Chinese Samurai
By Jack Ji
Part II: Good Food, Strange Dreams
Tojo Gan was taking an afternoon walk on campus at Nekomi
Institute of Technology. It was a sunny day at the park but it was still a
bit chilly and the clouds were starting to show. He reached a bench and
sat down, relieved of his burden of books. He got out a brown bag from
his backpack. There was still some of the lunch that he packed that
morning left in it due to an unexpected visit from Sayoko during his
lunch time. Wonder what she wanted from me? he thought.
He began to finish his lunch when Sayoko came up to him
again. She was wearing a brown jacket over a white blouse and wearing
a short black skirt.
"H-h-i, Sayoko," Tojo stuttered. He took another bite of his
sandwich. Sayoko had never talked to Tojo before. Infact, he didn't
even think she noticed him before. "I'm sorry, but I'm too busy with
school to go out with you so please don't try to ask me out again."
"No, it's not about that," Sayoko laughed as she sat down
next to him. She had tried to seduce him earlier that day but had failed.
So, she went to plan B. "It's about your family. Isn't there three young
men living at your parents' house for the summer?"
"Yes," replied Tojo. He took another bite of his sandwich.
"They're here to visit. Do you know one of them or something?"
"No, silly," Sayoko laughed again, hiding her devious
intentions. "I just want to meet them. It's not every summer that a good
friend of mine have three young men from America visiting us who are
Chinese, Korean and American."
"I suppose you're right," Tojo nodded. He finished his last bit
of sandwich and took a sip from his sake. "If you really want to meet
them, they'll be visiting NIT soon because they're almost college age."
"Oh, that means I'll be able to meet them soon," Sayoko
smiled. "When will they visit here?"
"I don't know," Tojo said. He got up and put on his backpack,
ready to leave. He wiped bit of mayonnaise from his lip with the back
of his hand. "I'll ask Ken sometime. I have to go home now. It was nice
talking to you again."
"Nice talking to you too," Sayoko smiled again and waved.
She stood there watching Tojo walk back to his dorm. She cursed under
her breath.
"You did better than during lunch," came a voice behind her.
"At least you didn't scare him this time. We'll just have to work with
that."
"It's not my fault he's prude, Mara!" screamed Sayoko as she
went to her car. "You could have helped a little too you know."
"Hey, all I want is the three boys," Mara said as she got in the
car with her.. "The three of them will help you and me get rid of
Belldandy."
"How?!" Sayoko screamed again, this time louder from her
frustration. She started the engine and began driving home. "Are you
going to make them race Keiichi in a car race or something?"
"No, of course not," frowned Mara who was getting frustrated
as well as a little scared from Sayoko's whining and driving. "All will be
revealed to you soon."
*****
The ride to Shampoo's restaurant was a little longer than I
thought. The good thing was that we didn't get lost but we did hit a
traffic jam. Being from Eugene, the three of us don't see traffic jams
often. Eventually, we made it after about half an hour.
The restaurant was small but cute. I was still surprised that
there were Chinese in Japan. Most Chinese don't like Japan too much
due to all the times that Japan has taken over China in the past 100
years.
There wasn't any other cars in the parking lot. I saw a bicycle
locked to a bike rack which I immediately knew had to be Shampoo's.
"Are we goi- Ouch!" I began but something got in my eye. My
eyes started watering and I started blinking furiously to get it out.
"Weird," Ken said. "I could have swore that your eye just
turned blue right there. Do you wear contacts?"
"No," answered Mike for me because I was still blinking. "I
wear contacts and Jack wears glasses because he can't get contacts in
his eyes yet."
We headed in and was greeted by Shampoo wearing
something that looked like a French maid's uniform. Cute, I thought.
But then again, Shampoo looked cute wearing anything also.
The restaurant was a little bit bigger than the one my parents'
used to own. The kitchen was across from the entrance and the
bathrooms were to our right. There was about 75 round tables, each one
with a Chinese lantern above it. Each table has 5 chairs around it and I
could read a sign in Chinese that said "Noodles are the special
everyday!" in Chinese. Mike said it said the same thing in Japanese
written next to it.
"Nihao!" Shampoo said as she looked up and smiled. "Oh,
Shampoo happy to see so many people come here to eat. Please, have
seat."
