Ten Months In Tokyo An Original work by Josh Heistman 2001 Script G Productions Chapter Two: Inevitable Situations Instead of the usual two, five very late students burst from the Tendo home, in a mad dash toward Furinkan high. The regulars to the street seemed a bit shocked at the extra people, but shrugged it off, returning to their coffee or walks to work. Akane was giving Ranma a look that could stop Janet Reno cold. "I can't believe you fell asleep in the furo, Ranma! We're going to be late now because of you!" Her face was a bright crimson. Somehow, thought Alex, that just wasn't a good thing. Ranma nonchalantly stuck his tongue out at the girl. "Well, maybe if I couldn't hear your snoring through the wall, I wouldn't have been awake all night…" At this, Ranma dodged a lightning-quick punch from Akane. Don blinked. It was as if he'd done it a thousand times before. Akane growled. "Ranma, you jerk! If we weren't already so late, I'd give you a piece of my mind!" Mike laughed. "Gee, guys, the way you two fight, you'd think you two were married or something…" he joked, causing the aforementioned arguers to cast icy glares at him. Ranma faced front again. "Not yet…" he mumbled, before speeding ahead of the rest of them. As they reached the gates of Furinkan High School, only one figure stood between them and the building itself: one Tatewaki Kuno. "Ranma Saotome!" he shouted, a fiery glare in his eyes. "I shall send you to Hell for the dishonor you have shown me!" he raised his bokken high above his head. All five of our intrepid and near-tardy heroes skidded to a halt, about a foot or so away from the boy samurai. Alex looked at the ridiculously angry Kuno with a slight chuckle. "Who the Hell is this joker?" he asked, with a wicked twinkle in his eye. Kuno looked over the three new faces with a grimace of disgust. "Well, well, well… it appears that the infamous exchange students have arrived. Didn't anyone ever teach you not to speak to your betters unless spoken to first?" he sneered. Ranma and Don held an enraged Alex back, as he struggled to break free and tear Kuno's throat out. Kuno laughed cockily. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Tatewaki Kuno. The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High. Captain of it's Kendo Club and, despite a fluke defeat on Thursday last, the greatest champion this school has ever seen." Ranma narrowed his eyes at Kuno. The five-minute bell rang, causing the Americans to look up at the clock. "Come on you guys…" Ranma said, looking at the others, "You wouldn't want to be late on your first day…" Nodding in consensus, the Americans followed Akane into the school. A few seconds later, they could all hear Kuno's cries of pain on their way to class. Alex, Mike and Akane slid into their homeroom seconds before the bell rang. The teacher, Mr. Gorita, eyed them nervously through thick-rimmed spectacles. The class burst into a din of conversation as the boys stood before them at the front of the room. Mr. Gorita stood up and walked over to the boys. "Okay class, settle down." He commanded. The talking stopped almost immediately, which caught the Americans off guard. It took at least three or four requests to make any progress back home. "These are the new exchange students from America: Alexander Edwardson and Michael Drift. " The man seemed very intimidated by the boys. "I hope you will all treat them with the utmost respect and make them feel right at home…" The teacher went on like that for quite some time, though just how long was unknown to Mike, whose attention had shifted from the teacher's droning speech to Ukyo Kuonji. She wrote something quickly on her notebook, before glancing up at Mike quickly with a smile. He smiled back. Exchanging smiles was always a good start, he thought. She returned to her writing, but Mike kept on watching her. Just for a little while… "Mr. Drift? Mr. Drift, is something wrong?" came Mr. Gorita's voice through the haze. Mike shifted back into reality soon enough to see his teacher go for something to hit him with to snap him out of his trance. "Huh?" He blinked and nodded to the teacher nervously. The class let out a laugh, in response to which Mike turned a bright crimson. Mr. Gorita just shook his head and frowned. "Mr. Drift, just go to your seat… you can take the desk beside Ms. Kuonji-" but the teacher