DISCLAIMER: Ranma and Co. don't belong to me!

A/N: Whooee, back from vacation, but this chapter was damn hard to write! You can thank Angela Jewell's well placed prodding and gentle advice, however, since I was really stuck! This chapter is slightly shorter than the the last few, but anyway, that's the way the armour clanks...or something...

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Chapter Eleven

The little cottage in the forest was small and gnarled, made up of rounded mossy bricks that nevertheless fit together well. The small porch outside was a line of willow planks the colour of warm honey. Smoke came out of the little chimney leaning out the back, and through the back door, a young maidservant could be seen scrubbing away at an iron pot, her lower lip caught in an expression of determination.

Akane wiped her damp face with the end of her apron, leaning against the sink as she did so. She'd scrubbed the dented iron pots until not a speck of rust remained on them. Then she'd attacked the mountain of glass jars, crucibles and utensils that her mistress, Cologne the Marsh-Witch, had piled beside the sink for her.

The crockery had all piled up, Mistress Cologne told her, when Akane had lain sick for a few days. That, Mistress Cologne said, was also the reason for Akane's loss of memory. Rack her brain as she might, the maidservant could not remember a single thing about her life before the last three days.

She sighed and looked at the very last object to be washed- Cologne's giant cauldron. She glanced at her water pail. It was empty, and she'd definitely need more water to clean the cauldron.

With a tired sigh, she hefted the pail, wondering again when her memory would return.

"I'm sure I can find a spell to help you," Cologne had said, her bright black eyes squinting up at Akane out of her wizened face, her short frame perched precariously on her walking stick like a fruitbat on a tree.

"That would be wonderful, mistress," Akane had said gratefully. Every evening, Cologne would put Akane in a magic circle, and chant over her.

And every evening, there was no success. Cologne would become grumpy, and she'd march away to bed. It was probably fighting off the sickness that made Akane weak as well. Each night, Cologne's magic seemed to draw more of her energy out, and it felt as though Akane was getting nothing in return.

Pushing open the kitchen door, Akane stepped into the sunshine only to be greeted with the sight of a shirtless Ranma. She'd nearly forgotten about Cologne's handyman. He, too, had caught the fever at the same time, and had no memory of his past.

He stood stripped to the waist in the tiny garden, chopping wood for Cologne's wood pile. His axe bit into the logs again and again, in a practiced rhythm, splitting them with surety and strength. Sweat gleamed down his back as he worked, turning his skin golden in the sunlight, and the pile of logs next to him nearly as tall as him gave proof to his work.

Akane gulped, and tucked a stray strand of damp hair behind her ear. Something about the young man made her uncomfortable, something that produced a sense of urgency in her. She had no idea what it was. Most likely, it was her instincts telling her to get away from him. She sensed that he was a dangerous man. It was there in the muscles moving in his arms, the tilt of his head and the way he watched her when she was around him.

Yet everything within her rebelled at the idea of running away- from anything.

She shivered in her long cotton dress, and wished she could avoid him, but the water-pump lay beyond him, at the edge of the garden. She held her pail still as she walked slowly toward her objective, hoping he would be too caught up in his chore to notice her.

She reached the pump quickly enough, and set her pail down. Ignoring Ranma, she placed the metal pail under the tap and began to work the handle, pumping it hard to get it going. A clear stream of water gushed from the iron faucet, beginning to fill her pail. It couldn't happen quickly enough. She could feel Ranma's eyes on her. And then the stream slowed to a trickle. She kept her eyes on it, watching as the water level rose inch by agonizing inch.

She tested the temperature of the water-warm, perfect for washing the giant cauldron.

She straightened when the pail filled, and looked up to see him watching her. She nodded at him quickly and would have slipped past him, when his voice stopped her like a ton of bricks.

"Akane."

His voice sent tremors through her body, and she had to force herself to turn slightly to look back at him.

"Yes?" she murmured politely.

"It's hot as hell out here. Can I have some water from your pail?"

Akane glanced down at her pail, then back at Ranma. He wanted a drink. That was all. Relief surged through her, though disappointment did, too.

