They Are My Noble Masters Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Virtua Fighter Fan Fiction ❯ Nodoka 2/1 ❯ Chapter 05 - The Art of Peeping ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Nodoka 2/1
The Chroma Series
Act 0 Part 05

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DISCLAIMER
Most of the characters and other elements are owned by people who are not me, though I did make up a few here and there... but none of the main ones. The rest are owned by many talented people, and a few faceless corporations, such as Rumiko Takahashi and Sega respectively.


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AUTHOR'S NOTES

Special thanks to my "Agent" and "Publicist" Hiryo, for proofreading, prodding, posting advice and so much more.

 I normally do not have much to say here, but this struck me as odd. The day I posted this chapter, I recieved my first real hate mail here, and while that in itself  isn't such a big deal (I mean I expected to be getting a lot of flames for this, and my, lack of, writing skills, as it was), it did bother me a bit that not only was there  no reason given for calling me a terrible human being, and telling me to die, but then I was blocked so that I couldn't even open the message on the site (let alone  reply to ask what brought that on), if it had not gone to my email box (and stayed brief), I wouldn't have even known what 'he' said. It was all very odd. So I ask,  that if anyone knows anything about this person, 'tuatara', maybe you could enlighten me as to what might have offended them so much that I would recieve a  death wish. At least I know I am doing SOMETHING right, lol.

 To everyone else, thank you for your support of my work. The kind words I have received from the rest of you, mean a lot to me. Now, on to the story.

"Speech"
'Thought'
/Mandarin/
\Cantonese\
{ Author's Notes & *Translations* Feel free to skip these}


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GLOSSARY (from the last chapter)

Janken/Jan Ken Pon - Rock, Paper, Scissors

Sempai - Senior/Upperclassman
Kohai/Kouhai - Junior/Underclassman
Onee/Nee - Older Sister (also 'Ane/Aneki' and many others)
Imoto/Imouto - Younger Sister
Onii/Nii - Older Brother (also 'Ani/Aniki' and many others)
Oto/ototo - Younger Brother
Oba = Aunt (or other woman of the parent's age). Not to be confused with
Obaa = Grandmother, or other old woman.

Kouchou - Principal (well, that's one meaning)

Kai - in this case, Mystery or Wonder. [there are a lot of possible meanings, depending on the kanji used, like pleasure; delight; enjoyment; (n) (1) undergarment; underwear; (2) lower garment (e.g. trousers) or (1) meeting; assembly; party; (2) association; club] {http://rut.org/cgi-bin/j-e/FG=r/inline/dosearch?sDict=on &H=PW&L=J&T=kai}

Bu - in this case, 'Club'

Ahoge = cowlick, (lit. 'Stupid Hair')

Chibi = (n) (1) small child; pipsqueak; small fry; small, cute versions of manga, anime, etc. characters, typically with oversized heads; (2) (sens) (uk) short person; midget; dwarf; (3) small animal; runt; (4) worn down (pencil, etc.)

Ara = Oh My!, Oh!, Ah!, etc.

Nakama = comrade(s); partner(s); good friend(s); colleague(s); associate(s); (more than friends, sometimes more than family; *See One Piece)

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CHAPTER 05
The Art of Peeping

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No sooner had they left the insanity that was the Beijing airport, than Nodoka herded them into another type of insanity, the local shopping center. She grabbed the children, and ran for the clothing stores, yelling out a battle cry, "Cha-cha-cha-Chaaaaaaarge-it!" Despite which, she paid cash like most Japanese people would.

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Nabiki had been researching local legends when she ran across a common one. One she had heard about from other schools as well. It was such a common legend, that the odds of the rumors floating around being true were very slim, and it seemed like it would be a good first event in which her new club could participate. She began her preparations for what she would do in the club meeting the next day.

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They exited the shop several hours later and several thousand yuan poorer. Each of them wearing one of their new outfits and were loaded down with bags, as they began to ponder what to do next.
{*Yuan = Chinese unit of currency*}

Nodoka was wearing a sleeveless, black, silk pien fu. Trimmed in red, it had several pink and red flowers embroidered on the front, she spoke first, "Well children, now that is done, and I know we are all tired after that trip through the airport, so let us go get a hotel room, store our stuff and go get some Chinese food!" The prospect of food put a grin on all of their faces as they started searching for a hotel and restaurant.
{*Pien Fu = A fancy Chinese dress*}

Ranma wore a solid black changshan, which went all the way to his ankles, and was split to his waist, revealing his black silk pants, cinched at the waist, and a bit of his usual red sarashi underneath. He pointed toward a building with girls out front handing out fliers, and said, "The smell of good food is coming from that building, we should go there later for dinner." His hair had been tied back in the same style of braid he had been wearing ever since Ukyo finished her geisha training. His mother had seen Ukyo braiding his hair and insisted he start practicing proper brushing techniques for a girl's hair. From then on, he had been in charge of brushing and fixing their hair every day and Ukyo dutifully took care of his. As his massage skills had improved, he also began to incorporate a scalp massage into his treatment.
{*Changshan or Dagua = lit. 'long shirt', male equivalent of a qipao or cheongsam*}
{*Sarashi = a 'wrap' that goes around the waist or chest*}

Ukyo, who was wearing a knee-length, light-blue qipao, with a slightly darker floral embroidery along the edges, and her hair was done up in a bun in the back that had a ponytail that came out of the center, quipped, "You just want to go there because of the beautiful girls outside." She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.
{*Cheongsam or Qipao = body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women*}

"Well, while I hope there are beautiful girls inside as well, I know there will be at least two, once we get there anyway." He replied with a wink. "But the food DOES smell good." Ranma ran over to one of the girls, after talking to her for a moment, she stuffed one of her coupons into his front pocket before he ran back to the group. "Now we will get a discount, and yes, she said that the girls inside WERE at least as pretty as she was, they all take turns out front."

 Nodoka contemplated her son's 'manly' actions, Ukyo was trying to figure out a way to use that trick herself and Ryoga could not figure out why she did not just put the paper into one of his bags, it was sure to be crumpled now.

 They continued to drag Ryoga along, in his new black silk pants, that matched Ranma's, and short version of the changshan that hung just passed where his belt gathered , which matched his bandannas in color (that he seemed to refuse to remove), and headed toward a vary large hotel.

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Akane was on her way home from school with a couple of her friends, happy that she had been able to avoid the Maid Guy for most of the day, or at the very least, he had not interrupted her activities. She knew perfectly well that odds were, he was somewhere, nearby, watching, waiting for her to appear to need even the slightest assistance, it was something she could not avoid after all. She wanted to go to the mall, get some ice cream and look at some clothes to celebrate.

 After enjoying their ice cream, they headed over to the clothing stores and began to browse. They looked at many things, from underclothes to accessories and everything in between, chatting all the while. They talked about various topics, but both Yuri and Sayuka might not have known Akane for long, but they both knew her well enough not to broach the topic of 'boys', not that Yuri much cared, she would rather talk about Sayuka or her current favorite Idol anyway. She did not have a problem with boys in general, but they certainly did not appeal to her. Yuri had gotten a few looks of death when they had gotten to the bra department, due to the taller girl beginning to develop before her friends, but it did not last long, and they were back to normal in moments.

 They had gathered several items each to try on and headed off to the changing rooms. No sooner than Akane had removed her skirt, when she heard a child's screams getting closer. She ignored the disruption, hoping that the child's parent would handle the problem, and began to remove her shirt in order to try on the dress she had picked out. The screams had gotten quite loud by the time she had undone about half of her shirt's buttons. All of a sudden, a boy, at least a few years her junior, popped his head into the booth, grabbed her skirt and ran off screaming. Luckily, she was not planning to try on underwear, like Yuri.

 Akane 'calmly' took a moment to process this, being too shocked even to move for a moment. Within seconds, she was in motion, wrapping the dress around herself sideways, and bolting after the kid, now screaming things of her own. The spoiled child saw, or rather heard, he was being chased by someone with a less than friendly expression in their voice, and he could feel the blazing battle aura approaching him. He began to bob and weave through the display racks, heading toward the main exit back into the main mall.

 Somewhere along the way, the dress Akane had been using to cover her lower half had gotten snagged on one of the nearby display racks, but she was well beyond noticing at this particular moment, thanks to the taunts from the obnoxious brat and her righteous indignation. So focused she was, that she also failed to notice the child throwing her uniform to the side as he ran out into the mall proper.

 Akane had just run out of the store herself, unknowingly drawing even more attention upon herself as she fumed aloud, "Where did that pervert go? I'll kill him!"

 Luckily for Akane, before she had gotten much further, she had been picked up by the shirt collar and carried back into the store, and toward the changing rooms, by one Maid Guy, who handed her discarded dress to her, while holding the child in his other massive hand. "Kukuku, running around half dressed, you sure are a troublesome goshujin. You could have waited in the booth for Maid Guy's perfect service!"

 Noticing the boy in his other hand, she started to build up her ki to throw a devastating punch, only to have maid guy move his hand. "Maid Guy will turn this miniature mugger over to the authorities, while you get dressed, unless you plan to walk home like that." Maid Guy chuckled as he walked away with the boy, as Akane, finally realized her state of dress, and dove back into the changing stall.

 After a moment of peace, a small voice from the next booth came over the wall, "Is it safe yet?"

 "Yeah, the coast is clear."

 "Man, that was crazy, you'd think this was Nerima or someplace like that."

 "Have you heard? They say there is a half-dressed alien oni flying around there these days, shooting people with lightning."

 "What won't they think of next?"

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Before they left the restaurant, Ranma tracked down the girl he had spoken with before. "/Excuse me, miss. I need to lodge a complaint, you told me the girls inside were at least as pretty as you, and while they are indeed pretty, you are by far, the prettiest among them./"

 She blushed as she responded, "/Oh, honored customer, you flatter me./" She was used to flattery, but the sincerity in the boy's voice, and the honest look in his entrancingly blue eyes, made her wish he was a few years (or more) older.

 Ranma held his hand over his heart, "/Honest truth, I mean every word. Thank you for helping us today, it made for a lovely first day in your fair homeland./" Before he turned to leave, he slipped a bill into the diamond-shaped opening, cut out of the cleavage portion of her dress. She had been surprised enough that a Japanese person, on their first day out of the country, would even know to tip, never mind the way he went about it, apparently his language lessons included cultural differences as well, but she could not complain about the size of Ranma's tip.

 Still blushing as she watched the boy and his family leave, she thought to herself, '/That boy is going to be a real heartthrob in a few years./'

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The Kai Bu had gathered for the day's meeting. The club was still small, but slowing growing. Nabiki was sitting at the head of the table, in front of a chalkboard. Kaede was sitting off to the side, torn between excitement about the club, and disappointment in being taken away from her games, manga, and anime. Mori was standing beside Nabiki, waiting for a chance to be helpful. Fubuki was standing near Kasumi, who had just sat down, after they had served tea to the rest of the girls. 'Penguin' was sitting at the foot of the table, wearing an old fashioned, British styled outfit, modeled after Sherlock Holmes, complete with a pipe that blew bubbles, as she was demonstrating for them all to see, trying and failing to look stoic. A few other maids also stood around, waiting for the meeting to begin.

 "First, thank you all for joining the Kai Bu. I hope we all will have a lot of fun together. Please, all of you have a seat. While in this club, we will not have a distinction between servant and upper class students, no matter what the school itself (and our budget) have to say about it. We are all members of the Kai Bu!" They all looked over at their headmaster, waiting.

 Sparkles started forming in her eyes as Nabiki had spoken. "No, no, I don't mind at all." Having been given their leave, all but Fubuki and Mori, sat down, undoing bindings and collars, making themselves more comfortable.

 "You too 'Fukibuki'." Nabiki added using her sister's pet name for her friend, who blushed as she quickly sat beside Kasumi. Fubuki had a difficult time breaking out of the 'maid' role she had been living twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, since she was a small child, though the Tendo girls were slowly chipping away at her shell, maybe they could even get her to wear normal clothes for once...

 Mori, on the other hand, had been given the distinct position of vice president of the club. She was preparing to write on the chalkboard as Nabiki started to speak again. "Today we will begin our first official 'club event'. Have any of you hear about the 'Toire no Hanako-san'?" Mori wrote the words 'Toire no Hanako-san' on the board as some of the girls began to nod, looking a bit frightened. For those of you who have not heard the stories. According to the legend, a person who goes to the third stall in the girls' bathroom on the third floor and knocks three times before asking 'Are you there, Hanako-san', will hear a voice answer 'I'm here'. If the person enters the stall there will be a girl with short hair, in a very old uniform, waiting." Even more of the girl began to look a bit frightened as she continued. "The stories vary as to what she will do if you find her, ranging from attacking or playing tricks, to being helpful or just floating there, staring at you." Nabiki let that hang in the air for a moment, for suspense, with a blank look on her face, as they stared into her unblinking eyes.

 Quickly changing her expression from creepy, to grinning broadly, in the blink of an eye, she finished by saying, in a cutesy tone of voice, "And we will be looking into it!" A couple of the girls fainted.

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 There was only one girl's lavatory on the third floor, being the smallest of the floors in the building, making it easy to figure out where to go. When they arrived at the door, Nabiki started barking out orders. "You two, guard the door and watch for anything strange, the rest of you follow me."

 Nabiki opened the door and went inside with Mori hot on her heels as the rest of the girls, followed her in a huddle, looking quite frightened. The rumors had been circulating in the school for some time and the walk up had been filled with them scaring each other with stories they had heard. By the time they had reached their destination, most of them were quaking, including Kaede, who was huddled with the other four scared girls.

 Nabiki stood by the door with Mori directly behind her and to the left. The other girls huddled as close to the exit as they could be. Standing there confidently, Nabiki knocked on the door to the stall, and said, "Are you there, Hanako-san?" in a singsong voice. Turning back to the other girls, she began, "See, nothi..."

Nabiki's calm rebuttal was interrupted, by a wispy voice that came from inside the stall. "I'm heeeeeere..."

 Many of the girls started shaking at this point. However, not to be detoured, Nabiki opened the door. Inside the stall, was a translucent girl, with a pageboy style haircut, in a red school uniform, floating above the toilet, staring at them.

 Never had any of the girls moved so fast in their lives, many of them screaming as they ran. They had made it back to the clubroom in seconds flat, dragging a curious Nabiki by the collar. Not one of them noticing the puddle that one of them left behind. But someone did, and they were not exactly happy about it.

 "There has to be a logical explanation for this."

 "What is it?"

"The place is haunted, that's what!"

 "Couldn't be, there's no such thing as ghosts!"

 "Go back and tell her that!"

After they had all calmed down, Nabiki pulled Kaede aside to ask her if she could acquire a few things for the club.

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The next day, as the club gathered, Nabiki was happy to see that she had not lost any members with yesterday's activities. Once everyone had gathered and settled down, and had their tea and snacks, Nabiki addressed the group.

 "Girls, are you ready to continue our investigation?" There were a few looks of surprise and a couple of fear.

 "Now girls, I am sure Nabiki-chan has a plan." Kasumi interjected, trying to calm everyone down, and reassure them that all would be well.

 "Yes, thank you Onee-chan. Now, as I was saying, did anyone learn anything from our activity yesterday?"

 One girl rose her hand, and said, "Yes, I learned that I am scared of ghosts!"

 A couple of others joined in with a resounding "Me too!" Several of the other girls had a good laugh.

 "Oooookay, did anyone observe anything that might, say, help us solve the case?" Nabiki asked, having a hard time keeping the grin off of her face.

 When no answers came forth, Nabiki continued. "First, we heard the voice, which responded to our knock and call. Next we saw a girl that we could see through."

 "Yeah, thanks for that." One of the girls interrupted.

 "So, knowing there is no such thing as ghosts, what can we conclude?"

 "There's something funny going on here."

"Then why aren't we laughing?" Everyone laughs. "I retract the question."

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After calming back down, the girls headed back up to the lavatory, for further investigation. Nabiki calmly took the lead again and said, "This time, we will not knock, nor say the phrase, we will just open the door, and look around." This time, there was no noise and no 'ghost', just a normal looking stall, with a mirror on the back wall.

 Looking closely, some of them see something strange in the mirror. "Kaede-rijichou, is there a room behind this wall?"
{*Rijichou = board chairman (this is what Mikan calls Kaede)*}

"Not that I am aware of." She replied, a bit nervously.

 "Hummm..." Nabiki climbed on top of the western style toilet, but was not tall enough to reach the ceiling. "We need a ladder."

 The group went into the hall, to look for the nearby janitor's room to get a ladder. Said janitor helped them get the ladder and carried it back to the lavatory for them. Nabiki set it up so that she could climb up and examine the ceiling. She had not gotten even half way up the ladder, when they heard a muffled scream. So intent on the ladder and examining the room, none of the noticed that the janitor had grabbed their principal, covered her mouth, and was running off with her until they heard her try to scream.

 They had all run out into the hall to pursue, luckily, her kicking and thrashing was slowing him down. Nabiki pulled out one of her non-linking feather dusters, and threw it with all of her power, pinning the leg of the man's jumpsuit to the floor.

 He almost dropped Kaede when his forward momentum was halted. Still holding his prize, he tried to free his leg.

 Nabiki and her 'sisters' were not idle during this time, they had all run forwards, Kasumi and Fubuki each pulling out their much longer weapons, while Nabiki dove and slid between the man's legs. Fubuki's bat and Kasumi's broom both collided with the back of the man's head at the same time Nabiki's fist landed in a very sensitive place, knocking him out cold. Nabiki helped to keep Kaede from falling on the floor. She wasn't strong enough to catch her, but was able to catch her hands and keep her from hitting her head on the floor, unlike a certain janitor.

 Some of the other girls ran over with rope, and Mori tied him up, while many of the girls were asking Kaede if she was all right.

 "Well, it seems as though we have caught a bad guy. The question is, was he the one responsible, and if so, why?" Nabiki said while rubbing her temples. "You three, go back to his room, and get something heavy. When you come back, guard him, if he tries to move, hit him with whatever you found. Kasumi-nee-chan, Fubuki-chan, you two help guard him too, just in case please, he has proven to be somewhat dangerous. You, go call the police. I am going to go get our evidence."

 When the three girls returned with heavy objects, Nabiki left for the restroom. Before following her, Kaede took a moment to deliver a swift kick to her former employee. Nabiki climbed the ladder and started poking around until she found a loose tile. Removing the tile, she found a crawl space that lead to a secret room behind the stalls. The room itself was rather lavish, and it turns out the mirrors were two way, each with a camera with a motion sensor on them. The exception was the third stall, which had a projector, and tape recorder set up to sound and motion detectors. Playing with it a moment, she turned it on, and sure enough, it projected the images of the girl, through the two-way mirror. A few screams from in the lavatory and apologies from Nabiki later, she turned it off, and began to look around again. She found a passage leading to stairs and other similar rooms behind all of the bathrooms.

 Looking through the books she is horrified, and rather disgusted, by what she found.

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A few days north by north-west of Beijing, our intrepid wanderers wandered. Or they did until they got close to the small town of Chongli, where Nodoka called a halt. "Okay children, let us stop for the night. We can train here for a few days and restock in that town over there." They tended to stay outside of towns when they were not training with a school, so they could let loose and not cause anyone any problems, so this was not unusual, they were not planning to stay here for long anyway.

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Later that night, Nodoka was going through the scrolls that her husband had 'obtained' from his miniature master, when she found one that she had put aside a long time ago, waiting for Ranma to be old enough for the 'training'. While stealing lady's underthings certainly was 'manly training' in her opinion, the idea of stealing did not sit well with her. Another one, on the other hand, while also being manly, did not require taking things that did not belong to them, it was perfect!

 Nodoka began working out the details of how this 'game' would work.

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 The next evening, found Ukyo, Ranma, and Ryoga 'training' near a spa in the town near where they were camping. All three of them were wearing the traditional headgear, despite how silly they all thought it looked. Ranma thought it would be smarter not to wear them, but his mother insisted, she did so love to stick to tradition in so many ways. So there they were, trying to remain unseen, while hunting down their mutual goal.

 The lost boy had already made a hindrance of himself several times, and they had not even made it there yet, let alone begun their 'training'. Ranma decided that if his mother insisted on making him drag Ryoga along on stealth training again, he would tie his leash to a tree and go back for him when they were done. He was just not suited for it. It was hard enough just to get him to his destination, never mind doing so with stealth. This feat was difficult at the best of times, and now Ryoga was barely able to concentrate at all.

 Ranma turned to Ryoga and in a harsh whisper, said, "Come on Lap Dog, keep your head in the game. We are starting to get close. If you don't pay attention, you are going to get us all caught!"

 Ryoga grimaced at the nickname they had given him, but kept his cool enough to follow suit and keep his voice low. "Well, it's not like I can help it!"

 Ukyo also followed suit, and kept her voice to a whisper. "I don't know what you're embarrassed about, puppy, you bathe with us all the time."

 "I know, but this just feels so dirty."

 "It couldn't be dirty, mom told us to do it. She said it was 'manly training'. Are you a man or are you a dog?"

 "I'm a man!"

 "All right then, let's get over to that hot spring and start training! Now, maximum stealth, move out." Yanking on the leash, as Ryoga started off in the wrong direction. "This way, puppy."

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Finally having escaped their pursuers, Ranma yanked on Ryoga's 'chain', pulling him closer so he could smack the back of his head. "Damn you Lap Dog, we lost all of our points thanks to you! As if your fidgeting wasn't bad enough, you tried to run away, forgetting I had a hold of the leash! And leave it to you run try to run away and end up running back toward the hot spring, making enough noise to alert everyone in the area to our presence. And just where DID that monster come from anyway?"

 "You can't blame me for that one! I don't know where it came from either!"

 "I'm not, I honestly want to know where the hell it came from, was it in the hot spring the whole time?"

 "It did look that way, Ranchama. At least it won't be hurting anyone again anytime soon."

 "You would think they would have been thanking us, not chasing us, but I guess those are the rules of the game. We are wearing the uniform." He spared one last dirty look over at the sheepish Ryoga, and said, "Well, let's get back to mom and let her know, today's training ...failed! Don't be surprised if she has you cooking breakfast, Lap Dog. However, if you hadn't started that commotion, we might not have found that thing and it would still be preying on girls in the spring, so, good work, Ryoga! Even if those women never do, we thank you." They headed back to camp, dragging Ryoga, with his 'tail' between his legs, a bit less bummed than he had been before.

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Kasumi and Fubuki were on their way home from shopping and their after school activities when they spotted a group of people who seemed to be living under a bridge, and not just camping out, like wandering martial artists. Being the thoughtful girls they were, they walked over to talk to them and learned that they did in fact live there, not having anywhere else they could go. Some of them were clearly out of their mind, one even though he was from another planet, but many were just unable to find work that paid well enough to support themselves, and their families. After a bit of time chatting, they asked if there was a place they could safely build a fire, or if anyone had any cooking implements. They found a safe place, hidden, under the bridge so no one would be able to spot it from the road, and began to cook the food they had been bringing home, intending to stop and buy more when they left, and they served dinner to all of the people they could feed with what they had bought.

