Rejected
Part 3 - Tuesday - Impossible Mission
By Lord Archive
This is dark. If your looking for my usual comedy, you won't find it.
Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, etc..., and are
used without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll return them. I
can't afford the overdue charge Nabiki insists on.
--------------------------------
I hate busy days at work. Busy days mean I can't see Ranma. I want to
see Ranma. I haven't hugged him since Saturday. He must miss me.
At least I show him how I feel. That perverted girl that calls herself
Ranma's fiancee doesn't show him how she feels except through violent,
jealous rage. Fortunately Ranma is too blind to see it for what it is.
I'm afraid that one day he will realize it and I'll lose him.
I look at the clock and see that I'll have to go downstairs and help
Great-grandmother prepare for the dinner rush. I roll out of bed, check
myself in the mirror, and walk out of my room. Great-grandmother can
certainly be a slave driver at times.
I walk down the stairs and see that mercenary girl, Nabiki, walk out of
the restaurant. I wonder why she was here. She is usually here to see
me about Ranma. I shrug. If it's important, I'll find out soon enough.
I look around and see Mousse is oddly absent. Much to my relief, but I
thought he was working while I was on break. Maybe he heard Nabiki say
something about Ranma and he stupidly ran off to fight him.
Wait a second, the restaurant is closed now. Why would Great-grandmother
close the restaurant?
"Shampoo, I need to talk to you," Great-grandmother says, in the
barbarians' language.
"Why restaurant closed?" I ask.
"A tragedy has occurred that is not for others to know just yet."
"What, Ranma marry kitchen destroyer?" I joke.
By all that is sacred, NO! As soon as my 'joke' left my mouth,
Great-grandmother's eyes look hard and seriously at me.
I can feel my eyes widen in shock to the point they no long fit in my
eye sockets. "WHAT? Don't tell Shampoo, husband marry violent girl?!"
I turn and start to run out of the restaurant.
Suddenly I feel a pin prick at the back of my neck, and I can no longer
move.
"I am sorry Shampoo, but Ranma has married Akane. If he hadn't, he
would be dead."
I can't not speak. I want to speak. I want to scream. I want to do
something besides stand like a statue and listen to this. Damn you,
Great-grandmother, and damn your pressure points.
"Will you calm down so I can explain what has happened?"
I glare at Great-grandmother. It's all I can do.
"Ranma's mother had the right of honor to force the end of the Saotome
line. Two days ago, she did just that. She had those of her family who
bore the name Saotome commit Seppuku. Akane saved Ranma by marrying him
and making him a Tendo in the process."
Akane married Ranma to save his life. The marriage is a sham! I can get
Ranma to divorce Akane and marry me!
"Get that hopeful look out of your eyes. Ranma and Akane are married in
every sense of the word."
They can't be... They couldn't have...
"Nabiki went as far as joking about them keeping her up at night."
Why? Why must you tell me this? I can feel tears coating my checks. I
don't have the power to stop myself from crying.
"You also must understand, Shampoo, that the reason the Saotome line
ended was that Ranma was suppose to be raised a man amongst men. His
mother felt the curse had caused him to fail. She had Genma and herself
killed because she did not see the man in his cursed body. The Saotomes
died because she saw Ranma as a failure."
Ranma is no failure! How could anyone think Ranma is a failure?! His
mother must be blind to see him as such.
"Ranma has taken his mother's decision as being true, that he is a
failure. Akane has kept a constant vigil over him. Not letting him ever
be alone. Letting him know she doesn't think of him as the failure, but
his mother. Nabiki doubts he would be alive now if it was not for Akane
giving him unconditional love."
Love? Akane doesn't love Ranma! She hurts him. She insults him. She
gets jealous over him.
She is confused about him...
She loves him.
I don't think I could stop my tears now if I could try.
This is a tragedy. More than Ranma knows. More than even Mousse knows.
He is not privy to all the marriage laws, just those between Amazon
men and women.
What do I do now?
My life is over. Everything I ever fought for is gone. I am nothing.
I feel Great-grandmother tap several times me. I can move my head now,
but I still can't speak.
"Shampoo, are you going to kill Ranma for this?"
I shake my head. I could never kill the man I love. I'm not sure if I
could ever kill anyone in the manner it would be necessary for me to
kill someone like him.
"What about Akane?"
I nod. She has taken Ranma from me. Obstacles are to be destroyed. At
least I can kill her in proper combat... I think. I'm not too sure I
could kill someone even in battle.
"If you kill Akane, you kill Ranma. It is the love she gives him that
is keeping him alive. You kill her and Ranma will likely commit
suicide."
Ranma is stronger than that. Ranma would not kill himself over violent
girl.
Great-grandmother shakes her head. "Ranma has failed to be a man in
his mother's eyes. If you kill Akane, he will see it as proof of his
failure, since he could not save his own wife."
I look down at the floor. Ranma would likely think that.
"So are you going to kill her?"
I shake my head no.
"Shampoo, are you going to return to the village?" The sadness in her
voice hurts me.
Return to the village. Return home without Ranma as my husband. To
return and be punished for my failure. The elders would likely make
another example of me. Last time I was cursed. I shudder to think what
the next punishment would be.
I shake my head.
"You will be a wandering Amazon then?"
I nod yes. What other choice is there? Kill the man I love or go home
and face a fate that might be worse than death. I have to become one
of the wanderers.
"I understand your decision. The restaurant is yours. I will be leaving
tomorrow."
I nod. Great-grandmother is breaking laws staying with me that long. At
least I have something to hold on to once she is gone.
