Another Special Shampoo
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Love when the original series has so good dialogue I barely need to touch it up a notch. Despite my promise to myself back in chapter 1 not to stress out over this story, I've let my expectations balloon again, and having the original work as a crutch to rely back on definitely puts some pressure off of me.

Shampoo stifled a satisfied yawn as she looked back at her handiwork. The new wall was pristine, perfect, identical to the old one— you wouldn’t even know it had ever been broken. She had been meticulous in reproducing it, and such hard work deserved a reward. She had met a boy that held the same name as her love’s brain demon in this household, which in itself was a bit odd — but she had already confirmed it wasn’t a matter of Jusenkyo, so. Most importantly, where was the girl of her dreams? The short-haired girl had told her she lived here, at least, so maybe it was just a matter of looking around.

Shampoo tore down the door and headed to the floor below to start her search.

Her journey first brought her to the kitchen, where she spotted the oldest sister busily preparing the day’s bentos. Shampoo moved on quickly, sweeping one corridor at a time, familiarizing herself with the layout of the house. The next door she opened led to a bedroom decorated in grey tones, save for an ornate butsudan; but, looking at the bed, it was an old, lanky man that lived there, not her beloved. He was looking right at her, blinking confusedly at her intrusion — not that she understood that’s what his expression meant. She closed the door and continued, finding the laundry room, then a dead end to a closed door.

She circled back around and found the living room she had had tea in yesterday, and on the opposite side, an open double door led straight to the garden. She spotted her love’s stupid pet panda sleeping outside by the koi pond and let joy overtake her; that was a sign her crush couldn’t be far!

Shampoo walked around the garden for a while, observing the morning dew until she found the dojo. She entered the smaller building and finally found the girl she had been looking for! Ranko looked to be sleeping uncomfortably due to some water dripping from the roof onto her face. Oh, poor, poor Ranko…! That simply wouldn’t do.

 

“Goooood morning Tokyoooo! If you were just pulled awake by your radio alarm, it’s seven in the morning, I’m your host Kirby Williams, and you’re listening to Martial Arts Radio, the only radio show where we combine tips for your special techniques with your favorite songs! Next up: Dream Balloons!”

Akane silenced her alarm by smashing her hand on its snooze button. Her head sleepily limped to the side and she yawned, covering her mouth. Alarm clock meant it was a school day. School day meant she had to go wake Ranma up. 

She pulled herself out of bed little by little, rubbing her hands on her face. After getting into her school uniform, she got out of her room and took note of Ranma’s, now temporarily Shampoo’s. The hole in the wall was still here, it seemed. She went down the stairs, then her brain connected two and two together and she ran back up. The hole had gone from the exterior-facing wall to the stairs-facing one? What?

After spending way too much time staring agape at the scene trying to comprehend the internal logic of doing this, she headed downstairs once more and went to the living room. Dad and Kasumi were already there, convening for breakfast. Kasumi spotted her and smiled. “Akane-chan, would you go wake Ranko-chan, please?”

“I was already on it. Where’s Nabiki?”

“Oh, I tried to get her out of her room, but she sounded sick, so I was planning to call the school and let her have a sick day. She did tell me to tell you one thing, though.”

“And that would be?”

Kasumi cleared her throat, enunciating her sister’s words as clearly as she could. “‘It’ll be 40,000 yen now.’”

Akane’s eyes narrowed, vexed.

Her father flipped a page of his newspaper and looked at his cup of coffee, evaluating that it was still too hot to drink, if the steam was any indication. “Akane.” His eyes moved to his daughter. “Do you know that girl I saw this morning?”

“Oh! That’s Shampoo, Dad. She’s… another friend of Ranma.” Akane failed to find a way to describe her that wasn’t just blurting out she was, well, attracted to women. “Did you miss her last night?”

“I came home pretty late; you know how work is.” His eyes narrowed, and his tone turned into something faux-disinterested. “So how’s life with Ranma been lately?”

Akane breathed in and froze. She raised her hand and let it droop back down. “Well, uh… You know…” She opened and closed her fist a few times. “Yeah.”

Soun bit his lip, took a sip of coffee, burned his tongue, and finished downing his drink. “Well-I’ll-be-late-for-work-I-love-you-all-my-sweethearts-have-a-nice-rest-of-your-day-bye.” He suddenly stood up and hurried out of the room.

Kasumi and Akane exchanged a glance. “I’m just gonna… yeah,” the younger one said, heading out and to the dojo.

And now, from one awkward moment to the next,” Akane thought.

She opened the door and turned her head towards Ryoga and Ranma’s sleeping bags. “Ranma! How long are you gonna—” She froze as she finally found Shampoo’s whereabouts, gently snoozing in the same bed as Ranma, notably in his girl form.

Her eyebrow twitched; she headed back to the kitchen and put a teapot on the stove.

