Power
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Intrasonic
> brackets denote Chinese speech
Part 5
Punch. Kick. Feint. Jump. Punch.
"Hey, Shampoo!"
*CRACK*
Even as Shampoo spun to face the new arrival,
the tree she had struck toppled over. "WHY RANMA LATE!?!" she demanded.
Ranma swallowed. "I'm sorry! I had homework
to do, okay?"
He received a suspicious look for his explanation.
"Ranma hate homework!"
"If I don't do it, I fail school, okay? Just
because you don't have to do it..."
"Great-grandmother teach Shampoo in evening!
You think Shampoo stupid?"
"NO!!! I didn't say that at all!"
Shampoo abruptly calmed down. "Then we practice?"
"And if you think that-" Ranma blinked. "Uh...
yeah, let's practice."
"Great-grandmother give Shampoo ideas. She
beat Ranma today easy."
"You gotta be kidding me! You just got lucky
yesterday!"
Shampoo shrugged. "Shampoo never have serious
fight with Ranma before. She ready now."
He shrugged, opening a thermos of water over
his head. "Whatever. I've been holding back too. Today you're gonna see
what you're really dealing with!"
Shampoo twisted into a combat stance. She
didn't think she'd ever been pushed as hard as she had yesterday night.
Moves she'd never even dreamt of had been used against her, forcing her
to develop counters she'd never before dreamt of inventing. Reserves she'd
never thought she'd possessed had been depleted before the night had finished.
And it had been with the man she loved. Even if he had been a different
gender at the time.
And she was going to have another chance to
do it all again. That thought alone was more than enough to bring a smile
to her face.
"Ranma give up?"
Ranma was presently lying down on the ground,
face against the dirt, her right arm twisted backwards by the crook of
Shampoo's left elbow. Her legs was splayed out awkwardly, one of Shampoo's
legs having hooked underneath each of them and immobilized them with the
inside of her knees. Shampoo's free hand held Ranma's head solidly down.
Ranma's left arm was pinned under her body, unable to do anything due to
the leverage and weight of the amazon. The best she could presently do
was to avoid inhaling dirt.
Shampoo wasn't nearly willing to oblige, using
all her strength to push the redhead's face closer to the ground. "Ranma
still think he stronger than Shampoo?"
"I'm a girl right now!" she shot back,
spitting out dirt. Inwardly she cursed. About ten minutes into sparring,
Shampoo had gotten into a position to demonstrate something rather significant
about their relative strengths. Namely, the Amazon had two advantages over
his girl form. A longer reach, and considerably more strength. The two
had been put to good use, resulting in her being in the extremely humiliating
position she was now.
Shampoo didn't buy the excuse. "No matter.
Ranma still Ranma, even if girl. Ranma give up now?" The question was rhetorical,
she knew full well. But it was fun to goad him like this.
"You ain't beat me by a long shot-MMPH!!"
After about ten seconds, Shampoo let Ranma
come up for air. "Maybe Ranma take Shampoo seriously now?"
"What d'you mean by that?"
"Ranma still hold back against Shampoo," she
accused. "Shampoo know Ranma better than her. He know Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken
and Hiryuu Shoten Ha. He even know chi blasts. Why he still not fight real?"
"Cause you ain't trying to kill me! That stuff's
only for pigheaded idiots like Ryouga!"
"Ranma not like hit girls?"
"You know that!"
"Akane is girl."
"She's stronger than me right now!"
"Shampoo stronger than Ranma now too."
"Are NOT!"
For an answer, Shampoo merely ground Ranma's
face into the dirt again. "Ranma keep lose until take Shampoo seriously.
She want to be better."
A quiet gleam came into Ranma's eyes. "Okay,
I'll teach ya something."
Shampoo didn't relax her hold an inch. "Then
teach."
"Okay. A martial artist's gotta always know
what his surroundings are. The Anything-Goes style is actually weakest
in an open area. The more obstacles there are, the better the style is."
"So Ranma teach Shampoo to use obstacle to
fight?"
Ranma smirked. "Yeah, something like that.
And lemme tell you another thing."
"What?"
