The Man Who Loved Shampoo

by Dr Facer

This is the sequel to Hidden is time, Shampoo and Mousse will have to face things they had never imagined possible. Can they really begin a relationship? How hard can it be for Shampoo to accept feelings that have been buried for so long?

2. The Man Who Loved Shampoo part 2 of 2

Notes: This is a fanfic starred by Mousse and Shampoo; so most of the dialogues
are in Chinese.

Navel, Master Shi Baoliang, Sei and Mei are my own characters, please
don't use them without my permission.

Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Viz communications, all characters created
and copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi,

What has happened so far: Mousse went to China to train. There, he got
accidentally engaged to Navel, and old acquaintance of him and Shampoo.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Shampoo is still trying to get Ranma all for
herself...

THE MAN WHO LOVED SHAMPOO
PART 2 OF 2
BY
DR FACER

"So?" Navel asked, "Is this all you got?"
"Of course not boss! Over!" Pink answered.
"We saw a lot more than that! Over!" Link added.
"Well, then tell me!"
"Okay boss, after we followed Mousse to the Kai-Yuang Valley..." Link
stated.
"We hid behind a rock and took a few pictures, over." Pink finished.
"Do you want to see the pictures boss? Over." Pink said.
"Yeah, show them to me." Navel said and leaned back on her chair.
"Here they are, over!" Link announced.
Navel spent a few minutes checking all the pictures and when she found a
series of pictures showing Mousse fighting with a strange old man
wearing a black robe and wielding a staff, she turned to Pink and Link,
"Who is that man?"
"We don't know his name, over." Link said.
"But we know he's going to train Mousse! Over!" Pink quickly said so
Navel wouldn't get angry.
"I see." Navel said as she continued studying the pictures when she
noticed something strange about the old man Mousse was fighting with,
"Pink, Link, what's this?" She asked pointing to the head of the old man
in the picture.
"Oh, that, we don't know for sure boss, over." Both twins answered.
"But, look at his moves!" Navel said as she pointed at Shi's picture
again, "How can possibly a man do all these different attacks with his
eyes folded?"
"Maybe he's blind? Over?" Link shyly asked.
"Yeah, maybe." Navel answered not looking at the twins, "So, who won?"
She asked, "I don't see a picture of the end of the fight here."
"The old man won, over." Pink informed, "But just barely, over."
"Really? And you say he's going to train my Mousse?"
"Yes, that we heard, over." Link answered.
"And this valley, you said is the Kai-Yuang valley, right?" Navel wanted
to know.
"Yes boss, why? Over." Pink asked.
"Strange, I thought nobody lived there." Navel said, "Anyway, you two
come with me, we have to go there."
"To... Kai-Yuang? Over?" The twins asked.
"Yes, is there a problem with that?
Pink and Link both gulped, "Yes boss, there's something wrong, over."
"What?"
"The tiger boy! He's there! Over!" Pink complained.
"He's very scary! Over!" Link finished.
"So? You told me that Mousse kicked his ass, didn't you?"
"Yes, but we don't want to see him again! Over!" The twins answered.
"All right, I'll go there by myself. You two stay here and wait for my
return, got it?" Navel said as she rose from her chair and walked out of
the twin's house, leaving them perplexed at her rather nice attitude.
Navel smiled, it was good to be nice to Pink and Link from time to time.
That way, the twins would stay loyal to her. The young amazon reached
Yaocaicun's exit and headed for her house in Joketsuzoku. She had to
pack some things if she really was going to Kai-Yuang valley, and as she
walked the short distance that separated both towns, she wondered why
Mousse decided to train all of a sudden, and trying to figure that out,
she reached her house and finally, she forgot about it. She was going to
see Mousse, so that was secondary for the time being.

At the same time, in the Kai-Yuang valley, Mousse was trying to catch
Mei with his eyes folded. This was his third day training like this and
he was starting to get used to it thanks to his other senses, which were
way above average. Mousse was not that dependent on his sight, but
still, his first day had been very hard. But by now, Mousse was able to
pinpoint the location of several people in a radius of a few meters
around him based on things such as the noise made by the people's steps
or breath, or in other cases, by the target's smell.
"Hey Mousse! I'm over here!" Mei shouted and dashed by Mousse's side
laughing.
"I'll get you!" Mousse warned and ran behind the girl, just to trip a
few steps after with a rock.
"Are you all right Mousse?" Mei asked and hurried to help Mousse up.
"Yes I'm fine. Damn! I forgot that stone was there." He said sadly.
"Mousse! Come here!" A man's voice demanded.
"Coming master." Mousse answered and walked to his teacher, "What can I
do?"
BASH !
"Ouch! What was that for?" the young man asked rubbing his head in the
spot his master's staff had just hit him.
"For tripping." Shi said, "How do you expect to improve if you can't
even memorize this simple landscape?"
"But..."
"Be quiet boy!" Shi ordered, "There's no excuse for your mistakes, you
should have known that rock was there!"
"But master! How do you expect me to do this with my eyes folded?"
Mousse asked, "I don't depend that much on them, but still, training
like this is ridiculous!"
"Of course is not!" The old master answered, "You have the talent to
take this training, you're just not trying hard enough! Now, follow me,
I know of a way that will help you master the basics of my blind style
much faster." Shi said and grabbing Mousse's arm he dragged him inside
his cave.
"He's gonna give him the cave training? You think he will make it?" Sei
asked his sister after he jumped down of the tree he had been watching
all from.
"I don't know." Mei answered, "It all depends on how strong he is, don't
you think?"
"I think he'll give up in two days, the cave is too much for a man who's
not blind." Sei said and sat in a large rock that was nearby, "We'll
just have to wait and see."

Shampoo finished eating her breakfast and exited the Neko Hanten. It was
still early and she should have time enough to take care of her business
before she had to open the restaurant. She hopped on her bicycle and
jumped on the nearest roof. If she hurried, she would catch her target
without Ranma and Akane getting in the way.

The young amazon smiled when she saw Ukyo. She had been sick until
yesterday and today she was going back to school. Shampoo waited until
the Okonomiyaki chef finished giving Konatsu, her personal freak his
chores for the day. "How else can you call a guy who thinks he's a girl,
but still likes women?" Shampoo thought and giggled; she had a personal
freak too, but, compared to Konatsu, Mousse was a real, manly man.
"And when did he get the manly status?" A voice inside Shampoo's head
asked.
Shampoo closed her eyes and cursed, she had been hearing voices since
that night she saw her mother in her dreams, and they were getting
really annoying. "Shut up! Shampoo have better things to do now!" The
girl said.
"C'mon, tell me when Mousse became manly, wasn't he a piece of
irresponsible garbage yesterday?" The voice mocked.
"Shut up now! Shampoo said that because she tired of waiting tables
alone! Happy now?" She shouted.
"So, is the latest trend riding bikes on roofs talking to yourself?"
Shampoo blinked and looked down. Ukyo was there, staring at her, and
judging by her face, she was about to burst in laughter. "That my
problem!" The amazon answered.
"I bet it is. So, what brings you here?"
Shampoo jumped down and landed in front of Ukyo. "Shampoo has offer for
Spatula girl."
"Sorry, not interested." Ukyo said walking away.
"It concerns Ranma." Shampoo announced.
"Ranma, huh?" Ukyo said stopping, "And what kind of offer it is?"
"We fight for Ranma, one last time."
Ukyo closed her eyes and smiled, "I pass, there's no chance you fight
clean, besides, if you lost, you would keep chasing him."
"Not this time, Shampoo putting her honor on the line"
"How can I trust you?" Ukyo asked folding her arms.
"Because Shampoo no losing." The amazon answered calmly. "Spatula girl
no match for Shampoo."
"No match?" Ukyo growled, "I can take you on anytime and win! I'll show
you what a real opponent is right now!"
Shampoo raised her right hand to stop the charging Ukyo, "Not now, if
Spatula girl wants fight, it will be when Shampoo says."
Ukyo took a deep breath and calmed herself, "Fine, tell me when and
where."
"Furinkan baseball court, in a week, after class." Shampoo explained and
jumped back to the roofs, "Be there!" She shouted and disappeared.
Ukyo walked to Furinkan again, pondering about what just happened. This
wasn't like Shampoo at all. Normally, she wouldn't have said all that
stuff about honor, "She must be planning something; I better watch my
back." Ukyo thought and rushed to school.

Navel found that the path to Kai-Yuang was easier than what she had
expected. She found a new path that ran all the way through the bamboo
forest and she was advancing very quickly. At this pace, she would be
with Mousse by tomorrow at noon. That was she thinking when she saw a
man blocking the road ahead. Navel stopped and hid behind the bamboo.
She thought the man was strange, but when she recognized the clothing he
was wearing, she understood. The man was a member of the Musk dynasty,
and judging by the way he moved, sniffing and examining the ground and
the bamboo around him, Navel deduced that he was searching for
something, or more likely, for someone.
"I wonder what kind of animal attributes he has?" Navel thought as she
reached for her sword. She wasn't sure if she was going to be attacked,
but better to be ready, just in case.

Suddenly, the man rose from his crouching position and turned to where
Navel was hiding. The man growled and entered the bamboo. Navel clasped
her sword unable to move; she was sure that she had been discovered and
that the man was trying to surround her and attack her from behind or
from the side. She had seen the man's face for only a fraction of a
second, but she was now sure of the man's animal attributes. They were
feline of some kind, and that was a very bad thing. Sweating nervously,
Navel waited the attack for a couple of hours, but nothing happened.
Still, she waited for another hour just to make sure. Finally, when
nothing happened, she decided that it was safe to move again. Slowly
Navel returned to the road. After looking at both sides, she ran as fast
as she could, and she didn't look back until she exited the bamboo
forest.

The cave Mousse was in right now was completely dark. There was not even
a single ray of light. Besides, there was something else that was very
special about it. Every sound and smell were diminished to almost
nothing. That, added to the lack of light, turned this into a very
disorienting place. Mousse concentrated on perceiving the sounds around
him, trying to find the exact location of his master, who was hiding
somewhere near him. Mousse frowned; this was proving to be a very
difficult task, but he couldn't give up. He then remembered something.
If he couldn't use his senses to find his master, he could always try to
feel his presence, so, Mousse focused on feeling the old master's chi
until he found something, very dim, but it was there. The young man
smiled and ran towards the place he thought his master was, just to
smash his face on a wall of rock.
"Damn it all!" Mousse shouted, "I was sure he was there! I felt his chi
right in this spot!"
"Mousse, trying to find me by that method is useless as I can hide my
presence from you at will. However, no matter how good a man is at doing
that, he will never be able to be fully silent as long as he's alive."
Shi said from somewhere inside the darkness around Mousse.
"What?" Mousse asked, but he received no answer, "A man can't be
completely silent while he's alive?" He muttered, "But how?" Mousse
asked himself and sat, thinking about what his master just told him.

