DISCLAIMER:
Ryuu: The cast of Ranma 1/2 belongs to Takahashi Rumiko.
Author: Ryuu belongs to me. And Ryo belongs to Melissa.
Ryuu: Now that this has been said you cannot sue us.
Author: Even if they did sue they wouldn't get very much...
Ryuu: No, no they wouldn't...
A/N:
You guys have no idea how happy I am about the reactions I got from all of you last chapter. It was what I was hoping for. Hmm..for the sake of the story, this chapter is taking place about two months after the Counsel Meeting. This chapter we will look more into what goes on in the Tendo girls' minds in the beginning. Of course, we will work more with Nabiki's perceptiveness then with Akane's obliviousness. But nonetheless we will be looking at their thoughts. And we will also see the Saotome's get three visits from old friends. Now, enough with the suspense! On with the story! Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy the show...
The 3 R's of Martial Arts - Chapter 9
/Kasumi's Bedroom--5:30 a.m./
Kasumi had woken up early, even by her standards. She looked over to her clock and saw that her alarm wouldn't go off for another hour and a half. She wondered what could've woken her up, because all was silent throughout the house.
Kasumi felt she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep if she didn't do a quick check to make sure everyone was okay.
Walking to the door beside hers, she peeked into Nabiki's room. Nabiki was sleeping peacefully on her bed, it seems she fell asleep looking through her magazines. All was still except the papers on her desk that were flapping slightly by the small wind coming through the open window.
Deeming Nabiki's room fine after closing the window, she moved to the next room. Which happened to be Akane's.
Seeing Akane's room quiet except for the occasional whispers coming from Akane's sleeping form. As Kasumi turned to leave the room, she could've sworn that Akane had whispered Ranma's name...but that would have to wait for now. She could ask questions later.
Moving down the hall to her Father's room, she peeked in the door and smiled to see him sound asleep just like the rest of the family.
But her round was not over yet, she still had two more rooms to check, the room where Genma slept and the room where Ryuu, Ryo, and Ranma slept.
Going to Genma's door first she silently leaned her ear against the door and heard Genma's snoring. Since that was normal for him she moved onto the last room. If there was nothing wrong in this room, she was going back to sleep and blaming paranoia on making her check everything.
When she opened the door they were all sleeping peacefully.
Ryo was asleep on his back in his futon, the covers covering only his lower half. In Kasumi's opinion, his black tank top did nothing to hide his broad shoulders and excellent figure.
Ranma was sprawled out on his futon, half under the covers, half on top of them, legs and arms akimbo.
Kasumi looked over to Ryuu, finding nothing abnormal about Ranma or Ryo's sleeping habits. Ryuu was on his back, when he turned to face the wall. Even in the dim light of the room, she could see the tattoo on Ryuu's left shoulder blade clearly. (It's the Kanji for Justice.)
Kasumi, once again, finding nothing wrong with the occupants of this room, decided she was paranoid and went back to her room. The Sandman was calling and she was more then happy to answer his call.
/Nabiki's Room--Morning/
Nabiki awoke around her usual time, about 6:30. When she got out of bed she was hoping the bathroom was empty so she could take a shower. Unfortunately, when she opened her door Ranma was walking out of the bathroom in just a towel.
Nabiki caught herself staring, thankfully before Ranma did.
But Ryuu caught her staring, and Ryuu being Ryuu, decided to say something.
"Enjoy ogling my younger brother?"
Nabiki blushed as she recognized the voice, and the fact that she could feel his warm breath on her ear didn't help one bit. For some reason her instincts didn't want her to, but she turned to look at Ryuu. She immediately realized why her instincts had said "no". Ryuu was wearing nothing but his boxers and had a single towel around his neck. If possible, she turned 10 different shades of red.
"Ano..." was all Nabiki could manage, because she was too embarrassed to say anything else.
"Chill, Nabiki. Embarrassed is so unlike you..." Ryuu said as he moved to go into the bathroom.
