(Music Fades In)

(Opening Credits Fade In)

"The Lament"

Opening Theme to
With Wings to Carry Them

When she looks into the sky,
She sees the dreams of things undone,
When she looks into my eyes,
I can see what has just begun.

To travel under distant sun,
To lands far and near,
I would travel them all for you,
All just to have you here.

I see the sunset one more time,
Going down over one more town,
I am alone as I think of you,
And I shed a tear as the sun goes down.

I only wish for this journey to end,
That I may go home,
To see my love just once again,
And to never again be alone,
I only wish for this journey to end,
That we would be home,
So I can see my love once again,
And know that I am not alone.

(Instrumental Section)

I only wish for this journey to end,
That I may go home,
To see my love just once again,
And to never again be alone,
I only wish for this journey to end,
That we would be home,
So I can see my love just once again,
And know that I am not alone.

(Fade)

(Title fades in)

The purse closed. She picked up her compact, and opened it carefully. She didn’t want to get make-up all over her nice suit, now did she. Richard Harper looked her over. She was hot. Redheaded, buxom, "healthy beauty" came to mind for some odd reason. Her name was Narma Ikeda. Twenty-three and definitely a good-looking chick. Richard could just watch her wiggle all day long.

He was a pig and he loved it that way.

She sat at her table alone and opened the paper. She hadn’t been her normal friendly self as of late. At least, not with him. It was possible that it had something to do with her accident. Apparently she fell from her roof while doing some minor repairs. She landed in a small tree, but hit her head when she landed. It would have been the most logical explanation for her sudden change in attitude.

"Hey there stranger," He said, cordially inviting himself to sit with her, "How’s the...um...?"

He pointed to his head.

She smiled at him, "Much better, thanks."

"Excellent," He said, almost licking his chops, "Say, if you’re feeling better this weekend, what say you and I head on up to the mountains for a little get away."

Narma set her paper down.

"Just the two of us?"

He nodded.

"Alone?"

Again with the nod.

"What was that old saying?" She asked herself, putting a hand to her head, "When Hell freezes over?"

He chuckled slightly at the joke.

"Hey, its feeling chilly enough right here...okay, but you don’t know what you’re missing..." He said, brushing an idle hand across her arm.

Her eyes narrowed, she grabbed his index finger and pulled it back until the look on his face told her to stop. She got up, not willing to relinquish the digit, and put her face close to his.

"I remember the Christmas Party a little better than you, Richard, and yes. I DO know what I’m missing, and it isn’t much."

She let go of his finger and walked away.

Richard held his finger and watched that rear go all the way out of the cafeteria. Man, could she move...

Narma walked back to her desk and threw the paper in the trash. It was about as useful as that fool Harper. He was a prick. Worse yet, he didn’t seem to care that everyone knew. Narma shook her head to clear it and pulled her keyboard over. Stats, figures, numbers, things of a kind of solidity that couldn’t be touched by the human hand. There was a kind of purity in that.

She soon found that the trouble didn’t go away with a break. She was having trouble concentrating on all but the simplest of functions. At this rate, she’d be out of a job by the end of the week. This was bad. Maybe it was burnout. It all began with that damned accident, ever since then, she’s been having trouble concentrating. The doctor’s said there wasn’t any brain damage, but at times like these, Narma didn’t know. Not on all things, just on things that required more than a sixth grade level of comprehension, at least mathematically. She didn’t seem to have any trouble with her memory, or of her mathematical abilities. The level of concentration necessary just wasn’t there.

And then there was the way she changed physically. Her breasts had enlarged a bit. Not enough to cause any undue concern, she had always been rather large, but they were just slightly better rounded, though how that was done was beyond her. Just large enough for her to notice that her bra was just a shade too small. She seemed to be gaining muscle mass too. Her trainer, Douglas, had said something about it last week. Then there was her hair. It had gone from a light, almost blondish auburn, to a shocking and deep red. It almost looked like she dyed her hair, but her eyebrows and...other hairs changed as well, and this freaked her out to no end. With all these admittedly feminine things going on, she felt more in control and, for lack of a better word, masculine, than she had in her whole life.

She always felt pretty good about any situation and could now generally see the goodness or advantage in every situation. Even with that prick Harper. She never used to be like this. At least, she never thought she was. She felt happy more often too.

She shook her head again. She had a ton of vacation time coming to her. Maybe time off would clear up this little mess. But why did that feel like running away to her?

The day wore on and Narma struggled through the best she could. What she couldn’t remember, she wrote down for further research later.

At the end of the day, Narma let herself breathe a sigh of relief. The weekend had come at last. A reprieve from her suffering that had no clear end in sight. She said goodbye to her comrades and walked to the lot. The lot itself was separated from the building by a small green. Official word was that it improved employee morale. Narma knew better. The green was there to keep the building from losing property value. Simple economics.

Narma felt a little more in control of her faculties by then. She shrugged off the sense of foreboding that she seemed to be feeling towards her car. Maybe it was the parking lot, she couldn’t tell.

Narma walked to her car. It was getting darker with the setting of the sun. Still warm though, that’s was she always loved about California.

It was warm all the time. Somehow though, Narma knew she was being followed, but she couldn’t read their intentions. They hadn’t attacked her, which they had plenty of time to do earlier. One attacker, or should she call them stalkers, was female, the other was male. That much was apparent.

Almost like they were watching her, always just one step behind her.

"Excuse me miss? Do you know where the nearest policeman is?" A male voice said from across the cars to Narma, "I seemed to have locked my keys in my car."

