And now...
You can leave. The good part's over.

Yagami 1/2
A Ranma 0.5/King of Fighters Crossover
by Black Dragon
revcoll@peoplepc.com
https://www.angelfire.com/anime2/fanficlair/index.html

Standard disclaimer applies. I don't own these people, and I don't get paid for this. I really wish I did. Considering how much effort I put into it... sheesh. Well, as long as I've got extra space, I'd like to include one of my favorite quotes from Joseph Stalin: "When you kill one, it is a tragedy. When you kill ten million, it is a statistic."
Explains a lot, doesn't it?

Chapter 5
The Return
**********************************************************************************

Ranma grinned in anticipation as he stepped onto the hard-packed dirt of the abandoned lot, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Tomas followed closely behind him, hesitantly at first, but faster after a bit of thought.
Ranma stopped in the center of the lot, and looked around.
"Well, it's a little smaller than I'd like, but it'll have to do." Ranma turned around and smirked slightly at Tomas. "You ready, Bogard?"
Tomas nodded. "Hey, whatever you say. I just hope you're ready for this." He smirked, and adjusted his cap slightly.

Nearby, Iori, Soun, Akane, and Nabiki were all watching the impending battle.
"Stupid jerks... I hope they both end up with broken legs..." Akane continued muttering dark thoughts even as it became increasingly clear that she no longer had any attention.
Soun turned toward Iori. "What do you think, Yagami?"
Yagami slowly turned his head to stare at him with one eye, and shrugged lazily. "Ranma'll do all right. If this is really Terry's kid though, he won't be breathing easy afterward."

Ranma and Tomas stared at each other for a few moments, and then Ranma lowered his eyes and slowly removed his hands from his pockets.
"Come on."
Tomas took that invitation, and charged forward at blinding speed with a straight haymaker.
Ranma crossed his arms together to block, and was pushed back a good two meters before he forcefully uncrossed his arms, knocking Tomas aside.
The young Bogard recovered quickly, and landed a roundhouse on Ranma's back. Ranma took the blow with a grunt, and used the moment to land an equally punishing left hook to Tomas's jaw. Tomas staggered backward for a moment, then backflipped away as Ranma's foot swept under him.
Tomas landed unsteadily, and wiped a bit of blood from his mouth. 'Shoot! He's as fast as me! And even stronger...' "All right then. I guess I have to stop holding back so much." Tomas grinned when Ranma's expression didn't change, then threw his arms up. "Burn knuckle!"
Ranma was totally unprepared for the speed that Tomas shot forward, and his entire body was blasted backward as the ki-powered punch hit him dead in the chest.
Ranma rolled backward as he hit the ground, and dug his foot into the hard-packed dirt to stop his momentum.
Tomas grinned and flexed his hand slightly.
Ranma grinned in return. "So that's how it's gonna be, eh? All right! Yami barai!"
Tomas cocked back a fist as the purple fire wave rocketed toward him. "Power wave!"
Akane and Nabiki gasped as the two projectiles detonated on each other, blasting dirt and rock into the air and billowing dust through the tracks the attacks had made in the ground.
Ranma couldn't see his opponent, but it was easy enough to guess what would follow, even without the loud shout from the other side of the smokescreen.
Ranma charged forward, pushing off low to the ground and twisting to push his right elbow toward the settling dust.
*Shhhh-THOCK!!!*
The blue red energy surrounding Tomas's fist streaked harmlessly over Ranma's head, stopping when Tomas's stomach smashed into Ranma's elbow. As the young Bogard found himself struggling to breathe, Ranma swept his left hand up and hit the heel of his palm hard against Tomas's chin, knocking him back into the small crater.
Tomas groaned on the ground, and Ranma stepped over to him slowly.
"Rising Tackle!"
Ranma was totally unprepared for Tomas to launch himself up with his hand, and was tossed back as the kick drilled into his shoulder.
Ranma struggled to his feet quickly, and lashed out with a kick to deflect a punch from Tomas. Tomas backed away a step, then threw his arms out again. "Burn knuckle!"
Ranma didn't have time to move into Tomas's defenses this time, and barely managed to leap upwards as Tomas sailed past him.
Ranma landed, then turned to see Tomas slide to a stop unsteadily.
"All right! Let's do this!" Tomas held both fists above him, and a blazing red aura flashed around his form. "Omega wave!!" Tomas slammed both fists hard into the Earth before him, and his red aura seemed to drain into the ground within a split second.
*Boom!!* *Krrrrrrrrr*
Ranma flinched back slightly as a wide tower of red energy blasted upward, then receded slightly and picked up speed toward him.
'Well, what the hell. I hope this works.' Ranma's body flashed as purple fire rushed up from the ground around him in massive tendrils, and seeped into his hand instantly. "Gouka dan!!" Ranma slammed his hand flat onto the ground, and a arrow of dark, condensed purple blasted forward on the ground, spraying dirt and rock in its wake.
*KA-KROOOOM!!!!* Explosions of red spikes jutted outward from within an expanding dome of violet flame, and Ranma's form was lost to the spectators' eyes as light and dark ripped the empty lot apart.

Akane and Nabiki were aghast at the sight of so much destruction, and were struggling to stay on their feet as the shock waves rolled over them.
'He wasn't just holding back... This is incredible!' Akane couldn't help but be impressed at the sight, and in turn couldn't help but get angry at the fact that Ranma and Tomas had a good reason for taking her so lightly.
"Yagami! Such power! What is that boy capable of?!" Soun held his hand over his eyes, scanning the still falling debris for any sign of Ranma.
Iori's expression, predictably, had remained completely neutral throughout the entire battle. "This is a new one on me. Bogard never used a move like that, and I never taught Ranma that."

Tomas coughed as the dust blew into him from the shock waves, and covered his eyes to peer into the blast site.
Then he hunched over suddenly, clutching his stomach. Charging at burn-knuckle speed into an elbow had HURT, and after expending the last of his energy to generate as big an omega wave as possible (in retrospect, he had really gone overboard on that), he couldn't ignore it any longer. But Ranma had been caught in the blast, and had taken his own injuries.
Tomas collapsed onto his knees, breathing hard and holding his stomach with one arm. "It's over. I won."
"Not really." Tomas's eyes widened as Ranma stepped out of the swiftly settling smokescreen.
Ranma walked over to his foe calmly, then stopped just a foot away from him.
Tomas stared up wide-eyed.
*Bop!* Ranma hit the other boy over the head, and Tomas fell onto the ground, his cap falling down next to him.

