[fic][Ranma] Shampoo's Chance: Spirit of the Law
feedback may be sent to caleb_david@angelfire.com
previous chapters may be found at
http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/ficaleb
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creation and property of
Takahashi-sama and various other entities. I'm just borrowing
them without permission. I promise to put them all back when I'm
done... except possibly for Shampoo:)
Chapter 6
By: Kaleb
".ma!.anma!.Ranma!" Squinting through the eye that
hadn't been blackened, Ranma made out Akane's concerned face
hovering above his. "Thank goodness you're finally awake! Are
you ok? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Of course I'm ok," snapped Ranma in annoyance, shoving
away Akane's six fingers as he attempted to rise from the floor of
the spinning dojo.
"Oh really?" said Akane dubiously, catching him as he lost his
balance. "You shouldn't push yourself yet. She could have given
you a concussion."
"I said I'm fine," repeated Ranma as he once again pushed
Akane away and sulked down into a sitting position.
"Well, if you say so. but let me at least take a look at these
bruises." Ranma's only reply was a grunt, but he allowed Akane to
start treating his injuries. "Boy, Shampoo really trounced you,"
observed Akane as she started applying salve to Ranma's black
eye.
"Aw, I let her win. Wanted her to get out all that anger and
figure out exactly where she was martial arts wise. If I'd beat her
in a couple seconds like I usually do she'd have just got even more
pissed and I wouldn't have learned much about her abilities."
"Bull shit Ranma, we all know you couldn't throw a fight if
your life depended on it." Ranma tensed as Nabiki made her
presence known. "And Akane. aren't you supposed to keep that
stuff away from the mucous membranes?"
"Oops." As luck would have it, Ranma chose Akane's
moment of startlement to spin around and face Nabiki, his injured
eye getting a finger full of salve in the process.
"GGYYAAHHHH!"
"Ah! I'm sorry! Wait, don't try and claw it out! Um. um.
flush! We need to flush it out! I'll be back with some water right
away!"
"Stupid klutz," muttered Ranma, clutching his eye in pain as
Akane dashed out of the dojo. Then speaking incredulously to the
older sibling, "Are ya implying that Shampoo's better than me?
Huh?! That's ridiculous Nabiki, I won the tribal championship
match against Shampoo and have beat her easily more than once
after that!"
"My, my, aren't we awfully insecure? _I_ never said
anything about Shampoo being better than you. However, before
you challenged Shampoo, she'd just become the Champion of her
people. Do you honestly think that the Champion of the Amazons,
a martial race that's the product of thousands of years of eugenic
breeding and produces matriarchs of Cologne's caliber I might add,
is going to be some pushover who you can "easily" defeat?"
"Well. uh. that's just." before Ranma could splutter out a
repudiation, Akane dashed back into the dojo with the hose.
"Okay, now if you could uncover that eye. good. Okay!
Turn 'er on Kasumi!" Shouted Akane over her shoulder as she
dangled the hose over Ranma's swollen eye. "Huh? Nothing's
coming out?"
"The nozzle attachment is still on," pointed out Nabiki.
"Oh yeah," said a flustered Akane as Ranma rolled his eyes.
"So, um, if I just turn it here." suddenly a stream of high
pressure water shot forth from the nozzle, blasting Ranma point
blank. Akane looked on in dismay as her now transformed fiance
writhed in agony on the floor.
"Should I call the fire department now?" came Kasumi's voice
from outside the dojo.
"F-fire department.?" stuttered Akane as she fumbled with
the nozzle attachment, trying to turn it back off.
"There's a fire right? That's why you were so distressed and
wanted the hose. Oh my." Said Kasumi as she stepped into the
dojo.
"That explains the max power from the nozzle," said Nabiki.
"Well, it feels like my eyes on fire, thanks to a certain tomboys
utter ineptness at gardening and first aid," said Ranma
sarcastically, glaring at Akane with his eye that wasn't winced
shut.
"You want me to make that other eye match? Really, I was
just trying to help."
"Some "help"; you're even more vicious than Shampoo.
Anymore of your "help" and I'd end up half blind."
Before Akane could react, Kasumi quickly stepped between
the quarrelsome pair. "Oh dear. You better let me take a look at
that eye Ranma. We want to make sure it's not seriously injured."
"H-he couldn't really lose use of his eye, could he?"
"Don't worry Akane. Even if there was serious damage they'd
be able to repair it this early. Ranma's tough and heals real quick,
I'm sure he'll be fine. Now if you'd just open your eye for me
Ranma?"
"Sure Kasumi," said Ranma sweetly as Kasumi helped by
gently putting traction on his eyelids. "Boy, it sure is nice to be
treated by someone who actually has that feminine grace and
delicacy of touch."
"Well, besides being badly irritated, your eye looks like it'll be
fine given a day or two of rest," prognosed Kasumi. "Let's put a
patch over it in the meantime, so nothing else will disturb it."
