I'd be surprised if anyone remembers me. :) I know
I haven't contributed much as of late, but most of my unfinished
fanfics are meant to be cheerful, but I haven't been anywhere
near cheerful enough to write them... So instead, I came up
with this. If anyone can suggest a better title, please to
tell me.


Long Way Home
 
It's hard to say from where you stand
Exactly when it all began
But someplace there's a point where you cross the line
You see the tears that stain your face
Mirrored in your make-up case
And you know its time to leave this place behind
 
Chorus:
 
It's a long way home
It's a long way home
It's a long way home
Trying to retrace your steps
All too easy to forget
Just which way to go
It's a long way home
 
Outside the sky is threatening
You slowly gather up your things
and wonder how you ever will explain
Walking out so self-assured
yeah, you were gonna change the world
Walking back a child in the rain
 
Chorus
 
And if you loose your way
Just keep your eye upon that endless broken line
 
Throw your bag beneath the bus
Sit among the curious
It happens to the best of us, you know
 
Chorus
 
Starting to retrace your steps
You learn to retrace your steps
Next stop heaven knows
It's a long way home
Such a long way
It's a long way home
 
                        --- Vanessa Williams, It's a long way home
 
 
 
 
        The wind blew hard over the quiet town of Nerima, canceling
 any warmth that might have been received though the sun's gentle
 rays. Trees clung to their leaves, trying to avoid the inescapable fate
 of loosing them. The leaves on the branches shook violently, torn
 between the decision of remaining where they were, or to give in to
 the wind take them where it pleased. Few resisted the strong call of
 the wind, and freed themselves of the place in which they had lived for
 the past half year, eager to learn about the world below.
 
        Part of that world below was Shampoo, a young woman of 23,
 who was calmly sweeping up the leaves that came her way in a
 colorful stack of autumn colors. All that could be heard was the rough
 wind and the leaves being racked, quite odd when compared to the
 amount and volume of noise that had been commonplace seven years
 ago. Shampoo didn't miss the noise; being one of the main causers
 of the noise, she appreciated the peace and quiet that the whole town
 enjoyed these days.
 
        A man wearing a thick windbreaker passed by, waving a hand
 to Shampoo who greeted him back cheerfully. From the animation in
 her voice and the sincerity of her smile, one would have guessed that
 Shampoo was leading a full and happy life; married to the one she
 loved, business in her restaurant doing well and loyal friends. But
 unfortunately for Shampoo, while most of these things were true,
 there was one vital thing missing.
 
        Business was going very well for Shampoo; after having
 finally spent the time to learn Japanese as well as to attend a night
 school, she managed to bring her profits higher than her
 great-grandmother had ever managed to. And who were once her
 enemies, were now her friends.
 
        The only problem that laid in Shampoo's life was love; with her
 looks and great skill, Shampoo had always expected to get any man she
 wanted. So when the male Ranma came along, she pinned her heart to
 him and entered the race.
 
        At first, Ranma was only that: a game. he only reason Shampoo
 had bothered to look in his direction was because of her amazon laws;
 and when she had begun to pay attention to him, she latched herself to
 him like she had seen so many of her friends do back at home. Ranma
 was a strong man, someone she could be proud of to call her husband,
 unlike all the other males she had met in her short lifetime. Other
 than that, she did not know him; well, she did know he wasn't
 opening his arms for her to jump into, but Shampoo was sure that
 she would be able to pry them open soon enough.
 
        It was a few months after having met him did she make the
 foolish mistake for genuinely falling in love with him; she learned that
 his sense of honor put hers to shame, knew not what the word
 danger meant and looked out for those that he cared for. When
 Shampoo was a little girl, all that she had ever wanted in her husband
 was a man that was stronger than her, but that she still could knock out
 when he got too annoying. In Ranma, she found much more; and
 naturally, she wanted to offer more than just being a beautiful wife:
 she wanted to be a wife of his standards.
 
        She abandoned the mind-controlling food and tricks, opting for
 winning his true love instead. Her great-grandmother warned her
 not to, but Shampoo wouldn't listen to her advice; no, what she
 wanted to see when she looked at Ranma was a man that loved her
 because he wanted to, not because of some law she had to obey, or
 because of some mind-controlling concoction she had fed him.
 
