Subject: [FFML][fanfic][R1/2] Shampoo 1/2 Epilogue 5: The End of the Beginning Part A
From: "DB Sommer" <sommer@3rdm.net>
Date: 3/28/1999, 9:03 PM
To:

Ranma 1/2 Presents
Shampoo 1/2
Epilogue 5
Part A

The End of the Beginning


xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


All C+C is desired. You can contact me at:
sommer@3rdm.net

Standard Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the Ranma 1/2 characters or any from other series
mentioned in this story.

Azatlan has given Shampoo 1/2 a home at:
http://www.geocities.com/~azatlan/Special-Series/shampoo.html

Bloodblade has also put it on his webpage at:
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/towers/5920

Slashley also has it at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/5747/Shampoo.html


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The scent of the trees assailed Ranma's senses as the cold night air
washed over his face. However, the chill did nothing to cool him down. His
attention was focused on something other than the little camp he and
Shampoo had set up in the 'wilds' of Hokkaido, something that required
more attention than the world around him.

Ranma could feel the 'something' move down his chest, kissing every inch
of the way. Shampoo paused a moment to kiss his right nipple and play
across it with her tongue. It was not nearly as sensitive now as when he
was girl (not that he did anything while cursed. His outfits just rubbed
him awkwardly sometimes), but the effect was still pleasurable. He watched
the slow movement of the lump that was her head, masked under the blanket
they were wrapped in, made its way lower along his body. He was basking in
the sensations of her mouth playing along his skin when he felt her hands
tug at the waistband of his boxers.

"Shampoo, don't," he said softly, his heart beating so loudly it seemed to
roar through his ears. That had come out much more quietly than he had
wanted.

He felt the hands hesitate for only a moment before continuing their
actions.

"Shampoo, stop." The words still lacked the intensity he wanted. His voice
was betraying him now, even as his body did the same in reacting to
Shampoo's attentions.

He felt her pause once again, longer this time, before she continued,
pulling his boxers from his waist and down around his knees. Then the
kissing began once again, starting slowly from his navel and threatening
to go further down.

Somehow, he just could not order his body to force her away. Only his
voice seemed to be working, and barely at that. "Please," was all he could
manage.

This time the kissing stopped as she rushed up from underneath the sheets,
her body rubbing against his the entire time, causing his own to betray
him in ways even worse than before. Her head popped out from under the
covers and Ranma found himself confronted by a face that conveyed a
mixture of anger and pain.

"Why?" Shampoo asked, desperation in her voice.

"We can't," Ranma managed to get out.

"Yes, we can," she corrected as her hand traveled down the length of his
body until it reached a part that could remind him of his capabilities.

"Shampoo," he said once again, wishing he could sound more firm than he
felt. Not that he was sure if he could ever speak that 'firmly.'

"Ranma," she pleaded. "I want to make love to you so much it hurts."

"I want to, too." Oh, how he wanted to. He was long over any actual
reservations he might have had about being with a woman due to his
inexperience with the members of the opposite gender. Shampoo had seen to
that in the year and a half they had been together since Mount Phoenix,
but there were other complications that prevented him from giving in to
desire.

"Then let's do it now!" She began stroking his body in an effort to
reignite his interest.

"N...no. We can't until we're married," he protested with what little
energy he could muster.

She removed her hand from his lower anatomy and it joined the other one in
cradling his face. She kissed him, enjoying his reaction as he kissed her
back. She broke it off to say, "Then let's get married."

"We can't until Mom and Pop say it's okay," he protested once more.

"Yes, we can," she insisted, silently cursing him in Chinese for his
stubborn refusal to ignore the mess his parents had forced him into. "What
you mean to say is you won't."

Ranma sighed. "It's important to me that they accept the marriage. They're
my family. Outside of you, they're all I got. I can't just ignore them, or
pretend they approve of this whole thing."

"I managed to leave my family behind." That came out closer to a growl
than a statement.

"Did you want to?"

Shampoo softened at that. "No."

"Then you understand why I don't want to do that to mine. Not so long as
there's a chance they're going to change their stupid minds and approve of
us."

"Fine," Shampoo relented, knowing he was right. "Then let's wait on the
marriage and have sex now."

Ranma shifted uncomfortably under her body. "We have to wait until we get
married. I want to do it properly, you know?"

"Ahhh! Why do you have to be so old-fashioned?" She began to wonder if he
had a sex drive at all, that was until she brushed up against something
that told her he had plenty of sex drive, and the very powerful ability to
restrain it. "It's perfectly fine for us to make love."

Ranma found his resolve weakening once more. "Didn't you tell me once you
loved me even if we didn't...you know, fool around?"

"That was if you COULDN'T do something, not if you WOULDN'T do something."
She growled, digging her nails into his shoulders before relaxing them,
regaining control over her emotions. She was running way too 'hot' now.
"If you had some physical problem, that would be different. We'd work
around it. Right now all you're doing is being a prude."

Sensing that she would not let the subject drop, he decided to work the
'ole Saotome Charm' to shake her off. Besides, employing it would be fun
for him too. He began nuzzling her neck and found himself rewarded by a
gentle, almost purring sound, come from her as she raised her head and
allowed him greater access to that area. It was working, just as he had
hoped. He continued on, gently kissing her some more before saying, "Why
don't we just kiss for a while? Don't worry about nothin' else."

What he had thought was a deft move in turning the conversation away from
the topic proved otherwise as he heard Shampoo give a 'humph' and crawl
out from under the covers, and worse, away from him.

"What?" he asked, suddenly concerned. The kissing maneuver had always
worked before. It had taken him a while to learn how much she adored it
when he initiated physical affection with her, and almost always she was
little more than putty in his hands (so to speak) when he did. He did not
always start things solely for the purpose of getting her to do something
for him --most of the time he just felt like kissing her-- but he was not
above using it to gain him an advantage if the need arose. That she broke
things off so abruptly like that was a complete shock.

