Ranma ½ Red, Violet and Black
Author notes: For everyone that is still reading this. Here is chapter three, where Shampoo makes her debut in this fanfiction, some usual Ranma hijinks happen, we move the plot forward some further and there will be some drama again. It is also quite a bit longer than the previous chapters, mostly because more happens in this one. Oh and I suppose I should mention at some point that this fic is operating on anime canon as opposed to manga canon.
Chapter 3
Ranma awkwardly stared down at her still female form for a few seconds. What now again? Why was she not changing back into a boy? The water had been plenty hot enough. Her musings were interrupted by Kodachi curiously asking: "So, how much time does this transformation usually take, Ranma darling?"
The redhead was uneasily fidgeting around and retorted: "Well, not long normally. Actually It's usually pretty much instantaneous."
The other girl furrowed her brows and said: "Oh, then why are you still a girl? Was it not enough hot water? Shall I bring some more?"
"I guess?" Came Ranma's uncertain reply. Huffing at the vague answer her hostess left the room once more only to return with a whole tea kettle full of steaming hot water a bit later. Anxiously the boy turned girl took it and then proceeded to pour the entire contents of the kettle over her head. It had the same effect as the glass before. None. Well that was not entirely true. It did completely drench Ranma once more and resulted in her standing wet and dripping in the Kuno guest room.
Speaking of Kunos, Kodachi's facial expression visibly darkened. "If this was all some cruel joke after all, I swear…" She started to hiss in a low threatening voice.
Quickly her red haired guest waved her hands around defensively and interrupted the black haired girl: "No. It wasn't a joke, I promise. I told you nothing but the truth. Well, tonight at least."
The Kuno girl calmed down somewhat again and then retorted: "So why is the hot water not working?"
"I don't know!" Whined Ranma: "Something is wrong. Apparently I'm stuck again for some reason or another. What did I do now again? Why does stuff like this keep happening to me?"
"Stuck? Again?" Asked an obviously puzzled Kodachi.
While angrily getting wet strands of hair out of her face Ranma answered: "Yeah, there have been several occasions when I was locked in my girl form for various magic or other reasons, though I have no idea what it is now again. Just fantastic. I hate my life." While she was still grumbling the young martial artist routinely got out of her shirt and started to wring it out.
She was quickly interrupted by a girlish shriek from Kodachi. Startled she looked up at the Kuno heiress. The Black Rose was violently blushing and staring wide eyed at Ranma, who at that moment belatedly realized she was now actually completely naked from the waist up.
"What are you doing?" Kodachi managed to complain eventually: "This is highly improper, Ranma darling. Get your clothes back on. Don't you have any female modesty? Wait… don't answer that. I can already guess the answer. And don't wring out your clothes on my floor by the way. It probably costs more than the entire Tendo Dojo."
The redhead felt her own cheeks redden in embarrassment as she hastily scrambled back into her shirt. "Sorry." She apologized and then decided on a course of action: "Well, thank you for everything anyways Kodachi but I'm afraid I have to go."
"What?" the other girl shot back irritated: "Where are you going my dear? What about the stuck as girl thing?"
"I'm going to the Cat Café." Ranma replied while walking towards the door of the room. That was obviously a mistake because promptly a familiar ribbon wrapped itself around her head, followed by her being dragged backwards by said ribbon.
Kodachi was seething with jealousy now: "What do you want at the restaurant of that Chinese floozy? It's barely four in the morning."
"Calm down." The pigtailed girl tried to appease the Kuno heiress: "I don't want anything from Shampoo in particular. I just want to talk with her old ghoul of a great-grandmother. Most of the time I was stuck as a girl she helped me out somehow… or was responsible for it in the first place. Anyways she knows more about magic than anyone else I know."
The ribbon immediately snapped back and Kodachi retorted in a far more pleasant tone: "Oh? In that case I presume this does sound like a reasonable suggestion after all. All right let us go."
"Let us go?" Repeated the redhead with growing dread.
