Disclaimer:
As all other Fanfic authors I claim no ownership, nor right to any of the
character of said Anime/work of fiction (Ranma 1/2 in this case) other than
those I explicitly create. I only own myself in this fanfic so far, and
thank the creator of Ranma 1/2 for an interesting world, and interesting
characters to work with.
Any Comments, constructive criticism can be sent to: granderwishes@yahoo.com. I will review them, take into account those that I think need fixing and will use flames to cook steaks.
Warning: I have taken liberties with the characters from the Ranma 1/2 series, am NOT a fan of Akane's and think Genma should be broiled alive. I have seen only one ep of Ranma 1/2, but have read many, many fanfics and crossovers involving those characters and hope that I can do justice to the ideas put forth through the anime. If not, well this was a project for my own enjoyment and if you don't like how I treated some of the characters, or if I get something wrong, give me your two cents, and stop reading if you so need.
Thank you for reading my story. You can find my site at geocities under granderwishes/index. I can't type the whole web addy out because for some reason Fanfiction net tends to blank out most of my story because of it. You can also find a link and get updated as soon as I post a new chapter to my site if you join my yahoo group under granderwishesfanfic.
-Ben
Insert (self) Here
Chapter 2
On the advent of Hair styling.
We arrived back at the Nekohanten after an enjoyable bike ride (at least opposed to the trip to the dojo) and I parked the bike against the wall. As I picked up her shoes Xian Pu hopped down from the basket and entered the back door of the kitchen. I followed her after grabbing the rest of her clothes and found her sitting on a counter as Khu Lon finished cleaning up the stove.
"Ah, I see you've learned about Xian Pu's curse Ben. Please don't hold it against her, she can't really control that she has it."
"Heh, no problem. I actually like cats quite a bit and think she makes a rather good one. But um. can we turn her back?"
"Oh that's no problem she turns back with hot water. if you will?" she pointed at the clothes in my hand with a bit of a smirk.
Blushing a bit I deposited the clothes next to Xian Pu and walked out the back door saying over my shoulder, "Ahem, I take it the transformation doesn't include clothes. I'll wait out here till she's dressed."
Hearing a little bit of giggling I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to find Xian Pu dressed, smiling and standing next to me, "Your easily embarrassed aren't you Ben?"
I chuckled a bit nervously and stared at my feet as I followed her back into the restaurant, "Um, well. ah you see. Well it wouldn't be right if I saw you transform back if you don't have clothes on. I wouldn't feel right just turning my back or something."
She guided me back into the kitchen and said over her shoulder, "Well I'm dressed now so no need to worry about that."
Once back in the kitchen I asked, "So does that happen every time you get wet or something?"
Xian Pu nodded starting to make some tea, "I turn into a cat every time I'm splashed by cold water, and turned back with Hot. It's one of the many curses of Jusenko."
Chuckling a little I leaned against the counter next to her, "You ever think of just carrying an umbrella around with you? I could see how it'd become annoying though. As much fun as experiencing life in a different form would be, I'd definitely want more control of it than that. Taking a bath must be an experience, hairballs and all"
I saw her frown a bit at my teasing and smiled to try and ease her mind, "Hey I'm just teasing Xian Pu. I'm not the type of guy that generally makes fun of people, and as I've already said I like your cat form, it's cute."
Xian Pu rolled her eyes a little bit, but did stop frowning after that. I felt a bit tired after a fairly eventful day and asked Khu Lon where I would be able to sleep. She informed me that I would be able to stay in the room I woke up in, and tomorrow would be given some money to go get some clothes of my own. Thanking her I walked back up the stairs, laid down, and tried to ignore the questions racing through my mind as I got some sleep.
* * *
I awoke to the sound of someone opening the drapes in the room. In my mind I was thanking the Kami that I slept in those pants from yesterday and didn't go down to my boxers as the heat made me consider. As I opened my eyes my suspicions were confirmed. Over by the window Xian Pu was leaning against the wall dressed in pastel blue loose fitting pants, a tunic that was a couple shades darker than the pants, sky blue slipper-shoes, and she was looking at me with a grin on her face.
After pulling the blanket up over my head I asked, "You ever hear of privacy? What if I had slept in the nude or something Xian Pu?"
With amusement clearly evident in her voice she replied, "Then Xian Pu sell tickets. Tendo mercenary not only one who know to make money."
Rolling my eyes I stood up and stretched, pulling the kinks out of my back (dang the floor is harder than I thought) and turned to face her, "You know I hope you don't keep the idiot act up around me, I really don't like seeing you belittle yourself like that."
