Kokoro Kara: With All My Heart

by EriChanHime

After the end of the series, a pair of American exchange students turns life inside out for the inhabitants of Nerima. Mousse & Ryoga find them fascinating; Ranma finds them to be trouble. And what's this about a possible cure for their curses?

1. Someone to Love Me

All Ranma ½ characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video, respectively. I don't claim to own any of them. I just enjoy writing about them! I do, however, belong to myself, so I will claim me… I'll also assume my cousin, who graciously allowed me to include her in my story, will claim herself. smirk On the other hand, this story is completely my work, so please ask before you use it in any way. Also, I provide translations at the very end, both for regular dialogue, and strange attacks. Now, on to the fanfic!

A story by: Eri-Chan

(All questions, comments, critiques, and

spelling/grammar corrections would be most to 3-22-03

Kokoro Kara

(With All my Heart)

Author's Note: This story takes place approximately four months after the events in the last Ranma ½ episode. And some things are gonna change…

(The « » symbols will be used to denote speech in any language other than Japanese)

Part One: Someone to Love Me

Erin and Jesse had just moved into an apartment in Nerima ward, Tokyo, Japan. At eighteen and almost eighteen respectively, they had just finished their last year of high school and were looking for some adventure before thinking about college. Having both taken Japanese, and both being rather fluent, they decided to join an exchange student program for a year. Although it did not start until the schools started, they had chosen to go early and spend the summer getting to know people. This decision had led them, ultimately, to the small place where they were staying, overlooking a busy street market in Nerima. They were planning to stay for no more than a year. Sometimes, though, plans change…

Ryoga Hibiki had just recently given up on his infatuation with Ranma Saotome's tomboyish fiancée, Akane Tendo. In fact, they were not even on speaking terms at the moment. About four weeks after Ranma and Akane's rather abortive wedding, Ranma, Ryoga, and Akane were standing outside in front of the Tendo's house when it suddenly began to rain. There was no time to go inside, and all three were instantly soaked. The cold water activated both boys' curses, courtesy of the Cursed Springs at Jusenkyo Training Ground. Ranma turned into a short, busty redheaded girl, and Ryoga, well, Ryoga turned into P-Chan, Akane's little black pet piglet. The same piglet that she let sleep in her bed with her. Akane's eyes went wide, and Ryoga didn't even have time to run. Akane picked him up by the bandanna around his neck, pulling him out of the pile of clothes that he had, up until a few moments ago, been wearing, and eyed him warily. Ranma just stood there, looking sheepish. He had known all along about Ryoga/P-Chan, but had sworn on his honor as a martial artist never to tell Akane. Now it looked as if he would no longer have to worry about it.

Akane picked Ryoga's clothing off the ground and, with the dripping piggy still in her hand, she walked into the house, up the stairs, and into the bathroom. She proceeded to pull the cover off the furo and then unceremoniously tossed the pig into the tub. After a few moments, a very embarrassed Ryoga, his curse "turned off" by the warm water, popped up. Akane stared at him, realization finally beginning to dawn in that thick head of hers.

"Now I know why P-Chan disappears so suddenly all the time," Akane murmured, speaking more to herself than to the undressed boy hiding in the bath.

About this time, girl-type Ranma came slinking into the bathroom. He looked from Ryoga to Akane. From the look forming on her face, he figured she finally knew P-Chan's secret.

"Akane," he began carefully, as she could be quite violent when peeved. "Akane, I can explain this."

Akane didn't even glance at him; she was too busy staring in shock at Ryoga. "I don't really care what the explanation is, Ranma," she said stoically. Then, looking directly at Ryoga's face she said, "Ryoga, I would like you to get dressed, get your things from downstairs, and get out. I don't want to see or hear from you right now, so," and here, her voice got louder. "So, you can just forget about your feud with Ranma for a while," she was now openly yelling, "because if I see you anywhere near the dojo for at least a year, I'm gonna KILL YOU!"

She spun on her heel, brushed past Ranma, and left the room, trailing animosity behind her. They could hear her door slam shut a few seconds later. Ranma looked over at Ryoga, who was silently starting to get dressed.

"Well," Ranma stated with his usual lack of compassion, "that could've gone worse…but probably not much."

Ryoga whirled around to face his long time rival, put his hands out with the palms facing Ranma, and yelled, "Shishi Hôkôdan!" The resulting blast of chi energy sent Ranma through the roof, quite literally, leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling, and sending the guy/girl off into low earth orbit, almost.

Ryoga finished dressing just as the rain stopped. He walked down the hall, pausing only to whisper a soft, "I'm sorry," to Akane's door, went downstairs to collect his backpack and shoes, and left. He walked out of Nerima and into the surrounding woods, planning to never go back. He intended to go on a training trip to the mountains for a while, and then find a way to head to China to see if he could undo his curse. Unfortunately, he, as always, wound up completely lost.

About six cities, four towns, two forests, and three months later, he found himself right back where he had started, in Nerima. As soon as he figured out where he was, he commenced beating his head against the nearest wall. "Why can't I ever get it right!" he yelled in frustration. Leaving a now broken wall behind him, he began walking down the street, figuring that maybe he would wind up back out of town.

Around fifteen minutes later, he found himself standing in front of the Neko Hanten, the Chinese restaurant run by Cologne and her great-granddaughter, Shampoo the purple-haired Chinese Amazon. With the help, of course, of their near-servant, Mousse. Ryoga walked in, with the intention of getting something to eat, and narrowly missed being hit with a frying pan that came flying out of the kitchen. Today was just not going to be his day.

He stood by the counter listening to a series of Chinese words and quacks that came from the cooking area. As he watched, a small, white duck ran frantically out of the kitchen, a pair of glasses perched precariously on its bill.

"Hello, Mousse," Ryoga said to the duck.

It stopped and looked at him. "Quack. Quack QUACK!" it replied, sounding more than a little annoyed. It then proceeded to run up the stairs in search of some hot water. A few moments later, Shampoo came running out of the kitchen armed with her bonbori.

"Where stupid, blind duck-boy go now?" she snapped with her usual odd grammar. "Shampoo want hurt him!"

Ryoga regarded her, wondering yet again why she could not learn to refer to herself correctly, in the first person. "May I order something to eat?" he questioned, tactfully ignoring her inquiry.

"What Ryoga want?"

"I'd like a deluxe ramen, please," he told her politely. Whether he was stronger than she was or not, it was always wise to be nice to a ticked-off Amazon warrior.

"Shampoo be back. Ryoga have seat." She turned and went back into the kitchen, putting her bonbori back into whatever hidden place she keeps them.

Ryoga was getting ready to sit down when the door of the restaurant opened. He watched as two young ladies walked in, completely immersed in their conversation. He judged them to be about his age, and really pretty cute. The slightly taller girl turned to the other, laughing.

"I thought you would've liked okonomi-yaki. I do."

The shorter, more petite girl looked at the first and wrinkled her nose.

"So did I, but it tasted like fried rubber!"

"When was the last time you ate fried rubber?" questioned the first girl with a short giggle.

"About ten minutes ago!"

This sent them both into another fit of laughing.

"Well," the taller girl continued, "that strange girl with the giant spatula sure looked annoyed when you spit it out."

"I don't care! There was no possible way I was going to swallow that atrocity."

From what they had been discussing, Ryoga decided that they had just been at Ucchan's Okonomi-yaki. Now they had come to the Neko Hanten after finding Ukyo's "Japanese pizza any-way-you-like-it" not to their liking. He studied them a bit more closely.

They were both very American-looking, with round eyes and light skin. They appeared to be in their late teens, and possibly related, as they superficially resembled each other. The taller girl had medium brown hair, with natural reddish highlights, that came past the bottom of her shoulder blades. A thin braid about four or five inches longer than the rest of her hair hung down her back on one side. She had sparkling greenish eyes, pierced ears, and, at the moment, a huge grin on her face.

The other girl had dark blond hair with darker roots, bluish-green eyes, and was, in his opinion, prettier. Her hair went to the middle of her back and looked rather windblown. She also had a few freckles on her nose and a fairer complexion. The blond girl had a slightly more petite body build, and looked a little bit younger. Together, they approached the counter where Ryoga was standing, and looked up at him through tears of laughter. The brunette spoke first.

"Hello, my name is Erin," she smiled as she said it. The blond just stared at him and blinked. Erin looked at the other girl and said, "and this is my cousin, Jesse." She elbowed the other girl, "J-Chan…"

"Hi," Jesse said dreamily. Then, to her cousin, she said in English, «Isn't he absolutely gorgeous!»

Ryoga did not really know what she had said, but from the way she had said it, the look on her face, and the reaction the comment had elicited from Erin (a snicker), he had a pretty good idea. He smiled awkwardly, as he was out of practice.

"I am Ryoga Hibiki. It's nice to meet you."

Erin grinned at him in a friendly manner, Jesse grinned at him in an overly friendly manner, and he sweatdropped. All of a sudden, they both had the same expression on their faces; the look of someone who has just been hit by Cupid's arrow. And, it seemed like they were both looking at him!

"Oh, dear!" thought Ryoga. "One of them I can deal with. After all, I'm actually kinda attracted to the blond girl, but both of them! What am I gonna do!"

However, at that moment, he noticed something. Whereas the blond, Jesse, was clearly staring straight at him, Erin appeared to be staring at some point a little ways beyond him. Feeling both relieved and a bit curious, Ryoga turned to she who exactly she was looking at.

"If it's Ranma for some strange reason, I think I'm gonna be ill," Ryoga thought silently. For some reason that Ryoga was incapable of fathoming, Ranma had a way of doing that to girls. What he saw when he turned around, however, shocked him completely. Mousse was coming down the stairs.

Mousse was the absolute last person Ryoga would have thought anyone could be romantically interested in. The slender, tallish Chinese boy still had damp hair from changing back into a person. He also, like Ryoga and Ranma, had a Jusenkyo curse; he turned into a white duck when splashed with cold water. His straight, black hair went a little past the small of his back, and his thick, round glasses were set on the top of his head, right behind his bangs. He was wearing his typical outfit: Chinese slippers, long dark blue pants under an almost floor-length, white Chinese robe with a diamond design on the chest, and a red tied belt. Ryoga could not see anything about myopic Mousse that a woman might find attractive, with the possible exception of his big, turquoise eyes, but Erin was staring at him as if he were the most wonderful person she had ever seen. Ryoga turned back to the two girls before him, and watched Erin's look go from love-struck to determined.

"Excuse me for a minute," she said, and then began walking towards Mousse, who had come down, and was preparing to go into the kitchen.

As she approached him, he turned his head and saw her coming. His eyes got wider and he got a typical "Mousse-getting-ready-to-glomp-onto-Shampoo" look on his face. Ryoga had a feeling he knew what was going to happen. He briefly wondered if he should try to stop her, and explain that Mousse was utterly infatuated with Shampoo. Of course this would also lead to the point that Shampoo hated Mousse's guts and would gladly kill him if she had the chance, but that didn't faze Mousse. Unfortunately, he did not have his glasses on his face where they should have been, and he thought that Erin was Shampoo. Ryoga was just about to say something, but it was too late.

Mousse had already altered his trajectory and was, at that very moment, running towards Erin. Erin's eyes got very large as the Chinese boy leaped at her, wrapped his arms around her body, effectively pinning her arms to her sides, and put his head on her shoulder. All the while saying something along the lines of, "Shampoo, I'm sorry for whatever it was I did that made you angry. Will you forgive me? Will you marry me?"

Unfortunately, for all involved, Shampoo had just come out of the kitchen with Ryoga's ramen. She stopped behind the counter where Ryoga and Jesse were standing, doing their best to look innocent of anything and everything. Shampoo looked ready to hurt something. Ryoga did the only thing he could think of. He reached out and took the bowl of ramen from Shampoo, removing the possibility of her hurling it at someone. She just stood there with a very angry expression, deprived of her prospective weapon.

"Stupid Mousse!" she screamed. "What you think you doing to customer! Stupid blind duck-boy!"

Mousse looked up upon hearing Shampoo's voice coming from someone other than the lady he was attached to. Something was wrong. This person did not feel quite right. Also, she was not embedding blunt objects in his head as Shampoo would have undoubtedly been doing had he treated her in this manner.

"Huh?" He pulled his glasses off his head, put them on, and found himself staring into a pair of wide, green eyes. Shampoo did not have green eyes. Mousse let go of Erin, who was smiling impishly. Jesse snickered in the background.

"Oh, dear," he murmured, looking from Erin to the raging Shampoo and back again. He looked down at the floor, and his shoulders slumped. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were somebody else…" he trailed off in embarrassment.

"That's O.K." Erin told him with a grin. "That was the nicest welcome I've gotten since moving here." She put her hand out. "My name is Erin."

Mousse looked up from the floor with a small smile on his face. "I am Mousse." He shook her hand.

She looked at him questioningly. "Moose? Like the animal?"

"No," he said rather softly. "Mousse…like the product."

"Oh, «O.K.», Mousse. That's cute."

He stared at her for a second. At first, he thought she was making fun of him. After all, he was used to Shampoo making fun of him, hitting him, teasing him, and just generally making his life miserable no matter what he did to try and make her happy. Yet, here was a girl who was being nice to him for no particular reason. It was the first time in his life anyone had treated him kindly. She was smiling at him again, and he felt his cheeks getting warm.

