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Epilogue: The Girl with the Sun in Her Eyes
"So show me how you do that Denshinken attack again," Ranma said.
"Think I've almost got the hang of it."
"Couldn't if you tried, bro. Your ki's not right for it," Ranko said,
authoritatively. "That's why you or Pop'll never be able to use my Phoenix
variation of the Saotome AGMA kenpo. It was designed with a female in
mind." She hooked a thumb at herself. "Namely, me."
A voice called to them in their heads, as Ranko's Phoenix Eye talisman
glowed a soft, non-intrusive blue. <Lunch time!>
A second voice joined in. <Better say your prayers!> Both Saotome
siblings felt the sting of pain, followed by, <That HURT, Akane!>
<Serves you right for saying that, Shampoo!!! You know I spent hours
with this food!>
Brother fondly looked to sister. <Give somebody a magical pendant-->
Sister lovingly looked back. <--and they think they have a real psychic
link with us.> Ranko smiled. <If they only knew....>
"C'mon, we better go face our fates bravely before Akane gets even worse
ideas."
"Got a question for you, bro: Didja ever see that one Sigourney Weaver
film, 'Alien?'"
Both Saotomes walked off their sparring point in the water, to join their
family and friends for lunch. It was a nice Saturday, the Fourth of July.
They were all in Carmel.
The previous days had been exhausting, to say the least. All of the San
Francisco contingent filing Police and Insurance Reports. Dealing with the
"psychic broadcast" that Ranko had somehow sent to her loved ones around
the world. Healing. Getting together to help rebuild the Magic Duck and
Pier 39 (a job fully donated by Kunotech Construction Corp.--good thing
that it was a *construction* company that KTech had just bought). More
healing. The fact that the coin pendant that Jiu gave Akane allowed her a
limited amount of the link that the Saotomes shared; the same went for the
other half of the Phoenix Eyes that Ranko gave to Shampoo--she said that
this had been the Chinese Amazon's true birthright, she was entitled to
half. Still more healing. Shampoo actually getting a *new* shoulder
length hairdo to make up for the burns. A twelve hour standoff between
Shampoo and Ronnie over Mousse. And yet more healing.
There were also several changes that everybody had to deal with. The
first was Ranko's announcement that she no longer wanted to be called
"Ran-Chan"; she was not and never would be "Ranma-chan". The second was
when Ranma and Akane said that they were proud that she'd finally become
her own woman and that she could come home; to which Ranko replied that she
*was* home, she'd found her place in life, where she belonged. The third
was the CNN report that informed the world that there had been a 8.2
earthquake in the Quinxai region of China; no casualties reported, but the
area known as the Jusenkyo valley became a below-sea level canyon. The
fourth, well....
As the group munched on sub sandwiches that Akane had *bought* (to
everyone's relief), Nabiki turned to her husband. "Oh, Kuno-baby, forgot
to tell you. Dr. Rosenberg found out why I've been having those dizzy
spells for the last couple of months."
Shampoo, leaning on Mousse, looked at Nabiki. "Tate mentioned something
about that. Why didn't you call? Never mind that, though--what was the
prognosis?" She also took the time to pinch Ronnie, who was on Mousse's
other arm, much to his discomfort.
She took a sip of her soda, then looked at the concerned faces of her
family and friends. "He says we'll find out in about seven months or so."
She took a small bite of her sandwich, and continued. "Personally, I was
leaning towards Eric, if it's a boy, or Ashley, if it's a girl." Looking
at Tate, she said, "Unless you want Japanese names...."
Tate stopped, mouth agape at mid-bite. His bite still unchewed, he
stammered, "Mmpmh...a...mmmph?!?!?!"
"Sorry," she blinked, then ran a finger along the trace of his jawline.
"Didn't catch that. By the way, swallow that, wouldja? It's really
disgusting!"
He quickly swallowed, then gulped. "I'm gonna be...a father?"
She nodded yes.
Ranma clapped Kuno on his back. "That's great!"
"I get to be an aunt again!" Akane cheered.
Nabiki looked at the other two girls. "Same with you, 'Aunt Shan Fu',
'Aunt Ranko'. Don't think you're getting off the hook, either."
Both ladies replied in stereo. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Maria chirped, "I'll bring the champagne and flowers!"
Ronnie rubbed the pinch mark Shampoo had given her. "Maria, champagne's
for parties! Don't know about the flowers, though...."
"Oh. Oopsie."