I bent over and started to fold up the futon out of habit (. wait a minute habit? How would that be habit? I can't remember sleeping on a futon before.), and with an eyebrow raised in confusion over her statement continued, "I doubt you'd make much money off selling tickets to see me sleep Xian Pu. To make money with tickets there generally has to be someone, or something that people would want to see."
As I put away the futon she walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder "You don't think that your all that attractive or something Ben?" she glanced up and down my form, "Your not exactly ugly there."
Sighing I looked down at myself, "Oh yeah, new body. Well, I wasn't exactly born with this body Xian Pu. I mean, the face looks familiar and all, but I've never been quite this. fit before. I'm not complaining about it, but it's easy to forget about."
Xian Pu gave me a small hug before stepping back outside the room, "Your body isn't the only thing you have going for you Ben. I haven't known you for more than a day, but I'm glad I do."
Shocked I stood there for a minute as what she just said registered. Breaking out of my trance I quietly said "thank you Xian Pu" and then headed toward the bathroom to wash up.
* * *
I stepped off the last stair into the kitchen to see Khu Lon washing down the stove, "Khu Lon, let me do that to repay you for your hospitality. I would like to start repaying your kindness as soon as I can."
Khu Lon looked in my direction shaking her head, "No, today you are going to go get some clothes and other necessities. Take the money sitting on the counter there and find Xian Pu. She will take you to the local mall and help you pick out some decent clothing, and then you two can have some fun if you want. You will start taking a shift tomorrow. Now go, today isn't likely to get too busy so don't worry about it."
I grabbed the money off the counter and bowed to Khu Lon. I then went in search of Xian Pu who I found standing outside the front of the restaurant.
With a smile I asked, "Ready to go Xian Pu? Khu Lon told me that you were going to show to the mall and 'shudder', help me pick out some clothes" Smirking, Xian Pu gestured to her bike, "Sure we can use my bike to get there this time too."
As she climbed on and motioned for me to take my seat, I chuckled nervously as I sat down thinking, "Great, another death ride. Well, hopefully this time she'll take it a bit slower."
To my misfortune, as usually happens when your life is potentially in danger, I was wrong. Apparently last night she was trying to not scare me because she started pedaling the bike twice as fast as before. With a slightly off kilter chuckle I gave a mental shrug, and just relaxed. I came to the realization that there are far worse ways to die than to wipe out on a bike at incredibly high and fun speeds with my arms around an attractive woman.
We ended up passing through a mess of streets before arriving at the mall, and after parking and locking the bike up entered. It was fairly early afternoon so for the most part the mall was fairly empty of customers, though there were small knots of people here and there.
Xian Pu led the way up onto the second floor of the mall pointing to a smaller looking clothing store. With a little bit of a sigh I followed her (hey, I kind of wanted to look around a bit first) and found myself in a store that sold clothing that looked vaguely familiar. Glancing around I winced as I saw a familiar woman from last night. I noticed Akane pointing out a silken shirt that looked vaguely similar to the one on the man standing next to her.
Before I could even string two thoughts together there was a shout of "AIREN" from beside me and a purple headed bluish blur glomped onto Ranma. I sighed as I walked up next too Ranma with his Xian Pu coat, and Akane. Akane's red glow had come back and she was not looking happy.
Gently trying to pry Xian Pu off Ranma I whispered to her, "Please not now Xian Pu. Don't start this in the mall, we really don't need any cops or anything picking us up. Please just let go of him and let the glow-stick over there calm down, okay?"
Reluctantly Xian Pu let go of Ranma just in time for me to realize I had said the last bit a little too loud.
"GLOW STICK??? Is that supposed to be some insult about the way I look?"
Akane stepped within arms reach of me glowing like a stoplight. Her arm reared back for a punch at me as I saw out of the corner of my eye Ranma hit his forehead with his palm and start forward, but before he could get close Akane launched a punch at my face. Surprising myself I caught her hand in mine, and twisted around so her arm was behind her back.
"No, I didn't mean that as a comment about your looks Akane, I was referring to how you could light up the store in a blackout with that glow coming off you. Now calm down and I'll let go, ok?"
I could feel her tense against me and try to pull her arm free while glaring daggers at me. That's why it almost took me by surprise when, accompanied by a shout of "Die Ranma, Shampoo is MINE!", three small throwing daggers where hurled my way. Out of pure luck I was able to push Akane out of the way, but took a cut across the arm in return. Looking for the source of the voice I spotted a tall dark haired man wearing dark purple loose pants, and a white robe that covered his hands.
Next to me Xian Pu yelled out, "Moose stop that! That isn't Ranma, it is Ben our guest at the Nekohanten!"