Mousse scratched his head. He knew that a man had to breath to stay
alive and that respiration caused a small, almost undetectable sound. He
also knew that a man made noise when moving, but it was true that if a
man was good enough, he could make no sound while breathing or moving,
just like his master could. So what else did he have? Smell? He could
try it, but in this place, trying to locate his master by his smell was
not a very reliable option. Besides, as Shi said, it was more about
sound than smell.

Several hours later, the young man still hadn't discovered a way to find
his master by sound, but he won't quit, he couldn't. Mousse felt the
blood being pumped to his head as he concentrated, and then, he heard
something, like a small drum inside his head. Then it hit him,
"Eureka!!" Mousse whispered as he jumped to his feet, "All I have to do
is to listen to your heartbeats isn't it? YES! I'm so great!" He shouted
and began to listen carefully, he was now sure that if he could listen
to his own heart, it would be possible for him to listen to his master's
heart too.
It was hard at first, but after a few minutes, Mousse smiled. He had
listened to Shi's heartbeats and had already pinpointed his location.
Shi was a few steps behind him; he was sure of it, but he couldn't catch
him without making any sound, at least not yet. Mousse decided to give
it a try and as silent as he could, he grabbed one of his chains and
threw it to where Shi was, but he failed as the master jumped out of the
way. It didn't matter, Mousse had already planned for this and as soon
as he heard where Shi landed, he threw another chain at him, which the
master dodged too; but Mousse considered that he did it just barely and
repeated the process, he did it several times until he felt his chains
hit something that wasn't rock.
"Crap!" Shi cursed.
"I did it!" Mousse shouted, his voice, echoing trough the cave.
"Congratulations for what you just did boy." Shi said sadly, "Now, what
if you let me go so we can begin with the next part of your training?"
"Sure." Mousse answered and pulled back his chains.

The night was colder than usual in Nerima, and Shampoo was having a very
bad time. It was Sunday and his father and Cologne had just finished
their weekly Sake night. She had finished cleaning the kitchen as usual,
but this was the first time Mousse would not come at least to say good
night to her, "Stupid Mousse, why you leave Shampoo alone?" She found
herself asking to the kitchen walls. Shampoo discarded the thought and
began to clean the table. After she did, she emptied the full ashtray on
the garbage can and made a mental note of asking her father to stop
smoking this new brand of cigarettes since their smell made her head
hurt. Placing the ashtray back on the table, Shampoo closed the
kitchen's door and went to her bedroom, only to find her window open and
Ranma standing on the ledge. She suppressed her habit of glomping him as
soon as she saw him and sat on her bed, not looking at him. This was the
first time she saw Ranma since the wedding disaster, and she didn't know
what to say.
"Hey, Shampoo." Ranma called.
"Shampoo tired, Ranma should have visited earlier." She answered.
"I know it's late Shampoo, but I want to ask you something."
"What Ranma want?"
"I want to know why you challenged Ukyo to a fight next week."
Shampoo smirked, that darn Ukyo and her big mouth! "That Shampoo
business." Shampoo stated.
"Ukyo told me something very interesting." Ranma said and sat on the
windowsill, giving his back to the amazon, "She said you will be
fighting for me."
"Spatula girl can't keep secret, huh?"
"Look Shampoo, this has to end." Ranma said without turning to face her,
"It has gone too far already."
"Ranma knows what to do if he wants to end this." Shampoo answered and
walked near Ranma, stopping at his side.
"You know I'm not marrying you."
"Then Shampoo no stopping."
"I thought so." Ranma answered, "Just remember something, if Akane gets
hurt, you will regret it." The young Saotome said standing up again,
"That's all I came here to say Shampoo, whatever you do, don't hurt
Akane, got it?" He finished and jumped into the night.
Shampoo stood there for a long time, thinking about what Ranma told her.
He hadn't looked at her at all, and she knew why, if he had, he couldn't
have told her those last words about not hurting Akane. She sighed and
closed the window, she had to hurry, if Ranma had managed to say
something like that, it meant that he was getting out of her reach much
faster than before, "You are strong Akane, but Ranma will be my
husband." Shampoo muttered in Chinese as she closed the window.

Navel smiled at the gorgeous sunrise that greeted her into a new day.
She picked up her things and began walking again. Yesterday, she had
covered almost the whole distance between herself and the Kai-Yuang
valley. Soon, she would be there, and she was ready to drag Mousse out
of that place if necessary.

Mei strolled around the entrance of Kai-Yuang, searching for her brother
Sei. Their time with their grandfather was almost over and soon they
would have to go back home, but Sei had said that he didn't want to go
back home and that he would stay here. That worried her, she knew what
would happen if Sei kept refusing to go back, but she couldn't find him
anywhere!
"Go away Mei, I want to be alone!"
Mei turned around and saw her brother sitting on a rock just behind her,
"Sei! Where were you? I've been looking for you!"
"What do you want? If it's about going back home with you, you better
don't tell me." Sei said and turned his back from his sister.
"Then you really don't want to come home?" Mei asked.
"What for? Everyone laughs at me because I... because of that!"
"That's not a reason to stay here!"
"And what father said?" Sei asked, "That I was a big disappointment?"
Mei blinked, "I don't think father meant that."
"I think he did, I think he was very serious about it."
"Sei, just because you're not like the rest of us, doesn't mean that
father doesn't lo..." Mei started but was interrupted by his brother,
who grabbed her and carried her behind a boulder.
"Don't talk." Sei whispered, "Someone's coming."
Both siblings remained silent for a while until they saw a young woman
walk into the valley, "She's a Joketsuzoku amazon." Sei affirmed
"How do you know?" Mei wanted to know.
"Look at her clothes and armor, haven't you seen them before?"
"Yeah!" Mei answered, "From that time we..."
"SSHHH!! Don't be so loud, I don't want her to know we're here."
"Why?"
"Grandfather said no one could enter the valley while he was in the
cave, so I'm gonna kick her out of here." Sei said and crawled to where
the unknown amazon was standing, when he was right behind her, he
jumped, landing in front of her.

Sei forgot what he was about to say when he saw the girl in front of
him. He hadn't seen many women before other than his mother, his sister
and a few villagers from nearby towns. He always thought he was lucky
about that, most of the other boys in his village turned into jelly in
front of a girl, but not him, not until now. As he stared at the
beautiful girl, Sei gazed on her deep blue eyes and her gorgeous green
hair, she was smiling, and her smile was sending shivers all over him,
and the girl's body was so perfect, like nothing he had ever seen. Sei
gulped, how could he possibly ask such a beauty to leave? Still, he had
to follow his grandfather orders and gathering all his courage, he tried
to speak...

Navel was amused, the young man that suddenly landed in front of her was
rather handsome, his brown hair and black eyes added a mysterious look
to him, also, the stupid expression he had on his face right now made
him look cute. She smiled, this stranger seemed to pose no threat and he
looked like a nice young man. She noticed he was well built too, and
that his clothing was similar to what that man she saw yesterday was
wearing, Navel decided to ask him who he was, when he spoke...
"I'm s-s-sorry miss, b-b-b-but you have to l-l-leave here." The Young
man managed to say.
"Really?" Navel asked, "And why is that? I'm here just looking for
someone." She half singed stepping forward.
"I c-c-c-can't let you t-t-t-trough, I..." Sei babbled.
Navel smile grew even more; she had always had a soft spot for shy guys.
That's what she liked the most about Mousse, "But I really need to find
this person." She said in a soft, pleading tone of voice, "It won't take
long, can't I just look around a little?"

Sei couldn't answer. He felt like a moron, his face all red and his
mouth all dry. This was not what he'd planned, he knew he had to stop
this girl, but then again, how could he say no to such a cute girl?
Navel touched the young man's chest and watched how he yelled and
crumbled to the floor, completely paralyzed. She sighed and happily
walked past the young man. She was sure that he couldn't stop her even
if he wanted to. Navel had already advanced a few steps when someone
ordered her to stop. She turned and saw a little girl wearing a red
hood. The girl was frowning and seemed to be really angry, "What have
you done to my brother?"
"Calm down girl, it's not my fault that my beauty stunned him so badly."
Navel joked.
"I won't calm down! He said that you couldn't pass!"
"And you're going to stop me?" The amazon asked.
"I'll do it if I have to!" Mei replied.
"Look girl, I don't want to hurt you, just stay out of my way, will
you?"
"NO! I'll stop you!" The girl said as she tossed her hood aside, "I'll
do it for my brother!" Mei shouted and tried to kick Navel.
Navel cursed her luck; she really disliked fighting kids. Sighing, she
dodged the kick and quickly used her index finger to hit a spot on the
girl's neck to knock her out without hurting her, "I do hope you don't
blame me when you wake up girl." Navel thought as she looked at the
unconscious girl at her feet. The girl had some strange marks on her
cheeks, but she didn't care; she then looked at the young man, who was
still out of this world, "Strange people." Navel whispered and walked to
the valley, wondering where Mousse could be. There was nothing here,
other than the cave at her left, this place was empty. She decided that
the cave was her best (and only) bet, so, she walked there.

Meanwhile, inside the cave, Shi was giving Mousse a speech about
himself.
"Shi Baoliang was born blind, but thanks to his family's support, he
never felt rejected. His mother and father died when he was seven, after
an accident took the life of his parents, Shi became a blind orphan who
begged for food on the streets of Shanghai. Then, he met those that
changed his life, an old blind man like he is now, who had no one but a
little daughter, called Ling-Pao, who was the old man's eyes. Still, the
man was strong, and he knew how to fight. He taught Shi how to survive,
and most importantly, he taught him how to fight and win money doing it.
Sadly, his master died when Shi was eighteen, and he and his new
'sister' were forced to start all over. Shi, tired of the city,
convinced Ling-Pao to live in one of the small villages in the
mountains. Later, he married Ling-Pao and they had a daughter a year
after, that daughter became an excellent martial artist, who sparked the
interest of a young man from a highly respected dynasty that lived here
in the mountains too. Shi's daughter married that man and they had two
children, who you already know, but five years ago, when Ling-Pao died,
Shi was destroyed and ended up living here in this desolated valley."

