Chapter 13 – Last Minute Training

Pain was all Ranma was really aware of; pain and the grass he was currently laying on. A groan from his right side informed him that the same held probably true for Shinji as well. Normally he would have asked, but at the moment talking was too taxing. Instead Ranma asked himself the hundredth time why he could not keep his mouth shut once in a while.

It was only the first day of the training trip and the moment they had reached a clearing, ideal for camping and sparring, Cologne had started in on them: One hour later everything had been prepared to train the two Saotome-brothers and Ryouga in the secret Amazon Technique of the breaking point. When Cologne had first outlined the training Ranma had pointed out that it was crazy. Of course, after Cologne told him that Shampoo had already finished the training and within only 4 days no less, Ranma's pride had reared its ugly head and he quickly agreed to training, insisting that he could do it in two.

Needless to say he regretted that decision immensely now.

What had followed were five hours of smashing into boulders with short rest periods in between to get their bearings back and Ranma and Shinji were not any closer to mastering the technique, according to Cologne.

That she had dismissed Ryuoga an hour earlier, stating that he was well on his way to mastering the technique had also stung Ranma's pride.

"Get up you two. Time for the next try." Cologne informed them from the branch she was standing on with a tone that betrayed how much she was enjoying this.

'I hate my life' thought both Saotomes at the same time as they dragged their beaten and bruised bodies up into standing positions to continue training.

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Meanwhile not too far away several other people were also rethinking their decision to go along with the training trip. Even though Cologne said only Shinji, Ryouga, Ranma and Shampoo would come along Pepper, Spice, Ukyo and Kaori had also tagged along. All of them determined to improve their skill on this trip.

They had however, not expected to be playing 'catch the bullet', as Happosai had called it and while neither of them had ever played it, the impressive amount of guns, rifles and ammo crates Happosai had somehow produced were more than clue enough..

Of course, it was not really a game, but Happosai could be one sick bastard when he wanted, and right now was one of those moments. After dropping a last crate onto the pile he jumped down and gave all of them a bright smile. "Okay girls, seems like we're ready to go."

"I hope you don't plan to shoot at us so we learn how to dodge bullets, old freak!" said Ukyo, stating what everyone thought.

Happosai gave the girl a hurt look. "Now, that's not a nice thing to think about anyone. How can you think I would ever want to se either of you beauties hurt in crazy training like that?" he asked, and promptly snuggled into Ukyo's bosom to proof his point.

The moment the chef had drawn her spatula, the diminutive man had already jumped away, once again totally serious. "You do realize you deserved that?" he asked her calmly.

It was enough to derail Ukyo's anger. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying you can consider this your punishment for asking dumb questions. Do you truly think I would be dumb enough to shoot at you so you can learn dodging? Not even Genma would try something like that. While you will learn to dodge bullets from this exercise, you will also be alive afterwards."

"How do we do that, pervert man?" Shampoo asked impatiently.

"That's simple. I'll shoot a bullet in such a way that it will miss you and your task is to catch it with your weapons. We will begin with slow moving bullets and work our way up to the top."

Needless to say that was enough to drive all the girls slack jawed.

"AND THAT IS ANY LESS CRAZY?!!!!!" They all screamed at once.

"Posh, posh." said Happosai, waving them off, "Ranma has done the same training when he was twelve, so you shouldn't have any trouble with it."

That shut the girls up.

Now assured of their cooperation Happosai quickly drew the first weapon from the pile, a M1911A1 pistol, which was in a surprisingly good condition, considering the weapon had to be well over 40 years old. "Ukyou, we'll start with you. Take up a guarding stance over there." He said while pointing at a spot that was maybe 90 feet away.

The chef grumbled, but complied nonetheless. "I really don't know why I am doing this." She said to herself.

"Okay, before we start one last tip: Don't try to follow the bullet with your eyes. While it may be possible with this little darling here, because the bullet will only move with about 270 meters per second, you won't have any luck with the higher calibres. Focus your attention on me instead. Try to guess where the bullet will go by judging the angle in which I am holding the gun." The old pervert told them in total seriousness, while simultaneously donning an ear protector that looked suspiciously like it was made out of panties.

