Trying to get over a little writer's block on Lightbirds, I came up
with the following idea...

	(Somebody shoot me for this...)


	Shampoo-neko sneezed loudly, startling a few mice out of the alley she
found herself in. With a low growl, she looked up and cursed her luck.
She had only tried to help Ranma, but leave it to that fool Ryouga to
lead their battle all the way to downtown Tokyo. Now, not only had she
lost sight of her husband, but she just -had- to stand below a window
from which someone threw out ice water. And the cold winter's snow
didn't help matters any.
	Shivering slightly, she leapt up onto a trashcan, startling another cat
that was already there. It was a small tabby, but as soon as it saw her
it leapt down and disappeared into the shadows. Oh, well, Shampoo
thought. It was already late into the night, and the pristine snow kept
floating down to earth. She might as well stay there for a few moments,
waiting for her clothes to dry, before going to find hot water.
	Suddenly, she heard a car pulling up to the alley's entrance. Midly
curious, she turned to see it. It was a small, dark green jeep, from
which a small boy jumped out in a hurry. Shampoo watched the boy as he
desperately found a suitable place in the alley, and reached down to his
trousers. She contained a giggle as she heard a sigh of relief, joined
by a small cloud of steam that rose in front of the boy. He looked like
a small version of her Ranma, Shampoo noted. That is, without the
pigtail; and the boy's brown hair was also blemished by the patch of
bright orange strands that fell on his forehead.
	After he was done, the boy sighed again and looked around. Shampoo
meowed slightly, as if smiling at him. When he approached, she almost
jumped away --but she could feel the warmth from his body, and right now
she needed at least a -little- warmth for herself. So, she purred when
the boy took her in his arms and held her tight. It felt so nice, she
thought. It was exactly what she needed--
	What? Wait, hold on. The boy was taking her back to the car. She tried
to wiggle out of his hold, but she felt weak from cold. The next thing
she knew, she saw a large bucket of fried chicken being shoved towards
her face.
	"Ano..." came the voice of a man before her, "What's this?"
	"Can we keep it, dad?" the boy asked, a large pleading smile on his
face.
	"I don't know, Ryuu... We don't have time for..."
	Without warning, the boy's father and Shampoo turned back. They could
hear it. It was like a helicopter, speeding right in their direction.
	"Ryuunosuke, get in the car!" the man janked him onto the passenger
seat.
	"But the cat--"
	"There's no time! They found us!" His eyes were glazed, "That's
POISON-ONE!"
	Before Shampoo could object the jeep launched forward at full speed.
Out of instinct, she dug her tiny claws into the boy's jacket. She heard
the man yell something about the cargo they had on the back seat. When
she looked back, she saw some sort of mechanical creature bouncing back
and forth, like an unfinished android.
	Shampoo swallowed hard. What in the world had she gotten herself into?!
	She could hear the helicopter close in on them, but then the man drove
the nimble jeep straight into a junkyard. He and the boy screamed when
they sped head-on towards a pile of cars.
	Opening her eyes again, Shampoo sighed in relief. When they crashed
into the cars, these had collapsed onto the jeep, hiding it perfectly
from view. Now that they were out of danger, maybe she could get the
hell out of there and go back to her life...
	There was gunfire. And a laughter that was even more frightening that
Kodachi's.
	Shampoo tried to escape, to get out. The bullet impacts kept getting
closer. Closer. Shampoo desperately clawed around. A muffled impact; she
vaguely felt something large and cold enter her belly. Before passing
out, her last thought was, "Airen..."
	After a few moments, when Poison-One flew into the distance, Kyusaku
sighed in relief. They hadn't spotted them. But when Arisa began to fire
away like a madwoman she had really frightened him. Well, at least
everyone was all right.
	"Hey, you okay there, Ryuunosuke?" he asked. The reply was a sniffle.
He immediately looked down at his son.
	"It's my fault..." Ryuunosuke wept as he held the body of a small white
and purple cat, with a large wound in its belly.
	Kyusaku tried to comfort the child, but he knew how emotional Ryuu was.
Sighing, he looked back... and his gaze fell on the android in the back
seat.
	"Maybe..." Kyusaku thought, looking at the android and the cat.

	When Shampoo woke up, she felt as if she hadn't slept in years. Her
body felt heavy, as if made of solid metal. Groaning, she sat up and
rubbed her head. Good, someone had poured hot water on her. But...
	She panicked when she remembered last night. She hurriedly looked down
and checked herself for injuries, but to her immense relief she was
still in one piece. Satisfied, she lied back down, brushing away a stray
lock of pinkish hair...
	Pink?
	She sat up again and looked at her hair. Yes. Pink. Wobbling over to
the mirror, she was shocked to see that she had become considerably
taller, and her face was longer, with bright eyes staring back at her
behind long pink bangs. She was a completely different person.
	"Oh my God... What happened to me...?" she asked herself aloud. Then
she blinked in confusion. She had spoken in perfect Japanese. Not only
that, but her voice was nearly identical to the female Ranma's.
	She heard a noise, and all of a sudden a hatch opened behind her head.
When Shampoo saw two bright yellow... things... sprouting out of her
head, she had only one thing to say:
	"AIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


			*	*	*


	---> All Purpose Cultural Cat-girl Shampoo <---

		-not- coming to the FFML anytime
			soon.

	(That is, unless someone wants to pick it up...)



The Zephyr
al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx