Chapter Text
Weightless, warm, relaxed.
Shampoo floated in a void, although she did not feel uncomfortable, she was actually rather calm at this moment. Basking at this rare moment of peace. With life being so hectic lately, she hasn’t been able to rest easy, she deserved this small bit of tranquillity.
In fact, this could be the perfect opportunity to sort her thoughts, with no interruptions. No curses, no herbs, no enemies, no Ranma.
When suddenly Shampoo felt this rushing sensation, pulling her forwards, towards this quickly approaching light.
Gasping as she broke through the surface, realising she had been underwater that whole time, she shook her water-soaked head. Blinking away the droplets that still clung to her lashes. Taking a quick glance to her surroundings, finding the emptiness of this place eerie, shivering despite the hot water enveloping her. When she felt water rippling on her back, from something moving behind her, she quickly turned around.
Her eyes locked onto a striking pair of ashy-blue eyes. Those eyes widened in surprise, mirroring her own expression, making Shampoo aware of her current state of undress. While she wasn’t exactly modest at times, she definitely felt caught off guard, turning around so her back faced him.
Calming her racing heart, as well as her racing thoughts, as she tried to find something to say. The only sound she could hear was her heart beating in her ears. Finding her words in such an awkward situation was difficult.
Thankfully it wasn’t only up to her to pick up the slack.
“The, uh, water feels nice.” Ranma muttered. “Weather’s good, too.”
“Yes, it’s a lovely night.” Shampoo huffed in amusement. “...Ranma?”
“Yeah? What’s-”
He cut himself short as Shampoo snaked her arms around his middle. She can feel his heartbeat speed up from where her hand is resting on his chest. Holding him close enough to press her warm cheek into his back. She could feel his muscles tense, arms floundering, tripping over his words.
“Ranma, I know this is just another weird dream, but I think we should talk.” Shampoo sighed against his back.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, ok. Uh, what is it?”
“I just-” She scoffed lightly, nuzzling her head on his back, feeling his muscles twitch in surprise. “I just wanted to tell you it was all an accident, I didn’t mean for all this to happen, but I also know I’ve made myself completely untrustworthy. I know who I was, it’s not like it was that long ago, it makes sense why people don’t trust me.”
Ranma didn’t interrupt during her rambling speech, probably the quietest she had ever seen him, and made her a little more nervous.
“But that night, when I grabbed those candles, I had no idea this would happen. It was stupid, of course my Great-Grandmother would have magic candles, but I honestly had no idea. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, not your friends, not that stupid Kuno girl, not Akane. But I hate to think that you might not believe me. That you still don’t trust me, even a little, even when I’m telling the truth. Ranma, I just need to know, do you believe me?”
Shampoo closed her eyes, even though he couldn’t see her, it was like she was bracing for his answer.
He stood still, obviously still trying to process her words, but it was making her a bit uncomfortable. She almost wished she could take it back. His heartbeat had slowed during her speech, only speeding up a bit at some of the things she mentioned, but hers pounded harder the longer they stood there.
Finally, she felt him move, snapping her out of her own head, his body slightly shaking. She flushed when she heard his poor attempt at stifling his laughter. Staring incredulously at the back of his head as his chuckles grew in volume.
“R-Ranma? What’s so funny?” Shampoo demanded with a pout.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at you, I just don’t think I’ve heard you speak so seriously before.” He spoke between small giggles. “Especially since we’re both naked in a hot spring.”
“Airen! This is important, I need to know, do you trust me?” Shampoo scoffed, embarrassed.
“Shampoo, I can literally read your mind, of course I believe you. Sure, I had some doubts in the beginning, but there's nothing in that head of yours I don’t know about.”
Honestly? Shampoo felt a little silly. He spoke as if it was obvious, which she supposed it is, and now he kept giggling. Butting her head against his back, she couldn’t help but smile, feeling relieved by his reassurance.
“It’s not that funny, Airen.”
