Unlike most of my stuff, I'm still in the process of writing 
this, so if it seems a little rawer than usual, gomen.
	Dialogue in < > is in Chinese.]

			DEEP REFLECTIONS
			by Scott K. Jamison
(Takahashi disclaimer.)
			Chapter One:  Shampoo

	There was the usual mid-afternoon lull at the Nekohanten, so 
Shampoo was able to respond immediately when the postman came by.  Almost 
all deliveries to this address were restaurant supplies or official 
Amazon documents for Cologne, and Mousse kept a post office box for his 
private correspondence (though Shampoo couldn't imagine who he wrote 
to.)  So it came as a pleasant surprise when there was a package 
addressed directly to her.
	The name on the return label was unfamiliar to her, so she 
sounded it out.  "Sa-otome No-do-ka?  Oh, Ranma's mother!  She send 
Shampoo gift!  Mother-in-law like Shampoo best!"
	Sadly, the note inside suggested otherwise.  There was a gift for 
"each of Ranma's female friends."  Evidently Mrs. Saotome had learned 
from the gift box fiasco.  All that trouble over almost nothing!  That 
loudmouth Nabiki had a lot to answer for.
	Shampoo finished unwrapping the gift.  It was a small mirrored 
brooch, with trim that seemed somehow familiar.  The note said it was 
made from what was left of the Nanban Mirror.  That caught her 
attention.  The Mirror had once been a treasure of the Amazons, until 
Happosai stole it decades before.  She'd only seen the mirror once, when 
she and Ranma and a few others had taken a confusing trip to the past.  
After that, the Nanban had been shattered, and Shampoo had given it no 
further thought.
	But here a part of it was now, back in the hand of a rightful 
possessor.  She wondered if the Mirror still had its power over time and 
space.
	The note concluded with a wish, "that each of you will find 
happiness in your future."
	Shampoo knew what happiness she wanted in her future.  <Take me 
to ten years from now, when I'm married to Ranma.>  A tear of anticipated 
joy rolled down her cheek and on to the brooch.
	When her vision cleared, Shampoo found herself standing in an 
empty lot, concrete piping to her left.  She was confused at first, but 
soon inferred from a familiar building that she was where the Nekohanten 
*had* been.  She had actually traveled through time!
	<Of course!  If I married Ranma, we went back to Joketsuzoku, so 
naturally the Nekohanten closed!  Stupid stupid stupid!  I should have 
specified I wanted to be where I would be now!>  She flinched; even in 
Chinese, the twisted tenses were jarring.
	In order to not fully waste her trip, Shampoo decided to check 
out some of her old haunts.  Perhaps someone would remember her and tell 
her how she'd finally won.
	Not Ukyou though.  Ucchan's had been replaced by a hamburger 
franchise, and none of the workers knew what had happened to the previous 
owner.
	Shampoo passed by the Kunou mansion.  It was dark and silent, and 
no one answered her knock.  Dr. Tofu's office was gone, replaced by a 
condominium.  A sick feeling began in the pit of her stomach.
	<The doctor was only, what, forty, tops?  He should still be around.>
	There was one place left to look for the familiar.  Shampoo was a 
little afraid.  Mr. Tendou and his family had put so much effort in 
trying to marry Ranma to Akane, and she'd beaten out their daughter.  
Still, Kasumi never held a grudge, and if she were still around, she'd at 
least be civil to Shampoo.
	<And maybe Ryouga finally got over his shyness, hm?>
	The sound of "kiai!" in chorus greeted Shampoo as she approached 
the dojo.  She started feeling better; at least this place still was 
being put to its proper use.
	Shampoo decided against her usual crashing entrance.  This called 
for cat-style stealth.  She scaled the wall, and found a tree to perch 
in, taller than she remembered it.
	There were two figures practicing kata in the back yard, and 
Shampoo's eyes widened when she saw the smaller one.  It was a boy of 
five or six, who was the very image of Ranma, right down to the pigtail.  
