Hello all!
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Author's foreword:
I started "The High Cost of Loving" in September of 1996, shortly after
posting "The Second" and "Well, Well" to raac. The idea was to take a
few of the stories that I had written and combine them into a series.
The first story was "Money." The name was later changed to "The Money
Pit" since the title "Money" was already taken. Due to Real Life and
family business, I had to stop for a while. THCOL is set in the manga
universe of Ranma 1/2 and takes the place of vol. 36-38. The only
exception is the two stories in vol. 36 that are referred to in chapter
one.
The first time around I received comments and encouragement from the
following and I would like to thank them for their comments and C&C:
Kun-chan, Sebastian Weinberg, Raphael See and Don Wang.
Please enjoy the stories and C&C if you feel the leading.
And remember, "There Can Be Only One."
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The tiger's strength,
Can not compare.
Neither can
The graceful swan.
The proud lion
Does not dare.
To cross the line
That you have drawn.
You are the best,
In all you do.
The one, I'm told,
Whom I should have.
Strong and free,
Your spirit does go,
Too much for me,
Your heart to have.
Inside your eyes,
I long to see,
A look so tender
And so soft.
But more and more,
It seems to me,
Such feelings for me,
I have lost.
Should I continue
To seek my goal.
Or change the eyes
That I gaze into.
Blue as the sky
Or dark as coal
Love I hope for
Or love I know.
Two strengths I see,
One that I claim.
The other is offered
To me with love.
More and more
It is my aim
To be happy with one
Who shows me love.
"Love of Strength" by Suds-kun (Shaun Schillinger)
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Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction
"The High Cost of Loving - Chapter Two"
"The Money Pit - Part Three"
by Suds-kun (Shaun Schillinger)
Version 1: 10/1/96
Version 2: 1/20/97
Version 3: 3/23/98
Version 4: 11/21/98
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Ranma 1/2 characters are created by and copyright Rumiko Takahashi.
Published by Shogakukan Inc. and VIZ Comm.
Story copyright Shaun Schillinger.
Intended for the sole non-profit use of fans.
=======================================================================
Shampoo smiled as she wheeled along on her bicycle. The emergency call
from the Tendou doujou was welcome news. An opportunity to show off
amazon superiority should never be passed up.
"Akane lose Ranma to Shampoo and then try to poison everyone."
Shampoo's triumphant laugh trailed off as she remembered her successful
capture of Ranma.
===
"Nihao, Ranma!"
Shampoo smiled at her husband. He always enjoyed her surprise greeting
on the bicycle. But he didn't smile this time.
"What wrong, Ranma?"
"That mean, ugly Akane tossed me out of her house and then that awful
spatula girl kicked me out of HER house. Now I have no where to live,
so now I'm sleeping in the streets."
"Shampoo's heart breaks at how those mean, awful girls treat you. You
can live with Shampoo at the Neko Hanten. O.K. Ranma?"
"Sure, if pop and I can have our own room."
"Is settled, let's go tell great-grandmother!"
===
Shampoo sighed at her memory of capturing Ranma. Her great-grandmother
said that Ranma had to work as a waitress and his father had to help
with paying rent, but Ranma was living with her! She had been so happy
that she cleaned out the store =room in back for HER husband. He was
really impressed with her speed, but last night he locked the door when
he went to bed.
"Stupid Mousse is upset, but I don't care. In one week I'll have
husband returning to China with me, and Mousse will be just a memory."
Shampoo glided up to the entrance of the Tendou doujou and parked her
bike at the gate. She unloaded the delivery case and walked up to the
door with the order of ramen. After a quick check of her clothes to
make sure they were straight, she knocked on the door.
Nabiki opened the door. "Good, you're here! We were about ready to
have to eat Akane's cooking." Nabiki quickly grabbed the carrier and
set it on the table.
"Oh, hello Shampoo!" Kasumi greeted Shampoo and motioned for her to
enter. Soun Tendou smiled at Shampoo as she stepped inside.
"Nihao, Kasumi! Why nice Kasumi not cook tonight?"
"Oh, Akane wanted to cook tonight to take her mind off of things, but
she seems to have had some problems in the kitchen tonight." Kasumi
smiled as she turned to help Nabiki pass out the bowls of ramen.