Lifting her head as he started to move, twisting in her arms, so they stood facing one another. His eyes still held a bit of mirth, a smile tugging at his lips, as they just stood there.
“I know, I’m just teasing you, Qin.”
Her breath stuttered, that pet name making her heart race, his voice carrying a hint of affection. Stifling a gasp as his hands moved up to cup her face. She stared at him with wide eyes, shivering when his thumbs lightly brushed over her cheekbones, barely processing as his face slowly inches towards hers.
His eyes flickered nervously from her eyes to her lips, back to her eye. She tilted her head up, giving him permission, neither of them speaking a word. All that was heard was the matching drum of their hearts, a nervous gulp from Ranma, and the puffing of their breathing. All that was felt was the warmth from where their body's met, as well as from where they were submerged in the hot water, and the nervous butterflies that fluttered deep in their chests. They saw nothing, as they had closed their eyes, faces mere inches away.
Then it happened. The guilt, the distrust, the years of hardships, and the heartbreak. It all melted away at the brush of their lips. There were still some nerves, a slight tremble of their lips, that also started to melt the more time passed.
This kiss was different from the two they shared years ago. Their first kiss, if you could even call it that, was full of anger. A simple kiss on the cheek that hung a looming promise of death over their heads. Not the best way to start any relationship. The second kiss was a surprise for both of them, a pleasant one for Shampoo, which held a different ‘till death do us part’ promise over them. Truthfully, it was an awkward kiss, and it didn’t help that they had an audience.
Neither of those encounters could even compare to their experience now. This kiss starts off slow, a simple press of their lips, neither wanting to rush it. It was when they started feeling comfortable with the push and pull of each other did things start to change. Shampoo tilting her head with a firmer kiss, Ranma also following her example, mouths moving in sync. Puffs of breath brushing against the other's face, hands slowly beginning to tentatively move, low hums as they lost themselves to this moment. They weren’t needy, they didn’t feel rushed, nor did they have any sort of motive. They just enjoyed the moment.
The heat of the water, a similar heat to the steam it creates, was starting to crawl up their bodies. Or perhaps they were the ones sinking down? It was hard to say. All they knew is they didn’t have much time left in this dream; they’ll need to wake up to reality soon. Despite being submerged into the dark depths of this pool, heads now completely covered, there was no panic. They happily drifted down as they held on tight. Both of them, and the world around them, melting away bit by bit.
Gasping softly as she woke, eyes opening to a barely lit bedroom, Shampoo took a moment to try and calm her racing heart. But even when she closed her eyes, hand clenching the blanket over her chest, she couldn’t get a minute of peace.
Ranma woke with a head full of racing thoughts and feelings. Shampoo could feel them as soon as he started to stir. It seemed she wasn’t the only one to remember that dream. Both were flooded with feelings of embarrassment and excitement, maybe too much excitement, as Shampoo soon realised. Burying her red face into her pillow while a swirling warmth made her shiver.
She pointedly ignored Ranma’s footsteps as he tried to sneak down the hall; she’ll let him have as much privacy as she can give as she heard distant sound of the shower being turned on.
Meanwhile, Shampoo would try and settle this rush of excitement by screaming into her pillow. Her whole body was warm, she ended up kicking her blanket off, yet she was shivering lightly. She couldn’t seem to shake the wide grin off her face.
It took a few minutes of deep breaths to finally start to calm down.
‘So… that wasn’t a regular dream, right?’
Ranmas voice spoke up amidst the chaos of their shared thoughts.
‘It must be another side effect of the candles. I think I remember having dreams like this the past few nights.’
Shampoo managed to think clearly after a moment to collect herself. Grabbing clothes, and the necessary accessories, before heading downstairs.
‘Yeah, now that you mention it, I kept having this weird feeling whenever I woke up. But I can’t remember the other dreams, almost like they’re hidden behind a wall of fog.’
‘Hm…’
Shampoo pondered as she made her way downstairs.
‘It’s probably because the longer we’re connected, the stronger the effects become, just like the others.’
