Another name fun fact! Jatsuma- this name doesn't exist. We made it up by picking out random Japanese symbols. We got Ja and Tsu, and then decided to ad the Ma on to the end so as to keep up the chain of RanMA, GenMA and JatsuMA. Genius! There are also a few new pictures up in the gallery, including Razor's ID and Makoto as a Monkey.
MEDDLING KIDS
"OH NO!" Razor shouted as she fell towards the lake below. If Makoto and Iikiba found out about her Jusenkyo curse, it was only short step more to finding out she was a girl! They would change her back like Jatsuma had and find out everything!
Desperate, Razor reached out and grabbed hold of Jatsuma's arm. "IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THAT EASY!" She shouted with a murderous look at him.
"What the-? Let go!" Jatsuma yelled. But Razor pushed him down under her and used him to get the momentum she needed to jump away. She kicked off and sprang towards the land right as Jatsuma hit the water. Ducks flew away franticly, fleeing from the splash he had created.
She landed on the walkway that went around the man-made lake; panting hard. That was way too close. She thought fearfully.
"Razor!" Makoto was coming over as quickly as she could.
Razor looked up. She actually came after me? "Mako-"
"You better tell me what you and Jatsuma know that I don't!" Makoto yelled angrily; advancing forward. "What's this big secret anyway?"
Fear gripped Razor's chest. She struggled unsuccessfully to keep her expression neutral. "Wha…uhh- I don't…its not-"
"Makoto!" Iikiba whined as he caught up to them after making several wrong turns. "You nearly left me behind!"
"Well," Makoto turned calmly to him. "I do happen to be on a DATE!" She spat angrily. Then she turned back to Razor. "Now you tell me what's going on!"
Iikiba stuck his head between them. "What? What's going on?"
"If I knew that I wouldn't be asking!" Makoto pushed Iikiba's head down out of the way.
Right then Jatsuma's arm came out of the water like a lurid sea creature. He grabbed hold of Razor's ankle and pulled himself out of the water, his drenched long hair making him look like a really angry cat. Everyone jumped in surprise.
"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Jatsuma yelled furiously.
Razor's eye twitched. "Funny," She grabbed the front of his shirt. "I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THE SAME THING!" With that, she threw him away towards the trees.
Jatsuma caught a branch and landed on it. He jumped back towards them, ready to attack. Razor stood in a fighting stance and threw a punch once Jatsuma was close enough, which he dodged. She tried to kick him several times but he dodged those as well.
"I'd be trying harder," Jatsuma said spitefully. "Except I have this thing about hitting-" Razor punched him in the face.
"Why are they fighting again?" Iikiba asked Makoto in a whisper.
"I wish I knew." She answered. "Hey! Can you two cool it for a second! What the hell is this secret anyway?" She shouted. Iikiba noticed that all their ruckus was driving away the other park patrons.
"I've been TRYING to tell you!" Jatsuma said while blocking Razor's kick with his arm.
Razor clamped her hand over Jatsuma's mouth to keep him quiet and wrapped her other arm around his neck in a headlock from behind. "Can you excuse us for a second?" She asked with and irritated expression as she dragged him away into the trees. Jatsuma kicked and struggled franticly the whole way.
"Hey, hold on!" Makoto yelled after them. "Where are you going now? GET BACK HERE!"
"Glad to see your date is going so well." Iikiba tried not to laugh.
Makoto glared at him. "I'm still mad at you!" She snapped. "And for your information, this date isn't over yet!" She ran in the direction Razor and Jatsuma had gone.
Iikiba groaned. "Can't we just let them kill each other?" He asked as he followed after Makoto.
NEARBY
Jatsuma managed to squirm free of Razor's grip enough to talk. "Let me go already!"
Razor did just that. She pushed him away and glared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you to keep your big mouth shut?"
"Hey! I'm not the one trying to trick everybody! You can't possibly keep up this charade!" Jatsuma stood at the ready, in case she decided to hit him again.
"I'm not trying to trick anybody!" Razor insisted. "I'm trying to do what the Council told me to do! This is my duty! My honor! Something you don't know anything about!"
Jatsuma growled. "The Council doesn't know you're actually a girl EITHER!"
Razor threw a punch. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TELL THEM!"
"Whoa!" Jatsuma narrowly dodged her attack. Then he started to bound away. "Yeah right!" He yelled back at her. "You're not trying to hide anything!"
Razor ran after him, sure he was going back toward Makoto and Iikiba. "You just don't get it!"
"Really? Because I think I DO!"
"No!" Razor jumped up into the air and landed in front of Jatsuma, making him come to stop so that he wouldn't run into her. "You don't understand! I was supposed to be a boy!" She said desperately.
