Disclaimer: I still don't own Ranma1/2.

Summery: After the Mousse incident, Ryouga's trying to get away from everything so he can find out why he's suddenly so distracted around Shampoo. Unknown to him, Shampoo's tracking along, intent on paying back the honor debt she owes him.

(Thoughts)
SOUNDS
+Flashback+
-Chinese-

Unlikely Couple

Finally we're out of this crazy place

Shampoo grimaced as she looked down at her outfit from yesterday, somehow it had gotten tossed into the cold water from the shower when she had been transformed, and now it was soaked through, effectively ruining it completely. "Shampoo really hate this." Mumbling as she placed it on a small coat hanger, she looked over at her backpack and pulled it open to see just how many clean clothes she had left.

Pulling out the items in question, She looked at them. Only two shirts, one pair of pants and a good deal of undergarments was left, and, it didn't look like it would be enough for a pro longed trip around the mountains as it were shaping up to be.

Grabbing a fresh set of clothes from the pack with a small mutter, these ones colored a light pink with soft flower petals embroidered on both the shirt and pants, she began to put them on. "Better not get ruined as fast as others." Muttering out the word as she finished dressing, she turned to face the task of figuring out how to transport the wet clothes with her non wet ones.

However the sound of someone knocking on the door drew her attention away from her clothes issue to stare at the wooden object behind her with a mild level of contempt as the knocking repeated itself a split second later. "Shampoo, are you ready?" Ryouga's voice clearly heard through it.

Standing up from the bed and her clothes, Shampoo grimaced. "Be out in second, need to get dressed." Yelling out the words, she grabbed the wet clothes and wrapped them up in her sleeping bag, hoping that it wouldn't be too wet when the time came for her to use it again.

After that all she had left was simply stuffing the rest into her backpack, which she placed it at the foot of the bed after doing it. "Shampoo ready."

"Okay." Came the reply from outside as the sound of a door could be heard. "Hey, what happened to the room, and who placed all this junk here."

Sighing loudly, Shampoo walked over to the door and pulled it open. "Stupid Ryouga, that broom closet, room over here."

A small cough drew the attention of both of them over to see the elder lady standing at the corner. "I wouldn't worry about that." Walking over to them, she looked at Shampoo and tossed something at her. "Here, you'll need that."

Staring down at them, Shampoo's eyes narrowed a bit as she recognized the rubber gloves. They looked just like the ones Mousse wore, when he was ordered to clean the tables. "Shampoo clean tables?"

Shaking her head, the elder lady pulled out a bucket, mop and washcloth. "Close, you can start with the room you two slept in, and then take the rest of this floor." Turning to Ryouga, she poked his shoulder and upper arms. "Hmm, strong, good, that will help you. You can clean the backyard, after that, there a some dishes waiting for you." Giving a smug grin, she turned and left.

Staring down at the bucket, Shampoo mumbled a few choice words as she picked it up. "Should have stayed in tent, cleaning room is for males, not proud..." Freezing as she barely finished the sentence, Shampoo sighed and pushed open the door into the room again, slamming it behind her.

Walking away from the closet, Ryouga wisely decided to stay a good bit away from her, at least until they had to leave. He didn't want to spend too much time near her if she was going to be in that kind of mood.

Plus, it would give him time to wonder about these new thoughts that had been plaguing him lately. Thoughts of how much he should be missing Akane, with her nice smile, friendly eyes, and purple. Freezing, Ryouga shook his head as he set about doing the first chore. "I love Akane, she's the one for me, I love Akane; she is the only one for me." Mumbling the same thing over and over again like a mantra, hoping that it could get him back on track again.

"OI! Old woman?" Ranma's voice rang out through the Neko Hanten as he brushed the colorful drape hanging over the doorway aside with his right hand, the other one stuck in his pant pocket. "You in here, Shampoo? Mousse?" Hollering out as loud as he could for them, the pigtailed boy dumped down in a chair as close to the door as he could, just in case he had to make a quick exit.

"Ah, Ranma." Jumping out from the backroom at the loud yells, Cologne grinned as her eyes locked onto the elder boy sitting at the table he almost always sat at whenever he showed up. "If you're looking for Shampoo, she's not here." Taking her place at the table, Cologne kept a careful eye on the boy as she waited for him to catch onto what she had just said.

