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The Perfect Warrior
Chapter 5: Aftermath
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	Near the center of the Joketsuzoku village lay a large, 
nondescript hut.  It blended in with the rest of the buildings, as 
though seeking to disguise or hide its purpose.  Nevertheless, it was a 
building with a necessary function, and those who worked inside it 
received just as much respect as the warriors whom they treated.  For 
as long as the warrior traditions of the Amazons had existed, the 
healer traditions had existed as well.  The Amazons knew that healing 
played a vital function in a community, especially one geared almost 
entirely toward the art of war, and as such treated the healers with 
respect and honored them as was proper.

	Still, that didn't mean their importance needed to be 
overplayed.  The Amazons who were fortunate enough to be spared the 
day-to-day horrors of war didn't need to be reminded of it if it wasn't 
necessary.  And as necessary as the healers were, they were still a 
sign of the tribe's weakness.  And in the Amazon view of things, 
weakness was something to be dealt with quietly- not openly flaunted 
for the whole world to see.

	It was in a corner of this nondescript, quiet building that one 
of the aforementioned healers was talking to a tall, brown-haired 
Amazon whose face was etched with concern- and at the moment, looked 
far older than her relatively young thirty-six years.  The two stood 
over a bed in which a young girl slept peacefully, and occasionally one 
of the two would gesture to the child.  Finally, turning back to the 
bed, the woman sat down heavily in a wooden chair that creaked with the 
sudden weight.

	Ruby winced as the sudden jolt sent a burst of pain down her 
right arm, currently wrapped in bandages from the wrist to the elbow 
and resting in a sling.  The pain subsided after a moment, and she 
looked down at the bed and up at the healer one last time.  "Are you 
sure she'll be all right?"

	The healer smiled a patient smile, one that had been perfected 
through years of practice dealing with concerned family members and 
friends.  "Your daughter will be fine, Ma'am.  She should be waking up 
anytime now."

	Ruby sighed, but none of the worry disappeared from her face.  
She nodded.  "Thank you very much."

	The healer gave a slight bow, and smiled.  "If you need anything, 
don't hesitate to ask."  With that, she turned to the next patient, 
leaving Ruby alone and waiting for her daughter to wake up.

	The worry reflected on the Amazon's face only showed a small sign 
of the mental and emotional turmoil she was going through.  Three 
Amazons had died in the battle, and more had been injured- arguably due 
to her own lack of judgement.  Her danger sense had been going off, but 
she had largely ignored it.

	Visions of what she could have done differently flashed through 
her mind, taunting her.  She shouldn't have taken them so far west.  
She shouldn't have stopped on the way back to the village.  She 
shouldn't have left the students alone to go searching.

	She steeled herself against the visions, knowing that it was 
pointless to beat herself up over what she might have done 
differently.  There was no guarantee that anything she might have done 
would have prevented an attack, short of canceling the trip, and 
Cologne herself had said to proceed with the trip.  With the chief 
Matriarch's approval having been given to the mission, Ruby knew she 
was absolved of any possible blame.  But the doubts, and the feelings 
of guilt, nagged her anyway.

	"Hello, Ruby."

	The voice of the very person she had been contemplating was 
enough to startle her out of her brooding.  She turned her head, and 
saw the elderly Amazon perched on a cane near the foot of her 
daughter's bed.  Ruby bowed her head, careful to keep the proper 
respect, even in a setting such as this.  "Good morning, Matriarch."

	Cologne shook her head.  "You can drop the titles and decorum, 
Ruby.  I'm here as a family member, not as a matriarch."  She looked up 
at the younger Amazon.  "How is Shampoo faring?"

	Ruby allowed herself a slight smile for her grandmother's sake.  
"She'll be fine.  The healers expect her to wake up anytime now."

	"She was far too young for the strain of battle."  Cologne 
studied the young girl sleeping peacefully on the bed.  "It wasn't 
something she need to experience yet."  She looked up at her 
granddaughter, and noticed a shimmer in the corner of Ruby's eye as a 
tear threatened to spill.  As though reading the younger woman's 
thoughts, she muttered, "It's not your fault, Ruby.  You couldn't have 
known what would happen."

	"I know."  Ruby wiped the tear from her eye, and sighed.

	Sensing that her granddaughter was not entirely convinced, 
Cologne continued.  "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine for allowing 
the mission to continue.  Don't berate yourself like this, Ruby."