Narma jumped. She hadn’t seen him standing there. A young man, maybe not twenty yet. Long black hair, he seemed oriental. His eyes were huge and beautiful, quite handsome actually. His thick glasses were perched on top of his head. Narma wondered if that was the reason he was looking past her. Narma looked in his car and saw the key in the ignition.

"No, I’m sorry. I don’t know of any police around here," Narma said to him, "There’s a phone over there-"

"No police-good!" A female voice said from behind Narma on the roof of her car, "Then no one hear you scream."

Narma turned in time to see a beautiful purple-haired girl raise a ball on a stick and smack her upside the head with it. Narma quickly lost consciousness.

Mousse rubbed the bridge of his nose and put the glasses back down on his face.

"You didn’t have to hit her Shampoo," He said, as Shampoo hopped from the roof of the woman’s car.

"You’re the idiot that locked our keys in the car," She told him in Chinese, "We wouldn’t have to force the issue if it weren’t for that."

Shampoo put her bonbori away and brushed herself off. She knelt to the girl named Narma. Shampoo thought she looked very much like a cross between Ranma’s girl and boy-type. She turned back to Mousse and was about to say something when she noticed his vacant stare and drooling mouth.

"You’re drooling again," She said to him.

"Uh-Sorry Shampoo," He said, shaking his head and wiping his mouth.

He came around the car and began to tie up Narma. Shampoo had to giggle a bit. Ever since he had defeated her that day in the Tendo house, he’s grown into a man who she now respected...and very much loved. But please, don’t every let that get back to great-grandmother. She had the proverbial cow when Mousse actually faced her. She may have written the law, but she couldn’t break it. Shampoo smiled again. He not only won against Shampoo, he had outsmarted Cologne. Mousse still showed that vacant-headed look every now and again though.

Shampoo thought on this for a moment. Why exactly was she doing this then, if she had a husband? Because Ranma would have done no less. She knew that her Ranma-she caught herself. Ranma wasn’t hers anymore. She remembered. A little over a month after the incident with the demon, Akane and her family suddenly decided to marry Ranma to Akane. A fat priest carrying a little wooden box did the ceremony. He thought it was odd to marry the living with the dead. Shampoo thought he was weird. Ranma wasn’t dead. Shampoo knew he wasn’t.

She and Mousse had come to America to find any pieces of Ranma’s soul that might be there. Nabiki had given them a list of names and addresses that might be leads. People who had near-death, head injuries all about the same time that Ranma was...killed. The candidates also all experienced major changes in personality or features, such as hair or skin color.

There were nine people in America that fit this description. Quite surprising since there were only supposed to be six people total.

She and Mousse had already checked out five people on the list. Narma was number six, and Shampoo was getting discouraged. Narma was the first one to LOOK like Ranma though. Perhaps that was the key. The looks. Certainly not the personality. They had been following her for a week and she was a polite and courteous person. Ranma could be that way, but only very rarely.

They pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the main highway out of California.

"Who are the other people left on the list Shampoo?" Mousse asked, merging with traffic.

It took him a while to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Narma had been tied in the back seat and should have been out for a while. Shampoo brought out Nabiki’s list and flipped a couple of pages.

"They’re all east," She began in Chinese, "The one closest is in... ‘Ohaiyo’?"

Shampoo giggled at this.

"What a stupid name for a prefecture," She said.

"A state, my dearest Shampoo, not a prefecture," Mousse corrected her.

"Whatever," She said, getting cross, "The other two are in New York."

"Hmm. East coast huh? Well-" He said, "Next stop is Ohaiyo, I guess. We’ll stop in a few hours and explain this whole thing to Narma. Then we’ll be off."

Shampoo giggled again. Mousse couldn’t help giggling himself. It was a silly name.

Narma awoke slowly. Her head felt like it was trying to tear itself apart. Narma opened her eyes, which added more pain to her day. This day just wasn’t going the way it should. Now she’d been kidnapped...by? By who? She looked to her right. There was a young man tending to the knot she felt on her head. A man?

Her eyes jerked open and she scurried to the other side of the bed, quite nearly throwing herself off. Narma quickly checked, yes, all her clothes were still on.

"Please don’t try to run. You can’t," He said in careful English.

This was crazy. What would a group of Oriental people want with-?

White slavers? Omigod!

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" She began to babble, "I’m nobody important."

The young man raised his hands to her and shook his head. She calmed some. The door to the bathroom opened behind him and out stepped the girl. The one that had whacked Narma upside her head with that thingy. She had just taken a shower, the beige towel wrapped neatly around her. It made Narma very sick to see that kind of body on someone like her. And purple hair? She didn’t understand it when she first saw it, she didn’t understand it any better now. The girl saw that Narma was awake and said something to the boy in Chinese. Mandarin if memory served. Cantonese had been her college language, but she knew enough Mandarin to know that she wasn’t too complimentary towards him. He winced, but stood firm on some issue. Perhaps they were in disagreement about her future. The boy did seem nice at least.

"Please-let me go," Narma said to them.

They both looked at her as if she’d suddenly sprouted wings and began to prance about granting wishes.

"Oh no," The girl said, pointing her finger at Narma, "You no go until give Ranma back."

"Ran-Ranma?" Narma asked, puzzled, "What’s that? Look, I’d like to help, but I REALLY have no idea."

"You give Ranma back!" The girl yelled.

She held up her right hand and Narma saw the ring. The jewel in the crown of the ring shown briefly and sharply. A pain shot through Narma’s left hand. In the ring finger. A searing pain built and shone brightly like a beacon in her head. It was coming from the ring and Narma knew there was no way to stop it. She began to lose consciousness when she heard him shout.

