But he kept on going, hoping for some sign of something he knew. Once he did, he knew that he would have the beginnings of being able to orient himself.
However, despite her best intentions to go with her friend, Hotaru's stomach disagreed, which it vocalised by growling with hunger. "Oops... Sorrry..," she murmured with a blush.
"I don't blame ya," he replied as he put a hand over his own stomach as he realised that his own belly was as empty as hers. "I guess it's been a while since we ate those fish..."
"Yeah... So what do we do?"
"Same as we always do. Figure out how we can get somethin' ta eat."
"Okay. I put on a show?"
"Maybe," the pigtailed boy replied and stopped in front of an open doorway, "And this place looks good. The 'Akabeko'..."
"Prrroblem though..," she said and pointed.
"Huh?" he grunted as he followed her gesture. His mouth turned down into a scowl as he looked at what was going on. It seemed that there was a woman there who was in trouble. "Are ya thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"Time to help."
"Uh-HUH!"
Tsubame tried to stay as tall as she could, despite the fact that she was having to hold her serving platter in front of her for the meager defense it'd give her. She would have prefered that things stay the same as they had been, but it seemed not to be. Fortunately she had been working on the other side of the resturant, but now the whole place was caught up in the situation, and she could only stay to the side as the owner tried to keep things under control.
Unfortunately for Tae, the customers in question had gone from drunk to belligerant, and now things were quickly deteriorating despite her attempts to calm things. "Please sir, understand that we do have other customers besides yourselves."
"Bah!" the half drunk man sneered. "Don't you realise that you're talking to one of the best fighters around? I'm tougher than any of those wimp officers could call, and my buddies are nearly as strong. And we're on our way up, so if you know your place woman, you'd better forget those losers and take proper care of the ones who are important."
"That's tellin' her Jiro!" called out one of his compatriots as he swung a sake bottle around.
The other one smirked. "But she's young and kind of pretty too. Maybe she can give us some other kind of enjoyment with our dinner."
"I..," Tae began as she found herself pulled into the arms of the leader of the trio. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Seeing if it's true," Jiro told her lecherously, "I want to know if you're going to give us full service."
"No!"
"Leave her alone!" Tsubame called out, fear for her friend and boss overriding her reluctance to push things.
Jiro looked down at her with a corner of his lip curling. "Stay out of grown up stuff little girl. You might tempt me to do something to teach you who's boss and it be a shame to mess up such a pretty little lady."
"Leave 'em both alone!" called out a new voice, and those involved turned to look at a boy who was standing resolutely there, with his eyes hard as they looked at the troublemakers. Behind him stood a little girl who for some reason seemed to be wearing cat ears and a tail.
"Well, what do we have here? More brats to get involved where they're not wanted?"
"No! We're here 'cause ya shouldn't be botherin' people like this!"
"Kid, I don't 'bother' anyone. I've been in more backalley brawls than you've had your nose wiped. Some little punk's never going to have a chance against a real fighter like me."
"I ain't a punk, and it's a martial artist's duty ta help people," the pigtailed boy growled, "So I can't let ya do this."
"Myess!" agreed the catgirl.
"'Martial artist'. You're dreaming brat. I've got experience, not all that pointless practicing junk," Jiro scoffed, "Shiro, Nobuo. Teach these two not to get into adult things."
"Sure will," the sake holder agreed as he and the other got up.
The two kids got into ready positions, preparing to fight and:
(Posted Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:16)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.