Prologue

Joketsuzoku, China:

Be Dea stared intently at the diminutive bird perched on her outstretched
forearm. "Do you understand the message, Sparrow?"

The bird nodded its head. 

"Time is of the essence, so you must find them without delay. They have to
return here as soon as possible. Go now!"

The bird nodded its head once more and took off, flying as fast as it
possibly could without tiring itself out too quickly. This would be the
longest distance it had ever flown, but it was also the most important
mission it had ever been given. The whole village's existence might depend
on the message it had to deliver. 

It would not fail.


Nerima, Japan:

Ai retrieved the mail as it was delivered to Uk-Chan's and began sorting
through them, handing them to Ukyou once she was finished. "Four
advertisements, three bills, and two invitations. One for you and one for
Ryouga," Ai said.

"Thanks," Ukyou said as she plucked the invitations out of the
cheerleader's hands, passing Ryouga's over to him. She opened it, not
managing even a single word before she felt a pair of eyes peering over her
shoulder. "Do you mind?" she said without bothering to look back.

Ai backed off. "Sorry. What's it say?"

Ukyou scanned the card. "You are..."

"...cordially invited..." Ryouga continued out loud.


At her home, Minami read her invitation. "...to the wedding of...


"...Ranma Saotome and..." Gosunkugi read the letter at his own home.


Sayuri, Malia, Chisa, and Yuka read. "...Akane Tendo."


Ranma 1/2 Presents:
Shampoo 1/2

Chapter 33


You Are Cordially Invited to the Wedding of Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo


All C+C greatly appreciated
You can contact me at sommer@nb.net

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

Bloodblade has also given it a home at:
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/towers/5920

Standard disclaimer:
All the Ranma 1/2 characters are owned by the Goddess Takahashi and
whomever she sold the rights to. Sailor Moon characters are owned by
someone else too.

An Alternate Universe:
What's gone on before (or what you really need to enjoy this fic, the
condensed version) In the beginning the Saotomes traveled to Jusenkyou to
spar, not realizing Mousse and Shampoo were already fighting across the
springs at the same time. One mid-air collision and accidental bath in
Spring of Young Drowned Man later, there is a male Shampoo as well as a
female Ranma (That means Shampoo-kun= male Shampoo. Ranma-chan= female
Ranma. Enjoy) Shampoo elected to travel to Japan with the Ranma. In the
ensuing months many friends and foes, too numerous to list here, were met
and many adventures had. In the last chapter Nodoka Saotome finally came on
the scene and in a case of mistaken identity, thought Shampoo-kun was
Ranma. Since everyone was afraid Nodoka would cut off the real Ranma's head
if she learned the truth, they maintained the facade. The effort to pass
Shampoo-kun off as Ranma worked until Pantyhose Tarou, in disguise,
splashed Shampoo-kun with some hot water in front of Nodoka. In order to
keep Shampoo alive Ranma told his mother the truth. Nodoka has accepted
that Ranma is still a 'man among men' despite his curse, but demands Ranma
and Akane be married as soon as possible. Now the wedding draws close, and
certain elements don't want it to occur...


<> This indicates Chinese.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Perfume gazed at the docks as the gangplank was lowered and the rest of the
hunt pack prepared to disembark. At long last they had arrived at Japan. It
was going to feel magnificent to have the feel of the earth under her feet
again, and it would be a good chance for the group to unwind for a little
while. It would take the hunt pack almost a day to arrive in Nerima. Then
Perfume would send them out to search for the long gone Shampoo. She was
more than a little confident that Shampoo would have covered her tracks and
made following her all but impossible. The search around Nerima would take
a week, then Perfume would deal with things from that point onward.

The gangplank at last made contact with the dock and Perfume prepared to
disembark, adjusting the oversized bracer she now had on her arm. Her foot
was raised to go forward when Cabinet placed a restraining hand on the
leader's shoulder.

"" Perfume asked.

"" was all the explanation the large girl offered.

Perfume stared at her second-in-command in confusion, wondering what
Cabinet was up to, when Sash rushed past and headed down the gangplank. 

Sash smiled cheerily as she set foot upon it. "" 

*TRIP*

*THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDHUDTHUD*

Perfume stared tiredly as Sash came rolling to a stop. She had rolled down
the gangplank far enough that she had ended up wrapped up in her sashes so
thoroughly that her arms and legs were totally immobilized.

"" Sash cried. ""

"" Cabinet said dryly as Perfume placed a hand over her
eyes. Maybe it would all be gone when she removed it. No. The scene was
still the same.

The rest of the hunt pack made their way down the gangplank while Cabinet
picked up Sash as she got to the bottom.

"" Sash said graciously. ""

"" Cabinet said and threw Sash over her shoulder like a sack of rice.
"" Sash's pleas were for naught as Cabinet ignored the struggling
blonde and followed the others into the city.

Perfume took the lead, talking to her warriors as they walked the city
streets. "" She kept her eyes forward, knowing that the
warriors were hanging on her every word. "" Perfume trailed off as she turned to see her
group was now only composed of Cabinet, Julep, Shelf, the now unbound Sash,
and a couple of others. 

"" Perfume asked.

Cabinet spoke up. ""

Perfume put her hand to her skull as she felt the headache strike. She
should have seen it coming. Of course they were going to act like a bunch
of children let loose in a candy store for the first time, and it would be
nothing short of a miracle if they all managed to stay out of trouble. No,
the odds were that most of them would screw up and end up leveling half of
Japan.

"" Julep growled.

Perfume looked at her curiously. ""

""

Perfume shrugged. ""

Julep gave an uncharacteristically evil glare towards Perfume. "" And with that declaration she walked off in search of her prey. 

Perfume wondered if letting her go out on her own was such a good idea. The
wolf girl could be relied upon to stay out of trouble, but if anyone could
discover where Shampoo was it would be the tracker. No. Perfume decided she
was just being paranoid since Shampoo had to be long gone. It would be a
miracle if Julep could even pick up the hint of a scent, especially since
they were not even in Nerima yet.

One of the two girls next to Sash spoke up. ""

"" her partner said enthusiastically. ""

"" Perfume waved them on. She could practically hear the din of battle
now as over half of her pack was now seeking to capture prey of a different
sort. She wanted to warn them that Japanese men were about the same as any
other men from any other country, but why spoil their illusions? They were
probably going to end up disappointed enough as it was since most of the
males they met were going to be no match for them. It was almost certain
the local hospitals were going to be overflowing with the wounded in short
order.

"" Perfume commented. ""

"" Shelf agreed as she pulled out a compact and put on
some make-up. ""

The others just stared at their vain 'sister'. Shelf was indeed achingly
beautiful, even more attractive than Shampoo. Too bad she wasn't afraid to
admit it to everyone she met.

""
Cabinet trailed off as Perfume suddenly got an unmistakable lovestruck look
in her visible eye.

"" she sighed and went to follow the person that had caught her
attention; someone that had just passed by and was going down the street.
Perfume left without a backward glance to the others.

Sash watched her leader walk off. ""

"<...that girl that just walked by,>" Cabinet finished while staring at
where her leader had been. ""

"" Shelf said in shock. ""

Sash and Cabinet's surprise doubled. ""
Sash said.

"" Shelf replied.

Cabinet barely managed to keep from facefaulting. ""

Shelf scowled at the bigger girl. "" Shelf
applied even more make-up in just the right quantities to maximize her
looks and undid two more buttons on the top of her mini-dress and hiked up
the lowest part of it, leaving just barely enough to cover her bottom. This
had the effect of having every man in a two block radius drool in her
direction. Her path to Perfume was quickly blocked by a horde of men that
fell on her in a swarm. Just as she had bragged earlier, she literally
began beating a path for herself through the crowd of would-be suitors,
swinging her cudgel with great effect. Unfortunately for her by the time
she fought free Perfume was already out of sight. 


Tsubasa had been wandering through the city, sans a disguise for a change.
He had elected to go with a simple white and yellow dress and just walked
around, trying to think of some way to win his Ukyou. It just wasn't fair.
Upon the breaking of the love pill, Ai sundered their partnership on the
basis that Ukyou hated Tsubasa and the cheerleader no longer wanted him
around the chef, as though the mere presence of the blasted rabbit was not
problem enough, naturally Tsubasa ignored Ai's 'advice' and stuck around as
best he could. 

There was some good news in that Hibiki was history, but the bad news to
counterbalance that was Ukyou seemed to be taking an interest in Ai instead
of Tsubasa. It didn't make any sense. He was much prettier than some
butt-ugly cheerleader.

It was while he was lamenting his seeming fate that a voice spoke up behind
him.

"Hello there."

Tsubasa jumped in surprise and turned around to see a pink-haired girl
directly behind him. She had a broad smile on her face as she gazed at the
cross-dresser. 

"You startled me!" Tsubasa gasped out.

"I'm sorry," Perfume said. "What's your name?"

"Tsubasa. Tsubasa Kurenai."

"What a beautiful name," Perfume remarked. "Please excuse me. I'm usually
not this forward, but I just wanted to let you know that you're very
pretty."

Tsubasa smiled at the compliment. Not too many people were nice to him. He
examined her more closely. She really was quite attractive, and it was
obvious even to him she had a lovestruck look in her visible eye. There was
something odd about the hairstyle though. He shifted slightly to so he
could look at the part of her face behind the hair. "Eww!" he grimaced as
he caught a glance of the other half of her face. "You have a huge scar!"

"Yes. It adds character," she said, unconcerned about Tsubasa's comment.

"It's ugly," he responded.

"I keep it hidden behind my hair. It's almost impossible to see," she said,
unaffected by the reaction. 

"Forget it!" he snapped. "I don't like ugly girls."

"Once you get to know me you won't even notice it. Believe me, the things I
can do to you will make you forget about everything," she purred.

Tsubasa panicked as she placed her hands on his shoulders. He darted out of
her grasp as he made a run for it.

"Tsubasa, dear, wait for me!"

He looked back. Sure enough the girl was pursuing him. A corner came up and
he rounded it, momentarily obscuring himself from his pursuer. While out of
sight he hurriedly disguised himself as a mailbox. Perfume made it around
the corner herself just as he was finished changing. She continued running
down the street, leaving the mailbox far behind.

Tsubasa breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way he was going to date an
ugly girl. He would stick with the most beautiful star in the world: his
Ukyou.


Ranma thought, no, he knew Akane looked more beautiful than ever. He gently
took her in his arms. "I never imagined being married to you would be as
wonderful as this."

She radiated bliss as she smiled back. "Of course it's wonderful. We're
together now. Nothing can tear us apart."

Ranma was about to say something else when three identical girls, all of
them about five years old and looking for all the world like little
versions of Akane, surrounded the couple. Akane eased herself out of
Ranma's grasp and left him surrounded by the girls.

"Who are they?" Ranma asked Akane as he stared at the children. 

"They're our daughters, baka," Akane answered softly and with a smile. 

Ranma bent down and examined the girls more closely. "You guys sure are
pretty."

The three giggled in response.

"Now girls," Akane said. "What do you say to your father?"

All three looked embarrassed towards their father, giggled, then whipped
out wooden mallets five times the size of their own bodies. 

"DADDY NO BAKA!!!" all three shouted and proceeded to hammer their father
into the ground.


"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Ranma bolted straight up, snapping the heavy chains that had bound him to
his futon as though they weren't there.

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

He shot to his feet and burst through the door, not even bothering to open
it. He simply charged through, shattering both the door and the five inch
thick wooden board that had been barred across it, all without missing a
step.

"-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

Ryouga's fist smashed into Ranma's jaw, at last stopping his desperate
flight. Ranma collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Nice job, Ryouga," Genma congratulated as he slapped the boy on the back. 

"Looks like you were right, Saotome," Soun commented as he looked at
Ranma's laid out form.

"Of course," Genma nodded sagely. "It's something of a Saotome tradition
for the men in our family to panic in our sleep at the prospect of
marriage. Why, it took my father and two uncles armed with clubs to
bludgeon me into unconsciousness after one of those dreams. I shudder to
think how far I would have run if they hadn't stopped me. Fortunately we
have something even better."

Ryouga cracked his knuckles. "It's a pleasure, Mr. Saotome. As long as
you're asking me to knock him out, I won't get into trouble with Ukyou." He
started to leave; his job was done.

"Come on in same time tomorrow, and then the day after that. That will be
the last time we need you since that's the wedding day. After the honeymoon
he'll be way too tired to even think of running away. In fact, I suspect
he'll be too tired to even get out of bed."

Both Soun and Genma laughed while Ryouga departed. The two fathers
followed, leaving Ranma lying on the floor in the middle of the hall until
Kasumi came to sweep. She paused in her cleaning long enough to drag
Ranma's unconscious form back into the bedroom and laid him heavily on his
futon, then returned to cleaning the hallway, humming a pleasant tune as
she swept up the wooden splinters from the door. 

It was about an hour later that his mother came to revive him and told him
to get cleaned up. He did as he was bade and grabbed a bath. As he allowed
himself to relax in the hot water, he thought about the dream. His father
had warned him to expect such things, and that they would disappear after
his wedding day and not to worry about them, but how could he not worry
about them? They were just so frightening, not that he believed any
children he had would do that to him -probably- but it was still
disturbing.

