And Life Goes On
Part 1, chapter 6: Then Again, Maybe I Won't
"So, Kuno got the better of you?" Cologne asked Ranma, sitting
on her stick.
"He did not get the better of me! He just... knocked me out."
"Same thing. Shampoo you know what this means, right?" Shampoo
smiled without an ounce of worry.
"It not mean thing, since I know Ranma will defeat Kuno again.
Right?"
"Of course I am! No way am I going to let Kuno get away with it."
Shampoo hugged him, sharply cutting of Ranma's air supply.
"Oh, I knew you not let pervert like Kuno marry Shampoo!"
"That's good to hear, Ranma. Having a rich son-in-law like
Kuno would be a drag. They often bring the law when we try to
take them to our amazon village, instead of using their fists."
"Son-in-law? Kuno? What are two talking about?"
"By law Shampoo is married Kuno, unless you defeat him in
two day."
"Really?" Ranma ate his ramen, and thoughtful look on his face.
"Well, great-granddaughter, even if Ranma is going to win you
back soon enough, you still have to break the news to Kuno. And try
to lure him into the wedding ceremony." Shampoo sighed, not looking
forward to having to 'love' someone other than Ranma.
"So what plan I try today?"
"Well, first we have to find out what Ku- son-in-law wants
most, and-" She looked over at Ranma, who was looking VERY
interested in this conversation. "You'd best leave, Ranma. Shampoo
and I have important things to discuss."
"Well, ok, have ta go to school anyhow." Ranma walked out the
door, whistling some nameless tune. Shampoo looked at the closed door,
shook a little, and turned to look at her great-grandmother.
"Great-grandmother, does Shampoo have to go after Kuno?!"
"Patience, child. You yourself where the one who told me to have
more confidence in Ranma. Now, the way to go after Kuno is..."
Ranma walked along the fence, not paying much attention to where
he was going; instead, he was pondering on what to do. He couldn't think
of a better way to get rid of Shampoo than dumping her onto Kuno. Well,
he could come out and tell her the thought of marrying her was non-existent,
but he wasn't going got do that anytime soon. Not unless he was in the mood
for being an omelet, that is. Which he wasn't.
But just letting Kuno have his victory... he'd never hear the end
of it. Just the thought of doing that made Ranma sick to his stomach.
But never having to worry about one of his catastrophic fiancees would
be terrific! But maybe it wasn't worth the humiliation.
He stood, concentrating entirely on thinking. If he got rid of
Shampoo for good, Akane would get mad at him less, resulting in less
fighting and maybe, just maybe they could resolve their problems and
get ma-
Tipping over to his left, he fell into the river below, breaking his,
now hers, train of thought. But she did remember thinking about the
m-word, and relating it to Akane. Climbing back onto land, she shivered,
partially because she was covered with cold water, and partially because
she had almost asked IT. The question greater than what was the meaning
of life, or what was at the end of the universe, or even the question of
what was going to be served for dinner. If she wanted to marry Akane.
The unthinkable. The answer that was supposed to forever remain at 'no'.
Ranma-chan remained clinging to the fence for a long, long time.
She was worried. Oh, she tried to hide it by participating in class,
looking out the window, the usual. Maybe the fooled everyone, but she
could hide it from herself. Akane knew it had been a mistake to let
Shampoo take Ranma. For all she knew, Shampoo had managed to push
Ranma though a wedding ceremony while he was unconscious. Akane
didn't put it past Shampoo to do that.
In another useless attempt to forget about it, Akane started to
sharpen her pencil.
"Hi there, Akane-chan."
"Hi, Ukyou." Tchik, tchik.
"Why're you sharpening your pencil? It's lunch."
"I know." Tchik, tchik.
"Is it true Kuno beat Ran-chan? Where is he, anyway?"
"Yes, Kuno beat Ranma, probably Nekohanten." Tchik, tchik.
"Nekohanten? What's he doing there?"
"Don't know. Shampoo took him." Tchik, tchik.
"You let Shampoo take Ran-chan to the Nekohanten?!"
