Chapter 2

"C'mon May. They're gonna be here any second,” exclaims a young woman with pale chocolate skin.

Mayday Parker looks at her roommate with a puzzled look on her face. Stooping down to pick up the pizza boxes from the night before May smiles at Davida's little quirks. As she places the boxes in one of the large trash bags that they had bought this morning to assist with the clean up.

The night before they had celebrated. The three girls were excited about having the building that they managed full for the first time in over three months. It seems that Courtney, May's other roommate, has a soft spot for the Foreign Exchange Program and has kept tabs on any students from afar that need accommodations for college or vocational schools. As a result of this soft spot she found out about a high school class from Japan that was willing to rent the apartments in the building for full monthly price for just a couple weeks. The owner of the building had been overjoyed when he found out and had cut the girls a deal for a portion of the money. They bought pizza and drinks from a local place to celebrate. This morning is spent cleaning afterwards.

Davida, who was normally a very passive person, turned into a "Clean Freak" whenever anyone showed up at their apartment. May and Courtney tried to tell her the night before that the kids shouldn't really be in their apartment. Though Davida had won the argument by stating that these were foreign kids most of whom probably spoke little to no English and if any problems arose would be at the front door to their apartments to complain.

Courtney looks out from the kitchen smiling at May and twirling her finger around her ear in the Universal "She's Crazy" motion behind Davida's back. Giggling May turns to look at their apartment. The spacious, for New York, apartment held two couches separated by a coffee table and a very comfortable chair that had been salvaged from a dumpster near Central Park. It also contained the very large entertainment center that Davida had insisted on. A couple of plants, tasteful paintings, pictures of the three friends, and a couple of lamps on tables made for a very homey apartment.

May looks over at Davida who is standing near the kitchen overlooking the apartment with her hands on her hips smiling contentedly. Davida turns to look at Courtney who quickly drops her hands back onto the counter pretending to clean a particularly nasty spot. May hides a vicious smile behind the back of her hand as she exchanges a knowing look with Courtney.

The dark skinned woman shakes her head and sighs. "So what time are these kids from F-fo-formica High coming," she says reading from the note she had written the information on.

"Good Lord, girl! You would think that after two years of the stuff in college you would have some basic understanding of Japanese phonetics. It's Furinkan High, and they are due in about fifteen or twenty minutes from now,” Courtney said slightly angry at Davida. "They shouldn't be any later than that, Japanese people are usually pretty punctual."

"All right, all right. You sound like my dad,” Davida said laughing. "C'mon we need to do a double check on the apartments they're gonna be stayin’ in."

* * *

Ranma yawns as he is listening to Miss Hinako give the last minute instructions on greeting their landlords. Ranma looks over Akane's shoulder out the window of the bus that they were riding to the apartments that the class will be staying in. The streets were filled with pedestrians walking on the sidewalks. Ranma's head swims with the sheer number of people in New York. He has heard that it's a large city but he never thought that so many people could live in one place.

Akane looks from the window as Ranma starts to lean forward and smiles at him. The youngest Tendo laughs slightly, "Isn't this fun, Ranma?"

"I can't believe it's so big. I mean it's so tall and there's so many people. You know, Akane, I'm glad we're here even if everyone else had to come too,” his gaze sweeping at the other students in the bus.

"Do you really mean it Ranma,” asks Akane. Her heart flutters in her chest as Ranma looks back at her.

The young martial artist looks at his fiance and suddenly feels the urge to tell her every nice thing he has ever thought about her. He opens his mouth to tell her when an angry shout from behind him catches his attention.

"HAPPO FIFTY YEN SATSU!"

Ranma visibly withers under the Ultimate Technique. Some of the pedestrians that are gazing into the bus of Japanese students step back as Miss Hinako turns from a small child into a young looking and very attractive woman from the draining of Ranma's Battle Aura.

"You would do better to pay attention Mr. Saotome. You know how trouble follows you," said the now adult formed teacher. She walked back to the front of the bus muttering about juvenile delinquents.

"Ranma, are you all right?” asks Akane as she helps pick Ranma off the floor.

