Yagami 1/2
A Ranma 0.5/King of Fighters Crossover
by Black Dragon

I'm even too depressed to write a disclaimer... damn it! Fate/Stay Night had better not end like that!
(Do NOT send spoilers if you have them)

Notes: Sounds, Emphasis or techniques, [Written words], 'Thoughts', "Dialogue", {"Dialogue in a different language"}

Chapter 16
Recoveries
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"You're kidding! Uncle Terry and Aunt Mary had a baby?" Min squealed, obviously surprised and delighted at the news.
Her family stared at her in disbelief.
"This is huge! Is it a boy or a girl? What's the baby's name?" The Ninja girl asked excitedly.
Behind her, Tomas' eye twitched. "I'm right here, you know."
Min blinked and turned toward the American, looking at him skeptically. "So... who are you, anyway? Are we hosting a student exchange program or something?"
"Min, you can't be serious," Mai said worriedly. "That's your cousin, Tomas."
Min's eyes bulged. "I have a cousin? When did this happen?"
Tomas sighed and stepped past the partial amnesiac to sit down on the couch. "It's no use. Every time I explain who I am, she just forgets a few seconds later."
"What did I forget? Did you already tell me your name?" Min asked in confusion.
Andy frowned. "Min, you remember Terry and Mary but you don't remember that they had a son?"
"They had a son?" Min gasped. "This is huge! What's his name?"
A vein popped up on Tomas' head. "It's always something around here, isn't it?"
"Min, honey, you've obviously had a hard day. Why don't you go to bed a bit early so we can talk to our... guest?" Mai said gently.
Min looked confused, but recognized that when Mai spoke gently, the only thing soft about her was her voice. She didn't want to still be around when the elder Kunoichi decided that calm and kindness weren't doing the trick anymore.
"I don't understand," Andy mumbled as Min ascended the stairs, scratching his head. "Did you make her mad or something?"
"Not to my knowledge," Tomas mumbled. "Well... actually..." his eyes narrowed at his uncle. "She DID catch me trying to trail her for you and grilled me on it, though I got the distinct impression she was more upset with you than me."
"What? You told her?" Andy growled. "Dammit, Tomas!"
"Hey, don't get all angry at me!" The American said defensively. "She was onto me after the first sentence! Try doing your own dirty work!"
"All right, all right, that's enough out of both of you!" Mai said sharply, causing the men to fall silent. "Now look: even if Min was upset enough with Tomas to do something this childish and meaningless, she would at least go about it in a manner that doesn't make her look like an idiot," the buxom Ninja asserted. "Frankly, I think we should just monitor her for a little while to see if there's anything else she's forgotten."
"What about me?" Tomas groused.
Mai shrugged helplessly. "Well, to be perfectly honest, forgetting about you isn't that big a problem; if she'd forgotten about one of her closest friends, or a teacher, or myself or Andy it would be a little more serious. At worst, forgetting about you will be annoying."
Tomas mumbled something discouraging, but didn't protest Mai's logic. "So, what, we're not going to do anything?"
"Well, can you think of anything that might have caused a sudden, minor, and oddly precise case of amnesia?" Mai asked.
The American just sighed, not bothering to answer the question.
"Then we'll wait a few days and see if anything changes. If it persists we'll seek some professional help."
"Wonderful," Tomas said. "So what am I supposed to do with her in the meantime?"
Mai shrugged again. "Whatever you want. It would be easiest to treat her as a stranger to avoid confusion, but if you keep telling her who you are, you may work through the memory block or trigger her memories."
"I wonder..." Andy mumbled.
Mai turned toward her husband hopefully, hoping he had some keen insight on the matter. "Yes?"
Andy frowned deeply as he turned toward Tomas. "You said she was on her way back from giving that Yagami kid his coat, right? Do you think he might have done something to her?"
There was a long silence as Mai and Tomas rolled their eyes.
"Dear, I know you don't trust Ranma, but now you're being paranoid."
"Really. Ranma screwing around with people's memories? That's just crazy."
The blonde man winced. "I... er... yeah, I guess you're right."

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Shower stretched her arms over her head and smiled slightly as she felt the warm rays of the sun beaming down on her face from above.
Quickly dispensing with the largest measure of sentimentality she'd allow herself that day, she fixed her usual irritated expression on her face before observing the yard.
'Hmm. Still got lots of wood. The refrigerator's full. The kitchen is clean. The walk is swept...' The aged Amazon raised an eyebrow as she went through the mental checklist of usual chores and found that there was very little to do. 'I have to admit, for all I complain about that girl, it's handy having a pupil around to do all the boring, menial work for me.'
Many martial arts masters in Shower's position would have felt immense pride in the accomplishments of such an eager and skilled pupil as Shampoo. More self-serving ones would have been very excited about utilizing a new technique to train students, and reveled in the thrill of experimentation.
Shower was exceptionally down-to-Earth and fairly petty. She found training an apprentice without payment or future service to be a tiresome waste of her time and a near-constant annoyance. Frankly, if she had had anything better to do day-to-day, she would have washed her hands of the entire matter.
But she was a lonely, bored old widow, and even if she didn't appreciate the company very much, training Shampoo in the lost arts of the Soul of Ice was a thorough distraction.
It also helped remind her of how bothersome village life was, and kept her from reminiscing. As previously implied, sentimentality was an irritation she refused to invest much time into.