Unfortunetly for me it appeared Mu Tsu wasn't listening to anyone at the moment. As soon as he landed landed from his jump he took to the air again launching chains from his sleeves. With a slight nudge from instinct I reacted quickly grabbing as many of the chains as I could, then tugged and sent Mu Tsu flying out the front of the store into the mall.
Praying that I didn't throw him into anyone I asked no-one in particular, "I don't suppose he'll give up that easily will he?"
And to my surprise no-one (or Ranma in this case) decided to answer, "Nope, he never does. He'll be back in a second."
With a sigh I turned to Xian Pu, giving her the money, "If you would please pick out some clothes for me while I try to stop this." I pointed to a couple shirts and continued, "I like that style, that style and that style if you can find anything decent. Now if you'll excuse me."
As I turned and headed out of the shop I noticed Ranma following, "I take it you want to come and watch?"
Ranma shook his head slightly, "No actually Mu Tsu is fairly powerful. I'm coming along to make sure you don't get your neck cut off, we haven't had our sparring match yet."
Shaking my head with a smirk I led the way out into the mall to look for Mu Tsu knowing this was going to be an interesting day.
* * *
It took about ten minutes to find Moose wandering around the entrance to the mall with a scowl on his face. On guard I walked up to him, "Okay now Mu Tsu, before you start anything listen. I'm not Ranma, and even if I were that is no excuse to attack in a public store with innocent people in there. You almost hit Akane, and the clerk is lucky she was on the other side of the store. What would Khu Lon think?"
Mu Tsu turned with a growl and glared at a plant off to the side, "I don't care what Cologne thinks, Ranma doesn't deserve Shampoo! All he ever does is ignore her or use her as a free meal ticket!"
Shaking my head I noticed his glasses on top of his head and quickly knocked them in front of his eyes, "Really? And how do you deserve her? I've just met you and I can already tell you have a lack of respect for Xian Pu. You're of her tribe and refuse to say her name properly. You act as if she's a piece of property to take from someone else. Have you ever even talked to her about this? Does she want you to interfere with this?"
He shook his head dropping into a fighting stance, "Say what you want, I will no longer sit by and watch as he mistreats her!"
Behind me I heard Ranma sigh as he looked at Mu Tsu, "Okay, but if we're gonna fight let's do it outside. Agreed?"
Nodding in agreement Mu Tsu followed Ranma outside the mall and took up a stance opposite him. Rolling my eyes a bit I followed the two outside to watch the fight.
To say the fight was a sight to behold would be understating it. Mu Tsu seemed to be pulling everything he could think of out of those robes of his and throwing it at Ranma. As I watched various bladed items flew from his hands while Ranma seemed to bounce around off any available surface, changing directions like some large hunting cat. It was such a display of aerial acrobatics on Ranma's part that I almost thought I was at some sort of circus.
Ranma touched down for a second on the parking lot as Mu Tsu threw a handful of throwing stars. Ranma immediately did a standing back flip about 15 feet into the air, somehow got enough grip from a wall of the mall to launch himself forward Mu Tsu spinning like a top. I could just make out a faint blue glow coming from him as he pulled his arm backward (try following a single blade of a ceiling fan with your eyes, it tends to be a little hard to make out details at times) and tensed. With a shout of "Hiyruu Shoten HA!" his fist rocketed forward in an uppercut motion.
For a second or so I thought all the spinning had confused him and he punched early, but then out of the blue a strong wind picked up. I could see the surprise on Mu Tsu's face as a dark funnel of air blasted into his chest throwing him violently skyward and off to the south. Landing with a flip and a smirk Ranma turned to me, "Hiyruu Shoten Ha revised, Aerovault."
I looked at him in shock, "I'm not even going to ask how you did that. Let's just go inside and see if those two have killed each other."
* * *
Back inside the mall Ranma and I found Akane and Xian Pu calmly examining shirts in the store we left them in. Walking over I said in amusement, "Well apparently you two weren't all that worried about us huh?"
Akane gave me a look that screamed "are you nuts?" as she leaned against Ranma, "With Ranma there? Why would I be worried about a fight between him and Moose?"
"Eh never mind. Did you get anything picked out there Xian Pu? I should probably try anything on so we can get out of here."
Motioning over to a pile of clothes sitting over a rack Xian Pu replied, "Yes, Shampoo only guess size. Shampoo hope Ben like clothes."
With a sigh I went over and picked up the shirts and pants muttering under my breath about Xian Pu's bimbo act again. I went into the changing room and seeing as most of the clothes were the same size chose a pair of black loose fitting pants reminiscent of Ranma's, and a deep purple silken shirt with long sleeves and a high neck. Finding they fit I stepped out of the room to see what their opinion was. Getting a thumbs up I picked up the rest of the clothes, some other necessary items, and paid the cashier.