Pulling a large and dark circular Band-Aid out of the first aid kit,
Kasumi patched it over Ranma's left eye. "There. I know it's
instinctual to keep it clenched tight, but try and relax your lids now
that there's no need to protect the eye."
"Thanks Kasumi," said Ranma as he tried relaxing his eyelids,
surprised that it was harder than it sounded.
"No. It was my pleasure. With the rest of these injuries,
where they Shampoo's doing? She seemed like she was in such a
good mood this morning."
"Well, you know how Ranma is with women," remarked
Nabiki. "Looks like they ended up getting in a fight and Shampoo
dumped him."
"Now hold on a sec, we cut a deal; Shampoo did _not_ dump
m-"
"And not only that, but Ranma actually _lost_" added Akane,
"badly. I didn't see a scratch on Shampoo when she came out of
the dojo."
"Oh my. Ranma lost a fight?"
"I did not! Not really. I let her win! .Why are you all
looking at me like that?"
"Ranma." said Akane as she shook her head, "even Kasumi's
not gullible enough to believe you'd throw a fight. I've fought
Shampoo myself; she's not an opponent to be taken lightly; leave
one opening and it'll be all over before you know what hit you.
She's not in the same category as the Kuno twins whom you can
defeat with ease; I myself can fend those two off, but in a real fight
Shampoo took me down in a few seconds."
"So? You're a slow klutz, whereas I am not. Just because you
get your ass kicked by Shampoo doesn't mean I can't beat her
handily when I choose. *oomph*" the rest of Ranma's sentence
was cut off as Akane dropped her elbow on top of the shorter girl's
head.
"Akane's right Ranma. You're writing Shampoo off to easily,"
accused Nabiki as she pointed dramatically at the flattened red
head. "Have you ever had a real duel with her?"
"Sure I have!" responded Ranma as he jumped back up and
faced Nabiki. "Remember the time I beat her when she was
wearing the reversal jewel?"
"How could we forget?" muttered Akane. "Afterward the
whole school was talking about how you'd tried to force yourself
on her."
"Hey! Don't go brining that up again. I already told ya it was
the stupid jewel's fault for making her hate my guts. The point is
that I challenged Shampoo and then beat her without throwing a
single punch."
"But Ranma, if Shampoo hated your guts. wouldn't that have
affected her fighting?" asked Kasumi.
"Huh?"
"Well, the jewel was possessing her with an irrational anger
toward you, right? Martial arts is about control. Someone who
loses control of their anger may have extra power, but their
technique will suffer, right?"
"Well. uh. it's possible."
"Oh, she's right and you know it Ranma," said Akane.
"Well, if anyone here's an expert about losing control of their
temper it'd be you," Ranma conceded.
"Shut up, I'm trying to think here!" growled Akane as she once
again hit Ranma with an elbow drop. "What Kasumi said reminds
my sparring match with Shampoo this morning. I got so mad that I
was completely ignoring my defense because I wanted to hit her so
badly. The same thing probably happened in that fight with
Shampoo; her hatred made hurting you her only goal, thus she was
probably ignoring her defense in favor of her offense."
"That would have left her with lots of openings, wouldn't it?"
noted Kasumi. "It would have been easy to use Aikido against
those openings to redirect her excessive offense and then pin her
using your strength advantage."
"Which is exactly what happened, wasn't it Ranma?" said
Nabiki smugly.
"Since when did Kasumi become a martial arts analyst
anyway," groused Ranma.
"Dad trained all of us a little bit," explained Akane. "To see if
we had any talent for carrying on the school and so he wouldn't
have to worry about us walking home at night."
"Yep," confirmed Nabiki. "But getting exhausted in a sweaty
smelly gi wasn't my idea of a good time and Kasumi, well she."
"Well, I never could quite bring myself to hit someone,"
blushed Kasumi. "So I decided to learn Aikido instead."
"But the Tendo Anything-Goes style and Aikido are like night
and day, so Dad never taught her anything more than the basics,"
said Nabiki. "A shame too. As I recall, you were pretty good at it
sis."
"Oh, not really. They were just the basics, so of course they
were fairly easy to do," demurred Kasumi.
"Hey, give your self more credit; Aikido's one of the harder
forms to gain competence in," said Ranma, obviously impressed.
"Heck, I doubt the more brutish martial artists like Ryogau or
Akane could ever use such a graceful style effectively."
"What was that?!" shouted Akane as she grabbed Ranma by
the arm and swung him to the ground, then reversing directions
pulled the arm back across Ranma's back, immobilizing it in a
painful joint lock. "So I can't pull off any Aikido, eh?!" growled
Akane as Ranma's free hand slapped the floor for mercy.
"Well duh," responded Ranma through gritted teeth. "Aikido's
never used to initiate an attack! Ow! You call this "loving
force"?!"
