These are the new chapters.

-- David

 
Chapter 4:  King of the Road.

	Hidoshi frowned at the map, turned it upside down, and frowned at it again.  His mother had tried to teach him how to read maps, but he had never been able to master it.  It wasn't a conceptual difficulty -- a map was like a picture taken from very high up -- but they only showed you where other things were, never where you were.  And they only showed where some other things were, not everything.  This map showed the location of the Imperial palace grounds, for example, but Hidoshi, try as he might, could not find the okonomiyaki stand across the street anywhere on it.
	He pulled out the compass his mother had given him, but it confidently indicated, as always, that north was in the direction of his wrist.  He shook the compass, but it remained adamant.  He put it in his other hand, and it immediately pointed to his other wrist.  It hated him.  
	Hidoshi had no choice.  He would have to ask directions.
	He walked up to the stand  "Hiya, sugah," said the cook, a cleanshaven fortyish man with long hair.  "Yoah lookin' a mite peaked, there.  What'll it be?"
	"I'm lost," said Hidoshi, with some embarrassment.  He held the map out.  "I need to get to..."
	"Oh, honey, this heah's a map o' Tokyo," interrupted the cook.  "Yoah way out in Kansai province.  That map won't do you no good heah."  
	Hidoshi folded the map.  "I need to get to Nerima."
	"No foolin'?  Ah used ta live in Nerima.  Kinda crazy place.  You suah you don't want somethin' ta eat?  Ah'll make it extra large, jes' for you."
	Hidoshi shook his head.  "Just tell me which way to go."
	"Sweetie, you can't walk to Nerima, it's ovah three hundred kilometahs east of heah.  You should go south to Nara and catch a train."
	"I don't have any money."
	"How awful!  No wondah you look so hungry.  Let me make you a free one, okay?"
	The cook poured batter into a mixing bowl and began adding meat and vegetables.  Hidoshi's stomach began to growl.  It had been far too long since he had eaten a good meal, but the cook's effeminate speech and mannerisms were making him nervous.  He began to suspect the man was trying to seduce him.
	The cook stopped stirring and frowned up at him.  "You know, sugah, you remind me of someone."  He reached up and touched Hidoshi's chin, turning his face to the right.  "You surely do.  Now if only ah could remembah who..."
	"I have to go!"  Hidoshi backed away, trembling.  "Thank you for the directions but I have to go!  South, you say?  G'bye now!"  He turned and bolted, his shirt flapping as he ran.  

	"Well, that was rude," muttered Ukyo, frowning at the boy's retreating back.  "The boy didn't even wait foah his... HEY!  COME BACK!  YOAH GOIN' THE WRONG WAY!"

Chapter 5:  Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.

	The sea stank.  It smelled of brackish salt water and dead fish.  Ryoga watched a seagull soar about aimlessly and berated himself.  He was a failure as a husband and father.  He couldn't support his family, he hadn't been faithful, he was an embarrassment to his wife and children, and, as Shampoo had once put it, he could get lost in his own pants.
	It was Ranma's fault, really.  Things had been fine before Ranma shut down the dojo, but life had been dark ever since.  He'd worked for a mine, but the mine closed.  He'd worked in an office supplies warehouse, but they had let him go after a month.  Meanwhile, Shampoo had been working harder and harder just to make ends meet.
	The sound of a motorcycle interrupted his reverie.  He looked up, hoping she had come.  He had looked up hopefully at sound after sound for the past hour, but it was never her.
	This time it was.
	She stopped the bike and pulled off her helmet, letting her long, beautiful hair fall down her back.  Watching her, Ryoga felt a twinge of guilt.  He had left the house because he had wanted to help her and had only given her more work.  She tucked her helmet under her arm, put her hands on her hips, and gave him a look.  
	"I'm sorry," said Ryoga.
	"Why can't you just stay put?" demanded Shampoo.  "Where did you think you were going?  Just out for a stroll?  Walk around the block, hey?"
	"I was looking for a job," said Ryoga.  
	"Mmm.  Didn't find one?"
	Ryoga closed his eyes and shook his head.  Shampoo sighed, put down the kickstand, and shut the engine off.  "Why you want a job?  Bored?  I keep telling you we make enough from the restaurant.  Why don't you believe me?"
	"Because you're lying," Ryoga said simply.
	Shampoo huffed.  "Well, besides that."
	Ryoga didn't quite know how to respond.  "Uh... isn't that enough?"
	"No."
	"Well, I... I guess there isn't any other reason... but I think that..."
	Shampoo reached down and clouted him on the head.  "Idiot!  That was a joke!  You take everything so serious."  She slapped the seat of the bike.  "Come on, climb up.  Sayami and Seiko are running the restaurant.  I want to get back before they burn it down."
	Ryoga climbed onto the seat and gingerly put his arms around her waist.  The breeze blew her hair in his face, and he caught a whiff of lilac.  "I just feel so useless.  Like a millstone dragging the family down."
	Shampoo put her helmet on and started the engine.  "Hold tighter, you'll fall off.
	Ryoga tightened his grip.
	"Tighter."
	Ryoga leaned against her back and locked his arms together.  Shampoo wriggled.  "Ooh, that's nice.  A little higher, please."
	Ryoga let go, blushing.  "We're in public!"
	"So what?"
	"What will people think?"
	"They'll think you're a lucky bastard.  And you are."  She grinned mischievously at him over her shoulder, then her expression turned more serious.  "Something will turn up.  It always does.  I give you my word as an Amazon."
	"You're not an Amazon any more."
	Shampoo kicked the bike into motion, causing Ryoga to clutch at her wildly.  "Details."