Chapter43 Happosai's Story

As Ranma neared the door to Hinako's apartment, he began to hear a strange sound coming from somewhere. When he opened the door to the apartment, Ranma recognized the sound of someone moaning as if in pain. He saw Akane sitting on the sofa, her cheeks flaming bright red.

"Acchan, what's wrong with Hinako? Is she hurting?" Ranma asked worriedly, "Why aren't you in there checking up on her?"

Akane blushed even redder, not that Ranma had thought that was possible, and she replied, "No, she's not in pain. She woke up about an hour ago and started to get rid of her problem."

"What problem is that?" Ranma asked, perplexed.

Akane's mouth opened, but words failed her. She began to giggle at the look on Ranma's face. Finally, she was able to say, "The one that was causing her to chase you around her apartment in her underwear, baka!"

"You mean she's in there mast –," Ranma began, and then his face went bright red as he blushed furiously.

Akane simply nodded.

"She's been doing that for an hour! And you've been in here listening to it," Ranma said, "You're sure that's what she's doing."

"When she started moaning, I opened the door a little to take a look," Akane admitted.

Ranma gulped and then went to the sink and filled up a cup with cold water. He then used the cold water to change into a girl.

"What did you do that for?" Akane asked in surprise.

Ranma replied, "Insurance. Until I'm sure she's got it out of her system, it's safer this way, I hope."

"What happened when you got to the school?" Akane asked.

Ranma replied, "Well, when I got there, everything was still fine. The boys you had set to guard him were still there. They were sure disappointed when Mousse showed up a little later on with some instructions from Cologne, and we sent them back to class. It seems that Happosai has a cursed form as well, so we just rolled the barrel into the shower room and turned on all of the cold-water faucets. When he finally got out of the barrel, he was immediately soaked and changed into some sort of kindly old man. Mousse took him back to the embassy to wait for Cologne."

Akane began to laugh uncontrollably. Ranma tried hard to control it, but finally she joined in the laughter as well. A few moments later, Hinako's voice came from behind the closed door as she asked, "Okay, what's so funny you two?" She opened the door to her bedroom and the adult Hinako walked out, dressed in a baby doll nightgown with a dressing gown thrown casually over her shoulders, and loosely belted around her waist.

"Apparently, Happosai has a Jusenkyo curse that changes him into some sort of saintly old man," Akane replied.

Hinako began to laugh. As she did so, she began to change back to her child-like form. "Ranma, Akane, I want to thank you for the help you gave me today," Hinako said once she had finished changing.

"Don't you even think about saying, 'My pleasure,' Ranma!" Akane growled half in jest.

Ranma took one look at her wife, and wisely said nothing.

"Remind me not to drain him ever again. I never want to feel that out of control," Hinako said.

"Well, hopefully, you won't have to," Ranma said, "If the Amazons can keep the old pervert away from hot water, we should never see him again. Are you going to be okay now, Hinako?"

"Yes, though for some reason I'm starving," she replied.

With a straight face, Ranma said, "I can't imagine what could have caused that. Listen, why don't you get dressed and come home with us. I'd really like Tofu to take a look at you. There's no telling what that pervert's chi could have done to you."

Hinako looked a little worried, and then said, "That's probably a good idea, Ranma. I should have thought of that myself."

"Akane, don't look so shocked," Ranma grumbled, as Akane face-faulted. Ranma went back into the kitchen for some hot water.

When they arrived at their home, Ranma and Akane were pleasantly surprised to see Cologne in the family room talking to Kasumi and Tofu. "Good, Great grandmother, you're here. Now maybe we can find out something about the old pervert. Oh, that reminds me, Doc, could you take a look at Hinako? She drained the old freak Happosai this morning and it kind of did something to her. I want to make sure she's okay," Ranma said.

Cologne looked up quickly from her tea and asked, "She drained Happosai's chi! What happened to her?"

"Let's just say she had some urges," Akane replied, blushing. Hinako joined her in the blush.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "you poor girl."

"You're right, I need to take a look at her," Tofu said.

Cologne asked, dryly, "May I join you Doctor? I do have a few years of expertise after all."

