Now is the time of REVELATION!
RIVALS ALREADY?
"Jatsuma. Hey, Wake up." Daichi stood next to Jatsuma's bed and poked at his brother's shoulder. Jatsuma just groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers tighter over himself. "Come on, wake up." Daichi shook Jatsuma, who ignored him. Daichi narrowed his eyes. "Get up already!" He pulled the pillow out from under Jatsuma's head.
"Hey!" Jatsuma sat up and tried to grab the pillow back, but Daichi held it out of reach. "What's the big idea? Why are you waking me up so early?" He yawned.
"It's nearly ten o'clock!" Daichi said.
"That's early for a Sunday!"
"Just get up." Daichi walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain. "And look outside."
"I don't care about the outside!" Jatsuma pulled the comforter over his head.
"Would you just look?" Daichi persisted.
Jatsuma groaned loudly and rolled out of bed. Still holding the comforter around his shoulders, he trudged over to the window. "What?" He hissed.
"It's Razor." Daichi pointed outside. Razor was sitting on a limb in one of the trees in the backyard. He was leaning his back against the trunk, apparently asleep. "He's been out there all night waiting for Makoto."
"He's still here? Doesn't he know when to give up?" Jatsuma said in an annoyed voice. He threw the comforter back on the bed, grabbed an orange hoodie that was lying on the floor and pulled it on over top of the t-shirt and jeans he had worn to bed.
"Where are you going?" Daichi asked.
"Where do you think? I'm going to go tell Razor to take a hike!" Jatsuma opened the door to the hallway and walked out with Daichi following. "All we need is a stalker around here."
Daichi sighed. "Can't you just forgive him for pinning you to the wall?"
"Sure I can. When he's gone!" Jatsuma stomped down the staircase into the downstairs hall, heading for the backyard. The sound of food frying in a skillet could be heard coming from the kitchen and the smell of fried meat and vegetables wafted into the hallway.
Makoto stirred the vegetables around in the pan using a spatula, to keep them from getting too brown. Then she tipped the still simmering food onto a platter and switched off the burner. She sighed softly; cooking did help clear her thoughts.
"Hey Makoto. Jatsuma's going to go pick a fight with Razor." Daichi stuck his head in the kitchen.
"Can't you keep your big mouth shut!" Jatsuma yelled from behind him.
"Jatsuma, don't give Razor a hard time." Makoto walked over to her brothers. "He's got enough to deal with as it is."
"Come on! Not you too! You were all gun-ho to get him out of here yesterday!" Jatsuma answered.
"I DON'T want him here!" Makoto said irritably. "But I kind of feel sorry for the guy! He came all the way from China to find out I wouldn't marry him!"
"Not to mention having to deal with his Mom's sworn nemesis." Daichi added. "And all of our skepticism. Not that we weren't right, it's just from his point of view we probably seem like a bunch of weirdoes."
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying." Makoto agreed, nodding to Daichi. "We just need to be nice-" It was then that they noticed Jatsuma was gone. "Hey, where's he go?"
Daichi and Makoto looked at each other then ran out to the backyard. Of course, Jatsuma was already there. He dipped a tin bucket into the koi pond and lifted it up with a smirk. "Let's see how Razor likes waking up to a bucket of dirty fish water over the head!" With that, he made his way to the tree Razor was sleeping in.
"Jatsuma!" Both Daichi and Makoto yelled indignantly when they got close enough to realize what he was doing.
Jatsuma rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay." He set down the bucket and looked up at his adversary. Razor had his arms crossed and his head tilted forward slightly with sleep. One leg hung loosely over the side and the other was bent at the knee, resting on the branch.
"Hey Razor! Wake up and get out of here!" Jatsuma yelled. Razor didn't respond. "Oh well. I tried." Jatsuma grabbed the bucket and threw it at Razor.
It all happened really quickly. When the bucket was about two meters away Razor's eyes shot open and he kicked the bucket right back towards Jatsuma. First off Jatsuma was hit with a wave of green water, then hit in the head with the bucket as it came barreling down.
The bucket bounced away and Jatsuma stood there, soaking wet, with an eye twitching angrily. He was about to yell something but Razor yelled first.
"What the hell are you doing?" Razor shouted angrily as he stood up on the branch. "Trying to get the jump on a sleeping opponent?"
"No! I was trying to give you a refreshing glass of water!" Jatsuma yelled sarcastically.
Razor glared at him and jumped out of the tree, landing on the ground near him. "Don't throw water at me." It wasn't a plea, it was a stern demand.
"What is your problem?" Jatsuma yelled.
"ME?" Razor screeched. But it was right then that he noticed Makoto watching them. "Oh! Makoto!" He tried not to look like he wanted to punch Jatsuma in the face. "Good morning!"
