Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Wallets ❯ Troll No More ( Chapter 55 )

A Tale of Two Wallets

(An Altered Destiny)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Yamashina Kenji could not believe his eyes as he saw the girl with purple hair approaching the place where he and his gang were currently standing. The girl was not looking at them and seemed to be moving as if she had no particular destination in mind. If anything she appeared to have been running quite recently, though the listlessness of her gaze suggested some emotionally draining experience, quite possibly of a romantic nature.

By itself that did not seem so strange, but the girl was dressed in Chinese style clothing and had a peculiar hairstyle that suggested that she either worked as a waitress somewhere and/or was most probably a foreigner. To be certain she was an attractive thing with kawaii looks and a fairly good bustline. What such a rare orchid was doing in such a rough neighborhood frequented by hard cases and riff raff was a question by itself, but one did not at look such opportunities too lightly as Kenji himself would reasonably argue. The old line about gift horses certainly did seem to apply here, so he smiled like any good predator and sized up his potential meal, then nodded to his companions and said, "Check this out. What do we have here?"

The other members of his gang all smiled, the scent of blood in the water affecting them like sharks that had not had a meal in many a long quarter. As one they left their motorcycles and fanned out to confront the purple haired girl, cutting off any direction of escape that she might choose as their leader choose the direct approach, confronting the girl with a cocky, condescending approval.

"Hey there, sweet thing," he said, "Did you get yourself lost? If so, then maybe we could help you."

Shampoo looked up to regard the man, having already taken note of the other members of the pack, sizing them up at a glance without even thinking about it. She had not, in all truth, been paying much attention to where she had been going, only that she had finally run out of steam after blindly charging off at full tilt to escape from the turmoil that was in her heart. The sight of these obvious criminals brought more a sense of relief than alarm to her, so she offered their leader a wan smile, looking him up and down as though trying to classify his genus and sub-species.

"Nihao," she said simply, "You is in Shampoo way. Please to step aside, Shampoo no want to hurt you."

"Hurt us?" Kenji could not believe his ears, or the calm manner in which this threat was delivered. His men seemed to think it was some kind of a joke, even the ones who were not carrying weapons of one form or another. The girl was hardly more than a hundred sixty centimeters tall and could not weigh much more than fifty kilos. Every man in his gang stood half a head taller than this foreigner with the odd accent and the cutesy voice. Did she think they would be impressed by a show of bravado? Kenji's smile deepened as he anticipated giving the girl a much-needed life lesson.

Not eleven seconds later Kenji was thinking very different thoughts indeed as the girl pressed hard on his wrist, threatening to compress the bones to the consistency of goo if he offered her the slightest resistance. His fellow gang members were in no condition to offer him any assistance, not even having had time to flee as this girl had proven to be a truly formidable terror who struck like a hurricane with the force of a tsunami.

Looking up into her smiling face, which showed little mercy, he had a sudden epiphany, the realization that he had been totally mistaken about which of them was the predator and who was indeed the prey to be feasted upon. The way her scarlet eyes lit up as if with sudden inspiration made him silently take a vow to the Buddha that if he survived the next ten seconds he would be a much changed man and take up a religious order.

"Shampoo have question," she said with an odd lilt to her voice, "You want answer?"

"Anything!" Kenji whimpered, not needing to hold back for the sake of his men, who were hardly awake and so could not see him lose face before this purple-haired terror.

"You want make trade?" she asked, "You life for favor?"

Kenji blinked, looking up from where he had been forced to his knees with a distinctive quiver in his voice as she asked, "Favor?"

Shampoo smiled then glanced to the row of motorcycles and said, "Which one is you own? Shampoo always want own Japanese Kawasaki."

"Nani?" Kenji asked, his voice hardly louder than whisper…

Nabiki's Journal Resumes:

This certainly was a day for the books, not just for what happened at school with Principal Kuno but the even more insane mess that we walked into the minute we entered the house, and not just because of the party atmosphere that greeted us with more people present than were here when we left early this morning.

Looking back on that moment I wonder why I never saw it coming, but nobody thought to warn us in advance that Ranma's mother was present, so the four of us walked into the living area with no expectations at all of what we would be getting into. My mind was still on my little sister, who-I later found out-was with Kuonji and Kasumi in the furo. I was trying to prepare in my mind the words that I would use to make her understand my position in the Kuonji matter, and who would have expected us to see so many strangers chatting on the back porch, that is right up until I heard Shampoo gasp aloud a Chinese word that I later would learn meant "Father."

I had a brief flash of a man of moderate height and build, not too bad looking but hardly what you would call classically handsome, dressed in Chinese-style clothing, and looking no older than about forty with the faint wisps of a mustache on otherwise clean-cut features.

