Well, it was less than a month for this chapter at least. Feel free to
comment, even though I won't be able to reply for a couple of days, I'd
appreciate it. For those who've missed a chapter, check at
http://members.xoom.com/Yoshiro_san/cwires. Credit should go to my
prereaders, David Johnston and Hiroyuki Yoshiro for clearing up a couple
of points in this chapter.
Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma � and all related characters.
If anyone didn't know that you probably shouldn't be reading this story.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10: Things Fall Apart
Kuno stared at the advancing figure, and readied his bokken. This
time he was sure he would vanquish the foul sorcerer that held his loves
in thrall. Charging forward, he lashed out landing a solid blow to his
bandanna wearing opponent's chest. Blinking in surprise, Kuno stumbled
to a halt. "I won?" he asked, starring down at the person sprawled at
his feet.
Carefully hiding a smirk, Nabiki clambered to his feet. "Yes, I've
been defeated by the better fighter." In the background, Akane rolled
her eyes, and several other people stared incredulously at the strange
turn of events.
"Then you renounce your claim on Akane and the pig-tailed girl?"
Kuno asked in a menacing tone.
"I have no more claim on either of them than they desire." As
Nabiki spoke, he knew that Kuno would interpret that as acquiescence.
"There's something that you need to know," Nabiki said hurriedly. "The
pig-tailed girl isn't under enchantment, she's possessed by an evil
spirit. The only way to free her is to defeat it in combat."
"I see. I will attend to this at once." Kuno turned to stalk off,
but then paused. "Let us celebrate our love first, Akane Tendo," he
cried, reversing his earlier course.
"Idiot." Akane deftly sidestepped his attempt to grab her, and
then punted him off into the distance. "That was your plan?"
"It worked didn't it? " Nabiki replied smugly. "You just have
understand how Kuno thinks."
"I'm not sure I want to. Why did you tell him Ranma was
possessed?"
"He needs someone to blame. This way he'll go after someone who
can handle him."
"I suppose so. Ryoga's not going to be happy about losing to Kuno
though."
"Don't worry, I can handle him. Now let's get to class."
You're going the wrong way. Just follow me, all right?"
=================
"I think we need a scorecard," Hiroshi said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Daisuke leaned back in his desk, in an
attempt to hear his friend better.
"Well first it was Ranma and Akane. Then Ryoga showed up, and he
and Ranma started dating. That was about the same time that Ukyo and
Shampoo started up."
"I think that they were just going to share Ranma," Daisuke
interrupted.
"Well, maybe. Anyway, that was weird, but I knew what was going
on. Then it looks like Akane and Ryoga have something going and Ranma
and Ukyo are jealous. Ranma I can understand, but why would Ukyo care?
Only now it looks like neither of them care."
"Definitely strange. Maybe Ranma's hooked up with Shampoo and
Ukyo?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Hiroshi rose out of his
seat and started to casually stroll over to where Ryoga was sitting.
"Hey, Ryoga."
Nabiki blinked distractedly as he heard someone call him by someone
else's name. "Wha... Oh, it's you, Hiroshi."
"Yeah. I was just wondering what's up with you and Akane."
"Me and... Life had certainly become interesting lately," Nabiki
reflected. "We're just friends. In fact, you could say she's like a
sister to me. " Nabiki was distracted as Ms. Hinako entered the room,
and before he could speak again Hiroshi was hurrying back to his seat.
=================
Ranma smiled faintly as she walked back towards the Tendos'. She
still wasn't happy with the situation, but it did have at least one good
point. Ranma barely refrained from whistling as she stepped through the
front door. "I'm back, everyone!"
"Shouldn't you be in school now Ranma?" his mother asked in a
disapproving tone.
"I couldn't take Nabiki's classes because she's a year ahead of
me. I guess I'll just have to take a week off school." Ranma looked
around curiously. "Where is everyone anyway?"