Walking out of the store with a couple bags in my hands I turned to Xian Pu, "So what else? There's still a little money left over, and Khu Lon did say to have some fun."
From behind us came Ranma's voice, "Well if you two would like, Akane and I are going to go get something to eat, you're welcome to come."
A glance at Akane to make sure there wasn't another light display, I looked at Xian Pu, "Well? I'm kinda hungry and wouldn't mind spending some more time out in public. What do you think Xian Pu?"
She shrugged looking at me, "Shampoo not mind. Great-Grandmother no tell Shampoo have to be back at certain time, so no rush."
I smiled looking back at Ranma, "Well, lead on then. I'm really new to the area so if you have someplace specific in mind we'll follow I guess."
Nodding Ranma headed for the exit to the mall, "I know just the place. It's not as good as a friend of mine's but it's closer.
With a smirk I bowed before Xian Pu and motioned her toward the doors. She only sighed and shook her head at me but I could swear as I opened the door for her she had a slight smirk.
* * * It didn't take us more than five minutes to reach the place Ranma was talking about. It was located next to an arcade that looked fairly interesting. After entering the restaurant we found a booth and sat down. When the waiter came over and asked us for our orders I looked at Ranma asking if there was anything he suggested. He just smirked and told the waiter to bring 4 of his usual, specifying that 3 be smaller portions.
All four of us made a bit of small talk waiting for the orders to arrive. I learned some interesting things about Ranma and Akane, and related what little I could remember about my life. When the food came my eyes almost popped out of my head at the amount that was put in front of Ranma. It looked like it would take the three of our meals combined to equal what he had ordered.
As for what the meal was, I didn't recognize half of it. Being Japan there was a lot of fish and rice, but I couldn't begin to name even ten percent of the items placed in-front of me. About the only thing I really had any clue about would be the sushi. Grumbling my stomach gave me the clue to start eating, and I figure who am I to argue with good sense?
I tried to keep an eye on the others as they ate to make sure that I didn't do anything really wrong when eating (I had heard that some places like Japan tend to be very formal about how they eat some things) but after seeing Ranma tear into his food I figured as longs I minded my manners that I would be okay.
After we had finished and left the restaurant I thanked Ranma for the suggestion and made a mental note of the location. I knew the next time I had some spare money I was coming back to eat there.
Starting to head away Ranma looked over at me, "Well Akane and I need to be heading home, and remember I still want to spar with ya so you need to stop by the dojo soon. Later Ben. Shampoo."
When Ranma had walked out of hearing range I heard a sigh come from next to me, "You know I really think you should explain things to him Xian Pu. Ranma seems a good enough guy that he'd probably try to help you through the problem."
She just shook her head and leaned against the wall of the arcade. "Ranma would never forgive me. I just have to live with the situation as long as I can and find a way out of it.
There seemed to be more sighing going on between the two of us that the expelled air could've inflated a hot air balloon at that point. I glanced up at the arcade and made a decision, "Okay well your coming with me Xian Pu. I don't know if your much into videogames but I think you need to do something to cheer up, and this arcade if fairly convenient."
Xian Pu sighed a bit as I led her into the arcade and got some tokens. Sitting with her in-front of a game that vaguely reminded me of a cross between Gauntlet and street fighter we started playing. It took a little bit, but she did eventually get interested and was soon racking up points as she bashed her way through hordes of enemies. I eventually ran out of tokens and excused myself saying that I'd be right back. Wandering back to the token machine I hard a familiar voice coming from one of the videogames set by the window.
"Minako! You just broke the high score. I wish I was as good as you at Sailor V!"
Stopping in my tracks memories flashed through my head of girls in short skirted school fuku's. Just as quick as the memory comes it is gone and I am left with only an image of a couple girls standing in the background crying a little, one with a really strange hairstyle that looked like two little balls on top of her head (I feel a strange sense of respect and admiration for her), while a girl in a similar outfit with a dark purple skirt leaning over me giving off a slight pinkish glow.
Her Fuku seemed to be torn badly in places, almost to the point of indecency. As the image fades I hear a voice drift through the fog, "Usagi! Please help him, use the crystal. Don't let him die!"
The last thing I see is the girl with the strange hairstyle walk up and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry Hotaru, I can't do anything. Whatever that. bug was that hit him did too much damage."
After that all I can hear is crying until my head clears and I see a couple people giving me strange looks. I grin a little in embarrassment and walk over toward the front window of the arcade. Once everyone stops looking at me I glance toward the two girls I heard earlier. One of them had her hair done up in the same style as Usagi from the memory. I waited till they got up from their game and the two blonds where heading toward the exit when I step out next to them.
