Ok, here's the third part. I doubt anyone is actually reading this now
since I haven't goten any reply or feedback from my second part. Please
read this!
Oh My Pigtailed Goddess
By Jack Ji
Part III: Kitten Surprise
I woke up from my strange dream. I was in a cold sweat and
breathing hard. It seemed so real, yet so unreal. A little like virtual
reality. Thousands of questions where fluttering in my mind. Why was I
in the air? Who were those two women? Why were Mike and Hanny
attacking me? What was with those markings on their head? And why
were there pigs and kittens flying with me? Most puzzling question of
all, how could I have done all those things I did? Well, I just assumed
that dreams are dreams and are meant for our sub-consciousness to
take over.
I sat up and looked at the alarm clock. It was 6:40 AM; twenty
minutes before it was set to go off. I hate it when I wake up less than
half an hour before the alarm goes off. Mike and Hanny were still asleep
so I decided to get up quietly, get dressed, go to the kitchen to get
something to eat and think about my dream. But first, the bathroom!
I was slightly surprised to see my nanny in the kitchen already
making breakfast. Then, I remembered, I was in Japan and this is how
the women act in Japan. It looked like she was making bacon, eggs and
some toast.
"Ohaio gozaimasu," I greeted her. "Smells good. It's been a
while since I've had bacon and eggs."
"Good morning to you too," she smiled. "Sleep well?" She
continued her cooking. I sat down to read the newspaper but then
remember that I can't read too much Japanese yet.
"Yes," I replied. "I slept well but I had a dream that wasn't too
comforting. It's probably because of anxiety of training at Tendo
Dojo." I told her the details of my dream.
"That's probably it then," she smiled again. "Speaking of
which, I'll pick you up after school and drop you off at Tendo Dojo. I'll
take you home after you guys are done training AND had a shower."
"Shower?" I winced at the statement. "But I always showered
after I got home after a practice in America."
"Well, this is Japan," she started. "You should get used to
taking baths with other people because there are public baths here.
Some are even coed so you need to start practicing to be less modest."
"Modesty is the first tenet of a martial artist," I argued. She
just gave me a "just do it" look.
I sighed. I really did not feel OK getting naked and taking
baths with other men in a public bath house. It was somewhat OK with
friends but not with strangers. Still, it's a little embarrassing even with
friends.
I heard a slight buzzing noise coming from our room. It
stopped after about 3 buzzes. Mike walked out of our room soon after.
He looked slightly awake and still had that constant frown on his face.
He didn't even greet us or just didn't see us and went straight to the
bathroom.
I went to wake Hanny up since he isn't much of a morning
person. I practically had to drag him into the kitchen in his pajamas
while he was still asleep. I wanted to wake him up with a splash of cold
water but that would have been rude. Besides that, Mike wasn't out of
the bathroom yet. I hoped he didn't fall asleep in there.
Mike walked out much more awake now. He actually had a
smile on his face. I told Hanny to wake up and go freshen up in the
bathroom. He bumped into a wall before he got to the bathroom.
"Smells good," Mike said. "I usually don't have bacon and
eggs at home so this is going to be a special treat for me." Mike was
practically drooling when his food got on his plate. Surprisingly, he
really looked hungry.
Hanny got out of the bathroom and looked awake and alive
now. He went to change out of his pajamas. I started eating when Ken
came out and went to the bathroom. Hanny came back about the same
time Ken came out of the bathroom. I was surprised to see that Mike
not only ate all his food, but finished before me! I was just half way
done when Ken and Hanny sat down to eat.
"Where's Gan-san?" Hanny asked my nanny. "And aren't
you going to sit down and eat." My nanny smiled at him.
"He already left to his office around 5 this morning," my
nanny answered. "I already ate something before you guys woke up."
What a woman, I thought. Mike got up after finishing his
orange juice and took my empty plate to help do the dishes. Ken and
Hanny soon finished and we were out of the door and in the car by
7:30. It will be our second day in school but this time we planned to
look around instead of going to class. It will also be our first day
training in martial arts. We were all very excited.
******
Surprisingly, there was no traffic jam this morning, unlike the
entire day yesterday. Once again, I saw Akane fighting off a band of
guys but this time Ranco was helping her. There was also a tall guy
carrying a wooden sword and wearing a gray gi chasing Ranco.
"Pig tailed goddess!" he screamed. "My love for both you and
sweet Akane is indescribable!" He went to hug Ranco from the back
but got thrown into the mob chasing them. Ranco and Ranma seemed
to have the same style of techniques.
"You insane idiot, Kuno!" Ranco screamed to the air born
Kuno. "You're going to make me late!" Ranco and Akane ran in
through the gate right past us. I grabbed Ranco by her red pig tail and
pulled her behind the gate. The mob ran past us as the gate closed.
