By KoalaKiller
CHAPTER 1Wandering the sunny streets of Nerima, Akane Tendou wondered again where her so-called fiancée was hiding. Of late, the Tendou girl had noticed at times that the younger Saotome would disappear from the house at odd moments and not return for hours.
When she needed him for something, and he wasn't around, she would drop by both the Nekohanten and Ucchan's, but instead of finding Ranma pigging out on free Ramen or Okonomiyaki, she only got puzzled looks from Shampoo and Ukyo who told her that they hadn't seen *their fiancée* that day.
Moving down another street, Akane thought more on Ranma's hide and seek tactics, and started to get angry again. Why couldn't he at least tell someone, she thought, Kasumi is always around the house most times or their Fathers who are always playing their endless games of Shoji, but nooooo, he just jumps up and runs off and doesn't tell a soul.
One thought that had popped up of late was that Ranma had gotten bored with his fiancée and so-called girlfriends, and had met another girl. But sounding this idea off Ukyo the other day, the okonomiyaki chef just waved off the idea, saying one thing about Ranma is that he is a man of honor and would not seek an embrace from another strange woman who he wasn't engaged to.
But Akane didn't agree, after seeing the worry on Shampoo and the old Amazon's faces as she told them today about her worries, she had a feeling that something big was soon going to burst and her gut feeling told her she will be around its blast zone.
Suddenly, Akane snapped out of her thoughts as she heard from a distance her name being called out. Turning her head towards the rooftops ahead of her, she was surprised to see both Ukyo and Shampoo land in front of her, both carrying weapons and worried expressions on their faces.
"Ah, there you are, Akane, I was hoping what I overheard was wrong, it seems that they must have been spreading rumours again." stated Ukyo, who with Shampoo, stepped up to her.
Confusion clear on her face, Akane scratched her head as she asked.
"What are you talking about, Ukyo, and why is she here for?" she nodded to Shampoo, who for once had a serious expression on her face.
"Shampoo here to see if Airen being unfaithful or not." she replied with, "Spatula-girl overhear girls from school say a Tendou has been seen holding hands with Ranma, but Shampoo not see him."
"I haven't seen him since before lunch. I've been looking for him because his Father wanted to talk about going on another training trip."
"Hmmm, interesting," mused Ukyo, "but those girls I saw talking about Ranchan for a moment were your friends, so I thought..." she trailed off, a disturbing train of thought suddenly entering her mind.
"What Ukyo thinking?" asked the Amazon, who caught the darkening look crossing her rival cook's face.
"Hey Akane, how's been your sister of late?" blinking at that out of the blue question, Akane hummed to herself as she thought of that.
"Well, Kasumi been good, she-"
"Nono, I mean Nabiki, has she been acting weird of late?'
"Err, well, she has been spending more and more time out with her friend of late." she shrugged, "though she never was close to them so its a bit weird, but hey, its nice seeing her getting that money fixation out of her system."
Shaking her head, Ukyo turned to Shampoo, "do you know ANY way to finding Ranma, any secret technique in tracking or something."
The purple-haired girl grew a thoughtful expression for a moment before answering.
"Well Shampoo know some, but only use when needed, it can be tiring at times." she smirked then, "is how Shampoo find Airen."
"Well, this is important," staring hard at the Amazon, making the purple-haired girl nervous with the intense gaze.
"But why, Ukyo? do you know something?" asked Akane, worry starting to crawl its ugly head out.
"I think Ranma might not being too faithful after all, sugar, if what I'm thinking is true," turning to Shampoo again, she snapped out, "so, can you find him."
"Ok, ok, Shampoo try, but not always 100% on target." nodding at that, Ukyo asked, "so what do you need to do."
"Shampoo need to sit down, use chi to use tracking technique." she replied with, "technique help finds person aura, though at times it does fail."
"Right then, you grab Akane and I'll follow you."
