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.

Sign
(Thoughts)
SOUNDS
+ Flashback +
Chinese

Mail comments and questions answered.

JSB: Thanks for the kind words, I'll try and give a good enough answer for why Mousse did what he did in this chapter.

JustWriter: Ryoga or Ryouga. It is up to anyone how to spell it. Both of the names can be used, but the one with the U is simply the Romaniced way of the Japanese spelling. The U acts as a break between Ryo and Ga without really having a space between them.

Aron: I'm continuing the story; hope you like this chapter and the next one. And thank you for the kind words.

Unlikely Couple
--
Home again, and in time for trouble.

Cologne, Council member and elder of the Amazon tripe of China's Quinlong province looked up as the door to her restaurant was showed open in a gentle and familiar way. Sunlight still streamed in through the door despite it getting late in the evening, and therefore blocked part of the entering persons profiles.

But to her, such things did not matter, she had already guessed who it was as only two people would come to this place at this time of the day,. and with a rope tied between them. "Welcome back Shampoo, Ryouga."

"Greetings Great Grandmother" Shampoo called out as she took off her shoes, placing them in the appropriate rack and took on her in door shoes, Ryouga simply using the doormat to wipe off as much dirt as he could before following after her over to the table that Cologne was sitting at.

Tapping her staff against the ground, Cologne waited patiently for both Shampoo and Ryouga to settle in, her keen eyes noting that Ryouga had given Shampoo a rather, if she had to say so, endeared look briefly before crushing it. "So, did you two have fun on your little trip?" Her eyes directed at Ryouga, clearly wanting him to answer the question instead of Shampoo.

Opening his mouth to answer after a second or two, Ryouga closed it as he didn't really know how to phrase it, but still, she had asked him and he owed her an answer, not matter how stupid it would sound. "Well, it was a trip alright. Nothing really different happened on it."

From her place, Cologne had noticed the brief glance that Shampoo had given him, the lightly unsure glint in those purple depts. Making her give a mental sigh. Clearly her great granddaughter had let slip one of her secrets on the trip, and Ryouga were trying to avoid talking about it. "Tell me what happened boy, I do not like it when I am kept in the dark."

Opening his mouth once more, Ryouga cast a frantic look over at Shampoo, simply getting a pleading look back as she glance both at him, Cologne and her own hands. "Ah, you see, what happen was this."

And so Ryouga told the story to Cologne, trying to keep as much of it free of what he had been thinking along the way. Or how he had nearly seen Shampoo undressed, or heard her uncertainty over the way people had treated her from her nationality.

Removing her pipe, Cologne blew out a medium sized smoke ring and cast a quick look over the two young people before her, her keen eyes narrowing a bit as she weighed the story she had been told in her mind. "Very well, for now you two can rest up, but we must speak about things later, I have learned something that I think you two would benefit from hearing about."

Turning her attention to Shampoo, she gave a elderly smile at her. "Shampoo, why don't go and show Ryouga the bathroom, and after that, come back here, I wish to have a private conversation with you."

Bowing quickly in respect, Shampoo stood up and stared over at Ryouga who had stood up as well, a confused look on his face as he tried to figure out what Cologne could know. "This way Ryou, I mean Umbrella boy." Pulling a bit harshly on his arm, she cast a discrete look over her shoulder at Cologne as she guided Ryouga to the bathroom.

Waiting for a few seconds until she heard the bathroom door open, Cologne picked up her pipe and watched as smoke rose up lazily from it. "Young love, ah, I remember it so well." Took a deep breath of air through the pipe, Cologne blew out another smoke ring and sighed. "I just hope it won't cause them too much trouble at this point."

Cracking open one eye as she heard a chair move, she noted the guilty expression on Shampoo's face as she sat down, clearly she had heard the last sentence that she had muttered out. "Great Granddaughter." Removing her pipe after addressing her young charge, she stared at Shampoo with a neutral expression. "I have found a way for you to become an Amazon again, but, first you must tell me just one thing."

