Second Chances
Chapter 19 - Obstacle Of Love And War.
By Lord Archive
Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and several
other companies and are used without consent. Oh My Goddess characters
belong to Fujishima Kousuke, AnimEigo, and others- also used without
consent. I'll return them... I just need to get Urd to send them back
into time....
"Ranma!" Akane yelled and grabbed a man with red hair.
He looked at her, confused. "Oro?"
"Kenshin! Who is she?!"
"Oro!"
"You're not Ranma." Akane let go of him.
"Oops, over did it. Bye." Urd left 19th century Japan.
-----------------------------
How could she have forgotten? Shampoo was only the biggest pain in her
life, though Kuno came a close second. She should have remembered that
Shampoo had shown up then. But being kissed by Mikado and trying to
gather enough courage together to kiss Ranma, she hadn't thought about
the Amazon beyond that she had to kiss Ranma before Shampoo did. She had
been caught completely flat-footed when Shampoo ripped through the wall.
But Ranma's kiss was... WOW! Better than she had expected. She had
waited over two years for that kiss, and was not disappointed.
Akane shook her head. She had to keep focused. Shampoo isn't just going
to go away. She was going to be a royal pain in the ass. However, Akane
had to keep up appearances. "Ranma, who was that girl?"
Ranma sighed as he walked on the fence. He really didn't need that
psychopath chasing after him again, and how was he supposed to explain
that to Akane? "I met her shortly after Jusenkyo. We were wanderin'
around China following the guide while in our cursed forms. We came
across a tournament fought by women. Pop and I saw a table filled with
food, and we were starvin' so we started to eat. That was a bad move,
since that was the tournament's prize."
"Where does that girl factor in?"
"Well, while eating, we watched Shampoo win the tournament. The prize we
ate was hers. She was upset, so I challenged her. I mean if I won, the
prize would be mine, right? She accepted and I beat her by quickly
knocking her off their battle log. She then came over and kissed me."
"What?! I thought I was your first kiss!" Akane knew it was just on the
cheek, but it still upset her and she had to play the act of not
knowing.
Ranma blushed at the memory of Akane's kiss. "It was just on the cheek
and, believe me, I didn't want that kiss. It's her people's promise to
chase you to the ends of the Earth and kill you. And when they say to
the ends of the Earth, they mean it."
"The kiss of death?" Akane tried to make it sound it was in surprise.
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that?"
"My Dad's master left a few things in the attic. One of them was a
rulebook for female warriors of some obscure village. Can't be the same
place."
Ranma shrugged. "Well, that village does have a lot of women fighters,
and they do have that stupid kiss thing." He glanced down at Akane. "Any
ideas of how to stop Shampoo from tryin' to kill me?"
"If she follows that law, she has to decide not to kill you."
"Just great."
-----------------------------
Kasumi looked up from the tea she was preparing. "Ranma, you have a
guest."
Ranma collapsed to the ground in shock.
"Uncle Saotome brought her."
Ranma gripped the panda by his neck. "Are you insane, Pop?!"
Genma waved a sign, [She followed me.]
"Ranma?" Shampoo looked intently at the boy with the same name as the
walking corpse. "Hello."
"Heh... hello." Ranma waved nervously.
"Man." Shampoo patted Ranma's chest to make sure this wasn't some kind
of disguise.
"S-s-s-sorry to d-disappoint you."
Shampoo stood up and brandished her bonbori. "Where female-type Ranma?"
"Don't know."
Shampoo growled and swung at Akane, which the Tendo girl blocked. "You
tell where Ranma is."
"I don't know where she is."
Shampoo leveled her gaze. "You lie. Tell Shampoo or die!" Her bonbori
arced toward Akane's head, but the Tendo girl crouched below it."
"Stop it!" Ranma kicked the weapon, breaking its handle.
Akane watched in horror as history repeated itself. The heavy ball of
destruction flew into the air and hit Shampoo solidly on the head.
"It was an accident!"
"Ranma, you're too modest. Of course you defeated her." Kasumi smiled
cheerfully.
[Knockout!]
"No! I didn't mean to do it! She's going to kill me!"
Akane sighed. "It's worse than that."
Ranma gulped. "Worse?"
Shampoo blearily looked up and saw the man who defeated her waving at
her like a fool saying he had not done what he did. What no man has ever
done to her. Her gaze turned to Akane. "You must die." The Amazon leapt
into battle.
"What?!" Akane fell backwards with Shampoo, rolled and then kicked her
into the wall. She then paled. "Obstacles are to be killed."
Shampoo stood up and nodded once. She went into a battle stance and
sized up her opponent. The girl was better than expected. Probably still
not as good as she was, but her head was still ringing from male-Ranma's
blow.
Ranma moved between the girls. "What do you mean obstacles?"
"If her people are those Amazons who wrote that rulebook, by beating
her-- you would become her husband."
"What kind of stupid rule is that?"