The elderly Amazon was about to turn right back around and go sleep in when she considered her pupil.
'So where is she, anyway?' Considering her normal attitude, Shampoo should have already found her by now and started pestering her about training.
Deciding that a nap could wait, Shower turned the corner of her home, scanning the area for any sign of her young apprentice.
She was extremely nonplussed (which was swiftly becoming a trend when finding Shampoo) to see the lavender-haired Amazon sitting on a tree stump, legs crossed in a meditation pose. She was also deeply immersed in the soul of ice, as one could discern from the layer of frost coating the tree bark.
Shower's eye twitched. "Shampoo, what are you doing?"
The younger Amazon slowly opened her eyes, and then regarded her master stonily. "Shampoo meditating."
"A more elaborate answer, please," Shower deadpanned. "One that I could give to a doctor when I have to explain how you contracted frostbite in late spring."
Shampoo frowned, and her expression shifted to one of apathetic irritation that she had copied straight from her current master. "Shampoo meditate in Soul of Ice to better use technique and control state of mind."
"Oh," Shower said simply, "I see."
Then she kicked her student off of the stump.
As Shampoo rolled across the ground, her concentration shattered, and she immediately jumped to her feet, her face flushed with anger. "What you do that for?!"
"That was a test to see if you could maintain the Soul of Ice under stressful conditions," the elderly Amazon said condescendingly. "Really, if you can't hold it with one kick, how do you expect to last the whole fight?"
Much of Shampoo's anger evaporated, though there was still a quick, intense urge to strike the woman in front of her. "So... Shampoo fail test," she mumbled gloomily.
"No, you moron, I was lying. I kicked you because I was frustrated with you, and violence was the quickest and most effective way to express that," Shower explained calmly.
Shampoo was having surprising difficulty controlling her desire to thoroughly thrash Shower after this revelation, which was made all the more clear by the near-inferno that engulfed her body as her battle aura grew and entered into the visible spectrum.
"So tell me, why were you doing something so stupid as meditating in the Soul of Ice?" Shower asked, apparently unconcerned with the younger Amazon's obvious urge to hurt her.
"Shampoo tell you. Shampoo want better use technique and control state of mind," she said through clenched teeth.
Shower rolled her eyes. "And what dunce came up with the brilliant idea to do that through meditation?"
"Shampoo!" Shampoo shouted. She may have been slightly more hesitant to answer that way if she was familiar with the Japanese word for "dunce," but as it was she was just hoping that her master would hurry up and get to the damn point.
"Oh, for goodness sake," Shower sighed. "Look, you know how every old crone back in the village touted the power of meditation and the advantages of clearing one's mind and all that bull? Forget it," she snapped. "Meditation is only useful if you have something to meditate ON, and nowadays we call that 'thinking'. No stupid pose required."
"Why you try so hard disillusion Shampoo?" the teenage Amazon deadpanned.
"Because you're a bright young woman in modern Japan, and you have no use for the wasteful, outdated customs of a bunch of backwards barbarians out in the Chinese wilderness," Shower said with more heat than usual. "The quaint ancient crap they teach you is just that: quaint ancient crap. Which is all well and good if you're going to live your life in a stick hut in the mountains stabbing people for a living, but around here we practice something called 'civilization' where that sort of nonsense holds no sway."
Shampoo had to wonder if her master's apparent antipathy toward her former home was a result of their rejection of her, or if she had simply assimilated very thoroughly. "Fine. So that it? That all for what you kick Shampoo?"
"No. Also, the Soul of Ice is dangerous for you to descend too deep into," Shower explained, her tone now much more somber. "But first, let's go over your reasoning: you want to better use the techniques derived from the Soul of Ice? Great. Sitting around with your eyes closed won't help with that. Next, you want to control the Soul of Ice better? That's stupid."
Shampoo twitched, and decided that Shower had not assimilated thoroughly to Japan. The Japanese had a tendency to be overly polite and beat around the bush when giving criticism. Shower was even more scathing than Cologne on her worst day.
"As a result of your conditioning, the Soul of Ice is like a lightswitch. You want it, you turn it on. You don't need it, you turn it off. There is no 'control' to worry about. Or at least, there shouldn't be."
Shampoo frowned. "But when Shampoo fall out of Soul of Ice, sometimes have hard time controlling self."
"Yes, I explained that to you," Shower said with an exasperated sigh.
Sitting on the tree stump (pausing for a moment to brush off the frost), the elderly Amazon crossed her arms over her chest. "While in the Soul of Ice state, your 'warm' emotions are literally held at bay like a dam holding back water. This is why you shouldn't use it for extended periods of time, like DURING MEDITATION." Shifting briefly to a glare, she was disappointed to see that the lavender-haired girl didn't flinch. Apparently Shampoo was growing jaded to her attitude. "When you release the Soul of Ice, it's like a dam opening its floodgates. Well, actually, that implies far more control than you have. It's more like a dam blowing up."
"There you go! Have no control!" Shampoo pointed out.
"Hush. Master is talking," Shower snapped. "Now granted, during meditation your emotions don't grow and fester very much, so that's not so much a problem. However, when you meditate there's a chance of tapping deeply into your subconcious, where the Soul of Ice rests waiting for activation. You dip deep enough into that, and there's a chance of emotional contamination. Or personality blurring, you could call it."
Shampoo fell silent at this, and considered that explanation. "You sure that happen?"
"I'm sure it CAN happen," Shower mumbled. "I didn't used to be so irritable, you know. Part of immersing myself in the Soul of Ice twenty-four seven was looking upon everything with careless apathy and infinite patience. Sometime after my own conditioning, I lost that trait."
Shampoo let herself feel a pang of sympathy for the older Amazon. Just as Shampoo had been conditioned to instill an emotionless ki void at will, Shower had undergone a similar process to flood her emotionless ki void with passion so that she could 'interact properly' with her husband.
Although the elderly woman refused to discuss the topic in detail, Shampoo got the distinct impression that it hadn't worked out very well.
"And while I doubt you'll find yourself regretting having a bit of cool common sense drilled into your psyche, it's still an unnecessary risk with no chance of reward," Shower insisted. "I've tried for a long time to eliminate the side effects. It's just a necessary sacrifice you have to make."
Shampoo considered this.
And then she snorted in annoyance. "So just because you give up, Shampoo supposed to give up too? Not improve self because you say is impossible?"
Shower blinked. Then she rubbed her chin. "Huh. That's actually a good point. Hold on a moment."
Shampoo didn't know whether to feel victorious that her master didn't have a snappy comeback for once, or feel cheated that the older Amazon simply made her wait while she thought of one.
"Okay, how about this:" Shower offered calmly, "You can improve on my techniques once you MASTER my techniques. It's way too early in your training to start solving problems that I gave up on."
Shampoo winced, though she was still mildly pleased that Shower hadn't come up with that on the spot.
"That said: I'm your master. So shut up and do what I say," the elder Amazon said haughtily. "That's the one piece of quaint ancient crap that I want to see you practicing. Got it?"
Shampoo fought down a surge of rebellious energy and forced herself to bow. "Yes, Master. Shampoo not meditate anymore." Then she straightened. "Now we start training, yes?"
"No, first I'm going to take a nap," the elderly woman deadpanned. "Dealing with your foolishness first thing in the morning is exhausting."
Shampoo's eye twitched. "It ten in AM."
"So the barbarian girl can read a clock. Wonderful," Shower drawled as she began walking back to the front door. "I'm going back to bed. Why don't you go knock down trees with your head, or whatever you do to keep busy?"
A vein popped up on Shampoo's head. 'I swear, when I'm done here, I am going to hurt her. A lot.'

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Near the other side of the island, two individuals with a much healthier relationship also talked about the younger's state of mind, though the subject of conversation was far more serious, and the tone of conversation far less so.
"I'm telling you, don't worry about it," Ranma chided gently. "What happened isn't important. How you're going to handle things like that in the future IS important, but you shouldn't lose sleep over it. We're all with you, Yurumi."
The little redhead looked doubtful. "Did they ever find that mean girl who attacked everybody yesterday?" She asked nervously as she rode atop Ranma's shoulders.
Ranma thought carefully about the question as he carried his sister to school on his way to Furinkan. Yurumi was not a fighter. Ranma WAS a fighter, and even he felt queasy at the thought of killing people. His sister was a gentle and frightened little girl who never wanted to hurt anyone (save MAYBE Ryoga after he had surprised her in the bath) and had great difficulty coming to grips with the idea that she could accidentally vaporize entire city blocks. It didn't help that she was incapable of deliberately vaporizing entire city blocks either; to have that much power and practically no control over it was immensely frightening. Ranma knew this very well.
That said, he still sucked at diplomacy. "Nah, but I don't imagine there was much left of her to find."
Yurumi's face darkened, but as she was on top of Ranma's shoulders, he didn't notice. "Oh... is Hashiru okay?"
"He's fine, though he's still laid up in the hospital. I was thinking about visiting him after school. Wanna come?"
"Yeah. I hope he's all right." Of course, the only time Yurumi had met Hashiru was when the gang boss had fought Ranma, but even in that short and rather unusual episode, he had given a strong impression that he was really a pretty decent guy (at least as decent as one could possibly hope for from a gang boss).

The rest of the walk to Yurumi's school was made in relative silence, broken only by the chatter of other young elementary school students and the rumbling of car engines as automobiles zipped by.
"Here we are. I'll see you right after school, all right?" Ranma said as he picked his sister up off his shoulders and set her down.
Yurumi didn't say anything, but stared down at her feet nervously.
"Yurumi? What's wrong?" The pigtailed boy said in concern, dropping down to sit on his haunches.
The little redhead reached out and gripped Ranma's jacket, pulling herself closer to her brother. "Ranma... do you ever get scared?"
Ranma, naturally, responded with his normal, easygoing bravado. "What, you kiddin'? I'm not scared o' nothin'!"
Yurumi sweatdropped and frowned. "Ranma, I'm serious..."
The older Yagami blinked, and then his brow furrowed. "Whaddya mean?"
"Ranma, we're different from other people. We have a power... and sometimes I'm afraid of what I might do with it..." Yurumi said timidly, clutching his jacket tighter. "Do you ever have problems with... uh... I mean, have you ever..." she trailed off, and Ranma could see in her eyes that her resolve to finish the sentence was waning rapidly. "Uhm... never mind. I just-"
Before she could turn away and scurry off to school, Ranma took her gently but firmly by the shoulders, startling her slightly. "Yeah. I have."
The redhead's eyes widened. "You... You mean, you-"
"Not quite in the same way," Ranma said, cutting her off. "Worse in some ways. Better in others." His expression softened. "And yeah, I'm afraid that it'll happen again. I have to be. If I ever stop being afraid of the consequences, I know I'll end up hurting someone who doesn't deserve it. Or someone I really care about."
He gently squeezed the little girl's shoulder. "It's good that you're afraid of hurting people, but you can't let that fear control you, or stop you from using your power when you think it can do some good."
"O-Okay," Yurumi breathed, feeling a little bit of confidence starting to build up in her at her brother's words.
"So if that girl DOES show up again and tries to hurt you," Ranma said seriously, staring her straight in the eyes. "You do what it takes to keep safe. Whatever it comes down to, the most important thing is that you're okay." Then he smiled. "You got it?"
Yurumi let go of his jacket and nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Yes! Thank you!" Then she darted forward and hugged him, nuzzling her face into his chest.
"All right, all right. Get a move on. I'll see you after school," the pigtailed boy said, rubbing Yurumi's head playfully.
She nodded again and released him. Smiling as she ran off into the flow of little boys and girls, Yurumi was soon lost to Ranma's sight as he slowly stood up smiling softly.

