Chapter 3
When school had finally let out that afternoon, torrential rain was falling imprisoning kids who forgot their umbrellas in the school's front hall. Shampoo and Ranma looked at each other.
"I don't suppose you brought an umbrella, Shampoo?" he asked.
She shook her head.
He sighed. "Guess we're stuck here then. There's nothing that could make me go out in that." He shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Shampoo no care if stuck with husband." She hugged him affectionately.
"Shampoo!" He cried pulling at her arms trying to get her to release him. Little did he realize that a snowy ferret was trying to do the same on the other side of her.
Somewhere in the back of the crowd behind Ranma and Shampoo a voice cried out. "Principle Kuno is coming!! He has hair clippers!!!"
The panicked crowd shot out into the rain taking Ranm and Shampoo with them. Shampoo felt the cold droplets over her and she sank to the ground in horror. "No!" she cried.
"What? Are you okay?!" The ferret called a few feet away. He jotted over to her. "You're fine." He sighed relieved.
Shampoo looked at her hands, her human hands, she hadn't changed. She couldn't help the joyful laugh that escaped her. She stood up and tilted her face toward the pouring sky, a smile glued to her lips. She was so engrossed in her joy that she was not expecting to be suddenly tackled, avoiding a snipping sound that had been by her ear. She looked up to see that girl-type Ranma had saved her from getting a nasty haircut from a crazy guy with a tree in his head. She felt her heart flutter. "Ranma…"
Onna-Ranma stood glaring at the principle who was grinning fiendishly. "Leave her alone!"
"Fine din! I'll be comin' after you and I'll be takin' dat pigtail! Hahahahaha!" The principle leapt toward Ranma clippers raised threateningly.
Ranma smirked in challenge. He wiggled his fingers in a 'come and get it' kind of fashion, after the day he had Ranma was gladly in the mood for a fight.
"Stop right there!" A muffled female voice called out. "I can not allow you to hurt that girl!" A terrifying looking person wearing a thick dowdy rain coat that looked like something out of 'I know what you did last summer', leapt out to face Principle Kuno. On her face was an emotionless stark white mask, her eyes seemed black and soulless. She wore the mask in an attempt to keep her identity a secret.
Ranma's smirk melted away and he groaned instead. "Dummy!" He called to the masked figure. "Stop butting into my fights!"
"No can do." the figure said patting the smaller redhead on her shoulder. "I swore to protect you and I'll do so…even at the cost of my own life."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Yeah I know, and it's pretty damn irritating." Despite the disguise Ranma would know her anywhere. It was beyond him why he didn't just reveal her…no wait, it was because she didn't know that the red haired girl she protected and the pigtailed boy she attacked were one and the same. He didn't feel the need to enlighten her.
The figure ran towards the Principle but Ranma got there first booting the Principle away. He watched him fly away with a great level of remorse. "Aw man I was really looking forward to dragging that out too…" He turned an angry glare to the masked person who had just spoiled his fun.
"Listen!" Onna-Ranma hollered at her through the pouring rain. "One of these days you're gonna get yourself hurt trying to take on my fights. Just stay out of my way!"
The figure simply shook her head, and met his angry gaze with a determined one of her own.
Shampoo stared at the newcomer in contemplation…"Mask girl is too too friendly with Shampoo husband. Grrr…If only Shampoo could know who that mask girl is!!"
The damp, matted ferret on her shoulder gave her an incredulous look. "You're kidding right? How can you not know that that is Akane?" he hung his head silently crying. "Why is it always the beautiful ones that are so dimwitted?"
Shampoo angrily snatched the ferret off her shoulder and threw him on the ground and stomped on him a few times before walking towards her rival. "Shampoo show all who mask girl is!" and before Akane could stop her she yanked back the hood.
A scream went out and a murmur of horror swept through the bystanders…Standing petrified with the empty coat clutched in her hand was Shampoo, and the girl she tried to expose had disappeared, leaving only her clothes behind.
