here's the second part of the party prep. hope you enjoy. also, if you don't know Kenichi, why'd you read this, Tipo? were you looking for birthday fics or something like that?

Later that evening at Ryozanpaku, Miu was blushing so much, one might assume she's a bloody mess. And to explain why, we'll rewind a few hours.

-a few hours ago, Kenichi's house-

"Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Shirahama," Takeda said.

"You're very welcome. Are not going to sit down, Mr...?"

"Kōzō Ukita. And I'm afraid I might break your furniture, so I'll just stand."

"My how considerate. So were you able to figure out what to get my son?" Everyone's heads sunk low, and Saori gained a sweat-drop. "Got it."

"Honey, I'm home," Mototsugu said.

"Welcome back, dear."

Motosugu noticed shoes at the door.

"Oh, we have guests?"

"Yes, they're from Kenichi's school."

"Well, nice to meet-" Motosugu's eyes went to Ukita. "Come forth, Sebastion!"

"Dear, you best put that away! These are Kenichi's friends, and they came to figure out what to get him for his birthday."

"Uh, I was just wanting to show off my gun to these nice youngsters."

"Put Sebastian away... now!" Ukita took a step back while everyone else scootched away. "I'm so sorry for my husband. I'm sure he was just intimidated by Ukita-san's size. He's actually an attentive husband, if a little overprotective."

'There's overprotective scary, and then there's that,' Ukita thought.

'She's kinda scary when she's mad, like Hermit,' Takeda thought.

'And I thought Shigure was scary when mad,' Miu thought

'One thing is for sure,' Kisara thought.

'We do not wanna piss off Kenichi's mom!' they thought all at once.

"So, how did you all come to be friends with our son?" Motosugu asked.

"Well, Miu here is the granddaughter of the owner of Ryozanpaku where Kenichi trains."

"I see." Motosugu walked up to the girls and stood in front of... "Very nice to meet you, Miu. Honoka mentioned big boobs, but they aren't big at all."

He approached Kisara, pissing her off, but tried to play it nice.

"I'm Kisara. The blond is Miu."

"Huh? Oh, my baAAAAD!" His eyes went boing. "Wow, those are big."

"Dear..."

'Oh, shit!' "At any rate, thank you for looking after my son."

"Oh, it's fine."

"So how about the rest of you?"

"Oh, we used to be part of this big gang, and tried to beat your son up, but he beat us instead," Ukita said.

"Says you guys. He never laid a hand on me. Personal policy to not hit girls."

"Well, that is how we raised him," Saori said. "I taught him that hitting girls was not a good thing to do, no matter the circumstances. I told him that even if they're pummeling you, just stand your ground."

"Anyway, after he won our fight, we went to one of his masters to help Ukita, and he fixed me up. I used to do boxing, but my dominant arm was paralyzed, so my career was dead, or so I thought. Thanks to Koetsuji, I regained the use of my left arm."

"We decided to leave that gang, but it was customery to get a farewell beating," Ukita said. "One of our ex-friends tried to bust up my arm with an axe-kick, but your son came barreling in just in time, saving my Judo career."

"Some friends of mine thought I betrayed them when they saw me with this one, taking care of a kitten. Tried to gang up on me, but Kenichi saved me. Of course, because they were girls, he wouldn't attack them. He actually looked scared before he said it."

"It's actually pretty common. Kenichi says he won't fight girls, and then the girls get pissed and go from wanting to beat him up to kill him."

"Well, he's a strong boy!" Motosugu said, grabbing his wife's shoulder. "After all, he possesses our DNA!"

He started laughing as everyone said in their minds...

'Somehow I doubt his DNA is something to brag about.'

"But to summerize, besides Miu, who's known him since she transferred, your son is the reason we're where we are now," Takeda said. "Thanks to him and his master, the future is bright again."

"If that guy didn't kick my ass, I'd probably still be hurling randos like a delinquint."

"We just wanted to repay him for helping us."

"And you, Miu?" Saori asked.

"Uh, well, he works so hard despite having no natural talent, and he's helped me experience things I never got to. Not to mention we actually met when we were kids and traded badges."

This caused everyone to snap to her.

"Hold on, you met him as a kid?" Kisara asked.

"And what's this about a badge?" Takeda said.

"AAAAAH, I DIDN'T MEAN TO MENTION THAT! PLEASE FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!"

"Well, at any rate, we don't plan to throw in the towel with gift cards, so I guess we'll have to figure it out some other way or get things that look good," Takeda said. "Thanks for the tea. We'll be going now."

"Feel free to come by anytime, okay? Oh, Miu, I have a question for you."

"Yes, Mrs. Shirahama?"

She leaned in, lips to Miu's ear.

"Are you in love with Kenichi?"

Miu's entire body turned red at that.

"W-w-w-w-why would you ask me that? Kenichi's a really good friend, that's all. There's nothing like that going on between us."

"Hahaha, aw, young love. You needn't be bashful. In fact, feel free to call me fa-!"

"Stop that!" Saori said with a tray to her husband's noggin. "Sorry about him. Anyway, Kenichi told us he wanted to become strong enough to protect a certain someone, and I've heard him mention you a few times in his sleep. He's important to you, right? If something bad happened to him, how would you feel? More importantly, how would you feel if he married someone else?"

-end flashback-

"How would I feel if he choose someone else?" Miu asked herself.

