Prepare for a truck-load of angst. Prepare for deaths, depression, and Mousse being an asshole for wising up. So if you want to skip to the end (though I wouldn't recommend it, there's some important info) I'll summarize it very briefly at the bottom. I usually try to put a lot of humor into my stuff; especially since I'm trying to live up to Takahashi-sensei's work (hah, right). The chapters won't all be like this, I swear. Unfortunately this chapter, and a couple more scattered throughout will be fairly angsty.

(Also, if I honestly suck at writing angst, please tell me.)

Rinse is going to be my only gets-mentioned-in-more-than-just-passing OC. I hope you don't mind.

I don't own Ranma 1/2.

Chapter 4: The Tragedy of Shampoo, or In Which Shampoo Doesn't Know What She Has Until it's Gone

"So ya got sent back'n time too?"

Shampoo nodded, the sad smile still etched across her face. It looked completely foreign on her, Ranma decided. Then she had a thought.

"That stinkin' Kami didn' tell me an' Akane nothin' 'bout this," she grumbled. She cocked her head. "Why did ya get sent back?"

The neo-neko bowed her head. "It's not a nice tale, but if you want to hear it, I'll tell you. It began the night I had vowed to find you and kill you."

~Flashback~

That woman, that woman, she had stolen Shampoo's honor! How dare she eat her winnings, dare to challenge her, and have the nerve to humiliate her in front of her entire village. When Shampoo found her, she would-she would-

(Sister?)

Shampoo turned to face her younger sister, Rinse. The child had a pitiful look on her face.

(Are you truly going to leave us?)

Now, Shampoo and Rinse's relationship didn't go far beyond the fact that they were related by blood. Shampoo's haughty personality and coldness toward people who cared about her (see Mousse and Rinse) had brought her to believe that she was above them. She thought her sister was just a nuisance.

But Rinse worshipped the ground she walked on.

Shampoo gave her sibling a cold stare. (That girl stole my honor, my value in life. Now I must retrieve it with her life. That is the way our laws work. You know that.)

(But Great-grandmother is the leader, maybe if she talks with the other elders she can-)

Shampoo cut her off. (Don't you understand!? Unless I kill that woman, I will be forever shamed in our village! How will you ever become our future ruler if you are so weak minded, cowardly, spineless! Fool!)

She smacked the child across the face, making her fall to the floor.

(I don't want to see your face. Leave me, so I can pack.)

Rinse stood to her feet, shooting her elder sister a betrayed look, and ran from the room.

That would be the last time she ever saw her.

Months later, long before the incident at Jusenkyo, Shampoo and her grandmother received word from a messenger. There had been a battle at Nyucheizu, with many causalities. Worried, the two women returned home, only to find much of their village in ruin.

Shampoo's thoughts quickly turned to her family. (G-great-grandmother, where is mother, where is Rinse?)

The old woman, who had long been staring into space with a distressed look on her face, gazed at her granddaughter sadly. (Unfortunately, my child, they were not among the survivors. They've gone on, I'm afraid.)

No…This couldn't be happening!

A blank look on her face, Shampoo collapsed to her knees.

Her mother was gone. Her unborn baby brother was gone. Rinse, who had died thinking that Shampoo despised her, was gone. They were all gone. And they would never know just how much Shampoo actually loved them.

(Mama, Rinse. Come back. Please, I'm sorry, come back! I-I love you.)

That was the first time Shampoo had ever cried, and she hoped it would be her last.

It wouldn't be.

Being trained as a cold-blooded warrior meant that Shampoo was very good at keeping her true emotions from springing up. She returned to Japan and acted as she always had, cheerfully insane. Whenever she felt the wall she had built around those emotions cracking, she did her best to clog them with the thought of finally receiving Ranma's affections.

However, after the events of Jusenkyo and the failed wedding, she slowly began to change. Although she didn't know it at the time, she was beginning to become depressed. Her chances of getting Ranma at that point were slim to none. She was no fool; she realized where his heart lied. The emotional wall had gotten to the point where there were more cracks than she could fix, unable to fill them anymore.

Mousse's betrayal was the final straw.

(I'm returning to Nyucheizu.)

The proclamation had come out of nowhere. He had stared at her coldly, a look he usually reserved for his rivals. Ranma, the Musk, people he honestly dislike. Never on her…

(What?) She could only look at him in confusion. (Why?)

He had glared at her bitterly. (I'm tired. Tired of all of this. Tired of being a slave to that old woman. Tired of trying to force something that's never going to happen. But most of all, I'm tired of you. So I'm leaving. Goodbye Xian Pu.)

And he had left, just like that.

It was the abruptness and indifferent way he had done it that had hit home for her. She…she really did ruin the lives of the people around her, didn't she?

