TAPESTRY TORN

Mousse's Story

by "K'thardin"

Edited by L. Bartram, C. Willmore and J. Hosmer

--

After finishing a morning shower, the man paused to look in the mirror. The person staring back at him appeared in his mid-eighties, on the taller side of medium and well-muscled, and sported long hair and a thick beard which were both completely gray. The reflection also had an unusual gaze - its eyes seemed to be filled with-

Sadness? Regret? Not that you don't have much to be regretful for, Mousse, he thought sarcastically. I'm not getting any younger, either.

Quite the understatement. Time would always take its toll, and the little aging he thought he'd cheated the clock out of had been repaid. With interest. He was a lot slower now than five years ago, and getting slower all the time. His strength was also beginning to dwindle along with his speed. He knew it was unlikely he would make it to ninety years of age. Mousse shook his head and sighed. Death gets us all, eventually.

After a few moments of absent-minded adjustment of his robe and daydreams of the past, Mousse found himself at a desk, looking at an opened journal. It was old, but unused. For quite some time now he'd been debating with himself whether it was worth his while to fill its pages... Strong arms reached around from behind and hugged him tightly. He smiled; she always made him smile.

"Good morning."

His wife's voice was soft and somehow musical, like wind chimes. He turned and looked up at her smiling face. It was a running joke between the two that what the years took from him, they gave to her. Anti-Bacterial-Liquid-Hand-Soap looked only about thirty-five, with her green hair completely free of gray. Only her eyes betrayed her true age, which was about sixty-eight. Among the Amazons, age made women wise, and it was that depth of thought and feeling brought about by experience at living that filled her gaze, not the frivolity of youth.

He reached up and grabbed onto her hands while she bent down to kiss him. Her eyes locked onto the blank paper on the desk, and she broke off.

"Write it, already!" The firm tone of her voice caused him to look up at her for a moment in surprise. Normally, she never raised her voice at him for anything. He sighed and turned back to contemplating the journal in front of him.

"If you feel it must be done, then do it." A far gentler tone this time.

"I keep thinking that Shampoo will succeed soon, that I will be there to help him if..." When, he mentally corrected himself. "She succeeds."

She said nothing and just continued to hold him. She knew as well as he did that it was unlikely.

Dammit! Well, if I can't be there, at least I can help him by telling him what happened. It is unlikely Shampoo will.

He frowned at the thought. She hated her Great-Grandmother, and yet she'd almost turned into a double of Cologne. He wished it were not so.

Like a lot of my life, he thought wryly.

Anti-Bacterial-Liquid-Hand-Soap hugged her husband tightly, then disengaged herself and left their room, giving him the privacy she knew he would need. Mousse sat still for a moment. He gathered his thoughts, drew in his breath, then finally picked up the pen and began to write.

--

Let me explain something before I commit this story to paper. I was not there when it happened, but to this day, I wish to whatever gods or god or whatever is up there I had been. Who knows? Maybe my presence could have done something about it, given you a chance to defend yourself. Something. Probably not.

In any case that is now a moot point. You were killed. My friend, my rival, my enemy was dead, and nothing I could do, or can do, will change that fact. Nor will it change what happened after that. You were truly the center of everything we did, all of us those of us who loved you and those of us who fought you.

Shampoo once told me that with her witch's sight she could see the tapestry still there, waiting for you. Personally, I always thought you didn't need a witch's sight. All you have to do is look around. I think perhaps if you had lived, things might have turned out differently for all those involved, but like I said before there is not a damn thing I can do about it now. Except tell what I know about it all. That is the last duty I have as I near the end of my life; I owe you that at least. I can only hope one day that it will be of some help to you when the time comes to restore the tapestry.

I suppose that is why Shampoo, the woman I love and always will, does what she does. I hope she succeeds, but I'll be long gone before that becomes an issue.

I remember the day clearly. Kasumi came in the restaurant. She looked hollow, drained of life, almost as if she were the one death had taken, and not you.

--

Mousse paused for a moment as the memory overtook him.

She walked up slowly and took Shampoo by the shoulders and said quietly, "Ranma is dead. H-he's dead Shampoo."

He felt tears come to him unbidden.

