For disclaimer see prologue.

... - thought speaking

... - Weapon speak

When things are from Will/Yume's P.O.V. all languages will appear as normal text.

Whereas with the other character's P.O.V. then the languages will look different (you'll see)

Chapter 08

Heirs on the Run

By: Master Yume & Blind Man X

The sun slowly made its way over the horizon, its light creeping across the earth bathing the planet in its own unique glow. As this sunlight was crawling up the side of a western style house the pleasant silence that had surrounded this morning is shattered. The day at the Amazon house started with a bang instead of a whimper, at least for Will and Michael who were collectively playing practice dummy to their prospective sparring partners. Will across from his wife who had recently realized that his hand-to-hand skills were non-existent.

Michael himself who figured his skills could use some polishing decided to assist in this demonstration. So while Will faced Perfume, Michael was pitted against the young Hotaru, whom Perfume (after hearing the story of how they met from Michael who was dragging a passed out and battered Will followed by a concerned Hotaru,) had decided to take the young frail girl under her wing and train her in the Amazon Wu-Su. Grace meanwhile was another practice thing for Hotaru, which Perfume would better her technique with. So as it was Perfume performed a move on Will, which Hotaru mirrored as best she could on Michael, then on Grace.

The most recent move sent Will careening over the polished wood floor of the home's dojo, and into the wall where he impacted with a meaty thud. Apparently the builder had been as untraditional with his designing of the Dojo as he had with the house itself. The walls were cement block and nearly eight inches thick according to the paperwork. So as it was even Perfume's stupendous strength was hard pressed to damage the wall with a mere throw of her husband, (a punch no problem).

Shortly after Will's intimate introduction to the wall, Michael was given a similar introduction to the floor, via Hotaru. Now It should be noted that while Will was currently stuck to the wall like a bad spitball he was upside down and facing his wife. So as gravity reasserted itself on the black robed individual he slid out of the impression he made, and his head smashed into the floor, near his fallen comrade. Will's arms were folded over his chest.

"'Get out of the basement' she says. 'Exercise is good for you she says'... And then YOU say, 'Oh WE'LL be happy to help.' What kind of weed were you smoking?!"

Michael slowly tried to pull himself upright his vision blurring from the punishment he was receiving.

"Hey it seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides how was I supposed to know that your wife was such a training nut?"

Will rolled his eyes as he began to get up. Just then as Michael was about to get up Grace flew through the air and landed unceremoniously on top of Michael, her knee connecting with a rather tender portion of his anatomy. Will smiled viciously as Michael's face contorted in pain.

"I'll get you for this Michael. Somehow I will get revenge for this torture."

Will watched as Michael twitched again.

"I'll get you and your little mascot too."

Slowly the trio stood back up and staggered their way back to the middle of the floor where the demonstration was taking place.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Will's head jerked back as if he took a punch to the face and he clutched his head in agony from the suddenly reawakened Typhous', mental scream. Suddenly the pain increased ten fold as every scene and feeling from his battle with Sailor Pluto. Perfume, Michael, and Hotaru all looked on with worried eyes as Will fell to his knees clutching his head.

"What wrong with husband?"

Michael blinked as Will began to writhe on the ground suffering silently. Hotaru acted faster than the other three occupants of the room and moved over to Will's twitching form and laid her hands on his chest, and his body stopped convulsing Perfume blinked and Michael just shrugged it off as a 'well duh' occurrence. Inside Will's own mind things were starting to calm Typhous' presence was calmed and slowly gaining its sanity back, while Will recovered from the outburst and Siren just existed there.

'Dude what was that.'

Yeah?

Will could feel Typhous trying to steady himself mentally.

My God… what happened?

'Well last I remember you being awake during the battle with Pluto right before she used that Dark Whatever attack.'

Oh yes; now it's coming back to me. I felt her gathering some potent temporal magic and tried to intervene.

'Intervene? Powerful temporal magic, what do you mean?'

Yes, temporal magic, magic dealing with time.

