Alive
By S. Mark Gunther
Mousse looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Another day, another 24 hours of chasing Shampoo. Nothing changed, especially considering the iceberg of a man that was Ranma Saotome never seemed to take anything seriously. His head throbbed from the long night at work. The pain seemed to rise up into his temples and swell across his forehead. It was a rough night.
All throughout the night he had dreamt that Shampoo was on the other side of a chasm and the chasm seemed to be wider then he could jump. Time and time again he would jump towards her and miss. And every time he missed and fell down into the valley, he'd climb back up and try it again. On and on this went in his dreams till he awoke with a shudder and a start. As he reflected on this a groan escaped his lips and floated to the ceiling like a warm wind.
He groped for his glasses on the small dresser beside his bed and slipped them on, smoothing his hair over his ears and rising up in his bed. The morning sunlight poured into the small room he lived in making him squint and try to focus. Senses in his body seared in the warmth of the new day and he could feel an overwhelming sense of optimism flow all over him. A smile crossed his lips and he slowly rose to his feet to begin the new day.
Slipping into a pair of work pants and a short shirt, he left his room and walked through the upstairs hallway, listening out for the normal sounds of the morning's work that he always heard. But oddly, there was nothing but the birds outside the windows singing and the gentle bowing and creaking of the house at rest. His feet carried him down the stairs and he saw the eastern sun shining through the windows. A shadow cast itself across the face of the wall clock and he had to squint to see it's time. 8:30.
'It's 8.30 and there is no one up and doing things here in the restaurant? Strange...' Mousse thought as he crossed over to the door and looked out of the drawn window shade. No one seemed to be standing outside the Nekohanten waiting to be served so Mousse opened the door and looked to see what was going on. As he opened the door, he could see a piece of paper attached to the door itself. He read it slowly, his foggy brain still not comprehending everything that was going on. ''Temporarily Closed'? What is this?' he thought as he ran back inside and up the stairs. "Cologne? Shampoo?! Is anyone here?!" he called out.
No one answered him as he turned the knob on Cologne's room. Surprisingly it opened and showed Mousse an empty room. Save the dresser, bed and table that were already there everything was gone from the room. Nothing was left. He hurried out of Cologne room and went next door to shampoo's room. Again, nothing there and no one there to yell at him. He wandered back downstairs in a deep fog. He proceeded over to the dining room and found no one there as well.
'What is going on?' he wondered as he looked around the quiet restaurant. As he scanned the room, his eyes caught sight of a manila envelope on the counter next to the cash register. He walked to it and picked it up, his hands involuntarily beginning to shake a little. He looked inside the envelope and saw many official looking pieces of paper, and a handwritten sheet of paper on the top. He took out the hand written sheet and began to read.
***
Mousse,
If you are reading this letter, you have no doubt realized that Shampoo and I are gone. I...I have been defeated in this game of wills and my great great granddaughter has been shamed long enough by Ranma Saotome and his family. Shampoo's skills have eroded to the point that even if she were to marry Ranma, she would have never become the warrior I need her to be. In short, I have given up for the sake of the tribe. My influence is weakening in the tribe and I need her to carry on our line of influence.
Using the help of Nabiki Tendo, we have found a loophole in the Amazon laws and have proceeded to annul the marriage to Ranma Saotome. Shampoo and I are going to the village to finalize the proceedings and re-install my great granddaughter into the Amazon tribe as a single woman. What does this mean to you, Mousse?
For starters, it means you are no longer a part of the Amazon tribes. Under my power as an elder of the Amazon tribes I am hereby banishing you from the tribe forever. Your sister, Eyeshadow will become the family redeemer and your mother will become her assignor to the council. I have left the papers to the Nekohanten and the money and equipment to you. You may do what you wish with the restaurant but I suggest you keep it and work there to make your own way in the world. Nabiki Tendo will handle all the business affairs for you if you chose to do so...for a fee.
Why have I done this, you may ask?
I have done this because you, Mousse, are not worthy to be a part of the Amazon tribes. You have brought dishonor on your family line time and time again by your schemes and for breaking your pact with your teacher, Lotion. You have pursued my great-granddaughter to the ends of the earth and assisting in making it impossible for her to fulfill her duties as an Amazon. At one time, you showed promise to eventually defeat my Shampoo and become her husband but you let your desires cloud your vision. You are no longer a defender of the tribe. You are not a man.
It is with my hope that this will force you to deal with your obsessions and regain the small part of you I respected. You were once far better then you are now, Mousse. One can only hope that this will force you to straighten up and fly right.
Cologne"
***
As he finished reading the letter, his eyes began to fill with tears and unspoken emotions. He calmly put the letter back into the envelope and shook back as many tears from his eyes as possible. Stumbling, he rose and went to the panty. There, in a deep shelf, he found the one thing that could satisfy him in this time of extreme pain. His heart shattered into a thousand pieces as he grabbed the bottle of Sake from the cabinet and a glass. Slowly the boy proceeded back to the counter and sat back down. The tears flowed fast from his eyes now as he uncapped the bottle and poured a large amount of the potent liquid into it. As he took his first sip, his tears came down in full force as an emotional dam broke in his heart.
Mousse, for the first time in his life, was well and truly alone.
-----
Nabiki Tendo walked up the street towards the Nekohanten. Her hands idly held a small notebook and purse as she walked. She reached the door and knocked on it, her feet tired from the day of collecting money and managing her business. At first no one answered the door but she persisted. A low voice rumbled from the inside of the Nekohanten, "Who...who is it?"
"It's Nabiki Tendo. Mousse, is that you?" Nabiki called out, her eyes scanning the door and the note attached to it. A few seconds passed and then the door opened slowly. Nabiki watched as Mousse appeared in front of her as he opened the door. His eyes were bloodshot and darkened; his shirt was stained and spotted. His whole body looked tired and beaten down. "Mousse, are you alright?"
"No. Please leave." Mousse attempted to close the door but was stopped as Nabiki stepped into the doorway. "I...I have nothing to say to you," he said, his voice thick with alcohol.
"But I have things to say to you. Like why I helped Shampoo to leave. And why I'm now going to be helping you. I don't think you have a reason to stop me from coming in," Nabiki replied firmly. "Please Mousse."
"...Alright. Please come in." Mousse stepped back and walked to the countertop where he had been sitting for the last 8 hours. Nabiki followed and noticed that the entire restaurant seemed in order, save the bottle on the countertop and the glass that Mousse gripped in his hand. She sat beside him and looked at the orderly pile in front of him.
"I see you've been drinking."
"Yes. Since this morning when I read the letter from Shampoo." Mousse said softly as he put his glass back down and sighed softly. "Why did you do it, Nabiki? Why did you ruin any chance I may have had to win her heart?"
"Because I wanted to solve some problems for my sister. Contrary to popular belief, I actually want Ranma and Akane to get married. And this was a way for me to give them a fighting chance at that," Nabiki replied calmly as she took the glass out of Mousse's reach and twirled it softly on the Formica. "And to be honest, I was tired of Shampoo destroying our house. She smashed through it too many times to mention when she just couldn't understand that Ranma was never going to love her."
"So I was nothing but an unfortunate victim of this, Nabiki?" Mousse replied softly, his voice deadly calm despite the large amounts of alcohol in his system. "Who do you think you are to hurt me like this?"
"I don't know who I am and I don't know who you are, Mousse. That is part of the reason why I did this." Nabiki turned and looked at the boy for a moment before continuing. "Mousse, Shampoo doesn't love you. She never did and she never will. She told me this when we were looking for a way for her to annul her engagement to Ranma. She doesn't even like you like a friend anymore. So I decided to help her and you out."
"I didn't ask you to do that." Mousse reached for the bottle and took a drink from it, his face grimacing slightly as the liquid went down his throat. "I didn't ask you to ruin my life, and I don't feel like I should be nice to you considering you've taken my life in your hands." His gaze turned upon Nabiki's and was shocked to see concern on her face. 'Why does she look like that?' he thought.
"And you weren't ruining your own life by fawning over Shampoo, Mousse?" Nabiki asked, her voice surprisingly flat."Seems to me that you're just mad because your obsessions are gone."
"...Just leave, Nabiki." Mousse said after a long moment's reflection. He turned his head away and gazed out into the kitchen area. His eyes seemed locked on the pots and pans that hung above the main working area. "All you can do now is make me angry. You've done enough to my heart and me for one damn day. Just go."
Nabiki began to say something but then stopped, her lips pursing into a tight seam. She rose out of her seat and walked to the door. As she reached the door, she stopped and turned. Her eyes caught a sight of the defeated Chinese boy, still slumped over the bottle he had been drinking from. "You know Mousse, I almost assumed you were stronger then this. But you're nothing but a quitter. You're worse then Ranma could ever be. Shampoo should be glad she doesn't have to deal with a failure like you anymore." Her voice cracked slightly as she finished her statement, but she held her emotions fast and left the Nekohanten.
Mousse could feel his heart beginning to harden more and more as the room began to lapse back into the loud silence that he had heard all day. His hand gripped the bottle strongly; his eyes stared off into the distance. Then, with a solemn movement, he got up and moved towards the kitchen. Before he left he grabbed the bottle and the glass. Slinking slowly to the kitchen, he placed the bottle and the glass in the sink. Wobbly, yet determined, he walked back to the counter and placed the papers he had received back into the manila envelope. He could feel his feet carrying him to the door, his steps heavy and slow. Slowly he turned the knob and left the small restaurant, locking the door behind him as he went.
With that, he started walking towards the one place he knew he could go to settle this newfound set of issues he had.
-----
Nabiki Tendo approached her house and saw Ranma Saotome fly out of the door, his feet carrying him away from the dojo as fast as humanly possible. Nabiki could hear his screaming from nearly a quarter mile away from the house, and as she got closer and saw him running by her only one thing could she discern from Ranma's screaming:
"UN-CUTE TOMBOY!!!!!!!!!"