Seeing the purple haired girl stiff at the words, she felt like hitting the young girl over the head. She was letting out to many emotions with her body langue, and it simply wouldn't do. "Child, tell me, what do you think of Ryouga? And answer me truthfully."

Clenching up her hands, Shampoo lifted up her eyes and stared at her great grandmother as she gazed back at her. "Stupid Lost Boy, I no care for, I..."

Narrowing her eyes, Cologne prompted Shampoo on with a glare, the purple haired girl acting more frustrated as she noticed the glare. "Shampoo confused, Shampoo like Ranma, but also, Ryouga. Great Grandmother know how that is?"

Simply puffing out a ring of smoke as response, Cologne stood up and used her staff to get out into the kitchen, and back in with a small glass bottle emptied of its contents. "A trouble heart brews problems Shampoo, and in your case it is not a good time to have one."

Planting the bottle on the table she stared down at it as she tapped her staff on the table. "Now listen up Shampoo, I have sent out Ranma to fetch me a bunch of ingredients to make up a cure for Mousse, the fool somehow got himself infected with a powerful potion I was working on."

"Passion potion, but those only work if you breathe them in." Shampoo mumbled out as she watched as Cologne tapped her cane gently on the bottle before him. "It no explain why he go crazy and try to kill Shampoo?"

Smoking out a ring again, Cologne chuckled as she watched her great granddaughter across the table. "True, that kind of potion I was making is the kind you would have to breathe in to be effected by." Narrowing her eyes as she finishes her sentence, Cologne took a deep drag on her pipe and continued talking. "Mousse must have mistook the powder for something else and somehow gotten far to much of into his body."

Seeing how things were connected, Shampoo smiled a bit as she sat up a bit straighter. "Stupid Mousse inhale powder, and when se Shampoo, go even more crazy over her, crazy enough to." Biting her lip, Shampoo fell back in the chair and shuddered a bit. "How long powder work, Shampoo no like thought of crazy Mousse still out there."

Giving her a shrug, Cologne stood up and moved over to the kitchen area again, stopping in the door opening long enough to look back at her. "When Ranma returns with the ingredients I need, I shall make a potion to solve this little problem, until then be careful."

Pushing aside the curtain before the kitchen entrance, the elder Amazon vanished out into the kitchen. "In the meantime Shampoo, why don't you think off who it is you want, you know the law on dating more then one male while bound to a kiss of marriage.

Shuddering at the thought of her acting like that boy, Shampoo moved towards the back of the Neko Hanten, already wondering how she could decide between them. Stopping before the supply closet, she pulled it open and grabbed the largest towel she could find.

Maybe a bath would help her figure out what she could do about her love problem.

Inside the bathroom, Ryouga found himself in much the same dilemma, as he was once more going over the problems of his glass heart. Both Shampoo and Akane had found a place in it, that he had been forced ot admit at last, but it also brought along the thought of how he could choose.

Should he go for Akane? The first girl to have been kind to him, to find the courage to be his friend, and not just reject him because of his curse. Sure, at first he had used her as a means to annoy Ranma with, he had promise to ruin his happiness, and he had cared for the girl, then he had seen Akane for the first real time, and found himself in love with her.

She was strong, caring and loving. Striving to be as much of a girl as she could be, without losing herself in the process of doing so. She wasn't like the other girls he had met so far, she was trying to be herself and stay true to what she wanted, plus, she wasn't scared of how strong he was, at least he thought so.

And for that she had been the object of hsi affections, at least until now, for even since that day in the alleyway, someone else had him distracted at night, and when he was wandering alone, someone who had found her way into his heart and mind in much the same way as Akane, completely unexpected.

And she too wasn't like the girls he had me before. With that long purple hair, and her smile and twinkle in her eyes when she was happy about something.

"Ryouga okay in there?"