"Ow!" she screamed, rubbing the back of her head. "Why'd
you do that? Oh, it's you guys!" Ken walked away to his first class
since Hanny, Mike and I didn't need to go to any classes today.
"Sorry," I started. "I was just wondering where Ranma is. Is
he sick or something?"
"Where Ranma is?" she gave me this strange look for a
moment. "Oh, um, he's, ah, not feeling well. He'll be here, just a little
later. Yeah, that's it."
"Not feeling well?" Hanny repeated. "Maybe he should see the
local doctor or maybe the school nurse when he gets here."
"Well, he's not feeling THAT bad," Ranco said. "I got to go to
class now. You guys are making me late!" Ranco started going off but I
stopped her. "What now?!"
"Hey, we'll be training at the dojo today," I started. "Are
Ranma, Akane and you going to be training with us? Maybe we could
have a little three on three sparring."
"Uh... I don't know," she said. "I'll ask them and think about
it." She ran off into the building, leaving us outside by the gate still.
"A little strange, isn't she?" Mike said. "She sure does look
like Ranma though. Maybe they're related."
"They can't be," Hanny said. "Ranma is engaged to Akane
and Ranco is Akane's cousin! There are laws against things like that,
you know!"
"Still," I said. "She has a very nice figure and is pretty cute.
Even is she acts like a guy." Hanny and Mike hit me on the head for
that remark. We then went to look around the school for the next 3
hours all by ourselves.
******
Ranma-chan ran into the boys' bathroom to get some hot
water. He had to stop meeting up with those three somehow or his
curse would go international! Especially that Jack. He could sense
something strange about that one's aura. Now they're going to be
training all summer at where he lives. How is he going to hide his secret,
or can he trust them with his curse?
He looked at the clock. He had two minutes to get to class
before he'll be late. Damn those three nosy gai-jin! He ran out of the
bathroom, down the hall and into his first class. He sat down next to
Akane about 10 seconds before class started.
"Psst, Ranma," Akane whispered to get Ranma's attention.
Ranma leaned a little closer to her. "Why were you so late?"
"Those three guys that visited us last night asked me some
questions," he whispered, trying not to move his lips too much. The
teacher started the lecture. "They wanted to know where the male form
of me was."
"Why don't you just tell them you're the same person instead
of using this `Ranco' lie?" Akane asked. "What do you got to be afraid
of?"
"They're gai-jin!" he said. "I don't want my curse to go
international! Besides, it's embarrassing because they're guys my age."
"You have a point," Akane said. "But what if your dad,
Mousse or Shampoo tells one of them? Especially Shampoo,
considering how Jack and Shampoo talked yesterday during lunch.
They're both Chinese and they can both speak Chinese." Akane had a
point. Ranma might be able to keep up this Ranco thing, but his dad,
Mousse, Shampoo or even Ryoga might accidentally change in front of
them.
Ranma thought no more about it because the teacher caught
them talking in class. They now were in trouble.
******
The morning had been really quiet. We looked around the
school. It somewhat resembled my high school except that it wasn't as
long and had many more floors. My high school is 1/4 mile long, 1/8
mile wide with a hall upstairs. This school was very neat with very little
litter, much nicer than my high school looks.
We met up with the principal of the school. He was wearing a
Hawaiian shirt and sun glasses. Rather odd, but we just thought he
wanted to dress up because of the heat. It also turns out that he is
Kuno's dad but he and Kuno don't get along too well. For some
reason, he wanted to shave our heads. Other than meeting the strange
principal of the school, the morning was uneventful until an hour before
lunch started.
A small, bald, old man ran carrying a bag full of clothes was
running away from a mob of girls. As he ran past us we could see that
there were underwear and bra's hanging out of the bag. It also appeared
that the group of girls chasing him were on the volleyball team.
Out a window above us jumped a little girl around 12 years old
wearing a yellow uniform in front of the old man. I thought she might
have been just really smart being so young and in high school. Turns
out, I was wrong.
"Delinquent!" she said. She grabbed a 5 yen coin from her
pocket. She put it between her index and middle finger and made a
circular motion in the air with it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
She drew a yellow circle with the coin. The old man stopped in front of
the girl.
The next thing that happened really surprised me. The little girl
started to drain a greenish aura from the old man. At the same time, the
old man started to flatten out and she started getting older. Now the old
man was floating like a piece of paper in the air and the little girl was a
grown woman. She had much longer hair and a MUCH nicer figure.
Her attire barely fit and covered her.
The volleyball team came up, totally wasted the old man and
got their under garments back. They started walking back to their locker
room and the old man was unconscious and floating away.
