Tender Loving Care
Ranma, still a bit shaken from his subtle beratement by Kasumi, perked up at Kasumi's call, "For me? That's weird..." Ranma started choking on air when he got to the door.
"Ran...ma?" The lavender haired Chinese girl leaned forward with narrow eyes.
"Uh, he-hello... Shampoo," Ranma stuttered, glancing past the girl to the almost two-dozen angry Chinese women behind her.
Shampoo readied her two bonbori, "How you know Shampoo?" At the action and question, the rest of the Amazon Hunting party followed by brandishing their own weaponry.
"Ranma, are these friends of yours?" Kasumi asked, "It's not polite to keep them waiting at the door, would you all like some tea?" Several of the Amazons stared at Kasumi's smile, and glanced back at a nervously smiling Ranma.
"Want Ranma, is girl," Shampoo repeated, looking back from Ranma to Kasumi. The Pigtailed boy blinked, and then smiled in realization.
"This is Ranma right..." Kasumi started to say, before she was cut off.
"I'll go get *HER* for you," Ranma stated, loud enough to interrupt the eldest Tendou daughter. Many of the Amazons in the tribe began to whisper amongst themselves, earning a stern glance from Shampoo who was leading the squad.
Inside, Ranma chuckled to himself, things were gonna get interesting definitely. He walked by a frantically running Akane, who was waving her arms with a rabbit attached to one of them while screaming desperate pleas. Nabiki looked on in disgust at her younger sister.
Ranma stopped by the kitchen and grabbed himself a glass of water, and then went upstairs.
________________________________________
"So, how is your visit here to Japan?" Kasumi asked, trying to entertain the women at her door.
"Japan smell, and rude," Shampoo answered back.
"Oh, I'm sorry you're not enjoying your trip," Kasumi apologized.
One of the girls yelled in Mandarin, drawing the attention of all the others. A redhead woman was leaping out of a window and onto the roof. Shampoo yelled something, inciting all the warriors with her to go in pursuit. Several branched off in different directions, while the main group trailed after their prey.
"Oh dear," Kasumi exclaimed, watching the blood rioting women chase after Ranma with meaningful intent.
"Uh, Mr. Saotome, don't you, you know, think you should go help your son from being eviscerated or something?" Nabiki asked, observing Bunny stalk a fearful Akane into a corner, baring his buckteeth in a menacing manner.
Genma took a calm sip of his tea, "It's good training...." Everyone blinked in unison.
"Oh well, as long as there's no concern." Kasumi looked back out towards the front door at the knock.
________________________________________
Ranma smiled at the women chasing him, it wasn't every day a young man could have a small army of dominating exotic foreign women after him, er, her. With a chuckle, Ranma lead the way from the Tendous.
"Ranma is good at running away," Shampoo said darkly, her party still not managing to catch up with the pigtailed girl.
"She's like a damned frightened little rabbit, but eventually they fall prey," Mao Lin growled, just barely on Shampoo's tail.
"Chai Tzu, Wai Ming, cut her off with a barrage of arrows, heard her back to one of the other parties to intercept." The two girls followed Shampoo's orders, setting a steady stream of arrows behind their target.
Alerted to the whistling sounds of projectiles behind her, Ranma-chan veered off, while still the barrage dogged her until she was heading 90 degrees from the direction she originally was going. Ranma knew what they were attempting to do, not a bad plan actually. It almost made him feel pity for having to disappoint them.
Ranma-chan jumped from a roof; the Amazons followed and landed on the street in time to see Ranma head into one of the buildings. Without hesitation, they all followed her in.
Ranma passed by one couple at a table, and grabbed their kettle of tea, and apologized as she poured it over her head, and then sat down at the table with them.
"So, I hope I'm not intruding,"
The man was the first to regain his composure at seeing a petite and beautiful redhead become a strapping young man, "Quite so, young man," the middle aged-gentleman retorted gruffly, ignoring the dozen girls that ran by them, screaming in war cry, "It's not very polite to just seat yourself at someone's table like this."
"Sorry," Ranma apologized, and then turned to look at the flustered woman, "That's funny, you're wearing red lip stick..."
"Wha? What are you talking about, young man?" the woman enquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it's just the brown lipstick under his collar..." Ranma started, jerking his thumb back to the other guy at the table
"WHAT?!?" Both of the couple exclaimed in unison.
"Um, I'll leave it to you guys to work it out..." Ranma stated with a concerned expression, and got up from the table and left the restaurant.
________________________________________
"Well, I'm glad to know my former students are doing okay," commented the old man as he took a puff from his pipe.
"Oh YES, Master! We are doing quite well!!!!" A battered and bruised Soun Tendou prostrated himself before the ancient martial arts master.
