impact. By the time she recovered, Mayah had run off, appearing to seek protection from Todd.
"Fucking bitch," Jayden muttered, referring to her friend as she took off after the older girl.
Mayah knew that Jayden was coming for her without even turning around. Sucker punches never went unpunished in their little group. Still, Jayden's fury would serve her purpose and really that was all that mattered. She dashed over to Todd, pretending to want his protection, but she really just wanting to draw his attention to the mad-as-hell Jayden.
"Mayah, what are you doing?" Todd asked as the eleven-year-old hid behind him. She just pointed as her answer and he turned to look.
Todd saw a fearsome sight, namely his little sister blazing toward them with murder in her olive eyes. He guessed that the look had something to do with the blood pouring out of her nose, which he bet Mayah had something to do with. Before he could get any definite answers though, he needed to stop Jayden. So, he intercepted her before she got to Mayah.
Todd scooped Jayden up in his arms and held her off the ground. She struggled as he pressed her into his solid chest to restrain her. He was sort of bear-hugging her and she wiggled about, doing her best to escape. Jayden took exception to him holding her back as she was going to kill that sucker-punching bitch she called a friend.
"Lemme go, booger! I'm gonna whip her ass!" Jayden declared with a snarl.
"Calm down, mini-monster," Todd commanded while keeping a good grip on his sister. He thought that she might actually kill Mayah if he let her go because she seemed that angry. Hey, it was not often that someone threw a sucker-punch in their group and it was even rarer for Jayden to be the one caught by such a move, so of course, she took exception to being hit.
While Todd was busy wrangling his sister, Mayah turned her attention to the object of her disdain for the moment. She scowled deeply while taking in the sight of the teenage girl. She was a tall blonde in a short, light blue sundress, very curvy. Mayah did not get the appearance yet, being only eleven after all, but she did know that she hated the girl.
"Hey," Mayah said and the teenage female turned her attention to her. "You see him?" Mayah asked while pointing to Todd. "He's mine, so you stay the fuck away from him," she ordered in a serious, harsh tone.
The teenager was taken aback by Mayah's words and her tone. The child's serious expression helped in shocking the teenager since the little girl looked almost like an adult from the look on her face. Mayah was not done yet, though. She continued on and, eventually, Todd had to turn around because he heard something odd going on behind him; he heard crying. He turned to see the girl that he was talking to utterly surprised, almost as if she was traumatized, and tears were flowing down her face. She ran off while Mayah looked rather satisfied with that, or so the small, evil smirk that she was wearing implied. He sighed; he did not even want to know what just happened.
"Heaven help me," Todd muttered to himself, glancing briefly at the sky.
The redheaded teen was able to put his sister down, as she finally seemed to calm down. He decided to walk back over to the group of youngsters as Romah looked like he was straying too far from Isabel and he was unwisely ignoring her as she beckoned him back with her hand. Jayden and Mayah watched Todd walk off.
"Good distraction," Mayah congratulated her friend. She even had the nerve to smile at the younger girl.
"Distraction?" Jayden echoed while wiping blood away from nose. She was the fucking distraction? Oh, hell no.
"Yeah, way to go. Good work," Mayah said, still beaming, even though she had a good feeling that her companion was not in an appreciative mood.
Jayden's expression did not change as she nodded, seemingly agreeing with her friend's words. Mayah never saw the hit coming, even though she somewhat expected it. Jayden cracked her friend in the same spot that Mayah had hit her. The mismatched-eyed girl let out a yelp as her head snapped to the side from the force of the blow.
"Fucking bitch," Mayah muttered into her hand as she brought it up to cover her ailing nose.
"I'm not your fucking distraction," Jayden informed her friend in a heated tone.
"Too late, you already were," the older girl pointed out rather smugly.
Jayden just snorted in anger since it was hard to argue with the truth. She had already been the distraction, which was not a role that she liked. None of the girls liked being used by one of the others. It was something that the girls were more likely to do than the guys in the crew. They preferred it when things were planned out and agreed that one of them would be a distraction. None of them, girls and guys alike, enjoyed being tricked, but then again, most people did not like being tricked.
The two pals then walked off to return to the group as Isabel was disconnecting her call. She looked down at the kids and was not surprised to see three bloody faces. Mayah and Jayden the first two and then there was Aztek. His lip was busted, split right down the middle. Raziya socked him after he had come too close to her face with his disgustingly long tongue; he prided himself on being able to touch his nose with his tongue.
"Okay, the first thing we're going to do is get you guys faces cleaned up and then we're going to go shoot a movie scene for a few days," Isabel announced.
"You mean we get to stay in Rome for days?" Jayden asked in awe. She and her friends loved the city already, especially Raziya because of all of the ancient statues and things. The artist in Raziya was being overloaded and she was enjoying it so much that she had already begged her parents over the phone to take her there again one day. Her parents had already figured out that she was overseas, so it was not like she had squealed on Isabel. Of course, Isabel would not have cared if she did.