Ukyo shook her head in disbelief. 'There's no way this will work. I really need to brain Ranma's father for making him go through training like this when he was twelve.'

Further thoughts on how to best make Genma suffer were driven from her mind when Happosai sent the first bullet her way and Ukyo suddenly found herself busy trying to hit bullets, all the while trying not to wince from the crack that echoed every time the pistol was fired.

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Back in the woods Shinji and Ranma jerked their heads in the direction of the clearing in surprise when the first shot echoed over them, even though they were swinging on a rope in midair.

Surprise turned to horror when they realized why they had been swinging in midair.

SPLAT

That day Ranma and Shinji learned something very important:

Impacting a boulder is very painful

Impacting a boulder without being prepared was very very very painful.

When several more shots followed the first one it was enough to rouse both Saotome's, who looked at Cologne in alarm. "Someone's shootin' up there, we have ta check it out!" said Ranma.

"Don't worry son-in-law. That's only Happosai. He is trying to teach your fiancée's how to dodge bullets."

"Oh." Ranma intoned with understanding, "the old 'catch the bullet' game."

"That's right. Normally I would insist the two of you undergo it as well, even though Ranma has already done so, but Happosai says you won't need it once you learn the Senken-techniques from Genma. I just hope he is right."

Hanging from his rope in midair, Shinji could only stare at Ranma and Cologne in horror, while the cracking sounds of gunshots kept rolling over them like thunder. "You people are insane!"

Ranma looked at him strangely. "…Says the guy who is willingly slamming into a boulder to learn how to blow said boulder up."

Not finding a comeback to that Shinji's horror grew. 'Oh my god! Not only am I turning into some insane martial artist; Ranma just beat me in an argument!!'

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When Shinji dragged his tired body back to the camp after nightfall all he wanted to do was sleep, a notion that Ranma seconded. Cologne had not relented in her tortu…ahem, training until dinner time.

At that point both of them had already been dead to the world and hadn't really tasted anything the girls had cooked up.

Instead of letting them rest, Genma had quickly dragged them off to start training in the Senken-techniques. This evening he had only demonstrated the techniques, reducing several trees to splinters in the process and scaring them shitless by appearing out of thin air.

All in all even Ranma had to admit it was very impressive.

Being forced to memorize both scrolls before going to bed, sucked big time, though and Shinji had a feeling the real training, which would start tomorrow would be even worse.

Once back in the camp Shinji was surprised that most of the girls were still up and about

The moment they spied Shinji and Ranma, Shampoo seemingly teleported onto Ranma's arm.

"Aiya, Airen sleep in tent with me?

Ranma, too tired to care, let himself be dragged of to Shampoo's tent.

Shinji, felt decidedly small under the steely gazes Kaorie, Pepper and Spice were giving him.

"So, whom will you sleep with tonight?" All of them asked in sync, all three of them conveying through their eyes that choosing one of the others girls was a bad idea.

Shinji could feel a bead of sweat slowly making it's way down his back as his eyes darted all over the place for a way out. 'God, thank you for this small mercy!' he crowed as he spotted Ryouga crawling into his tent.

"Ryouga! Wait, I'll be sleeping with you!" he shouted and quickly dove into the no-longer-lost-boy's tent, zipping the tent closed while flying through the entrance.

Pepper, Kaori and Spice were left standing in the camp, staring at each other. "This is all your fault!"

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Ranma quickly rid himself of his clothes, leaving only his boxers on and slipped into the sleeping bag, intent on getting some shuteye. It barely registered on his senses when Shampoo slipped into the tent, followed by some rustling of clothes.

When she closed the zipper to the tent, Ranma was only a few breaths away from sleep.

The moment Shampoo slipped into the sleeping bag behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and draping one of her legs over his, all vestiges of sleep were gone from his mind.

The girl didn't do anything else, though, and Ranma stopped his protests to get some much needed sleep instead.

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Two hours later found the Saotome heir still wide awake, a blissful Shampoo slumbering in his arms. As tired as he was, it seemed his body was intent on informing him that Shampoo was a very healthy, very naked girl that was sleeping in close quarters with him. To that end part of him had quickly became as hard as Shampoo's breasts, which were pressing into his side, were soft.