"Is no rule. Is law!" Shampoo scowled angrily. Of course an idiot would
defeat her. At least he was a good looking idiot with a body that
probably would never stop. But, the girl was another matter. The boy
belonged to her and she somehow knew of their laws. Shampoo had to find
out more.
"What is going on here?" Soun stormed into the room.
Shampoo took the opportunity to withdraw. "Shampoo will be back for
airen, female Ranma, and nosy outsider."
Ranma blinked. "Airen? Who's Airen?"
Akane crossed her arms. "It's Mandarin for darling or beloved."
"I don't know, Father." Kasumi watched bewildered as Shampoo jumped
away. "Seems Ranma just engaged himself to another girl who wants to
kill Akane."
"Engaged? Kill Akane?"
"I'll go see if I can find the rulebook." Akane wished she had asked
Skuld for a copy. But maybe there was some information in one of the
scrolls. She turned around and saw Nabiki smiling at her.
"Already got it." Life was so much more interesting now with the gods
involved. Bumping into one after school the other day had been quite a
surprise. Who would think a little girl with a polo mallet was a
goddess? But Skuld had wanted her to give Akane the rulebook, so what if
she was supposed to have given it a couple days ago. The goddess
probably knew that Nabiki would want to read through it first.
"Where did you find this?" Soun took the book and stared intently at it.
Akane looked away from them. "Under some old panties in the attic."
Soun and Genma looked faint.
Ranma peered over Soun's shoulder. "What's it say?"
"I don't know. I can't read it. It's in Chinese."
Nabiki took the book back. "The law of the Amazons. In the event that a
woman warrior is defeated by an outsider... if opponent is a woman, she
must give kiss of death and kill her! However, if opponent is a man, she
must make him her husband!"
"Oh, my."
Ranma jumped up. "That can't be for real!"
Nabiki held up the book. "It's as plain as the Japanese translation at
the bottom of the page and quite real."
Soun looked at the bottom of it. "I was completely fooled."
Ranma really didn't like this. "Now what's this about killing Akane?"
"Ah, that's part of a different rule. In the event that a woman warrior
is on a mission, she is to destroy all obstacles. Akane is obviously an
obstacle for Shampoo to marry Ranma, so she has to be destroyed."
Ranma tried to look over Nabiki's shoulder. "How do I get out of this?"
Nabiki turned and kept the book away from him. "Well, the kiss of death
is simple. Change Shampoo's mind about killing you. She can revoke that
at anytime. The kiss of marriage, which she hasn't given you yet, only
has a few means of getting out of. You can kill Shampoo, get someone
else pregnant, or prove to not be worthy of being her husband."
"How would I try to 'prove' that last one?"
Nabiki flipped through the book. "Ah, to do that, you need to convince a
matriarch that you are the scum of the Earth, lower than dirt, a bad
name to the lesser sex. The problem is that we don't have a matriarch to
prove that to."
"There's no problem." Soun placed his hands on Akane's shoulders.
"Everything can be settled by getting Akane pregnant. If you need money
for a love mo...."
"NO!" Akane interrupted her father. "IF Ranma and I start sleeping
together, it'll be when WE want to do it." Her face was red, but not
from anger. She really wanted to take her father up on the offer, but
she knew Ranma wasn't ready.
The panda pushed his son toward her. [Of course Ranma wants to have sex
with you.]
Ranma booted the panda in the head while blushing. "Why would I do that
with her? That'd freeze my dick off."
Akane's glare promised pain and death.
Ranma gulped, perhaps he went too far with that. He'd apologize later,
when their dads weren't there.
-----------------------------
Ranma went through a kata, trying to clear his mind. There was the whole
mess with Shampoo. She wanted to kill his female side, and marry the
male side. Both were things he did NOT want. He had enough trouble with
Akane.
Akane, there was a person he still hadn't figured out. There were things
about her that seemed off. She seemed lively and all, but there was some
cold part of her that he couldn't identify. That there should be more
fire to her anger, more zest to her life-- but something was blocking
it. It couldn't be her mother's death, since whatever caused her to be
like this seemed more recent. The only hint came from Akane, that she
had two friends that she would probably never see again. But that must
not have been a big deal since her family hadn't said anything about it
and there were no pictures of them at the house. Maybe she was in love
with one of them, but if that was the case-- why did she want him?
Ranma grunted in disgust. He had to stay focused. He could try to figure
out that old problem latter. Not to mention explain that his comment
earlier was nothing more than to get their fathers off their backs. But,
now he had to deal with....
"Nihao!" Shampoo chirped wearing Chinese dress that covered less than a
towel would. "Airen no serious about... short-haired girl, yes? Marry
Shampoo?"
"No!" Ranma backed away from her. "Well, you see, um, Akane is, sort of,
my fiancee."
"Fiancee?" Shampoo paused, trying to understand what the word meant.