Everything was happening too fast. Ever since his mother had made her
ultimatum two days ago things had moved at a breakneck pace. There had been
invitations to make and send out. A wedding chapel to rent. Food to
prepare. A tuxedo for him and a dress for Akane were needed. He still
hadn't chosen who the best man would be. At least there wasn't going to be
a bachelor party. There were few male friends he had that would help with
that sort of thing, and there was no telling what kind of trouble it would
get him into. But there were a million and one other things to do and he
was running out of time.

Why did his mother have to be so hell-bent on everything getting done so
quickly? He had his whole life ahead of him, so why did he need to get
married by the end of the week? Akane wasn't going anywhere and neither was
he. It just didn't make any sense. If he hadn't known any better it was
almost as though she was afraid of something, but what it could be was the
question. To him it just felt like someone was holding a gun to his head;
not at all a reassuring sensation. What he needed was someone to talk to,
and there was someone nearby he could always rely on. 

He got out of the bath and dressed, and once he was reasonably decent he
headed to Shampoo's room. There was so much panic and confusion at the
start of the whole marriage fiasco that he had not even spoken to her in
the last two days. Now that he realized it a momentary pang of guilt shot
through him. Ignoring the Amazon like that was really rude of him, and
Shampoo had been so moody lately there was no telling what her reaction
might be to his ignoring her. Perhaps she would get irate and his clothing
would be destroyed once more, he thought amusingly to himself, at least
until he realized she really might do it. That made him lose what little
joy he originally found in the thought.

Ranma approached her room and knocked. Receiving no reply he waited a few
moments and knocked once more.

"She's not answering."

Ranma turned to see Kasumi had arrived and looked concerned at the door.
"What do you mean?"

"She won't answer the door. The most I can get out of her is 'go away. I
want to be alone' for the last two days. I don't think she's even eaten
since she had to reveal the truth to Auntie Saotome. I waited outside her
door with some food for a half hour before I had to do other things. I
caught Mr. Saotome eating it later. He said it was just laying in the hall
and figured no one else wanted it. I'm worried about her, Ranma."

Her emotions were mirrored in Ranma. If Shampoo was behaving that way it
could only mean trouble. "I'll get to the bottom of this." Rather than
explain what he meant, he simply forced the door open, and went inside. The
room appeared to be in perfect shape, save for the fact there was no
Shampoo present.

"She was in here earlier today," Kasumi reassured him. "She told me to go
away when I knocked this morning. What do you suppose happened to her? You
don't suppose she's in trouble?"

Ranma searched the room, looking for clues. All of her things appeared to
be present, so it wasn't likely she had gone far. Could it have something
to do with her great-grandmother, or was it simply moodiness on her part?
As difficult as it was for him to understand Shampoo, something inside told
him that this was more than her feeling put off by his lack of attention
towards her. There had to be some deeper reason than that for her
disappearance. 

"Maybe I should go look for her," Ranma offered. Kasumi agreed that it was
a good idea, and Ranma was about to act on his suggestion when his mother
spotted him.

"We need to get you fitted for your suit," she informed him.

"Later, Mom," Ranma said as he brushed past her on the way out. "I gotta do
something first."

His mother caught up to him and placed a restraining hand on his shoulder
and gave him a disapproving stare. "You need to do this now. There isn't
any time to fool around. You're getting married in two days."

Ranma gulped at that. Any reminders of his upcoming nuptials panicked him.
"I can't right now. Shampoo's missing and might be in trouble. I need to
find her and make sure she's okay."

Nodoka was taken aback by that, but quickly composed herself and began
explaining some things. "It's nice to know that you take your friendships
so seriously, but Akane has to come first. Shampoo is perfectly capable of
taking care of herself, and I'm sure that if she is truly your friend she
would understand why you have to do this first. Besides, once you and Akane
are married you aren't going to have much time for your...companion. Your
wife will take up most of your attention and there's always the thought of
starting a family to consider."

Ranma paled. "Family?"

"Of course, dear. That is part of what being married is all about," Nodoka
eased her arm around his shoulder and began leading him back towards the
interior of the house. "Now I don't expect to have grandchildren right
away, but you should know how to raise them and what to expect. Let me give
you some advice on what to do."

Kasumi watched the pair walk out of sight. There was almost a feeling of
irritation in her due to Ranma allowing himself to be so easily
sidetracked. She decided she was going to have to take matters in her own
hands and search for Shampoo herself. It took only a moment for her to grab
her purse before setting out in search of her friend.


Shampoo had left earlier in the day, unable to remain in the house any
longer, not with what was coming up. It was too much for her to take. Oh,
how she wanted to tell Ranma what she felt, or at least to talk him out of
his upcoming marriage. But the conversation she had had with Nodoka after
the revelation of her and Ranma's true identities made the witch's feelings
on the matter quite clear, and what it would mean to Ranma if Shampoo
'interfered' with what had to be. She replayed the conversation in her
mind...


After talking with Ranma the entire day Nodoka stopped by Shampoo's room so
the two could talk in private. 

"There are some things you should know about, Shampoo," Nodoka said in a
stern voice. 

Shampoo's disdain for the woman was still high, and with all the
conversations the two had had over the previous weeks, the Amazon felt as
though she had enough of Nodoka. "What is it?"

"Now that I know the truth of the situation, the things you have told me
have taken on a whole new meaning. I understand what you were trying to
tell me involving your relationship with my son. Allow me to personally
emphasize to you the necessity of Ranma and Akane being married to one
another. It will take place no matter what. If something were to happen to
convince Ranma to break off the marriage, I would consider it a very
unmanly thing to do. Am I understood?"

Shampoo could scarcely believe her ears. Was Nodoka saying she would force
Ranma to go through with his promise if he didn't marry Akane? 

"I can tell by your reaction that you understand. Good. Perhaps it would be
best if you made yourself scarce around Ranma for a few days. That way any
doubts he might have over the situation might be made easier. He is going
to have his hands full with what he has to do, and you would only serve to
confuse things."

Nodoka turned to go. "I'm glad we've come to an understanding. It's nothing
personal, Shampoo, but Ranma has to do this. No matter what."


"No matter what," Shampoo bitterly said out loud as she came back to the
present. She cursed the day that foul woman showed up. If only she and
Genma had been ten minutes later, or earlier, then they would never have
run into Nodoka and Shampoo wouldn't be in the mess she was in. Why did
absolutely everything have to go against her? Why couldn't she for once
have things go her way? Her entire life had been shredded into tiny pieces
ever since she had fallen into that damned cursed spring. There was nothing
left of her previous life, and nothing much left of the new one she had
tried to forge since then. And to top things off, the man she loved was
getting married to someone else and she couldn't tell him how she felt, or
else his own mother was going to kill him. What a wonderful life she had.
Maybe it would be for the best that she stay away until after the ceremony.
She wasn't certain she could trust herself around him. It would just make
things worse than they already were, as though that were possible. Yes. It
was best if she simply disappeared for a few days, and maybe a bit longer
than that. 

Perhaps forever.


Kasumi gave up her search after several hours, finding no trace of Shampoo,
and returned home. As she entered the kitchen she found Nodoka pouring over
recipes in anticipation for the wedding. By her estimation, over half the
food that they needed was already cooked, and the other half would be
finished by the next day in plenty of time for the ceremony. Now was the
ideal time for Kasumi to mention her concerns.

"Auntie Saotome?"

Nodoka looked up from the recipes and smiled. "Yes?"

Kasumi was suddenly uncertain whether or not to continue. Deciding if she
did not say anything now she might regret it, she continued "Are you sure
having the wedding so soon is such a good idea?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Nodoka asked, concerned.

"It's just that Akane and Ranma still have some problems. I don't doubt
they care for each other, but things are not exactly smooth between them."

Nodoka smiled, relaxing Kasumi somewhat. "Akane and Ranma know their
duties. You're worrying too much. They'll get along just fine."

Kasumi began to get anxious again. "I'm not so sure."

"Well I am. There is the promise between our families, and it must be
upheld. Your mother and I agreed with our husbands when they told us what
they wanted to do. Even now I'm convinced it was a good idea, and I know
your mother would never have agreed to it if she had had any doubts."

"But I'm certain mother counted on being alive and preparing us for this
when she made that promise. As it was, Father informed us of it just
moments before Ranma and Mr. Saotome arrived, and none of us were prepared
for this sort of thing. And now you want Akane and Ranma to get married on
the spur of the moment. I'm sorry, but I think we should wait a while
longer, at least until Ranma and Akane get more used to each other." 

Nodoka looked at her with concern. "Are you saying you want to go against
your mother's wishes?"

"No." Kasumi shook her head. "But since Mother died I've had to assume many
of her responsibilities and this sort of falls under something I have to
have a say in. I want what's best for both Akane and Ranma, and I'm not
certain they should get married just yet."

"But that's what I want."

Both Nodoka and Kasumi turned their heads to see Akane had entered the
kitchen. She appeared a little nervous, but kept up her courage and
continued. "I don't mind it, really. You don't have to worry, Kasumi.
You're right. I know Ranma and I still have our problems, but we can work
them out. It just might take a while."

"You're sure about this?" Kasumi asked.

"Yep!" Akane nodded her head. "I'm not going to lie. I'm scared, but I
think I'd be scared no matter what. We have a promise to keep, and I don't
see why we shouldn't get married now. It might even be for the best.
There's no telling what might happen if this drags on much longer. You know
Ranma. Something always comes up to interfere with his life, and sometimes
mine too. This might be the only chance we'll get."

"I agree," Nodoka said enthusiastically and turned towards Kasumi.

The eldest Tendo daughter appeared a little nervous herself, but nodded her
head. "If you're sure that's what you really want, Akane."

"It is," she said confidently.

"Then let the wedding go on," Kasumi said, finally relaxing. If Akane was
sure then she was going to have to show some faith in her youngest sister.
She turned to Nodoka. "Here, Auntie, let me help you with the cooking."

Akane moved forward to offer her assistance in the preparations, but was
given a different task to do by the two cooks. Neither one could really
afford the time to keep the close eye on Akane that would be required to
make certain she didn't try to throw something new onto the menu. Weddings
were supposed to be happy occasions, after all.

As Akane left, Nodoka considered her actions concerning Shampoo. Despite
the fact she was basically in the right she felt more than a little dirty
over her behavior. It was beneath her to use Ranma's life as a bargaining
tool, even if she was lying about forcing him to commit seppuku, but
something had to be done. The Chinese girl could not be allowed to
interfere in matters concerning the wedding, and Nodoka had little doubt
she would either directly do it or Ranma would end up confused because of
her presence. Once her son was married things would end up the way they
should and Shampoo would have to accept her new role as nothing more than a
friend, or else she would have to leave, which in truth might be for the
best. The Amazon was simply too unpredictable to Nodoka, and to her that
was not a good thing.


Once Akane was out of the room she started to really consider her actions.
It was true, she had been nearly scared out of her mind over the upcoming
nuptials. She had overheard Ranma say more than once things were moving too
fast for him, and the truth was she felt exactly the same way. But the
moment she had heard Kasumi try to talk Nodoka into postponing the wedding
even more fear had lanced through her. Whatever trepidation she had felt
about the wedding was overshadowed by the idea of not having one, so she
quickly blurted out something to ease Kasumi's mind. Once Kasumi had
relented in her protests a wave of relief had surged through Akane.

Now that the moment had passed she felt anxious about the wedding again,
but the edge that had been there was now gone. She was doing the right
thing. She was certain of it, and hopefully Ranma felt the same way. Maybe
talking to him about it would help, if only he would open up to her instead
of playing it off.

She tracked him down in his room where he was looking upwards at the
ceiling. So lost in though was he that he failed to hear her enter the
room. Akane cleared her throat, catching Ranma's attention.

The noise startled him for a second before he realized who had produced it.
"Oh. Hi, Akane. What's up?"

There was a little speech she had planned to tell him, but now that she was
before him it felt weak and inadequate. All she could think to say was, "I
know this is all happening really fast, but I promise I'm going to try to
make this work."

He looked at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The marriage," she said quickly. The word still sounded odd to her. "I
might not always get along with you, but I swear to you I'll try harder
from now on." Her heart was racing faster and she felt panicked at being in
his presence all of a sudden. The urge to flee from Ranma became
overwhelming. "I just wanted to let you know that. I have to go do some
more stuff for the wedding."

Ranma watched her go and pondered what she said. So she was going to put
forth her best effort. He didn't know how that made him feel, or what he
should say in return. Rather than say the wrong thing and get himself into
trouble, he allowed her to leave without a word of protest then got up
himself, intending to go outside and think.

He was halfway to the door when a figure he definitely did not want to be
around confronted him.

"Saotome," Mousse said as he approached with a look of determination in his
face.

Reflexively Ranma's fists went up. "What do you want now, Panda-boy?"

"I just wanted to..." his hand darted forward and snared one of Ranma's
outstretched hands. "...to congratulate you on your marriage!" he gushed
enthusiastically.

Ranma stared at him in bewilderment as the Chinese boy shook his hand
vigorously. "You do?"

