On the route to Tofu' clinic someone jumped in front of both girls and made a crater in the ground. This someone turned out to be a Chinese woman with long purple hair, silk clothes that looked quite enticing, and with a bonbori in each hand.

"Ranma. I find you."

Ch. 12 Shampoo Arrives

"Sha-Shampoo?" Ranma asked, shaking with fear. "W-w-what are you doing in Japan?"

The purple-haired girl ignored the question and swung at the green-haired girl with her bonbori. Ranma dodged effortlessly but Shampoo swung again with her second one. "Ranma die!"

Akane watched in shock and confusion. 'What's going on here? Is she really trying to kill Ranma?'

Shampoo tried to crush Ranma's skull with her blunt weapon, only for the oni to grab it and swing on top of the blunt end, standing on her hands. Shampoo spun it and Ranma lost balance, but recovered it thanks to her flying ability. "You're the one person," Ranma said as she tried to kick Shampoo, "I just can't stand!"

Shampoo deflected with her left arm, but had to drop her bonbori to do so in time. The she grabbed Ranma's leg and tried to hold her in place to administer a hit with her other one. "Got you!"

"Not yet!" Ranma said before getting covered in electricity.

Shampoo let go to avoid getting shocked, and Ranma flew off quickly. Shampoo growled and chased after her. Since her weapons were wood rather than metal, they weren't too conductive so she was spared from any conductive voltage.

Akane just stood there looking in the direction they went. "What was that all about?"


About an hour later, Akane got her answer. She first tried to find Ranma after she ran off but couldn't locate Ranma in either form anywhere. Once she got home however, she saw the gender-bender in male form waiting for her in the dining room. "Start talking mister. Who was that girl?" She didn't mean to come across so harshly, but she didn't like not knowing things.

The young man gave her a flat look due to her tone of voice. "She's not a friend if that's what you're worried about."

"I could tell from her death threats. So why was she trying to kill you?" Akane said as she sat down next to him.

Ranma cleared his throat. "It all started shortly after I got cursed."

-Flashback-

Ranma in female oni form and Genma in tiger-cow form, which at this point in time still creeped Ranma out, were following the Jusenkyo guide into a nearby village. Ranma had a loaned white gi on over her bikini to protect her modesty and the now common for her white bandanna to cover her horns. So for all basic purposes, she looked like a normal Japanese martial arts student with green hair.

"Here sirs is famed Joketsuzoku, known by many as Amazon tribe of Jusendo. Village full of warrior women who are very strong in martial arts and magics." The guide said in his stereotypical broken dialect as he showed them around.

'Hopefully they'll have a cure or something.' Ranma thought.

'With any luck, I'll find a cure and these 'warrior women' will prove even more to Ranma how weak girls are.' Genma told himself. Why else would he approve of going to an Amazonian village?

They saw a large crowd gathered in the center of town, with probably the entire population gathered there. Or at least the entire female population, all wearing a variety of silken Chinese clothes in various colors and designs. They looked at a log hanging by ropes at each end tied to wooden posts, creating a sort of dangling balance beam.

On top of the log beam were two fighters, indicating this was some sort of sparring showcase for the village. One of the fighters was a young girl close to Ranma's age with long purple hair, white clothes with black flower imprints, black chest armor, and a bonbori in each hand. She wore a look of pure confidence and determination, with maybe a small amount of arrogance, and moved with the grace of an expert martial artist.

Ranma took one look at her and was impressed. 'Wow, maybe I can convince her to a friendly spar later. I know Pops says sparring against girls is stupid and pointless, but the guide says the women here are tough. I'd like to see for myself how good they are.'

When Ranma took a look at the other contestant, her stomach churned. 'What is that? Is that a man pretending to be a woman, or a woman pretending to be a man?' The person in question was rather large and masculine but wore feminine clothes and hairstyle so it was a confusing site.

Genma saw both but didn't have high opinions of either fighters. 'Looks like they know what they're doing, but Ranma could beat them both any day even in his girl body.' Then his eyes caught something much more interesting. 'Hey, food!'

Ranma heard her tiger-cow father eating something and got upset. "Hey Pops, you keeping food for yourself again?" Genma handed her an orange. "Thanks, I'm still starving from chasing you around so much yesterday." While this happened the purple-haired fighter managed to send her opponent off the log and towards the sky with a corkscrew hit from her bonbori.

"Sirs, bad idea you do that." The guide said once he noticed what they were doing.