 After heading back, much later than they had intended they decided to get take-out and placed two orders. One order for them to take with them, the other to be delivered to the people they hadn't been able to feed under the bridge.

 They walked home, feeling sad that they hadn't been able to do more, and began discussing what they had the power to do.

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The next day found the girls and Maid Guy back at the bridge, this time, on top of it, holding a 'bake sale', and taking donations (as well as giving free food to the people living below the bridge).

 The cute girls, all dressed in their 'battle gear' (read 'maid's uniform'), and Akane in her street clothes, were able to attract a lot of attention. Their treats had been selling well, and they had even taken in a few larger donations, while Maid Guy had kept anyone from harassing them, and even intimidated one group of thugs, who had attempted to threaten the girls, into making a sizable donation themselves.

 Soon after they had stopped for lunch to share their oversized bento with anyone who wanted some, a news reporter arrived from one of the local television stations.

 "Which one of you is the spokesperson of your group?"

 The other girls pushed Kasumi forward, since it had been her idea. "Oh my, I guess that would be me."

 The reporter had a hard time not gushing at how cute the girls looked, but she was a professional, and was able to retain her composure. "Someone called and told us what you are doing here, and we would like to do a story on you, would that be all right?"

 Blushing, Kasumi nodded.

 The other girls went back to work as they set up the equipment and began the interview. "This is Tarisha Takanawa with J.N.N. and today we have with us, a very special girl. Tell us who you are and what you are doing."

 "Oh my, well, I am Kasumi Tendo, and these are my sisters, Akane and Nabiki and our friends Fubuki and Maid Guy. We found out that there were people living under the bridge here, without real homes, who had nowhere else to go, and we wanted to do something to help those poor people. So we are giving these cakes that we made, to anyone who donates to help build them a proper shelter, instead of those sad little shanties they have now." Kasumi frowned, her heart reached out to these people, and she let it show on her face, the effect being both heartbreaking and adorable.

 Nabiki poked her head around from behind her sister and added, "So please, if you can, join us in helping some of the people who need it most, and get a cake from one of our cute maids." She smiled cutely. "And if you cannot make it down here today, send your donations to the Saotome-Tendo Dojo, care of Kasumi Tendo." Nabiki had signaled Akane and Fubuki to come over from behind her back while she had been talking. They ran over to line up together, where they all bowed deeply, and said, in 'almost' perfect unison, "Thank you very much!"

 "There you have it folks, four girls doing their part, to help people in their community. I know I will be having cake this evening, I hope you will too. This has been Tarisha Takanawa, Daian, back to you." She paused, not moving until the red light went out on the camera, when she turned back to the girls. "So, how much of a donation do I need to make to get one of your cakes?"

 "Anything you can spare would be helpful, we don't have a minimum donation."

 "Well then, here is ten thousand yen, I would like to try your cake." Tarisha said with a smile.

 Kasumi returned the smile, along with her cake, "Thank you very much, for your donation, and for helping us to get the word out. We, and they," she said pointing toward the river bank, "really appreciate it." She bowed again, as she handed the small cake box to the reporter.

 Not waiting to get home, she pulled a small spoon out of her purse and took a bite of the cake. " Mmmm, oh that is good, and you said you girls made these?"

 "Thank you for your compliment, they are nothing special, just something Fukibuki, Nabiki, and I whipped up last night, with the help of Kogarashi-san, we needed to make as many as we could after all." She thought to herself, 'It was hard enough to keep Akane-chan from 'helping'.'

 "Well, I have to say, they are wonderful, and the camera loves you." Kasumi blushed again at that, not really knowing what to say to that. "We are always looking for cute girls to do 'spots' on our programs. They come in, look cute, and occasionally read a few lines or a commercial spot occasionally. You could be famous."

 Kasumi looked shyly at the ground for a moment, "Well, I don't really care about that, I just like helping people."

 "Well then, think about all of the people you could help with the money you would make, and the power of being a celebrity." She handed over her card. "Take this, call me anytime, if you want a tryout, I will talk to some people I know for you. I am sure I can get you some starting work, and if you can sing and dance, there is no telling how far you could go."

 "I will think about it, with school, club, this, and practice, I don't have a lot of free time."

 "Well, it doesn't take much time, maybe an hour or two a week, and we can even prerecord your spots, so we can set up times that work with your schedule. It's something we do for many of the minors who work with us for these spots. We can't have them missing school after all." She smiled again. "Well, I don't want to pressure you, it sounds like you have a lot going on in your life, but I hope to hear from you, I think you would be great!"

 Pocketing the card, Kasumi watched the woman leave before she ran over to get back to work.

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 In part, thanks to the news report, the girls had made far more money than they could have expected, and it did not take long before they were able to get the right permission for the construction. With the help of the Maid Guy, they began buying building materials, and Maid Guy did most of the construction himself with some help from the soon to be residents.

 Within a few days, the construction was nearly complete, and donations began to arrive in the mail. Luckily, Genma was too lazy to get the mail himself if he did not have to, so no one had to worry that some of the funds might turn up missing. They set up an account to store the funds and earn interest to use to pay for upkeep and so on. They had built a water wheel and windmill to power the few electrical devices present. They built a collection and filtration system to get cleaned water from the river, for cooking, drinking, and baths. Each of the many bedrooms came equipped with a refrigeration and a cooking unit. They were even able to hire a councilor to help watch over the place, and offer assistance to anyone who needed it.

 Kasumi, Fubuki and Nabiki vowed to stop by there at least once a week and 'spar', to provide entertainment, and clean the building. Fubuki and Nabiki insisted they name the place 'Kasumi's Cottage' in honor of the girl who got them all working on the project and Akane agreed. Kasumi tried to get them to name it 'Kogarashi's Cottage' instead, since he did the most work, but he flat out refused, stating that "A Maid Guy can not take credit for the master's work."

 Within a week's time, the 'cottage' was up and running, quite a feat, even by local building standards, and they welcomed everyone there with a party.

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A few weeks later, as Ranma and company were traveling (somewhat) toward the coast, near Qinglong, when they spotted a very strange sight. Out of the wooded area nearby, came a lion. "Aaah, this guy's a long way from home, didn't you say lions were only native to Africa in this age?"

 "Yes son, that is correct."

 "Someone should tell that to this guy then."

 "Go ahead, wise-guy, I'll be rootin' for you ...or was that 'hoping it eats you'? I forget which."

 "Laugh it up Lap Dog, it's coming this way."

 Sure enough, the lion had turned toward their party, and was slowly strolling over to them. The lion came closer and that was when they noticed that what they thought had been a mane, was in fact, blond, human-like hair. The closer it got, the more the face seemed to change into that of a human woman, and then slowly, the rest of her form began to shift as well, forming into that of a well-built, human woman, covered in a soft layer of blond fur. Nodoka pulled out her camera, wishing her video camera had a better battery life, while the others took up a defensive stance.

 "/Yes, I sense it, just like that fish woman said. So you are the ones with the power./" The almost nude woman said. Well, technically she was completely nude, but for the fine layer of velvet-like fur.

 "/What power?/"

 Finally addressing the four defensive martial artists directly, "/The power of voodoo.... No, wait, don't get me started... You four have entered my domain, and if you wish to pass, you must each answer a riddle, otherwise you will be my next meal./"

 "/What are you?/"

 "/I am a Sphinx!/"

 "/Then how is this your domain? Shouldn't you be in Egypt or something?/"

 "/Actually, my ancestors came from an area near Greece, but that was a long time ago, we have lived here for many generations./"

 "/Didn't the Greek Sphinxes have wings and a snake for a tail?/"

 "/I can have wings! Who says I can't? But they stand out, so I don't use them unless I want to fly./"

"/Ooookaay, so then what fish woman said what?/"

"/I am the one who asks the questions here, boy!/"

 "/Fine, fine, ask your riddle bridge keeper, I am not afraid./"

 "/What bridge?!?!?!? There is no bridge here! What are you talking about?/"

 "/The answer to your riddle is, 'a line from a movie'. Who's next?/" Ranma and the others were giggling at her frustration.

 "/THAT WASN'T THE RIDDLE!!!/" The cat-woman tried to calm herself down, her people were known for being mysterious, stoic, and enigmatic, and she was quickly blowing that image out of the water.

 "/Fine then Kitty, once again, I say to you, 'ask your riddle'./"

 The Sphinx still looked frustrated and stared daggers at vexing lad, "/Yes, back to the matter at hand. You boy, 'What is it that you can keep after giving it to someone else'?/"

 Ranma looked confident, "/Well, for a martial artist who follows the code, that is an easy one, the answer is, 'Your Word'./"

 This frustrated the female feline further and it showed on her face. "/You are correct. You may pass. You girl, it is your turn./"

 Ukyo figured she would continue to keep the strange woman off balance and, as usual, followed Ranma's lead. So, trying to look as cute as she could, which was quite cute indeed, she inquired, "/Who me?/"

 "/Yes, you!/"

 "/Couldn't be!/"

 "/Then who?/"

 "/Nodoka took the cookies from the cookie jar./"

 "/WHAT COOKIES? Who asked about cookies?/"

 "/Well, there aren't any cookies, she ate them./"

 "/Who cares about cookies?!?!?/"

"/I do, they are really good, you should try some, you know, if there were any left./"

 "/ENOUGH! Your riddle is, 'If you break me, I do not stop working. If you touch me, I may be snared. If you lose me, nothing will matter. What am I?'/"

 After but a moment's thought, "/Oh, that's an easy for one for me, I have gone through all of those, though not necessarily in that order. The answer is, 'a heart'./"

The Sphinx almost felt sorry for the girl to have gone through so much as such a young age, but continued, "/You are correct. You may also pass. Now, which of you should I ask next?/" '/I guess I will save the stupid looking one for last. The older one doesn't seem to be paying much attention, even if the younger ones did look more tasty./' "/Okay, how about you in the back, it's your turn./"

 Nodoka was quickly changing the film in her camera when the sphinx got to her, she did not even pause in her actions to respond. "/Fine, ask away./" She stood back up as she resumed taking pictures.

 "/Give me food, and I will live; give me water, and I will die. What am I?/"

 Still not pausing in her photography, she calmly replied, "/As any camper could tell you, the answer is 'fire'./"

 Not liking being made a fool of, our frustrated feline was quite annoyed. No one had been able to answer her riddles like this since she was a kitten. She would just attack them outright at this point, but she had rules she had to follow, too much red tape with her elders if she broke them now, not that being bested by three children and their guardian was going to make her shine in their eyes as it was. '/I really didn't want to have rabbit for dinner again tonight!/' "/FINE! You may pass as well. Now for your ...slave?/"

 "/He's no slave, he just has this problem with getting lost, actually he is really good at getting lost, and that's the problem, but I hate to break it to you, he doesn't really speak much Mandarin. It's not really fair to ask him a riddle like that./"

 "/I DON'T CARE AT THIS POINT! I have rules I have to follow! I have to ask him a riddle, and if he can't answer it, he is my dinner!/"

 "/Can I at least translate it for him, so he at least has a chance?/"

 "/Fine!/" Ranma explained to Ryoga what he had missed with his minor grasp of the language. "/His riddle is, 'I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?'/" Ranma translated for him.

 Ryoga looked confused, and not the least bit happy about this. He wasn't good at riddles, or much of anything else that required much thought. "She picked this one on purpose! Um, a fly? No they don't run. A wheel? No. A marathon runner followed by a librarian? That's stupid..." So lost in thought was he, that he did not grasp the significance of Ranma pointing to his own face.

