Author's Notes: I won't deny; I was very worried about the ending of the previous chapter. It really warms a chronically insecure writer's heart to hear so much praise for the chapter in particular, and this story in general. In particular, I really am gratified by how much people seem to be rooting for Shampoo, or at least sympathizing with her, in this fic, when for the longest time she was vilified as the biggest jerk amongst the fiancées (which, admittedly, is not helped by how the manga itself strove to portray her as a psycho-villain), or even just the worst character in the series. Which I never believed. I mean, Happosai exists in this universe!
As always, I point readers who happen to be tropers to this fic's TVtropes page, and encourage you all to edit it as you see fit; I'm especially excited to see what moments folks think are worth nominating as awesome, heartwarming, funny or tearjerking, because I personally feel most inadequate with my ability to convey emotional depth in my work of that nature.
Chapter 16: Truce! A Tentative Peace is Forged
In the guestroom of the Tendo house, Ranma stirred fitfully in his futon. As the dawn light crept in through his window, he sighed to himself and sat up, accepting the futility of trying to sleep. He cast a dark look at the empty futon on the floor beside his own, where a panda-like father figure would normally be snoring, and then stood up. With silent grace he stood up and slipped over to the door, opening it up just enough to enter the hallway beyond.
Silent as a whisper, he walked through the upper corridor and passed the various bedrooms, until he reached the one whose little duck plaque read, simply, "Nabiki". Cautiously, he knocked softly and then waited.
Silence reigned long enough that Ranma was about to knock again, but just as he raised his fist, the door swung open to reveal a bleary-eyed, pajama-cla Nabiki, hair tousled. "Shouldn't you be at the bottom of the koi pond?" she asked dryly, rubbing her eyes with one hand.
"The old man never snuck back in last night," Ranma replied seriously. "Hey, listen, can we talk? I..."
"You've been thinking about what Shampoo said last night," Nabiki explained for him, with Ranma gratefully nodding at her piecing the puzzle together. "C'mon in."
Ranma quietly slipped in through the door, which Nabiki closed behind him, and then stood in the center of the room for a moment, taking it all in. This was the first time he'd actually been in Nabiki's room. It... well, Ranma didn't exactly have the best frame of reference, but as far as he could tell, it was pretty normal-looking. A Western-style bed, a small desk with some books and writing implements on it, a dresser by the head of the bed, a window, a bookshelf and a walk-in closet. The oddest thing to catch his eye was a big glass jar full of 1-yen pieces. He shifted his attention back to Nabiki as she walked past him and sat on the bed.
"I was honestly expecting this after our Chinese bombshell blew up last night. What's on your mind, Ranma?" she asked him patiently, still looking bleary but coherent enough that Ranma felt comfortable with continuing.
Ranma inhaled slowly, trying to bring some order to the thoughts that had been bouncing around his head all night. "I... I'm not ready to get married yet," he began with some degree of hesitance only to be cut off.
"You're sixteen; I'd be more surprised if you were," Nabiki cut him off with a wry retort, which oddly enough made Ranma feel more relaxed. Snarky Nabiki was familiar ground..
"But... if I absolutely had to make a choice, right now, you know that I'd pick you, right?" Ranma asked, unable to resist a plaintive look at his Tendo fiancée.
Nabiki felt her treacherous heart skip a beat at those words, a sudden flush of warmth boiling in her stomach and trying to fight its way onto her cheeks. "Oh, I knew that, but it's always nice to hear you say it," she flippantly replied, defiantly ignoring the way her lips involuntarily curled into a smile at Ranma's statement.
"Yeah... um... Well, what I was getting at is..." Ranma trailed off, still unsure of how to phrase what was on his mind without hurting the girl who had become so important to him over the past few weeks.
"You love me, but you don't want to hurt Shampoo either," Nabiki declared, smirking at the absolute dumbsmacked shock on her fiancé's face.
"H-how'd you-?!"
Nabiki giggled merrily. "Oh, Ranma, Ranma, Ranma... I know you, silly boy. Under that dumb jock exterior is a surprisingly soft heart - you really don't like to hurt people if you think of them as friends, and it's obvious that Shampoo is one of your friends now. And I get it. Frankly, I'd actually be kind of worried if you weren't interested in the busty blue-haired girl with a tendency to run around in wet silk clothes and no underwear..."
"It's not like that!" Ranma protested, blushing. 'I mean, yeah, when Shampoo ends up in the pond too, those clothes really don't hide much...'
"You are too easy to wind up, Ranma," Nabiki teased him, wagging a finger at him in mock-reproach. "But, still, you and she have been training together for a while, she hangs out in our house, she even makes food for us when she can coax Kasumi into stepping out of the kitchen for once... I understand why you'd see her as something of a friend. And that means you don't like feeling like you've been treating her badly."
"And... that doesn't bug you?" Ranma asked with rising hope.
At that, Nabiki shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, intellectually, I understand it. Plus, I remember what it was like when she was trying to chop off your head; like I said back then, I'd much rather live with her trying to kiss you than kill you. Things have been better since then. But, emotionally? I'm conflicted. A part of me is jealous; it's a little voice that snarls when she gets close to you, because you're mine."
Ranma shivered instinctively, but not in the usual fearful way, at the dark emotional tones clinging to the word 'mine' as it left Nabiki's lips.
"And then I remember what she said last night, about all the stuff she gave up for the three of us, and I feel bad... I'm not used to feeling bad! I don't like it!" Nabiki whined, pouting at Ranma as she did so.
"So... you're okay with me trying to be nicer to Shampoo? And to Ukyo too, cuz I don't wanna just make that same mistake with her," Ranma asked cautiously, not wanting to push but was self aware enough to admit if he didn't ask now, he'd avoid bringing it up later.
Nabiki simply nodded. "In fact... I think maybe you owe Shampoo an apology. Just to start the ball rolling."
"Yeah..." Ranma sighed softly. He looked out the window, watching as a bird perched in one of the trees in the gardens, and then turned to Nabiki with a thoughtful expression. "Hm... maybe the four of us should take today off?"
Now it was Nabiki's turn to blink. "Come again?"
"Well, do you really feel up to going to school and trying to get through all that stupid school stuff with all this sitting in your head? Cuz I sure don't. Besides, wasn't one of the things Shampoo complained about that we just leave her to sit around the house all day and do nothing? I know I'd be bored in that case," Ranma explained. "So, let's make a day of it! We could go to McDonalds for breakfast, clear the air with Shampoo and Ucchan, then just spend some time hanging out! Y'know, sort of like a date... only not."
A tiny part of Nabiki felt like she should point out that it would actually be better for Ranma to think of it as a date, if they were really going to humor this crazy exotic extended marriage thing of Shampoo's people, but she held her tongue. She wasn't feeling that generous. Instead, she simply nodded. "Alright... I'll tell Kasumi about our plans; you tell Shampoo and Ukyo."
"Yeah... hope I can find Shampoo," Ranma muttered.
He was talking to himself, but Nabiki looked at him in concern when she overheard him. "Shampoo didn't come home last night?"