"Yes, we'll be in Rome for about a week. Try to hold off the physical abuse while we're here," Isabel replied.
"Ah, this is nothing," Jayden said about her bloody nose, waving it off.
"Really," Mayah concurred, referring to her bloody nose. She scoffed to show that she was not bothered by her injury.
"Chyna hits harder," Aztek scoffed, which just earned another punch from Raziya. That one was landed on his shoulder. "Ow!" he complained and rubbed the abused area.
"Jerk," Raziya said.
Aztek, never one to learn his lesson, made a mocking face at her, which earned him another punch. He cut Raziya a rather sharp glare for the pain, but that was it. It was not that he would never hit a girl, as he hit them often, but he just was not in the mood for a fight at the moment. He was done with bothering her now and wondered what new thing would keep his attention.
"Let's go see the Coliseum," Aztek suggested, speaking to Isabel since she was in charge.
"Hmm, that's a good idea. We'll do that, but then I have to go to the set for this scene," Isabel informed the group. No one argued and they were off to the famous Coliseum after making sure those noses were not broken.
It did not take them too long to get kicked out of the Coliseum either. They probably would have been all right if there were not so many people around. The children were acting as hyperactive as always, which Isabel did not mind. The other people around the place did, though, especially when Romah decided to use a few people as stepping-stones to get to a higher deck. The kids' behavior was not really what got them kicked out, even though it was a leading factor.
The main reason the group was dismissed from the historical landmark was because of Isabel and Todd. When the people started getting frustrated with the kids climbing over them or nearly knocking them over, they started grabbing the children to get them to stop scurrying about the place. It was always a bad idea to touch one of the children when a caretaker of theirs was around.
Isabel handled one person, Todd another, and two fights actually started because of that. Isabel had started her own fight by belittling the man that had snatched up Aztek while Todd had been "forced" into fighting because a man that grabbed Mayah pushed him after he confronted the man about touching her. Todd might not start fights, but he did not back down from them when he was slightly pressed.
None of them really minded getting thrown out. Actually, the kids thought it was hilarious. Isabel did not mind because she had to get to work anyway. She and Todd took a head count to make sure that they had everyone and then they had to hurry to the other end of the city. It was a shock to those on the movie set that Isabel had shown up with a bunch of kids, even though that they had heard rumors about her traveling with a pack over the summers. It was hard to believe, but it seemed to be true.
"All right, my little, energetic imps, Grandma has to work now, so everyone behave," Isabel ordered while giving all of the children in her care a stern look.
The kids knew that they were expected to be quiet and out of the way. They were not sure what would happen if they were not that, but they had no intention of finding out the punishment if they did not listen. Isabel walked off while Todd was left to make sure that the kids did not act out.
Todd ignored the odd looks that he was getting from people that walked by him. He had long ago learned that he was a curious sight when he was babysitting. A teenage boy that was well over six feet and weighed nearly two hundred pounds was watching half-a-dozen rugrats had to be an odd scene. He did not mind, but it certainly did earn him some giggles and craned eyebrows.
"All right, guys, I've learned that this might take a while," Isabel informed them as she returned to the group. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out a credit card and handed it to Todd. "Fire warrior, go let them run wild somewhere."
Todd nodded and obeyed. The kids actually just wanted to run wild on the real life movie set, which Todd allowed since his grandmother did not say anything. Isabel was actually happy that they stuck around, even though they were getting on a lot of people's nerves. As long as they were not getting on her nerves or breaking things, she was fine with them and she could use Todd.
"Fire warrior, come here for a second," Isabel beckoned her grandson.
"Yes, ma'am?" Todd replied as he stepped over.
"I'm using you as a showcase to get my point across, so you can help them see how I want this to go," Isabel explained.
"Happy to be of service," Todd stated sincerely with a grin.
The two stars of the movie, fellows that were quite older than Todd, wondered if Isabel was serious. Sure, Todd looked like a tough guy, but his voice did not suggest such. Besides, they doubted such a big young man could do the graceful moves that Isabel tended to map out.
Todd surprised them, of course. But, he was not one to enjoy being a partner with his grandmother when she was showing moves. Isabel did not go easy on her family when they were martial artists too, which was something that Shego could attest to. Todd ended up getting slammed into a mat, coughing on impact from the force that his grandmother had flipped him with. By the time she was done, Todd was more than happy to be getting away. He was going to need a rubdown later on and he knew it.
While Isabel continued going through the motions with the actors, Raziya and Jayden wandered over. They started mimicking what they saw, going at each other like the actors were supposed to. Isabel smiled when she saw the girls.