"I win." Ranma sighed wearily after the declaration, then pulled Tomas over his shoulder and turned toward the dojo. Iori turned and followed him as he passed by.
The others didn't, and Ranma stopped and looked back at them. "Hey, you guys coming? It's gettin' late, and I'm hungry." Not waiting for a response, he shifted Tomas's position over his shoulder and crossed the street.
Akane watched as he left, then turned her attention back to the large crater that had swallowed the smaller earlier one. If Ranma had that sort of power...
"Maybe he can teach me to do that!" Excited at the new prospect, and forgetting entirely that she hated Ranma's guts, Akane turned to follow Nabiki to the Tendo compound.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Ouch! Hey, watch it!" Ranma winced as Shampoo tightened the bandage around his shoulder.
Shampoo ignored him and started tying the bandage. "Ranma no weak, so no act weak. Is you okay now?"
Ranma nodded irritably, and glanced over at Tomas, who was still unconscious and lying on the couch with a wet washcloth on his head.
"I do hope he wakes up soon. He'll miss dinner otherwise." Kasumi glanced at the insensate boy before setting down the dish on the table, which was immediately bombarded by Ranma's chopsticks.
As the others began serving themselves, Akane fumed. "Come on! You can train me a little, right?"
Ranma rolled his eyes as he popped a roll into his mouth. "No Akane, I can't." Shampoo raised another roll to his mouth, and he swallowed it up before he even realized that he was being fed.
Akane resisted the urge to create more first aid work for Shampoo; she needed something from Ranma, after all. "Well, why not?"
Ranma stared curiously at Shampoo, who just smiled innocently and waited to pop another sushi roll into his mouth. She was always doing weird stuff like this around him for some reason. Must be a Chinese thing.
"Well, for one thing, you can't use the Yagami power. And even if I could teach you, you'd just use it for evil anyway." Ranma stated matter-of-factly. "Shampoo, I can feed myself just fine. I'm not hurt that badly."
Akane stood up at the accusation. "Evil?! What do you mean, evil?!"
Ranma stared up at her, then sighed and scooted away from Shampoo a bit. "It's like this. You're a stupid, flat-chested tomboy."
Soun only had time to snatch the plate of sushi rolls from the table before it was lifted from the floor.
*WHAM!!!*
Shampoo blinked as Akane lifted the table for another strike, then got up angrily and grabbed one of its legs. "What you think you doing?!"
Akane redirected her glare at Shampoo. "Giving him what he deserves!"
By this time, Ranma had pried his face out of the floorboards, and spoke to Akane off-handedly. "You see that? Now what if, instead of picking up a table and hitting something that ticked you off, you could throw a gouka dan? You'd burn the house down, best case scenario. You need better control before you can even learn these types of attacks, much less use them."
Ranma grabbed the table, still suspended between the two girls, and yanked it down back onto the damaged floor. "Hmph. Hell, I need better control," he muttered darkly.
Shampoo watched worriedly as Ranma got up slowly, then walked despondently up the stairs.
Nabiki watched as well, but her thoughts were bordering more on disgust than worry. 'He looks so pathetic now... but he looked so happy before, when he was fighting. It's like all the vitality's gone.' Nabiki rolled her eyes and turned away. 'I'm surrounded by psychos.'

Akane sat down angrily. "Stupid jerk. Where does he get off, acting all high and mighty like that?"
"He strong, you weak. Ranma mighty, so Ranma act mighty. Akane have problem, not Ranma!"
Akane turned red for a moment, then shot up and turned to glare at Shampoo, who was staring at Akane disdainfully with her arms crossed under her chest.
"Who are you calling WEAK?!?!" Akane's fist flew towards Shampoo's smirk.
*Wham!* Unfortunately for Akane, it wasn't her fist that made the impact, as her face met the exact same floorboards that Ranma had made an impression in before. Groaning, she looked up to find that Shampoo had somehow gotten behind her, and had her foot sticking out where Akane had stepped.
"Akane! Are you all right?!" Soun stood up to look over the table, and Nabiki shook her head.
"Poor little sister. Just doesn't know when to quit."
Shampoo stood up straight, then stared condescendingly at Akane. "In China, is rude for guest beat up host, even if host deserve beating, so Shampoo just give warning. Shampoo no act like Ranma; you hit Shampoo, Shampoo hit back."
Shampoo turned away, then started upstairs to the Yagami's room. "Little girl should no bother fighter. Could get hurt!" Smiling at the final taunt, Shampoo rushed the rest of the way up the stairs.

"Akane, are you okay? Where does it hurt? Uh..." Soun backed off a bit as a red haze enveloped his youngest daughter.
Akane pushed herself up slowly, letting her aura cook around her. "That... that... top-heavy, airheaded bimbo! 'Little girl' am I?! I'll show her!"
Soun backed off slightly. "N-Now Akane, please, keep calm! We can work this out..."
In all the commotion, nobody had even noticed Iori get up until he placed a hand on Akane's shoulder. Akane's aura vanished instantly, and blinked up at the much larger man's stoic expression.
"Look kid, I know it's rough, but nobody starts out on top, right? Until then, try to cool off. It'll save you a lot of misery." Having said his piece, Iori walked up the stairway after Shampoo.

Akane stared after Iori as he left, the image of the white crescent moon burned into her mind. Iori's words had been different from Ranma and Shampoo's, true, but the meaning had been the same. Besides being more polite, though, the man simply had a presence that Ranma and Shampoo lacked; one that could be invisible one moment, and command all attention the next. Ranma's words provoked anger; Iori's commanded respect.
Wait... he had meant the same thing?
"Hey! He called me weak too! That jerk!"
*Crash!* Soun and Nabiki faced their own encounters with the hardwood floor, and Kasumi simply smiled as a sweatdrop rolled down her head.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma awoke early the next morning. His sleep had been dreamless, but still fitful, and he figured he wouldn't get any more rest anyway.
Yawning to himself, Ranma gently shook Maya awake from where she rested on his lap. The cat shook itself, then raised its head to stare at him lazily. Ranma gently pushed the feline off of himself, then left the room to take a bath.
Maya had appeared the previous night again as he was getting ready for bed. The cat seemed to have left somewhere during the day; probably out chasing birds or something, Ranma figured. Meanwhile, Shampoo had announced that she was staying somewhere else and allowed Kasumi to make up her room for Tomas. Ranma had inquired where, but Shampoo had seemed unwilling to talk about it, so he dropped the subject.

Having finished his bath and dressed, Ranma hopped out the window and into the backyard. Stretching, he turned and watched as the edge of the sun broke the crest of the distant hills, splashing vibrant color throughout the skies above Nerima.
"Oh. You're awake."
Ranma rolled his eyes without turning toward Akane. "Good morning to you, too," he said dryly.
Akane walked up behind, unsure of exactly what to say. "Um... look... about what you said yesterday. That thing about not having enough control?"
Ranma turned towards her and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
Akane's left eye twitched slightly. "I was just thinking... maybe you could help me with that?"
Ranma was rather impressed by the girl's sudden civility, and smiled slightly, especially as he noticed that she was shaking slightly; most likely from the effort of asking him a favor rather than attacking him, he supposed. "Are you asking me to train you?"
"Get over yourself!" Akane snapped. "You're not THAT good! I... I was just... I just wanted... you know, a few tips maybe..." Akane trailed off irritably, wondering if this was really a good idea.
Ranma planted his fists on his hips and smiled. "Well, since you managed to go a whole conversation without using the word 'jerk' or 'pervert'..." He didn't notice Akane twitch. "Sure, I can give you a few pointers. First thing is, work on your coordination. If you're balance is better, then you can move and attack faster without getting knocked down like you usually do. After that, you'll want to do some speed drills. Lessee... after that, maybe-"
*Wham!!* *Splash!* "Never mind! Forget I even said anything!!" Akane stomped back into the house furiously, leaving a wet and female Ranma thrashing in the koi pond with a noticeable lump on her head.

"Ptooey! Stupid, dumb, uncute TOMBOY!!!" Ranma growled out as she shook the water out of her hair.
"Great. Just great." Ranma twisted her pigtail to squeeze the water out, then took off his jacket and started squeezing the water out of that.
"Hey, what's all the noise?" Ranma turned around to see Tomas step out of the house and stretch, before settling his gaze on her.
The young Bogard blinked, then rubbed his eyes and blinked again. To his surprise, the image of a beautiful redheaded girl with a wet tank top on had only gotten clearer, rather than vanishing.
Ranma was wondering why Tomas was staring at her, when the traveling fighter snapped out of it and walked toward her.
"Uh... h-hi, I didn't see you around before. Um, I'm, uh, that is, my name is-"
"Tomas Bogard, I know," Ranma interrupted, before Tomas had a chance to further complicate his introduction. Deciding that she really didn't want anybody else knowing about the curse, she tied her rolled-up jacket around her waist, hiding the crescent moon that made the item so distinctive.
"You... you know my name?" Ranma was starting to get a tad creeped out by the way the other boy was acting, so she opted to simply leave.
"Yeah, well, it's been nice meeting you and all, but I've gotta go." Ranma took off at a run, and had leapt for the window to the Tendo bathroom before Tomas had even realize she had moved.
'Whoah, she's fast!' "Wait! What's your name?"
Ranma declined to answer, opening the small window on the roof and sliding smoothly through it into the furo.
Tomas stared forlornly at the open window, wondering to himself. 'That... that girl... she's incredible!'
__________________________________________________________________________________

A large sweatdrop rolled down Ranma's head as his clothes soaked up the hot water of the furo, sagging around him as they took in moisture.
Ranma gulped as Akane started twitching violently. She hadn't jumped into the furo from outside, so she wasn't wearing clothes, and naturally lacked such protection of her modesty.
"Uh... Akane... I, uhm, thought you would be out jogging..."
Ranma gulped as Akane's aura manifested itself, and she was engulfed in a bright red halo of energy.
"Er... you know, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this..."
*Krnch!* Akane tore the furo's spout out of the tile wall, along with a good amount of tile and concrete.
"Which... you wouldn't be interested in, huh?"

(The following scene has been removed due to the unnecessarily graphic and disgustingly brutal content of its proceedings. Please continue on to the next section, please.)
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Man, what do you think happened to Yagami?" Daisuke nudged Hiroshi in the side as he ate his pizza bread, gazing over at the heavily bandaged Ranma.
"I dunno. Looks like he got hit by a train or something." Hiroshi frowned at the thought, and took a sip of his tea.
Daisuke shivered as he swallowed the last of his bread. "Maybe. Man, I'd hate to run into whatever did that to him, though. This guy took out Kuno without breaking a sweat! Whatever beat him up must be some kind of monster!"
Hiroshi nodded as he waved to Akane and Yuka as they walked by. "Yeah," he agreed, turning back to the scene, "but then again, I wouldn't mind so much if SHE would take care of me." Hiroshi grinned slightly, and Daisuke nodded quickly in agreement.