"More tea, please," Genma asked, handing his empty cup to Kasumi for refill, "So, master, have you found that redhead yet?"
Happosai's face darkened dramatically, "She won't escape me for long, this I SWEAR!"
"Red...head...?" Soun mumbled in question, then turned an enquiring eye towards his old training partner, Genma just silently sipped his tea.
"Yes, as soon as we see her, her life is FORFEIT!!" Rouge growled, crushing the teacup in her hand as her aura flared around her.
"Let me get you another cup," Kasumi asked the enraged woman. Kasumi walked over to the cupboard, "Akane, can you get me a cup?"
Akane opened the cupboard from the inside, and handed Kasumi a ceramic cup.
"Thank you," Kasumi replied gratefully, and turned around, ignoring the rabbit that was on the ground growling like a rapid Chihuahua.
________________________________________
Ranma walked out the restaurant, just in time to dodge the business end of an umbrella.
"At last I found you... Ranma..." the fanged boy said in a low, menacing voice, as he stood up from kneeling in the new crater in the sidewalk.
"Ryoga? Ryoga Hibiki? HEY MAN! HOW YA DOING?" Ranma shouted, glad to see one of is favorite vict... er... friends after so long, "Hey? Why don't get go inside and get a bite to eat while we talk about old times?"
Ryoga's battle aura flared dramatically, "YOU....... BASTARD!!!!!!"
"Huh? Was it something I said?" Ranma replied honestly, he wasn't sure what he did to set the lost boy off.
Ryoga barked something intelligent, which was probably something indecent, towards Ranma, as he attempted to assault the other boy with a barrage of umbrella jabs.
"Hey man, it would really help if I knew what you were upset about," Ranma commented, swaying between all the relentless attacks.
"BECAUSE OF YOU, MY LIFE IS HELL!!!!!"
"Oh, can't be any worse than my Pop's," Ranma replied easily, "But how did I manage that?"
________________________________________
From the rooftops, a couple of Chinese women stopped their search to see two cute guys battling between each other.
"Come on!" growled a third, "We must find the infidel that dare challenge the Amazon nation!"
"But they're soooooo cute!" The sea green haired and hot pink haired twins cooed in unison, crossing their trident and staff together in their swooning. The third girl rolled her eyes, and grabbed the two girls by an arm and pulled them with her.
"Challenge them later, we must go!"
________________________________________
"I DO NOT HAVE TO TELL YOU ANYTHING!"
"Geez, you're stubborn," Ranma snapped, and then blurred from Ryoga's vision.
"Huh?" Ryoga blinked, and found himself dangling upside down from an overhanging sign by his ankles. Ranma was a thin rope wrapped around his hands that was looped around the store sign and tied to Ryoga's ankles, "CURSE YOU RANMA, LEMME DOWN SO I CAN KILL YOU!!!!!"
"Nu-uh, not until you tell me why you're so mad at me," Ranma demanded, almost acting as if there weren't already hundreds of reasons, but he wanted specifics; he may want to try it on someone else.
"You, because of your stupid prank during lunch time in junior high..."
"Hmm? Which one?" Ranma asked, if it was the beef terriyaki thing, he was going to be too irritated to even bother letting Ryoga down.
"I spent the whole day trying to find a water fountain, but by the time I got to one, the damage was already done," Ryoga growled.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ranma was getting impatient now; it was rude for the lost boy to keep him hanging like this.
"Do you know what it's like...." Ryoga was shivering in fury, "... to have everything taste like cardboard to you?"
"Comon, we're killing daylight hours, and Kasumi's making Sukiyaki tonight." Ranma really was getting to the end of his line.
"The wasabi, Ranma," Ryoga barked as if Ranma knew what he would be talking about now.
Ranma looked blankly at the lost boy, and his expression then changed to incredulousness, "Wa.. wasabi...?" Ranma's mouth twitched into a jagged smirk, and he started to turn red, "Wasssa-bi?"
"DAMMIT RANMA! IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!!!!!"
Ranma obviously thought it was, as he rolled on the ground in hysterics, "WASSSABI!!!! BWUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
"MY TASTEBUDS NEVER RECOVERED SINCE THEN, AND FOR THAT, I'M SENDING YOU TO HELL!!!!!" Ryoga swung his umbrella in vain at the other boy rolling around on the ground in gut roaring laughter.
Ranma suddenly stopped laughing, and jumped from where he was before a massive.. mass of horns, yeti, eel tail, and crane wings slammed into the pavement, making an even bigger crater than the one Ryoga created.
The creature snorted, and then lifted one of its hooves off the ground, and bellowed in rage when it found nothing gooey under it.
"Hey! Tarou! How's it goin'?" Ranma asked cheerfully, holding onto the rope above from where Ryoga was hanging.