"Akane is upset?" asked Shampoo in mock surprise, "is she mad over
Ranma living with Shampoo?"
Kasumi, Nabiki and Soun looked at Shampoo in stunned silence.
They didn't know. Good. This was going to be fun! Shampoo hesitated
when she noticed the funny looks on the Tendou's faces. She turned
toward the source of their frightened stares. Akane was standing in the
doorway, and looked really angry.
"You have HER come with dinner after I cooked all afternoon?" The air
started to crackle around Akane.
"Shampoo got phone order to deliver emergency ramen to Tendou doujou.
Husband even help prepare order." Shampoo smiled evilly.
"H-hus... Ranma?" stammered Akane.
"Yes, husband is living with Shampoo."
"But, he's staying at Ukyo's."
Shampoo looked at the stunned Akane. Now for the kill, she thought.
"Spatula girl told husband to leave and he came to Shampoo for help.
Spatula girl and violent Akane don't want Ranma, but Shampoo does."
Akane started to glow blue and then stormed upstairs, yelling, "You can
have that unfaithful hentai! I don't care!"
Shampoo smiled and then waved as she left. "Enjoy your ramen!"
===
The smile was still on her face when Shampoo arrived at the Neko
Hanten. As she entered through the back entrance, she watched onna-
Ranma carrying eight bowls of ramen to the different customers. Each
customer smiled or whistled as they received their bowl. She put the
take-out carrier away as she thought about the increase in business
with her husband now working as a waitress.
Mousse was trying to keep up with onna-Ranma, but was not being very
successful. "Stupid Mousse," she muttered, then approached her great-
grandmother.
"Ah, Shampoo, son-in-law is doing very well. Are you sure you didn't
use any potions or spice on him?"
"No, great-grandmother, I just asked him to stay with us and he
accepted." The big happy and goofy grin returned at the thought of
impressing her great-grandmother.
"Well, Mousse is not happy. Also, we'll need to convince son-in-law to
return to China with us soon, or we may have problems like the Kuonji
girl had."
Problems? Spatula girl didn't love Ranma as much as she did. That's why
she told him to leave. She just couldn't deal with him living with her.
Ranma wanted to live with Shampoo, he wouldn't be here if he didn't.
Cologne sighed at the look of bewilderment on her great-granddaughter's
face. "Shampoo, after you brought son-in-law here, I went to the
Ucchan's. It is closed for repairs. There are no tables for customers
and one whole wall is missing. We must get son-in-law to China before
the Neko Hanten suffers the same fate. It is not built as strong as the
Tendou doujou. Do you understand, Shampoo?"
Shampoo bobbed her head up and down, then turned to watch onna-Ranma.
Cologne sighed and shook her head. "If only I had some intelligence
spice."
===
*Knock* *Knock*
"Come in, Nabiki."
"Good news, oneechan."
Kasumi set down the book she was reading and looked at her sister.
"What did you find out?"
"After we were finished eating, I followed daddy. He met uncle Genma in
the park. They weren't very secretive, so it was pretty easy to
eavesdrop. It seems that their plan is moving faster than what they
were expecting. The plan is to have Ranma alienate all of the girls
chasing him. The ideas they came up with for Shampoo and Cologne were
pretty stupid, but the last one is going to involve Happosai. They're
going to trick him into going to the Neko Hanten tomorrow."
"Well, that will work out okay." smiled Kasumi. "I was able to talk
with Akane while she, uhm, cooked this afternoon. She's starting to
miss Ranma and was getting jealous of Ukyou. Have you noticed what
Akane has been doing with the cement blocks she practices with?"
Nabiki rolled her eyes as she plopped down on her knees. "How couldn't
I? She's used up one month's worth of cement blocks and she keeps
piling them up in the corner of the yard. I wish I knew what Ranma did
with those broken pieces."
"Can we afford another shipment of blocks?"
Nabiki tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, the contractor did offer me
a discount if I increased my order. Why do you ask?"
Kasumi smiled, her eyes briefly shown in a mischievous light. "I have
an idea of a good use for those blocks. I think it would help Akane
very much."
"O.K., Oneechan. I hope your idea works. We need to do something quick.