"Of course." Replied Kodachi haughtily: "We have a date on the weekend my darling and I intend for you to turn you back into a boy beforehand. However, I don't trust these foreigners in the slightest so I better go oversee this personally."
Knowing how stubborn all of the Kunos could be Ranma exasperatingly agreed: "Fine. But remember, no word about the date to anyone."
Smiling slyly the Black rose answered: "Naturally. Now follow me closely Ranma darling. I know you are quite capable of making it through all the traps around the mansion on your own, but I'd rather have you not activating them to begin with. Oh and while we are on the way would you kindly tell me a bit more about this curse of yours. As your future wife I should probably know all the details."
Sighing once more Ranma turned to follow her.
The walk to the Cat Café was surprisingly not too bad. Kodachi did pester Ranma with a lot of questions and the young martial artist ended up having to recount the tale of how she got her Jusenkyo curse, as well as some other related tales, but the Kuno girl was unusually civil the entire time.
"So me and my brother were really the only ones to not know about this?" asked the Black Rose indignantly just as the amazon's restaurant finally came into view.
"Pretty much, though your clueless moron of a brother rather actively chooses to deny it. I once changed from girl to boy right in front of him and instead of anything sensible he accused me of black magic and "witching away his pigtailed goddess"." The teen visibly shuddered while saying that last bit.
With a deadpan expression Kodachi replied: "Yes, that does sound like something my dearest brother would do. He was always a bit delusional."
"That must run in the family." Ranma grumbled under her breath.
"Sorry, what did you just say Ranma dear?" inquired the other girl.
"Nothing important." The Redhead quickly responded. Apparently even Ranma sometimes knew when it was better to shut up. Walking up to the front door of the Cat Café the young martial artist loudly knocked on it. When nothing happened for a few moments she did so again, this time insistently continuing to knock without pause. Finally, some noises could be heard from inside and a sleepy looking Mousse opened the door.
Outraged he demanded to know: "What do you want this early in the morning Akane Tendo? It's not even five o clock yet."
"Put on your glasses, you moron," retorted the redhead: "I'm Ranma, not Akane." Embarrassed the Chinese boy dug his glasses out of his robes and put them on.
Giving the heir to the Saotome school of anything goes another once over he yelled infuriated: "Indeed it is you Saotome. That makes it even worse. How dare you disrupt everyone this early you Bastard. I should slay you where you stand." Unfortunately for him, before he could try to make good on his threat a large pan suddenly hit the side off his head with a resounding Clang.
The now clearly dizzy Mousse then was roughly shoved out of the doorframe and a typically exuberant Shampoo, still with somewhat disheveled hair and slight bags under her eyes due to sleepiness, took his place: "Shut up stupid Mousse. Ranma always is welcome here. Ni hao airen. You here to take Shampoo on date?"
Upon hearing this Kodachi immediately made her presence behind Ranma known and furiously declared: "Obviously not, you foreign trollop. My Ranma darling surely has a much more refined taste."
"What is crazy girl doing here? You not welcome here at any time." The amazon shouted back while transferring her attention to her rival.
Already readying her ribbon, the black Rose shot back: "Who are you calling crazy? How dare you, you filthy, unwashed, Chinese savage."
"Shampoo is not savage and definitely not unwashed or filthy. Crazy girl must be stupid." The bickering continued.
Having had enough already Ranma raised her voice and loudly interjected: "Both of you, shut up. I've had a very bad night and I just can't deal with your constant quarreling right now." Stunned to silence her two suitors just blinked at the redhead for a few seconds. "Thanks." The boy turned girl said in relief: "Now, I'm here because I need to speak with your great-grandmother Shampoo. It's important. And Kodachi here insisted to tag along and I kind of owe her so I agreed."
After glaring at Kodachi one last time the purple haired amazon relented: "Fine. Both of you come in." Then suddenly her face scrunched up in confusion as she regarded her currently female fiancée. Curiously she asked: "Since when does crazy girl know about curse?"
