Ranma 1/2 Presents:
Shampoo 1/2

Chapter 1

Beginnings


All C+C is craved for.
You can contact me at: sommer@3rdm.net

Standard disclaimer:
I don't own any of these characters. They are owned by the Goddess
Takahashi and whomever she leased the rights to.

Azatlan has given Shampoo 1/2 a home at:
http://www.geocities.com/~azatlan/Special-Series/shampoo.html

Bloodblade has also put it on his webpage at:
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/towers/5920

Slashly also has it at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/5747/Shampoo.html


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


The present:
Nerima, Japan;


"Kasumi!"

Kasumi turned from the food she was preparing to stare in the direction
the voice had come from. She wondered what her father could want and hoped
it was important enough to warrant the delay in dinner that was going to
happen because of the interruption. Still, there had been more than a
little hint of excitement in his voice, something out of the ordinary.
Kasumi paid attention to things like that. Sometimes, out of the ordinary
things would mean she'd have to adjust her actions in order to make sure
everything was done when it should be. From the meals to the cleaning, it
was her duty to see to it that everything functioned smoothly within the
home. It was a joy, of course, but sometimes it became difficult in spite
of the ease which she usually demonstrated before her family.

Turning off the burner, she went into the living room where her father's
voice had come from. As she walked to it she heard him call for Nabiki and
Akane's as well, making it a family meeting. That could have meant any
number of things. Usually her father was a creature of habit, but every
once and a while he could be unpredictable at times. Mentally she prepared
herself for a disruption in her schedule, hoping there would be enough
time after dinner to get the cleaning done.

As she sat down, she noticed Nabiki was in a kimono of all things. Odd
that she had decided to wear something so...traditional. Perhaps her
younger sister had some idea of what the meeting was about.

Akane came in a moment later, mopping sweat from her brow from her
workout. Earlier, Kasumi had heard the sounds of bricks shattering, and
reminded herself she would have to clean up the dust that would be left
behind in Akane's wake. At least her youngest sister was responsible
enough to clean up the big pieces, but somehow she always seemed to leave
the smaller pieces behind.

She shifted her thoughts to what was happening before her. Kasumi smiled
pleasantly at everyone as she and her sisters sat at the table and looked
to their father. For all of the poise he tried to maintain, there was a
hint of barely controlled excitement in his eyes.

Soun looked over his daughters carefully. How soon one of their lives was
going to be changed. "A friend of mine is coming to visit with his son.
It's our intention that one of you marries him."

As caught up as he was in the moment, he barely noticed the varying
reactions of his daughters:

Akane: Outrage.

Nabiki: Interest, especially if he was cute.

Kasumi: Concern that he was older, since younger men were so...young.

Soun knew whichever one Ranma picked, the girl would be overwhelmed with
joy; after all, it was Genma's son. Why wouldn't she be? That he had never
seen Ranma before, (and in mentioning that fact the girls seemed somewhat
annoyed, even the previously interested Nabiki) made no difference either.
Genma would have raised his son on the path of a true martial artist, and
therefore would be a more than acceptable husband.

As the discussion was about to continue, a loud crash came from the front
door. Automatically Kasumi was on her feet first, concerned that if
something had been broken she would have to fix it. Habit at Kasumi's
taking charge of the situation made the others relax and allowed her to
examine things alone.

As Kasumi made her way to the door, her mind was awhirl with the sudden
turn of events. The whole situation was something to seriously consider.
Which one of them was going to get married to Ranma? Akane had seemed to
show an unhealthy aversion to boys recently, so perhaps it would be best
if she were engaged to Ranma in order to help her get over that problem.
On the other hand, Nabiki seemed interested as well, and she had not been
dating anyone lately either. Yes, no doubt it would be one of those two.
Ranma might be able to help them in any number of ways. Somehow Kasumi
doubted if he was the sort of man she was looking for.

As she turned the corner she saw what the disturbance had been. There was
a gaping hole in the wall, next to the door, with a small pile of rubble
next to it. There were also three people now inside the house as well,
undoubtedly having entered through the previously mentioned hole. All
three of them were in a small circle, one of them with his back to her.
The first one that caught her attention was the tallest and heaviest of
the trio. He was an older man dressed in a simple white gi and wearing
glasses. The second person appeared to be Akane's age, a girl with short
red hair and wearing a red Chinese style shirt and black pants. She was
speaking in an agitated voice to the one with his back to Kasumi. Even
from behind, she was fairly certain it was a man. There was something
about his posture and the broad definition of his shoulders. He was about
three or so inches taller than Kasumi, and wore a pink and purple outfit
that seemed to be of a Chinese design as well. Long black hair was tied
back in a ponytail that reached mid-way down his back. None of the three
seemed aware of her presence at first, too intent on paying attention to
the boy.

The girl was continuing her reprimand. "...told you to let Pop or me open
doors. You're too destructive."

Kasumi heard the boy say 'sorry'. Further admonishment from the redhead
stopped as Kasumi realized that the girl had at last spotted her.

"We got company." She indicated towards Kasumi with a nod of the head. The
other two also looked towards her, the boy at last turning around to see
who was behind him...

And years of suppressed hormones suddenly came bursting forth all at once,
striking Kasumi squarely between the eyes. Before her was one of the most
handsome men she had ever seen in her entire life, and he was looking at
her. Unbelievably she felt heat rise to he cheeks as she noticed him
examining her, an examination which was returned in kind. She found
herself continuing to admire his fine features, lost in the moment, until
she realized that at some point the red-haired girl had moved forward and
was now waving a hand in front of Kasumi's face.

"Hey, sorry about the doo... I mean wall. You all right?"

That snapped Kasumi out of it, though she found herself reluctant to pull
her gaze away from the young man "Yes. I'm fine," she managed to get out.
Why had her face gotten so warm? "Don't worry about the mess. I'll clean
it up later." Instincts started to take over as she calmed down. They were
guests, that meant she needed to be a proper hostess and take them to her
father. She indicated they should follow her to the interior of the house.
It was much to her delight that the boy came forward to walk alongside the
girl, both following closely behind their guide.

If she had believed her mind was in a whirl before, now it was a veritable
hurricane. Her thoughts raced as she tried to understand the situation.
Why was the handsome man --and the other two with him-- at her house?
Could they have been the guests her father was expecting? The older man
might have been about the same age as her father, it was hard to tell
since he had no hair, but it was a distinct possibility. And if that was
the case, that would mean the handsome boy was most likely Ranma.

The boy one of them was going to be engaged to.

Suddenly Kasumi felt her heart race as more possibilities began to form.
Was she right? Was he Ranma? He did appear a bit young, but perhaps she
had been a but hasty in condemning all younger men. It was simply not
proper to stereotype an entire age group for being immature. Ranma
appeared very mature for his age, from what she had seen so far.

She was about to ask the youth if he was Ranma when the quartet entered
the living room and came upon her family. All three of the Tendous seemed
to perk up with the new arrivals.

Soun was up in an instant, shaking the hand of the older man and crying
with emotion. "Saotome! It's good to see you again. You haven't changed a
bit. Except for the few extra pounds. Heh, heh." He poked Genma in the
ribs for emphasis.

Kasumi found that she almost had to restrain herself from sighing with
relief. So it was her father's old friend. That meant the boy had to be
Ranma. That was...nice. She turned to observe her sisters' reactions to
the situation. Akane seemed considerably less angry as she looked over the
newcomers, though it was obvious she was still somewhat suspicious.

Nabiki, on the other hand, was a very different story. She only gave the
other two newcomers cursory inspections as her gaze lingered on the boy.
She actually licked her lips as she hungrily took in Ranma's form. "Not
bad at all," she said loudly enough for him to hear.

Kasumi was shocked at her sister's behavior. To ogle at their guest was
just plain rude. She did hold back the reprimand that came to mind though.
Ranma might have gotten the wrong idea and thought her to be a stern
woman. She was very nice and pleasant and would let him know that through
her actions. Besides, Kasumi was pretty certain Ranma had caught sight of
the way he was being sized up, and appeared to be giving a wary eye
towards Nabiki.

Soun, temporarily done with greeting his old friend, at last turned his
attention to the two new youths that were still taking in their
surroundings. "Hello," he said politely and bowed.

"Hello," the redhead replied as she bowed in return.

The black-haired boy took a moment to observe his companion's reaction,
then mirrored it. "Nihao."

Soun approached the boy and looked him over with a smile, seeming to
approve with his stare. "So this must be Ranma. A fine looking young man,
Saotome."

At that point the redhead leveled an evil stare at the Genma. "Pop, you'd
better tell them."

Genma's reaction was to shift nervously as he cleared his throat and
looked towards the ceiling. "Well...," he trailed off.

Soun plainly ignored both of the speakers. His entire attention was
centered on one thing: the youth who would be one of his daughter's future
husband. He placed a hand around the boy's shoulders and gently pointed
him towards the three girls. "Allow me to introduce you to your
prospective brides. Kasumi, age 19. Nabiki age 17, and Akane, age 16. All
of them are more than worthy to become your wife. Which will it be, son?"

Kasumi sensed the urgency of the moment and looked her two sisters over.
Akane still seemed suspicious of the whole situation and continued
scowling a bit, though her gaze had seemed to soften to a grudging
admiration when it fell upon Ranma. Still, she seemed unlikely to say
anything.

By contrast, Nabiki appeared very eager, possessing a gaze that Kasumi
recognized all too well, having lived with it the majority of her life.
Nabiki now had the 'MINE!!!' look in her eyes. Kasumi had been able to
identify it since her younger sister was about three and had gone around
proudly proclaiming that every object she could get her hands on was hers.
Their mother had insisted it was just a phase she would grow out of, but
Kasumi couldn't think of the time when that might have happened. Nowadays
Nabiki was just more discriminating and hid it better, usually.

But that wasn't fair! Kasumi had seen him first. She should have been the
one to have first choice at him. Nabiki shouldn't be so greedy and try to
take everything for herself. It was wrong.

Just as Nabiki started to open her mouth, the words came tumbling from
Kasumi. "Father,  since I am the oldest, I believe it is only right that I
accept the engagement."

There. It was out. For the first time that in recent memory Kasumi had
taken the initiative and tried to get what she wanted. She found her heart
fluttering as she gave the brightest smile she could at Ranma, her new
fiancé. Much to her delight, after a moment of evaluating her, he smiled
warmly back, causing a deep blush to rise to her cheeks once more. She
hoped he didn't find her too forward, or desperate, in proclaiming a
desire to be engaged to him, but it really was for the best. Nabiki was
just wrong for him. Men didn't really want girls like her sibling, or so
Kasumi thought. No. They preferred women who were nice and pleasant and
would take care of a house and home. She was best suited for that, and
therefore best suited for Ranma.

Akane and Nabiki both stared in shock at their sister's declaration. After
the initial surprise, Akane relaxed. It wasn't like she wanted to be
engaged to a boy anyway, even if this one wasn't totally bad-looking. He
was probably a pervert, just like the rest of them. That also meant he had
better be VERY careful around Kasumi, or Akane would take care of him just
like she did the other perverts that continually harassed her.

Nabiki took an opposite train of thought. She had wanted Ranma for
herself. There was a definite potential for something there. He was
good-looking, had a great body, and if he had a decent personality as
well, hey, she could be quite happy with such a guy.

"I thought you said you didn't like younger men," she reminded her sister.
"They're so...young'." She did a passable impression of Kasumi.

Kasumi moved closer to her fiancé. "Ranma happens to be very mature."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. "And just how can you tell? He hasn't
said two words since coming here."

"A woman just knows these things," Kasumi assured her sister as she smiled
again at her new fiancé, who once more returned the smile. For the first
time in a long while she felt as though she were truly alive. Excitement
was something that had been missing from her life for far too long.

Soun began crying, not a full fledged waterworks, but a small one full of
pride. "Kasumi, you do your father proud." He turned to his new
son-in-law. "Boy, you've done well for yourself. Kasumi has taken care of
the family since her mother died. She is the one best suited for making
you a good home. You are a lucky man, Ranma."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows at that and pointed to himself. "Shampoo."

