Nodoka invited Cologne into her room while Kei Fu stood outside.
"Stand right here and make sure that the others do not get in the way or try to eavesdrop on us. That also includes you. You are to watch the door and not listen to anything we are saying," Nodoka told her.
"Right. So…you will forgive and forget about what happened earlier, right?" her old classmate asked.
"I will think about it," Nodoka said using her own version of Haruna's patented scary face.
Gulping, Kei Fu stood at attention before the door. Nodoka had gotten a lot stronger in the last sixteen years. She could probably give her a good run thanks to that sword training she had gotten from Setsuna and her own practice. Who knew that Nodoka could get so good with the sword? It was almost as if she was a natural and that swordplay ran in her family or something. Then again she really shocked everyone when she stopped being a shy bookworm and spoke out, even taking charge at times when everyone else could not find it within them to do so.
"It's interesting that you managed to make Kei Fu do what you want with so little trouble," Cologne stated.
"Well, you know what they say about the quite ones. That's pretty much what I was up until middle school, yet I managed to break out thanks to Negi-sensei. Then whatever was left of that part of myself I probably got over after Ranma was born," Nodoka replied.
"I would like to know just how you managed to come across Shampoo? Her friend calling herself Toph said they all lost their memories…" the Amazon elder asked.
'What does she mean by Toph just 'calling herself Toph'? Does she possibly know who Toph was before her memory loss?' Nodoka thought before deciding to focus on the question at hand.
"It was little over half a year ago when my sister-in-law and one of my oldest friends, Haruna, went to China for inspiration or something for her latest manga. She managed to come across them while in some place called Jusenkyo," Nodoka said.
'The cursed springs of Jusenkyo! She was that close to the village within the last half-year! Judging from her son, she might have a curse as well but what is it?' Cologne thought.
Almost like she was reading her mind Nodoka answered the Amazon Elder's question. "Shampoo's cursed form is something we have been calling a 'cabbit' as it is a mixture of a rabbit and cat. Is Jusenkyo close to your home?" the Saotome matriarch asked.
Getting over the shock Shampoo's great grandmother answered Nodoka. "It is relatively close to our village and there are a number of my people that have been cursed by the springs, mostly from dares. It is a cursed spring, but also a training ground. How it became a training ground is unknown, but countless people that have gone there to train have left with either a curse or not at all," she explained.
"That's interesting, but back to Shampoo. Thanks to a group of atrocious people Shampoo and my son, along with the others, were reduced to being nothing more than living machines for years. Haruna told me their handler had apparently suffered a change of heart and managed to undo the mind control; however, there were two lingering effects of their time getting used like tools," Nodoka said as the grip on her sword, which she still liked to carry around from time to time(mostly to make Genma pay for all his misdeeds if she ran into him by chance), tightened.
"I am guessing that the loss of their past is one, and that suddenly coming in contact with those from it unprepared lead to what happened to Shampoo," her great grandmother said.
"That is it exactly. Their minds were put through the ringer to turn them into the mindless automatons Haruna told me they once were. The amnesia is a way for their minds to cope." Nodoka paused, then continued more softly, "There is a chance that Shampoo will not acknowledge you anymore. That's what happened with Akane and her father. In her mind she just does not see him as her father. To her, he is just some guy that we allow to live here in exchange for teaching at the Dojo," the red haired woman said.
"Selective amnesia," Cologne sighed. She was worried about just that possibility. "So what is the second lingering effect?" Cologne asked. The time for worrying was later. Right now she needed information.
"A word that sends the four of them temporarily back into that mindless state where they will do almost anything that they are told to. Though I was assured that they can not be told to kill themselves, or anything that would last beyond the time they are in that state. The words are something that had a huge meaning to each of them. So far only Toph has gone into this state. She went on a date with an annoying guy and chased my son around at the pool to kiss him," Ranma's mother said.
"This is all very interesting. It clears up a number of things…but also creates new problems at the same time," Cologne sighed, much to Nodoka's confusion.
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As Cologne was informing Nodoka of Shampoo's status back home in their village, Mousse was standing outside the room that belonged to both Akane and Shampoo at the moment.
After bringing Shampoo back—basically leading her by the hand himself, as the only movement she seemed willing to make once Mousse had taken hold of her hand was to follow after him. Well, it was more like her hand shot out and grabbed his, but he wasn't going to argue with himself about it. She did not look at him or anything; she just seemed to react to his presence when he got closer to her.
When they got to the home the blue haired girl (he learned was named Akane) saw the condition that Shampoo was in and immediately rushed over to her. Because of what they had been through they were all pretty close and looked out for one another. Just like Ranma and Toph seemed to look out for each other more, the same was true with Akane and Shampoo.
The male Amazon took a look at his long hair, which Akane claimed she would light on fire without a moment of hesitation or remorse if he got too close or tried getting past her. It was at this point that Toph spoke up and said she would definitely do it. As there were quite a few bald people wandering around Nerima because they did not take Akane's threat of lighting their heads up like a Christmas tree seriously, Mousse decided to err on the side of caution.
