Sorry, still don't own Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon. Or Tenchi Muyo.
[Panda signs]
Sound Effects
'Thinking'
"Computer Talk"
The Senshi were facing a dire enemy. A cold enemy. Unrelenting, implacable and unyielding to even the most powerful force.
"Come on girls, you're only up to three laps!" encouraged Ranma as he effortlessly jogged beside the panting Senshi. "Usagi! No cookies for you until you reach five!"
"No…fair..!"
"Yes fair, Usagi. Kasumi's cookies are for achievement". He grinned, an evil thought coming to him. 'Should motivate them, though'.
"Ok ladies, here's the deal: Kasumi has made each of you ten cookies. Chocolate chip, no less".
'Heh, I can see the glazed looks from here'.
"So," he continued, "for every lap you fail to do, for every exercise you don't complete, I will take one of those heavenly discs of bliss, from each of you, and eat it myself. Understand?"
Ranma abruptly found himself in a cloud of dust, a five-part yell of "Nooooo!!!" ringing in his ears.
'Looks like Nabiki was right' he mused as the five girls finished their laps of the clearing at a full sprint. 'It's all a matter of leverage'.
Walking over to where Makoto was attempting to revive a wheezing Usagi, Ami performing the same service to Minako, Ranma's smile grew. For all their lack of training (and co-ordination. And stamina. And spatial sense. And…), these girls were close to being ideal students. In spite of Usagi's tears at the mere mention of the words "Stamina Training", in spite of Rei's tendency to lose her temper, in spite of Minako's…Minakoness, they were dedicated. They performed the exercises he assigned them with zeal (requiring only a little bribery with baked goods), didn't seem to resent him pushing them to their limits, and best of all (to his mind), didn't blow up when he critiqued their progress!
Yeah. These girls had a real sense of maturity under the cheerleader outfits and silly speeches.
Noting that the girls appeared to have caught their breath, Ranma was about to speak when he was cut off by an electronic beeping from Ami.
"It's a youma attack!" she said, flipping open the mercury computer. "About five kilometres from here in the shopping district".
Usagi leaped to her feet (curiously, showing no sign of her previous exhaustion). "Everyone, transform! Sorry Ranma", she said raising her locket, "Looks like training will have to wait. Moon Power Makeup!"
Ranma shielded his eyes with a grimace as the other Senshi followed suit and leaped into the trees.
"Skipping training, eh?" he murmured with a slight smile. "Oh, I don't think so."
The Senshi dashed across the rooftops of Juuban toward their quarry, Mercury interrogating the computer for information.
"Ok, from the power readings there's only one youma, but it's a tough one. At least a class three, maybe four".
"Neat", remarked Ranma conversationally as he looked over Mercury's shoulder. "That means it's strong, yeah?"
"Yaaahhh!!!"
'Wow, they really do get a strength boost when they transform. Usagi made it a good fifty meters in one leap'.
Only Mercury has failed to rocket from the rooftop in terror (preferring to simply collapse and twitch a little).
"H-h-h-how…?"
"Followed you. You're pretty good at roof-hopping, y'know".
"W-where…?"
"To the youma". He was quite enjoying this.
"Why…?"
"Several reasons. First, I want to see your group tactics. Second, it might be a fun fight, and three…"
"Uh?"
"You might need help".
"…Scared us…?"
"Ah yes," he chuckled merrily. "That was for ditching training".
"But-!"
"Nope!" Ranma cut off the blue-haired Senshi with a smile. "Everything is training! I have decided", he called to the Senshi, newly returned from their panicked flight, "to observe your fight with this youma and assess your tactics and methods". Chivvying the girls into a run again, he waited several seconds before dropping the bombshell.
"Oh yeah. If the fight lasts over five minutes, I'm adding laps. One for every minute over".
The Senshi shared a single horrified glance and bolted, leaving Ranma far behind.
'Is it bad that really enjoyed that? Nah!'
As flashes of light and loud cracks and booms broke the silence, the Martial Artist landed on a rooftop and settled down to watch the show.
It was swiftly apparent that laps would indeed be added, in spite of the Senshi's best efforts. True, their group tactics were reasonable, but they were, to Ranma's expert eye, based on the target being tough but slow. As such, the woman-spider-T.V. Antenna creature they were facing was running rings around them, taking advantage of their "Surround and smash" method to manoeuvre them into hitting each other.
Judging from the angry shouts coming from below, the Senshi were rather less than pleased at this turn of events.
