Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ A Big Help ❯ Cologne Enters the Picture ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

By: mykon1

A Big Help

A Ranma one half/Sailor Moon crossover fanfic

By Michael A. Ivins

Mykon and Jora are my original creations so I request that nobody uses them without permission. The rest of these characters are the property of their creators, publishers, anime production companies, etc. I write this for fun and make no profit off it.

Chapter 8

Cologne Enters the Picture

Once again Ranma sat in Dr. Tofu's office as they faced each other across the doctor's desk. The doctor had his hand on top of two large, well filled file folders. In addition to papers there were medical charts, x-rays, Cat scans, MRI's and other things.

“Before we get to the results of the medical tests I think it would be good to review the results of the water tests. Here we have a mixture of good and bad. We do know that for the transformation to occur it is necessary for the water to touch your skin, it can't just get on your clothes. This means that if you wear the right kind of protective clothing and use an umbrella you could go out in the rain without changing.”

“As far as how much water it takes to change, that does not seem to be a fixed amount. It does take more than one or two raindrops. This is good in that you can feel the first few drops and get to shelter before you are struck by enough rain to trigger the change. The least water we've found needed was about two teaspoons while at other times it seemed to take as much as two tablespoons to trigger the change.”

“It appears that any fluid containing water will cause the change. That includes things like coffee, tea or soda pop. Things like baby oil and other oils had no effect at all. It seems that only fluids from outside your body will trigger the change. Fluids secreted by your body such as sweat and spit or even urine don't trigger the change.”

“We did find that there is a very narrow range of water temperature that does not trigger a change. That range is only one degree above and one below your body temperature. If you were splashed with water in that temperature range and could get dried off quickly before the water started to cool, you might be able to avoid changing. In practical terms if your clothing got wet with water at that temperature it would begin to evaporate and cool and that would drop the temperature low enough to trigger the change to female. It would be best to simply treat it as if there were no `safe' water temperature.”

Dr. Tofu patted the files and said, “As I said on the phone I have the final result of all the tests you requested. Before I got these files they were analyzed by Dr. Grossmann.”

He was referring to Dr. Hicaru Grossmann a man who had been born of a Japanese mother and German father. Ranma had met the man and had demonstrated the curse for him. He had changed 10 times for the Doctor. One of the transformation cycles was done when the doctor had been holding on to his/her shoulder. Dr. Tofu trusted Dr. Grossmann's discretion completely. Ranma's impression was that Dr. Grossmann was something of a character.

Tofu said, “I am going to give you my best imitation of Dr. Grossman.” He took the topmost file and placed it to one side of the other.

“I can well understand why your patient would want to keep this private. There are many who would make this patient their life's work if they knew. I doubt if this person would know a moment's peace were… his… condition to become public. I can even think of two researchers in the field of physics who would give their left arm to study where this patient's extra body mass disappears to when changing from male to female and where it comes back from with the reverse transformation.”

“Some of the results surprised me until I did a little research on high level martial artists. In both forms this patient is extremely healthy and results are consistent with other high level martial artists.”

Tofu tapped the left file and, continuing his imitation said, “If I didn't know about the transformation I would declare this,” tapping an index finger on the left file, “to be a normal teenage boy who is a martial artist.” Now tapping the right file, “I would say this was a normal teenaged girl who is a martial artist.”

“The patient asks just how female the girl form is. I would have to say completely so. Down to the genetic level this body is female. She has two X chromosomes, she has normal female organs and hormones. She is capable doing anything that a girl her age could do including have a menstrual period, having sexual intercourse with a boy and getting pregnant. In fact, if she could remain female long enough, she could give birth to a baby.”

“The patient also wanted to know if the `curse' changed his male form. Other than the magic or whatever it is that triggers the change there is no difference these tests can find. In this form he is a normal teenage boy with all the normal organs and hormones of a teenaged boy who is a martial artist. There are no abnormalities that can be detected in his genetics. He can do everything a normal boy his age could do including having sexual intercourse with a girl and getting her pregnant.”

Ranma interrupted, “Well it's good to know that if I eventually get married I can still be a father. The idea of being a mother is not so appealing.”

Tofu frowned and said, “It gets worse.”

“How?” asked the boy.

Going back to his imitation of Dr. Grossmann, “This brings up a disturbing possibility. Since these two are actually the same person it is obviously impossible for them to have intercourse. However, if this girl,” tapping the right file, “were to be artificially inseminated with a sperm donation from this male,” tapping the left file, “it would be possible for the girl to get pregnant and bear a child for which she is both mother and father.”

Ranma looked ill at hearing that. “That's not just gross. It's weird and disturbing on a level beyond anything I've heard about before. I guess I'd better make sure that I never get artificially inseminated for my girl side. Maybe I should never donate sperm either.”

Dr. Tofu looked a bit grim. “Well, getting yourself pregnant would probably be a bad idea for the health of the baby.”

Ranma nodded. “Bad combinations of recessive genes, right?”

“Yes. Genetically your female form is nearly identical to your male form with just the gender factors being different. It would be accurate to say that your girl form is what you would be like if you had been born female.”

Ranma considered that. “So are you saying that my girl form is genetically like the sister of my male form?”

“That's right. In fact your female form is genetically much more similar to your male form than is normal for fraternal twins but obviously not as close as identical twins.”

Ranma nodded. “So it would be a bad idea to get myself pregnant. I'll have to be sure to do what I can to prevent that from happening.”

The doctor was still frowning. “I'm sorry to say this but the time may come when your opinion on pregnancy (with someone other than yourself) may change.”

“Why would my opinion change?”

“When I was telling you what Dr. Grossmann said did you notice the emphasis I put on the word `hormones'?”

“I did notice.”

“For girls as well as boys a lot of their behavior is copied from their role models or the people who raised them but not all of it. Hormones influence behavior to a great degree. When you are in your female form you may still have the mind of a boy, but physically you will be completely female. In many ways you might qualify as a `tomboy' or a girl who thinks like a boy.”

“You are implying there may come a time when I feel attracted to boys and even want to get pregnant. Do I understand you right?”

“It's possible. The longer you remain in female form the more the effect of the female hormones builds up. If you are a girl for a few minutes or hours it wouldn't amount to much but if you stayed that way for several hours or days you could start acting more feminine.”

Ranma thought about it for a moment. “Maybe it will come down to mental discipline like you said before.”

Tofu added. “It may be too soon to panic. In this as in many things there is a range of intensity. At one end of the range there are girls who are extremely feminine. At the other end there are tomboys who you can barely tell they are female. The time period for the testing was too short to get an accurate measure on that.”

