Ranma-Papa, Shampoo-Mama

Chapter Twelve

"How dare you interfere, Old Man!" The huge man yelled in German, clutching a hand-and-a-half sword tightly in one meaty fist. His booted feet clanked against the steel of the girder he stood on. The Parisian skyline lit the night all around him, and the Eiffel Tower where he was fighting a loosing battle.

"How dare I not, you whelp? You want to rampage across Europe, stealing and fighting on your own, that's fine. But dragging a child along and putting her through the hell you call 'training' is something entirely different!" The wizened, ancient, and angry voice flowed from the shadows surrounding him. "And explain how you got the idea of dropping your daughter off of high places was a good idea? Your name doesn't translate to Dark Horse does it?"

"It toughens her up!" The German growled. "And that's what he demands, not that I have to explain it to you." He drew a throwing dagger from his coat, and located the only visible target on the structure. A young girl, bound and crying, was hanging from a rope ready to be dropped. "Erik VonDruchtner need answer to no one!"

He threw the knife, severing the rope figuring that would draw out his invisible opponent. He didn't realize the old man was behind him until he yelled "NO!" And struck VonDruchtner in the kidneys, sending him too into space and falling towards the French soil.

The blur that had struck so quickly and brutally followed the two falling Germans, powerful legs and ki pushing him towards the ground at Meteoric speeds. A withered, ancient hand grabbed the girls bonds half way to the road surface while another slipped into a worn purple gi, withdrawing what for all the world looked like a simple firecracker.

"I've been around that ungrateful whelp Ranma to long." Happosai muttered as he rolled in mid air, putting himself between the ten-year-old and the ground. "Happo Fire Burst!" He yelled, throwing the bomb at the ground, directly beneath HIM.

It exploded with them only thirty feet from the ground, slowing them to the point where the Grand Master of Anything Goes could land safely. Erik VonDruchtner was not so lucky, hitting seconds later.

Happosai set the young girl down, noting that while she had fainted she'd be all right for a small time, and walked over to the gasping and groaning man. "Where's her mother Erik? Let me take her home."

"No... He demands... Mother dead..."

"Who is this HE?" Happosai demanded "For your soul boy, tell me!"

"Go to hell..." VonDruchtner said, then with a sigh he took his own advice.

Happosai grunted in frustration, and lifted the mans sword, a family heirloom, and noted the broken blade. "Good thing Europeans value their hilts, and not the blades." He muttered, napping the rest off and returning to the girl. "Well, Elizabeth VonDruchtner looks like you're stuck with me. Don't worry, I'll get you some Japanese steel for this sword. I hope you appreciate what I'm doing for you. The opening speeches are done by now.

Sighing, he lifted her and hopped off towards down town Paris. "At least the Paris International Lingerie and Swimwear exposition has three more days on it. Yippee!"

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"Amara, don't take this the wrong way, but I've heard actual horror stories about Kuno mansion! Why would we visit, much as we do love you." Himeko said, looking over her bento at her friend. Shi was busy doing something disturbing (i.e. Cat like) with a butterfly.

Amara shook her head. "No, no, no. I want you to visit my house, not the Mansion. Heck Hime-chan, I don't visit the Mansion except for the gymnastics and kendo lessons the two idiots insist I take."

Himeko frowned. "This isn't a set up like when you asked me to 'help' you to the nurses office, is it?"

"You act like no one ever died your hair blue before." Amara muttered. "Besides, it washed out last night, didn't it?"

"True. I still think having an automated system for tying people down is a bit... Um..."

"Please don't say 'insane'." Amara pleaded. Shi had called her insane after an incident involving all the boys uniforms being replaced by girls after a gym class, and it had taken an hour to get her to stop crying.

Unfortunately that was exactly what Himeko was about to say when she caught herself. "No! Extreme! That's what I was going to say!"

"Oh... Well maybe it is a little, but you looked good with blue hair." She shrugged. "And no, I give my word. I just want ya'll to spend a weekend. There are ninjas to wait on your every command..."

"I'll ask Ranma, and Shampoo won't mind I'm sure. They might want to check it out, though."

"That's fine. So what movies should we..."

"Where the heck AM I NOW!" Interrupted her. All three girls looked up to find a boy, their age, yelling at the sky. He obviously was oblivious to the watching girls, and didn't hear Shi's growl as the butterfly flew away, frightened by the noise.

The Cat-girl stalked up to him, angry. "What's your problem?"

"Huh?" The young man turned and looked at Shi, and his jaw dropped. Himeko and Amara swore they saw little hearts in his eyes.

"Should we save him?"

"No." Amara replied. "I'm fond of having all my limbs."