Wincing as Sailor Jupiter was knocked into a shopfront by what looked like the biggest static spark ever known, Ranma came to a decision.
'Ok,' he thought at he hopped off the rooftop, 'it looks like speed's the issue here. Slow the beastie down and let the girls deal with it'. Concentrating, he shaped his intent and reached for the stillness of gnosis as he entered the fray.
Or at least tried to. Unfortunately, the legendary Saotome luck chose that moment to make a reappearance as the bouncy beast leaped over several attacks…
And Ranma caught a full power Mercury Shabon Spray right to the face. Several moments of muffled swearing, struggling and applied geometry ensued as the now female (and quite irritated) Ranma-chan freed herself from the alley-full of debris into which she'd been propelled.
'Ok, important safety tip there Ranma: gnosis first, then leap into battle! Well, back on the clock.'
Gnosis-charged ki flickering on her hands, the redhead jogged purposefully back to the fight, completely missing the two feline eyes that stared balefully at her from the shadows.
"He's a youma. I knew it!"
The fight was not, in Sailor Mars' considered opinion, going well. Not only had every one of the Senshi been hit at least once, but half of those hits had been from each other! Her leg was still twitching from Jupiter's 'near miss' for heaven's sake! And most aggravating of all, the youma was barely scratched!
As such, the bolt of light from the alley impacting on the malformed beast, accompanied by a soprano shout of "Slow!", was greeted with a chorus of cheers from five of the six combatants.
The newly returned Martial Magician, noting their relaxed stances, scowled.
"Did I say you could stop fighting? Did I? Hurry up ladies, you're at three extra laps and counting! The deal with the cookies still stands, you know!"
Kamogawa Yuki, nine years of age and avid fan of the Sailor Senshi's exploits, couldn't believe her luck! The Senshi were fighting a youma right in front of her! She was actually seeing the Senshi in action (at a safe distance, of course. She was a fangirl, not stupid!). She would later recount the tale to her friends (Senshi fans one and all) to exclamations of envy and admiration. Seeing Sailor Moon deliver the finishing blow, Yuki nearly cried in joy as she turned and rushed to the train station. She was so lucky! In fact, there was only one small flicker of discontent in her heart.
"What sort of battle cry is "For the Cookies!" anyway?"
"Ok" Ranma addressed the Senshi, youma dust drifting on the breeze. "Back to the shrine, ladies. We still have a battle analysis to do, as well as those laps."
A grin appeared on the redhead's face at the chorus of groans as her students took to the rooftops.
'There's some good power in those attacks of theirs. Slow though, very slow. And their tactics are too static. Makes a kind of sense, I suppose. No actual training from what they told me, just on-the-spot experience. How to fix that problem…?'
The grin on the buxom brawler's face broadened as training plans and tactical drills danced in her mind's eye. The Senshi, bounding across the skyline ahead of her, felt a chill.
As though a thousand cookies cried out in terror, then were silenced.
It is a reasonably well-known fact, at least in certain specialised circles, that cats are able to get literally anywhere if properly motivated.
This is true.
The most humble member of Felis Domesticus possesses abilities of infiltration and escape that would make Harry Houdini weep with envy and turn in his lockpicks. It is a basic fact that there is no place to which a truly determined cat cannot gain access.
Indeed, such is the ability of the average cat that throughout history cats have been perceived as spirits made flesh, beings of magical power and even gods. Only the titles had changed in the more sceptical modern age. "How the hell did that cat get in here? I know I closed the door! I swear, that cat can walk through walls or something."
Of course, this is absurd. Accusing cats of being able to phase through solid matter? Ridiculous.
The truth is that felines are only partially quantum-locked. Unlike every other corporeal species in the universe, the ties securing cats in any one point in space-time are not so much rules as…guidelines. Guidelines capable of being overruled by need or desire.
Basically, cats can teleport, should they really need to.
Fortunately for the security of the world's tuna stockpiles, though, the average feline is rather more motivated by a warm patch of sunlight, a tasty-looking rodent or the nearby patch of catnip than thoughts of espionage. For the cats of earth, with great power comes the responsibility to take long naps.
For the Mau, anthropoid beings evolved from a feline base, it was in many ways the driving force of their civilisation. The reasoning power of an opposable-thumb possessor combined with the instinctive grasp of spatio-temporal motion of a cat and liberally influenced by the high levels of ambient magical radiation of their homeworld produced a race of true teleporters with regressible phenotypes. An entire race of potential espionage specialists. Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy, lest it shudder at the thought of a world of teleporting, shape-shifting cat-people, the same feline genes that enabled their abilities made for a generally easy-going, laid-back people, more concerned with the latest tuna-analogue catches than the contents of the Emperor of Jurai's sock drawer.
