"The Saotome Sisters"

Chapter 36

"We're home," Akane called out, as she, Ranma and Ukyo arrived from school. Kasumi called out a greeting from the kitchen, and Akane hurried to meet her.

"Shampoo is back from China", Akane said, somewhat gruffly. "She said she would come by later this evening with a dinner for all of us. So you won't have to cook if you haven't started already."

"Oh, that's nice," Kasumi replied, in her usual sweet manner. Akane rolled her eyes, but didn't comment. "I was just about to start dinner, but I can put it away for tomorrow."

"She's bringing her Great Grandmother as well," Ukyo put in. "I met her in China, and she seemed to like me, although she didn't seem too impressed by Ranchan or the Old Man." She glanced back towards the family room as she said this, and saw Genma peeking around the corner. A few minutes later, there was the sound of a splash from the koi pond.

"I see," Kasumi said calmly. "So I will set two extra places at the table, and obviously Mr. Saotome will need some fresh bamboo..."

Ranma and Ukyo both snickered at this, and then Akane joined them as they headed for the family room.

Not half an hour later, there was the sound of a bicycle bell from the front walk. Kasumi answered the door, to find Shampoo holding a huge box, as big as the ones she had brought to the school earlier. "Oh, my," Kasumi said, looking over at her bike. "You must have excellent balance to have carried something so large while riding that."

"Shampoo have great balance," the Amazon said. "Shampoo can come in?"

"Yes, yes, of course." Kasumi escorted her inside, taking the box from her. Shampoo seemed shocked as the elder Tendo carried the box easily, placing it in the kitchen. "And where is your other guest?" she asked, while opening the box to unpack it.

"Great Grandmother say she be along soon, want to come on her own." There was suddenly a scream from the family room. It was Ranma, crying out in anger, and then crashing noises. There was then a splash, and Ranma's complaints continued, albeit in a more soprano voice.

"That be her now!" Shampoo said happily, hurrying down the hall to the family room.

"Whadja do that for, ya old ghoul!" Ranma called out, as Shampoo entered. Or Ranma in Ukyo's body, anyway, as she assumed that Ranma had transformed. She was standing on the engawa, her slightly baggy clothing soaked with water. Facing her was a tiny, elderly woman perched on a staff, who both Shampoo and Ukyo recognized as Cologne. Ukyo was standing to one side, inside the room, but intently watching both Ranma and Cologne.

Shampoo was taken aback for a second at seeing Ukyo and Ranma standing there, looking so much like twins. Although she had seen Ranma in his sister's form before, and had seen him change in the furo, it was still the first time she'd seen the two together in the same body. She felt a memory prickling in the back of her mind, a memory she hadn't wanted to remember; a redhead screaming at her in anger, stepping forward to protect her "Ranchan". And the other girl, the girl she was looking at right now, begging for the life of the sister she loved.

"I just wanted to confirm the curse for myself, Son-in-Law," Cologne said. "You're not bad. You will make a fine groom for Shampoo."

"I ain't marrying Shampoo!" Ranma exclaimed, but then gulped as she looked over and saw Shampoo staring at her.

Akane had stepped forward to address Cologne. "I hope you are not here to cause trouble..." she warned darkly.

Cologne cackled as she looked the black haired girl over. "Relax, child. I was merely having a little fun. When you get to be my age, you learn not to be so serious all the time." Akane scowled, drawing herself up, and Cologne's smile widened at her reaction.

Akane's eye twitched, but she then bowed to Cologne. "My apologies, then. You... and your great-granddaughter..." she cut her eyes at Shampoo, "... are welcome in our home. Thank you for the nice meal."

The cackle grew even louder. "It is the least we can do for Son-in-Law. We are not barbarians, after all." Her eyes twinkled as she held the Tendo girl's gaze.

"We do not recognize your Kiss of Marriage to Ranma," Akane said evenly, "as this is Japan, not China... but you are welcome as long as you..."

She was interrupted as her father barged into the room. He was blowing smoke from his cigarette, and doing a fairly good job of looking intimidating. Cologne just turned to him calmly, however. "Ranma is already promised to my daughter!" He said. "They must join the schools of Anything Goes!"

