Pawprints in the Snow

by rkOujirou

Author's note: This is just a fluffy Christmas story I thought up for one of my favorite Ranma ½ pairings in the spirit of the holidays. Contains some references to the anime OVA episode "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble."

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is not my idea, it was created by a very talented manga artist named Rumiko Takahashi. Just so you know.

The holiday season had come once again to the Nerima Ward of Tokyo, where a fair number of people had gathered at the Cat Café restaurant to take a break from their gift shopping and fill their stomachs with something warm. Much to the displeasure of everyone in the area, there had been record cold temperatures over the past few days and staying home wasn't an option for people searching for gifts for friends and family with only a week remaining before Christmas Eve.

Poor weather wasn't an issue for Cologne though, whose business was doing even better than usual due to the influx of customers ducking inside to warm themselves up.

"Two orders up!" the Amazon elder called out, tossing a pair of plates in the direction of her great-granddaughter.

Shampoo, who was having no trouble keeping up with the large number of customers, effortlessly plucked the plates out of the air and headed over to one of the tables. Her ability to catch the dishes Cologne tossed her way without spilling even a drop of food was something that never ceased to amaze people.

"Here go!" the lavender-haired girl said cheerfully, setting the plates down in front of two male customers. "Shampoo bring you refill for tea in just moment."

"Thank you, Miss!" one of them said to her.

Once Shampoo turned around, the wandering eyes of the two men happened to catch sight of her backside. Unfortunately for them, another worker of the restaurant, who'd been assigned to setting up Christmas decorations around the dining area, took notice of their actions.

"Why, you...!"

The pair nearly jumped out of their seats when they found an enraged boy with glasses hovering over them.

"How dare you ogle Shampoo like that?" Mousse growled at them. "Why I ought to-oof!"

The resounding sound of a kettle striking Mousse's skull rang throughout the Cat Café as Shampoo folded her arms and glared over at him coldly.

"Mousse have better thing to do than get mad at customer," she told him.

The ill-sighted boy grabbed the kettle out of the air and adjusted his glasses back into their proper position. "B-but Shampoo, I-"

"No excuse!" Shampoo snapped back at him. "Mousse get back to work now."

Watching his love interest storm back into the kitchen area, a dejected Mousse hung his head and turned his attention back to the two customers, who took note of a sharp blade sticking out of one of his sleeves. "You...you got Shampoo mad at me."

"W-we're sorry, man!"

"We won't look at her again! We swear!"

A frightening smile crossed Mousse's face as he began laughing darkly to himself. "That's right, you won't. Because if you do...you'll wish you hadn't."

Though feeling a bit disturbed at the moment, the two men proceeded to start on their meal while the self-proclaimed Master of Hidden Weapons headed back to his decorating duties.

Not long after several of the customers had finished their meals and headed back out into the cold, the door to the Cat Café opened from the outside once again, signaling the arrival of another customer. Or so they thought.

"Yo!"

Cologne looked up from the food she was preparing and spotted a familiar looking boy with a pigtail stepping into the restaurant. "Well hello there, son-in-law. What a pleasant surprise," she greeted him.

Not surprisingly, the term "son-in-law" triggered a purple blur to shoot out from the kitchen toward the pigtailed martial artist. "Ranma!"

"H-hey!" Ranma stammered, tensing up as Shampoo wrapped her arms around his neck. "Cut that out, will ya?"

"And why Shampoo want do that?" she asked jokingly. It was then that she noticed the low temperature of his skin. "Aiyaa, Ranma walk through cold just to see Shampoo?"

Before he could answer the high-spirited Amazon girl, Ranma saw Mousse out of the corner of his eye looking none too pleased as would be expected.

"Ranma...Saotome...!" Mousse snarled, stomping over to his rival with his anger level elevated once again. "It's bad enough that you flaunt yourself with Shampoo at all, but now you come here to do it right in front of me?"

"Were you watchin' at all, you moron? I didn't start this!" Ranma protested.

Mousse was more than willing to get into an altercation with his pigtailed foe, but he would have to wait for another day as the sudden arrival of a girl with short, dark hair interrupted their conversation.

"Sorry, I'm here!" Akane Tendo announced.

Akane, who'd stopped outside to chat briefly with an old friend she'd run into, shut the door behind her and tried to shake off the cold. "That took longer than I...thought..."

Time seemed to stop in the restaurant for a moment as Shampoo and Akane locked eyes with each other. Some of the customers had been coming to the Cat Café long enough to know a little bit about the history between the two girls, but everyone could tell just by the atmosphere around them that something bad could happen at any moment.

"What is this?" Akane asked with annoyance in her voice.

Shampoo let out a disappointed sigh as she scowled over at her rival in love. "Stumpy girl always come ruin fun."

"Who are you calling stumpy?" Akane shouted back at her. "Get off of him already!"

"What you talking? Shampoo keep husband warm with body," the Amazon girl told her, reaching up and placing her hands over Ranma's ears which had turned red from the cold. "Feel good, yes?"

"Come on now, I-" Ranma began to say, but the warmth of Shampoo's hands against his numb ears made it tough for him to put up any resistance. "Err...that does feel kinda good, actually."

"Ranma!" Akane snapped.

Shaken from his content state by Akane's shrill voice, Ranma grabbed hold of Shampoo's wrists and quickly pulled her away. "Okay, okay, enough! We just came here to give you guys somethin'."

Mousse watched curiously as Ranma pulled a folded-up card out of his coat and handed it to Shampoo. "What is it?"

"Kasumi thought the Christmas party we had at our dojo last year was a lot of fun, so we decided to invite everyone back and do it again this year," Akane smiled.

"Even though it got kinda crazy," Ranma added, recalling the turmoil that started once it came time to exchange gifts. "You guys think you can come?"

Cologne took a break from her food preparation and hopped over to the others to take a look at the invitation. "Another Christmas party, is it? I don't see why not."

Shampoo nodded excitedly in agreement. "Shampoo come too!"

