here's the third and last part.
this series itself is not really divided by
itself, but the memory that my mail client
uses is limited...

oh well.

I was afraid not everyone would be able to read this
if *I* was having errors with eudora, so might everyone
else.  Signed, PhoneyNT.

                                    -

Back at the Cat Cafe, Ranma told all to Shampoo and Cologne.  Then he joined
Shampoo in serving the patrons of the store.

As the business day closed, Ranma decided to go have a little fun.

                                    -

"Fuck!  This is fun!"  Ranma hooted.  He swung the belt in a wide arc again,
making another welt.

"Oh!  Ouch!"  Tears were literally springing from Akane's eyes.  The impacts
were throwing them outwards.  Her nude body couldn't escape the piano-wire
tying her hands and feet to the back bedposts and the sides of the bed, and
holding her on her hands and knees.

"So when's the next time you're gonna tie me up?  Huh?"

The belt cracked.

"Ow, Ranma, please--"

"You know, if you weren't such a tomboy, I could go for your pretty behind.
It really is quite pretty, you know.  Hold on, I want to decorate some more."

Ranma swung the belt one more time as hard as possible.

Akane yelled out in pain.  "Where is everyone?"

"You're such a tomboy, no one will believe anything you say and you 'cry wolf'
way too much these days.  Who's gonna help you?"

As if to answer, Dr. Tofu burst through the door.  He gasped in surprise,
"Ranma, you got out?"

"Yeah, so what, doc?  Those bonds were too puny.  Well, I've had my fun, see
ya!"  He laughed maniacally and leaped out the window.

                                    -

The Cat Cafe was closed, but it sounded like there was a whole group of
customers upstairs.  A quick investigation by Cologne revealed a startling
scene to her.

"Aaaaargh!!!" yelled Ranma, twisting, contorting, and generally making a mess
of his limbs on the floor.

Shampoo looked over him, holding his head in her hands, making soothing noises
and stroking his hair.  Cologne slipped in and watched.  Ranma was speaking
complete gibberish and jerking around horribly.

"Hmm," her quick mind decided, "he's withdrawing from whatever drug caused
him to go after Shampoo.  He'll throw this off in no time and then we'll go
back to China."

Ranma cried and screamed for a little while longer and then relaxed.  Shampoo
slipped beside him into the futon again.

                                    -

The next morning, Ranma-chan was selling ramen and facilitating those sales by
displaying generous amounts of cleavage.  Cologne and Shampoo watched from
behind the counter.

"That boy has no shame, I tell you."

"Well, he is a boy, Great-Grandmother.  Don't expect him to be modest with his
female body.  Have you noticed, he's very effective using your special
selection of greetings, goodbyes, and food descriptions--"

"--what was going on last night, Shampoo?" asked Cologne innocently.

"Oh...oh, nothing," at Cologne's disapproving gaze, she continued, "he was
crying and screaming for some reason.  I have no idea why, or what could have
caused it."

"Hmm.  I wonder about that boy."  Then, to herself, "Strange that he could
be suffering withdrawal from only one dose, and then recovers completely by
the morning."

                                    -

Come midday, Ranma-chan had raked in loads of cash, through natural charisma
and talking dirty entendres (which Cologne had ordered him to use) to the male
customers.

"Sir, let *me* introduce you to my new special.  You'll wonder about all the
*other* times you've come."

"Guuuuhh....s-sure."

Ranma-chan hated it when a customer groped, but would just put up a
synthetic smile and gasp in "surprise" and continue with her work.

"No use driving away the business, and besides, this is my life, I do what I
want, and right now I want money!  The more cash we make, the sooner we can go
to China," she thought as she handed out a bowl to one particularly big guy.

"Okay, sir, please enjoy!  You'll like the big, soft wontons..."

Wontons running through his mind, the customer shot a hand forward at
Ranma-chan's chest.  Suddenly, Ranma-chan contorted and fell on the floor,
writhing.  The customer gaped.

"Wow, am I that good?" he wondered.  "It's gotta be this soup," he deduced,
quickly gobbling the rest down.  He immediately left marveling at his newfound
magic touch.

Ranma-chan was screaming and tears were springing to her eyes.  "Ughhhhh..."

                                    -

Dr. Tofu knocked on the door of the Cafe in late evening.

"Cologne!  I have some very important things to give to Ranma!"

Cologne's head poked out from the window.  "Why not accept that he's given
up on Akane?"

"I don't know about that, but he is withdrawing from a usually lethal drug!
I have the antidote here!"  Dr. Tofu's eyes had bags under them as if he had
not slept in the last sixteen hours.

"Fool, you think I'll let you cure Ranma of the drug and clear his mind
before he's married to Shampoo?" thought Cologne.  Out loud, she yelled
to Tofu, "I don't know what you're talking about!  He's perfectly fine!"

For effect, Cologne turned around and, out of view, poked Shampoo in the rear
end with her stick repeatedly.

"Oh! Ow! Oh! Grea-mmph," Shampoo yelped before Cologne flipped a pillow in
Shampoo's face.