 

Ranma felt the sensation of being underwater, and quickly realized he was having the mermaid dream again… though he wasn’t sure where exactly he was. The usually azure ocean was muddy around these parts, the coral reef was dead. He could hear something rumbling softly under the sand.

“Ranko? Where are ya?” he shouted. His mermaid doppelganger seemed absent. Worried, he started scouting his surroundings.

The further in he went, the darker the water turned. Slowly, the reef gave way to ominously-erected concrete walls. A shiver of familiarity went down Ranma’s spine. Something felt unsafe here, but it’d take more than that to make him turn back.

Pain in his head suddenly flared when he spotted claw marks on one of the walls. His heart skipped a beat and his skin felt clammy.

That’s when he noticed he was no longer underwater.

He heard the sound of a rusted grate closing somewhere above him. Turning his head up, he found he was stuck in a room and this was the only source of light.

His legs fell underneath him. All the walls around him were covered in claw marks. His body refused to listen to him, refused to be here. He was completely paralyzed.

“Ranma!!” Ranko shouted from the other side of the grate as she grabbed hold of it and shook it. “What are you doing in here!?”

His neck craned upwards. “Ranko…” 

The rumbling stopped.

He heard a stomp.

Then another.

Coming closer.

With great effort, he managed to get himself back on his knees and he turned around.

A gigantic creature was slowly approaching him. Its paw alone, the only thing the light from the grate allowed him to make out, was at least half of Ranma’s height.

It growled. Drool dripped out of its mouth and onto the floor.

“Come on, come on, come on…!” Ranko pushed, pulled, shook the grate as strongly as she could until it finally came undone. Water poured inside the small cell. 

It was burning hot…

…HOT!!

 

“HOOOOT!!” Ranma wailed, dragging himself out from under his blanket. Catching his breath, he immediately noticed his fiancée standing next to him, a scowl on her face and an empty teapot in her hands. “What’d ya do that for, Akane!?”

Akane huffed and walked away.

“…What’s goin’ on…?” He tried to think back to what he was dreaming about. There was something scary…? No luck. He couldn’t remember anything else. Fat good that did him.

Two delicate hands grabbed his head and turned it around until he faced their owner, a half-asleep Shampoo. She muttered something in Chinese he didn’t understand.

“S-Shampoo…” Ranma muttered, blushing.

She tilted her head and let go of his head. “Why are you brain demon’s name sharer? Where Ranko go?”

Suddenly remembering the deathwish Shampoo had on him kickstarted his brain to full awareness. “Wait a minit’, what are YOU doin’ in here!?”

She pointed up to the ceiling. Ranma’s gaze followed and instantly came upon a frightening amount of tape and glue holding a weird contraption together, redirecting away rain that was leaking through the roof. “Water was dripping on Ranko. Shampoo fix.”

On the bed next to them, Ryoga stirred awake, rubbing his eye. A splash of water fell on the top of his head. Then another. Then a bucket’s worth of it all poured down at once.

 

Akane sat back down at the living room table.

“Is Ranko-chan awake now?” Kasumi asked her, handing her a bowl of rice.

Akane didn’t reply, stuffing food in her face to be done with it as quickly as she could.

Three pairs of legs were heard running in the corridor. “‘S TOO EARLY FOR THIIIIS!!” Ranma complained as he passed by the open door, with Shampoo right on his tail. 

“RANMA!! SHAMPOO!! DIE!! I’LL KILL YOU BOTH!!!” a pig-nosed Ryoga shouted, running after them and swinging kicks whenever they were in range.

Kasumi sighed, a tired smile on her face, and gently tried to call out to them. “Will you all be joining us for breakfast…?”

Akane slammed her empty bowl on the table and reached for seconds.

 

Ranma somehow managed to lose them both just long enough to head to the bathroom and quickly douse himself in cold water. He took five seconds to breathe in and out, letting his temper wash off. When he popped his head back out, Shampoo and Ryoga were battling it out in the laundry room. He grimaced. More than anything, he hoped he would get to sneak out before Shampoo noticed him, but that hope was immediately dashed as the Chinese girl turned her head towards him.

“Pretty Ranko!” she cooed, just before taking a punch from Ryoga. She turned his head back to him and gave him her icy stare. “Pig muscle boy is satisfied, now?”

Ryoga winced as if he had just received three punches to the gut. “I yield…”

Shampoo jumped at Ranma’s neck and hugged him too tightly. “Shampoo found you now! We get rid of brain demon, yes?”

Ranma grimaced, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t think that’s a good idea...”

None of them saw Akane’s schoolbag coming as its owner struck Ranko right on top of her head with it. She swore she could make out the Big Dipper from how many stars she was seeing.

 

Shampoo looked at the improvised weapon, then glared at Akane.