Shi ignored her friends, tapping a foot while waiting for the boy's answer. "Well? Why did you yell, huh?" In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think he was strangely familiar.

"I'm... Um... I'm kinda lost." The boy answered. "I'm Mike Hibiki."

Shi blinked, and examined the obviously full-blooded Japanese boy carefully. "Mike?"

"The guy who delivered me was named Mike. Mom said he ran a weather research station in Alaska... or was that San Francisco..." he shrugged, figuring there couldn't be that much difference. "I'm named after him. What's your name?"

"Shi Laun." Shi replied. "Why did you have to yell, and scare off my butterfly?"

"Sorry, it's kinda a... Family tradition."

"That's for sure." Himeko muttered. Unlike her friend she had recognized the boy, and smiled when he looked over at her. "Do you have a relative named Ryoga?"

"You mean my big brother IS still alive?" Mike asked. "Sweet!"

Both Shi and Himeko blinked at the boys rather cheerful demeanor. They both knew Ryoga, and the depressed boy's general attitude. "You thought he was dead?"

"Well, last I saw him... We were a couple of years younger and searching for food in mom and dads room. He said he had sworn revenge on some guy and I hadn't seen him since." Mike shrugged. "We usually bump into each other every few months or so, so I was a little worried."

"Hey, we know some places he is around, semi-frequently. We could take you there and see if he's around." Himeko offered.

"That would be great!"

"So we're going to lead him around by the hand all day?"

"If it's you, that's no hardship for me." Mike smiled, then blinked when Shi and Himeko face faulted. "Do they react to all flirting that way? And, for that matter, doesn't that hurt?"

"I... Don't think so." Amara asked, equally amazed.

Shi got up, growling. "How dare you flirt with me! I'm angry with you!"

"Um... Why?"

"You sacred my butterfly!" Shi yelled.

"Are you still upset about that? It happened like, five minutes ago."

"Yes!"

Amara and Himeko just sighed. Shi had many good traits, such as usually being very friendly and outgoing, cheerful, funny, and to Colognes surprise, smart. Unfortunately she shared traits with her 'cursed' form (Shi doesn't actually care what people called her being a cat, and it was easier then explaining that being HUMAN is a curse.) such as a tendency towards distraction and a psychological need to run things into the ground, be it physically or mentally. Adding to the problem was the fact that there was no predicting her "Catty" behavior, as Amara had dubbed her moods. Obviously, she was in one of them.

Amara turned away from the arguing pair in favor of the rarely argumentative Himeko. "So, you want to bring soda, or chips?"

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Hiokai smiled as the girls left their school without an escort. Himeko, plus two girls and two boys, exited the school and turned towards the Nekohatten and the black gi'd Martial Artist followed them, planning.

He very clearly remembered the beating Genma had given him, and had began training in earnest to beat his brother-in-law. It had occurred to him, however, that they would likely grow less vigilant if he didn't try anything for a while, and he had carefully observed the girls over the month since the fight. Sure enough, the adults had began assuming he wasn't coming back. About a week ago they were left, apparently unescorted, but Hiokai hadn't risked trying anything. Yet.

He had spotted Ranma tailing them from the rooftops, but that was several days ago. Now, Hiokai decided, was the time. He followed the children for a couple of blocks, and chose to attack thought he simple expedient of dropping into the group of them and kicking his daughter in the chest.

Himeko gasped in pain, and flew back into Kaji, her chest exploding with the unexpected pain. Kaji managed to catch her and land on his back relatively unharmed, but still groaned from the unexpected impacts.

Hiokai grinned viciously, sure that he had disabled the biggest threat, when Shi howled in rage and drove a punch into the older mans gut. Hiokai, who had not expected an attack, grunted and stumbled back. He stared in shock as the group of helpless children suddenly sprouted weapons ranging from a fairly conventional staff, to obscure bonbori's, to unusually weighted umbrella's and strangest of all... Sharpened CD-ROMs?

'That little guy with the glasses has a good arm." Hiokai thought as he fled the Nerima JUNIOR wrecking crew.

Somewhere, the older generation all giggled evilly, without being sure why.

AN: Heh, Happi a hero now? Think about it, the one soft spot the old pervert has is for little kids, and when Happosai is angry, life is bad for his target. Any who want to argue his soft spot, ask and I'll give a short list.

That's not to say Happosai's a good person, he's pretty happily evil actually, but he has SOME redeeming qualities.

As for Hiokai, He'll get a few moments to 'Shine'...is that really the right word?... but he's basically become my Kuno. (i.e. Everyone beats him down.)

Of course, is there anyone out there who minds the fact that he gets beat down?