Ranma said in a thoughtful tone, “Maybe I'll find out that my girl form is a lesbian. Damn! I never thought I'd say something like that as if it were a good thing.”

Tofu cautiously answered, “I could see where that might be easier for your peace of mind. I certainly wouldn't condemn you if that does happen to be the case. For now I can only advise that you try to be aware of your behavior and see how it goes.”

The boy considered what he had just heard. “Let me sum this up for my own understanding. What Dr. Grossmann seems to be saying is that when I'm in girl form, I'm not a fake girl or an imitation. When I'm in that form I'm as much of a real girl as anyone who was born female. At that point only my mind is still male.”

Tofu nodded. “That sounds like an accurate summation.”

An express delivery package arrived at the clinic of Dr. Tofu Ono. When he went to open it he found the bottom had been torn out and the box was empty. It looked as if something that had been inside had come out. He looked around but could find no trace of what had been inside the box. From the top of a bookcase a small form hid behind some of the items stored there.

After checking around the clinic and outside, Dr. Tofu shrugged and threw the empty box into the trash. While he stepped out, the form on the top of the bookcase jumped down and made a stealthy exit.

At the Tendo home Ranma was in the bathroom getting ready to step into the furo. She was currently in female form and grumbling about it. She had just got done with a little adventure where Gosunguki Hicaru had tried to find out Ranma's weak point.

The truth was revealed that Ranma was afraid of cats. This was the result of a training method where, as a small child, Ranma had been repeatedly thrown into a pit full of starving cats with fish sausages tied to him. As a result Ranma suffered from severe ailurophobia. However it was a weakness that was dangerous to exploit.

If Ranma was confronted by a cat he would panic and run away, screaming. If he couldn't run away his fear would get worse. If his fear of cats got too severe his mind would retreat from reality and a new personality would emerge. He would start to behave like a cat and from his hands projected claws made of ki that could shred anything.

While generally a playful and friendly kitty, he would attack anything he perceived as a threat. Ki claws could do far more damage than real cat claws. As an indicator of how nice a cat Neko-Ranma really was, it could be cited that weapons and clothing of attackers were shredded but only rarely was any blood shed.

Two things could break Ranma out the Nekoken (“cat fist”) insanity. One would be to curl up in the lap of a person Ranma trusted. He would fall asleep and when he woke up he would be back to normal. The other way to break him out of the Nekoken state was to activate the Jusenkyo curse and change him to the other gender from whatever he/she was at the time.

The fact that people now knew of the weakness wasn't so big a deal because people also learned of the danger in exploiting it. The problem came from the fact that when Ranma had curled up in Akane's lap he had done something that angered the girl and many others who fancied themselves suitors for her hand. He had nuzzled Akane's cheek much as any cat would do, but anyone who saw it called it a kiss. Akane was angry not so much because of the `kiss' but because he might have nuzzled anyone while in that state.

As Ranma finished undressing she was grumbling about Akane making such a big deal out of something she's had no control over. She heard the faint sound of the door opening. When she turned to see who had opened the door, she saw one of the things that most greatly frightened her. There was a cat with most peculiar coloring. A little like a Siamese in the markings with color on paws, tail and ears but no mask. The color was lavender. The fur coat on the cat was fluffier than normal for a Siamese cat. This cat oddly enough also seemed to have hair ornaments in the long fur of her head.

Ranma stood with her mouth open for a moment as the cat came closer. There was an angry expression on the cat's face. Ranma screamed and tried to run, flapping her arms. Her feet hit a wet patch on the floor and she slipped and fell into the tub just as the cat leaped into the water as well.

The now male Ranma came up out of the water and found himself confronted by a naked girl. Ranma's eyes felt like they would pop out of their sockets as he recognized Shampoo.

In Mandarin she said, “I was worried that the girl might be your true form. I'm so glad to see you are really a man.”

Ranma's mind was a little too messed up to think in Mandarin. He asked, “Why were you a c-c-cat?”

The girl didn't bother to answer, she just glomped Ranma.

At that moment Akane walked by out in the hall and noticed the door to the furo was ajar. When she looked in she saw a naked Ranma being embraced by an equally naked Amazon girl. Akane ran out of the house.

Ranma shouted, “Get off me! I don't feel that way about you. I'm not your husband!” Ranma could have got out of the girls grasp easily enough except he was trying hard to avoid accidentally touching any girl parts.

It took a bit of doing to finally get the girl into a robe and out of the house. It seemed that Akane had been the only one to see the naked girl. Where Akane had gone he couldn't tell.

Ranma had tried to go over in his mind how to explain to Akane what had happened. When he met Akane the next morning she was acting subdued. “Ah, Akane? About last night.”

The girl had been watering some plants in the garden but turned an angry face toward Ranma. “Just when you had me convinced you aren't a pervert you go and do something like that!” She threw the contents of her watering pot onto the boy.

“I don't want to look at your boy form right now.” She said to the now wet and female Ranma.

The redhead protested, “It was all Shampoo's fault! She jumped me! I didn't encourage her.”

“You know what? I don't even want to look at you at all.” With that she delivered a kick that sent Ranma flying.

The airborne girl decided to wait to approach her fiancé after she'd had a little more time to cool down. She looked down and noticed a small form moving swiftly from rooftop to rooftop. When the form got closer it turned out to be a very short woman who looked shriveled with age. She came forward, thrusting with a gnarled waking stick she was using as a weapon.

Ranma twisted in midair and easily evaded the attack, coming down to land on a nearby rooftop. The old woman landed with her stick point downward and was balanced on it with her feet not even touching the roof. She had a long mane of silver white hair and large eyes.

The old woman said in perfect Japanese, “You're not too bad… Son-in-law.” With that she raced away, bouncing on her walking stick, shouting back over her shoulder, “We'll meet again.”

Ranma said in a puzzled tone, “Son-in-law?”

She turned her head slightly to listen to something only she could hear. Normally these conversations were conducted silently. However, this time Ranma couldn't help exclaiming, “Them again!”

Back at the Tendo home Shampoo arrived carrying two delivery food boxes. She was wearing a Chinese mini-dress that was barely long enough to satisfy the standards of decency. There was an image of a chrysanthemum on the front. In an almost insufferably cheerful tone she called out, “Nihao.”

Kasumi, ever the gracious hostess, commented, “You haven't been around for a while.”

Always more direct, Nabiki said, “I thought you went back to China.”

Shampoo began handing out bowls of ramen, saying, “Coming home dinner.”

