Chapter Text
Ukyo was suffering. She had thought that she had foreseen most of the problems of being in a relationship involving three girls, but fate had apparently decided to shove a new problem right in her face, first thing.
Shopping. She had never liked it. When she had seen groups of girls going gaga over shopping for new clothes, cosmetics, or what have you, she had always put it down as a tick firmly in the column of ‘glad I got out of that’. Since coming to Nerima, she had found that some of the things in that column weren’t so bad. Not having to put up a hyper-masculine façade was definitely a plus. Her regular masculine façade (if the term was applicable) was much more comfortable. But… Shopping was not one of them. It was boring, it was a pain, and she could never stop thinking about how everything she bought was an expense taken from her limited funds.
Unfortunately, Ranma was turning out to be very different. She had shopped before, but never voluntarily as a social activity. Apparently, she had done it a few times as ‘Ranko’ with her mother, but the experience had been spoiled by the secrets she had been keeping. Now, egged on by Akane, and allowed to fully indulge herself… well, her ego was running wild. It wasn’t like Ukyo didn’t like seeing Ranma in new clothes. She always liked looking at Ranma. But… well there was only so much variety she could take in a day before all the styles started to blend together.
Currently, Ranma was sitting in a changing room, humming happily to herself, as Akane flitted about the shop, gathering outfits with a practiced eye while Ukyo… did nothing. She wasn’t in need of any new clothes, and she was terrible at coordinating outfits, so she was relegated to the role of judge. And, channelling an instinct innate to boyfriends everywhere, she knew that whatever the outfit ended up looking like, her judgment was going to be a smile, nod, and thumbs up, before Ranma vanished back into the changing room to ready the next one. Until then, she lounged around on a small sofa apparently placed for this exact purpose, and did absolutely nothing as her girlfriends gushed to each other. She was in boyfriend hell.
Absentmindedly, she reached down her hand and stroked Shampoo’s hair. It was easy enough to do, considering how she was spread out over the couch, head pillowed on Ukyo’s leg, apparently napping and dead to the world. She didn’t open her eyes, but a sub-audible rumbling gave the promise of a purr if she continued.
Yep. Utter hell.
After what felt like far too long, they left the shop having purchased what felt to Ukyo like an appreciable portion of the stock. Ranma now had a selection of casual female clothing, including a selection of undergarments that actually fit her, and most importantly weren’t the diaphanous lingerie which apparently made up Ranma’s entire prior female underwear collection. Now, she was kitted out with a selection of much more practical panties and bras, of both standard and sports variety- when Ranma had first put on the sports bra, she had looked like she was about to cry from relief. She had turned a backwards somersault just to try it out, and looked so excited that Ukyo couldn’t resist sweeping her up in a hug in the middle of the store, rapidly joined by Akane. Then, Shampoo had looked left out, so Akane had pulled her into the hug as well…
She had received quite a few envious looks as they paid and left. She expected it had something to do with having two incredibly beautiful girls hanging off either elbow, one of which had an equally hot girl trailing off her staring like a lovesick puppy. She might have played up the ‘lucky boyfriend’ angle just a tad more than was necessary, but it was worth it. They had just had their first outing as a… what was the word? Couple obviously didn’t fit, and quad wasn’t exactly true… trio plus one? Eh, she’d look it up later… anyway, they’d just had their first outing as a team, and, boredom aside, it had been amazing day. Just, spending time… no constant awareness that they were just biding time until they had to fight again, just… peace.
She had even offered to carry their purchases, like a good boyfriend. They had proceeded to load her down with enough gear to drive a normal boyfriend to his knees, but as a martial artist, she shouldered the burden easily, and proceeded to stroll towards the Tendo home, chatting and laughing.
“You know, I really want to learn how to shoot chi blasts.”
Akane threw the comment out casually, and it probably said a lot about Nerima that nobody gave her an odd glance. Akane continued,
“It just looks so cool, you know?”
Ukyo had to agree. She never felt a particular need to learn, being perfectly happy with her Okonomiyaki style martial art’s tool use, but the Shonen fan within her, which she tried to pretend didn’t exist, couldn’t help but be awed whenever Ranma or Ryoga tossed out a ball of energy like it was nothing. Ranma responded.
“It really ain’t that hard, if you’ve trained your chi. You’ve just gotta find the right kinda emotion, let it fill you, then… let it out.”
Akane stared flatly at Ranma.
“Ranma, I appreciate you’re trying, but that’s no help at all.”
Ranma shrugged.
“Well, that’s how I did it.”
Shampoo leaned over. She hadn’t let go of Akane’s arm since they had left the shop.
“Take it from Shampoo, energy blasts not worth it. Unless you have inhuman chi flow, like dragon or phoenix, all you get is blow less powerful than if you expend same amount of energy in regular punch, just further away from you.”
Akane blinked in surprise at her girlfriend.
“Really? It always seemed so powerful when Ranma or Ryoga used it.”
Shampoo shrugged.
“Pig boy and Ranma have lot of chi. Some special attacks can be more powerful, like perfect Shi Shi Hokodan, but… they have own drawbacks. Take it from Shampoo. Just learn to throw rock good, and you get just as good range attack.”
“Yeah, but it looks so boring.”
Akane pouted, then broke into a grin as the others laughed. After a moment, Ranma spoke again.