"Yes! I just heard the news and I think the two of you make the perfect
couple," he said and handed Ranma several lucky charms. "These are for you.
They're for good luck." He pointed out which was which. "This one is for a
long and prosperous marriage. This one is for love, never seemed to work
for me though. This one is for a safe childbirth. Make sure you have lots
of children early on. It'll cement the bonds between you and Akane so that
nothing can separate the two of you. And not only am I here to give you
these gifts, but I will also offer my services to you. Let me guard the
wedding. I'll let no one interfere with it. I swear!"

Ranma stared at him in an even more bewildered manner. "Why are you being
so nice to me all of a sudden?"

"I just want you and Akane to have a long and successful marriage," he said
quite sincerely.

"Now what's the reason for that?" Now he had a feeling he knew what this
was leading to.

Mousse rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Once you and Akane are
married nothing will stand between Shampoo and me. I will be the one to
protect her from all that would harm her, since you're out of the way.
There's no way Akane is going to let you continue your relationship with
her. Now, is there anything else I can do for you? Just name it and it's
yours!"

"There sure is," Ranma said as he cracked his knuckles. "Do you remember
what I told you the last time you came here?"

Mousse shook his head. "No. Can't say I do." 

"It was back when Ryu first showed up and that psycho gymnast poisoned
Shampoo."

"Oh, that's right. You said you never wanted me around here again or
you'd-" 

*WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM*

Ranma took Mousse's crumpled form outside and threw him into the back of a
passing dump truck. The jerk had it coming to him for even daring to
suggest Ranma would abandon Shampoo to him, marriage or no. And there was
the fact Ranma had promised to beat Mousse up if he ever came to the dojo
again. That was one promise that was easy to keep.

Ranma decided at last to search for Shampoo, but with nothing to go on and
no explosions to follow, he had to give up the search. Despite his busy
schedule, he decided to drop by Uk-Chan's. As he had hoped, Ukyou was
present and made time in her schedule for him.

"What's up, Ranchan?" she asked as she gave him his usual okonomiyaki.

"Oh, not much," he said nervously. "I just found out two days ago I'm
getting married by the end of the week."

Ukyou laughed at that. "Considering how chaotic your life has been you
should have expected something like this. How do you feel about it?"

"I don't know. I haven't had time to even think about it. It's like being
in a fight and I keep getting caught off balance and can't plan the next
step. Actually I'm not planning any steps. Everything is being done for me,
but I'm being kept so busy getting ready for this I don't have time to
consider what I'm really getting into."

"Sounds like cold feet," Ukyou commented as she gave Ranma an okonomiyaki.
"I've got an idea. We could run off and get married. That way you won't
have to worry about this one. We were engaged after all," Ukyou said with a
straight face. 

"What about Ai?"

"I think she'd get a kick out of it. She's into threesomes." The pair began
to laugh at the joke. However Ranma's mirth was short-lived as he quieted
down almost immediately. Ukyou picked up on it just as quickly. "This thing
really has you bothered, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. I just wish I had more time. It's all going way too fast."

"Want me to bomb the wedding?"

Ranma started to laugh when he saw she was being serious. "Are you
kidding?"

"Nope. I can act like I'm still angry with you for abandoning me and
breaking off my engagement and trashing my romantic life. So in revenge I
want to ruin your attempt at marriage and romantic bliss too. Afterwards we
can say it was all a horrible mistake and I'm feeling a lot better. We can
tell everyone the bombing was therapeutic for me." She shrugged. "You'll
get the time you want that way."

Ranma considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "No thanks. Even
if you didn't accidentally blow anyone up I think that's going a little too
far. I'm just going to have to deal with this on my own." Ranma suddenly
remembered something. "There is one other thing I've been meaning to ask
you, though. Would you like to be my best man?"

*WHAM*

"Exactly which part of me is a 'man' in your eyes, Ranchan?" she asked as
she left the large spatula on his head.

"Sorry. Geez, I didn't mean to upset you." He got out from under the large
weapon.

"Well, I'll be more than happy to be your best woman," she emphasized the
last word, keeping her spatula in hand.

Ranma considered that, but there was something he needed to ask her first.
"Have you seen Shampoo lately?"

"No. She didn't show up for work today. Is something wrong?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know. It's like she's avoiding me again, and I
know I didn't do nothing this time." And he had wanted to ask her if she
would help him out. She did turn into a guy, so would have been more
appropriate a choice for best man, but some part of him rejected the idea,
and he wasn't sure why.

"Well, I'm sure she'll turn up for your wedding. I can't see her missing
it. I'll let you know if I see her." Of course, if what Ukyou suspected
about the Amazon's feelings were accurate, the wedding might end up being
blown up after all, and Ukyou wouldn't be the culprit.

It was about a half hour after Ranma left that Ryouga wandered in, looking
for directions to Uk-Chan's. Typical. Once he grabbed something to eat he
worked up the nerve to talk to Ukyou. It was true that she had forgiven him
for attacking Ranma, and was allowed to stay at his room once more, but he
was not absolutely confident about her forgiveness. It took him the better
part of a half hour before getting to the point he wanted to ask.

"You're going to the wedding, right?" Ryouga asked.

"Yep," Ukyou said happily. "It looks like I'm going to be the best woman."

"Isn't that, 'best man'?"

*WHAM*

"Then again...I could be wrong," Ryouga muttered as he felt a lump on his
head swell. Ukyou sure could swing a spatula hard. And why didn't she ever
do that to Ai?

"I am a woman! Got it!"

"Got it," he said quickly. The conversation had certainly started off on
the right foot. "What I wanted to ask was," he gulped and worked up his
courage once more. "Would you like to go with me? To the wedding, I mean."

Ukyou appeared taken aback by the question. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because I want to go with you."

"What about Kyoko?" she asked. "She is your girlfriend."

Ryouga felt a pang of guilt go through him. Maybe Ukyou was right, but he
had resolved to ask Ukyou. "I...I'd really like to go with you. We haven't
spent much time together or talked very much. And I like being around you."

Ukyou gave a hurt expression. "I like spending time with you too, Ryouga.
Things have just been really hectic lately, but I can't. I already promised
Ai I'd go with her."

"Couldn't you just break it off?" He knew as soon as the words left his
mouth he had said the wrong thing.

"I am not the sort of person that does that," she answered acidly. "If I
was going with you and Ai asked me to break it off I'd say the same thing."

"I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I just wanted to go to it with you
really bad."

Ukyou softened a lot with that. "I understand, but you should really take
Kyoko. It's what's best for everyone."

Ryouga was confused by the statement, far from an unknown feeling for him,
but he accepted what she said and went to his room to lie down, depression
clinging to him once again. Maybe he was never destined to be happy,
because as it stood now he had no idea of what to do to make him that way.


The sparrow continued to fly, pacing itself as best as it could. It was
almost to the sea of Japan, and from there it would either have to find a
ship to ride on or it could risk everything and try to fly across on its
own. The ship would take a while, but if it got tired during its flight it
could possibly end up in the water and drown.

Too much was at stake for it to delay. It found a ship that was just
setting off in the direction of Japan and rested its wings for several
hours. Once it was convinced it could finish the flight under its own
power, it headed off to Japan once again. 

Time was running out.


The last of Queen Beryl's military advisors sat on a makeshift throne in
his underground complex. There was practically nothing left since his
leader had been lost in the war with the Sailor Senshi. It just wasn't
fair. If he had been present victory would have been assured. But he had
been left to guard an unimportant base while the others fought for glory
along the frontlines, and he knew why. It wasn't his fighting skills, which
were incredible. It wasn't his mind, which was that of a near genius. It
wasn't for his taste in clothing, which was impeccable. 

"Major Fuck Up!"

He turned to look at one of the two Youmas that had entered the room;
specifically the one that had just spoken. He detached a wand from his belt
and proceeded to point it at the speaker. A pencil thin beam of orange
light blazed forth from the wand and struck the speaker full in the chest.
In less then three seconds nothing was left but a pile of ash.

"My name is Major Fuc-Upe! Remember it!" It wasn't his fault he had a name
so many others mispronounced, and it certainly was not right for the other
generals to make fun of it either, when they were alive anyway.

"Umm...Major Fuc-Upe." The remaining Youma pronounced the name carefully.

"What?!"

"He had important information, sir."

"What sort of information was it?"

"A list of names of the Sailor Senshi's civilian identities. It even had
pictures of them without their uniforms and in street clothes."

Fuc-Upe paled. "You're kidding."

"No, sir."

Fuc-Upe paled some more. "And I destroyed it. Oh no!" He buried his face in
his hands. "Leave me alone in my misery."

"Then you don't want the copies of the documents I have?"

Fuc-Upe unburied his face and looked at the Youma. It was holding out a
folder towards him. Fuc-Upe's feet touched the ground a total of three
times in forty feet as he bounded over to the Youma. With a quick grab he
snatched the folder out of the Youma's hands and poured over the contents.
It appeared legitimate. "How did you get your hands on this?"

The Youma shrugged. "We found it outside, addressed to you. It had a note
saying it was from, 'A guy that really hates Sailor Senshi'."

Fuc-Upe shook from excitement. "Summon all Youmas to the central chamber!"

It took a half hour for all of the Youmas to gather. Fuc-Upe stood at the
head of the room and began his inspirational speech. "I have summoned you
all..." he paused and stared in confusion. "Wait a second! Where are the
others? I said I wanted everyone and there's only twenty of you. There's
supposed to be over a hundred of you!"

One of the Youmas raised its hand. 

"What?" Fuc-Upe asked.

"I know the answer."

Fuc-Upe felt a headache coming on once he realized the Youma was not going
to add to the statement without some additional encouragement. "Well, spit
it out!"

"I'm not chewing anything, sir."

Fuc-Upe refrained from vaporizing the speaker. "Please tell all of us the
answer."

"Oh, right. There are only twenty of us left because you keep killing
everyone that messes up your name." 

Fuc-Upe looked over the room again. He hadn't realized he wiped out that
many. "It doesn't matter," he proclaimed. "Twenty will be more than enough
to do what must be done. We have in our possession the real names and
photos of the senshi. Does anyone know what we're going to do with it?"

A different Youma raised its hand. 

"Yes?"

"I know, sir. We'll get a shotgun. Then we visit their homes in the middle
of the night and blow them away while they sleep in their beds."

Fuc-Upe stared flatly at him. "What kind of an idiot are you?" 

"One that can pronounce your name correctly, sir."

Fuc-Upe shook his head. "Your plan is crude and too simple. It would never
work. Now here is what we will do. We will locate a Sailor Senshi in her
civilian identity and attack her in broad daylight."

"That's a brilliant plan, sir. Much better then mine," the Youma said.

"Of course. That's why I'm the leader and you're a lackey. Now prepare to
march!"


The next two days were an ordeal for Perfume. Not only had her vision of
loveliness eluded her, but the Hunt Pack was causing her problems again.
Only half of the pack returned to meet her at the appointed rendezvous, the
floor she'd secured for the troop at a local hotel. When she suggested they
start searching for the missing girls most of the pack that was there just
wanted to remain behind, especially Tablet, who wanted to sleep in her new
oxygen tent. So Perfume, along with Cabinet and Shelf, went out to search
for the others. There were some missing girls, like Julep, who could be
relied upon to stay out of trouble. The others she had considerably less
faith in. 

And it turned out that Shelf was more of a hindrance than a help since she
followed Perfume around like a shadow. If Perfume had not know better she
would have sworn Shelf was coming onto her. But Shelf was always such a
stuck up snob about how all the guys were after her that there could be
little doubt Perfume was misinterpreting the signs. If Shelf was interested
in women she would have bragged about bagging them as well.

Several of the lost Amazons were recovered: One was passed out in an alley.
A second had been spending time at a dance club. Three were in the middle
of a barroom brawl. At least they had wiped up the floor with most of the
participants, the trio being seriously drunk at the time, by the time
Perfume arrived. The rest of the Amazons went unaccounted for until the
next day.

The missing ones turned up slowly over the course of the next day, all
looking the worse for wear. Rei Za and Shi Fan were the worst, evidently
getting so trashed they ended up in a tattoo parlor at some point during
the night. Rei Za was practically in tears wondering how her husband was
going to react to the large vine covered roses that now adorned her left
breast. 

Perfume decided by the third day the group had caused enough havoc playing
tourist and that they needed to act like a unit once more. She gathered all
of them outside the hotel, save the still absent Julep, and gave them
orders when trouble came to them.


Fuc-Upe examined the picture once again and looked at the girl down below.
It was a perfect match. "That's definitely Usagi Tsukino down there, a.k.a.
Sailor Moon. I knew wandering around randomly would find us one of the
blasted Senshi." He turned to his twenty Youmas. "Go down there and kill
her!"

"Aren't you coming along, sir?" One of the Youma's asked.

"No. You are all stupid and need someone to lead you."

"You're going to lead us from the rear?"

Fuc-Upe let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes. Do you have any more stupid
questions?"

"No."

"Good. Now get down there. None of those others are Senshi so you should
have no problem killing her."

"Yes, sir!" the Youmas shouted and ran out of the darkened alley, all
heading for 'Sailor Moon'.


The members of the hunt pack raised their heads as one and saw the twenty
Youmas moving in for the attack. Sash, the true object of all their
attention, pointed at them. ""

"" Cabinet said as she drew her massive
war hammer. The rest of the Amazons followed suit.

