"Without Ranma"
Part Ten
By
Shikoku and Steel

Akane admired herself in the mirror of a change room at a
new martial arts store that had just opened a few days ago.
Upon seeing the place, Akane had decided to go in and see
what they had to offer. That was when she'd
discovered the varieties of different kinds, colors and
styles of gis. Thinking that her old one was getting a bit..
threadbare, she decided to get herself a new one.

So now she was looking at her reflection which showed off
the combination of yellow jacket, black pants and red belt
she'd chosen. The gi was nondescript except for the round
logo patch of the store that was on the left side of the jacket.

"Hiya, you are hot!" a high, accented voice declared behind
the short-haired girl as a purple-haired girl appeared
looking over her shoulder.

Akane laughed and blushed lightly. "Really think so? Don't
think it makes my butt look big?" She grinned as she twisted
so her rear was reflected in the mirror.

"Of course not, A-chan." Shampoo laughed. "You have cute
little butt." She gave her a lecherous smile.

Akane's grin widened and she pulled Shampoo into her arms.
After smooching the amazon good, she said: "You have a cute
butt too." And she squeezed it, causing Shampoo to giggle.

"Would you two hurry up in there!" Ukyo called from outside
the change room. She was looking over the store's
startlingly LARGE selection of battle spatulas. (Wow, they really DO have everything here!)

"Oh, she's just in hurry cause she don't want us playing
without her." Shampoo gave Akane a wink.

The dark haired girl giggled. "Well no one said she couldn't
join us." Akane grinned.

"That's very true." Shampoo laughed.

Just as Akane's hands were starting to sneak into the folds
of Shampoo's new gi (which was pink, by the way,
over black pants and a blue belt) Ukyo
poked her head into the change room. "Oh for crying out
loud!" she said, exasperated. "Put a cork on it and let's go
already! The movie's gunna start without us!"

Ukyo now wore a blue gi top over black pants and a green
belt.

"Okay, okay. We coming." Akane and Shampoo chimed together,
then giggled.

The young chef rolled her eyes, then left for the check out
where they had various weapons and things piled up on the
counter, waiting to be paid for.

Together their items cost quite a sum, but they were easily
paid for with money earned from two different restaurants.
Akane would've chipped in, but she was paying for the movie.

Anyway, Akane and Shampoo finally got themselves under
control as they made their purchases, said goodbye to the
pair of girls who owned and ran the store, then headed for Ukyo's
to dump off their stuff and to change.

"Have we decided on a movie yet?" Ukyo asked as she pulled
her hair into a high pony-tail.

"I thought we were gunna pick when we get there." Akane
answered, tying the drawstring on her kung-fu
pants.

"Ah yeah." Ukyo replied looking a bit sheepish for
forgetting.

Shampoo didn't say anything, being too busy brushing out her
long, thick hair.

Akane kissed Ukyo. "I forgive you." She grinned impishly at
the brunette.

Ukyo kissed back. "I'm glad to hear it." She smiled back.

Shampoo made mock gagging noises at their affection display
and Akane playfully stuck out her tongue at the amazon, who
took it as a invitation to kiss the short haired girl.

The rate they were going, they were all going to keep
kissing each other until they all missed the movie.
Fortunately, Ukyo was level-headed enough
to remind them of that. Again.

So finally they stopped making out, finished dressing and
headed out for the movies.

Once there, they started a friendly debate on which movie to
see. Eventually though, they decided on an odd combination
of comedy and action.

Once Akane had bought the tickets, Ukyo hurried off to save
them some seats while Shampoo and Akane waited in line
for popcorn and soda.

Soon all three of them were sitting cozy-like in the far
right corner of the theater in the back. They liked the
privacy of it.

Steel: Yeah, privacy for making out.

Shikoku: Which they did.

Steel: Profusely.

So much so, that they were kicked out of the theater by the
ushers. It was cuz they were making so much noise.

Unperturbed, though a bit annoyed of the indignity
of being thrown out, the three girls trudged back to Ukyo's
restaurant and continued their fun in the privacy
of Ukyo's bedroom.