"Hmmphh. Think of it as tough love," Akane said, sticking
out her tongue as she let go of the little red head. Not finished
needling him yet, Akane prepared another barb, "You know, that
first time you fought Shampoo, she'd been competing all day in the
tournament and had just finished fighting in the tough
championship bout, hadn't she?
"Ya trying to say Shampoo wasn't in top form? If so, she
should have postponed our match until she'd rested up. You'll
notice I usually schedule my duel's a week in advance so I can
properly prepare. None of which changes the fact I won that
match with just one kick."
"And just how did you manage that?" asked Nabiki
suspiciously.
"Heh. It was brilliant strategy. I pretended to almost lose my
balance when I mounted the log. Then I got into a sloppy fighting
stance, all to fool Shampoo into fatally underestimating me. I
figured that since we were just fighting to a knock off instead of a
knock out I'd only need one solid hit, and the best way to do that
would be to make her over commit to her opening strike; which I
predicted she'd do based on my observations of her earlier match.
When Shampoo senses an opening she puts everything she's got
into a final strike."
"So you won using a cheap trick," summed up Nabiki.
"And by your advantage of having watched her in action
before," added Akane, "an advantage which she didn't share. Plus,
it's not like you knocked her out. If it'd been a real fight she could
have easily kept going."
"Hey, I was just tailoring my strategy to the rules of _her_
tribe's contest. And besides, I've scored a KO against Shampoo
too. Remember when she first came to your house and I protected
you from her?"
"How could we forget," muttered Akane. "Afterward you had
quite the kiss with her."
"Wouldja stop brining up all this old crap?! It's not like I
wanted her to kiss me."
"For someone who "didn't want to be kissed" you sure didn't
put up much of a fight. And that skirmish with Shampoo wasn't
much of a fight either. I believe you yourself said, and I quote; "It
was just a fluke accident!" said Akane with mocking sarcasm.
"Now, now, I think Ranma deserves more credit than that for
saving you from Shampoo," Kasumi said. "True, he took her by
surprise and caught her in a flat footed stance, which she probably
never would have gone into if she'd suspected him of attacking; but
even Shampoo admitted he beat her, otherwise she wouldn't have
given him the kiss of marriage."
"But the real point is, as Kasumi's analysis has once again
shown, that none of your past fights against Shampoo really count
for conclusively settling how good Shampoo is," concluded
Nabiki.
"True true, specially since Shampoo no was being beat that
time." All four heads turned to see Shampoo leaning smugly
against the dojo doorway.
"You're still here Shampoo?!" sputtered Ranma in surprise.
"Just how long have you been listening?!"
"Long enough, "sensei"."
"Then why didn't ya speak up for yourself sooner?!"
"Hmmphh, you's speculating of no interest for Shampoo who
already knowing where issue stand," answered the amazon as she
flicked back a stray hair. "No mattering to Shampoo what other's
think of her."
"That so? Then why ya bothering to defend yourself now,
eh?"
"Only is helping complete Kasumi overview of past fighting,"
said Shampoo as she began to stroll over toward Ranma. "Thought
you may be interested that I no was knocked out."
"You really expect me to believe that considering you gave me
the kiss of marriage?"
"Oh that?" Shampoo laughed dismissively as she slowing
began circling Ranma. "That just for give good excuse stick round
house where knowing female Ranma must be. Only pretending
unconscious while I deciding next move; kiss of marriage seeming
much better strategy than try fight ginst Ranma, violent girl, and
Panda all at once, neh?"
There was a moment of stunned silence and one "Oh my"
before Ranma was able to regain his voice, "Oh ho, I get it. This is
just another one of your games. Trying to make a fool of me
because you're still bitter. You're too deceptive for me to believe
anything you say anyway. Like you'd really screw around with
your own law."
"Why not? As Ranma say, I is deceptive, and you seeing me
use kiss of death as bluff before, right Akane?" purred the amazon
as she lightly brushed her fingertips against Akane's cheek, causing
Ranma's fist to clench.
"H-hai," said Akane, eyeing Shampoo's fingers warily, her
mind still trying to grasp the full implications of what was
happening. Turning her gaze resolutely back to Shampoos' she
asked, "So, it's really true that you're dumping Ranma, isn't it?"
"She _is_ not." *smack* Ranma's protests were halted by
both girl's fists.
"She all yours," Shampoo declared as she picked a dazed
Ranma up by his hair and held him out to Akane.
"Who said I wanted him?" huffed Akane as she turned away
disdainfully. Shrugging, Shampoo dropped Ranma rudely to the
floor. "Honestly," muttered Akane, "you didn't have to protest so
much."
"Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Cutting a deal to end
the engagement, then revealing it was never legal in the first place.
You're one slick dealer girl," said Nabiki with admiration. "How
much were you able to scam out of the chump anyway?"
"Mmm. Maybe Shampoo no should tell, thinking have
embarrassed Ranma enough for today. Still. maybe tell on way
to photo shop. Greedy girl wanting go now? Storm over," said
Shampoo as she walked back to her bike.