Tentatively I asked, "Usagi? Is that you?"
* * *
Any Comments, constructive criticism can be sent to: granderwishes@yahoo.com. I will review them, take into account those that I think need fixing and will use flames to cook steaks.
Warning: I have taken liberties with the characters from the Ranma 1/2 series, am NOT a fan of Akane's and think Genma should be broiled alive. I have seen only one ep of Ranma 1/2, but have read many, many fanfics and crossovers involving those characters and hope that I can do justice to the ideas put forth through the anime. If not, well this was a project for my own enjoyment and if you don't like how I treated some of the characters, or if I get something wrong, give me your two cents, and stop reading if you so need.
Thank you for reading my story. You can find my site at geocities under granderwishes/index. I can't type the whole web addy out because for some reason Fanfiction net tends to blank out most of my story because of it. You can also find a link and get updated as soon as I post a new chapter to my site if you join my yahoo group under granderwishesfanfic.
-Ben
Insert (self) Here
Chapter 2
On the advent of Hair styling.
We arrived back at the Nekohanten after an enjoyable bike ride (at least opposed to the trip to the dojo) and I parked the bike against the wall. As I picked up her shoes Xian Pu hopped down from the basket and entered the back door of the kitchen. I followed her after grabbing the rest of her clothes and found her sitting on a counter as Khu Lon finished cleaning up the stove.
"Ah, I see you've learned about Xian Pu's curse Ben. Please don't hold it against her, she can't really control that she has it."
"Heh, no problem. I actually like cats quite a bit and think she makes a rather good one. But um. can we turn her back?"
"Oh that's no problem she turns back with hot water. if you will?" she pointed at the clothes in my hand with a bit of a smirk.
Blushing a bit I deposited the clothes next to Xian Pu and walked out the back door saying over my shoulder, "Ahem, I take it the transformation doesn't include clothes. I'll wait out here till she's dressed."
Hearing a little bit of giggling I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to find Xian Pu dressed, smiling and standing next to me, "Your easily embarrassed aren't you Ben?"
I chuckled a bit nervously and stared at my feet as I followed her back into the restaurant, "Um, well. ah you see. Well it wouldn't be right if I saw you transform back if you don't have clothes on. I wouldn't feel right just turning my back or something."
She guided me back into the kitchen and said over her shoulder, "Well I'm dressed now so no need to worry about that."
Once back in the kitchen I asked, "So does that happen every time you get wet or something?"
Xian Pu nodded starting to make some tea, "I turn into a cat every time I'm splashed by cold water, and turned back with Hot. It's one of the many curses of Jusenko."
Chuckling a little I leaned against the counter next to her, "You ever think of just carrying an umbrella around with you? I could see how it'd become annoying though. As much fun as experiencing life in a different form would be, I'd definitely want more control of it than that. Taking a bath must be an experience, hairballs and all"
I saw her frown a bit at my teasing and smiled to try and ease her mind, "Hey I'm just teasing Xian Pu. I'm not the type of guy that generally makes fun of people, and as I've already said I like your cat form, it's cute."
Xian Pu rolled her eyes a little bit, but did stop frowning after that. I felt a bit tired after a fairly eventful day and asked Khu Lon where I would be able to sleep. She informed me that I would be able to stay in the room I woke up in, and tomorrow would be given some money to go get some clothes of my own. Thanking her I walked back up the stairs, laid down, and tried to ignore the questions racing through my mind as I got some sleep.
* * *
I awoke to the sound of someone opening the drapes in the room. In my mind I was thanking the Kami that I slept in those pants from yesterday and didn't go down to my boxers as the heat made me consider. As I opened my eyes my suspicions were confirmed. Over by the window Xian Pu was leaning against the wall dressed in pastel blue loose fitting pants, a tunic that was a couple shades darker than the pants, sky blue slipper-shoes, and she was looking at me with a grin on her face.
After pulling the blanket up over my head I asked, "You ever hear of privacy? What if I had slept in the nude or something Xian Pu?"
With amusement clearly evident in her voice she replied, "Then Xian Pu sell tickets. Tendo mercenary not only one who know to make money."
Rolling my eyes I stood up and stretched, pulling the kinks out of my back (dang the floor is harder than I thought) and turned to face her, "You know I hope you don't keep the idiot act up around me, I really don't like seeing you belittle yourself like that."
I bent over and started to fold up the futon out of habit (. wait a minute habit? How would that be habit? I can't remember sleeping on a futon before.), and with an eyebrow raised in confusion over her statement continued, "I doubt you'd make much money off selling tickets to see me sleep Xian Pu. To make money with tickets there generally has to be someone, or something that people would want to see."