"It's none of my business." Tchik, tchik.
"Oh, great. I'm going to check on him."
"Wait, Ukyou?"
"What?" Akane lifted her now one inch small pencil.
"Could you lend me a pencil? I over sharpened mine." Sighing since
she had to bother, Ukyou searched in her nag for a pencil, tossed it to
Akane, running out of the room.
Every year Nabiki signed up for Photography for two semesters.
Next to economics and math, photography was her favorite subject. Since
at home she didn't have a dark room, or couldn't ask other people to develop
her photos (A deal is a deal; Nabiki never showed an undiscriminating photo
to anyone, once the price had been paid), during photography class was the
only time Nabiki had a chance to develop them.
Looking up from the book she was reading '1001 Ways To Avoid Fake
Sex Scandals' to check on her photos, most of which had started to clear.
She blinked, and leaned in closer, surprised by the evidence that was showed
in the picture. When she felt it was ok, she picked one of them up with a pair
of tongs, and took a closer look. A scary smile took over her face, as she
calculated it's new worth.
<The price has doubled, Saotome. Hope you can pay it.>
And Life Goes On
Part 1, chapter 7: Ask A Friend When In Doubt
"Hey, Ucchan." Ranma greeted Ukyou.
"Ran-chan! Come and take a seat." Ukyou motioned to a stool next to
the counter, and leaned over the counter. "Where were you? I
looked during lunch for you, but I couldn't find you."
"I was walking around town." Ranma started to push
around the ashtray on the counter with his index finger, feeling
slightly embarrassed. "Er, Ucchan, how might you go to show a
girl that you like her?"
Ukyou felt her world get light and airy, her heart soaring. She
had always dreamed of the day Ranma would push aside everything in
the way of their love, sweep her up in his arms, and hear him whisper
softly in her ears words of love and devotion. Afterwards, they'd go
get married and begin to live their lives as one.
...Of course she'd have ratherd if she had been taken by surprise,
instead of being asked how to do it, but why be finicky? She had been
waiting for so long, and did not want to add to the length of time in which
they had been forced to live separately.
"Well, you could start small... like giving her a spatula..." Not very
romantic, but Ukyou knew how hard it was to find the right type of spatula
for fighting, she usually had to make them herself. And if Ran-chan
went through the trouble of finding one for her, that'd show the world
how much he cared for her.
"A spatula?" Since Ranma had no idea how to be romantic, he
accepted this as a general rule. "I dunno, she'd get kinda violent with it."
If he gave a spatula to Akane, that'd be only encouraging her to cook more,
and the world was not in need of anymore toxic waste.
Kind of hurt, Ukyou tried to think of something else. "Try telling
her right out that you love her."
Ranma eeped at the thought. If he did something so open, he knew
that hell would be unleashed upon him. Not only would his other fiancees be
less than understanding, he would also have to worry about everyone that
wanted Akane for themselves. "I was thinkin' of something more subtle..."
"Subtle?" Ok, so maybe Ranma wanted to have a slow, smooth
relationship. Well, Ukyou could deal with that. "A boring thing to do would
give her roses. But it's been done so many times it's not considered all that
romantic anymore. Instead... take her out on a date!" Ukyou's eyes started
to shine; a date with Ran-chan, an actual, real-life date with Ran-chan! What
should she wear? Oh, there was nothing good enough in her wardrobe. She'd
have to go shopping, and she might as well buy earrings, a purse, everything.
A friend's opinion wouldn't hurt, either. Who should she go with? There was
that regular, Natsume, she had the greatest sense of fa-
"UCCHAN!" Ukyou blinked, and realized that for the past
few minutes Ran-chan had been trying to get her attention.
"Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was asking where?"
"Oh, I'm sure you can come up with that much. But dress
fancy and take her to a fancy place."
"Thanks for the advice." Look, I've got to go, ok Ucchan?"
"Bye Ran-chan, and just ask me whenever you need any advice!