He roared by her, the wind flipping up her skirt and showing off her trim legs to the cats and dogs that lay in the street paralyzed by Ranma's screaming. She smoothed her skirt and approached the house, only to see Akane come out, her mallet in hand and her anger evident from a mile away.
"JERK!!!!!!" She screamed over and over, her voice causing the previously paralyzed dogs and cats to writhe in another shockwave of pain.
"What's going on?" Nabiki asked as she reached over and took the mallet out of Akane's hands.
"...Wouldn't. Even. Taste. It." was all Akane could mutter as she stormed back into the house. Nabiki sighed and dropped the surprisingly heavy hammer to the ground as she walked into the house. As she came in, she could see the house was in shambles. Splatters of organic looking material, food, dishes and other assorted culinary items were strewn around the walls of the room. A shocked and ashen Soun Tendo sat with Genma Saotome, their shogi board covered in miso soup and an unidentified organism that looked almost human. Kasumi stood in the doorway to the kitchen, her head shaking slightly.
"Let me guess. Akane tried to cook again." Nabiki said tiredly, her eyes scanning for a place to sit and not stain her clothes. She found it and sat at the one spot at the table that wasn't covered with food.
"Not cook. Create new life from beef stew." Kasumi said with a smile, her own eyes looking tired. She sat across from Nabiki, her hands wiping up a bit of soup with a rag before she sat. "I left for the market and by the time I got back, Akane had taken over the kitchen. I could do very little as she had the kind of eyes that told me she was determined to do something. I had hoped she would succeed for once."
"Well, it looks like she succeeded in creating something. And in scaring Ranma off." Nabiki said lightly, primly folding her hands into her lap. For a moment, neither Tendo daughter spoke and all was quiet in the house. Nabiki could see the lines of age beginning to creep up on Kasumi's face and it concerned her. She was still young, only 20, and yet she already took the look of a far older woman. Nabiki didn't like the idea that her sister was growing too old before her time.
A knock on the door made both of their heads turn. Nabiki rose and walked to the door, a growing sense of concern beginning to creep up on her neck. She opened the door and gasped slightly as she saw a dark-eyed and very angry looking Mousse standing there. In his right hand was a long dagger and in his left were three blades that looked suspiciously like the blades to his wings. "May I come in, Nabiki?" he said softly, his voice thick with drink. The middle Tendo sister merely nodded and showed the Amazon male in.
Mousse sat down on the floor next to the table and placed both the blades and the dagger on the food-stained top, looking over at the sisters as they regained their seats. "I apologize for coming here unannounced, but I need to say some things to both of you," Mousse said slowly.
"It's alright Mousse," Kasumi replied cheerfully, her face and voice back to their normal buoyancy and brightness. "We were just observing Akane's latest cooking experiment."
"Keyword on experiment," Nabiki chimed in, looking more and more like her normal self with every passing second.
"Whatever," Mousse said shortly, his hand reaching into his breast pocket, retrieving the manila envelope he had received before. "This envelope is the only thing that will assure me of my future and you have seen all of it, Nabiki." He laid it down on the only dry area on the table and looked at the middle Tendo daughter with a cold expression. "I have thought about what Cologne and Shampoo and you have done to me and I've come up with a solution."
"Which is?" Nabiki asked, her eyebrow rising just slightly.
"You will assist me in becoming a partner with Ukyou in her restaurant and we will build both restaurants up into one unified project. The earning split will 85 percent to Ukyou and I with she and I splitting the money equally and 15 percent to you. You will also receive a residual payment upon the sale of the Nekohanten, which you will assist in. You will help me enroll at Furnikan High school so I can obtain my high school diploma. I know the immigration service will eventually look at me for deportation so you will get them the hell off my back.
"And finally, you will allow me to take Akane under my wing for one week of intense cooking training at the new restaurant while she is on break. I am sick and tired of Ranma and Akane's fights over food and I feel that if they are destined to marry, she should be able to cook. I will teach her the way I was taught. Roughly." Mousse paused and took a deep breath, his voice ragged from the many hours of drinking. "As much as I hate you Nabiki, I'm swallowing my pride in coming to you. You've decided to intertwine yourself in my life. Now I'm going to make sure you and I are intertwined for good because if I go down in flames I'm sure as hell going to take you with me."
"What makes you think you're in a position to make terms like that to me, Mousse," Nabiki said coldly, her mind shifting back into businesswoman mode.
"The sheer fact that you must be poorer then usual to do something this heinous to me. You ruined my life, Nabiki," Mousse replied darkly. "I should be destroying this house and everyone in it for your act against me. But I'm not because I took a long time to think after you left. I'm no quitter and I'm not a failure. I'm going to prove it to you and everyone else here by using you to get what I want." His face was pale and flushed but he soldiered on in his words. "You know I will do it if you refuse. And remember, we're talking about a very profitable deal here. Steady, guilt-free money for your family on the back of someone you violated. It's an offer I don't think you can refuse."