Cologne will do something to Ranma to get him to return to China with
her and Shampoo."
"I think father, Uncle Genma and Happosai will take care of that.
I'll talk with Akane tomorrow."
Nabiki stretched and yawned at the same time. "Good night, oneechan."
Kasumi waved as her sister left the room. "Good night, Nabiki."
===
Akane walked up to Ukyou during lunch hour. She was sitting under the
tree where she would eat lunch with Ranma. But today, she was alone and
looking quite depressed.
"Helo, Ukyou. Uhm, where's Ranma?"
Ukyou looked up at Akane and started to speak, but her bottom lip began
to quiver. She quickly looked away and put her hand to her face, trying
to prevent the flow of tears.
Akane was taken aback by Ukyou's response. She knelt beside Ukyou and
waited for her to compose herself.
"Gomen, Akane. I.. I thought I could make it through the day without
breaking down like that." Ukyou tried to smile, and wasn't very
successful. She noticed that Akane looked concerned.
"Um, what did he do, Ukyou?"
Ukyou straightened herself and tried to look strong. "That baka
destroyed my restaurant. All of the tables, chairs and windows are
destroyed. One wall is even gone."
Akane was dumbfounded. "How could he do that to you?"
Ukyou sighed, "He'd get into a fight with his father and they would end
up breaking a couple of the tables and things. But what finally did it,
was the fight with Tsubasa and Ryouga. All I could think about was how
my life as an okonomiyaki chef was being destroyed. I couldn't let
that happen. After the fight, I told Ranma to leave. I haven't seen him
since."
"Oh Ukyou, I'm so sorry. I know he can be pig headed sometimes and he
does attract a lot of people wanting to fight him." Akane looked down
and started to fidget. "Um, Ukyou? Do you know where he's staying,
now?"
Ukyou shook her head and looked down.
"Well, he's staying with Shampoo."
Ukyou jerked her head toward Akane and looked at her in disbelief.
"What?"
"She delivered some ramen last night," Akane unconsciously balled her
hands into fists, "and said that he was living with her and that you
kicked him out."
"That, that, PLAYBOY!" Ukyou shouted. "He just used me and then tossed
me aside." She began to shake with anger, but was soon sobbing.
Akane reached out to put a hand on Ukyou's shoulder, but Ukyou turned
away.
*sniff* "I'm going now. I need some time to myself." With that, Ukyou
stood and walked away.
Akane watched Ukyou disappear around the corner of the high school. Did
she act like that toward Ranma? Ukyou acted like she really hated Ranma
just now. I mean, I may say I 'hate' him, but I don't really mean it.
With a sigh Akane stood to return to class.
"I need to track him down and have a talk with him."
===
"Can I go on a break now, old ghoul?" Onna-Ranma snarled.
"No, it's almost closing time, but you can finish early. Mousse can
bus the tables."
Mousse grumbled as he gave onna-Ranma an icy stare.
"Wo ai ni!" Shampoo shouted as she glomped onto onna-Ranma.
"Not now, Shampoo!" Shouted onna-Ranma as she tried to push her
attacker back.
"I have had enough!" Shouted Mousse as he sent a spiked chain toward
onna-Ranma's head.
Onna-Ranma ducked and tossed Shampoo to the side. As she rolled the
other way, onna-Ranma jumped to her feet.
"What are you doing, Mousse?" She yelled as a razor sharp hook flew by
her head.
Cologne shook her head in defeat. She easily dodged her bus boy as
Mousse bounced off the nearby wall. "We were so close." She grumbled
as she picked up the phone. It was better to place the call to the
police and fire department now than later.
"Why does everybody have to attack me?" Onna-Ranma shouted as she
dodged two shuriken.
"Sweeto!"
A small dark figure zipped up to onna-Ranma.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Onna-Ranma peeled the old letch from her front and punted him into one
of the beams in the ceiling of the Neko Hanten. Happosai wiggled his
head out of the rafter and fell to the floor.
"After I introduced you to all of those lovely ladies, you still treat
your master this way?"
Happosai clutched his fists to his cheeks and made with the big doe
eyes.
"Oh Ranma-chan! Let me cry in your bosom to relieve my despair!"