Damn. After all this time, it still hurts, he thought. He willed his eyes back into dryness and turned his attention back to his writing.

--

I watched as tears streamed down Kasumi's face when she said that you had been killed. I watched as the plate Shampoo held slid out of her hands and crashed to the floor, destroying the dish while scattering the food over the floor. She bent down to clean up the mess, not seeming to understand what was just said to her.

Kasumi slapped Shampoo.

For my part, I could not believe what I had just heard. Could not think, could not speak, could not even breathe. Ranma dead?! Just like that?!

Yes, just like that. And then Kasumi, kind and loving Kasumi, had slapped someone?! It was beyond belief. I then heard a voice from the corner of the room.

"Oh well, there are always other potential son-in-laws."

It had come from that old Bitch. The one who had taken my Shampoo away from me, had been molding her in her own image; that of a soulless and unfeeling ghoul. I hated her for that, and I am sure you saw what she was doing to Shampoo as well as I. She beat the Hell out of me on a regular basis too (you saw that a lot), but it was only because I would not leave Shampoo. A lot of good that did her.

But did you know what the old Ghoul did to me when I was younger? Shampoo and I were just little kids and exchanged an innocent kiss. That old Bitch saw it and broke my head open with her staff, nearly killing me. My eyesight went bad after that. She had taken my sight from me. For nothing more than kissing Shampoo when we were little kids.

But you know something else? I did not hate her for that. I hated her for what it did to Shampoo. She was my friend and more at the time, and I watched as she steeled her soul against me, trying to push me away so I would not get hurt. I stayed with her whether she wanted it or not.

There were other times. I would help Shampoo with some task or test that Cologne would set for her (whether she wanted it or not), or I would try to curb her insane methods of training Shampoo. Believe me, you don't want to know some of the things she put Shampoo through.

Every time I interfered, I paid a painful price, and as I was male, it was hardly frowned upon. Still I managed to curb some of it, as she had to take some time out for me, leaving less for Shampoo. I paid for that too. I hated Cologne for all these things, but those words she spoke I knew had hurt Shampoo worse than all the pain she had ever inflicted on me at once. I hated her more in that instant than I had in my whole life.

My weapons were retrieved from their hiding places, and though it would have probably cost me my life, I was going to deal with her once and for all. I was not fast enough. Shampoo had already beat me to it. I watched as her hands moved faster than I had ever seen them to reach out and grab the old Bitch's eyes. I moved then too.

I ran to Kasumi and pulled her out of the Nekohanten before she saw anymore. I told her to go home and that I would take of everything here. She didn't even seem disgusted at what she had seen. Almost satisfied. Gentle-hearted Kasumi, satisfied at such a scene of violence?! It made no sense at the time. In any case I had more to deal with at the time.

She nodded, turned and left. I came in just in time to see Shampoo finish devouring what was left of Cologne's eyes then collapse on the floor holding herself.

Oh yes, she did that, Ranma. I remember the revulsion I felt. I felt my gorge rise then, but I knew a lot of things had to be done and that now was no time for having any reactions like that. So I used a mental technique that my old master had taught me. It allowed me to wall my feelings away, so I could do what needed done. I don't know why I did it. To this day I do not know.

I tore off a piece of cloth from my robe and walked over to the screaming form of Cologne clutching at the empty sockets where her eyes used to be. I bandaged her eyes, stanching the flow of blood. It was more mercy than she had ever shown anyone in her life.

I then took Shampoo's comatose form up to the bathroom. I ran bath water and undressed her; she did not resist. In retrospect, that was the first time I had ever seen her nude. She continued not to resist as I cleaned the food and blood off her body. I dried her, dressed her, and led her to her room where I put her down on her bed. I had learned a few things living here, and using a certain pressure point to put her to sleep was no problem.

Throughout this I had been dispassionate, due to what I had done to myself. My master had told me, however, that walling away your feelings forever would eventually destroy you; no matter how much it hurt, you must experience your grief. Only then could one continue on.