"I never agreed to that, Daddy!" Akane pointed out, her voice rising. "But even so... Ranma and his sister are guests of our family." She glanced at Ukyo. "We do not want Ranma or Ukyo to leave, and she would not want to be separated from her brother."

Cologne looked over at her for a moment, then back at Soun. "It is our way to find strong men for the good of our tribe. Ranma will be coming back to China with us."

"Ranma must marry my daughter!" Soun insisted. Akane's eye began to twitch again, as she realized she was being left out of the conversation. Fortunately, at that moment Kasumi came in carrying several bowls of ramen.

"Dinner is served, everyone," the eldest daughter said sweetly. "Courtesy of Shampoo's Great Grandmother and the Cat Cafe." The family quickly gathered around the table, with Cologne plopping herself down to slurp up some of the noodles herself.

"Well, the ramen is pretty good," Nabiki commented. "You should get quite a few customers in this new restaurant of yours."

"It's just an old family recipe," Cologne said with a cackle. "Great Granddaughter told me that she cooked for Son-in-Law and Shield Sister here, and they enjoyed it. This was all made myself."

"I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it all that much," Ukyo growled darkly. She had not touched the ramen, and neither did Akane.

Cologne glanced at her. "Shampoo told me about that. Actually, she did not remember it at first... but once she did, she was quite upset. I apologize for my Great Granddaughter's practical joke, as well as her rather forward actions here last night..." She looked at Akane as she said this, and Akane scowled.

"I tried to teach her better than that, but ah, the impetuousness of youth..." She sighed as she slurped up more of her ramen. "Reminds me of when I was a reckless and carefree child..."

Akane's scowl darkened, even more so when Shampoo gave her a knowing smirk. Nabiki, as well, seemed to be putting two and two together, and got a calculating look on her face. Kasumi, meanwhile, had stepped back into the kitchen for a kettle, which she handed to Ranma. She then sat down next to Cologne.

"My, but you speak Japanese well," she commented.

Cologne laughed through a mouthful of ramen. "You don't live for three hundred years without learning a few things," she said brightly.

Nabiki stole another glance at the vicious stares Shampoo and Akane were giving each other, and then turned back to the Amazon Elder. "So, does setting up this Cat Cafe mean you are planning on staying here for a while?"

"At least a short while." Cologne looked at Akane, appraisingly. Her expression became more mischievous as the girl pulled herself up. "I have to agree that it would not be civilized to just take Son-in-Law by force, when obviously he has friends and family here. We will give him time to accept his marriage to my Granddaughter, and say goodbye to his family..."

Ranma had returned to male form, and growled as he addressed the Elder. "I ain't marryin' Shampoo, Old Ghoul. I ain't marryin' nobody."

"You're marrying my daughter!" Soun protested.

"Amazon Law takes precedence over all others!" Cologne countered.

"My Bro ain't goin' nowhere as long as I can do anything to stop it!" Ukyo shouted.

Shampoo grabbed Ranma by the arm, and pulled him aside. "Airen come with Shampoo for a moment? Shampoo have something to show Airen."

"What?" Ranma pulled his arm back. For a fraction of a second, he looked frightened, but that was quickly replaced by anger.

"Airen come with Shampoo to bath..."

"WHAT, AGAIN?" Ukyo yelled, snarling. "You have GOT to be kidding!"

Shampoo waved her hand at Ukyo, looking a little uncomfortable. "Airen just come with Shampoo for a moment..."

Akane stood. "*I* will go with you and Ranma, as a chaperone," she said. She glanced at Ukyo. "That okay, Ucchan, or you want to come too?"

Ukyo studied her for a moment, fuming. Then she shrugged. "Go ahead."

Akane looked back at Ranma, to see him looking at her fearfully. As she met his eyes, though, and gave him a smile of reassurance, he seemed to relax. He blew out a breath. "Okay, Shampoo, let's see what you got... I mean, see what ya got to say!" He turned red, and Nabiki chuckled evilly.

There was a tense silence as the three walked into the furoba. They walked past the changing room, but then as soon as they were in the bathing room, Shampoo immediately began to strip off her clothes. "What are you doing?" Akane shouted, sounding like she had reached the same conclusion as Ukyo. Ranma just backed up against the wall, glancing nervously between Shampoo and Akane.

