Chapter No. 9
"Friend or foe?"
They rowed laboriously together across the sea. Ryoga seemed even more depressed than usual. His head was down, his mind in Japan. Shampoo knew she could not reach him.
The world was silent, save for the wind and the sound of the paddles splashing the water.
Shampoo sighed and allowed her mind to drift off too.
She took herself back to that day when Ryoga transformed in front of Akane. When she thought about that, she knew why she was helping Ryoga now instead of getting with her beloved Ranma. All this time, Ryoga had been crying out for help and nobody had been listening. Why had she closed her eyes to his suffering? Probably because she had never taken him seriously. Now she was going to take Ryoga to her tribe instead of Ranma.
Ryoga, over Ranma? Ridiculous. Shampoo's body did not respond to Ryoga as it did with Ranma. She wondered what was more powerful, friendship or love.
It seemed as if the time had come to put others before herself. Shampoo was not sure if she was ready.
Cologne of the Chinese Amazon tribe read and then reread the letter she held tightly in her withered hands. She sat on a high stool by a table, her wide unblinking eyes regarding the handwriting of her great-granddaughter.
Although Cologne had only that day received the letter, it was written quite a while ago. It took some time for letters to reach the obscure Chinese Amazon tribe. Shampoo wrote that she had met a Japanese martial artist and he was currently teaching her Japanese.
'At this rate,' she had written in Chinese, 'I will be able to kill Ranma soon and come back home.'
Cologne frowned and shook his head. "Shampoo, you can be so stupid sometimes. Didn't you know I could speak Japanese fluently?" She sighed. "Life's ironic. Shampoo didn't even need to go to the trouble of getting a strange boy to help her."
"A strange boy?" It seemed as if Cologne was not alone as she had wanted to be.
The leader of the Amazon tribe turned and regarded the long-haired bespectacled boy who had burst into the entrance of her hut. "Ah, Mousse. What are you doing here?" she asked in a slightly frosty tone.
Mousse growled. "Answer me, you old hag! Who's this strange boy Shampoo's gone out with?"
"I wouldn't say 'gone out with'," said Cologne. 'More like 'made use of.'"
Mousse simply glared at Cologne in answer.
She sighed. "She says here her companion's name is Ryoga Hibiki."
"Ryoga Hibiki, huh? Him teach my beloved Shampoo Japanese instead of me!" Mousse roared. "From this day forth he is my sword enemy! I shall go to Japan this very day!"
Cologne wordlessly watched Mousse storm off. Here was a strange boy. At age three, Shampoo had spurned him and thirteen years later he still pursued her to similar levels of encouragement. Unless Shampoo changed her mind about him, he had no chance to win her hand in marriage. As for defeating Ryoga, that meant nothing because Shampoo had given no indication in her letter that she even thought anything of Ryoga at all. Whoever this Ryoga person was.
"A martial artist, huh?" Cologne muttered to herself as she once again perused the letter.
The old woman was looking for a real suitor for Shampoo: a strong, brave and worthy martial artist whose finesse must far exceed Mousse's. Not that she could be bothered telling that to Mousse either. Poor guy. She didn't hate him really, certainly not as much as Shampoo seemed to.
"Hey, Ryoga, something Shampoo need tell."
They were walking en-route to the Chinese Amazon tribe. A familiar backdrop of greenery was painted around the two weary travellers.
"Yes?" Ryoga said, looking up at Shampoo as he trudged along. At least he was talking now, even though his eyes still had a haunted, listless look about them.
Shampoo cleared her throat, gazed at the hills and valleys ahead, and then said, "Soon we home. Great-grandmother Cologne train you, yes?"
"What, an old lady?" Ryoga asked incredulously.
"Of course," Shampoo nodded earnestly. "Great-grandmother very strong martial artist."
"I wonder how that could be," Ryoga mused.
Shampoo hit him on the head.
"What was that for?"
"Shampoo try help you and this how Ryoga thank?"
"Well, I don't exactly need you, do I? You just started following me around!"
This was a Ryoga who was not being himself. Suffering had made him selfish and now he was prepared to lash out at the nearest person. He did not want to lose the last shred of his dignity, wherever he perceived it lay.
But Shampoo failed to realise this.
"What you mean? I show China!"
He snorted. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you fancy me!"
"FANCY YOU? WHO EVER FANCY YOU?"
What had happened to their friendship? She had honestly wanted to help him, had sacrificed her wishes for his needs. And yet, their so-called "friendship" had broken down so easily. Theirs was really a hurtful relationship, where one sought to wound the other has much as possible. It would have been better if they had never become friends at all!
Shampoo dug into her brain and pulled out the most hurtful insult to Ryoga she could think of. "Pig!" she snarled venomously. She was trembling, not with trepidation but with anger. Standing erect, she turned her chin upwards and stared defiantly into his eyes.
At first, he was visibly winded and then his eyes re-entered the battle, blazing with crimson fury. "You…! You…!" He could not find the words to express how he was feeling.