Tofu smiled and said, "That's a damn good suggestion, Elder. I should have thought of that myself. Hinako, this is Elder Cologne of the Joketsuzoku tribe in China. She is an expert in reading chi patterns. If it's alright with you, she would be a great deal of help."

The little girl looked doubtfully at the elderly woman, but Akane and Ranma smiled reassuringly at Hinako. She finally said, "I guess it would be okay. Do you need to see me both ways?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Is that okay with you, Ranma?" Tofu asked.

"It's my turn today, Tofu," Akane insisted, "Besides, it would probably be better for her if it was a real female tonight, anyway. Especially after what she went through this morning."

The four of them went of to the downstairs bedroom for the examination.

Ranma asked, "Where's Nabiki, Kasumi-chan?"

"Oh, she and Mousse are off in the dojo talking," Kasumi said with a twinkle in her eye, "After all, it's been almost a whole two days since she's seen him."

Ranma laughed and then asked, "So is your dad keeping an eye on them?"

"Ranma, of course not! We trust Mousse not to do anything improper," Kasumi said with a smile.

"I'm not worried about Mousse. You're right, I trust him. Nabiki on the other hand, I'm not too sure about," Ranma said, teasingly, "Is there anything to eat? What with all of the excitement today, Akane and I managed to miss lunch."

"Your Mom made some brownies. Then she and Shampoo went over to Ucchan's to ask Ukyo and Ryoga to come by for dinner," Kasumi replied.

"Mom made brownies? Yum," Ranma said as he almost ran into the kitchen.

"Save some for us!" Kasumi exclaimed.

Ranma came back from the kitchen with a tray of brownies and two glasses of milk. "I'm going to take these upstairs, and then go help with Akane," Ranma said.

"That's fine, I need to start working on dinner as well," Kasumi replied. The two of them made their departures, Ranma heading upstairs for the bedroom he shared with Akane, while Kasumi went into the kitchen.

At dinner, Cologne told them the tale of Happosai. She said, "About twenty years ago, one of our most promising warriors, in your tongue called Perfume, was leading a search party near the vale of Jusenkyo. Someone had crept into our village and stolen some of our most precious magical artifacts, leaving several of our warriors who were on guard unconscious. They came upon an exhausted, gnome-like man who was running away from the village. They stopped him, and asked who he was and what he was doing in our woods. He said his name was Happosai, and that he was just a wandering martial artist looking for techniques. One of the warriors got too close and he groped her, stealing her chi. That allowed him sufficient energy to run off again. They gave pursuit, and managed to trap him against one of the cliffs overlooking the vale. He used one of his weapons, something he called a Happo Fire Burst, but it misfired and blew him over the edge and into Shannannichuan, the Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man. Perfume fished him out of the spring, but he had no memory of who he had been. She brought him to the Elders for judgment, but that caused us a great dilemma. How could we punish someone who hadn't done anything wrong? We had no choice but to restore Happosai to his original state, but we made sure that he was heavily secured and drugged before we did so. After questioning him, we discovered that he had indeed been the thief that we were looking for, but that he had no recollection of where the artifacts were. He had lost them somehow in the pursuit. We also found that he was a most perverted man. The decision was made to return him to his cursed form, and ask him what we should do. We told him the entire story, and he said that a person as perverse as he did not deserve to live. That made our decision even more difficult, for now we knew that the saintly man did not deserve to die, and we did hope that eventually some of Happosai's memories might come back and tell us where our artifacts were. The decision was made, at my suggestion, to keep him in his cursed form and secure him in a retreat where he could do no harm."

"So the old freak has been in your custody for the last twenty years?" Ranma asked, "How did he get free?"

Cologne sighed and said, "Strictly by accident we thought. However, I have changed my mind based on something else that I discovered. I got a message from the Guide at Jusenkyo saying the guest book from twenty years ago had been stolen. Fortunately, we in the village always get a copy of the book every time it is full, so I was able to look in our copy and discover that Happosai had visited Jusenkyo then. Anyway, a young man, about twenty years old, had stumbled onto the retreat. He said he was looking for someone. He caused a great deal of trouble before the warriors at the retreat were able to run him off, but during that time, the routine got confused and a new warrior, who did not know the rules about Happosai, accidentally spilled hot soup on the old man that was in her charge. Happosai managed to escape but not before indicating he was heading here to find Mr. Tendo."