Nabiki didn't now what was wrong with her this morning, but she couldn't help but stare at Ryuu's figure as he walked into the bathroom.
(Author: Who could blame her? Hell, even I can't resist sometimes... Ryuu: That was just unnessecary. Author: So? Even if you won't admit it, you can't deny you have a nice figure. Ryuu: (Blush) Author: I bet Mimi-chan15 would agree with me... Ryuu: Don't you have a job to do!? Author: Huh? Oh, right. Better get back to the story...)
Nabiki noticed something as Ryuu disappeared into the bathroom, he had a scar on his right shoulder...she also noticed that he seemed to have a similar scar in front of his right shoulder. Almost as if whatever had given him that scar had made a trip in one way and out the other. The was scar distinct too, almost as if it had happened recently. She would have to look into it later. As she turned to go back in her room she couldn't help but think, 'Nice ass...'
(Ryuu: Hey! Author: Sorry, couldn't resist...)
/Akane's Room/
Akane is still sound asleep, and was not a morning person. So no one dared to wake her up...Ryuu had done it for kicks one morning and got to school pretty early, courtesy of Akane Airlines.
(Author: So we're just gonna back away slowly... Ryuu: And quietly... Author: And leave... Ryuu: Hopefully in one piece...)
/Hallway/
Nabiki had just finished her turn in the bathroom, and saw Ryuu send Ranma to his doom. In other words, Ryuu had told Ranma to go and wake Akane up.
As Ranma disappeared into Akane's room, Ryuu spotted Nabiki walk out of the bathroom, in just a towel. Ryuu's jaw dropped open, and Nabiki smirked. She walked over to him and with a single finger closed his mouth.
"It's rude to stare, Ryuu-kun..." Nabiki said as she slowly let her finger run down his jaw, then she turned to go into her room.
Ryuu just stared and slowly followed her like a lost puppy. She turned and smiled at him before closing her door. Ryuu smiled a smile that would've turned Nabiki's legs to jelly had she witnessed it.
"It's about time I started melting the ice around that heart of hers..." Ryuu's thoughts drifted off to La La Land, but was interrupted by a yell from Akane's room.
"Ranma no Baka!!!"
(WHAM)
"Ite..."
Ryuu winced at the small exchange but said nothing of it as Akane came out of her room, "Uh...The bathroom's empty if you need to use it...?"
Akane mumbled something and walked into the bathroom.
Ryuu walked over to Akane's room and peered inside, he winced and slowly closed the door. Moving to the top of the stairs he yelled, "Ryo! We need you and your powers upstairs...!!"
Ryo grumbled a bit as he moved to stand up, "What did those two do now...?"
Almost as if hearing Ryo, Ryuu shouted, "Ranma woke Akane up...So you might wanna hurry, I don't think she'll be too happy if he bleeds on the floor..."
That got Ryo moving.
/Tea Room/
Ryo, after returning from fixing up Ranma, sat sipping his tea. Something told him today was going to be pretty eventful.
Akane walked down the stairs, Ryuu followed shortly after with a slightly bruised Ranma behind him. They took their seats and waited for breakfast to be served.
Nabiki came down shortly after, and just as Kasumi was serving breakfast. As they all ate, they chatted about random topics, the news, the Counsel Meeting from the night before, etc.
(Note: there is one City Counsel Meeting per month.)
Ryuu and Nabiki were the first ones to leave, Nabiki had some clients to collect from before school started.
Ranma and Ryo were the next ones out, Ranma wanted to discuss Akane's progress with Ryo.
Akane was the last one out the door, because Kasumi wanted to ask her something, Akane had left with a slight blush after being asked if she was dreaming about Ranma the night before. She had denied it, then left saying she didn't want to be late.