As she emerged, he realized that somewhere along the line her nightgown
(if the flimsy piece of see-through material could be considered such) had
managed to come off while she was under the covers. That seemed to be
happening a lot more frequently when they slept together --which had been
just about every night since Mount Phoenix-- and made resisting her even
more difficult than before. She would have worn nothing at all if she had
her way about it, but he had protested so loudly that it was simply easier
for her to concede to wearing something rather than argue with him
further.

"Lay back down before someone sees you." The small fire next to them to
provide some light, as well as added warmth, and the area had seemed
deserted, but one never knew if some wandering outdoorsman would pass by.
It might have lacked privacy, but he was used to sleeping outdoors, and
Shampoo did not mind it either. Besides, it saved on paying to sleep in
hotels when their funds were low, which was almost all of the time.

She gave him a defiant glare, before leaning over and running her hand
under the covers until she found her nightgown and brought it out. As she
slowly put it back on, she was at least mildly pleased that the admiring
gaze Ranma had been giving her nude form turned into disappointment as she
dressed.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm not going to sleep with you tonight," she said firmly as she looked
towards a nearby cluster of trees.

Now Ranma was worried. This marked the first time she was the one that
insisted they not sleep together. "Aww. Come on. Don't be this way. Come
on back." He gave what he thought was his warmest smile towards her.

She shook her head, irritated that he seemed to think she wasn't being
serious. Her patience was finally at an end. "I'm tired of this Ranma. We
love each other. We should be married by now. You want me to be patient
and wait for your parents to come to their senses and finally give up that
idiotic pact. Fine! But you won't even let me sleep with you."

"We sleep together all the time."

She shot him a cold glare. "Don't you dare play dumb with me. You know
damn well what I mean. I'm willing to give in to you, but you won't give
me what I want. I'm tired of being the one that has to wait because of
some stupid promise your parents made and for you ignoring my wants. It's
been a year and a half. A year and a half! I've wanted to be with you
since the day you said you loved me. Do you know how hard it is to have to
wonder every single night if you're finally going to come to your senses,
only to have you reject me each time?"

"I ain't rejecting you," he protested. They had had disagreements before
over the subject of marriage and sex, but never quite as intense as it was
now.

"You don't totally accept me either, and that hurts. Instead it's me that
gives in to you each time. I'm tired of it."

He felt his heart leap into his throat as she turned, grabbed an extra
bedroll, then began to walk away. What was she doing? Yes, she sounded
angry with the way thing were going, but that was no reason to act so
rashly. Surely she wasn't planning to... leave... him. "Where are you
going?!"

She turned in surprise at the sound of fear in his voice. That emotion was
not one heard from Ranma Saotome very often, at least not under anything
other than the worst of circumstances. It took her a moment to understand
what he was afraid of. Did he truly think she was so fickle? "I'm not
leaving you. I'm just going to sleep over there." She pointed to the
cluster of trees she had been eyeing earlier. "I'm hurt and need a little
distance, but I won't leave you. I'll never leave you. I promise." She
gave him a sullen look and turned to go again.

"Tomorrow we'll start back to Nerima and I'll talk to Mom and Pop again."

Pausing, she remained where she was, keeping her face from Ranma so he
couldn't see her smile. She did not want him to know how those few words
could please her so much. He might not try so hard to convince them if he
knew it was that easy to get her to back off. However, she would not let
it pass without letting him know how she felt about it. "Thank you."

He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew from the way her body had tensed,
then relaxed, that she was pleased by that. She had been right. It was
long past time he tried to convince his parents again of the way things
had to be. It was unfair both to him, and perhaps more importantly, to
her, that they be forced to wait so long before consummating their
relationship. "You can come back now." He held the covers open in
invitation for her return.

There was a sore temptation to give in on her part. But she felt that no
matter what he believed, the separation would hurt her worse than him.
Still, she needed to make certain he understood just how strongly she
felt. "Not tonight."

"Why?" he protested, wondering if he had misread her body signals.

She gave him a soft look. "Will you make love to me?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "I already told ya'. Once we get married we can
do all of that."

She nodded. "And I'm going to sleep over there. Now you understand how I
feel when you refuse me every night." She left, staying just within his
line of sight as she unrolled the bedroll and laid down.

Ranma remained where he was, watching her turn from him, walk off, then
lay down. He hated to admit it, but she was right. He hadn't understood
what it was like to be denied what he wanted like that. There was no doubt
in his mind that this time he was going to make his parents understand. He
didn't want to have to spend another night apart from her again.


It took them nearly a week to make their way back to Nerima. Both were
nearly overcome by the feeling of trepidation that marked their arrival,
only the fifth time they had returned to the area in the last year and a
half. On their way to Ranma's house they crossed through one of the parks
to see that a festival had apparently begun. It was large, colorful
display with multiple rows of booths that contained food, games, fortune
tellers, and other sellers of various odds and ends who shouted out,
hawking their wares.

The pair decided to make a detour through the middle of the main
thoroughfare, buying some food and looking over the goods that were being
offered. After having been there for about half an hour, Ranma took the
time to examine Shampoo's reactions to everything out of the corner of his
eye. She seemed much less apprehensive than when they had first arrived.
Unquestionably, it was a good sign. He bought her an ice cream cone and
waited a while longer, making sure the mood was going to last. Seeing that
it would, he breathed a sigh of relief. That would make what he wanted to
say easier.

"Shampoo, I think it'd be best if you stayed here and let me talk to my
parents alone."

"No," Shampoo answered immediately, then took another idle lick of her
cone.

"Well, thanks for considering it, at least," Ranma grumbled. Sadly, things
were pretty much going the way he had anticipated. It was time to once
again employ the Saotome charm.  He gave her the most devastating smile he
could while placing his hands on her hips, drawing her closer. "Sh-"

"No."

The smile disappeared. Fine! If she was going to refuse to be charmed, he
would take the dominant approach. "Look. I'm putting my foot down. You are
not going!"

Shampoo smiled at that. "I'll put my foot down, too."

Ranma shouted out in pain as she did so, right on top of his. The pain
didn't matter much to him (once she stopped twisting her foot on his and
removed it, anyway). He was not going to be beaten. There was still the
technique his father used with his mother, but his pride would only allow
begging and groveling to win her compliance as a last resort. Reasoning
was the next technique to employ.