Ranma, who had returned said, “You're moving here?”

Kasumi explained, “She opened a ramen shop in the neighborhood.”

Nabiki enthused, “The noodles are delicious, Akane.”

Akane who was still sulking just said, “Good for them.”

Ranma stalked forward before any further conversation and addressed the tiny old woman who sat at the table. “Are you Kho-lon, matriarch and elder of the Joketsuzoku Amazon tribe?”

The old woman seemed surprised at the question. “How do you know my name?”

“You called me `son-in-law.' Although you speak excellent Japanese, you still have a trace of an accent that sounds a little like Xian-pu's. I remember it being mentioned that Xian-pu was great-granddaughter of the tribal matriarch, Kho-lon. I can't think of any other person from that village who would be calling me `son-in-law.'”

Cologne smiled. “That's an excellent piece of deduction. Not just a good warrior, but smart too. Be a man and marry Shampoo.”

Soun leaned forward, not noticing the piece of noodle clinging to the side of his mouth. “Ranma is Akane's fiancé.”

The tiny old woman replied, “Our way is to marry a strong man.”

Ranma poured hot water from the kettle that Kasumi had given her. When back to her birth gender he said, “Let's get one thing straight. I'm not even thinking about marrying Xian-pu.”

Shampoo tapped the boy on the shoulder and said, “Ranma, you come here for second.”

When they were alone in the bathroom Shampoo shucked out of her dress and stood naked in front of Ranma. The stunned boy exclaimed, “Yow! If… if… you think you can get to me by… by…”

Shampoo got an angry expression on her face as she turned a faucet and grabbed the sprayer that was on the end of a hose. “What you talking, dummy? What you do about this body?”

She turned the cold water on herself, transforming into a cat. Ranma fell on his back and lay there twitching with his eyes wide and staring. Neko-Shampoo jumped onto Ranma and patted his face with a paw and made a meow of inquiry. She clearly didn't understand what was wrong with her Airen.

After she changed back to human and Ranma recovered, Shampoo explained. Some weeks before she had arrived back at the Amazon village and had been told that she was in trouble for not having killed Ranma. It was decreed that purple haired girl would have to undergo training at Jusenkyo. Since her training partner was Cologne herself, it was a virtual guarantee that the girl would fall into one of the pools and come out with a curse. The only question was which curse it would be.

While the two were bounding around from bamboo pole to pole, the Jusenkyo guide was sharing some food with Shampoo's father. The guide commented, “So many people use cursed springs now times. Why do you think?”

About that time Cologne scored a hit with her stick and Shampoo fell with a mighty splash into one of the pools. The guide launched into his practiced speech. “Oh, too bad, she fall into spring of drowned cat.” The other man shouted, “My daughter!”

The guide continued, “There is a tragic legend, very tragic, about a cat that drown in the spring eighteen hundred years ago. Now whoever fall in same spring take body of cat.”

A cat pulled herself to the side of the pool, looking a little more than half drowned herself. Her father stood and shouted, “My daughter, Xian-pu!”

In the Tendo bathroom, Shampoo concluded her story with, “And so it happened.”

Ranma was ready to bring in the legal argument. “Now wait a minute…” he started.

“Is your fault,” said Shampoo, cutting Ranma off.

“How is it my fault?”

Cologne burst into the bath and swung her stick at Ranma, who easily dodged it. “You're the cause of all this, yes?”

With the problems with the cat fist and the incident in the bathroom the day before, Ranma's patience was worn thin. He said, “Ya know, I've had about enough of your crazy talk.” He launched a kick at the old woman and she dodged.

The Amazon elder then launched a flurry of strikes with her stick that Ranma had been able to dodge until he stepped on a bar of soap and he feet slipped out from under him. He fell back and landed on his head and to add insult to injury, Cologne scored a hit with her stick.

Now furious, Ranma yelled, “Why you old bag!” He took off chasing her through the streets of Nerima.

The Amazon elder, sure of her superiority to the boy, couldn't resist taunting him. “Snot nosed kid, why don't you catch me, if you can.”

A little while later she tiny woman stood on the top of an ornamental gateway and congratulated herself. “Bah, just like I said. He's about a hundred years away from catching me.”

She was surprised when she heard Ranma's voice come from behind her, “You took your time, didn't you, grandma?”

The Amazon elder turned and said, “So, just what I would expect from Shampoo's groom.”

“I'm not her groom.”

In a move that caught Ranma by surprise, the old woman thrust her stick out and struck a spot on the boy's chest just below the sternum. She said, “Hmph, in two or three days you'll be begging me for a chance to be Shampoo's groom.”

Ranma felt the strike but it was light enough there was no pain from it. He rubbed the spot and asked, “Huh?” But the person he wanted to ask for amplification was bounding away over the rooftops.

Ranma quietly mused, “Maybe it runs in the family. Both of them are crazy.”

The boy suddenly looked off to the side and got an expression of alarm on his face. The expression turned to one of pleading. Finally he hung his head and groaned then turned and roof-hopped back home.

When he got back to the dojo he found Akane and asked, “Are you calmed down enough to listen to my side of it?”

She was looking stubborn so he said, “Even someone who's been arrested for committing a crime gets a hearing. Don't you at least owe me that much?”

The black haired girl grudgingly admitted the truth of that last question. “Ok, I'll listen.”

Ranma nodded. “First the reason you heard me scream. Shampoo now has a Jusenkyo curse. She came into the bathroom in her cursed form - a c-c-cat.”

Akane's eyes got wide as she considered the implications of that. She had helped Ranma through the problems related to people learning of his fear of cats. She had seen how he got in the presence of just one of the creatures.

“What happened?”

“I was backing away as fast as I could and didn't see where I was going. I fell into the tub and changed back to a guy and Shampoo must have jumped into the water to change back to a girl. The c-c-cat wasn't wearing any clothes so she was naked with me in the tub. She was glad to see I was really a guy because she was afraid I might have really been a girl.”

Akane asked, “That's when she grabbed you?”

Ranma nodded. “I'm not used to being grabbed by naked women. I was feeling really flustered. I started trying to get out of her grip and that's when you showed up at the door. I can't really blame you for jumping to conclusions.”

“So is the old woman really Shampoo's great-grandmother?”

“So she says. She responded to the name Kho-lon, which is a name I first heard when I was in the Amazon village. If she's telling the truth about that, she's very old and a very experienced fighter. For someone her age she's very strong and extremely agile.”

Akane considered that. “So she wants to force you to marry Shampoo?”