"It's not cold," she said. "You'd have to drink straight from the well for that."

Ranma set his axe into the wood stump. "I don't mind," he said, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. He had long hair for a man, a few inches past his collar, though he'd tied it back in a braid whenever he was working. His eyes were different too, grey in some lights, rain-blue in others, and once they'd briefly shaded purple.

Akane approached him cautiously. It was the first time she'd spoken to him since she woke from her sickness, but there was a strong sense of familiarity in speaking with him. Only natural, she supposed. They must have spoken together a good deal before their sickness. There was no one else to talk to in the middle of the forest except Cologne and…

She gasped as Ranma reached out and tugged the pail out of her hands. He drank from the metal rim, his strong throat working as he drank. He lowered the pail for a moment. "Ahhh," he said, bright-eyed, and then up-ended the pail over his head. Warm water cascaded down, drenching his hair and braid, running in rivulets down his bare torso.

Akane gaped. Her breasts tightened under her dress, and she covered them by crossing her arms. Ranma handed the empty pail back to her with a grin.

"Thanks," he said.

"You JERK!" Akane grabbed the pail and a second later, there was a loud clang as the bucket connected with Ranma's head. He rubbed the offended area and looked at her, mock-puzzled.

"What was that for?"

"What was that….?" Akane shook the empty pail in his face, furious. "You finished all my water, jerk! And you didn't even bother to refill it!"

"Ahhhhhhh," Ranma looked enlightened, even as a mischievous light danced in his eyes. "My mistake. Allow me." He pulled the bucket out of her hands and walked over to the pump. Akane watched as he pumped the water. The water was still a trickle.

As the pail slowly filled, Ranma watched Akane. Something about her drew him to her. He didn't know what it was. The maidservant was pretty enough, but it was something in her eyes that drew him. Since they had both lost their memories to their fever, however, she seemed to be avoiding him, whereas he kept looking for an excuse to find her. And now he had one.

And why was she avoiding him? Did she remember more than him? He'd love to have his memories back. They'd explain why he was a servant to a marsh-witch in the middle of the forest. Were he and Akane lovers perchance? Had he followed her here?

"Aiyah! Mistress be too, too angry if she see you two together, doing no work!" Cologne's witch-familiar, Shampoo, stalked toward the two of them in her human form, that of a voluptuous young woman with long flowing purple hair.

Ranma and Akane knew she was a shape-shifter because they'd seen her in her other two forms- that of a kelpie, and that of a giant sleek black hunting cat.

The other way that she was different from them, was that Shampoo wore a collar. She never took it off, because she couldn't.

"Slow down, Shampoo," Ranma drawled. "I've cut enough wood for a couple of weeks already, and I'm sure Akane's made her way through that mountain of pots just fine!"

Akane felt a small inner glow at his support, though why she should care she didn't know. "I was just refilling my pail," she added, deciding to leave out Ranma's antics.

Shampoo narrowed her eyes at them. She glanced back over her shoulder and when she looked back, Akane was surprised to see worry in her eyes.

"Mistress not be happy to see you together," she repeated.

"Why not?" Akane demanded. "We work together." Or was it that Shampoo wanted to spend time with Ranma instead? Alone? The thought made her eyes narrow, though she couldn't figure out why. The conflicting feelings left her confused.

Shampoo passed a hand over her eyes. "Don't you…"

"Shampoo!"

The three of them turned as one to see Cologne pogoing towards them on her lumpy walking stick. The marsh-witch didn't cut an impressive figure, but Akane had felt the force of her magic, like humming in the air, close up when her mistress was trying to heal her.

"Since you have time to lollygag around with the hired help, dear, why don't you swim up to the Pool of Bells and find me some golden lilies? I need them for a new spell."

"The Pool of Bells, but that's half frozen at this time of year," Shampoo protested.

Cologne whapped her with the stick, and Shampoo fell down with a small scream.

"Hey!" Ranma cried, reaching out to help Shampoo up. The familiar averted her gaze from him even as she let him pull her up.

