CHAPTER NINE

"A TRIP TO THE BATH HOUSE"

The hiss of the fuse echoed throughout the hall. Len stepped back, how on earth was he going to get out of this one. The bomb towered over him ominously. Happosai jumped down from the bomb and tried to scurry away, Soun grabbed him by his tiny little legs, "Master, don't leave me!" he whined.

Happosai tried to shake Soun off him, "Let go of me! I have some urgent business to attend to!" he cried. He pounded on Soun's until the Tendo finally let go.

Anna walked in the hallway, wondering what all the shouting was about, "What is that?" she said with a slight tinge of fear in her voice.

The little flame had engulfed the last part of the fuse—

XXX

The earth rumbled beneath Amidamaru and Bason. They stopped talking and listened intently, "Did you hear that, Bason." Amidamaru whispered.

Bason look at the column of black smoke rising from a distance, "That is where they are staying!" Bason cried.

'This is my chance!' thought Gosunkugi. He held a finely made net in his hands, there was a big grin on his face. The net was an heirloom, Gosunkugi didn't bother with it since he did not know what it did… until he read the book. The net is the Spirare Limen, it is able to bind the spirit within it's fine thread that was dipped in the blood who had crafted it. Gosunkugi stealthily walked around the tombstone, ready to pounce at his prey. "YOU'RE MINE, SAMURAI!" he yelled as he jumped. "Huh!"

Gosunkugi found himself with a face full of dirt and entangled with his own net. The samurai was gone. He clenched his teeth in fury, as he untangled himself from the net. He stood up and brushed the dust of him clothes, "Just a minor setback." He reminded himself. "At least I know there's a good spirit here." He laughed, Ranma will be long gone…

XXX

Len wiped away the black soot from his face, he coughed. "I-I'm alive…" he mumbled. His heart was still thumping in his chest.

Black smoke seeped out of the doors and windows of the Tendo household. Ranma was now wide awake as he ran to the ashen-black hallway, "What happened!" he shouted.

Anna was deathly furious, she just kept quiet and walked away.

"Oh, dear…" Kasumi said. "what a mess."

"Aw man!" The lower portion of Trey was covered entirely in soot. "There's ash everywhere in the house!"

Yoh walked in, patches of ash were all over his clothes, and he chuckled, "Is this all? I thought a volcano erupted."

"My new suit!" Rio screamed.

"Is everyone alright!" Amidamaru appeared with Bason. Bason quickly went to Len.

Soun raised his finger, "Who's up to go to the bath house?"

XXX

The group walked by the sidewalk… the group being: Anna, Yoh, Pilika, Jun, Trey, Len, Morty, Ranma, Akane and Kasumi. Mr. Tendo and Rio decided that they would be left behind for the meantime.

Akane noticed that Len didn't use his crutches anymore. "Uhm… hey."

Len looked at her, "What!"

"I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Len Tao." He mumbled.

"Oh, Len, is your leg fine?"

"Of course it is fine! How could I walk then?" he shot at her. He was clearly in a bad mood. Then he remembered that he was supposed to be handicapped, "I'm a fast healer." He quickly added.

Ranma listened to the conversation, he scowled at Len. Something was up, "That means you don't have to stay with us anymore, right?" he spoke up.

"Oh, Ranma." Kasumi said cheerily, "they could stay as long as they want."

"We look like a bunch of homeless people." Yoh joked. Nobody answered, it was true… they were all covered in black soot.

"How much farther to this bath house?" Anna asked.

"Not much." Akane answered. "You did remember to bring… you know."

"Yes, we brought them." Jun said as she patted her bag.

"I can't wait to soak up." Trey mumbled, "The ash is starting to itch." He scratched his sooty leg.

Morty sighed, instead of the white sandy beaches of the Bahamas they had to bathe in a little public bath house.

"Here we are!" Kasumi chirped.

XXX

Trey jumped into the bath; water splashed everywhere. "Hahahah! This feels so good!" he shouted.

Morty, Len and Yoh followed. Trey submerged his head under the water, then he resurfaced. His blue hair was now covering his eyes, he pushed it aside. He approached Yoh, "Hey where's the Ramen guy?"

"I think he was called Ranma." Morty said as he heard Trey's question.

"Yeah, yeah… Where's Ranma then?"

"Probably still changing." Yoh answered. Just then a small little man jumped in the pool (or whatever you call the pools in the bath house), he was followed by a red-headed girl.

"There's a girl in the guy's area of the bath!" Trey yelled. He clung to the edge of the pool.

"What are you talking about?" Morty said.

"I said there was a girl in here." Trey answered, his face became serious. Trey saw Ranma emerge from where the girl jumped into, he noticed that he looked pissed-off. "Hey Ranma! You saw a girl, right?"

Ranma looked at Trey, should he tell them about his curse? Probably not, it wasn't that important. "What girl?" he mumbled.

"Red-head. Kinda looked like you… when you think about it."

"Nope."

Trey fumed, "But I saw a girl! And believe me, these eyes don't lie." He pointed to his eyes.

"You are just delusional." Len said as he placed a towel on his forehead.

"I'm not delusional!" Trey shot back. He jumped on Len and pushed the boy's head underwater. Len flailed his hands around as he tried to resurface, finally Trey let go of him. Len gasped for air.

"You idiot!" Len yelled, his fist was clenched.

Trey pointed at him and laughed, "Dude! Y-your hair!" Yoh laughed along with him. Ranma raised a brow.

"What do you mean 'my hair'?" Len barked, he was furious that Trey and Yoh found him amusing. He slid his hands to where the spike on top of his head was… it wasn't there. Len's hair was sleek, the hair that was fashioned as a spike ran down to his shoulders.

"What do you use to hold it up anyway?" Yoh asked.

Len didn't answer, he was embarrassed and furious at the same time. He turned away from them… this was the second time he had felt this way since the Cat Café.

"Come on Lenny, I doesn't even look that bad." Trey said as he tried to bottle in his laughter.

Yoh lean on the side of the bath, he was between Morty and Ranma. Ranma had a towel covering his eyes, probably resting. Morty was lost in thought. Yoh let out a deep breath, "Time to re-lax…" he murmured.

A little stream of bubbles rose from the water in front of Yoh. Morty looked at him questioningly, "Yoh, if you really wanted to 'relax' could you get out of the pool?"

Ranma lifted the towel from his eyes, "Kid, this is a public bath house."

"But it wasn't me!" Yoh protested.

"Right…" Ranma mumbled, he inched away from Yoh.

The bubbles became bigger.

XXX

"Did you hear that?" Kasumi asked them.

"I did not hear anything." Jun answered.

"Hmm… I thought I heard a scream."

"Me too." Pilika joined in. "I think it came from the guy's section of the bath."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hello again! I made the Spirare Limen up and there will a lot more of those spirit capturing things in Gosunkugi's attic waiting to be used. Spirare means 'to breathe' but that is where the word spirit comes from. Limen is threshold.

I know my Ranma cast is a bit out of character... but it is hard to do it since i haven't watched the show for months.

I know you can add pictures in your profile... if you can... can you tell me how?

With love,

pazaway-tiger