Interlude: Amazons

Seventy two hours. It was amazing the changes life could bring in such a short time. Three days earlier, Shampoo had wondered why she was in Hiroshima instead of Nerima. Why she was waiting for a hunting party to arrive from her village. Why she couldn't be beside the man she considered her husband.

Now she knew and innocence lost could never be regained.

Cologne herself had come to the hotel room where Shampoo was staying two nights ago. Her grandmother had explained what had happened to Ranma. Shampoo wondered why she hadn't figured it out on her own. She knew that a Jusenkyo curse could be locked by a pregnancy, but she'd never thought of that possibility in connection to Ranma. Or Ryoga.

Her first intention, after the shock wore off, was to kill Ryoga herself. But this faded when she realized that Ryoga's life was in Ranma's hands, not her own. He had been the one sinned against, not her. Had she ever consummated her marriage with Ranma, then she would have been within her rights to do pretty much as she pleased about the situation. But that had never happened so she was stuck with what was instead of what might have been.

'What was' sucked. But what Cologne expected from the hunting party was even worse. Shampoo's great-grandmother wanted to save the Hibiki genetic line by having an Amazon, one of her tribal sisters, possibly even one of her and Cologne's own blood relatives, bear Ryoga Hibiki's child. The child of a known rapist. It was... not quite insane. It was a cold calculated step in a genetic breeding scheme that extended back millennia.

Joketzu doctrine was meant to bring in strong males in order to have strong babies. (The fact that strong females were slain instead of brought into the tribe was another story entirely.) Ryoga was a strong male, no question about it. Only a strong male could survive training in the Bakusai Tenketsu. Only a strong male could even briefly hold his own in a fight with her husband, let alone defeat him, even by trickery.

But for her great-grandmother to ask what she had asked troubled Shampoo. They were to find Ryoga and inform Cologne via the satellite phones that she had provided. That made sense. Cologne would tell Ranma Ryoga's location and step aside as her husband took whatever revenge he chose. Understandable. But between those two steps, someone was expected to... seduce... for lack of a better term, Ryoga Hibiki. Unreal.

At first Shampoo had objected because if Ryoga defeated an Amazon and then consummated the marriage, Ryoga would come under the full protection of Joketzu law. Which meant that an outsider, even the man who was technically her husband, could be slain for killing him, no matter what he'd done previously. Vendetta was a recognized legal defense among her people.

Cologne had waved aside her concerns claiming that once Shampoo explained things, no one involved would seek a vendetta against Ranma after it was all over. Shampoo thought about it and realized her great-grandmother could be right. At least where the six people in the hunting party were concerned. But then Cologne had said something that truly shocked Shampoo. She'd said that if one of the Amazon maidens could become pregnant by Ryoga outside of marriage, it was perfectly fine by her.

Did the honor and virtue of an Amazon maiden mean nothing? An outsider's honor could be discounted in most cases, but an Amazon's honor? Could it be so casually bartered away by an Elder? Duty to the tribe was expected. Failure of that duty had led to her Jusenkyo curse after all. ('Why couldn't it have been anything but cat?' she thought.) But duty to one's self could not be ignored. Did her grandmother honestly expect the hunting party to do as she asked?

The answer to that question was 'Yes'. If there were no volunteers, someone would be chosen by lot. The Law permitted such selection in time of need. Shampoo did not believe the need could possibly be that great, but kept her opinion to herself. To her, the Joketzu did not need a rapist's genes, no matter what other qualities he possessed.

After Cologne had left the mission in her hands, Shampoo came to a decision. If there were no volunteers, if none of her tribal sisters wanted anything to do with Ryoga, she would send them home after he was found. No one's virtue would be destroyed by chance, she would not allow it. With the damage her own reputation had suffered since she'd first met Ranma, Shampoo didn't care if it suffered more, even unto exile or death.

-----

Somehow, the concept that some of the tactics the Joketzu used on reluctant husbands could be considered rape never crossed Shampoo's mind. Rape was something that other people did. Mousse knew better. Cologne knew better but didn't much care. There's something to be said for ignorance, but it ain't good.

