If anyone were to ask Fon, he would adamantly claim his grandsons were the most adorably violent twins he had ever set eyes on. There was the stoic and proud Kyouya, who at the tender age of five had dominated the small class his parents had put him in by the end of the first day. And then there was Mamoru, who had the same drive as his grandfather...and about half the manners.

Don't get him wrong, Fon adored Mamoru. He was an honest delight to teach and respected the martial artist's code far more than most did that trained in the art these days. The problem was that his manners were barely acceptable and it was an uphill battle trying to convince him it was worth learning them. And somehow, the child had the innate skill of royally pissing people off without even trying.

He respected Fon as a grandmaster of martial arts, but trying to teach him anything other than martial arts was a trial in itself.

There were times though, when Mamoru showed a surprising amount of insight into others. Times when even the boy himself clearly didn't know what he was doing, but was trying his best to make things better.

Case in point, the week Fon made an unscheduled visit to Japan.

Third POV

Fon was quietly sitting on the patio, enjoying some tea. Nearby, Mamoru and Kyouya were trying to beat each other up in the name of training. Kyouya could be enthusiastic in his own way, but seemed to take it as a personal slight that he could never defeat Fon.

He was usually on even ground with his twin, unless Mamoru pulled out one of his many numerous dirty tricks that he somehow knew, but against Fon he could never win. Not even the combined forces of the twins could pull it off, though Mamoru had come close to putting him at a disadvantage when he really put his mind to it.

Hearing their mother call a halt in the name of food...something that would get Mamoru's attention every time (he was a growing boy that could put an army's worth of food down in record time)...the boys reluctantly paused their fighting.

It was so nice to see the twins get along. To an outsider, they might look like mortal enemies, but Fon knew that they were actually rather close. The two of them considered each other as friendly rivals, each pushing the other to greater heights and acting as a counterbalance against complacency.

It was adorable to see their expressions whenever they failed to beat him though. It was Fon's secret pleasure to see their scowl and declarations of a win next time.

So you could imagine his surprise when, instead of continuing their fight after eating, Mamoru instead sat down next to Fon and poured a glass of tea.

Kyouya was clearly annoyed by this and glared at his brother.

Fon had a hard time reading Mamoru's expression, but there seemed to be an implied challenge that only the twins could interpret. Either way Kyouya huffed in irritation before pouring his own glass and taking a minor break.

The three sat in silence drinking tea and observing their surroundings in peace for the next two hours.

Finally, Fon broke the silence.

"Why?"

Mamoru, his eyes filled with age beyond his limited years, replied...

"Because you felt sad about someone being gone."

Fon blinked. How on earth had his grandson known he had lost a good friend recently to age and old wounds?

Fon finished his tea.

"How would you two like a spar right before dinner?"

Predictably, Kyouya's eyes lit up with anticipation. Mamoru grinned in challenge.

They still lost, but there was a sense of relief from Fon.

Waking up in the body of an infant was disconcerting, but considering the headache magic gave him on a good day, he had learned to roll with it. Realizing that he wasn't being chased down by his many, many fiancees who wanted him to marry them or father their future babies, or any crazy ass Amazons after him after a year had thrown him quite a bit.

Then he met the killer baby with the monkey, one who also happened to be a grandmaster martial artist and a braid longer than his had been before.

Fon, or Grandpa Monkey as he dubbed him, was a waaaay better teacher than that damn panda. His methods actually worked and he could feel himself getting stronger. Even better, Fon didn't take him on some stupid training journey and rob places for their techniques. He came by them honestly and was willing to share them if he honestly believed his grandson could handle using them without damaging himself permanently.

Even better, he was more than happy to impart tricks that let him bring bigger opponents down to his level until he was big enough to take them down normally.

He was learning more about martial arts now than he had with Genma, he had a brother who could keep up and was all too enthusiastic to help him become the Best again and keep it that way, and his parents actually gave a crap about him.

All in all, life had become far better for the former Saotome Ranma, and he wasn't looking to go back to what he had before anytime soon.

Tsukiyo was having a bad day. The other girls were extra mean to her because they claimed her new bag was 'ugly' and had dumped it out on the ground. Their laughter was extra cruel, as they bullied her until one of them thought they saw an adult come near.

She sniffled, carefully gathering her once nice things from the ground.

That was when the shadow appeared, and she stiffened. She really became upset when she registered who it belonged to.

Everyone knew of the Hibari twins. The older one was violent and scary, and the younger one was almost as violent and could anger even the adults off if he were inclined within seconds of opening his mouth.

It was bad enough that her things had been dumped on the ground...she didn't want to get beaten up by one of the twins.

She froze when he reached down to pick up her book. It took her several seconds to register that he was helping her pick her things up.

It took them a minute to pick everything up, and he gently patted her on the head with a warm smile.

In two seconds she realized that Hibari Mamoru had helped her gather her things and was nice to her.

She thought back to all the things she heard about the twins. Aside from Kusakabe Tetsuya, she couldn't recall hearing about anyone willing to be around them for any length of time. Particularly the older one. Mamoru was nicer, but he was also rude, abrasive, and was 'lower than a common monkey' in the words of Hana.