Libby chuckled, rolling her eyes in familiar amusement. "Same old Maria."
The girls all hugged Nabiki, while Ranma stared at his brother-in-law.
"Hey, Tatewaki, you can snap out of it now." Kuno continued to stare into
space, so Ranma began to shake him. "Hey, man, wake up! You still at one
with your body? Starfleet Command to Enterprise, he-llo...."
Mousse smirked, looking at his watch. "I give it an hour before he comes
back to reality." He then peered at the statuesque Kuno. "Then again...."
Tyler smiled, "I say two."
Gil disagreed, stating, "A week, at least."
Tate Kuno was off in la-la-land for three hours.
As the sun began to set, Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, and Tate sat on a blanket,
as Ranko and Gil flew a Chinese Dragon kite, and Shampoo and Ronnie were
fighting over Mousse. Tyler and Maria wandered off to happily chat, maybe
ride the carousel. They watched all that went about in the world,
conversing in their native language. At least, that's what it looked like.
Tate commented to all, staring at Ranko and Gil. "Whaddya think?"
Ranma answered. "Well, I can answer for her. She's attracted to him,
but time will tell...."
Nabiki said, "That's great. She deserves somebody in her life. That is,
somebody *single*, for a change."
"You know it was the gem," Ranma said, coming to his sister's defense.
"I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was, she may spend the rest of
her days repairing the damage that the demon did to her life. There may
even be people that may not believe her. We all do, but what about
Kodachi? Or Mikado? You know what Azusa wanted--*still* wants to--do to
her."
"Pigtail will handle it in her own way, same as always," Tate replied.
"That's plainly obvious."
Akane watched the other romantic crisis unfold. Nodding in the direction
of Shampoo, Mousse, and Ronnie, she commented, "I'd like to see how that
turns out."
"Mousse, I thought this was supposed to be a romantic trip!"
"Leave me alone, Ronnie!"
"I don't see you putting up much of a fight, Mousse."
"She won't get off my arm, Shampoo!"
"Sure she won't. You're obviously not trying hard enough. I thought you
loved me. How could you do this to me?"
"Hey, I'll do him. It's clear he doesn't want *you.*"
"Shut up, Ronnie...."
"Make me."
The Saotomes and Kunos winced in sympathy as Shampoo delivered a
ki-charged punch towards Ronnie, who ducked and let the shot hit Mousse.
They then watched as the girls began a full-out catfight, inadvertently
trampling and stomping on Mousse.
Nabiki looked at Ranma and Akane. "Gee, does that look familiar to you
two?"
Ranma and Akane looked at each other uneasily, then began laughing.
Ranma answered for them both. "What is it you Americans always say? Oh
yeah--'We plead the 5th.'"
Tate countered, wide smile on face. "Surely, though, you can't resist
watching Shampoo getting her just desserts, right?"
A wicked grin beamed on Akane's face. "You know what they say about
Karma...."
Ranko stole a glance at Gil when he wasn't looking. The date they went
out on last week was nice and platonic, a pair of friends just going to
dinner and the movies together. {But he's seeing Maria, I think. I'll
have to ask Shampoo. Still he's such a babe....}
Gil caught her glance. "Thinking about something, Ranko?"
"Nothing much. Just thinking about how happy I am to be here." {Beside
you, that is.}
Shampoo sat on Ronnie, the other girl completely buried in sand and
incapacitated for the moment. She used that moment to steal a kiss from
Mousse. "I love you, Mao Tse. Don't forget that."
Mousse couldn't help himself. He tried his old tactics once more. "So
when are we getting married, Shan Fu?"
A shadow crossed her face. "Don't push your luck, duck boy. Still," she
said, resting her head against his arm, "You never know. Just be patient."
"Been that way for 26 years. I have no intention of stopping now."
She leaned in for another kiss. "Good for y-" The words stopped as the
pair kissed once more, cherishing the love that had somehow managed to
survive through 26 years, tons of troubles, and three countries.
Shan Fu Lao decided this had to be the best day of her life yet.
Fin
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Author's Notes: The California Cat Cafe Customer Service Form
Welcome to the first of my fanfics! This being the part that no one
really ever bothers with, I've decided to fill this with author's notes for
the first story. Yes, I have decided, on the opinion of the editorial
staff, to at least do the prequel next, and then wait to see if I get a
positive enough response to continue on. I really hope that you out there
in otaku-land enjoy this; I'd really like to develop the characters a
little more.