"I'll have to think on it..." Nabiki started, but was cut off as she looked at Mousse's face. His eyes burned laser beams into hers and she paralyzed for a moment. His sheer anger seemed to radiate off of him brighter then any of Ranma's energy fields.
"You have 60 seconds to decide. Otherwise, I start breaking windows and glasses here. And anyone who gets in my way will be hurt." Mousse said calmly, his anger beginning to crystallize into something more then rage.
Nabiki could see the futility in trying to resist and she nodded her head slowly. "Yes. I accept your terms Mousse. Please excuse me while I get some paper and a pen to outline this arrangement."
"No," Mousse said softly, "fix me a place to sleep. I'm staying here for the night after I help Kasumi clean this mess."
"Why are you staying with us, Mousse?" Kasumi asked softly.
"Because I'm so hung over I cannot make it back to my house safely. I have just enough energy and strength to help you clean up this mess and then drag myself into bed. Please do this for me." Mousse hung his head slightly, his whole body collapsing under the weight of his heart. The anger broken, all he could feel now was a sense of great loss and mourn. He looked up as he felt Nabiki's hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to help us clean Mousse. I'll fix you a place in the attic." She smiled a little, her own mind beginning to formulate a new plan to work this deal around to her advantage. "I'll be back to show you to your bed."
"Thank you." As Nabiki left, Mousse could feel Kasumi's eyes on his body and he turned to her with a smile. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me Nabiki?"
"Why did you come here and do this?" Kasumi asked, her voice dropping slightly, her face losing its smile.
"Because Nabiki interfered with my life and didn't think a damn about it. I figure turnabout is truly fair play. All I can do now is start over. And if she broke me down she will damn sure help me get back to something." Mousse sighed and shuddered slightly. "Although, I'm not even sure if I can be angry with her much longer."
"Why?"
"Because she saved me. As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Shampoo never loved me, nor would she. I was obsessing myself with someone who for all intensive purposes could only be my friend. Something had to give." Mousse paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "It's like seeing you're past life in a grave as you're walking into another world. I just wish Nabiki hadn't decided to take the role of death."
"Did you ever assume she was doing it for more then just money? Or the idea of tormenting you?" Kasumi asked, her voice mature and slow, almost like a mother's.
"...No."
"Then listen to me." Kasumi moved over next to Mousse and took his hand in hers. "I talked with Nabiki about this and we both agreed that this had to be done. Ranma and Akane are going to be married because we need someone to carry our family name forward. I will probably be here all my life and Nabiki has a bright future ahead of her. That leaves Ranma and Akane. They are the only ones who can bring this forward. Everyone else in the way must acquiesce, one way or another."
"...So you're going to pair them together whether they like it or not, shrugging aside anyone else who might have even partially legitimate claims to their hearts?" Mousse asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"Our fathers made this mistake before we had a say. We cannot stop their wishes; only try to mend as many seams as possible while keeping this one intact. It is the honorable thing to do." Kasumi could feel the scorn and anger rising into her hand from Mousse's body, but just as she steeled herself against the storm of his anger it dissipated. All of a sudden he collapsed forward into her lap, his head resting against her stomach, his body cradled lightly in her body. She gasped but softened after a moment of hearing his sobbing.
"So for...your...family's honor...you destroyed me??" he sobbed lowly, his head burying itself deeper into her tummy. She quickly wrapped her arms around the boy and began to hold him close. Moments passed and the two sat there, Kasumi holding the boy like a mother and Mousse weeping out his final bit of anger. "I tried...so hard...so fucking hard...why couldn't she love me? Why?" His voice, ragged and torn with the tears, barreled out his mouth and he clung tight to Kasumi involuntarily.
"It's alright Mousse. I'm here for you. Just let go of it all," Kasumi murmured softly as she stroked Mousse's hair and held him in her lap. All her motherly instincts came out of her in the moment and she began to exude warmth from her grip on his body. Mousse clung to Kasumi like a son crying to his mother after his first fight, her warmth and sanctuary bringing him in.
"Why did you do this to me? Why did you? Why..." Mousse murmured softly, his crying beginning to slow down as his body began to fade out of consciousness. The room began to spin, his head began to swim, and his vision became even blurrier...
-----
Mousse awoke with a start, and then a groan as the pain of a massive hangover began to sweep over him. It was dark. The bed he laid on was soft, softer then he expected. He looked down and saw the sheets of the bed. They were soft, girlish looking. He rolled his head over and saw the content face of Kasumi lying next to him. Her clothing was still on, but her breathing was slow and sure. She seemed so peaceful. Mousse began to blanche over with fear.
'I can't believe this is happening', he thought quietly as another shot of pain rifled through him like a freight train. A silent groan from his lips caused a murmuring from Kasumi's lips. She clutched at his arm in her sleep, her eyes scrunching tightly. He leaned over with a great effort and kissed the top of her forehead. As he touched her forehead, she smiled slightly and seemed to relax again. Mousse felt his head sink back to the pillow. As sleep overtook him he could feel his body begin to sink back into the warm watery feeling he had been living in. It was not altogether a bad feeling.
