The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 15 - Etiquette as Taught by Miss Shampoo or How I'll Whup Your Ass, Sugah!

Sayuri watched as the blonde boy turned the spear over and over in his hands. If it 
weren't for the blonde do, she'd have thought he was Native. It seemed like he was only 
about twelve or so. Though, from the way Ukyou reacted and from the nasty glint in the 
boys' eye, Sayuri thought she should stay behind Ukyou. Sayuri looked over to Shampoo, 
who simply shrugged in response and peered out from behind Ranma.

Ukyou felt the blood begin to rush into her face at the mere thought of Toma. The anger 
brushed at the buried feelings and the memories of what he did and it drove the blood 
hotter in her. Ukyou took a breath and surprised herself when her hands began to shake 
from the adrenaline. She would take this asshole out tonight, if it weren't for Sayuri and 
Shampoo. She could protect Sayuri, but not if Toma pulled that little stunt again and 
Ukyou had a sinking feeling that the sword had nothing to do with it.

Ranma calmed more. The adrenaline threatened to surge into his head and clutter his 
thoughts, but he'd been taught long ago that the best thing to do in these situations was to 
calm and try to center yourself as much as possible. THAT was the closest path to the chi 
necessary for fighting and the quickest way to use it. There was only one problem, or 
rather, two. Shampoo and Sayuri. They were cheerleaders. What did they know of 
combat? Ukyou could probably handle herself, but Shampoo and Sayuri couldn't.

Toma stopped twirling the staff and eyed the four of them, his predatory gaze flickering 
between them.

"You see," he began, "I don't simply want to embarrass, or harm you. No. I want to take 
you apart from the inside out. And for that, I need time to work..."

He swung his right arm out and the goons began to form a circle around them. A circle? 
The adrenaline overtook Ranma's thoughts as he realized what was going on. Toma 
needed the circle for his little mind tricks. Ranma didn't know why, but it was needed.

"Don't let them form the circle!" Ranma snapped to Ukyou.

"Why?" Shampoo asked from behind.

"It's part of the trap," Ranma hastily explained, trying to back them out of the closing 
circle, "Just stay behi-"

There was a flash of movement and Ranma jerked his head around to see Shampoo jump 
into a group of three men, who were among them, four times her size. Ranma's mouth fell 
open as she kicked a man in the clusters and spun gracefully around to deliver a shot 
across the jaw...And she was speeding up!

An elbow here, the swing of an axe kick to the back of another guy's head, one guy being 
thrown into two more. It seemed some sort of perverse ballet as more men piled on, but it 
didn't seem to matter to Shampoo, who simply sped up and changed her tactics. Ranma 
shook his head briefly and looked back at Ukyou and Sayuri, who were both enthralled 
by the action.

A small pulse of light pulled Ranma's attention back to Toma, who had the most foul 
mask of hatred across his countenance. Toma was staring right at Ranma as the blade on 
the spear pulsed once more.

"Shit," Ranma swore.

He pulled up a small amount of chi and fired. Ranma then pulled at his larger reserves as 
the first shot sailed wide. It had the desired effect though...It made him flinch. The second 
one didn't miss.

The action slowed to a crawl and all heads turned as the explosion ripped across the 
parking lot. Ukyou threw Sayuri to the ground and covered her as pieces of the car that 
Toma had been sitting on flew all around them. Ranma felt a couple pieces slash across 
his face and his arm, but he felt that they were minor compared to the world of hurt that 
Toma was in. Ranma smiled. He risked a glance to Shampoo, who was putting the 
finishing touches on Toma's gang of thugs, having taken advantage of the blast. Ranma 
smiled again, maybe she'd be different. She WAS certainly surprising him. But back to 
Toma. It was time to end it.

Ukyou shot a glance up to Ranma, who was helping her on her feet. Ukyou looked down 
to Sayuri, who was out cold. Ranma reached down and checked her pulse. It was nice and 
strong.

"She's okay," Ranma said, "Just out cold. C'mon, let's get him while he's down."

Ukyou nodded sharply and half limped after Ranma on his slow way through the 
wreckage to Toma. It felt like she twisted something and was surprised when Shampoo 
slid under her arm and helped her along.

"Hey, thanks," Ukyou said weakly.

"No problem, honey," she purred, "But, I think that Ranma can give him the necessary 
ass-kickin'..."

Ukyou shook her head.

"It's personal between me and Toma."

Shampoo shrugged and helped Ukyou around a large piece of the radiator. They 
approached the crater that marked the center of the blast zone and wondered at Ranma, 
who was jumping around from section to section. He shot them a worried glance.

"He's not here."

Ukyou shrugged Shampoo's arm off and began to search the center of the wreckage. 
Shampoo picked up part of the engine block and Ranma raised an eyebrow at her. She 
smiled shyly and dropped it, remembering that dainty Southern lasses weren't supposed 
to be able to deadlift several hundred pounds.

"Ranma."