"Shampoo, that’s enough!"

Narma’s head cleared and it returned to the dull roar that it had been. The girl named Shampoo looked pissed. The young man turned back to her.

"Okay...look, here’s the short version. A friend of ours, named Ranma Saotome, was fighting a demon when his soul was split and sent across the earth."

Narma stared at him stupidly

"And you’re saying that I have a part of his SOUL?"

"I know it’s hard for you to believe, but you’ll have to trust us. Once all the pieces are reunited, you can all go home. You don’t have a choice in this, but it’d make things a whole lot easier if you cooperated."

"And what if I don’t?"

He looked back at Shampoo. He hated times like this. She could be so stubborn. He turned back to Narma.

"Then we end up dragging you all over America and probably back to Japan while evading the law and everyone else. Narma, we want your cooperation because it would just be easier. Easier on you. Easier on us. Just...easier."

Narma seemed to be considering it from his point of view. In reality, she was having trouble concentrating. Behind him, Shampoo had dropped her towel and was getting ready for bed. An unexpected thing happened at this point. Watching her, Narma was getting excited. Sure, Shampoo was devastatingly beautiful, Narma would agree to that, but Narma wasn’t LIKE that. She liked GUYS!

Well...if a guy's soul is in me, then he knows just where to go, she thought.

Narma looked back to the young man.

"Well, since I don’t have a choice..."

She extended her hand to him.

He smiled and began to shake her hand when a pain shot through it. Narma yelped and they both turned to Shampoo. She was standing there with her arm outstretched, ring shining darkly in the bad lighting. Narma silently wished she could look that good in silk pjs.

"You no touch husband. You go to sleep," She said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I’m sorry about this Narma. She’s pretty protective and she doesn’t know a whole lot of American customs. My name is Mousse," He said.

Narma looked back at him. Mousse? Shampoo? What was this, a family of hair-care products? She couldn’t help but giggle at the thought. Shampoo asked something of Mousse in Chinese, he just shrugged.

"You laugh at me?" Shampoo asked dangerously.

Now, normally, Narma would have told her the truth, but she didn’t want to make enemies and she also didn’t want to be unconscious. Narma heard Shampoo growl and she flung herself at Narma. Narma reacted.

She rolled to one side and her foot connected with something as she rolled to her feet on the other side of the bed. It shocked Narma just as much to realize what she’d just done as it did to see Shampoo laying where Narma had been a split second ago. It also shocked Narma to realize that she was in a fighting stance, on her feet, while Shampoo was unconscious on the bed.

Mousse just shook his head.

"You certainly do have Saotome’s soul in you. Only he could do that to Shampoo, even if he never would. Just, relax and promise me you won’t try anything," Mousse said, picking Shampoo up and putting her back onto their bed.

"You kidnapped me. Why should I trust you?" Narma asked cautiously.

"Well, as you said, you don’t have a choice. And I AM Shampoo’s husband," He said quietly.

Narma sighed. Somehow, this whole crazy escapade seemed normal.

Must be my head, she thought

Narma and Mousse got to bed shortly thereafter and were asleep quickly. It was a rather uneventful night otherwise. The morning sharply broke into Narma’s face as she was moved and, after a quick shower, was off and running, back in her stolen car. Narma sighed, maybe now that she actually agreed to this, she could drive her own car. Perhaps she would talk to Mousse later. The morning went long and all she could get from Shampoo were sharp and cold looks, but nothing was said.

Nothing was on her little radio either. Mostly country, which none of them could stomach, or alternative, which Shampoo seemed to enjoy, but she seemed to have other things on her mind.

The day went by slowly as they headed to...where? Narma didn’t know and neither of her captors seemed willing to discuss the future. They did let her drive, as Mousse thought that perhaps they would blend in better with her behind the wheel.

About six in the evening, they arrived in a small town in the Dakota outskirts on the other side of the Black Hills. Narma couldn’t catch the name when they arrived and was really too tired to care. Narma had been with these two long enough to know that there was a great deal of history between these two kids. They were kids, but only as far as the difference in age went. She was only a few years older than they were, but it sometimes seemed like ages. She shrugged her shoulders and ignored the strange look that she got from Shampoo.

The old man at the motel was kind enough. He smiled at the beautiful foreigners and handed Narma a key. They had passed a small diner on the way to the motel. Mousse thought that it would probably be a good place to get directions. They were on their way to Ohio. Columbus specifically to meet up with the rest of the crew and another ‘piece’ named Nako Hiroyama. As far as Narma knew, Nako had actually seen Ranma, or something like that. What Mousse knew and what Shampoo could convey were both sketchy at best.

The room was pleasant enough, if not for Shampoo trying to stare a hole in Narma’s head. The time passed quickly. Narma had her shower and was preparing for bed when she noticed that Mousse hadn’t returned. Shampoo was visibly nervous.

"How long has it been?" Narma asked.

Shampoo looked as if she were going to say something, but nerves prevented her.

"About an hour. Mousse no return, Shampoo can no go on. How can Shampoo find Mousse if have to watch over girl?" Shampoo said, almost to herself.

"Girl? Look Shampoo, I know you don’t trust me, but we need to go and look for Mousse. I don’t want to be stuck out here any more than you want to be stuck out here with me," Narma tried to explain to her.