Upon seeing the supposedly harmless women draw out weapons in a manner that
suggested they knew how to use them, the charging monsters paused in doubt.
That proved to be a tactical error since whatever advantage they might have
had in striking quickly was lost. The hunt pack took advantage of the
hesitation and rushed forward themselves.


Usagi Tsukino was sipping some iced tea when she heard the news report of
Youmas attacking a nearby district. Within moments she contacted the other
Senshi and rushed to the scene.


Tuxedo Kamen looked down from the rooftop at the scene of carnage below. He
too had heard the news report and rushed to the scene to help out. Now that
he arrived he wondered why he had bothered to come. The group of armed
women in Chinese clothing were doing a fine job dealing with the Youmas,
already half of the creatures were dead and the group of women had not even
taken a single casualty. As he watched the fight draw to a close he
recognized the twin ponytails of one of the fighters and wondered why Usagi
hadn't turned into Sailor Moon and what she was doing fighting in such
unusual clothing. His idle thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a
Youma that tried to attack her from the blind side.

"Watch out!" he yelled as he leaped down to the attack.

Sash was aware of the attacking Youma that had tried to flank her. Her
seeming unawareness was a ploy to lure her opponent closer and have it
become overconfident. With a flick of the wrist a sash wrapped itself
around the creature. Hot chi was sent down the material, felling the
creature. Once she knew it was down she attempted to locate who it was that
had shouted out the warning. It took less than a second to spot the
descending Tuxedo Kamen heading towards her. 

"" she sighed. As she moved forward to be next to where he
was going to land she tripped over her own feet and fell forward, ending up
right where Tuxedo Kamen was going to land. 

*WHAM*

Tuxedo Kamen landed right on top of Sash's head, driving it into the ground
and knocking her out. "Oh kami! Usagi, I'm sorry! Please wake up!" he
delicately cradled the girl's head in his lap and gently tried to revive
her.


Fuc-Upe looked down at the scene before him as the last of the Youmas fell
to a battle axe buried in its skull. Things hadn't quite worked out the way
it was supposed to. He was going to have to come up with a different plan
and find more Youmas as well. But that would be done later. Much later. At
the moment he had to get away to live and plot another day.


With the last of the Youmas dispatched, the exhausted hunt pack turned its
attention to their only fallen sister. Mamoru's actions convinced the group
he did not belong with the attacking Youmas.

"" Shi Fan said.

 "" Boudoir offered her
opinion. "" 

Perfume settled the disagreement. ""

At last Sash regained consciousness and stared at the masked figure that
was holding her.

"Are you all right?" Tuxedo Kamen asked, relieved that 'Usagi' had come
around so quickly.

Sash sat up and pulled the mask off of Tuxedo Kamen. 

"What are you doing?!" Mamoru shouted. "Do you want everyone to know who I
am?"

He suddenly noticed the smile 'Usagi' gave him. Before he could react she
lunged forward and kissed him full on the lips. After a seeming eternity of
the passionate kiss Sash broke off the lip lock and embraced him.

"Wo de airen," she said as she snuggled against him.

"" Foam announced. All
the other girls joined in and cheered the newly 'married' couple on.

It was while Mamoru was still in Sash's embrace that the real Usagi Tsukino
appeared, dressed in her Sailor Moon outfit. "M...M...Mamoru, why are you
making out with my cousin?"

Mamoru looked in Usagi's direction, eyes widening as he spotted her. He
looked to the 'Usagi' that was cuddling him, then back to the one dressed
in the sailor fuku that appeared on the verge of tears. At that point he
did the only thing one could do when confronted with two Usagis.

He passed out.

Sash looked up from her embrace to see her 'husband' had fainted dead away.
It was then she finally noticed Usagi standing nearby. "Hello, cousin." She
waved. "Look at the new husband I just got. Isn't he gorgeous?"

Usagi finally recovered enough to understand what Sash was saying. In a
flash she was next to her cousin. "He's not your husband! He's my
boyfriend!" She jerked Mamoru out of Sash's grasp.

Sash stared at her cousin in shock. "He's not your boyfriend! He's my
husband! He defeated me just a moment ago. Now give him back!" She jerked
Mamoru out of Usagi's grasp.

"He's mine!" This time Usagi only got him halfway since Sash was prepared
for the move and held onto an arm.

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

The group of Amazons gathered themselves together to let out a collective
gasp and began speaking amongst themselves. 

""

""

""

""

As the hunt pack looked on in dread, new arrivals came in the guise of
Sailors Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury, as well as Artemis. 

"Uh oh!" Jupiter murmured. 

"It can't be!" Mercury said in disbelief.

Venus just stood there and stared in wide eyed wonder as Artemis spoke up.
"I love Usagi dearly, but I don't think I can take two of her." It was then
Sash and Usagi broke out in simultaneous tears while tugging Mamoru
in-between them.

 "WWWWWWAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Everyone in a two block radius covered their ears and began to run away.

"" Perfume ordered.

"" Soap asked.

""

The hunt pack left without further disagreements, followed by the trio of
senshi and Artemis, who were very much in accord with Perfume's idea to let
the three people deal with the situation themselves. As the hunt pack got
out of crying range Julep finally returned.

"" she said as she smiled.

Perfume felt dread build. ""

Julep smiled even wider and began to relate her tale...


Julep was loathing Japan more and more by the second. The only remotely
'natural' spot she could find that left her relaxed enough to sleep was
what the was laughingly referred to as a park, as though such a small area
of green could compare to the true feeling of nature. Still it was the best
she could get, so she made herself comfortable in the high branches of a
tree and slept. Upon waking she headed directly to Nerima. The sooner she
could locate Shampoo the sooner she could go home. 

The first full day's search turned up nothing, hardly a surprise
considering the sheer number of people in the area. It was worse than
trying to look for a needle in a haystack and once again Julep felt angry
at allowing herself to being talked into coming to Japan. But that was in
the past and she could no more change that than she could learn to fly. 

Several hours into her search on the second day she caught the scent of
unknown flora close by. She tracked the pleasant smell to a huge
greenhouse. Being unable to speak a word of Japanese she certainly couldn't
read the sign so had very little idea of where she actually was. Upon
entering the establishment she felt herself smile for the first time since
arriving in Japan. A veritable jungle lay inside the glass-enclosed
structure. As she was admiring the sights and smells she caught the sound
of someone approaching. In a flash she was in a tree, hidden from sight by
the foliage. There was little point in having some Japanese person bother
her when all she wanted to do was enjoy her surroundings.

A lithe black-haired girl looked around, muttered something in Japanese and
left in a clearly irritated mood. Julep was about to disregard the girl and
prowl among the branches when she heard the girl speak a word Julep
recognized.  Julep chose to follow the girl, moving silently from tree to
tree until the Japanese girl greeted a white robed figure with coke bottle
glasses. 

Julep had hung around the village long enough to hear about how Mousse
would annoy Shampoo from sunrise until sunset, and how he had been rejected
every time. Had Julep been closer to Shampoo she would have mentioned that
if Mousse was that annoyingly persistent and wouldn't take no for an answer
why hadn't she simply castrated him. That seemed to be an ideal solution to
Julep, who would have done that to any male that annoyed her even half as
much as the blind one did. But now his annoying tendency had become an
asset, because now Julep understood that if he was present then that meant
Shampoo had to be close by. Concentrating on the smells throughout the
greenhouse, Julep could tell Shampoo was not present, but that elder
Cologne was. That was even more confirmation that Shampoo had to be close
at hand.

Julep decided it was the right of her pack leader to interrogate the elder
as to Shampoo's location, and Julep was convinced the elder had to know
that. The council's orders could not be countermanded in this case without
grave repercussions for Cologne. She would tell the pack all they needed to
know.

As Julep silently left the greenhouse she had to smile to herself. Once
again she proved that she was the greatest pathfinder of the Joketsuzoku. 


<...and now all we have to do is ask the elder where Xian-Pu is. Our quest
is almost complete!>" Julep announced happily.

"" Perfume said quietly, praying all the time that Shampoo was not
there, though her heart told her otherwise. She was going to have to try to
find Shampoo now. What other choice was there?


Ranma was pacing the floor nervously as he looked at the suit lying on the
bed. It was just a few hours until the moment of truth, and he was more
worried than ever. In a couple hours he was going to be a married man. And
his wife was going to be Akane. 

Akane Saotome.

Panic. He was feeling panic. He never got scared. No, that was not entirely
true. He did get scared, he just would not ever admit it to anyone, but he
was sure as hell scared now. The only time he remembered being as terrified
was during the first moments of understanding when Herb locked him in girl
form. That memory triggered another thought.

Shampoo.

She was still missing, though his mother had told him Shampoo told her
something had come up and she might miss the wedding. It took nearly a full
hour for his mother to calm him down and keep from looking for her. When he
said Shampoo always told him where she was going, Nodoka claimed Shampoo
told him nothing because she didn't want him to worry about it. Apparently
she was due back while Ranma and Akane were on their honeymoon. 

That triggered a new wave of fear. A honeymoon meant s...e...x. Sex. He was
as nervous at that idea as Ryouga would be in just saying the word. He knew
the mechanics of how it worked, but he never thought of doing that sort of
thing with Akane. Oh, there were dreams, vivid ones at times and not all of
them were about Akane, but he never consciously thought about it. What if
he wasn't very good at it? It wasn't like he had any experience. Of course
he was a martial artist and could learn as time went on, but he wanted to
do it right the first time. It took him a while to realize the word he was
looking for was satisfying. He wanted to make sure he satisfied her.

He paused in his thoughts about that. Was he ready for that step? Well, he
was getting married, so wouldn't the thought be moot? He was going to have
to do it. It was part of his duties as a husband. 

A feeling of lightheadedness overcame him. He had never seriously
considered doing that sort of thing and he was only just now thinking about
it on the eve of his wedding. He wasn't ready for the whole thing. Not at
all. He had to call it off. 

He rushed out of the room and headed to Akane's bedroom. She was still
there with her sisters and his mother. He rushed into the room only to
see...

Akane in her wedding dress. He suddenly found his eyes riveted to her form,
the faint hint of curves outlined by white silk, her beautiful face, the
scene of total perfection before him. How long he stood there staring at
her he could not say. Gradually he became aware that his mother was saying
something to him.

"What was that, Mom?"

"I said it's bad luck to see the bride in her gown before the wedding," she
said with an amused smile. "But I think in this case it helps more than it
hurts. Do you like it?"

Ranma was still in shock as he gazed at Akane's face. Her own eyes were
pointed downward, as though she was afraid of what he was going to say. For
the first time since he had met her he came to one startling revelation.

"I'm glad you feel that way," Nodoka said.

"What way?" Ranma asked, confused. And why was Akane blushing while Nabiki
smirked at him?

"You said she was beautiful."

"Oh." He said that out loud? It had just been a thought, one he hadn't
planned on mentioning, but oddly he did not feel embarrassed by saying it
verbally. He recovered as best as he could and turned to go. "I still have
to get ready. I'll see you later."

He returned to his room and began to prepare himself. Maybe the wedding
wasn't such a mistake after all.


Nodoka looked over the guests in the chapel once more. It was a somewhat
odd collection, to be sure, but they seemed well behaved for the most part.
Akane was circulating among them at the last minute, and 'explaining' the
situation to them. Since Shampoo's true identity still had to be kept a
secret, it was explained that due to some trouble back at his home, the
'Ranma' from China was now formally adopted and now considered a Saotome.
Of course there was going to be confusion over the presence of two Ranma
Saotomes, but some confusion was a small price to pay for Nodoka's son to
go through life with his true name.

It was to be a western style ceremony. Akane's bridesmaids were her high
school friends and sisters, all of which were present. Unfortunately for
Ranma there were few men that were going to be on his side of altar. Ryouga
reluctantly agreed to it, as did Gosunkugi, and a handful of others. But
aside from Ryouga none of them were what Ranma could call more than casual
acquaintances. And much to Nodoka's relief Shampoo had not made an
appearance yet. Another hour and it would not matter. Akane and Ranma would
be married and it would all be over.

Akane was greeting everyone as pleasantly as she could considering how
nervous she was. Ranma had called her beautiful, and meant it. Oh how that
made her heart soar. As scared as she was she could not wait for the
wedding to begin. Still, in order to placate her fears she decided to talk
to her friends in the hopes of calming her nerves, or at least to take her
mind off of things.

She saw Minami scowling off to the side, away from the others. Concerned,
she approached the ghost sweeper. "What's wrong?"

Minami continued scowling. "That dork, Gosunkugi, asked Sayuri here instead
of me." She turned to scowl at his back. Almost in response to the stare
Gosunkugi seemed to shiver.

"I thought you didn't like him that way."

"I don't!" Minami said too quickly and with too much force. 

Akane shrugged and moved on after calming Minami down for a bit. She had
other things to worry about. All of the people present appeared relaxed and
not likely to pick fights with one another or disrupt the upcoming wedding.
Ai was present, dressed in a revealing blue gown that made Akane feel the
slightest bit of jealousy. She really was beautiful. The cheerleader
captain was reminding Kyoko that her role as a bridesmaid was not to jump
and cheer for Akane. Ukyou was dressed in a suit and excused herself,
choosing to go in back to talk to Ranma for a moment. 