Ranma and Shampoo converged on Ukyou, who turned from a mangled section of 
steering column. She tossed a piece of something back to Ranma. It was the bottom half 
of that spear, little burned sections of leather wrapping smouldering lightly in the crisp 
air. Shampoo gasped and grabbed Ranma's arm as she pointed back toward Sayuri. Toma 
held her in his arms, his eyes flashing gently in the dark. Ranma bolted out of the pile, 
but stopped short as he raised the spear to her throat.

"No," Ukyou said, stepping in front of Ranma, "Don't do anything to Sayuri. If you want 
to play your perverse games, then do it with me, but let her go."

"Oh," Toma sighed, "To think that I couldn't have all of you? Do you think I'm stupid? 
The moment I let her go, you'll all attack me, and then where would my fun be?"

There was a rustling to the right of the wreckage of the car and Ranma saw that the goons 
had recovered and were circling. Toma stood and winced from the hit he took in his side. 
Sayuri was still a dead weight in his arms, but that didn't-huh?

Ukyou jumped and aimed herself at Sayuri as Ranma threw something at Toma. Ukyou 
managed to get an arm around her legs, bringing Sayuri down on top of her. Toma 
watched in dazed confusion as the bottom half of the spear smashed into his shoulder. A 
sickening crack issued as he flew into the hands of his goons. Sayuri opened her eyes to 
find Ukyou draped over her. There was the top part of the blonde boy's spear nearby, 
blood covering the blade. Sayuri felt her heart drop. What had-?

Ukyou groaned and rolled to his right, clutching at his side. Sayuri let out a worried laugh 
and tried to find out what had happened, but the lump she could feel rising on her head 
and the blood coming from Ukyou's side all conspired to keep things from straightening 
out. Ranma leaned down beside her and pulled Ukyou's hand away as he assesed the 
damage.

Shampoo watched as the goons picked up their limp, fallen leader and hauled him away.

"I think we'd best head ta the hospital," Shampoo said, bending to help Ranma, "Ukyou's 
lost a lotta blood. Ah also don't think the cops're gonna believe this one."

Ranma looked into her eyes and nodded sharply.

"Help Sayuri to the car," Ranma said, getting himself under Ukyou.

***

Ranma hated the hospital smell. That sterile kind of smell that told the rest of the senses 
that, if it didn't smell this way, it'd smell MUCH worse. Ranma still hated. He'd healed up 
his cuts enough that he didn't need stitches. Sayuri had a slight concussion, but she was 
waiting for the news on Ukyou no matter what. Ranma had told her what had happened 
and tried to cut down on Shampoo's embelishments. Shampoo. Ranma had no idea what 
to do with her. She intrigued him so much and yet, it was like meeting a true equal, there 
was also something almost scary about it. Ranma looked over to her. She was perusing 
some woman's magazine that had been sitting on the table next to the illustrated 
children's Bible and the Highlights magazines.

Her eyes passed up to Ranma, who looked away and she smiled again. He was so cute 
when he blushed like that, it was rather funny. She didn't know what the problem with 
that Toma kid was, but he had a real attitude. And if this thing went on any longer, 
Shampoo'd have to call on a couple of old friends to take care of things. But good 
Southern gals weren't supposed to have their own posse either. Shampoo hummed 
tunelessly at the thought. She'd have to keep it a secret from Ranma then...

Ranma looked back to Sayuri. She was dozing on the other sofaseatthingy. The doctors 
had told her that she should just go home, but she wouldn't hear it. Ranma wondered if it 
was because Toma had gotten to her like he'd gotten to Ukyou and Akane. He didn't 
know and for Sayuri, he wouldn't ask. If she wanted to tell him, then she would in her 
own time. Ranma thought that Ukyou would probably hear it first though. She shot up 
from her seat as the doctor came out from the swivel doors. That was another thing that 
Ranma hated about the hospital. The way the doctors hid their results until they actually 
told you. 'I'm sorry ma'am, but your husband is compost' looked exactly like 'Nothing to 
worry about and here's a million dollars for your troubles'.

"How is he, doctor?" Sayuri asked expectantly.

"Him who?" he looked confused.

Ranma winced inwardly at this. Dammit...Of all the times for this to come out. Of course 
they'd check her gender. Damn. Damn stupid mistake!

"How is-" even Ranma had to stop himself, "How is Ukyou, please?"

The doctor shifted his glance to Ranma and settled back into doctor-mode.

"Well, she's lost a lot of blood, but she should be okay," he said scratching his chin, 
"We're going to keep her overnight for observation. I have to ask though...What the Hell 
happened?"

"She who?" Sayuri muttered.

Before Ranma could speak up, Shampoo grabbed Ranma's arm and sidled up next to him.

"We were jumped by a group of thugs," she said quickly, "Ranma and Ukyou defended 
myself and Sayuri, but poor Ukyou couldn't handle all four at once."

"Who she? What about-" and then Sayuri got it.

"Have to talked to the police about this?"

"My Ukyou...was..." Sayuri sat down hard.

"Yessah," she continued.