"Shampoo, things would go a lot smoother if you weren't there."

"That's silly!" Shampoo protested. "I wouldn't cause any problems. What
would make you say something like that?"

"Gee, I dunno." Ranma answered dryly. "Do you recall the words, 'you
stupid, aging bitch,' followed by Mom going for her katana, the last time
we were there?"

"She called me a whore!"

Ranma appeared shamefaced at that. "You were baiting her the entire night,
but you're right. I made sure she won't do that again." He had told his
mother quite bluntly that she would never see him again if those words
passed her lips again when referring to Shampoo. She apologized
immediately, but the whole event had left a sour taste in Ranma's mouth
for weeks. It was one of the reasons he had not visited his parents since.

"Shampoo, I just think it would be better if I saw them alone."

"Okay," she relented.

Ranma was surprised that she saw reason at last. Usually it took a lot
longer for her to agree to the obvious, at least on those occasions that
she did. "Thanks. I'll head out now."

"No!" she protested, then grabbed him by his arm. "Let's enjoy the
festival first." She began walking along, Ranma matching her stride. "At
least I can enjoy something today," she quietly added.

Ranma tried to cheer her up. "You don't know what they'll say yet."

She turned away from him to stare at a booth where paintings of cherry
blossom's were being sold. She tried keeping sadness from creeping into
her voice. "Nothing's changed in their eyes. Their answer's going to be
the same."

Ranma began stroking her hand, trying to soothe her. "It'll be different
this time. You'll see."

Her shoulders slumped in imagined defeat. "I'll believe it when I see it."

The mood was considerably more somber as the pair made their way past the
various colorful booths. Ranma had remained silent, trying to come up with
something to cheer Shampoo up, and failing miserably, when she perked up
on her own.

"Look! Let's go in there!" Not waiting for a response, she dragged Ranma
with her. Her movement was so quick that he barely had time to see that it
was a small pavilion that was a few feet back from most of the other
booths. It was completely made of cloth, including the entryway, which was
covered by a curtain, isolating the interior from the rest of the world.
He spotted a placard next to the pavilion that read: Madame Babushka:
Fortunes Told.

"Maybe she can tell us how your meeting will go," she said as she dragged
him towards the curtained entryway.

"Aw. I don't believe in that fortune telling garbage. It's just a waste of
money. They never say nothing but vague stuff that can mean whatever you
want it to."

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun."

Ranma noticed the effect that the anticipation was having on Shampoo.
Maybe if it cheered her up, it wouldn't be such a waste of money. He
relented and the two parted the curtain and entered.

The instant they set foot inside, a wave of incense assailed their sense
of smell. Inside there was a very unremarkable wooden table, with two
chairs, on the side closest to the entryway. Incense burned from four
stands that lined the interior of the circular pavilion. Two smaller
holders on the table also bore burning sticks of incense as well. But the
main feature of the interior was the Caucasian gentleman, wearing a style
of clothing that reminded Ranma of a gypsy in a grade-B vampire movie.

"Please, sit." He might have been a foreigner, but his Japanese was
flawless, as he indicated they should take the two empty chairs.

The pair sat down. Ranma looked strangely at the man. "Somehow, you look a
lot different from the way I pictured you, Madame Babushka."

The man gave a soft chuckle. "Madame Babushka is my wife. I'm afraid that
she had to leave rather abruptly. She had a vision that she was going to
become very ill and headed for the hospital. However, you have nothing to
fear." He stood up and bowed with a flourish before the pair. "I am her
husband, Marty the Minor Mentalist. I too can not only tell a person's
future, but their past and present as well."

"You're two fortune tellers that married one another?" Shampoo asked.

"Indeed." Marty sat back down, giving a boyish grin that made him seem
youthful despite his forty plus years. "Actually, it wasn't surprising. We
knew as soon as we met that we were destined for a lifetime of happiness
with one another. We got married the very next day. Twenty years later
every day still feels like the first."

"That's so sweet," Shampoo sighed.

Ranma was torn between being impressed with their psychic abilities, or
thinking it was the most stupid thing he had ever heard. Since he was
going to be paying for the reading, he decided the former would probably
be the best one to go with.

Marty indicated that they should hold out their hands so that he could
read their destiny. Carefully he examined their hands, looking over the
lines in the dim light of the pavilion, studying them intently.

"I thought you said you were a fortune teller, not a palm reader," Ranma
grumbled.

"Reading palms makes seeing your destinies easier," Marty explained. "In
some ways it's better, since I can read the whole thing all at once,

although I can't tell exactly when things will happen, or if they already
have. Now give me a few moments of silence so that I may decipher your
fates."

Marty studied their hands for almost a full five minutes before speaking
again. He looked to Ranma first. "I see the fate of a young girl with red
hair, tied in a pig-tail, hopelessly intertwined with yours. She will be a
part of your life for a very long time. Very unusual indeed."

"Yeah, yeah. I already know all about that," Ranma said, actually
impressed with the man's ability while being irritated by being told
information he already knew about.

"Oh," Marty said, momentarily disappointed at the response. Usually that
sort of big prediction done at the beginning of the reading would impress
the customers. Perhaps the girl would be more easily awed.

He turned towards Shampoo. "I see the fate of a boy with black hair, tied
back in a style similar to yours-"

"-hopelessly intertwined with yours. He will be a part of your life for a
very long time. Very unusual indeed," they finished for him together.

"Know that one too, eh?" Marty asked as he watched the two nod in
response. It appeared he was going to have to pull out all of the stops to
impress the duo. He looked upon their hands once more.

"Hmm. Both of you are destined to live in interesting times. I can't tell
if it's the blessed or cursed version, though."

"Probably both," Ranma said as Shampoo nodded her head in agreement.

Marty reevaluated them as perhaps the toughest nuts he had ever had to
crack, but impress them he would.

"Let's try this." He turned to Ranma, his eyes following an unusual line.
"Oh my god! You're destined to become Sailor Earth!"

