The next day things were back to normal at the Tendo Dojo. Relatively speaking, that is. Shin blinked open sleepy eyes.
"Keep your guard up boy!" The sounds of flesh hitting flesh.
"C'mon Pop! Ya are getting slow, old geezer." More sounds of flesh hitting flesh.
"I am more than fast enough to take care of you!"
"Oh yeah?" Even more sounds of flesh hitting flesh. Shin sighed and rolled over onto his back, green eyes gazing up at the ceiling in resignation.
"Kyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"
*SPLASH*
Shin winced in sympathy. The poor koi. They did not deserve to go through this every day.
Ranma's laughter filled the air. "Told ya ya are getting too old and fat Pop!" The rambunctious laughter lasted a half minute more, during which Seiji sat up and gave the window a nasty glare, and Ryo pulled his pillow over his head in a vain effort to block the noise. A window banged open.
"Ranma, shut up!" A dull clunking sound followed the yell, and then the upset voice of Ranma.
"Akane!" she yelled back. "Why'd ya do that for?!"
"Ranma no baka!" The window slammed shut.
"Kawaekun . . . erk!"
Shu, who had been quietly laying with his eyes closed, threw off his blanket, stood, and stumbled to he window. "And so," he muttered sleepily a moment later, turning away from the window in mild disgust at what he had seen, "one learns not to turn your back on pandas with signs." He started back to his futon, giving a slight nod to Shin who was now walking to the window to see for himself what was going on. Shu collapsed face first onto the futon. Shin looked out the window, and then rested his head against the glass. Saotome-san, in panda form, was holding an unconscious female Ranma over one shoulder. In his other paw he was holding a rectangular wooden sign that read, {I told you, keep your guard up!} Laying several feet away from them was a slightly dented tin bucket.
Touma had, predicably enough, slept through the entire episode.
"So," Seiji looked at Shin, who had turned away from the window, and was now leaning back against it. "This is what woke you yesterday morning?"
Wearily Shin nodded. "Kind of. They were a lot quieter yesterday. And I believe Ranma went into the pond first."
"Think this happens every morning?" a muffled voice asked from the direction of Ryo's futon.
"Mor'n likely," Shu muttered, giving Touma's peacefully sleeping form a hard glare. He hadn't even twitched. "Someone has gotta talk to him about what all qualifies as normal."
"What I want to know," Ryo growled, finally removed the pillow and sat up to join the conversation. "Is why no one knew about this earlier. Seiji, you and Touma visited last year. Are you sure you didn't notice anything?" There was an almost pleading note to his voice as Ryo asked the question.
"We were here only one day Ryo. They all had to have been on their best behavior. Like they were the past several days. When you take in consideration that this is Touma's family, nothing seemed to out of the ordinary."
"Arial knew something was wrong from the very start." They turned and looked at Shin. "And those rumors . . . " Shin shook his head. "We should have listened to her from the beginning." And if they had, if they had taken her seriously instead of thinking that she was imagining things, they wouldn't be in this mess now . . .
"She had better not say 'I told you so,' or she is gonna regret it," Shu growled.
"I think," Seiji murmured softly, recalling how she had looked in the restaurant the day before, after seeing them all cursed. "That she already does."
"Well," Shin stretched and gave his three friends a cherry grin. "Now that we are all awake, might as well get dressed."
Two pillows went flying through the air at Shin, he dodged both of them. Seiji wisely stayed quiet.
Arial was sitting on the edge of her bed, brushing her long hair. Shan Lai was finishing dressing. Both had missed the spectacle outside.
Arial sat the brush down next to her and gave her friend a thoughtful look. "So Shan, what do you think is the best way to go about it?"
Shan pulled a green short sleeved blouse over her yellow tank top. "Go about what?" She gave Arial a puzzled look. What was Arial talking about?
"Finding those two Americans. Even though we know that they are still in town, I don't think it will be that easy to find them, all things considered."
"You mean, what Ryo said?" Arial nodded. "I think so as well, and it will make things harder for us." Shan Lai gave Arial a thoughtful look. "I wonder . . . " she mussed.