"I dunno... she wasn't in my room when I woke up, that's all I know," Ranma said with a helpless shrug and gesture in the direction of his room..
"...Wow, she really must have been upset last night," Nabiki gave a grimace before she patted Ranma's shoulder . "Better go and start looking, then..."
Ranma nodded, and headed to the door. He was just about to open it when Nabiki spoke up again.
"Actually... why the sudden craving for McDonalds, Ranma? Kasumi would happily make us breakfast and then let us talk here."
Ranma smiled sheepishly and scratched his head. "Well... the first time we really tried to make Shampoo feel like she was welcome was when we all had KFC together, and KFC doesn't open this early in the morning. So I was thinking McDonalds would work the same way - sort of symbolic, I guess?"
Nabiki blinked, and then smirked. "That's actually pretty clever, Ranma. Now run along, and let me get dressed."
Ranma needed no further encouragement, and quickly slipped out the door. Nabiki took that opportunity to stretch, and then walked over to her closet to take a look inside. 'And of course, I'm going to have to pay for this... ah, well, it'll be worth it to try and mend bridges... last thing we need is for Shampoo to go full Amazon assassin on us again...'
Whilst Nabiki was getting dressed, Ranma cautiously peered inside the secondary guest room, on the top floor. 'Man, I wonder what this room was for? Can't imagine they ever thought they'd need two guest rooms...' he mused to himself.
A moment's scrutiny revealed a single occupied futon on the floor, with the flowing black locks of Ukyo's hair emerging from amongst the blankets. "Ucchan?" Ranma called quietly, even as he slipped delicately into the room.
A wordless grumbling noise bubbled from the blankets, and Ukyo tried to worm her way deeper into their soft embrace, away from Ranma's voice. Ranma stared at the sight, and couldn't hold back an amused grin at her antics.
'Yeah, Ucchan never did like mornings much... kind of weird, since her dad always wanted her to be up early. But then, I'm a lot like that, too...'
Emboldened by the fond memories of days long past, Ranma walked over to the futon and crouched down so that he could shake his old friend-turned-fiancée's shoulders. "Hey, Ucchan, c'mon; get up already!"
He jumped out of range of a clumsy punch, smiling fondly at the failed effort. 'That's the Ucchan I remember, alright...'
Ukyo groped blindly for Ranma, but her failure to grab him evidently was the final catalyst. She yawned hugely and clumsily sat up, emerging from her bedding like a silkmoth from its cocoon... which was when Ranma learned that Ukyo didn't wear a bra to bed, nor did she bother tying her shirt closed...
Oblivious to the way her fiancé's eyes had grown wide, Ukyo stretched her arms, yawned again and then turned a sleepy gaze on him. "R-Ranchan? What's...?"
"Me an' Nabiki are taking you and Shampoo out for breakfast. You need to get changed into somethin' you feel good to go out in, alright?" Ranma asked, trying his best to keep his gaze fixated above the shoulders.
Ukyo blinked bleary eyes, and then nodded slowly. "Myeah, okay... I'll be ready soon," she groaned softly, with the tone of somebody who'd much rather be going back to bed.
"Alright, we'll meet you downstairs at the genkan," Ranma told her, and then quickly left the room. As the door clicked shut behind him, he shook his head. 'Ucchan ain't no boy... she definitely ain't no boy! Man, I hope she never realizes I got a peek...'
Shaking his head again to clear the thought from his mind, Ranma went in search of the last member of his unwanted harem. 'Let's see... there weren't any second futon in the room with Ucchan, so I'm hoping she came home when the rest of us were asleep. Now, where would she go to sleep alone...? The dojo?'
A quick shortcut through a convenient window, and Ranma was in the backyard, where the dojo stood. As sneakily as he could, he slipped up to the door and peeked inside. He felt a surprising pang of relief to see Shampoo was sitting inside, bundled up in her futon rather than lying down. Still in sneaky mode, he crept inside and stopped a good few arms-lengths behind the Chinese Amazon.
"Good morning, Shampoo..."
Shampoo visibly jolted, but remained facing away from Ranma. "Morning, Ranma..."
'Wow, no 'airen'? She's still mad..' Ranma thought to himself. He pushed the thought aside, cleared his throat and said, "Um... did you stay here all night?" he asked, wealy trying to break the ice.
"Shampoo felt she be more welcome under this roof," was the curt reply.
Ranma sighed softly. "Yeah, fair enough... look, Shampoo; I wanna take you girls out to breakfast. Clear the air. Will you come with me?"
He waited, biting his lip, a strange feeling of nervousness welling up as silence fell across the dojo, Finally, Shampoo nodded. "Is good. Shampoo come."
"Alright!" Ranma said, then winced as it came out louder and more excited than he'd intended. "Well, meet us in the genkan and we'll take off from there, okay? I'll just let you... do whatever you need to do to get ready," he replied, and then quickly exited the dojo.
'Man, I hope we can patch things up... feels weird seeing her be all cold and mopey like that...'
Once she heard the door close behind her, Shampoo permitted herself to smile. 'That was far quicker than I imagined! Could it be that my words really had so much effect? Does my future husband really want to make amends already? Maybe I should have spoken up about it sooner, if he was going to be this receptive... no, no, Shan Pu; do not allow yourself to be carried away! You do not know what he intends to say at this breakfast; you must not make assumptions! First, a quick preparation, and then we shall see what Ranma has in mind...'
And so, in due time...
The four teenagers pushed their way through the doors into the local McDonalds restaurant, which was already showing signs of life. Ranma led Shampoo and Ukyo to find a table, whilst Nabiki made her way over to the first free cashier.
"Hello, and welcome to McDonalds. Can I take your order?" the rather bored-looking teenager asked.
Nabiki glanced over the breakfast menu, and then made her decision. "Can I get four sausage and egg McMuffin meals, four bacon and egg McMuffin meals, and four of the sausage, bacon and egg McMuffin meals please? Just Coca-Cola for the drinks, thank you."
That got her a bemused look, but Nabiki simply held her tongue and looked steadily back at them. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure that would be enough food, but they could cross that bridge when they came to it. Her patience won out, as the cashier promptly took down her order and sent it into the back. Once everything was cooked and piled on to a single tray for Nabiki to carry, she paid the money and made her way over to the table where the other three members of her unusual little would-be family were sitting.
There was silence at first as she sat down, with the four teens trying to cover up the awkwardness of their last meal together by concentrating on eating what was put in front of them. Ranma and Nabiki both had to stifle their grins at Shampoo's expression as she tried what was clearly new foods to her - the so-called sausage patty in particular elicited an expression of equal parts intrigue and disgust, not that it stopped Shampoo from eating it.
Ranma gulped down the last of his first breakfast burger before he finally found the courage to speak. "Um... Shampoo?"
"Yes, Ranma?" Shampoo replied with cold politeness, taking a sip from her cup of Coca-Cola.