Mousse couldn't answer, he had asked his master about his life, but he
never expected him to tell him all this. He never imagined that his new
master had been a street urchin at some point, "Master, can I ask
something else?"
"Of course."
"Which dynasty were you talking about?"
Shi sighed, "A dynasty I have learned to dislike very much over the
years Mousse, I'm talking about the Mu..." The master stopped and turned
to the only tunnel that connected this part of the cave to the exit,
"Don't you hear strange footsteps coming from the tunnel Mousse?" He
asked.
Mousse listened to the sounds coming from the tunnel and frowned. Yes,
the footsteps were unknown to him, not Mei's which were fast and light,
and definitively not Sei's, these sounded more like...
"A woman."
"What?" Mousse asked.
"I said it's a woman, a young one, quite agile and she's carrying some
heavy things." Shi explained, "Mousse, go and see who she is and what
she wants!"
"Yes master!" The young man whispered and ran to meet the stranger.

Navel was having a hard time walking in the dark, so she pulled out a
lamp from her backpack and turning it on, she examined her surroundings.
The cave was big, and the lack of stalactites or stalagmites proved that
there was no humidity here. Strange thing considering the stream that
was outside, anyway, that was not why she was here. She was here to find
her Mousse, and speaking of him, where the hell was he?
Mousse turned in one of the corners of the tunnel just to bump into
someone. He fell backwards and quickly jumped to his feet, fearing that
the intruder could use this to his advantage.
"Mousse? Is that you?" A feminine voice asked.
"Navel? What are you doing here!?"
Navel just hugged Mousse and shoved her head in his chest, "My dear
Mousse!" She whispered, "I was so afraid I wouldn't see you anymore!"
Mousse began to sweat nervously. He knew this was bound to happen sooner
or later, but not this soon!
"Look Navel..." Mousse said, slowly pushing Navel away from him, "I
don't know how you found me, but I want you to leave; please?"
"I'm afraid I can't my dear; I'm here to take you back to Joketsuzoku.
My parents are already planning our wedding." Navel explained.
"WHAT!?" Mousse shouted, "Wedding!? Planning!? Why!?"
Navel blushed, "You beat me, remember?"
"Yes, I remember! But this is so sudden!"
"Not for me dear." She answered and hugged Mousse again.
"AAAAARRRGH! Let go off me Navel!" He yelled and pushed her away in a
not so gentle way this time, "I can't marry you! Don't you understand!?"
Navel sighed, "Why? Because of Shampoo? Mousse, you know she will never
be your wife, she treats you like dirt!"
Mousse remained silent.
"She has always rejected you!"
Mousse remained silent.
"What is so special about her!? I think I'm at least as cute as her, as
good a warrior as she is! Then why are you still going after her!?"
Mousse remained silent.
"She has never been there for you like I did! Who was the one who
listened to you when you got cursed!? Who was the one who got you in
that circus that time you wanted to go to Japan!? It was I! It's me who
is always there for you! Not Shampoo! She would be happy if you just
DIE!"
Mousse remained silent.
"And who is the one who came all the way up here just for you?" Navel
said, her voice trembling, "It was me!"
Mousse still remained silent.
"I guess you don't care about me after all." Navel said sobbing.
Mousse gulped, all that Navel said about helping him was true, but
Shampoo was Shampoo and Navel was Navel. Even when she humiliated him,
even when she treated him like dirt, even when she insulted him, Shampoo
still remained in his heart. He liked Navel, he really did, but he would
never, ever love her. But now that she was here, willing to do anything
to marry him, showing this adamant determination to get him, all those
things reminded him of Shampoo, of the way she chased Ranma, and even
when it was painful to remember that, it was a memory of the woman he
truly loved. Mousse placed his hands on Navel's shoulders, "Navel, you
have to understand that I can't marry you, no matter what the law says,
I can't."
She looked up at him, "The laws are all we have! You can't ignore them!"
"Navel...It's because of the laws that I can't marry you."
The young woman closed her eyes as if thinking, "Mousse!" Navel shouted
suddenly, "You're right! I know why you say you can't marry me!"
"You do?" Mousse asked.
"Yes! It's because of that fight Shampoo and I had over you a couple of
years ago at the Joketsuzoku tournament!" She explained, "Shampoo won
our duel and therefore won a claim on you that must be undone!"
Mousse scratched the back of his head, he didn't know that, he knew
Navel and Shampoo fought for a special reason in that tournament, but he
never suspected that they had fought for him.

Navel jumped back to her feet and taking a deep breath she began to
consider what she could do. She could ignore Shampoo's claim on Mousse
because Shampoo was engaged to that Lan-ma who lived in Japan, but at
the same time, her engagement with Mousse would not be completely
accepted by the elders until she had defeated Shampoo in battle. Maybe
that was the reason why her great-grandmother had been so hesitant to
approve her marriage with Mousse, because it would be a marriage with no
honor; now, if she wanted her marriage to be saved, she had to go and
defeat Shampoo for real.

"Is something wrong Navel?" Mousse asked rising to his feet and walking
towards her.
"Not really dear, I just have to take care of something before we can
get married." She explained.
"You're not going after Shampoo, are you?"
"Of course I am! I need to redeem my honor so I can marry you!"
"But that's dangerous!" Mousse shouted, concerned about what Shampoo
could think and do to him when he returned to Japan.
Navel turned and interrupted Mousse, she hugged him and kissed his right
cheek, transforming Mousse into a babbling mass of blushing flesh,
"Don't worry dear, I won't get hurt, I promise." She said tenderly, "I
must go now, but I'll come back for you, yes?"
"That's not necessary, really." Mousse said still blushing.
"Oh, it's alright Mousse, I don't mind walking all the way here again if
it's for you." Navel smiled, "I must go now, but I'll come back, I
promise." She finished and ran to the cave's exit, determined to go and
beat Shampoo as soon as possible.

A few days later...
The Neko Hanten was closed, and lonely too. Cologne had gone to buy some
things she needed, and Shampoo on her part, had gone to attend her duel
with that Ukyo girl, the only one here was Shampoo's father, who was
cleaning the tables.
The man was starting to get worried, Mousse had not yet returned and his
daughter was seriously thinking on getting Ranma this time. He wasn't
angry, just disappointed. The truth was that he disliked Ranma; mostly
because of the way he had always rejected his daughter. He considered it
an insult. Mousse on the other hand, seemed to be sincere in his
intentions for his daughter, and he had a good reputation among the men
in Joktsuzoku; however, for some strange reason, Cologne was not very
fond of the boy, the man sighed sadly, he just wished that someone
could...
CRUSH!!
Shampoo's father fell to the floor stunned. Three girls stood behind
him, one of them, a girl with green hair, was holding a huge hammer.
"Pink, Link, Tie him up! I'll go search for Shampoo!"
"Got it boss! Over." Pin and Link answered.

Navel entered the kitchen, but she found nobody, she ran upstairs and
checked every room, but no one was there either, frowning, she went back
to the restaurant area
"Where is she!?" She asked Shampoo's dad.
"Why do you want to know?" He asked.
Navel pulled out a copy of the Joketsuzoku monthly from her pocket and
showed it to Shampoo's father, "Because of this! If I want to marry
Mousse, I have to defeat your daughter!"
"Then, I won't tell you." The man said smirking, "I cannot allow you to
marry Mousse."
Navel smirked a little, "So, you say that you won't tell me, right?" She
said as she walked behind the man, "Do you have any idea of what I could
do to you if you don't tell me?"
"Yes, but I'm still not telling you!" Shampoo's father said firmly.
"We'll see about that." The young amazon answered and looked at the
Yaocaicun twins, "Pink, Link, did you brought the tell-true spores with
you?"
"Sure we did! Over." Pink replied
"I have them here in my bag, over." Link finished.
"Good." Navel said, "Sprinkle him girls!" She ordered and backed a few
steps.
A loud Nooooooo! was heard from the Neko Hanten, which was followed by a
sepulchral silence.

The wind blew gently Ukyo's hair, she was waiting for Shampoo, as was
every other student in Furinkan, they all had gathered here in the
baseball court to watch the fight between her and the amazon. To her
left, Ranma and Akane were sitting together, staring at her. Ranma had
tried to talk her out of this, but Ukyo refused, this was her best
chance to get rid of Shampoo, and she wouldn't let it go.
Shampoo was watching it all from a tree in her cat form, she had been
splashed by an old woman on her way here, and she hadn't yet found a
source of hot water, the cat meowed angrily and ran to the school, maybe
she could find hot water in the cafeteria.

"Where is she?" Ukyo asked Ranma a few minutes later, "She should be
here by now!"
"I don't know." Ranma answered, "Maybe she decided to cancel the duel?"
"Of course not, Shampoo is too stubborn for that." Akane commented.
Ukyo was about to answer when someone landed behind her. Every student
wowed at the girl that had suddenly appeared. She had green hair, and
was wearing a red jacket with black jeans, "Who are you?" Ukyo asked,
"If Shampoo sent you, then go and tell her that I have better things to
do than stand here like a fool!"
Navel ignored the chef; she instead looked around searching for Shampoo.
When she didn't find her, she grabbed Ukyo by the neck of the shirt of
her chef outfit and pulled her close, "You mentioned Shampoo, where is
she?"
Ukyo blinked, she had thought all Chinese bimbos were unable to talk
straight Japanese, but this girl had proved her wrong, "I don't know, I
would like to know it too." She answered as she took Navel's hand off
her shirt.
"You want to see her too?" Navel asked as she cleaned her hand on her
jeans, as if she had been holding something dirty, "Why is that?"
"We have... Some business to take care off." Ukyo said.
"I see." Navel replied and folded her arms, "So, you and Shampoo are
having a fight, right?"
"Yes we are, and you better not interfere!" Ukyo threatened.
"Why? Are you afraid that I'd hurt you?" Navel mocked.
Ukyo growled, this Amazon might speak Japanese better than Shampoo, but
it was as annoying as her! "You take that back or else!"
"Or else what? You're gonna cook me? Don't make me laugh." The green
haired amazon answered half laughing, "YouAreNoMatch!"
The chef's blood was boiling, no match? Who did this hussy think she
was? It was bad enough for Shampoo to have said that, and now, a total
stranger was insulting her martial arts skills? This girl was pushing
her luck a lot here, "You! How dare you say that!?"
"I dare to do everything I want! Besides, I don't understand why is
Shampoo wasting her time with lame fighters like you!" Navel answered,
giving Ukyo a cold stare.

That was the last Ukyo could take. Growling, she dashed towards Navel,
swinging her spatula several times and trying to hit the amazon, but
Navel just dodged every swipe of Ukyo's weapon.
"Is this all you can do?" Navel asked, "Then I don't know how were you
expecting to ever defeat Shampoo."
"Shut the hell up!" Ukyo shouted, still trying to hit her adversary.
"Look, you're not even a challenge, if you give up now, I'll let you go
unharmed, what do you say?" Navel offered as she dodged another swing of
Ukyo's spatula.
"I'm not giving up!" Ukyo answered.
"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Navel shouted and, dodging Ukyo's
attacks, she slammed her palm into Ukyo's chin, sending the chef flying
all the way where Ranma and Akane where standing. Ukyo tried to get up,
but she fell backwards, unconscious.
"What have you done to her!" Ranma yelled.
Navel turned to see the young Saotome, "Calm down, your friend is not
injured, she's just going to sleep for a couple of hours."
Ranma was carrying Ukyo in his arms now, then he looked angrily at
Navel, "I don't know who you are, but if you're lying, I'll come back
and get you for this!"
"I'm telling you the truth, she's sleeping! And my name is..."
"Navel!" A woman shouted from behind the green haired amazon.
"Yes, that's my name." The amazon said, "Where were you Shampoo? I've
been waiting for you."
"What you did to Spatula girl?" Shampoo demanded, "Shampoo must have
duel with her!"
Navel blinked, then she answered in Chinese, "Shampoo, you impress me,
you have been in Japan for almost a year and you still can't speak the
language properly? My, you really are dense."
"Shampoo no dense!"
"Please, speak in Chinese." Navel said, "I feel like I'm having a chat
with Tarzan."
Shampoo frowned and switched to Chinese, "The way I speak Japanese is my
problem, got it? And why did you fight my fight? I was going to have a
duel with that girl you just trashed!"
"She was getting in the way." Navel said shrugging, "It's not my fault
she has such a short fuse."
Shampoo nodded, "Yes, I know her temper, but that's not the point, that
was my fight!"
"Well, I'm sorry, okay? Look Shampoo, I want to..." Navel began.
Meanwhile, Ranma on his part had told Akane that he was taking Ukyo to a
doctor, and not waiting for Akane to answer, he just jumped out of the
school with Ukyo in his arms.
"Hey! Where Ranma going? Shampoo asked Akane, she had caught a glimpse
of Ranma leaving the school and she completely forgot about Navel.
"He's taking Ukyo to a doctor" Akane explained, "Or at least that's what
he said."
"Shampoo! I challen..." Navel tried to say.
"Shampoo busy now!" The blue haired girl shouted as she ran behind
Ranma.
"I said I challenge you." Navel whispered, watching how Shampoo
disappeared.
"Don't worry, she's always like that." Akane said.
"Yes, I know her." Navel replied looking at the girl that just spoke to
her, "So, was he the famous Ranma Saotome?"
"Famous?" Akane asked "He will be famous for the beating I'm going to
give him if he takes Ukyo somewhere else than with a doctor!" The young
Tendo said before stomping her way out of school.
Navel blinked, "I knew this place was odd, but not this much." She
thought as she too left the school. It was useless to try and find
Shampoo as she didn't know this town very well, so she just decided to
go to her new home, she had to prepare for tomorrow anyway.

Two days later...
In China, Mousse stood in the middle of the cave, Shi in front of him.
For this last four days, the old man had been preparing Mousse for this
day, the day they would fight again in the same terms, both enveloped by
absolute darkness. This time, Shi considered that he still had the
advantage, but at the same time, he knew Mousse had improved a lot and
was now as good as him when it came to blind style fighting. The master
was happy he had known this boy, Mousse was the only one who could have
learned his blind style. Now, since Sei had already mastered the
Baoliang not-blind style, he felt his job as a martial arts master was
complete, because there were now two young men who would carry on his
legacy, and that was the best thing he could hope for.
"Master, what are we going to do here?"
Shi grasped firmly his staff, "Today Mousse, we shall fight for real. I
won't hold back and I hope you won't either."
"But Master, I'm not ready yet!"
"Mousse, this is the reason why you always fail. You must not doubt!"
"Master, I..."
"Mousse, you have trained with me for more than a month, haven't you?"
"Yes master, I've been here for a month and four days."
"And in this time, you have mastered everything I have taught you, have
you not?"
"Yes. I think I have." Mousse replied.
"Then, why are you refusing? Don't you want to see if what I taught you
is useful in battle?"
"I...Yes, I want to know how useful this style is."
"Then, stop talking and attack me!" Shi shouted while jumping into a
fighting stance.
Mousse doubted a little, but then he dashed to where his master was and
punched, hoping Shi could avoid his fist.

Mei ran all the way out of the cave. She had been spying on her
grandfather and Mousse, and she didn't like what she had heard. The last
time her grandfather said something like that was when he had tested
Sei's skills on the not-blind style, and that time, her grandfather
almost killed Sei! Panting, Mei jumped over the stream and climbed Sei's
favorite tree, which was where her brother was right now.
"Brother!"
Mei's shout almost caused Sei to fall from the tree branch he was
sitting on, he took a deep breath and looked at her sister, "Calm down
Mei, what is it?"
"Grandfather is fighting Mousse again!" She said almost crying.
"So?" Sei answered and took a bite from his rice ball, "It's part of his
training, you shouldn't worry that much."
"But grandfather said that he would not hold back!" Mei shouted, "Don't
you remember what happened when grandpa told you that?"
"Yes, he fought me with all his strength, I guess it will be the same
for Mousse."
"But you almost got killed! Don't you think Mousse could get badly
injured too?"
Sei finished his rice ball and softly took her sister's hands in his,
"Mei, you shouldn't worry about Mousse. Even when I hate to admit it,
he's stronger than me and grandpa shouldn't be able to hurt him as much
as he did to me."
"But Mousse..." Mei said, tears rolling down her face.
Sei dried up his sister's tears, "Why are you crying Mei? I told you
that Mousse would be alright."
The little girl shoved her face in her brother's chest, and she began to
cry harder, "That's not it!" She shouted, "I don't want him to go away!"
"But why? Mei, you know that he has to go back to Japan."
"I don't want Mousse to leave because I... love him." Mei whispered as
she kept crying.
"Mei, Mousse has a girlfriend already."
"But she's bad! She attacked us!"
"Actually, we attacked her first, remember?" He said, trying not to
think about the strange green haired girl. Sei had really liked her, and
the fact that she was Mousse's girlfriend was killing him. It was
strange, however, the way that Mousse refused to talk about her.
"Brother, why do I feel like this? I didn't want this to happen." Mei
told her brother, fighting back the tears.
Sei couldn't find his voice. His sister, an eight-year-old girl, had a
crush on his rival. That was something he never thought would happen.
Sighing, Sei carefully cradled her in his arms. Not sure of what to do
or say to help his sister find comfort, he kissed her forehead and
stroked her hair, "Mei, we'll work this out, I promise." He said softly.
"You do?" She asked, smiling a little.
"Yes, I do." He said and smiled too, "I do."
"Thank you Sei."
"It's fine, I'm your big brother, and you know that's my job." He joked.
Mei laughed a little and leaned her head in her brother's chest.

Back inside the cave, Mousse crashed into a wall. He had just been hit
by one of his master's kicks, "You are not focusing in the fight
Mousse!" Shi scolded, "We're not playing games here!"
Mousse didn't answer, he instead jumped out of the way of his master's
next attack and threw his chains at him. Shi dodged all the chains and
ran to where Mousse was, "Mousse, I told you not to use those weapons!"
Shi shouted as he punched Mousse's gut, "The only weapon you're allowed
to use is the staff I gave you!"
Mousse spat blood; he was amused at how skilled his master really was.
When they first fought, Shi had showed skills equal to those he had, in
fact, Mousse thought that he was as good as his master, but now he knew
how wrong he had been. He tried to counter with a punch of his own, but
he missed, and in return, Shi's staff hit Mousse on the head. The young
man stumbled and almost fell. He knew he had to do something. He had not
been able to hit his master yet, and if this continued, he didn't want
to think about it. So he concentrated on just dodging the current flood
of attacks and tried to find a strategy to win this fight.

Mousse reached a ledge and hid behind it. He was tempted to unfold his
eyes, but that would be like quitting, besides, the cave was completely
dark, and unfolding his eyes wouldn't help him at all, he remembered the
staff in his hand. His master used his staff only to attack at close
quarters, and now that he thought of it, it was the only way Shi
attacked. That was most interesting, Mousse was good at throwing
weapons, which gave him a little bit of an advantage at long quarters
over his master, but he could only use this staff. The boy frowned a
little, how was he supposed to use this staff to attack from a long
distance?
"I've got you!" Shi shouted and attacked Mousse from behind.
Mousse tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. His master's
staff hit his left shoulder, and Mousse screamed in pain. He used his
own staff to block the rest of Shi's blows, and quickly jumped out of
the way, all his left side was starting to get numb. His master was
approaching and Mousse couldn't allow another blow like the last one.
Gritting his teeth, Mousse did what he did best, and threw his staff at
his master.

Shi got hit in the middle of his eyes, he hadn't felt it coming, and he
never expected Mousse to use the staff this way. As he fell on his back,
the master smiled pleased. It had been such a long time since he had
been hit; it was really hilarious. The last one who hit him like this
had been Sei, who somehow managed to kick his kidneys, and that happened
almost a year ago. Shi rolled when he touched the ground and got back to
his feet.

