Author's Note: This is a repost of this chapter. I have corrected a couple of typo's. Also, my thanks to Doctor Emmit Brown for catching how OOC that opening scene was. It was supposed to be in an earlier chapter, where it would have made more sense the way it was originally written. However, that would have introduced Shampoo too soon, so I moved it.
Chapter 14 The Amazons
Lunchtime at Furinkan High School found Ranma and Akane sitting outside, eating their lunches. Ranma was being unusually quiet today; he didn't insult his father at breakfast this morning, he hadn't reacted to her teasing, and she was beginning to get concerned. There was a certain rhythm to their relationship, starting with them teasing each other at breakfast, followed by her chasing him to school. He had managed to stay awake completely in class, and even contribute to the lesson discussion. It must be the coming of the Apocalypse. She looked at Ranma; he appeared to be worried about something. "Ranma what's going on? You're not acting like you do normally?" she asked with concern.
"I'm not sure, Akane," he said slowly, trying to find the words to describe how he was feeling. "I woke up this morning with a sense of foreboding, like something bad is gonna happen. Nothing's happened yet, so it's probably nothing, but I still can't shake that feeling. It's making me much more sensitive to what's going on around me, and I didn't want to get distracted. When whatever it is happens, I need ta be ready to react."
"So that's why you didn't tease me this morning, or insult your Pop, and why you paid more attention in class?" she asked.
Ranma looked startled, and then reached out and put his hand on hers. "Akane, I enjoy teasing ya, that's all. Remember the way Pop shows affection to me is ta insult me; I guess I learned that lesson too well," he replied.
She blushed at the mention of showing affection, 'I guess he does like me,' she thought. The feel of his hand on hers was sending shivers up and down her spine. She would have said more, but at that moment her friend Sakura ran up. Ranma and Akane snatched their hands away from each other.
"Ranma, I just heard. Some girl was asking about you or your dad. She says her name is Shampoo," Sakura said, "She's right over there talking to those guys by the gate."
Ranma looked where Sakura was pointing. He saw a buxom girl, about his age, with long lavender hair. His face paled, and then set in a grim line. Sure enough it was Shampoo. "Damn, I thought we lost her, I need to warn Pop," he said, "Akane, I have to leave."
"Ranma, what's wrong? Who's that girl?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No time, 'kane. I gotta go! If you want, come with me and I'll tell you once I've warned Pop," he said as he jumped up. He ran to the back wall of the school, followed by Akane. He picked her up, and then jumped to the top of the wall and then down to the other side. He started running, still carrying Akane cradled in his arms. She held on tight as he went on a direct line to Dr. Tofu's clinic, leaping up on roofs, over whatever obstacle were in his way. When he reached the clinic, he went in and found the panda sweeping the floor. He set Akane down, and then said, "Pop, Shampoo's here."
"Thanks," said the sign. The panda ran out the door and disappeared.
"Ranma, tell me what's going on?" Akane asked worriedly, "She's not another fiancée, is she?"
Flashback
A cute, red-haired girl, a panda wearing a yellowed gi and a bandanna, and the Jusenkyo guide were walking toward a village. The guide was explaining in his broken Japanese that this was a tribe of Chinese Amazons, and their elders knew a great deal about the curses. Ranma was listening to him intently as he explained some of their customs. The panda was ignoring everything except for the growling of his stomach. The guide went on to say, "Honored customer, whatever you do, do not challenge one of the women. If an outsider woman beats an Amazon in formal challenge, then Amazon tradition say that Amazon must kill outsider to regain face." Ranma looked worried after hearing that and resolved to keep her cool and not respond to any challenges. As they neared the village, he noticed a large feast laid out and two women fighting. "We in luck, Ancient Amazon custom. Village champion being selected, very rare sight," the guide said. Ranma watched the fight, cataloguing their every move, not paying attention to anything else going on around her. She was hungry, but she was fascinated by the various moves the women were making. She thought she could pick up several of them pretty easily. She decided to wait for everyone else to begin to eat. One of the women, a girl about his own age, with long lavender hair was clearly the better fighter. She finally knocked the other woman out with a hit from one of her bonborris. The village erupted in cheers. At that moment, the girl looked to where the feast was spread out, and shouted in anger. Ranma looked over and saw the panda gorging itself on the food.
