Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.
"Learning Curve"
Part V (v1.4)
by: J. Wagner
Ryouga gave a small jump back, and out of their way as they dug into the ground. His hand reached up, and brushed back and forth, procuring a handful of bandannas. He spun them a bit longer, and jumped again, letting them fly in three waves of three. Mousse instantly switched to the defensive. His first attempt, with a wooden spear, was a total failure, as the bandannas cut through it like cardboard, forcing the master of hidden weapons to make a costly dodge attempt that drew first blood. Not missing a beat, the male Amazon switched approaches, and pulled out two steel maces, using both hands independently to intercept and deflect the next two small swarms of bladed bandannas.
He landed, and turned, watching Ryouga do the same.
Without a word, they charged each other. Ukyou forced herself to look away from the fight, and grabbed the hilt of the umbrella lying against a large tree. Lifting with her legs, she was able to get it off the ground, but not without a strong effort. She knew she'd gotten stronger since she saw him last, but the umbrella seemed two or three times heavier than before. It was just like the first time she'd tried picking it up, almost a year ago.
Mousse broke from the fight, hand flipped out, and spun. Ryouga moved in to pursue, but caught the glint of metal hidden behind Mousse's robes. Jumping up, he tricked Mousse into a preemptive lunge, and finally saw the weapons - Mandarin Duck Blades. They were smaller than normal Deerhorn Knives, but still damn deadly in the hands of a master. Mousse moved more quickly and expertly now, using complex movements and attacks with the weapons beyond Ryouga's knowledge of them. It was getting dangerous.
"All right. That's enough!" Ryouga brought his forearm forward, and in-between two blades of the knives. With a quick twist, and a trickle of blood from where the edges caught his skin, Ryouga forced an opening. His hand found Mousse's wrist, twisted, and in the same instant, the other Mandarin Duck Knife was wrenched free. Mousse's eyes widened, as a blazing red and black aura snapped into existence around the lost boy. Before his opponent could recover, Ryouga's right hand drew back, just a few inches, and shot forward, palm open, impacting Mousse's sternum like a pile driver. The Amazon flew back twenty feet, a solid tree finally meeting his back with a loud crack.
Mousse fell to his feet, breathing heavily. Behind him, the tree groaned, and fell. Gently, he reached up, felt the area where Ryouga had hit him, and drew back his hand in a silent grimace of pain. Meters distant, Ryouga lowered his arm slowly, and frowned. Letting out a deep breath, Mousse concentrated, and his own battle aura crackled to life. He jumped again, and arms splayed wide, let fly an arsenal of weapons, chained and otherwise, coupled with a hailstorm of the many varieties of throwing knives he had on his person.
Ryouga moved like lightning among the weapons, dodging every one, and Mousse prepared his most powerful attack. His most powerful, improved, attack. Feeling his hands on the weapon, and seeing Hibiki in position and range, the Chinese Amazon let his Ki flow into his weapon, making it stronger and faster - letting it defy reality itself. With a yell, he moved to strike.
"Painiyao Chuan REVISED!"
"Eh?" Ryouga saw a flash of white, but felt a dozen blows across his body, at near Amaguriken speeds. This was impressive, since whatever had hit him obviously wasn't a fist or foot - a weapon of some kind, used at blinding speed. Impressive indeed.
"Just not enough." Ryouga opened his eyes, and lunged. He found, in front of him, what looked to be a training potty in the shape of a swan. It was already slightly cracked from hitting him so many times, and when Ryouga's fist met it, the weapon shattered like a broken Ming vase. However, instead of stopping, or even slowing down, the meaty fist continued on course, slamming into the side of Mousse's face. The Amazon went limp, reducing damage from the blow, but lost his glasses.
"Remember this, my Myopic Friend," Ryouga said and pulled back his hand. With a single movement, he sent a tiny charge of Ki into his palm as it glanced against Mousse's robes. "Yubisaki Ishimi Miketsukan!"
In midair, Ryouga reached out and caught the glasses.
Next to him, Mousse hit the ground.
"Agh... what?" Mousse struggled weakly, but his clothes were like a vice now. They were as tight and immobile as pure lead, and just as heavy. It was like being wrapped up in a ton of industrial strength chains. As he tried to break free, he was thankful that his robes allowed so much room underneath - if he had been wearing tight clothes, not only would he be immobilized, but also unable to breathe, especially if he had been caught in the instant he exhaled air.
"What happened to him?" Ukyou walked over, carrying a red umbrella, even though it was useless now.
"Just one of my little... tricks." Ryouga reached out, and took the umbrella from her effortlessly. He looked down at Mousse. "He should be fine, however."
"Gah!" Mousse gave one last attempt to escape before silently admitting defeat.
"Now." Ryouga knelt down, and smiled a little. "Why were you following me? I know you attacked me because of Shampoo, and maybe Ranma. But I don't think you would have followed me just because of that."
"That would be because of me." A familiar, female voice answered from in the shadows, behind them. Ryouga and Ukyou pivoted, and saw the source.
"Nabiki." Both gritted their teeth.
"Ooh. Stereo sound." Nabiki walked up, smiling in a most predatory fashion. "I'm afraid I needed to find you, so I put a little bounty on your head among a select few people. Mousse was one of them."
"Typical." Ryouga crossed his arms. "How long were you watching?"
"I saw the whole thing." She chuckled. "Very impressive, from what I could see."
"Which probably wasn't that much," Ukyou added, her voice critical.
"It was enough." The middle Tendo sister reached down, and rapped her knuckles on Mousse's robe. It was like hitting a solid block of metal, and its texture was similar, even though it still looked like normal cloth. "Interesting."
"Alright, Nabiki. Let's strike a little deal." Ryouga sighed. "I need to find my house. My dog..."
"Had puppies. I know." Nabiki also crossed her arms under her breasts. "I'll take you there, if you fill me in on your capabilities, and give me control over when you fight Ranma."
"I fight, when and where I want to fight... but I will tell you what I know, if you can take me home. I need to be there."
"Deal." Nabiki paused a second. "Where is your house, anyway?"
Ryouga scratched his head. "Well... You may not like the answer to that."
***
Mousse was sulking.
Granted, this was not something revolutionary. But it bore mentioning, none-the-less. After his little run in with Hibiki, and soon after the mercenary Tendo had left, he'd been released. Hibiki had simply knelt down, touched the fabric of his prison, and with an almost inaudible murmur, that sounded almost like 'Bakusai Tenketsu,' the fabric, formerly as heavy and hard as a foot of cast iron, just gave way and crumpled into flecks of dust and strips of cord. Luckily, Mousse still had a formidable arsenal of chains and other weapons to ...conceal himself. Hibiki then put some fresh wood on the nearby campfire, and resumed talking to Kuonji Ukyou.
Of course, Mousse always had a spare set of clothes hidden... somewhere.
He wasn't the Master of Hidden Weapons for nothing!
Dressing in his spare, and putting back as many weapons as he could recover, Mousse paused at the broken 'Fist' of the White Swan. The memory of a real fist, smashing through the weapon, and getting inexorably closer, came unbidden. Looking over at the two martial artists, he saw Ryouga lean back a little, and scratch the back of his head while Kuonji laughed softly. Mousse's glasses slipped down his nose a bit, and he reached up, pushing them stubbornly back into position.
When they'd fought, Mousse had barely even come close to touching Hibiki, much less doing any real harm. He'd heard of the resilience and toughness that followed the Bakusai Tenketsu training, and he'd seen the three women of the village who had gone through it fight. Needless to say, Mousse knew even one blow from the Revised Fist should have at least winded them some, maybe even stunned them for a second or two.
How was it possible that Hibiki had simply ...ignored the blows?
What kind of a monster was he?
Mousse cursed silently, and turned to leave. Then, abruptly, he looked over his shoulder at the two. Not just martial artists, but friends. Between chasing Shampoo, and picking up what he could to impress her, martial arts-wise, to convince her he was as strong as any Outsider male, he'd never had time or an opportunity for friends. The life of a male Amazon was nothing particularly interesting, which only served to widen the divide between himself and his Amazon brothers.
They were, as a group, far to demure and skittish to be around for extended periods of time. His year-brothers, he had been ...almost close to, when he was young, and they'd all practiced cooking and cleaning and the male 'Arts.' But as the years went by, he found that he just couldn't stand their incessant chatting, their physical weakness... and worst, their veiled contempt and jealousy. All because Mu Tzu could fight, and wanted to fight, and pursued a woman instead of the other way around. For Mousse, the word 'Tomboy' bit especially deeply.
Maybe... this was a chance.
Walking slowly to the camp, he couldn't help but see Hibiki's eyes follow him, searching for any sign of attack. And yet, as the same time, there wasn't any true hostility or pity in his eyes, only curiosity, and a little sadness. The former, Mousse could understand, but the latter? What did Hibiki, who could fight, who had friends, who was free of obligations, have to be sad about?
"Hey," he said, unsure, and noted that Ukyou still seemed a little tense around him, while Ryouga seemed essentially indifferent. A weak smile from her pushed Mousse forward, the ever-present fear of derision and mocking diminishing. "Good fight."
"It was," Ryouga answered. "You even tagged me a couple times."
"You were holding back."
"I don't fight to hurt people." Ryouga motioned to his side, in between himself and Ukyou, who sat opposite him. "Except Saotome, of course. But the three of us share that one interest in common. You wanna sit?"
"Thanks." He sat. The ground was soft, but not moist, which was good. Moisture still made him uncomfortable, damn Jyusenkyo to hell.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
"Hey," Ukyou finally said something. It had just occurred to her. "Where did you get your clothes? You were in your birthday suit when Ryouga broke you out."
Mouse arched an eyebrow. "Secret of the trade."
"You know, I've seen this guy transform in and out of his curse." Ukyou saw Mousse twitch, and realized she'd made a mistake. "Oh! I'm..."
"No." Mousse shrugged. "It's ok. Really. The curse is as much a part of me as my thrice damned vision."
"And my kami damned sense of direction." Ryouga squeezed his eyes shut.
Depression reigned.
"Anyway." Ukoyu hated to see Ryouga sulk like that. And it didn't make her all to happy to see Mousse like that either, even if she barely knew him. "I saw Shampoo splash him with water, at the Nekohanten, where this poor guy works..."
"Unfortunately I didn't see it coming." Mousse added.
"Of course you didn't see it coming! Anyway, and he transforms, ok?" Ukyou continued, after hitting Mousse on the shoulder and getting him to clam up. "Nothing surprising there. But when he gets turned back, a kettle of hot water later, he's got his clothes on!"