"Mmm...if Shampoo goes, then I shall go as well," Mousse decided.

"Alright, we'll plan on seein' ya then," Ranma said. "Anyway, we got more invitations to pass out, so we're gonna get goin'. Later."

"Bye bye, Ranma! Shampoo see you soon!" the lavender-haired girl waived as Ranma and Akane headed back outside.

Before shutting the restaurant's door, Akane stopped for a moment to look back and stick her tongue out at the Amazon girl. Not one to let such a thing go unanswered, of course, Shampoo returned the gesture and shut the door in her rival's face.

At that moment, Shampoo realized she'd forgotten something important. "Ah! Forget to ask what Ranma want for Christmas present."

Facing a dilemma, she slid the door open a bit and watched Ranma and Akane as they walked off, pondering whether or not she wanted to go out in the cold to ask the pigtailed boy what kind of gift he wanted.

"Man, now my ears are gonna get all numb again!" Ranma complained, holding his hands over his head.

"Honestly, why don't you just buy a stocking cap?" Akane asked, pointing to her own light blue hat.

"Because I'm broke! Gimme a break," he told her.

After listening in on their conversation, Shampoo smiled brightly as a gift idea came to mind.

"Maybe Shampoo no have to ask after all."

On the night before Christmas Eve, Ranma, Genma, and the Tendo family decided to set up the tree and some other decorations early in anticipation of the busy day ahead of them tomorrow. They'd made good time last year without setting anything up the night before the party, but getting at least some of the job done early meant having more free time to deal with any unforeseen problems that might arise.

"My, the tree looks wonderful," Kasumi said, marveling at the job Nabiki and Ranma had done decorating it.

"Yeah, we did a pretty good job on it," Ranma agreed.

Akane, who, along with Soun and Genma, was in charge of lining the walls of the dojo with wreaths and streamers, took a quick break to get an opinion on her own work. "How does it look over here, Kasumi?"

The wall in question was covered in objects that met no sort of pattern whatsoever. Wreaths were bunched together in groups of two or three. Streamers hung in a way that made the wall look like a line graph. There was even a singular string of lights dangling from one far end of the wall.

"Um...it looks very nice, Akane," Kasumi answered, being extremely generous in her assessment.

Next to her, Nabiki nudged her older sister with her elbow and began whispering in her ear. "Don't worry, we'll fix it when she goes to sleep."

After nailing one final wreath into place on the uniquely decorated wall, Akane set her hammer down and looked over her work with a proud feeling. "There, all done. I just hope everyone can get along this year."

"That's askin' a lot," Ranma replied with a great deal of pessimism. "Whatever happens, we'll deal with it."

"Speaking of things we'd rather not see again," Nabiki added, peering over at her father and Genma, "I think everyone could do without you two dressing up like Santa and a reindeer this time."

"What? Hey now, we stole the show last year. Isn't that right, Tendo?" Genma asked his longtime friend.

Soun nodded in agreement. "Absolutely! You have no idea how long we spent rehearsing that entrance."

"You rehearsed that?" Akane asked them. "I don't think it helped any, dad."

"Please!" Genma scoffed at the criticism. "These kids don't understand a good performance at all."

Ranma could only shake his head at his father's inability to accept the critique as he placed a large star decoration at the tip of the tree.

Over at the Cat Café, a melodious humming could be heard coming from the dining area where Shampoo was happily knitting away at her Christmas gift for Ranma at one of the tables. She'd spent a good deal of her free time over the last six days working on the hand-made present, making absolutely sure it was done just right.

After turning off the lights in the kitchen, Cologne poked her head into the dining area to tell her great-granddaughter goodnight.

"I'm going to bed, Shampoo," the old woman told her. "Don't stay up too late or you'll be exhausted for the party tomorrow."

"No worry, Great-grandmother. Shampoo almost done," the young Amazon girl smiled.

"Alright then. Goodnight, Shampoo," Cologne said, leaving the dining area for their bedroom.

No more than a half-hour later, Shampoo set her knitting needles down on the table and snipped the last thread of yarn she'd been using.

"Is done!" she said excitedly, holding her finished stocking cap above her.

The cap, a dark blue color with a white cuff, was made using an extra strong wool that wouldn't wear out easily. Shampoo knew the perils that Ranma seemed to encounter on a daily basis, so she made it a point to use material that could survive whatever he happened to run into.

Once she'd given it a quick looking over to make sure she hadn't missed anything, Shampoo clutched it to her chest with delight. It was the perfect gift that she'd put all of her feelings for the pigtailed boy into, she thought. For the sake of appearance, she placed the cap into a white paper bag filled with a thin tissue paper, folded the top of the bag down, and taped it shut before placing the finishing touch, a shiny blue bow, on the outside.

"This perfect!" she giggled, giving the bag another light hug. "Shampoo no can wait give this to Ranma."

With her week-long task completed, the lavender-haired martial artist changed into her pajamas and hopped into her futon, keeping her present by her pillow as she fell asleep for the night.

The next day, Christmas Eve, the residents of the Tendo household resumed preparations for their party around midday. Ryouga Hibiki was the first guest to arrive, showing up several hours before the event was scheduled to begin after having spent most of the day trying to find his way there. Ukyou Kuonji and Tatewaki Kuno both arrived not long after, followed by several other guests who also opted to show up early.

A light snow, which wasn't much of a bother, had been falling in the Nerima Ward consistently throughout the afternoon. But with only a couple of hours remaining before the Christmas party, the rate of precipitation increased rapidly, piling snow onto roofs and roads and significantly decreasing visibility in the area.

Such were the conditions that Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne would have to face as they readied to leave for the Tendo residence.

"Aiyaa, is snow so much," Shampoo marveled at the scene outdoors.

"It certainly is. It's rare to see such heavy snow here," Cologne added, perched atop her staff next to her great-granddaughter. "In any case, why don't you head over to the party? I still have to get ready."

Eager to see her fiancée again, the young Amazon happily agreed and grabbed her gift for Ranma from the kitchen counter. "Shampoo go ahead, then. You no take too long, Great-grandmother."