"Shampoo, you really didn't need to come down here. I'll be fine. I've taken worse."
Shampoo blinked, then stopped adjusting the bandage around Ranma's head. "You hurt worse before?"
Ranma opened his mouth to confirm this, and then stopped. "Uh... well... there's your grandmother and those other crones. They worked me over pretty well. Anyway, it don't matter." Ranma tugged the bandage on his head tight and winced as it sent shock waves of pain through his skull. Couldn't Akane have stopped after the concrete broke? She got her stupid point across...
Shampoo frowned as she checked the bandages wrapped around Ranma's chest, and then started taking off his jacket.
"He-Hey! What're you doing?" Ranma blushed furiously as the jacket fell onto the grass behind him, and began stuttering. Further protest was muffled by his shirt being lifted up, and before he knew what had happened, he was sitting down, topless, as Shampoo poked at the bandages wrapped around his torso.
"These is okay. Ranma lucky he heal fast." Shampoo smiled up at him.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Uh. Right. Thanks." Then he looked up. "Er... hello."
Shampoo turned around to see a girl with glasses had walked up behind her while she was checking Ranma's wounds. "Who you?" She asked, irritated.
Ranma immediately picked Hana out of the group as the bespectacled girl stepped forward. "Ranma, are you okay? And... who is she?" The last part was stated with a frown, and Ranma blinked and chuckled nervously.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. This is a friend of mine from China. Her name's Shampoo. Shampoo, this's Hana."
Shampoo stared at the girl impassively, then narrowed her eyes slightly. "Nihao."
Hana nodded back. "Hello. What happened?" She never took her eyes off Shampoo, though she lowered her head slightly at the hard stare.
Shampoo picked up a small package on the ground next to her, seemingly dismissing the other girl as she spoke. "Violent girl hit too too hard. Akane need be taught lesson." She said the last part almost off-handedly, then turned back to Hana. "What you want?"
Hana stood up straight defensively, and held up her own package in front of her chest. "I'm just bringing Ranma lunch. I do it every day." Well, every day for three days, any way.
Shampoo raised an eyebrow as she unwrapped her package, revealing a plastic bento box. "Shampoo bring lunch for Ranma. Help him recover. No need you lunch," Shampoo stated matter-of-factly.
Hana twitched. "Who are you to say what he eats? Why don't you let him decide?" She glared at the violet-haired woman, frustrated. Obviously this girl was trying to steal Ranma's attention (not that Hana could fault her for that) for herself.
Shampoo snorted. "Fine. Ranma decide. Ranma? Ranma? Where you go?" Shampoo blinked, and then sweatdropped along with Hana as she realized that Ranma had disappeared, along with the shirt and jacket.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Damn it! Where am I now?" Ryoga followed along the side of Furinkan's perimeter wall, wondering if he was still in Kyoto. Not that it would have mattered much if he was, but he liked to at least have some idea of what region of Japan he was in.
Looking to the right, he saw some trees separating the wall from the road. He could go off into the streets, but... then what? Where was he headed to, anyway?
"Damn you Ranma!! This is all your fault!!"
*Thwack* Ryoga pitched forward suddenly as a stone impacted his skull. Turning around angrily, Ryoga suddenly beheld the bane of his existence, tossing a stone up in the air and catching it on its way down.
"Well, look who it is. How's it been, Hibiki?" Ranma stared impassively at Ryoga as he stood atop the perimeter wall. He had quickly gotten dressed as soon as Shampoo turned away, and caught a glimpse of Ryoga's umbrella over the wall, as it was strapped atop the large pack.
Ranma's neutral expression suddenly broke into a friendly grin. "You're lucky to be alive right now. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad."
Ryoga growled and shook, his face starting to turn red. "Shut up!! Just shut up!!" Ryoga tore off a few bandannas to throw.
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you want to do that? Bokken-brain 'aint here to help you this time."
Ryoga hesitated, then snarled. "You die!"
Ranma jumped over the sudden hail of razor-sharp cloth, then hurled his rock, which clocked Ryoga squarely on the nose. Ranma didn't waste a moment of the split-second distraction, and before the lost boy knew what had happened, he was flat on the ground, with Ranma standing one-legged on his face.
"Now look Hibiki, I don't want to get you back for what you did. I'm sure that I somehow put you through enough as it is. I'd much rather get this whole grudge thing out of the way."
Ranma found it rather hard to balance on one leg with Ryoga shaking in rage, so he hopped off and leaned over the trembling boy. "Well? What'dya say?"
"I say TAKE THIS!!!" *Ka-pow!* Ranma was sent spiraling away from the attack, and landed perfectly on a nearby tree branch.
"Feh. Loser. Can't you do any better than that?" Ranma taunted. It really had hurt, especially as his ribs hadn't fully recovered from Akane's assault, but he wasn't about to let the fanged moron know that.
"I'll kill you!" Ryoga charged forward and punched, but Ranma jumped backward, and then started hopping back to stay out of reach. "Stay still so I can hit you!"
Ranma jumped high onto a tree, then stuck out his tongue. "Why don't you make me?!"
Ryoga growled, then tore his belt off and snapped it straight as a rod in one swift motion.
Ranma blinked, then shouted in surprise as Ryoga sliced the belt straight through the trunk of the tree, causing the young Yagami's perch to topple slowly.
"Stop running and face me like a man!" Ryoga pitched forward, belt poised to cut through his foe like a knife through butter.
If only things were that simple.
*Ktch* *Pow!* Ranma grabbed Ryoga's hand and then embedded his fist into Ryoga's stomach, doubling the lost boy over. Evading a retaliatory punch, Ranma let go, then backhanded Ryoga away into another tree, letting the belt fall to the ground, once again as dull, flexible cloth.
"Face you like a man, huh?" Ranma snorted. "You're no match for me, Hibiki. Give it up. I've got nothing against you, and you're not strong enough to beat me. So let's just call it even and move on, 'kay?"
"Go to hell, you... you... half-man!" Ryoga snarled.
Ranma blinked, then snorted again, putting his hands in his pockets. "Now THAT was just rude. Say, Hibiki, you mentioned that you went to Jusenkyou, right? You never did tell me what spring you fell into."
Ryoga growled. "That's none of your business, Yagami!"
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "You see that fountain behind you?"
"Huh?" Ryoga turned, and looked past the cracked tree to find a modest stone fountain in a small clearing. "Yeah, what of-urk!"
Ranma picked up Ryoga by the front of his shirt, and before the lost boy knew what was happening, he had been hurled toward the fountain, shouting in surprise and terror.
"Damn you Ya-*Smash!*-ga-*Sploosh!*-bweeeee!"
Ranma walked up to the wrecked fountain, and stared down in fascination at the little black pig that was struggling free from the rubble. "Well I'll be damned. A little pig. Kinda fits, if you ask me." Ranma stood up straight and frowned as the piglet growled at him, bearing fangs that had not changed during the metamorphosis. "Look Ryoga, I'm sorry for what happened, but I can't do anything to make it better, and killing me 'aint gonna help you none. So why don't you just lay off, all right?" Considering the matter concluded, Ranma turned around and began to walk away.
"Bweeeeee!" *Chomp*
Ranma stopped, and his left eye began to twitch as Ryoga bit into his calf as deeply as he could.
"All right, piggy..." Ranma began as he started to glow purple, "YOU WANNA FRY?!?!"
Ryoga leapt off just in time as Ranma's aura flashed, leaving a large scorch mark on the grass below. And then wasted no time in attacking again, making swift runs with fangs and pointed hooves slashing as he ran.
"Hey! Cut it out, you little jerk! Ow! Knock it off!"
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey Akane, do you know where Ranma is?"
Akane looked over to Nabiki and shrugged. "Why should I know where that jerk is?"
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "I was just wondering. I saw Shampoo poking around for him earlier."
Akane turned away and started walking out the gates. "I didn't see him after lunch. Leave the creep and his floozy alone."
"Shampoo not know what 'floozy' mean, but it not sound nice." Both Akane and Nabiki whirled to see Shampoo perched atop Furinkan's gates, her long purple hair flowing with the slight breeze. "You no say bad things about stronger peoples. Weakling insult warrior hurt very bad!" Somehow, the threat had seemed far more endearing and cute than actually threatening, and had Nabiki been a little more impulsive, or perhaps suicidal, she would've pointed that out.
Akane didn't laugh at Shampoo; she just got mad. "I'm a martial artist too! Don't underestimate me!"
Shampoo hopped off the gate. "Shampoo estimate just fine. Akane suck, too too bad."
There was an audible *pop* as Akane's paper-thin patience broke. "I... am... SICK OF YOU!!!" Akane charged forward with her best punch, trying to use as much force as possible to keep the buxom Amazon from having time to dodge or block.
Shampoo found time, however, and skipped to one side, before back-kicking Akane into Furinkan's gates, where she barely managed to keep her head from directly impacting an iron bar. The gate shook and Akane fell to the ground, dizzy but mostly unhurt.
Shampoo snorted. "See what Shampoo mean? Violent girl weakling. You get better, then you challenge Shampoo. You waste Shampoo time, now."
Akane rose from the ground angrily, then became aware that they had attracted a crowd.
"Did you see that? She nailed Akane!"
"Damn, you think she's as good as Yagami?"
"Whoa! Who's the babe?!"
"Poor Akane! Everyone's beating her now!"
"Man, and to think we could barely scratch her in the morning..."
Akane trembled more violently with each voice, and slowly got up. "Why you little..."
Shampoo stood up straight and crossed her arms under her breasts (much to the delight of the male crowd). "Violent girl still get up? Why you waste Shampoo time? Fight weakling is boring!"
Akane growled and was about to charge again when Nabiki stepped in front of her. "Akane, give it a rest, okay? I don't like her either, but trying to fight her is SO the wrong way to deal with this." Nabiki ignored Akane's sputtering response, and turned around to address Shampoo. "Look Miss Head and Shoulders, we don't know where Ranma is, so leave us alone, all right?"
Shampoo turned away pointedly. "That all Shampoo want. Shampoo not know why idiot girl waste Shampoo time."
"So it's IDIOT GIRL now?!" Akane shouted.
Shampoo turned to look back at her with half-lidded eyes. "What else you call girl who no use common sense? Shampoo think you go back play with other weaklings, yes?" Without waiting for a reply, the violet-tressed Amazon leapt away onto the rooftops.
"Why that little... I'll... I oughta... I should..." Akane started muttering darkly, and Nabiki sighed and hung her head.
"You know, she may have a point there." The unfortunate boy who chose to voice his conclusion aloud (as opposed to the many who remained silent) was soon targeted by a furious female fighter with no other outlet for her violent anger. Sadly, he would never fully recover, but this story isn't about him anyway, so let's move on.
__________________________________________________________________________________