"Are you three delinquents also?" she asked us in a deeper
voice. "You shouldn't be skipping class. Are you three new here? I've
never seen you guys before."
"No, ma'am." Mike answered for us. I was too shocked at
what I just witnessed to say anything. "We're visiting from America.
We're with Ken Gan."
"Good," she said. "I'm Miss Hinako, the discipline enforcer
here. I hope your stay here is not interrupted anymore." She left to go
inside the school.
"Did you see how she did that?" I asked Hanny and Mike.
"She just drained the very life out of him!"
"Must be some sort of a martial art," Hanny said. "There are
hundreds you know. Some are more known and some aren't. Still, I'd
much rather go to Wanda Johnson's office than get punished by her."
He said that as if he wasn't surprised at all. I was a little more curious
how she does that draining technique more than shocked now.
"We'd better start heading towards the cafeteria if we want
something to eat," Mike said. "I'm starting to get hungry."
"You sure have an appetite today," Hanny said as we started
walking to the cafeteria.
We were half way to the cafeteria when we heard what
sounded like fighting. It was coming from the courtyard. We ran
immediately to see what was going on. Fortunately, there wasn't a
crowd to block our view since lunch didn't start yet.
It turned out that Shampoo was fighting a girl with long hair in
a pony-tail wearing boy's clothes. Shampoo was wielding her bonboris
and the other girl was wielding what looked like a huge spatula.
"I'm going to give Ranchan his lunch today," the girl with the
spatula said. She threw out 5 small spatulas. Shampoo jumped out of
the way and they went into a tree just like darts.
"Shampoo no letting foolish girl give Ranma food," Shampoo
shot back at her in the while still in the air. She attempted to strike the
other girl with from above but missed and knocked down a tree instead.
I saw Shampoo's two boxes for food on a bench, probably for
Ranma. Next to them was something that resmebled a lot like a pizza
box. I couldn't believe what they were fighting over! The winner would
get to give Ranma lunch!
I couldn't stand all this fighting anymore. Nor could I see
anymore trees hurt. Mike and Hanny were being entertained from all
the fighting, jumping and maneuvers. I went over and pulled out three
of the dart spatulas.
I threw two of them at Shampoo and another one at the other
girl. I knocked out Shampoo's two bonboris and the big spatula from
the other girl. I was surprised that I didn't miss.
"Hey!" exclaimed the other girl. "What do you think you're
doing?"
"What do you think YOU'RE doing!?" I retorted. "You are
fighting over who gets to feed Ranma. That is so ridiculous! Who are
you anyway?"
"I'm Ukyou," she said. "I own Ucchan's downtown. Now,
who are you?"
"This Jack," Shampoo answered for me. "This his friends from
America. They come visit us for summer." She smiled at me.
"Oh, so you're Ukyou!" Hanny said. "Ken has told us about
you. You're engaged to Ranma because of some pizza stand or
something like that."
"Listen," she started. "I don't have time to deal with you three.
I have to go back and see to the restaurant now because of you." She
picked up her spatulas. She went to get Ranma's food also but Mike
was already there and eating it.
"You idiot!" she exclaimed. "That was for Ranchan! I don't
have time to go back, make another and return! You're going to pay for
that." She wrote something on a piece of paper, handed Mike a
business card with the paper attatched to it, and left.
"Shampoo so happy to see Jack!" Shampoo said as she
hugged me. I was a little surprised and started blushing. Hanny started
laughing at me but Mike was still eating and didn't notice. Shampoo
went over to get her two boxes.
"Here," she said. "Is for Jack." She handed me one of the
boxes. It was filled with noodles, dumplings and Chinese bread. Just
like mom used to make!
"Wow!" I exclaimed astonished. "Thank you so much. I
didn't think I'd eat this in Japan."
"You're welcome," she said and gave me a small kiss on the
cheek. I blushed again. This time Mike joined Hanny at laughing at me.
Shampoo started going towards and cafeteria.
"Shut up," I said to them, still a little embarrassed. "You guys
are just jealous!" I started eating my lunch. It was better than how my
parents make it. I finished my lunch just went lunch began.
"Come on," Hanny said. "You two might be full but I haven't
eaten yet!" We followed Hanny into the cafeteria. Once again,
Shampoo had made a big hole in a wall.
"This sucks," Mike said looking at the piece of paper. "I have
to pay 1200 yen for what I ate."
******
"Ranma!" Shampoo called out. "Shampoo give groom lunch!"
"That's OK, Shampoo," he said, backing away. "I'm not too
hungry." Shampoo didn't listen and went up to mouth feed him. Just
like yesterday, Akane yelled at Ranma but this time she threw him
through the hole in the wall.
"Ungrateful Akane rude to Ranma!" Shampoo said to Akane.