The others of the bridal party were gathered in a large group. Everyone was
present and would be ready to go when the time was right. The only one
Akane missed was Tarou, but even she accepted that inviting him would be a
mistake, and that was thanks to Nabiki. Her older sister had been adamant
about Akane not informing him, saying there was too much of a chance of him
and Ranma fighting one another. Akane thought Tarou would control himself
if she asked, but Nabiki made certain Akane was unwilling to take the
chance. It would simply be inviting disaster.

The one person that was absent that Akane did not miss was Shampoo. Of all
the people that could possibly disrupt the wedding, Akane was certain
Shampoo was the one that would be first in line. But rather instead the
purple-haired girl had disappeared after the wedding declaration and had
not been seen since. Maybe the Amazon was willing to let go of Ranma and
allow him to have a happy marriage to her. If so that was a greater show of
character than Akane thought Shampoo would make. Perhaps she misjudged the
Amazon slightly. 

On the other hand perhaps it would be a good idea to patrol the area around
the chapel just once. Just in case she was hiding in the shrubs or
something. Akane couldn't remain outside long. Just a few minutes and then
she would have to make her final preparations for the actual wedding.
Still, it was better safe than sorry.


Kensuki ducked under the chair thrown in his direction.

"WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS SOONER?!!!" Tarou bellowed.

"I just found out about it," Kensuki said as he cowered in a corner.
"Someone was keeping this very secret. If Sayuri hadn't been going on about
the dress she just got for it even I wouldn't have discovered the wedding.
I guess everyone that got an invitation was supposed to keep quiet about
it."

Blast, but Tarou's plan had backfired miserably. Instead of a dead fem-boy
there was now an upcoming wedding, and he had been kept out of the
information loop. He knew who wanted it that way, but she could be dealt
with later. Rather than continuing to yell and waste time he walked out of
the building and headed to the nearest chapel. Kensuki had not been able to
find out which one it was, but Tarou would find it. He had something very
important to announce to the world before Akane could make the greatest
mistake of her life, and woe to anyone that tried to disagree with his
declaration.

Hell was coming to a wedding, and it was angry.


"WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED OF THIS SOONER?!!" Kunou raged at Sasuke.

"I just heard Mistress Kodachi talking with Master Mousse about it. She
seems distraught over his happiness about it."

"She should be. How can a beautiful tigress such as Akane Tendo be forced
to marry that foul Saotome and everyone not feel as though something was
amiss? Nay! Nay! Nay! A thousand times nay! I will not allow this travesty
to occur. Prepare my special bokken. I will deal with this matter myself!"


The sparrow parted through some clouds. It was in Japan now. All it had to
do was find Nerima, and its targets.


Mousse was happily browsing through the greenhouse, humming away to
himself. Shampoo was at last going to be free of Saotome's influence. Now
he had a chance at true happiness with the accursed Ranma out of  his way.
Aside from the day Shampoo had declared her love for him it was the
happiest day of his life. The only depressing thing was Kodachi's reaction
to the whole thing. She became depressed in direct proportion to Mousse's
happiness. Yes, he knew it and tried to placate her, but he was simply so
gleeful he could not maintain the facade for long. His Black Rose would
understand in time.

He continued down a path when he heard a ringing from the door. A customer.
He went to greet them with a wide smile on his face and stopped, his joy
fleeing in an instant. In the entryway were close to twenty Amazons, all
armed and appeared very pissed. 

"" Perfume ordered.

Mousse did not know exactly what to make of the situation. When he
hesitated another Amazon he recognized moved forward, war hammer in hand.
""

"" Perhaps they were going to take the dried piece of
mackerel back home. That would be cause for celebration as well.

"" Perfume said abruptly.

Mousse mentally called Perfume a lot of things that would have gotten him
attacked on the spot and decided to follow the 'suggestion.' Within moments
he returned with Cologne.

The elder looked over the group with a careful eye. Immediately she knew
the situation was grim. ""

""

Cologne shook her head. There was no need. ""

"" Perfume said, and bowed. She doubted Cologne would
overrule the order. She could but it would get her in deep trouble with the
council and she could very conceivably lose her position as matriarch if
she did such a thing without a very good reason. And trying to save a
law-breaking Shampoo was not going to fly with that lot.

"" Julep said as she grabbed him by the collar.
""

Mousse batted her hand away from his robe. ""

Julep was not to be denied as a set of cat's claws were out in a flash.
Mousse did the same. 

"" Julep
said with a smile

"" Mousse shouted back and prepared to
attack.

"" Cologne shouted. ""

"Mousse!" Kodachi saw the threatening posture Julep had with her beloved
and rushed to his side. "Who are these ruffians?"

"We is Amazons from China," Soap announced in Japanese. "We not ruffians.
We is warriors. Is you warrior too? You move well."

"I am the mistress of martial arts gymnastics," she announced in her
haughtiest voice.  "The Black Rose herself, Kodachi Kunou. OHHOHOHOHO!!!"

The others covered their ears until the laugh passed.

"Now. Why are you in my store, bothering my beloved?"

Many of the Amazons looked in disbelief at the statement. Mousse had
switched to another lover. That did not seem possible.

"We're looking for a purple-haired Amazon named Shampoo," Shi Fan said in
flawless Japanese. "We have orders to take her back home. You don't know
where she is, by chance?"

Mousse looked panicked at Kodachi and willed her to remain silent. It
failed

"Why of course I know where she is. She is attending the wedding ceremony
of Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome. I can show you where it is, if you like."

All of the Amazons, save Perfume, perked up at that. What luck that they
had in discovering Shampoo's location so quickly. At the same time Perfume
silently cursed all the gods of luck. How could Shampoo still be in Japan?
Did she not fear the death that was coming for her?

"Has Silk been here?" asked Perfume of Cologne as the dread continued to
build.

"I haven't seen her. Was she supposed to come by?" Cologne answered.

Perfume cursed Silk now. What had the woman been doing in the time Perfume
had last seen her? Perfume had been certain Silk was going to make it to
Japan with plenty of time. Now it appeared that assumption might cost
Shampoo her life.

Foam approached Perfume. ""

Soap seconded Foam's plea. ""

Perfume looked the duo over. Soap's choice of weapon were steel combat
vambraces she wore on her arms. Foam used steel toed boots as her preferred
attack. Neither one was as fatal as a sword, and if Shampoo was still in
Nerima, Perfume still wanted to take her alive.

" Perfume assented. ""

With that as permission the entire group began preparing weapons in
anticipation for another fight. Tablet observed Cabinet undoing a wrap that
bound a nasty arm wound she had received at the claws of one of the Youmas.
As the material was removed Cabinet pulled out a small tube and began
squeezing its contents on the injury.

"" Tablet warned.

""

Tablet shook her head. ""

Cabinet smiled in response. ""

While the Amazons talked among themselves, Mousse took Kodachi away from
the group and confronted her in quiet tones so that none of others could
hear. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

"I'm merely helping some of your people on their mission," she answered
innocently.

"They're here to take her back to China. Once they do that, or discover her
curse, they are going to kill her."

Kodachi gave a wide-eyed look of surprise to Mousse. "I had forgotten.
Please believe me. As much as I despise her, I don't want to see her dead."
Of course she was lying. The newly arrived Amazons represented the perfect
way of resolving the Shampoo matter without Kodachi getting her hands
dirty, and it wasn't as though Shampoo hadn't broken the law. She had and
should now pay for those crimes. All Kodachi had to do was keep a close eye
on Mousse and make sure he didn't try to get himself killed attempting some
kind of foolish rescue, then he would be hers.

Her concern was well founded as Mousse gained a desperate look in his eye.
"I have to do something."

"Against all of them?" Kodachi asked incredulously. "You'll get yourself
killed and they'll still capture Shampoo. There's nothing you can do,
beloved."

"I refuse to accept that," Mousse said. "I will find a way."

"Miss Kunou," Shi Fan said, gaining the Black Rose's attention. "Which way
is it to this wedding?"

She turned back and whispered to Mousse. "I must tell them the truth. If
they suspect me of interfering and giving them false information, they will
attack me. You don't want to see me dead, do you?"

"Of course not!" Mousse practically shouted, then quieted down. "But I
won't let them hurt Shampoo."

Things were not going exactly as Kodachi had hoped, so it was time to try a
new tactic. "Come with me as I lead them to the wedding. Together we will
see to it they do not do anything to Shampoo, unless we have no choice. I
will not allow you to throw your life away for her." Although that was
exactly what would happen. She was going to have to prevent him from making
any mistakes that might prove fatal to him, and keeping him close at hand
was the only way to ensure that.

Kodachi turned to the Amazons. "I shall personally lead you to them."
Perfume nodded her head as Kodachi moved to lead the Amazons to the
wedding.

"I shall go along as well," Cologne announced, and started hopping along
with the group. There were many things that had gone wrong, no thanks to
the damnable Black Rose. The elder's hands were effectively tied under
these conditions. If she tried to do anything in defiance of the council
she would end up not only possibly damaging her own reputation and losing
her position in the village hierarchy, but risked shaming her family if the
truth about her foreknowledge of Shampoo's curse came to light. Cologne was
going to have to look for an opportunity to help Shampoo surreptitiously,
and if no such opportunity was to be had an alternative solution might have
to be found.


Silk could not believe how rotten one human being's luck could be. The
aptly named 'The Worthless Piece of Shit' had at last found Japan just that
morning. Silk had not waited for the gangplank to be lowered; she simply
jumped into the water and climbed up the dock, heading straight for Nerima.
It had taken her so long to get to Japan she was certain Perfume would
already have made it there and grabbed Shampoo, or sent her running. Still
Silk prayed that perhaps something had delayed the hunt pack long enough
for her to warn Shampoo. Time was running out.


"It's almost zero hour, Ranchan." Ukyou had remained with Ranma until the
last minute, trying to calm him down. She had some moderate success in that
he had not passed out or bolted in terror. "I have to get going. Your 'best
woman' is supposed to wait with the others."

"Thanks for helping out, Ucchan," Ranma said as he tried to maintain a cool
demeanor, failing miserably. "I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to be."

"Sorry you didn't take me up on my offer about bombing the place?" Ukyou
asked.

Ranma gave her a smile. "Almost. I think outside of training for the
neko-ken this is the scariest thing in my life."

"I can imagine," she said. "Good luck." And with that she exited, leaving
Ranma alone with his thoughts. Of all the troubled things that went through
his mind, one came to the forefront. Why couldn't Shampoo be there? It
wasn't until the day before the wedding he learned how much he relied on
her. If she had been there, things would have been so much easier to deal
with, but when he needed her the most she had disappeared. If it wasn't for
Ukyou he probably would have gone crazy. Why had the Amazon abandoned him
when he needed her?

He couldn't worry about that. There were plenty of other things to worry
about. Such as the wedding starting soon and having to get out there and
say his vows. He was about to head towards the ceremony when there was a
knock on the window. Turning to the source of the disturbance he saw
Shampoo standing there on the other side of the glass, hand poised to knock
again if necessary. A surge of relief passed through him as he quickly
opened the window to allow her inside.

"Shampoo! You don't know how glad I am to see you. Where have you been?
I've been worried sick about you." It was then he noticed her decidedly
intense glare.

Shampoo kept a grim demeanor, despite his words. "I need to talk to you.
Alone."

Ranma looked around the room. "We are alone."

"I mean where no one can interrupt us," she explained. "Follow me."
Motioning with her hand she indicated he should go outside with her.

He looked in the direction of the chapel. "Shampoo, I can't. I gotta get
out there and get..." he hesitated on the last word. "...married."

Her eyes met his. "If I mean anything to you, follow me." She simply turned
away and began to walk off, not bothering to look behind her.

Ranma paused at the window as he watched her walk off. He had to go out and
meet the others and get married. He did not have the time to follow some
crazy Amazon that didn't seem to care about the fact he was about to get
married. Let her leave. She hadn't been concerned enough to be there for
him when he needed her, so why should he be late for his own wedding
because of some passing whim Shampoo had come up with? That was right. He
would neglect her. Let her know what it felt like to be totally ignored.

Of course he was thinking all of those things while following her.
Apparently his heart knew what to do even if his head didn't.

He watched her closely as they walked further away from the chapel. He
noticed she was wearing the original outfit they had met in at Jusenkyou,
the one she had went to great lengths to repair after her fight with
Mousse. As he now recalled she had seemed to avoid wearing it as much as
she could, almost as though it had functioned as a sort of reminder of when
she had received her curse, yet she had gone to great lengths to fix it.
Why was she wearing it now? She should have been in something nice so she
could be part of his retinue at the wedding, unless it was some weird way
of telling him she didn't want to be in it. 

After they had traveled a good distance away from the chapel Shampoo at
last came to a halt and turned towards Ranma. "I have something I have to
tell you."

"Well it had better be good. I'm supposed to be getting married right now."
Ranma watched her patiently, waiting for her to say something.

