The Redheaded Amazon
                     By Valandar the Red


     As the Wrecking Crew recovered in the Amazon village 
after the battle with Saffron, Ranma spotted a young-
looking redheaded male Amazon sporting a Japanese katana in 
its sheath. "Hey, Cologne, why's that guy over there 
carryin' a katana?"

     The Matriarch followed his gaze, then nodded. "Ah, 
him. First, Son-in-law, that is not a katana - it is a 
sakaboto, a similar weapon, but with the edge on the inside 
of the blade's curve. Secondly, he is the descendant of one 
who came to us one hundred and fifty years ago."

     Ranma tugged on his braid, then asked, "Why the heck 
'd somebody want the edge on the inside?"

     "So he does not have to kill," was her simple reply. 
"His great-great grandfather was a samurai, displaced by 
the Meiji Restoration. Long before he came to us, he had 
forsworn killing, and used his family techniques with a 
sakaboto, and only in defense. He married into the tribe, 
and his direct male heirs have taken up his weapon and 
philosophy for the past four generations."

     Ranma grew thoughtful. "His family techniques, huh? 
D'ya know which family, or techniques?"

     "The family, he never said. His technique, however, 
was the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."

     Eyes widening, Ranma could only whisper, "T-the 
Bathowsai?"

     Cologne nodded. "But, with the incorporation of Amazon 
techniques, the title of the male heir has changed. The 
male heir is now known as..."

     "Yeah?" eagerly asked Ranma.

     "The Bathow-Soap."