"…she was a ghost…." someone whispered.
"One second she was there and the next she was gone…" a male student said to another.
"I'm not worried…we have nothing to fear as long as Ranma is here." That statement seemed to reassure everyone.
"That's right," someone else said. "If Ranma's not afraid we shouldn't be either…"
Ranma stepped toward the clothes a worried frown on his face. He squatted next to the pile his hand touching the face of the creeping looking mask. He looked up, his troubled gaze meeting Shampoo's bewildered one.
She shrugged, and slowly shook her head. "Wha…"
"Sh!" Ranma suddenly interrupted. A soft rustling sound was heard under the gaze less stark white mask. A finger to his lips he looked at Shampoo as he reached toward the mask and the empty pile of clothes.
The anxious crowd gathered around closer curious to see what Ranma would uncover. At this point no one even noticed the harsh rain or flashes of light in the sky. They were too wrapped up in the movement under the mask.
With hard yank, Ranma pulled back the mask to reveal…nothing. "Huh, I guess that…" he suddenly stopped talking as he registered that a strange weight was pressed against his chest. When he had lifted the mask so suddenly it had yank something from the pile onto his breasts.
Everyone who was gathered around closed the gap even more around Ranma, wondering what could give the strongest fighter in the whole school pause, but they saw nothing in the clothes.
Ranma's own eyes were still glued to the clothing pile, almost instinctively he knew exactly what had glomped onto him and he couldn't bring himself to look at it. Mustering every ounce of courage he had he reached his hand towards his chest and felt the wet matted hair of an animal clinging there. This fact alone was not reason enough for him to panic...
The small animal let out a small noise, "Meow."
…however this sound was more then enough to panic at. Ranma jumped up screaming in absolute terror. "Get it off!!! Get it off!!" He ran around desperately.
The students seeing Ranam react in such fear knew that something must be seriously wrong. Ranma was yelling 'get it off' at some unseen force, he must be getting pressed by a ghost! Suddenly they realized that a vengeful spirit must have been unleashed in the court yard. Soon all the students were running around screaming.
"Ahhh!"
"We're under attack!!"
"It's every man for himself!"
"We're all gonna DIE!!!"
The kitty clinging to the red-haired girl's front hung on for dear life. It was not exactly sure what was happening or why this girl was so spooked. Over it's shoulder it saw that the red-haired girl was racing breakneck speed toward a tree in the courtyard. The kitty knew it had to protect this girl no matter what the cost, but with its puny cat body there was little that could be done. In a desperate attempt, the kitty turned and thrust its head way out front hoping in some small way that this simple gesture would somehow ease the redhead's collision.
Luckily for the small creature, the redhead suddenly stopped her mad dash and fell to the ground muttering incoherently. The kitty found itself being unceremoniously plucked from the bosom of the red-haired girl by a person she only knew as Ranma's fiancée, Shampoo. It quirked it's head to the side wondering what Shampoo wanted with her. "Mew?" it asked curiously.
Shampoo tucked the little cat under her arm and walked steadily through the throng of still panicking students, only to drop the kitty off by it's clothes. Truthfully Shampoo didn't want to help the indigo blue cat in any way, but she knew she needed to get it away from Ranma. It was super embarrassing to see Ranma acting like such a coward. Checking one more time on Ranma to make sure he was okay, she retrieved her smashed ferret and headed in the direction of the Cat Café.
OOOO
"Ohh my head…" The ferret muttered as it woke up to the gentle rhythm of Shampoo's graceful walking. "What happened?" He left her arms to move to his preferred perch on her shoulder.
"'What happen?'" Shampoo repeated dourly. "Everything crazy is what happen! Why you no warn Shampoo that Akane now has curse?!"
The Jinn sighed "My omniscience doesn't work that way…I mean I know a lot, but…only generally. It's like watching a movie you haven't seen in years, you may remember the plot, but the details are a little sketchy…"
"Hmph!" She turned her head away from him angrily.
"I promise to help more from now on, okay?"