"No, it's all right," she said. "I shouldn't disobey my mistress. I'll leave right away." Before their eyes, she changed into a beautiful silver-grey horse and galloped out the fence gate. Seeing Shampoo's kelpie form always gave Akane the chills. Glancing sideways at Ranma, she saw the disturbed look in his eyes as well.

Satisfied, Cologne turned back to them. "Now then, I thought you both had enough to occupy yourselves until suppertime," she chided.

"Will you be trying the memory restore spell again tonight?" Akane asked eagerly.

Cologne looked up at Akane and her expression softened. "I will, indeed, my dear Akane. It's very important that we get this spell right."

"And you'll fix me after her?" Ranma stepped forward excitedly.

Cologne turned slowly to him and blinked, as though for a moment she'd forgotten he was there. "Of course, dear boy," she said shortly, and pogoed off.

Ranma and Akane looked after her, looked at each other and shrugged, then went back to their separate posts. Akane was back at the sink before she realized that in all the commotion, she'd forgotten her pail. She groaned. She walked back and opened the door, then blinked down at her feet. The pail sat there, brimming with water, on the stoop just beyond the door.

She looked up at Ranma, but he was already back at work with his axe. She smiled and took the pail inside.

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That night, after supper, Ranma stayed behind to watch as Cologne led Akane again into the magic circle etched deep into the wood of her cottage. It was in the shape of a pentagram, and had weird symbols drawn within it. Cologne had also placed lighted white candles at each of the four compass points.

Akane sat cross-legged within the circle, her eyes closed, focusing on her mind as Cologne had showed her to do. Ranma felt a tickle within his own brain. He had seen that intense look of concentration on Akane's face before. And her eyes had been closed. When was it? He racked his brain.

A quicksilver memory of Akane dancing in a field, holding a wooden sword as she went through martial moves, slithered through him. He choked back a gasp. Where had that been? And why had the sight filled him with anticipation? Had he fought her? He couldn't remember any more, which frustrated him, so he turned his attention back to Cologne's ceremony.

Shampoo was absent, still on the hunt for the lilies. Ranma didn't know how far the Pond of Bells was, but he knew the familiar had a fair distance to cover.

Cologne had finished her preparations, and she had closed her eyes, sitting across from Akane inside the circle in a cross-legged position as well, mirroring Akane's pose.

She began to chant, her words filling the air with a strange fullness, a hypnotic rhythm within them. Nothing happened. She raised her hands in the air and began to wave them around, her will settling around her shoulders like a fleece blanket. Her long white hair seemed to float in the breeze of the power.

Ranma watched with surprise as a blue vapor began to emanate from Akane's body. It also made her short hair rise, as though in a silent wind. Cologne opened her mouth in an O-shape, and inhaled hard. The vapor began to drift towards Cologne, and was sucked into her mouth.

Ranma watched in astonishment. What was going on? Was this really a memory restoration chant? Had the marsh-witch got it wrong? And why could Ranma see the vapour?

Eventually, no more vapour would move to Cologne. She stopped, frustrated. There was still vapour around Akane, but it had definitely lessened. Cologne had a soft blue glow about her now. But she seemed to be trying to get the rest. Finally, the effort frustrated her.

"That's enough for tonight!"

"But I don't remember anything!" Akane cried, sorely disappointed.

Cologne glared at her. "Don't question me, child! Go to bed!" She disappeared before Akane could say more.

Ranma stood and crossed the floor and the circle border to reach Akane, slumped on the floor. He grabbed her hand and pulled her as she looked up with surprise.

"Don't let the old ghoul worry you," he said. "I'm sure your memory will come back."

Akane burst out laughing. "Old ghoul! She does kind of look like one, doesn't she?" They chuckled together. Then she sobered. "Thanks, Ranma. I'd….better go to bed." She disengaged from him gently, blew out the candles, and left to find her small straw filled pallet in the kitchen.

Ranma left the cottage. He slept in the small garden shed near the fence.

