The moonlight must have kicked in its magical spell for the group. Maria remarked to Shampoo that she thought she'd just seen an angel. The men were simply stupefied, their collective breath taken away by what probably would be the most beautiful woman they had ever seen.
Even Shampoo was impressed. Normally, her red hair and deep blue eyes look really out of place on her face. Now, well...Paolo's created a masterpiece.
The angel spoke. "Koban wa. I'm Ran-chan. Nice to meet all of you."
She looked at all her new friends. Why were they all staring? Did she do something wrong? Ran-chan wasn't accustomed to this. She wandered over to the koi pool, and looked at her reflection. She peered at the face looking back at her for what seemed like eternity. A second later, she figured it out. She might wear the old Chinese tangs once in a while, but they weren't her anymore. "Ranma-chan", to put it simply, was gone forever. In her place, Ranko Saotome had announced she was here to stay.
In the reflection of the pool, with the moon in the background, and framed by a halo of moonlight, was Ran-chan's new look. Her hair was no longer consigned to the pigtail, but instead was bound at the nape of her neck, and tied again with a silky black bow at the end, somewhere just above her waist. She was wearing a white long sleeve shirt, tan leather vest, ice blue jeans, and soft tan moccasins. The Phoenix Eye, previously consigned under the shirt, was worn on the outside today, the magical gem glowing with an ethereal light, like a ruby laser.
Even Ranko stood, transfixed. It was a magical night.
Gil was the first to snap out of it. He took her hand in his and shook it. "Nice to meet you. I don't mean to be rude, but do you realize just how beautiful you look?"
"Um...ari...arigato." Ran-chan blushed. Today was definitely her day for guys. First Paolo, now this guy. Things could definitely be looking up.
"So, you're the unstoppable kenpo master that Shamps' always talking about," Tyler said as he introduced himself. "I study kenpo as well. I could probably use a few tips on my style."
Thankful to be on more familiar ground, she said, "Uh, sure! Whenever you have them time, let me know."
Lastly, it was Maria, who introduced herself as the Official "Stimpy" of the Group. Ran-chan had never heard that word before, but unwittingly, Maria clarified: "I think it's supposed to mean something along the lines of 'Mihoshi', but I'm not sure."
Ran-chan laughed, not aware that Maria was being sincere. Brain dead, as usual, but sincere.
"'I think I'm dumb...or maybe just happy...'" Shampoo sang, barely able to contain her laughter.
"Be nice," Mousse mock-scolded her. He then turned his attention to the redhead. "Gee, um, you look really good, Ran-chan. It's a nice touch." He scratched his head, trying to pick the exact words to say, to flatter his friend, and to avoid being flattened by his love.
"Thanks, Mousse." Ran-chan's kawaii-mode smile, now boosted completely by her new look, told him that he needed to say nothing further. She went up and pecked him on the cheek, but got some lipstick on the his glasses. "Sorry."
"Not a problem." He took off his glasses, and began to clean them, pulling the full cleaning kit from under his watch.
As if by sudden inspiration, Ran-chan snapped her fingers. "Oh! Before I forget: what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Oh, don't worry; I always forget," Maria said to no one in particular.
"Somebody stop her, please!" Tyler moaned. "She's giving me a headache."
Meanwhile, Gil was back at the barbecue, double checking the Mongolian steaks. He motioned Shampoo over. "Uh, Shampoo," he motioned towards the rather large spread on the table, "Are you expecting anyone else? I mean, this is an awful lot of food." He pointed toward the picnic table, buried under mounds of traditional and Mongolian barbecue foodstuffs.
She smiled sweetly. "Trust me."
Gil wiped away a bead of perspiration, completely puzzled.
After dinner, the group sat around again, merrily chatting, and asking Ran-chan a myriad of questions, the primary being how in the hell did she eat that much food? She in turn explained about the infamous Saotome stomach (as Shampoo had termed it) and basically back in Japan how much of a bunch of pigs that she, her brother, her father, and sister-in-law Kurumi were.
"Good!" Maria chirped. "I have somebody to eat my experimental recipes!"
"Uh, experimental?" Ran-chan gulped. She remembered the last time somebody with that particular hairstyle had fed her "experimental" cooking...
"Don't worry," Mousse replied. "Maria can cook."
"Good. I was worried for a second. Back at the dojo, Natsumi, Ranma an' I shared the cooking duties. On the other hand, when Akane cooked, that was okay, too. Everybody in the household got plenty of practice trying to dodge the food before it ate us."
"Well, you're thousands of miles away from her horrendous cooking, so you can relax," Mousse replied, looking at her.
"Uh, Mousse, Ran-chan's, um, you know, over here," Tyler pointed out.
"So who am I talking to?" He put on his glasses. He had been holding a steady conversation with a stone Chinese demon dog statue that Shampoo put in for garden ornamentation.
"Same old Mousse," Gil noted.
"Same old blind as a bat and stupid Mousse," Shampoo laughed. "But I wouldn't change him for the world." She leaned into his lap. "And I don't expect my duck boy to." She looked at him invitingly.
"Oh, Shampoo..." He leaned in for a kiss...
...Ranko's gem suddenly glimmered...
...and Mousse got decked. In the hardest way. Shampoo's fist snapped his head back, and blood spurted. "DO YOU MIND?!" she shouted, getting off him. "WE HAVE COMPANY HERE!" She tossed him into the koi pond, dusted off her hands, and said, "Stupid Mousse." She didn't mean it in her loving sense. She went straight into a battle stance, ready for the next attack.
"But you love him," Ranko said, looking into her friend's eyes, and noticed...nothing. Just a plain, expressionless stare. Something was definitely wrong here.
"Not now, girl-type Ranma," Shampoo said dully, not really sounding like herself, sounding actually more like...like the teen from China. She wasn't looking at anyone, staring only at the moon. Also, she hadn't referred to the redhead as "girl-type Ranma" in years. Unsure of what was going on, Ran-chan also went to a ready stance.
"Listen, Shampoo, I've known you for a while, now, and I've kept it to myself." Gil placed his hand on her shoulder, careful not to set her off. "But what you just did was highly ridiculous." Like Ran-chan, he'd also noticed the unnatural shift in her mood.
Shampoo spun around, fist clenched. "Shampoo say back off," she growled, her accent slipping rapidly. Her eyes changed from their normal violet hue, to a dark brandy color. She looked like she was ready to strike somebody-anybody.
"No." Gil's voice was firm, as he held her hand, daring her to make the next move. Why did she suddenly snap like that? he asked himself. In the corner of his eye, he saw the redhead begin to form a glowing ball in her hands, and went back to a ready position, the ball of energy still at fierce intensity between her palms. So that's what they meant by referring to someone as a full-fledged chi master. He hadn't even begun to learn to tap his chi skills, for acceleration, or anything more advanced than his basic moves; he was still fairly a novice.
Now, however, wasn't the time to worry about those kinds of issues. Turning to the others, he saw Maria and Tyler grab Mousse and haul him inside. "I think it's time to go," he said to Ran-chan. "I trust you'll take care of her, correct?"
She nodded her head. "If she were to get out of control, I'd be the only one who could take her down."
"Don't be too sure. Tyler and I, admittedly, aren't experts at our skill, but Maria's chakra abilities are nearly as advanced as yours. She hasn't got your mastery; by that, I've never met a person who had the ability to charge up enough power and just hold it-like you're doing now-without any negative effects, but Maria can charge up her kicks, and toss her Cannon Blades."
"She doesn't seem like it," Ranko admitted.
"Yeah everybody thinks that about her. But I've known her forever, and she's not as dense as everyone thinks. She just has no common sense."
"Oh," Ran-chan said. She noticed that all throughout the night, he was the only one who never picked on Maria. Maybe he and she were... She would've asked him, but, he looked at the others, carrying in Mousse, who was still unconscious and bleeding. This, most likely, was also not the best time to let a topic like that surface.
"Well, then, I'll be seeing you. Was nice meeting ya." He let go of Shampoo's hand, turned, and headed inside the house.
"Shampoo not done yet! No ignore Amazon warrior!" Shampoo screamed, as she leapt up to attack Gil, who had no time to react.
"I'm sorry, Shampoo," Ranko whispered. She thrust her hands out and yelled, "Moko Takabisha!"
The ki-blast slammed Shampoo into the side of the house, knocking her unconscious.
The next thing Shampoo remembered was coming to in her room. She had a cloth over her forehead, and was lying down in her bed. Ran-chan sat next to her on the edge of the mattress, with a look of concern.
"What happened?" she asked. "Where's everybody? What time is it?"
Speaking English, no accent, sounds like a local. She's back to normal. "Second answer first. It's about 11:36 in the evening. Everybody went home about twenty minutes ago, and Tyler took Mousse back to his apartment. And lastly, before or after you tried to turn Gil into a stain on the ground?" Ran-chan responded.
"Oh dear...did I actually do that?" she asked. Had it been under different situations, Ranko would've laughed, for Shampoo's comment would have easily been more at home in say, Kasumi's mouth. Sadly, this was no time for jokes.
"I would've needed a paper towel to clean him off the ground, if you weren't stopped in time."
"What...did Maria counterattack?" Shampoo mumbled, groaning as she sat up. Ran-chan passed her a couple of Tylenol and a glass of water, which the other girl put to immediate use. "Oooohhh...my head feels like it's been caved in."
"Serves you right. I had to use a point blank ki-blast to take you down." Ran-chan was torn between admonishing her friend, and looking out for her welfare. "What the hell were you thinking when you did what you did? And, you know I don't appreciate being called 'Girl-type Ranma.'"
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember anything. One minute, I was hoping that Mousse would kiss me. The next, here I am. What happened?" Ran-chan quickly gave her an update. "Ranko, I swear I don't remember a damn thing!"
"Okay. I believe you; everybody knows you're not like that. Not for years, anyway." She plopped down next to the other girl and looked at her. "So tell me. Do you remember anything else?"
"Nothing els...wait. I dimly remember a reddish haze, and an overpowering feeling, like something was trying to take over my mind or somethi-" She stopped and looked at Ran-chan.
Ran-chan simply nodded. "Like I did when I nearly killed Natsumi. And don't say you didn't read the letter. I know you did."