I then walked out of the restaurant to the empty lot behind it and let the wall around my emotions collapse. It all came at me at one time and I screamed the scream of one who is going through the ultimate torture. The fence surrounding the empty lot was a convenient target to vent all the anger, grief, despair, and revulsion I felt. It did not last long. I still needed to destroy something. There was an old statue back there too. I proceeded to hit with my fists. It finally broke in half after repeated blows. That shocked me back to myself and I was aware of my surroundings again and of the pain of my bloodied knuckles.

I returned to the Nekohanten to bandage my wounds. The old Ghoul (a very apt description) was nowhere in sight; I don't know if that was a good thing or not. I am sorry to say that that display of grief was not for you. It was for what your death had done to Shampoo and the knowledge I could do nothing about it. That was what really hurt, and at the time you know I wanted you dead anyway.

I did grieve for you, only much later.

--

A tear fell on the page that Mousse was currently writing on. He brushed it away and continued to write.

--

The funeral was a few days later. Everyone was there except one, who was very conspicuous by her absence; oh, and Ryouga (lost again). I suppose Akane had her own demons to deal with. As for Shampoo, she clung to me throughout the funeral, almost not knowing where she was. It would be a long time before she recovered I knew. I had changed her into her cat form, as the police had been searching for her, for obvious reasons (I know what few customers we had at the time must have told the authorities what they had witnessed).

The old Ghoul was there too. She was wearing sunglasses; the damage to her eye sockets had been healed by some of the magic she possessed. It could not replace her eyes, though, and that gave me some small satisfaction.

It was here that I grieved for you. I realized that had things been different, had a lot of things been different, you would have been a friend. A good friend. I cried then, for you, and wished that I could have known you as a friend instead of the enemy you were before.

I blame myself for that for, at the time, I could not allow myself to forgive you the circumstances of your "engagement" to Shampoo. I was a fool, and I can only ask you to forgive me for this. I know I will never be able to forgive myself.

After the funeral, Kasumi asked if Shampoo and I would come to the Tendo residence. Something about a matter that needed to be discussed. I went. Shampoo had fallen asleep just before we got there so we had put her in the guest room. Kasumi got right to the point.

--

Mousse snapped the pen in anger when he remembered this.

"You know it was Happosai that called forth that spirit?" It wasn't really a question, more of a statement.

"Yes." Nabiki had called the day after Kasumi had come, and had given him the details

"Can you tell me who gave him this?" She handed him a scroll.

Mousse opened a drawer, retrieved another pen, and continued to write.

--

She showed me a scroll written in simple Kanji. Really large, too. Also in a very distinct handwriting style. One I had seen many a time. I hadn't noticed I had crushed it in my grip. That seemed all the confirmation Kasumi needed.

That Old Bitch had done more than I thought she had. She had destroyed a major portion of all our lives. Worse, she had taken away Shampoo's sanity. And all for her damned plans for you and Shampoo. And now those plans would never come to fruition and worse. The way you were killed would ensure that Shampoo would never be happy with any other man. She had finally made sure that I would never get Shampoo.

She had won. Against me at least. I felt my rage build, but underneath I heard a small voice. It was to this voice I listened. It counseled that there would be another time and place to exact revenge.

Now you must take Shampoo away from all this. No matter what happens SHE is your primary concern.

I asked if Shampoo could stay there for awhile so I could pack her and my things. It was a couple of days later that I heard that Happosai had been murdered and Akane had disappeared. Happosai could rot in all the Hells for all I cared, but I like many others went out looking for she that had disappeared.

I don't know if it was luck or fate, but I found Akane. The funeral was a couple of days later. My soul was ashes.

I'm so sorry, Ranma! I wish I could have done something. I kind of wish Ryouga had been around. You know he loved her and might have been able to prevent this. As it was, it was not going to be very pretty when he finally returned.

Like I said before, not a damn thing that can be done about that, especially now.

I left Japan, smuggling Shampoo out with me in her feline form. The Tendos had given me Happosai's possessions, knowing quite a number were of the dangerous mystical kind. I think they were hoping I would give them to the Amazon elders so they would be safe. I couldn't trust them with such items so I kept them. We returned to Niichezu, Shampoo's home village.

To this day, I don't really think of it as my home. Some place like that where the rulers are just like the old Ghoul could never be called a home of mine. There she told them what had happened. What she had done, and that she wasn't even close to being sorry. For her crime she was cast out of the society she had always known. I knew this to be an injustice of the grossest sort.