"What?!" Ranma shouted out in shock.

"No! Wait a minute! I misread it. You are destined to SAIL the Earth.
Sorry about that. I misread your 'Lines of Destiny'."

"Oh." Ranma visibly relaxed.

Marty waited for Ranma to calm down before continuing. "You will live a
long life." He turned Ranma's hand over as his eyes continued to follow
one of the lines. "A very long one, yes indeed."

He turned Shampoo's hand over to examine it more closely. He felt his
heart sink as he saw her full destiny lifeline before him. "I'm afraid you
are destined to die at a very young age. I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Shampoo said nonchalantly.

Marty was shocked. "But I just told you you'll die young!"

"I already did that," she explained casually. "I got better."

It took Marty a while to compose himself after that. "Very interesting
times indeed," he murmured. "Do you have any questions, or should we even
bother?"

"Will we be married?" Shampoo asked, excitement tingling in her voice.

"Ah, an easy one." He examined their hands more closely. "I see that you
are destined to be married once in your lifetime," he told Ranma, then
turned to Shampoo. "And I see you will be married once too."

The two tore their hands out of his grasp and grabbed onto one another.
"You hear that, Ranma? We're going to be married!"

"I told you so." He tried sounding nonchalant, but found himself becoming
excited over the idea that maybe the fortune teller was correct.

"Wait a minute!" Marty warned. "I didn't say you'd be married to each
other. I said both of you would be married once in your lifetimes. I can't
see who you'll marry."

The two of them gave the man nearly identical lopsided grins. Ranma spoke
first. "After what we've been through, believe me, there ain't no chance
either one of us is getting married to anyone else." Shampoo gave a nod of
agreement as well.

Marty refrained from telling them how many times he had heard words like
that before, only to see them fail to come true. Still, there was nothing
in their futures that indicated they would not marry one another. And one
of the first rules of business, Marty learned, was that there was little
point in ruining a customer's good mood with unnecessary details.

"Any other questions?" he asked.

Shampoo nodded as she held out her hand once again. "How many children
will we have?" She was still bubbling in excitement over the marriage
prediction.

At last he had managed to excite them, and the girl had asked another easy
line to read too. He indicated that Ranma should hold out his hand as
well, and began trying to find the line he wanted. He decided to tell the
boy first, allowing the thrill to build up in Shampoo. "You are going to
have one daughter, in your lifetime, sir."

"I am?" Ranma asked in surprise, then began grinning and turned to
Shampoo. "Did ya' here that? I'm going to have a daughter." He was
surprised at the delight he felt at the prediction. With the child
problems Shampoo had, and the fact that they weren't even married yet, he
had never really thought much about children. He had told Shampoo it
didn't matter to him, which was true for now, but someday he would want
them. Once he got around to settling down.

Seeing Ranma's reaction, Marty felt satisfied with himself. He looked over
Shampoo's hand. "And in your lifetime you're going to have a daughter and
a son."

Shampoo tore her hand out of Marty's and grabbed Ranma's once more. "Did
you hear that, Ranma? I'm going to have a daughter and a son. Isn't that
grea...wait a minute. That's not great."

While Shampoo tried to reprocess what was said to make sure she understood
it correctly, Ranma's joy turned to suspicion. "And exactly why is it
you're going to have a girl AND a boy?"

Shampoo shook her head rapidly back and forth. "I am not going to have a
girl and a boy. Just a girl." Seeing that Ranma was not shifting his
attitude in the least, she held out her hand for Marty to read again. He
looked over it once more.

"Nope. Still says a girl and a boy."

Shampoo ripped her hand out of his grasp once more, offended

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Ranma asked, now more
suspicious than ever.

"Of course not!" Shampoo shot back.

"You've been going on and on about how much you want me, but I keep
refusing you." Ranma drew nearer and pointed an accusing finger towards
her. "Maybe you're getting bored with me and are going to start looking
for some guy to fool around with on the side."

"I will not!" Shampoo shouted. "I love you. I would never do something
like that to you!"

"Oh really? What about what the guy just said?"

"He was wrong!"

"He was right about everything else," Ranma pointed out.

"Well, he was wrong about that!" she retorted. "Look. I swear to you that
from this moment on until the day I die, I will never sleep with anyone
other than you."

"AH HA!" Ranma shot out from his chair and to his feet. "So you're leaving
yourself an out by saying that if you die and come back again, you will
sleep with someone else!"

Shampoo shot to her own feet in shock. "RANMA! That is not what I meant!"

"Yeah, right! I know how that devious Amazon mind of your works."

Marty watched on as the arguing couple walked out of the pavilion and back
to the hustle and bustle of the festival. It only occurred to him after
they had left that perhaps he should have asked them to pay first. Now it
was too late. It probably would not have been a good idea to get between
the arguing couple. His health was far more important than several yen.


Ranma found himself filled with trepidation (not fear, he would insist) as
he walked alone towards his home located on the outskirts of Nerima. It
had taken her almost half an hour to reassure him that she was never going
to fool around with someone else, let alone bear any children from them.
In hindsight, he figured he probably had overreacted to the prediction.
After what they had been through together, it was foolish to think she
would do something like that to him. Still, he would keep his eyes open
for any guys that might think they could try to hit on her and get away
with it. After all, if there was no temptation for her, there wouldn't be
any risk. Yes, a very good plan.

He also came to realize something he had said that had startled him. He
was beginning to wonder just how much patience she had towards him and the
current status of their relationship. Yes, she said she would not leave
him, and he believed her, but how much longer would she hold off? Lately,
she had become a lot more insistent, and deep down inside so was he. At
what point would he bring himself to tell his parents that he would marry
her no matter what, and if they felt they had to disown him for it, then
so be it?

"Maybe sooner than everyone thinks," he said to himself.

