Chapter 13
With palms sweaty and his breathing erratic and heavy, the doctor thought he was showing early signs of shock. Yet he held on to the red wooden box nonetheless and stretched out his arms.
"Good evening Kasumi," he bowed slightly and smiled, his lips slightly trembling, "here's a…aha…ahahahaha…"
"WRONG!"
The Chinese man felt the vein in his forehead popping simultaneously with the "pop" the duck-potty chair made as it hit the doctor's head. "I don't believe this doctor Tofu! We've practiced it seventy-two times!!!"
"G…gomen…"
"Come on, we can't even get passed the opening greeting!"
"But … you know how nervous I get!" Ono said miserably, "just the mere thought of Kasumi…."
Mousse had to hit his head with the duck potty-chair again to get him back to his senses before his glasses fogged up completely, "It's just, 'Good evening Kasumi, I came here to return your bento box'."
The doctor murmured the words to himself as if he were chanting a battle prayer. "…good evening…bento box….good evening…. Bento box…"
"Ok …that's right, say Good evening Kasumi…" after much coaxing and pushing, the older man went back into position to try again.
"Good evening bento box, return Kasumi right now!"
Mousse slapped the duck potty-chair on his own head and fell down the floor with a loud thud. He thought getting Doctor Tofu into shape was going to be difficult, but after spending two hours with him, he realized that it was hopeless.
"Mousse! Are you all right?" the doctor kneeled down and nudged Mousse's still form.
"No…" he wailed agonizingly. "I think I have a better chance of marrying Shampoo than you having a coherent conversation with Kasumi."
The doctor retreated to a corner and squatted down dejectedly. He used his index finger to draw invisible lines in the floor while a shadow formed over his head. "It is really that bad huh?"
Mousse re-adjusted his glasses and looked at the Doctor Tofu. He didn't know why but somehow, his dejected form struck a cord in his heart. Sure he was hopeless and the headache he was giving him was starting to test his endurance yet when it came down to it, he and the doctor – they were the same. He knew that all too familiar pose and he knew that feeling. He knew how much it hurt and hurts even more when you think about it.
"Come on now, I thought we're doing this battle for love!" Mousse said, his passion rekindled, "Doctor Tofu, you must learn to fight for your love!"
"Fighting… what are you talking about?" said the sullen man, "I often refuse to associate myself with that, that's why I'm a doctor for crying out loud."
"But you're a great fighter… and this isn't a battle of fists! This is altogether different!"
"But… I … I'm not strong enough…"
"BAKA!" the Chinese man whacked the doctor's head with the potty-chair once more. "If you go on like that, you'll never get Kasumi's love. In fact, I don't think you even DESERVE it."
"What!?" he stood up sharply and Mousse impulsively made a fighting pose. "Go…gomen."
"Doctor Tofu, don't give up the battle without a decent fight. If you really love her, then go. Fight your fear." He was starting to get second thoughts about his plan. Somehow… somehow he felt that he had to fight as well. If Kasumi were not to get anything good out of this endeavor, he didn't know how many limbs he had to break – and whose he's going to break in the first place.
"You're right… you're right Mousse." He closed his eyes momentarily and grinned. "Let's do it. I'll try again.
The "training" went on for hours leaving both men tired and full of small lumps in their heads. Yet a few hours before dawn, they finally settled down and drank some tea.
"So what do you say when she compliments you?"
"Thank you, you are too kind Kasumi. Your words warm my heart." The doctor replied with the scripted passage.
"What if she asks you to stay for dinner?"
"Would it really be all right? I appreciate it very much, thank you."
"And what if she asks you something?"
"Answer the question with courage …laced with gentleness and …cheerful warmth!"
"And what if you finally think you have a chance? What would you tell her?"
"I shall challenge you to a duel to be my b…bri…bride" the doctor sighed and shook his head, "That part still seems to be wrong to me Mousse."
"What?" he asked innocently, "What's so wrong about that? You beat her, but don't hurt her then you make her your bride!"
"Well… we don't really do it that way here…"
"OH… oh… right." Mousse bent down his head slightly and rubbed his chin, "Then just say, Kasumi let's get married!"
"Married!?" the doctor almost fainted at the thought.
"Doctor Tofu? Oy, Doctor Tofu!"
"M..mm…married!"
Mousse deeply regretted the words once he saw the doctor's resolve dissolve into thin air. "I was kidding, I was kidding."
"You sure look like you're not!" Doctor Tofu accused him, with tears forming in his eyes.
"Sorry, I got a bit carried away." Mousse bent his head slightly and sighed. "But Doctor Tofu, I must ask this once more. You love Kasumi, do you not?"