"Why was he looking for me?" Soun asked, his voice quavering.

Cologne said, "I don't know. That's one of the things I will ask him when we bring him back."

"Who was the young man, and why do you think he stole the guide book and was looking for Happosai?" Akane asked.

"We never did get the young man's name. But the Guide remembered seeing a young man at Jusenkyo. The Guide woke up from being knocked unconscious the next day. He said that there were strange tracks in the mud by his hut the day he discovered that the guest book had vanished. Those same tracks were found the day after the young man had disappeared from the retreat where Happosai had been kept. My guess it that the young man had received a Jusenkyo curse because of Happosai and had tracked him there somehow and was looking for vengeance," Cologne replied.

"Does he know that Happosai was coming here?" Kasumi asked.

Cologne replied, tiredly, "I don't know. I suppose it's possible."

"Just in case he shows up, did you get a description of him?" Nabiki asked.

Cologne said, "Well, he's reasonably tall, with dark, wavy hair. He was wearing a vest and bracers of some purple-scaled leather, and for some reason a sash made out of a pair of pantyhose. At least that's what I was told."

"Is Hinako okay from this morning?" Akane asked.

Tofu replied, "There doesn't seem to be any ill effect from the chi she absorbed from Happosai. She's still pretty tired, though. It might be good if she stays the night here."

"I don't want to impose," Hinako said in her little girl voice.

Kasumi said, "Nonsense, we have plenty of room, don't we Ranma?"

Ranma smiled and said, "Of course we do. You're definitely welcome to stay, Hinako."

"In that case, I accept. If it's okay with you, though, I think I will head on to bed," she replied, "Akane, can I borrow a t-shirt to sleep in again?"

"Sure, come on, let's go get you taken care of," Akane replied. The two of them headed upstairs.

Cologne said, "It's time I got back to the Embassy myself. It's been a long day for me, and I find that I need my rest."

As was her custom, Kasumi was up early, preparing breakfast for her family. This morning was a little different, however, as Ukyo, Nodoka and Shampoo were in there as well, helping fix the meal for the expanded family and friends who had spent the night. Only Cologne and Mousse had left the night before; albeit Mousse extremely reluctantly, and only after a sharp look from Cologne. The rest had stayed awake for several hours while planning what to do if the strange boy showed up or if somehow Happosai managed to get free again. Finally, everyone had separated to find a place to sleep. Ukyo had blushed for a second, and then had dared anyone to speak as she grabbed Ryoga by the hand and dragged him off to the dojo to spend the night.

Kasumi heard the sound of someone knocking on the front door. She made her way to the door and opened it. There standing in front of her was a reasonably attractive, young man, of around twenty years of age, with wavy, brown hair. He wore his hair with long bangs that hung in his eyes, with two strands of longer, curly hair in front of his ears. In each ear, he was wearing an earring. The young man was wearing a vest and bracers, and oddly enough a sash made out of pantyhose.

The young man said, "Excuse me, Miss. My name is Taro. Is this the home of Soun Tendo?"

"My father does live here, but the home now belongs to my sister and her husband," Kasumi said politely.

"Would it be possible for me to talk to him?" Taro asked.

Kasumi smiled pleasantly and replied, "It's a bit early for him. He usually doesn't get up for another hour. Would you like to wait?"

The young man shuffled nervously and then replied, "No, that's all right. I'll come back later. I hadn't realized it was so early. Sorry for disturbing you." Taro turned and walked down the path to the main gate and left the grounds.

Kasumi thought to herself, 'Oh my, what a polite young man.'

At breakfast, Nabiki said, "I think I'll join Cologne and Mousse in talking to Happosai to see if we can find out who this young man is, or anything else about him."

"Oh, he said his name was Taro. He was very polite when he was asking for Father. He was very bashful when he talked to me as well," Kasumi said.

Everyone face-faulted.

"Oh my, was it something I said," Kasumi said, then she giggled. 'It sure is fun doing that,' she thought to herself.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope everyone is still enjoying this.

Doctor Emmitt Brown, Thanks for the suggestion. I hope it works.

By the way, Happosai is one on my least favorite characters, ranking just above Principal Kuno, so that's why he shows up so rarely. He will show up again, though.