The Amazon and the Moneylender: Episode 8, Part 1:
Mousse encounters a certain hyper-active child
teacher.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Miss Hinako?" Ranma blinked at what appeared to be
a over-sugared little girl. The teacher's child form
could wear Azusa down. "What are you doing here?"
"Saotome-san, is Tendo-san home?" Ranma breathed a
sigh of relief, she was just here to try and talk to
Akane's dad.
"Nah, he and pops went to a 'town meeting'," Ranma
shrugged and rolled his eyes.
"In that case�" Ranma did not like the sound of
that. "Are you ready for your make-up class?"
"Make-up class?" Ranma asked nervously. "When I
have I been absent recently?"
"Oh, don't you remember?" the child-like teacher
asked sweetly. "You fell asleep in one of your classes
and never made it to history."
"But that was weeks ago!" Ranma blubbered. The
teacher crossed her arms and tapped her foot angrily.
"Are you going to come to your tutoring session or
do I have to drag you?"
"You got bored," Ranma asked resignedly. "Didn't
you?"
"Saotome-san, please do not make such accusations,"
she sniffed. "Its disrespectful."
"Okay, I'm coming," he sighed. "Let me get my
books."
"What?!?" she facefaulted. "You're NOT going to
fight me?"
"No, don't feel like it."
"Meanie." The teacher pouted in the hallway while
the teenage martial-artist collected his books.
"Oh, hello Kodachi," Kasumi smiled as the
dark-haired girl strode into the living section of the
Tendo dojo. "We missed you at dinner yesterday."
Kodachi blinked, there was something about the eldest
Tendo that made her feel�regretful. She did not miss
the mild reproach in the young woman's voice though.
"I was doing nothing improper," she insisted,
proudly. Embarrassing was another matter, if Tatewaki
had heard about such idiocy as with that bowl of
ramen. She shivered, and Kasumi glanced at her
curiously.
"You seem��sleepy," the quiet girl noted. "Perhaps
you should go to bed."
"It is hardly past noon," Kodachi retorted. "I can
last for a few more hours until a proper bed time. And
where is Ranma?" Kasumi turned a sweet smile on the
girl, and nobody aside from Nabiki or Cologne would
have caught the hint of suspicion in her eyes.
"Tutoring session at the school," she answered.
Kodachi paled almost imperceptively.
"But, it's a free day."
"Miss Hinako was quite insistent."
"And everybody else?"
"Nabiki is finally getting some rest, my father and
Mr. Saotome are at a 'town meeting'," Kasumi noted the
gymnast eyes widen slightly at each absence. "And
Akane is practicing in the dojo." All the arrogance
and coldness returned in an instant.
"I suppose she needs it," Kodachi laughed walking
off in that direction. "After all, she is not a Kuno.
She needs all the help she can get. OHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
"Training is a good idea," Kasumi agreed. "If you
are fully rested."
"Why would I lower myself to train with her?"
Kodachi asked. "Besides, a real match is so much more
productive."
"Perhaps it was your choice of training partners."
Old habits flared in Kodachi.
"My brother was an exceptional teacher," she
declared proudly. "I was clumsy, I didn't learn
quickly, I..." she snapped her mouth shut.
"Your brother is a psychotic maniac," Kasumi said
sweetly. The quiet woman bowed slightly and returned
to the kitchen. "Try to get some rest soon." Kodachi
didn't try to argue. She walked quietly into the dojo
proper. She almost instantly felt a surge of envy at
seeing Akane run through katas. It was a further
reminder that Kodachi was the lowest end of the
martial artist totem pole around here.
"Damn that baka," Akane grumbled. "How are we
supposed to get anything done with him stuck in
class?" Akane spent several minutes complaining about
Ranma in general while she ran katas. She didn't
notice Kodachi watching her, and fidgeting nervously.
The gymnast was reminded of something several years
back, about the time she managed to achieve a level of
perfection that kept her brother off her back, others
would have said "when she finally snapped," but
Kodachi hadn't been in her right mind for close to
five years.
Kodachi listened to Akane rant about Ranma for
several minutes. Each "insult" took a little more hope
from her. There was frustration and anger, of course,
but there was also affection and a little concern.
Kodachi had always caught it in her rival's speech,
but now it was stronger. Recent events had forced her
to face such feelings recently, and she had accepted
them apparently. Kodachi finally latched onto one
idea, maybe, if she were as good as Akane.
The gymnast stood up and cautiously took stance a
few yards behind Akane. The shorter girl in her yellow
gi quickly and flawlessy ran through a simple kata.