'Ah.'

Of course, I knew that.

Will and Typhous mentally stared at Siren who became very quiet all of a sudden.

Anyways, I tried to shield your mind from the pain the attack would cause, seeing as your body is dead and all so any damage would be negligible, and took a secondary part of it that I hadn't anticipated.

'Okay I know I'm probably going to regret this, but what was the secondary part of the attack?'

It seems that it's a physical as well as a mental attack, while your were being assaulted by the physical aspect, I got the mental part.

So what happened?

Basically it forced me to relived through all of my worst memories. I guess I went into shock, and just woke up now.

'So everything's kosher now?'

Basically.

Before Will could answer both himself and Typhous stiffened as they felt something.

'What the hell was that?'

Huh?

'There's something wrong?'

It feels like a siphon of some sort. Like there's something channeling magic, but it is off there's something holding it back. That seems to affecting the focal object adversely, in a negative manner?

'Is that what that is?'

What's that mean?

'It means if I am guessing correctly, that something is using magic but the way it's being done is hurting whatever's using the magic. Right?'

Close enough.

With that Will returned to the outside world and saw Hotaru kneeling over him with her hands glowing, while Michael, Perfume and a bleary eyed Grace hovering above her. As he focused more intently on Hotaru Will suddenly heard Typhous's voice.

There, that's it, it's her, she's the siphon.

'Hotaru?'

Yeah that healing power it's hurting her. She's trying to channel magic but she's doing it all wrong. However she's doing it it's detracting from her life force. All this trouble and she's trying to heal a dead guy, kind of stupid when you think about it

Will slowly grasped Hotaru's smaller hands and held them both in his one.

"Thanks."

Hotaru nodded and hung her head. While Perfume was clueless as to why this girl seemed to suddenly go from worried to frightened, shamed, and scared, with just her husband waking up. Will, and possibly Michael, however knew better, Hotaru was afraid they would reject her because of her odd powers. Will just smiled as warmly as he could (but with his paling skin and sinister appearance it didn't help much) and sat up.

"Don't worry Hotaru we aren't going to hate you."

Hotaru shook her head violently and began to cry. Will tried to rub his hand on her back in a soothing manner, but it wasn't helping much at all, however Perfume quickly stepped in and cradled the now crying girl to herself in a very motherly gesture. Will slowly climbed to his feet while Perfume sunk to the ground to better hold the crying girl.

"Dude Will what just happened there?"

"I'll tell you later."

Hotaru was quickly calming under Perfume's mindful attention. Will smiled and thanked the Almighty that he had beaten her and that she had chosen to stay with him. He held no delusion that he could have handled the situation as well as she was currently. Perfume now hugged the hiccupping young girl to her bosom and whispered soothing words to her.

"Hotaru don't worry about your powers, they don't make us think you're a freak."

Hotaru's head shot up at Michael's words and she stared intently at Will and Michael. Will merely conjured some magical blue-green fire and made it float over his hand. Michael produced several things from seemingly nowhere and began to juggle them with great ease. Hotaru stopped sniffling and turned to look at Perfume who just shrugged not really having any strange power but not really minding them either.

The girl turned to the multi-colored haired girl near herself and Perfume. The girl shrugged and waved her hand dramatically over her head then as she brought it down her form shifted, and shrunk till she was a multi-tailed fox, a little bigger than a dog. Perfume's eyes bulged at this new bit of information, and Will just nodded having expected something like that. Michael chose this time to pipe in.

"Yeah I mean look at Will here, he's a big ugly brute with little or no social skills and a couple of voi…"

Michael was unable to finish his statement due to Will's elbow being sunk into his stomach.

"Yeah most of us here are weird don't worry about that little healing power of yours."

The look that Hotaru cast the gathered group of odd people was bright enough to light Las Vegas for a day. She was smiling so happily and cutely that Will was beginning to feel sick due to the sheer amount of cuteness rays she was projecting. Quickly to avoid any mortally wounding ones Will donned his hood. Sighing in relief Will took the time to look at his watch.

