*****************************************************************
Chapter Four: Magic Night
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, and 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 Ran-Chan 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?"
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-laws
Kurume and Natsume 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, Ranma an' me did
all the cooking. 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 fu statue that Shampoo put in for
garden ornamentation.
"Same old Mousse," Gil noted.
"Same old blind as a bat, 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....
....and got decked for it. 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," Ran-Chan 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 brown hue,
to a burnt sienna 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
someone's who was 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 mana abilities are as advanced as yours. They haven'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," Ran-Chan 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. "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," Ran-Chan whispered. She thrust her hands out and
yelled, "Mouko Takabishiya!"
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. "Ran-Chan, 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 Natsume. 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 Natsume.
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 Kurume 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 Panda
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. "Mao
Tse, 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 Ran-Chan 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. They were the last of the group--{Besides me,}
Ran-Chan thought--to settle down and start a family. {I've got an excuse:
I'm too much of a loner to ever settle down. 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--albeit mostly
from within her brother. 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 black 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 Mouko Takabishiya 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 "Midoriken!" 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, "Shindenkyaku!" 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 "Shodanken!" The resulting punch, a
cross between Akane's Shindenken Flying Uppercut and Ranma's Hiryu Shoten
Ken, 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 Ran-Chan 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 Ran-Chan nimbly avoided a green arrow-like ki
shot from the person dressed in bl--
{Green Arrow? The Midoriken! 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 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 hands together as a 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 black 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, Ran-Chan 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! Gou Midoriken!*"
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 Amaguri
Kyaku!!*"
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 silly, 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 Ran-Chan, 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," Ran-Chan 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 Happosai,
just like yours."
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, helped influence the Windham clan ninjitsu that you use."
"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 none of them."
"Oh, that. There are three Saotome styles, now--My brother's mainstream,
Pop's Panda variation, and I'm developing the third. The Tendo school has
Akane's original AGMA shotokan, and Kurume's Ribbon variation. Natsume--"
Ranko's tongue felt thick as she said her adversary's name, "--uses a
ninjitsu style called Ghost Wolf. Don't know where it comes from, but it
looks a bit like yours."
"Wow! That's *so* cool!" Libby smiled.
Ran-Chan 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 Furinkan High, but you can't take Furinkan High
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. Lastly, 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."
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 now.
* * *
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 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
series first came out. 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 Midoriken 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
concerned. "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."
{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.}
*****************************************************************