The morning light once again visited the apartment of Ranma Saotome. He groggily awoke and blinked the sleep from his eyes. He turned his head to see a nude Xian Pu curled up to his side. Even though they had not made love last night, she still insisted on sleeping in the buff. They hadn’t made love because Ranma feared for her injuries that had somehow been aggravated while he was gone. ‘Taking out the trash’ indeed. She still hadn’t told him what hat happened.
He nudged her awake. “Wake up, Shampoo.”
“Five more minute, Kasumi. Akane no wake for hour yet.” She wrapped her arms around Ranma and squeezed lightly.
Ranma chuckled. “Look like old habits die hard.” He brushed some stray hairs away from her face and lifted her chin up. He brought his lips down to drink of hers.
In the midst of the kiss, Xian Pu awoke and returned it. They lay there and enjoyed the passionate embrace for a few minutes before coming up for air. She sighed contentedly and rested her head on his chest. “That’s the best way I’ve ever been woken up. Thank you, Ranma.” She gave him another kiss.
After disengaging again, Ranma looked her over. “Your wounds seem to be much better now. You’d be doing a lot better if you hadn’t exerted yourself yesterday. What happened anyway? You never did tell me.”
She yawned and stretched, which did very interesting things to her very athletic, but well endowed body. Ranma took note of every movement on her body, getting very distracted. She thought for a second about what she was going to say. “Miko decided to visit while you were gone.”
His eyebrow rose. “And?”
“She tried to take me out because I was an ‘obstacle’.” She laid back down and snuggled up to Ranma’s side.
“How did she try to ‘take you out’?” He asked with a note of concern in his voice.
Xian Pu smiled in happiness at the concern for her well-being. “She pulled a gun on me. I had to take her out quickly before things got out of hand.”
“So you beat her up and aggravated your injuries?” He passed a hand over some of her bruised skin.
“Well, that’s not really the whole story.” She thought carefully about what to say next. “You were right Ranma. She was a spy. She admitted to me that she was working with the Yakuza, trying to bring you down.”
Ranma’s brows furrowed. “Sometimes I hate being right. Now I’ve got another loose end to take care of.”
“Well, you don’t really need to worry about her.” Xian Pu commented idly.
He started to get a look of anger on his face. “You didn’t kill her did you?”
She started to get nervous. “No. I, uh, actually used the Xian Fang Go Shiatsu on her. I had a little 110 left and used it to on her.”
Ranma let out a sigh of relief. “So what did you make her forget? Her mission? JCIA? Me?” She mumbled something. “What?”
The lavender haired Amazon took a deep breath. “I made her forget everything. She was left with only the basic knowledge of how to walk, talk, and function in society. Her whole personal history was wiped clean.”
Ranma’s jaw dropped in shock. “How could you?! I know she was a spy, but that doesn’t mean you can just strip away someone’s life like that!”
Xian Pu winced from the tirade. “I’m sorry! But that’s all I could do with the amount of shampoo I had left!”
He sat up, got out of the bed, and put on a pair of boxers. “What do you mean, ‘all you could do’? I’d think it’d take more shampoo to wipe out everything someone knows!”
She pulled the sheets around herself self-consciously. “You’re wrong. That’s not how the technique works. The more specific you are about what you are making someone forget, the more shampoo you use. In fact, a little vial was all I had left after I used it on Akane all those years ago.” She noticed Ranma’s face cloud over. “You never forgave me for that, did you?” Her stomach started to cinch up.
Ranma took a deep breath and mulled over her words. “You’re right Shampoo. I hadn’t, and now that I’ve learned that Akane came very close to being a vegetable, I’m still not very happy about it. How could you do that to someone?”
Xian Pu’s head began to felt heavy as her innards were being tied in knots. “She was the one who called the cops the other night. She wouldn’t have left you alone, and she also wanted to sell me to the Yakuza. I…I know you don’t care for me much right now, but I couldn’t stand the thought of being taken away from you.” She sobbed quietly into the sheets.