"What do you…" Jatsuma stopped speaking for a moment. He could have sworn he saw some moister shimmering at the edges of Razor's steadfast eyes. "…mean?" He said the last word in a much softer voice.
Razor took a deep breath to calm herself. "If word gets out then everything my parents and I have worked for is over." Her voice was strong and resolute; no one would have guessed her eyes were tearing. Jatsuma wasn't even sure she realized it herself. "The way I was born was a mistake."
Jatsuma was taken aback by that statement. He suddenly felt a huge wave of guilt wash over him. But he couldn't understand why. Razor was in the wrong here, not him! She was the one fooling everybody and trying to trick Makoto into marrying her and all just because… her parents had raised her that way.
"Oh man." Jatsuma sighed.
About a moment later Makoto's voice called out across the park. "Razor! Where did you go!"
Razor looked the direction Makoto's voice had come from. Then she gave Jatsuma one last threatening look and jumped off in that direction. Jatsuma watched her go, trying to figure out what he should do now.
BACK ON THE PATHWAY
"Razor!" Makoto yelled, holding her hands up around her mouth so the sound would carry. "Where did you go?"
"I don't think he's coming back." Iikiba said. He was walking behind her down the path.
"Hmph. That shows what you know." She scoffed. "Razor said he was going to go with me to see the flowers and that's what he's going to do."
"What?" Iikiba looked surprised. "Don't you always make me go see those stupid flowers every year?"
"Yeah." Makoto looked back at him. "But I thought you hated going to see the flowers."
Iikiba huffed. "I do. But you like them."
Makoto stopped in her tracks and Iikiba nearly walked into her. "Hey! Don't stop so suddenly!" He snapped.
She turned back to him with a big smile on her face. "You want to go see the flowers with me?" She asked excitedly. "You don't mind going because it makes me happy!"
Iikiba quickly stepped back. "Th- That's not what I said at all!"
"But it's what you meant!" Makoto advanced towards him.
"It is not!"
"I knew you cared!" She ignored his last statement and caught him in a backbreaking hug. "I forgive you! And I'm sorry for making you jealous!"
"GAH! Let me go Makoto!" Iikiba wheezed. Makoto's hug was making it hard to breath.
Makoto grabbed the back of his shirt and started to drag him along. "Come on! I'll buy you some lemonade!"
"I don't want any lemonade!" Iikiba protested.
"Makoto!" Razor bound towards them, looking more determined than ever. "Don't listen to what Jatsuma says! He just wants to make me look bad!" She stopped near them.
Makoto blinked, and then remembered. "That's right! You and Jatsuma are hiding something from me!"
"We're not!" Razor insisted. "I mean…It's really not important."
"That sure was a lot of fuss over something that wasn't important." Iikiba said, sitting up on the ground. Razor glared at him.
Jatsuma was running towards them through the trees. I just need to find out exactly why Razor is pretending to be a boy. There has to be a reason. If I knew that then maybe I could decide what I should do. He though. Now he had a plan, he knew what he had to do. "Razor!" He shouted when he saw them. "Why are you-"
Razor kicked Jatsuma away. "I told you to shut up!" She yelled angrily. Jatsuma's eye twitched in irritation as he flew away for about the hundredth time that day. Here I am trying to give her a second chance to explain herself and she just punts me away!
Razor turned to Makoto. "I- I'll be right back!" She took off after Jatsuma at top speed. I can't keep this up forever!
"Jatsuma! Razor!" Makoto screamed at them as they ran off… again. Her eye twitched maddeningly. "Come on Iikiba! We're getting to the bottom of this once and for all!" She grabbed him and ran after her brother and suitor.
"ACK!" He gagged at the familiar tug on his shirt.
Further ahead, Jatsuma landed with a fair amount of grace on the pathway around the lake. Ducks quacked and flew away, disturbed from their quiet swim yet again. Razor was coming at him, ready to attack. "Don't you ever just give it a rest?" She asked in an annoyed voice.
Jatsuma glared at her. "For your information, I was just coming after you to ask some questions!"
"Like what?" Razor asked angrily.
"HEY!" Makoto got their attention with her shout as she dashed towards them, Iikiba dragging along. "I have had it up to HERE with you two! TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" She demanded.
"Uh…" Jatsuma was backed into a corner. Razor gave him a piercing glare and looked like she was about to hit him into orbit again. "You see-"
Razor really was about to punch him away now, but Makoto took a threatening step towards her. "STOP THAT!" She yelled at Razor. "Go ahead Jatsuma!" She turned back to her brother. Iikiba looked on curiously, but didn't dare say anything when Makoto was like this.