"Hey, wait just a-" she was rudely cut off as Shampoo picked her up and swang her over her shoulder, "no time, if Airen not being good husband, then Shampoo need to find." and with that, she leaped up to the rooftops to find a good place to use her technique without any spying eyes, while Ukyo trailed behind her.
***
Within one the parks that are spread out within this ward on the outskirts of Tokyo, Ranma Saotome and his lady friend sat on a blanket as they finished their lunch. Well, Ranma was anyways, being the son of Gemna Saotome, and this habit of his to eat large amounts of food very quickly was sometimes disturbing.
Now, you would think this'll be hard for any woman to fix, but Nabiki Tendou wasn't just any woman.
She watched with an amused expression as her fiancée (well, she thought that he was currently) started to finish off his meal. It was interesting to her that this male could spark so much interest in the females of the surrounding areas. It had taken her a long time to finally let loose her emotions to a degree and what a surprise that Ranma would be waiting for her.
Well, she wasn't one for not taking what was handed to her, though she knew the current situation was like the calm before the storm, and that storm was her younger sister, Akane.
Of course, by around this time as the pair starting talking three figures were on a collision course with the couple, and true to his nature, Ranma's 'spider sense' as Nabiki had came to call, alerted him to the incoming hostiles.
One moment Nabiki gaze had been on the water running not too far from their position, next her head snapped to the side as she was startled by Ranma's sudden movement to setting cross-legged to standing in what she thought would be a defensive crouch.
As Nabiki herself rose to her feet, three female figures appeared in front of her, and she was not surprised at all that they were Ukyo and Shampoo, and her eyebrow rose a notch as she saw her little sis hitching a ride with the Amazon.
The 3 girls stood there stunned at the scene before them, looking at the pair as Ranma downgraded his alert statue to yellow as he fully stood up, and stand in front of his, in his mind, ex-fiancees.
"I was wondering when this would happen." Ranma started things off, knowing pussy-footing around would do nothing and getting to the point would be the best.
Basically, he was using his usual blunt tactic...
"Ranchan, what are you DOING?" Ukyo snapped out, nearly totally losing it at the sight in front of her, but she held her position next to Shampoo and if her Amazon rival moved to strike Ranma for any reason, she would very well join her.
"Ranma you, you, JERK," Akane's catchphrase started her speech, "what are you doing with Nabiki." Shampoo surprisingly, kept quite as she carefully watched the pair in front of her, her emotions too muddled to say anything in Japanese.
"Well, sister dear, I thought this scene would speak columns to you all." Nabiki smiled, a lazy one that gritted on Ukyo's nerves.
"Well, then fill us in, and don't tell me what i think it means, Ranma!" wincing at the tone of voice and use of his real name, Ranma used all his courage not to flee like a Saotome.
"I've decided who my true fiancée will be." he stated, "and after much thought and some luck, I think Nabiki will make me happy in the end."
"What are you talking about, the girl doesn't love you like me, Ranma." growled out Ukyo, while Akane had gone quite, not sure what to say in this situation, "she used you once, and she will do it again."
"And who's says I will, hmm?" said the middle Tendou, "back then my interest in Ranma was thin, but now I think I like what I see in him, and besides," she smirked, "he CAME to me, not any of you three."
Shampoo's eyes widened at that, finally snapping out of her stupor, "Shampoo not understand, why Ranma want Greedy-girl?"
"Shampoo, please don't call her that," sighed out Ranma, "and true I'm not happy at times with Nabiki's behaviour with her schemes, but I decided to over look that for now, since she promised me not to use any of my family or friends to gain money."
He was happy that of late his Nabiki was toning down her activities. When he had decided to put a end to the insanity that was his fiancée problem, he took the risk after weighing up his opinions on all the girls that were available as potential wives. So one night he went to Nabiki asking her opinions on him and if things didn't work out with Akane, that she might consider him, and shortly after totally surprised that the Middle Tendou girl had suggested he should change the engagement now since she wanted to give it a try.