“You’re all really trying my patience! Honestly! Do you all have to be so loud this early in the morning?” Akane shouted. The Tendo home had become anything but calm, and three people seemed to be her breaking point.

“You jealous?” Shampoo asked without skipping a beat.

Akane felt her cheeks flush and she refused to engage with Shampoo’s question. How had she even come to that conclusion? “Ranma, get dressed immediately. We’ll be late for school.” She turned around and slammed the door behind her, then jogged to the entrance to keep herself from thinking that Shampoo’s explanation made more sense than hers.

 

“I’m tellin’ ya, Shampoo didn’t ask before gettin’ in my bed!” Ranma, back in his boy form, argued, running as fast as he could on top of the river’s fence as they headed for school.

“I’d guessed, but I also didn’t ask!” Akane retorted.

Well, this conversation seemed a lost cause, as far as Ranma was aware. “Ya don’t really listen to anybody, do ya…?” He hopped off the fence to run by her side.

“You don’t seem to be doing much to get her off of clinging on you either, in case you think I didn’t notice!” Hearing this, Ranma felt like he had to object, but a growing self-consciousness at the back of his mind kept him from arguing back. It’s not like she was wrong… ”Go ahead! Fall in love with her for all I care!”

Ranma guiltily turned his head away. He’d rather not make Akane feel bad. His enjoyment of Shampoo’s attention was just another thing about him that kept flip-flopping, but Akane had no way of knowing that. “I’m sorry…” he mumbled.

Akane leaned forward a bit to take a look at his face, then sighed. “It’s not your fault. Shampoo just does whatever she wants all the time.”

“I know, but still…” Ranma sighed. Securing his schoolbag between his arm and his torso, he glanced at his hands, holding them together. He assessed he was better off being honest. “I feel like either I can’t bring myself to tell her off, or when I can, I don’t want to…”

“It would be so much easier to be angry at you if you were spineless and a skirt chaser at the same time.” Akane huffed and sped up. Ranma scrambled to follow her.

 

 From a roof across the street, a certain melodramatic individual was watching them run off. A gentle breeze blew in his hair, the cicadas chanting a melancholic ballad for his broken soul. “Akane, Ranma… We must part without saying goodbye,” Ryoga thought, hoping his unspoken words would reach them anyway. He looked up at the sky and could make out his friends’ faces in the clouds above. “Akane, you said you wished to be my friend, that I could tell you everything. But I would never bring myself to taint your pure-hearted soul with my darkened thoughts. I can’t be like you and find beauty in my accursed form. Ranma! Oh, I missed being with you, but your life moved on, and I can’t claim to hold you back. Go live the new era of your existence without the poor friend I was to you! 

Ryoga jerked his head away from the sky, holding back tears. He imagined his friends’ replies, cluelessly caring and kind. “Ryoga… You’ll always be welcome to our household, as a friend.” “Aye! What Akane said!

“Like that’d really happen…” he muttered. “If it did… My heart of glass… would shatter into a million pieces!” Standing up suddenly, he jumped off the roof, leaving this chapter of his life behind. “Farewell, Akane, Ranma!”

A lithe foot bounced right on his head, using it as a stepping stone, and he plummeted to the river below.

 

Huh? Had Shampoo stepped on something just now? She stopped herself in her tracks and readjusted the strap of her bag of tricks. There was something in there that’d help her beloved and she had to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally lose track of it. She turned around and looked down at the river, spotting the pig boy from this morning in there.

He looked right back at her and growled, which came out more as a squeal than anything. She hopped away and he gave chase.

 

The morning classes were excruciatingly long for Akane, who read any gaze from her classmates as judgemental and filled with misconceptions. Between the gymnastic tournament and Shampoo, she had gotten a break from the rumors on her sexuality at school, but she was now back in the fray and the whiplash was unpleasant. Every suspicious whisper she couldn’t quite catch was targeted right at her, every idle conversation she wasn’t a part of was all about her totally fabricated relationship with Ranma’s fake sister, she just knew it. She would never let her guard down in a million years even if it killed her.

Meanwhile, Ranma quickly realized the student’s rumor mill had long since moved on and he wondered why he’d even worried in the first place.

Lunch period eventually came around, but the general chatter and buzz of the students was suddenly interrupted as the building shook a few times.

“What was that?” a student asked. “An earthquake?” replied another. 

The school shook again, the windows rattling in their frames.

“Sounds like it’s getting closer…” The crowd’s eyes turned towards the window right behind Ranma, who was standing completely still, his bento still in hand.

“Y’ever can’t shake a feelin’ you’re about to be the butt of a joke?” The wall behind him exploded into rubble as Ryoga was thrown right through it, landing squarely on him.

“P-chan!” Akane shouted, jumping right out of her seat and scrambling to dig Ryoga out of the debris. Once he was relatively back on his feet, she helped Ranma out next, who refused her hand and stood back up by himself.

