Steve Stachowicz
gerrek@hotmail.com

Websites:
http://www.geocites.com/tokyo/shores/2307


This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion 

Legal Notes:  Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no 
infringement was intended here.  This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.


		                        Twilight of the New Senshi

                                                   BY:

			                    Steve Stachowicz



NEXT DAY

	During breakfast the next day, Nabiki had asked Steve about the girl he had seen 
yesterday.  Steve started coughing on the drink he was drinking, when he realized that he had 
totally forgotten about the girl, due to all the excitement that happened to him after he left school.  
Everyone else wondered what was going on.  Once Steve got his coughing under control, he told 
everyone that he saw an old acquaintance from China.  When Ranma asked who that was, Steve 
just said one word.

	“Xian Pu.”  Steve said, causing Ranma and Genma to pale, which Nabiki noticed.

	“Shampoo?”  Akane asked confused.  “What does a hair care product have to do with 
anything?”

	“Not shampoo, Xian Pu …” Steve stopped talking and sighed.  “I guess her name is close 
to that.”

	“What does she have to do with you three?”  Nabiki asked.  Ranma looked over at Steve 
and Steve sighed when he realized that he would have to explain.

	“She tried to kill us.”  Steve said finally.

	“What!”  Everyone else exclaimed.

	“Why did she try and do that?”  Akane asked.

	“A matter of honor, and leave it at that.”  Steve replied.

	From the look Steve was giving, he wasn’t going to give anything more.  So everyone 
finished breakfast and Nabiki, Akane, Ranma, and Steve left for school.  It was an uneventful day 
at school; nothing really kept Steve from thinking about Shampoo.  He almost got detention from 
not paying attention in class, but he was lucky that he knew the answer to the question the teacher 
asked.  After school ended, Steve told Ranma and Akane that he was going for a walk to clear his 
head.  They told him to be careful and that they would see him at dinner.

	As Steve was walking, he stopped in a convenience store to get something to drink.  As 
he was walking, a small group of kids came skateboarding by him, causing him to spill his drink 
on himself, triggering the change.  She sighed in relief when she noticed no one saw the change.  
She collected herself and realized that she wasn’t going to figure out what to do if she ran into 
Shampoo again.  So she decided to head back to the Tendo Dojo to go have dinner.

	As she was walking down the street, she passed an alley way and she was grabbed and 
pulled into it.  When she stopped at the wall, she thought that the boys were back to mistaking her 
again and decided to try talking to them again, but when she looked up, she saw a sword pointing 
at her face.  She thought that the boys were getting real serious on wanting to get back at her, but 
when she looked at the person holding the sword, she was in for a surprise, because the person 
holding the sword was Shampoo.

	“Xian Pu!”  Steve exclaimed in surprise.

	“Nihao.”  Shampoo said calmly.

	“Wha … What brings you here?”  Steve asked nervously.

	“You.”  

	Steve swallowed nervously as she looked into Shampoo’s eyes.  Her eyes opened wide as 
Shampoo lowered the tip if the sword.  She watched as Shampoo cut each tie to her shirt off one 
at a time with the tip of the sword.  Once Shampoo had finished cutting off all the ties, Shampoo 
used her sword to open Steve’s shirt, revealing that Steve wasn’t wearing anything underneath.  
Steve looked up at Shampoo and saw the evil looking smile as she brought her sword up above 
her head.

	Steve closed her eyes, waiting for the death blow that was coming.  After several 
moments of nothing happening, Steve slowly opened her eyes and saw that Shampoo’s face was 
smiling only inches from her’s.  The surprise of seeing Shampoo’s face so close caused Steve to 
flinch backwards and hit the back of her head against the wall behind her.

	“Ouch.”  Steve said wincing in pain while holding the back of her head, and then she 
heard Shampoo giggle.  “This isn’t funny, that hurt.”

	“Shampoo sorry.”  Shampoo said sincerely.  

	“Are you going to kill me?”  Steve asked wondering.

	“No.”  Shampoo replied as Steve was closing her shirt as best as she could.

	“Then what are you doing here?”

	“Shampoo was told to retrieve Mistress and friend for audience with Elder.”

	“Oh, okay, but why did you cut my shirt open?”  Steve asked and noticed that Shampoo 
suddenly looked embarrassed.

	“Shampoo did it to get even with Stack.”  Shampoo said looking down.

	“I guess that is fair, for what Red and I did to you.  You’re just lucky that this wasn’t my 
favorite shirt, or else I would have to use my authority as your mistress to punish you.”  Steve 
replied smiling and saw Shampoo nod her head in agreement and then she heard her mumble 
something but couldn’t make out what she said.  “What did you say?”

	“Shampoo also did it to see Stacko.”  Shampoo replied blushing.  Steve also blushed 
when she caught onto what Shampoo was implying.

	“Uh, okay, did you enjoy the view?”  Steve asked.

	“Yes.”  Shampoo said quietly.

	“Well, next time you want to check me out, you just have to ask, okay?”

	“Okay.”

	“Let’s get going before we anger the Elder.”  Steve said and grabbed Shampoo’s hand.  
Shampoo looked at Steve in confusion and saw Steve smile at her.  Shampoo followed Steve back 
to the Tendo Dojo.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Steve was having a difficult time keeping her shirt closed.  After she had left the alley, 
the wind had started picking up, and with her holding Shampoo’s hand in one hand, it caused 
Steve’s shirt to be blown open.  After giving several people a good show of her breasts, she held 
her shirt closed with her other hand.  She blushed hotly and heard Shampoo chuckling at her, they 
continued on their way to the Tendo Dojo.  After having Shampoo chuckling at her for a few 
blocks, Steve glared at her, causing Shampoo to stop chuckling, but Steve could see she was still 
chuckling on the inside.

	When they approached the front gate of the dojo, Steve and Shampoo could hear a female 
voice yelling complaints of a person being a pervert and a jerk, a few moments later, a splash was 
heard.  Steve groaned when she realized that Ranma had angered Akane again and Shampoo had 
a confused look to her face.  Steve continued on into the dojo and hoped that Ranma wouldn’t be 
too surprised when she saw Shampoo.

	“I’m back!”  Steve called out when she entered the house.

	Steve came in and took her shoes off; Shampoo did the same following Steve’s lead.  
When they reached the living room, they saw Ranma ringing water out of her shirt as best as she 
could and Akane fuming nearby.  When the both of them entered the room, Steve smiled when 
she saw Ranma freeze in surprise when Ranma noticed Shampoo.  Akane then noticed that there 
were other’s in the room and took her attention off of Ranma and turned to face the people in the 
room.

	Akane noticed that the two people that had entered were Steve and some girl with long 
purple hair, which Akane thought was probably a dye job.  What caught Akane’s attention right 
away was Steve’s shirt.  When Steve had entered and removed her shoes, she had released her 
hold on her shirt which caused the shirt to open up and have her breasts out on display.  When she 
looked at Steve’s eyes and saw the amusement in them.  She figured that Steve was showing off 
her breasts on purpose and got angry again.

	“What do you think you’re doing?”  Akane asked angrily at Steve.

	“Huh?”  Steve said in confusion when Steve realized that Akane was asking the question 
to him and not Ranma for a change.

	“Walking around exposing yourself like that.”  Akane said pointing Steve’s exposed 
chest.

	“Ah, geez.”  Steve said when she followed Akane’s pointing finger and realized that her 
shirt was open again and quickly closed her shirt as best as she could and started blushing in 
embarrassment, much to Shampoo’s enjoyment.

	“What are you, some kind of exhibitionist?”  Akane asked angrily.

	“Come on Akane, it’s nothing like that.”  Steve tried explaining herself.  Shampoo got 
angry that Akane was yelling at Steve, so she walked in front of Steve and faced Akane.

	“Angry girl threatening Stack?”  Shampoo asked Akane, who was caught by surprise by 
Shampoo’s name for her.

	“Who you calling ‘Angry girl’ and what are you going to do about it if I am?”  Akane 
said.

	“Shampoo calling Angry girl Angry girl.”  Shampoo said.  “And Shampoo must take care 
of you then.”

	Suddenly Shampoo had her two bonbori’s and was swinging them at Akane.  Akane fell 
down in surprise and was lucky she did when the bonbori’s swung where her head use to be.  
Steve then grabbed Shampoo around the waist and tried to pull her away from Akane, but the 
force that Shampoo was using to get at Akane, caused Steve to be dragged along wherever 
Shampoo went.

	Ranma had gotten over the shock of seeing Steve’s naked breasts and seeing Shampoo 
there that she suddenly got defensive when she saw Shampoo start attacking Akane.  Ranma saw 
as Steve tried to stop Shampoo by grabbing her around the waist and kept telling her that it was 
alright, that she should stop attacking Akane.  Akane for the most part had a surprised look to her 
face as she was crawling away from Shampoo, who was dragging Steve along with her.  Ranma 
didn’t want Akane to be beaten up, so she decided to help Steve stop Shampoo by getting in-
between her and Akane.

	Through all the commotion in the living room, Kasumi had decided to heat up some 
water for Steve when she heard him in his female form enter the house.  When the kettle was 
heated, she took it off the stove and headed out to the living room to give it to Steve.  When she 
was in the living room, she noticed that they had a guest over and it seemed that Steve and Ranma 
were trying to stop the guest from beating up Akane.  Kasumi headed over to the table and set the 
kettle on the table for them to use it when they were done playing around.  She then headed back 
to the kitchen to make more of dinner to handle their guest.  She also made a mental note to talk 
to Steve about exposing herself like that in the house.  So she started humming a song she liked as 
she continued on with dinner.

	The struggle that Steve and Ranma had with Shampoo was getting more difficult when 
Akane started arguing and throwing insults at Shampoo, who became more determined to beat the 
living daylights out of Akane.  During the struggle, it brought them closer to the table, where the 
kettle was waiting, and during one of the wild swings Shampoo did, that her bonbori hit the 
kettle, sending it up into the air.  No one paid attention to it until it started raining warm water 
over the four of them.  The ones that were really surprised by it were Ranma and Steve, as they 
changed back to their normal forms.

	The struggling ended when the kettle landed on the floor and Akane and Shampoo 
noticed that Ranma and Steve had changed.  Shampoo dropped her bonbori in shock as she 
looked at Steve and Ranma, who were now males.  Shampoo knew that the males were Steve and 
Ranma, but she didn’t want to believe it.  With Steve’s shirt being open, she could verify that the 
two of them had changed into boys.  She nervously reached a hand out and patted Steve’s chest as 
to make sure her eyes weren’t playing a trick on her.  Steve sighed because he knew that 
Shampoo’s view of the world is starting to crumble down.

	“Well, I guess this was one way to tell Shampoo about your curses.”  Came an old 
woman’s voice nearby.  The four of them turned to face the person and saw Nabiki standing next 
to an old woman balancing on a huge cane.  It was Steve that gained his composure first and 
greeted the old woman.

	“Elder Kho lon, what a pleasant surprise.  What are you doing here?”  Steve asked, 
bowing as a formal greeting.

	“Can’t an old woman check up on her favorite two students?  Well, I was coming here 
and this nice woman let me in.”  Cologne answered and chuckled.  Her chuckling grew some 
when she saw Steve give her a look like he didn’t believe her.  She then noticed the condition of 
Steve’s shirt and thought to have some fun with him.  “Do you always greet people with a shirt 
that is open like that?”

	“Why don’t you ask Xian Pu why my shirt is like this?  It seemed that she had an 
interesting way of saying that you guys were here.”  Steve said and everyone turned to Shampoo 
who was blushing hotly in embarrassment.

	“It seems that you better punish her then.”  Cologne said.

	“I’ll be getting around to it.”  Steve said as he looked at Shampoo and she gulped in 
fright as what he was going to do to her.

	“What is going on?”  Nabiki asked, getting everyone’s attention.  “I thought you said that 
this girl was out to kill you?  But it looks like she is some sort of servant to you?”

	“I guess an explanation is in order.”  Steve said.

	“I would think so.”  Nabiki said irritated.

	“Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes.”  Kasumi said coming out of the kitchen and 
then she noticed Cologne.  “Oh, we have another guest, good thing I made extra then.”  Kasumi 
then returned into the kitchen to finish up dinner.

	“How about after dinner, and then we can tell everyone at once, since it will take a while 
to explain it all at once.”  Steve said to Nabiki.

	“Okay, sounds good to me.”  Nabiki agreed.

	“Why Stack and Red male?”  Shampoo asked Cologne when she had a chance.

	“That will be explained after dinner, Slave.”  Cologne said with firmness that Nabiki was 
almost jealous of.  When Shampoo heard that, she shied back a ways and realized what her place 
was.

	“Why did you call her ‘Slave’?”  Akane asked confused.

	“Like Kho Lon and I said, it will be explained after dinner, but right now, I would like to 
change my shirt out for a new one and I think Red would like to change clothes before he changes 
again.”  Steve said and noticed Ranma nod slightly in agreement.  “While Red and I are doing 
that, Xian Pu, go and clean the mess that you caused.”

	Shampoo was about to comment, but the glare from Cologne shut her up and she headed 
into the Kitchen to ask Kasumi for something to clean the spilt water from the kettle.  While 
Shampoo was doing that, Steve and Ranma headed upstairs to change clothes, leaving a 
thoroughly confused Akane and an intrigued Nabiki to wait for their return.

				*	*	*	*	*

	The dinner table was some what crowded with Cologne and Shampoo being there while 
Kasumi served dinner.  Throughout the meal, Steve noticed that Shampoo had kept glancing over 
at him whenever he wasn’t looking at her.  Cologne had a smile on her face as she watched 
Ranma and Genma fight over their meal.  Akane sat fuming at the display that Ranma and Genma 
were doing, also she was a little upset at how easily Shampoo made a fool of her.  Nabiki was 
wondering what was up with the old woman and the other girl, while the rest of them was just 
enjoying the meal.  When dinner was over and Kasumi, with Steve’s and Shampoo’s help, 
finished the dishes and went to the living room for the big talk that was going to happen.

	So when everyone was in the living room, they all sat around so they could see everyone 
else.  Everyone was sitting on chairs except Cologne, Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo.  For Cologne, 
Ranma, and Steve, they were sitting on the couch and Shampoo was sitting on the floor at Steve’s 
feet, much to her reluctance.  Once everyone was situated, Nabiki started the talk.

	“So what is this all about?”  Nabiki asked.

	“What do you want to know?”  Steve replied.

	“First off, this morning, you tell us that this Shampoo character is after you guys in order 
to kill you, and now we see that she is some sort of servant to you guys.  What is up with that?”  
Nabiki said.

	“Well, I think I should do some introductions first before I answer that.”  Steve said.  
“This here is Kho Lon, Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons of Jyoketsuzoku.”

	“Chinese Amazons?  There is no such thing.”  Akane said.

	“Just because you never heard of us, doesn’t mean we don’t exist.”  Cologne said and 
smiled when Akane closed her mouth when she couldn’t think of anything to say.

	“And this here is Xian Pu, and to answer a part of your question Nabiki, according to the 
laws of her people, she is my slave.”  Steve said, grabbing Shampoo’s shoulder and giving it a 
gentle squeeze while continuing his introductions.

	“What!”  Exclaimed everyone that didn’t know the Amazon laws.

	“Actually, she’s a slave to my female side.”  Steve replied.

	“Like that makes any difference to it.”  Akane said angrily.

	“Okay, but why did you say that she was trying to kill you two?”  Nabiki asked and 
noticed that Cologne had raised an eyebrow when she said that and looked over at Steve.

	“Well, it wasn’t her precisely, but a certain individual that is after Shampoo.”

	“Who?”  Nabiki asked.

	“Hey Stack,” Ranma said all of a sudden before anyone could answer Nabiki, which 
angered her just a little.  “I just realized something; Shampoo and Akane have something in 
common.”

	“What do you mean by that?”  Akane said angrily.

	“He means that both you and Xian Pu both have a love-crazed idiot chasing after you.”  
Steve said to Akane to calm her down.  “And Red, if I remember correctly, the same idiot that is 
after Akane, is also after your female form.”

	“Urk.”  Ranma froze when he remembered that, which caused Akane to start chuckling at 
him.

	“So who is this person?”  Kasumi asked.

	“His name is Mu Tsu, or Mousse for those that have trouble with his name.  He became 
infatuated with her after Xian Pu was nice and helped him out on day when they were three.  He’s 
been after her since then.  So when she became my slave, he didn’t take that very well.”  Steve 
said.

	“What did he do?”  Kasumi asked.

	“He got it in his head that if I was out of the picture, Shampoo would be his.”  Steve said.

	“Speaking of that guy, he didn’t follow you guys here, did he?”  Ranma asked.

	“No, Mu Tsu has been banned from following us.”  Cologne said.  “But if he does show 
up, he better not be here for my Great-granddaughter, or he will answer to the Counsel.”

	“She’s your Great-grand daughter, and you have her being a slave to him?”  Akane asked 
surprised, pointing at Steve.

	“I think we better start with the story, for I know Xian Pu wants to know why Red and I 
are male.”  Steve said and saw Shampoo nod slightly.

	“Yes, I think you should.”  Nabiki said, finally getting to the parts she wanted to hear.

				*	*	*	*	*

	“This story starts about a day after we visited Jusenkyo.”  Steve said as he started the 
story and noticed Shampoo become wide-eyed when he said Jusenkyo.  “The Jusenkyo guide was 
nice enough to escort us to a nearby village that he said that they may help us with a cure to our 
curses.  The only downfall was that it had rained early in the day, so we were in our cursed forms 
and we felt that it would be pointless to try and change back.  So when the guide took us to the 
village, we found out that they were having a tournament going on.” 

				#	#	#	#	#

	“Here Sirs is Amazon village Jyoketsuzoku.  You in luck today is annual tournament.”  
The Jusenkyo Guide said.

	Steve and Ranma looked around and saw just a mass of people had surrounded a 
suspended log, and on the log, were two females fighting each other.  Genma seeing that there 
were nothing but females around, he became bored and looked around.  He suddenly came across 
a picnic table that was loaded with food and suddenly his stomach growled and he made his way 
to the table and started eating.  He was in the train of thought that it was just laying around, so it 
was fair game.

	Ranma had noticed her father moving away and saw where he was headed.  When she 
saw the picnic table of food, her mouth had started to water when she realized how hungry she 
was.  She glanced over at Steve and noticed that she was busy talking to the Guide in English, so 
she decided to follow her father and partake in the food.

	Steve in the meantime was talking to the guide about what was going on.  The guide was 
explaining about how the tournament went, and what it meant to the Amazons.  Steve was 
watching the two girls on the log and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  One of the 
women on the log, with the guaranty from the guide that it was a woman, she could have sworn 
was a cross-dressed man.  The guide had fun and decided to tease Steve with the other woman, 
who was wearing skin tight clothing and had long purple hair, which Steve probably thought was 
a dye job.  So when the guide started talking about how the purple-haired one was more to her 
liking, Steve started blushing.  A couple of moments later, the purple-haired one hit the other 
woman and the other woman went flying.  So Steve turned to where she thought Ranma was to 
ask her what she thought of the fight, but was surprised to see that Ranma wasn’t there.

	Steve looked around and found both Ranma and Genma sitting at a picnic table that was 
covered in food, eating it like food was going out of style.  Steve couldn’t believe that they were 
still hungry from when they had last ate, but it was then that Steve noticed a sign that was sitting 
on the other side of the picnic table of Ranma and Genma, and saw that it was in Chinese.  So she 
turned to get the guide’s attention to translate for her.

	“Hey, Guide, what does that sign say on that picnic over there?”  Steve asked once she 
got the guide’s attention.  The guide then looked at the picnic table that Steve was pointing at.

	“It says first place.”  The Guide said to Steve in English, since that’s what they been 
talking in for a while now.  It was then that he noticed Ranma and Genma at the table, eating the 
food that was on it.  “Uh, what do they think they’re doing?”