He reflected on the journey to Nerima in an effort to distract himself
from that kind of thinking. He needed his wits about him if he was to
present a good argument that would sway his parents to see things the
right way. The alienation Shampoo had shown him that first night had
continued for the next three nights as well, making him increasingly eager
to get to Nerima and obtain his parents' permission. He had not realized
how much he wanted her beside him when they slept, usually with her
curling herself under his arm and making herself snug. It was the same
when they woke, usually her first. Even with her hair messed up from
sleep, she still looked beautiful in the morning (and every now and then
he told her, even though he still didn't usually go in for that romantic
stuff). Without her there something just felt wrong, and he needed to
correct it soon.

Not that she had cut him off completely. Last night she had decided to
help 'motivate' him by sleeping with him once more, though actually there
had been little rest involved. Both of them felt the need to release the
pent up energies from the last few nights, and they had made out long into
the morning. Strong motivation indeed.

At last he found himself at his destination. The Saotome house was an
unremarkable structure half the size of the Tendo household, and he had
only the dimmest memories of it from his past. The few times he had come
by in an effort to talk to his parents had never been long enough for him
to truly get a feel for the house. There was no emotional connection to
the place. He had felt far more of a bond to the Tendo household than the
one he had spent the first few years of his life in. The place that he was
supposed to have grow up in, yet left so long ago that only dim echoes
remained of it. Did he even have the right to call it home anymore?

He never even considered hesitating as he went up to the front door and
knocked. He needed to get this over with. It was true that in the past he
tended to ignore problems (of a non-fighting nature) and hoped they would
work themselves out, and maybe he had done it again with the whole
marriage thing, but no longer. Decisions had to be made concerning it and
they had to be done now.

What felt like forever was only a minute before the door was opened by his
mother. She stared at him in surprise for only a moment before giving out
a cry of "Ranma!" and embracing him. He returned the warm greeting, losing
himself for a moment in the affections of the woman he should have known
his whole life, but instead had only a few fleeting days with, at least
when not pretending to be someone else.

Nodoka at last broke off the embrace and examined her son more closely.
She gave a small nod of approval  as she said, "You look well."

"So do you, Mom."

"Have you gotten a cure yet?" she asked.

"No. Neither one of us has, but our traveling around hasn't been wasted.
I've learned a lot of new techniques while I was on the road."

"That's nice, dear." Suddenly she realized she was greeting her son
outside and ushered him inside the house. He followed, taking in the
surroundings of the house once again, committing everything he could to
memory. Nothing seemed to have changed in the months that had passed
between visits. Hopefully, there would be at least one change soon. One in
attitude.

"Where's Shampoo?" Nodoka asked at last.

"Ah, she decided not to come this time." Well, with a little
encouragement, anyway.

There was a pang of remorse as he saw his mother's face brighten at that.
Somehow, he had hoped against hope that she would have felt sorry for the
way things had gone last time and perhaps, after thinking about it for a
few months, realized that preventing the two of them from marrying was a
mistake and would want to give Shampoo the good news firsthand, the pair
of them becoming like a mother and daughter-in-law should.

Well, what was wrong with having dreams, even if they were a bit
unrealistic?

Nodoka maintained her bright demeanor. "It'll be nice that we have time
for some good mother-to-son bonding alone. I can't think of a time, since
you told me the truth about your curse, that we've spent just talking to
one another."

"You mean Pop ain't here?" That was just great. The driving force, and the
one he really needed to convince of the futility of his actions, wasn't
even there. Perhaps something could be salvaged out of the situation
though. He still thought of his mother as being the easier of the two to
sway, even with the difficulties she and Shampoo had with one another.

Still, he had enough sense to build up to what he needed to say.
"Everything okay, Mom?"

She said yes and informed him that it had pretty much been life as usual
in the area. The conversation started out fine, but Ranma had to wince
when she mentioned that all of the Tendo girls, including the new ones,
were still unmarried. Although he was pleased to hear Akane was doing well
(another good reason Shampoo wasn't around. She would have been impossible
to deal with if she had seen him react happily about that). Apparently
Kasumi had adopted a little boy during her trip to China. Nodoka really
seemed to emphasize what a difficult time she would have in raising a
child by herself and being unmarried, and what a manly thing it would be
if someone were to marry her in spite of that. She even talked about how
nice it would be to be a grandmother immediately instead of having to wait
for it.

He gave an inward sigh. It seemed Shampoo was right. Nothing had changed
in her eyes.

Nodoka was going to continue on when she noticed something. "What are
those marks on your neck, Ranma?"

Reflexively, his hand went to his neck and he turned bright red. "Oh.
Haha. I still practice a lot of martial arts."

"I see," Nodoka said. "You should be more careful."

"Sure." Ranma laughed nervously again. He had managed to get out of that
one without lying directly. He had just happened to mention martial arts
at that moment and his mother had just happened to mistake that as the
explanation. Somehow, he doubted informing her that when he and Shampoo
made out, she sometimes got really worked up and liked using his neck as a
chew-toy (and there was absolutely no way that he was ever going to admit
that, surprisingly enough, he sort of liked it. Not that he was a
masochistic weirdo.) That was not going to be the best way to put his
mother in a responsive mood to what he had to say.

He figured it was time to begin before she started to ask more personal
questions. "Look, there's something really important I want to discuss
with you. I wanted both you and Pop to be here, but I guess it'll just
have to be the two of us."

"Go ahead, Ranma."

She masked it well, but Ranma could still make out the sound of
anxiousness in her voice. She knew what was he going to say before he
opened his mouth. As bad as he felt about that, he forced himself to
continue. "I'm sorry, but there is no way I'm ever marrying anyone but
Shampoo. Ever. I don't know why the two of you can't accept that."

"Because you can't marry anyone other than a Tendo." Nodoka spoke as
though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm certain if you
talked with Kasumi she might not mind you having Shampoo as a mistress.
They do get along quite well."

"NO!" Ranma shouted. "Why won't you listen to a word I say? I am not
marrying anyone other than Shampoo. I ain't marrying Kasumi. I ain't
marrying Nabiki. I ain't marrying either of the two new girls, or Silk's
kid when she's born either, or anyone else that's born, adopted, or time
travels from the future and calls herself a Tendo."

