Cologne was in the kitchen when she felt it. Something upstairs that caused her dread. She heard Mousse drop a glass signifying he could feel it too. They looked at each other and ran up to Shampoo's room.
They found it empty and one of Colognes books and some empty bottles on the floor. What was her granddaughter up to now? She read the page it was open on. Then she went white as a sheet. Not THAT one! Please no!
"Mousse!" she yelled to the short sighted young man. "We have to go quickly!"
"Yes…but what are we going to do?" he asked as they leapt through the window in pursuit.
"We have to kill Shampoo." Cologne answered quietly, well hidden tears in her eyes.
Ryoga walked down the street, once more unsure of where he was. He was thinking about his talk with Ukyo previously. He'd turned up at the okonomiyaki chef's restaurant by accident. She had been eager to talk to him about what had been going on in China since Ranma had been avoiding her. He couldn't really turn down free food.
In some ways he and Ranma were more alike than he would care to admit.
"Come on sugar. Tell me what happened. Ranma honey won't tell me anything." Ukyo whined. She had been alarmed at the change in Ranma, the way he seemed more protective of Akane now.
"Certain things happened Ukyo. Things that showed me peoples real feelings. I recommend you take my advice and forget about Ranma."
"Never. He's my fiancée. Akane can't have him."
"Then I'm sorry for you. You can't win and you may lose any chance of happiness you could with someone else through bitterness.." She started crying uncontrollably and , being a bit better with his emotions when it wasn't Akane, he gently held and let her cry. She had clung to him in her grief.
He was disturbed from his confusing thoughts when "something" that looked kind of looked like Shampoo ran past him followed by two very worried amazons. "Don't just stand there fool. Help us stop her!!" yelled Cologne as they set off after her.
Ryoga charged off in the opposite direction until he felt Cologne grab him by the ear to bring him with them.
At the Tendo household things were odd. Ranma had been unusually quiet and everyone was treading on eggshells around him. He had been irritable and edgy since the last incident. Genma now had a broken arm courtesy of Ranma losing patience with him. Ranma was again in the Dojo striking a punch bag so hard that it was splitting open.
How dare Shampoo. How dare she! He didn't want to hurt her but had been forced too. He couldn't allow her to threaten Akane any longer. He couldn't allow anyone to do that. If he had to sacrifice his honour to do so then so be it.
"Ranma?" Akane walked slowly into the Dojo, "are you okay?" She was really worried about him now. She knew he would eat himself up with guilt even though he had had no real choice.
"I'm okay Akane. I did what I had to do to protect you. I still feel bad about hitting Shampoo though, even if she did deserve it." He gave her a small smile which made her giggle.
"I wasn't lying you know." He went on. When he saw her puzzlement he added, "You are cute when you smile."
Akane blushed but couldn't say any more as there was a commotion outside. They ran out to see the others transfixed by a new visitor who had dropped into the yard.
They stared in a mixture of horror, shock and fear at what was in front of them. It was Shampoo but taller, with teeth and talons and hideous markings over her face. She snarled at them and then charged at Akane. Ranma tried to intercept her but the creature was too quick and ducked around him with lightning speed.
Chains and whips lashed out binding her in a maelstrom of iron and leather as Mousse held her fast.
"Well done Boy!" cheered Cologne as she hopped into the yard dragging the lost boy with her..
She was too quick to be pleased as the being pulled on her tethers and threw Mousse into Ranma and again charged Akane.
The Shampoo creature hurled a blade at Akane. It would have struck her in the neck if not for the Katana hurled by Ranma's mother that struck it and deflected it so that it merely struck her in the shoulder.
Akane fell to the floor with a cry as Shampoo charged at her to finish the job.
"Bakusai tenketsu!!" cried Ryoga as he shattered the ground in front of Shampoo forcing her into the air and she was struck with a kick from Ranma that threw her out of the dojo driving her off.
Ranma would normally have followed but instead was running to Akane and gently gathered the girl into his arms checking her shoulder and the dagger protruding from it.
"This is going to hurt Akane" he whispered to her and looked into her eyes. She bit her lip and gripped his hand in reassurance.
She screamed in pain as he withdrew the blade and then held her tightly. "I'm sorry" her whispered into her hair not realising she had passed out. The wound was clean and there was little blood loss thankfully. If it had hit its target she would be dead.
"I'm sorry, I failed again." Mousse was filled with regret as he watched the scene. "I didn't know what she was planning."
"There was nothing you could do Mousse. If you had tried you would be dead. Even I can't stop her now. The spell makes her nearly invincible." Cologne consoled him.
"Ranma, what are we going to do?" Ryoga asked looking at the boy who had said nothing, simply looked at the figure he held in his arms, his face hidden by his hair. Ryoga had seen him like this before in China when he had cradled Akanes almost lifeless body. There was the same air of sadness in him. He gently laid Akane down on a pillow and then passed her hand to Kasumi who he gave a weak smile too as he stood. He gave one last sad, caring look to Akane and turned to answer Ryoga.
When he looked up Ryoga had to take a step back in shock and he was amazed to admit, fear. He never thought that Ranma could terrify him. He was wrong.
"The only thing I can do. I will kill her. I will kill her!!" He turned to look at the others with a face full of bleak determination, "even if it kills me."
With that, he was off out the yard in search of retribution.
"We must help him. Maybe all of us together can stop her before she kills her target." Yelled Cologne urging the others to follow.
Hope people enjoyed this. Next chapter we get to see the fight I promised!! Wanted it this chapter but needed a bit more to happen first.
I plan on maybe 3 or 4 more chapters after this. There are a lot of issues to be sorted.