"What do you care, you dumb tomboy! Why didn't you tell me she was there instead of sitting there like a brick,” he says in as quietly as he can. "Of course what did I expect from someone who is built like a brick but to have the brains to match it."

Ranma glances at his fiance to continue the barrage of insults when he stops as a deep red glow suddenly surrounds Akane. For a brief second before the mallet sends him through the roof of the bus he feels regret. During his trip through the air the young martial artist grouses about macho girls with mallets before he lands on the sidewalk in front of three very startled American women.

* * *

May and her roommates were coming out of the apartment complex to greet the students from Japan. They were talking about plans of action for anything that would break down while the students were visiting. May had come up with an excellent idea the night before in which at least one of the girls would be home at all times. Davida will be home from the late afternoon to late night. May will take the graveyard shift from late night to early morning. Courtney will have the rest of the time in the apartments.

'The only catch is if Spider-girl is needed during my shift at home,’ May thought worriedly to herself.

A familiar feeling of anticipation and dread suddenly filled May's mind as she instinctively grabs the two girls walking next to her and pulls them back a step. Less than a second after her reaction to her Spider Sense, a fairly cute Japanese boy collides with the sidewalk where they would have been had May not held them back. May notices that the pavement around the boy had cracked where he landed. May stands gaping at the young man while her friends are thanking her for her action.

"Damn May, that was quick thinkin',” Davida says looking at the young man who was dusting himself off.

"Y-yeah May, we could have been hurt by whatever fell off the roof,” says Courtney before she looks at the object that had fallen in front of them. When she sees that it is a person that had fallen her reaction completely changes. "Oh my god, are you ok?"

Courtney walks over to the young man and helps him get himself situated. When she is done he bows to her and mutters something in Japanese that neither May nor Davida catch but Courtney seems to understand. The young man seems to catch the confused looks on the girls’ faces and switches to English.

Ranma for once in his life is very glad that Miss Hinako spent the last month cramming English down all the students' throats. Ranma had even saved up some of his Yen so that he could rent some movies in English and learn some of the slang.

"I'm fine,” Ranma says to the three girls. "My stupid tomboy fiance knocked me through the bus's roof. I'm sorry if I scared you."

Ranma looks around at the street he landed on and is surprised that it's the one that he's supposed to be staying on. He looks at the address of the apartments on a scrap of paper from his pocket and then at the building in front of him and sighed in relief. He looks at the name on the piece of paper for the contact information and at the three girls in front of him and wonders if one of them was the contact.

Ranma stood in front of them and examined them wondering which one is Courtney Duran. The tallest one was a lovely young woman with very short curly black hair that compliments her coffee complexion. While he looks at her, a very small part of his mind notes that she is very well dressed and knows how to make herself look good. Wincing slightly when he realizes that thought comes to mind he continues his evaluation. As he looks at her his mind immediately begins to convert what he sees to her ability as a martial artist. He notes that she has good muscle tone and probably works out somewhere but her movements are too jerky and she has only the most basic control over what she is doing with her arms and legs.

The next girl is a short sandy blond with long straight hair that she's tied back into a ponytail. She is really out of shape and is slightly pudgy, he can hardly tell that she has any muscle on her at all. She has a look of pure concern on her face and something about the young woman reminds him of Akane. Looking again he thinks that she reminds him of Kasumi. He shakes his head and realizes that she is probably worried that he hurt himself. He smiles at her and chuckles as he looks at the last girl.

The last of the trio is about as tall as Ranma himself with deep brownish red hair cut in the same style as Akane's. Her attractive face is riveted on Ranma but not with the concern that the other girls have. Her expression is more of a guarded wariness. As Ranma looks at her closer he sees that she has several scars marking her hands and arms that most people wouldn't see unless someone got very close to her. Her muscle tone is almost as defined as Ranma's own but it has more of a fluid texture due to her feminine frame. He is astonished by her movements most of all. The young woman seems to be in control of her movements and her body's actions to a degree that Ranma would have thought impossible by someone outside of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts.

Ranma shakes his head and mentally berates himself for once again thinking of everyone he meets as a fellow martial artist. Realizing that these three women might not even know Courtney Duran or anything about the students from Japan. Ranma smiles at them as politely as he can and bows to them.