"I…I need to go back to work," he stuttered. "It was nice to meet you." He walked around the counter to get to the kitchen. As he passed the fuming Shampoo, he heard her hiss, "Stupid!" He slumped again. When he got to the kitchen door, he turned and looked back at the new girl. She was still smiling at him. He managed a weak smile, and then disappeared into the kitchen. Once Mousse had made his exit, a still very annoyed Shampoo walked up to Erin.

"Shampoo very sorry. Mousse have bad eyesight. He stupid sometimes. Erin-San stay and eat?"

Erin was beginning to get the picture. Shampoo was angry, not because she saw Mousse hug another woman, but because she thought that Mousse's mistake would make a customer leave without buying anything. They would have lost potential profit, and Shampoo was afraid that Erin might spread discontent among other patrons. Erin did her best to look reassuring.

"Of course we're staying. There is no way my cousin's going back to the burnt rubber pancake restaurant, so…"

Erin smiled at Shampoo, who did not look completely convinced.

"You mean say Mousse no make you angry?"

"Of course not! I thought it was actually kinda sweet…"

Shampoo privately wondered how this lady could even stand Mousse's presence let alone think he was "sweet." Erin decided to change the subject.

Gesturing towards Ryoga's bowl, she said, "Um, we'd like two of whatever it is that he's having. It smells good."

Shampoo was finally convinced that they weren't leaving. She took drink orders, then turned to go back into the kitchen, calling, "Two deluxe ramen!"

Erin walked over to Ryoga and Jesse, who had selected a table and sat down next to each other. Jesse looked up at her cousin and, with a grin, said in English, «Ryoga's gonna sit with us, O.K.?»

Erin smiled at Ryoga and responded, «Like I'm really gonna make him go away.»

As she sat down across the table from Jesse, Ryoga thought to himself, "She sure smiles a lot. Even Kasumi doesn't smile that much. Of course, this girl's probably five or six times as smart as Miss 'Oh, my!'"

The three of them made small talk for about fifteen minutes. They had reached a lull in the conversation when Mousse came out of the kitchen carrying their ramen and their drinks. With a bowl in each hand, and a tray with the drinks on it balanced on his head, he looked like he was about to drop something. Three pairs of eyes watched his movements. One looked slightly more concerned than the other two.

Mousse got about six feet when two of the glasses began wobbling. He tried to shift some of the weight, but it was not working. One of the glasses started tipping. He closed his eyes in resignation. He could practically feel Shampoo's bonbori on his head, as she would undoubtedly belt him for dropping anything. He steeled himself for the very large noise this was going to make. The tray slid sideways, and his entire body tensed. After a few seconds of no terrible noises, Mousse opened one eye. To his shock, Erin was standing in front of him, holding the tray. All the glasses were still on it, and almost nothing had spilled. He was amazed that she had been able to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Th-thank you…" he began.

"No problem," she interjected. "You looked as though you could use a little help."

Mousse nodded; she was smiling at him again, and it made him feel funny. He wasn't yet sure why. He followed her back over to the table where she had put the drinks down and taken her seat again.

"Nice catch," Ryoga commented. Then, to Mousse he said in a conspiratorial whisper, "Looks like you've got someone looking out for you."

Mousse thought about it as he put the bowls on the table. Ryoga was right; that was the second time that she had saved him from Shampoo's wrath. After setting the food down, he went back into the kitchen, deep in thought. Shampoo handed him a cloth and a bucket, and told him to go finish cleaning the tables. He went out into the dining area and got back to work. After a few moments, he felt like someone was staring a hole through his back. He glanced behind him and saw the same young lady watching him. She saw him looking at her, and winked, then resumed her eating and talking. Mousse turned back to the table he was cleaning with a look of confusion on his face. "Why is she paying so much attention to me?" he wondered. No one had ever helped him before, at least, not without their own underlying reasons. Having someone take any kind of effort to make his life better was a completely new experience for him. He rather liked it.

After clearing away the empty dishes and cups, Mousse walked over to Ryoga and his new friends, and handed them their separate checks. Ryoga, being the gentleman that he can be, told them that he would pay for their food. Jesse smiled at him approvingly; he blushed.

"I'll get the tip," Erin told him as they got up to leave. She walked up to Mousse, who was getting ready to go back into the kitchen. She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He turned around, not quite knowing what to expect. She held out a bill towards him. "Your tip," she said simply. "And tell Shampoo that the food was great, and we'll be back."

Mousse nodded. Then, he looked at the money she had given him. His eyes got bigger. She had handed him a very large tip. He stared, disbelieving, at the bill in his hand. Erin watched his face for a second. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm not very good at dollar/yen conversion yet." She proceeded to take his hand and put another bill in it. Then, she grinned. "Thanks, Mousse. I'll see you around." She ran to the door where Jesse and Ryoga were waiting for her. Mousse watched the door close after them. He just stood there for a minute, looking at the money she had given him, before going back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. He wondered privately just how good her money converting skills really were.

After they were outside, Jesse turned to Erin. Giggling, she asked in English, «Eri-Chan, do you know that you gave him around twenty dollars?»

Erin twirled her braid around her fingers and tried to look perfectly angelic. She was failing. She turned to her cousin with a sly grin.

«I know that.»

Jesse just rolled her eyes. Ryoga stood there looking confused.

"So," Jesse began, "what do we want to do now?"

Erin looked at Ryoga and then at Jesse. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I need to go back to our apartment. We're expecting our parents to call sometime soon to see how we're getting settled in, and somebody needs to be there to take the call." She glanced at Ryoga then back at her cousin. "I think I'll tell them we're settling nicely…"

Erin turned to Ryoga and grinned. "It was really nice to meet you. I hope I'll get to see you around a lot." She changed directions and began to head towards their new home. She called back over her shoulder, "Have fun, «y'all»!" With a wave, she turned a corner and was gone.

After she had left, Ryoga turned to Jesse. "«Y'all»?" he said questioningly.

Jesse rolled her eyes. "She's from Texas. It's slang for 'you all'. In Texan, «you all» goes to «y'all». That's just the way she talks, no matter what language she's speaking."

"Oh."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Ryoga thought about it. He hadn't been home in about six months, so he told her, "I think I should probably go back to my house."

Jesse looked disappointed. "I guess I'll see you around then." She turned to go, but Ryoga caught her arm.

"Um, wait a second. I know this is going to sound really weird, but…" and here he took a deep breath, resigning himself to the fact that he would have to reveal a major weakness. "But could you, uh, help me find it."

Jesse graced him with a strange stare, "You mean you don't know where your own house is?"

"No, I know where it is, but if I go on my own, I'll get lost on the way there. I have a really lousy sense of direction."

"Um, O.K."

Ryoga told her where, generally, his house was located, and they started off. Jesse, meanwhile, was thinking, "He can't find his own house? That has gotta be the world's lamest pick-up line ever, especially since I was already interested. Oh, well…" After the fifth time he had almost gone the wrong way, and was oblivious to the fact until she steered him back in the right direction, she was starting to believe him.

"You really were serious about your sense of direction, weren't you?"

"Yeah, it kinda runs in the family. In fact, my parents probably won't even be there. I have no idea where they are now. You can meet my dog, Checkers, though."

"So, you got any more deep, dark secrets you might care to share with me?"

Jesse had been joking when she had asked, but only one thing was running through Ryoga's mind. "I lost my chance with Akane because I kept my secret hidden from her. I will not make the same mistake twice. Besides, I think I really like this girl, and I don't want to blow my chance." He turned his head towards her.

"Actually, yes."

Jesse raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really…?"

"I don't think you'll believe me, but I want you to know. I don't want you to think I'm trying to hide it from you."

Jesse stared at him expectantly. "I'll do my best."

Ryoga began with his feud with Ranma, told her all about chasing him to China, all the way to Jusenkyo. Then, he explained how he had fallen into one of the many cursed pools.

"Now," he finished, "whenever I get splashed with cold water, I turn into a little black piglet."

Jesse stared at him skeptically, trying her best to fulfill her promise to believe him. "So, how exactly are you human right now?"

"Well, hot water changes me back."

"Riiiiight… And how many people do you know with this, um, ailment?"

"Personally, I know four, not counting myself, and we've met others."

"Who?" Jesse waited for him to continue.

"Well, Ranma fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl, Genma, his dad, fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda, Shampoo fell into the Spring of Drowned Cat, and Mousse—"

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that Shampoo and Mousse have these odd curses, too?"

"Yes."

"And, what exactly does Mousse turn into?"

"He turns into a duck."

Jesse snorted. "A duck?"

"Right, he turns into this little white duck called Mu Mu-Chan."

"Do forgive me for not quite believing you," Jesse muttered.

Ryoga could easily see that she thought he was making it all up. He was trying to decide what to say when he saw his house down the street. He pointed.

"There it is."

When they got there, he dragged her inside. After calling out to see if his parents were there, which they were not, and introducing her to his dog, he pulled her into the kitchen.

"I can prove it to you, but you'll have to pour hot water on me afterwards. And, you can't watch me turn back."

"Why not?" she queried.

Ryoga blushed. "Because my clothes don't really cooperate with the transformation very well."

"Um, «Okeedokee»…"

Ryoga walked over to the faucet, pulled a cup out of a cabinet, filled it with cold water, and then turned around. "Here goes everything," he thought to himself. He poured the contents of the cup on his head.

"Bweeeeee!" said the little black piglet sitting in the pile of clothes.

"Oh, my…" said Jesse incredulously. "That's just not right."

She bent down and picked up the little pig. She examined the bandanna around its neck; the same one that Ryoga wore around his head.

"You win," she told it, "I believe you."

She put P-Chan back down, picked up the cup, filled it with hot water, and turned to the pig with a giggle.

"You know, you actually make a very cute piglet…"

Closing her eyes, because she had promised, she poured the hot water on top of him.

"Ouch! Not quite that hot!"

A few seconds later, he told her she could look. She opened her eyes and stared at him. His hair and face were wet. Ryoga watched her face for any signs of disgust or similar emotions. Instead, what he saw was that she appeared to be holding back a laugh.

"Oh, my goodness, and you say Mousse turns into a little white duck, right?"

Ryoga nodded, not sure where she was going with this line of thought.

"This is so cool. Erin's gonna flip when I tell her." And here, Jesse did laugh. "You know, I was telling the truth. You do make a very cute piggy."

Ryoga gave her a very odd look. He briefly wondered if she was as warped as Akari, the sumo-pig-raising girl who was obsessed with his pig form. He had stayed at her house for about a week, after which he decided that she scared him. He had left that day. After sharing this fear with Jesse, she assured him that, while she liked P-Chan, she liked him better. Ryoga was shocked. Nobody had ever told him that they liked him. At least not the first time they met, and especially not after finding out about his curse. Akari's claim notwithstanding.

"You…you like me?"

"Yeah, a lot." She winked at him, and had the pleasure of watching him blush.

"I like you, too." He put his hand behind his head nervously, and tried to smile. It wasn't working very well.

"So," Jesse offered, "do you wanna go see a movie or something?"

Ryoga appreciated her effort to change the subject.

"Um, sure. I'd like that."

After they had gone to see a movie, watched the sunset, and had ice cream, Jesse took Ryoga back to his house. As she was about to leave, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. She grinned.

"I'll see you tomorrow, «O.K.»?"

"Alright, but you'll have to come and get me, otherwise, who knows when I'd get to your house."

"It's a deal," she promised. "Good night." Then Jesse left for the apartment where Erin would no doubt be waiting for her, leaving a very happy Ryoga.

When she got home around ten minutes later, the apartment was dark. She used her key to go in. After getting ready for bed, she went into the bedroom she would be sharing with Erin. Jesse's cousin was already asleep in one of the two beds. Jesse felt the need to wake her up. Going over to Erin, Jesse proceeded to shake her shoulder until she opened her eyes.

«What do you want?» Erin complained groggily.

Jesse grinned, «Guess what?» She waited.

After a few seconds Erin responded, «J-Chan, I think it's fairly obvious that I am not going to 'guess what,' so why don't you just tell me, hmm?»

«Well, Ryoga and I went out, and he told me that he turns into a pig.»

«And you believed him? How disturbing…»

«No, really! He showed me. And you know what else?»

Silence.

Jesse continued, «He kissed me good-night!»

«Good for him,» Erin muttered.

Seeing that her cousin was paying an inexcusably small amount of attention to her, Jesse decided that maybe she should try again in the morning. She did, however, have one more strategy.

«Oh, and Ryoga also told me that Mousse turns into a little white duck when you splash him with cold water.»

«WHAT!» Erin's voice went up an octave as she sat up in bed and looked at her cousin. «A little white what!»

«Duck,» Jesse informed her with a sly grin. «A little white duck.»

Grudgingly Erin mumbled, «I'm listening.»

Jesse spent the rest of the night telling her cousin absolutely everything, without omitting the slightest detail.

In the morning, after a quick three-hour nap to enable them to actually be able to walk in a straight line, Erin and Jesse decided that living in this town was going to take some effort. Knowing a little more about the people who lived there would likely help them during everyday interaction with the very odd inhabitants. As Jesse already had a scheduled "appointment" with Ryoga, Erin suggested that they both go over to his house and have him give them some background and insight on Ranma, Mousse, Shampoo, Ukyo, etc. That way, at least they would not be completely in the dark as to what drove these people.

Jesse called Ryoga and asked if that would be all right with him.

"Um, sure," he told her. "But you'd better bring a snack, because all the food at my house is rotten from being left here so long, and this is going to take a while."