Of course my attention was more directed by the alarm I felt at discovering Saotome Nodoka was standing right beside him chatting pleasantly as if they were the best of friends. My focus was greatly aided by Ranma's astonished gasp as he exclaimed without really thinking about it, "Mom?"

Okay, I might have done something to stop him from saying that word, or made up some clever lie on the spot that would have excused Ranma's presence under some alias I could have whipped up for his cover. Ranma's statement nullified any chance of that happening though as Nodoka's attention focused fully upon him and she gasped, "Ranma? Is that you? My son!"

Ranma stood like a statue as his mother came up to him and took him into her embrace while I stood with Shampoo blinking my eyes in disbelief, wondering why nobody had the presence of mind to warn us coming through the door that she was visiting us so soon after her last visitation, but now we were stuck for it and could not deny the fact that it really was Ranma that time. All I could about at that moment, which I knew had to mean a lot for Ranma, was that nobody had better come near him with a glass of water or else we were all going to be in deep sushi!

"M-Mom?" Ranma gasped, "W-what are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here, Ranma," Nodoka said with delight as she stood back and looked Ranma in the eyes, "I'm here to be reunited with my son. Let me look at you…how you've grown! My, and so handsome, you've become a young man, just like your father promised! But you're so thin…haven't you been eating enough lately?"

I caught sight of movement out of the corner of my eye and saw three owl-eyed figures gaping at us with varying expressions of shock and dismay: Comb, Atsuko and Genma the panda! Daddy and Silk also appeared with curious expressions, and so did a bunch of Amazon girls I'd never met before, but who were later introduced to me with names like Perfume, Ambergris and Lotion.

More about them in a minute. At that precise instant all I could think about was that blasted katana that "Auntie" Nodoka was carrying wrapped in cloth behind her back. It was a reminder of the extreme peril that Ranma was in with his crazy mother if she should learn about his curse, and so I was trying to devote the full of my attention to thinking of ways by which I could prevent this.

"Mother?" Ryoga gasped, "This is your mother?"

"Ah…yeah," Ranma said awkwardly, "Mom…this is Ryoga…he's…kinda like a friend, and this is Shampoo, and of course you know Nabiki…"

"Oh yes," Nodoka said pleasantly with a smile in our direction, "We've met. They're your iinazuke. I must say, Ranma, you certainly are a man among men to have two such beautiful girls who seem so willing to share you."

"Uh…yeah," Ranma swallowed, "They're the best. Sham-chan and Nab-chan've stood with me through some pretty hairy stuff. You, um…don't mind that I've got two fiancées?"

"I would mind a lot more if you didn't have any," Auntie Nodoka replied brightly, "I just hope you won't keep me waiting too long before you make me a grandmother. Where is your father, by the way? I want to congratulate Genma for keeping his promise to raise you to be so manly."

"Pop?" Ranma blinked, and I saw him start to glance towards Uncle Genma, but this time I did manage to react in time to say, "He's out doing some shopping, Auntie Nodoka. Kasumi sent him to the store a while ago, and he should be back in a couple of hours."

I saw the panda's eyes grow even wider and he frantically shook his head in a negatory manner, but at the moment I could care less about him as we had to keep Nodoka from suspecting that her husband was very near at hand. I looked for an ally who could back me up just then and found one instantly as Comb stepped forward to say, "It could be that he'll be away even longer than that. If I know Genma he's probably stopped by the first bar he comes across, so he'll probably be stinking drunk by the time you see him."

"Gemi-chan doesn't drink that much!" Atsuko immediately protested, but then she saw the look we all gave her and hastily amended, "But I guess maybe a few drinks won't hurt much, right?"

"Mom," Ryoga said, whether in vexation or surprise I could hardly say with any certainty as I wasn't sure exactly how far he would go to protect his half brother or father.

"Oh my," Nodoka seemed to just-then notice Ryoga, and she turned to Atsuko and asked, "Is this your son, At-chan? My, he looks so much like Ranma, they could almost be brothers!"

I don't think Nodoka had any idea just how close to the truth she was right then and there because she seemed to miss the stunned looks that crossed everyone's features while turning back to give Ranma a warm look as she said, "What a shame your father isn't here with us. I've waited such a long time for us all to be united as a family again. You must tell me all about your adventures, what you've both been doing for the past ten years. Was the training very hard? Did you face many challenges along the way to becoming so manly?"

Both Ranma and the panda in question blinked their eyes, neither one having an adequate reply ready for that. It was about this time when I felt Shampoo start to move forward to offer her enthusiastically ringing endorsement of Ranma's manly qualities, only a sudden mood-shift occurred with a quite audible snapping of her teeth as her attention swiveled away from our iinazuke to one of the multi-hued girls staring at us, and the hostility she radiated made me recoil in shock, as if somebody had ratcheted the thermometer up from normal temperature to just short of blast furnace.

"WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE???" I heard her snarl in tones that would have struck terror into an elephant had one been present. All at once she had her large curved sword in hand and was pointing it at the tall pink-haired chick whose face was only half-visible beneath her non-regulation Amazon hairstyle.

I saw Comb's head swerve from the pink haired girl to her daughter, and then she began to say, "Shampoo…before you jump to any conclusions…"

"Shampoo ask what SHE is doing here in house of Airen?" Shampoo demanded as she readied herself in a posture that I knew heralded one of her super attack-leaps, and with her sword ready to draw blood all over the furnishings if something didn't prevent her in the next instant as the rest of us looked on in mingled fascination and horror.

Oddly enough the object of her wrath just stood her ground calmly and replied, "Hello, Shampoo…nice to see you too, my old friend."

I heard Shampoo's sharp intake of breath and I could feel her start to tense when another voice cut into the budding war-zone like the gentlest breeze of warm summer and said, "Shampoo…please don't do this…not for me."

The silence that fell upon the room was like the absence of sound that follows a thunderclap, punctuated with the clatter of Shampoo's sword falling from her hand as my Amazon iinazuke's rage drained away, to be replaced instantly with a different kind of emotion.

"Shampoo," the girl with blue hair pushed her way forward from the back rows to confront Shampoo with a gentle entreaty in her lovely face as she said again, "Please don't blame Amber for what happened. It wasn't her fault, none of it was. I want you to believe me, she had nothing to do with what happened to me at the falls…"

"You…" Shampoo barely uttered the word as her face drained of all color, "Lotion?" and then she said some words in Mandarin, to which the other girl responded in kind, only Shampoo backed away from her, fear replacing other emotions as she shook her head and made a warding motion.

"It's true, Shampoo," Comb spoke up again, "Lotion did not die at the falls but was saved by Ambergris. Grandmother lied to us all to hide the fact of her survival…"

"Lied?" Shampoo repeated the word as if it held no immediate meaning, but then her tone rose an octave and she cried, "She LIED? Great Grandmother lie to Shampoo? She tell Shampoo you dead…"

"No, Shampoo," Lotion smiled gently, "I didn't die, not then and not now. I'm very much alive, thanks to Amber rescuing me. I've spent the last two years in the village of the Sleeping Woman, studying to be a Healer, but when I found out that you thought I was dead…I had to come and see you, to tell you the truth…"

"Lotion…" Shampoo took a hesitant step forward, and then her hands reached out to caress the blue haired girl with a tenderness normally reserved only for Ranma or me, and she murmured softly, "Wo ai ni…"

Lotion covered Shampoo's hand with her own and replied, "Wo ai ni, my dearest friend. It's so very good to see you again, and I hear you have two Airen…"

"Airen?" Shampoo came back to the moment with a start and her eyes shot towards me, then towards Ranma.

"Shampoo," I said in what I hoped was a reasonable tone of voice on my part, "Who is this?"

I already knew the answer, of course, but something in me reacted very badly to the sight of her caressing this blue haired girl, and I'm pretty sure it was the green-eyed Oni that I'd normally swear that I was aloof to. Ranma moved a little apart from his mother and said, "Lotion? You mean like the old woman who's been teaching Nabiki?"

"Oh?" Lotion turned around to give a friendly look towards Ranma, "You've met my great grandmother? Is she around somewhere? I've wanted to say hello to her to let her know that I've been doing all right…"

"I'm sure Grandmother already knows this, Niece," Silk said by way of making her own presence felt in the conversation before turning a glare down at her side as she growled, "But she's not the one who needs to make a proper accounting for her actions, is she, Matriarch?"

I saw Cologne standing there with her eyes downcast as Shampoo turned her focus towards the old woman and gasped, "Great grandmother…is this true? You lie to Shampoo? You tell her that Lotion is dead, when she no dead?"

"Forgive me, child," Cologne said as if she had rehearsed the speech she was about to deliver, "I did what I thought was for your best interest, but I was wrong, I see that now-"

"SHAMPOO NO CARE!!!" Shampoo all but exploded, "You lie to Shampoo, Great Grandmother! You LIE to Shampoo about Lotion! How you do this to Shampoo? What did Shampoo ever do that you hate her so much? You make Shampoo think Lotion dead, and now you ask Shampoo to forgive you???"

"Shampoo…" Comb started to say, followed by a brown haired girl who stepped out into the open, resembling Shampoo by a fair amount save for her almost normal haircoloring and red Chinese jacket that bore the symbol of a double set of axes as she said, "Cousin…"

"No talk, Perfume," Shampoo said with a sharp hand gesture, "Want answer from Great Grandmother! Why you lie to Shampoo, tell her Lotion dead? SHAMPOO WANT ANSWER!!!"

