Alright, Shampoo. They know you're coming. They know Akane's left. You've dressed up in a nice, nice Chinese dress that shows off a fair bit of leg. That's bound to leave a good first impression. It's a very good leg. Not quite as nice as her face or her boobs or her - Oh, let's be honest she was the total package, and Ranma would be all over her in no time at all.
But let's think this through now. Ranma isn't the kind of guy that will be impressed by a pretty face, even one as pretty as hers. He turns into a pretty cute chick himself, after all. The best way to play this would be to play it cool. Let him come to you. Make yourself available, but don't frighten him off by being too enthusiastic. The front gate opened, and -
"Nihao, airen!"
"Gack! Mister Tendo, it's not what it looks like!"
Oh, he's even more hunky in the flesh than he ever was in Akane's memories! Shampoo nuzzled his chest and wrapped her arms around his back. Ooh, that dumb tomboy didn't know what she was missing.
"Ranma!" Akane's father growled in a quite demonic fashion. "Akane's barely out the door, and you're already all over this - This foreign girl?!"
Shampoo lifted her head and more properly took in the scene. There was herself, naturally, on top of a rather frantic Ranma Saotome, who was trying to pull his way out of her octopus grip with a great deal of success. That is, from Shampoo's perspective of the matter, because holding onto a squirming body as hot as this was a rather <i>interesting</i> experience. Anyway, Akane's two sisters were hanging out towards the back, Nabiki feigning disinterest and Kasumi very obviously deeply concerned.
Then there were the fathers. One was a panda playing with a tire. The other's head was blotting out the sky while projecting the wrath of an angry devil. Oh dear, whatever could he possibly be so upset about?
"So you must be Shampoo then?" Nabiki asked. "You know, it's strange. I would have thought the school would have contacted us before taking Akane into an exchange program."
"Never mind that for now," Kasumi said, putting on a sweet and carefree expression to mask what she was obviously showing before. She knelt down and smiled. "Hello. I am Kasumi. Where are you from, Shampoo?"
"Nihao!" Shampoo said, giving Ranma a squeeze that, by coincidence, pulled his face right into her cleavage. "Shampoo is from Joketsuzoku in China! Is village of warrior women, too too tough, outsiders never beat! Shampoo eager learn martial arts! Is dojo, yes?"
"Yes, it is," Kasumi said. "And do you know, it's funny? Your speaking style is very similar to how Akane wrote her goodbye letter. Almost as though you were the one that wrote it."
You could hear a pin drop. In point of fact, Shampoo was pretty sure that was a tumbleweed rolling by just now. Which was impressive considering their Japanese urban environment put them pretty far from the desert climate necessary for tumbleweed to - The point is it was quiet and awkward, and the only sound anyone made was the squeaking of a tire, and Nabiki going, "Oh, snap!" with a greatly amused tone.
"Sh-Shampoo sure that you is reading too much into that," Shampoo carefully, carefully said.
"Maybe I am," Kasumi said. "But then again, I haven't been drinking today." Well. That was what she literally said. But she did it in this odd way. Something about the tone, the body language, the battle aura that would have dwarfed her father's earlier on had they been expressing it at the same time made it instead come out as "How dare you make me think my little sister had a drinking problem." And by that same metric, her followup question of "By the way, do you know where my little sister is?" Came out as a series of threats about what might happen if that question was not given a suitable answer.
The thing about Shampoo, though, was that she was a bit of an alpha dog. Or maybe an alpha cat? Either way she wasn't going to be intimidated by some goody-goody homemaker, so she got up to her feet and stared Kasumi right in the eye, and then said, "Shampoo no know. Never meet Akane. Never even seen her before."
"You're not missing much," Ranma said. "Built like a brick, totally uncute and a violent temper. You're way prettier than she is. Friendlier too."
Shampoo beamed. Her beloved could see it plainly, then! Shampoo was much, much better to have around than Akane. Oh, this would work out wonderfully. The two of them would take over this dojo and have many, many strong babies.
"In fact, you know what? Let's go out on a date! You and me, right now. How's that sound?"
"Ranma! You betray my daughter so easily after all?!"
"Yes, airen!" Shampoo cooed, ignoring the demonic head and clutching Ranma's hands. "We go out on date now! Sound too too much fun!"
"Yes, yes, of course!" Ranma said. "I'll take you out to dinner, then to a movie, then... Darn, where's my wallet gone?" He patted down his trousers and frowned. "I might've left it in Akane's room. Shampoo, would you mind checking there while I head to the guest room?"
"Sure thing!" Shampoo called, and without thinking about it hopped right on up to Akane's window... And only then realised her mistake when Ranma hopped up next to her.
"Funny thing that," he said. "How'd you know which one was Akane's if you only just got here?"
What happened next was pure instinct. Ranma went for her wrist, forcing Shampoo to back away with a great deal of speed. Turned out he was plenty fast when he wanted to be, and managed to trip her while she dropped. Shampoo rolled over back onto her feet and scowled. He wanted a fight? She'd give him a fight!
Ranma seemed kind of surprised when her kick caught his chest, but she was pretty caught off guard as well when he was able to bounce off the wall and tackled her to the ground. They rolled for position, and he won because he was larger, because he was more determined to win, but most importantly out of everything?
It was making her hot. Fighting him like this was making her hot. He was so strong, and mmm, so handsome. Sure, he was a bit of a jerk, but who cares when he's just that good looking? They'd be so good together if he only gave her a chance -
"Where's Akane?" Ranma asked. In response, Shampoo harrumphed, so Ranma twisted her arm a little bit, and pushed her against the ground a little more. "Shampoo! Stop being stubborn and tell me what you did with my fiance! Who are you, and what did... You do with... Uh..."
"Ranma!" Akane whimpered. He let go of her arm and she jumped on him. "I'm me again! Oh, Ranma, I was so scared!"
"I have a few questions!" Nabiki said, raising her finger as though asking a question in class. "Or I guess the two lovebirds could maybe have a few more moments of hugging it out while pretending they're not into each other. We could do that too, I suppose."
Needless to say, Akane was rather relieved to find that nightmarish experience was over. Except, of course, it was far from being all over. This was merely the beginning, and before long Shampoo was going to emerge once again, the very next time Ranma insulted or belittled Akane...
- Which happens two minutes later, leaving everyone really confused about what's going on.
- Akane tries to figure things out on her own later on.
- Nabiki discovers the shampoo, decides to experiment with it.
- Akane transforms the next day, at school.
- Something else
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