Chasing the Rainbow

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.

Author's Notes: holy hashish, but I've never, in my life, received so many reviews for one chapter! I can't believe that so many people were looking forward to this, that so many think so highly of my writing. It truly humbles me.

Firstly, I'll remind you all that votes are allowed in all chapters… but these merely serve to guide us towards our end-goal. We do have our specific outlines planned, both in short-term (adaptations of the non-serial movies, for example) and in long-term.

Secondly, irregardless of the votes, don't expect crossovers. Even if I didn't doubt my ability to weave such characters into a setup already approaching complexity, I honestly don't know that much about that many other anime or manga series that would be valid material. On a related stance, I'm not going to include material from the late manga; while I know that stories like the Musk Dynasty weren't animated because the anime was cancelled before the manga reached that stage, that doesn't alleviate the fundamental problem. Namely, I know the anime inside and out, but am sorely limited in regards my knowledge of the manga. Patchwork fics really should only be handled by someone who knows all of the canons they're using intimately, and that's not a category I fall into. I may and probably will take inspiration from the late manga, but after my co-writer and I put our own unique spin on things, it would be best to consider it more original work.

Chapter 1: First Steps

Ranma was amazed at how clear his head felt now that he was actually doing something. True, that didn't mean that he had what could be honestly called a plan as yet, but that was something that could come later. After all, he barely had a goal besides getting to know the other girls better, so what was the point in coming up with a plan? True, he probably could have put together some guidelines, if he'd really thought about it… but that would require more free undistracted time than he'd ever get in Nerima. About the only way he could have gotten that sort of time was if he upped sticks and went on an excursion to Jusenkyo… and that was, frankly, impossible, for the same reasons that had held him here so long.

In those other times he was able to do so, that was because he had somebody to help him and, perhaps even more importantly, all of those who would be opposed to him leaving were thrown into chaos. In any of those other timelines, there was nobody inclined or even able to think of tracking him down and getting in the way. Without that backup, Ranma's attempts to run away from Nerima and back to Jusenkyo would be doomed to failure. And that was even if there wasn't a Joketsuzoku "welcoming party" awaiting him- he wouldn't doubt that Cologne might organize such a thing, and a part of his newly awakened thoughts found it hard to blame her for such an idea.

By this point in time, Ranma was somewhere in downtown Nerima, and had left off the rooftops to walk amongst the populace; after all, if he was purposefully going to 'run into' one of the girls, then he should at least take the route they used. Kodachi was the only one of them, as far as he knew, who preferred roof hopping to the streets. Even Shampoo, who rode her bike just about anywhere it could go and a few places it couldn't, tended to be more or less ground-leveled. Ranma's ears twitched as he heard a familiar ringing noise, and for a split-second a decidedly unusual grin crossed his face. Well, speak of the she-devil…

Shampoo hummed to herself as she cycled along the fence; today was shaping up to be a fairly pleasant day. The work wasn't too bad, Mousse had been relatively docile (admittedly, the beating she had given him after Ranma had gotten sent to the hospital had probably helped), and the weather was pleasant- while she didn't get splashed as often as her reluctant fiancé did, cold water still had a tendency to find her when she did not want to become a cat. About the only thing that would make today better would be if she could see her airen, Ranma; she hadn't had a chance to visit him in the hospital since he was first admitted, and she was slightly worried about how he was doing. She knew, at least abstractly, that there was nothing to worry about- Ranma was one of the best martial artists she had ever known, and that equated to a truly miraculous healing capacity, but she still didn't like the idea of him being hurt.

'Even if you do sometimes act the opposite…' A treacherous voice from her subconscious whispered to her. She did her best to ignore it; it wasn't her fault that she got carried away when forced to deal with her rivals, or that Ranma tended to get caught in the crossfire. As usual, it still rang rather hollow, but it did make the voice go away. And she quickly found something else to think about when she realized that, yes, that was indeed her beloved standing there on the pavement. With the ease of training and practice she sprang off of her bike, which coasted to a halt without harming anyone, and flipped through the air with a grace that any gymnast would have admired, landing perfectly in front of him and using the impact to throw her arms around him with a joyous cry.

For a moment, Ranma actually did contemplate trying to hug her back. But he decided against it; he needed to be as subtle as he could about this to avoid raising more trouble then he could handle. It wasn't that he was still, frankly, totally unused to physical affection and found the very idea somewhat paradoxical, no, not in the slightest. So, he settled for simply not trying to fight his way free of her embrace… though he couldn't help the initial reflexive squirming. "Hey, Shampoo. How's it going?" He asked casually.

Shampoo beamed back at him, somewhat puzzled (and, maybe, a tad disappointed) at the lack of resistance on Ranma's part, but quite enjoying the chance to hold him in her arms without having to all but grapple him to do so. "Very, very nice day! Is nicer still now that Shampoo find Ranma- Shampoo so happy that Ranma okay now!"

'Well, at least that's someone saying it's good to see me out of hospital,' Ranma couldn't help but think to himself. Brushing that aside, Ranma steeled himself for what he knew was inevitable.

"Shampoo only have few more deliveries to run- when Shampoo done, Ranma take Shampoo on date?" She pleaded.

"Okay." Ranma said, after a moment's delay and in a quieter tone than he would have liked- made him sound rather timid, at least so he thought, and that embarrassed him.

"Please? Ranma come on date with Shampoo? Shampoo sorry about what happen with Jewel, Shampoo not know- wait, what you say…" The Chinese Amazon suddenly broke off, eyes staring into Ranma's with an expression of equal parts suspicion and disbelief.

"I said 'yes', Shampoo." Ranma replied, gently and at least a little amused by her reaction. Though he did start to worry when her eyes went blank and her arms suddenly fell off of him. "Uh… Shampoo? You feeling alright?" He asked.

It would be rather hard to describe Shampoo's mental state at that precise moment. The closest equivalent would be a pinball machine that had, in response to being shaken, suddenly gone TILT. However, like said pinball machine, her mind came back- and unlike it, she did not lose the ball. With a shout of what could have been Chinese, but which Ranma was pretty sure was simply a meaningless outburst of pure exhilaration, she suddenly flung her arms back around him and squeezed him until he was reminded painfully of that incident with Ryoga and the waterproof soap. In fact, he was so distracted by protestations from his ribs and spine that he failed to notice she was speaking for several seconds… not that it really mattered, because the excitement had apparently made her forget her Japanese and Ranma certainly didn't speak Chinese well enough to decipher her eager babbling.

"Shampoo, I know you're happy and all… but don't you gotta make those deliveries first?" He asked, his voice somewhat faint from the sheer pressure being placed on his lungs.

Shampoo suddenly stopped, blinked, then flickered through multiple emotions too fast for Ranma to follow before giving him one last squeeze, running over to her bike and rocketing off. Making it perhaps more impressive was that she kept up the running commentary in Chinese, though Ranma still couldn't say for certain exactly what she was saying. He'd have laid even money on it being one part profanities to one part promises that he wouldn't regret this, though. Then he realized that he hadn't told her where they were to meet after she was done… fortunately for him, as he wasn't too sure that even he could have caught up to her on foot at the rate she was going, she evidently realized the same thing and came rocketing back towards him, screeching to a halt bare centimeters away.

"Where…?" She began, breathing hard.

"Uh, the park we went to when I got that lady-killer bandaid stuck to me? You remember that place?" Ranma suggested, it being the first 'open' place that popped into his head.

Shampoo nodded gratefully, then tore off at, if anything, an even more impressive speed than she had been going before. Ranma watched her leave, shook his head, then turned and began heading in the appropriate direction himself; he had acted on his plan, and he didn't need someone bumping into him and causing problems, so best to remove himself from the comparatively public arena. After all, while he knew it wouldn't last long, secrecy would be a great advantage while it lasted and, right now, nobody knew about his plans save himself.

XXX

"…And you're absolutely certain of this?" Tatewaki Kuno asked, adopting a position that would have made him appear quite noble and dignified, were it not for the myriad poster-sized portraits of a the "Pigtailed Girl" and Akane decorating the room he had chosen as his 'meditation lounge'.