"If you're fightin' someone who practices
Anything-Goes fighting... NEVER give 'em time to think."
"What that mean?"
"There's a lot of big tree branches above
us."
Not letting up on the pressure, Shampoo glanced
quickly upwards. Sure enough, a good number of thick branches were stretched
out overtop of them.
Ranma immediately shifted her left hand underneath
herself. "MOKO-TAKABISHA!!!"
From Ranma's left hand, a massive blast of
chi smashed downwards, propelling them both upwards like a human rocket.
Shampoo felt a sinking feeling as she realizing what was going on. Unfortunately,
it was too late to disentangle herself from the smaller girl.
She smashed through about five branches before
the upwards descent had been halted. By this time, Ranma had wormed her
way free and wrapped her legs around the briefly dazed amazon's waist.
With her arms, she used the sixth branch to catapult around, sending both
of them back down towards the ground, letting Shampoo absorb the impact
with a flawless belly flop.
Shampoo managed to replace the air that had
been knocked from her lungs, struggling to regain her feet. Except this
time, Ranma was pinning her to the ground.
"It's not over yet," Ranma said, briefly grinding
her face into the ground. Then she rolled away quickly, flipping to her
feet and waiting.
Shampoo wasting no time in standing up. She
didn't know why Ranma had released her like that. More patronizing, no
doubt. She'd make him regret it this time...
*THUD**THUD**THUD**THUD**THUD*
Shampoo briefly reeled as the five branches
she had smashed through on the way up finally finished landing squarely
on her head. By the time she regained her senses, she was able to
see Ranma rushing her again.
Ranma abruptly ran into a fist as Shampoo
demonstrated how quickly she had recovered from the branches. The next
fist she ducked, hitting the amazon with several fast punches to the gut
that had little effect.
"Shampoo learn lesson," she decided, regaining
her bearings again.
"The Anything-Goes style is the ultimate form
of adapting in martial arts," Ranma informed her, skipping back several
steps. "But if even if you don't use that style, you gotta know how to
make up stuff on the spot. That's why you shouldn't have given me time
to think like that."
"Shampoo not make mistake second time."
Ranma leapt upwards, landing on a low tree
branch. "Time for you to see what the Saotome style is really made
of!"
Even as Shampoo jumped up after him, Ranma
leapt towards her, meeting her in mid-air. After a dizzying assortment
of twists and vaults, Shampoo found herself staring downwards at a rapidly
approaching ground. Several thoughts later, she impacted head-first. The
reverse kick she attempted was absorbed harmlessly by the redhead, serving
merely as a booster to vault her upwards to land on another branch.
Shampoo looked upwards, her growing distaste
for dirt tempered by the knowledge that Ranma was slowly beginning to take
her more seriously. It was rather painful, but her persistence was beginning
to pay off.
"You don't stand a chance in the air against
the Saotome style, Shampoo!" Ranma hollered down. "Even the ol' Ghoul don't
like to mess with me in the air!"
An exaggeration, Shampoo knew. But not completely
inaccurate.
"Your Amazon style teaches you to only expect
one chance at doin' something in the air," Ranma continued. "But it ain't
true at all. Even the ol' Ghoul doesn't really believe it. That's a big
weakness for you!"
Accurate, Shampoo had to admit. Ranma had
practically done a gymnastic's routine around her in the air, whereas her
attempted grapple had been the beginning and end of her resistance. "Then
Shampoo learn!"
"It's completely against your style!"
"Shampoo learn anything Ranma teach!"
she shot back.
"Then come on up and try!" the redhead invited,
leaping up to a higher branch.
Shampoo accepted the invitation in full.
It was almost an hour later that Ranma finally
touched down on the ground again. As for Shampoo, it could be said that
it was the first time she had willingly touched down on ground again.
To say nothing of finally landing on her feet.
"You don't have a prayer of beating a Saotome
in the air," Ranma informed her modestly.
Shampoo rubbed her shoulder. "But Shampoo
better off ground now."
"Well... I guess so. You ain't making your
old mistakes anymore. And you're getting better at doing more than one
attack in the air."