	“Getting into trouble it seems.”  Steve said and then made her way to where Ranma and 
Genma were eating.  As Steve approached, she could tell that the villager’s had finally noticed 
what Ranma and Genma were doing.  So she got behind them and used her walking stick as a 
club and swung it so it hit the back of both of their heads.  “What the hell do you two think you’re 
doing?”

	“Eating.”  Ranma replied with Genma holding up a sign that said the same thing.

	“Is this your food?”  Steve asked angrily.

	“It was just sitting here unattended, so it was fair game.”  The sign that Genma held up 
said.

	Steve got fed up at what Genma was saying, and to top it off, they had continued eating 
despite Steve trying to tell them otherwise.  So Steve grabbed her walking stick again and used it 
to hit them behind the head again to get their attention again.  When they had complained about 
being hit, Steve started chewing them out about taking other people’s stuff.  Genma tried again 
with his reasoning, but Steve disputed him with reasoning’s of honor, which make Ranma second 
guess what she was doing.  Steve thought she was getting through Ranma when a big mace like 
item came crashing near Ranma.  Steve and Ranma looked at where the mace came from and 
Steve saw that it was the purple-haired girl that had won the match.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Shampoo had just defeated her warrior sister, Dowel, for the village championship.  As 
her fellow Amazons cheered for her, she felt elated that all her hard work has finally paid off.  As 
she got off the Challenge log, her fellow Amazons came up to her and started congratulating her.  
As she was about to receive her prize, a fellow Amazon gasped and pointed at the prize table.  
When Shampoo and the other Amazons looked at the prize table, Shampoo became enraged that 
an outsider and her pet panda was eating her food that she rightfully won.  So she grabbed her 
bonbori’s and headed to the table to teach that outsider not to mess with an Amazon.

	As she approached the table in order to teach the outsider her place, she stopped in 
surprise at what she suddenly saw.  A girl that looked younger than the one eating her food came 
up behind the one eating her food and hit them in the back of the head with what appeared to be a 
walking stick.  She then watched as the girl then started talking to the girl and the panda with 
what Shampoo could tell to be Japanese, and the little girl appeared to be angry.  Then she got 
another surprise when she saw that the panda hold up a sign, like it was answering the little girl.  
Shampoo watched as the little girl became angrier at the other girl and panda as they seemed to 
ignore her and continue eating.  Shampoo watched as the little girl took her walking stick and hit 
the both of them again and started yelling at them again.  Shampoo got fed up and decided to 
stake her claim to the offender of her prize and threw one of her bonbori at a section of the picnic 
table near the red haired girl, causing the two girl’s and the panda to look surprised when the 
bonbori hit the picnic table.  Shampoo smiled and walked over to the red haired girl and pointed 
her other bonbori at her.

	“” Shampoo said 
in Chinese, which cause blank stares from the two girls.  She then watched as the little girl turned 
to the Jusenkyo guide, who Shampoo just noticed was there, and asked him something in a 
language she didn’t recognized.

				*	*	*	*	*

	“What did she say?”  Steve asked the guide in English.

	“She say why your friend and her pet panda eating her prize.”  The guide told Steve in 
English also.

	“See; now look at what you and your stomach have done.”  Steve turned to face Ranma 
and told Ranma that as she poked Ranma in her stomach, switching back to Japanese.

	“What did I do?”  Ranma asked confused.

	“You and your father just ate that girl’s prize for winning the tournament that was going 
on.”  Steve replied to Ranma.  Before Ranma or Genma could reply, the girl started saying 
something again and it sounded like she wasn’t very happy either.  So both Steve and Ranma 
turned to the guide for translation.

	“She say quit ignoring her and what you going to do about what you have done.”  The 
guide replied in Japanese so both of them could understand him.

	“So you’re saying if I challenge the girl and I win, then the food will be mine by right?”  
Ranma asked.

	“Yes, basically.”  The guide replied.

	“Good, then tell her I challenge her for the food.”  Ranma said.

	“You think that is wise?”  Steve asked, suddenly concerned about the whole affair for 
some reason.

	“Don’t worry, I have it under control.”  Ranma said smiling.  Steve looked at her in 
concern but didn’t say anything else as she watched the guide talk to the purple haired girl.

	“She accepts your challenge.”  The guide said when he finished talking to the girl.

	So Ranma and Shampoo hoped on top of the log and faced each other as the rest of the 
village and Steve, Genma, and the guide watched what was going to happen.  Steve looked 
around and noticed that most of the villager’s were cheering for the girl, and she guessed that her 
name was Shampoo from what the villager’s were shouting out, even though Steve thought that 
was a strange name for a girl.  So she watched and hoped that Ranma didn’t get them into to 
much trouble over this.

	Steve watched as Ranma and the girl faced off against each other for a moment.  Then 
Shampoo got tired of Ranma just standing there like the fight didn’t matter, so she started to 
charge Ranma.  When Shampoo went in for an easy strike to finish the fight, she was surprised 
that her target wasn’t where she swung her bonbori.  She then felt a sharp pain at her chin when 
then she was lifted off the log and fell over the side of it.  As she was falling, Shampoo noticed 
that the girl had ducked under her swing and then kicked her at the chin.  Shampoo was too 
stunned to realize that she lost by only being hit once.  She realized that she lost when she landed 
on the ground near the challenge log.

	Shampoo stood up in time to see that Ranma was being declared the winner of the fight.  
Shampoo couldn’t believe that she lost the fight so quickly, much less the rest of the village.  As 
the referee was raising the arm of Ranma to declare her the winner, Shampoo knew what she had 
to do and made her way over to where Ranma was standing.  As she approached Ranma, Ranma 
was standing there with a confused look on her face as Shampoo walked up to her and placed a 
kiss on her cheek, which had the entire village gasp in shock.  Ranma then placed her hand on her 
cheek where Shampoo had kissed her with a surprised look to her face.

	The Jusenkyo guide saw what happened and he panicked.  He grabbed Steve’s hand and 
then ran over and grabbed Ranma’s hand and started running out of the village, not being 
concerned with Genma since he was in his panda form and could take care of himself.  Steve and 
Ranma were being dragged out of the village not knowing what the guide was doing.  

	“What’s going on?”  Steve asked in English as she was running, trying to keep up 
without losing her footing.

	“She give ‘Kiss of Death’ to your friend here.  We must escape now.”  The guide replied 
in Japanese.

	“What do you mean by that?”  Steve asked.

	“If an outsider female defeats an Amazon, then that Amazon must give ‘Kiss of Death’ 
then kill.”  The guide replied.

	“What!”  Exclaimed both Ranma and Steve in surprise at what the guide had said.

	But before the guide could say anything else, a bunch of Amazons jumped in front of 
them.  The three of them stopped and stared at the Amazons that cut off their escape route.  The 
guide released their hands and they looked around for possible escape routes and finding none.  
Then they notice Shampoo approach with a sword in her hand and an angry look to her face.  
Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo looked at each other; mostly it was Ranma and Shampoo looking at 
each other with Steve looking at the both of them.

	“Stack, stand back, this is between her and me.”  Ranma said getting into a ready stance.

	Steve took several steps off to the side so she was in between the two fighters.  As Steve 
was watching, she was thinking how stupid this situation was, and how could she stop it.  Steve 
watched in worry as she saw Shampoo start her charge towards Ranma.  Suddenly something 
inside Steve clicked and Steve jumped into action.  She intercepted Shampoo and used her 
walking stick to trip Shampoo up.  When Shampoo landed on the ground, Steve jumped on top of 
Shampoo and used her walking stick to pin Shampoo to the ground, causing the surrounding 
Amazons to gasp in surprise.

	Ranma watched, getting ready to counterstrike any attack that Shampoo was going to do.  
Just as Shampoo was starting her strike, Ranma watched as Steve suddenly ran over to Shampoo, 
using her walking stick to trip Shampoo up.  So when Shampoo landed on the ground, she 
watched as Steve jumped on top of Shampoo and used her walking stick to pin Shampoo down on 
the ground.  It was then that Ranma realized that Steve took the fight out of her hands.

	“Hey, Stack, what are you doing?  This was my fight.”  Ranma yelled out.

	“Huh?”  Steve said suddenly regaining enough sense to realize her surroundings.

	“You two must go now, or else you two in trouble.”  The guide called out.  

 	Steve was still only realizing what was going on when she noticed that she was sitting on 
the back of Shampoo, holding her walking stick so Shampoo couldn’t get up.  When Steve heard 
both Ranma and the guide yelling at her, she hesitated on what to do.  Her hesitation was just 
long enough for one of the Amazon Elders to show up.  Steve and Ranma saw an old woman 
approach them by hoping on a huge cane like staff like it was a pogo stick.  The old woman 
approached and turned to face the guide and said something in Chinese.  The guide nodded his 
head and ran off; she then turned to face Steve.

	“Come Child, you can release her now; she will not attack you at the moment.”  The old 
woman said in Japanese.

	Steve looked at the old woman for a moment and then got up off Shampoo.  Shampoo 
stood up, dusted herself off, grabbed her sword and made her way to stand next to the old woman, 
glaring at Steve and Ranma.  As Shampoo was making her way to the old woman, Ranma made 
her way to stand next to Steve.  So then the two groups stood and faced each other with one group 
wondering what the other group was going to do.

	“I must say, you two have diffidently done some interesting fighting.”  The old woman 
said in Japanese.

	“I am the best.”  Ranma boasted.

	“So you say.”  The old woman said and then faced Steve.  “What about you child?”

	“I’ve only been training for a couple of months now.”  Steve said and a few of the people 
around gasped in surprise.

	“Modest I see.  So what started this commotion?”  The old woman asked.

	“Why should we tell you, who are you?”  Ranma said.

	“I’m sorry; my name is Kho Lon, Matriarch of this village.”  Cologne said.

	“Cologne?  What kind of name is that?”  Ranma asked confused.

	“It’s her name, so just leave it Red.”  Steve said to Ranma.

	“You’re mature for your age.”  Cologne said to Steve.

	“What can I say; I am when I have to be.”  Steve said.

	“That’s true.  Now maybe you can tell me what is going on in your own words.”  
Cologne said.

	“Well, my friend and I came here hoping that someone here could help us with a problem 
we have.  When we got here, we find out that your people are having a tournament, so we stop 
and watch.  While I was talking to our guide about what was going on, the two bottomless pits 
saw the food on the picnic table and started eating it.  Then from there, I guess, it went downhill 
from there, with the one standing next to you complaining about the food, which I found out 
turned out to be the prize to the tournament.

	“So Red here challenges the girl for the food and wins the fight.  The guide then starts 
panicking and talking about Kisses of Death and killings, while he was dragging us out of this 
village.  We were then surrounded and Red and that girl face off with each other with Red telling 
me to stand off to the side.  I was thinking about the situation when the next thing I know, I’m on 
top of the girl with you telling me to get off of her.”  Steve said when she realized that she was 
missing some of her memory.

	“In the heat of a moment, your body may react faster then the mind can register.”  
Cologne said to Steve when she saw the panicked look and then smiled when she saw that Steve 
nod her head in acceptance.  “To let you two know, if your guide didn’t explain it well enough, 
the ‘Kiss of Death’ states that if an outsider female defeats a female Amazon, the Amazon must 
give the ‘Kiss of Death’ and hunt down the female to the ends of the Earth to kill that person.”

	“But, but…” Steve started stuttering trying to say what she wanted to.

	“What kind of stupid law it that?”  Ranma asked in surprised disbelief.

	“One that has kept this village strong for many generations.”  Cologne replied.

	“That is just not right.”  Steve finally got out what she wanted to say.

	“That is our way of life.  Speaking of fighting, how much experience in the Art have you 
two had?”  Cologne asked.

	“My entire life.”  Ranma said with pride.

	“As I said, around four months.”  Steve replied.

	“Four months?”  Cologne said with a raised eyebrow while several Amazons murmured 
to themselves.

	“I only started training when I was camping out and came across another camper 
practicing and asked if he would train me.  He started showing me the basics of it until he got lost 
and I came across Red here, and Red agreed to continue my training.”  Steve replied.

	“I see.  For one so young and fresh to the Art, you defeated an Amazon pretty easily.”  
Cologne said.

	“What!”  Exclaimed Ranma and Steve.

	“” Exclaimed several Amazons and Shampoo.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Shampoo was surprised that the little girl she dismissed as not being a threat tripped her 
up and pinned her to the ground when she was trying to kill the red haired girl.  When her Great-
grandmother showed up, she knew the two girls were going to get it.  After the little girl was told 
by Cologne to release her, she got up and made her way to stand next to Cologne.  When she saw 
that both of the girls were standing next to each other, she smiled inwardly, knowing that Cologne 
was going to get them easily.  Her smiled disappeared when her Great-grandmother just talked to 
them.

	Shampoo knew enough Japanese to get the concept of what was being talked about.  She 
couldn’t believe that her Great-grandmother was just making small talk with them.  What really 
got to her was when she found out that the little girl had basically started to learn to fight.  When 
Cologne announced that the little girl had defeated her rather easily, she couldn’t keep her 
surprise in any longer.

	“” Shampoo exclaimed, realizing several Amazons also said it.

	Shampoo suddenly became enraged that her Great-grandmother acknowledged that the 
little girl had defeated her.  She then charged the little girl before anyone could react, with the 
intent of running the girl through with the sword.  She smiled inwardly when she noticed the little 
girl have a surprised look to her face.  What roughly caught Shampoo’s attention was that the 
girl’s eye’s seemed to have unfocused for a moment before the girl ducked the strike.  Shampoo 
was surprised that the girl was able to react to the strike and dodge out of the way.  She then felt a 
sharp pain at her wrist that was holding the sword, causing her to reflexively release her grip on 
the sword.  When the moment the sword hit the ground, Shampoo felt a sharp pain at her temple 
before blackness came to her.

				*	*	*	*	*

	The surrounding Amazons gasped as they saw Shampoo charge the little girl.  What 
really got to them was when the girl dodged the strike and used her walking stick to disarm 
Shampoo and then knock her out cold.  All the Amazons stood in shocked surprise as they 
witnessed what most of them probably considered impossible, except for a few Amazons.

	Cologne watched as Shampoo charged the little girl in a rage.  Cologne had noticed that 
the girl’s eye’s unfocused for an instant before the girl had disarmed Shampoo and knocked her 
out cold.  She then looked at the girl and saw, when Shampoo was out for the count; the girl had a 
surprised look when she saw that Shampoo was laying out cold at her feet.  Cologne also looked 
at the girl’s friend and saw that the red head was staring at her friend in surprise.  She then 
decided to hold a council meeting with the two girls.

	“I must say, this day has been full of surprises.”  Cologne started saying.  “If you two 
would follow me, we have much to discuss.”

	“Uh, okay.”  Ranma said when she noticed that Steve wasn’t going to say anything for a 
moment.

	Ranma led a dazed Steve as they followed Cologne.  Ranma heard Cologne order 
something to the group of Amazons and saw as two of them went over to Shampoo’s body and 
grabbed her arms and dragged her as they followed Cologne.  As they were making their way 
through the village, Ranma had noticed that the Amazons had caught her father and had placed 
him in a cage with two guards standing nearby.  When Genma had noticed them, he held up a 
sign saying ‘Help Me’, which Ranma quickly ignored as they stopped in front of a building.  
Ranma saw that the two Amazons that were dragging Shampoo just release her so laid on the 
ground.

	“Wait here until called.”  Cologne said.

	“What about her?”  Ranma asked, pointing to Shampoo.

	“Don’t worry about her, those two will make sure she is taken care of until out talk is 
finished.”  Cologne explained.

	“Oh, okay.”  Ranma said.

	“In the mean time, you might want to make sure your friend is coherent before the talks.”  
Cologne said before she entered the building.

	After Cologne entered the building, Ranma turned to Steve and grabbed her shoulder and 
started shaking Steve.  Steve came out of her dazed out look and blinked a couple of times.  Steve 
looked around and realized that she didn’t know where she was, but could still tell that she was at 
the Amazon village yet.  When Steve asked Ranma what happened, Ranma started laughing a 
little and said that she had defeated the girl again, but this time a knockout instead of a pin.  Steve 
looked around and saw that Shampoo was on the ground out cold.  After several minutes, the both 
of them were told to enter the building.

	When they entered the building, they were escorted until they were standing in front of 
eleven old women, with Cologne being in the center of them.  The Amazons that had escorted 
them in, bowed to the old women, and then left the area.  Ranma and Steve suddenly became self-
conscious as the old women just stared at them.  After several minutes, Cologne finally started 
talking.

	“We have several things to discuss, we better get to them.”  Cologne said.

	“What do you want to know?”  Steve asked.

	“I think your names would be nice to start with.”  Cologne said.

	“I am Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes Martial Arts.”  Ranma said as he then heard 
murmuring between the old women.

	“We are familiar with that type of martial arts.”  Cologne said and then faced Steve.  
“And you are child?”

	“Steve Stachowicz.”  Steve replied.

	“Strange name for a girl.”  Cologne said with a slight smile.

	“Uh, well I guess.”  Steve said blushing a little.

	“I remember you saying that you were here to ask us for some help.  What is it, if I didn’t 
know by who brought you here?”  Cologne asked.

	“Uh yes, well, we recently were at Jusenkyo, and the guide there said that your village 
was our best chance of fixing our curses.”  Steve replied.

	“What are your curses?”  Cologne asked.

	“You’re looking at them.”  Ranma said before Steve could say any thing.  There were 
many gasps from the old women when Ranma had said that.

	“So both of you are really males?”  Cologne asked.

	“Yes and the panda is Red’s father.”  Steve said.

	“I see.  This definitely puts a complication to this situation.”  Cologne said solemnly.

	“What situation?”  Ranma asked.

	“We will explain that in a moment, but to answer your question about your curses.”  
Cologne said in which caused Ranma to stop her reply and listened carefully.  “The magic of 
Jusenkyo is strong.  There have been no known cures for it; we only have temporary cures that 
don’t last long.”

	“Oh.”  Steve and Ranma said, both looked chest fallen.

	“We apologize for not being anymore helpful.”  Cologne said.

	“Thanks anyway, just another chapter in the book of my life.”  Steve said with a smile 
that seemed a little forced.

	“What’s this situation?”  Ranma asked when the silence got to her.

	“The certain situation both of you has with a certain Amazon.”  Cologne said.

	“What do you mean?”  Steve asked confused.

	“Both of you have defeated her, and one of you has defeated her twice.”  Cologne said.

	“Wh… what about that ‘Kiss of Death’ rule?”  Steve asked nervously.

	“Well, for you Ranma, the law is on hold until the other law is annulled.”  Cologne said.  

	“What other law?”  Ranma asked, happy that the death law is no longer over her head but 
nervous of the new law.

	“The law of Slavery.”  Cologne replied.

	“What’s that?”  Steve asked.

	“Since you have defeated her twice, with witnesses, without giving the ‘Kiss of Death’ 
for the first time, she is now your slave.”  Cologne replied.

	“What!”  Steve exclaimed surprised, especially when she realized that now she has a 
slave.

	“We have no need for a weak Amazon, so we give that Amazon away.”  Cologne said.

	“So what do I do with her?”  Steve asked, confused about the whole situation.

	“You can do anything with or do to her as you so desire.”  Cologne said.

	“Is there anything I can do to undo that?”  Steve asked, causing several eyes of the old 
women to open wide in surprise.  “We came here to ask a question, not screw someone’s life 
over.”  That caused several of the women to start talking loudly in Chinese.

	“Are you really sure you want to do this.”  Cologne said after the talking died down a bit.  
“Most people would take the slave, not fight for its freedom.  If you release her, the ‘Kiss of 
Death’ on your friend will be reinstated.”

	“So it’s either have a slave and save Red’s life, or release the slave and fear when she is 
going to kill her.”  Steve said.

	“Basically.”  Cologne said.

	“Are you sure there isn’t anything we can do to undo this whole mess?”  Steve asked and 
the old women started talking again.

	“There is one thing you two may want to try, but the consequences of failing would not 
be good.”  Cologne said.