(Author: (Doing a small dance in her seat) Akane's got a secret! Akane's got a secret! Ryuu: What's so bad about dreaming about your crush? Author: (Stops dance) You dream about Nabiki? Ryuu: (Blush) No! Why would I dream about Nabiki? Author: (Does dance again) Ryuu's got a secret! Ryuu's got a secret! Ryuu: Well, would you look at the time! I've gotta get going! Bye! Author: (Still doing dance) (Huge smile) Who's says I'm sugar-high? (Devours a few Pixie Sticks) )
As Akane turned the corner running to catch up with Ranma and Ryo, unknown to her or the others, a woman walked up to the Tendo door and knocked. She had white hair and a sheathed katana at her side.
As Kasumi opened the door her smile grew, "Good morning, Auntie."
The woman returned Kasumi's smile, "Hello, Kasumi dear. Have you heard from my husband lately?"
/P.E./
Ryuu, Akane, Ranma all had P.E. during the same period. Granted they were in seperate classes, but they still saw each other. It was also the only class Nabiki could never get Ryuu out of willingly.
They were all playing soccer and it was Ranma's turn to run down the field. He made it about half way down the field before Ryuu yelled his warning.
"Ranma, watch out! Code Purple!!"
(Ryuu: Shouldn't it be code blue, or something like that? Author: Confuscious say, that all codes have color. But color depend on friend or foe. Ryuu: What? O.o Author: Just shut up and watch. Ryuu: Sure, whatever.)
Everyone was confused about the sudden outburst, though it wasn't unusual for Ryuu, what he said was unusual. Ranma's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he heard Ryuu's yell and at what he saw flying towards himself.
"Nihao, Airen!!"
Ranma just barely dodged being plowed over by a purple blur on a bike.
Ryuu ran over to Ranma. Ranma had tripped and the bike's front wheel had landed a bit too close to a certain spot...
"You okay, bro?" Ryuu asked.
Ranma nodded, but you could tell he was a bit shaken by his close call.
They both turned to see Akane running up to them.
"You okay, Ranma?" Akane asked. When Ranma nodded she turned to Ryuu, "What's going on, Ryuu?"
Ryuu turned to face the woman that was on the bike, "I would like to know that as well..."
The woman was around Ranma's height, and looked about Ranma's age as well. She had long purple hair, and a body that most boys would drool over.
"/Xian-Pu! Are you out of your flipping mind!?/" Ranma yelled, standing up.
(Note: Any words spoken as "/.../", are spoken in Chinese. Or the dialect of the Joketsozuku.)
The girl Ranma called Xian-Pu just scratched her head in embarrassment, "/Sorry, I had some trouble with the brakes.../"
Ranma rolled his eyes, "Never would've geussed..."
Ryuu smiled a bit, "/What brings you by, Xian-Pu? I'm geussing it wasn't to retreive your 'husband'./"
Xian-Pu smiled also, "/No, I came with Great-Grandmother. We are opening a restaurant./"
Ranma decided to join the conversation also, "/Why?/"
Xian-Pu turned to Ranma, "/Life hadn't been the same since you and your brothers had left. Though after the last battle with the Musk.../"
"/Nothing was the same anyway.../" Ryuu finished.
"/But it wasn't just that. After you three left the village life got boring, and Mu-Tsu started bothering me again. Claiming that Ryuu had taught him some techniques before he had left./" Xian-Pu said.
Ryuu looked away from Xian-Pu.
Xian-Pu's eyes widened in realization, "/You did, didn't you! Ryuu!/" Xian-Pu looked about ready to strangle Ryuu.
Luckily for Ryuu, Akane decided she was done sitting in the dark.
"Can someone tell me what's going on...and who she is?" Akane asked pointing to Xian-Pu.
Ryuu let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and answered Akane's question, "This is Shampoo, well that's the closest to her name you can say in Japanese..."
Shampoo stuck her tongue out at Ryuu.
"She's a friend from when we went to China. You could say Ranma and her were friendly rivals. Shampoo is the great-grand daughter of one of the Elders of the Joketsozuku," Ryuu said.
