****Note: Yes I know that all these characters and more belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. She is a god send to us all!!!

When I Thought I'd Lost You

Ch. 8

Still disturbed by Mousse's words from before, Akane and Ranma decided to visit him again that morning to see if he had changed his mind. Arriving at his room, Akane lightly rapped on the door.

"Mousse? Its Akane and Ranma, can we come in?"

No answer. Akane tried the door and found that it wasn't locked.

"I'll see if he's awake Ranma, stay here."

"Fine. I'm sure he REALLY wants to see me." Ranma said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't talk that way Ranma! He's just confused. A ton of things have happened to him in a short while and he hasn't had enough time to think everything over!"

Akane stepped into the room and went only a few feet before freezing in her tracks, her eyes growing wide as saucers.

"Ran.ma. Get.over.here." She meekly piped out , while flailing her arm wildly in the 'come here now!' way.

"What is it?" Ranma said, still annoyed, as he walked in.

"Shhhhhh!" Akane said with a finger to her lips and then slowly pointed ahead of her.

"What is so-" Ranma trailed off and his jaw literally hit the floor at the sight before them.

In front of them, Mousse lay asleep in his bed. His left arm was wrapped around a sleeping Shampoo, her head pillowed on his chest. It looked like she had crawled into the bed and curled up next to Mousse like a cat. Ranma couldn't help but stare until he felt Akane quickly pull him away into the hall. She threw him against the wall and then after closing the door, turned on Ranma.

"Did you know about this Ranma?"

"Me? Why would you think I knew anything about those two? You were the one that went over to the Nekohanten and talked to Shampoo!"

"I just told her what Mousse told us! I didn't tell her to go hop in his bed and fall asleep with him!"

"Neither did I! What do you think happened last night?"

Akane paused for a moment and brought a hand to her face, apparently remembering something.

"Well, evidently Shampoo changed her mind about him, but I had no idea that she was willing to admit it to him."

'What do you mean 'admit it'? Admit what?"

"You never saw it, Ranma?"

"Saw what?"

"Ranma, honestly, I never thought you were so blunt." Akane rubbed her temples with a hand and shook her head at Ranma, then looked back up at him, " Listen, Shampoo cares for Mousse and now I think that she loves him. Got that?"

"She loves him? How would you know that?"

"Well as a girl, I notice things about her that you would never see. For example, remember that picnic we all had about two months ago in the park?"

"Yeah, kinda. Shampoo came over with Mousse and Cologne. So what are you getting at?"

"During that time, did she ever hug you, try to kiss you, or even call you 'Airen'?"

"I don't really remember, what does that have to do with it?" Ranma said as he scratched the back of his head nervously, knowing that if he said yes, she's probably mallet him.

"You are such a blockhead! She never really even noticed you that day. If you had noticed, you would have seen how she had been at Mousse's side the whole day, that is, until Nabiki mentioned something about it to her and then she came running after you and you both fell in the pond."

"Oh yeah, now I remember about that day. God, I hate it when she's a cat." Ranma shivered slightly as he remembered that day, flailing around, screaming in his girl form, because Shampoo-cat was hanging for dear-life to his jacket, claws sunk deeply into skin.

"Anyway Ranma, she probably doesn't want anyone to know yet, so we should just keep quiet for a bit okay?"

"Sure Akane, whatever you say." Ranma said as he nonchalantly waved a hand at Akane as he walked away. He heard a familiar 'swoosh' sound and knew he was in trouble.

"I mean it Ranma! Do not tell anyone!" Akane fumed as she brandished a mallet in Ranma's direction.

"I won't, I won't!" Ranma shouted as he ran off down the hallway.

"Oh Gee-hosafit-for the love of kami! Now what the heck am I gonna do? Mary! Can you come here for a moment?"

"What do you need now Violet?" Said an aging nurse, her short hair gone grey. The other nurse, tall with long brown hair, stood with her hands on her hips until the older woman entered the room. She pointed to the bed.

"Thats what!"

Mary looked to the bed where a pair lay sleeping, and her eyes popped wide with shock.

"Ah, well, quite the ladies man isn't he?" she said playfully.

"Mary, you know he's not. She's the one who was here all those nights while he was still out in coma. I hadn't seen her for a bit, guess she came back."

"I see.. Well I suggest you leave them be." Mary turned and started to walk off.

"Mary, honestly!" The older woman turned back, chuckling to herself.