"Ranma," Nodoka used a tone of voice that was similar to what one might
use with a small child. "There is a promise to uphold and we will uphold
it. Just because you and your lover have run-"

"We ain't lovers!" he snapped. "I ain't done anything with her! I want to,
but I can't 'cause of this."

Nodoka was taken aback at that. "I had no idea. I suppose it's nice that
you've waited, but it doesn't matter. You cannot marry her. She can't even
bear children."

"I already went over this with her. We'll adopt. Probably just a girl,
though. And not right away anyhow, 'cause I ain't ready to start raising
any kids."

Nodoka nodded. "But even so you still can't marry her."

The pressure built within Ranma as shot to his feet, unable to keep calm
as his anger raged. "Why? It doesn't have to be that way! You and Pop are
the only ones that are trying to force me into this, and it won't work!
All you're doing is making a bunch of people miserable, including
yourself!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the only way you are ever going to see any grandchildren is if you
let go of this stupid engagement thing and set me free."

Now it was Nodoka's turn to stand up. "Is that a threat, young man?!"

Ranma fought the urge to accept the chastisement. She was his mother, but
she was WRONG. "It ain't a threat, it's a fact." Pain started to trickle
into his voice. It was all going wrong. He really had believed she would
have relented over the months and seen reason. Now it was all turning out
horribly, and he didn't know what to say anymore. "You don't understand
what this is doing to me and her. I can't stand the way things are going
now. I've been patient, and Shampoo even moreso. It's time we got married,
no matter what you say."

"Ranma. You can't do...that." Nodoka suddenly began to stagger a little.

Ranma was at her side in an instant, his anger replaced by concern in less
than a second. He placed an arm around her to help keep her from falling.
"Mom! What's wrong?!"

She regained her footing, but to Ranma's eyes looked very pale. "I'm all
right. I've just been feeling dizzy spells lately. I thought I was over
them."

"I thought you said you were all right!" Ranma practically shouted.

"It's nothing, dear. I just get them every now and then. It must have been
from the argu--" she swooned once more.

"That's it! I'm having a doctor check you out."

For a moment, Nodoka pride swelled at her son's protectiveness. Despite
feeling better, she felt that perhaps it was for the best that she assent
to her son's demands of having a physician make sure she was all right,
even though she knew she was. It would make Ranma feel better, and, more
importantly, keep them from arguing further. She had not even been able to
have a pleasant conversation with him for more than half an hour before
they began arguing about marriage once again. Even if her son was proving
himself intractable, she still wanted to spend at least a little time with
him.


It was a couple of hours later when Ranma saw his father arrive at the
hospital. Any concerns he had over his father's reaction to what had
happened were erased by the look of panic on his face.

"Is your mother all right, boy?"

"Yeah. The docs just wanted to run a few tests on her to see if they could
figure out what's wrong. If Mom was feeling bad, why didn't you make her
come here?" Ranma accused.

"It's the first I heard of it." Genma began pacing back and forth in
concern as he waited for someone to inform him of what was going on with
his wife. It was only another ten minutes before Nodoka came from around
the hallway and saw her family. As quickly as she could, while remaining
ladylike, she approached them. Both Ranma and Genma were on her in an
instant, assailing her with a number of questions.

"I'm all right," she assured them. "The doctors did a few blood tests and
other things to see if they could determine what was wrong. All they've
found so far was that I have a very low hemoglobin count and they want me
to take some vitamin supplements to bring it back up."

Both Ranma and Genma were visibly relieved at that. She was continuing to
reassure them she was all right when a doctor approached.

"Mrs. Saotome?" he asked.

"Yes?" Nodoka recognized him as one of the physicians that had run several
tests on her. "What is it?"

"I have something to tell you. You'd better sit down."

All three Saotomes looked alarmed as Nodoka forced herself to sit down.
She had been certain that there was nothing wrong with her. Dizzy spells
were not really cause for alarm, were they? She really did feel fine,
outside of that.

"Well, Ma'am, I have some interesting news for you. Best to brace yourself
for the surprise, but you're pregnant."

Everyone stared at him in shock, Nodoka most of all. "How did that
happen?"

The doctor stared at her for a moment, then opened her chart and looked it
over. "It says you already have a son. I really don't think I need to
explain the mechanics of it to you, do I?"

Nodoka shook her head, feeling faint once more. "No. Of course not. I
mean, it's quite a shock, that's all. I'd better sit down."

"You already are, ma'am."

Nodoka realized she was indeed still in her chair. "Oh, yes. Pregnant, you
say? There's no doubt about it?"

"Not really, ma'am," the doctor assured her. "We took the test twice and
it came up positive both times. You're going to want to get a check up
with your obstetrician as soon as possible, of course, but our preliminary
studies show the only health problem you seem to have is a low hemoglobin
count. Did they already tell you of that?"

"Yes," Nodoka said, still in surprise. Pregnant? The idea of having
another child had never really occurred to her. She had her hands full
with the one that was absent from her life and had focused all of her
attention on him.

Off to the side, Genma wasn't certain what to do. He had never considered
having another child either, putting all of his efforts into Ranma.
Uncertain of what to do anymore, he just stood and waited for his wife to
tell him what she wanted to do next.

There was one other who was at least as deeply concerned about the new
information as Nodoka, for suddenly the gears of his mind slowly began to
turn as a plan began to form. On the surface it appeared to be sound. All
he needed to do was find out one other minute detail to make it work.

The doctor nearly wet himself as Ranma grabbed him by the collar and began
shaking him back and forth shouting, "TELL ME IT'S GOING TO BE A BOY,
DOC!!!"

The doctor barely managed to get out of his grasp before getting out, "We
need to take a sonogram first. And we probably won't know until about the
fourth month of pregnancy."

Nodoka and Genma stared at their son in shock. Nodoka spoke first. "Ranma,
I had no idea you wanted a brother so badly."

"More than anything in the world." Ranma could barely reign in his hope.
"Cause if it's a guy, he can damn well marry one of the Tendos and release
me from this stupid promise the old man made."