I had never heard such intense rage in Shampoo's voice, and for a moment I thought she was going to attack the old woman. Cologne kept her eyes averted, but in a soft, almost reasonable voice she replied, "I believed that your affair with the girl was impeding your progress, and I wanted you to focus upon your not your budding rivalry with Perfume over her affections…"

"Perfume no want fight Shampoo over Lotion," the brown haired girl retorted, "Perfume tell Shampoo we no fight again, and Shampoo know Perfume feelings for Lotion…"

Shampoo said something in Mandarin to which the brown haired girl responded in a sadder tone of voice, then Cologne looked up at both girls and said, "Perfume is right, Shampoo, I made a judgement call as your elder, and whether you agree with it or not, you must recall that I am your Elder…"

"Shampoo no care!" Shampoo hissed in a deadly tone of voice, "Great Grandmother go too far! TOO FAR!! Shampoo no listen to Great Grandmother EVER AGAIN!!!"

And with that outburst she turned right around and stormed out the front door to our house, and I do mean OUT the front doors, as it she did not bother opening them but created her own exit, heedless to anything that got in her way. I winced at the sounds of destruction that echoed from the foyer as my Amazon iinazuke fled out house like a force of nature exploding outward, and given the level of her rage I did not think it prudent to go after her right away as anyone who confronted her right then was bound to be taking more than their lives in their hands. Even Ranma did not look too eager about heading out of where the door used to be as silence fell upon the whole room.

Silk did make a valiant attempt to lighten the mood when at last she said, "She took that better than I thought she would."

Of course the joke fell flat, not that I necessarily blame her for making the effort…

"Oh my," Kasumi gazed at her little sister with rounded eyes before asking, "What exactly was in that water, Kuonji-san?"

"I don't know," Ukyo replied, "It was supposed to be the pool of the drowned girl, not the drowned angel!"

Akane experimentally flapped her wings, confirming in her mind that they were indeed functional, then turned around as if to confirm with her own eyes what she was seeing in the mirror, heedless of her nude state as she moved around to examine the feathers that were now sporting from her back with a pair of extra limbs that had not been there even on her duck form.

"Interesting," remarked Elder Lotion, "As I suspected, the curses do merge into a hybrid form, just as they did for Shampoo. Rather than cancel out her curse, the Nyaniichuan water has magnified the Yaazuniichuan to create the winged form of a bird-woman, not altogether unlike the inhabitants of Mount Phoenix…"

"Where did you come from?" Ukyo gasped as she whirled to confront the ancient Elder.

"Where we all came from," Lotion replied, "And where we all are eventually going when our life cycle is completed. But that is not relevant to subject at hand. Tell me, Tendo-san, how are you feeling about your new cursed form?"

"Ah…I'm fine, I think," Akane replied, folding her wings over her back so that the tips of her longest feathers just barely touched the floor of the bathroom, "But what happened? I thought Nyaniichuan was supposed to be a cure for a Jusenkyo curse…"

"That was a theory that has been in much debate for some time, even among us Lore Masters," Lotion replied, "At a guess I would say that the amount of Nyaniichuan water you used was not sufficient to cancel out the curse but only modify it in a beneficial manner. Perhaps a larger quantity might be more effective in nullifying a previously established curse, or perhaps the effect would be no different. A pity you did not approach me beforehand, Kuonji-san, or I might have advised you to bring more bottles in your pilgrimage to Jusenkyo."

"More bottles?" Ukyo blanched, "But I only brought enough to cure the people who most needed curing. Are you saying I only brought half as much as is needed? That sucks!"

"I quite agree with you there," Lotion replied, "But I'm not the one who sets the rules over these things. Complaining to me about the essential unfairness of it all avails you nothing, but perhaps the sacrifice of your womanhood was not entirely for nothing."

"What do you mean?" Kasumi asked her.

"Some curses carry more than a physical change with them, dear child," Lotion replied, "Some can affect a degree of change in personality or attitude. For example, your sister is evidencing little of her normal self-consciousness regarding her present state of undress…"

"My…what?" Akane looked down at herself, then yelped, reaching for her bath towel before covering herself over.

"On the other hand," Lotion sighed, "Change is relative, sometimes progressive…"

"Are you telling me I'm going to have to give two bottles to both Ranma and Shampoo in order to cure them?" Ukyo returned to the main point, "That won't leave anything left for curing Ryoga…" she hesitated before adding, "Or me…if I decide I want curing…"

"If you want curing?" Kasumi asked, "Do you mean to say you intend to keep your curse, Kuonji-san?"

"I don't know just yet," Ukyo replied, "It's too soon for me to know if I can live with this thing or not. I'd like to at least have the option of switching back if I do decide to regain my womanhood full time, like…if I want to have kids or something."

"Have kids?" Akane asked blankly.

"A Jusenkyo curse that involves changing one's sex has a negative side effect in that it prevents pregnancy from being carried full term," Lotion replied, "Unless one is locked into female form, the act of turning male would cause an incompatible element such as a fetus to be…eliminated. And, of course, with Jusenkyo curses it is nearly impossible to avoid contact with cold water for a full nine months. This is why Amazons are forbidden to use Nanniichuan water for themselves with harsh penalties meant to discourage one of us from doing as Kuonji-san, not that the deterrence factor makes the least little impact on the spirit of Jusenkyo."

"But why would anyone want to become male if they were born female?" Kasumi asked.

"To correct a perceived deficiency of nature," Lotion explained, "Some men are born with the feeling that they are more Yin than Yang, and some women have the opposite problem, perceiving qualities of masculinity that are at variance with their expectations of what it means to be female. Many centuries ago a group of Amazons, led by the then-current Matriarch, opted to curse themselves with Nanniichuan waters in order to gain the strength and physical capabilities of men, which of course includes the ability to procreate with other women. This practice was outlawed when it became apparent that too many of our best warriors were being lost to us that way, and since linear descent has always traditionally been through the female side of the equation, many great families were being lost to us. The Matriarch herself saw this and made the decree as her last request before committing ritual suicide, that no Amazon should deliberately or by accident allow themselves to be male-cursed on pain of death or exile. This does not apply to women with the curse being adopted into the tribe, of course, but the taboo is so strong with us that it has not been violated in many, many generations."

"Then Kuonji-san can't get pregnant, she can only…Oh my!" Kasumi blushed at the realization.

"Ukyo…" Akane looked at the Bishonen-girl with troubled eyes, forming her own silent conclusions about the curse that Ukyo was under being more terrible than her own.

"It's just as well," Ukyo shrugged with a sad-eyed expression, "Whatever hopes I ever had of being a normal girl like others died a long time ago. I'm not saying I like being cursed, but there are advantages to being a boy, and I'd like to test this out before I know for a fact that it's a really bad or good arrangement."

"Test it out?" Kasumi asked blank-eyed.

"You mean…" Akane abruptly colored.

"Huh?" Ukyo seemed to only just then catch what they were saying, and she frantically waved her hands as she cried, "Hey, no, I didn't mean that way…!"

"So you say, child," Lotion replied, "But just the same I believe that we should shelve the rest of this conversation for later. I am needed elsewhere, and Tendo-san cannot appear before her father looking like that. Either you give her a second dose of the Jusenkyo water or her sister here should go heat some water, or perhaps take a second bath in the furo."

"A second dose," Ukyo asked, "Will that take Akane's wings away?"

"It might," Lotion replied, "We are delving into the great unknown here, but I dare say that I do not think it would be that easy to cure her completely of her curse. Jusenkyo is more than a place of sorrows, it appears to have a living spirit that works through these curses to some greater end the like of which I can scarcely imagine. I suspect the only way to truly be un-cursed is to fulfill whatever purpose was behind your cursing. Only when Jusenkyo is done with you will you be freed from its influence altogether."

"You mean…there might be a reason why we have these curses?" Akane asked.

"Could be," Ukyo shrugged, "I know I'm gonna use mine to straighten my old man out about a few things, this engagement between me and Ranchan being top of the list."

"Elder," Kasumi turned around to face the diminutive Lore Master, "Is there any possibility at all of a curse being broken by means other than Jusenkyo water?"

"Perhaps," Lotion said enigmatically, "A man whom I loved once had a curse, but he was not a normal human being, and it seemed to wear off after no more than a century, or perhaps he found his own way to break it. To the best of my knowledge it is the only clear example of a Jusenkyo curse being broken."

"A century?" Ukyo gasped, "Who has time to wait around for that to happen?" Lotion just smiled at her, and Ukyo grimaced, looking away as she concluded, "Forget I asked. I just hope the warranty angle isn't the only way to do it."

Akane glanced at the furo, then said to her companions, "Mind turning around? I'll just be a minute."

She did not even wait for them to comply before setting her towel to one side then stepping into the water. Lotion smiled as she eyed the girl obliquely and sly murmured, "<You are just full of surprises, Tendo-san. No wonder our dear miss Kuonji likes you.>"

Of the three other people present only Kasumi caught the reference, and she turned a puzzled look towards Akane, then to Ukyo, who was blushing and looking away from the furo, and very softly she murmured her own heartfelt, "Oh my…"

Perfume studied the scene of violence with a detached, almost clinical eye, reading everything that she needed to know with a glance before tracking her gaze to where a group of overturned motorcycles lay, just outside of a bar where alcohol was consumed in great amounts. Such places were common enough, but this one caught her interest as she knew beyond certainty what must have transpired here, and without intending to imitate a certain a certain Tendo sister she gave the Chinese equivalent to the exclamation, "Oh my!"

It was nearly impossible to track the scene of one gasoline-powered vehicle among a city of so many, especially if her adopted cousin was running true to form, following the pattern set nearly two years ago during her last period of mourning, when even their great grandmother could say little that would give Shampoo any consolation. Perfume could not imagine what emotions were churning up within her cousin at this moment, but she knew for a fact that she did not want to be present when Shampoo's true rage manifested. Even an Elder would not wish to face the Tribal Champion at this moment, and Perfume was merely the Enforcer of tribal law.

There were some things that it just was not healthy to stand in the way of, and Perfume was overly mindful of her limits.

She decided that the best course of action would be to return to the Tendo estate and wait for Shampoo to work past whatever demons she was facing. Better to give her that much dignity than to make herself an object of wrath for her cousin. Perfume would be there to offer what support she could for Shampoo, and to try and smooth things over with Ambergris should a mediator be required. She also wanted to spend more time with Lotion, to deepen their already re-forged bonds of friendship, and she also wanted to learn more about these Japanese outsiders who had so obviously won Shampoo's affections. The boy looked interesting enough, but there was something about that apprentice Lore Master that caught Perfume's eye and gave her fresh insight into Shampoo's thinking on the matter. At the very least they would bear closer study as anyone who could make Shampoo smile like that had to be an exceptional type of person.

Perfume also knew that her services would be required should matters continue to deteriorate between Shampoo and their great grandmother, although it was difficult to say whose side she would take if it came down to violence, her own issues with the Matriarch a very sore point that would need much time and thought before forming a resolution. There was also something about Ambergris that was troubling to Perfume…not a sense of impending betrayal, but rather some secret the former exile was carrying within her that had yet to be shared with any other. Ambergris would bear continued watching, even though Perfume now felt gratitude towards the scar-faced warrior where before there had only been loathing. People did not change so much as Ambergris had without good reason, and whatever reasons she had could spell trouble for the Nyanchiczu. Her claims to becoming the Matriarch of the future were but the merest hint of troubles that were certain to follow.

The future was, as the Lore Masters were wont to say, an uncertain playground of possibilities and alternate probabilities beyond the reckoning of any warrior. Of only one thing was Perfume certain at that moment…that she did not want to be in the Matriarch's slippers when Shampoo returned to the Tendo place, for whatever Shampoo might do next, it was very likely that Cologne would not enjoy it…

Nabiki's Journal Resumes:

"Any luck, Ranma-kun?" I asked as I saw my male iinazuke came vaulting back down from the nearest tall building, only a few blocks away from my house.

"No luck," Ranma confessed as he looked at me and heaved a sigh, "I lost the trail a couple of kilometers from here. She took to the rooftops and must have been running flat-out. I don't think she even knew where she was going, she just kept running like she was blowin' off steam or something."

I glanced at the nearest wall, which bore a large hole in its side big enough that even Genma in panda form could have walked through it without ducking. There was another hole in the wall beyond that, and through it I could see yet another hole, this time through the side of a building, and beyond that…well, pretty much the same line of destruction that we had followed from my house.

"No question about it," said Atsuko at my side, "She's pissed. This looks like something I'd do if I got upset about something."

"Only you never could keep to a straight line," Comb commented at her side.

"What do I look like, a comedienne?" Atsuko snorted, "I gotta hand it to you, Comb…your kid sure would make one hell of an Oni."

"I take it that was supposed to be a compliment," Silk sighed, "Oh dear…I do hope Shampoo is careful about what she does while she's like this. There's no telling what might happen if she were to run into the wrong type of people…"

"Yeah," I grimaced, "The funeral expenses could get wicked, not to mention paying off their next of kin…"

"But why was your daughter so upset about learning that her friend here was still alive?" asked Nodoka.

"My fault, I'm afraid," said Cologne sadly, "I kept Shampoo in the dark about Lotion's survival. They used to be…very close when they were younger."

"Oh yeah?" I heard Ranma say, and I followed his frown as we both took in the nervous-looking Amazon girl, whose blue hair gave her an exotic kind of beauty.

"This is my fault, Elder," Lotion sighed, "I should have come back to Joketsuzoku sooner and explained things to Shampoo directly. I've been caught up so much in my training lately…"

"Don't blame yourself," Ambergris gently chided, giving a hard one-eyed flare towards Cologne, "The Matriarch withheld your letters to Shampoo, which is why she never received them. The Elder knows who is to blame for all of this, and the rest of us need hardly voice our accusations."

"Speak for yourself, Warrior," Comb growled, "I know who's to blame…for all of this, Grandmother."

Cologne turned away sadly and began to hobble along like an old woman, leaning on her staff, "I know what you all must think of me, but I a firmly believed that it was the right thing to do at the time. Shampoo had come to rely so much upon young Lotion for her emotional needs that it was becoming almost a scandal in our village. Shampoo had many enemies and rivals who would have seen the girl as an Achilles' heel and sought to exploit her perceived weakness. I wanted Shampoo to be strong, to be a warrior who would rely upon no one, and so I acted to separate them in what I felt would be the most effective manner. The quarrel between Shampoo and Perfume just gave me the excuse I needed to separate them, and it had the added benefit of bringing my two wards closer together."

"My daughter has had few friends growing up," Comb said softly, "Perfume, Ambergris and Lotion. Perfume was trained as our Enforcer, and she is more sparring partner than companion to Shampoo. With Ambergris you planted the seeds of doubt and suspicion, leading Shampoo to suspect betrayal before Amber's challenge was even issued. With Lotion…Shampoo found someone whom she cared more about than either of us. Were you jealous, Grandmother? Did it affect your judgement to think that Shampoo might grow closer to a girl her own age and cease to listen to her Elders?"

"There…is some slight truth in that, child," Cologne replied, "We all make mistakes in judgement, some of a more serious nature than others, and often with the best of intentions. Given all of that, can you blame me for acting in what I thought was Shampoo's best interests?"

I saw the panda lift a sign that read, "Well, when you put it that way…" It might have said more, but that moment Ranma snatched it out of his hands and began to beat Uncle Genma over the head, to which the rest of us just looked on with faint nods of approval, all except Nodoka.

"Mother," the cherry-red girl named Ling-Ling spoke up, "Shampoo be all right?"

"Shampoo no be this upset before," the green haired Lung-Lung added, "No even when she smash up Father's bike on hillside."

"It's much worse than that, little ones," their father rumbled somberly, "Then Shampoo was grieving for a friend whom she believed had been murdered, but now that she knows the truth about Lotion…"

His words were suddenly drowned out as a loud machine-noise intruded on our conversation. We all turned our heads to see a large motorcycle approaching us, driven by a leather-clad Shampoo, who was handling the thing like a toy, even popping a wheelie!

She brought the Kawasaki to a halt only a few meters away, smiled at us and killed the engine. When the noise level had died off to the level of crickets chirruping she flashed a grin and said, "Nihao, Ailen."

"W-what?" Ranma gasped.

"Sh-Shampoo?" I started to say in stunned disbelief, wondering where in the hell she had acquired a motorcycle.

"Where did you get that, child?" asked Cologne at the level of a harsh whisper.

Shampoo did not even turn her head to look towards her great grandmother but said, "Shampoo no hear words of betrayer who once she call her Elder. If Former Great Grandmother want address Shampoo, she ask Shampoo father, otherwise Shampoo no hear her."

I was later to learn from Silk that Shampoo had just delivered the worst insult one Amazon could visit upon another, asking a male to interpret her messages. It was the kind of thing that could start clan wars, an outrage that could only be atoned for by mortal combat, and delivered in such a casual way that it sounded as if Shampoo was merely informing the old woman that she had decided to get a tattoo or a nose ring.

"Shampoo," Comb managed to say after recovering from the shock of that insult, which even she had never delivered to her grandmother, "Where did you get the motorcycle?"

"Man give to Shampoo," Shampoo replied, reaching into her leather jacket and holding out the ownership papers, "Him sign over. That is handwriting on bottom."

I took the paper and sure enough there was awkwardly scripted kanji spelling out the name, "Yamashina Kenji." It looked like he had been shaking like a leaf when he wrote it, though, so I looked up at Shampoo and said, "You forced him to write this?"

"Him write so Shampoo no do bad things like rest of men," Shampoo said simply, "Apologize if hard to read since he normally right handed."

"You mean this guy threatened you?" Ranma latched onto the part that most upset him.

"Bad move on his part," Atsuko snorted, "Sounds like you were nicer about it than I'da been."

"But…" I tried to form the question coherently, "Where did you learn to drive a motorcycle, Sham-chan?"

"Father teach Shampoo," Shampoo nodded, "Former Great Grandmother tell Shampoo give it up, but Shampoo no listen anymore." She turned a firm look towards her mother and said, "Shampoo keeping bike. Any questions?"

Comb heaved a sigh and said, "Just don't wreck it like the last one…"

"Shampoo take care," she nodded, "Shampoo learn from Father. You no mind, Father?"

"You've always known what you wanted, daughter," Hairbrush nodded in faint resignation.