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The phone rang as Shampoo stepped from the shower. Before answering, she carefully placed her bar of waterproof soap into its special container. She couldn't afford the type of water related accidents that routinely troubled the Jusenkyo cursed. Her stock was low enough with her fellow Amazons, becoming a cat with a splash of cold water would only lead to disaster.

On the fourth ring, she picked up the receiver and said, "Moshi Moshi."

In return, she got an earful of her native Chinese dialect that was most welcome. "Cousin Xian Pu, we have arrived and are waiting at a pay phone at the end of Pier 6."

"I'll be there as soon as possible Zho Pu," Shampoo answered in the same language.

"Make it quick," Soap requested. "Su Xie already clobbered a drunken sailor that grabbed her ass."

Shampoo smiled for the first time in two days. "I would expect nothing less from Susie or any other warrior of the Joketzu. But do not kill any obstacles that you can simply render unconscious." Shampoo hung up before her cousin could respond. As much as she wanted to catch up on family gossip, there were more important things to do.

Shampoo finished dressing, wound her hair into its accustomed style, grabbed both bonbori with her right hand and an umbrella with her left. It was lightly raining and 'waterproof' was a relative, not an absolute term.

Had the weather been dry, she would have roofhopped most of the way to her destination. But the rain made things slick enough to make taking the high road unwise. Still, she made good time on the streets of Hiroshima. Ignoring the wolf whistles and obscene comments as a matter of routine, Shampoo only had to kick one man in the groin for attempting to grope her before she arrived at Pier 6.

One: twin maces, distinct family resemblance, Zho Pu, check. Two: long axe, pretty face, Su Xie, check. Three: morningstar-spear, boatload of ugly, Sihong Goa, check (under protest). Four: sword, throwing knives, a whetstone called 'Sheng', Jiao Lu, check. Five: composite bow, quiver of arrows, silly whip she's been carrying ever since she saw 'Temple of Doom', Keyo Cao, check. Six:... "Where is Jujie Fu?" Shampoo asked upon seeing that one member of the hunting party was missing.

"Still on her honeymoon I'd guess," Keyo Cao answered with a smile.

Had she had a hand free, Shampoo would have rubbed her temple to fight off the incipient headache. "Cocoa, please tell me your joking."

"No joke," the dark haired Amazon replied while obsessively adjusting the fedora she wore. "She picked a fight with this sorta cute baggage handler on the train out of Xining. Lost after he jammed her up with this nifty little wrist lock and she tried to headbutt him to break free." She bobbed her head forward in simulation before continuing, "Knocked herself out instead and after she woke up, gave the guy the Kiss of Marriage. Turns out he's from the same village that creep Pantyhose Taro is from so he knew about the Joketzu marriage law and seemed perfectly happy with it. Bet you there's a little Amazon within the year."

"She was weak," Sihong Gao, the largest and ugliest member of the hunting party said as she casually waved her two ended weapon around. "As are you, failure."

'And let the dominance games begin,' Shampoo thought bitterly to herself. The following fight was nasty, brutal and short. Directing her fellow Amazons to carry their tribal sister, she led the hunting party toward her hotel room and enlightenment.

-----

Meanwhile and far away, Mousse quartered the sky above Yaizu in his own search for Ryoga. While the 'lost boy' tended to be lost much of the time, there were places where he did show up on a semi-regular basis. At least initially, the search would be concentrated there. Nerima topped the list, but Cologne was covering that herself. The Unryu farm was next and the hunting party would search that area at the first opportunity. Since Ryoga (theoretically) lived in Yaizu, at least when he could find the place, Mousse had been assigned to search there.

If he found Ryoga, he was to immediately call Cologne. Not Ranma. This troubled him as any revenge was clearly Ranma's to take and there was no need for Cologne's involvement. The old monkey was clearly up to something. That it would be unpleasant was a given. Since he believed that Ranma didn't need jerked around any more than he already had been, Mousse decided to tack on the word 'first' to the end of 'immediately call Cologne'.

Passing over the Hibiki residence again, he noticed no changes. The only inhabitants were some rather friendly black and white dogs that had somehow managed to master the use of a can opener. Noticing a storm front approaching from the west, Mousse turned for home and sang to himself, "Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide."

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End Interlude: Amazons

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