"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you," Cologne told her as she headed back to her room.

After zipping up her pink coat, Shampoo left the restaurant and began her trek to the Tendo home with snowflakes whirling all around her.

The lavender-haired girl had barely made it five feet from the Cat Café, however, when she noticed a violet-colored ribbon soaring toward her from her left side. She managed to dodge it, swiftly leaping out of the ribbon's path, but not before it wrapped itself around the paper bag in her hand and yanked it away.

"Ahh! What you doing?" Shampoo cried out, eying a familiar figure standing on the roof of a nearby building.

"Oooohohohoo!"

With a satisfied smirk on her face, Kodachi Kuno grabbed Shampoo's present from the binding of her ribbon and held it above her head. "And what might this be?"

"That present for Ranma!" Shampoo growled up at the gymnast. "You give back right now!"

"Ohh, a present for my darling Ranma, is it?" Kodachi said, her expression turning sour as she glared at the white paper bag. "In that case, I'm afraid I cannot give it back."

Determined to keep her rival from delivering her gift, Kodachi turned around and began retreating across the rooftops.

Naturally, Shampoo wasted no time giving chase to the Black Rose to get her present back. "Shampoo say give that back!"

Just moments after Kodachi and Shampoo disappeared from sight, Mousse came barging out of the Cat Café in a hurry, sliding across the snow before taking off running toward the Tendo household.

"Wait for me, Shampoo!" the vision-impaired martial artist shouted, unaware that the girl he'd loved since he was a child was being led away by Kodachi.

Meanwhile, the deranged gymnast continued hopping from rooftop to rooftop with Shampoo in hot pursuit. Despite the accumulating snow, Kodachi had little difficulty keeping her balance thanks to her background in gymnastics. Footing wasn't a problem for Shampoo either, but the poor visibility was as she tried to keep a sharp eye on the movements of the younger Kuno sibling.

"You no going to like what happen when Shampoo catch you, stupid girl!" the Amazon teenager shouted.

"Ooohoho! You're quite mistaken if you think you can catch me that easily!" Kodachi laughed arrogantly.

Once they'd reached the end of one section of buildings, Kodachi hopped down into the street next to a stationary dump truck and then hopped up onto the roof of a building on the next block. Shampoo thought she noticed a peculiar movement that Kodachi made when she hopped down into the street, but it was too hard to tell with the snow blurring her vision. Rather than worry about it, she simply took to the rooftops again and continued her pursuit of the Black Rose.

For several more minutes, Kodachi led her pursuer further and further away from the Tendo residence until she suddenly stopped on the roof of one of the taller buildings.

With her patience at an end, Shampoo stuck her landing on the same rooftop and glared angrily at the dark-haired girl. "Shampoo give you three second to give back present!"

"Present?" Kodachi asked with a devilish smile, holding up the hand she'd been carrying the gift in. "You mean this?"

When Kodachi opened her hand, Shampoo was surprised to see nothing but a clump of snow falling from it.

"What you do with present?" Shampoo yelled.

Kodachi raised her hand to her mouth and began chuckling to herself with amusement. "Oh, my. Don't tell me you failed to notice me dropping it off back there?"

Shampoo batted her eyes several times, not sure what her rival was talking about. Then she remembered that odd movement she'd noticed when Kodachi had first hopped to another block. When she went down into the street, she'd landed right next to a large vehicle.

"You...you put present in dump truck?" Shampoo asked, frustration evident in her voice.

"Oh, so you did notice," Kodachi laughed, pointing into the distance where they'd been running earlier. "You had better hurry, or you may lose track of it."

The lavender-haired Amazon was furious and fighting the urge to pummel Kodachi into the snow at the moment, but the more pressing matter right now was retrieving the gift she'd spent all week knitting for Ranma. Gritting her teeth, Shampoo reluctantly spun around and began running back to where she'd seen the dump truck earlier. "Shampoo make you sorry for this!"

Clearly pleased with herself, Kodachi smiled contently as she started her venture back toward the Tendo household. "All according to plan," the Black Rose laughed. "That's one less nuisance I shall have to compete with tonight."

Shampoo, running as fast as she could, frantically retraced her steps to get back to the first street they'd crossed. All she could do was hope that the truck was still there when she returned to the spot. After several minutes, she finally made her way back to the street in question. The dump truck, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen.

"No! Where it go?" she cried out, looking in every direction to try to spot it.

The heavy snow continued to fall and the visibility hadn't improved, but as Shampoo looked to her east, she somehow caught sight of the truck she was looking for as it was passing over a hill. "There!" she shouted, immediately storming across rooftops in the truck's direction.

The panicked Amazon girl ran like there was no tomorrow. She could get Kodachi back for doing this anytime she wanted, but losing the gift she'd wanted to give Ranma on Christmas Eve was something she couldn't let happen. Even if she knitted another cap and gave it to him a week later, it still wouldn't have the same meaning as giving it to him on this night.

When she finally reached the hill she'd seen the truck passing over, Shampoo tried as best she could to locate it through the flurry of snowflakes falling through the sky. She looked left, then right, then straight-ahead, but try as she might she simply couldn't see it anymore.

At a loss for words, Shampoo collapsed to her knees in despair. She'd lost sight of the truck and her gift for Ranma along with it.

"Ah, welcome! The party will start in a couple of hours, so please make yourself at home."

Curious about who'd just arrived, Ranma poked his head into the hallway and found Cologne standing next to Kasumi at the entrance.

"Nice to see you again, son-in-law," the Amazon elder greeted him.

"Yo, old ghoul," Ranma replied in an unflattering manner. "Shampoo ain't with ya?"

Cologne peered over at the pigtailed boy with a confused look on her face. "Shampoo left the restaurant a short while before I did. Do you mean she isn't here?"

"Nope. Mousse showed up thinkin' the same thing," Ranma told her. "You sure she's comin'?"

