Ranma walked along with Nabiki on the way to the dojo, a hint of a smile on his face. If anything could help him get his thoughts together, it was the practice of the art, even if it was with Nabiki of all people.
Of course, to expect a moment of relaxing clarity would be to expect too much. Sure enough, they were met at the door to the dojo by Akane and Shampoo, both of whom were wearing aprons over their sun dresses.
“Dinner's ready!” Akane declared in a cheerful tone, bowing to Nabiki and Ranma as she did.
So that's where that good smell was coming from, Ranma absentmindedly noted as he looked on at the two women.
Shampoo walked up to the two martial artists then got down on her knees before Ranma, looking up at him as she spoke in a soft, submissive voice. “Is Lord Ranma okay?” she asked.
Ranma blushed and flinched slightly, trained reflexes expecting Akane to pull out a mallet and hammer him. When no hammering came, Ranma relaxed slightly and looked down at Shampoo, trying to keep his voice steady as he spoke. “I'm okay, Shan-Pu,” he replied, his voice quivering softly as he looked at Nabiki, who nodded in approval. Good, I got the name right, Ranma thought. No need to worry about her hanging herself or anything.
His moment of victory was short-lived, however, as he noticed Shampoo hadn't gotten up from her kneeling position. “Shan-Pu,” he began, “do you need to kneel to me just to ask how I am? You could've said that standing up, you know.”
“Bad move,” Nabiki whispered into his ear. Sure enough, Shampoo started to sob silently, tears running down her cheeks as she looked away.
“I... I'm sorry, Lord Ranma,” Shampoo managed between sobs. “I didn't... I didn't mean to upset you, really I didn't...”
Ranma struggled to say something as he felt his grip on reality fading. He was teetering on the edge of fainting again, Shampoo's display of complete servitude starting to overload his senses.
It was at this moment that Akane got on her knees and put a hand on Shampoo's shoulder. “It's okay, Shan-Pu,” Akane said reassuringly, a sweet smile firmly on her face, “Ranma didn't mean to say he was upset by you kneeling before him.” Akane then looked up at Ranma, her cute eyes trembling as she gazed at him. “Right, Ranma?” she asked.
“Right!” Ranma blurted out, his voice uncertain as he struggled to stay in the world of the living. “Um, let's go eat! I'm sure we can all, er, calm down over dinner, right Shan-Pu?”
Shampoo wiped her tears away, smiling softly up at Ranma as she did. “Yes, master!” she said confidently, not moving from her position. “I'll do anything to please my master!”
Ranma groaned and slapped his forehead, wondering what he had done to deserve such an extreme distortion of his desires, both from Shampoo and from the genie. “Shan-Pu?” Ranma began. “Do you not think of yourself?”
“Never,” was the amazon's response, her gaze returning up to his eyes. “My thoughts are all of you.” Her voice was warm and loving, but also with a strong resolution that made it clear that this was how she would always be.
Normal men would have loved the idea of having an unbelievably beautiful woman like Shampoo at their beck and call. They would have at the very least humored her when she declared her unwavering attention. Of course, Ranma wasn't a very normal fellow. His density in comparison to normal men was quite astonishing. Therefore, it is no surprise that he'd try to get Shampoo out of that line of thinking.
“Look, Shan-Pu, I know I've likely said this before,” Ranma noticed the odd stares from Nabiki and Akane as he spoke, “but I don't want you to be a slave for me.” Ranma paused for a moment. For some reason, he couldn't help but be reminded of a song by western pop idol Britney Spears. He quickly got those thought out of his head and resumed talking, gazing down at Shampoo kindly. “Now, if this is what it takes, I order you to do something for yourself.”
Shampoo nodded softly and smiled at him before shifting onto all fours and lowering her face to his feet, kissing them softly.
Ranma bugged out at the sight and stepped back carefully, noticing Shampoo's sad gaze as she looked back up at him. “Master?” she asked carefully. “Did I do something bad, Lord Ranma?”
“This is her idea of doing something for herself, you know,” Nabiki whispered into Ranma's ear, amusement clear in her tone of voice.
This gets worse every minute, Ranma thought to himself as he slowly shook his head. “Um, no... N-Not at all, Shan-Pu,” he stammered aloud. “I'm not mad at all... ehehehehehehehe....” A single sweat drop ran down the back of his head as Shampoo crawled up to him and resumed licking and kissing his feet submissively. Soon, he couldn't take it anymore, falling backward and passing out, his eyes bugged out as a soft, pleading whimper escaped his mouth.
“Oh my!” Akane exclaimed as she got back up on her feet, a hand to her mouth. “Nabiki, could you help me take him back to his room to rest? I think we should just give him his food there when he gets up.”
Nabiki nodded and bent over, grabbing Ranma's arms and dragging him back to the guest room. “It's OK, Akane,” Nabiki said with a smile. “I'll get Ranma back to the guest room. You and Shan take care of getting his food over to his room.” Nabiki sighed in relief as Shampoo finally stopped licking Ranma's feet and got up, going with Akane to the living room to get Ranma's food. Perhaps Ranma would be back to normal when he woke up. Not likely, but perhaps.
---
Ranma got up and shook his head as he awoke again. Twice in one day, he thought to himself as he rubbed his temple, sitting up on his futon as he looked around. He felt a strange form of relief as he saw his father standing over him, a stern look of disdain on his face.
“You're out of practice, boy,” Genma Saotome chided. “It's not like you to pass out so often.”
“Pops!” Ranma exclaimed, a smile on his face. “You're not going to believe this, but I had the absolute worst nightmare!” He then went over how much Kasumi had changed, how nice and feminine Akane had become, the selflessness of the new Nabiki, and how Shampoo licked his feet of all things. It all made for quite a fantastic, horrifying tale in Ranma's mind.
Genma, for his part, seemed unimpressed. “Did you eat Kasumi's cooking?” he asked, shaking his head. “You should know by now how hazardous that is, boy!”
Ranma groaned softly as he slapped his forehead, shaking his head in disbelief. “Oh god, it's all true!” Ranma then broke out into tears, rivers of water flowing from his eyes that would have made Soun envious.
“Control yourself, boy!” Genma demanded harshly, grabbing his son by the collar and shaking him violently. “It'll all wear off soon, just don't give in to Kasumi's cooking! You're way too strong for that!”
It took several minutes before Ranma calmed down, wiping the tears from his eyes as he looked around in a panic, his lip quivering as he did. There could be little doubt: Ranma was suffering from a fear that would have stopped a normal man's heart.
It was at this moment that the sliding door to their room opened, and a young woman carrying a tray of food entered the room.
Genma, who would have normally went for the food himself, backed away so that the young lady could deliver Ranma his meal. It was clear that the terrified boy needed it more than he did.
Ranma looked up at the person bringing the food with a sense of dread. “Um, hello...”
See other episodes by The Master Chief
(Posted Sat, 27 Mar 2004 16:15)
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