"Uhhh... could any of you tell me if Courtney Duran-San lives here,” Ranma asks in English

The chubby girl looks at Ranma with a perplexed look and nods at him. She bows to him and says in Japanese, "I'm Courtney Duran. Are you one of the students that we are hosting?"

"Yes ma'am. My name is Ranma Saotome,” the pig-tailed boy answers in Japanese.

The tall dark haired girl looks at Courtney then at Ranma and steps forward as Courtney attempts to find the correct words to welcome Ranma to America. "I'm sorry I don't speak more than three phrases in Japanese, and those are; 'Where is the bathroom?’, 'How much is that?', and 'Do you take credit cards?'. May I ask what your name is?"

The dark haired boy blushes as he realizes that he's leaving out the other girls with Courtney. "Sorry it's easier to speak Japanese than English. I'm Saotome Ranma. I'm one of the students that Courtney is hosting at her apartments."

Davida looks at Courtney with a sideways glare and then looks back at the young boy. "Really... her apartments... how nice."

Ranma could feel a certain amount of ice coming through the tall girls words. He begins inching away as the girls look at each other when the girl who had been looking at him oddly the whole time steps forward to speak to him.

"Oh don't mind them,” she says indicating the other two girls. "Actually all three of us run the apartments. Courtney just filled out the application because she's a big fan of student exchanges and programs like that. We're all very happy to have you and your friends here."

She turns and points to the tall dark skinned woman, "This is Davida, and Courtney introduced herself already. So Saotome when is the rest of your group coming?"

Ranma smiles and scratches his head as the other girls smile at each other and nod some kind of silent apology. Looking down the street he expects to see the bus turn the corner but after a second or two when there still is no sign of it he shrugs his shoulders and turns back to the girls.

'She must have hit me harder than I thought,” he thinks to himself.

Suddenly a violent shudder knocks Courtney and Davida off their feet. The sudden quake is followed by the sound of a violent explosion from down the street where Ranma had been looking a second earlier. Ranma looks down the street and sees the reflection of flames flickering in the windows of a tall building that point down the street where the bus should be coming. Turning to the girls he sees Davida and Courtney on the ground getting up staring down the street, but May has disappeared. Shaking his head at her disappearance he looks at the remaining two girls.

"Stay here,” he says turning and leaping off down the street on the tops of passing cars.

At the end of the street he stops on the trailer of a semi to see what has happened. As he gazes out through the smoke he sees that a large tanker truck has somehow been tipped over by an impact from a large dump truck-like vehicle and is spilling gasoline out onto the open road. There is a large crater in front of a building that looks to have been a jewelry store before the explosion. Ranma sees four men in dark cloth masks with some kind of automatic rifles piling out of the dump truck and running down the street with heavy canvas bags in tow. Ranma begins to head off after the men when he sees that the gasoline from the tanker is covering most of the cars in the road, including the bus his class is in. Ranma swears as he sees that a small pool of the gasoline that is not spraying on the road is heading back towards the flames inside the jewelry story. Hopping from the semi he runs as fast as possible towards the store wanting to divert the gasoline somewhere else. As he runs towards the flames he sees a hydrant less than twenty feet from the store. Quickly jumping onto a light pole he lets loose with a Ki blast to open up the hydrant towards the flames.

"MOUKO TAKABISHA!"

The blast of energy takes the side of the hydrant off and water pours out with enough pressure to reach the fires inside the store out without a problem. Ranma smiles and begins to run after the fleeing robbers when he stops, seeing something that makes him gape in amazement. A blur of movement coming from the opposite direction that the robbers are running leaps down in front of the running men and stops their progress. They yell in surprise and begin to fire at the intruding form. As Ranma shakes his head to clear his vision he sees more clearly what is happening.