As I put away the futon she walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder "You don't think that your all that attractive or something Ben?" she glanced up and down my form, "Your not exactly ugly there."
Sighing I looked down at myself, "Oh yeah, new body. Well, I wasn't exactly born with this body Xian Pu. I mean, the face looks familiar and all, but I've never been quite this. fit before. I'm not complaining about it, but it's easy to forget about."
Xian Pu gave me a small hug before stepping back outside the room, "Your body isn't the only thing you have going for you Ben. I haven't known you for more than a day, but I'm glad I do."
Shocked I stood there for a minute as what she just said registered. Breaking out of my trance I quietly said "thank you Xian Pu" and then headed toward the bathroom to wash up.
* * *
I stepped off the last stair into the kitchen to see Khu Lon washing down the stove, "Khu Lon, let me do that to repay you for your hospitality. I would like to start repaying your kindness as soon as I can."
Khu Lon looked in my direction shaking her head, "No, today you are going to go get some clothes and other necessities. Take the money sitting on the counter there and find Xian Pu. She will take you to the local mall and help you pick out some decent clothing, and then you two can have some fun if you want. You will start taking a shift tomorrow. Now go, today isn't likely to get too busy so don't worry about it."
I grabbed the money off the counter and bowed to Khu Lon. I then went in search of Xian Pu who I found standing outside the front of the restaurant.
With a smile I asked, "Ready to go Xian Pu? Khu Lon told me that you were going to show to the mall and 'shudder', help me pick out some clothes" Smirking, Xian Pu gestured to her bike, "Sure we can use my bike to get there this time too."
As she climbed on and motioned for me to take my seat, I chuckled nervously as I sat down thinking, "Great, another death ride. Well, hopefully this time she'll take it a bit slower."
To my misfortune, as usually happens when your life is potentially in danger, I was wrong. Apparently last night she was trying to not scare me because she started pedaling the bike twice as fast as before. With a slightly off kilter chuckle I gave a mental shrug, and just relaxed. I came to the realization that there are far worse ways to die than to wipe out on a bike at incredibly high and fun speeds with my arms around an attractive woman.
We ended up passing through a mess of streets before arriving at the mall, and after parking and locking the bike up entered. It was fairly early afternoon so for the most part the mall was fairly empty of customers, though there were small knots of people here and there.
Xian Pu led the way up onto the second floor of the mall pointing to a smaller looking clothing store. With a little bit of a sigh I followed her (hey, I kind of wanted to look around a bit first) and found myself in a store that sold clothing that looked vaguely familiar. Glancing around I winced as I saw a familiar woman from last night. I noticed Akane pointing out a silken shirt that looked vaguely similar to the one on the man standing next to her.
Before I could even string two thoughts together there was a shout of "AIREN" from beside me and a purple headed bluish blur glomped onto Ranma. I sighed as I walked up next too Ranma with his Xian Pu coat, and Akane. Akane's red glow had come back and she was not looking happy.
Gently trying to pry Xian Pu off Ranma I whispered to her, "Please not now Xian Pu. Don't start this in the mall, we really don't need any cops or anything picking us up. Please just let go of him and let the glow-stick over there calm down, okay?"
Reluctantly Xian Pu let go of Ranma just in time for me to realize I had said the last bit a little too loud.
"GLOW STICK??? Is that supposed to be some insult about the way I look?"
Akane stepped within arms reach of me glowing like a stoplight. Her arm reared back for a punch at me as I saw out of the corner of my eye Ranma hit his forehead with his palm and start forward, but before he could get close Akane launched a punch at my face. Surprising myself I caught her hand in mine, and twisted around so her arm was behind her back.
"No, I didn't mean that as a comment about your looks Akane, I was referring to how you could light up the store in a blackout with that glow coming off you. Now calm down and I'll let go, ok?"
I could feel her tense against me and try to pull her arm free while glaring daggers at me. That's why it almost took me by surprise when, accompanied by a shout of "Die Ranma, Shampoo is MINE!", three small throwing daggers where hurled my way. Out of pure luck I was able to push Akane out of the way, but took a cut across the arm in return. Looking for the source of the voice I spotted a tall dark haired man wearing dark purple loose pants, and a white robe that covered his hands.
Next to me Xian Pu yelled out, "Moose stop that! That isn't Ranma, it is Ben our guest at the Nekohanten!"
Unfortunetly for me it appeared Mu Tsu wasn't listening to anyone at the moment. As soon as he landed landed from his jump he took to the air again launching chains from his sleeves. With a slight nudge from instinct I reacted quickly grabbing as many of the chains as I could, then tugged and sent Mu Tsu flying out the front of the store into the mall.
