Ok, this is a Work In Progress, so I expect at least a small response to
this :), ok?

I haven't been keeping my webpage up to date, so if you want a copy of
anything from chapter 12 - 18, you'd better send an email request to me.

And other than that, read on, and try to bear the mistakes in grammar and
spelling and style. 

Chapter 18: Shampoo and Mousse

    "Oh Ranma."  Mousse was silenced by Ranma-chan as she placed a finger
over his mouth.

    "Oh Mousse, please do it again."

    Ranma-chan and Mousse were seriously making out in the park, the usual
place where lovers liked to congregate.  Ok, so they weren't having wild
sex, but they were necking intensely enough that passerbys had the decency
to look the other way.

    However, unknown to the two lovers, a person was closely observing
them.  "Damn you Mousse, why are you so..."  Shampoo turned her entire body
away, and leaned against the tree which hid her from their sights, her
fingers twitching uncontrollably, and eyes betraying her rage.  "Oh, they
just make me so angry."  Shampoo pounded her fists together.  "And I get so
violent when I'm angry."

    "I'm going to go and bash their skulls in."  Shampoo summoned her
bonbori, and was prepared to unleash hell on the two.

    "I don't think so."  Shampoo felt a hand land on her shoulder,
restricting her movement.  Shampoo struggled, but the iron grip prevented
her from moving.

    Shampoo turned around, and whispered viciously at Ryoga.  "Let go of
me, lost boy.  I go make Mousse and Ranma suffer."  Shampoo did get quite
irrational when it came to the business of love.

    Ryoga grabbed Shampoo, and reeled her in.  "Believe me, harm Ranma, and
you don't want to see what I will do to you."  Ryoga relaxed his grip.
"Besides, what is the point in killing Mousse if you 'love' him so much."
Despite her violent urge, Shampoo reluctantly relaxed, and dropped her
bonbori.

    "So what do you want to do?"  Shampoo asked somewhat sadly.  Amazons
never like to walk away from a possible fight.

    Ryoga looked around nervously, as he really didn't think of plan.
"Well... we... we..."  Ryoga hesitated for a moment as he tried to think of
a decent plan.  'Think Ryoga!  Think!  A good plan!  Something that will
work!'  Ryoga stumbled around for a moment, as he watched Shampoo grow more
and more impatient.  "we... walk up to them?"

    Shampoo sighed.  "Are you stupid or something?  Shampoo rather go beat
daylights out of Mousse, and take him home."

    Ryoga slapped his forehead.  "And how is that supposed to make him fall
in love with you?"  Shampoo was silenced as that was a good point.  There
was a limit to how far Amazon men would allow themselves to be somewhat
mistreated.

    "Ok, we go talk."  Shampoo walked out of the bush.  Ryoga followed.

    Ryoga and Shampoo silently sneaked their way to the bench that Mousse
and Ranma-chan were still occupying.  Ranma-chan, who was on the bottom,
opened her eyes, and noticed Ryoga.  Immediately a sly look surfaced on her
face.  Grabbing a hold of Mousse, she pressed her body into his and gave
him a long hard kiss.

    Ranma-chan pushed Mousse up, and sat up.  "Oh, there you are, Ryoga.
Jealous?"  Ranma-chan gave Mousse and Shampoo a smile that resembled that a
cat that had just eaten its fill of mice.  "Sorry, that you couldn't get
some?"

    Ryoga paled.  "Get some what?"  He didn't want to know what the drug
had done to both of their minds.

    "You know."  Ranma-chan smiled knowingly at Ryoga.  

    Ryoga paled so far that his face became quite transparent.  "You mean
you didn't!"  Ryoga stared at Mousse, and started to beat him silly.
"Don't you know what can happen?  You idiot!  Why do you have to take
advantage of him!"  Shampoo and Ranma-chan struggled to get Ryoga off Mousse.

    Shampoo hissed in his ear.  "I thought you said peace was better way."

    Ryoga still struggled.  "Yeah, but I never expected that Mousse would
take advantage of Ranma!"  Ryoga continued struggling, but a bonbori to the
head a few times helped to calm him down.