Snapping his head up, Ryouga gave off a nervous laugh as he faced the door, seeing it opened slightly to allow Shampoo's voice to be better heard. "I'm fine, really, nothing is wrong in here, I was just thinking, honest."

Getting a sigh from the other side of the door, Ryouga blinked as the door opened a bit more. "Shampoo wondering if Ryouga done with his bath, Shampoo need one too, and Great Grandmother is waiting for us."

Getting his heart and mind under control, Ryouga let out a breath of air as he stood up, planting one foot outside the bath top and grabbing the only towel he could, feeling a bit put out by its bright pink color. "Um yeah, I just need to."

Freezing, Ryouga stared over at the door opening as he found himself seeing Shampoo, well, it was her reflection in a mirror placed on the wall outside the bathroom, but that didn't lessen the shock of seeing her wearing nothing but a large towel over her body.

Feeling his nose burst, Ryouga let out a large groan as his knees buckled under him and sent him crashing down to the floor in a dazed heap.

"Ah, you're awake again." Opening his eyes to see who had spoken to him, Ryouga was met with a vision of horror, a image so horrible he wouldn't have been surprise to find himself surround by a wall of flames and someone greeting him with a welcome to hell.

But instead he got a light scuffing sound as the image moved back and placed itself on a pillow next to him prone and half dressed body. "Where am I?" Muttering out the three single words he was the most familiar with, he grunted as a reply came from a staff getting smacked down on his head. "Hey, what did I do!"

Still giving him a non-believing look, Cologne shook her head and stood up and walked around Ryouga, poking him with her staff here and there as she nodded or shook her head. "Not to shabby, but still not near Ranma level, but I'm starting to see why she seems to have taken to you."

Feeling more conscious about his state of dress then he normally would, the lost boy nearly gave himself a whiplash while trying to locate his backpack or t-shirt. The fact of him sitting only half-dressed before the old woman had him lightly scared.

Then he stopped looking as he felt Cologne tap him on the back of his head. "Yean, what is it?" Grunting out the words in his normal half angry manner, Ryouga stopped as the elder Amazon popped up right in his face with a stern glare. "What?"

Huffing as she moved back, Cologne half closed her eyes as she pulled out her pipe and lit it up. "You best show some more manners when dealing with me boy." Letting out a smoke ring as she stopped talking, the elder woman moved over to the only window and stared out of it. "Ryouga, how would you feel if I told you that I have found a way for Shampoo to become a member of the Amazon tribe again?"

Snapping his head around to stare at Cologne, Ryouga felt his heart grow a bit lighter as the thought of Shampoo getting back what she had been stripped off, her Amazon position and pride. "That's great for her, but, I don't really see what it has to do with me, or has it?"

the last had been muttered out as Cologne had turned back around to stare at him, her eyes full of the same level of seriousness that he had only seen at the time when he had been taught the breaking point technique. "You better listen carefully Ryouga, for this will effect you and Shampoo."

Narrowing his eyes in concentration, Ryouga gave Cologne his full attention, one hand curled up as he felt something nagging about it all, a feeling that things were not going to get better, but rather worse.

Inside the bathroom, Shampoo leaned back in the water and sighed as she closed her eyes, the hot liquid serving to loosen up her muscles and make her relax as she felt herself nearly drift off into a light sleep. The only thing preventing it the mass of thoughts streaming around in her head, as she had only now begun to understand what she had been dreading. "When Amazon again, I must strive, to be all that I can be, and live up to the promises I made in the past."

And one of those promises was way she had gotten into this whole mess, she had a honor debt to Ryouga, an ancient Amazon tradition demanding she marry Ranma, the very same one who had gotten her kicked out of the tribe. Failing to secure the stubborn male within the allowed timeframe given her by the council had expired, and if she did become an Amazon again, she would only be giving a fraction of that time to try and redeem herself.

But to do so, she would have to capture and marry Ranma, as traditions demanded off her. No matter how torn her heart felt at the moment, Ryouga, he was so... But he wasn't Ranma, he couldn't take the place demanded by traditions, he couldn't.