So after I had seen to Shampoo, I pleaded my case before the Elders of the Amazons. They listened and decided to disown her family as well. Other than kill everyone there for their mistreatment of she who I loved, I could do no more. I am glad they've practically disappeared.

So she went to Jusenkyo. I had really no choice but to follow. It was obvious why she had gone; after all I knew the legends as well as she did. I was there as she tried with the first small animal that she found. The body was yours but it still had the soul of whatever animal she had used. I watched as she went insane again and broke it's neck. Disposing of the body was easy. I knew a little magic myself and I knew how to make a substance that would burn something completely to ashes.

She was mad for a good ten years. During that time I took care of her. Bathed her. Fed her. Combed her hair. I talked to her all the time. Usually I read to her from books that I obtained at the village. I stopped her from going to that spring when I could. But I could not watch her all the time, and she slipped by me occasionally, usually when I went to the village to get supplies. One hundred twenty three times she got past me.

Believe me, you don't forget things like that. After a while, technology improved to the point where force fields were possible. I acquired a prototype from Nabiki and placed it on the spring. Shampoo killed more animals, but I knew now that would be all she would be able to do.

While at the village trading post I met a young woman. She became my confidant and friend, my only friend while I was there. Her name was Anti- Bacteria-Liquid-Hand-Soap. To this day I wonder where the older generation got these names. She once asked me why I take care of Shampoo. Later she found out the reason why I would not leave her when she became aware of the curse and blessing of love that had struck her.

I'll explain later.

At the end of the ten years I remember watching Shampoo's slow deterioration and wondering, 'Is there anything I can really do? There must be something. Damn,' I'd told myself, 'If only that old Ghoul had not given Happosai that damned scroll!' I had not realized I had said it out loud until Shampoo grabbed me. For the first time in a long time I did not see madness in her eyes as she asked, "What the Hell do you mean?"

I could not deny her this answer, so I told her, even showed her the scroll that was used. I also gave her a scroll her Great-grandmother had written her before she left. She did not like what was on it, but it gave her a new focus and purpose. I have to admit, I did not like what I read on it either. It basically said that because of what Shampoo was going to do that she had doomed the Joketsukozu, the Tendos, the Saotomes, and all of Japan.

I knew that was wrong. It was what that old Ghoul had done to you that would cause all of these awful happenings to come to pass. What it did for Shampoo, though, was give her a new strength and purpose. She demanded I retrain her, help her strengthen her body, help her recover her fighting skills. I think that was the best time I had ever had with her.

After about a year she had judged herself strong enough, and she went to see the Witch of Jusenkyo, despite my vehement protests. I have no idea what she said to the Witch, but the Witch agreed to train Shampoo in the arts of magic.

She returned later that day and seemed very different for some reason, but I did not question it. She was no longer insane, and that was good enough for me.

The next night, however, she came on to me, saying that when I accepted I would have to leave.

Leave her?! I had never left her, and what she had just demanded of me hurt. It hurt in a way that was impossible to describe. I declined, of course. Despite the pain, I had to make sure she would be all right. She did the same the next night. And the next. And the next. For fifteen nights she did this. The combination of hurt and fierce desire was torture more painful than any I had experienced before.

The fifteenth night, I could no longer help myself...

--

She was nearly nude, and just looked at him. His hands reached out of their own volition and slowly brought her to himself. Her head bent down and her lips met his. They stayed that way for a time.

Finally, he broke away and parted her nightgown, feeling her smooth skin under his fingertips. By this time she had removed the shirt he was wearing, and was beginning to start on his pants. He pulled back and admired her form.

She's a goddess given form, he thought; her face, her hair, her limbs, her breasts...

He watched as her legs spread out before him and she moaned in anticipation as he continued to run his hands all over her body. Finally they could hold no longer.

--

Mousse shuddered and tried to block out the memory as he continued to write.

--

It was wonderful. I hated myself.

At the end, I collapsed in her arms, my head on her breasts, and wished that tomorrow would never come. Like I said before there is not a damn thing that could be done about it. The Americans have a saying for circumstances like this: "Ain't life a Bitch?" They have no idea how right they are.