"Uh, hi." Makoto waved back awkwardly.
"I was thinking maybe we could go out to lunch?" Razor asked hopefully. "Or maybe a walk in the park?"
"I don't think so." Makoto answered with narrowed eyes.
"Razor," Daichi began with a look of unease. "What happens if you return to the Amazons without marrying Makoto?"
"I won't go back without her!" Razor exclaimed angrily.
"Won't or can't?" Jatsuma asked with is arms crossed.
Razor rounded on him with a look of utter distaste and fury. "THAT'S NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!"
Jatsuma glared right back. "IT'S MY BUSINESS IF I WANT IT TO BE!"
"QUIT BUGGING ME! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING AND IMMATURE!"
"AT LEAST I DON'T GO AROUND THROWING NINJA STARS AT PEOPLE FOR NO REASON!"
"WELL RIGHT NOW I'M WISHING I HADN'T JUST PINNED YOUR CLOTHES!"
"IS THAT A THREAT?" Jatsuma jumped back into a fighting stance. Razor quickly did the same.
"Guys! Cool it!" Makoto yelled at them loudly. Daichi had fallen over from surprise when Razor had first yelled and was now trying to pick himself up.
"I'M SURPRISED YOU'RE PERSEPTIVE ENOUGH TO CATCH ON!" Razor yelled at Jatsuma. Right then Jatsuma pulled a fist back. But before he could punch, Razor had kicked a foot around into his jaw.
"Hey! What's going on out here?" Ranma ran across the yard to them.
"Dad! Thank God!" Daichi stood up. "They were about to beat the crud out of each other!" He pointed towards Razor and Jatsuma who had stepped back from one other, looking surly. Jatsuma rubbed his jaw.
"You two were fighting? Well that's no good."
MINUTES LATER IN THE DOJO
"You need an audience!" Ranma said from the sideline inside the dojo. Him, Akane, Daichi, Makoto, Soun and Genma were all sitting together watching Jatsuma and Razor glare each other down from either side of the dojo.
Razor sighed and put a hand to his temple. Think about your honor. He urged himself. This guy is Makoto's brother so I should try to go easy on him. He opened his eyes and saw that Jatsuma was holding a thick green fire hose.
Jatsuma smirked evilly and switched it on to high pressure. Water flew out of the nozzle like a cannon. Razor's eyes widened in alarm. "AHH!" He dodged out of the way of the water.
"Jatsuma! This was supposed to be a martial arts match!" Ranma yelled. Akane sighed and a finger to her own temple.
"No! This is REVENGE!" Jatsuma swung the water flow after Razor, who jumped out of the way again.
Razor growled angrily and launched towards his opponent foot first. He kicked Jatsuma down to the ground, causing him to let go of the hose. The high pressure water caused the hose to start flaying around like an injured snake and it rounded on the audience.
"AH! Jatsuma stop that-" Ranma began to say but right at that moment they were hit with a surge of water. This affected not only Ranma, but Genma changed into a large panda and Makoto became a little capuchin monkey. She grabbed hold of Akane's arm to keep from getting washed away into the wall. "…thing." Female Ranma finished.
"That hurt!" Jatsuma kicked Razor away and stood up.
Razor landed on his feet and got into a fighting stance. "I told you not to throw water at me!"
"Pfffft!" Jatsuma stuck out his tongue. Razor growled and threw a punch at him, but Jatsuma caught his arm in the air and flipped him over. It would have slammed Razor into the floor if Razor hadn't used the momentum to kick Jatsuma again.
The hose continued to spurt water around the dojo and it rounded on Jatsuma and Razor like a snake poised to strike. Razor looked at it in a panic and pushed Jatsuma in front of himself like a shield as the water flew by. Jatsuma slowly turned around and glared at him.
Soun sputtered and squeezed some water out of his hair. "This is getting a little out of hand."
"Ranma, go and stop it!" Akane yelled, holding her monkey daughter in her arms. "Ohh! Ohh!" Makoto screeched in agreement.
"Alright, alright." Female Ranma stood up and ran over to the thrashing hose. She grabbed hold of it but to the water pressure kept it going and Ranma wasn't close enough to the end to stop it from spraying water everywhere, she was just getting soaked.
'I'll handle this!' Genma panda held up a sign as he ran forward. He jumped at the hose and body slammed the nozzle to the floor. It seemed to have worked for a moment, and then water started shooting out in all directions from between Genma and the floor. Everyone started yelling angrily.
"POP! YOU'RE GONNA FLOOD THE PLACE!" Ranma yelled while shielding her face against the water.
