Well, here it is, two more chapters out who knows how many.  Please give me
any C&C you can think of about this.  I've tried to give some justification
as to what occurred in chapter 5 in this one, tell me what you think about
that.  Also I want to know what you think about my dialogue for Shampoo,
some of it seemed a little off to me but I may just be looking too far into
it.  Any OOC actions or near to OOC are also things I want to hear about.
So please, any comments you can give to this, my first lengthy work of
fanfiction, is appreciated.

If you want any previous parts just email me and I'll send them to you as
soon as I can.

Standard disclaimer: Ranma and all characters are the property of Rumiko
Takahashi and the various publishing and film companies, I'm simply
borrowing them for the time being.

Additional notes:
Words in *X* are in English, Words in <X> are in Chinese and words in any
other type brackets are in some other foreign language that will most
likely be specified within the text of the story.

The suffix -chan denotes the cursed female form of the characters, other
suffixes will most likely be self explanatory.

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Chapter 6- "�Son-in-law?'"

	Shampoo had been busy taking an order when she heard Mousse yelling.  "I
wish he would wear his glasses more often," she thought to herself, "He's
always making a fool of himself when he doesn't."  She turned back to her
costumer and was about to ask him to repeat his order when she felt a blow
to her head.  After that everything went black.
	A few minutes later she came to and heard her great-grandmother's voice
and one other that didn't quite register at first.  Then it came to her
that it was Ryoga's friend Jude who was talking.
	 "Will she be ok?  I didn't mean to do that, I must have hit her as I
turned around," she heard Jude say.  She cursed herself for being so
distracted with Mousse and the customer that she had been hit so easily.
	"Oh, she'll be fine, you somehow managed to hit one of her pressure points
when you made contact.  But don't you worry Son-in-law, she'll be just
fine."  Hearing Cologne's explanation about the pressure point reliever her
somewhat.  She was glad to know that her head wasn't so soft that she was
knocked out that easily.  Something else registered at the back of her mind
as sounding wrong but she couldn't place it.
	"That's good to hear," she heard Jude reply, then he paused and said
something startling, "Wait a minute, �Son-in-law?'  What do you mean
�Son-in-law?'"
	Shampoo's eye's flew open and she sat up quickly.  She turned to her
great-grandmother and said, "Yes!  What you mean �Son-in-law!?'  Ranma only
husband for Shampoo!"
	Cologne didn't say anything for a while and then she grinned and started
to laugh, "I knew that would get you up Shampoo."
	Shampoo glared at her, "That not funny great-grandmother!"
	Jude looked from one to the other, then he looked up at Ryoga who
shrugged.  "Uh, just what is going on?  I'm still confused, would you care
to let me in on what the problem is?"
	Cologne turned her attention toward Jude and said, "Amazon law states that
any Amazon woman defeated in combat by an outsider male must marry him to
bring strong blood into the tribe.  This is why we are here in the first
place, Ranma defeated Shampoo in combat and he must marry her."
	"So why'd you think that I would need to marry her?  We weren't in combat
and I hardly see why accidentally knocking her out through a one in a
million blow to a pressure point would merit a defeat anyway."
	"Yes," Shampoo said, "This not real defeat, just accident.  Shampoo think
Jude right."
	"Yes," Cologne spoke, "You two are both right," she paused, Shampoo and
Jude were glad to hear that she agreed.  Shampoo only wanted Ranma and had
no desire for anyone else.  Jude was just trying to keep his life as simple
as he could and a fiancee would add quite a few more complications.
Especially one that came about from an accident and isn't too happy about
the arrangement in the first place.
	Their thoughts were cut off when Cologne continued, "But," she said,
Shampoo and Jude both turned their full attention toward her as she spoke,
"As an elder of the Amazon tribe I judge that Jude's claim is as valid as
Ranma's is."  She held up her hand to stop them from saying anything and
continued.  "Shampoo, haven't I always taught you to stay aware of your
surroundings at all times?  Why is it that you were even hit at all?"
	"Shampoo distracted by Mousse and customer and not think that anyone
attack anyway," Shampoo frowned and cursed herself once more for not paying
more attention to her surroundings.  "I've grown too soft while I've been
here," she thought to herself.
	"Shampoo, if this had been an actual fight you could have been seriously
hurt."
	"But this not fight!  Shampoo know how keep alert in fight and no get hit
like that!"
	"You must always be alert, granddaughter, and perhaps an extra fiancee
will remind you of that," Cologne said.  She didn't want to do this, but
she thought that perhaps it would give her granddaughter some extra
incentive in her pursuit of Ranma.
	"Um, excuse me?" Jude asked.  Both of the Amazons turned toward him,
"Don't I get a say in this?"
	"No," Cologne replied, "You don't, this is a matter of Amazon law and you
have no say in the matter."
	"Okay, so we're engaged, what does that really mean?  From what I heard
Ranma doesn't want to marry anyone, Shampoo wants Ranma and I'm just an
innocent bystander here.  I don't want to get anywhere near marriage right
now and Shampoo sure doesn't seem too pleased with the arrangement either.
So just what are you planning?"
	"I will not answer any more questions, you two are engaged, as are Shampoo
and Ranma as well, that is final."  With that Cologne hopped back into the
kitchen.
	Jude and Shampoo both realized that they were still on the floor and got
up quickly.  "Well Shampoo, what do you think we should do?" Jude asked her.
	"If great-grandmother say we engaged then we engaged, but Shampoo want you
know that this name only.  Is not real and Shampoo not like it one bit."
	"Hey I'm not too pleased about this either, what I'm asking is what do you
think we should do about it?"
	"Shampoo think we should ignore until great-grandmother tell us not to, is
best way to get around problem till Shampoo marry Ranma."
	"Sounds good to me Shampoo, if we both act like it didn't happen maybe we
won't have too much trouble with it."
	"Is agreed then?" Shampoo asked.  Jude nodded.  "Good, you go now, Shampoo
need to get back to work."
	They said their goodbyes and Ryoga and Jude walked out the door and into
the street.  Shampoo watched them go and then looked in the direction of
the kitchen where her great-grandmother was.  She idly wondered if perhaps
Cologne had gone senile after so many years but quickly ignored such
thoughts.  Her great-grandmother was a crafty woman, everything she did,
she did for a reason.  Shampoo spent the rest of the day trying to figure
out just what she was up to.