"Okay, I'm game," said Nabiki as she jumped on tandem.
"And I do have a name you know."
"Hai, hai, old habits dying hard, neh? Nab-chan better be
holding on tight."
"Nab. chan? .Wait! You're not seriously getting on t-
that. that death machine with her, are you?!" asked a horrified
Akane.
"Ha ha ha. It'll be quite the thrill, won't it?" laughed Nabiki as
she wrapped her arms around Shampoo. "Certainly beats taking
the boring old bus; won't cost a cent and probably make better time
too."
"No fear!" pronounced Shampoo melodramatically, "For with
Shampoo at handlebars thine sister surely being brought back
safely. This Shampoo swearing. Now, we is off!" With an utterly
unnecessary U-turn (save that it allowed her to run Ranma over),
the two took off like a shot; Nabiki letting out an enthusiastic
holler and Shampoo waving backward. "Bye bye "Sensei".
Shampoo look forward to next "lesson"."
". heh. Little does she realize I've got her right where I want
her," rasped Ranma into the floor he was face down in. "The true
power of the Saotome Anything-Goes style is only given play
against a truly challenging opponent. By proving herself to be
such she's played right into my hands. Mwhahaha! You wanted to
learn my Anything-Goes style, Shampoo? You've got it! When
next we meet I won't hold back; I'll show you it's true power over
and over until it's beaten into you and your begging for mercy!
Mwhahahahahaha!"
"Oh dear, Ranma's still trying to pretend everything's going
according to plan," said Kasumi.
"More like he's completely losing it. Hey Ranma! Why don't
you stop scaring the floor with your awful monologue and get up."
"I would. except I think Shampoo ran right over my spine."
Heaving a sigh, Akane peeled Ranma off the floor by his
pigtail. "Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi as she ran her finger down
Ranma's spinous processes. "Shampoo put out both your C-6 and
L-5! Both your brachial and sacral plexus are probably impinged.
No wonder you couldn't get up. Shampoo must have an uncanny
precision to do such specific damage with a tire. You should
probably take a hot bath and get the muscles all relaxed before
trying to adjust them back in place. Hmmm. Actually, the
expansion when you transform might pop them back in place all on
its own."
"Well, either way, you need a bath. You're a complete mess.
C'mon," ordered Akane as she dragged Ranma out of the dojo by
his pigtail. "I wonder why those two were so hot to get out to the
photo shop anyway?"
"-_-; erm, I have no idea. ow! Hey, watch what your
dragging me over will ya?!"
"Wuss. Still. I suppose it would be a little cruel dragging
you down the stairs like this," admitted Akane as she swung
Ranma up and around into her arms.
"Hey. ya don't have to, uh." blustered Ranma as he quickly
looked around to see if anyone was watching.
"Oh hush," admonished Akane as she peeked inside the house.
"Unless you'd rather I drag you downstairs." Seeing that the coast
was clear, Akane quickly slipped over to the stairs that led down to
the bathroom.
Not quite comfortable with being held like this, but feeling
he'd already had enough physical abuse for one afternoon, Ranma
changed the subject. "Say, I never knew Kasumi knew all that
medical stuff."
"Well, she's always wanted to be a nurse practitioner,"
explained Akane as she opened the door to the laundry room, "but
she deferred going off to university to help take care of the family.
That hasn't stopped her from borrowing books from Dr. Tofu
though, and since your mother recently moved in she's had enough
free time to start taking a correspondence course. She's planning
to go off to university the same year we do, you know."
"Wow. I never realized she was so busy. A nurse practitioner,
eh? Figures somehow. I'm sure she'll be great at it. She really is a
good women, isn't she," said Ranma as Akane came to a sudden
halt before the bath. The awkwardness of his temporary
quadriplegia suddenly hit Ranma, "Uh. eh. you don't have to
undress me."
"I suppose you'd rather have me send Kasumi in, is that it?
She's at least a "good women"; better suited for treating your
injuries, right? That's what you seemed to prefer in the dojo."
"Damnit Akane! That's not what I meant! I was just honestly
impressed with. Look, I'll be fine bathing in my clothes, ok?"
"Don't be ridiculous," scolded Akane as she sat a blushing
Ranma down on the wash stool. "We're not going to ruin perfectly
good bathing water because you're an immature idiot. We're both
girls right now, so there's nothing to get e-embarrassed about, you
pervert," Akane said, steadying her hands as they started
unbuttoning the knobs of Ranma's shirt.
[Damn you Shampoo] thought Ranma in a feverent attempt to
keep his mind off Akane's hands, which were now clumsily
working on the knobs over his breasts. [If they became aroused
I'm soo dead. And it's only gonna get worse once she starts
washing. Not going to think about that. Damn you Shampoo.
Damn you, damn you, damn you!]
