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		     The Grass is Always Greener
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Part Six of Too Many

By: Shamus Bowker, aka Tenchi -  tenchi@netcom.ca
    Allan Scott,   aka Ryoga  -  ryoga@uvic.ca

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The story so far: (I'm getting tired of doing this.) Tenchi meets Ranma. 
They switch places. Tenchi (as Ranma) gets into lots of fights. Ranma 
(as Tenchi) runs away from lots of things. Ryoga gets lost (in Washu's 
lab) and meets Mihoshi (who is also lost.) They accidentally let a big 
monster loose. Kuno gets angry with Ranma (or Tenchi, or whatever) and 
challenges him to a duel. Tenchi (the body of, that is) is sent off to 
fight the big monster that Ryoga set loose. We ended volume 5 with a big 
build-up for these two fights. (Aren't we nice?)

Over a month later the fic finally got going again:

				* * * * *

	Up in the hills somewhere in Japan, a carpenter and his son were 
working on the skeletal frame of a house. The sun beat upon the 
labourers as they sweated in the sun.
	"Did you have to wear THAT shirt?" the carpenter asked his son, 
pausing to wipe his brow. "You know it makes me nervous."
	"What's wrong with it?" he asked.
	"It makes me nervous," the father replied.
	The boy looked down at his shirt. On its front, it had a picture 
of a man sitting at a desk staring at a computer monitor, pressing a 
button labelled 'Smite'. The caption read 'God at his computer'.
	"Well, I think it's a cool shirt. At least I'm doing work, unlike 
SOME people around here."
	Four hired workers were nearby, busy goofing off.
	"Hey!" the son yelled. "Get back to work!"
	He waved his hammer threateningly. Any reaction the workers might 
have intended to make was interrupted by an explosion nearby.
	"What's going on?" the carpenter demanded, dropping to what would 
soon be a floor and covering his head.
	"Something's going on at the Masaki Shrine," one of the workers 
replied hurriedly.
	Recognition shone in the son's eyes.
	"Masaki Shrine?" the son said. "I gotta go there!"
	"No son!" the carpenter ordered, placing his hand on his son's 
shoulder. "Don't go there."

				* * * * *

	Ranma stood ready, watching Kuno warily. He knew that Kuno was 
skilled with a sword, but unsure as to how skilled he actually was. He 
decided to play it safe. He smiled confidently, and pointed into the air 
over Kuno's shoulder, feigning shock.
	"Look!" he cried, his mouth dropping open. "There's something 
outside the window!"
	"I shan't fall for such base trickery," Kuno replied haughtily.
	The crowd did. The whole room turned as one to look out the 
window.
	Ranma was disappointed. He was beginning to think his trick would 
always work.
	He's right, Ranma thought, I guess he's just too stupid to fall 
for that one.
	"C'mon!" Nabiki shouted. "Fight!"
	The crowd began to grow restless.
"C'mon, fight already!" a spectator called.
	Kuno chose that moment to lunge with his sword. Ranma tried to 
dodge and parry at the same time, and barely deflected the blow. Kuno 
took another swing which Ranma blocked awkwardly.
	"You are out of your depth Saotome," Kuno smirked, swinging again. 
"Surrender and avoid embarrassment."
	Ranma began to think that maybe Kuno was right... maybe he was out 
of his league.

				* * * * *

	Tenchi ran down the last of the steps and approached the man with 
the sword. 
	"Alright you monster! I'm gonna make you pay for trashing my 
house!"
	He charged and prepared to strike, but was swatted away before he 
got the chance to touch his target.
	Damn, he thought, I've got this sword of death and I can't get 
close enough to use it!
	Tenchi rose unsteadily to his feet and smiled his most confident 
smile. 
	"Come on, you freak. Show me what you got." he taunted.
	The man charged him and swung down with both hands, trying to cut 
him in half. Tenchi jumped back to get out of the way. He took the 
opportunity to take a swing back at the man, but he wasn't close enough 
and managed only to singe the man's shirt. Still, the man backed off for 
a moment in surprise.
	Well, Tenchi thought, it's a start.