"Oh damn!"

"What's wrong Will?"

Will looked at Michael, and pointed to his watch as he spoke.

"It's almost time for school, you need to get going and I need to get Hotaru home so she can get changed and stuff."

Michael looked at his own watched and boggled he really was late and he still needed to get his class schedule. Faster than most people could have seen Michael bolted into the house to his and Grace's room so he could shower and get ready. Grace followed behind him slowly returning to her cursed form, Will could tell that Grace was definitely not a noonday person. Perfume fixed her tall husband with a look and shooed Hotaru in his direction.

"You go now Husband get you to school."

Will nodded and Perfume left him and Hotaru to get going, she heard the bathtub calling to her. Will turned to his young companion and smiled, though the gesture was lost on her because his hood was up and obscured his features.

"Okay Hotaru we need to get you home so you can change, and we need to discuss a few things."

With that Hotaru nodded and put her small hand into Will's outstretched larger one. Will cast the spell necessary to teleport, himself and Hotaru to an alley near her house. In a flash of darkness and a puff of smoke both Hotaru and Will disappeared from the dojo. A second later Michael ran back into the dojo and bit back a curse.

"Shoot I was hoping to get a lift to school from him."

A moment later they reappeared outside of Hotaru's house in an alley across the street. Or at least what had been her house. The building that little Hotaru had grown up in now lay in ruins with various odd colored smokes pouring from the rubble. Hotaru stared with wide eyes at what had once been the house where she grew up. Quickly she tried to rush over to the smoking remains of the house to see if her parents were alright, but as she reached the halfway point in the street Will's rather large meaty hand came down and locked on her shoulder in a vice-like grip that wouldn't let Hotaru budge.

"Please let me go I have to see if my parents are ok."

He could only respond by slowly shaking his head and pulling her further from the scene. Hotaru struggled as best as she could but she was no match against Will's size and strength advantage. Soon she just began to collapse on herself and she began to cry. She cried for the loss of her family, the loss of her home and her inability to do anything. A Police officer approached Will and spoke with him as he pulled Hotaru closer where she wrapped her small arms around his waist and cried into the volumes of his cloak.

"What happened here officer?"

"There was some kind of explosion at about 2:30 this morning, we think it was from a chemical mixture that the owner of the house had been working on. At least that's what the initial reports are pointing to."

'Well that and the weird smoke.'

"We also have it on good authority that the Tomoe's daughter, A Ms. Hotaru, was visiting a friend's house at the time."

Will nodded silently as he looked down at the crying girl he now held.

"Were there any survivors?"

Hotaru's head perked up minutely and Will felt sorry for what she was about to hear.

"That has yet to be determined, we finished putting the flames out. But from the severity of the explosion and the damage observed it would be a miracle if we found any."

Hotaru's head sunk deeper into the volumes of Will's cloak as She resumed crying. If Will didn't know any better he would swear that Hotaru was trying to get herself absorbed into the fabric.

"What's going to happen to Hotaru?"

"Well when we find the girl we will bring her into custody and more than likely place her in a foster home or into an orphanage."

Will's eyes widened at that prospect. He had to think fast, luckily enough he had two minds to think with at once. (Well almost.) Between himself and Typhous they managed to come of with a spell that would affect the officer. Quickly casting it while he knew that he and the officer were alone He prepared to do something he hadn't initially intended.

'I hope this works.'

"That will not be necessary officer."

Slowly the officer's eyes went blank and he slowly began to repeat what Will had said.

"It will not be necessary."

"I am a recently made friend of the Tomoe's, my wife and I will take care of little Hotaru."

"You will take care of Hotaru."

'Close enough.'

"You will see to it that all the appropriate paperwork is filled out and filed."

"I'll see to the paperwork."

With that the officer moved away a bit woodenly slowly gaining a more normal appearing gait. Will gently held the now softly crying girl closely.