didn't even have to finish his sentence before Mike was in his seat. Alex blinked, turning to look back at his friend, who was beaming happily. Turning back to the teacher, who had just launched into an algebra lesson, Alex merely shook his head. ___________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, in Mr. Natsushita's senior homeroom, Don was warding off a veritable inquisition from Nabiki Tendo. The girl was good at grilling people for info, Don had to give her that much. He felt like he was a felon or something. "So, you miss the United States yet?" she asked, a slight edge to her voice. One that Don couldn't quite put his finger on, but he was already sure it wasn't good for him. He gave a shrug. "It's only been a couple of days, Nabiki… it's not like I'm a little kid or something." Ever since they had arrived, he'd had a strange, suspicious feeling about the middle Tendo daughter, again something he couldn't quite place. She was turning out to be a real snoop… cute, but a snoop. She tilted her head to the side a little. "Well, don't you miss your friends?" "Not really… and besides, I have Mike and Alex here. I'm not alone." "Do you have a girlfriend in the States?" Don nodded. "Sure I do…" This seemed to really pique Nabiki's interest. Her face lit up with a bright smile. "Really? What's her name, hmmm?" "Tracy…" "Well, you do miss her, don't you?" Don sighed, drumming his fingers on the desk. "Why all the questions, Nabiki?" he snapped. He hated it when people asked him personal questions, especially people he'd just met. It wasn't that he didn't want Nabiki to know things about him, but he felt a little uncomfortable talking about his girlfriend with a cute girl that he just happened to be living with. In response, Nabiki backed away a little, her voice taking on a slight half defensive, half offended tone. "Hey, don't get touchy on me, Don… I figured that since you're going to be staying with us for a while, that maybe I should try and get to know you a little…" She looked away, causing a pang of guilt to rise up in Don. He reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned back to face him. "You're right, Nabiki…" he said, softly. "I'm sorry…" Nabiki gave a sincere, knowing smile. "It's all right… I know you're a little nervous, being new and all." "Yeah, well… to answer your question, yes. I do miss her… a lot." Nabiki's smile remained. "Awww, that's sweet… young love…" "Yeah…" Just then, a bruised and battered Kuno burst through the door. He stormed angrily over to where Don and Nabiki were, his fiery glare fixed on the American. "You, vile friend of the cretinous Ranma Saotome, are in the seat of Tatewaki Kuno. I suggest you remove thyself post-haste, before I am forced to take action against you." He huffed, in that ever high-and-mighty Kuno style. Don had had just enough of Kuno for one day. He stood up to Kuno defiantly. "Listen up, pall! I've had just about enough of your arrogance. I don't know who the Hell you think you are, but I am not moving." Mr. Natsushita looked up at them from behind a book and cleared his throat. Don and Kuno failed to notice. "How dare you address me as your pal! I would never be a 'pal' to one such as you!" Kuno shouted, furious. Don blinked. This guy was quite the dramatist. Mr. Natsushita slammed the book down hard on his desk. "Ah-HEM!" Don sat back down at his desk, and Kuno plopped angrily down at the one to the right of him. "Why do you insist on tormenting me so?!" Demanded Kuno, in an angry, hissing whisper. Don leaned back in his seat, replying coolly. "Because you're a complete and utter jackass…" Kuno tried to suppress his anger, though everyone could tell by the redness of his face and the large vein popping out of his forehead that he was quite pissed. "I've had nearly enough of your baseness, Fournier… why, I have half a mind to…" Don grinned at the kendoist, causing him to stop mid-sentence. "Well, as long as you can admit that you only have half a mind…" Don said with a laugh, "then we're all in agreement… and what's with that goofy wooden sword, anyway? You don't have to carry it around wherever you go, do you? It makes you look kind of…" Off to the side, Nabiki whispered quietly to herself. "Don't say it, Don…" But it was too late… one thing to know about Don is, once he's on a roll (No matter how stupid and destructive