Chapter Seventeen
They had grabbed the packs from the cave entrance and made their way back to the clearing where there was already a fresh fire pit, a kettle, and Ryoga and Ranma's packs. Akane had insisted on walking, but Ranma had ignored her demands, arguing that the downhill trek would take too long if they had to wait for her to limp down the mountain. She had punched him in the chest, and he let out a little 'oof' but he didn't dare relinquish his hold on her as he carried her swiftly down the trail.
"Did ya want to stay attracted ta pig-boy longer than necessary?" Ranma asked, raising a questioning brow as he looked down at her challengingly.
Akane crossed her arms and pouted, rather cutely Ranma thought but then he frowned as her eyes tracked to Ryoga who kept eyeing Mousse warily. They reached the clearing and Ranma finally relinquished his hold on Akane, and she settled on a log, digging through her pack for the ingredients. Carefully she pulled out a handful of roots from the underwater plants, followed by two purple hyacinth blossoms and last the leaves from the incredibly potent catnip plant. Next, she set the curse breaking teapot out next to the ingredients and looked to Ranma who had been building up a fire for the kettle while Mousse had gone to get more water.
"What do the directions say?" She asked Ranma.
He riffled through his pack and pulled out the inked instructions, now smeared from its time in the river. "Uhhh…"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Akane shouted, throwing up her hands as Mousse returned.
"What?" The blind martial artist blinked at the other three.
"The directions are ruined!" Akane snapped in frustration.
"Let me see." Mousse offered as he flipped his glasses down and approached Ranma. His eyes scanned the smeared Chinese characters that were the directions for the antidote. "It says to combine ingredients in tea pot and add hot water. There's a little something after that, but it's been smeared to the point I can't read it." He shrugged and handed the scroll back to Ranma with a shrug.
"Should be fine." Ranma said without his usual confidence. "Akane?"
"What if it doesn't work? What if it does something other than cure us because we can't read the last sentence? Weirder things have happened." She worried.
This gave the boys pause. "I think the alternative to stay in love with that idiot is still a worse fate." Mousse said gravely, glaring at Ryoga who had been banished to the far side of the clearing.
Akane looked over Ryoga with a frigid stare. "I agree. Let's do it."
Ranma blinked at the bold announcement from his ex-fiancé who had been worrying about the repercussions just moments before. He placed the kettle on the flames and nodded to Akane and Mousse. "Alright. Go ahead an' add the ingredients, I'll give ya the hot water in a secon'."
Akane gave him a concerned glance that he caught.
"Don't worry." He gave her a cocky grin. "Everything'll work out. I'll make sure of it."
Akane, used to his confidence, but knowing it was usually well earned, nodded at him, feeling reassured. "Okay." She added one of the flowers, half the roots and leaves and placed them carefully in the teapot. Ranma plucked the kettle from the flames and poured the steaming water into the magical teapot and the lid was placed with a click as Akane sealed it and let out a sigh of relief.
"Don't forget we need to say the words to make the cure work." Mousse said. He gestured to Ranma for the water damaged scroll, unrolled it and skimmed the smeared words. Apparently that part hadn't been too damaged. "Ba wo cong zhexie giangpo aj de ganjue zhong jietuo chulai." He said smoothly in his native tongue.
"Ba wo cong zhexie giangpo aj de ganjue zhong jietuo chulai." Ranma and Akane stumbled to repeat as Mousse repeated the phrase. The three martial artists sat around the teapot as it steeped, none of them daring to look away for even a moment. After five agonizing minutes passed, Ranma leaned forward and lifted the lid, peering in curiously.
"Ranma!" Akane snapped the same time Mousse shouted "Idiot!" and tried to strike the pigtailed boy.
"Well how are we suppose ta know it's ready?" He argued in defense as he deftly dodged Mousse's strike.
Akane tucked some hair behind her ear as she nervously leaned forward to peer into the dark depths of the teapot. She frowned. "It's too dark to see."
"Here." Mousse held out a delicate and ornate teacup and saucer.
Akane opened her mouth to ask where that had come from, then immediately dismissed it as a dumb question and changed tactics. "Thanks." She took the delicate China and held the cup out for Ranma to pour a cup. A dark amber liquid tumbled into the cup and Akane breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Mousse as he proffered her another teacup and saucer with a different ornate pattern, and she traded the full cup for the empty cup which Ranma also filled with tea.
