The Tournament

Hinata was practically skipping as sailed through her morning grooming. There was nothing like a good nights sleep to help your outlook on life. Especially when it was caused by a healthy make-out session with her most recent crush.

It came as a bit of a shock to her that she had a crush on Shikamaru. Until now she had just assumed that he had been the object of her lust due to proximity. After all, they were sleeping in the same bed and he was the only viable option for a booty call at the moment. Instead, she kind of wanted to make him her boyfriend. 'How do you do that?' she asked herself. Hinata had never initiated a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship before.

“I'll wait 'til after the mission to do anything about it,” she said decisively as she smiled at her reflection is the mirror. Quickly she added, “Today I will succeed,” before she opened the door to leave the bathroom.

On the other side of the door Shikamaru leaned heavily against the door frame. He looked very sleepy and just a little grouchy. To Hinata he looked completely adorable. She smiled tentatively at him, suddenly feeling very self conscious.

“Do you always talk to yourself in the morning?” he grumbled.

“N-not always,” Hinata said, blushing and not making eye contact.. She really hoped that he hadn't been paying too much attention to what she had said. She made her leave the room, but he didn't move. She started to walk around him, but he shifted, getting in her way again.

“Are you always so cheerful in the morning?” he asked, taking a step forward. Hinata blushed even more as he came closer.

“Under the right circumstances,” she answered breathlessly. Surreptitiously she pinched herself, hoping that it wasn't a dream.

“What circumstances would those be?” Shikamaru asked, hand reaching up to tangle a hand in her hair.

Hinata stepped closer and reached out tentatively. “I think you know the answer to that question,” she murmured as she stood on her tiptoes. She lightly touched her lips to his, before his morning breath assailed her nostrils.

She let herself fall back onto her heels and giggled up at him. He looked a little disappointed. “You should brush your teeth,” Hinata chided gently as she dodged past him into the main room. She pulled the door shut behind her, inexplicably happy with herself and the world in general.

“Good morning Akamaru,” she said cheerfully, scratching the large dog behind the ears. Akamaru seemed troubled. Instead of leaning into the scratching, like he usually did, he stayed perfectly still. Every once and a while his eyes would turn towards Kiba's figure, still laying in the bed.

“Is Kiba sulking about something?” she asked Akamaru, pausing in her scratching. Akamaru nodded his large head and whined softly.

“Don't worry. He'll be back to his cheerful self in no time,” Hinata assured the giant dog. Kiba didn't normally sulk, but the times he did he usually got over it within twenty-four hours. After that he completely ignored the incident, much to the annoyance of his teammates. Akamaru seemed reassured by her words, and leaned heavily against her as she resumed her scratching.

“Don't bet on it,” Kiba said gloomily from the bed.

Hinata sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over her teammate. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, moving so she could see his face.

“Go away,” he muttered, moving so that his face was buried directly into his pillow.

“When you want to talk, you know where to find me,” she said simply, before returning her attention back to Akamaru. She knew that Kiba wouldn't talk to her about what was bothering him, even if she were the problem. He always felt the need solve his problems by himself. She also knew that he would probably be out of his funk by the end of the day.

Shikamaru stepped out of the bathroom, and glanced their way. “Your turn Kiba,” he said simply, before sitting on the bed he and Hinata shared. Hinata blushed slightly, remembering what had happened on that bed just a few hours ago.

Kiba grumbled under his breath as hefted himself up into a sitting position. Then he threw his legs over the side of the bed, and heaved himself into a standing position. He swayed for a second before he trudged into the bathroom.

“What was that all about?” Shikamaru asked, watching as Kiba shut the door to the bathroom.

“I don't know,” Hinata answered honestly. “Sometimes he just gets like this. It usually blows over by the next day, and that's the last you'll know about it.”

“So he sulks for a day, then he's all better?” Shikamaru asked, as though he didn't believe it.

“Pretty much.” Hinata watched as Shikamaru thought about this some more, then just shook his head. There a tense silence as they waited for Kiba to finish in the bathroom. Hinata kind of wanted to make out a little more while they waited, but she also wanted things to remain just between the two of them for as long as possible. Something not possible with Akamaru acting as chaperon.

It wasn't until Kiba had come out of the bathroom and everyone had gone their seperate ways that Hinata began to worry. 'Does Shikamaru think I'm a slut?' she asked herself. 'Does what happened last night make me a slut?' She was so worried that she started moving faster and faster through the crowds of people. She ended up at Ranma's room a lot earlier then she told him to expect her.