By S. Mark Gunther
Mousse looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Another day, another 24 hours of chasing Shampoo. Nothing changed, especially considering the iceberg of a man that was Ranma Saotome never seemed to take anything seriously. His head throbbed from the long night at work. The pain seemed to rise up into his temples and swell across his forehead. It was a rough night.
All throughout the night he had dreamt that Shampoo was on the other side of a chasm and the chasm seemed to be wider then he could jump. Time and time again he would jump towards her and miss. And every time he missed and fell down into the valley, he'd climb back up and try it again. On and on this went in his dreams till he awoke with a shudder and a start. As he reflected on this a groan escaped his lips and floated to the ceiling like a warm wind.
He groped for his glasses on the small dresser beside his bed and slipped them on, smoothing his hair over his ears and rising up in his bed. The morning sunlight poured into the small room he lived in making him squint and try to focus. Senses in his body seared in the warmth of the new day and he could feel an overwhelming sense of optimism flow all over him. A smile crossed his lips and he slowly rose to his feet to begin the new day.
Slipping into a pair of work pants and a short shirt, he left his room and walked through the upstairs hallway, listening out for the normal sounds of the morning's work that he always heard. But oddly, there was nothing but the birds outside the windows singing and the gentle bowing and creaking of the house at rest. His feet carried him down the stairs and he saw the eastern sun shining through the windows. A shadow cast itself across the face of the wall clock and he had to squint to see it's time. 8:30.
'It's 8.30 and there is no one up and doing things here in the restaurant? Strange...' Mousse thought as he crossed over to the door and looked out of the drawn window shade. No one seemed to be standing outside the Nekohanten waiting to be served so Mousse opened the door and looked to see what was going on. As he opened the door, he could see a piece of paper attached to the door itself. He read it slowly, his foggy brain still not comprehending everything that was going on. ''Temporarily Closed'? What is this?' he thought as he ran back inside and up the stairs. "Cologne? Shampoo?! Is anyone here?!" he called out.
No one answered him as he turned the knob on Cologne's room. Surprisingly it opened and showed Mousse an empty room. Save the dresser, bed and table that were already there everything was gone from the room. Nothing was left. He hurried out of Cologne room and went next door to shampoo's room. Again, nothing there and no one there to yell at him. He wandered back downstairs in a deep fog. He proceeded over to the dining room and found no one there as well.
'What is going on?' he wondered as he looked around the quiet restaurant. As he scanned the room, his eyes caught sight of a manila envelope on the counter next to the cash register. He walked to it and picked it up, his hands involuntarily beginning to shake a little. He looked inside the envelope and saw many official looking pieces of paper, and a handwritten sheet of paper on the top. He took out the hand written sheet and began to read.
***
Mousse,
If you are reading this letter, you have no doubt realized that Shampoo and I are gone. I...I have been defeated in this game of wills and my great great granddaughter has been shamed long enough by Ranma Saotome and his family. Shampoo's skills have eroded to the point that even if she were to marry Ranma, she would have never become the warrior I need her to be. In short, I have given up for the sake of the tribe. My influence is weakening in the tribe and I need her to carry on our line of influence.
Using the help of Nabiki Tendo, we have found a loophole in the Amazon laws and have proceeded to annul the marriage to Ranma Saotome. Shampoo and I are going to the village to finalize the proceedings and re-install my great granddaughter into the Amazon tribe as a single woman. What does this mean to you, Mousse?
For starters, it means you are no longer a part of the Amazon tribes. Under my power as an elder of the Amazon tribes I am hereby banishing you from the tribe forever. Your sister, Eyeshadow will become the family redeemer and your mother will become her assignor to the council. I have left the papers to the Nekohanten and the money and equipment to you. You may do what you wish with the restaurant but I suggest you keep it and work there to make your own way in the world. Nabiki Tendo will handle all the business affairs for you if you chose to do so...for a fee.
Why have I done this, you may ask?
I have done this because you, Mousse, are not worthy to be a part of the Amazon tribes. You have brought dishonor on your family line time and time again by your schemes and for breaking your pact with your teacher, Lotion. You have pursued my great-granddaughter to the ends of the earth and assisting in making it impossible for her to fulfill her duties as an Amazon. At one time, you showed promise to eventually defeat my Shampoo and become her husband but you let your desires cloud your vision. You are no longer a defender of the tribe. You are not a man.
It is with my hope that this will force you to deal with your obsessions and regain the small part of you I respected. You were once far better then you are now, Mousse. One can only hope that this will force you to straighten up and fly right.
Cologne"
***
As he finished reading the letter, his eyes began to fill with tears and unspoken emotions. He calmly put the letter back into the envelope and shook back as many tears from his eyes as possible. Stumbling, he rose and went to the panty. There, in a deep shelf, he found the one thing that could satisfy him in this time of extreme pain. His heart shattered into a thousand pieces as he grabbed the bottle of Sake from the cabinet and a glass. Slowly the boy proceeded back to the counter and sat back down. The tears flowed fast from his eyes now as he uncapped the bottle and poured a large amount of the potent liquid into it. As he took his first sip, his tears came down in full force as an emotional dam broke in his heart.