"Hear that?" Cologne yelled with a triumphant "heh."

Dr. Tofu looked at the ground dejectedly.  "I know she's lying, but how am I
going to get in," he thought to himself.  "The withdrawal could kill him."

                                    -

All throughout the night this time, Ranma-chan yelped and moaned.  In the
morning, she was in no condition to work.  Shampoo and Cologne left her
upstairs.

Cologne stopped Shampoo on the staircase.

"Ranma is weak.  I can't believe one dose of any drug could addict him like
this.  After all our drugs failed, and this one drug does the job?  I can
see from the signs that it was not a very powerful one, either."

Shampoo wondered about this, then asked, "So?"

"Forget about Ranma.  He is too weak.  He will destroy our powerful Amazon
lineage."

"What?  After we went through all this?  Forget Ranma?  No!  I can't!  I love
him!"

"Okay, you can stay with him.  And I will ensure his life to be a complete
misery.  Eventually I will kill him."

Shampoo gasped in shock.  "Y-you wouldn't..."

"Try me, girl." Cologne's eyes narrowed.

Shampoo started weeping.  "I can't have Ranma...if I do, I will ruin his
life...oh, this is terrible..."

"Consider the Amazon tribe as a whole.  Who is more important, you or the
tribe?"

"Th-the tribe..."

"Good."

                                    -

"But, Dr. Tofu!  How could Ranma get addicted to a drug after one dose?"

"I asked myself that same question.  It turns out that one dose from the drug
on the pillow is a whiff for about 5 seconds.  Ranma slept on that thing for
who knows long.  He's taken a lion's share of it."

"So what will happen?"

"Well, he might survive withdrawal and throw off the drug.  If he does, the
mind-altering properties of it will wear off, causing him to re-think his
position on everything.  He'll come back to you," he paused when Akane
blushed, "he'll stop doing mean stuff to everyone, and so on."

"Or...?"

"Or he might die during withdrawal."

"Do we have to take that chance?"

"No, if we can get my antidote to him, the result will be the same as if he
survived the withdrawal on his own."

                                    -

Late, the same night.  Ranma is crying to himself on the futon.  He is
delirious.  Tears are flowing freely from Shampoo's eyes.  She leans down
and kisses Ranma.

"Oh, Ranma!  Shampoo will never get have you!"

"Uh...ahhh..eeehhh..."

"Shampoo know Ranma not weak.  Great-Grandmother not know something."

Ranma didn't reply.

"Ah!  Who Shampoo fool?  That drug bad, but you not weak, but no one ever
convince Great-Grandmother that!"

Tears squeezed out between Ranma's now-shut eyelids.

"Shampoo want Ranma so much.  But it not right for Shampoo to cause Ranma pain
for rest of life."  A resolve grips her fair features.  "Shampoo know what to
do.  Please, if you hear this, Shampoo still love you.  Shampoo know Ranma
love her with all his heart."

Ranma was beating the floor with his closed fists.

"Please understand."  Shampoo bent down after grabbing a sheet of paper and
a pen.  She wrote something down, then slipped away.

                                    -

Ranma regained presence of mind ten minutes later.

"Wh--Shampoo?"

He sat up.  "Now where did she--eh?"  He snatched up a note that had been
lying on the floor beside him.

"Dear Ranma:

    I know you love me, just as I also love you.
    You not know why for I do this, but it is so you can be happy.
    Find other girl to love.  I not want hurt you, but I must do this to
    save you.

                                                         Love, Shampoo"

"Holy shit!" Ranma gasped, jumping up and blazing through the window.

Cologne entered, after hearing all the footsteps.  The note on the floor
caught her attention.

"That fool!  Did I not train her to never give up?" she followed Ranma out
the window.

                                    -

Akane and Dr. Tofu stood outside the Cat Cafe.

"Are you ready, Akane?"

"Mm hm."

"Then we're going in!"

Right as they started stealthily advancing on the door, Ranma landed right in
front of them.

"Eh?" he asked.

Akane and Tofu looked at each other.  "Never question fate," Tofu reminded
Akane.

                                    -

Dr. Tofu forced the liquid down Ranma's throat.

"Don't let him go, Akane!"

"I won't!"

As if to mock her, Ranma suddenly burst forth from Akane's grip, only to fall
forward on his face.  He lay still for many seconds.

"What happened, Dr. Tofu?" Akane wondered aloud.

"I don't know."

Suddenly, Ranma turned over and moaned.

"I feel like I've been drunk for the last couple days."

"You have, Ranma, you have."

"I wonder why I did all that stuff?  Everything was so selfish of me."

"You were basically drunk," Dr. Tofu said.

Ranma bolted up.  "Shampoo!"

"I thought you forgot about that hussy," Akane huffed, angered.

"She's gonna commit suicide!"  He jumped up to the rooftops.  "Where would she
have gone," he thought to himself.  Akane and Tofu joined him.

"Why are you two following?" he demanded, peeved.

"A doctor wants to save everyone's life."

"I don't want her to kill herself...she should just leave you alone!"