 "Come on Lap Dog, it's plain as the nose on your face!" Ukyo chimed in.

 "/HEY! You had better not be helping him, that's against the rules! You both will forfeit your answers./"

 "/We aren't, we are just trying to explain what is happening. He's a bit 'slow'./"

 "/On your honor?/"

 'Oh, she just HAD to bring honor into this!' He repeated his mother's rule over in his head, 'Rule number nine: 'A real man is honorable, and always keeps his word once given, especially to a lady'.' "/Yes, I promise I am not giving him the answer./ Well, Puppy? Do you have an answer? The 'lady' is getting impatient."

 "I don't know Ranma! Can't you give her the right answer?"

 "No, she made me swear on my honor I would not."

 "/Your time is up! What is his answer?/"

 Ranma translated for him. /"Hey! You never said there was a time limit!/"

 /"Well, I don't want to die of starvation or old age here, I have a life you know!/"

 "Come on Ryoga, can't you pick up the 'scent'?"

 "Hey! Lay off the dog jokes, this is important!" Ranma just smacked his own forehead, barely able to believe how dense his friend could be about some things.

 "That wasn't a joke, and we are out of time, she is probably going to attack us all if you don't give an answer now."

 "Blue! I don't know, what was the question?"

 "Oh for the love of... /No, no he can't figure out that the answer is 'nose'. However, just because he can be stupid about some things, doesn't mean I can let you eat him, he is our friend after all, and we stand by our friends!/" Ukyo quickly translated for Ryoga while Ranma was speaking as they each took up a fighting stance.

 "/You promised!/"

 "/No, I said I wouldn't tell him the answer, and I didn't, but I am NOT about to let you eat him! He probably tastes bad anyway, you might get worms. Really, I am doing this for your own good./"

 Ryoga might be easily confused about many things, but if there was one thing he did understand, it was a fight. Before any of the others could react, Ryoga was charging in, umbrella first. Unfortunately for him, her cat-like grace easily allowed her to get out of the way, unfortunately for her, she chose to jump over him, and got a ki charged kote and playing card in the face for her trouble. Ryoga removed several of his bandannas and started spinning them, charging them with his ki, and threw them, clipping her in the back as well, before he jumped himself. He had had a lot of practice in mid-air combat lately, and it showed, as he landed kicks and umbrella strikes on the surprised sphinx.

 The sphinx curled up into a ball as she changed into her larger, winged-lion form, and dove at Ranma, too quickly for him to react, knocking him into the river a bit away. Her attention momentarily focused on this, she left herself open to simultaneous kicks to her back from Ryoga and a now enraged Ukyo. She tucked and rolled with the blows, and came up with her claws extended, charging in to swipe at the angered youths who took turns exchanging blows with her. The sphinx shifted to a mostly human form for more speed, keeping her claws, but leaving her better able to dodge. Her Lion form was stronger, but not as fast.

 Ranma dragged himself out of the river, annoyed more than anything at his cards having gotten wet, they would not fly well like that. Seeing that his friends were still engaged and his mother was still taking pictures, rather than helping, Ranma took off, running as fast as he could to close the gap. When he saw Ryoga dive to take a clawed blow in Ukyo's stead, he was feeling a bit desperate. He was too far away for his Jan Kenpo, and with his cards wet, he was not sure what he could do to help in time. His hands began to glow, and without really thinking about it, he threw a card made entirely of ki. Much larger than any normal playing card, it flew, his aim true, hitting the sphinx's wing, clipping some feathers before it exploded sending her flailing the other direction. Luckily, his friends saw the attack coming and though surprised, were able to dodge out of the blast range. Seeing his chance, Ryoga threw his umbrella, hitting the sphinx right between the eyes with the pointy end, knocking her out cold, as she shifted back to her 'original' sphinx form, with her lion's body, human head, and eagle's wings.

 Ranma finished his sprint to where his friends had been fighting, checking to make sure they were okay. Ukyo was a little bruised, but otherwise fine, but Ryoga had taken some deep cuts to his chest. Ukyo began to unpack the medical supplies, while Ranma told him to hold still and began working his ki healing techniques on him.

 "Why didn't you just let her take me? I know I am a pain in the ass, you guys would be better off without me."

 "Baaaaka! For the same reason we didn't just leave you back in Japan, and the same reason you took that hit for Ucchan, thanks for that by the way, we are nakama, you are practically family!"

 "It was my fault we got attacked, I couldn't let Ukyo-san get hurt because I am not good with puzzles!" Ranma's hand on his shoulder was the only thing that prevented Ryoga from jumping to his feet in his declaration.

 Ranma finished his healing the best he could, and left dressing the wounds and applying the salve to Ukyo while he rested to regain the ki he used with those last two moves. Once she had finished dressing Ryoga's wounds, she gave him a hug, and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you, Ryoga. Now I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again. If there is one thing they have taught me, it is what it means to be a family. Family sticks up for one another, they put up with your faults, they help you when you are down, and they also celebrate your successes. No matter where you go, or what you do, family is there to support you, even if they are hard on you sometimes."

 Tears of joy began to roll down the lost boy's cheeks, as welcome as he had felt with the Saotomes, he had still felt like a dead weight, an outsider, someone they had just taken pity on, and pity only went so far. Nevertheless, they said he was family! He was part of a family, that would stay by him, and help him, no matter what.

 After a bit of rest, Ranma made sure the Sphinx was tied up so well that they would be able to get enough distance between them that following them would be more trouble than it was worth. Maybe next time, she would think twice before targeting random humans. Little did they realize, that this was no random targeting.

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Nabiki came home from school once again to find a package addressed to her with a letter attached to the outside from Ranma. It had been more than a month since she had last heard from him, and she was so excited that she tore open the letter, completely ignoring the package.

 'Dear Nabiki-chan,
{Yes, Ranma is one of two people who can get away with calling her 'Nabiki-chan', the other is Kasumi. Fubuki could probably get away with it, but never tried, and her father stopped using it before her mother died.}
Sorry I have not gotten to a place where we can get mail yet, so I haven't been able to read any of your letters since we have arrived in China, but that doesn't mean I can't send one in the meantime.

 Nihao, I hope you are all doing well, and enjoy the presents we picked up for you in Beijing. They are adjustable, so should fit for some time. If you keep me up to date on your sizes, I will try to do better next time. I picked the colors based on the photo you sent of yourselves a while back, I really hope you like them.

We are having a lot of fun, learning a lot, and seeing all sorts of strange things, we included some of the pictures mom took so you can see for yourself. The airport here was awful, and the city was packed, but once we got out into the countryside, the place was beautiful. The city was nice, but it was hard to enjoy it, with so many people. It was like being on the train at rush hour, just trying to walk down the street.

 I told you about the 'lost boy', Ryoga, a while back. Well, as it turned out, he begged mom to take him with us, and she agreed! So now it is the four of us traveling together.'

 (Nabiki felt a twinge of jealousy at not being one of those on the trip, if she had known it would be that easy to get to go too, she might have done some begging of her own.)

 'She made him wear a child's leash-harness to keep from getting lost, I think we included a picture with that in there, prepare for a good laugh if you haven't looked at them yet.

 Sorry this letter is so short, but I have not had a lot of chances to write, I promise I will send another one soon.

 Your friend,
   -Ranma Saotome.'

Nabiki debated for a moment whether or not to wait to open the package until the rest of her extended family were around, but before long her curiosity got the better of her and she tore into it, eager to see what she had been given. Opening the package, she found four Chinese silk dresses, one yellow, one green, and two in different shades of blue, each with various flower designs and a nametag. Wrapped inside the dresses was a bottle of Chinese rice wine for the fathers and Maid Guy.

 She had a bit of time left before the others would get done with their training for the day, so she decided to take hers, and try it on, maybe after dinner they could all do each other's hair and take more pictures. Too bad, it would take a fight and some well-placed guilt to get Fubuki and Akane to wear theirs. Akane didn't like fancy dresses that much as it was, and being a gift from a boy would only make it worse, and Fubuki refused to let anyone see her wearing anything other than her maid's uniform. At least with her, Nabiki felt sure she would be able to convince her of how rude it would be not show him that she liked his gift, her sister, on the other hand, she was not so sure. Akane was just as likely to thank him, as she was to call him a pervert for sending her a fancy dress. 'Oh well, you just never know with that girl. If she doesn't want it, maybe I can 'borrow' it, too bad I am not really a fan of yellow.' She giggled a bit. 'Maybe I should tell him she likes red, like her name, and get some variety. No, that is likely to bite me, or him, later on. If nothing else he would likely be mad when he figured out I lied to him, and telling him our sizes were identical would be a bit of a giveaway!' She giggled again. 'Or at least I HOPE he would figure that out...'

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Ranma and his extended 'family' were stopping to buy supplies in a small town in northern China, when they heard a commotion. Sprinting toward the sounds, they saw an old man, who appeared to be overwhelmed by what seemed to be a gang of thugs. The old man seemed to be having trouble even standing, as he was falling over and stumbling around even when he had not been struck. Reading the man's ki, Ranma could tell that they were intentionally performed, and not as uncontrolled as it seemed to the casual viewer. They assessed what they could of the fighters auras, and saw the aggression in the 'gang' and the bliss of the older man, and almost immediately jumped in to assist the 'drunken' old man.

 Ranma had been trying to teach the others how to throw ki 'blasts' since he had figured out how to do so while fighting the sphinx, but none of them had completely mastered it, including Ranma. When they had the time to concentrate and be calm, they could pull it off, but it was difficult under stressful situations, so they fell back on their usual ki charged ranged weapons, pinning as many of the 'thugs' to walls and the ground as they could, until the authorities could arrive and take them in, as they charged into the fight.

 Ranma had been distracted a few times, so intently was he paying attention to the old man's style, and quite enjoying what he saw. Luckily, for him, Ukyo was always right there, to help guard him. Once the aggressors had all been knocked out, Ukyo was about to ask Ranma why he had been so distracted during a fight, when he walked over to the old man and began to speak, completely ignoring her. Ukyo vowed to herself that he would make that up to her later.

 "/That's an interesting style you have there sir, I enjoyed watching your moves. I hope you do not mind our intrusion, at first we were not sure if you needed the help or not./"

 Taking a drink from his flask, he chuckled. "/You're not too bad yourself, kid. What are you all doing way up here? You are certainly not natives./"

 "/No sir, we are traveling martial artists, from Japan. We are going all over, studying any form of the art we can find, and I would LOVE to learn yours, where did you learn it?/"

 Chuckling again, the old man replied, "/Well, I learned from my grandfather, but he isn't much of a teacher anymore. Let's see what you can do in hand to hand./"

 Ranma took up a loose stance, one that did not look like he was ready to fight at all, while the old man continued to sway, while Ukyo began shouting from the sidelines, "May I have your attention, please? We are having an exhibition match! Please stand back so no one gets accidentally hurt! Give them a lot of room! Thank you!"

 "/Name's Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Diligence, and I accept your terms./"

 Slurring a bit, he responded, "/I am Shun Di, and I practice Zui Quan,/ *hic* or the Drunken Fist, in your Japanese tongue."

 Ukyo stepped between them holding a handkerchief in one hand, "/Round one, FIGHT!/" She then raised the 'flag' as she quickly got out of the way. They each sized the other up with their auras for a few moments. For most of the people present, it was not very exciting, but for those who could see Ranma's golden aura playing off of Shun's gray one, well, it still was not very exciting. Luckily for them, it was not long before the real battle began in earnest.