‘Makes sense. Just when I thought I managed to get used to it.’
Understanding his frustration, since this made yet another dent into their already messy reality, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. Knowing it was her mistake that caused this.
Sighing as she leaned against the wall beside the bathroom door.
‘…Shampoo? You okay?’
Her mind swirled, trying to cover the feelings of guilt, but it kept popping up whenever she tried. Like a stubborn weed in a hurricane.
Jumping when the bathroom door suddenly swung open. Red met blue as her eyes locked with his. Black hair still dripping as he now stood in front of her. Trying hard not to let her eyes wander, to follow the trail of droplets as they slowly made their way down the hard lines of his body, all the way to the edge of the towel tied loosely around his hips.
“Qin.” Ranma spoke, almost tenderly, but still forceful enough to snap her eyes back to his.
An embarrassed flush staining her cheeks as she didn’t even notice her obvious staring. But other than a small snort-like chuckle, Ranma didn’t comment further, instead choosing to push his face into her space.
“Shampoo, believe me when I say…”
But just as soon as she opened her mouth to respond-
The sound of a crash made their heads snap towards the direction of the restaurant. A quick look told them that their talk can wait. They ran towards the sound of familiar voices arguing.
“Urghh! You moron! I told you we can’t just charge in! Look at the mess you made!”
“Shut it! We’re here for a fight, who cares about a little damage, we’ll just fix it later!”
“I knew teaming up with you was a bad idea!”
The volume of the shouting growing louder as they rounded the corner. A burning feeling of fury roared to life as Shampoo took in the scene.
A disheveled looking Ryoga stood in the middle of the room, a large hole on the far wall, as he was obviously the one who created it. He was in the middle of a shouting match with Ukyo, who was busy trying to pick up some of the furniture that had been tipped over.
The anger radiating from Shampoo made the room almost feel cold, the kind of cold feeling when you put your hand in hot water.
The unexpected guests finally sense it as they’re heads snap towards them. Both looking a little nervous at the severe glares being shot at them.
“Shampoo! I-” Ukyo started, but was cut off before she could.
“Ukyo. I thought we had an agreement, we can fight anywhere we want, but we never attack each others restaurants!” Shampoo fumed, hands curled into fists at her sides, stance like a bull about to charge.
“I didn’t mean to, I swear, I was trying to stop this raging moron before he just busted his way in.”
Ryoga glared at Ukyo, before his eyes widened, as Shampoos sharp glare turned to him.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll fix it later, but we’re not exactly here for a bowl of ramen, we’re here to settle something.”
That broke Ukyo out of her nervous cleaning, dusting her hands off as she stood to face them, an accusatory frown on her face as she took them in.
From Ranma’s low hanging towel, skin still glistening from his shower, and the comfortable way he stood next to Shampoo. Who stood next to him in her night dress, which looks similar to her regular short dresses, but was made more comfortable for sleeping in.
“So, the rumors are true.” Ukyo spoke plainly, not bothering to act clueless, as she crossed her arms. “I thought Nabiki was pulling my leg, even when she showed me the photos, I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t until Ryoga confirmed it, telling me all about it, then I saw it with my own eyes.”
“So what? Picking a fight out of jealousy won’t win you any points.” Shampoo huffed, flipping her long hair over her shoulder, a smug smirk tugging the corners of her mouth. “You lost already, so go home, before I make you.”
“You know what? I don’t care what I’ve seen, you always had a sneaky plan up your sleeve, he’s probably just under one of your spells! And I’ll be the one to break it!”
In a flash, Ukyo grabbed the handle of her large spatula, using a table to launch herself up and over. Without a weapon of her own, Ukyo was quicker than she remembered, Shampoos best bet was to try and catch the spatula. She would just have to push through the pain.
Just as she started to raise her arms, a hand grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back a bit as Ranma stepped up. Putting one of his hands up to catch the spatula, feeling the harsh slap against her hand, she was a little relieved she wasn’t the one who caught it.