The red haired girl sighed heavily: "Long story. I'd appreciate it if you got your great-grandmother first, so that I don't have to tell it twice."
"Allright, Shampoo go get her." The violet haired teenager assented and ran upstairs to do as she said.
A bit later Ranma, Shampoo, Kodachi, Mousse and Cologne were sitting together at one of the tables in the Cat Café. Kodachi left to the redhead and Shampoo to her right while the matriarch and the currently only male were situated on the opposite side of the table. Ranma had shared the news that she was locked in girl form again. This had resulted in some more attempts at using hot water, a few at using cold water instead just to make sure and Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse assuring the redhead that none of them had anything to do it with it this time. Though the Chinese boy made no effort to conceal the fact that he was quite okay with this recent development.
Requiring more information Cologne had then managed to get a reluctant Ranma to recount the entirety of her night, from getting in a sudden downpour and turning into a girl as was normal for her, over being drugged and being saved to finding out that she was stuck as girl. Kodachi had helpfully filled in some events that happened while the redhead had been unconscious. Now that the tale was finished Cologne looked thoughtful while her great granddaughter was practically seething with rage. To no one in particular the purple haired warrior hissed under her breath: "Disgusting perverts try to violate Shampoo airen. They lucky Shampoo was not there. Would have killed them all."
Finally, Cologne spoke up again: "And that was all?"
The cursed redhead in question just nodded.
"Hmm, curious." The old woman replied: "I don't see any reason for your curse to be acting up like this son in law. Are you quite certain you didn't anger some vengeful spirit recently, or did anything stupid with magical artifacts?"
Fretting the pigtailed martial artist retorted: "Yes I am certain. I'm not that careless with magical stuff."
Suddenly the other three teens at the table all disagreed in unison: "Yes you are."
Cologne quickly interjected: "Anyways, if there really wasn't anything else recently the only thing different from usual was that poisoned ice cream you ate. Honestly though, I can't see some normal drug, that random Japanese street thugs use, having any effect on a Jusenkyo curse but right now it's the only thing we have to investigate. So we might have to find those idiots again and question them about what they gave you."
"Oh, that might not be necessary." Kodachi inserted herself into the conversation again and with a swift motion pulled out two small vials, full of clear liquid, from her pockets: "After teaching them a much needed lesson I confiscated this from those filthy commoner boys. I'm guessing it's the same substance they poisoned my Ranma darling with. They had one empty vial plus these two full ones with them."
"What the hell were you planning on doing with these?" Asked a suspicious Ranma.
The Black Rose did her best to smile innocently while trying to shrug it off: "Nothing really. I just wanted to properly analyze this substance later, for purely scientific purposes." When four pairs of eyes just continued to stare at her completely unconvinced she eventually admitted: "Alright that, and if determining that there are no long term-side effects, maybe I was planning to sabotage a rival gymnast team the St. Hebereke's school faces in three weeks with it."
"Yeah, that does sounds much more likely." The red haired girl concluded.
Cologne shrugged: "Well, at least this might save us some time." The ancient woman reached for one of the vials and thoroughly inspected it. Having found nothing conclusive from the pretty plain container she carefully uncorked it and sniffed at the concoction. Abruptly her eyes widened in surprise. "Is that... ? No it can't be." The old amazon whispered.
With a concerned look Shampoo asked: "What can't be great-grandmother?"
"Wait here for a moment." Was the only reply as Cologne hopped upstairs on her stick. The four teenagers still at the table just stared at each other in bewilderment. Not much later the ancient woman returned with a thick, old looking tome as well as a glass full of some green powder. Several of the assembled teens started to ask questions, but the amazon matriarch just urgently shushed them while she flipped through the pages of the old book. Eventually she apparently found what she was searching for and scanned the page, her face scrunching up in worry.