"Akane not deserving Ranma." She ran off through the hole to catch
Ranma. Mike and I sat down at the same table as Akane since no one
else was sitting there now. Hanny went to get something to eat.
"Hi, Akane," I greeted her. She didn't seem too happy but
converted her frown to a smile when we sat down.
"Oh, hi," she greeted back. "If I remember correctly, you're
Jack and Mike. You'll be training at my dad's dojo, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "I talked to Ranco this morning to see if
you, she and Ranma would like to have a little three on three sparring
against Hanny, Mike and me." Hanny came back with his hands full of
food and sat down with us.
"I don't think Ranco would like to do that," she said. "She
doesn't like to lose to guys but I'm glad to spar with one of you and
I'm sure Ranma won't let the challenge pass."
"OK, it's set then," Hanny said after he drank a big gulp of
water. "It'll be two of use versus you and Ranma. Speaking of Ranma,
Ranco said he wasn't feeling too well. What did he have?"
"Oh, nothing at all really," Akane said. "He just, ah, didn't feel
like getting up early this morning."
"I know the feeling," Hanny said. The bell rang, warning that
there was only 5 minutes till lunch ended. "Guess you have to go to
class now. See you after school."
"Jaa," she said and waved at us. Ranma half walked, half
limped through the hole in the wall to his next class. He also had a few
bandages on his face.
"I think we're having a much more interesting day today than
yesterday," Mike said. "I can't wait to see what the rest of the day is
going to be like compared to this morning! Hey, Hanny, are you going
to eat that?"
"Here," Hanny said, smiling. "I thought you might get hungry
again so I got something extra for you."
We were the only ones left in the cafeteria so we decided to go
out the hole in the wall and go to the quiet courtyard for a while to let
Mike and Hanny finish their food.
******
The rest of the afternoon was peaceful and relaxing. It was a
beautiful day and the three of us really enjoyed the nice weather. Time
passed very quickly and school was finished for the day before we
knew it.
Mike and I left our gi's in the car earlier that morning so my
nanny wouldn't have to remember. I had left my sparring equipment
there also. Ken met us outside the gate and we walked to the car.
"Did you have a nice day at school today?" my nanny asked
us. We got into the car. She started the car and drove into the street.
"You could say that we had an interesting day," Hanny said,
smiling. "We met the principal, saw his son and met many other people
at the school."
"That's nice," she smiled. "I hope you three are ready for
some martial arts training, Japanese style. Are you going to buy a gi at
Tendo Dojo, Hanny?"
"Yes, I am," Hanny replied. "I Mike and I are also going to
buy sparring equipment."
"How are you going to pay for all that?" Ken asked. He had a
point there. It would be rude to make my nanny to pay for our
equipment and training. "Maybe you three should get a job."
"Good idea!" Mike said. "Maybe we'll ask Ranma or someone
if they know a good place for us to work."
"Of course you would want to," Hanny said. "You owe a
certain someone some money." Hanny and I had a little chuckle. Mike
went back to his frown.
"We're here," my nanny said as she pulled into driveway. I
saw Tendo-San playing go with Mr. Panda again. "I'll pick you up
around 5:45. Don't forget to shower after your practice. I can't stand
you guys being so sweaty!"
We walked out of the car with our stuff and walked into the
dojo. My nanny drove off. I felt so nervous. Mike and Hanny looked
more nervous than I felt.
"Welcome, welcome," greeted Kasumi. "Come on in. We've
been expecting you." Her voice and smile relaxed me, just a little. She
showed us the changing room.
"I need to get a gi," Hanny said. Kasumi smiled, went to
another room and came out with a gi and a red belt.
"You're a red belt, right?" she asked. "I hope this fits."
We thanked her for her hospitality and went to change. The
changing room was about as big as the one in my dojo. It was about 10
feet by 15 feet with cubbies on a wall, a bench on another, coat hangers
and a mirror. We changed in about 5 minutes and went outside to the
training area.
Mr. Tendo was already there waiting for us. He told us to
warm up on our own. Mike and I did our usual track and field stretches
consisting of calf, hamstring, quad and triceps stretches. We tried to
teach to Hanny these, which he did pretty well. After stretching, I did
my warm up of rising kicks and push ups. Mike did aikido rolls and
Hanny copied me by doing rising kicks also.
We then lined up on the call of Mr. Tendo. Akane came in
wearing a gi with a black belt and sat in seiza behind Mr. Tendo quietly.
She also had some sparring protection on. She must be assisting Mr.
Tendo.
After doing some riding stance middle punches and more
kicks to get our muscles really warm, Mr. Tendo told me to get my
sparring equipment on. He gave Mike and Hanny some protective
equipment also. He told Mike to spar with Hanny since Mike takes
aikido and Hanny hasn't been training for a long time. I had to have
Akane as my partner. We bowed and started sparring. Mr. Tendo
looked after Mike and Hanny and let Akane and I do our stuff.
