Man, I seems I'm not very good at this… I can't figure out how to fix the outline of this story so if anything is out of place, sorry. Also, though I use a word processor, I am a notoriously bad speller. Again, sorry.

All the credit of the all the Ranma1/2 characters to goes to Rumiko Takahashi but TAKASHI AND NAMINE ARE ALL MINE!!!! They don't play a major role but I needed them.

He was sweeping up the shop again like he had been ever since he came to Japan. Shampoo came out with some Raman to deliver. He sighed. He knew that he loved her but why couldn't she love him back? Maybe because all he was doing these days was cleaning up the garbage. He'd become a piece of the background when he was trying to be the main attraction.

Shampoo had run off to Japan just for Ranma. Didn't she realize what he had done, too? She may have left Japan but she brought her family with. He had left his family behind just to be with her. Wasn't his sacrifice so much harder to make?

But it wasn't. He didn't care what he had to do. He'd jump off a cliff if she would just say that she loved him. Knowing his luck though, she'd call him stupid and push him off herself.

Shampoo returned with a smile on her face. He couldn't tell if she was happy because she got somewhere with Ranma or if she was just happy to have seen him. Mousse couldn't pretend he didn't understand her happiness but it didn't stop him from getting angry.

That's why he was here cleaning up someone else's store. He wanted to be near her and if that's what he had to do, he'd do it. He'd have to tell her now; maybe she'd listen this time.

"Shampoo, can't you see that I'm the one who cares about you? Why must you keep going over to…?"

SMACK

"Stop talking to dog, stupid. Go get order."

Drat. Why couldn't he see it was a dog? Now that he was up close, he saw the lab with clarity as it licked him on the face with more saliva than he thought a dog possessed.

He couldn't win her over like this. The garbage boy, waiter, dog slobber magnet… This wasn't going to win Shampoo over.

"I'm going to find something I'm better at and make Shampoo see me as a man." He murmured under his breath, "But what am I good at?" He sat outside the door; pondering what new job he could get to make Shampoo see how important he was.

The sun had set and he was still wondering when…

"Stupid Mousse, why you no get order to customer? Mousse is good for nothing." She said, and dumped cold Raman over his head.

"No come back 'till listen Shampoo." She said as she closed the door on him.

"Damn it." He said and started to walk away; not even caring that there were still noodles in his hair.

BANG

Mousse turned just in time to see a bunch of men dress in thick dark jackets harassing a smaller thin man who had his hair tied back.

"Just give us the suitcase and no one gets hurt," said the leader, pointing a gun at the smaller man's chest.

Stupid idiots. They were so despicable as to use guns when the man was obviously already no match for them. That was low.

"I said hand it over." The buff man jabbed him with the gun.

Mousse grabbed his metal claw out of his robes along with some wire in his hair. His hands expertly grabbed the wire through the noodles and slop still in his hair.

The movement caught the man in the back's attention.

"Hey, there's a kid over hear!" he yelled, but it was too late. The claw grabbed all of the thugs together while the wire wrapped around them.

"You little brat!" The leader yelled. He had managed to keep his hold on the gun.

Mousse pulled out a heavy ball-and-chain from his sleeve and threw it at the man.

BANG

Mousse successfully knocked the gun out of his hands and towards the smaller man.

The would-be-victim picked up the gun and pointed it at his attackers.

"Don't mo-ove." He said quietly, his hands making the gun shake violently.

"Are-are y-you al-alright…?" He murmured, looking up at Mousse.

"I'm fine." Mousse said. The man pointed to a part of his forehead, his finger shaking.

"That does-doesn't hurt?"

Mousse put his hand to his forehead and felt something cold and sticky.

He looked at his hand.

Blood.

Then the world went black.

Takashi was sitting in the waiting room as the policeman walked away. He'd been talking to them for about an hour after they arrived at the hospital and they still weren't letting up.

Unfortunately, the young boy who had come around the corner and saved him had remained unconscious. Taka was so tired and worn out form all the stress but he couldn't find the piece of mind acquired to fall sleep.

No one had come to the hospital because the boy had no form of identification on him, so they couldn't call anyone. Taka hadn't understood how they couldn't figure out who he was and that, after so long someone, why nobody had been looking for him.

How could things have changed so quickly?

Taka had been working at the bank for almost four years now. He was only twenty-five and was just doing meager work. Then, when he got off that night, those men tried to rob him and he just froze up. They must have tough he had a lot of money.

Then the kid had come along and saved his life. If the robbers knew how little he had, they would have killed him in a second.

Once the boy's parents showed up he was going to leave. He was grateful for the save but Taka couldn't handle much more, he had a very low stress tolerance.

He spared a moment to wonder if the kid would be all right. The boy didn't even seem to notice when he was shot, but then he passed out. There was so much blood by the time Taka was able to get help, he wasn't sure if the injury was serious or not. Taka knew head wounds bled a lot but knowing was different then watching it.

Taka got up and went over to the desk. He'd been at the hospital for so long and he had to leave. He had been assaulted around six and it was just passed midnight now. He was sleep deprived and very hungry.

"Hi, I came in with the black haired boy about six hours ago. Is there anyway you can tell me his condition."

"You're not his parent or guardian, correct? Well, I can tell you he was moved out of emergency care and he's in stable condition." The girl behind the counter curtly said as she looked at her computer screen.

"Thanks" Taka gently replied, no energy left to be annoyed at her shrewd resonance. The boy wasn't in any real danger and Taka couldn't stay in the hospital any longer.

It was late but Taka called up his girlfriend and told her what happened. Namine was understanding and said she'd bike over and they could get something to eat.

He breathed a sigh of relief but his heart was still distant. He felt bad, leaving the kid with no one there.

Namine showed up about ten minuets later on her motorbike. Taka jumped on while she sat on the back shelf.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better" he murmured, "But I'm starving."

"Where do you want to eat? It's so late. There's not many places still open."

"I don't care." They rode around until he saw a light on in one of the restaurants.

"How about there?" he pointed to the place.

"Sure, I've never eaten in this part of town before." Namine lived in the other direction and Taka carpooled with a friend who got of earlier then he did that day.

"Welcome Cat Café. We close soon but what you like tonight?" a young girl asked as the sat down at the first table. The girl was cut but her appearance was diminished because of the dark circle sunder her eyes.

"Are you working here all alone?" Namine asked. What an awesome girlfriend he had.

"Hai Ya. But is not supposed to be. Stupid Mousse not show back up." She yawned. "No matter. He no good anyway."

"Oh that's too bad, I hate it when my coworkers don't show up, too." She said giving the girl an understanding smile. Taka really wasn't listening.

The young girl took their order and hastily brought it so that she could close up the shop. Taka would have felt worse but he was so hungry that he didn't care.

He practically devoured the soup as Namine starred at him.

"You really are hungry aren't you?" She asked as Taka shoveled some more noodles in his mouth.

"Well I've been at the hospital for hours and I missed out on lunch because of all this craziness."

"I know, I'm not holding it against you and it's cute so see you eat like that." She smiled and quietly laughed.

"Hum." He said though a mouth full of noodle. He'd rather eat then take her bait. But he smiled nonetheless.

They finished rather quickly and the girl came and took their bowls away. Taka mad a last minute decision.

"Hey, young lady, you get a lot of people in and out of here right? Would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Ok." She said and looked up at his tiredly. "What you want?"

"There was an accident earlier and someone got hurt. If someone is looking for a kid about your age with long black hair can you tell them, they're in the hospital down the street?"

"Is they hurt?" the girls red eyes looked at him, focusing intently.

"Yah, but I think they're ok now, thanks." He saw the girl's tension ease up.