Under the circumstances, I can't deny that. "Yes, I did. What had happened to you?"
"Same as you," Ran-chan barely spoke, a rasp that Shampoo strained to hear. "Just an intense emotion-in my case, long-term anger at Natsumi. Then a fog of red. To be honest, the only reason that scenario wasn't played out here was because after you threatened Gil, I was somewhat expecting it. When you lost it, I had already gone into a stance. In my case, neither Ranma, Akane, nor Kurumi was expecting what had happened.
"I'm worried, Shampoo. Something happened to me that day. And now something's also happened to you. There's something wrong going on here, and the truth of it is, it may have to do with me. That's one of the reasons I've tried to change who I am. Something very wrong happened in the Crystal Temple, and I have to find out what it was."
Shampoo flashed what she thought was a comforting smile. "We'll talk about it in the morning, as well as other things." She picked up the phone. "Right now, I have my boyfriend to apologize to."
"I'm going to work out," Ran-chan said. "I've got some new moves to work out; I'll show you them later. Think I'll work on teaching Tyler the Saotome AGMA basic version. It's probably easier to learn than the Dragon variation, and I'm certainly not done experimenting with my own, yet." She got up and headed for the door. "Oh, by the way, Gil said not to bother coming in tomorrow. He and Maria can handle things. But I'm sure he's gonna want to hear from you." She stepped out the bedroom door, pausing only long enough to wave goodnight.
Shampoo didn't notice. She'd already hit the speed dial on the phone, trying to call Mousse. No answer, but she got his answering machine. "Muu Tsu, I'm so sorry," she said in Chinese. "I don't know what came over me. I don't know what else to say, except I never meant to hurt you." She paused for a second, then added, "This time. Please don't be angry." She thought, Right. As if that would ever happen. Mousse never could hold a grudge when it came to her. "Please call me as soon as you can; I don't care what time it is. Just call me." She hung up, and sat by the phone, very tense. Tonight was going to be one of the longest nights of her life.
It was about a little after 1:30 in the morning when Ranko stepped out of the mini-dojo. She walked out, wearing her short sleeve red tang and black pants, with her little yellow workout towel around her neck. She wiped a bit of sweat off her brow, the moisture plastering the her deep red hair to her forehead. She fished for her keys, deciding what to the next day; she was now settled in hew new home, and it was time that she started to earn her own way. Plus, she had to go to the one of the local newspapers and see if they had any openings for a journalist. After she locked the dojo door, and began walking back to the house, she noticed two things.
One was the fact that Shampoo's light was still on. Apparently she really was worried that she might lose Mousse-although she'd damn herself before she'd admit that fact to anybody. Which made all the less reason why she wouldn't marry him. Everyone had expected it; certainly, they were getting a bit annoyed at the pair for dragging their courtship out for so long.
Shampoo and Mousse have been there for each other since they were kids. They're getting a little too old for "high-school sweetheart" antics. It was apparent that she'd have to meddle in their affairs. She did it for Ranma and Akane whenever they had a (rare) real argument. She took a second to exhale, and turned away from looking at the window.
Which is when she saw the second item. In the shadow of the house, someone dressed in a dark color was trying to break into the house. Apparently, they must be highly suicidal, because the person in question trespassed on the wrong property.
She smiled, an impish grin in the dark. Time to try out my new style.
Waikiki Beach, Honolulu:
The crater had a diameter of about 50 feet. The Waikiki Hawaiian Princess hotel was blackened by the impact blast. Sand sprayed for blocks around, as far as Kuhio Drive. Trees and other wooden objects had been completely charred or destroyed altogether. Local authorities, with a little help from the National Guard, were able to evacuate all the injured nighttime beachgoers and others injured by the flying chunks of wood or sandblasted by the force of the impact. It was silent, and the police tape was up, cordoning an area of about five blocks. The SWAT team had moved in.
One of the cops walked slowly up to ground zero. He looked upon the ground, and flashed his light on something. What he saw was so odd, he couldn't believe his eyes.
From about thirty feet away, the officer in charge yelled, "Thompson! Did you find anything?"
"You're not going to believe this, chief," Thompson yelled back. "Come on up!"
As the police chief walked up, Thompson pulled a small envelope from the crater's center, a glassy indentation on a dark beach. The officer diligently illuminated the envelope as his superior took the time to quickly scan the letter inside.
"This is absolutely mindless!" the officer yelled into the starry horizon.
"What is it, chief?" Thompson asked.
The chief gave Thompson the letter. "Here. You read it and see if it makes any sense to you." Giving his boss an odd look, Thompson read the strange missive:
Gentlemen,
I find myself honor-bound to apologize for the way that I have entered the city-and state-in a different form of transport than what is considered the norm. My transportation was not expected, nor was my trip, and I truly apologize for the unintended damage that I have caused. Perhaps this will help. If I can be of further assistance, please let me know; my office number is (415) 555-7098, which I can be reached at starting tomorrow afternoon; the answering machine is on, in the event you would like to leave a message instead.
Yours in humblest regards,
Yujiiro Kaguro
Both officers were so perplexed by the bizarre letter, that they scarcely noticed the check, made out to the City of Honolulu for $500,000.