'Shit I was hoping that this might not happen. At least no so soon.'

Already Will knew that this is the point where Pharaoh 90 would make a deal with Hotaru's father Professor Souichi Tomoe to save the critically injured Hotaru. However there would be some changes and Will for one was not about to welcome them. If Hotaru was never injured then there was the slim possibility that Pharaoh 90 would never come to this plane. Will doubted it quite a bit. If he remembered correctly, Souichi's wife and Hotaru's mother, Keiko had died in the same explosion. Now as Will held the now quietly crying Hotaru he couldn't help by glare at the rubble. More than likely Hotaru's mother would be used to house Mistress 9, and if that were the case then the sailor scouts and possibly Will himself would have to face her and probably destroy her to stop the silence from descending on the world.

'Shit.'

With that Will cradled the sobbing Hotaru to his body and teleported the both of them back to the house.

Reappearing outside of his and Perfume's room he carried the girl in. Trying to be a gentle and supportive as possible Will sat down onto the rather large bed in the master suite of the house and held the rapidly tiring Hotaru. It seemed that the girls frail constitution wasn't up to the workout and the emotional distress she had just been put through and very soon she was sleeping. As Will slowly laid the sleeping girl onto the bed Perfume walked into the room.

"Ayah! What are you doing ho..?"

Her further exclamations were cut short as Will seemed to move faster than light to put his hand over her mouth silencing her. Motioning with his left hand for quiet he slowly released his hand from her mouth.

"What do you mean that I have to be…?"

Again Will's hand clamped over her mouth and when Perfume tried to pull his hand away she found that his grip was like iron, and he wasn't budging even under her impressive strength. Then in a surprising feat of his own strength Will lifted Perfume up and supported the rest of her weight with his other hand (the one not covering her mouth) and carried her from the room shutting the door behind himself. Perfume blinked a bit confusedly as she tired to process her husband's apparent strength gain. After carrying her down to the ground floor and into the dining room Will finally released her and took his hand from her mouth. Perfume took a moment to rub her jaw and glare at her husband.

"What is the meaning of this Will?"

Will sat down quite heavily into one of the chairs and scrubbed his hand over his face suddenly looking a great deal older. Perfume looked at him oddly and sat down in the seat next to him.

"What's wrong Husband?"

Will looked at her and smiled in a most disturbing manner. One that just screamed foreboding.

"How would you like to have a child?"

Perfume flinched back and blinked as she replayed what Will had just said in her own mind. As far as she could remember it was a woman's department to let the husband know when she was with child.

"What are you talking about Will?"

Will looked at her and sighed.

"It's Hotaru, her family…. They're dead. I managed to convince the police that we will be taking care of her."

Perfume blinked and then slowly put her hands onto Will's. Will looked up at her a bit surprised she merely smiled at him.

This is a most unexpected development.

Master Yume is a daddy.

'Would you two shut up?'

---------

Michael looked up at the looming gates of Furiukan High. He could already see the amassed Hentai Horde. Walking slowly so as to not attract too much attention, (which was kind of lost by the fact that he had tanned skin and was wearing a great deal of black.) Michael slowly approached the school. As soon as he stepped through the gates though he was spotted.

"Hey look it's a new guy."

"I bet he's here to challenge Akane for her hand."

"We don't need any more competition. LET'S GET HIM."

With that the horde raised their various weapons and charged. Michael blinked as the group of male hormones attacked. The fastest of the group reached him and he reacted on his first instinct.

"PIE TO THE FACE!"

With that the first wave of attackers fell in a cloud of cream filled desserts. The ones behind them stopped and stared at their fallen comrades, then back to the new opponent. Michael glared back at them and held a banana-cream pie at ready looking quite menacing despite his choice of weaponry.

"We out number him at least ten to one."

One of the more intelligent people of the bunch spoke up.

"Hey yeah he's right we can take him."