"If who choose someone else?" a voice behind her asked. This caused her to freak out and toss the pan in the air. In her haste to recover it, she grabbed the base with her right hand bare, which was scalding hot. "Miu, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, I was lost in-" Miu noticed the person who startled her was Kenichi. "I was just lost in thought, that's all."

"What happened?" Sakaki said, bursting in.

"I startled Miu and she ended up grabbing the pan with her bare hands," Kenichi explained as he ran cold water over her hand.

"It's alright, Kenichi, you didn't mean to."

"My goodness, what a mess," Akisame said.

"So who... should cook?"

"Apa, Apachai will!"

"Or perhaps we could order out," Kensei said.

"Kensei, perhaps we should save that for some other time."

"What do you-? Oh, right. Never mind." Kenichi looked at them, and could tell they were plotting something. "I'll see what I can salvage so we don't waste ingredients."

"Thank you, Kensei."

Kenichi helped bandage Miu's hand, causing her to blush even more.

"Miu, could I ask a question?"

"Uh, sure go ahead." 'I hope he doesn't ask me what was on my mind, or-'

"Are you and the masters keeping something from me?"

'-THAT!'

"Your face means yes. I won't ask what it is. Knowing them, it's probably some really hardcore training that'll put me within an inch of my own life." Miu decided to let that assumption be.

So they had supper, and since she couldn't use her chopsticks, Kenichi offered to help her. She politely declined, saying that as a martial artist, she's trained to use both hands. However, a part of her started fantasizing about the scenario. She went to sleep, burdened with dreams she didn't like.

The next day, while Kenichi and Miu were at school, Akisame visited Kenichi's house, speaking with Kenichi's parents. Unfortunately, they weren't much help in figuring out what to get Kenichi. Akisame went upstairs, and noticed Kenichi's how to books.

"My disciple sure lacked confidence, didn't he? Hmm?" He noticed something in one of the drawers. A stack of papers that looked like drafts for something. He sat down on Kenichi's bed, reading them intently. "Some of these are quite interesting, but it does seem a bit over the place. I've got it."

"Ah, hello, Mr. Koetsuji," Saori said. "Were you able to figure out anything?"

"Yes, I believe I was. Thank you for allowing me look around our disciple's room."

"I hope you're treating our son well," Motosugu said.

"He's doing fine. We do work him extra hard since he has no natural talent for martial arts, but your son is a very hard worker. He's come a long way, and while he doesn't have a natural talent for martial arts, I think I've found something he does have a talent for."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yes. We don't plan on letting him give up martial arts, but I plan to help cultivate his talent in other areas. We might all be a bit rough with him, but we want to make sure he can survive and help those in need."

"Well, of course he's talented," Motosugu said. "He has our DNA!"

As he laughed, Akisame had a thought.

'I have a feeling his DNA isn't much to brag about.' "Well, I'll be off."

"He was certainly nice and well-spoken," Motosugu said.

"Indeed."

-later that day at school-

"What? You want to have Shirahama's birthday party at my house?"

Miu was talking to Natsu Tanimoto, AKA Hermit.

"Look, I know it's a lot to ask, but we can't really prepare for it and hide the stuff at Ryozanpaku. Not to mention what happened this morning."

-earlier that day after Akisame took Kenichi on a run-

"Apachai is so sorry."

"Yes, I understand, Apachai, but still..." Kensei said, a plate with crumbs between them. "...HOW COULD YOU EAT KENICHI'S BIRTHDAY CAKE?! IT HADN'T EVEN BEEN DECORATED YET!"

"I know, but Apachai was hungry and it didn't look like a cake, so I didn't think it was bad."

"Apachai, we need to make these layers while Kenichi is at school so he doesn't get suspicious."

"Why don't we do the party somewhere else?" Sakaki suggested. "After all, we'd be able to prepare better and hide the stuff better."

"But who... do we... ask?"

"Perhaps that boy Kenichi's fought with, the one taught by Kensei's brother?" Hayato said.

"I'll ask him at school," Miu said.

-end flashback-

"Forget it. I'm not doing it."

"I figured you'd say that, so I prepared a strategy." Natsu turned to her. "A game of othello against an opponent of my choosing. If you win, I won't bother you. If you lose, you have to host the party at your house."

"Fine by me. Choose your champion. I'll crush them."

"Bye, Tanimoto!"

"Bye-bye!"

'Seriously, I can't keep up with him.'

So Tanimoto went to the park, and found a tan giant where Tanimoto was told to meet.

"Hello, I'm Apachai. Miu told me to play Othello with you."

"Seriously? You're my opponent? Furinji must be losing it if she thinks you can beat me. Bring it!" After ten minutes of playing... "What the hell?"

"Sakaki and Kensei were surprised too. Wanna play again?"

"Best out of three. I won't be beaten again." After fifteen minutes of playing... "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"You lasted longer this time."

"Look, I gotta get home. I guess you guys can have the damn party at my place, but you're cleaning up afterwards, got it?"

"Okey-dokey!" So Apachai hopped and disappeared into the distance.

"In a single bound? Who is he, Conner Kent? Whatever. Masters like that, no wonder Shirahama's so tough. Hmm?" He looked toward the bushes, but kept on walking.

"Well, can't use him," a voice said.

"But who then?" another one asked.

"I remember something about him having a younger sister," a third voice said.

"Perfect," the first said.

The three figures laughed in unison, our heroes unaware of what was to come.

so how did you like that? I look forward to your reactions.