A voice in Chinese called for Shampoo to come back. She
came back immediately with two boxes and an umbrella. She also gave
us 5 menus and 5 glasses of water. It was amazing how she could hold
all that with only 2 hands!
"Shampoo must go deliver these now," she said. "Great-
Grandmother will help you while Shampoo is out. Bye-bye!"
We all waved good-bye to our cute little waitress as she went
out the door. Then we heard a bicycle bell ring and saw Shampoo riding
her bicycle with the two boxes on it and the umbrella across the street
then onto a wall. It was amazing how she keeps her balance.
"Do you know how she does that?" Hanny asked.
"She's a martial artist," Ken replied while reading his menu.
"I wish I could balance like that," I said, enviously. "In martial
arts class, the only balance practice we get is kicking and holding our
foot up!"
"You should see Ranma's balance then!" Ken exclaimed.
"He's really good at that."
I took a sip of my water. I always drink a lot of water while in a
restaurant. I don't know why, it's just a habit that I started about 3
years ago.
"Speaking of martial arts," I began. "Is it OK if we go to the
Tendo Dojo after we eat here, Nanny?"
"Sure," my nanny said. "Do you have the address?"
"Uhh... I'm afr-" I started but was interrupted by a short,
wrinkled little woman that looked a lot like a ghoul on a wooden stick
that she used like a pogo stick wearing a red robe with long gray hair. I
figured this must be Shampoo's great-grandmother.
"I'm Cologne," she said in English, to our surprise, and
smiled. "Have you decided what you would like tonight?"
Ken translated what Cologne said to his mom. My nanny and
Hanny ordered noodles. I ordered stir fry as did Mike while Ken wanted
roast duck.
"Quack!!!" exclaimed someone or something from the kitchen
when Ken mentioned duck.
"I'm sorry," Cologne began. "We're fresh out of duck but we
do have some roast chicken."
"But I just saw a duck back there through the window,"
Hanny said, really craving for duck. "And I could have swore it was
wearing really thick glasses."
"That's Shampoo's pet duck," Cologne smiled.
"The chicken will be fine then," Ken smiled back. I figured it
must have been some inside joke that I didn't know about.
Cologne took our menus and went back into the kitchen. We
heard her yell out "Moose!" and thought someone had ordered cooked
moose to go. We heard a splash of water and then Cologne came out
with 5 bowls of soup for us.
After a little while, three people in a group came in for an early
dinner like us and Cologne seated them and gave them some menus. It
took about 15 minutes for Cologne to make our order but we figured
since we had ordered so much and she didn't have anyone to help her
in the kitchen that it was still quite fast. The soup also kept us pretty
busy.
"Great-grandmother!" came a yell after a bicycle bell.
"Shampoo come back to help again!" Shampoo came in with a smile,
two empty boxes and an umbrella. I was VERY happy to see here again
because Cologne started to make me lose my appetite. I didn't tell her
that, of course, because it would have been rude. Besides that, she was
an elder to me. And a Chinese one too!
"Shampoo!" a tall man with long and wet black hair and thick
glasses on this forehead yelled. He went and hugged a chair. "I'm so
glad your back Shampoo!"
"What an idiot," I mumbled under my breath. I then got up,
went over to this man, tapped his glasses on his forehead and pointed to
Shampoo. He then began running to Shampoo's general direction.
"Shampoo!" he began again. "I'm so glad you're ba-" He was
stopped short as Shampoo did a push kick his face. He fell straight to
the floor. I was surprised that his glasses weren't cracked from that.
"Shampoo too busy waiting table now," she said in her cute
way. She started walking back into the kitchen. "Go back and help
Great-grandmother, Mousse!"
My interest in Shampoo went down dramatically after seeing
Mousse get kicked like that. I went over and picked Mousse up and
dusted him off. He was still unconscious but I managed to get him back
into the kitchen with Ken's help. I looked around to see if I could find
that pet duck of Shampoo's.
I was in awe at how nice the kitchen looked compared to my
parents' restaurant's kitchen. It was much neater and nicer looking than
my parents'. I put Mousse down at the other end of the kitchen away
from the door and saw Shampoo cutting some vegetables for our
chicken and Cologne cooking like crazy while on her wooden stick still.