Neither Saotome heeded his words, but a crushing blow from a bonbori on the table certainly got their attention. Ranma and Genma looked in horror at the purple-haired Amazon, who looked pissed and held herself and her weapons in a threatening stance while speaking Mandarin.

"You there, what you doing? This annual festival for Amazon warriors, I now champion you steal my prize." The guide translated.

Ranma regained her nerve first. "So... if I defeat you, then I can claim this and there's no problem. Right?" The guide translated this into Mandarin, and the Amazon teen nodded. "Great. I was hoping to get this chance. I'm Ranma by the way."

The guide translated this again, and the Amazon replied. "Xian pu."

"Shampoo?" Ranma asked, not sure she heard right. The Amazon nodded, not hearing much of a difference from what she said. "Okay then. Let's do this."

Both got on the log and took their stances. Naturally those watching started talking about who they thought would win, and most were backing Shampoo. Some did feel this would be tough for her since she had just been in several fights around and was bound to be worn out a bit while the new green-haired girl was starting fresh.

Shampoo tried to end it quickly with a single strike to the upper body. She wasn't too fatigued just yet but knew the longer this fight lasted the less stamina she'd have for it. Ranma managed to dodge the attack and attempted a similar attack only to have it blocked. The Japanese martial artist realized this fight against the Chinese one would be tough since their balance was thrown off by the new body shape and size. In fact only the quick adaptability taught by Anything Goes along with the hovering ability of the oni form allowed her to remain on the log at all.

'I better finish this before they catch me flying and disqualify me.' Ranma thought, her pride not wanting to risk a loss. When Shampoo tried to sweep-kick the green-haired girl off the log, Ranma jumped and tagged her in the forehead making it look like a regular strike. Upon contact she released a small amount of electricity, catching Shampoo off guard and making her fumble. Seeing her lose her sure footing, Ranma made a real kick which sent the Amazon flying away. she hit the armor to minimize any actual damage, since she still didn't like fighting girls.

Genma watched this with a grin while the crowd and Jusenkyo guide watched in horror. Shampoo felt as if her heart skipped a beat for a moment and Ranma just jumped off the log. "Looks like I can eat now."

Shampoo, disheveled and with a clear upset look on her face, came up to Ranma before she could reapproach the banquet. Ranma was confused, wondering if she wanted a rematch or was about to say something nasty. The last thing she expected was for the purple-haired girl to give her a small passionless kiss on her left cheek, then leave with a warning look in her eyes.

-Flashback End-

Before Ranma could continue, Akane grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled his face closer to hers, giving him a close look at her angry eyes. "What? Weren't you a girl at the time?" It was hard to tell just what made her so upset just then.

"I'm not done yet." Ranma defensively told her. "This is where it gets bad."

-Flashback-

The Jusenkyo guide had grabbed Ranma's hand and was quickly leading her out of Joketsuzoku territory. "Quickly Mr. Customer, you must leave now!"

"What gives?"

"Amazon just give you Kiss of Death!"

"What?"

"Amazons very proud people. Losing to outsider greater dishonor than death. As revenge they give you Kiss of Death. It promise to chase you to ends of earth and kill you. We must get you far away from here."

"I can't leave. I need to find a cure for my curse."

"Save life now. Handle curse later." The guide said as Genma finally caught up to them. He stayed behind to take a little more food for the road.

-Flashback End-

Ranma sighed and relaxed once Akane let him go. "And when they say 'to ends of earth' they really mean it. That girl kept chasing after me all throughout China. She's the reason I had to leave it in the first place. I can't believe she actually came here to Japan."

Akane just looked at him with an uncertain look. "So... she wants to kill you... because she lost to you?"

"Pretty much. Sounds like Ryoga doesn't it?"

"Mr. 'Ranma prepare to die'? Yeah, you're right." Akane commented. "So where is she now?"

"I managed to lose her after I ducked behind a building and rushed towards the sky. By now she already knows I can fly and make lightning as a girl so don't worry about that. I stayed in the air for awhile and flew in several directions to confuse her if she did see me up there. So now she'll have a better chance finding Ryoga than me."

"Ranma it looks like you have a guest." Kasumi called out to him.

Ranma and Akane shared a frightened look. "Please tell me it's not who I think it is." Akane said.

"It can't be her, can it?" He asked as he slowly rose to check it out. Akane followed.

In the hallway Kasumi greeted the two. "It appears your father ran into an acquaintance of yours and she wants to see you."