				* * * * *

	The cheers rose as the fight continued.
	Ranma slashed at Kuno and then quickly swung again on his 
backhand. Kuno parried both blows and blocked the subsequent overhand 
attack with ease. Ranma immediately spun off and swung at Kuno's 
midsection. The boken connected and Ranma stepped back as Kuno clutched 
his side. There was a slight pause and the spectators fell silent.
	"You show some measure of skill, Saotome," Kuno admitted, taking 
his hand off his bruise. "Against a worthy opponent, my victory shall be 
all the more glorious!"
	The audience came to life again as Kuno resumed his battle stance. 
The combatants watched each other for a few seconds before Ranma stepped 
forward and took a swing which Kuno blocked. Kuno counterattacked by 
jabbing his boken at Ranma repeatedly with seemingly impossible speed. 
Ranma was unable to block any more that the first jab, and was hit 
repeatedly. He fell to a kneeling position as Kuno stepped back. Again 
the crowd went quiet.
	"Perhaps now you shall accept your inevitable defeat," said Kuno. 
"Or do you require yet another demonstration of my prowess with the 
blade?"
	In response Ranma stood, causing members of the audience to cheer.
	"Don't think you've taken me out that fast, Kuno," he said. "I've 
still got some fight in me."

				* * * * *

	Tenchi charged the man again, hoping to take advantage of his 
momentary surprise. The man recovered quickly though, and swung his 
sword at Tenchi, forcing him to abandon the attack and collapse to the 
ground to avoid being hit. Tenchi quickly rolled to the side in order to 
avoid another swing, which resulted only in the creation of yet another 
clean cut in the ground. Realising his vulnerability on the ground, 
Tenchi began swinging his sword wildly in an attempt to get the man to 
back away. Instead, there was a sharp electric buzz as he hit the man's 
sword. The man jumped back, allowing Tenchi to stand up again. He looked 
at the man and noticed that his sword had cut into the back of the man's 
blade.
	All right, Tenchi thought, I can cut this guy's sword in half with 
a good swing.
	Tenchi began stepping slowly toward the man, who seemed reluctant 
to advance. Tenchi took a lunging swing at the sword as soon as he got 
close enough, but the man pulled it back and out of the way. Tenchi 
stepped forward and took another swing at the sword, but the man again 
pulled it back.
	"C'mon," Tenchi said, "stay still!"
	Tenchi took several steps forward and swung at the man with a 
vicious downward stroke. The man was forced to try to block with his 
sword. Tenchi's sword connected solidly, and he could feel it begin to 
dig into his opponent's blade. He tried to pull away and finish him with 
another blow, but his sword was lodged inside of the giant's blade. 
Tenchi tried to reclaim his sword, but the other man was too strong for 
him. The man raised his arm to swing his blade, and Tenchi dove 
backwards out of the way. His hands touched the ground first, and he 
flung himself further away, landing some eight meters from his opponent. 
The giant's sword hit the ground and broke where Tenchi had cut it. 
Tenchi's blade broke free, and skittered along the ground, coming to a 
stop at Tenchi's feet. He stooped to pick it up.
	"Way to go Tenchi!" Ryoko shouted from the hilltop.
	The man looked at the shattered sword in his hand. There was so 
little of the blade remaining above the hilt that he discarded it. 
Tenchi prepared to charge and deliver the finishing blow, then realised 
that his sword too had lost its blade.
	"No!" he screamed. "Not now!"
	The man growled and ran at him.