With that thought resounding through the group's minds they attacked. Again cream based desserts soared and weaker members of the horde fell. Michael however had to dodge a great deal more than he had thought he would, given his current situation. Back-flipping over a hockey player's stick he slammed the guys face into the ground using a pie to cushion the blow.

A sumo wrestler tried to get the drop on him and pull him into a bear hug but got a warm apple pie to the face and a kick to the shin which set him off balance and made him fall backwards coincidentally taking out a few of his fellow horde members with him. Kendo players, soccer guys, karate students all fell before the bizarre onslaught. Soon all that was left standing was Michael himself. Looking about himself from the cream and various other pie fillings covered remains of his opponents to the rather confused looks on some of the onlookers faces, to the enraged face of the youngest Tendo daughter, to the… Quickly looking back he was indeed staring at the rather angry visage of one Akane Tendo.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Well they attacked me so I…"

"So you thought you would help me out did you?"

"Uh no I was just…"

"Taking care of them so you could take me huh?"

Michael was slowly backing away towards the school while Akane stalked towards him.

"But."

"Well I won't take that, I'm a martial artist too."

"I'm sure…"

"YAHHH!!"

Michael's eyes bugged as Akane charged him thinking as quickly as he could he did the first thing that came to mind, he jumped over her. Akane's head twisted and swiveled so she could follow his movements only to leave her running not watching where she was going. So she ran into a certain delusional kendo fighter that virtually ruled the student body.

"Ah at last my fierce tigress you finally flock to my outstretched arms."

Akane blinked as she was suddenly enveloped in a very unwelcome embrace. Her hand acted without a moment's hesitation and punched Tatewaki Kuno dead in the face. Michael blinked at the rather odd sound that Kuno's face made as Akane's fist drove into it.

'I didn't know that faces made SMOOSH sounds.'

The kendoist's grip loosened slightly and Akane darted away from him. Michael again tried to edge a bit closer to the school and away from the resident nuts, but unfortunately Kuno spotted him.

"Hold knave were you the one who just interrupted the courtship of the fierce tigress Akane Tendo."

"Well not…"

"But is it not customary for one to introduce oneself first."

"I know who you are, you're Tatewaki Kuno I live in the house a little ways from yours."

"It seems that the Blue Thunder's mighty reputation proceeds him."

"Uh yeah."

"But neighbor or not I cannot allow this offense to go unpunished."

With that Kuno raised his bokken from… somewhere and charged. Michael didn't react till almost the last minute in which he stepped to the side, tripped Kuno, and somehow grabbed the waistband of his undergarment and pulled. This effectively gave Kuno a rather uncomfortable wedgie. Kuno spun around and glared at Michael, while the rest of the student body stared in shock and disbelief. Kuno shook with barely suppressed rage (or trying to discretely reposition his underwear) and attacked again.

"I strike."

The bokken flashed out and repeatedly tried to strike the Trickster Heir who just miraculously dodged the attacks then launched himself into the air over Kuno's head. There he proceeded to re-grip the elastic band of Kuno's underwear and pull even harder than before. Nabiki's eyes widened when she heard that the new kid lived near Kuno, she could have sworn that All Kuno's neighbors were rather old Tokyo money whose kids had moved away or were having kids of their own.

'But then again there's Will and his wife… But he's too old to be their kid.'

Kuno could now be seen noticeably trying to adjust his underwear, much to the displeasure of the majority of the audience.

"So you choose to employ black magic to aid you?"

"Well no not…"

"It will be for naught I shall smite you with my mighty sword of truth, then the fierce tigress will again flock to my manly embrace."

Kuno either ignored or didn't hear the dismissive snort from somewhere behind him. Again Kuno charged but Michael's watch beeped signifying that it was less than three minutes to the start of school.

'I better end this fast.'

Time seemed to slow down for Michael as watched Kuno approach reaching into his dimensional pocket he grabbed one of his mightiest weapons and when Kuno was in range he struck with a mighty war-cry.

"EXPLODING PIE TO THE FACE!"