 Ranma knew that making the first attack was a good way to give your opponent an edge, if not the upper hand, but this was just for fun, and he wanted to watch the old man work, so he lunged forward with a feint, preparing to jump back, wanting to see what Shun would do. As Ranma's fist got closer, Shun dropped low with a sweeping kick that Ranma, being prepared, was able to jump back and avoid, wishing he had jumped forward instead. Shun came up, twisting as he almost landed a double reverse palm strike to Ranma's chest. Ranma, for his part, tried to imitate Shun's sweeping kick, leaning back and dropping low to avoid the palm strike that nearly clipped his shoulder.

 Shun did a backward cartwheel that would have kicked Ranma in the jaw if he had been standing, thus avoiding the sweep kick. He took a drink from his flask as Ranma came at him, attempting his own version of Shun's twisting palm strike. Shun stumbled out of Ranma's way to his right, spinning around him with a series of elbow strikes to his chest and head. He had been ill prepared for the attack and it knocked him back. He rolled with the fall, copying the old man's backward cartwheel kick.

 This caught him by surprise and he was barely able to stagger away from this attack. "/So, you think to beat an old man, with his own style, do you?/" He took another swig from his gourd, grinning broadly.

 Smiling himself, he quipped, "/Not really, but I learn best by example./" Since Shun had commented on him copying his style, he figured he would change it up, to throw him off, and jumped at him with a flying kick.

 Shun plopped down into a sitting position, allowing Ranma to sail over his head, while he took another drink. Ranma was barely able to twist his body to avoid hitting someone's cart. Taking a brief moment to straighten himself out again, he looked over and saw Shun, who sat there, laughing at his in between drinks. "/You know kid, you're never going to win the fight like that./"

 "/That's all right, this isn't a real fight, we are just having fun./" He grinned back at the old man. "/As long as I learn something and we put on a good show for the people, then what does it matter? It's not like there is anything at stake./" Ranma jumped up into a forward flip, that would have done any gymnast proud, landing on his hands and sprung forward, feet first, hoping to catch his opponent napping.

 Shun rolled to the side, kicking up as he did so. His foot tapped Ranma's leg in passing, which changed his trajectory, causing Ranma to do another handspring flip to avoid an unpleasant landing. Shun rushed forward and did a triple version of his spinning leg sweep, catching Ranma as he was landing, knocking him off his feet.

 Ukyo ran over to make sure Ranma was okay, but he was all ready getting back to his feet before she could reach him. Once he showed he was ready to continue, she shouted, "/Round two, FIGHT!/"

They started exchanging and blocking blows, neither of them landing a solid hit, "/So, you want to learn so badly that you don't mind losing the fight, huh?/" He caught Ranma in a bear hug, poking pressure points in his shoulder blades, causing his arms to go numb. Ranma tried to kick, but his leg was blocked, then immobilized, and then kicked, at the same time Ranma used a head butt. Both attacks hit home, Ranma was sent skidding back, hitting a wall, and Shun was staggered for real.

 "/To lose is to win. What is more important in life than learning, besides love?/" Ranma charged in, swinging a kick at Shun's head.

 In response, Shun started hopping back on one leg, kicking out with his other, knocking Ranma back. "/Well, it just so happens, I run a school, that is decidedly short on students, it seems most of them find my training methods too harsh./"

 Ranma hopped up, and flipped over in a forward cartwheel, aiming his kick for the same place he head butted earlier. "/That won't be a problem for me, unless you killed them all./"

 Not wanting to be hit in the head again, Shun spun to the right, arms flailing around like a windmill, and aimed for the back of Ranma's head. "/No, they just quit./"

 Ranma was able to duck under the blow aimed for his head, to get a glancing one in his shoulder. He did a sweep in exchange, knocking Shun back more than a meter. "/Then I think we have a deal./"

Shun dropped to the ground, rolling over to Ranma and sprang up at the last moment with a double handed punch to Ranma's face, knocking him flat on his back, hitting his head. "/All students with style, must learn how to fall. That was only your first lesson./"

 Ukyo ran over to Ranma, first making sure there was no blood, before helping him to his feet, despite his protests of not needing the help. Applause rang out from the audience that had gathered.

 Shun threw his gourd over to Ranma who caught it out of the air and said, "/Here, Have a drink./"

 Ranma looked confused, "/But, I'm underage.../"

 "/Underage for what?/"

 "/Drinking./"

Shun laughed again, "/There is no minimum drinking age here!/"

Ranma looked over at his mother expectantly, who nodded and said, "/Well, as the proverb says/, 'Entering the village, obey the village', /so, go ahead. Drinking is so very manly./"

 "/Besides, that is just herbal tea. A special energy drink I brew. The drunkenness is fake. The fist is real./"

 As soon as he took a swig from the gourd, Ranma began to feel better as his ki reserves started to fill back up.

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Ranma was thrilled that they were finally staying in one place for a while, so that he was able to get his mail again. He had missed his window into the 'normal' life of his friend. As much as he loved traveling around with his growing 'family', there was just something exotic to him about her stories of going to school, her family and friends, and even the occasional bits of news about his father.

 He had quite a few letters waiting for him when they had finally been able to pick them up, and he had a hard time waiting until he could read them in peace. They were dating back to before he left Japan, and he had a lot to catch up on.

 When he got 'home', he sat down to read, while Ryoga and Ukyo were sparring. Ranma could tell she was holding back, a lot, but the lost boy was showing signs of improvement, he was starting to pick up on the animal styles, some of them anyway. Ranma had already mastered today's lesson, and figured he had time to read his mail. He read about Nabiki's club, her troubles starting it up, and the strange and interesting people who joined. He read about them catching the perverted janitor Isaku, and how she had been instructed by the police on how NOT to tamper with evidence. This reminded Ranma of the many molesters he had the pleasure of mangling, which brought a smile to his face. "Good for them."

 She wrote about their studies in their art, and her classes at school. She wrote about her worries and about her joys, about her sisters and her friends. He looked at pictures they sent of the eldest three wearing the dresses he sent them, still holding their stuffed animals too. Fubuki's picture stood out the most, as she was blushing so much that the picture practically felt warm to the touch. Turning the picture over it had her name, her measurements, birthday, and a brief note. 'Fubuki-chan doesn't like to be seen by others in anything but her uniform, not even us, but we talked her into posing for this to thank you. Kasumi-nee-chan and I tried to tell her how cute she looked. Maybe if you tell her, she will believe us. -Nabiki'

 The second picture was of Kasumi, who was also blushing, though not nearly as much as Fubuki. Ranma was amazed at how much she had grown, she was much taller than in the last picture he had seen.

 Ukyo noticed the look on his unmoving face and vowed to herself to see what was causing it, when she could, but for now, she had to master their lessons. She did not want to fall any further behind her fast learning friend. Being second best was okay, as long as it was a close second.

 Moments later, Ranma stopped staring and turned the photo over to read the back. Like the other, it had her name, measurements, and birthday, as well as a few other things, like her sign and blood type, followed by the note. 'Kasumi-nee-chan loved her dress, but was a bit embarrassed by how revealing it was, but we think she looks amazing in it, how about you? She wanted to make sure I thanked you for her, even though she wrote you a note as well. That's our Onee-chan, -Nabiki'

 Sure enough, there was another note, written very formally.

 'Dearest Ranma-sama,
 Thank you so very much for the dress, it is lovely. It makes me feel pretty to wear it. You are too kind, you and your family have already done so much for us, and yet you keep giving us gifts as well. I do not deserve it, I am no one special. Please, you do not need to give me anything. I will never be able to repay your kindness as it is. The other girls are far more deserving than I. You do not need to worry about me, I am happy just knowing that you are well.
 Thank you for everything.
-Kasumi Tendo'

The third picture was of Nabiki, who was turned sideways, with her head facing and winking at the camera, looking adorable, and blowing a kiss. He turned the picture over and again, found her measurements and many other 'vital statistics', favorite foods, colors, and so on, along with another note. 'Thank you from all of us, even Akane-chan likes hers I am sure, she just isn't big on getting things from boys, so she wouldn't join us in playing dress-up or in the photo-shoot (said she had more fun breaking bricks). The rest of us had a lot of fun, and we want you to know how much we appreciate what you do for us. We all have your photos up in our rooms, and your paintings are hanging in our clubroom at school. All of the girls love them. Don't ever stop painting, you are both really good.
XOXOX
-Nabiki'

Ranma put that aside, and started reading the most recent letter in the bunch.

 'Dear Ranma-kun,
 I hope you are doing well in your training, and are having fun all over China, we are doing well here. Kasumi-nee-chan came up with an idea to help some homeless people, who were living under a bridge. We raised money to build them a shelter, you should see it, it's huge! I set up an account with the remaining donations we collected and the interest from it should maintain the place, and pay the councilor for a long time to come). Which is good enough news really, but if that wasn't good enough, we got on the news, and Kasumi was offered a job reading things on TV! She didn't think she would be good at it, and that no one would want to see her, but we convinced her to give it a try, you never know if you don't try after all. The best part is, she seems to be really enjoying it.

 Ever since we caught that pervert, our club has gotten more respect, and I have even gotten to study actual police detectives, I even got some pointers from them. It was all very educational ...and fun! Mikan-sensei treats us better, and no longer calls our club 'useless' or a 'waste of time', though we do still have to provide most of our own funds, rules are rules I guess, but our Kasumi-chibis are selling well, and we should have the new one out soon, I will send you the original when it is done. Fubuki-chan out did herself this time. I can't wait for you to see it. What kind of outfit would you like to see our fourth one to be wearing?

 I know it has been a while since you were able to get these, so I will keep this short, I hope you are able to read them soon, please let me know when you do.
<3 <3 -Nabiki- <3 <3'

 Ranma immediately got to work penning letters to the three girls before he rejoined his friends in their training.

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 Ukyo snuck into the room they all shared, and found Ranma's letter to Nabiki. Using the skills she had learned in geisha and ninja training, she opened the envelope without tearing the paper, slipped in some of her favorite photos of Ranma, and resealed the envelope before she crept into bed with Ranma, who was sound asleep. She curled up next to him and went to sleep herself, a habit she had formed early on in their travels. In the early days, she would go to sleep in her own bedroll, and wake up in his after rolling over to him in her sleep. So eventually, after he had stopped protesting waking up in her arms every morning, she started waiting until he was asleep and just got into his bed instead, to save the time. Ranma had gotten used to it, and did not really mind, but he did find it odd that if just about anyone else would get that close he would wake up, or at least dodge, but for some reason, Ukyo never seemed to trigger his 'alarm'.

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 Soun was returning to the Saotome study, where the two fathers spent most of their free time, playing Go and drinking sake. He had dropped off the mail where the girls could find it, bringing Genma's magazines to him. "Here you go, Saotome-kun. You know, my girls got another letter from your son again today, it seems they write more than you and your wife." he commented absently. "It wasn't a large one, so no presents for us it seems."

 Annoyance flashed over Genma's features for a moment, but he pondered that and said, "Well, at least with all of that communication they are doing, maybe at least one of them will develop an interest in him, and our plan to merge the schools and the families will still come to pass. If my wife thinks it is their idea, then she won't prevent it. As you know, she isn't going to let us force the issue."

 "Yes, that is good news indeed. We should celebrate our luck!"

 "Good idea Tendo-kun, good idea."

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 After their club meeting, the three eldest girls arrived home together and saw that they had mail! Seeing that it was addressed to all three of them, Nabiki whispered to the others, "Let's take this downstairs and open it in private." Nodding they changed shoes and quietly crept into one of the secret passages.