"At school mostly. Your father left for his job, and Kasumi is
upstairs cleaning. I really don't know where Soun is, he left quite
suddenly."
"Oh yeah, I sort of forgot about that. Well, I'm going to..."
Ranma paused, normally she'd go work out in the dojo, or go spar with
her father. There didn't seem to be much point in either option right
now.
"You can help me finish the dishes from breakfast. We haven't
talked much, and it will give us a chance to discuss things."
"Sure, just give me a chance to get out of this uniform." Ranma
shrugged inwardly as she went up the stairs. This wouldn't have been
her first choice, but it would be nice to spend time with her mom.
=================
The click of a lock opening caught Shampoo's attention and she
emerged from the back room just in time to see a robed figure quietly
close the door behind him.
"What Mousse doing here?"
The bespectacled Chinese boy adjusted his glasses. "I may have
left the tribe, but the mummy let me keep my job here. Besides," he
added smugly, "I won't be an outsider for long."
"Shampoo think you wrong about that. It not matter now anyway,
Shampoo have to leave now." Holding her head high, the young amazon
walked past Mousse, and out the front doors.
As Mousse watched her leave, he struggled to control his emotions.
He wondered why she couldn't see that he was the only one that really
loved her. Instead, she was obviously going of to warn Ukyo. Mousse
told himself it didn't matter, he knew far more of what was happening
than she suspected. His conversation with Kiyomi had been surprisingly
informative, and even he'd heard rumors that the infamous Happosai had
stolen some treasure from the village. People weren't acting like
themselves, and he knew why.
Furtively opening the door to Shampoo's room, Mousse had his
suspicions confirmed. Stacked neatly around the room were volumes of
amazon lore and even more esoteric information. Seizing a book off the
top of one pile, Mousse flipped it open to a conveniently bookmarked
page. Despite himself, he smiled. This was information that could
prove very useful.
=================
Shampoo was far from her usual lighthearted self, as she road her
bicycle towards Furinkan High. From past experience she knew that Ranma
would be eating lunch, but she couldn't take advantage of that
information. Not unless she was willing to attract a great deal of
attention. Arriving on the school grounds, Shampoo caught sight of a
familiar pigtailed form pummeling Kuno, who was displaying an unusual
degree of resilience.
"Hello, Airen. What stupid stick-boy do now?"
Through an effort of will, Ukyo stopped herself from flinching when
Shampoo's bike landed only inches away. "I'm not sure. He just started
raving about a demon enslaving the pigtailed girl, and attacked Ryoga.
I think the spirit wards and incense bothered Ryoga more than the
attack."
Shampoo watched as Ryoga gracefully avoided a series of slashing
blows from Kuno, and then retaliated with a spin kick that momentarily
stunned his opponent. Seconds later, a flurry of punches to Kuno's
vital points finally put him out of the fight. She was mildly
impressed. To the untrained eye, Ryoga's performance would have seemed
identical to Ranma's usual style. Still, Kuno was hardly a true
challenge. "Shampoo have news about Mousse."
"Well, I didn't think that you'd just happened to be in the area.
What's he up to now." As she spoke, Ukyo guided Shampoo behind a tree.
With the fight over, people were starting to pay attention to them.
"Mousse not up to anything. He just staying at the Nekohanten."
"In that case, I'm glad you hid the statue at Ucchan's."
"Was good idea, yes. Shampoo think we start training today. You
ask Ranma for help yet?"
Ukyo shook her head in evident amusement. "Ranma wasn't in class
today, and you're not going to believe the excuse he used."
=================
Shampoo wasn't sure what she'd expected to find when Kasumi had
allowed her entrance to the Tendos' house. It certainly hadn't been
Ranma hard at work dusting the nearly spotless furnishings in the living
room. "Airen?"
"Shampoo?" Ranma jumped, reflexively hiding the dust cloth behind
her and looking faintly embarrassed. "I didn't here you come in."
"Ukyo tell Shampoo it not good to go through walls, even if in a
hurry."
"Uh, right. What do you want now?" Ranma asked nervously.
"Ukyo have duel with Mousse. Ranma help train, yes?"
Ranma didn't hesitate, and it barely crossed her mind to wonder how
she could help someone train. "Sure." There wasn't really enough
housework to require her help, but Ranma had found herself participating
just to stave off boredom. In Nabiki's body and supposedly at home
sick, she didn't have many choices. "School should be letting out
now, so we can leave right away. Wait here, I'll go tell my mom."
Shampoo watched bemused, as Ranma dashed off showing considerably
more haste than Nabiki ever did.
=================
Drawing on more courage than he'd believed that he possessed, Ryoga
raised his hand and knocked on Nabiki's door. After seconds passed with
no answer, he began to allow himself to relax.
"Whoever it is, come in." Nabiki had asked Akane to pick up the
day's assignments from one of his erstwhile classmates, and was just
getting to work on them. He didn't really appreciate the interruption,
especially when he'd been hoping to forget his current troubles. Still
when the door opened to reveal Ryoga he became curious. "What's the
problem?"
"Nothing really. I-I just wanted to thank you for not telling
Akane about my curse."
"I didn't do it out of kindness you know." Nabiki was just about
to dismiss Ryoga, when a thought occurred to him. "Say, how did you
deal with being a girl? While you were in Ukyo's body, I mean."
"I mostly just ignored it. As much as I could anyway. It wasn't
really too bad, because no one expected me to act like a girl."
"I wish I was that lucky. Still, I bet you were glad to become a
boy again.
"At least part time. Not that it solved my problems," Ryoga
grumbled.
"Really? I'd think that you'd be happy with the way things are. A
better curse and a sense of direction."
"I know that it won't last, and I get to feel guilty for wishing it
would. Besides, that isn't what I meant. I guess it wouldn't hurt to
tell you. You know that I love Akane, right?"
"I did notice something along those lines," Nabiki said.
"Well, I've been living in the same house as her for close to a
month and I still haven't managed to say anything. First I was
pretending to be Ranma's boyfriend, then when I was in Ukyo's body
certainly wasn't the right time, and saying something now just seems
wrong."
"Like you'd be taking advantage of Ranma's misfortune, I suppose.
Why are you telling me this, though? We're hardly friends."
Ryoga shrugged. "Who else could I tell? You already knew most of
it anyway."
Nabiki considered. As far as she knew, Ranma and Akane were the
only friends Ryoga had. Ukyo might have qualified at one point, but
recent events had changed that. "I suppose I understand. Just don't
make a habit out of it." The sound of someone knocking on the door
prevented her from saying anything else. "What now?" Nabiki groaned.
"Come in."
The door swiftly opened, to show Nodoka Saotome standing in the
hall. "I hope that I'm not intruding."
"No, not at all. Ryoga and I were just talking."
"Good. Actually, I wanted to talk to him myself, if that isn't any
trouble."
Nabiki shook his head and glanced over at Ryoga.
"No, I think we were finished," Ryoga said. Seeing Nodoka start
back out the door; he rose and followed her. "What did you want to talk
about Mrs. Saotome?"
"I'd like to ask a favor of you. Ranma's gone to visit Ukyo and I
was wondering if you could check on them."
"I suppose so, but why? Ranma doesn't need a keeper."
"That Ukyo girl is a bit strange. I'm worried that she may try to
take advantage of Ranma."
"Ukyo wouldn't..." Ryoga paused, Ukyo wasn't nearly as bad as
Kodachi,, but she had the same intentions. A few weeks ago he would
have been raging about Ranma cheating on Akane. Ryoga decided it
couldn't hurt to find out what was going on. "All right, I'll do it."
"Splendid."
=================
"I'm not sure how you want me to help," Ranma said as she looked
around the deserted lot. "I'm not exactly up to heavy training at the
moment.
"You still know just as much as you ever did, Ranchan," Ukyo said.
"Besides, you've fought Mousse so you know more about his weak points."
Shampoo nodded, confirming Ukyo's words.
"I guess so. It's been a while since I've seen you fight, so I
don't know what you'll need to work on."
"Shampoo can spar with Ukyo." Shampoo carefully hid her smile.
Ukyo might not be an enemy anymore, but there was still a certain amount
of rivalry.
"Sounds good." Ranma stepped back to give the them room for the
match. By mutual consent the two girls squared off and then Ranma spoke
one word. "Begin."
The Chinese girl charged forward confidently, ducking under the
path of Ukyo's spatula and landing a solid blow on her midsection.
Moving to press her advantage, Shampoo was surprised when Ukyo snapped
the haft of her weapon up into Shampoo's temple.
Shampoo blinked away stars as she threw herself backward to avoid
the follow up blow. She silently berated herself for her
overconfidence. She was still sure of victory though, not only had she
maintained her training since coming to Japan, she'd intensified it.
Ukyo almost snarled with glee as she drove forward swing her weapon
in a pattern calculated to force her opponent backwards. Shampoo had
chosen to fight without a weapon, and Ukyo wasn't going to hesitate to
take advantage.
Watching from the sidelines, Ranma suppressed the urge to cover her
eyes. She could already see how this fight was going to go, and the
path was surprisingly familiar.
Ten minutes later, Ranma's suspicions were amply confirmed.
Shampoo had moved through Ukyo's defenses almost at will, landing five
blows for everyone she received. The only problem was Ukyo's stubborn
refusal to fall down. "I think I've seen enough."
"Shampoo not win yet." Despite her protest, the amazon dropped her
guard and stepped back from Ukyo.
"You mean I haven't won yet." Ukyo's wide grin belied her battered
appearance and she seemed more than ready to continue.
"The extra stamina training Ryoga did seems to have paid off."
Ukyo's grin slipped slightly, as she realized what Ranma meant. "There
are a few things you need to work on though."
=================
Mousse searched methodically through Cologne's room, carefully
replacing each item as moved on. He found the process nerve-wracking in
the extreme, even though the amazon elder was safely in China. He'd
searched the rest of the restaurant without success, and was beginning
to think that Happosai still had the statue. He couldn't quite bring
himself to believe that. Deep inside he knew that Shampoo could outwit
the elderly pervert. Happosai's personality made it inevitable.
Conceding defeat Mousse, decided that his goal must be hidden at
either the Tendos' or Ucchan's. That would make it harder to achieve,
but he could still finish his preparations. There was no doubt in
Mousse's mind that he'd manage to defeat Ukyo easily. However, taking
unnecessary chances was a risk he didn't intend to take.
.
=================
Instead of the usual after school crowd Ucchan's hosted only the three
participants an impromptu planning session. "The first thing we need
to do is outline Mousse's style for you, Ukyo," Ranma said confidently.
"He uses a lot of tricks, but they're same sort of thing you used when
you first came to Nerima. Thrown weapons, smoke bombs and explosives,
that sort of thing.
Ukyo nodded thoughtfully. "I can handle that."
"Right. You're real problem's going to be his unarmed techniques.
If he gets inside your reach or disarms you, he's won."
"Ukyo need to work on fighting without spatula, then," the amazon
commented.
"Yes," Ranma agreed. "We'll concentrate more on speed and counters
to disarming techniques though."
"I was wondering if you teach me a ki blast," Ukyo said.
"I dunno that's an awfully advanced technique. Plus I don't think
you could use depression like Ryoga does, or confidence like I do."
"You're saying that you couldn't teach me?" Ukyo asked.
"No. It would just be a lot of work and you'd probably have to
modify the technique before you could use it. It might be easier to
teach you the Hiryuu Shoten Ha." Ranma said thoughtfully. "I don't know
how much time we have to train you. Why didn't you two tell me about
this before?" Ranma asked sounding annoyed.
"We plan to get stupid pig-boy to fight Mousse," Shampoo explained.
"Ryoga?"
"Yes, that who Shampoo mean."
"No, look outside."
Twisting in their seats, the two girls saw Ryoga bend to look at
the closed sign and then peer curiously inside.
"What's he doing here?"
"Beats me. I'll go ask." As Ranma rose to her feet, Ukyo resisted
the urge to beat her head against the table. Even if she hadn't had
problems with Ryoga the plan had called for her and Shampoo to be alone
with Ranma.
=================
"Nabiki, there's someone here to see you."
Putting aside his algebra text, Nabiki stood and opened the door.
"Kasumi, I'm not quite myself at the moment. Just tell them that I'm
out. Ranma can talk to them later."
The eldest Tendo daughter looked reprovingly at Nabiki. "It's
Ryoga's friend Kiyomi. I thought that you should deal with her."
"I suppose so," Nabiki sighed. As he headed downstairs, Nabiki
reviewed the situation. The truly irritating part of this was that many
problems would be solved if Ryoga got a real girlfriend. Unfortunately,
even if he got a chance he'd blow it.
As he came to the bottom of the stairs, Nabiki made an abrupt
decision. "Hi, Kiyomi. It's nice to see you again."
"It's nice to see you too, Ryoga. I really wanted to talk to
Ranma, but Kasumi said that he wasn't here."
"What did you want to talk to Ranma about? Maybe I can help."
"You're Ranma's friend, so maybe you can. I talked to this Chinese
boy last night who told me some horrible things about Ranma."
The truth, Nabiki decided would be far too complicated. "Shampoo
does flirt a bit, but she's really a lesbian."
"A lesbian," Kiyomi said flatly.
"Yes, she's dating Ukyo now."
Kiyomi shook her head in an effort to clear it. "Isn't Ukyo that
guy with the ponytail?"
"No, she's the girl with the ponytail." Nabiki raised a hand to
forestall any objections. "She is a convincing crossdresser though."
"Then why did Ranma say he loved Shampoo?" the short haired girl
asked desperately.
"Well there is this girl he likes, but for some reason he never
manages to tell her how he feels." Nabiki was rather proud of himself.
He'd managed to give the impression he wanted, without saying anything
that could be disproved.
"Great. At this rate I'm never going to find a boyfriend," Kiyomi
muttered, almost inaudibly.
"Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to catch a movie tomorrow
night."
"You re not just saying that, are you?"
"No, I'd really like to go out with you."
"So, you're not going to announce that you're in love with someone
else or just not show up." Kiyomi frowned slightly. "How do you expect
to show up, anyway?"
"Well, maybe you should pick me up. I'm staying here so managing
that should be pretty easy."
"Would seven o'clock be all right then?"
"It would be fine." A few minutes later, after settling the final
details of the date, Nabiki was walking back to her room, and wondering
if being helpful was always this much fun. He'd have to get Ryoga to
pay for everything of course. He doubted Akane or Ranma would pay, even
if he was really doing this to help them.
=================
"Let's stop here, Ryoga."
"An ice cream parlor?"
"Yep. I'll get you some cold water."
"Why would I need..." Ryoga sighed heavily, and leaned against the
wall to wait. Ranma had ducked inside without listening to him. A
short time later she emerged holding a paper cup.
"You'll like this, it's the best part of being a girl." Dumping
the water over Ryoga's head, she reentered the shop, dragging the now
shorter girl.
"Two triple fudge chocolate surprises please."
Ryoga watched as Ranma smiled endearingly at the clerk. Somehow
seeing Ranma behave like this in Nabiki's body was more than usually
disturbing. It was probably the shock value, Ryoga decided.
"All right, here you go." Stepping back from the counter, Ranma
handed Ryoga the smaller of the two sundaes. "Let's take that seat by
the window."
As Ryoga sat down, she noticed a patched spot in the ceiling. She
smiled faintly, remembering Mikado's exit from the shop.
"What do you think of Ukyo's chances, Ryoga?" Ranma asked around a
mouthful of ice cream.
"It depends on how smart Mousse fights and how much time Ukyo has
to train. If they fight tomorrow, her chances wouldn't be good."
"Really? She held up pretty well against Shampoo."
"I've fought Mousse also, remember. Standing there and trading
blows isn't his style."
Ranma frowned reflectively. "We're going to need a plan then.
Mousse knows she'll be training, so he won't wait long."
"Don't look at me. You're the expert at cheating."
"Yeah. Hey! There's nothing wrong with using strategy.." Ranma
dropped her outraged expression to eye Ryoga's barely touched sundae.
"Are you going to eat that?"
"Yes." Ryoga defensively pulled the sundae closer to her and began
to eat more rapidly.
=================
"We're closed!" Ukyo yelled. When the figure on the other side of
the door continued to pound on it, Ukyo grabbed her combat spatula and
stalked over to open the door. Squinting against the early morning
sun, Ukyo's eyes widened as she realized the identity of her unwelcome
guest. "What are you doing her?"
The Chinese boy stepped inside, ignoring Ukyo's angry glare. "No
doubt Shampoo has told you that I intend to challenge you to a duel,"
Mousse replied.
"That's why you're here."
"Partly." Mousse grinned broadly before continuing. "I want you
to throw the fight."
"Why would I do that?"
"Why not. As far as I know you have no great liking for Shampoo.
Besides, it would leave you one fewer rival for your precious Ranma,"
Mousse sneered.
"No thanks."
Mousse almost jumped in shock at the simple answer. "Why not?"
"That's not any of your business. Now if you'll excuse me, I have
to leave for school." Inwardly, Ukyo vowed that there was no way she'd
embarrass herself in front of Ranma by losing, on purpose or not.
=================
Upstairs, Happosai merrily rummaged through doors and closets. Now
that Mousse had returned, it would be more difficult to search the
Nekohanten for the statue. On the other hand, it hadn't been there when
he'd looked on Sunday, so he wasn't worried. He'd start looking for it
here. Just as soon as he picked up a few mementos.
Humming quietly, the aged lecher began to methodically, but
lovingly stuff Ukyo's undergarments into the sack he carried. Reaching
the bottom of the drawer, he stopped in stunned disbelief. Nobody would
try to hid something from him there. It just had to be a trap. He
couldn't afford to pass up the opportunity though. Almost reluctantly
he reached out and took hold of the small black figurine.
"Eyow!" The diminutive pervert howled in agony as the steel jaws
of the trap closed around his wizened fingers.
=================
"You'll regret your decision. I challenge you to a duel in front
of Furinkan High in three days time."
Ukyo met Mousse's glaze levelly, and replied. "I accept."
"Eyow!" The cry of pain from upstairs broke the confrontation.
Ukyo whirled to dash upstairs, but almost collided with Happosai who was
on his way down. Off balance, Ukyo couldn't reach Happosai in time to
prevent him from reaching the door, but a spray of throwing spatula's
redirected him to the center of the room.
Mousse couldn't believe what he was seeing, but that didn't stop
him from acting. With a flick of his wrist a chain lashed out and
curled around the statue in Happosai's hand. Pulling the chain tight,
Mousse smiled as the statue flew neatly into his hand.
"I've got... Oh no." Mousse's look of triumph was replaced by one
of sheer terror, as several of Happosai's bombs exploded around him.
Ukyo and Happosai watched as a soot covered Mousse staggered out of
the cloud of smoke and fell to his knees. It wasn't Mousse that drew
their attention though, but rather the sight of a dozen dull black
fragments dropping from the hand that had held the statue moments
before.
End Chapter Ten.