        Years passed by, and although Ranma considered Shampoo
 more often than he used to, Shampoo was loosing miserably.
 Shampoo knew that Ranma liked Akane despite all of his protests,
 but believed that it was her that he loved and that Akane was only
 some silly crush. She didn't know that his heart was set on Akane
 long ago.
 
        So therefore, it came as a shock when Ranma told her he
 seriously wanted to marry Akane; after beating Ranma senseless and
 thinking about, Shampoo realized she never did have a chance with
 Ranma. Akane had beat her before she had even started. It was a tough
 decision, but Shampoo let them get married without a fuss; she even
 managed to sit through their ceremony, unlike all her other rivals that
 had to be tied up before the wedding.
        A year passed after their wedding, and in that time frame
 Shampoo made friends with her greatest rival, Akane. Akane was
 unlike the impatient tomboy she had known at 16 years of age. Sure,
 Akane still bit when provoked, but if you left her alone she could be
 even friendlier than Ukyou. She was a patient person whose
 cooking surpassed even that of Kasumi's, and a martial artist with
 more skills than the average person: that is, as long as you didn't
 critize her on it. And although Shampoo enjoyed spending time with
 her, she hated herself for being so nice to the person that had torn
 her life apart.
 
        Ironically, even though Shampoo was the first to accept the
 fact that Ranma and Akane were in love, she was the only one not
 to have a significant other. Ukyou had her Konatsu, Ryoga had his
 Akari, Kodachi- well, no one knew where she was- and Kuno had
 found his happiness in Nabiki. 
 
        Shampoo took some comfort in the fact that not all of them
 had let go of their first loves so easily; once, Ukyou had admitted to
 Shampoo it was still painful to watch Ranma with Akane. Shampoo
 knew better than anyone what she meant. Once, while Shampoo
 was taking a walk through the park during at night, she had seen
 two silhouettes next to each other. She had smiled, thinking back
 fondly on one of the fantasies she had when she was younger.
 
        But when the cloud covering the full moon moved, Shampoo
 could tell who it was perfectly. It was Ranma and Akane, walking
 hand in hand and talking softly. The sight of Akane walking camly,
 her hand swinging in rhythm with Ranma's and their smiles
 directed at each other broke Shampoo's heart. She turned around and
 ran as fast as she could, her tear glistening in the moonlight.
 
 
 
        "Shampoo?" She turned from her paperwork to see
 Mousse standing in the doorway, a huge smile on his  face.
 
        "I'm busy now, Mousse. Could it wait?" Her tone of voice
 didn't ask him to do it, it demanded him. His face fell, disappointed.
 
        "I'm sorry, Shampoo. I can guess I can tell you la-"
 
        "What, are you kidding me?" She smiled at him, and motioned
 for him to take a seat next to her. "I was just joking, Mousse. So,
 what is it that you want to tell me?" Mousse, as Shampoo had found
 out, wasn't really that bad a character as she had always thought him
 to be. He had helped her get through some really tough times,
 especially after Ranma's marriage, by letting it talk it out to him. He
 would sit there for hours on end, listening to her rage over her loss,
 and Mousse would ignore his own feelings about her, just so that she
 could let it out. Now that Shampoo thought about it, those times she
 had talked to him probably hurt him more than it had hurt her when
 her first love got married. 
 
        They had even started dating for awhile, and it was then that
 Mousse realized that Shampoo may never love him, as she was only
 doing this out of pity, and it was also her way of apologizing about
 what she had made him go through. After he had come to terms
 with this, he knew then that Shampoo was only a dear friend to him,
 and that he didn't want to spend the rest of his life with her. But he
 still worked and lived at the Nekohanten, this time with a salary much
 higher than minimum wage.
 
        "I just had to tell you." he said, his words tumbling out
 of his mouth. "I'm getting married." The calculator which
 Shampoo had been holding slipped from her grasp, smashing when
 it hit the floor. Shampoo didn't notice the fate of her calculator. 
 
        All she did was stare at him, her disbelief and shock written
 all over her face. "Aren't you happy for me, Sha-"
 
        "You're what?!" The chair fell, thrown off balance when
 she suddenly stood up.
 
        "I'm getting married."
 
        "B-but why? I thought you were happy now at the Nekohanten,
 why are you leaving me?"
 