Genma, in tiger-cow form and looking nervous, held up a sign. 'She followed me here.' Behind him stood Shampoo, looking like she was looking for something.

'Crap, I'll never be able to hide from her now.' Ranma thought. 'Wait, she doesn't know my male form. She never saw it before. Maybe I can trick her.'

"Hello." He said as he came into her line of sight.

"Hello." She said just to be polite, then looked around a little more.

"Kasumi, having her here isn't a good idea." Akane whispered to her sister. "She came all the way from China to kill Ranma."

"Oh my." Kasumi said. "But then, why isn't she doing it now?"

Shampoo pulled her bonbori from out of nowhere. "Where Ranma? Where you hiding her?"

'Her? Oh yeah, she wants Ranma's girl form. She must not know they're the same person, like Kuno.' Akane realized.

"Please no fighting in the house." Kasumi told their visitor.

"You hide Ranma. Give Shampoo Ranma or die too!" Shampoo shouted as she tried to approach the Tendo sisters with an enraged expression. Ranma instinctively defended them by kicking her weapon, breaking it and sending the blunt part towards the ceiling. Shampoo tried to retaliate with her other one, but the broken part fell on her head with a loud impact. Her eyes widened upon contact, then closed as she collapsed on the floor.

Everyone present looked at this in shock, and for Ranma a mild amount of horror too. 'Oh crap. Now shes' going to be after my guy form too.'

Akane slowly got next to him. "Ranma, is she going to now...?" She found herself unable to finish her question.

"I sure hope not."

"What's wrong?" Nabiki asked once she walked in. She quickly noticed the girl on the floor. "What did I miss?"

"This girl wants to kill Ranma's girl form because 'she' beat her back in China. And now Ranma's male form did too."

"Oh my. That's quite a problem." Kasumi stated.

Shampoo started to regain consciousness, and looked at Ranma. He couldn't read her expression, but got defensive. "What do you want now?"

Moving too quickly for him to react, Shampoo wrapped him in a bearhug and pressed her lips to his. "Wo ai ni Airen."

Akane watched this with wide eyes and Ranma experienced this the same way. Akane however soon gained a familiar angry look at this. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

"Akane, this isn't my idea." Ranma defended as soon as he freed his mouth, frightened by her sudden rage.

"I was talking to her!" Akane told him. "Why were you kissing him?" Shampoo pulled out a book with Chinese kanji on the cover and opened it before handing it to the Japanese girl. "And how am I supposed to read a Chinese book?"

Nabiki took it. "According to the laws of Joketsuzoku, an Amazon warrior has two customs to follow in the event of defeat at the hands of an outsider. If the opponent was a woman, the Amazon must give her the Kiss of Death, which is a solemn vow to pursue revenge and kill her no matter how long it may take. If the opponent was a man however, the Amazon must give him the Kiss of Marriage, which is for all basic purposes a binding method to make him her husband."

"WHAT?" Ranma and Akane asked rather loudly. "Tell me you're joking!" Ranma said.

"Am I the joking type?" Nabiki replied.

"And am I supposed to believe you can really read Chinese?" Ranma added.

"Of course I can't." Nabiki answered, then showed them the page she read from. "But there's a Japanese translation right here."

Kasumi looked it over. "So there is."

Akane glared at Shampoo, who was still clinging to Ranma. "I don't care what kind of rules you have. There's no way you're going anywhere with Ranma!"

Genma smiled. 'It looks like she's getting attached to the boy. I better get Tendo so we can bring the engagement up again for them both.'

Shampoo looked undaunted by the claim, but she did at least get the message. She let go of Ranma and looked the short-haired tomboy right in the eyes with a calm look to her own. "Who you?"

Akane was briefly surprised by that. "None of your business!"

"You obstacle?"

Akane just kept glaring. "When it comes to you trying to trap Ranma like this then yes."

Shampoo grabbed her still intact bonbori. "Obstacles is for killing."

Shampoo tried to hit her hard in the gut to end it quickly. Akane tried to defend herself by breaking the weapon like Ranma did but with her fists. She cracked the end, but the weapon remained functional and hit her in the stomach, sending her into the wall.

Before the Amazon could continue, Ranma grabbed her shoulders. "Stop that."

"She obstacle. Must be removed."

"I don't care." Ranma firmly told her. "What you're doing is pure stone age."

"Is law."

"Is entrapment." Nabiki said, mimicking the Chinese girl's speech pattern just then.

Both Ranma and Akane were now wondering how to get rid of the Amazon. Neither could come up with an answer.