"«O.K.,» we'll be over in about half an hour. See you soon!"

After hanging up, Jesse informed her cousin of Ryoga's consent, and his request that they bring comestibles. Erin went to the kitchen to make some sandwiches (no ham), and Jesse retreated to the bathroom to finish getting ready. About ten minutes later they started for Ryoga's house with Jesse in the lead.

Upon their arrival fifteen or so minutes later, Ryoga let them in and showed them to the living room. At least that was what he tried to do; they ended up touring the kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom before actually arriving in the living room. Nevertheless, they did eventually get there. Ryoga sat down on the floor and crossed his legs, as Jesse sat beside him. Erin flopped on her stomach in front of them.

"Ryoga," Erin began. "Last night, Jesse told me a whole lot of interesting things about piglets, and water, and ducks, and martial arts, and other strange tidbits. While I won't insult my cousin's recounting abilities, I would like to hear the whole story from you, if you don't mind. After all, we're going to be living here for at least a year, and this town sounds very complicated."

"I don't mind at all. Actually, I'm rather flattered," he told them. "I'm not used to having people, especially girls, at all interested in listening to what I have to say."

"Well, we're very interested, let me tell you…"

"Where do you want me to start?"

Resisting the urge to break into song, since he wouldn't understand the English anyway, Erin replied, "Start with the person in Nerima who seems to cause the most problems. The person who almost everybody here seems to have at least some issue with."

"Oh," Ryoga said. "That would be Ranma Saotome…"

Ryoga proceeded to tell them everything he knew about Ranma, his dad, their curses, and their trip to Jusenkyo, etc. Then, he began to describe his grievances with Ranma, and Mousse's, and Kuno's, and Gosunkugi's, and everyone else that Ryoga knew of who had ever been annoyed with Ranma in any way, shape, or form. He moved on to the relationship, or lack of one, between Shampoo and Mousse, getting several interjections from Erin about the cruelty of it all. Three hours later, they took a break to have something to eat, and to let poor Ryoga's throat recover. He was unused to talking that much at one time.

After they had eaten, Ryoga continued. He explained all about Akane being kidnapped by Prince Kirin and then by Prince Toma. Erin and Jesse were having a hard time understanding why all these people were so infatuated with the violent tomboy. Jesse told Ryoga so, too. He seemed at a loss for words.

Erin piped up. "Maybe she puts off a lot of pheromones."

Ryoga sweatdropped and Jesse laughed.

After two more hours, Ryoga had told them everything he knew about all the major players in Nerima, and many of the minor ones, as well. He had outlined all the adventures they had been on, competitions they had participated in, and battles they had fought. He explained all about each person's fighting style, including his own, and did his best to rank each person's ability. He glanced nervously in Erin's direction when he said that Mousse was not very good compared to some of the other martial artists in Nerima. He was relieved that she seemed more fascinated than annoyed, and did not look at all ready to clout him with anything…how nice.

"What I want to know," she told him, "is how Mousse can fit all this stuff in his clothing, and still be able to move."

Ryoga shrugged his shoulders, "Must have something to do with being a Master of Hidden Weapons."

Jesse, who had mostly been nodding and staring lovingly at Ryoga, spoke up for the first time.

"Eri-Chan," she said with a snicker. "I think he's just 'special' that way."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know… 'Special,' as in special white jackets with special long sleeves that tie behind your back, and special rooms with special padded walls, and special doctors in special white coats who take special care of you." Erin rolled her eyes tolerantly. "I know exactly what you meant."

"Good for you," Jesse said sarcastically. "Well, I got all the looks, so I suppose you had to get something."

Erin raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, well, I got all the brains, so I suppose you had to get something, too."

Ryoga sat there in confusion, listening to them insult each other. He had a feeling it was part of their version of "bonding."

After making small talk for a little while longer, Erin told them that she was going to go.

"Translation," muttered Jesse, loud enough for the other two to hear, "you're going out to track a Mousse. Hee, hee."

Erin crossed her arms and glared at Jesse, "Wanna make something of it?"

"Not at all," her cousin responded with a devious grin. "After all, I can't exactly fault you for something I've done, too."

"Oh, so you've been chasing Mousse, as well?"

Jesse glanced at Ryoga. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

It was Erin's turn to grin deviously, "I knew that, I just couldn't resist."

After saying "good-bye" to Ryoga, and thanking him for being so helpful, Erin got up to leave. She was down the hall and almost to the door when she heard Ryoga and Jesse talking.

"So," he asked, "what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you—"

Erin smirked and sighed, went out, and closed the door on Ryoga's question.

After about fifteen minutes of walking—with some sidetracking to look at interesting things, such as the strange man dressed in black running through the park with a skeleton on his back shudder—Erin arrived at the Neko Hanten. She pushed the door open gently, and went in. Immediately she felt the need to step back as she found herself face to face with a small, shriveled old woman perched on a stick. Resisting the urge to snicker, she introduced herself.

"Hello," she began amiably. "My name is Erin. You must be Shampoo's great-grandmother, Cologne."

"Yes," the old woman croaked. "So, you are the one Shampoo has been telling me about."

The Old Ghoul peered at Erin, then proceeded to hop off her stick and walk in a circle around her, all the while making thoughtful noises. Erin decided that she now knew how cattle felt at auctions. Finally having completed her circumvention, Cologne stood, once again, in front of Erin.

"Hmmm," she muttered. "Not bad at all… And, this will make it easier for Shampoo to wed Ranma." Then, to Erin, she said, "Very well, he's yours. You have my blessing."

"And Shampoo's!" the Amazon called from the kitchen.

Erin's eyes got a little larger in confusion. She had a feeling she knew what Cologne was talking about, but was not absolutely positive. "I'm sorry, I don't think I quite catch your meaning."

"Well, aren't we being difficult."

"Seriously, I don't think I understand what you're talking about."

"Mousse," Cologne stated matter-of-factly. "You may have him. You seem like you would be good for him."

Resisting the urge to blurt, "You've only just met me!" Erin said, "Without even talking to him, you're just gonna shove him at me!"

"What were you expecting," Cologne rasped, "gift wrapping?" She broke into a wheezing laugh.

Erin felt like face faulting. "Poor Mousse," she thought to herself. "He seems to be so unwanted around here."

Trying to nonchalantly change the subject, Erin asked, "So, umm, where is Mousse?"

Shampoo came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel.

«Nihao!» she chirped. "Mousse go out early. He go fight Shampoo's Ranma." She smiled brightly. Apparently, the thought of Mousse with another woman made her very happy. "Shampoo think Mousse lose."

"Probably," muttered both Cologne and Erin.

Erin stood there for a moment wondering if maybe she should go try to find them. Shampoo went back into the kitchen and returned moments later with a bucket of hot, soapy water, and began to clean the tables, all the while complaining that "stupid, blind duck-boy" should be the one doing it. Erin said good-bye to the two Amazons, and turned to leave.

Just as she reached the door, it swung open, allowing a very perturbed duck to run into the restaurant, quacking loudly. It was followed a second later by a teenaged boy with a black pigtail, dressed in dark pants and a Chinese shirt. The boy leaped at the duck, succeeding in landing directly on top of it. The duck gave a distressed cry that sounded almost human as the boy grabbed it by the neck, stood up, and began shaking it violently, while yelling, "You MORON! What do ya mean by throwing spears at me? Yer goin' too far, ya stupid duck! Yer gonna hit me one'a these days!"

«That's likely the idea,» Erin thought to herself. Then, «So, this is Ranma. I certainly don't see what all the fuss is about. He looks like a perfect dolt.»

The duck, which had been flapping wildly at first, was now making strangled noises, and merely squirming weakly in Ranma's grip. Erin spoke up.

"Let go of the poor thing! You're gonna kill him."

Ranma noticed the American girl for the first time. He gave her a "so what?" look in response to her comment. Turning to face her, he gave the duck another shake, then said, "I ain't gonna kill 'im. I'm just gonna give 'im a really bad headache!"

Erin, who did not want him to cause Mu Mu-Chan any more bodily harm, held her arms out for the duck and commanded, "Ranma, relinquish the avian!"

Ranma gave her a strange look consisting of shock and confusion bordering on respect. Most people just did not talk to him that way. Then, he began to wonder how she knew his name. He asked her about it.

"That's not all I know," she replied with a feral grin and a cocked eyebrow. "Now, give me Mu Mu-Chan."

Turning to Shampoo, Ranma asked, "Who is this?"

"This Erin. She Mousse's new girlfriend."

Erin closed her eyes in pain.

"Oh, really?" questioned Ranma as a plan formed in his mind. A naughty glint shone in his blue-gray eyes as he handed the partially unconscious duck to Erin. "Wanna know somethin' interesting about Mousse?"

Erin raised her eyebrows questioningly. All of a sudden, Ranma whipped around, grabbed Shampoo's bucket of hot water, and flung it over the small duck in Erin's arms. Unprepared for the instant weight change, Erin dropped a soaking Mousse onto the restaurant floor. "Oops!" she muttered.

Staring at the wet Chinese boy on the floor, she immediately noticed that he was fully clothed. She remembered that Ryoga had told Jesse and her that out of the four people in Nerima with species-altering curses, Mousse was the only one who was able to change back and be dressed. They had decided that it had to do with being a Master of Hidden Weapons. She knelt down next to Mousse.

The duck-boy, who had been dropped on his back, flipped over onto his stomach. He coughed a few times, and rubbed at his throat, which still bore red impressions of Ranma's fingers. It was then that he noticed the person in front of him. He picked his glasses up off the floor, where they had fallen when he was dropped, and put them on. As the world came into better focus, he recognized her. It was the girl who had been at the restaurant the previous day with Ryoga and that other blond girl. The one who gave him butterflies in his stomach. He looked at the expression on her face. Her eyes were wide with concern, but he, having almost never had anyone concerned for him, misread it as mild disgust. Mousse groaned in embarrassment and pain, crossed his arms in front of him on the floor, and flopped his head down on them.

Ranma, however, was not yet finished with his little "demonstration." He picked up a leftover glass of water from one of the tables and poured it over the young man lying prostrate on the floor with his head on his arms. A little white duck with glasses was again sitting in a puddle of water. It quacked weakly, and remained flopped on its stomach with its wings spread out.

Erin was quite annoyed with Ranma. She gave him a withering look. "Good for you," she said sarcastically. "You know how to activate and deactivate Jusenkyo curses."

Ranma stared at her in amazement. How did she know what it was?

"Of course," she continued, her voice growing louder, "I suppose that skill does come in handy when you want to turn back into a GUY!"

By the last word, she was practically yelling. She jumped up, grabbed a pitcher of water that was on the nearby counter, and unceremoniously emptied the contents on Ranma's head.

"Hey!" complained a female voice. "What'd ya do that for?"

"It served you right," Erin told girl-type Ranma without the least bit of sympathy. "What you just did to Mousse was really cruel."

She bent down and scooped the stunned duck off the floor, and, cradling it gently in her arms, she walked out.

Ranma stood there for a second, wiping the water out of "his" eyes, and processing what had just happened. The teenaged martial artist stared at the purple-haired Amazon standing next to him, then, pointing through the glass door at the retreating figure of Erin, he said incredulously, "She just insulted me."

Shampoo blinked twice, then nodded.

Turning, Ranma shoved open the door of the Neko Hanten and ran out into the street. "Wait a second!" he yelled after Erin.

She stopped and turned around to face the irate guy/girl. Ranma pointed a finger at her. Without even stopping to consider if she was a martial artist as well, he cried out, "I challenge you!"

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then smirked.

"And, I refuse," she stated blandly. "Have a nice day." Then, she muttered under her breath, "Oh, who am I kidding. Have an awful day."

She turned once more, and walked off, leaving an absolutely flabbergasted Ranma standing in the street, one arm still extended.

"She…she turned me down! Can she do that?"

Shampoo stared at him, then at Erin who turned the corner at the end of the street and disappeared from sight. Looking back at her «airen», she grasped his problem. NO ONE had ever simply refused his challenge. In his mind, (small though it may be) she had affronted his honor. By her refusal, she was saying that fighting him was below her standards. Of course, Shampoo had a feeling that Erin was not a martial artist; Ranma had simply assumed that she was, because of her boldness, and the fact that they were in Nerima, after all.

At first, Shampoo was angry that the American girl had insulted her "beloved husband." Then, as she thought about it, her anger turned to mild displeasure coupled with respect. After all, Erin had managed to do something that almost nobody, even Shampoo herself, had ever really done and gotten away with. She had left Ranma speechless…a rare occurrence. Of course, no physical fighting had been done, but Erin had clearly emerged the victor of the first round.

Ranma was busy debating whether or not he should go after the strange American girl who liked Mousse (a completely foreign idea in itself), when Shampoo tugged on his sleeve.

"Ranma, Shampoo think you have bigger problem coming."

Ranma turned. A familiar blue-clothed figure was racing down the street towards him, arms outstretched.

"Pig-Tailed Girl!" it called.

"Aaaaaah," yelled Ranma. "Nooooooo!"

Shampoo watched as the martial artist turned tail, and proceeded to run as fast as possible, in the complete opposite direction.

After Erin had walked about a block, Mu Mu-Chan rejoined the world of the cognizant. He was having trouble remembering what had just happened to him. He recalled going to the Tendo Dojo to challenge Ranma, being chased down the street, and being splashed by that "evil" old washerwoman. Beyond that, things got a little hazy.