Soun looked confused. It took him several seconds to make sense as to what
the boy was saying. "Oh, I see. Kasumi, our guests have no doubt traveled
a long time on their journey and desire to clean up. Why don't you show
Ranma where the bathroom is?"

Kasumi quickly grabbed her fiancé's hand to lead him to the bath. The boy
resisted for a moment to look at the redhead.

The girl took in the situation and waved the boy on. "You'd better go with
her. It wouldn't hurt to get cleaned up. Pop and I will explain
everything." The girl turned to Genma and gave a stare that was even more
intense than the last one. "Won't we, Pop?"

Genma started sweating profusely at that and began looking for a way out.
Experience had taught him that it never hurt to have a planned escape
route when things went bad, something that seemed to happen frequently.

Soun's attention had been so riveted to Ranma from the moment he stepped
into the room that it was only now that he realized there was more than
one youth that had accompanied his old friend. "Saotome, you didn't tell
me you had a girl too. How old is she?"

"Sixteen," Genma said quickly. That answer wasn't one that would get him
into trouble.

"Pop." The girl's voice carried a warning tone.

Soun missed the exchange and considered the information he had just been
given. "Then she and Ranma are twins. Why didn't you tell me? What's your
name?"

"Ranma," The girl said, gauging the reaction in Soun's eyes.

Soun began scratching his chin. "You gave your son and daughter the same
name? Isn't that a bit confusing?"

"POP!" The girl's temper began to flare in earnest as she turned on her
father. It really was all his fault. She certainly didn't want to be the
one to have to explain the mess he had made of the situation.

Akane finally stood up, intrigued by the situation. That her sister was
happily engaged was nice; Kasumi deserved to be happy. However, what was
far more interesting to Akane than some dumb boy was the girl that had
accompanied him. From what little she had seen, the female, 'Ranma-chan,'
seemed to possess the careful step of one trained in combat. "Do you
practice any martial arts?"

Ranma-chan seemed a bit startled by the change of subject, then puffed out
her ample bosom. "Of course I do. I'm the best."

Akane wasn't about to let a boast like that go unchallenged. "Let's go to
the dojo out back and spar."

Ranma-chan went from her boastful stance to a more subdued one. "I don't
fight girls." She seemed to think twice about saying that as she looked
around, then quickly added, "most of the time."

Akane observed the strange behavior and wondered what the shorter girl
meant by the unusual statement. "But you're a girl."

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain," was all Ranma-chan offered in
response.

"I see," Akane sniffed. "You're afraid you'd lose."

Ranma-chan took a step forward. "Why you..."

"Ahem!" Genma cleared his throat, making his presence known. "You go on
with the girl. I'll explain everything here."

Ranma-chan looked incredulously at Genma. Some instinct told her he would
explain instead of running, for a change. Taking a chance he was actually
showing some backbone, she elected to follow Akane to the dojo.

Akane thought it was going to be great. Not only did the new girl know
martial arts, but if she was half as good as she seemed to think she was
it was probably going to be a decent fight. There weren't many people that
could give her a real workout anymore. She could defeat her father
regularly, not that he ever fought back, and then there was Kunou, but he
was a pervert and she didn't enjoy fighting him, and aside from those two
there wasn't really anyone else. Now it appeared that might be changing.
And Ranma-chan seemed nice enough. Maybe they could be friends.


Kasumi enjoyed the warm feeling of 'Ranma-kun's' hand as she led him by it
to the bath. His hands were rather large and callused, and encompassed the
entirety of her hand. Despite the size, his grasp was delicate as he
allowed himself to be ushered to the bath. Kasumi discovered an urge
within her to play her fingers along the those calluses. She was having
such strong feelings of attraction towards her fiancé, that she became
concerned at her own behavior. It would be better if she calmed down.
Certainly it was nice to be engaged to such a handsome, and strong man,
but she should try to get to know him as a person first. Surprisingly, for
the first time in years, she began fantasizing what it would be like to
lie back in a man's arms and enjoy his gentle embrace as they talked in
idle conversation with one another.

She snapped out of the half-formed dream as they arrived at their
destination. "And here is the bathroom, Ranma."

He pointed to himself once again. "Shampoo."

"Yes," Kasumi nodded happily. "There's plenty of shampoo in the bath." It
appeared another nice attribute of her fiancé was that he was very
concerned about good hygiene.

Ranma looked at her, obviously wanting to say something, but apparently
uncertain of what to say. After a bit of struggling he seemed to get an
idea. "You come in, wash back," he said firmly.

Kasumi nearly fainted at the proposition. Her fiancé found her attractive.
That she was desirable to him, and that he made it known so early on,
relieved her. There had been a very great fear that he might change his
mind about being engaged to her and wouldn't find her appealing at all.
Certainly no one ever suggested she was, but that was clearly not the case
here. Not at all.

"Al-" she clamped her hand over her mouth and mentally gave an 'oh my!'
She had almost accepted. She couldn't do that. It was wrong, or at least
too soon. Even though she found herself becoming excited at the idea of
seeing Ranma without his shirt on.

She removed her hands from her mouth. "I meant to say, I can't do that.
We've just been engaged and such things should not be done until after a
proper wedding." Part of her mind actually chided her for the refusal and
proclaimed her a coward. They were engaged, so it shouldn't matter. She
really had to get some distance from her fiancé and try to regain her
composure. Her behavior was not proper at all, and she didn't want to make
a bad impression on Ranma. Of course, he was the one that had offered to
have her bathe him, and she really should comply with her fiancé's
desires. Relationships were a two-way street, and one had to...

She shook her head again to free it of such thoughts. It was time to get
that needed distance from him, and quickly.

Ranma gave a defeated look and entered the bath, alone. She waited until
her fiancé closed the door behind him before gaining the strength to
leave. Perhaps having a quick wedding would be a good idea. There really
wasn't any point in dragging things out. She began to mentally make a list
of all the things that would be needed as she made her way to the laundry
to wash clothes. One thing was for certain, it was going to be one
interesting engagement.


Akane had become angry in short order. It wasn't because her opponent
wasn't as good as she hoped. On the contrary, she was quite skilled. Akane
had gone easy on Ranma-chan at first. When the redhead dodged the first
four attacks without trying, Akane stepped it up a notch. Still the girl
evaded without a problem. Akane stepped up the intensity until she was at
the maximum of her abilities, and still her opponent avoided being hit.

And that was the problem. All Ranma-chan was doing was dodging the attacks
and not fighting back at all.

"Stand still and fight!" Akane took another swing.

Ranma-chan ducked the blow. "I already told you, I don't fight girls."

"I'll make you fight!" She swung again.

Ranma-chan let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. You asked for it."

As Akane threw another blow the shorter girl leaped over her opponent's
head and twisted in mid-air only to land directly behind Akane in one
fluid motion. Having full access to the youngest Tendo's unprotected back,
Ranma-chan shoved her forward and to the ground.

"I win," Ranma-chan declared smugly.

Akane got up, looking ready to kill. Almost as quickly as it appeared, the
look of anger vanished only to be replaced by a smile.

"You're pretty good," Akane complimented as she brushed herself off. "I'm
glad you're a girl. I don't think I could stand losing to a boy."

Akane missed hearing the "Oh, great," that Ranma-chan muttered under
breath.

Further discussion was cut off as both of them heard a loud crash come
from the direction of the house. Ranma-chan and Akane looked at each other
in surprise, then rushed to investigate. It took them only moments to
enter the house and see that the loud noises had come from the living
room. Both of them entered to bear witness to a scene of carnage before
them: the living room itself was in shambles, multiple weapons on the end
of chains were lying around, Soun lay unconscious upon the ground, and a
panda wearing a set of white robes and glasses was beating up Genma.

Akane stared at the scene in horror. "What th... we're being attacked by a
panda!"

"Mousse!" Ranma-chan shouted out.

Akane looked in confusion at her sparring partner. "No, it's a panda."

Ranma-chan shook her head. "I mean it's Mousse."

"And I'm telling you it's a panda!"

"No. No. No. Trust me, it's Mousse!"

"What are you talking about? Do you see any antlers on it? Of course not!
That's because it's not a moose! It's black and white and furry and is a
panda! A P-A-N-D-A!"

"I didn't say it was a moose. I said it was Mousse!"

"I know you said it's a moose! That's what I just said you said! What are
you, stupid?!"

"I am not stupid, you uncute tomboy!

"What did you just call me?!"

The panda had stopped beating on Genma and watched the exchange with a
careful eye. Once the argument lost its entertainment value, he shot out
several chains from the sleeves of his robes, effectively entangling
Ranma-chan, and Akane.

Ranma-chan found herself unable to escape, her struggles only making the
chains tighten. She looked at the similarly trussed up Akane and snapped,
"I could have avoided this if you hadn't been distracting me!" She rolled
over and looked in the direction that the boy she had entered the house
with had gone. "SHAMPOO!!!"

"Now is not the time to worry about your hair, you egotistical jerk!"
Akane vowed to beat Ranma-chan senseless just on general principles now.
Once she beat up the panda for attacking her father, anyway.


Down the hall, Kasumi's ears picked up the faint clamor and turned away
from with the washing machine. From the volume of the noise, it sounded as
though the others were having a party. Why hadn't someone told her about
it? She hadn't had any time to prepare any food. As she left the clothing
behind and started down the hall, she found herself wondering what kind of
foods Ranma liked. It was the first day of their engagement, and for such
a festive occasion she would surely have to make his favorite dish for him
and prove her culinary skills.

Kasumi went to the bathroom door intent on only asking her fiancé what he
would like to eat and for no other reason. Especially not for a chance to
see him only partially clothed. Just as she raised her hand to knock, the
door suddenly flew open and a purple-haired girl emerged, wearing nothing
but a look of concern. The girl ran past Kasumi without a word and hurried
towards the living room

Kasumi remained exactly where she was, motionless. Her hand was still held
up so as to knock on what was now nothing but empty space and her smile
was frozen. There had been a strange naked girl in the bathroom with her
fiancé. How...not nice.


Downstairs, the girl rushed into the room only to see the panda
enthusiastically jumping up and down on Ranma-chan, causing the redhead to
gasp out in pain each time.

"Mousse no attack Ranma and Pop! Fight Shampoo!" she shouted, gaining
Mousse-panda's attention.

"That is a panda!" Akane shouted from off to the side where she had been
discarded, still wrapped in chains.

Mousse-panda and Ranma-chan both looked at the new arrival and promptly
dropped their jaws at her lack of clothing. Shampoo moved in while her
animal opponent was distracted and connected with a clear uppercut,
belting him through the roof and very far away.

Shampoo estimated that Mousse-panda's trajectory would land him somewhere
in Hokkaido. "Why Mousse no leave us alone? Is all his fault anyway."

"ARE YOU ALL BLIND OR CRAZY?!!! THAT WAS A PANDA! A PANDA! PANDA, PANDA,
PANDA! AHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"First, Shampoo, let's call what just attacked us a panda before Akane
spontaneously combusts or something," Ranma-chan said as she closed her
eyes. "Secondly, could you put something on?"

Shampoo gave out an 'Aiya!' as she suddenly realized she was in the buff.
She grabbed a nearby tablecloth and wrapped it around herself as the
others began to disentangle themselves from the chains. Just as everyone
finished up, Kasumi and Nabiki finally entered the room.

Kasumi cleared her throat. Despite being distraught over the disappearance
of her fiancé, and who had last been in the bath with him, she would deal
with the situation in a calm and pleasant manner.

"Excuse me, miss? You. The tramp with the purple hair that was naked in
the bath with my fiancé. What did you do with him?" Kasumi, heard her
family gasp at her choice of words, and admitted to herself that that
hadn't sounded quite as nice as she had thought it would.

Ranma-chan walked over to her now conscious father. "Pop, you're
explaining this before it gets worse. Not that I'm sure how it could get
any worse."

