Sorry for missing yesterday.. Let’s just say I had a book report on 2001, a space odyssey that I left for two weeks… Ugh. My head is gunna explode! “I cannot do that Dave.” GHH! dies

Chapter 6, Disaster strikes! Enter the Hibikis!

Akane Tendo lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. It was morning, but she didn’t want to move. A small trail of tears came from her eyes, and she wiped them away angrily. She couldn’t believe it! One of the perverts had beaten her in a fight. She had been the best martial artist in the district, aside from maybe Ryoga, until Ranma had suddenly begun showing skills. She could still remember the fight. He had started it off as if fighting was pure torture, which didn’t make any sense at all, and then he had seemed to decide something and take her down effortlessly. What was worse, she didn’t even have any bruises! He had gotten her with pressure point strikes, similar to the attacks that Dr. Tofu used on the few occasions that he was forced to fight someone. Also, now that she had lost the match against Ranma, she couldn’t challenge him about his worth in the Anything goes school again, which meant that He could do whatever he wanted with her older sister.

Hearing a knock at her door, Akane yelled “Go Away!” Before rolling onto her side and putting her pillow over her head.

On the other side of the door, Ryoga Hibiki blinked. That was Akane’s voice! He must be at the Tendo Dojo! He had been looking for the place for days, and he had finally found it. The problem was, that Akane had sounded really upset. His short time knowing her, ever since he had wandered into this area by accident a month or two ago, had taught him that approaching her when she was upset was a really bad idea. Deciding to go and find someone else to ask about Akane’s mood, Ryoga proceeded to walk down the stairs.

“Oh, hello Ryoga Kun.” Kasumi said, from her place at the kitchen stove. Somehow, the lost boy had managed to walk into the kitchen from the back door of the house, even though he had been heading for the living room.

“Hello Kasumi. How are you?” Ryoga asked, setting down his pack in the doorway.

“I’m fine, Ryoga Kun. Would you like some breakfast?” The eldest Tendo daughter asked, pointing at a pot of soup on the stove.

“Yes, Thank you.” Ryoga said, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard and taking a surving from the pot. “Kasumi, can you tell me what’s got Akane so upset?” He asked, eating a spoonful of the food.

“Oh My, yes. Akane chan apparently challenged someone to a fight yesterday. The other person won.” Kasumi said, frowning slightly. “I’m very glad that Ranma san didn’t hurt Akane.”

“Ranma?” Ryoga asked, half question and half growl. Akane had told him about the perverts at school, and he had been planning to beat them all up, but he had originally intended to start with Kuno. “What did That scum bag do to her?” He continued, squeezing the bowl so hard that it almost cracked.

“According to Nabiki, Ranma san was very gentle. He used pressure points to paralyse her.” Kasumi explained, serving Ryoga some rice. “Akane is still very upset about her loss, though. I’m glad it isn’t a school day and that she can stay in her room.”

Ryoga pondered this for a minute while eating. Kasumi’s food was very good, much better than his own camp fair, and he almost lost himself in the taste before asking his next question. “Why did Akane get into a fight with this Ranma guy, anyways?”

“Well, our fathers have decided to engage him to Nabiki, and Akane chan apparently took exception to it. I suppose she was afraid that Ranma san would try what he tried to do to me with Nabiki.” She frowned for a moment. “I’m sure Nabiki wouldn’t let him if she wasn’t ready, though.”

‘He’s engaged to Nabiki?’ Ryoga thought, before laughing. ‘Poor guy.’ He had seen Nabiki extort people at school before, and he even felt sympathy for Kuno occasionally. That was when he made his decision. He would find this Ranma person and see what he was really like. Akane thought anything under the age of thirty and male was a pervert, as she had constantly accused him of perversion for the first two weeks that they had known each other. Maybe this was a case of Akane jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Thanking Kasumi for the food, Ryoga got up from the table and hefted his pack. “I’ll be back some time later, Okay Kasumi?” He said, walking through the living room entrance.