"Let's see, Ranma jumped me at the Neko Hanten, and then…Oh, my…" he thought in humiliation as everything came flooding back to him. He raised his head to look at the one carrying him. She was humming softly, and had yet to notice that he was awake.

"She must hate me," he thought. "She's probably furious because I didn't tell her I turned into a duck."

Never mind the fact that they had just met, and it is not exactly the first thing you would be telling to a total stranger. There was absolutely no logic behind his assumption, but Mousse was used to dealing with the people in Nerima, and as we all know, they do not exactly tend to be the most reasonable bunch. Also, Mousse had since heard what had happened when Akane found out about Ryoga's curse, and it made him worry all the more.

"I wonder where she's taking me? What if…what if she's planning on eating me?"

With each passing moment, Mousse's imagination ran further away with him. Soon he was having horrible fantasies about being plucked and skewered and roasted.

"Quack!" he cried out in distress, and began beating his wings frantically, trying to squirm out of her arms.

Erin looked down at the suddenly spastic duck she was holding. If it carried on like this for much longer, it was going to hurt itself.

"«Good grief!» It's «O.K.» Settle down, Mousse. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

She pinned his wings against his body with one hand, and used the other to softly stroke his head. She was not sure he would appreciate that, but could think of nothing else to do at the moment. It seemed to work… At least, he was not hyperventilating anymore. The duck still appeared very disturbed however. She hurried the last block to the building where she and Jesse lived. She carefully freed one hand to unlock the door, and went inside. She trotted up the stairs, two at a time, and walked into the apartment.

Setting the apprehensive duck on the couch, she disappeared into the back of the apartment, calling over her shoulder, "Don't you go anywhere."

Mousse did not dare; he was too worried for his safety to do anything that might displease her any further. He stayed rooted to the spot until she came back a few minutes later. She stood in front of him, and motioned for him to follow. He stared at her in confusion. Did she actually expect him to walk to his execution? Backing himself up against the couch, he briefly considered making a run for it, but decided she would catch him before he got to the door, which was locked anyway. His moment of hesitation gave Erin an opening, and she reached forward and snatched the fowl off the sofa.

«You are so very odd, Mousse,» she muttered in English. Then, «You'd think he was expecting me to assault him or something.»

She shook her head. Unfortunately for Mousse, the only word he had been able to understand was his name.

"This is the end," he thought. "I am going to die."

Erin carried him, much to his surprise, into the bathroom. She set him down on the side of the bathtub, which she had partially filled with warm water. Flopping a towel down next to him, she turned around to leave.

"I'll be waiting for you in the living room."

Mu Mu-Chan watched her go out and shut the door behind herself. How could she possibly know what to do for his Jusenkyo curse? His life was getting more confusing by the minute. He had expected her to cream him for hiding his curse from her. Instead, she was actually being very nice to him, now that he thought about it.

After putting his robe and things on the floor, he jumped into the water and almost instantly felt his body change into its normal form. He sighed softly and stood up. After drying off and getting dressed, he opened the door. With a deep breath, he walked out into the living room, not quite sure what to expect when he got there.

After going to the market to get something to munch on, Ryoga and Jesse decided to go back to the girls' apartment to look for Erin, and then go to see a movie. Jesse was, however, fully immersed in telling Ryoga about her evil ferret, Lilith, and so she failed to notice that the way they were going would not get them where they wanted to go. Around ten minutes later, they were standing in front of the Tendo dojo. Ryoga looked around in confusion.

"Oops," he muttered in frustration. "I did it again."

Jesse turned to look at the "Eternal Lost Boy." "Um, two questions. Where are we, and how did we get here?"

Ryoga glanced at his new girlfriend sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I sort of got us lost."

"Sort of?"

"Yeah, well, I know where we are, it's just not where we wanted to go…"

"Alrighty then, where are we?"

"We're at the Tendo's residence and dojo," he informed her. "This is where Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo live."

"So, how do we get back to where it is we're supposed to be?"

Ryoga paused to consider the question. As he was thinking, a familiar person exited the house whose yard they were standing in. It was Ranma, still damp from having just changed back from his cursed form. Ryoga and Jesse both looked up upon his arrival.

Ranma was scowling; he was having a bad day. First, Mousse had challenged him, disrupting his lunch, then, he had been insulted and his challenge refused by some strange American girl, then, Tatewaki Kuno had chased him. Now, to top it all off, here was Ryoga, standing on the lawn, probably wanting to pick a fight with him. Ranma decided the best thing to do would be to make the first move.

He rushed at Ryoga, yelling, "I challenge you! Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

Jesse performed a rather remarkable horizontal leap to avoid Ranma as he charged her boyfriend. Ryoga, confused though he still was, is still one of the best fighters in Nerima. He dodged Ranma's attack and cried out, "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The resulting blast showered all three of them with pebbles and dust, and left a rather spacious hole in the Tendo's front yard. It also caused a lot of noise. Nabiki and Kasumi appeared in the doorway to the house. Fortunately for Ryoga, Akane had been sent on an errand.

"Shishi Hôkôdan!" yelled the Lost Boy.

"Aaaaaaaah," cried Ranma as he threw himself out of the way of the blast, which took out the tree he had been standing in front of.

Kasumi's eyes got slightly wider than usual. She put her hand to her mouth in a ladylike gesture of surprise.

"Oh, my," she commented lamely, as usual.

Ranma, who was starting to get annoyed at Ryoga for…well, mostly for just being in his range of vision, gave a wild war whoop, and launched himself at Ryoga.

"Hey!" yelled Jesse, as Ranma and Ryoga tumbled to the ground in a tangled heap of arms and legs. "You get off my Ryo-Chan, Ranma Saotome!"

Both boys turned at her outburst.

"It's all right, J-Chan. I'll defeat him," Ryoga assured her, as he jumped up. Pulling one of his bandannas off, he whipped it once; it became stiff, like a knife. He swung around to face Ranma. The other martial artist, however, had other plans. He decided on his final attack, and called it.

"Mouko Takabisha…Confidence Blast!"

Ryoga was caught off-guard as the blast of chi energy struck him in the chest, sending him flying backwards…right into the fishpond.

"Bweeeee!" cried P-Chan, struggling to get out of the water.

Ranma grinned. "Heh, that's what ya get for gettin' in my way, pork-butt."

Behind Ranma, Jesse was fuming. She decided that Ranma Saotome had just effectively put himself on the top of her "People Who Really Tick Me Off" list. She looked around as she thought, "So, Ranma likes the 'Anything Goes' style, does he? Well, let's see how this goes over." Scooping up a large rock left over from Ryoga's Breaking Point Technique, she called over to Ranma.

"Hey, Fem-Boy! Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to gloat!"

Jesse hurled the rock at Ranma's head. The Japanese boy turned to look at whoever had just dared to insult him in that manner…and ended up with a stone embedded in his face. He tumbled over into the pond, waving his arms about wildly.

"Ittai!" he squealed. His cry was immediately followed by a loud "splash!" as he connected with the water. After a few seconds, girl-type Ranma floated to the surface, and remained bobbing up and down in blissful unconsciousness.

"Humph!" muttered Jesse, walking over and picking P-Chan out of the fishpond. "It served you right."

Turning on her heel, she stalked off in the general direction she and Ryoga had come from, leaving Kasumi and Nabiki standing on the porch.

"Well," Nabiki said dryly, "I'd say it's American Girl, one, Ranma, zilch."

"Goodness!" said Kasumi.

Erin walked out into her living room to wait for Mousse to change back into a person. She plopped down on the couch, picked up one of her science fiction books from a nearby coffee table, and began reading. However, her thoughts soon began drifting back to what had happened at the Neko Hanten. After all, it is not every day you get to see someone turn into a duck, or someone else switch gender.

"Jesse and Ryoga really were telling the truth," she thought to herself. "They really do have those strange curses. I wonder why they never went back to Jusenkyo while it still existed?"

The longer she waited, the more her mind wandered. She had just begun to wonder whether Mousse felt the urge to fly south for the winter when he was in his cursed form, or if Shampoo ever felt the need to chase small rodents, when Mousse came out of the bathroom. He had an apprehensive look on his face as he walked across the room towards her. Erin looked up from her book and smiled.

"«Nihao,» Mousse."

"Hello," he replied softly, not looking directly at her.

She tried again. "How's your neck?"

He absently put his fingers to his throat, which was still slightly red from Ranma's abusive treatment.

"It's a little sore," he told her. "Come on, please. Just hurt me and get it over with," Mousse thought as he waited for her to start yelling and flinging things at him as Shampoo did.

Erin was getting slightly frustrated with his lack of conversational interest. Putting her book down on the table, she asked, "Would you like to sit down for a minute?"

Mousse looked at her for the first time since coming out. She did not look angry at all, or even slightly annoyed. He stared at the young lady sitting in front of him. In fact, he was unsure what exactly the look on her face did mean. She was still smiling at him, and for the first time in the last fifteen years of his life, he forgot about Shampoo.

Erin gestured at the place next to her on the couch. For a moment, she did not think he was going to accept. Much to her surprise, and delight, he walked over and sat beside her. She could barely see his eyes through his thick glasses, but could easily sense the questioning look he was giving her. She raised her eyebrows in the universal gesture meaning, "well?" and waited for him to say something.

Finally, he spoke. "You…you aren't…angry with me?"

Erin just about fell off the couch. "Angry? Why on earth should I be angry with you?"

"Because," he began hesitantly, "I didn't tell you that I turned into a duck."

In her opinion, his comment sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Of course I'm not mad at you. I mean, it's not like I would expect you to just walk up to random people you've never seen before in your life and say, 'Hi, my name is Mousse, and I turn into a little white duck because I accidentally fell into a cursed puddle. May I take your order?' It's not exactly something you would just share with a stranger. It could get you into trouble."

He nodded numbly. "She's really not angry with me. She actually sounds rather…rather concerned for my well being. I wonder…" Here his train of thought picked up on something else she had said. He pushed his glasses up onto his head and stared at the blurry outline of the person he was talking to.

"How do you know about Jusenkyo?"

She looked slightly sheepish as she replied. "Well, my cousin's suddenly going out with Ryoga, and on their first date, he just blurted out that he turned into a piglet. Then, he took her to his house and showed her. He also said a lot of other things about pandas and ducks and girls and cats and water, and, well, she came home that night and woke me up trying to tell me everything. This morning, we went to Ryoga's house and he gave us the lowdown on Jusenkyo, and the different people with curses, and some other things. That's also how I knew who Ranma was, and that he turned into girl."

Mousse just stared at her for a second.

"You rescued me from Ranma."

"I was afraid he was going to strangle you to death!"

The cursed Chinese boy smiled a little. "Sometimes I wonder…" Then, "Why did you bring me here instead of getting hot water from the Neko Hanten?"

"Two reasons. One, I wasn't entirely sure that Shampoo would give it to me, and, two," and here, she grinned, "if I had stayed any longer, I might not have been able to resist the temptation to stick a pair of chopsticks up Ranma's nose!"

Mousse laughed at the extremely undignified mental picture her words conjured up; it was something he did not do very often.

"That would have been quite interesting."

"Ranma probably wouldn't have appreciated it very much, but he strikes me as the kind of person who periodically needs to be put back in his place."

"May I ask why you were at the Neko Hanten to begin with?"

Erin briefly wondered which parts of her visit she should reveal. She decided that honesty was the best policy, just not in very complete detail. "Actually, I was looking for you."

"Me?" he asked incredulously. "Why would you be looking for me?"

She looked at him, and then said something that no one had ever said to him before.

"Because…I want to be your friend."

Utter silence. When Mousse finally spoke, his words came out as more of a squeak than he probably would have liked.

"Really?"

Erin nodded. Mousse was truly confused. He was so used to being considered an annoyance, and being in the way of Cologne's plans for getting Ranma to wed Shampoo, that he was completely unprepared for the thought of someone actually wanting to know him, and spend time with him.

"Why do you want to be my friend?" he queried, still skeptical, wondering if maybe someone—like Cologne—had put her up to this to keep him occupied for a while, while some devious scheme was being plotted in his absence.

"I like you," she told him bluntly. "You seem like a really nice guy, and I wanted to get to know you better."

Of course, the other thing going through her mind was, "And you're really cute!" but she decided that it might be wiser to leave that part out for now. Mousse was, after all, still having problems just grasping the basic concept she was trying to convey.

"Even though I turn into a duck, and…and I can't see very well?"

"Yes, even though you turn into a duck," Erin assured him. "As to the vision impairment, so what? It doesn't make you any less of a person."

"And you look really adorable with your glasses!" she thought to herself.

Mousse was about to ask another question, when someone began banging on the front door; from the decibel level, a seemingly very annoyed person. Both Mousse and Erin turned at the noise.

"Who is that?" asked Mousse.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea."

Erin stood up and walked over to the front door. After looking through the peephole, she unlocked and opened the door while saying, "Forget your key, honey?"

Jesse was standing in the doorway looking peeved. It was then that Erin noticed the damp piglet with the yellow bandanna that her cousin was holding. Resisting the urge to ask if they had tried to go frolicking in someone's sprinklers, she moved aside to let Jesse come in.

"You know what?" Jesse began.

Erin waited for her to finish. She was not disappointed.

"Ranma is a major jerk!" her cousin complained.

"I had noticed that," Erin replied. Then, looking at the miserable pig, she continued, "There's already hot water in the bathtub."