So, with no further ado, I like to announce the following. Starting with
the second story, the "California Cat Cafe Customer Service Form" will be
the Letters (EMail, actually) to the Editor's page. Like in a US comic
book or magazine, your voice can be heard, I can answer your questions on
this series, take requests, etc. The address is: ashita@rocketmail.com
Same rules apply as a US letters page. Names or addresses will be
withheld on request. Letters may be edited for clarity or size (mostly
size). Letters may mostly appear in the Word version of the document.
Yep, in order to facilitate for those who have and those who have not,
there will be two editions whenever possible--a text version (*.txt) and
the MS Word 6.0c version (which will contain this page, as well as other
little effects that specialize the work). I highly recommend the Word
version.
First, the dedications:
1. First and foremost to Rumiko Takahashi, for letting her fans (such as
myself) absolutely warp whatever she originally had planned for the series.
2. My editors:
Marvin Peace--Senior Editor;
Jack Hutton and Chris Jambretz--Associate Editors for the Jusenkyo tale
(Jack also for other parts, as well);
3. Sam Lambson, Adam Halstead, Chris Hickins, and Dave Clare--Test Readers
(aka the Guinea Pigs);
4. Ray Carrillo, Joe Yarger, Zack Bartunek and all those who gave moral
support (i.e., "Why the hell are you wasting your time on a story no one
will read, Rob?");
5. Paco Gutierrez--my unwitting "expert" on san Francisco (he lived here a
few years ago, so.... 'Hey Paco, name an affluent suburb of San
Francisco.' "Palo Alto. Why?' 'Uh, never mind.');
6. Cathi Santillan--the real person Maria is based on (not much
difference, either!);
7. The folks of at the West of Tokyo Club for their exhaustively detailed
FAQ page. It came in very handy when I was stumped on a concept or two (in
fact, one bit of information caused me to do a major revision on this
tale!). For those interested, it's at http://www.wot-club.org.uk/RanmaFAQ.
8. All you other otaku out there, especially those at Viz/Shokugakan, who
were critical in bringing the Ranma saga to the US in the first place.
Now for the inevitable questions:
1Q. Why did you do this (to the Ranma characters)?
1A. Primarily for the following reasons:
-Shampoo. She was destined to lose, especially in light of the last
story. She's one of my favorite characters in the series, but as far as
chasing Ranma went, it's a dead end. Sooner or later, she had to give up,
tribal law not withstanding. I just wanted to show what would happen when
the day came that she, probably the most determined of Ranma's unwanted
fianc‚es, finally gave up, and the after-effects. Then there was the fact
that also, she would probably never want to return to China a second time
in disgrace, so it may be better this way.
-Mousse. Where Shampoo goes, he follows. 'Nuff sed.
-Ranko/Ranma-chan. Probably the most maligned character in the series.
No real personality, just a costume of sorts for Ranma, a curse. By the
end of the series, he had finally come to terms with his female side, and
had given up changing it--in fact, he'd been to Jusenkyo several times
during the course of the series, but the last time was for Akane's sake,
not his.
In fanfics (even sometimes in the series itself), Ranma-chan/Ranko's
been recreated in every possible manner, from an innocent 2 year old child,
to an outgoing sister, to an incestuous sex toy. I liked some of these
ideas, and really disliked others. So came the idea for me to recreate her
myself. In doing so, who she was (the core of the actual character, not
the story facet) would be an amalgam of other fanfics (thank you all!),
while who she is becoming now, well, we'll see--I have an idea of who I'll
use as a reference. The thing is, try to remember that Ranko's 25 (or
eight or six or ?, depending on your view), and much more the "Generation
X"-er than the others, so she's still trying to find what she wants out of
life.
2Q. Why the changes in scenery?
2A. That's a very interesting question. Well, here's the story by area:
-Japan. Ranma« purportedly takes place in the Nerima district of Tokyo,
but has never been formally announced as such. Viz has taken the position
of placing the setting as Furinkan, Japan, but I like Nerima (got lost
there once--no Ryoga jokes, please). Kamakura (Ranma's new home) is a
beautiful little town southeast of Yokohama (famous for its temples and the
Daibutsu Giant Buddha statue), so I decided to use that (it's also not far
from where I live, the town of Yokosuka). Osaka seemed far enough to
justify why Nodoka didn't visit more often. Kobe seemed naturally the
place for Ryoga and Akari to start life anew in. In short, here's a really
rough diagram (sorry, no actual map available):
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The Tokyo/Yokohama/Kanto plain areas(Note: Sapporo, Osaka, and Kobe are
too far away to be on map
Narita
Nerima
Shinjuku
Shibuya
T O K Y O
Roppongi
YOKOHAMA
Kamakura
Yokosuka
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And that's that.