That was a reaction Ranma was familiar with and it had only taken a few minutes until his body calmed down again…that was when Shampoo started rubbing her thigh over certain parts of his anatomy.

'God, I hate you.' Shampoo moved again, her leg dragging upwards 'I really do'.

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Meanwhile Shinji glared at the sleeping form of Ryouga, whose arm was currently resting in Shinji's face. With calmness he did not feel, Shinji removed the offending appendage from his face for the twentieth time that night. "I'm gonna kick you, when you do that again" he informed the sleeping boy while lying back down again.

5 minutes later arm met face with a meaty thump

'OKAY! THAT'S IT! YOU ASKED FOR IT HIBIKI!' Shinji ranted in his mind, his patience finally worn thin. Several kicks later Shinji was left with an aching right foot and a still sleeping Ryouga 'What the hell is he made of? How the hell can he sleep through this?'

Seeing how he was not getting any answers Shinji laid down again, hoping to get some sleep finally.

thump

'God, I hate you." Shinji thought, not bothering to remove Ryouga's arm.' I really do'

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On the fifth day of training in the breaking point, only Shinji was left. Ryouga and Ranma having both finished the training on the third day. It was a very frustrating experience for him.

While he knew objectively that Ranma and Ryouga were a world away from him in terms of skill, it still rankled him to waste up precious time slamming into a boulder instead of training in the Senken-techniques, which seemed far more useful than the Breaking point to him.

"Okay, ready for another go, Shinji?" asked Cologne from her perch next to the huge boulder that was slowly starting conforming to Shinji's body from all the times he had slammed into it.

In answer Shinji merely gave a grunt, fearing that he would lose several unkind words in Cologne's direction if he spoke because of the anger and frustration that was coursing through him. These emotions had been building since the day before, when Shinji had been able to see the ki-lines crisscrossing over the boulder for the first time. Ever since then the had only grown because of his inability to sent a simple ki pulse into one of the breaking points, which Shinji could see almost without concentrating by now.

All that anger and frustration was enough to do what mere concentration had been unable to do: Shinji Saotome released a pulse of ki from his body the first time in his life, when his finger touched the boulder this time around.

Anger and frustration are not emotions that help your control, though, which meant that the 'ki pulse', was more like a 'ki bomb'. The breaking point, on the other hand, was based on the fact that a small dose of ki applied at a specific point will disrupt the ki flow in an object, effectively breaking it apart, the result of which was usually a contained explosion.

The amount poured forth by Shinji was a whole lot bigger than this, though, and raced along the ki-lines running through the stone, overloading the whole structure, instead of simply disrupting it.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The resulting explosion reduced the boulder to fine dust and blew Shinji back into the tree he was tied to with enough force to crack it.

Standing on her branch, white hair sticking out straight, Cologne looked at Shinji's now unconscious form. "Well, that was new."

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After the first week of training was over Happosai was happily firing away with two unmodified M-16 assault rifles at Pepper and Spice with short bursts. The two girls had traded their swords for a pair of axes each and were swinging frantically to catch every bullet that was sent their way.

Next to him Genma was busy doing the same with Ukyou and Shampoo, who were using Spatula and Bonbori respectively to stop the hail of bullets.

How it was possible for a man of Happosai's size to fire both weapons one-handed without seemingly any problems, while Genma was clearly struggling, was just one of many mysteries that would never be solved. Or at least that is what Shinji thought as he watched the old man, as he quickly slapped in new magazines after the old ones were emptied. The youngest Saotome was currently by his lonesome because Cologne had taken Ryuoga, Ranma and Genme on a trip to the city to fetch 'training tools'.

"Ok, ladies. That's it for now. We can move on to the next part of your training."

All the girls cheered at that. "Finally; I thought this was never going to end." said Ukyou.

"What will we be doing now?" Kaori asked, having a feeling that things would not get better from there on out.

"Now…we will play 'dodge the bullet'." Happosai answered, like that explained everything.

Several people hit the earth face first.

"Why is it that no one ever trusts me with something?" Happosai asked in frustration.