*Pow!* "Take that, you little freak!"
"Bweeeeee!"
*Smash!* *Crunch!* "Damn pig! What happened to 'fighting like a man', eh Ryoga?"
"Bweeee! Bweeeeeeeeee!!" Ryoga raced away regardless of Ranma's taunts, and came to a park's stream, which he wasted no time in crossing by the rocks forming a narrow bridge.
Ranma simply leapt, and aimed his boot. "Chew on this, porker!" *Wham!* *Goosh!*
Ranma coughed as the water fell once more to the stream below. She wasn't very wet, but she was female again. Looking around, she saw Ryoga making an escape into the street.
"Oh no you don't, pork chop! I'm gonna slow-roast you!" Ranma summoned her flames to her hands, and twin bolts raced toward the fleeing piglet, the second explosion knocking Ryoga off his feet and tossing him to the side.
Ryoga shook his head and turned around, then shot between Ranma's legs as she caught up to the blast site.
"Dang it! Stop running you little coward!" Ranma turned to give pursuit, and chased Ryoga through the park once again, and then through a field of picnic tables.
Ryoga, intent as he was on losing his enemy, was totally unprepared for a swift hand to suddenly grab him by the bandanna and lift him off the ground.
"BWEEEEEEEE!!!" The lost boy-turned-pig squealed in porcine terror as he beheld a young man with a red cap on his head holding him up by the bandanna, seemingly oblivious to his struggles.
Ranma slowed as she approached Tomas, and blinked as the young man smiled at her and held the pig up in front of her face even as it thrashed about wildly.
"You lose something?" Tomas smirked.
Ranma blinked once more, then smiled. "Hey! Thanks a lot!" She snatched it away quickly, and Ryoga was soon struggling to breathe as Ranma's iron grip constricted his entire body. She chuckled darkly, and held Ryoga up in the air. "Say goodbye, runt!!"
*Boot!* "BWEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee-e-e-e-e-e-e........." the black piglet sailed off into the sky, eventually disappearing as a single pinprick of light.

Tomas blinked, then sweatdropped as the small black projectile finally winked out of sight. "Uh... not that it's any of my business, but... why did you do that?"
Ranma turned toward him. "Feh. The little moron attacked me, that's all. Serves him right," she said off-handedly.
Tomas blinked once more, then decided it wasn't important anyway. "Say, I saw you at the Tendos' house earlier, right?"
Ranma stared at him oddly, then started suddenly. 'Drat! I'm a girl now!' "Uh, yeah, you did. Why?"
"Well, I was just wondering who you were," Tomas said conversationally, his hands in his pockets. "I didn't catch your name." 'That's it Tom, just play it cool.'
"My... name..." Ranma started to sweat slightly. 'Name? He's asking for my name? Damn! How do I get out of this?' Somehow, she thought that saying "Well, I'm actually Ranma and I'm cursed to be a girl" would've gotten less than satisfactory results. "My name... is... Ran... Ran... Ranko! Call me Ranko!" 'Close one!'
Tomas smiled. "So Ranko, you live with the Tendos? I didn't see you around there."
Ranma was still rather relieved that Tomas believed her, and unconsciously took off her damp jacket and started squeezing water out of it, incidentally hiding the crescent moon insignia. "Um... no, I only hang around there sometimes. I was just visiting... Ranma! Yeah, I go there to visit Ranma sometimes."
Ranma wrapped her jacket around her waist and tied it absently as Tomas frowned.
"Ranma? Is he... your boyfriend or something?" He tried to act nonchalant about it, but his voice cracked at the end anyway.
Ranma looked away for a moment, considering. "Boyfriend... right... something like that." She turned back to Tomas. "Um, look, I've gotta go now, okay? Thanks for helping me with the pig."
"Yeah, no problem," Tomas muttered. "Hey, are you going back to the dojo? I'm staying there too, so I could walk you!" He smiled good-naturedly, trying to appear as if such an offer was completely natural of him.
Ranma froze. 'If someone who knows about me sees me with him, they might tell him my name.' That left only one option.
"Hey! What's that?" Ranma pointed behind Tomas, her eyes wide. Tomas started in surprise, then whirled around, his fists raised to defend himself and his companion.
*Whoooosh!* Tomas didn't realize where the sudden wind had come from until he had already scanned the area and detected nothing dangerous. Turning around, all he could make out through the dust cloud left by her wake was a small dark spot leaping across the rooftops in the distance.
'She's fast! To have made it that far in the time it took me to look back... she's incredible!' He stared in awe for a few more moments, then lowered his head. "And she's taken. Of all the rotten luck!" Tomas threw a punch at nothing, then slipped his hands into his pockets and walked toward the dojo. "Ranma is one lucky guy."
__________________________________________________________________________________

"BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Ryoga's squeal echoed across the streets of Nerima as he descended from his impromtu flight. Had he been human he could've adjusted his landing easily, but at present he didn't have the benefit of long, strong limbs. So the best he could do was to make a loud enough fuss in the hope that someone would find his injured body soon after he landed.
Had he been watching the ground instead of squealing his head off, he would have realized that he was heading toward a body of water rather than hard-packed dirt.
A small body of water. But then, what right did he have to be picky at a time like that?
*Gooosh!*

Akane blinked herself out of her half-hysterical rage at the sound of a small object falling into the koi pond at high speed. She had been crushing cinder blocks ever since she got home, on a super adrenaline high from her anger at being humiliated so thoroughly at school. Just wait until she faced that Chinese bimbo next time! She'd tear the little tramp apart!
It was about then that her brain calmed to the point where she realized that her hand hurt like someone had been jabbing hot needles into it. And it looked the same way. Looking about the dojo floor, it was really no wonder; she had gone slightly overboard. Rubbing her hand soothingly, and stepping around the gaping holes in the dojo floor, she decided to find out what the noise was.