"Means is obstacle. Shampoo remove fiancee so airen marry Shampoo." She
must sound like a complete idiot, and here she was trying to impress her
soon-to-be husband. She wished she paid more attention to her
great-grandmother's Japanese lesson, but she never thought she'd go to
Japan-- much less end up getting married there.
"Now listen here, I ain't goin' to let you hurt her."
Shampoo moved in for the kill. She snuggled up against his chest. "Let
go fiancee, Shampoo no have to hurt fiancee." She rubbed her body
against his. "I be good wife."
If Akane saw this he would be a dead man. "I-I-I-I'm outta here!" Ranma
jumped onto the roof, running as if his life depended on it.
Shampoo fell since she had been leaning against Ranma. She got up and
scowled. She would make him hers. She jumped onto to the roof and began
to chase after him.
-----------------------------
How could he be so stupid. He didn't even know her name, much less where
she lived. If he could find it in the first place with his sense of
direction. But if he didn't find her soon, the flowers he got after
leaving the skating rink would become ruined.
Ryoga sighed wondering where the cute girl with brown hair and hungry
lips was.
"Outta my way!" Ranma hopped onto Ryoga's head as he passed,
accidentally knocking the lost boy onto the ground.
"Airen come back!" Shampoo ran over the partial crushed bouquet, further
ruining them.
Ryoga jumped to his feet, the broken bouquet held in his clenched fist.
"Damn you, Ranma! I won't forgive you for this." He then heard someone
sigh from around the corner.
Akane shook her head as she rounded the corner. "She's chasing after him
already."
"What did you expect?" Nabiki looked at Akane evenly while walking next
to her. "She has to by her laws, and you already knew that."
"I know." Akane then noticed someone standing in front of her. Ryoga had
that lovesick look on his face that she had misinterpreted so many times
before. No this time, she would not let him fall for....
"Um, agh, for y-you." Ryoga thrusted the broken flowers at Nabiki.
Nabiki looked at the assorted bent and smashed flowers and blinked. "For
me?"
Ryoga looked at the flowers and quickly hid them behind his back. "Um,
sorry, Ranma destroyed them. I'll go get you some better ones." He
turned around quickly and ran off.
Akane stared blankly in the general direction Ryoga had left. "Nabiki,
what did you do?"
"Nothing really." Nabiki shook her head to clear it. "I just kissed him
to prove a point."
"You did what?! You know how easily he can become attracted to a girl.
Why did you do that? He'll be following you around like a love-sick
puppy."
"I didn't think about that. I was just a little upset, since he thought
that you had let Mikado kiss you."
Akane sagged. "He's your problem. You're going to have to deal with
him." She started to walk toward her house. "Don't hurt him too much."
Nabiki tapped her finger against her lips. Maybe Ryoga won't be a
problem.
"I told ya, I don't want to marry you!" Ranma passed the sisters while
running on the fence.
"Wo ai ni!" Shampoo suddenly stopped as Akane stood in her way, despite
also running on the fence. "What fiancee want?"
Akane blinked at the Shampoo's choice of words, but that wasn't
important. "Let's settle this with a challenge."
Nabiki's eyes widen. Was Akane nuts? Ranma's estimate of Shampoo's
fighting skill far exceeded her little sister's skill.
Shampoo crouched into a fighting stance.
"Anytime ready."
"Tonight at midnight, meet me behind the dojo and I'll take you to where
we'll fight. Make sure Ranma or anyone else doesn't see you, since I
don't want anyone to interfere."
Shampoo grinned and nodded. "Trap mean you lose." There was no way this
girl could beat her. She might have some skill, but she won't be able to
stand up to a full Amazon warrior.
"Agreed." Akane nodded. With no one watching, she would be able to use
every special move Ryoga and Ranma had taught her. It would still be a
close fight, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve that this Shampoo
would not even know existed.
"Airen will be Shampoo's." The Amazon jumped away and went back to where
she was staying.
"Over my dead body." Akane jumped down.
"You're going to fight her?" Nabiki asked.
"It's the only way I can think to end this."
"But you can't beat her."
Akane glared. "Sure I can. I've got several techniques that I can use
against her."
"Yes. You know a few AMAZON techniques. Do you know what'll happen if
you beat her with those moves?"
Akane nodded sharply. "It'll bring Cologne here. And we need her to
train Ranma."
Nabiki folded her arms. "And just how are you going to deal with her?"
"That's what the scrolls I got from Skuld are for. I can use them to
'prove' how I learned the moves and then all I have to do is find some
way of convincing her to help us."
Nabiki shook her head. "That's a rather dangerous game you're playing.
One screw up, and you could lose everything."
"I know, but there is no way around it. If Cologne doesn't teach Ranma,
he'll never be able to defeat Saffron."
"I hope you're right."
"I hope so too."
-----------------------------
Author's Notes:
Coming in Chapter 20: Akane verses Shampoo.
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