" Waving good-bye, Ukyou returned her attention to her customers, and
Ranma left the restaurant, barely dragging along his feet. Now that he had
left Ucchan's, that meant he didn't really have anywhere else to go, except
back to the Tendo Dojo. Not there was a problem about the place itself,
and generally he was eager to go back and relax (somewhat, anyway) but
Akane was there. And for the first time ever, he wanted to see her and
he admitted it. But at the same time, he didn't, because he might ask her
out. Something his pride had never allowed him to do; and just because
for once he let his defenses down didn't mean he'd do it.
Then he remembered; she wasn't home, she was at the movies! Ranma
felt safe enough to go home, now. Confident that he would get a grip on
himself by the time she got home, he happily walked back.
Near the center of Kuno's meditation room sat a new poster; not one
of the pig-tailed girl, nor of Tendo Akane. It was of the creep Saotome
Ranma; this one time Kuno allowed a reminder that Saotome Ranma existed in
his chamber, since Kuno considered it to be an excellent picture indeed. This new
pose of Ranma's suited him well; it was one of him falling after Kuno's
powerful strike. The poster was surrounded by sneering pig-tailed-girls and
Tendo Akanes. (Obviously at Ranma) The poster had cost quite a bundle,
over regular price of a set of five photos, but to Kuno, price meant nothing.
"Ah, my pig-tailed girl! At long last you no longer need fear
Saotome Ranma! I wish I could see thee, so that I could tell the great
news, but I know not of your location. Tendo Akane, you no longer
have a fiance! We soon enough shall be engaged, worry not about
that-"
Kuno's speeches of love directed to his many photos were
interrupted, however, when one of the walls was knocked down. He
stared at the hole, not noticing the person that stood there. Instead,
he began to remove the rubble in a frantic effort to find his photos.
"What you do?" He did notice the fact that there was now a
foot in his face. Irked, he pushed the foot away.
"How dare you destroy my precious collection! Even if you are
a beautifuk girl, you have no right to destroy this museum of the greatest
beauty on this earth." Grimacing, Shampoo threw her arms around
Kuno. "I'm sorry, but I all ready have two true loves." He pushed her
away with ease, mostly because Shampoo wanted to be pushed away.
"You no worry anymore about other women you like." Kuno
didn't like the sound of that.
"What do you mean, I 'no worry anymore?' Have you hurt them
in any way?! If you have even TOUCHED them, you sh-"
"No, but you are now... now Shampoo's husband." Turning her
face to the other side, she hugged Kuno again. "We are almost officially
married."
"I-is that so?...." Again he tried to push her away, but Shampoo
clenched her eyes, and held him a little tighter. "I understand your
feelings, but it would be cruel of me to take on anymore loves."
"They no love you. Only I l-l" Luckily, before Shampoo had to
force out the next two words, Kuno rudely interrupted her.
"Oh, even if they've never said aloud how much they adore me,
I know it to be a fact that they do. I can see it in their eyes." Shampoo
was almost crying now, forced to what she would do next. "Oh! I am sorry,
I never intended to upset thee so mu-" After gathering her courage,
Shampoo pressed her lips against his.
<Oh, I so sorry Ranma.>
Tadaima: I'm home
And Life Goes On
Part 1, chapter 8: Playing With your Mind, That's All
As Shampoo broke off the kiss with Kuno, she shoved him
away. She had done it, she obeyed the amazon law as far as she had
to, and by no means would she go any further. Instead, she ran right
out, through the wall as Kuno watched her.
<She does kiss well... maybe I should reconsider adding her to
the list of my true loves?> He got back up to his feet, and holding his
hands to his heart, he loudly declared,
"No! My love shall forever remain for Tendo Akane and the
Pig-tailed girl! No other women is worthy of this fine soul!"
"Ok Ranma, you want to prove you're innocent?" Nabiki asked,
propping her elbows on the table. Ranma, who had a rice cake stuffed in
his mouth, mumbled some incompressible answer. "Swallowing before
answering might help, Saotome." He followed her advice.
"Innocent of what?"
"Innocent of loosing to Kuno this morning."