				* * * * *

	Kuno attacked Ranma with the same move he had used before, making 
repeated quick jabs with his boken. Ranma tried taking a heavy swing at 
Kuno and caught Kuno's boken underneath his own. There was a pause 
before Kuno overpowered Ranma and forced his boken up, getting a swing 
in before Ranma could recover. Ranma felt a sharp pain on his right 
side. Kuno fell back but gave Ranma no opportunity to rest, charging 
again with the same move. Ranma responded by lunging at Kuno with one 
high arching swing of his own. Suddenly both combatants froze, as did 
all the spectators. Ranma fell to one knee, panting. Kuno stood behind 
him, his back facing Ranma.
	"Well," smiled Nabiki, pushing her way to the front of the crowd, 
"I guess Kuno-baby won that one."
	The crowd grumbled, and Nabiki began collecting money.
	Akane pushed out of the crowd and stood in front of Ranma. She 
snapped her fingers, and he collapsed. She looped her arms under his 
shoulders and dragged him out of the room.
	"Nope Nabiki, Ranma's the winner here." she called.
	Nabiki's eyes followed Akane and her stricken fiancee out of the 
room, then turned to where Kuno was, with his boken still outstretched. 
She pushed her way out from the circle of people that had formed around 
her and walked over to where Kuno stood. She snapped her fingers. There 
was no reaction. She waved her hand in front of his face, and again 
there was no reaction from Blue Thunder. She extended her index finger 
and poked him in the nose. He continued with his policy of absolute 
stillness.
	"He's out cold," Nabiki admitted.
	Members of the audience had a wide variety of reactions, ranging 
from moans of disappointment to cheers of excitement to shock and 
amazement. Many of those who cheered immediately went to join the mob 
building around Nabiki. 

				* * * * *

	Now without his sword, the man grabbed Tenchi and threw him into a 
pile of debris that had once been part of a wall. Tenchi picked himself 
up slowly as the man began walking toward him.
	"C'mon," Tenchi said to the sword, shaking it.
	The blade failed to appear. Tenchi closed his eyes to concentrate.
	"Just one more shot," he pleaded.
	A faint shaft or red light appeared at the end of the hilt. The 
man began to run toward Tenchi. As Tenchi focused his energy, the blade 
quickly became more intense. It began to extend, enlarging itself to a 6 
foot length. Tenchi swung it a few times and it appeared to leave behind 
a vapour trail as it moved. He grinned leaped at the running man, 
swinging a final downward stroke. The man screamed as the sword cut 
through him from the head down, light shining from the gaping wound.
"Washuuuuuuuuu!" he cried out as he dropped to his knees.
Then the man began to expand.
	"Get down!" screamed Tenchi, diving for cover.
	The man grew to almost triple his normal size, still screaming. 
Then he exploded in a flash of light. The light began to gather and 
implode, centering upon the spot where he had stood. The light 
flickered, then vanished into a wisp of smoke.
	"Self cleaning mutant," Washu grinned.
	Tenchi wandered over to where the man had stood only moments 
before. He sniffed.
	"Why does it smell like pine trees?" he wondered.
	"You beat him, Tenchi!" Ryoko shouted, running down from the 
hilltop and jumping towards him.
	"You could have helped," Tenchi growled.
	"Washu wouldn't let me!" she replied, "I wanted to!"
	"Huh?" Tenchi turned to face Washu, who was examining the damaged 
house.
	"Well this is going to take some time to fix," Washu declared 
loudly. "But it should be no problem to have it all fixed by morning!"
	"By morning?" Tenchi asked. "You mean tomorrow morning?"
	"Exactly," Washu replied.
	"Come on Tenchi," Ryoko said, grabbing his hand, "You heard her. 
Let's go celebrate while she fixes the house!"
	"But..."
	Nobiyuki arrived home from work. He spotted the rather severe 
damage to the house.
	"My house!" he exclaimed. "What happened? What have you been doing 
all day, Tenchi?"
	"Don't worry," Washu replied. "I'll have it all fixed tonight."
	"Are you sure?" asked Nobiyuki.
	"Of course!" Washu responded.