The doctor mumbled into the background. As did Shampoo and Ranma. Sayuri closed 
her eyes and folded her arms around herself. She'd never felt this way before. She felt 
like she had to hold on to her chest, lest her heart simply fall, shattered into many pieces, 
on the floor. Ukyou was a girl. Her blood screamed in her ears, partly because of the 
concussion, but partly because he-SHE had lied to her. She'd LIED! Sayuri couldn't 
understand it. What would Ukyou have to LIE about?!

Sayuri was vaguely aware as Ranma led her out to Shampoo's car. The ride home was a 
blur. There was another vague sensation of giving someone the directions to her house. 
Her mind was on Ukyou. He-SHE didn't have to lie to anyone, that much was certain. But 
looking back, Sayuri could see how Ukyou was hesitant about all the little things that 
guys would normally be pretty dense about. Maybe that's why Sayuri liked him...Her.

The tears came easily that night. Her parents asked what was wrong, but got no answer. 
What was wrong? Well, Ukyou wasn't properly equipped? Or some equally stupid line? 
Her heart burned at the mere thought of Ukyou. But, despite herself, there were still 
feelings there. She wouldn't deny them, because that would only lead her to trouble. But, 
at least for the moment, she couldn't accept them either. She wasn't a lesbian, this much 
she was...sure?

Did Ukyou ever lead her on? No. In fact, she never wanted to go on the date in the first 
place. Even Ranma had given her weird...Ranma knew? Ranma knew! Why didn't he 
TELL her? But a little voice in the back of Sayuri's head asked her another question, 
would she have really listened to him? No. And the facts rolled over Sayuri that the only 
one who deceived her was herself.

That, and the fact that she still liked the way he kissed...She...Ukyou...

***

"What do you mean, she's not here?" Ukyou asked.

Yuka looked at him.

"What part of that didn't you understand, handsome?" Yuka was never one to look a gift 
in the mouth.

If Sayuri wasn't around, then perhaps Yuka would have a shot at Ukyou. It did kind of 
bother her that Sayuri hadn't shown up since her date with Ukyou three days ago. She'd 
called Sayuri's house and her mom said that Sayuri was quite ill. Sayuri's mom was a 
little old fashioned.

"Ukyou?!" a voice came from behind them, "What are you doing here? You should be in 
bed!"

It was Akane. Ranma was in tow and it looked like he had a new scar across his right 
cheek too.

"Ranma told me what happened," Akane said, "Are you sure you should be in school?"

"What happened?" Yuka asked.

"They fought off a gang from Arlington," Akane left out the Toma part of it, "And one of 
them cut Ukyou pretty badly."

Ukyou frantically waved her hands to keep this information from the listening crowd, but 
it was too late. The damage had been done.

Well, might as well minimize the results, she thought to herself.

"You know," she said, loud enough for Ranma to hear, "Ranma had a much bigger part in 
the fight than I did. I was just unlucky."

Ranma smirked from behind Akane and shook his head.

"Look Yuka," Ukyou turned her attention back, "I'm kinda worried about Sayuri. She 
took a hit on her head and I want to make sure she's okay."

"Uh, yeah..." Yuka cursed her own luck, "I'll get you the directions to her place at lunch, 
okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Ukyou smiled wearily and joined Ranma in homeroom.

She really didn't want to be here, but she'd be damned if she let something that Toma did 
affect her grades. She pushed through the day, and helped by Ranma, Akane, Ryouga and 
the rest, with the minimum of pain.

***

Akane silently wondered about the fight that Ranma and the rest had gotten into. From 
the descriptions, it sounded like Sayuri might have gotten the same treatment from Toma 
that she and Ukyou got, but Sayuri hadn't come back since then and Ukyou was going out 
to her house tomorrow. Akane thought that Ukyou should go see her earlier than 
Saturday, but she told Akane that Sayuri found out about the little gender similarities 
between them. She knew all about that little thing. Those times that she found Ranma 
attractive she had to remember two things. That he was technically half her brother, and 
that a couple times a month he was the same gender. She shook her head as she sat at the 
lunch table. Chicken noodle soup again. She wondered if the lunch staff could think up 
anything LESS imaginative. She silently was grateful though, remembering the last time 
they thought up something interesting.

She took a slurp and looked to Ranma, who was having trouble eating with a perky 
cheerleader with purple hair strung on him. Akane smirked. It was his own fault, really. 
Letting her hang all over him like that. Akane sobered when she remembered gym class. 
Shampoo had warmed up by doing kata that Akane doubted that even Ranma could 
match. It was, to say the least, impressive.

"Aw, c'mon honey," Shampoo purred, "If you're hungry, then ah'll feed ya'..."

Akane tried to ignore them and went back to her soup. Ukyou had said that things were 
never as easy as they appeared to be, either in her experience, or in her life. She hoped 
that Ukyou knew what she was getting herself into. Of course, Sayuri could give quite a 
punch when she was angry. Akane was sure that Ukyou could defend herself, 
though...Pretty sure...