	"I'm well aware of your reasoning, Cologne."  Ruby's voice 
sounded very tired.  "But the fact is, three Amazons died yesterday who 
didn't need to.  Maybe I could have prevented it; probably not.  But 
three Amazons, one of them barely even a warrior, died.  That's the 
same no matter who gets the blame."

	She looked away, and back toward her daughter.  "Besides," she 
said, in a voice so quiet that Cologne could barely hear, "in a war 
like this one, it would be so easy to become jaded toward death- and 
to ignore it."

	Ruby took a deep breath and sighed.  "Sorry... it's just..."  
Ruby shook her head, and sat up in her chair.  "Maybe it shouldn't hurt 
me this much.  But at least... as long as it makes me feel this way, then 
at least I know I'm still human."

	Cologne was stung by Ruby's words.  She knew that she herself was 
guilty of being jaded to death, and tried to remember a time when she 
had been possessed of a soul like Ruby's.  It was too late for her, 
though- a century of suffering had taken its toll.  If Ruby managed to 
survive that long, then she would come to understand it as well.  It 
was tragic, but also inevitable.

	The elder Amazon suddenly felt the full weight of a hundred years 
on her shoulders, and tears threatened to form in her own eyes.  It 
would not do for her to display a lack of control, especially in a 
public situation like this.  "Excuse me, Ruby, I must be going."

	Ruby looked up with surprise as the old woman suddenly hopped 
away.  She watched Cologne's back as she left the building, and then 
turned back to her own daughter, and waited patiently for her to awake.

            ------------------------------------------------

	She groaned softly as she opened her eyes, and a blinding light 
pierced her field of vision.  She was immediately aware of a throbbing 
headache, and rolled over in an attempt to regain the peaceful sleep 
she had been immersed in just a few seconds ago.

	She failed.  A dull ache of pain swept down her body, and she 
groaned again, forcing herself to sit up and figure out where she was.

	As she opened her eyes again, the light seemed a little less 
intense, and she recognized the place immediately.  She was in a corner 
of the Amazon healer's hut, next to a window that let the daylight 
shine through onto her bed.

	Seated next to her was her Mother, watching her with a concerned 
look.  As they looked at each other, her mother smiled.  "I'm glad 
you're awake, dear.  How are you feeling?"

	She blinked several times, then shook her head as though to drive 
the last vestiges of unconsciousness from her head.  She noticed that 
even as she sat there, the pain which had seemed so prevalent when she 
first awoke was rapidly receding from her body.

	She looked down at herself, looking for some sign of injury, but 
found none.  She was dressed in a light robe which covered all but her 
arms, but from what she could see she had no wounds or bandages that 
would indicate she had suffered an injury.  She looked back up at her 
mother.  "I'm feeling better, I guess.  What happened to me, anyway?"

	"Well, luckily, nothing serious.  You just went into shock."

	The girl looked at her mother, confused.  "Shock?"

	Ruby nodded.  "The stress of your first battle, plus the amount 
of energy you exerted over such a short period of time, was enough to 
put a major strain on your system, and you passed out."

	Shampoo looked back down at herself, surprised.  "No physical 
injuries, and I still passed out?"

	Ruby got up and sat down on the edge of the bed.  "Shock can be 
dangerous in itself, even if there are no physical wounds to accompany 
it.  You're lucky it was as mild as it was, and that nothing else 
happened to you."

	"I'm just glad you're all right."  She suddenly found herself 
wrapped in her mother's strong embrace.  "If something had happened to 
you..." her voice sounded like it was on the verge of cracking, and 
suddenly her mother's body shook with sobs.  Unsure of what to say or 
do, she put one arm around her mother's back and tried to comfort her 
with a hug.

	She found herself fighting a losing battle to hold back her own 
tears, and felt pangs of regret that she had caused her mother to go 
through this.  "I'm sorry, Mom... I'm sorry..."

	Her mother gave her one final squeeze and released her, sitting 
down on the edge of the bed.  She wiped the tears from her eyes, and 
looked down at her daughter.  "Shampoo, you shouldn't have joined the 
battle.  It was brave of you to try, but you just weren't ready."  
There was no anger in her voice, only a sad regret that magnified her 
own feelings of guilt tenfold.