Genma reluctantly assented. The room was fixed up enough so that everyone
had a place to sit as the explanations began. Ranma-chan, Shampoo, and
Genma sat on one side of the table, across from the Tendos. Ranma-chan
stared expectantly at her father, waiting for him to start. It took only a
few moments of that withering stare for Genma to work up the courage to
begin.

"It all started a little while ago while we were on our training trip. We
arrived at the magical training grounds of Jusenkyou...



Genma crossed his arms as he smirked at his son as both stood atop the
poles above the springs of Jusenkyou. Genma paid as little attention to
the Guide's continuing ramblings as did Ranma. All they were concerned
about was that they were indeed at the training grounds and that each one
wanted to prove his superiority to the other. Nothing else mattered.

"Time to see what you've learned, boy." In spite of his sizable girth,
Genma easily balanced himself atop his pole as he confronted his son.

"You're dead meat, old man!" Ranma smirked back as he balanced himself on
top of his pole with an ease that rivaled his father's.

With their banter complete, they began sparring with one another, each
getting a feel for their new battleground as they launched attacks at one
another. As intense as their concentration was, neither fighter noticed
that there was already a fight occurring on the other side of the springs,
the two combatants quickly working their way closer to where the two
Saotomes were fighting.

Shampoo, armed only with her bonbori, backed off from another volley of
weapons from Mousse's sleeves. She had to give him credit; by issuing his
marriage challenge to her, and requesting the battleground be at
Jusenkyou, he had given himself an advantage (not that he stood a chance
of winning, she assured herself). But his superior agility and long range
attacks forced her to back off for a moment, at least until she could find
an opening with which to knock him into unconsciousness.

Accepting the challenge while her great grandmother was away might have
been unwise, but there was no way she was going to back off from the idiot
and give him the opportunity to proclaim her afraid of him, even if he had
no right to issue the challenge again for her hand so quickly. Whether it
was at Jusenkyou or at the bottom of the ocean, there was no way she would
ever back off from the oaf, or allow him a victory of any sort over her.
The fight would end the way the other one had, with her standing
triumphantly over his beaten form.


Ranma had his entire concentration focused on the large man before him. At
last he had seen an opening coming up, and was fully prepared to launch
himself in the air and knock Genma down. He even had the spring he was
going to knock his father into picked out. All he had to do was jump off
the pole behind him.


Shampoo had her entire concentration focused on the blind idiot before
her. At last she had seen an opening coming up, and was fully prepared to
launch herself into the air and knock Mousse down. She even had the spring
she was going to knock him into picked out. All she had to do was jump off
the pole behind her.


As wrapped up as they were in their upcoming 'victories' neither combatant
paid any attention to what was behind them. Both went for identical moves
from opposite directions, colliding with one another when they went for
their respective leaps. Upon the collision Shampoo's bonbori went flying
far away as each of young martial artists ended up knocking the other one
from the skies and into different springs.

Genma leaped to the top of the pole next to the pool Ranma had fallen
into. Mousse did likewise on the one next to the pool Shampoo had fallen
into. Both men looked on in concern

Ranma-chan sat up in her pool, gasping for air.

Upon seeing her, Mousse proudly placed his hands on his hips and laughed
at the girl. ""

The now male form of Shampoo-kun broke the surface of the water and leaped
up from his pool, straight to the boasting Mousse. ""

Caught off-guard by an attack from an unexpected direction, Mousse took a
solid blow to the chin and went flying off the pole and into a different
spring. Effortlessly, Shampoo-kun then landed on the pole Mousse had been
on and admired his handiwork. How could the blind fool count him out when
he had taken but one accidental tumble into some water? He deserved a
beating if he thought that was all it took to take out a warrior of
Shampoo's abilities.

Mousse-panda sat up in the pool, surprised at the sudden turn of events.
He had been so certain he had won. And why did he feel so waterlogged all
of a sudden?

The Jusenkyou Guide finally came out of hiding once all of the splashing
had stopped. He had known that was going to happen. They always ignored
him and rushed headlong into the magic waters, always ending up getting
cursed. Sometimes he thought it was a miracle that he himself hadn't been
turned into a bandicoot a long time ago.

The Guide looked to Mousse and shook his head pitifully. "You fall into
Shonmaoniichuan. Very tragic story of panda that drowned in pool over 2000
years ago."

Mousse-panda looked down at his form and understood why he felt so
waterlogged; fur absorbed water really well. His attempts at crying out in
distress came out as nothing more than unintelligible grumbles.

The Guide walked over to Ranma-chan's still soaking form. "And you fall
into Nyanniichuan. Very tragic story of young girl that drowned in pool
over 1500 years ago."

That seemed to snap Ranma-chan out of her stupor. The sudden physical
change at last registered with her and she opened her gi, getting a very
close up look at the new additions to her chest.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The Guide paid no attention to the cries. Almost everyone screamed upon
learning they were cursed, except for the victims of the Spring of Drowned
Mute, of course.

He hopped up to a pole that was next to the one Shampoo-kun was currently
located on. "And you fall into Nanniichaun. Very tragic story of young boy
that drowned in pool 1500 years ago."

Shampoo-kun felt his chest, at last understanding that his shirt was not
quite as tight across the middle as it used to be. Still in shock, he felt
a new addition of his own and looked down his pants to see what else had
been substituted.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH..."



"Is all Mousse's fault!" Shampoo growled as Genma finished telling the
tale.

Ranma-chan identified a different source for her problems. "This is all
your fault, old man!"

It was small surprise to her that Genma had begun to sneak away when his
tale was finished. He had moved too slowly though, as Ranma-chan grabbed
him by the collar and threw him into the koi pond in back. Genma sat up
wet, but otherwise unchanged.

"If I had any sense I would have thrown you in that Spring of Drowned Yeti
Riding Bull While Carrying Crane and Eel or something!" Ranma-chan
lamented.

Genma crawled out of the pond and tried to dry himself off. "Is that any
way to talk to your father?"

"YES!!!"

Soun stared intently at his friend. "Saotome. Are you sure that this isn't
some ploy to get out of marrying one of my daughters?"

Genma nodded sagely at Soun. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Genma headed into the kitchen and came back bearing a kettle of boiling
water. He unceremoniously dumped the contents on Ranma-chan, whose body
changed to that of his male form.

"That's too hot!" Ranma shouted in pain.

"Let me help you cool off, boy." Genma picked up Ranma by the collar, just
like his son had done earlier, and tossed him into the pool. A soaking wet
redhead sat up.

"He really does change sexes!" Akane shouted, stunned.

Genma nodded in shame at his son. "It's true. And Shampoo is the same
way." He picked up a glass of water, that had somehow mysteriously avoided
destruction, and dumped it on Shampoo, changing her into her male form.

"And now for the change back." Genma grabbed the kettle of hot water once
again and moved to pour its contents on Shampoo's head. A fist met his
face at the half-way point.

"Shampoo no feel like change now. Pop keep water." Shampoo-kun removed his
fist from Genma's face and dumped the scalding water over Genma. He looked
on, satisfied that Genma was writhing around in pain.

"Let me help you cool off, Pop." Ranma-chan rushed over and threw Genma
into the pool once more.

Nabiki had watched the entire proceedings with a critical eye. At last she
got up and walked over to Ranma-chan. She poked the redhead in the breast
with a single finger.

"They're real, all right," Nabiki commented.

"Please stop that," Ranma-chan said as the middle Tendou continued to poke
the breast for emphasis.

With her initial experiment complete, Nabiki went over to Shampoo-kun and
felt between his legs. "These are real too."

Shampoo-kun looked down at Nabiki's offending appendage. "No touch there."

Kasumi came forward, shocked. "Nabiki, stop that! That is my fiancé!"

"So?"

"That means it's my job." Kasumi's hand replaced Nabiki's as she groped
Shampoo-kun. "They are real. I think."

Shampoo-kun escaped the fondling and darted out of reach. "No touch
Shampoo!

"Oh, relax." Nabiki said. "She is your fiancee. It's perfectly natural for
her to feel you up."

Shampoo-kun stared in confusion and at last and broke out his Japanese to
Chinese dictionary. He looked up the word fiancé and read the translation.

"Aiya! Shampoo not marry girl! Shampoo girl!"

"You look like a boy." Nabiki tried for one more quick grab at Shampoo-kun
again, but he evaded the move. "Felt like a boy. You sure?"

"Yes."

Soun sighed. "Then I guess we'll have to call off Ran...I mean Shampoo's
engagement." And he had been so impressed by the boy too.

Shampoo-kun breathed a relieved sigh while Kasumi looked disappointed. So
much for her engagement. She was nowhere near liberal minded enough to
approve of those kinds of relationships among others, let alone be
involved in one. Even if Shampoo was awfully attractive as a male. And she
had so been looking forward to the idea of an engagement to him, or
rather, her.

Ranma-chan was still scowling at her father when Soun placed a hand on her
shoulder and turned her towards the Tendou sisters.

"So Ranma, which do you prefer?"

Ranma-chan looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Which one do you want as your fiancee, my girl...er boy?" Addressing his
future son-in-law was getting to be somewhat tricky.

"I ain't getting engaged to nobody," Ranma-chan said defiantly as she
crossed her arms across her chest.

"How typical. Always thinking of yourself," Genma scolded. "Why don't you
take other peoples feelings into consideration?"

"Because other people ain't getting engaged! I am."

"It's a matter of honor, boy," Genma assured him. "We swore you'd get
engaged to one of the girls, and I meant it."

An idea suddenly entered Ranma-chan's mind. "Engaged, huh?"

Soun and Genma answered with a quick, 'yes.'

What indignant anger had been present in the girl disappeared. "All right.
Engaged it is." The emphasis was on the 'engaged' part. No one said
anything about actually going through with a marriage, which she most
certainly was not going to do with any strange girl she had just met.

Soun beamed happily at Ranma-chan's sudden change-of-heart. "So which one
is it, my boy?"

"I think one engagement a day is enough for me, father," Kasumi sighed.
Even as a boy, Ranma just didn't seem as interesting as Shampoo.

Nabiki saw the direction the conversation was taking. There was no way she
wanted to be engaged to someone that switched sexes likes that. She spoke
quickly before her father tried settling on her. "Akane is the same age
and hates boys to boot. They are obviously a perfect match."

Akane looked at Nabiki in surprise. "Now wait just a minute-"

Soun cut her off. "I believe that would be for the best. After all, we
wanted to join the two schools and Akane is the best martial artist in the
family."

"She's the best?" Ranma-chan asked in surprise. "Hey, that's too bad."

"Why you rotten..." Akane clenched her teeth in anger at the insult. In
about half an hour, Ranma had easily beaten her during their sparring
match, called her uncute AND flat-chested, deliberately confused her by
calling a panda a moose, (or was that Mousse?), was a sex-changing weirdo,
and now insulted her fighting abilities. Her anger hit the breaking point
as she struck Ranma-chan with a mighty uppercut that sent the redhead
through the ceiling.

Genma nodded approvingly. "See? They already act like a married couple."

Soun nodded in agreement, and that settled it. Ranma and Akane would be
engaged to one another. What a joyous day it had been. It was just
unfortunate the other engagement hadn't worked out. It would have been
quite the coup to marry off two daughters in the same day.


Thing settled down remarkably by nightfall. The Saotomes were given a
room. Both Ranma and Genma looked forward to having a roof over their
heads and a warm place to sleep in. Settling in was no problem since each
had only a single backpack full of items to call their own.

As Ranma started to drift off, he thought about all that had happened
during the day. He had watched Shampoo nearly married off to a girl, had
to reveal his curse to others, and been engaged to a girl that didn't even
seem to like him. The only nice thing about the whole situation, aside
from the fact he was going to stay in one place for a change, was that
things couldn't get any worse.


Shampoo had been relieved when Ranma gave a brief explanation that she was
their traveling companion, and had nowhere else to go. Hearing that tale
of woe, Soun allowed her to stay with them as long as she needed to. A
small, little used storage room was converted for Shampoo's use.