“All right, Good bye Ryoga Kun!” Kasumi said, waving cheerfully after the boy. She could never figure out how he did it, but Ryoga could end up leaving the house if he started out for the bathroom. Returning to her breakfast preparation for the rest of the family, she hummed merrily. Maybe she would go to Dr. Tofu’s later today to see him? A small blush came across her face as she thought of the young doctor.

On the other side of town, in a small mall, Ranma Saotome and his younger sister walked through and looked from side to side. “I’m sure it was in here somewhere…” Ranma muttered, looking for a particular store.

“Why are you looking so hard for a Chinese clothing store?” Ranko asked, looking up at him curiously.

“The stuff they sell is water proof, and it looks good on a guy or a girl.” Ranma explained, still searching for the place.

Ranko shrugged, walking next to her older brother in silence. She was getting kind of bored, but she had been the one who had begged to come along with him when he went shopping so she couldn’t really complain. Unlike her and her friends, Ranma very rarely stopped to brows at a store, picking up the bare essentials and moving on. As he caught sight of a particular sign, Ranma got a large happy grin. “Ah, I found it.” He said, walking in. Five minutes later, Ranma had changed out of the school uniform he was wearing, he had run out of casual clothing, and into a set of black tangs, with a white silk shirt that had wooden ties down the front. He had also gotten one of his red shirts, a blue one and a fancier black one with an embroidered dragon on the front, just in case he had to go anywhere fancy.

“Lookin good, Saotome.” Ranma said, looking in a mirror in front of the shop. Ranko had to agree. Her brother seemed to feel more at home when wearing the silken garments, as if they were all he was used to. Ranma surprised the heck out of his sister when he stopped at a water fountain, deliberately splashing himself.

“Why’d you do that, Ranma?” Ranko asked, idly noting that Ranma was right, and the clothes still looked pretty cool on his female form.

Ranma grimaced. “Now comes the part of shopping I hate the most.” She said, before resolutely marching towards a women’s clothing store.

Ranko gaped as she quickly followed her older sister inside, wondering what was going on. Soon after, Ranma was coming out of the store with a modest two piece bathing suit, at Ranko’s urging, as well as a few other articles of female clothing. Not nearly as much as she had male clothing, of course. Quickly stopping by a rest room nearby, The two continued on to the food court, once again brother and sister.

As Ranma and Ranko sat at a table in the food court, Ranma eating a “Macho Burger” From one of the nearby restaurants and Ranko having some fish and chips, Ranko finally had to ask. “Why did you go and buy girls’ clothes, Ranma?” (1)

“Well, some of it is for disguises. Ya won’t believe how many people will just let a cute and innocent acting girl get away with almost anythin. It’s pretty funny, actually.” Ranma explained. “The bathing suit’s cuz I like goin swimmin, and I don’t wanna get arrested for public indecency.” He blushed at the memory of the first time he had gone to a pool as a girl and ended up being fined by the local law enforcement, after they had stopped nose bleeding, of course.

Ranko nodded. That made a bit of sense, when put that way. After a few minutes of companionable silence, Ranma heard a shout that he had heard many times before.

“Where the heck am I NOW!” A voice yelled, from the other side of the food court. Ranma looked over, confused. There was something wrong with the voice. It was too high, almost like that of a… Ranma blinked as he saw a girl, approximately twelve years old, wearing a tiger striped bandanna and a slightly dirty school dress.

Ranko, on the other hand, had a far different reaction. “Yoiko?” She asked, getting up from her table and running over to the young girl.

“Ranko, thank goodness I’ve found you. I’ve been lost for the past week. PLEASE take me home!” The other girl yelled, running to grab onto Ranko.

Ranma’s sister blinked in confusion. “You’ve been lost? What do you mean?” She asked, perplexed.

