Awakening:

Ranma woke from confused dreams to the stabbing light of daylight.  He 
groaned in misery as the sun burned through his cracked eyelids and set his 
brain to screaming.  He threw his arm over his eyes to block the light and 
tried to figure out where he was and why he felt so lousy.

There had been that fight with Shampoo, where he'd had to take away whatever 
magical potion she had decided to try and douse him with this week, then of 
course Akane had had to misunderstand that and had punted him to...

Where?

All he could remember was a fuzzy impression of crashing through a roof, 
yells of surprise, then Shampoo's potion bottle smashing under him.

He finally realised that part of the smell assaulting his nose was sake, and 
lots of it, and he finally noticed that he was female, and that someone was 
lying next to him, indeed, that several someone's were, and that they seemed 
to be rather naked, and that so was he.

He sat bolt upright, the immediately groaned as the action made his head 
feel like it was about to explode.  Several minutes passed before he could 
actually focus on the scene around him.

A girl with short blonde hair presently was sound asleep with her arms 
around his waist and her head resting on his leg.  Another girl with 
slightly wavey bluish green hair was curled against him to his side.  A 
third girl was curled up against his other with her head resting on his 
calf, this one with short  black hair.  Ranma's head had been resting on her 
thigh.

Scattered around the room was a veritable whirlwind of clothes, tossed 
hither and yon.  Glasses lay carelessly on the floor near bottles of 
champange and sake.  Sexy underware hung from the backs of chairs.

Ranma blinked in disbelief.  What had happened?  It looked like an... an..

Well to be blunt, it looked like an orgy had taken place with him as the 
centerpeice.   And from the bucket of nearly melted ice and the empty 
thermos next to the bed...

He was shaking his head in denial as the door to the room opened and a tall 
woman with long green hair entered, carrying a tray and a smile.

"Ah, you're awake!  Wonderful!  Let me wake up the others and then we can 
feed our husband a honeymoon breakfast."

Ranma blinked in terror at the word husband, and his eyes immediately went 
to the slightly oversized ring on his left hand, then to the matching ones 
on the other girls.

As the tall green haired girl set the tray down and started to try and wake 
the sleeping trio, all Ranma could think of was Shampoo's potion, and that 
Akane would NEVER forgive him for this.




Breakfast:

The coffee was a blessing beyond anything he'd ever known, helping to clear 
his head from the effects of the hangover and contemplate his current 
situation, and turning him male.  The four girls were totally unsurprised at 
the change in his gender, or his fuzzy memories of the last several months.

"It's normal, love," the tall green haired girl said.  "You've been 
remembering more every day.  I'm glad now that you remember everything, you 
haven't forgotten us."

Ranma nodded.  He had remembered after the initial shock had worn off.  
Haruka, Hotaru, Setsuna and Michiru had been very worried about him since he 
had crashed through the roof they had just vanquished a villain on.  It had 
been love at first sight, for all of them, and yesterday, they had been 
married.

It had to have been Shampoo's potion, but the problem was while he now had 
his memories back, he was still married.  To all four of them.

Setsuna was giving him the eye.  "What is it, Ranma?  You look worried."

Ranma drained his coffee.  "Well, um, I don't know how to tell you all this, 
but before we met,um, well... I kinda already had a fiancee, um, or three."

Haruka laughed as she nudged him in the ribs.  "You were already playing the 
feild, huh Tiger?"

"I'm sure it wasn't like that Haruka," Michiru said.  "I'm sure Ranma had 
his reasons."

"Um," Ranma answered.  "Well, I was kinda forced into them.  Akane and I 
were promised since I we were born.  Then dad took me on a training trip to 
China, and I kinda ran afoul of this Amazon whose laws say she has to marry 
me since I beat her, then there's my friend Ukyo, who says my dad betrothed 
her to me when I was six."  He took another sip of the coffee.  "I guess I 
loved Akane, in some ways, but I just don't know what to do."

Setsuna snuggled her still naked body against his side.  "Well, I suppose we 
can see if we like her.  If you care for her, love, we can certainly see if 
she might be worthy of being another wife.  We have to look out for our 
husband, yes?"

Ranma was in the middle of kissing her when he suddenly realized how 
automatic the response had been to Setsuna's cuddle.  It had been the most 
natural thing in the world to kiss her.

It just emphasized just how powerful the potion had been.  Even realizing 
what had happened, he was still in love with the four girls too.  He 
couldn't bear the thought of life without any of them.

And Shampoo had been planning on using the potion on him while they were 
alone.

Funny, angry as he was about that, he couldn't make himself upset that it 
had caught his current wives instead.



The First Consequence:

The quiet moment lasted for a few eternities before chaos once more rose 
it's evil head, and the dining room wall exploded.