 Opening the envelope Nabiki saw that there were three more envelopes inside, as well as a handful of pictures. She withdrew the contents, and their eyes bugged out at the photos they had in their hands. They laid them out on the table and gawked at the various photographs of Ranma, most without a shirt on, and even one from the bath. Many of them had Ranma working out, in posed that seemed impossible to them, even as highly skilled martial artists themselves. It took them quite some time before any of them realized that there was writing on the backs of these pictures, and even longer to see that each of the three envelopes had one of their names on them.

 Kasumi had picked one of them up to examine it more closely, when Nabiki noticed, out of the corner of her eye, barely, writing on the back of that picture, and she checked the others. Each one had a number, and a short description, and one had a note that read, 'Dear girls, Isn't Ranchama dreamy? Oh, sorry, I lost myself there for a moment. I liked your Kasumi-chibis so much, that I wanted to make one of Ranchama too, and I wanted to see what outfit you liked best for it (not counting the bath one, since the clothes will come off anyway). PLEASE don' tell 'im Ah sent these ta yah, or about th' doll, Ah wanna surprise him with th' doll, and Ah wanted to do y'all a favor too. Ah hope yah enjoy them as much as Ah do, an' please let meh know what'cha think. Of course, Ah will send yah one as well, when Ah get more than one made.
Ever Ranchama's,
 -Ukyo'

Thus began the great debate, each of them having a favorite, but eventually a consensus was reached, and they took a moment to each write a short note to Ukyo telling her. Then they turned to the envelopes, and Nabiki handed each one to its owner.

 Fubuki opened her letter first, blushing before he even read it.

 'Dear Fubuki-chan,
 You looked very good in the dress, I am glad it fit you so well. You should dress up more often, you look really cute when you do.
 We can't thank you enough for all that you do for us, from taking care of the house to the girls. I hope you remain with us for a very long time. You are the best.
Thank you.
-Ranma Saotome'
 
Her blush intensified, and she began cleaning things out of nervous habit.

 Kasumi was rather surprised to be getting a letter, and it took her a few moments to work up the courage to open and read it.
 
'Dear Kasumi-onee-san,'

 'Oh my, he called me 'onee-san'!' Kasumi blushed at that. 'I have always wanted a little brother, Akane-chan seems to try, but that is just not the same.'

 'You are very welcome, for everything. I am so glad you like the dress, though I am sure you do not need it to look pretty. You are what made that dress look so good, not the other way around. You are growing into a fine young lady.
 You most certainly DO deserve it, at least as much as anyone I know, if not more so (your sister has told me all about you, I feel as though I know you, sorry if that is presumptuous). You are a very special person. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise, including yourself. What you did for those people, for example, was one of the nicest things I have ever heard. The last thing I want is for you to feel obligated, you and your sisters will never be asked to 'repay' anything to us, ever, as future head of the house, I promise you that. I do these things because I want to, not because I want you to owe me anything. I just like doing nice things for nice people. Is it not normal for someone to send a friend a souvenir when they are on a trip? I am only sorry you girls did not come with us, so the least I can do is to send you pictures of the sights, and interesting things we find along the way.
 And congratulations on your new job, I hope you will enjoy it, I know the people will love you.
Ever your friend,
 -Ranma Saotome
P.S. If there is anything specific you desire, ask, and I will find it for you.'

 "Oh my, oh my, he does seem very mature, ne?" 'For a boy more than two years younger, he was really well built, if all boys his age were built like him, I could almost become a Shotacon.' Kasumi didn't realize she was almost salivating at the prospect.

 "That's what I have been telling you, Nee-chan. You should start writing him letters too, I am sure he would love to hear from you more often. It IS the polite thing to do, ne?" A devilish grin crossed her face for a brief instant.

 Nabiki had finished adding the pictures to their scrapbook, while her 'sisters' were reading their letters. She wanted to be alone when she read her letter, so she had waited until her 'sisters' had put their things away and left to begin dinner preparations.  

 'Dear Nabiki-chan,
 Wow, you hair is really getting long! Those braids look really cute on you. I am glad you girls liked your gifts, I am sorry Akane didn't, I guess you could try to tell her they were from Ukyo.' [There was a picture of a smiling face] 'If there is anything specifically you would like as a souvenir, then please let me know.

 That is amazing about Kasumi's job, I know the people will love her. I am also really impressed about the shelter you built, I have never tried to build anything, only break things, I guess I should branch out soon...

I look forward to seeing your new work, and I like the idea of making one of them wearing a dress like the silk Chinese one. I also think it would be fun to have dolls for the rest of you, and your club. Kasumi-chibi needs her sisters and friends as well, to help her in her adventures. You could form a team, like in your club, and they could go out and fight crime together. Don't sell yourself short, even if you other girls are not 'the idols of the school', as you put it, I am sure they would sell well as a team. If that club photo you sent me is any indication, you are all very cute. With different people identifying with your different personalities, you are sure to sell to more people over all, even if some of the others don't sell as well individually.

 The training has been hard, especially on Ryoga, who just doesn't pick up on techniques as quickly but he is doing well with the strength training, and he is tough, so he can take it. At first we were just doing hard exercises, a thousand wrist switch push-ups, moving water from one barrel to another with a cup for hours at a time, upside-down sit-ups, balance training, you know, the usual sorts of things. Then he started teaching us the five original animal styles of wuxia, or 'Wu Xing'. He says we have to be able to master them before he will consider us strong enough to be able to handle the training for his style.

 I like the footwork and kicks from the Black Tiger Fist. Crane isn't really my favorite, but it is good balance training. Dragon style is great for ki use, and power, Ryoga does well with this one. However, the quick strikes and odd angles of Snake and Leopard styles really call to me, they fit well with my style. I considered asking if he would teach me Monkey style while the others are working on their basics, because the tumbling seemed like fun, but they have a tendency to favor striking certain vitals that I just can't get behind, like groin, eyes, and throat, but that doesn't mean I can't work on the other parts of it. It reminds me of Capoeira in some ways, which was a blast. You should check it out. Some people called it 'Battle Dancing', if you learn it too, then maybe when I get home, we can dance together. Not that I don't know other dances too, I mean we could do that instead if you prefer, I just thought it would be fun, sorry, forget I said anything. I would erase it, if this wasn't ink.

 It's so nice to be able to read your letters again, and it looks like we will be in this one place for a while, so I won't have to miss out again anytime soon. It felt kind of lonely without them. I am not looking forward to the next time I have to wait.
Until next time,
-Ranma Saotome'

 Nabiki was glad he liked her hair, she had been letting it grow for a couple of years now, and it was getting rather long. She was also happy that her letters had such an effect on him, his letters always excited her, his stories of the strange and exotic places were as interesting to her as any of the novels she had read (the gifts didn't hurt either). Though she did have to admit, she was rather surprised that someone she thought of as being so intelligent, would be inclined to believe in silly things like ghosts, and monsters. She knew they didn't exist, she proved that over and over again with her investigations, but she supposed that life on the road made superstitions more believable.

 However, that was not important, what WAS important was that he was able to get her mail and communicate with her again, and that he would not be moving on again for some time. She pulled out her ink and brush set to began to excitedly write a return letter, and package up the doll she was going to send him. She did need to make sure the other girls wrote him a letter soon too, so she could include them when she mailed it, no sense in wasting postage after all.

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Nabiki was on her way back to her room, after getting a drink, when she heard her sister's voice. Being the curious type, she quietly crept to her door to listen in. She could not hear much, other than her sister, softly repeating, "Oh my." over and over. They started to get a bit faster, and then came the last one, much louder, though it sounded muffled, as if it had been shouted into a pillow. Thinking that this was rather strange, she almost did not hear the footsteps from the other side. Not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, she quickly hid and saw her sister quietly tiptoe out of her room, and down the stairs, carrying a book, their scrapbook. 'What is she doing with our scrapbook? THIS, is a mystery!'

 She quickly followed her older sister as quietly as she could, doing her best to mask her presence as Genma had instructed them. Kasumi was racing over to the Saotome house, or more specifically, to the secret entrance to their underground clubhouse. 'It looks like she is returning the book, I wonder why she had it, why hide it? This is very strange.'

 She raced back to the house, deciding to pretend as if she was just now getting a drink, and 'catch' her coming back in. Refilling her glass, she slowly sipped at it as she waited. She did not have to wait long, as she heard the door quietly open and close, and Kasumi whisper, "Tadaima." she poked her head into the hallway. "Ohaio gozaimasu, Onee-chan. What have you been doing?"

 Kasumi looked up in shock from where she had been changing into her slippers, uttered an "Oh my!", and promptly feinted of embarrassment. ...Nabiki never did get any answers out of her.

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Ranma had received another package, one he expected to contain another 'Kasumi-chibi' doll. He was right of course, but what he had not expected was there were also four letters inside of it. Three of them were addressed to him, the fourth was the most surprising, being addressed to Ukyo!

 "Oi, Ucchan! You've got mail!"

 Ukyo ran over to him, and quickly snatched the letter out of his hand, startling Ranma even more. "Ucchan, is there something you want to tell me? Have you been sending letters I don't know about?" He asked her with a sly grin.

 Tucking the letter into her shirt, "Nope, nothing you need to worry about. Girl stuff, you know."

 "But if you haven't been writing them, how do you know what it's about?"

 "Urk! Um, well, hey, isn't that, Ryoga running off in the wrong direction?" She pointed to nothing in particular.

 "No, he is with Mom getting food for tonight's dinner. What's this about Ucchan, if I can help..."

 "No, it's nothing bad, I just can't tell you right now, don't you trust me?"

 "OF COURSE! I trust you even more than mom. I would trust you with my life, my secrets, or anything else. I'm just curious. I thought you trusted me, I didn't think we had secrets from each other... But fine, if you don't want to tell me, I will obey rule number fifteen. You can tell me when and if you are ready."

 Ranma had a sad look on his face as he turned away, which hurt Ukyo badly, "I will Ranchama, I promise, just not now. Please don't be upset."

 Hearing the hurt in her voice, Ranma turned back to his friend, and took her into a hug, kissing her on the cheek, "I trust you, I know you are not doing this to hurt me. I can't help that it does hurt, but I DO trust you, more than anyone else on the planet." Giving his friend another squeeze, he let her go, to return to what she was doing, and went to read his own mail. "But maybe I won't let you read mine this time." He winked at her, smiling, and stuck out his tongue. 'And that doesn't mean I can't play 'the game' with her as the target on my own... She is harder to sneak up on, so it's better practice.'

{Nodoka's Rule: Number Fifteen - If a woman is keeping a secret, there is probably a reason for it, and she will let you know when she is ready.}
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 The first letter he opened was from Fubuki, it was short, sweet, and to the point.

 'Dear Goshujin-sama,
While I did not think so at first, I am so glad that I stuck with this job in the face of the adversity that it presented. Your father was a bit hard to handle at first, but thanks to Kogarashi, he has become manageable. If I had quit that first day, I never would have learned as much as I have here, nor would I have been able to meet you and the Tendos. Well, technically, we have not met yet, but I look forward to that day, I know much about you, and I could not have asked for a better master. I too, hope to be able to work for you and your family for as long as I am able. The days I have spent here, taking care of your family and friends, have been the happiest of my life. If you are willing, I would gladly serve you for the rest of my life.
Ever your housemaid,
 -Fubuki'

Ranma did not notice at first, until the first tear landed not no his chin and shirt, but on the paper instead, he quickly put it aside and dried his face, the sincerity and dedication in the girl's words, touched his heart. It took him several minutes before he was able to move on to the next letter.