“Actually, me and pops once met a guy who could stretch out his arm to hit far away.”
Ukyo gawped.
“Really?”
Ranma nodded.
“Yeah, he was some kind of monk from Tibet, I think. He could dislocate every bone in his arm and stretch his muscles, or something like that. It was downright freaky to see, I’ll tell you that much.”
The four of them paused as they mulled over what it must look like. Akane spoke first.
“You never tried to learn it?”
“Nah. Looked way to hard. Pops did, though.”
“Really?”
Ukyo couldn’t help but be surprised. She knew that Genma was supposedly an amazing martial artist, but he never seemed to bother with special techniques like that. Ranma smirked.
“Yeah, well, he only ever did it twice, right after we met the guy.”
Ukyo couldn’t help asking the question.
“Why only twice?”
Ranma gave a savage grin.
“Well, turns out that dislocating your arm’s really easy. The trick is putting the bones back afterwards. Also dulling the pain. That’s important too.”
Ukyo didn’t know whether to wince or laugh. After a moment in which she reviewed everything she knew about Genma, she settled firmly on laughing.
“Why did he try it twice?”
Akane looked like she was about to break down as well, but her curiosity drove her to ask anyway. Ranma answered.
“Well, first he tried it with his right arm. Then, after I’d gotten him a doctor and he’d stopped screaming, the first thing he said was ‘I know what I did wrong!’. He didn’t.”
This time, they all laughed.
And then they were at the Tendo home. Akane looked around a moment.
“Wow, that was fast… do you guys want to come in?”
Ukyo was very tempted, but…
“Sorry. I gotta get back to Ucchan’s before the dinner rush.”
“Shampoo need to get back as well.”
Akane looked disappointed. Ranma put her arm around her comfortingly, then smiled at the other two.
“Well, I guess we’ll see you at school, Ucchan. And Shampoo, do you want to meet us for lunch again?”
There was a moment in which Shampoo clearly had a vivid memory of the last meal they had shared, and she blushed. She also nodded vigorously. Akane smiled again.
“I’ll have to ask Kasumi to pack more. After all, if I’m going to be sharing with two people…”
Ranma suddenly looked very innocent. She had perfected that look over many long years, so it was something of a shame she used it on three people who weren’t fooled by it in the slightest. Akane giggled, then leaned forward to Shampoo.
“Goodbye, Sham-chan.”
She opened her arms, and Shampoo positively leaped into them as she gave and received a passionate goodbye kiss. While they were busy, Ranma looked at Ukyo with a shy expression. Ukyo rolled her eyes, and pulled Ranma towards her. She squeaked, then was too busy to make any other noise as Ukyo’s mouth captured hers.
The kisses went on for about twenty seconds, then they broke off so that Akane could kiss Ukyo goodbye as well. Then, waving, Shampoo and Ukyo departed. There was a bit of a walk before they had to split off for their respective restaurants, so they walked together. Ukyo looked at Shampoo, who was humming slightly as she sprang from step to step, grinning madly. Ukyo chuckled.
“Man, you’ve got it bad for her, don’t you?”
Shampoo just nodded in response.
“Love Akane. Akane love Shampoo. Mousse stop chasing, be friend… Shampoo’s life better than ever.”
Ukyo smiled back.
“Yeah. I feel the same way, to tell the truth. Akane… Ranma…”
She sighed, and Shampoo nodded in agreement. They didn’t say anything for a while. Then, Ukyo spoke.
“Yanno, I gotta say, since you got with Akane you’ve been a lot more… touchy-feely.”
Shampoo paused for a moment, then shrugged.
“Just comes natural. It nice to be… safe. To know it. To feel loved. Back home, always had to be powerful warrior. Then, here, always had to be seductress, confident and wily. Now… just want to be held. Touched. Would like to do it cat-mode as well, get full experience, but… well, where Akane goes, Ranma follows.”
Ukyo nodded.
“Well… if you want to, I wouldn’t mind.”
Shampoo stopped, and turned towards Ukyo with a raised eyebrow.
“You want to stroke cat-Shampoo? To have her sit in lap and stroke?”
Ukyo stopped for a moment, thinking, then nodded.
“Yeah, actually. I’ve always liked cats, and knowing it’s you… well, it’d be icing on the cake. Not that it isn’t nice when you’re human as well, mind you.”
Shampoo smiled, then leaned forward and hugged Ukyo.
“Thank you. Ukyo is… good friend. Glad we not fighting.”
Ukyo hugged her back.
“Yeah… you to, Shampers.”
They broke apart, but Shampoo didn’t let go of Ukyo’s hand. Ukyo glanced down at it in surprise, then back up at Shampoo.
“Shampoo…”
“Hm?”
Ukyo opened her mouth to speak. To ask what it meant, why she was holding hands, does this mean that she wanted to be dating her as well… then she shut her mouth again. Why bother putting a label on their relationship right now? Shampoo liked holding hands, and probably kissing her as well, based on how she had reacted earlier, and Ukyo liked doing it as well. If the people they were dating were cool with it, why should they have to make a big deal about if they were together or not? Who were they trying to prove themselves too?
Instead, she just squeezed a little, and felt warm when she saw Shampoo give a little smile. Yeah, whatever you called their odd arrangement, Ukyo was glad they were doing it together.