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It was deep night when he woke. Someone was approaching his small iron bed. There was not a single sound to betray them, yet Ranma knew as sure as anything that he was not alone in the shed. His heart thundered as he lay in his bed, wondering who was in there with him.

He waited, waited. He timed it perfectly- a single leap, a crash, a shriek. The small wooden door burst open and Ranma and his night-time visitor rolled into the grass outside. The moonlight confirmed what Ranma had guessed- it was Shampoo staring up at him wide-eyed.

"What are you doing, Shampoo?" he demanded, rolling off her and sitting up. "Weren't you collecting golden lilies? You can't be back this fast to the Pool of Bells!"

Shampoo cast a frantic glance back at the cottage. "I never went there! No time to explain, we must leave. Now!"

"Leave?" Ranma repeated. "Why? And go where?"

"Anywhere but here! Shampoo been imprisoned here for seven years! At last Shampoo be free!" The familiar's eyes shone on the moonlight, her excitement and fear almost coloring the air around her.

"Free?" Ranma shook his head. "How?"

Shampoo suddenly leaned forward and gripped his hands. "Answer one question of mine, and Shampoo tell you everything."

"What's that?"

Shampoo took a deep breath. "You are Islan, are you not?"

Ranma recoiled. He'd seen for himself his Islan features in a small mirror in Cologne's cottage, in the water in the pail. Cologne had said at supper that she had bought him from a secret Islan trader.

"Yes," he admitted.

Shampoo heaved out a sigh of relief. "Then it's true. The prophecy must be true. Wait!" She ran off and returned with a tumbler of water, which she pitched into Ranma's face. Ranma felt the cold sting of the water, and looked down to see herself shrink. "What the…?"

Shampoo looked prayerful. "It IS true," she breathed, her hands clasped together. "'Only an Islan, Shampoo's own countrymen, shall free Shampoo. Two shall come from the west, but they shall be three-a man and two women, and they shall free Shampoo.' When I realized who you were…Of course, Shampoo family know about your curse!"

Ranma had ignored most of this as she busily ran her hands over her alien body, flabbergasted. Yet, there was something familiar about this, too.

But Shampoo's last words brought her head up. "My curse? You know me? Who am I?"

"Of course! Don't worry about body. It turn back to male." Shampoo splashed Ranma again, and the redhead felt warm water against her skin before she grew taller and her breasts disappeared. "Now look- put hands on Shampoo's collar, then break, ok?"

Ranma absentmindedly did as he was told. He repeated his question in his normal lower register as his fingers curled around the cold metal. "Who am I?"

"Oh, silly! You is Prince Ranma Saotome, of course!"

The collar snapped, and a wave of magic flooded through Ranma. In that moment, his memory returned as well- Islay, Akane his wife, the fall from the cliff, the river and…

His hands released the collar to fasten around Shampoo's neck, beginning to choke her. "You! YOU brought us here, to the marsh-witch, you little..!"

Shampoo's large brown eyes widened and she choked, her fingers scrabbling at Ranma's hands. Her eyes rolled up.

"Ranma!"

Ranma glanced up to see the most welcome sight- Akane running flat out toward him through the back door and across the garden. Behind her, he saw a less welcome sight as a light flicked on in the front of the house. Cologne was awake.

But he was no lowly servant! He was Ranma, Prince of Islay, and damned if he'd run from a witch.

Akane stumbled and fell. He released Shampoo and ran to her. She was wheezing when he helped her up. "So…tired…" she moaned. "Magic…woke me up…I….remembered…."

The breaking of the collar must have woken her, just as it must have woken Cologne. Still, it was surprising, considering the amount of power the old witch had sucked from Akane in the past three days.

In retrospect, Ranma had realized that that's what it was. He hadn't actually ever seen Akane perform magic, but the sight of the blue fairies covering her blankets had stayed with him. The priestesses who tended the land treated her with a reverence they showed no one else, and the way they'd hidden their secret entrance from Soun, Ranma doubted it was because Akane was royalty.

She definitely had power, and Cologne had seized the chance to grab it. Damn her!