"Of course! She's been looking forward to this all week," Cologne replied, wondering to herself where her great-granddaughter might be. "Perhaps she had to run a quick errand before coming here..."

"No worries, Ranma darling! Your beautiful rose has arrived."

Cologne and Ranma both turned to look as an excited Kodachi Kuno stepped into the Tendo home.

"Kodachi, huh?" Ranma muttered.

With an exuberant smile, the dark-haired gymnast trotted over to her beloved Ranma. "Whether that brute of a woman shows up or not is irrelevant," she said to him. "Let us devote all of our attention to each other tonight, darling. I'm having Sasuke transport your gift here at this very moment."

Despite the warm welcome, Ranma seemed incredibly unenthusiastic about the proposal of the Black Rose. "Yeah, I'll pass, thanks. The girls are all waitin' in Nabiki's room."

"Ooohoho! You needn't be so bashful, Ranma darling," Kodachi giggled as she headed up the staircase. "Au revoir, for now."

Seeing the grimace on Ranma's face amused Cologne, to say the least. "Come now, son-in-law, surely you would prefer marrying Shampoo over that girl," the Amazon elder said to him.

"I'd rather marry you than marry Kodachi," he told her.

Although it was meant as a joke, Cologne raised her hands up to her cheeks and began to blush at the pigtailed boy's words. "Well, if you insist..."

The very thought making him sick to his stomach, Ranma staggered backward with a sour expression on his face.

"That wasn't an offer!"

Losing track of the dump truck carrying her gift for Ranma was a strong blow to Shampoo's morale, but she hadn't given up on finding it yet. As the skies grew dark and the snow began to taper off, the young Amazon girl continued hopping from rooftop to rooftop in search of the vehicle.

From where she'd seen the truck go over the hill, Shampoo first covered ground to the left of the area, and then moved on to the direction straight ahead. To her dismay, she had no luck with her search in either direction and had now moved on to the area to the right of the hill.

"Stupid truck have to be here somewhere..." she panted.

In reality, the truck in question could be anywhere right now with so much time having passed while Shampoo was looking around, and she knew it. But she still refused to quit. There was no way she was going to show up at the Christmas party empty-handed and watch while her rivals gave Ranma their presents.

As she crossed over from a residential block into another block of businesses, she noticed a clock tower off in the distance. Assuming it was accurate, the time for the Tendo's Christmas party to start was almost at hand.

"There no is much time!" the lavender-haired girl told herself.

Moments later, Shampoo skidded to a halt when something to her right caught her eye. Off in the distance sat a business with a parking lot full of dump trucks. It wasn't clear whether or not they were the same type as the one she was looking for, but it was certainly worth a look, she decided.

With a cautiously renewed hope, the determined Amazon girl took off running toward the lot.

Over at the Tendo residence, the dojo had become a festive scene as people came from all over to put aside their differences and have a good time for one night. Some friends of Ranma and Akane from Furinkan High School, Dr. Tofu, and Tsubasa Kurenai were the last to show up before it was time for the party to start.

All of the invited guests had arrived. All except one, that is.

Curious about the prominent figure that was conspicuous by her absence, Akane walked over to Ranma and tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. "Hey, is Shampoo not coming?"

"Beats me," Ranma shrugged. "The old hag said she'd be here, so maybe she's just runnin' late or somethin'."

"You didn't do anything to make her mad, did you?" Akane asked him.

The pigtailed boy thought back for a moment, scratching his head. "Not that I know of..."

Before long, the two of them noticed Nabiki heading up to the front of the dojo with a microphone in hand. It was time for the party to officially begin.

"Hello, everyone!" Nabiki greeted them enthusiastically. "Welcome to the second Tendo Family Christmas Party! We've got some fun activities planned for the evening, so let's all have a good time."

A rousing applause came from the guests in anticipation of what was in store for them.

"Oh, and one quick thing to add," Nabiki continued, flashing a deceptive smile as she pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket. "Should anyone get rowdy and damage the dojo tonight, you will be receiving an invoice from us to pay for the damage. So let's all behave, shall we?"

Nervously staring at the invoice, the guests gave the party's host a collective response.

"We'll be good..."

Well aware that the Christmas party had likely already started, Shampoo was feeling some pressure as she hopped around the business lot in search of her gift for Ranma.

"Is no here either..." she said to herself, leaping from one truck onto another. The snow that had piled up inside each of the vehicles only made the search worse since it matched the color of the bag containing her stocking cap.

Her hope dwindling with each truck she passed, Shampoo finally hopped onto the last one in the lot and peered down into the back of it. Much to her disappointment, there was nothing but snow inside.

The Amazon girl slowly sat down on the truck and slammed her fist against the top of it. Overcome with grief, she placed her hands against her forehead as tears began to form in her eyes. All she wanted was to give Ranma something that could show her feelings for him. She never could have imagined that her Christmas Eve would turn out like this.

"What...what supposed to do now?" she whimpered.

Staring blankly down into the back of the dump truck, Shampoo raised an eyebrow as she noticed something small sticking out of the snow. It was hard to make out at first, but there was definitely something in there. With nothing to lose, she hopped down into the truck and brushed the snow away from the perforating object. Her eyes would light up with joy as she realized that, sure enough, it was a white paper bag with a blue bow on it.

"Aiyaa! Shampoo find it!" she shouted with elation, sweeping the bag up into her arms and hugging it tightly.

The lavender-haired girl couldn't believe her luck. Maybe this was what people called a Christmas miracle, she thought to herself. There wasn't time to celebrate right now though. She was already late for the party and she needed to make it back before the time came to exchange gifts.

Shaking off her excitement for the time being, Shampoo hastily jumped from the truck and began making her way toward the Tendo residence. She wasn't exactly sure where she was at the moment, having ventured around the Nerima Ward without thinking how she was going to get back home, but there were certain things she'd seen along the way that she figured would help her in retracing her steps.

By the time she'd gotten back to the last residential block she'd passed over, Shampoo had already figured out which direction she needed to go and began cutting through people's yards and hopping over retaining walls to get to her destination as quickly as possible.