"You saw that?" Nabiki took this as a bad sign; she had
expected the idiot to jump at her offer, bringing her an easy 1500 yen
Obviously he all ready had proof that Kuno had not been a victor, or he
didn't care. The latter was so improbable that Nabiki didn't even give it
any further thought.
"Yes, I saw it. I bet you're worried about how to clear your name."
First thing to do was to find out what he had; next was to prove her
proof was better than what he all ready had.
"Well, um, yeah, I guess, kinda...." She didn't know what
to make out of this. Ranma was the worst liar she'd ever met, and if
he was truly trying to lie about not caring, this was the best job he'd
ever done of faking it. But she refused to believe that; was Ranma
really not interested being the best anymore?
"Kuno does deserve to be the best, though." If he didn't
contradict this, Nabiki would know that he needed to be taken to a
doctor, and fast.
"He does not!- I mean, the guy needs a break and maybe as
his ego gets larger so will his skills and give me more of a challenge."
That made sense, but Nabiki was still convinced that maybe Kuno
had whacked him too good a whack.
"Are you sure you're all right, Ranma?"
"Of course I'm fi-"
"Tadaima!" Akane walked into the dinning room, her bag in
hand.
"A-A-Akane!" Ranma stammered, stunned. He was expecting to
see her in another hour or so, so he had not had time to make himself
be 'mean' to her again. "Weren't you going to the movies?"
"Yeah, but my friends wanted to see 'Golden Eye'. I left after 10
minutes, the movie was so boring." she flung her bag into some corner
of the room, took a seat next to Ranma and picked up a rice cake. Ranma
turned pale and jumped about twenty feet away from her. "My, aren't we
jumpy today."
"Bye bye!" He exclaimed, and rushed out of the room. Akane and
Nabiki looked at each other.
"What's into him?" Akane asked, biting into the rice cake.
"That's what I've been trying to find out."
<<Comercial Break>>
Shampoo-neko sat on the top of the table gently licking
her paw; Cologne, at the same table, was reading some book in
Chinese. The two went on doing these activities calmly,
appreciating the quiet moment.
"Excuse me, madam?" A voice asked from behind the
camera. Both of them looked up. "Do you have any problems with
your kitty litter?"
"Of course not! "Cologne cried, idignant. Shampoo-neko
slitted her eyes, bared her teeth, and could be heard thinking,
<WHAT?!>
The screen moved onto a picture of a cat pushing his paw in
a kitty-box filled with some kitty litter, and a box of 'Fresh-scent
Scoop' next to it. "Um, you need Fresh-scent scoop, lady. It
freshens with every step, and can be easily scooped up!"
The scene sifts back to Cologne (Shampoo-neko is gone).
"Now, isn't that much better than your old kitty-litter?"
With an amused look, she responded, "That does sound
good."
"Fresh-scent Scoop- Um, who are you miss, and would you
please put of some clothes?! Well, don't put the clothes back on bu-"
Another voice joined the guy behind the camera.
"Shampoo not let you get away with calling her smelly!
Shampoo never so humiliated in her whole entire LIFE!" Yells, cracks
and cried for mercy was now coming out from behind the screen.
A picture of a cat smiling comes on, replacing the current
scene. "We are experiencing technical difficulties; please wait by."
<<End commercial break>>
He laid on his futon, his face stuffed in his pillow. This was
NOT good. At all. For the past half hour Ranma had spent reviving
the memory of all the cruel things Akane had ever done to him-
everything from hogging the bathroom that morning to hitting him
with the table on the first day they met. This was a technique that
had always worked before, when he wanted to be especially
mad at her. But now, when he needed it the most, it wouldn't work.
Sleep. That was the ticket. He hadn't gotten enough sleep
that night, that was why his was confused. Oh, what a relief!
When he woke up, he wouldn't think twice about Akane.
Not taking care to be quiet, Nabiki opened the door to
Ranma's room. She knew damn well that he could sleep through
anything; another great advantage Nabiki had over Ranma.