				* * * * *

	Ranma opened his eyes, and found that the world looked rather 
blurry. He panicked, fearing that his sight was going. Then he realised 
that he couldn't hear anything either. He felt cold and nervous. He 
turned his head to the right, and stared into the eye of a golden 
monster. He sat up quickly, his head coming out of the water. He 
surveyed his surroundings. He appeared to be sitting in a pool of water 
in the back of the Tendo dojo. Kasumi walked along the back balcony. She 
noticed Ranma sitting in the pond and called out to him.
	"Hello Ranma! Is your little show over?" she asked.
	"Uhh, yeah," Ranma replied, shaking water from his ears.
	"That's nice,"
	Kasumi wandered off.
	"Don't mind me," Ranma said to Kasumi's back, "I'm just passing 
out."
	He fell backwards into the water.
	Akane reached down from her rock into the water and pulled him 
back out.
	"What are YOU doing?" she asked.
	"Who, me?" Ranma replied.
	"Who does it look like I'm talking to? The goldfish?"
	"Give me a break; I'm tired."
	"Serves you right for showing off like that. Isn't it enough that 
you can beat Kuno in an ordinary fight?"
	"Hey, it was his idea."
	"But you went along with it!"
	"I didn't have a choice when Nabiki turned it into a big event!"
	Akane laughed and let him go.
	"Good night, Ranma," she said. "I hope you at least drag yourself 
up to your room before you fall asleep. There's a towel on the deck for 
you."
	With that, Akane left.

				* * * * *

	In the Tendo dojo, Kuno fell over and rolled onto his back.

				* * * * *

	In the remains of the living room, Ayeka sat on the couch and 
stared at the destroyed television set.
	"Katsuhito said there was something wrong with Tenchi," she said 
to herself.
Unfortunately he hadn't given her very much in the way of good 
advice. In fact, only one real suggestion had come to mind.
	"Perhaps that young man who visited the other day may know 
something," he had suggested.
	Ayeka had watched Tenchi fight, and seen no trace of the Jurai 
training that normally dominated his sword-fighting technique. He seemed 
to have no training with a sword whatsoever, in fact. Things were adding 
up, and something was clearly wrong with Tenchi.
	His sword, Ayeka thought. 
	She paused and looked up the stairs towards Tenchi's room.
	If something was wrong with Tenchi, she thought, it'd be dangerous 
to let him keep that sword!

				* * * * *

	Kuno lay on the floor of the Tendo dojo. He stared up at the 
ceiling, and slowly turned his head to one side.
	"I am within the walls of the dojo of Akane Tendo."
	He sighed. He turned his head back to centre, and then to the 
other side.
	"Methinks that the Blue Thunder hast has been defeated this day. 
But I shall never relent. I shall defeat thee Ranma Saotome... I shall.. 
destroy.... thee."
	The world went black. Then it grew brighter.
	Kuno found himself standing in the desert. Two soldiers marched 
out ahead of him. He looked around hoping to find out where he was, but 
the local scenery consisted exclusively of sand dunes, with the 
occasional large pile of sand for variety's sake. The two soldiers 
stopped and turned to face him.
	"Sir?" the one on the left said.
	"Is there something wrong?" the other asked.
      Kuno sat down to rest for a moment.
	"Phooey," he said. "The Emperor's stupid orders!"
	The soldiers looked at each other for a moment. Kuno stood again, 
and turned away from them.
	"Why does this pinhead have to live in the middle of nowhere?" he 
roared.
	Kuno paused and looked at the ground.
	"Ahem," he said loudly, "there's SAND on my boots!"
	The soldiers looked at each other again before realising what he 
meant. They rushed back to him and began polishing his boots. Kuno 
laughed.
	"Idiots!" he shouted, turning around to continue on his way.

