Dislaimer

  These characters are all the legal, moral, and intellectual property of Miss Rumiko Takahashi. You think I'd ever be bright
enough to make up characters who were this good ^_~?

   Medley

   Ranma counted himself fortunate when he encountered
Shampoo walking her bicycle with a flat even if she did
administer the snub direct by looking the other way rather
than acknowledging his existence. Though it were more than
3 weeks after his failed wedding attempt she was still Lady
Disdain to him whenever they met. Sheesh!, thought Ranma, the
way she was acting you'd've thought it was him who'd bombed
her wedding rather than it being the other way around. Well,
he did need to make peace with her and if she wasn't talking
to him then she couldn't tell him not to walk beside her,
right?

   *Half* right! As soon as he was by her side she ceased
ignoring him long enough to glare into his eyes and whistle
a few notes from a foreign pop song before assuming a posture
that indicated she was ignoring the existence of week-old
mackeral. Ranma did not consider it an encouraging sign that
the name of the story was "Don't Speak!".

   Ranma pursed his lips. He wasn't one to turn down a
challange or give up no matter what the circumstances and he
did *not* want Shampoo out of his life. Sooo...

   He stared at her rigid back and whistled a song titled,
"Why can't we be friends?". This time when Shampoo whistled
she didn't even bother to turn around. Although she didn't
speak Ranma had no troubled hearing the lyrics of her tune:

Hit the road Jack
And don't you come back,
No more,no more, no more!
Hit the road Jack,
And don't you come back no more!

   Ranma blinked. But Shampoo's glare at him was fiery
rather than cold, the way it had been at the time of the
'Reversal Gem' episode. Ok, he decided, I can still make
it clear to her. I just need a song that makes it clear
that I'm committed to Akane but that I still like her.
Mr. Tendo would probably tell me to let my heart be my
guide on this one so that's what I'll do!

   He then began whistling a few plaintive chords. As he
did so the anger in Shampoo's eyes visibly began to die and,
to Ranma's very happy distress, she began to walk closer to
him in a way that would surely have triggered Akane's
jealousy were she to see it. Ranma realized belatedly that
a song with the title, "It's Sad to Belong to Someone Else
When the Right One Comes Along" was the wrong thing to
whistle to Shampoo. Smiling happily she whistled a few
bars of her own which Ranma translated as "Love the One
You're With!" before she leaned on his shoulder and looked
up into his eyes.
   Those eyes! That nearness...They were casting that
spell on him that they had once before on top of the Tendo
birdhouse. He'd never pushed her away because he didn't
want her but because he *did* want her (Though his father's
promise had committed him elsewhere!) and he was afraid of
what would happen if he didn't push her away quick - as he
was now! Pushing her away gently he tried a second time to
get across the notion that he was committed to Akane.
Softly, he whistled the tune that accomapnied the words to
an old Olivia Newton John song...

   "If we both were born in another place and time,
   this moment might be ended in a kiss,
   but there you are with yours and here I am with mine,
   so I guess that we'll be leaving it at this..."

   And then, as though it were deliberately out to
sabotage his efforts at discouraging Shampoo, his heart
prompted him to add the next part of the song...

   "...I love you, I honestly love you!"

   It belatedly occurred to Ranma that there were better
"I'd like us to be friends" songs that he could have
whistled. Shampoo did not look discouraged. She gave him a
measuring glance and whistleda different St. John song, "If
You Love Me Let Me Know, If You Don't Then Let Me Go!" and
then raised her eyebrows as she looked at him.

   Disastor! Ranma would always be the first to award
himself a thousand virtues but even his own Creator would
describe him as "indecisive" and this was a judgement that
he himself could not dispute. He loved Shampoo but he loved
Akane as well and betraying her would be like betraying a
sister. He wished that there was some way to postpone the
decision yet again but beneath Shampoo's eyes he realized
that there was no way to weasel out of this one. It wasn't
the first time that either girl either singly or collectively
had asked him to choose but he could sense that this would
be the last one and that there would be no weaseling from
*this* moment of decision.

   Firmly,he clenched his teeth to prevent the tune of
"Torn Between Two Lovers, Feeling Like a Fool" from passing
his lips. Stop that!, he told himself, She knows *that*.
That's the reason she's been patient with you! But you're in
danger of losing her if you don't decide so you really do
need to think wisely and force yourself to decide!

   He thought then upon Akane Tendo, a precious girl who
was both tender and tough, and the way she had said, "I don't
*mind* getting married to you now that you said you love me!".
Then he thought upon the fact that this had been the most
enthusiastic declaration in favor of their impending marriage
that she had ever made. He thought also upon the fact that
even when she had claimed to hear him say "I love you!" that
never had Akane said that she had loved him at a time that
her mind had been her own. Shyness or tact? And if he married
Akane under a circumstance like that how was he better than a
Kuno or a Kirin? Shampoo, on the other hand, had declared her
love for him many times. And given the choice of an Akane
moved by duty or a Shampoo moved by love...

   He pursed his lips and began to whistle, "I Want to Keep
On Loving You!".

   Shampoo smiled. After hearing him out all the way through
she pursed her own lips once more. It sounded as though she'd
begun to whistle Aretha Franklain's "I'll Second That Emotion"
but that was the moment when Ranma covered her lips with his
own and the music they made together then had nothing to do
with song.

The End (Cue the Ballad of Ranma and Shampoo ^_^!)

C&C, MSTs, flames and letterbombs may all be sent to
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or secretlabcage@yahoo.com
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