The mouse, the tiger and the Palaquin Captain

Having read "The mouse, the tiger

and the youkai jesus" might be

very useful!

Chapter 1: A relationship not yet grown

Neither Shou nor me had ever tried anything... well... you know... . I didn't know about Shou, but I never thought about it until...

All members of the Myouren temple were sitting together, drinking tea. It had gotten kind of a habit ever since we all got along better, so since Shou and I first kissed... aaah... her lips... those sweet lips... where was I? Oh, right. It had become a habit so we did it that day too. I was sitting next to mast- Shou, resting my head on her shoulder while she rested her head on my mine. We usually didn't kiss or anything in front of others, especially not in public. It wasn't like everyone wouldn't know. They had watched us confess to each other, after all. But both of us felt uncomfortable doing all that love stuff in front of others, except our friends. So when we were outside we were still master and underling.

Anyway, I'm digressing. So that day we were sitting there as usual. Nothing special happened, just the usual chatting. Well, unless it's unusual to find an octopus-like creature in your tea. Nue was enjoying herself way too much lately. Hijiri had screamed after finding that animal. When we were all sitting there, Shou finished her tea and stood up, letting me fall to the side, because I couldn't lean onto anything anymore. "umpf!" "Ah, sorry Nazu-chan!" She knelt next to me. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I looked at her chuckling. "Calm down, master, I'm alright." I smiled at her. "Just try to do it differently next time, please." "And you try calling me by my name next time, please." She pouted a little, but it looked like she was faking it. "Yeah... about that..." I scratched the back of my head. "Otherwise you will get no more kisses." She decided. Even though I knew she could never go through with that I had to beg now so she wouldn't be mad or sad. "No! Please reconsider and I'll call you whatever you like!" "Shou-chan." I nearly fainted.

She then giggled and kissed my forehead before standing up. "I've got to go now. I still gotta buy something." "Oh, should I come with you?" I suggested. "No! I mean... no, thank you. It's kind of... no." she smiled nervously and stepped out of the room backwards. I sat up straight again. Looked like another try to surprise me. While I drank my tea I ignored the others staring at me. I thought they'd be used to this by now. Hijiri was the only one who seemed okay with it, she was smiling happily while enjoying her tea. It was almost freaky how happy she was. Then the silence was broken. "What the hell was that?" Murasa suddenly asked. I looked at her. "You call it a tiger youkai. Maybe you haven't seen someone like that before but-" "You know what I meant." I smiled a little bit. "What do you want me to say? You saw what happened, I don't know more than you do." Murasa didn't seem satisfied, not at all. Ichirin raised her voice. "Murasa, just let them be, are you aggressive today or something?" She asked calmly. The captain sighed. "No. But... there's stuff you DO know that I don't know." she turned her gaze back to me, locking her eyes on mine, I'm sure this is how she used to target the ships she was going to sink.

"And what would that be?" "How far have Shou and you gone?" She blurted out. I tried to stay calm at that question, but I couldn't and so I spat out my tea into Kogasa's face. "blurg!" she said. "What's with that kind of question?" I asked loudly. "I just wanna know!" Hijiri interrupted. "Please, both of you calm down, no one here wants to be deaf." We calmed down. "Both of you disappear into her or your room and no one knows what you're doing, so spill it!" She ordered. "That's seriously none of your business." I said calmly. "Oh, so you two have already-" "I never said that!" I interrupted her. Murasa chuckled. "I never knew you would do that kind of stuff so quickly." I blushed very hard. "I didn't say we did!" "A-ha! You're blushing! Memories coming to your mind?" she asked jokingly, but for me it wasn't funny at all. "No! Because there aren't any like that! You pervert captain!"

"Should I try bero bero ba now, Nue-senpai?" - "No. Not now. Not ever." I heard the quiet dialogue next to me. Oh yeah, since Nue is teaching Kogasa how to scare someone my friend's been starting to call her senpai. Ichirin sighed annoyed. "Murasa, just stop it. If you wanna ask her stuff like that do it either quietly or not now." She took a zip from her tea and Murasa got quieter while talking. "Well if you haven't had anything like what you think what I think what you think you did, how far did you go then?" She asked. It wasn't anything of her business. She shouldn't care. But she was way too stubborn to even think of giving up on trying. "Well... we kissed that one time... ." I answered her.