Suddenly, his eyes widened. 'An attack from behind?!' Ranma's reflexes were quick, but only barely quick enough to allow the pigtailed boy to protect his neck and heart as he turned around to face his charging opponent, leaving him otherwise exposed.
Sadly, this provided little protection from the full effects of the Shiranui family Ninja stealth glomp.
"That was SOOO CUUUUUTE!!" Min cried as she pressed her victim tightly to her bosom. This was slightly awkward as it left Ranma's hand sandwiched between their respective chests, but she was far too excited to care.
"M-Min? Wh-What are you doing here?" Ranma stuttered, trying not to fall over backward with the buxom Ninja ruining his balance. Last thing he wanted was to be seen being straddled by a girl in front of dozens of nine and ten year-olds.
"I wanted to see Yurumi off before we went to school," Min said, sniffling slightly as she nuzzled the Yagami fighter. "But then I saw you talking to her like that, and it was SO adorable I couldn't interrupt!"
Ranma's face darkened. "Uh... how much of that conversation did you overhear?"
"I didn't overhear anything. I just saw you two talking. And then the hug was so sweet!" She chirped, grinning as she squeezed Ranma tighter. "Why? What were you talking about?"
"Oh, just some family stuff," Ranma hedged, wishing Min would let go so the little kids filing into the gates would stop staring at him and the two teachers at the gate would stop scowling at him.
Spotting Tomas walking slowly down the street toward them, Ranma raised his hand. "Hey Tomas! What's up?"
The American looked up at him, and seemed annoyed for some reason. "You'll find out in a minute."
Ranma blinked. "What? Why? Something the matter?"
Min looked back and forth between Ranma and Tomas, and then let go of the former. "Hey Ranma, who's your friend?"
That was worth a few more blinks. "He's your cousin," the pigtailed boy deadpanned.
The buxom Ninja girl gave him a lopsided snort. "Right. I know my family pretty well. I think I'd know if I had a cousin his age. Seriously, who is he? A new exchange student?"
The chatter of young children filled the ten seconds of complete silence after her statement.
"Oops," Ranma said in a tiny voice.
Luckily, Tomas was too busy rubbing his head in annoyance to look for signs of realization or guilt from the flame-user. "It's no use. She doesn't remember me, and for some reason, she CAN'T remember me. It's like I've been completely blocked from her mind or something."
"Really? That is completely weird and I can't possibly imagine how it happened," Ranma said awkwardly, sweat running down his brow. "Oh, uh... I just remembered something I forgot at home. I'll see you guys at school, okay?"
"Oh, okay," Min said to the crescent moon on Ranma's back as the young man jetted back up the street at top speed.
She blinked at his speed, and then scratched her head. "Huh. That was odd."
"Yeah. Maybe he thought of a reason for this?" Tomas asked.
"Reason for what?" The Ninja girl asked."Hey, do I even know you?"
"Dont' start."

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After deciding that Ranma's trip back home was probably going to take too much time for her to wait for him, Min shrugged off his departure and decided to head on to school alone.
Well, alone except for the foreign kid following her and sulking. What was his problem?
'Probably saw me hug Ranma and figured out that I'm not available,' she decided. Broken teenage hearts were commonplace around her, and though it was kind of sad, she couldn't really do much about it.
So she ignored the strange fellow as she walked to school, not bothering to leap rooftops or run atop fences or any of the other acrobatic feats she was capable of. Unlike Ranma, she didn't make a habit of showing off her abilities at every opportunity, as she didn't want potential opponents to be able to easily gauge her skill and power. It was a Ninja thing.
She had just turned the final corner and could see Furinkan just down the block when she spied a one-hundred yen coin lying on the ground in front of a darkened alleyway.
"Score! That's a free juice!" She said, moving toward the mouth of the alley and reaching down for the coin.
Min was not a person that worried greatly about her own personal safety. She had no aversion to dark alleys, city parks at night, or seedy areas of town because frankly, anybody who wanted to rob, rape, or otherwise hurt her would either have to be among the top tier of martial artists in the country, or have enough weaponry to destroy a small town in order to do so.
In that respect, a pair of arms suddenly emerging from the darkness and pulling her into the shadows was really the last thing she expected, whereas most girls would find it among their top five.
"HEY!! LET GO!!" Crash! Whump!
Tomas gaped as he watched a garbage can bounce out of the alley, and dashed up to the area at top speed to help, although he seriously doubted he'd be needed.
He was right, though not for the reasons he expected. As soon as he reached the alley, Min stumbled back onto the sidewalk as if she had been shoved out, looking extremely disoriented. Oddly enough, her ponytail had also been undone, leaving her long, sandy blonde hair flowing gently over her shoulders.
"Hey! Are you alright?" Tomas asked in concern, taking a guarded stance as he peered into the alley.
Min blinked several times, then her hands snapped to her bookbag to make sure it was still there. "Uh... yeah. I think so," she mumbled uncertainly. A quick check confirmed that her pocketbook was still on her, and still had all her money.
Tomas frowned as he stepped into the alley, not being able to see or sense any other presence. "What happened? Did they touch you anywhere?"
"Uh... well, no. I mean, yes, but just on the arm and my head, I think," the Ninja girl muttered.
"So, what, someone just grabbed you, stole your hair ribbon, and then took off?" The American asked, shifting around some old discarded boxes and finding nothing. 'Man, whoever grabbed her is FAST! And where would they go? This alley's a dead end!'
"I really don't know. It all happened so fast!" Min mumbled. "I think I got in a solid shot to the crotch, though. Maybe that scared him off." She shook her head, idly noting that she felt oddly refreshed, for some reason. "Well, whatever. We'd better hurry up or we'll be late for class."
Tomas froze, halting his thorough sweep of the alley for clues. "Hold it. 'We'?"
"Yes, 'we'. Or were you planning on playing hooky?" The Ninja girl asked.
Tomas pointed to himself. "Min, who am I?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Why? You forget?"
"No, but last I checked, you did," the American said seriously.
Min didn't understand that comment, but answered his question. "You're Tomas Bogard, son of Terry Bogard - my dad's brother - and Mary Bogard. You were born in South Town in the U.S., and you're seventeen years old. You want me to go into personal history and fighting style?" She asked, wondering just what was going on that she'd have to tell him this.
"Huh. Weird. Very weird," Tomas mumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, what's this all about? Why are you asking me a question like that?"
Tomas shrugged. "It's hard to explain. You were having memory problems, but apparently you don't REMEMBER having memory problems, so..."
"What do you mean I had memory problems? Did I forget your name?" Min asked in concern.
"You forgot that I existed," the American said bluntly. "And you had problems retaining it when I reminded you."
"Whoa... that IS weird," Min mumbled uncomfortably.
Tomas frowned at her for a moment, and then started walking toward Furinkan again. "Well, whatever happened, I guess the shock of being attacked snapped you out of it or something. Let's go to school."
"Hmm..." Min still looked rather disturbed, but let the subject go. "I hope Ranma comes back soon. You know that explosion they said happened in the warehouse district yesterday? Apparently the explosion was purple. I wanted to ask him about it."
Tomas raised an eyebrow. Fireworks aside, if a detonation was purple, there was pretty much only one family that could be responsible. "A purple explosion, huh? And right in Hashiru's territory, too."
"No, it was the territory of this street gang called 'Clan Ra'."
"Well, yeah. And Hashiru runs that gang."
"What? You know the boss of Clan Ra?"

Laying on edge of the roof above, Ranma groaned and slapped his forehead as he overheard the Bogards' conversation. "God, I hate pressure point techniques," he mumbled, shifting slightly to accomodate the aching in his groin. Min truly did have a top-notch grapple defense. At least against a male attacker.
"Huh. I should get some cold water before trying again," he said to himself as he stood up tenderly.