"What you think? You pervert now, now that you kiss Shampoo Airen?" Shampoo said to Akane with a snarl. She grabbed the shower head and held it over her. "This what Shampoo want to show Airen!"

She turned on the water, and moments later the shower head clattered to the floor. A purple and white cat sat on the tiles, her fur dripping with water. Ranma immediately screamed and leaped at Akane, who quickly took him in her arms.

Shampoo yowled, arching her back as she swiped at Akane with her claws. Akane moved to put herself between the cat and Ranma. "Stop it!" she shouted down at Shampoo, as Ranma began to tremble violently. "You're scaring him! You know about his fear of cats!"

She felt Ranma tense up, and he tried to push away from her, but then Shampoo hissed again. His grip tightened, and Akane couldn't keep a look of smug satisfaction from coming across her face. "You're just driving him right into my arms, Shampoo! The closer you get to him, the tighter he holds on to me!"

"I... I'm no weakling..." Ranma muttered. He steeled himself, and pulled his arms from around her, putting his hands on Akane's shoulders. But he couldn't look down at the cat, and kept his eyes locked on Akane's face. Akane could see what this was doing to him, the terror warring with his pride, and she rubbed his back, reassuringly.

"It's all right," she told him. "She needs to know how strong your phobia is, anyway. If she thinks you can control it... she might force you into the Neko-Ken..."

Shampoo hissed again, taking a tentative step forward. But she noticed how Ranma flinched at the sound, and buried his face tightly against Akane's shoulder. Akane looked down at the cat, her confident smirk quickly changing to worry and concern. "Please, Shampoo, stop this. You're not going to get close to him this way."

The white cat quickly turned around, and jumped into the furo. Moments later, Shampoo again surfaced in the water, naked. She leaped at Akane, holding her hand out with her fingers extended. "You is obstacle," she announced coldly. "Obstacle is for killing."

Ranma's reaction was immediate, his fear vanishing in an instant. He whirled, blocking Shampoo's path to Akane, and grabbing her hand before it could strike the black haired girl. Unfortunately, at the same moment he brought up his other hand to stop her charge, and it pressed into warm, soft flesh. Both figures froze in place, Ranma's eyes going wide as his hand reflexively gripped Shampoo's breast, for the second time in as many days.

Shampoo's eyes fluttered, as she seemed to fall back in a faint. "Airen..." she gasped. Her voice had that same dazed, dreamy quality that Ranma had heard when he searched her for the bottle of Formula 911. Ranma's gaze snapped back to Akane, and as he expected, he found her eyes glowing with rage, her teeth grinding. For a long moment, he just stared at her, waiting for the explosion.

Akane finally slapped his hand away. "Are you quite through squeezing her yet, Ranma?" She snarled. She grabbed Ranma and pulled him away, moving to block Ranma's view of the girl's body.

The Amazon's dazed expression cleared as the contact ended, and she remembered that she was supposed to be fighting her rival for her Airen. "You I kill!" she shouted, but Ranma was still tightly holding her other hand. So she settled for shouting her challenge into the other girl's face, while trying to struggle to pull her hand free.

"No!" Ranma answered her. He looked incredibly nervous to be trying to hold back the attacks of a naked woman, especially since Akane kept trying to put herself in front of him, instead of behind him. But he kept his eyes on Shampoo's face. "You won't hurt Akane!"

"Besides!" Akane cut in, batting aside a hand as Shampoo pulled free of Ranma. "Even if you kill me, there is still Ukyo! Remember Ukyo, your 'Shield Sister'? Shield Sister can hold back Ranma's Neko-Ken too! So even if you kill me, he will run to her, instead!"

Shampoo seemed to consider this, and then she drew back. She scowled at Akane. "Shield Sister not stop Shampoo. Angry Girl not stop Shampoo. Airen must marry Shampoo, go back to China!"

"The moment you turn into a cat, Ranma will run back to us. Even if I'm not around, he'll run to Shield Sister. And I don't think you want to kill Shield Sister. I think you like Shield Sister."