Rummaging around the room, she tried to find out what was
wrong with Ranma. After knowing Ranma for two hours, you
could be sure of at least two things
1) This undying need of being the best martial-artist,
and 2) His denial of any feeling for her little sister. And both
of these things he did not stand up to just now. Nabiki knew
something was wrong, and she had to find out fast, or else she'd
miss out on a money-catching opportunity.
When she checked to see if Ranma was all right, she nearly
jumped out of her skin when she heard him mutter, "Akane..." Was
he awake and thinking she was Akane? Realizing he was only dreaming,
she inspected him even closer. He was relaxed, a lazy smile
stretched across his face. "...Ok..."
<What IS he dreaming about?>
As it turned out, 'he' was having a very pleasant dream.
Almost as soon as he had hit the gates of dreamy-dream-land, he met
Akane. She smiled at him, and held something behind her back.
"Hello, Ranma."
"Akane..." She tilted her head to the right, closing her eyes
and smiling even more. "What are you doing here?" Opening her
eyes, she pulled out what she had been hiding from behind her back.
"I made this just for you!" Even if it was just a dream,
Ranma could feel his stomach tightening. She held out a tray of food;
and if what she said was true, she had cooked it. He looked closer,
wanting to make sure that there were no unnecessary green blobs or
any other obvious mistakes. He couldn't find any; Akane's food had
finally passed the sight test, and also the smell test. "Won't you try some?"
How could he say no? She looked so pleased with her
herself, and hopeful. "...Ok..." Taking the plate from her, he
sat on the ground setting the tray in front of him, and picked up
a piece with a pair of chopsticks. Taking a deep breath, he ate
it. He was so astonished that he nearly choked.
"You don't like it?" Akane asked, on the verge of tears.
Holding his hand to his neck,
"No! It was great! I mean it!" He couldn't remember a
time when she had been happier. she threw her arms around him.
"Oh, I'm so happy! Oh, I'm so happy! I'm so happy!
So happy! Happy!"
Nabiki repeated various times, "I'm so happy!" to tease
Ranma, and also as an experiment.. He blinked, as he slowly woke up.
"Na-nabiki... what are you doing?"
"I'm just playing with your mind. That's all."
And Life Goes On
Part 1, chapter 9: Photo of Evidence
Shampoo never cycled so hard in her life. From her eyes tears
of humiliation and her heart ached from sadness and bitterness. Ever
since she had met her husband, she had sworn forever faithful to him,
but how could she, with this idiotic law she had to obey? True, it was
another one of her 'idiotic' laws that had led her to Ranma, and gotten
her married to him, but that wasn't the point!
She took comfort in the fact that she wouldn't have to chase
Kuno for at least another two weeks; the comfort was little, though,
just the thought of having Kuno's children sent shivers down her spine.
She prayed that Ranma would kick Kuno's ass, and soon; the suspense
was killing her.
Ranma had a knack for worrying Akane; not a single day
went by that Akane hadn't worried over Ranma's faithfulness, health
or anything else about him. Today's new worry, was slightly different;
she noticed he was acting more and more like Ryoga. When he just
saw her, he had practically jumped out of his skin, a typical Ryoga
reaction when he saw her. Not that Ryoga wasn't a great guy, but that
sort of behavior was simply not Ranma-ish... which could only lead
her to think he was up to something. Either that, or he had finally
flipped; Akane didn't which was worse.
"I'm just playing with your mind. That's all." Ranma stared at
Nabiki, the feeling of anger piling up in him.
"Playing... with... my... mind? I should have known... it's
because of you, isn't it?! Well, I want you to stop it right now!" She
leaned back, not having expected this sort of reaction from him.
"What are you talking abo-"
"....Or do I?"
"Eh?"
Turning around, Ranma again reconsidered his options. He
could ask Nabiki to stop whatever she was doing, and have him
return to normal. But what was so great about that? He couldn't see
anything wrong about lo- "No! I do NOT love her!"
"Who said anything about you loving me?" Ranma just
ignored her. So what if he loved Akane? What was wrong with
seeing her in that special way? Nothing, he decided. And I'll tell her
that.