Shampoo looked around, almost expecting someone else to be there to provide the answers for her. Narma sighed. They were just kids in this country. Shampoo looked so torn and vulnerable. And the decision had to be made. Narma rifled through her few belongings and began to get dressed. Shampoo watched her, but made no attempt to stop her.

"Why you get dressed?" Shampoo asked.

"We need to find Mousse, period," Narma said, zipping her pants up, "What if I promise you that I won’t escape or even try to escape before we find Mousse. Will that allow you to trust me a little?"

Shampoo seemed to consider the proposal and wiped her eyes.

"You no try escape?" She asked.

"No."

"Then we go," Shampoo said, grabbing the key to the room.

The diner had been where Mousse had been headed and as therefore the first logical place to start looking for him.

It was a little corner place that boasted the best grits in the county on the front window. Narma didn’t doubt that. The waitress had a strange look on her face as Narma and Shampoo entered the small eatery.

"I bet yer lookin’ fer that long haired fella came in here bout an hour ago," The waitress said, tapping her pencil against her chin.

Shampoo bounded past Narma.

"You see Mousse? Where he go?" Shampoo exclaimed.

"Moose?" The waitress was thoroughly confused now, "We haven’t seen moose in these parts for ages."

"No, not moose...Mousse. Nevermind, where did he go?" Narma asked.

"Well, he got into some trouble with the Johnston boys and they dragged him off to the football field. Too bad, he was a nice kid too," The waitress said.

"Now no time for games," Shampoo exclaimed.

"Not that kind of game Shampoo. Please ma’am, where is this football field?" Narma asked.

"Just down the road at the High School," The waitress began, "You can’t miss it!"

The car sped down the road kicking up a cloud of smoke in its’ path. The building sped up on them and Shampoo found herself hanging on to the seat belt as the car whipped into the parking lot and skidded to a halt pointing to the field.

The headlights lit up the field and Shampoo raced out of the car towards the gang that had crowded around something in the field. Narma parked it quickly and tried to keep up with Shampoo. She found out that it was rather impossible as the young amazon began to toss bodies away from the person at the center of the pile. Narma joined the fray and was met by two large apes. They swung away, but Narma had remembered something about her self-defense training from college. Aim for the soft points.

It wasn’t pretty, but Narma and Shampoo were able to pull Mousse out and away. He was a mess. Shampoo looked to Narma. She knew that Shampoo could protect Mousse without problem, but she couldn’t protect Narma as well. The football team looked like Mousse had put up a fight, but they had just outnumbered him. There was a silence as the team gathered it’s collective energy. Mousse tried to pull himself together enough to help while Shampoo began to look for an advantage. Narma was silently trying, unsuccessfully, to calculate how many she could take out. Damn concentration problem.

The saying goes "It’s always the calmest before the storm".

One of the men Narma had...disabled stumbled into the group and saw Narma. He yelled something incoherent and rushed forward. The others followed suit as the fighting resumed. The mentality became obvious, dogpile them first and sort them out for punishment later.

Shampoo began to worry as two men, then three, then five rushed her at once. It was getting harder and harder to fight and protect Mousse, who could hardly stand.

Everyone jumped as a flash of light blew several men across the empty field. Shampoo saw Narma, standing much like Ranma, in the middle of the blast zone.

As the men rushed her, Shampoo heard her shout.

"Katsutenshin Amaguriken!"

The thugs were felled easily by the many punches thrown by Narma. The rest of the hoodlums backed off of Shampoo as Narma approached.

"R-Ramna?" Mousse asked weakly, raising his head at the direction Shampoo was leading him.

Shampoo knew in that moment that Narma must have Ranma’s soul. No one else could look so like him.

Back at the motel room, Narma had calmed some and was busily applying bandages to a battered Mousse. His wounds weren’t really major, just ugly.

"Thank you Narma, for helping us back there," He said.

"That’s okay Mousse, but tell me something. What did you do to get a whole football team after you?"

"I think that I mistook one of their girlfriends for Shampoo and I couldn’t figure out how she had learned English so fluently. Of course, I also wondered why she was there in the first place," He explained.

Narma giggled as Shampoo jerked his head to face her.

"What you do?" She asked.

"Uh...Nothing Shampoo. That was the problem, they were flirting with me and I thought it was odd, so I didn’t do anything," Mousse said nervously.

"You better not, or else-" And Shampoo finished the sentence in Chinese.

He laughed slightly and continued to dab worriedly at the cuts on his arm.

"I get ice," Shampoo said, walking out.

"She’s kind, but can’t really show feelings," Mousse said, after a moment of awkward silence.

"She’s kind of mean," Narma said, looking at Mousse, "How-Why choose her?"

He smiled. It was a smile that said, "It’s a long story".

"It’s a long story," Mousse said, mimicking her thought, "Maybe I’ll tell you one day, but it’s getting late and we need to get to Chinatown in Chicago by tommorrow. I’ve got relatives there that we can stay with until we need to meet Akane’s group."

"I’ve been to Chinatown, I think I can get us there," Narma said, perking up.

Mousse smiled and in that instant, Narma could see the loving tenderness that he so often showed Shampoo during this long trip. She could see it in his eyes. Then she realized that she was holding his hand. Granted, it was to apply solution to a cut, but still... He blushed and got up.

"We oughta really get to bed," He said.

Narma nodded and she began to get ready as Shampoo came back.

Once again the drive was the least exciting thing Narma had done in years, but then after last night, she could do without excitement for a long while. The sunset behind them proved a nice way to light up the city as they reached the limits. Once in Chinatown, Mousse’s relatives were fairly easy to find.