"Ranma, you really are weak.  There are three of us following you, couldn't
you see it?  I'm glad I forbid Shampoo to marry you." Cologne emerged from
the shadows.

"So you're the reason she's doing this, old ghoul?  ...I'll settle with you
later!  Where is she?"

"She probably went to the bluffs east of the city.  We had better hurr--"

Dr. Tofu, Akane, and Cologne all sighed at the streak already halfway to the
bluffs.

                                    -

It was dark.  Shampoo stood at the edge of the bluffs.  They seemed so high
from the top.  Tears welled up in her eyes, and she nearly lost her resolve
right there.  The ground and sky were bathed in fading bright blue, and
black.  The sea was myriad colors like pink, green, and blue, all swirled
together beautifully.

"Am I really throwing away all this for one man?"

Then she thought of Ranma.  He was so handsome to her.  His pretty face super-
imposed itself over the ocean.  It far outshone the beauty that the sea
offered.

"I want to have him," she thought bitterly.  "But I love him so.  I can't
destroy his life this way.  The tribe, the tribe is what's important.  Let
my sisters carry the lineage on.  I want no part in the tribe.  I can't fight
Great-Grandmother.  Even if I did, the tribe would certainly make sure Ranma
was killed in some fashion.

"If anything, when I die, I'll die knowing I had the best love on this earth.
The love of Ranma Saotome."

She hefted her arms behind her, ready to throw herself to fate.

"Shampoo!  Stop!"

"Eh?" she turned around.  "Ranma!  Shampoo--"

"Shampoo, why are you doing this?"  Genuine concern showed in his eyes.

"Shampoo has to!  If Shampoo tell you why, you stop Shampoo!  Shampoo not let
that happen!"

Ranma charged at Shampoo, trying to tackle her to the ground.  She simply
dodged.

"As good as ever, and still sensual, even about to commit suicide," came
Ranma's thoughts unbidden.

Akane and Dr. Tofu, with Cologne, arrived.  They were a quarter mile away.
All of them sprinted as fast as possible.  "Shampoo!" they all yelled.

"Shampoo love you, Ranma."  Tears were all the way down to Shampoo's lips by
now.  "Great-Grandmother coming to ruin Shampoo's life again.  Goodbye.
Ranma promise to not come after Shampoo, okay?"

Then, with no great heave this time, she dived off the bluff edge headfirst.

"Shampoooooo!" Ranma yelled in a frenzy.  He would have jumped off after her
to try and break her fall with his own body were it not for Dr. Tofu and
Akane holding him back.

It was a long way down.

"Shampoo not sad," she yelled at the top of her lungs, "Shampoo happy because
Ranma love her!"  It was a strange thing that even falling to her certain
death, she could yell her last words on the way down.

The words made no small impact on Ranma.  "She thinks that I love her?"

They all watched Shampoo hit the ground and sprawl out in a position that a
conscious person could not hold for long.  But her body didn't even twitch.

                                    -

Ranma kneeled next to Shampoo's head, careful not to move it.  The ambulances
were already on the way.

"Shampoo...you were so beautiful...why you?"

Akane had the decency to keep her anger silent.

"You died for an lie...I really had had a drug overdose--"

"Shh." Dr. Tofu quieted him.  "Don't devastate her spirit as she devastated
her physical body.  By the way, Ranma.  You took more than one dose of
Kodachi's pillow drug.  You had taken hundreds of doses." he said, as if to
transform Ranma's statement in case a "spirit" of Shampoo really was watching
them.

"Perhaps, if she's watching us, she'll now know the truth about the
withdrawal.  And there weren't any lies.  You loved her, not maybe as
much as Akane, but you loved her nonetheless." Tofu said silently.

Ranma just looked down at her face.  Peaceful, that was how it looked.  It
didn't appear to have taken any damage in the fall.  It seemed to bask in
the belief that Ranma had really loved her after all.  He stroked the hair
gently, thinking about what she would be saying right now on a normal day.
Laughing, or whining about not being able to date him, or hugging him.  She
used to be so full of life.

Ranma pushed any thoughts about how perverse it was to do such a thing to a
dead person and kissed her full on the lips.

"Goodbye, Shampoo."

He turned his back, trying to forget about the sensual, heavy-accented Amazon
from China.

Cologne stood, seething.  What would she do now?  The girls would not like to
hear this...

                                    -

As they walked back home, Ranma's mind was consumed with despair and sadness.

Dr. Tofu and Akane hung back, talking back and forth.

"I hope you can forgive Ranma for all he's done."

Akane touched her rear-end and winced.  "I really don't know, Dr. Tofu.  The
way he betrayed me, hurt me...I still...I want to be his fiancee," she 
blushed, "but can I just forget it all?  No, I don't think so."

"Well, Shampoo will become a painful, albeit fond, memory to Ranma.  I hope
you can do the same thing with your memory of these last few days."

The End

drward@richmond.infi.net - we436@freenet.victoria.bc.ca - drward@versanet.com
http://www.versanet.com/~drward      *     http://www.freedomnet.com/~sstiles


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| ******** END * TRANSMISSION ********* |
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	drward@richmond.infi.net