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"So, do you at least remember Kuno?" Tomas asked, jabbing a thumb at the kendoist, who was leaning against a tree in Furinkan's yard, arms crossed over his chest.
"Unfortunately, yes," Min mumbled irritably, still finding it suspicious that she was supposedly forgetting specific people at random. "Though last I saw him he didn't look so sullen. Did he finally wake up from his extended samurai fantasy or what?"
"No, Ranma told him that he was too weak to challenge him anymore, and said he wasn't going to fight him," Tomas said, not going into detail. Min didn't need to know about how the declaration was phrased, and frankly, Tomas didn't want to have to recall the memory.
Min snorted. "So what? Why isn't he running around with his stupid stick on his shoulder saying 'The evil sorcerer has refused to fight me out of fear of my prowess! At last, all can see that I am his better!'"
The American tilted his cap up as he considered that question. "Well, putting aside the remote possibility that he finally recognizes that Ranma is better than him, think about it: getting kicked around by Ranma was the lynchpin of Kuno's daily routine. I mean, I'm pretty sure his whole DAY revolved around Yagami." He began ticking off points on his fingers. "Kuno comes to school early so that he can get in position to challenge Ranma when he arrives. He attacks Ranma in the hall after biology, so that he's only laid up in the nurse's office during study hall. He has his lunch delivered to the nurse's office so that he's done eating by the time lunch actually begins and has plenty of time to fight Ranma or bug you or pine over Akane Tendo. And when he goes home, he spends all his time practicing his kendo to try and close the enormous gap between his and Ranma's skills."
Min frowned deeply. "You make it sound like an obsession."
"No, it's not an obsession, but really, if you take away Ranma, what's left for Kuno to do? And more to the point, who's going to care?"
"I always thought he'd put more time into sexual harassment," the Ninja girl said irritably.
Tomas shrugged. "Maybe. But getting beat up by girls you're trying to date is a real drag. Getting beat up by your rival is to be expected, at least occasionally. And while we're on the subject, didn't he always blame Ranma for you and Tendo not liking him?"
Min's brow creased as she stared across the courtyard at the older student. "Good God... Ranma was his whole world, wasn't he?"
"It sounds really weird when you say it like that, but yeah," the American deadpanned.

"Ah, if it isn't the dirty foreigner Tomas Bogard!"
Min and Tomas both stared as the kendoist approached, bouncing his bokken on his shoulder.
"I see that once again you foul the presence of the lovely and divine Kunoichi with your vile presence! No doubt you desire to take her for yourself, like so many of the unclean lowborn among us," the kendoist said haughtily, glaring eye-to-eye with the American.
Min's aura flared. "KUNO!! That's my COUSIN, you sicko! And watch that 'foreigner' crap! I'm half American, you know!"
Tomas, for his part, simply stared at the other boy impassively, hands still in his pockets.
"You are indeed a most wonderous creature; for your Japanese heritage masks well your foreign blood." Then Kuno snorted, looking at Tomas. "Do not think yourself safe from the vile lusts of this scoundrel due to blood relations, my love. Surely you are familiar with the reputations of foreign filth hailing from the American south?"
A vein popped up on Min's head, and she slowly reached for her battle fans.
Tomas snickered.
Min and Kuno both blinked, surprised by the response.
"Heh. Southerners. That was pretty funny," Tomas said, smirking. "Anyway, I don't have time for this. Later." With that, he moved straight ahead toward the front doors, simply shoving Kuno out of the way when he came within reach.
Kuno staggered to the side, windmilling to keep his balance. "Knave! How dare you lay hands upon my person! Turn and fight such that I, Tatewaki Kun-"
Slam! The front entrace to the main building slammed shut, cutting Kuno off mid-rant.

"... Okay, this is NOT happening," Min said uneasily as she watched the kendoist sit down against the tree he had been leaning on, hugging his legs to himself in complete silence. A patch of darkness seemed to materialized over him in his depression, and little mushrooms started popping out of the ground around him.
"Wow, it's true," Akane mumbled, coming up from behind the Ninja girl. "I thought Nabiki was kidding when she said Kuno was having depression issues. It just seems so... UNLIKE him, you know?"
Min didn't respond, instead picking up the longest stick in the immediate vicinity and poking Tatewaki repeatedly in the shoulder. "Hey. Hey, Kuno. You okay? Hey."
"You... need not fear for my... well-being, my love..." the kendoist mumbled despondently, "for I... am of indestructible body and... indomitable spirit..."
"His words don't really match his expression, huh?" Akane asked, tilting her head to one side.
"My most delicate princess of the shadows... Min Bogard... and the lovely but fierce tigress... Akane Tendo... my loves... I would date with thee..."
Akane and Min glanced at each other. "No," they said in tandem. Both of them felt pity for the annoying kendoist's current state, but they didn't feel THAT sorry for him.
"Oh... okay then..." Kuno mumbled, hugging his legs tighter to himself.
"This is just pathetic. I'm going to class," Akane said disdainfully, walking toward the front doors.
Min nodded in agreement, though she continued poking Kuno a few more times before she left as well.

The moment Min was out of earshot, a head with bright red hair tied in a pigtail popped out among the tree's branches.
"Hmm... there are a lot more people here. How'm I gonna ambush Min now?" Ranma wondered aloud.
"Third story... Second period..." Kuno mumbled from below. "Her locker is on the first floor... by the time she gets to class... the halls are empty..."
Ranma blinked, craning her head to look underneath her. "Oh. Thanks Kuno." Under normal circumstances she would have been suspicious or even angry that Kuno knew something like that so well, but for now Ranma could hardly claim the moral high ground.
"You're welcome, pigtailed girl... if you would care to date-"
The kendoist trailed off at the rustle of branches, and glanced upward briefly as he spied the redhead leaping into one of the open second-story windows, apparently ignoring him.
Crackle! Boom! A tiny rain cloud manifested over Kuno's head, drenching him in a sudden downpour.

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"Aw, shoot, now I'm late," Min muttered irritably as she leapt straight up the stairwell and grabbed the railing above to hoist herself up. "If Tomas would have just explained to me who that Hasho-whatsit guy was that he was asking Keitoro about, I wouldn't have stuck around."
Of course, Tomas had explained, very briefly, who Hashiru was no less than three times during the conversation. But Min didn't remember that.
As mentioned before, Min didn't worry very much about being assaulted out of nowhere (although one might start to wonder if a little paranoia might do the girl some good). But then, even the most safety-conscious girls wouldn't worry about moving in front of broom closets that are left open just enough for someone to peek out of, at least at school.
So, Min was once again caught totally by surprise as a hand burst out of the janitor's closet, grabbed her arm, and then pulled her into the closet with shocking strength.
"HEY!! What the hell?! Not again!" The Ninja shouted, struggling as best she could. Whap! Thud!
"Gah!" Min yelled in surprise as she was forcibly ejected from the closet, and then whirled around just in time for the door to slam shut.
Growling, the Ninja girl wrenched the door open.
"... The hell?" She mumbled, looking at the interior; empty save for several mops and brooms, plus a mop bucket that had apparently been broken in the brief struggle.
Looking at the ceiling, Min's eyes narrowed at the open ventilation shaft. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." After spending a moment to take stock of her current belongings again, she left for class again, shaking her head.
It was this action that made her realize that her hair was unbound again. "They stole my hair ribbon again? That was my back-up! Damn it!"