	“What is it?”  Steve asked suddenly nervous.

	“That the two of you would be willing to take a test of sorts.  You pass the test, we can 
work something out, fail it and you two would either be the slaves, or dead.”

	“That’s it?”  Steve asked.

	“Yes.”  Cologne said.

	“Well, Red, what do you think?”  Steve asked Ranma.

	“If it’s the only thing and you’re willing to go through with it, I say let’s go for it.”  
Ranma replied.

	“Okay.”  Steve said and then faced the Elders.  “We will go through the test you have.”

	“Very well, then if you two will wait outside, I will escort you two to where you will 
sleep for the night, once I have finished talking to my fellow Elders.”  Cologne said

	“Okay.”  Both Steve and Ranma said as they bowed and left the room to wait outside for 
Cologne to take them to where they were going to be staying for the night.

	“Are you sure about this test, much less of them passing it.”  One of the Elders asked 
Cologne.

	“They both hold promise.”  Cologne replied.

	“Are you sure about that Steve person?  He only has a few months of training.”  Another 
Elder asked.

	“There is something about the both of them I can sense; I know they will both be fine.”  
Cologne said.

	Cologne then left the room and went outside to find Ranma and Steve waiting for her.  As 
she approached them, she looked over and saw that Shampoo was conscious; sitting on her knees 
with the two Amazon’s standing over her, with a hopeful look to her face.  Cologne then frowned 
at her and the hope in Shampoo’s eyes fell and she lowered her head to look at the ground in 
shame.  Cologne looked up and saw that Ranma and Steve had a confused look to their faces.

	“Shall we go now?”  Cologne said.

	Both of them nodded their heads and watched as Cologne dismissed the two guards.  
They started following Cologne to where she wanted them to be at.  As they were walking, Steve 
kept glancing behind them and checked out Shampoo.  She saw that Shampoo was walking with 
them with her head lowered.  Steve felt sorry for her for putting her in the situation that was now 
going on.  Steve then started thinking what would happen to Shampoo now that her world was 
taken from her.

	“Here we are.”  Cologne said, knocking Steve out of her thinking.

	Steve and Ranma looked at the place in front of them and realized it was probably the 
second biggest building in the whole village.  Cologne smiled at their shocked looks and showed 
them in, making Shampoo stay outside.  When they were inside, Cologne explained that the 
house they were in was for the Matriarch.  After Cologne showed them around, she left them in a 
bedroom for the night with instructions for them.

	“This will be your two’s room.”  Cologne said.

	“Whose room was this?  It still seems to be in use?”  Steve asked.

	“It use to belong to your slave.”  Cologne said.

	“Oh, but why did you say used to?”  Steve asked.

	“Since she is now a slave, everything that she owned now belongs to you.”  Cologne said 
smiling at Steve’s shocked face.  “Also you will keep everything when you pass the test.”

	“Oh.”  Steve said still in shock, looking around the room.

	“Speaking of the test, you two better get some sleep, the test begins early tomorrow.”  
Cologne said.

	“Okay.”  Ranma said also looking around the room.

	As Cologne left the room, Steve and Ranma looked around the room more carefully.  
They saw everything that Shampoo owned and stuff that she held dearly.  After the quick look 
around, they settled on the bed.  They saw how small the bed was, it was big enough for one 
person to sleep comfortably, but for two, it was just big enough if they were quite friendly.  They 
looked at each other for a bit and then shrugged.  Steve started removing her pants so she was 
only dressed in boxers and a shirt, and Ranma just stayed in her Gi.  Ranma took the side of the 
bed that was nearest to the wall as Steve took the other side.

	“Are you sure you really want to do this?”  Ranma asked Steve after a while.

	“I don’t want to mess a girl’s life because of your stomach and some laws I didn’t know 
about.”  Steve replied.

	“So what do you think they are going to do?”

	“I don’t know, But Cologne said that the test was early in the morning, so we better get 
some sleep.”  Steve laid there for a moment when she could some how sense what Ranma really 
wanted to know.  “But that don’t mean we shouldn’t be prepared for them.  Remember, Ranma 
Saotome never loses.”

	“Yeah, you’re right.”  Ranma said smiling and then the both of them settled in and fell 
asleep.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Steve awoke in the middle of the night because of an urge to go to the bathroom.  When 
she opened her eyes, she suddenly blushed hotly when she saw where she was laying.  She 
realized that during the night, she had rolled over and was using Ranma as a pillow.  She noticed 
that Ranma had not moved at all, that it was her that had moved around.  So she carefully moved 
off Ranma and got out of bed.

	“Sumthin’ wrong, Stack?”  Asked a sleepy Ranma, causing Steve to jump in surprise.

	“No, I just need to use the bathroom.”  Steve replied.

	“Okay.”  Ranma said and when Steve looked at Ranma again, Ranma had fallen asleep 
again.

	Steve looked at Ranma in surprised confusion until the urge to use the bathroom 
reminded her of why she woke up in the first place.  She left the room and went to use the 
bathroom.  When she was done with the bathroom, she was heading back to the bedroom when 
she glanced out side and noticed that it was starting to rain.  She was about to enter the bedroom 
when she remembered about Shampoo being outside.

	Steve made her way outside and found Shampoo curled into a ball, leaning against the 
house to get out of the rain.  Steve noticed that she was shivering because of the cold wet wind.  
Not wanting her to get sick because of the rain, she made her way to where Shampoo was, trying 
to stay out of the rain as best as she could.  As she neared Shampoo, Shampoo heard her and 
looked up.  Steve looked at her and could tell she had been crying recently.  As Steve approached 
her, and stood in front of her, Shampoo lowered her head.

	Steve then grabbed Shampoo’s arm and had her stand up, in which Shampoo reluctantly 
did so.  After Shampoo stood up, Steve then grabbed her hand and started leading her back to the 
house.  When Steve entered the house, Shampoo realized where Steve was heading and she 
remembered the rules of slaves and stopped walking abruptly, causing Steve to stumble at the 
sudden stop.  Steve looked back at Shampoo in confusion and pulled on Shampoo’s arm to get 
her moving, but Shampoo refused to enter the house.

	“I don’t know if you can understand me, but it’s all right, come on.”  Steve said to 
Shampoo.

	“Shampoo understand Mistress.”  Shampoo said quietly, surprising Steve.

	“If you can understand me, why didn’t you talk before now?”  

	“Shampoo know only little.”

	“Oh, don’t feel bad, I’m still learning this language also.  Japanese is not my primary 
one.”

	“Shampoo understand.”

	“So why won’t you enter?”

	“Is law.”  Shampoo said.  “Slave can not enter house.”

	“You are to follow your Mistress’ orders correct?”

	“Yes.”

	“Then I’m ordering you to enter the house with me.”  Steve saw Shampoo still hesitate.  
“If you’re wondering about the Elder, I’ll take the heat since you will be following my orders.”

	So Steve grabbed Shampoo’s hand again and pulled her into the house.  Shampoo 
followed Steve reluctantly until they were in the bedroom Cologne said they could use.  When 
Shampoo realized where they were, she became chest fallen when she realized that all her stuff 
was no longer hers, so she stood at the spot where Steve released her hand.  She watched as Steve 
went over to her dresser and pulled out a shirt and pants and then handed them to her.  Steve told 
her to change clothes while she went to get some make shift bedding.

	When Steve returned with a pillow and a blanket, she noticed that Shampoo was dressed 
in the new clothes waiting for her.  Steve handed Shampoo the blanket and pillow and told her to 
sleep on the floor.  When Shampoo looked at Steve in surprise, Steve explained what she was 
doing.  She told Shampoo that she wasn’t going to have any slave of hers get sick on her because 
she left them in the rain when they didn’t do anything wrong.  So Shampoo laid on the floor as 
Steve went back to bed. 

	As Shampoo lay on the floor, she occasionally glanced up at Steve’s sleeping face, 
thinking of her situation.  Shampoo was glad that Steve was her Mistress, because she had seen 
some of her fellow Amazon’s become slaves and their Mistress’ were very harsh on them.  She 
was glad that Steve didn’t appear to be like them, so she smiled and fell asleep.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Steve felt a tapping on her shoulder that woke her up.  She opened her eyes and found 
herself laying on Ranma again, but this time she had an arm wrapped over Ranma.  She then felt 
the tapping on her shoulder again, so she turned over to see Cologne standing by the bed looking 
at her.

	“It’s time for you two to wake up.  The test will begin after you two had breakfast, and 
breakfast is in ten minutes.”  Cologne said.

	“Okay, thanks.”  Steve replied still sleepy.

	“What is she doing in here?”  Cologne said with resentment, pointing at Shampoo.

	“It was raining outside and I didn’t want her to get sick and be useless to me.”  Steve 
replied.

	“Very well, I accept your reason.  Breakfast will be ready shortly.”  Cologne said.  She 
then hopped out of the room and Steve looked down at Shampoo and saw her looking at her with 
a surprised expression.  Steve then smiled at her warmly.

	“I told you it would be all right.”  Steve said to Shampoo and she just nodded her head.  
Steve then turned to the sleeping Ranma and started to shake her shoulder.  “Hey Red, time to 
wake up.”  Ranma just groggily mumbled stuff, which confused Steve when Ranma woke up 
easily last night.  “Come on Red, breakfast is shortly.”

	Ranma quickly sat up, surprising Steve a bit too lean back, causing her to fall out of the 
bed.  Shampoo quickly rushed over to help Steve stand when Steve landed on the floor.  Once 
Steve was standing, she realized that Shampoo was still holding her.  She looked down and saw 
Shampoo’s hands cupping her breasts, so she then looked upped at Shampoo.

	“Um, Shampoo, I’m standing, you can release me now.”  Steve said and Shampoo 
removed her hands.  “Thanks.”

	“What’s she doing in here?”  Ranma asked.

	“I brought her in to get out of the rain.”  Steve replied.

	“Oh, I was wondering why she was there when I noticed her when I was woken up.”  
Ranma said.

	“When was that?”  Steve asked.

	“When you decided to use me as a pillow for the second time.”  Ranma replied.

	“Uh, I wouldn’t say it was on purpose.  Sorry about that.”  Steve said, blushing hotly.

	“No problem, anyway, you said something about breakfast?”  Ranma said.

	“Yeah, Cologne’s waiting for us.  After breakfast, the test begins.”  Steve said.

	“Okay.”  Ranma said as she left the room for breakfast.  Steve then pulled her pants on 
and followed Ranma.  Shampoo looked down at her hands for a moment and then smiled to 
herself before she followed Steve out.

	When they entered the dining room, Ranma and Steve sat at the table while Shampoo 
knelt on the floor behind Steve.  Ranma and Steve ate a quick breakfast of fruit and some bread 
with some fruit juice.  While they were eating, Steve noticed that Shampoo wasn’t eating, that she 
was looking at the food hungrily.  So Steve grabbed a slice of bread and passed it to Shampoo.  
Shampoo looked confused at the slice for a moment before she then quickly took the slice and ate 
it quickly.  When they were done eating, two Amazon guards showed up to escort them to the 
beginning of the test.

	The two Amazons blind folded Ranma and Steve, after much complaint from Ranma, 
Cologne explained that it is for the purpose of the test that they don’t know the route back.  After 
the blindfolds were in place, the both of them were escorted to the starting point.  Once the both 
of them left with their Amazon escort, Cologne turned to Shampoo.

	“It’s time for you to get ready for your part.”  Cologne said.

	“Yes, Elder.”  Shampoo said and then the both of them left the building.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Ranma and Steve were being escorted for a while.  They could tell that they were being 
lead through forests, plains, over bridges, and other places.  After what seemed to be over an hour 
of walking, they were told to remove their blindfolds.  After blinking several times due to the 
sudden bright light and looked around.  They saw the two Amazon escorts standing off to the 
side, with one of the village Elders standing in front of them.

	“I am Lo Shin.  I will tell you what the test will be about.”  Said Lo Shin.

	“Okay.”  Replied Ranma and Steve.

	“This test is simple; you have until sun down to reach a finish point marked by a staff 
looking like this one.”  Lo Shin said, pointing to the staff she was holding.  “To inform you, this 
is a test to the death or capture, in which both of you must avoid either one.  Both of you must 
reach the peninsula that is the finish point alive, so no sacrifices for the other to make it.  It is just 
going to be you two versus several groups of Amazon hunting parties and any traps that they have 
made.”

	“How are we going to know we are going in the right direction?”  Steve asked.

	“The path will have markers to remind you of the direction in which you must go.”  Lo 
Shin replied.

	“So we just gotta reach the end before we get killed or captured, right?”  Ranma asked.

	“That is correct, for if you are captured, you will become slaves.  The route begins that 
way down the path, so you better hurry, times a wasting.”  Lo Shin said.  “I hope both of you 
make it.”

	Steve and Ranma looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and started down the 
path, failing to see the Amazons smiling at them.

				*	*	*	*	*

	They ran down the path for a half an hour before Steve needed to take a break.  While 
Steve was trying to catch her breath, she asked Ranma what they were going to do, while Ranma 
was on look out for any ambushers.  Ranma didn’t know except to get to the end and pass the test 
so they could get the Amazons off their backs.  Steve asked if doing this was really a good idea to 
do.  Ranma thought for a moment and told her that either way the Amazons were going to try and 
kill them, just this way they had a chance of annulling any death treat they had created.

	“Well, let’s get going before they come upon us.”  Steve said after she caught her breath.

	After hurrying down the path for a couple of minutes, they came upon a big clearing.  
Right before they entered the clearing, Steve grabbed Ranma’s arm, stopping her in her tracks.  
Before Ranma could complain about being stopped abruptly, she noticed Steve telling her to be 
quiet with a finger over her lips.  Ranma quickly picked up the meaning and quickly surveyed 
their area.  After not finding any thing, she looked at Steve in confusion.  Steve bent down and 
placed her finger gently on a string that was two steps away from Ranma.  Ranma realized that is 
was a trip wire to a trap.

	Steve pushed Ranma back a bit and grabbed a nearby tree branch.  She then tossed the 
branch so it landed on the wire.  The moment the stick landed on the wire, two logs came 
swinging by and both of them realized that if they had tripped the trap by walking over it, then 
they would be dead by being hit by the two logs, or at least severely injured.  Steve then told 
Ranma that they probably set traps last night, so there was probably several more along the way, 
especially along the path.  Ranma nodded in agreement and they decided to go around the 
clearing, being very cautious of any traps that they might encounter.

	Being careful along the way through the forest, they only came across three more traps.  
The thing that got to them was that the traps were becoming more deadly and harder to spot.  The 
last trap that they came across had used vines to set the trap off in which Steve was the one that 
set it off by looking any more trip wires.  When Steve tripped over the vines, a pit opened in front 
of the vines, and Steve started falling into the pit.  It was only Ranma’s quick reflexes that saved 
Steve when Ranma grabbed Steve’s right arm.

	Steve was grateful that Ranma was able to save her, especially when she looked down 
and saw a bunch of wooden spikes at the bottom of the pit.  Ranma pulled Steve up and Steve 
thanked Ranma once her heart rate slowed down, in which Ranma said to Steve thankfully that 
Steve was now in a lighter body, Steve couldn’t agree more with that statement.  

 	When they realized that the traps were changing, they decided to head toward the path 
and hope the traps would end soon.  They found the path easily enough, and started following it 
off to the side of the path, while keeping an eye out for any more danger.  By this time, Steve 
came across a decent sized stick to use as a walking stick and to use it to help detect any more 
traps that they might come across.

	They walked down the side of the path some when Ranma suddenly stopped and grabbed 
the back of Steve’s shirt to stop her.  Steve turned to look at Ranma questionably when she 
noticed Ranma get into a ready stance.  Steve whipped around just as five Amazons jumped out 
of the trees and bushes and started attacking.

	Ranma went and started defending against three of the Amazons that started attacking, 
while the other two went after Steve.  The Amazons that were attacking Ranma were hard pressed 
to over come her.  Ranma was dodging and weaving around all the attacks that the Amazons were 
throwing, which angered the three Amazons because they weren’t hitting their target.  Ranma 
went on the offensive when she heard a scream of pain from Steve which caused her to glance 
over at Steve and saw that she was on the ground, in the fetal position, holding her left side.  
Ranma realized that the ones Steve was fighting hit her ribs that were injured from when she had 
hit her.

	The distraction gave the Amazons a chance to hit Ranma, but Ranma’s danger sense 
warned her of the attack and was able to move out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid the 
Amazon from cutting through the sash of her Gi, causing her Gi to open up and reveal that she 
wasn’t wearing anything underneath it.  When Ranma did quick sides glance over at Steve, she 
noticed that the two Amazons that were fighting Steve, were going for a death blow, so Ranma 
then started attacking the three she was facing.

	With the distraction of Ranma’s bouncing breasts, the three Amazons froze just long 
enough for Ranma to knock two of them out cold with punches and use the third one as an item to 
throw into the two attacking Steve.  Ranma quickly followed through with her throw so when the 
two got back up, Ranma quickly rendered them out cold.  Ranma did a quick survey and smiled 
when she saw that all their attackers were out cold, she then went over to check on Steve.

	“Hey Stack, you okay?”  Ranma asked in concern.

	“Except for reaggravting my bruised ribs, I’m fine.  Thanks for the save.”  Steve said to 
Ranma, not noticing the way Ranma was dressed at the moment.

	“No problem.”  Ranma smiled, and then went and helped Steve to stand up, who hisses in 
pain, but stood up without much trouble, except favoring her left side.  It was then that Steve 
noticed the condition of Ranma’s Gi and started blushing at the sight she was seeing.

	“Um, Red, what happened to the sash of your Gi?”  Steve managed to say without 
stuttering.

	“Your scream of pain distracted me enough that one of them was able to cut my sash 
off.”  Ranma replied not knowing what Steve’s problem was.

	“Well, as much as I’m enjoying the view, how about closing your top until I find a new 
sash for you.”  Steve said.

	“Huh?”  Ranma was confused at what Steve was saying and looked down at her top and 
saw her breasts hanging out in plain view.  “Oh.”  Ranma quickly closed her top and held it shut 
in her hand; she then looked at a smiling Steve.  “Pervert.”

	“Hey, I’m not the one advertising.”  Steve said smiling at a fuming Ranma.

	Steve then managed to walk over to one of the unconscious Amazons and removed a red 
silk sash from her and handed over to Ranma.  Ranma started complaining about wearing 
women’s clothes when Steve pointed out it was either the sash or go around holding the Gi shut.  
Ranma grumbled about the situation but reluctantly grabbed the sash and tied it around her to 
hold the Gi top shut.  While Ranma was tying the sash around her, she noticed that Steve was 
going around each of the girls and started taking things from them.  When Ranma asked about it, 
Steve mentioned that she wasn’t going to go unprepared during the next fight and was taking 
some things to help out.

	Ranma took a look at the things that Steve was collecting and saw that it was a couple 
bundles of rope, a couple of knives, some trail mix of some sort, and a bow staff from one of the 
Amazons.  When Steve loaded herself with all the gear, Ranma saw that Steve could barely stand 
due to all the weight being pressed on her sore ribs.  Ranma knew that Steve had something 
planned; she just hoped that Steve was able to pull it off.  When Ranma saw Steve stumble for the 
third time in also the same amount of seconds, Ranma went over and scooped Steve into her 
arms.  Steve gave a startled gasp when Ranma picked her up and just looked at Ranma in 
confused surprise.

	“I figured we better get going before they wake up or reinforcements arrive.  But with 
you being injured and deciding to carry all that stuff, I figured I would help you out.”  Ranma 
said.

	“Oh, thanks.”  Steve said and then gasped again when Ranma started running through the 
forest.

	As Ranma was running through the forest, Steve held onto all her things that she had 
collected, and pulled herself into a tight ball to help be less of a drag on Ranma’s running.  After 
running for several minutes, Ranma had stopped running and set Steve down so she could catch 
her breath.  When Ranma was catching her breath, Steve did a quick look around and saw that 
they had traveled a great distance for such a short amount of time.  So once Ranma had rested 
enough, she asked Steve if she was ready to get going again, in which Steve told Ranma to rest 
for a little bit longer.