Obviously Ranma's son.  The taller, then, was...Ranma?
	Yes, it was he, though his features had harshened somewhat with 
maturity.  Ranma's hair was cropped close, military-style, and as if to 
compensate, he'd grown a large mustache.  It made him look older than 
the about-thirty he'd now be.  He was wearing a plain white gi, and 
Shampoo was reminded of Genma's training of Ranma.
	Apparently he and the Tendou family had parted on better terms 
than she'd thought, if he was back for a visit.  So her trip wasn't 
wasted after all.
	"Husband!" came a voice from the house.
	"What is it, Shampoo?" asked Ranma, not pausing.
	A woman came out into the yard.  Shampoo stared at herself.  
She'd cut her hair short, and put on some weight, but yes, it was her.  
She was wearing a calf-length dress and apron that looked like Kasumi's.
	"Sasuke here.  More paperwork from Foundation."
	"Does it never end?  Okay, kid, take ten."
	Foundation?  Ranma doing paperwork.
	Once he wasn't practicing, Ranma's shoulders slumped, and he 
moved like an old man.
	"Mommy!" shouted the little boy, as he ran into the woman's arms.
	"Shampoo love Tenma," she cooed as she hugged him.  Were those 
tears coming from her eyes?  The younger Shampoo was confused.  Why was 
herself crying?  She had to know.
	Shampoo climbed down the tree and softly made her way over to her 
future counterpart.  Tenma saw her first.
	"Mommy!"  Then confused, he looked back at the Shampoo holding 
him.  "Mommy?"
	Shampoo-Future looked at Shampoo-Past.  "Is all right.  Shampoo 
think this old friend from long ago.  Nihao, liitle sister."
	Shampoo made a formal Amazon bow.  "Nihao, elder sister."
	<Do you mind if we speak in Chinese?  Our Japanese has never been 
that good, and I seldom hear the mother tongue anymore.>
	<But...Didn't we go back to Joketsuzoku once we married Ranma?  
Why does Ranma act so old?  And why were you crying?>
	<So many question!  Curious like the cat.>  She smiled, though 
her eyes were sad.>
	"Mommy, why are you talking all sing-songy?  I can't understand you."
	"It Chinese, Tenma.  From where Shampoo grow up.  She not even 
start use Japanese until meet Daddy."
	"Can I learn Chinese?  It sounds neat!"
	"Maybe.  We see what Daddy think.  Now can go over play with 
swing?  Shampoo have grownup talk."
	"Okay!  Bye, pretty lady!"  He scrambled over to a swing set. 
	Shampoo beamed a smile to him.
	<I see you wear a piece of the Nanban Mirror.  That is how you 
got here?>
	<Yes.  But everything's changed so much!  What happened?  And why 
don't you call yourself Mommy when you talk to Tenma?>
	<Many, many things happened.  But I do not call myself Mommy 
because I was not the boy's birth mother.  Akane was.>
	<Akane?  But then-->
	<It all began when Ranma and Akane decided to elope.  They staged 
a really big fight in the morning, stalked off in different directions, 
and went by circle routes over to Roppongi where they got a judge to give 
them a quickie wedding.  The first any of us knew about it was three days 
later when they showed up with the marriage certificate and goofy smiles 
plastered on their faces.>
	<They weren't fighting anymore?>
	<Oh, constantly.  But they'd also started to fight together.  
Whupped us all pretty good.  Three or four times, till everyone got the 
message.  Great-Grandmother was *not* pleased.>
	<What did she do?>
	<Kicked me out of the Amazon tribe and moved back to China with 
Rin Rin and Ran Ran.  That hurt a lot, but frankly I think she was going 
a little senile there towards the end.  I mean, exploding ramen?>  The 
older Shampoo shook her head ruefully.