				* * * * *

	Deep within the storage area of her lab, Washu searched for the 
robots she had built to perform repairs on space ships. Though not 
designed for the purpose, they could be programmed to rebuild Tenchi's 
house.
	"No, this isn't it," Washu said as she examined the side of a 
large, metal crate.
	She turned around to look at another crate but paused, thinking 
she heard something. She began to walk to where she thought the sound 
came from. There were more unusual noises, and Washu became convinced 
that someone else was in the lab. She started running and pulled out her 
metal rod. She came to a corner and slid around it.
	"Who's there?" she shouted, holding her rod in front of her.
	Mihoshi and Ryoga looked up from the game of cards they were 
playing.
	"Oh, Miss Washu!" Mihoshi said, jumping up from a sitting 
position. "I'm so glad you came. We've been lost in here all day!"
	"Hey!" Washu shouted, "How'd you... oh never mind."
	"It was awful," Mihoshi continued. "We got trapped in a big glass 
tank with a big man with a huge sword, and he was screaming, and waving 
it at us, and we had to break out to get away from him!"
	Washu digested this for a moment.
	"YOU let him out?!" she screamed.

				* * * * *

	Ayeka tiptoed into Tenchi's room and shut the door behind her as 
quietly as she could. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness 
before moving towards Tenchi's night stand, where she could see his 
sword hilt laying. Beside the night stand, Tenchi appeared to be asleep 
in bed.
	Ayeka stopped beside the night stand and reached for the hilt. 
Tenchi began to turn and Ayeka froze. He shifted a bit and then turned 
over onto his stomach, extending his arm over to the night table and 
placing his hand on the hilt before settling back to rest. Ayeka tried 
to slide the hilt from underneath Tenchi's hand, but it seemed likely to 
wake him. 
	Is someone TRYING to make my life difficult? she thought angrily.
	She lifted Tenchi's arm tentatively. Tenchi made no movement in 
response, so she lifted the arm further and took the hilt. Then Tenchi 
started to shift again. Ayeka panicked and froze, but Tenchi continued 
to move. Ayeka released her grip on both the sword and the arm. The hilt 
fell on the floor, while the arm hit the night table and knocked over 
some of the books. Ayeka froze again, but Tenchi became more active and 
began to mumble. Ayeka picked up the sword and looked for a place to 
hide. Tenchi sat up in bed and groped for his lamp. He fumbled with it 
for a moment before finally turning it on.
	"Ahh!" he moaned, closing his eyes to shield against the sudden 
rise in the light level.
	After a few seconds, Tenchi looked at the room with squinted eyes 
and spotted the two books lying on the floor, 'The Perfect Plow' and 
'How to Hoe.'
	"Musta knocked 'em off," he mumbled to himself, shutting the light 
off again.
	Tenchi resumed sleeping.
	How humiliating, Ayeka thought as she pulled herself out from 
underneath Tenchi's desk. At least nobody else was there to see her.
	She quickly walked to the door and pulled it open. As she left the 
room, she heard a voice behind her.
	"Ayeka?" Tenchi called. "Is that you? What is it?"
	Ayeka spun around and hoped she didn't look too guilty.
	"Uh, I heard something and wanted to check if you were okay," she 
said after a slight pause.
	"Nah, I'm okay," Tenchi replied in a tired tone.
	"Oh that's good," Ayeka said. "Goodnight Tenchi."
	"Goodnight," Tenchi called back.
	Ayeka put her hand up to wave, when she realised the sword hilt 
was in that hand. She put it down again quickly and shut the door. She 
turned away from the door and sighed in relief.
	"Well," she said quietly to herself, "now that's done with."
	She was about to go to her room when she heard the door to Washu's 
lab open. There was a dull thud from below, followed by a thud combined 
with a crack.
	"Stay out!" Washu yelled. "I have to rebuild this house now thanks 
to you and I don't want you making any more work for me! Good thing I 
had the house backed up!"
	"I'm sorry Miss Washu," Mihoshi's voice cried.
	Ayeka began quickly walking down the hallway to her room.
	So that's where that strange man with the sword came from, Ayeka 
thought. It makes sense that it would be that pea brain's fault.
	Downstairs, Ryoga turned to Mihoshi.
	"You don't happen to know how to get to the Tendo dojo from here, 
do you?" he asked.
	Mihoshi shook her head negatively in response.
	"I didn't think so," said Ryoga.

