Spoiled Brats, Chapter 30

[DarkFyre99]

Spoiled Brats

Disclaimer: I have nothing to disclaim here. Move along. Move along.

Chapter Thirty – Homecoming part three: Kuonji

'I see the tomboy hasn't lost anything in the last ten years. She's still got a great right hook. At least someone doesn't automatically approve of our current relationship,' Ranma thought as she took the aerial tour. The skyward bound woman waited for the top of her arc before teleporting into an alley near to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. When she appeared, she smacked right into the wall of Ucchan's. 'Oops, I forgot to correct for horizontal momentum. Gotta remember: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing goes out.'

A familiar voice drew her attention. “Oh, hello, Ranma-sama. I take it you just finished visiting Akane-sama.”

“Hello, Konatsu-san. It's nice to see you again. You look well.” And he did. Unlike the last time he'd seen the male kunoichi, when he still wore second hand, and extensively patched, clothing, the man was wearing a very nice female kimono. “You look better than well. Even I can't tell you're a man.”

“That's because I've been to Jusenkyou, Ranma-sama. Would you like some hot water before going in to visit Ukyou-sama?”

“Thanks.” Ranma carefully poured water over her head, changing gender and clothing at the same time.

Konatsu looked at him in surprise. “Could you teach that to me, Ranma-sama? I can lock my curse, thanks to Herb-sama, but there are still times I prefer to be male, and changing forms while dressed as a female can be quite painful, as I'm sure you know.”

“I can teach you the basic technique, Konatsu-san, but the advanced techniques aren't my own. How's Ucchan?”

“She's waiting for you, Ranma-sama. Anything else you want to know you can learn from her.”

“Right. Well, let's go, Konatsu-san.”

Ranma followed the kunoichi around to the front of the building, which was surprisingly closed, and the lights were off. “She closed the Ucchan's when Kasumi-dono called, Ranma-sama,” Konatsu whispered. When she opened the door, she called out, “Ranma-san is here, Ukyou-san!”

Ranma felt a huge battle aura flare up once he got into the restaurant. Ukyou lept at him from the dark, a giant spatula raised high. “Ranchan, you jackass!” She slammed the spatula down on his head with a squeak.

“You could've...”

squeak

“Taken me...”

squeak

“With you!!!”

squeak

Ranma looked at his friend from beneath the giant, inflatable spatula. “Feel better, Ucchan?”

“No.” squeak “But the last time I spent ten years wanting to beat you up didn't help either, and I used a real spatula that time.” squeak “You really should've taken me with you, Ranchan.”

“Sorry, Ucchan, but at the time I figured I'd be dodging homicidal Amazons, and I didn't want to drag a friend into that mess I created.” He looked at Konatsu. “And I knew there was no way I'd get Konatsu-san to stay behind, either.”

squeak “And I know better than to ask if you'll bring me with you when you leave, damn you.” squeak “Since you arrived via Air-Akane, I'm guessing you told her about your fiancee. It's not too surprising, since she's overprotective of Akiko-chan and Susan-chan.”

“Um...”

Ukyou finally put away her giant inflatable spatula. “Ko-chan! It's time to get... The Envelope!”

“Hai, Ukyou-san.” Konatsu reached into her kimono, and withdrew a thick envelope, which she handed to Ranma.

“Ranchan! If you would be so kind to look at the postmark on the seal...”

The postmark was from last Friday, Ranma noticed, and the was seal was undisturbed. “Um...”

“Feel free to open it up and look inside, Ranchan.”

Completely confused, Ranma followed his first friend's directions. Inside he discovered a page of text, news clippings, and other information covering his life as the Takeda twins. The page was an uncomfortably thorough dossier on both him and his two aliases, including information about the use of instant twin powder, and brief summary of his various relationships, including Minako-chan.

'Okay, this isn't nearly as much fun when you're on the receiving end of something like this.'

Ukyou smirked at her friend. “We decided not to include the information we have on the Sailor Senshi.” The woman laughed at Ranma's look of horror. “Why are you so surprised? They don't call Ko-chan a genius kunoichi for nothing. Don't worry. I'm not stupid enough to ask you to make me your wife, Ranchan.