"Nabiki.... thanks." This was too strange, especially for Ranma.
She began to wonder if she should stay there, or run out and hope
he'd come back to his senses. "I don't know what you did to me,
and why, but I appreciate it."
"I hope you know I have NO idea of what you're talking ab-"
"Ranma!" Akane burst in, none to happy. "Have you seen my-"
Noticing the sudden redness of Ranma's face, she asked, "Ranma, are
you ok?"
"N-never felt better!" *Oh-oh, he's starting to stammer too...*
Akane thought. "Akane... just so you know..." He stood up, taking
her hands in his. Nabiki was surprised that he was doing this in front
of her, and Akane was embarrassed by that fact.
"Er.. what are you do-" Shampoo ran into the room, knocking
Akane away and hugging Ranma, crying into his shoulder.
"It's so terrible, Ranma!"
"Shampoo?..." Akane didn't appreciate the fact that she had
just been pushed against a wall, and she knew Shampoo well enough
that she used crying to get what she wanted. "What are you doing
here?!" Shampoo ignored Akane and continued to cling and bawl.
"Shampoo hate law! Please, beat Kuno again soon, Shampoo
no want marry him!"
"Shampoo, do you mind?..." Asked Ranma, trying to push
Shampoo off. Having Shampoo glomp onto him when he was trying
to tell Akane something important irritated him. Shampoo didn't even
hear him, just continued babbling.
"He terrible kisser, nothing like you! He idiot, I know want bear
stupid children! He not even strong, he will be shame of my family!"
"What's all this?" Asked Nabiki, intrigued.
"She has some law that if I get beaten, and I don't beat the guy
again in two days, she has to marry him, no ifs ands or buts."
"Really?"
"Is that so..." Nabiki smiled smugly. "Well then, if that's the case...
I bet you don't want me to pass copies of this photo around town."
Nabiki whipped a photo and showed it to Ranma, who quickly paled.
"What is on it?" Shampoo asked, now just barely sniffling,
trying to twist her head to see it.
"NO!" Ranma exclaimed, turning Shampoo's head in the other
direction with his hands. "How much?"
"1500 yen."
"1500 yen?!"
"Hey, Shampoo, bet you'd love to have this picture..." She
offered to Shampoo, who looked at Nabiki blankly.
"Ok, ok, I'll pay for it!" He finally managed to shake
Shampoo off, and pulled about half the amount of money Nabiki
wanted. "I don't have anymore on me." He explained.
"Are you sure?" Ranma nodded. "Doesn't Ranma look good
in this picture, Sha-"
"Hey, Nabiki, lemme have a look at it."
"I've got it, I've got it! Look, Nabiki." The business women
smiled, and put the photo back into her pocket.
"Sorry ladies, Ranma and I have a deal." Sighing at first a sigh
of relief, he realized something.
"Hey, aren't ya goin' to give me the negatives?"
"But of course not, Ranma. I'll take good care them." Nabiki
promised, and quickly zipped out of the room before Ranma could
protest.
"What were on those photos, Ranma?"
"No-nothing that concerns you, Akane. Don't worry."
"With you around, that's a hard thing not to do."
"Shampoo not really care about that, all Shampoo want is for
Ranma to teach Kuno a lesson." As Shampoo went on about to what
extent Ranma should beat up the Blue Thunder, Ranma whispered to
Akane that he'd explain later, after Shampoo had left. Akane was sure
by this point Ranma's mind was seriously messed up.
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 a few days and get my score cleaned,
and 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..."
"{Trying out the new fashion.}" 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 and her
katana 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 to help
you do well in match with Kuno!" 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 all the plates), 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 the next few day
would be hell.
'And Life Goes On'
Part 1, chapter 11: Shadows Of The Pride
"I'm sorry about Shampoo, Akane." Ranma apologized as
Akane looked out over the balcony. After Ranma had 'accepted'
Shampoo's request to stay over at the Tendo dojo, Akane had
refused to talk to Ranma. "She misunderstood me, and asking
Shampoo-" Akane turned to look Ranma straight in the eye,
her eyes beginning to water.