Ranma nodded. “Right. And she wants to drag me back to China. I don't know why these people can't just listen to me. No offense to you, but I don't want to be tied down with a marriage to anyone. I'm still just a kid myself, I can't think about maybe raising kids of my own. Shampoo is looking for someone to be father to daughters.”

Akane could hear the sincerity in Ranma's voice. She put a hand on his shoulder and consoled, “I'm sorry I overreacted. You will have to admit, it looked pretty bad.”

“That's not what has me worried now. Just before she ran off again, the old woman used her stick to hit a pressure point on my chest. I don't know what it will do to me, but I'm pretty sure it will be something I don't like.”

“What makes you say that?”

“When she hit that spot she said in a few days I'd be begging to Shampoo's groom.”

Akane frowned. “That doesn't sound good.”

“I'm guessing that pressure point is going to cause me some kind of problem that she thinks I'm going to beg to get a cure for. Marrying Shampoo and going back to China would be the price for the cure.”

Akane was starting to get angry again, but at least not at Ranma this time. “They don't even care about your feelings. I think you should go to Dr. Tofu to see if he can figure out that that pressure point does.”

Ranma thought to himself, “I already know what it does, but that would be revealing too much too soon.” Out loud he said, “Let's go see him. Maybe he will know something that will counter it.”

When they got to the clinic, Dr Tofu examined the sex-changing martial artist. Ranma had shown the doctor the exact point where the stick had struck him. Dr. Tofu used his training to sense the disruptions to Ranma's ki flow patterns. After he finished doing that he consulted several texts about pressure points. Some of the books looked to be very old. There were even some scrolls he consulted.

Finally he told Ranma what he had found. “My texts are a bit vague about that specific point. The point the lady struck is very close to several important nerve clusters. Whatever she did it will affect your nervous system. From what I'm reading, I think it will affect your senses. How's your vision, hearing, sense of touch?”

Ranma thought for a moment. “I haven't noticed any changes. The way the woman spoke of it there might be some delay before it shows up. She said it would be two or three days before I was begging her to be shampoo's husband.”

Tofu frowned as he thought. “Hmmm. Delayed onset of symptoms… That makes it trickier to identify. I can sense a disruption in the ki flow patterns but the effect seems fairly localized for now. If your guess is true, then it should start to spread. I'm not sure how far it would have to spread before you will notice the changes.”

Ranma sighed. “I'm guessing it's too soon for you to be able to counter it.”

Tofu nodded with a sad expression, “I'm afraid so. My books don't have enough information. I wish I did have more to go on as this is the kind of thing that would be easier to correct early on. Once it spreads throughout your body, it will be harder to fix. Even so we may be forced to wait to find out what kind of effect it will have. I'd have a better idea of how to treat it when I know what it's going to end up doing.”

Ranma nodded his head slowly. “I was afraid of that. Is there any chance that it might cause paralysis?”

“Nothing like that. If anything it looks like it might be some kind of sensory enhancement. I'm not sure how that would force someone to do anything.”

Raanma said grimly, “I know how sensory enhancement might be a lever to force me to marry Shampoo. My hearing could be made so sensitive that normal sounds are deafening or my vision is made so acute that normal light is painful. If the sense of touch is so strong that even wearing clothing hurts, that would be something that could be used for blackmail.”

Dr. Tofu's expression also became grim. “I see what you mean. It is too soon to know which of your senses is affected. For now all I can recommend is that you go about your normal activities. As soon as you notice something off about your senses either come to me if you can or have someone bring you if you can't make it here on your own.”

Ranma nodded. He and Akane left together.

As they walked home Akane said, “I'm really sorry about the way I acted earlier. That old woman is so cruel to do something like that just to get her way.”

Still grim, Ranma said, “If I could live through the cat fist training and the other crap my Pop did to me, I'll live through this.” With a sigh he added, “It seems pretty certain that I won't like it.”

The next day at school Ranma was out with the other boys in his PE class playing soccer. Shampoo was riding her bike toward the school with a take-out box on the back. The girl had a smile on her face as she remembered her great-grandmother telling her, “I did a little job on the groom-to-be's body. He'll come begging to marry you in no time.”

Exhibiting her normal, bubbly personality the Amazon girl jumped her bike to bring it down in the middle of the soccer field. She called out to Ranma, “Nihao! Hurry up and ask me to marry you.”

Ranma was doing his best not to show any worry. He said, “Tell Kho-lon that I've never felt better.”

The Amazon elder came bouncing in on her cane and asked, “But how long will that last, hmmm?” She bounced away; calling over her shoulder, “See you soon.”

“Not if I can help it,” said Ranma. He went to the lawn roller that was used for grounds maintenance. It was basicly a concrete cylinder with a metal handle used to pull it. He lifted this on his foot and sent it flying in the direction of the Amazon elder. “You old ghoul!”

From somewhere off the school grounds a figure came flying and tumbling in the air as if he had been launched from a springboard or trampoline. With a gesture of his hands he swung at the concrete cylinder and it was sliced in half. The movements of the man's hands was so fast that it was impossible to see what kind of weapon he had used to accomplish the feat.

He landed on his feet and it could be seen that he was a Chinese teenager wearing a long white robe over black pants. His grand entrance was spoiled when the halves of the lawn roller came crashing down onto him. Everyone thought he would have been flattened, but he survived. He called out the name of Shampoo.

Freeing himself from the concrete chunks, the young man rushed forward and glomped onto Ranma, saying, “Oh Shampoo.”

Ranma freed himself from the boy's embrace with a kick and shouted, “Who are you calling Shampoo.”

The Chinese youth produced a pair of bottle-bottom glasses that he put on then peered at Ranma. While this was going on Shampoo looked on with a sardonic expression. When the boy realized his error he shoved Ranma away while shouting, “Who are you?”

The boy then pushed his glasses up and glomped another person who turned out to be Akane this time. Ranma kicked the boy and Akane punched him. Ranma again asked, “Who are you calling Shampoo?” Akane demanded, “Who are you anyway?”

Holding his glasses in his hand the boy announced, “I am Mousse. I am the man who is to be Shampoo's groom.”

Shampoo wasn't having it. “What you talking about? We only friends from child times.”

Suddenly appearing, Cologne asked, “Mousse, weren't you once spurned by Shampoo?”

The boy sputtered, “But… but that… was when we were only three.”

The elder shouted back, “Age makes no difference! It has been decided! This man is Shampoo's groom!”

Ranma did his own shouting, “I keep telling you people I'M NOT SHAMPOO'S GROOM!”