Ranma’s face softened as he sat back down on the bed and drew her in for a hug. “Shhh. It’s okay. I understand.” He thought for another second. “And I forgive you, Shampoo. I forgive you for everything. It was foolish of me to hold a grudge against you for so long. The Xi Fang Go was the main reason why you lost so long ago. You used that technique on Akane and you made me feel unimportant. It was a real blow to my ego and I never really got over it, but I forgive you now for that and everything else you’ve ever did.”
She sniffled a bit as she choked back her tears. “You mean it?”
He brought her head up so that their eyes could meet. “More than anything, and you were wrong. I do care for you. I care for you a lot, and I would be real upset if you were taken away from me. I may not agree with what you did, but I understand why you did it.” He chuckled a bit. “You know, she’s probably better off. No one will ever find her and she can live a life without spies or gangsters.”
Xian Pu hugged him fiercely. “Thank you!” She squeezed him as hard as she could.
“*cough* Shampoo! *cough* You’re choking me!” He gasped between labored breaths.
She loosened her hold. “I’m sorry, but I’m just so happy! You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear words like that coming from you! Ranma, I love you!” She gave him a gentler, but still firm embrace.
Ranma ran his fingers through her hair. “I like you a lot, Shampoo, but I don’t love you. It’s takes a long time for me to fall in love with someone. Call it another gift from my father.”
Xian Pu got a predatory look on her face. “Maybe Shampoo can help you along.” She brought her face up and kissed him, letting her tongue dance around in his mouth. She broke the kiss and pulled away from him enough for the sheet to fall away from her bare body. “Shampoo think of lots of ways to help. Ranma sure he no want fool around?”
With great will power, Ranma managed to take his eyes off of Xian Pu’s assets. “You did enough to your wounds yesterday. You really need rest.”
“I can’t think of any better way to relax.” Her speech had returned to proper Japanese as she brought him in for another kiss. The kiss was long and loving. She started moving to his neck and started to push him back down on the bed.
Just about the time things were getting interesting, the phone rang.
“Saved by the bell.” Thought Ranma. He reached aside to the bed table and took the phone off the receiver. “Hello?”
“Masaki-San?”
“This is he.”
“We have another job for you. Are you interested?”
He rolled out from under Shampoo and pulled out his notepad and pen. “Always.”
“The address is the old Feline Feast factory in the old industrial park Can you meet us there in about three hours?”
Ranma’s face hardened. “Not a park?”
“This is too important for any park. It’s important that you meet with us.” CLICK! The phone went dead.
Ranma put the phone back on the receiver with a suspicious look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Xian Pu asked.
He got up and started to get dressed. “The Yaks want to meet with me on the other side of town at the old cat food factory.”
Miko’s words from yesterday came back to Xian Pu. “It’s got to be a trap!”
“Hmm, let me think...An abandoned warehouse on the side of town that’s deep in Yakuza territory and far away from any law enforcement. Of course it’s a trap!” He commented with a note of sarcasm in his voice. He put on a pair of black pants and a black t-shirt.
“You’re not going are you?!” Xian Pu asked with heavy concern in her voice.
Ranma stretched out a bit to get himself loose. “Of course I am. This is my last lead. Somebody there will know who is in charge on the Yakuza end, and I intend to find out who it is.” He depressed a hidden button in his closet and it rotated, revealing a large stockpile of weapons and armored clothing. He pulled out a pistol and loaded a clip.
“What is that?!” Xian Pu’s voice had a note of disbelief in it.
The martial artist pulled the slide back and cocked the weapon before holstering it under his left arm. “It’s called a gun. People have been using them in conflicts for years.”
“Why do you need a gun?”
He put on some bandoliers with various ammunition and more holsters. “I’d rather not advertise the fact that I can shoot Ki blasts from my hands. That would put everyone I know in danger because I’m one of the only people on this Earth that can do that, and there’s also no way I can dodge a dozen or more fully automatic rifles.”