Arial arched an eyebrow. "Hmmm?"
"Both you and Seiji noticed something about the duck, right?"
Slowly Arial nodded, not quite sure where her friend was going. "Well, yeah. We did."
"Is there any way either one of you could track them down by their curses?"
Arial blinked, then looked thoughtful. "I am sure there is . . . well, for me . . . Seiji needs to be line of sight I believe to even tell, but I have no clue how. I would have to know more about the curses themselves before I could even think about doing something like that."
Shan Lai gave a low sigh. "I was afraid you would say something like that. Guess that means we are going to have to check all the YMCA hostels in town then, and all the dives." Arial blinked and gave her a questioning look. "Those two did not look well heeled, or possessing any class of any kind. They would be staying at the cheapest place they could find. And that is where we should start looking for them."
"But if they are still in their cursed forms . . . "
"They had to have left their belongings somewhere," Shan Lai pointed out. "They didn't have any luggage with them at the restaurant, so they had to have left it somewhere."
Arial slowly nodded. "Yes, that does make sense."
"And it gives us places to look instead of randomly wandering all over town hoping to stumble across them."
By the time Arial and Shan Lai made their way down their gang, with the exception of Seiji and Touma, were all seated at the table. None of the Tendos or Saotomes were present.
"Good morning!" Arial sang out, sitting at the empty space left for her by Shin. Shan was sitting next to Shu. Everyone acknowledged here greeting. "Where are Seiji and Touma?"
"Still upstairs," Shu replied. "Seiji said he would wake Touma today." Arial rolled her eyes. That meant that they wouldn't be coming down for the next half-hour or so.
Shan Lai shook her head. "No matter how strange things get, some things never change. No matter what happens to him, he just cannot get up in the mornings."
"And no matter what is going on outside," Ryo commented. Everyone turned and looked out the sliding doors and into the backyard. Ranma and Saotome-san were sparring again. After several rounds of punches, aerial kicks and insults, Saotome-san landed in the pond. Shin winced. Without missing a beat, the giant panda attacked Ranma, who nimbly leaped out of the way.
"They look like they are on a sugar high or something," Shan Lai muttered. Arial nodded in agreement. Behind them came an unexpected soft giggle.
"They do, if you think about it, don't they?" Akane said in unusually good cheer as she sat at the table. "Father will not be coming down this morning," she told the Trooper crowd in a soft voice. "He still hasn't recovered from last night."
They nodded. Tendo-san had not taken finding out his only nephew was cursed very well. After twenty minutes of wailing how his wife's spirit would never forgive him for letting this happen to her sister's only child (as if he could have done anything to prevent it) Kasumi had led him up to his room. It hadn't seemed to phase Saotome-san the least little bit, which earned him some hard feelings from Touma's friends.
"I hope he is feeling better," Shin said politely. Tendo's fit the night before had unnerved him a bit. He had not been alone.
"Oh, he will be fine," Nabiki said casually as she strolled into the room. "He gets overemotional about things, that is all. It never lasts long."
"KYYAAAAAAAAAAAA . . . "
They glared out the door. Ranma-chan was chasing her father, the panda, around the yard.
"So, is this, like, usual around here?"
Both Akane and Nabiki quietly nodded, not looking at Shan Lai.
"I see . . . "
"Good morning." A subdued voice came from the doorway. They turned. Seiji was standing there, watching, with a decidedly disquieted look on his face. Something was bothering him.
"Something wrong?" Arial asked, after sharing a quick, concerned look with Shin. Seiji shook his head. "It is nothing to bother yourself with." He pushed himself away from the doorframe and waked in. He took a seat at one of the rapidly disappearing places at the table.
"Is Touma up?"
Seiji nodded, not looking up. "Yes Akane, Touma is awake."
"Say what?!" Shu glanced down at his watch. The rest of the Trooper crowd stared at Seiji. "No way. It's been no more than ten minutes since we left ya tryin' to wake him, and Touma's ~awake~?" It was unheard of. It usually took ten minutes just to get to the point of him being aware that someone was trying to wake him up. For him to actually be coherent . . . it was unbelievable.