"Stupid Pop,' she thought angrily, 'I can't believe he is so stupid.'
"Very bad, honored customer eating Victory Feast," the guide confirmed.
The girl ran toward the panda, which got up and ran to hide behind Ranma.
"Pet very bad, eat Shampoo feast. Must fight to regain honor," the girl said as she neared Ranma. Or at least that's what she thought she heard.
Ranma said, "Wait a minute, he's not my pet, he's my father. He just has a curse. I didn't eat your food, I was too busy watching you two fight. .Nice job by the way."
"What mean curse," Shampoo asked, breathing heavily. Ranma had a hard time responding since she was too busy watching what the heavy breathing was doing.
Finally she said, "He fell in a spring at Jusenkyo. You're supposed to know all about that. Do you have any hot water, I'll show you?" she said. Then she noticed an extremely old woman pogo-sticking her way to them on a long cane. As she neared them, Ranma bowed, "My name is Ranma Saotome. This is my father Gemna. As you see we fell afoul of Jusenkyo. I would like to apologize for his behavior, I'm sure he meant no disrespect." 'I think I handled that pretty well,' she thought.
"My name is Cologne," the old woman said, "You have dishonored my great granddaughter Shampoo by eating her victory feast. You must allow her to regain her honor."
"Honored elder, as I was telling Shampoo, this is my father Gemna. If we could get some hot water and change him back, I'm sure he would apologize himself," Ranma began. An Amazon male, acting very subserviently, ran up with some hot water and poured it over the panda transforming him into a middle-aged man. Ranma said, "We had come here to ask about Jusenkyo curses; the guide told us that you were considered an expert."
"Shampoo no interested in curse. Shampoo must restore honor. You fight me!" she said.
Ranma sighed. "If you need to fight someone to restore your honor, fight the old man. I was too busy watching you fight. He is the one who dishonored you. I have no responsibility for his actions," Ranma said.
'Xian Pu, the young girl is correct. If you must fight someone, you must fight her father. He is at fault here, not her. Her actions have been honorable,' Khu Lon said to her great granddaughter in Chinese.
'But, Khu Lon, I mean great grandmother, he's so old,' Xian Pu whined. Khu Lon just stared at her.
Shampoo pouted, and then said, "Old man, you dishonor me, fight now."
"Sounds like a challenge, old man. You gonna back out or show what a martial artist you are?" Ranma said with a smirk. 'This girl should make him pay for what he did to me,' Ranma thought.
Her father growled at her, "Boy, you go too far!" With that, Shampoo grabbed Gemna and dragged him over to the sparring area.
"Boy, I don't see any boy here!" Ranma said with a laugh, "You're on your own." 'Man look at how downtrodden the men are here. I better stay girl while we're here,' he thought.
Gemna and Shampoo began fighting. Gemna dodged several blows from her bonborris, and then finally grabbed one of them out of her hand. Shampoo backed away in shock. No mere man could do that to an Amazon woman. She made another swing with her remaining weapon. Gemna countered with the one that he had captured, and hit her handle with his handle. Both handles broke off, sending the heads toward each other. Gemna managed to duck the one flying towards him, but Shampoo wasn't so lucky. She got hit on the head and knocked out. 'Damn, I guess she was too tired from the other fight,' Ranma thought, 'I thought she would last longer than that.'
Shampoo woke up. She looked downcast, then glared at Gemna. She walked over to him, kissed him on the mouth and then said in disgust, "Wo ni, Airen."
Ranma turned to Cologne, and asked, "That's not the Kiss of Death, was it?"
Cologne laughed, and replied, "No, three thousand year old Amazon tradition is if a male beats an Amazon woman in combat, then she is his wife. That was the Kiss of Marriage. Shampoo doesn't look too happy about it though. Good, maybe it will finally teach her humility."