Jesse gave her a questioning stare. "Why would that be?"

Erin simply pointed to the couch. Jesse noticed the very confused Chinese boy sitting there, for the first time since she had come in.

"Oh," she commented. Then, grinning evilly, she inquired in English, «So Eri-Chan, you had a successful hunting expedition, I see.»

Much to the surprise of both young men, but not Jesse, Erin stuck her tongue out and made a face. Having then finished her little display, she crossed her arms and muttered in English, «Oh, go dunk your boyfriend! I'm sure he's sick of being a pig, and unable to talk.»

«Well…well, piff!» snorted Jesse, using her personal word of botheration.

She then stalked off into the bathroom, all the while muttering things about rocks and ponds and the unfairness of life.

Erin switched back to Japanese.

"Well," she said to Mousse as she leaned her elbows on the back of the couch, "it would appear that Ranma was certainly making a general annoyance of himself today."

The young man looked up at her and nodded. "And, if your cousin is anything like you, I wonder what Ranma's day was like."

Erin smiled at the thought of Ranma having a crazy day because of the two of them. "Actually, she's not really very much like me, aside from the fact that she protects the people she likes. She lives in her world, I live in mine; we just have a constant wormhole connection going."

Although the science fiction allusion was totally lost on him, Mousse still smiled a little at the thought of being one of the people that Erin liked. It made him feel wanted, more so in fact than he had felt during his whole life.

A few minutes later, Jesse and Ryoga came back into the living room, where Erin was back on the couch talking to Mousse.

"Hey, Mousse," Jesse greeted as she and Ryoga seated themselves on the loveseat. Erin pried the story of their day out of them, and shared most of hers. Then, with a mildly nosy expression, Jesse queried, "So, what were you two talking about?"

Erin's look told her that the topic had not been marriage arrangements.

"Stuff," she informed Jesse noncommittally. "We've already heard Ryoga's view of life in Nerima, and I asked Mousse if he'd share his. After all, I'm sure there have been at least a few things that happened to him while Ryoga wasn't around. Right, Mousse?"

The young man nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Oh," Jesse said, "just whatever interesting things you've encountered, stuff like that."

"Alright…"

Mousse spent the next two hours telling them about his childhood in the Amazon village, and being rejected by Shampoo just about every day since he was three. He described his opinion of Ranma and Cologne, his view of life in Nerima, and all the things that he could think of that had happened to him while Ryoga was elsewhere. Some of the most notable being his first fights with Ranma, his attempt to kidnap Akane, when Shampoo had tried to kill him, and the near-disaster with the Reversal Gem. Then, he recounted his part in stopping the Togenkyo bride-nappings, including his fight with the feather-dart flinging birdman. He also told them about his strange encounter with a statue that had made itself look exactly like Shampoo to repay him for a "kindness" he had done for it, and then dated him for a week, before turning into a Ranma look-alike for Shampoo.

"The fight that followed is probably the closest I have ever come to besting Ranma Saotome in battle," Mousse concluded.

"What happened?" asked Erin.

Mousse looked down. "Shampoo tricked me into thinking she liked me, just so I wouldn't defeat Ranma. It distracted me for long enough that I passed out, since I hadn't slept in a week."

Erin made an unusual noise that sounded particularly displeased. "How heartless!"

Mousse could not think of anything to say in Shampoo's defense. Jesse decided to change the subject a little.

"Mousse," Jesse began, "Apparently Shampoo's constant rejection isn't getting through to you, but has she ever actually just told you how she feels about you?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, she screams that she hates me, and she hits me a lot, but someday she just has to realize that I love her."

With a "you-are-so-deluded" look on her face, Jesse stated, "I don't think "realizing" is the problem. She would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to not realize how you feel, I just think that she doesn't care."

Mousse was suddenly very interested in a thread on the sleeve of his robe, and became all consumed with studying it intently. Jesse rolled her eyes at his denial. She did not really feel one way or the other about him, but her cousin cared for him. So, she decided to try and play matchmaker. Now all she needed was a strategy. One was not forthcoming.

"Ryoga and I are going to go outside on the porch," she announced abruptly. "I'll see you later, Mousse."

"Good-bye, Jesse-san," he said affably.

"Oh," she said, stopping her movement to the patio door and turning around. "I think you should talk to Shampoo, when she's in a good mood, and just ask her how she truly feels about you, without all the yelling, and screaming, and hurting."

Then, having shared her nugget of wisdom for the day, she turned, took Ryoga by the arm, and dragged him out to the porch.

After they had disappeared, Erin turned to Mousse and said gently, "I think she's right about Shampoo. You should talk to her sometime, when you're pretty sure she won't get angry over just your presence."

He shrugged his shoulders and murmured, "I guess so."

Then, he cocked his head to one side, as if listening to something far away.

"What do you hear, Mousse?"

"I don't know… It sounds, umm, unusual."

Erin started hearing it, too. It was something between a smacking and a giggling noise. "No," she re-thought, "I can hear both sounds." At first, it sounded distant, but then she realized that it was merely muffled. All of a sudden, she knew what it was. She put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle of her own. Mousse gave her a confused look.

"I think I know what it is."

Jesse pulled Ryoga out onto the patio with her, then closed the glass door. The curtains inside swung shut part of the way, obscuring their view of the living room, and the view of anyone inside trying to look out. Jesse smiled at her boyfriend, and placed his arm around her shoulders. Ryoga was starting to blush. He had always had trouble expressing any kind of romantic feelings. He looked at her and found her staring directly into his eyes. He had forgotten that she was only about half an inch shorter than he was. She suddenly grinned at him, put her arms around his neck, and pulled him towards her.

"Anata ga suki desu," she whispered.

Ryoga's eyes widened as she leaned forward and kissed him. He was in shock for a moment. Then, he found himself closing his eyes and returning her kiss. It was Jesse's first kiss. It was Ryoga's first real kiss, as well, not counting Ranma's tricks, or that unfortunate incident with the over appreciative piglet. He pulled back after another moment.

"I love you, too," he murmured. Jesse giggled, and they started kissing again.

Erin stood up quietly as Mousse stared at her with a questioning look on his face. She put her finger to her lips and whispered, "Shhhh…" She tiptoed to the patio curtains, crouched down, and peered around the edge. All the while, Mousse was staring at her like she had lost her mind.

"What are you doing?"

She turned back to face him. "I was right."

He decided to rephrase the question. "What are they doing?"

Erin looked outside once more, then at the young man on the sofa. With a grin she replied, "They're kissing!"

The Chinese boy's eyebrows went up. He stood and walked over to Erin, and leaned over her to look out the window. Jesse and Ryoga were kissing, with their eyes closed, and their arms around each other. Erin smiled at Mousse, and he smiled back. Then letting go of the curtain, she pulled on Mousse's robe sleeve, and dragged him back to the couch.

Erin turned to him with her version of a "serious" expression and said, "They are demonstrating the first rule of kissing."

Mousse blinked. "And, what would that be?"

"Never trust anyone who doesn't close their eyes when you kiss them."

"Oh…all right."

Just then, he saw the clock on the wall. He had been there for over three hours.

"I think I need to get back to work. Cologne will get angry with me if I'm gone too long."

"Well, I certainly don't want that," Erin responded with all seriousness. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

She stood up and waited for him to get to his feet.

"You didn't leave any weapons or anything in the bathroom, did you?"

Mousse smiled and shook his head. "No, I have everything I came with."

They walked to the door together, and she opened it for him. He stepped out. Erin expected him to maybe wave and walk away. Instead, he just stood outside the door looking rather lonely and confused. In truth, although he had not even left yet, he was already missing her. He did not want to leave to go back to the Neko Hanten. He even found himself dreading seeing Shampoo, especially after how well Erin treated him. So, he just stood there, knowing he needed to go, but not able to leave.

Erin watched him for a second, as a plaintive look came into his eyes. Without even thinking about it, she stepped forward impulsively. Mousse stood still as she came up to him, and put her arms around him, and hugged him gently. He hugged her back. She let go, but left her hand on his shoulder.

"Sayônara, Mousse-chan. I'll see you later, «O.K.»?"

He nodded. "Thank you for everything, and…and for being my friend."

She smiled and squeezed his arm softly, then let go. He did not look quite as lonesome anymore.

«Bye,» she said as he turned and walked down the stairs.

At the bottom door, he paused to look back. She was still standing at the top, smiling at him. He smiled a small smile, and walked outside to go back to work. He could not have explained how he felt if his life had depended on it. All he knew is that he felt something about her that he had never felt for anyone before. She was special, and he wanted to stay close to her.

Erin watched until after he had shut the door downstairs, and she could no longer see him. Then, after waiting a few more seconds just to be sure he was not going to come back in, she turned and walked back into the apartment, shutting and locking the door behind her. She smiled to herself, then called towards the patio door.

"I'll see you later, Ryoga. Have a great day «ya'll»!"

Then, she walked through the living room, grabbing her book on the way, and went into her bedroom to read.

After kissing, Jesse and Ryoga sat down next to each other on the floor. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her.

"Wow," he thought, "I've never felt this way before about anyone…even Akane. I want to keep her forever." Of course, the next thing that popped into his mind was asking her to marry him, but he decided that it was probably a little too soon for that, to say the least. After all, they had not known each other for that long, and Nerima did not exactly have a reputation for bringing out the best in marriage arrangements. Also, he was unsure she would appreciate it if he proposed. However, he certainly did not eliminate the option for the future…

An hour or so later, just after the sunset, Ryoga asked Jesse if she would walk him home. After all, it just would not do to have him wander off to Kyoto by mistake. When they got to his house, they kissed goodnight, and Jesse promised to call him in the morning.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ryo-Chan."

"Thank you, J-Chan, for the most wonderful night of my life so far."

She smiled, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran off into the encroaching darkness.

When she got home, she found Erin sitting on her bed, waiting for her. Jesse plopped down on her own bed and sighed.

«I love Japan!» Jesse gushed, in English.

Erin grinned. «I don't think the country enters into it.»

Jesse smirked and then rolled onto her stomach. "Girl talk" commenced, and continued unimpeded for about four hours. They talked about Jesse's day, and Erin told Jesse all the details of her previously vague description of her visit to the Neko Hanten. After they had gotten ready for bed, and turned off the lights, Erin turned toward Jesse's general direction and said, «I think I really like Mousse.»

Jesse muttered, «Well, duh.»

Smiling, Erin finished, «He's really very sweet, and completely adorable.»

Jesse rolled her eyes at her cousin's dark shape. «I think he's a little strange. I mean, what kind of a name is 'Mousse.' But, if you like him, I'll play nice. Heh…»

«Oh, really?» Erin retorted. Waxing sarcastic, she commented, «And turning into a little black piglet is just dead average, huh?»

«Well…well, piff!»

«That's about what I thought.» Then, «You know, Jess, Ryoga's pretty nice. And his fangs are kinda cute. You two make a nice couple. Just thought you should know that. Good-night!»

«'Night!» Jesse said. Then she added, «I bet you and Mousse would look pretty cute, too.»

«Hmmm…» Erin mused.

It was after dusk when Mousse came running up to the Neko Hanten. He slipped in as quietly as he could, hoping that maybe Cologne and Shampoo would fail to notice how late he got back. Fortunately for him, Lin-Lin and Ran-Ran had recently gone back to China, so he had two less Amazons to worry about spotting him. Unfortunately, the second he went in, he discovered a very peeved-looking Shampoo standing right in front of him, along with Cologne up on her stick, her arms crossed and a look of doom on her withered face.

"Uh-oh…" he groaned.

"Well," Cologne started. "Haven't we just had a wonderful time running all over creation?"

Mousse resisted the urge to tell her that, yes, he did have a wonderful time, but no, he had actually been pretty stationary the whole time. However, he figured that would just get him into more trouble.

"Where you been?" Shampoo demanded. "Shampoo have dishpan hands from doing Duck-Boy's job all day long. What you thinking?"

Mousse stared at the floor. He was not exactly sure how Shampoo would respond to news of where he had been and who he had been with.

"Well, I…uh…" he stuttered.

Cologne interjected, "Spill it, Mister Part-time. And I want the truth." Privately, she wondered why he was having such trouble answering. Usually, he was out trying to defeat Ranma, and he never minded admitting it, and then, of course, he usually tried to glomp Shampoo and tell her how she was going to be his bride. And, the cycle of pain would begin. This time, however, she was beginning to think that was not what he had been doing.

He sighed, and then muttered, "I was with Erin. She took me to her house after she, um, 'removed' me from the Neko Hanten. I've been there for the past few hours."

Mousse was sure he was in deep trouble. He just about fell over in shock when Cologne smiled and said, "She's such a nice girl. You should spend lots of time at her house, and she can come here any time she wants. Good-night, Mousse."

Even Shampoo lost the evil glint in her eyes. In fact, she was practically bouncing with barely containable glee. "Ooh, Mousse," she squealed, "Shampoo hope you had wonderful time with strange American girl. You going see her lots, yes! Shampoo want you be with her all time! 'Night!"

Mousse just stood there in dumbfounded confusion as Shampoo bounced up the stairs after her great-grandmother. Mousse had not seen her that happy in months. He was at a complete and total loss as to why neither one of the Amazons had pounded him into the ground, or even seemed at all annoyed after he told them where he was. Upstairs, he could hear Shampoo prattling on in gleeful, singsong Chinese, something about love and freedom.

He stared at the stairs in shock, and muttered, "Huh!"