"Okay."
The ferret saw the building they were approaching and realized something. "You're here to tell your Great-grandmother aren't you?"
"Yes."
"You can't do that! Trust me on this the less people who know the better! It's bad enough that Nabiki is figuring this out, but you want to bring in someone voluntarily?"
"Great-grandmother can help much better then stupid ferret."
"Ouch…for the record I can help you too! Like uh…Mousse!"
"Shampoo no care about duck-boy!"
The ferret seemed insulted, "Well, you better care! He's not as dumb as you think and you're on a whole new playing field now! He's not going to be mooning over you like some love sick bulldog anymore! In fact he sees you as a spoilt Japanese girl now. It's Akane he thinks he has kinship with, not you. All it would take for him to see through the illusion is for you to speak Mandarin around him, or to understand him if he speaks Mandarin, you need to be on your toes!" The ferret smiled smugly glad to prove he was useful after all. He suddenly noticed something, "Hey, the rain stopped."
The jinn's words bothered her. "Ferret is wrong!"
"No, seriously, look at the sky…"
"Mousse always loves Shampoo!"
"Oh, that," The jinn shook his head. "He may have strong feelings for you, but he'll push them to the side thinking you're a stranger…uh oh, we're here." The ferret immediately stopped talking and wore the glossy expression of a dumb animal.
Shampoo saw that a few feet away Mousse was wiping the rain off of the out door tables. She approached him and loudly cleared her throat. "Excuse me."
He looked up at her a second, then immediately went back to work.
"Excuse me." She repeated anger lacing her voice. Once again she was ignored. She grabbed his arm. "Can you take Shampoo to owner please?" she ground out.
He looked at her blankly. "No speak the Japanese." Then under his breath he muttered in mandarin, " if you want to see the owner go find her yourself, and take your squeaky Mickey Mouse voice with you… " he turned from her to continue buffing the table.
Shampoo grabbed a nearby chair in anger and lifted above her head, how dare Mousse talk so disrespectful to her!
"Wait!" The ferret hissed in her ear. "You can't let him know that you know that he insulted you!"
Grumbling she placed the chair back down. "Sorry to bother you." She said to his back and turning she made her way into the Cat Café. "Stupid Mousse." She muttered, not knowing why his callous attitude hurt her so much.
Once inside the café she dropped all premises and expertly made her way behind the counter to the kitchen where her Great-grandmother was making ramen.
The old woman cackled when she saw the purple haired girl approach her. "Ah, Great-granddaughter, I was wondering when you were going to pay me a visit."
Shampoo blinked in surprise. "Great-grandmother figure truth out?"
"Well, not at first, the illusion's a good one I'll give you that. It's clever the way it fits each of the girls' individual characters into their new life." Cologne spotted the ferret on Shampoo's shoulder and snatched it up. "What do we have here?"
"Uh, I'm the Jin ma'am, at your service, er Shampoo's service anyway…"
"What's your name?" She asked him.
"Just call me Jinn." The ferret nervously twitched under her close scrutiny.
"Hmm…so why are you hanging around my granddaughter even after the wish is made? jinns don't normally take interest in their masters, unless there's some kind of personnel gain to be had."
"I like Shampoo a lot and I wanted to make sure she isn't confused and make mistakes. Everything's different now with her and Akane switched as they are."
Cologne's eyes narrow to slits, suspicion heavy in her. "Then you could have simply put all the differences directly in her mind. Why are you playing at being a guide?"
The Jinn clammed up simmering in anger.
Cologne handed the ferret back to Shampoo, but with a warning, "Don't believe everything this creature tells you. jinns are notorious liars and deceivers. It's unlikely he'd help you no matter how attractive he may have found you. No doubt this mischievous creature has an agenda of his own…"
"It's not true!" The jinn cried out.
Shampoo took the ferret back in her arms. "Shampoo trust him." She stated.
The jinn let out a sigh of relief.
Cologne became thoughtful, "So Akane believes herself to be an Amazon, eh?"
