****Note: Yes I know that all these characters and more belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. She is a god send to us all!!!
***A/N -So you all know, Mousse is #3 of my all time favorite guys ( right behind InuYasha and Miroku) and I would never want him hurt or dead in anyway. I just sometimes think that the thought of death provokes some feelings to come out from the hidden dark inside a person and thats the only reason I do that to Mousse. Makes you rethink your priorities.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading!!!
^_^ (\/) cyancat
When I Thought I'd Lost You
Ch.3
An hour passed since the doctor was last seen and Cologne finally managed to talk everyone to leave and go home. No sense in all of them staying around making more trouble. It was only after she agreed to have them called if anything happened to Mousse, did they finally agree to leave. Then it was just her and Shampoo sitting in the lounge area.
"Now what we do?" Shampoo said.
"Well, you dear, are going to stay here and I am going back to the store. Call me if anything changes." Cologne said and then began to hop away on her cane.
"WHAT! Grandmother!" Shampoo ran over and jumped in front of Cologne blocking the way, "Why should Shampoo stay? I no want to stay here!"
"Shampoo, there's no sense in both of us staying here. I have things that need to be taken care of and I need to have a message sent to Mousse's mother on what's been happening so I need to start finding a messenger that can go to the village."
"But-"
"No, you are staying here. You were blaming yourself for what happened to him right?"
"Y...yes."
"Then you can stay and watch over him for tonight. If you want the blame, take what comes with it."
"Yes, grandmother." Shampoo said as she hung her head in compliance. Cologne looked at Shampoo and sighed.
"Sometimes you confuse me, dear girl. Your feelings seem to change in a split second. Is there something that you should be telling me?"
There was long silence from Shampoo and then she looked up at Cologne, "No, nothing to say. Everything fine. Nothing wrong. Shampoo just want to be with airen and not duck-boy!"
Shampoo glared for a second at Cologne before she quickly walked off past her and down the hall to the waiting room, where she plopped down on a chair and crossed her arms angrily.
Cologne shook her head and started again to leave the hospital. She had been noticing this happening a lot more with Shampoo through the past five months. She would have a moment that would be out of her personality, like helping Mousse clean up or not talk about Ranma for a whole day. Then if anything would be mentioned about it, she'd come back ten-fold angrier than a wet cat and her old personality would return.
If she had been anyone else, she would have brushed it off as a quirk of Shampoo's personality traits, but she wasn't. She knew what was wrong with the girl. Shampoo's feelings were growing for the person that she wasn't supposed to have feelings for and now everything was conflicting against her. Shampoo was trying hard to hide this, but this wasn't something you could hide from a grandmother. As Cologne exited the hospital, she hoped what happened to Mousse would be enough to pull out those feelings into the open. Already she had let out her feelings on how she thought she was to blame, something the old Shampoo would have never done. Leaving Shampoo behind would force her to think through her feelings and maybe then she could see something that Cologne already saw.
Cologne had already realized three months ago that a marriage between Ranma and Shampoo would never happen. Shampoo had already changed so much and plus the boy was already attached to Akane. Cologne had even started calling Ranma by his name instead of 'son-in-law,' though Shampoo kept calling him 'airen.' The only reason that she let this go on was for the sake of tribal law and customs. Right now, Cologne just hoped that Mousse would live through this thing. No telling what Shampoo would do if he didn't.
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*Beep* *Beep*
"Paging Dr. Makate to the 3rd Floor Operation Room, Paging Dr. Makate to the 3rd Floor Operation Room"
The voice that cackled through the hospital speakers seemed to have a cold as she said the page.
"I wonder if that's about Mousse" Shampoo thought as she looked up at the overhead speaker in the ceiling.
"Wait a minute, No I don't care about that stupid duck-boy. I'm only here because grandmother told me to stay. I would never have feelings for that duck. I'm here for Ranma and no one else. But...why do I blame myself for this? It's his own fault for getting sick, it's his body!"
Shampoo stood up and paced around the empty room. It would have been better for someone to be around. Then at least she wouldn't have to think about such things.
"Why did I act that way when he fell today...today...that actually happened today. Feels like its been longer than that. How long have we been here?"
Shampoo looked around for a clock and found one hung above the elevator. 12:08 the clock read. Shampoo stared at it for a moment, figuring out how much had actually gone by.