******
"I'll go easy on you," I said to Akane. She didn't seem too
happy at my remark.
"You better give me all you got," she said. "I'm tougher than
you think."
"Sure you are," I laughed. "I've never lost to any female in
sparring before." It's true, I haven't. However, I haven't sparred with a
female before either so it was only half true.
"There's a first time for everything," she said. "Especially
losing!" She started charging towards me.
I predicted what she was going to do from carefully watching
the green belts in my dojo. I quickly ducked and rolled to the side. Her
flying side kick went harmlessly above and to the side of me. She
landed on her feet with her back to me.
I quickly took the chance to thrust kick her from behind,
hoping to knock her over on her stomach. She was quicker than I
thought and turned around. My kick hit her in the side instead of her
back. She flew a few feet back, holding her ribs but was still in her feet.
I attempted my roundhouse-turning back thrust-step behind
side thrust kick maneuver. This covered about twenty feet. I missed my
roundhouse but I connected with my turning back thrust. I barely
skimmed her chin with my step behind side thrust kick.
"You're not too bad," she said and wiped the blood from her
lips. "For a boy!" She went for a series of punches at my face that I
blocked and dodged perfectly but she hit me with a few strikes to my
stomach.
I hopped back about 10 feet to get a little distance from her
and catch my breath. I decided that psychological attacks would start
helping me from what she was saying to me.
She started running at me with another flying side kick since I
was at the perfect distance. This time, however, I chose not to get out of
the way. Instead, I jumped right into her kick. It hit me right in the
stomach. She had a very shocked look on her face as she fell on her
butt. I fell back but rolled back on to one knee.
"Are you crazy?!" she screamed at me. The psychological
attack worked. I had her distracted now. "Do you LIKE to get hurt or
something?"
"Yes, I'm a little masochistic," I said. I got up to my feet. "But
you'll find out very quickly that I'm much more sadistic. You sure can
move pretty well for a girl with thighs as big as China!" I laughed at her.
I knew this was going to get her mad and she'll start making mistakes.
"You jerk!" she yelled at me. She ran at me again and did a
turning step and tried to hit me with a hammer fist. I blocked it with a
side block, grabbed her wrist and struck her neck on her right side with
a knife hand side strike. I actually used something I learned in Three
Step Kihon! It might have been her sweat, but it looked like she was
crying. I didn't let that distract me, she might have been using
psychological tactics like me. Then again, maybe I hurt her feelings.
I followed up my strike with two knee kicks to her stomach,
then I swept her legs out from under her. I quickly moved to grab her
legs. I put my right leg down between her legs and my foot beside the
right side of her ribs.
"What are you doing?!" she screamed. I crossed her legs
across my thigh and flipped her on her stomach. I then leaned back
with her ankles between my arm pits. I had just put her in the
Sharpshooter.
"You sure talk a lot when you fight," I said. I leaned back a
little more and heard her scream a little louder. "Maybe if you didn't
talk so much you'd actually win."
"Let go of me now!" she screamed. "That hurts! I give up!
Now let me go!" I let her go and immediately went to pick her up.
"Hey, I did tell you I was a little sadistic," I smiled at her. I
looked at her eyes and she was really crying. "Hey, don't cry. I'm
sorry, I didn't mean to lean back so much and I didn't mean what I said
about your thighs. I just like to use psychological tactics when fighting.
I'm surprised you didn't use them."
"It's not that," she said. "It's because I lost to you. You're
only a yellow belt and a boy! I hate losing to lower ranking students,
but I really hate losing to boys!" She ran off crying.
"I said I was sorry!" I screamed at her. "Maybe I should have
practiced the Sharpshooter on someone else before using it on her," I
mumbled to myself. I then sat down in a corner to stretch out. I was
lucky that Mr. Tendo didn't stop us or get mad at me. He must believe
in finishing a fight after beginning it.
I sat down to watch the end of Mike and Hanny's sparring
match. It was quite boring and they looked like they were working up a
sweat just looking at each other. It looked like Hanny got Mike in a
good hold but Mike slipped out. Not much action left here so I got up.
I dropped back down with a pain in my stomach. I looked
down in my gi and saw a bruise the size of Akane's foot on my
stomach. I got up slowly and went to get some ice.
I went to the kitchen, knowing that Kasumi will probably be
there to help me. I was right because I heard humming from the kitchen
as well as the smell of many spices.
"Hey, Kasumi," I said to get her attention. She was busying
cooking, as usual. "Do you happen to- Oh, you already have some ice
made out. You're such a thoughtful young lady." There was 4 packs of
ice and some bandages on the table.