The Crystal Dragon Trading Company. Owned by Mousse’s uncle since Mousse’s great-great-grandfather first proposed and began the company in the late 1800’s. Mousse was so proud of the history behind it. Shampoo was amazed by the way he went on and on about it. He described how it began as a port company in Canton, moved to America just after the first World War, through the hard times of the depression and the even harder times under recent presidents.

They parked outside and walked up to the front of the converted warehouse space.

"Uncle Mousse?" A voice said from his left.

It was a young girl, no older than ten or eleven, standing there with her hair in pigtails carrying a basket of flowers. Narma could see the reaction as he turned to her. Recognition flowed through her. She dropped her flowers, ran over to Mousse and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely.

Both laughed, until Mousse caught sight of Shampoo, not understanding what was going on and jumping to some dangerous conclusions. Mousse set the girl down and turned for introductions.

"Shampoo, Narma, I want you to meet my niece, Xiu Shin. Xiu, I want you to meet my wife, Shampoo and our new friend, Narma Ikeda."

"Nice to meet-" Narma began.

"Wow. She’s my auntie? Geez Uncle Mousse, you really got a good one," Xiu said in awe.

Narma had to laugh.

"Uh, yeah. I’m sorry Shampoo...Xiu speaks her mind," Mousse said to her.

"Not like you at all," Shampoo said to him in Chinese, she continued in English to Xiu, "How old you?"

"Twelve years old next month," Xiu replied proudly.

"C’mon uncle Mousse, Mom and Dad are waiting," Xiu said, dragging him towards the house.

Shampoo and Narma followed.

"Stop laughing," Shampoo said quietly to Narma.

It only made her laugh harder.

Mousse’s uncle was a large man. Po Shin, a name which made Narma giggle more, met his nephew with great enthusiasm. Auntie Lin Mei Shin was already in the kitchen fixing a great feast while Mousse related the story of Ranma and what had gone on in Mousse’s life since he had last visited. Narma gathered that it had been almost eight years since Mousse was last in America. She also learned all about Ranma and the things that occurred in Nerima up to that fateful day. While it was true that Narma was never really close to her hippie parents, she never missed the opportunity to visit them when she got to Santa Barbara. What she did learn was that Shampoo had searched for this person for almost three years before she ever found him and then she tried for nearly three more to get him to marry her. Stubborn, wasn’t she? Ranma had been an interesting person. Narma resolved that, if all this craziness were true, she would meet Ranma.

"Where’s Shang?" Mousse asked his uncle.

A dark cloud passed among the expressions of all three in the family. Xiu was the first that had the courage to speak.

"Uncle Mousse, he’s joined a gang."

Mousse just sat there, shocked. His own nephew?

"It’s not like that Mousse. He’s not a gang-banger. He still belongs to this family, it’s just that now, he’s part of a bigger family. Shang was always a troubled child, so when we learned that the help and money he was getting from the gang wasn’t related to drugs, then we allowed-" Po began.

"So, wait a minute, if he isn’t killing people over drugs, it’s okay?" Narma asked.

"No, he isn’t killing anyone. Shang was always excellent at math, the doctors called him a savant, but consequentially he couldn’t keep friends easily. So the gang decided to make him something of an accountant. He never gets into the action and it’s as much of a regular job as either one of ours. It also pays for Xiu’s future college," Po said, hanging his head.

Much as Po tried to rationalize what was happening to his son, Mousse had decided that Po hated the idea of being in a gang as much as Mousse himself.

"Speak of devil," Shampoo said quietly.

Mousse turned. The man standing there was quite older than the boy he had left behind when he returned to China. This man was well built and taller than Mousse himself. He had scruffy short hair and a haughty attitude about him. Wearing an expensive looking workout outfit, he looked very much the gang member, even down to the sunglasses perched on his forehead.

"Shang?" Mousse asked.

"So what’s wrong with a gang uncle Mousse? Hmm?" He said walking over to his uncle, "It pays for the house and the business, even when we’re not doing so well, which nowadays is often."

"Gang promote violence," Shampoo said.

Shang looked at her.

"You ought to learn to control your honey a little more, or some here might take offense at her lip," Shang warned.

"Shampoo can’t be controlled. Not by me. And she can’t be defeated by anyone. Not even you," Mousse said, pushing his glasses back onto his face.

"Maybe I should-" Shang began.

"No!" Xiu shouted, stepping in front of Shampoo, "I won’t let you hurt Auntie Shampoo. Now just be nice Shang, okay?"

He looked at the diminutive twelve year old and huffed. He stormed out and slammed the door behind him. Shampoo sighed and tried to detach Xiu from her arm. She was unsuccessful. Narma giggled at the arrangement. Mousse turned to his uncle.

"Uncle Po, is there nothing that we can do for you while we’re here?"

"Take care of Xiu," He said, without much hesitation, "Keep her out of trouble for another couple of weeks and you’ve done more than your share."

"What happens in a couple of weeks?" Narma asked.

"She goes back to school. You see, right now she’s on the last part of her summer vacation, so she’s looking forward to going back and so are we," He said.

Narma smiled. Xiu huffed and put a one of her hands on her hips.

"I tried to help in the warehouse this year," She said.

"Well," Lin said from the kitchen door, "Now that you’re all done talking, you can come and eat."

Narma couldn’t have agreed more.

"Hey Narma," Mousse said.

She looked up from her tea to Mousse, who was on the phone with Akane and her group in Japan.

"Come here and talk to Akane," He said.