Not early the next morning, while Erin went out to get groceries, Jesse decided to pay a visit to Shampoo. She had, at around four in the morning, come up with a way to get Mousse and Erin together…she hoped. Of course, it rather depended on whether or not Shampoo really wanted to get rid of "Stupid Blind Duck-Boy," but Erin's cousin had a feeling that she would.

Jess arrived about ten minutes before the breakfast crowd would. She walked into the restaurant and waited for someone to notice her. From where she was positioned, she could see Mousse standing at the sink in the kitchen, with his sleeves rolled up, washing dishes. He was humming, which struck Jesse as rather odd for him, even though she did not know him very well. After a couple of minutes, Shampoo came into the room and saw her.

«Nihao!» Shampoo greeted. "What Shampoo can do for you?"

"Actually," Jesse said, doing her best to look convincing, "I think there's something I could do for you."

"What that?"

"How would you like to get rid of Mousse for good?"

Shampoo eyed her skeptically. On the one hand, she was not sure she believed that Jesse was sincere, but on the other, getting rid of Mousse had always been at the forefront of her mind. She asked, "How much strange American hit-woman asking?"

Jesse almost fell over when she realized how her comment had come across. She waved her arms as she hissed, "Noooo! That's not what I meant! I'm not gonna kill him, I just think I have a way to get him to stop following you all around and everything."

"Oh," Shampoo said, sounding mildly disappointed. "What way that? Shampoo still maybe interested."

"Well…"

She spent the next fifteen minutes telling Shampoo about her theory that if she would just talk to Mousse without interludes of screaming and hitting and hurting, and simply explain that she didn't, couldn't, wouldn't ever love him, maybe he would finally get the point. She finished by telling her that as soon as he realized that she was not an option, maybe he would notice the way Erin felt about him.

"I mean, after all," Jess concluded, "what could it hurt?"

Shampoo thought for a second, then decided. "Shampoo try your way. If not work, Shampoo no worse."

"Great! See you later."

Shampoo turned and began walking back upstairs to get her apron. As she passed the kitchen, she thought she heard humming. She peered in, and was rather surprised to find that Mousse was the source of the noise. He was still washing dishes, enveloped in his own little bubble of bliss, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. "Hmm," Shampoo thought as she watched him work, "He much happier than usual." She turned back to the stairs. "He off key, too."

Jesse smiled triumphantly. "This had better work!" she thought. "Otherwise, I might have to resort to physical persuasion. Heh, heh…" Then, she spun on her heel, and walked off to go see if Ryoga was available to play.

Shampoo watched her leave. "Hmm," she mused. "Maybe if Shampoo get rid of Mousse, Ranma take Shampoo!" Of course, her logic was quite flawed, but her invalid conclusion caused her to decide to go along with Jesse's scheme. Now the only thing lacking was Mousse's cooperation, but Jesse had figured that she should let him talk to Shampoo when he could get up the courage on his own. As it turned out, they did not have long to wait.

Later that day, after the lunch crowd had left the Neko Hanten, Shampoo and Mousse were cleaning tables together. Well, "together" only in the sense that they were in the same room. As usual, Shampoo was ignoring Mousse to the best of her ability. Mousse, however, had his mind on other things, namely, what Jesse and Erin had said about Shampoo. He had never really stopped to think about the way she treated him before. He had always just ignored it, hoping that someday she would love him, too. The more he thought about it though, the more he began to wonder if she was playing hard to get, or if she really did not want to be gotten. At least, not by him.

He looked up from the table he was wiping, and watched for a moment as Shampoo worked. "Maybe I should just ask her," he thought silently. "After all, what else could she do to me that she hasn't already tried?" He remembered the way Erin had treated him, and wished that Shampoo would treat him that way. "Even half that kindly would be nice," he muttered.

Shampoo turned around. "What you mumbling, Mousse?" she demanded, with her usual lack of tact.

Caught off guard, the Chinese boy quickly replied, "Oh, uh, nothing, nothing at all. Eh-heh…"

"Hmph!" Shampoo sniffed as she went back to collecting dishes.

"Coward," Mousse thought to himself. "Why won't you just ask her!"

The Amazon finished stacking the dishes, and began to carry them to the kitchen. She was about halfway to the door when Mousse finally decided he could not take the wondering anymore.

"Shampoo!" he blurted, rather surprised with himself. "May I ask you a question?"

Shampoo set the dishes on the nearby counter, and turned to face him. "What you want, Mousse?"

"Shampoo, do you love me?"

"No!"

His face fell a little. "Could you ever love me?"

The Chinese Amazon felt the urge to scream "stupid!" and smack him with something, but in deference to her agreement with Jesse, she refrained…barely.

"Shampoo no ever love you, Mousse. Shampoo love Ranma."

Mousse was getting desperate. "But, what if I defeated Ranma, then could you—"

"You not ever beat Ranma," she interjected. "Ranma too strong, he beat even Shampoo!"

"But…but what if one day I could—"

Shampoo did not even let him finish the sentence; she could not stand it anymore. She hoped that Jesse knew what she was talking about, because she would only allow this once. As it was, it was already taking all her willpower to just keep from chucking a nearby kettle at his head.

"Stop it!" Shampoo yelled. "Shampoo no love you now, Shampoo no love you ever! Shampoo no care if you beat Ranma; Shampoo no care if you beat Shampoo, too. It not make difference. Shampoo still love Ranma!"

Mousse's eyes were wide, and his mouth was hanging slightly open in shock. But Shampoo was not finished yet.

"Shampoo not even care if you beat whole Amazon village, and Great-grandmother! Shampoo still think you stupid, blind duck-boy, and she never want you! Never! Shampoo reject you as suitor for last time."

The previously referred to duck-boy swallowed hard, and blinked back tears, somewhat unsuccessfully. He had been rejected, and it hurt. It hurt more than all the times she had hit him. He felt hated and unwanted, but was still having a hard time grasping the full meaning of her words.

"That's…that's not true!" he cried. "I will beat Ranma! You'll see!"

He dropped the rag he had been wiping the table with, turned, and ran out the door. Or, that is what he tried to do. He sort of bounced off the doorjamb once before he actually got outside. Once out, he took his bicycle, and pedaled off in the direction of the Tendo Dojo, to try to settle an old score.

Shampoo watched him go without the least bit of sorrow or guilt at how she treated him. Cologne came down the stairs and stood next to her great-granddaughter.

"Well," she croaked, "that was quite a display."

"Shampoo not care. Shampoo want him stop chasing!"

Cologne watched the rapidly disappearing form of her long-time problem. "Oh, well," she muttered rather callously. "As dense as that boy can be, it was bound to happen sometime. Maybe this will finally pound some sense into that thick skull of his."

"Hmph!" Shampoo snorted indignantly.

About ten minutes later, Erin, having finished her shopping, arrived at the Neko Hanten. She greeted Shampoo, and then inquired as to Mousse's whereabouts.

"Hmm," Shampoo stalled, "Shampoo no know."

Erin graced her with a disbelieving look. "Oh, really? Are you sure you don't know where he is?"

"Weeell, maybe."

"Do tell."

"Shampoo think he probably go off to fight Ranma. He not doing so good."

Now Erin was interested. "Why would that be?"

Shampoo stared at the floor for a second before answering. "Shampoo tell him how she really feel about him. He start crying and go away. Shampoo think he go challenge Ranma again."

«Oh, boy…» Erin muttered in English. «This is not good.» She looked at Shampoo. "Thanks. If I can't find him, though…I'll be back."

Then, she turned and ran out the door, quite a bit more gracefully than Mousse had. Shampoo wondered briefly if that last part had been a veiled threat, but quickly decided against that, and went back to work.

Mousse pedaled until his legs hurt from overexertion, but he was beyond caring anymore. Now that no one was watching, he was crying openly. He was paying little attention as he swerved, nearly blind, down the street, narrowly missing a telephone pole, a parked car, and a dog. He was not really thinking about what he would do if he failed to beat Ranma. After all, he had never been able to before, but his pent up frustration drove him on. Finally, he arrived at the Tendo Dojo.

Mousse left his bicycle against a tree, and walked up to the front door. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and knocked. Nabiki Tendo opened the door. She stared at him for a minute, taking in his rather disheveled appearance, ragged breathing, and red-rimmed eyes. She also noticed that he looked ready to break something.

"Hmm… I would ask what I could do for you, but it's rather obvious. I'll go get Ranma."

"Thank you," Mousse replied, trying to sound as polite as possible. After all, he had nothing against Nabiki. "I shall wait here if you don't mind."

Nabiki shrugged, and went back into the house. A couple minutes later, Ranma came to the door, eating a rice ball. He raised an eyebrow at the distraught Chinese boy standing outside.

"Wadya want?"

Mousse stabbed a finger at Ranma's chest. "Ranma Saotome, I challenge you, for the final time!"

"Did Shampoo kick ya out again?" Ranma asked while chewing.

Mousse gave him a mildly disgusted look. "Are you refusing my challenge?"

"Not necessarily," he drawled. "I mean, you've never been much more than an annoyance, but I could use an after-lunch practice to help me digest."

Mousse scowled at Ranma's insult. Privately, he wondered if Ranma actually knew anything about the digestion process, or if he had just heard someone else say something similar, and thought it sounded good. He kept this to himself, though, and instead opted for, "Didn't your mother ever teach you to chew with your mouth closed?"

Ranma narrowed his eyes at Mousse, then turned and handed his unfinished rice ball to Nabiki, who had been standing just inside, listening. She took it with two fingers and held it at arm's-length, while staring at it disdainfully.

"Well then," Ranma began, "let's do it."

The two boys walked around to the backyard. Had they been paying attention, they would have noticed Nabiki come to the back door to watch (after having disposed of the aforementioned rice ball, probably in the trash), but they were both preoccupied. Mousse walked about ten feet farther than Ranma, turned, and assumed a fighting stance; Ranma did likewise. As the two martial artists faced off against each other, Akane came out of the house and joined her sister on the porch.

"They at it again?" she asked, sounding rather blasé.

Nabiki did not even glance at her as she replied blandly, "Yep."

As he stood in front of Ranma, Mousse had a feeling that he was unprepared for the impending all-out fight with the best martial artist in Nerima. He was not about to back down now, though.

Ranma could sense his opponent's confidence faltering. "So, duck," he taunted, "are you prepared to die today?"

"No," Mousse replied with as much bravado as he could muster. "But then, I don't intend to be defeated!"

"You ain't got a choice." Ranma snorted. "Enough talk… Mouko Takabisha!"

Mousse barely managed to dodge the blast in time, but did succeed in throwing himself out of the way enough to retaliate with a wave of sharp, pointy objects on chains and sticks, from the sleeves of his robe.

"I've got you now, Ranma!" he yelled.

"Think again!"

Ranma decided to forgo style and live up to the "Anything Goes" part of his learning. He ducked under the barrage of weapons Mousse had sent at him, and launched himself, rather ungracefully, at the Chinese boy. Ranma's feet impacted squarely on Mousse's chest, causing him to fly backwards. Mousse grunted in pain, but used his newly acquired momentum to roll as he landed, placing himself out of Ranma's immediate reach.

Ranma, meanwhile, had jumped to his feet. "Why do ya still bother fightin' me when ya know yer gonna lose?"

Mousse stood and, faster than Ranma could even see, pulled a pair of long, thin spiked claws from out of his robe, and fastened them on the backs on his hands. His adrenaline was pumping, and although a little voice in the back of his head was telling him that this fight was a bad idea, he ignored it. He leaped at Ranma, slashing out with the claws.

"Rrrr…You can't have her!" Mousse cried out. "I won't let you take her from me. I will defeat you, and then Erin will be mine!"

"Huh?" Ranma muttered.

He lacked time to ponder the statement, as Mousse stabbed at him with both arms, overextending himself in the process. Ranma took advantage of the other young man's unbalanced stance, and jumped forward. He caught Mousse's wrists, and pinned them to the ground underneath his knees. Mousse looked up at his restrainer, and, much to his surprise, found Ranma looking back, very confused.

On the porch, Akane was mirroring Ranma's expression. "Did he just say he wanted somebody named Erin?"

Nabiki, who had witnessed the fight between Ranma and Ryoga, had afterward done some "information gathering," and at least knew who Erin was. Even she, though, raised an eyebrow. "Yep."

Ranma stared incredulously into Mousse's face. "Why would I want that crazy American chick?"

Mousse struggled unsuccessfully against Ranma's grip. "Shampoo is not American!"

"Ya didn't say 'Shampoo,'" Ranma replied with mild exasperation.

Now it was Mousse's turn to be confused. "I did say 'Shampoo.' What do you think—"

Ranma cut him off abruptly. "No ya didn't! Ya said 'Erin.'"

Turning his head, Mousse could see Akane and Nabiki on the porch, nodding in affirmation of Ranma's statement. "I…I did?"

The two girls nodded harder. Ranma rolled his eyes, and Mousse used the break in his attention to his own advantage. Shifting his weight to one side, he brought his knee up, and drove it into Ranma's leg. Ranma promptly fell off his catch. As Mousse leaped to his feet and put his claws back into his robe, he thought, "I said 'Erin?' Where did that come from?"

He did not have time to contemplate it, though, as Ranma had already stood back up. Mousse, who was tired, not really from the fight, but from emotional exertion, and riding all the way to their house, decided that if he was going to have any chance of winning, he would have to do it soon. Backing up, so as to have room for a running start, he faced Ranma. He crouched, then ran, then leaped into the air, yelling, "Takatsume-ken!"