"I... bah, I really don't know how to put this... I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm not gonna lie; this whole group marriage thing? It's weird to me; I really don't know how to handle it, and I've been trying to just mostly ignore it. But that doesn't mean that I don't like you or that I meant to ignore you in the process. I'm really sorry that I hurt yer feelings and made you think I hated you... can you forgive me?" Ranma finally asked at the end of his rambling confession, putting his hands on the table and looking Shampoo straight in the eye.
Nabiki held her breath, watching to see what happened, with Ukyo surreptitiously doing the same... although trying to also devour a hashbrown at the same time.
Shampoo looked thoughtful. "Well..." she trailed off, holding the silence just long enough for Ranma to start to look nervous, and then grinned openly. "Okay! Shampoo sorry she make such big fuss last night, but Shampoo been feeling neglected for many days now. Akane just... rub Shampoo wrong way. But if Ranma say he sorry and mean it, then Shampoo can forgive him... what about Nabiki?"
"Eh?" Nabiki blinked, surprised at suddenly being involved. "What?"
"Well, Nabiki part of this marriage too," Shampoo chided her, the smirk on her lips taking some of the sting out of her words. "Nabiki also promise she open up to Shampoo? Is bad for marriage if wifes no can get along..."
"Yes, I promise - I'm not entirely sure how we're going to do that, but I can promise we'll try to make things better than they were," Nabiki replied smoothly, hedging her language to try and shift the odds a little in her favor.
"Then Shampoo forgive Nabiki too! Shampoo happy now - and this breakfast be lovely!" the Chinese Amazon chirped, polishing off her hashbrown.
"What, you're not going to make me promise to treat you better too?" Ukyo interjected, although there was no heat in her words.
Shampoo just grinned and shrugged. "We just get married yesterday. Ucchan no do nothing wrong yet." Shampoo blinked as Ukyo audibly choked, her smile melting into a more uncertain expression.
"Sorry... Shampoo maybe no should use that name yet? Is only for Ranma?"
"Yeah... let's go with that," Ukyo replied a touch hoarsely, once she'd flushed her throat clean with a hearty gulp of soda.
The mood lightened, the quartet began eating with renewed gusto, before Nabiki suddenly spoke up.
"Actually, Shampoo, since we're addressing concerns... could you explain this whole wedding thing? I know that they're your laws and they make sense to you, but we're all outsiders. We really don't understand what is going on here."
Shampoo paused, fortifying herself with half a sausage, bacon and egg McMuffin and a long swig of Coca-Cola, and then launched into her explanation.
"To explain Joketsuzoku wedding customs, one must know Joketsuzoku honor. In Nyuchiezu, honor is call it... Shampoo not sure what is best translation. Shampoo go with 'Name'. One's Name is one's lifeline. If you no have Name, then you is not person - you is nothing, nobody. Understand?"
She was greeted with a chorus of slow nods. Even Nabiki, who thought of herself as a modernist, was still Japanese enough to grasp the fundamental concept that Shampoo was trying to expand upon despite her limited vocabulary.
"In Nyuchiezu, there is two types of Name. First type is Family Name. Is honor you earn for being part of your family. It is most basic, fundamental honor. To have Family Name is to be acknowledged as person, with all rights that entails. To lose Family Name is worst punishment of all! It mean you no longer person - you is just thing. Bad thing. Own flesh and blood will turn backs on you; you no can have food, no can have shelter, must be driven away like dangerous animal."
She shivered at the thought. "Only worst crimes strip you of Family Name. To be killed is kindness in comparison."
Nabiki grimaced, recoiling instinctively at what she wanted to decry as barbarism... but, she couldn't deny that there were some elements of that thinking in Japanese culture still. Burakumin were a thing, after all. And the still present emphasis of family and company priority over one's self. Disquieted, she stuffed a hashbrown into a McMuffin and bit into it, trying to distract herself with the onslaught of grease and salt.
"Then there Self Name. That is Name you make for you own self. When you given Self Name, it mark you as... well, as adult, Shampoo guess? Self Name mean that when family must decide things, you have right to speak up and be heard. It mean you have say in what happen to the tribe as a whole - your opinion matters. Family Name entitle you to basic rights as person; Self Name mean you have right to be considered authority within village."
"Not that this ain't informative, Shampoo, but what does this have to do with getting hitched?" Ukyo interjected, slurping on her cup of coke.
"Shampoo do say this explanation be long!" the Chinese Amazon huffed, finishing off her half-eaten breakfast burger, then hastily stuffing half of a hashbrown down her throat. "Where was Shampoo..? Ah, yes. In Nyuchiezu, if girl is unmarried, there is no shame in girl having fun with boys. If girl make baby, is no scandal - Family Name is coming from mother, so boys not necessary for babies beyond the making part."
"Wait, if that's the case, why even have marriage at all?!" Nabiki couldn't resist interjecting.
"In Nyuchiezu, all family expected to help raise baby. But for baby to have Father? That is special. It... hard to explain. But all little girls told that is much much big honor to grow up and find worthy man to marry. For womans and for mans, too," Shampoo elaborated with much hand gesticulating as her grasp of Japanese failed her.
"Why the man?" Ranma asked with some apprehension .
Shampoo sighed, and took another bite of hashbrown. "Family Name is coming from mother. This true of all babies, boy and girl. But Self Name is only given to girls when they come of age and complete childhood martial arts training. For boys, Self Name is something that must be earned... and easiest way to do that is to be chosen as husband."
"...So, men in your culture are second-class citizens?" Nabiki asked, somewhat icily.
"Joketsuzoku mans no is bullied!" Shampoo indignantly spat in response. "Mans can become warriors, can become healers, can become mages and shamans - mans can do anything womans is doing! But, to have say in leadership of village, mans must prove self worthy of responsibility first. They do this by earning respect! Mans who have Self Name is equal to any womans - if they say frog, you jump!"
"And just how many men with Self Names can you name?" Ukyo asked dryly.
"Let Shampoo see; there Lotion, who master healer - he teach all healers in village! There Soap, who is master of Cult of Muscle Sword style. Rinse, who teach basics of Joketsuzoku Wu Shu to childrens of tribe. Conditioner, who village best chef... Shampoo still barred from restaurant for raiding his herb garden when little. Then there's Razor, Wax, Robe, Sword, Shield, Spear, Hammer, Anvil, Pomade, Gel, Ointment, Salve, Perfume..."
"I believe you've made your point, Shampoo," Nabiki interjected in an effort to show mercy on the blushing Ukyo. "So, marriage is a very sacred thing to your people?"
"Yes!" Shampoo replied instantly, nodding firmly. "Marriage is joining of two Self Names, is joining of two Family Names! Is very big deal! Many Joketsuzoku not marry; even if they only wants one man to be with, is too-too serious for them to handle marriage."
"Wait, what's that about staying with one man?" Ukyo interjected again.
"Married Joketsuzoku womans expected to stay faithful to husband. If she sleep with other mans, is huge shame, huge dishonor! Is say that husband honor not worth respecting, that husband Name not worth passing on to children, that husband no can satisfy you - punishment is exile, death, even loss of Family Name!" Shampoo declared passionately.