Narma put her tea down and took the receiver from Mousse. On hindsight, she wondered why it didn’t occur to her to wonder how she could speak fluent Japanese.

"Hello?" Narma asked.

"Hello...My name is Tendo Akane. You’ve probably already been told about this whole weird situation from Mousse and Shampoo, but I thought it might help if you heard it from someone like you," She said.

There was some talk in the background and another voice came on the line.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hello, who is this?" Narma asked, not sure what else to say.

"Uh, hi. My name is Hiroyama Nako. We both have a part of Ranma’s soul inside of us. Now, I know how weird that sounds, but it’s true. I’ve actually seen Ranma, or at least, his body. When I touched his cheek, memories and images began to rush into my head and I saw life through his eyes. It was so weird I really can’t do justice to any description. All I can say is, trust me, it really happened," Nako said excitedly.

"It’s all right Nako, I have seen things in the short time since Mousse and Shampoo kidnapped me to convince me that something odd is going on," She replied.

"Huh? Okay...Akane says she wants to speak with Mousse again. Narma, I’ll see you in Columbus, okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, okay," She said, then turning to Mousse, "Hey Mousse, Akane wants to speak to you again."

Narma handed the phone back to Mousse and walked back to her perch on the couch next to Xiu, who was dozing off.

All things considered, her incarceration could be worse. Shampoo and Mousse were both very considerate if you cooperated with them. Shampoo was still cold to her, but that was probably due to the kick to the face that Narma delivered that first night. It would probably be hard for Narma to forget something like that too.

"Okay, see you then," Mousse said, hanging up the phone, "Okay, well Akane said that her group will be meeting us in Columbus in about a week, so we ought to get going."

"Why? To get there in time?" Po asked.

Mousse nodded.

"Mousse, Columbus is only eight hours away. Stay here until then okay?" He said.

They were family after all, they couldn’t say no.

The next day passed without incident. Shampoo, Narma, Mousse, and Xiu went sightseeing in greater Chicago. Narma had been to Chinatown when she was a child, so she remembered that bit, but really didn’t know the rest. She was amazed at some of the things that they came across during the day. Some of the "things" had to be handled by either Mousse or Shampoo or both, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

That night, after dinner, a loud crash brought everyone into the entryway. It was Shang and it looked like he had been in a big fight.

Po and Lin took him off and cleaned him up, but he wouldn’t say who did it. Xiu and the others knew it had to have been the gang. New family or not, coming home with a black eye was not in any of the job requirements that Narma had ever heard of.

"Just give them up Shang," Xiu said, crying to her brother.

His face was tight, but he didn’t answer, all he could do was look away. Shampoo said something to Mousse in Chinese. He nodded.

"You see Xiu, Shang can’t get out because he’s in too deep," Mousse said.

"You just shut up!" Shang said angrily, "You don’t know what you’re talking about!"

"Don’t I? I never told any of you, but when I was here, I was a member of the junior Dragons. That’s right Shang, the rival gang around here. I was maybe ten or eleven, not quite as old as Xiu, and certainly not as bright. One year, I didn’t want to go. They whipped me, but I didn’t say anything because I knew that it would only get me hurt further, so I went back to China that year and never returned, until now," Mousse explained.

Shampoo was worried, she knew what that kind of revelation might do to this situation and she had wished she never brought it up. She knew about his relation to a gang, but that was in the past. Shampoo never understood what her great-grandmother had said when she told Shampoo that the past repeats itself. That was until now.

"Look, just don’t butt in," Shang said, as he got up and left.

"Perhaps we no get involved. We do and Shang in big trouble," Shampoo said to Mousse.

"Shampoo, we can’t just let-" Mousse began.

"What do you mean ‘no get involved’?" Narma asked, turning Shampoo to face her, "Listen here woman. We would be doing this for Shang’s own good and while I understand about not wanting to hurt him, we can’t just let this go."

This pissed Shampoo off.

"What you know, girl with bad hair? You no in gang. You no in tribe either. You work desk all day. What you know?" Shampoo said, getting in Narma’s face.

"I know enough to learn proper English, that’s what," Narma said, folding her arms.

Mousse could tell where this was going. He stepped in between them and physically separated them.

"Don’t fight in here, please?" He asked.

"We can’t do anything anyway, uncle Mousse. Not until he wants to get out of the gang," Xiu said, quietly.

Narma thought it was the most sensible thing anyone had said in the past two days. Apparently Mousse thought so too.

"How old were you going to be again?"

A couple of days pass and getting no word from Shang worries Mousse and Narma, but not the rest of the family. Business as usual they suppose. Mousse still didn’t like it.

The phone rang one night, just before dinner. Xiu answered it.

"Hello?"

"Xiu...It me. It’s Shang. They wanted me to prove I was in the gang by killing a cop. I told them no and they beat me," Shang whispered.

"Shang, where are you? Can you get home?" Xiu asked.

"Xiu, listen to me. Don’t let Mousse or the others get involved. They want me, but they would hurt the others to get me back. Do you understand?" Shang said.

"Yeah," She said, nodding quietly.

"Good. I just wanted to say that I love you Xiu and if I can make it home, I will, but that may not be for a while. Take care of mom and dad...Bye Xiu."

The other end was silent and Xiu put the receiver down.

"Where is Shang now Xiu?" Narma said, putting her novel down.

"Narma, Shang needs my help. Tell Mousse and Shampoo to catch up when they can," Xiu said, getting her jacket from the hall closet.

"What the Hell are you doing?" Narma said, grabbing onto her arm.