“I thought you hated using weapons. Why did you start using guns?”
“A martial artist uses the whatever is available to give him an edge. He also makes himself familiar with all types of weapons, not just bladed or bludgeoning ones.” He pulled on a heavy trench coat.
“So you’re just going to walk right into their trap and get yourself killed.” She put her hands on her hips in anger.
Ranma pulled a sword off a shelf and put it in its sheath hidden in the back of the coat. He spread his long hair to cover the small visible portion. “Not at all. I fully intend to walk out of there alive and well. I also intend to come out with the name of the one who’s running the Yakuza angle.” He finished his outfit with the same wrap-around sunglasses he had worn in the park the first day Xian Pu had seen him again.
She got out of bed and started dressing. “Then I’m coming too! I didn’t come this far to lose you!”
He turned around to face her. “No way! You’re going to stay here and heal!”
She gave him an angry glare, one that screamed, ‘DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!’ “How long would it take them to check here for you? Miko knew where this place was. What makes you think her bosses don’t know where this is?”
Ranma stopped and thought a second. He ground his teeth as her point drove home. “Okay, but you’re going to wear protection.” He reached in and pulled another set of clothes out and threw it to her. “Put these on.”
Xian Pu examined the black outfit that vaguely resembled black leather. “What is this?”
“A composite Kevlar outfit. It’ll protect you from anything short of a .50 caliber round. The same thing this trench is made out of. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you get hurt again.”
She put on the pants, shirt and long sleeved jacket. The jacket and shirt appeared to be loose. “This doesn’t quite fit me.”
Ranma snorted. “Well it was custom made for my girl side. Just tuck the extra slack into the pants and don’t worry about the jacket.”
Xian Pu was still amazed that Ranma’s bust was so much larger than hers. She still had an impressive pair of breasts, but, ironically, they were still smaller than her husband’s. She did as he said and got a reasonable fit. “Okay, now what?”
Ranma took out a strange looking gun and put a vial of pink liquid on the top. “Now we take our shots.” He put the point to his neck and discharged the liquid into himself. “This should be enough for two days. The last things we need are curses in the middle of what’s probably going to be a war zone.” He walked over and administered the same dose to Xian Pu that he gave himself. He went back to the closet and proceeded to stock up on various weapons. He turned and tossed a couple small cylinders to Xian Pu.
“What are these?” She asked as she looked at the small tubes.
“They’re a pair of retractable steel asps. They my not be bonbari, but they’ll still mess somebody up.”
She flicked one of them and it extended out to around a three-foot length. She started to move it around, listening to the swishing sounds that promised pain. “I think I can make do.”
“Here!” He tossed her a piece of cloth.
“What kind of super spy gear is this?”
“It’s a hair net. Purple hair is kinda obvious.” He chuckled and turned back to the closet.
She walked over and rapped him on the back of the head with her knuckles. “Baka.”
Ranma made a few last minute checks. “Okay. Ready to go?”
“Just a couple more things.”
He looked at her. “What’s that?”
She looked at him with a pleading look. “Earlier you said that you forgave me for everything. Was that true?”
Ranma stopped sticking weapons on his person and turned to her. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
She shifted her weight a bit. “I was wondering if that included ruining your wedding. You said that you would never forgive me for assaulting Akane.”
He thought for a second as if trying to remember something. “Oh yeah, that was in the script.” He mumbled. “Yeah, sure. I forgive you for that too.”
Xian Pu gave him a questioning glance. “What do you mean, ‘that was in the script’?”
He chuckled a bit and went back to packing his arsenal. “You know that piece of paper I read you the charges off of?” She nodded her head. “That was a script that Nabiki had written for me for the occasion. Akane had told her she had to make amends for ruining the wedding by getting rid of you and Ukyou. So her idea was to write scripts for me to read to both of you to get you to lay off. Ukyou got the ‘I love you like a sister’ speech, and you got the shaft. I really didn’t want to hurt either of you, but I couldn’t marry all of you.”