"I… well…" he looked afar and a blush formed in his cheeks. "I guess I do."
"You guess…?" Mousse stood up from his chair and walked around. He guessed he did? Somehow that didn't sit in too well with him considering how he knew he loved Shampoo the moment he proposed to her. He was certain. He was absolutely sure that was it.
"Let me ask that again, you really love her, don't you? You love her! Tell me. I'm not Kasumi; you don't have to get jittery."
"I…. I…." the doctor hesitated and he felt his ears getting warmer and warmer.
"Answer me!" the younger man grabbed Doctor Tofu by the front of his robes.
Ono regained his senses and swatted the man's hand away. He readjusted his glasses and looked away. "It's not that easy Mousse. For you maybe it is, but for me it's not."
"What do you mean?" Mousse asked, feeling an ache at the pit of his stomach.
"My feelings for Kasumi… they are so tender. It's so tender that I cannot even express it. It's like…"he walked around and touched the hinges of his door, letting the cool breeze calm him, "It's like … a chaotic blanket over a … heavenly thing… it's surreal. I can't quite explain it."
"A chaotic blanket… over a heavenly thing?"
"It turns my insides upside down - making me look at the world differently than how I usually do. Everything… everything just magically turns to unconnected, unfathomable dots that turn into stars that turn into constellations…."
"I'm not sure I understand you Doctor Tofu…."
"But that's just it. It's not supposed to make sense!" the doctor had a sappy smile on his face, "it's a remedy that takes away the pain although you never used it as a medicine in the first place."
Doctor Tofu, the poet? Somehow Mousse felt unsettledness in his heart. He was often told that he was a crazy fool – a crazy fool in love and yet he could not fully decipher, cannot fully comprehend what the doctor had said. It was supposed to feel the same way, wasn't it? Chaos….stars… constellations… He and Shampoo… it wasn't exactly like that.
"But to assure you Mousse. I am serious about Kasumi," Doctor Tofu said solemnly, looking Mousse straight to the eye. "And I will gather up my courage for her."
"Very well," Mousse sighed "that promise would have to do for now." He hid his hands under his sleeves and walked to the door. "I would be here to support you then as if we are comrades-in-arms."
"Thank you Mousse," the doctor bowed respectfully, "I don't know why you're doing this, but I thank you nonetheless. No one has ever tried to help me before."
"As I said Doctor Tofu, we are in the same boat, one way or another," He grinned slightly and looked at the older man, "although you seem to be in the sinking side."
"It seems like it, huh?"
"Yes," Mousse chuckled, "but above all, I'm doing it for Kasumi. I guess it's for a common cause. She too needs to get a shot at this battle. I guess I would have to give her some leverage"
"I understand," Ono smiled, "if you need anything, just tell me all right?"
Mousse nodded, and soon he was off.
He yawned lazily as he walked down the road back home. Same boat… he and doctor Tofu were in the same boat. Somehow that didn't seem too right now that he thought about it. He remembered the doctor's confusing words. He still could not quite comprehend it. The one thing that was so clear to him – the one thing that was clear in his life was starting to get blurry.
He loved Shampoo. He knew it, he felt it, and he lived for it. Damn, he would even die for it. But now as he walked down the road, his mind slightly muddled with sleepiness, he felt quite unsure. He loved her, he told himself over and over again …. And instead of feeling it as statement of a fact, suddenly it started to turn into an enigma …even worse; it's starting to turn into a question.
"I loved her since I was three," he told himself, "I loved her because she was the most beautiful girl, I loved her because she was the strongest, I loved her because she was the best, I loved her because she was my bride – I made her my goal – my goal is to make her my bride." Yet the re-affirmations of his thoughts confused him even more. What about her faults? She treats him like dirt; she looks at him as if he were nothing.
She loves someone else.
How could he take that? Why did he take it?
Because… because…
"I'm not good enough…. I'm not strong enough… I'm not trying hard enough…. I'm not… I'm not as good as Ranma!"
Then why? Why does he go on with it? Why does he still pursue her? Why… why?
"Because…."
I love her. He told himself over and over again. "I love Shampoo. Nothing can get in the way of my love…. I love her… I love her…"
He looked up to see a familiar road yet he knew he did not intend to be there.
"Tendo" he read the words inscribed in the wall.
Habit…it was habit, he thought to himself. It was a habit he had to get out of his system. It was over. He would have nothing to do with this house again. It is where Saotome stayed… it is the lair of his rival.
It was the only warm spot that he felt welcome in in the whole of Nerima – or the whole world for that matter.
