The Difference
By Adrian Wong
All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and some others.
I'm not subbed to the FFML, please email to <7ahw@qlink.queensu.ca.>
This story is set 14 years after the end of the manga, in the Universe of
"Ukyou and Shampoo: Post Manga", in which Shampoo became a Chinese
politician while Akane an ordinary housewife. However, it can also be
taken as a stand-alone fic. It is meant to be an answer to Gary Kleppe,
who questioned me on the matter of Akane aging less gracefully than Shampoo.
5 in the morning: penthouse suite of Hilton Hotel
Pushing herself up from her bed with considerable difficulty, Shampoo
blinked at the image in the mirror in front of her bed. It showed a
long-haired woman with dark shadows under her dim eyes and a once shapely
body that was in danger of losing its curves due to weight gain.
<Thank god no men can ever see me in this state . . .>
Sighing wistfully at the memory of her younger years, when her eyes
twinkled with mischief and her figure a perfect hour glass, she set off to
the bathroom for a shower.
5 in the morning: master room of Tendo Dojo
Pushing herself up from her bed with considerable difficulty, Akane blinked
at the image in the mirror in front of her bed. It showed a short-haired
woman with dark shadows under her dim eyes and a less than shapely body
that was in danger of further losing its form due to weight gain. Seeing
Ranma's own deteriorated form still snoring on the bed, she sighed.
<Oh well, it isn't like the baka has the right to complain about how I
look anyway . . .>
Sighing wistfully at the memory of her younger years, when her eyes flashed
with sparks of fire and her figure was trim and slender, she set off to the
bathroom for a shower.
5:30 in the morning: penthouse suite of Hilton Hotel
With her hair set in curlers and her face covered with an expensive
moisturizing face-mask, Shampoo began to go over her speech of the day
again just to make sure that it would sound impressive to the Japanese
Press. She was eating instant noodles at the same time, for she knew that
her busy schedule wouldn't allow for a formal breakfast. Also, she REALLY
didn't feel like calling room service in her current state: last time she
did that, a reporter in hotel manager disguise had almost gotten a good
shot of her looking like some drowsy suburban housewife. Shampoo shuddered
at the memory.
<Thank God I still have my Amazon trainings! I could never have caught
that creep in time otherwise. A woman's got to maintain her image after
all . . . expecially when she is single and past thirty.>
5:30 in the morning: kitchen of Tendo Dojo
Looking very much like a drowsy suburban housewife with several hastily
set curlers on her bangs, Akane began to devote her entire being into
making something edible for her family.
<Damn! I mistook lighting fluid for cooking oil again . . . oh well,
Kaneda had been conditioned to survive worse stuff anyway.>
6:00 in the morning: penthouse suite of Hilton Hotel
After cleaning up her face and taking off her curlers, Shampoo stood in
front of a full-length mirror and stared at her self critically. Seeing a
hint of a budge at her tummy, Shampoo reminded herself to go work out at
the gym more often, as she wondered how come she never had weight problem
as a teenager. The problem was soon corrected as she put on an
extra-tight, shape enhancing binding around her waist, reducing its
circumference by two inches. Looking around in her closet, she picked out a
stylish, black Chinese Shirt that she knew could expertly cover up the
evidence of the binding as well as showing off her regained curves. It did.
6:00 in the morning: Kaneda's room at Tendo Dojo
Akane devoted herself whole-heartedly to the strenuous process of waking
up her son, who was still snoring despite her yelling and pounding.
"Wake up, you little glutton!!" Akane yelled as she dragged on Kaneda leg
to pull him off the bed. Kaneda, meanwhile, was hanging onto the bed as he
sleepily muttered:
"Chill, mom, ya'll get wrinkles this way~"
"What kind of woman won't get wrinkles if she's got such a lazy son?!"
6:15 in the morning: penthouse suite of Hilton Hotel
Putting the finishing touches on her make up, Shampoo stared at her
reflection and smiled. The foundation has expertly covered up the dark
shadows under her eyes, while the eye-pencil and the eye shadow had done
wonders in making her glamorized eyes the focus of her face. The crimson
lipstick was a welcome addition as well.