Mousse heard a loud thud followed by the sound of his master hitting the
ground. He had managed to hit him, probably on the face, but he also
knew that his master was not really hurt. Mousse also noticed something,
his staff had bounced from Shi's face to the roof of the cave and from
there, it had bounced near him. He rushed to pick his weapon and smiled,
he had an idea that would help him win. Running to the left, he threw
his staff at his master again. Mousse grinned when he heard the thud; he
had hit Shi on the head again. The young man listened carefully and
found that his staff was bouncing his way. Mousse jumped and caught his
staff in midair with his right hand, then landed in front of his master,
who was still rubbing his jaw, the spot Mousse's staff had hit him in.
"Hi!" Mousse said and kicked Shi's chest with all his strength, flooring
the old man.
Shi was motionless on the floor, and he was amazed, he didn't know
Mousse was this strong, and he never imagined that Mousse could do this;
it caught him completely out of guard, what a boy! His inventiveness was
impressive. Shi wished that Sei was a little bit more like Mousse when
fighting. His grandson became too dependent on his cursed form to fight,
but lately, since Mousse's arrival, Sei had started to train again, and
the boy was improving. Shi was happy about that; if Sei kept training,
in less than a month he would be as good as Mousse and then, his
students would surpass him. What else could a martial arts master want?
"Master? Are you alright?"
Shi grunted, "Of course I'm not alright, you idiot! I think you broke
my ribs!"
Mousse leaned over his master and checked his ribs, "No, I don't think
they're broken master." He said.
BONK!!
"AAAAUCH!" Mousse complained.
"Hehehehe!" Shi laughed, "You're so naive boy! Remember that you must
never approach a fallen opponent until you're sure he is harmless!"
Mousse rubbed his head and laughed too, "Yeah, I guess I deserve it."
Shi got up and called Mousse, together, they walked to the exit of the
cave.

Once outside, Mousse was finally allowed to unfold his eyes. He blinked
a few times until his eyes got used to the light, then, he smiled. His
blindness hadn't got any worse, which was good, and it felt great to
stare at all those colorful blurs again. Mousse pulled out his glasses
and after putting them on, he looked at his master, "Now what?" Mousse
asked.
"Nothing." Shi answered, "Your training is complete, you are free to
go."
"Really?" Mousse said, "But I don't feel any stronger than when I
started."
"Don't be stupid kid, when you came here for the first time, I defeated
you with only half of my strength, and now, you bested me in combat, do
you really think that you aren't stronger than before?"
"Well, it's just that I don't feel different, that's all."
Shi sat on the ground and sighed, "Mousse, you won't see the results of
my training until you fight with an opponent you really want to defeat;
that's the way of the Baoliang fighting styles."
Mousse was about to answer, but he was interrupted by Mei who shouted
his name and rushed to where he was. Mousse smiled and crouched to talk
to the little girl, "Mei, What's up?"
Mei winced a little and then she sat, frowning, "Mousse, I want to ask
you something." She said, "Are you really leaving us?"
"What?" Mousse blinked a few times, this really wasn't what he was
expecting Mei to say, "Well, I have to go back to Japan, but I can come
and visit soon if you want."
"You are going to meet that green haired quack, right?" Mei said and
looked to the ground.
"Quack? You mean Navel?" Mousse asked.
"Yes I'm talking about her, I think that it's not fair that you leave us
to see that mean girl!" Mei shouted.
"But I'm not going to see her, I'm going to challenge an evil man."
Mousse answered as he tried to figure out why Mei was acting so weird,
Mousse also looked at his master to see if he knew what was going on,
but the old man was pretending to be very interested in a plant that was
growing next to the exit of the cave.
"You're lying! I know that as soon as you left Kai-Yuang, you'll run to
that girl's house!" Mei yelled.
"But I'm not..." Mousse started, then Mei launched herself at him, and
Mousse was forced to hold her.
"Mousse, I don't want you to go! Why don't you stay here? We could play
and have fun forever!" the girl pleaded.
"MEI! That's enough!" Sei shouted from the top of the cave and then
jumped down, "Get away from Mousse, you know he has to go."
Mei slowly obeyed and sadly broke Mousse's hug, "I'm sorry." She
whispered.
If Mousse didn't know what was going on before, now he was completely
confused, "Hey, what is going on here?" He asked.
"None of your business." Sei answered and took his sister's hand, "So,
are you leaving?"
"Yes, I'll leave tonight." He said and looked at Mei, "But I promise
I'll visit soon, there's no need to worry Mei, We'll play together
again."
The little girl sobbed and smiled, "Fine, but stay until dinner, okay? I
have a surprise for you." She said and went into the cave.
"What's going on with her?" Mousse asked Sei.
"My sister... Well, who knows? She's odd like that sometimes." Sei
answered and walked away.

"Sei!" Mousse called.
"What?"
"Can I ask you a favor?"
"Depends on what it is." Sei said and looked at Mousse, "What do you
want?"
"Would you come with me to Jusenkyo?" Mousse asked.
"Jusenkyo?" Sei was startled, "What for? Do you want to get cursed too?"
"No, I want to get rid of a curse, but I don't want to go alone." Mousse
explained, as memories of his falling into the spring of the drowned
duck came back to him.
"So you are cursed." Sei frowned, "Wait, are you planning something?
Like, getting rid of my curse as well?"
"No I want to get rid of MY curse, I don't care about yours at all."
Mousse explained, "Look, just tell me if you're coming or not, I won't
get mad if you refuse."
Sei messed his hair and eyed Mousse, "Alright, I'll go with you, but you
better not try anything funny, got it?"
Mousse nodded, "Got it, so, what if we leave now? I want to be here for
dinner."
"Fine, let's go." Sei replied and ran to the entrance of the valley,
"What are you waiting for?" He shouted, "Weren't you the one who wanted
to go to Jusenkyo?"
Mousse smiled and ran behind Sei.
Shi walked to the cave. The master always wondered why was it always so
hard for young men to openly admit friendship. Well, he had better
things to worry about, like his granddaughter for example.

"Shampoo!" Cologne shouted.
"Yes great-grandmother?"
"How come we haven't had any customers in two days!?" The old woman
wanted to know.
"Shampoo not know, maybe this Spatula girl doing?"
"I don't think so." Cologne said, "Maybe..."
"I have news!" Shampoo's father shouted as he rushed inside the Neko
Hanten, "I know why the customers have been so scarce!"
"You know?" Cologne asked.
"Father knows?" Shampoo asked too.
"Yes! There's a new restaurant in town! It's called Navel's tea house!"
The man said panting.
"So that's what was happening." Cologne said a little bit calmer than
before, "Shampoo, go to Navel's restaurant and see what is making it so
special."

Shampoo nodded and after asking her father the directions, she ran to
the place.
A few minutes later, Shampoo arrived to Navel's place. It was located in
a two-story house, but the first floor was the actual restaurant. It had
two large windows on the front wall and a big wooden door in the middle.
On top of the door, there was a red sign that read: 'Navel's Tea House'
written in big yellow letters.
Shampoo walked to one of the windows and stared at the inside of the
restaurant. The place was full of customers, and everyone seemed happy.
Shampoo was starting to get mad. Why was all the people here so happy?
"Shampoo! What a nice surprise!" A girl called in Chinese.
The blue haired amazon blinked and turned, she found herself facing
Navel, who was wearing a black and red kimono and her hair was tied up
in a traditional style, Shampoo smirked, "Navel!" She said, "So, this is
why you have been so quiet lately."
"Exactly! I have to turn this place into the best restaurant of this
town! And that takes time." Navel explained as she smiled proudly, "I
heard that your restaurant was in serious need of customers though,
maybe I could go and have dinner there." She mocked.
Shampoo needed all her willpower to stop herself from punching Navel,
she instead grinned and looked straight at her eyes, "Well, what you
heard was wrong, but if you want to go and have dinner to the Neko
Hanten you are welcome."
"Actually." Navel started, "What I want is to have a duel with you."
Navel commented and looked into Shampoo's eyes.
"I don't want to fight with you Navel, it's a waste of time." Shampoo
said and jumped to the nearest roof, quickly disappearing.
Navel just smiled and entered the restaurant again, "We'll see about
that." She muttered.

In the roofs, Shampoo Neko observed when Navel went back into her
restaurant, the cat jumped down of the roof and then made its way to the
back of Navel's Tea House, there, the cat saw a door that was partially
open, and with no hesitation, the cat entered the restaurant. Once
inside, Shampoo Neko saw that Pink and Link were in charge of cooking,
and that the twins added a small dose of a strange powder into every
dish they cooked. As Shampoo discovered, it was some kind of happiness
inducing spore they had brought from China. The cat frowned, so that's
why all the customers were coming here! Shampoo felt like writing her
name in Pink and Link's faces with her sharp cat claws. She was about to
jump at Link's face when Navel grabbed her.
"Is this cat yours?" She asked to the twins.
"No, it's not ours, over." Both twins answered.
"Well, it's cute!" Navel said smiling, "I think I'll keep it." She said,
and then looked at the twins, "I have to go to the Neko Hanten, will you
be alright here?"
"Yes Boss, no problem! Over." Link said
"The happy spore is working wonders! Over." Pink added.
"Oh, about that thing." Navel said, "I want you to stop mixing it with
the food. I don't want to be sued if one of the clients notices that
strange powder, besides, our normal cooking is good enough." The green
haired amazon explained.
"Alright boss, no more happy spore, over." Link promised.
"Understood, over." Pink finished.
"Good." Navel said and exited the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Navel was in her bedroom in the second floor. She
had changed to her amazon outfit, and was now fixing her ponytail. At
her side, Shampoo Neko was staring at her, and at the same time, was
trying to find a way to get away from her.
"Are you nervous kitty?"
Shampoo meowed angrily and tried to jump down of the bed, but Navel held
her and scratched her head, "Hey, kitty, want to see something special?"
Navel said absently as she picked her copy of Joketsuzoku monthly and
placed it on the bed. She opened it on a page that had a picture of
Mousse and then she pointed, "That's my boyfriend kitty, isn't he a very
handsome man?"
The cat growled at the picture, boyfriend!? That Mousse was going to
pay!
"All I need to do now is to defeat my rival so our engagement is
accepted by the elders of my village, once I do, I will be able to marry
my Mousse."
Shampoo meowed again, so that was the reason why Navel was challenging
her to a duel every time they met? And what was that thing about HER
Mousse? She couldn't take this anymore, hissing, the cat jumped down of
the bed and to the window, Navel walked to the cat and tried to grab it,
but the angry feline jumped out of her reach and ran until Navel
couldn't see it anymore.
"Now, that was odd." Navel thought as she closed the window, not too
long after that, she heard a loud crash coming from downstairs.
"NAVEL! Come here!!" Shampoo's voice demanded.