	“Hey Red, you’re not upset about me using you as a pillow?”  Steve asked.

	“If you don’t start doing that when you are in your guy form, I won’t have a problem, just 
don’t get to frisky on me.”  Ranma said.

	“Hey!”  Steve exclaimed.

	“Got you.”  Ranma said smiling at Steve’s expression.

	“Fine, you got me on that one.”  Steve said and looked up towards the sky at the position 
of the sun.  “Well, I guess we better get going, the sun is setting soon.  I can’t believe we’ve been 
wondering around this forest for most of the day.”

	“That is what I think part of this stupid test is about; to see how fast we can finish it.  It 
practically seems just a test of speed while trying to avoid time delays.”  Ranma said.

	“I guess so.”  Steve said and then past some of the trail mix to Ranma.  “Here, when we 
finish with this lets get going.”

	“Okay.”  Ranma said and started eating the trail mix.

	When they finished eating what they had of the trail mix, Ranma gathered Steve in her 
arms again and started running again.  After running for a bit, they came across a path and they 
realized that it was the path that they were suppose to be traveling on.  After following the trail 
for a bit, they came to a top of a hill, in which Ranma pushed Steve off to the side.  After Steve 
commented on being shoved about, Ranma pointed to the bottom of the hill.

	Steve looked down and saw that the bottom of the hill opened to a river gorge.  The path 
down that they were going to follow ended up to a rope bridge wide enough to fit one person.  
The gorge was wide enough that trying to jump it would be out of the question.  But the thing that 
caught Steve’s attention and the reason that Ranma pushed them out her out of the way was that 
surrounding the bridge on both ends was a group of twenty Amazons.  Steve glanced over at 
Ranma and saw that Ranma was thinking of a way to cross the gorge without having to deal with 
all the Amazons.  Steve started thinking of ways but couldn’t think of anything to help their 
situation.  Steve then glanced down river and suddenly started thinking of an idea that came to 
her.

	When an idea came to Steve’s mind, Steve got Ranma’s attention and signaled for Ranma 
to follow her.  Ranma had a confused look but saw that Steve had an idea and followed her as she 
made her way along the gorge.  After several minutes of walking along the gorge, Steve stopped 
at a point and looked around.  Steve saw that they were far enough away from the bridge so the 
Amazons that were there wouldn’t see them, and it was the first section of the gorge that was 
narrow enough to do what Steve was thinking.  When they stopped, Ranma asked Steve what she 
was thinking in which Steve started explaining the idea she had.

	Steve explained to Ranma that she was thinking of creating a rope bridge of their own.  
Ranma looked confused at the idea and Steve then explained that Steve was going to have Ranma 
throw a knife tied to the rope to the other side and use the rope to cross the gorge.  Ranma then 
got what Steve was saying and thought through the idea and reasoned that it was a good idea.  It 
would help them cross the gorge and it was done away from the Amazons so they wouldn’t see 
them going across the gorge, so Ranma agreed to help out.

	So Steve then grabbed the rope she had and tied both of the ropes together and one end of 
the rope to a knife.  Steve then handed the rope over to Ranma and Ranma then tested the rope 
and started guessing how she should throw the rope.  She looked on the other side of the gorge 
and saw a sturdy enough tree to throw the rope at.  Ranma then gripped the rope and started 
swinging the rope and then threw it towards the tree.  Both of them watched as the knife sailed 
across the gorge and wrap itself around a thick branch the knife stuck into the tree.  Steve looked 
at what happened in surprise as Ranma was tying the other end of the rope off on their side.

	“How’d you do that?”  Steve asked Ranma in surprise as Ranma was tying of the other 
end of the rope.

	“’Cause I’m that damn good.”  Ranma said smiling to Steve when she finished tying off 
the rope.

	“Uh, sure.”  Steve said and decided to drop the subject because she knew she wasn’t 
going to understand it anyway.

	Once they had made sure that the rope would hold their weight, they started crossing the 
gorge.  Once they got to the other side of the gorge, Ranma had to help Steve get across from the 
half way point because Steve was getting tired and sore from trying to cross the rope.  But once 
they were on the other side, Steve laid on the ground and thanked what every God was listening 
for letting her make it across.  Ranma just chuckled and told Steve how out of shape she was if 
she got tired from crossing the gorge, Steve just told Ranma that she wasn’t as active as Ranma 
when she was young.

	Ranma told Steve that time was running out and they still had to back track to find the 
path that would take them to the finish line.  Steve reluctantly got back up and griped the only 
thing she had left from the group of Amazons, which was the Bo staff, to help her stand up.  
Ranma was there to help steady Steve whenever Steve stumbled.  They had made their way back 
to the point that they could notice the Amazons at the bridge.  So they made sure they didn’t 
make any noise and took the long way around the group of Amazons and made it to a point they 
found the path again.  Once they found the path, they kept an eye open for any Amazons and 
continued down the path.

	After several minutes of walking, they came across what appeared to be the end of the 
path, for it ended in a big clearing.  Once they got there, they looked around and saw that at one 
side of the clearing was at a plateau and it was a drop off for a long ways down.  They backed up 
a little ways and wondered what they were suppose to do, they both figured this is where they 
were suppose to be for the end of the test, as far as they could tell, but both of them had this 
feeling that there was one more thing that was going to happen.  Just as they both thought that 
thought, they heard a rustle of leaves and when they turned towards that direction, a figure 
jumped out of the bushes.

	When the figure landed in front of them, the both of them noticed that the figure was 
Shampoo, and she had an apologetic look to her face as she held a sword at them.  Once Ranma 
and Steve got over their shock of seeing Shampoo, they reacted in time to dodge her initial attack 
at them.  When Steve got back to her feet, she tried to find out what was going on and try and 
reason with Shampoo.  Shampoo told Steve she was sorry for what she was doing said that she 
must do what she was doing.  Once she finished talking, she started attacking again.

	Shampoo knew that the more dangerous one to fight with was Ranma, so she centered her 
attacks on Ranma, but didn’t totally ignore Steve this time.  Ranma mainly was just dodging her 
attacks as Shampoo kept striking with her sword.  Ranma had glanced over at Steve and saw a 
look that Steve had in her face that Ranma didn’t like, because she realized what the look meant.  
The look meant that Steve knew the final stage of the test was to prove Shampoo didn’t lose on 
accident that Shampoo was fighting to kill the both of them or die trying.  With talking to Steve 
last night about the situation, Ranma didn’t want to mess with someone’s life and she finally 
realized that it was her stomach that had gotten her in this situation to begin with.  Also Ranma 
saw this look in Steve’s eyes that made Ranma think of a way to finish the fight before anyone 
was killed.

	Ranma smiled inwardly at the thought that Steve had created feelings for the girl she was 
presently dodging the strikes from.  She started thinking of a way to end this fight so that no one 
would have to be killed.  An idea popped in her head and decided to go for it, the only thing that 
the idea would cause if it failed was someone’s death.  So when Shampoo did a strike towards 
Ranma, Ranma reversed the attack which caused Shampoo to be thrown towards the cliffs edge.  
Shampoo was able to stop herself before she slid off the edge.  Steve stared in shock as she saw 
Ranma toss Shampoo towards the edge and sighed in relief as she stopped herself before she went 
over.  No one noticed the sigh of relief that Ranma did as the attack she did didn’t toss Shampoo 
over the side.  She then watched as Shampoo stood back up on her feet.

	Steve and Ranma watched as Shampoo stood back up and got into a ready stance and got 
ready to attack again.  Suddenly a noise was heard and the ground beneath Shampoo’s feet 
suddenly gave out of under her.  As she fell down, she dropped her sword and was able to grab 
the edge but the ground was too loose and her hand holds were crumbling in her grip, causing her 
to slide down the edge.  When the ground started to give under Shampoo, Steve was in motion to 
try and catch her, so when Shampoo was sliding off the edge, Steve did a flying leap to catch 
Shampoo’s arm as she was slipping off the edge, so Steve was laying on the ground, holding 
Shampoo’s arm as she was hanging over the cliff’s edge.  

 	Ranma seeing what was happening, rush towards Steve to help her out before the ground 
gave out again.  Ranma grabbed the back of Steve’s pants and used it to help leverage Steve so 
Ranma can help them up.  Ranma was pulling Steve back which was helping pull Shampoo back 
up.  Once Shampoo was over the cliff’s edge, she was able to help pull herself up and when they 
were far enough away from the edge of the cliff, the realization of what just happened dawned on 
Shampoo and she saw that Steve was next to her wondering if she was alright.  Shampoo realized 
that Steve was concerned for her, which she couldn’t understand because she was there to kill 
them, but Steve had risked her life to save Shampoo’s and the realization of everything else, 
Shampoo just busted into tears.

	Shampoo wrapped her arms around Steve and just started crying on Steve’s shoulder.  
When Shampoo started crying and grabbed onto Steve, Steve just wrapped her arms around 
Shampoo and just rocked her as she continued crying and was mumbling things in Chinese.  After 
a minute of Shampoo’s crying, they heard another rustle of leaves and turned to face the noise.  
Ranma and Steve saw Cologne with two Amazons enter the clearing and looked around.  When 
Cologne rested her look on the three of them, she sighed and started talking.

	“Congratulations, you have passed the test.”  Cologne said.

	“What was this about?”  Steve asked.  “Why was Xian pu trying to kill us again?”

	“If you will follow me, we will explain everything to the both of you.”  Cologne said and 
then turned around and started hopping away but stopped suddenly.  “Also, bring your slave with 
you.”  And then continued hopping away from the clearing.

	Ranma and Steve looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders.  Shampoo in the 
meantime had stopped crying when Cologne entered the clearing and stood up and stood behind 
Steve with a lowered head.  Steve stood up and both of them started following the two Amazons 
toward the trail back to the village, with Shampoo following behind them all.  Steve and Ranma 
were surprised at how close the village was to where they just were at; in fact, they could see the 
cliff’s edge when they had entered the village.  While en route to wherever they were going, 
Ranma had noticed that Genma was still in his panda form and was still in the cage, with some 
bamboo shoots in the cage.  After a few minutes of walking more, they stopped in front of the 
council building.  The Amazons showed Steve and Ranma in as Shampoo stayed out side.

	Once inside the council room, Ranma and Steve were facing the Elders and was 
wondering what was going to happen.  After several minutes of the Elder’s talking to each other 
in Chinese, Cologne then turned to face the both of them.

	“I guess you two want to know what is going to happen.”  Cologne said.

	“It would be nice.”  Ranma said.

	“Very well.”  Cologne said nodding her head.  “As part of our agreement of you passing 
the test, these are the terms we have come up with and hope you will approve of them.”

	“Go ahead.”  Steve said.

	“By passing the test, we have made the both of you members of the Amazon tribe, but 
only in your female forms.  If you will let me finish before interrupting me, all will be explained.”  
Cologne started saying when she saw Ranma was about to argue with her.  Ranma decided to let 
Cologne explain before she started complaining.  “As I was saying, as for the rest of the village, 
they just think that what you went through was just a test to become members of the tribe.  So as I 
said, it is only in your female forms that we will recognize you as members of the tribe.  But just 
in case either of you are splashed with warm water; the story the two of you will say is that you 
both were splashed with heated Jusenkyo water.

	“Any threats upon you before this meeting is now no more, you have a clean slate as far 
as we are concerned, but we will expect you to honor our laws for as long as you are in China.  So 
what we are asking is if the both of you are willing, we will teach you some of our arts to you if 
you are willing to stay for a minimum of two weeks with us, so we can also teach you what the 
laws of our people are.  Do the two of you find this acceptable?”

	“Why was Xian pu trying to kill us at that clearing?”  Steve asked.

	“It was her last chance to prove herself an Amazon rather then a slave and she failed.  Do 
you find our terms acceptable?”  Cologne replied.

	Both Ranma and Steve looked at each other and they could practically know what the 
other was thinking and they both thought that it was going to be the best that they could get for 
what has happened.  So the both of them agreed to stay two weeks to allow them what the elders 
had in store for the two latest members of the tribe.  Once the agreement was made, Steve 
realized that they hadn’t talked about the reason Steve had suggested the test in the first place, 
and that was to free Shampoo from her slavery.

	“What about Xian pu and her slavery?”  Steve asked.

	“I will speak with you in private about that.”  Cologne said and looked at her fellow 
Elders.

	The other Elders nodded their head in respect and left the room by a side door.  Steve had 
turned to Ranma and told her to wait outside for her to return.  Ranma nodded since she knew that 
whatever was said was going to involve Steve and Shampoo’s future.  Ranma left and after a few 
moments, Steve turned towards Cologne and waited for her to speak on the matter that Steve had 
asked about.

	“So you want Xian pu freed from our slavery law.”  Cologne said.

	“Yes I do.”  Steve said.

	“We have agreed to your terms and have freed her from our slavery law.”

	“But why is she still outside as a slave?”

	“It is the reason I wanted to talk to you in private.  I have seen how you have treated her 
in the past day.  You have brought her in from the rain before she could catch a cold, gave her 
some of your food in which she should not have been as honored to have, and when she was 
trying to kill the both of you in that clearing, you both risk your life to save her from death.  So 
even if she was not a slave, she now owes the both of you a blood debt of honor.  Before I ramble 
on to much, to let you know, Xian pu is my great-granddaughter and I am glad you have treated 
her well these past two days, with the exception of the time at the tournament.”

	“She’s your granddaughter?”  Steve said surprised as Cologne nodded her head in 
agreement.

	“So speaking of such, since you have fought for her freedom, it lies on her family to 
decide if they want her back with them or find her a disgrace and make her stay as a slave.”

	“So my fighting for her was for nothing?”

	“No, it was for something, it was to prove you were sincere in what you wanted.  Because 
of that, I have a request to ask of you.”

	“What is it?”

	“As you know, I am the Matriarch of this here village, which would make my great-
granddaughter my heir to that position, but I fear that because of her skill in the arts, it has made 
her not stable to take the position.  My request is for you to play along with the idea of her still 
being your slave in order for her to learn some humility.  Once I figured she has learned enough 
humility, I will announce to the rest of the village that her slavery is over and she is an Amazon 
warrior again.”

	“So basically you want me to have her be a slave so she can see the views of the other 
side of the world so she doesn’t react too harshly to certain circumstances?”

	“That is basically what I was saying.”

	“I guess I have no choice about this, so I accept your request.”

	“I thank you for willingly take care of her and not be the harsh master to a slave that has 
been seen here, but I want you not to tell anyone about Xian pu’s situation until I deem it 
necessary to tell.”

	“Your welcome I guess and I promise not to tell anyone about this.”

	“Here you go and have fun with her for a while.”  Cologne said as she handed Steve a 
leash and collar.  “When you are done having her show the two of you around the village, the 
place where you stayed at will be your two’s room for the next two weeks.”

	“Okay.  But what’s with the leash and collar?”

	“The first step in her humility begins with it.”  Cologne said smiling.

	So Steve walked out of the building and saw Ranma standing off to the side waiting and 
Shampoo nearby looking a little defeated.  Steve felt sorry for what she was about to do and 
walked over to Shampoo and held out the collar to Shampoo.  Ranma was confused at what was 
going on as she saw Shampoo look surprised at the collar but reluctantly placed the collar around 
her neck and Steve fasten a leash to the collar.  Steve then walked over to Ranma while bring 
Shampoo behind her by the leash.

	Ranma had asked what went on and Steve explained that the Elders found Shampoo 
unworthy to be released from the slavery law.  Ranma nodded at Steve and Steve told Ranma that 
the Elders told him that they should have Shampoo show us around the village so we could 
become familiar with it for training to start tomorrow.  Steve also told Ranma that they had the 
same room to sleep in while they stayed in the village.  So Steve had Shampoo start showing 
them around and inwardly winced as she saw the other Amazons laugh at Shampoo as she was 
being lead by a leash as she showed Ranma and her around the village.  Once the tour was finish, 
they went to the room and went to bed to get well rested before the training began in the morning.  
While Steve and Ranma slept on the bed again, Steve had Shampoo sleep on the floor in the 
room.

				#	#	#	#	#

	“So for the next two weeks, the Amazons had taught us the laws of their village and 
started teaching us some fighting tricks.  I really don’t know about Red, but they had told me that 
I had some inept potential to use the staff, so they started teaching me the ways of fighting with 
the staff.”  Steve said as he was finishing the tale.  “At the end of the two weeks, Genma was 
persistent enough to get us to agree that we needed to get back to Japan to finish some ‘Family 
Business’.  So I told Cologne to keep Shampoo in the village; and I would be back to get her 
when I got a chance to get back to China.  Needless to say, the ‘Family Business’ turned out to be 
about the Tendo/Saotome uniting and we all know where it went from there.”

	The Tendo’s sat there in shocked silence at what Steve and the other’s just said to them.  
They had just heard that Steve had acquired a Chinese Amazon slave that technically wasn’t 
really a slave.  The Tendo’s each had their own opinions about the matter that was told to them, 
with Shampoo thinking about her own reasons at what she had just found out.  It was Akane that 
was the first of the Tendo’s to get their voice back.

	“You would make your own grandchild a slave?”  Akane said in surprise.

	“It was the laws of our people; I couldn’t do anything about, even if she wasn’t my great-
granddaughter.”  Cologne replied.

	Shampoo got fed up at what was going to be said and got off the floor and ran outside.  
Everyone was surprised at the sudden movement that Shampoo had done.  Kasumi was about to 
get up and go after Shampoo when Steve told her that he would go after her.  Kasumi looked over 
at him and he explained that he had an idea what she was upset about and he glanced over at 
Cologne.  Cologne nodded her head in understanding and Kasumi relented when she realized 
what Steve was talking about and let him go and talk to Shampoo.

	Steve left the living room and walked towards the direction he saw Shampoo run off to.  
He realized that he didn’t have to search too hard for her, her crying made it easy to locate her.  
He followed her crying sound and found Shampoo sitting on the ground with her arms wrapped 
around her legs, rocking back and forth while she cried.  When Steve approached her, Shampoo 
looked up suddenly and looked at Steve, while quickly wiping away her tears.

	“Are you alright Shampoo?”  Steve asked.

	“Shampoo alright.”  Shampoo said but Steve could tell that she wasn’t.

	“Can I sit here?”  Steve asked.

	“Shampoo don’t care.”  Shampoo replied as Steve then sat down near her.

	“I tried everything I could think of to get you out of that slavery law, but Kho lon told me 
to keep playing your master.”  Steve said.

	“Shampoo know, heard Stack story.”

	“I don’t know if it will mean anything to you, but I’m sorry for what happened.  I really 
didn’t want anything like what happened to happen.  I’m also sorry I’m not really the person you 
thought I was.”  Steve said to Shampoo as a way of an apology.  

 	When Shampoo didn’t say anything, he looked down at the ground trying to think up of 
anything else to say to Shampoo.  When he gave up trying to think up of anything, he decided to 
let Shampoo gather her thoughts by herself and was going to get up and leave when he felt a hand 
on his arm stopping him.  He looked at the hand and then looked over at Shampoo and noticed a 
new batch of tears rolling down her cheeks.  He sat back down and waited for Shampoo to make 
the next move, because he really didn’t know what to do at that moment.

	“If Shampoo was going to be slave, Shampoo glad Shampoo had Stack as Mistress or 
Master.”  Shampoo said after a long silence.  “Shampoo had seen a couple of Amazons be 
punished under the slavery law and the masters that they had were very abusive and mean to 
them.  Shampoo just glad that Stack wasn’t like that, tried to treat Shampoo nicely when had 
every right to be mean to.”

	“I’m glad that I wasn’t like that, I just couldn’t bring myself to do that to you.  I’m just 
sorry that I couldn’t get you out of being a slave from the beginning.”  Steve replied.