"SHUT UP, Ranma! I've had enough! What makes you
think I ever cared about you, anyway?" His mouth opened, but
no answer came out. "If you think I'm jealous about Shampoo
or any other of your fiancees, the you've got more than just a
few screws loose!" After promptly delivering a blow to Ranma's
stomach, Akane left the balcony.
The pain was overwhelming. It wasn't the punch, Ranma
hadn't even noticed that. No, it was what Akane said to him. He
had heard words of anger and denial from her so often that he
had come to expect it and even grown to like it. But for the first
time ever the words wounded him.
*She... she hates me!* He thought desperately. *And all
this time I thought... I thought... how could I have been so blind!
She despises me! What am I going to do?* He wanted to cry.
And yell. And jump off the balcony. Not that jumping off the
balcony would do any good, he could jump off the empire state
building and be just fine.
"Ranma, you come to bed now!" A pair of arms came
from behind Ranma, hugging him tightly, and a locket of purple
hair covered his face. "You need get sleep for important match
tomorrow. After all, you no want loose, right? But Kuno should be
easy to beat! You no need worry!" When Shampoo realized that
Ranma hadn't complained or even squirmed yet, she checked to
make sure if he was still breathing.
"Is Ranma all ok?" She asked. He nodded his head.
"Ranma! Oh, at last you belong to Shampoo!"
"Wha?" A part of his mind wondered why he wasn't taking
Shampoo's arms off of him, or try to make it a little clearer
that he did not belong to Shampoo, but he didn't really have an
answer. His mind was simply too numb for any sort of thinking.
"Why, that we can finally get married! Now that you
know that you love me-"
"Not today, Shampoo."
"You sure you're ok, Ranma?"
"I'm all right." Ranma wished he could tell somebody
about his problem with Akane. But everybody he knew would
beat him up if they found out that he was in love with Akane.
Why did his life have to be so hard?
"Shampoo love you, you know that, right?" She
whispered softly into his ear, running her fingers along the
outline of his face.
"Y-yeah..."
"Ranma love Shampoo, too. And when two people love
each other, they get married. So it be only right that we do."
By now, Shampoo had pulled Ranma's face so that they were
now about an inch apart.
"Bu-but what about Ku-Kuno." Despite the fact that
half the time Ranma's gender was female, and had seen a
female body thousands of times, it still made him nervous to
be so close to another female body. Especially Shampoo's.
"Shampoo won't have to marry him if we complete that
marriage. And Shampoo not care about that, Ranma will defeat
Kuno early tomorrow."
"Shampoo, lets get-" Ranma didn't get to say what he
wanted to get, as that moment he had found Shampoo's lips
pressed hard against his.
It was one of the best moments in the world for Shampoo.
The dirt she had carried around with her all day disappeared as
she kissed her love for the third time. Flowers popped around the
kissing couple, violins played romantic melodies, and a cupid was
seen nearby. Their lips only started to part after a long while,
Shampoo hanging onto the kiss because she wanted to, and
Ranma did because he was in such shock.
"Oh, Ranma..." She whispered, her heart felt the same joy
when Romeo and Juliet first kissed. "Let do that again..."
Ranma gulped, his joy equal to that when the people on the
Titanic realized that the ship was sinking. Approaching his
lips with her again, she was stopped as Ranma pushed her
away, fear clearly visible in his eyes. "Something wrong,
Ranma?"
"W-we can't do this, Shampoo! I mean, you're going to
be married to Kuno soon-" Shampoo snuggled up against
Ranma's chest, not noticing how tense his braid was getting.
"Oh, I still married to you. And Shampoo will never
marry Kuno, since Ranma defeat him before anything bad
happen. We can do this all night, and much more."
"Shampoo- I'm sorry." Before she could protest, he
stood up, dumping Shampoo roughly back onto the wooden floor,
and jumped off the porch and into the night.
"Ranma, you no run away from me!" She yelled, following
Ranma.