They played for another couple hours or so, then Shampoo had
to leave. Her great-grandmother was rather ticked off at her
for all the times she'd been skipping out on working at the
restaurant, so today the buxom amazon had promised to help Mousse with
the work load. She left with great reluctance.

Ukyo and Akane were sorry to see her go, but they were not
ready to stop playing yet. Ukyo had closed her restaurant
for the evening, while Akane had told her family that she was
spending the night there. The Tendos didn't think much about how
often Akane spent time at Ukyo's or Shampoo's. All they knew was
that it had been slightly more peaceful at the dojo since
Akane and her two ex-rivals had become friends.

After awhile, the two had to stop from pure exhaustion. They
lay on the bed in a sweaty tangle of arms, legs and sheets.
Akane with her head resting on Ukyo's shoulder, one arm
slung loosely over the chef's middle. Both were
tired, but EXTREMELY happy.

They were also extremely naked. Their clothes lay discarded
on the floor in a heap, having been torn off in the heat of
passion.

Ukyo pulled Akane closer to her, loving the way the soft
short hair brushed against her chest and shoulder. The
brunette nuzzled the top of Akane's head with her chin, and she
sighed blissfully as she let her head rest there.

Akane smiled to herself and tightened her grip on Ukyo.
"Anything on your mind?" she asked softly. She was enjoying
listening to the chef's frantic heartbeat as it slowly
evened out.

"Mmmm" was all Ukyo said for the moment, but then, softly,
"Do you ever stop and think how amazing this is?"

"All the time." Akane answered, nuzzling her nose into
Ukyo's neck. "Who knew one night could change a person's
life so much?"

Ukyo smiled. "Yeah.. very true.." She reached a hand up away

from Akane's back, and started playing with Akane's hair
instead. "Did.. did you ever think you'd want this?" Ukyo hesitantly asked. She'd been wondering this for quite awhile.

Akane's eyes opened as she seriously considered this.
"Well.. I always knew I didn't particularly like boys..
mostly because of Kuno and those other
guys at school." She scowled at the memory of her morning
fights. "But I was never really accepted by the girls
either.. They never
really understood why I liked martial arts.." She paused.
"But to answer your question.. I honestly never really
thought about it.
Just wasn't something that was important to me." She
shrugged.
"With guys OR girls."

Ukyo nodded, absorbing Akane's words. "How about when Ranma
came? You DID seem to like him, at least a little bit,
sugar." Ukyo smiled
a bit as she remembered the way Akane used to act around
Ranma. She had once found it quite amusing.. and still did to this day.

Akane grinned slightly. "To tell the truth, I DID like
Ranma, he can be really sweet when he wants to,
but more often than not, he made me really
mad too. At first it was because I was upset about him
seeing me naked, but eventually I got over it.
After that most of the times I was mad at
him was for one of two reasons: first was his arrogance. I
HATED that! S'one of the many reasons I don't like Kuno.
The other was how he always made fun of me.."
She turned her face into Ukyo's body, sighing.

Ukyo hugged Akane, reassuringly. "I can understand why you'd
be mad at him.. but is that really enough not to love him
anymore?" Ukyo swallowed, realizing that this conversation was
starting to get less comfortable.. but the okonomiyaki chef still worried sometimes that everything that had happened to them was
still just a dream.. a weird, yet wonderful dream..

"The thing is," Akane answered, lifting her face to rest her
chin below Ukyo's collarbone. "I'm not really sure I loved
him at all.. Sure I liked him, liked him a lot, but Like is VERY
different from Love."

"Think so?" Ukyo asked, looking a bit bewildered. She wasn't
sure what to make of Akane's answer.

Akane nodded. "Yeah, I know so. Can feel it. What I had for
Ranma wasn't Married Forever Love. I could never see him and
myself having a life together, and quite frankly, I'm not sure
I'd WANT a life with him, if you could even call it that."

Ukyo nodded, imagining Akane and Ranma married. She ignored
the flash of jealousy she felt at that mental picture
(though she was a
bit surprised that she was now jealous of Ranma instead of
Akane) andtried to picture the two living peacefully and happily
together. Ukyo couldn't see it. Instead she saw Ranma spending all his
spare time training or fighting someone, while Akane tried to be a good housewife, but failing and walloping Ranma over the head with a mallet each time he pointed out her failures. That didn't seem to be a happy life..