Ranma jumped in at this point, "She came with her great-grandmother to open up a restaurant."
"How do you guys know how to speak Chinese?" Akane asked.
Ryuu just looked at Ranma, and Ranma shrugged.
Ryuu answered, "(sigh) How else were we supposed to survive close to 2 years in Joketsozuku? No one really spoke Japanese, so we were taught by one of the Elders."
Shampoo looked at Ryuu and asked, "/Is she always that slow?/"
Ryuu shrugged, "Beats me."
Akane was starting to get annoyed, they were talking in Chinese again, and she couldn't understand a single word of it, "Can you please stop that?!"
Ryuu looked at Akane, "Stop what?"
"Stop talking in Chinese!"
"Sorry, didn't think it would bug you," Ranma answered.
Ryuu smiled an evil smile. He had discovered one more thing to bug Akane with...life was good.
Shampoo bowed to Akane, "Gomen, I did not catch your name."
Akane smiled, "My name's Akane." Akane then turned to Ryuu and Ranma, "So she is capable of speaking Japanese."
"We never said she couldn't." Ranma said.
The sensei began calling the class in, which meant Ryuu, Akane, and Ranma had to leave Shampoo for now.
"We have to go Shampoo. But we'll stop by the restaurant with Ryo after school. Ja ne!" Ryuu said as they ran inside.
"Ja matta ne!" Shampoo yelled. She hopped on her bike and sped off to the Nekonhaten.
/Furinkan Hallway/
Ryuu jogged to where Nabiki was standing, "Yo, did I miss anything?"
Nabiki shook her head, "No. But I did feel kinda lonely waiting for you?"
Ryuu cocked his head to the side, "Really?"
Nabiki just smirked, "C'mon let's go."
"Mou! Wait you never answered! Forget it...Where are we going!" Ryuu said as he followed her.
Nabiki just continued walking, though she would never tell him, she did feel lonely without him by her side. At first he was just annoying, always trying to make small talk and never leaving her alone on the job. Soon she came to realize that she was beginning to enjoy his presence. And that whenever he was around she felt safe. Though now more then ever, because of their little experience the night of Ryuu's first Counsel Meeting.
She had known he was in P.E. before, so she took the time to see if any of the computer guys knew anything about the Joketsozuku. She had found out that there had been a major battle between the Joketsozuku and the Musk tribe a few months ago. There was little known about the battle but there was a rumor going about. They had printed out the information about the rumor and whatever else they could pick up. She had found out little about the tribe, but it would have to do for now. All the information she had gathered was in the folder in her arms.
Ryuu's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "Hey, Nabiki...What's in the folder?"
"What?" was Nabiki's intelligent answer.
Ryuu smiled, "I said, what's in the folder?"
"Oh, nothing special. Just a little research I had done on something."
"Is it my next assignment?" Ryuu said, excitement clear in his voice. Ryuu had gotten tired of just doing bodygaurd work several weeks ago and had asked if Nabiki could give him some other assignments. So whenever he got bored and wasn't training he would ask for an assignment, and she always had one waiting for him.
"No, it's-oops," someone had bumped into Nabiki making her drop the folder, scattering it's contents.
Ryuu bent down to help pick up the papers and what he saw made his eyes widen. Nabiki saw his eyes widen, but he said nothing. The papers were a jumble of words and pictures, and the picture that had caught Ryuu's eye was one of a male warrior. He was covered in blood, and you could only see one of his eyes, which glowed red. His hair was black and red and he had a small fire in his hands.
Ryuu picked up the papers quickly and placed them in the folder. He stood up and helped Nabiki stand up from her kneeling position. They walked in silence throughout the rest of the walk. And the rest of the school day there was an awkward silence between them. And Nabiki had absolutely no idea why, for once.
Ryuu was thinking about the photo all throughout the rest of the day, 'It's amazing how accurate that picture was...It's scary though, I felt as if I was there again...reliving the experience...Is it some kinda omen? Nah...I'm starting to get paranoid again...'