	“Shampoo know, and Shampoo understand why great-grandmother kept Shampoo a 
slave.  After hearing great-grandmother’s reason’s, Shampoo thought back on life and saw that 
Shampoo was as Shampoo heard recently.  Shampoo had nose stuck in air and was only 
concerned about Shampoo and not anyone around Shampoo.”

	“Sorry about how it had to be done.”

	“Shampoo understand, but Shampoo still getting use to fact that Mistress is really 
Master.”

	“Yeah, well, according to the Elders, Red and I are seen as females now with male cures, 
since everything we did was in our female forms.”

	“So what Stack going to do now with Shampoo?”

	“How about we start over?”

	“Start over?”

	“Hi, my name is Steve Stachowicz, want to be friends?”  Steve said and held out one of 
his hands.  Shampoo looked down at his hand and then at him for a bit.  Then a smile slowly 
appeared on her face and she then reached out and took Steve’s hand.

	“Xian pu of Jyoketsuzoku Chinese Amazons.”  Shampoo replied.  “Shampoo accept 
Stacko as friend.”

	“Glad to meet you Xian pu.  It’s good to see you smile, you look nice when you smile.”  
Steve said.

	“Stop it, Stacko embarrassing Shampoo.”  Shampoo said blushing as she lightly punched 
Steve in the shoulder.

	“I didn’t mean too.”  Steve said rubbing the spot where Shampoo hit him.

	“Shampoo never really had any friends when growing up, male or female.”  Shampoo 
said a little sadly.  “The males just wanted into Shampoo’s pants or married to Shampoo.  The 
females were just rivals for village champion.  Shampoo glad to have real friend, even if friend is 
Shampoo’s mistress or master.”

	“Well, I think Kho lon was going to say your slavery is over, but to be technical here, you 
are Talia’s slave, not mine.”  Steve said confusing Shampoo.

	“Talia, who she?”  Shampoo asked confused.

	“The name we came up with for my female form.”  Steve replied.

	“How that come about?”

	“Well, I guess I should tell you what’s been going on since I left the village.”

	Steve then proceeded to tell Shampoo what had happened to Ranma and himself when 
they left the village.  He told her everything from when they found out about Ranma’s 
engagements to the first day of school.  He told her how a slip of the tongue of Akane has his 
female form playing the adopted forth sister to when he met his first sensei again and found out 
about his fox curse.  He even went and told her how he was glad when he was able to visit his 
uncle and his family.  Shampoo sat there smiling at some parts and had gotten angry at a few of 
them, but overall she found the story enjoying, and Steve found her giggling at the end of his 
story.

	“Stacko’s life hilarious.”  Shampoo said giggling.

	“Oh ha ha, laugh it up.”  Steve said and then saw Shampoo thinking up of something.  
“What you thinking about?”

	“What you think about Shampoo slavery?”  

	“It was something I didn’t want to happen.  Why are you asking?”

	“Shampoo want to keep slavery going.”  Shampoo said quietly.

	“What!  Why?”  Steve asked in surprised confusion.

	“Because of this.”  Shampoo said and then leaned in to Steve and started whispering in 
his ear.

	What Steve was hearing from Shampoo surprised him.  He had figured that she would be 
willing to get out of her slavery, but what she was telling him was the complete opposite.  She 
was telling him how her entire life she was forced to do things to support her family line and with 
her being the heir to the Matriarch seat of the village.  He was surprised at how Shampoo was 
secretly glad that she had lost to Ranma and him, and was hoping that they had succeeded on 
escaping so she could follow them.  She was a little upset that they didn’t escape and found out 
that she was defeated twice, but was glad that it was Steve that had defeated her.

	She was a little nervous to find out that she was going to be subjected to the slavery law 
and was worried on how Steve was going to treat her.  It was that first night that showed 
Shampoo that she need not worry on being mistreated, when Steve had pulled her inside to stay 
out of the rain and fed her some breakfast that Steve really didn’t need to do.  So Shampoo had 
figured during the test that she would put up a good fight, but purposely lose.  The ground giving 
out from under her wasn’t planned, but was very glad that Steve was able to save her life.  It was 
at that point that Shampoo knew that she wanted to stay with Steve and willingly be his slave.

	When they had explained the story of what the test really was for, Shampoo was shocked 
that Steve was willing to give his life to give hers back.  What caused Shampoo to run out of the 
room, it was not because she was upset that they had fought to save her honor, but to find out that 
her technical freedom from having to deal with her life at the village was at an end.  She really 
didn’t care that her fellow Amazon sisters were teasing her about her being champion one 
moment and slave the next.  What Shampoo wanted now was to stay a slave so she didn’t have to 
deal with the life that her great-grandmother wanted of her.  She had talked her great-
grandmother into finding where they were and help train them, also so that she could get out of 
the village and be with her mistress, in which she found out was really her master.

	Shampoo also explained on how she started falling for Steve’s female form.  She had said 
that when she was younger, she had fallen in love with another female Amazon.  Because the 
person was somewhat ill, she couldn’t handle being a warrior, so she became a healer.  Because 
of her gentle nature had caught the interest of Shampoo, she started seeing her as much as she 
could.  It was Mousse that had first found out about their love affair that he used it against them 
so he could get closer to Shampoo.  When Shampoo refused to love Mousse, he went to attack her 
lover, and when she was injured from one of Mousse’s attacks, Shampoo went and beat him to an 
inch of his life.  The injury to her lover had proved fatal and she had died in Shampoo’s arms.  
Shampoo cried for days but was forced to forget about her so she could concentrate on her 
training.  It was when Shampoo was treated to Steve’s kindness that she realized that she was 
falling in love with Steve’s female form, because Steve’s female form reminded Shampoo of her 
past lover.

	After Steve had heard her reasoning, Steve sat back and looked at Shampoo to process 
what he had just heard.  He saw Shampoo looking at him with worry and some hope he could 
notice.  From what Steve could tell, Shampoo was tried of her life in the Amazon village and 
from what he could tell, she didn’t want to dishonor her family in the process.  He could tell that 
in the short time that Shampoo was out of her village, she was having a blast in what could be 
like a new world to her.  He sighed at what he figured out she was asking and knew that he was 
going to help her out.

	“Are you willing to tell Kho lon that you want to stay a slave for a while longer?”  Steve 
asked.

	“Yes.”  Shampoo said.

	“Then we better get going and tell her, because I know the other’s are probably 
wondering what is keeping us.”  Steve said as he got up and started heading back inside.  
“Besides, I still have to get you back for what you did to my shirt earlier today.”  Steve had his 
back towards Shampoo when he heard some rustling of clothing and figured Shampoo was 
getting up to follow him.

	“We even now?”  Steve heard Shampoo ask.  He turned and saw Shampoo kneeling on 
the ground and had pulled her shirt over her breasts so that she was baring them for him to see in 
their bare glory.  He stared at them in surprise as Shampoo giggled at his expression.  “Well?”

	“Uh … sure.”  Steve managed to say at what Shampoo had done.  Shampoo smiled evilly 
as she lowered her shirt and then lead a shocked Steve back inside the house.

	Once they got back into the living room, the usual questions were asked of everything 
okay with them, in which Steve and Shampoo replied that they had to work some things out and it 
took a while to do.  So they were asked if they had everything taken care of, which they replied 
that they had.  Akane then asked Steve why he seemed so flushed, and Steve replied that 
Shampoo had paid back for ruining his shirt.  They could only guess by what he meant since he 
wasn’t going to explain what Shampoo had done.

	When it seemed that there wasn’t going to be anymore questions, Steve turned to face 
Cologne and asked her what she was going to do about Shampoo.  Cologne said that if he so 
choose, Shampoo can be released from her slavery and reinstated as a warrior again.  Steve asked 
if Shampoo was going to kill Ranma if he released her.  Cologne said that since Ranma was now 
an Amazon, the ‘Kiss of Death’ no longer applies.  Steve looked over at Shampoo and then 
turned back to Cologne and said that he wants Shampoo to be a slave for a little longer.

	After the gasps of surprise was over, Cologne asked why he wants to keep Shampoo a 
slave for longer when he was fighting for her freedom.  Steve replied that it wasn’t fully his 
choice on the matter.  Cologne looked at him and then over at Shampoo, who was hanging her 
head down, and then looked over at Steve again saying she understood what he meant.  Steve 
then told Cologne that Shampoo was really the slave to his female form anyway.  Cologne said 
she knows about the ‘Talia’ situation from everyone else there while he was talking to Shampoo.  
Cologne said she would be glad to help Nabiki in handling any problems that came up that they 
needed to cover, like adding that Talia had acquired a slave recently.

	Steve thanked her and then asked why they decided to come to Japan.  Cologne asked 
what was wrong with her checking on her two most promising students.  Steve gave her a look 
saying that he didn’t fully believe her and she chuckled, and then said that she was here to 
continue their training and to give Shampoo a view of the outside world.  In doing so, she had 
bought a place that she was going to turn into a restaurant.  So she was asking if Steve was 
willing to help out, with a reasonable paycheck when the restaurant opens up.

	Steve agreed quickly and asked if Ranma was going to help out.  Cologne said that she 
hadn’t asked yet since she was waiting for Steve to return before she brought it up.  So Steve 
turned to Ranma and asked if he was going to help out at the restaurant.  Ranma replied that he 
wasn’t going to be wearing a skirt, and Steve asked did he ask about wearing a skirt.  Ranma 
realized that Steve didn’t ask about wearing a skirt just was wondering about helping out at a 
restaurant.  Steve could feel what was confusing Ranma and pulled him off to the side to talk to 
him privately.

	Steve asked Ranma what was wrong and Ranma replied he was unused to going to work, 
that the way his father taught him was something against working.  Steve then told Ranma that if 
he could help out, one, he would be doing something of his own that would prove his father’s 
teachings wrong, and two, it would help him get Nabiki off his case.  It was mainly the second 
reason that pushed Ranma into accepting the offer to help out.  The only thing that Ranma didn’t 
want to do was wear a skirt, which Steve replied that if Ranma had to work in his female form, 
that they could probably find pants for her to wear.  Ranma thought it was better than nothing and 
they both accepted to work at the restaurant.  Cologne said that if they weren’t doing anything 
else that night, that they could come over and see the restaurant and help out with some of the 
clean up, both Ranma and Steve agreed to do, with Nabiki wanting to check it out, which then 
caused all the rest to want to check the restaurant out.

	After they had got to the restaurant, they saw that Cologne had called the restaurant 
‘Nekohaten’.  Cologne explained that it was Shampoo’s idea that gave her the idea for the name.  
The only person that had trouble with the name was Ranma, and Steve was the only one in the 
group that fully knew why.  After they entered the building, Cologne had Shampoo give everyone 
a quick tour and explained what Cologne had planed for the building.  When the tour was over, 
Genma and Soun left the building because they didn’t want to help out in the clean up.  Kasumi 
left so she could finish cleaning the Tendo Dojo before she went to bed.  Akane left because she 
had some homework she had to finish.  Nabiki had a talk with Cologne about possible ideas that 
Nabiki had, Cologne told her that she would talk with her later about it.

	In the meantime, Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo were cleaning out the main room were the 
dining room was going to be.  They were sweeping, taking out trash, washing the walls and 
floors, and started bringing in boxes of tables and chairs.  While Shampoo and Ranma were 
putting some of the tables and chairs together, Cologne and Steve were talking about Shampoo’s 
future.  Steve explained on how Shampoo wanted a little freedom from her Amazon upbringing 
for a while, so Steve came up with Shampoo going to school to help with understanding the 
outside world.  Cologne agreed with him and left so she could pick up a uniform for Shampoo to 
wear.

	While Shampoo and Ranma were finishing the tables and chairs they were going to do 
for the night, Steve was taking trash bags out to the dumpster.  While Steve was throwing the 
bags into the dumpster, he heard a noise nearby.  He looked over and was surprised at what he 
saw.  He saw a bluish black fox hiding behind trash cans, and the fox had a curious look to it and 
was a little nervous to come out.  Steve walked back into the restaurant and grabbed a little of the 
snacks that Cologne left and went over to the fox.  Steve offered the food to the fox, but the fox 
didn’t want to leave its spot, so Steve set the food down and went back in to help Ranma and 
Shampoo to finish what they were doing.

	After Steve left the fox alone, the fox came out of its hiding spot and walked over to the 
food and started eating it.  After it was done eating, another fox walked over to it.

	“How is everything going?”  Helios asked.

	“I think I’m going to like Saria’s male host.”  Polyarch replied.

	“What do you mean?”  Helios asked.

	“Just a feeling I’m getting.”

	“Plus he gave you food for no reason.”

	“That too.”

	“So how is everything going?”

	“Everything’s going according to plan.  We just need the enemy to start their plans.”

	“Then we are still at a waiting game.”

	“Yep, let’s go before Saria’s host comes back out again.”

	“Okay.”  Helios said and the both of them left to join the others.

				*	*	*	*	*

	In the meantime, in Juuban, the Senshi found another monster attack in a park.  When the 
Senshi got there, the monster turned out to be another humanoid creature.  This one was about 
eight feet tall, a bird-like appearance, but instead of feathers, it had black fur.  It had a bird-like 
head that had seemed more reptilian than bird.  Its feet were like a bird but its hands were 
reptilian. The monster was tearing the park apart when the Senshi realized it was there.

	The only problem was when the Senshi got there; Sailor Moon was with her parents and 
had to trick them to let her go.  The Senshi didn’t know that and the Nanocites in the other Senshi 
was causing them to think that Sailor Moon was blowing them off.  As the Senshi was fighting 
the monster, they realized how quick the monster was when it kept avoiding most of their attacks.  
The monster was having a fun time being able to give some hits to the Senshi before they were 
able to hit it.  It was when Sailor Moon arrived that Sailor Mercury was able to figure out what 
they needed to do.  Mercury yelled out that they had to hit it all at once.

	All of the Senshi powered up their attacks and launched them at once at the monster.  The 
monster was unable to dodge all the attacks and got hit enough times to stun it enough so the 
Senshi could power up another rounds of attacks.  The second round of attacks all centered on the 
monster and caused the monster to disintegrate.  Once the monster was fully gone, Sailor Moon, 
Saturn, and Chibi-moon celebrated the defeat of the monster.  When Sailor Moon tried to get the 
other Senshi to join in the celebration, she quickly noticed the angry looks on her fellow Senshi.

	When Sailor Moon asked the others what was wrong, it seemed like a door was opened 
and the others started laying into Moon.  They kept yelling at her at how she was always late to 
everything, how they couldn’t count on her to be any help, and how much of a crybaby and a 
klutz she was.  After Moon started having tears running down her cheeks, each of the Senshi 
started giving a reason why they hated her.  When the last one said their peace, Sailor Moon ran 
off crying.

	Saturn and Chibi-moon couldn’t believe how mean the other Senshi were being when 
they were yelling at Sailor Moon.  When Sailor Moon ran off crying, they decided to ignore the 
others when they had called for them and ran after Sailor Moon to try and comfort her, since it 
seemed it was only going to be the two of them that is going to care for her.  When the others 
watched Saturn and Chibi-moon run off after calling for them, they were a little upset that the two 
of them ignored them and just shrugged their shoulders.  When the police sirens were heard, they 
decided to stop thinking about the matter and ran off before the law could get there.

				*	*	*	*	*

NEXT DAY

	Steve woke up and became slightly nervous at the unfamiliar room.  Then he 
remembered that he had moved into the Neko-hatten and that he was in his room at the place.  He 
remembered having a talk with Cologne about Shampoo going to school and that today was going 
to be her first day.  He was glad that Cologne had allowed him to sleep in due to having to get to 
school early to register Shampoo.

	Speaking of Shampoo, Steve wondered where she was, and then it was then that he 
sensed that someone was near him.  He did a quick look around and found Shampoo kneeling at 
the foot of his futon with a smile to her face.  He also noticed that she was only wearing one of 
his t-shirts and since the t-shirt was big on her, she was wearing it as a nightshirt, but the t-shirt 
was small in the chest area on her and it showed that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

	“Nihao.”  Said Shampoo cheerfully.

	“Morning Shampoo, how long have you been there?”  Steve asked.

	“A while.”  Shampoo replied.

	“Why?”

	“Shampoo wanted to watch Stack sleep.”  Shampoo said and Steve looked at her.

	“There’s something else, isn’t there?”  Steve asked.  Shampoo smiled at him and then 
started to crawl up the futon, over Steve until she was eye to eye with him.  Steve swallowed 
nervously as he felt Shampoo rub her body on him as she crawled up.  

	“Hai, but that for Shampoo to know and Stack to find out.”  Shampoo said and Stack 
stared at her nervously as Shampoo smiled mischiefly.  Suddenly Shampoo collapsed on Steve 
and started laughing which confused Steve.  “Stack look funny.”  She said when she could get her 
breath back.

	“Oh, ha ha, don’t you have to go to school today.”  Steve said when Shampoo started to 
stop laughing.

	“Hai, want to take bath with Shampoo?”  Shampoo asked as she held herself up with her 
arms, giving Steve a good look down the collar of the t-shirt.

	“Ah, I better not; you better get ready for school.”

	“Stack miss out.”  Shampoo said as she got off of Steve.

	“I know I’ll regret it later.”  Steve said.

	Shampoo smiled over her shoulder at Steve before she left the room.  Steve then sighed 
after Shampoo left as he couldn’t believe what Shampoo did, but chuckled at the humor of what 
happened.  He then got ready to go to school, and waited until Shampoo was out of the bath be 
fore he entered.  After he was done, he had a quick breakfast and waited for Shampoo to come 
down.

	When she did, Steve almost choked on the drink he was drinking.  Shampoo was dressed 
in the normal school uniform, but the uniform bordered being out of regulation.  The shirt and 
jacket was almost skin tight and the skirt looked like a mini instead of its normal length.  When 
Steve had mentioned that to her, she replied that the uniform was still in regulation.  Steve 
dropped it to let the school worry about it, and then the both of them left to Furinkan to register 
Shampoo to the school.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Ranma and Akane were running to school to face the usual crowd, but when they got 
there, there wasn’t anyone there.  They stopped in confusion and looked around.  The only people 
they saw were the ones entering school and Kuno lying unconscious on the ground.  They walked 
over to Kuno and looked him over.  It appeared that he was unconscious because it looked like he 
was run over by several people.  They shrugged their shoulders and walked to their classroom.

	When they entered the classroom, they found Steve sitting in his seat.  When they 
approached him, he was surprised that the both of them were in the classroom so early.  Ranma 
and Akane asked him if he knew what happened to the crowd outside.  Steve replied he didn’t 
know since he had just entered the room a minute before them from helping Shampoo check into 
the school.  So Ranma and Akane took their seats and waited for the teacher to arrive.  The 
teacher entered several minutes later and informed the class that they have a new student.  
Shampoo entered the room and started to introduce herself.  Many students gasped at her 
uniform, with the boys leering and drooling and the girls being envious of her looks.  The school 
day in the morning went without a problem and at lunch time, Ranma, Akane, Steve, and 
Shampoo sat under a tree to eat their lunches.

	They were soon joined by some of Akane’s friends and other girls.  When they were 
asked what they were doing there, they replied that they wanted to get to know Shampoo.

	“What you want to know of Shampoo?”  Shampoo asked the girls.

	“Tell us about yourself, like why you are here.”  One of the girls asked.

	“Well, Shampoo from China, and is Amazon of the Jyoketsuzoku.”  Shampoo replied.

	“You’re an Amazon?”  Another girl asked surprised.

	“Was village champion until recently.”  Shampoo replied.	

	“What happened?”

	“Shampoo lost in a challenge.”

	“What was the challenge?”

	“An Amazon test that Shampoo failed.”

	“What happened to you?”

	“Shampoo became a slave.”

	“What!?”  Exclaimed several of the girls.

	“How could that happen to you?”  One of the girls asked.

	“Is law of village, Shampoo is now slave.”

	“Why?”

	“Village don’t need weak Amazons.”

	“Who are you a slave of?”