Tendo Soun made an appearance and through a megaphone that was almost right up to Cologne's ear he shouted, “Have you no ears? Ranma is engaged to AKANE!”

Embarrassed now, Akane said, “Daddy, please.”

Angry that he believed that Ranma was pursuing Shampoo even though he was already engaged to another woman, Mousse lashed out. Ranma dodged a kick but the Chinese boy nailed him with something called the blow of the swan fist.

Ranma had felt something harder than a fist connect with his face. He had been knocked back and was angry. He recognized the hidden weapons technique. Damn, he currently didn't have any weapons in his stuff space. That was an omission he would have to correct before the next time he fought this guy.

Ranma intercepted Mousse's next attack and found that he had caught in his feet… a swan headed child's toilet training potty. Ranma angrily threw the offending object away and shouted, “That does it!”

“Then you will fight? These are my terms. If I win…”

Cologne interrupted, “You can't have Shampoo.”

Mousse turned to look in Cologne's direction a moment. Then he pointed to Akane. “Then I will take your woman.”

Akane protested this, “Now wait just a...”

Ranma stepped up and said, “You got it. The fight is on.” To himself he thought, “This is payback for the time Akane bet me on that match with Kodachi.”

An agreement was made as to time and place.

Back at the Tendo dojo Akane told Kasumi, “It's not funny. They didn't even ask me.”

Kasumi was trying to be encouraging. “Did you ask Ranma before you accepted Kodachi's bet on the outcome of the gymnastics match with him as the prize? Besides, there's no way Ranma could lose.”

From the bathroom there could be heard shouts of “OW! OW! OW! HOT, HOT, HOT!” Akane and Kasumi rushed to the bathroom to find a naked Ranma-chan pouring cold water on herself.

Kasumi put her hand into the water of the tub. “You say it was boiling?”

“Yeah.”

“But this is barely warm.”

Cologne sudden bounced into the bathroom to balance with her stick in the water of the tub. She told Ranma, “From now on even lukewarm will scald you.”

Ranma growled, “That pressure point you hit.”

“That's right. The pressure point I touched made your whole body as sensitive as a cat's tongue. You need warm water to change into a man… Agree to be Shampoo's groom.”

Ranma-chan now turned icy calm, so icy that the air around her chilled. When she felt the chill, Cologne's eyes widened.

Ranma-chan now told her, “Ever since you hit that pressure point I've been expecting you to make just such a demand. I refuse to give in to blackmail or extortion. When I first learned that the pressure point was something to amplify senses I feared that it might be something else. If I am forced to stay as a girl, I won't like it, but I can survive it. If that is unclear, then let me just tell you - NO.”

She stopped for a moment. “Since I am still a guest in the house it is not my place to ask you to leave.”

Akane took the hint. “I can do it and will. Elder Kho-Lon of the Chinese Amazons, please leave this house. You are not welcome here.”

Even Kasumi turned a stern gaze on the elder. “Most people say I'm the perfect hostess. I am normally the most welcoming person you could ever hope to meet. However, I have to agree with my sister in this case. You have caused problems for the residents of this house and you have worn out any welcome you might have deserved. Please leave this house.”

The old woman seemed a bit shocked. “Very well, I'll leave.”

Before she could pogo out Kasumi told her, “Do not enter this house again without an invitation. If you ignore this request I will report you to the police.”

“Bah! The police couldn't hold me.”

“I don't doubt that. But you are foreign nationals, so the police would report you to the government. It is likely that they would ask you to leave the country. If you were to refuse that request they would likely ask the People's Republic of China to send someone to retrieve you.”

“What!”

“I don't know what kind of relationship you might have with the government of China but I would tend to think that the kind of mess this would create would be an embarrassment for your tribe. Do you really want that?”

Ranma had been listening to something out of sight. She now joined the conversation. “I did some checking. The main reason the government doesn't do anything about your tribe is that you are in such a remote region that they feel it is more trouble than it is worth to wipe out your village. If you become too great of an annoyance they could easily wipe your village off the face of the earth with a few well placed bombs.”

“They would never…”

She broke off. “Well played, young one. I'm leaving now. You haven't heard the last from me. Oh, by the way, how will you fight Mousse if you can't change into a man?”

Ranma gave the old woman a coldly withering glare. “That is none of your concern. I will handle the fight in my own way.”

With that the Amazon Elder pogoed away.

Akane asked, “How will you handle the fight? You set it up for Mousse to fight your male side. If you show up as a girl he's going to say you ran out on the fight and sent the red haired girl in your place.”

Ranma said, “I don't know. Since he's from the same village as Shampoo, he'd know about the curses, but he's never seen me change so he probably won't believe I've got a curse. Well, Dr. Tofu said to come to him as soon as I knew what the pressure point did. Maybe he has something to help.”

She headed out, keeping a careful eye out for possibly being followed. Just because Cologne had left the house didn't mean that she was not going to follow

Ranma. Akane was concerned for her friend and sensei, so she tagged along.

When they got to the office Tofu greeted them. Ranma wasted no time, telling him, “We found out what the pressure point does. It makes my hypersensitive to heat. Even lukewarm water feels like it's boiling to me. I can't change back to a guy.”

Tofu nodded and thought about it. “I know a pressure point that could counteract that.”

Ranma-chan held up a hand to indicate `wait.' “I have a fight tomorrow that I will need to be male for. Tell me about your pressure point but don't use it yet.”

“It's called the Tokyo old man pressure point or sometimes the Tokyo Grandfather point. That comes from the story that old Tokyo men can take the heat of a really hot bath better than anyone else in the world. The pressure point really has nothing to do with men from Tokyo but it boosts your tolerance to heat so you could take water just as hot as those old men.”

Ranma took that in. “From your tone I get the feeling there is a drawback to this pressure point.”

“It can be only be used once. Normally that would be enough but there is a chance that you would lose the protection of the pressure point once you use it to change into a male. Contact with cold water would change you to a girl again and at that point you would be back where you are now.”

Ranma nodded with a big sigh. “My life can never be simple. Ok, I'll come over here tomorrow before the fight. You can use the pressure point on me then give me the hot water to transform.”

Tofu nodded. “You are hoping to avoid water accidents to change you to a girl before the fight?”

“That's right. The curse makes me a water magnet. If I changed now it's almost certain that I'd be female again before I could get to the fight. By waiting there's a chance I could not only get to the fight, but hopefully get all the way through it. If a water accident happens during the fight at least Mousse will see the change (if he's wearing his glasses) and know I'm still the same person with a Jusenkyo curse. With his bad vision, that could be a problem.”