				* * * * *

People sleep.
It's funny, cause it's true.

				* * * * *

	The next morning, Kasumi was cooking breakfast in the kitchen of 
the Tendo home when Ranma came downstairs.
	"You're up early today," Kasumi said.
	"I have to go to school," Ranma replied, sitting down to eat.
	"And you must be so tired after that big fight last night," said 
Kasumi.
	Nabiki walked in.
	"Why are you doing up so early, Ranma?" she asked.
	"Have to get to school," Ranma replied between bites.
	"Didn't you hear?" Nabiki asked. "Mister Fujisawa still hasn't 
come down from the flagpole. The school is asking all the students to 
stay away until they can talk him down."
	"And whose fault is that, Ranma?" Akane asked as she entered.
	"How was I supposed to know he was about to snap?" Ranma argued.
	"You did that?" Nabiki asked.
	"Sort of," Ranma answered, quickly finishing off his breakfast. "I 
think I'll go see if there's any work for me."
	Ranma stood up and escaped out the door.
	"He taking this job thing rather seriously, isn't he?" Nabiki 
wondered aloud.
	Akane grumbled in reply.
	Soun walked in, carrying several envelopes.
	"It's a beautiful morning," he said, "isn't it?"
	"Would you like some breakfast, father?" offered Kasumi.
	"Why thank you," Soun replied as he sat down.
	Soun began looking through his mail as Kasumi laid his breakfast 
out. Genma walked in.
	"'Morning, Tendo," he said.
	"Saotome!" Soun greeted Genma. "Where have you been?"
	Genma thought for a second.
	"I can't recall," he eventually said. "All I remember is something 
about going out for mini-squid."
	"Ah," Soun replied, "that would explain it. They say mini-squid is 
bad for the mind."
	Genma laughed.
	"I do know that I'm hungry though," he said, "and this breakfast 
looks delicious!"
	"Help yourself, Mister Saotome," said Kasumi.
	"Thank you Kasumi," Genma said, preparing to eat.
	Soun tore open one of the envelopes and read what was contained 
within. His eyes slowly widened. He stood up.
	"Who made this long distance phone call?" he demanded, waving the 
bill in the air.
	"It wasn't me," Nabiki said. "Did you make any calls, Akane?"
	"No," Akane said.
	"What's the number?" Genma asked.
	"Here," Soun said, shoving the paper in Genma's face. "Look."
	Genma read the number and tried to recall if he had seen it 
before.
	"Could it be the Masaki Shrine?" he asked.
	"I don't know," Soun said, turning to get the phone book.
	Genma began eating again, while Soun flipped through the telephone 
directory.
	"You're right!" Soun called out. "It IS the Masaki Shrine!"
	"So who made the call?" asked Nabiki.
	"Yes," said Genma, "WHO indeed."
	"It was probably Ranma," Nabiki suggested.
	"Of course," said Soun.
	"Good thing he's got a job now so he can pay it off," laughed 
Akane.