I left the next morning and began wandering the world like Ryouga (well maybe not like him; I don't think anyone could wander like our old friend). I remember waking up and seeing her face, trying burn the image in my head. When I left, I left all of Happosai's belongings, knowing she would probably need a few of them.

I also left my glasses. A few years before I had gone completely blind, but I no longer needed them. My old master had taught me a technique that used my ki as a set of eyes. I saw much better with it anyway.

As I walked away I realized she had just screwed me in more ways than one. Because of what she had done, I no longer loved her - I couldn't! I needed to just get away, get my center back. Too much had been taken; I really didn't have anything anymore. Then I realized that only the things of my old life were gone. Considering what it consisted of, I found I did not miss it. It was time to begin a new life, and though I did not know it at the time, a part of that new life had already begun even before the old one had ended.

I wandered through China, Mongolia, Thailand, Japan, probably a few other countries in that area too as I was not really paying any attention to where I was. I learned all sorts of techniques in my travels, met a lot of people, made a few friends, and one or two enemies.

I found out during my travels that Ukyou and Ryouga were married and even had a child. Only problem was she had never really gotten over your death and it drove her insane. From what I understand she actually pulled off an ultimate shi shi houkodan that destroyed a good portion of Nerima. She gave herself up afterwards and was institutionalized. I wish I could have done something about that too. I know Ryouga could never forgive himself either.

I even ran into Toma and Kirin a couple of times. Seems Toma had finally found himself a bride; a young woman who went by the name of Tendo Kurumi (I am sure you recognize who that is), and they were out sight- seeing in Japan. It amused me to no end that he actually got one of the Tendos for his wife (well sort of a Tendo). Anyway, I tried to steer away from them, but they saw me and cornered me near a coffee shop. I really did not want to spoil what appeared to be a honeymoon, but during the conversation they asked how you and Akane were. They were understandably saddened when I told them and, after we parted, went directly to Nerima to pay their respects.

They're dead now. They were killed when the Musk Dynasty, longtime enemies of the Joketsuzoku, attacked their floating island. As I write this, you are long since dead, as I will likely be when finally you read my tale. Nonetheless, take this advice from a man who will die to one he thinks will not want to pass twice through the underworld - stay out of Togenkyo. The leader of the Musk is a crazed half-man, half-woman, and knowing it was your own moukou takabisha that dried up the spring he pledged his hopes of normality upon will not help your credit any in his (her?) court.

As for Kirin, I wandered through his mountain kingdom a few times during my travels. Somehow he had already found out about what happened to you, and it was good to talk to him about it. He's been a good friend to me. Though I haven't seen him in a decade and a half, I can only hope he is doing all right too, as I seriously doubt I would survive the journey there to find out.

Still, during my travels I was looking for something; even I did not know what at the time. Fortunately, someone else did. Hell, she was the first one of us to realize it.

Anyway, she had been tracking me for some time and had finally pinned me down outside of a small village in Thailand. She came up on my campsite during the night, where I had been trying for a few days to master kachuu tenshin amagurikan

(Oh, incidentally I finally did master said technique while I was there).

--

Mousse smiled, remembering the exchange he had between himself and a certain green-haired amazon.

"There you are! Do you know how hard I have been looking for you!?" Mousse turned from his contemplation of the chestnuts in the fire. He recognized the language that was shouted at him, and knew the owner of that melodic voice that he'd always liked to listen to instantly.

"Anti, this is a surprise! What are you doing here?" She looked at him like he had just asked the dumbest question in the world.

"Trying to find you! You disappeared without a word to anyone! Do you know how worried I was for you?" He looked at her for a moment then bowed his head, unable to bear the look of anguish in her eyes.

She was my only friend back... there. She deserved better than that.

He raised his head and started to make an apology before he was interrupted by her headlong rush into his arms.

"Dammit! Don't say anything!" She looked up at him and continued more softly, "You just scared me, but I understand. I know why you left."

He almost started to ask how she could know before she forestalled him by placing her fingers on his lips. "Don't. Believe me, you wouldn't want to know how anyway."