“Wha- Ran-chan! Out of my way!” Ukyo sounded flustered for only a moment before almost growling in frustration.
“If we’re going to fight, either drop your weapon, or let Shampoo grab hers.” He spoke, surprisingly serious.
Ukyo tried to glare at him, but backed down quickly, huffing as she let him lower her weapon.
“Fine, let’s meet outside, I’ll make sure Ryoga won’t wander off.”
Ukyo turned, her low ponytail flicked behind her, as she dragged Ryoga out by the wrist.
Ranma let out an exhausted sigh, a whirlpool of emotions draining out as reality sinks in, taking in the damage around them. Rubble littered the floor, some tables and chairs left with chips or cracks, even the floor looked scuffed near the hole.
Shampoo nodded her head, indicating Ranma should get dressed, as she quickly makes a sign. Quickly scribbling on a piece of paper ‘Closed for Renovations.’
Taping the note on the front door, she couldn’t help but groan in annoyance, wondering how her Grandmother will react when she gets back.
‘You think we can fix it before she gets here?’
Ranma’s voice floated in her mind.
Popping back into the restaurant, she watches Ranma come back down, now wearing a light blue, silk shirt with black pants.
“I doubt it, even if we manage to fix the wall, the rest of the restaurant is in pretty bad shape.” She mused, glancing around the wreckage, her red eyes flickering to assess.
“Don’t worry about it right now.” Ranma pressed a hand to her shoulder, pulling her to face him, her gaze finally snapping away from the mess. “You need to go get ready if you wanna’ make those jerks pay.”
Suddenly feeling that fierce determination stir back up, she nodded quickly, hopping to and up the stairs. With no time to think about an outfit, she just picked a dress she can fight in, grabbing her Chui from their spot by her bed. She was ready to make them pay.
She all but leapt back downstairs, determined to just march out, but paused to see Ranma try in vain to cover the hole. Newspaper pages hastily taped over to fill the gaps.
Watching his determined, yet painfully sloppy, work made her smile in amusement.
Sensing her mirth, he looked over his shoulder, glaring in embarrassment at her teasing smile.
“It’s not perfect, but it’ll hold until we get back, I can make it better when we get back.” He huffed.
Walking up to him, she reached a hand up, brushing her fingers through his slightly damp hair.
“You’ll probably need to take another shower later; you might get sick fighting with wet hair.” She giggled, smiling softly, making sure he can feel her appreciation. “Thank you, Airen. We can fix it together.”
She watched his face morph into something more nervous, his ears becoming red, eyes darting away from hers. It was a small moment, barely lasted a few seconds, but it meant so much to her.
He coughed, straightening up, trying to regain some composure.
“Yeah, no problem, but we shouldn’t keep them waiting. Ryoga might get himself lost before we can kick his ass.”
That managed to snap Shampoo back to the moment, her previous anger slowly sinking back, she nodded.
“Right, but we still need to be careful, we don’t want them to figure out our current situation.”
Agreeing with that, they left the restaurant, locking up behind them. There was an empty field nearby, Shampoo explained that is where her and Ukyo would normally meet up to fight. Sure enough, as soon as they got close enough, they saw Ryoga and Ukyo talking amongst themselves.
They looked up as Ranma and Shampoo approached them. The tension was thick, Ukyo looked at them with a calculating gaze, while Ryoga looked like a hungry dog waiting for his cue.
Ranma had a determined look, eyes sharp, tensed like any sudden move could set him off. Shampoo had an eerily similar look as him.
Both teams stood sizing up the other, shifting feet to get into position, wondering who was going to move first.
Like a bulldozer, Ryoga was the first to break, fist raised as he charged.
“Ranma! Prepare to die!”
Easily dodging Ryoga’s attack, Ranma countered with his own, thus starting the battle.
Ukyo had been distracted when Ryoga charged forward so suddenly, giving Shampoo an opening to quickly move into Ukyo’s space, the brunette stumbled back away from her attack.