And so he did, though some parties wasn't informed...
"WHAT!?!" all 3 was stunned by that, Akane more so, since she knew Nabiki would blackmail even her without a blink of an eyelid. Seeing her sister give nod though at what Ranma had said, the younger Tendou girl started to step back.
"But, but, didn't you care for me at all?" she half choked out, not caring that she was showing them all her feelings for the Saotome lad, "I though..."
"I'm sorry Akane, but what I feel for you isn't enough, I needed someone who wasn't a Martial Arts, someone who was smart, someone who wouldn't mind showing me affection and someone that I would tell my feelings and thought to without a mallet to the head." shrugging, he finished off with, "if you had been more understanding, I might had accepted that part of you, but we just fight now, and I can't take it anymore." we just don't click, he thought.
This seemed to have a breaking effect, an effect on Akane's heart as she turned and fled into the surrounding trees, and didn't even pause as Ukyo called out her name.
Looking at Ranma with a confused and hurt look, Shampoo stepped towards Ranma.
"Shampoo no know why you reject Shampoo, she much better woman then Greedy-girl." she also added, "and not right to treat womans like that, though Akane annoy Shampoo, she better then her." she nodded her head at Nabiki, who just shrugged, and looked at her fingernails in a way of dismissing the Amazon.
"Shampoo," started Ranma, who knew he had to be firm, "I also have reasons for not accepting you, and its not because I don't follow your law," this caught Ukyo's attention, as she turned back to face Ranma.
"I'm not interested in a girl who throws herself at me, I don't want someone who thinks all I want is a good looking girlfriend."
"But Shampoo have much talent, can cook, can keep house, can protect self, can do healing, and other important things." she pleaded out, now knowing she was running into a losing battle from the get go, and only her stubborn pride kept her from doing the same as Akane did.
"Yeah, maybe, but I'm not looking for that, maybe if you weren't so blunt and pushy with your affection and didn't do all those dumb tricks, I would have paid more attention to you, but no, you continued to annoy me though..." he trailed off, with a thoughtful look before continuing, "when you weren't doing all those stupid things, I have to say I liked what I saw."
Before Shampoo could jump on that, Ranma cut her off.
"But you just didn't show enough of what I wanted to see, and besides, Mousse would be too annoying to deal with."
"But, but-"
"And Ucchan," Ranma sighed, knowing this would be hard to say, though it was going to be short and simple.
Ukyo, knowing what was to come, slumped her shoulders as Ranma dealt the final blow.
"We have always been friends, good friends and nothing more, though I think your cute and all, all I want is your friendship, nothing more." stepping up to her, he lifted her chin so she could look him in the eyes.
"Please let it go, chasing me will get you no-where," and glanced at Shampoo, "and the same for you, Shampoo, you both are good looking girls and heck, any guy around here would do anything to date you guys." stepping back and turning to Nabiki, he finished off with.
"I'll talk to you later, Ukyo, Shampoo," a pause before adding, "and tell the old ghoul that this Amazon marriage thingy is off, since I'm the stronger fighter when it comes to me and you, she knows I can cancel the marriage." hearing the surprise gasp from the girls, his smirk matched Nabiki's who finished for him.
"You gotta love the internet, you can find ANYTHING on there these days." with that, the two packed up and left, leaving the two cooks behind.
Turning to look at the Chinese girl, who was kneeling next to her with a blank look, Ukyo decided to help her up.
"Come on, sugar, lets get out of here, so I can wail and cry at home without scaring the wildlife."
Once Shampoo was on her feet, the Amazon head turned to face Ukyo.
"Shampoo think meeting needed, Shampoo might be rejected by Airen, but planning to break them up is possible."
"Maybe, but I doubt it, but come over tomorrow and lets see what a night of rest could bring up."
Nodding, Shampoo and Ukyo dragged their bodies out of the park and to their homes, both numb and not knowing what their futures will now hold for them.