Akane definitely couldn't see it. To her, life would just be
one big hassle. She'd constantly have to be rescued
because some nitwit either wanted to marry her (even though she WAS already married) or they wanted to use her as bait to lure Ranma in for a fight.

And if being kidnapped every day wasn't bad enough, she'd
also have to deal with her home always being invaded by
people wanting to kill (or marry) either herself, or Ranma or in
the weirder cases, both. The short haired girl really wasn't sure
if she wanted to deal with all the crap that surrounded
Ranma for the REST OF HER LIFE! Which, in retrospect, might
not really be that long.. She shivered at the thought.

Ukyo felt Akane shiver. "A-chan?"

"Just a bad thought." Akane answered. She snuggled closer to
the brunette and buried her face into the crook of Ukyo's
neck.

Ukyo moved her hand back to Akane's back and started rubbing
it soothingly.

Akane smiled a bit at the tender gesture. "You know," she
said, her voice muffled by Ukyo's shoulder. "I really feel
sorry for whoever it is that actually DOES marry Ranma. She's in for one heck of a ride." She smiled a little more and this time it was more humorous.

Ukyo chuckled. "How true that is," She agreed. "I'm just
glad she's not going to be me, anymore." Ukyo gave a wry
grin.

Akane pushed herself up on her elbow. She grinned down at
Ukyo. "I'm glad you aren't either, cuz if you were, I
couldn't do this.." And she kissed the young chef real good.

"Mmmmm" Ukyo reacted immediately by kissing back. She pulled

Akane down on top of her as she intensified the kiss,
wanting more.

"MmMmM" Akane enjoyed the nice electric sensation that shot
through her at Ukyo responsiveness. She met the brunette's
intensity and soon their fatigue seemed to disappear, replaced by the
eagerness.

Ukyo's lips soon felt like exploring and moved from Akane's
lips to the rest of her features. The chef's hands meanwhile
started roaming around the rest of the dark haired girl's body..

Due to the graphic nature of the following scene, it was
editorially cut from this fanfic. We apologize to all the
disappointed fanboys who are reading this solely for the lime content.

After a long and passionately hot moment, Akane and Ukyo
ended up in another tangle on Ukyo's bed. Both were worn
out, again.

"Whew, that was good!" Ukyo grinned, happily. "Ranma doesn't
know what he's missing! Wow.."

Akane laughed breathily. "You weren't so bad yourself." She
grinned, poking Ukyo in the side.

Ukyo laughed as well. "If you say so." She grinned. "Well..
Sham-chan is usually the more aggressive one, I was just
trying to make up for her absence."

Akane sat up where she had been lying with her legs on either
side of Ukyo's waist. "Did good." She grinned. "If I had
more energy, I'd take a turn." She then smooched Ukyo on the nose.

Laughing, Ukyo pulled Akane back down to her. "Next time"
she said, kissing the other girl on the forehead.

"It's a promise." Akane grinned as she relaxed on top of her
lover, her head cradled gently in the crook of Ukyo's neck
and shoulder.

"Good." said Ukyo.

Akane smiled.

Akane lifted her head. "You don't regret it do you?"

Ukyo hugged Akane reassuringly. "Never DREAMED something like this would happen.. and I don't regret a moment
of it." Ukyo smiled kissing Akane on the top of her
head. "I haven't had any daydream involving Ranma forever." The chef grinned.

The short haired girl laughed. "Well THAT'S good." She
grinned. "Don't want MY Ukyo having daydreams about some GUY. Especially when she has ME." She smooched Ukyo's nose and grinned some more.

Ukyo laughed. "What? Are you jealous?" she asked in a
teasing manner.

"Maybe." Akane grinned.

Ukyo laughed again. "But what if I start daydreaming about
Shampoo?" Ukyo grinned, now being particularly playful.

"Oh, well that's different." Akane answered, waving one
hand dismissively.