Happosai lunged at onna-Ranma's chest, but she was ready. With a pair
of chopsticks from a nearby table, she blocked the letcher's grab and
flipped him toward the ceiling. This time he missed the beams and broke
through the roof.
Onna-Ranma watched the spinning Happosai disappear. "Hah! Serves you
right, you old pervert! You did that to me too many times!"
"RRRRRAAAAANNNMMMMAAAAAAA!"
Onna-Ranma sighed and sidestepped one of Ryouga's bandanas.
"Hey, pig-boy. What's wrong now?"
"You'll pay for what you did to Akari, you molester!" Ryouga swung his
umbrella at onna-Ranma, intent on clubbing the boy-turned-girl.
She used the chopsticks still in her hand to flip Ryouga through the
roof, as she did with Happosai.
"I really like that leverage move the old lecher uses." The grin on
onna-Ranma disappeared as Ryouga crashed in front of her. Happosai was
standing on his back and scowled at onna-Ranma.
"How could you use that move on your Master after I taught it to you?"
He stepped off of Ryouga and dusted off his clothes.
"Taught it to me! I don't know how many times you sent me spinning
through the roof with that move!" Onna-Ranma shouted back at the old
man as she took up a defensive stance.
"There, there my boy. I've got a present for you." Happosai tossed two
fuse bombs at his reluctant student.
With a surprised shout, onna-Ranma batted the two hissing balls away
from her. One landed in front of Mousse, the other at the front door.
The simultaneous explosions knocked Mousse through a table and into a
booth; the other blew out the main doors.
A groggy Ryouga grabbed Happosai in an attempt to stand. The short old
man shrugged him of his shoulder. "Boy, you need more training." And
with that, Happosai flipped Ryouga through one of the windows.
As he was distracted with Ryouga, Happosai didn't see the chains that
Mousse sent at him. The chains wrapped around him, and with a tug
Mousse sent Happosai into one of the tables. Before Happosai could
react Mousse snapped the chains like a whip. With each crack of the
"whip," the old lecher broke a table.
"Not bad, Mousse." Onna-Ranma commented, just before Mousse cracked his
"whip" at her.
Without thinking, she kicked the human projectile away from her. The
force of the kick broke the chains.
With a satisfied smile, onna-Ranma looked around the restaurant.
Cologne was standing in the window to the kitchen. Near her was
Shampoo, who was smiling in appreciation of the old man's beating. Her
face turned to surprise and onna-Ranma turned to look at what she saw.
Mousse was backing away from a very large fuse bomb. Happosai was
standing on top of the giant firecracker with a burning match in one
hand.
"Now I'm mad! Happo-dai-karin technique!" He shouted as he bent to
light the fuse.
Onna-Ranma grabbed a table leg and tossed it at the mad pervert. The
blow knocked Happosai off the bomb, but after the fuse was lit.
Onna-Ranma, Shampoo and Mousse vainly tried to escape the restaurant
before the explosion.
===
Akane looked out her bedroom window, "What was that? It sounded like
an explosion somewhere in the city." She turned and sat back down on
her bed. "It's probably Ranma's fault." She finished drying off her
pet pig, whom she found floating in the koi pond.
She scratched P-chan's chin and then hugged him. "How can I be missing
that unfaithful hentai, P-chan? When we talk during lunch at school,
he doesn't say anything about Ukyo or Shampoo. He just asks me how I'm
doing and Kasumi and Nabiki. Well, he has been acting pretty nice to
me lately. He's even apologized to me for what happened to Ukyou. She
hasn't talked to him for five days now. When I talk to her, she's quite
adamant in not talking to or even seeing him."
Akane half-heartedly laughed. "I guess I'm more of a friend to Ukyou
now, than Ranma. But, she still has some resentment towards me. Why, I
don't know."
Akane looked down at P-chan and smiled. "Still, I haven't argued with
Ranma this week. He hasn't insulted or made fun of me. I really like
that." A smile appeared on her face as she thought of an idea. "I think
I'll ask Kasumi to make a second lunch so I can give it to Ranma. What
do you think, P-chan?"
The little black pig shook his head violently.
"I knew you'd understand P-chan!" Akane hugged the cut little pig and
didn't see the tears in his little eyes.
