Rip smiled as he stared at his ninja equipment, "What should I go with?" he wondered, first was a sleek modern dive suit, and the other was an older more armoured version, one would allow for better protection in the ocean, and the other more speed,
He frowned, "What would grampa choose?"
Something buzzed in his pocket but Rip ignored it, almost too focused in his work,
"I'll improve both, and see what works better," he said, pulling out a bunch of armour plates, he brought them over to the old dive suit and started working, removing the old steel plating with titanium,
He'd barely finished the new boots(which is what he's decided to start with) before a bear kicked in the door to the workshop he was using,
"Hey moron!" Ranmaru cried, "the committee is meeting right now!"
"Just a second," he replied, "I'm almost done with the soles"
Ranmaru growled, "No not a second! get to the meeting room!" she ordered, "Kumapooh drag him!"
The teddy bear gave a bow and walked forward on his little paws before grabbing the back of Rip's shirt and pulling him away from the workbench,
"Okay I guess I can finish all that later then," Rip said as he was dragged away,
As they entered the meeting room Rip was tossed onto a sofa, "Ah Ripley so glad you could join us," Kocho stated, "didn't you get my text?"
"You sent me a text?" he asked, "sorry must've missed it," he stated,
The girls rolled their eyes while Ranmaru sat down next to the lone male in his room,
"Well if you had looked you'd know you were in deep trouble," Kocho stated, she turned and looked at him, "around the school the student's panties have been going missing,"
"And obviously the main suspect everyone has is you," Chitose said glaring through her glasses at him,
"So Ripley-chan if you want to prove your innocence-"
"Why'd ya take em Rip?!" Kanzaki demanded jumping to her feet,
Kocho rolled her eyes, she pulled her phone out and sent Kanzaki a message, 'Too much Kan, remember we all know Rip didn't actually do it,'
Kanzaki saw the message on her phone and blushed, "I- er, mean, if you did take them that is," she said awkwardly sitting down,
Of course the girls here all knew Rip was innocent, these thefts had started before he'd become a student,
But being the lone boy in a school filled with girl ninja there were rumours that it had been him regardless, also they just wanted to grill the boy,
Rip nodded taking everything in, "I see I see," slowly he leaned to Ranmaru, "Hey" he whispered loudly, "what are panties?"
Ranmaru blushed, "Wh-what are you asking?!" she almost screamed, she grabbed his shirt and started shaking him, "DON'T BE WEIRD YOU PERVERT!"
"What I said was weird?" he asked,
"WHAT ARE YOU ASKING? WHAT ARE PANTIES? THERE'S NOTHING ELSE IT COULD BE BUT WEIRD," she raged, "WHAT'S NEXT WHAT'S A BRA?"
Rip seemed more confused, "What? bra? what's that?"
Ranmaru's face turned redder, "YOU'RE SO WEIRD! STOP ASKING WHAT STUFF ARE LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU PERVERT!"
"What's a pervert?"
Suddenly his grampa's words echoed inside his mind, 'Ripley if people start getting confused about what you know, just explain to them where you were born, it may help,'
Rip nodded, "Right!" he said, he reached up and grabbed Ranmaru's shoulders, stopping her from shaking him, "wait, let me explain something," he said,
"Y-okay?"
"Y'see I weren't born above ground like you lot," Ripley stated, "I was born in an underwater deep sea research facility,"
The girls eyes widened, "Wait what?" Kocho asked,
"Yeah so if I seem a little ignorant of other teen stuff it's cause you sheila's are the first bunch me own age I've met," he said, "otherwise I've been surrounded by people older then me, or the fishies, I'm not sure what a lot of stuff is,"
The girls looked at the scarred boy,
Kanzaki frowned, "It's... well," she blushed, "why does this take so much guts to explain?"
"Do they have a strong scent?" Ripley asked, "maybe I could track the thief by the smell of these 'panties' if any of you also have some?"
Kocho rubbed her head, "You really have no idea what you're saying do you?"
"Well I'm not sure I'll be all that good at tracking above water, but I'll give it my best," he said,
Kocho opened her drawer, she pulled out a pair of pink underwear, she held them up, "These are panties Rip, girls wear them in the place of boxers,"
"Mmm, in that case I'd be better off smelling the girls who were robbed, but I'd need the latest victim for the freshest scent to follow," he said without missing a beat,
"Y-you're gonna smell girls?" Ranmaru asked, "you're such a pervert!"
"Am I not supposed to sniff you all in case we get split up?" he asked, "my bad,"
"You sniffed US?!" Ranmaru shrieked while the other girls blushed,
"Yeah," he nodded, "so I could find you all later,"
"That's so creepy" Ranmaru stated,
Rip rubbed his chin, "Mmmm," he intoned, "oh!" he stood up, "let's set a trap for this thief, one they couldn't possibly resist,"
"Right we'll file away that you've smelt us all for later and deal with the main issue," Kocho stated, trying to make her blush go down, "what's the plan Rip?"