"You no worry, Ranma!" she smiled brightly as she hopped down into another yard. "Shampoo be there soon!"

Then, as the Amazon girl's feet touched down, she suddenly felt the ground give way. Caught by surprise, Shampoo let her gift for Ranma fly from her hand before finding herself engulfed in frigid water. The cold temperature had left a small layer of ice at the top of someone's small pond. With today's snowfall covering it, there was simply no way for Shampoo to know it was there.

Having easily broken through the ice when she landed, Shampoo popped out from the water in her cursed cat form and crawled out onto the rocks bordering the pond. Shaking as much water off of her as possible, she looked back at her clothes floating in the water. She'd gotten careless, she realized, angry at herself for letting such a thing happen.

With Ranma's present coming to the forefront of her mind again, Shampoo frantically began looking around to see what had become of it. Luckily, it had escaped harm, landing safely in the snow on the other side of the yard.

The soaked and chilly feline now faced a difficult decision. She needed to get to the Christmas party soon, but she wouldn't be able to move nearly as quick in her cat form as she could in her human form. There were simply too many obstacles in the way that such a small creature couldn't jump over. On the other hand, her clothes were soaked and would be a pain to carry along with Ranma's present. And even if she did manage to find some hot water somewhere, she wouldn't have anything dry to wear.

Shampoo knew she couldn't afford to waste anymore time. Deciding to leave her clothes in the pond for now, she picked up the white paper bag in her mouth and, slowly but surely, continued on her way to the Tendo household.

Inside the Tendo Dojo, Akane, Ukyou, and Kodachi glared back and forth at one another with strained expressions on their faces. Unlike usual though, no arguments had broken out amongst the girls. Their competitive looks were merely a result of one of the fun activities planned out for the Christmas party that Akane herself had come up with.

It was the Tendo Family Twister Tournament.

There were a number of separate games of Twister going on around the room, some more entertaining than others. At this particular game, which was being moderated by Nabiki, Kodachi had wound up positioned directly over Ukyou, whose face somehow ended up right next to Akane's rear end as the game wore on.

"You know," the okonomiyaki chef grumbled, "I really wish you could've found a better place for your fanny, Akane."

"If you don't like it then move away from it on your next turn!" Akane snapped back at her.

"Now now, girls," Nabiki grinned, seemingly enjoying herself as she spun the hand on the board again. "Right hand on red, Ukyou."

Elsewhere in the dojo, Ranma, Ryouga, and Tatewaki Kuno found themselves in a similar position in a game moderated by Kasumi. Ranma was facing upward with all four limbs spread around the mat, and Ryouga was crossed over Ranma's legs while Kuno had one hand right next to the pigtailed boy's face.

"Okay, Ranma. Right foot on yellow," Kasumi instructed.

While Ranma was raising his foot up into the air, he inadvertently stuck it in Ryouga's face before placing it down onto a yellow circle. Needless to say, his rival didn't appreciate it.

"Hey! You did that on purpose, you jerk!" Ryouga barked at him.

"Silence!" Kuno chimed in. "He has already struck me twice! I will hear none of your complaints until I extract my revenge upon him."

"I didn't mean nothin', you morons!" Ranma soundly refuted the claims. "Just shut up and play, will y-!"

"Ranma!"

The heir to the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts propped his head back just enough to see Mousse storming over to him. "Yeah, what?"

"Where is Shampoo? I can't find her anywhere!" Mousse asked, clearly upset about the absence of his childhood crush.

"You tell me. Ain't you the last one that saw her?" Ranma retorted.

Realizing he wouldn't get the answers he wanted from his pigtailed nemesis, Mousse spun around and stumbled away looking gloomy as could be.

"Poor Mousse," Kasumi watched him with pity-filled eyes. "I do wonder why Shampoo hasn't shown up yet."

"It is kinda weird," Ranma agreed. He forgot about his game of Twister for a brief moment as he again wondered what the Amazon girl could be doing right now. "Where the heck is she?"

"Aww, what a cute kitty!"

"Poor thing must be cold..."

Passing by a pair of young women who were out for a walk, Shampoo continued on her journey through the snow-covered roads of the Nerima Ward with her present still dangling from her mouth. Changing into her cat form had slowed her down even more than she thought it would. At this point, she knew without even looking at a clock that she was cutting it extremely close if she wanted to make it to the Tendo residence before the party ended. She was chilly and a bit hungry, but she still pressed onward, confident that she could make it there on time.

After making it over a wall with the help of a trashcan, Shampoo ran through an alley and was turning right onto the next road when she heard the sound of barking coming from nearby. While she continued running, she peeked back and noticed a ragged-looking brown dog starting to give chase to her.

This was all she needed, the young Amazon thought to herself with annoyance.

Shampoo stopped for a moment and waited for the dog to come over to her, deciding to deal with it now rather than have the animal bothering her the rest of the way. Once the mutt got close enough, Shampoo raked her claws across its face, prompting it to yelp in pain.

The feline figured the dog would cower and leave her alone after the attack, but this one wasn't quite so cautious. Enraged by Shampoo's actions, the dog growled and started coming after her again.

Any other time, Shampoo could've dealt with an animal like this without a problem. But right now she had to worry about her gift for Ranma getting damaged in the course of a fight, and she didn't exactly have the time for this either. Thus, rather than fend off the dog, Shampoo instead spun around and began running again.

With the mutt in close pursuit, the agile cat waited until she spotted a mailbox and used it to hop up onto a retaining wall and out of the dog's range. It wasn't enough to deter the canine though, who continued to run alongside the wall barking at Shampoo.

The dog was irritating, but she would just have to put up with it for now, Shampoo figured. So long as she stayed on top of the wall, it would give up eventually.

Unfortunately for Shampoo, the walls, too, were covered in snow, and one misstep with her front paw sent her plummeting down into the road. She never let go of her gift despite the fall, however, and quickly regained her composure and took off again as the dog resumed its chase of her.

