InuYasha Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crossover ❯ Ninja in Girl's Clothing ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five

Ninja in Girl's Clothing

-----

"You're such lazy bums," Princess said with a smile, taking a bite of her omelet.

"Shut up," Ryoga muttered half-heartedly.

Kuno simply ignored his girlfriend's barb, taking a bite of his own omelet instead. Chewing it thoughtfully, he swallowed and turned to Kari. "Ah, could you pass the salt?"

The young girl responded by chucking the salt at his head.

Unfortunately, that was a usual occurrence for Kuno, so he simply caught the item as it fell from his forehead. "Thank you."

She snorted, turning back to her own food.

Soon enough the breakfast was finished. Daisetsu gathered up the plates while his wife addressed the assembled group.

"Look," Nabiki began, "we may have agreed to take you in for the time being." She held up a finger. "But that doesn't mean for free."

"We can't get jobs," Kari responded.

Sei nodded. "We'd need to exist on paper in order to do that."

"I didn't mean that, actually," Nabiki countered. "Something more simple, done in every house."

"What is it?" Ryoga looked curious.

"Chores."

Blinking all around.

"You've got to be kidding," Princess muttered under her breath. She'd best find some sap to get some money off of, or else she'd be forced to do housework. The thought made her cringe.

Kodachi felt the same, but was much more vocal. "You can't honestly expect somebody of my stature to be degraded in such a way, can you?"

"You're guests," Nabiki replied, "but for all intents and purposes this is your home now. Now Daisetsu and I split up the chores, so I don't see any reason not to split them up amongst you as well."

"I'll be glad to help out," Ryoga said. The fanged boy gave a grin. "I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality, after all."

Kuno nodded solemnly. "Indeed, Nabiki Tendo. It would be most unchivalrous of me to refuse such a task."

Nabiki blinked at that. She thought he would refuse just as his sister had.

"Look," Daisetsu said, coming back from a quick cleaning of the dishes, "there's a simple solution for this. Anybody who doesn't want to work can leave. I said I'd give you a place to stay, but I did not say you could freeload off of me and my wife."

Kodachi and Gin wore matching scowls. Neither girl wanted anything to do with household chores.

"Well, I have no problems," Sei spoke. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You might want to make up a schedule, though, so we all know what we're doing."

"I was planning on it," the middle Tendo daughter replied.

"Ah, but there are some other concerns," Kuno began. "We are still here with no supplies. Such conditions must be remedied, and even I find myself without the proper funds to do so."

"He's right," Princess said. "Even you can't expect us to go without toothbrushes, or a few sets of clothes." She was still wearing her silver dress; Nabiki had lent her some sleepwear, but Gin refused to wear Nabiki's day clothes. They were horrible, fashion-wise.

Nabiki frowned. She had figured on this, but it still didn't make her happy. "I can spare some money, I suppose." Clothing six people was within her budget, but it was NOT a welcome addition by any means. "Just as long as you're not buying anything like that dress."

Princess frowned.

-----

Seishin was a happy boy as he exited the store. He was now the proud owner of several outfits. Most of them were resembling his current one, simple loose pants, T-shirts, and button-up shirts. The important thing, however, was that he was also able to obtain a single shirt/sweater garment, a strange shirt that had many resemblances to a sweater. It was yellow and black, and he had several of the same shirts destroyed back in his Nerima. He couldn't believe his luck in finding another one here.

He only wished he knew the proper name for them.

As he exited, he almost ran into a familiar figure with a travelling pack. "Ryoga?" For a moment, he thought it was this world's version, but then he caught sight of Kari standing behind the boy.

"Hiya, Sei," the martial artist said in greeting.

"Good morning," the young girl greeted cheerfully.

Sei blinked as he looked over Kari. She had already changed into a new outfit, a blue long-sleeved shirt with a large v-neck and a pair of matching blue pants, tied all around the legs like Ryoga did his ankles. A thick shirt of black netting was worn under the blue shirt as well. Her appearance screamed "Ninja!"

"Ah, are you a ninja?" the boy asked, curiously. The way Kari had told her story, it sounded as if she were a simple martial artist.

The blue-haired girl nodded. "Yep. Didn't I mention it?"

The archer shrugged. "No, but it's not really important anyway."