        "Because-" Only then did he recongnized the frantic horror
 in her eyes, the same one when Ukyou and Ryoga had in their eyes
 when they learned of Akane's marriage. It was exact same look
 Shampoo had in her eyes as she had moaned over about Ranma. His
 heart deflated, feeling awful and guilty for having to cause Shampoo
 so much grief. "Oh, Shampoo... I'm sorry, but-"
 
                "Forget it." She whispered, her voice shaking, "I should
 have known..." She tried to control her anger and disappointment, but
 was unable to. Pulling out her bon bori, she smacked him on the head,
 and ran out of the restaurant.
 
 
        She found herself on the top of the clock tower on Furinkan
 High, completely unaware of how she had gotten up there and why. 
 
        From there, she had an excellent view of the small town she
 had spent half her life growing up in. She searched for her favorite
 place to have battles, where she'd bump into Ranma on her bicycle
 and other locations she visited often. She sat there in the dark, alone,
 compiling all of her memories of this town called Nerima.
 
        Her eyes glazed over when an unwanted memory hit her. It
 was when for sure her life suffered a blow that could never be fixed...
 
 
 
        "Why are you leaving?" The younger version of Shampoo
 asked, as she watched her great-grandmother pack all of her belongings
 into two large cardboard boxes.
 
        "Because there's no reason for me to remain in this sorry dump."
 
        "What you mean?"
 
        "Shampoo, you know the reason I came here, don't you?"
 
        "No, you never tell me. Why?" The elderly lady sighed, impatient
 with this slow child.
 
        "I came here because you showed great promise. From a very
 early age, you were strong and had the chance to go far. And when I
 learnt that you had found such a skilled husband... I packed my bags to
 come here and help develop you and my ex-son-in-law into the next
 tribe leaders.
 
        "And...?"
 
        "You failed completely! I don't know what happened, but you
 became to soft for your own good! In order to be a warrior, one
 needs to be strong and achieve in everything they do. You, Shampoo,
 not only became a sentimental fool, but you lost your husband!
 Willingly! Because of this, you are a failure."
 
        "A failure..." Biting her tongue, she looked down, too ashamed
 to look up. "Great-grandmo-"
 
        "You no longer are allowed to call me that. I am no longer
 related to you."
 
        By this point, Shampoo could not manage to speak. To be
 disowned and called a failure in one day would be bad enough for
 anyone, but for an Amazon this could only mean that she had been-
 
        "By the way, if you don't know all ready, you've been baned
 from our tribe. If you ever come within a 100 mile radius of our
 tribe, we shall have to dispose of you." Having said her last words,
 Cologne picked up her boxes and left Shampoo all to herself.
 
 
        
        "I failed." Shampoo said softly. "From the very time I met
 Ranma... I failed." it was too much for her. She bawled harder than
 she had ever before, her body racking with sobs. Before, Shampoo
 had tried to stop herself from crying, but this time, she didn't. It
 didn't matter anymore. She already had failed.
 
        An old saying from her hometown popped into her head: If
 you have failed once, you shall never succeed.
 
        She looked at her hands. They were hands of a hard-working
 woman, and she had earned it by working at the Nekohanten and
 practicing martial arts. But these hands were not worthy of touching
 anything. Because they belonged to her. Shampoo. A name that lived
 in shame.
 
        "I failed not only once... but again."
 
        She thought back to the women she had scorned at when she
 was younger. All f them had been pronounced failures and banned
 from the tribe. Nobody was to ever mention them again, but Shampoo
 and her friends would giggle and laugh at them anyway. Talked about
 had they had been useless all along...
 
        And she was one of them. Laughed and pointed at, because
 of what she had done.
 
        Standing up, she looked at her surroundings one last time, trying
 to remember it all. The movement of each branch, the lingering smell
 of burnt leaves, the brightness of each star. But most of all, the
 darkness of the night.
        One step forward...
 
        She had been brought up to the laws of the wild: only the
 strongest survive.
 
        Another step...
 
        Shampoo knew she was weak.
 
        Her third step...
 
        The weak had only one unsaid duty.
 
        Another one...
 
        The duty was hers now.
 
        her next step would be her last.
 
 


______
	

	Any C&C?


	Isabel Arantes