A few blocks away, Kaguro picked up a telephone and punched his phone card number in. He then dialed information and requested a number. Immediately afterwards, he dialed that number.
"Hello, this is Aloha Airlines. Kione speaking. Can I help you?"
"Yes," he spoke. "I would like a ticket on the next available flight to San Francisco."
"We have a flight leaving at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Would that suffice?"
"That would be splendid. Is there a seat in Business Class?"
"Yes, there is, would you like me to book it for you?"
"Yes. The name is Yujiiro Kaguro." He then rattled off his credit card number.
"The tickets will be ready for you tomorrow morning at 8:00, Mr. Kaguro." Kione then explained the check-in time and other details.
"Thank you very much, Kione. Good evening, now." Kaguro hung up the phone. He exhaled, then breathed in the sweet Hawaiian air. Then he noticed all the people staring at him. Gods, I am a mess. His scarf was gone, and his clothing tattered, shredded to the point that some lucky threads stood between him and complete state of nudity. His face was covered with sand and carbon-scoring, his hair singed from reentry into the atmosphere.
Kaguro, much to his credit, ignored the gaping crowd as he walked down the street and into one of the hotels. He would be able to acquire lodging and a meal for the night, perhaps even a change of clothing (chances are, he'd have to settle for some tacky tourist wear from a local shop). Then, after an easy night, and a return flight to San Francisco, he'd have to talk about his dear Shan Fu with his employer. Ms. Chiang had it astronomically, unbelievably wrong. Ms. Lao was by no means a bitch.
No, but she does have one minor error that I shall have to correct, thought Kaguro, as he strolled into the Waikiki Grand Palace. If there's a problem with my intended, it's that she apparently plays hard to get.
Apparently the intruder didn't care for Ran-chan's "little" warning, as he was headed straight for her; the Moko Takabisha apparently didn't get the message across. Some people just don't get the idea, Ranko mused. She raced to meet her opponent.
The two collided somewhere above the koi pond. The intruder was still racing towards Ran-chan when she did a flying kick and nailed the intruder squarely in the chest. The "ninja" was propelled back, leaving the Japanese girl to turn and vault herself off the pond rocks, thereby avoiding the opportunity to get wet (true, all she was going to get was wet, but Ranma'd been dumped so many times into the Tendo koi pond, that she developed as much of an aversion to the concept as he had).
Unfortunately, this left her open. The ninja landed on his feet, shouted out "Midori Ryuusei Dan!" in a high-pitched voice-he was apparently a she-and went through the motions of shooting an arrow. There was a flash that looked similar to a bow being loosened, and then a green shaft of ki came speeding towards the unprepared woman. The arrow slammed into her and knocked her to the ground, knocking the air out of her.
As Ran-chan gasped for air, the ninja leaped several feet into the into the air and shouted out, "Arashikyaku!" at the highest point of rise. The ninja came down like a bolt of green lightning, foot glowing with radiant ki energy. Somehow, Ran-chan found the presence of mind to stagger to her feet and dash back just as the moving object slammed into the earth, spraying dirt and grass and leaving a small hole in the ground. The ninja, defenseless for a second, still managed to get into some kind of defensive stance.
"You just tried to kill me. I'm done with playing!" Ran-chan charged towards her opponent as she prepared another Green Arrow. At the last, she crouched into a ninja's slide and tripped her opponent off her feet, and as the "lady" was still in the air, she let loose with the Chestnut Punch.
Her opponent nimbly avoided it, to Ran-chan's surprise. Coming out of the punch cycle, the opponent called her attack: "Toriseihishoken!" The resulting punch, a cross between Akane's Ryuzanshoken uppercut and Ranma's Hiryu Shoten Ha, caused a vortex, with the ninja's fist at the eye. The air pressure smacked Ran-chan around a bit, but she moved out of the way before she received any real damage.
"Two can play at that game! Shoryudan!" Taking a cue-and a move-from another kenpo master she'd seen at a tournament, she did a midair windmill spin punch, that hit her opponent five or six times. The last strike knocked the ninja just out of range that she was unable to follow up with a midair Chestnut attack.
As the two combatants fell back to earth, the ninja charged up another ki arrow. Ran-chan charged up a second ki blast, and about the same height as Shampoo's window, the two released their fireballs at each other, and the two projectiles collided.
At 1:45 in the morning, a person headed for work stopped as two blocks away, there was a momentary supernova of light, as if someone had dropped a small nuclear explosive. The light burst was accompanied by a snap of sound, and a shockwave that rattled windows for a square mile.
The explosion jolted Shampoo awake.
She'd been sleeping in a very uncomfortable position (as proven by the sudden cramp that kicked in), and furthermore, he hadn't called. God, I really screwed up this time, she admitted to herself. Guess I'll have to think of some way to make it up to him. I'll have to ask Ran-chan for her opinion in the morning. She yawned, stretched, and was about to shut off the lamp and go back to bed, when she heard the shouting outside.