It was then that he noticed a small scar across her cheekbone that wasn't there before, and now marred her otherwise perfect face. It was very faint, you would have to be in the right light to see it, but he didn't see using light, and saw it very well. What did she do? What?

He tried to give voice to the question, only to be stopped yet again. "Please, just don't ask." She was actually pleading, "Please."

He looked into her eyes and found he could not deny her. He was fairly certain how she knew what happened, but because it was she that had asked, he would never attempt to find out. It was the closest he had come to actually hating Shampoo.

"Now will you let me finish?" she asked; wisely he stayed silent. "It pains me to see you like this, just wandering around without reason. Looking for something and you don't know what. If you keep this up you'll wind up like the old martial arts mistress Cologne. She gave up everything, even love, and she just became a soulless and unfeeling monster. Shampoo is well on her way to becoming the same thing. I don't want to see it happen to you too. Please find your heart. Don't become like them. Don't waste your life like that." She grasped him tightly and buried her face in his chest. "I couldn't bear it," she said softly.

Suddenly Mousse realized what had been growing between them for some time, and he knew exactly what needed to be done then. Drawing her close to him he spoke, the words being the wisest he had ever uttered.

"I have already found my heart."

His tone made it absolutely clear what he meant. Mousse looked again and saw he had just written exactly word for word what Anti-Bacterial-Liquid-Hand-Soap had told him.

You made sure I never forgot. You have always loved me and made sure I knew it. I wish I did not have to leave you alone.

--

Those words were some of the wisest I had ever heard. She had always been there for me as I took care of Shampoo, and now she had come to give me exactly what I needed then. What I know we both needed. She looked up at me and smiled in that most beautiful way and then she did something strange. Sometimes I wish I knew what prompted her to do what she did right then, but you know what? I don't really care.

She reached up and touched my face tenderly with her right hand. She threw a punch with her left. I did not even think, I just caught it, and she smiled again. It took me a moment to realize what she had just done. And without saying it she had just shown me exactly how she felt: She loved me. I looked down into her glorious eyes and found that this woman, she who had been my confidant and my best friend for over ten years, that I was totally, hopelessly, unconditionally in love with her. I loved her.

I gathered her into my arms and just held her close. I laughed and I cried and smiled and cried again. She held me as all those feelings worked their way out of me. It took a long time. Here was a woman that loved me, that would never hurt me (Hell, she doesn't really even raise her voice), that would always be there for me. Contrary to Shampoo and Cologne that had been nothing but sorrow, she would be nothing but joy (and so she has).

Soon, all that ran its course to be replaced by a warm feeling that has never left, and as tears streamed down my cheeks, I thanked whatever gods there were in heaven that had decided to give me some small measure of happiness. She took me back to the village where we were married.

We lived on the outskirts of the village and were very happy there for many years. I found out something here. Home truly is where the heart is. Anti was my heart and wherever she was so was my home. Here is something else I try not to dwell on too much. We had many kids, she and I, and we took them to visit Shampoo often. After all someone had to keep an eye on her.

I went alone a few times, however. It was one of those times I found someone else there besides the Witch and Shampoo. I remember cresting a hill, coming to Jusenkyo a different way for some reason. I saw a little girl there, about nine years of age picking flowers. I wondered why would there be a little girl there. I walked up to her and what I saw then was burned into my mind. This girl was very familiar, only a blind person could not see what was familiar about her, and I was not that blind.

--

"Hi," Mousse said.

She looked up and smiled, "Hi!"

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Picking flowers," she replied in such a sweet voice.

"Oh," he said. "Is your mother in?"

"Yes! She's in the cabin over there." She pointed. "Would you like me to show you?"

Such innocence, he thought. "No, I can find my own way."

"O.K." She extended her hand. "My name is Akane. What's yours?"

Akane. How fitting. He smiled and took her hand. "Mousse."

Mousse let go and turned to leave. He walked a little way and turned his head to give the illusion he was looking at a certain spot.

"You can show yourself now. I know you are there," he said to what appeared to be empty air. Mousse watched as the Witch of Jusenkyo materialized in front of him.

"And so now you know. What are you going to do about it?" she asked. Mousse thought about it for a moment.