"Thank you," she said. "I knew that one of you was going to
spar with Akane so I decided it would be best if I had some ice and
bandages ready."
From what she said, I found out that Akane didn't lose often
in sparring. I got an ice pack and put it in my gi. At first, it was super
cold, but then it soothed my swelling stomach's pain. I went out to look
for Akane to apologize.
I heard some yelling form outside that sounded like Akane's
voice. It also sounded like she was beating up a bag. I went towards the
yelling but met up with a white cat that looked exactly like the one in
my dream.
I stopped immediately upon seeing the cat. We made eye
contact. It smiled at me and started walking towards me. I never saw a
cat smile before in my life. Maybe only cats in Japan smile. It brushed
against my sweaty leg. It was so cute I had to pick it up.
I continued walking towards the yelling while holding a cat. I
stepped outside and saw Akane beating up a dummy on a piece of
wood. It resembled Ranma.
"You jerk!" she screamed as she kicked to dummy in the air. It
landed before my feet. The cat started purring and nudging its head into
my chest.
"I said I was sorry already," I said to her. I put down the cat
and picked up the dummy. I put it back on the piece of wood. The cat
followed me and meowed, wanting to be picked up again. I picked it up
and it started purring.
"I see you've found Shampoo," Akane said. I looked at her
puzzled.
"Shampoo?" I asked. "This cat's name is Shampoo?" The cat
meowed again.
"Yeah, isn't it a coincidence?" Akane smiled. She looked
down at her feet. "I'm sorry I called you a jerk. I'm just not used to
people calling me names except Ranma."
"Ranma calls you names to hurt your feelings?" I asked.
"That's not nice. What a jerk he is. I ought to teach him a lesson." I
shifted the ice pack in my gi.
"I'm sorry," she said again. "Did I kick you too hard in your
stomach?" She went to take a look at my stomach. Shampoo hissed at
her. She gasped at the big bruise.
"It's OK," I assured her. "I jumped right into it so you don't
need to apologize. I should apologize for saying those things and
putting you in the Sharpshooter. You were the first person I put that
hold in. I hope we can be friends after all this." Shampoo hissed again.
It went into my gi and tried to go down my pants but my belt prevented
it..
"Whoa, hey," I said to it. I grabbed it out and found out "it"
was a "she." "Have you had Shampoo spayed yet? I'm sure you don't
wanted a bunch of little Shampoo's around. You might also want to
declaw her while you're at the vet." I smiled at Akane but Shampoo
hissed at me.
"I don't think spaying pets is nice," Akane said. We started
walking back into the house. "Declawing animals is cruel. How would
you like it if someone castrated you and pulled out your fingernails?"
"You have a point there," I said. "I suppose if there isn't any
male cats around here that aren't neutered it'll be fine. I'm going to take
a shower now. My nanny says we have to take a shower before we
leave. I think a warm bath might help my muscles. See you tomorrow?"
"Sure," she said. "But let's play fair next time, OK?" She
started walking to her room.
"Sure," I said. "You still haven't answered my question yet." I
smiled, hoping we were friends now.
"I suppose we can be friends," she shrugged without looking
back at me. I walked into the bathroom to take a bath.
******
Mike and Hanny bowed to each other. The first few minutes of
their sparring match wasn't too much other than just moving closer,
getting away and moving to the side of each other. Finally, Hanny
decided to make the first strike. Mike got out of the way and added a
little push to Hanny's punch. Hanny fell to the floor, face first.
Mike went for an arm hold but he took too much time and
Hanny flipped to his back. Mike grabbed Hanny's right wrist but got
five toes to his teeth for trying.
"Yuck!" he shouted. He let go of the wrist and started spitting.
Hanny got up and went for another punch. If it weren't for the sweat on
the floor, Hanny would have won right there. Unfortunately for him,
Mike slipped on the sweat and fell to the floor, ducking the punch in the
process.
Mike took the chance to grab Hanny's ankle since he was
already off balanced. Instead, he grabbed the big toe on the same foot
that jammed into his teeth. He did manage to trip Hanny but onto
himself. *SQUASH!*
Soun Tendo was having a blast watching these two. So much
fun that he didn't notice Jack and Akane's intense fight. He wished he
had a video camera to video tape this and send it in to that funniest
video's show and win some cash.
Hanny got himself off of the semi-conscious Mike. Hanny
shook the stars off, went behind Mike and tried to put a joint lock on
Mike's arms. He put it on perfectly. He almost won except that he was
sweating so much that his hands lost their grip. Mike fell free of his
hold.
At this time, Jack left the training area holding his stomach
area. Soun waved to him but Jack didn't see him. He shrugged and
went back to watch the very amusing sparring match.