End of Chapter 6
To be continued..
feedback may be sent to caleb_david@angelfire.com
previous chapters may be found at
http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/ficaleb
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creation and property of
Takahashi-sama and various other entities. I'm just borrowing
them without permission. I promise to put them all back when I'm
done... except possibly for Shampoo:)
Chapter 6
By: Kaleb
".ma!.anma!.Ranma!" Squinting through the eye that
hadn't been blackened, Ranma made out Akane's concerned face
hovering above his. "Thank goodness you're finally awake! Are
you ok? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Of course I'm ok," snapped Ranma in annoyance, shoving
away Akane's six fingers as he attempted to rise from the floor of
the spinning dojo.
"Oh really?" said Akane dubiously, catching him as he lost his
balance. "You shouldn't push yourself yet. She could have given
you a concussion."
"I said I'm fine," repeated Ranma as he once again pushed
Akane away and sulked down into a sitting position.
"Well, if you say so. but let me at least take a look at these
bruises." Ranma's only reply was a grunt, but he allowed Akane to
start treating his injuries. "Boy, Shampoo really trounced you,"
observed Akane as she started applying salve to Ranma's black
eye.
"Aw, I let her win. Wanted her to get out all that anger and
figure out exactly where she was martial arts wise. If I'd beat her
in a couple seconds like I usually do she'd have just got even more
pissed and I wouldn't have learned much about her abilities."
"Bull shit Ranma, we all know you couldn't throw a fight if
your life depended on it." Ranma tensed as Nabiki made her
presence known. "And Akane. aren't you supposed to keep that
stuff away from the mucous membranes?"
"Oops." As luck would have it, Ranma chose Akane's
moment of startlement to spin around and face Nabiki, his injured
eye getting a finger full of salve in the process.
"GGYYAAHHHH!"
"Ah! I'm sorry! Wait, don't try and claw it out! Um. um.
flush! We need to flush it out! I'll be back with some water right
away!"
"Stupid klutz," muttered Ranma, clutching his eye in pain as
Akane dashed out of the dojo. Then speaking incredulously to the
older sibling, "Are ya implying that Shampoo's better than me?
Huh?! That's ridiculous Nabiki, I won the tribal championship
match against Shampoo and have beat her easily more than once
after that!"
"My, my, aren't we awfully insecure? _I_ never said
anything about Shampoo being better than you. However, before
you challenged Shampoo, she'd just become the Champion of her
people. Do you honestly think that the Champion of the Amazons,
a martial race that's the product of thousands of years of eugenic
breeding and produces matriarchs of Cologne's caliber I might add,
is going to be some pushover who you can "easily" defeat?"
"Well. uh. that's just." before Ranma could splutter out a
repudiation, Akane dashed back into the dojo with the hose.
"Okay, now if you could uncover that eye. good. Okay!
Turn 'er on Kasumi!" Shouted Akane over her shoulder as she
dangled the hose over Ranma's swollen eye. "Huh? Nothing's
coming out?"
"The nozzle attachment is still on," pointed out Nabiki.
"Oh yeah," said a flustered Akane as Ranma rolled his eyes.
"So, um, if I just turn it here." suddenly a stream of high
pressure water shot forth from the nozzle, blasting Ranma point
blank. Akane looked on in dismay as her now transformed fiance
writhed in agony on the floor.
"Should I call the fire department now?" came Kasumi's voice
from outside the dojo.
"F-fire department.?" stuttered Akane as she fumbled with
the nozzle attachment, trying to turn it back off.
"There's a fire right? That's why you were so distressed and
wanted the hose. Oh my." Said Kasumi as she stepped into the
dojo.
"That explains the max power from the nozzle," said Nabiki.
"Well, it feels like my eyes on fire, thanks to a certain tomboys
utter ineptness at gardening and first aid," said Ranma
sarcastically, glaring at Akane with his eye that wasn't winced
shut.
"You want me to make that other eye match? Really, I was
just trying to help."
"Some "help"; you're even more vicious than Shampoo.
Anymore of your "help" and I'd end up half blind."
Before Akane could react, Kasumi quickly stepped between
the quarrelsome pair. "Oh dear. You better let me take a look at
that eye Ranma. We want to make sure it's not seriously injured."
"H-he couldn't really lose use of his eye, could he?"
"Don't worry Akane. Even if there was serious damage they'd
be able to repair it this early. Ranma's tough and heals real quick,
I'm sure he'll be fine. Now if you'd just open your eye for me
Ranma?"
"Sure Kasumi," said Ranma sweetly as Kasumi helped by
gently putting traction on his eyelids. "Boy, it sure is nice to be
treated by someone who actually has that feminine grace and
delicacy of touch."
"Well, besides being badly irritated, your eye looks like it'll be
fine given a day or two of rest," prognosed Kasumi. "Let's put a
patch over it in the meantime, so nothing else will disturb it."