Akane stared curiously at the thrashing koi on the ground, and idly picked it up by its tail as she observed the pond. Roughly a third of the water was gone, though most of the fish had managed to land back in the pond or flop themselves back in. She began tossing the stragglers back in, when she noticed something dark floating to the top. Throwing the last fish back into its tiny home, Akane reached into the pond and grabbed the small object, yanking it to the top.
"What an adorable pig!" Akane smiled at the little creature, then blinked and became worried that it didn't seem to be conscious. A quick check revealed that it was still breathing, so she knew it was still alive, at least. Akane set it down on the ground, noting with a bit of curiosity that it had a gold and black bandanna around its neck, and shook it slightly.
Ryoga woke quickly and started coughing up water. While he was glad he had hit water rather than dirt, he really did wish that it wasn't so shallow; the rocks at the bottom had hurt quite a bit.
"Oh! You're awake!"
Ryoga looked up at the voice, and stared.
Akane picked Ryoga up, then started to wipe him off with a towel as she held him in her arms. "Now where did you come from, falling into the pond like that?" She smiled warmly, and Ryoga felt his tiny heart skip a beat.
He squealed softly, and Akane patted him on the head and giggled. "Now, what should I do with you? Are you somebody's pet?"
Ryoga froze for a moment, then shook his head. Akane blinked, then smiled again. "Wow! What a smart piggy you are!"

Nabiki rolled her eyes as Akane started speaking baby-talk to the black piglet. "I think I'm going to be sick." Akane ignored her older sister, and walked into the house carrying Ryoga.
"Hey, if Ranma can have a pet, why can't I?" Akane was concentrating on Ryoga at the time, so she missed seeing Nabiki flinch. "I think I'll call him 'P-chan'."
"P-chan?" Nabiki deadpanned.
Akane smiled and nodded. "Uh huh! P for pig, and chan for cute!"
"Heartwarming," Nabiki said dryly, and left for her room.
Akane sat down with her new pet, and Ryoga squealed in delight as she began to rub his belly.

"Yo! I'm home!" Akane scowled at the feminine, yet familiar voice, and frowned in the direction of the kitchen as the water tap went on.
*Splash* "Ah, that's the stuff!" Ranma walked out of the kitchen wiping his wet face with one arm while slipping on his trademark jacket with the other.
Akane turned back to her new pet, and held him a little tighter; he had started squirming an awful lot suddenly. "So, where were you?"
Ranma smirked slightly as he approached, not looking at Akane or noticing what she held in her arms. "Taking care of business. Ran into an old friend of mine and had to teach him a lesson that he can't seem to understand." Ranma chuckled darkly a bit, then turned to see that Akane wasn't even listening to him.
Then he caught sight of what was in her arms.
"Hey! What the-where'd you come from?!"
Akane turned toward Ranma, startled, then realized that he was talking to the piglet in her arms. "What? P-chan?"
The piglet squealed angrily at Ranma, who growled back.
"You've got a lotta nerve comin' here! Didn't I punt you far enough the last time?"
Ryoga growled and bared his fangs as Akane put him down on the floor.
Ranma glared down at Ryoga, and one of his fists lit ablaze with purple flame. "Eh? You wanna fresh one, pork-*WHAMMO!!!*"
And thus did the Tendo family's new dining room table meet its splintered end, smashed to pieces atop Ranma's head.
"So YOU'RE the one who hit him up in the air like that! You should be ashamed of yourself, picking on small helpless animals!"
Ranma spat out some wood as he stood up dizzily. "Helpless? Him?! You gotta be kidding me! Hell, even as a pig, he's a better fighter than you are!"
Akane was just about to add a fist to the mess of table adorning Ranma's head, when Ryoga leapt from her arms and latched onto Ranma's face, biting and beating at him with teeth and hooves.
Ranma calmly let the creature attack for a few seconds, then firmly snatched it from his face and smashed it into the floorboards below. "Try that again, you little runt, and I'll-"
*Pow!* Ranma was doubled over as Akane decked him in the stomach with all the self-righteous power of a woman protecting her child (or, in this case, the nearest equivalent). "Hey! What'dya do that for?"
Rather than respond, Akane grabbed her mallet and swung it like a croquet hammer, slamming a surprised Ranma into the far wall.
Akane dropped her hammer and glared coldly at Ranma, then turned a worried gaze toward the small pig creating a depression in the floor. "Are you all right, baby?" She picked Ryoga up gently, and saw that he was crying. "Aw, he's scared!" Akane held him up to her face and smiled at the small black creature. "Don't worry, I won't let that nasty Ranma hurt you!" She then kissed her new pet on the snout.
Ranma groaned as he pulled himself out of the impression in the wall, and blinked in surprise as he watched Ryoga go all goo-goo eyed. "Okay... this is not happening..."
Akane got up, pointedly faced away from Ranma, and started upstairs.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
Akane glared at him. "I'm going to change! What's it to you?"
Ranma stared at her incredulously. "With HIM?"
"So what? Do you make your cat sit outside when you change clothes?" Akane shouted back.
Ranma ignored Akane and looked Ryoga squarely in the eyes. "You know she's gonna kill you when she finds out, right?"
Akane blinked. "What? Kill me? Who?"
Ranma shook his head. "Never mind. Forget about it." To Akane's confusion, Ranma turned away and began walking outside. "Oh! One thing though. Watch out if you're going to give him a bath." Ranma smirked and walked outside, hands clasped behind his head.
Akane stared after him, her earlier rage swallowed in confusion. "A bath? What's gotten into him?" Akane shrugged it off and left for her room, not noticing P-chan's quite obviously nervous expression.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"So, anyway," *Thok* "I was just wondering," Whap* "if you know that girl that was by the other day," *Thok* "you know," *Pap* *Pap* *Pap* "the redhead."
Ranma dodged the foot sweep, then launched a quick kick to Tomas's midsection before going back on the defensive. "Yeah, I know her," *Thwap* Ranma blocked a forward punch with his arm, then somersaulted over Tomas and his follow-up attack, "why?"
Tomas ginned and launched a relentless assault of punches, sending Ranma into a panicked series of blocks. "Cute, 'aint she?"
*Thwack!* Ranma's fist seemed to come out of nowhere, and Tomas barely managed to regain his footing in time to duck under the roundhouse that followed it.
The young Bogard rolled to one side, out of Ranma's reach, smiling nervously. "Er... something wrong?"
Ranma frowned and absently tugged his open jacket straight. "Yeah, I guess she's kinda cute. Why?"
"Uh, no reason..." Tomas almost sighed and decided to end the subtle questioning right there, before he made Ranma angry. Something made him think he wouldn't like Ranma when he was angry. "Wanna see a neat trick?"
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
Tomas grinned and adjusted his cap. "Attack me. Like from the air."
Ranma smirked a bit, and then rushed backward, flipping onto the trunk of a tree, and rebounding off onto the roof of the house, which he somersaulted from, coming down on Tomas from high above.
Ranma extended on hand to slam down into his opponent, and it lit ablaze with his purple flame. "All right Bogard, try this!"
Tomas smiled. Then he punched the ground. "Power geyser!!" *KROOOM!!!*
*Shrak!!* "YAAAGH!!!" Ranma was sent flying into the air once more, blasted upward by a spike of red energy that shook the ground as it sprang forth.
Tomas stood up again as Ranma went up, and planted his fists on his hips in satisfaction.
"Hey! Keep it down out there!" Tomas blinked and looked up towards the upper level of the dojo, and saw Akane leaning out the window, glaring at him. Then he realized that she was only wearing a bra above her torso, and hastily averted his eyes.
*Wham!* Ranma hit the ground, mostly forgotten. "Ow..."
Akane blinked, wondering why Tomas's eyes had widened before he turned around. "Hey! Don't turn away when I'm talking to you!" She shivered slightly as her window caught a draft, and then remembered her current state of dress. "YOU PERVERT!!!"
Tomas didn't turn around before replying. "Pervert?! Who's the one leaning out of her window with no shirt on?!"
*Slam!!* Judging from the footlocker that struck the back of his head, that hadn't been what Akane wanted to hear.
"That'll teach you to peep on me, sicko!" Akane turned around in a huff and slammed her window shut.
Which was lucky for Tomas, who didn't feel like keeping his mouth shut. "Peeping? Me?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Aw, don't mind her, man, she's always like that." Tomas blinked and turned around to see Ranma staring emotionlessly at the window of Akane's room, hands in pockets, and looking for all the world like he hadn't just come out of the crater not a meter behind him.
Tomas sweatdropped. "All the time?"
Ranma looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I've only been here for a few days, but yeah, she's been trying to beat me into the ground as long as I've known her." Ranma waved vaguely in the direction of Akane's room, as if dismissing her. "Now, about that move..."
Tomas blinked as Ranma suddenly broke into a grin. "C'mon, how'd you do it?"
Tomas stared for a moment, then grinned himself. "Well, you see, the trick to that is..." Tomas beckoned Ranma to come closer with a finger, and then put his mouth next to Ranma's ear when he did so. "... a secret!"
Ranma gave Tomas his flattest stare as the other boy snickered. "You know, as long as we're on the subject of 'neat tricks', I don't believe you've seen this. Ya otome!!"
"Huh? Hey! AAAAAH!!!"
__________________________________________________________________________________