Seconds later, Navel entered the restaurant area of her house, as she
was expecting, one of the walls had a Shampoo sized hole, and Shampoo
herself stood in the middle of the large room. Pink and Link were
watching it all from the kitchen, and their faces were blank with panic,
the customers, they all had run out of the place.
"So, why are you here again?" Navel asked, "Are you finally going to
fight me or what?"
"Shampoo wants to know why you think you can marry Mousse!"
"Oh, that. Well, a few weeks ago, Mousse went to China you know, and he
challenged me to a duel, and he won, not that I let him win, it's just
that Mousse is soooo strong." Navel explained and smirked, "Oh, and when
he kissed me in that cave, he said that he was tired of you and your
violent antics."
Shampoo's face showed no emotions at all, she couldn't yet understand
what was happening, "Show me proofs." She demanded, even when the
pictures she had seen as a cat where still fresh in her mind, she needed
to see more of them to make sure that they were real.
"With pleasure." Navel replied still smirking, "Here." She said and
handed Shampoo a copy of the Joketsuzoku monthly, "You can keep it. I
have plenty of copies."
"That because no one cares for you." Shampoo muttered as she read the
cover of the Newspaper.
"What did you say!?" Navel shouted.
"Shampoo said you are boring news."
Navel twisted her lips and snatched the newspaper from Shampoo's hands,
"That was rude!"
"Not as much as you." Shampoo replied in Chinese, "Witch."
"WHAT!?" Navel shouted, her face red with rage, "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
"You heard Shampoo." The blue haired girl answered switching back to
Japanese.
"That's it!" Navel fumed, "I was going to make our duel a simple fight,
but now it's going to be to the death!" She shouted, "Shampoo, I
challenge you!"
"No, I challenge you." Shampoo replied and she gave Navel the kiss of
death.
Navel gritted her teeth and glanced at Shampoo, "Two days from now, at
dusk, in that baseball court you were going to fight that crazy chef!"
"Good, Shampoo will be there." She said and walked out of Navel's
restaurant, through a new hole in the wall, of course.
Navel blinked, and then noticed how Pink and Link were staring at her.
"Cut that out you two!" She shouted, "And come here and help me clean
all this mess!"

Shampoo sat in the middle of a park; she couldn't understand what she
had just done in Navel's place. What had gotten into her? She had
behaved like a crazy maniac! She felt stupid, and the way she called
Navel! Why did she call her that?
"But she deserved it, didn't she?" The voice in Shampoo's head asked.
"Yes, I guess so." Shampoo answered.
"Of course she did. How dare she say that Mousse doesn't care for you
anymore! That was just plain rude!" The voice affirmed.
"Mousse has nothing to do with this!" Shampoo shouted.
"Are you sure?" The voice asked and vanished.
Shampoo was about to shout again, but she noticed that lots of people
were staring at her, blushing, Shampoo walked out of the park and rushed
home.

Hours later, in China, Mousse and Sei were entering Kai-Yuang Valley.
Mousse was carrying a bottle filled with water and he would occasionally
give appreciative glances to it.
"Why is that water so important?" Sei asked.
"I rather not to talk about it." Mousse replied.
"Whatever." Sei said shrugging, "So, how does it feel?"
"What?" Mousse asked.
"Being free of your curse, you moron."
"It feels good." Mousse said, still looking at the bottle.
"If I were you, I would have jumped in a spring with a better curse."
"I'm fine as it is, thank you." Mousse said, "Besides, I never wanted to
be cursed in the first place."
"Well, I can understand you, it must be terrible to be a duck half of
the time." Sei said and laughed a little.
"Hey! I didn't ask for that curse, okay?"
"Calm down, it's just that I think you must have hated it, that's all."
"If you just knew." Mousse said as an image of Ryoga came to his mind,
"There are worse curses than the one I had."
"I bet there are." Sei answered and stopped, "Mousse, I want to ask you
something about the girl who came here the other day."
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, I was like, wondering if she really is your girlfriend. It's okay
if she is, I'm just curious, really."
Mousse looked at Sei, "No, she's not my girlfriend. Look Sei, it's hard
to explain. It involves a lot of the laws of the amazon village and I
don't feel like explaining them to you right now."
"Hey, you don't have to! I just wanted to know if she was your girl or
not." Sei said smiling like never before, "Look! There's Mei and
grandpa!" Sei said and ran to the cave.
Mousse nodded and followed Sei. He was curious about Mei's surprise,
however, he could perceive a faint smell that gave him a clue about what
the surprise was.

The little girl waved her hand to greet her brother and Mousse. Shi just
smiled and asked the boys to sit by the fire.
"Hey Mousse, are you ready for your surprise?" Mei said happily.
"Sure." He replied and looked at Mei, "What is it?"
"Close your eyes! It's something good!" Mei ordered.
Mousse did what the girl said and closed his eyes, "And now?"
"Now, just open your mouth wide." Mei said as she reached for a bowl
filled with steamy ramen.
Mousse opened his mouth, as he had suspected, the girl had cook ramen
for him, but why?
"Here you go." Mei said and shoved a bunch of Ramen in Mousse's mouth
with her chopsticks, "This is the first time I've cooked Ramen." She
said, "So, is it good?"
Mousse chewed on the ramen and enjoyed the taste. It was not as good as
Shampoo's, but it was very good, and he wondered if this was really the
first time she had cooked this, "It's exquisite!" Mousse answered with a
smile, "The best one I've had in a long time! I can't believe it's the
first time you cooked ramen!" He said and opened his eyes,
"Congratulations Mei!"
The little girl blushed and smiled shyly, "Thank you Mousse1 I was
thinking of you when I cooked it."
"Well, it's excellent! Really." He finished.
"Hey, and what about me?" Sei asked, "Is all the ramen for Mousse?"
"Yeah, I want some too!" Shi said.
"Calm down! There's plenty for everyone!" Mei singed happily and then
gave her brother and grandfather each a bowl of ramen.
"Wow! it IS good!" Sei said after tasting it.
"Yes, I agree, as good as your departed grandmother's! And that is a lot
of compliment my dear Mei!" Shi added.
"Thank you everyone!" Mei thanked triumphantly.
"Mei, why ramen?" Mousse asked.
She flushed again, "Okay, I'll tell you, remember when we first met? I
ate all your ramen that time, and I thought that this was the best way
to apologize for eating all your food." Mei explained.
"Well, this is the best apology I've ever had!" Mousse joked, "Can I
have more please?" He asked and handed his bowl to Mei.

Mousse and Sei were the only ones that still were sitting along the
fire. Mei had fallen asleep a few hours earlier, and she was sleeping
now inside the cave, and Shi, well...Shi was taking care of some
personal business in the most distant part of the valley. The pot Mei
cooked the ramen in was still besides the fire, empty by now, and four
bowls were also at its side. The two young men had been talking about
what Mei did at first, but now, they were talking about themselves.
"So, are you leaving tomorrow?" Sei asked Mousse.
"Yes." He answered.
"Then please, leave before my sister wakes up."
"But I want to say goodbye to her!" Mousse complained.
Sei glanced at the empty bowls, and then at Mousse, "Do you want to hurt
her?"
"Hurt her? What are you talking about?"
"Mousse, my sister likes you a lot." Sei explained, "Look, you are her
first real friend, and I don't want her to cry when she has to say good
bye to you."
Mousse stared at Sei for a moment, "I didn't know that."
"Well, now you know, so please, leave when she's still sleeping."
"Alright, I'll do that, but just because of what you said." Mousse
replied and picked the bowls and the pot up, "I'm taking this inside" He
said and walked into the cave, "I'm sure master will not mind."
"Yeah, you do that." Sei answered as he stared at the fire, "I'm sorry
Mei." He whispered.

Inside the cave, Mousse placed the pot and the bowls inside a rock sink
Shi had built years ago and then he walked to the dorm area of the cave.
There, he found Mei snoring softly in her futon. She had somehow crawled
out of her blanket and was hugging her pillow. She looked so innocent,
so cute. Mousse smiled at her and covered her with her blanket. Mousse
walked a few steps, but then, he went back to Mei's side. He searched in
his sleeves until he finally pulled out a teddy bear. He crouched and
placed the toy at the girl's side. He glanced at Mei for a last time and
then he went to pack his things.

Sei wasn't amazed when Mousse called him, neither when he saw him
carrying his backpack, "Changed your mind about leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Thanks." Sei answered and looked at the fire, "Mousse, where are you
really going? You never told us."
"Sei, you shouldn't ask those things!" Shi said as he walked to them,
"Everyone has the right to keep a few secrets."
"I know, I just was curious." Sei answered.
"You're always curious." Shi countered and stood besides Mousse,
"Mousse, if you're leaving now, there's only one more thing I have to
tell you."
"What is it master?" Mousse asked.
"I don't know who you want to fight with, but promise me that when you
do, you will show him how strong my blind style is, got it?" Shi shouted
and slapped Mousse's back.
"Yes I promise master." Mousse said half smiling, "I won't disappoint
you."
"Good, now what are you waiting for? Do you want a hug or something?"
Shi joked, "Get out of here boy!"
"Yes master!" Mousse answered and ran to the exit of the valley, "Bye
Sei! Say good bye to Mei for me!" He shouted before he disappeared into
the shadows.
"Well, he's gone." Sei commented.
"Yes, he is." Shi agreed, "I'll miss that boy." He admitted
"Me too." Sei replied.
"Alright kid." Shi said and looked at Sei, "How long?"
"How long what?" He asked.
"Until you go after Mousse and challenge him again. How long?" Shi
demanded.
Sei smiled, his grandfather had read his thoughts, "A month, maybe
less." Sei said, "I only need to train a little bit more."
"Want some help with that?" Shi offered.
Sei's eyes opened wide as he smiled at his grandfather, "You...you
would?"
"Sure! I have this trick I've been wanting to show for a long time, but
I was waiting until you were motivated enough to learn it." Shi
explained, "Want to start training tomorrow?"
"Yeah!" Sei shouted.
"Good." Shi said and smiled.

For the last two days, Shampoo had been completely restless. She had not
trained at all. Two days were not really enough to get in proper shape
for an amazon duel, but she was confident that she would be the winner.
On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she could kill Navel. She had
never killed another person, and she was glad about that, but she wasn't
sure about Navel. In case Navel won, would she kill her? That question
had only crossed Shampoo's mind once, and it scared her, so she rejected
it immediately. The chance was there, but she was a Joketsuzoku amazon,
and she couldn't run from battle.