Pulling a large and dark circular Band-Aid out of the first aid kit,
Kasumi patched it over Ranma's left eye. "There. I know it's
instinctual to keep it clenched tight, but try and relax your lids now
that there's no need to protect the eye."
"Thanks Kasumi," said Ranma as he tried relaxing his eyelids,
surprised that it was harder than it sounded.
"No. It was my pleasure. With the rest of these injuries,
where they Shampoo's doing? She seemed like she was in such a
good mood this morning."
"Well, you know how Ranma is with women," remarked
Nabiki. "Looks like they ended up getting in a fight and Shampoo
dumped him."
"Now hold on a sec, we cut a deal; Shampoo did _not_ dump
m-"
"And not only that, but Ranma actually _lost_" added Akane,
"badly. I didn't see a scratch on Shampoo when she came out of
the dojo."
"Oh my. Ranma lost a fight?"
"I did not! Not really. I let her win! .Why are you all
looking at me like that?"
"Ranma." said Akane as she shook her head, "even Kasumi's
not gullible enough to believe you'd throw a fight. I've fought
Shampoo myself; she's not an opponent to be taken lightly; leave
one opening and it'll be all over before you know what hit you.
She's not in the same category as the Kuno twins whom you can
defeat with ease; I myself can fend those two off, but in a real fight
Shampoo took me down in a few seconds."
"So? You're a slow klutz, whereas I am not. Just because you
get your ass kicked by Shampoo doesn't mean I can't beat her
handily when I choose. *oomph*" the rest of Ranma's sentence
was cut off as Akane dropped her elbow on top of the shorter girl's
head.
"Akane's right Ranma. You're writing Shampoo off to easily,"
accused Nabiki as she pointed dramatically at the flattened red
head. "Have you ever had a real duel with her?"
"Sure I have!" responded Ranma as he jumped back up and
faced Nabiki. "Remember the time I beat her when she was
wearing the reversal jewel?"
"How could we forget?" muttered Akane. "Afterward the
whole school was talking about how you'd tried to force yourself
on her."
"Hey! Don't go brining that up again. I already told ya it was
the stupid jewel's fault for making her hate my guts. The point is
that I challenged Shampoo and then beat her without throwing a
single punch."
"But Ranma, if Shampoo hated your guts. wouldn't that have
affected her fighting?" asked Kasumi.
"Huh?"
"Well, the jewel was possessing her with an irrational anger
toward you, right? Martial arts is about control. Someone who
loses control of their anger may have extra power, but their
technique will suffer, right?"
"Well. uh. it's possible."
"Oh, she's right and you know it Ranma," said Akane.
"Well, if anyone here's an expert about losing control of their
temper it'd be you," Ranma conceded.
"Shut up, I'm trying to think here!" growled Akane as she once
again hit Ranma with an elbow drop. "What Kasumi said reminds
my sparring match with Shampoo this morning. I got so mad that I
was completely ignoring my defense because I wanted to hit her so
badly. The same thing probably happened in that fight with
Shampoo; her hatred made hurting you her only goal, thus she was
probably ignoring her defense in favor of her offense."
"That would have left her with lots of openings, wouldn't it?"
noted Kasumi. "It would have been easy to use Aikido against
those openings to redirect her excessive offense and then pin her
using your strength advantage."
"Which is exactly what happened, wasn't it Ranma?" said
Nabiki smugly.
"Since when did Kasumi become a martial arts analyst
anyway," groused Ranma.
"Dad trained all of us a little bit," explained Akane. "To see if
we had any talent for carrying on the school and so he wouldn't
have to worry about us walking home at night."
"Yep," confirmed Nabiki. "But getting exhausted in a sweaty
smelly gi wasn't my idea of a good time and Kasumi, well she."
"Well, I never could quite bring myself to hit someone,"
blushed Kasumi. "So I decided to learn Aikido instead."
"But the Tendo Anything-Goes style and Aikido are like night
and day, so Dad never taught her anything more than the basics,"
said Nabiki. "A shame too. As I recall, you were pretty good at it
sis."
"Oh, not really. They were just the basics, so of course they
were fairly easy to do," demurred Kasumi.
"Hey, give your self more credit; Aikido's one of the harder
forms to gain competence in," said Ranma, obviously impressed.
"Heck, I doubt the more brutish martial artists like Ryogau or
Akane could ever use such a graceful style effectively."
"What was that?!" shouted Akane as she grabbed Ranma by
the arm and swung him to the ground, then reversing directions
pulled the arm back across Ranma's back, immobilizing it in a
painful joint lock. "So I can't pull off any Aikido, eh?!" growled
Akane as Ranma's free hand slapped the floor for mercy.
"Well duh," responded Ranma through gritted teeth. "Aikido's
never used to initiate an attack! Ow! You call this "loving
force"?!"