				* * * * *

	Tenchi yawned as he walked down the stairs.
	"Man," he said to himself, "I'm still tired!"
	He walked into the living room, only to find Ryoga standing in the 
middle of it. He jumped back in surprise.
	"Hey!" he shouted. "What're you..."
	"I'm sorry about this," Ryoga said before Tenchi could finish. 
"I'm lost. Could you give me directions out of here?"
	Tenchi was even more surprised, until he remembered who he was.
	"Oh, yeah," he said, "sure."
	Washu chose that moment to walk out of her lab and into the living 
room.
	"So, Tenchi," she said, sweeping the room with her arms 
majestically, "What do you think?"
	"Huh?" Tenchi yawned.
	"The house!" Washu shouted.
	"Oh yeah," Tenchi said, noticing that the damage incurred 
yesterday had all been repaired. "It's great, Washu."
	He turned back to Ryoga. 
	"Anyway..." he began.
	"Who's this?" Washu interrupted again, poking Ryoga in the chest. 
"Friend of yours? I found him in my lab last night."
	Figures, Tenchi thought.
	"It doesn't matter," he said, "he's leaving soon."
	"Don't be so inhospitable, Tenchi!" said Washu. She looked up at 
Ryoga. "What's your name, cutie?"
	Ryoga was about to answer, but sobbing broke out in the kitchen. 
"My sake stash!"
	Everyone turned to look at the entrance to the kitchen. Ryoko 
wandered out, her face buried in her hands. She stopped as she noticed 
Ryoga standing in the middle of the living room.	
	"Is that the guy who drank all my sake?" she demanded.
	Tenchi turned to look at Ryoga.
	"It must have been the guy with the sword," Washu explained.
	"Then why didn't you fix it?" growled Ryoko, "I thought you had 
the house backed up!"
	Washu paused for a second.
	"Well," she said, "I directed the reconstruction using a temporal 
snapshot of the house taken slightly before the damage occurred. 
Obviously, he got to your stash before the major structural damage 
occurred."
	"Oh," Ryoko looked crestfallen.
	"That, and the fact that the robots balk at working with organic 
chemicals," Washu added.
	Ryoko gave Washu a nasty stare and stormed out the front door, 
carrying an empty bottle with her.
	"Now..." Tenchi tried to continue.
	"Good morning!" Sasami called from the top of the staircase.
	Tenchi watched Sasami walk down the stairs for a moment and then 
leaned over to Washu.
	"What's her name?" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
	"You've forgotten?" Washu whispered back harshly. "You're hopeless 
with names!"
	"Shh!" Tenchi tried to keep Washu quiet.
	"Good morning Sasami," Washu said cheerfully.
	Tenchi smiled. "Thanks," he whispered. "Good morning Sasami!"
	"Good morning Tenchi," Sasami replied. "Sorry I haven't made 
breakfast yet. I had a bit of trouble getting out of my room this 
morning."
	Tenchi realised that he was very hungry. He leaned over to Washu 
again.
	"I'm going to have breakfast," he said under his breath. "You deal 
with Ryoga."
	"Who?" Washu asked.
	"The guy in the yellow bandanna," Tenchi whispered back before 
leaving to eat.
	"Ah," Washu said in realisation. "Huh?"
	She looked at Ryoga, who had spent the past few minutes being 
ignored.
	"Ryoga?" she said.
	"Yeah?" Ryoga replied.
	That was a hell of a lucky guess, Washu decided.

				* * * * *

	Ranma entered Ukyo's restaurant in the middle of a storm. Ukyo 
immediately grabbed him.
	"See?" she said. "He's my employee. He comes to work at my shop."
	Though slightly confused, Ranma did notice Shampoo standing 
nearby.
	"But he work at Nekohanten first," she replied angrily. "You steal 
him!"
	"Yeah?" Ukyo responded. "Well live with it."
	"Maybe I steal him back!" Shampoo threatened.
	"You can try," said Ukyo.
	"Ranma," said Shampoo, "come back to Nekohanten and we pay you 
twice as much as used to."
	"Ha!" Ukyo answered before Ranma could say anything. "That's what 
I'm already paying him!"
	"Fine!" Shampoo declared. "Then I pay three times much!"
	"Nice try," said Ukyo, "but Ranma doesn't want to work as a girl 
anyway!"
	Shampoo now also took hold of Ranma.
	"Give back Ranma!" she shouted.
	"He works for me!" Ukyo responded.
	Ranma decided now would be a very good time to keep his mouth 
shut.