Tofu said, “You can only reduce the risks you can control. Your plan sounds like it has at least some chance of success.”

Ranma-Chan nodded. “A chance is all I ask. Since I'm going to be facing a master of hidden weapons, I need to make preparations.”

Puzzled, Akane asked, “You've heard of his fighting style?”

Ranma produced a thermos bottle out of stuff space. “Remember this?”

“Oh.”

“Mousse probably thinks that his tribe is the only one that uses that technique. I actually learned it from another master. I have been using my stuff space pocket to carry stuff like the thermos bottles for hot and cold water, my lunch and even my books. I don't usually fight with weapons because that isn't in the style my Pop likes. However, I've learned a lot more than his style. I can fight with weapons if I chose. I'll just have to stick a few into stuff space to be ready for whatever he throws at me.”

Tofu commented, “You're just full of surprises.”

Ranma smiled. “I intend to continue on that way. A move an opponent doesn't know about is one they might not be able to counter.”

Ranma and Akane left the clinic and went home. Ranma went right to her room and to her backpack. From that she pulled a long narrow velvet bag. Her father came by at that moment and saw the bag and demanded, “Do you still have that thing? I thought I told you to get rid of it.”

Ranma-chan glared at her father. “I went through a lot of trouble to get this thing. It wouldn't be wrong to say I was almost killed getting it. I'm not just going to toss it out.”

A look of shock came to the older Saotome's face. “I never said to `toss it out.' I said get rid of it. It should be worth a fair amount if you sold or pawned it.”

Ranma's glare intensified. “The monks told me I'm the destined wielder of this weapon. If anyone else tries to use it, bad stuff will happen to them.”

The part time panda scoffed, “Don't tell me you believe in that curse of bad luck.”

The red haired girl pointed out, “That week you tried to carry it just about every kind of accident I can think of happened to you. I don't think the curse is nonsense.”

The bald martial artist winced as he remembered the week of hell he had gone through. “What do you want with that thing anyway?”

“The guy I'm going to fight is a master of Hidden Weapons. I was thinking that this might help to level the playing field.”

Genma looked thoughtful. “You know I don't approve of fighting with weapons, but you may be right to use one in this case if your opponent is using hidden weapons.”

Ranma-Chan bit back a sarcastic retort and just said, “Thanks, Pop.” She really didn't care if her father approved or not. Her martial arts skills had surpassed his a long time ago but it didn't seem like the right time to rub his face in the fact.

She made the weapon disappear into her personal stuff space. After Genma left with the stated intention to engage Soun to another in their eternal round of shogi games, Ranma pulled a few other things out of various pockets of her pack. Then from out of nowhere a rolled up canvas appeared.

Ranma gave a look of gratitude and unrolled the canvas. In several pockets there was a complete kit of ninja gear. She began to take kunai knives, shuriken and other weapons and stowed them away in stuff space. She hoped she didn't need all of the weapons, but strongly believed in “better safe than sorry.”

When she was satisfied she was as well prepared as she was going to be, she went down to the bathroom and washed in cold water. She did turn on the hot water for just a moment but couldn't put her hand under the stream before she began to feel the pain from the heat.

Ranma reflected that the old woman was due some respect for her age, but not much else. The fact that the Amazon elder was trying to use blackmail and coercion to get her way proved that she was an amoral old witch who would have to be handled very carefully. Because of her age Ranma would use polite forms of address but didn't feel the Elder had earned any more respect than that.

How did she feel about Shampoo (Xian-pu?) Giving it some thought she decided that until she was given evidence to the contrary she would stick with her previous evaluation. The purple haired girl was a spoiled brat and a sore looser who was used to getting her way. She was violent and way too ready to kill a rival. Even when she was trying to woo a mate she treated Ranma like an object to be taken. No, Ranma decided, she didn't like Shampoo.

The following day a fight ring had been set up on one of the athletic fields at Furinkan High School. Fireworks were being set off. Cologne was selling dumplings and a man with a cart was selling Ramen.

Akane commented to Cologne who was standing next to her, “They're turning this into a carnival!”

Cologne was scanning the crowd and said, “The groom is late.”

From behind her came the voice of male Ranma, startling her. “I'm not the groom. I don't know how many times I've got to tell you that.”

Cologne hid her surprise with an effort. “How did you return to being a male?”

“I have a friend who is a doctor. And to prevent you from doing anything to try to mess things up, that's all I'm going to say about it.”

“What makes you think I'd want to `mess things up?'”

“Wouldn't you? You are trying to blackmail me into doing something I don't want to do. That, to me, doesn't sound like the action of an honorable person.”

Cologne was angry. “You dare to question my honor!”

Ranma shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe you don't feel you need to treat people who are not in your tribe with honor. I only know that I have been treated with no honor and if you and Shampoo are examples of the people in your tribe, I don't want to be a member of your tribe, I never want to visit your village again and I most definitely don't want to be married to any of the women of your tribe, ever.”

The elder was shocked. “How can you say that!”

Ranma said, “You have been so used to getting things you own way for so long you never even consider other people's feelings. Well you may think about Shampoo's feelings, but certainly nobody else's. I've also heard that your men are not treated with respect in your society. Besides that, what I've heard about your laws make me fear that it I made one wrong step I could get killed.”

Ranma paused. “So here is something for you to think about. Can you give me any good reasons why I should want to join your tribe? Never mind your laws that say Shampoo must marry the man who beats her in combat. Never mind the blackmail you are using to try and force me to go with you. Can you give me any reasons why it would be a good thing for me?”

When the old woman started to open her mouth, Ranma put up a hand and said, “Don't answer now. Think about it. I don't want a snap answer. I want you to try and put yourself in my place and take into consideration my age, where I live, my family and all of that stuff. What does you village have to offer that would make me want to move there as husband of Xian-pu?”

Before the elder could answer Ranma walked off toward the ring. Mousse had been accosting several people thinking they were Ranma. Cologne bounced over to him and bopped him on the head, instructing him to put on his glasses. By the time he did this Ranma was already in the ring waiting for him.

Ranma was dressed in his usual black pants and a black tank top. He had left his red Chinese shirt by the side of the ring. While waiting for Mousse to come to the ring Ranma was entertaining the crowd by causing shuriken, kunai knifes and other weapons to appear and disappear. He was doing it with all the flourish and showmanship of a stage magician.

Mousse put his glasses back in front of his eyes and looked at the show Ranma was putting on. He asked, “What are you doing?”