"Well, that answers one of my questions," Nabiki drawled,before sucking a stray blob of melted cheese from her finger. 'I'd been wondering why a husband mattered if this 'Family Name' is passed on from the mother's side...'
"What other questions Nabiki have?" Shampoo asked, taking a sip from her cup of Cola and then pouting when she discovered it was empty.
"Well, I'm guessing that the unlikelihood of finding a guy who can beat a Joketsuzoku woman in battle is why the whole 'you must marry the guy who beats you' rule exists?" Nabiki asked.
Shampoo smiled brightly and nodded. "That right!" she chirped, clearly pleased at Nabiki obviously paying attention to what she was saying.
"I'm guessing the whole 'seriousness of marriage' thing is also why you Chinese Amazons don't care much if the guy already has a girl on the side... just what exactly are you supposed to do in that situation?" Nabiki pressed.
At that, Shampoo looked uneasy. "Ah... well... officially? There old saying in village; 'obstacles is for killing'. It mostly come up when topic of Kiss of Marriage come up." She took barely a moment to register their reactions and then hastily added, "But that simple saying! Nobody in Nyucheizu taught to go for kill other womans first!"
"And just what do you do first, hmm?" Nabiki asked pointedly, giving Shampoo a gimlet eye.
Shampoo shrugged innocuously. "Seduce mans, show him why Joketsuzoku wife is better, and if need be scare off other womans. What would Nabiki do if she find mans she really, really likes and not get so lucky as to have family arrange marriage beforehand, hm?"
At that, Nabiki found herself at a rare case of being lost for words. "I... suppose I wouldn't exactly let him go without a fight," she conceded grudgingly through gritted teeth.
"Is same for Joketsuzoku womans! Just because laws say Shampoo could kill rival for Ranma's heart, no mean Shampoo have to... or even that Shampoo want to," the Chinese Amazon admitted.
Ranma chose that moment to push another McMuffin from his pile over to Shampoo. The blue-haired girl blinked in confusion, but then smiled brightly and proudly dug into her unexpected treat.
"Which kind of explains for itself just why this group marriage thing is such a big deal - if monogamous matrimony is so important to your people, then making an official exception must be huge," Nabiki reasoned aloud.
"Just so! Nabiki very clever girl," Shampoo observed happily. "Shampoo only know of one such family in village when Shampoo left it."
"Great! Well, that clears up that... but I gotta question now," Ukyo interjected, crunching up her styrofoam drink cup into a little ball for emphasis.
"What Ukyo want know?" Shampoo asked, giving her an expectant look.
"Why do your people do one guy, many girl marriages, but not one girl with many guy ones?" Ukyo asked. "I'da thought that would be more your people's style, what with the whole 'Family Name is from the mother' thing."
"Because that way stupid," Shampoo replied flatly, her casual dismissal shocking the Japanese teens so much that they nearly fell out of their seats. "One man can make babies with many womans, but other way around not work. One woman keeping many mans for own self is just being greedy, denying other womans chance to have husbands and babies for selves! Nyuchiezu no tolerate greedy behavior like that!"
"...Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Ukyo conceded, with Ranma and Nabiki nodding in agreement.
"Actually, while we're talking about things like this... what about Ucchan?" Ranma asked.
"Eh? What you mean?" Shampoo replied, giving her husband a curious stare.
"Well, no offense, but I can hardly imagine that she wants to be roped into my crazy life, especially after she spent the last ten years thinking I stole her dowry and ran out on her! You did kind of spring the whole 'engagement kiss' on her out of the blue, Shampoo," Ranma explained.
Ukyo blushed, and Nabiki hid her smirk behind another McMuffin, remembering the passionate liplock with which Shampoo had declared her acceptance of Ukyo's right to share Ranma's hand in wedlock.
Shampoo, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. "Well, since nothing really formalized yet, if Ukyo want to, Shampoo can just release her from engagement. But that a one-way thing; if Shampoo do that, no take-backsies! She no can try for Ranma's hand anymore, no matter how she feel about Ranma. So, Ukyo, what you think?" Shampoo asked, turning to the newly added fourth member of their little family unit.
Ukyo twitched, looking down at the pile of greasy paper wrappings that their breakfast had come in, and twiddled her fingers sheepishly. "Ah... well... I can't honestly believe I'm saying this, but... I'm gonna stick with the marriage, Shampoo."
"...What?" Ranma and Nabiki asked in unison, dumbfounded gazes staring into Ukyo's soul.
The bifauxnen blushed, but then soldiered on. "I... Ranchan, despite everything, I never really hated you these last ten years. Well, it was more complicated than that. I mean, yeah, sometimes I dreamed of findin' ya and beatin' tha tar outta ya, just like I was gonna do yer worthless daddy... but, other times? I dreamed I'd find ya, and ya'd beg me to marry ya, because ya'd never known what yer daddy did ta me and ya still loved me an'... well..."
Ukyo shrugged, and then spoke up, her accent fading as she got her emotions back under control. "So... yes, this isn't how I'd planned it, but... I can live with this. I know what the whole 'pretending to be a boy' thing might suggest, but I ain't stupid; I know that if you had a gun held to yer head and you were made to pick a girl right now, you'd pick Shampoo over me, and Nabiki over Shampoo. I can't say I wanted to share you, but... better part of the okonomiyaki than nothing when you're starving."
Nabiki carefully froze her features into a neutral expression, but under the table, her fingers clenched into fists until her knuckles whitened. 'You opportunistic little... oh, it sounds all nice and cosy, but there's just one problem with that, and that's that Ranma is mine!'
She glanced over at the object of their respective affections, who really looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Ironically, that actually helped cool the instinctive surge of rage and jealousy she'd felt from Ukyo's words. '...But I can't entirely blame you, can I? I don't know what I'd do in your shoes... damn Genma. And people say that I'm cruel and like to screw with people. Poor Ranma... this isn't what you want either, is it? Very well... I can play nice. Nothing says Ukyo can't change her mind in the future, after all...'
Still, Nabiki made sure to take a bite out of a hashbrown, chewing thoroughly to be absolutely certain she was in full control of her temper before she spoke. "I won't lie; that's not the answer I wanted to hear..."
"Tough," Ukyo interjected flatly, before slurping on her Cola.
"But, given the circumstances, I can make peace with it," Nabiki continued, giving the crossdresser a flat stare. "This will be... something we'll all need to adjust to, though."
"Well, yeah, of course," Ukyo replied, shrugging her shoulders as she did. "But at least this is the weirdest my life can get."
And that was when a deluge of cold, greasy, dirty water suddenly crashed over the four teens, completely ruining anything left uneaten. As one, they rounded on the culprit - a staff member who had been mopping the floor and then tripped quite drastically, flinging the contents of their mop bucket over them - and cursed her out, sending the unlucky burger fool fleeing with hasty apologies.
"Stupid, clumsy... what the hell?!"
Which was when Ukyo suddenly noticed that where the sole male member of their quartet had been sitting was now seated a short, voluptuous redhead, still wearing Ranma's clothes.