I was amazed at how fast her hands moved stirring the wok. She turned
and smiled at me.
"You would like to know how I do this, wouldn't you?"
Cologne asked me. Shampoo smiled at me and went at the door with
her hands full of dishes and a big bowl of steamed rice.
"I'm just amazed at how you do it," I replied. "I'm not
interested in how I might do it." She smiled at me again, knowing that I
was lying, and went back to her cooking. What I wouldn't do to learn
that and go back to my dojo and show everyone how to do that!
"Would you be interested in learning anything from me,
young fighter?" she asked me. I was surprised that she knew I was a
martial artist. "I can sense your fighting spirit in your. You are just
starting to tap into it. You were meant to be a good martial artist from
your birth." My mouth dropped open from what she said. It was like
having your fortune told.
"How? Why? Huh? Me?" I said all jumbled up whiling
pointing my finger at myself. I only started martial arts because my dad
and I wanted me to stay in shape as well as learn how to defend myself.
"I have learned many things in my years of life," she said.
Shampoo came back in and went to cut some more vegetables. "And I
am willing to pass some of my knowledge on to you, as I have done
with many other. When do you want to start training with me?"
"I'm sorry," I said. "But I already planned to train at Tendo
Dojo for the summer. I think it's best for me to go back and eat now."
"Come back if your plans change, young fighter!" she said as I
went out the door.
I went back to my seat and found that more people had come
in. Everyone had started eating already. I started eating as well and
drinking lots of water. The warm feeling started spreading to my chest
from my stomach. Even drinking water gave me the feeling. We
finished our dinner around 5:30 and started going home. Shampoo
came out to give us our bill.
"Hey, Shampoo," I said. "Do you happen to know the address
to Tendo Dojo and how to get there? I'm thinking of training there for
the summer."
"Aiyah!" she exclaimed. "You martial artist too?"
"Yes," I replied. "I want to keep up my karate skills while
staying here in Japan."
"Why you no train with Shampoo and Great-grandmother?"
she asked.
"I already told Mr. Tendo that I'm going to train with him," I
lied. "But if it'll make you happy, I'll visit you a lot and you can always
visit me if you want."
"Shampoo always happy to see Jack!" she smiled and half
skipped back to the kitchen. I blushed at that remark. I always get
embarrassed around girls my age or even 10 years above my age. I just
need more practice. I made another mental note to maybe start
experimenting with young women my age. Shampoo might be a start
unless someone, especially Great-Grandmother, were to object.
We left soon after my little chat with Shampoo. Mike had most
of his dinner in a doggy bag. It'll probably be his breakfast and lunch
the next day. He was the only one that didn't eat all his dinner. We
went into the car. I sat in the back with Hanny in the middle, Mike
behind my nanny and I was behind Ken. I unzipped my jeans slightly
after I got my seat belt on. Overall, Shampoo and Great-grandmother's
cooking wasn't that bad. Suddenly I remembered something.
"Hey, Ken," I started. "How well do you know Nabiki?"
"Pretty well," he replied. "Why?
"Well enough to make an unexpected visit to their house?" I
asked?
"I guess," he said.
"Good," I started. "Nanny, do you know how to get to this
place form here?" I handed the piece of paper that Shampoo wrote
down for me.
"Oh, this is right next to a market I shop at," she said. "I can
get there in 10 minutes. I suppose you want to go now?"
I smiled and nodded. It really did take us about 10 minutes to
get there. I bet we could have gotten there earlier but we got into
another traffic jam.
******
When we go there, the sun started to set. I could read 3/4 of
the sign that meant Tendo Dojo. I saw a man with long hair wearing a
brown gi playing Go with a panda out the window. The car stopped and
we got out.
"I wonder if they teach aikido here too," Mike said. "I might
just train with you, Jack."
"I might also take up martial arts again," Hanny started. "If
they teach taekwondo, which I doubt they would in Japan."
I shrugged both of them off and let Ken lead to the door. He
knocked on the doubled door entrance. I could smell a wonderful sent
of onions, olives, ginger and fish.
"Coming!" came a sweet sounding voice came. A young
woman that looked around 20 wearing a white apron over a yellow
blouse and yellow skirt opened the door. "Oh, it's you, Ken. And you
brought you mother with you! Oh, my, we have some new visitors.