Not for the first time, Sasuke Sarugakure looked over the pictures and swallowed a surge of disgust, wondering yet again if he should try to share the knowledge he had acquired and persuade his master to accept that Ranma Saotome was the "Pigtailed Girl". As always, he persuaded himself otherwise. He of all people knew how stubborn Kunos could be once they made their mind up on something, and, to be honest, he was afraid of how Kuno might react to discovering that he had been chasing after another man. Him taking things out on Sasuke would be unfair, but not out of character, and so the inept ninja held his tongue once again.

"I am certain, master. Though I know not what his plans are, not his motivation, it would seem that he is no longer interested in Akane Tendo and instead seeks to grow closer to one, or all, of the other women who pursue his hand."

"Fah, that such a degenerate could have multiple ladies in pursuit of his hand is unbelievable, that he would scorn one so fair as Akane Tendo for them more so." Kuno spat, jealousy unmistakable in his tone, though Sasuke bit his tongue; he had learned too many painful lessons about when to speak and when to stay silent. "Still… if it means that he will leave my own beloved Akane Tendo alone at last, that he will no longer threaten her with his depraved whims, nor stand in the path of our true love, then I suppose I can be magnanimous. Let him do as he wish, save that he leave Akane Tendo to one who is better suited for her."

"Oh, you truly are a generous lord, my master." Sasuke praised. "But, I beg of you; what of Mistress Kodachi? After all, is it not possible that he may approach her?"

Kuno looked bored and waved his hand negligently. "As she is willing to approach him first, and rebuke me for trying to perform my duties as her guardian and chase him away, I say it shall be on her own head."

"I do not know whether to be pleased or insulted, brother dear." Kodachi's voice suddenly rang out, startling both the self-proclaimed samurai and the incompetent ninja manservant. Instantly, Kuno's hand went to his ever-present bokken.

"Where are you, twisted sister?" He demanded. He promptly blinked as the door flew open, Kodachi standing proud and defiant in its frame. "…You were eavesdropping at the door?" He asked finally, making no effort to hide his disbelief at his sister doing something so… well… mundane.

"So what if I was? If what I have heard was true, and my darling Ranma has come to his senses, you will not make any effort to interfere when he finally comes to me, do you hear me, brother dear?" She snapped.

"So long as he refrains from his interference with my pursuit, I shall allow him to be with you." Kuno stated.

Kodachi gave him no words in answer, instead laughing uproariously and running away, already boasting about how she had always known that this day would come.

XXX

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Tokyo, Ranma felt and resisted the urge to sneeze. "Oh great, who's talking about me now?" He grumbled.

XXX

"When you're done with cleaning the tables, boy, you get in here and wash the dishes." Cologne called from where she was putting away the recently purchased ingredients for tonight's cooking. Ah, the tasks of running a restaurant- they never ceased. Mousse, meanwhile, grumbled angrily, as was his usual past time, but said nothing- he was in no mood to receive one of Cologne's punishments, even if said punishment usually consisted of a whack on the head or, if she was feeling in a rather bitter (or possibly playful) mood, a rather old root vegetable to the back of the head. And so they worked in mutual silence…

…Which was shattered about three minutes later, when the doors suddenly flew open and a very hyped-up Shampoo came dancing (not quite literally) into the main room. Mousse immediately dropped what he was carrying (smashing several plates, much to Cologne's displeasure) and lunged at Shampoo, promptly receiving a boot in the face for his troubles. This, Cologne watched with some amusement.

"You're jubilant today, my child." She noted.

"Is most too-too happy day!" Shampoo proclaimed enthusiastically. "He say yes! He say yes!" She cried in delight. "Shampoo just ask him, no blackmail, no barter, no nothing- Shampoo just ask, and Ranma say he take Shampoo on date!" She cheered in her excitement, Cologne looking shocked and then pleased for her great-granddaughter. Unfortunately, the two of them had forgotten Mousse's presence, something they were unpleasantly reminded of courtesy of a wordless scream of rage and hate and jealousy.

"You DIE, Ranma Saotome!" Mousse screamed, clawing to his feet and hurling himself out of the door as fast as he could. Such was the vigor with which he moved that he caught both of the women off-guard, so that he had a couple of minutes worth of head-start before Shampoo gave a squawk and gave chase.