Ranma sank into herself, tucking her neck into her shoulders and hunkering meekly down into her seat.
Nabiki, on the other hand, simply smirked knowingly. "Oh, that reminds me; in all of the confusion, we never got around to telling you what else happened to Ranma after the two of you went your separate ways..."
Soon afterwards...
"Oh, poor baby; you've really had it rough, haven't you Ranchan?" Ukyo proclaimed, the quartet now having left the MacDonald's restaurant to try and dry off a little in the sun. The obvious sympathy in her words was somewhat undermined by the way she was poking Ranma's breast, seemingly hypnotized by the way it jiggled.
"Would you please stop doing that?" Ranma pleaded weakly, fighting to repress her natural temperament at being manhandled in such a way.
"I'm sorry, Ranchan, but they look so real," Ukyo apologized, even as she switched from poking the boob to gently groping it instead.
"They are real, so quit it!" Ranma snapped, her patience finally hitting its breaking point.
"Well, that was damper on perfectly good morning," Shampoo sighed, folding her arms behind the back of her neck and stretching - which did rather interesting things given her still-damp shirt.
Nabiki blinked twice, then slowly smiled, a mischievous grin that spread across her face like an oiled eel. "You know... it doesn't have to end yet. Ukyo, do you own any spare clothes?"
"Of course I do!" Ukyo replied instantly, sounding a touch offended at the question. "They're just back at my camp... ack! I forgot all about my stuff!"
"Well, seeing as you're more or less officially moving into the dojo, why don't you run back and grab it? And Shampoo... do you think you could run back to the dojo yourself and grab some fresh clothes for yourself, myself, and Ranma?"
"Shampoo can do! ...But, why?" the puzzled Chinese Amazon replied.
"Well, I have no intention of spending the rest of today in damp clothes reeking of soap and grease - but, at the same time, it's a shame to waste a chance for a fine day out, and the bathroom back home really isn't big enough for four of us to share. So, I was thinking we could hit up a public bathhouse, freshen up, and then carry on from there," Nabiki explained.
"A bathhouse?" Ranma interjected, a trace of a nervous squeak sharpening her words.
"Yeah. Don't you remember last night? Shampoo was even complaining that we never did anything sisterly like bathing together with her," Nabiki replied.
Shampoo's face lit up with delight at the explanation. "Shampoo going! Be right back, airens!" she promised them, and then rocketed away.
"Well, it makes sense... okay, sure, I'll be back as quick as I can," Ukyo declared, and then took off running herself.
Ranma watched them both go, waited until she was certain they were gone, before turning a disbelieving look to her fiancée. "A bathhouse? Really?"
"You can't seriously tell me you want to stay in those dirty, smelly clothes in public," Nabiki replied cheerfully back.
"What? Ew, no! But... seriously, a bathhouse? You really okay with going into a bath with the two of them?"
At that, Nabiki shrugged. "It's not my first time bathing with somebody, Ranma. So what if we're married by Shampoo's tribal law? It'll just be like hanging out with some new friends, that's all. You don't think they'd try and hurt me, do you?"
"No!" Ranma immediately protested, looking offended at the very notion.
"Then trust me, everything's going to be fine..."
A short while later...
With fresh clothes and other necessary bathing materials now obtained, the renewed quartet of girls walked through the streets of Nerima, following Nabiki's lead, as she had promised she knew where to go.
"Have any of you even been in a bathhouse before?" Nabiki asked.
"Oh, yeah; me 'n' pop used 'em all the time when we were on the road... at least, if we had the cash. Otherwise we borrowed old oil drums and boiled them over a campfire," Ranma responded.
"Hah! Sounds like my life for the last ten years," Ukyo giggled, clutching her carrying bag closer.
"Will be Shampoo's first time at one. Is many rules to obey?" The Chinese Amazon asked.
"Nah - just don't disturb the other bathers, and don't make a mess, and everything will be fine," Ranma assured her.
"Don't worry, I'll show you how it works, Shampoo," Ukyo added.
"Well, you'll have the chance to prove that; we're here!" Nabiki announced.
Her three companions glanced up from their conversation as Nabiki stopped, and she smirked in amusement at the dumbfounded looks on their faces. The quartet had stopped before a large building, with a huge sign that was clearly made to illuminate at night hanging over the double-doors. This sign bore a simplified outline of palm trees on a beach, with the name "Sokuraku" written in English letters between the trees.
"No way..." Ranma protested, staring in awe at the impressive facade.
"This is a bathhouse?" Ukyo asked in disbelief.
"Is so big!" Shampoo marveled.
'My country bumpkins,' Nabiki affectionately mused to herself. Smiling, she stepped forward into the open doors. "Come on, ladies."
They filed after her, through the genkan and the sliding door into the reception area.
"Why, hello there! Welcome to Sokuraku," said the receptionist, an attractive older woman with long brown hair and soft brown eyes. "Will you be bathing together this day?"
"Yes, we will," Nabiki replied.
"Alright, that will be one thousand, one hundred and eighty yen for the four of you," the receptionist explained.
The four teenages quickly dug into their pockets, and collectively poured the requested funds onto her desk. They then headed down into the lower area, where visitors were expected to undress themselves. Ranma blushed and took a step back away from her truly female companions.
"Ah... right, I'll just go over here and change, and I'll meet you girls when you get out..." she declared feebly.
"Where you going, Ranma?" Shampoo asked in confusion.
"Uh, the boy's baths?" Ranma explained, giving her a bemused look.
"You can't go in there!" Ukyo protested. "Even I didn't go into the boy's baths over the last ten years!"
"But I am a boy!" Ranma protested.
"Not right now, you aren't," Nabiki observed. "Can you imagine the fuss if a naked girl walks into the men's bathing area? Never mind how people will freak if she suddenly turns into a boy!"
"She's right; there's no way they'll let you in," Ukyo added.
"B-but!" Ranma spluttered. "I can't go in the girl's baths - I'm not a girl!"
"Right now, you have body of one, and that all it takes," Shampoo reasoned.
"But you'll be naked!" Ranma protested.
"That is generally what happens when women go to bathe, yes," Nabiki wryly observed, smirking at her blushing fiancé. When Ranma's arms defensively curled around her waist, Nabiki decided that it was time to switch things up. "Look, Ranma, we all know the truth, but nobody else does. You can't walk in through the front door to the men's baths as a girl. So we'll smuggle you into the women's baths instead, where you look like you belong. There shouldn't be too many people there at this time of the day, so once you're suitably scrubbed off, we can cover you as you get into the heated water - once you're a boy again, you can just leap over the partition wall into the men's baths, and then come out as a boy. Okay?"
Ranma fidgeted, glancing all around, but then finally sighed and nodded, visibly drooping as she did so. "Okay..."
"Then let's get it over with," Nabiki said, before she began stripping down.
Ranma's eyes went wide, her cheeks blazing red, and she quickly turned away, especially as Shampoo and even Ukyo likewise began to remove their clothes. The temporary girl hesitated, almost trembling, and then slowly reached up and began unfastening the ties on her usual silk shirt, hesitantly joining her fiancées in getting naked.