Turning his head to stare at the elder Amazon, Ranma smiled as he leaned in over the table with one hand holding his head up, both eyes narrowing as he looked at her. "I know Shampoo isn't here, some of the guys at schools been moaning about that, I'm just wondering why Mousse hasn't shown up to challenge me this week like he always does."

Cologne didn't change expression as Ranma droned on about Mousse and fights. "Ranma, there has been a few problems between Shampoo and Mousse lately, problems you would be wise to stay out of." Jumping up from the table, she turned her head to stare at the pigtailed boy. "But, there is one thing you can help me with."

Frowning at her words, Ranma pushed of the table with a more serious look on his face. "What?"

Pulling out a small piece of paper, Cologne flung it at the pigtailed boy with pin point precision, grinning as he caught it before it was allowed to get too close to him. "Your friend Tofu, have him look into that stuff I've written down, I think Mousse may have gotten in over his head this time if I am right." Not waiting to answer any questions, Cologne had already gone off to the backroom with a grin on her face.

Just staring after the old woman with a complete look of puzzlement on his face, Ranma pocket the paper slip and began to walk back out of the room. "Humph, what is with this place and weirdness." Rubbing a hand through his hair when he made it out, he sighed and looked up into the early morning sky. "You leave for a simple training trip, and everything changes while you're gone."

"Ranma!"

Feeling the looming presence of pain behind him, Ranma sighed as he began to turn around to face his fiancé who were glaring at him. "Except of course for some things." Putting on a smile before he got smashed for looking unhappy at seeing her, he gave a small grin. "Akane, what brings you out here."

Eyes narrowed in suspicion at the friendly words coming from Ranma, she turned her head to stare up at the Neko Hanten banner moving in a sudden gust of wind, a deep feeling of anger and jealousy running through her as she instantly though of him hanging out with the purple haired Chinese girl. "Ranma, what are you doing here?"

Stepping back as he began to recognize the way she glared at him, Ranma gave a short shudder as he quickly looked for an escape route, or at least something to distract her long enough to avoid getting hammered into the ground. "Um, the old ghoul asked me too do something and... I didn't see Shampoo in there."

"So." Akane asked as her whole face lit up with happiness, a bright smile forming on her face as she walked closer to the pig tailed boy who looked like a deer cut in the headlights of a speeding car. "You wanted to see Shampoo huh." A deep blue aura of anger formed around Akane as she pulled her fist back. "Then go to her you stupid jerk! See if I care." Huffing in anger, Akane followed the Ranma shaped figure flying off into the distance rapidly.

"You stupid tomboy!"

Standing on the roof of a building across the street, Mousse grinned as he followed the sight of the rapidly fading Ranma in the horizon. While he didn't like the sight of that Saotome boy, it always brought a smile to his face when said sightings involved the boy getting hurt in some way.

But fun things like that had to wait. First, he had to find Shampoo and give the potion, then, he get back at Ryouga and everyone else who had ever been in his way. Smiling a bit as he thought about it, Mousse lifted up the small vial and looked at it as he grinned. "I won't even need this anymore." Tossing the vial away, the male Amazon turned to head in the direction of the Hibiki home again, just to check it out and see if they had shown up.

Down on the ground, Akane huffed as she turned to stare at the Neko Hanten again. "Stupid jerk." Waling off, she blinked as something glinting fall down from the sky, landing with a slight clinking sound on the marquise of a toy store, still glinting as it began to roll down the fabric towards the street. "What?"

Feeling far more curious then she should at the sight of it, and already suspecting foul play involved form it since it was Nerima, Akane promptly grabbed the said thing before it could hit the ground. "It's just a stupid vial." Mumbling out the words in disgust, Akane prepared to throw it away when her eyes landed on the label on its side. "Chinese, but..."

Turning to face the Neko Hanten, Akane departed if she should go in and ask what was up with it, or if they knew something about it. It would also mean she might find out what Ranma was up to this time before it became to late for her to avoid getting wrapped up in it. But still, it felt like it was too late for even that to be avoided.

"I'm never cleaning another dish in my life." Ryouga mumbled out as he looked down at his wrinkled hands, the smell of cheap soap heavy in the air as he stepped out of the inn, back pack slung over his shoulder. "How can a place as cheap as that really have that many things in need of cleaning?"