Still, no race is uniform and there are always individuals who buck the trends. In the case of the Mau, this bucking usually took the form of an insatiable curiosity and wanderlust. The desire to travel. To seek out strange new foods and edible animals, and eat them. To boldly go where no Mau had gone before.
The trouble with that idea was that, on a planet of curious teleporters that had had a unified world government for over a millennium and was of a fairly high tech level, there was quite simply nowhere unexplored, unexamined or undocumented. Naturally, the end result of this was quite a few very peeved Mau.
That being the case, First Contact with the Silver Millennium exploration ship came as a tremendous relief. This was New! And Fun! And Interesting!
The fact that Terran catnip was several times as effective as the Mau equivalent had nothing to do with it, nope.
Both sides easily noting the benefits of alliance, negotiations were conducted, treaties arranged and the Mau Diplomatic Corps was formed. Advisors, teachers, spies and agents to and for the crowned heads of the Silver Millennium.
In a perfect symbiotic relationship, the Crown gained agents that could get literally anywhere and look like a harmless pet, and the Mau had an outlet for those individuals seeking Excitement, as well as the protection of a magically and technologically mighty star nation. And so did the two peoples work together for thousands of years.
But then came Beryl's rebellion, the destruction of the Silver Millennium and the forced reincarnation of the Planetary Rulers, including two rookie members of the M.D.C, the only advisors able to be spared.
Sadly for the Senshi, the memory gaps caused by the reincarnation process reduced the feline's advisory abilities considerably. Vague recollections liberally spiced with wishful nostalgia do not make for good advice. Nor the fact that rookie diplomats were now expected to train and motivate soldiers, and ultimately, Planetary Rulers.
Put simply, Luna and Artemis were out of their depth, under-informed and desperately trying to conceal the fact.
Still, Swiss-cheese memory aside, the two were nonetheless Mau, with all the abilities inherent therein.
And so it was that Luna, after making sure the Senshi and the Red-Haired Youma were out of sight, concentrated for a moment and, in a flash of pink light, bent space and time as she teleported to the shrine.
She had a youma to reveal.
"- all I'm saying is that I wish Setsuna could be a bit less cryptic. "Investigate the Inner's new sensei" is all well and good, but come on! At least a location!"
"That's right!" spoke Hotaru (Saturn) in a slightly grumpy tone. "If she has to cut our holiday short, she should at least give us a good reason for it."
The aquamarine-haired ruler of Neptune nodded gently at her lover and adopted daughter as the Outers approached the shrine's meeting hall. Truth be known, Pluto's 'Mysterious Advisor' gimmick was grating on her a little as well.
"Nonetheless," she said, "If Setsuna-san felt the need to call us in, there must be something going on. We can talk with her after the issue is resolved. Now," her tone hardened slightly as the hall came into view, "remember what we discussed. No jumping to conclusions and no blindly attacking people. Haruka."
"…not my fault the kid looked like a youma" grumbled the Senshi of Uranus.
"You nearly skewered the pizza delivery boy, Haruka".
"Oh come on, that acne was moving! Hotaru, you saw it, right?"
The dark-haired girl simply shook her head, mirth in her purple eyes.
"Traitor."
"So," Michiru smoothly interjected, "we will meet with this new sensei, assess them and gently gauge the Inner's reaction. Ok?"
Haruka sullenly nodded (muttering something about "getting taken off my vacation and now can't have any fun") as the sound of tired but cheerful voices heralded the return of the other Senshi.
'Well, that saves us some time' she thought. Gazing in the direction of the voices, she noted the ruffled and dusty appearance of the young women. Clearly, there had been a fight.
A fight no-one had invited her to! Haruka frowned a little at this. Sure, they weren't really on the best of terms with the Inner Senshi, but this? Not telling her about a fight was just rude.
"Easy dear" murmured Michiru, noting the 'missed a fight' look on her love's face. "Remember, as far as they know, we're still on vacation".
The blond huffed and turned back to the approaching Inners. The girls were in good spirits, it seemed, chatting happily with a figure in the middle of their group whose features she couldn't make out.
"- where did you get the thermos from, anyway?" asked Ami curiously.
"Hidden Weapons Space. A Chinese Amazon wushu trick I picked up a while ago. Comes in pretty handy sometimes" replied the figure in a masculine voice.