That’s when Ranma walked up behind the two. “Ranko, who’s this?” He asked, looking at the young and female double of Ryoga in front of him. Her hair was a lighter shade of brown, but she had the fangs and dark green eyes of Ranma’s eternal rival.

“This is Yoiko.” Ranko explained, looking up at her older brother. “She’s one of my friends from school. She just stopped showing up last week. I was really worried about her.”

Ranma almost choked as one of his dumber ideas came back to haunt him. “Yoiko? I don’t suppose her last name’s Hibiki, is it?”

“Yeh, How’d you know?” Ranko asked, confused.

“Um, guys. I’m really sorry to interrupt your conversation, but can you get me home?” Yoiko asked, hopefully.

“Why can’t you just walk there? It’s only two blocks away.” Ranko asked.

“She’s – I’m Lost.” Came Ranma and Yoiko’s voices at the same time.

“How’d you know that?” Yoiko asked, looking at Ranma. “For the past week, anywhere I try to go, I just end up somewhere else! It’s been driving me nuts! I’m acting like my brother Ryoga.”

“Again with that brother stuff? I’ve never seen him, Yoiko.” Ranko scoffed, having heard many stories of the mysterious Ryoga Hibiki, but never having ever seen him.

“Don’t worry Yoiko. Ryoga explained yer family problem to me once.” Ranma said, explaining it to Yoiko and surprising Ranko. “He told me it starts around thirteen. You just turned thirteen, right?”

The girl nodded.

“So long as ya get someone else to lead ya, you’ll be fine.” Ranma said, placing Ranko’s hand in Yoiko’s. “Don’t let go for ANYTHING Ranko. And DON’T LET HER LEAD YOU!”

“Okay, okay.” Ranko said, looking at her brother strangely. “How do you know so much about Yoiko’s problem, anyways?”

“Her older brother’s… was… my Rival. We used to fight all the time, and I walked him home all the time in late Jr. High. Now let’s get ya home, okay Yoiko?” he asked, grabbing his shopping bags and heading for the door of the mall.

Ryoga walked down the streets, looking for Ranma Saotome. Usually, when he set his mind on finding someone, he managed to do it eventually. The problem was, that eventually occasionally meant several weeks. Rounding a corner, Ryoga saw three people walking down the street. One of them he recognised as his little sister, but the other two were new faces.

“Yoiko! Wait up!” Ryoga yelled, running to meet his younger sister. Then he noticed that her hand was held tightly in that of someone else, and for a brief second before she had faced him she had tried to turn the other way. ‘Oh no! Did she come of age with no one around to help her?’ He wondered, worried.

“Hi big brother.” Yoiko said, running towards Ryoga and dragging the person who had been leading by the arm. The man who had been with the two girls stopped and turned, getting a strange look on his face before he came to join the group that was now assembled at Ryoga’s position.

Once near Ryoga, Yoiko lashed out and punched her older brother in the shin. “You coulda warned me I’d start getting lost last time ya saw me!” She yelled, glaring at him.

Ryoga scratched his head sheepishly. “I kinda forgot, and besides. I figured mom and dad should have told you already.”

“Well they didn’t.” Yoiko said, crossing her arms above her chest in annoyance. “Ranko’s brother here had to explain why I’ve been lost in the mall for the past week!”

Ryoga blinked. He had heard Yoiko talk about her friend Ranko on occasion, but he wondered how Ranko’s brother knew about his direction problem. Wait a second. Wasn’t Ranko’s last name Saotome? “You wouldn’t happen to be Ranma Saotome, would you?” Ryoga asked, looking at the boy who had been curiously silent for the past few exchanges.

Ranma, who couldn’t really figure out how to greet Ryoga, just nodded. He couldn’t decide if he should take Ryoga as a threat, as he was whenever he had thought Ranma had done something to Akane, or as a rather strange friend, as he was at any other time. Not to mention the fact that the lost boy probably didn’t even know him. To Ranma’s surprise, Ryoga sank into a defensive stance.