"Are you done with your shopping?" Ryoga asked. He had, himself, managed to procure a few new outfits, along with a travelling pack. At the moment, it didn't have anything actually useful for travelling, simply being used to hold his own outfits, as well as his friend's. He hadn't managed to find any versions of what he usually wore, so he was forced to buy several more normal-looking outfits, still in yellow or black. He wished he had Kari's luck in finding what he usually wore.

Sei nodded in assent. "Yeah. I have everything I need."

"Let's head back, then," Kari suggested.

The trio made their way back toward Daisetsu's apartment. While passing a cluster of higher-end shops, they caught sight of Gin and the Kuno siblings. Kuno seemed to be carrying the baggage for the three of them, the boxes in his arms stacking up to above his head. He was craning his neck to the side to see where he was going.

Against his better judgement, Sei waved an arm in the air. "Gin! Kuno!" He was able to get their attention and the three made their way over.

Princess spoke first. "I see you three are done, as well." She had been shocked by how little they received to shop with, but she had been able to manage, especially since she took most of her boy toy's money as well. She had left enough for Kuno to get a few extra kendoist outfits, simply so he wouldn't smell up the apartment. But the money she had taken was well spent. Five different outfits, all in shimmering silver, were hers. Blouses and pants, mainly, as those had been less expensive, though one more seductive outfit was included as well. They were the lower end of high fashion, but at least they were still high fashion.

"Yeah," the ninja girl responded. She didn't feel like dealing with the Kunos-plus-one, but she forced herself to smile. "We were heading back. You coming?" She hoped they'd say no.

"I see no reason to tarry," Kodachi said in reply.

Kuno nodded. "Simply lead the way." He prayed they make it quickly; the Kuno arms were made for holding women, not boxes of clothing. They felt ready to fall off.

And so the group of six was back at Daisetsu's apartment. Both Nabiki and Daisetsu were absent from the living/dining room when they arrived.

Kuno dropped the boxes on the floor and fell back onto the couch. He didn't voice his opinion, but he felt that shopping was, perhaps, a task that should never be partaken in when with women.

That's when the two owners of the apartment came into the room, entering from the bedroom. "I see you've finished," Nabiki said, taking a look at all the boxes on the floor.

Daisetsu looked over the room. When he caught sight of Kari, he immediately stepped forward and to the right, getting between his wife and the young girl. "What the hell?!" His scowl was easily visible.

Kari had the decency to look confused. "Huh? What is it?"

"You're a ninja!" Daisetsu replied in the tone that said it was a horrible revelation.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Yeah. So?"

"There's no way I'm letting a ninja stay under my roof!" Daisetsu's voice was firm, booking no arguments.

Kari's eyes widened. "Huh?" What had she done to deserve that?

Ryoga spoke up in defense of his best friend. "Hey, now! You can't treat her like that!" He clenched his fist as anger coursed through his body.

Nabiki laid a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Come on now, Daisetsu." Her tone was a bit colder than usual, letting her husband know she was meaning every word she said. "We agreed to take her in, we can't throw her out without a good reason." It was true they had bad experiences with ninjas in the past, but that was no reason to hold anything against the young girl who had, as far as Nabiki remembered, been nothing but friendly.

Daisetsu, however, could simply not see where his wife was coming from. Didn't she remember everything they had been through with the Yakuza's ninja henchmen? Being a ninja was a choice, just as being part of the Yakuza would be a choice. As far as he was concerned, that girl chose her own path and should be treated the same as he would treat any ninja.

However, he didn't voice his opinion. He couldn't argue with his wife, especially when she was like this. Instead he scowled and marched out of the apartment. He needed to blow off some steam and felt a nice run might do the trick.

The entire group stared as Daisetsu left, slamming the door behind him. They were all shocked into silence.

Ryoga finally spoke. "That could have gone better."

Kuno cleared his throat. "Yes, well..." He looked over to the small girl, who had her fist clenched, obviously angry with Daisetsu. He stood, walking over to her. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he gave what he felt was a roguish grin. "It is not so bad. What he considers a bane is in fact a gift." His grin got wider as Kari looked up at him. "The heavens are truly kind to me, to send me in my time of great need a replacement for my errant servant. Truly you are a gift from the heavens to replace the noble Sasuke."

Kari growled. She had almost begun to respect Kuno when he came to cheer her up. But after that, she simply grabbed the hand on his shoulder, twisting it so Kuno was forced to his knees. In that position, they were eye-to-eye. The ninja girl punched him in the face, sending the kendoist reeling back, falling onto the floor with a loud thud. He was obviously unconscious from the blow. Then the ninja walked over, kicking him in the ribs while he was on the ground.