"Nothing. If she does not want me to know about her, I will not go against her wishes." At this, it seemed she almost relaxed. "I would appreciate it if you made sure Akane does not tell her mother she met me."

"She won't," she said simply.

--

It was quite obvious she was my daughter, but I decided not to confront Shampoo about it. I really did not want to force any issues like that, not with her being so young in any case. Perhaps when she was older. Probably not. Some things are probably best left untold.

I turned and set off towards the cabin. That was the first and last time I saw my daughter alive. About the time she would have been seventeen, I found out from the Witch she had drowned in one of the many springs of Jusenkyo.

I destroyed a lot of territory that day.

--

Mousse broke another pen. He simply reached in his desk drawer and withdrew another one.

--

We moved back to Japan after a few years and started up the Nekohanten (Shampoo had sort of given it to me, although she still legally owned it) again which had been closed for quite some time. Cologne had been gone from it for a while. I suppose she had finally gone off and died somewhere.

I cannot forgive her for what she has done, but for some reason I hope she found some redemption. Although with all she has done in her life, I shudder to think what, if anything, could have been so great as to redeem her. I really did not wish to go back, but there was really no choice seeing as how most of the village had already left for the cities. It's what happens when you cannot adapt to changing times. The first part of the old Ghoul's prophecy had come to pass.

Tofu's clinic was destroyed in a very strange explosion some time later. Kasumi was mortally wounded in the blast. It was said Ryouga was to blame. I visited him in prison. I knew it was not he who did it. He was released a couple of weeks later when a similar blast destroyed another building in Japan. That building was the Tendo dojo, and it took a victim as well: Nabiki. I wonder about that sometimes, but there is nothing I could do about that either. The second part of that prophecy had come to pass.

Ukyou was killed in the insane asylum a few years later. Yes, I say killed. Ryouga told me the story later as he came from burying her. I am sure there is more to it than even he knows, but that is not what matters. Another of my friends was dead and I couldn't do a thing about it.

I went alone and visited the site. I found a lonely grave with a simple inscription on the marker. Sumimasen. It fit.

--

Why didn't you let me help you, Ryouga, my friend? he asked as he continued to write, occasionally wiping away tears.

--

He died a few years ago. I don't like to think about it much. Shampoo continued her research to try and bring your soul back from the spring it was imprisoned in. I, for my part, continued to live happily with my family. Still, even I can feel something is wrong.

The tapestry of our lives was torn apart when its center, you, was taken from us. That tapestry remains, though so many are dead and gone, others changed beyond belief. As I said before, it still waits for you to return to set right what has gone wrong.

When you were killed, all the supporting pieces of the tapestry were heavily damaged in some way. We needed you. The problem is that when Shampoo does succeed, as there is no doubt she will one day, very few of us will be around to support you as you do what you must. Because just as we needed you, you needed us. Without the supporting pieces of the tapestry, you will fail. I only hope that whatever gods are in heaven will provide you with others to help you so that you do not.

I wish I could be there. The story of my life. To always never be where I would most wish to be. Some would argue to be where I was most needed to be, which just happens to be in other places when all my friends were either being killed or whatever else happened to them.

Forgive me, Ranma, for I will be long gone when you finally appear again. I will not be able to help you then, but if you find yourself reading this one day, take heart and remember this: the world needs you to be strong. And try to find some happiness. Don't become a soulless void like a lot of people were after you died.

Take care my friend; I hope to see you in the next world. We'll all be waiting for you there.

--

Mousse put the pen down and closed the book.

Gods, that hurt to do, he thought. He moved his chair and stood up. His wife heard him stir, and knowing that what he had just written down was very painful for him, opened the door and came into their room.

Deity, she thought as she looked at his face. It was contorted from grief, his eyes were red-rimmed, and his hands looked as if they were covered in ink. She almost flew over to him to hold him, comfort him. She held him as he clutched her tightly and softly cried.

--

Thirty years later, the letter was delivered. --

--

'I know someday you'll have a beautiful life

I know someday you'll be the sun in somebody else's sky

But why? Why? Why can't it be-can't it be mine?'

--"Black" written by Eddie Vedder

--

END TAPESTRY TORN