The Amazon thanked Soun for the offer of a room and quickly gave her new
chamber the spartan appeal she was used to. All she needed was a futon and
a small dresser to place what little clothing she carried in. Twin
bonboris and her sword were laid within easy reach of her bedding, which
completed the arrangement. She took off her jade hairpieces and set them
down next to the sword. All that she now owned was next to her.

She stared at the ceiling above her as she laid down on the mat. It was
nice to sleep under a roof once more, and not have to put up with Genma's
snoring, and to not have to worry if it was going to rain or not and have
her wake up as a male if the shelter she constructed failed to keep the
water out. She did miss her home, but with her curse, and the specific
consequences of falling into Nanniichuan, she could not go back. Not until
she found a cure of some sort.

She allowed other memories of happier times to fill her, not that Ranma
(and even Genma, in a way) weren't nice. It was all very exciting, and she
was getting to see a whole new world, that she would otherwise not have
visited, thanks to them. It was the damned curse which complicated
everything. She had even been almost married to another woman! At least
that situation had been corrected with some effort. It was unfortunate
that the nice Japanese girl, Kasumi, had seemed hurt by the whole thing,
but Shampoo really hadn't meant to lead her on. And Kasumi had seemed to
recover rather quickly. She had even been happy to help Shampoo convert
the closet into the bedroom. Shampoo promised herself she would try to
assist the girl if she could. Even back home, there were not too many
people that treated her as nicely as Kasumi Tendou did.

Shampoo drifted off to sleep, wondering what tomorrow would bring.


After several hours of Soun's bawling, Akane at last accepted the
engagement, although very reluctantly. Giving in was simply the best way
to silence her father, and the man would have dehydrated himself if he had
kept up that level of crying. She was decidedly not pleased with her new
status, nor her fiancé, but she kept the opinion to herself, simply
avoiding Ranma as much as she could. If there was some way out of the
predicament, she would figure it out. In the meantime, she tried to adapt
to the situation as best as she could.

There was no way she was going to marry Ranma Saotome, though. No way, no
how.


By the next day things had settled down and plans for the future were
made. Ranma was enrolled into the Furinkan (with a great deal of
complaining about exactly why he had to go to school anyway), as was
Shampoo (with almost as much as complaining since she thought she knew
enough already and didn't want to spend time in such a boring place). By
the morning of the next day, it was an annoyed Shampoo that made her way
to the front door, waiting to be taken to school.

Nabiki engaged the girl in conversation, learning as much as she could
about one of their new house guests. She had learned a bit about Shampoo's
home, how it was a matriarchal society and such, but most of what Shampoo
had talked about was what had happened after she and Ranma had met in
China. The main reason she was traveling with him was because apparently
Shampoo was something of an outcast due to the curse, although Nabiki
didn't understand why. The middle Tendou daughter was forced to assume it
had something to do with the fact it was a tribe of women, and that being
cursed as a man meant loss of face or something. There were other things
Shampoo was much more willing to reveal, however.

"So this Mousse has been chasing you since China?" Nabiki asked.

"Yes. Mousse not know when to leave alone. Mousse stupid and think Ranma
kid... kid... take Shampoo away against her will. Mousse not accept
Shampoo come because she want to."

"Where is that pervert?" Akane stomped her foot in irritation. She had
told him to be at the door promptly by seven thirty. Shampoo had the
decency to be waiting there five minutes early, but Ranma was nowhere to
be seen, and it was already seven forty. They were going to be late if he
didn't hurry.

"I'm out of here," Nabiki said as she looked at her watch.

"Wait for us," Akane insisted.

"No can do, sis. I got people to meet. Besides that's your fiancé and his
friend. You should be the one to walk them to school." And with that
Nabiki ran out of the door.

As Akane began muttering more expletives, Ranma at last ran to catch up to
them, dressed in his red top and black pants.

"Here I am," Ranma announced happily.

Akane just rolled her eyes. Did he expect her to throw a party? "We'll be
late for school. Come on."

Ranma looked tentatively outside. "Ain't it supposed to rain today?"

"It rained last night," Akane explained. "But most of it dried up already.
Now come on!"

The trio hurried onward to the school, Ranma and Shampoo continuing to
grumble about the whole situation. About half-way there, Ranma sprang up
onto the fence and began walking along it. Shampoo followed up a moment
later and easily kept pace. Akane simply scowled at their antics. Already
both were acting weird again.

"Listen you two," Akane warned. "Remember, you're registered as Shampoo
girl, Ranma boy, got it?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

"And none of that perverted sex changing stuff, or I'll pretend I don't
know you. Got it?"

"Yes," they repeated

The trio arrived at school with time to spare. It was as they were across
the street, Ranma and Shampoo taking a moment to stare at the school's
main building, when Akane noticed two of her friends on the other side of
the road. It was Sayuri and Malia, the latter being one of the new friends
Akane had made shortly after Yuka had had her nervous breakdown, the poor
girl. The two of them were about to enter the school yard. Akane decided
if she was going to have to hang around Shampoo and Ranma, it was probably
best that her friends were introduced to the newcomers first.

"Hey, you guys!" Akane shouted at the girls.

The two girls started to turn around at the same moment that a long truck
passed by and splashed Ranma and Shampoo with water from a nearby puddle
of water. By the time the truck finished passing, the transformations were
complete. A male Shampoo and female Ranma now stood next to Akane.

Sayuri and Malia made their way over to Akane and looked curiously at her
two new companion. "Who're your friends?" Sayuri asked.

Akane's eyes had been fixed on her friends the entire time, never looking
once over to either of her new house guests or noticing what had happened.
"Meet Ranma Saotome and Shampoo."

The girls stared longingly at Shampoo-kun. As one they said together, "He
sure is cute."

Something about that made Akane cautious. Neither of her two friends were
that forward, and Ranma wasn't that good-looking. Certainly not ugly, not
at all, but to have both of her friends make such bold statements in front
of veritable strangers was odd. She turned to examine Ranma more closely,
to see if there was some striking characteristic of his she had missed,
when she at last saw what had happened. It took great restraint not to
facefault in surprise. The duo had not even been able to make it to school
without changing into their cursed forms.

"So, Ranma, do you have a girlfriend?" Malia asked through starry eyes.

Shampoo-kun shook his head. "No."

"Are you looking for one?"

Shampoo-kun didn't quite know how to answer that one. He was certain that
he misunderstood some part of the question. Surely not another woman was
coming onto him. Twice in three days was too much.

Ranma-chan made the save as she grabbed Shampoo-kun away from the girls
and into the school yard. Akane followed close behind.

"I can't believe that just happened," Ranma-chan said.

"Me neither," Akane agreed. "They're usually quiet and kind of shy."

"That ain't what I meant!" Ranma-chan snarled. "We gotta change back."

"It's too late for that now. They think that Shampoo's you and you're
Shampoo. If we try changing you back, they're going to know something's
up. And there's no wa--."

"AKANE TENDOU!!!"

Akane looked up in anger at the approaching pack of boys. They had shouted
her name in unison, and as one they charged forth at her. Akane squared
her feet as she prepared to meet the rush. "Oh great. So much happened
this morning I forgot. I hate this!"

As the last words left her lips she rushed forward, attacking the first
several youths and dropping them in seconds. Ranma-chan and Shampoo-kun
were stunned at the sudden attacking horde, and that its focus seemed
solely on Akane. After the first few seconds, in which Akane felled close
to ten of her attackers, the duo recovered.

"We better help her out." Ranma-chan prepared herself to enter the fray.
Akane may have seemed more than a tad angry at times, but to be jumped by
an entire gang at the same time was wrong, even if there was some off-hand
chance she had actually done something to earn their scorn.

"Don't interfere. It'll just upset her."

Ranma-chan turned to see Nabiki emerge from a group of nearby girls.

"What do you mean?"

Nabiki shrugged. "Just that she goes through this every morning. And she
hates it if anyone implies she can't take them all on by herself."

Ranma-chan stared at her in confusion. "A gang attacks her every morning?"

"Close enough. Now c'mon." Nabiki indicated she should follow her to the
school's entrance.

Ranma-chan did as Nabiki suggested, though she kept a close eye on Akane's
fight. Shampoo-kun followed right on the shorter girl's heels. It was only
another minute before Akane finished wading through the group of attackers
and approached the entrance herself.

Ranma-chan took a moment to admire Akane's handiwork. None of the pack was
injured badly. They had just been 'temporarily subdued'. Only a high
caliber of martial artist could manage such a feat. Perhaps she had judged
Akane too harshly in their first encounter. "Not bad. Why do they attack
you every morning?"

Akane stared angrily at the crowd of fallen foes. "Some moron said that
anyone that wanted to date me had to defeat me in combat first. Since
then, I have to fight my way to school every morning."

"That's stupid," Ranma-chan said

"Shampoo agree. Should make official challenge one on one, like back home,
if want to prove worth to date."

Nabiki heard that particular statement and got a calculating look in her
eye.

Ranma-chan looked in surprise at his companion. "You gotta fight for dates
there too?"

Shampoo-kun had no chance to answer as further questions were cut off by a
bokken wielding figure.

Tatewaki Kunou stood before the four students, his eyes centered on the
girl of his dreams. "Once again you have defeated all those that would
seek to date you, Akane Tendou. Now you must face the greatest challenge
of all: Tatewaki Kunou. He who is known as the 'Blue Thunder' of Furinkan
High." He raised his bokken high in the air, which was followed by a crash
of thunder as lightning flashed dramatically in the background.

Akane, long used to the second round of the fight, moved to attack,
thankful that Kunou hadn't gone into his full 'flowery speech' mode. Just
as she was about to move forward, Ranma-chan placed a restraining hand on
her shoulder.

"Let me handle this one." The redhead tried to move in front of Akane.

"I can take him," Akane said, irritated, and made certain Ranma-chan did
not get in front of her.

Ranma-chan shook her head. "He's different from the others. He's
dangerous. I can tell."

"I can handle him like I always do. Quit trying to interfere with my life,
jerk!"

Ranma-chan's irritation began to mirror Akane's "How dare you call me
that, you violent gorilla!"

Kunou stood back for a moment, transfixed by the argument that was
developing. The fiery-haired beauty was arguing with Akane over who had
the right to date with him. What a joyous day! The handsome visage of
Tatewaki Kunou had captured yet another damsel's eye. And the newcomer was
truly a beauty, whose strong features rivaled the fierce passion that was
Akane Tendou. But it was all so horribly wrong for two such ravishing
creatures to quarrel over him. The answer to the problem was clearly
obvious for one of such wisdom as himself.

"There is no need to engage in such rivalry over me. I would see no pain
come to either of you. I shall allow both of you to date me!"

With that bold proclamation he leaped forward to embrace the duo, who were
arguing so intently that neither noticed the assault. Fortunately,
Shampoo-kun did notice and struck Kunou in the face before he reached
either of his intended targets. The upperclassman slumped to the ground,
stunned.

"We no have time for this. Be late for class."  Shampoo-kun dragged Akane
and Ranma-chan into the school building at last, leaving Kunou behind.


Akane breathed a sigh of relief as she got to her homeroom. It had been
close, but they had managed to make it on time. If Ranma-chan had made her
late with that argument over Kunou, she would never have forgiven her
fiancé, not that she wanted him as her fiancé.

Now she looked on as Ranma-chan and Shampoo-kun stood before the class.
Akane couldn't help noticing that a lot of the guys were ogling
Ranma-chan. But the real surprise was that the girls were making a an even
bigger spectacle of themselves. Almost to a girl they were making obvious
goo-goo eyes at Shampoo-kun, leaving Akane to wonder whatever happened to
dignity. She didn't go chasing after every good-looking guy that was
around. Didn't chase after any of them, actually. And if any of the girls
discovered the truth about Shampoo-kun, well, it would serve them right if
they were going to act like a bunch of love struck fools as well.