Mousse, for the first time in his life, was well and truly alone.
-----
Nabiki Tendo walked up the street towards the Nekohanten. Her hands idly held a small notebook and purse as she walked. She reached the door and knocked on it, her feet tired from the day of collecting money and managing her business. At first no one answered the door but she persisted. A low voice rumbled from the inside of the Nekohanten, "Who...who is it?"
"It's Nabiki Tendo. Mousse, is that you?" Nabiki called out, her eyes scanning the door and the note attached to it. A few seconds passed and then the door opened slowly. Nabiki watched as Mousse appeared in front of her as he opened the door. His eyes were bloodshot and darkened; his shirt was stained and spotted. His whole body looked tired and beaten down. "Mousse, are you alright?"
"No. Please leave." Mousse attempted to close the door but was stopped as Nabiki stepped into the doorway. "I...I have nothing to say to you," he said, his voice thick with alcohol.
"But I have things to say to you. Like why I helped Shampoo to leave. And why I'm now going to be helping you. I don't think you have a reason to stop me from coming in," Nabiki replied firmly. "Please Mousse."
"...Alright. Please come in." Mousse stepped back and walked to the countertop where he had been sitting for the last 8 hours. Nabiki followed and noticed that the entire restaurant seemed in order, save the bottle on the countertop and the glass that Mousse gripped in his hand. She sat beside him and looked at the orderly pile in front of him.
"I see you've been drinking."
"Yes. Since this morning when I read the letter from Shampoo." Mousse said softly as he put his glass back down and sighed softly. "Why did you do it, Nabiki? Why did you ruin any chance I may have had to win her heart?"
"Because I wanted to solve some problems for my sister. Contrary to popular belief, I actually want Ranma and Akane to get married. And this was a way for me to give them a fighting chance at that," Nabiki replied calmly as she took the glass out of Mousse's reach and twirled it softly on the Formica. "And to be honest, I was tired of Shampoo destroying our house. She smashed through it too many times to mention when she just couldn't understand that Ranma was never going to love her."
"So I was nothing but an unfortunate victim of this, Nabiki?" Mousse replied softly, his voice deadly calm despite the large amounts of alcohol in his system. "Who do you think you are to hurt me like this?"
"I don't know who I am and I don't know who you are, Mousse. That is part of the reason why I did this." Nabiki turned and looked at the boy for a moment before continuing. "Mousse, Shampoo doesn't love you. She never did and she never will. She told me this when we were looking for a way for her to annul her engagement to Ranma. She doesn't even like you like a friend anymore. So I decided to help her and you out."
"I didn't ask you to do that." Mousse reached for the bottle and took a drink from it, his face grimacing slightly as the liquid went down his throat. "I didn't ask you to ruin my life, and I don't feel like I should be nice to you considering you've taken my life in your hands." His gaze turned upon Nabiki's and was shocked to see concern on her face. 'Why does she look like that?' he thought.
"And you weren't ruining your own life by fawning over Shampoo, Mousse?" Nabiki asked, her voice surprisingly flat."Seems to me that you're just mad because your obsessions are gone."
"...Just leave, Nabiki." Mousse said after a long moment's reflection. He turned his head away and gazed out into the kitchen area. His eyes seemed locked on the pots and pans that hung above the main working area. "All you can do now is make me angry. You've done enough to my heart and me for one damn day. Just go."
Nabiki began to say something but then stopped, her lips pursing into a tight seam. She rose out of her seat and walked to the door. As she reached the door, she stopped and turned. Her eyes caught a sight of the defeated Chinese boy, still slumped over the bottle he had been drinking from. "You know Mousse, I almost assumed you were stronger then this. But you're nothing but a quitter. You're worse then Ranma could ever be. Shampoo should be glad she doesn't have to deal with a failure like you anymore." Her voice cracked slightly as she finished her statement, but she held her emotions fast and left the Nekohanten.
Mousse could feel his heart beginning to harden more and more as the room began to lapse back into the loud silence that he had heard all day. His hand gripped the bottle strongly; his eyes stared off into the distance. Then, with a solemn movement, he got up and moved towards the kitchen. Before he left he grabbed the bottle and the glass. Slinking slowly to the kitchen, he placed the bottle and the glass in the sink. Wobbly, yet determined, he walked back to the counter and placed the papers he had received back into the manila envelope. He could feel his feet carrying him to the door, his steps heavy and slow. Slowly he turned the knob and left the small restaurant, locking the door behind him as he went.
With that, he started walking towards the one place he knew he could go to settle this newfound set of issues he had.
-----
Nabiki Tendo approached her house and saw Ranma Saotome fly out of the door, his feet carrying him away from the dojo as fast as humanly possible. Nabiki could hear his screaming from nearly a quarter mile away from the house, and as she got closer and saw him running by her only one thing could she discern from Ranma's screaming:
"UN-CUTE TOMBOY!!!!!!!!!"