Xian Pu was shocked. “You mean that was all an act? All that anger and poise and authority was an act?!?!”
He turned back to her and closed his coat, concealing the weapons he had packed under it. “The anger was real. I wasn’t happy about you ruining the wedding like that and trying to hurt Akane. The poise and command, well that was all fake.”
She gave him a look of disbelief. “You managed to cow great-grandmother and it was fake?!?!”
He smiled. “Yeah actually. You don’t know how bad my knees were quaking. It took all the discipline I could muster to keep my poise.”
She scratched her chin a second. “You know, that explains why you were still reading from the piece of paper after you listed off the first charges.”
He laughed. “I kinda forgot my lines. I’d make a great actor, no?”
The Amazon punched him in the arm, but not very hard though. “I went through all those years thinking you truly hated my guts, and it was all fake.”
Ranma scratched the back of his head. “Sorry about that, but I had to do something like that. A show of force was the only thing that you Amazons understand. I had to present a strong front and confront you on your home territory, or you guys would have pursued me to the ends of the Earth. Am I right?”
Xian Pu just shook her head. “All those years, all that pain, all that fear that I wasn’t good enough, and all those lost dates because no man could compare to you.”
He gave her a cocky grin. “Yeah, I guess I do ruin women for other guys. I’m just too much of a stud.”
She punched him again, this time hard enough to make him rub his arm. “If you’re so much of a stud, why didn’t you do something last night?”
He shook his head. “You’re still not completely healed. Trust me, a bedroom romp would have only made your wounds worse.”
She gave him a playful grin. “So you think you’re that good, huh?”
He gave her a serious look. “Hey! I AM that damn good. Don’t you know I’m the best of my generation?”
She sauntered over in front of him and put her arms around his neck. “There’s something that you need to remember.”
He looked into her eyes and smiled. “And what is that?”
A smug grin played across her lips. “I’m the champion of the Amazon tribe AND the best of MY generation. You only have yourself to blame for missing out on the bout of your lifetime.”
He continued to smile as he looked down on her. “We’re still young. There will be plenty of time for that after you heal.” His face turned somber. “Seriously, Shampoo, I’m sorry I put you through all of that. I’m sorry that a nice and beautiful woman like you had to get mixed up in my crazy life and end up a casualty of it.”
She gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Ranma, if I had had the choice of knowing you and living out the rest of my life at the Amazon village, knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have my life any other way. Because of you, I learned a new language, got to have the adventures of a lifetime when I was only sixteen, I learned how to become an important person in Japanese society as well as Chinese, and…” She pulled him closer to herself. “I found the love of a lifetime. Without you I probably would have married Mousse. I never liked him, but eventually I would have made a mistake and he would have defeated me. A life of only being an average Amazon warrior as opposed to being well traveled, well learned, and well rounded woman of the world. I think I’ll take the latter. I’m also very happy that I have the chance to live out the rest of my life having more adventures with my love.”
Ranma nodded and smiled at the speech. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t totally screw up your life. I always felt guilty about you and Ukyou. I’m glad both of you wound up happy in the end.”
She had another playful look on her face. “You mean you never felt guilty about Kodachi?”
He rolled his eyes. “She was rich and crazy.”
“ ‘Eccentric’.” Xian Pu corrected.
Ranma grimaced. “She was a nutball with a stupid crush. I never felt guilty about her. I didn’t even tell her about getting married to Akane or bothered getting Nabs to write a script for her. If anything she owes an apology to ME!”
Xian Pu nodded her head. “You do have a point there. She drugged you more times than I did.”
“Thanks for reminding me.” He chuckled. “So what else did you want to do before we left?”
“Just this.” She brought him in for a quick, but still passionate, kiss. “Good luck.”
He brought her back in for another. “Stay out of trouble this time, okay?”
“I’ll try.” She smiled.