"...That's it? You don't even kiss her regularly? You haven't even made out a little?" She asked. "No..." I said. Why did I have to say that in front of everyone there? "Of course I thought I could try making out a little, but... I can't. I still have troubles calling her by her name, how on earth should it be possible for me to do something like that?" I asked more myself than her. "Well, I guess that makes sense. But we gotta change that!" "What?" I started blankly at her. "But I like it the way it is! Besides, it's none of your business so you shouldn't interfere!" I started to yell. "Don't you think it's boring like that?" "Even if I did, what would you care? Mind your own business and stop bothering me with that!" But she wouldn't quit doing it for some time...

Murasa stopped trying to talk me into doing anything after being calmed down by Ichirin and Hijiri. I didn't know what was wrong with her at that time, sure she was bold sometimes and she often was curious about stuff that was none of her business. But if one told her to stop and was serious about it, especially if that person was her friend or some sort, she'd stop. She didn`t stop that time, though. She continued to brag about it and she seemed to be serious, like possessed or something. They calmed her down and Hijiri told me that Murasa was probably just trying to joke around once again, but I could tell this was different and I could tell Hijiri knew that just as well as I did. I left the others right after that and went to my room. Was it true? Was Shou's and my relationship that boring? What was I thinking? Everything was great the way it was! And no captain, ship ghost or anyone else could convince me to believe something different! I talked with confidence in my mind, even though ... I was worried about what Murasa might do.

I just sat there in my room thinking. Just like I used to do before I confessed to master- I mean Shou. Damn that captain, making me worry like this again. I didn't pay attention to it until that moment, but I could hear the talking of the others, so I perked up my ears and listened. "What were you thinking, overreacting like that? It's none of your business." I could hear Ichirin lecturing Murasa or something like that. "You know that you shouldn't give any of them reason to worry about their relationship. They had a hard time getting together. Please, don't do anything that might lead to trouble." Hijiri's voice was surprisingly harsh. I wondered why she didn't talk like an angel anymore. "... Excuse me." I barely understood that sentence, but I knew it came from Murasa. Then I heard footsteps walking past my door. Just what the hell was wrong with her? I thought about going to talk to her but refused to, I would be bothering her, especially after an incident like our confrontation... if you could call it that. I sat there for a while until I heard the front door open.

I wondered who it might be, but then quickly remembered that master- I mean Shou had left earlier, which was probably what led to the tiny incident. "Hello!" I heard her greeting the others, who, except for Murasa and me, were still sitting there. "Where did Murasa and Nazu-chan go?" she then suddenly asked with sort of a dull voice. It was a weird tone and I didn't even know where it came from or what to call it. Jealousy? Not really. That tone was in her voice whenever she expected to lose me to someone else. Even though I told her about a million times that I would never leave her and that there was no one beside her in my life, no one else could ever steal my heart the way she did. "Oh them?" Hijiri's voice interrupted my train of thought. "They had a little... argument and I think they left to their own rooms." "Is that so?" The weird tone suddenly disappeared like nothing happened, nothing DID happen after all. "Yes, but since I'm not involved I don't want to tell you more about it. You better ask your girlfriend for more information." I blushed hard. That word... girlfriend... it still sent chills down my spine. "That reminds me..." Ichirin raised her voice. "How come you're back already? Didn't you tell us earlier that you want to go buy a surprise for Nazrin?", she asked. "Yes, but... I forgot what I wanted to get her, hehehe..." she added a nervous laughter at the end of her sentence. I made a facepalm and I was sure I wasn't the only one. That was so much like her, Shou, my sweet klutz. "How about making a note next time?" Ichirin suggested in a having-a-facepalm-voice. "Good idea." More nervous laughter. "Well, I think I'll go see what my Nazu-chan is doing." Her... Nazu-chan...? It was correct, alright, but it sounded so... so... I didn't even know how it sounded!