"Hey, Pop, couldn't you get a wife closer to your own age," Ranma called. His father paled, ran over to Ranma and tried to run off. Several Amazons stopped him however.
Cologne came over, "I don't think you will be going anywhere. Ranma, you will be my new student. You can move in with Shampoo, your father and I." Ranma's ears perked up at the thought of learning some new techniques.
End Flashback
"So anyway, we ended up staying there about a month. It wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't had to be constantly on my guard about challenges. I wasn't sure they would have considered me an Amazon or not. Pop kept saying that we needed to escape. Finally, I was able to sneak us out while the bulk of the tribe was off raiding another village; somebody called the Musk people. Shampoo chased us for a while, but we lost her. I guess she's been hunting for Pop ever since. After all the dumb things that he did to me, I kinda think it's funny that he got himself into this mess," Ranma said, "I guess we might as well head on home and let Mom know."
Ranma and Akane ran home. As they entered the living room, they stopped in surprise. Shampoo was there, talking to Kasumi in Chinese!
"Ranma, Akane, this is Shampoo. Well, not exactly Shampoo, but that is the closest we can say it in Japanese. She came all the way from China to see your father. I don't understand her dialect completely, but she seems to be saying something about Amazon law and being the wife of your father," Kasumi said, with a puzzled look on her face.
Shampoo interrupted, "Ranma no girl now, Jusenkyo curse, too?" Ranma nodded. "You know about Kiss of Death, that why you no fight Shampoo?" she asked.
"No, I didn't fight you because your complaint was with him. I was tired of cleaning up after Pop's messes. Besides, I saw you fight remember, I thought you would take him. I was too tired to beat him properly, and it was time for his daily beating. Are you sure you want to be his wife? You do know that he is married already?" Ranma asked, "Is there a way to get you out of the mess you're in?"
"Shampoo no know. Great Grandmother no tell Shampoo all laws yet. Shampoo no have choice unless Great Grandmother tell Shampoo otherwise. Shampoo send message to village, and ask," she said.
Kasumi said, "I asked her to stay here. She doesn't know anyone here and she looked so lost when she walked in the gate." Shampoo looked grateful.
"We need Nabiki. She needs to do some research and see if there is any way out of this," Akane said, "Shampoo, why don't you send a message to your village? After that, you look exhausted. Would you like to go relax in the furo, and then change into some clean clothes?"
Shampoo nodded. "Send message to Embassy, they get message to village. Been long time Shampoo can relax. Village no like this Japan. Too many rude people. You nice people," she said. They arranged a message to be sent to the Chinese Embassy. The lady there said it would take several days for a reply to be received. After that Shampoo and Akane went into the bathroom. Kasumi went upstairs, and then came down with a change of clothing for both of them and put them in the changing room. Then she asked Ranma to call Dr. Tofu to come check on Shampoo.
Nabiki came home from school. When she walked into the living room, she spotted Ranma, and said, "Well, I guess that rumor wasn't true, that you and Akane had run off together."
Ranma smirked, and said, "Well, actually we did. I carried her away from school today at lunch, we just ran here." With that, Nabiki sniffed, turned and ran up the stairs to change. Ranma followed her, and knocked on her door. ""Yo, Nabiki, I needed to talk to you. I need your help," he said.
"Come on in, Ranma," Nabiki said with a sigh, "I heard about the girl at school today as well. Another one of your fiancées, I suppose?"
"Not quite. She's my step-mother," he smirked. He laughed at the expression on Nabiki's face. "Na, she's a Chinese Amazon who says she is married to Pop. We ran away from her village, and I guess she has been tracking us ever since. Remember I told you we stayed in an Amazon village for a month. She's part of the reason." He then proceeded to tell Nabiki the story that he had told Akane earlier. "I need you to see if we can find a way for Shampoo to get out of this. I don't think she really wants to be married to him."
"Sure, I'll get right on it. It'll only cost you 5000 yen because I like you," she said.