Shortly after that, Shampoo stopped eating. She stopped talking and she no longer got up in the mornings. She simply lied in her bed and thought of all the lives she had ruined. Ranma, Rinse, mama, Mousse, I'm sorry…I'm so, so, sorry…If I could fix everything, anything, I would.

She was finally admitted to the Nermia General Hospital on July 12, 1999, three years after the death of her family. Three years after the events of Jusenkyo. Two years since Mousse had left.

Slowly, very slowly, she got better. She no longer had to be forced to eat. She spoke on the occasion. And a week after her twentieth birthday, she smiled for the first time in two and a half years.

To an outsider, she was back to normal fairly quickly. She smiled and laughed like she normally had before. She actually looked pretty happy. But inside, the wall was rebuilt; emotions of pain, suffering, everything she felt, were stuffed past it, to be let out when she was alone.

The nightmares had started not long after she left the hospital. There were no walls to hide behind once she was asleep. Nothing, nothing, but the raw emotions and guilt she ran from in the waking world. They were all the same. It was always, always her sister, gazing upon her with accusing eyes, taunting her with silence, even as Shampoo begged and pleaded for forgiveness. Sometimes, rarely, she was joined by others she had wronged; others who she had failed; her mother, Mousse, Ranma. Always with the condemning eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, they suddenly changed.

She didn't know the actual date (having long since ceased keeping track), only that it was sometime in December. When she had fallen asleep, dreading the oncoming nightmares, Rinse had spoken.

(Sister,) the child had whispered. (I forgive you.)

Shampoo had been, in all honesty, terrified. Shaking as her dead six year old sister stood before her.

(There's talk in the spirit world…) Rinse mumbled. (The Shénlíng's* that hold your destiny, Ranma's and Akane's, they're plotting. That's either very good, or very bad. I wished for you to be forewarned.)

The child bent down beside her. (They plan to send the three of you, or more, back in time.)

(T-time travel?)

Rinse looked up suddenly. (I have to leave now. Goodbye sister…)

She kissed her forehead, which felt like the mere brush of the wind. And then she was gone.

Shortly after that, Shampoo had found herself in front of her Shénling.

"I have spoken with the ones who control destiny's intertwined with your own." It had a voice not too different from her great-grandmother. "You and I are not the only ones to have made mistakes. It is with this one chance, we can correct it. Do not fail us."

And she found herself four years in the past.

~End flashback~

(ANGST IS OVER)

"And that is the story," Shampoo sighed.

Ranma sat back in shock.

"W-wow…that's really rough…I'm sorry Shampoo."

She gave a small shrug. "I have my mother and Rinse back and they know I love them. It is fine now."

It was an obvious lie, if the pain showing in her eyes gave any clue.

"And yes, you can tell Akane, I don't care."

Ranma tried to think of something to say, something to comfort her, or assure her that she had already forgiven her. But her mind was a blank…yet whirling with thoughts. It hadn't occurred to Ranma to reflect on what Shampoo might've been thinking when she had glomped her yesterday (or what felt like yesterday to her). It was hard to think about it, the harsh reality that Shampoo had painted; all the while she had acted like an inconsiderate jerk. Though, it wasn't like Shampoo had come to her, explained what she was facing. She might've understood.

Or she might've not. She wasn't exactly known for being reasonable and understanding. And if what Shampoo said was anything to go by, she wouldn't have gotten better with age. It was a depressing thought.

"Shampoo…I'm really sorry."

The young woman gave a shrug and stood up. "We should go see Grandmother."

"Why?"

Shampoo gave a quirky smile. "If someone from our village were to see an outsider preforming our techniques without a real reason, they would be hunted down and have their heads chopped off."

Ranma grinned nervously and massaged her neck. "R-right, let's got see the Old woman."

~oOo~

Akane tried her best to avoid her friends, ducking up the stairs to the roof. They seemed under the impression that she was acting odd.

She should give them more credit…They were smarter than she thought.

"Akane, are you up here?"

She grimaced as her friends came into view.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Sayuri said, her hands coming to rest on her hips.

"What's going on Akane?" Yuka asked. "You used to tell us everything."

Arghhh, they were playing that card on her...

…half-truth then?

"Fine, I'll tell you. But if you tell anyone, and I mean anyone, I will never ever forgive you."

That sat next to her, their eyes wide. "We promise," they said together.

Akane leaned in closer. "Okay, here's the thing…"

And, chapter end…So, Shampoo's mother, sister, and unborn brother died and Moose left…Did you see that coming? Probably…

How are Shampoo and Ranma going to convince Cologne to help them? What did Akane tell Yuka and Sayuri? When the heck is Ranma getting back to Japan?

All these questions and more will be answered next time…whenever I can get off this writing block…sorry guys:P

*Shénlín is the same as Kami in Chinese, a god.

~inusgirllovesmonkeys