You know…I think I might actually write some real author's notes. DUH-DA-DUH! Anyway something that Yashi Saotome said in a review quite worried me. Yuri reminds you of Kodachi? Are you insinuating that Kodachi might be Iikiba and Yuri's mother? Gasp! How did you know? (This is a joke) GAK! Crimedy, no! Maybe I'm reading too much into it. (Pokes brain) There is actually a very interesting story behind Iikiba and Yuri's mother that you will not get to see for a LONG while. So don't worry about it and take the story as it is. …Now that I've sufficiently peaked your curiosity, on to chapter three!

THE WOES OF A FATHER

It was a dark and stormy night.

Last night.

Tonight was actually quite lovely out. However Ranma didn't notice this as he was too busy staring angrily at the clock in the dojo. Five minutes to five.

"They're late." He sighed. He should have known better than to think they would actually be back after school. He sat down on the floor of the dojo and leaned his head against his hand. "Why do I even bother?"

"Don't worry Sensei! I'm here!" An eager looking boy of about 14 in a martial arts outfit said as he walked up behind Ranma.

"Yeah great." Ranma said unenthusiastically.

The boy sighed. "I guess some of us just aren't as dedicated as others. I know if that if I were born as heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, it would be such an honor!"

"Exactly!" Ranma said, perking up.

"I mean it's not like this place needs any renovations, holes in the ceiling give it character! So what if your own children don't come? You've still got me! I may be you're only paying student, but I feel like our one on one training time has really paid off for me!"

"Kiyoshi, just stop talking." Ranma said gloomily, slumping forward again.

"Ranma! How could you let this dojo fall into such disarray?" Soun suddenly shouted dramatically.

"Honestly Son, you can do better than this! I never thought I'd see the day you could only keep one student, this is exactly why you are in debt up to your ears you know." Genma scolded. Then he stuffed some noodles in his mouth from the bowel of instant ramen he was holding in his hand.

Ranma glared at his father. "Oh really? I thought the reason I was in debt was because I had two freeloaders living in my house!" He snatched the instant ramen away from Genma.

"Don't speak to your father that way!" Genma snatched the ramen back.

"Why am I included in that accusation?" Soun asked.

Ranma snatched the ramen back again. "Listen Pops! This is all your fault anyway!"

"Don't know what you're talking about."

Ranma glared at his father.

"Sheesh, I accidentally drop a bucket of cold water on you one time and you just can't let it go."

"I was on parents' day! They all thought I was some kind of cross dressing pervert!"

"I know you're not a pervert Sensei!" Kiyoshi said.

"Not now Kiyoshi. Look Pops, all I'm saying is that you should get a job and buy your own ramen, or move back with Mom."

"You know he has a point. It's high time you did your share of work for this house." Soun agreed.

"Don't tell me you're on his side!" Genma yelled. "And besides, you're one to talk! Why don't you do some work?"

"I'm retired. Besides I spent many years supporting three children and two freeloaders and I'm sure Ranma can do it too." Soun said.

"Come to think of it," Ranma said with a surprised look on his face. "I don't think I ever saw you host a class here once! How the heck did you make a living! And pay for all the house damages! And bills!"

"Oh Ranma, Ranma, Ranma………Ranma, Ranma……………………….Ranma."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"There is no secret, just years of hard work. That and I have a deceased uncle who was rather well off." Soun couldn't help smiling.

"And I'm assuming you spent it all, right?" Ranma said in an exasperated voice.

"You kids were more expensive than you thought."

"Well that's just great!" Ranma took a swig of the ramen as if it were a hard drink.

"Ah! That's mine!" Genma lunged forward and tried to steal the ramen away.

"Go buy your own!" Ranma yelled as he took a swing at him. But Genma dodged around and tackled him. "Getoffa me!" Ranma yelled as he struggled to push his father away. Soun took a step back so as not to get caught in the skirmish.

Kiyoshi watched in horror. "Oh Sensei, reduced to fighting your lump of a father. What a waste of your talent."

Genma popped up behind him. "Who are you calling a lump?" He demanded. Kiyoshi laughed nervously.

ELSEWHERE IN NERIMA

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryoga slammed his finger into the building in front of him. The wall crumbled and fell away; the rest of the structure screeched ominously then fell in. Dirt was kicked up into the air and nothing but rubble was left where the building had stood a second before.

Three overweight men were watching this while sitting in the back of a puck-up truck. They were all wearing yellow construction helmets and sweaty shirts. "No matter how many times I see that it still amazes me." The middle one said. The one to the left waved a can of beer over his head. "Hey Ryoga! That's enough for today, just chill for a while!"

Ryoga looked over at the men; he too was wearing a yellow construction helmet. That's right. A member of the Nermia wrecking crew had actually become a demolition worker. Of course without a high school degree there wasn't much else he could do. Yet somehow he still made more money than Ranma.

"Okay." Ryoga walked over the truck and hopped into the back with the men. The one who had told him to chill grinned and pulled another beer out of the cooler and tossed it to Ryoga.

