It was dark when they got back, a cloud had passed over the moon and the only illumination on the streets was the faint light streaming through the drawn curtains of the houses. It hit the couple, picking out their features in a way that only made them look at each other differently. Ranma saw the streaks of Kasumi's hair as well as her twinkling eyes and the ever so slight smile that graced her lips. Kasumi saw Ranma's more confident smile as well as the reflection of his slate blue eyes and the accented jaw and cheeks.
They stood like that in front of the door to the house, staring at each other. Some might have called it awkward yet the two were quite happy just looking at one another. Ranma briefly looked around, waiting for the one or more things that were going to ruin the night. He was once again surprised when they didn't happen; he was starting to think that just being around Kasumi was cancelling out the natural chaos that flocked to him like crows to carrion. He smiled even greater at the thought and Kasumi did the same when she saw his grin.
By now the strange pause and accompanying silence were beginning to become awkward as Ranma nervously pushed his fingers together. 'Damn I'm as bad as Ryoga around Akane right now!' Not wanting to look the fool in front of Kasumi he gave her a fleeting nervous smile before taking her hands and pulling her into a hug. It may not have been the most romantic and comfortable hug, especially as they were both completely new to this whole experience, but they both found it pleasant. Ranma pulled back and Kasumi held on a little tighter, not quite ready to give up on the pleasant sensation just yet.
"But Kasumi I thought-" She leaned back and shushed him by placing a finger to his mouth.
"I told you Ranma, I like this and..." A look Ranma had never seen on Kasumi's face flashed by briefly and he could only wonder at what it was. "...We aren't in public anymore." His face went flush and he blinked quite rapidly as she looked him over and giggled into her hand. She moved back from him, the mischief now evident in her eyes as he caught onto her joke. "Sorry Ranma I couldn't resist. Nabiki gets to have her fun and I just wanted to try it."
He nodded shyly, still quite shocked from it all; if he hadn't been himself just then, he probably would have found it funny too. She sighed happily at the young man she had spent the night with and before he could get even more nervous and possibly run off she pulled him forward again and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. She nearly burst out laughing again when she leaned away and saw his, now even more, shocked face. He was beetroot red and his brain looked just about ready to short-circuit as he stood there, motionless.
One thought did manage to get through his frazzled mind and that was he had liked the kiss very much. Like the one on the roof not too long ago it left a burning impression on his lips and a desire for more. Unlike on the roof he finally acted on that desire and pulled Kasumi forward again, kissing her more fully and with none of the previous chastity. She let him pull her in, only thankful that Ranma was now the one acting instead of reacting as she melted into him. Of course those thoughts vanished to never return when she allowed herself to fully experience the kiss and everything that came with it.
Her heart fluttered madly in her chest and if her lips were not glued to the teen's in front of her, her breathing would have been rapid and shallow. Her eyes had been initially wide open in shock of the sudden intimacy but they quickly closed as she allowed only one sensation be overwhelmed. They both finally released the other, panting with their respective chests heaving, and both were smiling with a mixture of serenity and excitement. Kasumi looked at Ranma one last time before she smiled meekly, kissed him one last time on the cheek and walked into the house.
Ranma watched her go with the edges of his mouth upturned in a happy smile that his glazed over eyes reflected well. He knew from too many films that usually the guy didn't live with the girl he was dating and usually left for his own home right now, he decided to simply not use the door and jumped up onto the roof. He quickly ran over and did a tricky flip before his hands caught the lip of the roof and he swung onto his windowsill, still with that same smile on his features.
He slipped into the room and immediately noticed his father wasn't there. It was late and he wasn't asleep, that meant he was either in some kind of trouble or he was out drinking; probably selling Ranma's soul to the devil if his track record was anything to go by. He chuckled; either way that meant he had the room to himself for the night as if it was the latter his father would be far too drunk to find his way home by morning. He sighed, sometimes those nights were the only times in his young life he could wake up with a modicum of peace, the fact that the room wouldn't smell of wet panda was just a plus.
He sighed as he took off his shirt, carefully putting it back on his wardrobe; really he just wanted to know what was going though his father's head sometimes. One minute he was a kind, seemingly well-meaning father, and the next the cloak was ripped away and in his place would be a drunken, gambling, greedy, uncaring and selfish wretch of a man. He was so bi-polar on it that his curse only seemed to reflect that nature; it was only a shame the good half of him seemed forever locked away in that bundle of useless fur occasionally called a panda.
He was about to take off his pants as well when he finally noticed a shadow in the corner of the room flicker ever so slightly. He dropped into a ready stance, warily eying the darkened corner of the room and now that he was listening he could faintly hear what sounded like muffled sobbing. He inched forward, wary of some trap that one of his many rivals or enemies could have set; his disliking of crying girls was hardly a secret. He flicked on the light and was more that shocked to see Shampoo, curled up with her face buried in her knees, softly crying.
It shocked him to see the normally proud and indomitable Amazon reduced to gently weeping, curled up like a child locked in their room. He gently walked over with his guard now lowered, but still very much alert for any trickery that might be going on. It hurt him to be so callous and untrusting as a girl openly wept in front of him but right now Ranma just had to be certain. When no move was made or trap sprung he moved a bit more quickly to Shampoo's side and crouched down next to her, carefully prying the hands away from the girl's eyes.
"Shampoo? What's going on? Why are you crying in my room?" He didn't mean for the questions to come out quite so blunt but he hoped he had still conveyed the genuine concern and worry he felt for the girl. It amazed him that he wasn't falling over himself trying to cheer her up but he had realised at some point that you had to let somebody like this open up themself. He realised that it might just be because not too long ago he too had felt just as Shampoo looked.
She slowly raised her head and Ranma could see the still drying tears staining her cheeks. Her make-up was running down her face and her eyes were bloodshot and brimming with fresh tears. As she looked at him she must have realised how weak she was as she bit back the tears and dried her cheeks with her forearms enough to wipe away the make-up that had run. Sadly she stared up at him a moment before shakily standing up. Ranma was careful and stayed near her in case she fell but she stood firmly, the last of the tears gone as she looked at him with an expression he didn't recognise.
"Shampoo see Airen kiss too too nice girl. Shampoo cry because she know Airen no love Shampoo." Ranma blanched, once again he was the sole reason for a girl crying and he felt like a jerk just thinking about it.
"Shampoo that's not-" She looked up hopefully, her eyes sparkling with the prospect of him telling her everything was going to be okay. It caused him to stop and rethink his words mid-sentence; he had been about to say words to similar effects as the world he had come to balance around himself had become so natural. It was lucky he had stopped himself as he now realised what an opportunity this was. He motioned for Shampoo to sit back down and she did so, if a little uncertain of how Ranma was acting; even he admitted it was rather out of character for him to actually want to speak with Shampoo.
"Shampoo, we really need to talk." She nodded somewhat cheerfully but wariness had entered her eyes. She knew that something important was about to happen but she didn't know in what way.
"Shampoo want talk to Airen, is all Shampoo ever want." While they both knew that wasn't completely true, as evidence by a lot of Shampoo's actions around him, Ranma let it slide as he realised he did neglect the girl a lot.
"Shampoo, why do you act the way you do around me?" Shampoo cocked her head to the side in an innocent manner with large eyes that would have a lot of guys melt on the ground in front of her.
"Shampoo no know what Airen mean." He gave her a look that told her he knew that she did in fact know what he was talking about and she sighed. "Airen mean glomp?" He nodded, that was among the things he was referring to but it was along the right lines. Shampoo looked away from him with what he thought was guilt, which looked quite out of place on the proud girl's usually confident features, especially in the state she was in now.
"Shampoo have to" he looked at her curiously as she composed herself enough to continued and explain. "Other girls have advantages. Violent girl, and now nice girl, live with Ranma, have time, and see you lots. Spatula girl know Ranma for long time, many memories and Ranma talk to her." Shampoo sighed, looking away again, not wanting to look Ranma in the eyes. "Sometimes Shampoo feel that all she has is looks. Shampoo not shallow but Shampoo love Airen so have to use what can to make Ranma notice Shampoo." She finally looked around, gauging his reaction to her words.
He stared a moment, not slack jawed or awkwardly but stared nonetheless. He was thinking about how he had missed that all this time the girl's actions were nothing more than a plea for attention. Maybe if he spent more time- no, he remembered Kasumi's words about the past once again and shook himself out of it. He stared at Shampoo, trying to figure out what to say to her in the first and longest conversation they had really ever had. It was important he say the right words, the wrong ones right now could be disastrous and end up hurting somebody he cared about.
"Shampoo I, well I never realised." He stopped himself before he went down his usual path of placation; it wasn't going to help him right now. "Shampoo, couldn't you see that what you were doing was driving me away?" She stared at him, not the normal blank and innocent stare but one filled with remorse and regret. "The glomps in front of the other fiancées, the plots and trickery... "He looked painfully into her face "...using explosives at the wedding." She winced at the last one.
"Shampoo become desperate, see violent girl so close to Airen and know she wrong for him. Shampoo even work with Spatula girl because she see it too." Mentally she actually found it comforting that Ranma was finally out of Akane's reach, even if he had somehow worked his way into the arms of somebody much better suited to him, something Shampoo shouldn't have liked one bit. "Shampoo want Airen to know, truthfully, that Shampoo love Ranma. Not because of Amazon law, at least not now." He looked at her curiously; she was beginning to become the old Shampoo again, stronger and more willful yet this was still a conversation and she wasn't proclaiming her love, she was merely telling him what she wanted him to hear.
"Shampoo, I know you do." She sat back a bit, shocked that Ranma had even admitted it; she was rather scared when his head came back up from staring at the floor with pain written in his eyes. "But Shampoo, you weren't the only one. I know Ukyo also feels that way, even if I could only ever see her as a sister." He looked back down "You are both important to me; my life has been so lonely that any friends I could make were worthwhile."
Shampoo was starting to see why Ranma always held back in his fights with Ryoga, even as the lost boy continued his tirades and declarations of vengeance. She realised it was almost sad that Ranma had to be reduced to that, making friends from his rivals because he could find no others. She was also faintly shocked that Ranma would even call her a friend; after all she had one to him and the people he cared about, even after everything the fact that he could do that spoke volumes about just who he was. A single tear managed to escape her newly reinforced defences at the thought of how forgiving the teen in front of her was; with another thought that made her want to start crying again she realised it only made her love him more.
"Don't get me wrong Shampoo, you've caused me a fair share of grief over the years, and more than your fair share of frustration. But I realise that some of that responsibility is with me, I could have done this sooner, made my feelings clear and allowed you your chance to defend yourself. I never did that and I'm sorry." This truly was a turn of events, somehow Shampoo had come in here, mentally begging for forgiveness, comfort and a last chance and Ranma was the one apologizing. Deep inside the young Amazon her definition of what strength really meant was beginning to unravel at the seams.
Shampoo couldn't take it; she knew she didn't deserve his kind words. She furtively looked about herself, fresh tears already welling in her eyes as she stood up quickly and burst out of the window, leaving a rather shocked Ranma in her wake. Kasumi knocked on his door and he went over and opened it. She saw the strange look on his face and became concerned when she saw the open window and the way it was hanging slightly on its hinges.
"Oh my Ranma, what happened?" He looked at the window a moment.
"Shampoo was here, we talked a bit and she ran off crying." Kasumi once again turned to the window, concern evident on her face as she thought of the young Amazon.
"Don't you think you should go after her Ranma?" He looked a little startled, there was no screams of 'Pervert' or angry malleting. He had just openly admitted to having Shampoo in his room and without a second thought Kasumi had only worried about her. His heart swelled a little in pride of the older girl as he nodded his head determined not to let her down. He rushed out the window, only briefly stopping to turn and marvel one last time at Kasumi as she smiled encouragingly and motioned with her head for him to go.
He raced out after the crying girl; easily locating her now she had stopped hiding her presence due to her emotional state. He raced over the rooftops; he was faster than Shampoo but she had a large head start. He caught up to her just outside the Nekohanten, She had been about to go inside but he grabbed her wrist, lightly so as not to hurt her, and span her around. He grabbed the other wrist and pulled her into a hug before she could do or say anything else.
Shampoo stood there, shocked and disbelieving but soon the comfort Ranma's arms and chest provided, as well as her own emotions, finally got the better of her as she openly wept into his chest. He allowed her to, lightly stroking her hair back, having also seen this in the movies and silently thanking the directors for the helpful hints. She kept crying for quite a while, even Ranma didn't know how long but when she stopped she looked up at Ranma, freshly tear-stained eyes looking at him questioningly, like a child about to receive their punishment but not quite sure what they were getting.
"Why Airen come after Shampoo?" He sighed, something Shampoo could feel now that she was pressed up against his chest slightly. He surprised him a little by being the one to separate from the embrace, obviously taking this quite seriously.
"Like I said Shampoo, I care about you" he looked down but caught himself and looked back into the girl's eyes. He couldn't believe it was finally happening but at least Shampoo deserved to be told to her face. "But not in that way. I like you, and maybe there was a chance it could have been more than that if things had been different." She looked about ready to cry again so he pushed on before she had the chance. "I care about Kasumi, and I know she cares about me. I don't want to do anything to ruin that." He looked at her a moment and sighed again, the movies made things all look so easy but with every word his heart was straining.
"I care about you too and I don't want to do anything to lose you... but as a friend" Shampoo stared at him, her eyes shimmering in the light like two bright orbs of coloured water.
"Friends?" He smiled weakly.
"Yeah, we should get to know each other, you know I've been around you for two years and I don't even know a thing about you except that you're an exceptional fighter and you turn into a cat." She couldn't help but giggle; a sensation that felt strange when her emotions were so inverted right now. It did seem odd that two people who had known one another so long wouldn't actually know each other. Even Shampoo had to admit she didn't know all that much about the man she claimed to love. She didn't even know what his favourite food was.
He smiled, happy that she could giggle and he looked around briefly, seeing if there was anybody watching their little interaction. He sighed when there wasn't but his eyes stuck on the Nekohanten and a sinking feeling entered his gut. He looked back at Shampoo as she mulled over the word 'friend' in her mind, considering the possibilities and ramifications.
"If Shampoo Airen's friend then we spend time together?" He nodded slowly and a small smile entered her own features, brightening her face up considerably. "Like date?" he chuckled, the foreign girl still had a lot to learn about being a normal teenager; not that he was one to talk.
"No, but sort of." She scrunched up her eyes trying to puzzle out what Ranma had said when he contradicted himself. He took the chance to glance at the cafe with all its lights turned out, if Cologne or Mousse saw them out here then this might go badly. Shampoo opened her eyes, thinking that she had gotten the jist of what Ranma was trying to say. She saw him looking towards the cafe and her home and immediately understood what was on his mind.
"Ranma think about Great-Grandmother?" He nodded, still looking towards the quiet building. Shampoo went quiet and Ranma turned back around to see her staring rather guiltily at the floor. "Airen promise not to be mad?" Ranma didn't move but Shampoo continued anyway. "Shampoo not honest with Airen about village laws." He eyed her suspiciously but hid it from his face as best he could.
"What do you mean?" he tried to keep his tine neutral but some of his suspicion leaked out and Shampoo looked even guiltier.
"Village laws say that outside man who challenge Amazon and win is Amazon's wife." He nodded slowly, knowing this already but she looked at him expectantly, as if that was all she needed to say. When he just stared back at her blankly she explained, thinking that this would all be so much easier if she could just speak Chinese. "Airen no challenge Shampoo." That immediately cleared things up and Ranma openly stared at her in shock as she cringed away, expecting angry and hateful words.
"B-But the old ghoul..." Shampoo smiled sheepishly.
"Shampoo tell small lie to Great-Grandmother, not want her to know proud Amazon warrior get knocked out by own chúi." He stared blankly for another few moments, Shampoo once again preparing herself from the inevitable tongue lashing. However as her eyes were closed she could only hear laughing. She opened her eyes curiously to see Ranma, doubled over, laughing into his hand to try and stifle the loud chortles.
"What so funny Airen? Shampoo serious!" He only increased his laughter when she took on a semi-fake hurt look, crossing her hands under her chest in mock anger.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just, the old ghoul, after all this time, didn't know, tried so hard" he was fighting for the words between gasps as he finally succumbed and fell on the floor, laughing away the frustrations and anger that should have been there but just wouldn't come to the surface. Shampoo gave up her act and couldn't help but smile at seeing Ranma in just a state.
"Airen act strange, Shampoo see tomorrow, look forward to being..." She smiled to herself a moment "...friends" She happily, but confusedly, walked around to the back of the restaurant, leaving Ranma to pick himself and walk back the way he had come, still chuckling to himself over the sheer absurdity of it all. It was as if he were some comedic writer's cruel plaything and he was finally starting to see the joke; it was eye-opening.
He arrived back at the Tendo house not much better but he had managed to stop by the time he pulled the front door open. He didn't want to wake anybody so he was content for now with a large grin on his face. He walked through the house silently and spotted Kasumi draped out over the couch. He realised that she must have waited for him but fell asleep because of how late it was. His grin turned into a fond smile as he walked over gently and hefted the girl soundlessly into his arms.
He moved through the house again with Kasumi in tow, he would drop her off in her room before retiring to his own for some well needed rest. Today had been rather hectic and nerve-rattling to say the least and his bed was sounding more and more heavenly the closer he came. Suddenly Kasumi stirred in his arms and her eyes opened blearily, looking up at his face and noticing she was being carried. He smiled down at her and she tiredly smiled back.
"Ranma, what's going on?" He chuckled once, just lightly.
"You fell asleep on the couch. I was bringing you to your room.
"Oh, thank you, that's..."She yawned and he chuckled again at how cute it sounded coming from the girl in his arms. "...very kind." He only smiled in response as she started drifting back off to sleep, but not before wearily leaning up and wrapping her arms around his neck in a hurried hug and planting a long kiss on his cheek. He would have blushed but his body knew there was no point as Kasumi immediately, but gracefully, fell right back to sleep; she snuggled in a bit closer to the heat of Ranma's body.
He laid her down a little later in her bed and just watched her for a little while, it wasn't perverted or sick he just couldn't help but admire how even in sleep she could look so peaceful. He crept back out and across the landing before slipping under his own covers. Even though there was plenty to think about tonight he had no fears that sleep would find him.