With this advantage, Shampoo was able to be on the offense, attacking without mercy. Ukyo, on the other hand, had to try and quickly defend herself while trying to gain some distance. Shampoo wouldn’t let up, however, as she kept pushing forward.
On the other hand, Ranma was the one weaving and dodging Ryogas attacks. Ranma was doing this to try and let Ryoga let off some steam. That strategy doesn’t work for long, as Ryoga seemed to have an unlimited supply of energy, so he needed to come up with something else.
“Coward! Quit running and fight!” Ryoga roared, landing a earth-shattering punch on the ground where Ranma was just standing.
“Why are you even doing this, P-chan? Shouldn’t you be Akanes shoulder to cry on? Or I guess you’d just be a pet pig to cry on.” Ranma mocked.
“Shut your mouth! How can I comfort Akane when the one who hurt her is living happily! Once I make you pay, I’ll go to her, and I’ll show her who’s the better man!”
Admittedly, that got under Ranma’s skin a bit, suddenly switching to attack. Managing to land a kick to Ryogas stomach, making Ryoga grimace in pain, as he skidded back a bit.
‘Airen, focus. Don’t let his words affect you.’
Shampoos words managed to cut through his annoyance and pull him back to the moment at hand.
Ranma took a breath as he pulled himself back a bit. Remembering he was trying to avoid getting into a situation where Ryoga could land a hit.
“A real man? We both know the only thing Akanes going to see is her precious, little, pet piggy. Since that’s the only way you can get her attention!”
Smirking as Ryogas attacks start becoming rigid, his anger palpable, and his fighting becoming predictable.
“Ranma! I’ll show you! I’ll come back to Akane a hero!”
“Ohh, I get it.” Ranma had a cocky smirk on his face as he slipped closer to Ryogas space. “You’re afraid.”
He ignored Shampoos warnings as he was still able to read Ryoga’s movements like a book.
“I’m not afraid! Especially not of you!”
“No, not of me, you’re afraid to go to Akane. Because you know, even after everything that happened, she’d still pick me over you.”
That line was like a slap in the face, and it hurt worse than any attack Ranma had thrown before, as Ryoga stood there stunned.
Ranma took this window of opportunity, jumping up high, then using that momentum and gravity to descend foot first.
Meanwhile, Ukyo seems to be barely keeping on her toes, with Shampoos relentless attacks. Since Shampoo handles daily deliveries, while Ukyo stays to manage her restaurant, she has more than enough stamina. All she needs is one good hit.
Ukyo was throwing everything she could, figuratively, and literally. It was when she ran out of her small spatulas did she start to panic. She had one last secret weapon, only to be used in dire circumstances, which this was quickly becoming.
With some hesitance, Ukyo broke formation, and retreated a bit. Jumping high into the air, with her back facing Shampoo, to give herself some room. Sneakily reaching into her work uniform to grab something.
“Get back here, you!” Shampoo shouted indignantly, jumping towards Ukyo, ready to defend against whatever she has planned.
“I don’t think so, hun, you need to cool down!”
As Ukyo turned, Shampoo realised her mistake, unable to dodge the splash of cold water. Her transformation was triggered, she can feel herself shrinking, weapons falling from her hands. Landing in a heap of her own clothes, Ukyo landed a few feet away, holding an empty water bottle, face triumphant.
“What the-?!”
Ukyo turned to look towards Ryoga and Ranma. It looked like Ranma had tried to land a serious kick, but had ended up distracted, and missed completely. Looking at Ranma now, it wasn’t hard to figure out why, as she shook her red hair out of her face.
Ryoga was completely baffled, one minute Male-Ranma was going to knock his lights out, and he just transformed out of nowhere. What’s more, this transformation was different.
Ryoga looked towards Ukyo, who was still holding the bottle, then back to Ranma.
The Ranma sitting before them was the same, for the most part, except for the added cat ears and tail.