Standing back from the mirror, she tossed back her rich, wavy locks and
smiled. She frowned as she realizes that something wasn't right. It was
her hair. While beautiful, it doesn't go with her face, which has become a
bit more rounded than that of her youth after the weight gain. Reminding
herself to do a facial fat-reduction massage session back at her favorite
spa in China, she began to braid her long hair up into an elegant bun at
the back of her head. It succeeded in making her chin look sharper, as
well as lengthening her neck, making her appear to be more slender than
before. Opening up her jewelry box, she began to pick out some of the
priceless jewelry that Hiba-chan had passed onto her as she came of age.
Cologne soon disappeared on a training trip right after Shampoo had secured
her footing in the political world, and Shampoo hadn't heard from her for
years. Smiling at the fond memories those jewels were bringing her, she
whispered to the empty room.
"Hiba-chan . . . please be alright."
6:15 in the morning: Outside the bathroom at Tendo Dojo
"Hurry the hell up and eat, it's 6:15 already!" Akane yelled as she banged
on the door to the washroom. "I don't want your homeroom teacher
complaining again about your lack of punctuality!"
Wearing a pair of ear-plugs, Kaneda whistled a merry little tune as he
continued to braid his rich, thigh length hair into a thick pigtail.
Staring at the mirror, he smiled proudly at the fact that he has WAY more
hair than his old man ever had.
Akane was at the the end of her wits, just as she was about to punch
through the door, she saw a sleepy, bloated, disheveled looking Ranma
staring at her with dead-fish eyes.
"Must you always be so damned loud in the morning? Some people are trying
to sleep, you know."
"RANMA NO BAKA!!" Akane screeched as she malleted him. "You're not
supposed to be sleeping at all! Come help me get the boy moving NOW!"
6:40 in the morning: At the City Hall of Tokyo
Stepping out of her limo, and feeling very very much like an artificial
doll, the now ravishing Shampoo mentally prepared herself as dozens of
reporters rushed up with a thousand questions ready for her. Smiling
self-assuredly, she casually let the questions attacking Chinese government
slid while graciously answering the ones regarding China's rising economy.
"But shouldn't China reform from its communist way and begin to respect
international human right laws?" A certain reporter persisted on the
question.
Smiling with thinning eyes, Shampoo replied. "There has been numerous
improvements in the past decade with respect to our country's human rights.
We Chinese has ALWAYS respected human lives, be it that of our fellowmen
or those of other races. That's why foreigners are comfortable with the
idea of staying in China to do business with our people."
The Japanese reporter wisely shut up due to the undeniable fact of how
foreigners were treated in Japan even then. Other reporters continued to
ask Shampoo more questions as she continued in answering them. The flashes
of the cameras created a powerful aura around her, which was shown through
countless T.V. screens of Japan. Already, hundreds of bystanders were
gathered around her, asking for autographs as if she was some kind of
celebrity. At that moment, she felt that all the efforts that she had put
in to get to be the Chief Secretary of the Tsing Hai Province was truly
worth it.
6:45 in the morning: Tendo Dojo
After being forcibly disengaged from the T.V. by an annoyed Akane, Kaneda
reluctantly gave up on drooling over the sight of his Shan Pu-sama.
"Mom, at least tape it for me . . ." Kaneda whined.
"It is already being taped!" Akane said with exasperation as she pushed
him out the door. "Honestly, what's so damn attractive about that aging
bimbo?!"
"Mom, ya're not jealous of Shan Pu-sama, are ya?" Kaneda asked teasingly.
"As if!" Akane hmphed, "Why should I be jealous of that obscenely famous,
successful, beautiful woman . . ." she trailed off and sighed heavily,
"ARRRG! Whatever!"
Kaneda blinked, then smiled, as an idea came into his head.
"Oh, C'mon, Mom! If it makes ya feel any better, ya still topped her by
being my favorite girl!" he winked cutely.
Just then, Ranma've bored voice could be heard. "Sucking up to ya mother
. . . why, when I was ya age I never would have sunk so low . . ."
Ignoring her husband and rolling her eyes, Akane, slapped her son on his
back. "Brrr . . . just hurry up before you're late again!"
Once he was gone, however, a motherly smiled blossomed on Akane's face,
momentarily beautifying her once more. At that moment, she felt that all
that she had given up to become a housewife and a mother was truly worth it.
The End
Feb 2, 1998.