"Great work today, I tell ya I've been in the construction business my whole life but I've never seen anything quite like that!"

"Thanks Ted." Ryoga smiled, it was nice to have normal people admire his skills.

"I really think you have a future in the business kid. When my promotion comes through I'll be sure to keep you in mind for the position of foreman, aye." Ted winked and elbowed Ryoga in the arm.

"Oh sure, just ignore us." One of the other guys said.

"Like you had a chance of taking my place Bill. All you and Wallis do is sit on your asses all day watching Ryoga do all the work."

"You do that too!" Bill accused. "Besides I do have a wife and kids to take care of!"

"Big deal, I'm sure Ryoga does too." Ted turned to Ryoga. "Right?"

Ryoga was a little taken aback. "Uh, well I have two kids. But I'm a single parent."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Ted said reassuringly. "I'm sure that bitch didn't know what she was thinking, divorcing a great guy like you."

"Actually she passed away." Ryoga said with an irritated tone.

Ted froze for a second. Then he turned to Bill. "You see? Now you've gone and hurt his feelings."

"I didn't even say anything you bastard!"

"Don't sass your superiors."

"Ted has a tendency to talk too much." Wallis said to Ryoga.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed." Ryoga said sarcastically. He took a sip of his beer and that was when he felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

"Drinking Father? What kind of example are you setting for your daughter?" Yuri said and her fan club nodded in agreement.

"Well you weren't here a second ago."

Yuri was about to say something when Ted interrupted her. "Hey Yuri, how was school?"

She stared coldly at him. "Adequate."

"Great! Nothing gets you places like a good education!"

"We really should be going." Yuri said to Ryoga.

"You know I really admire how you come to pick up your father every day! Shows good character it does!" Ted said.

For some reason this comment annoyed Yuri more than anything else. She leered at Ted, "If he doesn't get to work, I don't get any money."

"Ha ha! And a sense of humor too!"

"Alright Yuri! Let's get going!" Ryoga jumped up before Ted could do any more damage. He jumped on top of Yuri's box carrier and the fan boys faltered under the added weight but the others were ready to help support the carrier and leapt in to help.

Yuri continued to glare at Ted for a second then turned away with her nose in the air as if just looking at him was beneath her. The fan boys took this as an instruction and began marching out to the street from the construction area.

"Don't be strangers now!" Ted called after them and waved good-bye. Bill and Wallis also waved but not as enthusiastically as Ted.

Once the fan boys had made it out to the street and were walking at a regular pace, "I'm disappointed in him." Yuri said.

"Disappointed?" Ryoga asked.

"He just isn't living up to proper standards."

"I know he can be annoying." Ryoga laughed. "But trust me, Ted's harmless."

"I wasn't talking about that fool. I was talking about your son." Yuri sighed.

Ryoga frowned. He knew better than to take Yuri seriously when she got like this, but most of the time what she said had some truth to it. Ryoga sighed and scratched his head. "Okay I'll bite, what did Iikiba do?"

Yuri held her sleeve up to her face as if about to break into tears. "Oh Father! He has shamed our family name! I'm not even sure I can speak of it!"

"But you're the one who brought it up!"

Yuri couldn't help smirking, "I-I'm afraid he, he has lost to Jatsuma Saotome."

Those were the magic words. "AGAIN?" Ryoga's face was mingled with fury and embarrassment as if he himself had lost to Ranma.

"Oh Father! All the children at school laugh at me! They call me the sister of a loser!" She sniffed. The fan boys below cried heavily and blew their noses.

"I'll just talk to him when we get home." He said, ignoring Yuri's sob story.

IN THE HIBIKI APARTMENT

"I don't need your help!" Iikiba hunched over the paper on the table in front of him, hiding it from view.

"But you're doing it wrong!" Makoto pulled at his arm, trying to move it off the math problem it was covering.

"Okay! Then I don't WANT your help!"

Makoto glared at him. "Oh fine! Be that way! We'll work on it later!" She stomped into the Hibiki kitchen where she had a large pot simmering and she started to chop up onions very rapidly.

"What makes you think I'll want your help later?" Iikiba yelled into the kitchen. He smiled at his own success at making Makoto go away. Then looked down and saw his crinkled and ripped paper. He sighed, remembering that he had failed his last homework assignment because he had turned it in torn into three pieces.

He pulled his open math book closer and looked at the next problem, it seemed simple enough but what was he supposed to do with the absolute value? Something about flipping the sign. He racked his brains trying to remember class, but all that came to mind was Jatsuma hitting him with a spitball. Curse that Jatsuma! This was all his fault! Iikiba shook his head trying to regain his concentration, he looked down at his paper and decided to change the 3 to a –3. That looked right.

Makoto made a voice in her throat that was something like a cough, she was right behind Iikiba. "You have to change the greater than to a less than sign too."

"I thought you weren't helping me anymore!"

"Well I don't want you to fail!"

"I'm just fine on my own!"

"Alright, alright. Geez." Makoto returned to the kitchen.

Iikiba made sure she was gone before quickly erasing the greater than sign. He was about to write in the less than sign when an unexpected shiver ran down his spine, causing him to break the pencil in half. "Damn it Yuri!" He yelled down the hall where he could hear the front door opening.

Yuri slid elegantly out of her carrier and walked in through the front door that a fan boy was holding open for her. Ryoga jumped off the carrier and stalked in after her, he was still fuming. He closed the door behind him, leaving the fan boys outside. They would be back in the morning.

Yuri walked into the dinning room where Iikiba was sitting and she grinned wickedly at him. Iikiba narrowed his eyes in distrust. "What did you do?"

Yuri said nothing but took the seat next to her brother. Ryoga came into the room looking particularly irritated and glared at Iikiba.

"Whatever she said, I didn't do it!" He yelled before Ryoga could say anything.

Ryoga's aura deflated immensely. "Phew! That's a relief! She told me you had lost to Jatsuma!" He laughed.

Iikiba suddenly looked depressed again, the whole Makoto homework situation had made him forget about losing. "Well you know, except that."

Ryoga's aura was back up in a second. "That's the fifth time this month!"

"It's not my fault! That stupid Makoto keeps getting in the way!" Just then a pair of salad tongs flew out of the kitchen and hit Iikiba in the head. "Well it's true!" He yelled towards the kitchen.

Makoto came out carrying a tray of steamed vegetables. "Dinner's served!" She said cheerfully.

"Great! I'm starved!" Ryoga took his seat.

"Don't encourage her!" Iikiba yelled.

Makoto passed out plates and silverware and spooned the vegetables onto their plates.

"Only vegetables?" Iikiba asked. "Don't we get some meat at least?"

"Too much meat will make you fat." Makoto said.

"Are you trying to say something?" He growled.

"She just has your best interest at heart." Ryoga said as he took a bite of his carrot and made a mental note to heat up a hot dog later.

Yuri glared at her father. "Wasn't there something you wanted to say to Iikiba?"

Ryoga thought for a second. "Oh yeah! How could you lose to Jatsuma?"

"You're acting like its something I do of my own free will! You think I want to lose?"

"If you really wanted to win then you would train harder! You can't just expect to do the same thing over and over and somehow win."

"You're such a disgrace." Yuri added. "Running blindly into battle over and over without a second thought."

"Don't you start!" Iikiba snapped at his sister.

"Well she's right you know," Ryoga took another bite of carrot. "You should be training every day."

"Oops." Makoto said as she was setting down the tray on the table. She had completely forgotten about training.

"Oops what?" Iikiba asked.

"Dad wanted me home after school. I totally forgot." She checked her watch, 6:26. "Oh man! He's going to chew me out! I got to go!" She grabbed her school case that was lying on the kitchen counter.

"What about the dishes?" Yuri asked in a tone that indicated there was no way in hell she would wash dishes.

"I think we'll manage." Ryoga said.

"I'll see you later!" She called to Iikiba as she ran out the front door.

"Good riddance!" He yelled after her. Then he hunched back in his chair and took a bite of broccoli when he noticed his father glaring at him. "What?"

"You should know better than to talk to a girl like that."

"Pffh." He took another bite of food.

"You see how he is Father?" Yuri sighed tragically.

"Stop acting like the victim!" Iikiba yelled at her.

"Well you are acting really angry." Ryoga said.

"I'm not angry! I'm annoyed!" Iikiba said. "I'm tired to Makoto bothering me all the time! I'm tired to Yuri tattling on me! I'm tired of you getting on my case and, and" He took a deep breath. "I'M TIRED OF LOSING TO JATSUMA!"

"Well that's good." Ryoga said in an irritated voice. He took his and Yuri's empty plates and silverware and pushed them into Iikiba's hands. "You can start your training by doing the dishes!" He grabbed Iikiba's plate and the tray and pushed them on top of the others.

"Hey, I wasn't finished!" Iikiba protested. But Ryoga was already pushing him towards the kitchen.

"Until you learn to stop acting like a little kid, chores are the only training you'll get done!" Ryoga shoved him towards the sink and Iikiba had to spin around to keep the plates balanced.

"You got to kidding me!"

But Ryoga didn't look like he was kidding. "This self-pity thing has got to stop! Really, I don't know where you get it from."

Yuri smirked at Iikiba as she walked by the door on the way to her room. Iikiba's eye twitched in frustration but he just turned to sink and turned on the water to start scrubbing.

After a while Ryoga left the room and Iikiba to his thoughts.

As much as he hated to admit it, maybe they had a point. Maybe he did need to train harder. But between Makoto and school he wasn't sure when he'd have the time. Then a thought struck him. Iikiba looked around the room; Makoto wasn't here now.

"That's it!" He said out loud. "I'll just have to go on a training journey!"


My profile has been updated so if you are new, or especially if you have reviewed me before, there might be some things of interest there. I've written a special thanks to all the people who have reviewed my stories so far! BWAHAHAHAHA!