"Well spit it out already old ghoul, what is…." Ranma tried once more, only to be silenced with a swift hit on the head with Colognes staff. Rubbing her head dissatisfied the redhead was really getting nervous now. Meanwhile the old amazon placed a bit of the green powder she brought on an empty spot on the table and cautiously lifted up the open vial with the drug. A single drop of it fell down as she slightly tilted it and dripped into the small heap of powder. With a loud Whoosh a short blue flame shot up, completely using up all the powder. The four teenagers on the table flinched backwards with various cries of surprise.
Colognes face visibly fell and she sighed tiredly. Looking up at Ranma and Kodachi again the amazon matriarch asked: "Are you quite certain that the guys you encountered were ordinary Japanese people? Additionally, could you find them again if needed?"
Kodachi immediately replied in her typical haughty manner: "Of course I'm certain that they were nothing but local common filth. There was hardly anything special about them, except maybe that they were especially revolting. And naturally I could find them again. My memory is flawless after all. Moreover, I even have photographs of them just in case." During the last part she once more reached into the depths of her Kimono and pulled out three photographs of one of the thugs each. They were visibly taken after the beating the black Rose gave them, since the guys were clearly unconscious and visibly bruised on the pictures.
Shampoo blinked slowly and then wanted to know: "What does crazy girl want with pictures of perverts?"
"I intended to report them to the police later and thought pictures would be useful." Came the reply with another innocent smile. Once more four pairs of eyes looked at her completely unconvinced. The young Kuno girl sniffed and revised her explanation: "Alright, I felt some more punishment for those commoners was in order since they actually dared to attack me when I interrupted them. However I didn't want to get in any potential trouble with the authorities myself. So I was initially planning to rub saving the "pigtailed girl" under my brother's nose once he returned and give him the photos so he would run after those filthy peasants to avenge his "love" and therefore punish them for me. Are you satisfied now?"The others just nodded since they found that explanation much more likely.
Losing her patience Ranma once more demanded answers: "Okay now, what is going on? What weird stuff did these assholes feed me?"
"This here," Started Cologne while taping one of the drug vials: "isn't just some random modern drug or anything like that. In fact, this concoction is a magical potion, which also contains the oil of an Ikuchi."
"What's an Ikuchi?" the heir of the Saotome school of anything goes martial arts asked clueless.
The ancient amazon elaborated: "That is a kind of sea serpent that lived until medieval times. It is extinct today though, mostly due to being actively hunted by humans since it was said to often attack ships in order to sink them. Those sea serpents, probably as natural defense, also secreted some sort of magical oil, that if coming into contact with other living beings temporarily drained them of all strength. Additionally, a more long-term effect of the oil is that it somehow suppresses all inherent magical abilities of whatever living creature it comes into contact with. For this reason, Ikuchi oil was sometimes processed into potions like these, which were mostly used by priests in feudal Japan to neutralize the powers of dark magic users or demons. I sincerely can't explain how some of those potions ended up circulating in the streets of Tokyo. They are extremely rare nowadays."
Ranma mulled over that new information but couldn't quite make much sense of it: "So you are telling me that this stupid oil somehow blocks people from using their magical abilities if they have any? What has this to do with me though? I don't have any magical abilities of my own. I just have an annoying curse from some stupid magical puddle."
"Well, that is not entirely true." Cologne denied: "While your curse did originate from the spring of drowned girl it's magic did transfer over to your own body as soon as you fell into it, granting you what could be considered magic shapeshifting abilities, albeit involuntary ones. I'm afraid to say that due to the nature of Jusenkyo curses your water-induced changes are kind of inherent magic abilities of yours."
At that Shampoos face lit up in understanding and the purple haired girl inferred: "So, since curse is magical ability of sorts, magic serpent oil blocks airen's magic transformations. And since Ranma was girl when ingesting potion, she stuck as girl, yes?"
"Exactly that seems to be the case." Confirmed her great-grandmother.
The red haired teenager, who was currently center of the discussion, was less than pleased and sullenly stated: "Just Great. That's all very interesting and that but how can I fix this gain?" She was practically shouting the last part of the sentence.