"Let go!" Xiu said, struggling out of her grasp, "Shang needs my help. See ya later."

"Xiu!" Narma shouted out the door after her.

But she was gone already.

"What about Xiu?" Lin said behind her.

"Shang called and I guess Xiu has it in her head that she has to save him," Narma said.

Lin looked panicked, but closed her eyes and let out a small, short breath.

"Please go get her Narma. I will send Mousse and Shampoo out after you both when they get back," Lin said.

"Where are Mousse and Shampoo? I haven’t seen them since this morning," Narma asked.

"They were out shopping for supplies and things with Po," She explained, then she saw the worry on Narma’s face, "Don’t worry, I’ve already called his cellular to tell him about dinner and they’ll be home soon. Take my cellular and go. Take care of Xiu."

Lin hugged her one last time before Narma bolted out the door. She had no real idea where to go. Okay, if I were a gang member in hiding, where would I go? I wouldn’t join a gang in the first place...She scratched that line of thought. Narma ran up one side of the street, trying to find them.

It was the kind of randomness that seemed to get her lost more than anything. Narma finally spotted the small girl sliding in between the shadows toward a shady restaurant back alley. Of course, it was night, so ALL the back alleys were shady.

Narma followed her in and dialed back to the house. Shampoo answered and Narma described where she was. Narma followed Xiu for the better part of ten minutes before she stopped. Xiu bent down to what Narma originally thought was a homeless person.

"My God..." Narma said.

Xiu looked up as Narma knelt beside her. It was Shang. They had beaten him again, this time he had wounds that might need a doctor.

"Man, they really beat the shit out of you. Sure you still want in the gang?" Narma asked, seeing if anything was broken.

Shang seemed to come to a level of lucidity and grabbed Narma’s arm.

"It’s a...trap," Shang said, weakly, "Leave...leave-me."

Narma looked to Xiu, who simply nodded.

"I’m not about to leave you here, no matter how much of an ass you’ve been," Narma said, trying to get under him to help him up.

"It’s too bad really. You should have let him die," A voice said from behind them.

Narma turned and saw another Chinese man pointing a rather large gun at them.

"Because now that you’ve seen him alive, you have to die as well," He said, cocking the gun back into position, "No offense."

A blur of motion knocked his arm wide as he pulled the trigger. Narma looked up and saw that it was Shampoo. Damn, that was fast! The man was somewhat skilled, but Shampoo was really kicking ass. She had her two fighting popsicles, Narma forgot what Mousse had called them, something beginning with a ‘B’. More men arrived, but it didn’t seem to matter to Shampoo, all that mattered was protecting Shang, Xiu and much to her surprise, Narma.

Xiu was getting really excited by all the fighting. She wanted to be just like Shampoo, a warrior amazon. Xiu jumped into the fray and once again, Narma, who was holding Shang up, couldn’t stop her.

The fighting got more intense as both Shampoo and Xiu kick some butt. Shampoo was doing the damage, Xiu acted as cover. Some thug would take a swipe at Xiu and Shampoo would deck him. Now there were about four guys, some picking themselves off of the ground, some just joining in. All seemed armed. Shampoo didn’t seem to care. One at a time, she was winning.

There was a loud pop and Shampoo fell. Xiu stood there, looking at her fallen idol and got zapped as well. Narma knew the sound. Tazer. Narma pulled Shang back behind a load of crates and prayed to whatever God was listening that they wouldn’t be spotted. After several minutes, it was obvious what had happened. She helped Shang up and took him back to the house.

Mousse was out cold. He wasn’t wearing his glasses at the time the call came in from Lin and he ran off...right into a pole. He groggily put a hand up to his nose, which was showing signs of redness and swelling, but wasn’t broken. He also removed the icepack from the lump between his eyes. Narma began to relate the whole story as she saw it, including her own conclusion. That the gang would use Xiu and Shampoo to bargain for Shang.

"That’s not the whole story, you know," Shang said.

"No, we don’t know Shang, why don’t you enlighten us?" Mousse said, irritated.

Shang took a deep breath and related his side. He wanted to quit the gang, but he didn’t have a way out. Then he found a way. Just walk away. He was honor bound to stay away from the Chinatown industries that they ran if he was able to get away, and that wasn’t guaranteed. They bound him by his honor, but capturing Xiu and Shampoo was not honorable. The phone rang.

"You know Narma, if I weren’t in so much pain, I’d probably be extremely mad right now," Mousse said, putting the ice back on his head.

"Give it time," Narma said.

"It’s them," Lin said, "They want to talk to you Narma."

Narma got up and took the phone.

"Hello?"

"You’re the redhead that saved that coward Shang the earlier today? Then listen up, we want him back. Meet us in the alley behind the Jade Phoenix and we’ll make the trade there. Come with Shang, alone," He said, hanging up his end of the phone.

"This is your fault. I was handling it," Shang spat at Narma, "Xiu wouldn’t have been involved if you hadn’t followed her. I would’ve been able to protect-"

"Oh please, you were barely able to stand," Narma yelled back at him, "You wouldn’t have been able to protect her."

"Enough," Mousse yelled above them, "Shampoo is in there as well and if they want you Shang, then maybe that’s what we’ll have to do..."

Shang looked at Mousse and Narma could see the emotions cross his face, fading from confusion into fear.

The alley was dark, as alleys go. There was a smell of death and rats and curry. High walls kept the light from entering, either from the natural moonlight, or from the streetlights beyond. Narma could see many gang members crouched along the fire escapes that littered the walls, like so many cockroaches clinging for dear life.