With that Kuno ran headlong into the demolition based dessert and was blasted back by the force of the explosion then before most people could blink Michael materialized behind Kuno and gripped his waistband again and heaved mightily and in an almost physics defying act Michael pulled the waistband of Kuno's underwear up and over his head effectively blinding the delusional fighter. Kuno stunned and disoriented fell back and smacked his head into a wall and knocked himself off. As everyone else stared at the now incapacitated Kendo team leader, Michael made his way into the school and to the office where he would get his class schedule. So it seemed that Michael was just starting another normal Nermian day in Furikan High.

---------

Will sighed as he continued on his way. Perfume had suggested that they walk the neighborhood for recon/a way to pass the time. Hotaru was still asleep mainly due to a sleep spell that Will had cast on her before he left. So now the day found a rather miserable looking Will clothed in his customary (as of now) black cloak with his scythe strapped to his back the blade hanging slightly over one shoulder. Beside him walked Perfume with her arm linked with his. She wore a rather new ensemble her clothes consisted of a purple tank top (that matched her eyes), a pair of tight faded jeans, a few things that Will as husband was privy to, and a pair of black sandals.

Over all it was an exotic babe, walking with a tall creepy pale looking guy with a large deadly weapon strapped to his back. Right now it was still relatively early so many of the shops were just opening for the day and a few stragglers were still making their way to school. This fact was sadly proven to Will as was run into by a blonde blur.

"OHMYGOSHI'MSOSORRYIGOTTOGOBYE!"

Said blonde blur stood back up and took off in a cloud of dust with her twin pig-tails flapping in the breeze. Will merely stared up to the sky as Perfume looked down at him and blinked.

"What on earth was that?"

Will slowly stood up and dusted himself off.

"Don't worry about it. But can we go home now?"

"No we still have more recon to do."

Will bowed his head and decided to continue walking about town in favor of giving her the chance to come up with more training. So as he continued walking Perfume re-attached herself to his arm. And so the odd looking couple walked on and were about to turn a corner when Will managed to bump into someone else. Looking up he was greeted by a really short young man being helped up by a fair looking woman whole generated so much gentleness it made Will feel considerably nauseous.

"Oh my goodness Keiichi are you alright?"

The boy identified as Keiichi nodded his head and accepted the gentle girls help to standing back up.

"Perfume sorry for husband's clumsiness."

The girl turned and regarded Will and his wife and instantly revealed to Will that she was indeed Belldandy Norse goddess of the present.

'Great more surprise cameos.'

Is it that bad?

'Now is not a good time Typhous.'

Will stood up and towered collectively over the goddess the warrior and the mechanic.

"Oh my do I know you sir?"

Will suddenly developed a great deal of sweat, as Belldandy looked him over closely. He could reflexively feel Perfume bristling next to him and did not relish her reaction.

"You mean you know this guy Belldandy?"

"I think I do Keiichi, I recognize that cloak and the handle of that weapon he's carrying."

It was at this point that Keiichi saw the rather nasty looking weapon that Will had strapped to his back. Will watched the sweat form on the guy's forehead as he looked over the weapon. Will could guess what might be going through Keiichi's mind but decided it best to take actions as they came as opposed to predicting someone's actions.

"Come on Bell if we don't hurry we might be late."

"But Keiichi I just know I recognize those things."

Perfume was getting a bit miffed at the scrutiny that this odd woman was currently displaying towards her husband. Luckily for her and Will, Keiichi's insistence was enough to sway Belldandy. So saying she and the short guy bid the pair a farewell and the two groups went their separate ways much to both Keiichi's and Will's relief. So as it was Will and his wife Perfume continued on their way.

Unfortunately for Will his graceful exit was impeded when his robe caught on a loose nail on a nearby fence causing him to trip rather hard. Fortunately (or unfortunately) his fall was cushioned by something. But what ever it was that cushioned his fall made an odd sound a lot like a woman screaming or at least gasping in surprise. Slowly looking up he was confronted by the sight of a rather dignified and still quite interesting looking woman with bright red hair wearing a formal kimono and carrying a cloth wrapped bundle at her side.