Kasumi blinked as she heard the quick sequence of impacts muffled by the walls between the kitchen and the back yard, and then frowned as several flashes of purple light flooded the room.
"I do hope those two are playing nicely. Boys these days can get so rough!" She shook her head as she turned down the stove, and started stirring the sauce once more.
*Tok Tok Tok* Kasumi turned from the stove, and then turned it off before making her way to the front door.
"Oh my, I wonder who it could be? We aren't expecting any more visitors. Maybe Shampoo is back?" She discontinued her speculations as she wiped off her hands, and then opened the door slowly.
"Hello!"
Kasumi was quite unprepared to see a spritely young girl at the door, waving at her and smiling brightly.
"Hello. Can I help you?" Kasumi cocked her head to one side as the girl giggled slightly, then noticed someone else coming.
"Yurumi! I told you to wait for me!" An older woman in a blue-patterned kimono rushed up to the door and bowed hastily. "I'm very sorry miss."
Kasumi smiled brightly and bowed back. "It's no trouble at all. Was there something I could do for you?"
"Have you seen Rammie?" Yurumi asked curiously.
Kasumi blinked. "Rammie?"
Nodoka shook her daughter slightly, frowning at her. "Yurumi, let me handle this." She then turned a gracious smiled toward Kasumi. "My name is Nodoka Yagami, and this is my daughter, Yurumi. We saw a red flash and a purple flash just a moment ago, and we were wondering..." Nodoka trailed off, unsure of how to continue.
Seeing her halt, Kasumi interrupted. "Nodoka Yagami? As in Iori Yagami?"
Nodoka started in surprise, and her expression turned hopeful. "You know my husband?"
Kasumi nodded, smiling brightly. "Mr. Yagami and his son have been staying with us. Won't you come in?"
After thanking the young woman profusely, Nodoka entered the house, with Yurumi following curiously behind. Neither Kasumi nor Nodoka saw the cat that was watching the exchange from the countertop, nor did they take notice when it slipped past them and leapt onto the stairs.

Shampoo looked back to see that Kasumi was leading Ranma's mother outside past a confused Soun, then turned back toward the stairs and continued climbing.
Ranma's mother! The idea struck chords within her she hadn't even known were there. Sticking around Ranma would be easy if she could form a friendship with his mother, and the idea of just knowing the woman that birthed Ranma was appealing in and of itself.
Shampoo hopped over the final step of the stairs. Getting close to Ranma had been easy, but only because of her cat form. Which she had originally blamed on him in the first place, though never to his face (she had never felt it necessary to reveal it before, and now it was rather important that she keep it to herself).
The springs of Jusenkyou had many tales of sorrow to tell, and she had all too easily become one of them. Ever since that day...
__________________________________________________________________________________

Begin flashback (don't you just love these?)...

Shampoo backed away as the boy... er, girl let out a blood-curdling, inhuman scream. Her body trembled as she tightened the grip on her bonbori, and she almost found herself stumbling back as the redhead's voice started to wane. The scream was primal, no, more than just primal. It spoke of pain, fear, anger, hate, bloodlust, and outright hysteria. If Shampoo had to put a name to it, she would have called the feeling death.
"Ranma! No!" The larger man with the crescent moon jacket leapt for the girl, far faster than Shampoo would've guessed someone of his stature was able to move.
That was nothing compared to the girl's movements; Shampoo only had time to track the general direction of the blur before Ranma had landed behind her father, crouched low to the ground, steam pouring from her mouth in quick, steady bursts.
"Grraaaah..."
Iori turned slowly. It was hard to read his expression; Shampoo got the feeling it was supposed to be pain, but it looked out of place, like a tear on a granite block. "Ranma... please..."
Shampoo, Linen, and Towel all retreated slightly, their weapons held at the ready, watching the redheaded girl.
"Haaaaaaa......" Ranma stared at Iori, one hand upon the ground to keep her balance as she hunched low over the ground. The blank light in her eyes dimmed slightly.
"KYYYYAAAAAA!!!!" Then, before Shampoo knew what was happening, Ranma was heading toward her little group on the edge of the pools. Wait, not quite at them. Directly away from the man, it would seem.
Linen and Towel raised their weapons. A mistake, but one that would not cost them their lives.
Ranma ducked under the spear, hoisted herself up on one arm and twisted in the air to avoid the axe, and then managed to flip back to her feet in the time it took for the young warriors to make their panicked stabs at her. Then the redheaded girl thrust both her hands to the ground.
*KROOOOOM!!!* The ground exploded in purple energy, blasting the two young Amazons aside, hurt, but alive, and thankfully not into any of the cursed springs.
"Ranma!! Stop this!!"
Shampoo's heart seemed to stop as the girl and monster Ranma had become looked backward for a moment as Iori rushed forward, hoping to pursue. It didn't have time to start again before Ranma charged away from his father, and incidentally toward Shampoo, who had only been singed by the earlier blast.
One split-second decision. Fight or flight. Shampoo, of course, had been raised by a society that mostly viewed fleeing like a frightened squirrel cowardly and dishonorable, no matter how justified that fear may be.
One bonbori went forward. A back kick that Shampoo couldn't even track sent the splintered remains of the weapon away.
Shampoo never got to use the mace in her other hand, and Ranma backhanded her away, apparently deeming retreat more important than combat. Of course, the backhand was quite enough, sending Shampoo flying to the side and rolling across the ground.
She didn't see where Ranma went after that. In fact, she was completely unaware of everything that may have happened between the point of the attack, and when she had broken the surface of one of the cursed springs...
__________________________________________________________________________________