I then heard the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer until I heard a knock on my door. "Nazu-chan? Are you in there? Can I enter?" "Yes, come in." I answered. I was nervous. What if she asked about what happened between Murasa and me? If I told her it would lead to an uncomfortable conversation and even worse it would make Shou believe even more in the chance of me leaving her, since Murasa pictured our relationship as boring and imperfect. I looked at the one who just entered my room. Master- I mean Shou, dammit!... Anyway, she entered closed the door behind her and smiled at me before sitting next to me on my bed, I just stared blankly at her and I had neither a reason nor a clue why exactly I was doing that. "I-Is something wrong, Nazu-chan? Oh, I didn't ask before sitting! I'm sorry!" She was flustered and I saw that I wasn't the only one who looked cute like that. Not that I ever believed I looked cute, it was all master's and Hijiri's idea. I chuckled. "Please calm down, you did nothing wrong, I was just thinking about something, that's all!" I calmed her down and she made a fake pout. "That's mean, worrying me like that." She made a normal face again. "What were you thinking about?" she questioned smiling. "... Actually... I was wondering why I gave you a blank stare." Shou stared at me for a moment and then laughed. I joined her laughter, even though I was kinda embarrassed.

When we were done laughing, my tiger looked at me. "Say, Nazu-chan... Hijiri mentioned you and Murasa having a fight... what was it about?" Damn. She always forgot that stupid pagoda, but she remembered something like that, seriously... this girl... "Oh, nothing too important." I answered. I couldn't stand the burning pain of lying to her. It was even worse now that we were dating. "Oh? Can I still know what it was about, please?" She asked me smiling. I sighed, I guess I had to tell her. "Well... Murasa asked me... how far our relationship went already..." I looked at my feet. "She bothered me about it until I told her... so I told her the truth that we are jut having a normal not that far developed relationship... She started bragging about that being boring and us having to get closer until Hijiri and Ichirin shut her up... pretty stupid, huh?" I looked at her, giving a fake smile, but as I looked into her eyes I could see hurt. "Boring...? Am I... am I too boring for you, Nazu-chan?" Tears formed in her eyes. Damn, Damn, DAMN! I hated that stupid captain! "No, master! I would never see you as boring! You're very sweet and special!" The tears now started to roll down her cheeks. "B-But you're still calling me master... and... and...!" "Listen, Shou, neither you nor me should care about what Murasa said. She has no idea of anything. I never had more fun than when I've been with you and that will continue that way." Shou wiped away her tears and smiled at me. "Nazu-chan!" She pressed her lips on mine, letting me enjoy her sweet taste once again. She was just plain weird, like she was having mood swings, but this weirdness was another one of the parts I loved. She was weird. She wasn't like others. She was special.

As we parted Shou smiled sweetly at me. Even though we shouldn't listen to Murasa the way she yelled at me was still weird. I definitely had to find out the reason of why she was being so serious about that if there was a special reason. I wondered if she'd apologize to me? Meh, probably not. "Nazu-chan, what's wrong? You seem so thoughtful today." "Oh, it's nothing important. Just thinking about unimportant things." I explained. I wondered if my thought about the captain actually was of any importance. But nevermind, I should cross that thought out of my mind, at least for the time with Shou. I didn't really know what to do, so I just pulled her into a hug. I heard her whisper a quiet 'awww' as she hugged me back. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, just sitting there, hugging, enjoying the time or being together.

Yes, together.

Heeere it is! The sequel!

It's not completely necessary to have read the first one, but there will be a lot of things referring to it, so I would recommend reading that first. Even though it might have been spoilerd by now...

And by the way, I love Murasa, so no Anti-Murasa here, don't worry. It just might seem a little like that ^^; … a little much.

Whatever, R&R

BTW: Maybe you read the Extra chapter or the original and thought you could skip the beginning, but I think then you might have over read a little bit I changed. It's not that important, just so you know.