Ranma grimaced and said, "I'm sure glad I'm getting the family discount," as he handed her the money.
"Why are you doing this, though?" Nabiki asked. Ranma looked at her, and then smirked. He held out his hand. Nabiki looked at his hand, and then chuckled. "You're learning entirely too fast," Nabiki said, as she gave him back 1000 yen.
Ranma said, "I just don't think Shampoo needs to be stuck with him, and I want to make sure there aren't anymore Amazon laws that we need to worry about. I don't want any of us to do something that might end up with one of us engaged to her, or marked for death. Thanks, Nab-chan." Then he left. Nabiki shook her head, fired up her computer and began her search.
Ranma met his mother as she came through the gate. He hugged her and then said, "We need to talk." He repeated the story about Shampoo again. At first, Nodoka was upset, muttering something about panda-skin rugs, but then Ranma said, "I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to be married to him; I think she is just following her traditions because she's scared and doesn't know what else to do."
Nodoka simply said, "Well, let's go meet my rival." They walked in and found Shampoo helping Kasumi in the kitchen.
"Shampoo, I'd like you to meet my mother," Ranma said.
Shampoo turned and gazed at Nodoka. She saw a reasonably tall, auburn haired woman, neatly tailored. The only disconcerting things about her were her eyes, and the katana she was carrying in its sheath. Shampoo sighed and then bowed, "Nihao, Ranma's mother. Where honored husband?" She took her bonborris out and laid them at Nodoka's feet, then bowed to Nodoka. Major face faults all around.
Nodoka bowed back, to the precise angle that Shampoo had bowed. She said, "Don't leave your weapons in the middle of the floor, someone might get hurt. Come, we need to talk, child. Kasumi, can I steal your helper away from you?" Kasumi smiled and nodded. Shampoo picked up her weapons, looking a bit happier, and followed Nodoka into the living room. Nodoka said, in Mandarin Chinese, Xian Pu, my husband is not the man I thought he was when I married him. I have discovered that he is without much honor, not particularly brave, a great deal dishonest and very egotistical. He nearly destroyed Ranma in trying to train him. Why would you want to marry him? Is it just trying to fulfill your tribal law, or is there something else? What do you want to happen?
Shampoo said, I know he has faults. I saw some of them while he was in the village. Aside from training in martial arts, the only thing he thought about was food and drink. No honorable man would have run away from the village after defeating me in formal challenge. He is much older than I am. So no, I am not happy with the situation. I wish it had been your son who had accepted my challenge. I wouldn't mind being married to him. But Amazon law says I must wed the man who beat me or face banishment
You are allowed to practice, though, it has to be a formal challenge before who wins matters, correct? Nodoka asked.
"Yes, it must be a formal challenge. That was my mistake. I was too arrogant to back down when Ranma and Great Grandmother forced me to challenge Airen. Khu Lon told me that more than once before I left. She said this should teach me humility, Shampoo replied.
Nodoka repeated the gist of what they had said to everyone. Ranma looked a little worried when he heard the part about Shampoo wishing she had fought him and lost. Akane and Nabiki both got mad, thinking 'Another woman chasing my Ranma, wait a minute, when did he become my Ranma?'
Ranma said, "I asked Nabiki to check into Amazon law, and we sent a question to the village about the situation. Shampoo, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm glad I didn't fight ya. I wouldn't want ya trying ta kill me, and I definitely don't want to be married this young."
"Shampoo understand. Shampoo no want to be married this young either. No choice now, stupid laws," Shampoo said, shocking herself with the last sentence. She started sobbing. Nodoka reached out and held her, allowing her to cry herself out. Then Shampoo fell asleep.
"The poor child is exhausted. She must have been running on nervous energy since she left home," Nodoka said, "Ranma, help me take her upstairs and put her to bed." Ranma gulped. He took Shampoo in his arms and carried her upstairs to the guest room. He laid her on the futon and left. Nodoka undressed Shampoo, took her weapons and laid them beside her on the floor and then covered her with a blanket. She sat there looking as Shampoo, feeling very sorry for her.