Ranma, still a bit shaken from his subtle beratement by Kasumi, perked up at Kasumi's call, "For me? That's weird..." Ranma started choking on air when he got to the door.
"Ran...ma?" The lavender haired Chinese girl leaned forward with narrow eyes.
"Uh, he-hello... Shampoo," Ranma stuttered, glancing past the girl to the almost two-dozen angry Chinese women behind her.
Shampoo readied her two bonbori, "How you know Shampoo?" At the action and question, the rest of the Amazon Hunting party followed by brandishing their own weaponry.
"Ranma, are these friends of yours?" Kasumi asked, "It's not polite to keep them waiting at the door, would you all like some tea?" Several of the Amazons stared at Kasumi's smile, and glanced back at a nervously smiling Ranma.
"Want Ranma, is girl," Shampoo repeated, looking back from Ranma to Kasumi. The Pigtailed boy blinked, and then smiled in realization.
"This is Ranma right..." Kasumi started to say, before she was cut off.
"I'll go get *HER* for you," Ranma stated, loud enough to interrupt the eldest Tendou daughter. Many of the Amazons in the tribe began to whisper amongst themselves, earning a stern glance from Shampoo who was leading the squad.
Inside, Ranma chuckled to himself, things were gonna get interesting definitely. He walked by a frantically running Akane, who was waving her arms with a rabbit attached to one of them while screaming desperate pleas. Nabiki looked on in disgust at her younger sister.
Ranma stopped by the kitchen and grabbed himself a glass of water, and then went upstairs.
________________________________________
"So, how is your visit here to Japan?" Kasumi asked, trying to entertain the women at her door.
"Japan smell, and rude," Shampoo answered back.
"Oh, I'm sorry you're not enjoying your trip," Kasumi apologized.
One of the girls yelled in Mandarin, drawing the attention of all the others. A redhead woman was leaping out of a window and onto the roof. Shampoo yelled something, inciting all the warriors with her to go in pursuit. Several branched off in different directions, while the main group trailed after their prey.
"Oh dear," Kasumi exclaimed, watching the blood rioting women chase after Ranma with meaningful intent.
"Uh, Mr. Saotome, don't you, you know, think you should go help your son from being eviscerated or something?" Nabiki asked, observing Bunny stalk a fearful Akane into a corner, baring his buckteeth in a menacing manner.
Genma took a calm sip of his tea, "It's good training...." Everyone blinked in unison.
"Oh well, as long as there's no concern." Kasumi looked back out towards the front door at the knock.
________________________________________
Ranma smiled at the women chasing him, it wasn't every day a young man could have a small army of dominating exotic foreign women after him, er, her. With a chuckle, Ranma lead the way from the Tendous.
"Ranma is good at running away," Shampoo said darkly, her party still not managing to catch up with the pigtailed girl.
"She's like a damned frightened little rabbit, but eventually they fall prey," Mao Lin growled, just barely on Shampoo's tail.
"Chai Tzu, Wai Ming, cut her off with a barrage of arrows, heard her back to one of the other parties to intercept." The two girls followed Shampoo's orders, setting a steady stream of arrows behind their target.
Alerted to the whistling sounds of projectiles behind her, Ranma-chan veered off, while still the barrage dogged her until she was heading 90 degrees from the direction she originally was going. Ranma knew what they were attempting to do, not a bad plan actually. It almost made him feel pity for having to disappoint them.
Ranma-chan jumped from a roof; the Amazons followed and landed on the street in time to see Ranma head into one of the buildings. Without hesitation, they all followed her in.
Ranma passed by one couple at a table, and grabbed their kettle of tea, and apologized as she poured it over her head, and then sat down at the table with them.
"So, I hope I'm not intruding,"
The man was the first to regain his composure at seeing a petite and beautiful redhead become a strapping young man, "Quite so, young man," the middle aged-gentleman retorted gruffly, ignoring the dozen girls that ran by them, screaming in war cry, "It's not very polite to just seat yourself at someone's table like this."
"Sorry," Ranma apologized, and then turned to look at the flustered woman, "That's funny, you're wearing red lip stick..."
"Wha? What are you talking about, young man?" the woman enquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it's just the brown lipstick under his collar..." Ranma started, jerking his thumb back to the other guy at the table
"WHAT?!?" Both of the couple exclaimed in unison.
"Um, I'll leave it to you guys to work it out..." Ranma stated with a concerned expression, and got up from the table and left the restaurant.
________________________________________
"Well, I'm glad to know my former students are doing okay," commented the old man as he took a puff from his pipe.
"Oh YES, Master! We are doing quite well!!!!" A battered and bruised Soun Tendou prostrated himself before the ancient martial arts master.