Praying that I didn't throw him into anyone I asked no-one in particular, "I don't suppose he'll give up that easily will he?"
And to my surprise no-one (or Ranma in this case) decided to answer, "Nope, he never does. He'll be back in a second."
With a sigh I turned to Xian Pu, giving her the money, "If you would please pick out some clothes for me while I try to stop this." I pointed to a couple shirts and continued, "I like that style, that style and that style if you can find anything decent. Now if you'll excuse me."
As I turned and headed out of the shop I noticed Ranma following, "I take it you want to come and watch?"
Ranma shook his head slightly, "No actually Mu Tsu is fairly powerful. I'm coming along to make sure you don't get your neck cut off, we haven't had our sparring match yet."
Shaking my head with a smirk I led the way out into the mall to look for Mu Tsu knowing this was going to be an interesting day.
* * *
It took about ten minutes to find Moose wandering around the entrance to the mall with a scowl on his face. On guard I walked up to him, "Okay now Mu Tsu, before you start anything listen. I'm not Ranma, and even if I were that is no excuse to attack in a public store with innocent people in there. You almost hit Akane, and the clerk is lucky she was on the other side of the store. What would Khu Lon think?"
Mu Tsu turned with a growl and glared at a plant off to the side, "I don't care what Cologne thinks, Ranma doesn't deserve Shampoo! All he ever does is ignore her or use her as a free meal ticket!"
Shaking my head I noticed his glasses on top of his head and quickly knocked them in front of his eyes, "Really? And how do you deserve her? I've just met you and I can already tell you have a lack of respect for Xian Pu. You're of her tribe and refuse to say her name properly. You act as if she's a piece of property to take from someone else. Have you ever even talked to her about this? Does she want you to interfere with this?"
He shook his head dropping into a fighting stance, "Say what you want, I will no longer sit by and watch as he mistreats her!"
Behind me I heard Ranma sigh as he looked at Mu Tsu, "Okay, but if we're gonna fight let's do it outside. Agreed?"
Nodding in agreement Mu Tsu followed Ranma outside the mall and took up a stance opposite him. Rolling my eyes a bit I followed the two outside to watch the fight.
To say the fight was a sight to behold would be understating it. Mu Tsu seemed to be pulling everything he could think of out of those robes of his and throwing it at Ranma. As I watched various bladed items flew from his hands while Ranma seemed to bounce around off any available surface, changing directions like some large hunting cat. It was such a display of aerial acrobatics on Ranma's part that I almost thought I was at some sort of circus.
Ranma touched down for a second on the parking lot as Mu Tsu threw a handful of throwing stars. Ranma immediately did a standing back flip about 15 feet into the air, somehow got enough grip from a wall of the mall to launch himself forward Mu Tsu spinning like a top. I could just make out a faint blue glow coming from him as he pulled his arm backward (try following a single blade of a ceiling fan with your eyes, it tends to be a little hard to make out details at times) and tensed. With a shout of "Hiyruu Shoten HA!" his fist rocketed forward in an uppercut motion.
For a second or so I thought all the spinning had confused him and he punched early, but then out of the blue a strong wind picked up. I could see the surprise on Mu Tsu's face as a dark funnel of air blasted into his chest throwing him violently skyward and off to the south. Landing with a flip and a smirk Ranma turned to me, "Hiyruu Shoten Ha revised, Aerovault."
I looked at him in shock, "I'm not even going to ask how you did that. Let's just go inside and see if those two have killed each other."
* * *
Back inside the mall Ranma and I found Akane and Xian Pu calmly examining shirts in the store we left them in. Walking over I said in amusement, "Well apparently you two weren't all that worried about us huh?"
Akane gave me a look that screamed "are you nuts?" as she leaned against Ranma, "With Ranma there? Why would I be worried about a fight between him and Moose?"
"Eh never mind. Did you get anything picked out there Xian Pu? I should probably try anything on so we can get out of here."
Motioning over to a pile of clothes sitting over a rack Xian Pu replied, "Yes, Shampoo only guess size. Shampoo hope Ben like clothes."
With a sigh I went over and picked up the shirts and pants muttering under my breath about Xian Pu's bimbo act again. I went into the changing room and seeing as most of the clothes were the same size chose a pair of black loose fitting pants reminiscent of Ranma's, and a deep purple silken shirt with long sleeves and a high neck. Finding they fit I stepped out of the room to see what their opinion was. Getting a thumbs up I picked up the rest of the clothes, some other necessary items, and paid the cashier.