Nabiki just left Ryuu to his thinking, as scary as it was to see him thinking, he looked like he was contemplating something important. So she left him alone.
/After School--Alleyway/
Nabiki was talking with one of her clients and Ryuu was leaning against the wall next to her. He seemed to have been spacing out. Nabiki shook off the feeling that she was the cause of Ryuu's silence...It was an annoying feeling, but what was more annoying was she didn't know why she cared. Well, she knew why, but she'd never admit that to herself, much less Ryuu. But she couldn't think about that now. She had a client to extract money from.
Nabiki didn't know what she had said but she suddenly found that she had angered her client.
Ryuu spotted it through the corner of his eye, he saw the guy reach into his jacket and pull out a dagger. He jumped into action when the guy moved to stab Nabiki.
Nabiki had no idea what had happened but she suddenly found herself on her butt on the ground with Ryuu standing above her. She couldn't tell exactly but she could've sworn she saw something red dripping to the ground.
Ryuu had seen the guy pull out a dagger and attempt to stab Nabiki. He was quick enough to push Nabiki behind him, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the dagger from plunging itself into his shoulder. The guy didn't know what to do, he was stunned that this boy had jumped in front of Nabiki. Not only saving her but getting himself stabbed in the process.
"You're nuts!" The guy yelled. He turned to run but got no further then two feet before falling down and doing a faceplant in the ground. Ryuu had kicked the back of his knee and made him fall before knocking him out.
Nabiki watched as Ryuu fell to his knees clutching the dagger that was still lodged in his shoulder. Moving to kneel in front of him she saw him grip the dagger tightly and pull it out of his shoulder. She gasped as she realized that with the dagger gone the blood flowed more freely.
Nabiki looked at Ryuu with wide eyes, "Ryuu...why?"
Ryuu just smiled and said, "Just doing my job..." His smile disappeared as the pain and loss of blood started to get to him.
"Can you stand?" Nabiki asked.
"Yeah, I think..." Ryuu managed to stand but needed Nabiki to stabilize his balance.
As they made their way to Tofu's clinic, Ryuu collapsed from the lose of blood about a yard from the front door. Nabiki tried to gently lay him down on the pavement, but found it hard since Ryuu was no longer holding up most of his weight. She quickly ran inside the clinic and got Dr.Tofu. Leading him outside to where she left Ryuu, Tofu picked him up and went back inside to help Ryu.
/Meanwhile--Nekonhaten/
"So, where is your older brother, Ryo?" Shampoo asked.
Ryo shrugged, "He's either chasing squirrels, doing jobs for Nabiki, or training in the dojo."
A withered old woman sat perched on a stick that was three times the size of her, spoke, "That doesn't help us much, Ryo."
Ryo scratched the back of his head, "Gomen, Cologne. But, you know how unpredictable Ryuu can be."
Cologne smiled, "Yes, I know."
Ranma was sitting with Shampoo discussing how their training was going and basically what has gone on since they left.
/Meanwhile--Tendo House/
Akane had just walked through the door and was a bit pissed. Ryo had sent her home as soon as they reached the Nekonhaten. She would've stayed but she could see that they had a lot to talk about and no time to explain it to her. So she left. But just because they had a good reason, doesn't mean they wouldn't hear from her when they got home.
Voices from the tea room interupted her thoughts.
"Tadaima!" Akane said as she entered the tea room.
Sitting in the room was Suon, Kasumi, Genma, and, "Auntie Nodoka!"
Akane smiled as she walked over and hugged Nodoka.
"Hello, Akane dear. Why don't you sit down and join us?"
"What brings you here, Auntie?" Akane asked.
"Well, I had come to see if any of you had heard from Genma since his last letter. And when I got here, he was playing Shoji with Suon." Nodoka said with a smile, "But I still haven't seen my boys...do you know where they are, Akane?"