Shampoo remained silent, staring at Ranma. She had planned the speech out
and said it a thousand times before coming to the chapel and telling Ranma
the truth, but now she suddenly discovered she had forgotten everything.
There was not a single word she could think of. At the moment of truth she
had panicked and lost her nerve.

She was running out of time.


"Where is he?!" Akane said irritably. Ranma was late for his own wedding.
Typical. He would probably be late for his own funeral, which would be
arriving sooner than anyone would suspect if he didn't show up promptly.

"Ranchan was just finishing up when I left him. Don't worry. You just get
out there and he'll be on his way," Ukyou reassured Akane and everyone else
present.

Akane reluctantly agreed. The music began and the members of the wedding
party made their way up to the altar in order. Aside from Ranma's absence
everything went well. There were no interruptions or delays and the guests
looked on in anticipation.

When it was Ranma's turn to head up the aisle no one came. Akane looked on,
waiting. Still nothing. It took everything she had not to flare up in
anger. Where the hell was he?

The guests became restless as the music played on. Still no Ranma.

"I'm going to kill him," Akane muttered under her breath. Why did Ranma
have to foul up the most important day of both their lives? He had to show
up. He just had to. She could see Ranma's father and others rushing around
in back, looking nervously to one another as they searched the back. From
where she was, Akane could tell that they had not found Ranma.

It was then the doors to the chapel burst open. Akane felt relief as her
head spun to see that the newcomer was none other than...

"I will never allow the beauteous Akane Tendo to fall into the clutches of
that foul demon, Saotome! Where is he so that I may smite him?!"

Akane stared at him in disbelief. She was so sure it was going to be Ranma.
Now someone had come along and disrupted the wedding, just as she figured.
Then she saw someone move up behind Kunou. All she could make out was that
it was someone that was male and had black hair. It must have been him.

"Out of the way, you bokken wielding twit!" Kunou was stomped into the
ground and knocked unconscious by the second figure who had come up behind
him, and now gathered everyone's attention. 

"Listen to me, world! Let it be known that I, Pantyhose Tarou, now declare
my love for Akane Tendo! My love for her is so great I no longer fear
saying my name! For it is nothing compared with the idea of losing the
woman I love!"

"I don't believe it!" Akane mumbled as her face began to twitch. She hiked
up the skirt on her dress so that it didn't drag on the ground and walked
towards Tarou.

He held his arms out. It was going just like he had planned it. He had
declared his love for her with to the world with no reservations,
overcoming the stigma of his name, and she was heading right towards him,
ready to fall in his arms. Of course she did not look all that happy as she
approached him. In fact she appeared downright angry. Nonetheless he kept
smiling as she advanced towards him. She was going to fall into his
embrace. She was almost on him, and then she...

...passed him as though he was not even there and headed past him and out
the doors. Things had not gone quite the way he wanted. After recovering
from his shock he headed outside and followed her rapidly moving form.


Akane had gone outside with one purpose in mind: FIND RANMA. The others had
been unable to locate him inside, which meant he must have been outside.
And if that was the case she would find him, even if it meant tracking him
to the ends of the earth.


Shampoo looked fearfully at the man before her. Why couldn't she remember
the words? Why now?

"Well, what is it you wanted to say?" Ranma asked as he tapped his foot
impatiently.

Silence was the only response. To Ranma it appeared Shampoo wanted to say
something, but there was nothing preventing her from continuing. 

"Look, if you don't have anything to say I'm going to head back. The
ceremony has probably started already and Akane's going to kill me if I'm
late to my own wedding." He waited for a response, but still Shampoo said
nothing. As much as it bothered him he gave up on the enigmatic Amazon and
made to go back to the chapel.

"NO!!!" She would not let him just walk quietly away. Not now. She grabbed
his hand and jerked him around. Once he was facing her she fell to her
knees before him. Ranma just looked at her, partially in shock, and
partially just because he was confused at her behavior. Shampoo had
certainly acted strangely in the past, but now she had become worse than
ever.

"What is it?" he asked softly, despite his irritation.

"I have something to tell you. I should have told you before, but I feared
what you would say. Now I have run out of time and must tell you
everything." She paused and took a deep breath. 

"I love you, Ranma Saotome.

"I have for a very long time now. I think since the play when you asked me
to help you. When it was me you asked to kiss you, I think that was when I
understand it. This did no happen right away. I not love you at first, but
as time passed and we spend more and more time together I learn what you
like. You is not like any other man. You not just handsome and strong, but
brave and nice, especially to me. You act just like friend and no try to
make out or sleep with me like other boys do. You like me for who I am, not
what I look like. I fall in love with you slowly over time, but I do love
you.

"I could no tell you before because I no think you feel same way about me,
and if I tell you and you don't then I have to leave and be all alone. It
not like you show interest in me or challenge me to a fight, but you had
your promise and I not know if that why you not do anything. I not tell you
because I was afraid. I know I should be tough strong Amazon warrior that
no afraid of anything, but I was. But now I must say something. I can no go
on like this and no let you go without telling you how I feel. You have to
know, no matter what you mother might do. I try to tell you several times,
but something always came up or you got me angry at you or you act funny
and make me afraid of what you might say if you find out I love you. 

"I don't have anything to offer you. No dojo. No family. No money. No name.
Just the sword on my back.

"My curse.
 
"My life. 

"My love. 

"That's all."

Ranma looked closely at the girl prostrated before him, head bowed to the
ground. A thousand odd behaviors she had displayed over the months all made
sense now. The reason she got angry with him for trying to force her to
make peace with Ukyou, and the subsequent affection towards him when he
said he liked Shampoo more. Her glomping of him right before the second
encounter with Tarou and Perfume when he flirted with her. Risking her life
to rescue him from Herb and the cold shoulder immediately afterwards, only
to be followed by the Amazon practically throwing herself at him. The rage
from when he groped Akari. The anger she and Akane had for one another, and
hundreds of other little things. There was one simple reason for them all. 

She was in love with him.

"Sh...Shampoo, I..." he stopped there. What was he going to say? What was
there to say? How did he feel about her? What did he really feel about her?

"There you are!"

Ranma turned to see Akane, in her wedding gown, rushing to where he and
Shampoo were. Shampoo looked up at the interruption and was even less
pleased. Akane had no right to ruin her moment.

"I should have known you were behind this!" Akane directed her anger at the
true culprit, not Ranma for a change, but Shampoo. "You're trying to ruin
my marriage! Damn you! Why couldn't you have butted out of this?! Why did
you have to try to ruin everything?! Another hour and Ranma and I would
have been married! I hate you!"

Shampoo looked just as angry and got up into a fighting stance. Ranma tried
to interject himself between the two and make some kind of peace when
another voice spoke up.

"Why am I not surprised the Fem-boy can't keep his hands off of a woman,
even on his wedding day? And people say I'm slime, not to my face, of
course."

Ranma felt his anger grow at Tarou's presence. "This doesn't concern you.
Get the hell out of here!"

"Real faithful guy there, Akane," Tarou said as he turned his attention to
his love. "I always told you he couldn't be trusted. Just let these two run
off together. He doesn't deserve you. Let him leave with the slut."

"DON'T CALL HER THAT!!!" Ranma ran forward took a swing at Tarou, only to
have the Chinese boy duck it and return with a kick that connected to
Ranma's stomach. 

"I don't have to-" The rest was cut off as Ranma, unaffected by the kick,
struck back with a punch to the jaw and a kick to the head. Tarou backed
away to shake off the effect of the blows, concerned. That kick should have
at least made Ranma back away for a second, but it had not even slowed him
down. 

Tarou evaded the next two punches and had an elbow of his own blocked,
allowing Ranma to connect with a front kick to the chest. Tarou was not at
all pleased with the way things were going. Ranma was not fighting the way
he usually did. Usually it was a controlled effort when he allowed his
opponent to be the aggressor, but now he was the attacker. 

Tarou watched closely as he at last connected with a knuckle strike to his
opponent's head. However, when Ranma's head snapped back he unleashed a
series of attacks that drove Tarou back once again. Now Tarou was getting
concerned. Ranma was shrugging off decent strikes as though they were less
than nothing and attacking far more viciously  than Tarou had ever seen
before. 

Tarou saved his usual jibes and concentrated on the fight, going defensive
while trying to find a hole in Ranma's offense to hit through. There wasn't
much to find with the speed of the attacks coming as fast and as viciously
as they were. Tarou slipped a blow into Ranma's ribs, only to be struck
twice by punches that were even harder than what he had connected with, and
unlike Ranma he was slightly affected by them. It didn't make any sense. He
had thought he was faster than Ranma, or had been, but Ranma was the
quicker fighter now, and worse, he was winning, driving both of them away
from the other two girls and out of sight of them.

At last Ranma broke the silence between the two. "I didn't know she loved
me!" 

There was an edge to his voice Tarou had never heard before. "What are you
talking about?!"

"Honest! Okay, I think maybe I suspected it, but every time I did I
rejected the thought!" Ranma said as Tarou blocked another blow. "I didn't
need the hassle!"

"I don't give a damn about your stupid problems, Fem-boy!"

Ranma continued on, ignoring what Tarou was saying as he continued to
attack. "So what if I was in denial?! So maybe I should have known! I
didn't lead her on! I know I didn't!"

"I told yo--WUFF!" Ranma connected with a blow to Tarou's midsection,
winding him.

"It was all her stupid fault for falling for me! I never said I loved her
or wanted her or nothing like that! I never took advantage of her! I didn't
need her to love me!"

Tarou recovered his wind and became enraged. Ranma wasn't even paying any
attention to him. He was simply going on about his problems in the middle
of a fight, as though Tarou did not exist. He allowed his anger to build
and came after Ranma with an offensive flurry. "Pay attention to me when we
fight, you fucking hermaphrodite!"

Ranma blocked the majority of the blows, and once Tarou exhausted his
attack, retaliated.

"I didn't want her to love me! Why is she in love with me?! Why?! I don't
know how to deal with her!" During Ranma's entire speech he continued
attacking, landing more and more blows upon Tarou.

Tarou began to panic. This was a Ranma he had never suspected existed.
Tarou had truly believed that in all of their fights Ranma had been
fighting with all of his abilities, but he hadn't. Ranma had been holding
back in each of their fights. Not a lot, perhaps, but enough to make a
difference. A noticeable difference. Ranma was faster than before and his
blows landed with more force. Tarou was suffering a tremendous beating and
what blows he landed on Ranma were being shrugged off. As hard as Tarou was
trying, there was no way he was going to win the fight. 

At least as a human.

He went for the canteen of water at his belt and poured it over his head.
Now he could handle the Fem-boy easily. There was no way he could beat
Tarou in his animal form.

No way.


Moments before:

As Ranma and Tarou began to fight Akane and Shampoo squared off with one
another. Equal looks of anger were exchanged between the two.

 "I knew we never should have trusted you!" Akane screamed. "You're were
always a little viper just waiting to stab me in the back!"

"I don't care about you!" Shampoo shot venomously back. "I only want Ranma!
Leave him to me. We belong together!"

"The hell you do!" Akane shot back. "He's mine. I love him and he loves me
and we are going to get married, today! There's nothing you can do to
prevent it!"

"He's not yours, he's mine! He doesn't love you! He's just marrying you
because of family obligation and his mother's making him do it."

"He does love me!" Akane protested. "He called me beautiful today when I
was getting ready for the wedding!"

Shampoo smirked at her. "Has he ever told you he loves you?"

Akane felt a little scared when she brought that up. Ranma never had said
he loved her. But Akane wasn't one to remain on the defensive for long. "No
more times than he's told you he loves you."

Shampoo recoiled a bit at that, her anger rising. "He does love me! He just
can't say it because of his stupid promise to be married to you!"

"When has Ranma not spoken his mind?" Akane asked, realizing she was
getting the upper hand. 

Shampoo's face began to redden further in anger. "He didn't know I was in
love with him! Now he does and will love me back!"

"Oh, please! He's not that stupid. If he loved you he would have said
something by now."

"And you think that mean he loves you? You hit him all the time. You think
he enjoys that or that he calls you names because he likes you?"

Akane fell back on the defensive again. "I don't hit him much anymore," she
said quietly.

"Oh, and that really makes things a lot better now, is that it? 'I don't
beat on him as much as I used to'." she said, trying to imitate Akane's
voice.

Akane felt her anger build at the Amazon. It wasn't like that. Ranma
wouldn't let himself be hit if he didn't feel he deserved it. 

If he deserved it. 

Akane at last fully understood the ramifications of what she had thought.
She casually pulled a hammer out and raised it above her head. Shampoo went
back into a defensive stance at the expected attack, but was surprised when
Akane shifted her grip on it and held it with one hand on the handle and
the other on the head. She then brought it down over her knee, smashing it
into two and rendering it all but useless. "I'll never hit Ranma again, no
matter what!"

"What that supposed to prove?" Shampoo snapped. "You have many more of
those!"

"It's symbolic, you bimbo!"

"I not a bimbo, you violent, ugly bitch!"

Akane felt her anger really skyrocket. "You don't deserve Ranma! Just go
away and find some other guy who'll actually like you!"

"I CAN'T!!!" Shampoo shouted out, the helpless feeling she kept locked up
finally being released. "I no longer have a people! I have no family! I
have no friends! I have nothing except Ranma! He's all I have! Without him
there's nothing left! I won't let him go! Not to you, not to anyone!"