Despite Ranma's reluctance, there was only so long that she could draw it out. Doing her best to not look at anything lower than the ceiling, she timidly followed her genuinely female companions through the door into what had been, up until that point, strictly forbidden territory. Despite the steam gently wafting through the room from the huge bath full of hot water, Ranma's skin broke out in a cold sweat. When she accidentally ran into one of the other girls, she sprang back if jabbed with a pin, trying to swallow the shocked squeal before it could escape her mouth.
Unfortunately for Ranma, the other girls definitely noticed.
"What's up, Ranchan? You're twitchier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs," Ukyo asked, even going so far as to put a hand on her old friend-turned-fiancé's shoulder.
"N-nothing! Nothing's wrong!" Ranma squeaked, doing her best to keep her gaze focused squarely on the tiles of the roof.
"Oh, yes, that sound sooo convincing," Shampoo drawled sarcastically. "What wrong, airen?"
Ranma tried to back away from them, only to freeze in terror as she felt something very soft squish against her back. A shiver of fear ran through her body, especially as Nabiki's voice chimed in from just behind her.
"Okay, seriously Ranma, what's going on? ...And will you stop looking at the ceiling already? It's not that interesting."
"I'm-I'm just... I'm trying not to peep, alright?!" Ranma finally blurted out.
"Wow, lookit that blush!" Ukyo giggled.
'Oh, gee, thanks, Ucchan...' Ranma thought to herself, mentally scowling at her old friend.
The sound of snapping fingers somewhere close to her face almost made Ranma jerk her eyes down to see them... almost.
"Airen...Ranma... you please look at Shampoo already?" The Chinese Amazon grumbled, snapping her fingers again. When Ranma reluctantly dragged her eyes down just far enough to look Shampoo in the eyes, Shampoo smiled. "That better. Ranma need to calm down, okay?"
"Calm down?! I'm naked! You're naked!" Ranma protested, narrowly resisting the urge to wave her hands for emphasis.
"Yes, and? It's not as if we don't have anything you haven't seen whenever you take a hot bath at home," Nabiki pointed out, punctuating her words by poking Ranma in the breast.
"I just don't wanna be one of those jerks who spies on girls in the bath!" Ranma snapped, blushing even brighter than before.
"That's what you're worried about? Oh, Ranma..." Nabiki sighed affectionately... and then she gently wrapped her arms around the startled genderbender in a hug. 'Wow, she-er, he is tense! I can feel him trembling... ew, and he's covered in sweat, too. Icky... Focus, Nabiki!'
"Ranma, you don't need to be scared. We know you, and you know us. If the idea of you seeing us naked bothered us, do you really think we'd have just come in here like this?" Nabiki asked him.
"That's right!" Ukyo interjected, nodding fiercely. "It'd be different if you were trying to peek without permission, but we're the ones who brought you here; we got nothing to hide from each other."
"Besides, you is our husband. You have every right to see us naked," Shampoo pointed out cheerfully.
"Not helping, Shampoo," Nabiki chided her Chinese cohort, feeling the whole-body twitch that went through Ranma at those words. "Look, we're not mad, and we're not going to get mad. So do you think you can relax? We'll keep you safe from anyone else who might be here, we promise."
"Not that there's anyone here; these baths are empty," Ukyo observed.
Ranma closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled slowly. 'Well, pop was always strict about not peeping... but he never said what to do if the girls invite you to do it! I guess, if they're all so sure it's okay, then it's really okay...'
Opening her eyes, Ranma slowly nodded. "Okay... I'll try and calm down. But I meant what I said; you girls aren't just something I want to ogle, you mean more to me than that, understand?"
"Ranma say sweetest things!" Shampoo giggled, beaming with joy.
Ukyo was blushing, but she also smiled and nodded. "We ain't complaining about that, Ranchan. But stop acting like we're gonna beat ya up when we were in on this from the start, okay?"
Nabiki simply gave Ranma an extra squeeze before she released the part-time girl from her hug.
With Ranma's panic attack averted, the quartet grabbed some bathing stools and pails from the pile in the corner and took their places at the showering stalls. Like Nabiki had promised, they put Ranma in the center, where they could try and hide her from any strangers who might join them in the baths, but fortunately for the moment they were all alone together.
As the four girls rinsed off, Ukyo glanced over at her future husband... wife? No, husband. Although it was a little hard to remain convinced of the proper terminology when she had a good look at what was sitting on Ranma's chest. "Yeah, those definitely aren't fake..." she muttered to herself.
"I did tell you they were real," Ranma dryly quipped, making Ukyo blush at having been caught out.
"Sorry, Ranchan; it's just a little hard to actually wrap your brain around a guy having such big breasts..."
"Yeah, Ranma blames it on the curse- I'm starting to think it might just be something in the water in that part of China," Nabiki interjected.
"Huh?" the two gender-blurring teens asked, turning to the middle Tendo with mutually quizzical stares.
"Take a look at Shampoo," she replied, smirking and nodding in the Chinese Amazon's direction.
Shampoo looked up from where she had been rinsing out her hair with a confused expression, then smiled proudly and arched her back to thrust out her bosom for appraisal.
"...Holy crap, she's even bigger than you are, Ranchan!" Ukyo blurted.
"...She's not that much bigger," Ranma muttered, unable to help her pride.
Shampoo simply grinned even wider. "Shampoo know... Ukyo want prove it?" She asked mischievously.
Unable to help herself, Ukyo reached out and gingerly cupped the Chinese girls breasts in her hands. "Incredible... I don't think I've ever seen a girl as big as you!" she marveled.
"And she has yet to discover the wonders of the brassiere, too," Nabiki chimed in.
"Is just good genes and good diet. But Joketsuzoku have a few little tricks to help girls grow up big and strong... Ukyo and Nabiki maybe want to learn the secrets, hmm?" Shampoo waggled her eyebrows at the others mischeviously.
Ukyo blinked, before looking first at Shampoo, then at Nabiki, and then finally at herself. She visibly wilted, face slumping mournfully. "I'm the smallest one here!" she mourned, cupping her 'girls' protectively.
"Oh, don't be sad, Ukyo. There's something to be said for perky and petite," Nabiki quipped, before stealing the opportunity to snatch a grope of the bifauxnen's breasts, making Ukyo jump back with a squeal that turned into a giggle.
"Yeah, big breasts ain't that big a deal," Ranma muttered to herself, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the taps as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Filling a pail with cold water, she drenched herself in it to wash off the soap, shivering as it ran over her skin. "Ugh, that's cold..."
She flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder, nervously looking over to Shampoo.
"What we say about Ranma beating self up? We all know you is Ranma, so no be scared to look at us, okay?" Shampoo reassured 'her'.
"Um..."
"Shampoo love that Ranma want respect womans bodies. Shampoo not want husband who always drooling over other womans chichis. But Shampoo also want husband to drool over Shampoo chichis," she stated, very firmly and seriously. "So, will Ranma help wash Shampoo?"