				* * * * *

	Tenchi walked out of the kitchen into the living room. He found 
Ryoga sitting on the couch eating out of a bowl of crackers.
	"Hey," Tenchi said, "what happened to Washu?"
	"She's offered me a place to sleep tonight," Ryoga replied. "You 
guys have a lot of guest rooms."
	"So I've heard," Tenchi rolled his eyes.
	Gee, thanks Washu! he thought.
	Nobiyuki came downstairs.
	"Hello Tenchi," he said. "Is this a friend of yours?"
	"Sort of," Tenchi replied.
	"I'm just staying the night," Ryoga answered.
	"It's okay with me," Nobiyuki said as he walked out the front 
door, "so long as he doesn't destroy the house."
	Ryoga laughed.
	"He was serious," Tenchi stated, narrowing his eyes for effect.
	"Don't worry," said Ryoga, "I just want to get home."
	Tenchi silently cursed Washu. Then he turned toward the kitchen.
	"Hey," he said to Ryoga, "are you hungry?"
	"Uh, yeah, kinda." Ryoga answered.
	"Hey!" Tenchi called to the kitchen. "Sasami! Do we have any 
bacon?"
	Ryoga flinched.
	"No!" Sasami called back.
	"How 'bout some left over pork chops?" Tenchi asked.
	Ryoga twitched.
	"No!" a cheerful voice came from the kitchen.
	Tenchi turned back to Ryoga.
	"Too bad," he said. "You look like you could eat an entire pig."
	Ryoga grabbed Tenchi by the collar and lifted him in the air.
	"What are you getting at?" he demanded.
	"Nothing!" Tenchi smiled confidently. "Don't you like pork?"
	"No," Ryoga replied. "I. Do. Not. Like. PORK."
	"Okay, okay," said Tenchi. "That's fine with me. You don't have to 
get all excited about it!"
	Ryoga put Tenchi back down.
	"Okay, I'm sorry. I'm just a little edgy right now." Ryoga 
apologised.
	"Hey, no biggie." Tenchi shrugged, "How 'bout some ice water?"
	
				* * * * *

	Ayeka stepped off the bus and on to the busy sidewalk. People 
nearby were running toward a large crowd that was gathered around a 
local store.
	Time to look for Ranma, she thought to herself.

				* * * * *

And so endeth part six.

				* * * * *

Allan's Notes:

Well, in writing this volume we mis-estimated the cut-off point and so 
we've either lengthened the series by one volume, or shortened it by 
one. It depends.

For those of you who cared enough to actually send us mail telling us to 
write the next volume, thank you. Without your support, I would never 
have been able to get Shamus to work on this volume.

Hopefully, (there's a strong word) the next volume will take less time 
than this one. This one was harder than the others (big fight scenes) 
and we've also streamlined the writing process. (Although I now have to 
do MORE work it seems.)

Oh yeah: One clue (which should not be necessary) about the person Kuno 
dreams to be. He wears red and green, and racks up air miles like no one 
can.

				* * * * *

Shamus' Notes:

Well, we be done another one. But do people really care? And thanks to 
the guy who bothered to bug me about writing the next volume, without 
him, I would have been unable to convince Al to help me finish part 6. 
*shrug* Some people, jeez.

One reason this took so long is the fact that the plot is starting to 
get a LITTLE more complicated. The Washu bit (the flashback) is part of 
something that we haven't bothered to bring up yet, that sort of evolved 
from the whole... well... you'll see when we get to it :)

Hate to be evil, but now we gotta work on GiG *7* - and this was 
supposed to be a one week fic! Ha!

"Melting nazis? Noo.... Damn." says Al. Me, I just write my notes.

Ciao, etc... the page is still 
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/towers/1525/ - come visit sometime, 
peoples. ^^;

/=^.^=\ Meow!

(And remember, in order to be on the safe side, be sure to back up all 
important buildings regularly)