She was still grinning.

"Oh? How so?" Ukyo asked, then decided to flip them both
over so she was now on top of the cute short haired girl.

Akane laughed, now finding herself staring up at the
brunette chef. "Well
mostly it has to do with the fact that I particularly like
her." She shook a finger. "BUT you gotta promise that when you do, I'M in it too, or that you tell me about it." She waggled her eyebrows
suggestively.

"But of course." Ukyo grinned seductively back. "Whoever
said that "Two is company, Three is crowd,' didn't know what he was talking about." She
then leaned down for another kiss.

And Akane pushed herself up to meet Ukyo's lips in a
tender, passionate kiss. If they had more energy it probably would've led to more, but not even martial artists could do such a quick recovery from THAT much of a power drain.

Well anyway, while the two of them kept making out,
poor lil' Shampoo was stuck at the Cat Café, waiting tables and fending off Mousse who was STILL trying to win her favor.

"How many times I tell you, Stupid Mousse, I'm already
happily dating."

"B-but Shampoo! I LOVE you!" Mousse exclaimed as he nuzzled
a potted plant. "Shampoo, when did you get so leafy?"

Shampoo bopped Mousse on the back of his little blind head.
"Stupid." She sighed. "You declare your love for me all you like, but
that no change my sexual orientation."

"We'll see about that!" Mousse declared, finally releasing
the poor plant he'd been suggestively fondling. "One of these days Shampoo, I swear I'll make you mine!" Lightening flashed dramatically in the background. "I just have to get rid of Akane Tendo and Ukyo Kuonji to do it."

Before Mousse could even start his evil laughter (tm)
Shampoo had walloped him over the head with one of her bombori. "You do, and I Kill you." She said, looking like she meant it.

"But Shampoo-!" Mousse whined, but he was cut off by the
cooking pot that ricocheted off his face.

"Get back to work you lazy layabout!" Cologne yelled from
the kitchen.

"Dried up monkey." the myopic young man mumbled under his
breath as he went back to bussing tables.

Another cooking utensil hit him in the back of the head.

"I heard that," Cologne muttered.

Mousse continued grumbling as Shampoo bounced to her great
grandmother's side.
"Great Grandmother, it's almost time for closing, is it okay
if I go now, Akane and Ukyo are waiting for me." Shampoo then gave the old woman her best pleading look.

"I'm sorry, Shampoo, but you need to stay here and help Mousse
close up." Cologne replied, puffing on her pipe. "You haven't been
spending enough time here lately."

Shampoo sighed. "Yes, Great-Grandmother," Gloomily, she went
back to work, feeling like she had a bad case of Akane and Ukyo withdrawal.

Fortunately for the amazon beauty, Cologne wasn't all bad.
"Don't worry, Granddaughter, you may see them tonight." she told Shampoo, smiling slightly. Teens always were so insatiable. "You may even stay the night if you like."

Cologne's words had the desired effect on the girl. Shampoo
whooped for joy, thanked her great-grandmother, then went back to
cleaning up the restaurant with renewed vigor.

"Just remember to be back early tomorrow so we can be ready
for the morning customers!" the old woman called to her exuberant
granddaughter.

"Okay, Great-Grandmother" Shampoo bowed, still happy-like.

Mousse just kept grumbling.

Shampoo ignored him.

A few hours later, and several beatings to Mousse's cranium,
Shampoo was riding her bike at roughly Mach 1 toward Ukyo's restaurant.

By the time she got there, she found Akane and Ukyo asleep
in Ukyo's bed. Ukyo had her arms wrapped protectively around the slightly smaller girl.

Shampoo just stood there, watching the two girls as they
slept. She was also blatantly admiring them, though a part of her was sad to have missed whatever had worn them out.

Well, another part said to her, you'll just have to make up
for that, won't you? She smiled at that thought and moved over to sit on the bed. She reached a hand out and touched the hair on both of their heads. Then, leaning down, she gently kissed the pair of girls on the forehead.

She then stood up, and unbuttoned her Chinese dress, letting
it fall to the floor, leaving her butt naked. (Amazons don't believe in
undergarments, especially lately.)