***
The next morning at the Tendou Dojo, the family plus their 2 guests sat at the table eating breakfast. Today though, it was unusual quite with the current events that had transpired the day before, and the sound of Akane silent footsteps leaving the house meant more kinds of trouble were just around the corner.
"Well, that was a pleasant breakfast." Nabiki said dryly, who had also finished her morning meal and started to plan what she would need to do on the sunny Sunday morning.
"At least I didn't get hit by the tomboy for once." mumbled Ranma, still stuffing his mouth with Kasumi's lovely cooking, "I could get use to this."
"I wish you two could have broken the news to her more gently," commented Kasumi, who had a worried look on her face, similar to the look that was on her Father's.
"Yes, son, I would have liked for my daughter not have to go through too much pain with the changing who would be your fiancée," he commented, "I am happy that you have finally put a end to this silly games and will honor my Nabiki, but I think yesterday situation could have gone better."
"Now Daddy, how would you like me to break it to her, 'oh Akane dear, guess what? I stole your boyfriend, please forgive me'." the sarcasm was pretty thick by the end of her little speech.
"I think we did an ok job, it wasn't easy with all the girls there at once, but I think I got it through their brains that I'm not interested in them that way."
"True, but the old Amazon seemed not too pleased." spoked up Genma, who finally entered the conversation, "last night I thought she might have done something rash to Nabiki, though luckily the old woman thought better then to."
"Though she didn't do anything, that 'We aren't finished with the Tendou's' comment I don't like, would she try something as a warning that not obeying her laws is not wise." Nabiki said out loud, interested in what the others thought of that threatening comment.
"Hmph, what can she do, Nabiki, she knows I'm not goin' to go back with her, so I don't know why she is bothering." though Nabiki had a few ideas why the Amazons were still in town, though she still wasn't sure.
"I do hope Shampoo and Ukyo are ok, they so wanted to marry Ranma and now they have been rejected totally," Kasumi sighed, not liking the current situation one bit, and she much liked Shampoo, with the many run-ins that they have some days when she was heading off to the market, "I think I might check on them later today, just in case they needed someone to talk to."
"Don't worry, Kasumi, I'm heading off to Ucchan's before lunch, so I'll see how she's going." now finished with his meal, Ranma went out to the back with Nabiki right behind him and started Nabiki's self-defence lessons.
Back inside, the two Fathers started playing their morning Shogi game while Kasumi went and started her normal routine for a Sunday.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Nerima, Akane was doing her own bit of visiting...
***
It was strange to think, that just the other day she thought she knew her family.
Akane had always knew her sister had a mean streak to her, it had started to show after their Mom's death. It really showed itself when Nabiki wanted something badly, she would do her damn best to obtain it no matter who she hurt, but in the past her sisters and Dad had always be the exception, well mostly. but not anymore, Akane mumbled to her, she took someone special from her just because she reconsidered that Ranma was worth it after all.
For most of the morning she had went to random places, trying to keep her mind off Ranma and her sister, but she just couldn't help but bring up disturbing images. She had went to the pool to wander around there, but images of Ranma putting on lotion on Nabiki's back bombarded her mind, making her soon leave.
She also went past her high school, and she couldn't help but imagine Ranma carrying Nabiki to there, holding her close to him and letting her hands roam free.
And she somehow ended up at the ice-cream shop, the same one that Shampoo made her first apprearence, and the memory of that came crashing back. Surprisingly though, the image of Shampoo came to mind more focused and she suddenly wondered how her ex-rival was doing. She knew Shampoo well enough, the Amazon did not know the word 'no' and she had tried many schemes, tricks and took advantage of out of control situations to get her way.
Deciding maybe seeing if the Amazon, to see how she was handling this new situation. So the Tendou sister changed direction and headed off to where the cursed kitten worked.
***
Though Akane didn't know it, she would have to walk a bit further to find the purple-haired girl.