    "We go speak to great-grandmother.  Ask her what to do."  Shampoo
grabbed Ryoga by the collar and dragged him away.

* * *

    "Ah, Shampoo, and why have you brought this boy with you?"  Cologne
squinted as she stood on the counter.  It was one of those unusual lulls in
business, and Cologne was spending the time smoking her pipe.  What she was
smoking, however, remains a mystery.

    Shampoo woke up Ryoga with a couple more swings of her fist and
bonbori, and he got up, despite the number of swelling bruises on his head.
 Rapidly, both described what exactly happened at the same time, but with
different words.  So, in short, all Cologne got was an earful of a cacophony.

    "What?  One at a time!  One at a time!"  Cologne waved her withered
arms around in an attempt to stop the two babbling teenagers.  Finally she
took matters into her own head, and sent Ryoga flying to the other end of
the room.  Shampoo quickly filled Cologne in on the details.

    Cologne shook her head, as if appeared the situation was getting rather
out of hand.  First of all, it wasn't a good thing for Ranma-chan and
Mousse or even Shampoo.  Should the potion be allowed to continue, who
knows what may happen.  Cologne thought hard for a moment, as she tried to
formulate a solution to the dilemma.  Cologne was surprised as she thought
over Shampoo's description of Ranma-chan gloating over Ryoga.  It seemed as
if Ranma was daring Ryoga to get angry.

    With a sigh, Cologne looked over her old scrolls and her tomes, in
search for any reference for a cure to the love potion she used.  Unable to
find anything at all, Cologne gave up, and walked out of her library.
Surprisingly, both Ryoga and Shampoo were still seated in the dining room
of the restaurant.

    As soon as Cologne entered, Shampoo practically perked up.  "Great
Grandmother find cure?"  Cologne sighed.

    "No, Shampoo my dear.  I found no cure.  But I have a plan."  Cologne
smiled as the solution appeared to be quite self-evident.  "All you will
have to do is make Ranma drink another dose of the love potion while he's
looking at you.  Then, he'll have no problem dropping Mousse off and going
all the way for you."

    Shampoo sighed, and stared at the ceiling.  'What is it with my
great-grandmother's fascination for potions.'

* * *

    "Ranma!"  Genma panicked as he stared at his son, no his daughter in
front of him.  "Ranma!  Is it true, that you got an engagement ring from a
MAN!"  Ranma-chan giggled, and she presented a sparkly ring to the amazed
eyes of Kodachi, Ukyo, and the rest of her family.

    "No silly!  It's just a gift from Mousse.  Oh Mousse..."  Ranma-chan's
eyes dilated as she dreamed about endless dates with her lover Mousse.
Everyone else looked at each other at the same time, by no means an amazing
feat, and thought that the situation had gone too far.

    Nodoka stood up and looked at Ranma-chan straight in the eyes.  "Well,
who is this Mousse?  I've never really seen him at all.  Don't you dare try
run off with a man that I do not approve of."

    Ranma-chan giggled, as she played with her mother's hair.  "Well's
really nice, as nice as Ryoga.  And he's a lot more attentive.  And he
feels the same way I feel about him."  Ranma-chan continued on and on,
amazingly despite the entire conversation was supposed to be focused on
Mousse, Ranma-chan seemed to have mentioned Ryoga's name more than Mousse's.

* * *

    Ryoga sat across from Shampoo in a small tea shop, both trying to put
their minds to the problem of restoring their friends' personalities.
Already, Shampoo was beginning to miss Mousse and his attempts at trying to
impress her.  No longer did Mousse try to open doors before she obliterated
them.  No longer did Mousse hold an umbrella for her when she went out to
make her deliveries.  In fact, Mousse really didn't spend a lot of time
around the Nekohanten anymore.  He probably spent most of his time with
that Ranma-chan.

    Shampoo growled as she thought more and more.  'That slut!  And now she
probably has Mousse waiting on her, hand and foot.'  However, Shampoo knew
that harboring such negative thoughts were a bad idea, and she kept on
reminding herself that the fault of the entire situation was the potion
that both Ranma-chan and Mousse drank.