Akane balled up a fist. "You want a fight then?"

"You got it!"  Shampoo said. "We'll prove who the better woman is once and
for all!"

Akane tore off the bottom of her wedding dress and then the long sleeves,
freeing her arms and legs so she could fight effectively. "You've had this
coming for a long time!"

Shampoo balled her own fist up. "The only reason I haven't beaten you up
before is because of what you mean to Kasumi. Well that not going to save
you this time!"

The fight began.


Tarou tried punching then stomping on Ranma, but he was too fast and Tarou
wasn't coming close. But the handful of blows Ranma had landed meant
nothing to the transformed boy. And the best thing was Ranma had quit
droning on about his problems. Soon the Fem-boy was going to get tired,
then he would pay.

"It screws up everything! It was all planned out for me, and now its all
messed up!"

Tarou bellowed in rage at Ranma. He was beginning to ramble again. Tarou
paid the words no mind as he stomped all around, trying to hit Ranma. He
managed a glancing blow that sent Ranma several feet away. Slowly the
transformed boy advanced on Ranma. A couple more blows and it would all be
over.

"There were just some things everyone told me I had to do so I did them!"

Tarou would have yelled at Ranma to be silent, but his vocal cords no
longer worked that way. And why was Ranma starting to glow black? His chi
attack, the moko takabisha, was blue.

"I don't even know how I really feel about her or Akane!" The blackness
grew. "I didn't want to have to figure it out! Now I got two girls that
love me and I don't know what to do! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!" 

Tarou looked on in concern. The ball of blackness was really getting big.
He rushed forward to get to Ranma before the attack was unleashed. 

"SHI SHI HOUKOUDAN!!!"

He was too late.

Tarou looked on in surprise as the roaring lion bullet came at his head.
Since when could Ranma use Ryouga's attack? Tarou was too close to avoid
it, so he braced for the ball of pure chi energy as it struck him full in
the face, hurting him.

Stunned and reeling, he stayed upright and shook off the worst of the
effect of the blast. It had hurt, but he was still standing. As he blinked
his eyes to clear it of the spots, a kick connected right between the legs
of the very male cursed form Tarou had. More spots appeared as an intense
surge of pain hit Tarou once again. There was no respite as Ranma leaped
onto his snout and unloaded the amaguriken right between Tarou's eyes,
sending waves of pain directly to his brain. He barely had enough to swat
at Ranma, connecting lightly once again, and forced him to leave his perch
and the assault. 

"I can't punch my way out of this! I ain't any good at this stuff!" Ranma
shouted, continuing to vent his frustrations at Tarou. He maneuvered behind
the bull and began an assault into the backs of Tarou's knees. Tarou tried
to lash out with his eel tail, but Ranma managed to snare it before it
could strike and tied it into a knot, causing further pain in Tarou. The
Chinese youth gave something more akin to a squeal due to the pain still
shouting up from his groin. He shut out the agony and spun around, trying
to stomp Ranma who still was too quick and darted out of the way.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, so how do I get out of it without hurting
someone?! I got no idea of what to do!" A savage kick to Tarou's jaw
connected, but this time Tarou landed a solid blow on Ranma, ripping a good
portion of the tuxedo he was fighting in. The follow up attack failed as
Ranma dodged once more, though more slowly than before. He was tiring out.


As experienced a warrior as Shampoo was, she was still fully capable of
making a mistake, which was what she did regarding her fight with Akane.
The first was the belief that Akane, who had improved a little bit under
Ranma's guidance, was not capable of doing anything other than what Shampoo
would consider clumsy attacks. That, in addition to the belief she was
fighting on the side of justice and righteousness, made her believe she was
going to win easily over 'the evil, ugly girl that was going to take Ranma
away'. Not realizing how extensively the youngest Tendo had been training
under Tarou, she made a great underestimation of Akane's fighting skills.
So when Akane lunged forward in a near deadly attack for Shampoo's throat
the Amazon was caught off-guard. She recovered enough to deflect most of
the attack, but still took a double knuckle strike in her collarbone,
nearly breaking it. 

Akane was not one to give the advantage easily, and twisted her hand for a
chop in the side of Shampoo's neck. The blow hit cleanly, and only a kick
of Shampoo's own drove Akane back and kept her from continuing to press the
advantage.

"C'mon, Shampoo! You're the one that wanted this! Don't you want to beat up
the weak Japanese girl, like you've always told me I am?!" Akane lunged
forward with a knee that Shampoo blocked, but was forced to back up from
the sheer force of the blow. Tarou's intense workouts had paid off for
Akane, giving her strength that now at least rivaled Shampoo's, if not
surpassing it slightly. 

That left Shampoo with a speed advantage, made more so now since Akane had
added a bit of mass to her. The next several attacks were avoided as
Shampoo retreated away from the blows until she recovered her wind. Now
that she had a better idea of what to expect from Akane she took the fight
as seriously as any other conflict. 

"You should have pressed the advantage when you had the chance." Shampoo
began to press an attack of her own, slowly forcing Akane into a defensive
posture. Several light blows connected before Shampoo saw an opening and
placed a side kick into Akane's right flank.

Much to Shampoo's amazement, Akane grunted a little and snared the foot,
the unexpected reaction caught Shampoo off balance, allowing Akane to throw
Shampoo to the ground while maintaining her hold on the foot. With Shampoo
on the ground Akane began to twist the ankle.

"I'm not so weak now, am I? Training with Tarou may not have toughened me
up as much as the Bakusai Tenketsu would, but I can take some punishment!
You and your damn Amazon 'I'm better than everyone else' arrogance! Let's
see you get out of this!"

Shampoo did so with a kick to Akane's face, forcing her to relinquish the
hold and retreat.

"How that?" Shampoo almost smirked.

Akane was about to retort when she felt the taste of blood in her mouth.
She felt inside with her tongue and realized when the kick hit her head her
mouth snapped down on part of her lip, causing the blood to flow freely.
"Pretty good," Akane said calmly, then attacked once more.

The fight continued, each opponent giving the other respect. The pacing
started out slowly, but picked up as it continued. Each one landed a number
of blows on the other, ripping their clothing and assuring a variety of
black and blue marks over a large portion of their anatomies. Shampoo
struck Akane squarely in the back of her head with a palm thrust, causing
Akane to feel slightly light-headed. A second blow struck in the lower
abdomen, shooting pain through her chest. Even as Shampoo backed off from
that attack Akane lashed out with her foot, catching Shampoo squarely on
the knee. Almost immediately the Amazon began to limp.

"This wasn't the way I expected my wedding day to turn out," Akane said as
she caught for breath, each gasp a painful spike in her side.

"Like you deserve one with Ranma!" Shampoo snapped back.

"And what kind of a life can he expect with you!" Akane threw a fist at
Shampoo, which she ducked by rolling out of the way, making certain she did
not stay on her wounded leg for long. "All you have is a curse and a bunch
of people trying to kill you. Do you want Ranma to live a life on the run?"

Shampoo became defensive at the accusation. "We can find somewhere far away
where no one can ever find or bother us. It beats getting hit all the time
or fighting with someone you're supposed to love."

Akane connected with a kick to Shampoo's chest, but was hit with an elbow
in the jaw. Both girls made some distance from one another. "I won't lay a
hand on him from now on, and all couples that love each other have
disagreements. It's not like you two don't fight. Unless you don't count
things like shredding all of his clothes and substituting rocks for his
pillow."

Shampoo found she couldn't argue that one, so instead verbally attacked
again. "At least I'm not forcing him to marry me. How do you know it's
really love he feels towards you and not just his promise he's keeping? How
do you think he'll feel in a year or two when he finally understands that
he had no choice in marrying you?"

"Shut up!" Akane tried to hit Shampoo in the jaw, but the Amazon rolled out
of the way again.

"We both know how much he loves being forced into things. How long until
the honeymoon's over and he starts to resent you for being forced onto him?
How long will it take before he feels trapped and manipulated? How long
before he starts getting angry towards you because he never had a choice?"

"He had a choice!" Akane tried to get Shampoo to shut up once again by
hitting her, but Shampoo simply retreated and continued the verbal assault.

Shampoo knew she was getting to Akane, the girl was shaking in anger. "Did
you ever ask him?! Have you ever once asked him if he really wanted an
engagement to you, or that if he could get out of it that would he take the
opportunity? Did you ever once put his thoughts before yours?"

"You never did that either!" Akane shouted at her. "And at least I never
lied to him about someone trying to kill me! I never maimed any of my
friends!"

"SHUT UP!!!" Shampoo shouted out in fury and tried attacking. The assault
was sloppy, and Akane landed a kick to her chest, but the purple-haired one
quickly rolled to her feet and composed herself as best as she could. 

"What's the matter? Can't handle the truth?" Akane taunted.

"A girl like you could never satisfy him!" Shampoo snapped back.

"At least I'm all girl. I don't change into a guy with cold water, and I
don't let girls fondle me like you do!"

"I don't like girls!" It was Shampoo's turn to try to silence Akane, but
the black-haired girl got out of the way. "Besides, Ranma changes into a
girl too. At least I know I can love him like that."

"It's not like he wants to be a girl!" Akane said. "We can get a cure for
him. And even if he doesn't all we need is hot water to change him back.
And I don't even care about his curse. As long as he can live with it then
so can I. But how can he know you won't try to put the moves on him as a
girl? You didn't seem to mind it so much when he thought he was a girl."

"I gave him his memory back!"

"And tried to take it away when he forgot his little proposal! I overheard
the whole thing. You seriously considered marrying Ranma when he thought he
was a girl. That's disgusting!"

"It shows I love him!" Shampoo shouted.

"It shows you weren't considering his feelings." Akane broke the stalemate
by attacking once more. The two exchanged blows before Akane continued.
"You were just looking for an opportunity to weasel a way into his heart.
And when it wasn't quite what you wanted you tossed it aside and tried to
find another. Well he doesn't love you and never will! He loves me! I just
know it!"

"Dream on! He wants someone who'll be at his side! Someone he treats as an
equal, not a joke like you!" She kicked Akane's leg out from under her as
the youngest Tendo went for a kick. Akane kept Shampoo at bay before
regaining her feet.

Akane gained an uncharacteristically nasty glint in her eye. "So you think
you'll make a good wife?"

"Yes!" Shampoo backed off a little, wondering what Akane was up to.

"Plan on having any children?"

"Of course. We'll have lots of strong babies. Girls, naturally, and maybe
even some boys too. Ranma would want powerful sons."

"And just how are you going to do that?"

Shampoo looked at her in confusion. "You not know how that works?"

"I know how it works for me, but what about you? Are you planning on using
Chiisuiton 
to lock Ranma as a girl?"

"Never!" Shampoo shouted in shock.

"Well I don't see how you expect to bear any kids," Akane said. "You can't
even cross the street without changing. How are you going to make it for
nine months?" 

Shampoo suddenly went quiet and didn't respond to the comment. All she did
was look towards the ground, allowing Akane to smirk at the victory. Her
happiness changed to confusion as she heard Shampoo start to murmur a
continuous string of 'nononono's under her breath.

"Oh come on now! Don't tell me you didn't think about that. It's so obv..."
Akane trailed off as Shampoo looked at her. The only comparable look she
could remember was the one Ranma had given her for getting between him and
Kodachi, back when the Black Rose had poisoned Shampoo, only the look of
rage in the Amazon's eyes was far more baleful even than that.

"NO!!!" The purple-haired demon screamed and leaped for Akane. Rather than
retreat Akane lashed out with a fist, catching Shampoo full in the stomach.


Shampoo never even realized she had been hit. Her body landed fully on
Akane, both knees hitting the dark-haired girl in the solar plexus, forcing
the air out of her lungs. Shampoo's hands wrapped themselves around Akane's
throat as she brought Akane's head up, then back into the ground, only to
repeat the procedure as she continued to strangle her.

Akane was only dimly aware of Shampoo shouting out. "You lie! Say it not
true! YOU TELL SHAMPOO SHE CAN HAVE CHILDREN!!! TELL SHAMPOO!!!" over and
over again. That was the last thing Akane heard as she blacked out.


"I didn't ask for any of it!"

Tarou could only hear part of what Ranma was saying as he tired limping
after him. Ranma had kicked him solidly in the ear, causing a noise similar
to the sound of rushing water as if it was continuously running past his
head. Three amagurikans into his left leg and Tarou could barely stand, but
Ranma just kept darting out of reach and hitting or kicking him in the
head, leg, or stomach. All three areas hurt like hell and would take days
to heal. And then there was the three Shi Shi Houkoudans Ranma had used.
Those hurt as much as any ten blows, and Tarou had been hit partially by
two of them and the third one hit cleanly in the chest, still leaving a
burning sensation. The three solid blows he had gotten on Ranma should have
worn him out, but the bastard just kept hopping around and hitting Tarou.
Tarou was losing the fight, and he didn't have the faintest idea on how to
win it.

It was Fem-boy. Tarou should not have been able to lose to him, but he was.
Another kick connected to Tarou's jaw, joining thirty others over the
course of the fight. Ranma had slowed down maybe forty percent since the
start of the fight, but Tarou was almost three quarters of the way gone. He
tried hitting Ranma again, but the still human youth evaded the thrust,
bounced off the outstretched arm, and planted a knee between his eyes,
doubling Tarou's vision momentarily.