"You can't blame me Violet. Though seriously, you probably should leave them."

"My pleasure, but then that's my problem. I need to get blood work done on the boy, Doctor Cluny's orders. And it needs to be done this morning before he gets here. You know how punctual he can get."

"Then you'd better wake the boy first if at all. There's no telling what that girl will do if you were the first thing she sees this morning. I've heard that she's some kind of wild woman from the forests of China."

"Right Mary. She's a fearsome wild woman from the deep forests of China and sleeping soundly on this bed. Don't make me laugh, you have gotta stop listening to that night staff gossip. Don't you have to get back on your rounds now? You've got a new patient to check on right?"

Again Mary chuckled to herself. "It's like you to notice new patients here, especially if they are a cute guy. But yeah, I got a new patient on my rounds. A case of broken bones, only this is his leg. The poor boy is visited all the time by two girls who are constantly bickering. One with wild silver hair that keeps on calling herself a 'space pirate' and the other with long purple hair that calls herself some kind of 'princess'. I bet that'd boy be running if that leg could move."

"Then I'd suggest to stay out of their way. No telling what they may destroy next." Mary smiled and then walked out of the room as Violet watched. Violet turned then towards Mousse and pursed her mouth.

"Well, here goes nothing."

She grabbed his shoulder and began to shake it.

Mousse drifted out of his sleep as he felt his arm moving without telling it to do so.

"Hey, there boy. Wake up! You can't sleep all day like that."

Mousse realized as he stared ahead that the owner of the voice and the hand shaking him, was a big brown and white fuzzy blob. After almost freaking out at the sight of it, he quickly reminded himself to put on his glasses. After doing so, he now saw the figure of the nurse that had been recently giving him all the books.

"What is it?" he said groggily.

"Blood work is needed from you and I need it now."

"Now? Can't it wait?"

"Sorry, bub, but it's doctors orders. Anyway if your tests comeback in time and they show that you're doing better, you might be released from here soon. So...could you pry yourself from her so that we can get to work?"

Mousse then became fully aware of the sleeping Shampoo beside him. His face flashed beet red with embarrassment.

"I...I'm sorry. She's not supposed to be here, is she?"

"Oh don't worry about it. I was shocked at first, but believe me, I've walked in on worse situations that this. You don't have to wake her though. Just shimmy your way out from under her and we'll be off."

"Do you think that it'll be alright to leave her here?"

The nurse walked over to his side of the bed and held up a robe.

"Don't worry about it. She's fine and by the looks of it, she's sleeping soundly and probably won't wake up for a while yet."

Mousse nodded and took the robe from her, putting it on as they walked out of the room. As they headed down the hallway, there was an uneasy silence between them.

"Am, well...Are you, if you don't mind, willing to tell me how she happened to wind up in your bed this morning? It does seem to be a little strange that we find patients like that."

Mousse smiled and looked over at the nurse.

"No, I don't mind that you ask. I think it'd be worse for you not to ask and then spread rumors about it."

"You're right. Rumors and gossip spread faster than the Ebola virus around here." a certain person came into mind, and she rolled her eyes, " So...?"

"Shampoo...she came to my room last night. We had a sort of 'conversation/fight'."

"And?"

"I still don't believe it, but...she told me she loved me."

"Well, it was quite obvious that she cared for you, so I'm not surprised. But I'm happy for you two. God knows, if I could find a guy like you, I wouldn't be so tight with my emotions like she was. Every night, that girl, Shampoo?, she stayed by your side and watched over you, yet never said anything about it. I don't know how she could keep pent up any emotions that were as strong as those."

"Thats how Shampoo has always been. Ever since I fell in love with her when we were three years old, she has always hidden her emotions and also that was how she was taught to live."

"Taught to live? Where did you guys grow up?"

"We're from China. We belong to an Amazon tribe in the forests there and there are many strict rules on the ways of life for women and men."

"My goodness, Mary was right." Violet said quietly to herself, scoffing at her earlier remarks to Mary.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Anyway here we are!" Violet pointed her hand towards a door that said Examination Room 5. "Now you don't faint at the sight of blood, do you?"

"No, you don't have to worry about that. Its my sight that's a real problem for me."

"You don't say?"

Shampoo reached out and felt for Mousse as she lay on the bed, her pillow exchanged for a real one. She felt only the bed linens beside her and she quickly woke up, looking around the room for Mousse. He wasn't there, it was just her alone, again.

