Author's Note: Third time's the charm, right? This time I'll totally finish the fic. Totally. It's not like three quarters of it are still to come or anything.
There has been a fairly minor change made to the fic. It's nothing major, but for those of you who reread the fic within a day or two of seeing that there's an update: Whereas Cologne currently makes a couple of comments to the effect that 'Shampoo wants nothing to do with this', those will be edited to indicate that "Shampoo knows nothing of this."
That minor detail aside, note that this chapter will be a lot less funny than previous ones. I didn't find any way around that, since it's basically Ranma being put in a bad situation and given lots of time to think about things. Don't worry, there will be lots and lots of mayhem waiting for him in Nerima.
zzzzz
Ranma took a deep breath, and for a moment he thought of nothing but the pristine mountain air, the chirping of the birds and the rustling of countless leaves. He looked out over the forest that stretched beneath him... And he smiled.
Nerima had its moments, but nothing made things feel just right like a long walk behind you and a new environment to pratcise in.
He heard Akane swear behind him.
He turned around to see his fiancée manhandle the cooking pot, and his smile wiltered ever so slightly.
His mother had never quite gotten it out of her head that he might go away for a week or two with Shampoo, so she had arranged a two week leave from Furinkan for him. When she finally realised that the Chinese girl would not be in town to offer to take him on such a trip, Nodoka had returned to the principal and arranged a two week leave for Akane as well.
And though they had been united in their protests against the forced training trip, there had been little they could do now that Ranma's mother was pulling the strings.
Worse yet, his plan to borrow a second tent from Ukyo on the day they left had been foiled by his mother "offering" to drive them part of the way where they were going.
So that was the situation. One tent. One one-person tent, at that, and Akane's cooking to boot. It was going to be a long two weeks.
zzzzz
Ranma breathed out, focusing. She leaped off the little cliff she stood on, out through the water fall. The first dossen times she had tried this she had gotten swept away by the falling water and into the little lake. But that had been over a week ago, and every day she had made it further with her jumps. First she had managed to make it through the waterfall, but with her momentum so reduced that she didn't reach the opposite bank before gravity pulled her down into the water. As of last night, though, she was (usually) able to make it onto land before touching ground. Now she had made a circle with little stones there, and was aiming for it.
The ability to gracefully jump through thousands of liters of falling water might not be very likely to come up in a fight, but keeping her balance after getting knocked about in mid air sure would.
And more to the point, when she was practising her jumps she didn't have to think about Akane. A week and a half of trying to train with her had reduced Ranma almost to tears. The difference in their skill levels didn't enter into it. Akane had what it took to become a fairly good martial artist. She just didn't seem to want to. That, or she didn't want to learn from him.
Her problem was the same when she was training as when she was actually fighting. She could pick up a new move as well as anyone, but she either followed the moves she knew too rigidly or she forgot them and attacked with brute force. She never just improvised! Gah! How hard could it be? She got angrywhen she showed her how to do it.
Ranma hit the wall of falling water, the downward push knocking her off balance. There was little she could do about that; the flow was just too powerful and unpredictable. But the second she was out of the water she righted herself, and if she didn't land in the circle, she came closer to it than on most of her tries that day.
A couple more hours...
But it was probably time to head back. Akane got angry with her for trying to teach her things, but she got even angrier if she thought she stayed away for too long doing her own training. And if she got too annoyed, she might come looking for her. She wanted to keep this her own little place. Akane didn't see training like she did, and she wanted somewhere Akane couldn't find where training wasn't something you hadto do.
She shook the worst of the water off, and headed off into the woods, towards the camp.
Her stomach made a pathetic sound, and she felt its pain. She had survived mostly on rice the last ten days, plus whatever vegetables and stuff she had been able to salvage by helping Akane with the cooking.
Her thoughts went out Nerima, and all the foodstuffs that were to be had there...
She stumbled. She got up, and her thoughts went back... To Okonomiyaki... To ramen... Oh, to just sit down in Ucchan's restaurant and gorgeherself. Aaah... And all the Chinese foods that they would make for her at the Nekohanten... Shampoo could make noodles like a goddess.