As the rubble settled Ranma heard two words he hated more than anything 
spoken once more.

"Ranma, Kill!"

Ranma shoved Setsuna out of the way and jumped in front of the others as a 
bonburi flashed out of the settling dust.  He caught the metal ball and 
stopped it cold, then intercepted the second as it followed close behind.  
He shouted, "Stop this, Shampoo!  If we have to fight, I'll meet you 
outside!"

The Amazon stopped in amazement.  "What?  You no try to run?  No try to hide 
fact betray wife?"  Large tear streaked purple eyes blinked at him.

"I didn't betray you Shampoo.  We were never married.  And no, I'm not 
running, nor will I let you hurt my wives either."  He held up a hand to 
Haruka, "No World Shakings either!  She's a human."

The blonde frowned.  "She just blew a hole in our house!"

Ranma sighed.  "I know, I know.  Let me speak to her."

Shampoo just stood and blinked.  "Shampoo not believe paper.  Shampoo know 
had be some trick."

Ranma nodded.  "Yep.  Your's."

Shampoo looked at him dumbfounded.  "How Ai Ren say such thing.  Shampoo 
search for lost Ranma after pervert girl kick."

"It was your potion that made this happen, Shampoo.  If you hadn't tried to 
douse me with it, none of this would have happened."

"Ayah.  Ai Ren not use marriage potion!"

"I didn't have much of a choice when it broke all over me."

The Amazon looked at the four girls,still naked, but holding a sword, a 
mirror, a long key shaped staff, and a glaive, and gave a heart broken wail 
as her bonburi dropped.  "Ai Ren is lost!  Marriage potion was for Shampoo!  
Now happiness stolen forever!"

Ranma folded his arms.  "You shouldn't have tried to use it on me.  You have 
only yourself to blame."

"Now Shampoo is doomed."  the purple haired girl said quietly.  "All can do 
now is kill self."  She stood and turned.  "Ai Ren not need worry about 
Shampoo any more.  Bie Lhao."

"What.  What the hell are you talking about, Shampoo?"

"Amazon Champion cannot be failure.  Granddaughter of Warleader cannot be 
less.  Shampoo Honor gone.  Only way save family shame is honorable death."

Ranma sighed.  "Great.  More problems on my head."

Hotaru looked pensive.  "Ranma, you can't just let her commit suicide."

Setsuna was looking at the Chinese girl more closely.  "You're Joketsuzoku, 
right?"

Shampoo shook her head.  "Shampoo is nothing anymore.  She have no honor, no 
home, no family."

Haruka sat down and grumped.  "Great.  She's a moper."  Michiru laid a hand 
on her shoulder.  "Be nice, love.  We don't know what she's been through."

"I know she's trying to steal our husband.  And he's softhearted enough to 
fall for it."

Hotaru shook her head.  "Haruka, we owe her for our happiness.  If it hadn't 
been for her, we wouldn't have our husband."

"We got caught in a spell she used to try and trap him!"

"Does it mean we love him any less?"  Michiru asked softly.  "Does it mean 
we want our happiness to be marred by such despair?"

Setsuna was still looking at the Amazon girl.  "Would you happen to be 
related to a girl named Cologne?  Looks a lot like you, with blue hair 
instead of purple?"

Shampoo blinked.  "Great Grandmother?  She no look like Shampoo.  She no 
want to see Shampoo after such failure."

"Great Grandmother?  It couldn't have been that long." Setsuna's brow 
wrinkled in thought.  "It wasn't that many years ago."

Haruka laughed.  "Right.  Setsuna, for you that could be centuries."

"I know I remember talking to her not that long ago.  We were discussing the 
Amazon laws, and I'm sure she mentioned something about a situation like 
this."

"Shampoo have one choice.  Honorable death."  She raised big tearfilled eyes 
to Ranma.  "Shampoo would have been good wife.  Have many strong babies for 
Ai Ren.  Daughter could have been Champion someday.  Now Shampoo have 
nothing."

Ranma, ever the man who couldn't stand to see a woman cry reached out a hand 
to Shampoo's shoulder.  "Maybe Setsuna's right.  Maybe there's a loophole in 
the laws.  Maybe Cologne knows something.  Look, I'll go with you to the old 
ghouls."

Shampoo looked at him in disbelief.  "Why Ai Ren care?  Only run from 
Shampoo before.  Thought would be happy to get rid of."

Ranma shrugged.  "I got you to thank for my wives.  Whatever the reason, I 
still love them.  I owe you is all.  Let's go see what the Ghoul has to 
say."

Shampoo's eyes fell as her shoulders slumped.  "As Ai Ren wishes.  Shampoo 
have nothing else to do."

Ranma sighed.  Why was his life never simple?

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