Genma and Nodoka looked at one another, uncertain of exactly what to say.
This time it was Genma who, while sounding surprised by everything, did
seem to be considering it. "I never thought of that. Tendo does have a new
girl on the way. I suppose if we have a child it could work out that way.
But we'd have to have a boy to make it work. I mean, all he has are
girls."

"And if not, you and Mom can keep trying until you get one. WOOHOO! I'M
GETTING MARRIED, WORLD!" He jumped up and down with joy, even going so far
as to grab a patient off of her gurney and dance around with her.

"Err, we haven't actually agreed to that, boy," Genma warned. "And I'm not
sure we should take the chance."

Ranma stopped dancing around with the patient and scowled at his father.
He placed the girl back on her gurney and walked over to confront Genma.
"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, having two sons married to the Tendo girls would be a lot better
than just one. Sort of like doubling your chances at something good
happening." Genma felt like patting himself on the back for that
particularly keen observation.

"Actually, Pop, that would guarantee bad things happening." Ranma cracked
his knuckles, then grabbed Genma by the collar of his gi. "Because every
day is going to be a living hell for you since I will pound on you until
you think having one Saotome married to one Tendo is a good idea." He put
his fist in Genma's face as a teaser of things to come.

"Hmm. Good point," Genma mumbled through the fist. Having one Saotome
married to one Tendo was more than enough. "I think I can see things your
way, this time."

Nodoka could not help but smile. At last there was a way out of the
promise and the resentment that had built up between her and Ranma would
be gone at last, even if it meant having a daughter-in-law she cared
little for. "Very well, Ranma. If my child's a boy, you can marry whomever
you wish."

An ear-to-ear grin nearly split Ranma's face as he translated that as
consent. At last, after a year and a half it had finally happened. He
whooped it up as he ran down one of the halls and out of the hospital,
missing his mother yelling at him that they didn't know if it was a boy
yet and he shouldn't jump to conclusions, but it was far, far too late.
Not just because he was out of sight, but because no amount of explaining
would have changed his mind at that point. He was too close to achieving
his heart's desire to have anything disrupt his plans now.

He ran through the town, dancing with joy and shouting out how he was
going to be married. As he ran through the streets, he saw a familiar form
and danced around with her.

"I'm going to get married!"

"That's nice," Azusa Shiratori said, delighted at the impromptu dance.

Ranma released her and snatched a ribbon out of her hair. "I'm getting
married, Jean-Michael!" he shouted at it.

"His name's Rene," Azusa corrected, then panicked as Ranma ran off with
Rene still in hand.

Chaos followed as Ranma ran around in a joyous delirium that made people
realize how much they did not miss Kodachi Kunou. He nearly gave Mikado
Senzenin a heart attack when he threatened to kiss the skater. He danced
with a demon that Minami and Yohko were in the process of destroying. He
beat up several Martial Arts Mimes (and there was much rejoicing by the
citizenry) He even stole a bunch of various women's undergarments, then
threw them on top of a wandering Ryouga, allowing him to get beaten up by
the following pack of angry women who assumed the lost one was an
accomplice.

It was only when he at last arrived at the festival grounds (and Azusa
finally had a chance to reclaim Rene) that he calmed down and tried to
locate Shampoo. It only took a few minutes before he found her next to a
booth where a vendor was selling limes, cherries, and bloodberries.

By the time he arrived at her side, his face was a mask of calm. Surprise
was the name of the game now, and he wanted to watch the smile erupt from
her when he told her the good news. It was a considerably more sedate
Ranma that approached Shampoo.

The instant she saw him she felt her anxiousness end. He didn't seem very
happy, which she took to mean yet another refusal. Still, she had to hear
it from him. "How did it go?"

Ranma felt the urge to build up to the moment. "Mom got sick almost as
soon as I got there. I had to take her to the hospital."

Shampoo looked at him in surprise. "Is she all right?"

Ranma was pleased that she seemed so concerned, although he suspected it
might have been more his sake than his mother's. "Yeah. Nothing serious."
He was about to tell her the good news by proposing to her right then and
there, when he realized he was missing something. Damn! He had intended to
tell her immediately, but he had wanted to do it the right way. In the
past, he had thought out what he would do on the day he was allowed to
marry her, and had played it out in his mind a multitude of times. He was
on the verge of abandoning that plan when he spotted something that would
suffice, at least for an on the spot proposal.

Shampoo was surprised as Ranma grabbed her hand and led her to one of the
prize machines that were so prevalent throughout the carnival. It was one
of those machines with a robot claw that grabbed onto any one of a bunch
of small, cheap prizes inside. Shampoo couldn't figure out Ranma's sudden
attraction to the machine, but then she still did not understand a lot
about him.

"Give me a fifty yen piece." He held his hand out towards Shampoo.

She looked at him, confused as to why he wanted to play the silly little
game, especially since his mother had apparently just been ill enough to
merit a trip to the hospital. "Ranma, is something wrong?"

"Nah." He waved dismissively towards her as he kept his eyes locked on the
object of his desire. It was right on the top, and with his hand and eye
coordination, he was confident he could get it on the first try. "I just
want to play this game. Give me a fifty yen piece."

She shrugged and gave him the money. She watched closely as he plopped in
the coin and began working the mechanical claw. Her attention was split
between watching the progress of the arm and his face, which had an
unbelievable amount of eagerness written all over it.

Slowly, Ranma directed the arm until it was right over the target. All it
took was a pressing of the button and the claw descended. His face was
pressed tightly against the glass as he saw the open piece of metal dip
towards the clear plastic case the object was in and...

...miss as it seemed to sway at the last second and picked up a white
furry stuffed animal instead. His anxiousness gave way to irritation as he
watched the claw deposit the animal into the receiving shoot. Damn! He had
been so certain the claw had been directly over it too. He didn't bother
taking his eyes off the target as he held his hand out behind him.
"Another fifty yen piece."

Shampoo shrugged and fished out yet another fifty yen piece, handing it to
Ranma. As he deposited it, Shampoo went to the receiving bin and picked up
the white doll. She pushed on it once, heard it give off a 'Pu pu,' then
tossed the annoying thing into garbage can. The least Ranma could have
done was gotten some kind of neat little trinket she would have liked.