"You guys take a hint from them and do it just like that," Isabel instructed the actors while pointing to Jayden and Raziya. The actors balked at the idea that the girls were actually better than they were.
By the time Isabel's work was done, the movie staff were not sure if they were happy or sad to see her and her group go. The kids were like endearing demons. They were cute, but evil, or dirty in Aztek's case. It was adorable when they watched the kids mirror the fight scene, but it was annoying when they got in the way of a shot or took a camera apart in Raziya and Jayden's case. But, even then, when they saw what Raziya and Jayden did with the camera once they disassembled the device was amazing and the crew had a hard time being mad at them.
With work out of the way, Isabel informed her wild bunch that it was time to play. They packed their bags and boarded a plane for the unknown. Isabel wanted the next stop to be a surprise and she was willing to bet that they would all love the next stop.
-*-(New day)-*-
"Land of the Rising Sun!" Aztek howled as the group exited the airport, piling into two taxicabs.
"Shut up," Mayah scolded her brother for being so loud, for him anyway, and acting like an insane tourist. She slapped him in the back of the head.
Aztek did not respond verbally, but he did clip his big sister with his elbow. She pushed him in the back for the move. He fell forward into the cab, landing on the backseat. She kept pushing him until he was fully in the cab. She climbed in, followed by Chyna, who was followed by Romah. Isabel rode with them because Todd had already hopped in a cab with his sister and Raziya. He was trying to avoid being in a small space with Mayah.
Todd's cab followed behind Isabel's and they were off. The cabs were instructed to go to a seldom used mountain road and they were also told to drop their passengers off in the middle of nowhere. Both drivers thought it was odd.
"You sure this is where you want to go?" the driver asked, speaking English to Isabel.
"Positive," she answered with a sickeningly sweet smile.
He did not argue. Todd's driver was not as polite, so it was a good thing that he was not the one driving Isabel and her group. As soon as the driver got rude with her brother, Jayden jumped in. She barked at him in perfect Japanese to "mind your own damn business." The driver was very stunned by her outburst while Todd sighed and shook his head. I can't take Jade anywhere, he thought.
"Where are we?" Raziya asked staring around the mountains while everyone packed up their gear, strapping things to their backs and all.
"Some place you guys will love. We just have to do a lot of walking to get there," Isabel replied.
"Walking bites!" Aztek complained while hooking his backpack around his shoulders.
"We did nothing but walking in Rome," Raziya pointed out in a know-it-all tone that she tended to take when dealing with the dirty boy.
"Did I ask for Razi's smartass answer?" Aztek countered, which earned him a clean smack with Raziya's suitcase. He coughed and hit the pavement.
"This might be a longer walk than I first assumed," Isabel muttered to herself. She had failed to take into account how the kids were going to interact on the way there when she was considering her little surprise.
Still, the group secured all of their things and started their hike up the mountain that they had been dropped off at. Through the walk, Isabel had to pick up Chyna, which was expected because she was the youngest of the crew. Romah also had to be picked up; Todd carried him on his shoulders. Romah liked the view from up there. Everyone else was on their own, which they liked because it was sort of a competition that way and none of them wanted to be the first to fall down. It also prompted a grown-up feeling between the little ones that were walking because they were doing just what Isabel and Todd were doing.
When they got to the top of the mountain, the kids were all surprised. There was a gateway and through there was what appeared to be a town because it was an area with several buildings. Isabel informed them that they were at a school. A school called Yamanouchi.
"Bo," the girls realized. That was where Bokuden went to school to learn to be a ninja.
"Bokuden!" Jayden called as loud as she possibly could, which was better than a bullhorn, as she, Raziya, Mayah, and Aztek all charged into the school.
"Is this all right, Grandma?" Todd asked as he put Romah down for the boy to run off with the others.
"Of course it is," Isabel answered as she put Chyna down.
Todd was skeptical because he knew that the Yamanouchi School was supposed to be well-guarded secret and they were not keen on letting outsiders just wander into the place. Still, they were there already, so there was nothing for him to do, but wait and see. Isabel walked off to go handle things about their arrival.
-8-8-8-8-
Todd could not believe how accepting the ninja were that they were there, but it would seem that Isabel was a celebrity there. And when he thought celebrity, he meant it like the president of a country was a celebrity. People wanted her autograph, to shake her hand, and everything. The headmaster, Master Sensei, quickly invited them to watch some matches that were going on.
Jayden and the crew were already in the building where the fighting was going on. They had also found Bokuden and Nobunaga. It was like they all had radar for each other, or it could have been because the brothers heard Jayden's loud mouth from clear across campus. The kids all looked very pleased to be together again.
Todd stood off to the side as matches went on. Apparently, the matches were based on the loser would get off the mat while the winner kept fighting. There were a couple of people that won a few times in a row, but eventually a girl stepped up that stood out even among them.