“Sorry Ranma, and I’m grateful that you helped my sister out and all, but I have to pay you back for beating up Akane.” Ryoga said, before unslinging the combat umbrella that was always hanging on his back.

“Huh? What do ya mean?” Ranma asked, as Ryoga threw his umbrella at him. Instinctively dodging it, Ranma noticed that the lost boy wasn’t consumed by rage like he usually was when he fought him. This could actually be interesting.

Yoiko looked at Ranko, scared. “We’ve got to stop my older brother. He’ll demolish Ranma!” She said, remembering that Ranko had laughed in her face the one time she had asked about her older brother’s martial arts skill.

Ranko just smirked. “Don’t worry about Ranma. I’d be more worried about Ryoga if I were you.” She said, leaning on a wall, out of harm’s way. Ranma threw his shopping bags at her as he dodged the umbrella’s return arc and she easily caught them.

“All right, I’ll fight you!” Ranma said, charging at Ryoga. To his surprise, Ryoga seemed to be faster than he was used to. Probably because of the fact that he wasn’t attacking in a berserk fury. His punches still packed a good amount of strength though, as was evidenced when he missed Ranma and Buried his arm up to the elbow into a brick wall.

Deciding that he really didn’t want to fight at the moment, Ranma channelled a large amount of Chi into his hands and arms, enhancing their strength to the limit. He knew that normal punches wouldn’t do anything against Ryoga.

Lashing out with one strong punch to Ryoga’s chest, Time seemed to slow down as Ryoga brought up an arm to block. Ranma’s fist made contact with the arm, and a sickening crack was heard. Ranma withdrew and looked on in shock as Ryoga screamed in pain, cradling his arm.

“Wh… what the?” Ranma asked, gaping.

“Ranma, what’d you do that for?” Ranko asked, not believing that her older brother had just broken someone’s arm. “Wasn’t that a bit of overkill?”

Yoiko just stared in mute horror, as her brother sank to the ground, the pain of the break, which was very severe, overwhelming him.

Ranma rushed forward, overcoming his shock. ‘Wye did Ryoga’s arm break like that? He’s a lot tougher than that!’ Ranma’s mind yelled, before he came to a realization. ‘Ryoga never went through the breaking point training here.’ He thought, his stomach dropping sickeningly.

Kneeling at the lost boy’s side, Ranma looked at his arm. “I’m sorry man. I put way too much force in that last attack. It’s gunna be Okay. I’ll get ya to the doc’s clinic.” He said Rapidly, looking at the arm critically. He had evidently almost pulped the bone, but there was still Chi flowing to the arm underneath the break, so it wasn’t dead. Pushing his fingers into a nerve cluster above the broken bone, Ranma channelled Chi into them to cause the nerves around that area to go numb.

Ryoga stopped cradling his arm as the pain went away, and he looked up at Ranma in surprise. “how’d you do that?” He asked, experimentally flexing the arm.

“Don’t move it. It’s still broken. You just can’t feel it.” Ranma explained, helping Ryoga up. “I ain’t very good at first aid, so we should probably get to Dr. Tofu’s clinic.

“Right.” Ryoga said, not sure how to feel. This guy had just smashed his arm, but he was now trying as hard as he could to help fix what he had done. It seemed to have genuinely been an accident, and that scared him. If this guy could pulp his arm by accident, what could he do on purpose?

HR

In China, near the Joketsu Zoku village of Chinese Amazons, Herb of the musk stood in front of two loyal retainers. “Lime, mint. You will stay here. I am going into the village of the Amazons, and I don’t need you two starting a war.”

“But lord Herb!” Mint complained, before being silenced by a glair. “yes lord Herb. He finished, meekly.

“Good.” Herb said, walking down the trail.

As Herb left, one retainer looked at the other. “I wonder what’s wrong with lord Herb?” Lime asked, looking to Mint.