"Yes," Seiji sounded a bit strange, and he still didn't look at anyone. "He should be down any minute now."
"What are your plans for today?" Nabiki asked, changing the subject. She had a few things planned for today, and she needed to know where her cousin and his friends were going to be.
"Oh, just looking around," Shan Lai quickly said. "We really haven't done much in the way of sightseeing yet you know. And I think we all need a break to relax, don't you?"
"I see . . . " Nabiki nodded. And indeed she did. The Chinese girl's explanation was very good, very good indeed. And Nabiki knew what was behind that innocent explanation. They were, she was sure, going to look for those Americans, the guys in the suits, or all of them. Which was what she expected, after all. She smiled, perfect.
"Good morning."
"Mornin' ."
Ranma-chan and Touma both entered the room, from separate doors. No one paid Ranma much in the way of attention, not that he noticed or cared. His attention, like that of everyone else in the room, was focused on Touma. Touma stopped in the doorway, a bewildered look on his face as everyone stared at him openmouthed. "Is there something wrong?"
*THUNK* Everyone hit the floor, hard.
"What do you mean, is somthin' wrong!" Shu yelled as he jumped off of the floor. The others were slower to get to their feet, but still stared at Touma. "Look at you! You're human!"
Touma blinked, still not sure why he was the focus of all of this attention. Why was he getting such a reaction? "Is there something wrong with this form? Should I change back to youko?" He had thought they would be happy.
Everyone sweat dropped. Shu opened and closed his mouth several times, a loss for words.
"You . . . just surprised us," Arial shakily got to her feet. Surprise was a mild word. She would have thought she was still asleep and dreaming if it wasn't for the fact she had hit the floor so hard. She walked over to him and looked up into his eyes, searchingly. Now what was going on? Most of the golden flecks that had been in his eyes the day before were gone, but some remained. "Mm hmmm . . . " Arial's eyes narrowed, and then she nodded. <So that's it.> "I see." She broke off her gaze. Touma was still looking at her curiously. "Normally Touma, youkos only have two forms, youko and kitsune."
<A fox?> Touma whispered to himself. <I didn't know that.>
<:Unknown to me as well, but sounds interesting.:>
<Hmmmm . . . >
"You showing up this morning as human was unexpected," Arial finished. "I hadn't considered it possible at all."
"You mean," Akane asked, a tone of disappointment in her voice, "He isn't really human again?"
Arial shook her head and looked to the others. "No, he is still youko, that won't change. It just seems that he can take on human form." A thoughtful look crossed her face. "It might have something to do with the fact that he was originally human."
"But ya don't know?" Ranma asked.
"No, I will look into it when I get home, but I don't think I'll find anything. This whole thing is new to me, and I doubt that there are any other documented cases of a human being turned into a youko this way." <But there might be more mentioned about youkos and Jhusenkyo that I don't know, that could be useful.> She gave her cousin a quick glance. He seemed to be doing some sort of meditation exercise. Arial made a mental note to talk to him alone when she found the time. He had to have noticed something about Touma when he woke him up that morning, and she wanted his opinion. Touma seemed to be a bit more focused today than last night, and for some reason, something that had danced out of her grasp when she had just checked him, bothered her. Things were still not right with him. Touma was going to have to be watched carefully.
The search for the two Americans and the spring water had not been going as well as hoped. Following Shan Lai's idea of checking the hostels and the seedier side of Nermia, they had broken into three groups to search, Shu and Shan Lai, Ryo and Touma, and Shin, Seiji and Arial. Arial had not been too happy with this arrangement, wanting to keep an eye on Touma for herself, but had not been able to find a way to protest without alerting everyone of what she wanted to do.
They had spent the next three hours searching for the two Americans without any luck. No one had heard of them at the hostels they had asked at, and at some of the other places they had checked information was not very forthcoming. Upon the approach of lunch, the three groups started to slowly wander their way back to their rendevous point, the Tendo Dojo.
"Do you smell that?"
Ryo took a deep breath. Wafting on the mild breeze was the delicate sent of . . . okonomiyaki. "Yeah, but we are having lunch at the dojo."