“But I want you to know that we are here for you. This is our world too, and we want to help. We're both single, unattached martial artists, with no dependents. We've been training hard since we learned about the youma two months ago, and I've already listed Ucchan's with a real estate agent, and I ordered two new yatai for us to use. We know we can't fight the youma on our own, but we can be additional eyes and ears the city.”

Ukyou poked her friend in the chest. “And before you go and say something stupidly noble and self-sacrificing, we are not asking permission. We're telling you what we're going to do. It's up to you to decide how effective we're going to be.” The woman crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Ranma, as if daring him to say, “No.”

Ranma sighed. “Alright, Ucchan, Konatsu-san. As far as I'm concerned, you're in. But I'll have to talk to some others, so that you can be truly effective. I'm allied with the Senshi. I don't lead them... I'm serious, Ucchan,” Ranma added, seeing her expression. “I'm not in charge of them. They have their own leader and their own advisers. We're cooperating with each other because we can do more together than we can do separately... just like you and Konatsu-san can do more with us, than on your own.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Well, you seem to know what I've been up to these last ten years. What have you two been doing?”

“Beyond keeping track of you? Life's pretty much been training and the restaurant. I want to know more about you, especially how you got into this whole Sailor Senshi mess in the first place.” She grinned when Ranma's stomach growled. “And nobody's fed you? Well, it's been ages since I made a Ranchan special, so grab a stool and start talking. And since this is the last okonomiyaki that I'll cook here, it is definitely on the house.”

- + - + -

Ranma returned home in a shimmer of air. “I'm home!”

“Welcome home, Ranma!” Minako and Artemis called out from the living room.

Hearing the song, which had become one of Minako's favorites over last two weeks, coming from the TV , Ranma said, “Getting ready for the grand finale, I see.”

“Yep. How'd the trip home go?”

“Better than I deserve, in my opinion. Mom's looking forward to meeting you on Friday, but I'm not sure about Akane. She kinda... cut our reunion short when she learned about you.”

“I thought she was married...”

“She's not jealous. She's just got... strong feelings about our age gap. Ucchan was kind of weird, though. After I disappeared, she unleashed Konatsu to keep track of me, so they knew way more about us than I was comfortable with, including the Sailor Senshi.”

“What?”

“They've added themselves to the cause by the way.”

“Ranma, we've already got one regular person involved in this. I can't let any more get involved.”

“Minako, love, this isn't your decision to make. They're part of Team Kunzite, not the Sailor Senshi. Your decision is how much you want them to get involved with the Senshi. They're hardly ordinary, partner, and Konatsu is very good. They'll be two more pairs of eyes and ears out in the city, which we desperately need... Oh, Artemis? The Doc's staying in Nerima, and he agreed to link up the clinic.”

The toy cat leaned out from behind the new laptop. “That's great, Ranma.”

“Let me know when you're ready to set things up on their end. I'll take you over there.”

“Right. I'll get Luna, and we'll start working out the equations now.” Artemis jumped off the counter and ran through the door to the dojo.

Ranma grinned at the confused girl. “That's another problem for you, Minako. Doc and Kasumi can be a great help for you girls, but you need to decide how much you want them involved in your group.”

“Alright, I'll talk to them... Ranma?”

“Yes, Minako?”

“I... had another spell today. I'm fine, but I figured you'd want to know.”

“We definitely need to do something about that. Let's talk to Dr. Toufuu tomorrow, and see what can be done to provoke Usagi into healing you. Whatever's decided, though, I think we should wait until you get back from England. I don't want you half a world away when we try this.”

“Definitely. Oh, Father Dominic wants to talk to you.”

“Father Dominic?”

“Yes. He...” Minako drew up her knees to her chest. “His church ran the orphanage I grew up in. He's been the closest thing to a father I've had.” She smiled wryly. “He's probably going to give you the third degree.”

“I'll visit him while you're in England, Minako.”

“Thanks.” She leaned against him for a while as they watched the action on the TV screen. “Ranma?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any pictures of your friends? You've talked about them, but I don't even know what they look like.”

“Sure. I'll go get my photo album.” He walked into his bedroom, and returned with an well worn scrapbook. “Keep in mind the pictures are ten years old, though one of the advantages is the fact that we tend to be well preserved. Doc Toufuu's over fifty, but you'd never know from looking at him. And Cologne, Shampoo's great grandmother, is over 300.”