Akane and Mousse exchanged serious glances. "Same time?" Mousse asked.
"Same time." Akane agreed.
They clinked teacups with pinkies extended and drank. The tea was pleasantly floral and a little minty and when they had finished the contents, Akane and Mousse blinked at each other, trying to gauge if they'd been cured yet.
"Well?" Ranma asked, just as anxious for an answer.
Akane looked to Ranma with a puzzled look. "I don't know."
Ranma stood and pointed at Mousse. "Come 'ere." Before he marched out to the middle of the clearing. Once there, he pointed at Ryoga who suddenly stood at attention. "Come 'ere." He reiterated louder. Ryoga approached cautiously, eyes on the two other Jusenkyo-cursed martial artists.
"Did it work?" Ryoga asked, eyes darting from Ranma to Mousse.
Ranma suddenly shoved Mousse forward to fall into Ryoga. "We're about to find out!" He said cheerfully.
Mousse's angry response was cut off as he landed face first in Ryoga's muscular chest. "Hey! Wha- Oh, Ryoga, have you been working out?"
"Damnit!" Ranma cursed as he jerked Mousse off the panicked looking Ryoga and started hauling him back towards Akane and the teapot. Ranma turned and fixed Ryoga with a hard look. "Stay right there. Don't move. Just sit down."
Ryoga was about to argue when a rock bounced off his chest. Had it been anyone else, that rock would have been nearly lethal. Ryoga looked behind Ranma and Mousse and saw Akane standing, arm still raised from where she had thrown the rock. Doing the intelligent thing, Ryoga shut his mouth and sat where he had been standing. Ranma continued his dragging march of Mousse back to where Akane was still standing near the teapot.
"Why didn't it work?" Akane asked wide eyed.
"Any idea, duck boy?" Ranma asked, holding out the wrinkled scroll.
"Uh… well… let's see…" He turned the scroll this way and that until Ranma's fist collided with Mousse's skull. "What was that for?" He cried angrily and glared at Ranma.
"Try puttin' yer glasses on ya idiot." Ranma rebuked.
"Oh." Mousse flushed an embarrassed red and flipped his glasses down and went back to studying the smeared Chinese characters. Mousse stared and squinted for a long minute while Akane and Ranma waited with breath held while Ryoga looked over curiously from his spot on the ground. Mousse suddenly held the scroll out to Ranma and dramatically whipped his glasses off his face, striking a knowing pose.
"Well?" Ranma asked in annoyance as he began rolling up the scrolls, his brow raised expectantly.
"It's completely illegible." Mousse declared and Akane and Ranma fell over.
"That doesn' help us any!" Ranma snapped pummeling the blind Chinese boy.
Akane grabbed the teapot and examined it closely. She ran a finger over the ancient bronzed outside and felt the slight relief of characters carved into the sides. Akane used the sleeve of her sweater to clean away dust and grime accumulated from centuries in that cave guarded by the spider demon. As dirt and dust fell away, foreign characters came into view.
"Ranma! Put him down!" Akane snapped, not even bothering to turn to look over where Ranma was currently shaking and throttling the other young man.
Rather than drop him, Ranma approached, looking over Akanes shoulder. "What'cha find?" He asked, still holding Mousse aloft with one arm by his shirt front.
Akane stood and held the teapot before the dangling Chinese teen. "What does this say?"
Ranma put Mousse down once he grasped the teapot. He pulled his glasses back on his face from where they had been dislodged by all the shaking. He blinked at the teapot for a moment. "Oh." He said again.
"Now what?!" Ranma snapped, poised to resume the throttling.
"It's the instructions." His eyes scanned the teapot as he nodded to himself. "We got the leaves, roots, and flower, uh-huh… Read the chant while the tea steeps… uh-huh… Ah. Ew…"
"What?" Akane asked, the anticipation was killing her.
"Ryoga," Mousse said, ignoring the girls concern for a moment. "When my lovely Shampoo made the love potion, did she use something of yours to make it?"
Ryoga blushed at the memory and from being reminded of his involvement in this mess. "Uh… ya… she did." He trailed off, avoiding eye contact as his two pointer fingers poked together in a nervous habit.