"Hmmphh. Think of it as tough love," Akane said, sticking
out her tongue as she let go of the little red head. Not finished
needling him yet, Akane prepared another barb, "You know, that
first time you fought Shampoo, she'd been competing all day in the
tournament and had just finished fighting in the tough
championship bout, hadn't she?
"Ya trying to say Shampoo wasn't in top form? If so, she
should have postponed our match until she'd rested up. You'll
notice I usually schedule my duel's a week in advance so I can
properly prepare. None of which changes the fact I won that
match with just one kick."
"And just how did you manage that?" asked Nabiki
suspiciously.
"Heh. It was brilliant strategy. I pretended to almost lose my
balance when I mounted the log. Then I got into a sloppy fighting
stance, all to fool Shampoo into fatally underestimating me. I
figured that since we were just fighting to a knock off instead of a
knock out I'd only need one solid hit, and the best way to do that
would be to make her over commit to her opening strike; which I
predicted she'd do based on my observations of her earlier match.
When Shampoo senses an opening she puts everything she's got
into a final strike."
"So you won using a cheap trick," summed up Nabiki.
"And by your advantage of having watched her in action
before," added Akane, "an advantage which she didn't share. Plus,
it's not like you knocked her out. If it'd been a real fight she could
have easily kept going."
"Hey, I was just tailoring my strategy to the rules of _her_
tribe's contest. And besides, I've scored a KO against Shampoo
too. Remember when she first came to your house and I protected
you from her?"
"How could we forget," muttered Akane. "Afterward you had
quite the kiss with her."
"Wouldja stop brining up all this old crap?! It's not like I
wanted her to kiss me."
"For someone who "didn't want to be kissed" you sure didn't
put up much of a fight. And that skirmish with Shampoo wasn't
much of a fight either. I believe you yourself said, and I quote; "It
was just a fluke accident!" said Akane with mocking sarcasm.
"Now, now, I think Ranma deserves more credit than that for
saving you from Shampoo," Kasumi said. "True, he took her by
surprise and caught her in a flat footed stance, which she probably
never would have gone into if she'd suspected him of attacking; but
even Shampoo admitted he beat her, otherwise she wouldn't have
given him the kiss of marriage."
"But the real point is, as Kasumi's analysis has once again
shown, that none of your past fights against Shampoo really count
for conclusively settling how good Shampoo is," concluded
Nabiki.
"True true, specially since Shampoo no was being beat that
time." All four heads turned to see Shampoo leaning smugly
against the dojo doorway.
"You're still here Shampoo?!" sputtered Ranma in surprise.
"Just how long have you been listening?!"
"Long enough, "sensei"."
"Then why didn't ya speak up for yourself sooner?!"
"Hmmphh, you's speculating of no interest for Shampoo who
already knowing where issue stand," answered the amazon as she
flicked back a stray hair. "No mattering to Shampoo what other's
think of her."
"That so? Then why ya bothering to defend yourself now,
eh?"
"Only is helping complete Kasumi overview of past fighting,"
said Shampoo as she began to stroll over toward Ranma. "Thought
you may be interested that I no was knocked out."
"You really expect me to believe that considering you gave me
the kiss of marriage?"
"Oh that?" Shampoo laughed dismissively as she slowing
began circling Ranma. "That just for give good excuse stick round
house where knowing female Ranma must be. Only pretending
unconscious while I deciding next move; kiss of marriage seeming
much better strategy than try fight ginst Ranma, violent girl, and
Panda all at once, neh?"
There was a moment of stunned silence and one "Oh my"
before Ranma was able to regain his voice, "Oh ho, I get it. This is
just another one of your games. Trying to make a fool of me
because you're still bitter. You're too deceptive for me to believe
anything you say anyway. Like you'd really screw around with
your own law."
"Why not? As Ranma say, I is deceptive, and you seeing me
use kiss of death as bluff before, right Akane?" purred the amazon
as she lightly brushed her fingertips against Akane's cheek, causing
Ranma's fist to clench.
"H-hai," said Akane, eyeing Shampoo's fingers warily, her
mind still trying to grasp the full implications of what was
happening. Turning her gaze resolutely back to Shampoos' she
asked, "So, it's really true that you're dumping Ranma, isn't it?"
"She _is_ not." *smack* Ranma's protests were halted by
both girl's fists.
"She all yours," Shampoo declared as she picked a dazed
Ranma up by his hair and held him out to Akane.
"Who said I wanted him?" huffed Akane as she turned away
disdainfully. Shrugging, Shampoo dropped Ranma rudely to the
floor. "Honestly," muttered Akane, "you didn't have to protest so
much."
"Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Cutting a deal to end
the engagement, then revealing it was never legal in the first place.
You're one slick dealer girl," said Nabiki with admiration. "How
much were you able to scam out of the chump anyway?"
"Mmm. Maybe Shampoo no should tell, thinking have
embarrassed Ranma enough for today. Still. maybe tell on way
to photo shop. Greedy girl wanting go now? Storm over," said
Shampoo as she walked back to her bike.