 Once Ranma felt that he had regained control over his emotions, he moved on to the next letter, this one from Kasumi.

 'Dear Ranma-sama,
 You really are too kind, I do not deserve your praise.
 Would it be all right if I wrote you as well? I hear a lot about you from Nabiki-chan, but that is not the same thing as us having our own conversations, and I think I would like that very much. I hope you will not mind.

 The 'job' seems to be going well, they seem to like me, and it is fun to dress up in the costume they want me to wear, it matches the one on the doll that we sent with this. I still do not understand why anyone would want to watch me, or own dolls that look like me, but if it makes people happy, then I will not complain.

 Oh, this is harder than I thought. I never knew that being a pen pal required talking about myself so much... I have never been good at that. I prefer it when I fade into the background, and take care of others. Other than Fukibuki and Nabiki-chan, no one ever seemed to care what I thought anyway, especially after mother died. You are so lucky to have your mother with you, I look forward to getting to meet her myself, she has been so kind to us, and I want to thank you both in person, no written words could ever portray what I feel. So please, take care of yourselves, and come home safely.

 Eternally grateful,
 -Kasumi Tendo
P.S. If you insist on getting me something, maybe some nice Oolong Tea, there is something about the imported blends that are just much better.'

 Ranma made a mental note to ask his instructor for some advice on the best herbal teas, including Oolong. The herbal doctor certainly knew his way around teas (and other things).

 Ranma pulled out the last letter in his package, and began to read,

 'Dear Ranma-kun,
 I missed hearing from you too, I am so glad you have found a school to train with that you will be staying at for a while, so we can 'talk' more frequently, I only wish we had a faster way to send messages, but since calling would not be easy or cheap, we do what we have to do. Though I do admit, it would be nice to hear your voice. Well, maybe we can figure something out, I have an idea that might work, but I will need to get a few things. I will keep this one short as well, so I can get it in the mail today, and get to the stores before they close.

 I hope you like the new Kasumi-chibi, in television idol fashion! We will be starting to sell them in a week or two. I will let you know how they do.

 Your new styles sound like fun, as does the 'battle dancing', I will, in fact, look into taking a class, I am kind of bored with the maid style, it never really suited me anyway, it would be good to expand my range further. After all, you have trained in so many styles, and you are still doing it, so it must be a good plan. Some of the moves I have seen you doing in the pictures you have sent look almost impossible to us, and we thought we were pretty good.

 As for what I would want as a gift, the only things I can think of I can either buy myself, like new brushes, because these are getting worn out, or jewelry, which is too expensive for a gift. So it doesn't matter, you have excellent taste, I am sure whatever you pick out would be lovely.

 I am sorry, but if I am going to get this out and make it to the store, I need to cut myself off before I lose all track of time.
<3-Nabiki-<3'

Ranma made another mental note, to look for a nice ink and brush set, as well as jewelry.

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Ukyo was having a hard time, keeping a secret from Ranma. In fact, it was the hardest thing she had ever had to do in her life. The look of hurt and surprise on his face had cut her to the bone, worse than any blade. For some reason the subtle bastard had always found a way to surprise her with something on her birthday, but he had always found out what she had planned for his every year, and he was so spontaneous that he did not even have to keep a secret. He would just come up with something on the spot. He was so good at reading body language that he always knew exactly what she wanted. However, this year would be different. She was going to surprise him with an unexpected gift if it killed her. The way she felt at that moment, it almost might as well have. 'This had better be worth it!'

 She had been working on it in secret whenever she had been able to sneak away. However, with how close they all were that was not an easy feat. Ryoga was of no help at all, the lost boy could not keep a secret if his life depended on it. Oh, he would try, but it took someone who was at least as dense as he was to not be able to read him like a book. Luckily, Nodoka was not only willing to help her, but also good at keeping secrets. She did not care for lying, but she had understood what Ukyo wanted to do, and would cover for her. Distracting him by asking for his help, sending him on errands, and also 'sending' her of pointless ones so she could get away and work on her project.

 She had been making six of dolls, and now that she had the letter, she could begin working on the clothing for them. They had each picked a different one, but had agreed on one. Ukyo considered this for a moment, partly due to the fact that she had expected four responses, but it seemed as if they did not ask for the youngest's opinion. She decided that she would make them each the outfit they had chosen, and use the consensus one for the gift to Ranma. She knew she would need an outfit for each one, so the basics were mostly done, it would just take a bit of adjustments and alterations to fit what she needed to do. Then all she had to do was sneak off and mail the ones for the girls without Ranma catching her, and be back in time for the party that Nodoka was having the unwitting Ryoga helping her set up.

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Since everyone else was busy, Ranma decided to go to the nearby town, and do some shopping for more gifts. He would have liked to have asked Ukyo for help, but with the way she was acting, he wasn't sure he wanted to. He really did not want to admit it, but he really was hurt that she was keeping a secret from him, he never thought it would bother him so much. He did not particularly like secrets, even though his mother insisted he make sure to keep some. Special things that he only shared with special people. Nevertheless, to him, Ukyo was one of those special people, and the only person from whom he did not keep any secrets. Until recently, they had always been together, almost nothing could keep his best friend from his side. She would fight tooth and nail to not be separated from him for any reason. Lately though, it seemed as if his best friend had been avoiding him. He would ask him mom about it, but she had not been around as often lately either. This was also something he found strange, since they were here for the sole purpose of training. Even Ryoga had been gone a lot lately, which, if not for the leash, would not have been unusual, but with it, meant someone was keeping an eye on him.

 He walked around town lost in thought for a while, not really paying a lot of attention to his surroundings. All of a sudden, he felt aggressive ki, instantly he was in the air, zeroing in on the aggressors, who were heading into a ceramics shop (cannot really call it a china shop in China), that looked to be filled with expensive and very fragile items. Not wanting to call attention to himself and accidentally break something he would have to pay for, he pulled his ki into himself, and followed them as quietly as possible. When he saw that they were in fact trying to rob the place, he snuck behind them, and the moment they demanded money from the shopkeeper he touched a pressure point near their shoulders, knocking them out cold. The shopkeeper was so surprised that he stated to hand all of his money to Ranma.

 "/You are welcome sir, but I do not need a reward. Protecting people is what a martial artist does./" He tied the three men up with the twine he always carried, and turned back toward the man and said, "/But I would like to see the nicest tea set you have in stock./"

"/Of course sir, right this way./" Before leading Ranma to the back of the store, he called out, "/Hey wife, it's safe now, quit hiding back there and call the police!/"

 They discussed the finer points of the tea sets, and the differences between them. Ranma selected a ceramic set, with gold inlays, and beautiful flowers painted on it, with eight matching cups. Ranma offered to pay extra to have them pack the fragile items for shipping, but the man would not hear of it. In fact, if Ranma had not picked out one of the most expensive items in the shop, he would have been inclined not to charge him at all, since he had saved him a lot by stopping those men, but not enough to cover that much of a loss. He asked the man not to seal the box, and told him that he needed to buy a few more things to stick in there, so he would be back to pick them up soon. Ranma paid for the items, and wandered off, looking for a jewelry shop.

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After mailing his package to the girls, Ranma headed back to Shun's school and clinic, glad that not all of his day was depressing, having partially forgotten his troubles from earlier.

 As Ranma opened the door, he heard several people shout, "O tanjo-bi omedetogozaimasu!!!"
{*O tanjo-bi omedetogozaimasu = Happy Birthday*}

Ranma looked around, trying to figure out whose birthday it was. His own was not something he paid all that much attention to, so he had once again, forgotten all about it. To Ranma, getting older was not really a big deal, everyone did it, it was no real accomplishment, not like learning a new style, or even a special move. Though he knew other people put great stock in birthdays, so he made sure to always remember to do something special for the other people in his life, but his own, he could not really care less about, but seeing the joy on their faces, he could not help but to feel it as well. Then everything clicked in his head, why no one had been around, why Ukyo had been avoiding him, all of it. He suddenly felt really bad about his hurt feelings, and the pain he likely caused his best friend, and was rather ashamed of himself. Seeing Ukyo as she knelt before him, offering up a wrapped box, with a look of worry on her face, what was left of his heart almost burst. He knelt down in front of her, and apologized, almost in tears, "I am sorry Ucchan, I knew better than to doubt you, but my heart ached anyway. I thought you were tired of being my friend. Please forgive me!"

 Ukyo grabbed his hand, and pulled him into a hug, "There is nothing to forgive, it hurt me as well, I am sorry too. I never wanted to hurt you, but I was determined to be able to surprise you for your birthday at least once! Now open your present!"

 Still holding Ukyo in one arm, Ranma did as he had been instructed, to find a 'Ranma plushy' inside, wearing the long shirt outfit that he had bought when they had first arrived in China.

 "There, now your Kasumi-chibi dolls have a boyfriend."

 "Is that where you got the idea?"

 "Well, I was going to make you a life-sized pillow doll, shaped like me, but you don't need that, because you have the real thing, and we will never be apart that long again!"

 "We should send them a picture of this, it's really well made."

 Ukyo blushed at that, then said, "Thank you, but I did you one better, I actually made six of them, and sent them each one." She pointed to her cheek, twisting her finger and sticking her tongue out just a bit. Considering the look on his face, and how tightly he was holding her, she thought to herself, 'Yup, it was totally worth it.'

"That's five..."

 "If yah think Ah'm goin' ta that much trouble, an' not keepin' a 'Ranchibi' fer muhself, yer crazy! Ah made one uh th' hardest sacrifices Ah coulda ever made ta make these. Ah kept a secret, and hurt yah, something Ah neva wana have ta do again!" Ukyo pulled out the sixth doll, a shirtless one, and despite the fact that Ukyo never wore lipstick, the doll was covered in pink lip prints, which caused Ranma to blush a bit as he thought about the implications of that. Having only gotten the basics from Kyoshi, he did not fully understand most of those implications.

 "Well, actually, I have a present for each of you as well. For you Ucchan, a silver necklace, with a jade horse medallion, for the year of our birth."

 "Oooo, and it also matches your name! I love it! Thank you Ranchama!" She hopped once, and then kissed him, not on the cheek as she usually would, but on his lips! Ranma was stunned for a moment, and was not able to move until after she had retreated to try on her gift.

 After recovering himself, he walked over to his mother, and handed her a small box containing a pair of small jade rat shaped earrings. "We won't say which year of the rat you are but, for you Okaa-sama." Ranma bowed as he handed over the box.

 Once he was again upright, his mother also leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. "Thank you my son, they are lovely."

 Ranma then tossed a small bag to Ryoga, and said, "Here man, but don't you even think about kissing me too!"

 Catching the box, a look of disgust crossed his face. "Like I would ever! Eeew!"

 Had everyone not been lost in their own actions, they might have heard a voice outside say, "I would!" However, thanks to the commotion Ryoga and Ranma were making, no one noticed.

 "/And for you Shifu, a hand carved gourd, with a sheep on it, for your sign./"
{*Shifu = Chinese term, meaning martial arts instructor*}

"But Ranchama, you haven't even opened the rest of YOUR presents! You are not supposed to give presents on your birthday, you are supposed to receive them!"

 "You celebrate your birthday your way, and I will celebrate my birthday, my way." He laughed at his embarrassment for forgetting his own birthday.

 "We are not talking about my lowly birthday. We are talking about the great Ranchama's birthday. Besides, we worked hard on this, and you are not going to spoil it!" Ukyo said with a grin.

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When the girls arrived home there were two packages, one addressed to all of them, and the bigger one addressed to Nabiki, Kasumi, and Fubuki. They carried their packages down to their secret room. They opened the larger one first. It said it was from Ranma. Opening the box, they found a lot of packing material.