Ranma froze like a deer caught in the headlights, staring past Shampoo to Nabiki and silently pleading for help.
"Hey, don't I get privileges as first wife? Shouldn't Ranma be helping me wash?" Nabiki protested, the hint of a giggle in her words somewhat undermining her efforts to sound affronted.
"Is first come, first serve, so nyeah!" Shampoo jeered, playfully poking her tongue out at Nabiki.
"Oh, is that so?" Nabiki replied, smirking as she grabbed her shower nozzle. "Then let me help!"
Shampoo squealed as Nabiki caught her square in the face with a sharp spray of cold water. "Oh, that way you want to play," she cried, grabbing her own shower nozzle.
As the two girls began having a water fight, Ranma watched with an air of disbelief.
"Ranma?"
She turned to look at Ukyo, who was blushing softly and holding up a bar of soap. "Since they're busy... would you mind helping me scrub down?"
Ranma weighed her options carefully, and then made her decision, reaching out to take the soap from Ukyo's unresisting fingers. "Sure, Ucchan..."
Eventually...
Four teens left Sokuraku, chattering happily to each other, obviously feeling more at ease and, it must be said, smelling a lot better than they had when they went in.
"I can't believe I did that!" Nabiki admitted with a soft, half-strangled giggle. "I haven't had a water fight with my own sisters since I was seven!"
"Shampoo glad you do, though; nice to see Nabiki having fun for change. Nabiki always so tense since Shampoo arrive," the Chinese Amazon confessed, either not noticing or simply ignoring the possible implications behind her final observation.
"I can't believe I actually let you girls talk me into that whole crazy scheme," Ranma interjected while taking a look around in case someone heard.
"Oh, so you weren't enjoying having three hot naked girls rubbing up against you?" Nabiki asked sweetly, savoring the way Ranma blushed red as a beet at the question.
"A-anyway! So what do we do now?" Ranma asked, trying to change the topic.
"Well, I was thinking perhaps a trip to the local arcade, since we're avoiding school today?" Nabiki suggested.
Ukyo visibly perked up at that idea. "Ooh, yeah, I haven't had the chance to check it out yet! Maybe they've got some new game cabinets!"
"You like to hit the arcades too, Ukyo?" Ranma asked, sounding both surprised and genuinely pleased at the revelation.
"Whenever I have the spare petty cash," Ukyo responded, grinning at her old friend and newly reclaimed fiancé.
"Excuse, but... what is 'arcade'?" Shampoo asked, looking between the two of them.
The three Japanese teens shared a look, then turned to their Chinese counterpart with matching mischievous grins. Shampoo fought the urge to take a step back, instead lifting her chin and defiantly meeting their collective gaze.
Soon afterwards...
Through the cacophony of electronic music, beeping, bells, whistles and conversation, a voice cut like a knife.
"Hah! You lose, Ukyo!" Shampoo cried triumphantly, fingers flashing over the cabinet's control panel with inhuman swiftness, eliciting the distorted, electronic rendition of meaty impacts followed by a drawn-out death scream.
"No!" Ukyo cried, unable to resist it as her Cammy fell to a lifeless heap on the metaphorical arena floor and Shampoo's Chun Li went into her victory animation. "How are you doing this well?! You hadn't even heard of Super Street Fighter II Turbo until just now!"
Shampoo simply gave her counterpart a feral grin. "Shampoo just that good!" she boasted , the words not undercut by the way that she giggled in glee at her triumph.
Ukyo simply shot her a fiery stare, eyes burning with determination. "Oh, it's on now! You're going down!" she vowed, slamming some fresh coins into the ever-hungry machine's slot.
From over by the basketball game, Nabiki smiled at the antics of her two houseguests. 'Well, those two are certainly bonding; who would have thought?'
But she didn't have time to dwell on that thought, because she had bets to take. Turning her best bookie's grin on she returned her attention to the teens and kids gathering around her. "Alright, place your bets; tickets for tickets, and if Ranma can't meet the challenges you give him, then you win!"
As Ranma was currently juggling the three miniature basketballs he'd bought by spending his tickets in the machine, there was a small but growing audience of spectators and, even better, actual gamblers.
"Over the shoulder, no looking!" cried somebody from the crowd.
At that, Ranma smirked and silently turned his back to the station with its designated target, still juggling the balls. He kept up the juggling act for another minute, and then casually lobbed each ball in turn over his shoulder. All three sailed through the air and straight through the hoop, a perfect score.
A mixture of applause and curses greeted Ranma's actions, followed by another wave of activity centered on Nabiki as some left, others surged forward to join in the fun, and further bets were laid.
"Kick the balls instead of throw them!" came the second challenge.
Ranma promptly gathered a fresh trio of balls and launched one into the air. It soared up until it touched the ceiling, and then fell like a stone, but just before it hit the floor, Ranma caught it on his toe. It stopped dead, and he held it like that before he gently began to bounce it on the tip of his shoe; slowly at first, and then with increasing speed, before he suddenly launched it towards the hoop with a lightning-fast kick, the other balls swiftly following for another perfect triple score.
After a display like that, things only grew more heated. More and more arcade visitors broke away from their initial entertainment to watch Ranma, who repeatedly rose to any challenge they threw at him. The stash of prize tickets grew ever higher, until finally...
"Do a backflip, then kick the balls into the hoop in mid-air!"
At that, Nabiki's pleasant mood melted away like a snowflake in the summer sun and she cast a baleful glare over the crowd, looking for the wise-guy. "Offering blatantly impossible challenges will not result in winning the betting pool," she declared in her iciest tones.
"No, no, that sounds like a fun challenge - I'll do it," Ranma interjected.
His words brought a renewed surge of betting, everybody eager to get in on what seemed to be a sure thing. Ranma simply stood patiently, waiting until Nabiki reluctantly gave him the signal. Then, he flung all three of his latest batch of miniature basketballs into the air, waiting for them to touch the roof before he backflipped. The crowd erupted in gasps of shock and awe as Ranma suddenly soared through the air as if he were rocket-propelled, but it was the way he twisted deftly in mid-air and his legs flashed out - once, twice, thrice! Each kick launched a ball forward to land with a resounding clatter in the hoop.
Silence fell over the crowd... as much as that was possible with the electronic noise from all the arcade games around them... even as Ranma hit the floor in a perfect recovery. Then they burst into a chorus of cheers, wolf-whistles and claps that made Ranma grin, any annoyance at losing the bet swept aside by the entertainment value of the impossible feat they'd just seen performed before their very eyes.
Nabiki herself took a moment to gather her wits, just as impressed as the audience. 'Every time I think I know your limits, you keep surprising me,' she mused to herself. Aloud, she declared, "And that's our last challenge for the day! Sorry, folks, looks like nobody wins the pot this time!"
She quickly gathered up her winnings before she and Ranma headed deeper into the arcade, losing themselves amidst the cabinets. Once she judged them safely sequestered away from any sore losers, she handed over the bulging bag full of prize tickets.