There was a moment where Shampoo thought about that, and then she smiled sweetly at Ranma. "Shampoo comfort Airen too, when Airen see cat. Then when Shampoo scare Airen, Airen run to Shampoo!"

"It doesn't work that way!" Akane protested, her voice showing her exasperation. "You can't be both the cat AND the one to comfort Ranma, at the same time!"

"Is Airen FAULT Shampoo turn into cat!"

"What? How is it MY fault?" Ranma's discomfort over having not one but two women grabbing and shoving against him was quickly supplanted by his indignation at YET AGAIN being blamed for everyone's problems. Trying to keep two women apart who were trying to kill each other, particularly when one of them was naked, was coming frighteningly close to the limit of his ability to cope. So he was relieved at having something more familiar to concentrate on.

"Airen fool Shampoo with hot water! Make Shampoo think Airen is girl? Shampoo broken-hearted!" She gave Ranma a sad eyed look, and Ranma gulped.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Akane asked, although her expression had turned more compassionate. She had seen the look on Shampoo's face when Ranma revealed "her" curse, the tears in her eyes as she turned to leave.

Surprisingly, Shampoo looked uncomfortable. She hesitated for a few moments, and then looked down at the floor. "Shampoo not want to remember Airen. Shampoo just want to go home. Shampoo shampoo Shampoo."

Silence fell over the furo. Ranma and Akane just stared, waiting for Shampoo to finish, not aware that she wasn't just repeating her name. After a moment, she looked up at them. "What?"

"Shampoo... what?" Ranma asked.

"Shampoo... shampoo Shampoo."

"Shampoo... Shampoo what?"

"What? Shampoo! Shampoo is what! Shampoo shampoo Shampoo!"

As both Ranma and Akane stared open-mouthed, Cologne finally hit them in the back of the head with her staff. "What my Great-Granddaughter is trying to say is that she shampooed HERSELF."

Both teens spun to face the old woman, who had apparently just appeared in the room. "What?"

The Elder regarded them with a wry smile. "When Shampoo arrived home, she had no memory of her fight with 'Ran-chan', or why she had left. She claimed she had awakened in Japan, with no knowledge of how she got there, and rushed straight home. I informed her of her mission, and that she had apparently failed. The Council of Elders decided that either Shampoo had realized her failure, and used the Xi Fa Xiang Gao technique on herself to try to hide the truth, or that she had made the mistake of using the technique on someone who could turn it back on her."

Ranma glanced down at his hands, realizing that now that he knew the technique, he COULD have used it against her. He shuddered, remembering Tofu's warning about having Akane's "soul" in his hands. He remembered just how much Akane's memories had meant to her, even the bad ones, and wondered at how important Shampoo's were to her. Could she really have just erased her own memories like that... like they meant nothing? He shuddered again, as he remembered her offer to erase his memory of his sister.

Cologne was continuing, however. "Either way, it was the decision of the Council that Shampoo be punished. I was to bring her to the Springs of Jusenkyo for training. If she were to fall into a spring, that would be her punishment. She fell into the Spring of Drowned Cat."

"Is Airen's fault," Shampoo pouted. "What Airen do about Shampoo curse?"

"What?" Ranma asked, turning to the girl, almost in a panic. "What am *I* gonna do about it? That ain't MY fault! I don' even know what ta do about MY curse!"

"That's right," Akane agreed, more calmly, if only marginally. "I don't see how you're any worse off than Ranma... or Ukyo or Ryoga for that matter."

Cologne cackled. "Of course, the irony of my Granddaughter receiving THAT particular Jusenkyo curse was lost on me at the time. But I suspected more was going on than Shampoo could tell me. After Shampoo began having dreams about a black haired boy in Japan, I asked her if she wanted me to reverse the Xi Fa Xiang Gao. At first, she just wanted to put the whole thing behind her and accept her punishment. But eventually she wanted to learn the truth.

"That trick you pulled with the kettles was a stroke of genius, Son-in-Law. You had Shampoo totally fooled. She believed that she had fallen in love with a woman, and was forced to either return in disgrace or kill you. She was so distraught that she erased her own memory rather than live with the knowledge that she could not be with you. But once she told me the story, I saw through your deception easily. After all, we know all about Jusenkyo; as I just said, we use it as one of our methods of punishment..."

The old Elder grinned wickedly at Ranma. "I suspected you were a male from the very first, sonny boy. When I confirmed with Shampoo that you had bumped into your sister while picking up the kettles, I realized either you or she switched them. But of course, I knew that the Spring of Drowned Man has been misplaced for years, and no one knows where it is now. So you could not have been a girl who fell into that Spring.

"Once I figured out that your sister turned into your female form, it all fell into place. Although I've never heard of the Jusenkyo curse acting that way, there have been similar... 'incidents'... in the past. It was you that defeated my Great Granddaughter, in your sister's body, and you made her think that it was your real form, so she wouldn't come after your sister. But this led her to erase her memory, so she could not explain the failure of her mission."

"But Airen is man!" Shampoo squealed happily, a giddy smile coming over her face. "So Shampoo no have to kill Airen! Airen is Shampoo Airen!" With that, she wrapped her arms around Ranma, who turned pale. Akane, of course, could not stop the dark look that came over her face, but did nothing but glare at Shampoo and mutter under her breath.

"What that?" Shampoo said innocently, meeting Akane's eyes. "Shampoo no hear."

"I said..." Akane growled, "I'm supposed to be in here to make sure you DON'T do things like that."

Shampoo stuck her tongue out at her. "Shampoo just have fun with Airen. Too too bad Angry Girl no do better..." She rubbed her body up and down Ranma's chest.

Her actions, however, had an unexpected result. Ranma's glazed expression cleared, and suddenly his eyes narrowed. He shoved Shampoo off of him, and she landed on the floor on her bottom. "Never mind what Akane does and doesn't do with me! That ain't none of your business!"

Akane looked at him, startled, but Shampoo just got up from the floor, smiling wantonly. "Shampoo just hug Airen. Is just fun. Is Angry Girl is pervert..." Ranma's teeth clenched as she wrapped herself around him again.

Cologne rapped Shampoo on the head. She fell down hard on the floor. "Great-Granddaughter, when a technique fails, you do not try to do it again. That is foolish."

Ranma and Akane both glanced at the old crone, surprised by her interference, but she met Ranma's eyes with a level gaze. "Be a man. Marry my Great Granddaughter. You have an obligation to her."

"I ain't marryin' nobody!" Ranma protested. "That ain't my fault, and I ain't marryin' her!"

Cologne's staff pointed at Akane. "You want the Tendo girl then, is that it?"

Ranma glanced at her, blushing deep red, noticing she was blushing as well, and looking at the floor. But he drew himself up. "Nobody's forcing me to marry Akane. Nobody's forcing me to marry ANYBODY! But Akane don't wanna be forced ta marry me either. If we decide... it'll be..."

His voice trailed off, as obviously Ranma became more uncomfortable. He glanced at Akane, only to find her hiding her face as well. He seemed to hesitate. "Akane is my... um... friend. I ain't gonna do anything to hurt her... or to LET anyone hurt her..." he glared at Shampoo as he said this, "... but nobody's gonna force her or me to do nothin' either."

"But do you love her?" the old crone asked, her voice crackling with mirth.

"L-l-l... Hey, I didn't say nothin' about that!" Akane had wrapped her arms so tightly around herself that it looked like she was trying to crawl inside herself to hide, but Ranma wasn't daring to look at her anyway. "I just... um... I, uh..."

At just that moment, Cologne suddenly darted forward, poking Ranma in the center of his chest with her staff. Ranma staggered backwards, looking shocked. Akane jumped as well, and rushed to his side. She wrapped her arms around him, while Ranma rubbed his chest and looked down at the point of contact.

"Are you all right?" Akane shot the old Elder a dirty look, but Cologne just grinned impishly back at her.

"I think so... it didn't seem ta do anything." Ranma looked up at Cologne. "What didja do to me, Old Ghoul!"

"You'll find out soon enough, Son-in-Law," she hopped onto her staff, and pogoed out of the room, as if she had nothing more to say. "Two or three days, tops. When you are ready to honor your responsibilities to my Granddaughter, and be a man..." she cackled at this, "... come to the Cat Cafe. We will be waiting."

She called to Shampoo, who smiled at Ranma as she put on her clothes, and then followed. "Shampoo see you soon, Airen," she said. "Wo ai ni."

Sure enough, for the next two days, Ranma seemed just fine. It was the morning of the third day when the effect of Cologne's strange attack finally became apparent. The Tendo family's early routine was shattered by an ear-piercing scream from the furo. This was followed a few seconds later by a female voice screaming, "Hot! Hot! That's hot!"

Akane went running into the furoba to find Ukyo sitting on the floor, dumping bucket after bucket of cold water over herself. No, she quickly amended to herself, noting the girl's stance, and the subtle expressions of her face, it was Ranma. Without really thinking about it, Akane spun around, a slight blush coming over her cheeks as she covered her eyes.

Ranma looked up at her, and blushed a little herself as she was reminded of her nudity. She put a hand around her breasts to hide them, but didn't seem too disturbed, even as Akane slowly turned back around to face her. Akane shoved aside her reaction, dismissing it as silly. After all, Ranma was in female form right now, so it was okay for Akane to see her, right? She'd seen Ukyo plenty of times, after all.

"Ranma, what's wrong?" she asked. Ranma seemed to relax as well, at Akane's calm reaction. She gestured at the furo.

"The water's boiling! I almost burned myself!"

Tentatively, Akane stepped forward to put a hand in the water. After a moment, she dipped her hand under the surface, but it didn't seem hot at all. "It's a little warm, but not too bad. It's probably nice and pleasant."

"What?" Ranma looked shocked. "I couldn't even put my hand in it!" She reached out a hand to touch the water, but drew back the instant her fingertip touched it. "It's hot!"

"Here, let me get you some water. I'll make it just warm enough to change you back." Akane picked up the bucket, and walked over to the faucet outside the furo. She adjusted it so it was barely lukewarm, maybe not even enough to trigger the curse, but she hoped just warm enough.

She handed the bucket to Ranma, and then shyly turned her back, so she wouldn't see him change. After a few seconds, when she heard the water splash onto the floor, she heard Ranma scream, and a clatter as the bucket hit the floor. She quickly grabbed another bucket and filled it with cold water, throwing it over Ranma's still female body. She didn't even wait for the bucket to fill, Ranma's screams making her hurry as fast as she could.

Ranma was writhing in pain, but the moment the cold water soothed her bare skin, she stood up and yelled at Akane. "What, didja think that was a joke, you stupid tomboy? That really hurt! Are you nuts or somethin'?"

"I'm sorry, Ranma," Akane looked up at her, putting a hand up to her mouth. She swallowed at her fiancée's anger. "It was just barely warm, I swear. I would never do anything like that to you..." She reached out a hand tentatively to touch her arm, but pulled it back, wondering if perhaps she would be sensitive even to touch.

Ranma shrugged away from her, but studied Akane's expression as the black haired girl stared apologetically up at her. Her anger quickly faded as she realized Akane had not done it on purpose. She heard Ukyo enter the room behind her, and pick up the discarded bucket.

"Akane's telling the truth," Ukyo said, as she dipped her hand in the small amount of water that had been left behind when Ranma dumped it over herself. She swirled her hand around, and then all of a sudden, she shrank down into her redhead form. "See... it's not even warm enough. It might as well be cold."

Ranma stared at her. "But... it was so hot..." She looked back at Akane. "It was scalding..."

Cologne's cackle drew their attention to the window. "That's right, sonny boy. That Cat's Tongue pressure point technique I used on you has made your skin as sensitive as a cat's tongue. From now on, even the most lukewarm water will feel as if it is scalding to you. You will be unable to stand the hot water you need to turn back into a man..."

"You've trapped Ranchan in his female form?" Ukyo exclaimed, suddenly angry. "That's... that's... how can you do that?"

Cologne grinned at her. Then she turned back to Ranma. "Marry Shampoo, and I will tell you how to change back. Be a man, and you can again become a man. Or, you can stay a woman for the rest of your life."

"For the rest... of my life...?" Ranma sank to her knees on the tiles. Akane looked down at her, worried.

"Marry my Shampoo," Cologne said. "It is the only way, Son-in-Law. All you have to do is marry my Great Granddaughter, and you can be a man again."

"You can't do that to him!" Ukyo shouted. Ranma had started to tremble, and Akane stared at her for a moment, before kneeling down to put an arm around her. "You don't know how much he hates his curse! I won't let you do this!" Ukyo fell into a stance.

Ranma's shaking grew even more violent. She began to mutter, "I'll never be a man again? I'll never be a man again?" Akane held her tighter, wanting to say something, but not sure what to say.

The Amazon Elder studied Ukyo for a moment. "There's nothing you can do, Shield Sister. Only I know the cure for the Cat's Tongue. And I'm not going to give it to you just because you 'asked nicely'." Cologne cackled.

"Then I'll just have to ask not so nicely," Ukyo growled, her voice dangerous.

"You're about a hundred years too early to face me, Shield Sister," Cologne said lightly, her tone far more amused than threatening.

Akane sat back as Ranma's head came up. "I have had just about enough of your nonsense, Old Ghoul," she growled. Her trembling stopped, and she leaped at Cologne. However, Akane was shocked to see, just for a moment, that she had tears in her eyes. "I'll beat that cure outta you if I have to," Ranma said.

Cologne dodged, and Ranma began to pursue her around the furoba. When Cologne tried to dunk her in the hot water, though, Ranma was forced to back off, and she slipped on the wet tiles. Cologne laughed as she fell on her bottom. "You're pretty good, but you're a long way from catching me as well, Son-in-Law. You know where to find me when you're ready to marry Shampoo." With that, the Elder bounded out of the window on her staff.

"Damn that Old Ghoul!" Ukyo snarled.

Ranma nodded her agreement, but Akane gave her a reassuring smile, as she put an arm around the ponytailed girl's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Ranma. You may be stuck as a girl for now, but it won't be forever. I'm sure we'll come up with a way to change you back."

Akane wished that she could feel as confident on the inside as she was trying to be on the outside. But she kept her fears to herself, as she looked into Ranma's blue green eyes. "This is no different from when Shampoo was here last time. Ukyo had to stay in her cursed form, while you were stuck in guy form. You put up with it then, you can put up with it now."

She wrapped a towel around the feminine curves of her fiancée, giving her a smirk of mischief. "We've got to get to school. So it looks like today, Ukyo and Ranko are going to go to school together!"

Author's Notes:

I did not really mean anything by Kasumi lifting the heavy delivery box Shampoo was carrying, it was just a gag. This will not be one of those stories where Kasumi secretly turns out to be a martial arts master and kicks everyone else's butt. :) But then, Kasumi does not need to kick anybody's butt, it's inherent to Kasumi's character that no one would DARE do anything to displease Kasumi...

It's been about a month since my last update, and while it actually feels a little longer, I think I can maintain at least that update rate. So while it's not coming rapidly like it did during the Neko-Ken arc, don't think I've given up on the story. This chapter had a lot fewer hallmarks of the canon, as I am intentionally reducing the number of direct quotes now that the storyline has diverged so significantly. So that means less proofreading and time taken to compare to the canon. On the other hand, the Anime and Manga diverge at this point anyway, and my version will put events in a different order still.

However, I was still able to sneak in a couple of "dropped lines" from earlier episodes, from Akane using Ranma's "Are you quite through squeezing me?", (a line I've always loved) to Shampoo's "Obstacle is for killing" to Akane, (complete with knife hand attack, blocked by Ranma) to Kasumi's crack about "Mr. Saotome will need something different for dinner" because he's in panda form. I also got to reuse the "Shampoo shampoo Shampoo" gag, which was fun, and played up Ranma's emotional reaction at being trapped as a girl, as in the Anime.

Another interesting thing to note is that of all the secondary characters, Cologne is probably the one that is most significantly affected by the changes in Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo. Shampoo and Ryoga are also deeply affected, of course, but Soun, Genma, the Tendo sisters and so forth aren't really different. Cologne, though, I figured would immediately be aware of the greater threat Akane now represents to her Great Granddaughter, and immediately recognize how far Ranma and Akane's relationship has progressed. So while the last thing the canon Cologne wants to do is point out those suppressed feelings, here Cologne is confronting them directly.

Should be fun. :)