Navel was staring at a clock in the wall. It was almost time for her
fight with Shampoo, and she was afraid. All the times she had fought
Shampoo, she had lost. In the end, Shampoo always won. Navel stopped
watching the clock and reached for her sword. It was time already. Dusk
would come in less than half an hour, and she didn't want to be late.
Navel said good-bye to the twins and walked to Furinkan. The reason why
Navel was afraid was that there was a big chance that Shampoo would kill
her, but she was also afraid of what she would have to do if she won.
Yes, she was afraid, but she was a Joketsuzoku amazon, and she couldn't
run from battle.

Furinkan's baseball court was usually a peaceful place, and this night
was no exception. The dim lights that illuminated the center of the
court, and the soft wind that blew the few leaves that had fallen from
the surrounding trees created a nice and inviting environment. It was
the perfect place for a date, but, when a young woman walked slowly into
the field and waited for several minutes until another young woman
arrived, the harmony of the place was broken. It was clear that these
two women were not here for a friendly chat; they were here to fight.
"Navel." Shampoo greeted, no emotions in her voice.
"Shampoo" Navel answered, her voice as emotionless as her rival's.

Both girls were wearing the traditional warrior outfit of the amazons,
with the light chest armor and steel bracelets. For the casual eye,
these two girls would have passed for a couple of sisters. Their faces
had very similar features, but the color of their eyes and hair were
different, and of course, the green haired one was slightly taller that
the blue haired one, but that wasn't important now; what was important
was that both girls knew this was the first time they would fight a real
battle, not like the ones in tournaments in their village, not like the
ones with other clans like the battles Navel had endured, or the
multiple fights with other martial artists Shampoo had gone through
since she began to live in Japan. No, this time, they were fighting to
finish something that started years ago between them, and they both knew
it.

Neither of them tried to say a word. In silence, they raised their
swords and attacked the other, and then, their deadly dance began. Their
moves, their speed, it was all so evenly matched. Their grace of
movement, everything about them was so perfect, so deadly beautiful.
These two girls, they were the best of the new generation of Joketsuzoku
warriors, and they were proud of it. Every time one of them dodged the
other's attack, every time a sword swipe passed through the other's
defense and cut the flesh of the other, they smiled; none of them was
really wounded yet, their wounds were mere scratches, but still, with
every wound, they smiled.

Shampoo. She still was trying to understand her motives to be here. She
had been dealing with the strange voices in her head for the last two
days. They were trying to convince her that deep inside, she was here
because she didn't want Navel to take Mousse away from her, but she
never listened to the voices. She was sure that the only reason to fight
Navel was to maintain her superiority over her. And now, as she was
giving herself fully to the battle, all that became senseless. All she
cared about was the fight, nothing else.

Navel. Her motives for being here were crystal clear this morning; she
was fighting for the man she loved, but now, it wasn't so clear, did she
really love Mousse? Yes, she was convinced of it. Yet, she knew there
was more to it. There was the fact that Mousse did not love her back,
there was the fact that Mousse was nothing but the man who loved
Shampoo, and he had always been. She always hoped that someday, Mousse
would be the man who loved Navel. But she knew that would never happen.
Still, here she was, fighting for a man who didn't love her. However,
she still had another reason; it was superiority. Shampoo had always
surpassed her, and she wanted that to end. That was the only real reason
Navel was fighting, and now, as she gave herself fully to the battle,
everything lost its meaning, only the fight was important, nothing else.

Mousse opened the doors of the Neko Hanten and he immediately knew
something was wrong. Cologne ignored him, then, Shampoo's father came
from the kitchen. The man stared at Mousse and then he punched him hard,
so hard that Mousse fell backwards; he wasn't expecting this.
"Why?" He asked.
"And you dare to ask?" Shampoo's father shouted and tossed Mousse the
last Joketsuzoku monthly, "Like if you didn't know it."
Adjusting his glasses, Mousse read the front page of the newspaper and
his face went pale. He shouted, claiming that it was all a lie, that
Navel had framed him, but in return all he got were those reproaching
looks from Cologne and from Shampoo's father, "It's true!" He said, "I
don't want Navel, and you two know it!"
Cologne gave Mousse a cold glance and finally broke the silence, "I
can't believe you convinced me of giving this sap a chance of marrying
my little girl." She said to Shampoo's father, "Now that he's failed,
I'll have to work harder to bring Ranma to our village."
For his part, Shampoo's father had changed the severe look in his face.
He contemplated Mousse and he then realized that Mousse had changed. He
was no longer a boy; he was now a man in his own right, just like what
happened to the young Saotome when he returned from the battle in Mount
Phoenix. Ranma returned a man, and that Akane girl, she returned as a
woman. Mousse had now achieved that change, his daughter, on the other
hand, was still a girl, she had yet to achieve what Mousse had achieved,
and the man was sure that this new Mousse was the one who could help her
do it; When the older man realized that, his faith on Mousse returned.

"Listen to me Mousse." Shampoo's father said, ignoring Cologne's angry
looks, "Navel is here in Nerima, and right now, she is fighting with
Shampoo." He made a small pause, "To the death."
Mousse face went pale, "Shampoo is fighting Navel?" He asked truly
alarmed, "NO! Navel is too strong for Shampoo now, she's going to kill
her!"
"You don't know that for sure." Cologne interrupted.
"I do know!" Mousse shouted, "I know Shampoo's strength, and I know
Navel's, Shampoo is so out of shape that even when the fight will seem
even at first, in the end, Navel will win!"
Cologne closed her eyes and considered Mousse's words, she measured
Navel's skills, and then, Cologne compared them with Shampoo's. Her face
showed concern; if the gap between Shampoo and Navel was minimal in the
past, now, since Navel had continued her training like an amazon should,
there was a big chance that she could defeat Shampoo, who had not
trained at all in nearly a year.
"Where are they fighting!?" Mousse demanded, "Tell me!"
Cologne remained silent, even when she wanted Shampoo to live, her great
granddaughter was in a duel, and it would destroy Shampoo's honor if she
intervened. Shampoo's father, however, didn't care about honor at all,
he grabbed Mousse's shoulders and he asked, no, he begged him to save
his daughter, and then Mousse left the restaurant. Cologne walked to the
Neko Hanten's door. There, she stood next to the father of her little
girl and sighed.
"He's changed." She said.
"Yes, he did, but he still rushes a lot, I couldn't tell him where
Shampoo was." The man answered.

In Furinkan's baseball court, Shampoo and Navel were still fighting, but
in the last few minutes, Shampoo had reached her limit. Navel looked
tired too, but not even half as tired as she was. For the blue haired
amazon, It was getting more and more difficult to stop or to avoid
Navel's sword, and for the first time, Shampoo considered defeat as an
option.
And then, it happened, Navel raised her hand and her sword crashed with
Shampoo's, and something in Shampoo's right hand cracked, the blue
haired amazon was forced to bite her lower lip to avoid screaming. Her
sword landed a few steps away, but she couldn't reach for it. The pain
distracted Shampoo and that was her worst mistake. Navel kicked her
chest and Shampoo saw red. Still, she remained on her feet and looked
straight into Navel's eyes, "This is not over yet." Shampoo assured.
"I know." Navel said as she tossed her sword aside, "Come on Shampoo! No
weapons now!"

Shampoo hurled herself at Navel. Her throat ached, as did all her body,
but her strength of will was unmatched. In that moment, Shampoo was
nothing but the warrior. She was ignoring the pain in her right hand;
the pain from all the small cuts Navel's sword had done to her. Shampoo
was determined to win, but sadly, sometimes that's not enough, and this
was one of those times.

After blocking a few of Shampoo's kicks and punches, Navel commenced her
own attack. She didn't need much, she just punched Shampoo's stomach
with all her might and it was over. Shampoo fell on her knees and
coughed. She tried to stand up again, but Navel's hand in her shoulders
prevented her from that.
"What happened to you?" Navel asked as she crouched and forced Shampoo
to look at her.
Shampoo tried to get away from Navel, but Navel's grasp on her was too
strong, "You can laugh now." Shampoo said, "You finally took it all away
from me, my pride, my honor...even Mousse." Shampoo hid her face in her
good hand, "Go ahead. Kill me now."
Navel released her grasp on Shampoo's shoulders and raised to her feet,
"I can't do it." She whispered, "I can't do that because I lost."

Shampoo looked at Navel and she noticed that she was crying, "Why?" She
asked.
"You are nothing but a mere shadow of the Shampoo I used to know. You
still have the determination to fight to the end, but you no longer have
the will to improve your skills. You have grown soft, you have lost the
amazon heart you once had, the one I envied so much." Navel explained,
"And I don't have to take your pride away from you Shampoo, because you
destroyed it a long time ago, if only half of what I've heard in our
village about you and the things you have done to catch that Ranma are
true, then you no longer have a pride for me to take."
Shampoo didn't answer, she couldn't, all she felt were the tears that
were sliding down her face.
"Yes Shampoo, I lost." Navel continued, "I can't defeat you because
you're nothing compared to the old Shampoo, and I can't conquer
nothing." The green haired woman finished and wiped away her own tears,
"I didn't want to believe it, but it's true, you are not an amazon
anymore; I pity you Shampoo I really do."
Shampoo tried to speak, but she couldn't, the words refused to come out.
"I'm not giving up on Mousse though." Navel said as she walked a few
steps away from Shampoo, who still was on her knees, "So please Shampoo,
stay out of our way, I don't want your misery to contaminate our
happiness." She finished and after picking up her sword, she jumped to
the shadows.
"IT'S NOT OVER YET!!" Shampoo shouted several minutes after Navel's
departure, "It's not over yet, I'll show you I'm not a shadow!" She
cried, her voice merely a whisper, her face was wet with tears, "I'm not
a shadow! I'm not!"