Godai-sensai examined the newcomers. He hadn't been at Furinkan long, and
had yet to get used to the...odd tendencies the students had that all the
other teachers seemed to blindly accept as normal, and that he would dub
anyone 'odd' was quite the feat considering what his neighbors were like.
At least the two new students appeared like they would be typical, except
for a lack of school uniforms.

He cleared his throat and began. "Class. I would like to introduce two new
students." He turned to Ranma-chan and Shampoo-kun. "Introduce
yourselves."

Shampoo-kun looked toward the class and pointed a finger at himself. "Am
Shampoo."

"That's funny," Godai said. "I could have sworn it said Shampoo was a
girl." He began looking over the admission papers that were buried
somewhere on his desk.

Ranma-chan nudged Shampoo-kun in the ribs with her elbow.

Shampoo-kun picked up on the gaff immediately. "Oh right. Am Ranma
Saotome. Not Shampoo." He turned to his companion and pointed to
Ranma-chan. "That Shampoo."

Ranma-chan bowed. "I am Shampoo...ummm..."

"Just Shampoo," Shampoo-kun supplied.

"Right. Just Shampoo."

Akane felt like burying her head under her books. The two idiots were
going to blow everything. She just knew it.


The rest of the day went somewhat more peacefully. Ranma-chan, now known
as 'Shampoo', and Shampoo-kun, now known to the student body as 'Ranma',
sat next to and in front of Akane, respectively. Aside from practically
every girl staring at the Amazon, the day went smoothly as the new
students tried to figure out exactly how their school worked. Neither was
overjoyed about the situation, but school actually did not seem quite as
bad as they had feared. However, it was going to take both of them a lot
of work to catch up to the rest of the students. And for Shampoo-kun,
understanding the language well was an added difficulty he didn't care
for.


By lunch both Shampoo-kun and Ranma-chan were glad for the break. They sat
with Akane, who had finally managed to relax somewhat when nothing else
went wrong during the day. As the three began to eat their lunches, Nabiki
came by and sat down among them.

She carefully took in the new students appearances before asking any
question. Both seemed to be doing well, although Nabiki did notice a lot
of the girls were staring at Shampoo-kun when they thought he wasn't
looking. More information that could be put to good use was categorized.

"So, what do you guys think of school so far?" Nabiki asked.

Shampoo-kun made a face at that. "Have trouble understanding teachers, and
girls keep making funny faces at Shampoo."

"She means 'Ranma'," Ranma-chan said as she rolled her eyes. "I think it
stinks. I haven't been here a whole day and I'm bored already."

"If you paid attention in class it wouldn't be boring," Akane said. She
had kept as close of an eye as she could on her two charges. Shampoo-kun
at least seemed to be trying to understand, but after an hour, Ranma-chan
made virtually no effort at all to follow the teachers.

"If it wasn't so boring I could pay attention. How do they expect to keep
someone's interest if all they do is stand there and talk?" Ranma-chan
complained again.

Nabiki headed off the possible disagreement. Already it seemed Akane and
Ranma-chan were getting on each other's nerves with virtually no
provocation. She turned to Shampoo-kun to try to change the topic. "So
what was this about having to fight like Akane?"

Shampoo-kun suddenly became far more animated. "In Amazon village, mens
and womens go on dates. But most womens prefer strong mens to be with,
much honor in strength. If woman seem reluctant to go out with man, then
man try to prove worth to woman by challenging them to duel. If man wins,
then woman have to go out on date with him."

"Can a woman refuse the challenge?" Nabiki asked, captivated by the tale.

"Yes," Shampoo said, then scoffed. "But real warriors no back off from
challenge. If woman seem afraid of man, others make fun of her. And if
mans can prove worth, it good idea to go out with him. Might make good
husband." Shampoo-kun nodded approvingly at that.

"That's stupid," Ranma-chan commented and gained a cross look from
Shampoo-kun.

Nabiki leaned closer to Shampoo-kun. "Can only guys challenge?"

Shampoo-kun looked confused at her. "What mean?"

"Can girls challenge guys?"

Shampoo-kun looked bewildered at her. "Most mens not stupid enough to
refuse woman if she ask on date, not if mens knows what good for him."

Nabiki's eyes took on a devious glint. "But what if the guy does refuse?"

Shampoo-kun shrugged. "Then woman can challenge him to go on date. Man can
no really refuse challenge. Not unless he want really great shame, or has
communicable disease."

Nabiki gave a Cheshire cat-like grin at that statement.

Akane shook her head sadly. "I agree with Ranma. That's stupid."

"Yeah," Ranma-chan commented. "Next thing you know, the guys at this
school might do that for some uncute tomboy."

"Exactly!" Akane agreed. "Guys at this school might..." she trailed off as
she realized Ranma-chan was looking intently at her the entire time she
made the statement.

"Why you! RANMA NO BAKA!!!" She caught Ranma-chan right on the jaw and
sent her through the window, attracting everyone's attention.

Sayuri walked over to Akane. "Why did you call Ranma a baka then hit
Shampoo?"

Akane temporarily found herself at a loss for words.

Nabiki made the save as she idly explained that Akane, 'missed her
intended target.' With that said, she got up and went back to her
homeroom. The plan was right on her fingertips. She just had to see if she
could make it work.


Ranma-chan made it back before classes started again, and the rest of the
school day went by uneventfully, marred only by the dirty looks Ranma-chan
gave Akane. Once it ended and the trio returned home, the first thing the
two cursed youths did was grab some hot water and change.

Shampoo took great delight in returning to her real form at long last.
There had been times when both she and Ranma had had no access to hot
water and spent a couple of days in their cursed forms, but it still felt
bizarre to spend so much time in her cursed body. And if she was going to
start spending all of her days as a boy, she would savor every minute of
those times when she didn't have to be one. Now that she was free of her
cursed form, she felt a great reserve on energy fill her. It took her only
a moment to decide how she should use that energy. "Ranma want spar with
Shampoo?"

"Yeah, sure." Ranma nodded enthusiastically. He too felt like blowing off
some steam at being cooped up all day with nothing interesting to do.

"I thought you didn't fight girls," Akane said.

Ranma became a little sheepish at that. "Shampoo's different."

"How?"

"Well, she's a guy half the time." That, combined with the fact that the
first time he told the purple-haired Amazon he 'didn't fight girls' she
took it as a personal slander against all Amazons and beat the tar out of
him, convinced him he should never say those words in her presence again.
And he would always qualify their matches in his mind as 'just sparring'
and it wasn't really fighting. And Shampoo was a guy half the time too, so
it wasn't the same thing as fighting a girl that wasn't cursed. He still
didn't fight girls.

Akane just scowled at the answer, causing Ranma to give a frustrated sigh.
"Never mind. C'mon Shampoo. Let's get going."

Akane watched as the two began to walk away. A feeling of being left out
suddenly overwhelming her. "Can I come too?"

"Sure. If you think it will do you any good," Ranma said as he continued
on.

Akane growled at the comment, but still followed the duo to the dojo. She
wanted to do something, and even if she was having trouble getting along
with Ranma, sparring could still be fun.

Since Shampoo had challenged Ranma first, the two of them began. To Akane,
it seemed that despite calling it a sparring match, neither one of them
held anything back. Each moved with an even mix of grace and power that
found Akane quickly becoming jealous of. In all her years of training, she
still lacked the sort of effortless flowing of motion from one movement to
the next that the duo demonstrated. True, she had all the power she
needed, but as much as she hated to admit it, her grace needed a lot of
work.

Akane began paying closer attention to the fight itself. In the opening
moments, Shampoo managed to press Ranma hard, even going so far as to put
him on the defensive a few times. As the fight progressed, Ranma became
more aggressive as he took the measure of his opponent and began fighting
back. Several times Shampoo almost managed to regain the initiative, but
before long those opportunities went from few to non-existent. Eventually
she found herself heavily on the defensive, Ranma focusing his attacks
into the few holes he found in her defense. Close to twenty minutes of
intense sparring passed before Ranma at last managed to win the match.

The moment the match ended, both combatants collapsed on the ground,
breathing hard.

"That was tough," Ranma managed to gasp out. "You did a few new moves on
me."

Shampoo had as much ease speaking as Ranma had. "But Ranma still better
than Shampoo." The Amazon waited a few minutes before feeling confident
enough to take the next step. She turned to Akane.

"Akane want try now?"

In spite of being somewhat in awe of what she had just seen, Akane stood
up and accepted the offer. Once Shampoo knew she was almost up to her full
fighting skills, she began to spar with Akane.

Akane counted on the Amazon being slow; after all, she had just been in a
grueling battle in which she had lost, but as the fight began, Akane knew
that that had not been enough to reduce her opponent's skill level
significantly. Akane found herself defeated in less than two minutes. She
slumped to the floor, depressed. Before she had been the best martial
artist in the whole of Nerima. In the space of three days she found
herself a distant third.

Shampoo looked the depressed girl over. It was obvious she was sad over
losing, but  what could a single Japanese girl expect when confronting one
who was a champion of the Amazons? Still, felt there was something she
could do to help one who had given Shampoo a roof over her head.

"Akane have good strength and skill. Just need work harder," Shampoo
assured her. "Make deal with you. Same deal Shampoo have with Ranma.
Shampoo help you with Amazon techniques if you help Shampoo with Anything
Goes Martial Arts."

"Sure," Akane said enthusiastically, then thought about what was just
said. "Wait a minute. Ranma is teaching you?"

Shampoo nodded. "Ranma and Pop teach Shampoo their fighting techniques, so
Shampoo teach hers back. Is even trade that make all of us better
warriors."

Akane looked quizzically at her. "Why do you call Mr. Saotome Pop?"

Ranma interrupted the answer Shampoo was about to give. "Back when we
first met Shampoo her Japanese was really bad, even worse than it is now."
He missed the dirty look Shampoo shot in his direction. "She heard me call
him Pop and thought that was his name. She just calls him that ever since.
He doesn't seem to mind."

Akane at last felt the time was right to ask the question that had been
nagging her since the other night. "Why do you travel with them?"

Shampoo gave her a depressed look. "Shampoo have nowhere else to go."

Ranma noticed the change in emotion. Shampoo always got that way when she
thought of her home. He still didn't know the full details of why she
couldn't go back, but he respected her privacy. Besides, he liked having
her around. It beat the heck out of having to put up with his old man all
the time. At last he had someone his own age to talk to, even if
communicating with her was difficult. And that she knew martial arts, was
good enough to press him every time, and he could learn new moves from
her, was great.

Ranma felt the urge to cheer her up. He had seen that look way too many
times for his liking, though it had been appearing less frequently of
late. "Hey, like me and Pop said, you can stay with us as long as you
want. We're happy to have you."

Shampoo cheered up at that. "Shampoo thank Ranma."

"It ain't nothing," Ranma said dismissively, suddenly uncomfortable with
the gratitude.

"We're happy to have you here as well," Akane added.

Shampoo looked surprised, then smiled at Akane. "Thank you very much."

Ranma decided to change the topic. Things were getting too sentimental for
his taste. "Now why don't you show us how you do that move. You know that
kick you do in mid-air."


A couple of hours after a vigorous sparring session, the trio entered the
house and cleaned up, in much better spirits than before. Akane even
relented on her opinion of Ranma a little. He wasn't all that bad,
especially when talking about martial arts. He was a bit egotistical about
it, which was annoying, but overall it had been time well spent.

All three were feeling hungry and they went to the kitchen to grab
something to eat.

"Hey, Kasumi! Is dinner ready yet?" Akane knew it was early, but she was
just as hungry as her guests and hoped there was at least an appetizer
laying around.

Nabiki's voice came out from around the corner. "Kasumi left to return
some books to Dr. Tofu. She said she'd be back in time to make dinner."

Akane couldn't believe her luck. Now she had a chance to impress her new
friends. "I'll cook us dinner."

"You no mind?" Shampoo asked.

Akane was practically bouncing with joy. "No, I love to cook. Just wait
until you see what I make for you."

Ranma and Shampoo thanked her and left her alone in the kitchen, unaware
of the terrible mistake they had made.