Tarou ripped up a tree and tried batting away at Ranma with it. The tactic
worked in keeping Ranma on the defensive, at least until he jumped up in
the air and shattered the tree in half with a kick. Tarou tried throwing
the rest, which Ranma evaded and struck again.

"I don't need this stuff! All I need is my martial arts!" Ranma ranted.

Tarou really wished Ranma's earlier blow had caused total deafness. He did
not need to hear anything else Fem-boy had to say.

"I didn't ask to be engaged to no one! Not to someone I never met! Not to
friends I grew up with! Not to people I met on the way! No one!"

The fact Ranma hit seven more times without Tarou coming close in return
during the tirade was enough to convince Pantyhose to run away so he could
fight another day. He had wanted to prove his superiority to Ranma by
beating him to a pulp. Tarou was the better man, and beating the living
shit out of Ranma on his wedding day seemed just too perfect, and it would
have been if Tarou had not been losing.

It was time to swallow his pride, so Tarou at last took to the air. Maybe
he could find something heavy to drop on Ranma. Like a bomb.

Ranma looked up at the retreating form. "Get back here!" He allowed a black
ball of energy to build up again, aiming at Tarou's wings. He released it,
right on target.

Tarou tired to evade, but he was too tired. The ball of chi energy struck
Tarou squarely in the wings, causing him to crash headfirst into the
ground. 

"Now all I'm doing is hurting everyone around me! I don't want to hurt
anyone, but now I have to!" Ranma shouted as he advanced on the fallen
Tarou.

Tarou rose shakily to his feet and lashed out with a fist, connecting
solidly with Ranma. The blow sent Ranma flying nearly ten feet in the air.
Tarou looked on in hope, praying that he had at last landed a telling blow
in Ranma.

Then Ranma got to his feet, slowly but steadily. 

Tarou was no quitter, even when he knew he was beaten. He lasted another
twenty blows before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. The last
cognizant thought that ran through his mind was for the Fem-boy to just
wait until next time, when Tarou wasn't off his game.


"I hate this! Why the hell does this have to happen to me?! What did I do
to deserve this?!" At last Ranma noticed his opponent failing to get up. He
nudged Tarou's unconscious form with his foot a few times. "You awake,
man?" No response.

With nothing to hit and further vent his frustrations upon, Ranma at last
came out of the zone he was in. It took a moment for him to realize just
how much the Shampoo situation had frustrated him and how much control he
had lost over it. He probably would have felt terribly guilty about who he
had pounded on if it hadn't been Tarou. Pantyhose deserved what happened to
him.

After checking to make sure the beating wasn't fatal, Ranma left the
monstrous foe behind and slowly walked towards where he had left Akane and
Shampoo. There were some things he needed to clear up with the two of them
and he was not going to wait to get things resolved. 

As he made his way to where they had been, his injuries finally began to
catch up to him. Now that his adrenaline had stopped flowing in the massive
amounts it had, pain from all of the blows Tarou had landed set in. Only
the fight against Ryu Kumon had left him in worse shape and it was going to
take several days before he felt anywhere near one hundred percent.

He made it back to the site only to see Akane coughing hard and clutching
her throat as she tried to get off the ground. Ranma felt his heart seize
for a moment as he rushed to her side, only to see a number of bruises and
cuts on her body. It took but a moment for him to piece together what had
happened. 

"Are you all right?" he asked, while looking over every inch of her body,
making certain the injuries she had sustained were not critical. As he
examined her, he thought he had pieced together what had happened. There
had been a fight between Akane and Shampoo. As far as Akane had come since
training with Tarou, Ranma still knew who would win. At least Shampoo had
not gone too far.

Akane tried answering, but all that came out was something resembling a
croak. The attempted strangulation had left her throat too raw to do
anything else than mumble incoherent sounds. She settled for nodding her
head.

"Are you sure? You look kinda bad." It pained him to see her that way. It
didn't matter that she wanted him to consider her as a superior martial
artist. Being protective of her was as automatic as breathing to him.

Akane nodded her head once more.

"I think you should go get checked out." Ranma said, still concerned.

She felt happiness at Ranma's concern, then remembered Shampoo accusing her
of being a joke with her martial arts abilities. Pride made her straighten
up and give an appearance of strength that belayed what pain she felt. 

Her job of hiding her pain worked well. Ranma looked slightly relieved at
her improved manner, despite the injuries she displayed. Nonetheless he
fawned over her once more until she backed away from him, irritated at his
treatment. She would be strong, even if it meant refusing Ranma's concern.

"As long as you're sure," he said somewhat more relaxed. "But I still think
you should go back and get checked out." Now that he was certain Akane
would be all right, he turned his attention to the other thing that was
eating away at him. "I gotta know where Shampoo is."

Akane gave him a hurt look as he asked the question. She shook her head in
an almost desperate plea for him not to go. He couldn't leave her for the
Amazon. Akane wanted him here, with her, where he belonged. It was their
wedding day, and there was still time to go through with it. And she did
want it. After seeing him with Shampoo, when Akane had feared he was lost
to her and felt her heart begin to shatter into a million pieces of crystal
pain, that was when she could at last accept beyond any doubt that she
loved Ranma Saotome and wanted to be with him for the rest of her life.

And now he was threatening to leave. It wasn't fair. Akane knew she loved
him now, at long last, and she had thought he might feel the same way about
her. Ranma was nearly impossible to understand, but she thought she knew
him well enough to believe he loved her. However, if he left her now for
Shampoo, it would all be over. He'd be abandoning her for the Amazon. Why
did it have to be that way?

Her eyes beseeched with him not to go, to remain at her side so they could
be together forever.

Ranma thought he understood her reluctance to let him know where Shampoo
was. "I'm sorry, Akane. I really am, but I have to talk to her. Which way
did she go?"

Akane continued shaking her head and placed a hand on him to restrain him.
Realizing she was not going to answer he ever so gently pushed her hand
away and ran off in search of the Amazon, leaving Akane trying to shout to
him to stay.

All she managed to get out was "Ranma," then fell to the ground, weeping.


Shampoo had limped off in the direction of the dojo. The plan was to grab
her things and set off before anyone realized what she had done. Once she
put some distance between her and Nerima she could get lost in the world.
Ranma was nowhere as skilled a tracker as she was and would never find her
unless she allowed it.

Tears ran down her face as she got closer to her soon to be former home.
She couldn't kill Akane. Shampoo's own inability to have children was not
the youngest Tendo's fault, no matter how much Shampoo hated her for
pointing it out. How could she have been so blind to that aspect of the
curse? It was painfully obvious, yet she had not even realized the problem.
Was it denial? Could that have been the reason for her overlooking her
disability? She didn't think so. The thought had literally never entered
her mind until Akane said it. But once she had, Shampoo's dreams were
effectively destroyed. She could never bring herself to burden Ranma with a
wife that couldn't bear children. Shampoo had no value as a mate, not just
to him, but to anyone. She was effectively worthless.

Her fears had been well founded. Without Ranma there was no reason to
remain in Nerima. To do so would just invite more misery as she would have
to watch Akane and Ranma marry. Be happy with one another.

Have children. 

Seeing the two of them together would be too much like being stabbed in the
gut with a knife over and over again. No. She had to leave immediately. 

"Shampoo! Wait up!" 

Shampoo turned in fear to see Ranma chasing after her. She tried to run
faster, but her limp all but insured she moved at a snail's pace. Ranma was
in front of her in an instant, blocking her avenue of escape. 

"Hold up!" Ranma said. "You took off before we could talk."

"I no have anything to say to you." She tried moving around him, but he
remained in front of her.

"Hey, quit trying to run away! If it's about the fight with Akane, I
understand. Things were a little crazy back there with everything going on,
y'know. She ain't hurt bad, only a little worse than you. She's going to be
fine."

"It not about her!" Shampoo spat. As far as she was concerned Akane could
drop dead. No tears would be wasted on her.

Ranma looked at her, confused. "Then why are you trying to run away? We
still have to talk about what you said back there."

"I take it back," she blurted out. "I no love you. You go run back to
Akane."
 
Shampoo saw Ranma stare at her in surprise. Her attempt at moving around
him failed as he recovered enough to grab her firmly by the shoulders,
preventing any further attempts at escape. "What are you talking about?" he
said with more than a trace of anger.

"Just what I say. I no love you." She tried to slip out of his grasp, but
he simply tightened it in response. 

"Wrong!" he said furiously at her. "You don't come up to me on my wedding
day, practically drag me from the altar, tell me you love me, make me an
emotional wreck, fight with Akane, then say 'I changed my mind'!" He began
shaking her. "Tell me what's going on, and it better be the truth! I ain't
putting up with any lies!"

Shampoo felt what little restraint she had placed on her emotions break
down, damning Ranma the entire time. Why couldn't he allow her the dignity
to bow out gracefully? Why was he going to force her to admit her
inadequacy to his face? She began to cry, hating herself for her breakdown.
Amazons weren't supposed to cry, and certainly not over men. "It...it
because of m...my curse. I c...can...no make b...b...babies! I n...no
g...good as w...wife." There. Her shame was revealed to him. Now he could
call her worthless too.

He released her, looking at her in shock. "I never thought of that."

Of course he hadn't, Shampoo thought to herself. Otherwise he would never
have treated a useless creature as her so nicely.

"You know what that means?" he said to her, his voice not betraying a hint
of emotion.

She knew exactly what it meant. There could be no consideration of her as
his spouse. 

"I guess that means we'd have to adopt," he explained

Shampoo was too shocked to facefault. She just looked at the grinning Ranma
before her, then grabbed him around the waist and cried the hardest she
ever had in her life.

Ranma looked down at the girl, who was bawling her eyes out, in a panic.
"NO!!! Wait! That came out all wrong! I wasn't clear in what I meant! I
meant we'd have to adopt if I chose you! I mean if I choose you! Oh, I am
so sorry, Shampoo! I don't mean I'm choosing you, at least now! It's too
soon and I still don't know how I feel about Akane, so I gotta think about
this! Do you hear what I'm saying?!"

"Yes," she blubbered out.

"That's a relief," he said. 

"WWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" she continued crying.

"What'd I do now?! Why are you still crying?!" he asked the girl who held
onto him just as tightly as before. Shouldn't she have stopped crying if
the news wasn't that bad? Her tears, and the knowledge that he was somehow
responsible for them, were driving him crazy.

"It because even though I not able to make babies, you still give me a
chance!" She continued crying.

"All right!" he protested. "But please stop crying! It's making me feel
like dirt. Not that maybe I shouldn't feel like that anyway for what's
going to happen now. No one's going to want to hear what I have to say."

It took nearly five minutes for Shampoo to calm down enough to stop crying,
although Ranma wasn't sure he was all that happy with the alternative. Now
Shampoo was staring at him with a look of almost utter devotion, which made
him feel very nervous. Maybe the look would disappear once the situation
fully settled in.

"I don't believe it," a voice said several yards away. 

Both Ranma and Shampoo turned to look at the speaker. It was said so softly
and with such control that each one almost didn't believe it had come from
Mousse.

"What do you want?" Shampoo asked first, halfway expecting Mousse to
attack. As she looked more closely at him she could see he was crying. Not
the usual hysterical tears he was apt to release when Shampoo rejected him,
but soft quiet ones. "What's wrong, Mousse?"

"Everything," Mousse said softly. "I never believed you really loved him. I
always thought you would see through his deceptions and come to me, or that
you were somehow using him to test me and my love for you. I always thought
you would come to me in the end, even after our duel. But now...now I see
you really have fallen for him." For what was perhaps the first time in his
life his voice now held anger directed at Shampoo. "I should be the one
you're looking at, not him. He isn't worthy to breathe the same air that
you do, but you'll never believe that. Even I can now see that you love
him."

Shampoo nodded in response.  "Yes, Mousse. He's the one I love. Now and
forever."

"You'll get a chance to put that statement to the test. I rushed ahead of
the group to warn you, but I was so in shock with seeing that...scene," he
spat the word out venomously, "I forgot. And now," he looked over behind
the others. "Now it's too late."

Ranma and Shampoo turned around to see a young woman, with wild black hair
and wearing a brown and green outfit, standing at the top of a hill. She
had her hands on her hips as she focused her attention on the pair. 

"" she smirked.

Shampoo looked more closely at the girl. She was familiar. It took but a
moment to place a name with the face. "Oh no!" she said.

Ranma stared at her in concern, tensing up. "What's going on? Do you know
her?"

"Her name's Julep. She's an Amazon pathfinder," Shampoo explained.

"An Amazon?" Realization dawned on Ranma. "Un oh! That means..." he trailed
off as he saw a naginta break the plain from the opposite side of the hill.
Its bearer came into view, along with the others that had traveled
thousands of miles with her.

Perfume looked sadly upon the purple-haired Amazon.

""


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Special Thanks to:

Ryan Anderson
James Robert Bader
Bloodblade
Gary Kleppe
Jason Liao
Lord Talon
Miashara
Dr. Wade Tritschler

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/towers/5920