Razor was using some rather difficult and well placed movements to dodge around the water. I can't keep this up for much longer! That was when he noticed the floor actually was starting to flood. Oh no! I can't get caught in the water! Razor used all of his leg strength to jump up and grab hold of one of the ceiling rafters.
"What's the matter? Afraid of a little water?" Jatsuma shouted up to him.
"Shut up!" Razor yelled back.
Genma couldn't keep a hold on the hose anymore. He let it go and it twirled around in Razor's direction. Razor saw it coming and quickly kicked a way out through the roof and jumped out of its reach.
"AH! Not the ceiling!" Ranma yelled.
What is that guy's deal with water? Jatsuma thought. "Where do you think you're going Razor? Get back here!" Jatsuma jumped up to the ceiling and punched his own hole to follow Razor.
"Jatsuma!" Ranma shouted angrily as she was covered in water again. "GOD DAMN IT!" She jumped at the hose and held on for dear life as it continued to spray everything.
Moments later the water pressure began to lesson and the hose fell limply to the floor, along with Ranma. She sat up coughing water. "What the-?"
Daichi walked back into the dojo, sopping wet like everyone else. "Once again common sense is ignored. I turned off the water."
"Good job Daichi!" Ranma said. Then she looked around at the dojo. A piece of wood fell from one of the holes in the ceiling and fell in a puddle of water. Ranma sighed. "Daichi, get the mops. Akane, can you get some hot water?"
"Sure. No problem." Akane, with Makoto perched on her shoulder, got up and left the dojo.
"I'll get some wood and nails." Ranma groaned.
NOT FAR AWAY
"Razor! Where the hell did you run off to?" Jatsuma yelled from the rooftop he was standing on. Someone looking out of their apartment window gave him a strange look but he ignored it.
He sensed something coming and dodged out of the way just as Razor flew by, scraping shingles off the roof where he landed. "What do you want?" He yelled angrily.
"Oh I just wanted to give you THIS!" Jatsuma held up a bucket of water, which Razor kicked away without any hesitation. So Jatsuma held up a bucket of water in his other hand. Razor gasped and quickly kicked that bucket away too.
"WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THESE BUCKETS OF WATER?" He yelled through gritted teeth.
"I knew it! You have a Jusenkyo curse! Don't you?" Jatsuma pointed a finger at Razor dramatically.
Razor suddenly looked very worried. "Wha- what gave you that idea?"
"This." Jatsuma threw a bucket of water at Razor's feet, who dodged by jumping to the side.
"Stop that you bastard!" Razor punched him away.
Jatsuma quickly jumped back into the air. "I just want to know," He flung the water out of a bucket towards Razor. "What you turn into!"
"Yow!" Razor jumped away to another roof, narrowly avoiding the water. But Jatsuma jumped towards him again with another bucket ready. "Leave me alone!" Razor yelled as he turned to run.
They ran and jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Jatsuma was in hot pursuit of Razor, who kept trying to duck away.
Jatsuma lost sight of him for a moment as he jumped over a particularly tall building. When Jatsuma jumped on top of it he didn't see Razor anymore. "What the-? He's gone!" Jatsuma looked around frantically.
Below in the ally, Razor stood perfectly still for a few moments until he saw Jatsuma jump away. He let out a deep breath. "Idiot." He turned and walked down the ally towards the street where people were walking together, enjoying their day.
Razor stepped out onto the sidewalk. "Think fast!" Jatsuma, who was standing to Razor's immediate right, yelled as he splashed a bucket of water in Razor's face.
People walking by gasped in shock as Razor apparently vanished into nothing. Where he had been standing a moment before his clothes fell down into a pile.
"Don't worry people! He probably just turned into something small!" Jatsuma reassured the by passers. This served little explanation.
Right at that moment something white and furry shot out of the pile of clothes towards Jatsuma, who moved his head inches out of the way just in time. He turned and saw a little white rabbit land on the sidewalk. It had two small silver earrings in its right ear. Razor the rabbit arched its back angrily and bared its teeth at Jatsuma.
Jatsuma smiled in amusement. "Aw! Ain't that cute! Little Bon bon!" Razor jumped up and bit his arm, and with rabbit choppers this was no laughing matter. "AAHHH!" Jatsuma swung his arm wildly and Razor let go. He stood ready to attack again if need be.
"You freaking bunny!" Jatsuma examined his arm with tears in his eyes. "I was going to change you back! Geez!" Razor's eyes shot open in horror but Jatsuma didn't notice this.
Jatsuma looked around for a moment then walked up to a man in a business suit. "Excuse me sir? Can I have the rest of your coffee?"
"Uh, I guess." The man handed Jatsuma the half empty cup, too baffled to argue.
Jatsuma turned back around to see that Razor had hopped away up the street as fast as his rabbit feet could go. "Hey! Get back here bunny boy!" He ran after Razor, careful not to spill the hot coffee. Razor saw him coming and took off as quick as a bullet.