"Here you are, Ranma; these belong to you," Nabiki pronounced, smiling as she handed them over.
"You did an awesome job, Nabiki," Ranma declared, accepting the offering.
"Oh, it was nothing," Nabiki airily announced, waving a hand to emphasize how little she had struggled to assemble such an impromptu betting ring on the fly. "What do you want all those prize tickets for, anyway? Not like you to show off like that..."
"Oh, you'll see soon enough," Ranma replied cagily. "But why don't you go and have some fun? We've done enough work - it's time we enjoyed ourselves..."
Nabiki stared coolly back at her fiancé, waiting for him to break out into nervous sweatdrops before she finally smirked in response. "You're terrible at changing the subject. But alright, have it your way; I'll find out when I want to..."
'Or maybe sooner than that,' Ranma mused to himself, watching as Nabiki strutted away before he turned around to look over the cabinets. It had been a long while indeed since his last visit to an arcade, and now that his mission was almost complete, he was anxious to enjoy a little fun and games himself!
Several hours later...
"That was too too much fun!" Shampoo cheerfully announced, bouncing up and down in delight as she and the others walked through the streets of Nerima away from the arcade. "Can we go again?"
"You know, sugar, there's actually machines that you can buy that let you play games like those in the comfort of your own home," Ukyo commented, grinning with amusement at Shampoo's antics... of course, the fact she'd been able to just squeak out a victory in their videogaming competition might have helped mollify her.
At those words, Shamoo stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at Ukyo, who nodded, and then turned a pleading, hopeful look to Nabiki. "We can get..?"
"Those things are expensive, Shampoo; I don't have enough money for one of those!" Nabiki protested. When Shampoo visibly teared up, Nabiki winced, and, thinking quickly, added, "But... if we can save up enough money, there's no reason we couldn't buy one..."
At once, Shampoo's mood flipped and she lit up, resuming her gleeful bouncing in the street at this news.
"Y'know, I might actually be able to help with that," Ukyo added, watching Shampoo's antics with obvious amusement.
At that, Shampoo stopped bouncing, turning a curious look to Ukyo, even as Nabiki did the same. "How so?"
Ukyo shrugged. "Well, I was planning to put together a new yattai so I can sell okonomiyaki after class - I mean, I can't just sponge off of Nabiki's dad, now can I? But since you guys are giving me room and board, I can also put part of the money towards a new game console..."
"Ukyo... this may be the start of a beautiful friendship," Nabiki chuckled.
"Sure, we'll help you put a new cart together, Ucchan... but first, I have something for you girls," Ranma interjected, drawing three sets of eyes to him. Reaching into his pocket, he continued, "They're only cheap arcade prizes, but... I saw these and I thought you girls should have them."
He passed over a necklace to Shampoo, whose eyes went wide with shock before her face split in the biggest, happiest grin any of them had yet seen on the emotionally intense Chinese girl. "One of the possible meanings of your name in Japanese is 'coral', Shampoo, an' this has coral in it. So I thought it'd help show that I mean to try and take this friendship of ours seriously now."
Shampoo visibly trembled with delight, letting out a wordless trill as she carefully accepted the necklace with its little teardrop-shaped red coral gemstone ornament. She fastened it around her neck, and then flung herself at Ranma, the startled pigtailed boy letting out instinctive squeaks of protest that were muffled by the rather large breasts smothering his face.
"So happy! Ranma, you I love!" Shampoo cried, squeezing Ranma extra tight before she released him.
Ranma gulped air now that he could breathe again and then, undaunted, turned to Ukyo. "For you, Ucchan, I got this..."
He handed her a comb-like hairpiece, decorated with a large rose made out of what an excited tween would probably think were diamonds, but which they could all tell was only cheap zircon. He shrugged with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, they didn't have a lot of choices..."
Ukyo just smiled. "It's beautiful, Ranchan; thank you," she said, even as she worked it into her hair above her left ear.
Finally, Ranma turned to Nabiki. "Like I said, not really that much choice, but..." he held out a pair of blue zircon snowflake-styled clip-on earrings.
Like Ukyo, Nabiki smiled and accepted them graciously. "It's the thought that counts," she assured him, even as she clipped them onto her earlobes. "Which means it's my turn to show you what being such a good fiancé gets you..."
Ranma blinked in surprise, before Nabiki authoritatively grabbed his chin and pulled him into a deep kiss, holding him there for a good half-minute before letting him go. She smiled sweetly at her dazed fiancé, who just stared back, clearly short-circuited for the moment.
"Wow, you're bold, Nabiki!" Ukyo gasped, cheeks turning pink and covering her mouth.
"Meh. Shampoo give it a six," the Chinese Amazon declared idly, waving her hand in a 'so-so' gesture.
"A six?" Nabiki asked, with mostly feigned indignation.
"Japanese girls just no good at kissing. Is fact. No worries, Shampoo show you how it done..."
"Not in the middle of the street!" Ukyo blurted out, blushing even harder at the idea.
And so it was that the quartet set out again, bickering in a friendly fashion. They had no idea what the future would ultimately hold for them, but right now, they had enough.
Chapter End & Closing Notes
And that's a wrap for this chapter! I hope that this chapter wasn't too disappointing for readers, for various reasons.
Before anyone asks why it is that Ukyo would decide to accept the group marriage invitation, I ask you to consider her canonical behavior, which was to resume pursuing Ranma's heart even after a decade of separate and his engagement to Akane, all because she had nothing but the hope that Ranma & Akane's relationship was really as terrible as it looked. With that in mind, is her behavior here really that much of a stretch?
So, we finally come to the task of fleshing out how the Joketsuzoku function as a society, a necessity in any fanfic in which Shampoo or her supporting characters are going to play a major role. Ironically, in canon, we know incredibly little about Shampoo's tribe, despite the fact they're literally the most important faction after the Tendo household! What little we do know is, in many ways, kind of contradictory. We know that martial arts are hugely important to the village's womenfolk. But at the same time, romance between man and woman is also highly important, as seen by not only the whole "marry men who prove your martial arts superior" rule, but the fact Shampoo was punished for coming home without Ranma, and Shampoo's own "white knight" romantic fantasies - in both the New Year Ghost Cat story and the Pink & Link story, it's shown that Shampoo views Ranma rescuing her as a very romantic thing! The tribe is implied to be matriarchal, but despite fanon to the contrary, they are not misandric - Mousse is treated badly, yes, but that is always because he is essentially Tatewaki Kuno 2.0. In particular, Mousse brazenly insults Cologne to her face and openly works against her, and the worst she ever does is occasionally smack him - and before you start complaining about how abusive that is to Mousse, I ask you to put the Kiss of Death in your mind. With that in perspective, doesn't Mousse's punishment seem pretty damn light?
So, with all that in mind, I set out to try and create a hopefully coherent vision of Nyuchiezu that would incorporate all of what we know from canon, but do it in a way that makes sense when taken as a whole. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how I did!
As an aside, I have a new fanfic out; the Ranma/One Piece crossover "Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse".