Two girls stared at each other. Though they were only separated by a few short meters, they appeared wildly different, almost worlds apart.

One was dressed in shimmering – almost ceremonial-looking – silk, the flowing sleeves of her tunic tied with colorful wrappings running from her forearms to her wrist. A lightweight armor wrapped around her torso and lower abdomen, held in place with another silk ribbon, the tails dangling down against her knees. Flexible but sturdy tights ran down to her calves, where the rest of her legs were left bare, ending in soft outdoor slippers. The other girl, in contrast, looked almost painfully casual. She wore a plain cotton shirt underneath a light vest, with denim shorts and thigh-high stockings. She also wore simple outdoor slippers, and it seemed like her only preparation for the coming fight had been to add a set of fingerless gloves and elbow pads to her outfit.

One stood confidently, a graceful yet provocative pose that suggested an almost feline grace as she leaned on a pair of chúi. She was smiling, a narrow-eyed smirk that telegraphed her sense of superiority to anybody watching. The other stood at rigid attention, completely unarmed as she pressed her hands stiffly against her back. Her eyes were also narrowed, though it was with a vacant manner that suggested disinterest.

For the most part, the audience was familiar territory. It was the final weekend before the end of the summer vacation, so most of the Furinkan student body was present to watch their last entertainment for the break. The usual mix of martial artists were present, some of them simply because Ranma was present – though only in the sidelines – while a majority were honestly curious about the newcomer who'd stepped into their lives these past few months.

For the people who had not been paying attention to recent events, the addition of an entirely new group of spectators was puzzling. The appearance of the school-aged children could be written off as friends of the new person. But while the the Saotome, Tendo, and Amazon heads of house were infrequent, though recognized guests, the nearly two-dozen adults interspersed amongst the crowd were complete strangers to the Furinkan students.

"Is good crowd," Shampoo said as she casually looked around.

"Indeed," Koyuki returned. "With a gathering such as this, there will be nobody able to dispute the outcome of this match."

"Yes..." Shampoo kicked up her weapons, then spun them around in her hands in an intimidating display of dexterity before settling them into ready positions at her sides.

Koyuki slowly brought her arms up. "Shampoo, I challenge you for the right to be recognized as one of your peers, as an equal," she said slowly, but clearly.

Shampoo slid one foot forward, letting her right arm trail back in preparation for a strike. "Equal in battle, maybe. Equal in love? No. Ranma is Shampoo's Airen."

Koyuki took one step of her own, stepping forward and to the side as she twisted her body, letting her left side lead. She took a moment to concentrate, channeling her magic through her circuits and letting out a small flow to her limbs. As the runes embedded into her clothing hummed with power, she opened her eyes again and gave the Amazon a cold glare. "Ranma-sama is my Ashikabi."

ooo

Emiya Clan – Nerima 19

It was a very good thing Koyuki had very forward-thinking siblings. If it hadn't been for Karin's tireless research on Joketsuzoku styles of combat – and Shampoo's in particular – she would have been caught flat-footed against the other girls flowing style, which combined uncommon agility with precise, powerful strikes. If not for Sakuya's ability to throw out massive quantities of simultaneous attacks with her shadows, she would never have been able to develop her situational awareness and been unable to cope with the Amazon's ability to flicker around her, launching attacks from the most inconvenient angles imaginable. Haru and Arika's sparring had left her with a threshold for pain she didn't realize she could reach, letting her know she could survive the hits that mercilessly pummeled her if she let her guard drop. Keiko's contribution had been most welcome, though her speed was still not up to the other girl's level, it was enough to reduce the hits she took and the increase defense helped her absorb the blows that came.

Still, in a completely physical fight, Koyuki was still far outclassed. It was fortunate then, that she was not a physical fighter.

Shampoo was far from being a novice. She had recognized Koyuki's defensive style almost immediately and set to exploit the weaknesses of it. The problem was, Koyuki still had a kata form that any master would shed tears over. For the first few minutes, this served her surprisingly well, since Shampoo would often launch her attacks where Koyuki should have been, had she been doing the form correctly. She might have discovered this right away, except Koyuki had taken to launching fast attacks of snow each time Shampoo came close, forcing the other girl to pay more attention to the immediate threat.

Koyuki spun around a straight attack from one of the large weapons, backhanding it clear of her body and attaching more snow to the giant mace as she did so. So far Shampoo had not seemed to notice the powder coating her weapons. She back-pedaled slightly then threw up a wall of snow to block the girl's vision while she dove to the side, setting up a snow clone in the process. Shampoo swept the obstruction to the side with one weapon, then brought her other hand down onto the clone in an impact that gouged out a small crater.

Shampoo spun around to find Koyuki staring at her from a ready position. "New-Girl good at dodging," she growled. "But still have yet to hit back."

Koyuki lifted a hand, "I don't have to." She made a jabbing motion with her hand, then swept it to the side.

Shampoo watched in surprise as clumps of snow ran from the surface of one of her chúi to flow across her hands. Dropping her other weapon, she brought her free hand around to bat away at the powder. As she did so, she suddenly caught motion out of the corner of her eye and threw herself backwards to avoid the mace she had just released as it swung itself through the air where her head had been. The weapon impacted against its twin, the force of the blow dislodging it from her hand. As she skidded to a stop, she shook the last of the snow from her arms and watched the powder dribbling off her weapons as well. She lifted her head and glared at the snow user. "Good trick."

Koyuki didn't waste her breath on a reply as she caught the first flickers of movement from her opponent. She dropped flat to the ground in a sprawl, just in time to avoid Shampoo's leaping strike through the space she had just vacated. Quickly gathering her feet back under her, she reevaluated her position. Having abandoned her weapons, Shampoo's speed was on a whole new level and Koyuki knew she had to put her main strategy into place sooner than she had thought. Showing her hand this early had probably been a mistake, but the chance for a decisive blow so early had been too great to pass up.

She spun back onto her feet, just in time to catch a left hook across the back of her right hand. She continued spinning with the attack, bring her left behind her for a backhanded strike that Shampoo ducked. She hesitated for another moment to run the next appropriate sequence through her head, once again dodging a retaliatory strike by simply not being where she was supposed to be, then stepped in smoothly to catch the limb as Shampoo was recovering.

Shampoo pulled her arm back, the sudden motion throwing Koyuki off balance, a state which was compounded as Shampoo stepped in to use her shoulder as a fulcrum to toss her. The snow girl managed to get her feet back underneath her and turned her fall into a controlled tumble. She stopped in a crouch, letting another attack from Shampoo sail over her head. The Amazon growled in annoyance.

"Shampoo not know if you doing this on purpose, or if you just dumb." She circled Koyuki warily, "Shampoo think the second."

Koyuki nodded in understanding. "One of my brothers told me it was he was fighting against a 'button masher'," she admitted. "Sorry."

The Amazon tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Shampoo not understand reference."

"Neither did I," Koyuki replied as she rose back to her feet.

Shampoo stepped with a short jab which Koyuki simply parried, not bothering to attack back. She frowned and threw out a fully extended punch, which was also parried. She was about to try a third attack when her danger sense flared and she cartwheeled to the side, narrowly avoiding the snowball that had been gathering behind her.

Koyuki snapped out her hand and stepped to the side as the snowball reached her. Spinning, she guided the attack around her to build up additional momentum then unleashed it back at Shampoo with an extra burst of speed. Just as the other girl was about to dodge, she flooded the ball with extra prana, breaking it into tiny chunks which exploded forward into a cone, showering the area with tiny pellets.

Despite the wide area of effect, Shampoo was able to escape a significant amount of the attack. The few pieces that managed to adhere to her were not enough to significantly hamper her movements as she closed the distance between her and Koyuki once again. This time she didn't stop with just one or two probing attacks. She attacked with a fluidity Koyuki had rarely seen outside of spars between Ranma and Ryouga. Punches flowed into kicks which transitioned into thrusts which went into paired punches, an endless assault that Koyuki was pressed to keep ahead of, even with the heightened speed given to her by the magical enhancements of her armor.

Koyuki was just able to turn aside each of her attacks, but then Shampoo changed her attack pattern. Finally realizing Koyuki's glaring weakness, she didn't strike immediately, but instead took an extra half second to gauge where Koyuki's openings were. As Koyuki took the time to analyze Shampoo's new stance, she suffered several punishing blows during her moment of hesitation. Shampoo stepped in to finish the combo with an uppercut, sending the snow girl flying through the air to collapse near the side of the field.

Screams and shouts rose from the spectators as she landed, mostly from the student body as they revised the odds and wagers with the Tendou's middle child. Cologne watched with grim satisfaction as her great-granddaughter displayed her superiority, though she privately admitted to herself the Emiya girl was doing better than she had expected. The Emiya Clan contingent had more traditional shouts and a few boos from their end. Shirou had stood up as Shampoo slowly approached the fallen body, only to be pulled back down by Arturia. Of the Wrecking Crew, Akane was the most verbal, shouting insults and other comments at the Amazon heiress. Ranma, Ryouga, and Ukyou remained quiet, watching the match with tension in their postures.

Shampoo stalked towards the fallen girl just now pushing herself back onto her knees. She crossed her arms as she looked down imperiously, "New-Girl quits, yes?"

"...yield" Koyuki whispered.

"Hm?" Shampoo leaned forward slightly, taking care to stay out of arm's reach from the other girl.

"I..." Koyuki coughed and clutched at her side with one arm, "will... ... ield..."

Shampoo leaned back with a smirk, "Louder. Shampoo not sure people hear."

Koyuki's head snapped up to glare at her. "I. Will. Not. Yield!"