Come in! Come in!"
"Hi, Kasumi," Ken said. "My friends here came to train here
for the summer. They're from America and are visiting." We then got
formally introduced with the very nice Kasumi.
Sweet, I thought, but not cute like Shampoo. I was surprised
that I caught all that. My Japanese must be getting really better. We
walked in. I saw mostly wooden walls, no carpet and a low table at the
center of the floor.
"Daddy!" cried Kasumi. "We have visitors!" Kasumi went
back to the kitchen to continue cooking.
The man I saw playing Go with a panda walked in and greeted
us. I figured this must be my temporary sensei for the summer. I saw
the panda cheating behind his back. Ken made the usual introductions
and we got acquainted.
"Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "I'm so glad you three want to
train here. Would you like to start tomorrow after school?" Hanny
finally decided to go back to martial arts after a long time convincing
him that karate and taekwondo are very similar.
"Sure!" we all said, eager to start training as soon as possible. I
really didn't have anything else planned for tomorrow except maybe
visit Shampoo again so it seemed fine to me if we took another visit to
school. I really wanted to look around more and not be in classes all
day, only understanding half of what was going on.
"Is it OK if we look around?" I asked Mr. Tendo, my new
sensei. He nodded, eager to go back to playing Go. My nanny and Ken
went to talk with Kasumi and drink some tea in the kitchen. Hanny,
Mike and I got up and went to look around.
Everything seemed very roomy for a dojo in Japan. The
training room was a little bigger than my dojo in Eugene and there was
no mats, mirrors or side bars. There wasn't even a punching bag! It
appeared we'd have to tape a piece of wood and stick it in the ground to
practice punching. I could tell there was many holes mad in the walls
over the past few years from the difference in wood color.
We went down a small hall with three doors with "Akane,"
"Kasumi," and "Nabiki" written on them in English. I figured those
must have been the three girls' rooms.
We soon reached the bathroom. There appeared to be no
shower but two large bath tubs that resembled a hut tub. It was almost
like 2 small swimming pools. I didn't look forward to taking baths with
Hanny and Mike after workouts after seeing this. I made a mental note
to set up a system that would have only one of us in the bathroom at a
time taking a bath.
We didn't walk upstairs because we didn't want to be too
nosy. We smelled the scent of food coming from the living room. It
seems that Kasumi finished cooking dinner. I started wondering where
Ranma and Akane were. Half my question was answered when I saw
Akane eating with the rest of the family as well as my nanny and Ken
drinking tea at the table. The panda was cleaning up the Go board. I
noticed a young, red-haired girl with her hair in a pig tail sitting next to
Akane. We sat down also and Kasumi immediately gave us some tea.
Not used to drinking tea, we didn't even touch it. I got the idea that
Kasumi tried her best to be the traditional Japanese girl. Ken introduced
us to Nabiki and Akane.
"I saw you this morning," I said. "You were fighting off a
band of guys with a little help from Ranma. Hey, where is Ranma?"
"Uhh... He's out." said the-red hair girl. "With his dad
shopping."
"And who might you be?" Hanny asked. He pointed at the
panda. "And who's panda is that?"
"I'm... ah... Ranco!" she said. "I'm Akane's cousin and this is
my pet panda from China, Mr. Panda." Mr. Panda held up a sign that
said "Hello" on it. I was very impressed, as was Hanny and Mike at
how well Ranco trained Mr. Panda. Ranco and Akane looked a lot like
tomboys. Not cute like Shampoo or sweet like Kasumi.
"Distant cousin," Akane added. "Very distant."
"Nice to meet you," I said. "Hanny, Mike and I will be training
here for the summer. Maybe even with Ranma and Akane. Do you do
martial arts also?"
"Of course!" she stood up and yelled. "I've nev-" Mr. Panda
put his paw over and held up a sign that said "Sit down and shut up." I
remembered to not ever mess with this panda bear. I then realized that I
never saw Mrs. Tendo around the house.
"Where is Mrs. Tendo?" I asked. The room went silent except
for the weeping of Mr. Tendo. It appeared that he was a pretty
emotional guy. I hit myself for not thinking before I spoke. Kasumi
broke the long silence.