	<But without the Amazon laws...>
	<I wasn't an Amazon anymore.  I was like the walking dead for a 
couple of weeks, and Mousse took care of me.  After that, we finally 
talked things through.  I finally understood why he wanted to marry me, 
and he finally understood why I couldn't marry him.  We kept the 
Nekohanten going for a little while, but I convinced him he should take 
up his magic career again.  They even gave him a TV special in America!>
	<But you didn't go with him?>
	<No.  I moved in with Ukyou for a couple of years and added ramen 
to her place's menu.  We did all right for ourselves, but Ukyou got more 
into the Zen of cooking over time, and when Tenma was born she went on a 
"training voyage."  I couldn't run Ucchan's by myself, so she rented out 
the building and I found a job as night manager at a new Chinese 
restaurant , Yuh Ki's, down in Shinjuku.>
	<I saw the burger joint.  But what about Ranma?>
	<Well, Akane's sister Kasumi married Dr. Tofu, no surprise there, 
and Nabiki actually got Kunou and his crazy sister into therapy as part 
of her price for marrying him.  Apparently that Prozac stuff works 
wonders.>
	<And?>
	<For their fifth anniversary, Ranma and Akane invited the whole 
family to Yuh Ki's for a party.  Just as everyone was leaving, Ryouga 
showed up and got into a fight with Ranma.  While they were fighting and 
I was trying to break it up without losing my job...>  A tear glistened 
in her eye.
	<Something bad happened, didn't it?>  Shampoo finished.
	<Yes.  Maybe the truck driver had been on the road too long with 
too little sleep; maybe his brakes were faulty; maybe it was just bad 
luck.  But he lost control of his eighteen-wheeler.  The Saotomes, the 
Tendous, the Kunous, the Tofus...all gone in an instant.>
	<Souls of the Ancestors!  All of them?>  Even though Shampoo had 
considered many of the people named enemies or annoyances, she felt 
sorrow at their passing.  To die in battle, or disease, or old age, these 
things she understood, but so many lives wasted in a moment!
	<Only Tenma survived.  Akane sacrificed her life to save 
his...She almost made it.>  Shampoo nodded, a hard lump in her throat.  
She would have done the same, she hoped.   
	<Ranma and Ryouga went to prison for what they did to the 
driver.>  She shuddered.  <He asked me to take care of Tenma, so I did.  
I was the only one left...>
	"Lookit, Mommy!  Lookit me!" shouted Tenma, who'd climed to the 
top of the swings.
	"Tenma brave!  But be careful!" replied the older Shampoo, 
keeping an eye on the boy.
	<After a while, Ranma and Ryouga did something for the government 
to earn a pardon.  Ranma won't talk about it, and Ryouga didn't come 
back, maybe dead, maybe just lost.  When he came back, Ranma asked me to 
marry him, to be a mother to Tenma.  He said the one thing he never 
forgave his father for was depriving him of his mother all those years.  
I agreed, since all we had left was each other.>
	For a moment there was silence, broken only by the squeaking of 
the swing.
	<As sole survivor, Ranma inherited almost everything from the 
families.  We don't want for material wealth.  He put a lot of money into 
a foundation to help people who lose their families to accidents.  When 
he isn't running that, he trains Tenma.>  She stopped for a moment.  <And 
I take care of them.  It is not a bad life, but I would trade it all to 
have things back the way they were.>
	<Even if it meant never marrying Ranma?>
	<Even if, little sister.  I achieved my goal, but it was not 
worth the price we both had to pay.  Travel carefully, Shampoo.  The 
mirror shows only possibilities.  You needn't end up here.>  She stood.
	"Tenma come!  Bedtime!"  The boy protested, but slowly made his 
way toward the house.  It had grown quite dark.
	<Farewell, Shampoo.>
	<Farewell, Shampoo.>  The younger gave an Amazon salute, then 
whispered, "Take Shampoo back."  Her tear of sorrow struck the brooch and 
she vanished.
	Ranma stuck his head out the door.  "Did we have a Chinese 
visitor?  I thought I heard voices."
	"Shampoo just talk to self.  Remember when young."

			To Be Continued

SKJAM!
(Not what you were expecting, was it?)