Kasumi would always be there for him, he knew it. She would always have a smile for him. She would always cook a meal for him. She would grin lightheartedly at his clumsiness and smile at his comments. She would remind him of his strength…his usefulness, his value. She would be his friend.
But he cannot stay with her forever.
Because…. She has her own life.
Because he had to stay by Shampoo's side – he had to have her love.
Because… she deserved someone else, someone better, someone wiser. She needed someone more stable and less rash. She needed someone to take care of her, to comfort her, to make her feel loved.
And he, he had to stay on track. Or he'd lose Shampoo. He might not bear it if he lost Shampoo. He would probably die if he lost Shampoo. Yet losing Kasumi… losing Kasumi? That could never happen; she never was his in the first place.
"But neither is Shampoo," a small voice at the back of his head nagged him.
"But I'll make her mine if I try, if I persevere, if I go on living like this." He whispered back to himself. "Shampoo will be my bride."
But what about Kasumi? The question nagged him once more. Would you have her in someone else's arms?
She… she deserves to be happy. Kasumi would still be Kasumi. Seeing her smile would be enough. Her happiness would suffice. He must not be selfish. After all, he might just get lucky and end up having Shampoo in his own arms.
"You'd be happy then?" the curious voice asked again.
"Of course I'd be happy. I'd get the love I wanted. Shampoo would love me. And that's all that matters… because I love her… I love her…. I love her…" he chanted the words in his mind over and over again. He loved Shampoo, that's why everything would be all right. He loved Shampoo and that's all that matters.
Shampoo
Shampoo
"Nihao Mousse, why you walk so late?"
"Sha…sha…SHAMPOO!" he stumbled back as his head reeled with shock.
"Hopeless. Shouting the in middle of night!"
"I was just surprised… no… overjoyed to see you, that's all!"
Shampoo looked at him and quirked her eyebrow. Something was amiss. Somehow, Mousse didn't seem like his usual self. Maybe something about him has changed….
"Shampoo, I … I'm so glad that you're back. Oh Shampoo, how I've missed you," he proclaimed as he hugged a nearby lamppost.
No, maybe not, maybe she was just tired.
"I no feel like beat you up. Just travel, make body ache," she rubbed the back of her neck, trying to soothe it somehow, "Grandma already in the upstairs sleeping, Shampoo go sleep too."
"Shampoo I… Have you forgiven me…I mean…about the last time…"
"Stop. No good make Shampoo angry right now. Is very bad yes? Not in mood to give beating. I forget. You forget." She sighed, "maybe I get revenge… compensation…whatever is you call later."
A smile quickly formed on his lips. "Oh Shampoo, thank you. I would gladly take a beating as soon as you feel like it!"
She shook her head, slightly exasperated. Mousse's blind and hopeless devotion never really failed to amaze her. Sometimes, she felt like she was being too hard on him… yet if she didn't do that, he'd be more inclined…and she'd end up hurting him more to dissuade him.
"I go sleep now. Bye bye."
"Shampoo, wait." Mousse called out to her, suddenly having a serious tone in his voice. There she was in front of him (or at least he thought so), Shampoo – the girl he vowed to make his bride since he was three. She wasn't the least bit happy to see him yet just having her talk to him and telling him that she didn't feel like claiming retribution made him feel like he had a chance at it.
But was he really this pathetic? Was he in such sorry state that such a cold treatment seems so warm to him? The things that usually happened to him… the scenarios he used to be into…it gave him some uneasiness now. It gave him some doubts. And it disturbed him. But one thing was still clear right? One thing was still certain.
"You do know that I love you Shampoo, right?"
Shampoo was his bride, his only bride, his only love. He loved her. He would live for her. He would die for her. He would bear it all for her. That's right. He loved her. He loved her.
"Hmph."
He got the usual reply, yet he felt as if she responded with a reaffirmation of his love. It was as if she said she loved him too.
Yet Shampoo knew, although she gave the same response and the same haughty sound…she knew something was not right.
"Don't ask me, you seem unsure yourself," she mumbled to herself as she made her way to her room, her spoken words inaudible to the man she left behind. Somehow his confusion puzzled her as well. Yet she just shrugged it off and slept, after all, she was sure she didn't love him back.
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Author's Notes: Happy new year everyone. Again it is late. Hahaha. I wanted to post this before Christmas or New Year, but well, I holidays me slacking off. But anyway, I'm back in shape just in time for our (laguna's and mine) special day! Hahaha.
Thank you to all who reviewed and well… I want to make a happier chapter, believe me. But well… oh well. Hang on you guys! We'll get the happy chapter someday!! (soon I hope) so there. Thank you again and I would appreciate it very much if you reviewed! Till next time!