Jatsuma glanced at Razor. She looked like she wanted to kill him. He looked at Makoto. She looked like she wanted to kill him.
"Well? Tell me what all this is about!" Makoto yelled, annoyed that he hadn't said anything yet.
"I- It's just… Razor's…" The word seemed to catch his throat. Razor was literally shaking with rage. He could feel her angry energy waves flying through the air.
"Razor's what?" Makoto asked in an exasperated voice.
Jatsuma looked anxiously between the two and made his decision. He stood up straighter with new resolve. "Makoto, Razor's a g-"
And changed his mind. "G- Got a Jusenkyo curse!" He shouted. Before anyone could even react, he pushed Razor backwards into the lake.
"AH!" She shouted the moment before she hit the water. A second later a little white rabbit with green eyes and two silver ring earrings in its right ear surfaced, paddling with all its might. Razor's clothes floated to the surface around the rabbit.
Jatsuma reached down and picked bunny Razor up out of the water. "See? He turns into a rabbit!" He pointed at finger at Razor, who looked utterly bewildered.
Iikiba and Makoto stared at Razor for several long moments.
"Wow… I never would have guessed." Iikiba said.
"THIS is what he was trying to hide from us?" Makoto asked in astonishment. "Why? We both have Jusenkyo curses too."
Jatsuma scratched the back of his head, thinking fast. "Well… he didn't want to tell anybody in the first place. I found out by accident myself. It's kind of embarrassing for a man to turn into an itty bitty bunny rabbit." He explained.
"Oh!" Makoto put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry Razor! I didn't realize it was just something like that. The way you two were talking I thought it was something more important! I didn't mean to embarrass you!" She said to the little rabbit.
Razor still looked bewildered.
"You shouldn't jump to conclusions so much." Iikiba advised.
"You wanted to know too!" She pointed out.
"Yeah, but at least I didn't go psycho!"
"Yes, I tried to tell him that it wasn't that big a deal, at least not with us." Jatsuma added. "Half the people around here have a Jusenkyo curse anyway. But would he listen? Noooo." He sighed. "I guess some people just can't be reasoned with."
Razor came back to her senses enough to appreciate the hypocrisy of that statement.
A LITTLE WHILE LATER
Jatsuma had insisted that Makoto and Iikiba go on ahead to see the flowers and he and Razor could catch up. Makoto, still wondering how Razor's curse had escalated to such a big argument, was only too happy to go on ahead after yelling at Razor. She took Iikiba with her.
Once they were gone Jatsuma found the nearest public restroom and filled a kettle with hot water. Razor didn't try to hop away as Jatsuma carried her along, but she didn't look up at him either. Jatsuma didn't talk to her until he had the kettle of hot water and had gone back to retrieve her clothes from the lake.
"Don't think this means I'm helping you!" Jatsuma said in an irritable voice. "I just can't stand to see a girl cry." He continued. Razor didn't react.
He carried her to a part of the park off the path, away from where people often came, and set her down behind some bushes. Then he turned his head away and poured the water from the kettle down into the shrub.
Razor grew back into a human and hunched slightly to make sure she couldn't be seen through the shrubbery. Jatsuma kept his head turned away and threw the clothes in Razor's general direction. She caught them in her arms.
"I think they're dry enough now that you won't transform." Jatsuma huffed. "And before you say anything, this is a one time deal! Next time I'm not going to bail you out!"
Razor didn't say anything but just started dressing.
Jatsuma folded his arms and continued to look steadfastly in the other direction. "You can't possibly hope to continue this sham forever you know. Sooner or later everyone's going to figure it out! Just don't expect me to cover for you next time! You're on your own!"
He fell silent and a moment later Razor came out fully dressed and with her face averted so Jatsuma that couldn't see her expression. Jatsuma narrowed his eyes. "Well? Don't have anything to say? You couldn't shut up before." He said spitefully.
Razor turned to him sharply and for a moment Jatsuma thought she was going to punch him again. But she just sighed slightly and let her shoulders go slack. It was amazing how much more feminine she looked when she let herself relax. But you probably wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't been looking for it, Jatsuma thought.
She stood there silently for a moment, looking at the ground. "Thank you." She said with some effort. Jatsuma was taken aback. He hadn't expected a thank you.
With that, Razor bound away, jumping from tree to tree until she was out of sight. Jatsuma watched her go with a confused look on his face. Was that it? No punch in the face? She's not even going to threaten me to keep my mouth shut? What's her hurry anyway?
He sighed grumpily and went to find Makoto and Iikiba.
One chapter to go for this story arc. The next generation fic is going to be called 'Battle For Love'. You could pretty much call it a continuation of this story. It will be up on my profile page and my C2 community along with the other generation fics very soon.