Shampoo looked up at Ryouga's outburst and shook her head, if anyone had reason to complain over it, it was her. "You think you have bad luck, Shampoo clean every room by hand." Grumbling a bit as she secured her own backpack, the purple haired girl pulled out the one thing they really needed at the moment. "Okay, map say we go south from here, follow mountain road down."

Setting off, she kept a fierce glare on both the map and the road; there was no way they were getting off track like this again. She wanted to get home to Nerima, to her great grandmother, and a way to become Amazon again, as soon as she had paid him back for helping her she would be happy to see the lost boy vanish out of her life again, no matter what he foolish heart might say about it. "Umbrella Boy follow Shampoo, no get lost, or Shampoo hurt."

Gulping a bit at the threat, Ryouga kept a firm eye on the back of the purple haired girl. Sighing as he once again noticed how those locks of hair moved with everyone of her steps, the hidden strength under those soft looking arms of hers. And how nice she looked when she cast a look back at him.

Shaking his thoughts back on the correct track, Ryouga smiled at her and moved a bit faster to catch up with her. Knowing that he would feel a bit better if he walked next to her, instead of behind her. That way he could focus on more important things. "So, do you think the others are wondering about us? "

Shrugging at first, Shampoo slowly unfolded the map and looked at it. "Not sure, Shampoo only care about Ranma." A small dead tone sneaked into her voice as she spoke, her left hand trampling slightly as she cast a small nervous glance at the last boy next to her. "He strong, brave, able to defeat anyone."

Closing her eyes, she looked away as her mind tried to banish the thought of how the lost boy's muscle had been clearly visible through the shirt he wore, and how he would look without it, just like that time in the restaurant two years ago, or in the camp a few days ago.

Blushing, she quickly turned and held her fingers up to stop the small trail of blood running from her nose. Ignoring the puzzled look Ryouga cast at her sudden rapid turn away form him.

Finally getting it under control, she sighed deeply and picked up her pace again, more eager then ever to make it back to Nerima. No matter what might come out of it. She needed to reclaim her Amazon status, marry Ranma and return to China, she couldn't allow herself to be districted by another outsider male at this point, she couldn't.

Behind her, Ryouga walked faster as well, keeping her close enough to avoid getting lost, his mind once again trying to convince him to notice just how beautiful she looked like.

Shutting down that thought as fast as he could, Ryouga focused on counting the number of rocks on the roar instead, trying to make his brain forget about Shampoo. "Why did I even do it?" Whispering out the words, Ryouga tried to figure out why he had saved Shampoo that night, or even why he had picked her up when he found her in that alley.

And once more he found himself facing the one thing he didn't want to face, he had done it because he wanted to, because it didn't seem right to just leave her there, or let her get killed off by a somewhat unbalanced Mousse.

He didn't know how long he had been thinking quietly to himself, but it had been a while if the new position of the sun was any kind of indication to him. But not even his thoughts could be protected from Shampoo's sudden cry of joy and the pull on the robe around his wrist. "What?"

Pointing a finger up at a nearby sign, Shampoo smirked as she shut Ryouga a victories grin. "Ryouga see sign, say we almost back at home again." Smirking even more, Shampoo returned to staring at the sign with a look of victory.

Nerima, 20km. Staring back at him with big eyes, Shampoo crossed her arms in a confident way while thinking of all the nice things she could do now that she was almost home again in the good old restaurant. "We almost home." Her voice showing just how happy she was at finally getting to where she wanted too. "We find Great Grandmother, talk with her about problem."

Hearing the words from her, Ryouga lifted up his head and stared at her with a bit of surprise. "I can handle Mousse, other then him, I don't see a problem." Scratching his head, he eyed the outskirts of the Nerima district in the distance, the place he both hated and loved at the same time.

But this time also knowing that along with what had caused this mess in the first place, also had somewhere in there, the solution to the dilemma of his heart.

AN: A short chapter. And not even with the title it was meant to have. There are two reasons for this. One, I'm suffering with a bad case of writers block with this story. Two, it's been a very time since I last put out something for it. I am very sorry for that, but I got distracted by other stories in the meantime, stories I felt I had a lot more connections too then this one.

I am not sure if I can finish this one, but I'll try, in the meantime if someone wants to use the idea, they are more then welcome too.