Of course she didn't realize this until after she knocked on the door. There was some grumbling from inside. After some fumbling and a disturbing crash, the door opened to show a very groggy looking Ranma, wearing just his boxers.

It wasn't a bad sight for the young kunoichi. Ranma obviously worked out a lot, if the muscles he had were any indication. It was also clear that he was familiar with fighting for more then just a belt. There were little scars and bruises decorating his chest, arms, and legs. Most were old, but he had some unusual scarring around his hands and wrists.

“Hinata, right?” he asked, squinting at her. Hinata nodded. “Just give me a minute and I'll be ready,” he told her, before shutting the door in her face. 'He probably didn't even notice that I was early for the lesson.'

True to his word Ranma opened the door 60 seconds later, fully dressed but still looking tired. Hinata decided to take pity on him. “I'm actually kind of early. Let's grab some breakfast before we start.”

“Huh? But I need all the practice I can get,” Ranma protested, even as his stomach protested loudly.

Hinata chuckled softly, “You wont learn anything if you're distracted. Besides, eating something might help you wake up. We can discuss how you learn over food.”

“How I learn?” Ranma seemed completely confused. “I don't like school...”

“People learn things in different ways. Some people learn things just by listening. Others do better when they can picture it in their minds. I'll be able to teach you better if I know how you learn,” Hinata explained simply. “Let's eat and talk it over.”

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Shikamaru was a bit sckeptacle about Hinata's explanation for Kiba's personality change. Normally Kiba was a little gruff, but also pretty easy to get along with. Today he was being a total jerk. He snapped at Shikamaru when he tried to initiate conversation, and was unnecessarily sarcastic when he bothered to reply. Shikamaru didn't think that Kiba was sulking, mostly because of the hostility that Kiba directed towards him. If he were sulking, everyone would be effected, but Kiba didn't act that way around Hinata or Akamaru.

“Are you going to be like this all day?” Shikamaru asked as they monitored a building. He didn't bother looking at Kiba.

“Like what?” Kiba snapped, not looking at Shikamaru.

“I guess that answers my question.”

The two lapsed back into sullen silence. Even though they weren't being the best of friends at the moment, Shikamaru knew that Kiba would remain a professional. As long as he remained important to the completion of the mission, Kiba would make sure he was alive. Shikamaru didn't feel that he had too much to worry about in that regard.

Shikamaru returned to staring at one of the suspicious buildings that Hinata and Kiba found yesterday. It was a concrete warehouse that appeared to deal in mattresses. It was odd that they would feel the need to use a seal in such a building. Hinata had said that she assumed that any captive people would be in the basement, because that's where the seal was placed. Kiba said that the smells coming out of that place were rather suspicious as well.

“Man this is boring,” Kiba said, to no one in particular. Shikamaru grunted in acknowledgment. They had been there since early in the morning, before anyone else had arrived. They had seen the foreman unlock the building and all the workers enter one by one. They had seen the first deliveries being shipped out for day. They had learned more about the mattress industry in one day then they had ever wanted to in their life. Boring did not even begin to describe the day.

Shikamaru watched with interest as a woman came out of the building. She wore a simple suit with a skirt and heels. Her blond hair was twisted up off her neck and her glasses were perched on the end of her nose. She wouldn't have stood out at all, if it weren't for the fact that Shikamaru hadn't seen her enter the building. He was about to see if Kiba had seen the woman, but Kiba was already gone. When Shikamaru looked back, Kiba was already tailing her, waiting for the right time to see what she smelled like. 'Maybe today wouldn't be so boring after all,' Shikamaru thought as he settled back to continue watching the building.

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Shampoo was standing at the outskirts of Nerima when she returned to her senses. The last thing she remembered was visiting Airen and trying to provide him with a snack. The fact that the snack contained some of the hypnosis mushrooms was only an added bonus. She was going to make Airen spend time with her, not play that boring shougi game.

She smiled to herself as she thought of the date she had had planned for them. They would take a long walk and see the sights, he would say nice things to her, then they would end the day with the perfect kiss just as the sun set.