'Ok', thought Haruka. 'That's their sensei, huh?' About to step forward and introduce herself, the blond brawler was frozen in her steps as the figure turned and she caught sight of his face.
'No, no, it couldn't be him. I'd never be that lucky…'
Oblivious to Haruka's inner struggle, Makoto, noting the Outer's presence, had begun introductions.
"Ranma-san, these are the Outer Senshi. Tomoe Hotaru, Sailor Saturn…"
The frail girl bowed and whispered a shy "Pleased to meet you".
"…Kaioh Michiru, Sailor Neptune…"
A polite bow from the graceful woman.
"…And Tenoh Haruka, Sailor Uranus."
"…"
Makoto blinked at Haruka's gob smacked expression, shrugged and continued. "Anyway, ladies, this is Saotome Ranma, out new Martial Arts sensei".
"Hey. Pleased 'ta meet ya."
Haruka, who had begun trembling as the introduction progressed, finally found her voice.
"You're…Saotome Ranma?"
"Uh, yeah" replied the (now) black-haired youth cautiously.
"Saotome Ranma from Nerima?"
Ranma's instincts were yelling at him to flee by this point. This was looking like either fiancée or rival territory. Nonetheless, he nodded.
"I see." The blond nodded thoughtfully and took a deep breath.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod! Saotome Ranma! You're Saotome Ranma! Eeeeheeheeheeheehee!"
Never, in all their memories of this life or their last, could the other Senshi recall being this dumbfounded. They had seen giant pink hearts blast youma to dust, talking cats, magical princesses and men in tuxedos throwing roses and shrugged, but never had they expected to ever behold a giggling, fangirling Tenoh Haruka.
Said Senshi had by now managed to contain her squealing (to Ranma and the other's relief) and a slightly stunned silence fell over the group.
"So…"said Ranma in a slightly vacant tone, "Does she get like that often?"
Still shocked, the Senshi could only shake their heads.
Hotaru, face creased in an expression of intense thought, abruptly straitened in realisation and pointed at the pigtailed boy.
"Ah! I remember now! You're the one Haruka-papa has all those pictures of!"
Ranma blinked at that. "Pictures?"
"Mm!" replied Hotaru (ignoring Haruka's frantic gestures for silence). "Lots of them! Photographs and magazine cuttings, all in a scrapbook under her matMMPH!"
"Now, now, Hotaru, sweetie" stuttered the short-haired blond as she clamped a hand over her adopted daughter's mouth. "I'm sure Saotome-sama doesn't want to hear about that, hahaha."
Sadly, things were not going her way. Her heart sank as she saw the thoughtful frown on her idol's face.
"Hang on. Why would you have pictures of me? And why would ya go all fangirly? It's not like I'm special, or nothin'."
"'Not special'?!" roared Haruka in outrage. "'NOT SPECIAL?!?' That's ridiculous! You're a legend! You beat a DRAGON for god's sake! Not special, why I oughtta-!"
"Haruka dear, go to your Calm Place please."
"…Hai."
"I apologise for that, Saotome-san" sighed Michiru as the blond concentrated on her breathing. "Haruka-chan is very dedicated to the Martial Arts and has followed your exploits for a long time now."
"That's right!" agreed Hotaru, having escaped from her father-figure's grasp just before her manic moment. "Ever since the 'NWC Update' started coming out."
'Huh? There's a magazine about Nerima? Who would- Ah, of course. Nabiki'.
"Anyway" interjected Rei in a slightly snappy tone, "now that we've established that Ranma-san is an idol to millions, can we please go inside? Fighting youma is tiring, you know."
Shaking off his reverie, Ranma nodded.
"Ok," he said as he strode to the entrance and slid the door open, "you now have ten minutes to rest before we finish up today's training". About to make a follow-up comment concerning cookies and his consuming thereof, he was cut off by the impact of a bucket of water on his head and a gleeful shout from within.
"Haha! So your true form is revealed, vile beast! You thought to hide your evil from the Defenders of this city for your own twisted ends! Well, in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"
'How the hell could the gods allow a female Kuno to exist?' grumbled the now redheaded Martial Artist as she pried the bucket off her head. 'here's hoping they just share speechwriters or something.' Looking around for the source of the voice, she was momentarily confused. There was no-one there, just a black cat perched on the table.
Wait, what?
Engage 'Freakout Mode' in three, two, one…
Luna had been expecting any of a variety of reactions to her water-borne revelation. Shocked yelling, transformation phrases and shouted attack names, for example.
Possibly stunned silence, the youma making a break for it, yelling, attack phrases etc. etc.
At a pinch, she would have accepted threatening banter, a Statement of Heroic Intent from the Senshi and then yelling, attack phrases and so on.
Having the youma shriek, leap into the air and cling to the ceiling ("Frantic gecko evades the spider" technique. Ranma would later reflect that persuading Konatsu to watch 'Spider Man' with him had been a Good Idea) was unexpected.
As were the completely unsurprised and considerably angry looks being directed at her by the inners.
To say nothing of the nosebleed cascading from a blushing and rather glassy-eyed Haruka. And the dawning look of recognition from Michiru.
"Ah! That's the lady you have all those pictures of in your other scrapbook, Haruka-papa! Though she's wearing a lot more clothes now…"
Ah. Good. The perfect final comment there from Hotaru.
"Luna," said Usagi in a tone that, while sweet and mild, nonetheless made every strand of Luna's fur fluff out, "Why did you douse Ranma-san with water and call her a youma?"
"And in the process scaring her enough that she's now clinging to the ceiling?" agreed Ami from where she was attempting to coax the acrobatic ailurophobe back down.
"You-! But-!" stuttered the baffled cat. "She disguised herself as a boy! She's a youma!"
"No, Luna, she's not" countered Ami firmly. "I told you before, I detected no trace of negative energy when I scanned him. Ranma-san explained this effect to our satisfaction when we found out yesterday. Now," her tone firmed "Usagi, can you take Luna outside? It seems Ranma-san is afraid of cats. She probably won't come down otherwise."
A nod from the Odango-atama and Luna found herself lifted by the scruff of the neck (like an unruly kitten! This was so humiliating!) and carried out of the room as the rest of the Senshi joined in coaxing the redhead down.
Luna sighed as she swung in the grip of her mistress. Some days nothing wanted to make sense…
Within Ranma's mind, all is normal.
'CatCatCatEvilPainFearGetAwayGetAwayEscapeFleeRun!'
Normal when around a cat, at least.
"-But she's a youma!"
'FleeRun…huh?'
Beneath the feline-inspired panic, in the calm, still centre of his being that nothing could touch, a moment of confusion was had.
Anomaly: Subject designated "Evil Furry Beast From Hell" produced speech.
Fact: Felines are not capable of speech.
Conclusion: Subject designated "Evil Furry Beast From Hell" is not a Feline.
Subject formerly designated "Evil Furry Beast From Hell" now designated "Black Furry Thing", pending further information.
Standby "Freakout Mode".
Opening eyes clenched shut in terror, Ranma-chan noted the absence of suspiciously cat-shaped threats and cautiously climbed down from the ceiling corner.
"Um", she said, taking in the shocked (yet surprisingly sympathetic) looks. "I suppose you'd like an explanation for this, huh?"
The redhead sighed at the chorus of nods and, gesturing the Senshi to be seated, made herself comfortable and began.
"On the training trip with my father, he found a book of "unbeatable techniques"-"
"'Unbeatable Martial Arts techniques', 'Ailurophobia', 'cats'", muttered Ami, typing furiously at the Mercury Computer. "I know I've read something about that before…"
A quiet beep heralded the search results. The blue-haired genius paled as she read, turning slightly green.
"Is this true, Ranma? This 'Neko-ken'?"
"A deep pit? Starving cats? Fish sausage?"
Ami nodded.
"Yeah", sighed Ranma-chan, hands shaking from the memory. "It's all true".
"And who...?" quavered Minako from where she had been reading over Ami's shoulder.
"…My father."
Ranma-chan noted, through the fading adrenaline, that the room suddenly seemed a lot darker, aside from the faint but increasing crimson aura around the Senshi.
For the first time in recent history the Inner and Outer Senshi were in complete accord. An accord which was perhaps best summed up as Ami leaped to her feet, the light of Righteous Feminine Rage flickering around her. "If I see that child-abusing bastard I swear, I WILL FREEZE OFF THAT WHICH MAKES HIM A MAN!!!"
Yes, thought the Senshi. That captured the mood pretty well.
Ranma-chan, conditioned to react in a very specific way to the presence of angry girls with battle auras, made it halfway to the door before she was brought down by the first flying glomp. Slowed in his escape, the pigtailed girl presented an easy target and swiftly found herself dogpiled in a fairly close approximation of the Amazon "Tenacious Rabbits comfort the Fallen" manoeuvre.