At the far end of the alley, Narma could see Xiu and Shampoo both strung over a fire escape. Damn. Hard to attack, easy to defend. Someone had either given this a lot of thought, or they just knew how to set a good trap. The closer Narma walked, the more she wondered how it looked to have Shang beside her, a gun to his head. And Narma was holding that gun. The gang members that Narma could see were turning to face their opposition.

"Shang," A familiar voice said from a man walking to the center of the group, "I hear from my people that you want out. Is there a problem with my hospitality?"

"Yeah," Shang said to him, "It sucks."

"You do know that there’s only one way out," He said.

"I won’t die today, it’s not my time. I am here for Xiu and Shampoo. Give them to me and I’ll let you go. Don’t and I’ll kill you," Shang said, coolly taking the gun from Narma.

This would be a long night for everyone.

One guard gurgled as Mousse cinched the line a little tighter. It was just enough to knock him out, but not kill him. Mousse watched as he went limp. Mousse took the clip out of the gun and set it aside.

He saw where Xiu and Shampoo were both hanging on the escape. Really defensible, good position, but not good enough. Mousse climbed across the building’s roof and down the fire escape. There were several small creaks, but not one guard noticed as the alley was filled with the shouts coming from the other end. It was Narma and Shang. They were right on time. That was good, everything was going well so far.

Mousse took a visual measurement of both females and began to pull Xiu to the walkway first. She swayed slightly and looked as though she’d been roughed up. Mousse began to seethe as he thought of these punks laying a hand on either his family or his precious Shampoo.

There was a noise below him and Xiu looked up.

"Uncle Mousse!" She shouted.

Uh-oh.

He pulled Xiu up over the edge as the first bullets began to rain in around them. He glanced up towards the entrance of the alley and saw that Shang and Narma had taken cover. Good, he wouldn’t have to worry about them. Mousse was the target of the attack, but Shampoo was right below him. He tried to pull with one hand as the bullets came down around him.

One bullet ricocheted from the metal in the fire escape and severed the cord holding Shampoo. Mousse didn’t think, he just jumped over the edge. He could feel the air rushing through him as he reached towards his wife. Catching her in mid-air, he turned to cover her with his body and landed in a heap behind crates below the fire escape.

Mousse put Shampoo down, who was still unconscious. Mousse felt for a pulse and found one, weak, but there. These monsters had beaten her and, as he pulled his hand from her neck, he saw the crimson that shaded across his mind like a giant hum. His hand began to shake and he heard himself utter a guttural roar that he couldn’t contain. He threw himself over the crates and jumped towards the nearest thug. Any more than that, he did not remember.

Narma watched as Mousse landed with Shampoo behind the crates at the back of the alley. Narma saw the guards advance as nothing was heard from them. Then Mousse jumped out from behind the crates, a wild and gruesome expression on his visage. Things began to fly everywhere. Men with guns. Men without guns. Crates. The items in the crates. Nothing was safe as Mousse went on a rampage of destruction that left nothing in the alley untouched. Fire escapes, rats, more men and as soon as the carnage had begun, he stopped.

Narma breathed out slowly. Mousse turned and walked back behind the crates. Narma looked down at herself to make sure that nothing had slipped past her crate defense. She was relieved to see that she had escaped undamaged. She looked to Shang, who was just sitting back, a white blanched look to him. Narma hoped it would be enough to scare him out of the gang life for good.

Her heart sank as she saw Xiu coming to help her uncle carry Shampoo out from behind the crates.

The police were quite thorough about getting all of the information. They were also quite thorough about berating Mousse, Narma and Shang for not coming to them with this situation.

Shang agreed that he would testify against these men. They would be heading "up the river" for quite some time. He also agreed to begin to help the police dismantle the operation in Chinatown. He would then get protection and leave Chicago. It wasn’t a choice he made lightly, but he knew that the others in the gang had more honor than this lot and would not disturb his family. Mousse was glad. He didn’t want to repeat his incident again.

In his anger, Mousse destroyed an alley all by himself. The police were mystified by how he could take out a dozen armed men with only chains and the garbage in the alley.

Shampoo was unhurt. The blood that Mousse found was actually his own. He had cut his hand when he caught Shampoo. Xiu was happy to have her brother back, if only for a little while, and at least he was and would be safe.

The police let them go and Mousse, Narma, Shampoo, Xiu and Shang limped back to the house. It was an odd scene at the house. Mousse bandaging Shampoo, Xiu bandaging Mousse, Shang bandaging Xiu, and Narma sitting there watching it all.

"It’s time to move on," Mousse said, finally, "We gotta get to Columbus and join Akane at the airport."

Shampoo turned to Narma.

"I not know if I trust you yet, but this a start," She said.

"Got to start somewhere," Mousse said.

(Music Fades In)

(End Credits Fade In)

"Can’t Stop Me"

Ending Theme for
With Wings to Carry Them

You left me on that day,
Gone but not forgotten,
Nothing but for me to say,
I love you...

Now I search the land,
For the parts of your soul,
To once again have your hand,
To be mine forever!

Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop me in this fight)
Just Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop when I know I’m right)
No Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop this love tonight)
(Single voice): You can’t stop me.

You know I won’t give up on you,
Until you’re whole again,
To the end I’ll see this through,
For my love for you.

Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop me in this fight)
Just Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop when I know I’m right)
No Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop this love tonight)
Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop me in this fight)
Just Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop when I know I’m right)
No Can’t Stop Me
(Can’t stop this love tonight)
(Single voice): You can’t stop me.

(Music Ends)