Ryouga perked up at that. "That's like Old Man Saotome! He transforms back fully clothed, too! How?"
"Hmm." Mousse considered that. He'd seen Genma, at the Tendos and at Doctor Tofu's, in both his panda guise and as a human being (such that he was), but he'd never seen him transform. "He must know a great deal about concealment then. It took me a while to figure it out myself... and even now, it's difficult to explain. It does make the curse a little more tolerable, though. The last thing I need is a bunch of women leering at me."
"Leering at you?" Ukyou scoffed. "Awfully full of yourself, aren't ya?"
Mousse paused before answering that. "I'm an Amazon, remember. Women are all hentai perverts, anyway. ...Always trying to cop a feel. Especially Shampoo. Much as I love her, she never passes up the chance to feel up a guy she likes..."
"So... but she..." Ryouga's eyes went wide. "That was no accident, then!"
And promptly passed out.
Ukyou seemed stunned, and then shook Mousse's hand. "Congratulations. You knocked him out, sugar."
***
GLOMP
"Nihao!"
"Uh... hi, Shan. Mind, er, letting go here?"
"Sure!" Shampoo backed off, after giving certain parts of him one last squeeze. Looking him over, again, she smiled - he seemed in good condition. Then again, considering he'd been doing this most of his life, it wasn't really that much of a surprise that nothing major seemed to have happened to him. He was a good friend, like Mousse almost was, and without the obsession... on her, specifically, anyway.
"You look good, Shampoo. Your birthday's... when?"
"The twentieth of April, 6:12 AM." Mousse interrupted, his voice laced with tension. He'd led Ryouga from Ukyou's, where he had stayed for the night after they left the park together. It had been more than enough time for Mousse to be filled in on the Lost Boy's stance with his Shampoo. They were friends, and considering how few friends Shampoo had here in Japan, it was put forward that this was a healthy thing. For both of them, truthfully, because Ryouga didn't really have anyone outside Nerima, and a scant few other haunts. At least Mousse and Shampoo always knew they had a home, though it was far away, for them to visit. Ryouga's house was, supposedly, nearby, but given his direction, it might as well be somewhere in Outer Mongolia.
None of this, however, made seeing Shampoo glomp onto him easier and, in traditional hentai Amazon fashion, give him a few subtle squeezes. Mousse had been in a similar position often enough, at home, though never with Shampoo - and never with anyone he particularly respected or felt even close to liking in that way. It was frustrating; no one understood, and he'd long ceased really trying to explain the nuances of Joketsuzoku behavior and society. Hell, the word 'Amazon' tended to make people here either nervous or dreamy-eyed. Subsequently, Mousse settled for gnashing his teeth in relative silence while Shampoo fussed over Ryouga, looking for physical differences.
As if half a year would have that much effect on a person's body.
"Is granny in?"
"Right here, boy." Cologne came out from behind him, causing Ryouga to almost jump out of his skin. Almost.
"Elder Cologne." He recovered from the surprise smoothly, and nearly without missing a beat. "Could I get a Dim Sum? Ooooh, and some Ramen! With meat - lots of meat!"
"That's the greeting I get?" Cologne smiled. ...Almost.
"You know me. I'm always more forthcoming on a full stomach." He took a seat, and brushed off Shampoo after she undid one of his bandannas. "Hey! I don't have an unlimited supply of those, you know."
"How many you have then?" She twirled it, but it didn't seem to do anything unusual.
"A little over a hundred maybe. I lost count a while ago."
Shampoo blinked. A hundred?
"Here ya go, sonny boy." Cologne presented the ramen with her usual lightning (literally) speed. "Mousse!! Get back to work and sweep the front of the store!"
Mousse snarled like a rabid animal, but went back to his little chores. Ryouga nodded in thanks for the food, and dug in, though at a level just below a typical Ranma-stuff-you-face-like-its-going-out-of-style binge. "So...? How goes the Husband Hunt?"
Cologne seemed about to say something, when Shampoo interrupted. "Going good! Very good!"
Ryouga seemed a little encouraged by such a vigorous response. "Good. As long as you don't kidnap anyone... or use any Jyusenkyou water..."
Mousse flinched, before leaving the restaurant, broom in hand.
"...Then it shouldn't be a problem," Ryouga finished and went back to the food. Truthfully, he did have some doubts as to whether encouraging the Amazons was a good idea. Ranma obviously had some interest in Akane, and that feeling was reciprocal, if repressed and hidden behind harsh words and anger, respectively. Still, Shampoo was a good girl, and a good catch, and she seemed to take the obligation to 'love' Saotome very seriously. He couldn't just tell her that she didn't have a chance, especially when he suspected she did.
In Ryouga's opinion, Ranma never seemed one to rate family honor that high (look at his role model of a father), and though Kodachi was a dead end with a pit of spikes at the end, Shampoo did have a genuine chance to win that rat bastard's heart, if she tried. The question was whether he would drag it out or make a decision. However, at this point in the game, it was a moot point. Ranma would meet his end before he had to make a choice between the two.
And, of course, Ryouga also knew that Ukyou was 'engaged' to Ranma as well. He also knew Saotome was oblivious to this - as well he should be. Ryouga needed Ukyou to keep the heat on Ranma while he was away. Besides, knowing him, Ranma would flatter her and sweet talk until she was convinced not to fight him, and it would only make things worse. Oddly, he found he couldn't even picture Ukyou as trying to be Ranma's fiancée after all she'd said, and said she'd did.
Still, anything was possible, no matter how remote.
Lost in his thoughts, as always, Ryouga realized he'd been operating on automatic. Nodding and make the occasional reply independent of what he was really concentrating on. It was a useful habit to have, sometimes, but it was a lot of trouble in others. Cologne was talking about some business at the village, and wondering if he'd gotten close (like he wouldn't have noticed). Apparently, Shampoo was planning on taking a trip back home for a few weeks, something about that 'Happosai' person that Mr. Tendo had mentioned before. Then, one word caught his immediate attention.
"Jyusenkyou..."
"Soap," Shampoo repeated. "Jyusenkyou soap. Could be cure to cat curse."
"Shampoo, you should know better than to order from them by now." Cologne sighed, and got out Ryouga's Dim Sum. "It's always one thing or another."
"But great grandmother, is waterproof soap! What could be wrong with waterproof soap? So simple!"
"A cure." Ryouga's voice bordered on being a whisper. "A cure.... Shampoo... I must have it."
"Shampoo only order one box of soap. Is too, too expensive." She looked away from the obvious disappointment and crushing depression on his face.
"I see." He cupped his hands, and looked up at the ceiling. "If it works, though... if it works. I'd kill for a cure..."
The calm tone in his voice left little doubt that he hadn't been exaggerating. Or, that if he was, he was close enough to meaning it that the line became blurred. Shampoo became a little nervous, just then - she'd been ready to kill Ranma-chan, back when she thought she was just a food-thieving girl with a nasty sucker-punch/kick, but she's always approached it with a measure of passion. Letting the heat of the moment simply cloud any other inhibitions she had, of which there weren't that many to begin with.
Ryouga, though, said it like he was saying something so obvious that even a child would know it. That, and the simple fact that she'd never really been around a male who could, at any time, physically overwhelm her, as she knew Ryouga could without even trying, unnerved her. For the best warrior of her generation, just being around a male (of all things) powerful enough to smash through her defenses like paper was a humbling and slightly disturbing experience.
"A cure for this... freakish body." He clenched his fist, and screwed his eyes shut. Cologne seemed content to watch, dispassionately, but Shampoo wasn't as cold - could never be as cold as he ancient mentor.
"Shampoo like you the way you are," she whispered, and but if Ryouga heard it, he didn't give any indication.
***
Tendo Dojo.
"How much?"
"Two thousand yen for the first week, one thousand for every three days after that." Nabiki grinned, imperiously. Her posture, and her voice, made her seem the type who didn't suffer fools kindly, but preferred to make fools suffer. She was in obvious control of the situation.
"Damn it... fine. You've got a deal. I just need a few more days, then I'll be ready to take him down." Ranma stopped in his pacing and looked at her closely.
"Of course." She confirmed what he wanted to hear, though the tone irritated him.
"A week, maybe a little more. You give me that week, and I'll guarantee the victory you want."
"Good. Very good." The middle Tendo daughter made as to leave. "Are you sure you don't want...?"
"I'll find out on my own. I think you've ...helped me enough as it is." Ranma's voice was level and calm, practiced and controlled. For once.
"I'm always there in case you change your mind." Nabiki gave him a little salute with two fingers, and left the dojo. As she walked back to her room, she couldn't help but privately laugh a little. Everything was going smoothly. Manipulating Ranma was easy, and keeping tabs on Ryouga, while difficult at times, was well within her means. The stakes in this fight were higher than they'd ever been, for all three of them. She had an opportunity to ...move events back and forth, and maximize profit, if she was careful and shrewd enough.
First and foremost, was finding Ryouga's house, however.
She needed his trust and his ear to make as much from the situation as she could. The problem was several-fold, however. Ryouga had made it abundantly clear that the time of the fight would be dictated by himself alone, and worse, she had no real leverage against him, and very little concrete information on him at all. But, luckily, Ranma didn't know that Nabiki actually had very little say, so far, as to when the challenge would be issued and when the fight would take place. For the crafty, Nabiki knew, the image of control was often enough to accomplish one's goals. And the fun wasn't just in the profit, but in the challenge. And balancing the two fighters to her advantage would indeed be a profitable and entertaining challenge.
She heard Akane 'sneaking' up on her well in advance, however, and set her mind on other things. Turning, she gave a small, innocent smile, and cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Oh!" Akane looked away, embarrassed that her stealth left more than a little to be desired. "Well... I was wondering..."
"Go on."
"I wanted to meet him. I want to talk to him."
"You mean our friendly neighborhood lost boy? About that pet pig thing, I assume?" Nabiki knew she'd ask something similar soon, but not this soon. Last time the thought of facing Akane had reared its head Ryouga had bolted like a rabbit on an airport runway. She couldn't afford a similar occurrence, just yet, given her position.
"Yeah. That. And some other things."
Nabiki quickly decided to deter her. It'd be easier without Akane running around as a random factor. "Isn't he a pervert? If you just want to hit him, you can get in line behind Ranma."
"I don't want to hit him! Geez, what makes you even think that?"
That came as a small surprise. Nabiki, however, recovered instantly. "Didn't he sleep with you? And I've seen you snuggling up to that little black porker."
"He never peeped at me." Akane smirked - it was something Nabiki rarely saw. "He didn't take suggestive pictures of me without asking, either."
"Touché."