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"So apparently some weirdo is swiping all my hair supplies," Min explained irritably as she poked at her bento. "What's wrong with these people? First a little old man stealing underwear, and now some freak is taking hair ribbons?" Her hair was once again in a ponytail, though it was now bound by a fresh rubber band. "Next thing you know we'll have some loser robbing people of their shoelaces."
"It is weird that you've been jumped twice and they didn't do anything to you other than take your hair accessories," Tomas mumbled over his own lunch, "but I really doubt this is just some perverted stalker trying to collect your stuff."
"Really? What other explanation is there?" Min asked.
"It's not so much a matter of alternatives as it is that it really doesn't make sense," Tomas reasoned. "Anybody who knows you even a little bit knows better than to try and rob you, even if it's for something as worthless and easy to get as a hair ribbon." He ate a mouthful of rice before continuing. "But that aside, do you remember Hashiru?"
Min blinked. "Yeah, of course I remember him. He took me hostage for a while after I stormed his territory. And then later we all-" suddenly her brow furrowed. "Wait, don't tell me I forgot him the way I forgot about you?"
"Yeah, you did. It's a little worrying that every time you get jumped, you remember somebody." Tomas took another bite. "So who'd you forget this time?"
The Ninja girl scowled at him, crossing her arms under her breasts. "If I can't remember them, how would I know if I've forgotten them?"
"Can't remember who?"
The Bogard cousins turned at the voice to see Akane approaching with Yuka and Sayuri in tow.
Tomas hesitated, wondering if he should really bother filling in the youngest Tendo on the situation. It's not like she could likely help, and his own relationship with her could at best be considered cold.
Akane's relationship with Min was notably warmer, but not much so. She mostly ended up hanging around Min because her friends did, and Yuka and Sayuri seemed to hang around Min because the young Ninja was swiftly becoming the most popular girl in school and they were hoping for some attention by proximity.
After a short deliberation, Tomas shrugged and decided to give her the short version. "Min's having memory problems. We're not sure why."
Yuka blinked. "Whoa... that sounds kind of serious."
"Yeah, are you sure you should be in school?" Akane asked, frowning as she sat down across from the Ninja girl.
"Well... I don't think it's that big a problem," Min reasoned. "It's annoying, sure, but I don't see much point in staying home. It's not like I'm missing huge chunks of my life or forgetting basic information, just a few people."
"What about going to see a doctor or something?" Akane asked. "What if it's something serious?"
"It doesn't seem to be, but Aunt Mai said if the problem gets worse or doesn't improve in a while, then she should see someone about it," Tomas said as he finished up his lunch. "Though I'm not sure whether forgetting new people and remembering the ones you forgot before means it's getting better or worse."
"Well, I still think you should see someone," Akane said, frowning. "I know a good doctor who practices near the school. He's actually a chiropractor, but he knows a lot of strange stuff like ki flows and pressure points. He might know something about selective memory loss."
"Hmm... well, maybe tomorrow, if it's still a problem then," Min mused. Then she smiled at Akane. "By the way, I didn't catch your name. I'm Min Bogard!"
Akane, Yuka, and Sayuri froze in place and stared. Tomas sighed and opened a soda.
Min noted the girls' expressions, and a doubtful expression crossed her face. She leaned over to Tomas. "Pst! Do I know her?" She whispered.

Before Tomas could think of a sarcastic response or Akane could start sputtering in disbelief, a certain pigtailed redhead walked up to the table looking quite irritated, and sporting a bruise around her left eye.
"Min, I need to see you for a minute," the aquatranssexual deadpanned.
The Ninja girl blinked. "About what?"
Without answering, Ranma took her by the arm and started walking toward the cafeteria exit.
"What's wrong? Where are we going? Hey, what happened to your eye?"

Tomas stared at the girls' backs until the door closed behind them, wondering.
Then he shook his head and started guzzling down his soda. 'Probably best not to think about it,' he decided.

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"Frankly, when the doctors took stock of Hashiru's injuries, they were surprised he was still alive," Hana said anxiously, looking up at Tomas as she explained her cousin's condition. "No 'normal' person could have survived that much internal bleeding. His spine didn't suffer any serious damage, but they're not sure how his heart and lungs are faring, so they wouldn't give me a definite answer about his recovery."
Tomas frowned, rubbing his chin. "This is serious. And you say this girl was our age?"
"Maybe a little bit older. Have you ever heard of anyone matching that description?" Hana asked.
The American shook his head. "No, but then, I haven't been in Japan for very long. Did Ranma recognize her?"
"Ranma didn't get a chance to see her before his little sister vaporized her," Hana said, shrugging.
"......" Tomas frowned and moved his cap up for a moment to scratch his head. "Wait... I'm sorry, could you say that a little slower? My Japanese still isn't perfect..."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The bespectacled girl said, flushing slightly. "Although the way you talk, you do seem completely fluent. Ranma didn't see the girl. Yurumi vaporized her first."
"Now, right there, you see, I think I'm having trouble with the word 'vaporize,'" Tomas decided.
"Uh... well, destroyed. Killed. Annihilated. Blew up. Demolished. Wiped out..." Hana scratched her chin as she tried to think of more synonyms.
"Huh. Okay, well, obviously it's a grammar problem, then," Tomas muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because I keep getting the idea that Yurumi did that to our new girl rather than the other way around."
Hana blinked. "She did." Then she snapped her fingers as realization dawned. "Oh! I guess you don't know, huh? Apparently Yurumi fires high-yield fire beams when she's frightened! Leveled three warehouses and burnt down two more."
Tomas' cap fell off his head. "... Oh."
Hana nodded seriously. "Yeah. It was kind of scary."
Tomas frowned in silence for a long time. "I have to ask: does weird stuff like this happen all the time here, or just around Yagami?"

Before Hana could respond, the door to the girls' bathroom opened up nearby and Min stalked out of it, apparently in the midst of chastising someone behind her.
"Whatever. I don't know who you are, but I don't have time for this. So just leave me alone, all right?"
A moment later Ranma emerged from the bathroom, carrying a comb and a bottle in her hands. "Oh, come on! You don't remember me? Ranma Yagami?"
Min snorted and glared over her shoulder. "Ranma Yagami is a MAN. Now bugger off."
"Min! Wait up!"

Hana frowned as Min descended the stairs with Ranma following closely, obviously agitated.
"He DOES seem to be setting a new standard," she admitted. "Uh... are you gonna go after them?"
"I gave up on figuring this amnesia thing out hours ago," the American admitted. "Let Ranma deal with it. So, are you gonna visit him after school?"
"Yeah, I thought I should. Though there's no guarantee they'll be allowing visitors," Hana said sullenly.
"Hey, lighten up!" Tomas said suddenly, cupping her chin and tilting it upward slightly. "The doctors don't know who they're dealing with. Fighters of Hashiru's caliber can come back from near-death experiences in top form. He'll be fine, I know it."
"Sure, you're absolutely right," Hana mumbled dazedly as her cheeks flushed and her eyes glazed over. "The caliber of the top forms death's experiences."
Tomas blinked. Repeatedly. "Say what?" Then he noticed that there were tiny pink cherry blossoms flowing along the breeze around him, which was unusual primarily because the hall windows were closed, thus preventing the entry of both foliage and wind. "What's going on here?"
He didn't receieve an answer to his question, but in the process of looking around in a confused panic, he spotted Tatewaki Kuno trudging down the hallway.
It was certainly worth noting, among the other meteorological impossibilities, that the kendoist had a tiny raincloud following him overhead, perpetually drenching the upperclassman and leaving a trail of water puddles in his wake. Behind him followed the school janitor, calmly putting down [Caution! Wet floor] cones every five meters or so.
"I've really gotta consider going back to the States," Tomas mumbled, his eye twitching. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

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When school let out, Min, Hana, Ranma, and Tomas all met up at the front gate of Furinkan so that they could head to the hospital together.

"My father Andy, my mother Mai, my little brother Toji, my little sister Kikyo, and then there's Uncle Terry, Aunt Mary, and my cousin Tomas," Min said wearily. "Did I miss anybody?"
"Not that I know of, no," Ranma (back in male form) confirmed, nodding. "Now how about my family?"
Sigh. "There's you, your little sister Yurumi, your mother Nodoka, and your father Iori."
"And our butler, Smithers. Though I don't think you knew about him."
"Huh? Since when do you have a butler?"
"Long story."

Tomas was fairly nervous, both from the number of strange happenings that he had been witness to, and from the effort required to ignore Ranma and Min. He claimed to have dismissed Min's amnesia as a hopeless case, but frankly all the pieces of the puzzle kept rattling around in his ear as the conversation behind him and Hana progressed, begging to be put together.