    Ryoga on the other hand, lamented the fact that his life long friend
had to suffer from a dual personality.  But then again, in many ways, the
dual personality was a blessing.  Ranma was a solid rock hard friend.
Willing to go out on a limb to help any of his friends.  Ranma-chan on the
other hand, Ryoga shuddered as he suddenly realized that yes, he did enjoy
Ranma-chan's company and yes, he could admit, if forced to, that he did
feel emotions for Ranma-chan.

    Ryoga sighed, for having a friend with two genders was sticky business
at best.

    "What you think about?"  Ryoga looked at Shampoo, who was looking at
him.  Apparently, he had sighed quite a few times in the past minute,
evoking strange stares from Shampoo.

    "Oh nothing, I was just thinking about Ranma."  Shampoo's eyelid raised
ever so slightly.

    "You like Ranma?"  Shampoo stared at Ryoga intently, and suddenly what
he had worried about moments ago was becoming true.  Ryoga faltered at the
question.

    "Well you see...  It's not that way...  It's really..."  After
unsuccessfully fishing for an excuse, Ryoga had to concede.  "Yes, I like
the female Ranma."

    It was Shampoo's turn to sigh.  "Well Shampoo tell you truth too.
Shampoo love Mousse.  Shampoo like Ranma, but great grandmother want
Shampoo marry Ranma."  Ryoga sat there for a moment to digest the broken
Japanese, but the meaning was not lost.

    Ryoga nodded.  "I understand.  You can't afford to love the person you
truly love."  Ryoga sighed.  "It's the same with me."

    "Too bad, Mousse will never know I love him."  Shampoo sighed.  Ryoga
nodded in agreement, when it suddenly dawned on him.

    Ryoga stood up straight, knocking some dishes on to the floor.
"Shampoo, say that again."  Shampoo looked perplexed as well as everyone
else in the shop.  "Please repeat what you said."

    Shampoo sighed and repeated what she said word for word.  Ryoga
laughed, as his mind suddenly got a wild inspiration.  "Shampoo!  The
solution has been right under our noses the entire time!  All we have to do
is fess up!  We need to find them and tell them that we truly love them."

    Shampoo sighed, and she sat down.  "Since when will telling truth break
strong magic potion?"  Shampoo seriously doubted that Ryoga's plan would
ever work.  But then again, Cologne seemed to have been going a little bit
senile in her age and recently she had been screwing up a lot of stuff.  So
perhaps there was a chance, although a very slim chance.  "Very well, we try."

* * *

    Ranma-chan was in her bedroom, trying hard to study her classwork, but
somehow, she found it hard to do.  Was it because the work was too hard for
her?  No, the work was quite bearable.  Was there something on her mind?
Yes, it was Mousse.  Ranma-chan dropped all of her work, when she heard a
knock on the door.  "Come in!"

    The door opened, and Ranma-chan immediately presumed it was her mother
or one of her friends.  By all accounts, she was wrong.  It was Ryoga.
Immediately, all signs of cheerfulness dissolved straight off Ranma's face.
 "What are you doing here?"

    Ryoga walked forwards, and took Ranma-chan's arms into his hands.  "I
have something really important to tell you."

    Ranma-chan wasn't willing to listen.  "What is it? Did you finally find
a new girlfriend?  Are you glad that Mousse and I are together?  Are you
jealous?"

    Ryoga started to babble, as the pressure of the moment descended onto
him.  Looking around helplessly, he somehow managed to find the courage
from within.  "Ranma, I love you."

    Ranma-chan sat frozen for a moment, lost in confusion.  Her entire
existence, with the exception of the past couple days, she had wanted Ryoga
to say those words.  "What about my curse?"

    Ryoga looked befuddled for a moment.  "Well, I fully accept your curse.
 It's not a problem to me."  Ranma-chan sat there for a moment as the
potion was dispelled.  Coming to her senses, she realized the importance of
the situation, and she hugged Ryoga.