Hey, are you guys alive? I didn't receive more than five comments
I mean two, last tim.e :(
        BTW, I changed the amount of time Ranma has to defeat Kuno
from two weeks to two days; I realised that two weeks was too large an amount
of time. :)


 
                                And Life Goes On
 
                        Part 1, chapter 10: False Lies
 
 
        "Ok Ranma, now tell me, what do you want." Ranma had
 really started to grate on Akane's nerves, and was all too impatient
 to find out what was up.
 
        "Well, I bought you here to tell you two things..." 
 
        "One of them being what was on that picture, right?"
 
        "Yeah... right." He took out a picture from his shirt pocket,
 "Nabiki gave me the one copy she had of the picture, but she kept
 the negative. I'm going to hide it from Shampoo, but you can go
 ahead and see it."
 
        Taking the picture from his hands, she didn't know whether
 to laugh or be embarrassed. On the photo was Ranma being hit
 from the fight earlier that day, but not by Kuno's bokken; in fact, his
 head narrowly missed the wooden sword. Instead, it was Akane's
 book bag that hit him smack on the back of his head.
 
        "You remember Shampoo's law, right?"
 
        "That if you don't defeat Kuno- Ranma, Kuno didn't defeat
  you... I did!" Smiling, Ranma took the picture back
 
        "Exactly! Nobody else has to know about that, though." 
 
        "So you mean you're going to let Kuno...?"
 
        "Well, I'll fight him again in three days and get my score cleaned,
 but by then I won't have to worry about Shampoo. Just as long as
 she doesn't see this."
 
        "Wow, you're actually going to break it off with Shampoo?"
 
        "Why do you sound so surprised?"
 
        "I thought you'd want to stay with Shampoo, I mean... her
 being so gorgeous and all."
 
        He turned his back to her, his face getting all red again. "I
 don't want Shampoo. I don't care about her either."
 
        "Then... who do you... care about?"
 
        "I.." He cleared his throat, "I ca-" A crash was then heard at
 Akane's door. Intrigued and annoyed, they opened her door to find
 Genma-panda, Soun and Nabiki in a pile in front of the door, each
 with a glass cup in their hands.
 
        "Erm... hi son! We weren't spying on you or anything! We
 were just... um..."
 
        "{Sticking these glass cups to our ears.}" Signed
 Genma-panda.
 
        "That's right! Heh heh heh..." A dark loom flashed across
 Ranma's eyes, and Genma-panda waited to be hit. Instead, he grabbed
 Genma-panda by his fur and dragged him into another room.
 
        "Look, old man, unless you guys stop spying on me and
 Akane, it'll go nowhere. Just leave the two of us alone and I'll
 promise you you'll get what you want. Got it?" 
 
        "{But we have to capture the moment!}"
 
        "I don't care about that! Just leave us alone." Genma-panda
 knew better than to irritate his son further than this, if he did, it would
 be guaranteed that he wouldn't have to worry about Nodoka anymore.
 
        "Mr. Saotome, Ranma, time for dinner." Kasumi informed the
 two guests, and went on to tell her family. Ranma grumbled, hating
 to be interrupted.
 
 
 
        Never had Shampoo felt so dirty in her life before. The time
 when Ranma told her he was really a female compared to it, but
 Shampoo hadn't known Ranma back then. Now that she did, and
 loved him, kissing Kuno was worse than kissing a pile of dirt.
 
        Mousse noticed Shampoo's mood and asked her if anything
 was wrong.
 
        "Nothing that is of Mousse business." She snapped.
 
        "Oh, she's just upset because she might have to marry Kuno."
 
        "Kuno? You mean Saotome's given up on her?" The words
 'given up' echoed in Shampoo's mind, taunting her.
 
        "Don't be silly, Mousse. He still love me."
 
        "Then why would you have to marry Kuno?"
 
        "Stupid law, but Ranma will fix it! Give up all ready,
 will you?"
 
        "But I can't, my dear Shampoo! For you, I would do
 anything! Just ask me and I will do it."
 
        "Fine then. You know what would make me happy?"
 
        "What is it?"
 
        "You leave Shampoo alone!" She exclaimed, throwing a
 dishrag in his face and stomping up the stairs. Mousse watched
 the light of his life walk off, and sighed.
 
        In every village, there is a girl that all the men want. In
 Joketsozuko, that woman was Shampoo. Mousse, like any normal
 child dreamed about Shampoo, said that he alone loved her, and
 that some day they'd be together. Being more determined in what
 he did than most other kids, he asked Shampoo out; unwisely, she
 gave him a flat-out no. If she hadn't, they would have gone out,
 Mousse would have realized what a mis-match they were and
 moved on. But nothing made Mousse more determined than a 'no'.
 This was no longer some boy dared him to do; this was his goal in
 life.
 
        And somewhere along the way, with all the bruises, insults
 and briberies, Mousse came to love Shampoo. He began to see
 beyond the flawless purple hair, and the fighting ability she had; he
 saw what made her tick. And he fell in love with her.
 
        Poor Mousse.
 
 
 
        Dinner at the Tendo home was tenser than usual. Akane kept
 looking away from Ranma's uncomfortable look, and wondering what
 he had been planning to tell her before they had been interrupted.
 Ranma, while gazing at his fiancee, his mind was on how to make
 Nabiki give up that roll of film. Genma-panda was waiting for the
 dinner to end, eager to start spying on his son, despite his promise. 
 
        It didn't help that halfway through, Shampoo came to visit
 Ranma again.
 
        "Ranma! Great-grandmother allow me to stay here
 overnight to make sure you get good night sleep!" She exclaimed,
 throwing her hands out in glee. She noticed that what she had just
 said was greeted by glares and a cough from Akane. "Did
 Shampoo say something wrong?"
 
        "No. Absolutely not." Ranma responded to Shampoo's first
 statement. He was surprised when Shampoo's face lit up.
 
        "Really? Ranma finally let Shampoo sleep with him?" *Oh,
 the noodles must be working! Shampoo so smart to use them on
 Ranma.*
 
        "H-hold on a minute! What makes you think-" Akane hit
 Ranma's head with the table (no food was wasted as everyone had
 picked up the food), putting him out of action for a while.
 
        "Shampoo, I'd be more than happy to let you stay in my
 room." She answered with the sweetness of a cobra.
 
        "Shampoo never asked to stay in your room, she wants to
 stay with Ranma."
 
        "Forget it, this is not his house, what I say has more ground.
 Either you stay in MY room or you don't stay at all. Got it?" Akane
 and Shampoo glared at each other while Soun cried in the
 background.
 
         Shampoo, seeing that Akane wasn't going to let up on this
 anytime soon, "All right, Shampoo agree to Akane terms." Ranma,
 who had just regained conciseness, knew that it would be a long
 night.


	
	Isabel Arantes
	    terrin@netcom.com