'Shit Nodoka Saotome, Jeez who else will I run into today?'

"Oh I'm terribly sorry ma'am."

Nodoka looked up at the young man that was currently getting up from his position where he fell on her. He promptly offered her his hand to help her get back to her feet. Perfume had made her way back and was now standing next to her husband as he helped the older woman up.

"Perfume so sorry for too too clumsy husband."

So saying she promptly whapped Will upside his head, after he finished helping Mrs. Saotome up.

"Oh no need to worry dear. I'm sure it was nothing more than an accident."

Perfume just gave Will a sideways glance. Nodoka was now able to look at Will standing his full height and was quite surprised to find that he was a gaijin (or at least he looked like one) as was his wife. While her accent was obvious the taller man's accent was barely distinguishable almost like he had been speaking the language all his life.

"My for a foreigner you certainly speak Japanese quite well."

Will assumed the generic pose of supposed modesty with his left hand scratching behind his head. Perfume just looked oddly at her husband.

"I had extensive training from my employer."

"Oh my I have forgotten my manners, my name is Nodoka Saotome."

"My name is Will and this is my wife Perfume of the Amazons."

Nodoka gave him an odd look.

"Have you no last name?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I tend to introduce myself without using my last name, it allows me to be a bit more personal with acquaintances."

"Ah a western tradition no doubt."

"Yes."

"So what is your last name?"

"My last name? …. Oh of course, it's…. Kokushibyou."

Nodoka stepped back a bit startled at the name.

"Um were you aware that your name means 'Black Death'?"

Will nodded as Perfume looked slightly confused.

"Yes I was quite aware of that Mrs. Saotome."

Mrs. Saotome gave the boy another once over.

"I'm not sure why but the name really suits you."

She's doesn't know the half of it.

'Quiet you.'

What about..

'You too.'

Will put on his best smile and nodded to Perfume then wrapped his arm around her.

"Well Mrs. Saotome if you will excuse us we must be moving along."

The maternal figure in Ranma's life smiled and nodded giving the couple a bow, which Will returned (in turn making his wife do the same).

"It was a pleasure speaking with you perhaps we can get together sometime in the future."

"Yes that would be very nice."

"Oh yes it be too too nice."

Perfume was practically growling out her response because Will had unwittingly stepped on her foot with one of his rather massive feet. So Will unknowing of the danger he was in was caught completely off guard when Perfume knocked his head into the wall he was next to, as soon as Mrs. Saotome was out of sight. Will pulled his head from the indent it made in the wall and looked at Perfume confused.

"What I do?"

"If you don't know then I won't tell you."

With that Perfume turned around and walked away favoring her right foot. Will merely scratched his head and shrugged.

'I'll never understand women.'

Don't worry about it; it's not our place to have such knowledge.

I don't get them either.

Both Will and Typhous mentally stared at Siren (like they seemed to do a lot anymore). Then shook it off, as just one of those things, which just were in regards to Siren. Quickly enough Will followed behind his rather angry wife. It was a good thing that with himself being dead and all he didn't really need sleep, so he wouldn't have to worry about 'sleeping on the couch' if things deteriorated further, he would just stay in the lab/base/basement for a while. But just as to not arouse suspicion he thought it best (well Typhous thought actually) to grovel for forgiveness later.

---------

Michael sighed as the day progressed so far things had been going well enough, there had been no problem with the office and his need of a slightly modified schedule, due to certain 'unforeseen circumstances'. As it was he was about to go into his fourth period and for him the last period of the day. So as it was the teacher entered the room and situated himself at the desk, then motioned Michael up to the front of the room. Michael did so under the watchful eyes of his fellow classmates. After conversing with the teacher for a moment Mike moved behind the teacher as he stood and spoke.

"Okay class, due to several odd circumstances Michael here will be the teaching assistant for you English class for the remainder of the year. His knowledge of English should be beneficial to you all."