"Akane good in air?"
Ranma made a face. "Come on, Shampoo. When
was the last time you ever saw her jump? All she ever does is punch
and kick at what's in front of her. She's worse in the air than Tsubasa.
I'd have beaten her by now, but she won't even jump."
"Not have to," Shampoo muttered angrily.
"If we keep training, she's going to have
to try eventually," the redhead declared. "And that's gonna be one more
way I'll take her down. Nobody beats a Saotome. Nobody!"
"Why Ranma angry?"
"I'm not angry. But if she's gonna claim to
be better than me to my face, what do you expect me to do? A martial artist
must rise to every challenge, and she just gave me my next one. Even if
it's cool that she's not always hitting me anymore. Even if she's lying
about it, do you have any idea how good I'll be by the time I beat her?
Heck, by that time, I bet I even give your Great-grandmother a run for
her money."
"And Shampoo be easy best young warrior in
village back home," Shampoo agreed. Looking at Ranma, she decided that
it couldn't hurt to test the waters a little. "So... Ranma no mind train
with Shampoo?"
"Uh... well... I guess it's... okay."
"What that mean?" she demanded.
"Well... you ain't as a good as I am, but..."
"If Ranma bad trainer, that okay."
"Whadaya mean, bad trainer?"
"Ranma better than Shampoo, but no teach much.
Shampoo have to learn by self. So Ranma bad trainer."
"I'm a great trainer! I'm just not tryin'
right now!"
"Prove. Try train Shampoo."
"I gotta train myself right now."
"Then maybe Shampoo train Ranma?"
"Yeah right. What could you teach me?"
Shampoo shrugged. "Okay. Shampoo not teach
Ranma secret technique for finding hidden power source."
It was amazing how Ranma could go from being
ten feet away, to suddenly being six inches away from her, complete with
pleading puppy-dog eyes. Surely a martial arts technique or something...
"Now just a minute here..."
She smirked. "Why Shampoo teach Ranma? He
no teach Shampoo anything."
Fortunately, Ranma had always been a reasonable
person when bribed. "I'll teach you something!"
"What teach?"
"Uh... I dunno. What do you want me to teach
you? I know lots of stuff."
Shampoo looked thoughtful. "Teach Shampoo
Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken."
Ranma looked doubtful. "I dunno if you're
ready for that yet..."
"Shampoo better now than Ranma when he learn."
That was hard to argue with, since no proof
existed either way.
"Well... I guess I can. But I learned it 'cause
I had that stupid Full-Bodied Cat Tongue and was locked in my cursed form.
I don't think I can teach you when you're a c-c... when you're cursed."
Unfortunately, that was true. "So teach different
way."
"But I don't know any other way!"
"Ranma find way. If he good trainer."
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Fine, I'll make up
a way. Nothing is impossible for Ranma Saotome! So what about this
technique of yours..."
"Great-grandmother teach Shampoo now. If Akane
have source of power, then it show."
Ranma nodded. "I'm positive she's gettin'
her power from somewhere. And this technique can find that source?"
Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo not know well yet.
But much easy if practice withother person."
"Great. How do you practice?"
"Ranma sit."
Shampoo also sat down, facing Ranma. Holding
her hands up, she faced the palms towards Ranma. "Put hands up."
Ranma obeyed, frowning as Shampoo pressed
her palms lightly against her own. Was this some sort of ploy on her part?
"Ranma relax," Shampoo ordered.
Ranma looked a little confused, but forced
herself to relax. Shampoo's voice sounded rather strained, although she
couldn't quite understand why. The technique must be exceptionally difficult.
Shampoo closed her eyes, forcing herself to
concentrate. Her Great-grandmother hadn't mentioned this aspect
of the training. It was one thing to practice by herself. But just thinking
about the person across from her was enough to drive her to
distraction.
Ironic, really. This was possibly closer than
she'd ever gotten to Ranma before, without him trying to escape or shy
away. But there he was, patiently waiting within touching distance. Within
kissing distance even...