“You're kidding!” When Ranma sat down, Minako once again snuggled up against Ranma, as he paged through the old pictures. When he reached the first photo of Akane, Minako grabbed his arm. “Ranma, I've seen this girl.”

“You've seen Akane?”

“That's Akane?” Minako stared at the picture. “I definitely saw her at school today. I was on the way back to class after lunch, and I just had this feeling...” She shuddered.

“I'd forgotten about Kiima making a 'spring of drowned Akane.' No wonder I couldn't find her nest.” Ranma thought for a few minutes. “Okay, we now know where she'll be, at least part of the day. The challenge is going to be to flush her out. She's probably going to try to get close to you, in order to use one of those impression eggs on you.”

“Impression eggs?”

“Anyone who is hatched from one of those eggs will become totally devoted to the first person they see. Instant brainwashing.” Ranma frowned. “When she makes her move, call me, and I'll come and fetch her. Keep in mind that Saffron's people in their natural form are a lot stronger than normal human beings, so if you can, keep her away from hot water. If you can't, just drive her outside, and I'll take care of the rest.”

“Me?”

“Well, you and the rest of the Senshi, of course. I can't exactly hang around a school all day, after all. Don't worry, you'll all do fine.”

“Right... I'll talk to them before school tomorrow.” She leaned against him again. “And I thought dealing with Beryl was complicated.”

“Welcome to my life, Minako. Complicated is actually...”

“What's wrong.”

Ranma grimaced. “I just realized that there's one more person I should visit as soon as possible. Don't worry, I'll be right back.”

“It's awfully late...”

“True, but this really can't wait.” He stood looked at the girl on the sofa. “I don't suppose you'd pause it if I don't make back in time, would you?” Minako stuck out her tongue at him. “That's what I thought. I'll try to be quick.” After stealing a quick kiss, he splashed himself and vanished.

- + - + -

Author's notes: Between work running late, a school levy on the ballet, and the premier of the reimagining of “V,” I'm afraid it'll be a short chapter tonight, with a second short chapter tomorrow. And the opening of “V” was great. A lot of homages to the original series, but with plenty of surprises as well. I've also thought about it, and I've decided to make Minako not an orphan, but an abandoned baby. It's the origin of her name Aino, which can be written as "Love's Field" in Kanji.

Tomorrow: The final part of Homecoming

[J. St.C. Patrick]

Another good chapter.

I like the inflatable spatula scene

noticed this:

We know we can't fight the youma on our own, but we can be additional eyes and ears the city.”

You're missing something there

Ukyou finally put away her giant inflatable spatula. “Ko-chan! It's time to get... The Envelope!”

Oh no, not... The Envelope! Dun dun Dun!

Next they'll try to get him to talk with ... comfort food!

“And nobody's fed you? Well, it's been ages since I made a Ranchan special, so grab a stool and start talking. And since this is the last okonomiyaki that I'll cook here, it is definitely on the house.”

See! I was right.

[Dumbledork]

The inflatable spatula is a nice idea. I wonder if you aren't overestimating Konatsu's information gathering skills though.

[bissek]

Will Akane be leaving the Takeda Megumi fan club over this? Or will she get kicked out when other members learn that she punched their idol?

[Cheb]

The ones who would be spoiled are your readers, with you releasing new chapters so rapidly

[Ordieth117]

I too cracked up during the inflatable spatula part. Konatsu must be amazing if he was able to follow all the various twins. Good to know that Ukyo's able to get past her grudge.

[DarkFyre99]

Thanks for the C&C everyone.

The ones who would be spoiled are your readers, with you releasing new chapters so rapidly

OK, I'm blaming you for Real Life rearing its ugly head today. (J/K) I only got an hour's worth of work on the next chaper today. Hopefully, I'll be able to build up a bit of a buffer again over the weekend.

Will Akane be leaving the Takeda Megumi fan club over this? Or will she get kicked out when other members learn that she punched their idol?

That question currently exists in a state of quantum superposition, thanks to the Spoiled Brats Akane in the back of my head not having accepted the invitation to in-story Friday's party... primarily because she lost her temper before Ranma could invite her. By my estimate, she's got five or six chapters to make her final decision.