	"The important thing, though, is that you survived, and you're 
all right."  She smiled warmly.  "I'm just very, very glad that nothing 
happened to you."

	Shampoo nodded, unsure of what to say.  "But what happened, 
anyway?  I thought we were all dead."

	"Never underestimate the Amazon defenses."  Her mother's smile 
grew broader.  "There was several patrols only a few minutes away, and 
they heard the noise of the battle.  As soon as they got there, the 
Musk retreated."

	The young girl nodded, and a lump formed in her throat as she 
tried to speak the next question she wanted to ask.  Rather, it wasn't 
that she wanted to ask it, but that she needed to.  "How many people 
died?"

	Her mother's gaze saddened.  "Three.  Two of them were warriors 
on the patrol that came with us, named Lavender and Blossom."  She 
sighed and looked down at the floor, and then back up at her daughter.  
"Also, one student... Lily."

	Shampoo choked back a sob.  She hadn't known Lily well... in 
fact, she had barely known her at all, due mostly to their age 
difference.  But she was still a classmate, and a fellow Amazon... and 
someone who didn't need to die.

	Her mother nodded sadly.  "Lily wasn't ready for battle, either.  
I thought she was, but.." her eyes watered, and a single tear rolled 
down her mother's cheek.  "I was a fool."  She turned back to her 
daughter, and tried to give her a reassuring smile.  "Enough of that 
for now.  Do you feel well enough to leave?" 

	"I think so."  She swung her legs out over the side of the bed, 
and for a moment paused there, sitting.  The pain she had felt upon 
waking up was almost completely gone, and she looked up at her mother, 
who was now standing beside her.  For the first time, she noticed that 
her mother's right arm was wrapped in a bandage from the wrist to the 
elbow.  "What happened to your arm?"

	Her mother smiled reassuringly.  "It's just a light scratch."  
She moved her arm around to show that it was all right.

	A thought suddenly occurred to her.  She looked around 
half-nervously, half-curiously.  "I'm surprised Mousse hasn't showed up 
to bug me.  This is just the sort of thing that would set him off."

	Her mother chuckled at that.  "I gave the healers specific 
instructions not to admit him.  I figured after this little adventure, 
the last thing you needed was more of a headache."

	"Thanks, Mom." she moved her arms to push herself off the bed, 
but paused.  "I just hope he won't be waiting for me outside."

	"That's true."  Her mother frowned as she looked over toward the 
door, and then turned to Shampoo with a reassuring smile.  "Don't worry 
about it.  If he's there, I'll help you get rid of him."

	The two got up, stopping briefly to talk with one of the healers 
before they opened the door and stepped out into the harsh sunlight of 
midday.  Shampoo looked quickly around and sighed in relief.  "Yes!"  
She smiled contentedly.  "For once, Mousse has left me alone!"

	Hidden behind one of the buildings across the street, a young boy 
watched and heard.  He had been smiling, but the smile faded.  As the 
two Amazons walked toward his hiding place, he pushed his glasses up 
the bridge of his nose, turned, and silently walked away.

            ------------------------------------------------

	As the door creaked open, Lilac looked up from the book she was 
reading.  She smiled, and greeted the boy steeping through the door.  
"Hello, Mousse."

	Mousse turned to face her and bowed.  "Hello, great-grandmother."

	She closed the book, and clasped her hands in front of her, 
watching him.  "What brings you here at this time of day?  I thought 
you were supposed to be working in the fields."

	He shook his head.  "It was my day off, great-grandmother.  
Anyway, Shampoo has recovered and I wanted to be there to greet her 
when she left the healers' hut."

	"That was very kind of you."  Lilac smiled.  "How did it go?"

	Mousse looked down at the floor.  "It didn't."

	"What do you mean, great grandson?"

	"I saw her coming out of the healers' hut, but she didn't see 
me.  When she looked around and saw I wasn't in sight, she almost 
jumped for joy."

	"I see."  Lilac nodded solemnly.  "Is this why you came here?"

	Mousse nodded.  "Yes.  Frankly, great-grandmother, I was hoping 
for advice."  He looked at her hopefully.  "I love Shampoo, but I don't 
know the first thing about how to win her heart."