Michael bowed to the teacher who proceeded to move to the back of the room to observe Michael's performance.

"Hello, I'm here to help you all understand English better."

So saying he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out three golden balls. A mere flick of the wrist later said balls were airborne and being juggled by Mike's left hand.

"Now students as you all can plainly see I'm currently juggling three balls. Can you say that Three balls?"

The class responded slowly as they tested the word themselves.

"Three balls"

While some students had a bit of trouble properly annunciating the 'l' sound a great deal of them spoke the word correctly. Mike had to smile at this.

"Very good class."

He tossed a banana into the mix and didn't break his rhythm.

"Now you all saw the banana. Can you say that? Banana?"

Again the class repeated him as he pulled the banana from his juggling and proceeded to peel it using his mouth and right hand. All the while still juggling the balls with ease. After the banana was peeled he began to eat half while tossing the other half to the teacher in the back of the room.

"Now we can see the teacher eating the banana, can you say that? He eats a banana."

Again the class repeated him with relative ease. So far he had been doing relatively well although he could see Akane glowering mightily at him. This managed to distract him momentarily so he had to drop the banana peel in order to keep himself from dropping the balls. Some of the students paid close attention to Michael, but most of them were watching the banana peel.

"Now then class I hope in the future to bring a few choice volunteers up to assist me in a lesson."

At this point Michael took a step forward and hit the banana peel. For a second everything froze but then gravity and a few other things stepped in. Wind milling his arms to regain his balance but to no avail. All the flailing of his arms did was redirect him so that he was falling forward. The balls flew free of his control and he fell flat on his face with a loud thud. The impact was like a pro baseball player hitting a slow ball and Michael's head was the ball while the floor was the bat. At this point the teacher spoke up.

"Class let that be a lesson to all of you not to eat in class."

There was a collective nod from the class as they tracked the flight path of the two now falling balls. Said balls came down right on top of Michael's head just as he was getting back to his feet thus planting his face back into the floor. There was a class wide blink as one of the more prestigious math students did a small calculation in his head.

"Hey that was only two balls he was juggling three."

The entire class proceeded to collectively look up as if to check that gravity hadn't suddenly developed a loophole of some sort only to hear a rather loud metallic clang that emanated from the middle of the classroom. The class all swiveled their heads and looked to see Akane passed out with a rather nasty looking bump on her head and the third ball in question rolling away from her desk and towards Michael. Right after Michael recovered the ball the bell signifying the end of class. And with no more preambles necessary Michael bolted from the scene. It was quite a while later that Akane managed to regain consciousness.

'What hit me?'

Michael walked away from the school about 1:24 in the afternoon. The day had gone remarkably well. All that was left was to go back to the house and rest up. Ranma should have been arriving soon so the two of them had to get ready. However just as he reached the gates a voice called out to him and made him stop.

"Michael?"

Michael stopped and turned around, there coming out of the school was one of the students from his class or at least one of them.

"Hi Michael I'm sure you don't know me but I'm the representative of our class to the faculty. It's my job to organize our class projects, fundraisers and such in conjunction with the other class reps."

Michael nodded then raised an eyebrow in thought.

"So you're like a class president or something ok. So what do you need with me?"

"Well there is going to be a school carnival and I was wondering if you could possibly lend some of your obviously unique talents."

Michael seemed to sink deep into thought then he turned back to the young girl before him.

"I think I can come up with something. I might even be able to get someone else who's talented to help. When's the carnival?"

"On Wednesday night."

"I'll be there."

With that the class rep left. And Michael resumed his trek to the place he was currently living.

'Oh I think there will be a real fun time at the old carnival tonight.'

With that Michael's step picked up only for him to stop short a bit later.

'Well Wednesday night.'

So he returned to walking home.

(TBC)

Well here's the first half of chapter 08 I wrote it all together but it was too long to post as one chapter (in my opinion at least) plus it gives me a bit more reason to slack off. MWA HAHAHAHA.