“Yeh. He didn’t bathe with us yesterday, and he insisted on sleeping in a different tent.” Mint agreed, looking after his master. “I hope he tells us what’s wrong soon.”

A few minutes later, Herb entered the village of the Amazons, noticing several warriors shooting side long glances her way. Taking off the hood she wore, she heard a few gasps at the face that was revealed. As she walked towards the middle of the village and the matriarchs’ hut, a young warrior blocked her path. “What is your business here, Musk?” The warrior asked, holding a sword to block Herb’s path.

“I am here to see Elder Ku Lon, Amazon.” Herb said, in a cool and calm voice.

“I see. I shall go and get her.” The Amazon warrior said, walking to the elders’ hut and speaking rapidly to the elders inside. A few seconds later, an old woman came out, hopping on a stick. “Hello Princess of the Musk.” Cologne said, cackling as she saw Herb’s narrowed eyes. “Oh relax. Your aura if nothing else proves that you are a woman, and the dragon blood I sense confirms your royal status… but I do not mean any disrespect. From your reaction, I assume that you are Jusenkyo cursed?”

Herb nodded tersely. “I am, elder. I seek the Kasuifuu, one of my people’s treasures that was stolen by the thief Happosai more than a hundred years ago.”

“Ah, so you have been locked?” Cologne asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, elder. I would not be bothering the Amazons about this matter, accept that we have heard rumours that you wish to find Happosai and Defeat him, but do not have the resources. I now need to find the Kasuifuu, so we have one purpose, correct? Herb asked, raising a delicately sculpted eyebrow.

“Ah, I see. Well, maybe I can help you with that. Come inside and let us talk.” Cologne said, leading Herb into the elders’ hut.

HR

Back in Nerima, Ranma, Ranko, Yoiko and Ryoga were walking to Tofu’s clinic, Ryoga’s arm rapped in a piece of the school uniform that Ranma had warn to go shopping. “So, why did you wanna fight me?” Ranma asked, looking at Ryoga.

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to hurt Akane.” Ryoga responded, wincing as the numbing effects of Ranma’s pressure point strike had begun to ware off several minutes ago.

“Look. I don’t wanna hurt Akane. Hell, I didn’t even wanna fight her. What are you, her boyfriend or something?” Ranma asked, curiously.

Yoiko fielded this one, grinning. “Yep. She’s all Ryoga talked about last time I saw him.” Then, adopting a false love struck gaze, she imitated her brother’s voice badly. “sigh Akane…” She said, grinning as Ryoga tried to swat her with his good arm.

“I… See.” Ranma said, wanting to feel jealous of Ryoga, until he recalled Akane’s face the night before.

“We’re coming up to the doc’s clinic!” Ranko said, pointing ahead of them.

The others nodded, before Ranma opened the front door.

In the back of the clinic, Tofu was drinking tea. It was his lunch break, and he had a very free afternoon. Hearing the clinic door open, he heard four sets of feet entering. Standing, he walked out front and stopped cold. There in front of him was Ranma Saotome, his sister and two people he hadn’t seen before. One of them had a makeshift splint rapped around one arm.

“Hello. What’s going on here?” Tofu asked, walking slowly towards the group.

Ryoga gratefully slumped into a chair when he saw the doctor, being careful not to hit his damaged arm against anything. “There’s something wrong with my arm. I’m pretty sure I broke it.” Ryoga said, indicating the sling.

“I see. Let me take a look at it.” Tofu said, kneeling down next to the chair and looking at the splinted limb, then scanning with his Chi sight. Seeing something strange above the break, Tofu looked to see that someone had hit a pain suppressing shiatsu point. “Whoever played field medic on you did a good job. I aught to try and train him.” Tofu grinned, noticing that the wound was well taken care of. “All I have to do is get you into the back for a few X-rays to confirm, put the arm in a cast and wait for it to heal. It’s a good thing it was kept from moving around too much, or it would have had complications.”