	“Talia Tendo.”

	“What?!”  Exclaimed the girls and then one of them turned to Akane.  “Akane, your sister 
has her as a slave?”

	“Afraid so, we found out about it recently.”  Akane replied.

	“What are you doing in school then?”  A girl asked.

	“Mistress wanted Shampoo to be smarter, so sent Shampoo to school.”  Shampoo said.

	So Shampoo started telling the girls her life and Amazon laws.  By the end of lunch, the 
girls were amazed at Shampoo’s life, even though she was still a slave.  By the end of the school 
day, rumors were spreading throughout school about Shampoo’s slavery.  Shampoo didn’t care 
about the rumors since some of them were funny to hear.  Shampoo had met Kuno when he came 
charging at Ranma about enslaving another female.  It took Shampoo, Nabiki, and Akane to 
convince Kuno that Ranma hadn’t enslaved another female, it was Talia who was her mistress.  
Other than that, Shampoo’s first day of school was uneventful.

       *	*	*	*	*
       
	LATER AT NIGHT IN JUUBAN

	Another monster attack was going on and this time it was only one monster and it looked 
like a humanoid lizard with a scorpion tail.  The problem was that the monster was very agile and 
was dodging all of their attacks, it started to get the Senshi frustrated and their temper started 
rising.  Then all of a sudden, the ones that were hit by the ray started to get a sharp pain in their 
head, and that is when the problem started.

	“How do we defeat this thing?”  Mars said angrily.

	“My scans show that it is very easily to defeat we just have to hit it.”  Mercury said.

	“Let’s distract it and hopefully Moon can hit it.”  Uranus said.

	“Distract it to the left and I’ll fire at it.”  Moon said.

	So the Senshi started to launch their attacks to get the monster into position.  When the 
monster was in position, Moon fired off her attack but the problem was that Mars ran into the 
path of the attack.  Moon quickly pulled her attack so Mars wouldn’t get hit, but Mars was angry 
that Moon was attacking her and not the monster.  After the monster moved away, they had to try 
again but it resulted in the same effect with a Senshi or two would be in Moon’s attack path.  
After it happened a couple more times, the Senshi were getting angry that Moon was attacking 
them and not the monster.  It was a lucky shot from Saturn that the monster was killed.

	When they made sure the monster was fully dead, the Senshi started to lay into Moon.  
All the Senshi, with the exception of Saturn and Chibi-moon, were saying that she was attacking 
them on purpose.  Moon kept denying that she was doing that but the Senshi kept saying that she 
was a menace.  They started saying that they couldn’t trust her since that she was never on time 
and never paid attention to their meetings, always eating or reading manga.  Each thing they said 
was like stabbing Moon in the heart.  The final blow was from Mercury saying that she was a 
danger to her friends and the people around.  Hurt, Moon ran away from them crying.  Saturn and 
Chibi-moon were going to follow her but were stopped by the others.

	“Let her go.”  Jupiter said to Chibi-moon.

	“Come Saturn, we’re going home.”  Neptune and Uranus took Saturn with them.

	“You can stay at my place.”  Mars said and took Chibi-moon with her, but both Saturn 
and Chibi-moon were worried about Moon.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Usagi was still crying as she ran home.  Along the way she had changed out of her Sailor 
Moon outfit into her normal clothes.  She was hurt that her friends could be so mean to her.  As 
she was making her way home, she decided to see Mamoru and hoped that he could cheer her up.  
By the time she made it home, she was able to stop crying just in case her parents were home.  
When she got to the door, she realized that her family was gone for the moment, which she was 
glad since she didn’t want them to see how hurt she was, it was then that she saw an envelope 
with her name on it.  She picked it up as she entered the house.  She then opened the envelope 
and saw a letter that was from Mamoru in it, so she started reading it.

	Usagi,

It pains me to write this, but I feel that in light of recent events I must.  I find that I can no 
longer pursue any form of relationship with you now or at any time in the future.  Some 
would say that the fault for this must lie with me, but in all truthfulness I can no longer 
bear the sight of you.  Not only are you immature, but your very immaturity is a danger to 
those around you.  Why the Kami saw fit to grant the power that you possess to such a 
selfish and headstrong girl, I will never know.  I can only hope that somehow the danger 
you pose to all of humanity will be averted, for I do not see you ever becoming worthy of 
that power.

Mamoru


	When she finished reading the letter, she was entirely devastated.  Her last hope turned 
on her and she realized that no one wanted her around.  She came to a decision to stop being a 
burden to everyone and started to write a letter to everyone to ‘apologize’ for being a burden and 
being so dangerous to everyone around.  She left the letter on the kitchen table and left the house 
to a nearby bridge.

	When she was at the bridge, she was glad that no one was around so there would be no 
one to stop her.  She was in a zombie like trance as she climbed the bridge to get ready to jump 
off.  As she was standing there looking down at the water below, she was having an internal 
monologue about how everyone turned on her and no one cared for her, so it was better for her to 
be out of everyone’s life.  Just then a little voice in her head reminded her of one person that 
cared for her.

	That stopped her for a moment when she started to think of the one person that called her 
cousin and how worried he was when that monster attacked.  She also remembered the plush 
rabbit he gave her for no reason but to give it to her.  So for not really knowing fully why, she 
climbed off the bridge and headed to the nearby phone booth.  She remembered the phone 
number that Steve gave her and dialed the number.

				*	*	*	*	*

	“Moshi Moshi, Tendo residence.”  Kasumi said as she answered the phone.  “Yes he is, 
please hold on while I get him.”  Kasumi set the phone down and went in look for Steve.  She 
found him getting ready to leave by the front door.  “Stack-san, there is a phone call for you.”

	“Really, who is it?”  Steve asked surprised that someone was calling him at the Tendo’s 
since he told his family he was now staying at the Neko-hatten.

	“I’m sorry I didn’t ask, but she sounded like she was crying recently.”

	“Okay, thank you Kasumi.”  Steve replied and went over to the phone and picked it up.  
“This is Steve.”

	“Cousin?”  Came a very timid female voice on the other end.

	“Usagi?”  Steve said recognizing the voice.

	“Please help.”  Usagi said and Steve could hear the depression in her voice.

	“What’s wrong?”

	“They all hate me, they don’t want me around.”

	“Who hate’s you, who doesn’t want you around?”

	“Everyone.”  Usagi said and then went silent.

	“Usagi, talk to me, what’s going on?”

	“It would be better if I wasn’t around.”

	“Don’t talk that way, where are you?”  Steve asked, starting to panic at how she was 
talking.

	“Near the bridge overlooking the harbor.  We walked past it when I showed you around.”

	“Don’t do anything until I get there, promise me.”

	“I…”

	“Promise me.”

	“Okay, I promise.”

	“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

	Steve went and placed the phone back, but in his hurry, the phone fell to the floor.  He 
ran to the door, grabbed his jacket and shoes and left the Tendo Dojo running in order to make it 
to the train station.  Kasumi came out of the kitchen when she heard a noise.  She saw Steve 
running out the door in a hurry and then noticed that the phone was on the floor.  She told herself 
that she must have a word with Steve about leaving the phone on the floor.  So she picked the 
phone off the floor and placed it back where is should belong.  She then went back to finishing 
her after dinner cleaning.

	Steve ran to the train station as fast as he could.  He purchased the ticket he needed and 
ran over to where the train picks up the passengers and saw to his dismay the train he needed just 
pull away.  He started swearing as he was pacing back and forth waiting for the next train, which 
he noticed won’t arrive for another fifteen minutes.  

 	When it did arrive, he ran into it and was anxious for it to get moving.  Once it finally 
started moving, he was wishing it would hurry up.  After twenty minutes and several stops later, it 
finally arrived at the stop he needed.  He got off the train and started running towards the bridge, 
hopping that Usagi hasn’t done anything drastic during his delay at the train station.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Usagi sat by the phone, waiting for Steve to get there.  She kept glancing at her watch, 
estimating how long it will take Steve to get to where she is.  After she waited for ten minutes 
after her estimated time for Steve to get there, just in case she was wrong in her math, she figured 
that Steve wasn’t coming.  So she stood up and headed towards the bridge again, feeling 
depressed again, thinking that Steve blew her off.  Not really caring anymore, she made her way 
to the spot where she was before and started climbing on the bridge.

	Steve was running as fast as he could to the bridge.  As he got closer to the beginning of 
the bridge, he saw Usagi climbing on the bridge.  Panicking, he didn’t realize his eyes lose focus 
as he started to run towards Usagi.  The only thing on Steve’s mind was stopping Usagi before 
she jumped.  As he approached her, it appeared she didn’t hear him running towards her.  When 
he was near enough, he jumped towards her and wrapped his right arm around her waist and 
twisted in the air so it pulled Usagi from the bridge.  Steve landed on the ground roughly, but 
pulled Usagi to him as he rolled to a stop to protect her.

	Usagi was about to jump off the bridge, thinking on how many people will be happier 
with her gone.  Just as she was about to jump, she felt something wrap around her waist and 
pulled her from the bridge.  She found herself falling to the ground as something pulled her closer 
to itself.  She then was rolling but she wasn’t feeling any pain from hitting the ground.  When she 
stopped rolling, she quickly broke free from whatever had her.  When she was free, she looked at 
what grabbed her and was surprised at who it was.

	“Stack?”  Usagi asked cautiously as she watched the person struggle to sit up and then 
smiled at her.

	“Hey Cuz, I thought I told you to wait for me?”  Steve asked.  He then saw Usagi start to 
tear up and then she went and started to give him a crushing hug.

	Usagi started crying as she held Steve, realizing that Steve really did care for her.  Steve 
wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug while gently rocking her.  While Usagi was 
crying, she was mumbling about what was wrong.  The story that Steve was able to make out 
surprised him, he couldn’t believe that all of her friends turned on her.  When Usagi’s crying died 
down, Steve raised her head so she was looking at him, and used his thumbs to wipe away the 
tear streaks she had on her cheeks.

	“Feeling better?”  Steve asked.

	“Not really, but with you here, it’s helping.”  Usagi replied quietly.

	“Sorry I was late, I missed the train.”  Steve said feeling sorry.

	“You’re here now.”  Usagi said a little bit louder.

	“Shall I take you home now?”

	“No!  I don’t wanna go back, no, no, no.”  Usagi had a panicked look and tried to move 
away from Steve.

	“Okay, okay, I’ll take you back with me.”  Steve said trying to calm Usagi while 
maintaining a hold on her so she wouldn’t escape him.  “I’m sure the people I’m staying with will 
understand.  Is that okay with you?”

	“Yes.”  Usagi said quietly after she calmed down.

	“Okay, let’s go then.”

	Steve struggled to stand up, realizing he injured himself, and helped Usagi to stand.  He 
held her to himself as they made their way to the train station.  Usagi had stopped crying and 
wasn’t talking when he tried asking her something.  When they arrived back in Nerima Ward, and 
left the train station, Usagi suddenly went limp in his arms.  Steve reacted fast enough to catch 
her before she fell to the ground.  When Steve looked at her to see what was wrong, he noticed 
that she had a zoned out look to her.  He shook her to wake her up, but it had no effect on her.  He 
looked at where he was and realized that the Tendo Dojo was closer than the Neko-hatten and 
decided to head there instead.  So he picked Usagi up in his arms and headed to the Tendo Dojo.

	When Steve arrived at the Tendo Dojo, he realized that everyone had gone to bed.  He 
was about to leave and head to the Neko-hatten when he noticed that Kasumi was still up.  Steve 
then called out to her before she headed upstairs.

	“Kasumi, I need your help.”  Steve called out.

	“Stack?  What’s wrong?”  Kasumi asked surprised to see him back so soon.  She walked 
over to him and noticed that he was carrying someone.  She looked at the person and saw he was 
carrying a girl, and Kasumi noticed the state of mind the person was in.  “Oh my, who is this and 
what is wrong with her?”

	“This is my cousin, Usagi, and I thought everything was all right, but we got a couple 
blocks from the train station and she went limp in my arms.”  Steve replied.

	“What made her do that?”

	“I don’t know the full story, but it’s something like this from what I was able to make 
out.”  Steve said and then started telling Kasumi what he was able to make out from Usagi.

	“That’s horrible.  You did the right thing bringing her here until we can check with Dr. 
Tofu.  I figure she was the one that called you that made you leave in a hurry.”

	“Yes, sorry about the phone, I was kinda in a hurry.”

	“Don’t worry about it, you had a good reason.”

	“I just wish I knew what is going on with her right now.”

	“We can worry about that tomorrow.  Take her up to my room; we’ll let her sleep there.”

	“Okay, thanks Kasumi.”

	“No problem Stack.”

	Steve carried Usagi up to Kasumi’s room while she went and got a spare bed linen to use.  
When Kasumi entered, Steve had set Usagi on Kasumi’s bed and helped Kasumi make the spare 
bed.  Once it was made, Steve placed Usagi on the bed.  Just then the phone started ringing, and 
Kasumi asked Steve if he could get it while she finished tucking Usagi in.  Steve left and went to 
answer the phone before it woke anyone up, while Kasumi made Usagi more comfortable before 
tucking her in.

	“Moshi, moshi, Tendo Dojo.”  Steve answered the phone.

	“Is Steven there?”  Came a male voice that Steve recognized.

	“Uncle Kenji?”  Steve asked.

	“Thank goodness you’re there.  Have you seen or heard from Usagi recently?”  Kenji 
asked.

	“Yes I have, she’s safe with me right now.”

	“She’s with you?”

	“Yes.”

	“Oh good, we came home and found a note from her that scared us.  We’ll be by shortly 
to get her.”

	“As much as I’d like that, but I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

	“What do you mean?”

	“Let’s just say if I was thirty seconds later, we would be attending her funeral.”

	“How did you know where she was?”

	“She called me and thought I blew her off when I missed the train.  She was trying to kill 
herself and so far all I was able to make out from her was her friends turned on her and that no 
one cares for her.  I talked her into coming home with me after I mentioned of taking her home.  
When I mentioned about taking her home, she became hysterical and I had to calm her down.  I 
got her sleeping right now and I have a friend looking over her with me.  So I’m saying let her 
stay here until she feels comfortable.”  Steve told Kenji.  He could then hear Kenji talking to 
someone and he figured it was Ikuko.

	“All right, we’ll let her stay until she’s ready.”  Kenji replied.

	“Can you do me a favor?”

	“What is it?”

	“Can you promise not to tell anyone where she is, I don’t think she is ready to be troubled 
by anyone she knows.”

	“Okay we will, just keep her safe for us.”

	“I will.”

	“Thanks and good night.”  

	“Night Uncle Kenji.”  Steve said and hung up the phone.  He turned and saw that Kasumi 
was standing near him.

	“Who was that?”  Kasumi asked.

	“Usagi’s parents looking for her.  They gave their permission to let Usagi stay here.”

	“That’s good.”

	“Speaking of Usagi how is she?”

	“Sleeping right now.”

	“Good.”

	“You can stay here tonight if you want.”

	“Thanks, let me call Cologne to inform her what’s going on.”

	“Okay, I’ll get you some blankets while you make the call.”

	“Okay.”

	While Kasumi went to get Steve some blankets, Steve called Cologne to tell her where he 
was and what was going on.  Cologne thanked him and told him she would send Shampoo there 
in the morning for practice.  Steve hung up and took the blankets Kasumi offered and then slept 
on the couch.


NEXT DAY

	Steve woke up early and made his way to Kasumi’s room.  He knocked on the door and 
was surprised that the door was answered so quickly.  Kasumi noticed that it was Steve at the 
door and let him into the room.  Steve noticed that Kasumi was wearing only her nightgown and 
saw that the material was very transparent.  So he looked away and decided to look at Usagi, who 
he noticed was awake but still had her zoned out look.

	“She was awake when I woke up.  I tried talking to her but she doesn’t reply back.  She’s 
been like that ever since.”  Kasumi replied to Steve’s questioning look.

	“Let me give it a try.”  Steve said and then knelt by Usagi and tried talking to her, but he 
didn’t get any reply either.  “This is beginning to worry me.”

	“What are you going to do?”  Kasumi asked.

	“I think I’m going to try some shock therapy.”

	“You aren’t going to really shock her are you?”

	“No, I was thinking of giving her a bath, with your permission, of course.”

	“You are not going to strip her naked are you?”

	“How else am I going to do it?”

	“Leave her in her underwear.”  Kasumi said and then thought for a moment.  “I’ll help 
you with her.  Carry her to the bathroom; I’ll be down shortly to help.”

	“Okay.”

	Steve picked Usagi up and took her to the bathroom.  Kasumi gathered some clothes for 
her and a change of underwear for Usagi.  She was about to leave her room when she realized she 
was just wearing her nightgown, her ‘naughty’ one at that.  She blushed when she realized that 
Steve had seen her dressed like this, but was happy that he didn’t mention anything about it.  So 
she quickly put some panties on and grabbed the clothes and headed to the bathroom.

	When she got there, she found Steve had all ready had started undressing Usagi, she also 
had found him in his boxers.  She set the clothes off to the side and helped Steve in removing 
what Usagi still had on.  Once Usagi was in her underwear, Steve commented on the rabbit heads 
and carrot theme to her underwear.  They then proceeded to bathe Usagi.  The only trouble they 
had was undoing Usagi’s hairstyle.  When they were done, they were sad that the bath didn’t 
wake Usagi up; Steve said that he would get a spare set of clothing for Usagi to wear if Kasumi 
would dress her.  Kasumi smiled and said she would be glad to do it.  So Steve left as Kasumi 
started to remove Usagi’s underwear and started to dry her off.

	Kasumi had finished drying Usagi and had her in the new underwear when Steve returned 
with a change of clothes.  She thanked him and after he left, she got Usagi dressed in black pants 
and a black silk Chinese shirt.  Kasumi didn’t know how to do Usagi’s hairstyle, so she just 
pulled her hair into a ponytail.  When she was finished, she made sure Usagi wouldn’t fall where 
she sat and started to get dress herself.  When she was dressed, she urged Usagi up and was 
surprised when she stood up.  She then led Usagi out of the bathroom and found Steve waiting 
outside the door.

	Steve was happy that Usagi was slowly coming to, and the both of them led her to the 
dining room.  They sat her down near the table and then Kasumi apologized for being improperly 
dressed when he was in her room.  Steve said there was no problem; he was just surprised at it.  
He then said why don’t they just keep it between the two of them, he then glanced down at Usagi 
and corrected himself and said the three of them.  Kasumi smiled and agreed and thanked him for 
not making a big deal of it.  Just then they heard Shampoo enter the house.

	“Nihao.”  Shampoo called out.

	“Oh, morning Shampoo.”  Kasumi replied.

	“Hey Shampoo.”  Steve said.

	“Shampoo miss Stack this morning.”  Shampoo said smiling.

	“I know, but I had to deal with a problem.”  Steve said placing his arm over Usagi’s 
shoulder.  Shampoo noticed that and suddenly she became jealous but hid it well.

	“Who her?”  Shampoo asked.

	“This is my cousin, Usagi.”  Steve replied.  Shampoo relaxed when she found out the girl 
was a relative, but she then noticed the state of mind Usagi was in.

	“What wrong with her?”  Shampoo asked.  Steve then told her what he knew what 
happened to her, and Shampoo felt sorry for her.  “Shampoo have idea to wake up.”

	“Go ahead and try, please.”  Steve said.

	Shampoo went over to Usagi and then slapped her across the face.  Steve was surprised at 
what Shampoo did, and then watched as Shampoo slapped the other side of Usagi’s face.  The 
only response that Usagi gave was turning her head with the force of the blow and the reddening 
on her face where she was slapped.  Steve stopped Shampoo from continuing when he saw it 
caused no apparent results.  Shampoo realized how much Steve cared for Usagi and relented, it 
was then that they heard Ranma land outside and start yelling at his father.  Steve realized that the 
training had just started and sighed.  Both Steve and Shampoo went outside to join Ranma and his 
father in training, but they were working on staff fighting while Ranma and his father were doing 
their usual thing.  Kasumi set Usagi so she could watch the training and left to the kitchen to start 
with breakfast.