Sinking further down into the water, Shampoo planted one hand over her heart as she sighed loudly, causing bubbles to form in the water, as her mouth was halfway covered by it. "Shampoo, Shampoo not know what to do." Maybe it would have been for the best if there had been a law or loophole allowing her to lay claim to them both.

Cursed that Lo Xion for been so greedy that the Council had been forced to overwrite the law and forbid that an Amazon marry more then one male.

For now, she had a hard choice to make, a very hard one indeed.

Sitting calmly on a rooftop, Mousse stared down at his loved one, or rather a photo of her. "Shampoo, why didn't you accept my plan, all you had to do was marry me, and all you had lost would be yours again." Clenching up his free hand, Mousse turned his head to watch a lone figure walking down the street towards him. "If you had, I wouldn't have been forced to do the things I did."

Pocking the picture, Mousse walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the street as the person below walked close enough for him to talk too. "Ukyo Kuonji, I want to talk with you"

Glancing up at the arrogant and demanding tone of voice, Ukyo glared at the long haired Chinese boy standing above her, one hand curling up tightly around the Okonomiyaki box held protectively in one of her hands as she stared at him. "What the hell do you want?"

Jumping down to the street, Mousse grinned as he turned to face her, already a where of the spatula shurikens held in one of her hands as she gave him a wary gaze. "Ukyo Kuonji, I need your help." Turning to take a step forward, he stopped as four spatula shurikens were embedded in the sidewalk before him. "Hmm, not very friendly are you?"

Eyes narrowed, Ukyou held out her big ass Spatula as she gazed over at Mousse, her mind trying to figure out why he was there, and why she got the feeling it wasn't just a friendly visit. "I don't trust you Mousse, you're always harassing Ran-Chan, and..."

Stopping he talk, she stared as Mousse held up his hand, a simple book with Chinese words written on it, his face nearly splitting from his grin as he held it out to her. "I promise on the Amazon book of laws that my plan won't involve Saotome in anyway. And trust me, you will help me once you hear what my plan is, after all, it will rid you of Shampoo's competition in claiming Ranma."

Still standing with her eyes narrowed, Ukyo stared over at Mousse as she lowered her spatula a little bit. "Well, keep talking, but I'm warning you Mousse, this had better be worth my time, or else."

"Well." Mousse mumbled out as he grinned on the inside. "Let's just say I found a sure fire way to get Shampoo's affection once and for all, and all you have to do is distract the old Ghoul and Hibiki for me."

Narrowing her eyes even more, Ukyo readjusted her grip on her spatula as she listen to him, a frown forming as she heard the last part of his sentence. "You want me to keep Ryouga out of your way? What's he got to do with this, he obsessed with Akane last I checked."

Mouth turning into a thin line, Mousse eyes flashed with raw anger as he clenched up both hands tightly within his wide sleeves. "No anymore, it seems he doesn't want Shampoo to become my wife, and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep me away from her."

Lowering her weapon completely, Ukyo gave him a curious look as she walked closer to him. "So just how do you plan on getting her to love you, give her some kind of a potion?" Her voice loaded with malice as she thought about someone doing that to her, then again, it wasn't her who would suffer form it. It was shampoo, the stupid Amazon who had always gotten in her way; well, almost all the time.

Planting her spatula on her back again, Ukyo gave a weak grin as him as she held out her hand. "Got nothing to lose from it I guess, so I'll join forces with you, for now." Holding out her hand, she blocked out the voice in the back of her mind protesting this team up.

TBC: Ukyou and Mousse, teaming up, can that be true.

AN: Yes, I know I said that I wouldn't work on this anymore, but, just as I wrote this story off as a victim to the great Writers Block, inspiration struck me again. So enjoy this chapter, even if it is a bit short, but at least its longer then the previous one was.

Forgive me my misspellings here and there; it's been a long while since I had to use the Chinese location names.