				***

	To give Ryoga credit, he did wait until they were out in the street to
burst out laughing. "I can't believe it Jude, the second day you're here
and you already have a fiancee.  We have to get you away from Ranma, he's
an unhealthy influence it seems."
	Jude glared at Ryoga.  "It wasn't my fault!  Sheesh, it was Yoda's wife
that did all the arranging of this stuff, not me.  And why the heck didn't
you say anything?  You just stood there the whole time and didn't say a word."
	"Well," Ryoga said, "You seemed to be handling the situation quite well
all by yourself.  Besides, I know enough not to argue with the old ghoul,
it doesn't get Ranma anywhere and I sure as hell couldn't think of anything
to say to help anyway."
	"At least Shampoo isn't going along with it either, I mean, she's cute and
all, but my life is messed up enough as it is without the possibility of
marriage hanging over my head."
	"Yes," Ryoga agreed, "If she went after you like she went after Ranma
you'd have some serious trouble.  On the other hand you'd also get quite a
bit of free food as well, of course, it might be drugged with a love potion
of some sort as well."
	"Ah forget it," Jude said, "Let's fill out this map a bit more shall we?
We should probably find the high school and the, what was it again?  Oh
yeah, the Ucchan. Anyway, what do you think?"
	"I guess we could do that, but I still say that I could get us there too,
Jude."
	"But we want to be there today, not next week, it's more convenient this
way.  Besides, you wouldn't want to get lost again so soon would you?"
	"No, not when I've been gone this long.  You're right, let's get on with
asking directions then."
	And so the two travelers made their way through the streets of Nerima,
asking odd questions of innocent passers-by and eventually figuring out
where everything was.