To maintain her concentration took a phenomenal
effort on her part. Indeed, Ranma's female status was probably the only
thing keeping her from making good on a few brief fantasies. That, and
the knowledge that if she lost it now, she'd have a terrible time getting
him to trust her again. She hadn't come this far, only to throw all her
work away. If she kept this up, by the time her Great-grandmother's plan
was put into play, she would be guaranteed of success! Whatever the plan
was, anyway.
"What are you doin'?" Ranma wanted to know.
"Shampoo concentrate. No distract," she replied
bluntly, feeling like the hypocrite she was.
"Uh, okay. Sorry."
After a few moments, a faint battle aura began
to glow around Shampoo's form. Ranma raised an eyebrow, but decided against
saying anything.
It was several moments later that she felt
her hands begin to grow hot. The bluish aura around the amazon was beginning
to flow out and over her hands. Out of reflex, she yanked her hands back.
Shampoo's eyes snapped open. "Ranma relax!
You distract!"
"Well, sure! What're you doin'? Tryin' to
possess me or somethin'?"
"It technique Great-grandmother teach Shampoo!"
Ranma looked a little shocked. "You mean,
you are trying to possess me?!"
"No!" That would be an interesting
technique, though. "Shampoo giving battle aura to Ranma."
"Uh, okay. Why?"
Shampoo looked a little frustrated at first.
"Shampoo not know good words. She give battle aura to Ranma... and take
Ranma battle aura."
"You mean..." Ranma looked thoughtful. "We...
trade battle auras?"
"Great-grandmother say it part of..." once
again, she fumbled for the proper word. "She call 'Aura pro-jeck-shun'.
Like what make pervert Happousai look big."
Ranma's eyes lit up. "Aura projection? Cool!
And this is gonna help us learn it?"
Shampoo nodded.
Ranma sat back down. "Okay, let's get practising.
This is awesome!"
"Akane not do this," Shampoo agreed, resuming
her position across from him.
"Hah! Akane couldn't do this kinda stuff in
a million years! We learn this, we'll beat her easy! Heck, we'll be able
to beat up Happousai whenever he tries to grope us!"
That was a pleasant thought, Shampoo
admitted. Next to Ranma, she was possibly Happousai's favourite target
to grab at. "Is good," she agreed. "Ranma relax."
"So what are you tryin' to do?" Ranma wanted
to know.
"Shampoo take Ranma battle aura, replace with
own battle aura."
"What's that do?"
"Shampoo look at Ranma battle aura, understand
source of power."
"But I don't have a source of power."
Shampoo nodded. "But when do on Akane..."
"Gotcha. But you can't keep your battle aura
in someone... or keep my battle aura."
She nodded again. "It happen fast. Then go
back. Then Shampoo look at battle aura that come back, understand source
of power."
"So... you get two chances to find the source
of power. You can look at your opponent's battle aura, and look at your
own after it goes into the opponent... cool." Ranma suddenly looked wary.
"So what's the catch?"
"Catch?"
"Well, yeah. All these special moves got problems
with 'em. The Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken tires you out fast. The Bakusai
Tenketsu doesn't work on living things. For the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, your
enemy has to be angry, and you can't be. Chi attacks, they drain you really
fast, and you've got to be in the right frame of mind. So what's the bad
thing about this move?"
She shrugged. "Not know bad thing about move.
Hard to learn. Need touch enemy to use."
"You gotta be touching them, huh? Well, I
guess that could be a problem against Akane. She's pretty fast right now.
Oh well. Let's get practising on it."
"Is good," Shampoo agreed, placing her hands
against Ranma's again. Her Great-grandmother had explained the premise
behind the technique. But she had stated clearly that it would take significant
practice before the technique worked properly. But that wasn't all bad.
The longer the practice went on, the more time she would spent with Ranma.
Concentrating, the Amazon willed her battle
aura to come forth into her hands.
"Here you go."
Akane accepted the mug of hot chocolate, sipping
it lightly. "Thank-you."
Yuki sat down on the other side of the table,
holding a second mug of her own. In between them, the table was covered
with an assortment of homework notes, the numbers and signs on the papers
identifying the subject as math. "So he took off for
more training, huh?"