He roared by her, the wind flipping up her skirt and showing off her trim legs to the cats and dogs that lay in the street paralyzed by Ranma's screaming. She smoothed her skirt and approached the house, only to see Akane come out, her mallet in hand and her anger evident from a mile away.
"JERK!!!!!!" She screamed over and over, her voice causing the previously paralyzed dogs and cats to writhe in another shockwave of pain.
"What's going on?" Nabiki asked as she reached over and took the mallet out of Akane's hands.
"...Wouldn't. Even. Taste. It." was all Akane could mutter as she stormed back into the house. Nabiki sighed and dropped the surprisingly heavy hammer to the ground as she walked into the house. As she came in, she could see the house was in shambles. Splatters of organic looking material, food, dishes and other assorted culinary items were strewn around the walls of the room. A shocked and ashen Soun Tendo sat with Genma Saotome, their shogi board covered in miso soup and an unidentified organism that looked almost human. Kasumi stood in the doorway to the kitchen, her head shaking slightly.
"Let me guess. Akane tried to cook again." Nabiki said tiredly, her eyes scanning for a place to sit and not stain her clothes. She found it and sat at the one spot at the table that wasn't covered with food.
"Not cook. Create new life from beef stew." Kasumi said with a smile, her own eyes looking tired. She sat across from Nabiki, her hands wiping up a bit of soup with a rag before she sat. "I left for the market and by the time I got back, Akane had taken over the kitchen. I could do very little as she had the kind of eyes that told me she was determined to do something. I had hoped she would succeed for once."
"Well, it looks like she succeeded in creating something. And in scaring Ranma off." Nabiki said lightly, primly folding her hands into her lap. For a moment, neither Tendo daughter spoke and all was quiet in the house. Nabiki could see the lines of age beginning to creep up on Kasumi's face and it concerned her. She was still young, only 20, and yet she already took the look of a far older woman. Nabiki didn't like the idea that her sister was growing too old before her time.
A knock on the door made both of their heads turn. Nabiki rose and walked to the door, a growing sense of concern beginning to creep up on her neck. She opened the door and gasped slightly as she saw a dark-eyed and very angry looking Mousse standing there. In his right hand was a long dagger and in his left were three blades that looked suspiciously like the blades to his wings. "May I come in, Nabiki?" he said softly, his voice thick with drink. The middle Tendo sister merely nodded and showed the Amazon male in.
Mousse sat down on the floor next to the table and placed both the blades and the dagger on the food-stained top, looking over at the sisters as they regained their seats. "I apologize for coming here unannounced, but I need to say some things to both of you," Mousse said slowly.
"It's alright Mousse," Kasumi replied cheerfully, her face and voice back to their normal buoyancy and brightness. "We were just observing Akane's latest cooking experiment."
"Keyword on experiment," Nabiki chimed in, looking more and more like her normal self with every passing second.
"Whatever," Mousse said shortly, his hand reaching into his breast pocket, retrieving the manila envelope he had received before. "This envelope is the only thing that will assure me of my future and you have seen all of it, Nabiki." He laid it down on the only dry area on the table and looked at the middle Tendo daughter with a cold expression. "I have thought about what Cologne and Shampoo and you have done to me and I've come up with a solution."
"Which is?" Nabiki asked, her eyebrow rising just slightly.
"You will assist me in becoming a partner with Ukyou in her restaurant and we will build both restaurants up into one unified project. The earning split will 85 percent to Ukyou and I with she and I splitting the money equally and 15 percent to you. You will also receive a residual payment upon the sale of the Nekohanten, which you will assist in. You will help me enroll at Furnikan High school so I can obtain my high school diploma. I know the immigration service will eventually look at me for deportation so you will get them the hell off my back.
"And finally, you will allow me to take Akane under my wing for one week of intense cooking training at the new restaurant while she is on break. I am sick and tired of Ranma and Akane's fights over food and I feel that if they are destined to marry, she should be able to cook. I will teach her the way I was taught. Roughly." Mousse paused and took a deep breath, his voice ragged from the many hours of drinking. "As much as I hate you Nabiki, I'm swallowing my pride in coming to you. You've decided to intertwine yourself in my life. Now I'm going to make sure you and I are intertwined for good because if I go down in flames I'm sure as hell going to take you with me."
"What makes you think you're in a position to make terms like that to me, Mousse," Nabiki said coldly, her mind shifting back into businesswoman mode.
"The sheer fact that you must be poorer then usual to do something this heinous to me. You ruined my life, Nabiki," Mousse replied darkly. "I should be destroying this house and everyone in it for your act against me. But I'm not because I took a long time to think after you left. I'm no quitter and I'm not a failure. I'm going to prove it to you and everyone else here by using you to get what I want." His face was pale and flushed but he soldiered on in his words. "You know I will do it if you refuse. And remember, we're talking about a very profitable deal here. Steady, guilt-free money for your family on the back of someone you violated. It's an offer I don't think you can refuse."