	The training went on for half an hour, during that time; Ranma had asked Steve who the 
girl watching was during on of their breather moments.  Steve explained who she was and then 
they continued on with their training.  It was at one point where Steve was getting the advantage 
over Shampoo when Shampoo knocked him into the Koi pond.  Steve surfaced from the pond and 
yelled at Shampoo for the unfair advantage of using the pond, which Shampoo just smiled at her.  
It was then that the both of them heard a gasp behind them and they turned and saw Usagi staring 
at them mumbling.

	Steve and Shampoo made their way over to Usagi with Steve staying outside since she 
was still wet.  When they were closer, they could make out that Usagi was mumbling about 
seeing Steve change.  Shampoo finally got Usagi calmed down enough that Usagi started looking 
back and forth between Shampoo and Steve.  Steve became worried, called out to her.  Usagi 
looked at Steve and then crawled over to her and reached out to touch Steve’s face.

	“Hotaru?”  Usagi asked uncertainly.

	“No, it’s me, your cousin.”  Steve said, grabbing Usagi’s hand and lowered it.

	“Stack?”  Usagi asked.

	“Hey cuz.”  Steve said smiling.

	“H-how, you look just like her.”  Usagi said.

	“It’s a Chinese curse I have.  I picked it up recently.”  Steve said and then remembered 
what Usagi had said.  “You know the person I keep getting mistaken for?”

	“Yes, she’s a friend of mine.”  Usagi replied.

	“Not one of ‘them’?”

	“I don’t know, she wasn’t saying anything while the others were.”  Usagi said.  “How did 
you change and who is she?”

	“That’s Xain-pu and she’s a … friend of mine from China.”  Steve replied.

	“Shampoo, what kind of name is that?”  Usagi asked confused.

	“Just one that sounds funny.”

	“Oh, how do you do, I’m Usagi.”  Usagi said to Shampoo.

	“Shampoo fine, nice meet Stack cousin.”  Shampoo said.

	“How do you change?”  Usagi asked Steve.

	“Any type of cold liquid changes me to how I look now and warm liquid changes me 
back to normal until next time.”  Steve said.

	“That must suck.”  Usagi said.

	“At times it does.”  Steve said.  “So tell me about the person I look like.”  Usagi was 
about to start telling Steve about Hotaru when she saw Ranma go into the pond and come out a 
girl and start attacking her father.  “Uh yeah, I’m not the only one either.”

	Usagi then nodded her head and then noticed how she was dressed.  She looked at what 
she was wearing, felt her hair and noticed that it was in a ponytail.  She then looked down the 
collar of the shirt and noticed that she was wearing different underwear.

	“What am I wearing?”  Usagi asked confused.

	“Some of mine and Kasumi’s clothes.  Kasumi and I sent yours to the laundry.”  Steve 
replied.

	“Why am I wearing them?”

	“Well, when you zoned out on us, I thought of shock therapy and gave you a bath with 
your underwear on, and I did like the theme on them.”

	“You what!”  Usagi exclaimed in surprise.

	“Kasumi was with me, I didn’t do anything.”  Steve started panicking when Usagi looked 
at him in surprise.

	“Don’t worry, I’m joking around, I don’t care if you had me nude when you bathed me.”  
Usagi said to Steve smiling mischievously.   

	“Why Stack take bath with cousin and not Shampoo.  Shampoo want Stack to bathe 
Shampoo in nude.”  Shampoo said feeling hurt that Steve took a bath with Usagi and not her.

	“You pervert!”  Came a female shout behind them.

	All three look behind them to see Akane standing there looking pissed.  Akane got in 
Steve’s face and started blaming her of being a pervert.  Shampoo not liking what she was seeing, 
got up and stood between Steve and Akane, to stop Akane from insulting Steve.  Usagi was 
surprised at the hostility that Akane was showing.  She looked over at Steve and saw that she had 
a panicked look.  Steve tried to explain what was going on but was saved when Kasumi entered 
the dining room from the kitchen and told Akane and Shampoo to stop fighting since breakfast 
was ready.  Both of them came to an agreement and lowered their stances.  Kasumi then noticed 
that Usagi wasn’t zoned out and said she was glad to see her about.  Usagi smiled at her and 
thanked her.  Kasumi then asked her if she could help bring breakfast out while the others get 
their after work out bath in.

	When everyone was ready and sitting at the table, Kasumi and Usagi brought the food 
out. While everyone was bathing or waiting for breakfast, Kasumi was talking to Usagi and 
checked to see if she was doing all right.  Usagi said she was doing better now, but seeing her 
cousin and his friend change genders was an eye-opener, especially with Steve changing into a 
look a like to a friend of hers.  They then grabbed the food and set it on the table.

	When everyone sat down, most of everyone wondered who Usagi was.  Steve told them 
Usagi’s situation and why she was there.  The Tendo’s and Saotome’s accepted the reasons why 
she was there and continued eating.  When breakfast was over, Steve and Usagi helped Kasumi 
clean up while the others got ready for school.  During dishes, Usagi was asking Steve if he had 
any knowledge of the Moon Kingdom or a Star Kingdom.  Steve told her that none of that rings 
any bells and asked why she was asking.  Usagi told him it was nothing really, she was just 
curious.

	Kasumi then asked what they were going to do with Usagi while they were at school.  
That caught both Steve and Usagi off guard since they weren’t thinking about it.  They both had a 
confused look and Kasumi chuckled at their expression.  She then commented to them that Usagi 
should go to school with them as a visitor.  They looked at each other and Usagi shrugged her 
shoulders.  So Steve agreed to take Usagi with him to school.  When the others came down, Steve 
explained to them that Usagi was going with them to school, basically to give her something to do 
during the day.  The others had no problem with her coming along and were willing to help out 
with anything she had trouble with.

	While they were making their way to school, Nabiki ran on ahead to set up bets, Ranma 
was running on the fence with Akane on the ground next to him running also.  Shampoo was 
running just ahead of Steve, who had Usagi running next to him.  While they were running, Usagi 
whispered over to Steve about Shampoo’s uniform and how short it was.  Steve told her that 
Shampoo was flirting with him and that she likes to tease him.  Usagi commented that she could 
see Shampoo’s panties at times, and Steve told her that Shampoo is only doing it when no one is 
around but people she trusts.  He doesn’t have a problem with her doing it as long as she doesn’t 
cause any problems for other people.  They continued to school and Steve failed to notice that 
Usagi was deep in thought.

				*	*	*	*	*

	When they got back from school, Usagi was having a great time.  When she got to the 
school, she witnessed the morning fight that Akane had to deal with, the fight with Kuno and 
Ranma, and several boys trying to hit on Shampoo.  With Nabiki’s help, Usagi was able to get a 
visitors pass easily and sat next to Steve in all of his classes.  During lunch, Usagi witnessed the 
hassle that Ranma had to deal with, from Kuno to Akane yelling at him.  She had asked Steve if 
this was a normal day and Steve told her it was normal, but it’s been a little slow for the day.  She 
also had some of the other girls talking to her, which she enjoyed.

	So when they got back to the dojo, she was asked how she was doing.  Usagi replied she 
was doing better and she had a great time at school.  It was then that it was commented that she 
should transfer schools momentarily so that she didn’t miss out of any education.  Usagi didn’t 
really want to, but Kasumi persuaded her to try it out.  So then Steve and Usagi called Usagi’s 
parents.  Usagi didn’t want to talk to them so Steve started talking to them about Usagi’s transfer.  
It was her parents that wanted to talk to her, so she reluctantly went to talk to them.

	She then proceeded to talk to her parents and explained what had happened to her that 
caused her to do what she was going to do.  She told them everything she could, leaving out 
anything dealing with the Senshi.  When she was done talking, her parents weren’t too thrilled to 
hear what she said, but they agreed to let her stay where she was.  Nabiki offered to help with the 
transfer and Usagi’s parents were glad for the help.  They then had Steve agree to come over and 
pick up some of Usagi’s clothing until they can figure out where Usagi is going to stay over there.  
So before Steve left, Usagi told him of a bag in her closet that she wanted him to get, but she 
didn’t want her parents to know about it.  Steve agreed to make sure he didn’t reveal it to her 
parents and gave Shampoo Usagi’s home phone number to have Cologne call to talk to her 
parents.

	So when Steve left for Usagi’s house, Shampoo took Usagi over to the Neko-hatten to 
meet Cologne and show Usagi where she will be staying for a while.  When they arrived, Usagi 
met Cologne and was surprised to know that she was Shampoo’s great-grandmother.  She was 
shown where she would be sleeping until further arrangements could be made, which Usagi 
found out was the same room as Shampoo, and then given a tour of the Café.  While the tour was 
going on, Cologne called Usagi’s parents to figure out what was going on with Usagi and what 
Steve had pasted onto her on where Usagi was staying.  Cologne told them that Usagi would be 
staying at the Neko-hatten and if Usagi wanted, she would be hired as a part-time waitress, which 
Cologne would take the cost of Usagi living there out of her pay check.  Usagi’s parents thanked 
her and information was traded for emergencies. 

	When Shampoo was done with the tour, they all met in the living room upstairs.  They 
talked about general things before Usagi had to explain again what happened to her when she was 
asked again.  When she was done talking, Cologne knew that she was hiding something but didn’t 
press her for any details.  Usagi then asked Cologne and Shampoo how they came to know Steve 
and Ranma.  So Cologne and Shampoo started telling the story of how they met Steve and the 
others, since Usagi told them her story, they felt it was only right to return the favor.  During the 
story, Usagi brought up the question of how Steve and Ranma change.  Cologne explained to her 
the history of Jusenkyo and its various pools before continuing on with the story.  Usagi was 
surprised at what she was told that Shampoo was really a slave to Steve in his female form and 
that both Cologne and Shampoo are Chinese Amazons.  After that, they continued talking until 
Steve returned from visiting Usagi’s parents.

	When Steve got back, he found that Usagi was enjoying herself talking to Shampoo and 
Cologne, that he smiled that he figured that Usagi wasn’t going to harm herself in the near future.  
He then handed her the bag that she wanted him to get for her, and the bag of changes of clothes 
that her parents wanted to give to her.  Steve asked her what was in the bag and Usagi said it was 
some ‘interesting’ clothing that she didn’t want her parents finding while she was gone.  She also 
told him that if he was a good boy, she might model some of it for him.  She laughed at his 
shocked expression and ran up to the room she was going to be sleeping in, which was the same 
room as Shampoo.  Cologne chuckled at him and told him he is going to have his hands full when 
dealing with Usagi.  Steve just nodded his head and then went to his room to go to sleep.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Steve woke up the next morning and knew that he wasn’t alone.  He opened his eyes and 
expected to see Shampoo Again, but opened his eyes wide in surprise when he saw Shampoo and 
Usagi in his room.  He looked the both of them over, after he got over his surprise, and saw that 
the both of them were kneeling on each side of his futon smiling at him.  He then noticed that by 
the way the both of them were kneeling, that they were wearing only their nightshirts.  The girls 
giggled at Steve as he groaned as he tried not to look at the view the girls were offering.

	Steve commented to the girls about whose idea it was to do what they were doing.  Both 
of the girls smiled evilly and told him that it was the both of them.  He groaned again and said 
what he was going to do with the both of them.  The two girls then laid next to him, on each side 
of him, and rubbed their cheeks on his shoulder, saying that he should love them and care for 
them.  Steve chuckled and patted their butts and told them that they better get ready to head over 
to the Tendo Dojo.  The girls pouted and told Steve that he was no fun, but got up anyway and 
headed to their bedroom to change clothes.  Once all three were ready, they then headed over to 
the Tendo Dojo, with Usagi deciding that she wanted to join in on the practice.

	After practice was over, Shampoo had once again tripped Steve into the Koi pond.  After 
Shampoo and Usagi had a good laugh at Steve’s expense, Steve offered her hands out to be 
helped out of the pond by the both of the girls.  When Shampoo and Usagi had grabbed a hand 
each, Steve suddenly jerked back, which caused both of the girls to lose their balance and fall into 
the pond.  When the both of them surfaced, they were glaring at Steve who was laughing at them.  
Then the three of them got into a water fight that lasted until Kasumi came out to stop them.

	When Steve went to take a bath, Shampoo and Usagi went in with him.  When Steve tried 
to complain, but the both of them wouldn’t hear any complaints and dragged Steve into the 
bathroom be her arms, complaining all the way into the bathroom.  Ranma laughed at Steve’s 
predicament while Kasumi frowned that it wasn’t right to do what they were doing.  Akane 
grumbled on how much a pervert that Steve was being, but she knew it wasn’t all Steve’s fault 
since Steve was being dragged to the bathroom.

	After the bath was done, they got dressed and met everyone at the table for breakfast.  
During breakfast, Nabiki presented Usagi with the necessary paperwork to turn in to the school 
office for a temporary transfer.  Usagi looked at the papers in surprise as she didn’t think she 
would get them as soon as she did.  Steve explained to Usagi that Nabiki could do anything if she 
set her mind on it and had enough money.  Usagi thanked her and they all finished their breakfast.

	When Breakfast was over, Nabiki took Usagi to school to finish the transfer paperwork.  
The others left shortly afterwards to head for school.  Along the way, Ranma asked Steve what 
happened in the bath when Akane wasn’t in hearing range.  After Steve joked with why he 
wanted to know what happened, Steve just told him that all he did was bathe the both of them and 
they in turn bathed him, even though he was in his cursed form at the time.  Ranma then joked 
how Steve was starting a harem, when Steve started saying it wasn’t true, Ranma pointed out that 
it was his cursed form that seems to be collecting the harem.  Ranma joked about ‘Talia’s Harem’ 
and started running when Steve started chasing him.  The thing that both of them missed was that 
Shampoo had over heard them talking and started thinking of what Ranma had said.

	At the end of the school day, Usagi had enjoyed herself at her first real day at another 
school.  Shampoo had told Usagi about what Ranma was joking Steve about having a harem and 
both of them agreed to play it out to see what would happen.  At lunch time, the both of them 
were having fun messing with Kuno’s mind by confusing him.  Telling him that Ranma wasn’t 
enslaving them, that they were enslaved by Talia.  Kuno didn’t know what to do, he wanted to 
free the girls, but he couldn’t bring himself to attack a younger girl and Akane’s sister at that.  
The rest of the day went by uneventfully.

				*	*	*	*	*

	Over in Juuban, the Senshi had started to feel guilty about the way they had treated 
Usagi.  They were going to apologize to Usagi for losing their temper, but Usagi didn’t show up 
at school the next day.  When the second day came and Usagi wasn’t there, they became worried.  
They tried contacting Usagi through the communicator, but Usagi didn’t respond.  So they all 
agreed to head over to Usagi’s house to see what was wrong and then to apologize.

	When the school day was over, they all gathered and headed over to Usagi’s house.  It 
was Rei that knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered.  After a couple of minutes, the 
door opened to reveal Ikuko.  When she saw who it was at the door, her smile changed to a cold 
look.  The Senshi were surprised at the sudden change of expression they received.

	“What do you all want?”  Ikuko asked coldly, making some of the Senshi shiver at the 
tone.

	“Is Usagi here, we would like to talk to her.”  Rei asked.

	“Haven’t you all done enough to Usagi all ready?  Please leave and don’t come back here 
again.”  Ikuko said and then shut the door in the Senshi’s faces, causing some of them to be 
confused.

	“What was that all about?”  Makoto asked.

	“I don’t know, but let’s head to my place.”  Rei replied.

	When all of the Senshi had gathered at Rei’s shrine, they all were feeling a little down 
since they couldn’t talk to Usagi.  They were all wondering what was going on, they knew they 
had hurt Usagi’s feelings, but they never had seen or knew of Usagi not being in school because 
of it.  More questions were being added as no answers were forth coming.  Eventually they were 
getting more depressed as more questions were being added.  After several minutes of just sitting 
there in silence, they were about to head home, since they realized that they weren’t going to find 
out anything.  Just then Chibi-Usa came running inside the room breathing hard.  The Senshi was 
confused and asked Chibi-Usa what she was doing.

	“I’m sorry but this has to be quick,” Chibi-Usa said between breaths.  “I told Auntie 
Ikuko that I had to do an errand.”

	“Why?”  Ami asked.

	“She doesn’t want me to be with you all because of what you all did to Usagi.”  Chibi-
Usa replied.

	“We know we hurt her feelings, we tried to apologize, but Usagi’s mother wouldn’t let us 
talk to her.”  Makoto said.

	“You wouldn’t have been able to anyway.”  Chibi-Usa said.

	“Why is that?”  Minako said.

	“Usagi hasn’t been home for the past two days.”

	“What?”  The Senshi said surprised.

	“Why?”  Ami asked.

	“After you all yelled at her, she ran home hurt.”

	“We know that, what about it?”  Rei asked.

	“Well, it looks like you all weren’t the only ones putting Usagi down; it looks like 
Mamoru also had some nasty words to say to her.”  Chibi-Usa said as she pulled out a letter and 
handed it over to the Senshi to read.  The Senshi read the letter and couldn’t believe Mamoru 
could be so mean; they all had comments to say about it.

	“How could he do that?”

	“I thought he loved her.”

	“Wait until I see him.”

	After the Senshi calmed down a little, Chibi-Usa pulled out another letter.

	“After that letter, we guess Usagi wrote this one.”  Chibi-Usa said and handed it over to 
the Senshi.  The Senshi read that one and gasped at the meaning of the Letter.

	“Are you saying that Usagi tried to kill herself?”  Makoto asked.

	“What I over heard, she did almost kill herself but she was stopped.”  Chibi-Usa replied.

	“So that is why she isn’t home right now?”  Ami guessed.

	“Yes, but where she is now exactly, I do not know, but I do know that she is with cousin 
Stack, since he came to gather some clothes for Usagi last night.”

	“He’s the one we met recently?”  Minako asked.

	“Yes, that’s the one.”  Chibi-Usa replied.

	After Chibi-Usa said she better be heading back, the Senshi started to feel even guiltier 
than they were before.  They couldn’t believe that Usagi would go and try and kill herself like 
that.  They were glad she was still alive, but they wished they could have talked to her to 
apologize for what they did.  But since they couldn’t, they left for home with a heavy heart each.

				*	*	*	*	*

	After the school day was over, Usagi had persuaded Steve to go shopping with her and 
Shampoo.  Usagi earlier in the day had talked to Shampoo about what she wanted to do and 
Shampoo agreed to go with her and help out.  When Usagi confronted Steve about going 
shopping with her, Steve was not really into wanting to go.  When Usagi mentioned it was ‘Talia’ 
she wanted to go with, Steve really became nervous.  It was when Shampoo joined in the 
persuading that Steve’s defenses started going down.  When both Shampoo and Usagi started 
giving him the puppy dog eyes, that he agreed to go with them.

	So after school, Shampoo splashed Steve with some cold water and all three went to a 
nearby mall.  Steve dreaded what was in store for her as she was being led to several stores.  The 
stores that made Steve blush heavily was when she was led into the lingerie stores.  After 
purchasing several items, since Usagi or Shampoo wouldn’t let Steve go without getting 
something, they headed back to the Neko-hatten.  When Cologne saw Steve carrying several bags 
of clothes, she started chuckling and Steve started grumbling saying ‘She knows’.  Usagi and 
Shampoo dragged Steve up to her room for her to start trying on different combinations.

	Ranma entered the Neko-hatten an hour later and saw Cologne working on some 
paperwork.  He asked Cologne where Steve was and Cologne chuckled saying that Steve, 
Shampoo, and Usagi are in Steve’s room.  Ranma wondered what Cologne was chuckling about, 
made his way to Steve’s room.  Ranma reached Steve’s room and heard Shampoo and Usagi 
laughing and Steve, in female form, grumbling.  He opened the door and walked in, when he did, 
he froze where he stood.  The reason being, he saw Usagi and Shampoo holding clothes up to 
Steve, who was only dressed in a pair of black lace bra and panties, and all three of them were 
facing Ranma when he had entered.  It was Steve that got her voice back first.