"You come back here, Mousse! You not ruin this for Shampoo!" She screamed. A second, incoherent squawk of protest came hot on this declaration as she discovered that Mousse had carved her beloved bicycle into useless pieces, doubtlessly justifying this to himself as being 'for her own good'. "Shampoo's bike! You pay for this, Mousse!"

"Ah, youngsters. Makes me wish I could shed a century or two." Cologne cackled.

XXX

Ranma was enjoying the peace and quiet of the park when his danger sense suddenly went off, leaping aside just as several dozen long, sharp daggers buried themselves practically to the hilts in the tree he had been leaning against. "So what's tied your pinfeathers in a knot, Mousse?" He asked, doing his best to be nonchalant. The male member of the local Joketsuzoku enclave said nothing, instead spitting incoherently in his fury, and charged Ranma with a sword in either fist, lashing out with all of the swiftness he could muster.

Ranma ducked a horizontal swing aimed squarely at his throat, then weaved away from a stab at his heart. An opposing direction dual diagonal swing forced him to leap away, and yet Mousse was attacking with such vehemence that Ranma was finding it hard to spot any chinks in his defense. This had Ranma worried. True, in a technical sense, Mousse was the weakest of the trio of himself, Ryoga and Ranma; this was something that Ranma attributed to Mousse spending most of his time doing odd-jobs at the Nekohanten and mooning after Shampoo, as opposed to wandering all over Japan while trying to learn new techniques, like Ryoga, or fighting off what felt like half of the country come to carve pieces of out his hide, like Ranma.

However, in a practical sense, Mousse was perhaps Ranma's most dangerous opponent- Ryoga might have more skill, but for all his bluster, he was relatively placid and levelheaded. Mousse, on the other hand, was vicious, amoral and, most importantly of all, went into battle carrying enough implements of bladed death to slice, skewer, slash, mangle, eviscerate, decapitate, amputate and otherwise ensure Ranma would have a really shitty day if he managed to get a good hit in.

That was why Ranma was, to put it mildly, rather unhappy that Mousse was showing more skill, focus and pure bloody-minded craziness in this fight than he had ever shown before. It didn't take more than a microsecond for Ranma to realize that Mousse must have heard about him agreeing to take Shampoo on a date- it was the only logical reason for him to come after the heir to the Saotome School at all, never mind in such a state. As he leapt, ducked, dodged and weaved, his mind raced desperately to try and find an answer to a far more important question: how to get the hell out of this mess!

"Oh, Mousse!" Came a sudden feminine call. "Your Shampoo is here for you, Mousse!"

"Shampoo!" Mousse cried in delight, immediately breaking off his attack and running to the Chinese bluenette, who had finally made it onto the scene.

Ordinarily, Ranma would have doubtlessly attacked Mousse while his back was turned- the Anything Goes style as a whole didn't exactly have the finest definition of 'honorable combat', and Mousse was, frankly, deserving of such tricks. However, Ranma was currently recovering from the mental shock: Shampoo calling out to Mousse in a tone other than indifference, anger or disgust? Acting not just friendly to him, but like she was his girlfriend? Had he fallen into some sort of weird alternate dimension or something? …Then he saw she had one hand held behind her back, saw her friendly, welcoming expression change to one of anger and sadistic satisfaction as Mousse drew close, saw her bring forth a chúi and deliver a resounding overhead swing directly to Mousse's skull, leaving him unconscious in a crater in the earth, and the world swung back into its proper slant again. Smiling with relief, Ranma walked over to her, watching as she berated him, occasionally punctuating her words with kicks.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid Mousse! Attack Shampoo's Ranma, will you? Cut up Shampoo's bike, will you? Shampoo make you pay for this, you wait and see!"

"I know what you mean- I'd feed him a dose of love mushroom stew if I could think of anyone who deserved being stuck with him." Ranma added.

"You is okay, Ranma?" Shampoo asked, genuinely concerned; while she knew that Ranma could take Mousse easily on most days, she'd never seen him so serious about fighting before.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm glad you showed up though." Ranma replied calmly.