She leapt to the window, and saw Ranko in combat with another person. What the hell? She watched for a second as the redhead performed a series of attacks and defensive counters that she'd never seen Ranma or Mr. Saotome do. That must be her new style. Glad to see that it's working out for her. Maybe it's a part of what she needs to move on. She continued to watch as Ranko nimbly avoided a green arrow-like ki shot from the person dressed in a dark-
Green Arrow? The Midori Ryuusei Dan! Oh shit!
Shampoo, imitating a move she did the previous day (only wearing a bit more clothing this time), leapt over the banister and bolted towards the back door, hoping that Ran-chan wouldn't make a big mistake.
By now, Ran-chan was breathing heavily. Her opponent was good, extremely good, and it looked as if she was in for the worst fight since she, Akane and Ranma fought Nyguen Tran Loc...and barely survived. If she was going to put an end to this, she'd have to take it up an extra level-and that meant using the Super Attacks. She didn't want to use either of them, and certainly the Final Attack was out of the question, unless her life was on the line. As she dodged another ki arrow, she realized grimly that it might just come to that.
Fortunately, her opponent looked to be in just slightly worse condition. She was hunched over, resting her hands on her knees. She'd be easy pickings, but Ran-chan never attacked an injured opponent; it could also be a feint.
Suddenly the back door burst open, and Shampoo raced out, waving her arms in the air. Ran-chan looked at her, and it almost cost her. As she looked at Shampoo, distracted, her opponent snapped with a charge of her green aura, cupped her right hand as a large, pulsating green orb formed, and readied for what would be a possibly fatal blow.
Shampoo burst through the back door, leaping over the koi pond, waving her hands for the two fighters to stop. She saw the one in dark green flare with a sudden burst of ki, creating a bow. At this point, there was only one thing on her mind:
I'm not gonna make it...
Just in the proverbial nick of time, Ranko saw the blast of inner energy that her opponent radiated. She twisted and ducked at the same time, just as her opponent screamed, "Special Attack! Midori Ryuusei Seitendama!"
As a huge green beam sliced the air just above her head, she formed a fist, called upon her inner well of power. There was a huge flare of red ki, and the air around the two shimmered as Ran-chan shouted, "Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Super Attack! Kacchu Tenshin Amagurikyaku!"
As the air seemed to flare with shafts of light, Ran-chan, in a span of three seconds, from her lower position, spun once more and delivered a slice kick just hard enough to stun her opponent. She then went into a kicking variation of the Chestnut Punch-at a tournament in Beijing two years ago, she and Akane had seen a girl do this move; the girl referred to it as a Lightning Kick-and landed about 338 kicks to various parts of her opponent's body, dropping her like a stone.
Her opponent was on the ground, defeated. Suddenly, her eyes began to fog over, and all Ran-chan could see was red.
At the last second, Shampoo caught her friend's ki-charged hand, as it descended to strike a defeated foe. "Ranko! Snap out of it!" she yelled, using her other hand to turn the redhead's face to match hers. What Shampoo saw was not human. Ran-chan's eyes glowed red, brighter than her battle aura. The Phoenix Eye, under her shirt, was lit up like the flames of hell. Something had possessed the younger girl, and there was no other way to get to her. So Shampoo used the only course of action available to her: she slapped Ranko as hard as possible.
That seemed to do the trick. As Ran-chan recovered, the glow of the magical talisman died down, and her eyes became the cobalt color that Shampoo was accustomed to. As if waking from a dream, she mumbled, "S-Shampoo! Wha-what happened?"
"Something in regards to that." She pointed at Ran-chan's sweat-soaked shirt, the now-inert gem underneath. "I'll tell you later. For now, help me carry her inside."
"Nani?" Ran-chan gasped. "Why the hell would I want to carry a thief into our house?"
"Because she's not a thief." Shampoo bent down and ripped the mask off the mysterious ninja. A mass of short blonde hair and a face framed by eyeglasses fell out.
"Jeez, Libby," Shampoo said to the unconscious girl. "What the hell were you trying to do this time?"
The next morning, Liberty Windham woke up in her own bed and with a serious headache. As her vision cleared, she heard a voice call out, "Shampoo! She's awake!"
The second voice was the clearly Shampoo's voice. "Decided to come back from Seattle a week early, huh?"
"Yeah," the other girl admitted, not really looking at anyone. "Mom and Dad are on their usual trip on how I should either move back to Seattle, or somewhere less urban than California...meaning Seattle." She pushed her hair back, feeling a bandage wrapped around her head; the mass of blonde hair fell wherever it felt like this morning.
"So why'd you try to sneak into the house? I was up, or didn't you notice my light?"
"Wasn't paying attention. Besides, when I left my car in the garage, I accidentally left my keys in the car. Since I didn't want to disturb your sleep, I thought I'd go in through my window. You know I always leave it open."
"Well, why the mask, then?"
"Would you rather I wore my street clothes, have someone think I was a thief, attack me, and drag you out of bed trying to break it up?" Libby poured on the sarcasm. "Or haven't you forgot about that crazy woman who tried to play hero?"
"What the hell do you think I was supposed to be doing?" the second voice cried. "You were trying to go in through my window, not yours!"
"Who?" Libby put her glasses on, and snapped. It was that...that...that... She launched herself towards the offending redhead. "YOU!" she screamed.