===
"Wake up, son-in-law." Cologne nudged onna-Ranma. Slowly she began to
stir.
"What happened?" She slowly opened her eyes and looked around in shock.
The Neko Hanten was unrecognizable. Her gaze wandered about the room.
Happosai was at the bottom of a huge crater in the middle of what used
to be the dining area. Mousse was lying on top of Shampoo, as if he was
trying to protect her from the explosion. Shampoo looked better than
Mousse. His clothes were tattered and still smoking. Her eyes stopped
at his legs.
"Mousse!" she shouted as she jumped the distance to his side. She
quickly grabbed his pant leg and tore it along the seam. She watched as
blood spurted into the air from a gash to his inner thigh. "Call an
ambulance!" she shouted as she pressed her fist into the inside part of
his leg. The spurting of the blood was reduced to slow ooze.
She looked up and saw Cologne standing next to them. "The paramedics
are on their way." Cologne looked down at the wound and the blood on
the floor. "He's lost a lot of blood." She then hopped over to Shampoo
and quickly checked her for any injuries. "She's fine." She announced.
"Why did he have to get cut in the thigh?" Onna-Ranma grumbled. "I'm
not strong enough to stop this kind of bleeding."
Cologne prodded Shampoo a few times. The Chinese girl slowly began to
wake up mumbling. "Stupid Mousse no need to protect Shampoo." Shampoo
sat up and looked around. She woke up fully at the shock of the damage
she saw and then noticed onna-Ranma and Mousse.
"Ranma! Why you molest Mousse?" Shampoo tried to pull onna-Ranma away
from the prone boy, but was stopped by Cologne.
Shampoo was going to ask what was going on, when she heard the sirens.
She looked down at Mousse's leg and saw the blood. Shortly a paramedic
appeared in the doorway, her Great-grandmother directed the paramedics
to onna-Ranma and Mousse. When onna-Rama removed her hands, a stream of
blood arced through the air toward her. She screamed and jumped away
from the blood. One of the paramedics quickly replaced onna-Ranma.
Cologne pulled her great-granddaughter away from the paramedics and
tried to calm the hysterical girl down. "Stupid Mousse die trying to
protect Shampoo! Shampoo didn't need Mousse's help!" Shampoo kept
repeating the words and crying as she held on to her great-grandmother.
Onna-Ranma sat beside the crying girl and tried to calm her down. She
watched as the paramedics stopped the bleeding and prepared the injured
boy for transport. She then looked to Shampoo and smiled.
Shampoo wiped away the tears and looked at her. "Why, Ranma?" she
asked.
Onna-Ranma shrugged. "I don't know."
Their attention was brought back to Mousse, who was being moved to the
stretcher. As the paramedics finished loading Mousse into the
ambulance, Shampoo jumped past the paramedics and sat beside Mousse.
Cologne waved, "I'll meet you at the hospital."
Onna-Ranma watched the ambulance drive away. She turned toward Cologne
and could tell that she was upset. Cologne moved closer on her stick to
look into onna-Ranma's eyes.
*SLAP*
Onna-Ranma staggered back, more from shock than from the blow. She felt
her cheek and could make out the outline of a small hand. She looked at
Cologne who seemed even older now, if that was possible.
"I spent a year planning, setting up this restaurant, training Shampoo
and all for the purpose of you marrying my great-granddaughter. And you
destroy it in a matter of minutes." Cologne turned away. "Mousse was
starting to wear down Shampoo, and I thought that I could get you to
marry her before I had to separate them. Now, she's probably going to
stay the night with him at the hospital." Cologne pointed toward the
opening that used to be the entrance to the Neko Hanten. "Leave. I want
you out of here before you do any more damage."
A panda looked through one of the larger holes in the wall. Onna-Ranma
waved at the panda to come in. The two went to their former room to
get their things. As they were leaving onna-Ranma approached Cologne.
"Did you want me to help in the cleanup, Cologne?"
"No, son-in-law, Happy will be helping in the cleanup and repairs."
"Gomen nasai." She said as she bowed to the older woman and then left
with the panda.
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suds-kun (Shaun Schillinger)
suds1964@tir.com
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8222/
"THIS time, we didn't forget the graaavy!" Cat & Mouse to Dog