"That's right. His father is an absolute slave-driver,
really. Ranma hasn't been getting back until 2 or 3 in the morning most
nights. And he wakes up again for breakfast and more training back home.
I'd almost swear he was crazy."
"So... how about an update?"
Akane offered a bewildered look. "What do
you mean by that?"
Yuki gave a coy smile. "You know what I mean!
How your progress with Ranma?"
"Oh... that. No change, really. But
I think he's trying the homework trick with me right now. I was helping
him for a few hours tonight."
"No way!?"
Akane laughed. "Can you think of any other
reason for him to do two hours of straight math? And for him to ask me
to help him with it?"
"Wow. I'd have bet against that ever
happening. So how much work actually got done?"
Akane briefly looked confused. "Actually,
a lot. I think it's because he's a martial artist. You know how obsessed
he gets with martial arts. I'll bet that he thinks that if he acts really
dedicated to math, I'll be impressed."
"That sounds more like Ranma," Yuki
agreed. "So he hasn't tried anything yet?"
"Nothing yet. I'm not so sure that he ever
will."
"I guess he is like that on some things. Maybe
you'll just have to get things started yourself."
"Maybe. But it's not a sure thing, you know."
"Are you sure? He's done a complete about-face
lately! He has to be serious about it. Didn't you say that he'd
been training to beat Shampoo recently?"
Akane nodded slowly. "I know... but I don't
want to rush into this..."
"Of course not. But maybe you should get a
start. You know, go to a movie together. Just to test the waters a little."
"You think so?"
"Of course! You both like martial arts, so
maybe you can watch one of those for the first time. If that works out
good, you can try another movie, except one that's a little more romantic.
And then the next one can be even more romantic..."
Akane had to laugh. "I have hard time imagining
Ranma sitting through an entire romance movie without going nuts."
"By the time you get to those kind of movies,
he won't even be paying attention to the movie, because he'll be a lot
more concerned about something else!"
Now that was an interesting thought.
"Maybe. I'll... work on it. So what about you?"
"What about me?" Yuki demanded.
"A little bird told me that you've staring
just a little too much at a certain Daisuke..."
"No way!" Yuki protested vehemently, face
already beginning to blush red.
Akane smirked at her friend's reaction. "I
thought so. So let's get down to business. First, we'll arrange
for him to help you with some of this math homework..."
With a gasp, Shampoo fell back on the ground,
breathing heavily.
"You okay?" Ranma asked worriedly.
She nodded weakly. "Shampoo never try use
battle aura like this."
"Me neither," Ranma admitted. "So did the
ol' ghoul mention any other ways to learning this?"
"Great-grandmother not say. Shampoo need learn
more aura. Ranma need learn less."
"Yeah, I guess so. I don't want to set your
clothing on fire again. I guess I'm used to chi-blasts and that kind of
stuff."
Shampoo sat up again. "Shampoo better now.
Try again."
Ranma swallowed. She did want to learn
this aura technique. But right now, it was going nowhere fast. Shampoo
inexperience at summoning her battle aura resulted in nothing happening.
Ranma's experience at summoning chi-blasts had already resulted in setting
Shampoo's sleeves on fire. "Maybe we should try somethin' else for a little
while. Neither of us is very good at this stuff."
"What else try?"
"Well... I still don't know how I'm gonna
teach you the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. But I can help you train for speed."
That sounded like a good diversion. Shampoo
got to her feet. "How teach?"
"You gotta learn that the technique is about
speed, not power. Even if I can throw lots of punches fast, they're not
as strong as a regular punch. You work on the power after you got the speed.
So I'm just gonna defend, you just attack. You gotta try to get through
my defences."
For an answer, Shampoo lashed out with her
fist. Jinking her head sideways, Ranma let the blow pass by harmlessly.
The next two were ducked and sidestepped with similar ease.
"You're punching too hard," Ranma admonished.
"Don't worry about power. Just speed. Try again."
"See you on Monday then?"
Yuki nodded. "Monday. And remember, you've
got to push Ranma a little more. You've got his attention, so you can't
slack off now."
Akane shook her head. "There's no sense in
rushing things. It's not as if I'm going to suddenly make him the centre
of my life and start bowing to him, right?"
"Maybe, but guys can be really dense sometimes.
Ranma especially. You have to make sure he understands you."
"You worry too much. Things are going just
fine. It's all a matter of time, that's all."
"You sure about that?"
Akane nodded resolutely. "Ranma doesn't like
to be pushed. Or else he'd have gotten hitched with one of his other fiancées,
right? I... don't want to push him around like they do."
"I guess that's right," Yuki admitted. "You'll
keep me updated."
"You'll find out before Nabiki does," Akane
promised with a smile.
"Good luck!"
Heading back home, Akane shook her head to
clear it. Were things getting a little chaotic all of a sudden? Or was
it just her imagination. True, there was no chaos in the normal sense of
the word. No one had challenged or tried to marry Ranma for some time now.
Even Shampoo hadn't been making any appearances.
Akane smirked at the last observation. And
the Amazon probably wouldn't be showing her face for quite some time. If
for any reason she did... Akane would be more than happy to administer
a second beating.
Perhaps the chaos was just her, after all.
Things had been rather unusual between her and Ranma lately. Not
unpleasant, but unusual. And if she let her imagination wander a little,
she thought she might even be able to get used to it all.
It was several hours later that the two combatants
disengaged from each other. Both were breathing rather heavily from the
past hour of exertion.
"Shampoo not feel fast now," the amazon muttered
between gasps of air. Although it was some satisfaction to know that she
had managed to tag Ranma a number of times. The hits had been without any
power behind them, but they had slipped fast Ranma's near-invulnerable
defences. As soon as she had caught her wind again, she would feel quite
happy about that.
Ranma was also sucking in air at a rapid pace.
"You're getting faster. This is just starting stuff, to get you used to
the technique. I still have to think up a better way to teach you the real
thing."
"Try aura technique?" Shampoo suggested.
The redhead looked pensive, no doubt remembering
the first attempt. "I dunno..."
"Try now, when tired," she clarified.
"Heh, I guess you might be right. Maybe it'll
be easier to use less power if I'm tired like this."
Shampoo folded her legs and sat down, gesturing
for Ranma to sit across from her. "Great-grandmother say that much time
needed."
Ranma scowled. "I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to
the Saotome Anything-Goes School of martial arts. And I'll learn that technique
in no time flat!"
Shampoo met his scowl. "Shampoo is Amazon
warrior, under Great-grandmother. And she learn technique before Ranma
learn!"
"Hah! I'd like to see you try!"
"Shampoo not try, she DO!!!"
Boasts exchanged, the two placed their palms
against each other's, closing their eyes.
"Need relax," Shampoo reminded Ranma, beginning
to concentrate.
"Gotcha," Ranma agreed, beginning to concentrate.
After several moments of mutual silence, faint
glows began to form around the bodies of both the fighters, evidence of
their attempting to summon their chi. Like a slow-burning fuse, the glows
spread throughout their bodies, gradually working down their arms, to their
hands, then finally surrounding the tips of their fingers.
Briefly, the glows were halted by their owners.
In sync with each other, they both exhaled, then inhaled deeply, mustering
the will to focus all their strength into the attempt. Finally, in unison,
they released their hold on their respective energies.
Unchained, the chi surrounding Ranma leapt
forwards into Shampoo's hands.
Unchained, the chi surrounding Shampoo leapt
forwards into Ranma's hands.
An eternity passed between them as they sat
there motionlessly, hands still lightly pressed again each others. Both
battle auras had completely faded away into nothingness. Finally, both
opened their eyes to stare at each other, both with pale faces
and a slightly haunted look.
Shampoo was the first to speak. "Shampoo thought...
it her turn to try..."
Ranma swallowed. "No way... It was definitely
my turn..."
Both then proceeded to unceremoniously faint.
Shampoo wasn't sure how much later it was,
but eventually she awoke to find herself staring at the sky. Her head throbbed
angrily, somewhat reminiscent of a bad hangover. Her body felt completely
limp and drained, as though she'd just competed in a week of tournaments
back home in her village.