"True." The two teenagers continued on their way down the road, with Ryo giving Touma a quick look every now and then. Touma, for all intent and purpose, was acting like he always did. No weird demonic behavior or anything that gave any indication of what had happened to him the day before. It was as if nothing had happened to him at all, which was strange when one considered how spacy he had been acting the evening before. And then there was how quickly he had gotten up that morning . . .
"Ucchan's."
Ryo swung around, completely lost. "Huh?"
Touma had stopped and was looking at a small restaurant. "Ucchan's," he repeated. "It is an okonomiyaki restaurant."
Ryo turned and looked at the restaurant in question. The door was open, and the delectable sent of okonomiyaki was wafting out to them. "I see that. I wonder if this is where Ranma stopped the night before?"
"Probably," Touma sighed. Breakfast had been quite a while ago, and this smelt delicious.
Right then, Ryo's stomach growled. He glanced over at Touma. Touma was looking at him. "One wouldn't hurt any."
Touma grinned boyishly at him. "No, not at all." As one they stepped toward the door.
"TSUBASA!!!" An enraged shriek came from within the restaurant. Ryo and Touma froze. The next minute was filled with the sounds of one girl yelling at the top of her lungs, another shrieking, and the sounds of furniture breaking. A minute after that a jukebox hopped out the door.
"You didn't have to hit me so hard!" it wailed.
A young lady with long brown hair held back with a white bow wearing an okonomiyaki outfit stepped out the door. Unlike most of the male populace in Nermia, they didn't notice how lovely she was. They were noting the fact that she was welding a huge six-foot spatula. And she was welding it in a way that indicated that it was often used. "I told you to KEEP AWAY FROM ME!"
The jukebox sprouted two arms and a head, causing both Ryo and Touma to jerk back in shock. "But Ukkyo-sama . . . "
"GO TO HELL!!!"
With practiced ease, Ukkyo flipped the jukebox into the air, and quickly followed with a strong serve. The jukebox, long hair fluttering behind it, soared off into the distance. Muttering to herself, Ukkyo turned and stomped back into the restaurant, not bothering to watch. She had customers to serve.
Ryo and Touma, both stunned into silence, turned and looked at each other. Cautiously Ryo stepped to the door and looked in. Half of the tables and chairs had been knocked over, and there looked to be small spatulas imbedded in the walls. At the grill, two young men were calmly eating. He stepped back. "Lets go back to the dojo."
Touma quickly nodded, a slightly dazed look in his eyes.
Shu and Shan Lai sat on a small bench in a park enjoying a snack together before heading back to meet with the others. Shan Lai was enjoying herself immensely. This was almost like a date (helped along by the fact that Shu paid for everything). With everything lately, both before and after they had arrived in Nermia, she had had little time to spend alone with Shu.
"You shouldn't eat so much," she chided softly with a smile. Shu was finishing off his third hot dog. "Katsumi will be fixing lunch for us, remember?" She stabbed a slice of caramel-covered apple and popped it into her mouth.
"But that is an hour away," Shu pointed out, then took a long drink of his pop. "I'll be starving by then if I didn't have a snack to hold me over."
"Shu . . . " Shan Lai sighed indulgently.
" . . . aaaaaaahhhhhhh . . . " came a distant cry.
Shu and Shan Lai both stopped eating and looked around. What was that? They didn't see anything, and then looked up. Above them, flying rapidly out of sight, was a large rectangular object.
"Isn't that . . . " Shan Lai whispered.
"A jukebox . . . " Shu continued.
"Flying through the air?!?" they finished together, looking at each other in disbelief. They nodded, and then looked at the remains of their snack. Without thinking about it, they both stood up, walked over to a nearby trash can, and threw away the rest of their food.
"Lets go back to the dojo."
Shan Lai quickly nodded her agreement.
"I hate this town. I hate this town. I hate this town . . . "
Shin placed a comforting arm around Arial and pulled her close. The gentle, caring expression on his face as he looked down at her was totally contrary to the burning sea-green fire in his eyes.
"I cannot believe that they allow such disturbed people like that to roam the streets." Seiji shuddered. He could still feel the leach's grip around his waist. And the echo of her voice still rung in his ears. It would probably haunt him for the rest of his life, with his luck.