Falling from the wall was yet another mistake that Shampoo was upset with herself over. That was just how things were going for her tonight though, she thought bitterly. Right now, she needed to ditch the ragged-looking mutt so she could concentrate on getting to the Christmas party.

The chase involved several turns in different directions as Shampoo tried to find something that could boost her up onto a wall again. Then, after a few minutes, she made one final turn to her right and found herself staring ahead at another wall as she worked her way right into a dead end.

Not wasting any time, the dog charged at its cornered prey to get revenge for the claws to the face it had taken earlier. With few options remaining at the moment, Shampoo took a risk and lunged forward at the canine, managing to spring off of its face with enough force to propel herself onto one of the walls.

The dog was aggravated and began barking at her again, but Shampoo had won this time. Aware that she had little time to celebrate, the feline kicked some snow down onto the mutt with her hind legs to put a quick exclamation point on her victory and hopped down to the other side of the wall, on her way to the Tendo home once again.

After a long night of fun and celebration, the time had finally come for the main event of the Tendo Christmas party. Thus, with microphone in hand once more, Nabiki headed back up to the front of the dojo to address the guests.

"Okay everyone, we're now going to finish the night off with the gift-giving event!" she announced. "If you brought a present for someone, now's the time to give it to them. And please, no fighting this time! Thank you!"

As everyone began to exchange gifts with one another, Ryouga Hibiki stood in the middle of the room with his eyes fixated on the girl he loved. "Akane...this year I'll give it to you for sure," he said to himself. Gathering up his courage, the nervous Ryouga slowly began walking over to where Akane stood. But before he could reach her, he found a wooden sword blocking his path.

"Where do you think you are going?" Tatewaki Kuno asked him.

"What does it look like? I'm giving Akane my present," Ryouga told him. "Are you going to move your sword or do I have to do it?"

Kuno, amused by the answer, chuckled a bit as he brushed his hair back. "To presume you would have the honor of bestowing a gift upon the fair Akane Tendo before I...that is truly a foolish notion. I'm afraid you shall have to wait your turn."

The arrogant Tatewaki Kuno had begun strutting over to the youngest Tendo daughter when he suddenly found himself falling flat on his face after Ryouga stuck his foot out and tripped him.

"Like I'd ever wait for a blowhard like you," Ryouga snorted, stepping over the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High on his way over to Akane. The sting of a wooden sword striking him in the cranium stopped Ryouga in his tracks once again, though. Grabbing the back of his head in pain, the directionally challenged martial artist spun around and glared at the once more upright Kuno. "Why, you...looks like we need to settle this!"

"It seems that way, indeed," Kuno said in agreement.

Elsewhere in the dojo, Mousse continued looking around for Shampoo with no luck. "Shampoo! Where are you?" he groaned. "Ah!"

The user of hidden weapons lit up with joy when he noticed the very woman he was looking for standing over by one of the walls. Eager to give her his present, he hurried over and grabbed her by the hand. "There you are! I was looking everywhere for you!" he cheerfully exclaimed.

Confused, the girl tilted her head and gave Mousse a curious look. "Um..."

"Please, listen to me!" he interrupted her, holding his gift out in front of him. "I know you don't feel the same, but I've loved you since the moment we first met! So please, take this!"

"Why, Mousse...I never knew you felt that way," the girl replied, gladly accepting the present.

Feeling something was amiss, Mousse put on his glasses to confirm who he was talking to. As it turned out, it was none other than Nabiki Tendo.

"You're not really my type, but we'll see," Nabiki teased him. "You should know though, I'm a very needy girl."

"You...you're not Shampoo..." Mousse said, feeling more than a little embarrassed at his mistake.

Meanwhile, over by the entrance to the dojo, Kodachi was taking a small present from the Kuno family guardian that had just shown up.

"Here you are, Mistress Kuno! Just as you ordered!" Sasuke told her.

"Wonderful!" Kodachi said with delight, admiring the well-wrapped package in her hands. "With this, my darling Ranma will surely come to love me."

Kodachi quickly spun around to go give Ranma her gift, but didn't take the time to see if someone was behind her and ended up bumping directly into Ukyou Kuonji.

"Hey, watch it," Ukyou scowled.

"Me? You should not have been standing in my way in the first place!" Kodachi snapped back at her, then noticing the present in the young chef's hands. "I suppose you plan on giving that to my Ranma darling?"

"Well, duh! You got a problem with that?" Ukyou asked.

The Black Rose raised a hand to her mouth and began laughing in a condescending manner. "Please, do not bother. Your gift will only be put to shame by the incredible one I've brought for him."

"Yeah, something expensive I bet," Ukyou scoffed at her. "It's the thought that counts, not the price."

"Yes, I suppose that is the sort of thing a peasant would say," Kodachi chuckled.

"Excuse me?" the okonomiyaki chef snarled.

The heated interaction then took a sudden turn for the worse when the brawling Kuno and Ryouga bumped into Ukyou, who in turn bumped into Kodachi. Caught off guard by her rival being knocked into her, the younger Kuno sibling accidentally let her gift fall from her hands. The small package smashed into the dojo floor, emitting a shattering noise from within.

Kodachi looked horrified at what had become of her present.

"Oopsie. Guess that was fragile, huh?" Ukyou asked, trying hard not to smile at the dark-haired gymnast.

"You...!" Kodachi fumed, pulling a ribbon out from her dress. "You will pay for this!"

Watching the brawl break out from afar, Ranma could only shake his head and sigh. "I knew it was gonna happen," he muttered.

"Even though Nabiki said not to..." Akane said as she walked over to him.

"We shoulda known better," Ranma replied with a shrug. Ignoring the commotion for now, the pigtailed boy took a flat box with a ribbon tied around it and held it out to Akane. "Here."

"For...me?" Akane smiled as she took the gift from him. "Thank you, Ranma."

"Don't mention it," he said, turning away from his fiancée and acting like it wasn't a big deal.

