Kanu checked the sign on the gate to make sure she had the right place and then rang the bell. After a short wait, a young man vaguely resembling the person she had come to see opened the gate to greet her. Kanu couldn't help but think this one was almost as cute as Ranma if not nearly having Ranma's absolute self-confidence.
"M-Miss Unchou..." the young man stammered while staring at her with wide, surprised eyes. "W-what can I do for you?"
"You must be Kokin Shuyu, Ranma's cousin," Kanu smiled. "I'm here to see Ranma."
"Of course," Kokin nodded. "Please, come right in." He led Kanu to the genkan "Sheesh, Ranma is awfully popular today."
"Why do you say that?" Kanu asked as she slipped off her shoes.
"Oh, it's just that you're the second person to come by to see Ranma in the last ten minutes," Kokin shrugged. "Please come have some tea. Ranma was in the furo but he should be out soon."
Kanu followed Kokin to the tea room and froze in the doorway, a small frown appearing on her face as she took in the scene.
"Unchou-san," Chou'un greeted, looking as innocent and serene as an angel as she knelt at the table sipping tea next to an older woman with dark red hair. "Did you come by to check on Ranma-san's wellbeing as well?"
"I heard about the attack," Kanu replied. "I came by to find out what happened."
Suddenly the older woman was standing in front of her with her hand clasped under her chin and looking at Kanu with large glistening eyes.
"Oh, you must be Kanu-chan," the woman gushed. "I'm so proud that my son has such lovely young ladies concerned for his health! I'm Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother. Please come in and have some tea, Dear. Chou'un-chan has just been telling me what an impression Ranma has made at Seito Private School."
Kanu blushed as the older woman took her arm and dragged her to the table. Looking helplessly at Chou'un, Kanu got the distinct impression the silver-haired girl was barely containing herself from bursting out with laughter. As soon as Kanu was seated, Nodoka poured her a cup of tea. The elder woman then sat back and regarded the younger one with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"So, Kanu-chan," Nodoka began slyly, "I understand you got to ride the Wild Horse already."
Kokin, who had just taken a sip of his tea, sprayed it across the table in shock. Chou'un looked as serene as ever...until one looked closer and saw she was frozen stiff with a single strand of hair toinged outward.
"W-what?" Kanu stammered, blushing as red as her gloves.
"Oh my, Ranma was such a gentleman to carry you home after the two of you were done playing on Monday," Nodoka smiled happily. "I hope you thanked him properly."
"I...I...I..." Kanu stuttered.
"Yes, Kanu-chan, you did thank him properly, didn't you?" Chou'un inquired, having shifted from shocked to amused. One didn't see the normally unflappable Kanu so flustered very often.
"Don't worry, Dear," Nodoka said in sympathy, taking Kanu's embarrassment as a negative answer. "My son is a bit skittish of girls after what his father put him through. "Just be persistent and I'm sure you'll get your chance to show him your gratitude."
Before Kanu could even begin to formulate a reply a shout was heard.
"Gah! Aunt Goei! Cut that out!" Ranma's voice rang out from another portion of the house along with the sound of running feet.
"Come back here, Ranma, and let Nurse Goei bandage up that muscular, young body of yours!" a female voice called. "Daughter, if he makes it to the koi pond, you will be spanked one hundred fourteen times for not stopping him!"
"Sorry, Ma-chan!" another female voice was heard. "I must absolutely obey my mother!"
Kokin, Chou'un, and Kanu all sweat-dropped while Nodoka sipped her tea as if nothing was going on.
"Gah! Get away ya crazy chicks!" Ranma yelled.
"He's headed for the kitchen! Cut him off!" the older female voice said as footsteps were heard rapidly approaching.
"This is so embarrassing," Kokin muttered from behind his hands.
Suddenly, Ranma, clad only in a pair of boxers burst through the tea room door and dashed across the room, not noticing the guests in his haste to get to the kitchen. He was nearly to the door in the other side when a well-endowed, strawberry blonde girl, dressed in a pair of red shorts and a white t-shirt, screeched to a halt in front of it, attempting to block the way. Ranma attempted to check his forward momentum but there wasn't enough time.
The two cousins squawked in panic an instant before colliding, both vanishing through the doorway followed by a loud crash and the sound of pots and pans falling to the floor. A metal mixing bowl rolled into the tea room from the doorway along with a cloud of dust.
Kokin, Kanu, and Chou'un all dashed to the doorway to see what had happened. Inside they spotted Ranma lying on his back in the debris of what had once been the preparation table in the middle of the kitchen. He was clearly out cold and had a large lump rising on his head. On top of him, in a compromising position straddling his hips was the girl he had collided with.