Kodachi attempted to imitate it, but she had never
fought without weapons before. She felt dangerously
clumsy. It took her about twice as long as Akane, to
finish it. She was about to try again before she
noticed that the Ranma-bashing had silenced. She
looked up nervously to see Akane watching her
critically and a little suspiciously. They all did
that, watched her like a cat arching its back at
another cat.
"You're not doing that quite right," Akane said
simply. The gymnast defiantly shifted into a stance
she knew much better, producing a ribbon from where it
had been hidden in her dress. "Whoah!" Kodachi snarled
viciously as she whipped her ribbon at the surprised
Akane.
"I'm not going to be trained by anyone, anymore!"
Kodachi yelled as Akane ducked under her ribbon and
closed. The gymnast barely had time to blink before
Akane rose up inside her reach and snatched the ribbon
away. Kodachi flipped backwards a few times and turned
to face Akane, and didn't find her. Kodachi froze when
she felt someone tap her on the back of the head.
"What was THAT all about?" Akane grumbled walking
around in front of the gymnast. Kodachi was confused
when Akane simply shifted back into stance. "Start
like this. Well? If you're going to be practicing
behind me at least do it right."
Kodachi nervously took the stance indicated, she
recoiled as Akane approached her.
"What's the big deal?" Akane demanded, dropping
into a battle stance herself. She relaxed at the look
Kodachi was giving her. She wasn't very worried, she
had improved over time, and Kodachi had not. Outside
rythmic gymnastics and dirty tricks she had never been
much of a threat anyway. "Now do you want to learn
anything or not?"
"I'm through with training," Kodachi declared
arrogantly. "What does a born talent like a Kuno need
with training." Akane merely tapped her foot,
irritably.
"Are you going to take stance again or not?" Akane
demanded. Kodachi slowly, reluctantly took stance
again. Akane circled her and looked on critically. She
took Kodachi's forward arm and shifted it into proper
position gently and firmly. She then turned her
attention on Kodachi's shoulders and other arm.
"That's better," she muttered. "You got the legs
positioned right, must be the gymnastics. Turn like
this a little more." Kodachi hesitated and then did
so, her muscles tensed, but she recognized the
sensation. This was an unfamiliar stance, but it
wouldn't take long before she developed the proper
muscles. She watched Akane's movements with her eyes
cautiously. The Tendo stood beside her a few feet and
took the same stance.
"This is what you call�.training?" Kodachi asked
nervously. Akane gave her a questioning look, and then
it seemed as if the shorter girl remembered something,
and her bored and suspicious look softened slightly.
"Hey, I'm bored, and it's always better to practice
with someone," Akane said. "Now the first movement
goes like this�" Kodachi watched as Akane twisted her
body forward.
"Is there not a strike in that?"
"One thing at a time," Akane said irritably.
Kodachi blinked and tried to duplicate the motion, she
inwardly cowered as Akane watched her, obviously
seeing something wrong. "You almost got it, slow down
a little for now."
"Like this, sensai?" Kodachi asked, unconsciously
using the title. Akane blinked at the question, then
she shrugged and the critical expression returned to
her face.
"Okay, that's good. Now try it again."
"Hai."
"Can't you be the least bit disorderly?"
"All that will get me is a ki draining," Ranma
muttered.
"You're behaving on purpose," the teacher demanded
angrily. "Aren't you?"
"May we continue the lessen, sensei?" he asked,
oozing politeness. The grin on his face more than
answered her question.
"Please, can I have a little bit of disruption?"
"No�.its not good for me right now."
"Great-Grandma, what you talking to Nabiki about?"
Shampoo asked as they shut down for the post lunch
rush for a little lunch themselves.
"The girl has a plan that might prove effective,"
Cologne answered as she swallowed some noodles.
"What plan that?" Shampoo asked. She continued
thinking to herself, "And why she not tell me?"
"She was not specific with the details," Cologne
admitted. "That one never is."
"Take one to know one," Shampoo whispered.
"What was that?" Cologne directed narrowed eyes at
her great-granddaughter.
"Nothing great-grandma," Shampoo answered
cheerfully, sweatdropping. "Shampoo win airen? Won't
violent-girl be mad?" Cologne smiled
"Not if this works," Cologne laughed. "If this
works everybody will come out of this satisfied,
except, perhaps that Kuno girl."
"Oh, that good," Shampoo answered cheerfully. "How
Nabiki, she look bad." Cologne stared at her
searchingly. Shampoo was obviously concerned for the
not quite trustworthy Tendo.
"She should not be up and around," Cologne noted,
"but her injuries could have been much worse." Shampoo
relaxed visibly.
"Stupid girl should stay in bed," Shampoo hmphed.
Cologne and Shampoo thought they heard a breeze pass
through one of their rear windows. "Mousse home, yes?"
"Perhaps not," Cologne noted. "If that was him he
and the Kuno girl could prove to be a problem."
"I handle Mousse," Shampoo waved him off. "And
crazy-girl weak martial artist."
"Still, perhaps you should go to the Tendo dojo and
keep an eye on her," Cologne suggested. "Mousse will
attempt to contact her before he does anything."
"Yes, great-grandma," Shampoo agreed readily,
leaving the restaurant at a brisk, leaping run.
Mousse slipped quietly into the room and glanced
about cautiously. He had a sudden sense of walking
into the dragon's lair. Glancing about he relaxed.
This particular dragon was deeply asleep and likely to
stay that way for a long time yet. Still, caution was
in order. He cast about the room looking for anywhere
that the Tendo-girl could have hidden something.
A blush rose softly to his cheeks as he opened
Nabiki's underwear drawer, and after only a cursory
check he shut it again. He opened the next drawer and
searched through it a little more thoroughly, still
being as quiet as he could be. He found nothing again.
Nabiki Tendo's room was spartan, practical. There
didn't seem to be many places to hide anything. He
stood up frustratedly for a moment and looked about.
"The closet," he whispered to himself, and silently
made his way there.
"Shampoo," he stopped and glanced at the shape
under the thick blankets. Nabiki's wistful expression
slowly dissolved away into the cool emotionless mask
that usually had its place on her face. With his poor
vision and the speed of the change he couldn't be
certain that he had actually seen it or not. He
decided it must have just been his imagination and
continued with his search.
He tapped the back of the closet wall, listening
for the echoing sound of a hollow panel. He heard a
more rustling behind him, but dismissed it as nothing
more than more of Nabiki's restlessness. He was
frowning as he listened, where did the girl have
everything hidden?
"What are you doing in here?" Mousse turned to face
what he thought was an irate Nabiki, he swallowed
nervously. He could beat the middle Tendo to within an
inch of her life without breaking a sweat, but their
was still something innately intimidating about the
girl.
"Nabiki-san, this isn't what it looks like," he
tried. The blur reached out and grabbed his ear and
dragged him along. He caught a sight of the girl in
the bed shift up and eye him dangerously as he was
dragged out. If he had been startled by what he had
assumed was Nabiki, now he was terrified. He breathed
a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him and
his unknown captor.
"I really expected better of you, Mousse," the girl
said, using Kasumi's voice. She tsked him shaking her
head sadly.
"But she�" Mousse was reeling with shame and
embarrassment. Kasumi was disappointed. Considering
the amount of strangeness she took on face value that
was a particularly condemning statement. Somewhere in
the background a door opened and closed and Mousse
heard a whiny high-pitched voice enter the house.
"And what would Kodachi think?"
"I was trying�wait a minute, why would Kodachi
care?" Kasumi ignored him
"And its not like you'd actually find anything."
Ranma appeared in the hallway.
"Hey, Kasumi," he paused and looked at Mousse, then
looked about nervously. "Kodachi not with you Mousse?
And how'd you manage to get on Kasumi's bad side?"
"I'm going to catch you misbehaving Saotome-san," a
highly annoyed little girl declared following Ranma up
the stairs. Mousse blinked at the absurdity of the
sentence. What could this little girl do to a master
martial artist like Ranma Saotome?
"I just caught Mousse sneaking about Nabiki's
room," Kasumi hmphed. "And her in there asleep." Ranma
looked from Kasumi to Mousse and then to the
hyper-active little teacher. A very familiar
expression was crossing Hinako-san's face.
"I think he's about to pay for that," Ranma said
smiling broadly.
"Just what do you mean by�."
"DELINQUENT! I see you need punishment!" Ranma and
Kasumi stepped back as Mousse looked on confused at
the little girl.
"What are you going to do with that coin?" Mousse
asked sarcastically.
"Happo 5 yen satsu!" Ranma and Kasumi watched
calmly as Mousse was drained of ki to a point of
near-insubstantiality. "There, feels much better." The
now very adult and sultry Hinako-san turned about to
leave the Tendo Dojo.
"Later Hinako-san," Ranma called out.
"Be at school on time, Saotome," the teacher
returned. Kasumi examined the shocked expression on
Mousse's ki-drained face.
"Oh dear, was that really necessary?" Ranma
shrugged.
"Is Akane still in the dojo?"
"I believe so," Kasumi said sweetly. "Hmm, it seems
to be time to begin on supper." Ranma shrugged and
walked off heading back down the stairs a little ahead
of Kasumi. Neither of them gave Mousse much more of a
thought. After all, his ki would recover on its own,
and he had deserved it.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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