Three-inch long, curved nails appeared on the bottoms of his shoes as he performed his final attack, Raking Hawk's Talons. Ranma looked up to see sharp metal descending rapidly towards his head.

"GAAAAAH!"

He threw himself out of the way as fast as was humanly possible, or maybe faster. He was not in the mood to be aerated. The other fighter watched in frustration as his opponent dodged his attack. He quickly retracted the spikes, so as not to imbed them in his own feet, and landed in the grass, on his knees, as gently as possible. Ranma saw his opening as Mousse began to stand back up.

As Mousse got to his feet, he began to turn around to face Ranma. However, Ranma did not intend to let him finish. Running towards Mousse, he thought, "That's it, I've had enough. This is going to end right now!" In less than a second, Ranma was next to his opponent. He performed a spinning kick that connected with Mousse's exposed side, right under his ribcage. The force of the blow sent Mousse flying. He crashed backwards, striking his head off the stones surrounding the fishpond. The world started spinning.

His glasses had been knocked off when he fell, and his head was throbbing. Mousse saw three Ranmas coming at him. He tried to sit up, but only succeeded in causing reality's gyrations to increase. Before he could react, Ranma was on top of him and had planted a foot firmly on top of his chest, making it slightly harder to breathe. Ranma leaned down a little, and said, "You lose, duck-boy."

"Nnngh, I'm not beaten yet…"

"How do ya want me to convince ya?" Ranma asked. "I could knock ya out, ya know."

Mousse glared daggers at Ranma, since he could not get to any of his real ones. He grabbed Ranma's ankle, and tried to shove the other boy off. It did not work; he lacked the leverage to remove him.

"Ya said this would be the last time ya'd challenge me, so I wanna hear ya say it."

"Say what?" Mousse snarled.

"Say, 'I concede.'"

On the porch, both Akane and Nabiki registered surprise. "Poor Mousse," murmured Akane.

"Fine," Mousse said. "You concede."

Ranma scowled at the overpowered Chinese boy on the ground, and increased the pressure on his chest. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. Now, SAY IT!"

"FINE!" Mousse cried out, anguish seeping into his tone. "I…I…conce—"

"STOP!" yelled a new voice.

Akane turned to Nabiki. "Who is that!"

Nabiki looked mildly amused. "That is Erin."

"Oh."

Ranma turned his head, and saw the same American girl from the other day standing about fifteen feet away. She had one of Mousse's many weapons in her hand, a long stick with a wooden globe covered in protrusions of various sizes on the end.

"I shall use small words with few syllables, so that you can understand. Do not hit, punch, kick, sock, maim, mangle, beat, smack, thunk, or otherwise hurt Mousse ever again. Got it? It could be bad for your continued well-being."

Ranma stared at her for a second. "And what are you gonna do about it?"

Much to his surprise, she hauled back and yelled, "Ranma, prepare to be defeated!"

He watched in shock as she actually threw it at him. Ranma quickly assumed the best blocking stance he could manage under the circumstances, careful to keep one foot on Mousse. The weapon flew through the air with the greatest of ease, Ranma twitched, and the weapon connected…with the ground about a foot and a half to the pigtailed martial artist's right.

Ranma straightened up and looked at the weapon lying on the ground next to him. "HA!" he laughed haughtily. "Ya completely missed me!"

Erin, however, simply leaned back, crossed her arms, and arched an eyebrow. Smirking, she asked, "And what makes you so sure that I intended to hit you?"

A confused look flitted across Ranma's face. "Huh?"

All of a sudden, he felt the pressure ease off his ankle. "Uh, oh!" he thought. He swung back around, a little too late, as Mousse, newly armed, swung the weapon in an upward arc. It caught Ranma upside the head with a mighty thock, sending him flying into the fishpond…for the second time in the last two days.

"Hmmm," Nabiki commented. "This is becoming a habit."

Erin waved to the two girls standing on the porch as she calmly walked over to Mousse. She leaned down, and offered her hand to him. As he still had a pounding headache, he accepted her assistance in standing. After he was back on his feet, he turned and looked at Ranma, who was again unconscious, floating gracefully across the surface of the pond, exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

Nabiki turned to go back into the house, now that things had quieted down. "Why weren't we alerted about the American invasion?" she asked her sister sarcastically.

Akane shook her head. "That's twice that Ranma's lost…in the past three days!"

"Oh, well. It was bound to happen eventually," Nabiki said dryly, as she walked back inside with Akane following her. "Ranma's finally met his match. I'd say it's American Girls, two, Ranma, zip."

Akane nodded in agreement. Then she asked, "Hey, Nabiki, do you think we should pull Ranma out of the pond?"

Nabiki glanced back over her shoulder for a second. "Naaah."

Mousse looked over at Erin, who was standing next to him wearing a very pleased expression. "I…I won…" he stuttered, almost uncomprehendingly, as he picked up his glasses. "I mean, we won. For the first time since I arrived, I fought Ranma and I beat him!" Mousse was practically grinning as he said, "Thank you."

Erin smiled at him. "You're very welcome." Then, with concern creeping into her voice, she asked, "How's your head, by the way?"

"It'll be fine. I shall get some ice when I go back to the Neko Hanten."

"That's good." Then, looking thoughtful, she said, "I do have one question, though."

"Yes?"

She gestured around her at all the assorted weapons lying on the ground. "How long will it take you to put all this stuff back in your robe?"

Mousse blinked. "Um, not too long…"

Close to an hour later, Mousse finally finished putting all his weapons back into their respective hiding places. Erin had offered to help, but as there was really nothing that she could do, (aside from occasionally pointing and saying, "You forgot one") she sat against one of the trees and just talked. Mousse was not used to people being quite so communicative, but he decided that he did not really mind. Actually, he just liked the fact that she paid attention to him, in a much more positive and definitely less painful way than Shampoo.

"Alright," he eventually told her. "I think I've got everything."

With a last semi-smug look at the very buoyant, unconscious person in the pond, Erin got up and followed Mousse to the front yard while he got his bicycle. As they walked down the street together, she asked, "So, what are you going to do now?"

Mousse stared blankly at her. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged a little. "Well, you did it. Beat Ranma, I mean. Isn't that what you've been trying to do for the last few years?"

The young man stopped abruptly, as recent events completely sunk in. As he stood there, he thought, "I…I did beat him. I had help, but the final blow was mine. I can go back to the Neko Hanten as…as the victor. And then Shampoo would have to acknowledge that I defeated her «airen»!" Another thought struck him. "Then, I might be worthy to be her suitor!"

Of course, Mousse was forgetting the fact that Shampoo had told him, in no uncertain terms, that she did not want him. He also was not stopping to think about whether he actually wanted to marry her. He did, however, decide that he needed to go back to the Neko Hanten and tell the two Amazons that he had won against Ranma Saotome. He turned to Erin, who was still waiting for him to answer her question.

"I…I have to go back to work. I need to tell Shampoo that I defeated Ranma, and…and…" Here he paused for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow, please?"

She nodded, her eyes wide. She was not used to him gushing like that. "«O.K.», Mousse. Bye!"

By the time she got to the last word, he was already on his bike, barreling down the road in the direction of the aforementioned ramen shop.

The American girl stood there for a second before walking back towards her apartment, shaking her head in mild confusion.

«Alrighty then…» she muttered in English. «That made loads of sense.»

When Mousse arrived at the Neko Hanten, Shampoo and Cologne were waiting for him. Shampoo put on her most demeaning look.

"Stupid, blind duck-boy come back so soon with tail between legs?"

Mousse stared at her for a moment. He had been exited at first; eager to tell her of his first lasting victory against Ranma, but now, as he stood in front of her, he could not remember why.

"No," he said softly, deep in thought. "I…I won." He paused. "I'm going upstairs for the rest of the night, if you don't mind. I need to think."

He turned and walked up the stairs, leaving the two Amazons in flabbergasted silence. Shampoo recovered her voice first.

"AIYAAAAA!" she screamed incredulously. "Shampoo go kill Mousse!"

"Wait, great-granddaughter," Cologne instructed. "Let's give him the rest of the night to sort himself out. If he tries to claim you in the morning, then you may kill him."

"Hmph!" Shampoo snorted, still seething. "He better not try. Amazon law say woman must marry man who beats her, not man who beats man who beat her. Shampoo never marry stupid duck!"

Mousse slowly walked upstairs, still enveloped in contemplation. After taking a hot shower and putting on fresh robes, he went into his "bedroom" in the attic, closed the door, and sat on his bed. He was a bit surprised that Shampoo had yet to come bursting in with her bonbori, demanding that he come and finish the dishes, but he decided not to worry about it. He needed the rare opportunity of solitude to sort out his life, which had been getting significantly more confusing over the past week. Had he beaten Ranma even three or four days earlier, he would have already been trying to convince Shampoo to marry him. As things now stood, after her rather vocal rejection of him as a suitor, he was fairly certain that she would not only refuse him, but also cause him severe bodily injury. This knowledge would have never stopped him before, but now, he found that he was not sure he wanted to marry her anymore. Mousse laughed softly.

"What has gotten into me lately?" he wondered. "First, I beat Ranma, now, I'm doubting my love for Shampoo!"

The more he thought, the more doubt there was. Old memories of rejection and mistreatment began coming back to him: her beating him up as a small child, and then as an older child, on into his teens; ignoring him every time he tried to talk to her; how she had run off after Ranma, completely disdaining Mousse's very existence; how she insulted and mocked him every time he tried to do something. He remembered her giving him weapons that exploded on him the second time he fought Ranma for her, he remembered being tied to a chair in his cursed form, or put in a small metal cage whenever his presence became "inconvenient." She cheered every time he failed, and laughed whenever he was hurt, and the list of injustices and abuse went on and on. By the time he was done remembering, several hours later, he was sobbing. He pulled his legs up to his chest, and rested his head on his knees.

"Why?" he asked of no one in particular. "What did I ever do to make her hate me so much?"

For the last four years, he had been trying to win Shampoo's love, and now, for the first time, he found that not only would she never give it, but that he did not want it. As he sat there, more recent memories surfaced: her yelling at him in the Neko Hanten, calling him "stupid, blind duck-boy" more times than he could count, all leading up to her painful rejection of him that afternoon, and then her mocking question when he returned. He had to admit, though, that it had felt pretty good to be able to tell her, for the first time, that he had won. This brought him to a new question. If he no longer loved Shampoo, was there somebody else?

Shampoo had never been there for him when he needed help, but lately, someone else had been. At the Neko Hanten, when he had hugged a stranger instead of Shampoo, the young lady had kept him from Shampoo's rage; when he almost dropped the dishes, she had helped him then, too; when Ranma was attacking and choking him, she had stopped him, and that afternoon, when Ranma was standing on top of him, ready to claim yet another victory, she had turned the tables. She treated him kindly, despite his eyesight and his curse, and told him she wanted to be his friend. Mousse remembered the way he felt when he was around her, and then, what he had accidentally told Ranma: "I will defeat you, and then Erin will be mine!"

"Is that it? Is that why I don't want Shampoo anymore?" he thought. "Am I in love with Erin?"

He could see her smiling at him, at the Neko Hanten, at her house, at the Dojo. He was hit with an unfamiliar sensation.

"She really cares about me," he murmured. "But does she love me? I…I have to know."

He spent the rest of the night thinking of different ways to ask her, and around five in the morning, he finally fell asleep.

Mousse woke up the next morning to the sun streaming in the window, and a strange tapping noise by his head. He rolled over and saw a stick being hit repeatedly against the floor. He looked up, and saw the Amazon matriarch sitting atop the stick.

"Uh, oh," he groaned softly. "I'm going to get it."

"Do you know what time it is?" Cologne questioned.

Mousse stared blankly at her.

"Well then, I'll tell you. It's almost noon. So, you had better get your tail feathers downstairs and start working, Mister Part-time."

Mousse sat cross-legged on the bed and put his glasses on. "Honorable Matriarch," he began carefully, "may I take the afternoon off, please?"

Cologne stared at him like he had just turned purple. "And why should I let you do this?"

Mousse blushed, and then said, "Last night, I decided that I'm in love, and I need to go tell her, and see if she loves me, too…"

Although she would never admit it, Cologne was slightly confused. After all, Shampoo was right downstairs. "I suppose that if—"

"Oh, thank you!" Mousse gushed. "I'll be back before the dinner crowd, I promise!"

He jumped off the bed, and went tearing into the bathroom to get ready, which he did in record time, then he went streaking downstairs, faster than Cologne could catch him.

The head of the Amazons stood in the upstairs hallway and thought, "This is not going to be pretty…"

She bounced down the stairs on top of her stick. As she neared the bottom, she half-expected to see bloody pieces of the Chinese boy scattered about the floor of the restaurant. What she saw when she got into the kitchen, however, was not at all what she expected.

Shampoo was standing by the stove, holding her bonbori at her sides, with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Mousse, who was still very alive, and in one piece, was standing in front of her, talking faster than Cologne had ever heard him talk. He was just finishing what he was saying as the elder Amazon walked in.

"…And I completely relinquish any claims I might have had on you, and I am giving up on trying to ever marry you, Shampoo. I…I am not in love with you anymore."

At this, Shampoo's mouth got wider, and her great-grandmother practically fell off her stick. Mousse pushed his glasses up onto his hair, and continued, oblivious to the shock he was inducing.