"I wonder where they took him," she thought, "probably doing some hospital stuff. No wonder he didn't wake me."

She got out of the bed and started to try and smooth out the wrinkles that were now imprinted into her dress. She couldn't go around looking like she wanted to wear wrinkles in her clothes. She finally decided, after a lot of deliberating with the creases in her dress, that she wasn't going to get them out so easily, so she sat back down on the bed and flopped down so that she stared at the ceiling. Mousse had probably stared at the ceiling a lot too while he was here. She smiled as she thought about the night before and it shocked her as she put her fingers to her mouth, feeling her mouth in a smile instead of a frown.

"Its funny that its so easy for me to smile now. I had to force myself to smile a lot of the time and now, it comes so easily. Then last night, I was holding myself back from admitting to what I really felt. I was so scared that my emotions were not the right ones for me to be feeling. Then he had to look at me with those eyes of his, those blue-grey eyes that delve right inside of me, tearing up the bonds that restrain anything I've been holding back. No matter how clumsy, boring, blind, or aggravating he can be, I can't forget about him."

Shampoo sat up and fingered the bed where Mousse had lain. "Though I can't help but wonder if he thinks I was the reason for what happened to him. I still know that its my fault and I want to know if he thinks that too."

It was almost as if Shampoo's question was answered as she heard the door open and watched Mousse walk in, rubbing his left arm painfully. "Kami, it feels like she took a pint from me than just a needle full." He said, not noticing that Shampoo was watching him from the bed.

"She took a pint of what?"

Mousse jumped back a foot as he heard Shampoo speak up. He'd still thought she'd be asleep and so he just walked in thinking of the pain in his arm.

"Shampoo, I didn't think you'd be awake yet, so I didn't really bother to notice you."

"It's alright. So she took a pint of what from you?" Shampoo said as she smiled once more as she stared at Mousse who stood by the bed.

"Oh that," Mousse shucked off the robe he'd been wearing while walking down the hallways and sat down on the bed beside Shampoo, "The nurse came in and told me that she needed to get some blood from me. You know, those needles sting more than one of Ranma's punches." Mousse then unconsciously rubbed his arm again, his face grimacing from the memory of the needle.

Shampoo looked at his face and couldn't help but to start laughing. She reeled back on the bed, laughing hard and holding her stomach. Mousse looked at her quizzically wondering if he had missed something.

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Hello all!!! Finally another chapter is up! Sorry to all those people who've been patiently waiting for this next chapter. I had writer's block for about a week and I couldn't figure out how to start out this chapter, but thankfully it vanished quickly. Please review, I love to read them all the time! Also, I wanted to say, needles really don't hurt. But I wanted to kind of make an oxymoron happen with how a strong fighting man can be pained by just one little needle.

Now to my Reviewers!!

JaguarKitty2006: I love your posts and your dedication to reviewing my story. I'm flattered that you like it so much! My favorite post from you is " *burst into tears and hugs/strangles Mousse* Oh you poor thing! *sob* He's been through so much! *sniff* Mean ol' Shampoo! Just tell him you love him!"

Jaid Skywalker: I thank you so much for your numerous amounts of reviews as well! Hope that you keep on writing as I enjoy your stories too!

Otaku by Day, Goth by Night: I love your one post that you gave me "Okay, I love this, but, ARGH! FIX HIM! FIX HIM! FIX HIM!" I laughed so hard when I read that, please keep reading and posting. Your posts are always alive and full of otaku emotion!

inuficcrzy: Thank you for your reviews and as long as you post your comments, I will post more chapters to you all.

Once again, a thank you to all who've read this story and encouraged me for more! You can be mentioned by name and thanked personally by me if you keep posting reviews like these few people have generously done. This story will probably have about 4 more chapters after this, but who knows I could be wrong, like I had intentionally meant for Mousse's Waking to be Chapter 3, but it got pushed back again and again.

A Note To All Those Inuyasha Fans: There's a THIRD Movie!!!!!!!!!!! Its about the rivalry between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. I guess we find out more about their past sibling rivalry and maybe see more on what happened all those years ago. I can't wait to see it, heck I haven't seen the second movie and I'm still drooling to see that *INUYASHA AND KAGOME FINALLY KISS* and I so want to be fawning at that scene for a while.

Okay then, back to the drawing or rather writing board.

^_^ (\/) cyancat