"Come on, darling," he urged, as he helped Akane up. She sagged in his arms, her energy exhausted, and he lifted her unconscious body into his arms.

Shampoo approached and Ranma glared at her. " Don't you even…"

The ex-familiar shook her head. "You no understand. Shampoo free of Cologne's spell now. Shampoo belong to Ranma."

"Huh?" Ranma reared back, wondering if this was one more thing to deal with.

"Ranma release Shampoo- now that mean Ranma Shampoo's master, until Ranma set terms of release." Shampoo bowed, her palms together. "Please command, master."

The door to the cottage blew open in a mighty gust of wind, and they turned to see Cologne framed in the doorway. The wind blew her long hair like a bone-white banner, and her eyes burned with blue fire.

"Shampoo! What...have you...done." A cold, dreadful voice like the graveyard at night. Stolen power blew outward from the marsh-witch to hit them like a gale. Ranma wondered how he had ever thought her benign.

He turned back. "Get us outta here!" he commanded. He was a prince, but he was no mage!

Shampoo immediately turned back into the kelpie. Ranma threw the still-unconscious Akane across her back, knowing she'd stick to the adhesive hide, and leapt on himself as Shampoo began to gallop past him. He clutched her mane and chanced a look behind as the kelpie jumped the fence and sprinted into the dark forest. He saw the door still banging in the wind.

"Looking for me, boy?" Ranma felt blood freeze in his veins as he turned sideways in his seat to see Cologne's round, wrinkled face leering at him, her smile grown wide and hideous, filled with sharp, sharp teeth, as she hopped alongside them on her gnarled walking stick. It seemed as though each hop would catapult her into his lap, yet Shampoo raced along and they kept just ahead of the marsh-witch.

Cackling laughter filled the air around them , though Cologne was now nowhere to be seen. He felt eyes on him, though.

He glanced up. "Aagh!" A white face like a giant moon peered down at him through the trees, the sharp teeth champing at him. The face was the size of a house.

"There's no use in running, boy! My unfaithful Shampoo can't help you escape! Return, and I may show you mercy once I've lifted every iota of the goddess' power from that ungrateful princess in your lap! Daughter of the Blood! Pah! The Renewer! Ridiculous! She's unworthy of all that power! Give her to me, and I will let you go…"

"Die in hell, bitch," Ranma growled.

Ivory lightning sizzled the air, striking the ground so close to them that Shampoo screamed, tossing her long head. She changed course, though she kept up her blinding speed. If Ranma had had time, he would have felt sorry for her.

Instead, he focused on his other bond. Where are you? He called. Come to me.

Another bolt of lightning fried the air, and sizzled across the sky, striking a giant tree that crashed into their path.

" Shampoo, watch out!" Ranma's quick martial reflexes had him yanking her mane and turning her just in time to avoid branches crashing into her face.

She neighed in terror, wheeled, and tried yet another direction. They leapt over bushes, fallen trees and scrambled up boulders before leaping down over the other side.

Shampoo shook her head, and began to strain further. Ranma looked ahead. It was dark, but if he wasn't mistaken, in the moonlight, it looked as though the ground beneath their feet was ending.

"Shampoo…" he called warningly. She ran faster.

"I damn sure hope you know what' you're doing!" he called. She neighed back.

The ground was abruptly over, and they were sailing out over the open. Ranma could see the river below, but in that split second he also saw Cologne, grinning at him in her original tiny form. She stood on a rock, her walking stick aimed at him. The head of the stick whirled with fire, and it looked as though it was about to discharge their way. She couldn't miss-they had set their course. Ranma huddled his arms around an unconscious Akane protectively, knowing there was nothing more he could do.

The helhawk's scream rent the air, and Mousse dropped like a stone onto Cologne's shoulders. Fire from his claws licked across her clothes as he ripped at her, and she began to screech. The flame from her stick died.

Then, there was a splash, and all Ranma felt was the warmth of the river water as he, Akane and Shampoo plunged back into the river.

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There you go! Please review. Shampoo is added to the mix.