Mike did a roll around Hanny to get to his feet. Hanny went
for the first standing kick of the match. Mike did his best to get out of
the way of Hanny's thrust kick. Somehow, Mike succeeded in grabbing
Hanny's leg and pulled it up above his head. Hanny did a flip in the air
and landed on his butt. Mike took the opportunity to put Hanny in joint
lock. He put it on exactly like Hanny's did. He was standing directly
behind Hanny with Hanny's arms in the air.
Hanny wiggled and struggled but couldn't get out. He then
hooked his legs around Mike's neck and pulled Mike over him. Mike hit
his head on the floor and was out cold. Hanny didn't win, however,
because at the same time Mike hit his head, his feet hit the back of
Hanny's head. They were unconscious together!
******
I put Shampoo down and got undressed. I didn't mind too
since it was a cat that was watching me, not some girl. I folded my gi
while wearing my underwear. I put the ice pack next to the towels. I
tried to push Shampoo out the door but failed so I let her stay. I then
got into the tub, slid down and relaxed in the hot water. Shampoo
hopped up on the edge of the bathtub. To my surprise, she jumped in
with me.
My parents told me that unlike in America, cats in China
didn't mind getting wet. I just assumed it was the same in Japan. I soon
realized I was wrong.
Shampoo, the human, appeared out of the water. I was a little
shocked, a little surprised but mostly embarrassed. Normally, I would
have gone for a towel, but my nanny said I need to practice being less
modest. Besides, this was Shampoo.
"Why you want spay Shampoo?" she asked me. "Shampoo
not that type of girl or cat." She crossed her arms and turned her back
to me.
"What happened to the cat?" was all I could think of to say. I
was naked in a bathtub with another girl that was my age. This doesn't
happen to me very often.
"You not know about curse?" Shampoo turned back to me. I
tried not to stare at her but failed.
"Could you sit down?" I asked her. She sat down next to me.
"What's this curse about?" She told me about how she fell into a
cursed spring, how she turns into a cat in cold water and back with hot
water and why she went to the springs.
"Wait," I said. "This is too much for me. So you went back to
China because Ranma lied to you about something? That jerk! First
calling Akane names, and then he caused you to turn into a cat." I
started wondering who else might have this curse.
"Jack so nice," she said and hugged me. Normally, I would
have really enjoyed this and maybe gone farther. Also, blood would be
rushing to a certain body part of mine but I was too tired for that to
happen. Unfortunately, I had a bruised stomach so I pushed her away.
"Do you not like me?" she asked me in Chinese with a tear in
her eye. "Do you not like my curse? Do you prefer Akane?" She broke
into tears and started to get out of the tub. I pulled her back.
"It's not that," I said in Chinese. "It's just that Akane bruised
me. See?" I showed her my bruise. She smiled at me again.
"You don't mind my curse?" she said in Chinese and sniffed.
Then she looked at me again. "What about spaying and declawing
animals?"
"I swear I won't do it to you or any other pet," I said raising
my right hand. She hugged me again, more carefully this time. "Nor
will I tell anyone of your curse. So you heard and understood
everything Akane and I said? Were you hissing because you were
getting jealous?"
"Yes," she said. I smiled at her.
"Maybe you could take me to this cursed springs," I began.
"So we can analyze it to see if there's a cure to your curse. Hey, aren't
you engaged to Ranma?"
"Yes, I am" Shampoo said. "But I'm not married to him yet so
Great-Grandmother will not mind." I then remember something
important to ask her.
"I think you should know that I had a dream with you in it," I
started. Shampoo looked very happy and smiled at me again, wanting
me to continue. "No, not that type of dream. I dreamed I saw a white
cat that looks just like your cat form. Strange, isn't it?"
"Not very strange," she said. "Great-Grandmother sometimes
taps into people's dreams and guides them." I nodded and smiled. I
made a mental note to take a visit to Cologne. I looked Shampoo in her
eyes. While I'm there, I could apply for a job to pay for my martial arts
training.
A knock came at the door.
"Hey, Jack," came a voice from outside. It was Hanny. "Who
are you talking to in there? You're better get out soon because Mike
and I need to take a shower too."
"Hold on!" I told him. "I'm just talking to this cat in Chinese."
Shampoo got up and splashed some cold water on herself. She
turned into a cat. I motioned for her to turn around, which she did. I got
out and grabbed a towel. I dried myself off and put on my underwear. I
wrapped a towel around myself, grabbed my gi, put the melted ice pack
on my gi and went outside.
"About time you got out," Hanny said, eager to get his bath
over with. "Nasty bruise you got there." He walked past me.
"How did your sparring go?" I asked Mike as I went to the
changing room. "Looks like you got a big bump on your head."