"Okay, so do you remember what happened when you went back to my place to give me my jacket?" Ranma asked.
Min opened her mouth to respond, and then slowly closed. "I... No. I don't," she said worriedly. "All I remember was going out and then coming back."
"That's perfect," Ranma said before pausing and shaking his head. "Er... perfectly weird, I mean."
Min frowned. "Did anything happen at your place?"
"No, of course not. Certainly nothing worth knocking you out and brainwashing you over... not that I or anyone I know would or could do that to you even if something like that DID happen."
"Something like what?"
"Never mind that. But on a completely different subject, you probably shouldn't have any long chats with my mom."

It didn't help the American's disposition one bit when they picked up Yurumi from her elementary school. Though it took his mind off of whether or not Ranma could memory-wipe people and what he might possibly use that ability for, he just couldn't help but stare uneasily at the little girl.

'Three warehouses in a single blast? What the heck?! She always seems so helpless!'
Yurumi smiled weakly at the American, and then slowly edged over to Hana. "Pst! Why does he keep looking at me like that?" She whispered uneasily.
"Oh, he just heard that you blew up that nasty girl the other day, that's all. He's probably wondering how careful he has to be in order to avoid being cremated," Hana said bluntly, idly adjusting her glasses.
Yurumi's face darkened. Tomas' eye twitched.
"You're supposed to whisper it back, you know," Yurumi mumbled.
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said suddenly as he caught up to Tomas and slapped the older boy on the back. "She only blows stuff up when she's physically threatened. She's perfectly safe to be around."
"Mmm," Tomas mumbled noncommitally. 'You say that, but... damn! And the fire burnt down two more buildings?'
"Wait, wait, wait," Min said, speeding up slightly to step alongside Ranma. "Yurumi blows stuff up? Since when?"
"Since a year or so ago," Ranma said vaguely, not remembering how old Yurumi was when she started having her "accidents."
The Ninja girl turned and raised an eyebrow at the redhead, who wilted at the attention and looked down at her feet. "Can she show me?"
"NO, she CAN'T," Ranma said firmly in a hard tone that made Min wince, "because it involves scaring the hell out of her, and I won't let anybody do that if I can help it."
"Okay, okay, sorry! I didn't know," Min said, backing off quickly. "It's just so hard to believe. She always seems so... harmless."
Yurumi sighed. "I wish I was harmless..."
"Eh, not hurting people is overrated," Min said off-handedly. "Trust me, you'll be glad you can light jerks on fire when you get older. It comes in handy."
Yurumi and Hana sweatdropped as Ranma and Tomas nodded in agreement (While Tomas couldn't light people on fire persay, his own abilities with ki worked just fine).
"So, what's it like being normal?" The youngest Yagami deadpanned, turning to Hana.
"Eh, it's all right. I mean, it's nice not getting beaten up all the time, but it absolutely KILLS your character development," the bespectacled girl said seriously.
"Quiet you two, we're here."

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The hospital visit was supposed to be short and sweet. Just hop in, say hi, dump some pity on the gang boss, inform him that his assailant had been wiped from existence - along with a good chunk of his gang's territory - and then leave with a simple "get well soon," as if he was getting over the flu rather than making an accelerated recovery from injuries that would have slain a lesser superhuman.
Instead, Hana - ever the concerned relative who couldn't let go of the silly idea that the human norm for illness and injury should be applied to ALL humans - had demanded a complete medical update from the doctors.

"The burns didn't seem too serious from the beginning, though he's even managed to recover from those at amazing speed; there's hardly even any superficial damage left after one night," the doctor said, trying to ignore the way the pigtailed youth in the back was tapping his foot.
"What about the broken bones?" Hana asked, clutching her bookbag to her chest as she fidgeted.
"Well, I honestly have no idea what's holding his ribcage together at this point," the man said honestly, shrugging. "The man's upper body has suffered too many fractures, and we're afraid that if we try to piece it back together we might interfere with whatever miracle is healing the internal bleeding in his chest. We've set his leg, however, and corrected the hairline fractures in his skull as well as the minor damage to his spinal column. It's obviously very early to say he'll be fine, but I see no specific reason at this point why he can't eventually make a full recovery."
Hana let out a deep breath of relief. Min grinned and turned to Yurumi, who smiled back at hearing the news. Ranma and Tomas both rolled their eyes, knowing full well that someone of Hashiru's level could make a full recovery from anything less than dismemberment.
"So, can we see him now? He's conscious, right?" The younger Keitoro asked.
"Yes, he should be. Though he's proven oddly resistant to the painkillers, he requested lighter doses, claiming he could 'tough it out.'" The doctor shrugged. He didn't really care if his patients wanted to suffer more, so long as they didn't complain or sue.
Hana's expression of relief immediately turned to one of annoyance. "He WOULD say something like that. The moron."
The doctor didn't bother to add anything as he led the kids down the hall, eventually coming to the correct door and taking hold of the knob.
He frowned when it didn't budge when he turned it. "Huh. It's locked."
"Oh. They giving him a bath or something?" Ranma asked.
"No, not at this time of day. I should ask and see..." he trailed off and frowned as a clattering noise came from within the room. "Hm... this door should not be locked."
Ranma and Tomas gave each other doubtful looks. Hana's eyebrow twitched. Yurumi just looked confused.
Min, on the other hand, smirked before suddenly looking thoughtful. "Huh. You know, something dangerous might be going on in there."
"Huh? Like what?" Tomas asked.
"Well, think about it. Whether or not he's a decent guy, Hashiru is still a gang boss, right? Meaning he HAS to have rivals and competitors," Min explained, raising her index finger in the air as she made her point. "Wouldn't now be a good time to send an assassin? When he's nearly helpless and bedridden?"
"WHAT?!" Ranma shouted, immediately pushing the doctor out of the way and raising his leg.
"N-No! Ranma, don't!" Hana shouted.

Smash! "Hashiru!!" The pigtailed boy yelled as the door burst open, immediately falling off its hinges and landing to the side. "Are you all ri-"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!"
Ranma and Tomas screeched to a halt and nearly fell over each other as they caught sight of the topless nurse straddling their friend, who himself appeared to be entirely nude other than his cast and bandages (they couldn't really tell, as the nurse was both obstructing their view and holding their attention).
A vein popped up on Hashiru's head as he quickly grabbed a bed sheet from the floor. "First, you don't show in time to help before the redhead aces me, and now this. You have miserable timing, you know that Yagami?"

Hana slapped her palm against her forehead, having expected this scenario, and cast a brief glare at Min, who was grinning brightly as she held her hands over Yurumi's eyes.
"What was that scream? What happened?" the redhead asked, confused and a little scared.
"Oh, just having some fun at the rich boy's expense," Min said, snickering. "Hold on. It'll be PG in a minute."

The doctor poked his head in, and frowned at the blushing and stuttering nurse. "Ah, Miss Kamurazaka. I was wondering where you went after your break was up."
"Uh, D-Doctor Matsu, I c-can explain," the woman stuttered, quickly clutching her discarded uniform to her chest.
"I'd rather not hear it, thank you," the man said disdainfully, "and while I appreciate your dedication to Ahem! 'customer service,' it's time you got back to your regular shift duties."
"Ack! Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" The woman squeaked as she curved around Ranma and Tomas and then dashed down the hall to the women's restroom to change.
The doctor, Ranma, and Tomas all stared at the doorway through which she left for a moment before turning to stare at Hashiru, who was now covered appropriately with the sheet.
Another vein popped up on his head. "You guys suck, you know that?"
"Yes, well, be that as it may," Doctor Matsu said condescendingly, "no matter how invincible you think you are, you are still a recovering patient, and any strenuous activity could complicate your recovery. So please refrain from seducing my nurses without consulting me first."
"Sure. Take all the fun out of it," the gang boss deadpanned.
The doctor sighed and turned around. "He's all yours. Take your time," he said to the visitors as he exited the room.