a decision it is) he never gets off it. The word had already escaped his lips… "…Dumb?" Bursting at the seams with unbridled fury, Kuno leapt to his feet, drawing his bokken. "You shall pay for that, Fournier! No one calls the great Tatewaki Kuno dumb!" Mr. Natsushita slammed his fist on his desk, rising to his feet. "Damn it, Kuno! If you insist on disrupting class, then you'll have to spend the rest of it in the hallway!" Brimming with rage, Kuno sheathed his bokken. Nabiki breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Kuno made his way out of the room, grumbling. "You will pay, Fournier…you will pay…" That afternoon, Mike threw on his headphones and made his way to Ucchan's. He had no desire to hang around at the Tendos' home when everyone else was in a state of constant battle with one another. And any excuse to go visit Ukyo was a good one. As he made his way through the door, the site he saw took him aback. The place was packed with kids, a much different site than the other day. Curiously, Mike made his way to the counter. "Hey, Ukyo…" The girl looked up from a sizzling okonomiyaki with a smile. "Well, if it isn't Mike Drift… how're ya doin'?" she asked cheerfully, over the din of chatting customers. Mike shrugged. "Not bad, I guess… say, could you get me one of those okonomiyakis you gave me and Ranma?" Ukyo slid a plate over to a customer, and then rushed back over to Mike. "Sure thing, hun!" Mike looked around the restaurant at all of the people. "Boy, it sure is busy around here all of a sudden… what the Hell happened?" he asked, the look of surprise never leaving his face. Ukyo laughed a little. "This…" she answered, as she flipped the okonomiyaki, "is what business is usually like. Yesterday was just kind of dead. But, more often than not, this is how this place looks." With another flip, she set a plate of hot okonomiyaki in front of him. A teenaged boy that Mike recognized from school leaned over on the counter. "One with shrimp, Ucchan." "You got it!" she called to the boy, before focusing back on her friend. "Enjoy your meal, Mike." She said with a slight laugh, before going to work on other customers' orders. Mike ate leisurely, his eyes almost constantly fixed on Ukyo, as she rushed about from customer to customer. During a slight break in the action, he got a flash of divine inspiration. "Hey, uh, Ukyo…" he asked, as she leaned on the counter before him. In any other situation, certain features of Ukyo's anatomy would have a little more than distracted Mike, but this was business. "…This place is yours, right?" Ukyo nodded. "Mm-hmm... set up shop here about a year ago." "So you work here all by yourself then?" Ukyo sighed. "Sure do… good help is hard to find, especially around here. Everyone in Nerima is either a sociopathic martial artist or a psychotic, vengeful bitch… why do you ask?" Mike grinned at the object of his affection. "Well, allow me to make the search easy for you…." That night, Mike was nowhere to be found in the Tendo home. And while Don and Alex were worried, Soun, of course, feared the worst. "I can't believe it's only the second day, and already we've lost one!" he wailed. Genma winced, inching away from his friend as subtly as possible. Genma had known Soun for quite some time, but his friend was never so whiny and hopeless in their youth as he was now. "Now now, father…" Kasumi began, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You needn't worry so much… Mike is probably off with his new friends somewhere, and he just forgot to tell us…" Ranma chewed thoughtfully, not to mention uncharacteristically quietly, at his food as he listened to the conversations around him. He had a good idea where Mike had gone, but for the sake of preventing an argument, he decided to keep his mouth shut. The last thing he needed at this point was to be scolded about letting Mike be led on by Ukyo. If no one found out, then Mike would come back and everything would be fine… The sound of the door opening turned everyone's attention to the entryway corridor. Mike made his way around the corner, looking worn out. A collective gasp rose up from the group. Kasumi dropped the plate she was carrying, and it shattered at her feet. Mike gave them all a very confused look. "What? Surprised to see me?" he asked, taking in the shocked, if not a little comical, expressions