Shampoo needed little time to get behind her: "Yes great-grandmother, how we make girl-type Ranma man-type Ranma again?"
The third girl at the table insisted as well: "Incredible that I'm going to say this, but the purple haired floozy is right. We definitely need to cure my Ranma darling."
Mousse just unenthusiastically grumbled: "Do we really have to?"
The amazon matriarch however looked visibly troubled. With a slightly sad voice she confessed: "I am sorry to tell you that, but I'm afraid that I have no idea how to possibly undo the effect of the Ikuchi oil. Unfortunately, I don't know of any antidote and this tome here says nothing of any way to reverse it either."
"What?" Shrieked a distressed Ranma: "Don't even joke about something like that."
The ancient woman shot the redhead a genuinely apologetic look: "I'm not joking. I really don't know of a way to reverse it. I could of course do some more research but since information on Ikuchis is very limited to begin with, I'm not having too much hope."
All color visibly drained from Ranma's face as she stammered: "But… but… I can't… I…. What if I jump into the spring of drowned man?"
Cologne just shook her head: "I very much doubt that would work. It would just replace your girl form with your male form in theory, in practice however the oils effect would still prevent your body from engaging in any shapeshifting. Meaning that you would still emerge female." The poor redheads left eye was twitching nervously as she was getting close to a mental breakdown.
Shampoo not taking the news all too well either pleadingly whined: "There really nothing we can do, great grandmother."
The elder woman helplessly shrugged: "Aside from waiting till the magic Ikuchi potion wears off, I don't know anything we could do."
At that the currently stuck as female martial artist let out a strangled sigh of relief. Regaining some composure, the pig tailed girl complained: "It wears off? Oh at least some good news. Why the hell didn't you say that to begin with old hag? You nearly gave me a heart attack. So, how long until I can get back to being a man?"
The old amazon fidgeted around nervously and tapped the old tome on the table as she replied: "Well, the records here are somewhat vague. They do however indicate that some dark magic users were held captive sometimes after getting some Ikuchi potion administered and that their magic abilities slowly returned eventually. You won't like the fact though that it took about eight to twelve years for that to happen, depending on the individual."
"Eight to twelve years?" Ranma cried out in loud desperation, her voice undoubtedly waking the neighbors as well. Following that she sunk together on her chair, skin pale, eyes wide open in distress and focused on something far away.
Shampoo, looking rather concerned, waved a hand in front of her fiancée's face and called out: "Airen? Ranma? Ranma? Please respond." She got zero reaction. Frowning in worry the violet haired girl turned to her great-grandmother and said: "Shampoo afraid you just broke Ranma."
Apparently Ranma wasn't the only one that didn't take the news lightly though, as Kodachi shot up at this very moment and ranted: "This is unacceptable. My Ranma darling can't be stuck as girl. He was supposed to become my husband. This… I… I can't marry another girl. I…. This… It's just not fair." The black Rose stomped her foot like a petulant child and moisture was gathering in the corner of her eyes. With an unhappy sob she turned around and rushed out of the Cat Café while tears started to flow down her face. Soon she disappeared up to the rooftops and out of the sight of the gathered amazons.
Watching after her bewildered Shampoo finally said: "Well, there goes crazy girl. Good riddance."
"Could have at least taken Saotome with her. What are we supposed to do with him… or her?" Mousse interjected, which brought him nothing but an angry glare from his longtime crush.
Suddenly a quiet sob could be heard. Turning around again the young amazon determined that it was coming from Ranma, who had sunken together even more while tears were spilling out of her eyes. Hesitantly Shampoo laid a comforting hand upon the crying girls shoulder and started to say: "Ranma…"
The pigtailed girl looked up and the young amazon visibly recoiled at the expression of pure despair on her fiancée's face. That nervous breakdown that had been shortly delayed beforehand had now hit Ranma with full force. With tears streaming down her cheeks the redhead weakly whimpered: "I'm stuck as a girl, permanently for years. But… I…. Oh no, I'm so stupid. That's all my fault… I… can't... My life is over."