"I'll have to think on it..." Nabiki started, but was cut off as she looked at Mousse's face. His eyes burned laser beams into hers and she paralyzed for a moment. His sheer anger seemed to radiate off of him brighter then any of Ranma's energy fields.
"You have 60 seconds to decide. Otherwise, I start breaking windows and glasses here. And anyone who gets in my way will be hurt." Mousse said calmly, his anger beginning to crystallize into something more then rage.
Nabiki could see the futility in trying to resist and she nodded her head slowly. "Yes. I accept your terms Mousse. Please excuse me while I get some paper and a pen to outline this arrangement."
"No," Mousse said softly, "fix me a place to sleep. I'm staying here for the night after I help Kasumi clean this mess."
"Why are you staying with us, Mousse?" Kasumi asked softly.
"Because I'm so hung over I cannot make it back to my house safely. I have just enough energy and strength to help you clean up this mess and then drag myself into bed. Please do this for me." Mousse hung his head slightly, his whole body collapsing under the weight of his heart. The anger broken, all he could feel now was a sense of great loss and mourn. He looked up as he felt Nabiki's hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to help us clean Mousse. I'll fix you a place in the attic." She smiled a little, her own mind beginning to formulate a new plan to work this deal around to her advantage. "I'll be back to show you to your bed."
"Thank you." As Nabiki left, Mousse could feel Kasumi's eyes on his body and he turned to her with a smile. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me Nabiki?"
"Why did you come here and do this?" Kasumi asked, her voice dropping slightly, her face losing its smile.
"Because Nabiki interfered with my life and didn't think a damn about it. I figure turnabout is truly fair play. All I can do now is start over. And if she broke me down she will damn sure help me get back to something." Mousse sighed and shuddered slightly. "Although, I'm not even sure if I can be angry with her much longer."
"Why?"
"Because she saved me. As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Shampoo never loved me, nor would she. I was obsessing myself with someone who for all intensive purposes could only be my friend. Something had to give." Mousse paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "It's like seeing you're past life in a grave as you're walking into another world. I just wish Nabiki hadn't decided to take the role of death."
"Did you ever assume she was doing it for more then just money? Or the idea of tormenting you?" Kasumi asked, her voice mature and slow, almost like a mother's.
"...No."
"Then listen to me." Kasumi moved over next to Mousse and took his hand in hers. "I talked with Nabiki about this and we both agreed that this had to be done. Ranma and Akane are going to be married because we need someone to carry our family name forward. I will probably be here all my life and Nabiki has a bright future ahead of her. That leaves Ranma and Akane. They are the only ones who can bring this forward. Everyone else in the way must acquiesce, one way or another."
"...So you're going to pair them together whether they like it or not, shrugging aside anyone else who might have even partially legitimate claims to their hearts?" Mousse asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"Our fathers made this mistake before we had a say. We cannot stop their wishes; only try to mend as many seams as possible while keeping this one intact. It is the honorable thing to do." Kasumi could feel the scorn and anger rising into her hand from Mousse's body, but just as she steeled herself against the storm of his anger it dissipated. All of a sudden he collapsed forward into her lap, his head resting against her stomach, his body cradled lightly in her body. She gasped but softened after a moment of hearing his sobbing.
"So for...your...family's honor...you destroyed me??" he sobbed lowly, his head burying itself deeper into her tummy. She quickly wrapped her arms around the boy and began to hold him close. Moments passed and the two sat there, Kasumi holding the boy like a mother and Mousse weeping out his final bit of anger. "I tried...so hard...so fucking hard...why couldn't she love me? Why?" His voice, ragged and torn with the tears, barreled out his mouth and he clung tight to Kasumi involuntarily.
"It's alright Mousse. I'm here for you. Just let go of it all," Kasumi murmured softly as she stroked Mousse's hair and held him in her lap. All her motherly instincts came out of her in the moment and she began to exude warmth from her grip on his body. Mousse clung to Kasumi like a son crying to his mother after his first fight, her warmth and sanctuary bringing him in.
"Why did you do this to me? Why did you? Why..." Mousse murmured softly, his crying beginning to slow down as his body began to fade out of consciousness. The room began to spin, his head began to swim, and his vision became even blurrier...
-----
Mousse awoke with a start, and then a groan as the pain of a massive hangover began to sweep over him. It was dark. The bed he laid on was soft, softer then he expected. He looked down and saw the sheets of the bed. They were soft, girlish looking. He rolled his head over and saw the content face of Kasumi lying next to him. Her clothing was still on, but her breathing was slow and sure. She seemed so peaceful. Mousse began to blanche over with fear.
'I can't believe this is happening', he thought quietly as another shot of pain rifled through him like a freight train. A silent groan from his lips caused a murmuring from Kasumi's lips. She clutched at his arm in her sleep, her eyes scrunching tightly. He leaned over with a great effort and kissed the top of her forehead. As he touched her forehead, she smiled slightly and seemed to relax again. Mousse felt his head sink back to the pillow. As sleep overtook him he could feel his body begin to sink back into the warm watery feeling he had been living in. It was not altogether a bad feeling.