Ranma regarded his opponent, “Do you think your tribe is has the only practitioners of the Hidden Weapons technique?”

The nearsighted boy stammered, “I… I… thought…”

Ranma told him, “There are other places in China where hidden weapons style is practiced. They are very selective about the students they teach, but I was able to prove I was worthy of instruction.”

With no further flourish Ranma made all of the ninja weapons vanish and pulled out a sheathed blade. The handle looked like a katana but the sheath was much too short. Ranma announced, “Time to get serious.”

Ranma grasped the hilt of the sword and pulled it slowly from the sheath. There was the scraping sound of the metal leaving the sheath but that wasn't what drew the eye. The blade just seemed to keep coming. By the time the whole blade of the katana was exposed to view it was three times the length of the sheath. This was the only reason Ranma had been able to carry the sheathed blade in his backpack.

All through the watching crowd there was a murmur of “how did he do that?” Through his thick lenses, Mousse was staring.

Ranma somewhat negligently stated, “It's a magic sword. The spell on it prevents it from ever getting dull. I could carve stone with it and it would still stay sharp. It has the name of Dragon's Claw (not a very original name, I know.)”

Cautiously Mousse asked, “Does… it have any other powers beside sharpness and fitting into that small sheath?”

“I was told that it does but the monks who gave it to me didn't tell me what they are. They said the powers would manifest when I needed them.”

“Monks gave you a magic sword?”

“Maybe I should have said `awarded.' I was making money by finding lost things and they gave me the job of retrieving the sword from the basement of a ruined temple. There were traps, obstacles and puzzles to solve to find it. I could have died trying to get it.”

“When I took sword back to the monks I was expecting payment in gold or jewels. Instead they told me I had to pass one more test by drawing the blade from the sheath. When I drew it like you just saw they told me I was the destined Chosen One and they said I was to be the wielder of this weapon. For anyone else it would come out of the sheath as a short knife.”

Ranma looked at the fancy engraving on the blade. “It seemed sort of silly to me. In about a year and half since I got this thing, I've mostly taken it out was just to look at it. I've only used it for two practice fights. I almost had to pay this one guy I was practicing with because with Dragon Claw here, I chopped a 400 year old family heirloom sword into little bits. The guy was pretty angry.”

“You are the destined Chosen One?”

“What? Hey listen, there's not just one Chosen One. This sect has their Chosen One, that sect has their Chosen One. It would probably more accurate to say I'm a chosen one, instead of The Chosen One.”

Ranma paused for a moment. “So are we going to stand here and chat about antiques or do you want to fight?”

Mousse shook himself out of his fascination over the sword and settled into a fighting stance. After seeing the demonstration of the magic sword, he wasn't sure if fighting this guy was such a good idea. Still he had made a commitment to a man-to-man fight.

The Chinese boy thrust his leg out in a kick and thought he felt the wind of the sword near his foot. He looked and noticed that needle he had on the tip of his shoe was now sheared off. If the needle had been the intended target, it was an amazing

demonstration of control. It would have been very easy to slice his toes off.

Mousse quickly cast out a chain that had a claw on the end of it and was not surprised that with a slight clang, the chain was cut short and the claw flew off to one side of the ring. He tried his attack with the training potty and found it sliced in half.

As the fight continued Mousse pressed his attacks as hard as he could and couldn't gain any advantage. All of his weapons were either sliced by the magic Katana or batted aside by the flat of the blade. The exploding egg bombs were also batted aside before they could explode.

It soon became clear that the pigtailed boy was toying with him. Ranma had several opportunities where he could have used his Katana to chop off a foot, a hand or do other serious harm and always refrained from doing anything that would draw blood. Finally in frustration he shouted, “Quit playing around and fight me!”

Almost before he could finish speaking the flat of the blade struck the top of his head. Before he had time to react to that a roundhouse kick connected with his head with enough force that it felt like it was going to take his head off. He fell to the mat and found he seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. He felt someone put his glasses back on his face then faded out.

Cologne came up to Ranma and told him, “Very impressive, groom. A warrior of your skill and strength will make a great addition to the tribe.”

Ranma cast his eyes up to the heavens as if asking Kami-Sama for strength. “Didn't you hear anything I said to you? I AM NOT MARRYING SHAMPOO! I AM NOT JOINING YOUR TRIBE! Why can't you just take a hint and stop bothering me?”

Just at that moment rain began to fall, triggering Ranma's change to female. Ranma wanted to just sit on the edge of the ring and groan, but at that moment neko Shampoo came up and Ranma ran away screaming.

The next day Ranma was at the school pool. One of the girls asked Akane, “When will Ranma turn back into a boy?”

Akane answered, “I'm not really the one to ask about that.”

One of the boys who appreciated the view of Ranma's female form commented, “It's Ok with me if she stays a girl.”

Ranma had swum to the bottom of the pool and was drifting slowly toward the surface. She felt a soft tap on her shoulder and turned to see Shampoo Neko floating beside her.

Ranma quickly stroked through the water to the surface and swam rapidly away from the small furry form. So panicked was she that Ranma didn't see the side of the pool and rammed into it with her head, stunning her and damaging the pool. She was pulled out by the lifeguard.

A while later two girls and one cat were in an equipment shed. Ranma had kept her head turned away until Akane could pour water from a kettle with the word Janitor on it. The restored girl wrapped a towel around herself.

“Is good news. Shampoo hear of a pill that can cure full body cat tongue pressure point.”

“A pill?”

“Great Grandmother has it. It called the phoenix pill.”

Akane asked, “Phoenix? Is that as in the legendary bird that is reborn in fire?”

Shampoo nodded. “Champion of heat resistance.”

“Why would you be willing to tell Ranma about this?”

“Shampoo want Ranma change back to man. Maybe pervert girl like Airen better as girl.”

“You're a fine one to call me a pervert. You're the one who gave me the Kiss of Marriage.”

“That only happen because you turn head when Shampoo try to give Kiss of Death. Will ask Amazon council to cancel it.”

The black haired girl arched an eyebrow. “They can do that?”

Another nod. “Council has final say in matters of tribal law.”

“What would you do if the council refused to cancel the Kiss and says you must marry Akane?”

The Amazon shuddered. “Shampoo not like Akane. Won't marry her.”

“Humph! Now you know how I feel about marrying you.”

“Airen not like Shampoo?”

“Why should I like you? The first time I met you, it was in a challenge fight. After I won that you were trying to kill me. I don't hate you even though I have good reason to. I realize at least part of the way you act toward me is because of the way you were raised and so, not your fault. Still, I can't love or even like someone who can go from `I love you' to `I'll kill you' with just a splash of water.”