	“Hey Red, a picture will last longer.”  Steve said smiling.

	“I wasn’t … I didn’t … I …” Ranma started stuttering.  Steve then walked over to Ranma 
and placed her hand over Ranma’s mouth to shut him up.

	“Red, shut up.  I was joking; you’ve seen me in less all ready, so it shouldn’t be a 
problem.”  Steve said.

	“I know, but still.”  Ranma said blushing.

	“Well, the good thing is, you can help the three of us.”  Steve said.

	“Help!?”  Ranma said in surprised shock.

	“Hold on a sec, you two, I have to talk to Red here for a moment.”  Steve said turning to 
face Shampoo and Usagi.  After the girls nodded that they heard her, they started going through 
the clothing while Steve pushed Ranma out to the hallway and closed the door.

	“Stack, what are you doing?”  Ranma asked confused.

	“What does it look like, I’m playing dress up.”  Steve replied.

	“Why are you doing that?”

	“It makes Usagi happy.  I don’t like it, but it’s better than seeing the look Usagi had when 
she was trying to kill herself.”

	“I see.”

	“By the way, why are you over here?”  Steve asked and then saw Ranma looked 
embarrassed.

	“I some how made Akane angry at me again and Kasumi recommended I leave for a 
while to let Akane cool down some.  I came here ‘cause I didn’t know where else to go.”

	“Ah, okay.”

	“Now what is that help you needed?  Not getting you dress is it?’

	“You only wish, but no, the girls want a guy’s opinion of what they got me, and I’m 
somewhat bias, so you came at the right time.”

	“So you only needed my opinion on your clothes?”

	“Yes, that is … oh yeah, we also got you your uniforms.”

	“Um …”

	“Don’t worry, your waitress uniform doesn’t have a skirt, since I know how much you 
hate that idea, it has pants.”  Steve replied as Ranma sighed in relief.

	“So will you play along, 'cause I’m getting cold standing here.”  Steve said as she rubbed 
her arms to get a little warmer.

	“I can tell.”

	“Huh?”  Steve asked confused at Ranma’s reply and saw him looking at her.  She 
followed Ranma’s line of sight and noticed what he was looking at and then got what he meant.  
Steve stuck her tongue out at Ranma and then grabbed Ranma’s arm and entered the bedroom.  
“Okay, he agrees.”

	So Ranma suddenly found himself commenting on all the outfits that Steve had to wear.  
Ranma had found himself enjoying himself and chuckling to some of the outfits Steve was 
wearing.  He even found himself suggesting some of the things for Steve to wear.  The only part 
he had trouble with was when Shampoo and Usagi broke out the lingerie to put on Steve.  When 
it was over, Steve was left wearing a purple teddy, since the girls wouldn’t let him change into 
anything else.  Ranma suddenly found himself changing to his female form by a glass of water by 
Usagi.  Then to Ranma’s discomfort, they broke out clothes for her to wear.

	Ranma started complaining that she wasn’t there to try on clothes when it was pointed 
out that it was her waitress uniform and they needed to see if it fit properly.  Steve reminded 
Ranma that she went through dressing in front of everybody and had no problem with it, so 
Ranma shouldn’t either.  When it was mentioned that they had got some female underwear for 
her to wear, she was afraid of what it was, thinking of some of the things that Steve had to wear.  
She was surprised when Steve gave her three sets of plain cotton panties, one in red, one in black, 
and one in white.  She was also given three sports bra’s, in which Steve reminded her that women 
wore them as shirt’s when they went jogging, and Ranma saw they were matching colors to her 
panties.  Since Steve had reminded her that she had no problem changing in front of the others, 
Ranma decided to change into the white set.  Ranma blushed when Usagi made the comment of 
how she couldn’t believe how big Ranma’s breasts were when Ranma was suppose to be really a 
guy.

	After Ranma had gotten over her fear of changing in front of the others, Steve asked 
Ranma if the underwear fit comfortably and was the right size.  When Ranma contemplated it for 
a moment, she was surprised that they fit her quite well, much to her horror.  It was then that 
Steve brought out the Chinese pant suit waitress outfits.  There were three of them that Ranma 
found out, one white, one red, and one in pink, and all three had flower patterns all over them.  So 
Ranma then tried each one on and found out that all three fit her perfectly.  Ranma commented on 
that and Steve replied that both her and Shampoo had guessed correctly.  So Ranma took off the 
outfit and Usagi then started folding them up and started putting them away as Steve brought out 
two more items.  

 	Ranma opened the first one and saw that it was a female’s swimsuit.  She was glad when 
she found out it was a one-piece swimsuit and not a bikini.  She took a look at the suit and saw it 
had two colors, red and black.  She then noticed that there was a word on the suit, much like the 
‘Body Glove’ style that Steve had on her swimsuit, but the one on hers say ‘Boy’.  Ranma caught 
the meaning of it and was glad when she found out she didn’t have to put it on.  She took a look 
at the other item and saw that it turned out it was a red silk Chinese dress, with a dragon motif on 
it.  Ranma looked over at Steve and noticed that Steve had a slight blush on her and wasn’t 
looking directly at Ranma.  Steve said that she got them for her as a present for what she’s done 
for her lately.  Ranma then realized what and why Steve got her the items and minorly blushed as 
she put the dress away.

	While Ranma was checking the two items Steve gave her, Usagi had gotten up and went 
to her and Shampoo’s room to get an item.  When Usagi got back, she was carrying the bag that 
Steve had brought from her home.  Steve and Ranma wondered what was going on when Usagi 
said it was their turn to do a modeling session.  So both her and Shampoo started showing Steve 
and Ranma what was in the bag, since Usagi said it was only fair to return the favor.  So the both 
of them started undressing in front of the both of them and started to put on what was in the bag.  
Much to the surprise of both Steve and Ranma, they found out that Shampoo wasn’t wearing a 
bra and that both of the girl’s hair color was natural.

	The girls then started to put on the many selections of clothing that Usagi had in the bag.  
The only thing was Shampoo’s breasts were bigger than Usagi’s, so most of the stuff was very 
tight on her.  The items Usagi had, was several different types of lingerie, from being very 
skimpy to practically not there.  There was also clothing that was very small on Usagi, like micro-
mini skirts and tube tops, to shirts that were see-through.  The final items in the bag were 
swimsuits.  The suits in there were so skimpy, Steve and Ranma were surprised it covered what it 
should.  The one that got Steve was the one Shampoo wore, which was a one piece, but the suit 
was only an inch wide over the nipples and came down to form a thong to reach behind her until 
it separated to form the shoulder straps.  When the show was over, both of them got into some of 
the underwear and they sat in a circle wondering what to do.

	Steve, on a burst of inspiration, grabbed a pillow and threw it at Usagi, hitting her in the 
face.  Once Usagi got over the shock and looked over at Steve and saw her smiling, Usagi caught 
on and grabbed the pillow and then started to attack Steve.  Ranma and Shampoo were confused 
at what was going on as they watched Steve and Usagi hit each other with pillows.  So they 
looked at each other, shrugging, grabbed a pillow, and started joining in.  Ranma teamed up with 
Steve to fight Shampoo and Usagi.

	During a wrong moment, Ranma tripped on a blanket and fell on top of Steve.  What got 
everyone was when the both of them landed, Ranma was on top of Steve and their lips were 
pressed together in a kiss.  Steve was just staring up at Ranma in surprise while Ranma was 
staring at Steve in shock.  It was when Usagi asked if she could join in that Ranma finally got off 
of Steve, stuttering an apology.  It was Usagi that silenced Ranma saying that Ranma needed to 
loosen up and not be so uptight.

	Steve finally sat up, blushing a little and noticed the time.  She told the others that they 
better get some sleep since they would have to go to practice soon.  Ranma realized that she 
better get going, started to get change her clothes, when the others persuaded her to stay.  So all 
four of them went to bed together, talking about general topics to some more private ones.  
Ranma had mentioned that how much she was revolted at what she had just done; she had really 
enjoyed herself by what she had done.  Eventually all four of them fell asleep together in the 
same bed.

	When Cologne went to wake them up the next morning, she found them in a sea of 
purple, red, black and yellow hair.  She chuckled as she noticed that Steve had once again used 
Ranma as a pillow.  So she woke them up and told them they better get ready for practice.  She 
raised an eyebrow when she noticed the attire that they all were wearing, but she let them have 
their fun.  After they changed, they headed over to the Tendo Dojo for morning practice.  It took 
all three of them to explain where Ranma was to the Tendo’s when they had asked Ranma where 
he was all night.

				*	*	*	*	*

COUPLE DAYS LATER

	In Juuban, the Senshi had to deal with another monster attack.  When the Senshi saw the 
monster, to them it looked like it was the Creature from the Black Lagoon.  The monsters 
appearance was like a movies humanoid sea creature.  During the fight, the Senshi were realizing 
that they were having trouble in defeating it.  Mercury was only able to make out that the 
monsters weakness was that it couldn’t take much damage.  After a long fight, the Senshi was 
able to pool their attacks until the monster was dead.  

	The only problem with that was, it left them very exhausted and they were trying to catch 
their breath.  Some of them were realizing that they needed Usagi’s help, but they couldn’t 
contact her to tell her they were sorry for what they did.  The reason for that was they found out 
that Usagi had left her communicator at her house, and they found that out by Chibi-Usa telling 
them that she found it there.  So the Senshi had barely made it out of the scene before the 
emergency vehicles arrived.

	Back in Nerima, the Neko-hatten had its grand opening.  Shampoo and Usagi were 
waitresses, which the guys that entered enjoyed, because of the mini-dress outfits they wore.  
Ranma was a part-time waitress, when in female form, or a busboy, when in male form.  Steve 
was in the back, helping Cologne in the kitchen with the cooking or anything else that Cologne 
needed.  The Neko-hatten suddenly became very popular with how good the food was and the 
‘Shows’ that was going on during the service, which was Cologne giving training while they 
worked.

	During the last few days, Steve was noticing some changes in Usagi, but he couldn’t tell 
if it was for the better or not.  She suddenly became a big flirt, especially around Shampoo, 
Ranma, and himself, much to Akane’s anger when Usagi was flirting with Ranma.  She started 
wearing the clothes from her bag, her skimpy ones when she wasn’t wearing her school uniform, 
which she changed to match Shampoo’s.  She was walking more gracefully and wasn’t as clumsy 
as he had first heard.  She also had started wearing her hair in a ponytail and not in her usual 
style.  The final thing he noticed was that Usagi was teasing both him and Shampoo in an almost 
sexual manner.  Her teasing would get to the point of almost ‘going all the way’ with the both of 
them, but luckily Usagi would stop herself before it did reach that point.

	So on the one day that the Neko-hatten was closed, Steve took Usagi and Shampoo out to 
get some ice cream.  Steve had a fun time getting Usagi into some normal looking clothes, and 
after several minutes argument he had to settle with her wearing a mini skirt and a long-sleeve 
shirt that was practically transparent.  It was thin enough that if you looked carefully enough you 
could make out the design of her bra, which Steve was very glad, she decided to wear.  Shampoo 
wasn’t much help since she was wearing one of her mini dresses that Steve realized that she liked 
to wear.  After the major debate of what to wear, they all left to get the ice cream.

	After the ice cream, they were planning to head over to the Tendo Dojo for a small party 
that the Tendo sister’s had planned, since both Soun and Genma were going to be away from the 
dojo for a while.  So when they were done having their ice cream, they decided to head over to 
the dojo.  While they were walking towards the dojo, Steve noticed a person walking on the other 
side of the street that he hadn’t seen in a while.

	“Ryouga!”  Steve shouted out to get the persons attention.  Ryouga stopped and looked in 
the direction the shout came from.  When he spotted Steve, recognization shown on his face and 
he headed over to where Steve was standing.

	“Stack!  How’ve you been, what are you doing in Yokohama?”  Ryouga said as he 
reached Steve.

	“Yokohama?”  Usagi quietly whispered to Shampoo who just shrugged her shoulders.

	“Hey Ryouga, I’ve been doing okay, but you are in Nerima.”  Steve replied to Ryouga.

	“Oh yeah, I knew that.”  Ryouga chuckled to himself and then he noticed the two girls 
standing behind Steve and had to look away quickly when he saw how the both of them were 
dressed.  “So who are the two girls you are with?”

	“Oh sorry, Ryouga, this is my cousin Usagi and this is Xian-pu.”  Steve said as he placed 
an arm over each girls shoulder and gave each one a small hug.

	“Shampoo?  What kind of name is that?”  Ryouga asked confused.

	“It’s her name and it’s Chinese, so no making any jokes about it.”  Steve said giving 
Ryouga a glare.

	“All right.”  Ryouga said holding his hands up to fend of the glare.

	“Usagi, Xian-pu, this is Ryouga Hibiki, my first Sensei.”  Steve said continuing the 
introductions.  After the introductions and greetings were made, Steve had wondered about 
something.  “Hey Ryouga, where did you visit this time?”

	“Several places.”

	“You’ll have to tell me about them sometime.”

	“Okay.”

	“We’re off to the Tendo Dojo for a small party, want to join us?”

	“If it won’t be any trouble.”

	“If you don’t attack Red, then I don’t see a problem.”

	So the four of them started to head to the Tendo Dojo.  Ever so often, Steve had to keep 
Ryouga from wondering off.  Usagi was the one that commented on it and Steve explained that 
Ryouga liked to wonder off if he wasn’t paying attention.  It was then Ryouga made a comment 
that Steve seemed to be forming a little harem.  Steve told him that if he really was starting one, 
he was glad to start with the two girls he had with him as he hugged both Shampoo and Usagi.  
Both of the girls punched Steve in the arms and glared at him, but after a few moments, all four of 
them started laughing.

	En route to the dojo, they passed by an old woman’s house and Ryoga found himself 
being splashed by the old woman as she was empting her bucket.  Usagi and Shampoo were 
surprised to see Ryoga just vanish within his clothing.  The both of them then saw movement 
from within the pile of clothes until a foxes head popped out of the clothing.  Steve was saved 
from being splashed because Shampoo had grabbed his collar to halt his forward movement.

	After seeing what happened, Steve went and collected Ryoga and started to explain that 
Ryoga had a Jusenkyo curse when he noticed Usagi and Shampoo were giving him questioning 
looks.  After the quick explanation, in which Steve was unconsciously petting Ryoga, much to 
Ryoga’s enjoyment and embarrassment.  Shampoo and Usagi then went and collected Ryoga’s 
stuff; Usagi collected Ryoga’s clothes while Shampoo got the backpack.  As Usagi was collecting 
Ryoga’s clothing, she started teasing Ryoga about his tiger stripe boxers, until Steve told her to 
quit it when Ryoga started whining.

	Shampoo, as she collected Ryoga’s backpack, was surprised at how heavy it was.  When 
Steve offered to carry it, Shampoo told him she had it and grunted as she put it on.  She smiled at 
Steve as she then continued walking towards the dojo.  Both Usagi and Steve shrugged their 
shoulders and quickly caught up with Shampoo.

	As they were approaching the Tendo Dojo, the four of them heard a scream from above 
and it was getting closer.  They looked up and saw a person falling towards them.  As the person 
was getting closer, the four of them wee able to recognize the person as Ranma.  They watched as 
Ranma got closer until he landed in front of them.  Some of them winced at how Ranma landed 
on his back, but Ranma quickly recovered as he looked up and saw who was near him.

	“Pissed off Akane again, Red?”  Steve asked.

	“I only made comments to help her.”  Ranma grumbled.

	“One of these days, you’ll realize that how you make comments will piss her off all the 
time.”  Steve said.

 	Ranma just grumbled about uncute tomboys and their poor ways of taking comments.  It 
was then that he noticed that Usagi was standing almost over him.  He noticed that she was 
wearing one of her mini skirts and that he had a good view up it to see that she was wearing her 
pink mesh panties.  Ranma suddenly went wide-eyed at the view as he continued to look at it.  
Usagi looked down at Ranma and saw him staring at her.  It took her a moment to realize what 
Ranma was looking at and started smiling.  She smiled and started to flirt with Ranma.

	“Enjoying the view, I can give you a closer look if you want.”  Usagi said seductively.  
“Besides, you’ve seen me wear the pink mesh ones before.”

	Ranma was suddenly panicked as Usagi started to flirt with him.  He was saved as Steve 
told her to stop flirting with Ranma and saw her pout as she walked away from Ranma.  He 
quickly stood up before anything else happened to him and saw that Steve was talking to Ryoga, 
in his fox form, about not making any comments about Usagi’s panties.  They then all decided to 
head into the dojo and as they were heading inside, Steve asked Ranma what was he commenting 
Akane on and Ranma replied that Akane was cooking some snacks for the party.  Those that 
know about Akane’s cooking, shivered at the concept that some of the food they should watch out 
for.

	They entered the dojo and headed to the living room.  Shampoo was glad to stop carrying 
Ryoga’s backpack and it made a heavy thud as it landed on the floor.  She started to massage her 
sore shoulders, but stopped when she felt someone massage her shoulders.  She stiffened up when 
she felt someone else touch her, when she looked to see who it was; she saw it was Steve who 
had set Ryoga down, so she calmed down.  As Steve was massaging Shampoo, Usagi had noticed 
that the TV was showing a news program about the Senshi, so she started listening to what it was 
saying.  When she heard what it was talking about, she gasped and dropped Ryoga’s clothes in 
shock.

	Everyone heard Usagi and saw her just standing there staring at the TV.  Steve became 
worried when he saw Usagi just staring at the TV in a shocked expression.  He then went over to 
her to see what was wrong with her.  He started shaking her to get her attention but she wasn’t 
responding.  He really started to become worried and started shaking her more violently.  Steve’s 
concern started bringing everyone over to see what was going on.

	Suddenly Usagi started crying and wrapped her arms around Steve.  Steve wrapped his 
arms around her and looked at the others with a questioningly look, saying he had no idea what 
was going on.  He started asking Usagi what was wrong and all that he could get out of her was 
her saying it was all her fault and that she should have been there to help them.  Everyone was 
clueless on what Usagi was talking about when Nabiki realized what the news was talking about 
and drew a connection.

	“You’re Sailor Moon, aren’t you?”  Nabiki asked Usagi.

	“What?”  Most of everyone exclaimed to Nabiki’s announcement.

	“Yes.”  Usagi said after she realized it was pointless to debate and she really didn’t want 
to argue the fact.  Suddenly she went limp, but since Steve was holding her, he was able to catch 
her quickly enough so she didn’t fall to the floor.  He then moved her to the couch and sat her 
down and sat next to her with Shampoo on his other side.  The others stood around them and 
looked in worry at Usagi.

	“Want to tell us what really is going on?”  Steve asked.

	“Okay, it’s pointless to deny anything anymore.”  Usagi said defeated.

	So Usagi started telling them everything from when she first became Sailor Moon to 
when Steve saved her from jumping off the bridge.  Everyone was surprised at what she was 
telling them and at other times, angry at what had happened to her.  When she was done talking, 
Steve and Shampoo were comforting her, much to her enjoyment that she didn’t show.  All the 
others started talking about what they should do to help out Usagi.  After a minor debate on what 
they could do, no one was able to think of anything to help, which caused some of them to be 
chest fallen when a voice called out.

	“I know of a way to help out with your problem.”  Came a male voice from the porch.  
When they all turned to face the voice, they only saw a fox.

	“Helios.”  Usagi said quietly but everyone heard her.

	“How are you doing, Serenity.”  Helios said, shocking everyone that the fox was talking.

	“Not so good.”  Usagi replied like a talking animal was normal.

	“Um, what do you mean you know a way to help us, Mr. Fox?”  Kasumi asked 
nervously.

	“Easy, all of you are the Senshi of Star Kingdom.”  Helios replied matter-of-factly.


END OF PART ONE

	

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