Shampoo would've smiled ruefully if she weren't a cat. Naturally, she had been rather angry about being cursed, even after everything was explained and Ranma's fault was (legally) dismissed. But then, there were worse things...
Shampoo blinked as she watched a small black piglet wander about the changing room of the bathroom, seemingly lost.
'Stupid animal.' Shampoo thought, and ignored him as she passed through into the bathroom.
The pig apparently noticed her, and followed her in, even as she hopped up onto a bath stool and saw that the tub had already been filled; Kasumi had probably filled it for Ranma or Tomas.
She was about to jump in, when, to her utter fascination, the pig hopped up onto the edge of the furo, and then beat her to it.

*Splash* "Damn! I can't believe this! I was right there with her! How could I have gotten lost?"
He didn't notice the cat staring at him with wide eyes as he continued.
"Still... I guess it was wrong to let myself be led into her room like that... ARGH!!! Ranma, this is all your fault!"
*Splash*
Ryoga stopped his ranting for a moment to observe that the cat had apparently fallen into the water. "Hey, you stupid animal! What do you think you're doing?" With an irritated growl at having his righteous indignation interrupted, Ryoga reached down to rescue the feline.
*Goosh* "Who you calling stupid?"
If Shampoo's eyes had been wide, then Ryoga's would have been falling out of his head.
"Buh... doooh... whaaa... gaaaah..." Ryoga's mental processes unraveled at the sight of a girl where a cat had been just moments before.
Shampoo frowned. "You let go now, yes?"
Some part of Ryoga's mind saw through the shock, and noted that his hand, which had been poised to grab for the cat, was now firmly holding something soft and squishy.
That part of his mind forced his vision downwards. The squishy item was a breast. It also reached Ryoga's mind, somewhere around this point, that the very attractive girl in front of him was also completely naked.
Data processing... failed. Neural overload. Shutdown.
Shampoo blinked as Ryoga's hand left her chest, being pulled away as his body fell backwards into the tub. Frowning, she moved over him, then started slapping him across the face repeatedly.
*Smack!* *Smack!* *Smack!* "Hey! You wake up now!" *Smack!* *Smack!* *Smack!*
"Hughn?" Ryoga's eyes fluttered open, and he blinked as his vision cleared up enough to see Shampoo's gorgeous face, framed by cascades of violet hair. Then his vision panned down slightly and he beheld the young Amazon's well-endowed chest.
Reboot failed. Goodnight.
As Ryoga slid back down into the water, a trail of blood coming from his nose, Shampoo rubbed her chin, considering. Then, muttering to herself in Chinese, she got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself.
*Smack!* *Smack!* *Smack!* *Smack!*
"Wha? Where am I..." Ryoga's vision started clearing once again, but this time, his eyes survived the trip below Shampoo's chin. Albeit just barely. It was only a normal bath towel, and certainly showed off the young woman's curves and bust very well.
Holding back a bloody nose, Ryoga tried to concentrate on the girl's face. "Who are you?"
Shampoo frowned down at him from where she stood just outside of the furo. "My name Shampoo. Who you?"
"Ry-Ryoga Hi-Hibiki... uh... what are you doing here?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe Shampoo ask you same question. Shampoo come here visit Ranma. You guest to someone?"
"I... I'm Akane's guest! Sort of..." Ryoga trailed off, unsure of how to phrase it to keep himself safe if this girl looked into it.
Apparently, he needn't have worried. "Shampoo no care. Pig boy stay out of Shampoo way, and Shampoo no bother pig boy. Is understanding?"
Ryoga sputtered indignantly at his new nickname and started to get up, then froze when his waist broke the surface of the water before sitting back down in the furo quickly.
Shampoo smirked slightly. "What you shy about? Pig boy have nothing Shampoo no seen before. Shampoo seen better, too."
Ryoga turned red, shocked. "You... you... you don't just say that to a guy! It's cruel!"
Shampoo frowned at him suddenly. "Shampoo hear what you do to Ranma. Pig boy leave Ranma alone if he smart, or else get hurt." The young Amazon smirked suddenly. "And not by Shampoo."
Ryoga growled. "Leave him alone?! You have no idea what that psychotic bastard did to me! He's the cause of all my suffering! All my pain! I cannot rest until I see his bones ground into DUST!!!"
"Who YOU call psycho?" Shampoo deadpanned.
"Psycho? Ha! That half-man's more than psychotic! He's a monster!"
Shampoo started, then growled angrily and stepped forward. "You take back! NOW!!!" In her anger, she raised her hands into fists, incidentally letting go of the flap of towel that held her modesty.
"Gaaah!" Ryoga jumped back in the furo immediately, placing his hands in front of him as if to ward off an attack on his face. "Keep the towel on! Keep the towel on!"
*Rrrrk*
Both Ryoga and Shampoo whirled to face the door to the changing room, where Tomas was standing, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and holding a bottle and a small stack of towels.
Tomas stared. Shampoo stared back stonily, while Ryoga jerked his head from Tomas to Shampoo's naked body.
Finally, Shampoo tired of the stalemate. "What you want?"
Tomas blinked, and raised his head slightly (c'mon, what'd you think he was looking at?). "Oh! Um, don't mind me, just go back to whatever you were doing."
To Ryoga's surprise, Shampoo just shrugged, then walked up to him, grabbed the back of his head, and slammed it firmly into the edge of the furo.
With that, Shampoo dusted off her hands, and walked past Tomas into the changing room, completely unabashed by her nakedness, even less so now that nobody was fainting because of it.

Tomas stared after her until the door shut, then he turned back to Ryoga.
"So close, and yet so far, eh? That's rough. Move over a little, would you?"

**********************************************************************************
End Chapter 5

Notes:
Gouka dan - Hellfire Bomb: A concentration of fire, focused into an energy wave that travels along the ground. Detonates on impact. Effects are far more destructive than those of Iori's "One for the road" blast, but have no stunning effect, instead inflicting maximum damage all at once.