"I don't think I've been in love with you for a while, but my efforts to win you had become a habit. I was so used to doing it, that I wasn't realizing how much you don't like me. And, I'm sorry I've given you such trouble, and," here he turned to Cologne, "and I won't be chasing your great-granddaughter any more. I love Erin."

He took a deep breath, and waited for them to say something. They did not. He took that as a good sign that they would refrain from murdering him where he stood.

"So," he began slowly, "may I go tell her?"

Shampoo nodded, still in shock, and Cologne rasped slowly, "Yeees, you do that."

Mousse grinned, turned, and went running out the door, leaving the two Amazon warriors standing in the kitchen. Finally, Shampoo turned to Cologne.

"Mousse no love Shampoo," she began. "Mousse love other woman."

Cologne nodded, wondering what Shampoo was getting at. Then, Shampoo clasped her hands together and began jumping up and down.

"AIYAAA!" she squealed with glee, "Mousse no love Shampoo! Mousse love other woman! I happy!"

"Where am I?" Ryoga asked himself.

He looked around the busy market, and could not recognize a thing. He had been with Jesse just a minute ago. He turned to an older man holding a cup with money in it. Ryoga asked him, "Did you see a blond American girl go by recently?"

"Nope," replied the blind man. "But I'll let you know if I do." He laughed hoarsely.

"Oops! Sorry."

Ryoga glanced around him, still looking for his girlfriend. "I am still in Nerima, aren't I?"

The blind man shook his head. "I wouldn't know."

"No!" Ryoga cried, "I can't be lost now!" He looked up, put his hands to his head and howled, "It's not fair!" An aura of depressed chi was beginning to form around him. He would have to release it, so he ran to the edge of the market, and pointed his hands towards an alley.

"SHI…SHI—"

"Ryoga!" yelled Jesse, "What's up with you?"

The Lost Boy's battle aura faded, and he turned around. "Where have you been?"

Jesse crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "I've been right there for the past fifteen minutes," she told him, pointing at a stand advertising fresh fruit. "And up until about a minute ago, so were you."

"Oh…sorry."

Jesse giggled, and went over to take him by the arm. "At least you're not in Kyoto," she offered helpfully.

Ryoga sighed. He was quite sick of his directional inability.

"Come on," Jesse continued, "I got the stuff Erin wanted, so let's go back to the apartment, and then the three of us can go get something to eat. Smelling all this food is making me hungry!"

Ryoga followed her lead as they left the market. "Alright," he replied obligingly, "Food sounds good."

As they walked down the street, Jesse turned to him and said, in no uncertain terms, "But no okonomi-yaki!"

Mousse decided that before seeing Erin, he was going to make a quick stop at the Tendo Dojo. When he arrived, he ran around to the back, where he found Ranma practicing his martial arts. Ranma, who was off in his own little world, did not notice the Chinese boy until he spoke.

"Ranma, I need to talk to you."

Ranma turned around and scowled at Mousse. "You cheated!" he accused.

Mousse, who was hoping that Ranma would decide against attacking him, took a step back. "No, I did not cheat, I just had help. But I came to tell you that—"

Ranma interrupted him. "What's the difference, duck, I had ya beat, and then she came along and—"

Mousse decided that for once, he was going to stand up to his rival. He broke in on Ranma's complaining streak.

"I wasn't finished yet, so just be quiet for once and listen!"

Ranma blinked as Mousse continued. "I did win that fight, but if Erin hadn't come, I would have lost." He paused, and when Ranma stayed silent, he continued. "What I came here to tell you is that…I concede."

Ranma stared at him similar to how Cologne had earlier.

"You would've won, and I acknowledge that. I told you that it would be the last time I would challenge you, and I meant it." Here, Mousse smiled deviously. "Shampoo is all yours. I won't get in the way anymore. Have a great life together! I have to go do something else now, so I shall see you around, Ranma."

Ranma watched as Mousse ran off. "This town is gettin' odder by the day," he grumbled.

Up in one of the Tendo's second story windows, Nabiki was watching and listening. As she got up and walked away, she muttered, "Now doesn't that just take the cake?"

After Mousse got about a block away from the Tendo's house, he stopped to think. He needed to find Erin, but, unlike most of the other people in Nerima who were almost always in the same few places, he did not know exactly where she would be.

"Umm, I guess I should try their apartment first," Mousse thought. "Then, if she isn't there, I'll have to think of something else."

He took off in the direction of Erin and Jesse's apartment, while thinking, "Of course, once I get there, if she isn't there, I could just stay and wait for a while. She has to come home eventually…"

About seven minutes later, he was running down her street. He was a little more than half a block away when he saw her. There was someone else there, too, but that mattered not to him.

"It's probably her cousin," he muttered as he approached. Of course, he was not wearing his glasses.

"How am I going to do this?" he wondered out loud.

He paused to rest about thirty feet away, behind a light post. After two minutes or so of thinking, he decided he could not come up with anything spectacular, or really anything at all.

He murmured, "Oh, well, old habits die hard. And, I can't think of a good way to ask her. Better to tell her right out, and then deal with her reaction…I hope…"

He ran out from behind the streetlight, and ran towards her. When he was a few feet away, he cried out, "I love you!" and then ran to her, doing much the same thing he had on the first day they met.

She went completely stiff. The next thing he heard was a low noise from behind him that sounded almost like a growl, and a female voice saying, "Ryoga, get him OFFA ME!"

"Mousse!" Ryoga yelled quite loudly, "What the heck do you think you're doing? Take your hands off my girlfriend this instant, before I turn you inside out!"

"Girlfriend!" Mousse thought, "But Ryoga and Jesse are… Oh, dear…"

Mousse slowly let go, and took a step back, while putting his glasses back on his face where they belong. He then took a good, close look at the woman he had just proclaimed his love to. It was Jesse, and she looked just about ready to clobber him. He glanced behind him, and saw Ryoga, his battle aura forming, wearing a look similar to Jesse's. The Lost Boy began walking purposefully towards him, and Mousse, having some survival instinct, took a step back…right into someone else.

"Mousse!" exclaimed Erin, who had just come out of the door, "What are you doing here…and, why does Ryoga look so mad?"

Mousse turned his head to look at her. "I—" he began. Ryoga broke in.

Jabbing an accusing finger at the other young man, he yelled, "That…that person just said he was in love with my girlfriend!"

Erin's eyes widened, and Mousse hung his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah!" Jesse said, sounding annoyed. "And, he hugged me! Practically popped me, too!"

Mousse sighed. "This isn't how it was supposed to work," he whispered. Then, looking at the incensed Jesse, he said, "I didn't mean to hug you."

Both Ryoga and Jesse replied, "Oh, really!"

Mousse shook his head slowly, and blushed, "No, I…I didn't have my glasses on, and I thought you were Erin, so I, uh…" he trailed off as Ryoga's jaw dropped, and Jesse arched an exultant eyebrow.

"Shôri!" she muttered, "Yatta." But, no one heard her.

Behind him, Mousse heard Erin make a soft noise. He turned around, now staring at her feet.

"I didn't do a very good job," he started softly, "but I did come here to tell you something."

"Yes?" she prompted gently.

"Well, I, uh, what I wanted to say was…I mean, I came to tell you that…I, um…"

Ryoga sighed in the background and Jesse muttered something rude in English.

Mousse took a deep breath, then quickly said it. "I thought all night long about how I feel, and I realized that I don't love Shampoo. I haven't loved her for a while, but I didn't stop to think about it. Up until a few days ago, I'd never had anyone who even cared that I existed, but…I do now. You've been nicer to me than anyone else I've ever known, and you've always been there when I needed someone. And…and last night, I discovered that I…" and here, he finally looked up at her face. "I've fallen in love you."

"There," he thought, "I said it." Then, to her, he asked, "Could you ever love me?"

Mousse squirmed as he waited the second or so it took her to respond, but to him, it felt like forever. Then, she smiled at him, and he felt his face go red again. She reached out, pulled him to her, and hugged him. She murmured, "I already do love you, since I first saw you walk down the stairs in the Neko Hanten the day we met."

Ryoga twitched and Jesse made a grumbling noise at the increasing level of mushy-ness. Erin leaned over Mousse's shoulder to stick her tongue out at the two of them. Mousse turned his head and saw her do it. She smirked at him, then, she took his face in her hands, and kissed him. His eyes went wide, but then he melted. He closed his eyes and hugged and kissed her back.

"Aren't first kisses grand?" Jesse asked Ryoga with a devious gleam in her eyes as she looped her arm through his. He nodded and blushed. "It is his first kiss, isn't it?" she questioned.

Ryoga looked at her like she was insane. "Are you kidding?" he asked incredulously. "No one in Nerima, or all of Japan, or China, as far as I know, has ever taken any kind of interest in Mister Knife-throwing Duck. Of course it's his first kiss. There probably isn't another person on this planet who would want him."

Jesse shrugged. "You know," she said thoughtfully, "that looks kind of fun.

Ryoga stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

Jesse looked exasperated. "You should kiss me."

"Oh, O.K."

A minute or so later, two people stood down the street, watching.

"Don't they need to take a break for air?" Akane asked Nabiki.

Nabiki shrugged. "That's one of the many reasons we can breathe through our noses," she explained.

"Oh," Akane muttered. Then, a few seconds later, she acquired a strange look on her face. "Hey, wait a minute! That blond girl is kissing Ryoga! He probably hasn't even told her about his curse! I'm going to kill that jerk!"

Akane pulled out her mallet, and was about to go "inform" Jesse that the person she was with turned into a black piglet, when Nabiki grabbed her by the arm and began guiding her in the opposite direction.

"Trust me," Nabiki told her sister, "she knows."

"But he never told me!" Akane complained.

"Yeah, well, he learned."

"Oh, fine," the tomboy conceded, putting away her mallet. "But how would you know?"

Smiling, Nabiki replied, "It's my business to know these things." Then she shrugged. "I'll tell you everything I know while we go get the soba noodles Kasumi wanted."

"Alright," Akane conceded.

They walked around the corner, but less than three seconds after they disappeared, Nabiki popped back around the corner, with her camera in her hands.

"Hold on, Akane. I just have to get one picture of this. After all, this is a major event in Nerima history…"

Snap, flash

Later that day, after they had eaten, Jesse and Ryoga went off together, while Erin walked with Mousse back to the Neko Hanten. She had her arms wrapped around one of his, and he was blushing and smiling at the same time. Periodically, Erin would giggle; Mousse was unsure why exactly she did that, but eventually he decided it just expressed random, free-floating happiness. Their behavior on the way gained them several strange looks, a few double takes, and at least two gaping stares. Everyone in the city was so used to Mousse chasing Shampoo, and being pounded for it, that this new development was quite a shock. Mousse, however, did not care if the whole town came to stare; he was happy.

Mousse walked into the Neko Hanten with Erin still attached to his arm. There were no customers at the moment, and Shampoo and Cologne were both back in the kitchen. The young man was beginning to feel a bit nervous at the prospect of facing the two Amazons again, but decided that since they had been compliant that morning, hopefully they had not changed their minds.

"I'm back," he called as he walked around the counter.

Shampoo came bouncing out to meet them.

«Nihao!» she greeted, sounding like she was about to explode with glee. "Erin-sama, so cute you look with Mousse." Then, drawing solely on her own goal of quick marriage to Ranma, and not on the reality of life, she asked, "So, when wedding date?"

Mousse turned crimson, and Erin blinked. The Chinese boy opened his mouth to say something, but no sound was coming out. Erin quickly filled in. "We'll get back to you on that," she said. Then, muttering under her breath, "In about two years…"

Shampoo shrugged and went back into the kitchen. Cologne came out a second later, perched on her stick.

"What a delightful development," she rasped. "And, you are back on time. How splendid."

Erin smiled, and Mousse nodded. Cologne continued, "So, no more chasing Shampoo?"

"No," Mousse said.

"Good." Cologne acquired a look of deep contemplation, then asked, "How much do I pay you, Mousse?"

The Chinese boy eyed her warily as he replied, "Nothing. Outside of room and board, that is."

"Hmmm…" Cologne mumbled. "Well then, in light of recent occurrences, I think I'll give you a raise."

"What!" Mousse mouthed.

"I'd say minimum wage, weekends off, and you can still stay here."

The young man was having trouble getting words to come out. It would have been equally stunning had she said she was going to shave her head and get a tattoo.

"Th-thank you…"

"Just don't let it go to your head. And remember, you have to start work in three minutes."

With that declaration, she pogo-sticked her way back into the kitchen, leaving Mousse standing there with a rather glazed look on his face. Erin poked him lightly in the ribs.

"Snap out of it," she instructed.

Mousse turned and looked at her. "I never, even in my wildest dreams, thought that this would ever happen. Did you hear her? She's going to start paying me!"

"I'm glad," she told him. "It's about time they started treating you better."

Glancing at the clock, Mousse said, "I have to go back to work now. Will you come by tomorrow?"

"Of course."

She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss.

"By the way, did you ever put ice on your head?"

Mousse stared into space for a moment before saying, "Uh, oops… I forgot."

Erin rolled her eyes, but was still smiling brightly.

"Have fun. I'll see you later. Sayônara, Mousse-chan." As she got to the door, she turned, and, utilizing one of the only Chinese phrases she knew, she called back, «Wo ai ni!»

Mousse smiled, and waved as she walked out. "Anata ga suki desu, koibito."