"Uhm... I-I'm really sorry," Ranma said awkwardly, tugging on his pigtail as he spoke. "I didn't think you'd be, er... you know."
"I did!" Min said cheerfully as Yurumi looked up at her, confused.
Tomas nervously fiddled with the bill of his cap as he stared down at the floor. "We heard some noise, and thought you might be under attack or something."
"Who came up with that stupid idea?" Hashiru asked, his voice nearly at a growl.
"Me again!" The Ninja girl chirped.
Hashiru glared at her for a moment. "You realize that I'll make you pay for this." She just stuck her tongue out at him.
"Well Hashi, you can't be in TOO bad shape if you're already working on the daytime staff," Hana deadpanned.
"The doc says that at the very least I should be able to walk again in a month," the gang boss said more cheerfully. "I figure that means I'll be back in the weight room by Wednesday."
"What is it about men that makes them want to get out of the hospital and go right back to injuring themselves before they've even completely healed?" The bespectacled girl asked tiredly.
"We're just cool like that," Ranma said in his super-cocky tone as he grinned.
Tomas frowned. "Well, I was gonna say fear of needles, but Ranma's excuse is better."
"Seriously though," Hashiru continued, "my ribs are giving me a little bit of trouble, but that's no biggie. I can be home by tomorrow, and crack the cast open by this weekend."
"That doesn't mean you should!" Hana growled, leaning over the brawler.
"Aw shucks, are you worried about lil' ol' me?" Hashiru said playfully, reaching up and rubbing his cousin on the head.
Hana simply stared down at him with a glare that Ranma would have considered downright venomous in another context.
"You really took some serious damage, though," Tomas mused, rubbing his chin. "And from what Keitoro tells me, that girl wasn't exactly limping away from the scene. What kind of powerhouse could tear through Clan Ra and then rip you up like that? Put your hand down, Ranma."
Ranma did so, frowning as he realized that Tomas hadn't even glanced over at him.
Hashiru sobered quickly as the topic turned more serious. "She was on a whole other level than me, that's for sure. Not far out of my league, but far enough. She'd probably be a challenge for one of the first-tier fighters around here, like the local Bogards or even Ranma's father himself."
Ranma frowned more deeply, not liking the implication that this new girl was beyond him.
Then he suddenly smiled at Yurumi. "Or she would have been, anyway. Hey kiddo! You came to see me too?"
The redheaded child flushed in embarrassment as she stepped up to the bed. "Yes... uh... I'm really sorry about the-"
"Hey, hey, don't apologize," the brawler said quickly, looking serious again as he reached out and lightly mussed her hair. "You've got nothing to be sorry about. You did what you had to do. I'm just glad you're safe." Then his smirk returned. "After all, if you'd gotten hurt, then your big brother would have broken every bone in Raven's body, and then I'd have to pick up more medical bills. You know how health insurance is nowadays; doesn't pay for squat."
Yurumi giggled at this, much to Ranma's relief. 'Leave it to Hashiru Yamazaki to know how to talk to a girl,' he thought wryly.
Min scratched her head. "Who's Raven? One of your lackeys?"
"Yeah, you've met him," Hashiru said, turning toward the Kunoichi. "He's my personal Ninja."
Min, for her part, looked flabbergasted. "You have a Ninja? I didn't know that."
Ranma's face darkened. Tomas massaged his head. Hana and Hashiru sweatdropped.
"You know what?" Ranma said suddenly. "Screw it. She doesn't need to remember bird-boy. I'm quitting while I'm ahead."
"What are you talking about?" Min asked, now looking rather worried. "Did I forget someone else?"
"No," the pigtailed boy said unconvincingly. "Now somebody change the subject, quick."

"Oh-kay..." Hashiru said slowly, curious as to what Min's problem was, but figuring, like Tomas, that he was probably better off not knowing. "So, where's your lady-friend Shampoo, Yagami? She didn't wanna come see poor ol' Hashi?"
Ranma rolled his eyes at the mock hurt in Hashiru's voice, though it was a fair enough question. Shampoo knew Hashiru well enough to drop in on him after he had been seriously hurt, especially if everyone else was going. "She isn't around. She went on an extended training trip."
"Oh? A training trip?" The gang boss tilted his head to the side and rubbed his chin, considering the idea. To him, training was a continual, never-ending part of the day-to-day routine, and not something that one set aside special outings for. "I didn't know anybody still did stuff like that."
"Feh! All the REAL martial artists know that proper combat training has to take place in the wild," Ranma said disdainfully, waving his index finger around in the air. "It's no wonder your 'Clan Ra' toadies keep getting plowed over every few weeks! Real training isn't just about fighting, it's about survival; testing your endurance against the fury of the elements! You'll never get tough if you're pampered and taken care of the whole time you're training!"
Min and Hashiru's face darkened even as Tomas snickered (being the only other one present who had taken extensive training trips).
"He DOES have a point," Min began.
"But does he have to lecture us like an old man?" Hashiru finished.
A vein popped up on Ranma's head. "No excuses! Don't think you've reached the top just because you can create fire with your mind or throw people's energy blasts back at them!"
Hashiru smirked wryly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Well it's not like YOU can throw peemmhhmmph..." his eye twitched as he stopped trying to speak past the wad of cotton Ranma had stuffed in his mouth.
"You know, maybe Shampoo has the right idea," Ranma said to himself, rubbing his chin. "With this new girl coming along and creaming Hashiru, we could all use a bit of a power boost. Being in the city for so long tends to make you lazy."
"Who's lazy?" Min said irritably. As she had trained in the city her entire life, and couldn't be considered lazy by any stretch of the imagination (except Ranma's, apparently), she didn't like where this was going.
The pigtailed boy ignored her. "Yeah, that'll do perfectly! The weekend after next, let's all go to the mountains on a training mission!"
"Hey, don't go deciding things all by yourself," Hashiru deadpanned as he picked strands of cotton out of his mouth. "I've got things to do, ya know."
Hana snorted. "Oh, please. All you do on the weekends is go tomcatting at parties."
"Yes. Yes, I do," the playboy said shamelessly. "And spending the weekend wrestling with guys while camped up on a big rock isn't an appealing alternative."
"Ah, c'mon!" Tomas said, grinning as he patted the larger man on the shoulder. "I go on these training trips all the time! It'll be fun!"
"Uh-uh. No sausagefests for me, thanks," Hashiru said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away. He may not have been inherently contemptuous of other men like many "playboy" types, but he preferred instances of male bonding to be limited to a maximum time length of a standard baseball game plus allowance for overtime (no crying allowed). Any period longer than that without a female present tended to make him edgy.
Ranma scratched his chin, wondering what he could say to change the brawler's mind. "Come on Hashiru, you need this more than anyone! After injuries like yours you'll need to work hard to get back to top shape!" Then he smirked cruelly. "'Sides, I can't always keep my little sister around to save your sorry butt. Don't you want to be able to occasionally defeat the people rampaging through your territory?" Yurumi chuckled nervously at that, rubbing the back of her head.
"Nope. Not doing it," Hashiru said firmly, brushing off the jibe.
Ranma frowned at his failure to provoke the gang boss. "Okay, fine. We'll drag Min along too."
"I'm in," Hashiru said in an unusually serious tone, giving Ranma a thumbs-up.
"Hey now, wait a minute," the aforementioned Kunoichi began, "I have two concerns with this. First off, are you saying you weren't going to invite me originally?"
Ranma shrugged noncommitally. Unlike Hashiru, he was quite fond of extended male companionship, and due to his journey with his father, considered a training trip to be an occasion for just that.
"And second of all," Min continued, looking far more annoyed now, "I'm not sure I WANT to come just so I can be the lecher's eye candy!" Actually, she didn't mind being ogled by Hashiru at all so long as he kept his hands to himself, but frankly she was a little upset about the way Ranma, her quasi-boyfriend, had offered her up to another man like that.
"Oh, okay," Tomas said casually. "So what are you going to do all weekend by yourself? You know, since me and Ranma won't be around?"
Min blinked, and then glared at her cousin. "What do you mean? I have other friends, you know!" For some reason, it irritated her to be considered as part of a group with Ranma, Tomas, and to a lesser extent, Hashiru, as if she was "one of the guys." Despite being an accomplished fighter she thought of herself as being very feminine otherwise, and it didn't sit well that she fit in so easily among boys.
"Oh. Okay. So what are you going to do with them?" Tomas asked again.
"......" Min's glare narrowed. 'Crap. I AM one of the guys.' Feminine or not, she found it much easier to relate to fellow high-level martial artists than other people... almost all of whom were male.
"Alright, fine. But if the lecher's going, he'd better bring alcohol," Min grumbled.
"Done and done!"