Shampoo caught her. "Relax, Libby. It was a misunderstanding." Pointing to the redhead, she began introductions. "Ranko Saotome, Liberty Windham; Libby, Ran-chan." She stared at the blonde, poised to tear apart Ran-chan, and Ranko, who was just standing there, doing her kawaii-mode, trying to defuse the situation. She exhaled, and continued. "Look, you two have lots in common, and you're roommates, too, so you'd best make peace with one another."
"How's that?" Libby asked.
"Exactly what I was going to say," the redhead added.
She started off with Ran-chan. "Libby works for Kunotech's local office as one of their corporate lawyers; she has a direct connection to the Kunos-in fact, they met at the Cali Cat when Nabiki and Tate came to visit about two years ago. Furthermore, Libby's father studied with your father."
She then turned to Libby. "Ran-chan here is the Kunos' sister-in-law. Her father is Genma Saotome, who I believe you mentioned along with Soun Tendo, trained with your father during the years he lived in Japan."
"I thought your style looked sort of familiar," Ran-chan said as she extended her hand.
Libby looked extremely pissed, then blew it off, and shook the other girl's hand. "Your style doesn't. My father taught me a bit of the Saotome and Tendo styles, and yours looks like neither of them."
"Oh, that. There are three Saotome styles, now-My brother's Dragon variation, Pop's original style, and I'm developing the third. The Tendo school has Akane's original AGMA shotokan, and Kurumi's Ribbon variation. Natsumi-" Ranko's tongue felt thick as she said her adversary's name, "-uses a ninjitsu style from a clan called Ghost Wolf."
"Wow! A Ghost Wolf in your family? That's so cool!" Libby smiled. "They're the allies of my own clan, even though there aren't too many of them left."
At Libby's grin, Ranko did a double take. "Y'know, you look kinda familiar, but I can't seem to put my finger on exactly where."
An uneasy look crossed Libby's face, and she mumbled under her breath, "Oh shit." She looked up to Ran-chan and replied, "Doubtful. I'm the one and only."
Ran-chan laughed, and leaned against Libby's dresser. "Trust me, I've heard that argument before, and my answer always is, 'Never be too sure on that.' I kinda have life experience in that department."
"Well, I'll leave you two alone," Shampoo said, as she watched the two chatting idly along. Inwardly, she felt a great weight lift off her. She wasn't too sure that the girls were going to get along, especially after last night's incident. Now it was apparent that they would get along fabulously. One problem completed, at least.
Today, she'd have to take care of a whole new slew of problems. Like what to do about the Phoenix Eye. Could that have been the item that had caused Ran-chan's bouts of unusual behavior? Last night, she was concerned about it; today, she didn't even bring it up. Then there was Mousse, who was apparently going to hold a grudge for a change. Just how the hell was she going to make it up to him? This was something that a simple romantic candlelight dinner might not cover. Furthermore, there was that Kaguro guy. Why did he attack, and who sent him? She also had the feeling that he'd be back, an unwanted suitor that she really couldn't care less about-and now I know how Ranma and Akane felt.
As she stepped into the shower, an old maxim came to mind: you can take the Chinese Amazon out of Nerima, but you can't take Nerima out of the Chinese Amazon...
Jade was meditating, trying to reach her inner self. Something was odd with the world, lately. She wasn't able to have that Lao bitch taken out. There was no mention of her antics in the Examiner; in fact, the Oakland Tribune's Social section commended her for dealing with the "hooligan" at the mall, and for her honesty and courage when it came to its "revealing" conclusion. Kaguro, the "hooligan", was nowhere to be seen; she called his number several times, but he wasn't answering. Last and worst of all, her jade trademarks, the legendary Heart of the Demon, had changed from jade to opal, and now refused to work for her!
So, when faced with a crisis, her father always said, you do two things. Either you run away, which he'd never done; or, you find a way around the problem. He had taught her that when they left Shanghai when she was four. He never told her much about the past, except, what's done is done; never look back.
So, this was why she was here-to find a way around the problem; or more correctly, bulldoze a way through the problem. So she had been doing her Tai Chi and going deeper within to find her innermost wellspring of chi, she felt a pinprick of a presence, a power of much more use to her than the Heart of the Demon. This was anger, power, strength-the very soul of the mighty leung. This was something far more than she knew, but she knew that she wanted it.
A second later, she knew where to get it.
Drawing on the sample power that this new force had given her, she drew more chi than she'd ever done before, and with her new red battle aura, she fired a substantially stronger chi blast that vaporized one of the walls in the house. As the red aura wore off, subsided by her now-inadequate green one, she had three tasks to accomplish: one, beat Lao at any cost; two, find and get that new power; and three...
...find some way to explain to the carpenter why a whole section of the house was burned away.
As he got to the Magic Duck, Mousse was in a rare bad mood. Shan Fu had finally managed to do what she hadn't been previously able to accomplish in the 26 years they'd known each other: he was pissed off at her. Really pissed off.
She thinks that some small little candlelight dinner's gonna take care of it this time. Right. Sure. Get real, Mousse. They're not "romantic" candlelight dinners at all. You've known it all your life, and you can never admit to yourself. She doesn't love you; she only considers you a friend. If that. Friends don't get used frequently as punching bags, life in Nerima excepted. I'm sick of her teasing and tricks. She only wants one person in this world. However, he's happily married and several thousand miles away.
So he got sick of it. He didn't bother calling her when she left the message on the answering machine. When he came into the Duck the next day, he didn't blow his customary kiss to her portrait on the back room desk. Instead, he flicked his arm, and a baseball rocketed out of his rolled-up sleeve, hitting the picture, shattering the glass.
He was so pissed that he unintentionally growled at the first customer who called.
Fortunately, it wasn't a customer, but Libby. "Hey, easy, easy, Mousse! What did I do?"
"Sorry, Libby. I'm in a bit of a bad mood. So, how's Seattle?"
"I can understand; I got home last night, and what's-her-name...Ranko...filled me in on the details. What I'm calling about is-"
"Tell Shan Fu that I don't want to talk to her right now."
There was silence on the phone for a second, followed by, "Actually, I just wanted to see if you were free for lunch."
Usually, he always ate at the Cali Cat for lunch, or she'd bring him lunch when he couldn't make it. About the last time he hadn't eaten Cali Cat cuisine during the workday was when he and Ran-chan went to lunch the other day. "Sure! Where do you want to go?"
"There's this little French Bistro downtown that I hear is great."
"Well, Libby, if you've got the dime, I've got the time." Lunch with a neutral party sounded like just the thing right now. Libby was always impartial-that's why she usually ended up being the referee for the arguments that he and Shamp-Shan Fu had.
"Actually, Ran-chan's paying. She'd like to come along, as well. Something about looking for a job until she gets a break with one of the newspapers."
"Actually, that's what I did want to talk to her about. Tyler's asked for less hours because of college, so I thought if I hired another person, it might ease the hours on us all."
"Especially when it's somebody you already know, who's probably looking for a job, right?" She laughed. "I think it's a good idea. She might be just the thing your store needs."
"That's for sure," he also laughed. "So I'll see you in an hour?"
"'Course."
"See you then."
Saying her farewells, she hung up. Mousse placed the duckphone back in its cradle and got down to business. Today would be a busy day, and if he was going to figure out the monthly bills before he cut out for lunch, he'd best get started.
Libby put the phone down in the power jack. "He bought it, hook, line, and croissant," she said to Ran-chan, who was lounging on the couch, reading one of those Japanese comics of hers. "By the way, he wants to talk to you about something."
"Kinda figured that. Tyler was telling me that Mousse was considering hiring another body to ease up on their working hours." Ran-chan peeked from over the top of her manga. She was totally engrossed in a copy of Magic Knight Rayearth that she picked up at Narita. "Now we gotta figure what to do next."
While Shampoo had hit the shower, the two girls had found two more things that they had in common: an innate ability to meddle in other peoples' love lives, and an intense need to see Shampoo happily wed to Mousse. That, of course, meant pooling their resources together, so...
"So, do you have any ideas?" the blonde asked. "I have to admit, I'm completely stumped. If it were Shampoo who was the guilty party, that wouldn't be as problem, as-"
"-all you have to do is remind her of how much Mousse has been there for her." Ran-chan finished Libby's comment. "It worked on her even on the worst of times, when we were all teens back in Japan."
"Right, right. The problem is, it's Mousse that's the pissed one this time."
"Well, the old tactic could theoretically work. She was the one that decked him..."
"Yeah, but you have to admit that she does that all the time. This is just the first time that that he's gotten fed up with it."
"Yeah, you're right." She sat and thought about it. "Maybe if we a had a new way of looking at this."
"Well, brainstorm, already!" Libby cried. "If you put thought into this, instead of reading that comic book..."
"AHA!" Ran-chan suddenly shouted.
"'Aha' what?" Shampoo appeared, walking down the stairs. She was dressed in the Cali Cat uniform, her backpack over her shoulder, and was ready to go to work. The other two had looks on their faces to die for. I wonder what they're up to, she thought.
Fortunately, Ran-chan's enlightenment was real. "Shampoo!" she giggled. "Look at this!" The Chinese girl went over and looked over Ran-chan's shoulder as she pointed to something on one of the pages. They looked at Libby. Then at the book. Then back at Libby. Then back at the book. Then begun to laugh like a pair of hyenas in a room filled with laughing gas.
Shit, Libby thought. They found out. "May I ask what the hell's so funny?!"
The book was tossed at her. "Look...at..HAHAHAHHA...p-pa-paHAHAHHAHAHHAA-" Ran-chan couldn't finish her sentence. She rolled back, giggling.
Shampoo was on the floor, holding her belly. "Page 34! HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA!"
"Sh-she-uses an arrow...HAHAHAHAHHAHHA!"
"Her favorite...HAHAHAHHAHAHAH...color...i-is gr-gr..HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH...green!"
"And you...HAHAHA...hav-ha-HAHAHHAHA...have to admit, her powersHAHAHHAHAHAHH are wind-based...HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAH!" Ran-chan fell off the couch, unable to stop laughing.