Naturally, Usagi (having left a hogtied Luna under a basket weighed with a large stone) chose that very moment to return.
"Hey guys, I've taken care of Luna and-"
As the blond stared wide-eyed at the pile (and the somewhat smothered Martial Artist beneath it), the Senshi, as one, began to pray.
'Sweet Kami, please, just once, let her jump to the right conclusion'.
"Waaahhh! My friends are having an orgy with Ranma-san without me!"
'Dammit!'
Pinned to the tatami by the pile of young women, Ranma-chan groaned.
'Someday I will meet the Kami responsible for my life. And we will have…Words'.
Acting on a hunch, she managed to twist enough to note the time.
"Aah!" With a wriggle drawn from Anything Goes Martial Arts Escapology, she was out from the pile and bowing hurriedly to the startled Stack O' Senshi.
"SorrygottagoFiancee'sMartialArtstrainingi'mlatenicemeetingyouthreegottagobye!"
Bowing again to Haruka (sporting another nosebleed, having been the first into the dogpile), Michiru (glaring slightly at Haruka) and Hotaru (staring in slight confusion at the former two), Ranma-chan took to her heels.
There followed a moment of silence, a silence broken eventually by Usagi.
"So…what did I miss?"
Tendo Soun gazed at the recumbent figure of his oldest friend, panting in exhaustion. It had been a tough fight, but he had eventually won. The panda lay bound about with chains of steel, only enough slack left in the manacles to wave a sign.
"Now...old friend...tell me...the secret...of the...signs"
[Never!] flip [Nothing you can do will] flip [Make me confess!]
"Very well. Kasumi, I need some hair clippers, five carp and a rubber chicken".
"Growf? Growf!"
Author's comments and apology.
Ok folks, ten thousand apologies for the slowness of the update. I just could not for the life of me make this chapter come out smoothly. It took three rewrites to even get it up to its present quality and i'm not entirely happy with it even now. Don't worry, though. Even if it takes years, I WILL finish the story. I have no intentions to just leave it, and you, hanging. So, apologies, and i'll do my level best to be faster.
ok, reviews now:
deathgeonous: Too short a time, ye think? well, the way i'm seeing it, Akane's already headed in the right direction, and she has the incentive of both teaching and being taught. incentive is a powerful motivator, after all. As for Setsuna, i'm trying to keep her character in the background for the moment. she plays a major role, but it's at a remove, if you follow.
Nim Maj: thanks. i will indeed, though sad to say, i haven't seen either of the Anime you quoted. gomen.
Jerry Unipeg: Cheers! i hope you'll like where i'm taking it.
gaul1: will do. thanks.
Quathis: Thanks! glad you liked them. it's tricky to get deep and meaningful into comedy, but i think it adds a certain zing. as for cologne's little inner momologue, it was quite literally something that just popped into my head, so it's probably lucky it worked, ne? hope you liked the mooncat encounter, too.
TegwenielWestwind: glad you like it. a simple joke that took off. i can actually see it growing into a one-off side-story, the way it's going. hmmm...
Dumbledork: thanks.
Teturo: Yeah, there is a certain amusement to be had from a controlling character losing some control. All the speculation on the signs is pretty amazing to me, considering i just put it in as a bit of a one-liner. go figure.
Ookii Mamoru: Heh. i'd go to see that zoo exhibit! Seto plus Cologne? that thought scares even me...
RanmaChaos: thanks again, will do. sorry for the wait.
moritynz: It could be, my friend. it could very well be...
Six-string Samurai:cheers. hope this one doesn't disappoint.
Tergar of Konoha (X 7): Wow, a lot of reviews at once. sorry, but i'll have to keep the response short. I'm glad you like what you see, and i'm grateful for the suggestions. this being my first fanfic, i'm still getting into my groove, as it were, so reviews like yours are very welcome. as for the harem mention, i figure that KasRan pairings aren't done anywhere near enough, and i aim to correct that, at least a little. cheers!
Shadow.: thanks. rest assured, you WILL see more. i just can't guarantee the "soon" part. sorry.
OkdroMasterOfRunes: Thanks, will do.
Firehedgehog: well, wait no longer, my friend!
Rose1948: Thank you!
GeorgeTobor: Hmm, some interesting ideas there. i'm really considering having the Kunos play only bit parts and comic relief at the moment, but i like the way you think. :)
Phew! well, here's chapter nine. i would give a summary of the next, but my posting has caught up to my writing, so it still remains to be seen.
Smylingsnake out.