-San Francisco/The Bay Area. If I got a few details wrong, you can look
at it this way:
1. Oopsie, gomen ne. Chalk it up to the fact that I've only been there a
handful of times in my life.
2. It's a stylized version (i.e. "artistic license").
3. Blame Paco.
Originally, I planned to have Shampoo and company in a city I was more
familiar with, like LA, San Diego, or Honolulu. It turned out that it
seemed more natural to base her there (Viz' home base had nothing to do
with it); it also posed a challenge for me, using sparse city atlases and
the WWW (particularly Yahoo! maps) to try to figure everything out. So,
for the readers in SF, please forgive any discrepancies (in fact, submit
EMail! It'll help!), and if 130 Haight Rd. turns out to be a vacant lot
(or nowhere near Haight-Ashbury, for that matter), I didn't know. Also,
for those who are purists, the location of the Cali Cat is the same
location at that of the real-life Mandarin (4th floor, Cocoa bldg. of
Ghirardelli Square). Also, Alcatraz Island is a bit more Hollywood-ized,
and I apologize if it's not totally correct to the original specifications
(maybe I shouldn't have watched The Rock, ne?).
-LA. I'm from the area. It's a convenient plot device to have Nabiki
and Kuno do occasional appearances (in those later tales).
-Globetrotting. All the places that the characters have traveled/will
travel to are actual places that I'm familiar with. Those, ironically, are
more detailed and correct than the American sites, except Honolulu. (I
haven't lived in the US for four years, now). So as I toss the characters
to the four winds, who knows where the hell they'll end up?
I'll try to be more accurate from now on.
3Q. Your Chinese is really bad.
3A. Gee, thanks. Seriously, some of the Chinese I actually researched; I
think I used Mandarin, instead of Shampoo's native Cantonese (the
dictionary said only "Chinese-English" on the cover). Shan Fu (of which
"Shampoo" is a Japanese alteration) means "Mountain" (Shan) "Woman/Girl"
(Fu). Mao Tse, according to a friend of mine in Hong Kong, is a common
enough name in the PRC. K'o Lon ("Cologne") means "Conquering
Revolution"--I tried to use something that looked close enough.
Chochuanshan is the Chinese name for Jusenkyo.
As for Jiu, and many other Chinese words, I admit I ad-libbed; in later
stories, I will try to be more accurate with the language (regardless of
which one it is). Plus, there's that EMail bit again....
My Japanese (I speak it, though not great) is much more accurate--which
you'll see the applicable characters use it when it adds to the situation.
If there are requests, I will try to add a glossary page later on.
4Q. Why did you do this (we mean you this time, baka!)?
4A. Would take far too long to explain. Suffice to say I've been into
anime/manga since I was a kid, but really didn't know about fanfics until
recently, when the Senior Editor introduced me to it. I have always wanted
to be a professional author (perhaps someday, I will be), but never wrote
anything more than short stories here and there and "ghost wrote" for a few
friends. So, to practice my skills (as well as a love for the Ranma
series), I wrote this.
I wrote this while at sea for a month (yes, the occupation of myself--and
all but two of the above mentioned people--is that of the US Navy; hey, I
have to do something in my spare time. It allows me to run rampant around
the world and come up with ideas.
Well, that's it for now! Stay tuned for the next of the Tales of
Shampoo, Volume II: The Phoenix Eye Saga.
--Rob Barba
At sea, 97Apr12
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Ranma«, Maison Ikkoku, the Mermaid saga, and Inu-Yasha c,r,™, etc. etc.
Rumiko Takahashi/Shokugakan/Viz Communications.
Magic Knight Rayearth c,r,™, etc. etc. CLAMP/Kodansha/whoever the English
publisher is.
All other copyrights, trademarks, whatever, are the property of their
respective owners.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people (living, dead,
cloned, or otherwise), places, things, and events is purely coincidental
(if not, there would've been some lawsuits by now). All rights reserved,
all wrongs unreserved. Void where prohibited, not void where not
prohibited. Some prices may vary; state and federal taxes not included.
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