	Lilac looked at the boy sternly.  "I've told you before, it's not 
winning her heart that's important.  It's defeating her in combat that 
really matters.  That's the goal we've been working toward."  She 
sighed.  "Have you forgotten everything I've done for you?  How I've 
taught you the Hidden Weapons techniques, even though you're far too 
young to learn them?"  She frowned.  "Do you know that my doing that 
could get me kicked off the Council?"  Her eyes narrowed as she 
glowered at him.  "I don't like it when you act ungrateful towards me, 
boy."

	Mousse looked shocked, and bowed quickly.  "Forgive me, 
great-grandmother, I meant no disrespect!"  He hesitated.  "It's just 
that I care about Shampoo, and while I understand that it ultimately 
comes down to defeating her in combat, I wish to also win her heart."  
Unseen to Lilac, behind his thick glasses he blinked back tears that 
threatened to spill down his face.

	"I'm afraid I don't have much advice for you, great-grandson.  My 
own husband never loved me, and I never loved him.  It was a marriage 
purely for the sake of power.  Believe me when I say that love is a 
very minor aspect of Joketsuzoko marriages."  She looked at him, and 
sighed tiredly.  It was the sigh of someone who had grown weary of 
life, and whose idealism had been lost long ago, driven away by the 
burden of long years of experience.

	She stood up, and her expression hardened again.  "I'm afraid 
that winning Shampoo's heart is something you'll have to figure out on 
your own, boy.  As a matriarch, it's not something I can afford to 
waste my time on."

	Mousse sighed.  "I understand, great-grandmother."

	"Good."  Lilac nodded and sat back down, opening her book, 
indicating to Mousse that the conversation was over.  The boy turned to 
leave.

	"Oh, and Mousse?"

	The boy looked back hopefully.  "Yes, great-grandmother?"

	"Don't forget to keep practicing those techniques I taught you.  
It wouldn't do to let Shampoo get so far ahead of you in fighting skill 
that you could never defeat her."

	The boy failed to hide the disappointment in his voice. "Yes, 
great-grandmother."  He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

	Lilac glared angrily at the closed door for a few seconds before 
returning her full concentration to the tasks at hand.

            ------------------------------------------------

	He turned toward her, fear in his eyes.

	She leapt forward, swinging her weapon at his skull.

	He clasped his hands in front of him and begged her to stop.  
Tears shimmered at the bottom of his eyes, and he fell to his knees.  
When he looked back up, tears were running down his face.

	"Please," he cried, his voice cracking, "don't kill me."

	She stared back down at him with cold, unfeeling eyes, and her 
weapon did not stop.

	"Why?" he cried.  "Why do you do this?"

	She scoffed at him.  "How stupid.  I do this because it is my 
duty."

	His expression was confused, and his tears stopped.  "You kill 
people, just because you are told to?"

	The weapon did not stop.

	He looked at her sadly.  "So you have decided I should die."  His 
expression suddenly turned angry.  "What gives you the right to judge 
whether or not I should live?  Who made you the decider?"

	"But..."  Uncertainty flashed in her eyes.  "I have to kill you.  
It's a part of who I am.  I'm an Amazon, and therefore I have to kill 
you."

	As her answer sunk into him, his eyes again filled with fear.  
"But I don't want to die.  Please don't kill me."  He reached out to 
her pleadingly.  "Please!  I don't want to leave my family!  I don't 
want to leave my friends!"  He reached out his arms, pleading with 
her.  "I have too much to live for!"

	She smiled sadly.  "I'm sorry."

	The weapon crashed into the side of his skull.  His face 
collapsed inward with a hideous crunch, and she watched as fragments of 
bone and blood flew outward from the impact in agonizing slow motion.  
The weapon reached his eye, and as the pressure increased, the eye 
became hideously misshapen.  It burst, and joined the shower of red 
that flew from the impact.  Just as his mouth was forever distorted and 
torn, she heard him say, faintly, "I don't want to die..."

	      ------------------------------------------------

	With a gasp, Shampoo jolted upright in her bed.  Her breath was 
coming in deep ragged gasps, and as she reached up to clear her hair 
away from her face she realized that it was soaked with sweat.  Looking 
over to where her mother lay, she noted with relief that she was still 
sleeping soundly.

	Her breath was coming back under control, but she was still 
sweating, and the air inside felt stifling.  Quietly, she got off her 
sleeping mat and stood up.  She reached down, picking up the clothes 
laying on the floor, and quickly got dressed.  She walked to the door 
and opened it slowly, careful not to make any noise.  She walked 
silently through the room and outside into the brisk, cool night air.