When Mousse arrived to the duel place, he quickly spotted Shampoo. She
was sitting under a light post, and she was slowly rocking her body back
and forth. Back and forth, as if by doing it, she would find some
comfort. Mousse adjusted his glasses, and as he approached her, he
wondered what happened. He was in front of her now, but she didn't seem
to notice. This somehow reminded Mousse of the first time he met
Shampoo. She was wounded and crying just like now, and he had helped
her. They were little kids then, but it was amazing how history repeated
itself. He kneeled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Why are you crying?" He asked in Mandarin, trying to make his voice
sound as sweet as possible.
Shampoo jumped quickly to her feet; she hated to be caught out of guard
by other people, and after all she had been through this day, this only
added more to her dishonor. "You don't care!!" She said wiping away her
tears.
"Does your hand hurt?" He asked and looked at Shampoo's right hand, it
was swollen already, from the palm to the wrist.
"No! I don't hurt; I'm an amazon! I'm not a shadow!"
"A shadow? I don't understand." He said.
"Of course you don't!" Shampoo shouted and walked away from Mousse, "You
never understand, you are too stupid for that!" But a few steps later,
her strength abandoned her and she fell on her butt.
Mousse kneeled beside her and tried to help her up, but she pushed him
away, "Leave me alone Mousse, I'm not in the mood to talk to you."
"Shampoo, I'm not stupid, and I'm going to help you, I always help you
when I'm around, don't I?" Mousse replied
"Not true." Shampoo said as a tear ran through her face (Great, now I'm
crying.) "You could have come earlier, where were you? Were you with
Navel?" She asked, too weak to try to do something else that wasn't
talking, "Is that the reason why you weren't here sooner?"
"No! Your father didn't tell me where you were! I had to find you by
myself."
Shampoo smiled as she thought Mousse was joking, but then she frowned,
"Liar, I know that you and Navel are together, I saw the newspaper."
Shampoo answered closing her eyes, "Go with her! I'm sure you don't want
to waste your time with a shadow."
Mousse blinked, "Shampoo, I'm not going with her, I'm staying with you,
I'll always stay with you."
Shampoo looked to the ground and then, she felt angry at Mousse. Who was
he to worry so much for her? Why was he always doing this? Could it be
true that he loved her? Or was she only a prize for him? She decided
that she didn't want to know. She felt enough pain already to worry
about that, and she suddenly wished for Mousse to disappear, "Stop lying
to me Mousse!" She said, "A shadow like me deserves to be alone."

"Cut that out!" Mousse shouted and grabbed Shampoo by the shoulders,
"You are not a shadow! Why are you saying that?"
"Because it's true!" Shampoo yelled, "I've lost all that made me an
amazon! I've lost myself for nothing!" But was that true? Shampoo knew
that all the things Navel said were partially true, she changed because
of Ranma; she had tried to be a different woman for him, and it didn't
work. She had practically thrown herself at him several times, but that
didn't work either. She even tried to emulate Akane in some things, but
that never worked. In the end, she always ended up feeling more and more
lonely. She had tried to be strong and always look cheerful in front of
Ranma, but he ignored her, and those times when she had watched from the
distance the way Ranma looked Akane when she was distracted, that always
hurt, and it made her feel lonely; those were the times she used to beat
Mousse the most. It was her way to fight stress, and suddenly, for the
first time since she got engaged to Ranma, she wondered if she was
chasing him because of love. She loved Ranma, didn't she? (Why am I
thinking this now?) Ranma was strong, brave, he never lost a fight and
he was handsome (Mousse is handsome too, and he never gives up either.)
Yeah, Mousse. He was always there. Ever since she was a child, Mousse
had been there. Offering her his unconditional affection, and she always
rejected him, because he would always be there. No matter how many times
she rejected him, Mousse would always be there. (And it's good to know
that he's always there, right?) But now, Navel was trying to take Mousse
away. Maybe she deserved it. How could she expect Mousse to be there for
her forever if she treated him like garbage every time? Maybe she should
stop playing with Mousse and let him go with Navel, (But if I do that, I
will be alone! I will be a real shadow!) Shampoo decided that it was the
best, letting Mousse go; she would survive, somehow, "Mousse..." She
called, "Go with Navel, I...I don't want to see you anymore."

Mousse blinked and swallowed, "No. Even if you don't want to see me, you
need help, so I'm staying."
Shampoo looked at him and smiled slightly, "Idiot." She said, "You're an
idiot, why are you staying with me? I've never given you a reason to do
so, and don't tell me it's all because you love me because I know you
don't!"
That was a shock, Mousse was sure that Shampoo knew how he felt, but
this, what was she trying to say? "Shampoo, there is no other reason, I
love you and that's why I do the things I do."
When she heard Mousse's answer, Shampoo's left hand turned into a fist,
and before she knew it, she was punching his chest, over and over and
over, "Stop saying that! I hate you when you say that!" She shouted and
snatched Mousse's glasses, then, with a growl, she tossed them to the
ground and the glasses broke in thousands of little pieces that shined
in the dim light, "There! Now you can't see me Mousse, and you can't
love what you can't see!" Shampoo yelled, "Go hug a tree!"

To her surprise, Mousse moved towards her and he did what she said, he
hugged...her, "I don't need to see you to love you Shampoo." Mousse said
as he embraced her, "I can smell your hair. I can smell your tears. I
can hear you breathing. I can hear your heart, and I can feel your body
Shampoo, how warm it is and how is trembling right now in my arms. I
don't need my eyes to love all those things Shampoo, don't you
understand? I love you like no one else can, and right now, I don't care
if that's not enough for you."
"Mousse...I..." Shampoo began, but she was suddenly lost in Mousse's
arms, she felt so safe, so at peace, it was a sensation she didn't feel
often, "I don't know what to say."
"Then don't say anything." Mousse answered and moved his right hand; a
flask appeared on it, "Shampoo, close you eyes, I have something for
you."
She shook her head and looked at him, "No, if I do that, you'll ruin
this moment."
Mousse smiled and softly pushed Shampoo away a little.
"Why?" She asked, fearing that he was really leaving her.

"Be free Shampoo." Mousse said and poured the water on her head.
Shampoo's body shook when she felt the cold water running down her face
and neck, "It's cold!" She exclaimed, then her eyes widened, she looked
at her hands and her lips trembled in disbelief, "What...what have you
done?" She asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I released you from your curse." He explained, "I
went to Jusenkyo when I was in China."
Shampoo was confused, she didn't know what to do or what to think, "Are
you...cured too?" she asked after a few minutes of staring at him.
"Yes, I am cured too." He said smiling, "We're both free." Mousse
finished and hugged Shampoo again. This time, she hugged him too.
"Thank you Mousse. This is one of the best things someone has ever done
for me." Shampoo said and looked at him, she couldn't help but smile.
"Good, you're smiling again." He stated and leaned his head over hers,
"Are you happy now?" Mousse asked.
"Yes, I am." Shampoo answered closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling
of safety Mousse provided her (Now, why am I doing this?) maybe keeping
Mousse around was not so bad, maybe it was the right thing to do.
Mousse was about to burst, he was holding Shampoo in his arms and she
was happy about it! Then he whispered her name, he had to try and see
her, and when she looked up at him, he could see the traces of her face,
the glow in her eyes and her smile, they gave him the courage he needed,
holding his breath, Mousse closed his eyes and moved forward.

When Shampoo noticed that Mousse was trying to kiss her, her first
reaction was to try and punch him, but she was too tired to do that, and
soon, the old, buried sensations from the time they almost kissed at the
town square in Joketsuzoku came back to her. She was feeling like that
time again; her whole body denied to obey her and just like then, her
face was moving slowly to the side so Mousse could kiss her easily. Her
lips where partially open and she could feel the same warmth coming from
him, only that this time, it was stronger. Shampoo gave up and also
moved forward, she remembered how frustrated she was when Ran Ran and
Lin Lin interrupted them almost four years ago. How much she had wanted
to know how would she feel if she kissed Mousse and now, she was
finally going to know. The face of Ranma appeared, but vanished
immediately. Ranma couldn't make her feel what she was feeling now in
Mousse's arms, sharing his warmth, sharing this feeling.

Shampoo felt that one of Mousse's hands was kindly caressing her face
and then, she felt the first soft contact of his lips; they were barely
touching hers, as if asking permission to keep going. That kind gesture
was enough to send shivers all over her body. Shampoo closed her eyes as
she completed the kiss. She abandoned herself to these new sensations,
all the times she had kissed Ranma, she had tried to feel something
special, but the tiny sensations she felt when kissing him were nothing
compared to this. Shampoo couldn't explain all these feelings and she
didn't try, she allowed them to take her away, far away, to a place she
never imagined that could exist, a place where she was safe, it was all
so perfect that she hoped it would never end...

"I think that would be enough for today."
When Mousse heard the voice, he broke the kiss slowly. He was enjoying
it too much to finish it abruptly, and he knew, by Shampoo's response,
that she didn't want the kiss to end in that way either. When they
finished, they found Cologne standing at their left.
"I never imagined this would happen." She said, "Take Shampoo to the
Neko Hanten, she needs rest and we have to talk, you and I." Cologne
ordered Mousse, "I'll be waiting." The old amazon finished and walked
out of the baseball court.

"Mousse."
"Yes Shampoo?"
"What are we going to do now?" She asked her arms still around Mousse's
waist.
"I don't know yet." He answered and hugged her again, "But I'm sure all
we need is to believe in each other."
Shampoo looked up at him, "To believe in each other?"
"Yes."
She kept staring at him.
"Is something wrong?" Mousse asked.
"You want me to believe in you?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then look at my eyes and tell me that all the things Navel said were
lies, you can do that, don't you?" She asked.
Mousse looked at her and blinked, "What did she say? Did she say
something about China?"
"What happened in China!?" Shampoo asked frowning.
"Nothing! I swear!"
"You're lying!" Shampoo shouted.
"I'm not! I swear that nothing happened! Honest!"
"And what about the kiss in the cave!?"
"Cave? Navel told you about that?" Mousse asked nervously.
"See? And you dare to say that nothing happened!?" Shampoo yelled, her
battle aura glowing much like Akane's.
"Nothing happened in the cave Shampoo! Please believe in me!" Mousse
pleaded as he sweat dropped, he was now sure that he had chosen the
wrong words to say to Shampoo. "Navel was lying! You know how she is!"
"YOU BIG LIAR!" Shampoo shouted, and getting strength from...somewhere,
she managed to punch Mousse all the way to the stratosphere, "AND DON'T
COME BACK UNTIL YOU CAN LOOK AT MY EYES, YOU TWO TIMER SLUG!!" She
yelled.

"That certainly didn't go as I expected." Shampoo's father thought in
his hiding place, "Oh well, they're now in the right direction." He
muttered and lighted a cigarette. The man was convinced that his
daughter and Mousse were perfect for each other. They would realize it
sooner of later. It was, after all, just a matter of time.

END

And with this, the story is finished. C&C are most welcome.

I want to give special thanks to a very special friend:

Greta, thank you for your support and friendship, this fanfic is for
you.

Facer.