"That may have something to do with the fact that you are untrustworthy most of the time and a big pervert on top of it." Cologne informed him dryly, while hopping up to the group with Ranma and Ryouga in tow. The latter two were carrying a huge crate between them that was 2 by 2 by 2 meters.

"That hurt!" The mock serious tone Happosai used told everyone it didn't.

Cologne ignored him and ordered Ranma and Ryouga to drop the crate instead. Once it was settled on the ground she quickly opened it with a flick of her staff. "Now, let's try this again: Happy's name for the game you will 'play' is not entirely accurate: You will be dodging rubber bullets, instead of real ones, and in here we have complete protective gear for each one of you, so there is no chance of accidentally blowing out an eye or something equally unpleasant."

"Oh, that is different. When we begin?" Shampoo asked eagerly, as she bounded over to the crate to fish out her gear, the twins following suit.

Ukyou and Kaori looked at each other for a moment, before their shoulders slumped in defeat and they took their own gear out.

"What about us, elder? Shouldn't we be training like that as well?"

"While training like this would be useful, it is more important that you master the Senken for the moment, Shinji. Ryouga will be joining the training, though. Now get back to practising, you've been slacking of the last few hours."

Shinji gave her a baleful look in response before vanishing in the tree line, while muttering something about 'old mummies and slave drivers' and Ranma followed suit.

"Elder, I don't see any rubber bullets in here. Where are they?" Kaori wanted to know, making doubly sure that what would be shot at her was really rubber.

In answer to her question Genma finally came into view, carrying a large crate on his back.

He was breathing heavily and looked ready to drop dead.

In spite of that (or maybe because of that), Cologne quickly jumped over to him and landed on top of the crate. " Hurry up Saotome-san, surely you're not this out of shape."

Crash

Of course, after getting buried beneath the crate because he was unable to support Cologne's additional weight, Genma choose not to answer.

Quickly jumping down from the crate Cologne flicked it open as well, getting out several packs of rubber bullets. "Here they are ladies. Now suit up and get ready."

No one needed to be told twice and soon everyone was busy making sure the protection gear was covering up everything. With everyone else occupied Cologne asked a question that had been o her mind since Happosai told her to get the equipment. While Happosai surely had made a lot of money after 300 years living like he did (by stealing cough cough), getting high tech military protection gear and half a ton of rubber bullets wasn't easily done.

"If you don't mind my asking, Happy, how did you get all this ordered anyhow?"

"I have gotten these items through great personal sacrifice, my dear Cologne."

"How so?"

"Well, you see, a dear friend of mine agreed to get me everything I needed in exchange for some of my most prized silky darlings." He said righteously, although his voice start taking on a sad quality. "You see; I had to give him the red little number Shampoo liked wearing while doing deliveries, that wonderful lace bra Kaori wanted to use to seduce Shinji, the matching panties…sniff… Pepper and Spice had reserved for that same occasion and …sniff…those wonderfully innocent undies from our darling Ukyou here…sniffle."

Happosai stopped sniffling when he realized that it had gotten awfully hot all of a sudden.

Looking up he found all the girls bearing down on him, auras blazing.

"…Momma…"

"YOU PERVERT!"

BASHCRACKSPLAT…

Watching the spectacle form the sidelines Cologne sighed resignedly. "That he had coming….although I wonder who would agree to a deal like this…"

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Somewhere else, Ataru Moroboshi sneezed violently while being in the middle of rubbing his face all over one of his newly acquired… items.(1)

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3 days later Shinji was once again staring at the ceiling of the tent he shared with Ryuoga , wide awake even though it was past midnight.

thump

His view of the ceiling now blocked by Ryouga's wandering arm Shinji merely sighed, now more or less used to the lost boy's sleeping pattern. 'Maybe I should go outside for a bit, I don't think I'll go to sleep anytime soon'.

Quietly slipping out of the tent Shinji decided to take a short walk to the small river that was running through the woods nearby. Navigating was easy, because the moon was almost full and the trees were standing far enough apart to let the moonlight through, so Shinji had no problem with walking while his mind was busy wondering why he was still awake.