that greeted him. Akane had a look of half-surprise and half-anger. Soun had frozen in mid-bite, the chopsticks he was using hanging from his mouth. Kasumi had her hands placed over her mouth. Genma's glasses were just barely hanging on his face, a massive sweatdrop on his forehead. Don and Alex just looked confused at the others' reactions. Nabiki, through her grin, broke the silence. "Gee, Mike… I didn't think you had it in ya…" "What do you mean?" asked the utterly confused Mike. This was not what he'd expected to come home to. Akane had a slight blue-black aura resonating from her, but she was sincerely trying to keep her cool. "Mike…" she asked, in an unfamiliar, calm voice. "… Why are you wearing Ukyo's uniform?" Blinking, Mike looked down at his clothing. Sure enough, save his blue jeans, Mike was wearing an Ucchan's uniform. "Oh…" he said, calmly. What was the big deal, he wondered, about him wearing an Ucchan's uniform? He looked again at the expressions sent his way, and thought about what had been said. Finally it came to him… "Oh!" he exclaimed, raising his arms defensively. "No! It's not like that, it's not what you think!" Ranma shook his head. Poor guy, he thought, never even had a chance. Akane glared menacingly Mike's way. "Well, if it's not what we think, then what is it, you pervert?!" "I'm not a pervert!" Mike sputtered, looking a lot like Ranma in this situation. "I didn't do anything with Ukyo! I just work for her, that's all!" The group exchanged looks, before focusing their attention back on Mike, who was blushing terribly and looked very uncomfortable. Soun smiled with pride. "Well, that's great, son! It's good to see that you're taking initiative and getting yourself a job…" Genma nodded. "Yes, there's not much one can do without money nowadays. Good for you, boy…" Mike rubbed the back of his neck nervously. That didn't go over as well as he had planned. With a nervous chuckle and a bow to the group, Mike headed off to bed. That night, Alex walked into the Tendos' dojo to find Ranma and Genma sparring. Quietly, he sat down to watch the two at work, observing their style. Ranma and Genma did most of their fighting in mid-air, much to the amazement of Alex. The fact that Ranma was better than his father didn't amaze him at all; Genma seemed a bit lazy for a martial artist, and Ranma appeared very fit and well built. So it was no surprise when the old man ended up careening toward Alex with a shout, while Ranma landed nimbly on the dojo floor. Alex leapt to the side as Genma crashed into the wall with a yelp, sliding to the floor. The American stood, trying to catch his breath while Ranma walked over to check on his father, who still lay dazed and upside-down. "You all right, pop?" he asked, kicking his father once. The old man tipped over, unconscious. Ranma laughed. "Guess not." Alex smiled at Ranma. "That was great… how did you get so good, Ranma?" Conveniently, Genma sat up, rubbing his head with a groan. "Well, Alex m'boy… Anything Goes martial arts is a style that has been passed down over many generations. I taught it to Ranma and, if you wish, I can teach it to you, too…" Ranma stood watching, mouth agape, at the scene unfolding before him. Alex wouldn't actually take training from the old man, would he? Alex grinned, shaking Genma's hand. "You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Saotome!" Ranma collapsed to the floor. This could not be good. That night, an uneasy feeling awoke Don from his sleep. Mike and Alex could be heard snoring peacefully in the room with him. Throwing off the covers, he crept out the door into the hallway. He knew that something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was. Then, his uneasy feeling was confirmed… he saw a shadowy figure move past the window. He ran, leaping out the window after it. As if it had heard him, (which was entirely possible, because Don had banged his knee on the way out) the figure broke into a sprint. Don gave chase. The figure, which was considerably shorter than Don, darted to the right. Don followed, running into a low wooden post and falling to the ground. The figure ran off laughing, sticking something to the door of the dojo as he made his escape. Rubbing his head, Don stood up and walked over to see what the figure had left. Stuck into the door with a knife was a crumpled envelope.