"More tea, please," Genma asked, handing his empty cup to Kasumi for refill, "So, master, have you found that redhead yet?"
Happosai's face darkened dramatically, "She won't escape me for long, this I SWEAR!"
"Red...head...?" Soun mumbled in question, then turned an enquiring eye towards his old training partner, Genma just silently sipped his tea.
"Yes, as soon as we see her, her life is FORFEIT!!" Rouge growled, crushing the teacup in her hand as her aura flared around her.
"Let me get you another cup," Kasumi asked the enraged woman. Kasumi walked over to the cupboard, "Akane, can you get me a cup?"
Akane opened the cupboard from the inside, and handed Kasumi a ceramic cup.
"Thank you," Kasumi replied gratefully, and turned around, ignoring the rabbit that was on the ground growling like a rapid Chihuahua.
________________________________________
Ranma walked out the restaurant, just in time to dodge the business end of an umbrella.
"At last I found you... Ranma..." the fanged boy said in a low, menacing voice, as he stood up from kneeling in the new crater in the sidewalk.
"Ryoga? Ryoga Hibiki? HEY MAN! HOW YA DOING?" Ranma shouted, glad to see one of is favorite vict... er... friends after so long, "Hey? Why don't get go inside and get a bite to eat while we talk about old times?"
Ryoga's battle aura flared dramatically, "YOU....... BASTARD!!!!!!"
"Huh? Was it something I said?" Ranma replied honestly, he wasn't sure what he did to set the lost boy off.
Ryoga barked something intelligent, which was probably something indecent, towards Ranma, as he attempted to assault the other boy with a barrage of umbrella jabs.
"Hey man, it would really help if I knew what you were upset about," Ranma commented, swaying between all the relentless attacks.
"BECAUSE OF YOU, MY LIFE IS HELL!!!!!"
"Oh, can't be any worse than my Pop's," Ranma replied easily, "But how did I manage that?"
________________________________________
From the rooftops, a couple of Chinese women stopped their search to see two cute guys battling between each other.
"Come on!" growled a third, "We must find the infidel that dare challenge the Amazon nation!"
"But they're soooooo cute!" The sea green haired and hot pink haired twins cooed in unison, crossing their trident and staff together in their swooning. The third girl rolled her eyes, and grabbed the two girls by an arm and pulled them with her.
"Challenge them later, we must go!"
________________________________________
"I DO NOT HAVE TO TELL YOU ANYTHING!"
"Geez, you're stubborn," Ranma snapped, and then blurred from Ryoga's vision.
"Huh?" Ryoga blinked, and found himself dangling upside down from an overhanging sign by his ankles. Ranma was a thin rope wrapped around his hands that was looped around the store sign and tied to Ryoga's ankles, "CURSE YOU RANMA, LEMME DOWN SO I CAN KILL YOU!!!!!"
"Nu-uh, not until you tell me why you're so mad at me," Ranma demanded, almost acting as if there weren't already hundreds of reasons, but he wanted specifics; he may want to try it on someone else.
"You, because of your stupid prank during lunch time in junior high..."
"Hmm? Which one?" Ranma asked, if it was the beef terriyaki thing, he was going to be too irritated to even bother letting Ryoga down.
"I spent the whole day trying to find a water fountain, but by the time I got to one, the damage was already done," Ryoga growled.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ranma was getting impatient now; it was rude for the lost boy to keep him hanging like this.
"Do you know what it's like...." Ryoga was shivering in fury, "... to have everything taste like cardboard to you?"
"Comon, we're killing daylight hours, and Kasumi's making Sukiyaki tonight." Ranma really was getting to the end of his line.
"The wasabi, Ranma," Ryoga barked as if Ranma knew what he would be talking about now.
Ranma looked blankly at the lost boy, and his expression then changed to incredulousness, "Wa.. wasabi...?" Ranma's mouth twitched into a jagged smirk, and he started to turn red, "Wasssa-bi?"
"DAMMIT RANMA! IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!!!!!"
Ranma obviously thought it was, as he rolled on the ground in hysterics, "WASSSABI!!!! BWUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
"MY TASTEBUDS NEVER RECOVERED SINCE THEN, AND FOR THAT, I'M SENDING YOU TO HELL!!!!!" Ryoga swung his umbrella in vain at the other boy rolling around on the ground in gut roaring laughter.
Ranma suddenly stopped laughing, and jumped from where he was before a massive.. mass of horns, yeti, eel tail, and crane wings slammed into the pavement, making an even bigger crater than the one Ryoga created.
The creature snorted, and then lifted one of its hooves off the ground, and bellowed in rage when it found nothing gooey under it.
"Hey! Tarou! How's it goin'?" Ranma asked cheerfully, holding onto the rope above from where Ryoga was hanging.