In front of the young martial artist is the group of men firing their guns at a woman in a red and blue leotard with black lines over it forming the image of a spider web. In fact as Ranma looks closer he sees that on her chest is the image of a spider. She, like the men, wears a mask that looks to be made of the same material as her leotard. She appears to be wearing forearm guards that only cover her wrists too. Ranma gently knocks himself on the side of his head to clear his vision, just to be sure that he really is seeing the scene in front of him as the men in front of this woman in the spider-like costume fire at her with their guns. Ranma almost cries out for her to look out when she nimbly dodges every bullet that the men fire at her as though playing dodge ball. The woman in red jumps high in the air to land on the glass window of an office building and to Ranma's surprise sticks to the surface. Before Ranma can blink she jumps off the window to land in the center of the group of men. She reaches out and slams her foot into one of the men's chest hard enough to throw him ten feet into the side of a car denting the door. As the other men drop their guns to attack the woman she evades their punches as if they were infants. As one of the thugs overextends himself, she ducks under his punch. Reaching up to grab his wrist she uses his momentum as well as a bit of pull from her own center of gravity to throw him into another of the men. Which carries them right into the same car as their unconscious friend only to make the dent even larger and tip the car onto the curb. As the woman turns to meet the final thug Ranma can feel the confidence radiating off the woman from where he stands. As the man throws a hook at the woman in red she easily dodges to the side and delivers her own roundhouse punch to the man’s ear knocking him out and into the pavement. Picking up the man and carrying him one handed to his compatriots she lays him on top and gestures with her hands. Ranma flinches as he expects a ki blast to erupt from her hands, but is surprised when a thin silky material is issued from the silver guards on her wrist to cover the men on the ground.

Ranma stares at the woman until she turns and sees him looking as well as the crowd of onlookers behind him. He dumbly lifts his hand and waves at her in shock. The woman in the red and blue returns the gesture before raising her hand towards the air and makes the same hand signal as she did at the men on the ground before swinging away on a thick strand of the silky material. Ranma slowly regains his head as the people behind him swarm on him to ask questions. Many of which he doesn't understand because they are in English.

"Hey kid, how do you know Spider-girl?"

"What did you do to that fire hydrant?"

"What's your name? Are you a super hero too?"

"Thank you for saving us young man"

Ranma nods and casts confused looks at people when a flashbulb goes off in his face temporarily blinding him. He pushes his way through the crowd back towards the bus with his class in it. Finally after a moment or two the spots in his vision die out and he sees Akane and an adult Miss Hinako carrying a fishbowl coming towards him.

'Oh man, what'd I do now,” he wonders to himself.

Miss Hinako looks at him and in perfect English begins to speak, "Mr. Saotome that was a very impressive thing you did, thank you."

Surprised Ranma almost doesn't hear Akane talking. "Who was that woman that stopped the robbers,” she says in Japanese.

"Those people over there said her name was Spider-girl,” says one of the students from the bus.

Ranma turns to hear sirens sounding down the street and getting closer. Remembering the movies that he has seen Ranma realizes that he may have gotten in over his head. 'There’re probably gonna want to interrogate me or something,' the boy says to himself.

Ranma suddenly pictures himself under a hot lamp being asked hundreds of questions by an obese policeman with a cigar. The man continues to ask questions about the robbery until Ranma is so confused that he admits to planning the robbery and having gone on a mass murder spree is locked up for years before being sent to the electric chair.

Ranma is picturing his electrocution when a tall well-built policeman lays a hand on his shoulder rousing him from his daydream. Ranma looks up at the man's blue and gold hat with a badge stylized on the front and jumps back shouting in English, "I swear I didn't do it!"

The police officer smiles at Ranma very kindly and answers his shout with a brusque laugh. "I know ya didn't do anythin’ boy. I just need to write down what’cha saw."

Ranma relaxes visibly and begins to answer the man's questions as best he can.

* * *

May is landing on the roof of the apartments when she hears the sirens approaching the intersection. Quickly she pulls off her Spider-girl costume and shoves it into the cubbyhole she found on the roof near the stairs. Concerned she looks back down the street where the robbery took place and sees the young man who had landed at her feet talking to a police officer. Looking down to the door of the building she sees Courtney and Davida begin trotting over to the young man.

'That's got to be a rough introduction to the city for the young boy,' she thinks to herself as she climbs down the stairs. 'Being dropped on your head and witnessing a jewel robbery only to end up being questioned by to police. I'd be so scared that I'd break down crying. I've got to go help him. Only..."