At that, Shampoo smiled; hearing Ranma say he was happy to see her, even if it was because she'd just saved his neck, was something she couldn't get enough of. And then her attention suddenly latched onto Ranma's earlier comment and she couldn't resist her curiosity. "What is love mushrooms?" She asked.

"Eh, some kind of magical mushroom that grows near this shrine a bunch of us visited- it was my dad's idea. Apparently, if two people eat the same batch of stew, they'll fall for each other." Ranma said, trying to give as little away as possible. Then, thinking quickly, he added, "It didn't work, we were lucky, and I couldn't tell you what they're supposed to look like, so don't ask me to go through on that. Besides, like I said, there's no girl I could justifiably sentence to falling in love with Mousse."

"Uh huh…" Was Shampoo's sole reply. "So, Ranma mean what he say? You take Shampoo on date?"

"I said yes, didn't I?" Ranma asked. "But first, some ground rules." He warned.

At this Shampoo found surprise warring with fear. "Yes…?" She prompted.

"I ain't gonna waste our time by warning you to be discrete; if you go bragging about this, there isn't gonna be a snowball in hell's chance that we'll ever be able to try this again. However, if this date ends up involving blackmail, magic, mind control, propositions of marriage, or anything that might lead to us doing something triple-X rated, then you have my word that I'll walk away right then and there. And I won't ever think of giving you another chance, ya hear? This is your only shot; screw this up, and you won't get another."

Ranma forced himself to avoid giving himself away once he completed his spiel; this was something that he had figured was necessary while waiting for Shampoo to show up, and so he'd been practicing it in his head until she got here. It wasn't the sort of thing he normally would consider doing, and he was kind of disappointed that he had to do it, but he had to admit that it had to be done.

Shampoo swallowed, not even thinking to hide her surprise; where had this come from? Oh, there was a part of her slightly unnerved, mainly by Ranma actually threatening her where it hurt (her heart), but mostly she was just confused. But then again, she had to admit that Ranma agreeing to go on a date with her of his own free will was, sadly, just as unusual, so finally she simply nodded. "Shampoo understand. So, where we go for our date?"

Ranma gave a mental sigh of relief that she had swallowed that so easily. Okay, first the stick, now the carrot… "Wherever you want to go. It's your date, after all." He said.

He found the smile came to him quite easily when her face lit up with delight.

And thus it begins. I know you're all itching for this, so let's hope we can live up to your expectations, eh?

To those reviewers who brought up Nabiki; as I tried to cover in both the prologue and earlier chapters of "Another Rainy Day", while the two could be compatible, there is a certain issue that must be addressed first. Namely, that neither of them has any compulsion to see each other as human, never mind as a romantic interest- Ranma, in this case, knows that he could make things work with Nabiki, but has no motivation to try; why bother when he can simply get to know Shampoo or Ukyo, that's why he's thinking. Canonically, Nabiki considers Ranma nothing more than a source of cash and amusement- she couldn't even give a damn about his life, never mind his comfort. We're talking about the girl who would have legitimately sold him to one of his other love interests, family honor be damned, if they hadn't had a spontaneous attack of Stupid Evil and tried to just kill her and take him… tried to sell "her" to the Yakuza to pay off her gambling debts… cheerily shrugged when Akane brought up that Ranma might be dead in the Herb arc…Needless to say, Ranma has no pressing need to try and 'redeem' her when he can simply work on being more comfortable with one of the other girls.

Anyway, in more important news, when I first posted the prologue, I didn't truly realize that the vote option "Nobody From Nerima" was so ambiguous. One possibility was that Ranma would not end up in a relationship with anybody, and so the story would end with Ranma not with anyone and either swearing to wait until he's older to find someone, or actively considering/acting on leaving Nerima to find someone else. The other possibility, which pretty much everyone seemed to interpret it as, was that it would result in Ranma being coupled with an Original Character (or, alternatively, a rather minor character, such as Kaori Daikoku). So, I've decided to ask: which interpretation of "Nobody From Nerima" do you readers want me to make the "official" one for terms of voting?