The last thing she remembered was making another
attempt at the aura technique. Except that Ranma had tried at the exact
same time. She could still remember the expression on Ranma's face. Death
warmed over, to put it mildly. She wouldn't have been surprised if she
had looked the same way. Whatever had happened, it had been completely
unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. Even now, things were flashing
through her mind in a maelstrom of images.
Genma... annoying, lazy, and stupid. But a
good teacher. Ryouga... pig-headed and a one-track mind. Annoying to have
around. But once a good friend and fun to fight with. Ukyou... pretty cute.
Great friend. A little obsessed with Okonomiyaki. Akane... sometimes cute.
Friendly lately. Poor fighter and lying about strength now. Not really
a martial artist. Shampoo... pretty cute. Lots of fun to spar with lately.
Lots of determination. Fun to be with when not glomping...
Blinking, she tried to ignore the images that
kept pestering her. Grunting, she tried to divert her thoughts to the purpose
of standing up. After several moments, she gave up, relaxing and letting
herself regain her strength.
"Ranma?"
The redhead was awake also, still lying on
her back. Her entire body was trying to convince her that she'd spent the
past week learning the Bakusai Tenketsu. Her head felt on the verge of
splitting open from the pain. In her mind, various images and feelings
were whirling around like a tornado, none entirely familiar.
Cologne... Harsh and mysterious, but
always to be trusted and respected. Mousse... cute in his own way, but
annoying and thick-headed. Wish he'd grow up. Ukyou... a worthy opponent,
but not always the enemy. Akane... possible enemy, only recently dangerous.
Poor excuse for a warrior. Ranma... incarnation of a god. Lots of fun to
spar with. Dearly loved...
"What the heck..." Ranma shook her head, trying
to clear the images.
Turning her head, Shampoo saw Ranma rubbing
her head in bewilderment. "Ranma okay?" she inquired quietly, still conscious
of the strange pictures in her head.
Ranma blinked, turning her own head to meet
Shampoo's gaze. Her face still looked a little haunted. "Shampoo... do
you hate carrots?"
Shampoo gave a bewildered look. Dumbly, she
nodded. "How Ranma know that?"
"I dunno... just came to me now..."
Shampoo swallowed. "Ranma like history?"
It was Ranma's turn to look bewildered. "Uh...
kinda, yeah. How'd..."
The look on both their faces suggested the
exact same thing.
"What happen before?"
Ranma shuddered. "I dunno. I got a lot of
funny things in my head now... 'cuz I sure as heck don't think Mousse is
cute..."
"Shampoo never think Akane cute!" the
amazon interjected vehemently.
They reached the same conclusion at about
the same time, indicated by a pair of extremely embarrassed expressions.
"What Ranma know?" Shampoo demanded, sounding
somewhat nervous.
"Uh... how much do you know?" he quickly
returned, also sounding worried.
Silence ensued for some time between them.
"Maybe pictures go soon."
"Yeah, I hope so. Musta been something to
do with our battle auras. We shouldn't have tried it at the same time like
that. I bet it'll fade away pretty soon."
"Is good," Shampoo agreed. Unable to resist,
she smirked at him. "But now Shampoo know that Ranma have fun spar
with her!"
"Hey! Now don't go jumpin' to conclusions..."
"Ranma hate spar with Shampoo?"
"Nonono, I didn't say that!"
"Either Ranma hate spar with Shampoo, or like
spar."
Ranma sucked in a deep breath. "Alright...
yeah, I guess it's fun," he admitted.
Shampoo smiled faintly, leaning back against
a tree. "Then is good. Keep spar, get much better."
The two sat in silence once again, neither
entirely certain what to make of the sudden turn of events. Knowing someone
else's thoughts, or having someone else know your thoughts... neither was
a comfortable idea. Whatever else could be said about this technique, it
had certainly created a rather awkward situation for the moment.
"Uh... you ain't gonna tell anybody... anything,
right?" Ranma hesitantly asked.
The amazon shook her head. "Ranma not tell
anything?"
"Never," the redhead vowed.
"Is secret, then."