"Mother died of an illness long ago," she said in her sweet,
soft voice. I didn't bother to go further into it. We exchanged looks that
said we should be leaving now to my nanny. We said our good bye's
and headed out the door. Kasumi showed us the way out.
Mr. Tendo was still crying when we left. I was surprised that
Nabiki didn't try to make some money off of his while we were there
since Ken was warning us all day about it at school today. We got in the
car and left for home.
******
The ride home was quiet. I knew I should have kept my mouth
shut but I was still excited. We got home around 8:30. We spent more
time at the Tendo's than I thought! I went to brush my teeth but Hanny
beat me to it. I offered Mike to go next but he said it was OK that he
went last.
"OK," I said. "But don't blame me if you get too tired training
tomorrow after school." Hanny got out and went to our room. I went in
and brushed my teeth. I was eager to get to sleep. The quicker I get to
sleep, the faster I get to school and the faster I can start training!
I said good night to my nanny, her husband and Ken. Hanny
was already asleep when I got there. Hanny slept closest to the door,
Mike's was in the middle and mine was farthest away from the door.
Mike came in 10 minutes after me.
"So what do you think so far of today," I asked him.
"I don't know," he said as he turned off the lights. "It
certainly has been busier than our first full day. I wonder how Mr.
Tendo's going to teach all three of us. It doesn't seem that he has many
students other than Ranma, Ranco and Akane."
"You know," I started, knowing how heavy a sleeper Hanny
is. "Ranco and Ranma look a lot alike. Especially their hair style. So
what do you think of the 5 girls we met today?" I smiled at him but he
just shrugged. "Still not interested, eh? I think Shampoo might have
something for me. Akane and Ranco seem too much like tomboys to
me. Kasumi is too old for me and too Japanese while Nabiki is... Well,
just not my type I guess."
I looked at Mike and saw that I had bored him to sleep with he
talk of girls. I sighed and said good night to him.
******
I was in the air. The sky was cloudless. I could feel the wind
going against my face yet wind pushing me up at my feet. I was in my
gi with my yellow belt on. Suddenly, a duck with thick glasses flew by
me. Then a black piglet with a yellow poka-dotted hanky around its'
neck. Then a white cat.
I was so confused at what was going on. I wasn't scared in the
air. It felt natural, as if I was made to be up here. I felt the warm fuzzy
feeling in me but it felt like it was being used up and replenished at the
same time. Like a car filling up on gas while going 60 mph.
Suddenly, I saw rocks flying at me. Huge rocks! I tried to
dodge but couldn't control my movement in the air. I closed my eyes
and braced myself for impact. I expect to be hit but didn't feel
anything. I opened my eyes and saw the rocks below my feet.
I looked up and saw a blue dragon coming at me. I was still in
the air. It was slightly transparent and looked like an Asian dragon, not
one of those European dragons. It opened its' mouth as if it was about
to eat me up!
I felt like screaming but I couldn't. I didn't know what to do. I
couldn't think! My sensei in Eugene didn't tell us what to do when blue
dragons come charging towards us in the sky!
I didn't close my eyes this time. Instead, I put out my hand
and opened it. Suddenly, my hand started glowing blue. The blue
shimmer expanded out like a satellite dish infront of me. My hand
sucked up the dragon! I felt the warm fuzzy feeling go through my
entire body and stronger, much stronger this time!
Infact it was so strong a feeling that I started to fall slowly to
the ground. The air pushing me up disappeared. I started falling faster
and faster! I knew I was about to die.
Once again, my body acted without my control. I stood up
straight with my feet towards the ground. My shoeless feet started
glowing blue and I felt them using the warm fuzzy feeling as it glowed.
My feet hit the ground hard but I didn't feel any pain. No bones were
broken but the place of impact did have a big crater in to.
I dusted myself off. I heard that laugh again. I turned around
and saw the same blonde figure that I saw after school that day wearing
a black leather jacket and red wrist bands, still laughing. This time,
however, I saw his front. I looked him up and down and saw that it was
a she, not a he. Her face had strange markings. Her forehead had
something that looked that a V and below her eyes were some more
similar marking. She was still laughing and pointed to my right.
I was shocked to see Mike and Hanny standing there wearing
their gi's. Mike was wearing his blue belt and Hanny his red belt. Their
eyes looked very strange and their foreheads had the same V markings
on them. I turned to look at the blonde figure again but saw a young
Japanese woman with long hair around college age in her place.
She was wearing a brown leather jacket, white blouse and a
short black skirt. She was ringing a small golden bell that had "Dandy"
written on it. She had an evil smile as she shook the bell.
I turned back to Hanny and Mike and saw them charging at
me! I found myself ready to fight my friends in full contact and without
sparring equipment too! I had little training on how to fight two people
and these are two of my friends! I really did not want to fight. I held out
my left hand the same way I did when the dragon appeared before me.
It started glowing blue again. I closed my eyes and made a loud scream.
I felt the energy flowing out in a beam that shot out at Hanny and Mike.
After I felt the energy stop flowing, I opened my eyes.
Things were getting too strange for me now. I saw myself
wearing the same thing I was wearing, yellow belt and white gi. Mike
and Hanny were nowhere to be seen. The other me had a V marking
also. My whole body started shimmering a blue glow while the other
me started to glow red. I still had some energy left and held out both
my hands so did he. He shot out a red beam just like my blue one when
Hanny and Mike were charging at me. Something went wrong. I
couldn't shoot out my beam!
******
Cologne was very frustrated. She had tapped into Jack's
dreams just perfectly that night. She didn't control his dreams, just
guided them. Something was wrong, however. Her connection was
broken off by something more powerful. Now, she couldn't reconnect.
Shampoo turned in her sleep and mumbled something about
Ranma. Cologne was totally concentrating and ignored what she
mumbled. She just had to reconnect. There was no telling what might
happen if she didn't. She had done this hundreds of times and this had
never happened to her before. She had to think fast before something
bad happens to Jack.
She thought about tapping into Mike's or Hanny's dream to
tell them to get up and wake up Jack. Unfortunately, doing more than
one person in one night is very hard. The only thing left to do is find the
disturbance and hope that she could stop their signal.
Cologne went back to her concentrating.
******
Mara was having a blast controlling Jack's dream. That senile
old woman needs more practice at this, she thought. She laughed again,
this time at Jack. She was viewing his dream turned nightmare in a
small globe.
She took over Cologne's guiding after the dragon appeared
and had been controlling Jack's dream since. She was in Sayoko's
basement. It was empty except for her coffin and her Satanic chair.
"You couldn't even control his dream, Cologne," she said.
"You could only guide them but I can control them!" She went back to
the dream. The red beam was just traveling towards Jack, who was
looking very surprised that his hands didn't send any offensive attack
beam. The evil Jack had a huge grin on his face.
Mara suddenly screamed. The globe dropped to the ground
and shattered just before the red beam hit Jack. She cursed at Cologne,
knowing it had to be her. She had the largest migraine headache in
history. It was like a hangover times 1000. She went straight for the
coffin to sleep out the headache. It would take days for her to recover.
******
Belldandy woke up in the middle of the night. She could feel
some evil wave jamming someone's mental connection. She also felt
that the original connector was trying to stop the jammer.
She stood up and chanted a spell that boosted the power of the
original connector. She smiled, knowing that it worked and went right
back to sleep.
******
Cologne smiled. She had succeeded but wasn't sure if Jack
was alright or not. She had no energy left to check if he was OK. She
was in a heavy sweat but didn't really care. She only cared that she
stopped the jamming signal of Mara. She didn't know it was Mara who
jammer her connection. She didn't even know how she did it, she was
just glad that she did. She went to sleep, a well deserved rest.
End Part 2.
Finish 4/12/96
Author's Notes: I got this done pretty fast. It'll be a little longer until I
finish or even start Part III because I have a very hectic week at school
next week. Yes, I'm doing that blue=good and red=evil just like in G.I.
Joe.
Please send comments, ideas, advice, and criticism to jackji@efn.org.
\ | /-- /--
---- ---|--- /\ /\
| | ----|----
| | |---|---|
|/ | | / | \ |
_/ | \_
______________________________________________________________________________
Member of the #ShAS#: Shampoo Appreciation Society - Our favorite femaline!
jackji@efn.org - Jack Ji - http://www.efn.org/~jackji