"Watch her," Yori said to Isabel.
"She something special?" the emerald-eyed fighter inquired.
"Very special," Yori stated with pride.
"You trained her?" Isabel asked curiously because Yori's tone.
"When she was younger," the ebony-haired ninja answered.
Isabel nodded and she watched the girl, who looked to be around Todd's age, maybe older. She was dressed similar to the other students, but she had the sleeves torn off to her top, showing off some rather cut biceps. Her hazel-colored eyes stood out sharply, mostly because she had her head shaven cleanly bald. She was a little tall and looked almost like she believed bullets would bounce off her skin. She had a powerful presence to her. She walked calmly into the designated area for fighting when it was her turn and the winner of the previous match looked ready to flee the scene.
The match was over before it began as far as the opponents were concerned, but for the audience it was over almost as quickly. It only took one blow from the bald girl for her to be declared the winner and her opponent to be unconscious. The hit had been so quick that if a person blinked, they would have missed it.
"Whoa," Isabel muttered, sounding almost impressed. The kids were of like mind on that one.
"I bet Smiley could do that," Mayah stated after she and her friends got over their awe of the ninja's skills.
"Yeah, probably," Jayden concurred with proud smile.
"Yeah," the other friends agreed.
Todd glanced down at them, but he did not say anything. He wondered why they thought so highly of him. He knew that he was older than they were and everything, but why did they think that he could do everything? He never considered that it might have had something to do with the fact that they knew he succeeded in everything that he tried. It was sort of the same reason that he looked up to his Kimmie and She-she.
The kids turned their attention back to the bald girl as a new match began. She wiped the floor with that opponent, too. There was a noticeable pattern by the time the fifth opponent was knocked clear across the room. The kids were getting a kick out of watching her work, although they did make it a point to state that Todd definitely could beat her in a fight if necessary. Eventually, the words seemed to get to the girl.
The bald female ninja marched over to the kids in a fury if her stomping was any indication of her emotional state. They all looked up at her, none of them showing any fear, even though they had just watched her wipe the floor with a dozen well-trained ninjas. She did not appear too happy either, but they were still grinning up a storm and looking like they always did.
"Who's this person you insist can beat me?" she demanded, speaking Japanese to them.
"Him," they all answered and pointed up at Todd, who grinned nervously as hazel brown eyes shot up at him.
The girl eyed Todd with disdain in her gaze, a scowl tugging at her full lips. It would seem that she did not like that kids thought anyone could beat her. Todd rubbed the top of his messy hair, hoping that she would just walk away.
"You beat me, gaijin (foreigner)?" she demanded in forced English.
"I never said that," Todd answered, also speaking English.
"Smiley, run while you got the chance," Ron suggested in a whisper, as he was standing near the redheaded teenager. He was totally serious in that suggestion, too.
"Beat her ass, bro!" Jayden cheered, pumping her fist in the air.
"You beat me?" the bald female demanded again, still speaking to the redheaded boy.
"I never said that," Todd repeated.
"Show me," she ordered him.
Todd was going to protest, but she grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt and flung him into the center of the room, which was where the fighting was going on. He coughed as he landed on his back on the thin "ring" mat and she stomped over to him.
"He's in trouble," Ron commented. Rufus, who was standing on the blond's shoulder, nodded and squeaked out an "uh-huh."
"Oh, yeah," Yori concurred and Isabel just nodded.
"On your feet," the bald female commanded Todd.
"My life is just full of forceful women I guess," Todd muttered to himself as he flipped up to his feet. The girl got into her fight stance while he did not. "I don't suppose there's a way to talk you out of fighting, huh?" he inquired, smiling as he spoke despite the fact that he was kind of nervous.
She looked at him curiously, not understanding him totally. But, she could tell that he was not looking to fight her, which annoyed her. "Hands," she ordered as her eyes flashed with anger. She was telling him to put his hands up.
"Let's talk about this," Todd suggested in a calm tone. He was rather uninterested in fighting with her for no reason other than the fact that she disliked that he traveled with his own fan club.
"Hands," she growled.
"Okay, okay, okay. I'll put up my hands, but first tell me your name at least," Todd requested. He thought that he might be able to treat it as a friendly match if he at least had her name.
"She doesn't speak English all that well, Smiley," Yori informed him since he seemed to be trying to get through to the bald teen.
"Oh. Okay," Todd replied, nodding to show he understood. He turned his attention back to the girl that seemed to want to kill him. "Name?" he requested in Japanese.
"Shi," she told him.
"I hope you mean 'four'," he replied in a bit of a nervous tone while holding up four fingers.
The girl looked at his fingers and then she shook her head. "No, the other shi."
Todd gulped. "I thought as much." Shi was Japanese for death.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: Todd's fate and the kids' reaction to it.