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Setsuna Hanabo was not a happy camper.
Well, in a literal sense, she was never happy, and she had been camping almost constantly since the end of elementary school, so really this was nothing new.
But tonight she had a particular reason for stewing in silent bitterness, which actually WAS unique.
The redhead was contemplating her encounter with a certain other redhead, and trying to figure out her next course of action.
'It just doesn't make any sense,' she thought to herself. 'How on Earth does a girl so frail and helpless command her flames to such a degree? How much control does she really have?'
Setsuna grit her teeth. 'I can't simply let her go. She's my only lead so far on the purple flames.'
Of course, had she been asking around the area about it instead of hiding in parks and tending to her burns, she would have gotten many more leads on a whole family with purple flames. However, neither communication nor detective work were her strong points.
'I can't approach her directly... I barely managed to move aside in time to avoid taking the full brunt of that blast. And it was pure luck that I was flung far enough from the impact point that I survived. If I can't predict or stop her attacks, then I can't question her.' Setsuna briefly considered finding the little girl and simply asking her, without shaking or threatening her, but discarded the idea. She had already proven herself hostile; there was no reason to believe she wouldn't be vaporized on sight the next time they met.
Gripping her forehead irritably, Setsuna sighed and looked around at her surroundings. "I need time to meditate on this issue."

Scowling, the redhead curled up closer to the tree hidden in the thickets of the park, hugging a dirty old blanket around her as she had done countless nights before, for years on end.
She didn't startle or even move right away when she heard the slight scrape of leaves against the grass; telltale signs of something relatively large - probably a human - approaching that knew how to move through brush without making a lot of noise. Still, it didn't escape her most passive senses, so if it was a person, they lacked extensive martial arts training.
Setsuna laid still, not out of fear, but because she knew from experience that not all intruders skulking around at night would bother what appeared to be a hobo just trying to sleep. In the past she had encountered many such people, and none had been fighters of any respectable degree, so they weren't worth attacking unless they bothered her.
Unfortunately for all parties involved, it seemed that this individual was intent on interrupting her rest.
"Well, well, look what we got here. What's a young lady like you doing out here, all alone?" The intruder was a greasy-looking, skinny man with an unshaven chin and the distinct smell of alcohol clinging to him.
She shifted slightly to make eye contact. "Go away," she said simply, before turning over again.
Whether it was the alcohol, nerve, or sheer stupidity, the sleazy bum stalked closer, his hand reaching for the switchblade in his pocket. 'Hmmm... not exactly a hottie, especially with that hairdo - did most of her hair burn off or something? - but I'm not in any position to be choosy. Much better than the usual fare around here.'
"C'mon, doll. You know, in a dark, isolated place like this, nobody could help if, God forbid, something HAPPENED to you." His lips curled into a shaky smile. "Lotta shady characters around, ya know. Why don't I stick around tonight and keep ya company?"
"Go away," Setsuna deadpanned again, not even turning around this time.
The man frowned slightly as he withdrew the knife and opened it. "Don't worry doll, I'll protect you! Gonna need a little sumthin' in return, though! Ha ha!" Grinning once again, he fell on her while grabbing her shoulder and bringing his knife up to her throat.
He figured out something was wrong almost immediately. For one thing, he noted that it felt as if he'd just tried to tackle a statue. Despite putting all his weight into the arm on the redhead's shoulder in an attempt to pin her, it refused to budge one bit.
As the drunken scoundrel grit his teeth and struggled to push the girl's back onto the ground so he could straddle her properly, it suddenly occurred to him that his chosen victim had offered absolutely no real reaction so far. No screams, no struggling, no cheap shots to the groin, not even so much as a gasp when he had pressed the flat side of his knife to her throat.
As thoughts turned toward his knife, he couldn't help but reflect upon the sudden crushing pain he felt in his hand, not to mention the way that hand was being slowly but firmly moved away from the girl's throat and up toward his.
"Wh-What? No! W-Wait! Stop! Please, don't!" He cried, panic gripping his mind as the reality of the situation suddenly became clear. "I'm sorry! D-Don't hurt me! I'll leave! J-Just-"
"What a waste of flesh you are," Setsuna said in a tired, monotone voice that may as well have been discussing bad weather as criticizing the worth of an individual in the final moments of his life. "People who can only stand up for themselves before the weak don't deserve to live."
"No, please! I'm sorry! I'lgghlk!"

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Ryoga gasped for breath as he collapsed at the large, iron gate, letting his backpack slip off of his shoulders and land heavily on the ground.
"At last... I made it," he mumbled, pausing mid-sentence while panting.
Sitting down, the eternally lost boy quickly caught his breath as he looked over the plaque that marked the school as [Furinkan].
True, the school was obviously closed for the evening, which was no surprise at all, but Ryoga had finally made it to a place where he knew Ranma would come upon sooner or later. Quite frankly, it was the best he could hope for, and he'd take what he could get. Spending the night on the sidewalk in front of a school with a near-guarantee of finding his target the next day was much better than dragging his already-exhausted body along even more unfamiliar paths with the one-in-a-million hope of finding Ranma himself. Hell, if he HAD found Ranma instead of his school, he was so tired that he would have lost a fight anyway, new techniques or no.
"This is it, Yagami," Ryoga said to himself, his lips breaking into a vicious smirk. "At last, we'll see who's the better man! Just you wait! I'll break you like a-"
"Hey! Who are you?"
The fanged boy halted his vengeful monologue in annoyance, glancing over his shoulder through the gate. An old man was standing there with a rake over his shoulder, frowning at him.
"Don't you know the school day's over?" The groundskeeper asked, shooing Ryoga away with his hand. "No loitering! Go home!"
"Hmph. Sorry old man, but I'm not going anywhere," Ryoga said firmly. "I can't afford to leave this place, or I might never find it again."
The groundskeeper raised an eyebrow. "Come again? Why not?"
"It's a long story. I'd rather not get into it," the wanderer grumbled. Then he took a longer look at the groundskeeper and Furinkan's main courtyard. "So you do the gardening around here, huh? You must work fast. This place looks completely different from the last time I was in Nerima."
The old man blinked. "Nerima? Where's Nerima?"
"Huh? Oh, it's just some place next to Tokyo... or maybe in Tokyo? I don't remember," Ryoga mumbled. He was mildly disturbed that he was completely off on the location of Furinkan High School, but he wasn't about to challenge anybody else's ability to figure out exactly where they were on a day-to-day basis.
"Kid, you're in Osaka," the groundskeeper deadpanned. "Tokyo's nowhere near here."
Ryoga blinked. "What? But... But I'm POSITIVE Ranma lives around Tokyo! And his school is Furinkan High! How would he get here in the morning if it's not close by?"
The elderly man stared at him for a few moments, trying to figure out if the young man was being serious. "Well... maybe it's a different Furinkan High School?"
The idea hit Ryoga like a meteorite. "THERE'S TWO FURINKAN HIGH SCHOOLS IN JAPAN?!?!"
"Ah... it's quite likely. Probably more than two. Japan is a big place," the groundskeeper said uneasily, wondering if any of the psychiatric hospitals nearby suffered a recent escape.
"That's insane! How the hell do they expect people to know which one is which?" the lost boy howled, clutching his head as tears started streaming down his cheeks.
"Hmm... well, I'd have to guess that they could make do so long as they know which major city they're in," the old man deadpanned.
"Ranma, you bastard!" Ryoga cursed, jumping to his feet. "You think you can hide from me by living in the wrong city?! Just wait! I'll find you, and hand you your head on a platter!"
"Huh... you know what? Wait here kid," the groundskeeper said as he fished a cellular phone out of his pocket. "I think I might know some people who can help you get to where you need to be."
'Oh, HELL no. I know where I've heard that line before,' Ryoga thought before he picked up his backpack and bolted. He had a lot of stress built up right now and would have liked to have a proper outlet, but he still didn't want to mess with the men in white coats carrying tasers and pepper spray again. They always tried to trick him into letting his guard down, saying that they would help him take care of this "Ranma" that was the source of all his problems, but all they ever did was stab him with tranquilizers and lock him in woefully under-reinforced cells.
He didn't need that now, especially when he was finally on the verge of overcoming his hated foe once and for all. "Ranma! Just you wait! Nothing will keep me from destroying you once and for all! NOTHING!!"

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End Chapter 16