An hour later, everyone but Kasumi and Akane found themselves sitting at
the table, waiting for dinner. They didn't have long to wait as Akane
entered from the kitchen, bearing a tray.

Soun looked nervously at what was on the tray. "A...Akane, did you make
this?"

"Yep!" she happily showed it to him.

In contrast to her father, Nabiki stood up calmly and stated, "I just
remembered, Daddy asked me to help fix the roof."

"He asked you to do that two months ago," Akane pointed out.

"Which means I had better get on it." Nabiki left the room without a
backward glance.

"I have to teach some students." Soun said as he quickly got to his feet.

"Dad, you don't have any students."

"Time to get some then." Soun was out of the room in less than a
heartbeat.

Genma scratched his chin. "If I didn't know better, I'd say they are
leaving to avoid your cooking."

"They are," Akane reluctantly admitted. "Some people think I'm a pretty
bad cook, but I know I've gotten a lot better since the last time I made
something. I've been practicing really hard."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Ranma reassured her. "It can't be as bad as
Pop's cooking."

Shampoo nodded her head in agreement. "Pop cook awful."

Genma looked stunned. "I didn't hear you complain, boy."

"That's because you never listened to me!"

"Then you're willing to try it?" Akane looked on in hope.

The trio nodded, much to her delight. She knew she had made them a meal
they would never forget. With as much flair as she could, Akane set down
the tray with the dish on it.

Shampoo looked at the tray. "Oh. Akane cook armadillo for us."

"That's not an armadillo," Akane corrected. "It's cod."

"What's this armor plate on it?" Ranma asked as he poked it with a fork.
He had thought it was turtle of some kind.

"Those are noodles."

"They look a bit hard," Genma said as he too evaluated the dish. "Are you
sure you followed the recipe?"

"Yep." Of course she had. It was one she had made up. She indicated that
the trio should dig in.

The three looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Ranma and
Shampoo believing that at the worst it would rival Genma's cooking.

Ranma attempted to cut through the armorlike substance with a knife.
Seeing that didn't work, Shampoo went to her room to recover her sword and
brought it down hard on the armor. The tremendous blow was enough to crack
the shell. However, as she withdrew her blade, she noticed there were
nicks and chinks missing from it. She began wondering if trying the food
was such a good idea.

All three of them received their servings and took a bite at the same
time. Akane watched them expectantly, waiting for the accolades they would
(hopefully) bestow upon her.

Genma began gagging, Ranma belched smoke, and Shampoo turned green. Those
were not the reactions Akane had expected

Shampoo managed to shake off the effects first and grabbed Akane by the
collar. "Why Akane poison Shampoo? Shampoo thought we friends."

Akane got out of the grasp and stared at Shampoo. "Poison? You have go to
be kidding." To prove her point, she took a bite of the substance. Upon
swallowing the bite, she fell over and passed out. Fortunately, Shampoo,
and the recovered Ranma, caught her before she hit the ground.

"Guess even she doesn't know how bad she cooks," Ranma said as she made
certain Akane was all right.

A little while later, Kasumi returned home. Dr. Tofu had acted silly once
more, which was just what Kasumi needed to cheer her up. She had enjoyed
the doctor's goofiness so much that she had lost track of the time, and
realized she was going to be serving dinner late. She had rushed home as
quickly as she could, to what was a disturbingly quiet house. It wasn't
until she made her way down one of the halls that she saw Soun and Nabiki
looking into the Saotomes' makeshift bedroom.

"What's going on?" Kasumi asked.

Nabiki turned to her sister. "They tried some of Akane's cooking. She
tried some too, but she's feeling better now. Guess she's building up a
resistance to the poisoning."

"Oh no! I'd better help Shampoo." She paused a moment, realizing what she
had just said. "And the Saotomes as well, of course."

Living with Akane and the results of her attempts at cooking made Kasumi
prepared for such event. She had all of the material she needed to settle
their stomachs. Nabiki couldn't help noting that Kasumi helped Shampoo
first and doted on her the most.


The next day, as the recovered duo made their way to school, they were
still irate that no one had warned them about Akane's cooking. When Ranma
noted that Nabiki had left ahead of them again, Akane just said she had
given some mysterious answer about having to meet some people.

Upon arriving at school, Akane prepared herself as she saw that the boys
were waiting for her, as usual. She watched them carefully. They were
about to make their move when a group of girls, twice as large as the
boys, appeared directly behind the first group. Voices began to erupt from
the new female crowd.

"There he is!"

"All right! He showed up!"

"You're right. He is good looking. I'm sorry I wasn't here to introduce
myself to him yesterday."

One of the girls stepped forward.

"Ranma, is it true?"

Shampoo-kun looked at the crowd in confusion. It took a moment for him to
remember that on school grounds he was 'Ranma'. "Is what true?"

"That if someone defeats you in combat you have to date them?"

Shampoo-kun stared at the girl in bewilderment, wondering where she had
heard that particular piece of information. "Yes, but Sh...Ranma no can
date you."

Nabiki was suddenly at the Amazon's side. "Au contraire, you can and you
do."

Shampoo-kun couldn't understand why Nabiki was saying such a thing, until
it all fit into place. So that was who had informed the girls of that
little rule. Shampoo-kun suppressed the urge to pound the annoying girl.
She wasn't a warrior and Ranma might get into trouble if Shampoo-kun
started beating up the people they were staying with, even if they
deserved it.

The Amazon began whispering, "But no can go out with girl, Shampoo girl."

"Not now you aren't," Nabiki reminded him as she brushed her hand against
his crotch.  "You're a boy. And you said if a girl challenges a boy, they
have to accept or it's a great dishonor. Besides it won't matter unless
you lose. Surely a tough Amazon like yourself can take on a bunch of
untrained girls and beat them easily."

As reluctant as he was to admit it, backing down simply wasn't his style.
It was a matter of pride that he show the world that a single Amazon
warrior, even when cursed to a male body, was more powerful than a handful
of weak Japanese girls.

"Well, is it true?" one of the girls asked as she bit her nails in
anticipation.

"Yes. It true."

A sudden cheer broke out from the horde of females as they raced forward
and trampled the group of boys in their haste to attack Shampoo-kun.
Suddenly the Amazon wasn't so sure taking on close to fifty combatants at
the same time was such a hot idea after all...


Shampoo-kun stood motionless, chest heaving, as he caught his breath. He
was going to have to reevaluate his opinion on how 'weak' Japanese girls
were. It appeared they weren't really all that different from Joketsuzoku
warriors who saw a man that caught their eye; they just didn't go about
quite as heavily armed. The female students had fought like a pack of
rabid dogs over a bone in their efforts to defeat Shampoo-kun. They had
been a tenacious lot, and Shampoo-kun would have admired their
determination if he hadn't been the bone of contention.

The quick check to evaluate what damage had been inflicted on him by the
horde was interrupted by a loud declaration.

"So, Saotome, truly you have proven that you possess no honor!" Kunou
raised his bokken before him. "That you would beat up defenseless women so
that they would fall into your clutches gives release to my righteous
anger!"

"Is that righteous anger, or lustful envy, Kunou baby?" Nabiki asked from
the sidelines.

"Be silent woman, lest you make me lose my place!" Kunou face contorted as
he tried to remember where he had left off. "Now it falls to me to defend
those too weak to defend themselves! I would smite thee!"

Shampoo-kun found himself immediately set upon. Under ordinary
circumstances he would have been able to dispatch Kunou with ease, but
having previously fought an unexpected battle royal with close to fifty
girls had left him considerably weakened, making it far closer to an even
fight.

Ranma-chan watched the battle with a close eye, also realizing the fight
was going to be far closer than it should have been. The time spent with
Shampoo-kun had given Ranma-chan enough insight into the Amazon's mind
that he would react just as happily at someone interfering in his fight as
Ranma-chan would. She had to find some excuse that would allow her to
interfere with the fight while maintaining the Amazon's pride.

"Got it!" she whispered under her breath, then said much more loudly, as
though reading lines for a script. "We don't have time for this. We'll be
late for class, we can't afford to get into trouble."

She back kicked Kunou in the head and sent him flying towards Akane, who
reflexively caught him.

Kunou's fury died when he saw into whose arms he had landed. "Ah! Akane
Tendou. To go to such great lengths to save me leaves me no choice. You
may date me."

"No thanks." She belted Kunou high into the sky and sent him far away.
Seeing no other combatants, the group headed to their classrooms while
there was still time.

The next day found the cycle repeating itself. The only differences were
that the boys, who had been trampled once again, complained quite loudly
that getting beaten up before facing Akane was just not worth it and vowed
to give up their morning ritual. The fight with the horde of girls didn't
last as long either. This time Shampoo-kun had come prepared by warming up
beforehand and bringing his pair of bonbori.

And of course, much to the delight of everyone, Kunou appeared.

"Once again it falls to me to defend the honor of those too helpless to
defend themselves! I would smite thee!"

"My turn." Akane rushed over to Kunou and hit him into Ranma-chan, who
reflexively caught the flying kendoist.

"Ah! Shampoo. To go to such great lengths to save me leaves me no choice.
You may date me."

"Couldn't you at least come up with an original line?!" Ranma-chan
proceeded to belt Kunou into the stratosphere as well, making certain to
point out to Akane that she had bashed him a lot farther than the youngest
Tendou had the previous day.


Akane sat down and enjoyed her lunch away from Ranma-chan and Shampoo-kun.
She was still fuming at the redhead for grumbling about Kunou using the
same line on her as he had on Akane. 'After all, I'm much better looking
than you are. I just think he could have said something a lot more
flattering,' Ranma-chan had said.

After that blatant insult, Akane wanted nothing to do with the Ranma-chan
for a while, so she ate with two of her other friends. As she dined with
them, she took note of the bandages on their faces.

"Why did you guys attack Sh...Ranma anyway?"

Sayuri gained a wistful look. "Well, he is the most handsome guy in the
school."

Chisa, a new transfer student Akane had made friends with, gained an
equally far off look. "I just love the way he refers to himself in the
third person."

"Besides, if the boys can do it to win a date with you, why can't we do it
for some really cute guy?" Sayuri said.

"Yeah! Equal opportunity!" Chisa said.

Sayuri suddenly became serious. "That reminds me, Akane, just what
connection do you have with Ranma?"

With the name 'Ranma' being said, her thoughts drifted to what had
happened to her since the water-changing fiancé had entered her life. That
caused her to forget the name change as she answered the question
seriously. "Our dumb fathers decided to engage us, but I hate it."

Chisa suddenly looked hopeful. "Well, if you two aren't getting along,
would you mind if we go out with Ranma?"

"I don't care about him! I don't!" Akane snapped, then shouted out. "The
whole school could date Ranma! It doesn't matter to me!"

Shampoo-kun and Ranma-chan turned to the disturbance. Ranma-chan muttered
under her breath about losing the engagement as some kind of defense to
keep the girls off of the Amazon's back.


"You didn't have to shout it out so loud."

"I told you I'm sorry," Akane said sincerely. "It slipped my mind for a
moment."

"Yeah, well poor Shampoo's going to pay the price," Ranma-chan continued
to scold.

Not wishing to hear the duo continue squabbling the entire way back,
Shampoo-kun tried to change the subject. "Shampoo always used to think not
need school, that it make person weak. Training is what supposed to make
warrior strong, but Shampoo fight harder in school than when train."

"Can't argue with that," Ranma-chan said, then caught a glimpse of
movement from above.

"Look out!" She grabbed both of her companions under her arms and leaped
out of the way, just in time to avoid a girl that jumped down from some
wires above the street, from bringing a giant club down on top of them.

"Darn!" the girl cursed. "I almost had him."

Ranma-chan recognized the Furinkan school uniform the girl was wearing,
but could not place the face. "Why did you attack us?"

"I wasn't trying to attack you, Shampoo," the girl reassured her. "I was
trying to hit Ranma."

"Why?"

The girl shrugged. "I figured if I could ambush him I'd knock him out and
date him, but you had to pull him out of the way. Don't tell me you're
interested in him too. Are you?"