Shampoo nodded. "Great-grand mother, why Akane protecting female type Ranma?"
The elderly woman chuckled. "What a fun illusion this is…apparently your personalities are very different, when you saw strange, bedraggled travelers eating your first place prize you grew angry and inadvertently fought and lost to the red haired girl. This resulted in you giving her the kiss of death. However, when Akane saw them she must have felt sympathy and allowed the travelers to eat her food reasoning to us that since it's her prize she can do what she wants with it. heh, even in my memories she only speaks Japanese…
Here's where it gets interesting, I'm not sure of the details, but in some way Ranma must have done something to directly save Akane's life…and as every Amazon knows this is a fate worst then death."
Shampoo was filled with horror. "Kiss of life…"
Cologne nodded. "That's right, Akane is now sworn to protect the red haired girl till death, and should the red haired girl die, Akane must take her own life and follow her to the beyond…most Amazons who give the Kiss of Life can live long fulfilled lives, for how often is the average person in danger? But as you and I both know Ranma is not like average people. When Mousse and I realized the danger Akane was in we followed her here in hopes to help her out or maybe even find a loop hole that would release her from her servitude."
Shampoo sighed. "Akane is terrible warrior to need save in first place."
"Yes, she is a terrible warrior." Cologne agreed. "However she is far more studious and versed in Amazon lore then you are, using the old Amazon magics, she developed a small pendent to ware around her ankle that would alert her anytime that female Ranma is in trouble…" The elderly monarch gasped in realization. Her panicked eyes turned to the ferret's in desperation. "Tell me! Will Akane retain the memories of this fake life when she reverts back to her normal self? You wretched creature, is she going to know intimate details of the deepest Amazonian secrets?!"
The jinn ducked away under the tiny woman's fiery anger. "I-I'm not sure…"
"This is bad." Cologne whispered.
Shampoo became grim. "Akane need die…" Truthfully despite the fact that they were rivals, Shampoo knew Akane rather well and the thought of killing her brought the Amazon warrior no joy.
"Not necessarily…" the monarch murmured. She suddenly cackled in delight. "Great-granddaughter, we may have a way of killing two birds with one stone. You will get to keep your husband and Akane will be safely out of our way…" She raced upstairs to the room they kept their carrier pigeon, Shampoo following closely.
Once there she quickly wrote out a note and tied it to the birds leg, without further ado she released the animal into the air. "Fly swiftly to the arms of my village." She called after it. Turning to her great-granddaughter she said "hurry Shampoo make as many fliers as you can and distribute them around this town and the next! Let every male near and far know that to defeat the Amazon Akane in battle is to marry her!"
'This…' the ferret thought with a grin. 'Is going to be fun…'
OOOOOO
Till next time…
Also I just wanted to respond to a few of the comments that you guys left me.
First of all thank you for the positive feedback it was truthfully more then I was hoping for. I sincerely hope you guys will continue to enjoy it.
jdcocoagirl, Habana, Esoteric Memories, LilyEvans777, Makoga – thanks for supporting this fic I hope you continue to enjoy it!
Adrichan – sorry about the confusion, I'm not really sure how to explain it differently. Rather then switch the two permanently where they are both kinda trapped in the wish, I wanted to make it more in everyone's head. So that some would have the opportunity to figure it out and take advantage of the ones who didn't…that's still confusing, isn't it? sigh…
Tellemicus Sundance – I really am fond of Shampoo and I do plan on making her likable, I want to paint her character as having a lot more substance then just glomping Ranma and hatching evil plans…although she will be doing both. It may seem that I focus a lot on Akane, but Shampoo is the hero of this fic. Of course I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to write 'Shampoo speech' all the time ;
Ambulatory Kettle – Thanks, trust me I take it as a compliment and I do hope to improve some as I go along. I am interested in the pre reader thing, but I don't know at all how to go about it…
TL – you are so right! Heheheh...
You guys inspired the creative bug in me that I didn't even know was there…