Rip stood up, "Follow me,"
They followed the boy to the outside, where they found him without his pants putting his boxers on the washing line, The girls blushed again, this boy just had no sense, "Ripley-chan what are you doing?" Chihaya asked,
Rip turned to them, "Well this thief has a buncha ladies undergarments right?" he asked, "thus a boys will drive them crazy," he stated, "I'll work on the trap you guys spread the word that my panties are out here,"
Kocho narrowed her eyes and then smiled, "Oh," she said walking over, "maybe we should make the bait a bit spicier?" she suggested,
"Like what?" Rip asked his back to her,
Kocho frowned, she grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, "like this," she said taking her own underwear off and handing them to Rip, she looked him in the eyes, searching for any sign of embarrassment,
But Rip took her lacy green panties and put them next to his boxers without even a second of pause, "That'll probably do it," he stated, "anymore and we risk this being too obvious,"
"Y-yes," Kocho said, red faced, "I... we'll go get some clothes to put on the line,"
"Sounds great," Rip said as he started digging in the dirt with his hands,
"That boy ain't right," Chitose stated,
"What kinda man looks so straight faced when a girl like Kocho hands him their underwear?" Kanzaki asked,
"A bloody pervert that's who," Ranmaru spat,
"I'll stay by to watch him if you all borrow some clothing," Chihaya said,
But Kocho didn't say a word, she just walked away, cheeks burning red,
It took a little while but when they returned to put the clothing on the line after having spread the word that both Rip and Kocho were putting their clothes to dry out here,
They came to find the ground completely covered by sand,
"Sand?" Ranmaru asked,
Kocho stared at it for a moment before Chihaya dropped down from a nearby tree, "Quite remarkable isn't it?" she asked, "Ripley-Chan was rather fast at putting down this trap,"
"What exactly has he done?" Kanzaki asked, "other then leave sand everywhere?"
"He said it would be best not to reveal his trick," Chihaya stated,
The girls put the clothing on the line without touching the sand below it, curious as to what exactly Rip had done,
They hid nearby and waited, few people found the line, one was about to approach, "You think that Kocho or Rip left any money in their coats?" a short big eared girl asked, her mouth salivating at the thought of money,
"Easy Lolo," an average sized girl with pink and yellow hair wearing roller skates said, "That sand wasn't there before, I'll bet it's a trap,"
"Eh!? Trap!?" the girl asked jumping up and grabbing the other girls arm and pulling herself up it, she whistled seeing the sand, "dang almost got me, thanks Mizuna,"
"They'd have gotten your shoe size if ya stepped on it, then used a mould to catch ya,"
"Might've even thought I was the creep going round stealing everyone's clothes," Lolo stated, "if it weren't Rip of course,"
"We should just leave it be," Mizuna said,
And with that warning the other student's seemed weary of approaching the line, but as soon as they cleared off a student dropped out of the trees, she had in her hands a leaf fan and slowly approached the sand, she smirked, "Shoe size? HA!" she laughed, she laid a large sack filled with something on the ground, and patted it, "you're gonna make momma rich," she stated, she smirked walking on the sand, "these rich girl shinobi are so dumb, by the time they have my shoe size I'll be long gone, but I couldn't resist these two last treasures," she said walking over and grabbing both Kocho and Rip's underwear,
And slowly a small sand mound started rising, revealing Rip was under it waiting, he pulled a rope he had in his hand and quickly the trap was sprung,
The girl couldn't even react before a rope net tied to two large prongs attached at either side of a pole swatted her down from under the sand,
Quickly Rip rolled out of the sand and ran over to her, holding another rope and a net, first she was hogtied, then covered by a new net, "Hey!" how'd you- where'd you- um mercy?" the girl pleaded,
"Caught me a big one," he said tossing her net at the feet of the others who also came out of hiding,
"Eh!" the girl said realising she'd been caught,
Kocho leaned down, "Mmm you're not a student here are you?" she asked, not recognising the face of the girl before her,
"Wh-what? I am a student here at... this school," the girl stated, "how else would I be here? and my uniform, see it's that of the academy,"
"You've been stealing underwear, an outfit is not so different," Chihaya stated,
"What do we do now?" Kanzaki asked,
Kocho frowned, "Rip?" she asked,
"What's up?"
"We'll hold the girl, can you find any of her things?" Kocho asked,
"Lemme check," he pulled the girl close and took in her scent,
"Ewww creepy" the girl said, then he dropped her and started walking into the trees, "And rude as well,"
Rip followed her scent, gold, woodlands, and a mixture of berries, he took a deep breath, 'Deep sea mimicry Ninjutsu' he thought, his teeth sharpened, his pupils grew blocking out all colour from getting into his eyes and making them look completely black, a shark-like tail of water formed behind him, 'way of the shark!'