Returning the favor, Akane handed Ranma a strangely wrapped box with a red bow on it. "Here!"

Ranma blinked several times as he looked down at the gift, amazed at the unique wrapping job Akane had done. "Whoa, it's easy to tell who wrapped this thing."

"Hey!" Akane swiped at him, taking offense to the comment.

"C'mon, I'm just kiddin'!" Ranma laughed. "Thanks for the present, Akane."

"Jeez, so I don't wrap presents well," Akane huffed. "I'll let it go this one time, since it's Christmas and all."

After running through the Nerima Ward of Tokyo throughout the entire evening, Shampoo was trudging along the road to the Tendo household at last, leaving a trail of pawprints in the snow as she passed under the streetlights.

She didn't know what time it was at the moment. All she knew was that the closer she got to this street, more and more homes had their lights turned off for the night. It had clearly gotten late, but the question was, how late?

When the Tendo home finally came into sight, the cold and worn out feline hurried over to the gate with the white paper bag containing Ranma's present hanging from her mouth, incredibly still in good shape despite everything she'd been through. This was it, she thought. She'd made it.

Once Shampoo reached the gate, however, she didn't want to believe what she saw. The lights in both the Tendo home and dojo were out. Everything was completely quiet.

The Christmas party, she realized, was already over.

Emotionally distraught, Shampoo slumped down into the snow and let Ranma's gift fall from her mouth. There weren't many instances where she felt like crying, but this was one of them. After everything she'd been through, spending the entire night trying to make it in time, she'd fallen short.

While she lay in the snow, a short break in the clouds overhead allowed the moon and stars to shine through. Shampoo peeked up at them for a moment, and, seemingly finding some inspiration, immediately shot to her feet and regained her composure.

The Christmas party may have been over, but it was still Christmas Eve. Even if Ranma had already gone to sleep for the night, she was going to deliver her gift to him no matter what.

Inside the Tendo's guest room, which had long since become the sleeping quarters of the Saotome's, both Ranma and Genma were snoring away in their futons, worn out from the Christmas party much like everyone else in the house.

As tired as he was, Ranma likely wouldn't have woken up for hours. On this night, however, he was to be denied the simple joy of an uninterrupted rest as his father rolled over in his sleep and backhanded him in the side of the face. Groaning as he was stirred from his slumber, the pigtailed boy reached up and batted Genma's arm back over to him, glaring over at him with annoyance.

"You jerk!" he fumed, feeling a strong urge to return the blow. He was simply too tired to go through with it at the moment though. Deciding that he could repay the punch another time, he opted instead to curl back up in his futon and resume his sleep.

Then, barely a minute after he laid back down, Ranma began to hear a strange noise coming from outside the door to their room. It was almost like something was clawing against the wood. He tried to ignore it at first, hoping that it would stop on its own, but it persisted for several minutes before he'd finally had enough. Jumping out of his futon, he stomped over to the door and leered down at the lower part of it, his eye twitching with irritation as the scratching sound continued.

"This better be good..." he grumbled.

Ranma reached forward and swung the door open. Finding a white and pink-furred cat with snow covering its legs and a paper bag in its mouth staring up at him, the horrified pigtailed boy shrieked and jumped back, falling to the floor as the cat let out a muffled meow.

"C-c-c-cat...!" Ranma stammered, his entire body shaking while he sat on the floor. The room was a bit dark, but upon closer inspection he realized that the cat looked familiar. "Sh-Sh-Shampoo...i-is that you...?"

Another light meow from the feline confirmed Ranma's suspicions and at the same time sent a chill down his spine. Trying to control himself, he gazed over to make sure his father was still asleep and then put his hand over his eyes so he couldn't see the cat.

"O-okay, Shampoo...here's what we're gonna do," he said in a loud whisper. "We're...we're gonna go downstairs, g-go to the kitchen, and get ya some hot water so you ain't a c-c-c-cat anymore..."

Wobbly-legged, Ranma managed to stand himself up and head down to the kitchen with Shampoo following behind. The sound of the cat's footsteps wasn't helping his nerves any, but he made it downstairs with his composure maintained nonetheless. After filling a kettle with water and setting it on the stove, Ranma turned and jumped as he spotted Shampoo sitting on the kitchen floor next to him.

"N-not so close!" he pleaded, placing a hand over his rapidly beating heart. "Y-y'know what, wait here a sec."

Shampoo watched curiously as Ranma walked out of the kitchen in search of something. A minute later, he returned with a light blue blanket in hand.

"Here," he said, dumping the blanket on her. "You ain't got any clothes, s-so I'm guessin' you'll need that. Where the heck were ya all night, anyway?"

The cat stuck its head out from under the blanket and meowed in response again, scaring Ranma half to death.

"N-n-nevermind! Just tell me in a sec!" he said.

When the water in the kettle had heated up enough, Ranma poured it over Shampoo's head, changing her back to her human form.

"Aiyaa, that feel good!" the Amazon girl said, wrapping herself in the blanket. "Shampoo get tired of being cat for so long."

Ranma was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief now that the cat was no more. "So you've been like that for a while, huh?" he asked, leaning up against the refrigerator. "What happened? Why didn't ya come to the party?"

"Is all that stupid Kuno girl fault!" Shampoo said with a scowl.

"Kodachi?" Ranma blinked. "What'd she do?"

From the moment she'd left the Cat Café earlier up to sneaking into the Tendo home just now, Shampoo explained everything that had taken place during the day to the pigtailed boy. Once she was finished, she clutched Ranma's gift in her hands and looked up at him.

"Wait, wait, wait..." Ranma said, scratching his head in disbelief, "you're tellin' me that you missed the party because ya spent all day tryin' to get back the Christmas present ya got me?"

"That right," Shampoo answered. With a warm smile, she reached out and handed Ranma the gift.

The young Saotome had mixed feelings as he stared down at the paper bag in his hands. "You didn't have to do that, Shampoo. You shoulda just forgot about it and come to the party to have fun with everyone."