	She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, savoring its 
refreshing smell, and opened her eyes again and looked around.  The 
night was dark, except for the dim light from the watchfires lit around 
the edge of the village.  Sighing heavily, she sat down by the door and 
for several minutes stared up at the stars as she let her thoughts 
whirl unchecked through her mind.

	Why am I having such a hard time with this?  Killing your enemies 
is something all warriors have to do.  It scares me that this is 
affecting me as much as it is.  I had to kill him.  He was about to 
kill Ranma, a fellow Amazon.  I had no choice.

	He was only a kid, barely older than you.  He didn't deserve to 
die.

	But he had to die.  He was my enemy.

	The thought kept coming back to her.  I had no choice.  I had no 
choice.  I had no choice.

	But, she thought, if I had no choice, then why am I having such a 
hard time dealing with it?

	That set off even more uncomfortable thoughts.  Am I a coward?  
There is no place in the village for a coward.  Is that why I can't 
deal with it?

	She twirled a strand of light purple hair between her fingers, 
and sighed.  Maybe I should talk to someone.  But what if I'm right?  
What if I'm not fit to be a warrior?

	That thought frightened her more that anything else.  What would 
her mother say?  What if she disowned her?

	She briefly considered telling Cologne about it.  But Cologne was 
more likely to scorn her, or even ridicule her.  She thought about 
telling Pepper, but she probably wouldn't be very sympathetic, either.

	Two days ago, she thought bitterly, this would not have been a 
problem.  On previous occasions, she had shared everything with her 
mother, and had always someone to talk to who would take her problems 
seriously and never scorn her.  Now, though, she had seen her mother in 
battle.  She had seen her charge the enemy fearlessly, and slaughter 
Musk warriors without so much as a single backward glance.

	Her image of her mother was changed forever now.  The kind, 
sympathetic loving person she had always pictured her mother as was 
still there, but she now saw her as having two sides.  She was her 
mother, but she was also a warrior.  And the warrior side frightened 
her.  She was much more afraid to go up and talk to her mother, for 
fear that the warrior would surface again, and mock or scorn her.

	Anyway, she had already lied to her mother.  After coming home, 
she had asked her about what happened to her during the battle.  She 
had fudged her response, not knowing what to say, and said that yes, 
she had attacked a Musk, but failed to injure him and had then 
collapsed.  It was a lie that had her reeling in a world of pain, but 
the images her imagination conjured up of what would happen if she told 
the truth were enough to make her shudder with fear.

	So who did that leave?  She certainly wasn't willing to talk to 
any of her classmates.  In less time than it took to swing a bonbori, 
she would be the laughingstock of the entire class.  An Amazon warrior 
who was reluctant to kill?  Who ever heard of such a thing?

	That left Ranma, who was, she thought, quite possibly the worst 
person in the village to talk to about it.  He had already proven he 
could kill easily, and he would have no qualms about mocking her for 
her nervousness.

	To put her problem quite bluntly, she didn't know anybody who she 
could be sure would understand.  Yet, she was afraid if she didn't talk 
to somebody then her fear of killing would grow worse, to the point 
where she could no longer be a warrior at all.

	What then?  She shuddered to think of the possibilities.  At 
best, her mother would disown her.  At worst.. refusing to even think 
it, she got up angrily. Brushing the dirt off her robe, she started 
walking, not particularly caring where she walked.

	Houses passed by, and occasionally an Amazon heading out to or 
coming in from patrol passed her.  They gave her strange looks, but she 
ignored them.  The rest of the world seemed as a ghost.  The shapes and 
people in it were far away, leaving her alone and miserable in her 
isolated empty world.

	For the first time in her life, she had no one to talk to.  She 
had no one to turn to.  And faced with a crisis that she must deal with 
on her own, she found herself falling apart.

	Her feet led her to a grassy hill, empty of houses, and lying 
near the center of town.  She climbed the hill, and sat down on the 
side facing away from the mountains and into the valley.  The dark mass 
of forest lay in the distance, dotted by the watchfires of the 
patrols.  She turned her gaze upward, to where thousands of stars 
twinkled overhead.

	She idly traced the faint splash of the Milky Way as it wove its 
way through the star-lit sky.  What was she going to do about her 
problem?  How could she be an Amazon warrior if she didn't want to kill?

	She laid down on her back, and traced out patterns among the 
stars.  The breeze died, and a feeling of immense comfort flowed 
through her.  She curled into a ball, and noticed the soft feel of the 
grass under her head.  She sighed contentedly, and within seconds she 
was fast asleep.

            ------------------------------------------------

	"Hey!"

	She awoke slowly, yawning as she regained consciousness.  She 
rolled over onto her back and rubbed her eyes, and opened them.

	"Crap!"  She hadn't meant to fall asleep.  She sat up 
immediately, and looked around.  The sky was light, and rays of 
sunlight were beginning to peek out over the mountains far in the 
distance.   She yawned again, and looked up at the person who woke her 
up.  She swore silently, and slowly rose to her feet.  Of all the 
people who she didn't want to see...

	Ranma eyed her silently as she straightened up and stared him in 
the face.  She glared at him.  "What are you doing here?"

	"I should be asking you the same thing.  After all," his cold 
expression broke into the slightest hint of a mocking smile, "it wasn't 
me who fell asleep halfway across the village."

	She tossed her head back angrily.  "It's none of your business 
anyway.  Besides," she looked at him with a mix of anger and curiosity, 
"aren't you still supposed to be recovering in the Healers' hut?  What 
are you doing out here?"

	Ranma unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and pulled his 
collar down, exposing the bandages that had been wrapped around his 
injured shoulder and chest.  "Yes."  He shrugged.  "I'm supposed to 
stay in bed for another day.  But they didn't believe me when I told 
them I heal fast."  He swung his arm around.  "I've almost got full 
range of motion back, and it's only been two days.  There was no way 
they were keeping me in there for another day."

	She laughed, but quickly remembered she was still supposed to be 
angry and stopped, fixing him with a glare instead.  "Anyway, I'd 
better be off now."  She got up and walked past him, heading down the 
hill and back to her home.

	"Was killing someone really that hard for you?"

	She stopped in her tracks, one foot off the ground.  Her mouth 
opened in shock, and one thought ran through her mind over and over: he 
knows.  He knows what happened at the battle.  He knows I'm a coward, 
he'll tell everyone, and I'll live in disgrace for the rest of my life.
Oh, God, he knows.

	She closed her mouth slowly, and clenched her fists.  Slowly, she 
brought her thoughts under control and turned to face him resolutely.  
Her entire future depended on how she handled this situation.

	"What the hell makes you think that?" she asked angrily.  "How 
dare you question my courage?"

	Ranma buttoned his shirt again and eyed her coldly.  "I was at 
the battle, too.  I saw how you reacted."  He smirked.  "You collapsed 
after you killed that warrior.  And you call yourself an Amazon."

	She felt her temper rise.  "I'm certainly more of an Amazon than 
you are, you sex-changing freak."

	Ranma cracked his knuckles.  "Care to prove that little 
statement?  You don't think I gave you enough of a beating last time?"

	She snarled at him.  "I've improved since then, I'll have you 
know.  Besides," she pointed to his arm suddenly, "you shouldn't be 
fighting, anyway."

	Ranma shrugged.  "Consider it an advantage.  Maybe it'll even the 
fight a little.  It would be nice to have more of a challenge this 
time, anyway."

	"Fine."  She walked back up the hill so they were on the same 
level, and stood facing about three meters away from him.  She got into 
an attacking stance, and Ranma slid into a loose defensive stance.

	"YAAAAA!!!!"  She charged at him, and for a moment he seemed 
taken aback by her speed.  Still, he easily evaded her first attack.  
He counterattacked, and she barely managed to block it.  They squared 
off again, facing each other.

	She moved forward and attacked again, and Ranma blocked her 
punch, counterattacking so quickly that she was forced to spin away, 
landing on the ground.  She rolled back onto her feet just in time to 
counter another attack from Ranma, and for a few minutes this 
continued, neither getting in any solid hits.  Ranma seemed to have the 
advantage, though, until he blocked an attack, which Shampoo followed 
up with a roundhouse kick that struck him in his good arm.

	I hit him! she thought excitedly.  She was so pleased she had 
finally gotten a hit through that she didn't notice him rushing forward 
until it was too late.  He landed a firm sidekick in her gut, which 
sent her flying backwards down the hill.