“But Shampoo not know of your curse then.”

The redhead frowned, “How is that an excuse? You are too violent, too ready to kill a rival or obstacle. You say Kho Lon has the pill? Where would she be right now?”

“She is at the Nekohanten getting it ready to open.”

Ranma shuddered at the name of the Restaurant. “I know you only tell this because you think Cologne will be able to blackmail me into agreeing to marrying you. You don't think I have a chance of getting the pill from her until I do agree. All I'm going to say is we'll see. At the very least I will find out what terms she will set for the challenge to get the pill.”

Ranma-Chan exited the equipment shed and roof hopped to the location of the new Café. Shampoo had given her the address and it wasn't hard to find. The restaurant was in a prominent location on one of the local shopping streets.

The front door was not locked so Ranma walked in and yelled, “Elder Kho Lon, are you here, you old ghoul?”

The tiny old woman hopped on her cane. “My, how rude you are.”

The girl gave a snort. “Very well, I will give you the polite forms of address. You have not treated me in a manner that deserves any more respect than that.”

“Why have you come?”

“Xian Pu told me of a cure to the pressure point you applied to me. I can only assume that you sent her with this message. The main question now is what would be your conditions for giving me this `Phoenix pill'?”

The elder nodded. “Did you mean this?” She displayed a large gold locket on a gold chain around her neck. On the locket the words “Phoenix Pill” were engraved.

“I have seen enough of how you behave to know how you would react to a simple ultimatum. Therefore I will put this into the terms of a challenge. I will give you two months. If you are able to take the pill from me in that time you will have earned your cure to cat's tongue and I will never use that or any similar technique on you. If you fail, the only way you get the cure is to marry Shampoo and go back to the village with us. To help insure that, at the end of two months I will send the pill back to the village.”

Ranma-Chan seemed to consider this for a moment. “I won't need two months.”

Cologne sensed a strange flare in Ranma's ki and something that felt like a breeze. She detected the barest flicker of what seemed to be movement, and realized that the girl's position had changed and she had her right hand held up with something between thumb and forefinger. The girl seemed to be studying the pale yellow tablet.

Before the Amazon elder could react, Ranma had popped the pill in her mouth and swallowed. There should have been a wave of ki pass through the child's body as a result of taking the pill, but after the ki, there was more. There seemed to be waves of some other kind of energy she didn't recognize but thought might be magic.

To Ranma it felt as if there was a wave of heat that washed over her body. Then alternating waves of heat and cold that started intense then faded.

“What just happened?” demanded the old woman.

Ranma pointed and she looked down to see the locket open and empty. “How did you do that?”

“Are you familiar with the technique, Kachutenchin Amaguriken?”

“Of course I'm familiar with it. It is an Amazon secret technique that has been handed down for generations in my tribe. That wasn't what you just did.”

“Hmm,” said Ranma. “You think that is a secret. That may be what you have told those students you taught the technique to, but it isn't the whole story.”

Arching an eyebrow the elder said, “And I suppose you know the whole story. Please enlighten me.”

“According to the senseis who taught me the speed movement techniques, there was a master named Li Chuan who was traveling about, searching for new martial arts techniques that he could teach his students. This was about 2,000 years ago. When traveling in one of the more remote regions he came upon your village and was challenged by one of your sentries.”

“Master Li Chuan only wanted to replenish his supplies at your village, but it would seem they were even less welcoming to strangers than they are now. One of the warriors who were standing sentry attacked the traveling master and was easily defeated with the use of a speed punching technique the master had. When the second sentry attacked in defense of her fellow warrior she too was easily defeated.”

“Rather than be tied down to a marriage in some backwater, Li Chuan made the sentries a counter offer to the Kiss of Marriage. If he would teach them the speed punching technique, they would give up their claims on him as well as provide him with supplies to continue his journey. Thus it was that Gel and Soap learned the technique that was then passed down through the generations. It got its name from the training technique of snatching chestnuts from a fire with enough speed to avoid getting burned.”

Scowling, the elder said, “All right, so you've heard the story. I still say what you did wasn't the Kachutenchin Amaguriken.”

“It's sad that in 2000 years you maintained a slavish adherence to the original technique and didn't try to improve on it.”

“Improve on it?”

“Li Chuan didn't teach your people all of the speed movement techniques he knew. After the speed punching there comes a speed kicking technique. The hardest of all to master was a speed running technique. That was hard because there is balance and control needed so the runner's feet don't just run out from under him. It requires an increase in speed of thinking as well as movement.”

“If I had gone about it slightly differently I would have given the impression of being in two or more places at once. That `afterimage' technique can be very confusing to an enemy in a battle.”

The elder digested that. “What was the reaction to the pill? There should have just been a wave of ki that reversed the pressure point effect and given you a slightly higher tolerance for heat than you had before.”

“I've had some treatments to my body and ki centers. The effect of the pill is not to give me `slightly' higher heat tolerance, but to make me virtually fireproof. The heat from a kiln you would use to fire pottery would be mildly uncomfortable to me. A forge hot enough to melt steel for making weapons would hurt but do no real damage.”

“That's…”

“Impossible? Not really.”

“I will have to consider this.”

Ranma shook her head. “Could you just save time and concede that you underestimated me. I have no doubt you will try to think up some other plan to get me to your village.”

“Very well, young one. I will concede defeat on this matter, but only on the matter of the cat's tongue and the pill.”

Ranma frowned again. “I doubt you will be believe me but I will have to tell you anyway. I have no desire to live in your village. It was an interesting place to visit, once. I have no desire to repeat the experience. If you are somehow able to get me back to your village against my will, I will escape. If you make it impossible for me to escape I will kill myself. I won't live in your village!”

“You can't mean that!”

“Read my ki signature. Am I lying?”

The elder did as bid and could find no deception in the other's aura. “You could be hiding your ki.”

Ranma shook her head. “I'm going home to get some hot water.”

As the redheaded girl walked out of the café, the elder watched her. No, she couldn't believe that Ranma would prefer death to living in the Amazon village, she refused to believe it. It wasn't a terrible place. They had a good way of life. No she would bring him back by any means, fair or foul. They couldn't afford to lose the contribution to the strength of the blood of the village. Once they got him there, he'd fall into line. No matter how talented, he was just a male.

Author's Note: Yeah, Cologne comes off sounding like a fanatic. She's stubborn, but she can learn if she's forced to. More on that later