"Then it decided," I noticed that Shampoo did not even glance at the old woman to seek her approval, "You want ride, Airen? Is room in back."

"Ah…" I shared a look with Ranma, who looked back at me with the same dubious expression then said, "Not this time, okay? Maybe later?"

"Suit self," Shampoo replied, "Meet back at house. Shampoo apologize to father-in-law for rude way she exit."

With that she started up the motorcycle again and was out of sight within the next five seconds. We stood where we were a good deal longer than that before I heard one of Shampoo's sisters say to her twin, "Why this no sound like good thing?"

To which her near-identical twin replied, "This much worse than last time."

I heard Ambergris heave a sigh before she said, "You really have done it this time, Matriarch. I hope you are satisfied, Shampoo is everything you worked towards."

The old woman just stared at the ground when another voice joined our conversation, "Perfume see Shampoo drive off. It bad as Perfume fear it would be."

"You caught up with Shampoo then?" Silk asked her.

"Perfume see handiwork," the brown haired girl nodded, "Find eight men taking nap five kilometers that way. Shampoo take eleven seconds. Perfume thing she go easy, maybe play with men, why no finish sooner…"

"Eleven seconds?" Atsuko asked the girl, "You timed her?"

"No see fight," Perfume shrugged, "No halve to. It written on ground way bodies fall, how much force apply, position of limbs…"

"Perfume is our best tracker as well as the village Enforcer," Comb explained, "She once tracked a Yeti to its lair in a snowstorm just to steal a lock of its fur for one of Grandmother's potions. She the exact opposite of a Hibiki, someone who can find her way out of a maze without even looking."

"And I suppose then that you even know what those guys had for breakfast?" I asked half-jokingly, only to see her nod in affirmation.

"Perfume know, they drink heavy, also eat octopus and ramen before drinking," she informed us.

"Oh come on," Ranma exclaimed, "You can't possibly know what they eat by looking at 'em! You're guessing!"

"No half to guess," Perfume countered, "Is all over sidewalk. Them lose lunch after Shampoo hit them."

"No question about it," Ambergris sighed, "She is pissed."

"I hope she didn't hurt any of them permanently," Lotion seemed to fret a bit on that point, making me realize just how sensitive and soft-hearted she was as that was a statement worthy of Kasumi.

"No enough blood," Perfume shrugged, "Them recover, maybe eight week. No lose sleep over men, them no kind who should make fight with Amazon womans."

"I think it is safe to say that the fellow who signed over the motorcycle isn't likely to press charges," Silk remarked with a sigh, "But I suspect this only signifies the beginning of her rebellion against your authority, Matriarch. Your withholding the truth from her has hurt Shampoo very deeply, and I do not judge that it will be any time soon that she forgives you."

I saw Genma-the-panda raise his sign from where he was laying, which read, "Well, if it's all the same, why don't we go back to Tendo-kun's house?" He turned the sign around and it read, "I'm hungry."

"Would you stop thinking of your stomach for once?" Ranma growled in disgust, only to be prevented from forward movement as Atsuko thrust her arm in his past and said, "Let me handle him, Ranma-san. I know how to talk sense into your father."

"Into what?" Nodoka looked at her curiously, glancing around as she asked, "Did you see Genma? Is he here?"

"In a manner of speaking," Comb glared at Atsuko as if to say, "Nice going!" but somehow she managed to put on a pleasant act as she said, "Let's all go back to Tendo-san's place and try to straighten things out, shall we? We can even start work to repair his doors if Silk doesn't mind helping me out on that."

"What else are Lore Masters good for but to heal the rifts caused by others?" Silk asked philosophically.

"In your case it's usually the opposite," Comb snorted, earning a sour look from Silk's direction, which seemed to greatly please Shampoo's mother.

I saw Atsuko lift uncle Saotome onto her back as if he were no more than a fur rug, easily carrying a mass that greatly exceeded her own, which was further confirmation that she was definitely Ryoga's mother. She hardly even seemed much taxed by the strain as she said, "All right, Mister Panda, I'll get you home in one piece, no problem."

"I thought he was called Mister Saotome," Nodoka asked with a puzzled expression.

"Whatever," Comb growled softly, "And the house is this way, Baka."

"Oh, right," Atsuko turned around, "Follow the rubble, huh?"

With that our merry little group headed back the way we had come, moving onto the next phase of this day full of adventure and dramatic revelations. I was more than a little worried about Shampoo myself at the moment, especially the discovery that she had a leather-clad side to her past that I'd never even suspected. Just when I think I have her pegged I keep finding out new things about her, but then I guess that's half the charm Shampoo has for me, the way she is constantly and almost casually going well beyond my wildest expectations…

Continued

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