"We will go back to the dojo," Shin stated with a forced calm. "Meet with the others, have a good lunch, and then discuss our next move."
"Something that does not involve walking the streets of this asylum," Seiji added firmly. Arial shuddered and leaned closer to Shin.
"Ecchi," Arial whispered, her voice quivering. "He was so ecchi. Sneaking up on girls on inline skates and trying to kiss them, he is as bad as Kunou."
"And is currently enjoying the same state of consciousness that Kunou did yesterday," Seiji said with a tight grin. He had not liked seeing this Mikado 'The rising star of whatever school he went to' mauling his cousin. Neither had Shin, naturally. A quick right hook by the latter had settled the matter rather quickly, then a new one arrived, this one on inline skates as well. A thin pair of arms had grabbed him around the waist in an unbreakable grasp. A high-pitched feminine voice started calling out 'Kawaii' and 'Louie Pierre' at a high volume. It had taken him and Shin ten minutes to pry the little girl off of him, her calling 'Mine! Mine!' the entire time while Arial had watched on in shock. Luckily for them, at that moment a mother and her daughter walked by, the little girl with a rabbit balloon floating above her. The little monster, who called herself Azuza, gave a little squeal and sprang on the unsuspecting girl. While the mother tried to beat Azuza off with her purse, Shin grabbed Arial and the three of them made a break for it.
"This town is so weird, why didn't we know this before we came?" Shin muttered, not realizing just how overused the variants of that statement were becoming. How did the residents keep out-of-towners from finding out? "Everyone is crazy in this town." Arial violently nodded, her eyes wide and her face still pale.
"I wanna go home," she said in a small voice. No one had ever treated her like that hentai had.
"Not until we get that water," Seiji growled grimly. "And after we distribute some justice on those two idiots."
"Shu has a similar idea," Shin murmured as he stroked Arial's hair. Shu's idea was to pound them into the ground and then send them on a one way trip to the Youjakai. He didn't think it was a half bad idea, all things considered.
"Even Shu has a good idea every now and then."
"I just want out of here," Arial sniffed. "I wish I had never heard . . . " a movement caught her eye and she looked up, " . . . of . . . " her eyes grew wide with disbelief, " . . . Nermia . . . " She stopped suddenly, causing Shin to stop as well.
"What is it?" Shin asked, concerned. Arial said nothing, she just pointed toward the horizon with a shaking finger. Both Shin and Seiji looked up.
"Oh my . . . "
"I don't believe . . . "
*SPLASH*
"KYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Katsumi was humming to herself contently as she bustled about the kitchen. It was time to start preparing lunch. Touma and his friends were such dears, they deserved a good lunch after spending the morning sightseeing.
In the family room Akane and Nabiki were watching TV.
"Squee!"
P-chan ran into the room, Ranma hot on his little tail. The piglet spotted Akane and jumped at her for protection.
"Ranma!" Akane yelled, hugging the smirking Jhusenkyo cured Ryouga to her chest. "Quit picking on P-chan. You are so mean to him!"
"That little . . . " Ranma began, but was interrupted by a chime from the TV.
"We interrupt this normally scheduled program to bring you a special bulletin." All four watched the TV screen intently as the scene changed from the studio to a shot of what looked to be the skyline of Shinjuku. On top of one of the buildings were four people in fanciful armor facing off ten other people in identical, rather plain, blue-grey armor. All were armed. In one corner of the TV a little box appeared with the reporter in it.
"This battle of armored warriors began ten minutes ago in the heart of Shinjuku." In the background one of the warriors, who was wearing a brown and yellow overcoat, struck out at the other ten warriors with a kami-gama. While the scene is still at a distance, one can plainly see that the attacking warrior is female, and has long black hair.
Nabiki shook her head as she changed the channels. "Not another stupid magical warriors saving the world movie," she grumbled. "Hasn't that been a grossly overused plot line?"
Ranma and Akane both nodded. P-chan yawned. None of them gave the 'special
report' a second thought.
(to be continued . . . )