As the two of them stood there Mousse began reflecting back on how all this started.
Starting Flashback…
An eleven year old Mousse was practicing alone, wondering how he could get Shampoo back to her old self. She had changed ever since her mother had been branded a traitor for abandoning the village and stealing her family's priceless sword said to have been made from a meteorite.
After that she had become obsessed with training and restoring her family name. Cologne had to come out of retirement to assume the role of Elder again since her daughter (Shampoo's grandma) and granddaughter (Shampoo's mom) were no longer able to. This started getting people to think the great family descended from two of the five legendary figures from the Old Days were finally starting to wind down. They were even starting to talk down on them, saying they were the weakest of the five because the other four were all benders. Though what they all tended to ignore was the fact that Shampoo's family ancestors were also two of the smartest and resourceful members as well. Legend states that they took on a whole fleet alone with just one of the benders helping them.
Mousse shook his head as thinking about the past at the moment was not going to help him bring back the old Shampoo. This new version of her seemed to acknowledge him, yet did not really see him as the best friend she'd had since they were six. Training and sparing were all she wanted to do with him now; anything else was seen as a waste of time. She still stood up for him when others tried to bully him or something but always followed up with telling him to get stronger or making it look like she had done it on accident.
His attention was drawn to the trees when he noticed someone coming and got in a defensive stance, ready to draw a number of his hidden weapons.
"Wow! Relax there kid. I am just here to help you with the problem I noticed you've been having," the person said.
In retrospect, Mousse realized that he really should not have fallen for this person's story so easily just because they seemed to be from the village, but he was younger then and wanted his best friend back to her old self. So he did as he was told thinking he would help.
Days later…
"What it is Mousse? I was busy," Shampoo grumbled, slightly annoyed.
"Really?" He said. "But you were just looking at the family portrait while sitting on the steps to your house-"
"Shut up! I was…umm…never mind! If you do not have anything to show me then I am leaving!" she exclaimed as she did not even inform her family that she had left.
"Great job getting her here kid but your task is over now. Time to say good night," the person said he as knocked them out with two quick chops to the back of their necks before they could respond.
That was the last time he saw her until a month later. She was just lying, seemly out cold, in the same place she had been kidnapped from. Taking her back to the village, he would later see that she was faking being unconscious as she stole a priceless picture her family owned that had all five legendary figures in it and was thought to be one of a kind. When he tried to stop her she just looked at him with vacant, emotionless eyes and seemed like she was about to seriously injure him yet stopped: either because she realized what she was about to do or the cry of the villagers coming towards them caught her attention. Mousse to this day was still unsure of just what stopped her.
End Flashback
After that day Mousse would not see Shampoo for another five years. And now here he was, with Shampoo on the other side of that door. However on his side of the door stood a firebender threatening to make a chrome dome out of him if he got any closer.
Sighing, he could only wait. It had been five years, what's waiting a little longer? At least now he knew where she was and would not be letting something like that happen again
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Shampoo blinked as she realized that she was now laying down on her bed in her room back in the Dojo.
'Huh? How did I get here? Wasn't I walking with Toph on our way home from the store?' the purple haired girl thought to herself as she sat up.
"Strange…I'm pretty sure I would have remembered lying down, but I do not for some reason," she said out loud, scratching her head. That was when she heard some voices coming from outside the room she shared with Akane.
"Look, you are not going in our room as it your fault she's like this. Really, you were told to stay put but didn't and look where that got you!" Akane yelled.
"I know, it's just…" Mousse said before the door opened shocking both him and Akane as a purple blur tackled him to the ground.
"Mousse! You are here! But how?" Shampoo asked as she hugged him.
"I…ummm came to visit you here from there," he repliedslightly uneasy.
"Ah! Mousse this is Akane," she waved towards the youngest Tendo. "My closest friend here. And Akane, this is Mousse," she waved back towards him. "My childhood best friend," the waterbender said after helping both them stand back up.
From there Shampoo went about showing Mousse around the Saotome/Tendo Dojo. However, Shampoo never once asked Mousse anything about their hometown. All she wanted to know was just how he got here not really where they came from.
Every time Mousse or Akane tried to bring it up she would either stare at them strangely for a second or just seem to ignore them all together as she continued on with the tour she was taking Mousse on.
Though, as Mousse watched as Shampoo lead him around, he noticed that she was a lot happier than the last time he saw her.
"Mousse are you okay?" Shampoo asked. She caught him off-guard reminiscing there for a second.
"I am just fine Shampoo," he told her. He found it kind of weird that all their names were hair care products here.
"Are you sure?" she asked worried .
"Yeah I am fine," he told her, waving it off as nothing.
"Hey you're my childhood friend, right?" she asked. "So that means you can tell me stuff about my family and when I was younger?"
Mousse gulped. He did not really know how to respond to this question. Sure he knew about what Shampoo was like as kid but he liked her the way she was now. It was more like how she used to be before everything that happened with her family and her kidnapping, which he still blamed himself for.
I would like to thank:
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