I forgot this in the first Chapter but i don't own any of the Ranma 1/2 characters they belong to Rumiko Takahashi
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Chapter 2 - Gone
Shampoo couldn't help but feel excited as she began to open up the cafés doors and set up the table for the breakfast rush, which was surprisingly large for ramen. She planned to make a surprise visit to the Tendo Dojo to see her Airen.
She walked into the kitchen to help her grandmother prepare things before people started coming in.
"Shampoo" Cologne called to her.
"Yes great grandmother?"
"Go get that stupid boy down here to help" she said taking a long drag on her pipe as she sat on the counter."
Shampoo nodded and trotted up the stairs to Mousses room. She rapped the door loudly.
"stupid Mousse, you come down and help open restaurant" she said through the door.
She waited expecting the door to come flying open and Mousse be standing there with that goofy grin on his face and pronounce his love to her.
"Mousse you come out now!" Shampoo yelled at the door.
When there was still no answer Shampoo slammed open the door accidentally ripping it off it's hinges in the process. She dropped the door looking around the room.
She had known since he had moved in how meager it was since he had so little but it had never given her the strange feeling of emptiness that it now possessed.
He wasn't here and the little box that had been used ad his closet was sitting open and empty.
'Where is he if not here' Shampoo couldn't help but wonder.
Everything that had been his was gone till something caught her attention. The only thing left in the room besides his bed a picture frame laying face down on the table beside his bed. She walked over and picked it up.
She instantly recognized that moment the picture had been taken. She had agreed to take the picture with him because he had saved her from Torrin the birdman and been injured in the process. She glared at it angrily.
It had been his own stupid fault, she told him she did not want him to help her, she had wanted Ranma.
Her eyes softened, but he had still done it for her and had never brought it up since despite the harsh and calloused way she had treated him afterwards when they met up with the others and she had instantly started fawning over Ranma who was being a little to friendly with Akane for her taste.
Shampoo shook her head as if to rid herself of the memory and sat the photo back down on the table, but this time face up.
Shampoo was about to walk out when she noticed a folded piece of paper on his bed, she picked it up and unfolded it.
She instantly recognized his handwriting and it was also written in Chinese, it took her a moment to recognize her name in her native writing since she had not been allowed to write or speak in Mandarin since she had become engaged to Ranma.
Xian-Pu,
If your reading this then you know that I'm not around anymore.
I don't know where I'm going or what's going to happen, though I'm sure your not to concerned for my well being and are just as happy as everyone else is to see me go.
Shampoo clenched the paper in her hands. She didn't know why but those words stung.
I got some advice from a friend that I needed to do something for myself for once and this is it, and I'm going to take it. I don't know when if ever that I'll come back. I just know that as things are now I have no reason to stay at the café and have gone to find myself and whatever it is I seem to be missing in my life and I must find what it is.
Make no mistake I'll never stop loving you and I'll never give up but this is something I must do.
I only have one request to ask of you.
Don't forget me.
Mu-Tsu
Shampoo stared down at the paper her eyes hidden by her bangs. She crumpled the paper in her hands and threw it out the window with as much force as you can throw a paper ball.
'If he wants to leave why should I care?" She huffed. 'I'm glad he's out of my hair finally, He won't be getting in the way of me and Ranma' she growled strutting out of the room and back down the stairs without looking back.
Cologne peered at her from a table In the dinning room taking careful notice of her change in mood.
'Is something the matter Shampoo?'
Shampoo crossed her arms in front of her.
'No, but stupid duck-boy no here, all his things gone to.' She decided the letter didn't need to be mentioned.
Her voice was full of anger and annoyance but Cologne detected a hint of something else laced within her words, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it.
She took in a long deep breath before she said anything, looking to Shampoo as though she was contemplating something.
'Perhaps you finally beat it into his head that you will never marry him and he has gone back home to China where he belongs' Cologne said thoughtfully while watching her granddaughter for a reaction.
Colognes eyes narrowed as for a split second Shampoos eyes took on an unreadable emotion but it quickly vanished and a wide grin spread across her face.