At Ucchan's, two arch-rivals and sometimes partners in crime, sat around the grill. Ukyo was behind as always, making the pair some lunch before the crowds started pouring in. Shampoo, she was sitting on a stool, leaning her elbows on the table with hands on her chin with a thoughtful look.
"So sugar, what did your granny do last night?" asked Ukyo, who finally finished with her cooking and gave the Amazon her meal.
"Not good at first, Shampoo worry she might go off rocker, but Great-grandmother soon leave for Tendou Dojo and not come back since."
"Oh?" that was interesting, Ukyo thought, she was sure that there wasn't any explosions the night before, but you could never know what an annoyed Amazon would do.
"Shampoo wake up to find note from great-grandmother," she briefly waved the item before putting it away again, "it say she gone for a few days, to temple in other parts of Tokyo," she shrugged, "think maybe looking for old boyfriend?" she chuckled at her poor joke, while Ukyo sighed but smiled too, an image of the old woman hopping after some old fart.
"Well, whatever the reason she' gone off, we still got this thing with Nabiki to talk about."
"Yes, Shampoo think we need to put minds together, plan to remove silly sneaky-girl." before Ukyo could add her own comment, a third voice entered the conservation.
"Hmph, good luck, my sister is not someone to fool around with, I should now, I've seen her burn so many people in the past."
Turning around, Shampoo noticed the 3rd person in this situation that had come out badly.
"Hey Akane, how you holding up?" asked Ukyo.
Sighing out loud, she took the stool next to Shampoo.
"Not good, I'm been walking around alot this morning, trying to forget what happened yesterday."
"Shampoo think Akane need stand up to nasty sister," Shampoo huffed out, "if Shampoo let sisters do that, would lose much respect in tribe."
"Hmph, I doubt you would stand up to Nabiki," snapped out Akane, "you can't use your fists with her, her weapon is her mind, and unlike rest of us, you can't speak Japanese well enough to even out talk her."
"Now, now you two, no fighting," Ukyo tried to calm them down, not wanting any more damage to her place like last time, "we are here to try and fix the damage done to our image, but cream each other."
"I doubt they care right now, Ucchan," said a 4th and familiar voice, "but anyways, hearing that you think I might change my mind, forget it."
All three girls jumped as Ranma strode into the place, not looking happy.
"I thought I told you guys that its over, that no matter what you do I'll never change my mind."
Before Akane or Ukyo could think up a reply, Shampoo jumped to her feet and spun around to face her once Airen.
"Shampoo will not give, not afraid of nasty Nabiki or care what you say." she stated, "Shampoo is not just a brainless bimbo as you think."
"Hmph, you don't impress me Shampoo-"
"Not care now, only Nabiki I care about and Shampoo will remove her, and Shampoo not need fists to do so."
"Oh?" this caught his attention.
"Tell nasty Nabiki Shampoo will find way to win," her gaze was cantered right on him, intense and burning with determination, "and *I* will show you how smart and cunning *I* can be!" with a burst of speed that even surprised Ranma, Shampoo leaped over his head, grabbing his shoulder and throwing him out the open door while using a quick pressure point to stun him for a few second to preform the throw.
Blinking, Akane and Ukyo watched as Ranma sailed out and across the street.
"Well, I think things will get interesting soon between your sister and Shampoo."
"Yeah..." she breath out, awed at Shampoo's intense actions.
Shampoo only growled out, now worked up and ready to lash out at any one who pissed her off.
"Shampoo say this is war."
***END OF CHAPTER 1***
AUTHOR NOTES:
Well, here I go again and doing my third Ranma yuri fanfic. This time, I'm going to try and do a more serious try and see if I can finish this one(though my friends wouldn't bet on it J).
Hopefully I haven't pissed off too many people, and that some enjoyed this first chapter.
Next up:
Nabiki and Shampoo clash heads, while the others try to say clear of their actions. And will a spar of the moment choice change Akane's direction in the Art…
C&C
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