...Or what she believed to be Ranma. He watched as Shampoo
chased after somebody else, sitting at the base of a tree in the Tendo
backyard.
"Ranma come back! You no should be running at night,
Ranma need rest!" After running after him for about half a mile,
Shampoo had completely lost track of him. "RANMA!" So instead,
she resorted to calling out to him, ignoring the complaints she received
from the Nerima citizens for disturbing the peace.
"Shampoo." The word- or name, in this case- was spoken
quietly, but Shampoo picked it up. Turning around, she saw Kuno; her
heart sank when she saw that in his arms he held a bouquet of roses.
"Shampoo not interested in you!" She cried, disturbed deeply
that Kuno may like her after all. After having watched Ranma and Akane
have to deal with him for months, she knew he was a worse pain than
Mousse could ever be.
"I have pondered for a long time about you have told me this
afternoon... indeed, you are worthy enough to date with me, for you
are strong, stronger than my dear Tendo Akane, and nearly as fair as
my pig-tailed goddess. However-" He took a deep breath, as if to
draw strength from the air to help him aid in what he was
going to say next, "Two true loves are enough for me. Two is a
blessing, and three is a crowd. I hope that you shall be content
enough in being my friend."
"Then what the roses for, dumb boy?"
"These?" He looked at the roses, admiring them. "These
are for me beloved pig tailed goddess. I have not have had the
pleasure of being in her presence, and I do miss her. You would
not happen to know where she has gone, would you?"
"He makes me so mad!" Akane exclaimed. "Where did
he get the idea that HE could invite guests to OUR home? And it
was Shampoo! He's such a jerk!"
"Don't you think he's acting a bit odd?" Nabiki asked, twirling
a pencil in her hand. As a child, she used to bite on the eraser, but
not did she look utterly repulsive as she did, she found it could be
considered a nervous habit, damaging the view she could gain as a
business woman. She had forced herself to stop, although she
couldn't help twirling her pencil from time to time.
"I hate having to deal with him all the time! And- What?"
"Nothing. Just wondering aloud."
"Actually, now that you mentioned it..." Akane racked her
memory, remembering what Ranma had told her earlier. "He said to
me-" Suddenly she remembered to whom she was talking to.
"Nice try, Nabiki."
"Oh, Akane, you don't think I'm going to harm your fianc�
with this information, do you?"
"No, I'm afraid you'll harm me."
"Trustworthy little sister, aren't you? Don't worry, Akane,
nothing awful will come out of this."
"I'm going to trust my gut instinct, Nabiki. Besides, it's none
of my business."
"Oh, is it really?" Nabiki's eyes glinted with evil- or maybe
just the light- and held up a small book with a blue cover, and on
the front written in delicate letters, 'Diary'. Akane gasped.
"Nabiki, you wouldn't!" Surprising Akane by throwing
the book into her hands, she turned to look out the window.
"You're right. I wouldn't. You're family."
"You didn't read it, did you?"
"Akane, do you realize that's what an amateur would do?
There's no challenge in reading a diary; even Ranma would be able
to do that. You should start hiding your things more carefully,
Akane, if you want your life to be remotely private."
"I can't believe you're my sister. Sisters don't do things like
this!"
"Show me a sister who doesn't take advantage of her siblings
weakness, and I'll give you a thousand yen." A soft knock came
from the door, the person on the other side then opened the door
gently.
"Nabiki, Akane, I just wanted to say good night, I have to get
up early tomorrow so I'm going to bed early."
"There's your sister, Nabiki." She smiled smugly at Nabiki,
Nabiki only realizing then what a stupid bet she had made.
"Goodnight, Kasumi-onnechan."
"I don't believe I said that." Nabiki muttered, as she drew some
money from her wallet. "Good night, Kasumi."
After Kasumi left the room, Akane couldn't chanting, "I'm
smarter than Nabiki, I'm smarter than Nabiki." Watching her little sister
with the utmost calm, she vowed silently to, in some slight way,
bring harm to Ranma with his latest quirk. <And she is NOT
smarter than me!>
Isabel Arantes
terrin@netcom.com