"Yeah," Mike said rubbing the bump. "I hit my head." He
walked into the bathroom to shower also. I went into the changing
room. I turned around and saw Shampoo in the room with me.
"Well, I suppose it's OK if you stay," I said to her. "Since you
are in cat form and you can't do anything. Just don't say anything to
anyone." I took off the towel and sat down on the bench in my
underwear. I put on my shorts and my socks. I took a good look in the
mirror on the wall and saw that my bruise was much bigger than it
looked from my perspective. I finished dressing and walked out to find
Hanny and Mike just about to open the door.
"Cute cat," Mike said. "What's his name?" Mike bent down to
pet her but Shampoo ran away and hid behind me.
"HER name is Shampoo," I replied. "I don't think she likes
you too much." I picked up Shampoo and walked to the living room
with her in one hand and my sweaty gi in the other. She purred and
nudged her head into my chest again. I met up with Akane on the way
to the living room.
"Hey again, Akane," I said to her. She was still wearing her gi
and had a band aid on her chin. "Sorry about your chin. Have you
taken a shower after our practice yet?"
"No, but I'm going to after you three leave," she said. "I don't
like to take a bath when other boys are in the house."
"I understand how you feel," I said back to her, looking at
Shampoo. "I'm going to sit in the living room to wait for Mike and
Hanny. Care to join me for a little chat?"
She nodded and walked with me to the living room. We talked
a little bit about our training. I told her about my life in America and
how we train in my dojo. Kasumi came out of the kitchen to give me
some water to drink.
"I thought you'd want something to drink after a hard
workout," she said. "Also, I think you should see Doctor Tofu about
your bruise. As for now, you should rub some of these herbs he gave
me on your bruise. Here's another ice pack."
"Thanks, Kasumi," I said. "You are so thoughtful. You guys
have a doctor named Tofu? I hope he isn't like what his name sounds
like."
"Oh, don't worry," Akane assured me. "He's a great doctor as
long as you don't go see him while Kasumi is there."
Akane and I continued to talk. Shampoo fell asleep in my lap.
Mike and Hanny came in about 10 minutes after and we got ready to
leave.
"I'm going to take Shampoo home with me, if it's OK with
you," I said to Akane. "Where were Ranma, Ranco, Mr. Saotome and
Nabiki today? Remember, we were suppose to have a two on two
sparring match."
"Nabiki is at a fund raiser tonight," Akane answered. "Ranma,
Ranco and Mr. Saotome are, um, helping her. It's fine with me if you
take her home. She's not a pet around here, she just likes to hang
around Ranma."
We waved good bye and thanked Tendo-San. We told him
we'd be back tomorrow around 4 for more training. My nanny drove
up just in time.We walked to the car. I had the ice pack in my shirt. The
three of us had our hands full carrying our gi's and sparring equipment.
I left Shampoo to walk beside me.
"Why do you have a cat with you?" my nanny asked me as
we put our gi's and sparring equipment in the back of the car. I picked
up Shampoo.
"Akane said it'll be OK if we took care of her for a little
while," I said. "Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility for her. Just
don't take her to the vet to spay her or get her claws taken off."
She just sighed and drove on. Our first day at training was fun.
I had a lot to think about for the night. We agreed not to go to school
tomorrow so we could look for jobs for the summer. I couldn't wait to
get home and get some sleep.
End Part III
Finished on 4/19/96
Author's notes: Geez, I didn't think this would be this long. It probably
took you an hour just to get to the end. I hope I didn't bore you. It is
true that I have never loss to a female in sparring because I have never
sparred with a female. Heck, I haven't sparred at all yet. Wanda
Johnson is the person whos handles discipline in my school.
There is a proper way to fold up gi's in my dojo. You fold it in
thirds and then fold it up and wrap the belt around it. Those moves I
mentioned like roundhouse kicks, really are kicks I learned in karate
class. Sorry, but no hentai in my fanfict. I do speak Chinese. Mike and
Hanny don't fight like that but they're not all that better than what I
described. I don't fight that like but much worse. The Sharpshooter is a
finishing move that WWF wrestler Bret "Hitman" Hart uses.
Terms I used in Japanese:
Ohaio Gozaimasu: Good Morning
Gai-jin: non-Japanese
Jaa: "See ya later"
Gi: uniform
Bonbori: If you don't know, it's like a big baby rattle that Shampoo
uses.
Preview of Part IV: Summer job hunting, another training session and
more!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good, noble, resourceful, ingenious, nimble-witted, stalwart, patient,
wise, subtile, shrewd, illustrious, long suffering, great hearted, much
enduring Jack Ji, son of his father, sacker of cities, Purple Axeman of
South Eugene High School, anime and manga otaku, favorite of all.
jackji@efn.org - Jack Ji - http://www.efn.org/~jackji