"No is not." Shampoo assured the other girl while squeezing her shoulder affectionately.
"Of course it is." The distraught pig tailed girl sobbed: "I've trained all my life to become a man among men. And now…. I am… nothing!"
The amazon disagreed vehemently: "Not true at all!"
Ranma was not listening to her but instead focused on, actually somewhat justifiably, panicking and falling into depression: "My pops is going to cast me out of the family for this. Akane won't want to have to do anything with me anymore. Ukyo is probably going to kill me. There is no way to tell what Kodachi is going to do. But it most likely involves killing me. The Tendos will kick me out of their home now for sure. My mom is definitely going to kill me if she ever finds out about this. You probably want to kill me as well, since I'm stuck as a girl and that means the kiss of death is on again or something. You know what? Just do it right now. I don't care anymore. Just make it quick."
"No!" Shampoo denied fiercely, obviously horrified at the mere suggestion. With a swift motion she hugged the still crying redhead. Ranma was to emotionally exhausted to struggle against the hug as she usually would. Soothingly the amazon caressed the other girl's hair and reassuringly asserted: "Shampoo no want to kill Ranma at all. Is furthest from what Shampoo wants."
"But… the kiss of death…" Argued a surprised Ranma.
Cologne interrupted her: "Does only apply to outsiders that have been born female. You are therefore save from it, since we can easily use that loophole. However, your current condition does mean that you are not a very favorable choice for husband right now. Therefore, Shampoo could now according to amazon law revoke the kiss of marriage as well."
At this Mousse visibly perked up and joyfully proclaimed: "And then her honor would be satisfied, she could return to the village and marry me instead. Shampoo come into my arms my love." In a rare display of accuracy, the hidden weapons experts actually did try to hug the real Shampoo this time. Unfortunately for him the amazon girl was not inclined to come into his arms. Instead he got a fist to his face that sent him to the floor and the violet haired girl growled in irritation: "How often do I have to tell stupid Mousse that Shampoo not want to marry him?" Mousse was rubbing his sore cheek while groaning in pain. Then the young amazon turned to her great-grandmother and declared with complete conviction: "Shampoo no want to revoke kiss of marriage."
The old woman just nodded in acknowledgement, while the boy on the floor prepared to protest loudly only to whacked on the head and silenced by her staff.
"What?" Asked a thoroughly confused Ranma with her head hanging down: "But I'm not even a man anymore. Why would you, or anyone for that matter, still want me?"
Tenderly the purple haired amazon lifted Ranma's chin up with two fingers and forced the pig tailed girl to look in her eyes. The puffy blue ones of the Saotome girl met Shampoos own unusually red colored ones and the amazon, voice brimming with sincerity, stated: "Shampoos still want Ranma, because Ranma is brave, courageous, honorable, is very very strong warrior, even in girl-form, and always helps Shampoo when Shampoo really needs help. Also Shampoo loves Ranma. Just because Ranma is trapped as girl doesn't change any of that. Wo ai ni."
Mousse was groaning in annoyance at that declaration of love and once more tried to interfere, only to be forcibly dragged out of the room by Cologne who simply said: "Let's give those two some space Mister Part-time."
Momentarily baffled Ranma just blinked at her amazon fiancée through teary eyes a few times before slightly blushing and then looking down again in shame. She sighed and retorted: "But you heard it. I messed everything up and will be a girl for years to come. The old ghoul is right, I'm in no condition to be anyone's husband right now."
"Is true." Shampoo agreed: "Ranma can't be husband for now. But Ranma can be Shampoos girlfriend until stupid magic wears off, yes? Shampoo not going to lie. She prefers man-type Ranma but also thinks girl-type Ranma is very cute as well. Shampoo will be more than happy if she can have Ranma as girlfriend."
"What?" echoed the redhead being clearly flustered by now: "You are weird."