Her plans had gone awry when that stranger told Airen she was trying to poison him. Airen started running away, turning down her food. Of course she tried to convince him that he really did want the food she provided, but that stranger had gotten in the way. He looked like a delinquent, with his earrings and his hair in a ponytail. One moment she was admiring the way Airen ran, the next the delinquent was in front of her, feeding her a piece of food.

After that, she was here. 'Those mushrooms must have been stronger then I thought,' she mused as she headed towards the Nekohaten. She needed to rest a little and eat before heading back to Honey Country. It would do her no good to try to make the return trip in her current condition. If the way her feet felt were any indication, she had walked the whole time from when she had eaten the food until now.

She also noticed that she had been able to stay dry and out of fights while she was out of it. Her clothes were still on her meaning that she hadn't changed into a cat somewhere on the way, and she didn't have any new bruises anywhere on her body. So far, only her pride had been injured during her latest attempt at courting.

“When Shampoo come back, Airen will be too too happy to see her,” she giggled to herself. She let herself into her restaurant via an open window on the second floor. A normal person would have a difficult time seeing the window let alone going through it, but Shampoo knew she was anything but normal. With an ease brought on by years of warrior training, she scampered up the wall and through the window.

When she landed she frowned, because the frame of the window had felt smaller around her hips than last time. For a moment she worried that Airen would find her less desirable, but then she remembered that they were in love. She loved Airen so much that he couldn't help but love her. After all she was the best warrior, second only to Airen, the best cook, second only to Nice Girl, and the most beautiful, second to none.

Before Shampoo turned in for some much needed rest, she checked the phone for any messages customers might have left. There was one order, then another call complaining that their order hadn't been delivered from the same person. Shampoo shrugged and decided that Japanese people didn't know how to speak Japanese. Her message had been very clear. “No ramen.”

She made a note to let Great Grandmother know that there was someone with Airen who could detect potions. She was a little worried about what might happen to the boy, but he had ruined her date, so he deserved whatever he got. Not like Dr. Tofu, who had to leave because he knew too much about potions and pressure points. With Dr. Tofu around how was Shampoo supposed to court her husband properly?

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Genma came to as a panda. He shrugged philosophically and tried to remember what he had been doing for the last several hours. There was a blank.

Having hours missing from his evening was not an unusual occurance. What was was not having the memory of going drinking before that time. What he remembered was helping out with the boys training. He was bound and determined to show that upstart that the boy brought with him how real shougi was played. Before Genma could win the game with his patented 100en move, the upstart had threatened him. Well Genma never backed down from a challenge, he was about to teach the upstart who he was messing with, when Genma ended up here...

Genma paused to consider his options. He could march right back to Honey country to show that deliquent who was in charge, or he could seek a secure location while he strategized. Of course, being the practical man that he was, he realized that he would spend his time better if he were to multi task. His stomach growled, as though it were a sign. Firm in his resolve he ambled of towards his home, full well knowing that Kasumi would have breakfast well underway by the time he got there.

He wasn't too concerned about how he would explain his presense to those left at the Tendo household. Kasumi was too nice say anything about it and as long as there was no profit for Nabiki, she wouldn't care one way or the other. Tendo himself would be easy to pacify. All he would need to do was tell him that he had returned to plan the wedding. Then when he returned the schools would be joined. He was a busy man, he didn't have the time show young punks the error of their ways.

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Akane was still sleeping. She knew this, because she wasn't worried about pleasing “sensei.” What she was worried about was how to escape. And even more importantly then that, how she was going to deal with the fact that she wasn't going to want to escape once she was ordered to wake up.

She knew that it was a spell that was doing this to her. She wasn't sure what kind of a spell it was, but she recognized a spell when it was used on her. It was very frustrating to not have control of her body, or even her thoughts. It was almost like the time she had been turned into a doll at the onsen, except there was no invading spirit, it was just her. That was probably the worst part about this, that the spell they put on her made her want to please “sensei.”

If only she weren't in these damn chains. Normally when she was sleeping and something was wrong, she could rely on her Sleep Fu to help her out, but because of the chains, no matter what she tried she wouldn't be able to escape. Sleep Fu was not designed for delicate manipulations, like lock picking. It really grated her nerves, but it looked like she was going to have to “behave” today. 'I can't afford to be punished like this again,' she plotted.

“Wake-up Slave,” a man said, wiping all thoughts of escape from Akane's mind. She smiled hopefully into the face of Senesi's assistant. 'I have to prove that I'm a good slave. Then soon I will have a master.'