She heard him began a soft chant of, "Easy. Easy. More to the left. Now
more to the right. Heh. That's it. Dumb machine. Thought you could beat
me. Ha! Well I showed yo...AHH! It grabbed the wrong one again!"

She heard something else deposit into the receiving bin as Ranma continued
keeping his gaze fixated on the machine. "Another fifty yen."

"Why don't you let me try?" Shampoo offered "Just tell me which one you
want and I'll get it."

"No way!" he snapped. "The dumb machine won't beat me a third time. It was
just lucky. Now gimme another fifty yen."

She sighed, knowing better than to try to argue with him when he entered
one of his 'I won't lose to [Insert Name of Whoever/Whatever He Wants to
Beat]' phases. And to think, her Great Grandmother used to accuse her of
being competitive. She just hoped they had enough money to get what he
wanted. Knowing Ranma, he would shake down passerbys for coins if they ran
out and he still hadn't won.

She handed him another, then fished out a fourth coin since she had a gut
feeling about how the next attempt was going to turn out.

"Got it this time. Just a little to the left. Perfect! Now I...AHHHH! It
did it again! It swung to the right at the last second and grabbed the
wrong thing again! Cheatin' machine! Gimme another!"

She let him kick the machine once before handing him the fourth coin then
grabbed the two objects out of the receiving bin again. Ranma had managed
to win a key chain and corkscrew. How delightfully useless. She tossed
them aside and handed Ranma his next coin while checking on their current
funds. They had next to nothing. It appeared it was time to either begin
pit fighting again or have Ranma hunt down pikachus. The latter could
certainly be lucrative when they located an area that had an infestation
of the verminous little creatures. Ranma was an ideal exterminator since
he was immune to the diminutive pests electrical bursts.

Yet another 'Agh!' caught her attention as she handed Ranma another coin.
While he was failing to get whatever he wanted once again, she exchanged
the last of their paper money for fifty yen pieces and returned to Ranma's
side just in time to hand him another coin.

Each time he'd win but not get the object he was trying for. Shampoo
continued clearing out the winnings from the receiving bin. Ranma won: a
magnet, a brick, a Slinky (that kept Shampoo amused for several minutes
until she accidentally broke it), a Moon Crystal, a can of whoop-ass, a
lifetime membership to the Nerima Hair Club for Men, an ancient-looking
lamp that had the words 'rub me and receive three wishes' written on the
side (Right, like she was going to fall for that one. She threw it down a
drainpipe before someone was stupid enough to actually rub the damned
thing) and a host of other useless trinkets.

The pile in the machine grew smaller with each progressive attempt, yet
still the motionless object somehow eluded Ranma's attempts to grab it
with the mechanical claw. Shampoo felt the number of coins dwindle in
direct concert with the number of items remaining in the machine until it
was down to one object and one coin.

A part of her felt like scolding him for wasting their money like that,
but the admonishment would fall on deaf ears, and she'd just get angrier
with him for disregarding what she said. She'd find a way to let him know
her displeasure later, when he was not obsessed with winning.

"This is the last one." She held on to the final coin for a moment, making
Ranma actually exert a little force before he was able to tear it out of
her grasp. Much to her disappointment, he didn't even seem to hear her. Oh
yes. She'd find some way to let him know he had erred this time.

She watched the sweat pour down his face as he gingerly put in the coin
and carefully manipulated the claw. Slowly, the metal arm made its way to
the center of the now bare machine, paused above the final object. It
reached down, and effortlessly picked up the final object, retracted, then
dropped it into the receiving pin.

For the first time since he began the quest to beat the machine, he turned
to look at Shampoo and gave her a wide grin. "Heh. That was easy enough."

Shampoo facefaulted. In the time it took her to regain her feet and pull
out a bonbori, Ranma had recovered the object and took the item out of the
clear case it was in. A small wave of panic threatened to overtake Ranma,
but he fought it down. This was the long awaited moment of truth. Taking a
brief moment to actually think about what he was going to say before he
said it.

He cleared his throat. "Shampoo, there's something I wanna ask you." He
watched her pause a moment from raising her bonbori high overhead. "I
do...oops. Almost forgot." He dropped to one knee and held out the prize
he had tried so hard to win: a gold-colored metal ring. "I...uh...that is
would you...ah...I guess would you marry me?" Yes. That was it.

A bonbori dropped from nerveless fingers. Shampoo had pictured the moment
nine thousand, seven hundred and sixty three times in her mind, and now
that it was actually happening, she forgot what her reaction was supposed
to be.

Ranma stood up and waved a hand in front of her face. "Shampoo?"

"Yes?" she answered, then remembered that was what the response was
supposed to be. "Yes. Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! I want to marry you, Ranma!"
She held out her hand and allowed him to put the ring on her finger. When
that was done, she glomped him and swore she wouldn't let go until she was
exhausted. Thus it was an odd pair that made their way through the rest of
the festival. Neither was aware of the odd stares they received from the
people they passed; they had thoughts only for each other.

At least, that was, until a loud shout was heard proclaiming, "What do ya'
mean we ain't got any money?!... I did not spend it all! I didn't play the
game that many times!... Well, we got to eat. Maybe we can sell the ring
for some money. HEY! Put that sword down! I'm not trying to back out of
proposing! It was just an idea I had so we wouldn't go hungry! Geez! You
Amazons sure are moody..."

Even as the conversation drifted off, no one risked going within fifty
yards of the duo. It was quite a sight to behold as the girl somehow
managed a one-armed glomp around the boy while keeping her sword drawn and
at the ready with her free hand. Around Nerima, curiosity could kill more
than a cat if one wasn't careful. Best to leave the odd people alone in
their strange behaviors.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Still part B to go. Hopefully will be out by next week.

Special thanks to:

Ryan Anderson
Jim Bader
Bloodblade
Gary Kleppe
Jurai  Knight
Jason Liao
Lord Talon
Miashara
Wade Tritschler