As the colour left his eye's and the surrounding of Hokuo women's academy turned into a blurry mess Rip's sense of smell grew far stronger to compensate, he started running, he had to, as his need to hurt rose dramatically,
But such was the way of the shark, constant motion, fierce senses, and of course a lust for spilled blood,
As he ran his teeth ached, wanting to be sank into something, to feel the warmth of blood in his mouth,
But his Grampa had invented these techniques, so Ripley was trained in their use, and could focus on thoughts other then the beast inside,
He stuck a hand on the black knife like tooth he wore as a necklace, reminding him what pain he'd be capable of causing if he went with the desires,
His mind calmed as thought of what his grandfather had lost,
And Rip smiled, managing to keep himself calm, he started circling a spot, the scent came from the centre, but he couldn't stop, to a shark and now to Ripley himself, to stop was to die, nor could he just stop mimicking a shark as he needed the sense of smell to find his way back to the others and if he did he wouldn't recognise where he was, slowly he circled trying to make sure he'd be in the right place to pick up whatever the girl had left here,
He skimmed his hand along the ground, feeling course dirt, dry leaves, and twigs, as he ran around, trying to find something that didn't belong, worms, more dirt, leaf pile, acorn, as his hands brushed across a worn rough leather strap his hands took it, and brought it to his nose, he took in it's scent, "Gold, woodlands, and a mixture of berries," he smiled, and then focused on another scent, one he could easily remember, chestnuts, paper, and a hint of perfume, he turned on his heel and dashed towards it,
As he drew closer and closer slowly the blurry forest was taken over by a blurry building shape, and Ripley undid the mimicry, his teeth and eyes returned to normal, and the tail evaporated as he closed his eyes for a moment, he opened them and Kocho stood across from him, giving him a... strange look, "What was-"
Rip popped his shoulder, "Deep sea mimicry, my grandpa's homemade jutsu, we give up a few human traits for stuff that'd do us better," he explained, "It's... tricky to just go on and off with it I'll need a minute for my eyes to adjust," he said handing her what was a purple schoolbag, opening it Kocho found another school uniform in a plastic bag, and a student Id,
"Let's see, your name is Misato, you're a third year from the Tohno Tengu Shinobi School," she stated, "that right?"
"Uh... no?" Misato said,
"So she is from a rival school?" Ranmaru asked, "then what's she doing here? some sabotage?"
"Probably just being a pervert," Kanzaki stated holding her blade to the tied girl,
"No that's wrong," Chitose stated, "she said that the bag we now know to be filled with the stolen underwear would make her rich,"
"Still perverse," Kanzaki stated,
"Perhaps you'd like to tell us what you were doing Misato-chan?" Chihaya asked,
The girl in the net seemed to sweat nervously, "Uhhhh n-no, I wasn't doing anything,"
"Stop pretending!" Ranmaru shouted, "we have your bag of underwear! the ones you stole so stop playing pretend and come clean already," she elbowed Kanzaki and Rip, "can't one of you two do something to make her talk?"
"Make her talk?" Rip asked,
"Well I guess I could threaten her with my sword," The large tomboy girl said, "hey Rip got ya gun on ya?"
Rip pulled out the scroll in his pants and opened it pulling his weapon out, "Always, but... I can't see so-"
"Act like you're aiming it at her," Kanzaki whispered pulling her blade out of her top,
Rip nodded and she helped him over to Masato aiming her blade and his gun at the tied girl,
"Talk why'd you do this?" Kanzaki asked,
Kocho sighed, "It doesn't matter," she said, she flicked out her whip and used it to cut through the ropes of the girl, freeing her, "you're free to go, please don't come back," she said tossing her bag to her,
"Of course of course I won't come back," Misato stated as she backed away, "at least not until I have another get rich scheme," she chuckled and leapt away,
"Ko-chan," Chihaya started, "are you certain that course of action was wise?"
Kocho coiled up her whip, "I'm already working on a complaint to principal Panzer about all this in my mind, with all of our testimony and the fact she was no doubt caught somewhere on the schools camera system we'll have an airtight case that she was here and that she was caught stealing things," Kocho took a breath and rubbed her brow, "Ripley get rid of all this sand, Chihaya dust for Misato's prints, Ranmaru prepare some drinks for us all-"
"Awww you always make me do the hard jobs," Ranmaru whined, "can't Ripley make the drinks?"
"I thought I was cleaning up the sand," Rip stated putting The Duchess away,
"Well it's your sand, you're supposed to clean it up," Ranmaru said,
"Enough," Kocho said, "You two have your jobs,"
"Uh what about the rest of us?" Kanzaki asked,
"Stealthily get everyone's underwear back to them," Kocho said, before she walked off,
The gathered group looked at one another(aside for Rip who still couldn't see) before getting to work,
About an hour later they all met again back in the public moral committee room, Kocho frowned as she'd finally finished with her report, which quickly vanished from her desk as soon as she put it down,
"Alright," she clapped, "that's all done," she said standing up and stretching, "now then onto old business" she stated aiming a look at Rip,
The girls sensed her thoughts and each of them drew their weapons, Rip now that his eyesight was restored looked around at all the girls, "I'm not gonna get to modify the duchess am I?"
"Oh I'm afraid not Ripley-chan," Chihaya said,
"Aw man,"
For forty six minutes, it was all the time the girls could spare before their next class they taught Ripley not to sniff girls,
After all just cause he didn't know better was no excuse,
Silently Kocho swore she'd watch over him closer from now on,
OCTOPUS-The End-OCTOPUS