"Do you know him?" His girlfriend turned to their waitress as Taka was about to leave.

"Yes." The girl seemed unfazed but they noticed she started to clean up at an almost inhuman pace.

This realization gave Taka a strong sense of relief. There was someone who knew the boy and could take care of the issue. He spared Namine a huge smile for her prowess as they walked out the door.

"Mousse is so stupid." Shampoo was sitting in the waiting room. She had to go through all these police and doctors before she could make them believe that she and her great-grandmother were the closest they could get to having Mousse's family there.

Shampoo had also learned how he got into this mess. If she hadn't thrown him out, this wouldn't have happened. But it was his fault not hers; he was a bad worker so she felt no regret.

She didn't really worry about him. Mousse wasn't strong but he wasn't weak either. She knew that his condition also wasn't very serious. She was just going to see him and leave.

The doctor came up to her.

"You can go in now. We're not really sure when he's going t wake up. The bullet didn't do any serious damage, but it seems he has a minor concussion."

She gave him a tired nod of thanks and walked over to the room. Mousse had a thick wrap around his forehead that pushed his long hair behind his ears.

She smiled for a second and leaned over him. She pulled a long noodle from his hair.

His face was really pale and he had an IV in his arm but he was alive so Shampoo saw no reason why she should stay. She'd known Mousse ever since they were little kids. He could take a beating pretty well.

This was something different though. Shampoo never grew up around guns and never really had to worry about them, even in Japan they were scarce. She was a Chinese Amazon Warrior not a killer, so she never came face to face with a gun before.

She left feeling assured that the doctors could take care of the rest. If they had questions, Shampoo had given them the number of the Café.

It had been two weeks since Mousse had been unconscious when Shampoo was called. Shampoo had been feeling bad the first week and had focused on doing her job. By the net week, that had bored her and she went back to visiting Ranma. She really didn't want to visit Mousse. The man, Takashi, who had come to the shop that night, was visiting him. Not like he would even notice.

The phone rang.

"Hello, Cat Café."

"Hello? I called to inform you that the patient here is currently awake and can be brought home within the week. We look forward to your arrival." A cheery woman's voice echoed across the speaker.

"Thank you." Shampoo hadn't wanted to visit him and now that he was awake, she wanted it even less. She had to go though.

"Great-grandmother, Shampoo leaving now." She yelled towards the back of the store.

It didn't take long to get to the hospital since Mousse had been in the neighborhood when he decided to be heroic.

"Hello. Shampoo here see Mousse."

After a few seconds of paper shuffling the attendant responded

"Go right ahead. It's the third room on the right."

Shampoo walked down to the room and went in.

Taka was sitting in a chair looking upset and talking to a doctor. Mousse was on the bed sitting up. He looked a lot better then he had when Shampoo had first seen him. His skin had gotten back some color and his eyes shown bright without his glasses. He looked confused as he tried to follow their conversation.

"Mousse, you all better? Shampoo come take you home."

Mousse looked up at her. He looked even more confused now that she was here, probably because he didn't have his glasses on.

The doctor turned to look at Shampoo. He didn't look very happy and Takashi wouldn't even meet her gaze. Something seemed fishy.

As it happened, Mousse had acquired some glasses at one point, which he put on. They weren't his large ones he usually wore because those were lost when he'd been shot. These new ones were much smaller and didn't obscure his eyes.

Mousse and Shampoo looked at each other for a while before the doctor cut in.

"I'm sorry. We didn't think this was going to happen. You can still take him home in a few days but be careful.

"Careful?"

Mousse spoke in a dry voice. "I don't mean to be rude but who are all you people?"

Well, that was the first chapter of my first Fanfiction _

I don't know anyone who does this, or even like anime (my friends suck *plugs my friends ears*) so any advice would be appreciated.

Oh, I'm putting the whole story for this one up at once…. It's not that long and I'm sorry but another fandom had stolen my love *sneaks away*