"What was it?" Mousse asked sharply.
"M-my s-sweat." Ryoga stammered looking ashamed.
Ranma thumped a fist in his palm. "That's why they react whenever they can smell ya!"
"We're going to need more sweat for our cure." Mousse stated, frown in place.
"Oh gross!" Akane cried, scrunching up her face in disgust at the idea.
"Oh… sure…" Ryoga said uncertainly, stung by Akane's reaction.
"You need pig-boy to sweat?" Ranma said cracking his knuckles. "I can make him sweat."
Ryoga stood and waved both hands before him defensively. "There are better ways!"
"Not after what you did to me!" Akane cried as she flew at Ryoga, raining down kicks and punches. When she took a deep breath to continue her assault, the fist became a gentle caress.
"Nope." Ranma said, picking Akane up and moving her a safe distance to stand near Mousse. "I got this." He said with a dark smirk. Ranma then pounced on Ryoga, and they began tussling, trading blows and dodging attacks.
Not feeling satisfied Akane huffed on the sidelines.
"Here." Mousse had pulled several heavy and blunt objects from his sleeves like dumbbells and clubs for Akane to throw at Ryoga. Mousse himself was fingering several decorative daggers. Both love potion dosed teens began to hurl their arsenal at the fanged boy that had cursed them both.
After about a half hour of these antics, Ranma caught Ryoga by the throat and slammed him into the ground. Ranma proceeded to take one of the infinite bandanas and used it to mop the sweat sodden face of his opponent. "Thanks. That was fun. We should do it more often." Ranma said as he left Ryoga in a heap with unintelligible sounds coming from him and strode to join the others around the teapot.
Akane dumped the ingredients from the unsuccessful batch and added the last of the leaves, roots, and flower. Mousse had gone to fill the kettle again and they anxiously waited for the water to boil in the kettle on the fire. The steaming water was added to the teapot and Ranma wrung out the damp bandana, several drops of sweat joining the liquid in the dark depths of the pot. Akane replaced the lid and then looked to Mousse to lead the Chinese chant to activate the cure.
"Ba wo cong zhexie giangpo aj de ganjue zhong jietuo chulai." Mousse said in fluent Chinese.
"Ba wo cong zhexie giangpo aj de ganjue zhong jietuo chulai." Ranma and Akane stumbled to repeat as Mousse repeated the phrase. The inscribed characters on the teapot glowed briefly with a bronze glow.
Another tense moment passed as the three of them exchanged startled looks before Akane once more brought out her teacup, rattling on its saucer for Ranma to pour her a cup. Mousse held his out and once they each had a steaming cup of their last chance at this cure, the two once more clinked teacups, pinkies extended in proper etiquette, and drank the concoction.
Akane and Mousse blinked at each other for a moment before Ranma interrupted. "Mousse, why don'tcha test it out?"
Mousse nodded solemnly and approached Ryoga who was finally climbing to his feet. Mousse stood within touching distance and took a deep breath. There was a blur of movement and Ryoga had crumpled back to the ground and Mousse still held a pink training potty aloft from his strike.
"Alright!" Ranma said cheerfully. "I think that worked. Go try it Akane." The pigtailed martial artist suggested with a grin.
Ryoga was sitting up as Akane approached and he looked hopefully up at her. "A-Akane! How do you feel?" He asked eagerly.
Akane smiled down at him and that was the last thing he saw before he was sent sailing through the air thanks to Akanes infamous mallet. "I feel much better." Akane told the empty air and faced the other two with a bright smile. "We're cured. Let's go home." With that, the petite martial artist snatched her bag and began the long hike down the mountain.
"What about pig-boy?" Ranma asked with wry amusement.
"He's doing what he always does." Akane said airily. "Getting lost."
Ranma chuckled at that as he grabbed his pack and Mousse followed suit in grabbing the last of his things.
*Chinese Chant*
Free me from these feelings of forced love
Sarahplainntall here! The moment you've all been waiting for! Or at least ONE of the moments! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for sticking with me so far. Thanks for following, favoriting and of course, my reviewers. Em Ortiz, muchas gracias! James Birdsong, thanks, I'm glad I'm keeping up the standards chapter to chapter.