Ryoga shook his head just as Nabiki said, "Now that he had coming."

"I'm going out," the ninja said. Without another word, her form seemed to blur and she appeared in front of the door. She left, just as Daisetsu had, though she didn't slam the door shut behind her.

Princess sighed, walking over to her battered boyfriend. "I guess it's my job to tend to him, then."

Kodachi laughed. "Oh no, girly, your cretinous hands will not lay another finger upon my brother to dig your claws further into him. I will use my gentle touch to nurse my poor brother once again to health."

Gin scowled. "First, since when do I have claws? And second, since when is your touch gentle?"

"Close your mouth, peasant, or the flies will make more of a nest in it than they already have."

The silver-haired girl shook her head. "That's a rather elaborate way to tell somebody to shut up."

Sei sighed. Things certainly didn't seem to be going well.

Nabiki just hoped that nothing ever got physical. At least not in the apartment. She did not want her home to become another Tendo Dojo.

-----

After a good half-hour, Daisetsu found himself prowling the grounds of his university. It was a Sunday, thus no classes, and the campus was empty except for him.

He sighed. He really wasn't hitting it off very well with Kari, was he? The run had cleared his mind really well, and he felt a little guilty.

Still, she was a ninja.

What he really needed was to talk about it. But he didn't want to talk to Nabiki, not right after running out of their home like that. Then his eyes lit up. His friend, Bokkai, should be around in one of the labs. Even on weekends, the boy had access to the science equipment. Daisetsu's old high school buddy was often a worker on the university's scientific projects and was trusted enough for that kind of access.

That thought in his mind, the ronin went off to one of the school's laboratories. Sure enough, Bokkai was there, working on one of his mechanical projects.

Waiting for a pause in his work, Daisetsu took a seat in a chair along the wall. He didn't have to wait long, as Bokkai wiped off his hands with a rag and turned around, catching sight of his friend.

"Ah, Daisetsu," the boy greeted. "How long have you been there?"

"Not long," the college student replied. "You busy?"

"Not particularly," Bokkai replied. "Why? Do you need some more stuff from me?" The teen had often made odd inventions whenever Daisetsu needed them. When he needed a disguise and some contraptions for demon hunting, Bokkai had been able to make them and get them to Daisetsu. It was almost expected now.

"No, not this time." Daisetsu sighed, trying to think of a good way to broach the subject. "It's just, I have a few houseguests now." What an understatement, he thought to himself. "And there's one in particular I don't think I'll be able to get along with." He thought of the young girl. A ninja, of all things why a ninja?

"Well, if he's staying a long time you'd better learn to get along." The engineering major nodded. "Living with somebody you can't stand cannot be that fun, eh?"

Bokkai and Daisetsu continued their conversation for almost an hour. The topic quickly changed from Daisetsu's unwanted housemates to safer topics- school, working, and life in general.

"Well, I'll see you later," Daisetsu said as he rose from his seat. "I'd better get back home, though."

Before he got very far, though, Bokkai spoke up. "Oh, yeah, Dai!"

Daisetsu turned around to look at his friend. "Yeah?"

The technical genius was scribbling something on a piece of paper. A few seconds later, he thrust it into Daisetsu's hand.

He looked down at the paper in his hand. An address and time was written on it. "Eh? What's this?"

"The latest project I've been working on," the boy explained. "I can bring some guests, so I figured I'd bring you along."

"Thanks," Daisetsu said, shoving the paper in his pocket. "After all of this, I'm gonna need a break."

"No problem."

After that, Daisetsu made his way out of the building. As he was leaving campus, however, the familiar tingle of Jusenkyo washed over him. The school's sprinklers had turned on. "Oh, great," the girl muttered to herself. "Just my luck."

Suddenly a voice spoke, confused. "Daichan?"

Wondering who could be addressing her, Daisetsu turned around. It was Kari, the ninja who had sparked her trip in the first place. Had she seen Daisetsu's change?

"What are you doing here?" Kari asked, walking up to the older girl.

Daisetsu let out the breath she had been holding. Apparently not. "I was just out for a walk," she replied.

"Me too," Kari said softly.

Daisetsu felt like shouting at the girl, but forced a smile onto her lips. She didn't want to give anything away. "So, what's up?"