Ranma-chan suddenly became defensive. "Of course not! I don't date guys!"

That got him a whack in the back of the head from Shampoo-kun.

"I meant I'm not dating someone like Shampoo, I mean Ranma. Not that he
isn't a great guy, errr, sort of."

The girl looked suspiciously at Ranma-chan. "So does that mean you only
date girls?"

"Yes."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "So you're a lesbian?"

"I am not a lesbian!" Ranma-chan shouted.

"But you just said you date girls."

"Yes. I mean no. I mean..."

"You mean you go both ways, like Ai?" the girl asked.

"Who's Ai?" Ranma-chan asked, trying to remember if he had heard the name
somewhere in school or not.

"Someone that you will hopefully never have to meet," Akane said as she
grabbed Ranma-chan by the arm and took her away before she made the
situation even more confusing.

"So does that mean she's interested in Ranma, or maybe me?" The girl gave
a shudder at that as she turned to see Shampoo-kun had remained behind.
"Oh, are you going to walk me home?" the girl said, full of hope.

"No, but Ranma in nice mood, so help you home. Which way is house and how
far is it?"

That was close enough for the girl, who told the Amazon how far away it
was and pointed in the direction.

"Ranma think he got it, bye-bye."

Shampoo-kun punted the girl in the direction of her house. There was no
way he was going to allow ambushes like that to go unpunished.

Shampoo-kun caught up to the others. "Shampoo think Japanese girls too
persistent. Remind Shampoo of Mousse."

He was about to continue on when he noticed the other two had stopped in
front of him. "What wrong?"

Akane pointed to the rope snare that was laying in the middle of the road.
The rope led down to a closed manhole cover.

Ranma-chan just shook her head in disbelief. "Who would be stupid enough
to fall for that?"

Mousse jumped down from the roof of a nearby building and landed in the
street, setting down in the middle of the rope snare.

"That was a rhetorical question," Ranma-chan mumbled under her breath.

"At last I have found you, Saotome. You have eluded me for the last time."
To his credit, Mousse had his glasses down for a change and was pointing
at the correct figure. "For abducting Shampoo-"

Shampoo-kun shook his head. "Ranma no abd...abde...no take Shampoo against
will!"

"For callously cursing her with Nanniichuan-"

"That Mousse's fault for making fight at cursed spring!"

"For poisoning her mind against me-"

"Shampoo no like Mousse before she ever meet Ranma!"

"For taking advantage of her innocence-"

"Shampoo not innocent!"

Ranma-chan, Akane and Mousse all gave him a surprised stare.

Shampoo-kun took a moment to reevaluate what had been said. "Shampoo mean
she not taken advantage of by Ranma. Shampoo innocent."

Mousse breathed a sigh of relief, then continued.  "For all of these
unforgivable crimes, prepare to die!"

It was at that moment that the rope snare was pulled upon as it wrapped
itself around Mousse's ankle. Caught off-guard by the attack from an
unsuspected quarter, he found himself dragged through the manhole cover
and into the sewers. A moment later, the sounds of a woman striking
someone with instruments of blunt trauma came from below.

"At last I have you, Ranma! Now you must date me!"

"I'm not Ranma! What are you, blind?!"

"That disguise can't fool me! Fall!"

The trio still above ground left in disgust. There were no further
ambushes as they made their way back to the Tendou house.

"I can't believe we were attacked like that," Akane said as she opened the
door to the house and announced the students' return.

"No need worry," Shampoo-kun said casually. "We safe at home now, except
for girl behind door with baseball bat."

It took a moment for what Shampoo-kun said to actually register with him.
Only quick reflexes saved him from being struck by the powerful swing the
girl leveled at him. As he sidestepped the blow he lashed out with his
fist, connecting with the girl's jaw and knocking her out.

The trio made their way into the living room only to have the table
seemingly launch itself at Shampoo-kun. As Shampoo-kun deftly caught the
table Ranma-chan leaped over it and knocked out the girl that threw it.

"Okay, the house is swarming with girls desperate to get a date,"
Ranma-chan said as she took a quick look around the room. "Good thing I
didn't go to school as a guy. They'd come after me twice as hard.
Hehehe..."

Her laugh trailed off as she saw the two scowls her companions gave.
Shampoo-kun because he felt offended by the implication that Ranma was
more handsome than him. Akane just on the general principle that no one
should be that egotistical.

"Great. Let's see if there are any more surprises." Ranma-chan said,
hoping to make the duo stop staring evilly at her.

A sweep of the house revealed four more girls lying in wait. After
disposing of them, the cursed ones grabbed some hot water and went back to
their real sexes. The trio reconvened in the living room, where Nabiki and
Kasumi waited for them.

"How the heck did they get in here?" Ranma grumbled. Fighting wasn't the
problem, it was the idea that he was never going to have a moments peace
if he didn't have some place he could rest safely.

"Oh, I let them in."

Everyone looked incredulously at Kasumi.

"Why?" Akane managed to get out.

Kasumi continued smiling pleasantly. "They asked if they could ambush
Ranma. They were so polite and nice I just couldn't say no."

"I can't believe you did that," Ranma said, irritated.

"I can't believe you didn't charge them," Nabiki said just as irritably.

"You do realize they really mean Shampoo, don't  you?" Akane pointed out.

Kasumi's hands suddenly darted to her face in shame. "Oh my! That's
different. I can't let them do that."

"How is it different they attack her instead of me?!" Ranma growled as
Kasami began apologizing to Shampoo.

"How indeed?" Nabiki added as she carefully watched her sister.

The doorbell rang, interrupting further conversations and causing everyone
to look at it suspiciously. Ranma got into a battle stance. "It could be a
trick. I say we don't any chances. Let's take 'em out."

"Now, Ranma," Kasumi scolded. "It's impolite to attack someone without
finding out why they are here for first." She went up to the door, the
other following closely. "Who is it?"

"Floral delivery," the male voice on the other side said.

"Oh well, that's all right." Kasumi opened the door and let him in.

The delivery man held out a beautiful bouquet of flowers and read off a
card. "Flowers for Akane Tendou."

Akane was immediately enchanted. "Oh, they're beautiful." She tipped the
man, then read the card. Enchantment became annoyance in the blink of an
eye. "Oh, they're from Kunou." She slammed the door in the delivery man's
face.

A moment later, the doorbell rang again.

"Who is it?" Kasumi asked again.

"Floral delivery."

Everyone, save Kasumi, looked confused at the door. It did sound like the
same man's voice.

It was indeed him bearing yet another bouquet. "Flowers for Shampoo."

"That me." Shampoo took them.

"Why didn't you deliver both of them before?" Akane asked the man.

He shrugged. "I didn't know they were for the same house..."

Shampoo read the card and subsequently became as disgusted as Akane.
"These from Kunou too. That mean they for Ranma-Shampoo, not
Shampoo-Ranma." She handed the flowers to Ranma.

" ...or from the same guy," the delivery man finished.

Ranma thanked Shampoo dryly for the 'gift'.

"He sends flowers to a man and woman living in the same house? Weird." The
delivery man left.

Akane just looked at Ranma, then said sarcastically. "You look so cute
with those flowers in your hand."

"Hey, at least he didn't waste them on a violent thug like you this time."

"Why you!" Akane picked up a vase and hurled it at Ranma. The throw was on
target as it crashed into his head, breaking easily and splashing water on
Ranma and Shampoo, who was standing close behind him. Both of them changed
just as the doorbell rang again.

Kasumi let the delivery man in for the third time. "Flowers for Ranma." he
held out a bouquet of decidedly dead flowers.

Shampoo-kun took the flowers and read the card. "These from Kunou too.
Says want to fight Ranma behind school two days from now."

"I'll kill him," Ranma-chan growled.

Akane sighed. "He means Shampoo."

"Oh, yeah."

At last the delivery man realized that Ranma-chan and Shampoo-kun were
wearing the same clothes, but were different sexes. He looked at
Ranma-chan. "Weren't you a guy before?"

"Yeah. So?!" Ranma-chan snapped.

"Never mind." He handed Akane back her tip and ran to his truck as fast as
he could. His mother had been right. The floral delivery business was full
of nothing but weirdoes. He felt he was in luck as the next one sounded
like it was okay, and Tomobiki was really close to where he was too.

Ranma-chan tossed the three sets of flowers in the trash and asked
Shampoo-kun if he wanted to spar. Shampoo-kun readily agreed, and the two
grabbed some hot water went to spar. After cooling off for a bit, Akane
joined them.

The session had gone on well, but only for a brief time. They had only
been sparring for ten minutes when Nabiki entered and promptly threw a
bucket of cold water on them.

"Whad'ya do that for?!" The constant changing back and forth was really
starting to get on Ranma-chan's nerves.

Nabiki began her explanation in a tired voice, as though stating something
Ranma should have known. "Shampoo gets jumped every day by a bunch of
girls while she's in her cursed form. She should get used to fighting in
it. Since she'll be fighting girls, you should be one so it'll help her."

Both of them looked at Nabiki suspiciously but agreed. It did make sense,
although there was just something wrong about Nabiki being the one to
point it out.

"Thanks for looking out for us, I guess. Even if you are responsible for
the whole mess," Ranma-chan said as she and Shampoo-kun began to spar once
again.

"I'll be doing more than looking out," Nabiki said under her breath as she
left the room. Once out of sight, she grabbed one of her cameras and hid
under one of the windows next to the dojo. She started taking pictures of
Ranma-chan and Shampoo-kun sparring, just as she had in the past with
Akane. Oh, how grateful she was at the delivery of the two sex changing
martial artists in her hands. Ranma, and especially Shampoo, were really
starting to grow on her.


Hours later, Ranma reviewed the day as he headed for bed. The constant
attacks made school significantly more interesting, but he could feel they
were going to wear pretty thin rather quickly. At least he wasn't the
center of attention. Of course, he also felt a little down because of that
too, but it appeared to him that the whole situation was more trouble than
it was worth.

Genma's voice drifted from the living room where he was playing shogi with
Soun. "What do you think you're doing, boy?"

"Heading for bed," Ranma shouted back as he opened the door to his room
while still looking down the hall in the direction of where his father
was. "Is that all right?"

Ranma had been so distracted by his father annoying him that he failed to
notice the metal poker swung at his head by the girl standing behind the
door. The blow connected solidly, knocking him unconscious.

The brown-haired girl began jumping up for joy. "Yes! I got you now
Ran..." she trailed off as she looked at the prone figure before her. It
was not Ranma. She was looking about in confusion, wondering where the
real Ranma was, when Genma walked to the bedroom.

"What's going on?" he asked, mentally berating the boy for falling asleep
in the doorway. Stepping over him was inconvenient.

"I thought I heard you call out Ranma's name," the girl said.

"Of course I did," Genma said as he pointed to his son. "That's Ranma."

Something inside Genma's mind suddenly clicked. The clothing the girl was
wearing was familiar, and he had been told by both Akane and Ranma what
the situation was at school. He didn't like it, but the last thing in the
world he needed was for everyone to know that Ranma was cursed to turn
into something that was less than a man among men.

"Are you from Furinkan?" he asked, hoping against hope he was wrong.

 The girl nodded her head.

He had to think fast. "Then this Ranma is Shampoo's brother." He picked up
the unconscious Ranma by his shirt collar to show to the girl. "He most
definitely is not Ranma Saotome." Genma had to pat himself on the back for
his quick thinking. He had managed to get out of that particular
predicament fairly easily. Now all he had to do was tell the others at the
first available opportunity.

The girl looked incredulously at Genma. "He's Shampoo's brother?" she took
a closer look and had to admit, there was a very distinct resemblance
between the two of them. "Tell him I'm sorry for knocking him out." She
headed further into the house in search of her quarry, the 'real' Ranma
Saotome.

Her wanderings eventually led her to the kitchen, where Kasumi and Shampoo
were sitting and talking peacefully. Upon seeing Shampoo for the first
time, she noticed the strong resemblance between her and the Ranma she
wanted to go out with. "Hello, ah, who are you?" she asked Shampoo.