Libby opened the book, knowing exactly where the page was by rote memorization; after all, she'd been nailed with this comment ever since the she and it crossed paths. There on page 34, was a picture of Fuu Houoji, the Magic Knight of Wind...
...who looked like an exact duplicate of Libby, right down to the way she was currently standing. All Libby needed to do to complete the image would be to throw on a lime green business suit, an emerald studded-white glove on her left hand, and a white armored breastplate. Gee, Libby thought sarcastically, I just can't wait until those two get to the part about Fuu's machine, named Windham...which happens to be my last name.
Frustrated, she considered throwing a Midori Ryuusei Dan their way, but that would probably be too good for them. Instead, she picked up the new coffee table and slammed it over both of their heads, breaking it in the process.
About twenty minutes later, and a few miles away, Tyler was stepping out of his Advanced Archeology class, with Ronnie right on his tail. "Hey, wait up!" she cried, bolting from her seat at the back of the class towards the door.
"What's up, Ronnie?"
"Just wanted to know if you were free for lunch. I could use a bit more explanation on the realistic aspects of Professor Croft's last lecture, as opposed to the weird directions she goes off on." Also wanted to wheedle some info out of you regarding Mousse, but I'm not going to tell you that. She shook her head in that I'm-just-so-happy-to-see-you way. "It's on me. Whaddaya say?"
"Um, sure. Shouldn't be a problem. Let me just swing by the message board and see if someone left a message."
"Sure thing." She fell into place beside him. Now, how to bring Mousse into the topic... Hey! That'll work... "So, how're things going over at your shop? I never get the opportunity to swing over there when we're both at work. Y'know, customers an' all."
"Yeah, I can understand. Things have been okay, business has been good, and all that. Don't think it's gonna be too good of a day, today, though."
"Why's that?"
"Oh, Mousse and his girlfriend got into a fight last night. Won't go much into details, except that she decked him."
THAT BITCH! Ronnie mentally screamed, as her battle aura almost kicked into overdrive. Instead, she calmed down and took a breath, then passively said, "That's too bad. Is there any way I can help?"
"Not that I can think of, but if I do, you'll be the first to know." Arriving at the student services center, he gave the desk clerk his name and ID number. She in turn gave him a slip of paper with a small message written on it:
CALL ME AT MY CEL PHONE. NEED YOUR HELP THIS AFTERNOON. HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MOUSSE-AT LEAST NOT IN THE IMMEDIATE SENSE. -SHAMPOO.
"Hey, can you hold on a second? I've got to call somebody." He quickly ducked into a phone booth.
"Sure. I'll wait outside." She walked out of the building, counted to ten, lost her temper anyway, and slice kicked through a tree. Gravity, being the fickle law of nature that it is, decided in retaliation to drop the rest of the tree on her head.
"Ni Hao! Tyler, is that you?" The voice on the other end sounded kind of tinny.
"Shamps! Where are you? You sound so far away!"
"Don't worry. I've got the phone plugged into the jack on my helmet. I'm heading towards the Chinese-American Historical Center. Need your help to look up a research project, right now."
"Okay, what stunt are you up to this time?" He'd known her long enough to have heard about-not to mention seen a few of-her constant tricks. "Plus, Asia really isn't my field-I'm more of a Latin America scholar-in-training."
"Please! This is really important!"
"Shamps, I'm not going to get dragged into your argument with Mou-"
"Damn it! This has nothing to do with him!" She sounded genuinely agitated. "I have some information that I need to get a hold of, and you're the only one I can think of who can help me!"
"I was about to go to lunch..."
"Fine. Get your butt over here and we'll get Chinese takeout. Or Mickey D's. Whatever. Just get over here."
That did it. Shamps didn't like to eat at other Chinese restaurants in town (she didn't want to seem like she was scoping out the competition) and she absolutely never ate fast food. "Give me twenty minutes."
"Thanks, Tyler. I really appreciate this. I'll be waiting."
So much for the nice little get together with Ronnie. Would've liked more time to get to know her a little better, but... He hung up the phone and walked out of the building. How was he going to explain this one?
Ronnie was just dusting herself off after crawling out from under the remains of the tree, and she was definitely not happy. Raging pissed would be a more accurate comment. That Zhan Pu wench had done it again. If I got the chance to see her face to face, oh, she'd better watch out...
"Ronnie! What happened to the tree?" It was Tyler.
"Oh, nothing; termites, I guess." She waved it off. "I take it from the look on your face that you've got to cancel lunch."
"Unfortunately, a friend needs some-" He paused for a second. "Hey, waitaminit...your specialty is Asian archeology, right?"
"Yeah..." If he so much as asks me for a favor for this Zhan Pu bitch, I'll kill him!
"Look, the favor is for Mousse's girlfriend. She needs some help at the CAHC. Can you join in? An expert at this would be real great; I can explain that problem that Professor Croft threw at us; and Shampoo says she's paying for lunch."
Ronnie thought about it for a millisecond. She'll be there? Finally! A chance to actually size up the competition! "Sure! I'd love to. Let me call my day worker at the store and tell him I may be tied up for a few hours. I'm sure he won't mind the overtime." She smiled. And I won't mind my chance to show up this "Shampoo" slut.