	She landed on the grass with a hard thud and coughed.  That kick 
had knocked the wind out of her.  Ranma rubbed his arm and walked over, 
standing next to her and looking down.

	"You have gotten better, after all."  He nodded in approval.  
"Next time, I won't hold back so much."

	She just glared at him.  As soon as she had recovered her breath 
to the point where she could speak, she muttered, "jerk."

	"That last hit was entirely your fault."  Ranma returned the 
glare.  "You were so happy you got in a hit that you let your guard 
down."  He turned to leave.  "See you in class tomorrow."

	"You bastard!!" she yelled.  He stopped, and turned to look at 
her.  His expression was unreadable.  "You could at least be grateful!  
Yes, I killed someone in the battle, and if you must know, yes, I'm 
having a hard time dealing with it, but it was to save your life!"  His 
expression did not soften, and she felt tears well up in her eyes.  She 
blinked them back furiously, determined not to give him the 
satisfaction of seeing her cry.  "I should have let the Musk kill 
you."  She closed her eyes and lay back against the grass, waiting for 
him to leave.

	When everything was quiet again, she opened her eyes and gasped 
in surprise.  Ranma was standing over her, watching her coolly.  She 
rolled her head to one side, and sighed in exasperation.  "What now?"

	Ranma didn't move.  "What were you expecting, a 'gee, thank you, 
Shampoo, for joining the battle and putting yourself in horrible danger 
to try and save me?'  Or perhaps flowers?  Maybe a pretty necklace?"

	Shampoo looked back up at him angrily.  "A 'thank you' would have 
been plenty.  Anything to convey to me that maybe you possibly feel 
just the tiniest bit of gratitude for what I did."

	Ranma sighed.  "Fine, you saved my life.  So now I'm still 
living, and soon we'll both be killing again."  His expression was 
neutral, but his voice was overflowing with sarcasm.  "Would you like 
me to bake a cake in honor of this momentous occasion?"

	She narrowed her eyes.  "I was hoping for a little more than 
that.  I saved your life, damn it."

	"Fine."  Ranma glared at her.  "Since it's apparent you won't 
stop moping around until I say it, thank you for saving my life.  
Happy?"

	"No."  At the moment an outside observer might well have seen 
visible sparks flying between the two, they were glaring at each other 
so hard.

	Ranma sighed as though he were teaching a toddler.  "When you 
were fighting just a moment ago, how did you feel?"

	"Huh?"  Shampoo was confused at the apparent change of subject.  
"What does that have to do with anything?"

	"Just answer the question.  How did you feel?"

	Shampoo shrugged.  "Fine, I guess.  What does that have to do 
with anything?" she snapped angrily.

	"You weren't worried about anything?  Your fighting skills 
weren't hurt by any 'moral dilemmas' or anything?"

	She saw what he was getting at.  "No, they weren't."

	Ranma nodded, and reached his hand down to help her up.  "Get up 
and keep training.  You don't have to worry about going into battle for 
a few years anyway."  Disappointment flickered across his expression at 
that last statement, but it quickly disappeared.  "So why worry about 
it now?  Besides, if you train as hard as you should, you won't have 
time to worry about it anyway."

	She sighed.  "You're right.  I should stop worrying about it.  
Maybe if I keep training, I can put this all behind me."

	She looked at the hand Ranma was offering her.  She reached up to 
take it, and then smiled.  She grabbed his hand, and as she pulled 
herself to her feet she swung her leg around, tripping him and sending 
him to the ground.

	"That was for the kick you landed earlier."  She smirked as she 
brushed clumps of dirt off the back of her robe.

	Ranma looked at her, then rolled once and used the momentum to 
twist and regain his footing.  He assumed a loose fighting stance, and 
returned her smirk.  "Is that a challenge?"

	"You'd better believe it."  She matched his stance.

	They slowly circled each other.  "Are you sure you're ready to 
take another beating?"

	"If you think you can manage it."  She smiled, and shrugged.  
"How else am I going to get better?"

	Ranma's response was an attack.  Shampoo moved to counter, but 
wasn't quite quick enough.  Grunting from the force of the blow, she 
retaliated.  Soon the two were lost in their sparring match.  For a 
long time, they showed no sign of stopping.  They didn't stop until 
Ruby finally found them, punching and kicking long after the Sun's disk 
had shown itself over the far mountains, casting long shadows over the 
world and heralding the start of the new day.