 "Oh my, whatever is in here, must be very breakable."

 As they dug around they started to find many things, four small boxes, each with a note, a bottle of sake and a box of cigarettes, several boxes of tea of assorted flavors, a box of ink, and matching brushes, and under all of that, the nicest tea set any of them had ever seen.

 Akane looked on curiously, and the rest of the said a collective, "OH MY!"

 Reading the first note, Nabiki said, "Dear Nabiki, Kasumi, and Fubuki, I stopped a robbery in a tea shop, and got a really good deal on this, and I hope you like it, it is for your 'clubhouse'. There is also an assortment of teas that I got from my sensei, he is an herbal doctor, and many of them have special properties, like helping your ki recharge faster. I noted on each package what they do. There are some normal ones like a few blends of Oolong, and some other teas as well. The wine and smokes are for the old men, if you feel they deserve it. I will leave that up to you. There are also brushes and an ink set, that I thought were really nice, since you said yours were wearing out, we wouldn't want anything to prevent our ability to communicate, now would we?."

 Nabiki blushed a bit at that before she continued, "There is also something small for each of you, I put a note on each one to let you know who they are for, and one for Kogarashi. I really hope you all enjoy them. -Ranma"

 Fubuki read her note before opening the box, 'Fubuki, You can stay with us for as long as you like. This is for you birth year, the year of the Dragon.' She opened the box to find a small jade dragon on a long silver necklace.

 Kasumi read hers next, 'Kasumi, I haven't even met you yet, and I can tell you why people want to buy those dolls and watch you on television, you are a beautiful person inside and out, and I would feel honored if you found me worthy of writing. Here is a hare, for you, the year of the Rabbit.' Kasumi blushed, glad that she did not read that aloud. She opened the box to find a jade bunny, on a similar chain to Fubuki's.

 Nabiki took her turn. 'Nabiki, I look forward to whatever you come up with, I am sure it will be great. For your birth year, the year of the Snake.' As with the other two, she found a similar necklace with a jade snake.

 "But wait, if the fourth one is for that perverted maid guy, then that means I didn't get a present! Why didn't I get anything?!?!"

 "Oh my, Akane-chan, did you thank him for the last present he sent you?"

 Akane's face turned a bit redder, it was hard to tell if it was from embarrassment, anger, or both.

 Nabiki turned to her and added, "No, no you didn't, not only that, you called him names for trying to do something nice for you. Why would he bother to get you another present if you didn't appreciate the last one?"

 "ME? Thank that pervert? NEVER!"

 "And that, my dear sister, is why you did not get a present."

 "Whatever! Why are you all on his side, you sure got bought off cheaply!"

 "Well there are two things about that, the first, is that we were not bought off, he is a genuinely nice boy, and we honestly like him, not because of what he bought us. Second, if it had been the presents that did it, they were most certainly NOT cheap!"

 Ignoring her, they opened the other box, they found a short note, and four 'Ranchibis', each in a different outfit, one that matched the ones each of them picked, and one for the group consensus. Nabiki read the note aloud. "'Dear girls, Thank you for your help, I made one for each of the outfits you liked individually, and gave the one you all agreed on to Ranchama, for his birthday. Thank you for all of your help. Love, Ukyo.'

 "...Oh Kuso! We missed his birthday! It was HIS birthday, and he got US presents! Oh, I feel like such a heel."

 "Oh my, he must be rather disappointed with us. We should do something to make it up to him."

 "Well, it's not like he ever told us when his birthday was, I guess we should have asked Uncle Genma..."

 "Goshujin-sama may well have forgotten, he's not exactly responsible."

 "Well if he never told you, he can't expect you to know when it is. I mean really, who cares anyway?"

 "I do, you might not have been able to figure it out, but I am supposed to be the detective, I should have been able to figure it out!"

 "Whatever, I don't care! I am going to practice!"

 "Well, unless you plan to be a demolitionist, breaking bricks is not 'practice', but whatever. I think one of these dolls is for you."

 "Don't want it!" Akane yelled as she stormed out into the backyard.

 "Nabiki turned back to her sisters and smiled, "I have an idea of what we can do for this. It works into a plan I was already working on."

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About a week later, Ranma received a small package. He opened it up to find no letter, causing a hint if disappointment, but it did have a stack of pictures of the girls, and an even smaller box. He took a while to look through the pictures noting that only a few of them had notes on the back, but they were just telling about the clothes they were wearing, or the pose, the background, minor details.

 "Well, 'a picture is worth a thousand words' after all."

 Ranma reached in, opened the other box, and found a micro-cassette recorder, with a tape in it. "Well, that was certainly unexpected."

 Not seeing anything else in the box, he checked to see that the tape was rewound, he pressed play.

 It crackled for a moment, and then he heard a girl's voice say "Three, two, one." and several girls started singing the English version of 'Happy Birthday to You'.

 After the singing had stopped, the first girl started to speak again, "Hi there Ranma-kun, this is Nabiki."

 "Oh, I am Kasumi."

 "And I am Fubuki."

 Together, all of them said, "And we are very sorry we missed your birthday!!!"

 Nabiki continued alone, "To make it up to you we wanted to sing to you. So we got you this toy, so we can send messages back and forth, you can listen to our voices, and we can hear yours."

 They sang several more songs, and then took turns talking, thanking him for the gifts, and singing some more. Ranma listened to both sides of the full tape. Once he had finished it, he ran straight back to town, to search high and low for a store that sold more tapes.

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Six months had passed, and even Ryoga had just about mastered all five of the animal styles, and Ranma had also learned a few of the others while he had been waiting, including Monkey and Praying Mantis. Shun had offered to also teach him Panda style, but Ranma had refused, it seemed too silly.

 "Well students, I do believe you are ready to start learning Zui Quan. To learn my style, it helps to have a few drinks first." As he pulled out the jug of wine, everyone gathered around and took up a cup.

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They had kind of lost track of time. Several hours later...

"/Remember, 'boats kin float in water, but they kin shink in it too'./" Shun slurred, as he took another drink.

 Ranma looked at him, looking confused for a moment and asked, "/What's that mean, Shifu?/"

 "/I don't know, it wazsh shomething my grandfather told me, here, haves anozer drink./"

 They did not get much training done that night, but Nodoka did get some embarrassing pictures of her son's 'manly' first time being drunk. She had been surprised that Ryoga had proven to be more of a 'light weight' than she had expected, and passed out early. She had been fairly entertained with Ukyo's shift in personality though, she had become so belligerent to everyone, except Ranma of course, to whom she had been giving goo-goo eyes at all evening. It was probably a good thing she had already passed out as well, as manly as it would be, they are still a bit too young for what she might have tried to do.

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OMAKE 05

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'Kai-bu' the Recruitment Song
{To the tune of the Scooby Doo Theme Song}
Sung by the Kai-bu girls.

-!-

Join the Kai-bu, we need you
We've got some fun for you now
Join the Kai-bu, we need you
We need some help from you now
I'm in Kai-bu, I am too
Nabiki is our leader
Penguin and Mori, and Fubuki
Kasumi-chan's a giver

You know we got a mystery to solve
So Kai-bu get ready for your act
(Don't hold back),
'Cause in kai-bu when you come through
You're gonna get one of Kasumi's snacks
(That's a fact!)

Join the Kai-bu, we want you
If you're ready and you're willin'
If we can count on you in the Kai-bu
I know we'll catch that villain
I know we'll catch that villain...

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END OMAKE

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*AUTHOR'S NOTES*

Yuri and Sayuka
- Yes, I know her friend's names at Furinkan were Yuka and Sayuri, these are her friends in her new school, I just switched the last characters for an easy way to identify her (current) new friends. Surprisingly, they look really similar too... Go figure.

Drinking Age
China did not have a 'minimum legal drinking age' prior to the law that was introduced in January of 2006, which made it eighteen.

Clothing
-Changshan is the male equivalent of the women's cheongsam (qipao). It is also known as a changpao or dagua.
Changshan, along with qipao, were introduced to China during the Qing Dynasty (17th-20th centuries). The Manchus in 1636 ordered that all Han Chinese should adopt the changshan style of dress or face harsh punishment. However, after the 1644 fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu stopped this order, and only required the court and government officials to wear Manchu clothes. Commoners were actually still allowed to wear the hanfu. However, over time, given the fact that the commoners still had to adopt Manchurian hairstyles or face execution, the commoners adopted the changshan and qipao as their own dress. Thus, the traditional Chinese Hanfu style of clothing was gradually replaced. Over time, the Manchu style gained popularity.
-The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women; the male version is the changshan. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the qipao and is also known in English as a mandarin gown. The stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao that is most often associated with today was created in the 1920s in Shanghai and was made fashionable by socialites and upper class women.
-Pien Fu is a traditional Chinese outfit consisting of a knee-length tunic over a skirt or pair of pants. This two-piece costume was considered to be a ceremonial dress. The tunic for a top that extended all the way to the knees. This was worn on top of a skirt that reached the length of the ankles. The skirt under the tunic was worn only during formal occasions. The pien was a cylinder-shaped hat that accommodated the outfit.
For more, see Wikipedia. ;)

Chinese Zodiac
-The years that these fall on in this world are slightly off from ours. If I had thought about it a head of time, I would have pushed their date of birth forward to match it, but I didn't and so this is how it will be, I will keep the signs in the right order, because they fit the people so well the way I have it planned, starting with Ranma as being born in the obvious Year of the Horse. Which makes Nabiki the year of the Snake, Fubuki the year of the Dragon, and Kasumi the year of the Rabbit. But if I had gone with the actual year, Ranma would have had to be born in either '66 or '78, which doesn't work for the manga timetable. Not that the story had to necessarily take place the year the manga started. Point is, for this story, go with the order of the signs, and the meanings of them, but ignore the year they are supposed to be.

Sneaked/Snuck
-Yes, the 'correct' past tense of sneak is sneaked, but snuck is quickly growing in use, and is listed as 'correct' in the dictionary. While normally I prefer to use the correct form, whenever possible in the narrative, 'sneaked' sounds really wrong to me in most uses, and I just can not bring myself to use it, to all of the grammar nazis out there, I am sorry. I just can't do it, it sounds too dumb to me. I have heard 'snuck' my whole life, as has my mother before me, and she reads way more than I do. She can get through at least thirty books in the time it takes me to read one. {Dyslexia sucks}

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*CHARACTERS USED*

{Here I will list all of the non-Ranma characters used in the chapter and where they are from.}

Kyoshi - I made her up, based loosely on a historical figure (her ancestor) with a light touch of Samurai Girls.
Kogarashi the "Maid Guy" - the title character from Kamen no Maid Guy
Fubuki - The future 'Maid Guy Tamer' from Kamen no Maid Guy
Kaede Tenjoji - The headmaster of Hakureiryo Academy from Ladies vs. Butlers.
Mikan is her 'assistant' and the Head Instructor.
Mori - A maid, who will later, like her mother, to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance, work for the Amatsuka family, in GJ-Bu.
Sakura 'Penguin/Pengi' Nankyoku - The title character of Penguin Musume (lit. Penguin Girl). She is a total Otaku, she comes from a VERY rich family, and can gain the abilities of whatever she is cosplaying as (to some degree). In this story, her mother is Kaede's oldest half-sister (who also has one other).
Shun Di - The drunken master and herbal doctor from the Virtua Fighter series. Some versions say he also taught Lao Chan.
Tarisha Takanawa - a parody of Asian Correspondent, Tricia Takanawa, from The Family Guy.

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