Shampoo giggled a bit and shrugged, eying him with a tired look on her face. "Think about that, but no could let present go. Shampoo put much time into make that one, so want give to Ranma."

Still feeling a bit guilty, Ranma took the gift in his hands and gave it a closer look. "So...you made this, huh?"

"Mmhmm," Shampoo smiled. "Ranma open present now?"

As instructed, the pigtailed boy undid the tape on the white paper bag and opened it up. "Oh, hey...!" he brightened up, pulling out the blue and white piece of winter wear. "You made me a stocking cap?"

Shampoo nodded back at him, waiting to see his reaction. "Ranma like?"

"Like it? This is awesome!" he told her, placing the wool hat over his head. "It fits perfect, too! Man, my ears have been freezin' lately. You got no idea how bad I needed one of these!"

The lavender-haired girl did actually have some idea, having gotten a hint from overhearing Ranma and Akane talking outside the restaurant a week ago, but that didn't matter. All that was important was that Ranma loved the present she'd made for him.

"Oh, I guess since you're here now and all..." Ranma said, reaching into one of his pockets.

Shampoo watched as Ranma took out a small, white box with a red ribbon wrapped around it.

"Here," he said, kneeling down and holding out the box for her to take. "I woulda given it to ya earlier, but y'know..."

"This...for Shampoo?" the Amazon girl asked with surprise.

"Yeah," Ranma replied. "Go ahead."

So happy at the moment that she could almost cry, Shampoo took the ribbon off of the gift and opened it up. What she found sitting inside the box were a pair of gold-colored bells.

"They're bells, to put on your hair," the pigtailed boy told her. "I'm kinda broke so it ain't much, but-"

Ranma was quickly interrupted when Shampoo suddenly lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"Shampoo so happy!" she cried, overcome with joy that her love interest had actually gotten her a gift. "It no matter what is! Shampoo never let go of present Ranma give!"

"H-hey, now. I'm glad ya like 'em, but you're chokin' me here," Ranma laughed, a bit overwhelmed by her passion. "By the way, does the old hag know you're okay?"

Shampoo's eyes widened as she remembered that she hadn't spoken with Cologne since earlier in the day. "Aiyaa, Great-grandmother probably wonder where Shampoo at."

"It's pretty late, too," Ranma added. "You should probably go let her know you're okay."

She didn't really want to end her rare alone time with Ranma, but she figured he was probably right. With a disappointed sigh, Shampoo let go of him and tried to stand herself up. Her legs, however, weren't being very cooperative.

"What's up?" Ranma asked, quickly noticing her struggles.

"Shampoo run around in cold for long time, but now that stop, legs no want move again," she explained.

While the lavender-haired girl continued trying to awaken the lower half of her body, Ranma stood up and again began walking out of the kitchen. "Y'know what, you've done enough already. Hang on."

Returning a short time later with his light blue coat on, Ranma knelt down on the floor with his back facing Shampoo. "Hop on. I'll give ya a piggyback ride home."

Never one to pass up a golden opportunity like this, Shampoo gladly wrapped her arms around Ranma's neck and was hoisted up onto his back still wrapped in the blanket he'd brought her.

"Jeez, you're light," the pigtailed martial artist commented. "Alright, let's get goin'."

It wasn't a long trip back to the Cat Café, but Shampoo enjoyed it while she could, rubbing her head against the new stocking cap Ranma was wearing. "Was Christmas party fun?" she asked him.

"Yeah, it was alright," Ranma answered, trying to focus on the positive aspects of it rather than the negative. "Woulda been better if those idiots hadn't started fightin' again though."

"That never going to change," Shampoo laughed.

"Tell me about it," Ranma grumbled, hanging his head as he realized just how true that was. "What're you gonna do about Kodachi?"

Shampoo narrowed her eyes as she thought about what the Black Rose had done earlier. "Shampoo teach stupid Kuno girl lesson she never forget next time see her."

Ranma cringed at the thought of what Kodachi probably had coming for her. "Well, can't say she don't deserve it."

Once they'd reached the restaurant, Shampoo hopped down from Ranma's back and stretched her legs, making sure they were functioning again.

"You gonna be able to make it from here?" Ranma asked her.

The Amazon girl nodded, acknowledging that everything was moving properly. "Shampoo fine now."

"Alright, good. Don't worry 'bout the blanket, I'll come pick it up some other time," the pigtailed boy told her. "And hey, thanks again for the hat. I still wish ya didn't have to go through so much for it though."

Shampoo shook her head, brushing off Ranma's concerns. "Is what Shampoo want. Besides, get present from Ranma too, so is all worth it."

"Well, if that's how ya feel, then that's fine I guess," Ranma replied with a smile, waving his hand as he was about to leave. "See ya, Shampoo."

"Ah, Ranma-!"

Showing just how well her legs were working, Shampoo moved in fast and gave Ranma a peck on the lips, catching him completely by surprise.

"Merry Christmas," she giggled, turning toward the Cat Café's entrance. "See you later!"

As Shampoo headed inside and closed the door behind her, Ranma brushed his fingers against his lips for a moment before starting his trip back to the Tendo residence.

"Man, that girl..."

Opting to take a hot bath to warm herself up before getting some sleep, Shampoo laid back in the hot water with the bells Ranma had given her sitting on the rim of the bathtub. Most of what happened over the course of the day wasn't a lot of fun, but the end of it seemed to make everything bad that happened wash away.

The young Amazon jumped a bit as the door to the bathroom suddenly slid open, but she quickly relaxed when she saw that it was only a dreary-eyed Cologne standing in the doorway.

"Shampoo, there you are!" she said, relieved that her great-granddaughter was alright. "Where have you been? You completely missed the Christmas party!"

"Is okay, Great-grandmother. Many thing happen, but it all work out," Shampoo replied happily.

"Oh? Did something good happen?" Cologne asked her.

Smiling brightly, Shampoo nodded and looked over at the gold-colored bells again.

"Is best Christmas Shampoo ever have."

The End

Happy Holidays!