May stops as she realizes that since the boy Saotome dropped at her feet her Spider Sense had not stopped buzzing. As if the boy was a walking disaster waiting to happen. Even now thinking about him she could feel the itch beginning in her shoulder blades as though something was about to stab something in her back. It felt like a very low-key danger but still it was there. Over the last two years she had learned to hone her Spider Sense to the point that she could tell how dangerous an event about to happen would be. Though she was pleased when she discussed this development with her dad he was concerned because his Sense had never worked that way.

'Of course,” she thinks to herself beginning her trip down the stairs again. 'He could never project items from his hands or use the clinging ability on other people to stick them to objects either.'

As she nears the front door of the apartments a horrible thought occurs to her. 'That boy waved to me after the fight... maybe he knows who I am...,' she thinks scared for the first time that her secret might not be safe. 'No, he couldn't, he just met me. Besides he probably needs help with the police and I can't avoid problems like this. I have to confront them head-on.'

As May runs towards the place where she last saw the young man being questioned her apprehension grows. As she turns the corner, she sees that the boy is surrounded by a large group of Japanese people mostly about his age but a few were older, including one lovely young woman about May's age holding a round goldfish bowl. Saotome is smiling at the police officer telling him what he saw. Courtney is near the young man helping him with his English. May walks to her friend and the young man.

"Is everyone alright, Courtney?"

Her friend looks at her and smiles nodding. "Yep, Ranma here is a hero, he put out the fire before it could catch the gas on fire."

May looks around confused. "Who's Ranma?"

Courtney looks at her friend with an odd expression and jabs her thumb towards Saotome, who is currently looking at his feet blushing. "This is Ranma. Ranma Saotome, remember he introduced himself to us..."

"Oh, I thought his first name was Saotome."

"You really never listened in Social Studies did you May,” Courtney asks not expecting an answer. "Japanese people usually give their surname first and the first name last. It's a customary greeting, he probably said it without thinking."

A short-haired young woman beside the young boy says, "Which he does quite often."

May looks at the young woman who in a vague way reminds her of Courtney. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm Tendo Akane,” she says and after a second adds, "er... Akane Tendo."

A dark-haired older man with a mustache steps up from behind her and says in English with a very heavy accent, "Ranma's fiance."

Akane jumps and lets out a small *eep* at the man's interjection. After glaring at the older man she turns and says something to him in Japanese to which the man replies back and tears begin to form in his eyes. May wonders briefly what a sixteen year old girl could say to a grown man to make him cry when she remembered some of the arguments she had gotten into with her dad. A flash of inspiration occurs to May then. "Is that your dad?"

Akane turns back to the woman with a surprised look on her face. "Yes, this is my father, Soun Tendo."

May extends her hand to the Tendo girl's father and says, "Hello. My name is May Parker. I run the apartments you will stay in."

May feels foolish speaking so simply to a grown man but apparently he understands and bows. "Thank you, Miss Parker. We happy to live on you,” he says smiling.

May hears a small giggle behind her and turns to the woman holding a fish bowl. "I'm Miss Hinako,” she says speaking English fluently. "I'm the children's teacher. We're so happy and grateful that you offered your apartments to us for our stay. Thank you, Miss Parker."

"We're happy to have you. If you'll come with me I have a diagram of the apartments available. That way you can begin to sort your students up into their rooms with their chaperones. I am assuming that each one of the rooms will have an adult in it?"

Miss Hinako smiles at May. "Of course, though some of our chaperones may appear young they all have volunteered from our community in Nerima. Would you like to meet them?"

May looks at Davida and Courtney who are still helping Ranma out with the police. "I guess so. That way I can point them out to the Davida and Courtney over there when I see them," she says pointing to the two other women by Ranma.

Miss Hinako takes May by the hand and drags her over to the bus and begins introductions. She points to a middle-aged woman in a Kimono and introduces her as Mrs. Misanto one of the student's mothers. Next is an older man who stands up using a cane to greet her. He is introduced as Mr. Omate another of the student's parents. The next few people that the teacher introduces make May question the woman's validity as an educator.