“That girl has strength like a bull’s…” Ryoga muttered, using Akane as a crutch to catch his breath. Noticing the crowd around them, he quickly wrapped a few of his bandanas around his face to hide his nose and ears. The look he threw Shampoo afterwards made it clear he wasn’t done fighting her yet.

Shampoo walked through the newly formed hole in the wall and stopped as she spotted Ranma. She looked at him for a second before giving him her icy stare. “Brain demon’s name sharer. Where is Ranko?”

“Ah, uh, she ain’t here,” Ranma muttered, wishing that actually were true.

“Back off!” Akane shouted, placing herself between Shampoo and Ranma. “I’ve had enough! Maybe Ranma is too much of a coward to hit a girl, but if you continue to attack me and my friends, I will not stand by idly, Shampoo!”

Ranma didn’t like the way this was escalating. “Oi now, I ain’t hurt, I know Ryoga can take more than that, and, uh… ya know, ‘Ranko’ ain’t here, so can’t we all just let it go?”

Shampoo strongly shook her head, her hair whipping wildly through the air. “Shampoo doesn’t wanna fight jealous girl. She can have Ranko too.”

“I—“ Akane grinded her teeth. “I DON’T WANT RANKO! I’M NOT INTO GIRLS!!”

Shampoo tilted her head to the side. “What do you like then?”

Akane threw both of her hands onto her face before removing them and screaming wildly. “WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE NEEDING EVERYTHING SPELLED OUT TO THEM!?”

That gave Ranma pause for a second. “Why didn’t ya just say boys?” he asked.

Akane grabbed him by the shirt and threw him right at the tree outside the classroom, knocking his wits out of him as he collided with the trunk. She turned back to Shampoo and pumped her fist in front of her face. “You’re on, Shampoo!”

By the time Ranko made the jump back into the classroom, hot flashes of pain were pulsating in her head and causing an annoyingly familiar fog in her mind. From the sound of running she could barely make out, it seemed the others had already left. “Akane…” she muttered, giving chase as fast as her legs could take her through the headache.

As complicated as things often got between the three of them, she worried for their safety fighting Shampoo. She knew what the girl was capable of, and holding back wasn’t one of them. Ranko struggled to find where they’d gone, making a thorough search of the school grounds, and losing herself precious minutes. She finally heard a pained wail coming from the sports field. That was Ryoga!

As if things weren’t complicated enough as is, thin grey clouds started to fill the sky, thunder rumbling once as a prelude to a light shower. But with her umbrella at the shoe lockers, it would be more than enough to turn Ranko into a girl… The thought shook the fog out and reminded him that his name was Ranma.

Taking a mad dash, he ran to the door of the fence and pushed through, finding his two friends knocked out, lying on the grass. Between them, there was an empty bottle of shampoo. A calling card? Ranma picked it up. There was something written on the front in Chinese, and he started fearing the worst. 

“Akane! Ryoga!” he shouted, stopping himself right next to them. He confirmed their breathing was steady and exhaled in relief. He placed his hand on Akane’s cheek and gently caressed it. “Akane, wake up…”

No response.

A few droplets of rain started falling on Akane’s cheeks. Ranma felt his skin prickle as his curse activated.

As more and more drops slowly drenched Ranma’s back, Akane’s eyelids flicked for a moment. She let out a whimper like she had just awoke from a long sleep, her eyes slowly, very slowly opening. 

Then she blinked, twice. Her mouth hung open for a moment as she scrutinized Ranma’s face. 

“Akane? Are you okay? Did Shampoo do anything to you?” Ranma asked in worry.

Akane looked down at herself. Her eyes narrowed as she started studying one of her arms and its hand. “I’m taller.”

Surprised, Ranma took a step back and bumped into Ryoga, causing him to stir. After a few moments, Ryoga started shaking, looking outright shell-shocked. “Wrong… It feels wrong…” he muttered. He shifted onto his side and curled into a ball, hugging his legs.

“So who are you?” Akane asked Ranma, approaching him.

“What do you mean? It’s me, Ranma!” She didn’t look like that had helped. “I’m your fiancé?”

Akane shook her head. “I can’t have a fiancée, I’m a kid.”

His heart sped up. “You’re sixteen!”

“I am?” She looked down at herself. “That’s weird.”

Somewhere, instinctually, Ranma could feel this wasn’t a joke. His heart was racing as he turned from Akane to Ryoga and back again, neither acting like their usual selves even in the mannerisms. He looked down at the bottle of shampoo in his hand. If anybody would know how to fix this, it’d be doctor Tofu, right…?

If you're interested in my original works, or just more transfeminine fiction in general, I've got a discord you're cordially invited to check out! We have a channel dedicated to sharing hidden and not-so-hidden gems of the genre. http://discord.gg/VDVMVrc

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