I feel another prick against my skin. I collapse to my knees.
"What are you going to do about Mousse?" Great-grandmother asks.
"Shampoo will make Mousse go back with Great-grandmother." I know I
could speak my own language now, but I'm going to have to truly learn
how to speak this language. I might never even see China again now.
"Are you sure? You could use him as friend."
"Mousse would never leave Shampoo then. If any benefit comes from this,
is no more Mousse."
Great-grandmother sighs. "Then I suggest you start finding friends. I
also suggest you don't tell Ranma what his marriage has done to you. He
might not take it very well at the moment."
I nod. "Where Mousse?"
"I had Mousse run an errand for me. He won't be back until late
tonight."
Good, I have time to think of a way to convince him to leave.
---------------------------
I put on a strong face, a face of an Amazon. Definitely not the face of
the girl that was crying for over an hour. Though I can feel that face
lying just underneath the facade I'm showing.
While Great-grandmother's words rang true, I must see if it is true. I
must see that Ranma has married Akane.
I could use the door. I could release some of my pain and make my own
door. I could spy on them first to make sure they don't make an act of
being married.
I sneak into the bathroom and turn myself into a cat. It's much easier
to spy this way.
I carefully walk through the house and find Ranma and Akane in the
dining room. I can't see their faces, but I already don't like what I
see. They are leaning against each other and holding each other.
I move around the edge of the room. They are watching the television at
the moment. That's good, less likely they'll notice me.
I now see their faces. I can hardly recognize them. They look like
they've aged years in the past three days.
Ranma's eyes shows a look I never want to see on anyone. The look of
someone who has seen too much. Too many battles, too many deaths.
Akane's eyes aren't much better. Her eyes shows like the father who
sent his daughter to a battle, not knowing if and possibly not even
expecting her to ever come back.
The way they are sitting and leaning against each other makes them
look like two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together.
I didn't know cats could cry, because I am. Maybe normal cats can't,
but I certainly can.
I don't know how long I've been sitting there. I just watch them.
Wanting them to show me that perhaps there is still a chance. That one
day Ranma will marry me.
They don't. They just sit there, comfortable with each other's
presence. They say little. It seems like they don't need to talk to
communicate.
Come on fight! Insult each other! Please! Ranma please don't love her.
Please...
I can't watch them anymore. Before I know it I'm in the furo, crying.
I can't move because I'm crying too hard.
"Shampoo?" I hear a tentative voice ask.
I turn my head and look at Kasumi. Her look of concern helps me
somehow. I'm not sure why, but it does.
"Do you know what's happened?" Kasumi asks.
I nod. "Is no fair. Shampoo should marry Ranma, not kitchen
destroyer."
"Shampoo, you couldn't all marry him."
"Maybe if Shampoo find magic means to copy Ranma, Shampoo can get her
own Ranma."
I laugh a little, and she giggles. It helps the pain.
I slowly get out of the furo and put on my clothes I had left in there.
I don't care that I'm still wet. "Kasumi... tell Ranma, Shampoo wants
to be friends. That if Ranma needs to see a friendly face, Ranma can
come to Shampoo's restaurant."
"I will." Kasumi gives me a smile.
Preparing to climb out the window, I look at Kasumi one last time.
"Tell Akane... thanks for saving Ranma."
I'm running now. Running through what will likely be my new permanent
home, Nerima. I hated leaving home to come here to kill outsider girl
that dishonored me so spectacularly. I hated coming back here in
attempts of winning the love that same outsider who was really a guy.
It helped lessen the hate and pain that I actually loved him. It
didn't matter though, I had to do such things for honor.
Honor. Such a cursed word. I will never know of one worse. Honor has
stripped me of home, family, and now love.
What am I to do with myself now?
Am I to become as other wanderers, mercenaries. An expert martial
artist rented to the highest bidder? No, to do that means I would have
to kill. I won't do that for money.
I guess I am to live onto my dying day at the Neko-Hanten. Then again I
may get lucky and both Ranma and I outlive Akane. Then I could marry
Ranma. Yeah right. Stubborn girl would likely outlive Ranma if he sees
two hundred.
I have failed my people. I embarked on a mission that I now have no
hope of completing, and yet I cannot stop wandering until I have
completed that mission. To be a wanderer is a mark of failure. To die
a wanderer is the greatest of shames and the mark of failure as an
Amazon, as a woman, as a person. To be a failure in body and soul. To
die with no Amazon caring that I had ever lived. I will be rejected by
everyone and everything. I will be nothing.
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It is time to leave this place. I have spent a year here suspecting
that this would be the outcome. Ever since I saw that Tendo girl
control Ranma when he was in Neko-ken, I knew Shampoo's chances of
marrying him weren't very good. The only way she could win is for
Ranma to fall in love with her. To love her as he loves Akane.
It pains me to leave Shampoo behind, but it may be for the best. For if
she comes home, she would either face a punishment possibly worse than
death or she would have killed the one she loves. That, in itself, is
worse than death.
Part of yourself dies when you kill. When you kill a love one, you die
too. I know Shampoo can't bring herself to kill Ranma. She couldn't do
it when she thought he was a girl. I rather doubt she could kill Akane,
either.
I shall work to find a way to allow her to return. I may have to ask
her to perform a near impossible mission to get her readmitted into
the village. But if their is a way, I will see she returns.
---------------------------
Author's Note:
Thanks to the Rams and Freemage for pre-reading this.
There is more to being a wanderer than just the social stigma. Those
aspects get explained in the next part.
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