The amazon huffed and shot back: "Am not!" But seeing that her beloved was at least not openly crying and sobbing anymore Shampoo decided to let the, admittedly slight insult, pass and instead decided on calming Ranma down some more. Soothingly she said: "Look, what Shampoo want to say is that Shampoo is still here for Ranma. Shampoo also not thinks that Ranma's family and friends will hate Ranma now. And if they do, they stupid and shallow and Ranma can stay with Shampoo then. Yes, is too too bad situation right now, but not end of Ranma's life. Could be seen as very hard challenge. Ranma don't want to give up, or…"
To the amazon's glee that apparently did something as the pig tailed martial artist leapt up from her chair and exclaimed: "What? No. Ranma Saotome never gives up."
The purple haired girl grinned. One could always count on Ranma's stubbornness in face of a challenge. Smiling brightly, she affectionately brushed a last stray tear from her beloved's face and replied: "Shampoo knows."
Sighing, still visibly distressed and sorrowful, but at least not a complete emotional wreck anymore Ranma thanked her Chinese fiancée: "I… Thank you Shampoo. For trying to cheer me up at least. I guess, you are… a real friend after all, even if I thought that you were a pest at the beginning. Still I… honestly don't know what to do right now. This still feels like a nightmare. I should probably go back to the Tendo Dojo. I'll have to tell everyone else eventually and they probably worry about me since I was gone all night long. Well at least until they start to hate me."
Another defeated sight escaped the redhead as she turned to leave.
Shampoo decided that she should probably tag along, to give emotional support if nothing else, so she walked after The Saotome girl and insisted: "Shampoo go with you, yes? In case stupid panda or kitchen destroyer are being stupid and mean after all." Her hand reached for Ranma's and she gave the pig tailed girl an encouraging squeeze.
Ranma just shrugged and walked headed towards the direction of the Tendo residence. Correctly interpreting that as permission the amazon followed her.
From one of the upper windows of the Cat Café Cologne looked after the two teenagers. Sighing heavily the old woman rubbed the bridge of her nose. This was all a huge mess. How did her future son… or was it daughter for now?... in law always manage to end up in such incredibly unlikely situations. But maybe the situation was not as completely unsalvageable as she had first thought. The ancient matriarch of the Chinese amazons knew that her great-granddaughters feelings for the Saotome boy, or girl now, were pretty strong. And male or female, Ranma was a formidable martial artist that would be a fine addition to the tribe anyways. If Shampoo did manage to seduce the boy turned girl this would still bring her a lot of prestige. Plus, there was the always the possibility that Ranma could be turned back into a man in eight to twelve years and Shampoo would then still be young enough to have kids. Not to mention that Cologne herself had started to grow quite fond of the young Saotome. Smiling to herself the old woman thought that maybe, just maybe all the time she invested into this endeavor wasn't for nothing just yet.
With that she turned her attention back to a related matter. The two vials of magic potion that were standing on her desk for now. Frowning she decided that it would probably be a good idea to find out where those came from.
Further author notes (beware of minor spoilers): Well, there goes chapter three. If you read it this far, thank you and I hope you could enjoy it. The trend of the reviews shows, that at least some people are dissatisfied with the plot for various reasons. I concede, that maybe the cliffhanger last chapter was badly chosen on my part, which lead some readers to believe that Ranma's curse lock was a result of a normal date rape drug (which would indeed have been stupid). That was never the plan to begin with but I understand why people thought that. (Now whether the magical nonsense reason I came up with is actually any less stupid I will leave for the readers to decide.)
As for the Japanese Mythology part in this chapter: It is basically some genuine Mythology that I also kind of added a lot of completely invented bullshit upon because I'm a hack and not very versed in Japanese or Chinese Mythology. Sorry. I probably also bullshitted my way through amazon laws, but I guess I have more lenience there since I don't remember them being fully explained in the anime eiter.
For the Kodachi fans under you: No, she isn't already out of the race for Ranma. She will return in future chapters.