More silence rang across the clearing in the
forest.
"Ranma hate when Shampoo hug?"
"Well..."
"That what Shampoo see."
"I... don't really like it, I guess."
"Shampoo sorry. She not know before. She think Ranma
like."
"Uh... That's okay. Don't worry 'bout it."
Still more silence ensued.
"You really like this sparring don't you?"
Ranma said quietly.
"Shampoo love."
"How come?"
"Is what Amazon does. Shampoo hate being waitress
to pervert Japanese boys all day. Feel like she get weaker every day in
restaurant. If have choice, she fight whole day. Only stop when eat and
sleep."
Ranma nodded. "Yeah. That's pretty much all
me and pop did for the past ten years. I kinda miss that. I mean, I get
lots of practice every day, but beatin' up Mousse and Kunou is easy. Even
Ryouga's easy to beat when he's angry. Pop is gettin' pretty easy too."
"Shampoo not have partner spar with in Nerima.
Mousse too easy. Not have enemy like Ranma have."
"Heh. I guess I got a lot of enemies to give
me practice around here!"
"Ranma like?"
"I dunno. I gotta practice somehow. You can't
be the best by just splittin' bricks and stuff like that." Ranma swallowed
before continuing. "I guess... it's more fun fighting with you than with
enemies. I mean, we're both gettin' better this way."
Shampoo smiled at Ranma's admission, even
if she had learned as much already on account of the technique. But she
sobered up somewhat. "Shampoo not know if she getting better now."
"It's hard to tell until you actually try
to fight someone else. When I was always fightin' with your Great-grandmother,
I never thought I was getting any better. But the next time I fought with
Ryouga, he couldn't even touch me. I think we're both getting better like
this. Pretty soon, it ain't gonna matter how strong Akane is."
"Is good," Shampoo agreed. "Shampoo ask Great-grandmother
tomorrow about why technique act strange."
"Probably just because we did it at the same
time," was Ranma's opinion. "We'll just make sure to only do it one at
a time from now on."
Getting to her feet, the redhead blinked as
a few stray beams of sunlight found their way into her eyes. "Whoa... we've
been here the whole night!"
Shampoo was surprised too. "So long?"
"I guess I oughta get back before anybody
comes lookin' for me."
"Keep secret," Shampoo agreed. "We practice
again?"
"Yeah, tomorrow night." Ranma eyed the sun
again. "I mean, tonight. I'll try to get here as fast as I can."
"Is good. Shampoo see later."
"Yeah, see ya later."
Shampoo sprinted off in a round-about direction
to the Nekohanten, but skidded to a halt upon hearing Ranma call after
her.
"Hey, Shampoo?"
"What Ranma want?"
Ranma swallowed. "Uh... if you want, I'll
fight... um, as a guy next time."
The smile that lit up Shampoo's face was more
than enough answer.
Even as the amazon continued back to the Nekohanten,
Ranma started off towards the Tendou Dojo at a more leisurely pace. While
she wasn't exhausted to the point where she couldn't even run, she was
tired. And distracted.
Despite hopes that the images would fade away,
they didn't seem to be in any hurry to do so. Strange ideas and pictures
were still running circles in his mind, all having something to do with
Shampoo. Which probably meant that she was still experiencing various thoughts
having to do with him.
Still... she had given her word not to tell
anyone, just as he had to her. If she gave her word, she would keep it,
wouldn't she? She always had in the past. While she had tried a
few underhanded stunts in the past, her approach tended to revolve around
executing the plan before questions could even be asked, as opposed
to outright lying. And at the moment, he thought he could detect a slightly
embarrassed reaction to the memories of those incidents. Which would probably
explain why Shampoo had never tried any of those ideas a second time.
She sighed, shaking her head. Somehow, she
had a hunch that Shampoo could be trusted. And it was quite possible that
Shampoo was just as bothered by the load of images that she had received
herself. Ranma had experienced a lot of strange things in the process of
training, but this was definitely the first time she'd been given a load
of someone else's innermost thoughts. It was probably the same for Shampoo.
All the same, she found herself looking forward
to sparring again tomorrow night.