"Uh, yeah, well I know where Ryo and Ranma is. Ryuu went off somewhere with Nabiki..."
"Can you please tell me?"
"Yeah, sure. What harm could it do? They went to a new restaurant to talk with the owner."
Suon spoke this time, "What new restaurant?"
"Uh, I think it was called the Nekonhaten..."
"Do you know why?" asked Genma.
"Not really, but I met a girl earlier today, Ryuu told me her name was Shampoo and that they would visit her and her great-grandmother after school."
Genma paled a bit.
Nodoka saw this, "What's wrong dear?"
"It's the girl from China...the one who almost broke my neck when I told them we were leaving..."
Akane had to ask, "Why would she do that?"
"She's a naturally violent girl, but being raised as an Amazon seemed to have amplified it a bit..." Genma lied.
Kasumi and Nodoka looked at each other and exchanged familiar faces, Genma was lying, and they would find out why.
To Be Continued...
Reviews:
Niana Kuonji- (Ryuu: Augh! That was my favorite shirt!) Don't mind Ryuu, he'll get over his shirt. He has the same one in black anyway. (Ryuu: But I liked the red one!) Hush! I'll buy you a new one. (Ryuu: Really? Thanks...) (Sigh) Now that the dramatics are over, I'm glad you enjoy my fic so much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. And tell Starling I said "hi".
Koala Kitty- Thank you, for reviewing and bearing with me.
Lunarwolf- As the story progresses you'll probably start to notice a plot form, and eventually deepen.
renzuko- Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Jerry Unipeg- Hmm...do you say anything besides 'Great Chapter' and 'Nice Chapter'? Not that I don't apreciate your reviewing, but...
Ryo's destiny- It makes me happy when people review...
avolare- Thank you! I hope I'm not pushing Ryuu and Nabiki's relationship a bit fast...but there are some things that need to be done before the story can really progress.
Mimi-chan15- I think you're one of few who actually might've figured it was Ryuu in the dream. And yeah, Ryuu's past is pretty troubled. He's got some secrets that even he doesn't know about...but we'll all see that soon enough. Just not too soon...I hope...
A/N:
Author: Yay! I got another chapter done! I've been on a roll lately!
Ryuu: I-I was stabbed...
Author: Yup.
Ryuu: Why?
Author: Uh, were you not listening? You were protecting Nabiki!
Ryo: So, what happens next?
Author: You'll have to wait and see.
Ryuu: Wait! Did I survive???
Author: (Evil smirk) Maybe you did, maybe you didn't.
Ryuu: I'm gonna die...!
Ranma: Wait, you can't die.
Ryuu: Why not?
Author: Holy crap! Did I really make you so much like Akane??
Akane: What was that? (Cracks knuckles)
Author: Uh, um...Look! It's a topless Ranma!
Akane: Where!?! (Looks for Ranma)
Author: (Runs away)
Akane: (Spots Ranma)
Ranma: (Has his shirt on, waves) Heh-heh, hi...
Akane: (Eye twitch)
Ryuu: (Points at Author running away) OoOoO...look at her go...!
Akane: (Turns to chase Author)
Ryo: Well, I geuss we have to close up.
Ryuu: Yup...
Ranma: Can I...?
Ryo: Do what?
Ryuu: Yes, you can put the disc in.
Ranma: Yay! (Takes out hypnotism disc and places it in a CD player)
Ryuu: (Pushes play)
CD Player: Push the little Blue button and Submit your opinions! Push the little blue button and Submit your opinions!
Ryuu, Ryo, Ranma: Must submit opinions...(Swirly zombie eyes)
Author: (Appears with ear muffs on) See you guys next time!
Akane: (Stands beside Author with ear muffs also) Ja ne!
Author: (Turns to watch Ryuu, Ryo, and Ranma make fools of themselves)
Akane: (Evil grin; Brings out mallet from behind her back)
(WHAM)
Author: Ite...!