Of course, the easiest explanation would be that he was not tired because the training had not been too hard the last three days. That thought quickly led him to wonder why that could be.

Ranma was always tired when they made it back to camp each day and he was not training any longer than Shinji himself.

Furrowing his brow in thought and brushing aside another branch absently Shinji mentally went over his training the past few days. After shwoing them the Senken-techniques his adoptive father had not trained them any further, merely giving them the scrolls to work through and telling Ranma to take care of Shinji's training schedule. On the first day Ranma told him to practice his jumping abilities in the woods while keeping as silent and unobtrusive as possible.

And while Shinji could admit that it was good training, because he still had a lot of problems judging how much force he needed to make a specific jump he did not understand how that would help him master the Senken. True, the Umi-Senken was about being sneaky, but from what he had understood all the techniques were still used in combat one way or another and Shinji had not spared with anyone these last three days.

Further musings were put on hold for a moment when Shinji broke through the tree-line and the small river that was winding through the meadow came into view. The moonlight reflecting of the flowing water captured his attention for a moment and he could not help but smile slightly.

"I should probably stop thinking so much and enjoy myself a little more."

"Very true"

"GAAH" Shinji whirled around, coming face to wrinkled face with Happosai, who was dangling from a branch behind Shinji. "Don't do that!"

In response Happosai merely smirked at him. "But annoying you is always so much fun, lad."

Instead of rising to the bait Shinji merely shrugged. "What are you doing out here anyway Happosai?"

The ancient lecher merely pointed above him.

When Shinji looked up he was greeted with a Bag that was clearly filled to the bursting point, half a bra hanging out from the side. 'I should have known' Shinji thought to himself and groaned. "Why the hell are you such a big pervert anyway?"

"I'm not here to talk about ancient history " Happosai waved the question off. "I'm here because you obviously have something on your mind"

Shinji considered the diminutive grandmaster for a moment. While the both of them saw never eye to eye, he could readily admit that the pervert was a very good martial artist. And even though Shinji did not fully understand what was bothering him, he was pretty sure it had martial arts in it somewhere, just like everything else he had done over the past months.

"This may take a while…master" he said, almost stumbling over the title but realizing that it was appropriate given the situation.

Happosai, feeling the serious turn of the conversation, dropped from his upside-down position in the tree and sat down on the river-bank, lightening his pipe. "Go ahead son, I finished my business for the night anyway."

Shinji settled himself next to the grandmaster in a cross-legged position, listening to the river while he tried to sort out his thoughts. He realized that the Senken themselves were not the issue, they merely made him realize there actually was an issue.

"I guess I really need to start with my combat-training at NERV." Shinji said at length, as he proceeded to tell his Grandmaster everything he had learned about fighting, his body and himself over the last year.

He did not notice the satisfied grin Happosai sported, when he started his tale.

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20 minutes later Shinji finally finished with his thoughts on the current training. More specifically wondering why Cologne had not trained him any more after he blew his first boulder to dust, and why his training in the supposedly powerful Senken was so low key.

Happosai contemplated what he had been told for a moment; finally taking his pipe out of his mouth he regarded Shinji intently. "So, what exactly is your problem, Shinji?"

"I had hoped you could tell me." Shinji said and chuckled.

Instead of answering Happosai took a long drag from his pipe, seemingly without a care in the world. "How high can Ranma jump?"

"Maybe 30 feet I think" Shinji said, wondering what Ranma had to do with anything

"And you?"

"Uhm...Half of that, if I really try?"

"Mmmh…how about your speed? How fast are you in comparison?"

Shinji frowned "The same, half as fast as Ranma."

"I see, and how long have you been really training martial arts?"

"Well, counting the time at NERV maybe 18 months, without it maybe a year…."

"And how long has Ranma been practicing the art?"

"His whole…." Shinji did not finish that sentence, his mind immediately catching the discrepancy. "How is that possible? I know Ranma is picking up new moves faster then me and he trained a lot longer. Is he holding back?"

Happosai barked a laugh "C'mon lad, use that pea-brain of yours a little, Ranma isn't holding anything back"

Not even acknowledging the insult Happosai had thrown his way Shinji immediately tried to find the missing piece. 'Ok, the perv made me compare my speed and my strength with Ranma, what else is important?'