"I got him, Mama," she announced drunkenly.
Just then a water pipe under the sink that had been struck by flying debris burst and sprayed both cousins, turning Ranma female and the blonde's t-shirt transparent. Kanu and Chou'un quickly stepped back as Kokin passed out with blood shooting from his nose.
"Oh poo," an older woman said from the doorway.
It was all Kanu could do not to gape at the woman, clearly related to Ranma's mother, as she stood there wearing a fetish nurse outfit.
"Go-chan, these young ladies are here to visit my son," Nodoka said pleasantly from behind Kanu. "Perhaps we should let them tend to his wounds, if that's alright with them."
"Of course, Saotome-san," Chou'un readily agreed.
Kanu nodded distractedly, wondering just what sort of nut house Ranma lived in.
"Oh my, they are quite lovely aren't they," Goei observed. "Well then, girls, if you could collect Ranma-chan, I'll show you to his room."
"I'll be along with the kettle," Nodoka informed them. "Fu-chan, why don't you tend to Kokin. It seems he fainted again."
"So you must be Sonsaku," Kanu smiled as she knelt across from Chou'un on the other side of Ranma's futon.
"Uh huh," the strawberry blonde nodded enthusiastically. "And you're Kanu. Ma-chan says you're really strong and Kokin said you're one of the top fighters. I'd really like to have a fight with you sometime! I need to keep fighting stronger and stronger people so I can get stronger too! Fighting strong people just gets me so excited!"
"I'd like that," Kanu nodded with a smile. "I'm curious to see the Sho Haou's skill in battle."
"So you both came by to see Ma-chan? Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Hakufu Sonsaku. I didn't get your name?" Hakufu asked the silver-haired girl.
"I'm Chou'un Shiryuu. Pleased to meet you Sonsaku-san," Chou'un said pleasantly.
"Please call me Hakufu. How come you never open your eyes, Un-chan?" Hakufu asked with all the tact of a two by four between the eyes. "Is there something wrong with them?"
"I just prefer to use my other senses, Hakufu-san," Chou'un serenely replied.
"Oh, I see, so it's some kind of training," Hakufu concluded. "Are you really strong too?"
"I have some small skill," Chou'un said humbly, causing Kanu to snort in mirth.
Nobody knew just how powerful Chou'un was, but Kanu suspected that the silver-haired girl was easily her match.
"Oh, okay," Hakufu said brightly. "So you're interested in Ma-chan too, huh?"
Chou'un blushed and bowed her head demurely.
"Ranma-san has many attractive qualities," the silver-haired girl replied.
"Speaking of," Kanu interceded, "you didn't seem too surprised at the change."
"Nor did you, Kanu-san," Chou'un countered.
"I saw it when he was helping me home after our fight," Kanu explained. "He explained it to me then."
"Ranma-san's curse is in his school records," Chou'un offered. In point of fact, she had been observing Ranma for most of the week since Kanu had introduced him and the question of his loyalties came up. She had in fact seen the curse in action several times.
"Isn't it cool?" Hakufu chirped.
A groan from the futon focused the three girls on their patient.
"Ow," Ranma mentioned. "What hit me?"
"You seemed to have had an altercation with the kitchen table, Ranma-san," Chou'un answered.
Ranma blinked and looked around him.
"Chou'un-san, Kanu-san, what are you doing here?" Ranma asked, confused.
"We heard you were attacked," Kanu explained. "We came by to check on you and find out what happened."
"It was nothing," Ranma dismissed.
"You have a number of bruises that say otherwise, Ranma-san," Chou'un countered as Kanu poked him in the long bruise across his belly, making Ranma wince.
"We have to know what happened, Ranma," Kanu insisted. "An attack on you is an attack on Seito. We have to know if we need to be ready for more attacks on our fighters."
"I don't think so," Ranma shook his head. "I think they were just after me specifically. The Scar-faced guy said something about an Imperial Order to kill me."
"Ganryo?" Kanu asked. "So they were from Yoshuu Academy? Do you know who else was there?"
"I think that was his name," Ranma nodded. "There was also a big bald guy that I think was called Bunshu and a girl with grayish-green hair and a mark on her cheek. They others were pretty non-descript."
"Ganryo and Bunshu usually work together. The girl sounds like Koshaji. They are Yoshuu's top fighters," Chou'un said.
"Yeah, well, they won't be fighting anyone for a while," Ranma informed them. "I hurt the big guy pretty bad. As for the rest..."
Ranma continued his damage assessment while Kanu and Chou'un listened carefully.
"It does sound like you were targeted specifically," Kanu observed. "Perhaps in retaliation for your interference with their attack of Sonsaku. However, I think we should..."
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(Posted Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:53)
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