Pulling back the sheet slightly, the amazon slipped into bed
behind Ukyo and wrapped her own arms around the pair. Ukyo, though
asleep, automatically moved to accommodate her.

Shampoo smiled and settled herself down for a long nap,
though she knew that she would want some fun in the middle of the
night. She chuckled in anticipation, then drifted off to sleep.

Later that night, just after midnight, both Shampoo and Ukyo
suddenly awoke. They were wrapped tightly in each other's embrace, but
something (or more precisely, someONE) was missing. The pair blinked at each other in the darkness, then slid out of bed to search for the absent member of their trio.

The search led them downstairs to Ukyo's kitchen where they
found Akane, sitting in the glow of the refrigerator light, on a blanket, eating a large piece from the pie they had made a day or so before.

Hearing them, Akane turned around. "Oh, hi. Uhm, just having
a midnight snack." she said with a sheepish grin on her face.

Shampoo and Ukyo couldn't help it, they burst out laughing.
Akane just looked so cute sitting there and they just thought it was funny.

Akane grinned cutely. She had whipped cream all over her
face.

Ukyo crouched down next to her and kissed her. When she
pulled back it was obvious she had some of the whipped cream on her face now.

Shampoo laughed, then bent down to get her kiss from Akane.
She too ended up with some whipped creme.

Akane looked a little loopy and she wore a goofy grin.
Getting French kissed twice in a row, in the middle of the night, with whipped cream had that effect on her.

"Think we overloaded her senses?" Shampoo asked Ukyo. Both
girls wore a whipped cream covered smile.

"Not yet." Akane grinned.

"Darn." Ukyo said, then she pounced on Akane to start
overloading the girl's senses.

Shampoo reached for the whipped cream. She then made sure to
use it the 'proper' way.

The pie was forgotten after that, for a couple hours
anyway, and now the kitchen was filled with moaning and the distinctive sounds of a whipped cream can.

Good thing Ukyo had stocked up.
The next day, Akane slurped up the ramen from her bowl as she sat in a
secluded booth in the Cat Café with Ukyo. From where they were sitting,
they could watch Shampoo go about her waitressing duties, but were still slightly apart from most of the other patrons of the restaurant.

Under the table, Akane's bare toes rubbed up Ukyo's well
toned and muscled calf..

That was why Ukyo wore a funny grin on her face.

And why Shampoo kept looking over at them with a
combination of longing
and amusement.

She did manage to find a number of excuses to go over there
though, and steal a kiss or two.

Ukyo and Akane also tried to help out with that as best
they could by frequently making trips to the bathroom where they'd abduct the amazon along the way.

Their favorite though, was hiding in various places about
the restaurant, then jumping out, grabbing Shampoo and pulling her into
their hiding spot for some smooches. G Or, depending on the spot, maybe even a good ol' fashioned quickie.

Shikoku: And somehow they never got caught.

Steel: It was cuz they were so good. They'd had three months
of practice after all, and they only seemed to get better.

Shikoku: They were proud of that fact, too.

Steel: They certainly were. Nothing like mixing martial
arts practice with 'recreational activity'.

Shikoku: They were experts at it by now.

Steel: And still enjoyed every minute of it.

There was just one small problem.. Akane and Ukyo were so
eager to sit in the back of the Cat Café, they didn't notice that at a
table on the other side of the room, but also at the back of the restaurant sat Nabiki Tendo.

The middle Tendo sister was quite surprised at Akane's
barely concealed behavior. Although, she mused, this WOULD explain Akane's adamant claims to hating boys..

Nabiki smiled cat-like as she started thinking of the other
weird behavior patterns she had noted in her sister lately. They were
starting to make sense.

Perhaps she could use this to her advantage.. She reached
into her purse and pulled out her camera..

The three girls never realised they were the subjects of a
photo-shoot.

To Be Continued...

What will Nabiki DO with those photos?
Whatever happened to decrepit Ranma?
And Will Mousse ever get a date from Shampoo?
Find out next time in WR11

P.S. Chracter owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Please don't kill
us! .'