Hinako takes May to an incredibly old woman whose face is deeply lined with wrinkles and a full head of snow-white hair. She would be only a few feet tall if it wasn't for the fact that she was balanced precariously on the top of a pointed walking stick and used it like a pogo to hop up to the young Parker woman.

"This is Miss Cologne, she runs a Ramen shop in Nerima with her granddaughter, Shampoo, who is over next to Mr. Saotome."

May shakes her head slightly and looks at the teacher. "Did you say Cologne and Shampoo?"

"Yes dear, those are our names,” the old woman croaks in perfect English. "My granddaughter and I have followed my future son-in-law to America on this trip to make sure nothing happens to him. Trouble seems to follow him like a loyal puppy."

May laughs, "That sounds like Ranma."

"It is."

May looks at the old woman and sees that she isn't lying. "But I thought he was engaged to Akane over there."

Another voice joins the discussion at that moment. "He hasn't married anyone yet."

May turns to see a young woman wearing pants and a shirt with a large spatula across her back as well as a bandoleer of smaller spatulas crossing her front like one of those gunfighters in old westerns. May, sensing a pattern, holds her hands up and points at the woman.

"Lemme guess another fiance for Ranma. Am I right?"

"Got it in one, sugar,” the woman says with a Japanese accent. "Ukyo Kuonji, Okonomiyaki chef supreme."

"Okonomiwhosiwhat?"

"Okonomiyaki, Japanese pizza,” the young woman says smiling. "I'll make you one while we're here as a thank you for housing."

"Well thank you very much,” May replies while looking at the two women, backing away slowly. "It was a pleasure meeting both of you."

May turns back to Miss Hinako rubbing her forehead feeling a headache building. "Any others?"

Miss Hinako points out the window to a group standing very close to Ranma, who was finishing up his statements with the police officers. Pointing to an older bald man wearing a handkerchief on his head and glasses tied around his ears, she tells May that he is Ranma's father Genma. Pointing at a woman a bit younger than May in an apron and dress she said that was Kasumi, Akane's oldest sister. Next she pointed at another woman who appeared to be collecting money from some of the kids standing around she told May that she was Nabiki Tendo, Akane's middle sister. And finally pointing at Akane's father and sighing longingly she said that he was Akane's father, Soun.

Smiling at the teacher's fond gaze May thanked her and went to talk to her friends who were walking home with Ranma and Akane in tow. The other students began piling back on the bus and after the firefighters had cleaned up the last of the gasoline in the street were allowed to continue the three blocks to the apartments. May was still nervous around the young Saotome hoping that he didn't know her secrets. Ranma quickly answers her question while they wait for the bus to continue to the apartment.

Ranma looks at the three women in front of him and smiles. "Who is this Spider-girl?"

Akane's face clouds over as he asks the girls in front of them. "Why do you want to know, Ranma? She saved a lot of people, what more do you want?!?"

May looks at her roommates questioningly at the amount of jealousy that permeates the question from the young Tendo. Instinctively all three girls take a step back from the arguing couple, who oddly enough continue the argument in English.

"Oh, come on Akane, I just wanted to know where she learned to fight. She uses some of the same techniques as I do."

"And the fact that she looks good in that costume has nothing to do with it, right?"

May's jaw drops slightly at that phrase. She had known she looked good in the skin-tight suit but had never really thought about it recently.

"Jeez Akane, you know I can look better than that on a daily basis,” he said suddenly noticing that the three girls are listening to the argument. "All I'd need is a glass of water."

May gapes even further at the odd insult.

"I can't believe you'd say that you pervert."

"Well, it beats an uncute, macho tomboy like you."

May was finally beginning to see how Ranma landed in front of them like he had earlier. As she stood looking at the couple she could see Akane's face turn three shades of red. May was tensing for the expected blow, and could tell Ranma was doing the same.

"Fine, why don't you go and get engaged to her,” Akane shouts at Ranma before running into the apartments crying.

"Dammit! Akane, wait up will ya,” says the young man chasing after her. "I didn't mean nothing by it."

May turns to her roommates and sighs heavily. "Now remind me why we didn't let them ride here in the bus?"