"Man he's fast! Hey! Razor!" Jatsuma yelled as he dodged around people in his pursuit. Razor dodged gracefully between legs and continued on as quickly as possible.
Jatsuma glared after the rabbit. "I don't get it! Don't you want to change back?" He yelled.
This was a busy street and Jatsuma wasn't making speedy progress. So he jumped up onto the roof of a small clothing store and ran along, looking down for a streak of white.
Razor continued to move franticly forward. If Jatsuma caught him then he was done for. He looked around for a place to hide and saw some people coming out of a building with a large open doorway. I can hide in there until Jatsuma moves on! Razor hopped in after a group of girls.
Jatsuma caught sight of Razor. He quickly jumped down and ran towards the building he had hopped into. "Why the heck would he go into a bathhouse?"
INSIDE THE BATHHOUSE
"Here are your towels ladies, and thank you for choosing the Emari Bath House!" An attendant handed one of the girls the towels. "Have a nice day!"
"Thank you." The girl took the towels and she and her friends began making their way to the back. Razor looked up curiously. Towels?
"Eeh! Gretchen, look! A bunny!" One of the girls picked up Razor before he could do anything to resist. The girls crowded around and cooed at the little white rabbit.
"It's so cute!" "Look at its floppy ears!" "I wonder if it belongs to someone." Razor folded his ears back in discontent
"Ladies! You found my rabbit!" Jatsuma walked over to them as he put on his flirting smile.
"Jatsuma! This is your rabbit? It's so cute!" One of the girls said.
Jatsuma took Razor back from them. "Yep. He's new."
"What's his name?"
"Uh…" Jatsuma blinked. "Chuggy G!" Razor bit his finger and almost made him spill the coffee.
"Chuggy G?" "I don't get it. Do you?" "Not really." The girls talked to one another while Jatsuma writhed in pain. Razor managed to slip through his grasp and jump away.
"Ah! There it goes!" One of the girls pointed after Razor.
"Damn it! Here you go." Jatsuma gave the cup of coffee to one of the girls and ran after Razor.
The girl looked at the coffee cup for a moment then turned smiling to her friends. "He gave me some of his coffee! I told you he liked me!"
"So not!" Another girl said.
"Razor! Where the hell did you go? Jatsuma yelled as he looked around the dressing room Razor had run into. Luckily it was a boy's changing room.
"Maybe he went to use the baths to change back." Jatsuma ran towards the doorway that led to the bathing area. Razor saw him go by and ran out of the shoe bin he had been hiding in, heading for the exit.
"Hold it!" Jatsuma grabbed hold of Razor and lifted him up by the ears at arm's length so he wouldn't get bitten again. "I'm getting tired of this!"
Razor kicked out his big bunny foot and kicked Jatsuma in the face, leaving a foot imprint.
Jatsuma's eyes twitched angrily. "That's the way you want it? Fine!" He stomped towards the baths and walked into the steam filled room. There were a few guys there lounging in the hot water, but not many. Razor struggled wildly to escape.
"Change back so I can fight you!" Jatsuma tried to throw Razor into one of the baths but the rabbit managed to grab hold of his arm…with his teeth.
"AAAAHHHH!" Jatsuma knocked Razor off and the momentum caused him to slide across the damp floor. Jatsuma glared furiously after the rabbit. "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!"
Razor slid softly into the wall and saw the Jatsuma was running towards him. He hopped out of the way just in time to avoid Jatsuma's punch, which hit the wall instead. The pipes creaked ominously and burst, causing a flow of hot water to come spraying out. Jatsuma must have bent the main pipe because a moment later all the faucets in the room burst as well. Men ran from the room screaming like little girls.
"Oops." Jatsuma said as he was soaked for the third time that day.
Razor moved this way, that way, any way he could to avoid the water. But the room was quickly filling with steam from all the hot water and it was getting hard to see but a few feet away. Suddenly the ground ended and Razor realized with a surge of terror that he had jumped over the edge of a pool. SPLASH "AAAHH!"
Jatsuma heard Razor's voice yell and realized that he must have changed back into a human. "Ha! Now that you're human again, YOU ARE SO IN FOR IT!"
Jatsuma jumped in the direction he had heard Razor's voice coming from. He couldn't see properly because of the steam but he could just make out a figure down below. So he came down through the steam, ready to punch his opponent.
In the pool Razor sat up slightly, rubbing a knot on the head, then noticed Jatsuma was about to attack. There was nowhere to hide.
About five meters away, far too late to stop, Jatsuma saw something that knocked the wind out of him and brought his brain to a screeching halt.
Razor wasn't a boy.