'he finally gone!' she cheered 'Stupid Mousse not get in Shampoos way of gaining Airens love' she giggled bouncing around happily.
Cologne nodded as she stood up and hopped into the kitchen without another word. As customers began to come into the restaurant and Shampoo hurried to seat them and take there order.
'He's finally gone' she thought smiling happily at the customers but mostly that one little thought in her head.
Shampoos smile faded as the day went on and the café seemed busier then ever and by the end of the dinner rush she was ready to drop.
She stalked out of the kitchen and plopped down in one of the booths to rub her aching feet.
"Shampoo so tired" she grumbled under her breath as the last of the customers walked out the door. 'stupid Mousse not here to help restaurant'
Cologne came out of the kitchen on her staff and stood on the table. She eyed her great granddaughter warily as she pulled out her pipe and began to smoke it.
'We very busy today. No great grandma?" Shampoo asked looking up at her and still rubbing her aching feet.
'Actually child, the crowds were no bigger today then any other day" she said as she blew out a cloud of black smoke.
'but it so busy' Shampoo said disbelievingly.
Cologne nodded sagely.
'It just felt like it was busy because Mousse wasn't here to help like he normally is' She let out a puff of smoke. 'He does…well did quite a bit around here.'
Shampoo was silent but nodded at what she said.
Cologne glanced up at the clock before hopping off the table and toward the kitchen.
'Time to shut down for the night Shampoo.' Cologne told her as she hopped up the stairs.
'yes great grandma' Shampoo said as she started turning out the last light on and went upstairs.
She closed the doors behind her and sat down in front of her mirror and started taking the combs out of her hair and started brushing it out.
'Where is my hair?' she thought looking around the top of the vanity. She pulled out a drawer and started blindly feeling around inside till her fingers passed over something cold and smooth.
She wrapped her fingers around it an pulled it out. Unwrapping her fingers she looked down at the little piece of metal in her hand.
She rubbed a finger over the smooth cold metal of the necklace pendent in her hand.
It was a thin inch long piece of metal with a small loop at the top for the string. It was a few centimeters thick with small but intricate roses carved into the metal on the sides.
Shampoo turned it over and ran her finger over the kanji of her and Mousses names carved into the front.
'I remember this' she thought holding the pendent gently in her palm. It had been a present from Mousse when they had still been children back in China right after he had first proclaimed his love for her.
She had been only three so the words had not meant much then and she kept it because it was pretty.
'of course...it still is' she thought turning the smooth metal over in her hands a small smile on her lips, she closed her eyes and took a breath.
She stood up and dropped the necklace into her pocket making sure it wouldn't fall out and finished with her hair before crawling into bed.
She tossed and turned for several hours unable to drift into sleep. She laid on her side starring out the window looking out across the rooftops of the houses and businesses that surrounded the Café.
She sat up and stared into the unsettling darkness of her room. Sighing she climbed out of the bed and padded quietly past her great grandmothers room and down the stairs being careful of the steps she knew creaked.
She walked thru the dinning room to the kitchen to get a drink. As she walked into the kitchen she half expected to see Mousse there on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush as she had seen him doing so many other nights when she had come down because she couldn't sleep.
She felt her heart sink a little when he wasn't but did her best to shake it off.
'He's not here anymore, what did you expect?' she asked herself accusingly.
She got a glass of water and sat down in a booth looking around at the walls of the Cat Café that she had called home for over a year as it had always felt like home to her.
Not to say that she didn't miss her real home back in the Joketsuzoku with the rest of the Amazons. She just liked the freedom and being surrounded by her friend even though most of them were rivals and people that loved her.
Shampoo took a deep breath and glanced around with a smile. A frown crawled onto her face. She didn't know why but something felt…wrong like she was suddenly out of place in the darkness of the café.
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Thats the end of Chapter 2, 3 is coming today is my last day of Holiday vacation and i have to go back to school twomarrow so ill have less time to write but its allready have way done. Just hang tight - Malthazar LOS