"I just feel kind of sorry for him. Last time I saw him... I did hit him. I thought he was a pervert... Look, I just want to talk to him."
Akane's sister sighed. "Akane, do you remember when daddy told you that Ryouga was gone before you woke up because he was looking for the bathroom?"
Akane nodded.
"He lied. Ryouga ran when he heard your footsteps," Nabiki spoke slightly more slowly, to make sure the point was driven home. "He's scared of you. I don't think he wants to talk. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
"Nabiki." Akane reached out, and took her sister by the shoulder. "Please."
Nabiki struggled with her more reasonable side - it was a fight she normally avoided altogether, and simply let the emotions vent elsewhere, but Akane's words - and that one damn word: 'please' cut deeply. Against her better judgment, against her own personal interests, she acquiesced. "...Fine."
"Great." Akane's voice betrayed her. She had known her sister would give in then; it was a weakness both she and Kasumi had known of for some time, and occasionally used to their advantage. Watching her younger sister go, Nabiki cursed her own inability to outright refuse her family when they needed her help. It was always so much easier when their backs were turned... when work could be done without risking confrontation, censure, or observation. Behind the scenes, Nabiki was the master of the house. Face to face, she was the omega - lacking the maternal influence of Kasumi, the youth and passion of Akane, and the traditional authority of her father.
"Feh." She dismissed the thoughts, and closed her room's door behind her. Walking up to the desk, she cleared a few stray papers, schoolwork, from her sight and off to the side, leaving a single piece of paper. It was a map only in the most generously liberal, bordering on socialist, meaning of the word, depicting a mountain labeled as Fuji-san, a mailbox, the vague location of a school, and some water. It was, needless to say, pretty much useless. If Ryouga had demarcated his house with rough degrees of Latitude and Longitude it would've been more descriptive.
Not for the first time, she wondered how one person, beyond being totally brain-dead, could get themselves lost so easily?
"Damn it all. Saotome... I will find you... someday." Those were the words he had snarled loud enough to scare away small animals when she'd first seen him, in the park, back before he'd managed to find Furinkan High. She was alone, as usual, reading a book and enjoying a few moments of peace and quiet between the violent madness that her house had recently become, and the violent madness that her school had been like since Akane showed up and Kuno became obsessed with her.
It had been fun for about a week, but after that the constant fighting between the two fiancées had rapidly grown old, and even annoying, more often than entertaining. At school, watching Kuno get the crap kicked out of him on a tri hourly basis was also grating on her nerves. Kuno, and the Kuno clan, had always been eccentric, but things hadn't been this bad for years.
In Akane's own words, 'it must be Ranma's fault.'
In fact, it was his fault - but it was also hers, and Akane's and a half dozen other people's who simply watched and did nothing, and let the situation deteriorate. Apathetic teachers and a poor school environment that even encouraged violence and erratic behavior, even with the old Principal gone, wasn't conducive to any form of anything approaching normalcy. So, she had been away from Nerima, in a quiet park, when Nerima had found her.
"Saotome?" She didn't even say it that loudly, and more by surprise than by design.
"Huh?" The boy turned around, and noticed her, as if from a daze. His eyes were intense and piercing; his gaze like that of a drowning man only now finding a piece of driftwood to keep himself afloat. He was a total stranger, a ragged looking and desperate total stranger, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. She wasn't nearly as sexually oblivious as her older sister, or as Hominophobically repressed as her younger sister, but to say that a great many boys paid much attention to her would be more than a little generous - she was well aware that Akane was the local heartthrob, while she was the intimidating Ice Queen of Furinkan High. This boy's attention was unsettling.
"Excuse me, Miss, but do you know him? Do you know Saotome Ranma?" He walked up closer, and she made out an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. Was he shy or something?
It was a moment of weakness on his part, and was all the crack in the armor of the situation that Tendo Nabiki needed to gain the advantage. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who wants to know?"
She idly rapped her knuckles on the desk, and stared at the map, dismissing the clear memory of the meeting. Not for the first time, she wondered why she had given him that map and the directions to Furinkan High. There was the money, of course, but that was aside from the actual motivation. For a while, she had simply told herself that he was a useful tool. Ranma was cocky - damn cocky, and full of himself. It had rubbed her the wrong way the day he'd arrived, and continued to do so ever since.
A healthy portion of the reason behind his poor treatment of everyone in the house, herself included, was that selfsame overconfidence. She'd always wanted to shatter it, and had endeavored to do so herself, but Ranma only considered loss in Martial Arts any sort of priority. Outsmarting him, or anything similar, had no effect. Ryouga fitted in nicely in taming the wild horse a little, especially once he had demonstrated his strength by effortlessly demolishing a brick wall. If anyone stood a chance of beating Ranma, and taking him down a few pegs for her, even indirectly, it was him.
And yet...
"Nah." Nabiki folded up the map and pocketed it. She had her associates combing the area and asking for the Hibiki residence - it wasn't listed in the phone book, but clerical records had narrowed down the search area significantly. She'd have him where she wanted him by tomorrow, after school, and after that, she'd have the fight under her thumb. It was as easy at that.
As simple as that.
***
The subtle shift of balance, and inch to the left, was noted. Ryouga's eyes darted to the left, and watched the handling of the weapons, looking for any commitment in direction or focus. They two fighters came in low and fast, but to him, it was like watching a video at half speed. A casual back flip brought him the room he needed before they passed below him, attacks missing by a safe margin. In midair, he watched them recover and followed their eyes and head movements as they looked for him.
Shampoo was the first.
She had always been sharp, that one.
Of the two, Shampoo had both the most training, and the most fighting experience, and a healthy dose of raw power, which made up for her somewhat inferior speed. She'd obviously been practicing, he noted, as she charged his landing spot, forcing him to twist and avoid her blows before his feet even touched the ground. Leaning back, he caught Ukyou moving in from the side, and cranked up his speed a notch when his ears picked up the almost inaudible sound of metal cutting through air. For a second, his arms blurred, appearing almost like swirling storm, as the three attackers moved in, their respective weapons moving to strike any and all opportunities.
He observed them as he moved, bordering on invisibility at the speeds he had to use to keep from being tagged.
Ukyou was controlled rage. A determined glint in her eyes, like chipped flint, caught him as she made a shirt, swift, economical lunge. Her hair was tied up behind her in a ponytail to keep from getting in the way - unlike Shampoo, she was unused to fighting full out with her hair long. Her bladed spatula missed him by millimeters, which was more than enough in his estimation. A miss by a mile was, in the end, the same as a miss by a millimeter. Of the two girls... of the two young women, Ukyou had, perhaps, the most untapped potential. She had trained alone, very much like Ryouga himself had, and she was eager to improve and focus herself on things. If she approached fighting with the same devotion she gave to Okyonomiaki, she'd be as good as Ranma and himself, almost certainly.
Mousse passed overhead, raining down blades and nets, as Shampoo and Ukyou started to move away.
"Oh? Thought they pinned me down, did they?" Ryouga thought, as the nets and blades descended, the trap both obvious and clever. Ryouga smiled, and crossing his arms, leaped up and right into the overlapping nets. Tucking his legs in, he let himself get tangled up as his momentum carried him up and away. Keeping track of his course, and his inertia, he angled himself to bounce off the nearby wall of an old building, pushing off with the tips of his toes, spinning like a top, and finally landing on his feet, still mostly tucked in like a ball and covered by the nets. Through the crisscross wire, he saw Ukyou and Shampoo moving forward at a brisk pace.
A snarl left Ryouga lips as his muscles truly flexed for the first time. The wire bit into his skin, but he barely felt it. Razor wire would have been a problem, but even then it would only have been a little blood lost, and the wounds would have healed quickly. Letting out a snort of air, Ryouga allowed himself a small laugh, and tore through the wire like it was made of soft noodles. He saw the surprise on Ukyou's face, as she slowed slightly, and switched to Shampoo, who was still charging.
Mistake.
"Flour Bomb!"
"Kuso!" Ryouga moved to the side, as Ukyou Kuonji blanketed the area in smoke. She'd obviously improved the weapons - they exploded in the air, now, letting out the smoke screen more efficiently and over a wider area. The Lost Boy's eyes narrowed, searching the smoke, as he held his breath. She descended from above, like an avenging angel, her weapon's glare against the sun giving her away. He thought about catching the weapon, but instead rolled to the side, disappearing in the dust and smoke.
"Nice try, Ukyou!" He moved quickly, letting his voice mislead her. "You almost had me. You were so close."
"There!" She struck, but hit nothing.
"It must be all this smoke. Let me take care of it!" Ryouga jumped back from behind her, and concentrated his Ki. "Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!"
The wind from the open palmed blows almost instantly scattered the smoke screen to the four winds, and Ryouga quickly broke it off as the three martial artists turned their attention to him. They moved in like a team - not a well-oiled team, but one well enough. A bonbori blow from Shampoo came close, missing his chest by the slimmest of margins, as Mousse appeared to the side, wielding a large polearm with a heavy metal cap on the blunt end. Ukyou quickly joined them as the trio got back a third or fourth wind. They had been attacking him, to help them practice as much as himself, all morning. After waking up, and getting lost, in Ukyou's restaurant, he'd been surprised to find his three friends, two old and one new, eager to get some training in. Ukyou had even skipped school for it - though naturally she had to take care of the breakfast crowd before anything else could even be considered. It was well past noon now - time to end it.
Without warning, he seamlessly switched from defensive to offensive. With a single hand motion, he had the handle of Ukyou's spatula in his hands, and used it to directly counter Shampoo's bonbori, both of which were sent flying from a twist of the larger weapon. Shampoo spun, her sword in hand, trying to get some distance now that his tactics had changed. Ryouga noted it, and shifted his stance, using the back of his left foot to trip up the cute Okyonomiaki chef, sending her flailing to the ground indignantly, her weapon lost. Ryouga spun the somewhat unwieldy megaspatula, deflecting a trio of thrown stars, before planning the weapon firmly into the ground and using it as leverage to improve his reach and kick deep through Mousse's defenses, sending him flying. Shampoo was next, and last, as Ryouga tapped aside her blade in midstrike, pivoted on his heel like a ballet dancer, or, to be more exact: a Martial arts Gymnast. He had Shampoo in an arm lock in a heartbeat.
"Game over," he stated, simply, and let her go. Turning around, he saw Mousse getting to his feet a little unsteadily. "Mousse, you all right? I accidentally hit a little higher than I wanted."
"Yeah." He held up his hand, but groaned a bit. With the fight over, and things cooled down, the four warriors went over their moves and motivations from before, each in turn. For each, Ryouga explained why he did what he did, so that next time they'd be able to improve or come up with new ideas more easily. He explained, much to Shampoo's unconcealed distaste, that he considered Mousse the most dangerous of them, based on his wider repertoire of moves, weapons, superior reach and endurance. Ryouga was careful not to suggest that Mousse was better than Shampoo, only that he was considered more dangerous in many ways, none of which correlated to faults in the young female Amazon, who more than once interjected that Black Arts 'Trickery' wasn't really Martial Arts, regardless.
He went to Shampoo next, complimenting and critiquing her style, which was highly grounded in offensive attacks, like his own, and her weapons handling. Of the three, she was the strongest and most aggressive, but she also left herself open too often. He saved Ukyou for last, and continued talking to her while the two Joketsuzoku made they way back to the Nekohanten - they'd both be pulling late shifts tonight to compensate for missing work in the morning.
Of them, Ryouga considered Ukyou his best friend. He had known her longer, and spent more time around her. He knew her better than Shampoo, and much better than Mousse, and of the three, in his heart, he knew he had the most fun fighting against her. While a girl, precluding physically striking her any more than a tap, she had an excellent balance of strength and endurance, and a good measure of speed - a necessity when one's foe is Saotome Ranma. Better still, she was unpredictable, possessing a variety of moves, much like Mousse, coupled with a healthy dose of rage and aggression; the perfect motivator. Her ability to improvise was also there, though underdeveloped.
One thing he wasn't sure of however, was how she'd been able to hide her femininity for so long. Hell, he hadn't even found her out on his own, even after weeks of traveling and training together. He remembered how he'd found out the truth all too vividly...
"Aaah..." Ryouga sighed, relaxing into the hot spring. How fortuitous had it been that they'd stumbled across gift from the gods? Right when Ukyou was getting frustrated with him getting them hopelessly and endlessly lost, too. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of a sign - Something about a Martial Artist's Therapeutic ...something?
"Whatever," he mumbled. Probably a tourist trap. The place was sort of run down. Speaking up, he called for Ukyou. "Hey, man! You coming or what?"
"Hold on!"
Ryouga wrung his hands together, enjoying the warmth, and the wetness that was minus the hellish pig curse he'd been inflicted with. He'd managed to keep that under wraps for a few days, at least until a sudden downpour got him right in front of his companion. They'd had a good laugh about it in the end, though, and laughing with someone was definitely and infinitely superior to being laughed at, Ryouga knew firsthand.
Still, he sensed Ukyou was holding something back - a weakness of his own, perhaps, Ryouga didn't know and didn't pry, but there seemed to be something the boy felt obliged to share with him: something of some importance. And why had he insisted that they wear bathing suits to a hot spring? This wasn't like they were at the beach... then again it was really just a small matter. He must be shy, and Ryouga's swim trunks hadn't seen use in what seemed like forever. As it was, they were more than a little tight and uncomfortable.
"Ok," Ukyou's voice seemed... off. "Here I come."
"All right." Ryouga rolled his tongue right before Ukyou stepped into view and it fell out altogether. His hand moved at Amaguriken speeds, catching his nose and saving him from a dual stroke-fatal nosebleed. "Gr... Gr... Girl!"
"Surprised?" She smiled and shrugged. In her one-piece bodysuit, the movement did little to help the situation. The last thing Ryouga saw was some guy jumping out of the water, yelling something, and getting a face-to-face introduction to Megaspatula-sama.
Ryouga shook his head, and laughed nervously. What an odd thing to remember. After Ukyou was sure he wasn't lost in the bathroom (he wasn't that bad, he kept telling her), she handed him some new clothes and closed the door behind her. Looking at what he'd been handed for the first time, as a change of clothes, he quirked an eyebrow at the selection - a black, regular looking, shirt and jeans. It was rather uninspired.
Then again, compared to wearing the same combination of clothes for weeks on end, even if they were treated with Ki making them almost maintenance free, wasn't exactly inspired decision making either. The change didn't particularly thrill him. He was used to his loose, familiar clothing. The jeans would be all right, as long as he didn't try and thing too outlandish, but the shirt seemed thin and light and impractical. His regular clothes were wonderfully heavy, thanks to his Ki infusions, but these... threads seemed to have the weight and consistence of papier-mâché.
Taking off his tunic and pants, and folding them away, he took a brisk shower, keeping the water at a temperature that probably would have scalded a normal man. He wasn't really in the mood for a soak just now, and decided to forego the furo. It'd been about a week, to the day, since he'd arrived in Nerima from his travels, and two things dominated his thoughts, one old, one new. We wanted to see Shirokuro badly. He wanted to know that she was all right, wanted to see her puppies... wanted to just be home, to make sure everything was as it should be. Maybe, just maybe, one of his parents would even be home, as unlikely as that really was.
The other thought was Ranma - his foul nemesis was, no doubt, even now training to the point of exhaustion to catch up to him in skill and power. Not that he was concerned; Ryouga was more curious as to how well Saotome's training was progressing. He had his father, and his school's tricks, neither of which were to be underestimated. Consequently, he'd felt inclined to encourage Mousse and Ukyou to try challenging him in tandem. The two of them would be an entertaining and effective gauge as to Ranma's level of advancement, especially after a few more training sessions. Ukyou's safety in such a plan did present a problem, but Ryouga was sure it wouldn't come to that. Ukyou was no fool: she'd bail out of things turned badly, and if worse came to worse, Mousse would be there, too.
Besides, what was done was done.
Wringing out his hair, and stepping out of the shower onto the tiled floor, he quickly felt the tingling sensation of the rapidly cooling water on his skin. The curse, like a demon inside his body, was slowly starting to emerge, threatening to tear the humanity from him. A flare of anger and depression provided more than enough catalyst to spark a fraction of his battle aura, warming the water on his skin. It was a trick he eventually hoped to use to completely dry himself, but it was far from perfect. By nature, battle aura wasn't hot near the skin, and it had to be forced, mentally, to turn in on itself. He'd burned himself more than once, despite his high pain tolerance and resistance to heat, when practicing. This time, he settled for simply heating up the droplets, and quickly toweling himself off.
Putting the new clothes on, he called down, letting Ukyou know he was done, and found his way down to the restaurant after a few missteps that led him into a closet and back into the bathroom, respectively. Downstairs, he manned the grill while Ukyou washed up. She was far his superior in this battleground, but he could hold his own well enough, considering he was only a temporary substitute. It was more important that someone was simply there than they actually do any large measure of cooking.
"Nabiki!" He snapped to attention when the middle Tendo daughter walked in with two of her friends. He recognized them from before, but didn't actually know them. Still, if Nabiki was here, that meant only one thing.
"I'll have a Shrimp."
Ryouga's left eye twitched.
"Mushroom," said the girl to her left.
"Vegetarian," said the one to her right.
Two more twitches.
"W...What about...?" He started, but Nabiki cut him off.
"Food first, Ryouga-kun."
He grumbled, but did as she asked. Getting the ingredients together, he watched them head to one of the booths. Of everyone in Nerima, only Tendo Nabiki made him nervous. Akane downright frightened him... and other things. But with Nabiki, he felt inadequate and insecure: more so than normal, anyway. She was damn near impossible to read properly, and she guarded her words zealously.
Getting the ingredients together quickly, though more slowly and with less finesse than Ukyou, he prepared the three meals and waited for them to cook. Standing there, he caught a glance from one of the girls, long hair, brown, sort of like Ukyou's, looking at him. He concentrated on them, trying a little eavesdropping, but couldn't pick up anything to note - just giggling. It was a noise he was familiar with. Girls had been laughing at him since he was five, maybe younger.
"Let them laugh at me," he reminded himself. "I don't care. I don't care at all. Not at all..."
The phrase calmed him, and he flipped the okyonomiaki. They went back to talking to each other, and Ryouga made a point of ignoring them altogether. So long as Nabiki could take him home, he couldn't care less what she schemed, or thought, or did, or said to others. He turned, instead, to the cooking, cleaning up the sides, making sure the shape was close to perfect, and taking out three plates. Ukyou had taught him a little more than the basics to cooking her favorite food, and her livelihood, when they had walked about together, before he decided he needed some time to himself, and that Ukyou was good enough to go after Saotome herself. He'd headed off with nowhere in mind the day after, in the morning, and ended up in Korea two days later.
In a smooth motion, he flipped the three okyonomiakis onto three different plates, held in the same hand. Heading over, he stopped himself, re-corrected his course via Line of Sight, and walked over. "One vegetarian, one mushroom, and one shrimp."
"You can put all three on my tab," Nabiki said, straight faced.
"Is that so?" Ryouga spared a quick look at the two other girls, obviously not as well versed in concealing their emotions, and cracked a half-smile. "Nice try, Nabiki. You almost had me believing you for a second there. Tab! Ha!"
"A girl can only try." She smiled back.
"Enjoy the food." His face melted back into a near frown, its apparent default, before walking back to the grill.
"He could stand to be a little friendlier," The longhaired girl said and watched him go.
"Hmm... but at least he can cook," The other spoke up and contently chewed on a piece of her vegetarian okyonomiaki. "Not hard on the eyes, either. He almost looks like Ranma, to tell the truth. Just a little rougher around the edges."
Nabiki said nothing, covering her silence by taking a few tentative bits out of her food. It wasn't nearly up to Kasumi standards, or Ukyou standards, but it was still good. That wasn't her concern, however. She chatted idly with her associates while chipping away at her meal. After a few minutes, Ukyou came down from the backroom, her hair still looking a little wet. Ryouga leaned over, exchanged a few words, and let her take the grill. The door chimed quietly as a couple entered, took a seat, and ordered. Nabiki checked her watch, just as the door opened again.
"Akane-san!" Ryouga took a few steps back, before hitting the wall. "What are...?"
Akane waved, put on a friendly front, and slowly walked up to him. "Nabiki and I are taking you home."
"You... are?" He relaxed a fraction of a motor unit. "You aren't still... You don't...? I..."
"It's just nice to see you again, Ryouga-kun. It's alright, really."
"But I... it's not really all right, Akane-san." He looked away and spoke so softly even Akane barely heard him. "What I did. I don't expect your forgiveness, but..."
"Come on." Nabiki got up, and moved next to the two. "Time to go."
"Wait a second." He looked at the table. "What about paying for the food?"
"I told you. I have a tab here." She couldn't help but grin at the surprised, and unprepared look on his face when he saw Ukyou nod in confirmation.
"And my tip?" He held out his hand.
"I'm not paying anything. 10% of nothing is...?"
"Nothing. Wonderful." He sighed. "Let's go."
What kind of girl only tips 10% anyway?
"Learning Curve"
Part V (v1.4)
by: J. Wagner
Ryouga gave a small jump back, and out of their way as they dug into the ground. His hand reached up, and brushed back and forth, procuring a handful of bandannas. He spun them a bit longer, and jumped again, letting them fly in three waves of three. Mousse instantly switched to the defensive. His first attempt, with a wooden spear, was a total failure, as the bandannas cut through it like cardboard, forcing the master of hidden weapons to make a costly dodge attempt that drew first blood. Not missing a beat, the male Amazon switched approaches, and pulled out two steel maces, using both hands independently to intercept and deflect the next two small swarms of bladed bandannas.
He landed, and turned, watching Ryouga do the same.
Without a word, they charged each other. Ukyou forced herself to look away from the fight, and grabbed the hilt of the umbrella lying against a large tree. Lifting with her legs, she was able to get it off the ground, but not without a strong effort. She knew she'd gotten stronger since she saw him last, but the umbrella seemed two or three times heavier than before. It was just like the first time she'd tried picking it up, almost a year ago.
Mousse broke from the fight, hand flipped out, and spun. Ryouga moved in to pursue, but caught the glint of metal hidden behind Mousse's robes. Jumping up, he tricked Mousse into a preemptive lunge, and finally saw the weapons - Mandarin Duck Blades. They were smaller than normal Deerhorn Knives, but still damn deadly in the hands of a master. Mousse moved more quickly and expertly now, using complex movements and attacks with the weapons beyond Ryouga's knowledge of them. It was getting dangerous.
"All right. That's enough!" Ryouga brought his forearm forward, and in-between two blades of the knives. With a quick twist, and a trickle of blood from where the edges caught his skin, Ryouga forced an opening. His hand found Mousse's wrist, twisted, and in the same instant, the other Mandarin Duck Knife was wrenched free. Mousse's eyes widened, as a blazing red and black aura snapped into existence around the lost boy. Before his opponent could recover, Ryouga's right hand drew back, just a few inches, and shot forward, palm open, impacting Mousse's sternum like a pile driver. The Amazon flew back twenty feet, a solid tree finally meeting his back with a loud crack.
Mousse fell to his feet, breathing heavily. Behind him, the tree groaned, and fell. Gently, he reached up, felt the area where Ryouga had hit him, and drew back his hand in a silent grimace of pain. Meters distant, Ryouga lowered his arm slowly, and frowned. Letting out a deep breath, Mousse concentrated, and his own battle aura crackled to life. He jumped again, and arms splayed wide, let fly an arsenal of weapons, chained and otherwise, coupled with a hailstorm of the many varieties of throwing knives he had on his person.
Ryouga moved like lightning among the weapons, dodging every one, and Mousse prepared his most powerful attack. His most powerful, improved, attack. Feeling his hands on the weapon, and seeing Hibiki in position and range, the Chinese Amazon let his Ki flow into his weapon, making it stronger and faster - letting it defy reality itself. With a yell, he moved to strike.
"Painiyao Chuan REVISED!"
"Eh?" Ryouga saw a flash of white, but felt a dozen blows across his body, at near Amaguriken speeds. This was impressive, since whatever had hit him obviously wasn't a fist or foot - a weapon of some kind, used at blinding speed. Impressive indeed.
"Just not enough." Ryouga opened his eyes, and lunged. He found, in front of him, what looked to be a training potty in the shape of a swan. It was already slightly cracked from hitting him so many times, and when Ryouga's fist met it, the weapon shattered like a broken Ming vase. However, instead of stopping, or even slowing down, the meaty fist continued on course, slamming into the side of Mousse's face. The Amazon went limp, reducing damage from the blow, but lost his glasses.
"Remember this, my Myopic Friend," Ryouga said and pulled back his hand. With a single movement, he sent a tiny charge of Ki into his palm as it glanced against Mousse's robes. "Yubisaki Ishimi Miketsukan!"
In midair, Ryouga reached out and caught the glasses.
Next to him, Mousse hit the ground.
"Agh... what?" Mousse struggled weakly, but his clothes were like a vice now. They were as tight and immobile as pure lead, and just as heavy. It was like being wrapped up in a ton of industrial strength chains. As he tried to break free, he was thankful that his robes allowed so much room underneath - if he had been wearing tight clothes, not only would he be immobilized, but also unable to breathe, especially if he had been caught in the instant he exhaled air.
"What happened to him?" Ukyou walked over, carrying a red umbrella, even though it was useless now.
"Just one of my little... tricks." Ryouga reached out, and took the umbrella from her effortlessly. He looked down at Mousse. "He should be fine, however."
"Gah!" Mousse gave one last attempt to escape before silently admitting defeat.
"Now." Ryouga knelt down, and smiled a little. "Why were you following me? I know you attacked me because of Shampoo, and maybe Ranma. But I don't think you would have followed me just because of that."
"That would be because of me." A familiar, female voice answered from in the shadows, behind them. Ryouga and Ukyou pivoted, and saw the source.
"Nabiki." Both gritted their teeth.
"Ooh. Stereo sound." Nabiki walked up, smiling in a most predatory fashion. "I'm afraid I needed to find you, so I put a little bounty on your head among a select few people. Mousse was one of them."
"Typical." Ryouga crossed his arms. "How long were you watching?"
"I saw the whole thing." She chuckled. "Very impressive, from what I could see."
"Which probably wasn't that much," Ukyou added, her voice critical.
"It was enough." The middle Tendo sister reached down, and rapped her knuckles on Mousse's robe. It was like hitting a solid block of metal, and its texture was similar, even though it still looked like normal cloth. "Interesting."
"Alright, Nabiki. Let's strike a little deal." Ryouga sighed. "I need to find my house. My dog..."
"Had puppies. I know." Nabiki also crossed her arms under her breasts. "I'll take you there, if you fill me in on your capabilities, and give me control over when you fight Ranma."
"I fight, when and where I want to fight... but I will tell you what I know, if you can take me home. I need to be there."
"Deal." Nabiki paused a second. "Where is your house, anyway?"
Ryouga scratched his head. "Well... You may not like the answer to that."
***
Mousse was sulking.
Granted, this was not something revolutionary. But it bore mentioning, none-the-less. After his little run in with Hibiki, and soon after the mercenary Tendo had left, he'd been released. Hibiki had simply knelt down, touched the fabric of his prison, and with an almost inaudible murmur, that sounded almost like 'Bakusai Tenketsu,' the fabric, formerly as heavy and hard as a foot of cast iron, just gave way and crumpled into flecks of dust and strips of cord. Luckily, Mousse still had a formidable arsenal of chains and other weapons to ...conceal himself. Hibiki then put some fresh wood on the nearby campfire, and resumed talking to Kuonji Ukyou.
Of course, Mousse always had a spare set of clothes hidden... somewhere.
He wasn't the Master of Hidden Weapons for nothing!
Dressing in his spare, and putting back as many weapons as he could recover, Mousse paused at the broken 'Fist' of the White Swan. The memory of a real fist, smashing through the weapon, and getting inexorably closer, came unbidden. Looking over at the two martial artists, he saw Ryouga lean back a little, and scratch the back of his head while Kuonji laughed softly. Mousse's glasses slipped down his nose a bit, and he reached up, pushing them stubbornly back into position.
When they'd fought, Mousse had barely even come close to touching Hibiki, much less doing any real harm. He'd heard of the resilience and toughness that followed the Bakusai Tenketsu training, and he'd seen the three women of the village who had gone through it fight. Needless to say, Mousse knew even one blow from the Revised Fist should have at least winded them some, maybe even stunned them for a second or two.
How was it possible that Hibiki had simply ...ignored the blows?
What kind of a monster was he?
Mousse cursed silently, and turned to leave. Then, abruptly, he looked over his shoulder at the two. Not just martial artists, but friends. Between chasing Shampoo, and picking up what he could to impress her, martial arts-wise, to convince her he was as strong as any Outsider male, he'd never had time or an opportunity for friends. The life of a male Amazon was nothing particularly interesting, which only served to widen the divide between himself and his Amazon brothers.
They were, as a group, far to demure and skittish to be around for extended periods of time. His year-brothers, he had been ...almost close to, when he was young, and they'd all practiced cooking and cleaning and the male 'Arts.' But as the years went by, he found that he just couldn't stand their incessant chatting, their physical weakness... and worst, their veiled contempt and jealousy. All because Mu Tzu could fight, and wanted to fight, and pursued a woman instead of the other way around. For Mousse, the word 'Tomboy' bit especially deeply.
Maybe... this was a chance.
Walking slowly to the camp, he couldn't help but see Hibiki's eyes follow him, searching for any sign of attack. And yet, as the same time, there wasn't any true hostility or pity in his eyes, only curiosity, and a little sadness. The former, Mousse could understand, but the latter? What did Hibiki, who could fight, who had friends, who was free of obligations, have to be sad about?
"Hey," he said, unsure, and noted that Ukyou still seemed a little tense around him, while Ryouga seemed essentially indifferent. A weak smile from her pushed Mousse forward, the ever-present fear of derision and mocking diminishing. "Good fight."
"It was," Ryouga answered. "You even tagged me a couple times."
"You were holding back."
"I don't fight to hurt people." Ryouga motioned to his side, in between himself and Ukyou, who sat opposite him. "Except Saotome, of course. But the three of us share that one interest in common. You wanna sit?"
"Thanks." He sat. The ground was soft, but not moist, which was good. Moisture still made him uncomfortable, damn Jyusenkyo to hell.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
"Hey," Ukyou finally said something. It had just occurred to her. "Where did you get your clothes? You were in your birthday suit when Ryouga broke you out."
Mouse arched an eyebrow. "Secret of the trade."
"You know, I've seen this guy transform in and out of his curse." Ukyou saw Mousse twitch, and realized she'd made a mistake. "Oh! I'm..."
"No." Mousse shrugged. "It's ok. Really. The curse is as much a part of me as my thrice damned vision."
"And my kami damned sense of direction." Ryouga squeezed his eyes shut.
Depression reigned.
"Anyway." Ukoyu hated to see Ryouga sulk like that. And it didn't make her all to happy to see Mousse like that either, even if she barely knew him. "I saw Shampoo splash him with water, at the Nekohanten, where this poor guy works..."
"Unfortunately I didn't see it coming." Mousse added.
"Of course you didn't see it coming! Anyway, and he transforms, ok?" Ukyou continued, after hitting Mousse on the shoulder and getting him to clam up. "Nothing surprising there. But when he gets turned back, a kettle of hot water later, he's got his clothes on!"
Ryouga perked up at that. "That's like Old Man Saotome! He transforms back fully clothed, too! How?"
"Hmm." Mousse considered that. He'd seen Genma, at the Tendos and at Doctor Tofu's, in both his panda guise and as a human being (such that he was), but he'd never seen him transform. "He must know a great deal about concealment then. It took me a while to figure it out myself... and even now, it's difficult to explain. It does make the curse a little more tolerable, though. The last thing I need is a bunch of women leering at me."
"Leering at you?" Ukyou scoffed. "Awfully full of yourself, aren't ya?"
Mousse paused before answering that. "I'm an Amazon, remember. Women are all hentai perverts, anyway. ...Always trying to cop a feel. Especially Shampoo. Much as I love her, she never passes up the chance to feel up a guy she likes..."
"So... but she..." Ryouga's eyes went wide. "That was no accident, then!"
And promptly passed out.
Ukyou seemed stunned, and then shook Mousse's hand. "Congratulations. You knocked him out, sugar."
***
GLOMP
"Nihao!"
"Uh... hi, Shan. Mind, er, letting go here?"
"Sure!" Shampoo backed off, after giving certain parts of him one last squeeze. Looking him over, again, she smiled - he seemed in good condition. Then again, considering he'd been doing this most of his life, it wasn't really that much of a surprise that nothing major seemed to have happened to him. He was a good friend, like Mousse almost was, and without the obsession... on her, specifically, anyway.
"You look good, Shampoo. Your birthday's... when?"
"The twentieth of April, 6:12 AM." Mousse interrupted, his voice laced with tension. He'd led Ryouga from Ukyou's, where he had stayed for the night after they left the park together. It had been more than enough time for Mousse to be filled in on the Lost Boy's stance with his Shampoo. They were friends, and considering how few friends Shampoo had here in Japan, it was put forward that this was a healthy thing. For both of them, truthfully, because Ryouga didn't really have anyone outside Nerima, and a scant few other haunts. At least Mousse and Shampoo always knew they had a home, though it was far away, for them to visit. Ryouga's house was, supposedly, nearby, but given his direction, it might as well be somewhere in Outer Mongolia.
None of this, however, made seeing Shampoo glomp onto him easier and, in traditional hentai Amazon fashion, give him a few subtle squeezes. Mousse had been in a similar position often enough, at home, though never with Shampoo - and never with anyone he particularly respected or felt even close to liking in that way. It was frustrating; no one understood, and he'd long ceased really trying to explain the nuances of Joketsuzoku behavior and society. Hell, the word 'Amazon' tended to make people here either nervous or dreamy-eyed. Subsequently, Mousse settled for gnashing his teeth in relative silence while Shampoo fussed over Ryouga, looking for physical differences.
As if half a year would have that much effect on a person's body.
"Is granny in?"
"Right here, boy." Cologne came out from behind him, causing Ryouga to almost jump out of his skin. Almost.
"Elder Cologne." He recovered from the surprise smoothly, and nearly without missing a beat. "Could I get a Dim Sum? Ooooh, and some Ramen! With meat - lots of meat!"
"That's the greeting I get?" Cologne smiled. ...Almost.
"You know me. I'm always more forthcoming on a full stomach." He took a seat, and brushed off Shampoo after she undid one of his bandannas. "Hey! I don't have an unlimited supply of those, you know."
"How many you have then?" She twirled it, but it didn't seem to do anything unusual.
"A little over a hundred maybe. I lost count a while ago."
Shampoo blinked. A hundred?
"Here ya go, sonny boy." Cologne presented the ramen with her usual lightning (literally) speed. "Mousse!! Get back to work and sweep the front of the store!"
Mousse snarled like a rabid animal, but went back to his little chores. Ryouga nodded in thanks for the food, and dug in, though at a level just below a typical Ranma-stuff-you-face-like-its-going-out-of-style binge. "So...? How goes the Husband Hunt?"
Cologne seemed about to say something, when Shampoo interrupted. "Going good! Very good!"
Ryouga seemed a little encouraged by such a vigorous response. "Good. As long as you don't kidnap anyone... or use any Jyusenkyou water..."
Mousse flinched, before leaving the restaurant, broom in hand.
"...Then it shouldn't be a problem," Ryouga finished and went back to the food. Truthfully, he did have some doubts as to whether encouraging the Amazons was a good idea. Ranma obviously had some interest in Akane, and that feeling was reciprocal, if repressed and hidden behind harsh words and anger, respectively. Still, Shampoo was a good girl, and a good catch, and she seemed to take the obligation to 'love' Saotome very seriously. He couldn't just tell her that she didn't have a chance, especially when he suspected she did.
In Ryouga's opinion, Ranma never seemed one to rate family honor that high (look at his role model of a father), and though Kodachi was a dead end with a pit of spikes at the end, Shampoo did have a genuine chance to win that rat bastard's heart, if she tried. The question was whether he would drag it out or make a decision. However, at this point in the game, it was a moot point. Ranma would meet his end before he had to make a choice between the two.
And, of course, Ryouga also knew that Ukyou was 'engaged' to Ranma as well. He also knew Saotome was oblivious to this - as well he should be. Ryouga needed Ukyou to keep the heat on Ranma while he was away. Besides, knowing him, Ranma would flatter her and sweet talk until she was convinced not to fight him, and it would only make things worse. Oddly, he found he couldn't even picture Ukyou as trying to be Ranma's fiancée after all she'd said, and said she'd did.
Still, anything was possible, no matter how remote.
Lost in his thoughts, as always, Ryouga realized he'd been operating on automatic. Nodding and make the occasional reply independent of what he was really concentrating on. It was a useful habit to have, sometimes, but it was a lot of trouble in others. Cologne was talking about some business at the village, and wondering if he'd gotten close (like he wouldn't have noticed). Apparently, Shampoo was planning on taking a trip back home for a few weeks, something about that 'Happosai' person that Mr. Tendo had mentioned before. Then, one word caught his immediate attention.
"Jyusenkyou..."
"Soap," Shampoo repeated. "Jyusenkyou soap. Could be cure to cat curse."
"Shampoo, you should know better than to order from them by now." Cologne sighed, and got out Ryouga's Dim Sum. "It's always one thing or another."
"But great grandmother, is waterproof soap! What could be wrong with waterproof soap? So simple!"
"A cure." Ryouga's voice bordered on being a whisper. "A cure.... Shampoo... I must have it."
"Shampoo only order one box of soap. Is too, too expensive." She looked away from the obvious disappointment and crushing depression on his face.
"I see." He cupped his hands, and looked up at the ceiling. "If it works, though... if it works. I'd kill for a cure..."
The calm tone in his voice left little doubt that he hadn't been exaggerating. Or, that if he was, he was close enough to meaning it that the line became blurred. Shampoo became a little nervous, just then - she'd been ready to kill Ranma-chan, back when she thought she was just a food-thieving girl with a nasty sucker-punch/kick, but she's always approached it with a measure of passion. Letting the heat of the moment simply cloud any other inhibitions she had, of which there weren't that many to begin with.
Ryouga, though, said it like he was saying something so obvious that even a child would know it. That, and the simple fact that she'd never really been around a male who could, at any time, physically overwhelm her, as she knew Ryouga could without even trying, unnerved her. For the best warrior of her generation, just being around a male (of all things) powerful enough to smash through her defenses like paper was a humbling and slightly disturbing experience.
"A cure for this... freakish body." He clenched his fist, and screwed his eyes shut. Cologne seemed content to watch, dispassionately, but Shampoo wasn't as cold - could never be as cold as he ancient mentor.
"Shampoo like you the way you are," she whispered, and but if Ryouga heard it, he didn't give any indication.
***
Tendo Dojo.
"How much?"
"Two thousand yen for the first week, one thousand for every three days after that." Nabiki grinned, imperiously. Her posture, and her voice, made her seem the type who didn't suffer fools kindly, but preferred to make fools suffer. She was in obvious control of the situation.
"Damn it... fine. You've got a deal. I just need a few more days, then I'll be ready to take him down." Ranma stopped in his pacing and looked at her closely.
"Of course." She confirmed what he wanted to hear, though the tone irritated him.
"A week, maybe a little more. You give me that week, and I'll guarantee the victory you want."
"Good. Very good." The middle Tendo daughter made as to leave. "Are you sure you don't want...?"
"I'll find out on my own. I think you've ...helped me enough as it is." Ranma's voice was level and calm, practiced and controlled. For once.
"I'm always there in case you change your mind." Nabiki gave him a little salute with two fingers, and left the dojo. As she walked back to her room, she couldn't help but privately laugh a little. Everything was going smoothly. Manipulating Ranma was easy, and keeping tabs on Ryouga, while difficult at times, was well within her means. The stakes in this fight were higher than they'd ever been, for all three of them. She had an opportunity to ...move events back and forth, and maximize profit, if she was careful and shrewd enough.
First and foremost, was finding Ryouga's house, however.
She needed his trust and his ear to make as much from the situation as she could. The problem was several-fold, however. Ryouga had made it abundantly clear that the time of the fight would be dictated by himself alone, and worse, she had no real leverage against him, and very little concrete information on him at all. But, luckily, Ranma didn't know that Nabiki actually had very little say, so far, as to when the challenge would be issued and when the fight would take place. For the crafty, Nabiki knew, the image of control was often enough to accomplish one's goals. And the fun wasn't just in the profit, but in the challenge. And balancing the two fighters to her advantage would indeed be a profitable and entertaining challenge.
She heard Akane 'sneaking' up on her well in advance, however, and set her mind on other things. Turning, she gave a small, innocent smile, and cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Oh!" Akane looked away, embarrassed that her stealth left more than a little to be desired. "Well... I was wondering..."
"Go on."
"I wanted to meet him. I want to talk to him."
"You mean our friendly neighborhood lost boy? About that pet pig thing, I assume?" Nabiki knew she'd ask something similar soon, but not this soon. Last time the thought of facing Akane had reared its head Ryouga had bolted like a rabbit on an airport runway. She couldn't afford a similar occurrence, just yet, given her position.
"Yeah. That. And some other things."
Nabiki quickly decided to deter her. It'd be easier without Akane running around as a random factor. "Isn't he a pervert? If you just want to hit him, you can get in line behind Ranma."
"I don't want to hit him! Geez, what makes you even think that?"
That came as a small surprise. Nabiki, however, recovered instantly. "Didn't he sleep with you? And I've seen you snuggling up to that little black porker."
"He never peeped at me." Akane smirked - it was something Nabiki rarely saw. "He didn't take suggestive pictures of me without asking, either."
"Touché."
"I just feel kind of sorry for him. Last time I saw him... I did hit him. I thought he was a pervert... Look, I just want to talk to him."
Akane's sister sighed. "Akane, do you remember when daddy told you that Ryouga was gone before you woke up because he was looking for the bathroom?"
Akane nodded.
"He lied. Ryouga ran when he heard your footsteps," Nabiki spoke slightly more slowly, to make sure the point was driven home. "He's scared of you. I don't think he wants to talk. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
"Nabiki." Akane reached out, and took her sister by the shoulder. "Please."
Nabiki struggled with her more reasonable side - it was a fight she normally avoided altogether, and simply let the emotions vent elsewhere, but Akane's words - and that one damn word: 'please' cut deeply. Against her better judgment, against her own personal interests, she acquiesced. "...Fine."
"Great." Akane's voice betrayed her. She had known her sister would give in then; it was a weakness both she and Kasumi had known of for some time, and occasionally used to their advantage. Watching her younger sister go, Nabiki cursed her own inability to outright refuse her family when they needed her help. It was always so much easier when their backs were turned... when work could be done without risking confrontation, censure, or observation. Behind the scenes, Nabiki was the master of the house. Face to face, she was the omega - lacking the maternal influence of Kasumi, the youth and passion of Akane, and the traditional authority of her father.
"Feh." She dismissed the thoughts, and closed her room's door behind her. Walking up to the desk, she cleared a few stray papers, schoolwork, from her sight and off to the side, leaving a single piece of paper. It was a map only in the most generously liberal, bordering on socialist, meaning of the word, depicting a mountain labeled as Fuji-san, a mailbox, the vague location of a school, and some water. It was, needless to say, pretty much useless. If Ryouga had demarcated his house with rough degrees of Latitude and Longitude it would've been more descriptive.
Not for the first time, she wondered how one person, beyond being totally brain-dead, could get themselves lost so easily?
"Damn it all. Saotome... I will find you... someday." Those were the words he had snarled loud enough to scare away small animals when she'd first seen him, in the park, back before he'd managed to find Furinkan High. She was alone, as usual, reading a book and enjoying a few moments of peace and quiet between the violent madness that her house had recently become, and the violent madness that her school had been like since Akane showed up and Kuno became obsessed with her.
It had been fun for about a week, but after that the constant fighting between the two fiancées had rapidly grown old, and even annoying, more often than entertaining. At school, watching Kuno get the crap kicked out of him on a tri hourly basis was also grating on her nerves. Kuno, and the Kuno clan, had always been eccentric, but things hadn't been this bad for years.
In Akane's own words, 'it must be Ranma's fault.'
In fact, it was his fault - but it was also hers, and Akane's and a half dozen other people's who simply watched and did nothing, and let the situation deteriorate. Apathetic teachers and a poor school environment that even encouraged violence and erratic behavior, even with the old Principal gone, wasn't conducive to any form of anything approaching normalcy. So, she had been away from Nerima, in a quiet park, when Nerima had found her.
"Saotome?" She didn't even say it that loudly, and more by surprise than by design.
"Huh?" The boy turned around, and noticed her, as if from a daze. His eyes were intense and piercing; his gaze like that of a drowning man only now finding a piece of driftwood to keep himself afloat. He was a total stranger, a ragged looking and desperate total stranger, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. She wasn't nearly as sexually oblivious as her older sister, or as Hominophobically repressed as her younger sister, but to say that a great many boys paid much attention to her would be more than a little generous - she was well aware that Akane was the local heartthrob, while she was the intimidating Ice Queen of Furinkan High. This boy's attention was unsettling.
"Excuse me, Miss, but do you know him? Do you know Saotome Ranma?" He walked up closer, and she made out an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. Was he shy or something?
It was a moment of weakness on his part, and was all the crack in the armor of the situation that Tendo Nabiki needed to gain the advantage. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who wants to know?"
She idly rapped her knuckles on the desk, and stared at the map, dismissing the clear memory of the meeting. Not for the first time, she wondered why she had given him that map and the directions to Furinkan High. There was the money, of course, but that was aside from the actual motivation. For a while, she had simply told herself that he was a useful tool. Ranma was cocky - damn cocky, and full of himself. It had rubbed her the wrong way the day he'd arrived, and continued to do so ever since.
A healthy portion of the reason behind his poor treatment of everyone in the house, herself included, was that selfsame overconfidence. She'd always wanted to shatter it, and had endeavored to do so herself, but Ranma only considered loss in Martial Arts any sort of priority. Outsmarting him, or anything similar, had no effect. Ryouga fitted in nicely in taming the wild horse a little, especially once he had demonstrated his strength by effortlessly demolishing a brick wall. If anyone stood a chance of beating Ranma, and taking him down a few pegs for her, even indirectly, it was him.
And yet...
"Nah." Nabiki folded up the map and pocketed it. She had her associates combing the area and asking for the Hibiki residence - it wasn't listed in the phone book, but clerical records had narrowed down the search area significantly. She'd have him where she wanted him by tomorrow, after school, and after that, she'd have the fight under her thumb. It was as easy at that.
As simple as that.
***
The subtle shift of balance, and inch to the left, was noted. Ryouga's eyes darted to the left, and watched the handling of the weapons, looking for any commitment in direction or focus. They two fighters came in low and fast, but to him, it was like watching a video at half speed. A casual back flip brought him the room he needed before they passed below him, attacks missing by a safe margin. In midair, he watched them recover and followed their eyes and head movements as they looked for him.
Shampoo was the first.
She had always been sharp, that one.
Of the two, Shampoo had both the most training, and the most fighting experience, and a healthy dose of raw power, which made up for her somewhat inferior speed. She'd obviously been practicing, he noted, as she charged his landing spot, forcing him to twist and avoid her blows before his feet even touched the ground. Leaning back, he caught Ukyou moving in from the side, and cranked up his speed a notch when his ears picked up the almost inaudible sound of metal cutting through air. For a second, his arms blurred, appearing almost like swirling storm, as the three attackers moved in, their respective weapons moving to strike any and all opportunities.
He observed them as he moved, bordering on invisibility at the speeds he had to use to keep from being tagged.
Ukyou was controlled rage. A determined glint in her eyes, like chipped flint, caught him as she made a shirt, swift, economical lunge. Her hair was tied up behind her in a ponytail to keep from getting in the way - unlike Shampoo, she was unused to fighting full out with her hair long. Her bladed spatula missed him by millimeters, which was more than enough in his estimation. A miss by a mile was, in the end, the same as a miss by a millimeter. Of the two girls... of the two young women, Ukyou had, perhaps, the most untapped potential. She had trained alone, very much like Ryouga himself had, and she was eager to improve and focus herself on things. If she approached fighting with the same devotion she gave to Okyonomiaki, she'd be as good as Ranma and himself, almost certainly.
Mousse passed overhead, raining down blades and nets, as Shampoo and Ukyou started to move away.
"Oh? Thought they pinned me down, did they?" Ryouga thought, as the nets and blades descended, the trap both obvious and clever. Ryouga smiled, and crossing his arms, leaped up and right into the overlapping nets. Tucking his legs in, he let himself get tangled up as his momentum carried him up and away. Keeping track of his course, and his inertia, he angled himself to bounce off the nearby wall of an old building, pushing off with the tips of his toes, spinning like a top, and finally landing on his feet, still mostly tucked in like a ball and covered by the nets. Through the crisscross wire, he saw Ukyou and Shampoo moving forward at a brisk pace.
A snarl left Ryouga lips as his muscles truly flexed for the first time. The wire bit into his skin, but he barely felt it. Razor wire would have been a problem, but even then it would only have been a little blood lost, and the wounds would have healed quickly. Letting out a snort of air, Ryouga allowed himself a small laugh, and tore through the wire like it was made of soft noodles. He saw the surprise on Ukyou's face, as she slowed slightly, and switched to Shampoo, who was still charging.
Mistake.
"Flour Bomb!"
"Kuso!" Ryouga moved to the side, as Ukyou Kuonji blanketed the area in smoke. She'd obviously improved the weapons - they exploded in the air, now, letting out the smoke screen more efficiently and over a wider area. The Lost Boy's eyes narrowed, searching the smoke, as he held his breath. She descended from above, like an avenging angel, her weapon's glare against the sun giving her away. He thought about catching the weapon, but instead rolled to the side, disappearing in the dust and smoke.
"Nice try, Ukyou!" He moved quickly, letting his voice mislead her. "You almost had me. You were so close."
"There!" She struck, but hit nothing.
"It must be all this smoke. Let me take care of it!" Ryouga jumped back from behind her, and concentrated his Ki. "Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!"
The wind from the open palmed blows almost instantly scattered the smoke screen to the four winds, and Ryouga quickly broke it off as the three martial artists turned their attention to him. They moved in like a team - not a well-oiled team, but one well enough. A bonbori blow from Shampoo came close, missing his chest by the slimmest of margins, as Mousse appeared to the side, wielding a large polearm with a heavy metal cap on the blunt end. Ukyou quickly joined them as the trio got back a third or fourth wind. They had been attacking him, to help them practice as much as himself, all morning. After waking up, and getting lost, in Ukyou's restaurant, he'd been surprised to find his three friends, two old and one new, eager to get some training in. Ukyou had even skipped school for it - though naturally she had to take care of the breakfast crowd before anything else could even be considered. It was well past noon now - time to end it.
Without warning, he seamlessly switched from defensive to offensive. With a single hand motion, he had the handle of Ukyou's spatula in his hands, and used it to directly counter Shampoo's bonbori, both of which were sent flying from a twist of the larger weapon. Shampoo spun, her sword in hand, trying to get some distance now that his tactics had changed. Ryouga noted it, and shifted his stance, using the back of his left foot to trip up the cute Okyonomiaki chef, sending her flailing to the ground indignantly, her weapon lost. Ryouga spun the somewhat unwieldy megaspatula, deflecting a trio of thrown stars, before planning the weapon firmly into the ground and using it as leverage to improve his reach and kick deep through Mousse's defenses, sending him flying. Shampoo was next, and last, as Ryouga tapped aside her blade in midstrike, pivoted on his heel like a ballet dancer, or, to be more exact: a Martial arts Gymnast. He had Shampoo in an arm lock in a heartbeat.
"Game over," he stated, simply, and let her go. Turning around, he saw Mousse getting to his feet a little unsteadily. "Mousse, you all right? I accidentally hit a little higher than I wanted."
"Yeah." He held up his hand, but groaned a bit. With the fight over, and things cooled down, the four warriors went over their moves and motivations from before, each in turn. For each, Ryouga explained why he did what he did, so that next time they'd be able to improve or come up with new ideas more easily. He explained, much to Shampoo's unconcealed distaste, that he considered Mousse the most dangerous of them, based on his wider repertoire of moves, weapons, superior reach and endurance. Ryouga was careful not to suggest that Mousse was better than Shampoo, only that he was considered more dangerous in many ways, none of which correlated to faults in the young female Amazon, who more than once interjected that Black Arts 'Trickery' wasn't really Martial Arts, regardless.
He went to Shampoo next, complimenting and critiquing her style, which was highly grounded in offensive attacks, like his own, and her weapons handling. Of the three, she was the strongest and most aggressive, but she also left herself open too often. He saved Ukyou for last, and continued talking to her while the two Joketsuzoku made they way back to the Nekohanten - they'd both be pulling late shifts tonight to compensate for missing work in the morning.
Of them, Ryouga considered Ukyou his best friend. He had known her longer, and spent more time around her. He knew her better than Shampoo, and much better than Mousse, and of the three, in his heart, he knew he had the most fun fighting against her. While a girl, precluding physically striking her any more than a tap, she had an excellent balance of strength and endurance, and a good measure of speed - a necessity when one's foe is Saotome Ranma. Better still, she was unpredictable, possessing a variety of moves, much like Mousse, coupled with a healthy dose of rage and aggression; the perfect motivator. Her ability to improvise was also there, though underdeveloped.
One thing he wasn't sure of however, was how she'd been able to hide her femininity for so long. Hell, he hadn't even found her out on his own, even after weeks of traveling and training together. He remembered how he'd found out the truth all too vividly...
"Aaah..." Ryouga sighed, relaxing into the hot spring. How fortuitous had it been that they'd stumbled across gift from the gods? Right when Ukyou was getting frustrated with him getting them hopelessly and endlessly lost, too. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of a sign - Something about a Martial Artist's Therapeutic ...something?
"Whatever," he mumbled. Probably a tourist trap. The place was sort of run down. Speaking up, he called for Ukyou. "Hey, man! You coming or what?"
"Hold on!"
Ryouga wrung his hands together, enjoying the warmth, and the wetness that was minus the hellish pig curse he'd been inflicted with. He'd managed to keep that under wraps for a few days, at least until a sudden downpour got him right in front of his companion. They'd had a good laugh about it in the end, though, and laughing with someone was definitely and infinitely superior to being laughed at, Ryouga knew firsthand.
Still, he sensed Ukyou was holding something back - a weakness of his own, perhaps, Ryouga didn't know and didn't pry, but there seemed to be something the boy felt obliged to share with him: something of some importance. And why had he insisted that they wear bathing suits to a hot spring? This wasn't like they were at the beach... then again it was really just a small matter. He must be shy, and Ryouga's swim trunks hadn't seen use in what seemed like forever. As it was, they were more than a little tight and uncomfortable.
"Ok," Ukyou's voice seemed... off. "Here I come."
"All right." Ryouga rolled his tongue right before Ukyou stepped into view and it fell out altogether. His hand moved at Amaguriken speeds, catching his nose and saving him from a dual stroke-fatal nosebleed. "Gr... Gr... Girl!"
"Surprised?" She smiled and shrugged. In her one-piece bodysuit, the movement did little to help the situation. The last thing Ryouga saw was some guy jumping out of the water, yelling something, and getting a face-to-face introduction to Megaspatula-sama.
Ryouga shook his head, and laughed nervously. What an odd thing to remember. After Ukyou was sure he wasn't lost in the bathroom (he wasn't that bad, he kept telling her), she handed him some new clothes and closed the door behind her. Looking at what he'd been handed for the first time, as a change of clothes, he quirked an eyebrow at the selection - a black, regular looking, shirt and jeans. It was rather uninspired.
Then again, compared to wearing the same combination of clothes for weeks on end, even if they were treated with Ki making them almost maintenance free, wasn't exactly inspired decision making either. The change didn't particularly thrill him. He was used to his loose, familiar clothing. The jeans would be all right, as long as he didn't try and thing too outlandish, but the shirt seemed thin and light and impractical. His regular clothes were wonderfully heavy, thanks to his Ki infusions, but these... threads seemed to have the weight and consistence of papier-mâché.
Taking off his tunic and pants, and folding them away, he took a brisk shower, keeping the water at a temperature that probably would have scalded a normal man. He wasn't really in the mood for a soak just now, and decided to forego the furo. It'd been about a week, to the day, since he'd arrived in Nerima from his travels, and two things dominated his thoughts, one old, one new. We wanted to see Shirokuro badly. He wanted to know that she was all right, wanted to see her puppies... wanted to just be home, to make sure everything was as it should be. Maybe, just maybe, one of his parents would even be home, as unlikely as that really was.
The other thought was Ranma - his foul nemesis was, no doubt, even now training to the point of exhaustion to catch up to him in skill and power. Not that he was concerned; Ryouga was more curious as to how well Saotome's training was progressing. He had his father, and his school's tricks, neither of which were to be underestimated. Consequently, he'd felt inclined to encourage Mousse and Ukyou to try challenging him in tandem. The two of them would be an entertaining and effective gauge as to Ranma's level of advancement, especially after a few more training sessions. Ukyou's safety in such a plan did present a problem, but Ryouga was sure it wouldn't come to that. Ukyou was no fool: she'd bail out of things turned badly, and if worse came to worse, Mousse would be there, too.
Besides, what was done was done.
Wringing out his hair, and stepping out of the shower onto the tiled floor, he quickly felt the tingling sensation of the rapidly cooling water on his skin. The curse, like a demon inside his body, was slowly starting to emerge, threatening to tear the humanity from him. A flare of anger and depression provided more than enough catalyst to spark a fraction of his battle aura, warming the water on his skin. It was a trick he eventually hoped to use to completely dry himself, but it was far from perfect. By nature, battle aura wasn't hot near the skin, and it had to be forced, mentally, to turn in on itself. He'd burned himself more than once, despite his high pain tolerance and resistance to heat, when practicing. This time, he settled for simply heating up the droplets, and quickly toweling himself off.
Putting the new clothes on, he called down, letting Ukyou know he was done, and found his way down to the restaurant after a few missteps that led him into a closet and back into the bathroom, respectively. Downstairs, he manned the grill while Ukyou washed up. She was far his superior in this battleground, but he could hold his own well enough, considering he was only a temporary substitute. It was more important that someone was simply there than they actually do any large measure of cooking.
"Nabiki!" He snapped to attention when the middle Tendo daughter walked in with two of her friends. He recognized them from before, but didn't actually know them. Still, if Nabiki was here, that meant only one thing.
"I'll have a Shrimp."
Ryouga's left eye twitched.
"Mushroom," said the girl to her left.
"Vegetarian," said the one to her right.
Two more twitches.
"W...What about...?" He started, but Nabiki cut him off.
"Food first, Ryouga-kun."
He grumbled, but did as she asked. Getting the ingredients together, he watched them head to one of the booths. Of everyone in Nerima, only Tendo Nabiki made him nervous. Akane downright frightened him... and other things. But with Nabiki, he felt inadequate and insecure: more so than normal, anyway. She was damn near impossible to read properly, and she guarded her words zealously.
Getting the ingredients together quickly, though more slowly and with less finesse than Ukyou, he prepared the three meals and waited for them to cook. Standing there, he caught a glance from one of the girls, long hair, brown, sort of like Ukyou's, looking at him. He concentrated on them, trying a little eavesdropping, but couldn't pick up anything to note - just giggling. It was a noise he was familiar with. Girls had been laughing at him since he was five, maybe younger.
"Let them laugh at me," he reminded himself. "I don't care. I don't care at all. Not at all..."
The phrase calmed him, and he flipped the okyonomiaki. They went back to talking to each other, and Ryouga made a point of ignoring them altogether. So long as Nabiki could take him home, he couldn't care less what she schemed, or thought, or did, or said to others. He turned, instead, to the cooking, cleaning up the sides, making sure the shape was close to perfect, and taking out three plates. Ukyou had taught him a little more than the basics to cooking her favorite food, and her livelihood, when they had walked about together, before he decided he needed some time to himself, and that Ukyou was good enough to go after Saotome herself. He'd headed off with nowhere in mind the day after, in the morning, and ended up in Korea two days later.
In a smooth motion, he flipped the three okyonomiakis onto three different plates, held in the same hand. Heading over, he stopped himself, re-corrected his course via Line of Sight, and walked over. "One vegetarian, one mushroom, and one shrimp."
"You can put all three on my tab," Nabiki said, straight faced.
"Is that so?" Ryouga spared a quick look at the two other girls, obviously not as well versed in concealing their emotions, and cracked a half-smile. "Nice try, Nabiki. You almost had me believing you for a second there. Tab! Ha!"
"A girl can only try." She smiled back.
"Enjoy the food." His face melted back into a near frown, its apparent default, before walking back to the grill.
"He could stand to be a little friendlier," The longhaired girl said and watched him go.
"Hmm... but at least he can cook," The other spoke up and contently chewed on a piece of her vegetarian okyonomiaki. "Not hard on the eyes, either. He almost looks like Ranma, to tell the truth. Just a little rougher around the edges."
Nabiki said nothing, covering her silence by taking a few tentative bits out of her food. It wasn't nearly up to Kasumi standards, or Ukyou standards, but it was still good. That wasn't her concern, however. She chatted idly with her associates while chipping away at her meal. After a few minutes, Ukyou came down from the backroom, her hair still looking a little wet. Ryouga leaned over, exchanged a few words, and let her take the grill. The door chimed quietly as a couple entered, took a seat, and ordered. Nabiki checked her watch, just as the door opened again.
"Akane-san!" Ryouga took a few steps back, before hitting the wall. "What are...?"
Akane waved, put on a friendly front, and slowly walked up to him. "Nabiki and I are taking you home."
"You... are?" He relaxed a fraction of a motor unit. "You aren't still... You don't...? I..."
"It's just nice to see you again, Ryouga-kun. It's alright, really."
"But I... it's not really all right, Akane-san." He looked away and spoke so softly even Akane barely heard him. "What I did. I don't expect your forgiveness, but..."
"Come on." Nabiki got up, and moved next to the two. "Time to go."
"Wait a second." He looked at the table. "What about paying for the food?"
"I told you. I have a tab here." She couldn't help but grin at the surprised, and unprepared look on his face when he saw Ukyou nod in confirmation.
"And my tip?" He held out his hand.
"I'm not paying anything. 10% of nothing is...?"
"Nothing. Wonderful." He sighed. "Let's go."
What kind of girl only tips 10% anyway?