Of course, when asking himself like that Shinji found the answer embarrassingly obvious: The groundwork for every battle was the number of different techniques you knew. Quickly going over a typical sparring session between Ranma and his father it didn't take Shinji long to find that he knew barely 2 out of 10 moves the Saotomes used on a regular basis.

Thinking it over again Shinji nodded decisively.

"I think the problem is I have too much power and not enough skill. That's why the training isn't so hard at the moment. My mind is playing catch up with my body!"

"Well well, it seems that brain of yours isn't totally useless," Happosai noted, somehow managing to sound like he was praising Shinji despite his words "and while I could let you figure the rest out for yourself as well, I don't have that much patience"

"Fact is, before you met Ranma, that farce you called training simply was not enough. To shape someone into a real martial artist the training needs to be tough, because your body will use his chi only in the direst of circumstances…" At that Shinji could not help but think back to the time Genma threw him into a lake even though he could not swim and Happosai smirked knowingly.

"Once these circumstances are met, your body will have an easier time accessing your chi the next time. Over time your body will use it almost constantly, even without danger. What you must understand is that this unconscious use of chi is enough to fuel a technique like the Kachu Tenchin Ameriguken, or powering your high jumps, but it is useless when trying to master the Senken or the Bakusai Tenkutsu."

Happosai paused a moment, letting all that sink in, before finally coming to the crux of the matter. "That is why Cologne and Ranma aren't training you in these techniques. You have the power, but you are only using it subconsciously, and even then you are still lacking. Before you can think about mastering these things, your skill in the art must increase to a point where you can actually use and sense ki at will."

"I guess that makes sense. So it will probably take me another 8 years before I can think about really using these techniques." Shinji mumbled to himself, a small glimmer of respect for Happosai developing because of their enlightening conversation. Maybe he had misjudged the grandmaster by thinking him nothing but a pervert.

"We'll see" Happosai stated, a strange glint in his eyes. "But you're probably right…with my help even someone with minimal talent can make it." That glimmer now reached bonfire-proportions "That reminds me, I think it is time for you to thank uncle Happy for his help"

Before Shinji could even ask what the ancient martial artist was talking about, he was already landing in the river with a loud splash.

"SWEETO!!!!"

As Shinji punted the pervert, which was busy cuddling her newly grown chest, into orbit, the recently born glimmer of respect for said pervert was reduced to ashes faster than a squirrel walking behind a jet-engine during start-up.

'Definitely a pervert, nothing more' she thought darkly as she headed back to the camp.

Once she got there, Shinji quickly stripped out of her wet clothes, only putting on some new boxers before quietly slipping into the tent next to Ryouga's sleeping from and falling asleep, the nagging sensation at the back of her mind gone for the moment.

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Being without a sense of direction almost all of his life, waking up inside a tent was so normal to Ryouga Hibiki that hard ground felt like a king size bed to him. As such he always spent a few minutes simply lying awake before finally facing the day.

Even the fact that he had shared a tent with Shinji Saotome for the last 10 days did nothing to interrupt that routine. That morning was no different in that regard.

.Or it should have been no different, anyway….

Instead Ryuoga was wide awake, lying on his side with sweat running down his head in small rivulets while staring at his left hand. Said hand was currently resting, quite comfortably, on top of a generous bodily protrusion that anyone else would have called a breast. Attached to that breast was none other then Shinji Saotome, currently naked and female, safe for some boxers.

Fortunately Shinji was still asleep.

Unfortunately Ryouga's thought pattern looked something like 'OH MY GOD… I'm touching a breast…OH MY F GOD I'm touching SHINJI's breast….GONNA DIE GONNA DIE…', which made simply removing his offending appendage impossible.

Then Shinji took a deep breath and stretched, her breast shifting underneath Ryouga's hand.

Something poked the middle of his hand lightly all of a sudden and Ryouga, felt his heart-rate triple when he realized what had just happened. 'OH MY GOD that's her Ni-Ni-Ni..'