"Since we closed shop today at 7 and that's when...then we were here and then everybody left,... its been five hours since it all started. Feels like its been five days."
Shampoo paced again around the room, trying to drive her attention away from what was beating in her head. She picked up magazines and idly flipped though them, throwing them back on the table when they couldn't fulfill their use.
"This is horrible. What am I to do here? Sit and do nothing?" Shampoo sighed and relaxed a little. "Mousse was never this much trouble before and now this happens. Why did I act like that anyway? Why did I run to his side? Why do I blame myself? I'm not supposed to care for him! He's just a stupid guy, that's all. He's stupid, cursed, blind, weak, can't take a hint, ...totally devoted to me, resourceful, handsome, willing to do anything for me, WAIT! I can't think those things about him. Yet I do, and I can't stop them from coming. I'm just so confused."
Shampoo walked over to the window that Nabiki had been looking out and stared at the night sky. "I just don't understand any of this. I thought that I loved Ranma, but now...do I actually care for that...that blind duck...whose always gentle and kind to me? Who always fights to win me over? Who saved me from that bird man on Togenko Island? He never has to do anything for me, yet he works so hard and does anything in a heartbeat for me."
Shampoo stared at the sky and found a star that shone brightly, one that she had looked to many nights in the past, wanting answers to her endless questions.
"Do...I...actually....love...Mousse?"
The star didn't answer of course, but its light blinked as if in reply. Shampoo sighed heavily as if a weight had been taken off her back. She walked back to the chairs and curled up in one.
"I just don't understand anything anymore." She dropped her head down to her arms and slowly fell asleep.
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"Miss? Miss? Can you wake up?"
Shampoo felt a small hand shake her shoulder lightly and she groggily opened her eyes to see a young woman in a blue smock beside her.
"Ah, so you finally woke up. I wondered if I was going to havta get some cold water."
"Yes, Shampoo awake." She said as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What you want?"
"Its about the boy you've been waiting on. Name of Mousse, right?"
Shampoo suddenly remembered what had happened the day before and instantly she was on her feet shaking the poor woman.
"What wrong with Mousse? Is Mousse still sick? Mousse is alive, yes?"
The woman stepped back out of Shampoo's grip and gave her a smile.
"You really don't need to worry that much. The operation is over with and the surgeons are just finishing up on him. The surgery went through just fine and the tumor is gone. He'll be moved to post-op in about half an hour."
"Mousse is okay?"
"Yes, he's fine."
Shampoo's panic stricken face melted into a smile and she hugged the woman. Seconds later Shampoo realized 'What the heck am I doing?' and quickly released her. The woman turned around and started to walk off, but she turned around to Shampoo when she reached the door. "Just be sure you keep your boyfriend safe from now on." Then she opened the door and walked off.
Shampoo just stood there in a stunned silence. Boyfriend? How could she think Mousse was her boyfriend?
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After Shampoo got over the initial shock that the woman's words impacted on her, she rushed to the phone to call Cologne. Within fifteen minutes, Cologne was back at the hospital and was also followed by the group of Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, Ryoga, Ukyo, and Soun. Everyone was eager to see how Mousse had come out of the operation. Later, the doctors let Cologne and Shampoo into the pre-op room and watched as two nurses wheeled out a bed containing an unconsious Mousse from the operation room. The tall doctor they had talked to before followed behind and upon seeing them, smiled and walked towards them.
"Well, did everything go alright during the surgery?"
"We are very pleased with its results on the young man. It succeeded our expectations ten-fold. The tumor is no more and we also repaired some damage that the tumor had already started to cause."
"So he will live then?"
The doctor's smile faded then and he paused before answering. "I don't want to build false hopes, but we all want for him to live. The problem is that its now up to his body to decide whether he lives or..."
"What you say? You no can help Mousse live?" Shampoo quirked at the doctor, angry at how he wasn't telling them everything they needed to know evidently.
"No, no, no dear girl. We can help, but that would only work to some extent. Sometimes a person's body just doesn't want to work anymore. Thats the case that we have with this young man. Basically its up to his immune system whether it wants to start up again. His body has to figure out if its worth repairing the body or if its ready to let go."
"So you don't know whether he will live or not?"
"No, we don't. We can only monitor his body and hope for the best. He is still in a basic coma that the body uses when major events traumatize the body. The basic line is this. If he wakes up within three weeks time, we won't have to worry about him again."
"I see..."