Like Genma Saotome before her, Shampoo forgot about her secret identity.
"Am Shampoo." Almost as soon as the words left her mouth she realized the
horrible mistake she had made. She knew she had to think fast. "Am Shampoo
Saotome. Ranma Saotome sister."

Whereas the girl had been somewhat confused with the 'Shampoo has a
brother named Ranma' bit from before, now she was absolutely bewildered.
"Let me get this straight, Ranma has a sister named Shampoo and Shampoo
has a brother named Ranma?"

Shampoo nodded.

It had to be the biggest coincidence in the world. "You do look a lot like
your brother." And with that, the girl walked off, terribly confused. She
didn't even realize that she had failed to find the Ranma she had been
looking for, so she moved on.


The events going on downstairs had gone unnoticed by Akane. After a quick
bath she headed directly for her bedroom and laid down, intent on doing
nothing but catching up on her sleep. As her head hit the pillow, her eyes
looked upward just in time to see a girl with jet black hair hanging up in
the rafters, mallet in hand.

"I've got you now, Ranma!"

The girl released her hold almost the instant Akane lay down. The youngest
Tendou barely had enough time to get out of the way of the descending
mallet as the girl hit the mattress with her club.

Akane slapped the mallet out of the girl's hands then grabbed her by the
shirt. "What on earth do you think you are doing?"

"This isn't Ranma's room?" the girl asked.

"NO!!!"

"I'm sorry then." The girl tried to bow in spite of the fact she was still
being held by the collar by Akane.

"At least you got one thing right," Akane said as she belted the girl out
the window.


"Where's Nabiki?" Ranma-chan asked as she, Akane, and Shampoo-kun made
their way to yet another day of school. The headache that had been
bothering Ranma-chan the night before was gone. If she hadn't known any
better, she would have sworn that someone had hit her in the head with a
lead pipe or something.

"She left early again today," Akane answered, though why she had left so
quickly was a mystery. It was just as Akane had been waking up that she
heard her older sister say good-bye and left the house.

As the trio arrived at school, they saw a podium and microphone set up in
the school yard. Dozens of girls, and Kunou, stood in front of the
structure while they looked on with keen interest at the speaker at the
podium.

"What's she up to now?" Akane said as she watched Nabiki go through a
microphone test, then begin.

"I have here pictures of the handsome and bold Ranma in intense physical
workouts." Nabiki held up the photos for all to see, giving them just the
barest glimpse of the quality of the shots. In a flash they disappeared
from view as she cleared her throat. "Now who will start the bidding for
these once in a lifetime photographs?"

"I bid 500 yen," one of the girls cried out.

"750 yen."

"1000 yen!"

Kunou looked on in irritation as the scene unfolded before him. Obviously
the accursed Saotome had ensorcelled the girls into worshipping false
idols of the youth. What audacity he had to engage in such behaviors
before one as mighty as the great Tatewaki Kunou. One other explanation
was also needed.

"Why have you summoned me here, Nabiki Tendou? I have no desire to
purchase pictures of the accursed Ranma Saotome." Unless it was to use
them as target practice for his bokken thrusts.

"I also have pictures of Akane and Shampoo." A different group of photos
appeared in her other hand.

"Sold! No price can be too much for portraits of my two true loves."

"Music to my ears, Kunou baby. Music to my ears."

"I think I see why Nabiki is leaving early," Ranma-chan commented dryly.

"Is Mercenary Girl always like this?" Shampoo-kun asked Akane.

"Pretty much," Akane sighed, although there was going to be some
discussion as to the selling of photos of her without any express consent
on her part.

"At least the auction has all of the girls' attention and gives us the day
off," Ranma-chan pointed out as the trio entered the school with no
delays, for a change.


Shampoo-kun looked over the streets carefully as he made his way home. The
school day had gone on without any major problems, for a change. However,
Akane and Ranma-chan had been snagged into cleaning the classroom after
school, which meant Shampoo-kun was going to have to make a go of it
alone. That was cause for concern since girls now had the tendency to try
to ambush him every step of the way home. The only good thing about the
whole situation was that at least he was getting extensive training in his
trap detection skills. Some of the things the girls came up with were
downright creative, and made Shampoo-kun stay on his toes.

"Shampoo have no doubt. School make for better warrior than before," he
said as he took a long roundabout way to his new home. By some miracle, he
didn't have to deal with a single female the entire way. He just hoped the
same could be said for the next day when he had to risk returning from
school once more.

Despite Kasumi's repeated assurances from the day before about not letting
any girls in the house, Shampoo-kun entered carefully and began a quiet
inspection of the building. He didn't have to search long since the moment
he placed his foot on the first step leading upstairs a dozen armed girls
came charging after him.

The Amazon ran away at top speed. He had just enough time to cry out, "hot
water!" to Kasumi.

Kasumi handed him the hot kettle she had going, and he quickly poured the
contents over his head in time. The 'strike team' of girls arrived just as
the transformation was complete.

"Where did Ranma go?" one of the girls asked.

"Him go that way." Shampoo pointed outside. "If hurry, Japanese girls
might catch."

One of the girls thanked Shampoo as the group headed out in pursuit of
their prey, much to Shampoo's relief.

It was no more than ten minutes later when Ranma-chan and Akane finally
arrived home and were informed of what happened.

"How did they get in this time?" Akane asked.

Kasumi looked Shampoo straight in the eye. "I didn't do it. I swear."

"Shampoo believe Kasumi. Also not sure how annoying girls get in."

"Don't look at me," Ranma-chan said defensively before anyone started
blaming her, like they almost always did.

Nabiki walked past during the quartet's discussion, happily counting a
large wad of bills in hand. It took only a moment for her to sense all of
the eyes that had turned towards her. "What?"

"Where did you get the money?" Ranma-chan asked suspiciously.

"I remembered to charge an entry fee for the Ranma festivities today."
Nabiki waved the bills towards everyone for emphasis.

"How could you-" Ranma-chan found her accusation cut off by Kasumi of all
people.

"Nabiki, I am very cross with you."

That Kasumi had said such 'harsh' words directed at her immediately caught
Nabiki's attention. Surprisingly, she found they stung far worse than any
insult she could remember, and she had heard many epithets directed
towards her over the years.

"You...are?" It was not so much that Kasumi appeared angry, as much as
displeased, and once again Nabiki found herself squirming under that gaze.

"Yes, I am," Kasumi answered. "Shampoo and the Saotomes are our guests. I
want you to treat them with honor and respect. You are not to allow anyone
else in to ambush Shampoo."

Nabiki's instincts begged her not to give in, that it was way too
lucrative a deal to just ignore, but her sisterly instincts came to the
forefront. Kasumi's continued happiness outweighed what material gains she
could make in pricey ambushes.

"All right, I will."

"Thank you, Nabiki." Kasumi's expression went back to its normal happy
one.

Nabiki found herself rather pleased that she had done what most would
consider the 'right' thing. Who said she couldn't stand on the moral high
ground? She could do the right thing when it mattered.

Besides, there were still plenty of other ways to make money off of
Shampoo.


Shampoo-kun had assumed the Saturday Kunou challenge match behind the
school was supposed to be a private affair that would have nothing more
than perhaps a handful of spectators. After all, it wasn't as though it
was any different from the usual morning encounters with the bokken
wielding fool. That was why it was such a surprise to see temporary
bleachers, packed to overflowing with students, set up behind the field.
>From where he stood, Shampoo-kun could see Nabiki and her band of cohorts
working the crowd, taking bets on the outcome of the fight and selling
concessions at prices worse than most movie theaters. Shampoo-kun made a
mental note to never underestimate the very tricky 'mercenary girl.' She
had a mind like a steel trap, especially when it came to money. It was
difficult to believe that she could be related in any way to the
kind-hearted Kasumi, who was sitting in the crowded bleachers, waving at
Shampoo-kun and wishing him luck.

Akane, who stood next to Shampoo-kun, looked at the spectacle that was
before her and shook her head sadly. It was going to be the usual
massacre. Why anyone would get excited by that was beyond Akane. The whole
thing was nothing more than a tribute to the skills of her sister's
promotion of the fight that had been built up the day before in school.

It was nice to see Nabiki had apparently warmed up to the idea of having
house guests.

Ranma-chan, who also stood next to the other two, felt the same way. She
looked across the field at Kunou. He was already pontificating about what
he was going to do to the 'Foul Saotome' (and the day might have been
coming when Ranma-chan herself was  going to take exception to that
remark. She was the real Saotome, after all.) It was going to be a
massacre.


Kunou was ecstatic at the turnout for his most magnificent match to date.
Even the usual turnout at the school's kendo matches never netted this big
a crowd. "Ah! To hear the student body cheer me on is bliss." He came out
of his fantasy to listen to what rousing cheers were being shouted in his
name.

"This is where you get your arrogant head kicked in, Kunou!"

"I hope Ranma breaks your arms!"

"I hope he breaks your mouth!"

"If you lay one hand on Ranma, you'll be sorry!"

Kunou began seething at the vile words being spat out by the student body.
Saotome had somehow ensorcelled the crowd against him. Yet another crime
against his noble personage. Would the insults never stop?

"You will pay for this indignity, vile sorcerer!"


Ranma-chan just shook her head. How could anyone possibly be that
clueless?


Shampoo-kun warmed up quickly, and the two opponents headed to the middle
of the field to begin the duel. Even with the fight being against someone
so ridiculously foolish, the Amazon felt his blood rush and nerves stand
on edge. It was just like the tournaments back home. That it was Japanese
people instead of Joketsuzoku warriors made no difference. Cries of
excitement were the same in any language.

He took a deep breath to regain his focus. It fell into place in an
instant, and his bonboris came up into an attack position.

Kunou opened with a flurry of strikes which Shampoo-kun easily blocked.
Shampoo-kun's counter came following tight on the heels of Kunou's
offensive. In spite of his 'buffoon' status, his skills at armed combat
were considerable, and he managed to parry all of the strikes.

The battle went back and forth like that twice before Kunou saw an opening
in Shampoo-kun's defense and took advantage of it. A lightning fast strike
managed to knock one of the bonboris out of Shampoo-kun's hand.

"Ah ha! I have disarmed you." Kunou moved in for the kill.

*WHAM*

The trap Shampoo-kun had lain was successful. Kunou's bokken went flying
as Shampoo-kun knocked it out of his hands.

"How dare you disarm the great Tatewaki Kunou!"

*WHAM*

"How dare you bludgeon the great Tatewaki Kunou into unconsciousness!"

He managed to stare at the bonbori, still planted on his head, for two
more seconds before passing out.

Shampoo-kun found his hand raised high in the air by the announcer and
declared the winner. A smile found its way to his face as he basked in all
the glory. In the days that he had found himself under the roof of the
Tendou Dojo, he had been engaged to a girl, started school, been declared
a male before the student body, had been challenged by dozens of females
who sought to date him, and been attacked by a poetry spouting buffoon.

It appeared he had somehow been blessed/cursed with living in interesting
times. It was all kind of fun, in some perverse sort of way. He thought he
could grow to like Nerima.


Epilogue

He looked at the tall structure before him. It might have been Tokyo
Tower, or maybe it was the Eiffel Tower. He had come across both in his
travels, and they looked enough alike to him.

"But it isn't Nerima, and that's the only place I need to find." And once
he located it, vengeance would be his.

He looked around once more and tried to decide on a course of action. He
could ask for directions again, but that almost never worked. However, the
alternative...

"No! I have to do it, no matter how degrading it is. Revenge is all that
matters." He looked sorrowfully at the fountain that was next to him. He
gave one last thought to resolve what he was about to do. He was ready.

"I'm coming for you, Ranma Saotome!"

And with that Ryouga Hibiki jumped quite willingly into the fountain.


Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Special thanks to

Ryan Anderson
Jim Bader
Bloodblade
Jurai Knight
Gary Kleppe
Jason Liao
Lord Talon
Wade Tritschler

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/towers/5920