"You know Ryouga, you could have asked if you wanted to touch them" Shinji-chan said, her eyes boring into him, her tone as dry as the Sahara.

Ryuoga's eyes widened for a moment, before he zipped out of the tent, without opening the flap, and kept running away in a straight line. "WAAAAAAAAAAAH, DON'T KILL ME!!I'M SORRY!! I'M SORRY!!"

Shinji, already looking out of tent, cracked a smile at Ryuoga's antics.

That smile turned to full blown laughter when the lost boy reached the tree line and kept on going…right through the trees that got in his way.

Nearly a minute later Shinji had calmed down enough to think clearly again, her stomach hurting something fierce from her laughing. 'Man, Ryouga is crazy.'

"What you laughing about Shrimp? What happened?"

"That's what I would like to know. Care to explain Shinji-kun?"

About then Shinji finally realized that Shampoo and Kaori were standing over her, probably awakened from the ruckus Ryouga had made. "Oh nothing much. I just woke up with Ryouga fondling my breasts. You should have seen his face." At that point Shinji once again chuckled "The guy looked ready to piss he pants, he was so scared."

"Well, he should be scared after that shouldn't he?" Ukyo, who had also joined in the middle of his short explanation, asked seriously. "Touching a girl like that without permission."

That caused Shinji to start laughing again. "Sorry Ukyo snort but Ryuoga is the last person who would do something like that willingly. He was totally mortified anyway, no reason to punish him for an accident."

The three girls looked at each other, a little perplexed. While it was true that Ryouga was too shy to think about willingly touching a girl there, Shinji's chipper mood that morning was still a little suprising.

The youngest Saotome had been surrounded by a dark brooding aura the last few days which was simply gone now. Knowing that Shinji being in such a positive mood was something rare it was not the time and place to ask him what had happened.

Instead Shampoo kneeled down before the boy-turned-girl and leered at her still unclad body.

"You probably right Shrimp. Even if not true, Ryouga can be excused, because you have such a hot body".

Doing a very good impression of Ryouga Shinji turned red, squeaked and vanished inside her tent, somehow managing to close the flap even though the zipper was ruined.

Outside the three older girls grinned at each other, although Ukyo's grin did not last very long.

"Shinji-kun learned to tease other guys, but teasing him is as simple as ever." Kaori said brightly.

"True. He is very cute that way" Shampoo agreed and went to make breakfast, the little incident already forgotten.

When Kaori followed after the Amazon a moment later Ukyo was left standing in front of Shinji's tent, rubbing her temples. "Am I the only one finding it strange that a guy wearing a girl's body just used that body to tease the hell out of another guy, only to get all shy himself when he gets tease by another girl?"

After several moments of simply standing there she sighed and trudged after the others.

'This is wrong on so many levels.'

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Inside her tent Shinji had exactly the same thought. While she did realize that Ryouga had groped her unintentionally, her body's reaction to the stimulation was genuine.

Needless to say it gave Shinji the creeps. He was not gay dammit!

'I'll never get used to this.' Shinji thought while getting dressed. Once she was finished she tried to put it out of her mind. Worrying about it would not help the matter and she had some training to do. Knowing what she did now, slacking off was the last thing she would do.

'Still, the first guy who touches me like that on purpose will spend a few weeks in hospital. Happosai does enough groping to last me a lifetime anyway.'

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Somewhere else Fate made a little tweak and smiled. This would make for some excellent entertainment.

End chapter 13

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(1) You don't want to know. Heck, I don't want to know!

Author's notes:

Almost two years since I posted the last chapter. Frankly, I don't know if I can write with any kind of quality anymore. Hopefully my writing didn't suffer too much because of my laziness.

Now I could go on about all the difficulties I had over the last two years and that it is in no way my fault I didn't write anything, but…that would be a lie.

I simply did not feel like writing, and so I did not.

In that regard I must thank all the people that needled me to write some more after such a long time. Without you guys I doubt I would have ever looked at my unfinished works ever again, which what was got me to write this chapter after my overly long hiatus.

No pre-reader this time around though, so every typo and badly structured sentence you found was solely my fault.

Till next time (hopefully),

Mastermage