"Okay, I'm game," said Nabiki as she jumped on tandem.
"And I do have a name you know."
"Hai, hai, old habits dying hard, neh? Nab-chan better be
holding on tight."
"Nab. chan? .Wait! You're not seriously getting on t-
that. that death machine with her, are you?!" asked a horrified
Akane.
"Ha ha ha. It'll be quite the thrill, won't it?" laughed Nabiki as
she wrapped her arms around Shampoo. "Certainly beats taking
the boring old bus; won't cost a cent and probably make better time
too."
"No fear!" pronounced Shampoo melodramatically, "For with
Shampoo at handlebars thine sister surely being brought back
safely. This Shampoo swearing. Now, we is off!" With an utterly
unnecessary U-turn (save that it allowed her to run Ranma over),
the two took off like a shot; Nabiki letting out an enthusiastic
holler and Shampoo waving backward. "Bye bye "Sensei".
Shampoo look forward to next "lesson"."
". heh. Little does she realize I've got her right where I want
her," rasped Ranma into the floor he was face down in. "The true
power of the Saotome Anything-Goes style is only given play
against a truly challenging opponent. By proving herself to be
such she's played right into my hands. Mwhahaha! You wanted to
learn my Anything-Goes style, Shampoo? You've got it! When
next we meet I won't hold back; I'll show you it's true power over
and over until it's beaten into you and your begging for mercy!
Mwhahahahahaha!"
"Oh dear, Ranma's still trying to pretend everything's going
according to plan," said Kasumi.
"More like he's completely losing it. Hey Ranma! Why don't
you stop scaring the floor with your awful monologue and get up."
"I would. except I think Shampoo ran right over my spine."
Heaving a sigh, Akane peeled Ranma off the floor by his
pigtail. "Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi as she ran her finger down
Ranma's spinous processes. "Shampoo put out both your C-6 and
L-5! Both your brachial and sacral plexus are probably impinged.
No wonder you couldn't get up. Shampoo must have an uncanny
precision to do such specific damage with a tire. You should
probably take a hot bath and get the muscles all relaxed before
trying to adjust them back in place. Hmmm. Actually, the
expansion when you transform might pop them back in place all on
its own."
"Well, either way, you need a bath. You're a complete mess.
C'mon," ordered Akane as she dragged Ranma out of the dojo by
his pigtail. "I wonder why those two were so hot to get out to the
photo shop anyway?"
"-_-; erm, I have no idea. ow! Hey, watch what your
dragging me over will ya?!"
"Wuss. Still. I suppose it would be a little cruel dragging
you down the stairs like this," admitted Akane as she swung
Ranma up and around into her arms.
"Hey. ya don't have to, uh." blustered Ranma as he quickly
looked around to see if anyone was watching.
"Oh hush," admonished Akane as she peeked inside the house.
"Unless you'd rather I drag you downstairs." Seeing that the coast
was clear, Akane quickly slipped over to the stairs that led down to
the bathroom.
Not quite comfortable with being held like this, but feeling
he'd already had enough physical abuse for one afternoon, Ranma
changed the subject. "Say, I never knew Kasumi knew all that
medical stuff."
"Well, she's always wanted to be a nurse practitioner,"
explained Akane as she opened the door to the laundry room, "but
she deferred going off to university to help take care of the family.
That hasn't stopped her from borrowing books from Dr. Tofu
though, and since your mother recently moved in she's had enough
free time to start taking a correspondence course. She's planning
to go off to university the same year we do, you know."
"Wow. I never realized she was so busy. A nurse practitioner,
eh? Figures somehow. I'm sure she'll be great at it. She really is a
good women, isn't she," said Ranma as Akane came to a sudden
halt before the bath. The awkwardness of his temporary
quadriplegia suddenly hit Ranma, "Uh. eh. you don't have to
undress me."
"I suppose you'd rather have me send Kasumi in, is that it?
She's at least a "good women"; better suited for treating your
injuries, right? That's what you seemed to prefer in the dojo."
"Damnit Akane! That's not what I meant! I was just honestly
impressed with. Look, I'll be fine bathing in my clothes, ok?"
"Don't be ridiculous," scolded Akane as she sat a blushing
Ranma down on the wash stool. "We're not going to ruin perfectly
good bathing water because you're an immature idiot. We're both
girls right now, so there's nothing to get e-embarrassed about, you
pervert," Akane said, steadying her hands as they started
unbuttoning the knobs of Ranma's shirt.
[Damn you Shampoo] thought Ranma in a feverent attempt to
keep his mind off Akane's hands, which were now clumsily
working on the knobs over his breasts. [If they became aroused
I'm soo dead. And it's only gonna get worse once she starts
washing. Not going to think about that. Damn you Shampoo.
Damn you, damn you, damn you!]
End of Chapter 6
To be continued..