Chapter 7- Contingency plans

	Cologne sat in her room in the Nekohanten thinking about the events that
had just occurred.  She knew her great-granddaughter would be unhappy with
her for what she had done.  She also knew that Shampoo would not stay
unhappy for long.
	Her thoughts turned toward Ryoga and the newcomer who she had engaged to
her great-granddaughter.  She visualized the complex dynamic of characters
that interlinked around each other in Nerima and wondered how it would
change with Ryoga's changed curse and the arrival of yet another person.
	She had seen it adjust to new arrivals before and she had not always liked
the results.  The arrival of the girl Ukyo for example, she had added yet
another obstacle to her great-granddaughter's marriage to Ranma.  "If only
I had gotten to her first," Cologne thought, "I could have used her to my
advantage instead of having to deal with yet another suitor for Ranma's hand."
	The need to act may have been what pushed her into engaging Shampoo.  The
need to have a hand in events, to try to twist them to her advantage before
things got out of hand.  She also hoped that it would allow for more chance
to study the newcomer, Jude, he had said his name was Jude.  There was more
to him then just the curse, she could sense that.  She felt the same thing
of Ryoga for that matter.  Sometime in their wanderings they had come into
contact with some powerful magic.
	Perhaps that was the reason that her great-granddaughter had been laid low
with a single blow.  Perhaps some odd magic twisted fate just enough to
cause the umbrella to come into contact with her pressure point in just the
right way.
	"Or perhaps," she said aloud, "I'm reading too much into this and it was
just dumb luck from the start.  Either way, I don't like it."
	One good thing could be said of the event, it had allowed her to begin the
preparation of one of her contingency plans.  With Shampoo's chances to be
the one Ranma chose dwindling with each new fiancee she wanted to have a
backup.  Using Mousse had crossed her mind in the past, but she feared that
Shampoo would be quite vehemently against being married to him.
	Ryoga had been a candidate as well, one that was quite suitable really.
But she had decided to put him in the background at first, his curse and
his sense of direction had stopped her from making any moves in that
direction.  Later she had seen that he had feelings for the Tendo girl,
Akane.  He would be of more use as a match for her then as a backup for
Shampoo.  She hadn't been able to work that angle as often as she would
have liked, it seemed that Ryoga was gone as soon as she could begin to plan.
	She had even idly pondered that kendoist, what was his name?  Oh yes,
Tatewaki Kuno, as a suitor for her great-granddaughter.  Then she quickly
discarded the notion and vowed to never plan Shampoo's future under the
influence of sake ever again.
	So why did she make such a rash decision and choose someone she hadn't had
time to fully study?  She wasn't quite sure why, but perhaps it was because
she saw him as a blank slate, or nearly so, to work upon.  He would never
have the raw talent that Ranma had, but perhaps he could be trained to be
an adequate substitute.
	"And if not," she said, "I can always discard him and find someone else."
	Cologne hoped that all this planning would be unnecessary, that her
great-granddaughter would be able to snare Ranma for her own and they could
return to the village in triumph.  But some part of her said that Shampoo's
chances were growing slim.  The Tendo girl and the chef had the closest
ties to Ranma's heart, she could see that, but she also knew that Shampoo
still had a chance to be the one.
	She idly wished that Ranma had had access to hot water before he had
entered her village all those months ago.  Then instead of him and his
father fleeing in fear for their life they might have been able to carry
out the marriage before the two had returned to Japan.  She pushed those
thoughts aside, maybe in another world events may have occurred in a way
closer to her liking, but this was the only world she had, and she had to
make due with the situation she was given.
	The Amazon elder got up from where she sat and hopped down to the kitchen.
 Business was about to pick up once more, and she had to be ready for it.

				***

	Deep within the bowels of the Tendo household something evil stirred.
Well, perhaps stirred is the wrong word, it doesn't adequately describe
what occurred.  Deep within the bowels of the Tendo house, something evil
counted its stolen panties.  There, that's better.
	Happosai had returned.
	He moved a pair of panties away from the face of the clock in his room and
looked at the time.  The boy would be home soon, and with him would come
such darling female flesh that Happosai grinned in anticipation.
	He filled a bucket of water and began to wait for Ranma and Akane's return
home.



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