Chapter 2 Later that week
"Akane, Ranma, could you please go to the store for me? I need several things so I can fix dinner tonight and I can't leave right now. I have too much else to do this morning" Kasumi asked.
"Uh, sure, Kasumi, I guess I can go," said Akane, "But why do I have to take Ranma with me?"
"Yeah, right, why would I want to go anywhere with an uncute tomboy" mumbled Ranma.
Unfortunately, Akane's hearing was better than Ranma expected. WHAP "Ranma NO BAKA" screamed Akane as the Mallet of Doom slammed Ranma into the ground.
"Akane, stop that, it would be too much for you to carry by yourself, anyway" Kasumi said.
Ranma picked himself up off the floor, groaning to himself. "Ouch, why'd you have to go and do that for?" 'Sorry, Akane, this is going to be harder than I thought it would be,' he thought to himself.
"Come on, here's the list, I don't what to upset Kasumi anymore" growled Akane.
"Ok, Ok, I'm coming, wait up."
Walking to the store, Akane couldn't help thinking something was wrong. No insults, no taunting, what was it? Suddenly she realized that Ranma wasn't up on the fence walking, no he was walking beside her apparently deep in thought. Something was going on, he was trying to be nice.
"Ranma, what's wrong?" Akane asked.
"Uh, well, I guess I was just thinking about a few thing. I want to straighten out some of the mess in my life. I think I have a way to get rid of Shampoo, but I will need your help with it. Can I ask you to just go along with me if we run into her and ask questions later?" he asked.
Akane thought about it for a while. 'It would sure be nice if she wasn't always glomping onto Ranma' she thought to herself. "Well, I guess I can help, but what did you have in mind?"
Ranma was about to answer when suddenly he heard the terrible sound of Shampoo's bicycle bell. "Sorry about this" he said as he grabbed hold of Akane and hugged her, looking deep into her eyes. Shocked, Akane just hugged him back, not really sure herself why she did.
Shampoo rushed over to latch on to Ranma when suddenly she realized that they were hugging. Glaring, Shampoo hollered "What violent girl doing to Airen?"
Ranma turned his head slightly to look at her. "What do YOU want?" he said coldly, "Can't you see were busy?", icicles dripping from his voice.
"You Shampoo's Airen, you beat Shampoo in fight, it Amazon law," Shampoo said.
"Listen, drop the stupid bimbo act, Shampoo. I know you speak better Japanese than that. Anyway, what country are we in right now?" Ranma said.
"How did you know and what do you mean what country is this?" Shampoo asked.
"The old ghoul is training you to be the leader of your village, right? She wouldn't waste her time on somebody who was an idiot. Besides, both Cologne and Mousse speak perfect Japanese," Surprisingly, that came from Akane.
"Akane, I guess I underestimated both you and Ranma." Shampoo said. "Well, to answer your question, this is Japan."
"That's right, Shampoo. It's Japan, not China, nor is it anywhere near your village. Guess what, I'm not a Chinese Amazon, I'm Japanese, so none of your rules or laws apply to me. I've just been too nice to make an issue about it. I also only accidentally knocked you out when you were attacking Akane, so I didn't beat you in a fight. I am not your husband; I am not in love with you and won't ever be. I would never want to be with someone with so little honor," Ranma said,
"What do you mean, so little honor?" Akane asked.
"Well, what would you call I? She constantly attacks you, tries to hug me or drug me into lusting after her, and tries to drug you. She just doesn't want to understand that as far as I am concerned, she's as bad as Kuno. Can't get anything through his thick skull either. And what she did at the wedding was inexcusable," Ranma answered. "Shampoo, why do you dislike Mousse?" asked Ranma.
"What does Mousse have to do with anything?" Shampoo asked. "I don't dislike Mousse, I am just tired of him continually chasing me around, saying he loves me when I don't love – Oh, that's what you were getting at, you're saying that I have been acting exactly like Mousse"
"You got it. Now you know how I feel Shampoo. It makes me sick to my stomach when you glomp onto me. Now could you just leave me alone? If you want to be a friend, that's one thing, but get it straight, I won't ever be marrying you. Like I told you before, I'm still mad at you. Now, Akane and I have some errands to run" Ranma said.
Shampoo got on her bicycle and rode away, almost in tears. "Ok, Ranma, I will leave you alone for now, but I am not giving up," she said as she left. 'He really doesn't love me' she thought bitterly.
Ranma continued hugging Akane until Shampoo was out of sight. "Uh, Ranma, what are you doing?" giggled Akane. Suddenly realizing she was hugging him, she jumped back and said, "You pervert, what did you think you were doing, grabbing me like that?"
"Sorry Akane, I was hoping that if she saw me hugging you first, she couldn't glomp onto me, and then maybe the shock would help me knock some sense into her. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything…. But, uh, you know, I kinda liked it while we were hugging. It felt kinda right or something, you know what I mean? I wouldn't mind doing that again with you sometime."
Blushing, Akane just stood there speechless for a second, and then said, "Well, we need to hurry if we want to get the food for Kasumi." Grabbing Ranma by the hand, she started running to the store.