"A direction," was Kari's automatic reply. It brought a chuckle to her friend, so she smiled. "Oh, well. I was heading back to Daisetsu's apartment. Where are you heading?"

Daisetsu frowned. "Ah, I'm heading home myself. But it's in the other direction."

"Oh," was the ninja's response. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah." The boy-turned-girl nodded. "You will."

"Bye, then," Kari said, turning away.

"Yeah, bye." Daisetsu bounded to the top of the roof and was off toward her apartment. She wanted to get back and into her guy form before Kari arrived.

She arrived at her apartment in a short amount of time. Rather than walking in as a girl, she simply eased open the bathroom window and slipped in that way.

The brown-haired girl quickly turned on the water. Time to become a guy again.

-----

"If I had known this was going to happen, I never would have come back." To say Kari was in a bad mood was an understatement. She had been hoping for a nice home-cooked dinner, but what does she get? A nice home-cooked dinner made by Kodachi.

"It doesn't look bad," Princess said, poking it with a fork. Of course, she also knew that meant absolutely nothing with Kodachi.

Nabiki frowned. She wished she hadn't put Kodachi's name in the hat. She had decided chores by random drawings from a hat, and just her luck that Kodachi had been drawn first for cooking.

Kuno simply frowned at his food, as if that would drive away whatever toxins were within it.

Sei was going one step further than anybody else was. He had drawn his bow, notched an arrow, and was taking aim at his plate.

Kodachi was happily eating her meal.

Daisetsu looked over to his wife. "Say, honey, it's been a long time since we've eaten out, isn't it?" He wasn't going to eat this food, plain and simple.

Kari shot the man a glare. "If you're going, you'd better have enough money for all of us."

Nabiki's frown deepened. They didn't have enough money to spare for that.

Ryoga threw his hands up into the air. "What's wrong with all of you? It's just food!" Before Kari could shout a warning, Ryoga took a big bite of the meat.

Everybody leaned toward the boy, intent on seeing if the food really was poisoned with toxin, or paralysis powder, or whatever else Kodachi might have put in.

"See?" the fanged boy said after swallowing the food. "Perfectly..." He trailed off as he slumped over to the side, falling out of the chair unconscious.

Daisetsu coughed into his hand. "Now, as I was saying. Eating out seems like a perfectly good idea."

His wife nodded. "I think we can splurge this once."

Kuno nodded. "That would be the wisest course of action."

Within moments, the room was vacant, with the exception of Kodachi and the boy lying on the floor.

"How quaint," the Kuno sister said, pushing the food around on her plate. Oh, well. She was hungry, and this just meant more for her.

-----

Kari sat up in the pullout, looking toward the back of the room. She was dressed in the pajamas she'd bought that day, pink with little black piglets, and had her hair loose. What she was looking at amused her to no end.

Ryoga, Sei, and Kuno were all crammed together against a wall, on the other side of the room as Daisetsu. All three were glaring at the teen on the other side of the room who was simply snoring innocently.

"Gee, you three look like you're ready for a battle," Kari said with a giggle.

"We are," Kuno replied simply. "Should that fiend roll anywhere near us, we shall be prepared this time."

"He ain't getting my blankets," Sei said, notching an arrow to his bow.

Ryoga had his belt in his hands. "This night, Sleep-Fu will fall."

Kari shrugged. "Whatever you say. I still think you're pulling this stuff out of nowhere." She lied down, closing her eyes. "Just try not to wake the entire house this time, all right?"

"We shall try not to disturb your beauty rest," the kendoist agreed. "After all, you're in dire need of it."

Ryoga idly wondered if Kari had the kunai the entire time. It was quivering on Kuno's bokuto, which the kendoist had brought in front of his face in time to block the projectile.

Several minutes passed with nothing more than several innocent snores on Daisetsu's part. He muttered something in his sleep, rolling to the side. Otherwise he was completely still.

"Mayhaps... the atrocity was but a single occurrence?" Kuno ventured.

Sei slowly slackened the bow's string before putting away the arrow. "It seems to be that way." He folded up the bow before putting it back into his pouch aside his blanket.

"Maybe we are overreacting," Ryoga agreed.

Having decided so, the three laid down to fall into peaceful slumber.

Or, rather, they would have if Ryoga hadn't shouted several minutes later. "Oh, damn it!"

Sei and Kuno turned their heads. Ryoga's blanket was firmly in the grasp of Daisetsu's arms. When had that happened?

And so the battle was joined.