...Of course, shampoo might not be there. Ranma frowned. If Shampoo wasn't back in Nerima by the time they came back, it would be over two months she hadn't been in Nerima. And Cologne didn't seem like she was going to tell her what had become of the most physical of her suitors anytime soon.
It was beginning to nibble at the edge of her mind. Shampoo was gone, and Cologne wanted her to do something. But what she wanted her to do was... give up on Akane. And she wouldn't tell her about Shampoo before that. And she expected to leave Japan soon.
Would that mean that if Ranma didn't change her mind very soon, Cologne was giving up? She couldn't think of anything that was likely to change the fact that she was engaged to Akane... As hideous as ths trip had been, with Nodoka's return the forces pushing them together were more relentless than ever before, and there didn't seem to be any way out.
What would happen if Cologne gave up, anyway? Would Shampoo have to go home as well? Well, no, probably not. Cologne was just there to help out a relative...
Wait.
She stopped.
What if Shampoo was the one who had given up?
Was it possible that Shampoo wasn't in Nerima because she wasn't after her anymore? She blinked a couple of times. But no... The Amazon laws... And Shampoo loved her, didn't she?
She felt a measure of wounded male pride at the notion that Shampoo might have given up. Of course she hadn't.
She laughed to herself. It sounded hollow.
Her smile faded. What if Shampoo had given up? That was a good thing, right? But what would happen to Shampoo, with the crazy laws they had in the Amazon village? And why would she just up and leave without even tellingher about it? Had she given up because she stopped loving her?
Something felt... if not off, at least like she didn't know the whole picture.
Why would Cologne stay behind if Shampoo had given up, for one? Shampoo had that strong sense of honour she herself did; if she had given up, she would return and tell the Amazons. So... presumably whatever the other Amazons had to say about forfeiting a Kiss of Marriage, even if Ranma did leave everything in Japan behind to go there, that wouldn't change Shampoo's position.
Ranma felt conflicted. If one of her fiancées had given up, that was a good thing.
...Wasn't it?
Because he wanted fewer fiancées. In fact he didn't want any, right now. Whatever stronger feelings he had had for Akane for the last few months had taken a horrible beating at the hands of... Well, of Akane. This past week and a half had made it clear just how much of a problem it would be trying to see her as anything like a lifelong training partner. She didn't see martial arts the same way she did. At the moment she was having difficulty seeing her as any kind of a partner at all.
She didn't seem at all like the girl she had gone to the cinema with, just three weeks before.
So she didn't want any fiancées. But for Shampoo to just up and leave... And he had no idea what would happen to her, once the Amazons found out she had abandoned her task. What had probably already happened, since it was two months since she had left Nerima... Would she be allowed to just go back to her old life - but with the stigma of having broken tradition and failed an important mission?
What did they do with an Amazon Warrior who gave up on the Kiss of Marriage?
Well... Last time Cologne had dragged Shampoo's ass back to Japan, with a stop at Jusenkyo on the way, just to make it clear Shampoo was out of line. But... That time Ranma had fooled her into believing she was really a girl... And she thought it likely that Cologne had intervened for a relative. If her treatment was that harsh the first time, what would happen now, if Shampoo gave up despite having both known the truth and had the help of the Matriarch? Would she still be able to follow Cologne's footsteps and become an elder herself, one day?
She shook her head and put those thought out of her head. Up ahead she could see an ominous smoke rising from the campsite. It was too small to be a forest fire. Unfortunately.
zzzzz
Nothing like some time off on the countryside to make you think about things.
Anyway, as if it wasn't enough that I disappear for months on end, I also have another fic I want to get started on. A Ranma/Call of Cthulhu crossover. Yes, the role playing game. Because, you know, Nerima wasn't quite mad enough without cultists, monsters, oodles of dynamite, gods from the Cthulhu Mythos and people shouting 'dodge' and 'oh god my sanity' twice a minute.
Anyways. I'll try to focus on this one, because the bits I've been looking forward to writing are still quite far ahead.