“That’s good to hear, doc.” Ryoga said, letting the doctor get him back up out of the chair.

“Oh, who did do the patch up work on you?” Tofu asked, as he lead Ryoga to the back.

“It was Ranma.” Ryoga said, not noticing Tofu stiffening. “I challenged him to a little fight, and he hit me harder than he meant to. Happens all the time, but he went a bit too overboard. When he found out he had broken my arm, he immediately did that pressure point thing and then bound it up.”

“I see.” Tofu said, continuing to lead Ryoga to the back room. “Ok Mr. Saotome, stay here. I want to talk to you.” He said, narrowing his eyes at Ranma.

Ranma blinked. He thought that Tofu would kick him out of the clinic right after Ryoga was taken care of, seeing as to what he thought he had done to Kasumi. Shrugging it off, Ranma sat in the chair that Ryoga had once occupied.

Half an hour later, After Ryoga’s treatment was completed and he had taken his little sister… somewhere… Tofu sat in the chair next to Ranma. Since there were no patients to take care of he wasn’t pretending to like the boy, and just looked at him levelly before asking a question. “How did you know that Shiatsu point?”

Ranma gulped nervously. “You taught it to me, Sensei.” He explained. “I had gotten hit with this Full body cat’s tongue point once, and I got curious about what Shiatsu could do. I don’t really use it in fights, but you told me that I was pretty good at it’s medical uses.”

Tofu looked at Ranma flatly. “I never taught you Shiatsu, and why would you be hit with something like the full body cat’s tongue? It’s mostly an annoyance technique developed to keep people from taking hot baths for medical reasons.”

“It also kept me from changing back to a guy. Remember that curse I showed you? Cold water turns me into a girl, hot water into a guy. As for when you taught me, You don’t remember it but I do. I guess you could tell me to stop using shiatsu if you wanted to, but since all I know is Paralysis and healing points, I don’t know why you’d wanna.”

Tofu looked at the boy in front of him intently. He was telling the truth. Tofu could tell if someone was lying through their aura, and Ranma wasn’t. Sighing and shaking his head, he asked a question. “Ranma, do you remember why I barred you from coming to my clinic unless it was a real emergency?”

Ranma shook his head. “Nabiki told me in school a couple days ago. When I first heard about it, I wanted to go N’ hunt down the bastard that’d do somethin like that to Kasumi, but huntin myself would be kinda pointless.”

Tofu nodded and sighed. “All right, Ranma. you can use the Shiatsu points you know. I have no problem with that… but you will come to me and learn any healing points that you do not know, understand?”

Ranma blinked. “Huh? Why?”

Tofu sighed. “Because I don’t’ sense any of the perversion that used to infest your aura in you, and I need an assistant. I still don’t really trust you, and if you pull anything you’re gone, got it?”

“Yes, Sensei.” Ranma said, nodding.

“Hey Ranma, not that this is boring, but this is boring!” Ranko complained, from a seat across from her brother.

“Ok, Okay. We’re goin Ranko.” Ranma said, grinning at his little sister. “See ya, doc.”

“Good bye Ranma.” Tofu said waving as Ranma and his sister left. ‘Now why in the hell do I feel like I should trust that kid?’ He wondered, before going back into his office.

END.

Note.

(1)A “Macho Burger” is a burger that you can get at some truck stops in Ontario. The thing’s about the size of a small pizza. I’m not joking! I took three days of meals to eat one! Ranma, on the other hand, would probably find them perfect. :D

To End Guard.

No, I mean what I said. The “Middle Girl.” I didn’t say the middle Tendo. I was doing 2 things. A, Insulting Soun and B, mentioning Skane.

If you’ll notice, I mentioned Akane as the Second of three, the MIDDLE, of two other names.

PS. Please leave CONTACT INFORMATION if you want a question answered. I find answering reviews in a fic like this VERY annoying, and I have no doubt that my readers do as well.