(No one was quite sure why the younger Hibari had laughed at the comment and replied with "I may not be able to beat that old monkey yet, but I'll be damned if I quit trying now!" when he heard Hana say that around him. The older Hibari had a pained expression that swiftly turned irritable.)

However there was one thing she did recall about Hibari Mamoru. He had a perpetually empty stomach and it had become a common sight for the older twin's right hand to bribe him with free food in exchange for distracting his older twin.

Kusakabe had a rather efficient system in place. If the current victim of the older brother's attention wanted a reprieve, then they had to pay for the food bill that came with calling in the distraction...I/E the younger sibling. And since the younger one was considered a bottomless stomach at times, well... some of the older twin's victims found it cheaper to simply pay the hospital bill and be done with it.

(Coincidentally this particular bit of information never failed to make Fon laugh his ass off whenever he read the current score card Kusakabe had going.)

To that end, Tsukiyo decided on the perfect plan to thank the younger twin for helping her pick up her things.

She was going to bring him a bento. Her mother was happy to help her make one, in the hopes of her little girl finally making a friend.

It took her two days to narrow down her best bet into running into him. The problem was that it meant going up to the roof, and some of the girls had seen her go up and decided to lock the door on her when she wasn't looking.

Mamoru looked up from his nap to see the small girl from before trying to open up the door.

"Whatcha doing up here? I thought the other kids avoided the roof cause Kyouya claimed it for us," said Mamoru confused.

Kusakabe called it the "nest" after Mamoru nearly pitched a massive fit being compared to a cat. No one was quite sure what his deal was with felines, just that the younger twin couldn't stand the things and would do anything to avoid being in the same vicinity to one.

To be fair, Mamoru also had issues with pandas, ducks, pigs, and a number of other odd animals, but his reaction was never as violent as the one he had to felines.

Considering their last name, everyone agreed that comparing them to violent, predatory birds was far safer for their sanity and their well being.

The small girl looked up with some relief.

"I wanted to thank you. No one has ever helped me pick up my things before," she said quietly. His sharp hearing allowed him to catch it...most would have missed it.

He jumped down from the roof. She flinched slightly.

He looked at the bento.

"You make that yourself?"

She shook her head.

"Mama helped me."

Mamoru looked at her suspiciously.

"This isn't a confession or anything like that, right?" he asked cautiously. His past life had made him extremely leery with anything to do with love, lust or females in general. Males were bad, but girls were just weird.

She shook her head again.

"I... I just want a friend."

Satisfied she wasn't trying to confess her undying love for him...which would have been weird because he was only eight and she was barely six...he accepted the bento.

Manners quite literally beaten into him during training by Fon had him patting the ground next to him. The girl timidly sat down beside him, and he offered her some of the food. He still ate most of it though.

"It was good," he said. She beamed at him.

They both turned when they heard the door violently slam open. A less than amused Kyouya came outside and gave both of them a Look.

He was going to find who jammed the door with gum and bite them to death. He was not amused.

Tsukiyo made a quick exit, but not before she got another head pat from Mamoru.

For the next week she brought bentos and shared them with a cheerful Mamoru. He might be a little rude, but he was actually rather nice once you learned to ignore the lack of filter on his mouth.

Nana beamed at her daughter when the slightly older boy followed her home in the promise of free food. Mamoru's behavior became slight more polite, and he did his best to display something close to manners around Nana.

She didn't know who this Kasumi he muttered about was, but figured that the person had to be like her mother if Mamoru was petrified about the idea of misbehaving around her.

A few weeks later, she found herself sighing in commiseration with Kusakabe, who took the slightly timid girl under his wing. When it became apparently she intended to continue associating with the younger Hibari, Kusakabe immediately took it upon himself to train her into acting as the "diplomatic" one.

He couldn't handle both twins. That was a challenge only the truly insane or idiotic would attempt. He was grateful for the help, no matter how unusual it was.

"What does this bring it up to?" she asked quietly.

Once she got over the shock of being included in the rather unusual "circle" she found it rather relaxing. No one dared to bully her while she was under the protection of the twins, and as long as she was willing to act as a go-between for the younger one, she was welcomed.

Honestly, she loved being friends with Mamoru, but he desperately needed a brain-to-mouth filter. While the adults practically had Kusakabe's number on speed dial at this point, she was swiftly becoming their second choice if they needed to reign the twins in.

"I've honestly lost count at this point," said Kusakabe with a sigh. A nearby minion helpfully held up a scorecard for him. "Forty-two apparently."

"I have the kit ready," said Tsukiyo.

Where Kusakabe excelled in keeping a tight lid on the twin's habits and generally keeping things running, Tsukiyo had found her niche in keeping everyone alive...and talking the twins down.

Mamoru, she discovered rather quickly, was surprisingly weak against what the adults called "the mom voice". Add in "crying girl" and he was practically putty in her hands.

Kyouya was almost as easy, but with him it was more "small animal look" followed by the knowledge that she wouldn't actually interfere unless their fighting was getting out of hand even for them.

So long as she wasn't trying to interfere with their fights or attempting to find other outlets for their pent up energy and aggression, the twins were willing to humor her requests. Besides, she kept Mamoru fed and was generally pretty good at being diplomatic in his place.