Ranma was sitting on a ledge, looking over Zora River while the sun was setting.
And he, the boy who wanted to be the world's greatest martial artist, sobbed.
So close! It had been so close! After all that time with his father on the road, he had missed life with a real family. And now, when he got a chance, after rejoining with his mother and meeting his sister, this stupid curse had to ruin everything.
The curse... Ranma didn't know if he should detest it or love it. It was the only thing that had allowed him to stay close to his sister... But, at the same time, because of the curse, he could never hope of going back to her.
"She will hate me..." he murmured. "She will think I'm a freak of nature. A Zora that changes into a Hylian. A girl that changes into a boy..."
A sister that changes into a brother?
Ranma saw no way how she could possibly like a brother that wasn't even of her own species.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted, when he heard something. And he... knew those kind of sounds.
The sounds of someone making ki-powered jumps.
And right after he came to this conclusion, someone landed on a rocky pillar in front of him, a pillar that was rising out of the river.
The strange, lavender-haired girl could not be much older than himself... but she had the body movements of a fighter. Or at least of a fighter in training.
She looked over his body physique silently, until she nodded and exclaimed: "Boy."
Her behavior gave Ranma the creeps. "Who... are you?"
"Am Shampoo." She jumped over the distance between their two grass-covered platforms easily and landed in front of him. Ranma nervously backed off as she stared directly into his eyes. "Who you?"
Ranma sighed. "Who I am? I guess I'm a failure as a brother..."
The girl blinked, apparently not understanding. He shook his head. "Never mind... my name is Ranma."
"Ranma." She nodded, and jumped back to her stone pillar, where she went into a battle stance. "Fight?"
Ranma scratched. Obviously, this girl challenged him to a fight. And while she was still a young girl, she looked like she had been trained by a very good sensei.
He shrugged. Oh heck, why not? A good fight was just the right thing to distract his mind from unpleasant memories.
He went into the standard stance of the Anything Goes School and smirked. "Okay, show me what you got!"
Shampoo stayed quiet for a moment... and then, she leapt off the rock and flew towards him like a Keese on caffeine.
And when she attacked him with multiple punches and kicks, he had to do his best to fight back. Damn, this girl was good... The only times he had been pushed to his limits like this was when he was training with his old man.
Shampoo blocked one of his own punches, put her right foot on his shoulder and jumped up into the air. Ranma gasped when he saw her descending upon him like a living comet.
He dodged her attack just in time, and her heel dug itself into the ground next to him with a force that made tiny rocks fly through the air.
But by using this attack, she left herself wide open for a counterattack... and guessing from how her eyes widened, she had not assumed that this kick would have missed its target.
So Ranma did the only logical thing: He attacked her from her side, with a powerful kick of his own. The girl yelped and fell down into the river with a big splash.
Ranma went to the edge of the stone platform and looked down. After several seconds, Shampoo came jumping out of the water like a cannonball and flew in his direction.
Ranma braced himself, when she landed in front of him, as he assumed she wanted to continue her assault... but she did nothing like that.
She just looked at him for a while, then she said: "You win."
And then she came closer... very close.
Ranma was ready to freak out when suddenly, Shampoo leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
"Airen..." she whispered into the pigtailed boy's ear. "Wo ai ni..."
Ranma, not understanding the native language of the Gerudo tribe, could only stare as she backed off with a smile, turned around and jumped away.
After bouncing off the rocky pillar for a last time, she was gone.
"Now what the heck just happened?" Ranma wondered while rubbing his cheek.
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(Posted Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:53)
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