And suddenly he felt arms encircling him, hugging him. "What the hell…?" the words formed on his mouth.
"Oh, Shampoo!"
It was Mousse. He must have sneaked up on Ryoga during the glaring contest. Her argument momentarily forgotten, Shampoo found herself rolling her eyes, a now involuntary reaction whenever Mousse was close by.
"Put glasses on, Mousse," she told him coolly.
Mousse blinked and then did as he was told. Apparently, the Chinese boy was near-sighted, Ryoga noted. If he wasn't so angry, he might have laughed at Mousse's ridiculous coke-bottle style glasses.
"Gah!" Mousse suddenly yelled as he realised that he had mistaken a man for Shampoo. He quickly recovered. "You must be Ryoga Hibiki!" he exclaimed.
"How do you know my name?" Ryoga did not like the way this stranger was pointing the finger at him and glaring at him as if…
"We're rivals!" Mousse confirmed. Then he tried to hold Ryoga up by his shirt, but that failed miserably because he was too stout for that. So Mousse settled with standing back and leering in an intimidating manner. But that also failed miserably because his glasses completely covered up his eyes.
"You read Shampoo's letter to great-grandmother?" Shampoo asked Mousse.
"Yes," Mousse replied solemnly. "Shampoo, why did you choose that boy over me? Look, can't you see I'm talking Japanese to you right now?"
It was true. Ryoga could understand every word Mousse uttered.
"Who are you?" he asked curiously.
Mousse attempted a prideful, withering glare and straightened up. "I am Mousse of the Chinese Amazon tribe and I am Shampoo's suitor," he said impressively.
A passing bird overhead did its business all over Mousse's long, intricate robes. Shampoo giggled.
"Not much of a suitor, is he?" Ryoga snorted. And ironically enough, that was one of the precious few things he and Shampoo agreed upon.
Meanwhile, Mousse was getting steadily more frustrated. "Enough!" he roared suddenly. Again, he pointed a finger at Ryoga. "I challenge you to a match at sundown!"
"Why not do it now?" Ryoga asked. He never could resist a challenge.
"In these robes? Ridiculous! I have to go home and change first!"
And they had to be satisfied with that.
As the final leg of the journey commenced, Mousse in tow, Shampoo seemed to walk along with a clouded face. She was ill at ease. She had probably killed Ryoga's self-esteem. What the hell kind of friend was she? The horrible feeling she had felt on the boat, now she knew what it was. It was guilt. Shampoo had never questioned her actions before. The comfortable dimensions of her world were again alarmingly jilted, just like the time when Ranma had defeated her. What was happening to her? Was compassion creeping into her icy heart?
Shampoo needn't have bothered with any word of apology. Ryoga's self-esteem had not shattered. In fact, he was almost feeling good because of Mousse. There actually existed people more pathetic than him in the world. There was nothing quite like slapstick which made one feel better about his own situation. As for Shampoo's insults, she wasn't exactly nice to him. He was used to it. If Akane had said the same words, yes, that might have proved a thorn in his heart.
Oh, Akane… He wondered how she was doing.
Mousse trotted next to Shampoo and ceaselessly asked her questions about her well-being, and didn't seem to notice that the minds of his companions were far, far away.
"Back already, I see," said Cologne wryly.
That was what she said to Mousse when he walked past the gates. She saw Shampoo next.
"Ah, Shampoo, welcome home! And that must be your friend, Ryoga." She spoke in rapid Chinese, and Ryoga looked at Cologne without understanding anything she said at all.
Shampoo replied, "I am home, great-grandmother."
"So, then, Ranma is dead, I presume?"
Shampoo knew this question as coming. She had spent the entire trip mentally preparing for it. To tell Cologne the truth – that Ranma was actually a man and that she wanted to marry him – would shame her because she had returned without him. Furthermore, admitting that she had given up trying to kill him would also ruin her honour. Without honour, a Chinese Amazon was nothing, certainly not permitted to be alive.
Shampoo had known what she would have to say the moment she stepped on the boat to navigate Ryoga to China. For the sake of honour and for the sake of friendship:
"Ranma," she said in her best Chinese, "is dead. I have chased her to the ends of the earth and I have killed her."
Author's note: I'm aware you might think there are some flaws with this last twist, so I'll try and explain my argument.
In the manga, when Shampoo found out about Ranma's curse, she went back to the Amazon tribe without killing Ranma. She was probably confused as to whether she was supposed to marry Ranma or kill him, so she went back to Cologne to work out what she was meant to do. That action did not shame her.
Also in various story arcs, Shampoo returned to China, but never went back to the Amazons. I presumed from this that by Amazon law, she could not go back until she had married Ranma.
As for any perceived OOC-ness, I'm sorry, but this is fan fiction. I can't keep everyone completely in-character. I'm aiming for character development in this fic, unlike in the manga where the characters remained very close to static throughout the entire story.
Eh… but I've probably still made mistakes despite my efforts. You can tell me all about it. Derp.