Walking out of the store with a couple bags in my hands I turned to Xian Pu, "So what else? There's still a little money left over, and Khu Lon did say to have some fun."
From behind us came Ranma's voice, "Well if you two would like, Akane and I are going to go get something to eat, you're welcome to come."
A glance at Akane to make sure there wasn't another light display, I looked at Xian Pu, "Well? I'm kinda hungry and wouldn't mind spending some more time out in public. What do you think Xian Pu?"
She shrugged looking at me, "Shampoo not mind. Great-Grandmother no tell Shampoo have to be back at certain time, so no rush."
I smiled looking back at Ranma, "Well, lead on then. I'm really new to the area so if you have someplace specific in mind we'll follow I guess."
Nodding Ranma headed for the exit to the mall, "I know just the place. It's not as good as a friend of mine's but it's closer.
With a smirk I bowed before Xian Pu and motioned her toward the doors. She only sighed and shook her head at me but I could swear as I opened the door for her she had a slight smirk.
* * * It didn't take us more than five minutes to reach the place Ranma was talking about. It was located next to an arcade that looked fairly interesting. After entering the restaurant we found a booth and sat down. When the waiter came over and asked us for our orders I looked at Ranma asking if there was anything he suggested. He just smirked and told the waiter to bring 4 of his usual, specifying that 3 be smaller portions.
All four of us made a bit of small talk waiting for the orders to arrive. I learned some interesting things about Ranma and Akane, and related what little I could remember about my life. When the food came my eyes almost popped out of my head at the amount that was put in front of Ranma. It looked like it would take the three of our meals combined to equal what he had ordered.
As for what the meal was, I didn't recognize half of it. Being Japan there was a lot of fish and rice, but I couldn't begin to name even ten percent of the items placed in-front of me. About the only thing I really had any clue about would be the sushi. Grumbling my stomach gave me the clue to start eating, and I figure who am I to argue with good sense?
I tried to keep an eye on the others as they ate to make sure that I didn't do anything really wrong when eating (I had heard that some places like Japan tend to be very formal about how they eat some things) but after seeing Ranma tear into his food I figured as longs I minded my manners that I would be okay.
After we had finished and left the restaurant I thanked Ranma for the suggestion and made a mental note of the location. I knew the next time I had some spare money I was coming back to eat there.
Starting to head away Ranma looked over at me, "Well Akane and I need to be heading home, and remember I still want to spar with ya so you need to stop by the dojo soon. Later Ben. Shampoo."
When Ranma had walked out of hearing range I heard a sigh come from next to me, "You know I really think you should explain things to him Xian Pu. Ranma seems a good enough guy that he'd probably try to help you through the problem."
She just shook her head and leaned against the wall of the arcade. "Ranma would never forgive me. I just have to live with the situation as long as I can and find a way out of it.
There seemed to be more sighing going on between the two of us that the expelled air could've inflated a hot air balloon at that point. I glanced up at the arcade and made a decision, "Okay well your coming with me Xian Pu. I don't know if your much into videogames but I think you need to do something to cheer up, and this arcade if fairly convenient."
Xian Pu sighed a bit as I led her into the arcade and got some tokens. Sitting with her in-front of a game that vaguely reminded me of a cross between Gauntlet and street fighter we started playing. It took a little bit, but she did eventually get interested and was soon racking up points as she bashed her way through hordes of enemies. I eventually ran out of tokens and excused myself saying that I'd be right back. Wandering back to the token machine I hard a familiar voice coming from one of the videogames set by the window.
"Minako! You just broke the high score. I wish I was as good as you at Sailor V!"
Stopping in my tracks memories flashed through my head of girls in short skirted school fuku's. Just as quick as the memory comes it is gone and I am left with only an image of a couple girls standing in the background crying a little, one with a really strange hairstyle that looked like two little balls on top of her head (I feel a strange sense of respect and admiration for her), while a girl in a similar outfit with a dark purple skirt leaning over me giving off a slight pinkish glow.
Her Fuku seemed to be torn badly in places, almost to the point of indecency. As the image fades I hear a voice drift through the fog, "Usagi! Please help him, use the crystal. Don't let him die!"
The last thing I see is the girl with the strange hairstyle walk up and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry Hotaru, I can't do anything. Whatever that. bug was that hit him did too much damage."
After that all I can hear is crying until my head clears and I see a couple people giving me strange looks. I grin a little in embarrassment and walk over toward the front window of the arcade. Once everyone stops looking at me I glance toward the two girls I heard earlier. One of them had her hair done up in the same style as Usagi from the memory. I waited till they got up from their game and the two blonds where heading toward the exit when I step out next to them.
Tentatively I asked, "Usagi? Is that you?"
* * *
